Charleston, WV (25301)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - Eleven vehicles were involved in a traffic nightmare Wednesday morning in Columbus.

This happened sometime near 7 a.m. on the westbound side of Highway 82, near the Military Road exit.

Of the 11 vehicles, eight were actually involved in accidents at the scene.

Three vehicles were just stuck in the mud there.

At least one person was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.

The scene has since been cleared.
NEW ALBANY, Miss. (WTVA) - Police are asking the public to help identify an alleged vehicle thief.

Police say a work van was taken from CJ Hill Plumbing Services in New Albany the night of Jan. 15 or the early morning of Jan. 16.

The van was then driven to Atlanta, Georgia.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-773-8477.
CHICKASAW COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) - A missing teenager from Chickasaw County has been found in Alabama.

Chickasaw County Chief Deputy Keith Roberson says his department was contacted today, Jan. 23, by police in Dothan, Alabama.

Police said they found Jasmine Byrd.

Roberson says she is safe and DHS officials are on their way to pick her up.

Dothan police did not release any more details concerning her discovery.

Byrd went missing on Nov. 26, 2018.
Two years ago, on the eve of the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the World Socialist Web Site published a Perspective column calling this ceremony an event that will live in infamy. The article noted the widespread sense that under Trump the United States has embarked on a path that will lead to a disaster of unimaginable dimensions.

The WSWS insisted that Trump was not an accident or aberration, but rather the expression of the profound decay of American democracy over many decades:

History has caught up with American capitalism. The protracted process of economic and social decay has been covered over for decades with democratic phrases that served to disguise the gap between the official political myths and the underlying reality. But the mask has now come off. Donald Trump personifies the corruption, ruthlessness, parasitism and essentially fascistic mindset of the capitalist oligarchs who control the United States.

Two years on, there is not the slightest reason to alter that assessment. The political conflict that has erupted over the partial shutdown of the federal government, now in its second month, has no precedent in modern American history. It is an indictment not merely of Trump, but of the entire US political establishment, Democrats and Republicans alike.

The US political system is careening towards disaster, not because it took a wrong turn on November 8, 2016, but because both Trump and his nominal opposition in the Democratic Party, in different ways, represent the historical failure of American capitalism.

If Trump is a billionaire criminal elevated to the supreme position in the US political system, his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, had far more support among the billionaires than he did. She had, after all, pledged to do their bidding and serve their interests in her closed-door talks with Wall Street audiences, which were made public by WikiLeaks in the weeks before the election.

If Trump is a blustering militarist who has regularly threatened the use of military force, including nuclear weapons, against foreign rivals, his opponent Clinton had far more support in the military-intelligence apparatus and took every opportunity to flaunt it. Her final campaign appeals were directed not to working people abandoned and pauperized under the Obama administration, but to the national security elite, denouncing Trump as soft on Russia and setting the stage for the campaign of anti-Russian propaganda and lies that followed Trumps Electoral College victory.

Trump has ignited a global trade war while openly preparing for war with Iran and pouring hundreds of billions into a nuclear build-up directed against China. The Democrats have largely supported his trade war policies, while substituting Syria and Russia for Iran and China as their preferred initial targets for military aggression. These are not alternative policies, merely different roads to the same destination: all-out war to maintain the global domination of American imperialism.

There are minor differences between Trump and the Democrats on domestic policy. But again, these relate to methods and techniques of achieving essentially the same aims. The month-long federal shutdown is supposedly the result of irreconcilable differences over immigration and Trumps demand for a border wall. But one year ago, at the mid-point in Trumps presidency, in the midst of another, much briefer federal shutdown, the Democrats signed on to a deal very similar to the one Trump offered them on Saturday.

A Perspective column by this writer a year ago today noted that Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer had visited the White House for one-on-one talks in which he offered full funding for the border wall, $25 billion, in return for Trumps agreement to legalize the status of the nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, who were granted limited rights to work or attend college under the DACA program established by President Obama.

Trump ultimately rejected the offer and demanded even more concessions, including restrictions even on legal immigration, only because he sensed the weakness of the Democrats and thought he could do more to appeal to his fascistic anti-immigrant base.

As we wrote then: As a political event, the federal shutdown is a demonstration that the American ruling elite as a whole, and not just Trump personally, is unfit to run a large, complex society of more than 330 million people. That was written after a shutdown that lasted only three days, as opposed to the current shutdown, now in its 33rd day, which has caused a vast disruption of the US economy, air travel, scientific research and oversight functions like food safety inspection and monitoring of environmental hazards.

If the first year of the Trump administration was dominated by the phony opposition of the Democrats, using leaks from the military-intelligence apparatus and the media howling against alleged Russian meddling to attack Trump from the right, the second year of Trump has seen the emergence of the social force that alone is capable of providing a genuine alternative to Trump from the left: the American working class.

The past year has seen massive strikes by teachers, conducted outside of and over the opposition of the unions. These broke out in Republican-controlled states like West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona. More recently, teachers have struck in Democratic-controlled states like Washington and California, where 33,000 Los Angeles teachers have entered their second week on the picket lines. The teacher walkouts, broadly supported by parents and students, have been part of a wider radicalization among working people, reflected in strikes by auto workers, telecommunications workers, utility workers and many others.

The rise in political consciousness among working people is seen above all in the growing popular outrage over the attacks being perpetrated against immigrant workersthe forced separation of refugee parents from their children, the jailing and tear-gassing of desperate asylum-seekers, the rising number of workplace raids, and Trumps deployment of the military on the US-Mexico border and his demands for a border wall.

American workers are beginning to recognize the working people of Mexico and Central America as their allies. The ruling classs fear of this awakening solidarity is the only politically serious explanation for the complete silence of the American media on the general strike of auto parts workers in Matamoros, Mexico, only a few miles south of the Texas border, which provides an inspiring example of a mass mobilization of the independent strength of the working class.

In the third year of the Trump administration, the central issue is the mobilization of the working class as a conscious political force, independent of both right-wing factions of the US ruling class, who battle like scorpions in a bottle while American society continues its plunge into social, economic and cultural decay. This means the building of the Socialist Equality Party, its youth movement, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, and the World Socialist Web Site, as the instruments for the political education and independent organization of the working class.
The conspiracy by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and the Democratic Party to ram through a new contract to end the six-day strike by 33,000 educators provoked widespread anger from teachers.

Teachers were given only a few hours to read the 40-page agreement before they were forced to vote on the deal later in the evening. Prior to that, the union and the district officials had been engaged in closed-door negotiations for five days during which time no details were revealed to teachers.

The fraudulent character of the voting process was made clear in comments Tuesday morning during the press conference announcing the deal. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti along with Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner and UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl all announced that the strike was over before a single vote was even cast.

Underscoring its contempt for rank-and-file teachers, Caputo-Pearl announced that a supermajority had liked the deal and voted for it even though mass teacher sentiment has been overwhelmingly against the deal. Referring to this opposition, the UTLA president added, I dont begrudge anyone who had higher expectations. Thats why the struggle continues.

Typical were responses like this one from a teacher posting on Facebook, We knew something was wrong when you held the pep rally and issued a joint statement that the strike was over before we even saw the TA [Tentative Agreement]. When it was released, we just had a few hours to review before voting. You rushed this process after a weekend of secret meetings and it shows.

Another teacher wrote on Facebook, So many teachers couldnt vote, but not even sure our votes even count. Beutner made calls at 4 welcoming everyone back.

Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site went to several voting locations at school sites in the Los Angeles area to discuss the unions efforts to steamroll teachers into voting for the deal and the content of the sellout agreement.

James, a middle school music director in Highland Park north of downtown Los Angeles, said, They do this tactic in student council meetings too. They give you a budget for the entire year and then they give you 30 seconds to vote on it. Administrators then come to intimidate teachers.

He continued, I have a second job, and I saved up to participate in these protests. I need a week to review the contract. I have twins at home. I dont have time to throw down a vote.

At the Hollenbeck Middle School in the Boyle Heights area, Marcos, a special education teacher, told the WSWS, Its too quick. People havent had time to digest it at all. We need to have a big change. This has become a political fight now.

Diane Romero, a retired teacher, also came to support voting teachers at Hollenbeck. The one counselor for 500 teachers is ridiculous. I also thought the amount offered on salary was not good. Three percent one year and three percent the next? Thats nothing.

This new agreement reduces class sizes by one student. That is nothing and what if the school population increases. What then? Will we just go right back to where we started and forget about it?

I was in the 1989 strike and we were out for nine days instead of six. We got some increases on health care and salary, but they removed the salary increases a little later. I have no doubt that theyre going to try to claw back the little teachers have gotten in this contract too. They already have contract openers for that.

Maria, an English teacher at Hollenbeck, said, This strike meant a lot to me. It meant that I was willing to sacrifice a week-and-a-halfs worth of wages so we could make some improvements in our classes that were long overdue.

I look at this contract and I dont see anything thats been improved. The salary offer was only three percent. Theres some things in here about green space. I suppose thats nice but what does it have to do with conditions in my school, reducing class sizes and making things better for kids?

Theres also this question of community schools and charter colocation coordinators. A lot of this language I find very ambiguous and they didnt give us enough time to learn about it and discuss it.

David, a math teacher at Hollenbeck Middle School, said, Seems like this vote didnt take enough time. Even when our principal calls a meeting, we get 24-hour notice.

Im not at all happy with the class size reduction. Only one student reduced? In classes, we simply just dont have enough room. There arent enough desks for students already. Ive had to give up collaborative instruction in my classes where groups of kids sit around and work together in favor of a more traditional style where everyone just sits in rows and looks at the board.

There is enough wealth to fund public education. This massive concentration of wealth is just criminal.

Lucy, an elementary teacher at San Pedro Elementary School, voted Tuesday with her two coworkers, Maria and Leiei. We need to see a full copy of the agreement. We cannot vote without knowing the details.

The voting is taking place from 5:00 to 7:00 tonight at our sites. What are the options for people who cannot make it there during those times?

Dora, a substitute teacher in Highland Park, said, I have three sisters who are full-time teachers, so, of course, I didnt cross the picket line. The district was offering $500 a day to substitutes to cross the picket lines.

On the role of the teachers unions, she said, They have these bloated salaries. They dont need all those bonuses if theyre supposed to be fighting for us. It feels like a monopoly.

I feel like they gave us only a few hours to read a 40-page document. Plus, Im not a lawyer. This isnt language that the everyday person can understand without a good deal of effort.

A speech therapist and special education physical education teacher in Highland Park who spoke to the WSWS also expressed skepticism towards the teacher unions. The multimillionaires and billionaires are responsible for this attack on public education and the unions are sponsoring Democratic politicians who are supported by the multimillionaires and billionaires.
As another missed payday for 800,000 federal workers approaches at the end of this week, the warring factions of the American ruling class are no closer to settling the 32-day partial government shutdown.

For workers who are being used as pawns in the political standoff, the toll continues to mount.

Among low-wage Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) workers, sickouts continued to escalate, as a growing number of airport screeners are unable, or unwilling, to make it into work. TSA officials announced that 10 percent of its luggage screeners nationwide called out of work Sunday, the first time since the shutdown began that the rate has reached double digits. In a statement, the agency admitted that many employees are reporting that they are not able to report to work due to financial limitations.

Statistics are not available for sickouts at other agencies where approximately 500,000 federal employees are being forced to work without pay indefinitely. However, with over three quarters of the US workforce living paycheck to paycheck, the ranks of those unable to afford even transportation to work are undoubtedly swelling.

At the Internal Revenue Service, which initiated the recall of 46,000 employees last week to process tax returns, workers reported low turnout in offices around the country. Many came to work only to request to be placed back on furlough status due to financial hardship. Those forced to work suffer a double blow. They not only receive no paycheck, they are also ineligible for unemployment benefits and unable to seek other work.

In response to forced, unpaid labor, the federal trade unions have refused to even discuss the possibility of collective action, leaving workers to fend for themselves.

According to the US Department of Labor, nearly 25,000 federal workers filed unemployment claims during the first two weeks of the shutdown. The latest statistics released nationally, which cover only through to the week ending January 5, show a doubling of new claims in the New Year. The number is expected to grow significantly as the shutdown continues.

For the 300,000 eligible furloughed workers, unemployment insurance is essentially a loan, since it must be paid back after they receive back pay. In many states that loan does not amount to much. Mississippi, at the low end, offers a maximum benefit of $235 a week. In New York, where the cost of living is much higher, the maximum weekly benefit is $450, leaving a family of four below the poverty line.

In the absence of any real social safety net, many workers have turned to raising cash through selling goods and taking on additional debt. Michael Cohen, who runs a pawn shop near government buildings in Chicago, told CBS News he now sees 10 to 20 federal workers every day because of the shutdown.

Lending companies have also found a surge of government workers seeking cash. Chad Prashad, chief of World Acceptance, which specializes in short- and medium-term installment loans, told the Financial Times his company is seeing increased demand in areas close to large airports that employ federal workers.

Wall Street has taken note. Shares of EZ Corp, a national pawn shop operator, rose more than 20 percent over the last month. Enova, the parent company of the predatory payday lender CashNetUSA, has risen by 27 percent since the shutdown began.

A recent study by the Federal Reserve found that four in 10 households in America could not raise $400 in the event of an emergency without borrowing or selling possessions. With federal workers now approaching an entire month of unpaid work, the risk of falling or spiralling deeper into debt is growing.

On Capital Hill, congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to procedural maneuvers but little else. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to bring to a vote on Thursday a bill to reopen the government that includes $5.7 billion to extend the border wall. The supposed olive branch to the Democratic Party is a deferral for three years of actions against some immigrants covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status programs. The bill would also place additional limits on immigrants seeking asylum, including barring children from Central America from applying at the bordera measure that would violate international asylum law and effectively negate the right to asylum for those who fell under its provisions.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer indicated the bill is a non-starter. It stands little chance of gaining the necessary 60-vote filibuster-proof super-majority. Senate Democrats will offer their own bill Thursday to reopen the government until mid-February without wall funding, equally unlikely to pass.

The Democratic leadership has attempted to underscore its support for border security, a euphemism for the militarization of the border that has led to the deaths of thousands of immigrants seeking a reprieve from grinding poverty and violence in their native countries. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has offered to add an additional $1.3 billion in border funding, without, however, any money for further wall construction.

In a sign that the standoff will continue for some time yet, the Trump administration indicated it plans to hold the State of the Union address as scheduled on January 29, regardless of whether the shutdown continues. Speaker Pelosi, who must invite the president to address a joint session of Congress meeting in the House chamber, had requested that Trump either postpone the speech until the government reopened or submit it in writing. Trump scoffed at the suggestion, but his advance team's request for a walk-through of the House chambers thus far has not been granted. The administration is preparing to use an alternate location if necessary.

Despite the tactical divisions, the Democrats and Republicans remain united when it concerns fundamental issues of class interest, including using border security and nationalism to keep North American workers separated.

Collin Peterson, a so-called centrist Democrat from Minnesota, revealed perhaps more than the Democratic leadership would wish on a local radio program Tuesday. Give Trump the money," he said. Id give him the whole thing and put strings on it so you make sure he puts the wall where it needs to be. Why are we fighting over this? Were going to build that wall anyway at some time.
In a speech to a state banquet at Malacanang Palace in Manila last week Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena hailed President Rodrigo Dutertes so-called war on drugs as an example to the whole world.

Sirisenas praise for the campaign of arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial violence, including thousands of summary executions, against alleged drug dealers, is an indication of his own dictatorial agenda.

Sirisena and Duterte signed bilateral agreements on defence, agriculture, industries, tourism, education and culture during the state visit. Sri Lanka also agreed to facilitate the opening of a Philippines embassy in the Colombo.

The main purpose of Sirisenas tour, however, appears to have been to strengthen relations with Duterte and his so-called anti-drug war. Significantly, Sirisena visited the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Quezon City and attended a closed-door meeting with key officials, including PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde and Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano.

Toasting Duterte at Malacanang Palace, Sirisena declared, The war against crime and drugs carried out by you is an example to the whole world, and personally to me. The drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel that we should follow your footsteps to control this hazard.

It is not the first time that the Sri Lankan president has endorsed Dutertes neutralisation [i.e., killing] of illegal drug personalities nationwide. The footsteps that Sirisena wants to follow is a criminal escalation of police-state violence and preparation for dictatorship.

The war on drugs became official national policy in June 2016 when Duterte was installed as president. In 2017, the Philippines congress reinstated the death penalty for drug-related crimes and equipped the nominally civilian Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) with a 500-strong military Task Force to conduct operations along with PNP officers, vigilante groups and other informal armed formations nationwide.

According to official statistics, the official death toll in the war on drugs stood at around 5,000 last year. Human rights organisations, however, have pointed out that the real figure could be up to 20,000 and that most of those killed are the urban poor. The International Criminal Court is currently conducting a preliminary investigation into whether the extrajudicial killings constitute crimes against humanity.

The war on drugs policy replicates the methods used by the Davao Death Squad which Duterte established when he was Davao City mayor. It carried out extrajudicial killings of hundreds of street children, petty criminals and drug users.

Upon return to Sri Lanka, Sirisena defended his praise for the Philippines dictator and hit back at criticism by the media and human rights groups.

Addressing a ceremony to launch national drug prevention week at a school in the war-devastated northern town of Mullaithivu, Sirisena declared: NGOs that talk about human rights only take the side of the drug racketeers I ask the human rights organisations to remove their masks and protect our children.

Sirisena said he would adopt a novel approach to eradicate drugs and not step away from his decision to introduce capital punishment for drug racketeers. He also launched a phone hotline, with the number 1984, for the public to provide information on narcotics or organised crime.

Sirisena, with the support of many government MPs, has long been calling for a national anti-drugs campaign. In July 2018, he called for an end to Sri Lankas 43-year moratorium on executions, and for hanging to be introduced as punishment for repeat drug offenders.

Cabinet endorsed this, with Sirisenas official spokesperson, Rajitha Senaratne, declaring that the government would bring the fight against drugs onto the streets: The Philippines has been successful in deploying the army and dealing with this problem [drugs]; we will try to replicate their success. Nineteen drug offenders who were serving life sentences in Sri Lanka now face the death penalty.

The drug problem is not the primary concern of Sirisena and Duterte or the ruling elites in their respective countries. If this was the case, there would be far more effective measures to combat this social problem by improving living standards for millions of the oppressed masses, and providing funds for drugs education, psycho-social support and healthcare, and at a fraction of the cost of waging the murderous war on drugs.

The real concern of the Sri Lankan ruling class, and its political elite, is not drugs, but the most serious political crisis it has faced since the end of British colonial rule.

Last year the government was rocked by intensifying class battles by railway, ports, petroleum, education and health sector workers. This was followed in December by protests and a nine-day national strike action for higher wages by more than 100,000 estate workers. Sri Lankas astronomical and growing debt burden, along with austerity demands by the International Monetary Fund, will deepen the widespread anti-government opposition by workers and the oppressed masses.

Unsettled by this growing resistance, all factions of the Sri Lankan ruling class have been calling for more authoritarian forms of rule, and numerous comments published in the media for a strong leader.

Last October, Sirisena, in a constitutional coup, ousted Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister, replacing him with so-called strong man Mahinda Rajapakse, the former president. Rajapakses presidency, from 2005 to 2014, was characterised by war, ruthless repression and austerity.

Having failed in his attempts to install Rajapakse, Sirisena is now using the war against drugs as a pretext for a rapid turn towards dictatorial methods. During the recent political crisis, Sirisena, who is constitutionally the head of the armed forces and commander-in-chief, took control of the law and order ministry.

Dutertes national war on drugs policy was launched in the face of sharp social tensions. Its escalation coincided with large strikes by workers in 20162017 and thousands of poor Manilla residents taking over more than 15,000 empty government housing units in March 2017.

As the WSWS explained, the real purpose of the war on drugs was to establish a vast police-state apparatus that will be used to suppress social opposition from workers and the poor. It is no accident that the vast majority of the victims of the war on drugs come from the poorest layers of society.

The Sri Lankan ruling elite launched its communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1983 with the support of major powers including the US and neighbouring India. The war ended under Rajapakse with the death of tens of thousands of Tamils and the detention of around 300,000 people.

Sirisena, who constantly appeals to the Buddhist hierarchy and the military, repeatedly promotes his own role in the war. He has consistently opposed the arrest and detention of military officers accused of war crimes.

Sirisenas attack on human rights groups, and anyone who criticises his anti-drugs campaign, indicates that he will turn, not just against those groups, but his political opponents.

Sirisenas open praise for Dutertes violent police-state methods is a clear warning to the Sri Lankan working class. This danger cannot be defeated by appeals to the ruling elites to protect human rights but only through the development of a revolutionary movement of the working class based on socialist internationalism to put an end to the profit system.
The partial US government shutdown is in its fifth week with no end in sight. Some 800,000 federal workers are facing their second payless payday.

Approximately 500,000 workers are being forced to work without pay, while another 300,000 have been furloughed in what amounts to the largest lockout in American history. Hundreds of thousands of families are being thrown into crisis, unable to meet rent or mortgage payments, pay for medical care or provide nutritional meals. They are being held hostage in a politically filthy internecine conflict in Washington between different, equally reactionary factions of the ruling class.

Donald Trump is using the cutoff of funding for one quarter of federal departments and agencies to force the Democrats to accede to his demand for a border wall between the US and Mexico and other antidemocratic and illegal attacks on immigrants. The Democrats are posturing as opponents of the wall while offering billions more to militarize the border and tacitly backing Trumps deployment of troops to the border and expansion of detention centers for asylum seekers and refugees.

The anger of the government workers is mounting. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported Monday that 10 percent of baggage screeners were absent on Sunday, up from just 3 percent a year ago. The rising level of sickouts is a measure of the workers resistance and desire to fight back.

Even sections of the corporate media have speculated on the possibility of a mass sickout or strike by TSA workers crippling US air travel and forcing an end to the shutdown. But one group has been completely silent on any independent action by government workersthe trade unions.

Instead of organizing a struggle, the unions are telling workers to seek charity and loans as they wait for the shutdown to be ended on terms dictated by the two big-business parties.

The largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), has posted information on its website instructing workers on how they can appeal to their banks to help soften the blow of not being paid. It is offering an insulting one-time grant of $300 to eligible members and directing workers to take an interest-free cash advance of $500 from online payment servicer PayPal.

Similar derisory offers are being made to members by the National Treasury Employees Union and the AFL-CIO.

The unions have directed workers to appeal to the Democrats and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, exhorting them to call their congressional representatives and leading union members in inane chants of Mitch, do your job! at the scattering of small rallies they have called across the country, at which they have paraded Democrats to posture as friends of the working man.

The refusal of the unions to organize any independent action by workers demonstrates the objective character and role of these organizations as agencies of the ruling class and the government for the suppression of the working class.

Their backstabbing of government workers is by no means an exception. This is the role the unions play in regard to all sections of the working class.

In California, the United Teachers Los Angeles is attempting to ram through a sellout contract and end the teachers strike with none of the teachers central demands met. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association shut down the teachers strikes last year in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona after gaining control of statewide walkouts organized by rank-and-file teachers who used social media to break through the opposition of the unions to any organized resistance.

The United Auto Workers is seeking to suppress any fightback by workers against GMs plans to shut plants and lay off 15,000 workers in the US and Canada. The Teamsters ignored a no vote by rank-and-file UPS workers and imposed a rotten concessions contract last year.

Arguing before the Supreme Court in the Janus case in 2017, the lawyer for the unions, appealing for support from the robed representatives of the ruling class, stated bluntly: Union security is a tradeoff for no strikes.

This is an acknowledgment from the horses mouth that the essential role of the trade unions today is to suppress the class struggle and police the working class for the corporate bosses.

This anti-working-class role flows inexorably from their nationalism and defense of capitalism. The unions support for trade war and promotion of xenophobiatelling US workers that their enemy is not capitalism but their fellow workers in Mexico, China and other countriesis essential to their task of suffocating working-class opposition and subordinating workers to their own national ruling class.

The unions are not working-class organizations, but business entities led by officials with six-figure salaries that place them in the top five percent income bracket. They extract dues from workers wages in order to funnel money into the Democratic Partys coffers.

The president of AFGE, J. David Cox, pulled in a total compensation of nearly $300,000 in 2015, approximately ten times the starting wage of a TSA worker. During the 2016 election cycle, Coxs union gave more than $1 million to the Democrats.

The unions are aided in the suppression of the class struggle by their boosters in the pseudo-left organizations, including the International Socialist Organization. An article on the government lockout posted on the ISOs website Monday failed to make any call for industrial action, lining up behind the union officials and against the workers. The most it could muster, referring to the growing wave of TSA sickouts, was the pathetic line: Could this be organized into a coordinated sick-out?

The outpouring of support for the government workers from workers across the country and internationally expresses the powerful potential that exists for the mobilization of this sentiment in mass industrial and political action. However, the last thing the Democratic Party and its adjuncts in the unions and the pseudo-left want is a real social movement against Trump that would pose the question of who should rule society: an ultra-wealthy minority of oligarchs or the working-class majority. A resolution to the shutdown that is left in the hands of the ruling class will mean deeper attacks on the living standards of workers.

The logic of the situation makes clear the urgent need for the working class to break free of the unions. The struggle of US federal workers is part of a growing international struggle of the working class driven by the crisis of the capitalist system and the colossal growth of social inequality. This resurgence of class struggle is taking the form of a rebellion against the old bureaucratic organizations that have suppressed the working class for decades and helped the ruling class drive down wages and living standards.

The yellow vest protests in France, the strike of 70,000 maquiladora workers in Matamoros, Mexico, and the teachers rebellions of 2018 have set a critical example showing that workers can undertake serious action only if they mobilize independently of and in opposition to the unions.

Government workers should form democratically elected rank-and-file committees independent of the unions. These committees should coordinate with federal workers across the country and link up with other sections of workers coming into struggle in the US and internationally, including teachers in Los Angeles, Oakland, Denver and Virginia; UPS and Amazon workers; autoworkers in the US, Canada and Mexico; and the yellow vest protesters in France.

This will lay the basis for mass demonstrations and strikes as part of a political mobilization against the two parties of big business and a fight for socialism.
We support the LA teachers, an Oklahoma biology teacher told the World Socialist Web Site, speaking for her coworkers in the Oklahoma public school system. Deini is a veteran of the two-week-long strike of educators last April which spread throughout the southwestern statethe first such walkout in over 25 years.

She said, What I hear is [LA] teachers are upset and concerned about are the same things [we are]. Honestly, a small part is about teacher salary. This is not an educators biggest concern.

Education is just underfunded. There are huge classrooms with 30-40 kids. We do our best, but the toll is taken on the kids. Were trying to teach, but the students cant find a place to sit in the classroom. In some districts, there are textbooks that are taped together.

She solidarized herself with the struggle against Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutners plan for portfolio schools and growing privatization. Always as a teacher I want every student out there to get an education. If youre going to charter schools, is every student really going to get the same thing? Deini asked.

Oklahoma has itself been a testing ground for the portfolio model of education with which Beutner, together with the pro-privatization Broad Foundation, is identified. With generous foundation funding earmarked for the purpose, Tulsa Public Schools has established a director of portfolio management to promote partnerships with charter schools. Likewise, the cash-strapped school districts in the state implemented the Gates Teacher Effectiveness Model (TLE) value-added teacher evaluations, A-F grading of schools and third-grade reading retention policiesall measures designed to degrade public education as failing and promote charter schools.

Over the past decade, Oklahoma enacted more cuts to public education than any other state in the US. It slashed 30 percent of its general education funding while giving massive tax cuts to the states oilmen. Income taxes were cut first by Democrats and then Republicans.

In response, rank-and-file Oklahoma teachers followed the example of West Virginia last spring and took the initiative. They demanded strike action, full funding of public schools and $10,000 raises. The Oklahoma Educators Association (OEA) then launched a series of subterfuges trying to prevent a walkout, including a grossly inadequate last-minute deal which they labeled historic. When the anger of teachers made the strike inevitablewith or without the unionthe OEA jumped in and attempted to limit it to a one-day protest.

Teachers, however, had had enough. They defied state law and forced a statewide strike which began April 2 and lasted for two weeks. However, without independent organizations, Oklahoma teachers were unable to prevent the OEAin league with pseudo-left social media groupsfrom reasserting control and concluding a rotten betrayal. The National Association of Education and the American Federation of Teachers deliberately isolated Oklahoma educators from ongoing struggles in Arizona, Kentucky and elsewhere, with calls for campaigns for elected office and the Remember in November slogan. The national unions were adamantly opposed to unifying the teachers across state lines in a nationwide walkout.

The betrayal of the Oklahoma strike is indeed a critical lesson for teachers in Los Angeles who face not only the same overstuffed classrooms, inadequate resources and poverty wages, but the same enemies in the unions, which are seeking to shut down the strike and impose a rotten pro-privatization deal.

Speaking directly to LA teachers, Deini pointed to these bitter experiences. Asked if she supports forming rank-and-file committees outside the unions, she concurred, I do. She explained, Honestly, a lot of teachers felt betrayed by the OEA. They caved and put an end to the strike, and teachers didnt get what they were fighting for. Once the OEA said we got what we wanted, teachers were being told by the union if you dont come back to the classroom, we wont support that.

As another Oklahoma teacher put it at the time, the OEA ran out in front of our train which was gaining momentum and started acting like they were leading the train, and then said they were stopping the train.

In the aftermath of this betrayal, Deini said, Many teachers have left the union. We paid dues for 15-20 years and got nothing [from the strike fund], a policy the United Teachers of Los Angeles has also reprised in LA.

Throughout the teachers strikes last springfrom West Virginia to New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Coloradothe WSWS called for spreading the strikes nationally and internationally. We advocated a socialist program, in opposition to the Democrats and Republicans, calling for the reorganization of social life based on need, not profit. We pointed to the necessity of a workers government and the confiscation of the billions looted from society by a handful of oligarchs as the only means to provide high quality, fully funded education for all and address the terrible growth of poverty and social inequality.

Deini also emphasized the need for the full funding of public education. We are held to very high standards, she said. We dont mind being held to high standards. I just want to get respect and appreciation in the form of funds for education. They find money for other things. Education is the bottom of the barrel. They find money for things that they think are important. It follows the campaign money trail.

When asked about the fact that Los Angeles teachers are being told to put their faith in the local Democratic Party politicians who carried through all the budget cuts, she said, Our state is different, its Republican. I dont really care whether they have a D or an R by their name, I care what theyre doing.
Throughout 2018, the working class in New Zealand, spearheaded by thousands of nurses, teachers, public servants and transport workers, joined the mass struggles against austerity and declining living standards taken up by workers internationally.

The movement is continuing in the New Year. Some 3,300 junior doctors at public hospitals struck for 48 hours this month and will hold another strike beginning January 29, in opposition to a freeze in real wages and demands for longer shifts.

Strikes by thousands of teachers over unsettled contract claims have been foreshadowed for when the new school year begins in February. Learning support workers employed by the Ministry of Education, managing services for children with extra learning needs, this week walked out for a month over a rejected pay claim.

The response of the Labor-NZ First-Green Party coalition government has been to present a phoney progressive facade, while implementing the austerity agenda dictated by big business.

Installed in office after the 2017 election, Labour and its right-wing populist partner, the NZ First Party, pledged to restore capitalisms human face with policies based on kindness. One widely-promoted promise was to change the law to strengthen workers rights to organise and improve their conditions. As with vows to address the housing crisis and the under-funding of hospitals, this has proven completely hollow.

Labours amended Employment Relations Act (ERA), which became law in December, retains the draconian anti-working class measures from the 19992008 Labour governments industrial laws. These continue to outlaw strikes, except during collective contract negotiations, or over health and safety issues.

When 30,000 nurses struck last year, they faced restrictive good faith bargaining provisions, which require ongoing negotiations between the union and employers, and strike-breaking requirements for large numbers of nurses to remain in hospital wards. After Labour declared there was no more money to grant substantial wage and staffing increases, the NZ Nurses Organisation shut down the movement and imposed a three-year settlement which fails to meet the increased cost of living.

Mike Treen, head of the Unite union, last year welcomed the proposed changes and wrote that the Labour government's industrial laws, taken as a whole, could significantly enhance workers power by boosting the power of the unions. This, he declared, would "threaten" the fiscal constraints the government has imposed on itself. The unions, however, have suppressed any real struggle against austerity and pro-business deregulation for the past four decades.

In fact, under the ERA, the hated 90-day trial period for new hires has been ended only in firms with over 20 workers. Small businesses, which account for some 97 percent of workplaces, can still summarily dismiss workers during this period. Minor legal rights to tea and meal breaks are restored.

To bolster the unions role in policing the working class, the new law grants them improved access to workplaces. Union representatives can enter workplaces without consent in order to negotiate or enforce collective agreements. Workers will have protections against discrimination on the basis of their union membership, while union delegates gain guaranteed paid time for union activities.

After pressure from business and NZ First, the draft legislation was altered to enable employers to unilaterally opt out of multi-employer collective agreement (MECA) bargaining. Business NZ chief executive Kirk Hope said this change made the bill more acceptable to business.

Fifteen months into its term in office, far from improving the lot of working people, the government and the trade unions are centrally responsible for an intensifying assault on the social position of the working class.

A recent Council of Trade Unions (CTU) cost-of-living survey highlighted the crisis facing workers. While intended by the union bureaucrats to feign sympathy for their plight, the survey pointed to the underlying conditions that have driven the upsurge in workers struggles.

Seventy percent of the 1,195 survey respondents reported their incomes were not keeping up with rising costs, while over 55 percent said their workloads had worsened. One commented: After coming back to NZ it is ridiculous how expensive basic groceries arenot to mention fuel and power. Another said: I have been in my current job 10+ yrs. I have had to do 2 merit steps to be paid $22.60 per hour. This is the same pay I was on when I left Australia 12 years ago. My position can be stressful & holds a lot of responsibility. I feel undervalued & underpaid.

Economist Bill Rosenberg cited figures revealing the declining share of workers income in the overall economy, a process that began under the 198490 Labour Party government, and deepened following the 2008 global financial crisis.

According to a new Oxfam report, in the first year of the Ardern Labour government, the poorest half of the population, 2.4 million people, became collectively $1.3 billion poorer. The countrys richest 5 percent now have more wealth than the bottom 90 percent, with the two richest individuals adding $1.1 billion to their fortunes in 201718.

Labours priority is to keep taxes low for corporations and the rich, and public spending restricted, while boosting funding for the military and police. Government spending, at 28 percent of gross domestic product, is lower than for almost all of the three terms in office of the previous National government.

Amid rising anger among workers over the unions role in enforcing the requirements of big business, pseudo-left commentators are seeking to subordinate workers to these pro-capitalist organisations.

On the Redline blog, Don Franks, formerly of the Maoist Workers Party, feebly criticised the concessions in the ERA legislation. He appealed to the CTU leadership for a change of tactics, declaring: Together we can make 2019 a great year for working people. If we get back to some hardball union basics.

This is a fraud. The plummeting social position of the working class, and ongoing strangulation of workers struggles requires nothing less than a complete political break from Labour and the establishment parties, and a rebellion against the union bureaucrats, who function as tools of management and the government. New organisations, rank-and-file workplace committees democratically controlled by workers themselves, must be built in a fight for a workers government and socialist policies.

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As public anger grows over the dysfunctional New York City mass transit system, Democratic governor Andrew M. Cuomo unilaterally proclaimed last month that the Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys (MTA) long-announced plan to shut down the L subway line connecting parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn for a 15-month period would not take place after all.

The L lines Canarsie Tunnel that runs under the East River was damaged by flooding from Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The transit agency had developed a plan to completely shut down the L line in order to properly repair the tunnel.

Apparently without any consultation with the MTA, the governor suddenly announced that a less drastic plan developed by a panel of engineers from Columbia and Cornell universities would be implemented. Instead of a complete shutdown, this plan calls for work to be done on nights and weekends.

The governors plan has been the object of numerous concerns and complaints. Carmen Bianco, the president of the NYC Transit division of the MTA from 2013 to 2015, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times asserting that the latest plan raises serious health and safety risks for both passengers and workers.

In confined spaces like these, in a tube that is nearly a mile long, ventilation is complicated, and emergency egress is more difficult, with passengers and employees having to travel longer distances to safety in a complicated environment, Bianco wrote. The space is also narrow, making it more difficult for employees to work.

He also noted that Cuomos plan was not a serious attempt to fix the tunnel, but a Band-Aid that does not fundamentally address the long-term structural needs of the tube. The result: Well be right back here in the same situation in 10 to 20 years 

In other words, while the governor relishes the opportunity to pose as the savior of harried commuters, Cuomos plan is a potential disaster in the making.

According to the Times, [T]he Metropolitan Transportation Authority considered a similar idea nearly five years ago and determined that it raised serious safety concerns, including the potential for the spread of cancer-causing dust that could affect commuters and workers, according to documents obtained 

Transport Workers Union Local 100 represents nearly 40,000 New York City transit workers. The union, which has become a slavish supporter of Cuomo, has not issued a statement about a plan that is potentially dangerous to the health and safety of its members and the passengers alike.

Cuomos control over the MTA stems in part from the six out of 14 votes on the MTAs board from members he appoints. The governor would like to extend his power in this area. He developed this theme in his annual State of the State and budget address delivered last Tuesday, in which he asserted his desire to have the state legislature establish clear authority over the MTA.

The governor, now in his ninth year in office, stated, It [the MTA] was purposefully designed so that everyone can point fingers at everybody else, and nobody is responsible. Why? Because no politician wanted to be responsible. No politician wants to be the one that suggested a fare increase. I am telling you that is the fundamental problem with the MTA.

Cuomo now feels compelled to assert this very well-known fact because he himself has not been able to hide behind the allegedly independent agency, but instead has been blamed for the deteriorating service and fare hikes every two years.

In addition to the New York Transit Authoritys plan to replace and modernize an aging and antiquated signal system, costing an estimated $37 billion over 10 years, Cuomo mentioned the need for a number of other necessary projects, such as linking the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal, at a cost of $11.2 billion.

In addition to projected shortfalls in its operating budgets for years in the future, the MTA has an out-of-control long-term bond debt, which according to one estimate is now about $41 billion and, as observers who follow the agencys finances agree, is growing like a cancer. The MTA now projects an operating budget deficit of $500 million in 2020, which will rise to $1 billion a year by 2021, even with the two fare hikes expected in 2019 and 2021. In addition, New York US Senator Chuck Schumer has warned that the prolonged federal shutdown could cost the MTA about $150 million monthly in federal funds.

Another part of Cuomos Canarsie Tunnel repair plan emerged when the governor declared that the City of New York must pick up half the tab. This is only the latest chapter in the ongoing dispute between Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, who have feuded over transit and numerous other issues, each blaming the other for spending shortfalls in order to cover up the role of the party they represent.

The big, ongoing question is: Where will the money come from? In one of the wealthiest cities in the world, the capitalist politicians all claim the resources are almost impossible to find.

Despite Cuomos and de Blasios animosity, both agree that it should not be the wealthy who pay for the crisis of mass transit. The mayors progressive pretensions and Cuomos image as a would-be savior of public transit are equally fraudulent, as recently revealed when the two enemies came together to give Jeff Bezos, the richest man on the planet, hundreds of millions of dollars as an incentive to establish a new Amazon headquarters in the Long Island City section in the borough of Queens.
Two developments this week point to the intensifying rifts tearing apart the governing Liberal-National Coalitionone of the main parties of capitalist rule in Australia since World War IIas well as the growing popular disaffection with the entire political establishment, including Labor and the Greens.

The first event was the supposedly unexpected announcement last Sunday by senior cabinet minister Kelly ODwyer that she would quit parliament at the looming federal election, which must be held by May. She is a supporter of Malcolm Turnbull, who was ousted as the Coalitions prime minister last August.

The second was a call last Monday by Tony Abbott, a previously-deposed Coalition prime minister, for disenchanted voters to support the opposition Labor Party rather than independents, because Labor was a politically responsible party of government.

ODwyer, the minister for jobs, industrial relations and women, cited very personal reasons of wanting to spend time with her children. But there was no mistaking the political implications of her move, which the media reported as a shock.

On one level, it was a desertion from an apparently sinking ship. Polling continues to indicate that the Coalition faces a severe defeat at the election. There was speculation that ODwyer could even lose her inner-Melbourne seat, previously regarded as a blue ribbon Liberal Party electorate.

In damage control mode, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stood beside ODwyer as she announced her decision. He insisted she had his full support in making a great choice for her family, and he wanted her to continue as minister until the election. Morrison evidently wanted to avoid another cabinet reshuffle, but that leaves the key post of industrial relationsthat is dealing with the working classin the hands of a lame duck.

Clearly, ODwyers action goes deeper. It undermines Morrisons efforts to hold the government together while shifting the Coalition further to the right, in league with Abbott and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Together, they triggered last Augusts removal of Turnbull, the leader of the Liberal Partys self-titled socially progressive and economically conservative wing.

Twice last year, ODwyer spoke out against the Abbott-Dutton wing, which is seeking to refashion the Coalition into a Trump-style right-wing populist formation. This faction is trying to divert the rising social discontent, produced by destruction of permanent jobs, falling living standards and decaying social services, in reactionary nationalist, anti-immigrant and law and order directions.

In early September, just after Turnbulls dumping, ODwyer told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that members of the right faction had subjected Liberal Party parliamentarians to threats, intimidation and bullying in order to remove Turnbull.

Following the Liberal Partys heavy defeat in Novembers Victorian state election, ODwyer told a party room meeting that crusades by ideological warriors among her colleagues had hijacked the party and left it regarded by voters as homophobic, anti-women, climate-change denyers.

As soon as ODwyer announced her departure, Turnbull took to twitter to hail her as a true liberal. Her move sparked reports that other government MPs could make similar announcements, including two Turnbull ministers who refused to serve under MorrisonJulie Bishop who was foreign minister, and Craig Laundy, who was small business and workplace minister. Immigration Minister David Coleman, another Turnbull backer, was also named.

They would follow other Liberal Party MPs in not contesting the election. They include Julia Banks, who quit the party after Turnbulls removal, Ann Sudalis, who was targeted for a pre-selection challenge by the right faction, and David Bushby, the chief government whip in the Senate, a right-wing faction member to whom the government last week handed a plum job as Consul-General in Chicago.

Unnamed Liberal Party sources told journalists that key ministers were likely to quit as well if the party suffered a seismic defeat at the election. Those mentioned were Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and Foreign Minister Marise Paynetwo leading members of Turnbulls moderate wingand Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who swung behind Turnbulls replacement by Morrison.

The crisis engulfing the government only intensified yesterday, following Morrisons decision to install prominent indigenous businessman Warren Mundine as the Liberal candidate for a regional New South Wales (NSW) seat, at the expense of the already nominated local candidate, Grant Schultz.

Schultz responded by resigning from the Liberal Party, publicly denouncing Morrison and announcing he would stand against Mundine as an independent.

The ABC reported today: Angry Liberals are tearing up their party memberships on the New South Wales south coast over the decision. Among those who have resigned are the presidents of two local branches. Gerringong branch president Philip Motby told the ABC: Head office seem to think they know more than we do so theyre bringing their man in. Thats fine, [then] let them come in and man the polling booths and do the running around.

Abbotts remarks take on a particular significance in this context. He told 2GB radio: If you want a credible parliament, if you want serious government dont vote independent. It is better to vote for the Labor Party than to vote for an independent. Because for all Labors faults at least they are a party of government or potential government and that means there is a level of responsibility which the Labor Party has to take, which no independent or minor party does.

This message echoes the reported comments of Rupert Murdoch in telling a fellow media mogul, Kerry Stokes, last year that Turnbull has to go, even if it meant a period of Labor government. Murdoch, a major figure in the US and global corporate elite, reportedly said he could make money under Labor and the trade unions.

Under conditions of a rapidly deteriorating economic situation internationally and in Australiaincluding a US-China trade war, slowing Chinese and global growth, falling share and property pricesthe ruling class would rely on a Labor government to impose the burden of a crash onto the back of working class households.

Labor, backed by the trade unions, has served this function for more than a century, taking office in periods of crisis, such as war and economic breakdown, to inflict sacrifice on the population.

At the same time, Abbotts plea to voters reflects fears in ruling circles that this bitter record is now fuelling a deeper political disenchantment that so-called independents and minor parties can exploit, further destabilising the parliamentary order that has maintained capitalist rule since the late 19th century.

With voting support for the establishment parties plunging over the past quarter century, Australias political system has become increasingly unstable, with seven short-lived prime ministers since 2007.

Various far-right formations are jostling to outflank the Coalition in trying to channel the unrest in reactionary directions. Abbott specifically attacked iron ore billionaire Clive Palmer, who has vowed to plunge more than $50 million into an election campaign for his rebadged United Australia Party (formerly the Palmer United Party).

After being wiped out in the 2016 election, Palmers party has just one member of parliament, Senator Brian Burston, who defected last year from another right-wing party, Pauline Hansons anti-immigrant One Nation. Palmer is bombarding voters with television advertisements, roadside billboards and unsolicited text messages in the hope of filling the political vacuum created by the discrediting of the Coalition, Labor and the Greens.

Also vying for position are One Nation, Liberal Party defector Cory Bernardis Australian Conservatives, Bob Katters Australian Party and the recently registered Fraser Anning Conservative National Party. Anning, a previous member of both One Nation and Katters party, used his maiden speech in parliament last year to demand a final solution to stop immigration and a return to the racist White Australia policy.

Labor, while claiming to oppose the far-right groups, is fully committed to enforcing the dictates of the financial elite if it returns to office, creating fertile ground for these formations.

Above all, together with Labor, these outfits and assorted independents are trying to head off an eruption of strikes and other forms of working class opposition. Their greatest fear is a turn by workers and youth toward a socialist perspective, as the only alternative to capitalisms escalating social inequality and lurch toward war.
After their twelfth day of strike, tens of thousands of workers in Matamoros, Mexico, mostly auto-parts workers, continue to paralyze almost half of the 110 maquiladora plants in the city.

The strike has sent shockwaves across the North American auto industry. Ford and GM workers in the United States report parts shortages to the WSWS Autoworkers Newsletter while the US and international media are censoring the strike.

On Tuesday, the corporations sent appeals to president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO) to intervene directly through both repression and by appealing to workers to accept a rotten compromise.

The Business Coordinating Council (CCE), which includes the largest employer groups in Mexico, sent a communique to Lopez Obrador that read, Appealing to your mandate and authority we ask for your intervention since this moment of instability that the labor and business sectors live in Matamoros can bring irreversible consequences for the regions economy. Shamelessly, the statement admits that the contracts have a clause tying directly their bonuses with the minimum salary, which the companies have refused to pay.

Shortly after, Juan Villafuerte, leader of the main union, the SJOIIM, seconded this call. Its very, very, very necessary now, the intervention of the Labor Secretary or the president himself People will listen to no one else, Villafuerte said to local media.

Calls for federal intervention come as maquiladoras threaten to lay off workers and shut production, with many workers reporting mass firings. Police and Navy officials have been deployed to intimidate strikers. On Monday evening, one striker, Juan Jose, was violently attacked by unidentified thugs when he was returning home after participating in a mass march.

Striking workers have responded to these calculated acts of violence with enormous bravery, continuing to attend mass assemblies and appealing for greater unity and coordination among workers for protection and for the strike to expand.

Behind the workers backs, the companies are carrying out secret discussions with the trade unions and government officials to suffocate the strike. The demands of the workers for a 20 percent wage increase and a $1,700 bonus have been completely rejected by the companies even though losses from the strike have far surpassed the cost of the bonus and raise.

But in public, the political establishment has brought out labor lawyer Susana Prieto Terrazas to appeal to workers to keep their struggle within an acceptable framework. Last week, Prieto explicitly told workers not to form their own independent organizations to appeal to workers internationally: Fellow workers, you have to pressure, to begin with, the union. You cannot free yourselves from Villafuerte for now.

Yesterday, she addressed thousands of workers at another mass assembly at the central plaza of Matamoros. While feigning sympathy for the workers and criticizing the trade unions, Prieto reproduced the union and the companys arguments, insisting that we need the Federal Government. She claimed that Lopez Obrador will defend workers interests, citing his increase in the minimum wage from USD $4.5/day to $9/day across the US-Mexico border region.

Workers who want to know what federal intervention in Matamoros might look like must study the example of the Oaxaca massacre in 2016, when federal police shot and killed teachers on strike in defense of public education in the town of Nochixtlan. In 2014, members of the Mexican Army kidnapped and disappeared 43 students protesting over school conditions in Iguala, Guerrero.

As workers now know, AMLOs minimum wage hike was a cover set up for companies to cut bonuses and other benefits while violating contracts stipulating wage increases across the board proportionate to the 100 percent increase in the minimum salary. Moreover, AMLOs plan for the border region cuts sales and income taxes from 40 to 20 percent and will create new pro-business incentives which will further deprive these areas of needed funding for health care, education, public transportation and other vital social services.

As an attorney, Prieto has close political ties to Lopez Obradors National Regeneration Movement (Morena), the governing party nationally. According to an August 20, 2018 article in the English-language El Paso Inc., Prieto was working closely with Ciudad Juarez mayoral candidate and Morena member Javier Gonzalez Mocken in the 2018 elections.

In a June 6, 2018 article, 915 Noticias El Paso reported that Mocken pledged his support for the maquiladora owners, telling INDEX-AMEC, a chief association of Maquiladora owners, that the government needed to have the intelligence to make deals with the corporations. He told the corporate representatives, I ask you to join me in constituting part of the municipal government if the election result is in our favor. According to the report, one of the themes discussed at this meeting was the labor climatecode for cutting wages, bonuses and benefits to ensure corporate profits.

According to the El Paso Inc. report from after the election, Prieto was behind an effort to organize a march in Downtown Juarez to support Mockens candidacy after he lost a close election.

Matamoross mayor Mario Lopez, who is also a member of Morena, helped work out the cuts to workers bonuses and recently denounced workers appeals for raises.

More and more workers are growing wise to the lie that AMLO and Morena will defend their interests. This conflicts entirely with their experiences in the strike so far and if workers yield the initiative to the government, they will be paving the way for disaster.

As one anonymous striking auto-parts worker told the WSWS on Tuesday, Its all AMLOs fault!! That is why he hasnt stuck his nose out for us. And, if that is the case, I hope this conflict ends well for us workers who are the undefended class.

All offers of help and aid by pro-capitalist politicians or parties will prove to be traps for the workers. Workers can only put an end to the abusive sweatshop conditions, poverty wages, scarce social services and police-state repression by fighting to mobilize their independent strength as a class against the source of exploitationthe capitalist system.

It is critical that workers continue to develop their independent struggle to elect rank-and-file representatives, in opposition to the trade unions and all capitalist parties and their representatives, to form a new, democratic and citywide strike committee. Workers must not allow control of these organizations to fall into the hands of union bureaucrats, Morena-linked lawyers or agents of the federal government.

Mexican workers have allies in their class brothers and sisters across North America and internationally. It is to these many millions that workers must appeal.

A GM worker from Detroit expressed his support for the Matamoros workers to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter: I am proud of them down there. They are making an impact. It will have a ripple effect. I dont care if it shuts the whole country down It has to start somewhere and that is the perfect place for it. We need to create a path for us all to unite around the world as one.

Stephen Townsend, a former autoworker at International Harvester, wrote an open letter to the Iowa Quad-City Times in support of the Matamoros rebellion against the companies and unions, who like here, act as industrial police. He states in clear-cut terms: Workers in the US have been presented with a choice. Hang on to the nationalism that has handcuffed us or join with our brother and sisters seeking justice everywhere.

Nick, a Fiat-Chrysler worker in Detroit and a member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition of Rank-and-File Committees, invited workers in Matamoros and across North America to join a demonstration organized by the committee at the General Motors headquarters in Detroit in opposition to the companys announced mass layoffs and plant closures.

We stand with our courageous, working-class brothers and sisters in Mexico, Nick said. We are holding the February 9 demonstration to help bridge the divisions and unite as a global workforce in our common cause against the exploitation, oppression and tyranny of the auto companies and their controlled-opposition union partners. Let us together tear down the falsehoods of separation and the illusory borders and stand as one working class to make a better world with our efforts.
New Jerseys Economic Development Authority (EDA) has approved $11 billion in tax incentives for businesses and developers in the past 15 years. According to the authoritys stated mission, the huge sums are designed to promote the retention and creation of jobs. Harrahs, Quest Diagnostics, Eastern Pro Pak, Sysco Guest Supply, and the Philadelphia 76ers have all initiated projects with EDA support. But the EDAs incentives, according to an audit by the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, have been improperly awarded, overstated, and overpaid.

The EDA is an independent state agency governed by a board of thirteen directors appointed by the governor for three-year terms. Public members, who come from local government and the private sector, account for eight of the boards seats. The other five seats are for ex-officio members from various state departments, such as Banking and Insurance, Labor and Workforce Development, and Treasury. As in other US states, these autonomous agencies are charged with representing the public interest, but in effect function to defend the interests of the capitalist ruling elite.

The comptrollers audit noted that the EDA has not created processes to monitor awardees performance and ensure that it satisfies the requirements for receiving the incentives. It has no way of determining whether promised jobs were created or retained, nor does it have adequate means of evaluating the success of the incentive programs, the comptroller said. Thus, in an example of corporate welfare, the EDA has effectively transferred resources from New Jerseys residents to business owners and developers, with no questions asked.

Without monitoring performance, the EDA had certified, between 2005 and 2017, that 401 projects had achieved their goals, releasing tax incentives under programs such as the Grow New Jersey Assistance Program and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth Grant Program. The net effect of these projects, based on the claims of their private developers, would be to create 50,633 new jobs, retain 33,727 jobs, and generate $9.3 billion in capital investment. On this basis, the EDA awarded the businesses $3.4 billion in tax credits. Another $7.6 billion in incentives have not been awarded because the projects have not yet been certified.

The comptrollers office investigated the EDAs administration of 48 of the 401 certified projects and concluded that key internal controls were lacking or nonexistent. The incentive programs have little transparency or accountability, and the EDA lacks an adequate process for determining whether the state gained the economic benefit that the applicants promised, according to the audit. Because it required little documentation to corroborate the results that businesses and developers reported, the EDA made inaccurate representations of awardee performance to the stakeholders and taxpayers. Thus, the EDAs true function was to provide massive tax breaks while hiding this from taxpayers.

Although the EDA has the authority to impose sanctions, the comptrollers office identified several occasions when it took no action after awardees had not satisfied the terms of their agreements. For example, one company did not submit required annual reports for two reporting periods. The EDA was not even aware of these failures until the comptrollers office brought them to its attention. The EDA has not taken any action to recapture any part of the tax incentives from companies that failed to meet required employment levels.

The comptrollers audit is not the first warning that the EDA has received. In 2017, the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) notified the EDA about insufficiencies in the way the latter evaluated and reported program results. However, when required to develop a corrective action plan for the OSA audit, EDA did not sufficiently address the underlying issues, according to the comptrollers audit.

The EDA did, however, seek to create the illusion of accountability. In 2017, it gave an independent certified public accounting firm a three-year contract to help it determine whether the cost and job certification reports that awardees submitted satisfied the incentive programs requirements. The EDA gave the Office of the State Comptroller six reports from this accounting firm. Unlike previous state audits of the EDA, the firms investigation did not find any significant problems. The reason for this discrepancy is simple. The comptroller determined that the results were based on limited procedures, which were agreed upon by EDA and the independent audit firm and did not include a comprehensive reconciliation and comparison of the recipient-reported job data with labor reports.

The audit makes clear that the EDA is not staffed by incompetents who have repeatedly failed to achieve their mission. Rather, its purpose, as an agency of the capitalist government, is to defend the interests of big business and place increased burdens on the working class.

Democratic Governor Phil Murphy requested the comptrollers audit shortly after taking office in January 2018. During the gubernatorial campaign, he had appealed to working-class anger at increasing social inequality by threatening to make millionaires and corporations pay their fair share of taxes. He charged former Republican Governor Chris Christie with having starved social services to give corporations generous tax breaks.

Murphys charge, however politically motivated, was true. By 2015, the middle of Christies second term, the EDA had given more money in tax breaks than had been granted in the ten years before Christie became governor. These incentives went mostly to firms with connections to Christie. For example, the EDA gave $260 million to Holtec, which manufactures nuclear equipment. George Norcross, a state Democratic Party leader who supported Christie, is on Holtecs board.

Meanwhile, services were being gutted. One egregious example is NJ Transit, for which Christie slashed the amount of state funding by 91 percent. The rail system continues to be plagued by cancellations and delays. Some trains do not even complete their scheduled routes.

The publication of the comptrollers audit on January 9 provided Murphy with another opportunity to posture as a defender of the working class. I think and dream what we could have done with $11 billion well spent, he fumed. It makes me incredibly angry. Yet only $3.4 billion of the $11 billion has been awarded. Murphy thus implicitly relinquished his power to prevent the remaining $7.6 billion from being awarded, regardless of the EDAs lack of oversight.

Murphy also was noncommittal about whether the state would attempt to take back any of the previously awarded funds. This blithe acceptance of handouts to big business comes naturally to the governor, a former top official at Goldman Sachs.

As Murphy and the state legislature, which Democrats control, shower their largess on capitalists, more than one-third of households in New Jersey cannot afford necessities like food, housing, transportation and medical care. Their days are permeated with anxiety and stress.

The comptrollers report is an example of the capitalist government airing its dirty linen. The Democratic governor is prepared to point the finger at his political rivals, diverting attention from the fact that the interests of the ruling class are looked after by both parties of big business.
Two and a half years after the 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU), the British capitalist class is mired in crisis.

The dominant pro-Remain faction is desperately manoeuvring to either overturn the result, or at least secure a deal preserving tariff-free access to the Single European Market on which it depends for 40 percent of trade and for Londons role as a centre of financial speculation.

The pro-Brexit faction, led by right-wing Tories and the sectarian thugs of the Democratic Unionist Party, resists all entreaties to compromise. They believe the EU can be forced to accept the UKs terms through an alliance with the Trump administration in Washington. Such an arrangement would free Britain to strike unilateral trade deals internationally and refashion Britain as a Singapore-style free trade zone in Europe based on crushing levels of exploitation.

The working class has no interest in backing either right-wing faction.

The task is not to help overcome a bourgeois crisis of rule, but to mobilise across Europe to take power and implement a socialist programme.

Millions of workers, especially the younger generation, look on with disgust at the naked xenophobia of the Brexiteers, warnings of more job losses, economic downturn and deepening austerity, the strengthening of far-right forces and the return of visa requirements in Europe. However, the claim that renewed membership of the EU is an answer is a lie.

The advocates of Remain are all pro-capitalist politicians, who in all essentials share the anti-working-class agenda of the pro-Brexit Tories. They believe the interests of British imperialism are best pursued within the framework of a European trade bloc. On every major question aside from Brexitattacks on democratic rights, anti-strike laws, as well as cuts to vital social services to funnel money to the big corporations and super-rich and to fund predatory military interventions and warsthe Tories will all march in lockstep with the Blairite wing of the Labour Party.

Moreover, the civilised Europe that the advocates of Remain invoke as an antidote to right-wing British nationalism is a myth. The Brexit vote in 2016 was much larger than anticipated, not because of racism but because of legitimate hostility to the EU as an instrument of capital that has imposed savage austerity against the working class throughout the continent. This offensive continues and escalates.

Since 2008, economists estimate that Europe lost economic activity due to austerity measures imposed by its governments equivalent to Spains entire GDPabout $1.3 trillion. Around 10 percent of people in the euro zone live in a household below the official poverty line, with many more numbered among the working poor. Almost one in six workers in temporary and part-time jobs were at risk of poverty in 2017. This month, the Social Europe think tank issued a report that found the EU-wide poverty rate based upon earning less than 9,760 a year stands at 28.2 percent142 million out of a total population of around 500 million.

This is set to worsen, with Italy, Spain, and even Germany hovering on the brink of recession, amid dire warnings that a second global economic crash is looming.

As for European politics, the 2018 congress resolution of the Socialist Equality Party (Britain) explained that world capitalism is entering a new period of trade and military war, driven by the fundamental contradictions between socialised production and the private ownership of the means of production; and between a global economy and the division of the world into antagonistic nation states. In response, the ruling elite in every country is embracing nationalism, authoritarianism and fascistic reaction.

Brexit was only an initial expression of this disintegration of the post-war European order. The project of European unification under capitalism is being stripped of its liberal pretensions. Right-wing movements are being assembled as a shock force against the working class, and the doors of state office thrown open to the likes of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Italys Lega. Seven decades after the death of Hitler, the fascistic AfD is the main opposition party in the German parliament while in France, President Macron pays tribute to the leader of the Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime, Marshal Petain, the resolution explained.

The deep alienation from official politics expressed in the 2016 referendum is rooted in the extraordinary growth of social inequality and a hatred of the worlds ruling elites who have benefited from this social misery. This was acknowledged this month by the International Monetary Funds David Lipton, who warned of lower levels of trust in the core [global] institutions and of national governance that has in many respects [also] fallen into disrepute One lingering resentment growing out of the Global Financial Crisis was the perception that bankers were saved at the expense of the average worker.

Lipton asked, What might the next economic downturn produce? History suggests such a downturn is somewhere over the horizon

The response of the working class is already becoming clear in the form of an initial wave of strikes across Europe, in the United States, Mexico and around the world. After decades in which the social democratic parties and trade unions worked successfully to suppress the class struggle and allow free rein to the major corporations and banks, a mood of resistance is growing.

The yellow vest protests in France against President Macron, mass protests in Hungary against the Fidesz governments slave labour scheme and the strike by 70,000 Mexican auto-workers are all examples of the beginnings of a mass international movement against the financial oligarchy and its imposition of austerity.

It is essential that British workers intervene in the crisis over Brexit based on their own class programme and interests. To do so they must base themselves consciously on this emerging global movement of the working class. This means rejecting all appeals by the various pseudo-left groups to take sides with one or other faction of the ruling class and their insistence that workers entrust their fate to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

In 2016, the SEP called for an active boycott of the Brexit referendum, warning, There can be no good outcome of such a plebiscite. Whichever side wins, working people will pay the price.

Against the reactionary perspective of national economic development that was at the heart of the Brexit agenda and support for the EU, we called for workers to adopt the perspective of a unified struggle across the continent for the United Socialist States of Europe.

Brexit and the pseudo-left groups

All the pseudo-left groups lined up behind one or another capitalist faction, with the Socialist Party and Socialist Workers Party (SWP) advocating a Left Leave vote portraying Brexit as the basis for a national road to socialism through reforms implemented by a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn. Left Unity, Socialist Resistance and the Alliance for Workers Liberty also lined up behind Corbyn and the Labour Party, which backed Remain, while promoting the progressive virtues of the EU.

Today, the former advocates of Left Leave support a Labour government as the answer to a Brexit crisis which they played a central role in creating. This is to be brought about by protests, organised and controlled by the trade union bureaucracy, to secure a general election.

To this end, the Socialist Party urges the trade unionsthe largest democratic organisations of the working classto step up to the plate, while Counterfire insists, The whole labour movement therefore has every interest in uniting to ensure that from this crisis the Tories are forced to leave office and a general election is called.

No call is made for a struggle against either the trade union leaders, or the Blairites, even as the SWP admits, The Labour Party is not mobilising its membership to act over the crisis The trade unions are spectating. This is a massive political crisis but working-class people are not being organised to shape the outcome.

The SWP knows full-well that the Labour Party and the trade unions are not merely spectating. They are vehemently opposed to such a mobilisation of the working class because they serve the interests of big business.

The pseudo-lefts are forced to hinge their fantasy politics on the claim that Corbyn represents an opposition to the right-wing in the unions and the Labour Party and even a socialist alternative. This lie is becoming increasingly threadbare, after three years in which he has bowed down before every programmatic demand of the Blairites. His performance during the Brexit debacle should bury it.

Corbyn has acted throughout in his central role of opposing the class struggle and insisting that all questions of principle must be subordinated to maintaining the unity of the Labour Party and doing only that which is possible through parliament.

If Corbyn were serious about fighting for a general election to remove the Tories, this would be framed as a demand for action by the working class. Instead, Corbyns appeal was to the Blairites to allow him the right to move a motion of no-confidence in the government, and to the City of London based on his pledge to negotiate access to Europes markets if Labour came to power. Now his motion of confidence has failed, the Blairites will move forward with their demand for a second referendummost likely with Corbyns blessing.

It is measure of the cynicism of the pseudo-left that the theoretical leader of the SWP, Alex Callinicos, acknowledges the fraudulent character of its socialist rhetoric. He wrote December 18 in International Socialism, This journal has long opposed the EU as a dysfunctional would-be imperialism that seeks to drive neoliberalism deep into its member states and its periphery. On that basis we supported a vote to leave in 2016 But although we think it is right to stand against the EU, we dont think that this is the most important issue for socialists.

In the January 22 Socialist Worker, Callinicos explained that what is important is to advise Corbyn on how to negotiate with the EU! Corbyn has been attacked for having unrealistic red lines, he writes, but he has some cards in his hand. If he went back to his previous support for free movement (i.e., reversed his anti-immigrant policies!) he would be extending a hand to left wing Remainers and might actually improve Britains bargaining position with the EU.

Writing in International Viewpoint, Socialist Resistance make clear that, for them, British imperialism remaining in the EU is of far greater importance than replacing the Tories with a Labour government. In passages indistinguishable from Tony Blair, they complain, It is right to call for a general election but, were it to happen, it would be seriously problematic. Even at this late stage Corbyn is unable to say whether Labours stand would be pro-or anti Brexit. The only viable answer to this is a second referendum, which remains the only chance of ending this whole process.

Socialist Resistance shows the interests it represents by praising the New York Times for having defended a second referendum by saying that a democracy that does not allow people to think again is not a democracy and notes that support for a second referendum growseven amongst Tory MPs.

These positions fully substantiate the International Committee of the Fourth Internationals designation of the pseudo-left groups as advocates of imperialist realpolitik.

However the factional conflict within the Labour Party and its pseudo-left periphery ends, nothing can emerge that genuinely articulates the interests of the working classincluding a second referendum that would prove to be as divisive as the first.

The answer to austerity is not a pro-capitalist Labour government dedicated to rebuilding national unity across the Brexit divide, but the unification of the working class against the capitalist class in a struggle for socialism.

Workers must form organisations of class struggle, independent from the labour and trade union bureaucracy to bring down the Tories and form a workers government. In this fight, British workers have the most powerful allies in their brothers and sisters throughout the European continent.

Together with our comrades in the International Committees European sections, the SEP in Britain, the Parti de legalite socialiste (PES) in France and the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP) in Germany, we call for a unified struggle against the EU and its constituent governments to end the rule of the financial oligarchy and to establish the United Socialist States of Europe.

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The resurgence of the class struggle and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party (UK)

[6 December 2018]
At least 93 people have died and dozens were severely wounded in an explosion of a gasoline pipeline with a leak in the community of San Primitivo in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, just over 50 miles north of downtown Mexico City.



The victims are being treated in hospitals across Mexico and the United States, most of them with severe burns and fighting for their lives, according to the Secretary of Health. This includes one 12-year-old boy. Four died from their injuries on Tuesday.

The explosion and the enormous human toll are an indictment and a direct result of the reactionary and militaristic policies of the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO) to accelerate the privatization of the countrys oil.

On Sunday, the state governor, Omar Fayed, announced that most of the remains of those killed in the blast are unidentifiable and will take days or even months to identify by way of genetic samples provided by their families.

Hours before the explosion, a leak was reportedly opened deliberately, creating a 22-foot fountain of gasoline that up to 800 neighbors approached during the afternoon to fill bottles for their families to use. At the time of the fire, about 200 people were reportedly in the immediate surroundings.

Shortly after, harrowing images appeared everywhere on social media and the news stations showing dozens of men and women running away from what had become a giant wall of fire. Family members nearby, calling out the names of their loved ones and telling people on fire to roll on the ground, captured with their phones the moments victims approached them, pleading, Help me, Im dying.

The deadly fire took place in the context of a new supply and distribution system implemented by the recently-elected National Regeneration Movement (Morena) government of Lopez Obrador to prevent the stealing of gasoline from pipelines.

The governments strategy, implemented the first week of 2019, has consisted in deploying more than 5,000 members of the military and police to Pemex installationsincluding six refineries, 39 storage and distribution terminals and othersand closing down 1,050 miles of pipelines until they can be policed by the armed forces or repaired.

At least ten states in the center of Mexico have reported shortages of fuel, and the Federal Consumer Protection Office (Profeco) reported last Tuesday that 69.5 percent of gas stations in these states surrounding the capital, Mexico City, had no oil.

In the colonias or neighborhoods and surrounding cities of this scattered metropolitan area of more than 25 million people, getting gas has required waiting hours in lines that extend for a mile or more. This has produced the immediately desperate conditions in which hundreds approach such dangerous leaks, something that continues even after the fire on Friday.

More broadly, however, as part of the oil privatization scheme initiated by the previous administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, cuts to gas subsidies to liberalize the market have made the product increasingly unaffordable for workers.

The explosive and massive Gasolinazo protests all across the country in January 2017 in response to a 20 percent price hike caused by subsidy cuts demonstrated the widespread and profound popular opposition to the ongoing privatization scheme, but also the obstinate determination of the ruling class to carry it through, deploying the military and police to suppress the protests, leaving four dead and hundreds arrested.

The policy of the Morena administration to deal with oil theft is a continuation of the militarized response of the ruling class to any obstacles to the implementation of energy reform and social cuts, including preparation to crack down on future protests like those in 2017 against privatization.

This is yet another measure by Lopez Obrador repudiating his campaign promises to remove the military from domestic operations, after years of being implicated in widespread abuses and even massacres like the 2014 killing of the 43 Ayotzinapa teaching students.

The 2019 budget approved by Lopez Obrador and the Morena-controlled Congress was celebrated by ruling circles because of its continued social austerity under the banner of fiscal responsibility. It also provides the largest disbursement to the armed forces in Mexicos history, in part to create a new National Guard of up to 150,000 soldiers, as a guarantee that the new government will not hesitate to defend the private interests of the bourgeoisie against any challenge from below.

On Sunday, Lopez Obrador stated in a press conference that he didnt blame or criminalize the victims, and rejected criticism by some officials of the failure of a few dozen soldiers present to forcibly remove people from the vicinity of the pipeline before the explosion. We shouldnt do that because we have to resolve these things from their root, he said. Those practices will be eliminated with the support of people and options for people with needs who chose to do these things.

And yet, this is precisely what his policy against oil theft has been, criminalizing and deploying the military against the impoverished workers and youth compelled to take such risks. Lopez Obrador said one honest thing Sunday, pledging all the support to the military, demonstrating that his response to generalized poverty and staggering levels of social inequality will be no different from his predecessorsmilitarization and mass repression.

This was seen clearly in Matamoros this past week, where the administrations response to an ongoing 10-day strike by 70,000 maquiladora workers has been to ignore their demands for just salaries, and deploy police and Navy soldiers with assault rifles to harass workers at the picket lines.

The government has also indicated that the stealing of oil represented losses for the state oil company Pemex of about $3 billion each year, claiming its measures are meant to save money for the government.

However, all signs indicate that they are directed at accelerating the privatization of the oil fields. In fact, the government is assuming new costs on behalf of private companies. On top of the military and police deployments, Pemex will be buying 1,600 new tanker trucks and hiring 3,600 new drivers and other staff from private contractors also profiting from Obradors measures.

When the Pena Nieto administration implemented a sweeping energy reform in August 2014 annulling the 1938 constitutional provision that nationalized the oil industry under President Lazaro Cardenas, 17 percent of proven reserves and 79 percent of prospective ones were opened for private investment.

As of mid-2018, about 3 percent of oil reserves were in private hands, according to Forbes. After a sharp fall in oil prices after 2014 slowed down the pace of privatization, higher prices since the beginning of 2018 (in spite of a significant fall since November 2018) and a relatively cheaper peso, cutting labor and other production costs for the last two years, has accelerated investments and pressures on Pemex to create new incentives.

Back in May 2018, when the tide was turning, Carlos Morales-Gil, CEO of the new oil company Petrobal created by Mexican billionaire Alberto Bailleres Gonzalez, told a meeting of oil magnates in Houston, Texas, Mexico is a country with social challenges. So, the value of our natural resources needs to be realized more efficiently, and monetized quicker. We are a welcoming market If liberalization still remains the objective, we [private companies] also need open access to infrastructure built by Pemex.

The discussion in Houston, according to Forbes, continued on the sidelines of the meeting with demands that Pemex increase its transportation capacity and storage and dismissing any concerns that a Morena administration will have less of an appetite for privatization.

In other words, the oil-supply policies of the Lopez Obrador administration cut across its demagogic claims that it seeks to cut costs for social investment. They expose Obradors nationalist bluster about making Mexico less dependent on US oil by building more refineries, pipelines and investing more on exploration. This rhetoric has all been a facade for transferring enormous wealth from previously state-owned and future oil reserves and from government coffers into the profit-making schemes of the Mexican, US and international financial elite, with fatal consequences for Mexican workers and youth.
Lake Ohrid is a 150 square mile lake situated in the southeastern part of Europe where it straddles the border between Albania and Macedonia. It is considered one of the most ancient and deepest lakes on the European continent. Lake Ohrid is of great economic significance mainly because it is home to a large number of species, about 200 of which are endemic to the lake. In 1979, UNESCO declared Lake Ohrid a World Heritage Site. In 2010, NASA named one of the lakes on Titan, a moon that revolves around Saturn, after Lake Ohrid. Several rivers drain into Lake Ohrid such as the Sateska River and the Biljana's springs while the Black Drin River flows out of the lake.

Lake Ohrid in Macedonia

The larger portion of Lake Ohrid, nearly 96 square miles is situated within the borders of Macedonia. Lake Ohrid's shoreline in Macedonia is roughly 34.8 miles long. Lake Ohrid is considered one of Macedonia's most beautiful tectonic lakes. The lake's scenic location and its beauty have been attracting visitors to the region for a long period. In the modern era, most of the tourists who visit the lake prefer to visit during the summer months. Tourists can easily get to the lake from any of Macedonia's major cities. Tourists can also easily get to the lake by flying from major European cities such as London, Belgrade, and Zurich to St Paul the Apostle Airport. Several settlements are found on the Macedonian side of the lake such as Ohrid and Struga. Ohrid is Macedonia's eighth largest city as well as the largest city in on the shores of the lake. Ohrid is mainly famous because at one point in the past, it was home to 365 churches and people often referred to it as the Jerusalem of the Balkans. The city of Struga is also popular with tourists most of whom visit the town to enjoy the beauty of Lake Ohrid. Struga is also popular because it was the hometown of Ibrahim Temo, one of the most influential individuals in the Ottoman Reform Movement.

Lake Ohrid in Albania

The smaller portion of Lake Ohrid, roughly 42.5 square miles is situated within the borders of Albania. Lake Ohrid's shoreline in Albania is approximately 19.58 miles long. A large section of the lake that is located within Albania's borders is considered a protected area. Several settlements are found around the lake in Albania with Pogradec being the most significant one. Pogradec is deemed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Albania because hills surround it on its western and southern limits. The town is one of Albania's most historic cities with a history that dates back to the 6th century. During the First World War, the city was the site of battles between several groups such as the Austro-Hungarians and the French.

Human Influence on Lake Ohrid

Human activities such as the construction of tourist facilities and pollution have had significant negative effects on the lake. However, other human activities such as conservation efforts have contributed to improving the lake's condition.
The Middle East is a geographical region comprised of 17 nations that cover territory in both Asia and Africa. The region spans an area of roughly 2,782,860 square miles, and in 2010 it was home to more than 370 million people. The Middle East is one of the most linguistically diverse regions with more than 60 languages being spoken in the region including Arabic, Greek, and Kurdish. Most of the languages spoken in the Middle East are native to the region while others were introduced from other parts of the world.

Languages Spoken in the Middle East

Arabic

One of the most commonly spoken languages in the Middle East is Arabic which is native to the region. Some of the nations where Arabic is most widely spoken include Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Some Arabic dialects are spoken throughout the region with Modern Standard Arabic being the official language in several countries. Historical evidence indicates that Arabic originated in the region and was primarily spoken by nomadic communities. Arabic spread throughout the Middle East as a result of intermarriage between the nomadic tribes and other tribes in the region. Another effect of the intermarriages was that it resulted in the creation of several dialects. Another factor that led to the spread of Arabic was the spread of Islam. Arabic has had a significant impact on other languages spoken in the Middle East.

Hebrew

Another dominant language spoken in the Middle East is Hebrew which is primarily spoken in Israel. Hebrew is one of the languages used by a significant number of people native to the Middle East and it has been used for a long time. One of the main ways through which Hebrew spread throughout the Middle East is by the intermarriage of the native speakers and other communities. For a time, Hebrew was considered a dead language; however, due to the action of several activists and scholars, it was revived as a spoken language. Data indicates that more than 9 million people speak Hebrew all over the world. In the Middle East, Israel is the only nation that uses Hebrew as its official language. The version of Hebrew that is used as the official Israeli language is Modern Hebrew. On the other hand, pre-modern Hebrew is chiefly used in religious activities. One of the most commonly spoken Hebrew dialects is Samaritan Hebrew which is primarily used by the Samaritans in their religious activities. Other dialects emerged as a result of the interaction between Hebrew and other languages such as Spanish, Russian and Arabic.

Turkish

Turkish is also widely spoken in parts of the Middle East, primarily in Turkey. The Turks, the native speakers of Turkish, are among the people of the Middle East and they are the language's primary speakers. Linguistic data indicates that Turkish was the third most commonly used language in the Middle East. Unlike other languages that are common to the region, historical data indicates that Turkish originated in Mongolia. Ottoman Turkish is one of the most widely known variants of Turkish. Ottoman Turkish incorporated elements of other local languages such as Persian and Arabic. Ottoman Turkish was mainly limited to the upper-class Turks as the lower class Turks found it challenging to understand due to the influence of other languages. The lower class Turks spoke a variant of Turkish referred to raw Turkish. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed, Ottoman Turkish underwent several reforms which resulted in the removal of most Persian and Arabic words. The reformed form of Turkish is currently used as Turkey's official language. The modern version of Turkish has some dialects such as Guneydogu, Rumelice, and Dogu.

Persian

Another language commonly spoken in the Middle East is Persian which is primarily spoken in Iran and in several countries that border the country. More than 100 million people speak the Persian language all over the world. In the Middle East, Iran is the only nation that uses Persian as its official language. Linguistic research has shown that Persian has dramatically influenced other local languages such as Turkish and Arabic. Persian is one of the languages that have its origins in the Middle East. Linguistic scholars refer to the form of Persian currently in use as Contemporary Persian, which is based on a dialect spoken in Tehran, and it led to the replacement of Classical Persian. Several European languages such as Russian and French have influenced the formation of Contemporary Persian. Contemporary Persian has some dialects such as Western Persian, which is primarily spoken by people who live in Iran, Dari Persian, which is chiefly spoken by people who reside in Afghanistan, and Tajik Persian, which is predominantly used by people who live in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Russian

Even though Russian is not native to the region, it is one of the main languages spoken in the region primarily in Israel. Russian entered the Middle East mainly as a result of immigration by Zionists from Russia to the region. Since a significant number of the Zionists lived in Russia, they had close ties to the language and the culture. In the modern era, roughly 20% of the Israel people spoke Russian. Apart from Israel, Russian is also spoken in Syria. Unlike Israel that has close historical ties to Russia, Russian was introduced to the Syrian people as a result of Russia's close military ties to Syria. The Russian government provided military assistance to the Syrian government and Russian was introduced to Syrian schools as a way of showing gratitude.

English

Another European language commonly spoken in the Middle East is the English language. In several Middle Eastern nations such as Egypt, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, the language is taught in schools as a second language. English is chiefly used for business language between Middle Eastern people and other foreigners. A large number of foreign tourists in the Middle East have also contributed greatly to increasing the region's English speakers.

The Significance of Communal Languages

Languages are vital to Middle Eastern countries as they promote unity between the citizens. The languages also enable individuals to carry out business transactions which improve the economy of the countries.
South Korea is a country found in East Asia in the North Temperate Zone and has a mountainous terrain. The country has a population of about 51.4 million people and an area covering 38,150 square miles. South Korea is one of the worlds most developed economies and is regarded as a high-income country with exceptionally high human development ranking at position 22nd worldwide. As of 2010, South Korea had the 11th worlds largest economy regarding nominal GDP and the worlds 12th largest GDP based on purchasing power parity. The country is a regional powerhouse and a global leader in technological and industrial sectors. South Korea is the fifth largest in the world regarding exports and the eighth largest regarding imports. The economy of the country is largely export driven with the principal export products being automobiles, electronics, machinery, ships, robotics, and petrochemicals. South Korea is among the founding member nations of East Asia Summit and APEC. The country is also a member of WTO, G20, and OECD among other international organizations. The country experienced the highest economic growth rate in 1960s even in the year 2000 it was still one of the fastest-growing nations in the world along with its counterpart countries of Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, which formed what was known as the Asian tigers and what the Koreans refer to as the miracle of the Han River. Some of the natural resources in South Korea include arable land, hydroelectricity, and minerals like lead, graphite, coal, molybdenum, and tungsten among others.

South Korea's Natural Resources

Arable Land

About a quarter of the total land area in South Korea is arable and is currently facing numerous challenges. There is a decline in the farm population and the proportion of agriculture to the national income has decreased significantly from what it was in the early 1950s. Typically farms have been subdivided into small plots by family owners, and they are cultivated primarily by manual labor or animal labor, and this has hampered the improvement in farm productivity. Additionally, the country is experiencing an aging population particularly in the rural areas which have caused a severe shortage in family labor. Work productivity has been increasing in the recent past because the government has attempted to improve by putting great emphasis on mechanization, commercialization, and specialization. Rice is the most common food crop, and different types of food crops are also cultivated which include tangerines, citrus, persimmons, and strawberries. Vegetables, in particularly cabbages and flowers, have become one of the important crops in South Korea. Ginseng, which is one of the most important plants in Korea and other neighboring countries, constitutes a tiny portion of the total agricultural production in South Korea, but it is highly valued because of its superior quality, and it is exported to different countries. Other crops which are widely cultivated across South Korea include potatoes, soybeans, wheat, and barley, but some of these crops are also important because they are required to meet the domestic demand.

Livestock

Livestock production in South Korea is one of the most dynamic agricultural practices in the country. As the country experienced fast economic growth rate, consumption of livestock products such as milk and meat also increased significantly. Meat production increased significantly in response to the increase in consumption and the support from the government. In 1997, beef production in the country was 237,000 tons, which was a huge increase from 1996 when the production was 174,000 tons. Pork production in the same year was about 699,000 tons, chicken produced was 279,000 tons, and the total production of milk was 2.1 million tons. As of 1997, there were approximately 3,257,000 cattle in the country, which represented a 0.3% drop from the previous year. There were a total of 465,000 households who were engaged in rearing and keeping of cattle with an average hand size of 5.9 per household. The total population of cattle was composed of 2,735,000 livestock for beef production and 544,000 livestock kept for milk production purposes. Chicken raised in the country in 1997 was approximately 88,251,000, and the populations of pigs were 7,096,000.

Forests

Most of the forest cover in South Korea has remained relatively unchanged. From as early as the 1970s, there has been successful for reforestation in areas where forests had been cleared. Domestic production of timber accounts for a negligible proportion of the total demand for timber in the country. Logging in the country is primarily limited to the mountainous areas where coniferous trees are widespread in areas such as the provinces of North Kyongsang and Kangwon. The veneer and plywood industry has developed largely because of the imported wood. The South Korean evergreen is one of the largest forests in the country covering an area of 5,700 square miles. The forest is located in the southern fringes of the Korean peninsula. The climate in the region is categorized as temperate and humid and receives an average of 39.4 inches per annum. Other forests in South Korea include Gotjawal forest which is natural forest and the Gyrim woodland forest.

Minerals

South Korea has relatively few mineral resources within its borders, and the most important mineral reserves in the country include graphite, iron ore, coal, silver, gold, zinc, lead, and tungsten. All these minerals constitute approximately two-thirds of the total value of mineral resources in the country. The deposits of tungsten and graphite are among the worlds largest deposits. Mining activities in the country are mainly on the extraction of iron ore and coal. The domestic requirement of crude petroleum and some of its metallic minerals are met through imports.

Forecast of the Countrys Economy

The economy of South Korea grew by 2.7% in 2018 which was the slowest in the country in the past six years, and this was a result of weakening exports. However, in the last quarter of 2018, the economy grew at a rapid rate, and this was a result of an increase in government spending. In 2019, the economy is expected to slow down, and according to some experts, it will grow at the rate of about 2.6%.
Kazakhstan is an Asian nation that has the distinction of being the largest landlocked nation in the world. The Kazakh economy is one of the best developed in the world. In 2017, the Kazakh gross domestic product was roughly $159.4 billion which was an increase from the 2016 gross domestic product of $137.3 billion. Kazakhstan's economic success can be attributed to the ambitious government policies as well as the country's wealth of natural resources that include arable land, minerals, and beautiful scenery.

Natural Resources

Beautiful Scenery

One of Kazakhstan's most important natural resources is its beautiful scenery which attracts significant numbers of tourists to the country. According to the Kazakhstan government, in 2016, more than 6.5 million tourists visited the country. Most of the tourists who visited Kazakhstan in 2016 were from Uzbekistan and Russia which can be attributed to the fact that citizens of those countries can visit the country without a visa for a limited time. One of the country's most popular tourist destinations includes the capital Astana which is mainly popular due to the presence of the Bayterek Tower and the Ak Orda Presidential Palace. The city of Almaty is also considered one of Kazakhstan's most beautiful regions, and it receives large numbers of tourists each year. Despite the significant number of tourists who visit the country, the tourism sector is one of Kazakhstan's smallest industries since it only contributed 3% of the country's gross domestic product in 2014. The Kazakhstani government has put in place several measures to ensure the growth of the country's tourism sector for it to contribute more to the country's economy. The Kazakhstani government planned to invest more than $4 billion in the tourism industry to grow the tourism. Experts believe that growing Kazakhstan's tourism industry would add more than 300,000 jobs to the country's economy.

Forests

In 2015, data from the World Bank indicated that forests covered roughly 1.23% of Kazakhstan's area. The data showed that Kazakhstan's forest cover has been decreasing at a rapid rate and from 1990 to 2010 Kazakhstan lost 3.3% of its forests. The decline in Kazakhstan's forest cover is mainly due to the utilization of the woods for timber. Kazakhstan's forests are primarily crucial because they provide a home to more than 700 species of animals 6% of which are considered threatened. The decline in Kazakhstan's forest cover poses a significant threat to the continued existence of the country's wildlife. According to the Kazakhstani government, illegal logging was the most significant threat facing forests in the country. The government of Kazakhstan has set aside huge sums of money to protect the country's forests. A large portion of the money that the Kazakhstan government set aside would be used to purchase firefighting equipment to protect the country's forests from forests fires which are common during the dry months. The Kazakhstan government partnered with the World Bank to protect the country's forests.

Fish

Even though Kazakhstan is a landlocked nation, fish are some of its most important natural resources. Since ancient times, fishing has been vital to the Kazakhstani people. Most of the commercial fishing in Kazakhstan takes place in the country's lakes and rivers such as the Irtysh River, the Ural River, and Lake Balkash. Kazakhstani fishers also rely on the fish within the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. Within the Ural-Caspian basin that includes the Ural River and the Caspian Sea, some of the fish that are often caught include pikeperch and sturgeons. In the Aral-Syrdarya basin that covers the Aral Sea and the Syr-Darya River, some of the most common fish species include the catfish, asp, and white eye bream. According to the Kazakhstan government, most of the fishermen in the country used vessels that were constructed before the country achieved independence. In 2007 there were roughly 710 fishing vessels registered in the state more than half of which belonged to private citizens and organizations. According to the Kazakhstan government, the fishing sector employed more than 17,000 people in 2006. During the late 20th century, particularly in the 1980s, the fishing sector provided work to more than 60,000 people. The Kazakhstani government identified illegal fishing as the most significant challenge facing the country's fishing sector. According to the government, more than two-thirds of the fish caught in Kazakhstan are not reported.

Arable Land

According to the World Bank, in 2014, roughly 10.89% of the country's land area was classified as arable. The data indicated that since 2008, the amount of arable land in Kazakhstan has been increasing at a gradual rate. The agricultural sector is one of Kazakhstan's most important sectors as it contributed roughly 4.8% of the country's gross domestic product in 2017. The Kazakhstani labor department estimated that the agricultural sector employed roughly 18% of the country's labor force. Kazakhstani farmers grow a wide variety of crops such as cotton, rice, and barley. In the mountains of Kazakhstan, farmers grow grapes which are used in the production of Kazakh Wine. The Kazakh government estimated that the country produced roughly 6 million gallons of wine each year. Despite the vast quantities of wine that the country produces, most of the wine that the Kazakhstani people consume is bought from other nations.

Oil and Gas

Kazakhstan's most essential natural resources are oil and gas, and the country has the potential to be one of the leading oil exporters in the region. Kazakhstan's oil reserves are estimated to be the 11th largest in the world. On the other hand, Kazakhstan has more than 80 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas. During the 21st century, Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry has grown exponentially mainly due to investments from other nations which have been encouraged by the government. The most significant challenge facing the Kazakhstan oil and gas industry is the fluctuation of prices in the international market.

Minerals

Kazakhstan has been blessed with a variety of minerals such as uranium and salt which are some of its most important natural resources. Kazakhstan's uranium reserves are the second largest in the world. Kazakhstan also has significant deposits of coal which are of great economic significance to the country.

Challenges Facing the Kazakhstan Economy

One of the most significant challenges that faced the Kazakhstani economy was the collapse of the Soviet Union which significantly reduced the market for the country's goods. In the modern era, the most significant challenge facing the Kazakhstani economy is the fluctuating prices of oil and gas.
Jordan is a nation found in one of the most strategic areas of the world at the crossroads of several major regions, Africa, Europe, and Asia. According to the World Bank in 2018, the Jordanian gross domestic product was estimated to be $41.87 billion which was the 92nd highest in the world while its per capita gross domestic product was the 95th highest in the world at $4,228. The Jordanian economy is considered to be one of the region's most well developed which can be attributed to several factors such as the country's wealth of natural resources, the government's ambitious policies as well as its strategic location. Some of Jordan's most important natural resources include arable land, minerals, and the country's beautiful scenery.

Jordan's Natural Resources

Arable Land

Data from the World Bank indicated that in 2015, approximately 11.9% of Jordan's land was considered arable. From 2004 to 2015, the size of arable land in Jordan fluctuated significantly, and it reached its lowest levels in 2007 when it accounted for only 10.9% of the country's land area. Arable land has been vital to the Jordanian people for much of their history as they relied on agriculture as one of their crucial economic activities. By the time Jordan became an independent nation, agriculture was one of the most important industries; however, its significance declined in later years. During the 1950s, the agricultural sector contributed roughly 40% of the country's gross domestic product, and in 2015 the industry contributed only 4% of the gross domestic product. The sector declined as an important contributor to the countrys national income because of several factors such as Jordan losing control of the west bank and the increasing importance of other sectors of the economy. Jordanian farmers grow a wide variety of crops such as wheat, tobacco, and barley. The Jordanian government estimated that in 1999, the country's farmers produced more than 12,000 tons of wheat as well as 5,000 tons of barley. The Jordanian government has implemented several policies to grow the country's agricultural sector with one of the main ones being the introduction of irrigation schemes such as the East Ghor Canal which covers a length of 48 miles. The Jordanian government has also encouraged the formation of cooperatives which have been vital in assisting the local farmers by providing loans and advice on modern farming practices.

Livestock

Jordanian farmers keep significant numbers of livestock and they are part of the most critical natural resources in the country. During the 1980s, Jordan had roughly 35,000 cattle and more than 1.5 million goats and sheep. The government adopted several measures to try and increase the number of animals in the country. At the time, the Jordanian livestock industry could only meet 33% of the local demand and the country was forced to import livestock from other nations. The major challenge that limited the growth of Jordan's livestock industry was the high price of imported feeds.

Oil Shale

Another primary natural resource in Jordan is oil shale. Geological evidence indicates that oil shale could be found in more than 70% of Jordan's territory and the country had more than 30 billion tons of oil shale. Jordan's most vital oil shale reserves were situated in the country's western region and they are situated close to the surface where infrastructure had been developed. The countrys oil shale was initially explored before the First World War; however, large scale exploration took place during the 1970s as a result of higher prices for oil shale and the development of new technology that made it easier to extract the oil shale. The government of Jordan signed several agreements with foreign corporations to allow them to extract the oil and convert it to energy. Some of the companies that undertook Jordan's oil shale exploration include Royal Dutch Shell and Petrobras. The government of Jordan planned to utilize its oil shale reserves for power generation to meet the country's energy requirements. The government of Jordan also signed an agreement with a local company in 2005 to allow the company to use the country's oil shale in the production of cement.

Minerals

Jordan has several minerals such as potash and phosphates which are vital to the country's economy. According to the Jordanian government, in 2003, the country produced roughly 2 million tons of potash which were mostly exported to other nations. In that year, Potash exports earned the country more than $192 million. In 2004, Jordan's Potash production declined slightly as the country only produced 1.9 million tons of potash. In 2004, Jordan's phosphate mines produced roughly 6.75 million tons of phosphates which were exported to other countries earning the country roughly $135 million. In 2005, the country's phosphate production decreased to 6.4 million tons; however, Jordan was ranked as the third largest producer of phosphate in the world.

Uranium

By 2015, Jordan had roughly 47,700 tons of uranium which are crucial to the country's economic development. The Jordanian government planned to use the country's significant uranium resources to generate nuclear power. The Jordanian government granted Areva Group S.A. the exclusive rights to utilize the country's uranium deposits in the country's central region. The agreement gives the company exclusive rights to exploit the uranium in the central region of the country for roughly 25 years. The Jordanian government also signed an agreement with Rio Tinto Alcan allowing the organization to search for uranium in the country.

The Jordanian Economy

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the Jordanian economy experienced both growth and decline. The most dramatic decline was experienced during the 1980s when the Jordanian economy shrank by roughly 30%. The introduction of liberal economic policies after King Abdullah became the country's monarch led to the growth of the country's economy. One of the most significant challenges which affected the Jordanian economy was the Arab Spring that led to the slowdown of the country's economic growth. Part of Jordan's economic growth is as a result of trading agreements it signed with countries such as the US and Canada.
Ohio is the seventh most populous US state and the 34th largest state by area. The state is named after the Ohio River, which is a Seneca word for "good river," "large creek," or "great river." The rivers play a crucial role in the state; they provide water for domestic and industrial use, means of transport, and irrigation. The following are the longest rivers in Ohio.

The Longest Rivers in Ohio

Ohio River

The Ohio River flows for 981 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the west to Cairo, Illinois in the east. The river demarcates the southern border of Ohio. It is the largest tributary of the Mississippi River by volume and holds more water than the Mississippi at the confluence. Its drainage basin extends over 15 states. The Ohio River remains ice-free all year round and provides water for three million people.

Wabash River

The Wabash River flows for 503 miles from northwest Ohio through Indiana to southern Illinois where it drains into the Ohio River. The river demarcates the Illinois-Indiana border. It is the largest northern tributary of the Ohio River. The Wabash is the state river of Indiana and has been mentioned in the state song. The depth of the river in Ohio is shallow and impassable by boat, but the volume increases as tributaries join the river close to the border with Indiana.

Scioto River

The Scioto is the longest river that is entirely within Ohio. It flows for 231 miles from Auglaize County to Portsmouth. The river flows through Columbus where it receives water from the Olentangy River before draining into the Ohio River near Portsmouth. Native Americans and early settlers used the river as a means of transport, but it is currently too small for commercial shipping. It is mainly used for recreation and domestic water use.

Great Miami River

The Great Miami River is a tributary of the Ohio River. It flows for 160 miles from the Indian Lake in Logan County to the Ohio River in Hamilton County. The river demarcates the Ohio-Indiana state boundary. The Great Miami River flows through the cities of Sydney, Hamilton, Troy, Piqua, and Dayton.

Maumee River

The Maumee River flows from northeastern Indiana through northwestern Ohio into Lake Erie. The river is formed by the confluence of the St Marys and St Joseph Rivers In Fort Wayne, Indiana. It meanders for 137 miles through agricultural land before draining into the Maumee Bay in Lake Erie.

Threats to the Rivers of Ohio

The rivers of Ohio are under severe threat from human activities including the construction of dams for industrial, domestic, and agricultural use. Global warming has led to a significant rise in evaporation while logging and destruction of water catchment areas have led to the drop in water level. Chemical waste pollution from industries has lowered the water quality and consequently led to the decline of aquatic animals.
Emily Lisker, of Woonsocket, out for her daily walk in the city, carefully navigates the icy sidewalks while bundled up against the cold on Tuesday.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI)  The public debate over a stone quarry in Americus is over, but once again a southern Indiana lawmaker is trying to take the fight to the statehouse.

News 18 has been following the debate for more than five years. After stopping it at every conventional route, neighbors thought the fight was over.

Until last year, when Rep. Jeff Ellington proposed a bill to change the rules of the fight. That bill failed, but now it's back with even more restrictions on local government control.

If passed, House Bill 1531 would make a Tippecanoe County stone quarry a possibility once again. It puts regulation at the local level on natural resource development, taking some control away from municipal plan commissions and board of zoning appeals.

"The whole zoning structure in the state of Indiana would be negated, so anybody in any county in any city in Indiana didn't have to worry about zoning anymore because they've already said all you need are state permits," said co-president of Americus Area Community Coalition, Kay Miller.

Rep. Jeff Ellington said he won't be surprised if history repeats itself in this ongoing battle.

"Honestly I'm not very confident, I'll be lucky if I even get a hearing."

So why is he trying?

"A lot of these communities just don't realize what's out there backyard, how would this improve their economy," said Ellington.

He added the goal has never been to take away control, instead he hopes to shift it.

"I don't think you would ever find a stone quarry, gravel pit move into a residential area unless it was already pre-zoned for mineral extraction so all those designations are still controlled by your local planning staff," said Ellington.

That's not enough for Miller, who hopes all decisions concerning the county are made in the county.

"It makes you feel helpless, it makes you feel like no one cares about personal rights."

The bill is currently in the hands of the Local Government Committee. News 18 also reached out to State Representative Sheila Klinker who said she's strongly opposed and will fight it if necessary.
UTICA, N.Y. -- Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul came to Utica Tuesday to recap Governor Andrew Cuomos State of the State address and share what plans are in store for the Mohawk Valley.

She highlighted the push for infrastructure funding, marijuana legalization, and announced several local grants.

One of the most notable, is $6 million to Masonic Medical Research Lab in the form of renovations and about 30 new staff hires from all over the world, some of which are already established.

Officials with Masonic say that this grant means more than just the obvious increased research abilities.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for the growth of this community. So we've already brought in 19 individuals and they've all brought in their families. So they're usually two working families so they've brought in a spouse that is also going to contribute to the community and they've also brought in children that will be a part of our educational system and they've also brought in all of the resources that accompany being a part of the research institute as well, said Maria Kontaridis, the director of research at the Masonic Medical Institute.

Masonic Research Lab is in the midst of working on a patent for a research project that they could not comment on at this time.
Embraer S.A. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aircrafts and systems in Brazil, North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Brazil, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Defense and Security; Executive Jets; Service & Support; and Other segments. The Defense and Security segment engages in the research, development, production, modification, and support for military defense and security aircraft, as well as offers a range of products and integrated solutions that include radars, special space systems (satellites), and information and communications systems, such as command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. The Executive Jets segment develops, produces, and sells executive jets. It also leases Legacy 600 and Legacy 650 executive jets in the super midsize and large categories; Legacy 450 and Legacy 500 executive jets in the midlight and midsize categories; Phenom family executive jets in the entry jet and light jet categories; Lineage 1000, an ultra-large executive jet; and Praetor 500 and Praetor 600, disruptive executive jets in the midsize and super midsize categories. The Service & Support segment offers after-service solutions, support, and maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for commercial, executive, and defense aircraft; provides aircraft components and engines; and supplies steel and composite aviation structures to various aircraft manufacturers. The Other segment is involved in the supply of fuel systems, structural parts, and mechanical and hydraulic systems; and production of agricultural crop-spraying aircraft. The company was formerly known as Embraer-Empresa Brasileira de AeronAutica S.A. and changed its name to Embraer S.A. in November 2010. Embraer S.A. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in SAo Paulo, Brazil.

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(TNS)  A bill introduced by Sen. Curt Kreun, R-Grand Forks, seeks to bolster the workforce in North Dakota, while giving students a break on tuition costs.Senate Bill 2334 would create a senior year tuition waiver program that would waive tuition for students in their last year of college who are majoring in a field of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Students enrolled in a two-year institution would be eligible for the waiver if they are pursuing a degree or certificate in a technology field or a skilled trade.Students would receive their senior year of tuition free only if they remain employed in North Dakota for at least three years after graduation. If students do not fulfill this requirement, then they are required to repay the full amount of the tuition waiver.UND Student Body President Erik Hanson, who helped Kreun craft the bill, said the state is in need of people in STEM fields to fill jobs vital for the state's economy."We've got jobs, we've got infrastructure, and now we just need the people," Hanson said. "So if this can be one way to attract students to stay then that's kind of what we're looking at."As currently proposed, the Bank of North Dakota would reimburse the colleges for the sum of the tuition waivers through the State Board of Higher Education.The amount of the waiver would equal the tuition a student would typically pay for courses, minus any scholarships, grants or other waivers the student has already received.While the bill would limit the tuition waivers to STEM students for now, Hanson said he is open to adding more industries to the list. However, STEM jobs are needed in North Dakota to help in the Oil Patch and other parts of the state."It's not just what we need right now, but if we're going to get to the point where North Dakota wants to be as a leader in some of these areas we're going to need to keep growing that need as well, which means we need to add to that supply now," he said.A similar program already exists at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Kreun said. While the program is different from his proposal, Kreun said the tuition waiver program at SMHS still entices people to come to UND and stay in North Dakota.Kreun said his bill has a similar goal, to keep graduates in North Dakota and contribute to the state's workforce."It seems to be working [at the medical school], so if we can entice individuals out of those other areas that would be great," Kreun said.The bill also aims to attract students to attend North Dakota universities, which could help increase enrollments across the North Dakota University System, whether on campus or online, Kreun said.The waiver program could make staying in North Dakota more attractive to students who are looking for jobs in places like the Twin Cities, Hanson said. While the graduates could see a higher salary there, the cost of living is also higher, so the impact of a tuition waiver could help "even the playing field" for students, he said."That makes staying in North Dakota attractive, even with a lower starting salary than what you'd see in like a Minneapolis-area," Hanson said.Cosponsors on the bill include: Sen. Brad Bekkedahl, R-Williston, Sen. Scott Meyer, R-Grand Forks, Rep. Jake Blum, R-Grand Forks, Rep. Thomas Beadle, R-Fargo and Rep. Cynthia Schreiber Beck, R-Wahpeton.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides cybersecurity platform solutions worldwide. The company provides firewall appliances and software; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of appliances and software deployed on an end-customer's network as a virtual or a physical appliance; and virtual system upgrades, which are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances. It also offers subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, uniform resource locator filtering, malware and persistent threat, laptop and mobile device protection, and firewall, as well as cyberattacks, threat intelligence, and data loss prevention. In addition, the company provides professional services, including architecture design and planning, configuration, and firewall migration, as well as online and in-classroom education training services, as well as support services. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Vodafone Group: 360 Connect S.A., [email protected] Telecom, A-ccelerator B.V., A-ccelerator Holding B.V, AAA (Euro) Limited, AAA (MCR) Limited, AAA (UK) Limited, Acorn Communications Limited, Africonnect (Zambia) Limited, Ag Mercantile Company Private Limited, Al-Amin Investments Limited, Amsterdamse Beheer- en Consultingmaatschappij B.V., Apollo Submarine Cable System Limited, Array Holdings Limited, Asian Telecommunication Investments (Mauritius) Limited, Aspective Limited, Astec Communications Limited, Autoconnex Limited, Aztec Limited, BelCompany BV, Bluefish Apac Communications Pte. Ltd, Bluefish Communications, Bluefish Communications Limited, Business Serve Limited, C&W Worldwide Nigeria Limited, C.S.P. Solutions Limited, CCII (Mauritius) Inc., CGP India Investments Ltd., CGP Investments (Holdings) Limited, COOP Mobil s.r.o, CT Networks Limited, CWGNL S.A., CWW Operations Limited, Cable & Wireless Access Limited, Cable & Wireless Americas Systems Inc., Cable & Wireless Aspac Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Services Limited, Cable & Wireless CIS Svyaz LLC, Cable & Wireless Capital Limited , Cable & Wireless Communications Data Network Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Starclass Limited, Cable & Wireless Communications Technical Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd (Beijing Branch), Cable & Wireless Europe Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless GN Limited, Cable & Wireless Global (India) Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Business Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Holding Limited, Cable & Wireless Global Telecommunication Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Holdco Limited, Cable & Wireless Networks India Private Limited, Cable & Wireless Trade Mark Management Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless UK Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Waterside Holdings Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Pension Trustee Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Services Limited, Cable & Wireless Worldwide Voice Messaging Limited, Cable & Wireless a-Services Inc, Cable & Wireless a-Services Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited, Cable and Wireless (India) Limited Indian Branch Office, Cable and Wireless Nominee Limited, Cable and Wireless Worldwide South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Cavalry Holdings Ltd, Celfocus  Solucoes Informaticas Para Telecomunicacoes S.A, Cellops Limited, Cellular Operations Limited, Central Communications Group Limited, Central Telecom (Northern) Limited, Centurion GSM Limited, Chelys Limited, City Cable (Holdings) Limited, Cobra do Brasil Servicos de Telematica ltda., Commnet Cellular Inc., Complete Network Technology, Connect (India) Mobile Technologies Private Limited, Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited, Dataroam Limited , Device Insight, Digital Island (UK) Ltd, Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited, East Africa Investment (Mauritius) Limited, Emtel Europe Limited, Energis (Ireland) Limited, Energis Communications Limited, Energis Holdings Limited, Energis Local Access Limited, Energis Management Limited, Energis Squared Limited, Erudite Systems Limited, Esprit Telecom B.V., Eudokia Limited, Euro Pacific Securities Ltd., Eurocall Holdings Limited, Europolitan Holdings AB (now Europolitan Vodafone AB), FB Holdings Limited, FM Associates (UK) Limited, FinCo Partner 1 B.V., FireFly Networks Limited, Flexphone Limited, GS Telecom (Pty) Limited, Gateway Communications Africa (UK) Limited, Gateway Communications Tanzania Limited, General Mobile Corporation, Generation Telecom Limited, Ghana Telecommunications, Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited, Global Cellular Rental Limited, Globe Limited, GrandCentrix GmbH, Grupo Corporativo ONO S.A.U., H3ga Properties (No 3) Pty Limited, HBO Nederland Cooperatief U.A., HBO Netherlands Channels sro, HBO Netherlands Distribution B.V., Hellas Online, How2 Telecom Limited, Hutchison Essar Ltd, Indus Towers Limited, Intercell Communications Limited, Internet Network Services Limited, Invitation Digital Limited, Ipergy Communications NV, Isis Telecommunications Management Limited, Jaguar Communications Limited, Jaykay Finholding (India) Private Limited, Jupicol (Proprietary) Limited, KABELCOM Braunschweig Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, KABELCOM Wolfsburg Gesellschaft Fur BreitbandkabelKommunikation Mit Beschrankter Haftung, Kabel Deutschland, Kabel Deutschland Holding, Kabel Deutschland Holding Erste Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Holding Zweite Beteilgungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Neunte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabel Deutschland Siebte Beteiligungs GmbH, Kabelfernsehen Munchen Servicenter GmbH & Co. KG, LG Financing Partnership, LGE HoldCo V B.V., LGE HoldCo VI B.V., LGE HoldCo VIII B.V., LGE Holdco VII B.V., LLC Vodafone Enterprise Ukraine, Le Bunt Holdings Limited, Legend Communications Limited, Liberty Global, Liberty Global Content Netherlands B.V., London Hydraulic Power Company, M-PESA Foundation, M-PESA Holding Co. Limited, ML Integration Group Limited, ML Integration Limited, ML Integration Services Limited, MV Healthcare Services Private Limited, Mannesmann AG, MetroHoldings Limited, Mezzanine Ware Proprietary Limited (RF), Mirambo Limited, Misrfone Trading Company LLC, MobiFon S.A., Mobile Commerce Solutions Limited, Mobile Phone Centre Limited, Mobile Wallet VM1, Mobile Wallet VM2, Mobile by Sainsburys Limited, Mobiles 4 Business.com Limited, Mobileworld Communications Pty Limited, Mobileworld Operating Pty Ltd, Mobilvest, Motifpros 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Multi Risk Indemnity Company Limited, Multi Risk Limited, ND Callus Info Services Private Limited, Nadal Trading Company Private Limited, Nat Comm Air Limited, National Communications Backbone Company Limited, Navtrak Ltd, Netforce Group Limited, Netgrid Telecom SRL, Number Portability Company (Proprietary) Limited, ONO, Omega Telecom Holdings Private Limited, Oni Way  Infocomunicacoes S.A, Oskar Mobil S.R.O., Oxygen Solutions Limited, P.C.P. (North West) Limited, PPL Pty Limited, PT Network Services Limited, PTI Telecom Limited, Peoples Phone Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Group Limited, Pinnacle Cellular Limited, Plex Limited, Plustech Mercantile Company Private Limited, Prime Metals Ltd., Project Telecom Holdings Limited, Quickcomm Software Solutions, Radio Opt GmbH, Rian Mobile Limited, SBC SMART CITY 1517 B.V., SMMS Investments Pvt Limited, Safaricom Limited, Safenet N.P A., Sarmady Communications, Scarlet Ibis Investments 23 (Pty) Limited, Scorpios Beverages Pvt. Ltd, Silver Stream Investments Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Limited, Singlepoint (4U) Ltd., Singlepoint Payment Services Limited, Siro Limited, Spar Aerospace (Nigeria) Limited, Sport TV Portugal S.A, Starnet, Stentor Communications Limited, Stentor Limited, Storage Technology Services (Pty) Limited, T.W. Telecom Limited, T3 Telecommunications Limited, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern Beteiligungs GmbH, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG, TNAS Limited, TSM NZ Limited, Talkland Airtime Services Limited, Talkland Australia Pty Limited, Talkland Communications Limited, Talkland International Limited, Talkland Midlands Limited, Talkmobile Limited, Tele2 Italia SPA, Tele2 Spain, Telecom Investments India Private Limited, Telecommunications Europe Limited, Ternhill Communications Limited, The Cobra Group, The Eastern Leasing Company Limited, The Old Telecom Sales Co. Limited, Thus Group Holdings Limited, Thus Group Limited, Thus Limited, Thus Profit Sharing Trustees Limited, TnT Expense Management LLC, Tomorrow Street GP S.a r.l., Tomorrow Street SCA, Torenspits II B.V., Townley Communications Limited, Trans Crystal Ltd., UMT Investments Limited, UPC Nederland Holding I B.V., UPC Nederland Holding II B.V., UPC Nederland Holding III B.V., Unified Communications, Uniqueair Limited, Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH & Co.KG, Usha Martin Telematics Limited, VAPL No. 2 Pty Limited, VBA (Mauritius) Limited, VBA Holdings Limited, VBA International (SL) Limited, VBA International Limited, VEI S.r.l., VM SA, VND S.p.A, VSSB Vodafone Shared Services Budapest Private Limited Company, Verwaltung Urbana Teleunion Rostock GmbH, Victus Networks S.A., Vizzavi Finance Limited, Vizzavi Limited, Voda Limited, Vodacall Limited, Vodacash s.p.r.l., Vodacom (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business (Angola) Limitada, Vodacom Business (Ghana) Limited, Vodacom Business (Kenya) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa (Nigeria) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Business Africa Group Services Limited, Vodacom Business Cameroon SA, Vodacom Business Cote Divoire S.A.R.L., Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA, Vodacom Financial Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Group Limited, Vodacom Insurance Administration Company (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Insurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom International Holdings (Pty) Limited, Vodacom International Limited, Vodacom Lesotho (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Life Assurance Company (RF) Limited, Vodacom Payment Services (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No 1 (Proprietary) Limited, Vodacom Properties No.2 (Pty) Limited, Vodacom Tanzania Limited Zanzibar, Vodacom Tanzania Public Limited Company, Vodacom UK Limited, Vodafone (NI) Limited, Vodafone (New Zealand) Hedging Limited, Vodafone (Scotland) Limited, Vodafone 2, Vodafone 4 UK, Vodafone 5 Limited, Vodafone 5 UK, Vodafone 6 UK, Vodafone Albania Sh.A, Vodafone Alternatif Telekom Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Americas 4, Vodafone Americas Virginia Inc., Vodafone And Qatar Foundation L.L.C, Vodafone Asset Management Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Automotive Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Automotive Electronic Systems S.r.L, Vodafone Automotive France S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Iberia S.L, Vodafone Automotive Italia S.p.A, Vodafone Automotive Japan K.K, Vodafone Automotive Korea Limited, Vodafone Automotive SpA, Vodafone Automotive Technologies (Beijing) Co Ltd, Vodafone Automotive Telematics Development S.A.S, Vodafone Automotive Telematics S.A, Vodafone Automotive UK Limited, Vodafone Belgium SA/NV, Vodafone Benelux Limited, Vodafone Bilgi Ve Iletisim Hizmetleri AS, Vodafone Business Services Limited, Vodafone Business Solutions Limited, Vodafone Canada Inc, Vodafone Cellular Limited, Vodafone Central Services Limited, Vodafone China Limited (China), Vodafone China Limited (Hong Kong), Vodafone Connect 2 Limited, Vodafone Connect Limited, Vodafone Consolidated Holdings Limited, Vodafone Corporate Limited, Vodafone Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Czech Republic A.S., Vodafone DC Pension Trustee Company Limited, Vodafone Dagitim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Data, Vodafone Distribution Holdings Limited, Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications S.A.E., Vodafone Elektronik Para Ve Odeme Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Empresa Brasil Telecomunicacoes Ltda, Vodafone Empresa Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Vodafone Enabler Espana S.L., Vodafone Enterprise Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Austria GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Bahrain W.L.L., Vodafone Enterprise Bulgaria EOOD, Vodafone Enterprise Chile SA, Vodafone Enterprise Communications Technical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Corporate Secretaries Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Denmark A/S, Vodafone Enterprise Equipment Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited  Czech Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Europe (UK) Limited  DubaiI Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Finland OY, Vodafone Enterprise France SAS, Vodafone Enterprise Germany GmbH, Vodafone Enterprise Global Businesses S.a r.l., Vodafone Enterprise Global Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network HK Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Global Network Pte. Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Hong Kong Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Italy S.r.L, Vodafone Enterprise Korea Limited, Vodafone Enterprise Luxembourg S.A., Vodafone Enterprise Netherlands BV, Vodafone Enterprise Norway AS, Vodafone Enterprise Regional Business Singapore Pte.Ltd., Vodafone Enterprise Singapore Pte.Ltd, Vodafone Enterprise Spain S.L.U.  Portugal Branch, Vodafone Enterprise Spain SLU, Vodafone Enterprise Sweden AB, Vodafone Enterprise Switzerland AG, Vodafone Erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Vodafone Espana S.A.U., Vodafone Euro Hedging Limited, Vodafone Euro Hedging Two, Vodafone Europe B.V., Vodafone Europe UK, Vodafone European Investments, Vodafone European Portal Limited, Vodafone Finance Limited, Vodafone Finance Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Finance Sweden, Vodafone Finance UK Limited, Vodafone Financial Operations, Vodafone Financial Services B.V., Vodafone Fixed Ltd, Vodafone Foundation, Vodafone Foundation Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Gestioni S.p.A, Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited, Vodafone Global Content Services Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Hong Kong) Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise (Italy) S.R.L., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Japan) K.K., Vodafone Global Enterprise (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Russia LLC, Vodafone Global Enterprise Taiwan Limited, Vodafone Global Enterprise Telecommunications (Hellas) A.E., Vodafone Global Network Limited, Vodafone Global Network Limited  Slovakia Branch, Vodafone Global Services Private Limited, Vodafone GmbH, Vodafone Group (Directors) Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Pension Trustee Limited, Vodafone Group Services GmbH, Vodafone Group Services Ireland Limited, Vodafone Group Services Limited, Vodafone Group Services No.2 Limited, Vodafone Group Share Trustee Limited, Vodafone Hire Limited, Vodafone Holding A.S., Vodafone Holdings (Jersey) Limited, Vodafone Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Holdings Europe S.L.U., Vodafone Holdings Luxembourg Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Finance Pty Limited, Vodafone Hutchison Receivables Pty Limited, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited, Vodafone India Digital Limited, Vodafone India Limited, Vodafone India Services Private Limited, Vodafone India Ventures Limited, Vodafone Institut fur Gesellschaft und Kommunikation GmbH, Vodafone Intermediate Enterprises Limited, Vodafone International 1 S.a.r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone International 1 S.a r.l., Vodafone International 2 Limited, Vodafone International Holdings B.V., Vodafone International Holdings Limited, Vodafone International M S.a r.l., Vodafone International Operations Limited, Vodafone International Services LLC, Vodafone Investment UK, Vodafone Investments (SA) Proprietary Limited, Vodafone Investments Australia Limited, Vodafone Investments Limited, Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Ireland Distribution Limited, Vodafone Ireland Ltd., Vodafone Ireland Marketing Limited, Vodafone Ireland Property Holdings Limited, Vodafone Ireland Retail Limited, Vodafone Italia S.p.A., Vodafone Jersey Dollar Holdings Limited, Vodafone Jersey Finance, Vodafone Jersey Yen Holdings Unlimited, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Field Services GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Kundenbetreuung GmbH, Vodafone Kenya Limited, Vodafone Leasing Limited, Vodafone Libertel B.V., Vodafone Limited, Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg 5 S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l., Vodafone Luxembourg S.a r.l. Luxembourg Zweigniederlassung Bern, Vodafone M-PESA SH.P.K., Vodafone M-Pesa S.A, Vodafone M.C. Mobile Services Limited , Vodafone Magyarorszag Mobile Tavkozlesi Zartkoruen Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Vodafone Malta Limited, Vodafone Marketing UK , Vodafone Maroc SARL, Vodafone Mauritius Ltd., Vodafone Mobile Commerce Limited, Vodafone Mobile Communications Limited, Vodafone Mobile Enterprises Limited, Vodafone Mobile NZ Limited, Vodafone Mobile Network Limited, Vodafone Mobile Operations Limited, Vodafone Mobile Services Limited, Vodafone Multimedia Limited, Vodafone Nederland Holding I B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding II B.V., Vodafone Nederland Holding III B.V., Vodafone Net Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Network Pty Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Foundation Limited, Vodafone New Zealand Limited, Vodafone Next Generation Services Limited, Vodafone Nominees Limited1, Vodafone ONO S.A.U., Vodafone Oceania Limited, Vodafone Old Show Ground Site Management Limited, Vodafone Overseas Finance Limited, Vodafone Overseas Holdings Limited, Vodafone Panafon International Holdings B.V., Vodafone Panafon UK, Vodafone Partner Services Limited, Vodafone Payment Solutions S.a r.l., Vodafone Portugal  Comunicacoes Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Procurement Company S.a r.l., Vodafone Property Investments Limited, Vodafone Pty Limited, Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C., Vodafone Retail (Holdings) Limited , Vodafone Retail Limited, Vodafone Roaming Services S.a r.l., Vodafone Romania S.A, Vodafone Romania M - Payments SRL, Vodafone Romania Technologies SRL, Vodafone Sales & Services Limited, Vodafone Satellite Services Limited, Vodafone Servicios SL.U, Vodafone Servizi E Tecnologie S.R.L, Vodafone Servicos Empresariais Brasil Ltda., Vodafone Shared Services Romania SRL, Vodafone Specialist Communications Limited, Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland Gemeinnutzige GmbH, Vodafone Technology Solutions Limited, Vodafone Teknoloji Hizmetleri A.S., Vodafone Tele-Services (India) Holdings Limited, Vodafone Telecel-Comunicates Pessoais S.A., Vodafone Telecommunications (India) Limited, Vodafone Telekomunikasyon A.S, Vodafone Towers Limited, Vodafone UK Content Services Limited, Vodafone UK Investments Limited , Vodafone UK Limited1 , Vodafone US Inc, Vodafone Ventures Limited1 , Vodafone Vierte Verwaltungs AG, Vodafone Worldwide Holdings Limited, Vodafone Yen Finance Limited , Vodafone m-pesa Limited, Vodafone-Central Limited Vodaphone Limited, Vodafone-Panafon Hellenic Telecommunications Company S.A., VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V, Vodata Limited , Vouchercloud SA (Pty) Ltd, Wataneya Telecommunications S.A.E, Waterberg Lodge (Proprietary) Limited, Wayfinder, Wheatfields Investments 276 (Proprietary) Limited, Wireless Interactions & NFC Accelerator 2013 B.V., Woodend Cellular Limited, Woodend Communications Limited, Woodend Group Limited, Woodend Holdings Limited, XB Facilities B.V, XLink Communications (Proprietary) Limited, Your Communications Group Limited, ZUM B.V., ZYB, Zelitron S.A., Zesko B.V., Ziggo B.V., Ziggo Bond Company B.V., Ziggo Deelnemingen B.V., Ziggo Finance 2 B.V., Ziggo Financing Partnership, Ziggo Holding B.V., Ziggo Netwerk B.V., Ziggo Netwerk II B.V., Ziggo Services B.V., Ziggo Services Employment B.V., Ziggo Services Netwerk 2 B.V., Ziggo Zakelijk Services B.V., and Zoranet Connectivity Services B.V..
Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI Brazil ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but iShares MSCI Brazil ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.
The city of Seattle looked to its northeast neighbor for the its next chief technology officer. Mayor Jenny A. Durkan nominated Saad Bashir, the former chief information officer for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as its next CTO.The city sought a candidate who brings a good balance of private- and public-sector experience to be the next CTO of the Seattle IT department, said Durkan in press conference announcing Bashirs appointment Tuesday. We need somebody who is at the equal of the innovation that we see in the city daily. Seattle, the city, cannot lag behind Seattle, the innovator.Bashir, who served eight years as CIO in Ottawa, will pick up the role currently being held by Tracye Cantrell, who has been acting CTO since January 2018 when Michael Mattmiller announced his departure In his remarks Tuesday, Bashir listed several change opportunities, he aims to take on, which include reducing red tape and simplifying IT processes and structures."We are talking about reimagining how we manage our operations, deliver our services and engage with our citizens, he said. And all that means that we have to be extremely nimble in our approach. And that is something that will be foundational for whatever Seattle IT can offer.Prior to his role as CIO in Ottawa, Bashir served as that citys director of economic development.On reason I like Saad so much, is before he became the head of IT, he was one of the largest customers of IT, said Durkan. And he brought with him that ethos to say, How do we make sure that every line of business the city is served to do that business better by the technology infrastructure we build for them?As CIO in Ottawa, Bashir managed a budget of about $100 million and oversaw a staff of more than 350. In Seattle, he will take on a budget of some $277 million and lead a staff of 680 employees.Hes a proven technology leader and Im excited to work with him as he takes us to the next level, said Durkan.Mattmiller served as CTO for four years and worked to modernize and consolidate the citys technology infrastructure and redesigning the citys website to better engage with the public.The search for Bashir follows a months-long international process, reviewing some 220 candidates.I know that for us to move ahead, we have to have the most dynamic leaders in all of our departments. And I think today I cant say enough about Saad being here, said Durkan. This is a huge step for the city of Seattle. We now have a leader who is an equivalent to any company, in any innovation sphere in Seattle today.
SunTrust Banks, Inc. operates as the holding company for SunTrust Bank that provides various financial services for consumers, businesses, corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit entities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Wholesale. The Consumer segment provides deposits and payments; home equity and personal credit lines; auto, student, and other lending products; credit cards; discount/online and full-service brokerage products; professional investment advisory products and services; and trust services, as well as family office solutions. This segment also offers residential mortgage products in the secondary market. The Wholesale segment provides capital markets solutions, including advisory, capital raising, and financial risk management; asset-based financing solutions, such as securitizations, asset-based lending, equipment financing, and structured real estate arrangements; cash management services and auto dealer financing solutions; investment banking solutions; and credit and deposit, fee-based product offering, multi-family agency lending, advisory, commercial mortgage brokerage, and tailored financing and equity investment solutions. This segment also offers treasury and payment solutions, such as operating various electronic and paper payment types, which comprise card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, check, and cash; and provides services clients to manage their accounts online. The company offers its products and services through a network of traditional and in-store branches, automated teller machines, Internet, mobile, and telephone banking channels. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 1,218 full-service banking offices located in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. SunTrust Banks, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

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(TNS)  The chairman of the state Senate Appropriations Committee has filed legislation to give state agencies more independence when making information technology decisions. The discovery of millions of unsecured files at the Oklahoma Department of Securities shows why lawmakers should approach this idea with extreme caution.The UpGuard Data Breach Research team reports it discovered three terabytes and millions of files at the Department of Securities that were effectively unsecured. The data included names of AIDS patients, details about FBI investigations and personally identifiable information for at least 100,000 finance brokers going back three decades.During the past eight years, state government has consolidated IT infrastructure under the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. Previously, IT decisions were made on an agency-by-agency basis, which led to duplication and associated financial waste. In some cases, systems at one agency couldn't communicate with those at another. Cybersecurity was notoriously hit-and-miss across state government.The consolidation process wasn't without challenges. For many small agencies and boards, consolidation required increased spending, due partly to a lack of prior investment in reliable security. Some agency officials complain approval processes are cumbersome, impeding their ability to respond swiftly to changing circumstances.Even so, it's estimated consolidation saved millions and significantly reduced the chance of Oklahomans' personal information being stolen.So why did this reported breach occur? It can be blamed, in part, on the Department of Securities not taking part in IT consolidation. The agency makes its IT decisions independent of OMES. Notably, UpGuard's report indicated the department's website was the least secure of all sites with an ok.gov address and was running on a web server that is no longer supported by its manufacturer.The Department of Health, which was plagued by financial mismanagement, offers another cautionary tale. A multicounty grand jury found the department's mismanagement evaded detection for years because, in part, it used an antiquated internal financial system, as opposed to the statewide financial system used by the vast majority of other state agencies Former Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, was a leader in government modernization efforts, including things like use of open-source technology, reform of government purchasing processes, IT consolidation, and even pushing agencies to make payments electronically at about 5 cents per electronic transfer instead of $13.50 per paper payment. Now that Murphey has termed out, the Legislature lacks a champion for such common-sense reforms, and that can open the door to backsliding. Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okmulgee, has filed legislation to free agencies from some OMES oversight on IT issues, which includes cybersecurity.While there may be specific instances where change is needed, lawmakers should carefully craft any revision of state law to address only those situations. Oklahoma can't afford to go back to the old days where officials at every agency did as they pleased regardless of cost, lack of functionality or adverse impact on Oklahoma citizens.
Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua addresses the opening ceremony of the China-Cambodia Trade and Investment Promotion Forum 2019 in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 22, 2019. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen also addressed the event's opening ceremony.(Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The China-Cambodia Trade and Investment Promotion Forum 2019 was held in Beijing Tuesday, aimed at exploring ways to boost economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries.

Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua and Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen addressed the event's opening ceremony.

In recent years, with the concerted efforts of both sides, bilateral trade grew rapidly, achieving the goal of 6 billion U.S. dollars two years ahead of schedule, Hu said.

Noting the two sides had witnessed progress in cooperation under multilateral frameworks, he expressed the hope for more promotion of bilateral economic and trade relations.

China is willing to work with Cambodia to strengthen the alignment of respective development strategies, and speed up the implementation of a bilateral cooperation plan to jointly promote the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

Hu said it was also hoped that the two sides would continuously expand trade volumes, optimize trade structure and promote cooperation on industrial capacity and investment.

Hun Sen said China and Cambodia enjoyed cooperation and saw great potential in trade, investment, tourism and other fields.

Cambodia is committed to improving its business environment and enhancing its economic competitiveness, Hun Sen said.

Cambodia hopes to further synergize its industrial planning with the Belt and Road Initiative so as to continuously promote practical cooperation between the two countries, he said.

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
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Robert Half International Inc. provides staffing and risk consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through three segments: Temporary and Consultant Staffing, Permanent Placement Staffing, and Risk Consulting and Internal Audit Services. It places temporary services for accounting, finance, and bookkeeping; temporary and full-time office and administrative personnel consisting of executive and administrative assistants, receptionists, and customer service representatives; full-time accounting, financial, tax, and accounting operations personnel; and information technology contract consultants and full-time employees in the areas of platform systems integration to end-user technical and desktop support, including specialists in application development, networking, systems integration and deployment, database design and administration, and security and business continuity. The company also offers temporary and full-time employees in attorney, paralegal, legal administrative, and legal secretarial positions; and senior level project professionals in the accounting and finance fields for financial systems conversions, expansion into new markets, business process reengineering, business systems performance improvement, and post-merger financial consolidation. In addition, it is involved in serving professionals in the areas of interactive media, design, marketing, advertising, and public relations; and placing freelance and project consultants in various positions, such as creative directors, graphics designers, Web content developers, Web designers, media buyers, brand managers, and public relations specialists. Further, the company provides business and technology risk consulting, and internal audit services. It serves clients and employment candidates. Robert Half International Inc. was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

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Quotient Technology Inc. operates as a digital media and promotions technology company that offers power integrated digital media and promotions programs for brands and retailers. The company offers Quotient Promotions Platform offers digital paperless and print promotions, including Coupons.com website and mobile applications; brand and retailer websites and mobile applications; and third-party publishing websites and mobile applications. It also provides Quotient Retailer Promotions Platform that uses consumer data and insights to distribute personalized and targeted media and promotions for retailers of grocery, drug, mass merchant, dollar, club and convenience merchandise; and Quotient Media Platform, which provides targeted advertising solutions that enables brands to reach shoppers before, during, and after their shopping cycles with digital media campaigns. It also provides Quotient Retailer Performance Media Platform that uses retailer's consumer data to drive sales and enhances the shopper experience; Quotient Analytics provides campaign analytics and measured sales results to brands and retailers; Quotient Consumer Properties; and Quotient Retailer Media Services. It serves approximately 800 consumer packed goods, representing approximately 2,000 brands, including various food, beverage, personal care, and household product manufacturers; retail partners representing various classes of trade, such as grocery retailers, drug, mass merchant, dollar, club, and convenience merchandise channels; and consumers visiting its websites, mobile properties, and social channels. The company was formerly known as Coupons.com Incorporated and changed its name to Quotient Technology Inc. in October 2015. Quotient Technology Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

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The following companies are subsidiares of The Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Gruppe Deutschland GmbH & Co. oHG, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Nova Scotia Company, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Poland S.A., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay, Giorgio Beverly Hills Inc., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, LLC "Procter & Gamble Novomoskovsk", LLL "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", Laboratorios Vicks, Liberty Street Music Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', Limited Liability Company with foreign investments Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, New Chapter, New Chapter Canada Inc., Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G Prestige Service GmbH, P&G South African Trading (Pty.) Ltd., PGT Health Care (Zhejiang) Limited, PGT Healthcare LLP, PPI ZAO, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Procter & Gamble (Chengdu) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (East Africa) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Egypt) Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble (Enterprise Fund) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Jiangsu) Ltd. China, Procter & Gamble (L&CP) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble (Shanghai) International Trade Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Acquisition GmbH, Procter & Gamble Administration GmbH, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chile , Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Commercial de Cuba S.A., Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent (Beijing) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deuttschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing (Philippines) Inc., Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distribution Company (Europe) BVBA, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana, Procter & Gamble Europe SA, Procter & Gamble Export Operations SARL, Procter & Gamble Exportadora e Importadora Ltda., Procter & Gamble Exports, Procter & Gamble Fabricacao e Comercio Ltda., Procter & Gamble Far East, Procter & Gamble Finance (U.K.) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Hellas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holdings (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership (KKT), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings, Procter & Gamble Indochina Limited Company, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama, Procter & Gamble International Operations Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Investment Company (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment GmbH, Procter & Gamble Italia, Procter & Gamble Japan K.K., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea, Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble Lanka Private Ltd. Sri Lanka, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Marketing and Services doo, Procter & Gamble Maroc SA, Procter & Gamble Mataro, Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Investments B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Nordic, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Procter & Gamble Partnership LLP, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France SAS, Procter & Gamble Philippines, Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo, Procter & Gamble Product Supply (U.K.) Limited U.K., Procter & Gamble Production GmbH, Procter & Gamble Productions, Procter & Gamble Productos de Consumo, Procter & Gamble RHD, Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services BVBA, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Satis ve Dagitim Ltd. Sti., Procter & Gamble Seine S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services (Switzerland) SA, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Share Incentive Plan Trustee Ltd., Procter & Gamble South America Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. (Ltd.), Procter & Gamble Sports and Social Club Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology (Beijing) Co., Procter & Gamble Trading (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Verwaltungs GmbH, Procter & Gamble Vietnam, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil S/A, Procter & Gamble do Brazil, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Redmond Products, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Richardson-Vicks do Brasil Quimica e Farmaceutica Ltda, Riverfront Music Publishing Co., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Scannon S.A.S., Series Acquisition B.V., Shulton, Surfac S.R.L., Sycamore Productions, TAOS - FL, TAOS Retail, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving - FL, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble GBS Company, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon (Shanghai) Academy, Vidal Sassoon Co., WEBA Betriebsrenten-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Walker & Company Brands, and iMFLUX Inc..
(TNS)  A grant that would help pay for the reconstruction of a public parking lot using so-called green infrastructure is available to the city of Park Ridge, Ill., if officials want to accept it, the city council was told last week.But aldermen must decide if the city should also invest in the project in order for it to move forward.According to a staff memo shared with the city council on Jan. 14, the city has been awarded a grant from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago that will pay 50 percent of construction costs  up to $650,000  for a green infrastructure project, estimated at $1.3 million, in the citys Central Parking Lot, located next to the Park Ridge Public Library.Park Ridge Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim said the project would include the installation of permeable pavement (such as permeable brick pavers set in sand), new drainage and other green technologies.According to a call for grant applications from the MWRD, green infrastructure is designed to capture rainwater so it can infiltrate the ground before entering the sewer system.This helps to reduce the amount of water flowing through pipes that are often overwhelmed by increasingly intense rain events experienced throughout the region, the MWRD said.Zingsheim told the council that water runoff will still end up in the citys sewer system, but the pavers will delay it.[The water] would hold back for awhile and slowly drain into our system, he said.But Zingsheim cautioned that the heavy clay in the soil at this location may hamper how much water is actually absorbed into the ground.I dont know if this is going to do that much for the city, he said.City Manager Joe Gilmore agreed that it is hard to quantify what the benefits are. He acknowledged that the city does not have this type of expertise on staff.Seventh Ward Ald. Marty Joyce suggested the city consult with the MWRD to find out what the benefits of the parking lot could be. Sixth Ward Ald. Marc Mazzuca agreed.If we need help, ask for it, he said.Moran said the city can try to get more detailed information about the project and bring it back for discussion at a later date.The MWRDs 50 percent reimbursement would apply to the project itself, not the design or construction engineering, Zingsheim said. These costs are estimated at between $200,000 and $300,000, according to Zingsheims memo to the council.The citys total cost would be about $850,000 to $950,000, he said.First Ward Ald. John Moran told the council he learned about the MWRD grant from a resident and brought it to the attention of city staff, who put the application together. He suggested the project would address some of the stormwater management challenges that have been facing the city.Fourth Ward Ald. Roger Shubert questioned why this grant proposal was not brought to the City Council before staff submitted an application.Thats not our policy, Mayor Marty Maloney responded. I certainly dont want to put handcuffs on staff for applying for grants. If we win them like we did in this case, we can always say no.Zingsheim described the Central Parking Lot as in acceptable condition currently, though there is pavement cracking on the west end and the lot will need to be rehabbed in the next few years.
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Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells. The company operates through five segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running, wellbore placement, directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling (MWD), equipment manufacturing, and rig instrumentation services; and logging-while-drilling systems and services, as well as drilling optimization software. The company also offers REVit, an automated real time stick-slip mitigation system; ROCKit, a directional steering control system; SmartNAV, a collaborative guidance and advisory platform; SmartSLIDE, an advanced directional steering control system; and RigCLOUD, which provides the tools and infrastructure to integrate applications to deliver real-time insight into operations across the rig fleet. In addition, it manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and other drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools; and provides aftermarket sales and services for the installed base of its equipment. As of December 31, 2020, the company marketed approximately 354 rigs for land-based drilling operations in the United States and Canada, as well as in 14 other countries worldwide; and 29 rigs for offshore platform drilling operations in the United States and internationally. Nabors Industries Ltd. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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Metro Bank PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides retail and commercial banking services in the United Kingdom. The company offers personal banking products and services, including current and savings accounts; residential mortgages; credit cards and personal loans; and safe deposit box services. It also provides business banking products and services comprising business bank, commercial and community current, foreign currency, and insolvency practitioner accounts; deposit accounts, including business and community instant access deposit and fixed term deposit, client premium and flexible client term deposit, and business loan calculator; business and commercial loans and overdrafts, business credit cards, asset financing, invoice financing, and enterprise finance guarantee scheme. In addition, the company offers private banking services, such as private bank, saving, foreign currency, and money management accounts, as well as partnership loans. Metro Bank PLC was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Dominion Energy: 96WI 8me LLC, Alamo Solar LLC, Align RNG Grady Road LLC, Align RNG LLC, Align RNG North Carolina LLC, Align RNG Utah LLC, Align RNG Utah-Milford LLC, Align RNG Virginia LLC, Align RNG Virginia-Waverly LLC, Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Azalea Solar LLC, BrightSuite Distributed Solar Holdings Inc., BrightSuite Home LLC, BrightSuite Inc., BrightSuite Solar LLC, Buckingham Solar I LLC, CEA Americus LLC, CEA Clovis LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Colorado LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Georgia LLC, CEA Dairy RNG Nevada LLC, CEA Dairy RNG New Mexico LLC, CEA Greely LLC, CEA Mason LLC, CID Solar LLC, CNG Coal Company, CNG Power Services Corporation, Carolina Gas Transmission Corporation, Catalina Solar 2 LLC, Clean Energy Asset USA LLC, Clean Energy Enterprises Inc., Clipperton Holdings LLC, Consolidated Natural Gas Company, Correctional Solar LLC, Cottonwood Solar LLC, Cove Point GP Holding Company LLC, Cove Point LNG Limited, DE Fluvanna Solar LLC, DE Hanover Solar LLC, DE King William Solar LLC, DE Powhatan Solar LLC, Dairy RNG Holdings LLC, Dominion ACP Holding Inc., Dominion Alternative Energy Holdings Inc., Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC, Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell LLC, Dominion Brine LLC, Dominion Capital Inc., Dominion Cogen WV Inc., Dominion Cove Point Inc., Dominion Cove Point LLC, Dominion Energy BTM Inc., Dominion Energy Carolina Gas Services Inc., Dominion Energy Carolina Gas Transmission LLC, Dominion Energy Cove Point LNG LP, Dominion Energy Field Services Inc., Dominion Energy Fuel Services Inc., Dominion Energy Gas Distribution LLC, Dominion Energy Gas Holdings LLC, Dominion Energy Generation Marketing Inc., Dominion Energy Inc., Dominion Energy Kewaunee Inc., Dominion Energy Marketplace LLC, Dominion Energy Midstream GP LLC, Dominion Energy Midstream Partners LP, Dominion Energy Nuclear Connecticut Inc., Dominion Energy Overthrust Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Payroll Company Inc., Dominion Energy Questar Corporation, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline LLC, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline Services Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings II Inc., Dominion Energy RNG Holdings Inc., Dominion Energy Services Inc., Dominion Energy Smart Home LLC, Dominion Energy Solar CA LLC, Dominion Energy Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc., Dominion Energy Southeast Services Inc., Dominion Energy Technical Solutions Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies II Inc., Dominion Energy Technologies Inc., Dominion Energy Terminal Company Inc., Dominion Energy Transmission Inc., Dominion Energy Wexpro Services Company, Dominion Equipment III Inc., Dominion Equipment Inc., Dominion Fairless Hills Inc., Dominion Fowler Ridge Wind LLC, Dominion Gas Projects Company LLC, Dominion Gathering & Processing Inc., Dominion Gathering?& Processing Inc., Dominion Generation Inc., Dominion Greenbrier Inc., Dominion High Voltage Holdings Inc., Dominion High Voltage MidAtlantic Inc., Dominion Investments Inc., Dominion Iroquois Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline Holdings Inc., Dominion Keystone Pipeline LLC, Dominion MLP Holding Company II Inc., Dominion MLP Holding Company II LLC, Dominion MLP Holding Company III Inc., Dominion MLP Holding Company LLC, Dominion Modular LNG Holdings Inc., Dominion Mt. Storm Wind LLC, Dominion North Star Generation Inc., Dominion Nuclear Projects Inc., Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc., Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration?& Production Inc., Dominion Person Inc., Dominion Privatization Florida LLC, Dominion Privatization Georgia LLC, Dominion Privatization Holdings Inc., Dominion Privatization Kentucky LLC, Dominion Privatization South Carolina LLC, Dominion Privatization Texas LLC, Dominion Privatization Virginia LLC, Dominion Products and Services Inc., Dominion Projects Services Inc., Dominion Resources Capital Trust III, Dominion Retail Gas Holdings Inc., Dominion Solar Construction and Maintenance LLC, Dominion Solar Gen-Tie LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings I LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings II LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings III LLC, Dominion Solar Holdings IV LLC, Dominion Solar Projects A Inc., Dominion Solar Projects B Inc., Dominion Solar Projects C Inc., Dominion Solar Projects D Inc., Dominion Solar Projects I Inc., Dominion Solar Projects II Inc., Dominion Solar Projects III Inc., Dominion Solar Projects IV Inc., Dominion Solar Projects V Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VI Inc., Dominion Solar Projects VII Inc., Dominion Solar Services Inc., Dominion Solar?Gen-Tie ?LLC, Dominion State Line LLC, Dominion Voltage Inc., Dominion Wholesale Inc., Dominion Wind Development LLC, Dominion Wind Projects Inc., Eagle Holdco Solar LLC, Eagle Solar LLC, Eastern Shore Solar LLC, Enterprise Solar LLC, Escalante Solar I LLC, Escalante Solar II LLC, Escalante Solar III LLC, Farmington Properties Inc., Four Brothers Solar LLC, Fremont Farm LLC, Granite Mountain Holdings LLC, Granite Mountain Solar East LLC, Granite Mountain Solar West LLC, Greenbrier Marketing Company LLC, Greenbrier Pipeline Company LLC, Greensville County Solar Project LLC, Hecate Energy Cherrydale LLC, Hecate Energy Clarke County LLC, Hope Gas Inc., Imperial Valley Solar Company (IVSC) 2 LLC, Indy Solar Development LLC, Indy Solar I LLC, Indy Solar II LLC, Indy Solar III LLC, Innovative Solar 37 LLC, Iron Springs Holdings LLC, Iron Springs Solar LLC, Iroquois GP Holding Company LLC, Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas, Maricopa West Solar PV LLC, Moffett Solar 1 LLC, Moorings Farm 2 LLC, Mulberry Farm LLC, Mustang Solar LLC, NE Hub Partners L.L.C., NE Hub Partners L.P., NiCHe Storage Solutions LLC, Niche LNG LLC, North Star Generation LLC, PSNC Blue Ridge Corporation, PSNC Cardinal Pipeline Company, PSNC Southgate LLC, Pavant Solar LLC, Phone House, Pikeville Farm LLC, Prairie Fork Wind Farm LLC, Public Service Company of North Carolina Incorporated, QPC Holding Company, QPC Holding Company LLC, Questar Corporation, Questar Energy Services Inc., Questar Field Services LLC, Questar Gas Company, Questar InfoComm Inc., Questar Southern Trails Pipeline Company, Questar White River Hub LLC, RE Adams East LLC, RE Camelot LLC, RE Columbia LLC, RE Columbia LLC, RE Columbia Two LLC, RE Kansas LLC, RE Kent South LLC, RE Old River One LLC, Rev LNG SSL BC LLC, Richland Solar Center LLC, Ridgeland Solar Farm I LLC, SBL Holdco LLC, SCANA, SCANA Communications Holdings Inc., SCANA Corporate Security Services Inc., SCANA Energy Marketing Inc., SCANA Energy Marketing LLC, SCANA Pharmacy LLC, SCANA Services Inc., SRFI LLC, Sappony Solar LLC, Scana Corporation, Scott-II Solar LLC, Scott-II?Solar LLC, Seabrook Solar LLC, Selmer Farm LLC, Siler Solar LLC, Somers Solar Center LLC, South Carolina Electric?& Gas Company, South Carolina Fuel Company Inc., South Carolina Generating Company Inc., Southampton Solar LLC, Summit Farms Solar LLC, TA - Acacia LLC, TA ? Acacia LLC, TWE Myrtle Solar Project LLC, The East Ohio Gas Company, Tioga Properties LLC, Tredegar Solar Fund I LLC, VP Property Inc., Virginia Electric And Power Company, Virginia Power Fuel Corporation, Virginia Power Nuclear Services Company, Virginia Power Services Energy Corp. Inc., Virginia Power Services LLC, Virginia Solar 2017 Projects LLC, Wakefield Solar LLC, Wexpro Company, Wexpro Development Company, Wexpro II Company, Wilkinson Solar LLC, Wrangler Retail Gas Holdings LLC, and roquois GP Holding Company LLC.
(TNS)  Waymo said Tuesday that it will build in Michigan the worlds first factory dedicated exclusively to producing self-driving vehicles.After securing approval from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company said it will build a plant in southeast Michigan, which it expects will employ hundreds of workers in a few years.Well be looking for engineers, operations experts, and fleet coordinators to join our team and help assemble and deploy our self-driving cars, Waymo said in a blog post Tuesday. This will be the worlds first factory 100%-dedicated to the mass production of L4 autonomous vehicles.Level 4 autonomous vehicles is considered high automation, just one step below Level 5, which is full automation. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers, Level 4 vehicles can perform all driving tasks under certain conditions, while Level 5 vehicles can drive under all conditions.Giving a nod to Michigans legacy as the heart of U.S. auto manufacturing, Waymo said that the Great Lakes State is one we already know and love, with a talented workforce and excellent snowy conditions for our cars to test.A Waymo spokeswoman said Tuesday that the company is looking for a site for the factory, and that it plans to move into it midyear. Waymo expects to employ up to 400 workers there.Every person hired within this entity will be hired to work exclusively on Waymo self-driving vehicles, she said.
15 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Hugo Boss in the last year. There are currently 10 hold ratings and 5 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" Hugo Boss stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in BOSS, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

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Adaptive Medias, Inc., a programmatic audience and content monetization company, provides digital video and mobile solutions for Website owners, app developers, and video publishers for optimize content through advertising. The company provides programmatic and real time bidding advertising solutions across mobile, video, and display, as well as a business-to-business digital video content management platform SaaS. Its platform provides a video player for publishers to offer supplement video libraries. The company provides a foundation for publishers and developers to engage brand advertisers through a multi-channel approach that delivers ads in various devices. The company was formerly known as Mimvi, Inc. and changed its name to Adaptive Medias, Inc. in November 2013. Adaptive Medias, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

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George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw), Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties), and Weston Foods. The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy, health and beauty, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. It operates retail drug stores under the Shoppers Drug Mart. This segment also provides credit card services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services; and operates merchandisers, warehouse clubs, e-commerce retailers and businesses, mail order prescription drug distributors, limited assortment stores, discount stores, convenience stores, and specialty stores. The Choice Properties segment owns, develops, and manages commercial, retail, industrial, office, and residential properties consisting of 731 properties. The Weston Foods segment produces fresh, frozen, and specialty bakery products, such as bread, rolls, cupcakes, donuts, cookies, cakes, pies, cones and wafers, artisan baked goods, and other products through national and regional supermarkets, wholesale and club stores, dollar stores, convenience store chains, food service distributors, and outlets, as well as other food retailing customers. This segment also supplies control brand products to retailers and distributors; ice cream cones and sandwich wafers to manufacturers in the frozen novelty category; and Girl Scout cookies. It provides products under the Wonder, Gadoua, Weston, Rubschlager, ACE Bakery, Casa Mendosa, Country Harvest, All but Gluten, and D'Italiano brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited is a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.

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As instant, unfettered access to public information becomes the norm, older file systems for council meeting agendas and other public documents arent cutting it. But transparency isnt cheap, and some smaller governments especially struggle to afford the staff hours or enterprise software packages needed to comply with disclosure policies. ProudCity , the digital government platform company that recently set up extemporaneous websites for cities destroyed by wildfire, hopes to address this problem with a new, low-cost software feature. ProudCity Meetings , announced today, adds to the companys existing platform the ability to publish meeting agendas, minutes, videos and audio in various formats, as well as archive, search and share them.ProudCity Chief Operating Officer Kevin Herman said Meetings is an answer to customer demand, particularly from smaller governments.In these very small communities, weve found that the town clerks or city clerks are often the ones that are reaching out to us about updating their websites, because theyre the ones  that are on the hook for rules and regulations about public information, he said.Herman added that ProudCity used the latest iteration of California's Brown Act as a jumping-off point for developing the program, but governments are still responsible for customizing it to meet the nuances of local law.Expanding on the need for this tool, ProudCity CEO Luke Fretwell acknowledged there is no shortage of software products that archive and share meeting agendas. But small governments need to follow the same transparency laws as big ones, and he didnt think expensive, feature-heavy software, especially if its not very customizable or interoperable, is a viable option for everyone.There are several tools that are similar to what we do that have been around for a long time. Theyre expensive, and prohibitive for really smaller cities to purchase and leverage in a meaningful way, so what (smaller cities) have been doing is hacking their own solutions  and theyre not searchable, theyre not truly accessible, and they dont tie into a broader content strategy, he said. We wanted to create something that was easy to manage, lightweight and affordable.ProudCity started testing Meetings in late 2018 with Fairfax, Calif., and Lucas, Texas, both towns of less than 8,000 people.Camille Esposito, recreation and community services manager for the town of Fairfax, said up until last fall theyd been making do by posting PDFs on a very old website and archiving by hand. She said ProudCity Meetings has been a minor adjustment for the aging population that preferred the old website, and Fairfax staff have given feedback on how the tool might be more predictive and automated. But she said its an innovation for governments with a small staff that cant afford to invest as much in outside software.Larger cities use management software like Granicus , and we havent been able to make that investment, so we wanted something that was going to automatically archive meetings, keep track of things in a date order, has things divided into sections for agenda, minutes, video, so it kind of organizes it for us, she said.
Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through five segments: Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, and Group Development. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers. The company also provides mobile voice and data services to consumers and business customers; sells mobile devices and other hardware products; and sells mobile services to resellers and to companies that purchases and markets network services to third parties, such as mobile virtual network operators. In addition, it offers internet services; internet-based TV products and services; and information and communication technology systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions with an infrastructure of data centers and networks under the T-Systems brand, as well as call center services. The company has 242 million mobile customers and 22 million broadband customers, as well as 27 million fixed-network lines. Deutsche Telekom AG has a collaboration with VMware, Inc. on cloud-based open and intelligent virtual RAN platform to bring agility to radio access networks for existing LTE and future 5G networks; and partnership with Microsoft to deliver high-performance cloud computing experiences. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.

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Bunge Limited operates as an agribusiness and food company worldwide. It operates through five segments: Agribusiness, Edible Oil Products, Milling Products, Fertilizer, and Sugar and Bioenergy. The Agribusiness segment purchases, stores, transports, processes, and sells agricultural commodities and commodity products, including oilseeds primarily soybeans, rapeseed, canola, and sunflower seeds, as well as grains primarily wheat and corn; and vegetable oils and protein meals. It provides its products for animal feed manufacturers, livestock producers, wheat and corn millers, and other oilseed processors, as well as third-party edible oil processing companies; and for industrial and biodiesel production applications. The Edible Oil Products segment provides packaged and bulk oils and fats, including cooking oils, shortenings, margarines, mayonnaise, and others for baked goods companies, snack food producers, confectioners, restaurant chains, foodservice operators, infant nutrition companies, and other food manufacturers, as well as grocery chains, wholesalers, distributors, and other retailers. The Milling Products segment offers wheat flours and bakery mixes; corn milling products that include dry-milled corn meals and flours, wet-milled masa and flours, and flaking and brewer's grits, as well as soy-fortified corn meal, corn-soy blends, and other products; and whole grain and fiber ingredients. The Fertilizer segment offers nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium fertilizers; and SSP, ammonia, ammonium thiosulfate, monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, triple superphosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and potassium chloride. The Sugar and Bioenergy segment produces sugar and ethanol; and generates electricity from burning sugarcane bagasse. The company was founded in 1818 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Credit Suisse Group AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services in Switzerland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. The company offers private banking and wealth management solutions, including advisory, investment, financial planning, succession planning, and trust services; and financing and lending, and multi-shore platform solutions. It also provides traditional and structured lending, payment, foreign exchange, capital goods leasing, merger and acquisition, syndication, structured finance, commodity trade finance, trade finance, structured trade finance, export finance, factoring, fund management and administration, fund design, custody, ship and aviation finance, securities, cash, and treasury services. In addition, the company offers asset management products; equity and debt underwriting, and advisory services; cash equities, equity derivatives, and convertibles, as well as prime services; and fixed income products, such as credit, securitized, macro, emerging markets, financing, structured credit, and other products. Further, it provides HOLT, a framework for assessing the performance of approximately 20,000 companies; and equity and fixed income research services. The company serves private and institutional clients; ultra-high-net-worth individuals, high-net-worth individuals, and affluent and retail clients; corporate clients, small and medium-sized enterprises, external asset managers, financial institutions, and commodity traders; and pension funds, hedge funds, governments, foundations and endowments, corporations, entrepreneurs, private individuals, financial sponsors, and sovereign clients. As of December 31, 2020, it operated through a network of 338 offices and branches. The company was founded in 1856 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland.

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The Prime Minister highlighted that the PBD, which is the most prestigious gathering of the Indian diaspora, will pave the way to develop bilateral and multilateral actions and further consolidate diplomatic endeavours. He expressed enthusiasm as regards the opportunities that the PBD will offer in terms of discussions and ways people can cooperate using the powerful tool of shared history, affinities, cultures and religious identities.

Referring to the theme of the 15th PBD which is The Role of Indian Diaspora in Building New India, Mr Jugnauth underpinned the importance of diaspora networks in bringing new perspectives and development opportunities to work with each other. This mutually beneficial partnership, he stated, will bring specific groups of professionals under the PBD for exchanges of common issues. He also lauded the establishment of a Diaspora Connect Exchange Network that favours exchanges and collaboration of common projects.

Speaking about Mauritius, Prime Minister Jugnauth added that education plays a critical role in ensuring that all faiths and cultures are respected and upheld. He recalled that since January this year, tertiary education is free. Students who work hard and are capable should not be denied the opportunity of learning, he said, adding that his ambition is to further enhance the quality of tertiary education and make it more responsive to the labour market while instilling in emerging generations an increased sense of responsibility in nation building and sustainable development.

He further expressed determination to see the transformation of Mauritius into a modern state based on sustainable and inclusive development where traditional and innovative coexist smoothly. Mauritius, he pointed out, has chartered its course to become a high income economy with modern infrastructure. It is important to ensure that people have good quality of life, decent jobs, secure and peaceful environment, access to good education, healthcare and employment, he said.

While lauding the impressive economic development of India, Prime Minister Jugnauth underlined the significant support of India to Mauritius in its efforts to gravitate to a higher path of development. He mentioned the avenues of cooperation in view of reinforcing the existing bilateral and friendly ties between the two countries. They include: Metro Express project, construction of Supreme Court and a modern Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, and the construction of a modern infrastructure in Agalega.

He also highlighted that Mauritius is leaving no stone unturned to promote Hindi as a global language and to preserve its critical role in the preservation and transmission of cultures. In this vein, he added that the World Hindi Secretariat (WHS), which aims at promoting Hindi language internationally and campaigning for its recognition as an official United Nations language, was inaugurated in Mauritius in March 2018 by the President of the Republic of India, Mr Ram Nath Kovind. The 11th WHS Conference was also held in Mauritius in August last year, which is a testimony to the value we attach to languages in Mauritius, he added.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Citizens Bank, National Association that provides retail and commercial banking products and services in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking. The Consumer Banking segment offers traditional banking products and services, including checking and savings accounts, home and education loans, credit cards, business loans, mortgage and home equity lending, and unsecured product finance and personal loans, as well as wealth management and investment services to retail customers and small businesses. This segment also provides indirect auto finance for new and used vehicles through auto dealerships. The Commercial Banking segment offers various financial products and solutions, such as loans and leasing, trade finance, deposit and treasury management, cash management, and foreign exchange and interest rate risk management solutions; and loan syndications, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. It serves government banking, not-for-profit, healthcare, technology, professionals, oil and gas, asset finance, franchise finance, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, private equity, and sponsor finance industries. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. operates approximately 2,700 ATMs and 1,000 branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest regions, as well as through online, telephone, and mobile banking services; and maintains approximately 130 retail and commercial non-branch offices. The company was formerly known as RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc. and changed its name to Citizens Financial Group, Inc. in April 2014. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1828 and is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.

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CIBT Education Group Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an education and student housing investment company in Canada and China. The company engages in education, media communications, and real estate development businesses. It offers accredited programs, which include general English, college pathway, business English, medical English, English language test preparation, vacation English, online English, TESOL teacher training, automotive technical training, business management, customer service, English teacher preparation, and accounting, as well as junior and high school preparation programs for overseas study, and other career/vocational training; and interpreting and translation for Koreans and online English teacher training. The company also provides private career and technical training diplomas and certificates in health care, tourism, hospitality, business, administrative, technical trades, and international studies; and English as a Second Language, and accounting programs in China. In addition, it recruits international students and on-ground concierge services for various kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, universities, and colleges in North America; and offers web design and advertising services to the real estate industry. Further, the company invests in, develops, and manages education related real estate projects, such as student hotels, serviced apartments, and education super centers in Canada, as well as develops and manages real estate projects for technology workers and working professionals. The company was formerly known as Capital Alliance Group Inc. and changed its name to CIBT Education Group Inc. in November 2007. CIBT Education Group Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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CACI International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides information solutions and services in North America and internationally. The company offers business systems solutions for financial, human capital, asset and materials, and administrative management; develops, integrates, and operates command and control solutions; and develops and integrates solutions that deliver multi-level unified communications from the enterprise directly to and from the tactical edge. It also provides cyber security solutions and supports cyber support to federal customers and the intelligence community (IC), as well as support to the IC and the department of defense. In addition, the company offers enterprise-wide information solutions and services to design, develop, integrate, deploy, operate and manage, sustain, and security of its customers' IT solutions; and supports federal civilian and military health missions that improve healthcare delivery systems, integrates electronic health records, and enhances the speed and efficiency of emergency responsiveness. Further, it provides intelligence services, such as intelligence analysis, operations and planning, policy, doctrine, and security support, as well as ground truth and intelligence gathering services; and designs, develops, integrates, deploys, and prototypes hardware-and software-enabled tools and applications, as well as provides signals intelligence and radio systems. Additionally, the company offers investigation and litigation support services; logistics and material readiness solutions, and professional services; space operations and resiliency support; and data and software products, as well as develops and integrates surveillance and reconnaissance technologies into platforms. It primarily serves the U.S. government, state and local governments, commercial enterprises, and foreign government agencies. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

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Bancolombia S. A. provides various banking products and services to individual and corporate customers in Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other. It offers checking and savings accounts, fixed term deposits, and investment products; trade financing, loans funded by domestic development banks, working capital loans, credit cards, personal and vehicle loans, payroll loans, and overdrafts; financial support to real estate developers and mortgages for individuals and companies; and financial and operating leasing services. The company also provides hedging instruments, including futures, forwards, options, and swaps; and brokerage, investment advisory, and private banking services, including selling and distributing equities, futures, foreign currencies, fixed income securities, mutual funds, and structured products. In addition, it offers cash management services; foreign currency transaction services; life, auto, commercial, and homeowner's insurance products; and online and computer banking services. Further, the company provides investment banking services comprising project and acquisition finance, debt and equity capital markets, principal investments, M&A, restructurings, and structured financing; money market accounts, mutual and pension funds, private equity funds, payment trust, custody, and corporate trust; and digital banking platform, transportation, securities brokerage, maintenance and remodeling, advertising and marketing, and outsourcing services, as well as credit cards. As of December 31, 2020, it operated 1,057 branches; 18,631 banking correspondents; 535 PAMs; 215 kiosks in El Salvador and 137 in Colombia; and 6,124 automatic teller machines. Bancolombia S.A. was incorporated in 1945 and is headquartered in MedellAn, Colombia.

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BancorpSouth Bank provides commercial banking and financial services to individuals and small-to-medium size businesses. The company operates through Banking Services Group, Mortgage, Insurance Agencies, Wealth Management, and General Corporate and Other segments. It accepts various deposit products, including interest and noninterest bearing demand deposits, and saving and other time deposits. The company also provides commercial loans, including term loans, lines of credit, equipment and receivable financing, and agricultural loans; a range of short-to-medium term secured and unsecured commercial loans to businesses for working capital, business expansion, and the purchase of equipment and machinery; and construction loans to real estate developers for the acquisition, development, and construction of residential subdivisions. In addition, it offers fixed and adjustable rate residential mortgage loans secured by owner-occupied property; construction loans; second mortgage loans; and home equity lines of credit, as well as non-residential consumer loans that consist of automobile, recreation vehicle, boat, personal, and deposit account secured loans, as well as issues credit cards. Further, the company operates as an agent for the sale of commercial lines of insurance; and offers a line of property and casualty, life, health, and employee benefits products and services. Additionally, it provides credit related products, trust and investment management, asset management, retirement and savings solutions, and estate planning and annuity products. As of March 4, 2021, the company operated through 305 full-service branch locations, as well mortgage, insurance, and loan production offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas; and an insurance location in Illinois. The company was formerly known as BancorpSouth, Inc. and changed its name to BancorpSouth Bank in October 2017. BancorpSouth Bank was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.

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SPEED READ:

The U.S. Conference of Mayors gathered in Washington, D.C, on Wednesday for their winter meeting.

USCM President Steve Benjamin touted his group's bipartisanship -- even on the divisive issue of immigration.

The group has three key priorities this year: infrastructure, innovation and inclusion.

The Three 'I's

'Somebody Had My Back'

The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) kicked off its winter meeting in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, offering a stark contrast to the divided elected officials on Capitol Hill, where a standoff over immigration between President Donald Trump and Congress has left the federal government partially shut down for more than a month.The local leaders convened just two blocks from the White House and emphasized their ability to work across party lines -- even on the issue that's keeping the government closed.We led a bipartisan group -- a bipartisan group -- of mayors to the border to dramatize a shameful condition and extol the values of America," said Columbia, S.C., Mayor Steve Benjamin, the USCM president. "Historically, our country has flourished by accepting immigrants and providing them with a reasonable opportunity to thrive and earn a good living in this country. This conference will continue to advocate for doing the right thing in a humane way.Benjamin cited the importance of, obviously, working closely with the [Trump] administration on the plight of immigrant families and trying to work hard to keep them together -- supporting people at the most desperate times of their lives.Despite advocating against the Trump administration's immigration policies, the mayors expressed a great deal of optimism about the federal tax law signed by Trump, specifically the provision to trade capital gains tax breaks for investment in low-income communities. These opportunity zones aim to direct profits from Wall Street to places that have been left behind economically. Mayors are hopeful that the zones will fuel economic growth in their cities.The president of the mayors' group listed three key priorities for the organization this year: infrastructure, innovation and inclusion.As mayors and as leaders, well continue to work in a bipartisan fashion to improve the quality of life in every corner of this country, said Benjamin. Within the past year, so much of our work has been focused on inclusion, on America speaking to the better angels of our nature.The mayors focus on inclusion includes welcoming and integrating immigrants into their communities. They say this issue isnt about rhetoric and political posturing, but economic and social realities.Republicans in D.C. might want to build a border wall, but Mayor Antonio Martinez of Brownsville, Texas, says his Mexican neighbors to the south are key to his citys economy. Matamoras, the Mexican city neighboring Brownsville, ships products north across the border, and those products are flown to cities across the Midwest.Martinez took aim at federal policymakers who have come to his border town.No matter how many times we get elected officials from Washington to visit, they hear, but they dont listen, he said. They look, but they dont see.The local leaders also used the meeting as an opportunity to tout the benefits of being part of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.Mayor Karen Weaver of Flint, Mich., declared a state of emergency almost immediately after taking office to deal with her citys lead-contaminated water crisis. But in that moment of dire need, Weaver recalled on Wednesday, her USCM colleagues rolled into town like some gangsters with support and resources.They just embraced me, she said, brimming with gratitude. I knew somebody had my back.Similarly, Mayor James Diossa of Central Falls, R.I., described the group as a godsend for small cities like his, which spans just over one square mile.We dont have enough staffing, he said. Ive been able to leverage the staff of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.David Holt, the Republican mayor of Oklahoma City, made it personal: The only people who love you as much as your family are your fellow mayors.
WestRock Company manufactures and sells paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Corrugated Packaging and Consumer Packaging segments. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards for sale to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers. It also provides structural and graphic design, engineering services and custom, and automated packaging machines; offers a machinery solution that creates pouches to replace single-use plastics, including bubble mailers; distributes corrugated packaging materials and other specialty packaging products, including stretch films, void fills, carton sealing tapes, and other specialty tapes; operates recycling facilities that collect, sort, grade, and bale recovered paper; and provides lithographic laminated packaging products, as well as contract packing services. The Consumer Packaging segment manufactures and sells folding cartons that are used to package food, paper, beverages, dairy products, tobacco, confectionery, health and beauty, other household consumer, and commercial and industrial products; and express mail packages for the overnight courier industry. It also offers inserts and labels, as well as rigid packaging and other printed packaging products, such as transaction cards, brochures, product literature, marketing materials, and grower tags and plant stakes for the horticultural market; and secondary packages and paperboard packaging for over-the-counter and prescription drugs. In addition, this segment manufactures and sells solid fiber and corrugated partitions, and die-cut paperboard components principally to glass container manufacturers, producers of beer, food, wine, spirits, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and the automotive industry. WestRock Company is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

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AbbVie Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals in the worldwide. The company offers HUMIRA, a therapy administered as an injection for autoimmune and intestinal BehAet's diseases; SKYRIZI to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults; RINVOQ, a JAK inhibitor for the treatment of moderate to severe active rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients; IMBRUVICA to treat adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), mantle cell lymphoma, waldenstrAm's macroglobulinemia, marginal zone lymphoma, and chronic graft versus host disease; VENCLEXTA, a BCL-2 inhibitor used to treat adults with CLL or SLL; and MAVYRET to treat patients with chronic HCV genotype 1-6 infection. It also provides CREON, a pancreatic enzyme therapy for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency; Synthroid used in the treatment of hypothyroidism; AndroGel for males diagnosed with symptomatic low testosterone; Linzess/Constella to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and chronic idiopathic constipation; Lupron for the palliative treatment of advanced prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, and patients with anemia caused by uterine fibroids; and Botox therapeutic. In addition, the company offers ORILISSA, a nonpeptide small molecule gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist for women with moderate to severe endometriosis pain; Duopa and Duodopa, a levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel to treat Parkinson's disease; Lumigan/Ganfort, a bimatoprost ophthalmic solution for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension; Ubrelvy to treat migraine with or without aura in adults; Alphagan/ Combigan, an alpha-adrenergic receptor agonist for the reduction of IOP in patients with OAG; and Restasis, a calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant to increase tear production. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in North Chicago, Illinois.

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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.
The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear its first 2nd Amendment case in nearly a decade and rule on a strict New York City ordinance that bars a legal owner of a handgun from taking it to a shooting range outside the city.The city says gun owners may seek permits to carry handguns legally if they have good cause, but these permits are hard to obtain.Alternately, they may obtain a "premises" permit to keep a handgun at home, but that comes with strict regulation. The police department says those with a "premises" permit may carry the unloaded gun to a shooting range in the city, but not to a range outside the city.Several gun owners sued to challenge this restriction on carrying a handgun outside the city. One of them sought the right to carry his gun to a vacation home in upstate New York, but lost before a federal judge and the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.Urging the high court to take up the issue, their lawyer, former U.S, Solicitor Gen. Paul Clement, called the "city's transport ban an extreme, unjustified and irrational restriction on 2nd Amendment rights .... There is absolutely no evidence that transporting an unloaded firearm, locked in a container separate from its ammunition, presents a material public safety risk."The justices said they would hear the case, New York State Rifle and Pistol Assn. vs. New York, but it will probably be considered in the fall. If so, the court will not issue a decision until early in 2020.While the case could be decided narrowly based on the unusual provisions of the city's ordinance, the court could rule on the more significant question of whether the 2nd Amendment protects carrying a gun in public.Until now, the justices have said remarkably little about the 2nd Amendment, other than that it protects the right of a law-abiding individual to have a handgun at home for self defense. In 2008, the court struck down a District of Columbia ordinance that prohibited possession of nearly all handguns in Heller vs. D.C. Two years later in 2010, the court struck down a similarly broad city ordinance in Chicago.Since then, it has turned down a series of appeals from gun owners who objected to restrictions on carrying guns in public or who sued over bans on the sale or possession of semiautomatic weapons.That could change with the addition of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. When Kavanaugh worked on the the federal appeals court in Washington, he dissented from a ruling that upheld the district's ban on semiautomatic rifles. He said such weapons are in common use nationwide, and therefore should be deemed as protected under the 2nd Amendment.In upholding the strict New York ordinance, the 2nd Circuit Court said the high court's Heller decision in 2008 said the "core right" protected by the Constitution was the right to have a handgun at home for self-defense. Its judges said the city and its police department retained the authority to limit the carrying of guns in vehicles or in public.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, flanked by Democratic leaders of the state Legislature, on Tuesday night signed into law a series of measures codifying abortion protections and expanding reproductive health rights for women and their health care providers.The vote, made possible by the new Democratic majority in the Senate, came 46 years to the day after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark Roe v. Wade decision. It also updates state abortion laws that were nearly half a century old and, according to Democratic lawmakers, needed to be changed especially in light of recent changes on the nation's highest court.As he prepared to sign the legislation in the state Capitol's Red Room, which was packed with supporters, the governor thanked Sarah Ragle Weddington, a Texas attorney and law professor who, at the age of 26, represented "Jane Roe" -- Norma McCorvey -- in the milestone constitutional case in which the Texas woman challenged a state law banning abortion.Weddington, the youngest attorney to successfully argue a case before the Supreme Court, sat next to Cuomo as he signed the bill just before 7 p.m. Earlier in the day, she sat in the front row of the Assembly Parlor as Democratic leaders announced they would pass the measures that make up the Reproductive Health Act."It's bittersweet. There is a bitterness because we shouldn't be here in the first place," Cuomo said. "We should not have a federal government that is trying to roll back women's rights ... This administration (of President Donald Trump) defies American evolution."Cuomo said he believes that the federal protections of Roe v. Wade are at risk of being overturned with a Supreme Court that, under Trump, has shifted to a more conservative viewpoint. He predicted that this week's 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that temporarily upholds a ban on transgender U.S. military members is a split "you're going to hear over and over."Just before signing the bill, Cuomo presented Weddington with a New York Public Service Award."When I started working on what became Roe vs. Wade, New York was one of the very few states that women could go to for good legal services," Weddington said earlier Tuesday. "So I was one of the people helping to raise money for women to be able to get to New York. ... So now, to see New York pass a bill so that right is protected, is just a dream come true."Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins, who carried a bill on the legislation in 2007, echoed Cuomo's concern that the federal protections are at risk of being overturned and that New York needed to act."We're saying that here in New York, women's health matters," Stewart-Cousins said. "We're saying here in New York, women's lives matter. We're saying here in New York, women's decisions matter."The Reproductive Health Act does three things. First, it strips abortion from the state's criminal code and places it entirely within the realm of public health law. Second, it expands who can perform the procedure from beyond just physicians to any licensed, certified or authorized health care practitioner for whom abortion is within their scope of practice.Finally, it legalizes abortion after 24 weeks in cases where it would protect a woman's health or where a fetus is not viable. State law previously only allowed abortions after 24 weeks if the woman's life was in jeopardy.The anticipated passage generated passionate debate in the halls of the Capitol Tuesday, where protesters and supporters armed with signs crowded hallways and fired off competing chants and songs.Supporters praised the decision, saying it brings New York into modern times and reassures women who may have feared for their rights under the Trump administration and newly configured Supreme Court. They also said it reassures providers, who previously feared criminal liability in cases where the procedure was performed in line with federal law but not state law.Opponents, which included religious and conservative groups, were bitterly disappointed, claiming the law strips unborn children of their rights and jeopardizes women's health by allowing non-physicians to perform the procedure. They also said it limits options for prosecutors in domestic violence cases."May almighty God have mercy on the state of New York," someone yelled inside the Senate parlor, after the bill passed and riotous cheers and applause faded.The Senate came out 38-24 in favor of the bill, almost entirely along party lines. The Assembly, which has passed versions of the bill for a dozen years straight, voted 92-47 later Tuesday afternoon after several hours of debate.The last time New York updated its abortion laws was in 1970, to legalize the procedure up to 24 weeks. It was seen as progressive at the time, occurring three years prior to Roe v. Wade and making the state a safe haven for out-of-state women with unwanted pregnancies.Because Roe v. Wade allowed abortions after 24 weeks to preserve a woman's health, Republican state lawmakers frequently argued that New York had no need to update its laws. Federal law trumps state law, and Roe v. Wade was settled law.But the recent appointments of pro-life justices to the Supreme Court had many abortion rights advocates worried, and so the fight for the Reproductive Health Act was taken up anew in New York. After the 2018 midterm elections handed Democrats control of the state Senate for the first time in nearly a decade, Cuomo vowed to pass the bill in the first 30 days of the 2019 legislative session."We cannot overstate how important it is for all New Yorkers to have the ability to control their own bodies and determine their own destinies," said Robin Chappelle Golston, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts. "As we continue to face challenges to reproductive health care access on the federal level, it is paramount that New York is the beacon and state model of what reproductive health care should be."Republican state Sen. Catharine Young argued Tuesday that the bill fails to protect pregnant victims of domestic violence, and shared the story of a Bronx woman who was stabbed by her ex-boyfriend when she was 26 weeks pregnant. Her baby died, and under the new law, prosecutors would be unable to charge her attacker with abortion under the criminal code.But Democratic Sen. Liz Krueger, a sponsor of the Reproductive Health Act, noted that there are other criminal charges in New York that would apply and that carry far higher penalties than abortion, such as felony assault and attempted murder."I'm very confident that our courts, our (district attorneys) and our criminal code give us a broad range of penalties for those who commit heinous crimes against pregnant women," she said.Two other reproductive health bills that were previously held up by Republicans also passed the Legislature Tuesday.The Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act enshrines into law existing regulations that Cuomo pushed in 2017 requiring all New York health insurers to cover contraception without co-pays, co-insurance or deductibles. The Boss Bill, meanwhile, prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee or their dependent for a reproductive health decision.
What's the Best Age to Teach Financial Literacy?

Do Americans know how to manage money? Some of the statistics aren't encouraging. About 63 percent of the nation's residents could not pass a basic financial literacy quiz . According to the Federal Reserve Board, 40 percent of U.S. adults dont have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency.This reality has prompted some to wonder whether students are learning enough about how to manage money. According to the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, they're not.In 2017, the center gave 27 states a grade of C, D or F on their efforts to produce financially literate high school graduates . Only five states received an A: Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.When it comes to middle school, only 28 states have recommended financial literacy standards , according to a Brookings report, but many allow localities to decide how to implement such standards.Recently, several states have made financial literacy lessons more of a priority for students even before they're old enough to get a job.In November 2017, then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill requiring school districts to incorporate personal finance into kindergarten through 12th grade instruction. Last year, Iowa and Kentucky made completion of a financial literacy class a graduation requirement. This month, New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliversigned a bill mandating school districts to integrate financial literacy into every year of middle school. Lessons will cover topics like investing, credit cards, managing debt and budgeting.New Jersey Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, a primary sponsor of the bill, says she became interested in the subject after speaking with people on the campaign trail about their financial hardships.One of the main issues they were facing was debt: How can they get out of debt? How can they pay their bills? she says. Especially millennials, who have so much debt with college.McKnight reached out to local financial expert Tiffany Aliche, known professionally as The Budgetnista, to discuss ways to expose students to money management at a younger age. Before she took on her current role, Aliche was a teacher for more than a decade and often incorporated finance into activities -- even for preschool students.If we did an art project, for example, I might have the kids make a savings box. The kids would cut out things they wanted to save for and put it on their box, Aliche says. For reading, I always made sure that a percentage of the books I ordered spoke to concepts about sharing, about donating, about spending.The first version of the bill included requirements for kindergarten through eighth grade, but it was pocket vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie during his final weeks in office. The latest version was changed to focus on sixth through eighth grades, McKnight says, due to a collective desire to focus on middle school students.During her discussions with teachers, school officials and community members, she says, some raised questions about the appropriate age for kids to begin learning about what can be a complicated subject. Others wondered about the cost to create a new course and whether the new standards could further overwhelm teachers Aliche insists that teachers do not need a degree in finance to teach effective lessons, and she encourages them to introduce the topic in subjects students are already learning. McKnight and Aliche expect costs for implementing the new law to be low by taking advantage of resources in the community and on the internet.Utah State Treasurer David Damschen says he understands the potential challenges states can face with allocating money or providing resources for personal finance lessons. Utah was the only state to receive an A+ in Champlains report, but Damschen believes even his state has room for improvement. Funding for such programs is "inadequate," he says, and changing the education culture to consistently and effectively embrace financial literacy as a necessary curriculum subject can be difficult.Damschen recommends that states or school districts interested in more rigorous courses find teachers who are not only qualified to teach financial literacy but who are passionate about it.Its about developing a level of support for this issue, says Damschen. This is not just a passing phase. We need to drive that down into the districts, and the teachers and the students.McKnight agrees. Despite this month's victory, she still plans to push for a similar policy for students as early as kindergarten.
The Winnipeg Free Press was a double winner at the North American Travel Journalists Association's 2018 awards, announced last week.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Free Press was a double winner at the North American Travel Journalists Association's 2018 awards, announced last week.

Arts and life reporter Jill Wilson won two awards in the Travel Cruise category for the individual sections of her two-part series documenting an Adventure Canada cruise along the coasts of Greenland and Labrador. She took home the gold medal for her piece Northern Highlights, about Greenlandic traditions and cuisine; Luxuriating in Labarador, about the unspoiled beauty of Canada's Torngat Mountains National Park, won bronze.

The North American Travel Journalists Association Awards, now in their 27th year, honour excellence in travel journalism and media. The list of winners includes journalists from the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler magazine, the Washington Post, the Globe and Mail, enRoute magazine and the San Fransciso Chronicle.

"The winners are a microcosm of the talent and journalistic excellence that encapsulates our industry leading members," association CEO Helen Hernandez said in a statement.

"As our membership continues to grow, so do the submissions of the accomplished pool of those who work in the travel industry  raising the competitiveness and prestige of the annual NATJA Awards."
Water is becoming a scarce resource in many parts of the world. Water tables have been falling in many regions for decades, particularly in areas with intensive agriculture. Wells are going dry and there are few long-term solutions available  a common stopgap has been to drill deeper wells.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Water is becoming a scarce resource in many parts of the world. Water tables have been falling in many regions for decades, particularly in areas with intensive agriculture. Wells are going dry and there are few long-term solutions available  a common stopgap has been to drill deeper wells.

This is exactly what happened in Californias Central Valley. The recent drought there prompted drilling of deeper and deeper water wells to support irrigated agriculture.

Arizona is also looking to drill additional wells to tackle water shortages to support agriculture. The flow of the Colorado River, which supplies water to more than 44 million people across seven states, including Arizona, has dropped by close to 20 per cent in the past 15 years, lowering water levels in Lake Mead, the rivers largest reservoir.

Under Arizonas proposed Drought Contingency Plan, the state will have to reduce its use of Colorado River water by about 500 million cubic metres per year, an amount equal to three times Calgarys annual water consumption.

Groundwater supplies around the world are being threatened by excessive pumping, but drilling deeper wells is not a long-term solution. There is a limit to the availability of fresh groundwater at depth. A better solution is to manage water use and avoid excessive declines in groundwater levels.

Shifting corn belt, shifting water needs

Drilling deeper wells to support irrigated agriculture may not be possible everywhere. Recent research indicates the depths at which fresh groundwater resources occur is highly variable and not as extensive as previously thought.

Deep fresh groundwater can be found in parts of California and Arizona, but this is not the case beneath the High Plains in the western United States, the U.S. Midwest or the Canadian Prairies. Intensive irrigation in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas has depleted the High Plains aquifer. Wells in this area now reach to the bottom of fresh groundwater resources.

Irrigation for agriculture is currently uncommon in the Canadian Prairies, but this could change over the coming decades. Water scarcity in the southern U.S. High Plains combined with climate change could lead to changes in agricultural practices in Canada. As the corn belt shifts north, the demand for water will increase.

Water in the Saskatchewan River watershed is already close to fully allocated in some areas. Steamflow in the headwaters of the Saskatchewan River has decreased during the growing season, as glaciers and snowpacks in the Rocky Mountains melt and shrink. Groundwater demand is likely to increase to address shortfalls in water from surface water sources.

Widespread groundwater depletion has not been noted in Canada, in part because of low demand from groundwater to date. It is not clear what level of groundwater pumping would be sustainable.

Examining this issue ahead of widespread development of groundwater resources due to growing population and changes in agriculture is key to avoiding the widespread depletion problems seen in other regions.

Groundwater depletion by contamination

Canada has, however, seen issues with groundwater quality.

In the Canadian Prairies, these issues are often related to oil and gas development and agricultural practices. Saskatchewan has documented nearly 20,000 surface spills of hydrocarbons and waters from oil fields since 2005. Migration of these contaminants and others, notably nitrates from agriculture, to the water table decreases groundwater quality.

Another issue is the contamination of groundwater from the bottom up. There are more than 700,000 oil and gas wells, and more than 20,000 injection wells, mainly used for the disposal of saline waters produced during oil and gas extraction in Western Canada. More than 23 billion cubic metres of fluids, mainly saline waters produced during oil and gas extraction, have been injected into the subsurface  equivalent to one-fifth of all global oil production since 1850.

These activities could be creating conditions that would allow for migration of hydrocarbons, saline waters and other contaminantsupwards into groundwater supplies that might otherwise be suitable for agriculture and drinking water supplies.

The impacts from the oil and gas industry on water chemistry have not been studied in detail at the regional scale. Most of THE studies that have been done relied on data submitted when wells were initially drilled, meaning that were unable to track changes in water chemistry over time.

Studies that do examine changes in water chemistry over time and the potential migration of contaminants into potable water supplies are rare, mainly due to a lack of reporting requirements for water chemistry and injected fluids, along with sparse monitoring networks.

Groundwater may play a large role in meeting the water needs of Western Canada over the coming century. Understanding how extensive this resource is and developing better management strategies is urgently needed.

Grant Ferguson is an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan. Jennifer C. McIntosh is a professor at the University of Arizona.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
The death sentence recently meted out to convicted Canadian drug trafficker Robert Schellenberg in China is another ratcheting-up of pressure on Canada by Chinese authorities.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

The death sentence recently meted out to convicted Canadian drug trafficker Robert Schellenberg in China is another ratcheting-up of pressure on Canada by Chinese authorities.

It came after Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of the United States, which wants her to stand trial on charges related to breaking American laws prohibiting trade with Iran.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned China for "arbitrarily" applying the death penalty in the Schellenberg case that has, until now, languished in the Chinese justice system. Schellenberg was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in trying to smuggle 222 kg of methamphetamine from China to Australia in 2014.

China has responded by criticizing Trudeau for not having "the slightest respect for the rule of law" and for making "irresponsible remarks." Both sides also escalated travel advisories for their citizens, urging caution and evaluation of risk.

Pressure point

There is no question that the sudden attention given to Schellenberg is related to the Meng arrest and is another pressure point that China is applying to Canada.

However, China has been somewhat more astute in highlighting Schellenbergs case in comparison to its clumsy detentions of two other Canadians  former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor  which occurred right after Mengs arrest and were ostensibly for violations of Chinas national security laws.

Drug trafficking is recognized as a serious crime everywhere. A number of countries  such as Singapore, Indonesia and, yes, China  apply the death penalty in many serious drug trafficking cases.

According to media reports, Schellenberg has a criminal record in Canada with 11 offences dating back to 2003, including several for drug trafficking for which he has spent time in Canadian prisons.

Judging by his track record and the apparent evidence, he is no simple tourist. But does this mean he merits the death penalty for his offences, or is he a political pawn? The timing of his sudden retrial very much suggests the latter.

But ramping up the rhetoric against China is unlikely to achieve the outcome Canada desires. In fact, just the opposite could happen.

Canada doesnt have the death penalty, and its legitimate and consistent with our values to request other countries to respect that position. But not all do, including the United States.

Touched a nerve

To publicly accuse China of arbitrarily imposing a death sentence is to touch a raw nerve in China, which maintains that it also follows the rule of law.

While there are many good reasons to question that position, China will maintain that there are plenty of precedents for imposing capital punishment for drug trafficking in China, and that they should not be expected to make an exception simply because the accused is a foreigner.

The intemperate opinion piece by Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye, which I myself publicly criticized, accused Canadian "elites" of practising "white supremacy" for arguing that Kovrigs and Spavors detention were unlawful while Mengs was in accordance with the rule of law.

That kind of inflammatory language is unhelpful, but whether China actually believes that Canada is imposing double standards  one for Canadians and a different one for Chinese  or at least chooses to play that card, the fact remains that Schellenberg is vulnerable.

Thats because China could easily make an example of him just to show that he is subject to the same laws and punishments as a Chinese citizen convicted of drug trafficking.

Rather than accusing China of arbitrariness and political motivation in this latest case, it would be better to acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations against Schellenberg and propose that Chinese punishment be tempered with mercy.

Asking for clemency

In fact, there are provisions in Chinese law for the death penalty to be suspended or commuted. For China to take that position in Schellenbergs case would strengthen its position that this case has not been politicized, but is being dealt with according to law.

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has said that Canada has asked China for clemency in this case. Thats the right approach. While there are reports that China has rejected Canadas appeal, so far there has been no final decision by the Supreme Peoples Court.

Pushing China into a corner and escalating the condemning language on this case is a high-risk proposition. If the Chinese can be convinced to spare Schellenbergs life, it wont be due to threats. Lowering the temperature on the rhetoric on both sides can only help.

Its tempting to respond with strong language and threats of consequences, as some have suggested. But now is the time to give China the chance to show the world that while the Chinese justice system can mete out punishment, it can also exercise compassion, demonstrating that Chinese justice can be a combination of both retribution and rehabilitation.

Whatever his sins, Schellenberg deserves that chance. Lets hope that China rises to the occasion.

Hugh Stephens is an executive fellow at the school of public policy, University of Calgary; distinguished fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada; and an associate faculty member at the school of business, Royal Roads University, University of Calgary.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
Ann Flagg, director of the Center for Child and Family Well-Being at the American Public Human Services Association, on what will happen when -- because of the government shutdown -- states are suddenly on the hook for funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which normally costs $4 billion a month.
To the sounds of an eagle song and the scent of smoke from a sage smudge, nearly 90 eagle feathers were cleansed in a solemn Dakota ceremony as Manitoba RCMP launched an initiative that will give the feathers the same legal standing as the Bible for sworn statements in this province.

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This article was published 22/1/2019 (878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To the sounds of an eagle song and the scent of smoke from a sage smudge, nearly 90 eagle feathers were cleansed in a solemn Dakota ceremony as Manitoba RCMP launched an initiative that will give the feathers the same legal standing as the Bible for sworn statements in this province.

Each feather, with a protective beaded wrap at the bottom and contained in a specially made cloth-covered case, will be distributed to 88 RCMP detachments and sub-offices in the province.

Assistant Commissioner Scott Kolody, commanding officer of the Manitoba RCMP, described the importance of eagle feathers for Indigenous Canadians as a symbol of respect and honesty.

"It is our hope that this (initiative) will foster stronger relations for us," with Indigenous communities, he told First Nations leaders, RCMP officials and other invited guests at the force's Manitoba headquarters on Portage Avenue Tuesday.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS RCMP members in red serge watch as eagle feathers at "D" Division are cleansed in a Dakota ceremony.

"For some, the eagle feather provides comfort and strength. By holding an eagle feather, they find the strength to talk, and are empowered to speak their truth."

Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth attended the ceremony and expressed an interest in adopting the practice.

Nova Scotia is the only other province where RCMP have adopted the practice; it has been in place for about 15 months.

Anyone providing a sworn statement to the RCMP  officers, crime victims, witnesses and suspects  have, in addition to swearing on the Bible or affirming to tell the truth, the third option of affirming with the feather.

The statement then becomes evidence that can be used in a court of law, Kolody said.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Eagle feathers grace a table at "D" Division on Tuesday.

Dakota elder Wanbdi Wakita from Sioux Valley First Nation led the cleansing ceremony with a song to the eagle spirit as his wife wafted smoke from a sage smudge over the feathers. They were laid side by side in two rows on a long table draped with a broad cloth, embroidered with RCMP insignia and gold braid. On either side of the table stood a pair of eagle staffs, one held by the Manitoba RCMP division and the other, the national RCMP staff, which is normally kept in Ottawa.

RCMP acquired the feathers from two bald eagles that wildlife officers with Manitoba Sustainable Development provided. The elders helped RCMP with months of ceremonies to prepare feathers for their new official role.

It is illegal to kill eagles in Canada and the United States.

"Its an important day for us," Kolody said. "A sacred day."

Granting the privilege of holding an eagle feather is among the highest honours that can be bestowed among Indigenous peoples, Assembly of First Nations regional chief Kevin Hart said.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Regional Chief Kevin Hart addresses a press conference before eagle feathers at "D" Division went through a ceremony, preparing them to be placed in detachments across Manitoba.

The feathers offer both strength and protection. People fast in ceremonies for four days without food or water in four-year cycles just for a chance to carry them, Hart said.

"That shows what we give as First Nations people just to have the honour of holding an eagle feather... this is a big step forward for us," he said.

First Nations communities are still struggling to come to terms with the inter-generational damage from residential schools and the Canadian legacy of colonialism, Hart said.

"Theres a traumatic affect in our communities to this day that needs to be reconciled and this is one of those steps," he said. "Its great to see this as part of reconciliation."

The feathers will add to the sense of pride Indigenous members of the RCMP feel about their cultures, he said.

"This is building bridges," Hart said.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew accused the Progressive Conservative government Tuesday of cutting funding for special needs students, but provided conflicting evidence to back up his claims.

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This article was published 22/1/2019 (878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew accused the Progressive Conservative government Tuesday of cutting funding for special needs students, but provided conflicting evidence to back up his claims.

At a news conference, Kinew said funding for special needs children had fallen by $500,000 in the last two years, resulting in fewer educational assistants in the classroom.

However, documents obtained by the NDP through freedom of information requests -- and released to the media -- show there have been small yearly increases in total special needs student funding since 2016-17.

The half-million-dollar decrease occurred in two of five special needs funding categories: for Level 2 and Level 3 students (with severe-to-profound disabilities and programming needs).

Funding for student service grants and co-ordinator/clinician grants went up, while money allocated for special needs transportation declined slightly.

Radean Carter, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg School Division, said there has been no reduction in educational assistants (EAs) in the past couple of years. However, the EAs have been deployed differently than in the past, she said.

A WSD trustee, Arlene Reid, the mother of two special needs boys, accompanied Kinew as he addressed the media at the legislative building Tuesday.

She said one of her son's classrooms used to have two EAs, but now only has one. "I can't imagine what would happen if they did not have the supports that they currently have," she said.

Reid said she is relieved provincial block funding for special needs students -- initiated under the NDP -- has replaced a system in which parents had to apply separately. Under the current process, parents "no longer have to make our child out to be the monster" (emphasizing the child's needs) to obtain funding, she said.

Meanwhile, although there have been small overall increases in provincial funding for special needs students, the Winnipeg School Division says more is needed.

"We've had to supplement special needs funding through property taxation over the past two years and, even then, it's not enough," said Carter. She said local taxpayers will be asked to contribute more for special needs students in the current budget deliberations.

"Demand for special needs support is not declining, and the cost of providing services continues to increase," Carter said in an email.

Documents obtained by the NDP show the number of funded Level 2 and Level 3 students fluctuated under the former student-specific funding model when that party was in government. Funding for Level 2 and Level 3 students in the province fell each year under the NDP between 2011-12 and 2015-16. Total funding for special needs students fell all but one year during the same period.

A government spokeswoman said the current funding formula was established by the previous government, and the PCs have guaranteed the same funding levels since 2016-17.

"Funding for students with very high needs continues to fluctuate based on need," the spokeswoman said in an email. "As this fiscal year is not yet complete, the province has not finished processing applications. There is a decrease of $0.3 million in one category as the number of pupils in that category has dropped, but the grant rate has not changed."

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  The federal government will unveil today a multimillion-dollar loan to support a large mixed-income apartment project in downtown Winnipeg, the Free Press has learned.

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OTTAWA  The federal government will unveil today a multimillion-dollar loan to support a large mixed-income apartment project in downtown Winnipeg, the Free Press has learned.

Its part of a project that aims to house low-income residents, revitalize the downtown and support local artists  all while turning a profit for the taxpayer.

The federal government announced more than $26 million in support for the ongoing construction of Arts District, a 14-storey, mixed-income apartment complex near the Winnipeg Art Gallery at 290 Colony Street. (Renderings by Squared Design Lab, LLC)

"I think this is a great project, and something we should have been doing in Winnipeg decades ago," said Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette (Winnipeg Centre), who will make the announcement this morning near the University of Winnipeg campus.

"Im looking forward to cutting the ribbon."

Called the Arts District, a 14-storey building just west of the Winnipeg Art Gallery will provide housing for 119 families; 46 of those units will qualify as low-income housing.

The building will include facilities for local and visiting artists, such as a studio people visiting the city for months-long terms can use. It would allow an artist to practise an instrument in a sound-proof room and offer classes to locals, instead of renting a hotel and a separate art space.

The project has been in the works for years, but today will be the publics first detailed look at units set to open in mid-2020. Ouellette will announce more than $26 million in federal support  though it isnt supposed to cost the taxpayer a dime.

The loan comes from Ottawa buying bonds, and loaning the cash at a much lower rate than what banks provide, over a decades-long term. The federal government intends to get the cash back while turning a small profit from its bonds, which will likely be used to administer such projects.

Officials believe cutting this deal will save a U of W development group $4 million in interest fees it would otherwise pay if using a bank loan.

The project is led by the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation, an arms-length organization created to grow the university campus in the late-2000s. It created the Downtown Commons, a mixed-income housing project that had one-third of its units as student apartments and services for vulnerable groups.

Now branded as UWCRC 2.0, this is the groups first major project to help create non-campus housing stock. Another involves the nearby, West Broadway Commons, offering 110 mixed-income apartments in partnership with All Saints Anglican Church.

The funding for the Arts District comes from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, through its Rental Construction Financing initiative, which has been using cash from the Liberals national housing strategy to increase housing stock in larger cities, where the rental market is maxed out.

Those arrangements have CMHC offer developers a loan better than the banks, with the agreement they offer rental units at 90 per cent of market rate, with the idea this will provide middle-class families a chance to find housing.

What UWCRC 2.0 has agreed to do is pool that 10 per cent discount, and instead offer low-rent units, while charging full market rates to those who can afford them. That means offering units at an effectively subsidized rate for two decades, without actually registering as affordable housing.

Ouellette said his riding needs "a project that forces people to rub shoulders together" with different ages, incomes and ethnicities living in close proximity.

"It creates a better environment, which I think is more sustainable in the long-term," he said, comparing it with downtown areas that are overwhelmingly poor.

A UWCRC 2.0 spokesman, who would not be named, compared the approach to other universities, who often create housing at a profit, thus driving up prices and pushing students further away from campus.

"This project uses an innovative approach that will generate its own revenue and equity stream, and supports the universitys core mission of academic excellence," the spokesman wrote. "We have a track record of delivering financially sustainable projects that benefit the university and surrounding community."

The building will be located at 290 Colony St.; it was first slated at the same site but under the address of 505 St. Mary Ave.

Construction of the buildings foundation began last month, and should continue until March. Concrete beams should appear in the late spring, with the rest of the building being pieced together until July 2020.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
VANCOUVER - Health Canada unveiled a radically new food guide Tuesday that eliminates food groups, encourages plant-based foods over meat and dairy products, and is likely to force changes across the country's agricultural industry.

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VANCOUVER - Health Canada unveiled a radically new food guide Tuesday that eliminates food groups, encourages plant-based foods over meat and dairy products, and is likely to force changes across the country's agricultural industry.

"I see the food guide as a challenge for many industries. How they adapt will be of interest," said Simon Somogyi, a University of Guelph professor studying the business of food.

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, right, and nutritionist Jessica Cole look over samples of some of the food groups at the unveiling of Canada's new Food Guide, Tuesday, January 22, 2019 in Montreal.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Meat enjoyed a dominant position in the previous food guide with a meat and alternatives category and a recommended two to three servings daily for adults depending on their sex and age. It now features much less prominently. The new guide encourages people to "eat protein foods," but choose those that come from plants more often.

It's a win for plant-protein farmers, like those growing beans, chickpeas and lentils, but a potential threat to meat producers.

Somogyi believes consumers will favour high-quality beef when they choose to consume red meat and farmers will likely want to shift to producing niche products.

If Canadians eat less meat, there may be opportunities to export to Asian markets where a middle-class consumer wants safe, high-quality cuts.

"If the Canadian beef sector can provide that then their future looks bright."

The industry may also want to collaborate with plant-protein producers, said Sylvain Charlebois, a Dalhousie university professor who researches food.

He recently spoke to hundreds of people in the beef industry about the upcoming food guide, who he said were not overly happy with the plant-based narrative, and suggested they "befriend the enemy."

That kind of partnership could promote a meat loaf recipe that contains beef and lentils, he said.

The new guide also minimizes dairy consumption. It touts water  not milk  as the "drink of choice" and eliminates the previous milk and alternatives food group. The visual guide shows a plate topped with a variety of produce, protein and whole grains, but the only dairy pictured is yogurt.

The encouragement to consume less dairy contradicts Canada's supply management system and doesn't leave a choice but to rethink the status quo, said Charlebois.

The system started in the 1970s and sets quotas for production of milk and other goods based on anticipated demand.

Canadians will eventually buy less dairy as they adhere to the new guide's recommendations, he said, and grocers will shrink the amount of space allotted to dairy in stores.

Farmers will have to start looking at export markets, and that's not possible under the current system, he said.

"You'll end up with an imbalance. So obviously, I think you need to look at supply management 2.0 very seriously and commit to a reform as soon as possible."

Somogyi suggests dairy farmers eye opportunities in export markets such as rising demand for infant formula in China and parts of southeast Asia.

"In some ways, the guide is a challenge for the Canadian dairy sector to look at what other markets there are and what those products are in other countries."

Fruits don't get off scot free either. While the new guide recommends "plenty" of vegetables and fruits, it suggests people "replace juice with water."

That directive could hurt Canada's apple producers, which supply part of their crop to juice processing, said Somogyi.

The heavy emphasis on eating whole produce also highlights the need for farms to grow more fruit and vegetables locally, said Charlebois.

Canada imports much of its produce, leaving Canadians vulnerable to wild price fluctuations, he said. The consumer price index for fresh lettuce, for example, jumped 39.9 per cent from December 2017 to December 2018, according to Statistics Canada.

There's less risk to local production, he said, and Canada needs to build its economies of scale for produce farming.

The changes to the food guide shouldn't come as a surprise to industry, as experts expected much of what's in the new guide and it simply reflects changing consumer eating habits.

"This is already happening," said Somogyi, whose research shows a growing number of Canadians are becoming vegetarian or eating less meat. "I think the food guide makes it a little clearer."

The restaurant industry and some processors have been adjusting to increased demand for plant-based protein for years.

"It's one of the most impactful, fast-growing trends right now in the industry," said Robert Carter, executive director of food service for market research firm NPD Group.

A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. added a veggie burger to its menu last year and Maple Leaf Foods Inc. has been adding alternative-protein makers to its portfolio in a bid to become the most sustainable protein company on earth.

"Everyone seems to really have all of a sudden jumped on board."

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Google is considering pulling its Google News service from Europe as regulators work toward a controversial copyright law.

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Google is considering pulling its Google News service from Europe as regulators work toward a controversial copyright law.

The European Unions copyright directive will give publishers the right to demand money from the Alphabet Inc. unit, Facebook Inc. and other web platforms when fragments of their articles show up in news search results, or are shared by users. The law was supposed to be finalized this week, but was delayed by disagreement among member states.

Google News might quit the continent in response to the directive, said Jennifer Bernal, Googles public policy manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The internet company has various options, and a decision to pull out would be based on a close reading of the rules and taken reluctantly, she said.

"The council needs more time to reflect in order to reach a solid position" on the directive, said a representative of Romania, current head of the European Council, which represents the 28 member nations.

Google has said it doesnt make money from its news service, so its unlikely the company would take a financial hit from withdrawing. But news results keep mobile users coming back to its search engine, where they often pursue queries that generate lucrative ad revenue. Google also competes against rival mobile news-aggregation services from Apple Inc. and Facebook.

"I dont buy the threat  they really need Europe," said Francois Godard, a European media analyst at Enders Analysis, a research firm.

Google has sometimes underestimated legal trouble in Europe and irritated regulators by being slow to recognize their jurisdiction over the Mountain View, Calif.-based business. Its waged dozens of battles with privacy authorities, including a 2014 case over the so-called right to be forgotten that forced the company to purge sensitive details from search results. Disputes with publishers have turned into costly antitrust investigations and a push for more legislation to curb Googles ability to use content.

Googles troubles with the European Unions antitrust authorities are well-known: the company was fined 2.4 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in 2017 for abusing its dominance in price-comparison services, and a further 4.3 billion euros the following year for pushing software bundles on Android phone makers. Another antitrust probe, this time involving its AdSense advertising product, is underway.

But there are two more important areas where the European attack on Google is still in its infancy: privacy and intellectual property. This is changing.

Mondays decision by the French data protection agency, CNIL, is an important salvo on the first front  even if the regulators 50-million-euro fine is a rounding error compared with the US$11 billion of quarterly revenue Googles parent, Alphabet Inc., generates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Lawmakers are still hashing out how to define small excerpts of stories and whether individual words should be covered by the copyright rules, according to an EU official who asked not to be identified. The rules would also require Google and Facebook to actively prevent music, videos and other copyrighted content from appearing on their platforms if rights holders didnt grant them a license.

Despite the delay, an agreement is possible in the next few months, two EU officials said. If theres no accord by the spring, when European Parliament elections are held, the process would be delayed until later this year.

As with many divisive issues in European regulation, the problem is the small print. When the commission first unveiled draft rules, it proposed letting publishers waive their rights to demand payment from news-aggregation services. The European Parliament introduced a provision last year that raises concerns among some small publishers that they wont be able to let Google distribute their content online free of charge.

The impact of a Google News withdrawal on publishers who rely on the search giant for traffic to their sites is unclear. Google shut its news service in Spain in 2014 after the country passed a law requiring Spanish publications to charge aggregators for displaying excerpts of stories. Publishers must claim compensation for the reuse of fragments of text whether they want to or not.

The Spanish law led to small publishers losing about 13 per cent of their web traffic, according to a 2017 study released by the Spanish Association of Publishers of Periodical Publications. That translates to a cost of at least nine million euros (US$10.2 million), the study estimated.

Other publishers were initially opposed to the Spanish law, but argue that Googles withdrawal didnt have much impact.

"The vast majority of Spanish publishers consider Googles decision insignificant," said Wout van Wijk, executive director at News Media Europe, an umbrella organization representing national publishers associations. Spains CEDRO, which negotiates licences and collects royalties on behalf of members, has struck licensing deals with other news aggregators that emerged after Google left, he said.

The EU decision to work on a similar rule has pitted large publishers against internet giants, including Google, as well as some small publishers and freedom of speech activists.

"Limiting publishers freedom in this way will result in detrimental consequences for us, as shown by a similar experience in Spain," European Innovative Media Publishers said in an October letter to lawmakers.

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Seven months into the Canadian governments current emphasis on export diversification, Mary Ng, the countrys first small business minister to also have export promotion as part of the portfolio, was in Winnipeg on Tuesday to meet with small business operators to remind them of the opportunities out there.

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Seven months into the Canadian governments current emphasis on export diversification, Mary Ng, the countrys first small business minister to also have export promotion as part of the portfolio, was in Winnipeg on Tuesday to meet with small business operators to remind them of the opportunities out there.

Speaking at a World Trade Centre Winnipeg event, she said Brand Canada has never been stronger.

"The world wants and needs more Canada," Ng said.

There are markets out there  1.5 billion customers in the global market place that are now accessible through the trade agreements Canada has signed.  Mary Ng

In its fall economic statement, the government committed $1.1 billion to enhance export diversification  about 70 per cent of total Canadian exports go the U.S.  including $10 million dedicated to Ngs department to go towards helping small business become more export-ready. Ng said a strategy as to how to deploy those funds is still in the works, but the goal is for Canada to increase its exports by 50 per cent by 2025.

She pointed out that while small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 91 per cent of the employment in the country, only 12 per cent of them are engaged in the export markets and in Manitoba that number is even lower, at eight per cent.

She acknowledged that it wont be easy to increase that and that she believes the emphasis of her job needs to be on promotion.

"Export promotion is important because we do want to diversify," she said.

"There are markets out there  1.5 billion customers in the global market place that are now accessible through the trade agreements Canada has signed."

In addition to the recently completed new NAFTA, Canada also has freshly inked deals with the European Union and with Pacific Rim countries (the so-called CETA and CPTPP deals) as well as bilateral trade deals with countries including South Korea, Israel, Chile and Ukraine that give Canadian exporters preferential treatment with 62 per cent of the global economy.

But the nuts and bolts required to get small businesses export-ready is not so straightforward.

World Trade Centre Winnipeg has been delivering a concentrated, four month program to address the issue. Called the Trade Accelerator Program (TAP), it is being offered by an increasing number of World Trade Centres across the country and has been generating some successes. A total of 500 Canadian companies have gone through the program, including close to 50 in Manitoba.

Currently the program does not receive any federal government support, but Ng said her department is aware of how it works. On Tuesday she heard about the value of the program from Kevin Klaassen, CEO of SK2 Custom Homes.

Klaassen said his business had been concentrated on building custom homes in the southern Saskatchewan oilpatch. But when the prices for Canadian oil went down, so did that market. He said his experience with the TAP program helped get him active in the North Dakota market and his company is now booked most of the way through this year.

With the recent announcement that the province will use the World Trade Centre as its strategic partner organization to deliver trade-related programming, it is well situated to continue to offer the program.

The next intake for Manitoba companies is the middle of next month but it currently only has the capacity to accept up to 15 companies in the program.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
NEW YORK - It hasn't been lost on small business owners that Uber and other ride-sharing services are enormously successful without having employees doing the work. It's one of the reasons why small companies are forgoing employees in favour of independent contractors.

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In this Jan. 15, 2019, photo Chris Richardson CEO of Talent Response, a website that helps small businesses find freelancers, poses for a photo in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

NEW YORK - It hasn't been lost on small business owners that Uber and other ride-sharing services are enormously successful without having employees doing the work. It's one of the reasons why small companies are forgoing employees in favour of independent contractors.

Todd Miller transformed his small business a year ago, shifting Classic Metal Roofing Systems of Kentuckiana from a company with employees to one using independent contractors. The change gives Miller more flexibility in doing roof replacements than he had with a small group of full-time employees.

"We can hire independents who have the experience and skills that we need for each individual project. With employees, you are often asking people to do things they are not terribly experienced at," Miller says.

Using independent contractors or freelancers has many benefits besides flexibility. In a tight job market, owners can more easily find independents rather than full-time employees. Owners can also save on overhead, hiring only when they need help. They don't have costs like employment taxes and insurance, nor do they face the administrative and management tasks that go along with having employees. But the government has rules about the use of independent contractors, contending that some owners misclassify employees and call them independents to avoid the costs associated with employees  starting with Social Security and Medicare taxes that combined cost owners 7.65 per cent of staffers' compensation.

Although companies have used independent contractors for generations, many small businesses began using them for the first time during the Great Recession and its aftermath. Owners have become more cautious about hiring employees unless they're certain that they have enough revenue to justify the added risk and expense. The growth of Uber and other ride-sharing services has encouraged owners in other industries to adopt a similar business model, hiring independents to do the work. That has created another potential legal issue  Uber drivers have sued the company in several federal courts, seeking to be declared employees. So far, there's been no definitive ruling.

The IRS has criteria to determine if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, including how much control a company has over a worker's behaviour and the financial aspects of the job. How long the relationship between company and worker is expected to continue, and whether the services a worker performs are a key aspect of the company's business are also factors.

Owners are found to be misclassifying workers when they're audited, increasingly by state officials who want the payroll taxes they're owed, says Nannina Angioni, an employment law attorney with Kaedian LLP in Los Angeles. Owners can also land in legal trouble when there is a dispute with a worker classified as an independent contractor; when the worker complains to the government or files a lawsuit, the employment arrangement can come under scrutiny.

But owners may not have ulterior motives in using independent contractors rather than employees, says Kyle Lawrence, owner of Berkshire Payroll Tax, a Sandisfield, Massachusetts, company that helps businesses comply with employment tax laws.

"They're busy running their businesses and they may not necessarily understand the nuances or the risks of classifying someone as an independent contractor," he says.

Eric Stanton consulted with attorneys and accountants before deciding to use independent contractors for his pool cleaning business, Thousand Oaks, California-based Stanton Pools. The people working for him have their own vehicles and buy their own equipment and chemicals and Stanton does not require them to take on a job.

"It's an option. If I got a call from a potential customer, I'll say, 'it's on your Wednesday route, are you interested in taking it on?'" he says. Stanton says he has structured the business, which he says resembles the Uber model, so he could be in compliance with federal and state law. California's Supreme Court last year issued a ruling that created more stringent tests for determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor.

Many owners use a mix of employees and independent contractors. Chris Richardson has three full-time employees at Talent Response, a website that helps small businesses find freelancers. He uses independents when he has a surge in demand or he needs expertise that his staffers don't have.

"Independent contractors are less risky, particularly in 2019's uncertain macro-economic environment. Should business contract, it is much easier to end a project with a contractor than to pay severance or unemployment expenses associated with a layoff," says Richardson, whose company is based in Boston.

Richardson also doesn't want to hire employees and then devastate them if business drops off.

"It's not responsible to be making fulltime hires if you're going to be letting them go a few months," he says.

Many owners can't afford to hire the people qualified to do the work they need. Jodi Echakowitz used an independent contractor for the first time in 2003, when she needed help for her then two-year-old public relations firm but couldn't pay someone to work full-time. Echakowitz continued to use that strategy, partly because she wanted experienced people skilled in specific areas.

"If I were to build a team of employees, each with at least ten years of experience, the salary cost would be way too high," says Echakowitz, whose company, Boulevard Public Relations, is based in Thornhill, Ontario.

One of Echakowitz's 17 contractors lives in Quebec, handling projects for French-speaking clients. Another has expertise in financial services. All her contractors work for other companies.

"Because they are working on other opportunities, they can bring diverse experiences and expertise to me and my team, and the clients we support," Echakowitz says.

For more small business news, insights and inspiration, sign up for our free weekly newsletter here: http://discover.ap.org/ssb

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Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg . Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com/search/joyce%20rosenberg
With annual revenue of around $29 billion and close to 200,000 workers, Canadas aerospace industry is a global powerhouse that is over-sized compared to the countrys relatively small population of 36 million.

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With annual revenue of around $29 billion and close to 200,000 workers, Canadas aerospace industry is a global powerhouse that is over-sized compared to the countrys relatively small population of 36 million.

But aerospace officials say that in order to preserve its standing in the global market  Canada currently has the fifth largest aerospace sector in the world  it is crucial that the country develops a long-term vision for the industry.

The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) has enlisted Jean Charest, the former premier of Quebec to spread the word about the urgency of the issue across the country and to champion its initiative called Vision 2025.

The AIAC intends to table a report by March to all the federal political parties that will speak directly about the future of the industry and what its stakeholders believe it needs to do to be competitive with the best in the world.

Charest spoke to a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event on Tuesday ,essentially soliciting their support and encouraging them to talk to elected officials about how the industry needs the sort of commitment from government that it is talking about.

According to AIACs president and CEO, Jim Quick, the industry already accounts for as much as 75 per cent of the private sector research and development in Canada. But because of lengthy development cycles and the fact that other countries with sizable aerospace industries support their industries, it is crucial that Canada develops a long-term strategy.

"The status quo is not going to hold," Charest said. "If we want to remain competitive and if we want to be part of the industry in the years to come... Canada needs to have an overarching vision as to where the industry should be. Thats not just rhetoric. It is more important that that."

Charest said that companies need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the development of products and they look to places where there is a long-term vision.

"The reasons are quite simple," he said. "There are very long investment cycles to develop new products. There is nothing short-term about this business."

The AIAC maintains that Canada lacks an overarching vision and the program support from government that it once had. As well, countries like China, Brazil and Japan have increasingly competitive industries that those countries support in a significant way.

Charest said the process of developing the federal government supercluster innovation funding strategy was a moment of truth for the industry. The industry submitted a proposal but it was rejected.

Five sectors were selected  digital technology, protein industries, advanced manufacturing, AI-powered supply chains and ocean industries.

The federal governments Innovation Superclusters Initiative, announced last year has made $950 million available to support business-led innovation superclusters that the government claims will have the greatest potential "to energize the economy and become engines of growth".

"That sort of said to the (aerospace) industry that others probably dont see the industry the way we see ourselves," Charest said.

"They dont measure all the challenges we have. Part of the feeling that came away from the supercluster episode is that the industry is concerned, and rightfully so, that it is taken for granted."

Quick said the industry is looking for more than just financial assistance for R&D.

"Its more than just financial incentives," Quick said. "What you need to have is a national strategy as to how to operate as a leading global aerospace country. Then there needs to be programs and policies to support that and some of the programs would have financial incentives attached to them."

The majority of the Canadian industry is concentrated in Quebec and Ontario, where companies like Bombardier, CAE and Pratt and Whitney are based. But Manitoba has the next largest provincial aerospace sector by far. Companies like Boeing Canada, StandardAero and Magellan Aerospace make up much of the provinces 4,500 jobs and about $10 billion worth of exports over the past 10 years.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Its been almost exactly two years since country superstar Dierks Bentley planted his boots in Bell MTS Place, and in that time, the party-hardy performer has continued his evolution into a bona fide artist, as evidenced by his most recent release, The Mountain, the ninth full-length album in his catalogue.

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Its been almost exactly two years since country superstar Dierks Bentley planted his boots in Bell MTS Place, and in that time, the party-hardy performer has continued his evolution into a bona fide artist, as evidenced by his most recent release, The Mountain, the ninth full-length album in his catalogue.

Bentleys voice could be heard before he could be seen, humming out part of the chorus of his latest single, Burning Man; then the band kicked in, the lights went up and a fully bearded Bentley was centre stage, bopping around with excitement.

CONCERT REVIEW Click to Expand DIERKS BENTLEY Attendance: not available 

The 43-year-old Arizona native is currently on his second tour supporting that record, so despite the fact his stop in Winnipeg was early on in this leg of his journey, the show was already running like a well-oiled, well-practised machine. His stage setup was minimal, but effective  a large video screen provided the backdrop to a simple U-shaped set of risers, and the pace was relentless.

Right off the top, a guitarless Bentley blasted out fan favourites Up on the Ridge and Somewhere on a Beach, infusing his crowd banter into the instrumental breaks in the music, before dipping back into his newer hits for Woman, Amen.

Vocally, theres not much to fault Bentley on; his songs, generally speaking, arent the most difficult when it comes to exhausting his range, but he sticks in his sweet spot for a reason  its sweet. His gentle rasp lends itself perfectly to both the amped-up and toned-down tracks.

Dierks Bentley heats up Bell MTS Place JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Dierks Bentley performs in Winnipeg Tuesday, January 22, 2019. - JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

The dad of three certainly had some corny moments, including pretending to be blown backward by the sheer force of a singalong and literally climbing up the risers during Riser, but a certain level of cheese suits his down-home and often goofy persona. Bentleys approachability also helps him transition flawlessly from the more thoughtful, emotive moments, such as 2016s title track, Black, to party-starters such as 5-1-5-0; his fans are prepared to go on that thematic ride with him because his presentation of it is so genuine.

Bentley picked up his acoustic guitar for I Hold On, but quickly ditched it again in favour of fist pumps and handshakes to anyone on the floor who could reach him. Not long after, opening act Tenille Townes popped on stage to sing Elle Kings part on the duet Different for Girls.

Its always nice when a headliner makes room in their set for an opening act to come back out, and when they actually seem like theyre enjoying it, its all the better.

In the back-half of the main set, Bentley made his way through the crowd to a satellite stage near the back of the floor, where he promptly shotgunned a beer before tackling the ballad Say You Do, backed by his amazing five-piece band on the main stage. A couple of duets with Jon Pardi, followed, before Bentley ripped into his closing duo of high-energy jams, What Was I Thinkin and Sideways, which had him sprinting from one side of the stage to the other.

The encore kicked off with a hilarious commercial for the fictitious airline Dude Air, which could only mean one thing  Drunk on a Plane was on its way. Sure enough, Bentley was back on stage to belt out the platinum-certified 2014 single, as well as Free and Easy, to close out the night.

Bentley hit the stage earlier in the night as well, as part of his comedic, 90s-inspired, wig-wearing country supergroup and cover band, Hot Country Knights Accompanying the costumed Bentley were members of his band, also decked out in the most 90s country garb you can imagine, and the band blasted through a short 20-minute set of country classics including a hilarious (and excellent) rendition of Reba McEntires Does He Love Youand a snippet of the Isley Brothers Shout that ended with everyone laying on the stage.

It was an absolutely ridiculous way to start the show, but it was great; the only way parodies such as this work is when the musicians are stellar, and that was exactly the case Tuesday night.

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel


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Bloomington-Normal Champaign-Urbana Chicago Danville Decatur Kankakee Peoria Rockford Springfield

GoverningMany urban neighborhoods throughout Illinois have experienced significant declines in white residents over the past several decades. At the same time, many more recently-developed suburban and outlying areas have seen increases.Select a metro area to view white population changes since 1980 for neighborhoods, shown as Census tracts.SOURCE: 1980 Census, 2017 five-year U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey tract-level data
Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and President of the Senate of Australia Scott Ryan (Photo: VNA)



Senate President Scott Ryan, who is on an official visit to Vietnam, informed his host of the good results of his talks with Chairwoman of the Vietnam National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, affirming that the Senate of Australia will continue promoting its role in enhancing cooperation with the Vietnam NA and supporting the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Australia will work closely with Vietnam in maintaining peace, stability, and cooperation in the region as well as in implementing efficiently agreements they joined, like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), he said.

He expressed his hope to further comprehensive cooperation across the Party, Government, and National Assembly channels and people-to-people relations, especially the exchange of high-level visits, and visits between mass organizations, in the coming time.

Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong described the visit by Senate President Scott Ryan as significant in the context that the bilateral relations have entered a new phase of deeper and more comprehensive development following the establishment of the strategic partnership.

He hailed the outcomes of the talks between the Senate President and the NA Chairwoman and suggested the two countries law-making bodies continue working together in supervising the implementation of inked agreements and action plans with a view to speeding up cooperation across the board and within ASEAN and regional and global forums.

He asserted that Vietnam will coordinate closely with Australia in implementing CPTPP, seeing it as an important mechanism for the two countries to step up their partnership in economics and trade./.
School District Black-White Dissimilarity Index Champaign CUSD 4 0.249 Decatur SD 61 0.243 McLean County USD 5 0.222 Peoria SD 150 0.43 Rockford SD 205 0.341 Springfield SD 186 0.179

Changes in School District Enrollment

School District Change in Whites Change in Blacks White Change for Other Metro Districts Black Change for Other Metro Districts Bloomington SD 87 -35% -10% -9% 20% Champaign CUSD 4 -33% 16% -16% 5% Danville CCSD 118 -39% 4% -17% -39% Decatur SD 61 -38% -11% -7% 4% Kankakee SD 111 -27% -33% -17% -10% Peoria SD 150 -52% -17% -8% 53% Rockford SD 205 -37% -2% -19% 26% Springfield SD 186 -33% 3% -4% 111%

GoverningSchool segregation remains a persistent problem in much of the country, and it's especially an issue in Illinois.examined school segregation in downstate Illinois by analyzing school enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics. We assessed levels of segregation among black and white students, considering enrollment totals for each school within a metro area. Our primary metric was what's known as the index of dissimilarity, with higher values (on a scale of 0 to 1) representing higher levels of segregation between black and white students. The measure, commonly used by sociologists, represents the percentage of students needing to move to a different school for an area's schools to be completely integrated, or have students evenly distributed. (Read the full report methodology .)We found the Peoria area's schools to be more segregated between whites and blacks than any other area of the country, even topping Chicago, where the issue has been the subject of much debate for years. (View statistics of school segregation for all metro areas across the country .)In all, eight of 10 Illinois metro area ranked among the highest third of all metropolitan areas nationally for black and white student school segregation.(Note that these results reflect black-white student segregation only. Because the report published infocuses on downstate Illinois, calculations did not consider other racial and ethnic groups, including Hispanics, as there are relatively few such students in Illinois outside of the Chicago metro area.)Segregation within individual school districts tends to be much lower than that of their larger metro areas. That's because of how school district boundaries are drawn, which often exacerbates segregation. It's a major issue in Illinois given that the state is home to 850 public school districts, more than any other state except California and Texas.Source: Governing calculations of 2017-18 state school enrollment dataMost of the large, urban school districts across downstate Illinois have experienced drastic demographic shifts in recent years, as white families have left cities.White enrollment has dropped by at least a third across all of these districts, with the exception of Kankakee, since the 2002-2003 school year. For the surrounding suburban school districts where many families have relocated, the decline hasn't been nearly as severe. Numbers of white students decreased by 33 percent in Springfield Public Schools, for instance, while combined enrollment for all other districts in the same metro area changed little. Peoria Public Schools' white enrollment similarly dropped by over half, while declining by only 8 percent for other Peoria-area public school districts.This table shows enrollment changes over the past 15 years, since the 2002-2003 school year:SOURCE:calculations of 2017-2018, 2002-2003 fall enrollment counts, Illinois State Board of EducationGoverning
Time Capsule Offers Glimpse Back to 1930s Wyoming County

By Paige Cline Ever since it was revealed that there was a




The Board of Directors is delighted to announce the appointment of Bjarni Armannsson as the new CEO of Iceland Seafood International (ISI). Bjarni has been the chairman of the board of directors of ISI since September 2018.



Helgi Anton Eiriksson who has been the CEO of Iceland Seafood International for the past 9 years has decided to step down as CEO. Lee Camfield, Chief Operations Officer, also announced that he is leaving his position at ISI.

After almost a decade at the helm of the Groups great success they will both work closely with Bjarni and ISIs senior management team in the coming months to secure a smooth transition as the Group continues its exciting progress across Europe and beyond.

Bjarni Armannsson, Group CEO:

I am extremely excited to be appointed the Group CEO of ISI. I have in my role as Chairman of the board seen first hand the opportunities that exist for this group of companies and the excellent work under the stewardship of Helgi that has been accomplished to date for which I would personally like to acknowledge and thank him for.

ISIs strength is its people and the Group is blessed with first class teams across our nine operating companies. We look forward together to continuing along a path of strong financial growth ahead for the benefit of all stakeholders and all those who work in this group of companies and beyond

Helgi Anton Eiriksson:

I am very proud of and grateful for my time as Group CEO of ISI. The group is performing strongly just recently announcing an improved 2018 profits outlook. I am now starting my 10th year as CEO of the group and feel now is the right time personally to explore new opportunities.

The group continues to enjoy strong financial growth and the recent Iberica transaction has provided the group with many positives to look forward to and achieve. These successes have been delivered through the commitment and dedication of our great teams in different countries, our excellent supply partners and loyal customer base.

I would like to thank them all for their support. I personally also want to thank Lee Camfield, who has decided to step down as COO, for his in-valuable contribution to our success and growth in recent years.

Iceland Seafood will continue this strong and exciting journey under the leadership of Bjarni Armannsson. I have known Bjarni for many years and the group is privileged to have Bjarni take on this role as his highly respected international business experience and know-how is extremely valuable for the Group in what will be exciting years ahead for ISI. I wish him and everyone at ISI well and look forward to closely following their continued success.

Lee Camfield:

It has been a great honour to have been involved with ISI since 2010 and to have helped oversee such a transformational journey. The Group has many capable and professional management teams that it has been a privilege for me to work with and I thank them all. These teams will continue their excellent work under Bjarni Armannssons experience and guidance and I have no doubt they will together drive the Group through the next exciting phase of its planned growth.

Mr Bjarni Armannsson will resign from the position of Chairman of the Board to take up the Group CEO role. Mr Benedikt Sveinsson will become the Chairman of the board, a role he is most familiar with being ISIs longest serving board director and Chairman and he will be accompanied and ably supported by Mr Mark Holyoake as board director.

As previously announced a Shareholder meeting for Iceland Seafood International has been called on February 5th, 2019 where election of members to the Board of Directors is on the agenda in accordance with the Groups desire to list on the main market during 2019.

Further information: Bjarni Armannsson +354 5508000.




3 1 of 3 Contributed Photo / Bridgeport Police Department / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed Photo / Bridgeport Police Department / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3





BRIDGEPORT  City police are asking for the publics help to identify a person captured on surveillance footage allegedly trying to cash a check that was stolen in a recent burglary.

She attempted to cash a check in Westport that had been stolen in a burglary on Tremont Avenue, in Bridgeport, city police said Tuesday.
ANSONIA  The sound of rushing water kept Donnell Jones from falling back to sleep early Tuesday morning.

It sounded like it was coming from the walls, said Jones. I didnt know what was going on.

Until he saw it burst out of a wall in his kitchen.

It looked like a waterfall. It was spraying all over the apartment, he said. There was nothing I could do except call 911.

Fire Chief Michael Eheman said a broken third-floor pipe had sent water throughout the building. It was 6:30 a.m., Eheman said, when the call came in.

The building, which formerly housed the Capitol Theater, is now home to at least two dozen seniors and disabled persons.

Seeing water gushing out of the electrical panels and the transformer, emergency officials ordered the power turned off and all utilities shut down. The residents were evacuated.

The city opened its Joseph Doyle Senior Citizen Center early to get many of the residents out of the freezing temperatures. There they were served water, and later, pizza. Arrangements with a Milford hotel were made by the flooded buildings owner for those who could not find friends or family to take them in.

The building is owned by Capitol Plaza Associates Limited Partnership and Renaissance Management Co., both of New Haven. Eheman credited Wendell Matthew Harp, a principal in Abacus Property Management, which oversees the site, for stepping up and to find the temporary housing in Milford.

Harp confirmed he is the son of New Haven Mayor Toni Harp. He also owns apartment buildings in New Haven.

We have not had any problems with (Wendell Matthew Harps) properties since I have been here, said James Turcio, New Havens building official, who has been in that post since 2015.

After the evacuation in Ansonia, a green notice hung from all the street-level doors of the building Tuesday, reading: This building also known as 290 Main Street is UNSAFE and its use and occupancy has been prohibited by the building official.

Some of the occupants, like 72-year-old Socorro Acevedo, use wheelchairs.

My power chair is still in there, Acevedo said, explaining it could not be brought out because the buildings elevator was now shut off.

Other residents, like Roseann Fama, 75, rely on help from certified nursing assistants like Elizabeth Gattison, who had been in the apartment building five days a week and said the place had been inadequately heated.

It so cold in (Famas) apartment that Ive cut garbage bags and put them over her window, Gattison said. Ive got a thick blanket on her front door.

Harp denied there was a heating problem in the building.

Sometimes tenants confuse the zero temperatures outside and believe the building is not as warm as it should be, he said. We didnt have any issues with the heat.

Ansonia Fire Marshal Darrick Lundeen said the evacuation was ordered after officials saw water coming out of an electrical panel.

We did not know if the electrical (system) was compromised, so we had everything turned off, he said.

The buildings water was shut off so the pipes and sprinkler system could be drained.

They had two small space heaters plugged into surge protectors with extension cords running to outlets in the first floor commercial area, Lundeen said. They were so small they did more harm than good. Thats most definitely a fire hazard.

Lundeen said he also saw exit signs not lit up and emergency lighting not working.

Mayor David Cassetti and other city officials said about 60 people had to be relocated. Harp put the number at closer to 20. He said repairs are planned and that he hopes the tenants can return within the next few days.

But that will only happen once a certificate of occupancy is issued. And Corporation Counsel John P. Marini has asked inspectors to file a written report on any violations.

Until those violations are corrected, the building will not be (inhabited), Marini said. We want to be sure the residents are safe.

And on Tuesday afternoon, a building permit for electrical work was denied when two contractors were unable to show a license.

Staff writer Mary E. OLeary contributed to this story.
3 1 of 3 Shubert Theatre / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Shubert Theatre / Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3





The National Ballet Theatre of Odessa will be a long way from home  which is 1 Tchaikovsky St., Odessa, in the Ukraine  when the troupe visits the Shubert Theatre in New Haven Saturday, Feb. 2, although the cold weather outside may feel like home.

The companys 50-plus dancers will perform Sleeping Beauty in afternoon and evening shows  set to Pyotr Tchaikovskys sweeping and dramatic music. Considered the ultimate romantic ballet, Sleeping Beauty has been famous for its lavish productions. It is based on the Brothers Grimms adaptation of Frenchman Charles Perraults 1697 tale The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.
Plans for a new East Side train station in Bridgeport have been derailed.

In a letter to the Council on Environmental Quality, the state Department of Transportation announced Tuesday it was tabling the long-awaited project, which would have created a Bridgeport rail station between Seaview Avenue and Pembroke Street.

CTDOT has since determined that it is not in a financial position to undertake the proposed project, and has decided to defer the project in CTDOT's Capital Plan 2019-2023 according to the letter, confirming the state could not afford to make the project happen in the next few years.

The price tag to build the Barnum Avenue Railroad Station was around $300 million, a spike from its original estimate of $48 million. The increase was required, in part, to accommodate Metro-North and Amtrak trains.

There are two train stations in the state that have access to both Metro-North and Amtrak trains  Bridgeport, Stamford, and New Haven. The proposed Bridgeport station would have been the a fourth for a local and express railway service.

Proponents of the new train station were surprised to hear the DOT opted out of the project.

To be honest, I feel blindsided by this, said state Rep. Christopher Rosario, D-Bridgeport, who said he had been talking with Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz about the potentially new station.

As of 48 hours ago, we were planning on doing a visit of the site, so thats kind of surprising that the Department of Transportation decided to move so quickly on that, considering the current commissioner championing rails and this project make a lot of sense for Fairfield County, Rosario said.

An email sent to Hearst Connecticut Media by Rosario said that the Bridgeport delegation is seeking a meeting with Lamont and the DOT commissioner.

The project was first announced by former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in 2014, to many in the DOTs surprise. It had sparked interest in then-Mayor Bill Finchs administration and local business leaders and carried over into the second Ganim era, as an economic driver that would lure new development to the East Side.

Despite the DOTs decision to table the project, Bridgeport officials said they have no intention of letting it fall by the wayside.

Its critical to the long-term future and the economic sustainability of the city, said Lynn Haig, director of Bridgeport planning and zoning. We can grow significantly more with the train station than we can without one.

In the past, city officials have weighed the options of incorporating private investors into the stations funding. Haig said that effort has continued in recent months as they look to finance the project through public and private partnerships.

Though developers havent rallied to contribute to that cause, the potential for a new station has been a marketing chip to attract interested parties, Haig said.

On multiple occasions, officials have talked about the importance of adding the Barnum Station to spruce up the East Side and East End development.

Were exploring every source, Haig said. That doesnt mean that the DOT may never contribute money towards it, but we are looking to bring additional revenue to the table so its not such a large contribution that the state has to make in the end.

There are no plans to scale down the project, she said.

From a regional perspective, development of the Barnum Avenue Railroad Station was a plus, according to Matt Fulda, executive director of the state Metro Council of Governments.

We think this is an important project for the city of Bridgeport and for the region in terms of access of the train station at a different level and some development around the train station that doesnt exist currently, he said.

Lamonts office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Editors note: Changes have been made to correctly state that Bridgeport already has a MetroNorth and Amtrack accesible tracks and to clarify how many train stations are within the city.

Jordan.grice@hearstmediact.com
Dining for Dollars Provides Financial Support for Vulnerable WSU Students

January 22, 2019

OGDEN, Utah  Sonora Grill in downtown Ogden will host its unique and tasty fundraiser, Dining for Dollars, Feb. 6 from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. to benefit Weber State Universitys Oportunidad Scholarship Fund.

All sales from the day will be donated to help support first-generation or low-income students. The money also helps undocumented students, who are ineligible for financial assistance such as FAFSA, grants or loans.

This event is something that we look forward to every year as it brings out the best in our community, said Enrique Romo, WSUs Access & Diversity executive director. The event is special because it helps some of our most vulnerable students pursue their higher education aspirations by providing scholarships to remove some of the barriers that stand in the way of achieving their academic potential.

An anonymous donor will match funds from Sonora Grill up to $25,000. In the previous five years of the event, the restaurant and donor have contributed more than $120,000 to the scholarship fund.

There are no words to describe my gratitude for the generosity of the donors, said one student who benefits from the Oportunidad Scholarship. It is inspiring, and I hope those of us who have received support will be able to similarly give back in the future.

A special scholarship menu will be offered for $12 and includes a choice of entree, chips and salsa. Regular menu items will also be available. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling 801-393-1999 or at thesonoragrill.com.

Sonora Grill is located at 2310 S. Kiesel Ave., Ogden.

For the flyer, visit the following link.

photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2019-Photos/January-2019/i-xhtF27Q/0/a70a75cc/X2/dining-dollars-flyer_2019%20%281%29-X2.jpg

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
When asked to send money to Hong Kong, Cyprus, and Egypt to people he had not heard of, he asked for an explanation. [T]hey just told me that's the way they operate, he said.

After he had sent the firm several thousand dollars, HQ Brokers updates on his investments came less frequently. The purported broker eventually became unresponsive; it was only after a month of silence that he told Huard that the latters investments had been wiped out, putting his account in the red. Shortly after, he got a call from a man claiming to be an insurer who could get his money back and more  it would just take another few thousand dollars. Eventually, Huard reported his case to the AMF, who told him that it was all a scam.

According to AMF investigator Annie Leblanc, the company claims to be based in Hong Kong, though the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong does not recognize it. Neither is the firm licensed to sell securities in Quebec; after it failed to respond to the AMFs efforts to reach out, the regulator put HQ Broker on its warning list of websites, which other provincial watchdogs have done.

According to the AMF, Canadians have lost over $14 million to such scams; of that amount, $3 million was from Quebecers. The average individual has lost around $20,000, according to Leblanc, though some were taken in for hundreds of thousands.

She warned that fraudulent investment firms tend to have slick and sophisticated websites, making it hard for even experienced investors to distinguish them from legitimate online brokerages. Typically multilingual and working out of call centres, these firms also use aggressive sales tactics and social media ads. The platforms are rigged to let new investors make money, making them confident enough to put even more in.
US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that the slowest economic numbers since 1990 due to US trade tensions and new policies meant China should stop playing around and do a real deal on trade. Washington is threatening higher tariffs of 25 per cent on Chinese goods if a deal isnt struck by March 1.

The meeting in Beijing was held as data showed Chinas economic growth had fallen to its slowest in three decades in 2018, and December growth had shown the impact of the trade war with the United States.

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned the communist nations leaders to be on high alert for black swan incidents amid a complicated and sensitive external environment.

The leaders of China's provinces and government ministers, as well as the inner circle of the Politburo Standing Committee, were told by Xi the Chinese economy was in good shape but facing new and worrisome developments.

Xi urged party committees and governments at all levels to pursue a holistic approach to national security and follow the requirements of the CPC Central Committee to ensure Chinas political security, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Linda Jakobson, chief executive of the China Matters think tank, said the threat of the 25 per cent tariffs was causing jitters in Beijing, and the knowledge that even if the tariffs are avoided the US is still intent on pushing back on Chinas rise as a technology power is causing deep anxiety.

Chinas economy is in a cyclical downturn phase. The economy means everything to them  their legitimacy and survival depends on it, she said.

The US labelling China as a strategic competitor had likely strengthened the arm of staunchly communist leaders who have argued the West would not accept a prosperous and powerful China, she said.
At the reception (Photo: anninhthudo.vn)

During the reception, Ambassador Tanee Sangrat expressed his thanks to Hanoi for promoting Thai culture in Vietnam, and hoped for continued favourable conditions for upcoming events in 2019.

Confirming that Hanoi will facilitate all of Thailands cultural exchange activities, investment promotion events and fairs introducing its products, Chairman Chung said he hoped the Thai Ambassador would promote his role as a bridge in connecting Hanoi and Thai localities.

He asserted that Hanoi wants to be twinned with Bangkok, believing that the relationship will open up cooperation opportunities in all areas, especially in culture, urban building, tourism and services./.
Since then, Canada's partners in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance  which includes Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Britain  feared their citizens might be next as Beijing escalated its campaign against Meng's looming extradition to the US to face trial. Loading By the time Australian diplomats began seeking answers from Chinese counterparts, Yangs likely detention was old news in Chinese dissident circles in Sydney and New York. Yangs friends were already panicked. They had dispatched their own informal search party, alerting a network of friends, dissidents, academics and journalists about Yang's predicament. Those who knew anything in China spoke carefully to those in the network, fearing they were being monitored and could be arrested too.

Prominent Sydney academic and democracy activist Feng Chongyi, who was detained by Chinese authorities almost two years ago, was told by contacts in China that his former PhD student had been taken by the Ministry of State Security. Feng and others close to Yang in Australia were not surprised to hear he had vanished. Indeed, Feng had warned his friend in early January not to return to China. Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun. Credit:Tanya Lake Yang's response was that the fears were overblown and that he'd spent two years lowering the tempo of his blogging to his Chinese followers so he could make the trip back without fear of arrest. Yang built an impressive online fanbase by writing spy novels and lively posts about Chinese politics and the struggle for reform. He also sounded early warnings about the Chinese Communist Party's influence operations in Australia.

But if Yang's criticism of the CCP had softened, the partys capacity to take offence had not. In Xi Jinping's China, the practice of "disappearing" people, including film star Fan Bing Bing and the president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, has been normalised. Loading Xi has sought to legitimise these human rights abuses by introducing laws giving the security agencies almost unfettered power to detain people on national security grounds. After 2013, when the new laws were introduced, these detentions mostly involved Chinese citizens. In April 2017, when Feng was detained for several days by Chinese security officials, experts believed the fact that he was not an Australian citizen may limit Canberra's ability to advocate for him.

Yang's Australian citizenship may have emboldened him, but it was no guarantee he wouldn't be targeted. Yang Hengjun never boarded his flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai. From 2009, several Chinese-Australian entrepreneurs were arrested, including Rio Tinto's Stern Hu. He was jailed for corruption, of which there was some evidence, although politics connected to the multi-billion-dollar iron ore market and the Australia-China trade relationship also likely contributed to his incarceration. Australian-educated investment banker Matthew Ng was arrested and detained in 2010 on the flimsiest of evidence. A former Australian official says efforts by the embassy to help him were fruitless. All the embassy could ultimately do was to provide welfare support for a broken man languishing in jail. The risk that Western citizens may be arbitrarily detained has escalated dramatically since the arrest of Huawei's Meng in Canada. Shortly after this, Michael Spavor, a businessman, and Michael Kovrig, a diplomat on leave, were arrested in China in what a senior CCP official has conceded is retaliation for Meng's detention. The pair are still being held, despite protests from Canada, the US, the European Union and Australia.

In a sudden retrial earlier this month, a Chinese court sentenced a third Canadian man, Robert Schellenberg, to death for a drug smuggling conviction, overturning a 15-year prison sentence. The Chinese actions have raised fears about how willing the CCP might be to use civilians as pawns in its disputes with foreign governments. Following the Schellenberg decision, the Canadian government updated its travel advice for citizens going to China, warning of "arbitrary enforcement" of laws. As the China-Canada feud intensified in December, CCP-run nationalist newspaper Global Times said Ottawa should prepare for "the possibility of conflict escalation" and issued a broader warning for Western countries arraying themselves against China. "In this complicated game, China should focus on the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, especially Australia, New Zealand and Canada, who actively follow the US against China," the newspaper said in an editorial. Detained in China: Canadian nationals Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Credit:AP

Feng says that among the reasons Yang took his chances in returning to China was his desire to get his new wife and her child visas to live with him in Australia. It's a grim irony of his predicament: in seeking to find safe harbour for his loved ones outside of China, he risked his own safety. Feng says he was later told by contacts in China that Yang had been detained by Chinese government security officials before boarding his flight to Shanghai and that his wife and daughter were allowed to fly to Shanghai. (Yang's former wife and two sons live in Sydney.) Its not the first time Yang has gone missing. He was arrested  effectively kidnapped  by Chinese authorities in 2011. He later publicly downplayed the incident as a "misunderstanding", perhaps hoping that doing so would lessen his chance of further trouble with authorities. On Wednesday morning, diplomats in Beijing pressed Chinese counterparts for information about Yang. One source said they had received little more than shrugs. But by Wednesday evening, DFAT had confirmed Yang was in the custody of Chinese security agents. On 23 January the Chinese authorities informed the Australian Embassy in Beijing that they have detained Mr Yang Hengjun, a DFAT spokesman said.
A man has been charged over an attack on a security guard at Lakelands Shopping Centre on Sunday afternoon.

The man was in a supermarket within the centre on Mandurah Road about 4pm when he allegedly threatened the store manager and a security guard with what police described as a bladed weapon and hit the guard on the shoulder.

The man was formally charged on Tuesday.

The guard suffered a minor cut and the man ran from the store, knocking over a bin on the way out.

Following an investigation, a 23-year-old man from Madora Bay was charged with a string of offences in relation to the incident  including being armed in a way that may cause fear, assault and threatening to kill.
He had corkscrewed nails, no fur, an extremely deformed face and showed dangerous signs of malnourishment and neglect. Dylan Anderson, owner and founder of animal welfare company Get Barked, was on hand when the rescue adopted the three animals. The rescue workers didnt know what they were walking into, he said. They walked into three dogs who had obvious signs of neglect, and malnourishment and backyard breeding. Marvin was so mutated  to the point where hes so ugly, hes cute.

Marvin after his rescue. Credit:Get Barked The rescue reported the owner to the RSPCA over the three dogs, but an investigation by both Mr Anderson and the rescue found the authority was already aware of the dogs. Four days before the rescue was called to come collect the animals, an RSPCA inspector responded to reports Marvin, Ginger and Teddy had been abandoned at the property by their owner. This report was a complaint of abandonment only, with no allegation of neglect towards the dogs, RSPCA chief executive Ben Cave said. And under the Animal Welfare Act (2002), RSPCA inspectors need reasonable grounds to suspect an offence has occurred before they can exercise their authority and enter a premises.

[...] the complaint only detailed animals abandoned at the property, without any other concerns that the dogs were being otherwise neglected, and the inspector established that the dogs were in fact not abandoned, Mr Cave said. They had no reason to suspect there was anything wrong with the dogs and as such, they had no grounds to enter the property to inspect the animals. So the inspector left the property. It was only days later when WA Shar Pei Protection group received a number of messages from the same dog owner asking them to come and pick up Marvin, Ginger and Teddy from the home. It looks like is the RSPCA scared them, and then they surrendered the dogs so they wouldn't get in trouble, Mr Anderson said.

Marvin is expected to stay with the rescue. Credit:Get Barked The dogs were adopted by the rescue, where the full extent of their neglect was examined by a veterinarian. After a consultation, it was found Marvin was about 18 months old, and Teddy appeared to be both his brother and his father. Marvin was also not well enough to undergo any surgery, and both Ginger and Teddy needed extensive medical care to undo years of neglect. You look at [Marvin] and your heart breaks. It's just horrible, Mr Anderson said.

Short and simple, he is broken. You look at him and there are no words. He has no fur. His toenails were corkscrewed. His face isn't meant to look like that. It's bad. After the examination, the dog rescue reported what they found to the RSPCA and asked for an investigation into the case. However, the RSPCA indicated they were not able to investigate because their inspector was not present at the property when the dogs were removed. As a result the authoritys ability to gather and present evidence for a successful prosecution of the owner was compromised. But Mr Anderson maintains this was not good enough,.

I'm not going to let it go because the RSPCA went there and did nothing. That's the biggest issue I can see at the moment. Inspectors are limited in their powers due to the Animal Welfare Act (2002). Did the inspector ask to view the dogs or just take the persons word for the dogs were safe? Why didnt the inspector pop their head over the fence and view the dogs like they have done on other inspections? I drove from Baldivis to Ellenbrook to look for myself, and the front door of this house is see-through, actually. I would love for that [owner] to get prosecuted ... it's not the public's job to get all the evidence for the RSPCA.

In response to Mr Andersons frustrations, Mr Cave said the authority understood his feelings towards Marvin and his familys case. RSPCA WA shares the communitys frustration with the limitations of the Animal Welfare Act, Mr Cave said. This case highlights the need for changes to the Animal Welfare Act. RSPCA WA is working with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development on a review of the Act to enable inspectors to take a more proactive and practical approach to animal welfare matters in Western Australia. We urge members of the community to contact their local parliamentary representatives to call for changes to the Act, to ensure animals in Western Australia can be protected and that people who are cruel to animals can be held to account.

The RSPCA has been raising money to fund a new inspector for months. The RSPCA also encouraged any rescue group who intervenes in a case of animal neglect to first report the case to the authority. RSPCA WA encourages anyone with welfare concerns about an animal to report it to the Cruelty Hotline, Mr Cave said. These reports can then be assigned to an Inspector to follow up. As authorised persons under the Act, this also enables RSPCA WA Inspectors to gather evidence to the standard required under the Act, in order to prepare a prosecution for animal cruelty where appropriate.
Loading Dockside Cafe manager Lacey Hateley conducted her own heat experiment after getting caught out by hot leather car seats and bare legs as the temperature approached 46 last Tuesday. "I thought, geez it's so hot I could probably cook a steak in my car. So I did," she said. The resulting Facebook post reminding people to never leave children, the elderly or pets in cars has since gathered more than 800 comments.

Ms Hateley is a Canadian by birth, but has lived in Mildura with her husband and children for more than 10 years. She describes the heat as "excruciating" but regularly calls relatives in Canada - where it's currently minus 41 - to "rub it in". Kathryn and Robbie Neville from cafe Bobby + Me normally open from 7am to 9pm, every day of the year. When it reaches 40 degrees, they close at 1pm. "The conditions are extreme. We have to take into consideration staff safety," they said.

On top of everything else, people were warned not to swim in the Murray River after an outbreak of blue-green algae last week, which meant fewer customers for the riverfront business. Out of town at Mildura Native Nursery, Tony Langdon says staff rely on "Swampy" the rooftop evaporative cooler to cope, but the number of customers is drastically reduced. Mildura Native Nursery managing director Tony Langdon. Credit:Louise Donges "Fair enough too. They're not going to be planting or buying too many plants in this kind of heat. They might be sending them to heaven," he said. As business dwindles for some, Eric Oguzkaya moves into the most frantic time of year at Royal Copenhagen Ice Cream.

Loading "Between 2pm and 4pm when it's extremely hot, the wisest move is to stay indoors and stay out of the heat," he says. "Once the night starts settling in, it definitely gets quite busy in an ice-cream store." Heat from refrigerators and cooking doughnuts can make things uncomfortable for staff but Mr Oguzkaya said plenty of water and experimenting with ice cream and slushie flavours eased the pain. Mr Oguzkaya says the heat doesn't bother him personally after growing up in Mildura on the family farm.

"Serving ice-cream versus picking grapes? It's much easier," he said. The Murray River city has already suffered through nine days over 40 degrees in this month, including three more than 45. And Wednesday is expected to be the 10th. This week's forecast includes two 41-degree days and two energy-sapping 45-degree days, before temperatures drop back to 39 on Saturday. It's close, but not enough, to break the record of six consecutive days above 40 degrees set in January 1979. The city recorded five days above 40 degrees this year between January 14 to 18.

The five-day run, however, is quite common in a Mildura summer, when the ranges trap heat pushing down from inland NSW. The high temperatures have fuelled a mean January maximum of 37.7 so far this month, rivalled only by an average of 38 degrees in the border city of Wodonga and 37.4 degrees in Swan Hill. If the hot weather sticks around for the rest of the month, Mildura will mark its highest mean temperature for January since records began in 1947. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Miriam Bradbury says it's difficult to say so far if the record will fall.
You might be two Aperol Spritz deep, slightly sunburned despite best efforts and casually perusing the local real estate windows because, you think, "I could definitely have a lifestyle change and live here."

Or maybe youve found yourself haggling with an out-of-character ferocity in a market. Or in a fitting for a one-of-a-kind-just-for-you suit. Or buying armfuls of linen. Or posing for an Instagram photo looking wistfully to sea wearing a wafting, blinged-out kaftan which gave you an incredibly vivid vision of your future (carefree, running barefoot on the beach) when you picked it up at the hotel gift shop.

In defence of that regretful holiday fashion purchase. Credit:Shutterstock

In any case, youve made a fashion purchase while on holidays and high on relaxation (read: oxytocin, or possibly just frozen margaritas).

You may have justified it by assuring yourself that, worst case, you would wear the Batik-print sarong around the house, or to your next boho-chic summer party under the stars (because manifestation of a new kind of life is surely part of the holiday purchase allure).
The big supermarkets have now passed on millions from their drought relief funds to Australian farmers, but those running farming businesses say there are still big fights to win to keep the sector alive.

On Monday Coles confirmed it would distribute $3.9 million to more than 600 farmers after collecting funds through a 10c increase in the price of some milk products between September and December 2018.

Drought relief has flowed through to farming businesses, but some say there is much more work to do. Credit:Virginia Star

Woolworths has handed out $4.5 million through its payments and will continue collecting funds for another six months. The funds will be distributed to farmers in drought stricken areas in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

The payouts have sparked fierce debate on social media about whether the contributions are a suitable way to help farming communities through a continued period of drought.
Treasury Wine Estate investors will likely have to wait until August to learn the financial terms around the company's sacking one of its top executives -- putting it out of step with some other major companies who have lost a key manager.

The maker of Penfolds and Wolf Blass wines on Monday announced chief operating officer Robert Foye would depart the company immediately after be breached the company's "internal policies".

Treasury Wine Estates has not disclosed the details around its COO's dismissal. Credit:Bloomberg

Treasury has refused to say what behaviour lead to his dismissal, other than stressing it was not related to company operations or securities trading. It has also not commented on the financial terms of his departure, including whether he would receive a termination payment.

Mr Foye, who was overseeing the group's business in the Americas from an office in California's Napa Valley, had total remuneration worth $3.6 million last year, consisting of a $1 million base salary plus shares and other benefits.
The opening ceremony for the third office. (Photo: Cong Thuong News)

The agency said its branch in Da Nang will provide assistance to 50 Korean companies operating in the central region, including 20 in Da Nang.

Vietnam is the seventh country to have three KOTRA offices.

According to KOTRA, the Vietnamese government has realized various projects for the central region, seeking to expand infrastructure such as roads and ports.

Da Nang stands out from other localities in Vietnam due to low labour and factory costs and it also has advantages in different industries, from technology and automotive parts to tourism, KOTRA said. These factors can support Korean companies as well, the agency added.

KOTRA President Kwon Pyung-oh said the Republic of Korea hopes to increase relations with Vietnam, its third largest partner, through economic cooperation with the central region.

The two countries have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) on an action plan for seeing USD100 billion in trade turnover by 2020./.
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Brazilian woman went into labour while waiting to board at Fiumicino.

A Brazilian woman gave birth to a baby boy in Fiumicino airport after going into labour while about to board a transatlantic flight on the morning of 22 January.

The 38-year-old woman, named in local media as Cristina Vidiani De Jesus Santo, was reportedly in the "final days" of her pregnancy and had landed in Rome earlier that morning on a flight from Madrid.

The drama occurred while she was waiting to check-in for an Alitalia flight to Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The airport's emergency medical team intervened swiftly, led by Greek doctor Ioanna Galanou, who assisted in the safe arrival of a four-kilo baby named Adrian, born in the transit area near Gate C8.

Mother and baby, both in good health, were transferred immediately to G. B. Grassi hospital in Ostia.

Photos Aeroporti di Roma (AdR)
Students and parents got to take a tour of the new Athens High School Tuesday evening in preparation, as students will get to start their second semester in the new facility Wednesday morning.

WAAY 31 got an early look at the campus and talked with those who have been waiting patiently to learn their way around.

Were all going to be walking around like freshmen on a new day of school, with our new school maps stuck in our faces," Madison Bravo said.

While high school senior Madison Bravo is looking forward to her first day in the new long-awaited Athens High School, shes a little worried about getting lost in the enormous new facility.

I cant find my way out of a paper bag," she said.

But Bravo tells WAAY 31 shes excited about so much more--like a coffee bar, flexible seating, charging stations, and even a bank.

And, more than anything, she's ready for the extra space.

Theres going to be a lot more breathing room," she said.

Bravo says having to make do at the middle school, while the new high school was under construction, was getting old.

I hate to say it, but there has been a lot of tension among the students," she said. "We were okay with it for the first couple of months, but after a while, youre like, Alright, its getting too crammed in here.

Her mom, Khristi, is also happy the new facility is finally opening its doors.

Weve been excited about it since she was in eighth grade; so, four years later, we finally have a school that we can call the high school," Khristi said. "Im proud that my daughter will be among the first kids to graduate from this new school.

And teachers are just as thrilled.

Weve been waiting and waiting, and, finally, were here," said Calculus teacher, Karen Clem. "Were just super excited and ready to get in here and see it and start living the dream.

School officials tell WAAY 31 the only part of the school that isnt finished yet is the auditorium, but they expect it to be complete by the end of February.
The Alabaster Police Department has arrested a Madison County juvenile in connection with a school threat.

In a press release, the department said it was notified of a phoned-in threat to Thompson High School about 1 p.m. Jan. 10.

The departments Criminal Investigations Division identified a juvenile from Madison County as the offender, according to the release.

The juvenile, who is not identified by name due to their age, was charged with terrorist threat, a felony.

Threats to schools will never be taken lightly, Chief Curtis Rigney said in the release. The Alabaster Police Department will do everything in its power to ensure the safety of our children.

The Huntsville Police Department also participated in the investigation.
On Tuesday around 7:20 p.m., Huntsville Police responded to Crestwood Hospital where an assault victim with non-life-threatening injuries had been brought after a shooting at Blue Spring Road.

The 21-year-old victim told officers he had been walking on Blue Spring Road when an older model large blue sedan drove by him and began shooting, striking him in the leg. Police say the victim was uncooperative with officers and wouldn't provide information to them at the hospital.

An investigator responded to the hospital and asked the victim to provide a statement, but he refused.
A hearing to discuss a permanent license suspension for a Decatur doctor found guilty of sexual harassment has been rescheduled.

The hearing now will take place March 29.

In October, the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission ordered the suspension of Dr. Michael Dicks medical license. The suspension of the license will remain in effect until that date, said E. Wilson Hunter, general counsel for the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners.

A woman says Dick blocked her path out of a room, moving his hands from her shoulders to the back of her neck and then planting a "big nasty kiss" on her cheek.

The suspension means Dick cannot practice medicine at all, including seeing patients or prescribing medications.
Help is on the way for remote Alabama communities that don't have access to broadband.

Pea Ridge, outside of Henegar in DeKalb County, is one of several communities that will receive a grant from the state to make high speed internet possible. For many people in the community, the library is currently their only access to internet, but Governor Ivey's new grant promises change.

At the Henagar Public Library, Director Donna Carlin said many people in the community can't afford the internet access they need to do simple tasks.

"Now everything is online," Carlin said. "Applications for jobs, pay bills, social security."

Last year, the state legislature created a fund to provide high speed internet to communities like Pea Ridge. This grant will help providers like the Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative to give them access.

Ronnie Blevins teaches English as a second language and adult reading out of the Henagar Public Library. She sees the need for high speed internet firsthand.

"My students don't have access to WiFi or internet connection," Blevins said. "I'll ask them, 'Can you get this on the internet?' and they say, 'I don't have that.'"

The goal is by providing internet access, communities will make advances in education, health care and economic development.

"It's progress and I hope it will be used in that way to strengthen the community," Carlin said.

DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Jason Barnett said the grant won't directly impact their schools, but it will affect some students that go to them.
Alabama A&M is getting two new eco-friendly buses this spring. On Tuesday, students and staff at Alabama A&M got their first look and even got to take a ride.

"Are you going to get shocked? What happens when it gets wet? Well, the fact that it is fully contained and sealed, you have none of those worries at all," said a bus driver, Chester Smith.

Those are questions Smith said he had when he first drove an electric bus two years ago. Now, he's getting to take Alabama A&M students and staff on a ride in one of the buses they'll start seeing around campus.

"Quiet, no emissions, fully sustainable. I really enjoy it," Smith said.

Smith said he thinks riders will start seeing the difference this spring when two of the buses are brought onto campus. The buses run fully on a rechargeable battery. A single charge can allow a bus to be driven up to 180 miles. Students told WAAY 31 they're excited to know their university was interested in cleaning up their ecological footprint.

"To be in one here, I'm like, 'Yes!' We are finally catching up. We're onto things. We're moving onto bigger and better and green is bigger and better," said student, Mackenzie Johnson.

"It's going to be pretty cool to know that your school set the trend while you were there. So, for the generations to come, for the years to come, other schools will start to develop the buses and you're like 'Ha, we already did that,'" said student, Japhe Jelks.

Smith said he's excited to see the buses make their way to Alabama and to train the bus drivers at the university this spring on how to operate them.

"We look toward the future for our family, our loved ones and grandchildren. We want to save our future," Smith said.

The school's only purchased two of these eco-friendly buses for now but said it hopes to get more in the future.
Hundreds of furloughed employees in Alabama have now filed for unemployment. Tuesday afternoon, WAAY 31 learned 560 government employees have filed claims in the last month.

The employees are about to miss their second paycheck and with no end to the shutdown in sight, they're trickling into the Alabama Career Center for help and to find temporary work.

"Unemployment benefits are available for folks who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. So a layoff, a plant company shutdown, a plant relocating," said Alabama Career Center System manager Mike Fowler.

Mike Fowler said anyone needing to file for unemployment can either visit the career center or apply from their computers at home.

"They'll need to give their social security number. They'll need a driver's license or state ID number," Fowler said. "And then they'll just provide the information about their most recent employer."

No government employees were at the career center when WAAY 31 stopped by on Tuesday. We did talk to a few people who said they've noticed more people applying for jobs in the recent weeks. They said they feel sorry for the government workers and hope they're able to get back to work and get paid soon.

"I'm praying for them and I'm praying that the shutdown ends soon. Look for other work if you can, you know, a temporary something if you can," said Paula Wiggins.

People can collect benefits for up to six months. The maximum you can collect a week in Alabama is $265.
Athens police have arrested two people and charged them with 82 counts of encoded data fraud.

Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson said Juhl Frederik and Viorel Florinel Ivanica were arrested Saturday. Bank personnel alerted officers to a theft occurring at a Hwy. 72 East location.

When officers Mac McWhorter and Sgt. Daniel McNatt arrived they found Frederik and Ivanica with 82 credit type cards, said Johnson, who did not release the name of the bank.

The information on the cards had been changed, and this allowed the suspects to obtain cash from the ATM. Both suspects were interviewed by Investigators Johnathan Caldwell and Jarrod Smith. The suspects were booked at the police department and transferred to the county jail, Johnson said.

The investigation into this case is ongoing.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on the day of a mass shooting. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For our weeklong series on crime fiction, we asked two writers to reflect on the ethics of depicting violent crimes in their novels. Below, New York contributing editor Adam Sternbergh, most recently the author of The Blinds, considers the topic with the help of other crime novelists. Read Cartel trilogy author Don Winslows essay here.

If anyone asks how I came to be obsessed with wrongdoing in all its most perverse manifestations, I always blame Sunday school. I think back to those weekly lessons in murder, jealousy, lust, betrayal, and revenge that made up an integral part of my childhood. My all-time favorite pulp classic is the biblical tale of King David, who sent a romantic rival to certain death on the battlefield because hed slept with and impregnated the guys wife after spotting her bathing on a rooftop. I like to imagine what the lurid paperback cover for that story might look like: God made him a king. Lust made him a killer.

I recall this upbringing when I consider how exactly I ended up writing crime novels. I am a pacifist by nature  hell, Im Canadian, which is halfway to being a Quaker  and I favor strong gun control, criminal-justice reform, and turning the other cheek over an eye for an eye. I also spend part of my days willingly and even enthusiastically imagining the most creatively gruesome methods for killing people. Ive written three crime novels, and they arent parlor-room mysteries: Two of them star a gleefully murderous hit man as the hero and one centers on a community of criminals so vile that theyve had their most brutal memories erased.

Im definitely interested, maybe unhealthily so, in humanitys darkest proclivities. Yet Im also reliably shaken by tragedies like Parkland or the horrific recent story of Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old girl abducted from her home after watching her parents get murdered. I struggle to reconcile my aversion to real-world violence with my willingness to conjure it on the page. My mother, a very supportive and loving person who taught Sunday school, had this reaction when she finished my first novel: I just kept wondering what kind of person could think of such things. Me, Mom  Im that kind of person. And I wonder about that, too.

As Ive met other crime writers, Ive discovered Im not alone in this. Authors who tweet stridently about, for example, the lunacy of American gun policy (as I do) are often the same ones who concoct gloriously thrilling gunplay and depict psychopaths with chilling accuracy (as I hope to do). I asked a few of these writers how they make sense of this apparent contradiction. Im still not sure how I defend writing about crime and violence, says Laura Lippman, the best-selling author and former journalist. I just try to make the crime-y parts of my books the most boring, banal parts. And I try to make sure the victims matter, that the readers care about them.

I favor strong gun control and turning the other cheek over an eye for an eye. I also spend part of my days imagining the most creatively gruesome methods for killing people.

Alex Segura is the author of a private-detective series that features its share of mayhem, and he describes himself as a pretty far-left liberal who abhors guns and eats vegan  all the things, I guess, that would suggest I am against violence and the tools of that trade. So how does he reconcile this? The big thing for me is showing that violence has consequences. It isnt about trying to avoid violence and guns altogether, but to treat these moments realistically, and showcase the consequences beyond the act.

Chris Holm has written a successful series of novels about a hit man who kills other hit men, and he told me this representative story: One morning in 2015, he was polishing up a chapter culminating in a particularly kinetic shoot-out, and feeling pleased with his progress, he took a break, opened Twitter, and ran smack-dab into the story of the news reporter Alison Parker and her cameraman, Adam Ward, whod been shot to death during a live interview. He was shaken. He closed his laptop. He cried. Im not sure why that shooting in particular affected me the way it did, he says. A fluke of timing, I suppose. But I walked out my front door and wandered my neighborhood for hours. And I didnt write another word of fiction for weeks.

He eventually finished that novel, which wound up nominated for several awards. He also contributed a short story to Unloaded, an anthology of crime stories that avoid firearms, the proceeds of which benefit a gun-control advocacy group. I write violent books about violent people committing violent acts, and for that, I dont apologize, he says. But Ive also committed myself to treating the violence in my novels with due heft, and the victims with the dignity they deserve.

Some crime writers I know have faced tough questions from readers on how they feel about contributing to a culture of violence, but I dont think thats the right question to ask. I dont believe that violence in fiction  or onscreen for that matter  contributes to real-world violence any more than I believe that playing Dungeons & Dragons turns you into a Satanist. (There are people who believe this; trust me, I know.) In fact, one of crime fictions great strengths, to my mind, is the outsize metaphorical possibilities of, well, crime. Very few of us have ever murdered a neighbor in a fit of anger, or accidentally hit a drifter with our car, or accepted a murder contract and then buried the body deep in the woods in the dead of night. But most of us can relate to the notion of a shameful secret we hope the world will never uncover, or the feeling of having a fleeting impulse we dont recognize and would rather not acknowledge.

Its true that there are insidious tropes of the crime genre  the elegantly brilliant serial killer, or the beautiful dead girl who spurs the male protagonist into action  that demand to be called out and interrogated. (For a primer on the latter trope, see Alice Bolins recent essay collection, Dead Girls.) One of the reasons Im drawn to genre writing is precisely because it employs reliable conventions  the pieces on the chess board, in the writer Lev Grossmans memorable formulation  and I think its artistically interesting to consider why those conventions have proved so persistently appealing and then, when possible, to upend them.

In public policy, the why of a crime can be distracting at best and a deliberate diversionary tactic at worst. In fiction, its the only question worth asking.

The smartest crime writers I know, authors like Megan Abbott and Attica Locke, do just that. Abbott utilizes classic noir-fiction conventions to dissect the fraught dynamics of female rivalry, while Locke infuses her law-enforcement procedurals with complicating insights about race. Their novels involve bloodshed, but all in the service of helping us better understand the messy business of being human, the essential goal of all serious fiction. Ive always believed that every novel is a crime novel  because every novel is dealing with a crime of the heart, a crime of passion, or a moral crime, Locke said when she accepted the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Novel. But crime novels, she continued, offer a particularly incisive way to look at our darkest impulses, and think of ways we could all be better.

Ive come to believe that the distinction between writing about violence and considering its effects in the actual world boils down to the difference between why and how. On the question of gun violence, for example, our national debate too often gets mired in the why, which is abstract and endlessly debatable (why would someone do this?), rather than the how, which is concrete and addressable (guns). Why is the provenance of philosophers, spiritual leaders, engaged citizens, and, yes, fiction writers  the very biblical question of what drives one human to lift a hand against another. How, on the other hand, should be the central concern of lawmakers, who are in a position to address the fact that we blithely make the tools available for people to inflict violence as efficiently as possible. In public policy, the why can be distracting at best and a deliberate diversionary tactic at worst. In fiction, its the only question worth asking.

During my early days in Sunday school, I encountered two more memorable lessons: That an acceptable reaction to wrongdoing is a willful communal obliviousness (witness the Catholic Church and its sex scandals); and that the world is neatly divided into good and evil and the temptation to stray into the latter is the product not of human nature but of a malevolent supernatural being. (The Devil did make me do it, literally.) Eventually I came to believe that those ideas are exactly wrong. What appeals to me about crime writing is that, at its best, it refutes them both.

I find myself struggling more and more in recent years, with the world crashing in on us so insistently, Megan Abbott says, on the question of the fictive uses of violence. The Parkland case is one that returns again and again for me  in large part because of the voice and advocacy of its students after the tragedy. I keep thinking of Emma Gonzalez, this staggeringly powerful young woman who defies all the stereotypes of both her gender and her generation. It reinvigorates me to tell stories of survivors and resistors. Im never going to write stories of uplift, of course. Its just not my nature. But I think theres something astonishingly powerful in using crime novels to get into the murk and muck of our moment, its horrors and its wonders. I realize my own early instruction in murder, lust, and mayhem has left me with a similar instinct, or at least a similar goal: to recognize the muck and murk of our moment and, rather than turning away, to respond to it by persisting in asking why.
This Is Us Songbird Road: Part One Season 3 Episode 11 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * *  Previous Next  Photo: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

The Big Three are back together, the multiple-timelines structure is used to reveal the layers of one story, and there is only a brief mention of that political storyline that will never die. This week, This Is Us remembers what its great at, and we are truly living once more.

Songbird Road: Part 1 feels every bit the continuation of the stellar Vietnam from earlier this season. In the latter episode we were introduced to the story of the Pearson brothers, original flavor: how they were very much a unit, how Jack took on the protector role from the day Nicky was born, how the war completely destroyed the younger Pearson, and how much Jack sacrificed for his brother. After the revelation that Nicky didnt die in the war, and knowing that he was non-existent in Jacks life as a husband and father, there was obviously more to this story. Songbird tells the rest of that story, and demonstrates This Is Uss favorite point to repeatedly drive home (run us over with?): Our stories dont end with us, they ripple out into the lives of those who come after us. By cutting between Jacks adult children standing outside of their uncles trailer in the same spot their father once stood, its clear that Jack and Nickys story didnt end when Jack died. Now its a part of the Big Threes story, too.

Praise be that Kevin Pearson wasted zero time in telling his siblings and his mother that Nicky is alive and Jack knew about it. This family has already been blown up due to long-term secret-keeping, and neither they nor I could survive it once more. The Big Three decide to go on a road trip to Bradford, PA. Mama Pearson sits it out. I mean, the woman just found out her husband had been actively lying to her for their entire marriage, so yes, she should stay home and bake cookies with Miguel and her granddaughters. That sad, sad woman deserves all the cookies!

Back in 1992, Jack is taking a journey similar to the one his kids take in the present-day timeline. Hes been ignoring the postcards his brothers been sending to his office, but once he receives that Last one  C.K. postcard at his home, hes had enough. He makes up a story, says goodbye to his wife and children, and drives out to Bradford to tell his brother to never contact him at his house. To never contact him at all, really.

Its clear Nicky has never recovered from what happened in Vietnam. Hes fidgety, unkempt, and he cant even make a glass of Nesquik correctly. Jacks anger eventually subsides once they begin to reminisce about their childhood, but he never truly looks comfortable sitting in that trailer. Before long, Nicky needs to bring up what happened. He is basically begging to explain, to apologize. But Jack wont hear it. He put the war behind him and he refuses to go back there. What Nicky wants to know  the reason he sent those postcards, the thing thats been eating him alive  is if what he did ruined Jacks life. Jack shows his brother a picture of his family as proof that he didnt and its only then that Nicky changes  he wont bother Jack again. And with that, Jacks gone.

Back in the present day, after the Big Three demand that Nicky speak to them (its Kates speech about refusing to leave without answers that makes Nicky remark that they really are Jacks kids), their uncle finally explains what actually happened in Vietnam. We head back to the fishing village, where Nicky is back on drugs. He shares some genuinely nice moments with the little boy whose foot Jack fixed (his mother is the Woman Wearing the Necklace), and then the two hop on a fishing boat, row out to the middle of the lake, and Nicky begins to use grenades instead of fishing poles. You can guess what follows. After a grenade mishap, Nicky jumps out of the boat in time, the little boy does not. Its awful and sad, even for This Is Us. Its extra-upsetting because we see that Nicky had no ill will toward the child. It was an accident. But Jack doesnt see that. He only sees the wailing mother mourn her son and remembers Nicky saying that to him, the women and children are their enemies, too. Thats Jacks breaking point. He tells Nicky hes done, and you can see he means it. When Nicky is medevacked out, a shell of a person, Jack cant even look at him.

So imagine listening to that story come out of your not-dead uncles mouth while sitting in his dumpster trailer. The trauma on this show knows no bounds. If youre trying to decide who the saddest This Is Us character is, Nicky Pearson must be in consideration. Not only does he end his little, harrowing trip down memory lane by telling his nephews and niece that he can still hear that mother screaming, and that he never got to tell his brother it was an accident and will have to live with that forever, he then asks how Jack died. DUDE. At this point, youre asking for the pain. On a personal note, last week I didnt cry once during This Is Us, which was worrisome since I have notably cried during such things as a non-sad orange juice commercial and my first sip of butterbeer, but dont you worry folks, with just one small look as Nicky took in the story of his brothers death, Griffin Dunnes performance walloped me.

Nicky is a man in complete devastation. Because of what Kevin witnesses in that trailer, and because of a conversation he had with Jack about not repeating his fathers mistakes (the Pearsons memories are so good, they must take fish oil, right?), it is the eldest Pearson who decides that they cant just leave their uncle like that. We see the Big Three sitting in the parking lot of a convenience store their father once sat in (hey, good for Bills Place, staying in business all these years!). After much deliberation, their father made a right and went back to his life in Pittsburgh. The Big Three make a right and head back to Songbird Road.

Its a good thing they do, because when they walk back into his trailer, they find Nicky sitting in his grief and his guilt, with a gun on the table in front of him. They take the gun away from him, but how do they even begin to help Nicky come back from this? Remember when I said that thing about trauma? Yeah, it applies here, too.

This Is the Rest

 The other moment that had me self-hydrating my face this week was another small, quiet one. Jack does come clean to Rebecca about going to see someone from the war, he just omits certain details. When she offers suggestions on how to get help, he ends the conversation. Hes done talking about it. Jack walks off, but stops and stands alone in the door frame. You see it clearly on his face: He so badly wants to tell his wife everything, but he just cant allow his old life and his new life to come in contact with each other. Hes forever a man trying to keep his demons at bay.

 Watching Kevin, Kate, and Randall deal with these revelations is extremely compelling, but the one to watch in all of this is Rebecca. Shes not really angry with Jack  I mean, she kept a whopper of a secret from him, too  shes upset with herself. She never pressed him about Vietnam and maybe she should have. Now she wants the truth. A Rebecca and Nicky meeting will be a thing.

 I loved Rebecca chiding Randall for his mind blown jokes while they discussed the news of Nicky. What a mom thing to do!

 Moments like Kevin and Kate ragging on Randall for his nerdy road trip snacks (lots of nuts and seeds, many pitted fruits) and Kevin claiming Sundance as his road trip character over video chat is why I love the Big Three in storylines together. Theres so much chemistry and history there. More of this, always.

 Seeing Miguel in an apron and making chocolate chip cookies with his granddaughters honestly makes me wonder how I ever felt anything but love for this guy. Forgive us, Miguel.

 Little Kevin flat-out telling Jack that he likes him more than the rest of his family is such a mood and it is appreciated.

 R & B Properties is back and better than ever. Im of course talking about Randall and Beth as a couple, not their company, because who knows whos taking care of that building they bought. Beth is heading out on interviews again and we get a classic Randall Pearson speech about how wonderful his wife is. Stronger than ever, those two!

 Beth Pearson is more than just a name, its an attitude.
Greta Gerwig on the set of Lady Bird. Photo: A24

Tuesday mornings Oscar nominations provided plenty of surprises, but one development proved depressingly familiar: As many predicted, this years eight Best Picture contenders and five Best Director nominees included exactly zero films directed by a woman. No Marielle Heller. No Josie Rourke. No Karyn Kusama. No Debra Granik. No women at all.

After Greta Gerwigs Lady Bird proved a strong contender last year, it cant help but feel a little like the Academy is going backwards. But in hindsight, its clear all the ways that Lady Bird provided a perfect standard for supporters to rally around. The film was almost universally beloved, boasting for a time a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, and just as importantly, it had an easy-to-follow Oscar narrative: an actress known for ramshackle indies making her solo directorial debut with a lovingly composed coming-of-age tale inspired by her own teenage years. (That Gerwig had co-directed a mumblecore film years before was one of those things that gets smoothed away in Oscar discussions; it was just easier for everyone to treat Lady Bird like her first real directorial effort.) Lady Bird went home empty-handed on Oscar night, a sign the Academy still wasnt quite ready to warm up to female-driven stories, but it still pulled in five nominations and was in the Best Picture conversation all season long.

This years bounty of female-helmed movies havent enjoyed the same benefits. The top contender was probably Can You Ever Forgive Me?, which managed acting nods for both Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, as well as a screenplay nomination. That screenplay might explain part of the reason CYEFM didnt ascend into the top tier of the years contenders: Its credited to Jeff Whitty and Nicole Holofcener, and the latter was set to direct the movie back when it was going to star Julianne Moore; director Marielle Heller didnt join the project until after the Moore-Holofcener version fell apart in 2015. And, as Heller told Vanity Fairs Little Gold Men podcast, shed purposefully chosen the film because it was very different from her debut, Diary of a Teenage Girl. Hellers direction was widely praised, but it was hard to position her as the singular voice and vision behind the film, or to fit the movie into a grabby story about her career arc  the kind of stuff that feels like it shouldnt matter, but often does in award campaigning.

Other female directors in the race could make a strong case to be seen as their films main creative forces. Mary, Queen of Scotss Josie Rourke is the artistic director of the British theater Donmar Warehouse, and from the casting to the characterization, the movie bore the fingerprints of a longtime stage pro. (Even if with this film too, the screenplay was credited to someone else.) Period pieces about British royalty are catnip to Oscars voters, and the film did score two nominations, in Costume and Hair & Makeup. But Mary had the burden of competing in the same year as The Favourite, which added its own modern spin to a story of a Stuart monarch, and was pretty much universally regarded as the better film.

Like Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Karyn Kusamas Destroyer was positioned as an acting vehicle, and star Nicole Kidman earned a Golden Globe nomination for her transformative turn as a bitter Los Angeles detective. But the film itself got a polarizing reception, and critics and voters alike agreed the film itself didnt quite live up Kidmans central performance.

Debra Graniks Leave No Trace got better reviews  in fact, it got some of the best reviews of the year  and shed previously helmed the Best Picture nominee Winters Bone, but that summer indie was distributed by Bleecker Street, whose movies have had trouble cracking the Oscar race. A similar situation occurred with Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here, which earned accolades when it premiered at Cannes in 2017, but couldnt crack the conversation when it was released Stateside. Neither could Josephine Deckers experimental coming-of-age film Madelines Madeline. Tamara Jenkinss Private Life looked for a time like could break out at the Golden Globes, where the HFPA reportedly loved it, but that came to nothing. These four films earned a combined 12 Independent Spirit Award nominations, but voters in most of the other precursors largely ignored them, and Oscar followed suit.

Ultimately, its one of those situations where you can zoom in and find a good reason why each individual film wasnt nominated, but from a wide-angle view the trend is still troubling. Can You Ever Forgive Me? replaced its original director, but so did Bohemian Rhapsody. Mary Queen of Scots got bad reviews, but again, so did BoRhap. Private Life was a Netflix film, but so was Roma. Destroyer didnt get much love outside its central performance, but neither did Vice. Granik, Ramsay, and Jenkins all took a lot of time between their last film, but the same issue hasnt hurt Alfonso Cuaron, whose Gravity was released back in 2013. And besides, thats more a symptom of their lack of attention than a cause.

The real issue with this years field of female filmmakers is less anything to do with the individual films, and more that, as AwardsDailys Sasha Stone memorably put it, No one can agree on one and there can only be one. Female representation right now is at a point where a woman can get nominated for Best Director, but only if shes a clear standout whose work is head and shoulders above that of her male peers. If there are a bunch of women who are just kind of in the mix, like this year, its easy for voters to claim that none of them were quite good enough. Though there were bright spots elsewhere on the ballot  Black Panthers team of black women scored well in the craft categories, and the female directors of RBG and Free Solo are front-runners in Documentary Feature  but in general, this year was on par with the past two when it came to recognizing women: The Womens Media Center reports that 25 percent of the behind-the-scenes nominees were female. The fact that that is good news  it used to be a lot less  is a sign of how far the Academy still has to go.
Good Trouble Allies Season 1 Episode 3 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * *  Previous Next  Photo: Richard Cartwright/Freeform

No matter how hard you might try to hide from Monday morning, it always finds you. After the big Coterie party, both Adams Foster sisters are suffering from some extreme Sunday Scaries. Marianas replaying the dozens of drunk messages she left for her asshole boss (Davias word on Marianas Instragram Live, not mine), while Callie stresses about the repercussions of being too drunk to go into work Saturday night and allowing Rebecca to write an important bench memo on the Jamal Thompson case in her stead. Okay, I guess she isnt too worried, since she spends all of Sunday night in the arms of Gael (seriously: when does Callie sleep? I know shes young and the sex is hot but please, for your health, take a nap), but shes a little worried. The good news is that neither of our girls get fired as they had feared, but there are some unforeseen repercussions for both of them.

As soon as Mariana gets to the Speckulate office and Alex acts as if he never got her numerous (so, so numerous) drunken voicemails, you know somethings up. This dude is shady as hell and aside from repeatedly (purposefully) mispronouncing Marianas name, hes oddly polite. Mariana seems to take it as a win, but you in danger, girl. Alexs evil plan eventually reveals itself: When their supervisor comes in, he praises Alex for his genius idea  the same idea Mariana brought up in one of her voicemails. When she confronts him about stealing it, he denies, denies, denies.

Marianas powerless to fight him. Shes also powerless to do anything about the fact that her team would rather goof off at work than, you know, actually work. She knows she could be getting a lot more done and complete projects faster than Blue Teams current output. Davia gives her some advice that unfortunately backfires: she tells Mariana to work to her full potential  as long as her boss looks good, shell only be impressing him. So Mariana does just that, but when Alex learns that she took initiative and finished their build in a much shorter time than they ever have, hes livid. Now theyll be expected to work that fast on every project. Hes the boss and she shouldnt forget that. You guys, Im already chilling some champagne for the day when Marianas made Team Leader over Alex. It will be the most satisfying.

Mariana must be on the same bubbly wavelength as me, because back at the Coterie, shes popping bottles. Shes giving up the fight at Speckulate, and instead leaning into the idea that shes getting a huge paycheck with very little work responsibilities attached to it. Its time to party.

The move feels very un-Mariana like, and I suspect it wont last for long. Much more like the Adams Foster we know, however, Mariana ends up telling Raj off with a triumphant being a nice guy behind [Alexs] back, doesnt make you a hero burn. Put it on a T-shirt, because our girl is right. Raj is the only one on the team who acknowledges that she is a human with a brain, but he never stands up to Alex, either. I know this is much less important than Marianas fight against workplace misogyny, but, um, is Raj going to be Marianas love interest? Because that warms my cold, dead, tired-of-the-patriarchy heart.

Callie has the opposite journey of her sister. After Rebecca saves Callies ass by telling the judge that they all wrote the memo together, Callie decides that from now on shell only be writing memos from Wilsons point of view. Shes going to tell him what he wants to hear. That plan lasts mere minutes. Wilson can tell Callie had nothing to do with the memo  although he assumes she simply caved to Ben and Rebecca  and he wants her to write another one, from her point of view.

Thats a problem for Callie. Shes petrified that what Rebecca said about her being the counter clerk is true, and she doesnt want to prep Wilson with the liberal argument so that hes then able to knock it down in court. Shes stuck. When writers block and crises of conscience strike, what does a hot, young lawyer do? She calls up that other hot, young lawyer she knows and gets a healthy dose of both legal advice and sexual tension. Jamies back, you guys!

If you didnt watch The Fosters, a quick explainer: Jamie is the older brother of Callies new-ish sister-in-law Eliza, married to Callies one-time lover, full-time adoptive brother, Brandon. They met before Eliza and Brandons wedding and then made out during wedding festivities in Turks and Caicos. She, a liberal do-gooder, he, a corporate lawyer  their chemistry was palpable. I love Callie and Gael, but I also love Callie and Jamie. A love triangle: what a treat!

Although I laughed watching Callie in a suit playing pool in a swanky Los Angeles bar  sometimes her adulting is just too much  Jamie does give her some good advice as her newly hired lawyer: she should write that memo. He thinks she let her competition get into her head about the whole counter clerk thing (hes right), and Wilson seems to be on the fence  her memo with the progressive argument could make a difference. She also seeks advice about living with Malika. Jamie tells her that as long as Malika isnt directly involved in the case or close with the family, she doesnt need to disclose that they live in the same building. He also asks if maybe they could have a meal not shrouded in attorney-client privilege. She says no. FOR NOW.

So Callie writes the memo about Jamal Thompsons mothers motion to prevent the police from destroying 911 calls from the night of the shooting. She hands it over to Wilson, and quickly learns that Jamies right about the counter clerk stuff. When she brings up the idea to Wilson, he pretty much laughs in her face. Hes an experienced federal judge, he already knows the liberal argument. He simply likes to spar with lawyers who share different beliefs, and believe it or not, he likes to teach young lawyers about preparing sound arguments. Hes not the bad guy!

He further proves this by surprising everyone in court. Sure, he dismisses the motion preventing the police from destroying evidence, but he doesnt dismiss the case outright. Jamals mother will get her day in court. Thats a win. Callies obviously happy about that, but things are about to get much more complicated. Because of all the protests shes been organizing, Malikas gotten much closer to Jamals mother, Sandra. So close, in fact, that shes sitting next to her in the courtroom now. Ben notices Callie go on edge at the sight of Malika next to Sandra. Even though Callie and Malika agree to steer clear of one another for the duration of the trial, somehow, some way, this is going to blow up in Callies face.

Family Dinner

 Dont think Marianas run-in with head honcho Evan Speck will just be dropped. Working late one night she literally bumps into him, spilling coffee everywhere and cracking his phone. He doesnt seem to mind much. Later, in a meeting, he recognizes her as the girl who had some ideas for him, but his assistant lies and tells him she flaked. Everyones trying to hold our girl down  not for long, patriarchy!

 Casey still has Marianas back, although most of her advice boils down to: you have to pay your dues. She also tosses out a Harry Potter reference in an everyday work conversation, which, like, respect.

 This trial thing is getting in the way of what could be a wonderful friendship between Callie and Malika. Not many people would understand what they went through in the foster care system. Malika, who cant believe Lawyer Callie went to juvie, is still avoiding her sick mother. (We also get a flashback to a young Malika and her brother Dom getting separated by CPS.) Callie would be a good support system for what shes going through. Alas, the complications of the law!

 Sex god Gael is very sad this evening! He set aside some money to have a few of his pieces bronzed for an upcoming gallery show. Then he meets with his sister Jasmine, whos leaving her job after being discriminated against for being transgender and needs help paying her rent. Gaels too good of a person to say no. Good-bye, art show.

 He might also be sad because while hes out with Bryan (who is being extra-possessive now that he knows Callies back in the mix), he runs into Callie all dolled up to meet Jamie for dinner. Yes, she changed her mind on the meal. Next stop: kissing?

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Sins have been committed! Photo: A24

If youre looking for me between now and Oscar night on February 24, I will be here at my desk, listening to Aretha Franklin and muttering Will God forgive us for snubbing Ethan Hawke? The leading man was an on-the-bubble contender for Best Actor who didnt make the final five when this years Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday morning. In his place were four qualified performances  Christian Bale as Dick Cheney in Vice, Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Bradley Cooper and his Tom Ford bronzer as Jackson Maine in A Star Is Born, Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh in At Eternitys Gate  and Viggo Mortensen in Green Book.

In First Reformed, Ethan Hawke plays Reverend Ernst Toller, the pastor of a small, historic church in upstate New York. Hes half-reverend, half-groundskeeper: He fixes leaks and gives tours and delivers sermons to a dwindling congregation. He writes lengthy journal entries lamenting his inability to hear Gods voice or feel a divine presence in his life. Who am I to talk about pride? he journals. Its a desperate kind of desire: Reverend Toller needs a place to channel his malaise when a young couple seeks his counsel. The husband is an extreme environmental activist, and even as Toller advises him against action, he begins to see the mans point. The world really is wasting away, entirely due to human action. God shouldnt forgive us. Tollers dread and loneliness is ignited with a sense of purpose and Hawke transforms before our eyes: In the beginning he seems placid and somber. By the middle, he looks like hes bursting at the seams of some invisible straightjacket. The tension in every scene in suffocating until one shot near the end that allows him to exhale. Its like nothing Hawke has ever done: Theres no greasy hair, bedraggled slouch; hes not playing a character particularly eloquent or erudite; theres no charm.

The devil works hard  I know this firsthand from the number of nominations Vice got this morning, and also because I spilled one single drop of Josie Marans argan oil on my dress today  but Ethan Hawkes forehead wrinkle works harder. So does Ethan Hawke. His performance in First Reformed was a marvel of manic restraint. When I talked to Hawke a few days before Christmas (I hope you didnt trip over that name I just dropped!), he explained it thusly: Most performances are trying to entertain you, to capture your imagination, thrill you, make you curious, make you laugh, make you cry. A recessive performance avoids the audience. If it works right, it draws you in and invites you in, and lets you participate, because it doesnt tell you what youre supposed to think all the time. Because it wont, I will: You shouldve nominated it, you cowards!

Here is what would happen if Ethan Hawke won the Oscar he deserved for Best Actor: He wouldve thanked Paul Schrader, his family, and A24. He wouldve rubbed his glorious fecund beard deep in thought. He wouldve said something about having been acting for 30 years. He mightve thanked God. He would no doubt issue a strongly worded rebuke of the Trump administration and bigotry and white nationalism, as he did at the Gotham Awards. He wouldve furrowed his brow and I wouldve smiled and I wouldve taken a car home from New York Medias Tribeca offices warm and happy and listening to My Man by Barbra Streisand. Instead, someone else will win and I will take a car home from New York Medias Tribeca offices annoyed and sleepy and cold. Academy, I hope you are happy.

In conclusion, I would trace Ethan Hawkes forehead wrinkle the way Jackson Maine traced Allys nose in A Star Is Born. The forehead wrinkle deserves an Oscar. Please respect our privacy at this difficult time.
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, pivoting in the final season of Broad City. Photo: Cara Howe/Comedy Central

The first episode of the fifth and final season of Broad City follows Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and her forever BFF Ilana (Ilana Glazer) as they celebrate Abbis 3oth birthday by walking from the top of Manhattan all the way to the islands bottom. Naturally, they livestream much of the journey, peppering their Snapchat Stories with enough filters and captions to make them seem like a pair of teenagers instead of full-fledged adults entering their fourth decades. That disconnect is the point.

Based on the trio of new episodes Comedy Central provided to critics, the notion that these up-for-anything millennials are aging out of their usual antics is a running theme in the final season, which gets underway on Thursday. The first episode, Stories, provides the first hint that its time for the duo to take their lives in new directions. Subsequent episodes, which find them considering new career directions and even the possibility of leaving New York, hit that same note, while simultaneously counterarguing that deciding to continue doing you can be as much a measure of maturity as moving out of the city, getting married, or having kids. While I was breaking your toilet, I had a lot of time to think, Ilana tells her sort-of boyfriend Lincoln (Hannibal Buress) at one point. And I am meant to be a polyamorous queen.

Ilana may be destined to keep on yassing on, but Broad City feels like its taking a final bow at the right moment. Thats not because the show has forgotten how to be funny. The writing is still rife with socially astute zingers  I love a restaurant run by women because they dont rape or molest their employees, Ilana tells Abbi. Plus, the food just tastes better.  and the chemistry between Abbi and Ilana, our sex-positive Laverne and Shirley for the 21st century, remains strong.

But five seasons seems like the right amount of time to spend with these two ladies in this particular milieu. Broad City debuted in 2014, but in this hyperaccelerated cultural climate, a distance of five years feel like five decades. Remember when Abbi and Ilana had Hillary Clinton on the show? You might think that happened in 2016, but in reality, it was 20 years ago. In terms of assessing the shows relevancy, it doesnt help that the show took a break from the airwaves for more than a year before this final comeback. Through no fault of Glazer or Jacobsons, it feels like the world has moved on since the time when Broad City first won acclaim for its frank, feminist brand of comedy. Broad City inevitably must move on, too.

Its wise, then, that this last season pushes its two protagonists to engage with the concept of moving forward. To be clear: Abbi and Ilana still do stupid, occasionally gross things. Ive only seen three of the ten new episodes, but Ive already witnessed one of them fall down a manhole, drop her cell phone in the Hudson River, eat cheese grated with the same grater the other one used to remove dead skin from her feet, and, for reasons too complicated to explain, let a rat loose in the Anthropologie across from Rockefeller Center. They do not have their shit together, because if they did, there would definitely be no more show.

But in subtle ways, even in their performances, Jacobson and Glazer signal that their alter egos are evolving. Abbi is still goofy and prone to nervous chatter, but she enters into new environments with a little more awe and slightly  emphasis on slightly  less awkwardness. When she gets invited to an art world reception at MoMA, Jacobson looks around the room and revels in whats shes finally earned exposure to: Art! Asymmetrical hairstyles! Unabashed confidence! She plays the moment with a wonderment thats charming and relatable.

Glazers performance is still hyper and idiosyncratic  no one on TV does line deliveries with the same offbeat rhythms  but even her take on Ilana has calmed down somewhat, with a little less kookiness and more moments that feel grounded in reality. As writers, both Glazer and Jacobson also continue to display impeccable instincts for mocking millennial and New York trend-chasing. Oh, my Pedi-phile is here, an acquaintance tells Abbi and Ilana, explaining that Pedi-phile is a new Uber-style app designed for people who are obsessed with pedicabs.

In other words, Broad City is still enjoyable and its still heartening to watch an entire series devoted to female friendship. But it no longer feels like something new or surprising in the way it did for the first three seasons. Youll still laugh a fair amount when you watch Abbi and Ilanas swan song. But when its over, youll also feel ready to say good-bye.
Photo: Vulture

For our weeklong series on crime fiction, we asked two writers to reflect on the ethics of depicting violent crimes in their novels. Below, Don Winslow, whose Cartel trilogy concludes next month with the publication of The Border, distinguishes between his depictions of brutal border crime and the current administrations concocted emergency. Read author and New York contributing editor Adam Sternberghs essay here.

I write crime fiction.

For over 20 years, the primary focus of that fiction has been the War on Drugs, particularly as it is played out in the world of the Mexican cartels. That being the case, Ive researched and written about an extremely violent world.

Now I see that world portrayed in the news every day, its elements distorted and rearranged into a fictional emergency on the border. That image doesnt reflect the reality Ive come to know, the reality that Ive tried to bring to the reader.

When youre writing about violence based on real events, youre faced with two stark choices, both of them legitimate. You can either sanitize the descriptions to avoid the risk of exploitation and sensationalism (and to make it a less horrific experience for the reader), or you can write it graphically and realistically, to bring the reader close to the actual experience. As Ive wanted my readers to see and understand the real-life consequences of our War on Drugs, Ive usually chosen the latter.

Not without misgivings.

Theres a thin line, with no bright white light  no concrete border, if you will  between realistic depictions of violence and mere titillation, the pornography of violence. Ive danced on that line, and perhaps at times Ive crossed it.

Time and time again, editors would write me notes complaining that a certain scene was too much or over the top. My response was always the same: I agree, but thats what really happened. In the novels The Power of the Dog, The Cartel, and now The Border, I never wrote an incident of violence that hadnt actually occurred. On numerous occasions, I refrained from writing about real events because they were too horrible (I just didnt have the heart) or so excessive in their sadism that I thought readers would simply not believe them.

The research was tough.

I would spend entire days and weeks poring over vivid reports, autopsy photos, and atrocity videos, aware at all times that the people I saw brutalized were real human beings and not mere grist for my fictional mill. Im not soliciting sympathy here  journalists in Mexico have been murdered telling this story. What Im trying to say is that the people who write about this subject, either in fiction or journalism, take it seriously and feel it deeply. I may leave the War on Drugs, but it will never fully leave me.

This goes beyond the ethics of writing about violence. It goes into the topic of fiction and truth.

Time and time again, editors complained that a certain scene was over the top." My response was always: I agree, but thats what really happened.

My responsibility as a crime-fiction writer is to bring the reader into a world that he or she couldnt otherwise enter, or to show it from a different perspective. While I am definitely writing fiction and embrace rather than flee that description, I try to make my books realistic. When I take the reader into this world, it has to be a real world. The characters are fictional  although often inspired by real people, or more often a melange of real people. Their thoughts and feelings are fictional  although often drawn from interviews in which real people have expressed them. And the events are arranged into a dramatic structure, a fictional narrative that I nevertheless hope reveals underlying truths.

So thats what Ive done for over 20 years in writing about drugs, addiction, cartels, Mexico, America, and our common border. And then, come 2016, enter the Trumps, Bannons, and Millers of the world, cynics who use real events to create a story about a threat that doesnt exist.

Their fiction has nothing to do with truth.

The technique is similar; they take real events and then connect the dots to construct a narrative. They take actual crimes  it is undisputed that illegal immigrants have committed gruesome crimes in the United States  and string them together to create a world that isnt real. The individual components might be accurate, but the composite picture is warped, to say the least. (You might call it fake news.)

Witness Trumps recent televised address to the nation:

America`s heart broke the day after Christmas when a young police officer in California was savagely murdered in cold blood by an illegal alien, just came across the border  In California, an Air Force veteran was raped, murdered, and beaten to death with a hammer by an illegal alien with a long criminal history. In Georgia, an illegal alien was recently charged with murder for killing, beheading, and dismembering his neighbor. In Maryland, MS-13 gang members who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors were arrested and charged last year after viciously stabbing and beating a 16-year-old girl.

These are all real incidents. They are tragic and terrible, and the perpetrators should be tried and punished.

The incidents are true but the resulting narrative is false. The truth is that illegal immigrants commit crimes at a rate one-fifth that of native-born Americans. It would be simple, a five-finger exercise for any writer, to construct a narrative about native-born Americans that would create an overall picture of violent criminality and a genuine threat to our safety.

Far from trying to avoid sensationalism, Trumps rhetoric intensifies it for dramatic purposes: savagely murdered in cold blood, raped, murdered, and beaten to death, killing, beheading, and dismembering. [Emphases mine.] Instead of eschewing exploitation, Trump is precisely and intentionally exploiting victims of horrible crimes for his political purposes.

Ive wrestled with the exploitation issue in my own work. Have I exploited real victims to create my fiction? Perhaps, but I hope that on balance Ive used these incidents to speak important truths about the War on Drugs.

The narrative that Trump and his allies create is a flat-out lie about chaos on the border, when the people who live there, as I do, have reported the opposite: not an invading horde of rapists and murderers (most of those in the caravan are fleeing rape and murder), not a rise in illegal immigration (its been going down for years), not the daily slaughter of our citizens by illegal immigrants, but murders that are far more often committed by our own.

And, of course, Trumps narrative disguises the biggest lie of all  that Mexico is responsible for the drug problem. The hard truth is that we are; that Americans per capita consumption of illegal drugs is five times the global average; that every year we send tens of billions of dollars in cash south across that border, money that has fueled violence that has killed more than 100,000 Mexicans. But Trump and his minions never talk about that.

Far from trying to elicit truth from fiction, they make fiction of the truth.
Alec Baldwin. Photo: JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutters/JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutters

Alec Baldwin pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment, a violation, in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday in a row over a parking spot the afternoon of November 2.

Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? asked Judge Herbert Moses.

Yes, sir, Baldwin said somberly during the three-minute-long proceeding.

I accept your plea, Moses said, ordering that Baldwin complete a short anger-management course.

If Baldwin completes the anger-management course as ordered, the case will be sealed.

Baldwin had previously faced two counts: attempted assault in the third degree, a misdemeanor, and harassment in the second degree, a violation. He initially maintained his innocence.

In a statement to cops shortly thereafter, Baldwin admitted to hitting this driver, calling him an asshole, court documents alleged.

Baldwins accuser had told police that he observed the defendant push me and then strike me across the left side of my face with his closed right hand, resulting in pain to my face, according to the criminal complaint.

Baldwin, with intent to cause physical injury to another person, attempted to cause such injury to another person; the defendant, with intent to harass, annoy and alarm another, subjected that person to physical contact and attempted and threatened to do the same, the document also said.

Another document relating to his arrest, called a Voluntary Disclosure Form (VDF), provided more colorful allegations about the incident.

Around 1:50 p.m.  just 20 minutes after the altercation  Baldwin whined about the driver to a cop on the scene, saying, Hes an asshole. He stole my spot. I did push him, the VDF said.

Baldwin is no stranger to high-profile dustups. He allegedly punched New York Daily News photog Marcus Santos in 2012. Santos alleged that Baldwin hit his face when he and now-wife Hilaria were getting paperwork at the city Marriage License Bureau, which is located on Centre and Worth Streets, per the News.

Baldwin got into yet another spat with a photographer in 2013, allegedly pushing him against a parked car a few days after his daughter was born. And in 2014, Baldwin was hit with a disorderly conduct charge for allegedly talking back to cops who stopped him for biking the wrong way down a one-way street.

Correction: Based upon information officials told Vulture, this post previously stated that the violation would be dismissed, but has been corrected to say it would be sealed.
Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

It may not look so on the surface, but the Sundance Film Festival has been in a state of transition the last few years. It wasnt long ago that it served as a solid launching pad for some of the years more prominent Oscar contenders; talk of future awards glory regularly accompanied many of the festivals high-profile premieres. (Think Birth of a Nation, Manchester by the Sea, Call Me by Your Name, Brooklyn ) Last year, however, was deemed a quiet one by the cognoscenti. Gone was the premature awards hype around high-profile projects, not to mention breathless speculation around big-money acquisitions.

But the movies themselves were great. Indeed, Sundance finally seemed to be getting back in touch with its independent roots. The movies emerging from the festival were smaller, though no less accomplished. Last years big titles were pictures like Leave No Trace, Private Life, Hereditary, Mandy, and Eighth Grade  not so much Oscar contenders as titles one holds up to prove how much the Oscars suck.

This years lineup may well be similar. Though there will still be plenty of star power and controversy at the fest, not to mention some awards-contender documentaries (last year gave us Hale County This Morning, This Evening; RBG; and Minding the Gap) the most promising movies could prove to be among the lower-profile efforts. Here are some of the titles were most excited about at this years Sundance Film Festival.

Hail Satan?

Any new documentary by Penny Lane (NUTS, Our Nixon) would be of interest, but the subject of this one is genuine cause for celebration: It documents the rise of the Satanic Temple, which began as a social provocation designed to draw attention to the hypocrisy of Americas coddling of faith-based institutions, but has in recent years become a bona fide movement focused on issues of social justice and equal rights. The director is quite adept at taking odd subject matter and using it to explore deeper political and cultural issues, and this might be her most fascinating subject to date.

Late Night

Mindy Kaling wrote and stars in this story of a young female writer who is hired on the staff of a late-night talk show to help its legendary host (played by Emma Thompson) improve her reputation and flagging ratings. Interesting setup, to be sure: The idea of one of the greatest performers of our time getting to sink her teeth into the part of a veteran late-night host is too delicious to pass up.

Relive

Okay, this could be terrible, but still. Mean Creek director Jacob Estes delivers a thriller about a Los Angeles cop (David Oyelowo) investigating the death of his niece (A Wrinkle in Times Storm Reid) aided by  cell phone calls from her ghost? The premise is crazy, and supernatural cop thrillers dont have a great track record. But heres the thing: If its an outlier and proves to be artful and deep, great; and if it proves to be just as insane as its premise, even better. This is a Blumhouse movie, so its likely to be more thrilling than thoughtful, but heres hoping its both.

Cold Case Hammarskjold

Danish documentarian and provocateur Mads Brugger is one of those filmmakers who likes to make himself partly the subject of his stories  a la Nick Broomfield and Michael Moore  and hes tackling a doozy of a whodunit this time: the mysterious 1961 plane crash that killed U.N. secretary general Dag Hammarskjold, which many believe may have been the result of a vast international conspiracy. Early word suggests that this one will be talked about.

Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins

Its a shame that the late columnist Molly Ivins, who died in 2007, isnt around to opine on the nuttiness of the Trump administration; her scalpel-sharp wit and keen eye for the absurdities of modern politics would no doubt have worked overtime to make sense of todays landscape. This documentary looks at the writers life and career, and if it manages to convey even a fraction of her passion and energy, itll be well worth a watch.

Selah and the Spades

Sundances Next program has, in recent years, produced some of the best, most innovative works of the festival, including such modern classics as The Fits and Madelines Madeline. This film may continue that tradition: Its a look at warring factions in a Pennsylvania boarding school, but it promises to be an unorthodox effort. Director Tayarisha Poes bio says she believes that all stories are inherently multisensory and multidimensional and thus should be told that way. I couldnt agree more.

The Report

Writer-director Scott Z. Burns wrote films like Contagion, Side Effects, and The Bourne Ultimatum, so we know he does paranoia and tension well. This real-life drama has Adam Driver leading a congressional investigation into the CIAs enhanced interrogation techniques in the wake of 9/11, and promises to bring one of the more shameful chapters of recent American history to the screen. Oh, and Annette Bening plays Dianne Feinstein.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

For those of us whove felt that Zac Efron was essentially playing sociopaths even when he was cast as romantic leads, this movie may well prove to be sweet vindication. Efron is notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, but the film is less about his crimes and more about Bundys fraught relationship with his long-suffering girlfriend, played by Lily Collins. And its directed by Oscar-nominated documentarian Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills), who has made a career of exploring extreme pathologies. In fact, this is something of a narrative companion piece to Berlingers documentary series Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, which premieres this week on Netflix.

The Wolf Hour

Naomi Watts plays a woman in 1977 New York who, paralyzed with fear at the violence, blackouts, and serial killers out in the streets of the collapsing city, has shut herself inside an apartment. The premise recalls the classic Repulsion, but whats most tantalizing here is the prospect of Watts  who does desperate, unraveling characters so well  getting a chance to truly command the screen.

Midnight Traveler

Afghan director Hassan Fazili got a price on his head after the subject of one of his documentaries was assassinated, and spent years trying to flee Afghanistan with his family and seek asylum in another country. This first-person story charts the director and his familys journey across the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe as they try to survive. As such, the film also promises to make the vital connection between the refugee crises rocking the world and the chaos sown by the war in Afghanistan.

Velvet Buzzsaw

Jake Gyllenhaal has quietly (if you havent seen Okja, that is) been wading deeper and deeper into his Baroque Character Actor phase over the last five or so years, and Velvet Buzzsaw feels set to be a defining moment for a guy who has unpredictably become our least predictable thespian. The art world horror-satire reunites him with Dan Gilroy, his director on 2014s Nightcrawler, and follows an art critic (Gyllenhaal) who discovers the work of a deceased, unknown artist, and makes him posthumously famous. Then the paintings start eating people? The cast also includes Toni Collette, Rene Russo, John Malkovich, and Daveed Diggs  and, lucky for those of you not headed to Park City, it will be streaming on Netflix February 1, the same week it makes its debut at the festival.

The Souvenir

British director Joanna Hogg isnt terribly well-known in the states, but shes been a longtime, before-they-were-famous collaborator with actors like Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton. In The Souvenir, she reunites with Swinton and her daughter Honor Swinton-Byrne for a coming-of-age tale about Julie (Swinton-Byrne), a young woman whose 1980s film school education is made tumultuous by a love affair with an older, possibly untrustworthy man (Tom Burke). Coming-of-age tales are a dime a dozen in Park City, but the added layer of a woman finding herself in the context of a film education (said to be heavily based on Hoggs own experiences) is curiosity-piquing to say the least.

Honey Boy

For those of you not caught up on your Shia LaBeouf lore, or only know him as the guy from the Transformers movies who put a bag on his head at some point, Honey Boy is here to build the mythos. The film, directed by Alma Harel and written by LaBoeuf, is based on LaBeoufs chaotic adolescence, becoming a child TV star while growing up with an abusive addict rodeo-clown father. Lucas Hedges and Noah Jupe play Otis, the hardscrabble kid from Echo Park, at different ages; LaBeouf himself plays Otiss father. The film could be a public exorcism for LaBeoufs oft-talked-about demons, but with the always-promising Hedges onboard, it could also be a revelation. Dont sleep on Shia!

The Inventor

Arguably the biggest Silicon Valley story of the past decade that didnt involve election meddling, the saga of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos screamed for a big, stately, What the hell happened? documentary treatment, and here it is. Directed by veteran documentarian Alex Gibney (Going Clear, Taxi to the Dark Side) the film investigates Holmess company, which claimed to have the technology to overturn the entire medical-testing industry and turned out to be one big massive fraud dressed up in Silicon Valley innovator drag. But it also promises to look at Theranos in the context of the mythos of the entrepreneur, and our historical willingness to believe in the smoke and mirrors in the name of novelty.

The Farewell

Awkwafina had a major 2018 with a couple of multiplex breakouts in Crazy Rich Asians and Oceans 8. Shes starting off 2019 with a pivot to more indie fare, and the buzz is already very hot for The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang. The film tells the story of a Chinese-American family who learn that their grandmother has a terminal diagnosis, and, rather than telling her, arrange a giant family reunion/wedding to say their good-byes. Weve heard more than one person in a position to know call The Farewell a masterpiece  not to set expectations unreasonably high or anything, but this is one well be first in line to see at its Sundance premiere.

Mope

The Midnight section has arguably become the most fertile ground at Sundance, with films such as The Witch, Hereditary, and The Babadook becoming big deals after their Park City premieres. But its not all horror and gore in this years section, and the porn-industry drama Mope is an intriguing entry from first-time director Lucas Heyne. It tells the story of two low-level male adult actors (called mopes in industry slang) who team up together for a big break that goes horribly awry. Misfits Curtis Donovan and Awkwards Kelly Sry star, and if youre wondering, as we are, how explicit this thing gets, Heynes festival bio says his next project is a biopic of GG Allin, so were guessing  very.

Wounds

Another potentially buzzy breakout from the Midnighters is this thriller from Babak Anvari. Dakota Johnson and Armie Hammer star as Carrie and Will, a couple whose world goes sideways when a fight breaks out at the bar Will works at, exposing something unspeakable going on in the underbelly of their town. While we wait for that Hammer-and-Johnsonstarring Call Me by Your Name sequel Luca Guadagnino promised us, we might as well tide ourselves over with this creepfest.

Ms. Purple

Director-actor Justin Chon last came to Sundance with Gook, a tiny indie with a ton of confidence that told a story of race relations during riot-era L.A. from an Asian-American perspective. Now hes back with Ms. Purple, another tale of making it as a Korean-American in the City of Angels. Tiffany Chu plays Kasie, a hostess who works the karaoke bars of L.A.s Koreatown at night in order to pay for her ailing fathers medical bills. Chon is clearly a director who knows and cares about Koreatown stories  and hes definitely a director to keep an eye on.
Pertunia Chiriseri says the Zimbabwean government does not have any right to violate people's rights. The Commission carried out a research which showed widespread police and army brutality after the January 14, 2019 public protests over the high cost of living in the country. (Video: Mavis Gama)
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Refugees and migrants arriving in Europe are not bringing infectious diseases with them, according to a report from the World Health Organization. The WHO report calls for European governments to ensure migrants get access to health services. Henry Ridgwell reports.
TRANSCRIPT

VOA CONTRIBUTOR GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Mr. President, its very nice to see you, sir.



FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: Its to be with you again, Greta. Thank you.



VAN SUSTEREN: Mr. President, its been 40 years since the United States has had normalized relations with China. That was when you became president, a hugely significant time in history. Why did you do that?



CARTER: Well I decided to do that before I was president and I didnt know how to do it because it was always a big problem with the status of Taiwan and China. But we finally worked that out harmoniously, Deng Xiaoping and I did. And we had been through terrible wars in the Pacific. You know I had been in the Navy in the submarine when we had a war with the whole war, World War II, and also during the Korean War I was in the Pacific. And we saw that the ravages of Vietnam  so there was a constant series of world in the Pacific in which we were involved including the one between China and Japan when we were on Chinas side. So I wanted to bring peace, and since 1949 there hasnt been any wars in the Pacific, I see. Part of the result of that is because of good relations between the United States and China. We have, I think it was part of the most long-term significant thing that I did when I was in the White House, was to normalize diplomatic relations with China after 30 years of conflict. And so, Deng Xiaoping and I were got to be real good friends. We admired each other. I visited him when he was almost my age in China. And I would say that he carried out his commitment of openness and reform to a very high degree of completion in China. They still have a way to go in human rights but theyve made tremendous progress. And so the relationship between the United States and China is now, and will continue to be for a long time, the most important bilateral relationship, I think, in the world.



VAN SUSTEREN: I dont think younger people, younger than I, realize what a big moment in history that was. And theres a lot of pushback from the Republicans, the Taiwan lobbyand you even were, as I understand it, you began the negotiations almost secretly.



CARTER: Well we did, and I got a labor leader to represent me because I wanted to be a tough negotiator. And a lot of people at the State Department were against it. So we never sent a dispatch to our representatives in China from the State Department. All of it went from the White House to China and back to the White House, we just bypassed it.



VAN SUSTEREN: And no one knew?



CARTER: No one knew. And of course the Secretary of State knew, Dr. Brzezinski knew and a few of us. But it was very close to held secret. And the big altercation was about what to do with Taiwan. Because after Nixon went to China in 1972 and had a so-called Shanghai CommuniquA, it was declared that there was just one China. He refused to say which side, and we continued to say that Taiwan was the only China. And President Ford did the same thing. And I was determined to change that.



VAN SUSTEREN: What was the reaction after the normalization was January 1, 1979, and a few months later of course, you signed the Taiwan Relations Act, which protected Taiwanbut after you signed, after the relations were normalized, did Taiwan contact you?



CARTER: Very negatively. My Deputy Secretary of State went over to China, I mean Taiwan, and he was physically attacked on the street by irate Taiwanese. But I think the Taiwan Act that we got through the House and the Senate of the United States successfully, as you said, protected the interest of Taiwan, it protected the interest of the United States. And we had a provision in the treaty between the United States and Taiwan to warrant, to allow for a one year notice. So I gave Taiwan the notice that a year from then we would have null relationships with China and not Taiwan. And so we continued our commercial relationships. Another promise we made that we made who were not soyou know, offensive weapons to Taiwan with the potential of attacking China from Taiwanthats been, well, I adhere to that commitment completely, but some of the most successes in office, I wont say which ones, maybe departed a bit from that.



VAN SUSTEREN: What was Deng Xiaoping like?



CARTER: I think the secret to the quick acceptance of it through Chinese  U.S. relationship by the American public was due entirely to the character and the good humor and the down-to-earth nature of Deng Xiaoping. He was an instant hit with people in Washington, D.C. and the rest of the world through news media. He wore a cowboy hat in Texas, he visited Atlanta by my request. And so I think that was his personal characteristic of good nature, down-to-earth, honest guy who came across the American public as Ok, China must be alright instead of evil people like we thought before.



VAN SUSTEREN: What was the Soviet Union, what was their response? Because as they see that you and Deng Xiaoping are friends and weve had normalized relations, what about the Soviet Union?



CARTER: They were quite irate and attacked us through diplomatic means who complained quite bitterly and said that we were lining that, that the United States and China would gang up against the Soviet Union. But I finally calmed them down including Brezhnev, who was the president of the Soviet Union. And we got along fairly well with both of the previous adversaries after that.



VAN SUSTEREN: So fast forward to now. I mean you changed the whole course of history in terms of normalization relations. Now we have the China, which has footprints all over the world with its Silk Road initiative. Its got trade all over the world, its in our backyard, in Nicaragua, its building a military base, perhaps, in the South China Sea. I mean, what do you think of China now?



CARTER: Well what Deng Xiaoping promised the Chinese people, the world and United States and me, personally, was openness and reform. And they have had tremendous reform within China. There was zero free enterprise in China before that. And after that, China has become a very dynamic, open society as far as commerce and trade is concerned. And they have several billionaires now theyve made a profit whereas before 79, no profit was permitted by anybody in China. When I visited China the year after we normalized relations, it was completely impossible for a person to move from a small village to a big city and vice versa without getting personal approval from a communist party. Thats all been done away with. Before normalization, there was zero Christianity in China, either Protestantism or Catholicism. And Deng Xiaoping, at my personal request, passed a law of complete equality of worship.



VAN SUSTEREN: No bibles though!



CARTER: And he, there were no bibles before that but now the number one producer of bibles in the world is a Chinese company that prints bibles and they are free to distribute in China. The one thing I asked him for was missionaries to be permitted back in China like they were before we broke up with China and he said no to that because he didnt want missionaries to come in and do what he claimed they did early on and that was to be superior to the Chinese people and change the Chinese culture. So he said no to missionaries, but my other two requests: bibles freely distributed and freedom of religion, he passed that.



VAN SUSTEREN: So how do you reconcile today, I mean lets take for instance the Uyghurs. Some say its ethnic cleansing. Theyre put in reeducation camps and they dont have the religious freedoms. So how do you reconcile that?



CARTER: Well although China has made great progress in human rights, as Ive just mentioned, with the Uyghurs, thats a very sad light I think on the world picture of equal treatment for people. And theres still some problems in China, which theyre trying to overcome. China has not had a war since 1979 and weve spent trillions and trillions of dollars on our own wars in Iraq and so forth. So I would say theyve done a tremendous job in their own country not only in building up their infrastructure to an admirable state of quality, but theyve also almost completely eliminated extreme poverty in China. And I think in a year or two Xi Jinping, the president, is going to announce that theyve ended poverty for all Chinese people which is a wonderful achievement. So I think theyve spent their tremendous financial resources very wisely whereas weve spent much of our financial resources on unnecessary wars.



VAN SUSTEREN: Alright well you bring up finances. The current president of the United States has a trade war, he has tariffs on China. I take it that would not be the Carter diplomacy with China?



CARTER: No it wouldnt.



VAN SUSTEREN: I thought so.



CARTER: And I think since the summit meeting that weve had in Argentina, I think weve made some progress. China has agreed to do two or three things. One is to buy more soybeans. And I think theyve made two purchases of a major size of American soybeans. Theyve also promised to open up investment opportunities about American corporations in China on things like intellectual rights and copyrights to cover that. Im not sure what progress theyve made but theyve made some progress. And my hope is that the trade talks will improve the economies in both China and the United States. When we dont get along with China, it hurts both of usnot just China, but also it hurts the United States economically.



VAN SUSTEREN: Are you optimistic about the relationship between the United States and China? Are we headed in a good direction?



CARTER: I think in the long term, the American people will see that getting along with China is the key to our own prosperity and our own peaceful life, and our own good life. And I think we have a temporary setback under President Trump but I cant predict what the next president will do. But Ill continue to use my influence, and the influence of the Carter Center to see that we treat China with respect with problems with China in an open fashion and be honest with both sides. And I think the Chinese are very likely to do the same.



VAN SUSTEREN: Okay, how many times have you been to China?

CARTER: Well before I had my cancer scare a few years ago, I was going to China almost every year. But I dont know how many times Ive been



VAN SUSTEREN: Do you love China? I mean because you travel there so much.



CARTER: I do. The first time I went to China, I was on the submarine in 1949, probably before you were born.



VAN SUSTEREN: Not much before I was born but a little bit.



CARTER: Not much before you were born, but anyway. It was right after that the Peoples Republic of China was formed and the communists took over. And so it happened to be on my birthday, which Deng Xiaoping thought was significant, October 1, 1949. I was 25 years old. So Im 25 years older than the Peoples Republic of China. I had a long time interest in China.



VAN SUSTEREN: Well its fascinating to watch China because as China is doing all these business deals all over the world, and some call it debt-diplomacy.



CARTER: That was part of Deng Xiaopings openinghe was going to reform inside China. And in the so-called isolation of China, in dealing with the outside world. And I think now, we are seeing it diplomatically, and with trade and investments, and also benevolent causes. China has reached out as much as possible to have good relationships with countries all over the world. Which they avoided for a long time before 1979.



VAN SUSTEREN: Mr. President, it was nice to talk to you. And of course, it was particularly fascinating because this is such a monumental time in history, you know, of the normalization of relations. Because even in my time, when I was growing up, it seemed impossible.



CARTER: Well it seemed impossible to a lot of people. And it had to be done, as I said earlier in the interview, very secretly because we had a lot of people opposed to it. The Republican Party was opposed to it. A lot of business interests that were dealing with Taiwan were opposed to it. And many people in the State Department were opposed to it. And so I just had to do it and I was successful in doing it. And because of Deng XiaopingsI would say generosity and his openness and his attractiveness, as a human being, it was accepted ok by the American people.



VAN SUSTEREN: Thank you, sir, nice to see you. Its great to see you.



CARTER: My pleasure. Thank you, Greta. Best wishes to you.



VAN SUSTEREN: Same to you.
QUITO - Venezuela's government is sponsoring flights to transport migrants living in Ecuador back home, a Venezuelan official said on Tuesday, after the murder of an Ecuadorean woman by a Venezuelan man triggered tighter controls and acts of violence.

The Saturday night killing in the northern city of Ibarra and the ensuing attacks on Venezuelans marked an escalation in migration-related tensions in Ecuador, which like other South American countries has received thousands of the nearly 3 million Venezuelans who have fled economic collapse since 2015.

"Many of the Venezuelans in Ibarra want to go back," said Pedro Sassone, the charge d'affaires at Venezuela's embassy in Ecuador, who said five commercial flights were planned this week to take migrants back. "Venezuelans in Ibarra are being fired from their jobs  that is xenophobia, that is discrimination."

'Return to Fatherland'

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro's government has for months been promoting a 'Return to the Fatherland' program to bring migrants from around the region back to Venezuela.

Venezuelan officials have also argued that emigration statistics are exaggerated to justify intervention by foreign powers.

Sassone said he expected 400 Venezuelan migrants to return from Ecuador, including 40 from Ibarra. A total of 250,000 Venezuelans live in Ecuador, of whom 42 percent have valid work visas, government statistics show.

In response to the murder, Ecuador announced it would begin demanding that Venezuelans seeking entry should present their criminal records at the border, while President Lenin Moreno said he would create "units" to check Venezuelans' legal status "in the streets, in the workplace, and at the border."

Attacks and threats

Representatives of the Andean country's Venezuelan community said migrants had suffered attacks and threats in the wake of the incident and Moreno's comments. Ecuadorean officials have called on their citizens not to make generalizations about migrants and to refrain from acts of violence.

"This past week has been worse than ever  they look at you badly on the street, you are scared to go outside," said Angelys Lopez, 17, who has worked as a street vendor in Quito for three years but is now hoping for a spot on a plane back to Caracas.

"I am scared to stay in Ecuador  that is why I am returning to my country."
WASHINGTON - While President Donald Trump resolutely demanded wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border, Democratic lawmakers rejected a White House proposal with wall funding and temporary immigration provisions that would end a partial government shutdown now in its second month.

"Without a Wall our Country can never have Border or National Security," Trump tweeted Tuesday.

Without a Wall our Country can never have Border or National Security. With a powerful Wall or Steel Barrier, Crime Rates (and Drugs) will go substantially down all over the U.S. The Dems know this but want to play political games. Must finally be done correctly. No Cave!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

At the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, promised votes Thursday on Trump's proposals, contained in a 1,200-page bill unveiled by Republicans.

The Senate will also vote on a Democratic proposal for stopgap federal funding through Feb. 8. Both bills would require bipartisan support to pass.

FILE - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the chamber after speaking about his plan to move a 1,300-page spending measure, which includes $5.7 billion to fund President Donald Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Jan. 22, 2019. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the chamber after speaking about his plan to move a 1,300-page spending measure, which includes $5.7 billion to fund President Donald Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Jan. 22, 2019.

"The opportunity to end all this is staring us right in the face," McConnell said, describing the bill as "the only proposal, the only one currently before us that can be signed by the president and immediately reopen the government."

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida called for a compromise.

"This shutdown will tragically continue until there's another side willing to negotiate," he said. "It requires both sides to compromise. ... The president has taken the first step."

Democrats, who can block most legislation in the Senate, heaped scorn on the proposal, noting it would only temporarily suspend the threat of deportation for a fraction of immigrants brought illegally to America as children  a group placed at risk by Trump's own executive orders.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., spea Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at an event with furloughed federal workers and union leaders as they discuss the impact on families during the partial government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2019. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at an event with furloughed federal workers and union leaders as they discuss the impact on families during the partial government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2019.

"The president's proposal is one-sided, harshly partisan, and was made in bad faith," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. "Now offering some temporary protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise, it's more hostage-taking  like bargaining for stolen goods."

Even if the White House package cleared the Senate, it would be dead on arrival at the Democratic-led House of Representatives, said Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who called it "a nonstarter" and promised House votes on border security bills that do not include wall funding.

McConnell cautioned Democrats against a rush to judgment on the Senate Republican bill.

"To reject this proposal, Democrats would have to prioritize political combat with the president ahead of federal workers, ahead of DACA recipients, ahead of border security, and ahead of stable and predictable government funding. Is that really a price that Democrats want to pay to prolong this episode?" he said.

While the Republican bill appears unlikely to become law, it could be a starting point for further negotiations and deliberations, said one Democrat.

FILE - Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, center, speaks t FILE - Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, center, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 7, 2017. FILE - Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, center, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 7, 2017.

"I do believe it is a proposal that deserves to be treated seriously," Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said, adding that the bill should go through committee and be subject to amendments by senators of both parties in order to attract bipartisan support.

"These are issues we could debate. These are issues where amendments could be offered and we could find, I believe, a compromise," Kaine said. "We ought to have that discussion and offer Democrats and Republicans the ability to take some sandpaper to it and try to make it better."

Shutdown

The shutdown has furloughed 800,000 government employees, with at least 420,000 forced to continue working without pay and the remainder sent home, some of whom have been forced to look for temporary work elsewhere to help pay their household bills. All are set to miss their second biweekly paycheck on Friday.

Some government services have been curtailed, as about 10 percent of airport security agents ordered to work have instead called in sick, some food inspections have been cut back, and museums and parks are closed. Federal courts could run out of money by Friday.

In this Oct. 9, 2018 photo, police office guards t In this Oct. 9, 2018 photo, police office guards the main entrance to the Supreme Court in Washington. In this Oct. 9, 2018 photo, police office guards the main entrance to the Supreme Court in Washington.

Ruling on DACA

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt the Trump administration a setback. The court ruled it would not immediately act on an administration request to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program started by former President Barack Obama that protects nearly 700,000 so-called "Dreamers" from deportation.

Various proposals to end the stalemate between Trump and Democrats opposed to his wall along part of the 3,200-kilometer border with Mexico have gone nowhere. Democrats have demanded that he reopen the government and then negotiate border security measures, but Trump has refused.

Republican proposal

The Senate Republican proposal includes $5.7 billion for Trump's wall, a favorite pledge of his during his successful 2016 run for the White House, although he has abandoned his claim that Mexico would pay directly for it and now is seeking U.S. taxpayer funding. He says the border barrier is needed to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents watch as Pre U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents watch as President Donald Trump visits the banks of the Rio Grande River in Mission, Texas, Jan. 10, 2019. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents watch as President Donald Trump visits the banks of the Rio Grande River in Mission, Texas, Jan. 10, 2019.

The Republican plan would add 750 Border Patrol agents and 375 customs officers, as well as technology upgrades at ports of entry.

It also would boost funding for immigration enforcement, including adding 2,000 law enforcement, support and legal personnel, and thousands of vehicles.

Rules for children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras seeking asylum would become stricter. The proposal calls for those minors to apply for asylum at one of several processing centers to be set up in Central America.

Republicans say the changes would reduce the incentives for people to make the dangerous trip to seek asylum at the U.S. border.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has passed several bills aimed at reopening the government, but McConnell has refused to put them up for a vote in the chamber because Trump does not support them. House Democrats are promising to vote for more border security measures this week, but none that includes money for Trump's wall.

Michael Bowman on Capitol Hill and Steve Herman at the White House contributed to this report.
GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency says thousands of Nigerian refugees are fleeing to Chad to escape a surge of violence in northeastern Nigerias Borno state.

Fierce clashes between government forces and armed militants from the radical Islamic group Boko Haram erupted in late December in Borno states Baga town, near the Chadian border. The U.N. refugee agency reports an estimated 6,000 Nigerian refugees have fled for their lives over the past month, many paddling across Lake Chad to reach safety.

Baga, Borno state, Nigeria

The UNHCR says most of the new arrivals are women and children. Many describe their desperation to escape the violence after receiving threats of retaliation and intimidation following militant attacks.

UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley says Chadian authorities have asked his agency to move the refugees away from the border area because of security concerns. He tells VOA UNHCR staff so far has moved some 4,200 refugees to an existing camp some 45 kilometers away.

At the moment, we do not have any indications that the fighting has spilled out across the border. But as I mentioned, the fighting in Borno state remains extremely volatile and as a precautionary measure it was decided to bring them further inland in order to provide them with their needs and assure their safety, he said.

Yaxley says the UNHCR is racing against time to provide shelter and other aid to those arriving. He says new arrivals are staying in shelters where they are receiving relief items, including blankets, mats and mosquito nets, as well as hot meals.

UNHCR Calls on Cameroon to Halt Forcible Returns of Nigerian Refugees The UN refugee agency says it is shocked by reports that Cameroonian authorities have forcibly returned some 9,000 Nigerian refugees who fled across the border earlier in the week in search of safety from militant attacks. The sudden mass exodus of thousands of Nigerian refugees into Cameroon followed attacks by Boko Haram militants in the small border town of Rann in Nigeria's Borno State on Monday.The militants reportedly targeted military installations, civilian and humanitarian facilities. The UN refugee agency says it is shocked by reports that Cameroonian authorities have forcibly returned some 9,000 Nigerian refugees who fled across the border earlier in the week in search of safety from militant attacks. The sudden mass exodus of thousands of Nigerian refugees into Cameroon followed attacks by Boko Haram militants in the small border town of Rann in Nigeria's Borno State on Monday.The militants reportedly targeted military installations, civilian and humanitarian facilities.

Last week, the government of Cameroon forcibly deported some 9,000 Nigerian refugees who had fled fighting in Borno state. Yaxley says the UNHCR is following up on their fate. He acknowledges, however, it is difficult to get good information about their whereabouts and condition since insecurity restricts access to the area.



Boko Haram seeks to destroy Nigerias secular state and establish an Islamic State under Shariah.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was in Qatar Wednesday to discuss aid for his embattled nation as the United States expressed concern over death, injuries and arrests of Sudanese citizens over four weeks of protests challenging Bashir's government.

Bashir met with ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, where the Qatar News Agency reported they discussed various topics including the war-torn western Sudan region of Darfur.

Meanwhile in Khartoum, Sudan's oil minister announced the country has accepted offers of aid from the UAE, Russia and Turkey.

Oil Minister Azhari Abdel Qader announced that his country "accepted it as a normal matter between friendly countries in light of the current circumstances that Sudan is going through." He did not elaborate on how much aid was offered or when it would be delivered.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. State Department expressed concern over the increasing number of arrests and detentions in Sudan after four weeks of anti-government protests.

In a statement, a spokesman said the United States "supports the right of the Sudanese people to gather peaceably to voice their demands for political and economic reform and a more peaceful and inclusive Sudan."

The statement added that the United States condemns the use of violence, including "the use of live fire, and the excessive use of tear gas" by the Sudanese security forces.

Sudanese demonstrators gather as they participate Sudanese demonstrators gather as they participate in anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan, Jan. 17, 2019. Sudanese demonstrators gather as they participate in anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan, Jan. 17, 2019.

It said a "new, more positive relationship between the United States and Sudan" requires "meaningful political reform and clear, sustained progress on respect for human rights."

In addition to prohibition of arbitrary detention and excessive force against protesters, it said the government must end its "harassment and intimidation" of journalists, activists, and medical personnel.

The State Department urged the release of those who have been arbitrarily detained and a credible and independent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters, as well as a "safe and secure environment" for public expression and dialogue.

The country has seen large-scale demonstrations since December 19, when the government raised bread prices. The protests have grown in scope, and many are calling for an end to Bashir's three-decade-long rule.

Bashir has tried to downplay the protests, maintaining that foreign "agents" and "infiltrators" are responsible for the dissent as well as the violence that has followed.



The government says about two dozen people have died during the protests, but rights groups put the number at 40. There have also been numerous injuries and reports that security forces fired tear gas and bullets inside a hospital as they pursued injured protesters.



More than 800 people have been arrested, including journalists, opposition leaders, protesters and civil society members.
South Korea says a Japanese military aircraft made a threatening low-altitude flight over one of its naval vessels Wednesday, describing it as a "provocative act."

General Suh Wook, the chief director of operations for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Seoul the Japanese patrol plane flew over a destroyer at an altitude of 60-70 meters in international waters off the southern South Korean island of Jeju.

General Suh said this was the third such incident this month involving a Japanese military aircraft flying near a South Korean warship. He warned that South Korea will respond accordingly based on the military's rules of conduct.

South Korea's Defense Ministry summoned a Japanese defense attache from its embassy in Seoul to lodge a formal protest.

Wednesday's incident is the latest chapter in a heated military dispute between two Asian neighbors since last month, when Tokyo claimed a South Korean destroyer locked its targeting radar on a Japanese surveillance plane in the Sea of Japan. Seoul accused the Japanese plane of flying too close to the destroyer, which was engaged in a rescue operation.

A South Korean naval warship is seen as it alleged A South Korean naval warship is seen as it allegedly locks its fire-control radar on a Japanese warplane, Dec. 21, 2018, in the disputed waters north of Japan. A South Korean naval warship is seen as it allegedly locks its fire-control radar on a Japanese warplane, Dec. 21, 2018, in the disputed waters north of Japan.

In Tokyo, Japanese Defense Minster Takeshi Iwaya denied South Korea's allegation, while Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it was essential the two sides maintain open communication.

Japan's brutal colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula between 1910-45 has left a bitter legacy among South Koreans, with hundreds of thousands subjected to numerous atrocities, including the so-called "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery in Japanese military brothels.

Tokyo is angered over recent decisions by South Korean courts ordering Japanese companies to compensate victims of Japan's forced labor policy, which Japan says was covered by the 1965 treaty that formally normalized bilateral ties between the two.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate is preparing for votes Thursday on separate Republican and Democratic proposals to end a partial government shutdown that is now in its second month.

A bill already passed by the Democrat-led House of Representatives would provide stopgap funding through February 8, allowing the shuttered agencies to reopen while the two sides debate border security. It does not contain money for President Donald Trump's desired wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Republican plan is based on a Trump proposal to spend $5.7 billion on the wall and provide temporary protections for some immigrants. The White House said Trump is scheduled to discuss his plan Wednesday with conservative leaders as well as state and local leaders.

"Without a Wall our Country can never have Border or National Security," Trump tweeted Tuesday. "With a powerful Wall or Steel Barrier, Crime Rates (and Drugs) will go substantially down all over the U.S. The Dems know this but want to play political games. Must finally be done correctly. No Cave!"

Without a Wall our Country can never have Border or National Security. With a powerful Wall or Steel Barrier, Crime Rates (and Drugs) will go substantially down all over the U.S. The Dems know this but want to play political games. Must finally be done correctly. No Cave!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who previously refused to bring up any bills that would not have Trump's support, urged lawmakers to vote in favor of the Republican proposal.

"The opportunity to end all this is staring us right in the face," McConnell said, describing the bill as "the only proposal, the only one currently before us that can be signed by the president and immediately reopen the government."

Democrats, who can block most legislation in the Senate, heaped scorn on the proposal, noting it would only temporarily suspend the threat of deportation for a fraction of immigrants brought illegally to America as children  a group placed at risk by Trump's own executive orders.

"The president's proposal is one-sided, harshly partisan, and was made in bad faith," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. "Now offering some temporary protections back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise, it's more hostage-takinglike bargaining for stolen goods."

"What the president proposed is granting what he had already taken away," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. "DACA recipients had their protections. The Temporary Protected Status, TPS, had their protection. The president took it away and now he's saying 'well I'll give you this back temporarily if you give me a wall permanently.' Open up government."

FILE -Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., FILE -Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., takes questions from reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019. FILE -Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., takes questions from reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019.

?Pelosi said there is "no excuse" for Senate Republicans to not support the bill that has already passed the House, noting they previously supported similar legislation.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida called for a compromise.

"This shutdown will tragically continue until there's another side willing to negotiate," he said. "It requires both sides to compromise. ... The president has taken the first step."

Even if the White House package cleared the Senate, it would be dead on arrival at the House. Pelosi has called it "a nonstarter" and promised House votes on border security bills that do not include wall funding.

McConnell cautioned Democrats against a rush to judgment on the Senate Republican bill.

"To reject this proposal, Democrats would have to prioritize political combat with the president ahead of federal workers, ahead of DACA recipients, ahead of border security, and ahead of stable and predictable government funding. Is that really a price that Democrats want to pay to prolong this episode?" he said.

While the Republican bill appears unlikely to become law, it could be a starting point for further negotiations and deliberations, said one Democrat.

FILE - Supporters of the Deferred Action for Child FILE - Supporters of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA chant slogans and carry signs while joining a Labor Day rally in downtown Los Angeles. FILE - Supporters of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA chant slogans and carry signs while joining a Labor Day rally in downtown Los Angeles.

?"I do believe it is a proposal that deserves to be treated seriously," Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said, adding that the bill should go through committee and be subject to amendments by senators of both parties in order to attract bipartisan support.

"These are issues we could debate. These are issues where amendments could be offered and we could find, I believe, a compromise," Kaine said. "We ought to have that discussion and offer Democrats and Republicans the ability to take some sandpaper to it and try to make it better."

The shutdown has furloughed 800,000 government employees, with at least 420,000 forced to continue working without pay and the remainder sent home, some of whom have been forced to look for temporary work elsewhere to help pay their household bills. All are set to miss their second biweekly paycheck on Friday.

WATCH: Shutdown continues

Some government services have been curtailed, as about 10 percent of airport security agents ordered to work have instead called in sick, some food inspections have been cut back, and museums and parks are closed. Federal courts could run out of money by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt the Trump administration a setback by saying it would not immediately act on an administration request to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program started by former President Barack Obama that protects nearly 700,000 so-called "Dreamers" from deportation.

Michael Bowman on Capitol Hill and Steve Herman at the White House contributed to this report.
Rwandans are mourning the deaths of 14 miners after a landslide Monday at a tin mining site in this hilly eastern area.

The country's mining board said recent heavy rains had saturated the red earth, triggering the tragedy. Survivors said they saw the ground shifting but could not save their workmates. The earth suddenly swallowed up seven men and seven women.

When he noticed cracks in the soil, John Ntanyungura set down his mining tools. "I managed to escape," he said, "but all my colleagues who were behind me perished."

The miners were digging for cassiterite, a tin oxide mineral used in producing electronics such as mobile phones and digital cameras.

The Ntunga open mining site is owned by Rwanda-based Piran Resources Ltd., a subsidiary of the British-based mining exploration and development company Pella Resources Ltd. Piran has a 25-year lease to mine at two concessions in eastern Rwanda, Reuters news agency reported.

Piran Resources has not commented on the accident.

Mourners place a cross on the grave of Uwiringiyim Mourners place a cross on the grave of Uwiringiyimana Gadi, 22, a victim of a collapsed mine, at the Ntunga public cemetery in Rwamagana, eastern Rwanda, on Jan. 22, 2019. Mourners place a cross on the grave of Uwiringiyimana Gadi, 22, a victim of a collapsed mine, at the Ntunga public cemetery in Rwamagana, eastern Rwanda, on Jan. 22, 2019.

Mine activities suspended

Francis Gatare, chief executive officer of the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RBM), said in a statement that the government has temporarily shuttered Piran's local operations during an investigation.

He also said the accident surprised the board because Piran is considered among the country's good mining operators.

Mbonyumuvunyi Rajab, mayor of Rwamagana district, said the whole country is mourning the Ntunga mine victims. He urged miners to be careful, and he pressed mining companies to respect the government regulations for mining safety.

"We are telling our citizens to remain strong because losing such a large number of people in this unexpected circumstances is not easy to bear," Rajab said.

"We are also reminding those diggers that they work in high-risk zones and they need to comply with safety conditions that are imposed on their companies. Sometimes, many of them enter holes without any protection, so they can easily die or meet with an accident," he said.

Dangerous work

Small-scale mining in Rwanda's hilly landscape has led to landslides and mine collapses. The Mining Board says 81 people died in 2018 in various mining accidents. Last October, eight people were killed and four wounded in a mine collapse in southern Rwanda's Muhanga district.

Last month, at another mining site in the south, five miners were trapped underground when the site collapsed. Soldiers and members of the public dug them out alive after nearly two days.

The government estimates that about 43,000 people are employed in the mining industry, Reuters said. Earnings from Rwanda's mineral exports more than doubled to $373 million in 2017, from $166 million a year before.

Eugene Uwimana reports for VOA's English to Africa Service.
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Wednesday to coordinate their moves in Syria as their governments bargain over zones of influence in the war-torn country.

The leaders share strong opposition to the U.S. military presence in Syria, seeing it as an obstacle to their clout in the country. The Kremlin meeting marked their first encounter since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the pullout of American troops in a Dec. 19 tweet.

"If such plans are implemented, it will mark a positive move that would help stabilize the situation," Putin said about the planned U.S. withdrawal.

Putin emphasized Moscow's readiness to respect Turkey's interests, but encouraged it to talk to the Syrian government to help stabilize the border areas.

Turkey has pushed for the creation of a 32-kilometer (20-mile) "safe zone" in northeastern Syria to ensure that the Syrian Kurdish militia - The People's Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers to be a "terrorist group" for its ties to outlawed Kurdish rebels inside Turkey - is kept away from the Turkish border.

Fighters of People's Protection Units, or YPG, gat Fighters of People's Protection Units, or YPG, gather at their outpost west of the city of Kobani, northern Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. Fighters of People's Protection Units, or YPG, gather at their outpost west of the city of Kobani, northern Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018.

The YPG is the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces that rolled back the Islamic State group from wide parts of Syria with the help of the U.S.-led coalition.

"It is of critical importance that a power vacuum that can be abused by terror groups does not emerge during the process of the U.S. withdrawal," Erdogan said.

The Turkish leader noted that the U.S. has given positive signals regarding the "safe zone" and added that "there is no problem between us and Russia" in creating it.

"I have stated that our only aim is our duty to clear (the region) of terror organizations such as the PYD and the YPG, and especially of Daesh," Erdogan said, referring to the Kurdish militia group's political arm and IS.

Putin, however, used the meeting to reaffirm Moscow's support of contacts between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the Kurds.

"Such dialogue will help consolidation of the Syrian society and the national reconciliation," Putin said. "It will be beneficial not only to Syria but its neighbors."

Russia says it expects Assad's government to take over Kurdish-held border regions east of the Euphrates River following the planned U.S. troop withdrawal from the area, which Turkey objects to.

Turkey fears any deal between the Syrian government and the YPG in the border area as well as in the strategic town of Manbij, under which the Kurdish militia would remain a threat to Turkey's security.

An image grab taken from AFP TV, Jan. 17, 2019, sh An image grab taken from AFP TV, Jan. 17, 2019, shows Russian army vehicles on patrol in the area of Arimah, just west of Manbij, the northern city near the Turkish border. An image grab taken from AFP TV, Jan. 17, 2019, shows Russian army vehicles on patrol in the area of Arimah, just west of Manbij, the northern city near the Turkish border.

Putin signaled Russia's willingness to accommodate Turkish security concerns, seeing strong ties with Turkey as an essential counterbalance to U.S. influence in the region.

"We respect the interests of our Turkish friends in ensuring security," Putin said.

But at the same time, he encouraged Turkey to use a 1998 treaty with Syria to help ensure border security.

Russia appears eager to sponsor Damascus' talks with the Kurds in the hope that it would extend the Syrian government's gains and further cement its hold on the country. The U.S. plan to withdraw has further bolstered Russia's role as the top power broker in Syria.

FILE - A convoy of US military vehicles is seen in FILE - A convoy of US military vehicles is seen in Syria's northern city of Manbij, Dec. 30, 2018. FILE - A convoy of US military vehicles is seen in Syria's northern city of Manbij, Dec. 30, 2018.

Syrian pro-government paper Al-Watan reported Tuesday that a Kurdish delegation arrived in Moscow a day before Erdogan. There was no independent confirmation yet from Kurdish officials.

Putin and Erdogan called each other "dear friend," hailing the close ties between their countries and their importance for regional security. They were accompanied by a retinue of security and military officials for detailed discussions on Syria.

Russia and Iran have helped Assad to win back control of most of the country, while Turkey has backed Assad's foes during the nearly eight-year conflict. Despite that, the three countries have teamed up to broker a peace deal for Syria, united by their shared desire to undercut the U.S. clout in the region.

The agreement is now tested by Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw from Syria, leaving Moscow, Ankara and Tehran jockeying for influence in the country.

Russian and Turkish interests also collide in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is packed with 3 million people, including many who were displaced from other parts of the country.

Last September, Putin and Erdogan struck a de-escalation deal on Idlib that averted the Syrian army offensive that sparked fears of a humanitarian catastrophe. The agreement created a security zone free of heavy weapons and monitored by Turkish troops to halt fighting.

FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, motor cycles In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, motor cycles ride past buildings destroyed during the fighting in the northern town of Ariha, in Idlib province, Syria. In this Sept. 20, 2018 photo, motor cycles ride past buildings destroyed during the fighting in the northern town of Ariha, in Idlib province, Syria.

Turkey is pushing for that deal to stay in place, fearing the Syrian government forces are trying to undermine the agreement.

Russia, in its turn, has urged Turkey to act more resolutely in reining in militants in Idlib who have launched attacks on Syrian government forces and the Russian military.

Putin praised Turkey for helping stabilize Idlib, but emphasized that more joint efforts are needed to combat militants.

"The cessation of hostilities mustn't hurt the fight against terrorism that should continue," the Russian leader said.

"Our fight against terror organizations in Idlib will continue jointly in the same way," Erdogan said.

Both leaders boasted of their effort to produce a list of candidates for a committee that would work out Syria's new constitution. Putin noted that its approval by the United Nations has been blocked by France, Germany and Britain, voicing hope that a compromise will be found.
Russell Baker, the genial, but sharp-witted writer who won Pulitzer Prizes for his humorous columns in The New York Times and a moving autobiography of his impoverished Baltimore childhood and later hosted television's Masterpiece Theatre, has died. He was 93.

Allen Baker told The Associated Press that his father died Monday from complications after a fall.

In his later years, Baker lived in Leesburg, Virginia, not far from the rural Loudoun County community where he was born. His family later moved to New Jersey and Baltimore.

FILE - New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize FILE - New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Russell Baker, is pictured at his office at the New York Times in New York, Oct. 17, 1983. FILE - New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Russell Baker, is pictured at his office at the New York Times in New York, Oct. 17, 1983.

Amiable and approachable, but also clear-eyed and street smart, Baker enjoyed a decades-long career as reporter, columnist, critic and on-air personality. He won Pulitzers in 1979 for the "Observer," the Times column he wrote for 35 years, and in 1983 for his autobiography Growing Up.

The Great Depression and World War II shaped Baker's early life. He began his career as a reporter in 1947 and rose to become a national New York Times reporter in Washington, D.C., in 1954.

He covered Congress, the military and State Department during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations before tiring, he would recall, of waiting for politicians to come out of meeting rooms and lie to him. He drew upon those experiences for his column, writing as a curious and wide-eyed outsider who could leave an adversary buried under the weight of common sense.

"On television we see President Reagan in a cave. It is the Mammoth Cave, one of America's great caves. The TV news reader says the President has come there to create 'a photo opportunity.' Here is President Reagan on television again. He is looking at a bald eagle. The President and the eagle are in the same room enjoying 'a photo opportunity,' according to the TV news voice," Baker wrote in 1984.

"His environmental policy has been characterized by a reluctance to do anything that would create difficulty for the business community. It is entirely possible to defend this position with persuasive argument. The President of the cave and the eagle, however, is not defending a sensibly thought-out policy; he is being used to deceive us into thinking that he is what he, in fact, is not."

Wide appeal

Baker didn't ask to be called a humorist. During a 1994 speech in Hartford, Connecticut, he said his goal for the "Observer" was to render the federal government, politics and diplomacy accessible through plain, easy-to-read language. It was to be more widely appealing than the "High-Church, polysyllabic" writing common in The New York Times.

"Well, as I soon discovered, in those days if you wrote short sentences and plain English in the Times, everybody naturally assumed you were being funny," he said in the speech.

Baker's targets included his own profession. "Those who expected me to have something to say had obviously never heard the classic definition of a newspaper man: 'A man with nothing on his mind and the power to express it,"' he said during the Hartford speech.

He wrote a second autobiography, The Good Times, to follow Growing Up. The first focused on his childhood, the second on his early journalistic career. Baker would eventually write, edit or contribute to more than 15 other books, collections and assorted works  including a musical play and children's book.

Early years

Baker was born in 1925 to stonemason Benjamin Baker and schoolteacher Lucy Elizabeth Baker. He married Miriam Emily Nash in 1950 and had three children: Kathleen, Allen and Michael.

Benjamin Baker died of untreated diabetes when his son was 5. Lucy Baker struggled through the Great Depression as a single mother living in Baltimore.

Russell Baker remembered his mother as a key influence driving him to succeed.

"She would make me make something of myself whether I wanted to or not," he wrote in Growing Up.

Baker served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1945 and was trained as a pilot during World War II. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1947 and began his journalism career that year as a police reporter with The Baltimore Sun. He became the newspaper's London bureau chief in 1953.

Baker took over as host of Masterpiece Theatre in 1993, succeeding Alistair Cooke, and remained until 2004. Baker's on-air commentary for public television focused on providing critical perspectives on featured works along with historical context. He also provided insights into the original authors' approaches and detailed liberties taken to adapt the literature for television.

He wrote long-form reviews and other articles for The New York Review of Books during his years following the Times. He told a reporter for the Times Union, located in Albany, New York, in 2002 that the assignments were more rewarding during his retirement than the "hyped-up" work of column writing, when "you're sweating it out worrying if they'll read past the second paragraph."

His final column ran on Christmas Day, 1998. An Associated Press story at the time described it as a quiet adieu.

"He apologized for talking about himself," the story read, "remembered warmly a pope, a couple of presidents and his Uncle Allen, and concluded he had said enough for the time being."
WASHINGTON - As the partial shutdown of the U.S. government goes into a second month, neither side can be sure about the long-term political fallout. Public opinion polls show more Americans blame President Donald Trump than opposition Democrats at the moment, and to some the standoff is already serving as a likely blueprint for the 2020 presidential election battle.

The longer the shutdown drags on, however, the more uncertainty there is about its eventual political impact.

"Trump is losing on this, Congress is losing on this, and then federal workers, who are without pay, are losing on this," said Jim Kessler of Third Way, a center-left public advocacy group in Washington.

Wall or bust

President Trump remains adamant about funding for a wall along the southern border, a key campaign promise from 2016. "I hope that Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi can come along and realize what everybody knows, and no matter who it is, they know that walls work, and we need walls," Trump told reporters last Saturday as he left the White House.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., spea Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at an event with furloughed federal workers and union leaders as they discuss the impact on families during the partial government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2019. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at an event with furloughed federal workers and union leaders as they discuss the impact on families during the partial government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2019.

For their part, Democrats remain firmly opposed to wall funding, including Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

"We want the symbol of America to remain the Statue of Liberty, freedom, equality, not a divisive wall. And we will fight for that. Fight for that we will."

On Thursday, the Senate will vote on competing proposals to end the shutdown, one from the White House and Republicans, the other from Democrats. As of now, neither proposal is expected to garner the 60 Senate votes necessary to pass, though some in both parties see the votes as a possible beginning step toward more serious negotiations.

Federal air traffic controller union members prote Federal air traffic controller union members protest the partial U.S. federal government shutdown at a rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 10, 2019. Federal air traffic controller union members protest the partial U.S. federal government shutdown at a rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 10, 2019.

Workers hurting

In the meantime, those who remain caught in the middle are government workers who are either on furlough or working without pay.

"FBI agents should not have to go work at a store stocking shelves because they can't feed their families on their government job," said Tom O'Connor, president of the FBI Agents Association."

A similar sentiment was expressed by Transportation Security Administration screener Neal Gosman at a news conference in Minnesota.

"We, the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol and other folks that make this country safe and secure, we don't get that much money; but, we should be paid for it," Gosman told reporters.

FILE - People protest the partial government shutd FILE - People protest the partial government shutdown in downtown Denver, Colorado, Jan. 10, 2019. Some federal workers are taking second jobs to stay afloat. FILE - People protest the partial government shutdown in downtown Denver, Colorado, Jan. 10, 2019. Some federal workers are taking second jobs to stay afloat.

Public weighs in

Several recent polls have put more of the blame for the shutdown on Trump, noted John Fortier of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

"Public opinion polls, I think, are more against the president than against the Democrats," said Fortier. "His numbers have suffered, but just a small amount. And so I think both sides feel their bases are committed to these differences in principle and that makes solving this much more difficult."

A new poll Wednesday from Morning Consult/POLITICO found that 54 percent blamed President Trump and congressional Republicans for the shutdown, while 35 percent blamed congressional Democrats.

The poll also found that the president's approval rating fell to 40 percent, with 57 percent disapproving. That is the highest share of voters in that poll showing disapproval since Trump's inauguration.

Overall, the president's approval rating has suffered during the shutdown, dropping from an average of around 43 percent last month to around 40 percent this year.

A new CBS poll also found that by a margin of 71 to 28 percent, voters believe that money for a border wall is not worth shutting down the government.

WATCH: Shutdown drags on

Both sides dig in

Given their standing in the polls, Democrats appear unified to defy the president, said Jim Kessler.

"Democrats are not really eager to fund a campaign promise of Donald Trump that he said Mexico was going to pay for, and so we are locked in a duel right now and somebody is going to have to blink or find a creative way out."

Many analysts believe Trump sees delivering on his promise of a wall as a key component of his re-election campaign for 2020.

"It is hard to see how it will end, but it is bound to end," said University of Virginia expert Larry Sabato via Skype. "And both sides will have to give something. Exactly what they will give is just a question mark right now."

The longer the shutdown impasse drags on, the more likely it could define divided government over the next two years as well as serving as a likely preview of next year's presidential campaign.
SEOUL - A report released on Monday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) about a previously undisclosed North Korean missile site may have caught some casual North Korean observers by surprise. But Nam Sung-wook, professor at Korea Unification, Diplomacy and Security at Korea University, said the Sino-ri facility was previously known to both the United States and South Korean intelligence services.

Last year the U.S. made a report about Sakkanmol and Sino-ri this January. Those are not fresh discoveries, he said.

Archived South Korean news reports dating back to 1998 acknowledge the Sino-ri site as a facility for Nodong missiles.

The CSIS report declared that one of 20 undeclared ballistic missile bases in North Korea serves as a missile headquarters facility and the Sino-ri missile operating base and the Nodong missiles deployed at this location fit into North Korea's presumed nuclear military strategy by providing an operational-level nuclear or conventional first strike capability.

Kim Dong-yub, the head of the Office of Research at the Institute for Far East Studies (IFES) at Kyungnam University, added, Although the North has not declared the site officially, it does not mean that it is new. No countries openly announce all the military bases.

Nam notes that the United States focuses on small details regarding denuclearization, like the dismantling of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to reduce the threat to the to the U.S. For [President] Trump, he can use this to boast about his achievement during the second summit, Nam said.

Implications for upcoming North Korean Summits

The CSIS report came days after the White House announced that U.S. President Donald Trump would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late February and that he "looks forward" to the denuclearization talks.

In its report, CSIS said the Sino-ri base was not previously declared by Pyongyang and "does not appear to be the subject of denuclearization negotiations."

Sino-ri missile base, North Korea Sino-ri missile base, North Korea Sino-ri missile base, North Korea

?Speaking to Reuters news agency, one of the reports authors, Victor Cha, said The North Koreans are not going to negotiate over things they don't disclose. It looks like they're playing a game.

Nam assesses Trumps focus on the talks with Kim is about eliminating threats, like ICBMs.

It is hard to achieve complete denuclearization, so including dismantling ready-made weapons from the past, which arouse the strong opposition remains the focus on the present and the future talks. These include ICBMs and missile test sites, said Nam.

He added that Seoul does not regard the Sino-ri facility as one that imposes a direct threat to South Korea, citing the September 19 Pyongyang Declaration and its efforts to de-escalate tension on the peninsula.

Kim Dong-yub said the CSIS report focuses too much on a connection between the missile facilities and denuclearization.

The North already announced denuclearization and they took some steps, although some require verification, said Kim, So it is not proper to judge their willingness by their possessions of military bases.

Kim said some groups opposing talks with North Korea and may try to leverage the news to press Pyongyang for more concessions, but he says the upcoming talks between the United States and North Korea should not include these types of missile facilities, for if they do, they could detract from progress on denuclearization.

In an email to VOA, Bruce Klinger, senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, wrote, During a second summit, Trump must insist on tangible steps toward North Korean denuclearization, including a data declaration of the regimes nuclear and missile programs. Trump shouldnt offer more concessions nor agree to reduce U.N. and U.S. sanctions until Kim moves beyond the symbolic gestures it has taken so far.

The White House has not commented on the CSIS report and neither Washington nor Pyongyang has yet to officially announce the date or location of the second U.S. - North Korean summit, although some speculate it may take place in Vietnam.

In addition, local media reports in South Korea have indicated the Moon administration may attempt to host Kim in Seoul during the 100th anniversary of the March 1 independence movement.
LONDON - A diplomatic spat between Italy and France over migration to Europe is a likely forerunner of coming political battles in the run-up to European Parliament elections, according to analysts.

Paris summoned the Italian ambassador this week after Italys Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused France of "impoverishing African countries."

If today we still have people leaving Africa, it is due to several European countries, first of all France, that didn't finish colonizing Africa, Di Maio told reporters Sunday.

The European Union should sanction all those countries, like France, that are impoverishing African countries and obliging those people to leave. The place for African people is Africa and not at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea," he added. "If we want to stem the departures (of migrants), let's start addressing this issue, let's start coping with it also within the United Nations, not only at the European Union level. Italy has to make itself heard.

Di Maio said France was manipulating the economies of 14 African countries that use the CFA franc, a currency underwritten by the French Treasury and pegged to the Euro.

Italy Deputy Prime Minister and Labour, Industry M Italy Deputy Prime Minister and Labour, Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio gestures during a press conference, Nov. 9, 2018, in Rome. Italy Deputy Prime Minister and Labour, Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio gestures during a press conference, Nov. 9, 2018, in Rome.

?Analyst Luigi Scazzieri of the Center For European Reform says while there is opposition to the CFA franc in some African countries, Di Maios accusations are misleading.

Now theres two reasons for that. One of them being that at the moment the latest data suggests they (migrants) are not from countries using the CFA franc. And the second point is that in any case, if countries remain poor, migration is actually lower, Scazzieri told VOA.

The latest EU figures show that many African migrants to Europe come from former Italian colonies, such as Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Franco-Italian dispute follows the drowning of hundreds of migrants off Libya in recent days. The deaths have renewed the focus on Italys decision to end search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean  and on the European Unions failure to agree a system to share quotas of refugees, analyst Scazzieri said.

Italy (is) wanting France to take migrants who arrive on its shores, or at least part of them. And also disagreements over how to handle Libya, with Italy and France backing different sides in the Libyan civil war," he said.

WATCH: European migrant crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron has not responded directly to the Italian accusations. He has sought to renew EU political momentum with a new Franco-German treaty, signed Tuesday in the border town of Aachen.

"The eurosceptics, nationalists, benefit from the fear in Europe's people, and they say: 'The answer on your fears is nationalism,' and we don't believe this, Macron said in a speech to mark the signing of the treaty.

The dispute is a taste of whats to come as populist forces like Italys 5-Star Movement and the League join battle with pro-Europeans.

This contraposition has been created whereby Italy is the populists and Macron is the Europeanists. And it suits both sides in a sense to have each other as the bogeyman. Of course this is especially important in light of the upcoming European Parliament elections, Scazzieri said.

The battle lines are being drawn for what is set to be a bitter election campaign  with migration at the heart of the debate over Europes future.
DAKAR - Felix Tshisekedi has emerged from his father's shadow to become Congo's next president. For decades that post eluded his father, the venerated opposition politician, Etienne, whose death in 2017 helped catapult his son into the limelight.

The passage of power from father to son is a familiar story in Congo, where President Joseph Kabila took office at age 29 after the assassination of his father, Laurent, in 2001. He stayed on two years beyond his mandate amid delayed elections that finally took place on Dec. 30.



Now Tshisekedi, 55, is taking over after a disputed vote, with his inauguration on Thursday marking troubled Congo's first democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960 from Belgium.



Many Congolese say his surprise victory is one the largely untested opposition leader did not earn.



Tshisekedi Declared Congos President, but Runner-Up Revolts Congos election crisis deepened early Sunday when the Constitutional Court confirmed the win of Felix Tshisekedi, rejecting claims of fraud, and runner-up Martin Fayulu promptly declared himself the countrys only legitimate president.Fayulus supporters have alleged an extraordinary backroom deal by outgoing President Joseph Kabila to rig the vote in favor of the opposition after the ruling partys candidate did so poorly that a Plan B was needed. Congos election crisis deepened early Sunday when the Constitutional Court confirmed the win of Felix Tshisekedi, rejecting claims of fraud, and runner-up Martin Fayulu promptly declared himself the countrys only legitimate president.Fayulus supporters have alleged an extraordinary backroom deal by outgoing President Joseph Kabila to rig the vote in favor of the opposition after the ruling partys candidate did so poorly that a Plan B was needed.

Runner-up Martin Fayulu on Sunday lost a court challenge to election results despite presenting leaked data from Congo's electoral commission showing he easily won. Fayulu has declared himself the only legitimate president, but Congolese largely have not heeded his call for peaceful protests.



Fayulu and his supporters have accused Kabila of making a backroom deal with Tshisekedi when the ruling party's candidate did poorly in the vote. Fayulu, an opposition lawmaker and businessman who is outspoken about cleaning up Congo's sprawling corruption, has been seen by some as a bigger threat to Kabila and his allies.



Tshisekedi "was somebody who would compromise and somebody they felt they could work with because he wasn't saying he would launch an investigation into Kabila," said Andrew Edward Tchie, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

DR Congo President Has Officially Won, But Can he Govern? By all official measures, Felix Tshisekedi has won the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The nations highest court certified his win over the weekend, invalidating the claim by challenger Martin Fayulu. By all official measures, Felix Tshisekedi has won the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The nations highest court certified his win over the weekend, invalidating the claim by challenger Martin Fayulu.



His presidency will essentially be "a continuation of the regime," Tchie said. Even if Fayulu had been declared the winner "it would have been the same thing," given that Kabila's ruling coalition won a majority of the National Assembly.



Tshisekedi, who was largely quiet after the election, has not addressed the allegation of a secret deal. He told supporters after the court's declaration of his victory that "the Congo that we are going to form will not be a Congo of division, hatred or tribalism. It will be a reconciled Congo, a strong Congo that will be focused on development, peace and security."



Nobody thought the electoral process would be peaceful, Tshisekedi has said, and no one thought an opposition candidate would win.



After division among African leaders over the disputed vote, some have congratulated Tshisekedi and urged Congolese to move on in the interest of stability after decades of rebel-led turmoil that have left millions dead.



Until his surprise victory, Tshisekedi's most notable political act had been briefly supporting Fayulu as the candidate of an opposition coalition last year but then breaking away within a day to pursue the presidency himself.



Tshisekedi, the father of five, quietly built his career in the shadow of his father, taking over Congo's most prominent opposition party only a year after his death.



He had been named the Union for Democracy and Social Progress party's national secretary in 2008, and was elected a national deputy in 2011 to the city of Mbujimayi in Kasai Oriental province. He later won a National Assembly seat and in 2016 became the party's vice secretary.



Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, leader of the Cong Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections, celebrate in the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Supporters of Felix Tshisekedi, who was announced as the winner of the presidential elections, celebrate in the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The party's supporters are nicknamed "the fighters" for their outspoken following. When they speak of Tshisekedi or the UDPS, there is usually mention of his charismatic father.



"Etienne left us the agreement [for Kabila to leave], now Felix is going to be president,'' said one supporter, Jean-Baptiste Lay.



Etienne Tshisekedi's death came at a fragile moment for Congo. He was deeply involved in efforts to persuade Kabila to agree to step down amid sometimes deadly protests over the election delay.



The 84-year-old had formed the country's first opposition party in 1982 against the longtime dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko and briefly served several times as prime minister.



Tshisekedi went into exile in 2000 after clashes with Kabila's father, who took power after Mobutu's ouster. He made a triumphant return in 2003 as Joseph Kabila was early in his rule. He lost to Kabila in the 2011 presidential election amid allegations of vote-rigging and declared himself president in protest.



When he died in Belgium, Kabila's government was so wary of the impact on people the return of his body to Congo could cause that until now they have blocked it from coming home.



Felix Tshisekedi, the only one of six sons to enter politics, doesn't have his father's fire, some observers have said. Questions remain about his abilities and qualifications. Some Belgian media have questioned the veracity of his diploma, but Congolese law says a candidate can either submit a diploma or serve a certain amount of time as a politician to qualify to run for president.



As Congo's incoming leader inherits the troubled country, he will look to his father's legacy. One of his first things Tshisekedi will do once sworn in, a spokesman said, is finally allow his father's body to come home for burial.
House Democrats are putting forward a new proposal to end the government shutdown, aiming to lure President Donald Trump away from his demand for a border wall by offering billions of new dollars for other border security measures.

The offer is a possible path toward a compromise even though it does not have money for his wall.

The Democratic proposal is expected to go beyond the $1.6 billion the White House initially requested from Congress for border security, before Trump demanded $5.7 billion for his long-promised wall. The proposal is still being drafted.

The White House signaled earlier that it was open to counteroffers to Trump's recent proposals.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic caucus, told reporters after the party's morning caucus meeting that Democrats are willing to boost personnel, technology and other enhancements at the border.

"House Democrats, like the American people, support 21st Century border security," Jeffries said. But Democrats remain opposed to what Jeffries called "a medieval border wall. That is a 5th Century solution to a 21st Century problem."

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks at a news con FILE - Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 16, 2018. FILE - Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 16, 2018.

The potential new offer from Democrats comes during severe disruptions in some federal services as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history stretches into a second month and 800,000 federal workers are scheduled to miss another paycheck Friday.

Trump has proposed having Congress fund his $5.7 billion demand for a border wall with Mexico in exchange for temporary deportation relief for some immigrants, including young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally with their parents. Their legal status is now at risk because Trump is seeking to end the program that protects them.

A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said Trump would be willing to go along with permanent legal status for those young immigrants, but probably not a path to citizenship.

Dueling proposals

The Senate this week is set to vote on dueling proposals  a Republican one that would give Trump money for the wall and one from Democrats that would re-open government through Feb. 8, with no wall money, giving bargainers time to talk about it.

Both proposals are likely to fail to reach the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.

But the votes are forcing a political reckoning for senators: side with Trump or vote to end the shutdown temporarily and keep negotiating.

Democrats dismissed Trump's plan, which included temporary protections for the young immigrants but also harsh new curbs on Central Americans seeking safe haven in the U.S.

FILE - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K FILE - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the chamber after speaking about his plan to move a 1,300-page spending measure, which includes $5.7 billion to fund President Donald Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Jan. 22, 2019. FILE - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves the chamber after speaking about his plan to move a 1,300-page spending measure, which includes $5.7 billion to fund President Donald Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Jan. 22, 2019.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the GOP plan's immigration proposals were "even more radical" than their past positions.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Democrats of preferring "political combat with the president" to resolving the partial federal shutdown, which stretched into its 33rd day Wednesday.

Judges, border control, technology

With their new proposal, House Democrats are not wading into a broader immigration debate, but are focused on appropriations to pay for border security in different ways, said a senior Democratic aide who was unauthorized to discuss ongoing talks.

Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina suggested the price tag of the new plan could reach the $5.7 billion Trump wants on border security  but it would be spent differently.

"More judges, more border control, additional technology  these are the kinds of things that we are going to be putting forward, and I think can be done using the figure that the president has put on the table," Clyburn said.

FILE - Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., arrives at the Ca FILE - Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., arrives at the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 28, 2018. FILE - Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., arrives at the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 28, 2018.

The aide, however, said the money would not reach that level.

On Wednesday, the Democratic-controlled House will vote on more legislation to reopen the government in line with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's demand to end the shutdown before negotiations begin. Pelosi has shown no sign of yielding and Democrats hold the upper hand in public opinion  polls suggest Trump gets most of the blame for the shutdown.

Testing resolve

In the Senate, the coming votes represent the first test of Senate Republicans' resolve behind Trump's insistence that agencies remain closed until Congress approves $5.7 billion to build a wall on the Mexican border. For Democrats, the votes will show whether there are any cracks in their so-far unified rejection of Trump's demand.

The White House views its latest offer as a test of whether Democratic leaders can hold their members together in opposition, said a person familiar with White House thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. The administration also wants to show it is willing to negotiate, hoping it will push more blame onto Democrats, who are opposing negotiations until the government reopens.

One freshman, Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, a state that's home to many federal workers, was circulating a draft letter Tuesday urging Pelosi to propose a deal that would reopen the government, then consider border security legislation  including holding votes on Trump's demand for wall money  by the end of February. A similar effort was under way last week by a bipartisan group of senators.

The Republican bill largely reflects the proposal Trump described to the nation in a brief address Saturday. It would reopen federal agencies, revamp immigration laws and provide $5.7 billion to start building his prized border wall with Mexico  a project Democrats consider an ineffective, wasteful monument to a ridiculous Trump campaign promise.

The measure would provide a three-year extension of protections against deportation for 700,000 people covered by the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Democrats want far more to be protected  in negotiations last year Trump proposed extending the safeguards to 1.8 million people, including many who'd not yet applied  and want the program's coverage to be permanent.

Trump initially tried terminating the Obama-era program, but the effort has been blocked by federal judges.
An Australian newspaper says a Chinese-Australian writer and dissident has been detained during a visit to his native country.

The Sydney Morning Herald says Yang Hengjun was detained by security agents at the airport in the southern China city of Guangzhou last Friday after arriving with his wife and her child after a flight from New York. The family was set to catch a connecting flight to Shanghai, but Yang was not allowed to continue.

Yang's friends reported his disappearance to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The department says it is "seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China," but will not provide any further details due to privacy obligations.

Yang is a former Chinese diplomat turned democracy activist and novelist. His detention in China occurs amid the detention of two Canadian nationals in China in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a senior Chinese executive in Canada.

Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer for Chinese telecom giant Huawei, was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 on behalf of the United States, which is seeking her extradition over alleged violations of U.S. trade sanctions on Iran.

Yang may also be the latest in a string of activists and human rights lawyers who have been detained in a sweeping crackdown on dissidents since President Xi Jingping took power in 2012.
TAIPEI - More than 50 years of Muslim rebel violence, which has killed 121,000 and attracted the terrorist group Islamic State, came down to the ballot box this week. Voters in two cities and three other regions of the southern island Mindanao combined on Monday to ratify a law that creates the countrys strongest ever semi-autonomous Muslim region.

Another province and seven more towns will cast votes February 6 to finalize ratification and help set the regions boundaries.

Though the region of roughly 4.3 million people wont keep its own army or restrict entry by other Filipinos, the government is expected to give it enough local control so that Muslims get a sense of the autonomy they have fought for since the 1960s. Proponents of the move hope the sense of self-rule might in turn stop fighting between armed rebels and government troops, battles that sometimes catch civilians in their net, and let the population develop economically.

It will help our lives, for as long as the leaders are committed to peace and development, I think this is a major stepping stone for peace and tranquility, said Monara Maruhom, assistant dean of the King Faisal Center for Islamic, Arabic and Asian Studies at Mindanao State University. At least we will give peace a chance for our future generation.

Final stage for new region

The voting so far has effectively upheld the law approved in July by Congress and signed by President Rodrigo Duterte to form the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Vote counts will also determine which cities and provinces will join the region. In one surprise turn, the hub city of Cotabato voted 59-41 percent to join the region.

Bangsamoro will replace an existing 12,536 square-kilometer tract carved out for Muslim groups in Mindanao 29 years ago, but widely considered ineffective at offering autonomy.

The outcome of the plebiscite is crucial not only to the establishment of the future political structure of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, but more so it would determine how people in the defined areas think about themselves as a group belonging to a new political structure, said Henelito Sevilla, assistant international relations professor at University of the Philippines.

Money, resources and control

The half-year-old Bangsamoro Organic Law, which authorizes the new region, calls for the central government to give its local leadership grants equal to 5 percent of national tax and customs revenue. Leaders of the old region had to apply for funding. The central government also will pay $95 million annually over 10 years for the rehabilitation of conflict areas.

Revenue from locally extracted coal, gas, oil and uranium will be equally shared with the Philippine government.

Muslims have lived in Mindanaos west and its outlying islands for more than 500 years. Many resent the Christian majority's control of minerals and fossil fuels from their resource-rich part of the archipelago. The last large-scale violence erupted in 2017 as troops battled Islamic State-backed rebels in the city of Marawi, which would be in the new region.

Duterte told a 7,000-person assembly in Cotabato last week that ratification would pave the way for fair and just distribution of land and resources, on the surrounding, largely impoverished island of Mindanao, the presidential office website says.

The Bangsamoro Organic Law will lead to better governance, inclusive political empowerment, and enhanced systems for transparency and accountability, Duterte said.

Win-win, for now

Duterte wins from the polling victories Monday, said Maria Ela Atienza, a University of the Philippines political science professor. The president had campaigned for change in Mindanao before his 2016 election. The Mindanao native also advocates a federal system of government giving provinces around the country more local decision-making power.

I personally would also see this as an opportunity to test whether a semi-federal setup can work, because the power given to the (Bangsamoro Organic Law) is vast, said Antonio Contreras, political scientist at De La Salle University in the Philippines.

Mindanaos once heavily armed rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, will find the vote beneficial in the short term, Atienza said, because it had advocated setting up the region since signing a peace deal with the government in 2014. The front is expected to take a lead role in governing the region.

Long-term pitfall potential

No voters may fear the Bangsamoro region will further divide rival Muslim groups or split Muslims from Christians who now co-exist, Philippine media reports say. In the offshore province of Sulu, where the violent Abu Sayyaf kidnapping outfit has a stronghold, voters rejected ratification.

About 20 Muslim rebel groups still operate in Mindanao. One splintered off from the front and another has competed with the front in the past for influence in Mindanao. Those excluded from Bangsamoro leadership might turn to Islamic State, scholars said last year.

"Its also a challenge for the government and the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) because they have to prove that they represent not just the MILF, they can work with different sectors, because even if this gets approved, there are also significant political elites both Muslims and Christians as well as other groups who disagree with this law, Atienza said.
TORONTO - The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday it will pursue the extradition of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, arrested in Canada in December on allegations she participated in a conspiracy to defraud banks.

Meng, 46, is due to reappear in a Vancouver court on Feb. 6 to set further court dates. Her Dec. 1 arrest sparked a diplomatic row between Canada and China. China has since arrested and detained two Canadian citizens and sentenced another  a convicted drug smuggler  to death.

What is the extradition process in Canada?

The process begins with a provisional warrant from a country Canada has an extradition agreement with, like the one with which the United States authorities requested Meng's arrest.

The requesting country has 60 days from the initial arrest to make a formal extradition request. Canada's new Justice Minister David Lametti, appointed last week in a cabinet shuffle, will then have 30 days from receipt of the request to decide whether to issue an authority to proceed. If he grants it, as expected, Meng's case would be sent to the British Columbia Supreme Court for an extradition hearing.

What happens next?

The hearing can take weeks or months. The judge will determine whether the case meets a prima facie standard, meaning a judge or jury hearing and believing the evidence would be enough for a conviction.

If a judge decides the U.S. evidence is strong enough, they will issue a committal order effectively recommending extradition to the Justice Minister.

The Canadian Justice Minister decides whether to issue the surrender order that would extradite Meng to the United States.

There are avenues for Meng to contest either a committal order from a judge or a surrender order from the minister, which could stretch her case out for years, lawyers told Reuters.

Could the new Canadian minister ask for extra time?

"When there's a deadline, generally speaking, the minister doesn't have any power to get an extension," said Vancouver-based lawyer Brock Martland, adding that the minister would likely want to go by the book in this highly scrutinized case.

What does the justice minister take into consideration?

Legal factors loom large, said Martland, but so do political and humanitarian ones, such as if a wanted person is elderly and may not fare well in a U.S. jail. Those circumstances do not arise commonly, he added.

There tends to be a strong sense of obligation to an extradition partner, Martland said.

"But I think there are cases where the minister is maybe concerned about whether the process has been compromised or the fairness of the process isn't what it should be."

U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters in December he would intervene in Meng's case if it would serve trade or security interests.

"If time marches on and more things are said and it becomes clear this isn't a meritorious prosecution they're running ... that could lead the minister to say, 'At the end of the day, I'm not prepared to order surrender, here'," Martland said.

How do U.S. authorities arrange arrests in foreign countries?

Federal and state prosecutors in the United States cannot simply ask that foreign counterparts arrest and turn over an individual. Such requests must be made through the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs (OIA).

The OIA maintains lines of communication with authorities in other countries and is responsible for the next steps leading to an arrest and an extradition.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren promised to help rebuild Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria and support laws to give the U.S. territory equal treatment and debt relief as she condemned President Donald Trump during a visit Tuesday to the island, which has become an obligatory stop for potential and presidential candidates.

Warren demanded the resignation of Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And she criticized Trump for denying the hurricane's death toll and for considering the use of disaster recovery funds to build what she called a "dumb" border wall, provoking laughter and applause from a crowd of a couple hundred people gathered in a small theater.

"Puerto Rico has not been treated with respect," she said. "It is insulting. It is disrespectful. This ugliness has gone far enough. Puerto Rico has suffered enough. We will not allow anyone to sabotage your recovery, not even the president of the United States."

Democrats are using official trips to Puerto Rico as an opportunity to criticize the Trump administration for how it responded to the hurricane and its aftermath. Last week, former housing secretary Julian Castro, who has declared himself a candidate, visited the island and toured communities still struggling more than a year after the storm.

Julian Castro Visits Puerto Rico in Bid for Presidency U.S. presidential candidate Julian Castro joined dozens of high-profile Latinos in Puerto Rico on Monday to talk about mobilizing voters ahead of the 2020 elections and increasing Latino political representation to take on President Donald Trump. The group condemned Trump's plan to build a border wall, and Castro also criticized Trump for his response to Hurricane Maria, which hit the U.S. U.S. presidential candidate Julian Castro joined dozens of high-profile Latinos in Puerto Rico on Monday to talk about mobilizing voters ahead of the 2020 elections and increasing Latino political representation to take on President Donald Trump. The group condemned Trump's plan to build a border wall, and Castro also criticized Trump for his response to Hurricane Maria, which hit the U.S.

The visits have perplexed some and annoyed others in Puerto Rico, whose people are U.S. citizens who can vote in primaries but are barred from voting in presidential elections.

Janina Cabret, a 28-year-old San Juan resident who attended Warren's event, said she hopes whoever wins isn't delivering empty promises about helping the island.

"Even though they use it for marketing, at least it puts Puerto Rico on the map," she said.

Warren's comments

Warren said too many homes still lack a proper roof and too many insurance claims have gone unpaid, among other problems that persist more than a year after Hurricane Maria. She also said many people who fled Puerto Rico after the storm have not been able to find a job, housing or health care.

Warren reminded the crowd that she voted against a 2016 financial aid package that created a federal control board to oversee the debt-burdened island government's finances, a body that some complain has imposed an excessive amount of austerity. She also referred to White House comments on Puerto Rico, including a recent one opposing $600 million in nutritional assistance as "excessive and unnecessary," which angered Gov. Ricardo Rossello's administration.

The senator also talked about the island's political status, long a key issue for many Puerto Ricans, though five referendums over the years have shown no clear consensus for statehood, the current territorial status or independence.

"Puerto Rico deserves self-determination on this question, and I will support the decision of the people of Puerto Rico," she said.

Warren also called for auditing Puerto Rico's huge public debt, strengthening unions, protecting the island from climate change, and supporting full child tax credits, Medicaid funding and nutritional assistance for islanders, all things that many Puerto Ricans have long demanded.

"Puerto Rico's experience in recent years reflects the worst of what Washington has become, a government that works great for the rich and powerful, and not for anyone else," she said as she mentioned drug companies, student loan outfits, fossil fuel companies and Wall Street bankers. "We need to take back our federal government from the wealthy and well-connected and return it to the people."

Crowd's reaction

Warren said she would demand that anyone running for federal office post their tax returns online as she has and touted her anti-corruption legislation, which in part calls for ending lobbying and stopping federal lobbyists from giving money to elected officials.

She also charged that Trump's administration has used its power to inflict cruelty on immigrants and people of color. "With Trump, cruelty is not an accident, it is part of the plan," she said.

The audience gave Warren a standing ovation at the end of her speech, many of them tourists thrilled that their visit coincided with hers.

Vandy Young, a tourist from Maryland, said she is hopeful about a presidential bid by Warren.

"I've been waiting for her to run," she said. "She's one of the few candidates who can stand up to Trump. She's not afraid of him."
Congolese voters hungry for peace are ready to welcome President-elect Felix Tshisekedi to power, even if alleged election rigging may have led to his victory.



I am very happy with his designation as our democratically elected President-elect Felix Tshisekedi, Herve, a 30-year-old unemployed resident of Kinshasa, the capital, told VOA. Since I was born, I have never witnessed a peaceful handover of power, he added. In Congo, the Tshisekedi No One Had Expected Takes Power Felix Tshisekedi has emerged from his father's shadow to become Congo's next president. For decades that post eluded his father, the venerated opposition politician, Etienne, whose death in 2017 helped catapult his son into the limelight.The passage of power from father to son is a familiar story in Congo, where President Joseph Kabila took office at age 29 after the assassination of his father, Laurent, in 2001. He stayed on two years beyond his mandate amid delayed elections that finally took place Felix Tshisekedi has emerged from his father's shadow to become Congo's next president. For decades that post eluded his father, the venerated opposition politician, Etienne, whose death in 2017 helped catapult his son into the limelight.The passage of power from father to son is a familiar story in Congo, where President Joseph Kabila took office at age 29 after the assassination of his father, Laurent, in 2001. He stayed on two years beyond his mandate amid delayed elections that finally took place

Tonton Kasongo, 30, a hairdresser, echoed the desire for peace.



The way I see it, as a son of this land, I want peace for this country, he told VOA. Since we didnt have any gunshots, we are happy, because the one who is elected is the one we are going to call Dad. I voted Fayulu because he, too, is a son of this land. Since he did not win, he needs to be patient and wait for the next time around.



International observers say all available evidence points to massive fraud in the countrys December 30 election. The Democratic Republic of Congos influential Catholic Church says it witnessed widespread irregularities at the polls.



But voters in Kinshasa, the capital, told VOA this week theyre happy to see the peaceful transfer of power and grateful to outgoing President Joseph Kabila, in office since 2006, for stepping aside, regardless of the likelihood of rigging.



Based on the Churchs observations at thousands of polling stations and an unprecedented data leak representing millions of votes, analysts believe the elections true victor, Martin Fayulu, won by more than 6 million votes, despite losing to Tshisekedi by nearly a million ballots, according to the official tally.

DR Congo President Has Officially Won, But Can he Govern? By all official measures, Felix Tshisekedi has won the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The nations highest court certified his win over the weekend, invalidating the claim by challenger Martin Fayulu. By all official measures, Felix Tshisekedi has won the presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The nations highest court certified his win over the weekend, invalidating the claim by challenger Martin Fayulu.

Both candidates ran on opposition tickets, but Fayulus camp says Tshisekedi made a last-minute deal with Kabila in exchange for ensuring his victory. Emmanuel Shadary, the ruling partys chosen candidate, placed a distant third based on all figures.



Praise for Kabila



Many of the voters VOA spoke to emphasized their respect for Kabilas decision to step down when others in his position have made moves to ensure they become president-for-life.



I would like to pay tribute to President Kabila, Jose, a 55-year-old taxi driver, said. I would have never imagined that in my lifetime, I would see a military man hand power over to a civilian without a war.



Herve, the unemployed Kinshasa resident, agreed. I am very pleased at how President Kabila has handed the power over to President Felix, he said. There was no gunshot. We can walk in Kinshasa.



Fraught from start



Troubles haunted the DRCs election from the onset.



Adeline Van Houtte, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told VOA that a series of events delayed the vote and stoked concern about the credibility of the process.

Congo Delays Sunday's Election for Months in Ebola Zone Congo's already long-delayed election set for Sunday will be postponed for months in certain communities where a deadly Ebola virus outbreak has infected hundreds of people, the country's electoral commission announced Wednesday. Some in the opposition quickly called it a ploy to hurt their chances at the polls. The election in and around Beni and Butembo in North Kivu province, and Yumbi in Mai-Ndombe province, will be in March instead, the commission's statement said. That's long after Congo's  Congo's already long-delayed election set for Sunday will be postponed for months in certain communities where a deadly Ebola virus outbreak has infected hundreds of people, the country's electoral commission announced Wednesday. Some in the opposition quickly called it a ploy to hurt their chances at the polls. The election in and around Beni and Butembo in North Kivu province, and Yumbi in Mai-Ndombe province, will be in March instead, the commission's statement said. That's long after Congo's 

An uncontained Ebola outbreak postponed voting in the some parts of the east. And the large-scale rollout of electronic voting machines fueled misgivings about the intents of the electoral commission, Van Houtte said.



Then, days before the election, in mid-December, a fire broke out at a warehouse in Kinshasa. Most of the voting equipment housed there was destroyed, delaying the election a week. Days later, a plane crashed, destroying additional voting machines.



At the time, Van Houtte warned about the importance of holding the election without further delays. Widespread unrest plunging the country back into civil war is definitely a risk, Van Houtte said.



AU skepticism



Congos Constitutional Court confirmed Tshisekedis victory Saturday, a decision Fayulu rejected as enabling a constitutional coup detat.



But calls for a recount have, so far, gone unanswered, and international bodies have dialed back their criticism of the election outcome.



After first pushing for a recount, the Southern African Development Community, a 16-country bloc, more recently emphasized the importance of not encroaching on Congos sovereignty, the Associated Press reported.

African Union Urges Congo to Suspend Final Election Results The African Union continental body issued a surprise last-minute demand late Thursday for Congo's government to suspend the announcement of final results of the disputed presidential election, citing "serious doubts." Congo's constitutional court is poised to rule as early as Friday on a challenge filed by the election's declared runner-up. Martin Fayulu has requested a recount, alleging fraud. The African Union continental body issued a surprise last-minute demand late Thursday for Congo's government to suspend the announcement of final results of the disputed presidential election, citing "serious doubts." Congo's constitutional court is poised to rule as early as Friday on a challenge filed by the election's declared runner-up. Martin Fayulu has requested a recount, alleging fraud.

And after sharing serious doubts and asking Congolese officials to postpone a final confirmation of the results, the African Union now appears poised to endorse Tshisekedi.

Thats welcome news to people in Kinshasa.



As for African Union, that was not the right move, and we could not agree with it, Sidou, a 29-year-old taxi driver, told VOA in response to earlier calls for a postponement.



This is interfering. Its like Congo was ruled from outside. So our Court had to make its decision. For our sovereignty, our court had to do its work, Sidou added.



Congo is part of the African Union, obviously, Herve said. But as far as the Congolese family is concerned, the African Union has no business in it. We are going to sort this out. We have died a lot in this country. We are tired of it.



Now, Congolese voters are looking forward to a new era of peace.



As a child of this country, we all are happy, 43-year-old welder Andre told VOA. What we did not think would ever happen, actually happened, so we are happy. May it last.



Tshisekedi will be inaugurated Thursday.
Teachers in Los Angeles reached a deal with school officials to end a week-long strike in the nation's second-largest school district.

About 30,000 teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District walked off the job Jan. 14, demanding higher pay, smaller class sizes and more support staff. They will return to work on Wednesday.

"I'm proud to announce that, pending approval by the teachers...we have an agreement that will allow our teachers to go back to work on the campuses tomorrow,'' Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Tuesday.

Officials say the deal includes a six percent pay hike and a commitment to reduce class sizes over four years. The school district will also be adding more librarians, counselors and nurses.

The teachers' main complaints had been that the classes in the school district were too large, and that the students sometimes don't have desks, forcing them to sit on the floor or on window sills.

The school district has about 600,000 students in kindergarten through grade 12.

The teachers' strike received significant support from tens of thousands of parents and students who participated in protests. District schools were kept open with a skeleton staff of volunteers, administrators and classroom aides.
Hong Kong lawmakers are set to consider a bill that would make disrespecting Chinas national anthem a crime.

The bill, expected to be introduced to the Legislative Council Wednesday, recommends a three-year prison sentence and a $6,373 fine for anyone found publicly and intentionally disrespecting the anthem "March of the Volunteers."

The bill will also make it mandatory for schoolchildren to learn the anthem, including those enrolled in international schools.

The bill has raised concerns, with some saying it is just one more way Beijing is trying to exert its influence on the former British colony, and flouts the one country, two systems framework that was set up to protect its judiciary and freedom of expression after British rule ended in 1997.

In recent years, booing the national anthem has become a popular means of protest at sporting events on the island.

China adopted a similar law in 2017 and it is also being considered in Macau, which is also a Chinese special administrative region.

The bill is expected to come to vote in the Legislative Council and easily pass before summer.
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - World leaders in favor of international cooperation and free trade struck back Wednesday against the wave of populist nationalism that has featured more prominently than usual at the gathering of elites in Davos, Switzerland.

As heads of state took turns to address the political and business tycoons, the question of global cooperation emerged as a dividing line. The leaders of Japan and Germany - countries that have flourished on trade since their devastation under nationalist leaders in World War II - focused on the need for cooperation.

It was a not-so-subtle dig at earlier speeches by the populist president of Brazil and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said governments should focus more on national self-interest over international rules.

"I believe that it's worth bringing together like-minded people around the world, because anything else will lead us into despair," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

She said efforts to combat global problems - from an economic slowdown to tensions over trade, Brexit and migration - "will only function if we are able to compromise."

She cited as a positive example a free trade deal between the European Union and Japan that will take effect Feb. 1.

Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, put a similarly strong focus on working together, noting another trade deal, among Pacific Rim countries.

He warned, however that there are risks.

"U.S.-China trade friction is one of those risks and Japan traditionally has said tit-for-tat trade-restrictive measures are of no benefit," he said in his first appearance in Davos in five years.

The U.S. and China, the world's two biggest economies, are locked in a major trade dispute and have put tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of traded goods.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump says China is not being transparent on government subsidies it gives Chinese companies and is swiping intellectual property from Western firms.

While Abe and Merkel squarely warned against taking punitive measures like Trump has - without going through international institutions like the World Trade Organization to settle disputes - both Japan and European countries have also complained about China.

Abe said the WTO needs to be overhauled.

"Major changes are taking place and the WTO is behind the curve - it's not keeping up with pace," Abe said in a brief question-and-answer session. "We need to reform it."

Efforts were underway to defuse the U.S.-China dispute, with a high-level Chinese delegation expected to visit Washington on Jan. 30.

The level of tensions remained intense, however.

China's vice president used his own speech in Davos to take shots at Trump and his administration.

"Shifting blame for one's own problems onto others will not resolve the problems," said Wang Qishan.

He sought to cast China as a proponent of open markets, though in reality it keeps tight control of its access to foreign investors and companies.

"What we need to do is make the pie bigger while looking for ways to share it in a more equitable way," he said. "The last thing we should do is to stop making the pie and just engage in a futile debate on how to divide it."

Trump had intended to visit Davos with a big delegation to meet with the Chinese over the trade issues. They cancelled the trip, however, due to the government shutdown. Other major leaders have also had to nix their trip, including those of Britain and France to deal with Brexit and popular protests.

The uncertainty over Brexit also featured heavily in talks in Davos as a major risk to global commerce and cooperation.

British lawmakers last week voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union. Since then, speculation has risen that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a deal or that end up extending its date of departure from the current March 29.

Merkel said she is working for a "well-ordered" Brexit and is looking for a "good" future partnership with Britain not just on trade but issues like security and defence.

"The easier the relationship, the easier for all of us," she said.
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - The United States has assured Afghanistan's government that any U.S. troop pullout would not affect the combat abilities of remaining forces, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said Wednesday.

Abdullah said news last month that President Donald Trump was planning to withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops had caused unease in the government, which is battling resurgent Taliban forces who control broad swaths of the country outside the main cities.

Since then, however, U.S. officials had told the Afghan government that no final decision had been made, and that Washington remained committed to supporting Afghan defense and security institutions, he said.

"Of course initially it came with some concerns for all of us," Abdullah told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

"Later on, through engagement with their envoys and representatives we learned that even if the [U.S.] withdraws, it would be partial, it would not have an impact on the combat abilities," he said.

U.S. flag is seen at a post in Deh Bala district, FILE - A U.S. flag is seen at a post in Deh Bala district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan July 7, 2018. FILE - A U.S. flag is seen at a post in Deh Bala district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan July 7, 2018.

He did not say how the United States, if left with fewer than 9,000 troops, would still be able to maintain multiple missions including training Afghan forces, advising them in the field and waging airstrikes against the Taliban and other militants.

Troops sent after 9/11

Trump has been impatient for progress in ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan, where more than 2,400 U.S. forces have died.

The United States sent troops to Afghanistan after the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, and overthrew its Taliban rulers, who had hosted Osama bin Laden's organization.

At its peak the U.S. deployment involved more than 100,000 troops, but Washington withdrew most in 2014 and now has around 14,000 troops in the country as part of a NATO-led mission aiding Afghan security forces and hunting militants.

"The presence will not come to an end  only if there is peace in Afghanistan," Abdullah said. "So those details which came out later on kept us assured to some extent."

Abdullah, who is standing in Afghanistan's presidential election in July, defended his alliance with Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has been accused of serious human rights abuses. He said Dostum's Junbish-i Milli party had strong support in northern Afghanistan.

"You cannot ignore part of the population because there are allegations against this person or that person," he said. "We can't just wish people away."

Abdullah is challenging President Ashraf Ghani, who defeated him in a 2014 election that Abdullah said was marred by fraud. They later agreed to form a national unity government with Ghani as president and Abdullah as chief executive.

This year's vote "has to be clean," Abdullah said. "The flaws of the previous election have to be corrected. Am I absolutely confident that this will be transparent as we would expect? That's difficult to judge at this stage."
U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has postponed his Feb. 7 public testimony before Congress because of "ongoing threats against his family from President Trump," Cohen's lawyer said Wednesday.

"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first," said Cohen attorney Lanny Davis.

Davis said the delay was also due to his client's continued cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Cohen was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee, a Democratic-led panel that is investigating financial payments that were made during the campaign to buy the silence of women who claimed to have had sex with Trump. Trump has denied having extramarital affairs.

Prosecutors maintain Trump directed Cohen to make the payments to avoid any potential scandals while Trump was seeking the presidency.

Cohen previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his role in a Trump business proposal to build a large tower development in Moscow during the presidential campaign.
Prime Minister Hun Sen is visiting China to strengthen ties with Beijing amid deteriorating relations with Europe and the United States.

In a post on his official Facebook page, Hun Sen said Cambodia was looking to expand and reinforce its market besides the US, saying trade between China and Cambodia had reached $5.6 billion.

Our friend, China, is the biggest investor in Cambodia, particularly in infrastructure, roads, bridges, flyovers and dams, he wrote.

On the second day of his visit Hun Sen met company representatives in Beijing.

Chheang Vannarith, president of Asian Vision Institute, said the growing closeness with China was strategically beneficial for Cambodia while the West continued to pressure Hun Sen over rights abuses and the banning of the countrys main opposition party.

Frankly speaking, it's a new turning point for geopolitics in Asia. While in Asia, we can see that China is trying to gain power economically and perhaps through security, politics and culture next in Asia, he said. So strengthening ties with China is beneficial to Cambodia and such is also the case for other nations in Asia. So the pressure from the West is a compelling factor for Cambodia to strengthen strategic ties with China in a call to the West that Cambodia isn't an isolated nation.

Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party won a landslide victory in elections in July after it oversaw the dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in November 2017 and the jailing of its leader, Kem Sokha, two months earlier.

Last week, the European Union imposed tariffs on Cambodian rice imports due to safety concerns.

Vannarith said ties between Cambodia and China were likely to only get stronger.

We can see that China is the biggest source of investors. But we see that bilateral trade with China is still limited. China is yet to become Cambodia's biggest export market. So there are many things lacking here. Most Cambodians do not like Chinese. As we can see in [Preah] Sihanouk province, there the Chinese do not obey the law and do not respect the culture. That affects the local people.

Meas Ny, a political analyst in Cambodia, said Chinese funds were attractive to Hun Sen because they came with fewer strings attached than Western aid, which was usually linked to political compromises on human rights or governance.

This is just an attempt to move away from aid from the West and turn to aid from China; the Cambodian government regards money with no conditions from China as easy-to-spend money.

When Cambodia began close relations with China, we can see gradual Chinese investment, particularly with economic land concessions. This leads to a drop in the government's popularity because most of the concessions did not undergo thorough studies which in turn affect the locals.

And after the drop in popularity, the government is trying to do whatever it can to maintain power and safety in any circumstance.
Cambodia has said that journalists who describe the government as Hun Sens regime or the Phnom Penh regime may face investigation from authorities.

Interior Minister Sar Kheng said journalists using these terms do not respect the will of the Cambodian people, who turned out to vote.

Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party won a landslide victory in general elections in July after it oversaw the dissolution of its only challenger, the Cambodia National Rescue Party.

A spokesman for the government said: The spokesman for the government, in this context, has learned that the use of Phnom Penh regime and Hun Sen regime is intended to incite and sabotage, to smash national solidarity and the national unity of Cambodia, that is living in harmony.

The spokesmans office will review and inspect all media institutions that dont respond to this appeal, it added.

Nop Vy, director of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said the move was a restrictive measure.

I think its the freedom of journalists [to use the term]. We dont need to coerce them to not use these terms or coerce them to use the terms which we think we want them to useits not right, he said.

The terms have been deployed extensively by Sam Rainsy, the former head of the CNRP. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, said the words in Khmer are used to stage a revolution.
China has pledged to import 400,000 tons of Cambodian rice, expanding the trade volume between Cambodia and China to $10 billion by 2023 and granting nearly $600 million to Cambodia, according to Prime Minister Hun Sens Facebook page.

China's pledge followed a meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday on the third day of the prime minister's four-day visit to Beijing.

"His Excellency [Xi Jinping] said that although international relations have changed, the relations between China and Cambodia are certainly benefiting each other, and through this, China will continue to expand cooperation with Cambodia, especially for the development of Cambodia to be twice more solid, according to the post.

The strengthening of the relations between the Cambodian and Chinese governments coincided with the EU's declaration of increasing import duties on Cambodian rice and the possibility of its removal from the preferential trading scheme known as Everything But Arms.

Taxes on Cambodian rice imports to Europe were announced last week. Cambodia said it stands to lose about $50 million a year in added tax.

Ky Sereyvath, a Cambodian economist, said the rice import deal with China would empower farmers in Cambodia and expand Cambodia's export options.

He said: "China will give Cambodia 400,000 tons of export opportunities. This is a new page for Cambodia. This means that the exporting country has the power to set higher prices and provides more options.

Xi also reportedly spoke of strengthening cooperation with the countries included in its One-Belt One-Road initiative.

Sereyvath said the strengthening ties between Cambodia and China was a boost for Cambodia that could bridge the gap left by worsening relations with the West.

In recent years, there has been a surge in Chinese investment in construction and other sectors in Cambodia, particularly in Preah Sihanouk province, which has raised concerns about the instability of property prices and warnings of organized criminal activities.
The Cambodian government has criticized the US for discussing human rights and democracy with military officials, officials have said.

The comments came after US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Felter urged Cambodia to drop treason charges against the former opposition leader, Kem Sokha, during a meeting with Cambodian military officials last week.

We cannot accept it that a US military representative came here to talk with the Cambodian military on political issues, government spokesman Phay Siphan told VOA Khmer. This is confusion. It reminds Cambodia of its past when a revolution in the 1970s was supported by the US military. We dont want to fall into a similar situation like that. The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces are not a political institution, but they are under the control of the prime minister.

Felter paid a two-day visit to Cambodia to look for ways to improve the military-to-military relationship with the Southeast Asian nation.

Cambodian authorities oversaw a crackdown on Cambodias main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, arrested Sokha and charged him with colluding with the US to topple the government.

The charges against him [Sokha] were directly related to conspiring with the US. And theyre just false, said Felter in an interview with VOA Khmer. I think that would be a nice gesture on Cambodias part to drop those charges, and I think that would be one example of an area that would help us move down that path that I just described towards improving our military relationship and increasing military-to-military cooperation.

Sokha is currently under house arrest and is banned from contacting party officials. The Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in late 2017 and banned 118 officials from politics for five years.

The general elections in July last year saw the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party win all 125 seats. The results were not endorsed by Western powers, but China has backed Hun Sens actions.

The US has repeatedly expressed its concern over the deteriorating relationship, fearing China would use Cambodia as its military base or facility.

We respect Cambodias sovereignty, said Felter. We respect them as a sovereign country that they make sovereign decisions, and we hope that continues. We hope no other nation can interfere in Cambodias sovereignty and influence them in terms of decisions.

Siphan said China is simply a development and strategic partner.

Weve told friendly countries around the world that were not a Chinese slave and we are not stupid to let China set up a military base here. If we do so, it means were committing suicide. We understand this clearly.
PHNOM PENH  On January 7, Prime Minister Hun Sen rode into Phnom Penhs old Olympic Stadium in an open-top Mercedes and waved at the 50,000-strong crowd that had gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the toppling of the Khmer Rouge regime by the Vietnamese army and units of Cambodian soldiers it supported.

In an address following a grand performance with traditional Khmer dancers and other performers, the premier hammered home the long-standing political message that his Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) defeated the genocidal regime of Pol Pot and has brought peace and development to Cambodia since it was installed by Vietnam in 1979. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, state-controlled media also commemorated the anniversary of the invasion - which was followed by a decade-long, bloody occupation - as a just peoples war that liberated Cambodians and secured lasting friendship between the neighboring countries.

In a twist of political history, however, the erstwhile communist brothers-in-arms these days find themselves in an increasingly strained relationship, as the CPP government has grown heavily dependent on economic and military support from China  the Khmer Rouges one-time backer and Hanois traditional adversary. As if to signal an historical turn, just two days after the grand memorial event three large Chinese warships reportedly docked in southwest Cambodias Sihanoukville Port. Hun Sen is scheduled to visit Beijing this month  one of several trips to China in recent years  while the countries fourth annual Golden Dragon joint military drill in Kampot Province in March reportedly will be the largest yet. The extent to which Cambodia and Vietnams traditional friendship is at risk of being undone by these developments will depend on how China chooses to use its influence in Cambodia and how Cambodia responds, analysts said. There are signs of tensions in the Hanoi-Phnom Penh relations. Border spat reveals neighborly tensions An unreleased diplomatic notice obtained by VOA shows that unresolved border issues last year burst in open disagreement after the Vietnamese Army unilaterally planted pillars along a contested stretch of border off the Cambodian coast. In the demarche to the Vietnamese Embassy dated July 23, 2018, Cambodias Foreign Ministry demanded that Vietnam remove border pillars constructed a few weeks earlier in an undelineated maritime border area. The notice alleges that many Vietnamese soldiers and a barge carrying construction workers had placed 4 steel and 3 concrete piles in the sea near Koh Ses, a small Cambodian island situated between southwest Cambodias coast and Phu Quoc, a large Vietnamese island once claimed by Cambodia. Koh Ses is also known as Koh Seh. Phnom Penh firmly protests the actions, demanded the pillars removal, and noted that it was contrary to cooperation framework the countries had signed, it reads. VOA was unable to reach the Foreign Ministry for comment on the diplomatic notice. An official in the coastal province of Kep, who requested anonymity as the official was unauthorized to comment, said the local situation had calmed and the national government was in talks with Vietnam about the pillars. During what appeared to be a visit to Hanoi to ease relations in December, Hun Sen met Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and General Secretary of the Communist Party and President Nguyen Phu Trong. They agreed to work to settle issues on the shared border and on legalizing 84 per cent of the border demarcation and marker planting related work, Vietnamese state-controlled media reported. No mention was made of the disagreement over Vietnams pillar construction and it remains unclear whether it has agreed to Cambodian demands for their removal.

A need to balance foreign relations Elliot Brennan, research fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm, said such rising tensions over the old grievance of border demarcation would benefit China and could be the result of its growing influence in Cambodia. Cambodia and Vietnam, he said, need to elevate border cooperation to the highest importance in the relationship and set out an achievable roadmap to settle disputes and improve the relationship past old grievances. This will strengthen Cambodias negotiating power with China, as it heals an old wound [in relations with Vietnam] that some domestic and foreign actors are keen to aggravate for political gain, Brennan told VOA Khmer. The CPP government has long sought to keep a check on historic anti-Vietnamese nationalism in Cambodia. It kept sensitive border demarcation discussions out of public view to avoid former opposition leader Sam Rainsy tapping such sentiments by claiming that Hun Sen is losing territory. Analysts said Cambodia is in need of a flexible foreign policy that builds relations with many countries and reduces the diplomatic reliance on China. Hun Sen, who has shown himself a shrewd diplomatic actor over decades and who understands the importance of hedging between influential actors, should aim to rebalance Cambodias diplomatic and trade relations both within ASEAN and abroad, Brennan said. Many Asian countries, including Vietnam, welcome the benefits of stronger economic and military bilateral relations with China, but they generally work simultaneously with other smaller countries and in regional cooperation to resist Beijings attempts to establish hegemony in Asia, analysts said. Carlyle Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said Vietnamese leaders were relatively relaxed about Cambodias tightening relations with Beijing as Hanoi, too, had improved its relations and military cooperation with China, while Vietnam-Cambodia defense cooperation continued. Cambodian subservience to China would contain Vietnam Nguyen Khac Giang, senior political researcher at the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research in Hanoi, however, stressed the importance of an independent Cambodian foreign policy for the neighborly relations. It is significant for smaller countries to keep well balanced among powers in the region, Nguyen Khac Giang told VOA Khmer. An independent, open, and prosperous Cambodia would not only benefit Cambodians, but also the Vietnamese. Cambodias tightening embrace with Beijing, and its support for Chinese territorial claims that affect Vietnam and other countries in the South China Sea, raise questions as to whether Cambodia is keeping such a balance. Nguyen Khac Giang warned that while a lack of independent Cambodian foreign policy could affect relations, outright Cambodian acceptance of Chinas plans for regional dominance would be viewed by Vietnam as a strategic threat. The Vietnamese-Cambodian relationship is of critical importance to Hanoi not only because of historical reasons, he said. Cambodia and Laos are [Vietnams] strategic partners and allies, and their only neighbors [along with China], therefore if those two countries are pro-Beijing it would leave Vietnam inside China's containment. Such concerns over possible Cambodian subservience to China have drawn international attention following a sharp increase in Chinese loans and investment as well as military cooperation in recent years.
Accordingly, the natural beauty of Quang Binh will be presented to U.S. film producers, directors, actors and media groups.

Later from January 25-27, Quang Binh representatives will attend the New York Times Travel Show in New York to popularize the worlds largest cave system Son Doong.

Following the event, Quang Binh will invite Hollywood producers, scriptwriters, directors and actors to the province for sightseeing.

It is the first time a Vietnamese province will introduce its local images to the worlds movie capital.

Quang Binh was among the three Vietnamese localities chosen for the shooting of parts of the 2017 Hollywood blockbuster Kong: Skull Island.

Quang Binh is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Phong Nha -Ke Bang National Park and the worlds largest cave Son Doong.

The total number of visitors to Quang Binh in 2018 was estimated at 3.9 million, up 18.2% compared to the same period last year.

This is also the largest number of visitors that Quang Binh Province has ever received.

Foreign visitors were estimated at 200,000, up 53.8pc, and total revenue from tourism is close to US$193 million, up 20.3pc.
Four former executives of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR) were sentenced to four to eight years in prison each yesterday following a two-day trial on charges of abusing position and power to appropriate assets.-VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tan

Vu Manh Tung (born in 1974, former Deputy Director General of BSR) received an eight-year prison term; Nguyen Hoai Giang (born in 1968, former Chairman of BSRs Council of Members) got seven years in prison; Pham Xuan Quang (born in 1980, former Chief Accountant of BSR) was sentenced to six years; and Dinh Van Ngoc (born in 1973, former General Director of BSR) was handed a four-year sentence.

According to the indictment, from 2009 to 2014, BSR  a subsidiary of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) based in the central province of Quang Ngai  made fixed-term and demand deposits at the Quang Ngai branch of OceanBank.

The deposits were made under PetroVietnams direction regarding the prioritisation of using OceanBank services, to which PetroVietnam contributed 20 percent of the charter capital.

As the leaders of BSR in 2013 and 2014, the four defendants decided to deposit the companys money at OceanBank and received extra interest payments which were not included in the contracts. The extra interest was paid by thenGeneral Director of OceanBank Nguyen Minh Thu, under the instruction of former Chairman of the Board of Directors of OceanBank Ha Van Tham.

Vu Manh Tung received and appropriated VND2.9 billion (US$124,800) and $40,000; Nguyen Hoai Giang pocketed VND2.9 billion; Pham Xuan Quang took VND1.8 billion and $20,000; and Dinh Van Ngoc got VND1.3 billion, the indictment reads.

The verdict said the behaviour of the defendants was extremely serious and lasted for a long time, harming the legitimate activities of BSR and affecting the assets of OceanBank and its shareholders.

Their acts also had a negative impact on the companys economic activities, as well as the implementation of the States monetary and financial policies.

The court also asked the defendants to pay back the more than VND10 billion they had appropriated to Ha Van Tham, who was ordered to return the money to OceanBank.
FILE PHOTO: A Mastercard logo is seen on a credit card in this picture illustration August 30, 2017. Photo source: REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration/File photo

"By preventing merchants from shopping around for better conditions offered by banks in other member states, Mastercard's rules artificially raised the costs of card payments, harming consumers and retailers," EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

After Visa, Mastercard is the second largest credit card issuer in the European market. It has been the subject of an EU anti-trust investigation since April 2013, and has cooperated with the probe.

When a customer pays a retailer with a credit card, the store's bank pays a fee to the cardholder's bank.

The retailer's bank passes on this fee to the store, which increases costs for customers.

Prior to 2015, the level of these "interchange fees" varied widely across Europe, but Mastercard's rules at the time obliged banks receiving card payments to apply the fee set in their home country.

"This led to higher prices for retailers and consumers, to limited cross-border competition and to an artificial segmentation of the single market," the EU Commission said in a statement.

"On this basis, the Commission concluded that Mastercard's rules prevented retailers from benefitting from lower fees and restricted competition between banks cross border, in breach of EU antitrust rules.

"The infringement ended when Mastercard amended its rules in view of the entry into force of the Interchange Fee Regulation."

The fine would have been higher, but Brussels reduced it by 10 per cent to thank Mastercard for cooperating.

The company did not dispute the fine.

"This decision relates to historic practices only, covers a limited period of time of less than two years and will not require any modification of Mastercard's current business practices," it said.

"Mastercard sees the closure of this anti-trust chapter as an important milestone for the company," it added.
The former head of the customer relations department at ANZ South Sai Gon branch appropriated VND91 billion ($3.95 million)

On January 21, the Ho Chi Minh City investigation agency finished the investigation into the appropriation of money by ANZs former staff and transferred the documents to the People's Procuracy to prosecute Nguyen Pham Gia Tho (1989, District 8, Ho Chi Minh City) and Nguyen Tuong Vi (1989) for fraudulent appropriation of assets.

As stated in the case file, Nguyen Pham Gia Tho was head of the customer relations department of the ANZ South Sai Gon branch. Since being appointed as manager, Thos duty was to mobilise savings deposits, advising customers who want to transfer money to reside abroad, consulting them on purchasing insurance, and proposing mortgage loans with savings books.

Seeing and understanding the loopholes in money management at ANZ, Tho intentionally appropriated money from the bank. He forged signatures of an ANZ client to register him/her for Internet Banking and then transfer the client's money to an account held by one of his relatives (Nguyen Tuong Vi), appropriating VND3 billion ($130,435).

Besides, Tho fabricated 12 loan applications for nine made-up customers, then asked the bank to transfer the requested loan amounts to these fake accounts to then withdraw and appropriate VND88.3 billion ($3.83 million).

After successfully appropriating VND91.3 billion ($3.97 million), Tho transferred VND77.6 billion ($3.37 million) to Nguyen Tuong Vi (the wife of Tho's cousin) to invest into a business.

The investigation agency also clarified that Tho and Vi used VND12.5 billion ($543,478) to buy house and car, and VND1.2 billion ($52,173) for personal purposes. Evidence suggests that Nguyen Tuong Vi clearly knew that the money Tho transferred to him was appropriated from ANZ, and provided information and forged signatures of her relatives to aid the offense.
An all-time record number of homicides were reported in Mexico during 2018, with grim prospects ahead as the nation enters the thirteenth year of its savage and bloody Drug War.

By James Blears

According to Mexico`s National Institute of Statistics and Geography, there were 33,341 murders throughout the Country during 2018. That`s a 33 percent increase on the previous year, which was itself an all time record.

Many of the homicides are a result of chaotic feuds between warring drug cartels, especially involving turf battles for multi million dollars transit drug routes flooding illicit narcotics into the United States.

Impunity or getting away with it, is rife with witnesses scarce, scared and even scarred, undermined by inept and sometimes corrupt or complicit policing, which isn't trusted by the vast majority of Mexicans.

The rising tide of killings is a major challenge to new Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who`s mentioned the option of legalizing all drugs, as one possible solution to break the vicious cycle.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, on Jan. 22 addressed a Security Council debate on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian question.

By Robin Gomes

The Holy See on Tuesday reiterated its appeal to Israeli and Palestinian authorities to resume dialogue for peace in the region and respond to the legitimate aspirations of both the people by ensuring the coexistence of two states.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York, made the call on Tuesday at a Security Council debate on the situation in the Middle East and the Palestinian question.

Fragile peace

He lamented that the tenuous existence of the fragile peace in the region is being constantly threatened by harmful rhetoric, provocations and attacks, violations of human rights and unilateral actions hampering efforts toward resolution, bringing untold suffering and causing the death of innocent, defenceless civilians.

Archbishop Auza thus fervently appealed to both Israeli and Palestinian authorities to resume dialogue and undertake a journey of peace that can put an end to a conflict that, for over seventy years, has rent the land.

He said the region is not only home to the two peoples, but also of great historical and cultural importance for the whole world and spiritual home for the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Holy See diplomat said it is essential that politicians use their authority in a responsible manner and overcome disputes by engaging in an open and honest dialogue to secure genuine and lasting peace, rather than simply maintaining an illusory peace that is in essence only a balance between power and fear.

Humanitarian issues

The Filipino archbishop also drew attention to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and other occupied territories as well as the fina ncial deficit faced by the United Nations Relief and

Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Exchanging words of greeting with journalists aboard the papal flight to Panama, Pope Francis remembered Russian journalist, Alexej Bukalov, who died last December.

By Andrea Tornielli

"A man of great humanity" able to provide a synthesis with the style of Dostoevsky: Pope Francis was visibly moved when speaking these words after greeting journalists on the plane to Panama. He was remembering Alexej Bukalov, Rome correspondent of the TASS news agency and veteran journalist of papal flights. Bukalov, who followed papal journeys right up until the most recent one, passed away on 28 December last, aged 78.

After thanking the journalists who will be reporting on his activities and words in the next few days in Panama, for the intense work they will be carrying out, the Pope said with audible emotion: This is the first flight in which a colleague of yours, Alexei Bukalov of TASS news agency, to whom I was very close, is missing.

He was a man  Francis added - of great humanity. A kind of humanity that is not afraid of plumbing the lowest depths of human nature, and of ascending to the Divine. A man capable of providing a synthesis in the style of Dostoevsky.

The Pope then asked everyone to observe a moment of silence in memory of the Russian journalist and concluded with the Lords prayer. The journalists reacted to the Pope's tribute to their colleague with a round of warm applause.

Future apostolic journeys

Before the papal greeting, papal trip organizer, Monsignor Mauricio Rueda Beltz, introduced Alessandro Gisotti, the ad interim Holy See Press Office Director, on his first papal journey in this role.

Answering questions put to him by several journalists, Gisotti confirmed that it is Pope Franciss wish to undertake an apostolic visit to Japan. This is a possibility, he said, that is under consideration.

There are no plans, he added, as yet, for a papal journey to Iraq, confirming Cardinal Parolins words upon his return from the country in December when he said that "at present the conditions do not exist" for an apostolic visit to the nation.
Pope Francis on Tuesday visited the Roman Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray before the icon of the Madonna Salus Populi Romani, ahead of his trip to Panama on Wednesday for the World Youth Day.

By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis paid a visit to Romes St. Mary Major Basilica on Tuesday morning to pray before the Marian icon of Salus Populi Romani, a practice that has become customary with him on the eve of his foreign trips.

The Pope leaves for Panama on Wednesday to join the 34th World Youth Day that got underway on Tuesday.

The papal flight takes off from Rome in the morning on January 23 and is expected to arrive at Panama Citys Tocumen International Airport at around 4:30 pm local time.

This 26th foreign apostolic visit of Francis is the second papal trip to Panama after nearly 36 years. St John Paul II visited Panama in March 1983.

On arrival in Panama City, Wednesday evening, he will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the airport and will rest for the night at the apostolic nunciature.

On Thursday, his first full day in Panama, the Pope will visit the president at his residence, where he will address the diplomatic corps and representatives of civil society. He will them meet the Central American bishops and later in the evening will be accorded a welcome by the young participants of the World Youth Day.

The WYD, January 22-27, has as its theme: I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Lk 1:38).

During his Sunday midday Angelus prayer in Romes St. Peters Square, Pope Francis urged for prayers for the WYD, calling it a "very beautiful and important event in the journey of the Church.
Baogang Hospital has recently launched an air rescue center in cooperation with Kingwing Aviation, according to Baotou Daily.

An air rescue helicopter owned by the aviation firm conducted adaptive flight and first-aid simulation exercises at Baogang Hospital on Dec 6. In addition, a training session was given by technicians of Kingwing Aviation to 28 members of staff at the hospital.

It is the only air rescue center established by the company in Baotou city. Across China, Kingwing Aviation has more than 60 air rescue helicopters and an established air rescue network with more than 300 hospitals and over 120 120 emergency centers.

The companys aircraft are larger and better equipped than most medical helicopters used to provide emergency rescue services.

In addition to the pilot, the aircraft can also carry a doctor, a nurse, a lifeguard and a winch operator. It can rescue and transfer two patients at the same time, equipped with facilities like a ventilator, electrocardiogram, defibrillator, aspirator, and oxygen cylinders. Also, it can complete a rescue without landing thanks to the onboard winch.

Baotou has long been committed to developing its aviation industry by encouraging investment and furthering cooperation with aviation companies. The city also boasts relatively predictable weather, which is important for an aviation center.

Several hospitals in Baotou have developed partnerships with Beijing Red Cross 999 Emergency Center and International SOS Pte Ltd, the world's largest medical and travel security services firm, which counts nearly two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500 companies as clients. The launch of the rescue center will better facilitate the city's emergency rescue services and benefit local residents.




Pope Francis departed Wednesday for Panama where he will participate in the events of the 34th World Youth Day. This marks the Pope's first journey in 2019.

The Pope departed on an Alitalia flight from Rome's Fiumicino Airport at 9.51am (local) and will land in Panama at around 10:30 p.m. Italian time. Upon arrival at Panama's Tocumen International Airport, the Pope will go directly to the Apostolic Nunciature, where he will stay for the duration of the visit.

His journey will get underway in earnest on Thursday with an official welcome at the Presidential Palace and a meeting with authorities and diplomats. Later in the day, Pope Francis will meet with Bishops from Central America. The highlight of Thursday, however, will be the opening of the World Youth Day ceremony at the Coastal Belt at 17.30 local time.

In a tweet before his departure the Pope said, "I am leaving for the World Youth Day in Panama. I ask you to pray for this very beautiful and important event on the path of the Church."

The theme for World Youth Day 2019 is taken from the Gospel of St. Luke: I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.
14/01/2019

Experienced medics and paramedics of the Sovreign Order of Malta as well as medical equipment and logistics will be in Panama for World Youth Day, making sure all goes well.
World Youth Day events are now officially underway in Panama. Thousands of young people continue to converge on this small Central American nation and its capital, Panama City. But, according to our correspondent, theres more to Panama than meets the eye.

By Sean-Patrick Lovett

Imagine, just for a moment, that you are a young pilgrim attending the 34th World Youth Day in Panama City. If you are lucky, you will have arrived by plane. Even after a 20-hour flight from Europe, Africa or Asia, youll still feel fortunate to be here. Because we all know this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a unique opportunity to celebrate being Catholic among committed, faith-filled, young believers like yourself.

Listen to the report

First impressions

That sense of celebration will increase exponentially as you drive from the airport to the city centre. Flanked by fluttering flags, alternating the yellow and white of the Vatican, with the red, white and blue of Panama, you will be greeted by the face of Pope Francis himself, smiling down at you from banners and billboards.

Your destination is the Cinta Costera, a 2.5-kilometer coastal beltway and park, built on land reclaimed from the sea. Its here the opening Mass for WYD was held on Tuesday afternoon. And its here the Pope will first greet young pilgrims at the official welcome ceremony on Thursday evening.

The Cinta Costera provides a spectacular backdrop to the best Panama City has to offer: breath-taking skyscrapers, mouth-watering eateries, top-of-the-range fashion stores, and everything else a consumers heart could possibly desire.

Its no secret that many of the worlds super-rich, including four of the wealthiest people on the planet, have a home in Panama. Income from the Canal, along with some rather liberal tax laws, ensures it stays that way. For the lucky ones, at least.

Second impressions

But if you keep walking, your surroundings change rapidly and radically.

Suddenly youre in a warren of cobbled alleyways where street vendors sell pineapples, coconuts, fish and hand-made footwear, all at prices that anyone can afford.

Keep on walking and you reach a part of the city that never appeared on Trip Advisor: past the quaint and picturesque cobbled streets of the Casco Viejo, or Old Quarter, past the hostels and hotels, the colourful sights and exotic smells, keep walking past ramshackle houses where paint peels off weatherworn walls.

Now you are outside Panama City proper, in a kind of no-mans land made of mud and shacks, where stray dogs prowl and children play among the garbage.

This is where the unlucky ones live, those who reap zero benefit from the wealth generated by the Panama Canal, or from anything else. They are the other face of an otherwise fascinating city.

But if you want to meet them, youre going to have to keep on walking.

Listen to our report
Venezuela's national armed forces eliminated a group, whose members planned to attack the demonstrators on Wednesday, Zulia state governor Omar Prieto said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) Venezuela's national armed forces eliminated a group, whose members planned to attack the demonstrators on Wednesday, Zulia state governor Omar Prieto said.

"The security agencies prevented plans to kill demonstrators at mass rallies on January 23. One person was killed in a shootout, the second is at large," Prieto said, as quoted by the Correo del Orinoco newspaper on Tuesday.

He noted that grenades, assault rifles, silencers and military uniforms had been discovered during the operation.

Fabio Zavarse Pabon, commander of one of defense districts, noted that the country's armed forces, together with the security forces of Zulia, had managed to eliminate the terrorist cell consisting of three people who were hiding in an apartment in the Isla Dorada residential complex in the city of Maracaibo.

Late on Tuesday, protests against President Nicolas Maduro began in various cities of Venezuela. Marches of opponents of the authorities, and supporters of the incumbent president are planned for Wednesday. According to local media, two people were already killed and another two were injured in the protests.
The Dutch authorities are trying to conceal data on the investigation into the 2014 MH17 flight crash in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) The Dutch authorities are trying to conceal data on the investigation into the 2014 MH17 flight crash in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

According to Zakharova, since 2015, three Dutch media outlets have been trying to make the Cabinet publish all the transcripts of its meetings on the MH17 investigation but last week, the country's Council of State supported the position of the government, which refused to issue the materials.

"Are we witnessing the Dutch authorities' attempt to conceal everything that is not proving the official explanation of the causes of the MH17 crash?" Zakharova said.

On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Donbas. All 298 passengers and crew on board died. Kiev accused local militias of downing the aircraft, while they said that had no weapons capable of downing such a plane.

The interim conclusions presented by the Dutch-led international Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which does not include Russia, suggested that the plane had been downed by a Russian-made Buk missile originating with a military brigade stationed in the Russian city of Kursk.

According to Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolay Vinnichenko, Russia sent to the JIT the data showing that the missile that hit the Boeing was a Ukrainian one, but this information was not taken into account.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the JIT allegations of Russia's links to the crash were groundless and regrettable, adding that the investigation was biased and one-sided. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Russia was not allowed to participate in the investigation into the crash, and Moscow could recognize the results of the probe only in case of its full participation in it.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that all missiles like the one, whose engine was showed by the Dutch investigative commission, had been decommissioned after 2011.
Russia has sent proposals for cooperation in geological exploration to the Syrian government and is currently awaiting counteroffers, Nuritdin Inamov, the director of international cooperation department at the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, told Sputnik on Wednesday

TROMSO (Norway) (UrduPoint news / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) Russia has sent proposals for cooperation in geological exploration to the Syrian government and is currently awaiting counteroffers, Nuritdin Inamov, the director of international cooperation department at the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"We have sent proposals and are waiting for countersuggestions from them. We have implemented bilateral agreements, and our geologists are ready to assist in carrying out geological exploration, systematizing the available geological information and organizing the work on the extraction of raw materials," Inamov said, adding that Russia was waiting for specific proposals from Syria.

Inamov noted that Moscow and Damascus were working together on matters regarding environmental protection and natural resource extraction to help the Syrian economy recover faster.

As part of this cooperation, the countries are cooperating on mining mineral resources.

In October 2018, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announced that Russian company Zarubezhgeologia was developing a proposal for Syria to cooperate on the geological and seismic exploration of hydrocarbons, solid minerals, hydrogeology, the assessment of the status of water resources and study of groundwater bodies. Russian companies might also participate in the geological exploration activities on the Syrian shelf, where new gas fields may be discovered.
Kazakhstan has agreed to become a member of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers, country's Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said on Wednesday

ASTANA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) Kazakhstan has agreed to become a member of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers, country's Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said on Wednesday.

"Kazakhstan has agreed to participate [in the work of the JMMC]," Bozumbayev told reporters.

The country's participation may be officially announced in spring, he noted.

"The committee observes everyone, [participants] are chosen from countries that have large production, authority, and they all discuss who fulfilled, and who did not fulfill [the agreement]," Bozumbayev added.

The JMMC was set up by Algeria, Kuwait, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to monitor compliance with oil output cuts after they were first agreed in late 2016.

The group of the OPEC and non-OPEC oil exporters committed last December to slash production by a total 1.2 million barrels a day for six months starting this January. Russia will pull a daily 228,000 barrels from the market.
(@rukhshanmir)

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was sworn in as the minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs following a government reshuffle, local media reported.

Rama was sworn in at Albanian President Ilir Meta's office on Tuesday, with head of Albania's ruling Socialist party parliamentary group Taulant Balla and presidential administration representatives attending the ceremony, according to the Albanian Telegraphic Agency.

Rama will be combining the roles of the prime minister and foreign minister.

Earlier this month, Albania's parliament backed a cabinet reshuffle in a vote called by Rama after Meta refused to accept his nominee for foreign minister. Rama said on January 14 that he would himself take over the foreign ministry.
Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan Wednesday said the government was striving to gradually manage the outstanding amount of circular debt in respect of Independent Power Producers (IPPs), which is presently at an amount of Rs807,887 million

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2019 ) :Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan Wednesday said the government was striving to gradually manage the outstanding amount of circular debt in respect of Independent Power Producers (IPPs), which is presently at an amount of Rs807,887 million

Replying to a question in the Senate, he said the payment of circular debt depends on collection from electricity distribution companies based on their recoveries from consumers which is a continuous process.

He said the government is introducing efficiency improvement to recover outstanding liabilities. An anti-theft campaign has also been launched across the country to control losses and improve recovery position, he added.

The minister in a written reply said the circular debt payable to power producers as on December 31, 2018 was Rs 683,484 million while amount payable to fuel suppliers by GENCOs was Rs124,403 million.

He said the estimated cost of the Nandipur Power Project as per Original PC-I (2007) was Rs 22,334.75 million, whereas, the estimated cost as per approved revised PC-I (2013) is Rs 58,416.20 million.

He said the actual cost incurred so far is Rs57, 655.00 million and currently, the power plant is capable to generate around 460-480 MW of electricity on gas fuel.

He said the load varies with ambient conditions as NEPRA has determined levelized tariff of Nandipur Power Plant on gas fuel as Rs10.

3157/KWh.

The minister said several steps have been taken by the government through Alternative Energy Development board (AEDB) and Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) in respect of foreign investment in power generation sector.

He said AEDB is pursuing the development of renewable energy based power generation projects through private sector on IPP mode under the Renewable Energy (RE) Policy 2006.

He said the government is providing several fiscal and financial incentives under the Renewable Energy policy to private investors which have attracted a lot of foreign investors in the Renewable Energy sector.

He said several other steps have also been taken by the government to attract foreign investors, which included preparation and approval of bankable standard security agreements (Energy Purchase Agreement and Implementation Agreement) for wind, solar and bagasse cogeneration power projects.

He said other steps included conducting resource assessment of renewable energy resources in Pakistan. He said detailed ground data based resource assessment of wind, solar and biomass is being carried out through the support of Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).

He said the government has decided to develop more wind and solar power projects through competitive bidding in order to avail benefits of decreasing prices through market competition.
H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, received on Wednesday, Khairat Lama Sharif, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UAE

RAS AL KHAIMAH, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 23rd Jan, 2019) H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, received on Wednesday, Khairat Lama Sharif, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the UAE.

Sheikh Saud welcomed the Kazakh Ambassador, and wished him success in carrying out his duties to enhance mutual cooperation between the two friendly countries across various sectors.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral ties between the UAE and Kazakhstan, and means of boosting them for the interest of their peoples.

For his part, the ambassador hailed the friendly relations that link the two countries across various sectors. He thanked the UAE and its leadership for the warm reception and hospitality.

The meeting was attended by Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed bin Saqr Al Qasimi, and Mubarak Ali Al Shamsi, Advisor to the Government of Ras Al Khaimah, among various officials.
ASTANA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 23rd Jan, 2019) Kazakhstan President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has awarded a 'Medal of Appreciation' to Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Ambassador to Kazakhstan, in recognition of his contribution to strengthening relations between the two friendly countries in various fields.

Beibut Atamkulov, Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs, decorated Ambassador Al Jaber with the medal during a ceremony held today in Astana. He thanked the UAE Ambassador for his efforts in enhancing bilateral relations between the UAE and Kazakhstan.

Ambassador Al Jaber expressed his appreciation to President Nazarbayev and referred to his wise policy and the prominent role he plays, both regionally and internationally.

Atamakulov also awarded the medal "25 years of Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan" to Ambassador Al Jaber.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Uzbekistan's trade with Russia increased by 21.2% in 2018 compared to the previous year and reached $5.73 billion, the Uzbek State Committee on Statistics said on Tuesday

TASHKENT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) Uzbekistan's trade with Russia increased by 21.2% in 2018 compared to the previous year and reached $5.73 billion, the Uzbek State Committee on Statistics said on Tuesday.

According to the statistics, Uzbekistan's exports to Russia hit $2.2 billion last year, rising by 6.

8 percent year-on-year, while the country's imports of Russian goods skyrocketed by 30.6 percent and totaled $3.5 billion.

Uzbekistan's trade deficit with Russia grew from $690 million in 2017 to almost $1.3 billion last year.

Russia has remained one of the Central Asian nation's key trading partners, accounting for 16.9 percent of Uzbekistan's trade, topped only by China with 19 percent.
Gettysburg, PA (17325)

Today

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Kazakhstan has developed macroeconomy and budget scenarios to offset impact of anti-Russian sanctions introduced by the West, the country's Minister of Economy Timur Suleimenov told Sputnik on Wednesday

DAVOS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) Kazakhstan has developed macroeconomy and budget scenarios to offset impact of anti-Russian sanctions introduced by the West, the country's Minister of Economy Timur Suleimenov told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"We have developed several macroeconomy and budget scenarios in case these [restrictive] measures begin to have significant influence ... We developed a series of measures. We hope we will not have to use them, but we are ready," Suleimenov said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

According to the minister, some of the measures might be lowering certain natural monopoly fees, reducing some taxes, extending loan agreements that are given in support of the non-finance sector of the economy.

The minister explained that Western sanctions could influence Kazakhstan's economy due to its strong ties to Russia.

At the same time, the minister does not believe that the sanctions could influence the trade and cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia.
IT GOT INTO the 90s back home the other day and friends complained to me over the phone though guiltily because they knew Id spent a day in the ER in New York which, honestly, had been a beautiful illuminatory experience and not miserable at all, but they felt sheepish about complaining of 




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Watch the launch trailer for Goat Simulator: THE GOATY here. SKOVDE, Sweden - January 23rd, 2019 - Coffee Stain is pleased to announce that their completely realistic goat simulation software is now available on Nintendo Switch for the first time in Goat Simulator: The GOATY! A bucking enormous bundle, Goat Simulator: The GOATY is made up of Goat Simulator and every DLC ever released: Goat Simulator: MMO Simulator, Goat Simulator: GoatZ, Goat Simulator: Payday and Goat Simulator: Waste of Space. Goat Simulator first launched on PC in 2014 and made tons of cash across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, iOS and Android. Goat Simulator: The GOATY is now available on Switch and includes: Goat Simulator: Goat Simulator is the latest in high-tech Goat Simulation technology. Goat MMO Simulator: MMO simulation so good youll think its real! Complete dozens of quests, level up a hundred times and play five different classes thats a ton of content you do the math, we all went to high-school well I didnt I was too busy huffing paint behind the cafeteria. Goat Simulator: GoatZ: Goat Simulator: GoatZ lets you live out your fantasy of being a zombie goat in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The zombie themed DLC features a mandatory crafting system, a new map, tons of unlockable new goats with special powers and a completely realistic survival mode where you have to eat every damn five minutes to stay alive. Goat Simulator: Payday Beat people up and take their money - use your goat crew to smash & grab, then blast away all your money at Mahatma Gambling, the Indian casino - just like in that Al Cappuccino movie. Goat Simulator: Waste of Space Goat simulation is finally leaving the planet where it was once conceived to explore the endless possibilities of space (Though we only had time to explore some of them). You no longer have to fantasize about colonizing space as a simulated goat. Your dreams have finally come true! Goat Simulator: The GOATY is available now via the Nintendo eShop for $29.99. About Coffee Stain: Coffee Stain is made up of three teams: Coffee Stain Studios, Coffee Stain North, and Coffee Stain Publishing. Located in Skovde, Coffee Stain Studios was founded in 2010 and is the original team behind I Love Strawberries and the Sanctum games. Theyre also the creative minds behind the industry defying Goat Simulator games. Stockholm based Coffee Stain North was founded in 2013 around the sleeper hit A Story About My Uncle. Since then, the team has taken Pilgor the goat on a journey from the zombie apocalypse into the deep reaches of space. Coffee Stain Publishing, started in 2017, is currently working with Ghost Ship Games on Deep Rock Galactic, Easy Trigger Games on Huntdown and with CoastalByte on Puppet Fever. Coffee Stain Social Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Coffee_Stain Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoffeeStainStudios/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coffee_stain_studios/
HUDSON -- Question: The pages of a book are numbered consecutively from 1 to n. The book is divided into 12 chapters such that the number of digits used to number the pages of each chapter is the same. Compute the least possible value for n.
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Pompeo criticized the Kremlin for its aggressive policies on Ukraine, where Moscow has been supporting its Donbas proxy forces.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in his address to participants in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, delivered via video link after the U.S. delegation trip was canceled amid government shutdown, said that the U.S. and Russia were not doomed to a Cold War rivalry.

He added that "it has been a struggle" to reduce the risk of confrontation with Russia, according to RFE/RL.

Pompeo criticized the Kremlin for its aggressive policies on Ukraine, where Moscow has been supporting its Donbas proxy forces.

He also slammed on Russia for interference into U.S. elections and those in other countries.

Read alsoU.S. envoy to Germany: Russia seeks to halt gas transit via Ukraine

These arent the behaviors of nations that want to be part of the international community, Pompeo said.

We hope that theyll return to the right course of actions that lead them down the path of the rule of law and order and liberty, said the U.S. secretary of state.

If Russia does so, Pompeo said he was confident that our two nations can prosper and grow alongside of each other. We are not destined to be antagonists.
Five MLRS  two for the first time  were missing at a heavy weapons permanent storage site in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region on January 22.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine has reported its monitors spotted 26 Grad multiple rocket launchers in Russian-occupied part of Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, on January 22.

"On January 22, the SMM saw 26 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) (BM-21 Grad, 122mm) near Khrustalnyi (formerly Krasnyi Luch, 56km south-west of Luhansk) in violation of withdrawal lines," the OSCE SMM said in an update covering the period from 19:30 on January 21 to 19:30 on January 22.

Read alsoOSCE reports school in Russian-occupied village in Luhansk region damaged by small-arms fire

On the same day, the SMM saw six towed howitzers (D-30, Lyagushka, 122mm) at a training area near Myrne (see above) beyond the withdrawal lines but outside of designated storage sites.

The day before, on January 21, an SMM mini-UAV spotted three tanks (T-64) about 1.5km north-west of Lobacheve (13km east of Luhansk). They were deployed in violation of withdrawal lines.

In addition, while visiting a heavy weapons permanent storage site in a non-government-controlled area of Luhansk region on January 22, the SMM noted that 14 self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm), ten towed howitzers (nine D-30 and one 2A65 Msta-B, 152mm) and five MLRS (two for the first time) were missing.

The OSCE SMM says it continues to monitor the withdrawal of weapons in implementation of the Memorandum and the Package of Measures and its Addendum.
The "DPR" said they had captured a Ukrainian soldier.

A member of Ukraine's Air Assault Brigade went missing in action near an observation post outside the village of Pavlopil in Donetsk region in the early hours of January 23.

The missing serviceman is a member of a reconnaissance platoon of the 79th Air Assault Brigade (Mykolaiv) of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, the brigade said on Facebook on Wednesday, January 23.

Read alsoRussian proxies in Donbas capture Ukrainian soldier

Measures are being taken to establish his whereabouts.

Meanwhile, members of the Russian-backed "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR") terrorist organization announced on January 23 that they had captured a Ukrainian soldier.

As was reported earlier, Russian-led forces attacked Ukrainian positions in Donbas four times on January 22. On that day, a mine clearance specialist of the Ukrainian State Emergencies Service in Donetsk region was injured amid shelling while he was examining the Maryinka-Krasnohorivka gas pipeline.
Pathea Games, developer behind the role-playing game My Time at Portia, has come under fire over reportedly withholding payments to its voice actors for several months.

Although seemingly resolved at this point, this is still important to highlight, especially since developers (both big and small) should pay their workers and contractors a fair, agreed-upon rate in a timely manner.

The problem seems to date back as far as October 2018, where the treatment of My Time At Portia's voice actors was detailed in a Steam thread (which has since been locked).

Most of the issues seemed to revolve around compensation, with the author of the post writing how voice actors were reportedly "being paid only $50 for 100 plus lines of voiced dialogue."

A handful of voice actors took to Twitter to express their dismay over how Pathea Games has handled the situation thus far. As of January 19, My Time At Portia sits at number one in the Steam global top sellers list, leading many to wonder if the sales from those copies sold are finally being used to pay contractors.

Pathea Games has put out a statement over the issue as well, explaining how it was an "oversight issue with one of our designers," although it's unclear if that means said designer forgot about the voice actors or they didn't oversee the actors properly.
Two invaders were killed in action and another two were injured, intelligence reports say.

Russia's hybrid military forces in the past 24 hours mounted four attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action.

"One Ukrainian serviceman, namely an emergency service operative, was wounded in the past day. According to intelligence reports, two occupiers were killed and another two were wounded," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update published on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on January 23, 2019.

Read alsoRussian proxies in Donbas capture Ukrainian soldier

Russian occupation forces opened fire from grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and small arms, attacking the defenders of the town of Krasnohorivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Chermalyk, Shyrokyne, Pavlopil, and Zolote-4.

In turn, the Ukrainian military successfully downed an enemy UAV.

"Since Wednesday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked the Ukrainian positions yet," the report said.
Activists were threatened with layoffs.

Occupation authorities in the militant-held city of Antratsyt, Luhansk region, slammed down on a protest action by employees of the Partyzanska Mine.

The men took to the streets over huge wage arrears, the Information Resistance OSINT group reported on January 23.

Read alsoUkraine's Cabinet allocates US$4.8 mln in wages for miners

"Workers at the Partyzanska mine (mine No. 23, Antratsyt, controlled by the self-proclaimed 'Luhansk People's Republic'/'LPR') tried for the second time (the first attempt took place in December 2018) to stage a strike because of months-long payroll arrears. However, the management of the enterprise, with the support of local 'law enforcers,' suppressed the protest by force, as well as through psychological pressure," reads the report.

Activists were threatened with layoffs, as was the case with miners who went on strikes in December 2018.
Ukrainian military note that the move fulfills two objectives at a time.

Thousands of blue and yellow postcards were brought on balloons to the militant stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Unity Day, according to the Povernys Zhyvym [Come Back Alive] charity project.

Ukrainian military who serve at the Donbas frontlines this way greeted Donetsk residents on the occasion of Unity Day that Ukraine marks Jan 22, reads the project's Facebook posting.

Read alsoUkrainians celebrating Unity Day

"Thousands of greeting cards with the image of yellow and blue map of Ukraine flew to Donetsk, carried on balloons. A special tracker recorded the route and the landing location. Most of the balloons landed on Bohdan Khmelnytskiy Avenue," the report says.

Ukrainian military note that the move fulfills two objectives at a time  on the one hand, it's showing that we remember the patriots who found themselves in a forced occupation, and on the other hand, it's to get on the nerves of Russian proxies.

"Let them know that we are closer than they think," the servicemen said.
According to Epifaniy, the Russian Orthodox Church will further be able to serve their believers in Ukraine.

Leader of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epifaniy has said a certain number of parishes will remain in Ukraine, subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church.

"According to our estimates, there will be a certain number of parishes in Ukraine, which will be subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church. This is logical, and we have no objections to this," he said in an interview with the Greek edition TaNea, according to a posting on his Facebook page.

Epifaniy says the Russian Orthodox Church will further be able to serve its believers in Ukraine. "Those who decide to stay with the Russian church should not feel any kind of pressure. These parishes should have equal rights with those belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," he said.

Read alsoLeader of Ukraine's church asks Orthodox churches to pray for peace, release of captives

Epifaniy believes that gradually, "our relations will be normalized, our peoples will restore friendship, good and peaceful relations."

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Unification Council of members of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches in Kyiv on December 15 elected Metropolitan of Pereyaslavsky and Bila Tserkva from the then Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate Epifaniy (also known as Epiphanius I) as head of the new local Orthodox church in Ukraine. On January 6 in Istanbul, he, as Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, is to receive the tomos of autocephaly from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Iydyarto also said Hungary is interested in projects with Ukraine, in particular in Zakarpattia region.

Ambassador of Hungary to Ukraine Istvan Iydyarto has noted positive developments in the Hungarian-Ukrainian relations.

"For me, this visit [to Zakarpattia region] is very important, and I believe it is mandatory for the Hungarian ambassador. We have a difficult year behind us, but what is difficult to start, usually ends well. And now we're seeing positive developments in the Hungarian-Ukrainian relations," he said following the meeting with Zakarpattia Governor Hennadii Moskal, according to the press service of the Zakarpattia Regional State Administration.

Read alsoHungary should realize scale of Russia's hybrid methods  Klimkin

On behalf of the Hungarian government, he also expressed special gratitude to Mr Moskal for his personal involvement in promoting better relations between two countries.

"Your sober and realistic view of the situation in regard to the life of the Hungarian minority had a decisive impact on resolving a number of contradictions," Iydyarto said.

Iydyarto also said Hungary was interested in joint projects with Ukraine, in particular in Zakarpattia region.
The ambassador shamed Russian "media" for exploiting the tragedy in their information war.

Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey Andrii Sybiha has said Ankara's position regarding the Russian occupation of Ukrainian Crimea remains unchanged despite the intention of the Turkish consuls to visit the peninsula to provide consular assistance to Turkish citizens affected in the fire that engulfed two gas tankers in the Kerch Strait.

"The Ukrainian side has been informed via diplomatic channels about the intentions of the Turkish consuls to visit the occupied Crimea to provide priority consular assistance in connection with the death of Turkish citizens as a result of the incident with two ships on January 21," he wrote on Twitter on January 23, 2019.

Read alsoShip in deadly Black Sea blaze was turned away from port over sanctions  Reuters

"This situation does not in any way change Turkey's firm position on Crimea, which is the non-recognition of the occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula by Russia; and, according to the Turkish side, it is a forced step amid urgent humanitarian circumstances," the ambassador wrote.

"Shame on Russian 'media,' which turned the routine consular visit into a black PR campaign and are now trying to promote, with no chances of success, their narrative about the alleged international 'recognition' of Crimea -- which is not happening, and will never happen  by exploiting even human tragedies, on human deaths," Sybiha said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the two vessels caught fire after an explosion. The violation of safety rules during a ship-to-ship fuel transfer is said to be the cause behind the incident, according to one of the preliminary theories.

The fire occurred on the two ships flying the flag of Tanzania at 18:00 Moscow time on January 21. The vessels were anchored in the neutral waters, outside Russia's territorial waters. The scene is located 15 nautical miles from Cape Takil.

According to preliminary data, there were 31 sailors on board the vessels. They were citizens of Turkey and India. There were nine citizens of Turkey and eight citizens of India on board the Venice, and there were seven citizens of Turkey and India each on board the Maestro. The people are said to have jumped overboard.

At least 14 people were reported dead, another five were missing, according to the local media Kerch.FM.
Ukrainian prosecutors request that the court sentence Yanukovych to a 15-year prison term.

Kyiv's Obolon District Court on Thursday, Jan 24, at 09:00 Kyiv time, will start delivering a verdict in the case of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who is being charged with high treason.

"Kyiv's Obolon District Court reports that the verdict in a criminal proceeding on charges against Viktor Yanukovych of committing crimes under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 110, Part 1 of Article 111, Part 5 of Article 27, and Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine will be announced in courtroom No.15 at the address: 2-E, Marshal Tymoshenko Street, Kyiv, at 09:00 on January 24," the court said in a statement.

Read alsoUkraine's ex-defense minister charged with treason  PGO

UNIAN memo. Yanukovych is charged with treason, complicity with the Russian authorities, and deliberate actions committed to alter the state border of Ukraine in violation of the Ukrainian Constitution. He is also accused of waging an aggressive war. These are the crimes stipulated in Part 1 of Article 111, Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 110, and Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The judicial panel of Kyiv's Obolon district court on June 29 granted the prosecution's request for special judicial proceedings in the Yanukovych case.

Ukrainian prosecutors request that the court sentence Yanukovych to a 15-year prison term.
The creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in line with canonical principles is one way or another pushing people to get from under of Moscow's influence.

It is not only spiritual support that Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Kirill is losing as a result of the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, it is also big money, says religious scholar Vita Titarenko.

With each community leaving the ROC toward the Orthodox Church of Ukraine she believes Kirill is losing the income which had earlier been receiving from them, according to Obozrevatel.

The creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in line with canonical principles is one way or another pushing people to get from under of Moscow's influence and opt for the independent Ukrainian church, according to the scholar.

Read alsoPoroshenko says Moscow pursues provocations against autocephaly of Ukrainian church

This is the church "where there is own Metropolitan, where no one prays for aggression, and where they don't sanctify weapons."

"Why do you think the ROC is spreading information all the time that the newly-formed Ukrainian church is supposed to bring money to Istanbul? It seems that's the only thing they care about," noted the expert.
The conflict between Belarus and Russia became so serious that it could even threaten Belarusian sovereignty.

Relations between Moscow and Minsk have seriously deteriorated over the past few months. Experts and publicists offer a number of reasons that could push Russia to the attempt to annex Belarus.

According to TSN, during a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Forum in early December, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko went for a public dispute with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the price of gas.

In just a month, the conflict between Belarus and Russia became so serious that it could even threaten Belarusian sovereignty. The relevant statements do not come from experts or journalists, but from Lukashenko himself.

The Russian Federation has stepped up its activities under the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State of 1999, according to which the Russian Federation and Belarus are to create a Confederation with a single political, economic, military, customs, monetary, judicial, cultural and other systems. In fact, this means merging the two countries into one state. Almost all Belarusian and Russian political experts are confident the Kremlin has begun active work to prepare for the actual seizure of Belarus.

Analysts and political consultants offer a number of reasons why Russia has intensified these efforts today.

1. Increasing pressure on Ukraine

Ukraine and Belarus share a 975-km border. Since the beginning of Russian aggression in 2014, the Ukrainian-Russian border has been a soft spot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly assured that Russian troops will never invade Ukraine from his territory, giving certain guarantees to this end. However, in the case of Belarus acceding [to Russia], Ukraine will face an almost 1000-km borderline, through which Russian troops can potentially be deployed.

Ukrainian experts are raising the alarm and urging the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to be ready for such a development. However, they do not believe in a full-scale invasion from the north.

Read alsoLukashenko: Belarus ready to "engage" in Donbas conflict settlement

"As for Belarus as a springboard for some large-scale offensive against Ukraine, this is not particularly convenient, because, fortunately, it's Polissia that separates us. And Polissia is not a very convenient military theater  it's forests and swamps," Ukrainian MP, coordinator of the Information Resistance OSINT group Dmytro Tymchuk wrote on Facebook.

At the same time, he emphasizes that Lukashenko's declared "friendship" with Ukraine might change at short notice due to Russian pressure.

2. Corridor to Kaliningrad and provoking NATO

The Kaliningrad region is a Russian exclave formed after WW2, surrounded by EU member states. Russia does not have a land corridor to this area, and therefore Russians living there are forced to travel by air or obtain Schengen visas to get to other parts of Russia. Although the Kaliningrad region does not share a border with Belarus, it is separated from it only by a 100km-long Suvalki corridor.

NATO considers this sector of the border of Poland and Lithuania the most vulnerable piece, since the potential seizure of the corridor by Russia will in fact cut off Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia from other Allies, which will create comfortable conditions for Russia for creating a land corridor to Kaliningrad region, where Russia has deployed strategic nuclear weapons, and which could be used as a springboard to seize the Baltic States.

According to experts, the presence of a buffer zone  Belarus, Ukraine, and the Caucasus countries  between Russia and NATO is important from the security perspective, creating a fuse to prevent even the smallest border conflicts. At the same time, Russia is committed to constantly putting pressure on NATO.

Moscows goal is to turn Belarus into a "gray zone," the territory of instability, a source of risks and threats for neighboring countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, and Poland) and at the same time  into the Russian military-strategic base in confrontation with the EU and NATO says director of the Minsk Center for Strategic and Foreign Policy Studies Arseny Sivitsky.

Read alsoWill Russia be able to swallow Belarus

The seizure of Belarus could be a strategic step for the Kremlin in their geopolitical confrontation with NATO Allies and possible plans for further expansion into other countries.

3. Putin trying to retain top office

In 2024, presidential elections will be held in Russia. At that time, President Putin will be 72 and, according to the constitution, he will not have the right to run for a third term. Therefore, the Kremlin is now actively working on how to legally allow Putin to remain in power after 2024. One of such methods is the creation of the Union State, which he will head.

The agreement, which was signed at the end of 1999, provides for a new Constitution and, if he wishes so, Putin could actually start from scratch, as they say. In Russia, this scenario is really being considered as an option for him to remain in power, says Belarusian journalist Denis Lavnikevich.

This option is most of most concern to the West, as evidenced by reports in leading Western media. Belarus is constantly criticized for Lukashenko's authoritarian regime, but Putins regime is even worse for them.

4. Territorial expansion

One of the most trivial reasons, but not the least, is simply gaining new territories. From a geopolitical point of view, they are important for advancing Russian interests in Europe and putting pressure on the EU.

At the same time, the Kremlin might as well try to use territorial expansion to boost Putin's ratings, as it already happened with Russia attacking Ukraine in 2014. Now, due to pension reform and economic and social issues piling up, public support of the Russian president is steadily declining.

Read alsoLukashenko: Rumors of Belarus-Russia unification far-fetched

A number of well-known industrial and agricultural centers of Belarus, as well as almost 10 million of its population, are of interest to Russia.

5. Blackmailing Minsk

In fact, aggressive statements and serious efforts could aim at maintaining grip on Belarus, which Russia feels is gradually shifting away from its orbit. Recently, the Belarusian authorities began to intensify relations with the EU and the USA.

Minsk is really firmly aware that, if they fail to establish stable relations with a few world leaders, in particular with those of (the European Union) and the United States, amid the ongoing political upheavals, Russians could deprive us of sovereignty, head of the Belarusian analytical center Minsk Dialogue Yevgeny Preygerman told Foreign Policy.

In addition, China is also investing huge amounts in Belarus, creating joint projects and providing soft loans.

The Russian Federation has already deployed its huge propaganda machine, aimed at spreading public threats and discrediting Belarus. In particular, Russian TV channels are already talking about Belarusian "Russophobes" and "protection of the Russian-speaking population," just like they did back in 2014.
Moscow believes they have a right to send their observers to Ukraine.

Russia will seek that Ukraine allow access of Russian observers to monitor presidential elections, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.

There are international institutions to this end, including the OSCE/ODIHR, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which, in particular, sets up observation missions in elections held in OSCE member states, Karasin said at a press conference in Moscow, according to Radio Liberty.

Read alsoPoroshenko: Kremlin banks on undermining Ukraine from within, will make use of 2019 elections

"There is international law and an internationally established practice, according to which our observers have the right to participate in the procedure for monitoring the Ukrainian elections. We will proceed from this," said Karasin.

Earlier, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation sent to the Russian Foreign Ministry a list of possible members of the OSCE monitoring mission at the presidential elections in Ukraine. Lavrov claims that Moscow received an invitation to the Ukrainian elections.

In turn, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin said that Kyiv would not accept applications from Russian observers.
Ukraine's Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Vsevolod Chentsov signed the document on behalf of the Ukrainian government.

Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, and Malaysia have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the financial support for the prosecution of MH17, a Malaysian Boeing shot down by Russian-led forces in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, in summer 2014.

"The signatories arrange to jointly finance the proceedings connected with the prosecution in the Netherlands of those suspected of downing flight MH17 in light of the international nature of the tragedy and the goal of capturing the harm done to all victims and making the legal proceedings as accessible as possible to all next of kin of the victims," the memorandum reads.

Ukraine's Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Vsevolod Chentsov signed the document on behalf of the Ukrainian government.

The signatories decided to establish a Financial Oversight Committee, which will "be composed of representatives of the Government of Australia, the Government of Belgium, the Government of Malaysia, the Government of the Netherlands and the Government of Ukraine, and may also include representatives of the Government of those grieving nations  those countries which lost one or more nationals aboard flight MH17  have financially contributed to the prosecution."

Read alsoRussia accused of hacking attempts into MH17 crash investigation

The Financial Oversight Committee will meet in principle twice a year in The Hague. Member states of the Financial Oversight Committee in The Hague will cooperate and be closely associated with the work of the Committee.

The expenditures for the public prosecutors, the judiciary and witness protection will be solely borne by the Netherlands and will not be subject to any oversight by the Financial Oversight Committee.

The memorandum became effective on the date of signature by the signatories on January 22.

It will remain in effect for five years and will be extended for successive two years periods, as deemed necessary by the signatories.

As was reported, the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, 2014 in Donetsk region, Ukraine, resulted in the tragic loss of 298 lives, including 80 children.
Ukraine marks the Day of Unity on January 22, the day when the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (WUPR) signed a Unification Act in 1919.

The holiday was officially established in 1999, taking into account the great political and historical significance of the unification of the UPR and WUPR for the formation of a single Ukrainian state. In 2011, the Day of Unity was merged with the Freedom Day, celebrated earlier on November 22, into the Day of Unity and Freedom of Ukraine. However, in 2014, President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree restoring the holiday as the Day of Unity of Ukraine.

This year, in the centennial of the signing of the Unification Act, this holiday is celebrated under the slogan "Together of our own free will since 1919."

In the modern Ukrainian national calendar, the date of January 22 occupies one of the leading places and has a deep symbolic meaning - the eternal dream of Ukrainians for free life in an independent and united state.

On January 22, 1918, the Universal of the Central Rada proclaimed the independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic. A year later, on January 22, 1919, an Act of Unification of Ukrainian lands into a single Ukraine was declared on Sofiyska Square in Kyiv. The two former UPR and WUPR, formed after the collapse of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires, were united into a single Ukrainian state.

However, the unification of Ukraine was purely symbolic. A few weeks after the proclamation of the Unification Act, the Bolsheviks seized Kyiv, the Poles later occupied Eastern Galicia, and the Czechoslovakia took control of Transcarpathia.

The first celebration of the Unity Day took place on January 22, 1939, in Carpatho-Ukraine (the town of Khust), then the autonomous republic of Czechoslovakia. On that day, 30,000 people arrived in the capital of Carpatho-Ukraine from all parts of the region to hold a manifestation under blue and yellow flags and recall the events of 20 years ago.

A vivid example of unity, the will of the Ukrainian people to freedom was a human chain organized by the patriotic forces on January 21, 1990, to mark the 71st anniversary of the proclamation of the Unification Act. Millions of Soviet Ukrainians were holding hands from Kyiv to Lviv, celebrating the Day of Unity.

Since then, Ukraine has seen human chains on a number of occasions, symbolizing the unity of the Ukrainian people. The Day of Unity is now celebrated at the state level every year.
Andrius Kubilius is one of the four candidates nominated by the governments to the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe. It is a Lithuanian politician, former prime minister, and now deputy of the Sejm of Lithuania, who the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE supports in the election of a new head of the Council of Europe.

Kubilius initiated and co-sponsored the so-called Marshall Plan for Ukraine, which is aimed at attracting multibillion-dollar international investment for the sake of European development of the state and advancement of reforms.

The Lithuanian politician spoke in an exclusive interview with Ukrinform's correspondent in Strasbourg about his vision of the future of the Council of Europe, the West's strategy towards Russia, and prospects for Ukraine's membership of the EU.

Question: Mr Kubilius, you are a candidate for the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The organization is now going through a period of crisis amid Russia's aspirations to undermine European values and use blackmail. What is your vision of the future of the Council of Europe in such difficult circumstances?

Answer: My understanding of the Council of Europe is very simple. This year, the organization will mark the 70th anniversary of its creation. We have to look at what the Council of Europe has achieved for these 70 years. But a lot has been done. We - Lithuania - are the product of its success. What the state has achieved over the past 30 years of independence was in many ways thanks to the Council of Europe. We have learned to develop democracy, establish human rights, the rule of law. And the Council of Europe was very helpful here. Moreover, the Council of Europe is the organization that helped us prepare for membership in the European Union. It was connected.

The organization has clear ambitions that were included in the Statute of the Council of Europe back in 1949. It is about uniting Europe around the values of human rights, democracy, the rule of law. And it is happening, but gradually. Lithuania has managed to join this association earlier. Ukraine is undergoing a longer transformation. Russia initially moved forward but now returns to a status where democracy was thrown into question.

Q: After all, does the Council of Europe have a future?

A: If we look at the next 70 years... Here I have a very simple vision. I have a personal goal. I may not live until 2089, when the 140th anniversary of the creation of the Council of Europe will be marked, but I imagine that we will live in a Lithuania more prosperous, democratic and surrounded by the same democratic states and neighbors. This will mean that the global security issue will be removed from the agenda. Because democracies are not fighting each other. But so far, this is a big problem in our region. And Ukraine knows this better than me.

So, the Council of Europe must have a very clear vision of its goal and ambition in order to establish the values of democracy and human rights in the wider area of the European continent.

There is something to think about, in particular, about how to reform the Council of Europe in order to make it effective in achieving such a global goal.

Q: Do you have a specific program for this?

A: The program is very simple. First and foremost, the Council of Europe must clearly realize the need to strengthen the work of protecting one of the core values - democracy. Today, we see problems with this in Old Europe, and there are even more problems in New Europe, in our region.

Ukraine is still undergoing transformation into a stable democracy. But there are regions where such a level has not been achieved.

Secondly, it is necessary to take care of the authority of the Council of Europe. The organization must remain a pendulum of values and rules, as enshrined in the human rights convention. It should be a place for dialogue. But the price of dialogue cannot be so big that the Council of Europe loses its foundation of values.

Unfortunately, Russia is now trying to raise the issue of what is more important.

Q: Given Russia's behavior, the violation of international rules by the Kremlin regime, aggression against Ukraine and the hybrid war against the West in general, is there a place for this state within the Council of Europe?

A: When accusations are made against me, in particular, from Russia itself, that Kubilius is unfit as a candidate for the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe because he is anti-Russian, I answer that, on the contrary, I feel very pro-Russian. In the sense that we have a very clear interest in helping Russia develop according to democratic rules. After all, this is a question of our security. What Russia is doing now is blackmailing the Council of Europe.

Of course, it is up to Russia itself to decide whether to remain in the Council of Europe. The organization can speak very specifically with the Russian side about the conditions that must be met so that the PACE lifts sanctions on the Russian delegation. In 2014, Russia demonstrated that European values are worth nothing for it. Therefore, Russia should show that it understood its mistakes, that it will change its ways. Only then can the Parliamentary Assembly take certain steps to meet Russia halfway.

The West must have a long-term strategy for Russia, which is experiencing difficult times. This strategy should be aimed at helping Russia become a European state with democratic values.

Q: What's the essence of such a strategy?

A: I see only one thing. It is the investment of resources, including financial ones, in the creation of a zone of successful states on the borders with Russia - starting with Ukraine. In my opinion, this is the only tool that can really influence the behavior of Russia, its authorities and the attitude of Russian citizens in general. That's how we need to help them. And the successes of Ukraine are very important here.

Q: You are the initiator and author of a European investment plan, which is also symbolically referred to as the Marshall Plan for Ukraine. How is this initiative promoted? It is optimistically seen by international partners and donors?

A: The West sometimes loses in the fact that it does not know how to conduct strategic communications on its policies. And the Marshall Plan is also a particular hostage to the lack of good communications. But we managed to show the West and the Ukrainian leadership that the question now is not about new money. It's about how to help Ukraine implement projects, including infrastructure projects, using the money that has already been promised and planned so that these resources could be used effectively to implement these projects.

Q: What amounts are you talking about?

A: Major donors, including the European Commission, are now counting that the issue concerns about EUR 8 billion of unused funds. The main task is to create a system for the proper use of these finances. International donors, the government of Ukraine, banks are now working on this. The case is confidently moving forward. We see progress but strategic communication about the Marshall Plan is very weak. We have to work.

Q: Ukraine has entered a very difficult election year. Presidential candidates include outspoken populists, comedians, as well as representatives of pro-Russian forces. What do you make of the prospects for the European path of the state under such conditions?

A: This is the first so-called post-revolutionary election. It is usually very complicated. I cannot speak for Ukrainians what politicians are the best for them. But it is important for Ukraine to keep in mind very clear criteria - who will continue pro-European reforms, and who can prove their will and competence in advancing these reforms? These are the main questions.

Ukrainians need to follow their European path. But the West must also very clearly build its strategic communication. It should show Ukraine what it can achieve if it continues reforms.

Therefore, we have added a new component to the current Marshall Plan. It is the second part, which is called 'Ukraine 2027.' This plan, which we could discuss in Ukraine even before the election, is very clear. 2027 is the year when Lithuania will hold its second presidency of the European Union. Before us, Poland will hold the presidency in 2025. Lithuania and Poland now discuss the need for creation of such a strategic link. That is, both countries may raise during their presidency an ambitious question so that the EU can reach a very concrete decision on Ukraine's further integration into the community. We will try to do this, but on condition that Ukraine will fulfill its homework until 2025-2027. There is a window of opportunity.

Andriy Lavreniuk, Strasbourg
Lithuania and Poland will promote in the European Union a strategic initiative for giving Ukraine the EU membership prospects in 2027.

"We have added a new component to the current Marshall Plan [for Ukraine]. It is the second part, which is called Ukraine 2027. This plan, which we could discuss in Ukraine even before the election, is very clear. 2027 is the year when Lithuania will hold its second presidency of the Council of the European Union. Before us, Poland will hold the presidency in 2025. Lithuania and Poland now discuss the need for creation of such a strategic link. That is, both countries may raise during their presidency an ambitious question so that the EU can reach a very concrete decision on Ukraine's further integration into the community," Andrius Kubilius, the candidate for the position of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, former prime minister of Lithuania, said in an interview with an Ukrinform correspondent in Strasbourg.

Kubilius clarified he meant giving Ukraine specific prospects for EU membership.

"We will try to do this, but on condition that Ukraine will fulfill its homework assignment until 2025-2027. There is a window of opportunities," Kubilius noted.

The so-called Marshall Plan for Ukraine, initiated and authored by Andrius Kubilius, provides for raising billions of dollars in the international investment to Ukraine for the implementation of infrastructure projects and European reforms.
The Cabinet of Ministers, on the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, has approved the decision to terminate three agreements on economic cooperation signed as part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the ministry's press service has reported.

"This is the agreement on the interstate exchange of economic information, the agreement on exchange of information in the field of foreign economic activity and the agreement on cooperation in the field of foreign economic activity," the report says.

It notes that a respective draft resolution was drawn up by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to implement the presidential decree on the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of May 2, 2018 regarding the termination of certain international treaties concluded by Ukraine within the Commonwealth of Independent States.

According to the report, the agreement on the interstate exchange of economic information, which was signed in Minsk on June 26, 1992, and the agreement on exchange of information in the field of foreign economic activity, which was signed in Moscow on September 24, 1993, provided for the establishment of an exchange of relevant economic information and statistical data among CIS member states.

After the analysis of these agreements, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and other government agencies came to the conclusion that in modern times, these agreements have already lost their practical value and are not applicable since the necessary and potentially useful economic information is available on the official websites of executive government agencies of Ukraine and relevant international organizations Ukraine is a member of.

The third international agreement within the CIS, the effect of which has now been terminated for Ukraine by the Cabinet of Ministers, is the agreement on cooperation in the field of foreign economic activity, which was signed in Tashkent on May 15, 1992. This document envisaged that the CIS countries would jointly coordinate their policies and cooperate in the implementation of foreign economic activities with third countries and international organizations. The agreement also defined the need for consultations among CIS countries to establish contacts and conduct negotiations on membership in other international economic and financial organizations.

"However, Ukraine currently has a number of priority commitments in the field of international trade as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as as part of the Association Agreement with the EU, and a number of clauses of the agreement on cooperation in the field of foreign economic activity within the CIS contradict these commitments. In order to overcome this contradiction, the effect of the said agreement has been terminated for Ukraine," the ministry said.

According to a Ukrainian government decision, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry should inform the CIS Executive Committee about the termination of the three agreements for Ukraine, the ministry added.

On January 10, Ukraine terminated the agreement on the development of exhibition and fair activities in the CIS.

On May 2, 2018, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine endorsed the proposals to end Ukraine's participation in the activities of the CIS coordinating bodies. The NSDC also instructed the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to take measures in accordance with the established procedure regarding the termination of certain intergovernmental agreements.

On May 19, 2018, President Petro Poroshenko signed the decree on the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of May 2, 2018 regarding the termination of certain international treaties concluded by Ukraine within the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Israel does not supply rifles to Ukraine, and some Ukrainian enterprises for the production of rifles are licensed by Israeli companies.

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lion said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

We do not supply rifles to Ukraine, he said.

The ambassador added that it was fake information on the supply of rifles by Israel.

Ukrainian enterprises produce high-quality rifles, some of them are licensed by Israeli companies, but we do not supply rifles to Ukraine, Lion said.

Answering a question about the possible deepening of cooperation between Ukraine and Israel in the defense sector, the ambassador noted that media outlets were not the place to discuss defense and military issues.
By Janice Phelan, January 23, 2019





Students participating in the Missouri Innovation Campus have more opportunities to earn a bachelors degree in a high-wage, in-demand field while significantly reducing the time to graduate. The recognized program, located in the state-of-the-art Lees Summit campus, added a bioinformatics program this school year and will launch software engineering next year.



The Missouri Innovation Campus (MIC) is a partnership involving the University of Central Missouri (UCM), the Lees Summit R-7 School District, Metropolitan Community College and more than 50 industry-leading corporate partners. Through the MIC, students earn a bachelors degree from UCM just two years after high school, reduce student debt and gain real-world experience through three-year, paid internships with corporate partners.



Students participating in the new programs, as well as other MIC programs, begin their journey by enrolling in coursework at Summit Technology Academy, a high-school program located within the Missouri Innovation Campus building and operated by the Lees Summit R-7 School District.



Bioinformatics is a growing field with entry-level salaries ranging from $55,000 to $65,000 annually. The program at the Missouri Innovation Campus is considered unique within this area.



By analyzing the data generated within the healthcare field, bioinformatics professionals work to identify trends in patient treatment and research, ultimately improving patient outcomes and health.



This program is for students who have a desire to use bioscience and computer science skills together, said Stan Elliott, MIC director. Students learn to become detectives as they analyze data and look for trends.



This spring, high-school juniors and seniors will begin enrolling in the newest program at the MIC -- software engineering. Also a high-demand, well-paying career field, students can expect to earn from $60,000 to $70,000 annually after earning their bachelors degree.



The software engineering degree, offered through UCM, is accredited by ABET (Accredited Board for Engineering and Technology), a nonprofit organization ensuring that university programs meet quality standards while preparing graduates for the workforce.



This new program provides very rigorous math and science coursework so that our students can be successful in the software engineering field, Elliott said.



By 2019-20, the Missouri Innovation Campus program will offer six bachelors programs designed to reduce students cost and time spent in college while providing on-the-job, paid internships. In addition to bioinformatics and software engineering, MIC students have the opportunity to earn bachelors degrees from the University of Central Missouri in systems engineering technology, drafting and design technology, computer science and cybersecurity.
As quickly as it started, it looks to be over.

Friday, Public Utilities Minister -- Marvin Gonzales met with the management of WASA.
- The three were charged with terrorism after their arrest in Michigan

- One of them is said to have been arrested at the airport ready to fly to Somalia

- They intended to join ISIS to partake in killing of innocent lives

- They are naturalised US citizens who emigrated from Kenya

- If convicted, they could be imprisoned for 20 years

Three residents of Michigan said to be born in Kenya were on Monday, January 21, arrested in Grand Rapids, Michigan state, US Justice Department said.

The three identified as Muse Abdikadir Muse, 23, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 20, and Mohamed Salat Haji, 26, were then charged with terrorism on Tuesday, January 22.

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READ ALSO: Reformed al-Shabaab militia reveals tactics used by terror group to train suicide bombers

According to reports by Michigan radio, one of them, Muse Abdikadir Muse was planning to fly from Grand Rapids to Somalia, allegedly to join ISIS.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: 23-year-old al-Shabaab trainee surrenders to police in Nakuru

According to reports by Michigan Radio, one of them, Muse Abdikadir Muse known to his peers as Muse Muse was arrested at Gerald R. Ford Airport.

He was about to take a series of flights that would have eventually landed him in Mogadishu, Somalia, allegedly to later join ISIS, according to a federal complaint.

In its complaint, the Justice Department said Muse Muses co-conspirators, Mohamud Abdikadir and Mohamed Salat aided in the purchase of the ticket and drove him to the airport.

READ ALSO: GSU officer who warmed Kenyan's hearts during DusitD2 attack gives credit to team

This was despite them knowing their colleague was to join and fight for the terrorist organisation.

They were harged with providing material support to a foreign terror group.

The US government also asserted the men pledged allegiance to ISIS in videos and that Muse Muse and Haji allegedly discussed with each other their desire to join the terrorism organisation.

READ ALSO: Destructive revenge mission in Busia after boy, 16, is killed while visiting girlfriend at night

It is reported they intended to kill innocent lives and even to potentially use a car for a martyrdom operation to run down people in the US if they could not travel overseas.

If convicted, the men could be imprisoned for 20 years.

Further reports indicated investigations began in April 2016 after FBI agents found pro-ISIS writings on Mohamud Muse's Facebook page.

READ ALSO: Three Kenyans arrested at US airport over connections with ISIS

They were later contacted by an FBI agent posing as an ISIS recruiter, according to the federal complaint.

Muse Muse's airfare was KSh 183, 000 and the family asked the ISIS recruiter to contribute KSh 123,000, officials said.

The FBI said it came through with the remaining money to help buy the ticket.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

My Husband Died On My Daughters Birthday-Meg C| Tuko TV.

Source: Tuko
This is a long overdue letter of thanks to the Public Health Department of the Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development of the THA.

We, the residents of Calder Hall Trace, Scarborough, have long enjoyed excellent service from the sanitation workers who operate in our neighbourhood.
Todays Labour Day is the second to be observed under conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year, imposition of a 19-hour curfew as part of the current state of emergency makes for even greater stringency against public activity.
IT was a Christmas Eve-like atmosphere in supermarkets yesterday as people rushed out to stock up on supplies for the Labour Day and Fathers Day weekend during which curfew hours have been extended.

During today which marks the Labour Day holiday and Fathers Day which is tomorrow, people are only permitted to be outdoors between the hours of 5.01 a.m. to 10.01 a.m.

The curfew in effect on these days is 10.02 a.m. to 5 a.m. the following day.

Even though there was a plea by Supermarket Association president Rajiv Diptee not to crowd the supermarkets yesterday, he said most of his member stores described the last-minute rush like Christmas Eve.
Three Opposition MPs are calling on the Government and the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to have a heart and stop disconnecting the water supply of errant customers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein yesterday wrote to WASAs executive director Lennox Sealey urging him to suspend the drive and display humanity as people are suffering and strapped for cash in the pandemic given the lockdowns.
The Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago president Rajiv Diptee is urging the public not to rush to the supermarkets today as the curfew hours for this weekend have been adjusted.

On Labour Day and Fathers Day, persons are only permitted to be outdoors between the hours of 5.01  10.01 a.m. The curfew in effect on these days is 10.02 a.m. to 5 a.m. the following day.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, January 23

The US is facing an increasingly complex and uncertain world in which threats are becoming ever more diverse and interconnected, Americas top spy master said on Wednesday.

Daniel Coats, Director of National Intelligence, said said these threats range from geopolitical competition to weapon of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation, violent extremism and intra and interstate conflict to regional instability.

The strategic environment is changing rapidly, and the US faces an increasingly complex and uncertain world in which threats are becoming ever more diverse and interconnected, said Coats in the latest National Intelligence Strategy released on Wednesday.

He said these threats come from Americas long-standing adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, among others, and new adversaries, including terrorist groups and other non-state actors.

We also see threats from cyber-space, and adversaries using emerging, disruptive technologies against us. These threats are aimed at: our presence abroad; our national security infrastructure; our critical public infrastructure; and our private sector; and our American public, Coats said.

The spy master said America needs to become more agile in how it employs its staff internally, and bring new talent onboard.

We will expand and strengthen our partnerships outside the IC, to leverage the talent, and unique skill sets that exist beyond the federal government, he said.

We are developing innovative policies to harness talent in ways we never have before. Given the threats we face, we simply cannot ignore the advantage that partnerships outside of the federal government bring to the IC, he added.

As per the National Intelligence strategy, no longer a solely US domain, the democratisation of space poses significant challenges for the United States and the intelligence community.

Adversaries are increasing their presence in this domain with plans to reach or exceed parity in some areas, it said.

For example, Russia and China will continue to pursue a full range of anti-satellite weapons as a means to reduce US military effectiveness and overall security, the strategy says.

Increasing commercialisation of space now provides capabilities that were once limited to global powers to anyone that can afford to buy them. Many aspects of modern society  to include our ability to conduct military operations  rely on our access to and equipment in space, it added. PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

New York, January 23

Two Saudi sisters whose bodies were found taped together on the banks of a New York river committed suicide, the citys medical examiner said on Tuesday.

Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black with fur-trimmed coat collars.

They were tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape.

My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River, Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said.

After their deaths, a police official appeared to confirm that the sisters had applied for asylum, but did not provide further detail.

Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabias US embassy in Washington, tweeted that Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in NY), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false.

They had run away several times from their familys home in Virginia, where they had not lived since the end of 2017.

The sisters had been placed in a shelter but left Virginia in August and set out for New York.

There, they stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card, according to an NYPD spokesman quoted by US media.

A witness reportedly saw the two young women early on October 24 on a playground near the Hudson, where they appeared to be praying.

US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is one of the worlds most restrictive countries for women, a situation highlighted this month by the case of Rahaf Mohammed.

The teenager fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse from her family in the kingdom, and received asylum in Canada.  AFP
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

AACHEN, January 22

The leaders of France and Germany signed a new treaty on Tuesday to update their 1963 post-war reconciliation accord, aiming to reinvigorate the European Unions main axis as growing eurosceptic nationalism tests the blocs cohesion.

At a warm ceremony in the German border city of Aachen, a historical symbol of European concord, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron sought to show they are ready to give fresh leadership to the troubled EU project.

The leaders want the 16-page Aachen Treaty, negotiated over the past year to update the 1963 Elysee Treaty of post-war reconciliation, to give an impulse to European unity that has been strained by Brexit, immigration and the euro zone crisis.

We are doing this because we live in special times and because in these times we need resolute, distinct, clear, forward-looking answers, said Merkel, noting Aachen was home to Charlemagne, whom she dubbed the father of Europe.

Macron added: At a time when Europe is threatened by nationalism, which is growing from within, when Europe is shaken by the pains of Brexit and worried by global changes that go far beyond the national level ... Germany and France must assume their responsibility and show the way forward.

Short on detail, the treaty extension commits to closer foreign and defence policy ties but does little to push forward euro zone economic reform.

The Aachen document stipulates that it will be a priority of German-French diplomacy for Germany to be accepted as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Germany has for years sought greater influence within the international body, to which its closest allies the US, Britain and France belong.

While making clear that Germany and France remain committed to the EU and NATO defence alliance, the agreement also signals that Berlin and Paris will combat efforts by some nationalist politicians in Europe to erode the 28-nation EU.

Facing new challenges from US President Donald Trump in the United States as well as EU governments in Italy, Poland and Hungary, Merkel and Macron are keen to head off any breakthrough for eurosceptic parties in a European Parliament vote in May.  Reuters

Fresh impetus to European unity
editorial@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

Fazilka, January 22

Members of the Bawaria Samaj Community under the banner of the All-India Bawaria Samaj Sangathan staged a protest outside the District Administrative Complex here on Tuesday, demanding arrest of the accused in the murder case of a shepherd.

State unit president of the sangathan Sarban Singh alleged that a 20-year-old shepherd, Kirpal Singh, belonging to their community was killed at Chahlanwali village of Fazilka district on November 10.

A case under Section 302 of the IPC was registered against unidentified persons. The police failed to nab the culprits and instead tortured a 14-year-old boy belonging to the deceased family by keeping him in police custody for eight days, alleged Sarban Singh.

He alleged that they informed the police about the identity of the accused, who is an Akali leader, but the police was hesitant to take action. They sought registration of a case under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act for torturing the minor. They warned that if their demands were not accepted, they would launch an agitation on February 6.
editorial@tribune.com

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

Following feedback from party legislators in the recently concluded pre-budget meetings about poor pace of development works, courtesy the bureaucracy, the Congress government has stepped up efforts to expedite the works.

It has asked its ministers to lay the foundation stones of projects on the eve of the Republic Day across the state.

The legislators had also sought the active involvement in loan waiver schemes and development works in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls. A decision to involve them in such affairs has already been taken.

On the basis of feedback about disconnect between the MLAs and government agencies undertaking the works, several steps are being undertaken in the coming days.

In todays meeting of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh with deputy commissioners, the officers have been handed over a list of works which are complete and yet to be inaugurated and those where foundation stones are to be laid. The government has short-listed such projects in 14 districts.

While the CM would be in Patiala to preside over the Republic Day function, ministers going for functions in 13 other districts have been asked to undertake inaugurals or foundation stone laying ceremonies a day or two prior to the Republic Day.

Among the projects short-listed include the BRTS project in Amritsar, inauguration of a project to convert 100 schools into smart schools in Gurdaspur, road upgrading projects in Jalandhar and widening of Garshankar-Anandpur Sahib road in Nawanshahr and opening of a flyover in Ludhiana.

Loan waiver event deferred

The state-level function of the Chief Minister to launch loan waiver scheme for small farmers at Mehraj in Bathinda has been rescheduled to January 27 or January 28 due to inclement weather. Another state-level function on the loan waiver has been planned at Ropar.

Respect elected representatives, DCs told
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday protested against Pakistans proposal to allow only Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, pointing out that Guru Nanak was a universal guru, revered by followers of all religions, especially Hindus.

The Chief Minister has urged the Centre to take up the issue with Islamabad when the latter sends its draft agreement for regulating entry into its territory through the Kartarpur corridor.

In a statement issued here, Amarinder said while Islamabad was well within its rights to set terms and conditions relating to its territorial safety and security, it should take into consideration the fact that the first Sikh Gurus ideology is not confined to Sikhs but is emulated by people of all faiths.

The Sikh ethos prescribes non-discrimination, with even the concept of langar being casteless service for all, the Chief Minister said, adding that all gurdwaras are open to all, without religious bias.

A large number of Hindus in India are ardent followers of Guru Nanak, and it is their cherished dream to visit the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, he pointed out.

There was for years the tradition of Hindu families converting their eldest sons to Sikhism, the Chief Minister noted, adding that the influence of Sikhism in India was so strong that to exclude members of other religions was not something that the Pakistan government should even remotely consider. To keep such followers out of Kartarpur Sahib just because they are not Sikhs is not logical, he said, urging the Centre to take up the matter with the Pakistan government on priority.

Citing media reports of the draft agreement being prepared by the Pakistan government on entry through Kartarpur corridor, the Chief Minister also objected to the condition of the number of pilgrims proposed by them. It was not correct to limit the number of people to 15 a group, he said, adding that individual yatris should be permitted.

Advocating khulle darshan for devotees, he said the restriction of 500 pilgrims per day should also not be there, especially in November 2019, when the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak would be celebrated.

The Chief Minister also expressed concern at the reported clause making the passport imperative for travel by pilgrims. With Punjabs large rural population having no passports, such a move would deprive them of making the historic pilgrimage, he observed.

The Chief Minister urged the governments of India and Pakistan to sit across the table and thrash out all issues to facilitate smooth and hassle-free travel by pilgrims through the corridor before coming to a formal agreement.

Such regressive steps as were reportedly being considered by the Pakistan government to control entry through the corridor would negate the positive initiative taken by their government and it was up to the Indian government to resolve all such issues amicably so that the pilgrims got the maximum benefit from the historic decision of the two nations, Amarinder said.
editorial@tribune.com

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

Even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Sukhpal Khairas Punjabi Ekta Party (PEP) are separately wooing the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for an alliance, eyeing the nearly 34 per cent vote bank of the Dalit community, there is a question mark on whether the party is a force to reckon within the state?

The BSP has not won any Assembly or parliamentary seat in the last two decades in the state. Its vote percentage has decreased from 16.32 per cent in 1992 to just1.5 per cent in the 2017 Assembly elections. The party recorded 2 per cent vote percentage in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Many BSP leaders have done well only when they left the party. The SAD has three sitting MLAs, Pawan Teenu from Adampur, Baldev Singh Khaira from Phillaur and Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi from Banga, who started their career with the BSP. Similar examples are in other parties also.

The BSP had once established its major base in Punjab as its founder leader, Kanshi Ram, belonged to Hoshiarpur and won the Lok Sabha seat in 1989. The BSP remained into the reckoning till 1997 when it recorded its last Assembly election victory even if it was on one seat only. Since then, the party has been struggling to find its feet in the state. Analysts have at different times termed the party B-team of some main party.

While the support base is eroding, the party leaders claim to fame is victory of nearly 50 BSP leaders in the local bodies elections in September last year. Party president Rachpal Raju terms it a revival of the party, We won more seats than the AAP and even the main parties at some places, he said.

Another BSP leader Balwinder Singh said the party had got a raw deal by the media. He said no partys vote percentage could be termed permanent.

An Akali leader said though the BSP had very less presence but it could surely make an impact in certain pockets. The SAD had tried an alliance with the BSP but didnt pursue it much.

The Congress is still riding high on the landslide victory in the 2017 Assembly elections and has not tried to woo the party so far.
editorial@tribune.com

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has constituted a five-member committee to probe into the alleged nexus between officials and councillors. Complaints regarding exploitation of owners of commercial buildings after issuing them notices for building bylaws violations have come to the fore.

Taking cognisance of a report published in these columns on January 21, exposing the official-councillor nexus in clearing violations, Sidhu called a meeting of department officials today and marked the probe. It is learnt that notices were sent to the violators and then a deal was struck with them, allowing them to continue with the illegal constructions.

Talking to The Tribune, Sidhu said: We have constituted a five-member committee to look into the issue. The panel will report the names of the officials and councillors within a month.

The minister said: We are not divulging the names of the committee members in order to maintain secrecy. A special helpline number and an email ID will be announced within a week. Anyone with a complaint against any official or a councillor seeking illegal gratification can approach us. All complaints will be disposed of with an action taken report at the earliest.

A senior official said: The catch here is that these notices were issued by the building branch of the MC. Without mentioning any reason, these were withdrawn after the alleged acceptance of a bribe, which was against the official procedure to handle a departmental notice. Replies to the notices are filed, if at all, only after ascribing official reasons. I think besides getting to the persons behind the scam, we need to look into the missing links in the procedure of notices and action, if any.
harinder@tribunemail.com

Shahira Naim

ribune News Service

Varanasi, January 22

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today accused the Congress of allowing the loot of 85 paise out of every rupee of honest taxpayers money earmarked for development.

Addressing the 15th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), Modi, without naming former PM Rajiv Gandhi, said the ex-PM was aware of the fact that 85 paise out of every rupee meant for development vanished without percolating down to the people.

Hitting out at the Congress for not exhibiting any intent to check corruption, Modi said, The disease had been diagnosed, but the treatment was not honestly pursuedthings could have changed long ago had there been good intent.

Claiming that the entire money meant for development had been reaching the people during his rule, Modi said the situation had been changed with the help of technology. He said a sum of Rs 5.8 lakh crore was transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries under various schemes. Had the old arrangement continued, Rs 4.5 lakh crore of this amount would have vanished into thin air by now. Listing another achievement of his government, he said he had managed to eliminate around 7 crore fictitious beneficiaries who had been availing benefits under various government schemes.

Imagine a population more than the total population of countries like the UK, France or Italy existed only on paper, thus draining resources of the country, he said. These measures to check corruption under his rule were just a tip of the iceberg of the New India his rule had brought in, he said.

Talking about measures like e-passport, e-visa and simplified procedure to acquire PIO card or upgrade it to OCI card, PM Modi said such measures would help NRIs to actively participate in the change towards New India. We are in the process of relaxing norms as regards passport and visa.

Our embassies and consulates across the world are being connected with passport sewa project. It will prepare a centralised system for passport-related services for all. Now taking a step forward, work is on to issue chip-based e-passports, he added.
shalender@tribune.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22

With the recent release of Hamid Ansari from a Pakistani jail and Imran Warsi and Abdullah from Indian jails, Muhammad Yousaf is hoping he can go back to his family soon.

Pakistani national from Sindh Yousaf (64) was arrested in Rajasthan in April, 2013, when he travelled here to meet some relatives. Charged with possession of fake currency, he was lodged in the Alwar jail where he completed his sentence in February 2016. Since then he has been waiting for repatriation to Karachi to unite with his family, especially daughter Shumaila who is critically ill because of renal failure. Yousaf remains in detention in a makeshift facility in Alwar with no clarity about his fate.

Pakistani officials were granted consular access to him on May 21, 2013, and subsequently identified him as their national. According to Pakistani sources in December last year, Yousaf fell ill and was admitted to the intensive care unit of Alwar hospital.

Relatives say they were not allowed to meet him and accuse he was discharged from the hospital even before he could recover from his illness. Indian officials though argue that the case is still under trial in a civilian court under an independent judiciary, unlike the farcical military trial in Pakistan. He was provided full medical treatment. He is not in ICU as claimed by the Pakistani side, said an Indian official.

Yousafs family remains in touch with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad while Pakistani authorities claim to have sent some 28 note verbales to the Indian Foreign Ministry on the issue. It is inexplicable that an old and severely ill man, having completed his sentence nearly three years ago, should remain incarcerated and not allowed to rejoin his family where his young daughter is fighting for life. No reason on earth can justify this. The situation cries for immediate resolution, said a Pakistani official said.

An Official response is awaited from the Indian authorities about a possible reason for delay in his deportation. According to lists exchanged on January 1 this year under standard protocol, there are 537 Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails, while 249 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 98 fishermen are lodged in Indian jails.

According to India, 80 Pakistani prisoners who have completed their sentences await repatriation since their nationality is yet to be confirmed by Islamabad. Both sides have reconstituted the Joint Judicial Committee tasked with looking into the India-Pakistan prionsers issue.

Daughter fights for life in Karachi
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22

The Supreme Court today said it would take up petitions seeking review of its verdict allowing women of all age groups into the hill-top shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala in Kerala after January 30 as Justice Indu Malhotra was currently indisposed.

Refusing to grant urgent hearing to around 50 review petitions on the issue, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said Justice Malhotra was on medical leave till January 30 and it would be possible to take up the review petitions only after she resumed work.

The CJI was responding to advocate Mathew J Nedumparas plea for urgent hearing of the review petitions that were originally listed for hearing today but deleted from the list because of Justice Malhotras unavailability.

The Bench had earlier indicated it on January 15 when Nedumpara had mentioned the issue and demanded live streaming of the hearing of Sabarimala review petitions.

The Supreme Court in November said it would take up on January 22 in open court around 50 petitions seeking review of its Sabarimala verdict.

But a five-judge Bench headed by CJI Gogoi had said that there would be no stay on its September 28 verdict allowing entry of women of all age groups to the temple.

The Bench, which included Justice Rohinton Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, besides the CJI and Justice Malhotra, had said fresh writ petitions would be taken up after review petitions were decided. A Constitution Bench headed by then CJI Dipak Misra had on September 28 lifted the restriction on the entry of women into the temple, evoking a series of protests by women devotees of Lord Ayyappa.

The review petitioners contended that sheer uniqueness of the Sabarimala temple made it a fit case for grant of religious denomination status.
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 23

The Maharashtra government has earmarked Rs 100 crore for a memorial to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray which will come up at the former bungalow of Mumbai's mayor at Shivaji Park.

The title deed for property on which the former mayor's bungalow is located was formally handed over to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray by Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta at an event to formally kickstart the construction of the memorial.

Today was the 93rd birth anniversary of Bal Thackeray. The memorial coming up below the bungalow will be managed by the Bal Thackeray Memorial Trust managed by the Shiv Sena chief.

The occasion was marked by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray conducting Ganesh puja and Vastu puja to mark the construction of the memorial. The bhoomi poojan for the memorial is to be held next month.

Leaders of the Shiv Sena and the BJP were present on the occasion. Shiv Sena leaders said after the event that there were no political discussions.

While the BJP is keen on an alliance with the Shiv Sena for the Lok Sabha polls, the regional party has been threatening to go it alone.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 23

After years of speculation around her entry into politics, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday took the plunge when her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi named her party general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (East).

Priyanka will assume her new role from February.

The significant announcement came this morning soon after Rahul Gandhi reached his parliamentary segment Amethi post his return from the UAE trip.

The development opens the doors for Priyanka Gandhi to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from a family stronghold in UP amid talks that she may succeed her mother and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli.

Priyanka Gandhi just turned 47 on January 12 and had been actively involved in the party affairs in UP along with the former AICC general secretary in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad who was rested from UP today and shifted as general secretary in Haryana.

Along with Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul also named his friend and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia the AICC general secretary in-charge of UP (West).

In other reshuffles, Gandhi replaced Ashok Gehlot as party general secretary organisation after Gehlot took over as Rajasthan CM.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadras entry to politics has remained mired in speculation for years with the party always maintaining it is up to her to join politics when she chooses.

Priyanka is already the top political adviser to her brother and was with him in the recent meetings to finalise CM candidates in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh after the Congress won the three states.

Earlier, she was instrumental in talks that led to the entry of Manpreet Badal and Navjot Sidhu into the Congress.

Priyanka Gandhi is married to Robert Vadra, who is facing ED heat for a range of cases.

Moments after the appointment, Priyankas husband Robert Vadra posted a congratulations on his Facebook, saying Congratulations P...always by your side in every phase of life. Give it your best.

For long, it was believed in the Congress circles that Priyankas entry into politics was delayed due to the legal baggage of her husband.

Priyanka follows a familiar path in the Congress politics taking after her brother who too had his first role as Congress general secretary in-charge of frontal organisations. Parallel to his organisational role in the Congress, Rahul Gandhi also contested from Amethi Lok Sabha segment in 2004. He has since held on to Amethi.

With Priyankas appointment in AICC, theres active speculation in the Congress that she may be the partys next pick for Rae Bareli, which Sonia Gandhi has represented since 2004 after she vacated Amethi for her son.

The presence of the Gandhi brother and sister duo in AICC politics is set to reignite the BJP charge of the reign of dynastic politics in the Congress.
amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, January 23

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, challenging the appointment of former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana as Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The petition, filed by advocate M L Sharma and likely to come up for hearing this week, said the appointment was in contradiction to the law and Asthana be suspended in view of the pending investigation against him.

The Delhi High Court had on January 11 refused to quash the FIR lodged against Asthana on bribery allegations and set a 10-week deadline to complete the investigation.

The government on January 18, however, appointed Asthana as director of the BCAS, India's regulatory authority for civil aviation security.

The petition said Asthana was under investigation for taking bribes within his duty and his appointment is contradictory to the Classification, Control and Appeal (CCA) Rules 1965.

It said: "Instead of suspension within the CCA rule-1965, Asthana has been promoted and appointed as chief of BCAS by during the pendency of the investigation under Delhi High court in a FIR for bribe and corruption in his official duty.

"This has created a serious injury to the judicial and public office systems violating Articles 21 and 14 and destruction of faith in the three constitutional office of the country." The petition sought framing of a suitable guideline in case of termination of service of the CBI director saying that Prime Minister cannot take part in the deliberations due to conflict of interest.

The CBI Director is appointed by a high-powered Selection Committed comprising the Prime Minister, the CJI and the leader of largest opposition party.

"Instead of suspension, Asthana's appointment as BCAS Chief on January 18 is a clear case of personal interest of PM Modi in favour of Asthana and against Verma. Therefore, PM Modi have no legal and moral right to sit as member of the committee in which Asthana Vs Verma case has been decided," it said.

Asthana was booked on allegations of criminal conspiracy, corruption and criminal misconduct under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Asthana, a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer was at loggerheads with his boss former CBI Director Alok Verma for several months and both of them had levelled charges of corruption against each other.

In a controversial order on October 23, 2018, the government had divested the powers of Verma and Asthana sending them on forced leave as both had accused each other of corruption. - PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 23

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has been given additional charge of Ministries of Finance and Corporate Affairs, the portfolios held by Arun Jaitley.

Jaitley, who in the US for treatment, will be minister without portfolio.

As per a Rashtrapati Bhawan release, The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, hereby directed that during the period of indisposition of Arun Jaitley, Minister; the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs held by him, be temporarily assigned to Piyush Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios.

Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, Arun Jaitley be designated as Minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time he is able to resume his work as Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs, it added.

The Interim Budget for 2019-20 would be presented in Parliament on February 1.

Meanwhile, sources said Arun Jaitley has undergone surgery at a hospital in New York on Tuesday. He has been advised at least two weeks' rest by the doctors, they added.

Jaitley, who had unexpectedly left for the US on January 13, has undergone tests for soft tissue cancer, sources said. Even during this time, he has been active on social media writing Facebook posts and tweeting about current issues.

Jaitley (66) had undergone a kidney transplant surgery on May 14 last, at AIIMS here and had not travelled abroad since then.

He was earlier this month named the publicity head of the BJP for the upcoming general elections.

Earlier on May 14, 2018, when Jaitley underwent a renal surgery and was out of the finance ministry for nearly 100 days, Goyal was given additional charge of the finance ministry.

Jaitley had stopped attending office since the beginning of April 2018.

On August 23, 2018, Jaitley returned as Finance Minister and in the next few months, he had limited public interaction in order to ward off any infection.

He has been the Finance Minister in the Modi government right from the time it came to power in May 2014. He, however, was a minister without a portfolio between May 14, 2018, and August 23, 2018.

A Rajya Sabha MP since 2000, he was re-elected to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh last year. He is also the leader of the House.

Jaitley had undergone a bariatric surgery soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The surgery, to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition, was first performed at Max Hospital, but he then had to be shifted to AIIMS because of complications. - With PTI inputs
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, January 22

BJP president Amit Shah today ridiculed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, claiming that there were nine prime ministerial candidates at the Opposition unity rally she had organised in Kolkata on Saturday.

Launching his partys Lok Sabha poll campaign in West Bengal at a rally in the communally sensitive Malda district, Shah said while the Oppositions agenda was to remove Narendra Modi from power, the Centre wanted to remove poverty and unemployment.

He claimed bringing in 20-25 leaders on one stage would not serve any purpose as Modi would become PM again. Without naming anyone, he said out of the 23 leaders, who attended the Brigade parade ground rally, nine were potential PM candidates. But, we have only one prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, he said. Shah dared Banerjee to make her stand on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill clear. Banerjee will oppose the Bill because she is only concerned about her vote bank, he alleged.

The BJP chief asked people to vote for the saffron party so that religious minorities from across the border driven to India because of majoritarian persecution could become legitimate citizens of India.

Shah said performance of the Banerjee government had been so miserable that people had now started thinking that the previous Left dispensation was better. He accused the Trinamool Congress government of destroying the states culture, and alleged that Banerjee had stopped his partys rath yatra because she was afraid that the BJP would grow in popularity.

Accusing Banerjee of attempting to scuttle his visit by refusing permission to land his helicopter at the Malda airport, Shah said he was prepared to make a speech from an airborne helicopter. The more you stop us and beat up our workers, the more the lotus will bloom in Bengal, he added. He said: Mahagathbandhan is all about greed and lust They want a majboor sarkar so that they can engage in corruption. We want a mazboot sarkarso that we can give a befitting reply to Pakistan. It is for the people to decide now.

Unwell, shah likely to skip Jhargram rally
amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, January 23

Retired Justice Madan B Lokur on Wednesday said he was disappointed that the December 12 decision of Supreme Court Collegium was not uploaded on the apex court's website.

On the non-elevation of high court judges, Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon to the Supreme Court, he said what happens in the Collegium is confidential and trust is an important factor.

Justice Lokur, who retired on December 30, 2018, said he didn't know what additional documents came after his retirement.

He rubbished the claim of nepotism in judiciary and said he didn't think that Collegium system has failed.

Justice Lokur said healthy discussions take place at Collegium meetings and agreements and disagreements are part of it.

Speaking at an interaction here, he said there is a need to bring some changes in the Collegium system. - PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 23

Amid the ongoing row over the possible return of the 17th Karmapa to India, Ogyen Trinley Dorje has passed the buck to the Indian authorities.

In a video message released on the occasion of the important annual Tibetan Buddhist festival of Kagyu Monlam, the Karmapa has claimed that he did approach the New York consulate last year with his newly-acquired Dominican passport to seek an Indian visa. This is contrary to Indian sources that argued that the Karmapa was not denied a visa because he did not apply for one in the first place.

On December 27 last, official sources said, "Instructions had been given to Indian missions in the United States to grant a visa to the Karmapa, but the first step had to be taken by him."

However, in his latest 35-minute video sermon recorded in Tibetan language in Germany and uploaded on YouTube with English voice overs, the 33-year-old Karmapa says "I have a new passport. Once I got the new one, my old document, the IC (Identity Certificate) became invalidated", referring to the Identity Certificate issued to Tibetan refugees to allow them to travel abroad without a national passport.

However, if the holder obtains a passport, like the Karmapa who is now a Dominican national, the IC becomes automatically invalid and has to be surrendered to the nearest Indian passport issuing authority which could be a mission or a consulate. "As that was the case, as soon as I got the new document, I went to the Indian embassy in New York to turn it to them. I went there and told them that I wanted to turn in my old document and further requested them to grant me visa in the new passport. But the people in that office said they were not authorised to do so and needed to ask the offices in Delhi about it. There was a lot of back and forth which took a bit of time and in the end, I could not get things done," adds the Karmapa in the message.

The Karmapa who has been overseas on grounds of 'medical treatment' for more than a year now, was to return to India in November last year for the 13th religious conference on Tibetan Buddhism in Dharamsala. In his sermon he talks about his 'great wish' to attend the conference and also to meet the Dalai Lama as well as 'some people of the Indian government'. The conference, however, was postponed due to the death of the seventh head of the Nyingmapa tradition, Kathok Getse Rinpoche. His return is an important issue given the Dalai Lama's frail health and questions around future of Tibetan Buddhism.
shalender@tribune.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 22

The Republic Day parade this year will witness a unique event as four veterans of Netaji Subhas Chandra Boses Indian National Army (INA) will be there in participation. There is no record of any such honour to the INA in the past.

The quartet, Laltiram (98) from Chandigarh; Parmanand (99), Hira Singh (97) and Bhaagmal (95), all from Gurugram, will get the place of pride in a jeep that will be in the parade sequence immediately after Param Vir Chakra (PVC) awardees, sources confirmed to The Tribune.

The PVC is the countrys highest battle-time honour instituted post-Independence. Only 21 persons have received the award so far.

The jeep carrying the PVC awardees is the first in the pecking order of the military march past down the Rajpath in New Delhi. The jeep carrying the PVC awardees comes immediately after the IAF helicopters that fly overhead.

Netaji quit as the Indian National Congress president in 1939 and formed the Forward Bloc before heading off to Germany after he had escaped from Kolkata. On October 21, 1943, he proclaimed the establishment of a provisional independent Indian government named the Azad Hind government and Azad Hind Fauj (INA).

Bose and the INA entered India with the Japanese and marched into Kohima in March 1944 before being defeated by the British. Netaji is believed to have died in a plane crash in August 1945.

In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, while commemorating the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of the Azad Hind government by Bose, met some INA veterans.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Balrampur (UP), January 23

Three policemen were suspended after an undertrial admitted to King Georges Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow, fled from custody, police said on Wednesday.

Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar said Vivek Tiwari, who was arrested for allegedly killing his wife, Renu, on April 13 last year, fled from the hospital on Tuesday where he was admitted.

Constables Arvind Kumar, Rajiv Sahu and Sanjay Yadav, who were accompanying Tiwari from Balrampur, were suspended for dereliction of duty, the SP said.

A manhunt was launched to nab the accused. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Mona

If you enjoyed the movie Hindi Medium, chances are that you would be interested in Uda Aida too. Love for ones mother tongue and keeping up with the Joneses theme for this one, albeit with a Punjabi tadka!

Actors Neeru Bajwa and Tarsem Jassar, director Ksshitij Chaudhary, writer Naresh Kathooria and Rrupali Gupta make one happy team as they got together to promote the film due to release on February 1. Love for the mother tongue and staying rooted to tradition are the overall themes explored in the movie.

Great package

Leading actress of Pollywood Neeru Bajwa came on board just not because the script was wonderful, but the whole package  writer, director, producer and Tarsem Jassar with whom she wanted to work with post Rabb Da Radio  everything fitted the bill. This producer, director is currently looking for a script, I really love to boss around, so definitely direction is on my mind, says the lady in all black.

Firmly rooted

Someone challenged Tarsem Jassar to recite Uda Aida and he obliges, Punjab ch jamme, pinda ch pale te sarkari schoolan to pade, Punjabi nal pyar te command puri hai (born in Punjab, growing up in villages and having studied in government schools, love and command on Punjabi is sure).

For the current generation not relating well to the language, he levels the blame on the parents, Parents happily claim that their wards are studying French or Spanish, wish we could all take the same pride in our language.

Real take

Its a story picked up from real-life, insists the writer Naresh Kathooria. When we started in the industry, Punjabi films were looked down upon and the language considered rather uncool, he says. Incidents with his own nephew made him weave this family drama that he is rather pleased with.

Happy times

Rrupali Gupta is ecstatic as her another baby is ready for release. For those who think it is a mans world, she makes some correction, Women are heard well enough in the industry. The force behind this woman is her hubby dearest, who inspires her no end and her trusted aides Naresh and Ksshitij.

Good going!

mona@tribunemail.com
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, January 23

Bollywood actor, Varun Dhawan has had a successful 2018 with films like October and Sui Dhaaga. 2019 has also started on a positive note for the actor.

After wrapping up the shooting of the period drama film Kalank with his co-star Alia Bhatt. Varun has started a new venture.

The Kalank actor flew down to Punjab to shoot for the first schedule of the film, ABCD 3. The actor was accompanied by Sonam Bajwa.

With the cast and crew of ABCD3; Varun went to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to seek blessings for his new venture.

Varun took to social media and shared a video for his fans. He tweeted, As we begin we seek ur blessings before reaching Punjab for the first sched of #3 with @bajwasonam @remodsouza @itsBhushanKumar

As we begin we seek ur blessings before reaching Punjab for the first sched of #3 with @bajwasonam @remodsouza @itsBhushanKumar pic.twitter.com/YU12e8B9B4  Varun Dhawan (@Varun_dvn) 22 January 2019

Any Body Can Dance 3 is the third instalment directed by Remo DSouza. It was released back in 2015.
shalender@tribune.com

Student artists are invited by SOAS University of London to apply for this scholarship to celebrate art and artists.

Eligibility: Applicants currently enrolled in the first year of the full-time or part-time equivalent MPhil or Ph.D. shall be considered, but preference will be given to new admissions. The students must meet their English requirements as per the college through their English test.

Details: EUR 4,396 for a year will be given as scholarship reward.

Deadline: January 31, 2019

How to apply: Online only.

Short Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/JC/SDS3

Felix Scholarships

SOAS University of London is seeking applications from meritorious, talented but needy students from India, who want to pursue full-time doctorate or taught masters programme.

Eligibility: The applicant must be a graduate with excellent academic record, and having an offer of admission for any Ph.D. or taught programme in the university. The candidate must meet English proficiency conditions.

Details: Eligible and selected scholars will be provided with full tuition fees, complete living costs and return airfare.

Deadline: January 31, 2019 9:30 PM

How to apply: Online.

Short Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/JC/FSS3

AIF William J. Clinton Fellowship

Candidates with passion and commitment towards social and economic development of India can apply for this fellowship. This fellowship will give an immersive volunteer experience that prepares and dispatches young professionals to support development organisations.

Eligibility: The candidate must be in the age group of 21-34 years and must have completed bachelors or masters degree.

Details: The fellowship covers domestic travel from ones native place in India, insurance, emergency support and a monthly living stipend.

Deadline: January 31, 2019

How to apply: Online only.

Short Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/JC/AWJ3

 Inputs courtesy www.buddy4study.com
shalender@tribune.com

1, 00,000 metric tons of solid waste is generated every day in India and this makes garbage disposal an importasnt issue to deal with. This is also a hindrance to the Smart City and Swachh Bharat missions. Finding a smart solution to the real-time waste-management system, Lovelash Dutt, a student of BBA first year at Chandigarh University, has designed a solid waste infrastructure  Talking Smart Bin. The bin can monitor waste level, sense motion and support more than 100 globally accepted languages with salutations like hello, use me and take the trash out.

Lovelash has registered his company Innovative Robot King with Chandigarh University Technology Business Incubator.

The solar panel embedded e-dustbin is equipped with a sonar sensor that works on echo and has a microcontroller fitted to it. The sensor-based motion detectors enable its flap to open and shut automatically. The solar-powered bin can be charged with a mobile adaptor as well as power banks. After charging for just 20 minutes, it can be used for 24 hours non-stop, informs Lovelash.

The young inventor, who hails from Kaithal in Haryana, always disliked the idea of throwing garbage at any random place and came up with this innovation with an investment of Rs 4,000 only. These environment-friendly dustbins will be sold for Rs 1,500 and can be installed at various locations like railway stations, roadside, educational institutes, hospitals, cinema halls and other public places.

Lovelash is currently working on updating the first model by inserting IOT (Internet of Things) technology so as to enable the garbage-collecting authorities map the location of the bin and empty it on time. There is no need to install brand new dustbins if you prefer to go green. You can just attach an IoT bin system to the old dustbins and convert the traditional bins to smart bins, informs Lovelash. He has already received more than 55 orders for his innovation.

Delhi Government has applauded this innovation and has shown keen interest in the implementation of these trash bins at various government schools and hospitals in the city. My innovation was well received by the Delhi Government. I may soon be receiving support in terms of loan approval, components and resources from the Government Industrial Training Institute, says Lovelash.  TNS
editorial@tribune.com

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, January 22

Training to be a Unani doctor and younger brother of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Shamsul Haq Mengnoo, alias Burhan Saani (23), joined the militant ranks a month after a gunfight took place at their house.

Hizbul Mujahideen militant Shamsul of Dragad, Shopian, was killed on Tuesday along with two of his associates in a gunfight with security forces in Shopian district. He was the younger brother of 2012-batch IPS officer Inam-ul-Haq who is serving in the North-east.

He had joined militant ranks in May last year, over a month after seven militants were killed in a gunfight on April 1 in his house at Dragad village. Hizb commander Zubair Turray was among the slain militants. A civilian, Shamsuls neighbour, was also killed in the gunfight.

He left for college one day and never returned, a family friend said. Shamsul was pursuing a bachelors degree in Unani medicine and surgery at a private college in the Zakura area of Srinagar.

The family tried hard to get him back, but he had made up his mind, the family friend disclosed.

His version of the story was supported by former DGP SP Vaid on Tuesday. Vaid took to Twitter soon after Shamsul was gunned down. I remember the efforts made by his brother and other family members to try and bring him back to the mainstream but he met a sad end on Tuesday, Vaid tweeted.

According to family and friends, Shamsul was a shy and obedient boy who never had anything to do with either militancy or stone-throwing.

What prompted him to pick up the gun will remain a mystery, at least to me. Some might know better than me, the family friend said.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea filed by former Haryana IASofficer ML Tayal, an accused in the Manesar land acquisition case. He was seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against him by the CBI.

The order by Justice Daya Chaudhary came just over a month after Tayal had filed the plea against the premier investigating agency. The Bench had, on December 21 last year, issued a notice of motion and a notice regarding the stay.

Tayal, in his petition, had sought quashing of cognisance order passed by the trial court against him. His counsel argued that as the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, he had no independent powers of his own. The Bench was told he was only required to assist the CM in the disposal of the work.

The FIR was registered by the CBI in September 2015. The CBI had subsequently submitted a chargesheet in connection with the matter.

Tayals counsel had argued that there was no legal evidence to connect Tayal with the allegations set out in the chargesheet. There was neither direct nor any circumstantial evidence on record to substantiate the complicity of the petitioner in the alleged offences. In any case, there was not even a remote possibility of establishing the petitioner as a co-conspirator with the other accused in the present case, his counsel had said.

It was added that the CBI had filed the chargesheet without obtaining the sanction to prosecute. He referred to the amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act from July 26, 2018, that necessitated previous sanction for prosecuting a government officer who had retired from service.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Jind, January 23

A keen contest is on the cards for the Jind Assembly bypoll with all major political parties  the ruling BJP, Opposition INLD, Congress and newly floated Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)  slugging it out to ensure victory of their candidates.

The high-stake election slated for January 28 is being viewed as a referendum on the Manohar Lal Khattar government and also a semi-final ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The bypoll, which was to be a direct contest between the BJP and the INLD, turned into a multi-cornered fight after the Congress and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) fielded their candidates.

The Congress fielded Jat leader and AICC communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, a sitting legislator from Kaithal, and JJP, a breakaway party from the Chautala family-led Indian National Lok Dal, nominated political greenhorn Digvijay Singh Chautala.

Teh JJP came into being after a split in the INLD following a power struggle in the Chautala family.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of INLD legislator Hari Chand Midha.

The BJP is banking on Middha son Krishan Middha, a Punjabi, while the INLD has nominated local Jat leader Umedh Singh Redhu, who is also backed by a faction of prominent Kandela Khap (caste panchayat).

While the Chautala-led INLD claimed the Congress and the JJP have fielded imported candidates, both Randeep and Digvijay are promising unparalleled development for the area, if elected.

The bypoll has brought together the Congress rank as partys top leaders, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state party chief Ashok Tanwar, late CM Bhajan Lals son Kuldeep Bishnoi, CLP leader Kiran Choudhary and party MP Kumari Selja have taken to the streets to ensure Surjewalas victory.

Surjewalas campaign had got a shot in the arm after a heavy weight from the area and Independent MLA from Kalayat Jai Prakash and former minister Mange Ram Gupta lending support to him. Prakash, a Jat leader, had been seeking the Congress ticket for his son Vikas Saharan.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Cabinet ministers Rambilas Sharma, Capt Abhimanyu and Manish Grover have been campaigning for Middha.

Political pundits say the dormant Jat community votes are likely to be divided among Surjewala, Redhu and Digvijay as all of them are Jats, which can tilt the balance in favour of the BJP candidate.

The fledgling JJP got a boost with the AAP announcing support for its nominee.

The cancellation of furlough of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala from the Tihar Jail on the directive of the Delhi Government led to a verbal duel between warring factions.

Chautala hit back at his grandsons, Dushyant and Digvijay, accusing them of back-stabbing him and conspiring with the AAP to keep him out of the campaigning, a charge denied by Hisar MP Dushyant.

Playing an emotional card, Chautala in an open letter to the electorate said he was unwell and in hospital. Despite being unwell, I wanted to come to you (seek votes). I gave an application of furlough to jail authorities, which was approved from January 17 with riders that I will have to stay at Teja Khera farm house at Sirsa and should not participate in any political activities.

It is an injustice. However, all limits were crossed when the furlough from January 21 was cancelled. This has happened due to a conspiracy by Dushyant, Digvijay and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. I have been back-stabbed. I appeal to the electorate to vote for INLD candidate Umedh Singh to avenge the conspiracy hatched against me, Chautala has written in the letter.

Sneh Lata, wife of Chautala senior, is being heard in a video saying, If I die tomorrow, these four persons (Ajay, his wife Naina and their sons Dushyant and Digvijay should not touch my body).

Hitting back, Naina asks, Have you ever heard someone cursing her sons and grandsons.

The electioneering has brought about sharp differences in the Chautala clan.

While the BJP brokered peace with Kandela Khap chief Tek Ram, a ticket aspirant, Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala apologised to villagers for the infamous firing incident in 2002 during the Chautala regime, which led to death of farmers.

Middha is relying on all-round development done during Khattars over four years regime.

INLDs Umedh and Congress Surjewala are banking upon anti-incumbency of the ruling BJP, alleging the saffron party failed to honour its poll promises.

The candidate of Lok Suraksha Manch, Vinod Kumar Arshi, could also play spoilsport in a multi-cornered contest.

Arshi, a Brahmin leader from Jind is a nominee put up by BJPs rebel MP from Kurukshetra, Raj Kumar Saini, who is Manchs patron. Saini has an influence among voters from OBC communities. PTI
gspannu7@gmail.com

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, January 23

In another instance of gang war, dreaded gangster Jai Dev alias JD was gunned down in Shivaji Nagar area on Wednesday evening.

Three unidentified assailants allegedly came there and shot him five times and fled.

Hearing bullet shots, people came out and called police which rushed him to hospital where he soon succumbed.

The local crime unit has been activated and looking for the accused believed to be his rivals.

JD was known to be key funder of many gangsters and would usurp land using fake documents and eventually sell it to fund various gangs.

He was known to be close to gangster Brinder Gujjar these days and its his key rival gangster Kaushal who is suspected of killing him.

According to sources, JD had recently acquired a plot in Shivaji Nagar area and was overseeing construction there.

JD made his mark in world of gangs some 10 years ago when he was associated with noted Delhi Gangster Neetu Gehlot.

It was in his patronage that he started encroaching lands and after his death in 2009, he grew close to Brinder Gujjar.

He is wanted for numerous land fraud and grabbing cases.

According to sources, as Gujjars accomplices are being targeted since long time JD was on hit list and many attempts to kill him have been made.
harinder@tribunemail.com

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

Extremely distressed over the cancellation of furlough to her husband, former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, his wife Sneh Lata has told her son Ajay, his wife Naina and grandsons Dushyant and Digvijay not to touch her body after she is dead.

In a video, that has gone viral, she is seen on a hospital bed. Everyone knows they (Dushyant and Digvijay) are behind the cancellation of furlough. The manhandling of Chautala Sahib at INLD's Gohana rally (on October 7, 2018) is an open secret. They wanted to inflict bodily injury on their grandfather but he was saved by someone, she is heard saying, amid sobs.

... If I die tomorrow, these four persons (Dushyant, Digvijay, Ajay and Naina) should not touch my body. They should not even see my body, she adds, breaking down again. In another video, while praising Abhay for taking care of her, she blames her daughter-in-law Naina, Dabwali MLA, for "ruining" the family.

The latter, addressing an election rally in Jind's Pandu Pindara village on Tuesday, while alleging her sons were being hounded by certain persons," asked: "If the people of Haryana love Dushyant and Digvijay, are they to be blamed? Have you ever heard somebody cursing her sons and grandsons? Breaking into tears, she made an ardent appeal to the people to vote for Digvijay. "My grief is genuine. I am not crying to manipulate votes for my son," she claimed.

On Monday, hours after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced its support to Digvijay, INLD president Ashok Arora told a press conference that the AAP's Delhi government had cancelled Chautalas furlough at the instance of Dushyant and Digvijay. Chautala, speaking to mediapersons at Delhi's LNJP Hospital (from where he was taken to Tihar jail), reiterated the charge, calling his grandsons traitors.

Dushyant and Digvijay rubbished the allegations, claiming they had no role in the cancellation of their grandfather's furlough. "Had we been so powerful, we would have ensured furlough for our father," they argued. Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay are serving a jail sentence in the JBT recruitment scam.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

AN opportunity beckons India after the latest reading of growth figures showed the Chinese economy may be heading downhill more rapidly than planned. China in 2018 recorded the lowest growth rate since the economic boom post-Tiananmen Square protests. Even the 2008 global financial crises had not as severely rocked the Chinese economic boat as the steady deceleration over the past couple of years. China is planning another stimulus, including tax cuts and more public spending. But a tipping point may have been reached and the World Bank predicts a global bleak economic outlook unless other engines carry on the growth process.

India is uniquely placed in this respect with its growth rate having outstripped that of China for two successive years. Statistics, of course, does not tell the complete picture. In absolute terms, China is adding vastly bigger numbers than India, which is a quarter of its size. But the potential is there because the Indian economy is considerably less vulnerable to a downturn in China since it is far less integrated into the global production chains dominated by Chinese companies. Its industry also stands to benefit from worldwide lower prices of natural resources such as oil once the demand from China turns tepid.

Since a prime reason for the cooling of Chinas economy is its trade war with the US, it is reasonable to assume that India can be an attractive destination for Western companies deciding to relocate elsewhere. For the Chinese, too, India is one big market it ought to negotiate to enhance its current modest presence. This suits India because inbound investments from China can narrow the huge bilateral trade imbalance that cannot be realistically bridged by more exports. However, India should not aspire to replace China. Moreover, Western reports about China heading for an irrecoverable slump may be overblown for obvious reasons. Yet, China has entered a new normal and India needs to book its opportunities with a renewed thrust on manufacturing corridors and easier land acquisition and labour laws.
gspannu7@gmail.com

New York, January 23

A travel-obsessed Indian couple, who plunged 800 feet to their deaths after taking a selfie at a scenic cliff in Californias popular Yosemite National Park, were intoxicated at the time of the incident, according to autopsy results.

Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and his wife, Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, both engineers, were intoxicated with ethyl alcohol prior to falling 800 feet from Taft Point on October 25, but no drugs were present in their bodies, US media quoted the autopsy report as saying.

Ethyl alcohol is found in alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and hard liquor.

Due to the condition of the bodies after the extreme fall, investigators were unable to accurately discern a specific level of intoxication, Andrea Stewart, Assistant Mariposa County Coroner said.

All we can conclude is that they had been drinking and that they had alcohol in their systems. We dont know how much, Stewart was quoted as saying by Mercury News of San Jose.

The couple from Kerala died of multiple injuries to the head, neck, chest and abdomen, sustained by a fall from a mountain, the autopsy report said.

The couple had been married since 2014. Both graduated in 2010 from the College of Engineering, Chengannur, Kerala. Viswanath was a software engineer with Cisco India at the companys headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Moorthy and Viswanath  who showcased their adventure-seeking travels on Instagram  had set up a tripod at Taft Point before they fell down the side of a steep cliff.

The tripod was later discovered on the edge of the overlook. Viswanaths brother, Jishnu Viswanath said it appeared the couple died trying to take a photo.

Viswanath and his wife Moorthy, travelled the world documenting their trips to locales like the Grand Canyon, Paris, New York City, Niagara Falls, London, Big Sur and other scenic destinations.

Just months before her tragic death, Moorthy had warned in an Instagram post the dangers of taking photographs on the edge of cliffs and atop skyscrapers.

She posted a picture of herself at the Grand Canyon, saying in the caption that A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs. But did you know that wind gusts can be fatal? Is our life worth one photo?

In an eerie coincidence, Moorthy appears in the selfie of another tourist couple at Taft Point, just minutes before she plummeted to her death.  PTI
Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

Former GOC, 15 Corps, Kashmir

THE Headquarters Army Training Command (HQ ARTRAC) is not something unique as far as large armies are concerned. Most armies divided into regional field commands have an additional training command to take under its wings various training establishments. These are usually chartered to formulate concepts and doctrines of warfare in the fields of strategy, operational art, tactics, logistics, training and human resource development, besides simulating real-time scenarios for higher-level war games where its personnel also act as a research-based and well-informed adversary. However, it did take its time coming as far as the Indian Army is concerned; it was established in 1991 and finally moved to Shimla in 1993, where it has been ever since.

Before its raising, all issues concerning training were handled by the Directorate General of Military Training (DGMT) at the Army HQ. Enhancing levels of technology, dual-front threats, rise in sub-conventional commitment and the sheer size of the Army, which needed expanded levels of individual and collective training, all combined to give HQ ARTRAC the necessary importance it needed.

Shimla was chosen for its location not due to any deliberation but due to adjustment and availability. The Himachal Pradesh capital, a beautiful hill city, was once the summer location of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army. That gave it an array of heritage buildings as far as the Armys facilities were concerned. With very little additional buildability, the expansion of the facilities was never possible; everything had to be based upon the principle of adjustment and HQ ARTRAC found itself there because that is where the Western Command HQ existed from 1954 to 1985. Prior to HQ ARTRAC, for some time the headquarters of the Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana Area were also located there as a replacement for the Western Command HQ.

Geographical location, which includes proximity to areas of deployment and accessibility, sufficiency of existing accommodation, training areas and availability of defence land for expansion are some of the key issues which are considered for location of operational formations, training establishments and large headquarters. In 1975-76, Gen TN Raina, then Army Chief, carried out large-scale movement of formations, HQ and training establishments to bring the Armys mobilisation capability closer to that of Pakistans. Various Regimental Training Centres were then moved from Meerut and Dehradun to locations in Central India to make way for at least three to four division-sized formations. A mass exchange of locations has not taken place on that scale for some time. It was surprising why General Raina then did not consider moving out the Western Command HQ  then the most operationally active command  from Shimla. The latter was only its peacetime location. In 1965 and 1971, it had functioned from its tactical location in the plains, but that move itself would have involved fair amount of turbulence. With its deeply tucked-away location in the hills, unpredictable climatic conditions and at times difficult accessibility by both surface and aerial means, it wasnt the best of places for a large operational field command HQ which would be required to move at a short notice.

Finally, in 1985, Gen K Sundarji took the decision to move the headquarters to Chandimandir. HQ ARTRAC moved to Shimla eight years later. So why is a non-operational HQ being moved out from Shimla now?

Two reasons seem to be behind the move. First, most training establishments of the Army are located in South or Central India, with one hub being at Mhow (Indore) and the others widely distributed. The headquarters at Shimla are in the North and that too perched in the mountains, where accessibility is always a problem. If located somewhere more centrally and with better connectivity, the HQ can optimise its functioning far more efficiently. Second, with the recommended ambitious restructuring of the Army, the DGMT at the Army HQ, which performs the job of coordinating training aspects with the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is going to stand merged with HQ ARTRAC to save manpower. All the more necessary therefore that the location for HQ ARTRAC should be somewhere closer to Delhi or at least a location from where commute to Delhi is easier for its personnel.

Of course, the feasibility of a completely new key location plan at its new site is impractical as that will take years to fructify. Meerut is one of the cities being looked at. It could be the location of one of the logistics establishments and not the operational formations existing there. If the intent is to replace one of the active formations, it should only be if a suitable location near the western border is identified for the formation divested of its location. Given the proactive doctrine in existence, any effort to locate an operational formation closer to the western border would always be a welcome move. There are other options of moving operational formations from other locations and getting them to forward locations in Punjab and Rajasthan. While commanders and troops are expected to be flexible in their approach, there is much discomfort to troops and wear and tear of equipment when they are billeted at ad hoc facilities, awaiting more permanent fixtures. Such fixtures can take many years to fructify with budgetary constraints constantly quoted as the reason. The location at Meerut will definitely facilitate coordination of HQ ARTRACs charter far better with both the MoD and the Service HQ, being more easily accessible.

The example of HQ Strategic Forces Command (SFC), located on a campus of its own for the obvious functional purpose, is also a good model for HQ ARTRAC being located in Delhi itself, on one of the available pieces of land in Delhi Cantonment. However, with the intent being to decongest Delhi, this may not be an acceptable proposal. Ambala is also a well-connected location, although the move there again would be at the cost of an operational organisation.

In most options, there is unlikely to be a clean exchange with HQ ARTRAC not being replaced at Shimla by the organisation it displaces at its final destination. However, under no circumstances must the heritage infrastructure be lost to the Army because it is part of its history. Hopefully, this is high up in the minds of the top brass even as complex issues of restructuring are being tackled by them.
Upneet Lalli

Upneet Lalli

Dy Director, Institute of Correctional Administration, Chandigarh

PRISONS are designed to be secure places to protect society. Does society feel more secure in locking up women offenders? Does it serve any purpose apart from incapacitation? How safe do locked-up women feel? A gender-responsive criminal justice system requires focus on various facets of a womans life both before and after incarceration. Right from the process of arrest to the trial and imprisonment, women are generally handled with insensitivity.

Globally, women constitute around 7 per cent of the prison population. There are about 7.14 lakh women and girls in penal institutions around the world. India has around 18,000 women prisoners, constituting 4.3 per cent of the jail population. As per the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data, 3,398 women, accounting for 59.2 per cent of the female convicts in the country, were undergoing life sentence at the end of 2015. Their small numbers, along with gender bias, account for neglect of their gender-specific needs and issues. Prisons are primarily designed and organised with men in mind. Women suffer the pains of imprisonment much more harshly than men.

Every time I have stepped into a prison, I have encountered women who have faced discrimination. Illiterate, poor, and marginalised, many women have known their sentence only when they have entered the prison after the trial. Women prisoners are the most invisible, neglected and misunderstood group. Inmates of all age groups, ranging from 18-75 years, are lodged for theft, murder, cheating, drugs, dowry-related cases etc. They are also objects of curiosity and stigmatisation.

Women who have broken the law have also broken the gender norms and are judged more harshly than men. Many of them are primary care-givers of their children. Once arrested, they hardly get a chance to make care-giving arrangements. Children below six years can accompany their mothers inside jail. In the case of high-profile women offenders, the media hounds them right up to the prison gates. Female prisoners when ferried in the same van as male inmates face harassment and threats. The consequences of imprisonment include psychological, social and economic losses. Family ties get broken for many women and they may not get the opportunity of a mulaqaat (meeting). I had interviewed an 18-year-old whose story was similar to that of Bunty aur Babli, with a twist: her parents refused to take her phone calls.

The mobility, behaviour and activities of those imprisoned are controlled by the carceral architecture. The main focus is on preventing escapes and maintaining control. Women rarely escape and pose fewer security threats, but are held in places with maximum control and minimal freedom. Even new prisons which have been made to house women are a replica of those housing men, but with fewer green and open spaces for outdoor activity. While there are 63 open prisons, only two states  Kerala and Maharashtra  have provided for open prisons for women. Is it a coincidence that these states had a woman officer heading the department concerned? Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have provided for a semi-open prison system. In the open prisons, they get a chance to move out of a closed place and work at a designated spot.

Their day usually begins around 6 am when the bell rings. They are locked out, counted and then served tea. For maintaining personal hygiene, women inmates have expressed the need to change the prison manual norms and provide toiletries to them. Undertrials are not provided clothes, and some depend on the charity of others. Till a few years ago, no sanitary towels were provided to inmates as it was not mentioned in the manual. I had challenged this aspect in a PIL, but something that could have been dealt with immediately was referred to a reforms committee! Around 10 am, lunch is served to them. They are locked up for three hours in the afternoon after being counted. A constructive prison regime will have activities spread out to help them lead a law-abiding life after release. It is here that collaboration with the community is essential for imparting skills and providing counselling to them.

Women have limited or no access to facilities available for men. In one state, I had to point it out to the DG (Prisons) to have clocks in their barracks, and the women were thrilled to have such a minor change. While there are educational centres, library, canteen, factory and vocational training areas for men, women rarely get access to these places.

There is a need to look at prison reforms from a gender perspective, right from the time of arrest to release. Gender-specific problems require gender-based solutions. It was realised in 2010 that the penal system had to be gender-responsive to meet the special needs of women in custody. The United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Female Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders, known as the Bangkok Rules, were adopted by the UN General Assembly.

The women prisoners pathways to crime are somewhat different from men, yet they are not fully understood while being dealt with in the criminal justice system. A woman, nearly 70 years old, has been in jail for the past 18 months on kidnapping and rape charges. Looking at her paralysed body, I was puzzled as to how she was still inside the prison. While five others, including two male co-accused, have been released on bail, she continues to be behind bars. Having lost her husband during her incarceration, she has no one to reach out to. What purpose is being served by keeping her inside?

Imprisonment is a damaging experience and there is a need to acknowledge that women, through their circumstances and vulnerabilities, can become trapped in the criminal justice system. Our system needs to consider non-custodial measures, restorative justice programmes, community service sentences, and mentorship schemes. There should be thresholds to imprisonment, and the prison should be the last resort, not the default option that it is currently.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

Following the leads in Chhatbir Zoos heart-wrenching incident in which a man was killed by lioness Shilpa and Yuvraj after he trespassed on the Lion Safari by scaling a 15-foot-high wall, SI Baljinder Singh of the Zirakpur police station, who is investigating the case, identified the deceased as 34-year-old Jatashankar, a resident of Bhuraveer Ghat, Motipur, Bahraich, UP.

On looking at his medical sheet, he found that Jatashankar was mentally challenged and had been undergoing treatment at a Gorakhpur hospital.

On Monday evening, Jatashankars nephew Salesh Morya, who works for an online sales company and lives in a rented accommodation at Ravindra Enclave, Baltana, had visited the Baltana police chowki to file a missing complaint about his maternal uncle. He (Jatashankar) had gone missing from my house around 7 am on Sunday. We kept searching for him the entire day, said Salesh. He was guided to visit the Zirakpur police station the following morning after he failed to recognise a photograph of his dead uncle. I was shown a gory picture, but it was beyond recognition. In the morning, when I reached Zirakpur, the police took me to the Dera Bassi Civil Hospital where I identified him. Following this, a consent letter was given by his blood relatives and the postmortem was conducted, said his nephew.

Divulging more details about his uncle, he said Jatashankar came visiting him in search of a job a week ago. He asked this correspondent to speak to his youngest brother, Rajnikant. On the phone, Rajnikant said, Jatashankar was a graduate and had knowledge of computers. He had worked in Noida for three years before returning to the village after our father died in 2008. He had suffered nerve damage in his spine and was also undergoing mental treatment at Gorakhpur for five years. He was tense about his farming career and wanted a job.

Rajnikant said Jatashankar was married and had two kids  son Krishna, who was over seven years old, and six-year-old daughter Nandini. His wife is a homemaker. In the initial stage of his illness, he would wander into the jungle some 100 or 200 meters away from our house in the village and soliloquise frequently. In fact, he had been stable for about two years and was under medication. Well be bringing his body back home for cremation.

Sangeeta Jain, senior medical officer, Dera Bassi Civil Hospital, while citing the cause of death, said, There was a severe wound in the victims neck; his windpipe was ruptured and so were his carotid arteries. Also, there were multiple abrasion marks on his body.

Jatashankar was the second of four brothers in his family and had three sisters, two of whom had died, said Rajnikant.

Panel to look into incident

Kuldeep Kumar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Punjab Forest and Wildlife Department, said he had constituted a committee under Wildlife CCF Basanta Raj Kumar, with three other officers, who would submit a report within a week. On the basis of the report, well take appropriate measures to avoid such incidents. This committee will visit each and every enclosure to see the security there and make a fool-proof action plan for each enclosure, he said.

When we saw the wall from outside, the wall didnt measure over 18 ft. Kuldeep, who visited the zoo, said, From the inside, the wall is about 8 to 10 ft and on top of it is an 18-foot chain link. From outside, theres silting, so the soil must have gathered.

He stressed beefing up the security at the zoo. The issue of increasing the security was discussed in the zoo society meeting and we concluded that we will get our people further trained, with regard to visitor security. Theres a quick response team also, and there are regular training sessions from the Central Zoo Authority of India. In case of suicidal intruders, we cant do much than to ensure that it doesnt happen again. On the absence of warning signs on the outside wall of the Safari, Kumar reiterated that the panel would make an action plan for this too.

Was dancing like a lunatic: Residents

Residents of Chhat village said before jumping into the Lion Safari, Jatashankar was "dancing like a lunatic" at a village wedding and was barefoot. "His pants were torn," said a resident, while a woman from the vicinity said a few of her friends, who were collecting wood from the area behind the safari, had even warned the man of lions inside the enclosure. "They had told him about the lions inside the safari, but he wouldn't listen. He said he wanted to offer his body to the lions."

Jatashankar was a graduate and had knowledge of computers. He had worked in Noida for three years before returning to the village after our father died in 2008. He had suffered nerve damage in his spine and was also undergoing mental treatment at Gorakhpur for five years. He was tense about his farming career and wanted a job. Rajnikant, Victims Brother
rchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, January 23

The countrys largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday launched a new version of its hatchback WagonR priced between Rs 4.19 lakh and Rs 5.69 lakh (ex-showroom).

The new WagonR comes with a new 1.2 litre petrol engine option along with another choice of 1 litre power train. It also comes with an automatic gear shift variant.

The one-litre manual versions are priced at Rs 4.19 lakh and Rs 4.69 lakh while the automated gear shift trim is tagged at Rs 5.16 lakh.

The 1.2 litre variants are priced between Rs 4.89 lakh and Rs 5.69 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).

I am sure, the all-new WagonR will become a preferred choice not just for families but also for young and dynamic buyers, MSI MD and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters here.

The vehicle has been developed on Suzukis fifth generation HEARTECT platform and is wider and longer than its outgoing version.

As a result, the boot space has also gone up in the new model to 341 litres.

The company said the use of high-tensile steel had improved the overall safety, rigidity and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) performance in the new offering.

The third-generation WagonR comes with various safety features like driver airbag, ABS (anti-lock braking system) with EBD (electronic brake force distribution) and front seat belts reminder, speed alert system and rear parking sensors.

The company has already received 12,000 bookings for the model.

MSI has sold around 22 lakh units of the model till date in the country.

As per the company, the new WagonR with one-litre engine will deliver a fuel efficiency of 22.5 km per litre while the bigger 1.2 litre petrol powertain would return efficiency of 21.5 km per litre. PTI
gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, January 23

The countrys largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday launched an all-new version of its hatchback WagonR, priced between Rs 4.19 lakh and Rs 5.69 lakh (ex-showroom), as it looks to further strengthen its position in the compact hatchback segment.

The new WagonR, which comes with a 1.2-litre petrol engine option along with another choice of 1-litre powertrain mated to manual as well as automatic gear shift transmission, will compete with the likes of Hyundai Santro and Tata Tiago.

The one-litre manual versions of new WagonR are priced at Rs 4.19 lakh and Rs 4.69 lakh, while the automated gear shift trim is tagged at Rs 5.16 lakh. The 1.2-litre variants are priced between Rs 4.89 lakh and Rs 5.69 lakh (all prices ex-showroom).

Tiago and Santro are priced between Rs 3.9 lakh and Rs 5.64 lakh.

Commenting on the new model, MSI Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kenichi Ayukawa said the company expects the all-new WagonR to become a preferred choice just not for families but also for young buyers.

We are confident that the new WagonR with its all new robust design, dynamically crafted and spacious interiors, SmartPlay Studio, strong HEARTECT Platform and Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology will become the choice of many more Indian families, he said.

MSI and its partners have invested around Rs 670 crore to develop the model.

The new WagonR, which is based on Suzukis fifth generation HEARTECT platform, is wider and longer than its outgoing version. It has led to improved interior space as well as boot capacity which has almost doubled up to 341 litres from the earlier avatar.

The company said the use of high-tensile steel has improved the overall safety, rigidity and NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) performance in the new offering.

The third-generation WagonR comes with various safety features such as driver airbag, anti-lock braking system with electronic brakeforce distribution and front seat belts reminder, speed alert system and rear parking sensors.

The company has already received 12,000 bookings for the model.

MSI has sold around 22 lakh units of the model in the country till date since its introduction in 1999. The model continues to feature among the top-five best-selling cars in India for nearly two decades.

According to the company, the new WagonR with one-litre engine will deliver a fuel efficiency of 22.5 km per litre, while the bigger 1.2-litre petrol powertain would return efficiency of 21.5 km per litre. The fuel efficiency in the new version is higher by 10 per cent than the outgoing model, the company said.  PTI
laxmi@tribune.com

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 22

In 2016 when the BJP-ruled Haryana unveiled Solar Power Policy, it had made lofty claims of setting up projects to generate 4,000 MW, but it is nowhere near the target, courtesy policy paralysis. The total installed capacity of solar power in the state is 148 MW, which is dominated by roof top plants of 97 MW (on residential and commercial buildings) and the rest are ground mounted.

In solar power generation, Haryana is far behind Punjab which has an installed capacity of 906 MW.

The policy was launched in 2016 but the developers are yet to see the operational guidelines, which is acting as a deterrent. Few of the projects, which were set up after the launch of the policy, have not yet received any benefits from the state government as per the policy. In the absence of operational guidelines, solar power developers are reluctant to invest in the state, said a project developer on the condition of anonymity.

As a result, the state is not even able to meet solar power purchase obligation. According to Hareda officials, out of 850 million units required to meet solar power obligation during April-September 2018, the state was able to meet only 110 million units, which includes own generation and purchase of renewable power from other states. Each state is required to have a mandatory minimum renewable energy capacity.

The developers said in October 2018, Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (Hareda) came out with operational guidelines but it was again taken back due to unknown reasons. Now, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) has come out with interim guidelines, but the developers are waiting for full operational guidelines before investing in the state, as their investment is already stuck in the state because they purchased the land when the policy was announced in 2016, said another developer.

As a pre-requisite of the guidelines, the applicants were required to invest in land and infrastructure before getting the final sanction. Due to this these companies had to invest in crores at the preliminary stage. An acre of land for setting of power projects in Haryana costs anywhere between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 15 lakh.

The developers complained that lack of will to implement the Solar Power Policy in toto has restricted the growth of the sector in the state. A senior official in Hareda disclosed that the state government will come out with the operational guidelines soon.

Another impediment in setting up the project is high land cost or lease cost. If a developer takes a land on lease, he has to pay Rs 30,000-45,000 per acre to the farmers annually. Recently, in order to meet its renewable purchase obligation, the Haryana Power Purchase Centre (HPPC) has issued a tender for 300 MW of grid-connected solar projects to be developed in the state.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Hangzhou (China), January 23

Gliding silently through Alibaba Group Holding Ltds futuristic FlyZoo hotel, black disc-shaped robots about a metre in height deliver food and drop off fresh towels.

The robots are part of a suite of high-tech tools that Alibaba says drastically cuts the hotels cost of human labor and eliminates the need for guests to interact with other people.

Formally opened to the public last month, the 290-room FlyZoo is an incubator for technology Alibaba wants to sell to the hotel industry in the future and an opportunity to showcase its prowess in artificial intelligence.

It is also an experiment that tests consumer comfort levels with unmanned commerce in China - a country where intrusive data-sharing technology is readily tolerated and often met with enthusiasm.

Its all about the efficiency of the service and the consistency of service, because the robots are not disturbed by human moods. Sometimes, we say we are not in the mood, but the system and the robot will always be in the mood, said Andy Wang, CEO of Alibaba Future Hotel Management, the unit that oversees the hotel project.

Inside the hotel, softly-lit white panelled walls bring to mind the interiors of Hollywood spaceships. Guests check in at podiums that scan their faces, as well as passports or other ID.

Visitors with a Chinese national ID can scan their faces using their smartphones to check in ahead of time.

Elevators scan guests faces again to verify which floor they can access and hotel room doors are opened with another face scan.

Its very quick and safe. I havent used it for a long time yet, but basically, I can be in my room in one minute, said guest Tracy Li. Li added that safety was one of her priorities and she was pleased her room could only be entered with a scan of her face.

In the rooms, Alibabas voice command technology is used to change the temperature, close the curtains, adjust the lighting and order room service.

At the hotels restaurant, taller capsule-shaped robots deliver food that guests have ordered via the FlyZoo app while at a separate bar, a large robotic arm can mix more than 20 different types of cocktails. Facial recognition cameras add charges to the room rate automatically.

To check out, guests press a button on the app after which the room locks and they are automatically charged through Alibabas online wallet. Once this is done, the guests facial scan data is immediately erased from Alibabas systems, said Wang.

Celebrating the empty

FlyZoo  whose name derives from a pun in Chinese for its a must to stay here  is located in the city of Hangzhou, 170 km southwest of Shanghai, and is within walking distance of Alibabas headquarters. Room fees start from 1,390 yuan ($205) a night.

It does employ humans, though Alibaba declined to specify how many. This includes chefs and cleaners as well as reception staff, who will assist with conventional check-in procedures for guests unwilling to have their faces scanned and want to use electronic key cards.

But advanced technology involving personal data - including facial recognition - has become increasingly common in China, where regulation is minimal and the government has rolled out public surveillance projects that use biometric data.

For Chinese consumers, theres this real glee in having exposure to things that seem like futuristic technology developments, and then beyond that, I think theres a much greater comfort level with data sharing, said Mark Natkin, managing director at Beijing-based technology consulting firm, Marbridge Consulting.

Alibaba has launched other highly automated projects for book stores and grocery stores.

Though most projects are not necessarily intended to be springboards to big forays in those industries, its grocery stores called Hema have been well received and now number about 100 nationwide.

The aim of such projects is twofold - develop AI and other high-tech expertise which will propel Alibabas e-commerce offerings forward, as well as develop new areas of business at a time when e-commerce revenue growth rates are slowing, in part due to the U.S.-China trade war.

Alibaba intends to build some other hotels but they will primarily be used by company staff on business trips to head offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

Wang also acknowledged that FlyZoo still had plenty of issues that needed upgrading. Some of its services, for example, only worked for guests with a Chinese national ID.

But he said the initial reception from guests was encouraging.

When they experience the robot and the voice butlers, they say Wow!. When they enter into the lobby they say Wow!, said Wang. Its such a different lobby. Its empty  but maybe its the kind of empty of the future. Reuters
It's a smart thermostat for hydronic heating systems and is not such a dumb idea.

After we downsized and duplexed our house, the thermostat is in our apartment and the people upstairs constantly complain that they are too cold, especially now when it is seriously freezing out. That's why I have been thinking about the Radbot. I learned about it when I met inventor Damon Hart-Davis in London. It is a smart thermostatic valve for hydronic (hot water radiator) systems that are common in older houses like mine, and most houses in Europe.

Radbot in a box in London/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0Unlike conventional thermostatic valves, the Radbot reacts to more than just temperature but also changes in light levels. Vestemi claims energy savings of up to 30 percent. This seemed high to me, especially on hot water systems that have so much thermal lag, which is the time it takes for the radiator to start radiating. But these are not theoretical numbers; it has been tested. Hart-Davis explains how it learns through "probalistic predictive artificial intelligence," and deals with the lag:
It's a number that's been thrown around a lot recently. There's a danger it will be misunderstood.

When I wrote about a report suggesting the pace of decarbonization needs to treble, I also mentioned the recent IPCC report which has garnered various versions of the following headline: "We have 12 years to save the planet."

This phrase, or something like it, has been bandied about by politicians, journalists and activists alike. In many ways it's a useful framing that drives home the urgency of the situation we face. There is also, however, a strong danger (nay, certainty) that it will be misunderstood and/or misrepresented. So let's first cover what it doesn't mean:

What 12 Years Doesn't Mean

1) It does not mean that we have 12 years before we have to act.

2) It does not mean that we have 12 years to completely decarbonize.

3) And it does not mean that the fight is over if we fail to reach our target in 12 years.

It was misreadings like this that lead to some fun fireworks on Twitter last night, in which famed climate scientist Michael E. Mann dived in to the fray to defend Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from accusations of alarmism:

What It Does Mean

What the 12 year figure in the IPCC report does refer to is that, if we are going to have a reasonable chance of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees, we have just over a decade to cut global emissions some 45% based on 2010 levels. We then have another two decades (until 2050) to reach zero net emissions.

It's still an astoundingly daunting task. But many argue that the challenges that lie in the way of achieving it are largely political, not scientific. Among all the depressing headlines and scientific reports (of which there are many), there are plenty of bright spots to suggest we could make significant progress if our leaders would put our minds to it.

The UK has already brought power-sector emissions to Victorian-era levels. Shenzhen, Chinaa city of 11.9 million peoplehas already transitioned its entire bus fleet to electric vehicles. Norwegian oil demand may be peaking due to electric cars. Both utilities and cities are setting near net zero emissions targets within the timeframe we are talking about.

Of course, none of this is anywhere near enough. In fact, Lloyd covered at least one idea of what meeting this target would look like when the IPCC report first came out. But there is more than one way to skin a plant-based cat substitute.

What we know is this: A climate movement is stirring and we now need very bold commitments and near-term efforts to move us toward them fast. The "12 year" figure is useful in focusing the mind and spurring us to actionnot least to dispel the myth that we can sit on our hands and engineer ourselves out of the crisisbut it should be understood in context:

It simply means we need to move as fast as possible to the most ambitious goal we can muster. Should be easy, right?

Right!
Guide to Faroe Islands now hosts over 100 instantly bookable local Faroese tours and activities



(TRAVPR.COM) FAROE ISLANDS - January 23rd, 2019 - Travellers to the Faroe Islands can now choose among over 100 local tours and activities on the recently launched travel booking platform Guide to Faroe Islands  the largest gathering of the tourism industry on the small islands with grand ambitions for sustainable tourism.

Faroe Islands may still be one of the most remote destinations in the world and most people would struggle to locate the islands on a map of the world. But local guides and tour operators are preparing to receive a projected growing number of visitors in an authentic and sustainable manner.

On the joint booking platform for all Faroese tour operators, Guide to Faroe Islands (www.guidetofaroeislands.fo), visitors can now find and book over 100 locally organised activities and tours. Many of the tours and operators are new and include everything from birdwatching tours to the puffin island, Mykines, private hiking tours to Instagram favourites Mulafossur and Trlanipan, and ocean kayaking underneath the majestic sea stacks Drangarnir.

The multi-vendor platform has received a warm welcome by the Faroese travel industry with most travel companies and individual tour guides in the Faroe Islands now included on the platform.

The Faroe Islands have no plans for mass tourism, but are taking a more sustainable route to growth. Guide to Faroe Islands has been endorsed by government body Visit Faroe Islands as a welcomed enabler of sustainable tourism promoting geographically dispersed activities from providers across the small country.

Guide to Faroe Islands has announced that the platform will work closely together with local authorities, land owners and interest groups and is adapting the trips and activities on offer to local needs and restrictions to support the foundations of sustainable tourism in the Faroe Islands.

In addition to providing a seamless way for travellers to book tours in the Faroe Islands, Guide to Faroe Islands also acts as an aggregator for travel agencies around the world who can distribute and sell tours via the sites partner portal

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Riyadh: Chris Nader, Vice President  Development, Shaza Hotels, made a special presentation to a large audience of hotel owners and investors about Mysk by Shaza at the Saudi Arabia Hotel Investment



(TRAVPR.COM) UAE - January 23rd, 2019 -

Drawing on the brands compelling proposition for owners

Riyadh: Chris Nader, Vice President  Development, Shaza Hotels, made a special presentation to a large audience of hotel owners and investors about Mysk by Shaza at the Saudi Arabia Hotel Investment Conference (SHIC) in Riyadh. Mysk was voted the winner of The Three Minute Pitch out of the 16 leading brands that participated in the session open for owners and investors only.

Emphasising on the brands unique personality inspired by the Arabian lifestyle, Chris said, Mysk by Shaza has been designed to provide a distinct guest experience combined with a compelling investment proposition to owners. A significantly lower cost of development per key than expected for such a quality upscale hotel, better back of house efficiencies, reduced staff to key ratio and stronger ADR (Average Daily Rate) versus the competition allow us to deliver a strong return on investment.

Speaking about expansion in KSA, Chris stated, Saudi Arabia is a priority market for us with 35 per cent of our portfolio located in the country and SHIC is an excellent platform to showcase our latest brand offering to hotel owners and investors. We have operated in the Kingdom with great success since the launch of our first 5-star property Shaza Al Madina and thereafter expanded to Makkah, Riyadh and will soon be open in Jeddah.

The recent reforms and widespread investment in Saudi Arabias tourisms sector are driving demand for a new generation of hotels and Mysk by Shaza is ideally suited for the market given its innovative concept and compelling brand proposition.

Chris stressed, The upscale segment is one of the fastest growing sectors in KSA and represents a massive opportunity for us that we are eager to capitalise on. As the leading alcohol-free brand in the luxury and upscale segment that proudly celebrates the Arabian hospitality, we are well placed to unlock the enormous potential for growth in Saudi Arabia while accelerating expansion in primary and secondary cities.

A member of the Global Hotel Alliance, Mysk by Shaza has a strong development pipeline with fabulous hotels coming up in the UAE and Kuwait in addition to its hugely successful flagship hotel Mysk Al Mouj in Oman.

###

About Shaza Hotels

Shaza is the leading hotel management company dedicated to offering true Arabian hospitality inspired by the traditions and culture of various countries along the Silk Route and reflected by the supremely elegant Middle Eastern style decor and serene ambiance that is appreciated by the most discerning travellers.

With four hotels already operational in the Middle East  Shaza Makkah in the Holy city, the multiple award-winning Shaza Al Madina, the newly opened Shaza Riyadh and the flagship hotel under the Mysk by Shaza brand Mysk Al Mouj in Muscat  the brand is expanding rapidly with the opening this year of the Sharjah Collection, followed by Shaza Doha, Shaza Salalah and Mysk The Palm in Dubai. Shaza is a member of Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands.

For more information please visit www.shazahotels.com

About Global Hotel Alliance

Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands, brings together 35 brands with 550 hotels in 76 countries. GHA uses a shared technology platform to drive incremental revenues and create cost savings for its member brands. GHAs award-winning loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, provides over 11 million members exclusive opportunities to immerse themselves in local culture wherever they travel. For more information, visit www.gha.com

For further information please contact:

Ali Ozbay

Director of Marketing & Communications

Shaza Hotels

Website: www.shazahotels.com

Email: ali.ozbay@shazahotels.com

Office: +971 4 437 6460

Follow us on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ShazaHotels

Twitter: @ShazaHotels

Instagram: @ShazaHotels

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shaza-hotels/

#ShazaHotels #IamShaza

For media please contact:

Hina Bakht

Managing Director

EVOPS Marketing & PR

Mob: 00971 50 6975146

Tel: 00971 4 566 7355

Hina.bakht@evops-pr.com

www.evops-pr.com

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The UKs top 20 most searched for tourist attractions of 2018 have been revealed.



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED KINGDOM - January 22nd, 2019 - Using search volume data from Google, travel website, The Tourist Trail has published a list of the top 20 most searched for UK attractions in 2018, and the results may surprise you.

Whilst over half of the top 20 attractions were based in London, the top spot went to an attraction much further outside the capital. In fact, only two out of the top five went to London attractions, with the number one spot going to Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire.

Since opening in 1980, Alton Towers has evolved into a large resort with a range of attractions, including a theme park, a waterpark, several hotels, and even a spa.

Perhaps it is this ability to evolve to meet market demand that has helped Alton Towers to secure its place as the number one most searched for UK attraction of 2018.

You can read the full list, as well as details of what to expect from each attraction in 2019 on The Tourist Trail website.

ENDS

Further Information

Data Source: Exact match searches on Google from within the UK during the period 1st January 2018  December 31st 2018.

About The Tourist Trail

The Tourist Trail is a tourist portal website which provides destination guides and ideas for places to visit, places to stay, and places to eat & drink.

###


Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : WILD ABOUT LAPLAND OFFERS NORTHERN LIGHTS TRIP ROVANIEMI FILLED WITH FUN AND JOY Industry: Tour Ops

When you desire to have a learning experience that is filled with fun and joy during your vacation in Lapland you need to be part of Northern Lights Trip in Rovaniemi offered by Wild About Lapland.



(TRAVPR.COM) FINLAND - January 22nd, 2019 - When you are in Lapland and desire to experience the Northern lights or to learn how to ice fish or even to take a Reindeer ride and meet Santa then you need to be part of Northern Lights Trip from Rovaniemi offered by Wild About Lapland.



The passion and experience that makes such trip possible



Theo Turner, the owner, and lead tour guide of Wild About Lapland has extensive experience of the outdoors. He is a former Royal Marine Commando and Professional Outdoor Instructor. He has a great understanding of the Northern Lights and the Wilderness and how to survive and appreciate it. Now one of his greatest passions is to share the natural phenomena, opportunities, and beauty that the Finnish Lapland has to offer and his means is through the Northern Lights Trip from Rovaniemi.



While on any of their specialized Northern Lights Trip in Rovaniemi they will give you more than just the experience youre looking for. What they want you to get out of it is knowledge! When you finish the tour, you will have a good understanding of your surroundings here in the Lapland wilderness, the local people and the Saami people, the wildlife, and even a few key Finnish words.



One of the spokespersons of Wild About Lapland said, During our Northern Lights Trip from Rovaniemi you can expect to have a full day of learning about the wonders of Lapland and the animals the reside in it. It will be followed by 4 hours out searching for the world most favorite natural phenomena, the Aurora Borealis. You can also expect to have picked up from your accommodation, lunch at the restaurant in Ranua, learn to make fire with flint and steel and find the spectacular northern lights.



About Wild About Lapland



Wild About Lapland is located in Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland. They are passionate about sharing our lifestyle and it is what they do best. The main goal in Wild About Lapland is to provide tours that allow all individuals to experience exactly what they wish for, whether it be to experience the Northern lights or to learn how to ice fish or even to take a Reindeer ride and meet Santa. Some people just want to see what snow looks like!



So, do contact us at Wild About Lapland dialing +358 40 568 8570 to have the best experience in Lapland. https://wildaboutlapland.com/ ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Theo Turner Company: Wild About Lapland Phone: 3580405688570 Email: theoturneronline@gmail.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS
When it comes to a unified African market  the topic of Tuesdays panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos  Bernard Gautier, deputy CEO of French investment firm Wendel Group, made it easy to see the existing barriers to business and Africas economic growth.

Theres an office in Morocco with a Congolese staffer and one from Cameroon, he said, but they cant get to Kenya. One will need weeks to get a visa, while the other cant get one at all. As Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank pointed out, about half of the 54 African nations still require visas for travel; just a quarter dont require them, while another quarter issue them on arrival.

Moving goods isnt any easier. Today it costs less money to bring a car from Paris to Lagos, than from Accra to Lagos, said Gautier, an advocate of what the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement can achieve for Africans who are looking to create 18 million jobs each year through 2035.

Thats exactly what the panel of five facilitated by Arancha Gonzalez Laya, the executive director of the International Trade Centre, came to talk about. Laya called the AfCFTA one area of good news in the faltering globalization arena, which has seen economic growth slow in China and countries like the United States pull back on trade issues.

The next China, after China

Yet theres a long way to go for the AfCFTA to deliver on its potential. It was adopted in March 2018 after plans first began through the African Union in 2012. So far, 18 countries have ratified the agreement, or passed legislation to do so, with just four more needed before the AfCFTA will enter into force. Many are in West Africa, with Cote dIvoire becoming the most recent signatory in December.

North Africa has so far held out on the agreement, though all countries there have pledged to sign. And Nigeria remains a sticking point, as trade union leaders press for protections. President Muhammadu Buhari, facing elections in another three weeks, is still awaiting results of a study expected this month.

In the meantime, Adesina and other Davos panel participants made the case for just how transformative implementation of the trade agreement might be. The AfCFTA envisions the free movement of goods and services across African borders, with a common African passport and cross-border movement for its people. Its being supported by initiatives like the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) launched a year ago, and the AU Supply Chain Platform unveiled at a workshop in Ethiopia last week.

Adesinas argument for bringing all the walls down rested on solid population and economic data. By 2050, the African population will compare in size to that of India or China, with a similar growth in the middle class. Think of the next China, after China, he said. This is exactly what the continental free trade area is, almost $3 trillion of combined GDP. Thats the market to focus on.

Benefits to African economies

What the AfDB has already learned is that African countries that participate now in regional markets are the ones with more economic stability, in part because they are buffered from global economic shocks affecting nations that rely on exporting raw materials. Those resources also should be kept in Africa to support its own value-added industries, rather than seeing the profits go to global partners.

Under the AfCFTA, the new African Economic Outlook 2019 estimates an initial increase in Africa-to-Africa trade of 15 percent and some $2.8 billion in gains in real income when Africas bilateral tariffs are removed. Eliminating other barriers will be worth $37 billion and push trade gains up by more than 100 percent. That becomes far greater with the implementation of the World Trade Organizations Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which went into force in February 2017.

More than 30 African nations have signed TFA, in anticipation of trading costs reduced by 14 to 18 percent, and a 0.5 percent boost in world trade expected to benefit the worlds least developed countries (LDCs) most. That has the potential for real economic impact across Africa, where the vast majority  33 of the 47 LDCs  are located, but its not without significant challenges in financing energy and infrastructure needed to support its growth. Also critical to Africas free trade transformation is the need for political stability, and tech sector development to avoid what panelist Rob Shuter of MTN called data nationalism.

The foundation for Africas success are its small- and medium-sized businesses, and support for the role of women and youth in driving entrepreneurship is a priority. The SMBs account for 75 percent of all African business, Adesina said, but only 20 percent have access to finance. The same problem exists on a continental scale: Just 15 countries, led by South Africa, account for 85 percent of the continents trade.

The issue is how do we expand that? Well you cant do that unless you have trade finance, he said. The AfDB is investing $1 billion to support SMBs, which was important to panelists including Oxfam executive director Winnie Byanyima as she stressed the importance of addressing economic injustice. Her remarks followed Mondays release of the Oxfam report on inequality, which many view as driven by factors of unchecked globalization.

Africa, and especially its women and youth, need jobs that provide security rather than a poverty she compared with slavery. We need to prevent our trade bloc from the risk of allowing the rich countries to undercut our industrial development, she said, urging Africa to learn from the mistakes of others in implementing the AfCFTA.
Set to break cover in 2019, the Karoq RS will most likely share underpinnings with the hot Cupra Ateca, built by Seats recently founded performance division. This means that unlike the Kodiaq RS, which features a diesel engine, the Karoq RS will deliver solid performance. Expect it to boast a more aggressive exterior and unique features inside the cabin. Until the actual SUV breaks cover, we created a rendering that previews its exterior design.

Introduced in 2017 to replace the Yeti, the Karoq is Skodas first authentic foray into the compact crossover market. Already available in variety of trims, including the rugged Scout and the sportier Sportline, the Karoq is about to enter the performance market with an RS badge.

Exterior

Sportier overall

Body-colored bumpers

"RS" badge

Black trim

Diffuser-like element

Larger tailpipes

New exterior colors?

Just like the larger Kodiaq RS, the Karoq RS wont be notably more aggressive than the standard model.

As seen in our rendering, it will most likely be based on the Sportline trim, which features body-colored lower bumpers and side skirts.

Nothing too fancy, but definitely better than the black panels on the regular model.

On top of that, Skoda will probably design a new bumper to set the RS apart. My bet is on a new vent configuration, probably a three-piece layout with notably bigger openings on each side and in the center. Also look for a honeycomb mesh. We went with additional lights in the bumper and black trim at the corners for a more premium look. Of course, the grille will be finished in black like on all Skoda RS models and it should also have a special badge.

Onto the sides, I think the RS will look a lot like the Sportline model. It will have the same black window frames and mirror caps, and the tiny badges on the front fenders. Of course, the badge will have an RS logo. The SUV will feature new, unique wheels as well. We used a modern design with intricate spokes in our rendering, but it remains to be seen if Skoda will offer something similar or a much simpler design.

Changes will be even less noticeable around back. Again, expect it to look just like the Sportline model for the most part, with a couple of revisions. First, it should get a slightly bigger roof spoiler. Second, an "RS" badge will find its way on the tailgate.

Third, Skoda will add a diffuser-like element and larger exhaust pipes, probably finished in black.

All told, it wont be as exciting as other performance SUVs, but it will stand out in the lineup.

Interior

Sportier seats

Alcantara upholstery

Red stitching

"RS" badges

Carbon-look trim

Stainless steel pedals

Same cargo capacity

The RS will be a bit more comfortable during high-speed turns and long trips

Dont get your hopes up for a significantly sportier cabin. Just like the Kodiaq RS, the Karoq RS will feature only a handful of upgrades.

You and the front passenger will sit in sportier seats with heavier side bolstering. Not that the Karoq RS will be designed for track duty, but it will be a bit more comfortable during high-speed turns and long trips. The seats will have an exclusive design with Alcantara upholstery and diamond-cross stitching in red.

We should see matching stitching on the door armrests, upper door panels, and on the steering wheel. The latter will have a flat bottom and a "vRS" badge on the lower spoke, just like the Kodiaq RS. The instrument cluster will remain unchanged for the most part, but the Sport mode will unlock revised graphics and a speedometer with red accents.

Skoda could make use of carbon-fiber-like plastic in the Karoq RS as well

Perhaps Skoda will make use of carbon-fiber-like plastic in the Karoq RS as well. Already used in the Kodiaq RS, it doesnt look very authentic, but its definitely a better option to the hard plastic found in most Skoda vehicles. Should the Czech automaker use it, expect to find it on the passenger-side dashboard and on the door panels.

Finally, the Karoq RS should feature stainless steel pedal covers and blacked-out chrome trim on the A/C vents for a sportier look.

These modifications wont alter the Karoqs hauling capacity, so it will still be able to carry 479 liters (16.9 cubic feet) of luggage behind the second-row seats or 589 liters (20.8 cubic feet) when these are tilted. Fold the seatbacks down and move them forward and storage room jumps to no fewer than 1,605 liters (56.7 cubic feet). You can also remove the rear seats completely for a total capacity of 1,810 liters (63.9 cubic feet).

Drivetrain

2.0-liter four-cylinder

Engine from the Cupra Ateca

296 horsepower

280 pound-feet of torque

AWD

Adaptive suspension

0 to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds

Top speed at 152 mph

Bigger brakes

The 2.0-liter cranks out 296 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque in the Cupra Ateca

Powered by a diesel engine rated at 237 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, the Kodiaq RS is rather disappointing performance-wise. But word has it Skoda wont make the same mistake with the Karoq and plans to drop a significantly more powerful engine under the hood. And this time around it will be a gasoline mill.

But whats Skoda planning to use, because the standard Karoq comes with very small and not very powerful gas engines. The range-topping 1.5-liter four-cylinder generates 148 horsepower and thats not enough for an RS-badged vehicle. Word has it Skoda plans to take the larger, 2.0-liter four-cylinder from sister brand Seat. The turbocharged four-banger cranks out a solid 296 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque in the Cupra Ateca and the same rating should carry over to the Karoq RS.

The crossover will probably need 5.4 seconds to hit 62 mph from a standing start

Similarities to the Cupra model will probably continue in the transmission and drive departments, so expect it to arrive with a seven-speed DSG gearbox and an all-wheel-drive system. The Ateca needs 5.4 seconds to hit 62 mph from a standing start and I dont see why the Karoq RS wont be equally quick. Unless its not as powerful, of course. Top speed should also remain identical to 152 mph.

An adaptive suspension system will be standard. It will make the Karoq sit almost an inch lower than the standard crossover, but it will also feature firmer spring rates. The 17-inch brakes will be bigger than the regular ones, but Skoda could offer a Brembo update. This is an option on the Cupra Ateca and the Czech firm could offer the same upgrade for extra stopping power.

Pricing

The Skoda Karoq comes in at an affordable 22,490 (around $25,550 as of January 2019) in base trim, but the RS will cost more than that. Actually, it will fetch more than the Sportline version, which retails from 30,520 (about $34,660), and become the most expensive model of the range. Look for a sticker just below the 40,000 (around $45,450) mark.

The Karoq RS will break cover sometime in 2019, but it wont come to North America.

Competition

Sharing underpinnings saves companies a lot of money, but it also means that the vehicles go against each other on the market in most cases. The same will happen with the Karoq RS and the Cupra Ateca, as these vehicle will share underpinnings, technology, and will probably have the same output. It will mostly be a matter of taste as the Ateca looks different inside and out. Cupra models sit a bit higher on the premium ladder, but not by much, so it will also come down to what brand youre attached the most. Because its supposed to have the nicer interior a better materials, the Cupra Ateca is a bit more expensive than what the Karoq RS is expected to fetch. Pricing starts from 42,850 (around $48,690), at least 3,000 more than the Czech SUV.

Read our full review of the 2019 Cupra Ateca.

BMW has yet to launch a full-fledged version of the M, but it doesnt really need one against the Karoq RS. The xDrive30i model is well suited here, even though the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is less powerful at 249 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. However, the X3 has superior dynamics and is just as fast. But you can opt for a 300+ horsepower crossover if you want more oomph. The M40i variant draws juice from a 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine that generates 355 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. The bad news is that the X3 competes in a more upscale market, so it will blow a bigger hole in your bank account. The xDrive30i starts from 52,600, while the M40i comes in at a whopping 68,700 before options. The X3 is the only vehicle in this comparison thats available in the United States.

Read our full story on the 2018 BMW X3.

Conclusion

The fact that Skoda wants to expand its RS offerings to the SUV market is great news, but it remains to be seen if the Karoq will become a proper RS or just a milder vehicle, like the Kodiaq. Fortunately, Skoda already offers a mild Sportline model, so theres a big chance that the Karoq RS will share underpinnings with the cool Cupra Ateca. Sure, it might not be as dynamic as the BMW X3, but it will also be notably more affordable, yet it will be as powerful as a hot-hatch. Definitely anxious to see this crossover in showrooms.

Love it Sportier design Unique interior features Almost 300 horsepower?

Leave it Drivetrain not yet confirmed Not coming to the U.S.



Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Skoda Karoq.

Read our full review on the 2019 Skoda Kodiaq RS.
Its no secret that the collector car market is red hot right now, and that was clearly evident at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona this past weekend, where one of Fords finest crossed the block for a whopping $2.5 million.

Seven figures across the board, but the Ford supercar took the cake in Arizona

The Blue Oval Struts Its Stuff

Without a doubt, the Ford GT is one very desirable automobile.

Toss in a limited edition Gulf racing exterior livery, plus bragging rights for having the first-ever produced, and the desire grows even stronger, as evidenced by the final $2.5 price for the example sent to Arizona.

The GTs sale followed hot on the heels of another Ford product that crossed the block in Arizona, namely the first example of the new 2020 Mustang Shelby, which sold for $1.1 million all by itself.

To help boost those numbers, Ford declared ahead of time it would donate all proceeds to charity, with cash collected from the Ford GT donated to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and the Shelby GT500s proceeds donated to JDRF, which funds diabetes research.

Claiming ownership for VIN 001 of the 2019 Ford GT Heritage Edition was Rick Hendrick, whose name is attached to Hendrick Motorsports, a successful competitor in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The GTs Gulf livery is a nod to Fords win at the 1968 Le Mans 24-Hour endurance race, where the Americans managed to best the dominant Ferrari team in an epic battle on track.

This specific GTs outstanding feature (beyond the VIN) is its orange and blue paint job, but it also comes with unique treatments to the doors, interior door panels, and identification plates, plus it gets raw carbon bits for the A-pillars, silver mirror caps, orange brake calipers, and 20-inch forged aluminum wheels. Inside, the GT Heritage Edition gets Ebony Alcantara for various surfaces, while anodized shift paddles and high-gloss trim bits round it out.

As a reminder, the 2019 Ford GT comes equipped with a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 mounted in the middle of the machine. Output spins to a tune of 647 horsepower and 550 pound-feet of torque, with 60 mph arriving in 3 seconds. Top speed is pegged at 216 mph.

As for the first 2020 Shelby Mustang GT500, Craig Jackson, CEO and Chairman of the Barrett-Jackson Company, issued the lucky winning bid.

As a lifelong Shelby Mustang fan, it was especially exciting to be the winning bigger of the 2020 Shelby GT500 VIN 001, Jackson said. Its a direct descendant of the Green Hornet and Little Red Mustangs and will be a welcome addition to my personal Shelby collection.

As for the Mustang GT500s performance, the pony car comes equipped with an extensive aero package, which includes a racy rear diffuser, vented hood, big fenders, bigger intakes, and a rear wing inspired by the Mustang GT4 racer. Motivation is derived from a supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 making well over 700 horsepower, all of which is sent to the rear axle via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The sprint to 60 mph is estimated to take around 3.3 seconds, with top speed estimated to be around 200 mph.

Ford wasnt the only manufacturer in Arizona offering a first-edition model to the bidding public this weekend.

Toyota was also in attendance with the first-ever 2020 Supra, which sold for $2.1 million, a helluva lot more than its declared $49,990 starting MSRP. Like Ford, Toyota donated all of the proceeds to charity, specifically the American Heart Association and the Bob Woodruff Foundation. To help it stand apart from its standard counterparts, the Supra auctioned in Arizona was slathered in a shade of matte grey and came with a signature by Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda.

The Supras sale at Barrett-Jackson is timely beyond the release of the new fifth-gen model, as cherry fourth-gen production Supras are currently on the market for 100s of thousands of dollars. As a reminder, the fifth-generation model can hit 60 mph in 4.1 seconds thanks to a turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine making 335 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque. Top speed is electronically limited at 155 mph.

Its impressive stuff all around, but these modern machines cant compete with the outrageous prices attached to older collector cars. For example, just last year, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO broke the record for highest price for a car sold at public auction, trading hands for an incredible $48.4 million at RM Sothebys Monterey.

All told, these recent sales are a clear indication that the collector car market is still quite hot. Well se how long the enthusiasm lasts.

Ford GT Specifications

Engine 3.5-liter Twin Turbocharged EcoBoost V-6 Displacement 3,497 cc Compression ratio 9.0:1 Horsepower 647 HP @ 6,250 RPM Torque 550 LB-FT @ 5,900 RPM Fuel economy city/highway/combined 11/18/14 Dry weight 3,054 Lbs Top Speed 216 mph

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2019 Ford GT Heritage Edition.

Read our full review on the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.

Read our full review on the 2020 Toyota Supra.

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Becomes The Most Expensive Car Ever Sold In An Auction
Amid government shutdown, Cleaver, others still getting paid | The Kansas City Star U.S. Reps. Emanuel Cleaver and Sharice Davids discussed local relief Tuesday for furloughed federal workers. Cleaver and several other congressional delegation members continue to collect their paychecks.

The newspaper rounds up news our blog community broke earlier in the week and cleans out their files from the '95-'96 shut down . . . Checkit:
Kansas Lawmakers Defect to Democrats as G.O.P. Struggles in Suburbs LENEXA, Kan. - State Senator Dinah Sykes, a Democrat for three whole weeks, told the retirement home residents that she had felt ignored by Republican leaders. She said that she remained a political moderate. She promised that her views on policy hadn't changed when she quit the Republican Party, only the letter beside her name.

Further examination of ladies leaving the party that could be due to tougher policyjust might be related to. . . What's even more hilarious is the response to this trend by hardline Republicans is a double down on hateration directed toward women and bullying that should help to chase women voters away in droves . . . Take a look:
Show-Me Sen. Kiki Challenge!!!

Jackson County lawmaker tries uniting all of Missouri behind the Chiefs JEFFERSON CITY, MO (KCTV) -- It's no secret that Kansas City loves the Chiefs, and now one Missouri lawmaker wants to spread that love to the entire state. The lawmaking process began in the senate lounge Tuesday, as Jackson County lawmaker Kiki Curls introduced a piece of legislation that's a break from the norm.

Newspaper Publishes Provincialism

Kansas and Missouri boost rural areas and overlook cities | The Kansas City Star Kansas and Missouri lawmakers are considering bills to strengthen the rural economy. Those efforts will work better when legislators understand the importance of urban areas to the states' well-being.

Double Power Play Talk

Westar And KCP&L Say Coal Pushed Up Kansas Electric Rates, But Investments Will Pay Off Soon Companies have complained for years that electricity rates run higher in Kansas than in surrounding states. That gives manufacturers and retailers in other states an edge, they say, and discourages businesses from moving to Kansas. Now the Legislature wants to know what's causing such a disparity.

Kansas City Diploma Mill Blues

Weeks after it suddenly closed, Vatterott students and staff still without personal items Local Vatterott College students and staff members are facing more frustration more than a month after the school suddenly closed its doors. Some of their belongings are still locked inside. Bernard Flucke was a professor in the automotive department. He was training future mechanics when he lost his job.

Tragedy In Paradise

Maui Now: Kansas City Woman Pulled Unresponsive From South Maui Waters A visitor was pulled unresponsive Saturday from South Maui waters. The incident was reported at 1:13 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019. Maui Ocean Safety and fire personnel responded to assist a snorkeler in the area of the Kamaole point (between Kamaole 2 and Kamaole 3 beach parks).

Golden Ghetto Doggie Best Wishes

Puppy abandoned in Lenexa is improving, reward offered for his abusers A puppy abandoned at a construction site and tied to a pole in freezing temperatures is recovering after dealing with hypothermia and malnourishment. Curiosity and spunk are starting to slowly return to the puppy now named Ridge. "He's doing incredibly well," said puppy foster parent Michelle Taylor.

Kansas City Legacy Contemplation

Two years since Ace 30: Kansas City remembers life of Yordano Ventura KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- For many around Kansas City it might seem like yesterday. For others, it might feel like an eternity. But Jan. 22, 2019, marks the two-year anniversary of the death of Kansas City Royals rising superstar Yordano Ventura. Ventura died in a car crash in his home country of the Dominican Republic in 2017.

A pop culture question for the ages . . .Closer to home, we're parting company with these news links that are worth a peek before the morning rush . . .And this is thefor tonight . . .
Aftermath: Kansas City Deadly Shooting Suspect Captured

Man, 21, charged in connection with Oak Leaf Drive homicide A 21-year-old Kansas City, Missouri, man has been charged in connection with a deadly shooting off Oak Leaf Drive Monday. Prosecutors have charged Jason K. Cook with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the shooting death of Cameron Douglas.

Life In Prison For Lady Driver

Mother who drove children into Kansas River gets life sentence LAWRENCE, KS (KCTV) -- A Missouri mother who pleaded guilty to the murder of one child and attempted murder of another will serve life in prison. Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson announced Tuesday that 26-year-old Scharron R.

More Cash For Prison In The Stix

Show-Me Death Culture Fight

Missouri Supreme Court To Decide Whether A Part Of The State's Death Penalty Law Is Constitutional The Missouri Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Wednesday in a case challenging the legality of one aspect of Missouri's death penalty statute. Marvin D. Rice, a former deputy sheriff in Dent County, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2011 for killing his ex-girlfriend, who was the mother of his child, as well as her boyfriend.

Tech Creeper Suspect Confronts Serious Charges For Confidence Scam

Justice Equation Equity?!?!

In Kansas, Algorithms Might Rewrite Who Stays In Jail And Who Bails Out Let's say you're arrested. You're booked into your local jail and the district attorney decides to press charges. The next day, you make your first court appearance in front of a judge, who then has to make a decision. Let you go home before trial - or keep you in jail?

Spy Cam Comes To College Town

Lawrence police expected to have body cameras by summer LAWRENCE, KS (AP) - Lawrence police officials say all officers in the department should be wearing body cameras sometime this summer. The Lawrence Journal-World reports 10 officers, with support from four staff members, have been testing the cameras since November. Police Capt.

Our favoriteand closer to home these news links cover the top crime stories of the day. Checkit:Developing . . .
Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver says he is not opposed to a physical barrier at some points on the U.S./Mexico border, but he said spending nearly $6 billion on a wall does not make sense to him. Cleaver was in Kansas City Tuesday to thank people who are helping furloughed federal workers in the area.
Over the last six years, I have learned to love your arts community through deep and incredibly meaningful conversations. You all give more than you take, and truly my life has been shaped by my experiences with you. During these years, I have actively worked to document these beautiful conversations and the work made around them by founding and running Informality .
Samsung is moving forward with plans to launch its lineup of 8K televisions the company unveiled at CES earlier this month. And as expected, they won't be cheap.

(Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung said on Wednesday (Jan. 23) that it will begin shipping its 85-inch 8K TV on Feb. 8. The television will go for a whopping $14,999. The 65- and 75-inch 8K TV models Samsung unveiled at CES will start shipping on March 1 for a price tag of $4,999 and $6,999, respectively. If you'd prefer the 82-inch model, you'll be able to get it for $9,999 starting on March 22.

Samsung is currently offering pre-orders on its online store.

Samsung and LG both unveiled new 8K televisions at CES this year. Samsung's line of sets comes with the company's Quantum Processor 8K chip, which supports native 8K resolution. The televisions are also capable of upscaling non-8K content to 8K to boost their visual appeal. Additionally, Samsung's televisions come with its virtual personal assistant, Bixby.

MORE: Samsung's 146-Inch The Wall TV Is Now Available for Order

Based on our hands-on time, 8K content looks downright outstanding on Samsung's 8K televisions. However, the problem is 8K content is few and far between. And although upscaling is a Band-Aid for that, it's really no solution to getting the true 8K experience. So, while you might be the first in your neighborhood with an 8K television, you'll be hard-pressed to find boatloads of content to really enjoy it.

Samsung didn't announce pricing or availability on the 98-inch 8K model it announced at CES, and said it will be announced later this year. Judging by the price on the larger models in the lineup, don't expect it to be cheap.
Can we say yet that we definitely know what the Plus version of Samsungs next Galaxy S is going look like? After yet another leaked image reportedly of the upcoming phone, we just might be able to.

(Image credit: IceUniverse)

After last weeks leak claiming to show off a picture of the Galaxy S10+ and its in-display, double selfie camera hole-punch design, the flagship device now seems to be back in a new leaked peek. The new look popped up today (Jan. 22) on Twitter courtesy of leaker IceUniverse.

That snap, spotted by gadget blog BGR, gives a bit less to look at than the earlier image posted to Reddit. In this new S10+ image, the devices screen is turned off, and theres a large digital sticker covering the majority of the phones midsection. What is visible: the same hole-punch in the top right corner of the phones screen that we saw in the Reddit leak.

MORE: Galaxy S10 vs. Galaxy S9: Biggest Changes to Expect

The S10+ picture we got last week was alleged taken on a bus in Suwon, Korea, headed to Samsungs headquarters and shows the phones screen illuminated to let on just how small the displays bezels are. And another Redditor, who has since deleted their account but claimed to be a Samsung employee, commented further on the leak to say the phone feels good, lighter than Note 9 but about the same size, they said.

Todays glance by IceUniverse doesnt offer as much info on sight or via its origin. But hey, well take it as more confirmation that it sure seems like Samsungs Galaxy S phones will be moving to the same Infinity-O display tech that the company first announced with the coming of its A8S phone in China.

The technique, which made its first appearance in the industry with todays unveiling of the Honor View 20, is an answer to the screen top notch that Apple popularized with the iPhone X, which sparked many copycats among Android phone makers. Samsung, famously, never adopted the notch, maintaining small bezels on the top and bottom of its Galaxy smartphones up to this point.

Rumors have had the Samsung Galaxy S10 lineup as the companys first phones to feature a nearly bezel-free display design  with the smaller-screened S10 models (the S10 and S10 lite) getting a single, round in-screen hole-punch for its single selfie cam and the larger S10+ to feature a more oblong hole-punch for its dual selfie cam setup. So far, all the alleged real-life leaked pictures of the upcoming Galaxy S models have been of the S10+.

Samsung is expected to make its Galaxy S10 lineup official at a Feb. 20 event in San Francisco. The phones are then expected to launch a few weeks later in early March if Samsung follows its past rollout schedule.
Varsity Tutors, a live learning platform that connects experts and learners in any subject, anywhere, acquired Veritas Prep, a Los Angeles-based test prep and admissions consulting company.

This 8 figure acquisition expands the services that Varsity Tutors customers may access, including expertly taught live online classes, on-demand recorded content and undergraduate and MBA admissions consulting.

Founded in 2002, Veritas Prep currently offers online and in-person assistance, with a learning suite that includes live online classes, private one-on-one tutoring and self-study materials. In addition to undergraduate and MBA admissions consulting expertise, the company offers ACT, GMAT, GRE, and SAT courses, as well as a dozen test prep books. It has served 300,000 clients to date.

Veritas Prep and its management team led by Chad Troutwine will continue to operate from its office in Calabasas, California.

Founded in 2007 by Chuck Cohn, CEO, Varsity Tutors provides a live learning platform that currently connects students to more than 40,000 experts for individualized instruction in 1,000+ subjects.

Experts are available to meet in person or through the companys online and mobile platforms, which account for the majority of all sessions.

Varsity Tutors has raised $107m in funding from investors including TCV, Learn Capital and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

FinSMEs

22/01/2019
Worried that you might fall victim to a phishing email? Jigsaw, Google's think-tank offshoot, now has an online quiz you can take to see how well you'd perform.

(Image credit: Jigsaw/Alphabet)

Located at https://phishingquiz.withgoogle.com/, the quiz runs you through eight email messages and notifications. Some of them are legitimate, and some are examples of real phishing emails that are trying to steal your passwords. There's even a close analog to the email that let Russian hackers break into the Democratic National Committee's servers in 2016.

Key to getting every answer right is checking the links in each message. Just remember that the last part of a website address, or URL, is what really counts. In other words, "mail-google.securitycheck.fuzzlebutt.com" would not be a Google website. "Securitycheck.google.com" might be, but if you've never heard of it before, best not to take the risk. (Neither of these websites are real.)

Once you're done with the quiz, it gives you a score and offers a link to Google's security page, where you can learn how to set up two-factor authentication.

Best Identity Protection Services
[January 23, 2019] Yissum Expands Global Reach: Establishes Strategic Partnerships in the United States, South America and China

JERUSALEM, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yissum, the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University, announced today the opening of three centers of international cooperation in Chicago (United States), Asuncion (Paraguay) and Shenzhen (China) to facilitate regional commercialization of cutting-edge technologies from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. These centers will enable the local adaptation of technologies to their respective markets, and foster multiple collaboration models between Hebrew University researchers and local industries. In Chicago, Yissum will participate in the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) in Chicago - a joint education, research and innovation institute led by the University of Illinois System, its three universities and other partners. At DPI, Yissum will play an essential role in a broad-scope agreement between the Hebrew University and the University of Illinois system to enhance applied innovation through academic and industry collaboration, with the initial focus on entrepreneurship, biosciences, computer science including AI, big data and cybersecurity, as well as food and Ag technologies. The new centers in Paraguay and China plan to advanc technologies from Yissum's diverse portfolio of research projects and technologies throughout their respective regions. In Paraguay, Yissum has partnered with HC Innovations to foster innovation and commercialization activities throughout South America. HC Innovations is a new venture within Grupo Cartes, a business conglomerate controlled by Horacio Cartes. In China, Yissum has partnered with the China Israel Innovation Center LTD., affiliated with Tsinghua University in Shenzhen.



"With these new international centers of innovation and commercialization, Yissum is taking proactive steps to adapt early stage technologies and companies to local markets abroad," said Dr. Yaron Daniely, CEO and President of Yissum. "Yissum is focused on bringing the best of Hebrew University innovation to the global markets where they are most needed and valued. We are working with local partners and investors to recognize specific regional and national needs, so that we ensure successful commercialization." More international centers of cooperation are expected to open in the future.

About Yissum Yissum is the technology transfer company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Founded in 1964, it is the third company of its kind to be established and serves as a bridge between cutting-edge academic research and a global community of entrepreneurs, investors, and industry. Yissum's mission is to benefit society by converting extraordinary innovations and transformational technologies into commercial solutions that address our most urgent global challenges. Yissum has registered over 10,000 patents covering 2,800 inventions; licensed over 900 technologies and has spun out more than 176 companies. Yissum's business partners span the globe and include companies such as Boston Scientific, Google, ICL, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Microsoft, Novartis and many more. For further information please visit www.yissum.co.il Contact: Estee Yaari, Media Relations, Yissum, The Technology Transfer Company of The Hebrew University, estee@yissum.co.il View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yissum-expands-global-reach-establishes-strategic-partnerships-in-the-united-states-south-america-and-china-300783076.html SOURCE Yissum

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[January 23, 2019] $738K Grant to Fund Construction of Special-Needs Housing

Red River Bank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) awarded a $738,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant to help fund the second phase of construction of nine group homes for 72 developmentally disabled individuals. This is the second AHP grant the banks have awarded to St. Mary's Residential Training School (St. Mary's), a nonprofit dedicated to providing safe housing for disabled individuals. "As a nonprofit organization, the funding provided by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas' AHP grant was a lifeline for our organization," said Tamara McNulty, director of development at St. Mary's. "The grant allowed St. Mary's to provide housing for our clients without jeopardizing the supportive services that our clients also rely on." St. Mary's is home to more than 200 individuals with severe to profound developmental disabilities, many of whom have a dual diagnosis of autism. Families across Louisiana turn to St. Mary's to not only provide a safe living environment, but the niche services that increase independence and improve the quality of life for the community's most vulnerable citizens. Some of the supplemental services St. Mary's provides include job training programs, the Applied Behavior Analysis Learning Center and occupational and physical therapy consultants. "The AHP grant makes a significant impact - not just on the completion of the project, but also on the residents and their families," said Vice President of Community Relations and CRA Officer at Red River Bank, Jannease Seastrunk. "We need grant programs like the AHP that can help bring projects like St. Mary's to fruition"



FHLB Dallas awards AHP grants annually, through members like Red River Bank, to support the creation or rehabilitation of affordable housing units, among other uses. In 2018, FHLB Dallas awarded $14 million in AHP grants to 29 projects that will result in 1,853 new or renovated housing units. Of that, $4.7 million was awarded to Louisiana projects, and will result in 319 new or rehabilitated housing units. "Our partnership with Red River Bank is a long one that has resulted in creating affordable housing opportunities for many individuals and families," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "Their commitment to community investment makes life easier for many families in the community they serve."

Ms. McNulty said without the AHP grant, St. Mary's would have had to make the difficult decision of reducing program expenses to offset higher mortgage payments. "The AHP makes an immeasurable impact on the demographic we serve because our clients would never be able to access permanent housing on their own," she said. "With AHP's help, we can create a community where people with developmental disabilities can live safely." Visit fhlb.com/ahp for more information on the AHP. About Red River Bank Red River Bank is a full-service community bank headquartered in Alexandria, Louisiana. Red River Bank was chartered in 1998 in Rapides Parish and began operating its first banking center in Alexandria in 1999. Red River Bank offers consumer and commercial banking services and products, mortgage lending services, and investment services. About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank system created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $73.7 billion as of September 30, 2018, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced advances and other credit products to approximately 825 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. Visit fhlb.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005846/en/

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[January 23, 2019] $200K Grant Makes Building Farm Labor Housing Possible

Origin Bank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) have awarded a $200,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant to assist a local nonprofit with building housing for low-income farm laborers in Bastrop, Louisiana. BDT Housing Services Enterprise (BDTHSE), an affordable housing and community development nonprofit, will use the grant toward the construction of 20 apartment housing units. Specifically, BDTHSE will use the grant toward reimbursement of the project's predevelopment costs, land purchase cost and soft costs during construction. "Farmworkers' needs often go unmet," said Tracy Prince, executive director of BDTHSE. "When decent housing is unavailable, farmworkers live in substandard, crowded structures and in unlivable situations." According to the December 2016 profile of the National Agricultural Workers Survey, 30 percent of farmworkers had family incomes below the poverty line. Besides income, farmworkers also suffer other challenges such as language barriers and lack of education, according to the survey. It also noted that the average level of education completed by farmworkers was eighth grade. "Investing in our community is part of our mission at Origin Bank," said Shelia Grayson, vice president and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) officer at Origin Bank. "We are glad to work alongside FHLB Dallas to make an impact on the farming community by providing more housing." The apartment units will be two-, three- and four-bedroom duplex layouts. Construction will begin in February. "BDT Housing Services Enterprise i very grateful to have programs to aid grassroot nonprofits in the urban and rural services area and the members that contributed to the program," Ms. Prince said.



FHLB Dallas awards AHP grants annually, through members like Origin Bank, to support the creation or rehabilitation of affordable housing units, among other uses. In 2018, FHLB Dallas awarded $14 million in AHP grants to 29 projects that will result 1,853 new or renovated housing units. Of that, $4.7 million was awarded to Louisiana projects, and will result in 319 new or rehabilitated housing units. Visit fhlb.com/ahp for more information on the AHP. "We are grateful for our partnership with Origin Bank on this project to bring quality affordable housing to the farming community of Bastrop," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "To be part of their commitment to ensuring the success of local organizations and workers that put food on our tables is an honor."

About Origin Bank Origin Bank, formerly Community Trust Bank, is more than a century-old, Louisiana-chartered bank which provides a wide range of traditional banking services with 41 banking centers throughout Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. Origin Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Origin Bancorp, Inc., a financial holding company with assets of over $4 billion. Origin Bancorp's common stock is not listed on any exchange and is traded through individually negotiated transactions. Member FDIC. To learn more, visit Origin Bank's website at originbankonline.com. About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank system created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $73.7 billion as of September 30, 2018, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced advances and other credit products to approximately 825 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. Visit fhlb.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005845/en/

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[January 23, 2019] Green Mountain College Announces Closure Following the Completion of the Spring Semester; Partnership with Prescott College in Arizona Continues Green Mountain's Legacy

Green Mountain College (GMC) announced today that its trustees voted to close the college following commencement in May. The announcement was made at an all-college meeting. With the college age population decline in Vermont and New England over the past decade projected to continue, there has been an associated decline in enrollment. At the same time, the costs of providing the quality education that GMC students want and deserve have remained stable or have increased. That combination of a decrease in tuition payments and an increase in the costs of providing unique programming have overstrained GMC finances. Prescott College in Arizona will hire some Green Mountain faculty; house all of Green Mountain's academic records; provide opportunities for Green Mountain students to complete their degrees, and create a center, school, or institute that carries on the Green Mountain name. The two colleges share a mission and are founding members of the EcoLeague consortium of environmentally focused colleges. The decision to close and partner with Prescott was only finalized after all options were fully investigated and the pros and cons of each path carefully evaluated over several months. "Our efforts to maintain the Poultney campus as the site where Green Mountain's unique programs would continue to be delivered did not cease when students left for the semester break a month ago. In fact, efforts were redoubled to find a solution but we have reached the point that continued puruit of these strategies is narrowing the options available for all students, faculty and staff," said Green Mountain College President Robert Allen.



Over the past 18 months, the administration and college trustees investigated a wide range of options available to insure the continuation of its mission, including potential ways to decrease costs and increase revenues. The GMC administration met with potential partners both in and out-of-state and strategic alliances were explored with other institutions that share the same values as the college and that have a complementary curriculum to the GMC. Several options were still under consideration as recently as last week; however, the college was unable to find a financial solution, or secure a partnership that would enable the GMC-Poultney campus to continue operations beyond the Spring semester. The GMC-Poultney campus will wind-down all operations in Vermont after commencement in May.

"If we could not remain here in Poultney, our goals had been to find an institution that had already committed to a sustainability curriculum, had a similar small college feel, would continue the Green Mountain legacy, be committed to ensuring that there would be little or no direct financial or academic impact on our students and, despite the notable change in geography and in climate, would provide for as smooth of a transition as possible for students," added Allen. The partnership with Prescott and the teach-out agreements with the seven (7) other colleges are subject to the approval of The New England Commission of Higher Education and The Higher Education Commission. The college will be conducting separate Q and A sessions for faculty, staff, and students. It will be staffed by college personnel who are best equipped to answer the many questions that result from today's announcement. In addition, over the next two days the college will be holding separate call-in opportunities for parents, alumni and graduate students. Not all positions will continue to the end of the semester. In coordination with State of Vermont Department of Labor, we will be scheduling job fairs on campus. In addition, several trustees and other individuals connected to the College have volunteered to assist staff in finding new jobs. Each staff member will be notified of the current plan for their position in the next week. Green Mountain College is committed to helping students, faculty and staff transition to their next opportunity. The GMC administration and trustees will devote their full attention to this effort. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005805/en/

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[January 23, 2019] Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Total Income Fund Declares Monthly Distributions of $0.1511 Per Share

Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Total Income Fund ("the Fund"), which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "EDI", announced the declaration of monthly distributions of $0.1511 per common share, payable on the dates noted below. Based on the Fund's current share price of $ 11.85 and net asset value per share of $ 11.44 (as of close on January 22, 2019), the distributions represent an annualized distribution rate of 15.30% and 15.85% respectively. The following dates apply to the distributions declared:







Ex-Distribution Date Record Date Payable Date February 14, 2019 February 15, 2019 February 28, 2019 March 15, 2019 March 18, 2019 March 28, 2019 April 11, 2019 April 12, 2019 April 25, 2019

This press release is not for tax reporting purposes but is being provided to announce the amount of the Fund's distributions that have been declared by the Board of Directors. In early 2020, after definitive information is available, the Fund will send shareholders a Form 1099-DIV, if applicable, specifying how the distributions paid by the Fund during the prior calendar year should be characterized for purposes of reporting the distributions on a shareholder's tax return (e.g., ordinary income, long-term capital gain or return of capital). The Fund is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that is managed by Stone Harbor Investment Partners LP ("Stone Harbor"). The Fund's primary investment objective is to maximize total return, which consists of income and capital appreciation on its investments in emerging markets securities. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes) in emerging markets debt, which includes fixed income securities and other instruments, including derivatives, that are economically tied to emerging market countries, that are denominated in the predominant currency of the local market of an emerging market country or whose performance is linked to those countries' markets, currencies, economies or ability to repay loans. The Fund normally expects to invest up to 20% of its total assets in emerging markets equity, which includes securities issued by either single country or regional exchange-traded funds, common stocks, preferred stocks, other equity securities and other instruments (including derivatives) that are economically tied to the equity markets of emerging market countries, that are denominated in the predominant currency of the local market of an emerging market country or whose performance is linked or otherwise related to those countries' markets, currencies, or economies. A security or instrument is economically tied to an emerging market country if it is principally traded on the country's securities markets or if the issuer is organized or principally operates in the country, derives a majority of its income from its operations within the country or has a majority of its assets within the country. Stone Harbor Investment Partners LP is a global institutional fixed income investment manager, specializing in credit and asset allocation strategies. The firm's investment strategies are based on fundamental insights, derived from a combination of proprietary research and the in-depth knowledge and specialized experience of the firm's team. Based in New York, Stone Harbor employs approximately 140 people across its headquarters and offices in Chicago, London, Melbourne and Singapore. Founded in 2006, Stone Harbor is an employee-owned partnership with approximately $26.3 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2018. For more information, please visit Stone Harbor's website at www.shiplp.com. For more complete information, please call 877.206.0791 (toll-free) or visit the Fund's website - www.shiplpcef.com. The Stone Harbor Emerging Markets Total Income Fund is a closed-end fund and closed-end funds do not continuously issue shares for sale as open-end mutual funds do. Since its initial public offering, the Fund has traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EDI. Investors wishing to buy or sell shares need to place orders through an intermediary or broker. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005808/en/

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[January 23, 2019] OK International to Showcase Metcal & Techcon Brands at APEX

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OK International, part of Dover (NYSE: DOV), announced plans to exhibit at the 2019 IPC APEX EXPO, scheduled to take place January 29-31, 2019, at the San Diego Convention Center. The company will demonstrate products from its core brands, Metcal for soldering and fume extraction, and Techcon for fluid dispensing. Metcal will feature its Connection Validation (CV) Robotic Soldering System, CV Soldering System with new hand-pieces, and more products: CV Robotic Soldering System: Robotic soldering is becoming more commonplace as manufacturers look to reduce risk and increase productivity. Metcal's new CV Robotic Soldering System addresses these needs by combining its patented CV technology with a new Smart Interface System. CV reduces unnecessary dwell time by signalling to the system to move to the next solder joint in the program after a good joint is formed. The Smart Interface System simplifies the programming process by integrating system controls through an easy-to-use interface. CV Soldering System: Metcal will introduce the latest CV hand-pieces and assorted cartridges that transform the CV-5200 soldering system into the solution for even the most challenging soldering applications. All of the new hand-pieces are now available with a number of unique tip cartridge geometries. The tip cartridges are available in a variety of temperature series to satisfy the most challenging applications. Techcon will showcase its TSR2000 Smart Dispensing Rbots and TS8100-100 PC Pump with new controller:



TSR2000 Series Smart Dispensing Robots: TSR2000 Series Smart Dispensing Robots are designed specifically for precise fluid dispensing applications and are compatible with all valve types and controllers. The user-friendly, smart PC-based software make the robots easy to program and simple to operate.

From a general assembly manufacturer looking to automate an existing dispensing application, to an engineer designing a production process from the very beginning, Techcon Systems dispensing robots offer unsurpassed value in automated precision fluid dispensing. The basic dispensing robot series are available in three platforms: TSR2201: 200mm X 200mm

TSR2301: 300mm X 300mm

TSR2401: 400mm X 400mm TS8100-100 Positive Displacement PC Pump: TS8100-100 Positive Displacement PC Pump is a continuously volumetric pump volumetric dispense designed based on Progressive Cavity (PC) technology. The pump can accurately dispense a wide range of fluids, from low-viscosity coatings to high-viscosity greases. The TS580R is a Smart PC Pump controller capable of controlling the Techcon TS8100 series PC Pump. With a universal power supply, it is a fully 'plug and play' system and can be used immediately, anywhere in the world. OK International will be exhibiting in booth #1314 at APEX. For more information about any of OK International's electronics assembly bench tool solutions, visit okinternational.com. About OK International: OK International, a Dover company, is a global manufacturer of bench tools and equipment that are used in electronics & industrial product assembly. Committed to operational excellence and innovation, they deliver core technological advantages with best-in-class performance. The core brands are Metcal, which provides advanced technology products across hand soldering, convection rework, and fume extraction applications and Techcon, known for their fluid and dispensing products that provide superior accuracy and durability. About Dover: Dover is a diversified global manufacturer with annual revenue of approximately $7 billion. We deliver innovative equipment and components, specialty systems, consumable supplies, software and digital solutions, and support services through three operating segments: Engineered Systems, Fluids and Refrigeration & Food Equipment. Dover combines global scale with operational agility to lead the markets we serve. Recognized for our entrepreneurial approach for over 60 years, our team of over 24,000 employees takes an ownership mindset, collaborating with customers to redefine what's possible. Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, Dover trades on the New York Stock Exchange under "DOV." Additional information is available at dovercorporation.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ok-international-to-showcase-metcal--techcon-brands-at-apex-300783240.html SOURCE Dover

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[January 23, 2019] Concord Law School Wins American Bar Association Louis M. Brown Select Award for Legal Services

Concord Law School at Purdue University (News - Alert) Global, the nation's first fully-online law school, was named by the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services as the winner of the 2019 Louis M. Brown Select Award for Legal Access. Concord Law School was recognized for being the first fully online law school to join an incubator program. In partnership with the Legal Aid Society of Orange (News - Alert) County's Lawyer Entrepreneur Assistance Program (LEAP), the goal of the incubator is to give participants practical hands-on experience as well as financial and technical support to launch their own solo practice with a focus on serving modest means clients. "We're honored to receive this award from the American Bar Association as it recognizes the significant contribution Concord Law School is making to address the access to justice gap," said Dean of Concord Law School Martin Pritikin. "We are hopeful that acknowledgments such as this will open the door for further dialogue between traditional and online legal schools on this issue." The ABA Louis M. Brown Select Award for Legal Access is presented annually to the programs and projects that advance ccess to legal services for individuals of moderate incomes. The nominees that receive the most online votes from the public are awarded this honor.



The Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services will present the 2019 awards on Friday, Jan. 25, at a joint luncheon of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, National Association of Bar Executives and National Conference of Bar Foundations during the 2019 ABA Midyear Meeting in Las Vegas. Concord, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, joined the Purdue University system in April 2018 when it was acquired, along with the former Kaplan University, and began operating as part of Purdue University Global.

About Purdue University Global Purdue University Global is the extreme personalization online university, providing students the competitive edge to advance in their chosen careers. It offers a hyper-tailored path for students to earn an associate, bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, desired pace, military service, previous college credits, and other considerations - no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global serves approximately 29,000 students, most of whom earn their degree online. It also operates 14 locations in Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Maryland, Maine, Missouri and Wisconsin. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by The Higher Learning Commission. It is affiliated with Purdue University's flagship institution, a highly ranked public research university located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University also operates two regional campuses in Fort Wayne and Northwest, Indiana, as well as serving close to 6,000 science, engineering and technology students at the Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI) Indianapolis campus. For more information about Purdue Global, please visit www.PurdueGlobal.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005793/en/

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Insight Venture Partners, a global venture capital and private equity firm, appointed Teddie Wardi and Matt Gatto to Managing Director.

Additionally, the firm announced the appointments of Allyson White, Byron Lichtenstein, and Jonathan Grossman to Principal.

Teddie Wardi joined Insight in 2017 and focuses on high-growth software and internet companies. Wardi works with several Insight portfolio companies and helps lead new investments across both Enterprise and SMB software. Previously, he was a Partner at Atomico, one of the largest European venture funds based in London, and a VP at Dawn Capital, a SaaS focused early stage fund. Prior to venture investing, he served as co-founder and CTO of Nervogrid, a cloud service marketplace platform, which was acquired by ALSO. Wardi was recognized on GrowthCaps 40 Under 40 Growth Investors list in 2018.

Matt Gatto joined Insight in 2010. He focuses on high-growth software and SaaS businesses across infrastructure, healthcare and enterprise applications, and also has experience with leveraged buyouts. Prior to joining Insight, he worked in online advertising optimization at Verizon Information Services, debt restructuring and issuance at Deutsche Bank Asia and electronic communications risk management at Merrill Lynch. Gatto has previously been recognized on both Forbes 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital and GrowthCaps 40 Under 40 Growth Investors.

Allyson White joined Insight in 2012 as part of the Onsite team. Previously, she was a strategy consultant in the markets and customers practice at Monitor Group, where she advised multi-national companies on growth strategy, product innovation, acquisitions, scenario planning and pricing strategy. White worked in a variety of industries including pharmaceutical, insurance and chemicals.

Byron Lichtenstein joined Insight in 2015. Prior to his role with Insight, he worked as a Consultant with Bain & Company, advising both public and private companies on long-term product and go-to-market strategy definition, internal process redesign and supply chain optimization. He also spent significant time in Bains private equity due diligence group and has experience across a diverse set of industries including healthcare, retail, financial technology, insurance and consumer packaged goods. Lichtenstein previously served in roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Procter & Gamble.

Jonathan Grossman has grown his career at Insight since 2010. He previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers as an audit associate and senior associate. During his time there, Grossman provided audit and assurance services to various hedge funds, private equity funds, and other clients within the financial services industry. He graduated summa cum laude from CUNY Queens College with a dual degree in Accounting and Economics and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Founded in 1995, Insight Venture Partners is a global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Insight currently has over $20 billion of assets under management and has cumulatively invested in more than 300 companies worldwide.

The team is comprised of more than 130 professionals.

FinSMEs

23/01/2019
The optics of the G-7 meeting are encouraging. President Biden was warmly received by our closest allies and plans were laid to forge a joint strategy to confront China, our principal geopolitical adversary. The U.S. has dropped its go-it-alone policy and returned to its post-World War II, a
[January 23, 2019] RMA's GCOR XIII To Focus On Culture, Third-Party Risk Management, Emerging Risks

Dean Yoost, member of the Board of Directors at MUFG Union Bank and Pacific Life Insurance Company, to address RMA's 13th annual Governance, Compliance, and Operational Risk Conference regarding directors' expectations PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 23, 2019 /CNW/ -- Leading banking industry experts will share their experiences regarding AI, machine learning, and blockchain, as well as their views on evolving cyber resiliency and third-party risk management practices at GCOR XIII. The Risk Management Association's 13th annual Governance, Compliance, and Operational Risk Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, Mass., April 10-11, 2019. Dean Yoost, author of the forthcoming Illuminating Data in the Boardroom, scheduled to be published by RMA later this year, will be a keynote speaker, outlining some of the opportunities, risks, and regulatory issues, as well as describing notable concerns and issues associated with data. The conference will also feature sessions on topics such as effective challenge; risk appetite; LIBOR risk management; agile risk management and additional programming on culture, conduct, and reputation risk.



"Evolving customer preferences are driving a demand for innovation in the financial services industry, and institutions are increasingly focused on using blockchain, AI, and machine learning to improve the customer experience and drive efficiencies. It is critical that institutions understand that these innovative technologies can confer superior benefits over existing technologies but also give rise to significant operational risk and reputational risk to financial institutions," said RMA Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Edward J. DeMarco, Jr. For more information and to register, visit www.rmahq.org/gcorxiii.

About RMA

Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk management principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 2,500 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by 18,000 individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia/Pacific. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rmas-gcor-xiii-to-focus-on-culture-third-party-risk-management-emerging-risks-300783183.html SOURCE The Risk Management Association

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[January 23, 2019] Dynata Announces Tiama Hanson-Drury As New Head of Product Development

Addition to Senior Leadership Team Spurs Shifts DALLAS, Jan. 23, 2019 /CNW/ -- Dynata, a global leader in first-party data and data services, announces that Tiama Hanson-Drury is joining the company as Executive Vice President, Product Development. Hanson-Drury brings extensive experience in data-driven product development and product management in market research and marketing services in areas such as data and insights platforms, advertising measurement, and strategic planning of product portfolios. Previously, Hanson-Drury was EVP, Global Product, at Zappistore, where she was responsible for determining product strategy, product development, and execution and implementation. Before heading Global Product, she was EVP, Strategic Products. In this role, she led global technology partnerships and launched the company's first advertising measurement solution. Prior to joining Zappistore, Hanson-Drury was with Lightspeed, where she held a variety of roles, most recently as Director of Product Development, where she focused on programmatic, data and mobile products in the fast-paced ad-tech arena. Along with this move, Bob Fawson, who most recently headed Dynata's product development, will now lead the Panel and Partnerships team. Having previously led data access and supply for Dynata during his 11 years with the company, Fawson will bring his experience and a strategic approach to his new role as the companycontinues to expand its first-party data asset.



Ryan Jantz, who headed the Panel and Partnerships team, will now lead Global Operations. Over his 12 years with Dynata, Jantz has served in various capacities including sales, innovation, and finance. He will bring his experience in measurement and optimization to his new role. Mark Slobbe, former head of Global Operations, will leave the company after a 70-day transition period.

In addition to these changes, Yaron Zimmerman, former Chief of Staff, will assume the newly created position of General Manager, Emerging Platforms. Having successfully filled company positions in corporate planning and sales strategy and execution, Zimmerman is uniquely qualified for this cross-functional role. Renaud Farrugia, Dynata's Managing Director for France and Southern Europe, will transition into the Chief of Staff position. Gary S. Laben, Chief Executive Officer, says, "Tiama's extensive experience with online data product development and platforms will be invaluable as we accelerate creation of innovative solutions to help our customers grow. Equally important, her experience in sales and business development gives her an understanding of the importance of customer relationships in providing products that meet client needs." Laben adds, "These organizational changes demonstrate our commitment to helping our customers achieve better outcomes and greater competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving business environment." About Dynata

Dynata is one of the world's leading providers of first-party data contributed by consumers and business professionals. With a reach that encompasses 60+ million people globally and an extensive library of individual profile attributes collected through surveys, Dynata is the cornerstone for precise, trustworthy quality data. The company has built innovative data services and solutions around its core first-party data offering to bring the voice of the customer to the entire marketing spectrum, from market research to marketing and advertising. Dynata serves nearly 6,000 market research agencies, media and advertising agencies, consulting and investment firms, and healthcare and corporate customers in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. For more information, go to www.dynata.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dynata-announces-tiama-hanson-drury-as-new-head-of-product-development-300783139.html SOURCE Dynata

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[January 23, 2019] Sheppard Mullin Starts New Year with Addition of Leading Financial Services Litigator

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is pleased to announce that partner Elizabeth (Liz) A. Frohlich has joined the firm's Business Trial practice group in San Francisco. She was most recently a partner at Morgan Lewis. Frohlich represents banks and securities broker-dealers in complex, high-stakes civil and criminal actions in federal and state courts and arbitrations and is particularly experienced with litigation involving asset-backed securities. "Liz's significant work in securitization litigation perfectly complements our very strong securitization transactional practice," said Sascha Henry, Co-Practice Group Leader of the firm's Business Trial Practice. "Her two decades of representing some of the leading financial services companies in their most critical matters gives her an incredible wealth of experience to draw upon." Commenting on the firm's growth, Robert Beall, Sheppard Mullin's co-managing partner, said, "We continue to focus on expanding our footprint in northern California and the addition f Liz is a great way to start out 2019. Three partners joined us in the Bay Area over the last year and we hope to continue to add more outstanding talent this year."



In addition to her securitization litigation work, some of the types of complex matters she handles for clients include investor cases, trust instruction proceedings, National Fair Housing Act cases, actions by municipalities, and County Recorder/MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems) actions. Frohlich also often provides clients with advice concerning legal strategy pre-litigation, as well as post-litigation consulting. She received her B.A. from the University of Puget Sound and her J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Sheppard Mullin has more than 90 attorneys in San Francisco and the firm's Business Trial practice group includes more than 160 attorneys firmwide.

About Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP Sheppard Mullin is a full-service Global 100 firm with more than 850 attorneys in 16 offices located in the United States, Europe and Asia. Since 1927, industry-leading companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high-stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the firm's clients include more than half of the Fortune 100. For more information, please visit www.sheppardmullin.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005707/en/

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[January 23, 2019] 2019 PTC Innovation Awards Recipients Recognized at Gala

Ten organizations from around the globe shined bright at last night's 2019 PTC Innovation Awards Gala as they received awards for their outstanding innovations. The gala was held during PTC'19, the Pacific Telecommunications Council's 41st annual conference. "The Innovation Awards Gala, as well as all those that were recognized for their innovation, was phenomenal," said Isabelle Paradis, President and Founder of HOT TELECOM and Chair of the 2019 PTC Innovation Awards Jury. "Congratulations to all of the 2019 PTC Innovation Awards recipients." The PTC Innovation Awards recognize the individuals and companies transforming the information and communication technologies (ICT) industry and the markets PTC serves. The Awards Gala serves as PTC's signature fundraising event, which directly supports PTC's mission and key community outreach initiatives. The 2019 PTC Innovation Awards recipients are: Best Network-Enabled Application/Service Innovation

Bangla Trac Solutions Best Networking Innovation

Zenlayer b>Best Network-Enabled Emerging Technologies Innovation





Best Quality of Life Improvement

Belau Submarine Cable Corporation

Best Satellite Innovation

Sky and Space Global Ltd. Best Cloud/Data Center/Interconnection Innovation

Equinix (News - Alert) Best Mobile Innovation

Kyushu University & Grameen Communications Best Network Intelligence Innovation

LightRiver (News - Alert) Best Subsea Innovation

Hawaiki Submarine Cable LP Several other awards were also presented last night. Timothy Logue, Senior Director of Sales and Business Development at Thales (News - Alert) Alenia Space received the Richard J. Barber PTC Distinguished Service Award for his exceptional service to PTC. Penn State doctoral student Yang Bai received the Yale M. Braunstein Student Prize Award for the best student research paper; Bin Zhang, professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, received the Meheroo Jussawalla Research Prize Award for the best participant research paper; and six academics from five different countries were recognized as PTC Young Scholars. ABOUT PACIFIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL Recognized as PTC, the Pacific Telecommunications Council (News - Alert) is the leading global non-profit membership organization promoting the advancement of information and communications technologies (ICT) in the Pacific Rim, the most dynamic geography of the world, spanning over 40 nations. PTC's annual conference, held each January in Honolulu, is the Pacific Rim's premier telecommunications event and serves as the strategic springboard for the global communications industry. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005690/en/

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[January 23, 2019] Supporters Like Sean St. John Ensure Right To Play's The Heroes Gala Successful in 2019

TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2019 /CNW/ - With the start of a new year, Sean St. John and other supporters of Right To Play's fundraising event, The Heroes Gala, are looking ahead to another successful fundraising event in 2019. The 2018 edition of the star-studded gala was held in October and raised a new record sum of $2.825 million to protect, empower and educate children through play. During the event, two exceptional Canadians were recognized for their support of children's rights including Olympic Gold Medalist and Right To Play Ambassador Caroline Ouellette and Louis Vachon, president and chief executive officer of National Bank. "We have an amazing group of leaders from across Canada coming together to help children rise above adversity," said Kevin Frey, Chief Executive Officer of Right To Play, "We are so honoured to share with them our message that every child should be protected, educated and empowered, and to draw on their support to make that a reality. The Heroes Gala is critical for raising the funds to support the 1.9 million children across 15 countries who learn vitl life skills in Right To Play programs."



One of Toronto's biggest annual fundraising events, Right To Play's The Heroes Gala paid tribute for a second year to the outstanding accomplishments of youth who participate in Right To Play programs around the world, including one from Rwanda and one from Whitefish River First Nation. The Heroes Gala was attended by more than 1,100 guests and was made possible by title sponsors Power Corporation of Canada and National Bank of Canada. The event featured the presence of many high profile leaders and athletes as guests were treated to special performances by Cirque du Soleil and Sean Jones. "What has been so gratifying has been the positive way the community across Canada has responded to our message and mission," said Frey.

Frey also commended the efforts of advisory board leaders like Sean St. John, Executive Vice President, Co-Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Group at National Bank, who co-chaired The Heroes Gala 2018 edition. "We were honored to be a part of The Heroes Gala, and seeing its success was incredibly rewarding," says Sean St. John. The executive says he encourages community participation as a pillar of success among his colleagues at National Bank. Sean St. John further comments, "I am proud of our team for participating in such a great cause. We are already looking forward to 2019 and ensuring another great event." About Right To Play Right To Play is a global organization that protects, educates and empowers children to rise above adversity using play. By harnessing play, one of the most powerful and fundamental forces in a child's life we help 1.9 million children each week to stay in school and out of work, to prevent life-threatening diseases like HIV and malaria and to stay safe from exploitation and abuse. We are the only global development organization focused exclusively on using play to transform the lives of children and youth impacted by poverty, war, disease and inequality. Established in 2000, Right To Play has headquarters in Toronto, Canada and has programs in 15 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America. For more information, please follow @RightToPlayCAN , #TheHeroesGala and visit www.righttoplay.ca SOURCE Money Canada Limited

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[January 23, 2019] Cossette Health Rebrands to Gene

TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2019 /CNW/ - Cossette Health, the health practice born out of Cossette's start-up incubator three years ago, is branching out with a new brand identity: Gene. Gene will continue to service all of its existing client base and will position around three core pillars: Consulting, Digital Products, and Intgrated Communications.



"We've had tremendous growth with Cossette Health by combining digital, science and a human-centred approach. It became very clear that we needed something even more specialized in the vertical," says Pierre Delagrave, an original founder of Cossette and the President of Gene. "We're excited to give ourselves an entirely new identity that supports our purpose." Gene will continue to be led by Managing Director Joe Dee, who brings a unique mix of health, digital strategy, product innovation, and integrated communications.

"What we're learning is that health and wellness is more than category, it's at the core of what people, companies, and society need to thrive." says Dee. "Gene can help organizations of all sectors and types understand and act on this new reality." Dee is supported by a leadership group consisting of Anya Kravets, Luc Quartarone, Andrew Stewart, Paul Jara, and Rejean Fortin. As part of the launch, Gene is adding a formal consultancy offering, led by Anya Kravets. Kravets brings core health care experience from several senior roles at leading organizations in the private and public sector, including Edelman, Hacking Health, and Johnson & Johnson. She is currently completing the Rotman Global Executive MBA in Healthcare & Life Sciences and was recently published in Augmented Health(care). "A lot of our work has led us to a consultancy role of how to deliver successful health and wellness experiences in digital channels," explains Kravets. "This is a key area we feel we can provide unique value to our clients. It's beyond digital transformation or building digital products  it's about digital health delivery." Gene will focus on servicing the North American market. For more information, please visit www.geneglobal.com. SOURCE Gene

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[January 23, 2019] Renovus Capital Partners Invests in Tempus Nova

WAYNE, Pa., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Renovus Capital Partners ("Renovus") announced today that it has acquired a controlling interest in Tempus Nova ("TN" or the "Company"). Headquartered in Denver, CO, Tempus Nova is a trusted technology services partner to over 200 public and private sector organizations located throughout the United States. Tempus Nova, Inc. was founded in 2001 by Joseph Dellanno. The Company is a Google Premier Partner and authorized Reseller of Google cloud technologies including G Suite and Google Cloud Platform. They specialize in G Suite implementations, enterprise collaboration, custom application development, managed services, data visualization, business transformation and workforce productivity. Since 2008, Tempus Nova has successfully migrated over two million email accounts and hundreds of enterprise applications to G Suite and Google Cloud Platform for Fortune 500 companies and public sector organizations such as the Federal General Services Administration (GSA), the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Iowa, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Tempus Nova received three of the first Google certifications in the world for their knowledge about the G Suite platform and was also one of the first partners invited to participate in the Google Cloud Transformation Program launched in September 2011. Tempus Nova is growing rapidly and always looking for top notch talent to join its team of technology professionals and participate in the management of some of the most exciting Google Cloud Platform and G Suite projects in the country. Tempus Nova is led by the CEO Didi Dellanno and the CTO Joe Dellanno, an expeienced management team that bring over 50 years of technology and engineering excellence. The Company is supported by a team of bright, experienced professionals with diverse IT backgrounds. The entire team will continue to operate the company following the transaction.



Atif Gilani, the Renovus partner who led this investment, said, "Didi and Joe have built a business that offers great products and services, has a solid customer base and is led by a highly dedicated and entrepreneurial management team. We are excited to become their partners and are committed to providing additional capital for both organic and acquisition driven growth." Grayson Harcourt, Associate at Renovus added, "We are strong believers in technology enabled businesses with talented teams and Tempus Nova is exactly that. Renovus has the experience and opportunity to add tremendous value to this organization."

"Tempus Nova is thrilled to become part of the Renovus family. The synergies between Tempus Nova and other Renovus portfolio companies will allow us to offer our customers additional high value products and services. From an operational perspective, Tempus Nova will continue to provide our customers with the same great service. Strategically, the company will have access to a wealth of additional executive resources, geographical presence and capital to help accelerate our growth," said Didi Dellanno, CEO of Tempus Nova. DLA Piper served as legal counsel and CTS as a financial advisor to Renovus. About Tempus Nova

Headquartered in Denver, CO, Tempus Nova is a leading technology services firm serving the commercial, government, and professional services industries. Tempus Nova, Inc. was founded in 2001, is a Google Premier Partner and authorized G Suite and Google Cloud Platform Reseller. More information about Tempus Nova can be found on its website at https://tempusnova.com. About Renovus Capital

Founded in 2010, Renovus Capital Partners is an education, training and human capital focused private equity firm. Renovus is based outside of Philadelphia and manages over $500 million of committed capital. To date, the firm has acquired twenty portfolio companies specializing in areas such as technology, educational content, traditional education, corporate consulting and training, and human capital. The firm is an active investor in profitable and growing enterprises where the Renovus team, in partnership with management, seeks to create value through operational improvements, strategic growth initiatives and acquisitions. More information can be found on its website at http://www.renovuscapital.com . View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/renovus-capital-partners-invests-in-tempus-nova-300782987.html SOURCE Tempus Nova

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[January 23, 2019] HighJump Achieves Acumatica-Certified Status to Empower Supply Chain of the Future for SMBs

Recognition showcases commitment to digital transformation of warehousing and logistics for small-to-medium-sized businesses worldwide HOUSTON and MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 23, 2019 /CNW/ -- HighJump, a global provider of supply chain solutions, today announces its status as an Acumatica-Certified Application (ACA). Building on HighJump's existing strategic partnership with the leading cloud-based ERP, the certification exemplifies HighJump's dedication and continued evolution to empower companies of all sizes with the connected, automated supply chain of the future. Delivery speed, choice, adaptability and purchasing convenience are rapidly increasing supply chain complexity. This is particularly challenging for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in light of tight resources and competitive pressures. Seamlessly integrating the capabilities of the HighJump Warehouse Management System (WMS) in the cloud with Acumatica ERP turns these challenges into opportunities. HighJump's end-to-end distribution suite coupled with Acumatica ERP provides the functionality and agility to simplify and enhance any supply chain today and in the future. Be it built-in shipping, retail compliance or enabling next-generation technologies such as advanced data analytics or voice, HighJump extends the power of Acumatica. Each solution also leverages the cloud, providing a secure environment to access critical business information anytime, anywhere, on any device. The result is real-time visibility and flexibility to streamline operations, empowering SMBs with scalability, lower costs, higher productivity and overall efficiency. "Staying ahead means selecting a technology partner with a proven record of success - HighJump and Acumatica fits the bill," said Sudha Chandrasekharan, vice president of product services, HighJump. "By melding HighJump's supply chain solutions with innovative technologies like Acumatica and the cloud, we're preparing distributors, ecommerce companies, multichannel retailers and beyond to meet demands now and tomorrow."



"Customers who want to stay competitive need flexible, responsive technology to execute their long-term business strategies," said Christian Lindberg, vice president of partner solutions at Acumatica. "Our ACA label is built to help customers find applications capable of delivering that. We're proud to recognize HighJump as an Acumatica-Certified application. It masterfully utilizes the Acumatica platform to meet customers' growing business demands." To become an ACA, HighJump demonstrated commitment to quality by passing the Acumatica software test and aligning to future Acumatica roadmap releases. HighJump has been an Acumatica partner since January 2018.

HighJump's ACA title follows a series of innovative moves from the company. This includes the launch of HighJump Now, HighJump's initiative to empower supply chains worldwide with the cloud. To learn more about the Acumatica-Certified HighJump WMS, visit booth #231 at the Acumatica Summit, January 27- February 1, 2019 in Houston, Texas. Further details are here. Current and prospective customers can also learn more at HighJump's annual user conference, Elevate, March 3-6, 2019 in San Antonio, Texas. Register here. About Acumatica Acumatica provides cloud-based business management software that enables small and mid-size companies to accelerate their businesses. Built on cloud and mobile technology and a unique customer-centric licensing model, Acumatica delivers a suite of fully integrated business management applications, such as Financials, Distribution, CRM, and Project Accounting, on a robust and flexible platform. For more information, visit http://www.acumatica.com. About HighJump Today's consumer has ever-higher expectations for purchasing convenience, delivery speed, choice and adaptability. More options for consumers spell greater complexity for the supply chain. It's no longer enough to fulfill demand  you must anticipate it, predict it and make smarter, faster decisions. With resources tight and competitive pressure relentless, staying ahead means selecting a technology partner with a proven track record of delivering efficiency and a lower cost of ownership. A partner whose flexible, extensible platform integrates quickly and smoothly with your existing systems. All backed by a team with unmatched supply chain expertise  working to help you adapt, grow and succeed. At HighJump, we're integrating our proven solutions for the warehouse, transportation and logistics ecosystem with emerging technologies  from around our company and around the world  to build the supply chain of the future. Leveraging advanced cloud technology, we can help you ride the wave of data to achieve greater efficiency, uncover actionable insights, and stay ahead of the curve. HighJump: supply chain of the future: For more information, visit http://www.highjump.com . HighJump is a trademark of HighJump Software Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Media Contact

Heather K. Smith

HighJump

1-800-328-3271 x 2717

Heather.Smith@highjump.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/highjump-achieves-acumatica-certified-status-to-empower-supply-chain-of-the-future-for-smbs-300782970.html SOURCE HighJump

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[January 23, 2019] Forty of the Nation's Most Brilliant Young Scientists Named Finalists in Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. and WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Society for Science & the Public today named 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. The competition, known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search from 1942-1997 and the Intel Science Talent Search from 1998-2016, is designed to engage and inspire the next generation of scientific leaders. Alumni have gone on to win the Nobel Prize, found successful companies and invent groundbreaking medical treatments. Finalists were selected from a pool of nearly 2,000 highly qualified entrants, all of whom completed an original research project and extensive application process. Earlier this month, the Society and Regeneron named the top 300 scholars. The finalists, who were selected based on their projects' scientific rigor and their potential to become world-changing scientists, were selected from that pool. Finalists' projects span a diversity of STEM-related topics and this year include building new models to predict refugee migration in Burundi, identifying novel therapeutic approaches to potentially improve precision care for leukemia and developing an automated 3D printed IoT (Internet of Things) sensor to detect arsenic in groundwater. The finalists will travel to Washington, D.C. from March 7-13, 2019, where they will undergo a scrupulous judging process and compete for more than $1.8 million in awards. They will also have the opportunity to interact with leading scientists, meet with members of Congress and display their projects to the public at the National Geographic Society on March 10. The finalists are each awarded at least $25,000, and the top 10 awards range from $40,000 to $250,000. The top 10 Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019 winners will be announced at a black-tie gala awards ceremony at the National Building Museum on March 12. In total, more than $3 million in awards will be distributed throughout the Regeneron Science Talent Search. Previously, each of the top 300 scholars received $2,000 with an additional $2,000 going to their school. "The Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists are our country's most promising young scientists, and I'm thrilled to congratulate them on this outstanding academic achievement," said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron and Science Talent Search winner (1976). "I will never forget how participating in the Science Talent Search back when it was sponsored by Westinghouse changed my life and gave me the inspiration and confidence to pursue a career in science. I can only hope these amazing young scientists build on their success in this year's event and go on to use their scientific talents to address the many urgent challenges we face as a society, from climate change to disease." "This year's Regeneron Science Talent Search finalists are helping to advance solutions to some of our world's most intractable challenges," said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Sciene & the Public and Publisher of Science News. "I'm so impressed by the hard work and brilliant thinking these 40 exceptional students have demonstrated in their research projects. I look forward to meeting them in D.C., and I am excited to see how their passion for science will impact our world."



Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019 Fast Facts The Regeneron Science Talent Search 2019 finalists are from 34 schools in 17 states.

Forty finalists were selected from 300 scholars and nearly 2,000 entrants based on the originality and creativity of their scientific research, as well as their achievement and leadership both inside and outside of the classroom.

Finalist projects cover disciplines of science including behavioral and social sciences, biochemistry, bioengineering, cellular and molecular biology, chemistry, computational biology and bioinformatics, computer science, earth and planetary sciences, engineering, environmental science, genomics, materials science, mathematics, medicine and health, physics, plant sciences and space science.

For a list of this year's finalists, visit https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2019-finalists. About the Regeneron Science Talent Search

The Regeneron Science Talent Search, a program of Society for Science & the Public since 1942, is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. Each year, around 2,000 student entrants submit original research in critically important scientific fields of study and are judged by leading experts in their fields. Unique among high school competitions in the U.S. and around the world, the Regeneron Science Talent Search focuses on identifying, inspiring and engaging the nation's most promising young scientists who are creating the ideas that could solve society's most urgent challenges.

In 2017, Regeneron became only the third sponsor of the Science Talent Search, increasing the overall awards distribution to better reward the best and brightest young minds. Through its 10-year, $100 million commitment, Regeneron nearly doubled the overall award distribution to $3.1 million annually, increasing the top award to $250,000 and doubling the awards for the top 300 scholars and their schools to $2,000 each to inspire more young people to engage in science. Program alumni include recipients of the world's most coveted science and math honors, including 13 National Medals of Science, five Breakthrough Prizes, 19 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships, two Fields Medals and 13 Nobel Prizes. Learn more at https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts and https://medium.com/regeneron-science-talent-search. About Society for Science & the Public

Society for Science & the Public is dedicated to the achievement of young scientists in independent research and to public engagement in science. Established in 1921, the Society is a nonprofit whose vision is to promote the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement. Through its world-class competitions, including the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, and the Broadcom MASTERS, and its award-winning magazine, Science News and Science News for Students, Society for Science & the Public is committed to inform, educate, and inspire. Learn more at www.societyforscience.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (Society4Science). About Regeneron

Regeneron is a leading biotechnology company that invents life-transforming medicines for people with serious diseases. Founded and led for 30 years by physician-scientists, our unique ability to repeatedly and consistently translate science into medicine has led to seven FDA-approved treatments and numerous product candidates in development, all of which were homegrown in our laboratories. Our medicines and pipeline are designed to help patients with eye diseases, allergic and inflammatory diseases, cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, neuromuscular diseases, infectious diseases and rare diseases. We believe that scientists should be the world's heroes and are committed to fostering the next generation of scientific talent through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education efforts. For additional information about the company, please visit www.regeneron.com or follow Regeneron on Twitter and Facebook. Media Contacts

Alex Bowie, Regeneron

202-213-1643, alexandra.bowie@regeneron.com Gayle Kansagor, Society for Science & the Public

703-489-1131, gkansagor@societyforscience.org View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/forty-of-the-nations-most-brilliant-young-scientists-named-finalists-in-regeneron-science-talent-search-2019-300782923.html SOURCE Society for Science & the Public

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[January 23, 2019] Digital Technology is The Core Way to Achieve Equality, JD Digits CEO says at Davos

BEIJING, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- "Digital technology is lowering the operational cost of industries and is becoming the core way to achieve inclusiveness and equality. This is JD Digits' focus," said JD Digits CEO Chen Shengqiang on Tuesday at the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Chen made the remarks at a live streamed WEF session called "Governing Data in Our Daily Lives." Chen also introduced JD Digits' three major business models of Developing Digital Capitalization, Asset Digitalization, and Industry Digitalization, and shared about the value of applying digital technology to the financial and real economic industries. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, data is the key production factor for business. How to use data more efficiently and rationally, and how to use digital technology to drive economic development were the hot topics at this year's meeting. For the business of Developing Digital Capitalization, JD Digits builds a risk management model by adopting data from e-commerce industry and applying AI technology. This helps more individuals and small enterprises get access to loans, according to Chen. "Services previously provided by traditional financial institutions were more focused on high-profit large-scale clientele. But using digital technology we can help those individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises with reasonable demands get access to the fair and reasonably priced financial services that they need," remarked Chen. One example of this is how JD Digits launched the service "Baitiao" based on a risk management evaluation system. Ths system offers many millennial their very first credit service.



"For the business of Asset Digitalization, JD Digits uses data and technology to build the capacity to identify and rank asset risks. This can help financial institutions reduce transaction costs in capital markets and improve the efficiency of risk identification," Chen added. JD Digits has built its core capacity via their Developing Digital Capitalization, and Asset Digitalization businesses. To provide better financial services to other industries, JD Digits has expanded its business into their Industry Digitalization.

The Industry Digitalization business uses digital technology to upgrade the entire business process of real industries. Chen believes this helps industries develop by lowering costs and raising efficiency, and creates a better integration between the finances and the rest of the business. He provided JD Digits' Smart Breeding service as an example. About 700 million pigs are sold on the market every year in China, and the breeding business is valued at 1.1 trillion yuan. But this valuable industry faces many problems, such as the difficulties of price cycle disruptions, the impossibility of tracing food safety, industry turbulence, low efficiency and the high costs in the process of pig breeding. To solve these challenges, JD Digits developed a Smart Breeding system including Shennong Brain, an AI inspection robot, an IoT feeding robot, and a set of SaaS modules. This system can monitor the temperature and humidity in pig farms, accurately identify and feed the pigs differently based on their individual needs. The system monitors the pigs' physical and health conditions in real time. The smart system can reduce breeding labor costs by 30% to 50%, cut the amount of feed required by 8% to 10%, and shorten the breeding time by 5-8 days. If the system could be broadly applied across the agricultural industry in China, it could effectively lower the industry costs by over 50 billion yuan. Chen also emphasized the importance of data security saying, "We definitely should raise consumer awareness of data security. At the same time companies should also follow regulations in obtaining, using, storing and transferring customers' information. Companies must adopt technology to ensure data security." About JD Digits JD Digits was formerly known as JD Finance until it was comprehensively upgraded and rebranded in November 2018. Its operational purpose is to connect the finance industry and real economy by using digital technology, boosting the influence of the Internet, enhancing digital and smart industry development, fostering the development of the real economy and creating greater social value. With its cutting-edge technologies and expertise in big data, AI, IoT and blockchain, JD Digits has been involved in many fields, including finance, urban computing, agriculture, campus services and digital marketing. In the future, JD Digits will enter more real economy sectors and will more deeply explore current business patterns and developing trends. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/digital-technology-is-the-core-way-to-achieve-equality-jd-digits-ceo-says-at-davos-300782908.html SOURCE JD Digits

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Growth Intelligence, a London, UK-based platform for marketers and sales leaders to grow faster through AI, closed a 1.7m funding round.

The round was led by 24Haymarket with participation from existing investors including MMC Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to invest in its AI Platform  building new AIs to solve additional challenges faced by B2B marketers, and in data science, engineering and commercial talent.

Founded in 2013 and led by Thomas Gatten, CEO, Growth Intelligence allows high profile brands to leverage data science and machine learning to predict demand and purchasing behaviour. The AI platform combines records of a clients previous successful and unsuccessful marketing attempts with its own proprietary data gathered from the digital footprint of every company in the economy, to train an AI for each client. The AI then serves up recommended future clients and advice on how to approach them. It allows sales and marketing teams know who will buy, who will be most valuable, when should they attempt to contact them and what to say when they do.

The company, which serves large companies such as American Express, FedEx, Western Union, iZettle and Vitality Health, reached profitability early in 2018 and has tripled recurring revenue year on year.

As part of the investment, joining the Board are Andy Robertson, Martin Brown and Stuart Dawson as the chairman.

FinSMEs

23/01/2019
Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Announces Investigation on Behalf of Nordstrom Inc. Investors (JWN)

Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces an investigation on behalf of Nordstrom Inc. ("Nordstrom" or the "Company") (NYSE: JWN) investors concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of federal securities laws.

If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate. /p>







If you purchased Nordstrom stock, have information, or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert) 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9244, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005311/en/
[January 23, 2019] uLab Systems Attains Significant Commercial Milestone

uLab Systems, the creator of the breakthrough orthodontic aligner movement planning software, has passed a significant commercial milestone with over 6,000 cases completed in just 6 months. uLab launched a pilot program with a select group of orthodontists last summer and has seen resounding growth with over 6,000 cases in only 6 months. What's more, uLab's vision of bringing control back to the orthodontist is proving successful. The movement planning for all 6,000+ cases was completed directly by participating orthodontists and their staff right in their offices. Additionally, cases were created end to end in as little as 10 minutes, bringing efficiency and increased patient satisfaction to the aligner treatment process. Dr. Eric Wu of Palo Alto (News - Alert) , California was one of the first orthodontists to use uLab software. "I have been extremely happy with both the simpliciy of the system and the complexity of the cases I can treat. With uLab, I can now create the treatment plan and print aligners right in my office on the very same day. This allows me to start treatment faster and makes aligner creation in my office possible."



Charlie Wen, the CEO of uLab says, "We are very pleased with the response from our group of pilot orthodontists. To achieve over 6,000 cases in about 6 months proves our software is a powerful tool that is putting control back in the hands of the orthodontist." uLab is planning for a broader commercial launch at the American Association of Orthodontists' annual meeting in May. If you would like to learn more about uLab Systems, please visit the website at www.ulabsystems.com.

About uLab Systems uLab is led by entrepreneurs, technologists, and commercial developers committed to serving the orthodontic community and their patients by giving control back to orthodontists. uLab systems is located in Redwood City, CA (News - Alert) and was founded in 2015 by Charlie Wen and Amir Abolfathi. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005080/en/

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[January 23, 2019] vXchnge CTO to Discuss the Needs of Hyperscalers at Metro Connect USA 2019

vXchnge CTO Ali Marashi, along with other panelists from Microsoft (News - Alert) and Conected2Fiber, will discuss the needs of hyperscalers at the Metro Connect USA 2019 conference.







WHO: Ali Marashi (News - Alert) is CTO of vXchnge, the leading data-center-as-a-service provider. Mr. Marashi is responsible for all engineering, construction, network, and information technology functions for vXchnge. He has more than 20 years of experience in the development and support of engineering and IT systems. WHAT: Metro Connect USA 2019 panel presentation, "2019 Update: Is the Network Satisfying the Needs of Hyperscalers?" Session attendees can expect a lively discussion touching on the following points:

-- Has network transparency improved over the 12 months or is network transparency still an issue?

-- What do network providers need to do to further make their offering more appealing?



Metro Connect is Capacity Media's must-attend event for the U.S. metro market. The event offers dynamic C-level discussions and bring together 600+ leaders shaping the future of telecoms in the North American environment. WHEN: Tuesday, January 29 at 4:00 pm ET WHERE: Metro Connect USA 2019

Nobu Hotel Eden Roc

Miami, United States

vXchnge is a Silver Sponsor of Metro Connect USA 2019. Executives, including vXchnge CEO Keith Olsen and CFO George Pollock, will be available for meetings. If you are interested in scheduling a meeting, please click here: https://www.vxchnge.com/metroconnect2019. About vXchnge vXchnge is the leading data-center-as-a-service provider dedicated to protecting global and emerging brands, while improving the business performance of its customers. As the most awarded carrier-neutral colocation data center provider across the U.S., vXchnge delivers unmatched reliability, scalability and security for its customers. vXchnge's broad geographic footprint puts its customers at "the Edge," where they can serve customers locally and reach more businesses and more consumers in more markets. The company is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit http://www.vxchnge.com or connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005539/en/

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[January 23, 2019] THE BOTTOMLESS CLOUD will Challenge Everything You Thought You Knew about AI and the Future of Data

BOSTON, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bestselling author and leading futurist Tom Koulopoulos has teamed up with Wasabi hot cloud storage CEO and serial entrepreneur David Friend to provide business leaders with a clear and straightforward understanding of the incredible power of the cloud and data abundance. The Bottomless Cloud: How AI, the Next Generation of the Cloud, and Abundance Thinking Will Radically Transform the Way You Do Business (Hybrid Global Publishing; Paperback; January 15, 2019) takes a hard look at how industrial age business models are failing us by regarding data as a cost that needs to be constrained, rather than an near infinite resource that can be mined to build entirely new sources of value and insight. According to Koulopoulos, "An abundance of data, like the abundance of electricity that powered the industrial revolution 100 years ago, is driving the world's economy. The data abundance mindset is being driven by the ever-decreasing cost of storing data. Businesses that fail to make the transition to a data abundance mindset will be left behind by competitors who transform their industries by using vast amounts of data to fuel AI and Machine Learning." The sudden emergence of new data-rich transformative businesses like online shopping, navigation, logistics, medical care, and online financial services is no accident. The cost of storing all the data that makes these businesses possible simply dropped to the point where such things became profitable. Cloud 2.0 technology, with far cheaper and faster cloud storage, will continue to drive innovation and the complete rethinking of traditional businesses. According to Friend, "You have to throw away the old idea of thinking of data storage as a cost to be minimized and instead focus on building complete and unique data sets that give you the ability to do thingsyou just couldn't do before. Companies, such as Uber, Nike, and Netflix, have adopted this mindset to build and grow entirely new businesses."



"The other point," adds Friend, "is that, as the cost of data drops, you reach a tipping point where the value of data far exceeds its cost; that's when your business model has to flip to an abundance mindset." The Bottomless Cloud is defining the tenets of success in the 21st Century by changing the way we view data, from being a byproduct of business to a foundational driver of radically new business models.

Tom Koulopoulos is the Chairman and co-founder of Boston-based Delphi Group, a 30 year-old global futures think tank that focuses on the impact of digital technologies. Delphi Group was named one of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the US by Inc magazine. He is the author of 11 books, the past executive director of the Babson Center for Business Innovation, an adjunct professor at Boston University, and a frequent keynote speaker on the future. Tom is also a contributing editor for INC.com. David Friend is the co-founder and CEO of Wasabi, a revolutionary cloud storage company. Wasabi provides bottomless storage that's 80% cheaper, up to 6x faster and even more reliable than the competition. David's first company, ARP Instruments developed synthesizers used by Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and even helped Steven Spielberg communicate with aliens providing that legendary five-note communication in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.



Friend founded or co-founded five other companies: Computer Pictures Corporation  an early player in computer graphics, Pilot Software - a company that pioneered multidimensional databases for crunching large amounts of customer data, Faxnet - which became the world's largest provider of fax-to-email services, Sonexis - a VoIP conferencing company, and immediately prior to Wasabi, what is now one of the world's leading cloud backup companies, Carbonite. In addition, David is a respected philanthropist and supporter of the arts in Boston. He is on the board of Berklee College of Music, where there is a concert hall named in his honor, serves as president of the board of Boston Baroque, an orchestra and chorus that has received 7 Grammy nominations. An avid mineral and gem collector he donated Friend Gem and Mineral Hall at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.



David graduated from Yale and attended the Princeton University Graduate School of Engineering where he was a David Sarnoff Fellow. Publicity Contacts:

Paul Sliker / 212-583-2729 / Paul.Sliker@Finnpartners.com

Adrienne Fontaine / 646-307-6309 / Adrienne.Fontaine@Finnpartners.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-bottomless-cloud-will-challenge-everything-you-thought-you-knew-about-ai-and-the-future-of-data-300782708.html SOURCE Tom Koulopoulos and David Friend

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[January 23, 2019] Spark Networks SE Announces Luciana Telles in CMO Role to Support Rapid Growth

Spark Networks SE (NYSE American: LOV), one of the leading global dating companies, has appointed international marketing expert Luciana Telles to the role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective as of January 2019 The appointment comes after a period of rapid growth for the Berlin-based company, which focuses on premium dating sites for singles seeking long-term relationships. Reporting directly into CEO Jeronimo Folgueira, Telles will lead global marketing across all the company's premium dating brands; a portfolio including brands such as Jdate, Christian Mingle, EliteSingles, SilverSingles, eDarling, and JSwipe. "I'm thrilled about the addition of Luciana to our team, she is an outstanding marketing executive. We will strongly benefit from her vast expertise across all relevant marketing disciplines'' says Folgueira. ''After three years running marketing myself, it was time to strengthen the team and bring someone with a lot of experience, who can help us grow our brands much faster globally. We have great opportunities in front of us, and with Luciana, we will be able to unlock this potential much faster." Luciana, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has over 15 years of experience in marketing, and has lead teams in the fin tech, prop tech, and Ecommerce industries, having spent most of her career in London. Prior to Spark Networks (News - Alert) , Luciana was CMO at Uniplaces, and before that she led marketing at WorldRemit and served as Head of Global Marketing for Westwing. "I join Spark at a very exciting time." Telles says. "Running on- and offline marketingin 29 countries and 15 languages with a young and highly talented team in Berlin is exciting. The potential of our portfolio of strong brands cannot be overrated. I'm looking forward to building a top-level integrated marketing strategy."



ABOUT SPARK NETWORKS SE Spark Networks SE is a leading global dating company with a portfolio of premium brands designed for singles seeking serious long-term relationships. The company has a presence in 29 countries worldwide and is publicly listed on the NYSE American LLC exchange under the ticker symbol "LOV".

Spark Network's portfolio of online dating brands includes EliteSingles, SilverSingles, Christian Mingle, Jdate, eDarling, JSwipe, Attractive World, Adventist Singles and LDS Singles, amongst others. The company was formed in 2017 through the merger of Affinitas GmbH (founded 2008) and Spark Networks Inc. (founded 1997). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005480/en/

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[January 23, 2019] Rexahn Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock and Warrants

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: RNN) today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 10,750,000 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase up to 10,750,000 shares of its common stock. Each share of common stock is being sold together in a fixed combination with a warrant to purchase one share of common stock at a combined offering price of $0.80 per share and related warrant. The warrants will be exercisable commencing on the date of issuance, will expire five years from the date of issuance and will have an exercise price of $0.80 per share, subject to certain adjustments. The gross proceeds of the offering to the Company are expected to be approximately $8.6 million, before deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and other estimated offering expenses, and excluding the exercise of any warrants.

The closing of the offering is expected to occur on or about January 25, 2019, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is acting as sole book-running manager and Brookline Capital Markets, a division of CIM Securities, LLC is acting as co-manager for the offering. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for further development of its lead clinical programs, including the funding of its clinical development programs for RX-3117 and RX-5902, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. The securities described above were offered by the Company pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (No. 333-218285) previously filed with and declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to the offering was filed with the SEC on January 22, 2019 and is available on the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov . The final prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering will be filed with the SEC and also will be available on the SECs website. Before investing in the offering, you should read each of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in their entirety as well as the other documents that the Company has filed with the SEC that are incorporated by reference in the prospectus suppement and the accompanying prospectus, which provide more information about the Company and the offering. Copies of the final prospectus supplement, when available, and accompanying prospectus may be obtained from Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Attention: Syndicate Prospectus Department, 85 Broad Street, 26th Floor, New York, New York 10004, by telephone at (212) 667-8055, or by email at EquityProspectus@opco.com .



This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE American: RNN) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies to improve patient outcomes in cancers that are difficult to treat. The Companys mission is to improve the lives of cancer patients by developing next-generation cancer therapies that are designed to maximize efficacy while minimizing the toxicity and side effects traditionally associated with cancer treatment. Rexahns product candidates work by targeting and neutralizing specific proteins believed to be involved in the complex biological cascade that leads to cancer cell growth. Preclinical studies show that several of Rexahns product candidates may be effective against multiple types of cancer, including drug resistant cancers, and difficult-to-treat cancers, and others may augment the effectiveness of current FDA-approved cancer treatments. The Company has two oncology product candidates, RX-3117 and RX-5902, in Phase 2 clinical development and additional compounds in preclinical development, including RX-0301. For more information about the Company and its oncology programs, please visit www.rexahn.com. Safe Harbor To the extent any statements made in this press release deal with information that is not historical, these are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the closing of the proposed offering, as well as the anticipated use of proceeds for the proposed offering and other statements identified by words such as will, potential, could, can, believe, intends, continue, plans, expects, anticipates, estimates, may, other words of similar meaning or the use of future dates. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Uncertainties and risks may cause Rexahns actual results to be materially different than those expressed in or implied by Rexahns forward-looking statements. For Rexahn, this includes satisfaction of the conditions to closing of the offering, delays in obtaining required stock exchange or other regulatory approvals, stock price volatility and the impact of general business and economic conditions. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Rexahns actual results are described in Rexahns filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release. Rexahn undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Media Contact:

DGI Comm

Susan Forman or Laura Radocaj

+1-212-825-3210

sforman@dgicomm.com

lradocaj@dgicomm.com Investor Contact:

ir@rexahn.com

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[January 23, 2019] GoodData expands its comprehensive security compliance framework with Enterprise Shield

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GoodData, the leader in actionable insights, announced an expansion of its comprehensive security framework with Enterprise Shield. This framework offers multiple levels of security compliance, reviews, and reporting to ensure the most sensitive data are rigorously protected. Enterprise Shield enhances trust, improves transparency, and enables better compliance and governance for companies of any size. With three levels to choose from, customers can select the best support for their business and data requirements. Security Shield provides industry standard best practices for data protection in the cloud, including SOC 2 Type II report, ISO 27001:2013 compliance, and GDPR compliance. Includes safeguards such as SSO, IP whitelisting, and session expiration. This solution is best for customers that do not have custom security requirements.

provides industry standard best practices for data protection in the cloud, including SOC 2 Type II report, ISO 27001:2013 compliance, and GDPR compliance. Includes safeguards such as SSO, IP whitelisting, and session expiration. This solution is best for customers that do not have custom security requirements. Enterprise Shield is an extension to the Security Shield which provides extra layers of security compliance nd assurance. This solution is built for enterprise environments which require additional assurance on data handling and implementation, custom security compliance reviews, as well as reporting on key security KPIs.

is an extension to the Security Shield which provides extra layers of security compliance nd assurance. This solution is built for enterprise environments which require additional assurance on data handling and implementation, custom security compliance reviews, as well as reporting on key security KPIs. HIPAA and GDPR Special Category Data Add-ons include BAA or DPA as well as all requirements to ensure customers comply with the applicable HIPAA regulatory requirements and data protection laws or GDPR processing of special categories of data under Article 9.



For more information, please visit the GoodData website and read the white paper

GoodData Contact Amy Duryea amy.duryea@gooddata.com About GoodData GoodData is the only platform that provides the creation, delivery, and automated management of analytics at massive scale. We enable companies to embed analytics within their products to deliver insights for their customers, partners, and other users to make business-critical decisions. More than 50 percent of the Fortune 500 are using GoodData to achieve actionable insights. GoodData is headquartered in San Francisco and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, Intel Capital, TOTVS, and others. For more information visit our website and follow GoodData on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2019, GoodData Corporation. All rights reserved. GoodData is a registered trademark of GoodData Corporation in the United States and other jurisdictions. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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[January 23, 2019] McGraw-Hill Education Announces New Agreement with Illustrative Mathematics and Plans to Publish Customized Grades 6-12 Illustrative Math Program

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw-Hill Education and curriculum provider Illustrative Mathematics (IM) announced today a new agreement that will help IM quickly expand its reach into schools across the country and inspire more children to understand and enjoy math. Through the agreement, McGraw-Hill will offer an exclusive IM Certified customized version of Illustrative Mathematics' highly-rated curriculum on McGraw-Hill's digital learning platform, adding interactive tutorials, assessment tools, a customized version of IM Certified professional learning for teachers and print materials to make the curriculum easier to use and more powerful for students. "Every student deserves access to a high-quality, standards-based curriculum, and IM's mission is to make its mathematics curriculum as widely available as possible," said Lisa O'Masta, CEO of Illustrative Mathematics. "By leveraging the expertise and capabilities of McGraw-Hill's interactive technology and other print and digital tools, districts will have access to an enhanced user experience with the thoughtfully designed curriculum authored by IM. It's exciting to see such an established, reputable organization as McGraw-Hill embrace the power of the IM resources to provide greater access to teachers and students across the US and give back to the ongoing enhancements of the materials." IM Math is a problem-based core curriculum designed to address content and practice standards to foster learning for all. Students learn by doing math, solving problems in mathematical and real-world contexts, and constructing arguments using precise language. Teachers can shift their instruction and facilitate student learning with high-leverage routines to guide learners to understand and make connections between concepts and procedures. The McGraw-Hill release of Illustrative Mathematics will: Make it easier for educators to plan, teach and assess with Illustrative Mathematics.

Provide a digital learning experience that helps convey concepts through interactive tutorials and offers instant feedback for students and auto-scored practice and assessments for teachers.

Provide cost-effective print materials for districts findig the cost to photocopy IM's open educational resource (OER) curriculum too prohibitive.

Provide IM Certified professional learning services created by Illustrative Mathematics' expert author team and tailored to the customized offering to support a district's successful ongoing implementation plan.

Offer customers McGraw -Hill's reliable service and support.



McGraw -Hill has a long history of offering high-quality innovative curricula developed in partnership with renowned experts in their fields  programs we think will help students succeed and unlock their full potential," said Marty Lange , Chief Product Officer for McGraw -Hill's School group. "We're thrilled to join with Illustrative Mathematics to bring this special program to our customers." The release of the Illustrative Mathematics program adds a unique new offering to McGraw-Hill's suite of learning science-based and trusted math curricula that includes Reveal Math, Everyday Mathematics, McGraw-Hill ALEKS, Redbird Math and more.

About McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill Education is a learning science company that delivers personalized learning experiences that help students, parents, educators and professionals drive results. McGraw-Hill Education has offices across North America, India, China, Europe, the Middle East and South America, and makes its learning solutions available in more than 60 languages. Visit us at mheducation.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter. About Illustrative Mathematics

Illustrative Mathematics is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a world where learners know, use, and enjoy mathematics. We develop and deliver core mathematics curricula along with deeply integrated professional learning experiences that ensure students receive engaging, high-quality mathematics instruction. Learn more at www.illustrativemathematics.org. Contact:

Tyler Reed

McGraw-Hill Education

(646) 766-2951

tyler.reed@mheducation.com Leslie Eicher

Eicher Communications

Representing Illustrative Mathematics

(314) 221-9113

Leslie@EicherCommunications.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mcgraw-hill-education-announces-new-agreement-with-illustrative-mathematics-and-plans-to-publish-customized-grades-6-12-illustrative-math-program-300782629.html SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education

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[January 23, 2019] Neighborhoods.com Creates Guide to Navigate the Homebuying Process

CHICAGO, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Taking the plunge into home ownership is a huge step, and a big undertaking for both novice and experienced homebuyers. Neighborhoods.com , the first online real estate resource to put the neighborhood at the center of the home search, is easing potential concerns through the launch of its Complete Homebuyers Guide . The downloadable resource, which serves as the capstone to the company's designated Homebuyers Week, covers everything from the first steps to take through what to expect at the closing tableallowing users to make informed and educated decisions. "Purchasing a home can be daunting, and especially overwhelming for first-time buyers," said Todd Warshauer, vice president of sales for Neighborhoods.com. "Understanding general industry terms, acknowledging the value of using a real estate agent, knowing what mistakes to avoid, and preparing for extra costs are just a few factors that must be considered. The Complete Homebuyers Guide covers that and more." Looking beynd the four walls of the home itself is important, too. Literally speaking, where the house is located can severely impact quality of lifefor better or for worse. In a recent survey, Neighborhoods.com found 61.54 percent of first-time homebuyers ranked accessible amenities as the most important factor when considering a new neighborhood. Property value followed at 46.15 percent, and school districts and walkability were close behind at 38.46 percent.



"When purchasing a home, there are certain 'non-negotiables' buyers put on the table," added Warshauer. "The same should be true for the neighborhood. Is it a coffee shop within walking distance? A grocery store a short drive away? It will be different for everyone, but it's important to know the must-haves and where there's room to compromise." Since launching in 2015, Neighborhoods.com has helped residents find their ideal home in an area they'll love to live in. By providing up-to-date listings, detailed neighborhood descriptions and independent reviews of schools, users get a genuine feel of what life might be like in that community, directly from locals that live there. The company is currently serving markets in 17 states and growing. Learn more at Neighborhoods.com.

About Neighborhoods.com

Neighborhoods.com is the first online real estate resource to put the neighborhood at the center of the home search. The platform invites visitors to imagine their life in a new area by providing a local's perspective, including detailed descriptions and resident reviews of schools, amenities, and the surrounding community. With up-to-date listings, the company offers aspiring homeowners accurate and reliable information about market changes and new homes for sale. Neighborhoods.com and its network of real estate agents are licensed and knowledgeable experts that guide users through every step of the homebuying processfrom the initial search to the closing table. Media Contact:

Marissa Walters

208120@email4pr.com

773-278-5500 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/neighborhoodscom-creates-guide-to-navigate-the-homebuying-process-300782320.html SOURCE Neighborhoods.com

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[January 23, 2019] Pattern89 Expands Senior Leadership Team

Pattern89, which offers a unique artificial intelligence platform to improve paid social advertising results, announced today that it has kicked off 2019 by expanding its management team with the appointments of two senior executives. Nick Tarant has joined the business as chief revenue officer. Jamie Anderson has joined the organization as director of customer success. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005154/en/ Nick Tarant, Chief Revenue Officer, Pattern89 (Photo: Business Wire) According to an eMarketer (News - Alert) Snapshot released in December 2018, "Digital advertising is on pace to surpass traditional media ad spending by 2019. Digital ad investments exceeded our expectations during H1 2018 and will now reach $111.14 billion by year's end, above our March 201 estimate of $107.30 billion. By 2020, digital media will account for almost 65% of total media ad spending."



To support the expansion and demand in the digital advertising market and to accelerate the company's next phase of growth, Pattern89 has brought on board two highly experienced professionals. Nick Tarant brings deep experience in sales and marketing to his role at Pattern89. Previously, he was vice president of retail sales and the Central region for Eyeview, a digital video and advanced TV technology company. Prior to that, Tarant was vice president of sales at Conversant, which was sold to Alliance Data Systems in 2014 for $2.3 billion. He also worked for a variety of traditional marketing firms before that, including DDB, Ogilvy (News - Alert) and Saatchi, and is a published author and conference speaker on leadership and marketing. Before joining Pattern89, Jamie Anderson was an account development director at RICS Software, where she maximized account value through retention and growth and facilitated brand connectivity enablement for clients. Previously, she was an account team manager at the company, during which she managed client relationships, among other responsibilities. Prior to that, Anderson was an account services manager at Raidious, where she was responsible for client onboarding from the sales process through to the production/execution process.

"I am excited about hiring two highly seasoned executives to help Pattern89 meet the increasing market demand for our AI-driven platform," said R. J. Talyor, founder and CEO of Pattern89. "Brands need deep access to their data and supporting recommendations in real time to continually refine and be most impactful with their social advertising efforts. Both Nick and Jamie bring an extensive amount of experience to their respective roles and will help us further expand our reach and enable marketers to accelerate their companies' growth in today's highly competitive world." About Pattern89 Pattern89 combines the power of AI with unprecedented Facebook (News - Alert) and Instagram advertiser data to help brands discover the ad elements that most impact paid social performance. By identifying successful patterns in companies' social ad data and analyzing results to hone future campaigns, Pattern89 keeps businesses' social ads up-to-date and maximized for performance. For more information, visit www.pattern89.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005154/en/

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Desktop Metal, a Burlington, MA-based metal 3D printing technology company, closed a $160m Series E funding round.

The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures), Panasonic, and Techtronic Industries, as well as previous venture capital investors Lux Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Kleiner Perkins.

The company, which has raised $438m in combined funding since its 2015 inception, intends to use the funds to advance global commercialization of its metal 3D printing technology.

Founded in 2015 by Ric Fulop, CEO, Desktop Metal provides a metal 3D printing solutions for engineers and manufacturers around the world.

The companys Studio System is an only metal 3D printing system able to print and sinter parts in an office environment. It is now shipping in volume and available through a global sales network of more than 85 sales partners in 48 countries.

Early customers include: Ford, Stanley Black and Decker, Goodyear, 3M, Googles ATAP, BMW, ProtoLabs, Owens Corning, L3, TerraPower, Medtronic, Continental AG, Applied Materials, TECT Aerospace, US Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, MITRE and leading educational institutions such as MIT, University of Texas, Texas A&M and Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School.

KDT is an investment firm focused on finding and funding innovative and emerging technologies. It is a subsidiary of Koch Industries, one of the largest privately-held companies in America with over $110 billion in annual revenues, according to Forbes, and an investor of more than $17 billion into technology companies in the last six years.

FinSMEs

23/01/2019
[January 23, 2019] CACI Awarded $73 Million to Provide Systems and Computer Engineering to Naval Surface Warfare Center

CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that it was awarded a $73 million prime contract to provide computer program engineering services to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). The five-year contract is an outcome of CACI's recent acquisition of the Systems Engineering and Acquisition Support Services Business Unit. NSWCDD develops, tests, and certifies advanced naval warfare technology. Under the contract, CACI will assist NSWCDD with systems and computer engineering, research and development, integration, and deployment support for surface warfare systems. The company's expertise in virtualization - which includes developing virtual copies of complex systems - enables the Navy to assess the effects of adding new software and capabilities to surface warfare vessels prior to deployment. John Mengucci, CACI's Chief Operating Officer, said, "In an increasing hostile global environment, the Navy has an ongoing need to maintain maritime superiority and stay ahead of evolving threats. CACI not only enables the Navy to rapidly field powerful new capabilities, our use of cutting-edge technology significantly lowers their cost of doing so."



CACI provides information solutions and services in support of national security missions and government transformation for Intelligence, Defense, and Federal Civilian customers. A Fortune World's Most Admired Company, CACI is a member of the Fortune 1000 Largest Companies, the Russell 2000 Index, and the S&P MidCap 400 Index. CACI's sustained commitment to ethics and integrity defines its corporate culture and drives its success. With approximately 20,000 employees worldwide, CACI provides dynamic career opportunities for military veterans and industry professionals to support the nation's most critical missions. Join us! www.caci.com. There are statements made herein which do not address historical facts, and therefore could be interpreted to be forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in CACI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018, and other such filings that CACI makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Any forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon and only speak as of the date hereof.

CACI-Contract Award View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005455/en/

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[January 23, 2019] InspireMD Announces Two Successful Live Clinical Case Transmissions Featuring CGuard EPS at the Leipzig Interventional Course (LINC) 2019

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InspireMD, Inc. (NYSE American: NSPR), developer of the CGuard Embolic Prevention System (EPS) for the prevention of stroke caused by the treatment of carotid artery disease, today announced that two successful live cases featuring CGuard EPS were presented at LINC 2019, which is being held January 21  23 in Leipzig, Germany.

The live demonstrations of CGuard EPS at this years LINC conference, a major international interventional conference covering the latest innovations in vascular medicine, allowed attending physicians to see first-hand the simplicity of the CGuard EPS procedure as conducted by world renowned interventional cardiologists and angiologists, said Dr. James Barry, President and Chief Executive Officer of InspireMD. It is immensely gratifying to once again have CGuard EPS chosen by these leading interventionalists to be prominently featured in two live case transmissions today at LINC 2019. Live case #1: Patient with Symptomatic Left Carotid Artery Disease and Concomitant Coronary Artery Disease The first live case was conducted by Dr. Antonio Micari and Dr. Fausto Castriota, interventional cardiologists at Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital, Bergamo, Italy. The patient had stable angina over the prior twelve months, with one hospital admission for one transient ischemic attack (TIA) approximately one month ago. The risk factors included hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and critical left interior carotid artery (LICA) stenosis with evidence of soft plaque. The procedure was successfully performed with the 8mm x 40mm CGuard EPS, lasted approximately 20 minutes and had an excellent angiographic result. Following the procedure, Drs. Micari and Castriota commented, This patient presented with multiple co-morbidities, including a history of transient ischemic attacks, and a large amount of soft plaque that significantly increases the chance of embolization associated with conventional carotid stents. There were no adverse events during the procedure. At this early stage, it appears that CGuard EPS offers superior patient protection where conventional carotid stents may not. Live case #2: Restenosis of the Left Common Carotid Artery after TEA The second live case was conducted by Drs. Andre Schmidt and atthias Ullrich of Universitaetsklinikum of Leipzig, in Leipzig, Germany. The patient was symptomatic with a high grade stenosis of the right common carotid artery, likely caused by post radiation and open surgery due to a parotid tumor, and had dizziness. The risk factors included hypertension, hyperlipidemia and the patient is a former smoker. The patient received a 8mm x 40mm CGuard EPS and the case also lasted approximately 20 minutes with an excellent angiographic result.



Following the procedure, Drs. Schmidt and Ullrich commented, We were very happy with the performance of the CGuard in todays challenging case that is not seen in everyday practice. It continues to reinforce our positive impressions of this innovative product and we look forward to continuing to implement it in our practice. About LINC

LINC is a leading global forum for new methods in the field of vascular medicine. LINC brings together medical professionals from different specialties around the world who perform endovascular interventions.

About InspireMD, Inc.

InspireMD seeks to utilize its proprietary MicroNet technology to make its products the industry standard for treatment of carotid artery disease by providing outstanding acute results and durable stroke free long-term outcomes. InspireMDs common stock is quoted on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol NSPR and certain warrants are quoted on the NYSE American under the ticker symbol NSPR.WS. Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements may be preceded by the words intends, may, will, plans, expects, anticipates, projects, predicts, estimates, aims, believes, hopes, potential or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) market acceptance of our existing and new products, (ii) negative clinical trial results or lengthy product delays in key markets, (iii) an inability to secure regulatory approvals for the sale of our products, (iv) intense competition in the medical device industry from much larger, multinational companies, (v) product liability claims, (vi) product malfunctions, (vii) our limited manufacturing capabilities and reliance on subcontractors for assistance, (viii) insufficient or inadequate reimbursement by governmental and other third party payers for our products, (ix) our efforts to successfully obtain and maintain intellectual property protection covering our products, which may not be successful, (x) legislative or regulatory reform of the healthcare system in both the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, (xi) our reliance on single suppliers for certain product components, (xii) the fact that we will need to raise additional capital to meet our business requirements in the future and that such capital raising may be costly, dilutive or difficult to obtain and (xiii) the fact that we conduct business in multiple foreign jurisdictions, exposing us to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, logistical and communications challenges, burdens and costs of compliance with foreign laws and political and economic instability in each jurisdiction. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward looking statements is set forth in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SECs web site at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investor Contacts: Craig Shore

Chief Financial Officer

InspireMD, Inc.

888-776-6804

craigs@inspiremd.com Jeremy Feffer

LifeSci Advisors, LLC

212-915-2568

jeremy@lifesciadvisors.com

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[January 23, 2019] Reputation.com Debuts Google Seller Ratings for Auto at 2019 NADA Show

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reputation.com , the first and only complete cloud-based enterprise reputation management platform, today announced Google Seller Ratings (GSR) for Auto to drive leads, engage car buyers, and yield more sales for auto dealerships. Now available through Reputation.com, GSR for Auto significantly increases Google Ad visibility and click-through. When combined with Reputation.com online reputation management (ORM), dealerships using the platform become easier to find and realize stronger customer relationships by delivering better car-buying experiences.

GSR for Auto Boosts Digital Marketing by 10 Percent or More

A certified partner of Google Seller Ratings , Reputation.com offers GSR for Auto to empower automotive OEMs and dealerships to increase engagement with prospective car buyers and boost ROI from digital marketing. Dealers using GSR for Auto through the Reputation.com platform can easily gather seller reviews at scale and stream them to Google Ads. Displaying seller ratings on Google Ads helps car buyers find and choose their dealerships. Several top auto OEMs are already using GSR for Auto. GSR for Auto reflects our standing as the only complete reputation platform with comprehensive Google Services designed to enhance digital marketing performance, said Joe Fuca, CEO of Reputation.com. Weve seen great interest and adoption from both Ford and GM, and hundeds of our other dealership clients have expressed that they want to do more with their digital budgets. GSR for Auto is an easy choice, because its been proven to drive more views and 10 percent more click-throughs, on average. Thats a surefire way to increase traffic and revenue.



Reputation.com at J.D. Power Automotive Summit, 2019 NADA Show

The J.D. Power Automotive Summit and 2019 NADA Show are ideal venues for Reputation.com to showcase its latest offering. As an Elite sponsor of the J.D. Power Automotive Summit, taking place January 24 at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, Reputation.com executives and team members will offer product demonstrations at the Summit. At 3:20 p.m., Reputation.com Senior Director of Worldwide Automotive Ali Fawaz and J.D. Power Senior Director of Digital Solutions Amit Aggarwal will co-host a discussion on the direct relationship between online reputation and dealer outcomes, and will provide practical advice on how to improve online reputation. The Summit will wrap up with the NADA Welcome Reception co-hosted by J.D. Power, kicking off the 2019 NADA Show and Expo at 5:30-7:30 p.m., sponsored by Reputation.com.

Reputation.com will also have a booth (#6565W) at the 2019 NADA Show, January 24-27 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Attendees can enter to win an Oculus Rift + Touch System while learning more about the companys online reputation management platform and GSR for Auto. About Reputation.com

Reputation.com delivers the only integrated SaaS platform that helps location-based enterprises improve their reputation with consumers online and onsite, across the entire customer journey  from finding a location on search, to conversion, to operational improvements that deliver a better customer experience. Reputation.com technology has managed tens of millions of consumer reviews, surveys and social media interactions across hundreds of thousands of online points of presence for global companies spanning 77 industry verticals, including healthcare, retail, automotive, hospitality and others. Reputation.com is a World Economic Forum Global Growth Company and is funded by the same top-tier venture capital firms that backed Google, Facebook, Cisco and Microsoft. To learn more, visit www.reputation.com . Media Contact: Brigit Valencia

BOCA Communications

360.597.4516

reputation@bocacommunications.com



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[January 23, 2019] Telix Pharmaceuticals Launches illumet Microsite (Kit for the Preparation of 68Ga-PSMA)

MELBOURNE, Australia and INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (Telix Group, Company), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products based on targeted radiopharmaceuticals or molecularly-targeted radiation (MTR), is pleased to announce the launch of an informational microsite for the Companys illumet cold kit  illumet.com . IllumetTM is an investigational product for the preparation of 68Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA-11 (68Ga-PSMA). The website is designed to provide a focused information repository for clinical researchers interested in learning more about illumet and the preparation of 69Ga-PSMA.

Illumet is available for investigational use only as part of an FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) application. 68Ga-PSMA has been shown to illuminate prostate cancer cells expressing Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) with Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Oncologists, radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians around the globe have studied PSMA expression in thousands of prostate cancer patients using with PET imaging. The illumet solution makes the preparation of 68Ga-PSMA a highly accessible, cost-effective and strealined process.



With the illumet kit, nuclear pharmacies can now prepare a sterile cGMP dose of 68Ga-PSMA at room temperature with no additional production hardware. Until now, synthesizer-based approaches have been used to produce 68Ga-PSMA, requiring specialized and costly infrastructure. The illumet solution delivers a rapid and reproducible preparation process via a single-use disposable kit, without the use of expensive or resource-intensive radiochemistry production systems. About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (Telix) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products based on targeted radiopharmaceuticals or molecularly-targeted radiation (MTR). The company is headquartered in Melbourne with international operations in Brussels (EU), Kyoto (Japan) and Indianapolis (USA). Telix is developing a portfolio of clinical-stage oncology products that address significant unmet medical need in renal, prostate and brain (glioblastoma) cancer. Telix is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:TLX). For more information visit www.telixpharma.com . Important Information This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, securities in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer would be illegal. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the US Securities Act), or under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be offered or sold within the United States, unless the securities have been registered under the US Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act is available. The illumetTM product referred to in this release has not obtained a marketing authorization in any jurisdiction, including the United States. Telix Pharmaceuticals (US) Commercial Contact Nannette Rich VP of Sales & Marketing Email: nannette.rich@telixpharma.com

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[January 23, 2019] Report: Public and Private Sectors Realizing Benefits of Open Data

The Data Foundation and Grant Thornton's Public Sector practice today released the third edition of The State of the Union of Open Data, which draws on 33 in-depth interviews with senior government and private-sector leaders. This year's report surveyed leaders in the open data world about the current landscape in three categories: data standardization, publication and sharing, and use. "Our annual report seeks to inform the public's understanding of open data's history and current trends and highlight the perspectives of open data leaders," said Sarah Joy Hays, interim president of the Data Foundation. "For three consecutive years, our survey on The State of the Union of Open Data indicates that open data is making strides. Its benefits are exponential: open data use can be applied to many different sectors of society and government, including healthcare, housing, education, and national defense." "Open data has grown well beyond its original applications in government. Increased standardization, sharing, and most importantly, use of open data has resulted in greater efficiency of government programs, expanded transparency, and better results," said Adam Hughes (News - Alert) , director of marketing and government affairs for Grant Thornton's Public Sector practice. "We know from experience the expanded use of open data as reflected in this year's report will help accelerate improvements in government programs and services and allow agency leaders to make better decisions about how to allocate scarce government resources." Key Findings: Nearly 84 percent of respondents reported progress on data standardization at their agency or organization in the past year, compared with 81.8 percent last year.

Nearly 85 percent of survey respondents reported improved data publication or sharing at their agency or organization in the past year, versus 76.2 percent in last year's report.

Almost all - 96.9 percent - respondents say data use for informed decision-making and insight has improved at their agency or organization over the past year.

93.6 percent of respondents indicate they believe stndardization, sharing, and open data use will improve in the immediate future, compared with 79.2 percent of 2017 respondents.

Survey respondents identify internal management as the leading benefit of open data, followed by transparency and automated reporting.



Key Report Quotes: "Opening up data allows exponentially more users to use that data in varied ways. When the federal government acts as a wholesale data provider rather than a retail technology provider, it saves taxpayers money and gives them more choices." - Brandon Brown, Chief Data Officer (CDO), Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor

Chief Data Officer (CDO), Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor "Open data allows for a 'whole society' view of programs, advancing the discovery, analysis, and utilization of data across sectors." -Barb Cohn, CDO, Colorado Department of Transportation Full list of interviewees:

Srinivas Bangarbale, CDO, Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Nick Benes, CDO, Office of Naval Research, U.S. Navy

Andrea Brandon, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

Brandon Brown, CDO, Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor

Barb Cohn, CDO, Senior Consultant, Colorado Department of Transportation

Michael Dalton, Research Economist, Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor

Dan Doney, CEO, Securrency

Robin Doyle, Managing Director, Office of Regulatory Affairs, JP Morgan (News - Alert)

Justin Fessler, Artificial Intelligence Strategist, IBM Federal

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC-5), U.S. House of Representatives

Jo Guo, Director of Business Solutions, Indexes, Morningstar

Nick Hart, Director, Evidence-Based Policymaking Initiative, Bipartisan Policy Center

Yolanda Jones, Director, Office of Grants Systems Modernization, Department of Health and Human Services

Frank Kohstall, Director of Public Affairs, Ohio State Treasurer

Barney Krucoff, Interim Chief Technology Officer, District of Columbia

Andrew Lalor, Assistant Secretary, Data and Digital, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia

Julia Lane, Ph.D., Professor, Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University

Dave Lindsay, CEO, Delv

Jeremy McQueen, CDO, State of Alabama

Jon Minkoff, CDO, Enforcement Bureau, Federal Communications Commission

Mike Peckham, ReImagine Grants Initiative Lead, Department of Health and Human Services

Mark Reger, Former Deputy Controller, White House Office of Management and Budget

Natalie Rico, Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Federal Financial Management, White House Office of Management and Budget

Carlos Rivero, CDO, Commonwealth of Virginia

Ken Romano, Product Director, Associated Press (News - Alert)

Liz Rowe, Former CDO, State of New Jersey

Kris Rowley, CDO, General Services Administration

Laurie A. Schintler, Associate Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University

David Stringfellow, Chief Economist, Office of the Utah State Auditor

Chris Taggart, CEO, OpenCorporates

Marc Teerlink, Global Vice President, SAP (News - Alert) Leonardo

Rich Wang, CDO, State of Arkansas

Jane Wiseman, Innovations in Government Fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School Methodology A standardized survey instrument was used to draw a set of common responses, with some survey questions repeated from the previous year to illuminate changes. Interviewees were also encouraged to provide context and additional observations to enrich the standardized response. About The Data Foundation The Data Foundation is the nation's first industry-focused open data research organization. Through research, education, and programming, the Data Foundation supports the publication of government information as standardized, open data. About Grant Thornton (News - Alert) LLP Founded in Chicago in 1924, Grant Thornton LLP (Grant Thornton) is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world's leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. Grant Thornton, which has revenues in excess of $1.8 billion and operates 58 offices, works with a broad range of dynamic publicly and privately held companies, government agencies, financial institutions, and civic and religious organizations. "Grant Thornton" refers to Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL). GTIL and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership. Services are delivered by the member firms. GTIL and its member firms are not agents of, and do not obligate, one another and are not liable for one another's acts or omissions. Please see grantthornton.com for further details. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005141/en/

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[January 23, 2019] Global Healthcare Robotics Market to Reach $11.44 Billion by 2023

FREMONT, California, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market intelligence report by BIS Research, titled "Global Healthcare Robotics Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2018-2023", the global healthcare robotics market was valued at $5.40 billion in 2017 and is estimated to reach $11.44 billion by 2025. The global healthcare robotics market is expected to witness a growth rate of 12.64%, during the forecast period from 2018 to 2023. The growth of the market is aided by the impressive increase of healthcare budgetary allocation by government and private institutes and technological advancements in the robotics industry. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/495163/BIS_Research_Logo.jpg )

Browse 04 market Data Tables and 166 Figures spread through 203 Pages and in-depth TOC on 'Global Healthcare Robotics Market' In 2017, the total number of cases registered due to the adverse effects of medical treatment were around 34.9 million. Diagnostic and surgical errors have witnessed higher incidence as compared to other types of malpractice. Medical errors by practitioners have been identified as the unintended act and to reduce these kinds of errors, the robotics application has been adopted. Robot-assisted surgical procedures are performed to minimize the risk of errors and to improve the precision and accuracy of the surgical procedures. Other than surgical robotics, healthcare robotics comprises rehabilitation robotics, diagnostic robotics, and radiotherapy robotics. Rehabilitation robots are expected to witness the highest CAGR in the forecast period. The healthcare robotics market is growing exponentially due to support of the government in increasing the funding for healthcare robotic research, growing investment from hospitals in healthcare robotics, and rising technological advancements in the healthcare robotics industry. There are factors that are also hindering the growth of this market which includes, the shortage of skilled professionals and high cost associated with the robotic platform, among others. According to Pushplata Patel, Lead Analyst at BIS Research "North America is currently the leading contributor to the global healthcare robotics market. The North America healthcare robotics market was valued at $3.51 billion in 2017. Factors, such as increasing cases of chronic diseases, aging populations, and established healthcare infrastructure are driving the growth of the healthcare robotics market in North America. However, the Europe region is expected to grow at an impressive growth rate, during the forecast period from 2018 to 2023. BIS Research: https://bisresearch.com/industry-report/healthcare-robotics-market.html Research Highlights: Surgical robots increase the accuracy of surgeons while reducing the risk to the patients. Through non-invasive surical robots, performing critical surgeries with minimal incision and high accuracy becomes easier.

Based on product types, instruments and accessories contributed to the highest market share in the global healthcare robotics market in 2017. However, robotic systems are expected to witness the highest growth rate, during the forecast period.

There are several healthcare robots currently in the developing stages that are expected to be launched in the upcoming years. Considerable investments from government and non-government organizations along with an increase in funding activities are expected to facilitate the growth of the global healthcare robotics market.

Based on application, surgical robotics contributed to the highest market share of approximately 71% in 2017, whereas rehabilitation robots are expected to witness a much higher growth rate as compared to surgical robots.



Source: BIS Research Analysis This market intelligence report provides a multidimensional view of the global healthcare robotics market in terms of market size and growth potential. This research report aims at answering various aspects of the global healthcare robotics market with the help of the key factors driving the market, threats that can possibly inhibit the overall growth of the market, and the current opportunities that are going to shape the future trajectory of the market expansion.

Request a sample: https://bisresearch.com/requestsample?id=646&type=download Further, the competitive landscape chapter in the report explicates the competitive nature of the global market and enables the concerned readers to get acquainted with the recent market activities, such as product launches, regulatory clearance, and certifications, partnerships, collaborations, business expansions, as well as mergers and acquisitions, among others. The research report provides a comprehensive analysis of the product sales, and manufacturers, trend analysis by segments, and demand analysis by regions. This report is a meticulous compilation of research on more than 70 players in the market ecosystem and draws upon insights from in-depth interviews with the key opinion leaders of more than 20 leading companies, market participants and vendors. The report also profiles 15 companies including several key players, such as Accuray Incorporated, Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc., Intuitive Surgical Inc., ReWalk Robotics Ltd., Smith & Nephew plc, Stereotaxis, Inc., Stryker Corporation, Zimmer Biomet, Medtronic plc, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Auris Health, Inc., Endomaster Pte Ld., Hocoma AG, Restorative Therapies, Think Surgical, and Tyromotion GmbH. Key questions answered in the report: What are the key features of the healthcare robotic technology promoting its incorporation in different applications?

What is the impact of the requirement of a skilled professional?

What would be the future of disruptive robotic technology in the market?

What is the scenario for established and non-established players?

What are key advantages of the robot-assisted surgical procedure over conventional surgical procedure?

How did the healthcare robotic market evolve and what is its scope in the future?

What are the major market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the global healthcare robotics market?

What are the key developmental strategies which are implemented by the key players to stand out in this market?

What are the leading companies dominating the global healthcare robotics market?

Which surgical robotics application market would witness massive incorporation of the healthcare robotics in the forecast period?

What are investors' perceptions about the global healthcare robotics market? Also, who are leading stakeholders of the market holding a significant share in the market's intellectual property?

What are the key companies which made substantial investments to aid technological advancements in the market?

What are the regulations pertaining to the global healthcare robotics market? What are initiatives implemented by different government bodies to combat the growing prevalence of different types of diseases?

What was the market value of the leading segments and sub-segments of the global healthcare robotics market?

How each segment of the global healthcare robotics market is expected to grow during the forecast period, and how much revenue is expected from each of the segments by the end of 2023?

How is the industry expected to evolve during the forecast period 2018-2023?

Which region is likely to contribute to the highest sales of the global healthcare robotics market during the forecast period? Related Reports: Global Surgical Robotics Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2018-2025 Global Minimally Invasive Surgical Systems Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2018-2025 About BIS Research: BIS Research is a global B2B market intelligence and advisory firm focusing on those emerging technological trends which are likely to disrupt the dynamics of the market. With over 150 market research reports published annually, BIS Research focuses on high technology verticals such as 3D Printing, Advanced Materials and Chemicals, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Healthcare, Electronics and Semiconductors, Robotics and UAV, and other emerging technologies. Our in-depth market intelligence reports focus on the market estimations, technology analysis, emerging high-growth applications, deeply segmented granular country-level market data, and other important market parameters useful in the strategic decision-making for senior management. What distinguishes BIS Research from the rest of the players is that we don't simply provide data but also complement it with valuable insights and actionable inputs for the success of our clients. Contact:

Bhavya Banga

BIS Research Inc.

39111 PASEO PADRE PKWY STE 313,

FREMONT CA 94538-1686

Email: media@bisresearch.com

Visit our Blog @ http://bisresearch.com/blog/ Connect with us on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/bis-research Connect with us on Twitter@ https://twitter.com/BISResearch

SOURCE BIS Research

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[January 23, 2019] Hammer Wireless expands its International Growth Strategy and Secures its first Nationwide African Broadband License

PISCATAWAY, N.J., Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hammer Fiber Optics Holdings Corp (OTCQB: HMMR) announced today that it has formed its first African subsidiary, Hammer Wireless [SL] Ltd. to deliver its proprietary wireless broadband services to the African continent. Hammer Wireless was recently awarded a nationwide 28GHz license by the telecommunications regulator NATCOM. Hammer Wireless will deploy Sierra Leones first true high speed fixed wireless network. The first phase of the project will be co-financed by Hammer and Telecom Financial Services [SA] in Switzerland in exchange for equity in the subsidiary.

Construction of the new network is set to begin in March 2019 and will initially target Freetown, the nations most populous city, which has in excess of one million possible subscribers. As part of its Everything Wireless strategy, Hammer will expand the network in several phases, providing access to fixed wireless internet, video and voice applications all on one integrated high-speed network. The government of Sierra Leones ICT mandte is to significantly improve education and economic development through broadband penetration, which was measured at 3% nationwide by the ITU in 2018, said Michael Cothill, Hammers Executive Chairman. In deploying our AIR technology the government can meet its objectives. Mr. Cothill has extensive experience in broadband deployment across the continent of Africa.



The deployment in Sierra Leone marks our entry into our second, and largest, major geographical market, said Kristen Vasicek, Hammers COO. Our flexible model, which can include direct operator agreements as well as partnerships through our MNSP program, can be replicated throughout Africa, the Eastern Caribbean, in the United States and other parts of the world. The breadth and scope of our team, which includes a combination of local expertise and global reach, is displayed prominently with this announcement, said Erik Levitt, Hammers CEO, who also has experience deploying networks in Africa. We want to improve the everyday lives of people worldwide. The global citizen deserves high speed access to the worlds greatest information resource.

About Hammer

Hammer Fiber Optics Holdings Corp. (OTCQB:HMMR) is a telecommunications company investing in the future of wireless technology. Hammers Everything Wireless go to market strategy includes the development of high-speed fixed wireless service for residential and small businesses using its wireless fiber platform, Hammer Wireless AIR, Over-the-Top services such as voice, SMS and video collaboration services, the construction of smart city networks and hosting services including cloud and colocation. For more information contact Frank Pena at fpena@hammerfiber.com .

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[January 23, 2019] TradePMR Mentors CFP Students and Student Tech Talent With 'Big Reveal' Slated for Jan. 31, 2019

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TradePMR, a brokerage and custodian services provider, is supporting a team of four University of South Florida students at this year's T3 Technology Conference for financial advisors happening Jan. 29Feb. 1, 2019, in Denton, Texas. The competition dubbed "T3 Mash Up" is comprised of four competing teams that have been charged with creating and executing a concept or product that is new to the financial services industry or furthers an existing project or adds a useful feature. Each team is comprised of two IT students who are studying to become developers, two students in the university's CFP program and an experienced mentor (for the University of South Florida student team, that mentor is TradePMR). "What these students are accomplishing in this short amount of time has real potential to effect lasting change within our industry," said TradePMR CEO Robb Baldwin, who in 2018 served as a judge in this annual competition. "We have always tried to offer advisors that work with TradePMR cutting-edge technology and these students are teaching us what's next for the industry as we provide them with real-world scenarios." For the competition, each student team is given the duration of the conference to select and build a project in coordination with their mentor tech firm. Each mentor firm provides guidance and a tech platform, which the project must be built to. On the final day of thecompetition, Jan. 31, 2019, students present their new solutions to a panel of industry judges and prizes are awarded.



"As a company, TradePMR's goal in this effort is to provide mentorship with the goal of getting young, new talent and fresh ideas into the financial planning industry. We want to highlight next-generation thinking," said Scott Victoria, TradePMR COO. "We're looking at the needs of RIAs right now and with forward-thinking hope to solve some of their pain points." To follow the competition and for updates on the competition, follow the hashtag #T32019.

ABOUT TRADEPMR For more than two decades, TradePMR has worked with growth-minded independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) helping to provide the innovative technology tools and support designed to transform their businesses. The privately held brokerage and custodian services provider (Member FINRA/SIPC), based in Gainesville, Florida, works to streamline fee-only investment advisors' operations through comprehensive custodial, operational and trading support. For more information, visit www.TradePMR.com. Follow TradePMR on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for the latest news, updates and event information. Securities offered through Trade-PMR Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Custodial services offered through First Clearing. First Clearing is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. TradePMR and First Clearing are not affiliated. MEDIA CONTACT:

Jessica Taylor Shores

Impact Communications Inc.

(800) 974-7753

jessicashores@impactcommunications.org View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tradepmr-mentors-cfp-students-and-student-tech-talent-with-big-reveal-slated-for-jan-31-2019-300782670.html SOURCE TradePMR

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[January 23, 2019] Kaseya Wraps Dominant 2018 with Record Growth, Major Acquisitions and Continued Product Innovation

NEW YORK and MIAMI, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kaseya  , the leading provider of complete IT infrastructure management solutions for managed service providers (MSPs) and internal IT organizations, today reported record-breaking growth in 2018, with more than $250 million in annual bookings and the completion of four major acquisitions  including Unitrends, Spanning Cloud Apps, RapidFire Tools and IT Glue  bolstering its fully integrated platform, IT Complete . With record R&D investment and a relentless focus on customer success, Kaseya further empowers MSPs and internal IT to efficiently manage, secure and backup their IT.

The pace of technology change is frenetic and IT teams are in a do or die situation to either quickly adopt new and diverse technologies or risk becoming technology dinosaurs, said Fred Voccola, CEO, Kaseya. Kaseyas success validates the market demand for innovative, integrated solutions from a single pane of glass - like our IT Complete platform. Our customers continue to grow at more than twice the rate of the market, due to the fact that we are the only player in the industry to deliver a fully integrated suite of solutions. Im incredibly proud of our accomplishments and continue to be humbled by the dedication and quality of work from our more than 1,000 employees worldwide, who remain focused on delivering the best experience possible to our customers, added Voccola. This is by far the most fun Ive had in my career, not only working with this team but also with our customers. Ive had the privilege of hearing first-hand from customers about how their businesses are benefitting from the technologies our company provides them. I look forward to even greater success for both Kaseya and for our customers in the year ahead. Corporate and Customer Momentum Across Kaseyassuite of products, customer base has grown to approximately 40,000 customers worldwide.

Continued international growth in Europe and Asia, accounting for approximately 37 percent of Kaseyas overall business.

Year over year strong customer satisfaction scores of 97 percent with record attendance at Kaseyas annual user conferences in Las Vegas and Amsterdam.

New veteran, leadership appointments, including CJ Wimley as president and chief customer officer, John Durant as chief technology officer and Paul Farr as chief product officer to support the strategy, vision and growth across Kaseyas expanded global workforce of approximately 1,100 employees.



Major Acquisitions and Integrations to the Kaseya IT Complete Suite Kaseya acquired Unitrends, the global leader of all-in-one, enterprise-class business continuity and disaster recovery solutions and the underlying technology behind Unitrends MSP and Kaseya Unified Backup.

Kaseya acquired RapidFire Tools, the leading IT assessment, internal threat detection and compliance software provider and the fundamental technology behind Kaseya Compliance Manager.

Kaseya acquired Spanning Cloud Apps, the leading provider of SaaS data protection for Office 365, Salesforce and G Suite and the central technology behind Kaseya Office 365 Backup.

Kaseya acquired IT Glue, the worlds fastest-growing, market leader in IT documentation software enabling MSPs to easily scale and support more clients without increasing headcount for higher revenue and profitability. Awards and Accolades

Winner of Cybersecurity Insiders Cybersecurity Excellence Award.

Winner of the Cloud Computing Award for Best Cloud Automation.

Recognition in multiple categories for the ChannelPro 2018 Readers Choice Awards.

Kaseyas Unitrends named the 2018 Ransomware Protection Company of the Year from Storage Awards.

Kaseyas Unitrends honored with Gold Stevie Award for Customer Service  Software and Silver Stevie Award for Customer Service  Hardware.

Kaseyas RapidFire Tools chosen as Best Solution and Best in Show at the 2018 SMB TechFest.

Kaseya GM of cloud computing Jim Lippie selected as a winner of the 2018 Circle of Excellence Awards, announced by Channel Futures. Winners represent the best in channel management through their thought leadership, partner loyalty and business performance. For more information about Kaseya and the Kaseya family of products, please visit: https://www.kaseya.com/ About Kaseya

Kaseya is the leading provider of complete IT infrastructure management solutions for managed service providers (MSPs) and internal IT organizations. Through its industry leading platform, IT Complete and customer-centric approach, Kaseya delivers best in breed technologies that allow organizations to efficiently manage, secure, and backup IT. The Kaseya IT Complete platform is the industrys most comprehensive, integrated solution suite purposely engineered to help IT both run and grow the business. It empowers businesses to command all of IT centrally, easily manage remote and distributed environments, simplify backup and disaster recovery, and automate across IT management functions. Kaseya solutions manage over 10 million endpoints worldwide. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Kaseya is privately held with a presence in over 20 countries. Learn more at www.kaseya.com . Follow Kaseya on Twitter @KaseyaCorp. Media Contact

Scott Lechner

Offleash for Kaseya

kaseya@offleashpr.com

(520) 521-3095

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[January 23, 2019] OwnBackup Selected by Varian for Proactive Salesforce Data Backup and Recovery Services

FORT LEE, N.J., Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OwnBackup today announced it has been selected by Varian as its strategic partner for Salesforce data backup and recovery services. As part of its information technology disaster recovery plan, Varian was on a mission to find a more frequent and comprehensive backup and recovery solution to comply with healthcare and life sciences regulations, and to keep their critical business data safe and readily available for their 3,000+ Salesforce users.

Varian has formulated a powerful data protection plan with OwnBackup to backup all of their Salesforce data and metadata on a HIPAA-compliant environment, proactively monitor data changes and selective restore as needed, and improve developer effectiveness with Sandbox Seeding. The OwnBackup solution helps drives gains in data operations efficiency, data protection, and business value, in addition to helping customers meet increasingly stringent compliance mandates. Salesforce, AppExchange and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, Inc. About Varian Vaian is a leader in developing and delivering cancer care solutions and is focused on creating a world without fear of cancer. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Varian employs approximately 7,000 people around the world.



For more information, visit http://www.varian.com and follow @VarianMedSys on Twitter. About OwnBackup

OwnBackup, a leading cloud-to-cloud backup and restore vendor, provides secure, automated, daily backups of SaaS and PaaS data, as well as sophisticated data compare and restore tools for disaster recovery. OwnBackup covers data loss and corruption caused by human errors, malicious intent, integration errors and rogue applications. Built for security and privacy, OwnBackup exceeds the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements for backed-up data. Co-founded by seasoned data-recovery, data-protection and information-security experts, OwnBackup is a top-ranked backup and restore ISV on the Salesforce AppExchange and was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in Business Continuity and IT Disaster Recovery. Headquartered in Fort Lee, New Jersey, with R&D, support and other functions in Tel Aviv and London, OwnBackup is the vendor of choice for some of the worlds largest users of SaaS applications. For more information, visit http://www.ownbackup.com Media Contact:

Julia Salem, Content Marketing Manager, OwnBackup

+1 646.741.4309

julia@ownbackup.com

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Andela, a NYC-based company building distributed engineering teams with Africas top software developers, completed a $100M Series D funding.

The round, which brings total venture funding to $180m, was led by Generation Investment Management with participation from existing investors including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, Spark Capital, and CRE Venture Capital.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the development of its technology platform to identify, develop and match talent at scale and to expand its presence across Africa.

Founded in 2014 by Jeremy Johnson, CEO, Andela connects Africas engineering talent with the demand for software developers worldwide. In four years, the company has assessed more than one hundred thousand applicants, hired one thousand software developers, and integrated them into hundreds of companies, such as Cloudflare, Percolate, and InVision.

It has campuses in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

FinSMEs

23/01/2019
[January 23, 2019] Alejandro Capote Joins Lazard as a Managing Director and Head of Financial Advisory, Mexico

Lazard Ltd (NYSE: LAZ) announced today that Alejandro Capote has joined the firm as a Managing Director and head of Lazard's Mexico Financial Advisory business. He is based in Lazard's Mexico City office, where he will work closely with Jeronimo Gerard Rivero, a Lazard Senior Advisor. "Alejandro has deep relationships in the Mexico business and financial communities, with experience leveraging global resources for local clients," said Alex Stern, Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Financial Advisory. "We expect he will be an outstanding team leader and a significant addition to our global advisory network." Alejandro joined Lazard from Credit Suisse Asset Management, where for the past three years he was responsible for Private Equity investments, as well as advising portfolio companies on M&A, capital raising and public market financing in Mexico and the U.S. Previously, he served for three years as a Managing Director and Investment Committee member at Evercore Mexico Capital Partners, where he conducted a broad range of portfolio management activities, and evaluated, led and signed strategic acquisitions for portfolio companies. For the prio six years he worked at Credit Suisse in New York and Mexico as a Director in its Latin American Group Investment Banking Division, executing and managing M&A and capital raising transactions in Mexico. Earlier in his career, he worked at UBS and CSFB/DLJ.



Lazard in the Americas Lazard has the largest network of dedicated financial advisory offices in the Americas, located in 16 cities across 9 countries spanning North, Central and South America. The firm has served as advisor to clients on a number of significant M&A and restructuring transactions involving Mexican companies in recent years, including: Magenta Infraestructura on the acquisition of OHL Mexico; OHL Desarrollos' sale of Mayakoba Hotels to RLH Properties; Unilever's sale of its AdeS soy-based beverage business to Coca-Cola FEMSA and the Coca-Cola Company; Anheuser Busch InBev's acquisition of Grupo Modelo and Grupo Modelo's related sale of its U.S. operations to Constellation Brands; and Cemex on its refinancing, among others.

About Lazard Lazard, one of the world's preeminent financial advisory and asset management firms, operates from 43 cities across 27 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Central and South America. With origins dating to 1848, the firm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, restructuring and capital structure, capital raising and corporate finance, as well as asset management services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments and individuals. For more information, please visit www.lazard.com. Follow Lazard at @Lazard. LAZ_FAPE View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005159/en/

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[January 23, 2019] VersaPay Adds Kite Realty Group Trust as Latest REIT Client

INDIANAPOLIS and TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - VersaPay Corporation (TSXV: VPY) ("VersaPay"), a leading provider of cloud-based invoice-to-cash solutions including electronic invoice presentment and payment, automated accounts receivable, cash application and collections management, is pleased to announce that Kite Realty Group Trust (the "Client") has selected ARCO as its receivables solution. "Our team is focused on an efficient transformation. In exploring an enhanced approach to connecting with our tenants, we quickly realized that receivables management required a comprehensive solution  one that could leverage the MRI API, provide sales reporting, securely accept multiple electronic payment options, and enable enhanced automation," said David Buell, SVP and CAO for Kite Realty Group. "VersaPay ARC offers extensive functionality and ease-of-use for our colleagues and tenants. VersaPay's team has been great to work with and we expect to see strong tenant adoption." Kite Realty Group relies on MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, for its property accounting system. The company discovered the VersaPay solution at the MRI Software International Users Conference held in Atlanta in October 2018. "MRI's open and connected ecosystem gives our clients the flexibility to extend their MRI functionality with access to a wide range of partner solutions," commented Ben Berk, Director, Partner Connect at MRI Software. "We're thrilled that Kite Realty Group has quickly integrated VersaPay to automate its receivables process." "Kite Realty Group is an exciting addition to our growing CRE client list and showcases our work with MRI, a key channel partner", said Craig O'Neill, CEO of VersaPay. "Working with MRI's clients speaks volumes to the strength of our channel partner strategy as we become the accepted AR automation standard in commercial real estate." About Kite Realty Group Trust Kite Realty Group Trust (KRG) is a full-service, vertically integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that provides communities with convenient and beneficial shopping experiences. KRG connects consumers to tenants in desirable markets through its portfolio of neighborhood, community, and lifestyle centers. Using opeational, development, and redevelopment expertise, KRG continuously optimizes its portfolio to maximize value and return to its shareholders. As of September 30, 2018, KRG owned interests in 115 operating and redevelopment properties totaling approximately 22.4 million square feet and one development project (0.5 million square feet) currently under construction. For more information, please visit kiterealty.com .



About MRI MRI Software is a leading provider of innovative real estate software applications and hosted solutions. MRI's comprehensive and flexible technology platform, coupled with an open and connected ecosystem, meets the unique needs of real estate businesses  from property-level management and accounting to investment modelling and analytics for the global commercial and residential markets. A pioneer of the real estate software industry, MRI develops lasting client relationships based on nearly five decades of expertise and insight. Through leading solutions and a rich partner ecosystem, MRI liberates real estate companies to elevate their business and gain a competitive edge. For more information, please visit mrisoftware.com.

About VersaPay VersaPay is a Fintech company and leading provider of cloud-based invoice-to-cash solutions, enabling businesses to provide a superior customer experience, get paid faster, streamline financial operations, and dramatically reduce DSO and costs. VersaPay ARC is the new standard in accounts receivable and collections management with a customer self-service environment to view invoices online, collaborate on inquiries and disputes, and facilitate secure online payments (EFT/ACH and credit card). Businesses gain access to a suite of powerful tools that enable efficient collections, cash application and real-time insight into accounts receivable. VersaPay ARC automatically reconciles payments and account information through integrations with a wide range of ERPs and accounting software providers. More information about VersaPay is available at www.versapay.com or under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Forward Looking and Other Cautionary Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" which may include, 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. Such forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans," "expects," "is expected," "budget," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends," "anticipates," or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business. Management believes that these assumptions are reasonable. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks related to the speculative nature of the Company's business, the Company's formative stage of development and the Company's financial position. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. 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. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/versapay-adds-kite-realty-group-trust-as-latest-reit-client-300782517.html SOURCE VersaPay Corporation

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[January 23, 2019] Cloud Confessions: New SolarWinds Survey of Tech Professionals Reveals the Trouble With Troubleshooting

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced the findings of its latest survey of tech professionals in DevOps, web product manager (WPM), and developer roles, SolarWinds Cloud Confessions: The Trouble with Troubleshooting . The findings demonstrate a lack of focus on priority business and career growth activities due to daily time spent troubleshooting application issues. This contradicts the core principles of DevOps and places increased pressure on tech professionals to enhance innovation and performance within their organizations.

DevOps, WPMs, and developers spend most of their days troubleshooting; nearly half of the respondents noted it was in the top three tasks they manage on a daily basis. Because of the time spent on troubleshooting tasks, they are unable to devote time to important priorities, such as building product roadmaps, deploying new applications, and strategizing future innovations with business leaders. None of these three tasks appears in their top three daily activities, according to the survey. Todays technology professionals play an unquestioned role in driving innovation for their businesses. Application development and the end users experience are inextricable from business growth, said Joe Kim, executive vice president and global chief technology officer, SolarWinds. Yet this survey of DevOps, WPMs and developers shows this push towards innovation is minimized in favor of reactive troubleshooting tasks, which are growing due to the need for comprehensive monitoring and visibility into these applications. Tech professionals need to be armed with comprehensive tools that enhance visibility into cloud applications and enable them to spend less time monitoring and troubleshooting, and more time creating opportunities to move their businesses and careers forward. Otherwise, businesses run the risk of a demotivated DevOps team. Tech professionals surveyed noted troubleshooting is the most disliked component of their roles, and if these troubleshooting tasks continue to grow without opportunity for job advancement, they state they would leave their current jobs. Key Findings SolarWinds Cloud Confessions: The Trouble with Troubleshooting: This survey explores and uncovers how technology professionals spend their work days, and how they might apply their knowledge, insight and skillset to move their organizations forward if they had the time to do so. It also showcases which elements of the job these tech professionals love to do but have to sacrifice on a daily basis for troubleshooting. Key findings show: DevOps, WPMs, and developers spend most of their days troubleshooting. Troubleshooting app issues is the number one activity tech pros spend their time on, with 48 percent of respondents choosing this as a top three task. 53 percent of DevOps agree troubleshooting app issues is the top taskcompleted on a given day. WPMs rank troubleshooting app issues third in the top three at 39 percent, behind planning/strategizing future technology innovations (54 percent) and managing end-user experience (46 percent). Developers rank troubleshooting app issues second in the top three at 52 percent, behind writing/cleaning up code (58 percent) and before testing (36 percent). On average, DevOps and WPMs spend less than 25 percent (10-24 percent) of their time proactively optimizing performance of their environments. Due to the time spent troubleshooting, tech pros devote less time to important priorities like building product roadmaps. Without troubleshooting, tech pros overall would prioritize building product roadmaps as a top three daily activity not listed in their top three current daily tasks. More specifically, DevOps would also be able to prioritize managing and/or deploying apps; and developers would be able to plan/strategize future tech innovationstasks theyre unable to prioritize on any given day due to troubleshooting. Most importantly, the time spent troubleshooting means DevOps, developers, and WPMs arent able to focus on the parts of the job they love. When looking at the top three tasks tech pros complete on any given day compared to the elements of the job they love:







i. DevOps love managing/deploying apps, but are not able to prioritize it in their top three daily tasks

ii. WPMs love building product roadmaps, but are not able to prioritize it in their top three daily tasks

iii. Developers love managing/deploying apps, managing end-user experience and planning/strategizing future tech innovation, but are not able to prioritize in their top three daily tasks When asked about the parts of their job they disliked most, tech pros placed troubleshooting app issues within their top three, despite it being a top daily task. The amount of time spent troubleshooting could lead to tech pros losing motivation or even leaving their current roles. Overall, the ability to solve real problems and make an impact on the business or customers are the top two reasons DevOps, WPMs, and developers chose to pursue their roles. Tech pros state they would leave their current jobs if there is no room for advancement or if the work becomes too repetitive or boring, which is concerning given the amount of troubleshooting and lack of proactivity in current roles. The findings of this report are based on a survey fielded in September 2018, which yielded responses from 336 DevOps, developer, and web product manager (WPM) professionals (practitioner, manager, and director roles) in the U.S. and Canada from public- and private-sector small, mid-size and enterprise companies. Respondents include 115 DevOps, 107 developers, and 114 WPMs. For a full report on the survey findings, please visit https://pages.solarwinds.com/CloudConfessions.html . Connect with SolarWinds

Orange Matter

THWACK 

Twitter 

Facebook 

LinkedIn  #SWIdevops About SolarWinds

SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) is a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT infrastructure management software. Our products give organizations worldwide, regardless of type, size, or IT infrastructure complexity, the power to monitor and manage the performance of their IT environments, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid models. We continuously engage with all types of technology professionalsIT operations professionals, DevOps professionals, and managed service providers (MSPs)to understand the challenges they face maintaining high-performing and highly available IT infrastructures. The insights we gain from engaging with them, in places like our THWACK online community, allow us to build products that solve well-understood IT management challenges in ways that technology professionals want them solved. This focus on the user and commitment to excellence in end-to-end hybrid IT performance management has established SolarWinds as a worldwide leader in network management software and MSP solutions. Targeted for DevOps professionals and developers, SolarWinds cloud management products provide cloud-based monitoring of the full IT stack whether deployed in the cloud or on-premises. Our cloud management products enable visibility into log data, cloud infrastructure metrics, applications, tracing, and web performance management. Learn more today at https://www.solarwinds.com/devops . The SolarWinds, SolarWinds & Design, Orion and THWACK trademarks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC or its affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be common law marks or are registered or pending registration. All other trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and are trademarks of (and may be registered trademarks of) their respective companies.  2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved. MEDIA CONTACTS:

Renatta Siewert

Text100

Phone: +1-212-331-8402

Renatta.siewert@text100.com Courtney Cantwell

SolarWinds

Phone: +1-512-585-0849

pr@solarwinds.com



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[January 23, 2019] RADWIN & Rapier Systems Accelerate Internet Speeds for Rural Community in Scotland

TEL AVIV, Israel, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- JET PtMP Beamforming solutions deliver high-speed broadband to rural community in Scotland RADWIN (http://www.radwin.com), the global wireless broadband provider, today announced that the Drimnin community in Scotland deployed its Beamforming JET PRO 750Mbps base station and AIR subscriber units. JET wireless broadband Point-to-Multipoint solutions deliver high-speed broadband to residents in the remote rural community in Scotland, which lies beyond the reach of a fiber infrastructure. System Integrator Rapier Systems was in charge of project planning and deployment and will be providing the ongoing support of the network on behalf of the community. Richard Watson, MD, Rapier Systems said: "Before they decided to go the wireless route, the Drimnin community had a satellite connection but speeds were often less than 2 Mbps. This prompted villagers to form the Drimnin Community Broadband CIC to try and find a solution. At the same time, leading salmon farmer Scottish Sea Farms was seeking to introduce broadband to its farms in the surrounding area to enable remote feeding. The two teamed up and, after assessing several wireless manufacturers, RADWIN's Point-to-Multipoint solutions were selected." Concluded Watson: "RADWIN wa a clear winner with their high capacity JET base stations delivering 750Mbps throughput and their small form factor, unobtrusive subscriber units. JET overcomes the challenges of the local geography, and operates in non-line-of-sight conditions and over-water. With JET, the Drimnin community enjoys much faster speeds of up to 50 Mbps. Villagers can now do online banking, video conferencing, credit card payments. These advances are improving the daily lives of residents and make running businesses much easier, offering real economic benefit to the Drimnin community."



CLICK HERE to see the video Rhonda Newsham, Drimnin Community Broadband Director: "We want our community to thrive but this was becoming increasingly difficult because of poor internet connectivity. Thanks to RADWIN's JET solutions and system integrator Rapier Systems, residents and businesses in the community can finally enjoy a reliable, high-speed broadband connection to the digital world."

Forbes Baylis, Project Leader for Scottish Sea Farms: "Ensuring that the remote communities in which we live and work benefit from us being there is hugely important to Scottish Sea Farms, so to see Drimnin's residents and businesses enjoy faster, more reliable broadband every bit as much as we are is truly rewarding." Zeev Farkash, VP Global Sales, RADWIN: "Broadband is critical to the success of communities. Fast, reliable broadband helps spur new job opportunities that lie outside the reach of the local economic base and also offers the possibility to connect citizens to the town itself and enhance town services by enabling network infrastructure to do more." About RADWIN

RADWIN is a leading provider of Point-to-Multipoint and Point-to-Point broadband wireless solutions deployed in over 170 countries. http://www.radwin.com About Rapier Systems Rapier has unrivalled experience in the design, installation and support of Wireless. http://www.rapiersystems.com RADWIN Sales

HQ: +972-3-769-2820

Email: sales@radwin.com

Email: pr@radwin.com



Contact:

T: 0845-299-6171

E: info@rapiersystems.com





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[January 23, 2019] Ambassador Group of Hotels Revs up E-commerce by Partnering With Simplotel

BANGALORE, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of the joint efforts of Ambassador Hotels and Simplotel, direct website bookings have doubled and the website traffic has grown by 70% Simplotel - a Software as a Service (SaaS) e-commerce platform especially designed for hotels, currently powering e-commerce for over 2,000 hotels across 11 countries - announced today that Ambassador Group of Hotels - an independent chain of hotels formed in 1942 based out of Mumbai with iconic landmark hotels in Marine Drive Mumbai, Chennai and Aurangabad - has implemented Simplotel's e-commerce solution for their brand website and is seeing a jump in their e-commerce. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/599727/Simplotel_Logo.jpg )

Ambassador Hotels understood the importance of e-commerce and was looking to grow direct bookings on their brand website. After detailed validation, Ambassador Hotels have chosen Simplotel as their technology partner for their brand website optimization. Since implementing the solution, Ambassador Hotels has seen an instant 100% growth in the number of room nights through the website and a 70% jump in website traffic. Simplotel has also benefited greatly from the tech savviness and guidance of the Ambassador Hotels team, especially Mr. Pramod Kulkarni - Revenue Expert and Group Vice President at Ambassador Hotels. The ideas generated from the interactions with the Ambassador team has helped develop four new features in the Simplotel platform that are boosting conversions. "We are impressed by the early and instant results from Simplotel, and look forward to our direct bookings growing even more. Or target is to double a few times over, and with Simplotel and its capable team, we are confident of achieving our steep targets," commented Pramod Kulkarni, Group Vice President at Ambassador Hotels and Ambassador's Sky Chef. "With Simplotel," he elaborated, "we believe we have access to a phenomenal support team coupled with state-of-the-art hotel e-commerce platform. Most importantly, their readiness to accept all suggestions and immediately act upon them makes it a team effort in optimizing revenues."



"Ambassador Group of Hotels, and the team there, is just the type of customer we like; special thanks to Pramod Kulkarni who really helped us in achieving the set goals," said Tarun Goyal, Founder and CEO of Simplotel. "The Ambassador team acts fast and is willing to experiment with new things that have the potential to improve conversions. The ideas, that they have provided, have already resulted in four new features being built on the Simplotel platform. We look forward to continued learning from Pramod and his entire team who work tirelessly and continue to push the envelope." To learn more about Ambassador Group of Hotels visit: https://www.ambassadorindia.com and for Simplotel visit https://www.simplotel.com

About Simplotel: Simplotel is a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider for hotels. As its name suggests, Simplotel's mission is to Simplify the lives of hoteliers. Headquartered in the Silicon Valley of India - Bangalore, Simplotel's vision is to equip hotels worldwide with technology that helps simplify operations, drive more business and improve guest satisfaction. Simplotel products are easy-to-use and come at an affordable pay-as-you-go price. Since its foundation in 2013, Simplotel has been growing its number of happy customers everyday. Today, Simplotel powers over 2,000 hotels across multiple countries. To learn more, please visit https://www.simplotel.com, mail contact@simplotel.com. About Ambassador Group of Hotels: Ambassador Group of Hotels is a chain of three premium landmark hotels located in Mumbai, Chennai and Aurangabad. Dating back to 1942, Ambassador Group brings heritage Indian hospitality to travellers from across the world. Ambassador as a Hotel Group shares a lot of history that is reflected in its interiors with antiques, collectibles, and designs which is seen nowhere else and transforms you into the world of fantasy and culture. Each item you come across has an interesting story to tell. 'Ambassador's Sky Chef' is also a part of Ambassador Group. Ambassador's Sky Chef is an award-winning catering service that caters to most of the international and domestic airlines. Apart from this, the Group has food retail brand 'Croissants etc' and Power Generation Windmills. To learn more please visit https://www.ambassadorindia.com or call +91-22-2204-1131. Media Contact:

Swapnil Patni

marketing@simplotel.com

+91-80-3364-6154

Simplotel



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[January 23, 2019] GSMA Announces Nominees for 2019 GLOMO Awards

The GSMA today announced the nominees for the Global Mobile Awards 2019 (GLOMO Awards). Winners of the awards will be presented throughout MWC19 Barcelona, which takes place 25 - 28 February. The full list of nominees can be found at www.mwcbarcelona.com/conference-programmes/global-mobile-awards/global-mobile-awards-2019-nominee-shortlist/. "The GLOMOs provide a world stage on which to celebrate the most inspirational and innovative developments across our industry, recognising the companies and individuals leading the way in everything from 5G, to emerging markets, to intelligent connectivity," said John Hoffman, CEO, GSMA Ltd. "The awards attract a significant level of high-quality entries, so being nominated today is a great achievement. We wish everyone the very best of luck and we look forward to some exciting announcements at MWC19 Barcelona." The GLOMO Awards feature an afternoon ceremony at 16:30 CET on Tuesday, 26 February in Auditorium 5, Hall 4, and will include the presentation of winners within the new "5G" category as well as the "Social Good", "Outstanding Achievement", "Device" and "Mobile Tech" categories, and the announcement of the "Government Leadership Award". Winners of other awards such as "Outstanding Contribution to the Mobile Industry" and the "Women4Tech Industry Leadership" awards will be announced in separate ceremonies during the course of MWC19 Barcelona. In addition, nominees for the "4YFN Startup of the Year Award 2019" will be invited to pitch their business idea to a live audience and expert judging panel at 15:00 - 16:00 CET, Wednesday 27 February, Banc Sabadell Stage, Hall 8, Fira Montjuic. The 2019 GLOMO Awards ceremony will be hosted by TV presenters Remel London and Larry Madowo. Remel London is an award-winning TV and radio presenter and online video blogger. Remel currently hosts a weekend show on CAPITAL XTRA and is a lead presenter on SKY 1's What's Up TV. Lary Madowo is the BBC Africa Business Editor and Global Contributing Columnist for the Washington Post. Larry brings a wealth of experience to the team, having reported from more than 40 countries and interviewed some of the world's most prominent business, political and cultural leaders. Larry will also present selected awards throughout the week.



Presentation of awards in the "Fourth Industrial Revolution (News - Alert) ", "Consumer", "Content and Media" and "Device" categories will take place at the GSMA Innovation City and will also be broadcast live to a global audience on Mobile World Live TV at www.mobileworldlive.com. The 2019 GLOMO Awards Category Sponsors include: National Instruments (News - Alert) for "Mobile Tech"; Dolby for "Content and Media"; Mobica for "Fourth Industrial Revolution"; and Mobileum for "Consumer". Mashable are the Official Media Partner for this year's GLOMO Awards.

The awards are judged by independent experts, analysts, journalists, academics, and, in some cases, mobile operator representatives. The winner of the "Outstanding Mobile Technology Award (The CTOs' Choice)" will be selected by a panel of industry-leading CTOs from the worldwide operator community. Full information about the GLOMO Awards 2019, including the finalists, awards ceremony Mobile World Live TV presentations, sponsors, and judges can be found at www.mwcbarcelona.com/conference-programmes/global-mobile-awards/. Get involved at MWC19 Barcelona For more information on MWC19 Barcelona, including how to exhibit or sponsor, visit www.mwcbarcelona.com. Follow developments and updates on MWC19 on Twitter @GSMAEvents using #MWC19, on our LinkedIn (News - Alert) MWC page https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mwcbarcelona/ or on Facebook (News - Alert) at https://www.facebook.com/mobileworldcongress/. Follow other GSMA news and activity on Twitter (News - Alert) @GSMA. - ENDS- About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with over 350 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well as the Mobile 360 Series of regional conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005047/en/

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[January 23, 2019] OurCrowd Launches Investment in Leading Global Cannabis Technology Fund

OurCrowd, a global investment platform and Israel's leading venture investor has announced that it will invest and partner with 7thirty to build the world's leading global cannabis technology venture capital fund. The new $30m fund is focused on emerging cannabis technology companies in med-tech, ag-tech, retail, e-commerce, marketplaces, SaaS (News - Alert) solutions, and the deep-tech research in Cannabis. The fund, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, will be active globally and include activities in Israel, Canada and the United States. OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved (News - Alert) said, "The explosive growth of the legal and medical cannabis market is quite impressive. Canada recently legalized cannabis nationwide and Israel is in the final stages of legalizing cannabis export. The amount of serious medical research in cannabis is booming. This market will generate unprecedented global investment activity and returns for cannabis focused startups. Together with 7thirty, we plan to lead investments for serious companies who will pioneer technology for this important and growing market." The 7thirty Opportunity Fund is led by the U.S.'s most active early stage Cannabis Technology investor, Micah Tapman. Prior to founding 7thirty, Micah was a co-founder at CanopyBoulder, where he led investments in over 90 cannabis related companies. Several of those companies are now recognized leaders in the cannabis market, including Wurk, BDS Analytics and Front Range Biosciences. Micah was recently named one of the twenty rising stars in the cannabis investment world by Business Insider. Micah Tapman, Managing Partner and co-founder of 7thirty said, "We are pleased to welcome OurCrowd to the 7thirty Opportunity Fund. Israel is a recognized leader and pioneer in cannabis technology, and OurCrowd has a demonstrated track record as a value-added investor. Togeher we plan to bring a institutional discipline and rigor to the cannabis technology investment market."



Kfir Kachlon, OurCrowd Principal and Cannabis-Tech lead said, "The ability to work side by side with Micah and the 7thirty team is really exciting for us. OurCrowd has already invested in leading Israeli Cannabis Technology companies such as Syqe and Edenshield, and now together with 7thirty we look forward to combining our Israeli deal flow with their North American leadership in the industry to create a truly winning fund formula." For more information on 7thirty visit: https://7thirtycapital.com/opportunity-fund/

About OurCrowd: OurCrowd is a global investment platform, bringing venture capital opportunities to accredited investors worldwide. A leader in equity crowdfunding, OurCrowd is managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and is led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved. OurCrowd vets and selects companies, invests its own capital, and invites its accredited membership of investors and institutional partners to invest alongside in these opportunities. OurCrowd provides support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and creates growth opportunities through its network of strategic multinational partnerships. The OurCrowd community consists of almost 30,000 accredited investors from over 150 countries. OurCrowd has raised over $900 million and invested in 170 portfolio companies and funds. To join OurCrowd as an accredited investor visit www.ourcrowd.com and click "Join." About the 2019 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit: The OurCrowd Global Investor Summit, Where the startup world gathers. The 2019 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit, taking place March 7 in Jerusalem, Israel, is one of the premier events in the tech industry, and the largest business event in Israel's history, with 15,000 expected to register to attend. The Summit provides an interactive, front-row seat to the formerly closed world of startup venture capital, with exclusive exposure to cutting-edge technologies, the entrepreneurs behind them, and the corporate leaders deploying them. Top investors, venture capitalists, corporate partners, entrepreneurs and journalists come from around the world both for Summit day as well as a week of events that include tours of the Israeli ecosystem, corporate meetups, and cultural and historical excursions. Thousands more will participate through livestreaming. Learn more at summit.ourcrowd.com. About 7thirty Opportunity Fund: The 7thirty Opportunity Fund is an early stage growth equity fund targeting private cannabis-related technology investments around the world. The fund is closely partnered with the CanopyBoulder business accelerator for unparalleled deal flow and access to top-tier investments. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, the fund is ideally situated to capitalize on the 30% average compound annual growth in the legal cannabis industry. A highly disciplined investment approach allows the fund to build a diversified portfolio of exceptional investments poised to grow with the industry. For Press Materials: http://blog.ourcrowd.com/7thirty View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005575/en/

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[January 23, 2019] OMRON to Release 2,512 Models of Its E2E NEXT Series Proximity Sensors, Now Equipped with IoT Features

KYOTO, Japan, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- - For Predictive Maintenance and Better Facility Operation Rates - OMRON Corporation will globally launch in January 2019 a total of 2,512 models of its DC 3-Wire E2E NEXT Series Proximity Sensors, which boast the world's longest sensing distances (*1) and are now newly equipped with IoT features. These sensors reduce risks of sudden facility stoppages by a factor of 3 (*2); they also detect signs that warn of such stoppages and notify users via the network. They help improve facility operation rates by preventing unforeseen facility stoppages and reducing facility downtime. Image1: E2E NEXT Series (DC 3-Wire Models)

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/201901182374/_prw_PI1fl_D06k2iFC.jpg At actual manufacturing sites, unforeseen facility stoppages are a major management issue, for they directly lead to lost production opportunities. To minimize facility downtime, manufacturers must procure on-site maintenance personnel who can readily address unforeseen facility stoppages. With labor shortages becoming increasingly severe, however, demand is growing for ways to utilize IoT to maintain and improve facility operation rates without relying on human experience or skills. Current proximity sensors characteristically have shorter sensing distances, and this entails many risks. For example, equipment vibration may cause the sensor body to move too far away from or come in contact with the sensing object. Such incidents are said to account for approximately 1/5 of facility stoppages (*3). The E2E NEXT Series Proximity Sensors (DC 3-Wire Models) to be newly released are equipped with OMRON's own Thermal Distance Control 2 and PROX3 hybrid circuitry technologies, which enable sensing distances that are at least twice as long as previous models (*4), and thus can reduce risks of such facility stoppages by a factor of 3. Distances between sensor bodies and sensing objects are monitored constantly, and users are notified via IO-Link communication (*5) if they become great or too small. This allows users to identify warning signs of sudden facility stoppages, which in turn allows for timely maintenance, all in all enabling stable facility operation without having to rely on the experience or skills of maintenance personnel. OMRON set forth a concept called "innovative-Automation!" consisting of three innovations or "i's"--"integrated" (control evolution), "intelligent" (development of intelligence by ICT), and "interactive" (new harmonization between humans and machines). OMRON's endeavor is to dramatically improve the productivity and quality on the ground in manufacturing sites. To this end, OMRON will continue to expand its lineup of IoT-enabled control devices, and, with the help of its clients, expedite the "intelligent" element (i.e. making manufacturing smarter) in manufacturing sites, which is key to delivering on te "innovative-Automation!" concept.



E2E NEXT Series Proximity Sensors (DC 3-Wire Models): Key highlights 1. World's longest sensing distances (*1), at least twice that of OMRON's previous products (*4)

This allows for more spacious design with less risk of contact. Image2: Sensing distance comparisons (Quadruple distance models)

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/201901182374/_prw_PI2fl_7dq9Y836.jpg 2. Technologies for stable long-distance detection: Thermal Distance Control 2 and PROX3 hybrid circuitry Thermal Distance Control 2 enables stable long-distance sensing capabilities by measuring with high precision each sensor's characteristics under multiple temperature conditions, and calculating correction values using OMRON's own polynomial algorithm, which are then written into the sensor's PROX3 hybrid circuitry. Image3: Sensing distance fluctuation due to ambient temperature

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/201901182374/_prw_PI3fl_4Vd1QvKN.jpg 3. Standardly equipped with IO-Link (*6) This allows you to know in real time, from a single location, the state of multiple sensors, which in turn enables early identification of the site and substance of failures. Image4: Standardly equipped with IO-Link

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/201901182374/_prw_PI4fl_8inK6B9u.jpg 4. Broad model lineup OMRON offers a lineup of 2,512 models that come in a variety of physical sizes and with different sensing distances to cater to different needs. Image5: Broad model lineup

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/201901182374/_prw_PI5fl_m8y4pwk6.jpg Image6: Details of broad model lineup

https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102197/201901182374/_prw_PI6fl_0NkD92H1.jpg (Notes) (*1) Based on December 2018 OMRON investigation of DC 3-wire models

(*2) Based on December 2018 OMRON investigation

(*3) Based on December 2018 OMRON investigation into causes of facility stoppages in automobile parts factories

(*4) Comparison between previous products (2-wire models) and E2E NEXT 3-wire model series

(*5) Standardized technology for communicating with sensors and actuators, prescribed by the international standard IEC 61131-9.

(*6) Only PNP E2E NEXT 3-wire model series equipped with IO-Link; 2-wired series is not equipped with IO-Link. "innovative-Automation!" Recently, OMRON has developed a manufacturing innovation concept, called "innovative-Automation!" With this concept, OMRON is currently committed to bringing innovation to manufacturing sites through three key innovations, or three "i's." Through these innovations in the area of automation, OMRON aims to enable significant productivity improvements in manufacturing sites in order to achieve high-value-added manufacturing. With the first "i," "integrated" (control evolution), OMRON will seek to advance automated control technology so that virtually any operator, even inexperienced operators, can effortlessly perform work that previously required the expert skills of experienced workers. With the second "i," "intelligent" (development of intelligence by ICT), OMRON seeks to create constantly evolving equipment and production lines. By adopting a wide range of control devices and artificial intelligence (AI), machines can learn through experience and maintain themselves in optimal condition. For the third "i," "interactive" (new harmonization between humans and machines), OMRON pursues the development of a new harmonious relationship between human operators and machines. Working together in the same workspace, machines will be able to assist human operators by recognizing human thoughts and behavior. About OMRON Corporation OMRON Corporation, based in Kyoto, Japan, is a global leader in the field of automation based on its core technology of "Sensing & Control + Think". OMRON's business fields cover a broad spectrum, ranging from industrial automation and electronic components to automotive electronic components, social infrastructure systems, healthcare, and environmental solutions. Established in 1933, OMRON has over 36,000 employees worldwide, working to provide products and services in 117 countries. In the field of industrial automation, OMRON supports manufacturing innovation by providing advanced automation technologies and products, as well as through extensive customer support, in order to help create a better society. For more information, visit OMRON's website at: http://www.omron.com/ View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/omron-to-release-2-512-models-of-its-e2e-next-series-proximity-sensors-now-equipped-with-iot-features-300782571.html SOURCE OMRON Corporation

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[January 22, 2019] ETV Network Adopts LiveU Technology to Empower ETV Bharat, its National Digital News Platform

Teams will be provided with the mobile streaming app, LU-Smart, as part of LiveU's Go-Plan software package HACKENSACK, New Jersey, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- One of India's leading broadcasters, ETV Network, has turned to LiveU technology for their national digital media new platform  ETV Bharat. The LU-Smart mobile app was chosen to maximize their content gathering potential as part of LiveU's Go-Plan, providing LiveU software access to unlimited users on their smartphones. LU-Smart enables anyone in the organization to go live with broadcast-quality video transmission, not just the camera crews. "With the race to break news first, we need to be everywhere. To make sure that we do not miss out on any action even to a micro level, we chose the LiveU Go-Plan which allows us to go live literally from anywhere. And the kind of resiliency that LiveU has been providing for years is exactly what we needed in these crucial times. One of the reasons it was an easy choice for us is the 24/7 unfaltering support we have been getting from LiveU," said Mr. P.R.K. Raju, Assistant Chief Engineer of ETV "LiveU is delighted to be the trusted technology for ETV Bharat. It was extremely important for us to be able to meet all their specific and challenging product requirements, enabling them to broaden their newsgathering capabilities. We are committed to continue providing innovative products and close support to our customers in India," said Mr. Ranjit Bhatti, Director South Asia  LiveU Ltd. With LU-Smart part of LiveU's Go-Plan, broadcasters can purchase a pool of data every month for use among as many LU-Smart devices as they need. Now everyone, from production assistant to journalist to camera person can go live at anytime from anywhere in the world. The LU-Smart bonds internal Wi-Fi and cellular connections to reach optimal video quality andresiliency. LU-Smart supports the most popular iPhone and Android phones and is monitored and managed by LiveU Central as any other field unit.



LiveU provides round-the-clock support through their Indian partner Lamhas Satellite Services Ltd. and their dedicated team which is spread over several regional offices across the country. About ETV Bharat

ETV Bharat is a comprehensive digital national news platform conceived to deliver seamless news and information services, using video-centric Mobile App and Web Portals. It is a first-of-its kind offering in India in terms of diversity and depth, dedicated journalists' network, reach of 23 states with services in 13 languages i.e.Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia and English. About LiveU LiveU is driving the live video revolution, providing live video streaming for TV, mobile, online and social media. Let your audience become part of your story with high-quality and flawless live video, transmitted from anywhere in the world, through the use of our patented bonding and video transport technology. LiveU creates a consistent bandwidth and a reliable connection so you can acquire, manage and distribute high quality remote live broadcasts over IP. Our broad portfolio of products sets the industry standard for live video production. From backpacks to smartphones, and satellite/cellular hybrid to external antenna solutions, LiveU offers a complete range of devices for live video coverage anytime, anywhere. In addition, LiveU offers extensive cloud-based management and video distribution solutions. With over 3,000 customers in 130+ countries, LiveU's technology is the solution of choice for global broadcasters, online media, news agencies and social media. For more information, visit www.liveu.tv, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or Instagram. Contact:

Raisa Sarkar

+91-9594910737

raisas@liveu.tv Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811595/LiveU_LU_Smart.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/685172/LiveU_Logo.jpg

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Mitsubishi Electric Establishes Factory Automation Service Center in Coimbatore, India

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503) announced today that it will establish an "India Coimbatore FA Center" in Coimbatore, in India's Tamil Nadu State. Scheduled to commence operations from February 1, the new facility will further strengthen the service network of the company's factory automation (FA) products in India and facilitate expansion of its FA system business.

Located in the south of the country, Coimbatore is one of ndia's major industrial centers, hosting companies active in the textile, automotive parts and IT sectors - all areas where demand for FA products and their related services is expected to increase.







Until now, servicing of Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Electric's FA products in India has been handled by the company's Pune FA Center, established in January 2012, and by other offices throughout India. However, to further improve access to timely service and support, the company decided to establish the new FA Center in Coimbatore, where it will provide training, technical consultation and system proposals aimed at meeting the rising expectations of local customers.

For the full text, please visit: www.MitsubishiElectric.com/news/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005338/en/
[January 22, 2019] Entergy Texas and MHPS Bring a "Change in Power" to Texas as They Move Forward on a New 993 MW Power Plant

For the third time in the last twenty-two months, an Entergy Corporation subsidiary has selected two Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) gas turbine generation units. Entergy Texas, Inc. has selected MHPS' technology to power its 993 megawatt Montgomery County Power Station (MCPS) near Willis, Texas. When it becomes operational in 2021, the plant will help reduce emissions and will generate reliable and affordable power for Southeast Texas. "The Montgomery County Power Station will supply the energy to help our communities and customers prosper. This power plant will not only provide needed generating capacity for Southeast Texas, one of the fast-growing regions in the U.S., but it's another step in our ongoing effort to modernize Entergy's generating fleet to provide power more efficiently, affordably and with fewer emissions," said Sallie Rainer, president and CEO of Entergy Texas. "MHPS is proud to provide the advanced technology that Entergy Texas uses to serve the energy needs of Texans, helping fuel the economy, reduce emissions and save money for Entergy's customers," said Paul Browning, President and CEO of MHPS Americas. "The power station will feature proven advanced class gas turbine technology to boost efficiency and reduce emissions. We also will incorporate MHPS TOMONI digital capabilities to enhance connectivity with Entergy Texas. This allows us to us cloud-based big data analytics and machine learning to leverage the massive amounts of data that are generated during plant operations, driving optimum power plant performance, flexibility and reliability."



The Montgomery County Power Station will be one of the cleanest units in Entergy Texas' generation fleet. The plant will feature a state-of-the-art emissions control technology that will lower emissions compared to the existing fleet through the use of high-efficiency, combined-cycle natural gas turbines that are projected to save for Entergy Texas customers more than $1 billion over the next 30 years. MHPS leads the industry globally in advanced class gas turbines (ACGT). The MHPS ACGT fleet sets a new standard for reliability and efficiency, lowering the cost of power for Entergy Texas customers. The two turbines to be installed at the Montgomery County Power Station are air-cooled versions of the highly reliable MHPS G-Series.

"We appreciate the trust Entergy Texas has placed in MHPS technology," Browning said, "As our industry transitions away from less efficient technology, we are leading the way. Our products are redefining uptime standards and environmental performance. The Montgomery County Power Station project is a prime example of the change in power that MHPS is leading." About Mitsubishi Hitachi (News - Alert) Power Systems Americas, Inc. Headquartered in Lake Mary, FL, MHPS Americas employs more than 2,000 people who design, build, install, monitor and service aero-derivative and heavy-duty natural gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, and environmental control systems throughout North and South America. MHPS Americas also collaborates with customers to deploy artificial intelligence and low carbon technologies to take the cost and carbon out of the electric power value chain. MHPS Americas is subsidiary of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Hitachi, Ltd. PWPS and MD&A are wholly owned subsidiaries of MHPS Americas. Learn more about MHPS by visiting www.changeinpower.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005998/en/

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[January 22, 2019] Schulte Roth & Zabel Presents Its 28th Annual Private Investment Funds Seminar

Schulte Roth & Zabel (SRZ) is hosting its 28th Annual Private Investment Funds Seminar today in New York. A pioneer in the alternative investment management industry, SRZ has been advising private funds for 50 years. SRZ lawyers will share their market knowledge on current trends and expectations for the year ahead. The event is by invitation only. Topics covered include: Regulatory Compliance 2019; Secondary Transactions: Tender Offers, Side Pocket Clearing and Residual Assets; Insurance Dedicated Funds and Related Strategies; Current Employment Issues; Blockchain and Digital Assets; Tax Considerations for 2019; Crisis Management; Market Update: Terms, Customized Products and Co-Investment Vehicles; Civil Litigation; Management Company Challenges in the Current Environment; Credit and Specialty Finance; and Risk Retention Rules, among other subjects. "We will hold in-depth discussions on recent developments, including the growing appeal of innovative investment strategies and how regulatory issues have expanded commensurately," commented Stephanie Breslow, SRZ partner and co-head of the Investment Management Group. "In addition, we will provide an outlook for private fund regulatory challenges in 2019 and the key issues for managers as exams and enforcements have become more targeted," said Marc Elovitz, SRZ partner and chair of the Investment Management Regulatory & Compliance Group. "Another notable trend is the continued increase in the use of co-investment vehicles and customized products. We will discuss current trends and observations on these products," added Jason Kaplan, SRZ partner in the Investment Management Group. Paul Roth, SRZ founding partner and chair of the Investment Management Group, will provide welcoming remarks. During the main program, Mr. Kaplan will sit down with guest speaker Jason Dillow, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Bardin Hill Investment Partners LP. "We are pleased to present our 28th AnnualPrivate Investment Funds Seminar. The event has become the premier gathering of leading funds and managers, and the conference has offered a platform for focused and timely discussions," commented Alan Waldenberg, chair of SRZ's Executive Committee.



Representing a wide range of practice areas, SRZ lawyers featured at the event include: William Barbera, Jason Behrens, Philippe Benedict, Stephanie Breslow, Mark Brossman, Brad Caswell, Charles Clark, Aneliya Crawford, Brian Daly, Jennifer Dunn, David Efron, Marc Elovitz, Nick Fagge, Max Garfield, Melissa Goldstein, David Griffel, William Gussman, Christine Harlow, Christopher Hilditch, Daniel Hunter, Jason Kaplan, Eleazer Klein, Brian Kohn, Kelly Koscuiszka, F. Xavier Kowalski, Ian Levin, Karen Loga, John Mahon, Anna Maleva-Otto, Kristine Manoukian, Donald Mosher, David Nissenbaum, Omoz Osayimwese, Julian Rainero, Ronald Richman, Paul Roth, Phyllis Schwartz, Joseph Smith, Craig Stein, Michael Swartz, Shlomo Twerski, Craig Warkol, Holly Weiss, Peter White, Heather Wyckoff, Ji Hye You, Boris Ziser and Elie Zolty. As the market-leading law firm in the asset management industry, SRZ is consistently placed in the top tiers in rankings, including Chambers and The Legal 500, to name a few. Most recently, SRZ was named one of the Asset Management Practice Groups of the Year by Law360. SRZ lawyers provide advice on U.S. and U.K. law to a wide variety of funds and managers located worldwide. Notably, SRZ is one of only a few law firms with a dedicated regulatory and compliance practice within its private funds practice. The lawyers have specialized expertise on the issues private fund managers face in setting up, running and growing their businesses.

About Schulte Roth & Zabel Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (www.srz.com) is a full-service law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC and London. As one of the leading law firms serving the financial services industry, the firm regularly advises clients on corporate and transactional matters and provides counsel on regulatory, compliance, enforcement and investigative issues. The firm's practices include: bank regulatory; bankruptcy & creditors' rights litigation; blockchain technology & digital assets; broker-dealer regulatory & enforcement; business reorganization; complex commercial litigation; cybersecurity; distressed debt & claims trading; distressed investing; education law; employment & employee benefits; energy; environmental; finance; financial institutions; hedge funds; individual client services; insurance; intellectual property, sourcing & technology; investment management; litigation; litigation finance; mergers & acquisitions; PIPEs; private equity; real estate; real estate capital markets & REITs; real estate litigation; regulated funds; regulatory & compliance; securities & capital markets; securities enforcement; securities litigation; securitization; shareholder activism; structured finance & derivatives; tax; and white collar defense & government investigations. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005995/en/

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[January 22, 2019] Siris Medical Announces Release of PlanMD 2.0 with Powerful User-Driven Enhancements

Siris Medical, Inc., headquartered in Silicon Valley and Boston, today announced the commercial release of PlanMD 2.0, an update of the first AI-powered decision support software for radiation oncologists. PlanMD enables radiation oncology clinical teams to leverage patient data and artificial intelligence to make better treatment decisions. PlanMD is the first and only tool that enables the physician to see the effect of editing contours in real-time, without re-optimizing or replanning. PlanMD complements Siris Medical's QuickMatch software, which accelerates the treatment planning process by using artificial intelligence to quickly identify the most similar cases previously treated to inform planning decisions and help reduce dose to critical structures. PlanMD 2.0 enhancements came primarily from input received from radiation oncologists who are the tool's primary users. These physicians are busy, so the new version is designed to make the tool even faster and easier to use. New precision display functionality allows for greater efficiency and accuracy in structure evaluation and contouring, for both tumor and critical organs. More powerful and granular contour exploration functionality also permits faster insights into the impacts of contouring changes on dos. And a host of smaller, user-driven changes all combine to make PlanMD v2.0 even simpler and faster to use.



Dr. Marc Nash, Chief Medical Officer of Siris Medical and a UCSF-trained, board-certified radiation oncologist noted, "While the underlying prediction algorithms have performed well from the very beginning, it is only through extensive input from practicing radiation oncologists that we can truly ensure the ease of use and rapid results that busy clinicians demand. We are proud to count some of the nation's leading cancer centers and radiation oncologists as our customers, and their feedback has helped us build an even better, easier to use clinical decision support tool to help physicians in their battle against cancer." About PlanMD and the InsightRT Software Suite

The InsightRT Software Suite includes both the QuickMatch (with multi-modality) and PlanMD software modules. QuickMatch and PlanMD together enable a thorough and rapid evaluation of radiation therapy treatment options. The PlanMD module enables clinicians to explore dose predictions based on different contours without having to re-optimize the treatment plan for each scenario considered. QuickMatch enables exploration of the dosimetric tradeoffs inherent with those contours based on predictions developed from a vast database of previously treated patients. The InsightRT software suite is the only artificial intelligence based decision support product on the market for radiation treatment planning and the first to offer physicians the opportunity to see the impact of recontouring on prescriptive doses without having to re-optimize the treatment plan for every scenario. About Siris Medical Siris Medical empowers clinicians to efficiently make high-quality radiation treatment decisions through its proprietary artificial intelligence platform. Please visit www.siris-medical.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190122005848/en/

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[January 23, 2019] Canada Invests in the Country's Largest Public Electric Vehicle Network in Quebec

MONTREAL, Jan. 23, 2019 /CNW/ - Electric and alternative fuel vehicles play a key role in reducing pollution. As Canadians continue to make greener choices, the Government of Canada is delivering more options for them to drive where they need to go while reducing pollution.

The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, today announced a $5-million investment to build 100 electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers across Quebec. Built by Hydro-Quebec with funding from through Natural Resources Canada's Electric Vehicle and Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Deployment Initiative (EVAFIDI) these chargers will be part of Hydro-Quebec's Electric Circuit  the largest public charging network for electric vehicles in Canada. The EVAFIDI program is also part of the Government of Canada's $180+ billion Investing in Canada infrastructure plan. The fast-charging infrastructure will span major highways from Abitibi to Cote-Nord. Through Canada's national energy dialogue, Generation Energy, Canadians made it clear electric vehicles are a necessity for Canada's low-carbon future. The Government of Canada continues to support green infrastructure projects that will create good jobs, advance Caada's green future and help us reach our domestic and international climate targets.



Quick Facts Through the Electric Vehicle and Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Deployment Initiative, the Government of Canada is investing $182.5M to support the establishment of a coast-to-coast charging network for electric vehicles, natural gas stations along key freight corridors and stations for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in metropolitan centres. This investment also includes support for the demonstration of next-generation charging technologies, as well as the development of binational ( Canada and the United States ) codes and standards for low-carbon vehicles and infrastructure.

is investing to support the establishment of a coast-to-coast charging network for electric vehicles, natural gas stations along key freight corridors and stations for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in metropolitan centres. This investment also includes support for the demonstration of next-generation charging technologies, as well as the development of binational ( and ) codes and standards for low-carbon vehicles and infrastructure. Through the Investing in Canada infrastructure plan, the Government of Canada is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes and Canada's rural and northern communities. Quotes

"Investments in green infrastructure will make it easier for Canadians to travel in a faster and cleaner way. By working with Hydro-Quebec, the Government is building the largest electric circuit in Canada to make sure Canadians can access clean and affordable solutions. Getting more electric vehicles on our roads will reduce pollution and create good, middle-class jobs." Catherine McKenna

Minister of Environment and Climate Change "With the support of our private, institutional and governmental partners, we can deploy an increasing number of chargers for electric vehicle drivers. The electrification of transportation in Quebec benefits everyone: individuals, since using electricity for driving is five times cheaper than using gas and, collectively, since we are using clean and renewable energy to drive where we need to go." Eric Martel

Chief executive officer, Hydro-Quebec Related Links EVAFIDI Successful Applicants

Go Green With Electric Vehicles

Electric Charging and Alternative Fuelling Stations Locator

Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Demonstrations

Investing in Canada Plan Project Map Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.news.gc.ca. SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

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[January 23, 2019] Beach Front Property Management Offers Rent, Food and Utilities Aid to Federal Employee Residents in Southern California Affected by the Shutdown

Beach Front Property Management, Inc. ("Beach Front"), a premier third-party property management service provider, sent letters today to more than 7,100 residents throughout Los Angeles, Orange (News - Alert) , and San Diego counties to provide support to those residents who are federal employees affected by the ongoing government shutdown. In the letter, the company offered its help by allowing federal workers to forego February rent until 14 days after the shutdown is concluded. In addition, Beach Front offered up to $500 in interest-free loans to these residents to help them pay for food and utilities during the shutdown. The loans will be due with the back rent. "We wanted to do something for these workers who are facing hardships through no fault of their own," stated Kyle Kazan, Beach Front founder and CEO. "We know there are at least a dozen affected employees among our units, and maybe many others, who will benefit from our offer. It seems small enough given the many services our federal employees provide all of us every day." About Beach Front Property Management, Inc. Beach Front Property Management, Inc. was founded in 1999 to provide quality third party, property management services. The company manages more than 7,100 units in apartment communities and commercial buildings, primarily in Southern California Every client is assigne a regional property supervisor to provide a superior level of personalized service. Beach Front believes that complete dedication to residents creates longevity and stable communities. For more information, please visit BeachFrontPropertyManagement.com.



# # # [Note to editors: Following is the letter sent to residents today]

January 23, 2019 Dear Valued Resident: We hope you are having a good start to the New Year, and we take this opportunity to wish each of you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2019. Unfortunately, we are all too aware that some of you are having a very challenging 2019. If you are one of the 800,000 federal employees facing another month without pay due to the government shutdown, then you are probably wondering how to pay your expenses and support your families. Beach Front Property Management, Inc., which manages your building, wants to help. If you are a federal employee and cannot afford to pay your upcoming February rent due to the shutdown, we will allow you to forego this payment until you receive your back pay. At that time, any unpaid rent will be due, but with all late fees waived as long as the rent is paid in full within 14 days of the government reopening. All you need to do is email or call your local manager and provide enough employment information to confirm you are a valid federal employee whose pay is being withheld. If you also need support with payment of food and/or utilities, please advise your local manager. We are prepared to advance you up to $500 in an interest-free loan to cover those expenses. Like the back rent, that amount will be due in full within 14 days of the government reopening. We hope this consideration provides some meaningful service to those residents in our over 7,100 units who are indisposed due to the shutdown. We appreciate the work you do for all of us. Yours truly,



Kyle Kazan

Chief Executive Officer

Beach Front Property Management, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005859/en/

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January 21, 2019





Online branding has got very much prevalent in the past few days. Most of the entrepreneur today choose online brand marketing today; to enhance their scope for finding up better and improved audience to their business. SEO serves as one of the significant aspects of every online marketing strategies that decide the future of your website or blog as per having traffic towards it. Having a good SEO for your site means a lot. It merely depicts the situation where you are having a considerably better audience and more potential customers to your website or blog. One can easily earn a fair amount of income just by being a part of online brand marketing for SEO services and campaigns.







Websites like https://www.webmarketing 123.com is undoubtedly an excellent platform to get started with the online branding business. With the involvement of more and more search engines in the market; the number of online channels also has risen to a great extent. It is purely competition there and to get out of it as a winner; one should have to play upon strategically here. You should include integrating different aspects here to drive more visitors to your website or blog.

Why choose brand marketing for SEO campaigns and services?

Having a whole SEO campaign or services is very much an important aspect of every business to secure and maintain it for a longer run. Before going further with the topic; it is very much important for everyone to know why online brand marketing for SEO campaigns and services is so much necessary to have so that you can better understand the basics related to it.

 It helps in increasing the lead generation.

 It enables to build and maintain the trust of customers over the brand.

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 Search engines favor the brands having a higher rank on search results.

What are the key points behind successful online brand marketing for SEO campaigns and services?

As we have mentioned you earlier as well that the success of every online branding strategy is not only based on single-handedly; but it is a joint venture of various things that you need to integrate accordingly and correctly. Some of the significant critical aspects of making your SEO campaign successful are:

 Brand awareness: - Brand awareness is one of the essential elements of every online brand marketing strategy. You have to earn and retain the trust and credibility of millions of people to add some loyal customers to your basket. You can send brand signals for this that will enable you to bring more visitors to your website.

 Web design and identity: - Work on the map and character of your website as it will help in improving the visibility of your brand on various search engines. Dont forget to test your sites design, logo and copywriting approach before launching your website into the market as it will help you in providing your brand a unique identity and well save you from getting indulged into unwanted situations as well.

 Page optimization: - Try to optimize your page titles as per your brand name. Highly searched keywords help bloggers in ranking up their websites on search engines; so do proper research and have the best one.

 Go through feedback: - Dont forget to take the input from your customers so that if you have some negatives points; you could work on them.

 Social media platform leverage: - Work for improving the number of visitors, followers, and likes to your website on different social media platforms. People trust easily what other people spoke, so if you have some positive reviews; it will work for you in a significant way.

 Trust building: - Work on the quality of the products or services you are providing to the customers to make them even better and hence ultimately to seal up the trust of customers to your website.

 Track your website and work on marketing: - Dont forget to track your site as it will help you in finding out the different details of it. You have to identify the unique selling points here and need to focus on the marketing skills and techniques used.

 Create links: - Try to create referral links and backlinks for your website to improve the traffic towards it.
The High-Tech, brand new Crisis' management Center (CMC) inaugurated Wednesday by French Minister Bernard Kouchner, fits well EU's Humanitarian and Security-Defence aims, revealed a gathering of the largest Group of MEPs (EPP) organised in Paris these days, to prepare the debate on French EU Presidency's priorities (July - December 2008), that President Nicolas Sarkozy will present next week in EU Parliament in Strasbourg.



Due to face a large spectrum of Crises : from Humanitarian (f.ex. Natural Catastrophes, evacuation of Civilians or rapatriation of expats, populations exposed to Hunger and/or risky Sanitary conditions, etc), to various consequencies of Terrorist threats, Armed conflicts, or of Peace-keeping operations, etc, and joining Geopolitics with Diplomacy, CMC is able to deal with urgencies in real time anywhere in the world, by concentrating qualified Experts and impressive High-Tech equipment (i.e. Giant Computer Screens working in parallel, Visio-conferences, Satellite connections, etc).



Kouchner stressed that "Humanitarian and Political considerations can co-exist in real practice, if each one respects its independence", and, speaking to EuroFora, underlined his intention to have special representatives in "Strategic" locations, creating a "Network", open particularly to European cooperation.







- "We must fill the gap in Europe's Civilian and Military capacities", declared earlier at Matignon, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, while EU Commissioners met with their counterparts among French Ministers.



This point was at the focus of European People Party's "'Study Days" in Paris, from 2 to 4 July 2008, entitled : "For a Safer Europe", with a central Debate on EU's Security and Defence policies, where EU Parliament's President, German MEP Hans Gert Poettering, French Minister of Defence Herve Morin, and the Chairman of EU's Defence Committee, MEP Karl von Vogaw, spoke before meeting with Sarkozy, Wednesday afternoon.



- "We need specifically European systems, including, f.ex. Satellite networks, etc", stressed the experienced Chairman Karl von Vogaw, speaking after the meeting with President Sarkozy to European Journalists from EuroNews, EuroPolitique and EuroFora.

- And there where "European forces are already gathered, (f.ex. in Cyprus, Balkans, Lebanon, etc), if new operations started, I'd prefer to see them under European command in Future", he added, in reply to questions on how to overcome problems raised by a 3rd Countries as Turkey.



Vogaw presented earlier, at EPP's plenary, a comprehensive Report on EU's Security and Defence policy, with a strong High-Tech component (including Satellites, UAV, protected Telecoms, Strategic Air and Sea Transports, Space assets, etc), sharp references to Political will and Historic necessities, while also stressing that EU must overcome the divide between Civilian and Military research and activities, making "a close cooperation between Civilian and Military means" a "specific" mark of Europe.



The experienced Top MEP, after helping to build the "EuroZone", as a long-time Chairman of EU Parliament's Economic Committee, has recently started to chair a brand new "Security and Defence Committee", aiming to build European Defence, as the 2nd task of his life, as he told earlier to EuroFora.







The Committee, chaired by Vogaw, will hear, next week in Strasbourg an Experts' view about on the French EU Chairmanship's priorities in ESDP on Wednesday, before President Sarkozy's plenary debate, exceptionally on Thursday.


ALBANY  After a decade of trying but hitting Republican resistance, Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday passed a state DREAM Act that will allow undocumented students, many of whom were brought to the U.S. as children, to be eligible for state scholarships such as the Tuition Assistance Program or TAP.

Today we will pass the DREAM Act for the ninth and final time, Assembly Democratic Majority Speaker Carl Heastie said during a press conference prior to the vote. He was referring to approval for the bill in past years in the Democratic-led Assembly that was never matched in the Republican majority in the Senate.

Even though the Republicans blocked the bill, we persisted, said the bills Assembly sponsor, Manhattan Democrat Carmen De La Rosa.

That changed in November when Democrats took control of the Senate.

Passage of the bill, which could impact an estimated 6,000 undocumented immigrant students statewide, is one of a number of progressive measures that, enabled by a new Senate Democratic majority, have passed since the start of the legislative session earlier in January.

It follows Tuesday's passage of a long-debated codification of abortion rights. Like the abortion issue, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he supports a DREAM Act.

This has been a long, hard road, Steve Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, said prior to the act's passage.

Theyve known no other country as their own, said Bronx Democratic Senator Luis Sepulveda, who sponsored the measure in his chamber. He was referring to Dreamers, the term given to young immigrant students who, while undocumented, may have spent much or most of their lives in the U.S.

Many of us dont even remember the country in which we were born, added Queens lawyer and Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, who came to the U.S. from Colombia at age nine. She was an undocumented Dreamer who eventually became a citizen after getting married.

Dreamers who were in attendance said they hoped the ability to get tuition assistance would help them get through college.

More for you News New York's immigrant lawmakers make their mark

Back in my country there were no opportunities to get a job, said Richard Salinas, an 18-year-old high school senior in Queens, whose family brought him to New York in 2014. He taught himself English with the help of relatives and with videos and is hoping to attend one of New York Citys community colleges next fall to study psychology and education.

In addition to allowing for tuition assistance, the bill would open up tax privileged college savings plans, also known as 529 plans, to undocumented immigrants. Much of the new law would be phased in starting in 2020.

For years, the DREAM Act was blocked in the Senate where Republicans, representing largely suburban or rural districts, said many of their constituents opposed using limited state resources when they themselves were struggling to put their kids through school. The cost of the DREAM Act is estimated at $27 million annually.

Those arguments were repeated Wednesday by Senate Republicans who, even though they were out numbered, continued to oppose the bill.

"Most of them say they are struggling to pay their own student debt," Binghamton-area Republican Fred Akshar said of his constituents, who he added are overwhelmingly opposed to a DREAM Act.

More Information Other Wednesday legislative actions

?-? Teacher evaluations: Lawmakers in both houses passed a bill that halts the mandatory use of student test scores on standardized state-issued tests as factors in teacher evaluations. These scores, from grade 3-8 English and math tests, can be used in evaluations but they don't have to be. That bill was a priority of the politically powerful state teachers' union, New York State United Teachers, which has long opposed using test scores to evaluate its members.

?-? Tax cap: The Senate passed a bill to make permanent the state's two percent cap on property and school tax increases. That measure has received support from Cuomo, but the Assembly hasn't yet committed to it. See More Collapse

The debate in both the Senate and Assembly grew unusually cantankerous at times.

In the Senate, Long Island Republican Ken Lavalle, who joined others in the GOP opposing the measure, told freshman Manhattan Democrat Robert Jackson that "You're going to have to give the people of the 31st District tin cups. There's not much money for SUNY and CUNY."

While LaValle appeared to be decrying what he believed was inadequate SUNY and CUNY funding in the governor's budget plan, Jackson later responded saying, "You insulted me by what you said."

And during a protracted debate in the Assembly, a number of opposing Republicans fired off requests that Brooklyn Democrat Nick Perry, himself a Jamaican immigrant, "yield the floor" while he expounded on immigration and the concept of walls. It was one of several references during the day to President Donald Trump and his demand for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Opponents also noted that Dreamers are, technically, in the U.S. illegally due to their non-citizen or undocumented status.

The DREAM Act is a $27 million giveaway to the children of illegal immigrants, said Saratoga County Republican Daphne Jordan.

Supporters, though, said the bill was in keeping with the American tradition of helping newcomers.

We are a nation, a state that is built upon the whole concept of immigration, said Bronx/Manhattan Democratic Sen. Jose Serrano. It is not a handout. It is an opportunity to be part of a level playing field, he said of the plan.

College officials generally welcome the idea of a DREAM Act since it would help more students and prospective students pay for school.

New Yorks private colleges wholeheartedly support the DREAM Act so that those undocumented students have the opportunity to pursue higher education at the college or university that represents their best fit, said Emily Morgese, spokeswoman for the state Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.

Unlocking New Yorks student aid programs for these students is key to ensuring they have the same opportunities as all New Yorkers to pursue their college dreams, she added, noting that, according to Assembly figures, an average of 4,500 undocumented students graduate from high school in New York each year.

Neither private schools nor the State University of New York collect numbers on how many undocumented students may currently be enrolled in their schools. But SUNY has more than 21,000 students on visas throughout the state system.

The Dreamer bill was formally known as the Jose Peralta DREAM Act. Peralta was a Queens Democratic assemblyman and then senator. A first-generation Dominican-American, Peralta was a longtime champion of the measure and he was a member of the now-defunct Independent Democratic Conference.

He was ousted in a September primary after the political tide turned against the IDC, which had been blamed for helping Republicans keep their Senate majority. Peralta then died suddenly, at age 47, of septic shock in November.

Peraltas widow, Evelyn, and two sons were present at Wednesdays vote and she spoke to supporters in the Assembly parlor prior to their vote. The DREAM Act was a labor of love for my husband, she said. The spirit of my husband is alive in this room today.

rkarlin@timesunion.com  518-454-5758  @RickKarlin
NISKAYUNA  The Town Board unanimously passed a resolution challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed funding cuts to Niskayuna at Tuesday's Town Board meeting.

Cuomo's $176 billion budget proposed to cut more than $60 million in Aid to Municipalities (AIM) funding. Niskayuna would stand to lose $101,675. If the governor's budget is passed, the town would have to raise taxes 1.25 percent to keep up with spending budgeted for the fiscal year starting April 1.

"It's imperative that we pressure our state legislators to do the right thing and that they're really going to advocate on behalf of the towns to have this funding reinstated," Syed said on Tuesday.

In a Friday press release, she explained that state AIM funding, which has remained flat since 2011, helps local governments lower property taxes and provide vital local services such as law enforcement and public safety and to maintain local infrastructure including roads and bridges.

Board Member John Della Ratta added on Tuesday that not only Niskayuna, but many other towns and villages are feeling this pinch.

Town Board member Denise Murphy McGraw, who introduced the resolution, said the governor's budget was forward-looking and she believed a resolution could be reached.

"I'm hopeful that when he negotiates with legislative leaders, we can get to where we need to be on the AIM program," McGraw said.

Town Board member Lisa Weber agreed she's feeling positive.

"I'm optimistic this funding will be restored and I'm sure towns throughout the state are going to be advocating for the same thing," she said.

The Niskayuna Town Clerk will send copies of the resolution to Cuomo, New York State Senator James Tedisco, New York State Assemblyman Phil Steck and New York State Division of the Budget Director Robert Mujica.
ALBANY - Residents were warned about parking restrictions for snow emergencies. It was tweeted and texted out, put on local officials' and police departments' Facebook pages, signs were posted along streets and officers even walked through neighborhoods to remind people.

But still, not everyone got the message.

Nearly 200 cars were towed in Albany County as a result of people not abiding by local parking restrictions during area snow emergencies put into effect after last weekend's snowstorm.

"We broadcast it, post videos on Facebook and try to get it out there," Watervliet Police Chief Mark Spain said Tuesday. "But still some people just don't get it."

Most of the cars towed were in the city of Albany, where about 145 had been removed as of Tuesday afternoon, most of them having been towed before 6:30 a.m., Albany police spokesman Officer Steven Smith said.

"Our goal is not to have vehicles towed," Smith said. "Our goal is to get the streets cleared."

Besides plastering the parking restriction across social media and sending automated texts, Smith said shortly before the snow emergency began the police department also had cruisers go around neighborhoods with their sirens on and announcing the parking ban over their speaker systems.

Some officers even went door to door to ask more than 100 residents to move their cars, Smith said.

Albany's snow emergency began at 8 p.m. Monday night with cars only allowed to park on the even numbered side of the street. On Tuesday at 8 p.m., everyone will need to move to the odd side of the street. The snow emergency is set to conclude Wednesday at 8 p.m.

In the city of Watervliet 15 cars were towed, Spain said.

As of Tuesday afternoon Spain said they were about half way done with the snow clearing process. He said he had hoped they would have been further along but unfortunately each time they tow a car it adds on an additional 15 to 20 minutes to the process.

The Watervliet snow emergency began Tuesday at 7 a.m. Residents can check for updates on where they can and can not park on the police department's Facebook page or twitter feed.

In Green Island 18 cars were towed, Sean Ward the executive assistant to the village's mayor said.

Not all Albany County cities and towns declared snow emergencies, including Cohoes.

In order to stay up to date on snow emergencies, police departments not only suggest that residents follow their social media accounts but also that they sign up for Nixle, which sends snow emergency notifications directly to a subscriber's phone. To sign up for Nixle, go online to www.nixle.com or texting your city's or town's ZIP code to 518-888-777.
ALBANY  A bill to ban the mandatory use of state tests in teacher evaluations is set to pass in the Legislature this week, but that doesnt mean the end of questions over testing, specifically how many exams that K-12 students have to take in a year.

I do have concerns about the bill, freshman Manhattan Democratic Sen. Robert Jackson said Tuesday during a meeting of the Senate Education Committee. As their first action of 2019, committee members voted unanimously to move forward on a teacher testing bill that floundered at the end of the 2018 session in June.
ALBANY  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has lost its court battle to challenge a state regulation that church officials said contained a hidden "mandate" to cover abortions.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard McNally cited case law in his decision to dismiss the diocese's effort to challenge the regulation by the state Department of Financial Services.

The diocese, joined by other Catholic Church-related entities, argued the regulation contained an "abortion mandate" that put the church in a moral dilemma forcing it to provide coverage for abortion, which the church says is directly in conflict with its teachings.

Church officials brought the case against the department, its acting superintendent, Maria Vullo and insurers, including Capital District Physicians (CDPHP) entities, MVP Health Care, Excellus Health Plan and Independent Health Association.

The church argued the regulation "surreptitiously mandated coverage for abortion under the service category of 'medically necessary' surgery," stated the judge's Dec. 28 decision.

"This was not disclosed to plaintiffs, who now claim they have unwittingly providing for the funding of objectionable coverage by the payment of premiums and co-pays," McNally added.

Under state insurance law, abortion and abortion-related services must be covered. State law prohibits health insurance policies from limiting or excluding coverage based on the type of illness, accident, treatment of medical condition, the judge said.

McNally said none of the exceptions to the law apply to medically necessary abortions. As a result, he noted, insurance policies that provide hospital, surgical, or medical expense coverage must include coverage for abortions that are medically necessary.

In addition, the judge noted "insurance policies that provide hospital, surgical, or medical expense coverage delivered or issued for delivery in this state shall not exclude coverage for medically necessary abortions."

In his decision, McNally highlighted a 2006 Court of Appeals decision that upheld the Women's Health and Wellness Act of 2002, which required insurers to cover cost of doctor-prescribed contraception. In that case, plaintiffs challenging the law included Catholic Charities of the Albany Diocese, who wanted to win a temporary injunction to stop the law.

"(Church officials) believe contraceptives and abortion to be a moral 'evil' and the legal mandate compelling coverage for the same a violation of their core religious beliefs causing a deprivation of rights," McNally wrote. "The court finds the constitutional claims challenged in this case to be (the) same as those raised in Catholic Charities. Given that the Court of Appeal's addressed and rejected the same arguments, Catholic Charities is binding precedent requiring dismissal of plaintiffs constitutional claims in this matter."

The judge also denied the diocese's request for an injunction to stop the regulation.

The diocese will file an appeal "due to the critical constitutional and statutory issues surrounding the abortion mandate," said communications director Mary DeTurris Poust.
A quickly escalating measles outbreak around Portland, Oregon, has led health officials in nearby Clark County, Washington, to declare a public health emergency as they warn that people infected with the highly contagious virus since the beginning of the year have visited schools and churches, a dentist's office, an Amazon locker pickup station, a Costco, and an Ikea.

Someone with measles was at Concourse D of the Portland International Airport on Jan. 7, the county's public health department advised. An infected person attended a Portland Trail Blazers home game on Jan. 11.

At the beginning of last week, there were only a handful of confirmed cases. On Friday, the day the emergency was declared, there were 19. By Sunday, that number had grown to 21. The latest update came Tuesday, when county officials said they had confirmed 23 cases and were investigating two more suspected cases. The vast majority of those who have fallen ill had not been immunized.

The outbreak makes concrete the fears of pediatric epidemiologists that a citadel of the movement against compulsory vaccination could be susceptible to the rapid spread of a potentially deadly disease.

"It's alarming," Douglas J. Opel, a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital, said in an interview with The Washington Post. "Any time we have an outbreak of a disease that we have a safe and effective vaccine against, it should raise a red flag."

State data shows that 7.9 percent of children in Clark County were exempted in the 2017-18 school year from vaccines required for kindergarten entry, which includes the two-dose course for measles that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is 97 percent effective. Only 1.2 percent of the children had a medical dispensation, meaning that nearly 7 percent were not immunized for personal or religious reasons. Nationally, about 2 percent of children went without required immunization for nonmedical reasons.

The high rate of nonmedical exemption for vaccines is what makes the Portland area, which sits across the Columbia River from Clark County, a "hot spot" for outbreaks, according to Peter J. Hotez, a professor of pediatrics and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

"This is something I've predicted for a while now," he said of the public health emergency in Clark County. "It's really awful and really tragic and totally preventable."

Of the confirmed cases, 18 patients are between the ages of 1 to 10 years old. Twenty of the people who have fallen ill had not been immunized against measles, while the vaccination history of the other three remained unverified. One person has been hospitalized.

Experts advised that the outbreak could still be in its infancy. The incubation period of the virus averages two weeks, and it can be spread four days before a rash makes its onset obvious.

Because measles is among the most highly contagious of all infectious diseases, it is bound to spring up in areas with low vaccination rates, Hotez said. He tracked this effect in a paper last year in the Public Library of Science, linking the number of philosophical exemptions, which has grown since 2009 in 12 of the 18 states that allow them, to increasing outbreaks.

The problem is especially pronounced, the paper found, in more than a dozen "hotspot metropolitan areas," including Portland and Seattle in the Northwest, Phoenix in the Southwest and Pittsburgh in the Northeast.

Public health experts are sounding alarms about the geographical clustering of people who refuse to immunize themselves, which creates vulnerabilities despite the overall high rate of vaccination. Last November, Asheville, North Carolina, another stronghold of the anti-vaccination movement, succumbed to the state's worst chickenpox outbreak since a vaccine for the infection became available more than two decades ago.

"Portland is a total train wreck when it comes to vaccine rates," Hotez said in an interview with The Post.

Opposition to compulsory vaccination in the Pacific Northwest dates to the Progressive Era and continues despite major medical breakthroughs. The modern anti-vaccination movement - built on debunked research published in 1998 that linked the vaccine for measles mumps and rubella, known as the MMR vaccine, to autism - is not exclusive to one side of the political divide, survey data suggests; it tends to find its most fervent supporters at both extremes.

Measles is a dire price to pray for leniency about vaccination, Hotez cautioned, calling the illness "one of the most serious infectious diseases known to humankind." After smallpox was eradicated in 1980, measles became the leading killer of children globally, he said.

Public health officials declared measles eliminated in 2000 because more than a year had gone by without continuous transmission of the disease. But a series of outbreaks in recent years is evidence of dangerous backsliding in containment of the virus, Hotez said, blaming the anti-vaccination movement. "This is a self-inflicted wound," he said.

In 2015, a woman in northwestern Washington died of pneumonia after contracting measles. It was the first U.S. death from the virus since 2003.

Last year saw the second highest number of reported cases of measles since 2000, according to the CDC. A total of 349 cases were confirmed across 26 states and the District of Columbia, only surpassed by the 667 cases in 2014. Orthodox Jewish communities were at the center of a series of outbreaks last year in New York and New Jersey, after unvaccinated travelers brought the virus back from Israel, which was battling an outbreak. The year before, Minnesota reported 75 cases of measles, mostly in a Somali community where the discredited theory blaming autism on the MMR vaccine had taken hold.

Because measles is still endemic in parts of the world, said Opel, "periodic introduction by people traveling is what's causing frequent outbreaks here."

Because the virus is so contagious, he added, a high level of protection is required to prevent spread - somewhere between 92 and 94 percent of the population immunized. Clark County is already below that level, he observed, "before you factor in other things like people just missing their appointments."

The county's health department emphasized how easily the virus can spread, remaining for as long as two hours in the air of a room where an infected person has been.

"If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch a contaminated surface, then touch their eyes, noses or mouths, they can become infected," the county warned in a news release Tuesday. "Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected."

While the illness often begins with cold-like symptoms and a rash, doctors emphasized that many infected people suffer from additional complications, including pneumonia and, in more serious cases, inflammation of the brain known as encephalitis and even seizures.

"It's not a benign illness," Opel said.
Albany

After he returned from some of the deadliest fighting of the Iraq War in the surge to retake Fallujah in 2004, Jay was tormented by nightmares and struggled to sleep.

The U.S. Marine Corps veteran kept a loaded gun on the bed beside him.

He was 23 years old and psychologically broken. He knew Marines who had died in combat, and others who died by suicide after they got home. He tried to numb the pain with booze and drugs.

"I spent a lot of time alone in the bottle," said Jay, who is 35 now and lives in Saratoga County. He asked that his full name not be used.

On Jay's first mission in Iraq as they prepared to land at an airfield near Fallujah, the LC-130 flight mechanic watched in terror as tracers from anti-aircraft guns sliced the air around him. He thought he was going to die. A seasoned pilot's evasive maneuvers narrowly saved the plane, and the crew's lives.

It was Jay's first traumatic experience of war, and it seared itself into his memory. Those few moments haunted him for years. He deteriorated mentally, but denied having what was later diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder.

After nearly sliding into homelessness, he wound up as an outpatient of the Veterans Administration. He was prescribed anti-depressant drugs and standard cognitive behavioral therapy. Neither provided much relief.

"I would leave the VA treatment session feeling worse than when I went in," he said.

While working for the Albany Housing Coalition, which provides housing and employment services to homeless veterans, Jay agreed to participate in a clinical trial. A new PTSD protocol promised a 90 percent success rate without drugs and only a few hours of therapy.

Jay was skeptical and so was his boss, Joe Sluszka, executive director of the Coalition, which serves more than 400 veterans  whose combat service ranges from Vietnam to Afghanistan  each year.

"I was a doubter at first," Sluszka said.

"I thought Joe was crazy when he told me about it," Jay said. "But I figured I couldn't get screwed up any more than I already was, so I might as well try it."

During the sessions, Jay sat across from a counselor trained in the new PTSD treatment technique, known as Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memory, or RTM.

More Information Contact Paul Grondahl at grondahlpaul@gmail.com See More Collapse

The counselor guided Jay through 90-minute sessions that asked him to imagine the traumatic memory of nearly being shot out of the air as a movie projected on a large theater screen. The counselor guided Jay in playing the movie in his mind very slowly and then gradually faster and faster, dozens of times in succession. The counselor had Jay imagine he was watching the movie being played backward, and then in black and white.

For Jay, it worked better than the drugs or other treatments.

"It worked even better as time went on," said Jay, whose nightmares have stopped and who now sleeps peacefully. He and his wife have a 7-year-old son and he works in adolescent services.

Jay recruited other vets in the Albany area for the clinical trial.

"I've been in this field for 15 years, and it's the most effective PTSD treatment I've seen based on what the veterans tell me," Sluszka said. "It gave these guys their lives back."

According to the National Institutes of Health, PTSD affects 7.7 million adult Americans. Combat veterans suffer especially high rates of the condition, with up to 30 percent of Vietnam War veterans and 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans experiencing it. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans are disabled by PTSD and an estimated 22 veterans a day  8,000 per year  die by suicide.

PTSD's symptoms of insomnia, irritability and withdrawal also stem from a wide range of traumatic incidents such as being held captive, car accidents, bombings and natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.

In 2006, Frank Bourke, a retired clinical psychologist based in Corning, Steuben County, founded The Research and Recognition Project. He treated about 250 survivors of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and refined the technique. His not-for-profit organization has developed, revised and clinically tested the innovative RTM protocol. It promises a drug-free, cost-effective and highly successful treatment for PTSD in veterans. It can also be used to help first responders, victims of sexual assault or child abuse, and others debilitated by traumatic memories.

"I know I sound like a snake oil salesman," conceded Bourke, now 75. "I take vets who have been suffering from the same terrible nightmare for more than 40 years and I say we can fix it within a few hours and without drugs. Our clinical trials prove we've got a cure that works over 90 percent of the time."

Bourke explained that traumatic memories are stored in the hippocampus, a part of the brain associated with memory, which does not allow any changes. The memory becomes fixed, with vivid and specific images similar to a movie. The RTM protocol is a sort of neurological interdiction that uses talk therapy. With a trained counselor, the neurological connection between the memory in the hippocampus and the emotional reaction place in the brain is severed.

"It changes the movie," Bourke said. "It does not change what the person with PTSD thinks or does, (but) it neurologically flips a switch and separates that traumatic memory from having the associated experience of nightmares, flashbacks or terror."

Bourke, who calls his treatment "the biggest advance in the treatment of PTSD in the last 50 years," has published his data in the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health. Before-and-after EEG scans of patients' brains following therapy showed noticeable differences in brain activity. With a $300,000 grant from New York, 25 of 26 veterans treated in the Albany area had their PTSD symptoms alleviated after five sessions.

Bourke is seeking an additional $2 million in state funding, and wants to discuss the project with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. His goal is to train 10,000 counselors across New York state to become proficient in administering the new PTSD protocol. With the support of veterans' groups, Bourke and his team have trained more than 75 counselors in the past year in San Diego, Calif., Albuquerque, N.M., Orlando, Fla., and Albany. They have treated about 400 veterans so far.

B.J. Costello, an Albany attorney and Vietnam War Navy veteran with his own traumatic memories  his gasoline tanker was attacked and fellow sailors were killed during the 1968 Tet Offensive  is offering pro bono legal work for Bourke.

"I was very lucky I did not suffer, but PTSD destroyed some of my sailors," Costello said. "I want to make this treatment more widely available. It can help a lot of people."

Paul Grondahl is the director of the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany and a former Times Union reporter. He can be reached at grondahlpaul@gmail.com.
NEW HAVEN  A new billboard put up by the app company Weedmaps on Interstate 91 is announcing that weed is legal 60 miles away.

The message likely refers to the recent opening of the New England Treatment Access adult-use cannabis sales store in Northampton, Mass.  about an hours drive from the New Haven area.

Marijuana can be purchased there for recreational and medical use, in accordance with Massachusetts state law. Connecticut State Police have reminded residents here that recreational pot is still illegal in Connecticut and cant be brought across the border.

Weedmaps provides users with locations of doctors and dispensaries that prescribe or sell medical marijuana and promotes cannabis use through billboards in states where its legal.

The outfit has taken heat for billboards posted in Arizona encouraging marijuana use and referring to Colorado and Washington where recreational marijuana us is legal, according to the Phoenix New Times.

North Haven Deputy Chief Kevin Glenn declined to comment on the billboard. But he did said that state laws will be enforced. "It's still illegal here," Glen said of marijuana for recreational use. "We will enforce the laws and state statues. Driving while under the influence is something that we will definitely enforce."

Police in Torrington already have cautioned residents that heading to a newly opened retail marijuana store in Great Barrington, Mass., just 13 miles from the Connecticut border, is probably not a good idea.

The dispensary is just 35 miles from the city, said Torrington Police Chief William Baldwin, who is worried about area residents who head over the border to buy pot.

They could smoke it where its legal and be under the influence when they come back (to Connecticut), he has said. It could cause accidents.

It will come through our state and through our communities, Baldwin said.

Winchester police Sgt. Kevin Kinahan has said no special patrols have been planned in this first week of the retail store opening in Great Barrington, but, If they decide to transport marijuana (into the state) and they get caught, we will cite them.

However, Kinahan noted, We cant do a road block or checkpoints for cars coming into the state.

That would create a legal problem if we stopped cars heading from Massachusetts to Connecticut, he said.

We cant legally track people, Kinahan said. We will be diligent in enforcing marijuana laws.

Connecticut State Police also said troopers would enforce the laws the same way we always have.

Department spokesman Trooper Josue J. Dorelus said in a statement that officers have to be aware of the changes in laws taking place in surrounding states so that we may better anticipate how these changes may affect our own state.

Leslie Hutchison and Jim Shay contributed to this story.
Seattle

It was a lot worse than I thought.

A food writer's pantry ought to be an orderly place, neat and tidy and carefully "curated." Watching Marie Kondo's hit Netflix series "Tidying Up," I realized this just might be a bit of a problem for me. But the show felt more fascinating (other people have mountains of stuff!) and soothing (Kondo's endlessly calm, utterly joyful manner in the face of other people's mountains of stuff!) than inspiring.

Until the last episode, that is, when Kondo declared in the course of a kitchen purging that anything past the expiration date should be thrown out. I could pretty much hear Seattle food-waste expert Jill Lightner's head exploding. What if we Kondo'd my kitchen together, also deploying Lightner's encyclopedic knowledge of what's really still all right to eat  or donate to a food bank? (And what about composting?!)

My two cupboards  big and deep ones, pretty much unculled for, oh, 10 years  turned out to be a clown car of neglected canned goods, the world's largest private collection of balsamic vinegar and a lot of pasta. So. Much. Pasta.

So, on a recent afternoon, in accordance with Kondo's organizational method, Lightner and I disgorged the contents of the larder onto the kitchen counter for sorting. Kondo would've been clapping her hands with glee ("I love mess!"). The cupboards had been cluttered, sure, but functional  everything had its place, which Lightner forgivingly termed "like a personalized Dewey Decimal System." But, then, this can of corn: How did it even get here? Nothing against canned corn, but it's not something we use. It definitely did not "spark joy," per Kondo's keep-it-or-toss-it litmus test.

But what truly doesn't spark joy for Lightner is the amount of food that our country squanders while some go hungry  an estimated $1,500-plus worth per household annually. It troubles her so much, she recently wrote a book about it: "Scraps, Peels, and Stems: Recipes and Tips for Rethinking Food Waste at Home." Kondo's dictate that anything past the expiration or best-by date should be tossed (after, of course, ceremonially thanking it) is anathema to her. "I have a grudge against date stamps," Lightner said before we got started, "because most of them are bulls---." Baby formula's the only food in the U.S. that's legally required to bear a date; the rest are not set in stone, but rather by manufacturers who want to sell more food.

But what, exactly, is safe to keep  or, if it's going to continue languishing unused, OK to donate to the food bank? Lightner  kind yet ruthless, funny and all-food-knowing  was here to help.

The amount of food was more than a little mortifying. But feeling overwhelmed, even slightly panicked, by the sheer volume of what you've accumulated is part of the Kondo process  witness the disbelieving faces of those on her Netflix series confronting the huge drifts of all their clothing piled together. "The good thing is," Lightner said reassuringly, "you're hoarding stuff that doesn't really go bad."

But I also had a special problem not reckoned with in the Kondo taxonomy. Her method involves confronting your stuff by category: clothing, books, etc. "Sentimental items" is its own classification, meant to be composed of photos and mementos, entirely separate from the kitchen. But here was an adorable tin of years-old syrup, brought back from our Canadian honeymoon and stuck away. A package of Durian Wafers ("Good Taste! Made from real Durian"), a gift from a friend who lived in Bangkok quite a while back. A bag of Gar Gar Fish Cracker, featuring a funny off-brand Garfield the cat, which we'd eaten a lot of on a now long-ago trip to Burma/Myanmar.

"Having a chocolate grand piano is amazing," Lightner said as we contemplated a miniature one in a plastic box. It came from a fancy restaurant I reviewed, um, quite some time ago. Who can bring themselves to eat a chocolate grand piano?

We ended up leaving the specific-to-me Sentimental Food category for my later wrestling.
A slew of geopolitical events over the last 12 months has meant the environment for investing has deteriorated notably since last year, a prominent name in U.K. finance told CNBC Monday.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Martin Gilbert, the co-CEO of British investment company Standard Life Aberdeen, gave the U.S.-China trade conflict and the Brexit impasse as two examples of how market sentiment has been impacted.

Since the last event in Davos, the U.S. has put tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods with Beijing responding with tariffs on $110 billion in U.S. goods  targeting politically important industries such as agriculture. Stock markets saw hefty falls at the end of 2018, accentuated by fears over the conflict and how it could affect global growth. Indeed, many indexes saw sharp corrections with some even entering official bear market territory.

"(There's) a lot of geopolitical risk between the U.S. and China  certainly we are in a worse place than we were a year ago," Gilbert told CNBC in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Brexit talks are reaching an end game with the U.K. closing in on its official departure date of March 29. But U.K. leader Theresa May's proposals have been overwhelmingly rejected by lawmakers, and the country is facing the prospect of leaving the EU without a formal agreement  something that business leaders and industry experts have been warning about since the negotiations began.

Gilbert warned that the global economy could face even more headwinds this year which could lead further fluctuations in the markets.

"Even though the economists say global growth will be OK next year, the stock markets are telling us something completely different," he said.

"They are usually a very good forward-looking indicator and they are saying there is a bit of trouble ahead," Gilbert noted.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) added to the gloom on Monday, revising down its estimates for global growth and warning that the expansion seen in recent years is losing momentum.

The Fund now projects a 3.5 percent growth rate worldwide for 2019 and 3.6 percent for 2020. These are 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points below its last forecasts in October  making it the second downturn revision in three months.

It mentioned weakness for German auto manufacturers due to new fuel emission standards, and soft domestic demand in Italy after recent sovereign and financial risks. But the IMF also highlighted weakening sentiment in the global financial markets and a contraction in Turkey that's now projected to be deeper than anticipated.

: CNBC
Fulton

A Georgia company is buying the largest corn ethanol refinery in the state and vowing that it one day will use the state's abundant forests, rather than food, to make the next generation of renewable energy.

Attis Industries is paying $20 million to fossil fuel giant Sunoco for a 90-acre facility near Fulton in Oswego County, according to the company on Tuesday.

Attis CEO Jeff Cosman said the company plans to invest up to $100 million over the next two years to transform the plant into a "first-of-its-kind, major renewable energy campus" that will explore how to gain energy, plastics and other products from wood wastes.

Attis has businesses in the healthcare, medical waste, and environmental technology sectors. This would be the company's first biorefinery.

Sunoco has been making corn ethanol in Fulton since acquiring and rebuilding the property, a former Miller brewery, in 2009. The plant now consumes about 22 million bushels of corn a year from as far away as Ohio to make about 85 million gallons of ethanol, which is later blended into gasoline.

Fulton is one of two corn ethanol refineries in the state; the other facility is owned by Western Energy New York and is located in Medina, Orleans County, where it produces about 60 million gallons a year.

Attis' purchase of the Fulton plant, which also includes a malt house used for the craft beverage industry, came about a week after the company announced that it was partnering with Danish-based Novozymes, the world's largest producer of industrial enzymes, to crack an alternative energy refining puzzle that has so far proved difficult  cellulosic biofuels.

Cellulosic biofuel uses plant wastes, unlike corn ethanol, which uses corn feed in the fermentation process to produce ethanol, which is then blended into gasoline. Cellulose forms the woody fiber of the plant and is difficult and costly to break down into the sugars needed for successful fermentation. Novozymes makes enzymes designed to break down the cellulose into sugars.

Chris Kennedy, vice president for Attis Innovations, said the company "absolutely" wants to start cellulosic ethanol production at the rebuilt Fulton refinery.

"Attis has a number of proprietary technologies that focus on converting forest waste and other woody biomass into cellulosic fuels and other bioproducts like carbon fiber and plastics," he said.

"New York State has over 18 million acres of forest lands that produce a wealth of sustainable feedstocks for Attis' planned non-corn biofuel production," Kennedy said. "State forest lands can produce 40 to 60 million tons of "new-growth" biomass annually and Attis needs less than 0.3 percent of this regenerating supply to supply one of its biorefineries."

U.S. production of cellulosic ethanol has lagged badly behind federal alternative fuel mandates that started in 2010.

That target under the Renewable Fuel Standard was for 100 million gallons to be blended into the national fuel supply in 2010, a half-billion gallons in 2012, one billion gallons in 2013, and 5.5 billion gallons by 2017.

However, production has proved difficult, and by 2017, only 10 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol were produced that year. The federal mandate for cellulosic ethanol keeps increasing and hits 16 billion gallons by 2022.

In announcing the partnership with Novozymes, Attis said the company's enzyme technology for "cellulosic biofuels production" had the "ability to ramp up production as needed in an effort to support Attis' ambitious growth plans."

Novoenzymes opened up a $200 million enzyme production plant in Nebraska in 2012, supported by a $28.4 million federal tax credit under an alternative energy expansion plan by the administration of former President Barack Obama.
CATSKILL  The Bank of Greene County is celebrating its 130th anniversary this week as its holding company, Greene County Bancorp, celebrated a double-digit increase in net income.

The bank holding company's net income for the six-month period ended Dec. 31 was $9 million, up from $7.1 million during the same period a year ago.
COLONIE  With the economy rolling along in its 118th month of expansion, what could possibly go wrong?

Quite a bit, actually.

"Trees don't grow to the sky," said Hugh Johnson, one of three economists who gathered at the Hearst Media Center on Wednesday for the Times Union's Leadership Luncheon.

"Recognize that this (expansion) is long in the tooth," he added. For investors, shifting toward defense "is not an irrational move."

Joining Johnson, the oft-quoted head of Albany-based investment firm Hugh Johnson Advisors, were Laura Schultz, senior analyst at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, and Kajal Lahiri, distinguished professor of economics at the University at Albany. Times Union Editor Rex Smith moderated the discussion on what's ahead for the economy in 2019.

Challenges to continued growth range from tariffs and a trade war with China to a federal government shutdown now entering its 34th day, plus uncertainty over how federal income tax changes will affect the nation's consumers.

"Things are going to slow down," said Johnson, who pointed to national economic growth slowing to roughly 2.5 percent this year from 2.9 percent in 2018. It will slow to 1.9 to 2.0 percent in 2020, according to consensus forecasts.

Lahiri said the federal shutdown is taking 0.1 percent out of those growth projections each week.

"Already, we have lost a half a percent," he said of the five-week old shutdown.

An extended shutdown, he added, could push the economy into negative growth.

Meanwhile, trade talks with China aren't going well, and some Democrats have expressed misgivings about the new trade agreement that the Trump administration reached with Canada and Mexico.

"That's a real stumbling block for agricultural firms" as uncertainty grows, said Schultz.

"Both China and Donald Trump have a great deal to lose if a trade deal doesn't go through," said Johnson. The president "wants to win the election in 2020 in the worst way."

The impact of tax changes may be more important to many consumers than the recent ups and downs in the stock markets  unless they're retiring in the near future, said Schultz.

"Consumers may be holding off purchases this quarter until they find out what the tax impact is going to be," she said.

"Take a look at the decline that occurred in consumer confidence in December," said Johnson. "It plummeted."

He said investors were reducing their "target for equities. They are concerned."

"They have good memories and they remember what happened in 2007 and 2008," during the Great Recession. "It is troubling to see that decline in confidence," Johnson added.

Panelists generally agreed that one issue that has little impact on the U.S. and upstate economies is Brexit, the 2016 vote by British citizens to leave the European Union.

One possible impact might be felt by companies pondering where to locate a factory: "Will you build a plant in Dresden (Germany), or Singapore, or Albany?" asked Schultz, in an apparent reference to GlobalFoundries, which has semiconductor plants in all three locations.

Johnson predicted that the United Kingdom likely will end up holding a second referendum on Brexit. Lahiri said that while Ireland "has much to gain, (Brexit) doesn't have an impact on the United States."

The Capital Region, meanwhile, remains a bright spot in the upstate economy that is "helped by the fact that we're one of the most educated regions in the country," said Schultz.

Johnson said labor-driven jobs "are gone for good," and that "many people will be disenfranchised."

"The economy is shifting ... to a knowledge-driven economy, and that's going to be with us for a long, long time," Johnson added.

And while the health care, education, government and technology sectors all play major roles locally and are relatively immune to economic cycles, Lahiri said that investments in education might be the most effective in two-year colleges and programs that equip students with job skills such as carpentry.

Job growth has slowed, said Johnson, due to sluggish population growth, although that's changing as more well-educated women return to the workforce.

As a result, "we're going to add more jobs in 2019 and 2020," Johnson said.

But Lahiri said he saw labor force growth leveling off, and that future growth in the Capital Region would have to come from nontraditional sources such as "people working past 65, and immigrants."

Climate change, the panelists agreed, will only grow as a threat to the global economy.

"New York state has attempted to take a lead in global change," said Schultz, citing its efforts to work with other states to support the Paris climate accords that the Trump administration has snubbed. "If enough states band together, we're effectively making federal policy."

"This is why you change governments," said Lahiri of the current administration's unwillingness to tackle climate change.

"Long-term, climate is at the top of the list" of risks, said Johnson. "I'm really happy to hear states are getting together to do something on the environment."
After being shuttered for weeks because of the federal government shutdown, local Farm Service Agency offices  which do things like help farmers sign up for federal programs, process loans or provide tax documents  will reopen temporarily Thursday.

More than 9,700 FSA employees will return to work full-time without pay until Feb. 8. Should the shutdown extend past then, the offices will remain open Tuesdays through Thursdays.

Farmers who sought to sign up for government programs like the market facilitation program, which offsets the impact of retaliatory tariffs, or the dairy margin protection program, had been unable to do so, according to David Fisher, president of the New York Farm Bureau.

Fisher spoke with reporters Wednesday morning to detail the Farm Bureau's 2019 legislative policy goals  though immediate focus was largely on the shutdown's impact on New York's agricultural industry.

"We have been working with (U.S. Agriculture Secretary) Sonny Perdue and the USDA to work on that and they have found a way to work through this process...and get offices open for a couple of weeks, so that will help," Fisher said.

According to the USDA, the value of New York's agricultural production in 2017, the most recent year with available numbers, was just over $5 billion. That's more than $1 billion below what it was five years ago.

Fisher called it a "testament to the lingering downturn that we've all heard about in the farm economy."

But the Bureau lauded a $5 million increase in the aid to localities budget for agriculture, bumping funding to over $29 million. The money will go toward research, and promoting and marketing programs for commodities like dairy, wine, maple, Christmas trees and others.

Gov. Cuomo's 2019 budget also allocates $300 million for the Environmental Protection Fund, which will provide money for farmers to deal with extreme weather conditions and improve soil health.

The Bureau is also pushing for an expansion of the Farm Workforce Retention Tax Credit, which helps farmers offset higher costs associated with the minimum wage hike that took effect at the start of the year.

Under the original law enacted in 2016, farmers receive a tax credit for every employee working for them. But the tax credit did not apply to farm employers like Christmas tree and maple operations, as well as wineries and cideries  which the Bureau is pushing to be included.

Another goal is to change an unemployment insurance law that requires farmers to pay unemployment for H-2A workers  or workers who sign a contract to work in the U.S., then return to their home country  because those workers are unable to collect the payment in another country.

Fisher and Jeff Williams, the Bureau's director of public policy, also addressed trade conditions in the state.

Fisher said that, while dairy prices can fluctuate along with the global market, he expects that an uptick in prices in the fall could mean some good news for the state's dairy farmers.

At the state level, Williams said there aren't many options to immediately improve the dairy market outside of reducing the cost burdens of running a farm in New York.

And while the U.S.-Mexico-Canada deal has not yet been approved by Congress  and thus hasn't affected the market  Williams said the stability of having a deal in place is important for the industry.

"Farms look for stability in the market. It's way, way better having the Mexico-Canada deal and the Farm Bill done so we know what our baseline is," Williams said. "It was a good signal to the industry that there is stability."

The Bureau described hemp, which was legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, as providing "another opportunity for people to diversify" their crops, according to Fisher.

Marijuana could also be legalized during the 2019 legislative session, and both Fisher and Williams said that, similar to hemp, marijuana could be another crop farmers could use to diversify.

The Farm Bureau is working to position New York farmers to be able to take advantage of the legalization of both hemp and cannabis, Williams said.
Malta

GlobalFoundries' Fab 8 computer chip factory in Malta is still hiring despite having gone through layoffs recently.

Fab 8 employs roughly 3,000 people after laying off 424 employees back in November when it decided to stop developing next-generation chip manufacturing, 7 nanometer chips that are a step ahead of the current 14 nanometer chip architecture.

GlobalFoundries also cut an additional 31 research and development jobs the company had at SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

Because of those layoffs, it may seem strange that GlobalFoundries is now running newspaper ads that say the company is hiring once again, with jobs in manufacturing, operations, equipment, maintenance, logistics, engineering and finance.

But as company officials have explained, the downsizing was to the company's 7 nanometer development teams. Demand for its current 14 nanometer chips remains strong and openings are always difficult to fill in the semiconductor industry.

It's unclear, however, how much was lost in local wages with the hundreds of local research and development scientists and engineers gone. Those jobs typically pay more and require a higher level of expertise than technicians or workers not involved in clean room manufacturing or engineering.

"We continue to hire aggressively as we grow our business, with more than 500 positions available globally and approximately 200 in New York alone," GlobalFoundries spokeswoman Julie Moynehan said. "In Malta, the majority of our openings are for ongoing needs for technicians. There are also a variety of engineering and non-technical professional roles. We continue to hire for our strong growth in our ongoing operations, offering high tech roles in the local area with competitive wages, benefits, and work schedules."
SCHENECTADY  A request to the state Comptroller's Office for a cost analysis of the city's options for City Court operations was tabled for two weeks to allow more time to review information from the mayor.

At issue, is whether the city needs the four City Court judges it has on the bench or can run just as efficiently with three, which is what Mayor Gary McCarthy has asserted.

He wants city leaders to get behind his efforts to petition the state Legislature to abolish that fourth judgeship from the state budget.

The mayor expressed confidence that the study would also show that the city could use the courtroom at the police station for night court instead of building another facility that he insists would cost $3 million.

The Office of Court Administration has rejected the night court idea and has maintained that a fourth judge is needed and that it's the city's obligation to provide an adequate facility.

"How do we know that three million bucks is a true number?" asked City Council President Ed Kosiur, noting he wanted to see what other places in New York mandated to improve their court system did.

Kosiur said his biggest concern is the persistent problem of domestic violence and orders of protections they generate.

"I just don't want to see anything hinder that process, slowing it down and not allowing victims to appear before a judge in a timely manner," he said.

The mayor has also repeatedly cited declining crime as a big reason only three judges are needed.

While major crimes across the board have dipped, the policed department did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking changes in the number of misdemeanors, which city court judges handle.

Though the initial arraignments of more serious crimes usually occur in City Court, felonies are adjudicated in County Court.

McCarthy countered that the caseload before the fourth judge took the bench in Schenectady in 2015 is not all that different now from what it was back them.

In 2015, the court handled 4,840 criminal misdemeanor cases, a figure that by 2018 had dropped to 3,890, according to the Office of Court Administration.

Similarly, there was a reduction in civil cases from 767 to 721 during that same time frame.

The other City Court judges are Robert Hoffman, Teneka Frost and Mark Caruso.

The study, said McCarthy during Tuesday's meeting, would not upend the election process in November to select a new judge who would replace City Court Judge Guido Loyola, who will age out when he turns 70 this year.
The following companies are subsidiares of Exxon Mobil: AKG Marketing Company Limited, Aera Energy LLC, Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company, Ampolex (Cepu) Pte Ltd, Ancon Insurance Company Inc., Barnett Gathering LLC, Barzan Gas Company Limited, Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Celtic Exploration Ltd., Coral FLNG S.A., Cross Timbers Energy LLC, Ellora Energy Inc., Esmeroon Oil Transporta Imperial Oil Limited, Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, Esso Deutschland GmbH, Esso Erdgas Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) Limited, Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Overseas) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Chad Inc., Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East) Limited, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited, Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited, Esso Global Investments Ltd., Esso Italiana S.r.l., Esso Nederland B.V., Esso Norge AS, Esso Petroleum Company Limited, Esso Raffinage, Esso Societe Anonyme Francaise, Exxo Holdings Inc., Exxon Azerbaijan Limited, Exxon Chemical Arabia Inc., Exxon International Finance Company, Exxon Luxembourg Holdings LLC, Exxon Mobile Bay Limited Partnership, Exxon Neftegas Limited, Exxon Overseas Corporation, Exxon Overseas Investment Corporation, ExxonMobil (China) Investment Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil (Taicang) Petroleum Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil Abu Dhabi Offshore Petroleum Company Limited, ExxonMobil Alaska Production Inc., ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd, ExxonMobil B Resources Company, ExxonMobil Capital Finance Company, ExxonMobil Capital Netherlands B.V., ExxonMobil Central Europe Holding GmbH, ExxonMobil Cepu Limited, ExxonMobil Chemical France, ExxonMobil Chemical Gulf Coast Investments LLC, ExxonMobil Chemical Holland B.V., ExxonMobil Chemical Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ExxonMobil China Petroleum & Petrochemical Company Limited, ExxonMobil Development Africa B.V., ExxonMobil Development Company, ExxonMobil Egypt (S.A.E.), ExxonMobil Exploracao Brasil Ltda., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc., ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway AS, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited, ExxonMobil Finance Company Limited, ExxonMobil Financial Investment Company Limited, ExxonMobil France Holding SAS, ExxonMobil Gas Marketing Europe Limited, ExxonMobil General Finance Company, ExxonMobil Global Services Company, ExxonMobil Golden Pass Surety LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Company Holland LLC, ExxonMobil Holding Norway AS, ExxonMobil Hong Kong Limited, ExxonMobil International Services SARL, ExxonMobil Iraq Limited, ExxonMobil Italiana Gas S.r.l., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Inc., ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Ventures Inc., ExxonMobil LNG Services B.V., ExxonMobil Lubricants Trading Company, ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, ExxonMobil PNG Limited, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA, ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical Holdings Inc., ExxonMobil Pipeline Company, ExxonMobil Production Deutschland GmbH, ExxonMobil Production Norway Inc., ExxonMobil Qatargas (II) Limited, ExxonMobil Qatargas Inc., ExxonMobil Ras Laffan (III) Limited, ExxonMobil Rasgas Inc., ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, ExxonMobil Russia Kara Sea Holdings B.V., ExxonMobil Sales and Supply LLC, ExxonMobil Technology Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Finance Company, ExxonMobil Ventures Funding Ltd., Fujian Refining & Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Golden Pass LNG Terminal Investments LLC, Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures LLC, Imperial Oil Limited, Imperial Oil Resources Limited, Imperial Oil Resources N.W.T. Limited, Imperial Oil/Petroliere Imperiale, Infineum Italia s.r.I., Infineum Singapore Pte. Ltd., InterOil Corporation, Jurong Aromatics Corporation Pte Ltd, MPM Lubricants, Marine Well Containment Company LLC, Mobil Australia Resources Company Pty Limited, Mobil California Exploration & Producing Asset Company, Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company, Mobil Chemical Products International Inc., Mobil Corporation, Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc., Mobil Erdgas Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Mobil Exploration & Producing Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil International Petroleum Corporation, Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd, Mobil Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast Inc., Mobil Oil New Zealand Limited, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Mobil Producing Texas & New Mexico Inc., Mobil SerLimited, Mobil Venezolana De Petroleos Inc., Mobil Yanbu Petrochemical Company Inc., Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc., Mountain Gathering LLC, Mozambique Rovuma Venture S.p.A., Palmetto Transoceanic LLC, Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas Global Company LDC, Permian Express Partners LLC, Phillips Exploration LLC, Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited, Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (II), SPI Limited, Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd., Saudi Yanbu Petrochemical Co., SeaRiver Maritime Inc., South Hook LNG Terminal Company Limited, Tengizchevroil LLP, Terminale GNL Adriatico S.r.l, Trend Gathering & Treating LLC, Wolverine Pipe Line Company, XH LLC, XTO Delaware Basin LLC, XTO Energy Canada, XTO Energy Inc., and XTO Holdings LLC.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various personal and commercial banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases through auto dealer network. It also provides credit cards; real estate secured lending; auto finance; consumer lending; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, private banking, investment advisory, and trust services to retail and institutional clients; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to companies, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,085 branches, 3,440 automated teller machines, and 1,223 stores, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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It was once commonly accepted that if you ran a small business and needed some accounting software there was a simple choice between splashing out on Sage or QuickBooks.

But now there's a number of options to help both freelancers and small business owners keep track of the boring yet important stuff like invoices, cashflow and maintaining detailed financial records for when the taxman comes knocking.

Other names include Australian firm Xero and the more recently launched Freeagent which have quickly picked up plenty of small business customers.

Freedom: Cloud based accounting software allows you to work from anywhere

In big successful organisations, the finance director is often considered one of the most important people.

If your business is not of the scale to justify having one of them, spending some time researching the best helping hand for your accounting - and a bit of money on the most suitable software - could pay off handsomely.

But the vast amount of options available makes it difficult to compare, let alone choose a package that best suits your needs.

A low-cost option is always desirable but it might omit some features you may find useful - like payroll and inventory management.

VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold are required to use the government's Making Tax Digital service to keep records digitally and use such software, so its important to do your homework.

The exception to this is a small minority of VAT-registered businesses with more complex requirements.

Remember: different systems suit different people so pick a solution that best suits your needs.

To help you on your way, we've taken a detailed look at some of the best options in market.

The list is in no particular order. All pricing is inclusive of VAT.

Accounting software comparison Sage Xero Intuit Quick Books Zoho Books FreeAgent Cost (monthly) Accounting Start : 12

Accounting: 26.40

Special offer applies* Starter: 10 Standard: 22 Premium: 27.50

Self-employed : 8

Essentials : 18

Plus : 27

Special offer** Basic: 6 Standard: 12 Professional: 18 Sole trader : 22.80

Partnership/LLP : 28.80

Limited company : 34.80

Special offer*** Calculate and submit VAT returns Yes Yes Essential and Plus accounts only Yes Yes Self Assessment No No Self employed plan only No Sole Trader and Limited Company plans only Multi-currency support Accounting plan only Premium plan only Essential and Plus accounts only Yes Yes Importing & exporting data capabilities Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Payroll Optional extra Optional extra Optional extra Optional extra (third party integration Included in the price Inventory management Yes Yes Plus plan only Professional plan only No Cloud based Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes *7.20 and 7.92 per month for three months.

** 4, 9 and 14 per month for six months.

*** 11.40, 14.40 and 17.40 per month for six months

Things to consider when choosing accounting software Cost This can vary greatly, depending on the number of features included as well as the number of users supported. Most accounting software levy a monthly subscription fee rather than issuing software licenses. Features Most small businesses can make do with basic functions like invoicing, income and expense tracking, financial report generation, and customer management. However, if your business sells more than one product, you'll need a service that tracks your inventory, manages vendors and assists you with purchase ordering. If you operate a service based company, you'll also need a service to invoice payment deadlines. User friendly The ease of use is a key factor when mulling different propositions. You want to be able to see the information that matters most to you without having to contend with cumbersome menus. Most accounting software provides you with a dashboard that shows charts as a default, but some allow you to customise, add or remove fields to show the data relevant to you. Multi-currency transactions If your business sells goods or services abroad or issues invoices or makes purchases in a foreign currency, it is best to pick an accountancy software that converts to your 'home' currency to keep your bookkeeping accurate. Cloud based service and mobile access Apart from manual systems, including paper books and spreadsheets, there are two basic options, a cloud based system or a system where the software and data reside on your own computer and network. If you'd prefer to be able to access your business' financial data on-the-go and email invoices to the clients from wherever they are, a cloud based option is the one for you. Integration With Other Business Software It might also be worth choosing a software that is able to integrate with your existing suite of other business software - like CRM software.

Xero - good for larger SMEs

Pricing per month

Xero Starter: 10

Xero Standard: 22

Xero Premium: 27.50

What's on offer?

Xero offers a robust set of features which is available as standard across its trio of accounts: Starter, Standard and Premium.

This includes unlimited users, customisable dashboard, inventory management and bank account integration.

If you opt for the Starter plan, you'd be restricted to sending a maximum of five invoices, entering five bills, or reconciling only 20 bank transactions.

The firm's more expensive subscriptions does away with these restrictions, but it'll cost more than twice as much at the very least.

The Premium account offers an additional carrot in that it supports dealing in multiple currencies.

Xero Payroll can be added to either plans at no extra cost for three months before reverting to 5 per month charge. This covers up to five employees plus 1 for each additional employee.

Another add-on, Xero Projects - which allows you to create and manage as many projects as you want - costs 5 a month per user.

Expenses support can also be added for an extra 2.50 a month per user.

Third party integrations

Over 700 integrations to choose from including Zapier which connects the software to hundreds of additional add-ons.

Pros

Unlimited users

Numerous third party integrations

Cons

Expensive

Payroll additional extra

Summary

Xero is a robust accounting software with ample integrations and some great features, like unlimited users and inventory management as standard.

However, these features do not come cheap. The additional charge for payroll increases the price point further still for those who require the function.

Everyone who has to file a Self Assessment tax return will need to use bookkeeping software that's compatible with HMRC from April this year

Intuit QuickBooks - good for freelancers and small businesses

Self-employed: 4 for the first six months. 8 thereafter

Essentials: 9 for the first six months. 18 thereafter

Plus: 14 for the first six months. 27 thereafter

What's on offer?

The 'Self-Employed' plan - which is for freelancers and independent contractors - offers a number of features including the ability to create and send as many invoices as you like, snap and store receipts and track your mileage (for tax purposes).

The Essentials and Plus plans are for small businesses and VAT registered companies only.

The former allows you to calculate and file VAT, manage bills and payments as well as CIS deductions. Other notable features include multi-currency support and an optional payroll service for an additional 1 per paid employee a month.

The Plus plan includes all of the above plus support to create and purchase orders, manage stock and track costs by project, location and budget. It also facilitates the addition of up to two additional users (so five in total).

Third party integration

Over 590, including 25 different payment processing options

Pros

Numerous integrations

Good tax support

Cons

Additional monthly cost for payroll per paid employee

Summary

QuickBooks comes with a wide breadth of features - even the Essentials plan -, an impressive number of third party integrations and has the complex accounting capabilities that small business owners need.

The main drawback is the additional monthly charge for payroll which is 1 per paid employee (up to 30 employees). It might not sound like a lot but the cost can quickly add up for larger organisations.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting- good for freelancers

Pricing

Accounting Start: 7.20 a month for the first three months. Reverts to 12 a month thereafter.

Accounting: 7.92 a month for the first three months. 26.40 a month thereafter.

What's on offer?

The Accounting Start plan includes cashflow statement service, bank account integration and allows you to record income and expenses as well as calculate and submit HMRC VAT returns. But it only offers one user support.

The Accounting package offers all of the above as well as unlimited user collaboration, inventory management, cash flow forecasts, quotes and estimates, purchase and multi-currency invoicing among others.

Payroll services can be purchased as an add-on the Accounting plan for 6, 11, 16 and 26 a month up for up to five, 10, 15 and 25 employees respectively. They are available at a discounted rate of 1.80, 3.30, 4.80, 7.80 for the first three months.

Third party integrations

Over 40 integrations and three payment processors

Pros

Low cost

Numerous third party integrations

Cons

Limited features as basic

Payroll additional extra

Summary

Sage Business Cloud Accounting offers simple yet effective services that are best suited to freelancers and small businesses. The stock control functions and unlimited users with the Accounting plan are major pluses.

On the downside, it costs up to 26 on top of the plan charge to run payroll through the software - which is almost as much as the cost of the Accounting plan.

Zoho Books - good for small businesses

Think of the future When picking out accounting software for your business, always check out how easy it is to transfer information to a different system. You may find you don't like the software, or want to upgrade to keep up with business growth down the line. You don't want to have to start your figures from scratch.

Pricing

Basic: 6

Standard Plan: 12

Professional plan: 18

What's on offer?

The Basic plan offers five automated workflows, two users, bank reconciliation, custom invoices, expense tracking and recurring transactions.

The Standard plan is essential a turbo-charged version of the Basic plan: 500 contacts, three users, 10 automated workflows, bills and vendor credits. It also includes purchase approval and SMS notifications.

The Professional plan offers the above but facilitates up to 10 users, offers 10 automated workflows and unlimited contracts.

It also allows you to track inventory, create sales orders and set a custom domain and sub-domain name for the client portal that is accessed by customers.

An additional user can be added to either plan for an extra 2 a month, or 20 if you decide to pay for the year.

Another add-on is the 'Auto Scan' feature which reads data from upload recipes to create expense reports. The cost is 4 a month for an up to 50 scans or 40 a year.

There is no integrated payroll - although there's third party support.

Third party Integration

Zoho Books offers 11 payment gateways and 16 third-party integrations, including a Zapier (which connects the software to 750 other apps).

You can also connect your Zoho Books account with six other Zoho products

Pros

Competitive price point

Advanced invoicing features

Cons

No proprietary payroll

Limited third-party integration

Summary

Zoho Books is one of the cheapest accounting software in market, and offer a good array of features to boot. There are also several unique noteworthy touches including the ability to send invoices in 13 different languages.

The main sticking point is the lack of integrated payroll - which is an big issue for larger businesses and even many small businesses in need of an all-in-one accounting software.

How many users: Some accounting software levy an additional charge for additional users

FreeAgent - good for small businesses

Pricing

Sole trader: 11.40 for the first six months. 22.80 thereafter

Partnership/LLP: 14.40 for the first six months. 28.80 thereafter

Limited Company: 17.40 for the first six months. 34.80 thereafter

What's on offer?

FreeAgent offer a trio of plans for small businesses: Sole Trader, Partnership/LLP and Limited Company. All plans allow you to have as many users, clients and projects as you want, at no extra cost.

Other notable features include expenses management, custom invoices (including multi-currency invoicing), track the time spent on projects and run monthly payroll.

The Sole Trader account includes self-assessment filing, while the Partnership/LLP plan offers Profit Share Calculation.

The Limited Company package includes self assessment filing, dividend vouchers - which must be issued to a shareholder when they receive a dividend - and Corporation Tax forecasting.

Third party integration

FreeAgent offers 26 integrations (including a Zapier integration which connects the software to over 750 other add-ons).

Pros

Unlimited users, job costing, time tracking, international invoicing:

Strong selection of features as basic

Cons

There's no stock control functions

Limited third party integration

Summary

In terms of pricing, FreeAgent seems a bit steep compared to its competitors but it's a reasonable price to pay when you factor in the wealth of features on offer such as unlimited number of users, customers, projects and transactions.

The main let down is the absence of stock control functions, which means it's not really geared towards manufacturing businesses, for example.
The country's largest operator of cash machines will hike the fees it pays to operators of ATMs in a bid to stop more closures.

Link, Britain's main cash machine network, said a new super premium will be paid by banks to ATM operators in some places where cash machines are situated in remote and less well-off parts of the country.

ATM operators will receive enhanced premiums of up to 2.75 each time someone withdraws cash from an eligible machine under the changes.

More cash machines could be made free so they're eligible for new 'super premium' payments of up to 2.75, introduced by operator Link in a bid to prevent more from closing in rural areas

Around 1,000 cash machines will initially be eligible and the enhanced premiums will vary in size depending on how well a particular ATM is used.

Currently, Link pays operators of free-to-use cash machines a 30p subsidy for every withdrawal made, so that could go up as much as nine-fold in some cases.

Payments are in addition to the interchange rate - the fee card issuers pay to ATM operators.

The new enhanced premium means an operator could potentially receive as much as around 3 when someone takes out cash when the super premium and interchange rate are added together.

An investigation by consumer group Which? last year found that around 300 ATMs closed each month between November 2017 and April 2018, meaning Link lost two per cent of its cash machine network.

Some cash machines that currently charge for withdrawals are also expected to be made free-to-use in order to be eligible for these premium payments.

There are more than 50,000 free cash machines in Britain, but the vast majority will not be able to receive these premiums at the moment, although Link says the number of eligible machines will likely increase.

Currently, around 3,500 cash machines are protected - because they are more than 1km (0.6 miles) away from the next nearest free ATM or they are located in particularly deprived parts of the country where access to cash is vital.

These machines were ringfenced from the reforms to interchange rates due to playing a key role in continuing people's access to cash.

Of these protected cash machines, around 1,000 will initially be eligible to receive the premiums to help keep them open - but it is thought that more of the 3,500 protected ATMs will be eligible over time as cash withdrawal volumes fall.

Mike Cherry, the national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, told the BBC that the launch of these new payments 'highlight the fundamental failures of our ATM market'.

'The Payment Systems Regulator must now intervene and help the industry formulate a long-term strategy for maintaining free access to cash right across the UK,' he added.

John Howells, Link's chief executive, said: 'While many consumers are turning to alternative payment methods such as contactless cards, it is vital we continue to provide free access to cash to those who need it.

'These premiums will further safeguard ATMs in remote and less well-off areas.'

But Jenni Allen of Which? said: 'Boosting premiums for remote machines has so far not been enough to stop cashpoints closing around the country, including in more remote areas where they are desperately needed.

'We hope this latest move from Link is enough to arrest this alarming trend.

'What is urgently needed is for a regulator to be given a duty to protect access to cash, so that the millions of people who rely on it in their lives are protected from rapid changes through ATM and bank branch closures.'
Patisserie Valerie investors turned on chairman Luke Johnson last night after the collapse of the 93-year-old cafe chain.

They branded the 40million fraud that brought parent company Patisserie Holdings to its knees a 'disaster' and said Johnson's reputation has been 'shot to pieces'.

Shareholders in the firm  including Johnson, whose 28.5 per cent stake was worth 166million before the scandal  are now likely to be left with nothing as administrators KPMG look for a buyer.

Patisserie Holdings shareholders in the firm are now likely to be left with nothing as administrators KPMG look for a buyer

The company said its collapse was a 'direct result' of the fraud.

Around 900 staff are expected to lose their jobs as 70 stores and a string of concessions close within days.

In total, more than 3,000 jobs are at risk across the business, which has around 200 stores and concessions in the UK.

Chris Boxall, co-founder of Fundamental Asset Management, which invests in Patisserie Holdings, said: 'It's disastrous for Johnson, he's been shot to pieces.

'Are we going to see him in a few years returning to the City and everyone has forgotten about it?

'The number of times that these kind of things happen and a corporate financier is responsible for a complete mess and miraculously he returns not long later.

'This is what people will be really incensed by. We need the full picture of what's gone on.'

Patisserie Holdings was plunged into chaos in October when a 40million black hole was uncovered in its books.

Reputation in tatters: The cafe chain's chairman Luke Johnson

Days later its former finance director Chris Marsh was arrested and released on bail. The shares were suspended at 429.5p, valuing the company at 581million.

In a desperate bid to save Patisserie Valerie, Johnson lent it 20million and organised an emergency cash injection from investors who bought new shares for 50p each.

He declared that the 'immediate crisis had passed'. But just three months later, the company is now in administration, leaving investors facing a total wipeout.

Paul Mumford, a fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management, which pumped an additional 100,000 into Patisserie Valerie as part of the attempted rescue, said the administration was 'a big disappointment'.

He said shareholders who took part in the 15million fundraising would be 'a bit miffed' having been told at the time Patisserie Valerie was on course to make profits of 12million.

Another shareholder, whose stake was worth 340,000 before the scandal erupted, said: 'Something is rotten in a very serious way. I've never seen something like this in my life and I've been in this business for many years.'

An investigation into what went wrong is being carried out by the Serious Fraud Office, while the Financial Reporting Council is investigating the Patisserie Holdings' former auditor Grant Thornton. But experts warn that any outcome is now likely to be delayed significantly.

Prem Sikka, professor of accounting at Sheffield University, said of the FRC inquiry: 'Don't expect any urgency. It will take years for a report to come out and sanctions will be puny.'

Blair Nimmo, head of restructuring at KPMG and joint administrator, said: 'Our intention is to continue trading across the profitable stores, as collectively the brands have a strong presence on the high street and have proven very popular with consumers.

'At the same time, we will be seeking a buyer for the business and are hopeful of a good level of interest.'
Online shoppers can make donations to charity by buying through special websites.

Give As You Live works with 4,300 insurance firms, energy providers, broadband companies and retailers including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Boots and Tesco.

It is free to register and then if you shop via its website, Give As You Live will donate a percentage of your bill to a charity of your choice.

Give As You Live works with 4,300 insurance firms, energy providers, broadband companies and retailers including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Boots and Tesco

The firm typically donates between 1 per cent and 10 per cent of your spend.

It will donate an average of 4 per cent of the cost of insurance payments, 2 per cent of grocery bills and 1.5 per cent of travel purchases.

Money Mail reader Rosie Wilcox says she has already raised 25 for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home at no extra cost to her.

The website is paid a commission by its partners for sending customers their way. It keeps 50 per cent and donates the other half to charity.

Amazon shoppers can also use the firms website smile.amazon.co.uk where 0.5 per cent of any spend on eligible items is donated to a charity of your choice.

a.murray@dailymail.co.uk
Job cuts: Tesco is set to consult with staff as early as this week on the redundancies

Tesco is set to axe hundreds of jobs in boss Dave Lewis's latest move to cut costs.

The supermarket giant consults with staff as early as this week on the redundancies, which are likely to be at management level.

Lewis, who earned the nickname 'Drastic Dave' as he wielded the knife at Unilever, has already cut more than 10,000 jobs at Tesco since he was appointed to lead its turnaround in 2014.

He is under pressure to save 1.5billion by 2020, as Tesco faces competition from newer online rivals like Amazon and Ocado, discounters such as Lidl and Aldi and the potential 7.3billion mega-merger of Sainsbury's and Asda.

Tesco said: 'We're always looking at ways to run our business more simply and efficiently.'

The firm employs around 300,000 staff in the UK and has already culled 1,200 jobs at its head office.

Other supermarkets, including Asda and Sainsbury's, have also cut jobs.

Analysts at investment bank Jefferies said the Sainsbury's-Asda merger, which is awaiting regulatory approval, could be good for Tesco's sales, as Asda's current US owner, Walmart, will leave the UK.
We booked an all-inclusive holiday to Spain with TUI and were due to fly from Gatwick Airport on October 4 last year.

Then, on September 1, the Maidenhead store phoned and left a message informing us of a change of airports.

Instead of flying from Gatwick, we would have to fly from Luton, but we would get an 88 refund.

We were out all day, so did not pick up the message until later  and the shop was closed until Monday.

A couple were denied a refund payment after Tui switched their departure airport simply because they were not at home to pick up the call

When we went to the shop after the weekend, we were told that, as we had not been in to take the call, we would not get the promised refund.

We took the holiday and spoke to many fellow passengers who had received the refund, as had our friends who booked at the same store.

We tried again, but were told that, as we had not been in to take the call and prices for the flights had gone up over the weekend, we would not be entitled to the money back.

TUI could have phoned us on our mobile phone, too, but it didn't bother.

A. K., Berkshire.

Once I contacted TUI, it was quick to spring into action and offer you a refund.

What happened? I'd love to tell you  but, unfortunately, I have still not had a full explanation.

So, let's speculate. My guess is that when TUI decided to move your flight to Luton, each flight was 44 cheaper than those booked from Gatwick  so 88 per couple.

But, as they'd have booked a large number of flights over the weekend, and probably did not book yours until the Monday, prices would have gone up.

Yet this doesn't explain why it didn't bother to try your mobile number when it got your answerphone message at home. That strikes me as laziness and lack of initiative by staff in store.

What a shame that when you complained, TUI didn't just take the extra cost on the chin and give you the refund anyway. A TUI spokesman says: 'We are really sorry for the confusion surrounding Mr K's booking.

'We have been touch with the customer to offer him a gesture of goodwill to honour the discount that was available when our Maidenhead store originally tried to contact him.'

You have YOUR say - Scam calls If I got one of these scam calls, I would go straight to the bank in person to be absolutely sure it was them. I've held a current account since 1970 and have never had a phone call from a bank in nearly 50 years. P. S., Darwen, Lancs. Last time my bank phoned me, I asked it security questions, which it failed to answer correctly, so I put the phone down. It did turn out to be a genuine call, but only for sales purposes. W. F., London. It's time that regulators in all industries recognised that their job is to see customers are treated with fairness. At the moment, they seem to view their role as protecting the industry, not the customer. R. M., Manchester.

I took out a Laura Ashley store card in April 1986.

Santander, which ran the card, has confirmed I was mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). It has offered 117.92 as compensation, but will only use the figures from 2005. I seldom used the card by then, though I used it extensively before that time for buying furniture and other big purchases.

Santander states that I paid 18.21 in PPI, which is what it has based the calculation on.

It also says that while it agrees the card had run since 1986, it will disregard anything pre-August 2005, as it does not have the records.

It has asked that I provide documentary evidence of statements, but I do not have these.

K. M., Hertfordshire.

Like you, I thought it was unreasonable for Santander to expect you to have statements from three decades ago.

However, it seems the problem here is not the amount of compensation, but the explanation you have been given.

You opened your account in April 1986 and were mis-sold PPI. But you sensibly cancelled the insurance in April 1993.

Santander does not hold records of your exact transactions before 2005. But it does have information showing that the total you paid in PPI over the life of the account was 18.21.

In its compensation calculations, Santander assumed payments were made when you opened the account in 1986, so you have received 32 years' interest at the compensation rate of 8 per cent simple interest  far more than you'd have got from a bank or building society, especially over the past ten years.

So, in the long run, you have done rather well.

Straight to the point My mum died last March and left me her share of the house she owned with my dad. I own a home already, which I rent out because I live with my partner. My dad is now selling the house and we are using the money to buy his new flat in joint names. HMRC says we must pay the higher rate of stamp duty on the whole purchase price, not just my share. It doesn't seem fair. L. B., Devon. Unfortunately, HMRC is correct. As you already own your home, you must pay an additional 3 per cent stamp duty when you buy another property. If one person has to pay the higher rate, it applies to the whole transaction. *** I need to find out the initial value of my National Grid shares when it first split from British Gas, for capital gains tax reasons. Can you help me? M. A,. Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. National Grid was privatised on December 15, 1995. At that time, the share value was 257.57p. *** I received a 70 parking fine after accompanying my brother to hospital last month. I quickly realised that I had mistakenly left out two digits of my registration number when paying the parking charge via my mobile phone. When I explained this, the firm, Parking Eye, said it would reduce the fine to 40. But I can barely afford this on my pension. M. M., by email. Parking Eye says you were fined because you parked in the emergency drop-off and Blue Badge area for an hour, rather than the allotted 20 minutes. It turns out that you are a Blue Badge holder, but did not provide this evidence in your appeal. After I sent a copy of your Blue Badge to Parking Eye, it agreed to cancel the charge.
Introductions: BT's new chief executive Philip Jansen

BT's icy-looking chairman Jan du Plessis is parading his new chief Philip Jansen around town.

He's also brought Jansen's predecessor Gavin Patterson as gooseberry.

G-Patz has been tagging along to meetings with BT clients and happily introducing his tetchy successor.

All very peculiar.

The Belvedere Hotel, prominent on the town's main strip, remains delegates' favoured venue to tie up deals.

Forget saving the planet, that's why they're really here. Several years ago, a tech firm paid 6,000 to hold a meeting with the Estonian president in a luggage room.

I'm told there was a fire there in December caused by the sauna, though no one was hurt. After a few thousand francs were spent on repairs everything is back to looking tickety-boo.

Soi-disant illusionist David Blaine has rocked up. Why? No idea. It's all nobody is talking about.

But our former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was entranced by the strange booby's card tricks on the main promenade yesterday morn, so at least he's being useful.

Security by numbers. Polizei pounding the street: 1,000. Army officers on stand-by: 5,000. Ring of barbed wire surrounding the town: 55km.

Beard alert (a recurring grudge): Credit Suisse's princely chief executive Tidjane Thiam is cultivating ill-judged three-day whiskers.

Et tu, Tidjane? And to think, sartorially speaking, I used to quite look up to him.

'Davos is where the billionaires tell the millionaires how the middle class feels'  is quote of the day, from JP Morgan's billionaire chief Jamie Dimon.

Or was it the BBC's Nick Robinson, informing Today listeners: 'We will now hear from the chairman of the 'People's Vote', Roland Rudd, who is with us live from Davos'?
EMILY ST. LAWRENCE, Chariho girls lacrosse, senior: St. Lawrence scored the 100th goal of her career in a 16-1 win against Lincoln. St. Lawrence finished her career with 104 goals, eight short of the school record. The team did not play last season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

JOSH MOONEY, Stonington track & field, sophomore: Mooney scored in three events at the State Open meet. Mooney was second in the 110 hurdles, fourth in the javelin and fifth in the 300 hurdles. He scored all 17 of Stoningtons points.

ALEX STOEHR, Westerly softball, freshman: Stoehr hit three triples and a double in a doubleheader sweep of Barrington. For the week, she was 7 for 13 with four doubles, two triples and three RBIs. Stoehr is hitting .333 for the season.

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Kolkata, Jan 23 (PTI) A rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was proposed to be held on January 28 in North 24 Parganas district's Thakurnagar area is likely to be rescheduled to February 2, a senior party leader said Wednesday.

"As of now, Prime Minister Narendra Modiji's January 28 rally at Bongoan' Thakurnagar area has been rescheduled to February 2. On February 2 he will address another rally at Durgapur and on February 8 he will address a rally at Siliguri. However, nothing is final as of now," BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said.

This is the second time in one month that the West Bengal BJP has rescheduled Modi's rallies.

Earlier it was decided that the prime minister will address a rally at Brigade Parade Ground on February 8. It was recently cancelled and the party said he would attend three rallies in the state starting next week.

It was then decided that Modi would address a rally at Thakurnagar on January 28, another at Siliguri in north Bengal on February 2 and the third one at Asansol -- represented by Union Minister Babul Supriyo -- on February 8.

However, on Wednesday evening the state BJP announced that the dates are likely to be altered.

The BJP kick-started its Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state from Tuesday, with party president Amit Shah addressing a rally in Malda district.

Shah has set a target to win more than 23 out of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. PTI PNT NN DIV

DIV
MSEDCL to appoint 23,000 'power managers' in Maha villages

Nagpur, Jan 23 (PTI) The Maharashtra State Electricity

Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL) will appoint 'power managers' in

23,000 villages to attend to the complaints related to

electricity and its theft, an official release said on

Wednesday.

The MSEDCL will appoint 23,000 'village electrical

managers' one at the gram panchayat level. They will attend to

the power-related complaints and electricity thefts, the

release said.

During a programme held in Nagpur recently, Energy

Minister Chandrashekar Bawankule distributed certificates to

candidates, who have completed 'gram vidyut vyavasthapak'

training jointly initiated by the MSEDCL and Maharashtra State

Skill Development Society.

Bawankule said the course will open employment

opportunities for the youth in rural areas, as the 'village

electrical manager' will work for the MSEDCL at the gram

panchayat level.

"Similarly, these power managers will also be given

the responsibility of implementation and creation of awareness

on solar energy installations in hospitals, schools, farms and

homes," he said. PTI CLS

NP NP
Ghaziabad, Jan 23 (PTI) A man has been arrested for allegedly raping and killing a six-year-old girl in Loni area here, police said Wednesday.

"The girl had gone for tuition along with her brother on Monday evening. After returning, she again went outside and didn't return thereafter. Her parents and neighbours searched for her till late night but in vain," they said.

On Tuesday morning, when the girl's father was going to offer prayers he discovered his child's body lying in a deserted plot near a mosque, said DIG Upendra Agarwal.

The girl was a kindergarten student, and she also would take tuition, the father told the police.

The minor was raped strangulated with a scarf by her tutor, officials said. On Wednesday, the tutor Faizul Islam from Alvi nagar was arrested. He confessed to the crime.

The autopsy report confirmed the girl was raped. Islam has been booked under sections 302, 376 and 5/6 of POCSO Act.

In another case, Modi Nagar Police arrested a rape accused named Anuj alias Anu Sharma (25) from Modi Mandir gate. The police were looking for him since January 19, 2019. PTI CORR IND

IND
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) A group of robbers broke into an electronics showroom situated on Ring Road in Delhi's South Extension and looted articles worth lakhs of rupees, police said Wednesday.

The incident took place on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, they said.

A group of four to five robbers, who arrived in a car, broke open the glass door of the showroom and looted electronic goods estimated to be worth Rs 50 to 60 lakh before fleeing from the spot, a senior police officer said.

The entire incident was captured by CCTV cameras, he said.

Police teams have been formed to nab the accused persons and a case has been registered, the officer said. PTI AMP DIV

DIV
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Justice M B Lokur, who retired from the Supreme Court recently, on Wednesday refused to be dragged into the controversy related to the handling of CBI matters and the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.

Lokur, one of the four senior judges of the apex court who staged a virtual revolt against then CJI Dipak Misra by holding an unprecedented press conference on January 12, 2018, was speaking at an interaction here on "State of the Indian Judiciary" organised by legal news portal "The Leaflet".

The retired judge evaded questions as to whether Justice Gogoi, who was in the panel to select the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director, should have heard former CBI chief Alok Verma's petition as on Tuesday, he refused to hear a plea challenging the appointment of the agency's interim director, M Nageswar Rao.

Justice Lokur said although the CJI heard and decided Verma's petition against his divesting of powers, that did not mean he should also hear the case against the acting CBI director as he was part of the selection panel to choose the central probe agency's chief.

"Are you suggesting that he (CJI) should have heard the case and taken a meeting tomorrow?," Justice Lokur asked.

When the questions about the CBI case involving Verma and Rao were repeated, Justice Lokur was visibly not happy.

He also skirted questions on the CJI being a part of the bench hearing the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute case, the Rafale matter etc.

Justice Lokur requested all not to make a specific mention of any case, which was being heard either by the CJI or any other judges. PTI PKS RKS RC
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Of the over 19,900 children who went missing from the national capital in the last three years, more than 14,000 were traced and reunited with their families, police have told the Delhi High Court.

The submission was made by the Delhi Police before a bench of justices Hima Kohli and Manoj Kumar Ohri, which had in November last year asked the law enforcement agency to furnish the details of the number of children who went missing from the national capital between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2018, how many of them were traced and reunited with their families and how many cases were pending.

In an affidavit submitted before the court through standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra, the police said between January 2016 and December 2018, 19,916 children went missing from Delhi and of these, 14,756 were traced and reunited with their families as per law.

The bench, on November 28 last year, had also asked the police about the follow-up action taken by it, as stipulated in the standard operating procedure (SOP), after recovering a child as well as the number of cases in which the Face-Recognition Software (FRS) was put to use to track missing children.

In response, the Delhi Police, also represented by advocate Chaitanya Gosain, told the court that as stipulated under the SOP, a rescued kid was medically examined and produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) or the Juvenile Justice Board, as the case might be, for appropriate directions.

Thereafter, a "home verification" was carried out and only after that a child was reunited with his or her parents or legal guardians through the CWC, the police told the court.

Apart from that, "a proper enquiry is conducted as to whether the child has been subjected to any offence and if so, legal action in the matter is initiated".

As regards the use of FRS, the police said it procured the system in March last year and integrated it with its Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET) missing children module.

"As and when a photograph of a missing child is uploaded, it (FRS) automatically searches from the recovered/found children data, including data of Ministry of Women and Child Development, uploaded on all India basis on the website www.trackthemissingchild.gov.in.

"...search is done automatically and system provides probable results for the investigating officers to link missing children with found children and vice-versa," the police said in its affidavit.

The court had asked for the details of the missing children while hearing a man's plea seeking directions to the police to trace his minor daughter, who went missing in July, 2014.

The then 13-year-old girl went missing on July 21, 2014 and after she could not be traced for more than two-and-a-half years, the father moved the high court in May, 2017.

The court had, subsequently, transferred the probe in the matter to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Delhi Police's Crime Branch. The girl is yet to be traced. PTI HMP SKV RC
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal Wednesday slammed the Delhi government for its failure to install rainwater harvesting system in schools and colleges and summoned senior official of the education department with complete records.

A bench of Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore and expert member S S Garbyal expressed surprise over the AAP government's inability to apprise it about the exact number of schools and colleges in the city. "What action have you (Delhi govt) taken to install rainwater harvesting system? The tribunal has passed the order on November 16, 2017, and asked you to complete the exercise in two months. Show us what action have you taken?" the bench said.

The lawyer appearing for the Delhi government informed it that out of 1,600 private schools, 901 have installed, while 699 are remaining and out of 742 government schools only 528 have have set up the rainwater harvesting system.

When the bench asked about the number of aided and unaided schools in the city, the lawyer was unable to give details.

When it sought to know the reason for the delay, the lawyer told the tribunal that work was underway and tenders have been issued.

The tribunal said, "You are trying to tell us like a child about the process. Parrot-like reply is coming from the officers. What tender are you talking about? This is a mere excuse."

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the Delhi University told the tribunal that out of total 65, six colleges are in the process to install the rainwater harvesting system.

The NGT, however, directed a senior official of the education department to be present before it on January 30, the next date of hearing.

"We direct senior officer of the NCT government concerned with primary, middle and secondary school and higher education to be present before us on the next date of hearing. He shall bring complete details about the case and also list of institutions where rainwater harvesting is not functioning," the bench said.

The tribunal's direction came on a plea filed by city resident Mahesh Chandra Saxena seeking implementation of the November 16, 2017 order of the NGT, which had directed the government and also private schools and colleges to install rainwater harvesting systems within two months at their own cost.

Despite the specific direction of the tribunal, they have not submitted the list of buildings, Saxena said.

He claimed that the government departments, educational institutions and residential societies have either not installed rainwater harvesting systems or have systems which are non-functional.

The tribunal had ordered that any institution which fails to install the rainwater harvesting system within the stipulated period would be liable to pay environment compensation of Rs 5 lakh.

It had directed schools and colleges to approach a committee constituted by it. The committee was to inspect the premises and grant permission to institutions for operating the system.

If it was not possible to install the rainwater harvesting system, the institution should have approached the committee, it had said. PTI PKS KJ
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) A man, apparently working for the IT cell of the Congress, has been arrested for allegedly posting offensive and vulgar content on social media, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, Abhishek Mishra, was arrested on Tuesday from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, they added.

A senior police officer said a case was lodged on a complaint from a private person about certain "offensive and vulgar" posts as also content that hurt the religious feelings of a particular group on online social media platforms.

Mishra was produced before the court concerned and taken on police remand, the officer said.

More than 10 laptops were seized from his possession, he added. PTI SLB/AMP RC
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) With the aim to synergise humanitarian mine action and joint peace operations, the Indian Africa Field Training Exercise (IAFTX) will be held in Pune from March 18 to 27, officials said Wednesday.

The final planning conference to work out the modalities for IAFTX 2019 is being conducted in Pune on Wednesday and Thursday, they said.

"Delegates from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda, Niger and Zambia are attending the conference," the Army said in a statement.

The field training exercise would be conducted at Aundh Military Station and College of Military Engineering in Pune from March.

"The joint training exercise is being conducted with more than a dozen African countries and India," the statement said, adding, it aims to synergise humanitarian mine action and joint peace operations.

The initial planning conference for the exercise was held in December 2018.

The IAFTX-2019 is a positive step towards growing political and military ties with the member nations of African continent and will boost the already strong strategic cooperation between the countries, it added. PTI KND IND

IND
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Delhi Police's special cell has arrested five members of an international drug syndicate, including an NRI, for allegedly smuggling "party drugs" and contraband worth more than Rs 90 crore has been seized, police said Wednesday.

The accused have been identified as Sunil Kumar (33), Lokesh Mehta (25), Satish Sahu (45), Neeraj Arora (43) and Rajesh Dutta, a British citizen (45), they added.

Party drugs worth more than Rs 90 crore in the international market including 13.5 lakh tablets of drugs, 10.2 kg of tramadol powder and 500 gm of ketamine have been recovered, officials said.

According to police, the accused collected drug tablets and other contraband from Mumbai and Delhi and exported them to London in UK, Nepal and Malaysia.

The kingpins of the gang are Mazhar, a Pakistan national, and Amarjeet Bains both based in London, UK and Jaspreet Singh Dhillon based in Nepal, they said.

Technical surveillance revealed that Kumar and Mehta had procured a large consignment of drugs and their counterpart in Mumbai identified as Sahu had come to Delhi to collect the load for exporting them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.

Kumar and Mehta used to pack and store the contraband, he said.

"After we received input that a drug consignment would be handed over to one of the gang members on the intervening night of January 15 and 16 near Bharati College in Janakpuri, a trap was laid at the spot," he added.

Subsequently, Kumar and Mehta were apprehended and 5.275 kg of party drug tramadol powder was recovered from their possession, the officer said.

The arrested helped the police recover huge quantity of the party drug from a godown at Hari Nagar, he said.

On January 17, Sahu was arrested and 5.1 kg of tramadol powder, known as 'meow meow' was recovered from his possession. Upon interrogation, two more accused Arora and Dutta were arrested on January 20 and 480 gm of Ketamine drug was recovered from their possession, the DCP said.

Investigation revealed that Dutta is an associate of international bucksman Sandeep Singh Gill and a Look Out Circular was opened against him by the British government authorities in connection with a two million pound money laundering case, he said.

"Arora and Dutta used to prepare the drugs at the formers house. A drug manufacturing-cum-synthesising setup was seized from Aroras house in old Rajender Nagar area. Raw materials used for the same were also recovered," he added.

Police also conducted a raid at Dutta's godown in Vikar Nagar following which 7.945 lakh tablets of party drugs, concealed in rice drums were recovered, Yadav said.

"The recovered consignment was supposed to be smuggled to Europe via Sri Lanka and other routes. These tablets were procured by Dutta and Arora from Ashwani Rattan, who presently resides in UK," he said.

The accused persons used to supply illegal drugs to each other as per their requirement for supplying abroad and other parts of India, he added.

Kumar and Mehta, both are partners in the dealing of narcotics and psychotropic drugs in tablets and powdered form, officials said, adding they procured contraband from various sources, including Sahu.

During sustained interrogation, it was revealed that Kumar and Mehta used to supply narcotics and psychotropic tablets and powder to one Mazhar, a Pakistan national based in UK, through cargo and courier, as per demand, the DCP said.

Sahu also used to supply the contraband drugs to Jaspreet Singh Dhillon, who owns night clubs in Nepal and Malaysia for which he places huge orders for these drugs, he added. PTI AMP SLB IND

IND
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Attending a gathering of Imams of mosques in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday warned against division of votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Delhi and claimed that the Congress would not win a single seat in the national capital.

At the event hosted by the Delhi Waqf Board, its chairman and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan said the hike in the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins (mosque staff who give the prayer call) of the 200-odd mosques under the board will be implemented from February.

He added that the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins of 1,500 other mosques in the city would also be increased.

Urging the Imams to support the AAP, Khan said, "People are saying they will vote for the Congress because the next prime minister will be from that party. If that is indeed so, we will also extend support to the Congress, but in Delhi, only the AAP can defeat the BJP, not the Congress."

Echoing the same sentiment, Kejriwal said, "If I felt the Congress could win, the AAP would give them all the seven seats (in Delhi) and leave the contest in their favour. The Congress cannot win even a single seat in Delhi."

Asking the gathering to be wary of division of votes, he said it would help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win all the seven seats in Delhi.

"If your votes are divided, the country will suffer immensely," the chief minister said.

Explaining the "vote mathematics" to the Imams, Kejriwal pointed out that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all the seven seats in Delhi by polling 46 per cent votes, whereas the AAP had got 33 per cent and the Congress 15 per cent votes.

"It is being said that the BJP is going to lose 10 per cent votes. If these votes go to the Congress, the BJP will win again. But if the AAP gets these votes, we will bag the seven seats," he said.

The AAP supremo also told the gathering that there was no need to bother about who would become the next prime minister.

"The TV channels are showing the polls as a contest between (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. Do not get confused by it because it is a misconception.

"Neither Modi nor Rahul will become the prime minister. We will support anyone else who becomes the prime minister," he said, hinting at a "mahagathbandhan" or grand alliance of non-Congress parties.

Just as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and K Chandrashekar Rao in Telangana could defeat the BJP in their respective states, the AAP could also defeat the Modi-Shah duo in the national capital, Kejriwal said.

"If Modi and (BJP chief Amit) Shah return in 2019, the country and the Constitution will be endangered. They will break the country like Hitler," he added.

The AAP national convener also accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of meeting the locals at the parks of the city and attempting to shift the "anti-Modi" votes to the Congress.

"They apparently speak against Modi, saying even the Congress was better than him. It is a ploy to shift votes to the Congress and if that happens, the BJP will win the Lok Sabha polls," he said.

Delhi ministers Imran Hussain and Kailash Gahlot also urged the gathering to ensure the AAP's victory in the national capital in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Khan said, "Do not waste your vote. The votes will be wasted if given to the Congress. Vote for the AAP if you want to defeat the BJP."

The Delhi Waqf Board chairman said the increased salaries of the Imams and Muajjins would be paid in their bank accounts in February.

The board has decided to hike the existing monthly salaries of Imams (Rs 10,000) and Muajjins (Rs 9,000) to Rs 18,000 and Rs 16,000 respectively. PTI VIT RC
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Congress President Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day tour of his parliamentary constituency Amethi starting Wednesday.

Gandhi said he would meet and discuss issues with people in his home constituency.

"I am coming to Amethi. Will be with my people and discuss issues with them. Will keep sharing the details of my story of happiness with you by way of pictures," Gandhi said in a Facebook post.

During his stay, Gandhi is scheduled to meet representatives of gram panchayats at Fursatganj. He will also take part in the swearing-in of newly elected bar members in Gauriganj, his representative Chandrakant Dubey had said.

Gandhi will address a 'nukkad sabha' at Haliyapur and stay the night at Bhueymau guest house, where he will meet party workers on the second day of his visit before leaving for Delhi, Dubey had said.

Gandhi was scheduled to visit Amethi on January 4 but it was cancelled in view of the Winter session of Parliament.

His visit would have clashed with Union Minister Smriti Irani's Amethi trip, which was also scheduled for the same day and was being seen as the first major political face-off ahead of the general elections.

The Congress chief will also tour states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the coming days. PTI SKC AAR DV

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Amethi, Jan 23 (PTI) Visiting his home turf Wednesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi renewed his attack on Prime Minister Narendra over the Rafale aircraft deal, accusing the watchman of giving Rs 30,000 crore to industrialist Anil Ambani.

The charge has been repeatedly denied by the Modi government and the Reliance Group.

Gandhi's visit coincided with the appointment of his sister Priyanka Gandhi as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East, the region in which his Amethi constituency falls.

Against the backdrop of an alliance between Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party that has excluded the Congress, Gandhi made it clear that his party was all set to give a tough fight in the state in the coming Lok Sabha election.

Now the Congress will work to install its own chief minister here. We will form the next government at the Centre, and will contest with full strength in UP."

Speaking at an event in Paraiya Naseerabad village, Gandhi alleged that Modi helped Ambani get a contract of Rs 30,000 crore from the French company Dassault that manufactures the military aircraft.

Gandhi also accused the BJP-led government of entering into a inflated deal for the aircraft compared to the price that the previous Congress-led government was negotiating, a charge again denied by the Modi government.

"Modiji says don't make me the Prime Minister, make me the chowkidar (watchman). But the chowkidar has taken Rs 30,000 crore from the Indian Air Force, and given it to Anil Ambani."

The Modi government has said it had nothing to do with the deal signed between Rafale manufacturer Dassault and the Ambani Group.

Under Indias offset policy, foreign firms entering into defence contract must give business to Indian entities.

The Ambani Group has also said the business it will get from Dassault is less than the claimed Rs 30,000 crore.

Gandhi urged people to remove Modi and bring in a Congress government that works for the the poor and the farmers.

I will stand by you, wherever you need me. Not only for Amethi, but in the entire country. Wherever I am needed, I will be present for you," he said.

Later, addressing village `pradhans at Fursatganj, Gandhi accused the Centre of trying to end the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGS.

He also criticised the government over demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying it has hurt small traders.

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New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) The Delhi Police has registered a case based on a complaint filed by the Election Commission regarding allegations of hacking of EVMs and rigging of polls levelled by self-proclaimed cyber expert Syed Shuja, officials said Wednesday.

"Based on a complaint received from the Election Commission, an FIR has been registered under Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code (intent to cause fear or public mischief) at Parliament Street police station. Action will be taken as per the law," a senior police officer said.

On Tuesday, the poll panel had filed a complaint with the Delhi Police, asking it to register an FIR against Syed Shuja, who during a press conference in London on Monday, claimed that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be hacked, and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were rigged.

In its complaint, the poll panel had asked police to investigate the matter "promptly" for violation of certain IPC sections dealing with spreading rumour to "create fear" in the minds of people. PTI AMP







GVS
Srinagar, Jan 23 (PTI) An encounter broke out on Wednesday between security forces and militants in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Binner area of Baramulla district following information about presence of militants in the area, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into a gunbattle after militants opened fire on the security forces.

No casualties have been reported so far in the encounter, he added.PTI MIJ

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New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday thanked the family of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for presenting him with a cap worn by the leader.

Modi, who visited the Subhas Chandra Bose Museum at Red Fort and paid floral tributes to mark the leader's 122nd birth anniversary, said the cap will be displayed at Kranti Mandir.

"I am grateful to the Bose family for presenting me a cap worn by Netaji Bose himself. The cap has been immediately added to the display gallery at Kranti Mandir in the Red Fort complex. I hope more youngsters come to Kranti Mandir and get inspired by the life of Netaji Bose," he tweeted. PTI NAB ASG SNE

SNE
After PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah to set foot in Odisha

(Eds: With of Rahul Gandhi's visit)

Bhubaneswar, Jan 23 (PTI) BJP president Amit Shah and

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi are set to tour Odisha this month,

following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's back-to-back visits

to the state.

Shah will address a public meeting at Kulia in Cuttack

district on January 29 and attend the party's tribal front

convention at Puri on February 3, general secretary Prithviraj

Harichandan said.

The senior BJP leader's scheduled visit to the state

on January 18 was cancelled in view of his illness.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul

Gandhi will visit Odisha every month till the general

elections, Congress' Odisha In-charge Jitendra Singh told

reporters here.

Gandhi's tour to Odisha will kickstart on January 25

from Tamando on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar city, where he

will attend public rallies and meet party workers.

"He has a special place in his heart for the people of

Odisha, especially the tribal and underprivileged population

in the state," Singh said.

Asked about Gandhi's agenda during the ensuing visit,

he said the Congress president will target both the ruling BJD

and the BJP, as they "betrayed" the people of Odisha and

"played" with their emotions.

On the recent resignation of some leaders from the

Congress in the state, Singh said there was likely personal

interest involved in their decision to quit.

Both the BJD and the BJP are "luring" the Congress

leaders to join their parties, he said, adding, that they are

"afraid" of the grand old party.

Singh added that the Congress has already finalised

the prospective list of the first 50 candidates, who will be

allotted tickets for the polls. The names will be announced by

February.

Meanwhile, BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to visit Jharsuguda and Bolangir

districts on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Odisha thrice

between December and this month, the latest being on January

15. PTI AAM

RBT RBT
B.A.D. Golf Postponed

Due to the forecast for cold weather and rain, B.A.D. Golf and Live After Six with The Jeremy DeWall Band ...
146 rebels arrested in North Chhotanagar division last year

Ramgarh, Jan 23 (PTI) At least 146 rebels were

arrested in the North Chhotanagpur division of Jharkhand

and huge cache of arms and ammunition seized in more than

2,334 operations last year, a senior police officer has said.

The North Chhotanagpur division comprises of

Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Koderma and Giridih districts.

DIG (North Chhotanagpur division) Pankaj Kamboj

Tuesday said that 1,221 operations were carried out against

the rebels in Giridih district while 675 operations conducted

by Chatra police followed by Ramgarh (19), Hazaribagh (380)

and Koderma (49).

The DIG said that a total of 116 firearms, 725 kg

explosive, 196 detonators, 5,381 live cartridges and 39

magazines and Rs 15.32 lakh cash were seized during

operations.

He also said that four rebels had surrendered with

arms to join the mainstream in Ramgarh district last year.

PTI CORR PVR

RG RG
Shillong, Jan 23 (PTI) The body of one of the 15 trapped miners, which was spotted last week, has disintegrated and slipped to bottom of the main shaft in course of the Navy's efforts to pull it out of the flooded mine, officials said Wednesday.

The Navy personnel are trying their best to locate the remains with their unmanned Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), an official said.

Navy divers detected the body using an ROV at a depth of around 160 feet inside the main shaft on Wednesday last.

They resumed efforts to pull out the body on Tuesday on the advice of the district administration.

The remains of the miner slipped away from the jaw of the ROV while attempting to pull it out of the bottom of the main shaft of the coal mine last evening, operations spokesperson R Susngi told PTI.

It happened due to presence of pipes, cables and debris in the main shaft, he said.

The Indian Navy resumed the search on Wednesday and its efforts to locate the remains have not been successful so far, he added.

The operation to rescue the miners entered the 42nd day on Wednesday.

In the past 24 hours, teams of pump operators from Coal India Ltd, Odhisa Fire Service and Kirloskar Brothers Ltd have discharged over 81 lakh litres of water from the nearby abandoned mines.

Family members of the trapped miners have been waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones and are visiting the site regularly and they are regularly updated on the progress, Susngi said.

The 15 miners disappeared inside the mine on December 13 last year.

According to five miners who had a narrow escape, one of the workers could have accidentally punctured the walls of possibly another nearby abandoned and flooded mine.

The state government has announced Rs 1 lakh interim relief for families of all the trapped miners and the Supreme Court is monitoring the case on a weekly basis. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday. PTI JOP SNS DIV

DIV
Itanagar, Jan 23 (PTI) Arunachal Pradesh has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to deploy 60 companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state.

State Chief Secretary Satya Gopal requested the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, Sunil Arora, during a video conference here on Tuesday, an official communique said here on Wednesday.

Each company has about 130 personnel.

The chief secretary informed the CEC that sensitive constituencies have also been identified and measures would be taken accordingly.

Gopal stressed on strengthening surveillance along the Indo-Myanmar border and neighbouring Assam to check infiltration and unwanted activities when the CEC sought the weekly progress report on election preparedness.

"Foot march to far-flung polling stations, communication bottlenecks, and Assam-Myanmar border are specific and major challenges for free and fair elections in the state," the chief secretary said.

The CEC and Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa also held a meeting through video conferencing with all chief secretaries, DGPs, and CEOs of eastern states and sought status reports on the ongoing election preparations.

"Transfer posting of officers and officials as per ECI directive in administrative and police departments was taken into account," Gopal said and committed to post sufficient administrative officers within the first week of February, in the few districts facing severe shortage now.

"Transfer of very few left out senior administrative and police officers in home districts will be affected immediately," he said.

Proposal to appoint IAS, IPS, IFS officers and nodal officers under various categories as election observers has also been sent to ECI, he said, adding, sufficient budget to conduct elections and maintain law and order has been prepared.

DGP S B K Singh, Principal Home Secretary Dr AC Verma, Chief Election Officer Kaling Tayeng, IGP Sunil Garg, DIG K Kaming, Tax & Excise link commissioner N T Glow were also present during the video conference. PTI UPL SBN DV

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Sydney, Jan 23 (AFP) A Chinese-Australian dissident and democracy activist has become the latest Western citizen to be detained in China, Australia's foreign ministry confirmed Wednesday.

Yang Hengjun -- a novelist and former Chinese diplomat -- went missing shortly after he travelled to the southern city of Guangzhou last week, friends said.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Yang had travelled to China with his wife and son on January 18, but never made a planned internal flight to Shanghai.

"Chinese authorities informed the Australian Embassy in Beijing that they have detained Mr Yang Hengjun," Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement late Wednesday.

"The Department is seeking to clarify the nature of this detention and to obtain consular access to him... as a matter of priority." The Australian government is believed to be in contact with Yang's friends and family, as well as Chinese authorities.

Authorities in Guangzhou did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yang's disappearance prompted fears that he may be the latest victim of an increasingly broad dragnet by Chinese security services.

Australia recently expressed concern about China's detention of two Canadians in apparent retaliation for the arrest in Canada of a senior executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

Tensions have also been strained between China and Australia in recent months.

Australia banned Huawei from participating in its 5G network in August over security fears. The United States and New Zealand have taken similar steps.

Yang's friend and journalist John Garnaut described him as "brilliant" and "a courageous and committed democrat".

"This will reverberate globally if authorities do not quickly find an off-ramp," he warned.

Yang had worked in the ministry of foreign affairs in Hainan province, but later left for Hong Kong in 1992 and the US in 1997 where he worked for the Atlantic Council think tank.

He later took up Australian citizenship -- although Beijing does not recognise dual nationality -- and wrote a series of spy novels and a popular Chinese-language blog.

Once described as China's "most influential political blogger", Yang went missing once before in 2011, describing his disappearance as a "misunderstanding" when he resurfaced days later. (AFP) SCY

SCY
New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Following are the top foreign stories at 2030 hours:



FGN25: CHINA-INDIA-XI

Beijing: There is no proposal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit India for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next two months as speculated by a Japanese media report, highly placed sources said here Wednesday. By K J M Verma



FGN26: RUSSIA-SHIP-2NDLD FIRE

Moscow/New Delhi: At least six Indian sailors were killed and an equal number of them went missing after two fuel ships carrying Indian and Turkish crew members caught fire in the Kerch Strait, where the blaze was still raging following the accident on Monday, officials said on Wednesday.



FGN23: WEF-MERKEL-INDIA

Davos: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said countries like India and China have begun affecting the world economy much more today and that needs to be taken into account for having a relook at the global trade and financial systems. By Barun Jha



FGN14: US-INDIANCOUPLE-LD AUTOPSY

New York: A travel-obsessed Indian couple, who plunged 800ft to their deaths after taking a selfie at a scenic cliff in California's popular Yosemite National Park, were "intoxicated" at the time of the incident, according to autopsy results.



FGN15: WEF-JAPAN-ABE

Davos: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday asked world leaders to rebuild trust in the international trading system and urged countries like the US, China and India to breathe fresh life into the WTO. By Barun Jha



FGN4: PAK-MUMBAI-CASE

Islamabad: A Pakistani court has temporarily halted the hearing of the 2008 Mumbai attack case to let the prosecutor produce more witnesses. By Sajjad Hussain



FGN18: WEF-INDIA-LD KAMAL NATH

Davos: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday referred to gross domestic product (GDP) as a "fancy figure" and said that economic growth must translate into well-being of people on ground. By Barun Jha



FGN8: PAK-LD SHARIF

Lahore: Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's condition is "very serious" after heart complications and he should be shifted to hospital without any delay, his doctor said on Wednesday. By M Zulqernain



FGN11: THAI-LD ELECTION

Bangkok: Thailand will hold a general election on March 24, authorities said Wednesday, the first national poll since a 2014 coup knocked out the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra. (AFP)



FGN1: US-CHINA-LEGISLATION

Washington: Two US lawmakers -- one each from the Republican and the Democratic party -- on Wednesday reintroduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to safeguard American assets from Chinese influence and possession, as well as protect American businesses from China's tools of economic aggression. PTI SCY

SCY
(Eds: Updates with toll, identity of victims)

Moscow/New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) At least six Indian sailors were killed and an equal number of them went missing after two fuel ships carrying Indian and Turkish crew members caught fire in the Kerch Strait, where the blaze was still raging following the accident on Monday, officials said on Wednesday.

Russian authorities on Wednesday resumed search operation for 10 missing sailors, including four Indians, in the Kerch Strait which separates Russia from Crimea.

One of the ships, the Candy, had a 17-member crew, including nine Turkish citizens and eight Indian nationals. The other one, the Maestro, had 15-member crew, including seven Turkish nationals, seven Indians and an intern from Libya.

"We regret to inform that there have been causalities among Indian seamen working on these ships," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement in New Delhi.

The deceased were identified as - Pinal Kumar Bharatbhai Tandel, Vikram Singh, Sarvanan Nagarajan, Vishal Dod, Raja Debnarayan Panigrahi and Karankumar Haribhai Tandel.

Six missing Indian sailors include Siddharth Meher, Neeraj Singh, Sebastian Britto Breezlin Sahayaraj, Rushikesh Raju Sakpal, Akshay Baban Jadhav and Anandasekar Avinash.

"Russian Maritime Agency and Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre Novorossiysk are continuing efforts to locate those listed as missing," the MEA said.

It said that arrangements are being made after completion of necessary formalities to bring back the bodies of the deceased to India. The repatriation of the other sailors is also being facilitated through Director General Communication Center, Indian Registry of Shipping, Mumbai.

Four Indian sailors - Harish Jogi, Sachin Singh, Ashish Ashok Nair and Kamleshbhai Gopalbhai Tandel - were rescued by the authorities.

"The two ships are still burning, the Spasatel Demidov vessel approaches them from time to time in order to throw water on them, but it cannot stay close to the fire all the time," a Russian Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transportation official was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

Turkey has said four of its nationals were killed, eight were rescued and four went missing after the fire.

Indian authorities said the Indian embassy in Moscow was in constant touch with the concerned Russian agencies to get more information on Indian nationals.

Both vessels were flying Tanzanian flags. One of them was a liquefied natural gas carrier and another one was a tanker. The fire broke out as the two ships were transferring fuel from one to the other.

Turkey's Milenyum Denizcilik Gemi company is believed to own both ships.

A local official of the maritime rescue service said that the Merkury tow boat, which brought the sailors to Crimea's Kerch on Tuesday, was also returning to the accident scene.

"Merkury is heading to the fire scene, it will be involved in searching [for the sailors] and extinguishing the fire," a spokesperson said.

A special vessel, Spasatel Demidov, is continuing the effort to put out the fire, which is still underway. The ships have not sunk because their important parts remain intact.

Citing a source in the Azov-Black Sea branch of the Maritime Rescue Service, the TASS said that attempts to extinguish the fire were failing because of burning LNG.

"Only LNG is burning at the moment. The fire engulfing parts of the ships has been extinguished but gas is coming out and burning, it is like a gas burner," the source said, adding that according to recent information, the Candy was carrying about 2,500 tonnes of LNG.

There is no information about the amount of gas carried by the Maestro but the two ships are similar in size, so it might be the same.

The condition of sailors who were rescued during the ship fire incident in the Kerch Strait causes no concern, head of Crimea's Disaster Medicine and Ambulance Center Sergei Olefirenko was quoted as saying by the TASS.

"The rescued sailors are being treated at Kerch City Hospital. Their condition is fair, there are no signs of deterioration. There is no danger to their lives," he said.

Meanwhile, Crimean Human Rights Ombudsperson Lyudmila Lubina said that border guards and consular workers were preparing documents for the rescued sailors.

"They are Turkish and Indian nationals. Border guards and consular services are working on documents so that they can return to their home countries," the ombudsperson added. PTI ZH/NSA AKJ ZH

ZH
London, Jan 23 (AFP) The British government on Wednesday played down concerns that Brexit is scaring away businesses after Sony said it was moving its European headquarters to the Netherlands amid a bitter political stalemate in London.

With just over two months to go until the scheduled date of Brexit on March 29 and no divorce deal in place, Britain faces the prospect of an imminent and chaotic departure from the European Union after 46 years of membership.

Interviewed by AFP at the World Economic Forum in Davos, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Britain remained "open for business".

Britain "is an attractive destination for foreign direct investment -- and that during the time where there's been uncertainty over Brexit," Fox said.

The Japanese electronics giant said it was moving its headquarters' registration by the end of March to avoid Brexit-related customs issues.

Its rival Panasonic last year also moved its European headquarters from Britain to the Netherlands over concerns about potential Brexit-related tax issues.

Several other Japanese firms, including megabank MUFG, Nomura Holdings, Daiwa Securities and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, have said they are planning to move their main EU bases out of London since the 2016 Brexit vote.

France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have all benefited from companies moving out of London, although the large impact predicted by some on Britain's financial sector has failed to materialise.

Britain has been in a state of political upheaval since last week when parliament rejected the withdrawal deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May with the EU, leaving the UK on course for a no-deal Brexit on March 29.

Brussels negotiator Michel Barnier on Wednesday warned the British government would still face a multi-billion euro divorce settlement with the EU under such a scenario.

Some anti-Europeans, opposed to a negotiated settlement with

Brussels, balk at the idea of settling a bill that their own government estimates at 39 billion pounds to cover outstanding obligations.

But Barnier, in interviews with several European newspapers, said the bill would still be settled.

"For the EU budget, we've always said one simple thing: the totality of the commitments made by the United Kingdom while still an EU member will be respected," the senior EU official said, according to Le Monde.

Separately in the inerview, given also to Luxemburger Wort and Poland's Rzeczpospolita, Barnier restated the consensus EU position that the withdrawal deal must stand and that it is up to May's government to find a way to save it.

But he suggested that Brussels would be flexible and modify the political declaration on hopes for future ties that was agreed alongside the binding withdrawal deal, if Britain were to compromise on May's positions.

"Things could start moving rapidly. This depends on the future relationship, like I already said. We are ready to be more ambitious if the British decide to shift their red lines, for example by remaining in a customs union, or participating in the single market," he said, according to the Luxemburger Wort.

The political crisis in London comes against a backdrop of growing economic gloom, with business leaders warning politicians of the effect of Brexit uncertainty.

A Confederation of British Industry survey of 326 manufacturing firms on Wednesday found that new orders flattened in the quarter to January and sentiment about both the business situation and export prospects tumbled.

Business concerns are particularly high over the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, which could immediately impose high tariffs on key exports such as food and cars.

A disruptive Brexit could also have a major impact for transport hubs such as ports and airports.

Eight out of ten leaders of UK ports admit to having made little or no Brexit planning, according to a survey by maritime and shipping practice Odgers Berndtson.

The survey found that only 16 percent of ports had in fact made any "significant or practical" plans for Brexit.

Some Brexit-backing business leaders have instead supported the prospect of Britain leaving without a deal.

Tim Martin, chairman of pub chain J D Wetherspoon said the country would "benefit from a free-trade approach". (AFP) SMJ

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New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Following are the top foreign stories at 1700 hours:



FGN4 PAK-MUMBAI-CASE

Pak court temporarily halts Mumbai attack case hearing

Islamabad: A Pakistani court has temporarily halted the hearing of the 2008 Mumbai attack case to let the prosecutor produce more witnesses. By Sajjad Hussain



FGN5 US-INDIAN-AUTOPSY

Indian couple who fell to their deaths from cliff in US were intoxicated: Autopsy report

New York: An Indian couple, who fell to their deaths in October reportedly while taking a selfie at a steep cliff in California's Yosemite National Park, were intoxicated at the time of the tragic fall, according to an autopsy report.



FGN8 PAK-LD SHARIF

Sharif's condition very serious, says his doctor

Lahore: Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's condition is "very serious" after heart complications and he should be shifted to hospital without any delay, his doctor said on Wednesday. By M Zulqernain



FGN11 THAI-LD ELECTION

Thailand to hold first election since coup on March 24

Bangkok: Thailand will hold a general election on March 24, authorities said Wednesday, the first national poll since a 2014 coup knocked out the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra. (AFP)



FGN1 US-CHINA-LEGISLATION

US lawmakers reintroduce legislation enforcing fair trade with China

Washington: Two US lawmakers -- one each from the Republican and the Democratic party -- on Wednesday reintroduced a legislation in the House of Representatives to safeguard American assets from Chinese influence and possession, as well as protect American businesses from China's tools of economic aggression. PTI



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Bangkok, Jan 23 (AFP) Thailand will hold a general election on March 24, authorities said Wednesday, the first national poll since a 2014 coup knocked out the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra.

The military has since rewritten the constitution, muzzled all dissent and appointed junta allies across the bureaucracy in a bid to scratch the Shinawatra clan from the Thai political scene and embed its own influence in the country's future.

"March 24 will be the election day," an Election Commission official told reporters, hours after the publication of a decree signed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn empowered the EC to give a date.

Thailand's history is pockmarked by coups, short-lived civilian governments and political crises. The poll date is set to ignite campaign season in a country where colourful and boisterous political rallies have often tipped into deadly violence.

The office of Prayut, who is also prime minister, called for an "environment of orderliness, civility and unity" -- although violence is unlikely among a public tired of political conflict.

An array of new parties -- including some aligned to the military, others to the still powerful Shinawatra clan -- have already begun meetings and recruitment as a blizzard of names are tossed up as likely future prime ministers.

Those include Prayut, who has spent months touring the country as he rebrands himself from a gruff man-in-Khaki to an avuncular civilian leader with a common touch. Yet he is deeply unpopular among many Thais, who have wearied of his hectoring style as well as a junta accused of running down the economy and doing little to address graft, poor education standards and the kingdom's chasmic social inequality.

Even if the junta's rivals do well in elections, any new civilian government is expected to be hamstrung by the military-scripted constitution. It allows for a fully appointed upper house and embeds 20-year strategies governing everything from the economy to education.

"You can call it hybrid democracy," said Somjai Phagaphasvivat, a political analyst at Thammasat University. But he cast doubt on whether the caustic divisions of the past had been healed.

"Under the coup... polarisation remained under the carpet; if you take the carpet up, the polarisation remains," he added.

Thailand last held a successful election in 2011. That catapulted the then-political neophyte Yingluck, the younger sister of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, into office as head of the Pheu Thai party.

Questions remain over Pheu Thai's enduring electoral pull among its vote banks in the poor, rural north and northeast without the star power of the brother-sister duo, both of whom are in self-exile. The party is "ready" for the vote, spokeswoman Ladawan Wongsriwong said.

"Pheu Thai is a big party and we have been trusted across the country for a long time."

But the long years of junta rule have decimated the networks of the Thaksin-affiliated "Red Shirts", while scores of key Pheu Thai politicos have been co-opted into the army-linked Phalang Pracharat party.

The Shinawatra clan sits at the core of Thailand's political rupture. Their supporters say they are the first political dynasty to address the aspirations of Thailand's poor in a sharply hierarchical kingdom where wealth is hoarded by the Bangkok business elite.

To their enemies among the ultra-royalist, conservative elite, they toxified Thai politics and society with graft, nepotism and populist handouts. Thaksin, a policeman-turned-telecom billionaire, was toppled by a coup in 2006 and went into self-exile in 2008 over a graft conviction.

Yingluck fled Thailand in August 2017 before she could be sentenced for criminal negligence linked to a rice subsidy scheme.

The siblings have crept back to prominence in step with the approach of elections.

Thaksin has launched a weekly podcast, sharing his views on everything from Bangkok's pollution crisis to the global economy.

"He still figures in Thailand as a popular hope," Chris Baker, a Thai history expert said, despite the "extraordinary myth" of the billionaire businessman as a kindred spirit of the common man.

Many Thais hold little enthusiam for elections, widely seen as stacked in favour of the military. "Under the junta the country is just going from bad to worse," said news vendor Lek, declining to give her full name. "Even if there is an election, it will likely be the same prime minister." (AFP) ZH

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Colombo, Jan 23 (PTI) Sri Lanka's Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday slammed the efforts being made to formulate a new Constitution, saying Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government does not have political moral to introduce it and should therefore hold fresh polls.

Rajapaksa was speaking in parliament on the report of the experts panel presented in the Constitutional assembly by Wickremesinghe two weeks ago.

Sri Lanka's former strongman, who attempted to overthrow Wickremesinghe with the help of President Maithripala Sirisena last year, critised the prime minister's statements that the country will remain indivisible and united even after the new Constitution is enacted.

Rajapaksa said the new Constitution would weaken the parliament and "immeasurably strengthen provincial legislatures".

Since the presentation of the report, Rajapaksa has been alleging that the government is drafting a new Constitution to appease the main Tamil political party - Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and that the new Constitution would harm the Sinhala majority community.

Rajapaksa said that the limitations imposed on the legislative power of Parliament is the turning point at which the unitary state becomes a federal state". He is also critical of the devolved police powers for provinces as advocated in the report.

He told Parliament that Wickremesinghe's government lacked political moral to introduce a new Constitution and therefore they should hold a fresh parliamentary poll.

It appears that the current constitutional process had run into the same historical problems which stopped efforts by various government to address the Tamil demand for political recognition.

Wickremesinghe maintains that there is no draft constitution and the process was still open for all concerned to make a joint effort to come up with a final draft.

The LTTE fought a bloody separatist war to create a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east provinces.

With the military defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the main Tamil political party has taken a much conciliatory attitude by shedding the demand for a separate state. PTI PMS AKJ PMS

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Palo Alto County Gaming Development Corporation will be holding the Thirteenth Annual Grant Award Celebration on Friday, March 1, at the Wild Rose Casino & Resort Ballroom.

Grant applicants, Public Officials and the Media are invited to attend.

Doors open at 6 p.m. with a cash bar and appetizers available.

The presentation of awards will be at 6:30 p.m.

You are asked to RSVP by February 15 to pacgdc@ncn.net. Please include the name of each person attending and the organization being represented.
(Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PR Newswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.)

MUMBAI, January 23, 2019/PRNewswire/ --

As a part of the initiative to raise skill awareness, IMS Proschool, one of the leading skill development and knowledge providers, is initiating '#skillyatra'to shrink the skill gap in India from Jan 14, 2019. As a part of this mission, they are riding over the bicycle to reach out to youth in colleges and 'mentor, motivate and guide' them about the awareness of right skills. This mission is also bringing together leading experts from various industries to interact with the students and help them to solve their career-related queries.







(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811524/IMSProschoolSkill_Yatra.jpg )



During the course of its first leg to bridge the skill gap in India, IMS Proschool will reach out to 2,000 young students and 10 colleges and will cover a stretch of 500 km spanning across Mumbai, Thane and Pune.



The first day of the initiative was flagged off by Dr. Vijay Joshi, Joint Director - Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) and was attended by leading experts from various industries. When asked about the need of skill awareness in light of changing dynamics, Dr. Vijay Joshi spoke about the pivotal role of upgrading skills along with the traditional education and the need to reimagine career paths to stay in sync with the dynamic work environment.



Mr. Kamlesh Sajnani, Director - IMS Proschool, who has been counselling and mentoring youth for over 2 decades now, is personally riding across the country and addressing the students. The first leg of ride commenced with the reputed college in Mumbai where the key role of skill development for building career was highlighted.



Talking about the unique endeavour, Mr. Kamlesh Sajnani, stated, "At IMS Proschool, we're continuously working towards imparting skills and knowledge in a holistic fashion. Looking at the digital era we live in, students blindly take every information written about skill-sets, career growth, etc. on the internet as gospel truth. The truth is that such information is too impersonal and there is a high probability that the students may face a dilemma while selecting the right option. On the other hand, while there are jobs, we are increasingly witnessing lack of adequate skill-sets due to insufficient information and absence of proper guidance. Skill Yatra is one of the ways to contribute to this transformation and bridge the gap by imbibing the awareness of inculcating relevant skills that can help them become job-ready. We're sure that this initiative will help us to take a few steps closer towards our goal of transforming the career paths of the youth across India."



Speaking about the objective of Skill Yatra and how it will help youth to develop global skills, Mr. Sanjay Chaudhary, CEO - IMS Proschool commented, "With global boundaries diminishing, there is an alarming need to get globally qualified to stay competitive. Fortunately, we are living in the days where we have access to the institutions offering global curriculum along with state-of-the-art facilities within the vicinity. And, Skill Yatra is a first-of-a-kind initiative to spread the word about what skill sets need to be learned, unlearned and relearned. Many engineers are still not able to bag jobs in their respective domains. By empowering the future leaders with this knowledge, we hope to enrich the professional lives of today's millennials."



The mission culminated on 19th Jan, 2019 and subsequently target other cities in the remaining parts of the country. As an ongoing part of the campaign, youth can share their queries surrounding the career growth and skill development to various industry experts.



Watch the video here.



Join Skill Yatra now to get an answer to all your queries and reinvent your career paths to take it to new heights.



About IMS Proschool



IMS, a leading education brand in the country, initiated skill development under Proschool. IMS Proschool has been helping young graduates acquire skills to enhance their employment potential. Over the past decade, IMS Proschool has trained over 35,000 students across various domains.



Source: IMS Proschool PWR

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(Eds: Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with NewsVoir. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.)

First of its kind Geometry cum Pencil Box will make life easier for kids







Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (NewsVoir)



Kokuyo Camlin, the premier stationery brand true to its commitment of creating innovative ways of making learning fun and better for children through its products launched the 2 in 1 Geometry and Pencil box at KidZania, the global indoor theme park at R City Mall, Ghatkopar. Mr. Satish Veerappa, CEO, Kokuyo Camlin, unveiled this first-of-its-kind product which would be very useful for the children.







The 2 in 1 Geometry and Pencil box is an ergonomically designed, sleek yet tough transparent geometry cum pencil box made out of high quality unbreakable plastic with slots for pencils and geometry instruments organized in separate compartments and at the same time offering space for more components. At a time when the kids are overburdened with a heavy school bag where there is a jostle for space, this product comes as a blessing as it will reduce the space taken in the bag and will serve the purpose of both  geometry and pencil box. The MRP of the product is an affordable Rs. 200 per piece. The product is a result of intensive research the company has been doing with children and teachers for last two years, which led to the strong consumer insight and product development.









Commenting on the launch, Mr. Satish Veerappa, CEO, Kokuyo Camlin, said, It gives me immense pleasure in launching the 2 in 1 Geometry Box. This innovation has been an outcome which has been enabled by inputs from academia and the students who regularly use geometry box. We believe that this product should not only aid kids in their curricular work but also overcome inconvenience of carrying 2 boxes almost every day.







An equally elated Mr. Saumitra Prasad, Chief Marketing Officer, Kokuyo Camlin said, Our team has always maintained a strong connect with children and teachers to get valuable insights and we are delighted to launch a product which should redefine the category of geometry box, and most importantly give delight to our consumers.







The products will be getting distributed across the country in the coming weeks before the big school season starts.







About Kokuyo Camlin Ltd.



Kokuyo Camlin Limited www.kokuyocamlin.com (formerly known as Camlin Limited) is in the business of marketing and selling of art materials and stationery products under flagship brands Camel and Camlin which have been in existence for more than 80 years. The company offers a wide range of products such as Fine Art materials, scholastic colours and stationery, hobby products, office products, writing and drawing instruments, adhesives and notebooks.



Image 1: Kokuyo Camlin launches 2 in 1 Geometry box







Image 2: 2 in 1 Geometry box PWR

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Chandigarh, Jan 23 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Wednesday directed officials to ensure hundred per cent compliance on Business Reform Action Plan - 2018 by January 31 to further improve the state's Ease of Doing Business (EODB) ranking.

The EODB ranking this year is expected to be out by March.

Khattar was presiding over a meeting to review the progress regarding implementation of Business Reform Action Plan-2018 here, an official release said.

As a result of industrial reforms, Haryana has made a considerable progress in terms of EODB ranking by climbing from the 14th spot to the third position in the country in 2018, Khattar said.

He directing the concerned departments to gear up to achieve the top position in EODB ranking this year.

"I will again review the progress of departments in this regard on February 6 and by then the pending reform points should be covered by the departments," he said.

This year, there will be 80 reform questions with weightage of 143 points, he said.

He said besides the compliance of reform questions, hundred per cent feedback of consumers getting various services would also form the basis of the ranking.

At the time of giving service through the portal of Haryana Enterprises Promotion Centre (HEPC), the consumers are asked to give feedback whether they are satisfied with the service delivery or not. PTI CHS ABM

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Beijing, Jan 23 (AFP) China on Wednesday accused the United States of "bullying behaviour" after US authorities confirmed plans to seek the extradition of a top Chinese telecom executive detained in Canada.

The United States faces a January 30 deadline to file an extradition request for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest last month sparked diplomatic tensions.

"We will continue to pursue the extradition of defendant Ms Meng Wanzhou, and will meet all deadlines set by the US/Canada Extradition Treaty," said US Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi on Tuesday.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested at Vancouver airport on December 1 at the request of the United States, which says she violated American sanctions on Iran.

She has since been freed on Can$10 million (US$7.5 million) bail and is awaiting a hearing on her extradition.

According to the agreement between the two countries, the United States has 60 days after an arrest made at its request in Canada to formalise an extradition request.

Once a request has been submitted, the Canadian justice ministry has 30 days to begin official extradition proceedings, though the process can take months or years.

China, which has defended both Huawei and Meng since the CFO's arrest, criticised the US extradition request as without "legitimate reason" and "not in conformity with international law".

"This is a type of technological bullying behaviour and everyone can clearly see the real purpose," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing.

The US "will stop at nothing to suppress Chinese high-tech enterprises and restrain China's legitimate development rights", she added.

Meng's arrest has sparked an escalating diplomatic crisis between Ottawa and Beijing.

Two Canadians have since been detained in China on national security grounds, in what is thought to be retaliation for the arrest.

A Chinese court also this month sentenced a Canadian man to death for drug trafficking following a retrial, a drastic increase of his previous 15-year prison sentence. (AFP)

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New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Union Minister Arun Jaitley has undergone surgery at a hospital in New York on Tuesday, sources said.

He has been advised at least two weeks rest by the doctors, they added.

Jaitley, who had unexpectedly left for the US on January 13, has undergone tests for soft tissue cancer, sources said. Even during this time, he has been active on social media writing Facebook posts and tweeting about current issues.

66-year-old Jaitley had undergone a kidney transplant surgery on May 14, 2018, at AIIMS here and had not travelled abroad since then.

He was earlier this month named the publicity head of the BJP for the upcoming general elections.

With barely a week left for the 2019-20 Budget, the government Wednesday gave additional charge of Finance and Corporate Affairs portfolios to Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal.

The Interim Budget for 2019-20 would be presented in Parliament on February 1.

Jaitley is now a minister without portfolio in the Narendra Modi government.

Earlier on May 14, 2018, when Jaitley underwent a renal surgery and was out of the finance ministry for nearly 100 days, Goyal was given additional charge of the finance ministry.

Jaitley had stopped attending office since the beginning of April 2018.

On August 23, 2018, Jaitley returned as Finance Minister and in the next few months, he had limited public interaction in order to ward off any infection.

He has been the Finance Minister in the Modi government right from the time it came to power in May 2014. He, however, was a minister without a portfolio between May 14, 2018, and August 23, 2018.

A Rajya Sabha MP since 2000, he was re-elected to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh last year. He is also the leader of the House.

Jaitley had undergone a bariatric surgery soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The surgery, to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition, was first performed at Max Hospital, but he then had to be shifted to AIIMS because of complications. PTI JD ANZ MR
'The Battered Wife', a fish and chips shop in Australia's Queensland, has been embroiled in a controversy since last year regarding its name. After facing backlash that the name of the shop trivialises victims of domestic violence, 'The Battered Wife' is gearing up to shut shop next week.

Carolyn Kerr, the owner of the shop in Innisfail, said she has been forced to shut down her business after being subjected to an abusive witch hunt.

Kerr defended the name last year when the issue was raised and has maintained that the shop raised awareness about domestic violence.

Carolyn Kerr has put her shop up for sale | Facebook

In a video posted on the shop's Facebook page, Kerr explains that there have been numerous attempts by people to have her shop closedfrom anonymous complaints of child exploitation, unfair staff wages to threats on throwing bricks at her window.

Kerr added that following anonymous complaints, an audit by Australia's Fair Work Commission is pending and audit insurance for the shop doesn't cover the same. She has put her business up for sale.

According to anti-violence group Our Watch, one woman is murdered in Australia every week by a current or former partner. Several people, including politicians, pointed out that the name 'The Battered Wife' is unacceptable and promotes violence against women.

However, along with the critics, supporters on social media have flocked to Kerr's aid, with some offering to start a GoFundMe page. They said that Kerr has the right to is run her business, and is not promoting domestic violence with a pun for the shop's name.
Sister Lucy Kalapura, who took part in a protest against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, has been served with a second notice by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC). She has been asked to give a written explanation to the Mother Superior by February 6. The second notice was sent after she failed to respond to the first one.

Sister Lucy had invited the wrath of the church leadership by participating in a street protest in Kochi by five nuns belonging to the Missionaries of Jesus demanding the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was accused of raping a nun.

READ: Kerala nun threatened with expulsion for protesting against Bishop Mulakkal



In its notice sent earlier this month, the FCC had accused Sister Lucy belonging to FCC's St Mary's province in Mananthavady, of leading a life, which was against the 'principles of religious life' and the rules of the congregation.

The congregation termed as 'grave violations' a nun taking licence, buying a car, taking a loan for it and publishing a book spending money without permission and knowledge of her superiors.

The latest notice raises more allegations against the sister, including being late to convent and not wearing the religious attire.

Bishop Mulakkal was arrested last year following allegations by a nun that he repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted her at a convent in Kottayam's Kuravilangad between 2014 and 2016, a charge he has continuously denied.

Sister Neena Rose, who is staying with the survivor nun, has also been asked to report to the Missionaries of Jesus congregation's Jalandhar convent and meet its Superior General Sr Regina Kandamthottu on January 26.

Recently, their congregation had issued transfer orders to four nuns who took part in the protests. The four nuns and the survivor nun had written to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking his intervention to ensure that their transfer orders were not effected till the trial of the case was over.
by Anesa McGregor

The Palo Alto County Board listened as Palo Alto County Sheriff Lynn Schultes explained the Countys need for a new jail during their regular meeting on Tuesday, January 15.

As you know, weve been having issues in the jail through the jail inspection for quite a few years, Schultes began. The jail inspector over the years, especially the last several years, continues to say in his letters after the jail inspection,

The Palo Alto County jail is an older jail that is outdated, does not meet the needs of the county with safety concerns for the prisoners, staff and public. Suicide potential is a huge concern. The design of the jail is a major liability to the county and the county should consider their options.

That was one of his last letters he wrote in August and he states those same comments for the last several years.

See The Reporter/The Democrat for the full story.
The Delhi Police has registered a case based on a complaint filed by the Election Commission regarding allegations of hacking of EVMs and rigging of polls levelled by self-proclaimed cyber expert Syed Shuja, officials said on Wednesday.

"Based on a complaint received from the Election Commission, an FIR has been registered under Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code (intent to cause fear or public mischief) at Parliament Street police station. Action will be taken as per the law," a senior police officer said.

The officer said that as Section 505 is non-cognisable, police have sought permission from court to initiate an investigation.

He also suggested that the case be investigated by a specialised agency as it requires an in-depth investigation and use of cyber tools.

On Tuesday, the poll panel had filed a complaint with the Delhi Police, asking it to register an FIR against Syed Shuja, who during a press conference in London on Monday, claimed that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be hacked, and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were rigged.

In its complaint, the poll panel had asked police to investigate the matter "promptly" for violation of certain IPC sections dealing with spreading rumour to "create fear" in the minds of people.
'You can put your head in sand like an ostrich, we will not': HC tells Centre
TheAssistant WASH Officer will be responsible for provision of professionaltechnical support on activities within the areas of Water, Sanitation &Hygiene (WASH) in the locations in the Areas of Responsibility (AOR).Furthermore, the incumbent will assist in formulating appropriate projectproposals and assistance activities that should be incorporated into therelevant operation programmes of UNHCR. The WASH Officer is supervised by theHead of Field Office and will receive the technical backup and support from theSenior WASH Officer in Branch Office- Kampala In order to ensure wider reachout to the refugees and other persons of concern and ensure their closeinvolvement in the delivery and management of the Water, Sanitation &Hygiene (WASH) services, the incumbent will need to establish an appropriateconsultative and monitoring framework which would draw the experience andexpertise of a wide range of actors both internally and externally.
JACKSONVILLE, Ill.  Unsolved mysteries have a way of fading from memory over time, no matter their peculiarity.

Illinois State Police lists 25 cold cases on its website, most involving victims who were killed and their killer never found. Some unsolved cases have stayed open for decades awaiting any evidence to shed light on the dead or missing person.

Jacksonville lays claim to at least two unsolved mysteries.

The case of Bruce Campbell Sr. has gained notoriety in its strangeness, having been published in books, spread through social media and documented in newspapers across the United States.

On April 13, 1959, Campbell and his wife traveled from their home in Northampton, Massachusetts, to Jacksonville to visit their son, Bruce Campbell Jr., then a chemistry professor at MacMurray College. The couple stayed in the Sandman Motel, where the elder Campbell was said to be visibly exhausted from the trip, according to an Illinois Times story in 2004.

The younger Campbell described his father as being rational but disoriented. His father reportedly had difficulty sleeping and his son arranged for him to see Dr. Ernst Chester Bone. The son later told police that he had been prescribed sleeping pills to combat the restlessness.

Journal-Courier archives report that Campbell became fixated on whether his car was locked that night, waking his wife late at night to ask if she knew if it was locked. His wife, Mabelita, assured him the car was locked and went back to sleep.

At 2:15 a.m., she woke on her own to find her husband was gone. The car was in place and all of her husbands belongings  including his money, shoes, glasses, keys and all of his clothes  were there, save for a bright-green pair of pajamas that the 57-year-old stock investment counselor had worn to bed.

Jacksonville Police Capt. Charles Runkel and Police Chief Ike Flynn quickly launched a search for the man, who had seemingly walked off into the night. A search by plane, helicopter, boat and on the ground turned up no trace of Campbell. About 150 MacMurray students joined the search on the first day, and by the third day classes were canceled and 235 college students had joined in along with 50 Jacksonville High School students.

Radio stations broadcast the description of Campbell and police took every lead they received seriously. Reporters at Campbells hometown paper, the Hampshire Gazette, also searched for clues.

A search crew covered a six-mile radius to find the missing 6-foot-4 man in green pajamas but no traces turned up. Reports of tall hitchhikers had come in from around the area, but none was Campbell.

We have looked every place that has been suggested and have run out of ideas on what to do next, Flynn told the Journal-Courier. A fortune-teller told us that Campbell was seven miles from Jacksonville, either northeast or northwest of the city. We have even looked there.

Mabelita returned to Massachusetts after two weeks, but her search did not end. The Campbell family spent their savings on private investigators and the case was turned over to the FBI, but none of them could locate Campbell.

Mabelita died in 2004.

Runkel was pessimistic that the case would ever turn up any new information. As of today, his suspicions are correct.

In 1967, Bruce Campbell Sr. was pronounced legally dead.

Another mystery never to be solved in Jacksonville is the odd case of John Doe No. 24 that was outlined in the book God Knows His Name: The True Story of John Doe No. 24 by Dave Bakke.

John Doe Boyd, whose headstone was bought by Mary Chapin Carpenter  who had written a song about the mysterious teenager  was found by police in October 1945 standing on a Jacksonville sidewalk and was committed to the Lincoln State School and Colony.

Boyd was a tall black man who was deaf, mute and was later believed to be blinded by diabetes. He made his way through the Illinois mental health care system and was described by staff as being pleasant. He loved to wear his favorite straw hat and carried around a backpack with a collection of knick-knacks wherever he went. He loved to dance at Christmas parties.

Caretakers at the Sharon Oaks Nursing Home, the last facility at which he stayed before his death in 1993, said he seemed far more intelligent than tests had led them to believe, according to an article in the New York Times.

Though nobody discovered anything about the mans history, clues did arise. Caretakers said he would pantomime accounts of jazz bars and circus parades and would scrawl the name Lewis.

When he died from a stroke following a surgery for colon cancer, a brief graveside service was held in Jacksonville, during which those in attendance had no parting words.

The mystery of John Doe 24 was never solved; his identity remains a mystery to this day.

He lives on in the texts that speculate his origins and Carpenters song, which tells his haunting tale.

While I drew breath no one missed me / so they wont on the day that I cease, she sings in John Doe 24. Put a sprig of crepe jasmine with me / to remind me of New Orleans.

I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945 / in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
On a brisk fall evening in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Robin Stamey sat in her bed and prepared to take her own life.

To her side lay a stack of goodbye letters Stamey had written to her loved ones, including her parents who lived hundreds of miles away. Gripping a catheter loaded with a deadly dose of Beuthanasia-D and Telazol, euthanizing agents the 46-year-old veterinarian had brought home from her nearby practice, she exhaled slowly and began to bid the world goodbye. But as she turned to look at Gracie, her apricot toy poodle, Stamey started to sob.

She couldnt do it.

The only person I couldnt explain my suicide to was my dog, who was sitting there looking into my eyes, Stamey recalled. Shes the reason Im still alive.

The path to rock bottom was an unexpected one for Stamey. A chipper animal lover who went back to school at age 36 to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian, she had previously worked in a few small clinics before eventually opening her own.

Pulling this off wasnt easy; Stamey graduated from veterinary school with more than $180,000 in student debt. Her first vet jobs paid about $40,000 a year, forcing her to work long hours to scrape together enough money to get by.

These financial troubles were compounded by the strains of the job, which is known for taking immense emotional, physical and mental tolls on its professionals. But like many people who work in medicine, Stamey had always thought of herself as a caretaker and was afraid to ask for help. Instead, she swallowed her frustrations and soldiered on, ignoring the creeping depression that began to cast a shadow over her life and her work.

In 2007, everything fell apart. Burnt out from a near-decade of grueling work, Stamey was struck by crippling fatigue and painful internal swelling that doctors couldnt explain.

This mystery ailment - diagnosed years later as Bartonellosis, or cat-scratch fever - stripped Stamey of the vigor that had once defined her, leaving her barely enough energy to crawl across her floor to feed her pet dogs, let alone run her practice.

Rumors that she was addicted to drugs and alcohol, fed by small-town gossip and social media exchanges between angry clients, spread through the community. Eventually, even friends turned on her.

I didnt lose an arm or a leg, so my illness and my withering mental health wasnt real to them, Stamey said, citing a tense phone conversation with an old friend as the moment that she decided to commit suicide. I was suffering, alone, and didnt know where to turn to for help. I just wanted it all to end.

Stamey said she felt isolated in her pain at the time, but she has since learned a startling truth: Veterinarians are in the midst of a suicide epidemic of massive proportions.

On Jan. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the first study to ever examine veterinarian mortality rates in America. The results were grim: Between 1979 and 2015, male and female veterinarians committed suicide between 2 to 3.5 times more often than the national average, respectively.

These findings not only reflect a higher suicide rate among all veterinarians but also suggest that women in the field are more likely to take their own lives, which starkly contrasts trends within the general population.

Considering the profession is becoming increasingly female-dominated (more than 60 percent of U.S. veterinarians and 80 percent of veterinary students are now female), the studys authors suggested this trend could foreshadow even more veterinarian suicides in the years to come.

Additional research, including a 2015 CDC study that found one in six veterinarians have considered suicide, have shaken the veterinary world to its core, exposing a growing crisis that few knew of and others had sought to ignore.

Stamey is among those who are standing up and sharing their stories, refusing to brush the problem aside.

It was devastating to realize how many of us are hurting, but its more important to know the cards are finally on the table, she said. We cant truly address this until we start being honest with ourselves and caring for one another.

To grasp the extent of their desperation, one must understand what its like to be a veterinarian today.

One of the most competitive medical fields - veterinary school acceptance rates are comparable with medical school acceptance rates, but prospective vets are often asked to complete more prerequisite undergraduate courses - its a profession that attracts intelligent, driven people who, above all else, want to help and treat animals.

As obvious as it is, that latter component is critical: People dont become veterinarians for prestige, power or high pay. But diving into passion-driven professions leaves the door open for compassion fatigue and burnout, and the veterinary field is riddled with mental health hazards. Unsurprisingly, two of the largest factors at play are money and death.

Veterinarian school is costly. Recent studies conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the industrys largest nonprofit advocacy entity, show that the average veterinary student now graduates with $143,000 or more in debt; about one in five leave school with more than $200,000 to pay off. Veterinary salaries, which start at about $67,000 a year, arent keeping pace with rising tuition rates.

Tuitions are going up, salaries are staying stagnant and the debt just compounds by the second. Ive got friends who have graduated with anywhere from $100,000 to over $500,000 of debt, said Lynn Green-Ivey, a San Antonio veterinarian who graduated from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Science. Many of those people with those higher debt loads are facing an insurmountable monetary challenge. They will die with that debt and its really, really sad.

The impact of these financial handicaps hits veterinarians far beyond their wallets. Pressed to pay off their debt while attempting to save money to buy homes, start families, or run their own practices, many vets find themselves routinely working well over 50 hours a week. Theyre even forced to pick up second jobs in some cases, taking on overnight shifts at emergency clinics or helping out at rescue shelters.

More often than not, youve got to work and work and work without a bathroom break and scarf your lunch down in three minutes or less just to keep up with the daily responsibilities, Green-Ivey said. The pressure to do more and to do better for your clients is constant and never-ending.

Were determined, passionate people who are used to putting our clients and our animals before ourselves. But these traits, which make us good doctors, are the same things that make us more susceptible to depression, anxiety and letting negative emotions chip away at us, Green-Ivey said.

Another key driver of this suicide crisis: Veterinarians are consistently asked to act as animal undertakers. Euthanizing their clients can cause what a recent study referred to as ethical conflict and moral distress, which arises when vets are forced to put aside their expert opinions and accept pet owners decisions about if and when to put their animals down. More so, this proximity to death makes dying seem like a reasonable way to ease suffering.

These factors create a troubling set of circumstances, especially since vets routinely have access to controlled euthanasia drugs. If youre armed with the knowledge of how to administer a quick, painless death and regularly experience trauma and stress, its clear how suicide can become an accessible option.

As this problem has become more publicly acknowledged, veterinarians have formed online support groups to discuss sensitive topics. Its all about providing a sense of community to people who feel isolated, said Carrie Rountree, a vet tech who lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Rountree created the Facebook group #TheFightingBluesForAmanda to honor her friend, Amanda Ryan, after Ryan killed herself in September. In less than two months, the groups membership grew to nearly 5,000 people and includes veterinary professionals from around the world.

Without online communities like this, I believe there would be increased risk and, consequently, even more tragic losses like Amandas, Rountree said. Now that we have tools like this to connect with people from all across the globe, this issue can no longer be ignored. Only through awareness can we create true change.

Smaller groups, including a Facebook group Robin Stamey called Veterinary Medicine: Staying Alive, are now sprinkled throughout social media platforms.

The organization at the crest of the industrys new wellness wave is Not One More Vet. An online support network thats emerging as a leading nonprofit in the field, NOMV has spearheaded a nationwide mental health education initiative and created a grant program to provide financial assistance to veterinarians who cant access affordable mental health care. It also provides temporary relief workers to ensure emotionally depleted vets can take a few days off to rest and recharge.

Were focused on so many things right now, but at the end of the day, our first priority is training people about what to do when someone expresses the desire to die, said Carrie Jurney, a veterinary neurologist and NOMV board member. I want that skill to no longer be necessary, but until we can dig our profession out of this crisis, the first step is that emergency, mental health CPR-level care.

These grass-roots efforts have caught the attention of the AVMA, the industrys largest player. In addition to amplifying the findings of the CDCs groundbreaking research, the AVMA has created a suite of mental well-being resources for its members, including free trainings on how to identify at-risk colleagues and direct them to professional support.

The organization has also begun leading discussions about work-life balance and wellness and provides guides to finding local mental health services, moves that reflect its mission to remove the professions long-standing stigma around the topic.

For really the first time ever, this subject is being talked about from the time people walk into veterinary school, through ones early career, all the way up to the top of the industry, said John de Jong, president of the AVMA. Thats the only way we can tackle this and make real progress: through a holistic, all-hands-on-deck approach.

Unfortunately, theres one X factor these organizations cant account for: relentless pressure from emotiona, sometimes misguided pet owners. Compared with dentists or doctors working in human medicine, veterinarians are more likely to have their professional opinions second-guessed or rejected by clients.

The experience is not just grating. It can lead to angry Internet attacks by impassioned clients, including instances in which viral social media attacks eventually led to targeted veterinarians committing suicide.

Shirley Koshi, a Bronx veterinarian who took her own life after facing a barrage of harassment and accusations of veterinary abuse in a dispute over a stray cat, is an especially haunting example of what many professionals worry could one day happen to them. The specter of Internet attacks has become so severe that the AVMA introduced a Cyberbullying Response Assistance Hotline in 2016.

Despite recent efforts to address veterinarian suicide, most people in the field - the AVMA and NOMV included - acknowledge this is only the beginning of the healing process. It will take time to understand the spectrum of factors fueling this phenomenon and gauge the success of still-developing prevention strategies.

But Stamey said she feels hopeful because the problem is no longer lurking in the shadows.

This isnt some abstract. These are real peoples lives; husbands, wives, sons, daughters, your friends, your family, your veterinarian, she said. Healing and perspective will take time, but for now we just need to listen and learn. Youd be shocked by whos struggling around you.
ALTON  OSF Saint Anthonys Health Center registered nurse April Dawn Ferguson sets examples for peers and community alike, particularly those overcoming disabilities.

April Dawn  named for the month and time of day she was born in 1989  has congenital hearing loss in both ears, but overcame this obstacle and challenge, not only through self-determination, but also because of strong support systems, such as family and health professionals. April, 29, of Godfrey, made a serious contemplative decision when she was age 20 to get a cochlear implant  a surgically implanted neuroprosthetic device  for which she has no regrets.

She started wearing hearing aids when she was 2 and at age 3, she attended a pre-school-age class for the hearing impaired, held at South Roxana Elementary School. April made such strides that, in short order, she went on to enroll in mainstream education, graduating from Alton High School in 2007.

Oddly enough, Aprils father, Kurt Ferguson, before he ever met his future wife and Aprils mother, Zoe Ferguson, felt what could be considered a premonition. In college  more than 10 years before Aprils birth  he learned sign language during the summer between his junior and senior year.

It all started in 1975, Kurt recalled. I felt I would probably date a deaf woman, so I took that class. I learned to read lips before I was five years old, because I had ear problems myself, having my eardrums lanced four times as a child (now children have tubes in their ears for such problems). A tonsillectomy fixed my hearing problems, but reading lips really became important, because April reads lips like crazy.

Aprils parents met when Kurt moved, from Iowa, to Alton, Illinois, in 1985, to work as an underwriter for Millers Mutual Insurance Co., where Zoe also worked. Kurt approached Zoe by saying in sign language, I think you are a beautiful girl. They began dating about three months later and, as the saying goes, the rest is history. Zoe learned sign language once the couple discovered their youngest child was hearing impaired.

When April was slow to start speaking, her parents began to wonder why.

At three years old, I couldnt get her to shut up, Aprils dad said, proudly.

April, born at Alton Memorial Hospital, underwent Auditory Brainstem Response testing at St. Louis SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital when she was 1.5 years old. She was diagnosed with moderate to severe hearing loss, at first using a temporary hearing aid that her parents moved from ear to ear, unsure what was enough aid to help her hear. Three months later, they ordered two hearing aids. At age 2, April also underwent speech therapy at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

We waited for the aha moment with the temporary aid, but nothing happened, Kurt and Zoe recalled to Health Watch.

Thereafter, April visited Cardinal Glennon once a year and excelled in school, as she does to this day, currently enrolled at SIUE, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She received an associates in science and an Associate of Science of Nursing in 2015 from Lewis and Clark Community College, in Godfrey, and now works full time at Altons Saint Anthonys intensive care unit.

For kindergarten, April attended school full days, with one half the day in class for hearing impaired, and one half in mainstream class, in the same building at South Roxana Elementary. Then, for first grade, she continued with mainstream education only, at the former J B Johnson Elementary School (in the Alton district, where AHS is now). In second grade, April received the annual Alton Administrators Excellence In Education Award, for which her teachers described her as well rounded and progressing in leaps and bounds. At the time, only 34 students received Alton Administrators awards, out of more than 7,000 students.

April also achieved perfect attendance during first and second grades that her parents fondly chalk up to Aprils FOMO  fear of missing out. If not for her dad making her stay home from school one day in third grade due to a high fever, she would have had perfect attendance throughout her primary and secondary school years, with the exception of one-half day in junior high and an excused absence on senior skip day in 12th grade. And, she achieved perfect attendance in nursing school.

When I told her she wasnt going to school that day in third grade, the look on her face said it all, her dad said. She cried.

Additionally, Aprils early education included playing the violin starting in fourth grade, making first chair that first year; cheerleading in seventh and eighth grades; and, dance team during high school.

In sixth grade, when students move from classroom to classroom, April decided to discontinue using a Phonic Ear device, which she had utilized since starting her primary education.

I was never inclined or encouraged to hide my hearing impairment, but I had to get a microphone from each classroom, each time, and I was over it, she recalled to Health Watch. I relied on lip reading, my hearing aids and communication at the beginning of each year with my teachers.

The next hurdle April encountered, at age 16, was finding her first part-time job, for which those hiring at the time did not seem keen to hire a hearing-impaired applicant, she noted.

I applied, in person, for tons of jobs, said April, who finally got her first job, readily hired by Ferguson family friend Bill Huebener at Huebener Dairy Barn in Brighton, where she worked from 2005 through 2008; she worked at an Alton chain restaurant from 2008 through 2013, with help from her sister, Alicia Ali (Ferguson) Berns, who already worked there, and from Bills wife, Gayle, since the restaurants management seemed hesitant to hire her.

Then, while still attending school at LCCC, where April enrolled in fall 2007, she worked at Schnucks Pharmacy, for which she became a certified pharmacy technician and worked from 2013 through 2016. She began her first nursing position at Saint Anthonys in 2016.

April still uses facial expressions of others to pick up on social cues. Once, as a child, she asked her dad what was wrong; he said, Nothing, why? She explained that he wasnt smiling.

So, ever since, I make sure Im smiling, he said. She has always cared about the feelings of others, which has worked perfectly in providing TLC to her patients. She was destined to be a nurse.

April, a multiple nominee for the international nursing honor, the Daisy Award, who won once in recent years, said the same about herself. She also was voted Best Nurse in the Riverbend in The Telegraphs Best of The Best contest last fall.

I dont think I had any one inspiration to choose my profession, she noted. Ive always been an empathetic being and always been drawn to the hospital setting. I love getting to put my touch on a persons journey in their life.

Reach Jill Moon at 618-208-6448 and Twitter @jill_moon.
Illinois new governor wants to make the Land of Lincoln the most progressive state for womens reproductive rights.

To mark the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to legalize abortion in the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, Gov. J.B. Pritzker championed a bill that was signed by the previous governor more than a year ago.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 40 in September 2017. The measure was passed that May, but a procedural hold kept the bill from Rauner. His decision to sign the bill into law rocked his Republican base and was a leading reason he was challenged by a Republican lawmaker in the following primary. Rauner said at the time that the measure ensured no woman, regardless of socioeconomic status or whether they worked for the government, would be denied the right to an abortion.

Pritzker signed an executive order to fully implement all the provisions of Rauners abortion law Tuesday at a Planned Parenthood of Illinois in Chicago.

Pritzker said there were concerns the previous administration wouldnt fully implement the law that allowed state employees to get abortion coverage in their health insurance.

We had some indications, but the most important thing is were going to make sure that every woman in state government has the coverage that she deserves, Pritzker said.

Pritzker also promised to make Illinois the most progressive state for womens reproductive rights.

Illinois Family Institute Executive Director David Smith, who opposes abortion, and said the policy will exasperate the states decline.

No state prospers economically with a declining demographic and thats what we have here in Illinois, a declining demographic, Smith said.

Pritzker said the bill removed a trigger law that if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade Illinois would have instantaneously become an anti-choice state, Pritzker said. Thats why this bill was so critically important.

Smith said if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, he would expect the Illinois law would be challenged in court.

That fundamental right to life is universal, Smith said. It isnt protected by some feckless law that lawmakers passed.

Smith said if the U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade on a technicality, Illinois law could still stand. But if the court were to say the right to life is fundamental, that would mean Illinois law would violate the highest court in the land.

Although taxpayer-funded abortion is law in this state, the Catholic Conference of Illinois believes laws should protect and respect all Illinois citizens  born and unborn, Catholic Conference of Illinois Executive Director Robert Gilligan said.

The Thomas More Society, an anti-abortion group, has already challenged House Bill 40 in court at the state level. That lawsuit could go to the Illinois Supreme Court.

The Thomas More Society maintains lawmakers abused the legislative process in passing the measure, and lawmakers never passed a constitutionally required revenue estimate to fund the budget that pays for abortions.
GODFREY  A Missouri man accused in the June murder of his wife in the presence of their young daughter was arrested at the Redwood Motel in Godfrey, where he registered under his own name, according to newly-released documents.

Rico Terrell Clark, 28, of Union, Missouri, is facing charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the June 29 shooting death of his wife in an Elsberry, Missouri motel room hed taken their daughter to.

Authorities in Missouri contacted Clarks stepmother, who gave them his cellphone number, according to documents. The phone was pinged within a 10-mile radius of Godfrey. Officers did a search of motels in the area and located a Dodge Magnum matching the description of Clarks vehicle in the parking lot of the Redwood Motel, 5609 Godfrey Road.

The management of the Godfrey motel confirmed that Clark had checked in there on June 30.

Clark became a suspect shortly after the shooting. An affidavit filed in Madison County Court claims video surveillance at the Ellsberry motel showed Clark, his daughter and the victim enter at the same time, but only Clark and his daughter were seen leaving. The surveillance camera also provided a view of the vehicle, later found in Godfrey.

Once the victims body was discovered in the Elsberry motel, police in that community activated the Major Case Squad.

Clark was held temporarily in the Madison County Jail, where police obtained swabs of his DNA, possible gunshot residue and fingernail scrapings.

He was then returned to Missouri to face the charges.

The victim, Megan Moody, 29, also known as Megan Clark, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds. Her obituary says she was from Middletown, Delaware and worked as a clinical nursing assistant.

Her death has left a deep void in many hearts and she will be forever missed, the obituary reads.
The Missouri attorney generals office is partnering with the U.S. attorneys office in St. Louis to address high rates of violent crime in St. Louis.

Attorney General Eric Schmitt and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen announced details of the Safer Streets initiative Tuesday at a news conference.

As the states chief law enforcement officer, I cannot stand idly by as our communities and lives are torn apart by violence and when people feel unsafe, said Schmitt, a native of St. Louis County.

The plan calls for three to five attorneys from Schmitts office to be deputized as assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute violent crimes such as homicides and carjackings in the St. Louis region.

St. Louis city has one of the nations highest murder rates, even though the number dropped last year. The city had 187 homicides in 2018, compared to 205 in 2017. The city also recorded 375 carjackings in 2018  more than one a day.

Schmitt said the effort initially will focus on an area of north St. Louis where violent crime is rampant, but the prosecutors also will be available for cases elsewhere in the city and in St. Louis County, which also has seen a spike in homicides in recent years. The county had 60 homicides last year, up from 55 in 2017 and 38 in 2016.

U.S. Attorney Eric Jensen called the partnership unprecedented and said that the new attorneys will allow for 150 to 250 additional federal prosecutions each year.

Many murder cases can be prosecuted in federal court rather than state court, Jensen said, giving as an example killings involving a drug conspiracy.

The U.S. attorneys office in recent years has taken on an increasing number of homicide and gun crime cases as part of a focus aimed at curtailing violent crime. Its an issue of vital importance to St. Louis, Schmitt said.

Too often this regions image is defined by homicides, robberies and carjackings, he said.

Schmitt also has met with St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, police chief John Hayden and St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell to discuss ways to make the region safer, Schmitt said.
SPRINGFIELD  An Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) campaign is looking to hear from residents who have lost loved ones or otherwise been affected by poor driving choices or distracted driving.

Stories will be used as a part of Life or Death Illinois, a campaign whose purpose is to raise awareness about the dangers surrounding distracted driving.

Life or Death Illinois encourages residents to share their stories that communicate the reason for choosing safe driving habits, or describe a moment when a good or bad choice prevented or contributed to a roadway tragedy, either through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or their website.

The campaigns main focuses include drunk or buzzed driving, seat belt safety, work zone safety, motorcycle safety, pedestrian or bike safety and using your phone while driving.

Residents sharing their stories are also asked to use the #LifeOrDeathIllinois hashtag on social media platforms to spread additional awareness about campaign.

The biggest impact we can have on people is when we are sharing these stories about people who have a real name and a real face to them, said Guy Tridgell, Director of Communications at the Illinois Department of Transportation. These accidents involve someones mother, father, child, neighbor or coworker.

In 2018, 1,047 people died on Illinois roads, according to provisional IDOT statistics, marking the third consecutive year of more than 1,000 traffic fatalities.

Tridgell says that these numbers mirror a trend in nationwide traffic fatalities.

These are some of the highest totals we are seeing in a decade, Tridgell said. But it doesnt matter, one fatality is too much.

In response to the record-breaking number of traffic fatalities, Life or Death Illinois was launched by IDOT in May of 2018. In the beginning, the campaign was just tasked with creating simple and direct messages about the seriousness of driving.

However, earlier this month IDOT announced they would be expanding the campaign by using stories from real accident survivors and family members.

Made possible by federal traffic safety fund administered by IDOT, Life or Death Illinoiss campaign will run throughout the year on various media platforms, including digital billboards, social media, online platforms and traditional radio and TV safety messages.

For more information about how to submit a story, visit LifeorDeathIllinois.com.

Reach reporter Riley Newton at (618) 208-6460.
The Jacksonville Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association presented the Jacksonville Police Department with an $8,000 donation Tuesday toward the purchase of its new canine.

The donation will help cover a majority of the $9,000 cost for 18-month-old Ares. Police dog Bo was retired in November because of health concerns.

Police Chief Adam Mefford said the department approached the Citizens Police Academy for help last year.

The remaining $1,000, as well as the cost of training, will be covered by the police department.

Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association President Tom Cisne said the group raises money each year to help with different needs or programs for the police department.

It is part of our goal to support the police department in any way we can, Cisne said.

A large portion of the funds came from the organizations annual Central Illinois Policemans Ball.

Because of the groups help with fundraising, Mefford said it was going to name the dog, but Ares has already been socialized and responds to the name.

Ares is in Jacksonville and will go through additional training before joining the police force, including 10 weeks training for the dog and its handler at the Illinois Police Academy.

Ares has already receive some basic training and police commands, but theyll go for some additional and more advanced police training, Mefford said.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
ALTON  The Fashion Lane - A Mobile Boutique is THE food truck of fashionistas.

The Fashion Lane, a retail store on wheels, makes fashion more accessible, bringing the latest trends to you. Since The Fashion Lanes debut a little more than a year ago, its success made it possible for The Fashion Lane brick-and-mortar retail studio to open in November at 302 E. Broadway in Alton, Illinois. Personal shopping appointments and private sip and shop parties can be booked for either the mobile boutique to come to you or you can book a party in the studio.

The Fashion Lane co-owner Andrea Abbott is no stranger to innovative approaches to retail. She started Altons Gift Box, which she sold four years ago, a non-traditional retailer that carries regional vendors all under one roof, but in a traditional way.

I had the Fashion Lane truck come to the Gift Box to do an open house for me, Abbott said. I totally fell in love with the truck and the idea.

Though, at the time, Abbott planned to be a more-at-home mom, The Fashion Lane lured Abbott back into the fashion retail fold. The trucks first owner, a mother of four, eventually put The Fashion Lane up for sale.

I contacted her immediately, Abbott said.

Now, Abbott, of Alton, along with her co-owner cousin, Stephanie Bond, of Dallas, scour the Dallas fashion mart to bring the hottest trends to the Midwest, specifically all over the St. Louis metropolitan region. Abbott regularly travels with The Fashion Lane doing trunk shows, residential parties, festivals and corporate lunch hours  like the popular food truck concept.

Its fabulous, Abbott said. We carry the latest trends in clothing, accessories, jewelry and gifts.

Abbott researches shopping to see what is popular and what people are buying.

The clothes in the truck will change on a regular basis, she explained. You will rarely see that super-cute shirt twice. But, you will see another fabulous shirt the next time you visit. We keep it fresh and exciting for every visit.

The pair of cousins also use the truck as a vehicle for fundraising.

We can visit schools or companies or even someones home, Abbott said. We are very excited to help raise money for the community, eager to give back.

The Fashion Lane also has incentive for home party hosts  free clothes.

Follow The Fashion Lane Truck on Facebook or email thefashionlane2017@yahoo.com for more information or to arrange a home party. The Fashion Lane retail studio hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and from 12 to 4 p.m. Sundays. The retail store is located at 302 E. Broadway, Alton.

Reach Jill Moon at 618-208-6448 and Twitter @jill_moon.
The Illinois Department of Human Services agrees with findings that a South Jacksonville man is unfit to stand trial on a murder charge in the death of his mother and an attempted murder charge in an attack on his brother.

Glenn C. Van Avery, 25, was deemed unfit to stand trial in October after a Springfield psychologist found him unable to aid in his own defense based on a history of mental illness. Van Avery then was taken to a DHS facility for treatment and evaluation.
A Taiwanese woman known for posting pictures of herself in a bikini after completing hikes was found dead Monday after falling from a mountain, according to media reports.

Gigi Wu, 36, fell Saturday into a gorge 100-feet deep in Taiwan's Yu Shan National Park. Wu called a friend for help via satellite phone after the fall and was unable to move due to lower body injuries, CNN reported. Rescuers began searching for Wu the next morning but were unable to reach her because of weather conditions. A helicopter was also deployed in the search but could not land where Wu fell.
Do the Middle Ages hold the key to saving the world? "The Kid Who Would Be King" suggests so. This contemporary, Arthurian-themed adventure encourages kids of today to look to the legends of the past - and to the lessons of medieval chivalry - in their search for a peaceful future.

The British writer and director Joe Cornish, who wrote the screenplays for "Ant-Man" and "The Adventures of Tintin," is back in the director's chair for the first time since his 2011 indie thriller "Attack the Block." Here, he views King Arthur's court from the vantage point of a divided and leaderless time (a.k.a. present-day England). For the most part, the conceit works, delivering a hopeful tale about the struggle between good and evil in a chaotic world.

"Kid" centers on Alex (Louis Ashbourne Serkis), a British schoolboy who is fed up with the bullies (Tom Taylor and Rhianna Dorris) who have been picking on him and his friend Bedders (Dean Chaumoo). He also longs to reconnect with his father, who left behind a book of Arthurian legends before he mysteriously disappeared.

But everything changes when Alex discovers a sword in an abandoned construction site - a sword that turns out to be Excalibur, the blade of lore that can be pulled from the stone only by the "true king." Can this nerdy little boy possibly be that person? If so, he will have to face off against Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson of "Mission Impossible: Fallout"), an evil sorceress who thrives on the discord that runs rampant in the world.

Spoiler alert: He can. But only by emulating King Arthur, and by teaming up with his tormentors and following the guidance of a strange new schoolmate named Merlin (a delightfully bug-eyed Angus Imrie). Merlin, as it happens, is also a great sorcerer.

Featuring a host of CGI effects - sword-wielding trees, battalions of skeletal monsters, and a serpentine Morgana - "The Kid Who Would Be King" harks back, stylistically, to the work of stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen. And there are other nods to movies of the past: In the address of a fast-food joint, Cornish includes a sly reference to the filmmaker John Boorman, director of the 1981 Arthurian epic "Excalibur."

But the movie drags a bit when it sends Alex on a quest to find his father. Although this journey - a scenic detour that leads to historic Glastonbury Tor - enables our young heroes to tap into their still-developing strengths, it's ironic that it seems to lead the director astray from his own storytelling prowess.

Cornish is at his best when Alex and his ragtag group stick closer to home, in an echo of Cornish's 2011 film, which revolved around a group of high-schoolers warding off an alien invasion. (It may as well have been called "Attack the School.") Like that (far gorier) film, this one also features a group of young people who put aside their differences to face an adversary. But "Attack the Block" had a raw energy that's largely missing here - in part due to "Kid's" PG rating and its younger target audience.

Still, the movie has a kind of optimism that is reflected in the new generation of English thespians in its young cast: Imrie is the son of actress Celia Imrie, and Serkis is the son of actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis. Patrick Stewart - a veteran of Boorman's "Excalibur" who plays Merlin in his true, i.e., mature, form - represents the old guard.

"The Kid Who Would Be King" holds out no promise of an easy fix for the ills of the modern age. It does however suggest that our children may be the once and future kings that save us - but only if they follow the code of their elders.

- - -

Two and a half stars. Rated PG. Contains fantasy action violence, scary images, mature thematic elements, including some bullying, and strong language. 120 minutes.

Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.
VANCOUVERFormer Vancouver School Board trustee Ken Clement is among seven people charged with seeking sexual services from youth in the wake of a police sting last summer.

Police announced the sting  which started in June 2018 and led to 47 arrests over the course of two months  on Wednesday morning. The investigation is ongoing, and more charges are expected, police said.

Clement was charged with communicating to obtain sexual services from a minor on June 27. He resigned as a school board trustee, and as a candidate in the 2018 municipal election, the following week, citing personal reasons. Clement pleaded not guilty on Dec. 7 and is scheduled for a trial starting Oct. 29.

He could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday. StarMetro left messages with staff at his office, sent him an email and went to the home address Clement listed on campaign finance forms. The voicemail attached to the cellphone number provided by staff at his office is full. The lawyer listed on his court records declined to comment.

Along with Clement, the list of accused from the B.C. Prosecution Service includes Mario Celo Amistad, Jim Malmros, Jun Jie He, Nikolaos Dais, Donald Shroeder and Mehran Arefi.

Dais is a former teacher at Little Flower Academy, a private all-girls Catholic school in Shaughnessy. Principal Diane Little confirmed Dais worked there but has retired. The schools website lists him as the head coach of the Grade 8 basketball team as recently as the 2017-18 season.

He is listed in the online registry of B.C. teachers as holding a valid professional certificate that expires on June 30, 2019. He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Little said she had not heard about the charges until she was contacted by media Wednesday.

Obviously, I am stunned. I am shocked. I hope theres no truth to this, she said. I hope theres no kids thats ever been hurt by anyone, you know?

Rob Fleming, minister of education, was unavailable for comment, but a statement from the ministry says it will provide any assistance we can to police and prosecutors on these disturbing arrests and affirmed that student safety is its No. 1 priority.

Nothing is more heinous than the sexual exploitation and abuse of a child, it reads.

Details about the others accused could not be confirmed Wednesday.

The sting  a joint operation between Vancouver police and RCMP  saw investigators post decoy advertisements on web escort listings and social-media platforms for sexual services. Once prospective johns reached out, investigators posing as a girl between the ages of 15 and 17 would reveal their age.

The vast majority would turn down the offer, said Vancouver police Deputy Chief Const. Laurence Rankin. Some of the men who refused to continue also referred the youth to anti-trafficking support services.

But whats disconcerting is that the small group of men ... (when they found out that) the person they believed they were communicating with was underage, they were more excited about that, Rankin said.

Once the johns agreed on the sex act and the price, they were directed to a hotel room in Vancouver.

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In the hotel room, they found VPD detectives and uniformed officers instead of teenage girls, said Rankin.

The men arrested came from all walks of life, Rankin said. Along with the two school figures, the list includes a firefighter and a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang.

He added that, during the operation, word got around on some sex-work and escort review boards that police in Vancouver were in the midst of doing a sting against those seeking to buy sex from minors.

There was certainly a lot of messaging going back and forth that the Vancouver police were out doing this sting. But I guess the drive for some of the men was such that they would disregard those warnings, Rankin said.

The arrests were made under a section of the Criminal Code enacted in 2014, which criminalized the demand side of sex work as well as third parties  targeting johns and pimps  rather than sex workers themselves. (Obtaining or communicating to obtain sexual services from youth was illegal under different laws prior to 2014.)

Both the former and current laws have been widely criticized by sex-worker advocacy groups. They argue the laws make it more difficult for sex workers to access services and supports while doing little to address root causes of commercial sexual exploitation.

The Vancouver Police Department had laid very few charges under that section of the Criminal Code since 2014, following enforcement guidelines it reached in consultation with community groups. According to Statistics Canada, police in Vancouver reported a total of 93 incidents related to commodification of sexual activity violations between 2013 and 2017, with a total of 11 adults charged.

Police reported only one adult charged for obtaining sexual services for consideration from person under 18 years in Vancouver over that period of time.

Kerry Porth, a leading Vancouver activist for sex-worker rights who is an adviser with Pivot Legal Society, feels uncertain about whether the sting operation will help young people being exploited in commercial sex.

I tend to think there are better ways of addressing the issue, Porth said in an interview.

She said addressing root causes of commercial sexual exploitation, including improving inadequate child-protection programs, should be the focus of protecting vulnerable young people.

Supporting families to stay together, reducing poverty for families, for children, I think these are all critical issues that need to be looked at, she said. Thats 47 individuals (the police arrested). Im quite sure there are hundreds more.

With files from Cherise Seucharan

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VANCOUVERConservative candidate Jay Shin says Jagmeet Singh is trying to sell conservative ideas as his own following the NDP leaders announcement of his highly anticipated housing proposal in Burnaby South on Monday.

Shortly after the press conference, Shin, a corporate lawyer making his first run at politics, slammed the plan in a release saying Singh endorsed a decade-old Conservative budget measure.

Jagmeet Singh is using the Burnaby South byelection to save his political life, he told StarMetro. If hes taking credit for this as a new NDP idea, people already know we introduced it.

Singh proposed three swift measures to spur private investment in affordable housing: stop applying GST to the cost of building new affordable units, provide subsidies to renters that spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing and double the first-time homebuyers tax credit. He says that will help build half a million new affordable units across Canada over the next 10 years.

But Shin criticized Singh for including the tax credit, saying it was introduced during the Harper era amid a global financial crisis.

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The First-Time Home Buyers Tax Credit was introduced in the 2009 federal budget as a relief measure. It works out to $750. Singh wants to expand it to $1,500 and has consistently maintained the messaging that affordability is a No. 1 concern in Burnaby South.

Our plan is a bold approach to tackle the roots of the housing crisis while offering immediate relief to those who need it most, and we will use every tool in the tool box, reads a statement from Singh.

I welcome support from anywhere, although people in Burnaby will have trouble believing the Conservatives suddenly care about housing. After all, they helped create the crisis were in today.

Peter Julian, NDP finance critic and MP for New Westminster-Burnaby, blasted Shins assertion that Singh took conservative policy, calling it laughable.

They simply have no credibility whatsoever. They didnt build affordable housing units. They refused to reverse the Liberal cuts to the housing program, Julian said. Both the Liberals and Conservatives are equally to blame.

He argued that the Conservatives made harsh cuts to services, and those cuts have contributed to the current record-high Canadian family debt load.

Julian said the tax credit is the smallest of the three proposed tools in the box  and needs to be used in conjunction with the other measures to effectively tackle housing affordability. In addition, the credit was included in Singhs proposal as a method of playing catch up to the chronic inaction on housing.

And the proposal was to, in fact, double the tax credit, he added.

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Shin did not comment on Singhs proposal to double the credit, but he insisted that the 2009 tax credit saved Canadians millions. And while he agreed that affordability is a top priority in Burnaby South, he argued that lowering taxes is the best way to make housing financially accessible.

We need to make sure people keep more money in their pockets, so that they can afford more, he said. Without Singh detailing at what cost, thats going to cost taxpayers even more. Its another politician who is using Burnaby South as his political bus stop.

Shin also blasted former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart  who vacated to run for mayor of Vancouver  for failing to do anything to make housing affordable in his seven-year term.

And, he added, the Liberal government broke all of its 2015 campaign promises on housing affordability. Thats why electing another Liberal government would only result in larger deficits and increased taxes, Shin said.

Meanwhile, Toronto Liberal MP Adam Vaughan, the governments point man on housing, said after Singhs announcement on Monday that the Liberal government has spent close to $5.7 billion on housing.

Vaughan told reporters the government considered lifting the GST on building costs  one of Singhs suggested measures  but finance officials worried there would be no way to ensure an affordable housing project didnt evolve into a more upscale project, with the government effectively subsidizing it.

He knocked the upfront proposal for immediate investment, saying it would bankrupt housing providers right across the country.

The NDP lashed back at Vaughan in a press release on Tuesday, saying he cant seem to keep track of which promises his government has kept and which ones theyve abandoned. Thats in response to a tweet from Vaughan that read: Promise was kept. GST rebate for affordable rental units are in $17b co-investment fund. Builders get rebate through grant.

The Liberal Party did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Julian said Vaughans comments are an admission that the Liberals dont intend to take immediate action. And to respond to the size and scope of the crisis, he argued, its necessary to build units now.

The response is very much in the Ottawa bubble, which is trying to spin their way out of something that has such a profound impact, he said. It shows the discrepancy of what people are saying on the ground. People will be judging both the Liberals and Conservatives in Burnaby for this byelection.

The Burnaby South federal byelection takes place Feb. 25.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Ontarios sex-ed curriculum does not do an adequate job of teaching students about consent, Education Minister Lisa Thompson told a newspaper in her riding.

The issue of consent was one of the biggest concerns parents spoke about during the provincial governments recent, massive public consultations on education reforms, Thompson told the Owen Sound Sun Times.

People said loud and clear  we dont talk about consent enough ... and that is one thing that you will see evolve and well get it right once and for all, Thompson, who represents Huron-Bruce, told the newspaper in an interview earlier this month.

During last years election, Doug Ford promised voters a Progressive Conservative government would repeal the 2015 sex-ed curriculum and hold parental consultations  a move to appease social conservatives who opposed the updated lessons brought in by former premier Kathleen Wynne.

Since taking office, the government has scrapped the 2015 curriculum and replaced it with one based on the one introduced back in 1998  when there was no cyberbullying and sexting, years before gay marriage was legal and when gender issues were not taught.

(The Ford government is now facing court cases from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario over use of the outdated lessons, as well as human rights challenges from families of LGBT youth.)

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Last fall, Thompson launched online and telephone-town-hall consultations, which drew some 72,000 participants.

The data that we received is so rich  its going to inform every aspect of education for years to come, she told the paper in the Jan. 9 interview.

I cant even begin to share the depth of data that well have to draw upon, adding that other key topics included financial literacy and standardized testing.

Job skills, life skills and the lack that has been in place in terms of supporting our curriculum was both spoken about incredibly clearly and were going to be addressing that, she also said.

Were going to be moving on the position, opinions, and thoughts and proactive thoughts that were shared for years to come.

Consent was also a key issue in 2015. Before that curriculum was finalized, then-premier Wynne asked that it be reworked to include consent, given how sexual harassment and violence was in the spotlight.

She asked that lessons on healthy relationships and gender equality also be taught in schools.

And now, amid the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, consent and sexual violence are top of mind.

One sexual health educator has told the Star that while no means no was once the mantra, its now yes means yes  with consent before, and during, sexual activity.

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The 2015 curriculum introduced consent in the primary grades by teaching children about respecting their bodies and standing up for themselves. In Grade 6, healthy dating and respect were covered, and students were taught that silence does not equal consent.

Thompson has said changes to the curriculum in many areas are expected to be in place by this fall.

Correction  January 24, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the Ford government is facing court cases from the Ontario Civil Liberties Association and the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario. In fact, the government is facing lawsuits from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the ETFO.

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Ontarios rape crisis centres are requesting a meeting with Attorney General Caroline Mulroney, urging the provincial government to keep a promise made to them almost a year ago for a boost in funding.

That promise, made by the previous Liberal government last March, was a 33 per cent increase in funding over three years to address skyrocketing demand for sex-assault services.

Despite this commitment  and our attempts for information on it from regional and provincial government representatives  this funding increase has yet to become a reality, states the letter from the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres and its French-language counterpart, representing 37 centres across the province.

Many sexual assault centres across Ontario have seen a significant influx of new referrals, crisis line calls, intake for counselling services and requests for public education sessions. Awareness of sexual violence is increasing  a significant and positive achievement. With the rise of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, community-based sexual assault centres have seen a significant upswing in calls and requests for support.

The letter, signed by Nicole Pietsch and Maira Martin, also asks why Womens Issues Minister Lisa MacLeod was able to announce $11.5 million increase to shelters and counselling services, yet Ontario sexual assault centres and other violence support services have not yet seen new resources.

In one year alone, centres have been swamped dealing with more than 50,000 calls, up from almost a decade ago when they took 30,000 such calls.

Jesse Robichaud, spokesperson for Mulroney, said in a statement to the Star that Our government is committed to providing victims, their families and witnesses of violent crimes with the supports and services they need in the communities where they live.

Our staff have met with the coalition and we will continue to engage with it on these important issues.

The extra funding would have provided one full-time staffer for most centres, which is desperately needed, said Lauren Power, executive director of Muskoka Parry Sound Sexual Assault Services.

Her centre  which was expecting an extra $89,000 last year  hasnt seen a change in full-time staffing levels since 1993.

Its quite overwhelming at times for our staff, she said, and for those who have been assaulted, they are facing waiting lists all over the province now. Its really disheartening, to be honest.

Her agency is currently servicing 300 per cent of its original caseload. Everything is growing and growing  except for our budget, Power said.

With two full-time therapists, two full-time co-ordinators and herself  with a couple of part-timers funded for a short-term contract under a Trillium grant  the centre has moved from individual counselling to group counselling so that women dont have to wait too long for help.

In Toronto, Deb Singh of the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape, has said her centre would have gotten an additional $159,000 in one year. Without it, women continue to wait 18 months for services.

Power is hoping the funding comes through for the next fiscal year, given this one is almost over. She said her local PC MPP Norm Miller  who represents Parry Sound-Muskoka  wrote to Mulroney last summer to advocate for the centre.

However, no additional funding has flowed, though centres have also not been told they wont be getting it.

To ensure that investment decisions in victim services are effectively meeting the needs of those who use them, the government is reviewing all of the programs offered across the province, Robichaud, from Mulroneys office, said.

We recognize that these organizations do important and valuable work in their communities, and this review will be an opportunity to align service levels with needs and better co-ordinate and deliver services in the most sustainable and effective way.

Toronto Centre New Democrat MPP Suze Morrison said its particularly upsetting, given how long its taking the government to decide what its going to do.

They have left the centres in limbo, added Morrison, herself a sexual assault survivor.

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Before the holidays, the Ford government showed huge support for the Shoebox Project for Shelters  a charity founded in part by Mulroney  that provides boxes with luxury items like perfume or shampoos for women in shelters, in decorated boxes. Those niceties make life a little more bearable for women in shelters, Morrison said, but shoeboxes arent going to address systemic change.

She had urged the government to put funding letters in the shoeboxes it collected.

They are ignoring the needs of women in this province, Morrison said.

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OTTAWAThe head of the U.S. China Business Council says he is concerned about Chinas nationalistic response to the extradition arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Craig Allen, a former U.S. diplomat and now president of the Washington-based group that promotes bilateral trade with China, said in an interview with the Star that Chinas threats against the U.S. and arrests of two Canadians are especially worrying.

We condemn the abuse of law against individuals for political purposes, Allen said.

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He said the current legal, political and economic conflicts with China are multi-layered and intersect with the question of whether Huawei, Chinas tech giant, misled multinational banks to skirt Iran sanctions as the U.S. alleges.

No one is above the law and if Meng Wanzhou violated the law she should be punished, said Allen, but well leave that to the appropriate authorities to determine.

Allen, who was U.S. ambassador to Brunei and held three U.S. diplomatic postings to China, said part of the problem is the U.S. president is the one who suggested Meng could be a bargaining chip in U.S. efforts to strike a trade deal with China.

I think President Trump really muddied the waters when he said hed be willing, essentially, to link the two issues, that is the trade issue and allegations (against Meng) of criminal activity. And I think that was very unfortunate because it opened the door for allegations that this has been done for trade negotiating purposes.

And I think it behooves us, really, to keep legal and criminal types of issues separate and divorced from trade policy negotiating issues.

Trump told Reuters in December he wouldnt hesitate to intervene with the Justice Department in the Meng case: Whatevers good for this country, I would do. He said, If I think its good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made  which is a very important thing  whats good for national security  I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary.

As the deadline looms next week for the U.S. to submit its formal request, there is a lot of speculation in U.S. business circles about deep divisions within Trumps chaotic White House over whether to proceed with the Meng extradition, with some suggestions of a split between administration hawks on China and those who want to drop the Meng case in order to secure a trade deal with China. Those rumours have reached industry circles in Canada as well, according to a source who spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity.

Allen told the Star he too has heard talk of differences of opinion within the Administration but had no direct knowledge of any discussions.

Nonetheless, the U.S. justice department through a spokesman said Tuesday publicly what it has conveyed privately to its Canadian counterpart, as the Star reported last week: it is going to press ahead with charges against Meng and will file necessary documents to support its extradition request with Canadas justice department before the Jan. 30 deadline.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told a Bloomberg interviewer on Tuesday the Canadian government has not and will not ask the U.S. to drop its extradition request, saying it would be absolutely wrong to politicize the case.

Yet in Beijing, the Chinese government made clear Tuesday there would be an impact on the high-stakes U.S.-China trade talks if the extradition were to proceed.

This case is a serious mistake and we urge the U.S. to immediately correct its mistake, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

What the U.S. has done, with its egregious nature, severely infringes upon the legal and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens. China is firmly opposed to that. We urge the U.S. side to take seriously the solemn position of the Chinese side, take measures to correct its wrongdoings and withdraw its arrest order for the Chinese citizen. China will make further response in view of the actions taken by the U.S.

Allen said many American businesses are concerned about the latest developments including Chinas detention of Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor on unspecified allegations of violating national security laws.

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Were waiting and watching to see what happens with Meng Wanzhou because there is absolutely a connection here. Youd have to be deliberately blind not to notice that, he said.

The Trudeau government has protested Kovrigs and Spavors arrests as arbitrary  the same word it used to describe a Chinese courts ruling last week that converted a Canadian mans 15-year jail term into a death sentence.

Beijing rejected Canadas call for clemency, saying it will not interfere with judicial sovereignty.

Were thinking and praying for our Canadian friends who are in a difficult circumstance in China, Allen said.

It has all made U.S. businesses, especially tech company employees who work in China, nervous about travel and determined to scrupulously follow local laws and regulations, he said.

A U.S. China Business Council survey of its members in 2018 showed American companies are worried about the increasingly rocky U.S.-China relationship.

The survey found 73 per cent reported their business is affected by bilateral trade tensions, with political risk in the bilateral relationship cited as the top concern. And their political risk has risen as a result of the confrontational attitude between the two countries, and the threat of additional tariffs being imposed on March 2 if no accommodation is reached is a real threat, said Allen.

Washington and Beijing have set a deadline to reach a trade agreement of March 1 but the two governments are at loggerheads over what the other regards as protectionist measures, especially when it comes to intellectual property, and forced technology transfers.

Both countries have imposed significant tariffs on the other, and Trump has threatened to double rates on Chinese exports if no deal is reached.

I believe that could happen, said Allen. We all believe that that could happen and it would have quite large implications on bilateral trade and it would have negative implications on economic growth in the United States and probably China too, not to mention regional and global supply chains.

Business hates uncertainty, he said.

So does Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

Morneau told the Star the day before Beijing stepped up its criticism of the U.S. that while the Canadian economy is doing well overall, the uncertainty created by U.S.-China trade tensions is the bigger unknown that could have an impact on global growth.

The Canadian discussions, the diplomatic challenge were having with China, of course there will be impacts, Morneau said Monday. Our sense is that those impacts for some businesses could be something theyre considering, but more broadly for the economy theyre not the first thing were worried about, were looking more at the global trading situation as a bigger challenge.

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OTTAWAPrime Minister Justin Trudeau is standing by his ambassador to China in spite of Conservative calls for John McCallum to be fired for saying Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou has strong arguments to fight extradition to the United States.

In a series of surprisingly frank comments, McCallum revealed new details about the strain on Canada-China relations, his opinion that Meng has quite good legal arguments against extradition, and the allied pressure Canada faces to ban Huawei.

Speaking Tuesday to mostly Chinese-language media in his former riding, McCallum expressed his hope that if the U.S. cuts a deal with China and drops Mengs extradition, that China would release two detained Canadians.

But it was his comments on the merits of the U.S. case  which has not yet been fully presented with supporting documents to Canadas Justice Department  that stunned many observers.

I think she has quite good arguments on her side, McCallum said. One, political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case; two, theres an extraterritorial aspect to her case; and three, theres the issue of Iran sanctions, which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign onto these Iran sanctions.

Trudeau did not say he agreed with McCallum, but refused to publicly criticize him for breaking with the governments practice of not commenting on a case before the court.

I think part of the strength of our justice system is that people get to mount their own defence and I know she (Meng) will do that, said Trudeau in Saskatchewan Wednesday.

Senior Canadian officials, who spoke to the Star on condition they not be named, said the ambassadors comments were not part of any strategic plan

The case is tied up with a looming high-stakes decision on whether to ban Huawei from participating in Canadas 5G network. McCallum said Canada has not yet made a decision but admitted theres pressure to ban it.

Other members of what we call the Five Eyes  United States, Australia, U.K., New Zealand  have said no to Huawei, or at least U.K., one of their big companies has. So theres pressure on Canada to say no, McCallum said.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said in an interview with CBCs Power and Politics that if I were prime minister, I would fire John McCallum. He said it would show the government fiercely values the independence of Canadian courts, and will not stand for interference from anyone, including government officials.

McCallum revealed Chinas leader is furious about Meng and suggested other Chinese officials have taken the lead from him.

After the RCMP arrested Meng on a U.S. extradition request, Chinese state security officials arrested Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. A growing chorus of allies, diplomats and scholars have demanded their release.

What I do know is that President Xi Jinping was very angry about this, said McCallum. And I dont know exactly why. Maybe it is because Huawei is a national flagship company of China ... or there may be other reasons that I dont know.

McCallum said when the foreign ministry summoned him to formally object and demand Mengs release, the meeting was very hostile.

I am sorry that this incident, this difficult incident, arose. It was a total surprise for everybody in Canada, he said. But it happened, and we have to deal with it.

Scheer suggested that McCallums news conference was a deliberate strategy by the Liberals to undercut the prosecution case against Meng.

We cant on the one hand go and defend our actions to the Chinese government by saying these decisions made by arms-length, independent security officials ... if then on the other hand the government is using our ambassador to China to interfere in the process to obtain a desired outcome, said Scheer.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Erin OToole said McCallums observations potentially jeopardize the extradition process. By providing a list of defence arguments before it even gets before the courts, OToole said McCallum was trying to actually scuttle or avoid the political decision on extradition that would have to eventually be made by the justice minister.

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McCallum described three possible outcomes in the Meng affair: that she is extradited, released by a Canadian court, or that the U.S. makes some kind of a deal with China, and part of the deal would be that they would no longer seek her extradition.

And we would hope, if the U.S. made such a deal, part of the deal would also be to release the two Canadians  but that is more under the control of the United States than it is under the control of Canada.

The U.S. wants Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei, to face fraud charges, according to arguments at her bail hearing. It accuses her of misleading multinational banks about Huaweis ties to a company doing business in Iran, putting them at risk of violating U.S. sanctions.

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WASHINGTONMichael Cohen, the former personal lawyer and fixer for President Donald Trump, has indefinitely postponed his congressional testimony, his lawyer said in a statement Wednesday, citing Trumps verbal attacks on Cohens family in the days since he scheduled his appearance on Capitol Hill.

Cohen was to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7 at the invitation of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the committee, but backed out because of ongoing threats against his family, his lawyer Lanny Davis said in a statement.

By advice of counsel, Mr. Cohens appearance will be postponed to a later date, Davis said in the statement. Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time. He added, This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first.

It is not clear when Cohen might reschedule his appearance; he is to begin a three-year prison sentence March 6 after pleading guilty last year lying to Congress, financial crimes and campaign finance violations, including one in which he implicated Trump.

Federal prosecutors have also said that Trump directed Cohen to make hush payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with him and were poised to speak publicly about them while Trump was running for president in 2016. The president has denied the affairs.

Cummings, who declined to comment, could also subpoena Cohen to appear.

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Cohens willingness to tell prosecutors and the public what he knows about any possible involvement by Trump in the crimes he has already admitted to has emerged as one of the biggest threats to the Trump presidency. Cohen has spent more than 70 hours with investigators for the Southern District of New York who prosecuted the campaign finance violations and for the special counsel investigating Russias election interference and possible ties to the Trump campaign.

Trump has repeatedly suggested on Twitter that Cohens family members be investigated. In a recent interview with Jeanine Pirro, the Fox News host and one of Trumps preferred interviewers, he called for Cohens father-in-law to be investigated without citing details.

When Pirro pressed for the name of the father-in-law, Trump demurred but said, Youll look into it because nobody knows whats going on over there.

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That interview prompted a rare statement from House Democrats cautioning that any effort to discourage or influence witness testimony before Congress could be construed as a crime.

The integrity of our process to serve as an independent check on the executive branch must be respected by everyone, including the president, the Democrats said in the statement. Our nations laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress.

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NEW YORKAfter escaping a Mexican prison in 2001, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman recruited a former security chief from the same lockup as a fixer for his Sinaloa cartel, a jury was told Tuesday at a U.S. trial where the kingpin and his wife made a fashion statement.

The former official, Damaso Lopez Nunez, described how he first met Guzman when the kingpin asked for contraband in exchange for cash bribes at the prison in the state of Jalisco, Lopez testified, adding that the drug lord also gave him a house. Lopez quit his job before Guzman famously escaped in 2001 by hiding in a laundry bin, he said.

The defendants wife listened to the testimony while wearing a burgundy-colored, velvet blazer that matched one sported by her husband, leading to speculation that it was a show of solidarity.

The testimony from Lopez came with the government winding down a case that began in mid-November and has featured a parade of co-operators who described Guzmans exploits as the boss of the Sinaloa cartel. His lawyers say hes being made a scapegoat by unsavoury co-operators trying to get breaks in their own drug cases.

Lopez described a meeting where Guzman told him that he decided to flee prison after learning through a government source that there was an order for his extradition. The plan for his escape was spontaneous, he said.

Guzman was upset because some prison guards were being falsely accused of helping him breakout when it was only the work of one guard nicknamed El Chito. He told me they had been unjustly detained, Lopez said.

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Lopez, 52, went on to become a fixer for the Sinaloa cartel. He described paying various government contacts to provide confidential information about law enforcement operations against the cartel and helping co-ordinate sicarios to protect turf and kill informants, sometimes in gun battles.

The jury also heard testimony Tuesday from Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, a former state legislator who claimed her affair with Guzman ruined her political career. She testified that she was tossed out of office in 2016 following press reports that she had visited El Senor in prison.

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Sanchez said she had publicly denied being involved with him out of fear for her life.

I started receiving death threats from El Senors enemies, she said.

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Covington, KY.Just hours after President Donald Trump intensified the nations focus on this Northern Kentucky town, describing the students of Covington Catholic High School as symbols of Fake News in a Tuesday morning tweet, Native Americans assembled in front of the local diocese in protest.

They demanded an apology for the confrontation between local students and a Native American elder in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, an incident that has pushed this area into the centre of the heated national debates over politics, race and the media.

There have been death threats, local officials say, and fears that large demonstrations could descend on Covington Catholic High School, upending life around this town of 40,000 just south of Cincinnati.

In light of security concerns, Covington Catholic shut down Tuesday, what should have been the first day of classes since a video of students in a faceoff with Native American protesters and Black Israelites at the Lincoln Memorial went viral over the weekend. Police cars with flashing lights blocked the entrance to its sprawling campus as news crews gathered in an adjoining parking lot.

The incident has already permanently altered the lives of many people, the diocese said in a statement Tuesday, noting that an independent, third-party investigation into the Lincoln Memorial incident will begin this week.

The students were in Washington to participate in the antiabortion March for Life and were wearing red Make America Great Again hats when the incident occurred.

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All activities were cancelled at Covington Catholic  an all-boys school of about 600 students, according to its website  and students and staff were ordered to stay away by the administration and diocese, according to a school parent.

Kenton County Commonwealths Attorney Rob Sanders said he could not comment on the nature of the threats and did not answer questions about who investigators believe were behind them or who was targeted.

The protesters who gathered on a street corner close to the Diocese of Covington said they hoped to turn Fridays standoff into a teaching moment, bringing a message of reconciliation.

About 40 people, some from as far away as Chicago, shuffled and shared hand warmers as they listened to Native American prayers.

Anybody threatening violence should be totally ashamed of themselves, said Lance Soto, co-chairman of the American Indian Movement Chapter of Indiana and Kentucky, who helped organize the gathering.

Few people in the Covington Catholic community would comment on the record about the incident in the nations capital. Websites for Covington Catholic High School and the Catholic Diocese of Covington have been taken down.

They have been so slammed with messages and threats, very serious threats of violence, that I dont know when they plan to reopen, said Mike Schafer, director of communications for the neighbouring Cincinnati Archdiocese, which serves parishes in Ohio.

The Covington diocese includes 47 parishes spread out from the edge of Appalachia near Maysville, Kentucky, some 80 miles away, to parishes within sight of Cincinnatis skyscrapers. Parishes from throughout the region feed students into Covington Catholic, which opened in 1925.

Regardless of whether the school was open Tuesday, Marty Boyer had already made his decision ahead of time: He was going to keep his son, a junior, home for the day.

When I think about security in the context of this, I evaluate how quickly this story was taken out of proportion; it is not a big deal to keep him home for a day, he said. Keeping him safe at home for a day is not going to wreck his education.

As a whole, Boyer is supportive of the school and its environment.

Covington Catholic cares about the young men that are in the building, Boyer says.

His son was not on the Washington trip, and he wonders whether the students who did may have been ill-prepared to handle an encounter with opposing protesters and activists.

The young men had on a flag that they were not prepared to defend, he said of the MAGA hat that many of the students were wearing. Right or wrong, they had a flag on and that flag is a lightning rod, and those young boys were not prepared for it.

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Daniel Paul Nelson, of the Lakota Peoples Law Project, disputed student Nicholas Sandmanns version of events. Sandmann said he was trying to keep the situation from escalating when he stood face to face with Nathan Phillips, who was beating a drum as a participant in the Indigenous Peoples March.

His whole frame is that they were somehow attacked and behaving defensively, Nelson said. No, they were not, not towards Nathan. What they did to Nathan was completely offensive, not defensive.

Phillips has offered to meet with the students and have a dialogue about cultural appropriation, racism, and the importance of listening to and respecting diverse cultures, according to the release from the Indigenous Peoples Movement. Nelson said organizers plan to reach out to Sandmann and to the school.

The objective here is not to make the children (look) bad, Nelson said.

The students behavior also upset Carolina Castoreno-Santana, executive director of the American Indian Center of Indiana, who was one of the speakers at Tuesdays protest. She also slammed the schools chaperones for not reining in the children, who are shown chanting, dancing and doing a tomahawk chop in videos of the incident.

Saying those are just high schoolers is just like saying boys will be boys, and that is no longer acceptable, she said.

Santana saw the pro-Trump MAGA hat that the student was wearing as provocative.

Wearing that hat is a symbol of hatred on Native lands, Santana said.

One man, Don Wegman, came to the protest wearing a red MAGA hat. He said he had supported Trumps campaign and came to this demonstration with a message of reconciliation.

My hat, he said, represents coming together, not tearing people down.

He took his hat off as he listened to an Indian prayer. He heard Guy Jones of the Hunkpapa Lakota speak, and then he dodged across the crowd.

The two men looked at each other and embraced before exchanging numbers and an offer to meet for coffee or a meal.

Wegman turned to leave.

Jones smiled.

Thats what I was hoping for, he said.
MADRIDSpanish taxi drivers demanding more regulations for app-based ride-hailing services blocked access to a trade exhibition centre in Madrid where a major tourism fair begun Wednesday.

Riot police trying to clear a blocked highway circling the Spanish capital briefly clashed with the drivers, many wearing the yellow traffic safety vests used by protesters in neighbouring France.

The protesters allowed a convoy carrying King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain to enter the exhibition centre where the royals opened Fitur, one of the main fairs for the global tourism industry.

Other authorities, exhibitors and guests used public transportation to reach the premises.

The drivers say they will continue their open-end strike until regional authorities in Madrid agree to a solution like the one offered Tuesday in Spains second largest city, Barcelona. Under the pressure of a week-long strike there, the Catalan regional government wants to force users of apps like Uber and Cabify to contract rides one hour in advance.

Madrids conservative regional chief, Angel Garrido, has refused to take the same step, saying that Barcelona and Catalonia are heading to the Middle Ages with such a solution.

Read more:

Spanish taxi drivers resume protests against ride-hailing apps

Cab drivers unions in Barcelona also blocked major thoroughfares on Wednesday while discussing whether to accept the terms offered, while the web-based companies are threatening to cease operations in the northeastern city.

Unauto VTC, the association representing drivers working mostly for Uber and Cabify, said 3,000 jobs are at stake in Barcelona.

In a statement, it said the regional government in Catalonia has yielded to the blackmail of the taxi drivers, who are again kidnapping the city of Barcelona and using violence to shield their monopoly.

Previous taxi demonstrations have led to violence. A taxi driver was hospitalized on Tuesday with a serious head injury after he was ran over by a car working for an app that he tried to stop.

The protests forced regulatory changes at the national level last yer, but Spanish cab drivers consider those insufficient, arguing that their work is regulated as a public service in a way that their competitors isnt.

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LONDONNorthern Irelands wounds are deep: Bloody Sunday, Enniskillen, Belfasts sectarian killings of Catholics and Protestants by paramilitaries on both sides and British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary shootings and crackdowns.

Time has not completely healed the hatred, distrust and fear of those caught up in the decades-long conflict that killed more than 3,700 people and largely ended with the 1998 peace accord. Now, Brexits intense focus on the future of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has prompted worries of new violence.

Fears that the dark days of The Troubles could be back have been fanned by a recent explosion and hijackings in Northern Irelands second largest city, Londonderry  also known as Derry. The New IRA (Irish Republican Army) is suspected in the violence.

Also not helping: Northern Irelands power-sharing government has been suspended for two years because of a dispute between the main Protestant and Catholic political parties.

Heres a look back at the conflict that engulfed Northern Ireland and spilled into Britains mainland, the peace that followed and the possibility that the tinderbox might ignite again.

The troubles

Northern Irelands six counties are part of the United Kingdom. Most of its Catholics, historically discriminated against, sought unity with the Republic of Ireland to the south. They became known as nationalists, or republicans. Most Protestants insisted on remaining in the union, and became known as unionists, or loyalists.

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The British Army, initially deployed to protect Catholic communities from Protestant attacks in the 1960s, was quickly perceived as an occupation force by the republican communities it was supposed to protect. The 1971 mass arrests and internment of people suspected of having IRA connections cemented this view.

The IRA launched a bombing campaign at home and in mainland Britain, targeting civilians in pubs and shops as well as military targets. The Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster Defence Association, Protestant paramilitaries, were also responsible for a series of assassinations and atrocities. Paramilitaries on both sides also engaged in extortion and racketeering against their own communities.

The victims

Of all the events, Bloody Sunday is the one that still resonates today: British soldiers killed 14 unarmed Catholic protesters in Londonderry in 1972. The IRA, in turn, was widely condemned for the Enniskillen Remembrance Sunday bombing that killed 11 people in 1987.

And there were some high-profile victims of the conflict: Bobby Sands, the iconic IRA hunger-striker died in prison in 1981; Queen Elizabeths cousin, Admiral of the Fleet Louis Mountbatten, was assassinated by the IRA in 1979; Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped the same fate when the IRA bombed the hotel being used by her Conservative Party in Brighton in 1984, killing five people.

The Good Friday Agreement

Until 1994, the British government banned the voices of several republican leaders, including Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, from being broadcast on television and radio  actors would be used instead. It was a bizarre practice that had underlined the ingrained suspicion and distance to any peace accord as the violence continued relentlessly into the last decade of the 20th century.

In December 1993, British Prime Minister John Major and his Irish counterpart, Albert Reynolds, announced the Downing Street Declaration, which outlined their approach to restoring peace based on consensus of all involved.

This led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which set in place a historic power-sharing assembly that took over some of the decision-making powers from London. The agreement also reduced the British militarys operations in Northern Ireland.

Seeing once intractable enemies from the republican Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party, and pro-British unionists at the same table with then British Prime Minister Tony Blair captured a new era of hope, uneasy as it was.

Brexit and what the future may hold

The prospect of restoring a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland once Britain leaves the EU has raised fears of a return to the old reality where British army checkpoints, shootings, bombings and gun-smuggling were the norm. Now, people and goods flow freely from one to side to the other, greatly adding to stability, trade and economic growth.

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Some in Britains Conservative Party have bristled at Dublins sway in the European Union and ability to veto any deal that allows a hard border to re-emerge.

Theresa Mays office has dismissed reports that the prime minister was thinking of revisiting the terms of the Good Friday agreement. However, May has said that she wants more talks on the backstop, which proposes to keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU to avoid checks on the Irish border. It is meant as a temporary measure that would last until a permanent solution is found. But pro-Brexit U.K. lawmakers fear Britain could become trapped in it, indefinitely bound by EU trade rules.

There are groups who will look to capitalize on the ongoing uncertainty. But those who would seek to derail Northern Irelands hard-fought road to stability, normality and some prosperity are unlikely to ever gain the type of grassroots support they did when the conflict raged.


By EW , Jan . 22, 2019





Today is facing criticism for its decision to interview Nicholas Sandmann, the teenager at the center of a scandal that evolved during a recent rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.





Anchor Savannah Guthrie announced via Twitter that shell sit down Wednesday with Sandmann, who identified himself as the MAGA hat-wearing junior from Kentuckys Covington Catholic High School who stood face to face with Native American Nathan Phillips during a D.C. rally. Video of the encounter went viral and for a 24-hour period, Sandmann and his fellow male students were accused of racist behavior and for taunting the elder, who can be seen silently beating a drum.

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NEW DELHIA daughter of Indias most famous dynasty jumped into the political arena on Wednesday, shaking up the race to lead the worlds largest democracy ahead of elections set for later in the spring.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, 47, took up a key position within the Indian National Congress, the party once led by her great-grandfather and currently headed by her elder brother, Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress Party is attempting to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi a second term, a task which seemed impossible until several months ago. But then it defeated Modis Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in three state elections in December, suggesting the fight to govern India may be closer than expected.

Priyanka Gandhis entry into politics has been the subject of fevered speculation for years. Until now, her political forays had been largely limited to appearing at campaign rallies in constituencies held by her family members.

She is a sharp and charismatic orator, bearing a distinct resemblance to her paternal grandmother, Indira Gandhi  Indias only female prime minister, who governed the country from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984.

Now Priyanka Gandhi will oversee the Congress Party operations in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. Home to more than 200 million people, Uttar Pradesh is the countrys most populous state and the place where national elections are won  or lost. In 2014, Modis BJP executed a near-sweep of the states 80 seats in parliament.

Priyanka Gandhis move to join the political fray is a game-changer, said Rasheed Kidwai, a political commentator and the author of a biography of Sonia Gandhi, Priyankas Italian-born mother. The Congress thinks that the upcoming national election is make-or-break. Priyanka is a natural politician and knows what people want.

Sonia Gandhi led the Congress party to two successive victories in 2004 and 2009, but the party posted its worst ever performance in the 2014 elections when Modi and his religious brand of politics swept to power. It also lost a string of successive state elections to the BJP and was reduced to governing three states and a union territory, until its wins late last year.

The ruling BJP immediately criticized the move as the perpetuation of dynastic politics by a party in thrall to a single family. Rahul Gandhi has failed so he needs Priyanka Gandhi, who is from his own family, as a crutch, Sambit Patra, a BJP spokesperson, told reporters on Wednesday.

Indias oldest political party, the Congress traces its roots back to the pre-independence era. Jawaharlal Nehru, Indias first prime minister, was a Congress leader. Both his daughter, Indira Gandhi, and his grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, went on to serve as prime minister. (The family is not related to Mahatma Gandhi, the revered leader of Indias freedom struggle.)

Rahul Gandhi, Nehrus great-grandson, officially entered politics in 2004. At the time, some openly questioned why his younger sister had not taken up the mantle instead. The general impression is that Priyanka is more articulate, forceful and more charismatic than her brother, political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta said at the time.

On Wednesday, a visibly excited Rahul Gandhi told reporters that he was looking forward to working with his sister. It is not clear yet whether Priyanka Gandhi will run for a seat in parliament and her brother said that decision remained up to her. Meanwhile, he said, the announcement had sent the BJP into a panic.

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Modis own constituency falls in the area Priyanka Gandhi will now oversee for her party. In the past, she has not shied away from confronting Modi directly. In 2009, when Modi called the Congress an old woman, she shot back, asking if she looked old to him.

Gandhi is married to a businessman, Robert Vadra, and has two children. Her husband is currently under investigation for allegedly corrupt land deals. He has dismissed the probe as politically motivated. On Wednesday, Vadra posted a message on Facebook publicly congratulating his wife on the new role. Give it your best, he wrote.

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CARACAS, VENEZUELAAmid the growing chaos following a suppressed armed forces mutiny, the power of an emerging leader of Venezuelas opposition will be tested Wednesday in a nationwide protest he has called to try to force President Nicolas Maduro to resign.

The size and scale of the protest in Caracas and other cities across the country will be a barometer of the popular support for Juan Guaido Marquez, the youthful, newly installed president of the National Assembly. Since taking office, Guaido has tried to energize the dispirited effort to unseat Maduro, who was reelected in a disputed vote in May.

Our course is clear, (seeking) an end to usurpation, a government of transition and free elections, Guaido said in a recent social media message.

Guaido has framed the march as a means of repudiating the president, a former bus driver and union leader whose term in office has been marked by economic stagnation, hyperinflation and rising crime and poverty. More that 40 countries, including the U.S., have refused to recognize him as a legitimate president, saying his re-election was rigged.

The march is coming at a critical moment, with Maduro seemingly off balance after several dozen mutinous national guard soldiers stormed a military post in central Caracas, seizing weapons and calling on other members of the armed forces for support. The government quickly put down the uprising, arresting 27 and dismissing it as an isolated incident.

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The uprising triggered a wave of street violence and came days after Guaido proposed a new law in the National Assembly promising amnesty to anyone in the armed forces who rises up against Maduro  that is, if and when a new government takes power.

Whether Wednesdays march will galvanize the nationwide desperation over rising poverty and hyperinflation and turn it into political momentum for Guaido is an open question. Maduros decrees and judicial decisions have neutered the opposition-controlled National Assembly, and leadership among his opponents is badly split.

There is little doubt, however, that Guaidos rhetoric has injected energy into an opposition that has been intimidated by Maduros dictatorial manoeuvres. Guaido has received supportive messages from the Trump administration, including a video message Tuesday from Vice President Mike Pence.

Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power, Pence said. He has never won the presidency in a free and fair election, and has maintained his grip of power by imprisoning anyone who dares to oppose him.

The Trump administration has gradually upped pressure on Maduros socialist government, ordering sanctions on a number of key Venezuelan leaders and threatening to put a blockade on the countrys oil.

The date of the march is charged with historical significance for Venezuelans. On Jan. 23, 1958, nationwide demonstrations marked the end of Marcos Perez Jimenezs 10-year dictatorship and augured the eventual reinstatement of democracy.

But the uprising may also give the government an excuse to go after Guaido. Hours after the mutiny, the supreme court declared null and void the decrees issued by the National Assembly under his leadership, including the offer of amnesty and an appeal for international humanitarian aid, something the Maduro government has refused to accept.

The most deplorable was the declaration that humanitarian aid for Venezuelans is unconstitutional, denying this aid to those who are dying of hunger and who are dying in hospitals for lack of medicines, Guaido said Monday on social media.

Venezuelas economy sank to new depths last year with inflation exceeding 1 million per cent and the economy shrinking by 15 per cent. Roughly 80 per cent of the people in Venezuela now live in poverty and the lack of jobs, food and medicine have forced an estimated 3 million people  10 per cent of the population  to flee in search of better lives.

A 35-year-old industrial engineer, Guaido was elected to the National Assembly in 2015 to represent his native Vargas state. He is a close ally of Leopold Lopez, a former Caracas borough mayor and harsh Maduro critic who was jailed for four years for allegedly inciting demonstrators to violence. He is now out of jail but under house arrest serving an additional 13-year sentence.

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Guaidos criticisms of Maduro through social media and his insistence that the National Assembly retain its powers have attracted attention. Sociologist Trino Marquez described Guaido as a black swan and said his emergence as an opposition spokesman is a welcome surprise.

No one expected a youth of 35 could embody the hopes for democratic change and turn himself into the leader that the country was hoping for, Marquez wrote. Guaido has to protect himself from the regime but also from some in the opposition for whom politics is not an art but a war game.

Guaido, though, has yet to inspire universal support. Critics within the fractured opposition say he is inexperienced while Maduro contends he is a puppet for the U.S. Analysts say his support is lukewarm within traditional parties whose leaders fear he may overshadow them. On the other hand, he appeals to a broad cross section of Maduro opponents who desire a generational change to more youthful leaders.

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Police have released a photograph of Hang Vo, the woman who was killed by a reversing garbage truck in downtown Toronto last week, in a bid to locate her next of kin.

Vo was killed early in the morning on Jan. 15 when the driver of a garbage truck backed into a tight alleyway between two office buildings near St. Andrew subway station, striking her, police said.

Emergency services could not save her life, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are asking anyone who might have known Vo or has any information about her to come forward.

The deaths of Vo and Crystal Papineau, who died after becoming stuck in a clothing donation bin, have sparked a new discussion on homelessness and calls for the city to do more on the issue in Toronto.

Vo, of no fixed address, was 58 years old, five-foot-six, 120 pounds, with brown eyes, police said.

A building manager who works in the area told the Star Vo was homeless and had been sleeping at the corner of the alley for a while. Police said Friday that she was known to use various shelters in Toronto.

According to statistics from the city, Torontos shelters and emergency respite centres regularly exceed 90 per cent occupancy, with womens shelters often operating at full capacity.

Police are asking anyone with camera footage of the incident to contact investigators.

Vo is one of six pedestrians killed on Toronto streets so far this year, a rate of more than one every four days.

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An Ontario Superior court judge has tossed out a request from a Richmond Hill assisted living facility looking for direction on how to evict a paralyzed man.

Rohan Salmon, paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident in 2002, is facing eviction from Sunrise of Richmond Hill.

Salmon, 49, has lived in the third floor room ever since the car in which he was a passenger rolled over three times on a Muskoka highway and left him paralyzed.

In the summer of 2017, he says, he was shocked to discover the residence had increased his rent without his knowledge; he owed $18,000 in arrears and was to be evicted May 31, 2018.

But it seems no one  not Sunrise or the sheriffs office or Justice Stephen Bale  knows where he can go.

Salmon and his lawyer, Melissa Miller, say they have been searching, unsuccessfully, for a new home and he is on several wait lists, but there is currently nothing available.

Because of the unique challenges involved in evicting a paraplegic with Salmons health needs, the sheriffs counsel asked Sunrise to apply to the court for direction.

Henry Ngan, lawyer acting on behalf of Sunrise, wanted the court to order Salmon to provide, promptly, the location to which he will go on eviction. Failing that, Ngan said, Salmon should be ordered to provide the sheriff with the address of his mothers residence.

But Justice Bale said even if he had jurisdiction to accede to that request  which he does not  the cost for Salmons mother to obtain the level of home care he requires would be prohibitive.

Simply put, the sheriff must get on with doing his job, the judge said.

The law applying in this case is clear, he said in his Jan. 8 Superior Court ruling. Sunrise is entitled to possession of the rental unit . . . and the sheriff is required to enforce the eviction order.

With absolutely no disrespect for Mr. Salmon, and while I have sympathy for the position in which he finds himself, having no right to remain at Sunrise and nowhere to go (he says), he is, in effect, a homeless paraplegic.

He then added, I am confident that in Ontario in 2018 (and now 2019) there is some place, or places, to which the sheriff may safely take such a person.

But Salmons lawyer, who has taken on the case pro bono, says the situation has shone a light on a bigger societal problem: a lack of appropriate housing for people in Salmons situation.

Rohan is still in limbo. He still knows he has to leave and he wants to get out, but he is on waiting lists and theres not much more he can do.

If a room should come available that might meet his needs, Miller says his mother and friend must wait for the room to become empty, visit the location, determine whether they can install the ceiling lift and if his medical equipment will fit, and theres just no way to predict when that will happen.

Miller describes it as a conundrum, adding, there is some solace in seeing that the sheriff has no interest in making his life hell. He has no interest in uprooting him unless its to a safe place.

Sunrise did not appear to appreciate his struggle, she said. He cant just go out and check out different housing options. That is something we take for granted.

Not only is he bedridden, she said, Salmon was hospitalized twice during this court battle, septic with a UTI, and she was unable to reach him.

All this has left Salmon in a state of unrest and upset, surrounded by half-packed boxes prepared for the move, worried the move will cause him to lose caregivers who have been with him for a decade and he considers family, troubled with nightmares, depression and helplessness.

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He says he was considered a founding member at Sunrise, having moved in shortly after the home opened. Now he feels unwelcome.

Quiet-spoken and articulate, he explains how the last few months have been a roller-coaster of emotions, moving from shame, sadness and fear over the impending eviction to elation over thetremendous support from community; buoyed by news the court had dismissed the sheriffs request, then despair knowing his fate still remains uncertain.

People keep telling me, theyre not going to put you out on the street, this is Canada, youre disabled, but it sounds hollow to me. I am still afraid the sheriff is going to show up and tell me I have to go. Its the lack of control over my life, to be treated like a child, like I dont have my mental faculties. Maybe I wont be sent out in the dead of winter, but will it be February? March?

This whole thing just blew out of control. Im still just hanging on, with all these boxes and boxes of stuff around me. I dont feel any sense of home or belonging or comfort.

It appears the ball is now in the sheriffs court.

The Ministry of the Attorney General is reviewing the decision and declined to speak with York Region Media Group, saying in an email, As this matter is subject to litigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

If the sheriff continues to delay in enforcing the order, Bale said Sunrise could go to the Divisional Court for judicial review of the initial eviction order.

Sunrise also declined to comment.

Meanwhile, members of the community continue to contribute to a GoFundMe page set up to help Salmon, and one elderly woman offered to give him $18,000 from her savings to pay his arrears.

Long-term care remains the elephant in the room. Salmon does not want to go to housing geared toward the elderly, those with dementia and nearing end-of-life, and Miller empathizes.

Rohan is only 49, he has his wits about him, he is an incredibly intelligent man. Imagine having to spend 20 to 30 years in that kind of facility?

Miller, whose specialty is personal injury law, said this case is demonstrative of the aftermath of someone involved in an accident that wasnt his fault.

This is the story that isnt told after you hear about the accidents  the struggles facing those who suffer spinal cord, brain injuries, have multiple care needs for the rest of their lives.

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Yolanda Ediza and her family have had to move five times since late August.

The family  Ediza, 54, a personal support worker, her husband Vincente, their 7-year-old grandson, their 28-year-old son and his wife, were among scores of tenants forced to leave their highrise at 260 Wellesley Street E. Tuesday and Wednesday.

Toronto Hydro shut off power after a burst pipe flooded the electrical room Tuesday of the building west of Parliament St., in St. James Town. Theres now no heat, lights or water.

Ediza and her family decided to seek shelter in a warming centre for the victims, set up at the nearby Wellesley Community Centre, which marked the fifth time their family have relocated since a fire broke out in their apartment building at 650 Parliament St. in August. It will reportedly be at least May before that building is repaired and ready to take its tenants back.

Its emotionally distressing. I cant believe this has happened to us again, Ediza, Wednesday afternoon at the community centre, holding her dog, a toy poodle named Porsche.

Several hundred residents attended an emotional meeting at the community centre on Wednesday night, but there were few answers, as city and fire officials could not say when services will be restored. The Electrical Safety Authority has yet to decide what repairs are needed.

Danny Roth, spokesperson for WPSQ, the company that manages the building, said he expected to have better information on Thursday. Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop said the building is safe and right now, evacuation is not the right thing to do for your safety, calling getting 1,000 residents out of a 33-storey building a last resort.

There are tenants at 260 Wellesley who have stayed in their suddenly dark and spartan building. Cesar Contreras, his wife, Rosia and their two young daughters live on the 33rd floor; late Wednesday afternoon, the voices of his girls inside their apartment were the only sounds heard on the top floor.

Cesar was preparing to take his family out for dinner. For breakfast, they ate cheese and bread, kept cold on their balcony. His 12-year-old daughter, Ashley, said they slept in two beds, with blankets wrapped tight to stay warm. It was cold, but its OK, except the fire alarms kept waking us up, she said.

Ashley translated from Spanish to English for her Mom. The hard part was going up and down the stairs, Rosia Campos said, through her daughter.

Cesar said he was scared walking with Ashley and five-year-old Alyson in the blackened hallways. They just disappeared into the dark, he said.

It took us half an hour to get upstairs.

Another tenant, a 30-year-old software engineer named Ajay Vijayanarasimha, had just sprinted up 64 flights of stairs to grab a bag of clothes on his way to a friends place. He seemed sanguine about the experience. It is expected, in winter, that pipes will burst, he said, chatting at the front door of his penthouse apartment.

Cesar was dreading the walk down, unaware that an hour or so earlier, big yellow lights, were hung with temporary cords down at least one stairwell. He walked down the hall, pointing out one dark stairwell and seemed relieved to see light coming from the a second.

Edizas family moved into 650 Parliament two years ago when Ediza brought the others to Canada from the Philippines. After the August fire there, Ediza and her family were evacuated to the same Wellesley Community Centre for two nights before being moved to another community centre in Regent Park for a month, along with other Parliament highrise tenants.

The family was subsequently relocated to a hotel for one month  their moves and accommodations covered by the property manager for 650 Parliament, as was with other residents  and then to 260 Wellesley on Nov. 1.

Ediza  she took the day off work Wednesday to deal with the situation  and her husband were still at the community centre late Wednesday afternoon, waiting for updates and planning to spend the night there if they couldnt move back into their Wellesley apartment. The centre was providing food and water to tenants and Red Cross staff were on hand.

The cluster of rental highrises in the area  240, 260 and 280 Wellesley and 650 Parliament, all date back to the late 1960s. Records show the buildings are owned by a variety of entities including Parwell Investments Inc. and Lilsam Inc., all listed at the same 333 Wilson Ave. address. WPSQ, the property management company that runs 260 Wellesley, also operates 650 Parliament.

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City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 13, Toronto Centre) said Wednesday that Toronto Fire had told her that the electrical equipment is so old that replacement parts have to be custom-made. However, Jessop said that flooded electrical equipment of any age will not properly function.

We have made it very clear  I did, this morning, directly to the representatives of the owners  some of the owners were here themselves  that we, again, view the well-being of these tenants as being their responsibility, but were certainly going to back them up and support them, Mayor John Tory said early Wednesday

But were also going to make sure they do it, he added.

Roth said 26 of 1,500 residents displaced from 650 Parliament were living at 260 Wellesley at the time of Tuesdays flood.

Roth said there was already a repair crew nearby, dealing with 650 Parliament, so they were able to get to the latest crisis quickly. He said its not entirely clear what burst the pipe in the sub-basement of the Wellesley highrise, but said it will take another day to run tests to see how much damage has been done.

It has taken time to dry off the damaged equipment, he explained. By (evening) Thursday we will have a better idea of the damage to the electrical system, Roth said.

He argued there is absolutely no linkage between the fire at 650 Parliament  the Ontario Fire Marshal has still not released a report officially citing the cause  and this weeks flooding at 260 Wellesley.

Its a coincidence, Roth said in an interview with the Star, adding theres no relation, operationally or maintenance wise, between the two incidents.

Its a cruel irony that residents in St. James Town are dealing with this again, Roth said.

No community deserves this less than the community here, he went on to say.

Security staff are on-site at the Wellesley St. building to help residents get to and from their units. Fire services requested that the landlord provide at least 31 security guards to check in with residents who chose to stay in their units.

Yasmin Gilani, a 40-year resident of the Wellesley tower, said she was planning to head out and buy groceries Tuesday when the problems started. Someone told her the elevators were out and there was a flood, so she headed back into her unit.

She was later escorted down to the ground floor by building security who had flashlights.

I was scared and worried about who I could call because my battery had run down on my cellphone, Gilani said.

When she spoke to the Star she was in the lobby with her sister-in-law, preparing to leave the building. Gilani was headed to go and stay with her brother in Markham.
Brampton council voted to opt-in to allow private recreational cannabis retail stores within city limits at a special council meeting Monday.

Brampton was one of the last GTA municipalities to make a decision ahead of the provincial governments Tuesday midnight deadline to opt-out.

Municipalities can opt-in down the road, but once theyre in, they give up their right to opt-out again.

As of Tuesday morning, 248 municipalities across the province were listed on the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as opting in, while 71 have opted out, and the rest were still listed as unknown. Those that do not notify the AGCO of their preference by the deadline will by default be considered to have opted in.

The Ford government announced a phased approach to licensing  there was a lottery for 25 initial retail cannabis licences in Ontario earlier in January. Of the 25 winning application spots, five are in Toronto and six in the rest of the GTA.

The purchase and use of recreational marijuana has been legal in Canada since Oct. 17.

Read more: At least 65 municipalities across Ontario say no to cannabis retail

Toronto council voted 20-4 on Dec. 13 to opt-in, and allow privately owned, provincially regulated pot shops. A quick look at what the other GTA municipalities decided:

PEEL REGION

Brampton: Some of the concern among councillors allowing private recreational cannabis retail stores stemmed from the federal and provincial governments not fully funding expected policing and health-care costs.

But according to Mayor Patrick Brown, if the city had opted out it will receive very little funding to offset those costs at all.

I want to praise the Brampton city council for taking the time to do their due diligence, Brown told reporters ahead of the meeting Monday where council voted 8-3 in favour to opt-in. But when I look at the overall picture, 15 per cent of policing costs is still something. Fifteen per cent of policing costs is better than nothing. Right now, if we opt-in there is a potential for additional funding. If we opt-out, we get $2,500.

Caledon: Council was unanimous in its vote Monday to opt-out, despite a survey showing residents were slightly in favour. Ward 1 Regional Councillor Ian Sinclair said he voted against opting in because of the privatization of the outlets the Ford government decided to support. I wouldnt have minded the LCBO store as a front, Sinclair said. They have experienced staff and a set of rules that are already proven. But we dont know whats going on in individual retail stores.

Mississauga: City council voted 10-2 in December to opt-out. Some councillors felt the municipality was being rushed into making a decision without any control or planning. I dont want Mississauga to be a guinea pig, Councillor Dipika Damerla said. I think were better off taking a prudent approach.

HALTON REGION

Burlington: Council voted on Jan. 14 to opt-in. Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who put forward the motion, said the citys public consultation showed residents support retail cannabis, and there are many more citizens who voiced their support to her but are too nervous to put their names on the record.

Halton Hills: Council voted 8-3 to opt-in on Monday.

Milton: Council voted 6-2 in December to opt-out. Councillors hedged their position by directing staff to report back to council to reconsider opting out once more information on the issue becomes available, but no later than December 2019.

Oakville: Council voted 14-1 on Jan. 14 to opt-out. The reasons councillors provided ranged from health concerns about cannabis to issues with the lack of control the municipality would have with regard to these stores.

DURHAM REGION

Ajax: Council voted 7-0 on Jan. 14 to opt-in. Despite the vote, Mayor Shaun Collier told council, The odds we are getting any location is very, very slim.

Brock: Council voted to opt-in.

Clarington: Council voted 4-3 in January to opt-in. Cannabis is a huge industry that will create jobs and help boost our economy, Mayor Adrian Foster said in a statement.

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Oshawa: Council voted 7-4 to opt-in on Jan. 17. Councillors heard from Aaron Switzer of the Ontario Retail Cannabis Accessory Coalition who estimated there was the potential for $6.3 million in cannabis sales annually in the city and said that was a hyper-conservative estimate.

Pickering: Council voted 5-2 in December to opt-out.

Scugog: City council voted 5-0 to opt-in on Monday.

Uxbridge: Council voted 5-2 to opt-in on Monday.

Whitby: Council voted 6-3 to opt-out Monday.

YORK REGION

Aurora: Council voted to opt-in on Monday.

East Gwillimbury: Council voted to opt-out on Jan. 8. We should not be part of the first wave, said Ward 1 Councillor Loralea Carruthers, who supported the move to opt-out. If all goes well, we may want to be part of the second wave. If all doesnt go well, we may not want to. Not that were closing the door entirely.

Georgina: Council voted to opt-out on Jan. 16. Key among a number of reasons raised by those who voted to opt out included the fact the municipality couldnt back out from its decision. Once you opt-in, you cant opt back out, Mayor Margaret Quirk said. Theres no going back and that concerns me.

King: Council voted to opt-out in December.

Markham: Council voted 12-1 to opt-out in December. We still have a lot of unanswered questions about community safety, about the impact to families and children, Mayor Frank Scarpitti said. This vote by Markham council reflects the concerns we have heard throughout the community. We have taken this position with the previous government and we applaud the provincial government for giving us the choice to opt-out.

Newmarket: Council voted 7-2 to opt-out on Jan. 15. Mayor John Taylor said the town would review and revisit the decision in a years time. By then, we hope more information will be available and we are able to learn from the experiences of the municipalities that have opted in, Taylor said in a news release.

Richmond Hill: Council voted unanimously to opt-out in December. Its our job to do what we think is best for our community, Mayor Dave Barrow said. Much of what we have heard from our citizens says that they would not welcome cannabis retail outlets in Richmond Hill.

Vaughan: Council voted to opt-out Monday.

Whitchurch-Stouffville: Council voted to opt-in on Jan. 15, the first York municipality to do so. Cannabis is legal and its not going away, Councillor Rick Upton said. Today, cannabis is very available anywhere, anytime you want it on the black market. This is one of my major concerns, on the black market, you dont know what is in it, what its laced with.

With files from Metroland, The Canadian Press and Stefanie Marotta
A new crowdsourced online database aimed at tracking one of the only ways Ontario tenants in good standing can be evicted is drawing praise from a prominent tenants advocate, who says it can help determine if a landlord is abusing the process to jack up rent.

But its also causing some alarm among landlords who fear the unverified information could be misinterpreted or used, itself, in bad faith.

Dubbed the N12 registry  after the forms given to tenants to notify them of an eviction when their landlord or a family member wants to move in  the site is advertised as a neutral platform and doesnt identify landlords.

Tenants can anonymously post information about their landlords past evictions and other tenants can contact them by email for more information. Like the popular Bed Bug Registry, users can search by address.

With the citys rental market continuing to run red-hot, landlords may be tempted to say they need the unit for their own or a family members use  a legal reason to ask a tenant to leave  and then make it available again, reads the description on the site.

For some landlords, its worth it to break the law to cash in.

The administrators of the free site did not respond to the Stars inquiries by deadline. As of Tuesday afternoon, it only had about a dozen listings.

Tenant advocate Cole Webber of Parkdale Community Legal Services said the site fills an information hole for tenants, particularly in neighbourhoods like Parkdale where landlords are trying to push out long-standing tenants in order to cash in on rising rents.

Webber said hes seen the practice rising with the citys low vacancy rate (1.1 per cent, according to the 2018 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporations Rental Market Survey) and high rent (on average over $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment, according to market research firm Urbanation.)

But its hard to find statistics as theres no database on such evictions maintained by the Landlord and Tenant Board.

I think any resource that helps tenants collect information and see patterns is useful, Webber said.

Premier Doug Ford announced last fall there will be no rent control on new buildings going forward. But on all other units, landlords can only raise rent on current tenants by a certain percentage, decided by the province each year. Its 1.8 per cent in 2019.

Theres no restriction on setting the rent for new tenants.

If tenants suspect their landlord isnt really planning to move in they can refuse to leave, and the dispute will go to the Landlord and Tenant Board. If they find proof of them renting out the apartment they just got kicked out of, the landlord can face a fine of up to $25,000. But thats not always easy to prove.

Tenants always have more power if they can organize with their neighbours and other tenants in their neighbourhood who are affected by the same issues, Webber added.

However, Tony Irwin, president and CEO of the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario, said tenants should be cautious about the information theyre seeing.

There are legitimate reasons why landlords in some cases do reclaim their units for personal use, Irwin said.

Theres always more than one side to every story, he said.

Landlord William Blake of the Ontario Landlords Association said the site has been causing a lot of concern for members, who worry that it could be misinterpreted. Or even used to get back at a landlord.

We only want information that is verified, he said. If something goes online that theyre lying or theyre cheating, it can really impact their business.

The association would rather see the Landlord and Tenant Board keep a transparent user-friendly database of N12 hearings.

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The individual final decisions are currently available on the Canadian Legal Information Institutes website but with names redacted and without addresses.

Blake would like to see something with the names of everyone involved.

Then tenants and landlords can use that, rather than some shady internet site.
Warning: Graphic details follow.

Ian Albert Ohab has testified a perfect storm led him to cut up Melissa Coopers body after she overdosed in his downtown Toronto apartment because, three months earlier, his live-in girlfriend had also suffered a fatal drug overdose there and he feared hed be blamed.

Other tenants were insinuating that I killed her  so I panicked, Ohab testified in his own defence Tuesday.

The 41-year-old has pleaded guilty to indignity to a dead body but denies killing the 30-year-old woman.

At the start of the trial last week, Ohab pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. But Superior Court Justice Suhail Akhtar told jurors Tuesday that charge has been downgraded to second-degree murder.

Ohab briefly described growing up in North York where he began abusing drugs and alcohol at 15, getting wasted like a lot of kids. He later found his way to crack cocaine and any kind of pharmaceuticals, while amassing a lengthy rap sheet with charges including trafficking, criminal harassment and assault.

He moved into one of Torontos most notorious addresses, 220 Oak Street, in March 2012, Ohab testified. On Tuesday he wore a dark suit jacket, white button down shirt, wire rim glasses and his black hair gelled back  almost unrecognizable from the scruffy, bearded man seen in building surveillance footage.

In early 2013, he said his girlfriend, Aneta Famula, started shooting drugs intravenously in his 23rd-floor apartment, where he eked out a living salvaging and selling used bicycles, furniture and clothing.

On Jan. 20, 2016, she suffered a Fentanyl overdose, Ohab testified. We shot up together. I woke up and she didnt, Ohab said catching his breath, a display of emotion otherwise absent throughout his day on the stand. I freaked out.

He ran out into the hallway and knocked on doors and, when no one answered, pulled the fire alarm. Paramedics were unable to revive the woman. While her death was ruled accidental, Ohab said there were persistent rumours in the building that he killed Famula. He also blamed paramedics for not doing enough to save her life.

Three months later, early April 15, Ohab said he bumped into Cooper on the 15th floor at 220 Oak where he had gone to score some drugs. Cooper asked him if he had a crack pipe, and he invited her to his apartment, he said. The jury has seen surveillance footage of the pair together on an elevator.

Ohab said he knew Cooper to say hi and bye and on one previous occasion shed offered to buy him drugs.

He said he provided her with the material to make a pipe and the pair drank booze and smoked some crack before Ohab went to return to the 15th floor, leaving Cooper behind on his balcony. Ohab told court when he returned, Cooper was in his bathroom, alive.

He said he prepared a fix of what he thought was heroin  it might have been Fentanyl  shot up and went under lying on his bed. When he woke up hours later, it was light outside and he could smell vomit and she (Cooper) was lying on the living room floor, he testified.

I touched her and she was cold, he said. Again, he freaked out but because of how Famula died decided to do the disgusting thing others have done when someone overdosed in the building  throw her in the stairwell.

I had just been through all this, everything that Id been through with my girlfriend ... everyone saying I killed her, he testified. Ohab said he had also received an eviction notice for my girlfriend dying in my place. He also feared repercussions from people Cooper might know, he said.

After attempting to drag her body into the hallway, Ohab said he heard a neighbour and decided to wait until later in the day before I put her in the stairwell. Nine a.m. is not a good time to carry a corpse down the hallway, he said during cross-examination by Crown attorney Bev Richards. He put her body in his bathtub to contain any body fluid leakage, he said.

Hours later Ohab said he decided he would have to get rid of her body another way. He rode his bicycle to a hardware store, bought a hacksaw and proceeded to cut up her body and get rid of different pieces, some of his movements caught by surveillance cameras.

After she died I was in a very bad state, I was throwing a lot of stuff out ... I was busy dismembering a body so ... its like so surreal what I went through, he said before Richards cut him off. She had asked him about what he did with Coopers cellphone.

I realize that you having to dismember the body was very difficult, and surreal for you, but ... the prosecutor said.

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Ohab interrupted this time.

I must have thrown it out, I have no memory of that ... Im dismembering a body in my bathtub. I had nothing else in the world exists to me at that point. I have a major chore, like, something so messed up and youre asking me about what I did with a cellphone ... I have bigger fish to fry, he said, adding as the expression goes, right, then looking out for a cellphone.

The trial resumes Wednesday with Ohab still under cross-examination.
OTTAWAThe head of the Ottawa police union has been charged with breach of trust and obstructing justice following an investigation into leaked audio recordings that surfaced online last summer.

Provincial police said Wednesday that Matthew Skof, who is also an officer, had been arrested in connection with the probe.

They said he was released on a promise to appear in court March 8.

Ottawas police chief, Charles Bordeleau, announced last July that he had asked the provincial force to look into the recordings and their provenance.

The fact that this false information is being released and distributed has prompted me to launch a chiefs complaint, he said at the time.

That investigation will be focused directly on the origins of the recordings and the individuals involved.

Media reports have said the recordings include discussions about an apparent police investigation as well as allegations against the then-head of Ottawas police board.

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MONTREALThe former head of a Montreal construction trade school was arrested by the provinces anti-corruption unit Wednesday and charged with fraud-related crimes against the school.

The anti-corruption unit said officers arrested Alain Prudhomme, who was director of the trade school until Oct. 2017. He is alleged to have schemed with three other men described by police as service providers to the school.

The others arrested were Enrico Di Paola, from a general contracting company, Modesto Abella, from a firm of electricians, and Mathieu Therien, whose job was not revealed in court documents.

Neither the anti-corruption unit, known by its French acronym UPAC, nor the school board of the Ecole des metiers de la construction de Montreal responded to interview requests. UPAC alleges the crimes were committed between 2011 and 2018.

Prudhomme was charged with breach of trust in connection with the construction of a sports facility at the school. It is unclear if the charges against the other men are directly related to that project.

Prudhomme, Di Paola and Abella are charged with committing fraud over $5,000 against the school, which offers classes and certifications for trades such as carpentry, plumbing and masonry.

The three are also charged with knowingly creating and using fake invoices. Prudhomme was charged with accepting advantages or benefits from the two men in exchange for work that allegedly defrauded the government, a court document shows.

Therien was charged with committing fraud over $5,000 against the school and with creating false documents.

UPAC said in a statement that the investigation was conducted in collaboration with the provincial Revenue Department.

Read more about:


By National Review , Jan . 22, 2019





The Washington Post issued a correction Tuesday after falsely describing the elderly Native American man whose confrontation with a group of high-school students went viral over the weekend as a veteran of the Vietnam War.





Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam, reads the correction to the Sunday report titled, It was getting ugly: Native American drummer speaks on his encounter with MAGA-hat-wearing teens.

Read More:



Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com

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HALIFAXA massive container ship that has been burning in international waters off Canadas east coast since Jan. 3 now appears headed for the Bahamas instead of Halifax, its original destination.

Satellite tracking shows the smouldering, 320-metre ship is being slowly towed to the southwest, travelling about 130 kilometres per day.

No one was hurt after the fire broke out as the ship sailed about 1,900 kilometres southeast of Halifax, but the vessels 22 crew members were evacuated from the ship as the fire grew and the weather turned ugly.

Peter Ziobrowski, the blogger behind the Halifax Shipping News, says satellite data indicate the two tugs pulling the stricken ship have plotted a course to Freeport on Grand Bahama Island, which has a substantial container terminal.

Ziobrowski says photos of the ship and information provided by its owner, Hapag Lloyd of Germany, suggest the fire has destroyed many containers on the ships forward deck.

It looks like the centre of those front four stacks have collapsed, Ziobrowski said in an interview.

Read more:

Poor weather forces crew to stop fighting fire aboard ship headed for Halifax

Crews still battling fire aboard massive Halifax-bound container ship

Filipino crew from burning container ship taken to Halifax

What you have there is a pile of smouldering cargo and containers ... And the hold below is going to be heat damaged and probably filled with water.

The company has confirmed all cargo in the ships first 12 bays, and some of the cargo in the two holds beneath those bays, have been affected by the fire.

Damage caused by smoke, heat and ... water in adjacent areas is possible, the company said in a statement on its website, adding that many other containers with refrigeration units have been switched off.

A spokesman for the Hamburg-based company issued a brief statement Tuesday, saying the fire is under control and salvage operations are underway.

However, Tim Seifert says theres no estimated time of arrival in Halifax or any other port, though he confirmed the ship was headed southwest towards more favourable weather conditions.

At this time, it is not yet possible to make a precise estimate of any damage to Yantian Express or its cargo, the company said. This can only be more clearly assessed once the vessel reaches a port.

Five of the ships 22 crew members, including the captain, have returned to the ship with some salvage experts, Seifert said. The other crew members were recently picked up by another vessel, and they have since been flown to their home ports.

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Ziobrowski, who has been producing the Halifax Shipping News for 10 years, says it appears Hapag Lloyd has dispatched the Shanghai Trader, another container ship, to pick up the cargo that can be salvaged.

The Yantian Express was travelling to Halifax from Colombo, Sri Lanka, via the Suez Canal, when the fire started.

The blaze was brought under control by ocean-going tugs equipped with high-powered water cannons.

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CALGARYThe energy industrys want list as Alberta politicians gear up for a spring election includes a doubling of the industrys growth rate and support for six energy pipelines.

What we put forward today is a vision for the future, Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said Tuesday.

The association released an eight-page document containing 16 recommendations for a future government.

Alberta has an opportunity to become one of the most attractive places in the world for oil and natural gas investment, but only if Albertans vote for energy in the next provincial election, said a news release.

The association is calling for policies that will double the industrys growth rate by 2020 and make Canada the worlds fourth-largest oil producer.

It wants completion of the Keystone XL, Line 3 and Trans Mountain pipeline expansions. It also wants government support for three entirely new pipelines to Canadian coastlines as well as four liquefied natural gas terminals.

Read more:

Alberta pushes for $2B crude upgrader to extract more value from oil

Yellow vest convoy to take over the Henday, police say

Trans Mountain argues the significant impacts of pipeline tanker traffic are justified

The group suggests that regulatory timelines should be cut in half and costs reduced by $2 billion. As well, Alberta should assert its constitutional authority over energy development, including in-situ oilsands projects.

Also on the wish list are lower corporate taxes, competitive and efficient royalties and the lowest municipal taxes in North America.

The suggested platform contains no mention of a carbon price or the 100-megatonne emissions limit currently in place on the oilsands.

We support a made-in-Alberta climate plan that is applied in parallel to other competing jurisdictional climate policies and progress on access to markets, the document says.

McMillan said that doesnt rule out a carbon price.

I think it can be done in a way that is globally competitive and efficient and effective.

Greenpeace energy strategist Keith Stewart said the recommendations are a formula for doing as little as possible to combat climate change.

This is a go-at-the-speed-of-Trump climate plan, he said. Canada would be saying, Were not serious.

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McMillan pointed to a forecast from the International Energy Agency which concludes that under current and planned government policies energy demand will increase 25 per cent by 2040.

That prediction  one of four scenarios  comes with a three-degree rise in global temperatures. Thats well above the threshold scientists say would cause dangerous changes.

McMillan said if any country should increase production, its Canada.

Canada is uniquely positioned to develop technologies. We have a track record of continuous improvement in driving down emissions per barrel.

With a growth scenario, we can continue down that path.

The association is careful in its release to steer clear of any political party. But Albertas Opposition United Conservative Party was quick to hop on.

The recommendations and concerns raised in todays report reinforce what weve been saying, said a statement from energy critic Prasad Panda, who was not made available for an interview.

New Democrat Premier Rachel Notley was more circumspect.

Theres a lot of things on which I agree with CAPP and then theres some things I dont, she said. But that doesnt mean that we cant find ways to work productively with players within the oil and gas industry to help build our economy for all Albertans.

Adopting the recommendations in the CAPP document assumes the worlds energy mix will stay the same and that renewable energy, electric cars or climate policy wont make any difference, said Nikki Way of the clean-energy think tank Pembina Institute.

Thats a dangerous situation for Alberta, banking on a continued thirst for oil that will never cease in our lifetime.

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Bentall Kennedy LP, the real estate unit of Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial Inc., is close to a deal to buy the tallest office tower in Montreal from Ivanhoe Cambridge Inc., according to a person familiar with the plans.

The building at 1000 De La Gauchetiere is located in the heart of downtown, close to the city bus terminal and train station. The deal hasnt been completed yet, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Royal Bank of Canada is handling the sale, the person said. The price wasnt disclosed.

Ivanhoe Cambridge, a unit of Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec  Canadas second-biggest pension fund  declined to comment on the deal as did RBC. Bentall Kennedy didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The building was completed in 1992 and a key feature is an atrium that holds a large ice skating rink. The 51-story skyscraper has been on the market for more than a year.

Sun Life announced in December that it would merge Bentall Kennedy with New York-based GreenOak Real Estate and buy a majority stake in the combined firm, to be dubbed Bentall GreenOak. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of this year.
In their quest to make one of the most expensive methods of producing crude more profitable, Canadas oilsands companies have been ramping up efforts to get their peanut butterlike bitumen to flow through pipelines more easily and cheaply.

MEG Energy Corp. threw a spotlight on those efforts on Tuesday, when it said that its working with a financial adviser on strategic alternatives for its HI-Q partial upgrading technology. The company is betting that there may be a lucrative market for the method, which cuts out the need for costly diluting agents that take up precious pipeline space.

Producers in the prolific oilsands  the worlds third-largest petroleum reserves  typically use natural gas condensate to turn their sticky heavy crude into something pipelines can carry. While much of it is produced from Alberta and British Columbias Montney shale formation, some diluent is imported from the U.S. as well.

That condensate tends to trade on par with the price of light, sweet West Texas Intermediate or even at a premium to that grade, which itself trades at a premium to Western Canadian Select heavy crude.

And to flow through a pipeline, bitumen needs to be about 30 per cent condensate. Technology to reduce those requirements would go a long way toward making the historically costly oilsands more competitive, and it would free up the pipeline space that has become so scarce that the Alberta government needed to mandate province-wide oil-production cuts.

The removal of that diluent obviously would not only impact the bottom lines of producers, but also could improve overall market sentiment in Western Canada, given the pipeline-access issues, said Dinara Millington, vice president of research at the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

MEG says its HI-Q technology allows bitumen to be shipped through pipelines without blending with lighter hydrocarbons. The technology employs a process that entails removing and recycling some diluent used in its initial processing, separating out the lighter and heavier portions of the bitumen, then removing solid materials known as asphaltenes.

But its not the only company working a diluent-cutting technology. Cenovus Energy Inc. said in October that it was working on a 1,000-barrel-a-day pilot plant using a method that would reduce its diluent needs by half. Husky Energy Inc. is working on a 500-barrel-a-day pilot plant for its diluent-reduction technology at its Sunrise oilsands project near Fort McMurray. The company has said the process has the potential to cut diluent requirements by half.

The biggest hurdle is moving that pilot phase into the commercial phase and demonstrating the scale, Kevin Birn, IHS Markits director of North American crude oil markets, said in an interview. That first mover would obviously have an advantage to then step out from that plant and bring in other producers on joint-venture or operational basis.

Albertas government also is getting in on efforts to upgrade the provinces crude. Premier Rachel Notley on Tuesday announced the province is extending a C$440 million loan guarantee to Value Creation Inc. to encourage its construction of a C$2 billion partial upgrader, which would turn 77,500 barrels of diluted bitumen a day into higher-value products like medium synthetic crude and ultra-low-sulfur diesel.

The effects of reducing or eliminating diluent needs could eventually ripple beyond the oilsands. Already, the growth of condensate production in Western Canada has trimmed the need for U.S. imports, and diluent-reducing technologies could accelerate that trend. However, that could be a long ways off, as the technology still needs to develop, and large, commercial-scale facilities would take time to build, Birn said.

If you look at partial-processing technology, certainly it could have an effect on diluent demand in smaller volumes earlier, Birn said, but to have a really large effect, I think youre looking some period out into the future.
Ontario Teachers Pension Plan has a long-term plan for China thats unlikely to be derailed by political tensions, its chief executive officer said.

Chinas a long game from our perspective and while theres always skirmishes of one kind or another, in the short term, we believe that its absolutely necessary to be there, Ron Mock said in a Bloomberg Television interview Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The fund invests a lot in technology in China which is very different than doing so North America, he said.

Mocks comments come as relations between Canada and China are at one of the most strained in their history. Canada is holding Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co. in Vancouver at the request of the U.S. who want to extradite her while China has detained two Canadians and sentenced a third to death on a drug charge.

The Toronto-based fund is Canadas third-biggest pension plan, with about $194 billion ($145 billion U.S.) in assets, and oversees the retirement savings of 323,000 retired and working teachers in the province.

OTPP is also ready to invest billions of dollars in Brazil now that the worst seems to be behind for the Latin American country, Mock said. Brazil plans to sell a large number of state-owned companies are nearly ready, President Jair Bolsonaro said in an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday in Davos. Sales will include airports and ports, he said.

Those kinds of things dont come on the market very often. And if its the right asset with the right partners, were not shy about moving into it, Mock said. It could be billions or tens of billions in some cases, lets just say it could be billions.

Mock said that OTPPs assets in Brazil have performed extremely well and that he has teams on the ground and that the opportunity set is starting to pick up.

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EIBs leadership in the Circular Economy recognized at World Economic Forum meeting in Davos EIB

The EIB has been selected as the runner-up in the Investor category of The Circulars 2019, the worlds premier circular economy award program organized by the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders. The award ceremony, which was held on 21 January in Davos, recognized the EIBs strong contribution to the circular economy which revolves around three mutually reinforcing clusters: finance, advisory support and knowledge sharing.

In the last 5 years, the EIB has provided EUR 2.1 billion to co-finance more than 100 circular projects in a variety of sectors and plans to do more in the future. The Bank also raises awareness about circular solutions among financiers and stakeholders: as such it has recently published a Circular Economy Guide to promote a common understanding of circular economy projects.

Speaking at The Circulars Award ceremony, Vice-President Alex Stubb said: We thank the organisers for this recognition. The shift to a circular economy is a win-win-win. A win for the economy because it is expected to stimulate growth and create up to 2 million new jobs by 2030; a win for the environment, because it will reduce our materials and carbon footprints and, finally a win for businesses for which it enables cost savings and new business opportunities.

Top prize in the investor category went to Impax Asset Management in which the EIB has invested 115 million euro of equity for renewable energy and circular economy projects.

The EIBs head of innovation finance advisory Shiva Dustdar said she was delighted to see ImpaxAM take the prize: When the EIB invests indirectly we can sometimes have even more of a catalytic impact. At the end of the day CE is about finding win-win solutions. And this prize is a great example for just that!

More information:

Website: www.eib.org/circular-economy

Brochure: The EIB in the Circular Economy

Study: Access-to-finance conditions for projects supporting circular economy

Blog: Squaring the Circle: What square financiers and circular economy businesses should understand about each other


What was the Play of the Year in South Dakota prep sports? Time to decide.
Swine fever virus found in China tourist sausages at Phuket Airport

PHUKET: Processed pork products seized from a Chinese tourist in Phuket last Wednesday (Jan 16) have been found to contain a viral strain of African Swine Fever (ASF), according to the Department of Livestock Development.

healthSafetytourism

By Bangkok Post

Wednesday 23 January 2019, 08:51AM

Pork sausages brought to Phuket by a foreign traveller from China were found to contain African swine fever. Photo: Kifo / Wikimedia Commons

The tests were conducted on salami and sausages confiscated from a man who flew from Chengdu, the capital of China's south-western Sichuan Province, to Phuket international airport, said Sorawit Thaneto, director-general of the Department of Livestock Development.

In total nine ASF-contaminated pork products have been seized from tourists, he said.

ASF is a fatal and incurable pig virus transmitted via direct contact with an infected animal. The outbreak has crippled the swine farm industry in a number of countries.

It is not transmittable to humans but scientists warn this could change if a strain mutates.

The department has deployed stringent measures to check smuggled sausages from China recently to contain the risk.

Strict inspections of processed pork products from overseas are now in place, in a bid to stave off an outbreak. If unchecked, ASF could decimate our swine farm industry, said Mr Sorawit.

Last week, the department invited the Association of Thai Travel Agents and the Thai-Chinese Tourism Alliance Association to seek closer cooperation in preventing tourists from bringing pork products into the country without permission.

They are now required to declare pork products when entering Thailand, Dr Sorawit said.

He said the department has confirmed that no case of African swine fever has been detected in Thailand. However, it has not lowered its guard because the disease keeps spreading in China, he said.

Mr Sorawit said farmers must monitor the health conditions of their animals and all swine farms must adhere to good practices.

The World Organisation for Animal Health announced there was an outbreak last year, listing 15 countries across Europe and African regions as well as Russia and China.

The Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory on Dec 25 to quarantine pork imported from those countries listed.

Read full story here.
German man dies after seven-storey fall in Patong

PHUKET: A 52-year-old German man has died after falling from a seventh-floor balcony in Patong this morning (Jan 23).

patongdeathpolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Wednesday 23 January 2019, 07:19PM

The German man died after reportedly falling seven storeys from the apartment block in Patong. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Patong Police Chief Col Anotai Jindamanee told The Phuket News, that police were notified of the incident at 3.50am.

Police arrived at the scene, the BKS Patong on Nanai Rd, to find the body on the ground in the car park.

"The man was wearing only black shorts, Col Anotai said.

We are still investigating to find the cause of death but I believe he might have fallen from the balcony in his room. We cannot yet confirm whether or not it was suicide, he added.

Col Anotai explained that Italian national Marino Camporesi, who was staying in the same hotel, was the first person to find the German man's body.

"Mr Camporesi informed Ms Napalai Khumungkung who was staying in the room next door. Ms Napalai called emergency services, Col Anotai said.

Upon questioning, Surachart Keusap, who is the owner of the room where the German man was staying, said that the man previously worked in Patong but has been unemployed of late, Col Anotai added.

"He rented the room from Nov 21, 2018 on a six-month contract. He was living alone and missed his January rent payment of B9,300 due on the first of the month, Col Anotai said.

The man's body was taken to Patong Hospital.

"Police have already informed the German consulate of the man's death, Col Anotai added.

* The Phuket News is withholding the man's name until it has been confiredm that his next of kin have been notified of his death.
DNA tests prove disappeared activists were murdered

THAILAND: Police confirm that DNA tests prove that two bodies washed up on the shore of the Mekong River in the Northeast are the corpses missing anti-government activists.

Wednesday 23 January 2019, 09:20AM

Wuthipong Kochathamakun, alias Kotee, was disappeared in July, 2017. He is shown talking to reporters in his political stronghold of Pathum Thani in January of 2014. Photo: Bangkok Post

A body is brought ashore from the Mekong River in Muang district, Nakhon Phanom province, on Dec 29 last year. Another body was found two days earlier in That Phanom district. Photo: Bangkok Post

Lese majeste fugitive Surachai Sae Dan (centre) is feared to have been murdered along with two other men whose bodies were washed up from the Mekong River on Dec 29. Photo: Prachatai.com

The murdered men are believed to be the victims of more political killings of accused lese majeste suspects tracked down and killed inside Laos.

A third disappeared person, long-time anti-government activist and self-proclaimed pro-Maoist communist Surachai Sae Dan, is believed to have been abducted on Dec 6 with his aides, Sahai Kasalong, 47, and Sahai Phuchana, 54.

The two men whose bodies have been found are known by their pseudonyms, Puchana and Kasalong. They and Surachai disappeared from homes in Laos, where they took shelter after fleeing the military regimes arrest warrants.

A group of Thai exiles in Laos are associated with the anti-coup movement, and the red shirts political front, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. Most took direct part in the aggressive street protests in Bangkok in 2010 that were violently crushed by the military.

Several have been identified as members of a red shirt-linked faction advocating that Thailand become a republic, and have been wanted on charges of lese majeste since the military took over government in May, 2014.

Lese majeste carries penalties of up to 15 years in prison per offence, but is not subject to the death penalty.

The disappearance of the three men in December raised concerns among fellow activists that they were kidnapped by a death squad, either vigilantes or officially sanctioned.

Lese majeste offenders were declared special targets of military law immediately after the coup took place.

The Nakhon Phanom provincial police chief, Pol Maj Gen Thanachart Rodklongton, said forensics lab results matched the bodies DNA to samples from family members.

The bodies were found on Dec 27 and Dec 28, wrapped in brown sacks along with blocks of cement, presumably to weigh them down.

The real names of the two have not been made officially public, but are believed to be Surachais aides.

One body was found in the Mekong River in That Phanom district on Dec 27, while the other was found later in Muang district on Dec 29, said Pol Maj Gen Thanachart.

Tests carried out by the Institute of Forensic Medicine matched genetic material from the first body to Sahai Kasalongs son, while the DNA of the second body matched samples provided by Sahai Phuchana's mother and son, he said.

Police investigators are seeking the cooperation of their Lao counterparts to search the house where the three had stayed, in order to find more clues that could shed some light into their disappearances and murders, said Pol Maj Gen Thanachat.

The fate of the well-known Surachai, whose real name is Surachai Danwattananusorn, is officially unknown.

Now 77, he had spent many years before his disappearance in prison on lese majeste and other charges since the 1970s, when he was a communist guerrilla in southern Thailand.

The three had not been seen by friends in Laos since the middle of December.

Since 2016, at least two other Thai fugitives in Laos have disappeared under suspicious circumstances. They include prominent Pathum Thani red shirt Wuthipong Kochathamakun, alias Kotee.

Kotee was abducted by 10 men in black from his Vientiane home around July 29, 2017, forced into a waiting car and driven away.

The military regime, through then National Security Council chief Thawip Netniyom, said Kotee likely slipped away to create news but claimed it had no further information.

Authorities deny any involvement in any of the disappearances, and note they have tried legal channels to have the suspects extradited.

While some Thai dissidents have managed to obtain political asylum in western countries, others who lack connections, documentation and funds are stuck in neighbouring Laos and Cambodia. Some have tried to keep doing political work over the internet, while others prefer to keep a low profile.

All live in limbo because of the transactional nature of official Thai relations with neighbours, who might regard it advantageous to hand over the fugitives.

Read full story here.




Tru Shrimp Company to build first 'harbor' production facility in South Dakota

Minnesota, USA-based tru Shrimp Company announced plans to build its first so-called Harbor shrimp production facility in Madison, South Dakota.

Construction is expected to break ground this summer in Madison's Lakeview Industrial Park, the company said in a news release early this month.

"We are excited to be working with the city of Madison and the Lake Area Improvement Corporation in bringing safe and sustainable shrimp to the US consumer", said Michael Ziebell, tru Shrimp president and CEO.

"Though we're headquartered in Minnesota, tru Shrimp is truly a Midwest company. Building our first harbor in Madison reaffirms our commitment to the broader region", he added. Tru Shrimp calls its facilities "Harbors" to reflect its innovative technology and new processes of raising shrimp, including growing them in shallow water that is cleaned and reused. Tru Shrimp also raises shrimp that are free of chemicals and antibiotics.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard welcomed tru Shrimp as its "newest corporate citizen".

"The growing aquaculture industry, led by tru Shrimp, is not only a great fit for Madison, but also a natural fit for our state's agricultural heritage", Daugaard said.

Madison is a second choice as a site for tru Shrimp's first Harbor. Luverne, Minnesota, was previously identified as the site, but the company met some state regulatory roadblocks that needed to be addressed before it could proceed. "Our timeline for capital financing and construction in 2019 does not allow adequate time to resolve the items in Luverne. Locating the first Harbor in Madison not only meets the critical components of our business model, but our timeline as well", Ziebell said.
Home >Police Enforcement > Taxes and Tolls > Virginia Considers Cameras To Issue Tickets On Alternate Routes Around Toll Road
(Special to the Tribune)

Ever since her older sister Mikelle, left, disappeared Jan. 2, 1999, Kimber Biggs, now 28, has been haunted by the unsolved case, which got some national attention from CBS last weekend.
I have some new feathered friends here at my Bedford, New York farm.

If you follow my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may know that I attended a great event last weekend in Springfield, Massachusetts - the 2019 Northeastern Poultry Congress, a poultry show held every year at the Eastern States Exposition Center. The event featured more than 2600-birds, including large fowl, waterfowl, turkeys, pigeons, Guineas, and of course, a variety of wonderful breed chickens. It was a fun way to learn about these fascinating birds and to build relationships with knowledgeable, passionate breeders. I also had the opportunity to purchase a few new birds to add to my flock - three black Langshans, two Toulouse geese and several Spangled Hamburgs.

Enjoy these photos.
Gilbert residents can click some problems away with new app
Mettler-Toledo International Inc. manufactures and supplies precision instruments and services worldwide. It operates in five segments: U.S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other. The company offers weighing instruments for laboratory, industrial, packaging, logistics, and food retailing applications; various related analytical instruments and automated chemistry solutions used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development; metal detection and other end-of-line product inspection systems used in production and packaging for food processing and packaging, pharmaceutical, packaged consumer goods, and other industries; and solutions that are used in various process analytics applications. Its laboratory instruments include laboratory balances, liquid pipetting solutions, automated laboratory reactors, titrators, pH meters, process analytics sensors and analyzer technologies, physical value analyzers, thermal analysis systems, and other analytical instruments; and LabX, a laboratory software platform. The company's industrial instruments comprise industrial weighing instruments and related terminals, automatic dimensional measurement and data capture solutions, vehicle scale systems, industrial software, and product inspection systems. Its retail weighing solutions consist of networked scales and software, and stand-alone scales for handling fresh goods, such as meats, vegetables, fruits, and cheeses. The company serves the life science industry, and independent research organizations; food and beverage producers; food retailers; chemical, specialty chemical, and cosmetics companies; food retailers; transportation and logistics, metals, and electronics industries; and the academic community. It markets its products through its direct sales force and indirect distribution channels. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

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4 Wall Street research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for TMAC Resources in the last year. There are currently 3 hold ratings and 1 buy rating for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street research analysts is that investors should "hold" TMAC Resources stock. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in TMMFF, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.

View analyst ratings for TMAC Resources or view top-rated stocks.
Halliburton Company provides a range of services and products to oil and natural gas companies worldwide. The company's Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services, including stimulation and sand control services; and cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, as well as provides casing equipment. It also provides completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, liner hanger and sand control systems, and service tools; production solutions comprising coiled tubing, hydraulic workover units, downhole tools, pumping services, and nitrogen services; and pipeline and process services, such as pre-commissioning, commissioning, maintenance, and decommissioning. In addition, this segment offers electrical submersible pumps, as well as artificial lift services. The company's Drilling and Evaluation segment provides drilling fluid systems, performance additives, completion fluids, solids control, specialized testing equipment, and waste management services; oilfield completion, production, and downstream water and process treatment chemicals and services; and drilling systems and services. It also offers wireline and perforating services, including open-hole logging, and cased-hole and slickline; and drill bits and services comprising roller cone rock bits, fixed cutter bits, hole enlargement, and related downhole tools and services, as well as coring equipment and services. In addition, this segment provides cloud based digital services and artificial intelligence solutions on an open architecture for subsurface insights, integrated well construction, and reservoir and production management; testing and subsea services, such as acquisition and analysis of reservoir information and optimization solutions; and project management and integrated asset management services. Halliburton Company was founded in 1919 and is based in Houston, Texas.

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First Horizon Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First Horizon Bank that provides various financial services. The company operates through four segments: Regional Banking, Fixed Income, Corporate, and Non-Strategic. It offers general banking services for consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments. The company also underwrites bank-eligible securities and other fixed-income securities eligible for underwriting by financial subsidiaries; sells loans and derivatives; and offers advisory services. In addition, it offers various services, such as mortgage banking; title insurance and loan-closing; brokerage; correspondent banking; nationwide check clearing and remittance processing; trust, fiduciary, and agency; equipment finance; and investment and financial advisory services. Further, the company sells mutual fund and retail insurance products; and credit cards. It operates approximately 490 banking offices in 12 states under the First Horizon Bank brand; and 29 offices in 18 states under the FHN Financial brand in the United States. The company was formerly known as First Horizon National Corporation and changed its name to First Horizon Corporation in November 2020. First Horizon Corporation was founded in 1864 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

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Nio Stock is Revving Up, But Should You Jump on Board?

Its been a wild ride for electric vehicle (EV) stocks, and Nio (NYSE:NIO) has been no exception. At a quick glance, the 13% drop in NIO stock for 2021 doesnt look too bad. However, the stock is down approximately double that since reaching a high of over $60 in February. And without a rally of over 30% over the
Wall Street analysts have given Invesco New York AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Invesco New York AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.
Some 10,000 Chinese tourists have been invited to a feast in Thailand that has broken the Guinness World Record for the biggest sticky rice mango banquet ever, as a way to win tourists from China back.

The dessert, featuring 6,000 mangoes and 15 tonnes of sticky rice was announced the world biggest one in an event themed "We Care About You" near Bangkok. The feast was held on Sunday by the tourism panel of the National Legislative Assembly and was coordinated by the Association of Thai Travel Agents.

Chinese tourists were invited to enjoy the most famous Thai dessert along with Thai food and fruits as well as Thai-Chinese performances.

Organizers said they want to build up a good image of Thai hospitality through this event.

Read also: Impressive, unlikely and downright weird: New Guinness World Records

"Considering there was a sharp drop of Chinese tourists to Thailand, we've been making an effort to improve the country's safety standards, expecting to restore the confidence of tourists from China and let them know Thailand care about them." said Pichit Kuandachakupt, chairman of the committee of religion, art, culture and tourism of the National Legislative Assembly

Chinese arrivals, which were booming in early 2018, were stunted by a deadly ferry sinking in July 2018 which killed 47 Chinese tourists.

Although yearly arrivals of Chinese tourists for 2018 exceeded a historic milestone of 10 million in December, monthly arrivals were lower than that during the same period last year.

Thailand have exceeded the waiver on the on-arrival-visa fee for 20 countries and regions including China, the kingdom's biggest tourism contributor that accounts more than a quarter of its international arrivals.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 24, 2019 09:23 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e831889 1 Politics basuki-tjahaja-purnama,PDI-P,Djarot-Saiful-Hidayat Free

Instead of returning to politics, former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama might try his hand in oil  and become a talk show host on television.

Ahok's lawyer Teguh Samudera said Ahok had been planning to venture into the oil business for a long time and would look for offices near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the heart of the countrys business and government activities.

The traffic circle is around 3.3 kilometers from Ahoks previous office, City Hall.

"The [new] office may not be big, but it would be sufficient," Teguh said on Tuesday as quoted by Antara.

The lawyer also said that Ahok would sign a contract with a private television station to host a show after his release.

Ahok, who ran for reelection as governor in 2017, was convicted of blaspheming the Quran in the same year following a bitterly contested gubernatorial election campaign that was marred by sectarian rallies. Having previously refused to apply for parole, he will be released on Thursday after serving two years.

Politics, however, is not completely off the table.

If it is for national interests and for the sake of the state, he will certainly obey and not refuse to return to the political arena," Teguh said.

In November, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Djarot Saiful Hidayat, his running mate in the 2017 election, said Ahok would join his party if he returned to politics.

[Ahok] said, If I return to politics, I will certainly join the PDI-P, Djarot said at the time.

Ahok started his political career in 2004 when he ran for the legislative council in his home province of Bangka Belitung. In 2008, he joined the Golkar Party and was elected to the House of Representatives in 2009.

In 2012, he defected to the Gerindra Party, which backed his bid in the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election with then-Surakarta mayor Joko Jokowi Widodo. He left Gerindra not long after Jokowi, who had been elected Jakarta governor, decided to challenge Gerindra leader Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential election. Jokowi won, leaving his gubernatorial post to Ahok.

In 2016, Ahok signed a political contract with the PDI-P, which supported his reelection bid. (ggq)
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Linkedin Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post) Pekanbaru  Wed, January 23, 2019 09:25 878 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e823257 1 Business Sultan-Syarif-Kasim-Airport,Pekanbaru,ticket-sales,airline-ticket,Garuda-Indonesia,Lion-Air,Sriwijaya-Air,Riau,citilink,Malindo-Air,Jetstar,Batik-Air,AP-II,Angkasa-Pura-II Free

Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru had a record number of flight cancelations in January because not enough people were buying tickets amid a sharp increase in fares.

Airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II recorded that from Jan. 1 to 21 a total of 433 flights were canceled by airlines. Lion Air canceled 138 flights (71 outgoing, 67 incoming), flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia canceled 129 (64 outgoing, 65 incoming) and Sriwijaya Air canceled 69.

Citilink canceled 56, Batik Air 38, Jetstar two and Malindo Air canceled one flight.

The executive general manager of Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport, Jaya Tahoma Sirait, said that out of the 433, 429 were regular domestic flights, with 212 incoming and 217 outgoing. Most of the canceled flights, 245, were to have gone from Pekanbaru to Jakarta. Ninety-four flights were canceled from Pekanbaru to Batam in Riau Islands, Jaya said on Tuesday.

Some Pekanbaru-Jambi, Pekanbaru-Singapore and Pekanbaru-Jeddah flights were also canceled.

Jaya said the flights were canceled because only a few people bought tickets because of their high prices. A Pekanbaru-to-Jakarta ticket, for example, soared from about Rp 600,000 to between Rp 1 million and Rp 1.3 million.

Jaya said there was a 18.32 percent decrease in passengers and a 24.2 percent decrease in flights at the airport this month compared to in the same period last year. On average, we have seen 20 cancelations per day [this month], Jaya said. Usually, the airport managed 92 to 96 flights per day and 86 in the low season, but Jaya said that lately the figure did not even reach that of the low season. The number of cancelations this year is the highest compared to previous years, he said.

He said he is worried that the activity in the airport would continue to decrease if the domestic ticket fares do not go down. This, he said, would affect the AP IIs plan to expand Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport.



Were going to increase the capacity of the terminals because in the past few years we have seen a significant increase in passengers using the airports services. But what if the number keeps decreasing? How would we return the investment that is to be used to expand the terminals? Jaya said.

The airport aimed for 4.3 million to 4.4 million people to use its facilities annually. But if this situation is unchanged, we think it would be difficult to reach the target, he said. (evi)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 14:18 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e83473e 1 City student,suicide,depression,campus,jakarta,Bunda-Mulia-University,police Free

A Bunda Mulia University (UBM) student identified as R, 20, was found dead at the university compound on Jl. Lodan Raya, Ancol subdistrict, Pademangan district, North Jakarta, on Tuesday afternoon from an apparent suicide.

Pademangan Police chief Comr. Julianthy said R was believed to have jumped to death from the 12th floor of a campus building.

"We have checked the CCTV recording, which shows that the victim used the elevator to get to the 10th floor, then climbed the stairs alone to the 12th floor," Julianthy told reporters, as quoted by kompas.com.

Julianthy said no witnesses had come forward. Rs body was found in the buildings parking lot.

R had not exhibited any suicidal tendencies, Julianthy added.

The victim hailed from Makassar, South Sulawesi and lived in the universitys student dormitory. (ars)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Chicago, United States  Wed, January 23, 2019 09:29 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e823d4b 2 World #USA,#Terrorism,men,arrested,Michigan,Airport,Islamic-State,allegation Free

Three American citizens of Kenyan descent have been charged with conspiring to support the Islamic State group after an arrest at a Michigan airport foiled their alleged plot, authorities announced Tuesday.

The three men, all in their 20s and related to each other, allegedly recorded videos pledging their allegiance to IS and discussed a potential car attack in the United States if one of them was unable to travel overseas to fight for the terror group.

FBI agents employed undercover agents to communicate with the suspects and multiple search warrants of their social media accounts to monitor the suspects' communications between each other, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

The three were arrested Monday at Gerald Ford Airport in the city of Grand Rapids as Muse Abdikadir Muse, 23, also known as Muse Muse, was going through the TSA security screening process.

Authorities said he had checked in for a trip that would eventually take him to Mogadishu, Somalia, with the goal of joining IS.

In an online exchange with an undercover FBI agent, Muse allegedly said he wanted to join IS in Somalia and "fight in the front lines," according to the affidavit.

Police also arrested at the airport terminal the men said to be Muse's co-conspirators: his brother Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 20, and another relative, Mohamed Salat Haji, 26.

The two are alleged to have purchased the airline ticket and driven Muse to the airport.

All three men, who are naturalized US citizens from Kenya, were charged with conspiring to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Law enforcement became interested in the elder Muse starting in April 2016, when he allegedly publicly posted pro-IS messages on his Facebook account, the affidavit said.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Baqa al-Gharbiya, Israel  Wed, January 23, 2019 19:07 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e84a98e 2 World #Israel,#Australia,thousands,Funeral,Arab,Israeli,killed,Australia Free

Thousands of mourners attended the funeral on Wednesday of Aya Maasarwe, an Arab Israeli student killed in Australia, in her hometown of Baqa al-Gharbiya in northern Israel.

The 21-year-old was raped and murdered in Australia's second-largest city Melbourne shortly after midnight on January 16 when she was on her way home from a comedy show.

Her body was found by passers-by in bushes near a tram stop.

Police in Australia, who have described the attack as "horrific", have arrested and charged a suspect, 20-year-old Codey Herrmann, with her rape and murder.

The murder of Maasarwe, who had been studying in Australia for a year, shocked the country and sparked a huge outpouring of grief that saw thousands attend vigils in her memory.

"I appreciate the support of all these people, in the whole world and also in my town," said her father, Saeed Maasarwe, with Australia's ambassador to Israel, Chris Cannan, by his side.

Thousands of people gathered in silence at Baqa al-Gharbiya, a town with a Muslim majority, as mourners carried the coffin containing Maasarwe's body to her family home.

The only sound that could be heard was of Muslim prayers from loudspeakers.

Youths marching in a procession held up black banners that read "It's time to say: stop killing women" and "Women have the right to live in peace" in both Arabic and English.

A crowd of mourners then followed Maasarwe's coffin as it was taken to the Al-Sarat mosque and cemetery where she was laid to rest.

Hours earlier, the town's mayor, Khaled Abu Mukh, and Israeli Arab MP Ahmad Tibi accompanied Maasarwe's father as her coffin arrived at the airport.

In a video posted on social media, Tibi said Maasarwe was now the daughter of all Arab Israelis.

Arab Israelis are descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land following the creation of Israel in 1948.

They account for some 17.5 percent of Israel's population and largely support the Palestinian cause.
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Linkedin Riska Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 16:54 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e841466 1 Business state-owned-banks,Himbara,bank-mandiri,bri,bni,BTN,loan-growth,third-party-funds,liquidity,Federal-Reserve Free

The country's four state-owned banks are taking a cautious approach this year as they set similar loan growth targets to 2018 because of fears of global economic slowdown and tightening domestic liquidity this year.

The four lenders under the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) expect loan growth will hover between 11 and 15 percent this year.

Himbara chairman Maryono said recently that the global economy would continue to stagnate because of the possibility of the United States Federal Reserve raising its benchmark rate at least two times this year.

Last year, the Fed increased its funds rate four times because of the optimism regarding US economic growth. The aggressive move prompted capital funds to return to developed countries after flooding emerging markets, including Indonesia, a few years prior.

The capital reversal caused the heavy depreciation of the rupiah and other emerging market currencies against the US dollar. It also led Bank Indonesia to gradually increase its benchmark rate to 6 percent after holding it at 4.25 percent for eight months from September 2017.

As US economic growth is expected to slow slightly this year, the Fed has taken a dovish stance on further rate hikes.

However, commodity prices are expected to be more volatile this year, which would be a factor in any global economic slowdown, said Maryono.

Global commodity prices are expected to fluctuate this year and may decline, which can result in lower export growth for Indonesia. At the same time, oil prices are expected to increase, he told a meeting of the House of Representatives Commission XI recently.

Domestically, banks are preparing to face tightening liquidity as third-party funds have grown slower than lending in the past few years.

Data from the Deposit Insurance Corporation show that banks loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 92.59 percent in November, slightly lower than the 93 percent seen a month earlier.

The ratio exceeded the lower end of the safety limit set by the Financial Services Authority at 92 to 102 percent.

The situation prompted each of the four state banks to set either a lower or similar target range for their funding growth compared to lending.

Bank Mandiri, the countrys largest lender by assets, expects its third-party funds to grow 11 to 12 percent, while its loan growth target was set at 11 to 13 percent.

Indonesias most profitable lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) set its target for third-party fund growth at 11 to 13 percent, lower than its loan growth target of 12 to 14 percent.

Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), also one of the countrys five biggest lenders, targeted to grow third-party funds by 12 to 14 percent. The range was lower compared to its loan growth target of between 13 and 15 percent.

Bank Tabungan Negara, Indonesias biggest mortgage lender, projected that its third-party funds growth would hover between 12 and 15 percent, while its lending target is 12 and 15 percent growth.

To avoid a squeeze in liquidity, BNI president director Achmad Baiquni said his company was planning to issue bonds in rupiah denomination.

Rico Rizal Budidarmo, BNIs treasury and international banking director, told Kontan recently that the bank was planning to issue negotiable certificates of deposit and bonds worth Rp 7 trillion (US$493.3 million) to Rp 8 trillion in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, BRI will continue to develop its digital banking platform to boost third-party funds, said president director Suprajarto. BRI has the biggest banking network in the country.

Hopefully, this platform will support fundraising from the people who still put their money under their pillow, he said, referring to the unbanked segment of the population in rural areas where bank branches and ATMs are absent.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 16:32 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e83b24f 1 City Tanah-Abang-Market,clash,street-vendors,Satpol-PP,suspect,arrest Free

The police have arrested a third man, identified as AM, in connection with a clash between street vendors and Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, last Thursday.

We arrested an additional suspect on Sunday night. He works as a scavenger, said Tanah Abang Police chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Lukman Cahyono, as reported by kompas.com on Wednesday.

Lukman said the police found out about the suspect by questioning eyewitnesses, who included Public Order Agency officers and vendors on Jl. Jatibaru Raya, and by viewing video footage of the clash.

According to our investigation, [AM] threw a paving block at a Satpol PP car, Lukman said.

AM has been charged under Article 170 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on violence against a person or property in public, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence upon conviction.

Lukman said police were still looking for three other people who may have helped provoke the clash in Tanah Abang.

Three suspects are still on the run and we are looking for them, he said.

The clash between Tanah Abang street vendors and Satpol PP officers started at 10 a.m. on Jan. 17 when the latter attempted to close down the sidewalk vendors following the construction of a pedestrian bridge that has space for stalls. The vendors reportedly threw rocks at the officers.

The police previously arrested two other people in the case, identified only as EW, 28, and SE, 54, for allegedly urging street vendors to resist the raid and for throwing rocks and steel handlebars at the officers. (ami)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 10:52 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e827ac9 4 Business Sabang,international-airport,tourism-industry Free

The government is preparing 40 hectares for an international airport in Sabang regency, Aceh to boost tourism.

We have prepared 40 hectares in three locations, said Sabang Mayor Nazaruddin in Sabang on Tuesday as quoted by Antara.

Nazaruddin said he had discussed the three locations with officials at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister.

We hope the central government will develop an international airport in Sabang to support the tourist industry on the westernmost island of the country, he said.

The Tourism Ministrys undersecretary for regional development, Lokot Ahmad Enda, said in Banda Aceh said a new international airport, although the island already had Maimun Saleh Airport.

By having an international airport, Sabang will be visited by global airlines that will transport large numbers of tourists, he added.

Tourist spots on the island include Weh Island Monument, the Zero Kilometer Monument as well as Iboh and Sumur Tiga beaches. (bbn)
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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu  Wed, January 23, 2019 17:39 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e846655 1 National Central-Sulawesi-earthquake,Palu,soil-liquefaction,animal-husbandry Free

Inmates of the Maesa detention center (Rutan) in Palu, Central Sulawesi, are given the chance to develop real-world skills through a poultry farming program that recently welcomed survivors of last years devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Calling themselves the Bui (Prison) Squad volunteers, the inmates had invited survivors to join the husbandry learning center to learn about breeding chickens and running a chicken farm.

The program currently tends to about 300 chickens that will be sold at a local market in the next two weeks, according to Bui Squad coordinator Nudin Lasahido.

Proceeds of the sale will be divided between inmate volunteers and participating survivors, most of whom are from Petobo subdistrict.

Inmates have limited moving space. They need to be encouraged to do positive and productive things so that upon their release, they will have something to do to improve their lives, Nudin said, adding that the program was now open for anyone wanting to learn about chicken farming.

He added that Maesas learning center aimed at empowering its participants economy.

The centers mentor, inmate Muhammad Isjal who has an undergraduate degree in animal husbandry, said that after two months of learning together, the center has received a good response from both fellow inmates and survivors.

Breeding chickens is not as complicated as you may think. Its very easy, Isjal said.

The idea of establishing the Bui Squad of volunteers came from Nudin, following a string of natural disasters that struck the province in September last year. The volunteers are under the supervision of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).
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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu  Wed, January 23, 2019 19:56 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e84c74a 1 National Palu-Earthquake-Tsunami,hospital,lay-off Free

The Anutapura Public Hospital in Palu, Central Sulawesi, has dismissed 400 contract workers, including nurses, midwives and housekeepers, because of declining revenues following the deadly earthquake and tsunami that hit the region in September.

We had 800 contract workers but because our revenues are declining, we didnt have a better option but to lay off 400 of them, hospital director Ruslan Ramli told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The hospital's revenues dropped to Rp 1.1 billion (US$77,654) per month from Rp 10 billion per month after the disaster damaged 70 percent of the hospital buildings.

We cant possibly pay the salaries of contract workers  we can barely cover operational costs. We didnt have a choice, he said.

Before the disaster, the hospital had 553 beds. However, now the hospital can only run 200 beds while the Public Works and Housing Ministry is refurbishing the earthquake-damaged parts of the buildings.

Ruslan said the hospital might be able to rehire the contract workers after the renovations are completed and revenues return to normal.

The Anutapura Public Hospital is the second largest hospital in Palu. The Undata Public Hospital, which is run by the Central Sulawesi administration, is the largest. (swd)
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Linkedin Dian Septiari and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23 2019

The European Unions decision to phase out its use of palm oil continues to be a major stumbling block in efforts to upgrade the EUs dialogue status with ASEAN, as two of the commoditys biggest producers, Indonesia and Malaysia, have objected to the EUs discriminatory policies regrading palm oil.



At the 22nd Meeting of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers and EU in Brussels on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister A.M. Fachir said palm oil contributed significantly to the countrys economy and to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).



Palm oil is a strategic commodity for Indonesia, especially for small farmers. About 20 million ASEAN people depend on the palm oil industry and more than 5 million small farmers in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines depend on palm oil for their livelihoods, he said in a statement received on Tuesday.

...
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Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 15:23 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e837d09 1 World UNSC,United-Nations,Foreign-Ministry,Retno-Marsudi,Middle-East-conflict,Palestine Free

Palestine has "a natural and legal right" to become a full member of the United Nations, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday at a UN Security Council open debate on the situation in the Middle East.

In her first UNSC meeting since Indonesia began serving as a nonpermanent member of the council in January, Retno reiterated Indonesia's support for the Palestinian people, saying that the issue of Palestine's UN membership deserved the full attention of the council.

"The success of resolving the Palestinian issue will determine the credibility and trust of the international community toward the UN Security Council," Retno said in a statement received on Wednesday.

"The road toward Palestines full membership has been and will remain bumpy [...] But I am sure this bumpy road will not stop Palestine and the international community in fulfilling this right."

In her speech, Retno drew attention to three main issues required to encourage the resolution of conflict between Palestine and Israel: compliance to international law, a legitimate peace process and an end to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The minister underlined the importance of immediately ceasing various violations of international law, including the construction of illegal settlements by Israel.

"This is provocative, not to mention morally and legally wrong. Palestinian families are driven unjustly from their homes."

On her second point, Retno expressed her concerns about efforts to undermine a two-state solution. She said Indonesia was also concerned about the ongoing humanitarian crisis, especially with regard to the Gaza blockade.

As a staunch supporter of Palestinian statehood, Indonesia has vowed to promote the Palestinian agenda as part of its 4+1 list of priorities on the UNSC.

It is likely to face challenges in cooperating with pro-Israel countries on the council, experts say, most notably the United States, which along with four other permanent members has the power to veto any tabled council resolutions.
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Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23 2019

A video of a disabled man being told to pray outside the West Sumatra Grand Mosque in Padang, West Sumatra because his wheelchair was not clean sparked outrage on social media.



Abraham Ismed wrote about his experience and posted a video of an argument he had with a security officer on his Instagram account, @boy1492,on Sunday.



The post has received 582 likes and 241 comments as of Tuesday morning. Most of the commentators condemned the security officers act, labeling it as discriminatory, unethical and inhumane.



In his post, Abraham called the policy illogical.



Do I need to [leave my wheelchair] and instead crawl into the mosque to pray? For a disabled person like me, a wheelchair is like my feet, Abraham said, adding that it was the first time that he was discriminated against as a man in a wheelchair.



Padang is not...
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Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 17:16 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e84422d 1 Business Rokan-block,pertamina,Chevron,oil-and-gas-blocks,energy,energy-and-mineral-resources-ministry,exploration-blocks Free

After operating for more than 50 years, Indonesias most lucrative oil and gas block, Rokan, will need a fresh investment, with the terms having been agreed upon for state energy holding company Pertamina to take over the role of operator from United States energy giant Chevron.

Pertaminas win over Chevron last year was unexpected, prompting some critics to say that it was an example of how Indonesias energy sector is run under a nationalistic agenda, particularly ahead of the presidential election in April.

As the new operator, Pertamina is expected to show that it can rejuvenate the block, the production of which is projected to continue declining in the years to come should there be no intervention whatsoever.

Naturally, the reserves [of Rokan Block] will continue depleting. In the past, its oil production could reach 1.2 million barrels of oil per day [bopd], but now it is down to only around 200,000 bopd, said Djoko Siswanto, director general of oil and gas at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

Ready-to-sell oil production, or lifting, from Rokan this year is estimated to reach 190,000 bopd, 9.09 percent lower than the production in 2018, data from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) show.

Last year, Riaus Rokan Block was the most productive block, producing 209,478 bopd in oil lifting. However, East Javas Cepu Block, which is managed by US energy firm ExxonMobil, recently exceeded Rokan with 210,000 bopd in oil lifting.

Global energy think tank Wood Mackenzie gave an even lower forecast for Rokans oil lifting this year, estimating 180,000 bopd.

Wood Mackenzie research analyst Johan Utama told The Jakarta Post recently that Pertamina would face challenges in maintaining production, let alone increasing it.

The research firm estimated that Rokan Block, which will continue to be managed by Chevron until August 2021, will need total capital and operational expenditures amounting to US$1.6 billion this year.

Considering the maturity of the Rokan fields, even maintaining the production at a flat level would be very challenging without major new development projects and we do not expect such projects to come before the transition is complete, Johan wrote in an e-mail.

The government has frequently stated in response to production concerns that Pertamina will provide an investment two years before the official handover in 2021.

SKKMigas chairman Dwi Soetjipto acknowledged that Pertamina might not act quickly in investing big in Rokan, as he learned from last years experience that the company did not invest much in increasing or maintaining production at the gas-rich Mahakam Block in East Kalimantan.

He said it was crucial for Pertamina to speed up its investment in Rokan this year to avoid the same situation from happening again.

Hence, we held a meeting with Chevron and Pertamina to discuss the transition phase in Rokan, which must be done this year, he said.

Last December, Pertamina paid the government a signature bonus of $784 million for winning the Rokan contract and 10 percent as a guarantee from the total $500 million of its five-year working commitment, which includes exploration activities.

Once Pertamina launches its operation in Rokan, the blocks oil contribution will increase from 36 percent to 60 percent of the company's nationwide production.

Pertamina will need to establish a new upstream subsidiary for the future operation of Rokan.

Djoko said Pertamina was committed to conducting several well drillings with Chevron and SKKMigas in Rokan to avoid a decline in production.

After signing the production sharing contract for Rokan, there will be drillings there [] Hopefully, it [production] can increase, or at least stay steady, he said.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said the production sharing contract for Rokan would be signed no later than January.
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Linkedin Peter Schoof and Jean-Charles Berthonnet (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23 2019

On Jan. 22, 1963, the president of the French Republic, Charles de Gaulle, and the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, met in Paris to sign a cooperation treaty. The so-called Elysee Treaty aimed at achieving reconciliation between their two nations. It set the goal for increased cooperation between Germany and France in the areas of international relations, defense and education. It became the symbol of the relationship forged between France and Germany.



Today, France and Germany share a common ambition for the European project: a democratic, sovereign and united Europe, a competitive Europe, a Europe that is a basis for prosperity and defends its economic and social model and its cultural diversity, a Europe that promotes an open society, based on shared values of pluralism, solidarity and justice, a Europe that is ready to assert its globa...
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Vienna, Austria  Wed, January 23, 2019 10:10 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e8259ea 2 World #Austria,#Crime,woman,kidnapping,Austria,mystery Free

An 88-year-old woman was abducted on the street in a suspected kidnapping in the Austrian town of Eisenstadt, police said Tuesday.

The woman was walking down the street with her nurse when two black limousines pulled up beside them and two people emerged, police said in a statement.

They made the 88-year-old get into one of the cars -- which are thought to have had foreign licence plates -- before speeding off.

"The search for the suspects is in full swing," a police spokesman told the APA news agency.

However Interior Minister Herbert Kickl sounded a note of caution over the nature of the crime, saying it was not clear "whether this is a kidnapping in the classic sense of the word".

Police said they could not reveal the victim's identity at this time.

Austrian media have named her as the mother of Stefan Ottrubay, head of the foundation which manages the ancestral fortune of the former Hungarian noble family of Esterhazy.

Police said investigations were being conducted "internationally" while local media reported heavily armed officers on the streets of Eisenstadt in the hours after the abduction.

Cars were being stopped and searched, especially those with Hungarian licence plates, one witness said.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23 2019

MRT operator PT MRT Jakarta president director William Sabandar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jakarta Military Command on Tuesday at the latters headquarters in East Jakarta in regard to assistance in securing MRT facilities.



The facilities include the depot in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, the powerhouse at Taman Sambas in Blok M, South Jakarta, cooling towers, ventilation towers, transit access from overpasses to the underground and the 13 stations of the MRTs first phase.



The basic principle of the MoU is to coordinate with one another in regard to securing MRT Jakartas operations, William said.



Furthermore, Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Joni Supriyanto said the initiative was a preventive measure for any future security threats.



In terms of security, we will learn how to secure the area in case of emerg...
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 13:09 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e8315be 1 National SusiPudjiastuti,foreign-policy,global-thinker,illegal-fishing Free

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, who only got her high school diploma last year, has made it onto Foreign Policy magazines 2019 Global Thinkers list.

The magazine says Susi is committed to "regenerating her countrys vital fish stocks in ways that are accumulating both fans and enemies."

"She doesnt shy away from using scare tacticsSusi is known for blowing up boats that have been caught fishing illegally in Indonesias territorial waters," it says.

Her "brusque approach" has encouraged a major downturn in poaching "but also a rise in diplomatic tensions with China."

Marking its 10th anniversary, Foreign Policyhas published the list comprising 10 categories with 10 people each.

Susi is named under the category of Defense and Security, along with Germany Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, Iran's Quds Force commander, Qassem Suleimani, Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vladislav Surkov, as well as journalist and founder of Bellingcat Eliot Higgins, cofounder and CEO of Palantir, Alex Karp, and president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell.

Susi is perhaps the first female school dropout to have been appointed minister in the country.

She received her high school diploma in July last year. She took a high school equivalency examination at SMA 1 state senior high school in Pangandaran regency, West Java, on May 11-13. Susi passed the test with 429 points from seven subjects, giving her the highest score among the 569 participants in the exam.

Susi had registered for the exam in 2015. However, given her busy schedule as a minister, she only got down to taking the exam this year, Antara news agency reported.

In 2017, Susi was named among the BBCs 100 inspirational and innovative women.

Susi was the only Indonesian woman on the list.
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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Wed, January 23, 2019 16:00 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e83916b 1 National Meikarta,meikarta-bribery-case,Lippo-group,Bekasi-regency,Bekasi Free

The Corruption Eradication Corruption (KPK) has accused members of the Bekasi Legislative Council (DPRD Bekasi) of using money embezzled from the Meikarta mega city project for a trip to Thailand.

We have identified more than 20 members of DPRD Bekasi who went on the trip to Thailand, said KPK spokesperson Febri Diansyah on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co.

The antigraft body suspected that the councillors had taken along relatives for the three-day journey last year to beaches and various tourist spots in Thailand.

A portion of the funds were also allegedly allocated to the vacationers as spending money.

Febri, however, refused to reveal the identities of those who reportedly went on the trip, as the antigraft body was still looking for evidence.

Some of the councillors, he said, had admitted to accepting bribes from the Meikarta project and returned the money to the KPK. It has collected about Rp 180 million from the councillors.

Bekasi Regent Neneng Hasanah Yasin, the administration's officials and members of the council have been dragged into a massive corruption case pertaining to the construction of the modern city project, a flagship project of property giant Lippo Group.

Neneng has been accused of accepting Rp 7 billion (US$480,373) from the groups operational director, Billy Sindoro, to influence the issuance of permits for the project. Billy allegedly promised Rp 13 billion as a commitment fee for the regent.

Bekasi Public Works Agency special planning division head Neneng Rahmi , who is also a suspect in the case, elaborated on the alleged roles of councillors and administration officials during a hearing at the Bandung Corruption Court on Monday.

She said Sulaeman, faction head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) at DPRD Bekasi and another party politician, Waras Warsito, who is a member of the West Java Legislative Council, had met to expedite the deliberation of Bekasis new detailed spatial plan (RDTR), which was to serve as a legal basis for the mega construction project that would consist of business, industrial and housing areas.

Neneng said in the meeting, held in December 2017 at a rest stop on the Purbaleunyi toll road, also involved West Java provincial secretary Iwa Karniwa, then-Bekasi Public Works Agency secretary Hendry Lincoln and Neneng herself.

Hendry Lincoln invited me to meet with West Java secretary Iwa [to question the slow progress of the RDTRs finishing at the provincial level]. The meeting was mediated by Sulaeman and Waras, Neneng said in the hearing.

During the meeting, Neneng claimed Iwa had asked for Rp 1 billion (US$70,503) to accelerate the RDTR issuance. She then reportedly asked for the money from project developer PT Lippo Cikarang.

It has been claimed that the developer had agreed to the request and sent the money in two installments via Hendry and Sulaeman in late 2017. Only Rp 900 million was reportedly sent to the West Java secretary, as the remaining Rp 100 million was said to have been given to West Java councillor Waras, who initiated the meeting.

Neneng also said she had paid for the Thailand trip because she had thought the company would reimburse the expenses.

I was asked to immediately accommodate the councillors request for a trip to Thailand. I borrowed money from my husband to pay for the trip, as Lippo vowed to reimburse me by the time the RDTR was finished, she said in front of the panel of judges.

Regent Neneng previously admitted that the councillors had gone on the trip while the RDTRs deliberation was ongoing at the Bekasi council. (vny)
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Linkedin Gemma Holliani Cahya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 16:32 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e83b62b 1 National HIV,HIV-AIDS,health-ministry,ARV,kimia-farma,Indofarma Free

Amid rising concerns about the availability of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy drugs following a failed drug tender, the government has given assurances that stocks are enough until the end of this year.

The Health Ministrys pharmaceutical and medical devices director general, Engko Sosialine Magdalene, said that although the government had failed to procure the drug, people should not worry because there was enough stock of fixed-dose combination ARV medication that contained tenofovir, lamivudine and efavirenz (FDC TLE) in one tablet.

In December, Engko said the ministry had received a grant of 220,000 bottles of FDE TLE from the Global Fund, an international funding organization that fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. One bottle contains 30 tablets, which are enough for one month.

Don't worry and don't panic. Stocks are enough for the next five to six months [...] 220,000 bottles can last until May for users of FDE TLE, Engko told reporters.

The government failed to meet an agreement with state-owned pharmaceutical companies PT Kimia Farma and PT Indofarma, which had been appointed to import the drug, sparking anxiety among users of the drug about the possibility of a looming drug crisis.

The drug suppresses the virus and prevents fatal infection.

Read also: People with HIV/AIDS face drugs scarcity

Engko gave assurances that there would be no drug crisis. She said the ministry was preparing to procure more ARV drugs for distribution after May.

The budget allocation for ARV drugs is ready for 2019. We will try our best, so before May, at least in April, we will have the drugs,

If there is another delay in procurement, we have prepared an alternative measure in which we will receive a grant of 564,000 bottles [of FDE TLE] from the Global Fund, she said.

Engko also denied there was a scarcity of the drug in several areas.

There is nothing like that. We have a system in place to monitor the availability of drugs in every province. Monitoring in January shows there is no absence of the drug in any region, she said.

FDE TLE is the most commonly used drug among people with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia. According to the Indonesia AIDS Coalition (IAC), about 48,000 people, or 42 percent of people with HIV/AIDS, rely on FDE TLE.

IAC executive director Aditya Wardhana said the Health Ministry had failed to address the main issue behind the unstable drug supply and the failed tender for FDE TLE, which she claimed was caused by Kimia Farma and Indofarma overpricing the drugs.

Kimia Farma sources the ARV drug from Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero Drugs while Indofarma purchases from Mylan, which is based in the United States.

The IAC has criticized the way the government procures ARV drugs, saying it makes them the most expensive the world. The IAC claims the drugs can be purchased for almost 25 percent less outside Indonesia.

Overpricing the medicine is likely to make the next tender fail, unless the government agrees with the high prices set by the companies, he said on Tuesday.

The budget allocated for ARV treatment has increased every year. In 2017, the Health Ministry allocated Rp 1.19 billion (US$84,673) to fund ARV treatment for 112,054 people with HIV. The allocation increased from Rp 243 million in 2015 and is predicted to reach Rp 1.8 trillion by 2020.

Of the ministry's fund allocations for drugs, ARV medication has been allocated the second-highest amount after vaccines.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 09:50 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e8247f0 1 Business palm-oil,Indonesia,EU Free

Indonesia again voiced its concerns over the European Union's restrictive policies on palm oil during an ASEAN-EU meeting in Brussels on Monday.

Deputy Foreign Minister AM Fachir, who led the Indonesian delegation, presented data about the contribution of the palm oil sector to the country's economy as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a universal call to eradicate poverty and protect the environment.

Palm oil is a strategic commodity for Indonesia, particularly for small growers. About 20 million people in ASEAN rely on the palm oil industry, Fachir said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

He explained that palm oil contributed to 12 of the 17 SDGs set by the United Nations, such as poverty eradication, eliminating starvation and ensuring the affordability of clean energy.

Palm oil has faced negative campaigns in EU countries as the commodity is linked to environmental degradation, particularly deforestation, but Indonesia has interpreted it as a move to protect local vegetable oils like soybean oil and sunflower oil.

In June 2018, EU members states and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the revised Renewable Energy Directive. They decided on a 32 percent renewable energy target and complete phase-out of palm oil use in transport by 2030.

Indonesian crude palm oil exports from January to November in 2018 declined to US$15.2 billion from $16.9 million in the same period in 2017. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Melbourne, Australia  Wed, January 23, 2019 14:22 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e83567f 2 Sports #sports,#tennis,Petra-Kvitova,Simona-Halep,australia-open Free

Petra Kvitova's surging win over Ashleigh Barty to make the Australian Open semi-finals ensured Simona Halep's reign as world number one is over, not that the Romanian is bothered.

The Czech star overtook Halep's points total, while Naomi Osaka and Karolina Pliskova also have a mathematical shot at assuming the mantle when the new rankings come out next week.

Entering the opening Grand Slam of the year, 11 players had a chance to hold the top spot, but that has now been whittled down.

Of the three in the running, only Pliskova has been there before, in 2017 when she became the first Czech women to do so.

To do so again she must win the title on Saturday.

Halep held the number one ranking for 48 weeks, but after her loss to Serena Williams in round four, she said it wasn't her priority.

"The main goal is just to play as good as I can every match, to win every match I play, so the ranking doesn't really matter," she said.

"End of the year is more important, the ranking, so I will not stress myself about this."

Halep also suggested there was a difference between being the world number one and the best player in the world, given Williams was only seeded 16 at Melbourne Park.

"In my opinion, to be No. 1 in the world and to be the best player in the world, it's a little bit different," she said.

"For sure she (Williams) is the best player in the world because she won so many Grand Slams. She's been number one a lot. I cannot compare my results to her."
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Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 13:48 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e832116 1 Business electrification,electricity-gap,electricity,PLN,Energy-Mineral-Resources-ministerial-decree,energy-and-mineral-resources-ministry,Ignatius-Jonan Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo's administration has boasted that nearly all households in Indonesia have electricity, saying that the country had reached an electrification ratio of 98.05 percent as of September.

However, does this mean that 98.05 percent of the nations households enjoy 24-hour electricity for all their electronics like residents in Javas big cities enjoy?

In early January, the ministrys Twitter account got flooded with angry comments after it told a PLN customer, Lucky, who complained about a 10-hour blackout in Manado, North Sulawesi, that he should be grateful.

You should be grateful Pak Lucky that the blackout only lasted 10 hours. [Some of] our brothers and sisters in remote areas cant even enjoy electricity. Minergi [the ministry accounts administrator] is sure that our friends over at @pln_123 have tried their best. If there are shortcomings, please understand. Thanks, @KementerianESDM replied to Lucky on Sunday.

The achievement

In the last eight years, the governments data show that the electrification ratio jumped by 30.85 percentage points from only 67.2 percent in 2010 to 98.05 percent as of September 2018.

The ratio progress follows the escalation of power plant capacity from between just 25 and 30 megawatts (MW) in 2010 to 62.4 MW as of September 2018.

The government calculates the electrification ratio from the total number of households that have access to electricity compared to the total number of households in the country, which is estimated to be more than 60 million households.

In March, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said the government also included the electricity provided by the private power utility in the calculation of the national electrification ratio.

Out of the 98.05 percent, 95 percent comes from PLN, 2.5 percent from non-state electricity firms and 0.12 percent from the governments solar-powered energy saving lamps (LTSHE) program.

Based on those figures, the government came up with the result in September that 33 out of 34 provinces had reached more than 80 percent electrification except for East Nusa Tenggara with only 61.01 percent.

This [98 percent electrification ratio] has exceeded the target set in the medium-term development plan [RPJMN], which is 97.5 percent by the end of 2018. Next year the target is 99.9 percent, Jonan said recently.

The remaining 2 percent of those who have yet to get access to electricity is estimated to be around 5.2 million people.

One of the measures the government will take next year to achieve the 99.9 percent target is to exempt the initial cost of electricity connection for poor households in West Java and Banten.

The cost of the policy, which targets 40,000 households in the two regions, will be sourced from PLN and 34 other state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

There is also the Rural Electrification Program (LisDes), which targets 122 of the least-developed regions, often referred to as the 3T (outermost, frontline and disadvantaged regions).

Jonan, the former banker, said the government would utilize renewable energy technology to overcome the obstacles in delivering electricity to the isolated regions.

But what is electrification?

However upbeat the government may be about its ratio, critics say its definition of the electrification ratio is imprecise.

President Joko "Jokowi (third left) and a number of ministers and officials push a button to launch the operation of a wind farm in Mattirotasi village, Sidrap regency, South Sulawesi on July 2, 2018. (Courtesy of /Presidential Palace)

In 2016, ADB published a study titled Achieving Universal Electricity Access in Indonesia, which started in early 2014. In one of its analyses, ADB said the governments standard to calculate the electrification ratio lacked further explanation about what it means by electricity access.

This regulation states that the rationale for measuring the electrification ratio is to assess the number of households with access to electricity, but it does not define what constitutes access to electricity, the study refers to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation No.13/2013.

The regulation was then revised with Ministerial Regulation No. 22/2015 on key performance indicators for activities under the ministry. But the regulation has yet to explain what kind of electricity a household will get; it only states a key target of improved energy infrastructure.

Furthermore, the study also concluded that there was no monitoring or measurement of whether this supply actually functions, especially for off-grid supply by both PLN or non-PLN programs.

Unfortunately PLN and other government programs havent established comprehensive monitoring and evaluation procedures to confirm whether households with off-grid supply actually continue to receive the benefits of electricity after initial installation of the systems, the study further said.

Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) executive director Fabby Tumiwa said the international measure for calculating the electrification ratio was based on head count, not household, as one house could be occupied by more than one family.

The World Bank [WB] has even developed a concept that specifies a [benchmark] of quality and a minimum electricity consumption. What if the electricity can only last for a few hours, can you still say that the community is already connected with electricity, he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The WB Groups Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) report, which was published in 2015, states that the definition of energy access based on household electricity connection is a thing of the past.

In the past, access to energy was usually considered synonymous with household access to electricity. It has been defined variously as a household electricity connection, an electric pole in the village and an electric bulb in the house.

[The definition] also ignores energy for cooking and heating needs, as well as for productive engagements and community facilities, the report says.

Regarding the basis of its definition, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministrys director general for electricity Andy N. Sommeng told the Post that the government was already using an international standard for the electrification ratio.

You can look up on Google what is the definition of electrification ratio, so we [the ministry] dont make up our own definition, he said on Monday.

When asked about the gap of electrification between developed regions and 3T regions, Andy said it was not a problem of electricity capacity, but merely a difference in electricity consumption.

Its about the purchasing power, as most of the people [in 3T regions] are still unable to pay [for electricity]. Therefore, the government wants to increase the electricity infrastructure as much as it can so that it leads to better productivity for them, he said.

The infrastructure projects he mentioned included the flagship 35,000 (MW) electricity procurement program, which was launched in May 2015. Of the power plants under that program, 7 percent had reached the operational phase as of September.

PLN shared the same definition as the government that electrification ratio is based on the number of households that have electricity connection, PLN regional business director for eastern Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, Djoko Rahardjo Abumanan, said recently.

The common definition [of electrification ratio] is the amount of families that enjoy electricity. [] We use the data of families from BPS [Statistics Indonesia], he said.

Almo Pradana, energy manager at the World Resources Institute Indonesia, conjectured that the government picked the scheme for reasons of simplicity as the international standard was much more complicated and costly.

[.] partial electrification or only several hours per day is still counted as full electrification and treated the same as customers who have 24-hour electricity access, he told the Post on Monday in a text message.

And the quality of homes that are fully electrified by the grid, of course, should not be assumed to be the same as a house that only has solar-powered lamps.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 08:50 878 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e82257b 1 Business exports,Indonesia,China,US,slowdown,2019 Free

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said Indonesian exports to China were likely to drop this year, because Chinas economic growth projection for this year was only 6.2 percent, compared to growth of 6.6 percent in 2018.

He said the economic slowdown in China would affect the global economy, including Indonesia, because the Chinese market accounted for 15 to 20 percent of Indonesias total exports.

The minister also expects lower exports to the United States.

Our export to China will decline, and those to the US will also decline. That is why we have to find new markets, Darmin said in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com, adding that, however, finding new markets would take time.

Darmin also pointed to an expected global economic slowdown this year, as indicated by the IMFs growth projection of 3.5 percent, which was brought down from the earlier expectation of 3.7 percent. However, the IMF has not revised its projection for US economic growth for this year, which remains at 2.5 percent.

The minister stressed that the trade war between China and the US as well as the government shutdown in the US would affect the global economy this year.

The trade war could stop suddenly, but as long as it lasts, it has an impact on the whole world, because the countries [involved in the spat] are the two largest economies, he added. (bbn)
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Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 11:09 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e828dee 1 National #forest,forestry,SocialForestry,#SocialForestry,anak-dalam,indigenous-people,#IndigenousPeople Free

The issue of the Anak Dalam tribe, also known as the Orang Rimba, who traditionally live deep in the forest in Jambi in small nomadic groups, came into the spotlight in the past few years after they were forced to leave their land because of uncontrolled conversion of natural forest.

Some of the nomadic tribe members were reportedly forced to live in huts along the trans-Sumatra toll road, which runs between the Sarolangun and Merangin regencies, near their former home in the forest.

The Orang Rimba are not the only ones excluded from their forests, with the government admitting that such indigenous groups have been marginalized in the past few decades when it comes to forest management.

The government on Monday once again promised to involve many forest-dependent groups, including indigenous people like the Orang Rimba, in the ongoing social forestry program, which was launched in 2015 to allow communities to utilize state forest land for 35 years.

Under the social forestry policy, people living inside and near forests would be granted some amount of land in the forests to be used as hutan kemasyarakatan (community forests), hutan desa (village forests), hutan tanaman rakyat (community plantation forests) and hutan adat (customary forests).

As of now, more than 2.5 million hectares of forests across the country have been handed over to about 500,000 families for them to manage. This year, the government aimed to hand over another 1.5 million ha of forest land to about 100,000 families to help improve their welfare.

This figure, however, is still far less than President Joko Jokowi Widodo's target of handing over 12.7 million ha of state forests to forest-dependent Indonesians.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, who is in charge of the social forestry program, said her office has identified the remaining millions of hectares of land.

Yet, she said it would take three to four years to complete the program.

Currently, roughly 9.2 million families live inside and near forests nationwide, about 1.7 million of which are poor.

Siti said the government has seen positive results in the first three years of the program's implementation. For instance, the forest land recipients are able to earn an average of Rp 2 million (US$140.44) a month from agroforestry.

Previously, people played cat and mouse [with authorities or companies] to harvest forests, but now we provide them with forest land to allow themselves manage and harvest forests, Siti said on Monday.

Orang Rimba tribe member Mijak Tampung said the program has yet to benefit his group in the Makekal Hulu forest in Jambi.

Mijak also criticized a policy by the Social Affairs Ministry that offers houses to Orang Rimba in what Mijak said was an apparent effort to force the indigenous tribe members to leave their forest.

The ministry had built hundreds of such houses, but Orang Rimba decided to abandon them mere months after moving in.

The forest is our home. We do not need another one, he told The Jakarta Post, adding that the government should instead provide them better access to education and health services. (ipa)
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Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 20:30 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e84dbd1 1 Politics #2019-elections,2019-elections,2019-presidential-election,#2019PresidentialElection Free

As voters and activists vent their increasing disillusionment with both presidential tickets, the question is whether abstention could become a key factor in the 2019 elections.

Voter turnout in Indonesia has traditionally been high, consistently exceeding 70 percent for national elections since the end of the Soeharto regime.

However, the abstention rate has shown an increasing trend since the 1999 general elections, and disillusioned voters have recently taken to social media to voice their intention to abstain from voting on April 17 because of their disappointment with both presidential tickets, particularly with their stances on human rights.

In 2014, President Joko Jokowi Widodo campaigned on a platform of, among other things, solving past cases of human rights abuse, but activists and experts have criticized the incumbent for a lack of progress on uncovering atrocities committed in the countrys past.

Meanwhile, ever since the 2014 election, Prabowo Subiantos candidacy has raised deep concerns among human rights activists over the candidates alleged involvement in the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998.

Former supporters of Jokowi, in particular, have expressed their discontent with the incumbent, especially after the announcement of cleric Maruf Amin as his running mate last August.

As head of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Maruf had supported several controversial regulations, including the Pornography Law and the joint ministerial decree banning the activities of minority group Ahmadiyah, saying in 2013 that such regulations were very much expected.

Maruf was also a key expert witness in the highly publicized blasphemy trial that sent former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama to prison, and he had signed a fatwa declaring that Ahoks statement about a Quranic verse was insulting to Islam.

More recently, Jokowi-Marufs perceived lackluster performance in the first presidential debate last week and the mooted release of convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Baasyir have strengthened the sentiment of abstention.

On Wednesday, a coalition of civil society groups rallied for boycotting the election, reiterating that abstention was a political right protected under the Constitution.

Abstention is part of citizens right to vote, Alghiffari Aqsa from the Jakarta Legal Aid Society (LBH Jakarta) said. Because voting is a right, one can choose to either exercise it or not. Forcing someone to vote actually violates their human rights.

The popularity of fictional presidential ticket Nurhadi-Aldo, known for their campaign slogan Dildo for Indonesia, has also been attributed to the publics general dissatisfaction with both Jokowi and Prabowo.

Lini Zurlia, an LGBT activist who had volunteered for Jokowis 2014 presidential campaign, said she was becoming more and more convinced that abstaining was the best option, referencing Nurhadi-Dildos hashtag #SmackQueenYaQueen.

Many of the political promises Jokowi made in 2014 have not been fulfilled, she said at the press conference. He has instead become a supporter and defender of human rights violators.

Elisa Sutanudjaja, an analyst with city planning watchdog the Rujak Center, who had reluctantly voted for Jokowi in 2014, said she too was determined to abstain in the upcoming election.

I no longer believe in choosing the lesser of two evils, she said. I dont want to vote for any evil.

The abstention campaign has, however, prompted a backlash from supporters of both presidential camps on social media, who have decried its supporters as cowards and fools, even insinuating that advocating against voting was a criminal act.

Jokowi campaign spokesman Raja Juli Antoni declined to comment, saying he wanted to closely examine the activists statements first.

Association for Elections and Democracy executive director Titi Anggraeni said an increase in the abstention rate was likely, given voters weariness over the limited options available.

In spite of calls to stay away on voting day, however, the director of Jakarta-based pollster Populi Center, Usep S. Ahyar, said the effect of deliberate abstentions would be limited.

If we look at the last presidential election, voter turnout was 70 percent, meaning that, technically, 30 percent of voters were abstaining, but fewer than 5 percent of those voters had decided to abstain as a political statement.

A recent poll conducted by Indikator Politik Indonesia found that only 1.1 percent of 1,200 respondents had purposefully decided not to vote for either candidate pair. (ipa)
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Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani and Connor Foley (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar and Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 14:14 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e833834 1 National Abu-Bakar-Baasyir,Jokowi,Bali-bombing,parole,Kuta Free

The governments now-canceled plan to grant Abu Bakar Baasyir, the spiritual leader of a terror group responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings, an early release has received a backlash from survivors of the deadly terror attack and families of the victims.

It is not fair. As a victim, I object to it. Why would he get an early release only on humanitarian grounds when he had killed many people? Tumini, a Bali bombing survivor, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Tumini was working as a bartender at Paddys Bar in Kuta when the bombs ripped through the area, burning some parts of her body in an instant. She was mistaken as dead and taken to a hospital, where her sister later found her lying among dozens of dead bodies.

I still cant forget the incident that killed many people. And now the mastermind would be freed? It shouldnt be that easy to release him, she said, adding that the fact that Baasyir refused to pledge allegiance to the state ideology was another reason why he was not supposed to be released.

He has many followers. If he is released, he might do the same thing, she said.

Another survivor, Bambang Jatmiko, shared the view. If he refused to sign a letter of loyalty to the state ideology, if he is not loyal to the republic, he should not be released. I am disappointed at the government if it insisted on releasing him, Bambang said.

Bambang was working at the Sari Club in Kuta on the ill-fated night. He sustained minor injuries but has been left deeply traumatized by the terror attack.

He said he did not hold a grudge against the perpetrators, however, [Baasyir] doesnt deserve an early release because he has never shown remorse over what happened, he said. I am feeling extremely anxious.

Ni Luh Erni, a Balinese woman who lost her husband to the tragedy, also rejected the governments plan, which has now been canceled after Baasyir refused to pledge allegiance to Pancasila.

Erni said humanitarian reasons should not be the main ground to grant the 80-year-old cleric an early release, particularly after she watched the latest video showing Baasyir in a relatively good condition.

If his condition was extremely weak, thats fine. But he is still well, active [] his mind is still active and doesnt show changes. The government should remember that he is the mastermind. If he doesnt regret his act and now he would be released, I dont know what to say, she said.

Another survivor, Gatot Indro Suranto, said he did not object to the plan, As long as it is done based on the laws, he said.

Isaac Kfir, the director of the National Security Program and head of the Counter-Terrorism Policy Center at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said he was uncertain whether Baasyir still presented the same risk but noted that Indonesia must do more to address radicalization in prison.

Baasyir is 80 years old, has been in and out of prison for decades, and therefore I just dont know how much pull he has with the younger generation of jihadis. I think the government is aware of what needs to be done, I just dont know if they have the appetite to do so, he said.

Connor Foley is an intern at The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 11:29 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e82a036 1 National Abu-Bakar-Baasyir,Jokowi,parole,Moeldoko Free

The State Palace has confirmed that the government decided to call off the plan to grant early release to radical Muslim cleric and terror convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir due to his resistance to pledge loyalty to the state ideology, Pancasila, and the Republic of Indonesia.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo previously planned to release the jailed spiritual leader of Al-Qaeda-affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) on humanitarian grounds, citing his old age and deteriorating health.

However, Ba'asyir was ineligible for unconditional release as he refused to declare loyalty to Pancasila  a special requirement for all terror convicts to obtain parole as stipulated in Government Regulation (PP) No. 99/2012.

"Yes [the plan has been cancelled], because the requirements could not be negotiated," Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko said on Tuesday.

The President, who had confirmed the plan on Friday, backtracked on his decision following criticism over it, saying on Tuesday that the requirement in the PP must be met before Ba'asyir can receive conditional parole.

Baasyir has been in prison since 2011. He received a 15-year sentence for funding a military training camp for terrorists in Aceh. He is currently detained at the Gunung Sindur prison in Bogor, West Java, and has received treatment for chronic venous insufficiency, blood clots and varicose veins in his leg since 2017.

Moeldoko said the government ensured Ba'asyir access to health facilities to treat his illnesses. (swd)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 24, 2019 08:42 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e84fde9 1 Politics ahok,blasphemy,prison,release,Jokowi,anies-baswedan Free

With some of his former political rivals ready to welcome him, former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has hinted that he would steer clear of politics.

Ahok's successor Anies Baswedan congratulated him on his upcoming release on Wednesday, saying that his former rival in the 2017 gubernatorial election would get equal treatment from the city's bureaucracy, just like any regular citizen.

"We, at the city administration, are ready to dispense services for him just like for any other citizen. By the time he is active as a Jakarta citizen, arranging paperwork, we will give him the same treatment," Anies told reporters.

Anies added that so far there had been no talk about inviting Ahok to join the Governor's Forum, a fraternity of current and former governors of Jakarta.

Anies beat Ahok in the runoff of the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2017 after garnering 57.96 percent of the votes. Ahok managed only to get 42.04 percent of the votes cast during the election.

Analysts have credited Anies' victory to a surge in conservative voters who were offended by a statement Ahok made involving a passage from the Quran, which the North Jakarta District Court found to be blasphemous.

The court sentenced Ahok to two years in prison for blaspheming the Quran and he is expected to be released on Jan. 24. Ahok previously refused to apply for parole.

Separately, former Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Ma'ruf Amin, now a running mate for incumbent President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the April presidential election, said Ahok deserved to have his freedom as he had fully served his prison term.

"There's nothing special about it. He has served a prison term as ordered by the court and that is a good thing," Ma'ruf said in Tuban, East Java on Wednesday as quoted by Antara.

Ma'ruf led the charge in the campaign against Ahok in the lead-up to the Jakarta gubernatorial election by testifying in the blasphemy trial against the Chinese-Indonesian politician.

Recently, Ma'ruf said in an interview that he regretted taking part in the effort to put Ahok in jail.

While many expected Ahok to return to politics, his lawyer said the former Jakarta governor might try his hand in the oil business and become a television talk show host.

Ahok's lawyer Teguh Samudera said his client had been planning to venture into the oil business for a long time and would look for offices near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the heart of the countrys business and government.

The new location is about 3.3 kilometers from Ahoks previous office at City Hall.

"The [new] office may not be big, but it would be enough," Teguh said on Tuesday as quoted by Antara.

The lawyer also said Ahok would sign a contract with a private television station to host a show after his release.

Politics, however, is not completely off the table.

If it is for the national interest and for the sake of the state, he will certainly obey and not refuse to return to the political arena," Teguh said.

In November, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Djarot Saiful Hidayat, his running mate in the 2017 election, said Ahok would join his party if he returned to politics.

[Ahok] said, If I return to politics, I will certainly join the PDI-P', Djarot said at the time.

Ahok started his political career in 2004 when he ran for the legislative council in his home province of Bangka Belitung. In 2008, he joined the Golkar Party and was elected to the House of Representatives in 2009.

In 2012, he defected to the Gerindra Party, which backed his successful bid in the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election with then-Surakarta mayor Joko Jokowi Widodo. He left Gerindra not long after Jokowi decided to challenge Gerindra leader Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential election. Jokowi won, leaving his gubernatorial post to Ahok.

In 2016, Ahok signed a political contract with the PDI-P, which supported his reelection bid. (ggq)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 14:56 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e83687f 1 City anies-baswedan,reclamation,jakarta,Jakarta-administration,policy,policy-makers,Jakarta-Bay,man-made-islets Free

Despite having revoked the permits for 13 reclamation islets and sealing hundreds of buildings on existing man-made islets, a food court is reportedly in operation on Pantai Maju, previously islet D, in Jakarta Bay.

However, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has declined to comment on the latest development.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, he told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday evening, while smiling and shaking his head.

The food court comprises 25 food stalls and has reportedly been open since the end of December, drawing a big crowd in the evenings.

Besides the food court, kompas.com also reported that development activities were seen in the area with thuds of machines heard from a distance.

Marco Kusumawijaya, head of the management division for the Governor's Team for Development Acceleration, confirmed the food court operation through his Twitter account, @mkusumawijaya,on Tuesday morning.

The report on development activities on Pantai Maju by media Tirto is true. [We are] checking on it. There will be an explanation soon, he tweeted.

The city administration sealed buildings on the reclaimed islet in June last year and in September revoked reclamation permits for 13 islets.

The 13 islets affected by the decision are islets A, B and E developed by PT Kapuk Naga Indah, islets I, J and K by PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, islet M by PT Manggala Krida Yudha, islets O and F by PT Jakarta Propertindo, islets P and Q by PT KEK Marunda Jakarta, islet H by PT Taman Harapan Indah and islet I by PT Jaladri Kartika Pakci.

Of the 17 islets, projects have been completed on four; C and D developed by Kapuk Naga Indah, islet G by PT Muara Wisesa Samudra and islet N by PT Pelindo II. Names of the first three islets were changed in November to Pantai Kita for islet C, Pantai Maju for islet D and Pantai Bersama for islet G.

However, the seals on several buildings have been taken off and billboards promoting property buildings on the islet can be seen roads, according to kompas.com. (sau)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 14:21 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e835072 1 City Tanah-Abang,street-vendors,relocation Free

Dozens of Tanah Abang street vendors have refused to do business after they were relocated to Blok F, located on the seventh floor of Tanah Abang Market in Central Jakarta.

Only 76 vendors were trading from the 149 kiosks at Blok F, which was initially intended to house the street vendors who had failed to obtain a spot at the newly built Tanah Abang Skybridge, said Jaya Arief Nasrudin, a director at city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya.

"Yes [the kiosks] are ready, with even rolling doors. [...] We are just waiting for [the street vendors] to arrive. They are the ones who do not want to come," Arief told kompas.com on Tuesday.

Arief had thus asked the street vendors to simply try out the location, which was still rent-free during this transitional period.

"I just want to ask our fellow street vendors, let's fill up the area first and not to be pessimistic. I know that [selling on the street] was their life, but they have to follow [the rules]," he said.

According to the Jakarta Ombudsman, 650 street vendors on Jl. Jatibaru Raya were eligible for relocation. Of these, 446 vendors had been relocated to the skybridge and the remaining 204 were to be relocated to Blok F. (mai)
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Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana and Gisela Swaragita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 24, 2019 09:12 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e8216c5 1 Politics ahok,basuki-tjahaja-purnama,Jokowi,release,prison,blasphemy,PSI,PDI-P,Gerindra-Party,Prabowo-Subianto Free

Former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama is to become a free man on Thursday after serving most of his two-year prison sentence for blasphemy. The events leading up to his blasphemy trial and his subsequent conviction in 2017 has had a lasting political impact on the country, but will he jump right back into the ring?

Ahok, now 52, has had a long and winding political career, but his latest letter from inside the Mobile Brigade Command (Mako Brimob) detention center in Depok, West Java may indicate a reluctance to return to the rat race.

In a letter dated Jan. 17, Ahok asked his supporters - the self-dubbed Ahokers - to call him by his initials BTP instead of "Ahok" after he is released.

He added that he was grateful to God for allowing him to lose the gubernatorial election and serve his prison term because he claimed if he had won he would have only become more arrogant, ruder and hurt the feelings of many others.

Ima Mahdiah, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislative candidate and a member of Ahoks official support group, said that upon release, Ahok would speak in several seminars in a number of countries, including South Korea, the United Kingdom, France and the United States.

[He would talk about] his life while being [in detention] in Mako [...] and some of his experience as a government official, Ima said as quoted by kompas.com.

Ahoks younger sister, Fifi Lety Indra, however, remained tight lipped about the plan.

I dont want to comment. Let him [Ahok] talk about his personal affairs later when he is released, Fifi told The Jakarta Post recently.

Ahok started his political career in 2004 when he successfully ran for the Regional Legislative Council in his home province of Bangka Belitung. In 2008, he joined the Golkar Party and was elected to the House of Representatives in 2009.

In 2012, he defected to the Gerindra Party, which backed his bid in the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election with then Surakarta mayor Joko Jokowi Widodo. He left Gerindra not long after Jokowi, who had been elected Jakarta governor, decided to challenge Gerindra Party leader Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential election. Jokowi won, leaving his gubernatorial post to Ahok.

In 2016, Ahok signed a political contract with the PDI-P, which supported his reelection bid with PDI-P politician Djarot Saiful Hidayat as his running mate.

Djarot said in November that Ahok would join his party if he returned to politics.

[Ahok] said, If I return to politics, I will certainly join the PDI-P, Djarot said at the time.

The Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) is another possible political home for Ahok. The party strongly supported Ahok throughout the 2017 election and the ensuing blasphemy trial and many of its executives are former members of Ahoks campaign team or former members of Ahoks staff when he was governor.

Rian Ernest, a PSI legislative candidate who also worked as an Ahok staffer for two years, said he hoped Ahok would take time to be with his family and rest before deciding what to do next.

After that, whatever position Pak Ahok holds next, Im sure he can contribute a lot to the nation, Rian told the Post. Whether he decides to join PSI or some other political vehicle, the important thing is that he sticks to his values of uprightness, transparency and professionalism.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Arya Fernandez said that despite the hopeful waiting of his followers, it was unlikely that Ahok would swing back into politics right away after his release.

It is very unlikely he would return to practical politics, such as by joining a political campaign before the election in April, he said.

According to Arya, in light of the controversy around Ahoks case, Ahok would avoid politics and his chances of being appointed to any strategic position, such as minister or regional head, were slim.

Maybe after the presidential election, if the political atmosphere and psychology has changed, there would be a place for him, he said.

Arya added that Ahok's loyal admirers would not lose interest in him even if he did not immediately re-enter politics this year.

What people like about Ahok are his ideas, vision, character and integrity. Even if he did not appear on the political stage, his integrity would not disappear, Arya said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 07:32 878 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e81fd2a 1 City MRT-Jakarta,security,military Free

City-owned PT MRT Jakarta and the Jakarta Military Command on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding that stipulates for support from the military for the MRTs operational security. The memorandum will last for five years.

The MRTs first phase [from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta] will open in March. We hope that we have full support from the the Jakarta Military Command, MRT Jakarta president director William Sabandar said as reported by kompas.com on Tuesday.

William went on and claimed that the MRT had several strategic assets that require strict supervision, especially state-of-the-art technology applied along the first phase. He mentioned Lebak Bulus depot, the powerhouse (receiving substation) in Sambas Park Blok M, transition section (from elevated lane to underground lane) in Senayan, all of which are in South Jakarta.

William also mentioned 13 MRT stations, cooling towers and ventilation towers.

Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen. Joni Supriyanto said he is committed to ensuring the security around the operation of the MRT's first phase and the construction of its second phase  from Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta.

This is our commitment as well as part of the Armys program that is aimed at ensuring national development runs smoothly, Joni said. (vla)
Visitors to the Jakarta cultural center, Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), are probably familiar with one small corner where the Bengkel Deklamasi secondhand bookstore nestles between two buildings that house the complexs largest performance halls.

Over the years, the bookstore has become popular, providing the public with rare used books and, in the process, turning the place into a small cultural icon loved by many.

However, the store is to soon become a memory. After 23 years of providing a service to Indonesian bibliophiles, as well as cultural and artistic figures, the store was given until March 31 to clear itself out as part of a program to modernize the cultural center complex.

The bookstore-cum-mini-library was founded, owned by poet and theater icon Jose Rizal Manua in July 1996 and he has operated it ever since.

Jose said the idea for it arose in 1988, when he visited New York City with the late playwright W.S. Rendras Bengkel Teater company.

In New York, Jose said he was fascinated by the abundance of secondhand bookstores and the availability of many books on theater and film for good prices.

A book collector himself, Jose said he found a piece of heaven in the secondhand book stores of Broadway. In the end, Rendra and I brought back a total of eight suitcases full of books from New York. He had five while I had three, he told The Jakarta Post.

It was after this experience in New York that he said he decided to bring the idea to Jakarta. He said he passed the idea to then Jakarta governor Soerjadi Soedirja in 1994, explaining his notion that secondhand bookstores were vital for developing Indonesian culture and arts since many books sold outside the country were not available to the Indonesian public.

Therefore, he said he suggested it be built on public land, which the TIM complex was.

Its opening ceremony was attended by prominent figures, like Rendra, Taufiq Ismail, Iwan Fals, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Franky Raden, Leon Agusta, Samuel Wattimena and the governor himself.

Many of the books that Jose brought back from New York were displayed and sold at the store, although some of them still remain there to this day.

Disorganized shelves inside the cramped interior are filled with old books, their covers and pages worn by time.

The books range from vintage travel guides and dictionaries to biographies of Indonesian and world figures, history books, romance novels and even loose comic books from faraway countries.

Books in English, German, Dutch, Mandarin and Portuguese can be found if one looks hard enough. There are even old cassette tapes of dangdut and disco music from the 1970s and 1980s.

Jose said he acquired the books he sold in his store from all corners of Indonesia and the world. When traveling, he purposefully seeks out books and scripture at secondhand bookstores wherever he goes. Sometimes, he said he did immediately realize he had stumbled upon solid gold.

I recall one time when a British Library representative visited the store and bought dozens and dozens of old poetry scripts because they were incredibly rare in Britain itself, he says.

Bengkel Deklamasi, he claims, has inspired many other secondhand bookstores to pop up in several Indonesian cities, operating on the same premise that no matter how rare a book is, it must be sold cheaply. Because by doing so, it allows people easier access to the information they need, Jose says.

Several legendary literary figures, many of whom have already died, had over the years provided their thoughts on the bookstore  all collected within the stores guest book.

This bookstore brings such a lively atmosphere. It is a prime source of information. The used books here bring forth many surprises. But what Im most amazed about the place is the fact it has become a place where artists are able to casually congregate with a high degree of friendliness and warmth wrote Rendra.

[Bengkel Deklamasi] is an important station to stop by in the TIM area. Especially with the myriad of rare literary scripts that are available here, wrote late poet Leon Agusta.

Following the plan for the stores removal in 2017, Jose wrote a lengthy letter in response, raising hopes that Jakartas government would think twice before removing what had become what he claims to be an internationally recognized site for Indonesias cultural and artistic figures and societies.

But the plea fell on the governments deaf ears.

It was after he put posts on Facebook regarding the stores closure that collectors and artists alike reached out to him, offering to take care of the books, or even to offer their help in trying to keep the store afloat.

It seems that a lot of people feel deeply about the store. Honestly, I was surprised at the magnitude of the response, Jose says.

With its days numbered, he said all he could do was accept its fate.

Hundreds of the books that are currently in the store are to be donated to the Watu Lumbung cultural resort in Yogyakarta as part of the resorts plans to build a library on their grounds.

Looking forward, Jose said he does not know what is to become of the corner he created and managed for the past quarter century.

Over the years, he claimed, it has become a meeting place for Indonesian artists to just sit, talk and hang out, surrounded by priceless walls of books.

The likes of Taufiq Ismail, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Remy Sylado and my late friend W.S. Rendra all liked to frequent this place to just hang out. They said my store had become the meeting point for artists to share their thoughts with each other. The books provide for great conversations too, Jose said.

Proper hangouts for artists, Jose explains, are ironically nowhere to be found in the TIM complex and he is hoping the stores space would be turned into a place where artists can just be artists and hang out.

A place where minds share ideas, accompanied by whatever they would need to do it: coffee, books, whatever. Thats what I hope it would become, furthering the spirit of the bookstore today.

As a tribute to the store, Jose posted a lengthy, visceral poem on his Facebook page on Jan. 20 showing his love for the very institution he had run for the past 23 years.

The accompanying photograph to this poem is an old newspaper shot of Jose sitting on a chair in the corner, looking proud and content, surrounded by the tomes of knowledge around him.

An excerpt reads:

May you sit surrounded by this forest of books,

Even for a moment, taking them all in.

Let these books that have been read

paint pictures of life,

Let these books,

Whisper to you the message of peace

for every person across this nation,

for Indonesia. (ste)
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has 1 million followers on Instagram, which would be a good start to realize an aspiration of being a social media influencer.

"[Perhaps I can] become a selebgram [after I retire]," Sri Mulyani joked recently as quoted by Antara news agency.

The term is derived from the words seleb (celebrity) and Instagram, which means Instagram celebrity, who are figures with many followers and have a significant influence. They are often asked by businesses to promote an item or service. This could be another title to the already long list of achievements by the minister, who also counts being a vocalist among her talents, where she performs with Elek Yo Band, a music group of cabinet ministers.

Sri Mulyani is already a popular public figure with significant influence on the global stage, including being a former World Bank managing director before helming Indonesia's Finance Ministry.

Read also: Sri Mulyani's experience makes her 'perfect' fit for World Bank top job

Her popularity, however, evidently extends beyond the world of finance and into fashion, as people are also curious about what she wears, becoming their own wardrobe inspiration.

"Sometimes when I'm shopping at the mall and I'm buying clothes, some people would want to take a picture, and they would say 'Ibu, I'll also buy the same one so we match'," Sri Mulyani said.

Sri Mulyani is also often asked by managers of tourist attractions to promote the areas, which happened when she posted pictures from visits to Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, as well as Raja Ampat in West Papua. (liz/kes)
In less than a month, Samsung Electronics 10th anniversary Galaxy phones will be unwrapped with breakthrough camera technology ordered by the firms leader Lee Jae-yong, who has shown a specific interest in the camera features, according to industry sources on Tuesday.

According to rumors from tech fans around the world, the upcoming Galaxy S10 series is expected to feature three rear cameras that deliver 12-megapixel, 16-megapixel and 13-megapixel resolution, respectively, and dual front-facing cameras.

A senior official at Samsung familiar with the matter told The Korea Herald that the company is working on improving camera functions for smartphone photography that have been considered its weakness on the existing Galaxy phones.

Samsung phone camera capabilities were debated last year when Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong made a trip to Europe. During his visit to a smartphone retailer there, he reportedly asked about the personal preferences of a store employee, who favored the iPhone over Galaxy, citing the formers camera features.

The issue was about how the quality of pictures taken on the Galaxy smartphones was felt by individual users, the Samsung official said. Some users say Galaxy pictures are much more vivid, which is a reason why they prefer Galaxy phones, but some others say such vividness causes fatigue in eyes, describing the colors as being too sharp.

Meanwhile, Apples iPhone seems better in creating sentimental photographs that are comfortable on the eyes, although the pictures could look less bright than Galaxy pictures, the official explained.

So this is one point that we are seeking to improve within the Galaxy camera, he added.

Read also: Samsung Galaxy S10 leak suggests new camera modes

Meanwhile, there are speculations that Samsung could adopt the newest image sensor, branded ISOCELL Slim 3T2, which is the smallest image sensor for the smartphone camera module (approximately 5.1 millimeters diagonally) and that can deliver 20-megapixel resolution for both front and back cameras.

The latest image sensor has been designed for new hole-punch or notch screens that require smaller camera modules as the screen area gets larger.

The company denied the possibility of the new image sensor going into the 10th anniversary phones, but its announcement of mass production of the sensors coincides with the launch of the flagship Galaxy S models.

Last years Galaxy S9 and S9+ models both adopted ISOCELL Bright 3H1 on the front camera, and ISOCELL Frost 2L3 and Slim 3M3 (for S9+ only) on the rear main camera. Those ISOCELL sensors were launch early last year.

Furthermore, to improve the camera technology, Samsung is reportedly in talks to acquire Israels multicamera maker Corephotonics, which will mark Lees first case of a sizable merger or acquisition since he was released from jail in February 2018.

Corephotonics was founded by professor David Mendlovic at Tel Aviv University in 2012 and has core technologies related to multicamera such as optical zoom, low-light shooting and wide-angle photography. Apple was sued for infringing on its technologies last year.
A youthful orchestra led by Ananda Sukarlan took the audience on a heart-trembling ride through the classics of legendary Indonesian composer Ismail Marzuki during the "Millennial Marzukiana" concert in Jakarta.

An orchestra, consisting of musicians mostly under the age of 28, performed the most celebrated works of Marzuki for the Millennial Marzukiana concert at the Ciputra Artpreneur in Kuningan, South Jakarta, in mid January.

Their youth did not prevent the musicians from delivering a superb performance, as they are just as skilled as those with years of experience under their belt.

They played exquisitely, perfectly in-sync with the gestures of Ananda, the conductor.

Among the musicians, five exceptional young soloists shined bright.

Two vocalists, the soprano Mariska Setiawan and tenor Widhawan Aryo Pradhita, opened the concert by performing the operatic section of Erstwhile. The music is adapted from the novel by Rio Haminoto that tells a story of 700 years of unrequited love.

The pitch perfect voices of the two triumphantly captured the emotions of the piece. The dialogue between Widhawans soft, echoing voice and Mariskas intense, high vocals allowed the audience to vividly imagine the bittersweet love story.

Young violinist Finna Kurniawati was another of the evenings soloists. She was the first to perform several of Marzukis works.

Finna performed Concerto Marzukiana no. 2, which is based on three of Marzukis compositions, Wanita (Lady), Gugur Bunga (Dead Flowers) and Halo-Halo Bandung (Hello, Hello Bandung).

Her performance was exquisite. The way she appeared fully immersed with her instrument was captivating, and pulled the audience to the depth of the performance.

The musical arrangement of the concerto displayed intense fluctuation. For several seconds it was highly intense with rapid and powerful strokes, while the next second her bowing was soothingly slow and smooth.

With this performance, Ananda and Finna took the audience on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

Following Finna, Jessica Sudarta brought a different taste to the evening with her harp, performing the first section of Concerto Marzukiana no. 3, which is based on the song Melati di Tapal Batas (Jasmine on the Border).

In contrast to the previous act, Jessica produced dreamy sounds with the strings of the harp. The soothing sounds were like therapy for the audience, with the instrument perfectly conveying the romantic essence of the song.

As the last act to close the concert, Ananda brought out Indonesian piano prodigy Anthony Hartono to perform Concerto Marzukiana no. 1, which is based on arguably Ismail Marzukis best work, Indonesia Pusaka (Great Indonesia).

Indonesia Pusaka never fails to touch the hearts of Indonesians with its beautiful melody and deep lyrics, and although Anthony played a different rendition of the song with the piano, the result was the same.

Anthony showcased his mastery of the instrument, striking each note perfectly with great poise. He made the performance look effortless, leaving the audience in a state of disbelief at the fact he is just 24 years old.

The evening, however, was not only about musicians, with other performances including storytelling and memoir readings.

Reading the western Sumatra folk story Malin Kundang was Handry Satriago, whose day job is a chief executive officer for an international corporation.

Handry showcased his talent for dramatic flair. He delivered each line with intense emotion, heightened by the accompaniment of the orchestra.

TV personality and public speaking expert Charles Bonar Sirait also made an appearance, reading the Memoir of Ismail Marzuki to give the audience a glimpse into the brilliant composers life and what he went through to create the melodies that are now attached to every Indonesians heart.

The concert was also Anandas gift to Jakarta to celebrate the New Year. The world renowned Indonesian composer has staged the New Years concert in Jakarta every year since 2006. Each year, the composer has brought a different theme. (hdt)

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post
Fast food franchise KFC Indonesia's recent social media campaign dubbed #budayabeberes (clean-up-after-yourself culture) has reportedly done little to encourage customers to clean their tables after they finish eating, despite the campaign going viral and attracting many responses from netizens.

According to kompas.com, at least 10 customers at a two-story KFC outlet on Jl. Percetakan Negara in Central Jakarta made no effort to clean up after themselves between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

Read also: 'What's the point of eating outside?': KFC Indonesia's '#budayabeberes' campaign draws mixed reaction

All of them reportedly left their tables immediately after eating at the restaurant, which has not displayed any information on the #budayabeberes campaign on its premises.

One of KFC employees, Kartika Sari, told kompas.com that she warmly welcomed the campaign, but said only a small number of patrons had heeded it.

"In the past three days, only five people [cleaned their table] on a daily basis, usually during lunch hours. We were mostly the ones who did the cleaning up," said Kartika on Wednesday.

She said none of her colleagues had informed customers of the campaign.

"Perhaps they don't know [about it]. However, a few people asked whether they should clean their own table while showing the social media post on the campaign," said Kartika.

She added that there was only one waste bin in the customer area of the restaurant, which was located on the second floor. "Perhaps those who sit downstairs do not know where to throw the trash. Maybe we should install a signboard [regarding the campaign]. Such issue will have to be discussed with management." (kes)
Iim Fahima, founder of Queenrides, a community platform that aims to empower women to achieve safety in driving and riding, has been included on a list of nine young world-changers at the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which is running from Jan. 22 to 25.

Iim is the only person from Indonesia named as a young world-changer. Others selected include the CEO of Simprints Technology, Toby Norman from the UK, the co-founder of Proximity Designs, Debbie Aung Din from Myanmar, and the co-CEO of BroadReach, Ernest Darkoh from South Africa.

Iim Fahima is to discuss the future of global transportation and the automotive industry in the Fourth Industrial Revolution during the How Autonomous Vehicles Earn Trust session on Jan. 24. The current trend in the world is about autonomous vehicles, so what will be discussed here is what are the aspects that should be fulfilled by said vehicles that can be applied in society, Iim said in an official statement.

One of her focuses is about the challenges for safety, especially if driverless vehicles are operated in developing countries. Infrastructure in developing countries is not well organized yet. Ill be delivering [the topic] alongside other automotive experts, said Iim, who in 2009 was named one of BusinessWeeks 25 best young entrepreneurs in Asia.

Read also: Indonesian startup uses road safety to drive women's empowerment

Iim is at the forum alongside other prominent figures, including the project head of Autonomous and Urban Mobility, Michelle Avary, the president of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, Jean Todt, and a member of Volkswagen's board of management, Andreas Renschler.

During her stay in Davos, Iim had the opportunity to speak with Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara about his sessions within the forum and with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev about relations between Indonesia and Azerbaijan.

Iim Fahima (right) in conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2019. (Iim Fahima/File)

Our relations are very close. Were good partners, good friends; we cooperate very actively in international organizations, said Aliyev on a video taken by Iim that was obtained by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. Aliyev also invited President Joko Jokowi Widodo to visit his country.

Having received many awards, Iim shared her opinion with women who want to follow her steps. I never think about rewards and I never applied for awards [either]. I received them because the world acknowledged what [I] have done, said Iim in a phone interview. So Im focusing on what I can contribute to society, how to move people to amplify the impacts from the movement that weve done. (wir/wng)
Yes. I will do my part to conserve household energy usage, even if I'm uncomfortable in my home.

No. It is too hot to conserve household energy usage.

I already conserve, even before ERCOT requested it.

Maybe, depending on the reason ERCOT provides and whether or not I am home during that time.

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South Africa: UIF behind PIC inquiry

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) says it is closely monitoring and supports the Commission of Inquiry currently underway to investigate allegations of impropriety at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which started on Monday, is investigating allegations of impropriety following reports of poor governance and precarious investment processes at the PIC, which is the only investment management company in South Africa that focuses exclusively on the public sector.

In a statement on Wednesday, the UIF said it has started engaging the PIC to seek assurance that the funds investment portfolio is safe and has not been negatively impacted.

The UIF is one of the clients whose partial assets are under the management of the PIC.

The fund said it noted with concern the suspension of two officials at the PIC for allegedly flouting governance and approval processes in the R4.3 billion investment into Ayo Technologies.

One of the suspended employees, Fidelis Madavo, had testified at the inquiry a few hours after being suspended.

The fund respects that the suspensions are an internal matter between employer and employee. However, the UIF has started engaging the PIC to seek assurance that the funds investment portfolio is safe and has not been negatively impacted by the debacle.

The UIF added that it is closely monitoring and supports the commission.

The commissions terms of reference include a review of the PICs governance and operating model, possible changes to the PICs founding legislation and its Memorandum of Incorporation and investment decision-making framework.

According to its terms of reference, the commission is required to provide the President with an interim report by February and submit a final report and recommendations by April 2019. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A Bali-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pageant held its crowning ceremony for Mister and Miss Gaya Dewata in secret last month following a wave of online rejection and opposition from the local ulema council.

There was little fanfare during the Mister and Miss Gaya Dewata grand finals in the Sense Hotel in Seminyak, Bali on Dec. 17. The LGBT pageant finalists and guests were asked to keep the event secret.

No Instagram or Facebook postings were made until the ceremony ended to avoid attracting the attention of those who opposed it, particularly the local ulema council.

Several Muslim groups have for a long time strongly resisted LGBT-related pageants and events in many other parts of the country, but just a few months ago their influence reached the Hindu-majority island of Bali.

The crowning of a Mister and Miss Gaya Dewata is the signature event of Yayasan Gaya Dewata (YGD), an NGO established in 1992 to provide health and educational services for the island's LGBT community.

The pageant had become a platform for LGBT people to showcase their talents and to campaign for their rights.

Knowledge to empower: The finalists receive training on LGBT rights during the pageants quarantine program in October 2018. (Yayasan Gaya Dewata/-)

The 2018 Mister and Miss Gaya Dewata pageant's grand final night was originally scheduled for Oct. 10, 2018, but the finalists were informed on the third day of the "quarantine" program that the organizing committee had decided to cancel it in the face of increasing intimidation and rejection. The information, however, was not entirely true.

We said that we cancelled the event, whereas in fact we merely postponed it to stop the terror, Arya, a committee member and YGD activist, recalled.

The YGD made the decision after the pageants posters circulated on social media and irked some netizens, who called on religious bodies to take action. As a response, the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) officially declared its objection to the pageant, according to Republika.

The Bali Legal Aid Foundation subsequently entered the fray, assigning one of its advocates, Ni Putu Candra Dewi, to assist the YGD.

The intimidation and rejection are violations of the people's right to assemble and to their freedom of expression, Dewi said.

She later found out that those who opposed the pageant had never lodged formal complaints with the YGD or the Bali Police. Nevertheless, the shaken committee members and venue owner chose to lay low.

We wanted to push back, but we know we are just a minority. We took one step back for the greater good of our community, transgender finalist Alena Perez recalled.

Harry Hexa, a gay finalist from Bandung, West Java, tried to find a silver lining in the ordeal.

It provided us with real-life experience for coping with discrimination, he said, adding that during the quarantine period the finalists were given lectures on human rights and discrimination.

Two months after the incident, the YGD quietly organized the grand finals in Seminyak. Hexa and Alena were declared Mister and Miss Gaya Dewata 2018.

Pride and prejudice: Alena Perez, a transgender woman from Sidoarjo, East Java, and Harry Hexa, a gay man from West Javas Bandung, were crowned Miss and Mister Gaya Dewata in the grand finals on Dec. 17, 2018 in Bali. (Yayasan Gaya Dewata/-)

Alena had left her hometown in Sidoarjo, East Java, to work as an entertainer in various clubs in Bali. For her, the accolade was another step forward in her battle for recognition. Her family has not yet wholly embraced her decision to become a woman.

My mother has gradually accepted this, the 27-year-old Alena said.

For Hexa, the crown was a recognition of his diverse social works, including in campaigns on breast cancer awareness and animal welfare.

Just because a person belongs to an LGBT community, it doesnt necessarily mean that he or she will only be concerned about LGBT issues, he said.

The pageant also gives awards to runner-ups, a Peoples Choice Award and an Intelligence Award, which recognizes the finalist with the broadest knowledge.

For the YGD and the local LGBT community, the pageant's grand finals night was an important reminder of their uphill battle toward public recognition of the rights of LGBT people.

Delayed glory: The grand finals for the Mister and Miss Gaya Dewata contest, a Bali-based pageant for the LGBT community, was delayed for two months following adverse pressure from netizens and the local ulema council. (Yayasan Gaya Dewata/-)

Days after the crowning ceremony, Hexa and Alena and their fellow winners organized a fundraising event for the victims of earthquakes and tsunami. They channeled the donations to an Islamic alms body, Dompet Sosial Madani, in Denpasar.

Pictures of both of them handing over the charity funds while wearing the pageant sashes were posted on the pageant's official social media accounts. So far, there have been no condemning comments.
Welcoming the 2019 Year of the Pig, The Jakarta Post takes a look at how each astrological sign's luck will be. In Chinese astrology, the pig is described as slow and less dynamic, but it is also fair and honest. This means that the luck is there, but people need to create their own strategies and acts based on fairness and honesty.

An expert in feng shui, Jenie Feng Shui, said this year contained a conflict between two elements: Water and earth, particularly the air besar (powerful water) and tanah kecil (weak earth). Problems in the environmental balance may arise, but it also gives wood and metal elements a chance to grow. [The growth] can be in the form of creativity, art, publishing, e-commerce, automotive and information technology, Jenie told the Post at her office in East Jakarta on Monday.

Those who are curious about their prosperity in the Year of the Pig can find the predictions below:

Rat

Although considered to be better than last year, the Year of the Pig is still not the best year for rat people as they still have to struggle and become responsible for a number of issues. But they are supported [by their surroundings] this year, compared to last year where they did everything alone, said Jenie.

Ox

Similar to rat, people who were born under the ox sign will face better situations in the Year of the Pig compared to the previous year. The combination of hard work, honesty and consistency should be part of their strategy to gain fortune.

Tiger

Theres a chance for tiger people to develop, but they will accept less support, said Jenie. Last year was better for the sign as they received help either from their family or colleagues, but the Year of the Pig will be different. Tiger people should be able to be independent and stay humble in order to manage their relationships with their friends.

Rabbit

The rabbit is one of the signs in Chinese astrology that is granted with good fortune in the Year of the Pig. Rabbit people will have good communication and receive support from other signs. However, it is better for them to stay focused and manage their mood.

Dragon

Dragon people usually want everything to be fast, but they have to slow down this time. This year may be better than last year due to various opportunities, but they may come with problems. They need to be able to anticipate [the situation] and make plans -- both have to be realistic as well, said the author of Rahasia Parenting ala 12 Shio (Parenting Secrets based on the 12 Chinese Horoscope).

Snake

The snake is among the three signs in the Chinese horoscope that will face a tough situation this year. They may experience miscommunication, therefore Jenie advised them not to be overly ambitious and fill their mind with negative thoughts.

Read also: Chinese New Year customs you need to know

Horse

The Horse is known as a sign that has enough fighting spirit in the Chinese horoscope. Theres a chance for horse people to be leaders where they can express themselves and they will receive more support compared to last year as well, said Jenie. It is also best for horse people in the Year of the Pig to be consistent and manage their emotion.

Sheep

The Year of the Pig will be a fortunate year for the sheep sign as they will receive plenty of support and maintain smooth communication with people around them, meaning that other people will quickly understand what they want. A number of small fortunes can be found this year and sheep people have to be patient to get them.

Monkey

Aside from the snake, the monkey is another sign in Chinese astrology that will face heavy challenges this year. People who were born under the monkey sign are often recognized as being fast-paced and less focused. It may be slightly difficult for them to achieve what they have envisioned as not everyone will understand it hence they should go with the flow and not be too ambitious.

Rooster

Set to be the last sign that is less fortunate in the Year of the Pig, rooster people are perceived to be overly analytical and detail-oriented. They may find their luck, but they should leave the details and do their work one by one as they cannot do everything at once.

Dog

The dog sign has a 50:50 chance of being luck as long as they are honest and not too lazy in facing the obstacles ahead. Challenges can be the gates to opportunities or a disadvantage. They need to finish their responsibilities with consistency and integrity.

Pig

In the Year of the Pig, those who fall under the astrology sign should be able to create a strategy and have the willingness to move in order to find their luck. They should not begin a new project that is still unclear. It is okay for them to act neutral and genuine while listening to their relatives. (asw)
A Chinese model who featured in a Dolce & Gabbana promotional video attacked for being culturally insensitive has apologized for her role in the production, more than two months after the firestorm erupted.

The controversy arose in November after the Italian fashion firm posted short clips on Instagram showing a woman eating pizza and spaghetti with chopsticks, which critics said was offensive to Chinese culture.

It escalated after screenshots emerged of an Instagram user's chat with the famously mercurial co-founder Stefano Gabbana, who used smiling poop emojis to describe China and launched insults at the country and its people.

"For not properly interpreting the proper way of holding chopsticks, I express my deepest regret," model Zuo Ye wrote in a lengthy post put up on Monday on the Weibo social media platform.

"I appreciate the fact that this isn't just my personal action, but that I am representing the image of our country, and of Chinese culture so I am racked with guilt, deeply apologetic, and will definitely improve my decorum in future."

Identifying herself as a full-time model, Zuo said she was attacked after the video surfaced, and received online threats, which also extended to her agent, family and friends.

Providing a chronological account of the Milan shoot in November, Zuo said she had no idea the video would be edited the way it was, and was just trying her best to be cooperative.

"I will learn well from this incident, and in future present Chinese culture in a better manner," she wrote.

Read also: Dolce & Gabbana China blunder rages as shopping sites pull brand

Dolce & Gabbana was forced to cancel a Shanghai fashion show as a result of the incident, with brand issuing an apology statement and claiming Gabbana's account had been hacked.

It did little to calm the situation and the Italian fashion house's products disappeared from multiple Chinese e-commerce platforms.

The brand's founders eventually apologized to customers in a specially shot video.

But Dolce & Gabbana products are still unsearchable on e-commerce site Taobao while searches on JD.com turn up no results.
Blue Origin, the rocket company headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is poised to launch the 10th test flight of its unmanned New Shepard rocket on Wednesday as it competes with Virgin Galactic to become the first to carry tourists on brief visits to space.

The liftoff is scheduled for 8:50 am Central time (1450 GMT) from a Texas launchpad. The rocket will be carrying several science experiments for NASA.

The small rocket crossed the frontier of space last year, which is internationally agreed to be 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth, known as the Karman Line.

New Shepard reached a height of 66 miles (107 km) in April 2018.

The spacecraft is designed to one day carry up to six passengers for a journey lasting a total of 11 minutes.

Virgin Galactic, headed by British billionaire Richard Branson, is also working on a vessel of its own to carry tourists to space.

Read also: Jeff Bezos to invest more than $1 billion in Blue Origin in 2019

On December 13, 2018, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, flew higher than it ever had before, surpassing what the US Air Force considers the boundary of space, and marking the first manned flight to space from US soil since 2011.

The spaceship made it to a peak height of 51.4 miles (82.7 kilometers).

The US Air Force considers the space boundary to be at 50 miles.

The brief, suborbital flight -- with two pilots on board -- was a key milestone for the company which is striving to send tourists to space at a cost of $250,000 per seat.

Neither Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic is ready to board their first paying passengers, but both are targeting the first such flights this year.

Blue Origin has not yet announced the ticket price to ride on its New Shepard spaceflights.
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Linkedin Leopold Sudaryono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 16:09 877 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e839b4c 3 Opinion baasyir,Abu-Bakar-Baasyir,Indonesia,Jokowi-administration,terrorism Free

The government has the power to release convicts, including firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir, who was found guilty of committing acts of terrorism.



Baasyir is currently serving a 15-year sentence that is to end in 2025. By law he can apply for parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence, which he reached on Dec. 13, 2018.



However, there is a number of requirements Baasyir had to meet and he apparently rejected them. He had to be willing to cooperate with law enforcement to bring similar crimes to justice, he had to show remorse for the crimes he committed and he had to pledge allegiance to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.



Other than getting out on parole, Baasyir could also be released if President Joko Jokowi Widodo grants him clemency.



This option, however, may not be on the table because it requires the submission of an application by a convict who admits to having committed a crime and seeks mercy from the President. In various statements made to the media, Baasyir has been adamant that his actions were not crimes and that he would not ask for forgiveness.



At this point Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the Presidents legal counselor, negotiated to release Baasyir without making him meet those requirements. Yusril insisted the requirements were not necessary since Baasyir was found guilty prior to the 2012 government regulation stipulating the three conditions coming into force.



Yusril said he believed the requirements violated the non-retroactive principle, therefore a previous regulation signed in 2006  which did not require a loyalty statement  should prevail. There are at least two flaws in Yusrils  hence the governments  argument.



First, there is no violation of the non-retroactive principle. Although Baasyir was convicted in 2011, he applied for parole several years after the implementation of the 2012 regulation.



Regardless of when a person is convicted by a court, the mechanism for granting remission, leave, or parole should be in accordance with the rules that are in effect at the time of the filing of the application.



Second, the main function of imprisonment is incapacitation and rehabilitation. By being in custody, Baasyirs ability to coordinate a terrorist network is reduced. His crime is non-physical, based on ideology. Prison provides a secure environment to contain any attempts to further instigate violence against the state and members of the public.



On rehabilitation, it is expected that while in prison terrorism convicts can take part in deradicalization programs. Neither of these two main functions of Baasyirs sentence would be served if he is released without meeting the three conditions.



Third, the court handed down a harsher sentence to Baasyir after the last guilty verdict for two reasons: He committed a similar crime in the past and committed an extraordinary crime, i.e. terrorism. That is why the 2012 regulation stipulates more stringent conditions in his case, the very purpose that Yusril would try to get the President overrule it.



There are a number of options the government may consider, however.



First, imprisonment should only take freedom of movement away from convicts, but overcrowding has deprived convicts of dignity and humanity. The situation affects the elderly with health problems like Baasyir. The government needs to set a minimum standard to serve the basic needs of elderly prisoners or inmates with health problems.



Second, gradual assimilation may be a better option. The Law and Human Rights Ministry can relocate Baasyir to another prison where he can serve the rest of his sentence. The place could be an official house adjacent to the prison, where Baasyir can live with his immediate family and receive better health care.



Communication and visits would still be regulated and supervised. This gradual treatment would serve all purposes: humanitarian, rehabilitation and incapacitation of possible re-offending.



Third, the President could grant amnesty to Baasyir. This option requires Baasyir to neither acknowledge the government nor declare his loyalty to the state. However, this needs to be discussed with the House of Representatives, although the final decision lies with the President. This option comes with a risk because Baasyir may relapse into his network activity after his release.



Granting Baasyir parole by overriding the requirements stipulated by the law would be a direct intervention by the President in the legal process.



It would all but violate the governments own commitment to the rule of law and tarnish the image of the government as it is completing its mandate, which ends in October.



The government should consider other options that would not adversely affect the rule of law, like gradual assimilation or amnesty.

***

The writer is completing his PhD in criminology at the Australian National University.

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 Kornelius Purba (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019 09:07 878 75e76da2d15e495661b6357e2e822ea2 1 Opinion #commentary,Abu-Bakar-Baasyir,baasyir,terrorism,double-standard,Indonesia-Australia,Jokowi-administration,Bali-bombing Free

Right or wrong, Indonesia is always right no matter what. How about other nations? It totally depends on our own judgement. Other nations must always readjust themselves to our position. Indonesia strongly protested Australias intention to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem last year and even threatened to drop a crucial economic deal between the two countries unless Australia retracted its intention. But is that not a blatant violation of our neighbors sovereignty?



Indonesia conveys our strong concern on the announcement and questions the merit of the announcement, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on the issue in a joint press briefing with visiting Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki last October.



It seems only Indonesia has the prerogative to protest the decisions of other sovereign countries. Witness our reaction to Australia, which protested the planned release of a spiritual leader infamous for his influence on terrorists. We ignored the feeling of Australians who lost 88 citizens in the Oct. 12, 2002, terrorist attack in Bali. Neither do we care how they must still be traumatized over the bombing attack on their embassy in Jakarta on Sept. 9, 2004.



The planned released of cleric Abu Bakar Baasyir is our domestic affair, said the inactive chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council, Maruf Amin, who is also President Joko Jokowi Widodos running mate in Aprils presidential election.



Does Australia think they control us? Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison telephoned Jokowi to express his governments position against the plan to release Baasyir from prison for humanitarian reasons. Vice President Jusuf Kalla echoed Maaruf and Luhuts sentiments on Tuesday, while officials are backtracking on the controversial plan.



Indonesians tend to think our beloved country is the center of the world. We often judge other people based on own our values or religious interpretations. When others express different views about our culture, religion and systems we tend to be defensive, if not angry, and accuse them of being infidels or blasphemous.



Morrison promised to consider relocating the Australian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem during the election campaign last October, following in the footsteps of United States President Donald Trump. As indicated by Retno, Jokowi conveyed his strong objection to the plan in a telephone call with Morrison.



Indonesia insisted that the embassys relocation would hurt the feelings of mostly Muslim Indonesians and other predominantly Muslim nations. Reports said Indonesia threatened to indefinitely delay signing the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. As if the agreement just serves the interest of Australia.



Indonesia has asked Australia and other countries to keep supporting the Palestine-Israel peace process in accordance with the principles that have been previously agreed upon, and not the action that could threaten the peace process itself and global security, Retno warned Australia.



Indonesian protesters threatened to occupy the Australian Embassy in Jakarta unless Canberra retracted its Jerusalem relocation policy. Even when presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto rightly said the issue was within Australias sovoreignity, his supporters were angry.



[] as the supporters of Palestine, we certainly have our own opinions. But Australia is an independent and sovereign country, we must respect their sovereignty, said Prabowo who is running against Jokowi in April.



The subject of the latest controversy, Baasyir, who is the convicted spiritual leader of terror group Jamaah Islamiyah, was imprisoned for two-and-a-half years for being the mastermind behind the 2005 Bali bombing. However, he was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2006. In 2011, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for supporting a jihadi military training camp in Aceh.



I am considering his health, especially his access to medical services, Jokowi said over the weekend when asked about his reasons of the planned release. The main concern is humanitarian reasons. He is old, he explained on Friday.



Citing legal obstacles, his own Cabinet members have expresed reservations about the plan. But we do not need to ask a genius to support public suspicion that Jokowis plan is strongly related to his ambition to defeat Prabowo again in their rematch.



We strictly stick to noninterference in our domestic affairs when we dislike other peoples concerns. Yet, we always condemn the execution of Indonesian convicts in other countries such as Saudi Arabia and proudly shout out the governments success in saving Indonesians from the death penalty. And when other countries protest the execution of their citizens, the government simply answers, Its none of your business.



But will Jokowi listen to the tearful protests of the families of those butchered by the terrorists in Bali and in other places in Indonesia?



Jokowi, this is not just our domestic issue. This is a universal concern. Many predict you will easily win the presidential election in April. Please make a decision after listening to your own conscience and not just to ensure your political victory. It is not just you; the whole nation will pay dearly for any blunder you make now.
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Linkedin Peter Schoof and Jean-Charles Berthonnet (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019

On Jan. 22, 1963, the president of the French Republic, Charles de Gaulle, and the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, met in Paris to sign a cooperation treaty. The so-called Elysee Treaty aimed at achieving reconciliation between their two nations. It set the goal for increased cooperation between Germany and France in the areas of international relations, defense and education. It became the symbol of the relationship forged between France and Germany.



Today, France and Germany share a common ambition for the European project: a democratic, sovereign and united Europe, a competitive Europe, a Europe that is a basis for prosperity and defends its economic and social model and its cultural diversity, a Europe that promotes an open society, based on shared values of pluralism, solidarity and justice, a Europe that 

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Linkedin Vishal Agarwal, Karel Eloot and Alpesh Patel (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019

Implementing new manufacturing technologies  collectively known as Industry 4.0  in Indonesia can deliver a substantial boost to the nations economy. To succeed, however, government and businesses must find ways to encourage greater confidence, create robust ecosystems, and help early adopters move past the Pilot Trap.



Conversations around the Pilot Trap and other hurdles that manufacturers face in adopting the newest technologies are crucial if Indonesia and other countries are to be equal partners amid a changing global economy. Public and private leaders are meeting in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forums annual meeting. Central to this years theme is using the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, to ensure that globalization becomes more inclusive.



Manufa

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Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, January 23, 2019

Deja vu. Was that the overriding feeling you got when you watched the first presidential debate on Jan. 17? It was for me. Of course this would only apply to those of you who watched the presidential candidate debate in June 2014, which also pitted Joko Jokowi Widodo against Prabowo Subianto.



But there were two people on the stage that made you realize you werent in a time warp: Maruf Amin and Sandiaga Uno, respectively the running mates of Jokowi and Prabowo.



Talk about contrasting personas! Age (Maruf 75, Sandiaga 49), attire (Maruf wearing the traditional cleric white koko shirt and batik sarong; Sandiaga in a spiffy Western suit), and delivery. Maruf, former Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) head, was mainly silent, looking awkward and quite honestly, a bit lost. The Amer

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SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) will begin accepting 2018 state individual income tax returns on Monday, Jan. 28, the same date that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) begins accepting federal individual income tax returns. IDOR is reminding taxpayers that filing tax returns electronically and requesting direct deposit into a checking or savings account is still the fastest, most secure way to receive a refund.

IDORs continued focus on identity theft and fraud prevention resulted in the prevention of more than $66 million in refund fraud in 2018. IDOR will continue to work with the Internal Revenue Service and other states to strengthen protections for taxpayers from tax fraud and identity theft.
I listened to NPR News at 9 this morning and heard about people in California still living in cars after the Camp Fire burned down most of the town of Paradise. This is a problem that concerns me as a senior citizen living in subsidized housing in Connecticut.

I am willing to start a fund for these people with $10 to help find housing. We are the United States of America and we should be able to help each other find a roof over our heads.
NORWALK  Norwalk education officials are monitoring the districts food charging debt and noticing the schools are on track to accrue a much larger negative balance than in previous years.

Food debt accrues when families cant afford to pay for their childs lunch and therefore, the school assumes the cost. Families that apply for but dont qualify for free lunch may start to accrue a negative balance, said Frank Costanzo, chief of school operations. Schools with higher populations of students experiencing poverty tend to have higher food debt, Costanzo said. None of the schools in the district have a $0 balance.

Data collection showed that by Feb. 1 of the 2016-17 school year, the schools had accrued a food charging debt of about $38,000. A year later, that dropped to about $35,000. But Board of Education members are predicting that number will increase again  the food debt for this school year was at more than $45,000 by Jan. 8.

Were monitoring the food charging debt this year and were noticing its higher than where we have been in the past and were concerned about that because (each) school has to basically reconcile it and bring it up to a zero balance at the end of the year, Costanzo said. Were trying to figure out why that is. We made some changes to our food charging procedures that we think might account for some of that.

One of the procedural changes included discontinuing the use of cheese sandwiches. The school district had been serving cheese sandwiches to students whose parents ran up a tab on school lunches. The move was controversial because people said it identified students whose parents were behind on the bill.

In May, the school district moved to include elementary and middle school students in the food charging procedure, stating those students would never be denied a meal. High school students would only be denied a meal after their parents accrued $20 or more of debt, or possibly after a certain number of meals charged.

If they have an unpaid balance of $20 or greater and purchase with cash, we dont deny the student their meal, Costanzo said of the high school students.

The final change, instituted this school year, requires each school to assist in collecting delinquent balances at the end of the year. School principals regularly review lists of delinquent food service balances and reach out to families.

We know that the research shows that students that are nourished learn better and at the same time, we also understand that the district has to balance budgets, Costanzo said. Negative food charging balances, at the end of the day, ultimately have to be reconciled. And thats money thats syphoned away from education materials and programs, which is really our core business.

Its unfortunate were in a situation where we have to lose some of those funds to balance our food charging deficits, Costanzo said. Its a complex issue.

One way the school district works to reduce the debt is by helping families apply for free or reduced lunch at the beginning of each school year.

I think we can do a better job of doing that work, Costanzo said. There might be concern out there from some families that their privacy might be revealed, or this information can get in the wrong hands so theyre reluctant to share this information. Were committed to having as many of our families who qualify for free and reduced lunch complete the application so theyre in a situation where they can get the assistance that they should be getting, so the student can get what they need, and these are meals then that do not have to be paid for by the district.

The ideal food policy is one that allows families to support their children in having a lunch every day, he said.

As it stands, Norwalk Public Schools doesnt have a food charging policy, which is mandated by Connecticut statute. Once developed, the school district is required to share the policy with families annually, so families understand whats required of them and whats required from the schools.

About a year ago, the Connecticut Association of Board of Education or CABE recommended the school district adopt a food policy in its manual.

The next Policy Committee meeting is Feb. 5 at City Hall, but Costanzo said he was not sure if the group would discuss food charging policy.
NORWALK  One day at the age of 15, Werner Reich heard a knock on the door.

He was in hiding and staying with a couple in Yugoslavia who worked for the resistance movement in the early 1940s. As Germany continued to occupy surrounding countries, his mother placed him with the couple, seeing it as her safest option.

But he found himself questioning his fate as the couple opened the door.

There, stood Gestapo agents  German secret police  who discovered he was a Jew and the couple worked for the resistance movement.

He was arrested, as was the couple, and the agents turned the place upside down, he said. I was bleeding and crying, he said. They beat the living daylights out of me.

The 91-year-old, who was born in Berlin, spoke to students in Family & Childrens Agencys ASPIRE after-school program on Tuesday night at the organizations Ben Franklin location. Matter-of-factly, Reich spoke about his experiences while surviving Auschwitz and Mauthausen Concentration Camp, where he was later liberated by American troops in 1945.

After Reich was captured by German police, he was shipped by train to Terezin, a concentration camp where he was forced to cut willow brushes and exterminate vermin in buildings with gas. He was there 10 months before he and about 100 others were loaded onto railroad cars; each car had one bucket for the bathroom.

The buckets overflowed after an hour and for the next three days we were laying in our own feces and in our own urine, he said.

Upon arrival, he and the others were beaten  and told they were at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, infamous for its almost 50 concentration and extermination camps.

Each person received a uniform and a numerical tattoo. Those who were too young or too old were sent straight to the gas chambers and the others were sent to the barracks, where they were fed brown water with a slice of bread made of flour and sawdust for breakfast, soup or salt water and dirty potatoes for lunch and more soup with a second piece of bread for dinner.

Eating dead food and not having any vitamins made us lose our teeth and also gave us diarrhea, Reich told students. There was no toilet paper in the bathrooms.

Many of the prisoners killed themselves to escape the brutality.

Some of the after-school students looked away as Reich showed pictures of dead people and gas chambers on a PowerPoint presentation while others remained on high alert awaiting the next slide.

As if Reich hadnt suffered enough, he told students that in January of 1945, it was the coldest winter on record in the 20th century and he and a group of about 60,000 others were forced to start a death march. Those that couldnt keep up were shot and by the third day, when the group arrived at a railroad siding, there were bodies all over. About 15,000 had died on the trek.

After the four-day train ride from Auschwitz to Mauthausen in Austria, prisoners werent off the hook.

Some had to climb 186 steps before they were forced to push each other off of a cliff. Others were sprayed with freezing cold water in the dead of winter and after three days of walking in extreme cold, Reichs feet rotted. A few of his toes were amputated.

On the fifth day we were liberated by American forces, he said. He was 17 and weighed only 64 pounds.

A student asked how Reich survived and he said from pure luck.

I could have caught a number of diseases, Reich said. The chances of me surviving were miniscule. Anybody who tells you anything different than pure luck is making up stuff.

Others asked about Reichs sister, who also hid with a couple.

Reich told students his sister had to escape to Italy because the family with whom she was staying got cold feet. Upon arrival in Italy, she was promptly arrested and sent to a concentration camp.

She survived, moved to the U.S. and later reunited with Reich. She died in 1999, Reich said.

Amy Jeffereis, manager of youth development, said Reichs appearance comes at a time when the students are learning about the power of using their voice, history and current events. The group studies six pillars of character: citizenship, responsibility, fairness, trustworthiness, care and respect, and Jeffereis said Reichs speech fits in perfectly with the lesson.

The way our world is right now, it is so divisive, she said. Most students here are minorities. They feel marginalized. They see hate all over the place.

If they can learn from someone who has survived something like the Holocaust, it gives them a little more strength, she said.

Just before the end of the session, Reich reminded students about a point he made at the beginning of his presentation.

How was it possible for so much evil to succeed? he asked. Because the good people did nothing. Now you know what happens when we dont take care of each other.

When you see that someone is in need, open your mouth, he said. Its very, very simple.

tatiana.flowers@thehour.com
Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

WESTPORT  A man was treated for minor injuries after a crash that State Police say was caused by dogs in his car Wednesday morning on Interstate 95.

The driver of a Mini Cooper was driving north, about 50 feet south of exit 19 in Westport, when he lost control, police said.
Zaela Walker, 3, has been missing for 145 days as of Jan. 23, 2019. On Jan. 22, 2019, her father Ricky Beasley appeared in court in Las Vegas to face kidnapping and child neglect charges. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

Zaela Walker, 3, Still Missing as Her Father Faces Kidnapping Charges in Las Vegas Courtroom

A 3-year-old girl has been missing since last August, and her father faced kidnapping and child neglect charges in a Las Vegas courtroom.

Ricky Beasley, father to Zaela Walker, sat in a navy jumpsuit wearing handcuffs as the preliminary hearing was postponed because his attorney said hed recently received new evidence.

Id like to review it and go over it with Mr. Beasley so we can have a better understanding of what evidence is out there, the attorney told the judge, reported KVVU.

Prosecutors also requested additional time, saying they have new witness interviews to review.

Although Zaela has been missing for so long, police officers said that theres still hope shes alive.

You go through all the evidence thats been presented, all the interviews that have been done, you still hold onto that hope that one day we will see her, North Las Vegas Police spokesperson Aaron Patty said.

All we can hope is that, you know, having been a part of Zaelas life he feels like this is something important. If he knows something, he should do the right thing and say something.

Family members packed into the courtroom but declined to comment on the case.

Disappearance

Zaela was last seen on Aug. 25, 2018. Police officers responding to a report of her missing found that she was last seen with Beasley and her mother Lakeia Walker, both 27 at the time, reported News 3.

Detectives entered the names of the girl and her parents into a national database and learned several months later that the parents turned up without the girl.

Texas Department of Public Safety Officers interviewed both parents on Nov. 17. Beasley and Walker said they both had no knowledge of Zaelas whereabouts. After Beasleys arrest, officers described Walker as going along willingly with him but that there was a history of domestic abuse committed by Beasley against her.

Some family members initially alerted the police.

Relatives thought it was weird that they left and thought it was a red flag at that point, Eric Leavitt, another spokesperson for the department, told CBS 8. During a road trip, the couple traveled out of state but contacted a few friends.

Thats how we tracked them down to certain places, so it wasnt as if they vanished off the face of the earth, he said.

Investigators have said that they think Zaela could be with a friend or associate of her fathers, possibly in Texas, urging that person to come forward, noting that the person wouldnt be in trouble if they did.

#SHARE This is 3-year-old Zaela Walker. Shes been reported missing. Her parents were located in Houston with no signs of Zaela. Her grandmother tells me she hasnt seen her sweet pea since August @News3LV pic.twitter.com/U3liCoQNQ8  Renee Santos (@ReneeNews3LV) December 1, 2018

Kidnapping

The number of reported missing children significantly decreased in recent years, according to a report by the Department of Justice (pdf) in 2017. Reported missing children dropped from 6.5 per 1,000 children in 1999 to 3.1 per 1,000 in 2013.

There were 464,324 missing children reported in the FBIs National Crime Information Center in 2017, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Under federal law, when a child is reported missing to law enforcement they must be entered into the database.

Missing children typically fall into five categories: kidnapped by a family member, abducted by a nonfamily perpetrator, runaways, those who got lost, stranded, or injured, or those who went missing due to benign reasons, such as misunderstandings, according to the Department of Justice researchers.

According to the Polly Klaas Foundation, approximately 200,000 children are kidnapped each year by a family member.

Child custody experts say that people kidnap their own children to force a reconciliation or continued interaction with the other, left-behind parent; to spite or punish the other parent; from fear of losing custody or visitation rights. In rare cases, the kidnapping may occur to protect a child from a parent who is believed to be abusing the child.

Common warnings signs include the other parent threatening abduction, suspected abuse, or paranoid delusion.

From NTD News
Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan. 2, 2019. (Mark Schiefelbein-Pool/Getty Images)

Xi Tells Cadres to Prevent and Control Risks as Chinas Economic Woes Mount

At a high-level meeting of senior Chinese Communist Party officials held in Beijing, Chinese leader Xi Jinping gave an opening speech on Jan. 21 that hinted at the severity of Chinas economic downturn.

Improve the ability to prevent and control risks, and maintain healthy economic development and overall social stability, Xi instructed the cadres.



Social stability is an oft-used euphemism for the Chinese authorities agenda to quash protests that threaten the Partys rule.

Public protests have erupted over the past year due to economic woes that range from slumping real estate prices to collapsed peer-to-peer lending platforms.

All top officials at the provincial and ministerial levels, in addition to members of the Partys highest decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, have convened for the Jan. 2124 meetings, according to state-run media Xinhua.

Xi spoke about an unpredictable international situation and a complex and sensitive environment that proved challenging to the Party, seemingly alluding to the ongoing trade dispute with the United States. Therefore, it is necessary for officials to be highly vigilant against black swan risks, as well as gray rhino incidents, he said, adding that China is in the midst of undergoing profound and complex changes.

A black swan event refers to an unforeseen occurrence that typically has extreme consequences, while a gray rhino is a highly obvious yet ignored threat.

A sense of urgency was conveyed in Xis speech, in which he emphasized that its all cadres political obligation to take measures to prevent economic risks.

He also hinted that his sweeping anti-corruption campaigninitiated in 2012 when he came to powerwould continue relentlessly. The campaign had achieved results, he said, but the fight against corruption has not achieved complete victory yet, Xi said, according to Xinhua.

A Chinese Economists Analysis

Chinese experts share Xis anxiety about the current state of the economy.

On Jan. 20, Xiang Songzuo, a well-known economist, gave a speech at a Shanghai finance summit, analyzing the reasons for Chinas economic downturn in 2018. According to Xiang, Chinas capital market fell by 30 percent last year and the market value shrank by more than 7 trillion yuan (roughly $1 trillion). Looking at the past decade as a whole, Chinas stock market decline has been comparable to the economic depression in the United States in 1929.

Xiang pointed to Chinese companies that acquired mounting debt as they sought to expand. These expansions are not driven by technology, growth incentives, profits, or private capital, but by relying on banks to lend them money, by issuing bonds, by relying on shadow banking, he said.

He once met the chairman of a major bank in Jiangsu Province, who told him that the coastal provincewhich is one of Chinas largest regional economiesonly has a handful of companies with profits over 1 billion yuan.

In addition to the trade wara black swan situationthe Chinese regime also has badly hurt the private sectors confidence with increased state interference this past year.

Chinese authorities took up several measures in 2018 that sent jitters in the private sector, including arresting and sentencing corporate executives, encouraging state-owned firms to buy assets in private companies, and other discriminatory policies.

In September last year, netizens were abuzz after an online article from a self-identified financial expert, which called for the private sector to step aside after fulfilling its mission to help state-owned firms. Xiang said it would be difficult to restore private sector confidence to its original state.

As for the gray rhino, Xiang called Chinas overheated real estate market a real threat, as 80 percent of Chinese citizens assets are placed into such investments.

He ended his speech by predicting that Chinas debt problem will soon balloon to such a state that a Minsky moment will occuran economic phenomenon in which a debt bubble collapses due to falling asset and property prices.

Reuters and Annie Wu contributed to this report.
Why I Wont Shout My Abortion

Commentary

This week marks the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, two landmark Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion in all 50 states. Since the legalization of abortion, more than 60 million unborn babies have been aborted.

One of those babies was mine.

More than 40 years ago, I made the decision to terminate a pregnancy without understanding the long-term consequences, both physical and emotional, that would ensue. Now, theres a new grassroots movement to Shout Your Abortion. There is nothing wrong with publicly sharing ones abortion in appropriate forums; however, celebration is inappropriate for an action with long-term health consequences and no lack of lasting relief from the guilt many men and women suffer.

As someone who cares about other women, I cannot shout my abortion in a celebratory manner. What I can do is share with readers a bit about my own experiences. I also can discuss what I have learned through research and listening to the stories of women who regret taking the lives of their unborn children, but have found healing and meaning by sharing their unique experiences.

Shout Your Abortion

Shout Your Abortion is an imitation of healing work that some Christian churches and ministries have been doing for decades. One such ministry is Project Rachel, which was started by the Catholic Church to help women who suffer psychologically after having an abortion. These ministries to women offer counseling and safe spaces for them to share their experiences, acknowledge their losses, and mourn the death of the unwanted child.

Writer Lindy West started hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion after one of Congresss failed attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. What started as a hashtag protest has evolved into a non-refundable book and grassroots movement encouraging women to share their abortion stories through art, storytelling, and performance. Shout Your Abortion activists have taken their message to middle school-aged children.

Wests friend and fellow activist, Amelia Bonow, who has announced plans for a childrens book, has a video where she debates children. She tells them that abortion is like a crappy dentist appointment. During the procedure, you go to the doctor and they put this little straw inside of your uterus and then they just suck the pregnancy out. Fear and desperation explain the aggressive outreach to young children.

Shout Your Abortion is a reaction to the success of the pro-life movement. Technological advances in neonatal research and shifting cultural attitudes have made it possible for feminists to imagine a world where unfettered access to abortion isnt as readily available. Shifting public opinion has increased the likelihood that a conservative Supreme Court will restrict abortion, or at least return the issue to the states.

Recent surveys show 49 percent of millennials support a ban on abortions after 20 weeks. A January 2017 Quinnipiac poll found only 35 percent of millennials agree abortion should be legal in all cases. A different survey conducted by Students for Life found widespread ignorance about Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Once students are presented with information about the two cases, 7 out of 10 millennials support limits on abortion. Only 7 percent support the Democratic Partys position favoring federal funding for abortion.

Personal Reflections

In 2010, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform estimated that 43 percent of all women will have at least one abortion by the time they reach 45 years of age. Of these women, 47 percent will have more than one. I had only one.

One was enough.

In my early 20s, I had an abortion during a time when I was in college, working and striving for a better future.

I naively reasoned that taking the life of whatever was growing inside my belly was morally acceptable because it was legal. In my mind, government and laws were there to protect people. Therefore, if the government legalized an action, then it must be morally correct. At the time, it never occurred to me that an action could be legal and morally wrong.

As soon as I got the abortion, I experienced immediate regret. There was sadness, grief, and shame. I had an irrational irresistible urge to have another child as if to replace the one I aborted. I conceived quickly and miscarried. After that abortion in my early 20s, I was never able to carry a pregnancy to term.

Like many women, I kept my abortion a secret: in my case, for 25 years. Circumstances too complicated to explain here led me to share the secret first with producers of a reality show, then to my children, and finally to friends. Eventually, in the early 2000s, I wrote about it in an opinion piece for a local newspaper.

When I went public with this, it was because the state of Tennessee was debating a bill that involved abortion clinic inspections, three-day waiting periods, and informed consent. I shared my abortion story and stated that had those regulations been in place when I had my abortion, I might have made a different decision. I felt at the time that womens health required informed consent.

Eventually, Tennessee passed a constitutional amendment that contained those protections for women. It was immediately challenged by Planned Parenthood and leftist groups, but was left in place after the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Healing for me came through my Christian faith and my belief that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my past, present, and future sins. I no longer carry around grief and shame because I have confessed the taking of an innocent life, and I have asked for Gods forgiveness. I now work to help other women share their secrets so they can receive the freedom that comes from confession and repentance.

Religion aside, there is some critical information that every woman who has had or is contemplating an abortion should know. Actions have consequences. Abortion should never be taken lightly nor should it be celebrated. Its a tremendous stain on our society.

What Women Really Need to Know About Abortion

In Chapter 3 of my book Be the People: A Call to Reclaim Americas Faith and Promise, I discuss research about abortion contained in another book, The Cost of Choice. Edited by Erika Bachiochi, the book is a compilation of essays from distinguished contributors in medicine, law, psychiatry, obstetrics, and oncology. Rather than focusing on the life of the unborn, the contributors turn their attention to the long-term health consequences for women who have had one or more abortions.

These unfortunate consequences include breast cancer, placenta previa, preterm birth, maternal suicide, and a higher likelihood of death in the year after an abortion compared to the year after a live birth for women, and mental-health issues.

Dr. Joanne Angelo of Tufts Medical School, reporting on 30 years of psychological research, says women suffer enormous grief after spontaneous miscarriages and induced abortions, especially late-term abortions, which take longer. Angelo notes that psychiatric literature is beginning to document these results, it states.

Whatever happens with the fate of legalized abortion in America, its my hope and desire that women be given truthful information about the long-term health consequences of their decision and the burden of keeping a secret that some will take to the grave.

Share your abortion in appropriate forums and seek healing and relief. The healing and relief wont come from pretending that what you did was noble and brave.

Dr. Carol M. Swain is a former tenured professor at Vanderbilt and Princeton universities. Her Be The People News blog and podcast empower individuals to think independently, understand their responsibility, and make a difference in the world.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The FBI seal is seen before a news conference at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Why FBI Special Agent Joseph Pientka Is the DOJs Invisible Man

Commentary

On Jan. 18, journalist Jeff Carlson broke an amazing story right here on the pages of The Epoch Times, in which he published explosive excerpts from former FBI General Counsel James Bakers testimony to the U.S. Congress.

In that transcript, an entire series of previously undisclosed information became public. Baker told the House Oversight Committee the following:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [FISC] was not alerted to the fact that much of the information in the surveillance warrant on Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page was being provided by paid political propagandists employed by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

To continue receiving Trump-Russia collusion propaganda from opposition research firm Fusion GPS and Christopher Steelewho had been hired by Fusion GPS on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNCthe FBI established a backchannel through former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr at the Department of Justice. After every meeting with Steele, Ohr would sit down for an interview with FBI Special Agent Joseph Pientka, who would fill out official FD-302 interview forms to pass on the information within the FBI.

Why A Backchannel Was Necessary

For this initial column, Im going to deal with the stunning revelation that shortly before the 2016 election, the FBI decided to engage in the sham of disassociating itself from Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson only to quickly create a hidden backchannel in order to continue to receive information from them.

While FBI personnel had been meeting directly with Steele and Simpson to receive their Trump-Russia allegations for months, it had all of the sudden become a problem. Why?

Its highly likely someone began asking questions shortly before the election as to why the FBI launched a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign based on allegations coming straight from propagandists at Fusion GPS being paid by the Clinton campaign.

Did people connect the dots between the stories appearing in media outlets such as Mother Jones and Yahoo News with the sources the FBI was using for its Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign? Did someone approach the FBI with questions about this?

It seems something spooked the SpyGate plotters into presenting an appearance of drawing back from Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS while still surreptitiously using that political propaganda shop as a source for their ongoing investigations.

This backchannel allowed the FBI to hide Fusion GPSsand the Clinton campaignsrole in providing much of the evidence being used to drive these politically-motivated investigations of Trump and his associates.

Why Bruce Ohr?

So why Bruce Ohr? Because he was a top official inside the Department of Justice and close to the DOJs National Security Division [NSD].

The point was to launder Fusion GPSs Trump-Russia allegations through Ohr to Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and lead agent on the Trump case, Peter Strzok, so it could be claimed the information was coming from a legitimate intelligence source instead of from paid political propagandists working for Hillary Clinton.

This means its highly likely that when Bruce Ohrs personal notes from his meetings with Fusion GPS are compared with the official FD-302 interview forms that Agent Pientka filled out following his interviews with Ohr, they are not going to match when it comes to what the stated source was for the Trump-Russia information.

For Pientka to write down on the 302 forms that this information on Trump-Russia he was being given by Ohr was still coming from the Fusion GPS boys after the FBI had supposedly severed all ties with them would have defeated the entire reason for going to the trouble of establishing a backchannel in the first place.

Investigative journalist John Solomon of The Hill has stated in his reports that he has been shown Ohrs handwritten notes that he made during his talks with Glenn Simpson and Christopher Steele. So in his own notes, Ohr made it clear who he was talking to and where he was getting these allegations from.

So now the $56,000 question: What do the FD-302 forms Pientka filled out actually say about where the Trump-Russia allegations came from? Do the interview forms admit the allegations were coming from a politically motivated propaganda shop, or do they claim the information came from politically neutral intelligence sources?

Ive no doubt that at some time in the past year and a half, the DOJ Inspector Generals office sat Pientka down for extensive and detailed interviews about his dual roles in both the Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn affair (he and Strzok interviewed Flynn), and with the Fusion GPS backchannel to the FBI. What he told them must have been incredibly sensitive, since nobody has publicly seen or heard from Pientka all this time, even though House and Senate committees have requested that the DOJ produce him for testimony. Whatever Inspector General Michael E. Horowitzs investigators discovered in their interviews with Pientka, they are keeping a very tight lid on it.

Peter Strzok, after being held incommunicado inside the FBIs Human Resources Department for almost a year after being unceremoniously yanked off of special counsel Robert Muellers handpicked team, was finally trotted out for a very contentious public hearing back in July, then subsequently fired from the agency at Horowitzs recommendation.

As far as is publicly known at this time, Pientka is still employed by the FBI and still working there every day. It appears to me that nobody is going to be allowed to hear what he has to say or see his FD-302 forms until Horowitz is finished with his Spygate report and any ongoing investigations inside the DOJ have reached their conclusion.

Until we reach that point, Pientka is going to continue to be the DOJs Invisible Man.

Brian Cates is a writer based in South Texas and author of Nobody Asked For My Opinion  But Here It Is Anyway! He can be reached on Twitter at @drawandstrike.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A locally made Kwong Hua six speed boat sails past a U.S.-made frigate during a combat skills demonstration in the waters near the Tsoying navy base in southern Kaohsiung on Jan. 14, 2014. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

US Aircraft Carrier May Sail Through Taiwan Strait, Admiral Says

The United States plans to send an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan strait, the U.S. naval operations chief said in Tokyo on Jan. 18 amid recent tensions with the Chinese regime over the contested waterway.

The last time a carrier passed through the body of water separating China from Taiwan was ten years ago. In November 2018, two U.S. Navy ships passed through the strait together, putting Beijing on alert.

A recent Pentagon assessment of Chinas military found that the Chinese regime has developed land-based military capabilities designed for battle with Taiwan, while the island is assisted by its ally, the United States.

We dont really see any kind of limitation on whatever type of ship could pass through those waters, Admiral John Richardson told reporters while visiting Japan. We see the Taiwan Strait as another (stretch of) international waters, so thats why we do the transits.

The United States often deploys aircraft carriers in Carrier Strike Groups, which also includes guided-missile cruisers, destroyers, and submarines.

The United States has been closely watching Beijings behavior toward Taiwan, a U.S. official told Reuters. Although Taiwan is a self-ruled island with its own democratically-elected government and military, the Chinese regime considers it a breakaway province that must be united with the mainland one day, with military force if necessary.

If we can win this competition without firing a shot, then thats the best war well win, said Richardson to U.S. sailors stationed in Japan. But history shows that it doesnt go that way, unless youre really ready to win. So thats what we need to do. We need to get ready in every way to win this fight.

Richardson, who was in China before traveling to Japan, urged China to follow international rules at sea in the event of an unplanned encounter.

Last October, military tensions came to a head when the USS Decatur and a Chinese destroyer nearly collided in the South China Sea. The U.S. ship was conducting a freedom of navigation operation when the Chinese ship came toward it, forcing the U.S. ship to maneuver out of the way.

We have made this very clear that this was an excursion, a departure from the normal adherence to those rules and we would hope that behavior in the future would be much more consistent. We should not see each other as a threatening presence in these waters, Richardson said.

Richardson also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss maintaining regional security and to strengthen global maritime awareness and access, according to the U.S. Navys official website.

The Chinese regime has aggressively staked its claim on areas of the South China Sea, including by building artificial island, though other nations like Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan also claim sovereignty.

On Jan. 7, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer sailed within 12 miles of a Chinese-occupied island, prompting Beijings rebuke that it had gravely infringed upon Chinas sovereignty.

U.S., Japan, and England signed a trilateral agreement in October 2016 to cooperate on increasing the commitment to free and open flow of sea commerce.

Reuters contributed to this article.
(L) House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) listens during a news conference April 21, 2016 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) (R) U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks to reporters while participating in a roundtable about fair and honest pricing in healthcare in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on Jan. 23, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump Delays State of the Union Address Until Shutdown Ends

Update: U.S. President Donald Trump said in a late night Tweet on Jan. 23 that he would delay a State of the Union address until the government shutdown was over, responding to House Speaker Nancy Pelosis move to obstruct his plans for the speech.

As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative  I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over. I am not looking for an.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2019

.alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber. I look forward to giving a great State of the Union Address in the near future!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2019

Earlier in the day, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives floated the idea of ending the partial government shutdown by giving Trump most or all of the money he seeks for security along the Mexican border but for items other than the wall he wants.

As a shutdown that has left 800,000 federal workers without pay hit its 33rd day, Pelosi effectively disinvited Trump from delivering the annual State of the Union address in the House chamber until the government is fully opened.

Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said Democrats also would discuss substantial sums of additional money for border security as part of a possible deal. He did not say if it would amount to the $5.7 billion sought by Trump.

The president triggered the shutdown last month by demanding money for the wall, opposed by Democrats, as part of any legislation to fund about a quarter of the government. Clyburns offer would be a significant monetary increase over bills previously passed by Democrats, which included only about $1.3 billion for this year in additional border security, with none for a wall.

Using the figure the president put on the table, if his $5.7 billion is about border security then we see ourselves fulfilling that request, only doing it with what I like to call using a smart wall, Clyburn told reporters.

Republican Representative Tom Cole, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters the Democratic proposal could help.

Any movement, any discussion is helpful, Cole said. Weve got to get past this wall-or-no-wall debate.

The battle over border security and government funding spilled over into a parallel dispute over the presidents State of the Union address. Trump sent a letter to Pelosi on Jan. 23 saying he looked forward to delivering it as scheduled next Jan. 22 in the House chamber. Pelosi previously had asked Trump to consider postponing it because security could not be guaranteed during the shutdown.

But Pelosi told Trump on Jan. 23 the House would not consider a measure authorizing his address until the shutdown ends. Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened, Pelosi said to Trump in a letter.

In a sign Trump may be bracing for a long shutdown, a senior administration official said agencies without funding had been asked to give the White House a list of programs that could be hurt within the coming weeks if the funding lapse continues.

Pelosi and Trump Initially Agreed to Deliver The Address

President Donald Trump said in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that hell deliver the State of the Union address as agreed upon earlier in the month.

In response, Pelosi said in a Jan. 23 letter that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the Presidents State of the Union address in the House Chamber until the ongoing partial government shutdown ends.

Trump said he wasnt surprised by Pelosis response, telling reporters hell respond to her in a timely manner.

Pelosi previously tried to block the president from giving the speech on the House floor, an annual tradition for presidents, citing security concerns stemming from the shutdown and suggesting that he postpone until the government reopens. But agencies responsible for security stated that her concerns were unwarranted and noted shed failed to consult them.

Trump noted in his Jan. 23 letter that Pelosi had, before requesting that he postpone the speech, invited him to make the speech.

Thank you for your letter of Jan. 3 sent to me long after the Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union, he wrote. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation, however, I then received another letter from you dated January 16, 2019, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the State of the Union Address due to the Shutdown.

President Trump accepts @SpeakerPelosis invitation to do the #StateOfTheUnion speech on the original date, Jan 29, citing no security concerns. pic.twitter.com/OwrDfrzZWm  The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) January 23, 2019

Trump said that the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service had told him there would be no problem regarding security for the event. Both departments also said so publicly following the release of Pelosis second letter.

Accordingly, there are no security concerns regarding the State of the Union Address, Trump said. Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of the Union.

Trump said he looked forward to seeing Pelosi on Jan. 29 in the chamber of the House of Representatives. It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!

Trump had last addressed the issue on Jan. 20, when he said in a post on Twitter: Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options  including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance. While a contract is a contract, Ill get back to you soon!

Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options  including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance. While a contract is a contract, Ill get back to you soon!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2019

Centrist Democrats Urge Pelosi to End Shutdown

As the partial government shutdown stretched into its 32nd day, a group of centrist House Democrats called on Pelosi to end the stalemate over funding for the U.S.Mexico border wall and to offer some sort of compromise.

Trump has made several attempts at striking a bargain. On Jan. 19, he outlined an offer that included temporary protection from deportation to some 700,000 illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children who are covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and to people from certain nations who qualify for Temporary Protected Status, which lets people from certain countries stay in the United States if they left their homes to escape wars, disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. In exchange, he wants $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

Trumps proposal, outlined in a televised address, was rejected by Pelosi before he started to speak.

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), who is leading the group of centrist Democrats, urged Pelosi to offer Trump a vote on the border wall funding sometime in February if he ends up signing a bill to reopen the federal government.

We know that you share our value that effective governing should not result in winners and losers, but that our job as legislators is to do the most good for the most people, the letter (pdf) obtained by Politico stated.

We understand that this shutdown was not caused by the 116th Congress, but it is our job to fix it, it also stated.

Both Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have said they would not negotiate with Trump over border wall funding until he reopens the government. They said they would be open to talks after he has done so.

Update: The article was updated with responses from Rep. Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump.

Epoch Times reporters Bowen Xiao and Petr Svab, and Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Supreme Court Lifts Injunction on Ban of Transgenders in Military

The Supreme Court agreed Jan. 22 to hear arguments regarding the Trump administrations partial ban on transgendered individuals serving in the armed forces, while at the same time, it lifted a lower courts injunctions preventing the policy from coming into effect.

The ban was unveiled by President Donald Trump in July 2017. Jim Mattis, the secretary of defense at the time, then developed a more detailed policy. Critics of transgenders serving in the military say their unique personal situations are a distraction that lessens the effectiveness of the military as a fighting force.

Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), Lt. Col. Carla Gleason told CNN:

It is critical that DOD be permitted to implement personnel policies that it determines are necessary to ensure the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world. DODs proposed policy is based on professional military judgment and will ensure that the U.S. Armed Forces remain the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world.

The policy wouldnt actually prevent all transgendered persons from working for the Department of Defense, according to Nicole Russell of The Washington Examiner.

The prohibition is not exactly a ban on transgender people but a ban that places parameters around mental health so that those fighting in our armed forces can prioritize national security, Russell writes. The ban affects individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoriaa very specific, serious psychological condition that affects ones mind and trickles down to behavior. Often individuals with gender dysphoria want to transition to the opposite sex.

Some transgendered individuals can still serve in the military and receive medical care if their gender dysphoria diagnosis was rendered before the policy took effect. Some service members who received the diagnosis after joining the military are allowed to remain provided they stay healthy and avoid sex-transitioning, Russell explains.

The Supreme Courts decision to review the case culminated in a 54 vote, with liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan voting to reject the review request. Ginsburg, 85, is recovering at home after surgeons excised two cancerous growths from a lung on Dec. 21. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh voted to hear the federal governments appeal.

Although some of the justices voting to hear the case may not be totally committed to upholding the transgender policy, it seems unlikely they would dive into such politically fraught and controversial jurisprudential waters if their goal was merely to allow lower court rulings blocking the policy to remain in effect. Rejecting the petition for certiorari would have accomplished the same goal.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court did not stay the administrations transgender policy while the case proceeds. In fact, the high court stayed injunctions issued by the lower court in the paired proceedings, Trump v. Karnoski and Trump v. Stockman, that purported to prevent the policy from being enacted.

When lower courts issued injunctions preventing the policy from taking effect, the administration leap-frogged the case directly to the Supreme Court instead of following the usual judicial appeal route, arguing the policy was vital for U.S. national security and needed to be implemented immediately while various legal challenges to it worked their way through lower courts.

While the Supreme Courts ruling here has no value as legal precedent, it is an implicit rejection of the tendency in recent years for lower courts to arrogate to themselves the power to set national policy by vetoing presidential actions. In earlier days, it was thought that when courts deemed it necessary to issue injunctions to provide immediate emergency relief to litigants, those injunctions ought to be limited somehow, affecting only the parties involved or the jurisdictions, states, or judicial circuits in which the litigation was taking place.

But U.S. district judges today frequently enjoin federal policies that reach well beyond their home jurisdictions. A phalanx of federal judges blocked Trumps travel ban by way or national or universal injunctions that prevented residents of terrorism-plagued countries from visiting the United States. Judges similarly attacked Trumps crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities and on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that President Barack Obama created by executive action.

Lawmakers are acutely aware of the growing problem of unelected federal judges taking it upon themselves to veto presidential actions by issuing nationwide injunctions that reach far beyond the confines of a particular case.

In the previous Congress, then-House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) promoted the proposed Injunctive Authority Clarification Act of 2018 in an effort to restore the traditional understanding that a federal courts injunctive power extends only to the protection of the parties before it.

Then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors to try to curb these so-called non-party injunctions that allow judges to function as lawmakers.

Conservatives have long complained that left-leaning judges use their powers to advance left-wing policies after Democrats lose at the ballot box. Thus, Democratic Party policies still end up getting enacted even when they are rejected by the voters. Nationwide injunctions issued by politicized judges are especially problematic, conservatives argue, because they allow one judge to bring federal government operations to a halt.

A date for oral arguments in the transgender policy case has not yet been scheduled by the Supreme Court.
State Lawmaker Proposes Dress Code for Parents at Schools

A representative from Tennessee is planning to introduce a bill for schools statewide that would make parents and visitors follow a dress code when visiting campuses.

Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D-Tenn.) is drafting the bill in response to concerns from parents, educators, and principals about visitors who show up to their childrens schools dressed inappropriately.

They say youd be surprised at some of the stuff that we see, Parkinson told WREG.

The lawmaker said to protect the students and the integrity of the institution, a dress code for visitors should be enforced, reported Fox 13. He said the dress code would be part of a larger code of conduct with a goal to prevent parents and other visitors from cursing, fighting, or coming to campus while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

When these incidents happen, it creates a situation for children to be bullied, he told the news station.

Tennessee state lawmaker proposes bill to make parents follow a dress code at schools https://t.co/KeYlUnEAxU pic.twitter.com/7wHSwwg6Hk  The Hill (@thehill) January 23, 2019

In response to a comment on social media, Parkison said, all schools need a code of expected conduct posted in a prominent place for visitors to be aware of.

This is the reason you have adults fighting at the schools, cursing teachers out, wearing sexually suggestive clothes in front of little kids, smelling like loud when they show up and more, he wrote on Jan. 22.

Parkinson added that if the bill passes, the details of the code will be up to each district.

I visualize clothes that are not sexually suggestive, he told WREG. Not wearing things that might encourage or suggest gang activity.

The proposal is receiving mixed reactions, with some internet users concerned that it could be unconstitutional.

I agree that adults sometimes choose to wear clothing that is distasteful, but distasteful cannot be synonymic to illegal. You said that all schools need a code of expected conduct, but just because something is expected doesnt mean that we can legally circumvent the freedoms our constitution grants for the sake of the expectation or taste. What one person or group deems to be socially unacceptable cannot translate to that action or lack thereof being deemed illegal! This is unconstitutional, one social media user wrote.

Isnt the something on the books that addresses public decency? You cannot nor should not attempt to regulate taste, another user wrote.

Other social media users expressed support for the proposal, with some saying a needed policy! and about time.

Tennessee lawmaker proposing dress code for parents, others who visit schools, and at least one local board member likes the idea (with video story) https://t.co/FhCmXIIkWZ  Brad Hughes (@GYMObrad) January 23, 2019

Similarly, back in 2014, a Florida school board member wanted to introduce a rule to police what parents wore during school pickups in the Ft. Lauderdale area.

Dr. Rosalind Osgood, a member of the Broward County school board, was the first person to bring up the issue, saying parents were showing up wearing sagging pants, pajamas and rollers in their hair.

A lot of time parents have to run to schools real quicklysome still have on their pajamas! They have hair curlers in, its just inappropriate, Osgood told ABC News at the time. Parents have to lead by example.

Another concerned school board member, Karen Brill, who is a member of the Palm Beach County School Board, also brought up the issue at a Florida school board meeting but was unable to garner support from other board members, reported Fox News.

Both attempts to introduce a dress code for parents at schools were unsuccessful, despite support from other parents.

The Tennessee bill is expected to be introduced in the upcoming weeks.
South Korean Defense Ministry, USS Nimitz (3rd L), USS Ronald Reagan (2nd L) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (L) conducting operations with South Korea's destroyers during a joint naval drill in East Sea, South Korea, on Nov. 12, 2017. (South Korean Defense Ministry/Getty Images)

South Korea Condemns Japanese Patrol Flight Over Ship as Provocation

SEOULA Japanese patrol aircraft made an intimidating pass over a South Korean warship on Jan. 23, in what South Koreas military said was a clear provocation toward a friendly neighbor.

The aircraft made its flight just over the South Korean navy vessel in waters off the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula, even after the aircraft determined the ships identity, the South Korean military said.

Todays low-altitude flight was a clear provocation against a ship of a friendly country, and we cannot help but doubt Japans intentions and strongly condemn it, General Suh Wook, of South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news briefing.

South Koreas defense ministry said it called in a defense official from Japans embassy to lodge a protest.

If this behavior is repeated again, we will sternly respond according to our militarys rules of conduct, Suh said.

Japanese government and defense force spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

South Koreas Yonhap news agency quoted Japans chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, as saying he was aware of the South Korean announcement and it was important the two countries maintained communication.

The two U.S. allies share a bitter history that includes Japans 1910-45 colonization of the Korean peninsula and the use of comfort women, Japans euphemism for girls and women, many of them Korean, forced to work in its wartime brothels.

The rows over wartime history have long been a stumbling block for relations between the neighbors, sparking concern about regional efforts to rein in North Koreas nuclear program.

Wednesdays encounter follows a December feud over a Japan complaint that a South Korean destroyer locked a targeting radar on a Japanese surveillance plane.

South Korea denied it, saying the plane needlessly approached the ship, which was on a normal rescue mission.

There have been two other flights by Japanese aircraft near South Korean vessels since Friday, which prompted a South Korean request to Japan to stop such incidents, Suh said.

Defense officials from the two sides have been meeting but Japan had decided to halt the talks, Japanese media reported on Monday.

The two countries foreign ministers are due to meet later on Wednesday on the sidelines of an international conference in Davos, Switzerland.

By Hyonhee Shin
Sex Traffickers Hold 20,000 Nigerian Women and Girls in Mali, Agency Says

LAGOS, NigeriaAs many as 20,000 women and girls are feared to have been trafficked from Nigeria to Mali, where they are stranded after being forced into prostitution, the head of Nigerias anti-trafficking agency said Jan. 22.

Julie Okah-Donli, director general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said a fact-finding team from NAPTIP and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) uncovered the extent of the trafficking during a visit to southern Mali last month.

Dozens of women and girls were repatriated from the Kangaba area of southern Mali in the preceding months. The team, which went to the area to investigate, found hundreds more being held there, Okah-Donli said in a telephone interview.

They were reliably informed by the locals that they had over 200 such places scattered around the southern part of Mali. In each of the shacks where they held them, they had 100 to 150 girls in the area. That is how we came to the figure of at least 20,000 being held, she said.

The women and girls, most aged 16 to 30, had been told they would be taken to Malaysia to work in hospitality, but instead were forced into prostitution.

They are held in horrible, slave-like conditions, said Okah-Donli. They cant escape because they are kept in remote locations, like deep in forests.

Thousands of women and girls are taken from Africas most populous country each year, where 70 percent of the 190 million inhabitants live on less than $2 a day. A large proportion of them arrive in Europe but others are transported to other parts of West Africa.

Okah-Donli said her agency had teamed up with IOM, which arranged the repatriation of 41 women and girls from Mali in December and was working on returning others home. They come mostly from states in southern Nigeria, including Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa, Anambra, and Edo.

Others are also thought to be trafficked to other West African countries, including Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast, said Okah-Donli.

By Alexis Akwagyiram
Senate to Hold Dueling Votes Jan. 24 on Reopening Government

WASHINGTONSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is planning to bring legislation to the floor this week that would reopen the government and could be the first glimmer of a compromise between Democrats and Republicans over funding the full government.

The chamber will hold two votes Jan. 24, one based on a House-passed resolution to temporarily fund the government. The other is modeled off President Donald Trumps proposal, announced Jan. 19, that includes $5.7 billion for a border wall and would allow 700,000 Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, and more than 300,000 of those with temporary protected status to stay in the country legally for another three years, so that Congress can work on a larger immigration deal, which everybody wants, Trump said in his unveiling of the proposal.

The Democrats proposal would fund the government through Feb. 8, and a Senate amendment would include aid for states that have been hit by natural disasters.

In other words, for the first time, we would get a vote on whether to open up the government without any decision one way or another on border security, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor Jan. 22.

He called Trumps proposal neither reasonable, nor a compromise, signaling that neither side may have enough votes to advance their legislation.

Either proposal will need 60 votes, meaning seven Democrats and/or independents would have to vote for Trumps proposal or 15 Republicans and/or independents for the Democrats proposal. Democrats will likely get the votes of the two independents, who caucus with the Democrats.

Democratic leadership objected to Trumps proposal even before he laid it out, but Republican leadership is pushing ahead, likely hoping it will get the support of more moderate members of the party.

Democrats have long wanted protection for DACA recipients, individuals who were brought into the country illegally as children, but some have complained that this is only a temporary fix. The leadership has also come out strongly against the wall as a symbol, and has refused to negotiate on border security until the government is funded.

[Trumps proposal] would break through the stalemate that would reopen government swiftly, and deliver on a number of other policy priorities that are seen as important to both sides of the aisle, McConnell said on the Senate floor Jan. 22. All that needs to happen is our Democratic friends to agree that its time to put the country ahead of politics.

Meanwhile, Trump has urged Republicans not to cave to the other sides demands, due to the pressure from the shutdown.

Some 800,000 federal and other workers have missed one paycheck as a result of the partial shutdown, now in its 32nd day. If it goes on through Jan. 25, they will miss another paycheck.

Trump says he wont sign anything unless it includes wall funding, and McConnell has said he wont entertain legislation unless it could get the presidents signature.

The proposal outlined by President Trump that we will consider here in the Senate is the only proposal, the only one currently before us, that can be signed by the president and immediately reopen the government, McConnell said, emphasizing only.

From NTD
This photo taken on November 7, 2016 shows a teacher supervising students in the Yang Dezhi "Red Army" elementary school in Wenshui, Xishui country in Guizhou province. In 2008, Yang Dezhi was designated a "Red Army primary school" -funded by China's "red nobility" of revolution-era Communist commanders and their families one of many such institutions that have been established across the country. Such schools are an extreme example of the "patriotic education" which China's ruling Communist party promotes to boost its legitimacy - but which critics condemn as little more than brainwashing. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Schools in China to Soon Use Brain-Scanning Headbands to Monitor Concentration in Class

China recently purchased technology that can monitor students attention levels on a mass scale.

Focus 1 headbands, developed by U.S. startup BrainCo, purport to monitor concentration by reading and translating brain signals.

BrainCo has signed a deal with a Chinese distributor to provide 20,000 devices.

The plan is to equip multiple students in order to capture data from 1.2 million people, BrainCo founder and chief executive Bicheng Han told The Independent newspaper.

According to Hans LinkedIn page, he was a graduate of Harvard University and was part of the schools Chinese Students and Scholars Association, a student group for Chinese international students.

The company conducted a recent study in Chinese schools in which 10,000 students from ages 10 to 17 wore the device, according to New Scientist, a science magazine.

These headbands are marketed as an innovative product that will help teachers identify students who may need extra assistance in class by using electroencephalography (EEG) sensors to detect brain activity.

Lights built into the devices flicker with different colors, depending on the wearers varying concentration levels. The color-coding system, in turn, would alert the teacher to the students attentiveness in the classroom.

Neuroscientists and psychologists have cast doubt on the effectiveness of the technology.

Variables such as the natural variation in neurological activity among humans can lead to misleading assumptions about how an individual is functioning, and what he or she needs, Sandra Loo, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, told EdSurge, an education news website, in an October 2017 story about BrainCos technology.

Back in 2016 at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas, when BrainCo gave its first public demonstration of the Focus 1 headbands, the devices fell short of expectations. They picked up brain waves despite not being worn at the time, calling into question its overall function.

I havent seen any data indicating you can dissociate [in an EEG scan] if someone is paying attention to the teacher or their phone or just their own internal thoughts and daydreaming, said Theodore Zanto, a professor of neurology at the University of California at San Francisco, to EdSurge. Students wearing the headset might be incredibly focused, but focused on the wrong thing, and you could get the same EEG measures.

But even if the technology provides accurate readings, it raises concerns dealing with legal questions around data protection and privacy.

Furthermore, the use of such technology challenges the ethical boundaries of the extent to which schools should go to train children.

The China trial results have not been published in an academic journal.

Student monitoring has become pervasive with the Chinese regime backing and encouraging the development of high-tech surveillance equipment. In December 2018, Chinese netizens grew concerned after news emerged that over 10 schools in Guizhou Province would be required to wear intelligent uniforms embedded with electronic chips that track their movements.

The chips can track the exact location of every student and can activate an alarm when the sensor detects that a student has fallen asleep in class.

The news drew concern that students privacy was being violated.

In May 2018, a high school in Hangzhou City employed cameras with facial-recognition technology to track students attentiveness in class. These cameras would scan students faces every 30 seconds to analyze their facial expressions and detect their mood. Each student was then assigned a score based on how well he or she appeared to be paying attention in class.

Frank Fang contributed to this report.
Saudi Sisters Bound With Duct Tape Found Near New York River: Authorities Reveal Cause of Death

New York authorities have announced that two Saudi sisters whose bodies were found on the banks of a New York river bound together with duct tape had committed suicide.

Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said on Tuesday, Jan. 22, that Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, had killed themselves, and the cause of death was drowning.

My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River, Sampson said, according to AP.

The sisters were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black, and in coats with fur-trimmed collars. They were tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape.

The medical examiners announcement confirms statements by police last year that the cause of the womens deaths was most probably suicide. In a Nov. 2 press conference, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said that his detectives have developed sources who told them how much the girls didnt want to return to Saudi Arabia.

They would rather inflict harm on themselves, commit suicide, than return to Saudi Arabia, Shea said, describing statements the sources made.

It was previously reported that the girls left their family home in Virginia after suffering abuse. Another report indicated that the girls applied for asylum earlier this year. At the time of the November press conference, those reports had not yet been corroborated by the NYPD, Shea said.

Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabias U.S. Embassy in Washington, was cited by AFP as saying, Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in NY), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false.

The case highlights the restrictive nature of the Saudi regime, calling to mind the situation Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, a teenager who recently received asylum in Canada after fleeing what she said was family-inflicted physical and psychological abuse.

No Evidence of a Crime

A witness came forward on Oct. 31, to tell the police that he had a story that was haunting him.

The man, who frequently exercises at Riverside Park, where the girls were found, said he came upon them on the morning they were found dead.

He said that the girls were sitting in a playground at the park, sitting about 30 feet apart but appearing to be together. They were sitting with their heads in their hands, their heads lowered, and they were making noises loudly that he described as praying, Shea said, relaying the witnesss statement.

The playground is a very short distance from the Hudson River. Shea said the duct tape found around girls was not tight and binding, but only keeping them together, indicating they may have placed the duct tape themselves before they entered the water.

Shea said at the time the NYPD believed the two sisters may have entered the water alive, adding that there was no credible information indicating any type of crime.

Left Home in November

Detectives said that the family of the girls last saw them on Nov. 30, 2017. The next month they were located by police officers and taken to a shelter-like facility in the Washington area due to some abuse allegations that came up.

About eight months later, in August, the girls went missing from the facility where they had been staying. The family said they were not in contact with them.

On Aug. 24, police officers said, the girls traveled to New York City, arriving on Sept. 1.

We have them staying at a number of high-end hotels in New York City during this time, Shea said. We also have them following a pattern of ordering meals, always two meals. Until as best we can surmise at this point in time  the credit card, the money started to run out.

Video footage showed the girls in good health until about a week before their bodies were found.

NTD reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
A component of SSC-8/9M729 cruise missile system is on display during a news briefing, organized by Russian defence and foreign ministries, at Patriot Expocentre near Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 23, 2019. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

Russia Displays Secret Missile in Attempt to Preserve Nuclear Treaty With US

Russian Defense Ministry officials took the wraps off the never-before-seen SSC-8 cruise missile on Jan. 23, in an attempt to challenge the U.S. claim that the weapon violates a nuclear weapons pact signed during the Cold War era.

Moscow displayed the missile two days after Robert Wood, the U.S. disarmament ambassador, called on Russia to destroy all of the SSC-8 missile systems and related components. Wood voiced the demand with roughly two weeks left before an early February deadline the U.S. set for Russia to come into compliance with the treaty.

In a press conference accompanying the unveiling, Russian officials said that the missile, which Russia calls Novator 9M729, is in compliance with the treaty. The missiles effective range falls six miles short of the range prohibited by the treaty, the officials claimed.

The commander of Russias Missile and Artillery Force, Lt. Gen. Mikhail Matveyevsky, told reporters that the 9M729 missile system is an upgrade from an earlier iteration, codenamed 9M728. The mobile launcher for the new missile had to be updated because the missile is slightly longer. Most of the parts in the two systems are identical, according to Matveyevsky.

A special configuration of the self-propelled launcher was developed for the 9M729 missile. It accommodates four 9M729 missiles, while the previous launcher carries two 9M728 missiles, Matveyevsky said.

The United States has accused Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty since the mid-2000s. Under the treaty, Russia and the United States agreed to ban the production, possession, and testing of short- and mid-range ground-launched missile systems. Washington claims that the SSC-8, a NATO classification for the 9M729 system, reaches a range prohibited by the treaty.

The Kremlin ignored U.S. allegations about the missile for years, but changed its tune when Washington revealed Russias internal codename for the weapon in 2017. Since then, Moscow has challenged the allegation about the missiles range and called on Washington to show proof.

President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the INF in October last year. Washington hasnt yet served an official notice. On Dec. 4 last year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave Russia 60 days to comply with the treaty, signaling that an official notice will be served in early February. The withdrawal will be effective six months after the notice is served.

NATO foreign ministers agreed to formally declare Russia in material breach of the INF Treaty in December, after Pompeo briefed them on Russian violations at the alliance headquarters in Brussels.

In announcing the withdrawal, Trump signaled that he hopes for a new treaty would include China. Unbound by the INF, China has pursued aggressive development of missiles that Russia and the U.S. cant deploy under the treaty. Both Moscow and Washington are concerned by the significant arsenal thats been developed by Beijing. One-third to one-half of Chinas ballistic missile arsenal would violate the INF if Beijing was bound by the treaty, according to a U.S. assessment.

Theres a new strategic reality out there. This is a Cold War, bilateral ballistic missile-related treaty in a multipolar ballistic missile world, national security adviser John Bolton said in Moscow on Oct. 23 last year. This is something that concerns the Russians very substantially and we talked about that.

Pompeo said last year that he gave Russia the 60-day window to appease U.S. allies who asked for extra time in order to mount a diplomatic campaign to convince the Kremlin to return to compliance. The latest U.S. statement and the Russian unveiling are signs that Moscow isnt budging, despite the international efforts.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Report: Baby Spends 4 Days in Hospital After Being Kissed by a Family Member, Mother Says

A baby in the United Kingdom spent four days in the hospital after a family member kissed her on the lips. The family member apparently had a cold sore, but the child developed a painful rash as a result.

Kaylah Merritt, of County Durham, is said to have nearly died after a purple rash covered the childs body.

According to the Daily Mail, Kaylah was diagnosed with eczema herpeticum, which is caused by the herpes simplex virus, which can cause cold sores.

"I instantly knew we had to take her to the hospital."  Daily Mirror  2019123

Brogan Thomas and Connor Merritt from Darlington rushed Kaylah to the hospital. She needed two rounds of antibiotics, doctors told the Mail.

Her parents said the unnamed person who kissed the child had a cold sore. They issued a warning after the scare.

When the doctors told me how dangerous it was I cried and cried thinking how I could have lost her due to a silly kiss, Thomas said. Connor was shocked and couldnt believe all this was down to a kiss too.

She added: If we hadnt gone to the hospital quickly, it could have been very dangerous, we could have lost her.

When the girl developed a rash, the parents said the girls cries were different than usual.

'We couldn't believe all this was all down to a kiss'  Daily Mail  2019123

They said they were concerned because she previously contracted meningitis and needed surgery to survive.

Kaylah was crying so hard, I knew it could only mean she was in pain, the concerned mother told the Daily Mail.

We were at home and I was about to put her in the bath when I suddenly saw all the marks on her legs.

It was an awful nightmare, there were purple rashes everywhere and Kaylah was sobbing her heart out.

Thomas added that she was concerned the rash had to do with her prior meningitis.

My fiance was petrified, but he kept me calm and made sure Kaylah was calm too. I instantly knew we had to take her to the hospital, she said.

She added: The doctors told us that someone with a cold sore must have kissed her on the lips and because babies immune systems are not strong enough, she developed the rash.

Thomas is now warning other parents of young children.

I was so relieved when Kaylah was out of danger, she said before adding: I just want other parents to know, you dont have to be a physically ill to harm a babyyou can just be a carrier of the virus and still affect them.

A month after the fact, the girl still needs to take daily medication until the virus is gone. She also must go to doctors appointments on a weekly basis, the Mirror reported.

Cold Sores

According to WebMD, Cold sores, also called fever blisters, can show up anywhere on your body. Theyre most likely to appear on the outside of your mouth and lips, but you can also find them on your nose, cheeks, or fingers.

It said that the symptoms are typically the most severe the first time.

And sometimes kids who are affected may become seriously ill, the website stated.

If you have a severe case of a skin condition called eczema, you may get cold sores over large parts of your body. There can sometimes be serious complications from a cold sore. If the infection spreads to the eye, it could affect your vision. If it spreads to the brain, it could lead to meningitis or encephalitis, according to WebMD.

Eczema herpeticum, according to the U.S. National Institute of Health, typically occurs with the herpes simplex virus.

Eczema herpeticum can be severe, progressing to disseminated infection and death if untreated.1 Bacterial superinfection and bacteremia are usually the complications that cause mortality. We present a case in which eczema herpeticum was misdiagnosed as impetigo during a patients initial treatment. Detailed history taking and characteristic cutaneous findings can help clinicians make an accurate diagnosis, says the NIHs website.
Olivia Ambrose, the 23-year-old who went missing from a bar in Boston, MA, on Jan. 19, 2019. (Boston Police Department)

Police Locate 23-Year-Old Woman Who Went Missing After Leaving Boston Bar

A 23-year-old woman hasnt been seen since leaving a bar in Boston with a man on Jan. 19 was found alive.

A family spokesperson told 7News Olivia Ambrose was alive, but they did not offer additional information.

Boston 25 reported that she was found at a housing project, and was brought to a hospital, and she was found near a location where her phone stopped working. Boston 25 showed a video of police standing near the location.

WATCH LIVE Live look at the scene in Charlestown where 23-year-old Olivia Ambrose was found alive after she went missing from a Boston bar Saturday night  Boston 25 News  2019122

The Boston Police Department released an update on Facebook about the new development: Olivia Ambrose has been located and transported to an area hospital for evaluation purposes. Thank you to everybody who aided, helped and assisted in the investigation and search.

According to a live video feed from the Charlestown, where Ambrose was found, a 7News reporter said a suspect was possibly already arrested by police.

UPDATE: 23-year-old Olivia Ambrose has been located and transported to an area hospital for evaluation purposes. Thank  Boston Police Department (Official)  2019122

Olivia Ambrose was with her twin sister and a large group of friends at Hennessys bar before getting separated.

Her sister Franny and friend Kate Collins last saw Ambrose at around 10 p.m., inside the bar, according to MassLive.

#BREAKING: Olivia Ambrose has been found alive in Charlestown. boston25.com/2W7YhuO  Boston 25 News  2019122

We were all dancing in front of the stage, nothing out of the ordinary, Collins told MassLive. There were a lot of other friends.

Olivia left with a man who was being ejected by bar security.

In surveillance footage, she was then spotted later with two unknown men. The last bit of video footage obtained by police shows her walking with one of the men, according to the Boston Police Departments Facebook page.

UPDATE: BPD release images of person of interest in relation to Missing Person Olivia Ambrose and is seeking the  Boston Police Department (Official)  2019122

Police released images of one of the men Ambrose encountered that night, along with a request for information about the man. According to the Facebook page Missing Person: Help Find Olivia Liviy Ambrose, police already contacted the man in the photo.

One of the males appears to walk ahead while the second male places his arm around Ms. Ambrose and directs her towards the State Street MBTA Station, police told Boston.com.

The other male party is no longer observed in any surveillance video moving forward, police said.

Missing Boston woman found alive WATCH: 7News is LIVE with the latest after missing woman Olivia Ambrose was found alive.  7News  WHDH Boston  2019122

Family and friends told Mass Live that they visited Ambroses apartment twice but still could not locate her.

Before she was located, Franny, Olivas sister, told local news outlets that she got worried when she couldnt reach her twin.

Generally if shes not doing anything on the weekends shell FaceTime me even though we live in the same city, Franny was quoted by Boston.com as saying. But yeah, well just sit on FaceTime and wont even really be talking well be watching our own Netflix shows or something we just keep in contact.

EXCLUSIVE: Boston woman, 23, who disappeared after being kicked out of bar is FOUND alive https://t.co/Lt6dfpvcKs  Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) January 22, 2019

Ambrose works at Toast, Inc., a company that makes software for restaurants. She graduated from The University of Edinburgh, according to Mass Live.

Other details about the case are not clear.

From NTD News
Pictured: Nurse Who Was Arrested in Assault of Incapacitated Woman Who Gave Birth

A male nurse was arrested in the case of an incapacitated woman who gave birth last month at an Arizona health care facility, it was reported.

Police arrested 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland on one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams confirmed.

Every member of the Hacienda organization is troubled beyond words to think that a licensed practical nurse could be capable of seriously harming a patient, said a statement from Hacienda Healthcare, where the incident took place.

The Daily Mail reported that Sutherland was an orphan from Haiti and was a licensed practical nurse since 2011. He was reportedly directly responsible for caring for the unnamed victim.

Sutherland went through an extensive background check before he was fired, adding that he was fired the moment our leadership team learned of his arrest, Hacienda said.

Once again, we offer an apology and send our deepest sympathies to the client and her family, to the community and to our agency partners at every level, the Hacienda statement said.

BREAKING: Nathan Sutherland, the nurse accused of raping a seriously intellectually disabled woman at Hacienda HealthCare, faces a judge for the first time. He was ordered held on a $500,000 cash only bond #12News pic.twitter.com/SGnM4gib8N  Bianca Buono (@BiancaBuono) January 23, 2019

Male staff working at the Hacienda facility were ordered by police to submit DNA tests as part of their investigation into the sexual assault case.

Sutherlands DNA wasnt volunteered, and police had to file a court order which passed on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

The same day the DNA tests came back with a match, Sutherland was arrested, according to reports.

According to the Mail, Sutherland, who became a clinical nursing assistant in 2005, is said to tour local churches and perform Christian rap songs in the group SLEEPLESSOULJAZ along with his sister.

THIS JUST IN: The suspect has been identified  Daily Mail  2019123

My parents split up in Haiti and I remember my mom couldnt take care of us, so she took us to an orphanage, he said in 2011, the paper reported.

He added: Even though it was an orphanage you were blessed if you had one cup or bowl of rice or something a day.

More Security

Hacienda Healthcare said that it boosted security in the past two weeks to ensure patients safety following the Dec. 29 birth.

We will continue to do so, the facility said. We also will continue to review and improve what is already an in-depth vetting process for caregivers at Hacienda. We will not tolerate any mistreatment of a Hacienda patient, nor will we stop until every Hacienda patient is as safe as we can make them.

Earlier stories had described the patient as being comatose or in a vegetative state. But her parents released a statement on Tuesday disputing that characterization. They described her instead as intellectually disabled because of seizures in early childhood. While she doesnt speak, she has some mobility in her limbs, head and neck. She also responds to sound and can make facial gestures, according to The Associated Press.

Several weeks ago, the assaultand reports of prior scandalsensnared Hacienda CEO Bill Timmons, who submitted his resignation.

Thompson said he believes the baby has since been released from the hospital. The womans family has said they will care for him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a Missile Defense Review announcement on Jan. 17, 2019 at the Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia. (Martin H. Simon - Pool/Getty Images)

Pence Delivers Message of Support to Venezuelans, Denounces Maduro

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 22 delivered a video message of support to the people of Venezuela who are protesting against President Nicolas Maduro. His message came just one day before President Donald Trump recognized Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.In a Jan. 23 statement from the White House, Trump said Guaido, the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, is the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people.

The statement came not long after Guaido declared himself acting president during a mass protest against Maduros presidency. In Pences taped message, he lambasted Maduro, describing him as a dictator who has no rightful claim to power.

Venuezula is one of three socialist countries, along with Cuba and Nicaragua, that have been dubbed by the Trump administration as the Troika of Tyranny. In a speech in November last year, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton described the countries as a triangle of terror and imposed sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba, while vowing to punish Nicaragua.

Pence called out Maduros regime and urged Venezuelans to ramp up their protests.

On behalf of President Donald Trump and all the American people, let me express the unwavering support of the United States as you, the people of Venezuela, raise your voices in a call for freedom, he said in the video. Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power. He has never won the presidency in a free and fair election, and has maintained his grip of power by imprisoning anyone who dares to oppose him.

Venezuelas opposition held marches nationwide Jan. 23 as part of an annual event that marks the fall of a military government in 1958. Government critics are increasingly comparing Maduro to dictator Marcos Perez, who was ousted from power that year.

The U.S. embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, didnt immediately respond to an emailed request for comment about the situation.

In his taped message, Pence said the United States wont rest until democracy is implemented in the country.

As you make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf of the American people, we say to all the good people of Venezuela: Estamos con ustedes, he said.

Pence then translated the phrase into English: We are with you, we stand with you, and we will stay with you until democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of libertad.

Maduro was inaugurated Jan. 10 amid worldwide condemnation that his leadership is illegitimate, following a 2018 election that was widely viewed as fraudulent. Maduro, who gained power in 2013, is now in his second term.

Just last month, Pence spoke on the phone with Guaido and said the National Assembly he leads is the last vestige of democracy. He vowed to continue supporting Guaidos decision to assert the bodys powers, declare Maduro a usurper, and to push for a transitional government to be established.

In response, Maduro accused Pence of trying to force a coup and said he had ordered a revision of Venezuelas diplomatic relations with the United States.

Never before has a high-level official said that the opposition should overthrow the government, Maduro told a news conference.

Its not the first time Pence has rebuked Venezuelas president. On Jan. 10, Pence called Maduros inauguration a sham and described his presidency as a corrupt regime.

Uprisings

Just days prior, Venezuelas government claimed to have foiled an attempted military insurrection.

In a statement, the country accused a small group of assailants from the Bolivarian National Guard of betraying their oath of loyalty to the homeland by kidnapping two officers and two national guardsmen in an attempt to steal weapons in the early hours of Jan. 21. The government blamed the mutiny on dark interests of the extreme right.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets Jan. 23 in a bid to force Maduro from office, claiming that hes devastated the countrys economy and created a humanitarian crisis.

Early in the day, protesters in eastern Caracas shouted out in unison, Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom! Other protests across the country were planned as well.

Riot police, water tanks, and the light armored vehicles had all been deployed at the central Plaza Venezuela square.

Guaido repeated calls for members of the security forces to withdraw their support for Maduro. The worlds eyes are on our homeland today, he said in a tweet.

Reuters contributed to this report.
North Dakota Couple Killed by Falling Tree in Strong Winds While Visiting San Diego

A couple from North Dakoda was killed by a falling tree crashing onto their rental house while visiting San Diego on Jan. 21.

The damaged house is located on the 4400 block of Santa Monica Avenue close to Ocean Beach. The pine tree, estimated to be 90 feet tall and over 50 years old, collapsed around 6:15 a.m. when strong winds hit the area.

High wind warnings were issued prior to the incident for the countys mountain and desert area. The National Weather Service reported that wind gusts in the area reached up to 40 mph at the time.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department official told Fox 5 that the couple was found dead in a bedroom on the second story of the house where the big tree trunk landed.

A week earlier, my husband had said the treeif it ever fallsits going to be an issue, local resident Jamie Campbell told Fox 5.

Torry pine trees are commonly seen in San Diego coastal communities but the roots of this tree were developing horizontally rather than growing down into the ground, reported Fox.

Its tragic. The tree is down and thats sad for some of us, but many of us are happy. But the fact that these two individuals, unassuming people, Im thinking were theyre just as friends or renting or whatever were victims, of the tree issue, resident John Collom told Fox.

The deceased couple were later identified as Jessica and Tory Nelson of Grand Forks, North Dakota, according to the Grand Forks Herald.

They were just two peas in a pod, Troys sister Reynolds told the Herald. It is such a peace for us that they went together.

Reynold also said Jessicas brother, Ryan Langerud, was in the house when the incident happened. He was on the first floor and was rescued by the authorities without serious injuries.

Were trying to work with the property owners, San Diego Police Lt. Christian Sharp said. Its really early in the investigation and its going to be a couple agencies that are going to be looking into this. Right now, this is looking like this is going to be a natural disaster sort of thing. Its very tragic, unfortunately.

The damaged house was listed as a vacation rental for $193 per night on VRBO.com with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a total area of 1,000 square feet, according to Fox.

The couple were both working as managers at Trojan Promotions, which is a promotional products firm, the companys website shows. They came to San Diego for an industry trade show, one employee of the company told the Grand Forks Herald.

Thank you all, from Krisi, Jess B, Adam, Phoebee, Casey & Isaac.  Trojan Promotions  2019122

Our hearts are incredibly heavy and we cannot even begin to express our condolences for their surviving family members, the company said in a statement on Facebook. That being said, we are fortunate that Troy & Jess built such a wonderful business and empowered all of us with the tools and knowledge required to take care of all of your marketing needs.

Heres the latest forecast update on the strong offshore winds today. pic.twitter.com/ddrxoC2hK2  NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) January 22, 2019

In addition, the windy weather is expected to last at San Diego until Jan. 23. Wind gusts with a speed of 45 mph could whip up sand and dust creating a dangerous driving condition for high-profile vehicles, according to the National Weather Service.

Watch next:

North Korean Defector Ji Seong-Ho: North Korea Was Bad, China Was Worse
Nick Sandmann from Covington Catholic High School stands in front of Native American activist Nathan Phillips while the latter bangs a drum in his face in Washington on Jan. 18, 2019. (Kaya Taitano via Reuters)

Nick Sandmann Slams People Claiming His Smirk Was Racist and Disrespectful: I See It as a Smile

Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, who stood silent while a Native American activist drummed repeatedly within inches of his face and another activist told him to go back to Europe, slammed people who claimed his facial expression was racist.

A number of liberal analysts claimed that Sandmann, by standing still and smiling, was demeaning Nathan Phillips, the activist, while others noted that Phillips approached Sandmann out of the blue in Washington on Jan. 18 and invaded his personal space.

I see it as a smile saying that this is the best youre going to get out of me. You wont get any further reaction of aggression, and Im willing to stand here as long as you want to hit this drum in my face, Sandmann told Today in his first interview following the incident.

People have judged me based off one expression I wasnt smirking but people have assumed thats what [I did], and theyve gone from there to titling me and labeling me as a racist person, someone thats disrespectful to adults Theyve had to assume so many things to get there without consulting anyone that can give them the opposite story.

In hindsight, I wish we couldve walked away and avoided the whole thing. Watch Nick Sandmanns full exclusive interview with @savannahguthrie pic.twitter.com/dLBTkc76YD  TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 23, 2019

A slew of news stories about the incident included no comment from Sandmann, nor any of his fellow Covington students, relying heavily on an edited clip of the incident and accusations by Phillips which later seemed to be discredited by video evidence. For instance, Phillips claimed the students, many of whom were wearing Make America Great Again hats, chanted Build the wall, but none of the two hours of video footage of the incident included any audio of such chants. What they were chanting, according to Sandmann, was their school spirit chant.

Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student in our group asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin our school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group, Sandmann wrote in a lengthy statement over the weekend. The chants are commonly used at sporting events. They are all positive in nature and sound like what you would hear at any high school.

I never heard anyone say, Build the wall. And I dont think Ive seen it in any videos, Sandmann told Today.

Phillips also claimed that the students surrounded him and wouldnt let him approach the Lincoln Memorial. However, the video shows his group deliberately approach the students despite there being ample room on each side for the group to approach the memorial; the activist pivoted in later interviews and claimed he was trying to intervene in a dispute between the students and a radical religious group who had been taunting them.

Asked what was going through his mind while Phillips drummed in his face, Sandmann replied, I wanted the situation to die down. And I just wish he wouldve walked away.

Well, now I wish I wouldve walked away, he added. I didnt want to be disrespectful to Mr. Phillips and walk away if he was trying to talk to me.

In a statement released over the weekend, Sandmann said he was startled and confused to be singled out by Phillips.

He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face, Sandmann said.

I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand, he added.

In interviews, Phillips described feeling threatened by the large group of students, who were waiting for buses to take them back to Kentucky after attending the March for Life and sightseeing in the nations capital. He later slammed Sandmann for claiming to pray during the conflict.

He stole my narrative, Phillips told the Cincinnati Enquirer. From the time I hit that first beat of the drum until I hit the last beat, I was in prayer. Now all of a sudden, hes the prayer guy and the passive one.

Sandmann responded to the Phillipss claim that the students posed a threat: I certainly hope they didnt feel threatened by us. I would just say the fact remains they initiated their comments with us. I mean they provoked us into a peaceful response of school spirit.

From NTD News
New York Governor Signs Abortion Bill Into Law, Orders One World Trade Center to Be Lit Pink

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a measure that allows mothers to abort their unborn child up until birth if her life or health is at stake. He then celebrated the signing by directing the spire of the One World Trade Center and other buildings in the city to be lit up in pink.

The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) passed the Democrat-dominated Senate on Jan. 22, with a vote of 38-24. Moments after the bill passed, the gallery erupted in applause for about 20 seconds before a pro-life protestor could be heard yelling, May almighty God have mercy on the state of New York.

The legislation also passed the state assembly that same day with a 92-47 vote. Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the bill shortly after.

This is the moment the Reproductive Health Act Passed in the New York Senate. pic.twitter.com/TdHLzzh1g3  Peter Eliopoulos (@petereliopoulos) January 22, 2019

Republicans, who led the states Senate for much of the last century, blocked the bill for consideration on the floor for years. However, after Democrats took control of the state government in the 2018 elections, the governor made it a priority to pass the measure.

The new law allows a mother to have an abortion if there is an absence of fetal vitality or the pregnancy is within 24 weeks from the start. It also allows abortion after the 24-week mark if a doctor acting on good faith determines that the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the mother. The term health was not defined in the new law.

The RHA also permits midwives and nurse practitioners to carry out medication abortions and allows physician assistants to perform some surgical abortions.

Cuomo called the passing of the bill a historic victory for New Yorkers and for our progressive values. He added that he was afraid that the federal government could soon overturn the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, particularly after Justice Brett Kavanaugh was appointed to the high court, making the bench more conservative.

I have no doubt that Gorsuch is going to reverse Roe v. Wade. So what do we do? Protect ourselves. Pass a law that is a prophylactic to federal action, Cuomo said earlier this month at a rally.

He then promised to legalize abortion within the first 30 days of the new session, according to a statement.

Cuomo has been a long-time pro-choice advocate. In 2014, he called people with pro-life views extreme conservatives and added that they have no place in the state of New York, reported the Washington Examiner.

The new law garnered support from many Democrats and pro-choice advocates, who expressed their delight in a statement on Jan. 22. Along with the One World Trade Center, Cuomo also ordered the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, the Kosciuszko Bridge and the Alfred E. Smith Building in Albany to be lit pink.

HORRIFIC: The One World Trade Center is lit up pink tonight to celebrate the passage of a bill that legalized abortion until birth for any reason. pic.twitter.com/tqwvFrWRqs  Live Action (@LiveAction) January 23, 2019

Meanwhile, Republicans said the law would increase late-term abortions and make it harder to prosecute suspects who attack pregnant women, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A baby inside its mother is not an inanimate objectits a life, Republican Senator Daphne Jordan said. Think of what youre allowing to be tossed away with this vote.

Pro-life group New York State Right to Life called the bill extreme, saying that it was sold to the public as a mere update on existing law.

RHA will expand abortion past 24 weeks through birth, make abortion a fundamental right, and prohibit all limits, which Roe vs. Wade did *not* do, the group said in a statement.

Statement: Minutes ago, the so-called Reproductive Health Act passed the State Senate 38-24, with two Democrats  New York State Right to Life  2019122

The passing of the New York bill comes on the same day a federal judge in Iowa ruled that the heartbeat abortion law, which would have banned nearly all abortions after babies in the womb had a detectable heartbeat, was unconstitutional.
(L) A nurse holding a test-tube with HIV positive blood in an infectious diseases hospital in Moscow. (Maxim Marmur/AFP/Getty Images) (R) An Alzheimer patient (C) is helped by relatives at their house in Yarumal, north of Antioquia department, Colombia on Dec. 3, 2014. (Raul Arboleda)

New Blood Test Could Detect Alzheimers Over a Decade Before Symptoms Show, Scientists Say

Researchers say a new test could potentially detect Alzheimers disease in patients many years before any symptoms arise, sidestepping complicated detection procedures with a simple blood test.

Scientists have long known that a certain protein marker is produced in the body as brain cells die. Current procedures to detect the biomarker involve tapping the spine to access cerebrospinal fluid, which is invasive and expensive.

Now, the authors of a new study say they have figured out a way to measure the fluid protein biomarker by testing blood.

We know Alzheimers disease starts [in the brain] one or two decades before you have any symptoms, said Prof Mathias Jucker, a co-author of the study from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Tubingen, according to The Guardian. We also know any therapy has to interfere 10 years [before symptoms] or even earlier to be successful if you want to target the cause of Alzheimers disease.

Jucker said the blood test, which is simpler and cheaper than current detection procedures, could help patients through routine screenings for degenerative brain conditions in clinics. The new test would also allow researchers to test whether any medications that patients are taking are having an effect.

Another author of the study, titled Serum neurofilament dynamics predicts neurodegeneration and clinical progression in presymptomatic Alzheimers disease, said researchers have been able to detect the biomarker well over a decade before any symptoms appeared.

Sixteen years before symptoms arise is really quite early in the disease process, but we were able to see differences even then, co-author Stephanie Schultz, a graduate student at Washington University, said, according to the Daily Mail. This could be a good preclinical biomarker to identify those who will go on to develop clinical symptoms.

The team was led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, according to the report.

Dr. Brian Gordon from Washington University School of Medicine was cited by the Independent as saying that the new blood test is something that would be easy to incorporate into a screening test in a neurology clinic.

We validated it in people with Alzheimers disease because we know their brains undergo lots of neurodegeneration, Dr. Gorden added, but this marker isnt specific for Alzheimers. High levels could be a sign of many different neurological diseases and injuries.

The test could also be used to identify people with other forms of brain damage, such as those caused by a stroke or traumatic injury.

No Cure for Alzheimers

People who suffer from Alzheimers often experience a decline in memory, thinking, and reasoning skills.

There is no cure for Alzheimers but drugs are available that temper its impact and slow some of the debilitating symptoms, such as the decline in memory.

The Alzheimers Association says there are 10 symptoms of the disease, including disruptive memory loss, challenges in planning or solving problems, difficulty in completing familiar tasks, confusion with time and place, as well as misplacing things.

An estimated 5.7 million Americans of all ages are living with Alzheimers disease in 2019, according to the Alzheimers Association. Worldwide, the number of people living with Alzheimers and other forms of dementia is estimated at 50 million.

The Association predicts that by 2050, the number of people living with the disease in the United States is estimated to rise to almost 14 million, and the costs of Alzheimers to the nation will grow from the current $277 billion to as much as $1.1 trillion.

Every 65 seconds someone in the United States develops the disease, the Association states.

Clinical Trials

Medical teams elsewhere have been engaged in similar research, and are keen to begin testing new technologies in Alzheimers detection and care. Scientists at UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth have created a blood test and are looking for trial participants, according to NBC.

I am very excited about this study. I spent a large portion of my life trying to make this happen and I think we are almost there, said Dr. Sid OBryant, Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience.

Primary care doctors are overwhelmed with patients worried about their memory problems, yet they dont have a tool. There is no tool for them to say youre okay, or you need a follow, so having a blood test they can run as part of their normal routine is really going to change the practice for those doctors and patients.

The study is expected to take three years and will examine screening accuracy and effectiveness in older patients, according to NBC.

Dr. OBryant told reporters that if the test is proven to be effective, it could be a breakthrough in early diagnosis of Alzheimers disease.

A large number of patients can be told, stop doctor shopping, you dont need any more tests. For those who it does look like theres something, there are resources, ways we can help the families, medications, he said, according to the report.

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How a Traditional Spiritual Practice Changed the Lives of These People

The practice has attracted tens of millions across the world and at its core are just three simple principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
In this Feb. 22, 2017, file photo, Nathan Phillips, center with glasses, and other Dakota Access Pipeline protesters march in North Dakota. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)

Native American Who Confronted High School Students Not a Vietnam Veteran: Reports

Update: Please see an update on this story here.

original story below

Native American activist Nathan Phillips, whose encounter with high school students in Washington on Jan. 18 went viral, isnt a Vietnam veteran as many descriptions of him claim, according to new reports.

The Washington Post, one of many news outlets to initially take Phillipss word on what happened and later backtrack when taking into account the full video footage of the incident, quietly amended a correction to its main article about the incident, which relied heavily on quotations from Phillips.

Correction: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War, the Post stated. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam.

None of the three reporters listed as having written the piece have said how they learned that Phillips didnt serve in Vietnam. The article was up for two days before the correction appeared. The reporters also didnt say theyd seen evidence of his military service during that time.

Numerous other media outlets, including CNN, the New York Times, and UPI also listed Phillips as a Vietnam veteran. None have issued corrections as of yet.

In an interview, Phillips told CNN that he was a Vietnam times veteran. Hes used similar vague language in other interviews. CNN has the quote transcribed as Im a Vietnam veteran but its different in the actual video. A chyron that ran during the interview also said Vietnam veteran, not Vietnam times veteran.

The Washington Times noted on Jan. 21 that some things about Phillips service didnt seem to add up.

According to multiple news accounts, the activist is 64 years old, which means he would have been 18 years old in 1973, the last year any U.S. combat units were stationed in Vietnam. Mr. Phillips also claims to be a Marine veteran, although the last Marine combat units left Vietnam in 1971, the Times wrote.

Official U.S. Marines history states that by the end of 1970, more Marines were leaving Vietnam than arriving as replacements.

On 14 April 1971, III MAF redeployed to Okinawa, and two months later the last ground troops, the 13,000 men of the 3d MAB, flew out from Da Nang. Although Marine combat units were no longer in Vietnam, Marine advisors remained to assist the South Vietnamese, the Marine Corps stated.

If Phillips was 16 years old in 1971 then he couldnt have enlisted until 1972, and even then hed need parental consent or to be an emancipated minor, noted Red State. He does say that he enlisted at 17, but thus wouldnt have been an officer and would not have been sent to Vietnam as an advisor.

Phillips has not responded to the correction regarding his service.

While Phillips himself has appeared to never directly claim to serve in Vietnam, some close to him have made such claims.

In a Kickstarter video raising money for a documentary that was later made about Phillips and his wife, the filmmaker says clearly that Phillips was then a Marine in Vietnam. Over $6,000 was raised through the campaign.

I wrote a new essay about Nathan Phillips, who I am honored to personally know, and the power and gift of the American Indian Movement song he played at the start of MLK weekend. https://t.co/CnnIN5kTDg  Rebecca Bengal (@rebeccabengal) January 21, 2019

Rebecca Bengal, who said that she was honored to know Phillips, said in an essay published in Vogue on Jan. 21 that Phillips was 17 when he joined the Marines and served as an infantryman in the Vietnam War. The article was later amended with no correction or editors note attached, nor did Bengal explain why the reference was removed.

In an article written by Bengal in 2018, Phillips told her: Im from Vietnam times. Im what they call a recon ranger. That was my role.

Some interviews seemed to point to Phillips describing service in Vietnam or returning from serving there. In Indian Country Today, Phillips was described as telling the publication that returning from Vietnam wasnt easy. People called me a baby killer and a hippie girl spit on me, he was quoted as saying.

And in an article representative of many written about him, the Toledo Blade in 2007 stated definitively that Mr. Phillips served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam from 1972-76, though it again didnt quote him directly.

From NTD News
Meet Gods Communists

Commentary

The United States is a deeply religious country. Very early on, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) realized that if the United States was ever to be brought to socialism, religion would have to be harnessed to the task.

Enter the CPUSAs Religion Commission, where socialist pastors, religious academics, and laypeople network to spread Marxist ideas through their churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques.

As the United States is primarily a Christian country, the communists began to infiltrate churches, seminaries, and theological colleges even before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

In congressional testimony in July 1953, former CPUSA Chairman Ben Gitlow described how the first communist front was established in the United States, by minister and later Party member Harry Ward:

The Methodist Federation for Social Action  was first organized by a group of Socialist, Marxist clergymen of the Methodist church headed by Dr. Harry F. Ward.  Its objective was to transform the Methodist Church and Christianity into an instrument for the achievement of socialism. It was established in 1907, 12 years before the organization of the Communist Party in the United States in 1919.

In testimony a few days later, another high-ranking communist defector exposed Ward as a card-carrying communist and a powerful agent of influence for the communist cause:

The Methodist Federation for Social Action, headed by the Rev. Harry F. Ward, whom I have already identified as a Party member, was invaluable to the Communist Party in its united-front organizations campaign. It was invaluable because, through it, the Party was able to get contacts with thousands of ministers all over the country.

That defector, Manning Johnson, also went on to reveal how the CPUSAs Soviet masters had shifted emphasis to co-opting religion from destroying it:

Once the tactic of infiltrating religious organizations was set by the Kremlin, the actual mechanics of implementing the new line was a question of following the general experiences of the living church movement in Russia, where the Communists discovered that the destruction of religion could proceed much faster through infiltration of the church by Communist agents operating within the church itself.

The Communist leadership in the United States realized that the infiltration tactic in this country would have to adapt itself to American conditions and the religious make-up peculiar to this country. In the earliest stages, it was determined that with only small forces available it would be necessary to concentrate Communist agents in the seminaries and divinity schools. The practical conclusion drawn by the Red leaders was that these institutions would make it possible for a small Communist minority to influence the ideology of future clergymen in the paths most conducive to Communist purposes.

According to Johnson, the CPUSA set about infiltrating American Christianity at every level:

In the early 1930s, the Communists instructed thousands of their members to rejoin their ancestral religious groups and to operate in cells designed to take control of churches for Communist purposes. This method was not only propounded but was executed with great success among large elements of American church life. Communists operating a double-pronged infiltration, both through elements of Communist-controlled clergy and Communist-controlled laymen, managed to pervert and weaken entire strata of religious life in the United States.

All over the United States, CPUSA members went back to their childhood churches. Over time, many gained positions of influence. This activity ramped up during the Vietnam era.

Some examples follow:

In Utah, Wayne Holley was a proud member of the Mormon Church and founder of the Joe Hill Club of the CPUSA. Holley worked for all economic and social issues including universal health care, fair housing, jobs with justice, womens issues, and all movements for peace. He fought against nuclear testing at the Nevada test site, the Vietnam War, and the MX Missile Program, according to CPUSA publication Peoples World.

In Chicago, Bill Hogan, a CPUSA member and Catholic priest, joined in the national campaigns to end the U.S. war in Vietnam, was a leader in Chicago Clergy and Laity Concerned (an anti-war group), and was one of the plaintiffs in a pair of federal lawsuits in 1974 and 1975 that sought to stop alleged Chicago Police Department harassment of political activists, according to his obituary.

In New York, CPUSA member the Rev. Richard Morford was executive director of the National Council of AmericanSoviet Friendship and a leader of the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam.

During the Vietnam war era, the American Communist movement split into Maoist, Trotskyist, and democratic socialist factions. The traditional CPUSA was dramatically reduced in numbers. However, far-left infiltration of seminaries and theological schools increased as thousands of young draft-dodgers opted to promote socialism in divinity school rather than fight communists in Vietnam.

Today, most of the leftist divinity professors and religious leaders come out of the 1960s Maoist and democratic socialist movements rather than the CPUSA.

However, the CPUSA did continue to make considerable progress in black-majority churches. Since the 1960s, when the CPUSA began to more deeply infiltrate the Democratic Party, a larger emphasis was put on recruiting black pastors. These pastors could be used to promote socialist policies within the Democratic Party, and to keep their congregations loyally voting for the left.

In April 2005, the CPUSA re-organized its Religious Commission with a conference in Des Moines, Iowa. The CPUSAs Peoples World newspaper quoted several participants to give a flavor of the event:

The word of God and communism are hand in hand, said Diana Sowry, a school bus driver from Ashtabula County, Ohio.  Sowry is a union activist and also active in her church, where she sings in the choir. She feels communists and others who are working to defeat the ultra-right and advance peace, social and economic justice, and socialism are doing the work of the Word.

The Rev. Scott Marks, from New Haven, Conn., said people in the pews cannot simply stick to feel-good issues, but must be willing to go to the wall on the real issues.  [Marks] is a Pentecostal minister who leads the Connecticut Center for a New Economy. For him, this is doing the real work of Jesus. Its not pie in the sky when we die, Marks told the World. Its how are we going to change things in the here and now. 

In the session on work in local churches, the Rev. Gil Dawes, a retired volunteer pastor at Trinity Methodist Church here, emphasized that grassroots progressive religious activism has deep historical roots, and has to be re-energized today. Thats where the right is way ahead of us, he said. 

People suffering will become leaders if they have a chance to put it together with other people, Dawes said. This kind of Bible study helped turn one congregation from fundamentalist to one of the most progressive, he said.

In the session on Marx and religion, Paul Nelson, a Lutheran minister who teaches at a community college in Iowa, disputed the idea that Marx opposed all religion. What Marx denounced was an illusory form of religion that served as ideological cover for the exercise of aristocratic economic and political power.'

Todays Influence

Todays CPUSA is still very active in the church. Here are some examples:

Edward Carson, chairman of the Boston Communist Party, was an editor for The Christian Century Then and Now blog.

Michael Adam Reale served on the CPUSA Religious Commission in 2004 and 2005. Reale told the CPUSA newspaper Peoples Weekly World (later changed to Peoples World) in 2004:

I personally felt led to bring into the Communist Party three friends who are active in their faiths, one a Quaker, another who is the pastor of the United Church of Christ, and the third a Jehovahs Witnessall three had expressed an interest in the party. We all need to confront the myth that communism is anti-religion. Communism is not anti-religionit is anti-opulence. 

I came to the Communist Party because of my deep Quaker faith. I have become convinced (a Quaker expression) of the rightness of Marxism.

In 2010, Pierre Williams was secretary of the Religion Commission of the CPUSA. He received his masters in divinity from Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. He also completed pastoral residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and served as staff chaplain at Harbor Hospital in Baltimore. He is an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and has been a member of the Florida Interfaith Commission on Children and Youth.

Henry Millstein, a practicing Roman Catholic, is an activist in several faith-based social justice organizations. He serves on the National Committee and the Religion Commission of the CPUSA.

Millstein holds a doctorate in Jewish Studies from the University of CaliforniaBerkeley and the Graduate Theological Union, with a focus on JewishChristian relations, and has taught humanities and history of religion at Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and the Graduate Theological Union.

Millstein is currently programs manager at Islamic Networks Group in San Jose. His LinkedIn profile states: His background includes both academic and experiential acquaintance with a variety of cultures and religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Native American traditions. In his current position at ING-Islamic Networks Group, he brings together his experience in moving across boundaries of faith and culture with his passion for peace, nonviolence, and social justice.

The Rev. James Caldwell is one of two black pastors in the Houston Communist Party branch. He is a graduate of Phyllis Wheatley High School and Texas Southern Universitys School of Public Affairs. He also attended Dallas Theological Seminary and has been an ordained minister for over 30 years.

The Rev. Tim Yeager was, in 2010, chairperson of the Religion Commission of the CPUSA. He has served on the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns and the Advocacy Center of The Episcopal Church.

After a Christian upbringing in Iowa, Yeager went on to study Russian and History at the University of Iowa. The Vietnam War was raging then, and he became involved in the anti-war movement.

That opened my eyes to a whole host of issues. I moved away from Christianity and became a Unitarian. As time went on, I became a leader in left-wing student activities  I had read Karl Marx on Ludwig Feuerbach [a German philosopher and anthropologist] and decided that I had to move away from religion altogether and became a Marxist, Yeager said in a 2015 interview in British local magazine Westcombe News.

Yeager also became chief organizer of the Communist Party in Iowa, but was drawn back to the church by communist pastor Gil Dawes.

I never really lost my connection to my home church in Iowa. It was part of my family. And then, I met a wonderful man named Gil Dawes. He was a Methodist minister and liberation theologian who showed me what I had not really taken on board, that Christianity and socialism had much in common and so I joined his church  but I have to admit that I had not yet become a Christian again in my heart, Yeager said in the same interview.

In 2011, Yeager was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church, and, in 2012, he took on responsibility for serving a small inner-city church on the West Side of Chicago.

He currently serves at a church in London and is a member of the Communist Party of Britain.

Communists want to be gods on Earth. Their main competition for the minds of men is revealed religion. Attempts to brutally suppress Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in the early days of the Soviet Union proved counter-productive; infiltrating and twisting religion is far more effective. This tactic has been applied all over the world and has made huge inroads in the United States.

Much of what is preached today in U.S. churches has been influenced, if not dominated, by communist ideology posing as religion.

Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist, and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, who was arrested on Jan. 19, 2019, and named by police as a suspect for four murders in Nevada. (Carson City Sheriff's Office)

Man Linked to 4 Killings Suspected of Being in US Illegally

LAS VEGASA man suspected of being in the United States illegally shot and killed four people in Nevada over the past few weeks, including an elderly Reno couple, authorities said, and the slayings added fuel to the immigration debate.

Wilbur Martinez-Guzman, 19, from El Salvador, has been jailed in Carson City since Jan. 19 on possession of stolen property, burglary and immigration charges. Authorities said they expect to file murder charges against him in the shooting deaths of the couple and two women in the nearby town of Gardnerville.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said federal immigration authorities told his office that Martinez-Guzman was in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have details on his entry into the United States.

The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, and it was too early to comment on a possible motive.

Investigators watched Martinez-Guzman go to a car wash and trash bins Saturday, and detectives became concerned that he might try to dispose of evidence connected to the slayings. Authorities decided to arrest him after he approached a mall that has a large gun store. He did not have a weapon when he was handcuffed, the sheriff said.

The suspect did not yet have an attorney who could speak on his behalf, according to the sheriff.

Four people in Nevada viciously robbed and killed by an illegal immigrant who should not have been in our Country, Trump said Monday in a tweet. We need a powerful Wall!

Four people in Nevada viciously robbed and killed by an illegal immigrant who should not have been in our Country. 26 people killed on the Border in a drug and gang related fight. Two large Caravans from Honduras broke into Mexico and are headed our way. We need a powerful Wall!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2019

The killings are the latest crimes Trump has cited to bring attention to the border wall, which is at the center of his battle with Democrats that has shut down much of the federal government.

Last month, he tweeted about allegations that a man from Mexico fatally shot a California police officer.

There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2018

The Nevada investigation began Jan. 10, when 56-year-old Connie Koontz was found dead in her home. Three days later, the body of 74-year-old Sophia Renken was found in her home about a mile from where Koontz lived, authorities said.

On Jan. 16, the bodies of 81-year-old Gerald David and his 80-year-old wife, Sharon, were found in their home on the southern edge of Reno.

The two were remembered as jovial by Tom Cates, a longtime friend who knew the Davids through Renos rodeo and equestrian scene.

Cates said that Gerald David used his time as the rodeo association president in 2006 to promote a breast cancer awareness campaign by getting the groups cowboys to show they were tough enough to wear pink shirts.

Jerry was probably one of the finest leaders that Ive ever met, Cates said. You walk into a room and his presence will just command attention. He was a true leader.

Sharon David, he said, was exuberant, bubbly, loved animals to the hills and was a former director of the rodeo, Cates said.

Koontz, who worked at a Wal-Mart and as a manicurist at a local salon, was remembered by store co-workers on Tuesday as a positive woman who loved wearing bright colors. Her Wal-Mart colleagues wore memorial buttons with her picture.

She was the only person I know that could come to work wearing lime green glasses and lime green crocs and rock it, said Teri Bower, who works at the store.

Koontz and her daughter were best friends, Bower said, and the mother had saved up money and surprised her daughter with a trip to Las Vegas for her 21st birthday in December.

Bower said the killings had shaken the quiet community where everyone knows everyone and big news is a pending storm or a bear running down Main Street.

This does not happen around here, Bower said. Its crazy.

By Michelle L. Price And Ken Ritter
In this photo released Jan. 19, 2019, by the Utah County Jail, is Christopher W. Cleary. (Utah County Jail via AP)

Man Accused of Threatening to Kill As Many Girls as I See

SALT LAKE CITYA man is under arrest in Utah after police say he posted on Facebook about killing as many girls as I see the same weekend that Womens Marches were held around the U.S.

Christopher W. Cleary, 27, wrote he wanted to be the next mass shooter because he had never had a girlfriend and he was still a virgin, according to jail documents filed by police in the city of Provo.

He wanted to make it right with women who had turned him down and also said theres nothing more dangerous than a man ready to die, the documents said.

Cleary is from Denver and Colorado police on Saturday contacted officers in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, where Cleary had checked into an AirBnB rental a day earlier.

With help from the FBI, officers tracked Cleary to a restaurant and arrested him on suspicion of a felony threat of terrorism charge.

The posts did not mention the Womens Marches but investigators were concerned because they were happening that day in Provo and Salt Lake City, along with dozens of other cities, the documents said.

Cleary acknowledged making the posts but said he deleted them after receiving threats in response, police said.

He told investigators he had an impulse-control disorder and was suicidal. Colorado authorities said Cleary is on probation after stalking and threatening women there, according to Utah police documents.

He was being held without bail in Utah, and authorities were expected to seek his extradition to Colorado.

The Woman Behind Online Group

Cleary shares common ideas with involuntary celibates (Incels), an online subculture consisting of people who have failed at finding a romantic partner despite trying.

According to a BBC Interview, a woman named Alana (not real name) created a website that was meant to be a friendly place for people who were late bloomers. Alana herself had trouble finding the one.

It had taken me a long time. I was kind of a late bloomer, said Alana. I thought, Maybe there are other late bloomers out there.'

She said there was a bit of anger and some men couldnt understand how women are unique, individual humans. Despite that, it was mostly supportive and one couple even got married.

Initial,ly when she opened her website, Alanas Involuntary Celibacy Project, it was a place where males and females could share and support other people who were lonely and struggled to form romantic relationships.

But things have changed since then.

It definitely wasnt a bunch of guys blaming women for their problems, said Alana. Thats a pretty sad version of this phenomenon thats happening today. Things have changed in the last 20 years.

Things Take a Turn For The Worse

The website has evolved to become something more sinister than what it was originally intendedsomething Alana didnt expect.

Alana left the online community in 2000; believing that the community would be able to continue without her, BBC reported.

Around 15 years later, Alana was reading a feminist magazine and chanced upon the story of Elliot Rodger.

Rodger, 22, went on a killing spree by shooting and stabbing six people in Isla Vista, California, on May 2014.

Before the massacre, he uploaded a video on Youtube where Rodger blamed women for his failure to experience love and sex.

If I cant have you girls, I will destroy you, said Rodgers in the video.

Some members of the Incel community view Rodgers as an inspiration.

The Incel Rebellion has already begun  All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger! said Alek Minassian, an Incel who drove a van on the street and killed 10 people, Psychology Today reported.

When Alana questioned whether or not she should feel guilty about the tragic incidents, her friends reassured her by telling her that she did her best by creating a positive movement.

Instead of sitting still with her pain, she decided to create Love Not Anger, a project that researches how lonely people might be able to find respectful love instead of staying in anger.

The Associated Press contributed to this article
History just may be repeating itself now in Mississippi
Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix, Ariz., on Jan. 4, 2019. An arrest was made in the case of a patient being raped on Jan. 23, 2019. (Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo)

Male Nurse Nathan Sutherland Arrested in Rape of Vegetative Woman

A male nurse who worked at Hacienda Healthcare in Arizona was arrested on Jan. 23 in the rape of an incapacitated woman who shocked staff at a Phoenix facility by giving birth just after Christmas.

Phoenix officials confirmed in a press conference on Wednesday that an arrest had been made, following a weeks-long investigation that included procuring DNA samples from male staffers at the facility, and two days after the two doctors who cared for the woman were either suspended or had resigned.

Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said that Nathan Sutherland, 36, was a licensed nurse who had worked at the facility since 2011.

Hes expected to be charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse. He was booked into the Maricopa County Jail. Sutherland did not answer any questions from investigators following his arrest.

No pictures of Sutherland were available.

"Urgent" update on Hacienda Healthcare assault investigation LIVE: The Phoenix PD Chief and Phoenix Mayor to announce an arrest in connection to the Hacienda Healthcare assault investigation, sources say. MORE DETAILS: https://bit.ly/2Wen5Bf  ABC15 Arizona  2019123

Our officers took this crime to heart. This is a facility that you should be safe in and someone wasnt, Phoenix Mayor Thelda Williams said.

Sutherland committed this unspeakable act when he assaulted one of the most vulnerable members of our community, Chief Jeri Williams added. From the minute we first became aware of this crime we have worked virtually nonstop trying to solve and resolve this case. The investigation was and still is the highest priority of our department.

The DNA sample from Sutherland was linked to those taken from the baby and the babys mother.

The investigation includes trying to figure out whether Sutherland assaulted any other people inside the facility, according to Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson.

911 Call

The update came after the 911 call from Dec. 29, 2018, was released.

A woman from the facility who called authorities screamed into the phone, The babys turning blue! Babys turning blue!

She urged paramedics to rush to the scene while at another point stating, One of our patients just had a baby, and we had no idea she was pregnant.

The 911 dispatcher then asked the nurse how far along the mother was in her pregnancy but the nurse didnt know.

This is a complete surprise. We were not expecting this, the nurse said.

About five minutes after the call, the caller told emergency services that the baby was breathing.

Thats the baby crying. Were getting vitals from mom right now, the caller said.

Woman Not in Coma

For weeks the woman who gave birth was described as being in a vegetative state but a lawyer for the womans family finally corrected the description on Jan. 18.

Attorney John Micheaels said that the 29-year-old Native American woman has significant intellectual disabilities and doesnt speak but can move, respond to sounds, and make facial gestures.

Its not clear why it took so long for the family to make the distinction.

The important thing here is that contrary to whats been reported, she is a person, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities. She has feelings and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family, Micheaels said.

The family responded about 10 days after the birth to convey their surprise at the woman giving birth.

The family obviously is outraged, traumatized and in shock by the abuse and neglect of their daughter at Hacienda Healthcare, the attorney said in a statement sent to media outlets on Jan. 8.

The family is well aware of the intense news and public interest in their daughters case, but at this time is not emotionally ready to make a public statement. The family would like me to convey that the baby boy has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for.

Officials of the San Carlos Apache tribe, whose reservation is in southeastern Arizona, said the woman was an enrolled member of the tribe.

On behalf of the tribe, I am deeply shocked and horrified at the treatment of one of our members, tribal chairman Terry Rambler said in a statement. When you have a loved one committed to palliative care, when they are most vulnerable and dependent upon others, you trust their caretakers. Sadly, one of her caretakers was not to be trusted and took advantage of her. It is my hope that justice will be served.

From NTD News
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (C), speaks to a crowd of supporters flanked by his wife Cilia Flores (2-L), Venezuelan Vice-president Delcy Rodriguez (R) the head of Venezuela's Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello, along with other members of the government, to announce his is breaking off diplomatic ties with the United States, during a gathering in Caracas on Jan. 23, 2019. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

Maduro Cuts Off Ties With US, Gives Diplomats 72 Hours to Leave

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is giving American diplomats 72 hours to leave the country after breaking diplomatic relations with the United States over its decision to recognize an opposition leader as interim president.

Before the people and nations of the world, and as constitutional president..Ive decided to break diplomatic and political relations with the imperialist U.S. government, Maduro told a crowd of red-shirted supporters gathered at the presidential palace.

He made the announcement following a tumultuous day that saw Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-controlled congress, declare himself interim president and call elections.

The move was immediately backed by the Trump administration, which said it was willing to use all its economic and diplomatic power to restore Venezuelas democracy.

In a Jan. 23 statement from the White House, Trump said Guaido, the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly was the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people.

Today @POTUS announced the U.S. officially recognizes Juan Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela. To @JGuaido & the people of Venezuela: America stands with you & we will continue to stand with you until #Libertad is restored! pic.twitter.com/4W3hlGplql  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 23, 2019

Venuezula is one of three socialist countries dubbed by the Trump administration as the Troika of Tyranny which includes Cuba and Nicaragua. In a November speech, national security adviser John Bolton described the countries as a triangle of terror and imposed sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba, while vowing to punish Nicaragua.

Vice President Mike Pence delivered a video message of support on Jan. 22, to the people of Venezuela who are protesting against Maduro.

In Pences taped message he lambasted Maduro, describing him as a dictator who has no rightful claim to power.

As the good people of Venezuela make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf of the American people, we say: estamos con ustedes. We are with you. We stand with you, and we will stay with you until Democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of Libertad. pic.twitter.com/ThzIAqBoRn  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 22, 2019

Pence called out Maduros regime and urged Venezuelans to ramp up their protests.

On behalf of President Donald Trump and all the American people, let me express the unwavering support of the United States as you, the people of Venezuela, raise your voices in a call for freedom, he said in the video.

Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power. He has never won the presidency in a free and fair election, and has maintained his grip of power by imprisoning anyone who dares to oppose him.

Venezuelas opposition supporters held marches nationwide on Jan. 23, as part of an annual event that marks the fall of a military government in 1958. Government critics are increasingly comparing Maduro to dictator Marcos Perez, who was ousted from power that year.

President Donald Trump has been asked whether the United States would use military action in Venezuela to support the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro and his response was ambiguous.

We are not considering anything, but all options are on the table, Trump told reporters following a roundtable discussion at the White House on medical costs.

The comment came after his administration announced it would recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president over Maduro.

Trump did not clarify what he meant by all options.

His administration has imposed several rounds of sanctions aimed at pressuring the government of Venezuela.

Three South American nations are recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuelas interim president.

The leaders of Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay all quickly expressed their support after Guaido took a symbolic oath before thousands of supporters.

Colombia President Ivan Duque said his nation would accompany Guaido in this process of transition toward democracy.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro also said that he would support the 35-year-old lawmaker so that peace and democracy return to Venezuela.

Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez said on Twitter that his country supported Venezuelas interim President Juan Guaido. Count on us to embrace freedom and democracy again, Abdo Benitez said.

Guaido says it is his right under Venezuelas constitution to take over the presidency until new elections can be called.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn into a contested second term two weeks ago in a move condemned by dozens of nations.

The Epoch Times Reporter Bowen Xiao contributed to this report.
Striking Los Angeles Unified District teachers are joined by parents and students in front of Evelyn Thurman Gratts Elementary School in L.A., on Jan. 22, 2019. (Richard Vogel/AP)

Los Angeles Teachers Head Back to School After Reaching Deal

LOS ANGELESTens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers planned to return to work on Jan. 23, after voting to ratify a deal between their union and school officials, ending a six-day strike in the nations second-largest district.

I voted yes, to approve, said second-grade teacher Wendy Perez. I think the union negotiated in good faith, and Id like to believe the district did too.

A crowd of teachers roared its approval after the tentative deal was announced at City Hall following a 21-hour bargaining session.

While all votes hadnt been counted by Tuesday night, union President Alex Caputo-Pearl said preliminary balloting showed educators overwhelmingly approving the proposal.

A vast supermajority are voting yestherefore, ending the strike and heading back to schools tomorrow, he said.

#BREAKING #LAUSD teachers will be back on the job tomorrow after #UTLA members voted overwhelmingly YES on the agreement reached this morning. The strike is over. Hear #UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl make the announcement #LAUSDStrike @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/gtucO8R1L6  Josh Haskell (@abc7JoshHaskell) January 23, 2019

Mayor Eric Garcetti, accompanied by leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles and the LA Unified School District, called it a historic agreement that will usher in a new day for public education in the city.

The deal came as teachers in Denver voted to go on strike as soon as next Monday. More than 5,000 educators would be affected. The main sticking point is increasing base pay and lessening teachers reliance on one-time bonuses for having students with high test scores or working in a high-poverty school.

In Oakland, California, some teachers called in sick last week as part of an unofficial rally over their contract negotiations, which also hinge partly on a demand for smaller class sizes.

Teachers hoped to build on the Red4Ed movement that began last year in West Virginia and moved to Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, Colorado and Washington state. It spread from conservative states with right to work laws that limit the ability to strike to the more liberal West Coast with strong unions.

In Los Angeles, thousands of boisterous educators and their supporters cheered as the tentative contract agreement was announced earlier in the day.

The deal includes a 6 percent pay hike and a commitment to reduce class sizes over four years, according to statements from the district and the union.

It will also add more than 600 nursing positions over the next three school years, which pleased Perez. Teachers had complained that some schools only had a nurse on campus one day a week, she said.

It was a matter of time before a student got very sick, with no nurse around, said Perez. Weve got kids with peanut allergies, asthma, diabetes. We need nurses.

Additional counselors and librarians are also part of the planned increase in support staff.

The new contract also eliminates a longstanding clause that gave the district authority over class sizes, officials said. Many schools will see a class size reduction of about four students in three yearsthough 90 high-needs campuses will see six fewer students per class during that time.

Those reductions were the main reason teacher Charles Pak voted to ratifybut he said he was happy with the deal as a whole.

We got almost everything we asked for, just about, said Pak, who teaches 8th grade English. So I think the strike was positive overall.

District Superintendent Austin Beutner said he was delighted the deal was reached. But he hinted that financial challenges remained.

The issue has always been how do we pay for it? Beutner said. That issue does not go away now that we have a contract. We cant solve 40 years of underinvestment in public education in just one week or just one contract.

Under the agreement, the district, the union and the mayors office will work jointly to advocate for increased county and state funding for Los Angeles schools, according to the UTLA summary.

The district maintained that the unions demands could bankrupt the school system, which is projecting a half-billion-dollar deficit this budget year and has billions obligated for pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers.

The Board of Education was expected to move quickly to ratify the deal, which would expire at the end of June 2022.

Kelly Maloney said students at the downtown Los Angeles high school where he teaches English told him theyre ready to return to normal after spending a week in large groups supervised by small numbers of substitute teachers.

Theyre bored, he said of his 12th grade pupils. Going back is going to be a big transition for everyonestudents, administrators, teachers.

By Christopher Weber
Left Spent More Dark Money on Midterms Than Right, Report Says

Left-leaning groups spent more dark money on the 2018 midterm elections than right-leaning groups, according to an Issue One report released Jan. 23. The spending pattern is a shift from previous years when right-leaning groups spent significantly more.

Dark money groups, which are politically active nonprofits, spent some $150 million during the 2018 election cycle. Left-leaning groups accounted for about 54 percent of that, according to the nonprofit, which advocates for, among other things, reducing the influence of big money on politics.

Nearly a third ($46 million) of all dark money was spent by Majority Forward, a left-leaning non-profit founded by former senior campaign staff of former President Barack Obama.

Right-leaning groups spent some 31 percent of the total, while groups classified as bipartisan or nonpartisan spent about 15 percent.

All Americans have a right to know who is trying to influence their votes, Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee said in a release. This principle has been upheld repeatedly by the Supreme Court and is at the heart of our system, which depends on transparency for accountability. Now is the time for Democrats and Republicans to work together to address the out-of-control dark money in politics.

Dark money refers to spending by nonprofits that engage in political advocacy but dont have to disclose their donors. Such nonprofits arent allowed to openly advocate for or against candidates, but can advocate on political issues in a way thats advantageous or disadvantageous to a candidate. Theyre only allowed to spend a minority of their funding on political issues.

As we head into the 2020 presidential election, both parties must reject the opaque ways some of their wealthiest donors are influencing elections, said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. Dark money is the most toxic force in politics. Members of Congress are the ones being mugged in the dark alleys. Regardless of their party affiliation, they should have a strong personal incentive to get rid of dark money.
Kenya Faces Losing Key Port to China Over Railway Loan

MOMBASA, KenyaThe Kenyan government may lose not only some key assets but also have its sovereign rights undermined if it defaults on repaying a loan it owes to Chinas Export and Import Bank (Exim).

Details have emerged in recent weeks that show Kenyas assets would serve as collateral and would be seized by Beijing upon failure to repay the loan.

China would take over the Port of Mombasa and the Kenya Ports Authority at large if Kenya fails to repay a loan from the Exim Bank to build the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), according to a leaked letter from the Office of the Auditor General.

While speaking to reporters on live television in Mombasa on Dec. 28, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta defended his decision to borrow from China and strongly denied any possibility of Kenyan assets being seized by the communist country.

You have even heard the Chinese government itself say that that is nonsense, that doesnt exist. I am telling youit doesnt exist, Kenyatta said.

The president promised to make a copy of the contract available to reporters the next day, but so far that hasnt happened.

On Jan. 13, however, The Nation, Kenyas largest independent newspaper, published excerpts from the March 2014 contract entered into by the Chinese and Kenyan governments. The excerpts show that the deal includes a clause that has been kept secret: The contract is to governed by Chinese law and any arbitration that might arise would be heard and/or resolved in Beijing.

Also of concern is a clause relating to Kenyas sovereignty, according to The Nation: Neither the borrower (Kenya) nor any of its assets is entitled to any right of immunity on the grounds of sovereignty.

The Standard Gauge Railway is Kenyas first major development project since independence, and in order to finance the first phase, from Mombasa to Nairobi, the government took out a 320 billion KES ($3.1 billion) loan from the Exim Bank. The construction of the second phase from Nairobi to Naivasha is almost complete and cost about 149 billion KES ($1.4 billion), while the third and final phase that runs from Naivasha to Kisumu will cost 350 billion KES ($3.4 billion). The second and third phases are also financed by loans from the Exim Bank.

One Kenyan politician has blasted those who brokered the deal with the Chinese, demanding that they be prosecuted. A former member of Parliament, Jakoyo Midiwo, says the representatives who signed the contract jeopardized Kenyas sovereignty and left taxpayers with the burden of repaying the loan.

Why are there no criminal charges against the people who negotiated with the Chinese and never brought that negotiated document to Parliament, as per requirements of the Constitution? If it was someone from National Treasury or from the Attorney Generals office, he has done something criminal. You cannot go and negotiate on behalf of Kenyans a debt that is said to be the largest capital project ever undertaken in Africa, Midiwo said on a local TV breakfast show.

He added, When they were doing this construction, no Kenyan engineers were allowed. Everybody who worked on laying the rails was from China. We have issues with them only employing Chinese on the SGR.

Debt Trap

Concerns have been raised in the past about the debt trap Beijing is keen on setting for African nations, tempting them with mouthwatering deals for development projects across the continent.

In Zambia, the government entered into a contract for a development loan with China. Later, the Chinese took over the National Broadcasting Corporation, and now own 60 percent of the shares. This means Beijing can make major decisions on the operations of the broadcaster.

Also in Zambia, recent reports indicate that China is threatening to take over the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, if the government fails to repay a loan on time.

In Ghana, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) is resisting what it says is an attempt by Chinese broadcasting company StarTimes to put it out of business and control the national broadcasting space. StarTimes made a deal with the Ghanaian government that will bring satellite TV to about 300 rural villages across the country.

The agenda of StarTimes is not only aimed at profit or the indoctrination of Chinese culture (names, language, food, etc.) and programs, but a larger mandate to take over the control of the broadcast space in strategic African countries including Ghana, which is crucial for the China game, GIBA said in a September 2018 press statement.

In December 2017, Sri Lanka was forced to give up control of its Hambantota port, which it had built with money borrowed from the Chinese, because it was struggling to make payments on the loan. Sri Lanka had to give the port and another 15,000 acres of land to China on a 99-year lease to settle the debt.

Back in Kenya, Kenyatta has vowed to borrow from China again as he believes it is the only sure way to develop.

The problem with debt is if you use it to consume. I am confident that Kenyan debt, which is largely very solid, is for infrastructure development that will benefit not just our generation but future generations, he said.
Judge Sides With Planned Parenthood, Says Iowa Heartbeat Abortion Law Is Unconstitutional

A federal judge said in a Jan. 22 ruling that the heartbeat abortion law, which would have banned nearly all abortions after babies in the womb had a detectable heartbeat, was unconstitutional.

Michael Huppert, chief district judge in Polk County and a Drake University graduate, said that the law (pdf), which was passed in 2018, could not be enforced.

Huppert cited a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court in a legal challenge to a different law that would have restricted abortion. A womans right to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy is a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution, and that any governmental limits on that right are to be analyzed using strict scrutiny, he wrote.

Huppert wrote that the law is violative of both the due process and equal protective provisions of the Iowa Constitution as not being narrowly tailored to serve the compelling state interest of promoting potential life, reported WeAreIowa, which published the full ruling.

He also said that women seeking abortions should not have restrictions based either upon arbitrary timelines, orthe detection of a fetal heartbeat.

Pro-abortion groups Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the legal challenge.

Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, said in a statement that the ruling was a disappointment. I am incredibly disappointed in todays court ruling, because I believe that if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then a beating heart indicates life, she said.

In a statement after signing the law in May, Reynolds had said, I believe that all innocent life is precious and sacred, and as governor, I pledged to do everything in my power to protect it. That is what I am doing today.

Maggie DeWitte, executive director of Iowans for Life, told the Des Moines Register that she had been hopeful this judge would be fair in allowing the matter to go before a fair trial before a jury.

I think its a travesty of justice thats not going to happen, she added.

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU celebrated the ruling, which will face legal challenges as opponents try to get it overturned on appeal.

Todays victory is essential to the rights and safety of women in Iowa, ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said in a statement. It follows in the footsteps of the Iowa Supreme Court decision on abortion in 2018 that recognized the fundamental right to a safe and legal abortion for Iowa women, which cannot be legislated away.

The law would have required physicians to conduct an ultrasound to test for a fetal heartbeat on any woman seeking an abortion and, if a heartbeat was detected, an abortion couldnt be performed.

Fetal heartbeats can generally be detected about six weeks into a pregnancy.

A previous Iowa law barred most abortions after 20 weeks, one of the most restrictive laws in the nation. After Iowa passed the heartbeat law, a number of other states attempted or succeeded in passing similar laws. In some cases, the bills didnt pass because of potential legal challenges.

Then-outgoing Ohio Gov. John Kasich vetoed a bill that had passed both the House and Senate in the state in December 2018, citing a potential legal challenge.

As governor, I have worked hard to strengthen Ohios protections for the sanctity of human life, and I have a deep respect for my fellow members of the pro-life community and their ongoing efforts in defense of unborn life, Kasich said in a statement.

However, the central provision of Sub. H.B. 258, that an abortion cannot be performed if a heartbeat has been detected in the unborn child, is contrary to the Supreme Court of the United States current rulings on abortion. Because the lower federal courts are bound to follow the U.S. Supreme Courts precedents on abortion, Sub. H.B. 258 will likely be struck down as unconstitutional.

From NTD News
The Indonesian government is reconsidering its decision to free a radical cleric, Abu Bakr Bashir, who is linked to the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people. (Reuters)

Indonesia to Review Release of Bali Bombing Mastermind Abu Bakar Bashir After Criticism From Australia

The Indonesian government may overturn its decision to free a radical Muslim cleric linked to the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people.

Abu Bakr Bashir is only nine years into a 15-year sentence for terror charges related to his links with Islamist extremist training camps but last week, Indonesian president Joko Widodo said hed be given an early release on humanitarian grounds on account of his age and poor health.

The first reason is humanitarian. He is elderly and his health is also a consideration, Widodo had told reporters, according to a statement from the social affairs ministry. Widodo also cited security concerns but did not elaborate.

Widodo has been criticized by political opponents who question his Islamic credentials and had accused him of backing the criminalization of clerics. Critics also accused Widodo of using Bashirs release for political gains ahead of elections in April.

Indonesias move to release Bashir attracted criticisms from Australia, a country that lost 88 people in the Bali bombings in 2002, prompting a review by Widodo and his officials.

The president has ordered related officials to immediately conduct a deeper and more comprehensive examination to respond to the request, Indonesias chief security minister Wiranto said in a statement.

More than 200 people were killed in the coordinated bombings in the tourist town of Kuta seventeen years ago.

Bashir, 81, has always denied involvement and was never convicted but is alleged to be the mastermind of the attacks. Bashir is considered to be the spiritual leader of the Islamist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the group suspected to have carried out the bombings. His conviction came in 2010 under anti-terrorism laws for links to the extremist training camps that were run under JI in Indonesias Aceh province.

Australian Criticism

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Indonesian President Widodo to show respect for Australia.

Australians died horrifically on that night, and I think Australians everywhere would be expecting that this matter was treated with the utmost seriousness by our government, which it is, Morrison told reporters on Jan. 19, according to AAP. But also that the Indonesian government would show great respect for Australia in how they manage this issue.

We have been consistent alwaysgovernments of both persuasions, over a long period of timeabout our concerns about Abu Bakar Bashir, Morrison said. He should serve what the Indonesian justice system has delivered to him as his sentence.

Morrison acknowledged that it was not uncommon for prisoners in Indonesia who have served two-thirds of their sentences to get parole.

But we have been very clear about the need to ensure that as part of our joint counter-terrorism effortswe have an excellent counter-terrorism partnership with Indonesiathat Abu Bakar Bashir would not be in any position or in any way able to influence or incite anything, he said. Lets not forget that Bali bombing led to the deaths of Indonesians as well.

The 2002 bombings prompted Indonesia to set up an elite anti-terrorism squad. It receives funding and training from Australia and the United States.

Bill McNeil, an survivor of the 2002 bombings, told The Australian newspaper that he found the prospect of Bashirs release hard to understand.

It seems sort of crazy they will execute people for drug offences but allow this guy to go free, McNeil, 43, said.

Prison Release Not Unconditional

Widodo said in a statement on Jan. 22 it would be conditional release, a day after the chief security minister said the decision was being reviewed.

Conditions have to be fulfilled like loyalty to the unitary state of Indonesia, to the Pancasila. That is one of the very basic conditions, said Widodo.

Convicts eligible for early release are required to pledge loyalty to the state and its secular ideology, known as Pancasila, and not to repeat their crimes. But Bashirs lawyers say he has refused to do that.

AAP contributed to this report.

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President Trump Says Change Must Come From Within For Peace In Middle East
A general view of the runway controlled by the Indian military is pictured at Port Blair airport in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India on July 4, 2015. (Sanjeev Miglani/Reuters)

Indias Navy Set to Open Third Air Base in Strategic Islands to Counter China

NEW DELHIIndias navy will open a third air base in the far-off Andaman and Nicobar islands on Jan. 24 to beef up surveillance of Chinese ships and submarines entering the Indian Ocean through the nearby Malacca Straits, military officials and experts said.

New Delhi has grown concerned over the presence of Chinas larger navy in its neighborhood, as well as the network of commercial ports Beijing is building in an arc stretching from Sri Lanka to Pakistan that India fears could become naval outposts.

The Indian military has seized upon the Andamans, which lie near the entrance to the Malacca Straits, to counter the Chinese challenge, deploying ships and aircraft since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014 with promises of a more muscular policy.

Indian navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will commission the new base, called INS Kohassa, about 180 miles north of the archipelagos capital, Port Blair, the navy said in a statement.

The facility, the third in the islands, will have a 1,000-meter (3,280 feet) runway for helicopters and Dornier surveillance aircraft. But eventually, the plan is for the runway to be extended to 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) to support fighter aircraft and longer-range reconnaissance aircraft, navy spokesman Captain D.K. Sharma said.

About 120,000 ships pass through the Indian Ocean each year and nearly 70,000 of them pass through the Malacca Strait.

The underlying thing is the expanding Chinese presence. If we have to really monitor Chinese presence, we need to be adequately equipped in the Andaman islands, said former navy Commodore Anil Jai Singh.

If you have air bases, you can cover a larger area, he said, adding he expected the navy to permanently deploy more ships to the islands in the next phase of the buildup.

A Chinese submarine docked in Sri Lankas Colombo port in 2014 drew such alarm in New Delhi that Modis government raised the issue with the Sri Lankan authorities.

India and China have been locked in a contest for influence, with New Delhi trying to push back against Beijings expansive diplomacy in the region.

This week, Indian defense officials are due to hold talks with the defense minister of the Maldives, Mariya Ahmed Didi, as New Delhi seeks to repair ties following the ouster of the island nations pro-China leader in a presidential election last year.

Countering Chinas String of Pearls

In November 2018, India announced that it would continue to develop the Iranian seaport of Chabaharlocated in southeastern Iran on the Gulf of Omanas part of New Delhis maritime strategy to counter Chinas growing influence in the Indian Ocean. The development would include constructing a railway line running from the port to Afghanistan.

The importance of Chabahar was highlighted during a regional conference in New Delhi on Nov. 1, when Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about the port as part of Indias Indo-Pacific strategy.

We are also seeking to develop the Chabahar port as a gateway for onward connectivity to and from Afghanistan and Central Asia, Gokhale said, according to English-language daily newspaper The Economic Times.

With Irans Chabahar port, India may bypass Pakistan to trade with Afghanistan directly, according to EurAsian Times. The port is also strategically located less than 100 nautical miles from the Pakistan port of Gwadar, which has served as a key part of Chinas economic investments in Pakistan.

The Chabahar port is part of Indias plan to counter Chinas string of pearls: a geopolitical concept developed by Beijing, referring to a network of Chinese military and economic relationships in the Indian Ocean.

By Sanjeev Miglani. Epoch Times staff member Frank Fang contributed to this report.
Illegal Alien Sentenced to 401 Years in Prison for Kidnapping, Rape, Child Molestation

An illegal alien in California has been sentenced to 401 years in prison for multiple violent sex crimes committed against a family, according to a district attorney office.

Macario Cerda was sentenced on Jan. 17, for three counts of forcible rape against two victims between 2009 and 2013. He was also convicted of one count of kidnapping to commit rape, one count of criminal threats, and seven counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of fourteen.

Abusive sexual predator sentenced to 401 years-to-life for rape, kidnapping, and child molestation https://t.co/ibdhmN6t6o. pic.twitter.com/CgNUmVhpmm  Tulare County DA (@TulareDA) January 22, 2019

The 39-year-old also has prior convictions of felony domestic violence and criminal threats against the victims mother, according to court records. He was subsequently deported but the illegal alien got back into the United States within five months and continued to terrorize the family.

Behind the closed doors of this family, the women and girls suffered greatly from the ongoing and horrific violence at the hands of Cerda, the Tulare County District Attorneys Office said in a press release.

The attorneys office detailed the horrific incidents in the press release. Back in 2013, Cerda, who was dating the victims mother at the time, forced one of the victims into his van and drove her to a remote location. There, he raped her while threatening to harm other members of her family. At one point, the victims mother called, overheard the yelling, and called the police.

The victim managed to escape by jumping into the drivers seat and driving away after Cerda had left the van. He was later caught by Tulare County Sheriffs deputies.

Officials said during the investigation of the 2013 rape, authorities discovered that the victim had been raped by Cerda previously when she was a minor in 2010. As a result of the attack, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child.

The victims younger sister also told investigators that Cerda had raped and abused her in 2009 when she was also a child. As she spoke at Cerdas sentencing, she described the crimes he committed against the women in her family such as holding a knife to her sisters throat. According to the attorneys office, she started every description with the words I forgive you for

Her capacity to find forgiveness for a man who so terrorized a family is nothing short of remarkable, officials said.

Deported Criminals Get Back In

The victim also warned the judge to never grant him any possibility at being deported because he has crawled his way back into the States illegally way too many times.

District Attorney Tim Ward said the family will never have to live in fear of Cerda returning as he will be serving his remaining days in prison.

Criminals can, and will, find their way back to hurt the vulnerable. The courage of these women to stand up and rally back against this heartless predator is what gives all of us strength to battle for justice. This time, he is not coming back, Ward said.

Trumps Wall To Reduce Illegal Alien Crime

In his effort to build a wall on the southern border, President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned about crimes committed against Americans by criminals who cross the border illegally.

In the last two years, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers made 266,000 arrests of aliens with criminal records, including those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 violent killings, the president said during a Jan. 8 speech to the nation.

Last month, 20,000 migrant children were illegally brought into the United Statesa dramatic increase. These children are used as human pawns by vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs. One in three women are sexually assaulted on the dangerous trek up through Mexico. Women and children are the biggest victims, by far, of our broken system.

This is the tragic reality of illegal immigration on our southern border. This is the cycle of human suffering that I am determined to end, he said.

Trump gave several examples of Americans who became victims of crimes by illegal aliens, including the death of the young police officer Ronil Ron Singh, who was allegedly shot by an illegal alien after he pulled him over on suspicion of drunk driving the day after Christmas last year.

Over the last several years, Ive met with dozens of families whose loved ones were stolen by illegal immigration. Ive held the hands of the weeping mothers and embraced the grief-stricken fathers. So sad. So terrible. I will never forget the pain in their eyes, the tremble in their voices, and the sadness gripping their souls, he said. How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?
Keisha Williams, 43, on a 2016 trip to Disney World, was sentenced to 15.5 years in prison for engaging in a huge fraud scheme. (U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia)

I Am a Good Person: Virginia Woman Keisha Williams Duped 50 People in $5 Million Scheme

A Virginia woman who admitted to running a scheme that robbed more than 50 people out of their life savings told the judge that she is a good person before being sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison.

Keisha Williams, 42, of Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty to the $5 million fraud scheme in October 2018.

Williams told the victims that she had paid a lot of money for a certain healthcare-related software overseas in Austria; that the software was being held in escrow because she still owed taxes, attorneys fees, and other debt associated with the purchase; and that if they would just give her a short-term loan to get this software out of escrow and bring it to the United States, the software would be a huge success and everyone would be quickly repaid, with interest, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

But in reality, Williams spent over 95 percent of the money traveling around the world and buying a range of items at stores like Chanel and Gucci. She spent about $500,000 on her girlfriend.

As part of her scheme, Williams recruited people to pose as federal law enforcement agencies to collect money from several individuals and she recruited other people to buy private telephone records of one of the victims from T-Mobile stores.

Victims of the scheme included a number of elderly persons, including a 71-year-old cancer survivor from McLean, Virginia, who gave up her $250,000 inheritance to Williams. Another victim, a 70-year-old man from Silver Spring, Maryland, gave Williams $70,000.

This is a being without a heart or soul; no human can do what she has knowingly done to so many of us, one of the victims wrote in a letter to the court, reported the Washington Post.

In court on Jan. 18, Williams declined to apologize and offered little explanation for her crimes, instead focusing on her education and career.

I believe I am a good person who made some bad choices, she said. Responding to a victim who asked how she could sleep at night, she quoted a Bible verse from 2 Corinthians, adding, Im a new person.

Prosecutors detailed how Williams sent messages to those ensnared in the scheme while vacationing around the world, taking trips to Disney World, the Bahamas, and Italy, among other places.

She also used her dying grandmother as a way to swindle money out of one of her victims, saying she was sad and stressed about this but my gma Im in tears.

Meanwhile, her grandmother actually was ill and her mother had asked her to call the sick woman. Me calling isnt going to do anything, Williams responded. They need to send some money if they want me there.

Judge Leonie Brinkema said at the sentencing that she was appalled by Williams scheme.

The way in which you spent this money  is appalling, Brinkema said. It was one of the worst [cases] Ive seen.

Brinkema ordered Williams to surrender her portfolio, gun, a car, watches, and other items purchased with the stolen money. Youre not going to be able to take it with you to prison anyway, the judge said.

Williams faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Brinkema sentenced her to 15 1/2 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties, according to the district attorneys office.

Ashburn woman arrested Thursday after the FBI says she arranged a loan fraud scam that swindled victims out of more than $5 million. Officials say she used a portion of that money for personal travel and high-end shopping purchases. https://t.co/pTMSlbrNTi  FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) February 16, 2018

Four others also entered guilty pleas late last year, admitting they were part of the scheme. They were Christian DAndrade, 69, of California, and three from MarylandCarla McPhun, 50, Arthur Robinson, 53, and Ruben Gresham, 53.

DAndrade and McPhun pleaded guilty to wire fraud while the other two pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impersonate a federal agent.

DAndrade was described as Williamss unwitting partner, who she continually deceived in the ongoing scheme. He put in $1.4 million of his own money and helped raise money from others. The man eventually lost his business, two houses, a car, all his savings, and the savings of his girlfriend, his ex-wife, and a business mentee.

He said that he lied to several victims because he believed Williams would ultimately return the money; he is serving a probationary sentence. McPhun was brought in when DAndrades money began to run low. The Maryland real estate investor said that she also lied to one investor about where the money was going, believing Williams would repay it soon.

That was only the beginning of the nightmare, McPhun said in court last year.

She also lost her life savings and her home and is serving a probationary sentence.

From NTD News
San Diego Jewish Academy students presented $7,066.15 to five local nonprofits at an assembly on Jan. 18. The gifts were the proceeds of the students Hanukkah charitable project that reflects the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam, which means repairing the world.

Giant checks were given to Friendship Circle, Cake4Kids, Canine Companions for Independence, Make-A-Wish San Diego and Lev LaLev, a girls orphanage in Netanaya, Israel.

SDJA presented checks to five local nonprofits. Karen Billing

The SDJA project is known as Tamchui, which is an Aramaic word that means "community collection pot. Parent volunteers Jacqueline Shapiro and Karin Zell helped organize the project to help provide students with a deeper experience when it comes to giving back and impacting their community.

For the Tamchui project, eighth grade students heard presentations from the five different charity organizations. The eighth graders were then in charge of spreading the word about each charity to the entire K-12 student bodyspeaking about how Friendship Circle offers fun and inclusive activities for kids and teens with special needs or how Cake4Kids provides birthday cakes for underprivileged children to help celebrate their special day.

All SDJA students then donated by placing poker chips in the fishbowl boxes of the charity of choice, in a room lined with festive posters of each charity.

The canine companion in attendance at the school assembly was especially popular with the kids and the nonprofit received the largest individual donation of $1,719.83.
Here, the People Govern, But Who Are They?

Commentary

Last week, another federal judge decided against a perfectly constitutional and common sense act by the Trump administration to protect the interests of U.S. citizens. Though seemingly a disagreement about the best way to collect demographic information in the upcoming 2020 census, this particular dispute involves the most fundamental political question: Who rules?

We the People of the United States  begins the Constitution, seeming to answer that question for the American government. But who is the people? In our federal republic, composed of 50 states, the answer is complex. A crucial variable is population, for that determines a states number of federal representatives as well as the number of their Electoral College votes. (Recall that George W. Bush won the 2000 election by only five Electoral College votes.) A states total population, then, translates in a significant way to the real share that the people of that state have in the sovereignty of our country.

Who Is Included in The People?

Many citizens will be surprised to learn that, according to the 2010 census residence rule, illegal aliens are counted as part of a states total population. This means states that flout federal immigration laws and attract illegal aliens with sanctuary cities are rewarded for their lawlessness with a greater number of representatives and electoral college votes as well as a greater share of federal funding.

The state of Alabama has brought a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce, claiming that enforcing the same residence rule in the 2020 census will rob the State of Alabama and its legal residents of their rightful share of representation. Of course, liberal activists claim the lawsuit is somehow inspired by the Trump Administrations hostility towards immigrants. Never mind the constitutional obligation of the president to serve the interests of American citizens and the government of Alabama to serve the interests of Alabamians.

Furthermore, liberals argue that undocumented individuals have some sort of constitutional right to be counted as part of the population. For support, they quote the 14th Amendments directive that representatives shall be apportioned among the several states, counting the whole number of persons in each state. It is always wonderful to hear that the left cares about the Constitution. Nevertheless, they provide only part of the pertinent quotation, and so they misinterpret its meaning.

The 14th Amendment continues with an exception that is important for understanding its authors intention: excluding Indians not taxed. Like Indians at the time the 14th Amendment was written, illegal aliens owe political allegiance to another country and are not taxed. Thus, they should not be included in the census to determine the count of the sovereign American people. Such an interpretation seems wholly in accord with the spirit of the 14th Amendmentan amendment that bolsters the privileges or immunities of citizenship and clarifies who should be included as a citizen.

Hillsdale College professor Michael Anton recently started a national conversation by questioning the legitimacy of the presumption to birthright citizenship. The claim to birthright citizenship, as well as the claim that illegal aliens should be included in the census, are two long-standing conventions that deserve rethinking, especially in light of the fact that some 12 million foreign citizens are living in the United States illegally.

Citizenship Question on the Census

Enter the latest media sensation of Trump Derangement Syndrome. For 130 years, the decennial American census included a question about citizenship status. The Trump administrations commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, decided to reinstate that question for the upcoming 2020 census, and liberals had a meltdown. Last week, New York federal Judge Jesse Furman decided against the inclusion of the citizenship question. He claimed that even if it did not violate the Constitution itself, it was unlawful for a multitude of independent reasons and must be set aside.

What multitude of independent reasons, you ask? Administrative procedure. Even though the judge admitted that including the citizenship question is in accord with the Constitution, he asserted that it offended the infamously vague standards of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In the judges estimation, the commerce secretarys mode of adding the question did not clear the notorious arbitrary and capricious standard in the APA. This case is a perfect example of what it means to live under the rule of the caprice of an administrative state.

Righteous Indignation and Common Sense

During the ratification debates for the Constitution, northerners were indignant that the Constitution allowed southern states to inflate their reported population sizes by including three-fifths of their slave population. Doubtless, this population advantage in the Electoral College contributed to the fact that four of the first five presidents were southerners. Though the three-fifths clause was patently unfair, it was, in fact, a compromise that was constitutional. Including illegal aliens in the reckoning of a states population in the census is likewise patently unfair, but it is arguably unconstitutional.

Moreover, conflating illegal aliens and citizens in the enumeration of the sovereign people is just contrary to common sense. Complying with the census is a concrete example of the duties that are expected of citizens. Illegal immigrantsby definitionflout recognition of the rights and duties of American citizens by failing to respect the laws protecting those rights.

I have written about the importance of recognizing the duties that citizens owe one another as essential for understanding the moral argument for enforcing border security. Without borders, there is no distinction between citizens and noncitizens. Without this distinction, there are no American people to consent to the Constitution.

Abraham Lincoln noted: A constitutional majority is the only true sovereign of a free people. Those words make no sense if there is no real distinction between citizen and noncitizen. Lincoln went on to warn: Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism.

How can federal judges claim to speak authoritatively for the American people when they deny the constitutionally elected Trump administration the right to put a citizenship question on the census that determines who the sovereign American people actually are?

Clifford Humphrey is originally from Warm Springs, Georgia. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in politics at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Follow him on Twitter at @cphumphrey

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
People walk past a guard tower outside the fencing of Camp 5 at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Jan. 26, 2017. (THOMAS WATKINS/AFP/Getty Images)

GOP Senators Urge Trump to Send ISIS POWs to Re-opened Guantanamo

WASHINGTONFour of the Senates most conservative Republicans are encouraging President Donald Trump to send hundreds of captured ISIS fighters now in Syria to the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Our partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are currently detaining over 700 of these battle-hardened terrorists in Northeast Syria, the four senators said in the letter sent to the president on Jan. 22 and made public Jan. 23.

The signers were Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas, and Marco Rubio of Florida.

Among the 700 now in SDF hands are two of the so-called Beatles, expatriated British citizens suspected of joining ISIS and beheading Western hostages, the letter continued.

The senators told Trump they worry that many of the captured terrorists could escape in the near future, due to the rapidly changing situation on the Syrian battlefield.

It is imperative that these Islamic State fighters not be released, the senators told Trump. If given the opportunity, many of them will take up arms against our Syrian and Iraqi partners or attempt to infiltrate the United States or Europe to carry out terror attacks against civilian targets, as they have already done in France and Belgium.

The senators encouraged Trump to take custody of the ISIS prisoners and ship them to Guantanamo Bay, where they will face justice.

Trump signed an executive order in January 2018 directing then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis to re-examine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay.

Trumps order reversed one issued by his predecessor in the Oval Office on his second day as president. The timing of the letter from the senators coincided with the 10th anniversary of President Barack Obamas 2009 order to close the Guantanamo facility.

Obamas order was never fully carried out, but no new captured terrorists have been sent to the facility by Trump since he gave his order to Mattis and predicted that many cases would be held there.

During his 2018 State of the Union address, Trump said, Terrorists who do things like place bombs in civilian hospitals are evil. When possible, we have no choice but to annihilate them.

But, Trump continued, when necessary, we must be able to detain and question them. But we must be clear: Terrorists are not merely criminals. They are unlawful enemy combatants. And when captured overseas, they should be treated like the terrorists they are.

In the past, we have foolishly released hundreds of dangerous terrorists, only to meet them again on the battlefield, including the ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi.

Al-Baghdadi was released in 2004 after a military review board concluded he was no longer a threat to the United States.

Five other detainees held at Guantanamo, who were Taliban fighters captured in Afghanistan, were released by Obama in 2014 as part of his deal to gain the return of a captured U.S. serviceman, Bowe Bergdahl.

The Taliban Five turned up after their release in the Afghan groups political office in Qatar.
Newly elected congresswoman Ilhan Omar, speaks to a group of supporters at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Nov. 2, 2018. (Kerem Yucel/AFP/File photo via Getty Images)

Freshman Democrat Lawmaker Quietly Deletes Inaccurate Attack on Covington Students

A national lawmaker quietly deleted an inaccurate tweet after leaving it up for hours, accumulating tens of thousands of views.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the first Muslim lawmakers in the United States, posted on Twitter on Jan. 22, asserting several disproven allegations against Covington Catholic High School students, who were subject to a smear campaign by a number of media outlets.

Citing far-left media outlet Rewire News, Omar stated that the Covington students yelled a rape joke at a group of girls nearby. However, the one student who was caught on video shouting the apparent joke was not from Covington, students said. A number of students from other schools were also gathered in Washington on Jan. 18.

Omar continued by claiming, falsely, that the students were taunting 5 black men before they surrounded [Nathan] Phillips and led racist chants.

A group of Black Hebrew Israelites, a militant black supremacist group, spent about an hour hurling obscenities at the group of students, calling them a range of names, many of them unprintable. The students, instead of responding directly, broke into school spirit chants.

Thats when Phillips, a Native American activist, approached the group and got in the face of one student, later self-identified as Nick Sandmann, a junior at Covington, as another Native American told the students to go back to Europe.

A Black Hebrew Israelite several days after the incident kept calling the students names, saying they sounded like dogs.

Phillips later said do the Detriot Free Press, about the fringe religious group: They were saying some harsh things, but some of it was true, too. The comment was later removed from the article.

The third part of Omars tweet referred to the family of Sandmann hiring a public relations firm after he was attacked by the New York Times, Washington Post, and a number of other media outlets based on an edited video. When the outlets got around to watching the full video, most backtracked on their initial claims, which also relied on Phillipss word. For instance, the activist said that the students chanted Build the wall, while video footage does not show them engaging in that chant.

Sandmann said in a statement after the onslaught of negative press that he and his family had been threatened.

I have received physical and death threats via social media, as well as hateful insults. One person threatened to harm me at school, and one person claims to live in my neighborhood. My parents are receiving death and professional threats because of the social media mob that has formed over this issue, Sandmann said. I am being called every name in the book, including a racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination of my familys name. My parents were not on the trip, and I strive to represent my family in a respectful way in all public settings.

Omar, an anti-Israel lawmaker, didnt initially explain why she deleted the tweet, and another post that blames the incident on high school students is still on her timeline.

Later, when a conservative commenter shared a screenshot of her deleted tweet, Omar grew incensed, calling him a hypocrite while admitting that the issue with her tweet may have been misinformation.

She later deleted that tweet as well.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar FUMBLES on #CovingtonCatholic

1.) She tweets misinformation + defends the Black Israelites https://t.co/MkRUMFxJPo

2.) She DELETES tweet, @CalebJHull shares archive https://t.co/Ny8mcW1p1g

3.) Ilhan screencaps this, has meltdown. https://t.co/HOZprtImD9 pic.twitter.com/e6WyHsAzXW  Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) January 23, 2019

These tweets by Ilhan Omar have been deleted: pic.twitter.com/GPLRk36umH  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) January 23, 2019

Omar was not the only lawmaker to spread misleading and inaccurate claims about the contentious incident.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.,) a presidential candidate, shared a short, edited video on Jan. 19 from the radical Splinter News outlet. Adding commentary, she referred to Phillips as a Vietnam War veteran, a claim spread by media outlets but later reportedly proven false.

On the other hand, some lawmakers defended the students and said the rush to report on events led to mistakes.

When the rush for headlines take precedence over the facts, mistakes are made and our rights as Americans are put at risk, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

Because of widespread inaccurate reporting and threats against the students, a lawyer representing the students families said they may pursue a libel lawsuit against those who unfairly disparaged the students, especially those who didnt retract their comments.

Covington Reopens

Closed because of security concerns about a number of death threats against students, Covington re-opened on Wednesday with heightened security in place.

Five police cruisers were stationed at the two entrances to the school, reported the Cincinnati Enquirer, as officers said a number of threats are currently under investigation.

A letter from school officials told parents that if they didnt feel comfortable sending their sons back to class at the all-male school, they will understand this viewpoint during this difficult time period.

Sandmann and other students have detailed the threats made against them.

Weve been getting school shooting threats, school bomb threats, vandalism of our buildings, people have gone out and said theyre going to slash our tires and break our school windows, one student told The Daily Wire. Weve have threats saying that its best if the students at CovCat are locked in the school and set on fire. Weve had tweets saying that we should be raped by clergy members. Weve had every sort of threat that we should be thrown in woodchippers.

From NTD News
For Islamic Iran, Its Hunting SeasonAgain

Commentary

Two weeks ago, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok blew the whistle on the Iranian regime, accusing it of hiring local hit teams to assassinate prominent Iranian dissidents living in Holland.

Ahmad Mola Nissi, 52, was a leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, a group that seeks to create a breakaway Arab province along Irans southern border with Iraq. He was leaving his house in The Hague on Nov. 8, 2017, when a man emerged from a BMW and shot him dead at his front door.

Two years earlier, in a similar shooting, Ali Motamed, 56, aka Mohammad Reza Kolahi, was gunned down near Amsterdam. The Dutch police have jailed two members of a notorious Amsterdam gang in connection with Motameds murder.

Blok didnt just hint at Iranian government involvement, he spelled out in some detail a far-flung criminal conspiracy that led the European Union on Jan. 8 to impose sanctions against the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security (MOIS), freezing its assets in Europe.

In a letter to the Dutch House of Representatives, Blok revealed that the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service had been investigating the Iranian regimes criminal conspiracy to murder dissidents in Europe since 2015. He also explained that the previously mysterious expulsion in June 2018 of two Iranian diplomats from Holland was related to the wave of assassinations.

The Dutch shared intelligence gathered during their investigation with other European intelligence agencies that helped thwart terror attacks in Denmark and France last year, Blok revealed in his letter.

In July 2017, Belgian police arrested two Iranians in possession of 500 grams of TATP, a homemade explosive, as well as a detonator, and charged them with conspiracy to bomb the opposition Mujahain-e Khalq in Paris. An Iranian diplomat posted to Vienna, was arrested while visiting Germany in connection with the same plot.

In September, Denmark dramatically closed its international borders with Germany and Sweden in an effort to apprehend a suspect in another assassination plot, and in October, a Norwegian citizen of Iranian descent was arrested on suspicion of aiding an unnamed Iranian intelligence service to act in Denmark, the countrys intelligence chief told reporters.

For all the drama of these arrestsand the murders themselvesEuropean politicians have remained quiet until now. Bloks Jaccuse is the first time the Iranian regime has stood accused of successfully murdering dissidents since the late 1990s, when a former top regime intelligence official, Abolghasem Mesbahi, provided compelling testimony in the Mykonos murder trial in Germany directly implicating Iranian regime leaders.

Until Mesbahi came forward with insider information on the special committee formed of top regime officials that approved the assassinations, Germany and others in Europe did nothing to punish the Iranian regime for the murder of more than 200 dissidents across Europe. After the Mykonos trial, the European Union severed diplomatic relations with the regime and expelled Iranian government ambassadors for eighteen months from Europe.

Will the Europeans act more forcefully today than they did through most of the 1980s and 1990s, as Iranian regime hit teams gunned down dissidents at will?

The lure of profits from Iran is strong. Companies in Germany, Britain, Italy, and France constitute powerful lobbies that have sought protection from the European Union against U.S. sanctions for their continued business in Iran.

And many European-based dissidents I have spoken with complain that the Iranian intelligence services roam the streets at will, conducting acts of harassment and brazen surveillance against them. Some of these dissidents single out the German intelligence services for its close ties to Tehran, and its willingness to share information on their whereabouts and movements with MOIS operatives in Germany.

During his Middle East tour last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States and Poland would co-host a two-day summit next month in Poland to discuss Iran. The summit, expected to bring together diplomats and leaders from 70 countries, is expected to focus on Iranian regime terror operations, as well as its missile and nuclear weapons programs.

Europe needs to join the United States in taking a tougher stand on Iranian regime terror. For starters, they need to crack down on the Iranian intelligence networks that roam the streets hunting dissidents at will. They know who they are. Its time for the Europeans to catch them and expel them before they act, not after they commit murder.

Next, Europe needs to acknowledge that the Iranian regime presents a clear and present danger not just to countries in the Middle East, but to Europe and the United States as well. They need to join the United States in sanctions that isolate the regime diplomatically and cripple its financial resources.

Ironically, the summit in Poland will coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Islamic terror regime takeover of Iran. If Pompeo succeeds in rounding up a posse, it could be the last of these anniversaries of darkness.

Kenneth R. Timmerman is the best-selling author of ISIS Begins and was a member of the national security and foreign policy advisory board of Trump for President. He was co-nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 with Ambassador John Bolton for his work on Iran.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seal hangs on the facade of its building in Washington, on Sept. 18, 2008. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Federal Lawsuit Challenges SECs Lifetime Gag Order Policy

A libertarian think tank is suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the agencys policy of placing lifetime gag orders on defendants who settle civil enforcement cases.

The Cato Institute, based in Washington, says the policy serves to silence potential critics of the SECs vast civil enforcement powers, thereby violating First Amendment protections of free speech and a free press.

The policy is particularly problematic, the group says, when as a condition of accepting any civil settlement proposal as a means of avoiding trial, the mandatory perpetual gag orders can also mask agency wrongdoing.

In effect, the government uses its extraordinary leverage in civil litigation to extract from settling defendants a promise to never tell their side of the story, no matter how outrageous the governments conduct may have been and no matter how strong the publics interest may be in knowing how the government conducts itself in high-stakes civil litigation, Catos lawsuit states.

According to federal court documents, the SEC settlement rate has held steady at 98 percent since 2002.

The provision is also standard procedure for civil settlements imposed by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, among other federal regulatory agencies.

Gag orders are intended to prevent interested parties from sharing detailed knowledge of how regulators and prosecutors use their enforcement capabilities. But critics allege the silencing provisions have gone too far.

In addition to the Cato lawsuit, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a strongly worded 40-page petition with the SEC in October seeking to substantially amend the agencys gag regulation.

The Gag Rule is unconstitutional, unauthorized, unjustified, and operates to shield the government from criticism and reform, contrary to the First Amendments guarantees of freedom of speech, of the press and of the right of petition, the group asserts.

Notably, Tesla billionaire Elon Musk was targeted by the SEC over alleged misleading tweets in September. A settlement agreement was reached in just two days.

Under its terms, Musk doesnt admit or deny the allegations in the agencys lawsuit but will step down as the chairman of Teslas board of directors for three years and pay a $20 million fine, reported Business Insider.

The use of so-called neither admit nor deny settlements allows the government to impose punishments without actually establishing whether any laws have been broken.

Defendants are targeted, and admit to no specific illicit conductor, neither admit nor deny any SEC allegations. Defendants typically pay large fines, among other penalties, but can never talk about their cases publicly.

Sen. Tom Cotton, (R-Ark.), confronted SEC chairman Jay Clayton about such practices during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Dec. 11.

If we can settle matters quickly, we can move on to other matters, Clayton said, defending the policy. The no admit, no deny approach has enabled us to get to settlementsto get people their money back, get bad actors out of the marketplace and draw a line under the matter.

Cotton responded, One might also say that it allows a company and an agency who have both failed in a particular matter to conceal that failure from the public.

Its not the right approach in every matter, Clayton conceded.

The SEC adopted this gag rule in 1972 and has not altered or amended it since. Its stated purpose is to avoid creatingan impression that a decree [or settlement] is being entered or a sanction imposed, when the conduct alleged did not, in fact, occur.

The rule also states that any party settling with the SEC in a civil proceeding must agree not to take any action or make any public statement denying, directly or indirectly, any allegationthat the complaint is without factual basis.

The Cato Institutes ambitious suit not only seeks to strike down the agencys gag rule, but all perpetual gag orders in all existing civil settlements across every federal agency.

Cato is represented by the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm. Their legal complaint hinges on the inability of the think tank to publish a memoir said to illuminate the SECs coercive settlement practices.

According to court documents, a reputable professor introduced a businessman to Cato Institute researchers on the grounds that he experienced an aggressive civil enforcement action.

The businessman cannot identify himself in connection with the case, or speak publicly about it, and the Cato Institute would be in violation of federal law if it published the memoirwhich it wants to do.

The memoir purportedly explains in detail how the SEC and Department of Justice prosecutors worked in tandem to allegedly target the businessman after the 2008 financial crisis.

Court documents say he was accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, although the accusation was disproven during the course of an investigation. The businessman nevertheless settled in what was described as a meritless civil action.

The businessman also pleaded guilty to a baseless DOJ criminal prosecution after being threatened with life in prison if he refused, the lawsuit states.

Clark Neily, the think tanks vice president for criminal justice, said that it is vital for citizens of a democracy to know how their government operates, particularly when it accuses fellow citizens of wrongdoing.

The SECs policy of demanding lifetime gag orders as a condition of settlement flouts the First Amendment and prevents publishers like the Cato Institute from educating the public about the true nature and behavior of government, Neily said.
16-year-old Aranda Briones has been missing since Jan. 13. Her family is pleading for help from the community. (Moreno Valley Police Department/Facebook)

Family Pleads for Help Finding Missing Teen

It has been more than a week since Aranda Brioness family saw the 16-year-old, and they are getting desperate.

Aranda disappeared on Jan. 13 after she was dropped off by a friend at a park to meet friends.

The friend who drove Briones to Moreno Valley Community Park, in her home town of Moreno Valley, California, said the teen got into a gray, four-door car. Shortly after, her phone went dead.

No one was reported as seeing her since.

Her uncle, Matthew Horstkotte, told ABC News that he was sure her friends knew more than they were saying.

Nowadays, you know teenagers want to cover up for a friend, or someone says, I dont want to tell because Im scared, he said.

But just come forward, he pleaded. The only person youre hurting right now is Aranda.

No Sign on Surveillance Videos

Moreno Valley police have examined every moment of potentially relevant video from every one of the citywide surveillance camera systems, and have not found a trace of the missing girl.

A post on the Moreno Valley Police Facebook site on Jan. 18 stated, Moreno Valley Police have utilized every available resource, to include the anti-human trafficking team and the FBI in an effort to locate Aranda Briones.

The police have established a tip line, hoping people will call. So far, none of the tips have yielded useful information.

Mixed Signals From Social Media

Like many modern teens, Aranda was active on many social media networks. Along with a Snapchat account, the teen had at least three Instagram accounts.

The last signals sent from her phone put Aranda in the town of Rubidoux, about 5 miles northwest of Moreno Valley.

However, one of Arandas final Snapchat posts came from Riverdale, about 120 miles northwest, USA News reported.

When a friend who saw the post asked what she was doing in Riverdale, the location marker on Arandas phone was shut down.

Possibly the message meant to say Riverside, which is a community 3 miles west of the Arandas home and a mile or two south of Rubidoux.

Lisa Bustos, responding to the Moreno Valley Police Department Facebook post, said, She was seen at my work by one off the security guards. see if my work can show police the video tape on cottonwood and Frederick 99 cents store.

The sighting is not yet confirmed, but the 99 cent store is quite near the park where Aranda was last seen.

I Just Want Her Home Safe

Friends organized a search for Aranda on Jan. 20. Nothing turned up.

There is also a Facebook page devoted to locating the lost teen: Help us find aranda briones

In a post on that site, Ang King asked, Anything new, tips, leads, sightings? I feel like this girl needs more media attention, maybe national attention not just local if its not bringing in enough leads.

The days tick by, though, and nothing new has developed.

Nine days on a missing person caseobviously with each passing second, each passing minute, each passing dayfrom a law enforcement standpoint, we dont like it, Moreno Valley police Sgt. Chris Willison Told ABC News.

Arandas uncle, Matthew Horstkotte, made a simple summary of the situation:

She did have a bad choice of friends, Ill be honest, you know everybody does, Horstkotte said. Everybody makes mistakes, but you know one thing I want? I just want her home safe.

From NTD News
Downgrading Harry Hopkins: From Spy to Dupe

Commentary

Ordinarily, I wouldnt make more than a mental note; however, the evolution, as they say, of historian and professor Paul Kengors verdict on President Franklin D. Roosevelts pro-Soviet adviser Harry Hopkins seems worthy of notice.

On Jan. 14, Kengor joined Mark Levin on his Fox News show, Life, Liberty & Levin, to discuss Russian influence over the life of this nation.

As the author of The Communist, a book about Obamas communist mentor Frank Marshall Davis, and Dupes, a chronicle of communist manipulation, Kengor certainly made a knowledgeable guest for any such interview, even if one mere hour of TV could do little more than skim the surface of the dark, deep subject. Indeed, the pair spent much of the show discussing just one treacherous collusion in 1983 between the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, the KGB, and Soviet dictator Yuri Andropov.

Turning to earlier history, Alger Hiss, too, came under discussion, along with a light sprinkling of names from among the 500 known (many remain unknown) Soviet agents and agents of influence functioning in and around the halls of power in Washington by the time of World War II.

One of those names was Harry Hopkinsonly not as an agent, or agent of influence, but rather as someone who was probably just duped.

It was Kengor who introduced Hopkins name in order to make, as he put it, a very important point.

Here is the full exchange:

Kengor: A lot of these guys, toothis is a very important pointif they werent Soviet agents, a lot of them were agents of influence, or they were duped, which meant that they were kind of soft liberals who didnt really realize they were being 

Levin: Unwitting 

Kengor: Yeah, which is probably the case of Harry Hopkins; its probably the case of FDRs vice president, Henry Wallace. A lot of times, the worst damage is caused, not by a guy whos directly working as an undercover agent feeding information to the other side, but by guys who were clueless, oblivious.

Well, blow me down. Its one thing for me to say that duped, soft liberal, unwitting, clueless, and oblivious arent adjectives I would apply to political impresario Harry Hopkinsespecially not after the extensive scrutiny of the Hopkins record I engaged in while writing American Betrayal, a book that minutely explores the question of whether Hopkins ever served Moscow as an agent of Soviet influence while inside the White House (literally, since Hopkins lived alongside Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House residence for three and a half years, including during World War II).

What struck me upon hearing Kengors comments, however, was that it wasnt so long ago that Kengor was leaning in the opposite direction, himself.

A Change of Opinion

In 2010, when his book Dupes came out, Kengor portrayed Hopkins in a different light.

As I lay out carefully in Dupes, with all the sources and footnotes, Hopkins may have been Agent 19,  Kengor said in an interview with Breitbart News.

Thats no dupe. Agent 19 refers to a code name in a certain 1943 KGB cable, one of thousands intercepted during World War II. Some of the cables were eventually decrypted (or partly decrypted) in the Venona project and released to the public by the U.S. government in the 1990s. In the cable in question, Agent 19 conveys to Moscow details of a small, highly sensitive discussion he witnessed between FDR and Churchill inside the Oval Office concerning the date of the planned Normandy invasion.

As Kengor indicated in 2010, there is strong evidence that Hopkins may have been Agent 19. Whoever Agent 19 was, of course, he was no dupe. Nor was he clueless, unwitting, etc.

As set forth in detail in American Betrayal, however, there is extensive evidence of Hopkins perfidy above and beyond any one Venona cable. Much of this evidence was developed by the late Herbert Romerstein, a towering expert in domestic communist subversion, who now enters the story in Kengors 2010 Breitbart interview.

Noting Kengors caution about definitively making Agent 19 Hopkins ID, the Breitbart interviewer prompted Kengor: Others are more certain.

Kengor replied: Yes. The leading authority on Venona, Herb Romerstein, who himself was once a communist, who remains Americas top expert on the communist movement, and to whom I dedicate the book, is convinced that Hopkins served the other side. He was a dedicated Soviet agent, Romerstein told me categorically. He was both a spy, that is, he supplied information, and an agent of influence. Hopkins was not a dupe, says Romerstein, but one who sought out dupes, even in the White House.

Why Does it Matter?

I realize the question of whether Hopkins was a dupe or agent of influence inside the White House 80 years ago will strike some as the essence of esoteric. However, as I learned the hard way, after presenting in American Betrayal a portrait of Hopkins that builds on the research of Romerstein and others, that this mans eternal innocence is a precious, vital mythology for academias cabal, and woe to anyone who dares dispute it.

Why? In part, it may come down to this: If Americans judge the evidence for themselves and conclude, like Romerstein and others, that Hopkins was an agent of Soviet influence, his central role in FDRs administrationfirst, in bringing the socialist revolution we know as the New Deal, and, later, the disastrous decision-making that seems to have prolonged the fighting in World War II, thus enabling the communists to occupy half of Europe and later seize Chinaappears in a new and terrible light.

Everything we have been taught, not only about FDR and World War II, but also about the Cold War and the American Century, is suddenly upended. Even our conception of ourselves starts to unravel.

This is bad jujuat least, for the Swamp, which perpetuates court history to ennoble itself. It is, however, goodif bittermedicine for the cause of honesty, repair, and reconstruction of the American republic.

Might Kengor have shifted his Hopkins assessment because of the emergence of new evidence that neutralizes Romersteins case? If so, I have yet to see it. In fact, all that erupted from the professors in response to my own brief against Hopkinsfor example, Hopkins warning the Soviet Embassy that the FBI was eavesdropping on communist agents engaged in atomic espionage; sworn testimony that Hopkins sent embargoed uranium to Moscow in the midst of the Manhattan Project; Hopkins urging FDR to return the important defector Victor Kravchenko to the Soviets (just like Soviet Ambassador Andrey Gromyko, Hopkins chillingly referred to Kravchenko as a deserter); and much morewere toxic clouds of disinformation, not facts.

When Romerstein died in 2013, Kengor wrote a warm appreciation of his exceptional scholarship and real-life communist investigations for Congress. Ironically, Kengor met Romerstein in 2005 while attempting to vet the very 1983 Kennedy document that Kengor and Levin discussed on TV. Also ironically, in light of Kengors downgrading of Hopkins to probably just a clueless dupe, he ends his appreciation with a testament to the care and caution Romerstein applied to the sensitive work of trying to identify Americas covert enemies within.

Given Romersteins professional assessment that Hopkins was a Soviet agent of influence, this section of Kengors appreciation is worth quoting.

Romerstein, Kengor wrote, was no bomb-thrower. He was the epitome of responsible, informed anti-communism. He was careful about drawing the necessary lines of distinction between a liberal, a liberal anti-communist, a genuine progressive, a closet communist masquerading as a progressive, a socialist, a small c or big C communist/Communist, a Party member or non-Party member, and so forth.

He never wanted to falsely accuse anyone. I doubt his detractors on the left will pause to credit him for such prudence. For many on the left, every anti-communist rightly concerned with Soviet agents or agents of influence was merely another burgeoning Joe McCarthy.

(It pains me, but I will have to let Kengors gratuitous Joe McCarthy dig pass.)

Kengor continued: Herb Romerstein was anything but. And he wanted those of us who follow in his footsteps, or who are concerned about communism stilland about truth above allto be likewise as careful and thoughtful. Perhaps our best tribute to Herbs memory would be to do our best to expose what he exposed and remind Americans and the world of what he reminded.

I agree. So here goes. Romerstein responsibly, carefully, and thoughtfully concluded that Hopkins, aka FDRs co-president, was both a spy and an agent of influence.

Not a dupe.

Diana West is an award-winning journalist and the author of two books: American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nations Character and The Death of the Grown-Up: How Americas Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Doctor Resigns from Facility Where Woman in Vegetative State Gave Birth, Another Suspended

The two doctors responsible for the care of the Arizona woman who gave birth while in a vegetative state are no longer providing medical services to the healthcare facility.

A statement released by Hacienda HealthCarea long-term care facilityon Jan. 21 said that one of the doctors has resigned, while another has been suspended. The statement did not identify the doctors.

Once again, we offer an apology and send our deepest sympathy to the client and her family. Hacienda intends to do everything possible to restore its credibility in the eyes of our patients, families, the community and our agency partners at every level, the statement read, according to AZ Family.

This announcement comes weeks after the Hacienda HealthCares CEO Bill Timmons announced his resignation following the incident. His resignation was accepted unanimously by the Hacienda board of directors.

Back in December, the 29-year-old woman, whose identity had not been released, delivered a baby boy, shocking her family members and staff at the facility. Staffers did not know she was pregnant. The woman has been a patient at Hacienda Healthcare since age 3. She was left in a vegetative state after suffering a near drowning.

Authorities say the woman was sexually assaulted and a criminal investigation has been launched. Police spokesman Tommy Thompson said investigators have been collecting DNA samples from all male employees and any other men who may have had contact with the victim in an effort to identify a suspect.

The womans family has said in a statement through their attorney that they will care for the infant boy and have asked for privacy. The victim and the newborn have been recovering in a hospital. Police did not release any further details about their conditions.

On its website, Hacienda describes itself as Arizonas leading provider of specialized health care services for medically fragile and chronically ill infants, children, teens, and young adults as well as those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The facility received a two-star below average rating after its inspection in 2017, according to Medicare.gov.

Family Speaks Out About Victims Condition

In a statement released by the familys attorney on Jan. 22, the parents of the 29-year-old patient said they wanted to make it clear that their daughter is not in a coma.

She has significant intellectual disabilities as a result of seizures very early in her childhood, according to the statement, reported Fox News. They added that the patient does not speak but has some ability to move her limbs, head, neck, responds to sound, and is able to make facial gestures.

The important thing is that she is a beloved daughter, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities. She has feelings, likes to be read to, enjoys soft music, and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family, the statement read.

According to The Merck Manual, a vegetative state is when a patients bodily functions are working as normal except for cognitive function. The Brain Foundation stated, A vegetative state is when a person is awake but showing no signs of awareness.

A person in a vegetative state may open their eyes, wake up, and fall asleep at regular intervals and have basic reflexes, such as blinking when theyre startled by a loud noise, or withdrawing their hand when its squeezed hard. Theyre also able to regulate their heartbeat and breathing without assistance, the foundation added.

However, a person in a vegetative state doesnt show any meaningful responses, such as following an object with their eyes or responding to voices. They also show no signs of experiencing emotions nor of cognitive function.

Reporter Zachary Stieber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Watch Next:

The Dark Origins of Pedophile Rings in the US

An alleged Soviet spy operation used children as honey pots in the west, to lure politicians and business leaders into committing crimes so they could be blackmailed
Couple Detained Pending Trial for Sex-Trafficking Operation

A sex-trafficking operation in eastern U.S. recruited women from China to engage in prostitution

PORTLANDA federal magistrate judge on Jan. 22, ordered a New Hampshire couple detained pending trial for a sex-trafficking operation in which they were accused of recruiting Chinese women to travel to the United States on tourist visas to engage in prostitution across northern New England.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee praised the detention order, citing a serious risk of flight and danger to the community, especially the Chinese women involved in the operation.

An FBI agent testified that 37-year-old Shou Chao Li ran a restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the same time he and his wife, 37-year-old Derong Miao, engaged in sex trafficking.

Federal prosecutors in Maine say that Shou Chao Li and his wife, Derong Miao, operated that ring out of rental properties and hotels across the three states. Theyre accused of luring and enticing at least 27 women to the U.S. from China between July 2016 and February this year pic.twitter.com/lNznvqvyZD  KARLI BONNE (@karli_bonne) January 22, 2019

The scale of the alleged operation was large by rural New England standards with at least 27 women engaging in prostitution at locations across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Authorities discovered after the couples arrest another location, a massage parlor in Rochester, New Hampshire, where they believe prostitution also took place. Miao is linked to that operation as well, the agent testified.

Miao used a messaging service popular in China, called WeChat, to recruit women who were isolated and controlled by the couple, FBI Special Agent Christopher Peavey testified on Jan. 22. The couple kept the passport of one of the women, he testified.

They were predominantly fearful of law enforcement but in general they were fearful, he testified. They were fearful of the people they worked for.

Defendants Charged With Multiple Counts Prostitution and Sex Trafficking Enterprise.

An indictment was unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine charging Shou Chao Li, 37, and Derong Miao, 37, both of Concord, New Hampshire, https://t.co/oq4hsYhThe  Kendra Tegan (@TeganKendra) December 15, 2018

Mingli Chen, attorney for Li, suggested that the federal governments case was weak. His client contends he was only paid to give the women rides to various locations.

Theres no evidence showing to the court or anybody that my client was hurting or injuring or harming anyone, was forcing anyone to engage in prostitution, Chen said.

The two were arrested Dec. 13, and police searched their three cars, their home in Concord, New Hampshire, a second home and the No. 1 Chinese Restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Their attorneys argued Tuesday that they were not at risk of flight, and that they posed no danger to their communities.
Four detained students were shot a confessional video. Others said it's an arrangement by Communist regime. (Dajiyuan)

Chinese Student Activists Condemn Authorities Attempts to Stop Labor Protests

A group of Chinese student activists has condemned authorities attempts to intimidate their peers by forcing them to watch confessional videos, in which several student leaders admitted to wrongdoing by organizing protests.

Jasic Workers Solidarity Group is comprised of university students who are against poor labor conditions at the Jasic Technology factory in Huizhou City, southern China. Factory workers there were dismissed from their jobs last year after they tried to form a trade union, and several workers who protested their dismissal were arrested and detained by local police.

Since then, many Solidarity Group members have organized protests in support of the workers.

On Jan. 21, the Solidarity Group published a statement on its website describing details of the 30-minute-long confessional video. The video footage shows Yue Xin and Gu Jiayue, students who graduated from Peking University; Shen Mengyu, who received a masters degree from Sun Yat-sen University in southern China; and Zheng Yongming, a student who graduated from Nanjing Agricultural University, talking about their experiences in the protests.

All of them said they were brainwashed by an unknown extremist organization that wishes to overthrow the Chinese government. After joining the organization, they acted upon the leaders instructions.

Yue confessed to leading the factory workers against the government, while Gu confessed to setting up blogs and social-media accounts to report on the workers movement. Shen said she arranged to enter the factory and encouraged the workers to protest.

The Solidarity Group, which rejects the comments in the video, said the video is slander that was intentionally crafted by Chinese authorities.

Four friends of the activists in the video told Reuters that the confessions were starkly different from how the activists previously described the events to them. They said the video was an attempt to threaten students who have been calling for the release of dozens of student activists detained since August last year.

The friends added that although the activists support Marxism and Chinese leader Xi Jinpings authority, they are still being suppressed by the Communist regime.

Jasic, a welding machinery manufacturer, is a private company based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

In May 2018, Jasic workers went to the General Workers Union of Pingshan District and asked for help after their co-worker Yu Juncong was fired. One month later, the Jasic management team set up a workers union but didnt nominate any of the workers representatives to be members.

Since July 20, workers and the company have been in conflict. In August 2018, more than 20 activists disappeared one by one. Eventually, local police confirmed that they had been detained.

In late December, Chinese authorities detained several students from Peking University as part of a crackdown on the campuss Marxist society.

Yue Xin, who appeared in the confessional video, is the most prominent figure because her August open letter calling for the release of detained factory workers ignited the movement. The letter was retained via blockchain technologywhich can circumvent Chinese censors.

Earlier this month, Chinas Cyberspace Administration announced regulations to manage blockchain technology, requiring registration of real names and identificationwhich is perceived as a crackdown on dissidents who rely on the technology to spread information and organize.
A group of Canyon Crest Academy students have set out to help their younger peers find educational success by volunteering for tutoring services on the weekends.

CCAs Tutor Outreach Club was founded last year after the students were influenced by an East Coast nonprofit called Inspire, which works with low-income, underprivileged students to try to help get them into boarding and private schools.

We wanted to apply this to our community, said Emily Gao, a 16-year-old junior and one of the clubs founders. We thought of the idea to offer private tutoring services for students who may not be able to afford the private tutors.

Each Saturday, the group of 10 CCA students visits The Preuss School at UC San Diego to assist teachers at the enrichment academy. The weekend classes  generally for students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades  are aimed to help students who are failing or struggling in school. Oftentimes, there are 20 students to one teacher, Emily said.

The club has also volunteered to send books to schools in Africa and raised money for school supplies in a community near Tijuana.

Kaila Hogan, a 16-year-old CCA junior, said one of the clubs goals is to inspire kids to want to succeed in their classes.

A lot of times when we used to go [to the Preuss School] they were just super unmotivated, she said. When we go there now, theyre a little bit more excited to see us and theyre excited to learn a little bit more.

Emily added that each student has a different learning style, and they have to adapt to that. Because of this, the members said the volunteer work has taught them patience, understanding, how to build their confidence and how to connect with people.

The clubs members agree they wanted to help others because of how privileged they have been in their own education.

It was important to me because I went to this camp at Stanford, and my roommate actually went through the Inspire program, Emily said. I saw the privilege that we have around us, in terms of education. Ive never really had to worry about being able to afford a binder for my new school year or being able to have pens and paper. ... If I was struggling in school, I know my mom would be willing to hire a private tutor for me to learn from. ... I know I wont be able to fix the educational imbalance in the world completely, but just to be able to help is why I wanted to do this.

One of Emilys favorite memories, she said, was working with a boy who had difficulty understanding the volume of cubes. She drew out each cube for him and, after a while, he finally understood and no longer had to guess random numbers.

Connie Chen, a 17-year-old CCA junior, believes participating in the tutoring is beneficial for the club members as well as the students they are helping.

Its really nice when they finally get it, because they can be frustrated for so long and then they finally understand, she said. Those are the moments that are very memorable for us.
A driverless aircraft with 5G technology by EHANG is in display at a 5G innovation park in Hangzhou, a city in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on Jan. 20, 2019. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

China Continues to Encourage IP Theft Practices, US Business Groups Say

Two U.S. business groups recently issued a report detailing how China has forged ahead with its industrial plan Made in China 2025 despite recent international criticism and internal instructions for state media to tone down mentions.

They also provided suggestions for what U.S. trade delegates can negotiate during ongoing SinoU.S. trade talks.

The U.S Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce in China, in a joint report dated Jan. 16 to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)s office and first obtained by The Wall Street Journal, identified more than 100 regional government policies in 24 Chinese provinces that either set targets, create rules, or provide normative guidance for the industrial plan.

Beijing rolled out the Made in China 2025 plan in May 2015 for the goal of transforming China into a high-tech powerhouse by 2025 by aggressively developing manufacturing in fields like information technology (IT), robotics, and semiconductors.

Findings about the industrial plans ambitionsdocumented in a Section 301 investigation conducted by the USTR in March 2018prompted the U.S. administration to impose punitive tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports and precipitated the current trade war. The investigation concluded that the Chinese regime conducted state-sponsored theft and forced transfer of U.S. intellectual property.

Made in China 2025 Continues

The new Chambers of Commerce report concluded that regional government policies continue to pursue a deep, concerted campaign to carry out and take advantage of incentives tied to Made in China 2025 plan.

For instance, one of the policies is Supporting the Development of the Robot Industry issued by the provincial government of Anhui in July 2018. Under the policy, the Anhui government would provide financial incentives such as subsidies to Chinese firms involved in the robotics industry, in addition to offering companies tax reductions for carrying out research in robotics.

Another policy linked the industrial plan to Chinas chief foreign policy project, One Belt, One Road (OBOR). The provincial government of Gansu, located in north-central China, issued a policy called Gansu Action Plan for Made in China 2025 in June 2018. The action plan calls for integrating Made in China 2025 with OBOR and take advantage of OBOR, with the goal of transforming Gansu into a communication hub providing services and support to central and western Asia, central and eastern Europe, and Mongolia.

China launched the OBOR initiative in 2013 to build up geopolitical influence around the world by partnering with more than 60 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin America on massive infrastructure projects.

The joint report explained that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has continued to monitor Chinas economic policies because of concerns raised about Made in China 2025 in a 2017 report.

Titled Made in China 2025: Global Ambitions Built on Local Protection, the report explained how Chinas industrial plan is different from other countries manufacturing plans, such as Germanys Industry 4.0 for integrating automation and IT with manufacturing.

The 2017 report highlighted how under the plan, the Chinese regime provided state funding to Chinese companies to help them promote their indigenous research and development capabilities, support their ability to acquire technology from abroad, and enhance their overall competitiveness.

It was part of a broader strategy to give China a competitive edge in technology sectors on a global scale.

Trade War

The new joint report stated that members of the organizations strongly support the Trump Administrations Section 301 investigation, and the need to address endemic forced technology transfer and technology theft concerns with China.

The two business groups especially highlighted the challenge U.S. companies face when doing business in China: Chinas legal system provides little recourse in the event that Chinese authorities or commercial partners violate legal agreements or regulations.

After gathering extensive input from their collective members, the groups recommended three objectives to guide U.S. delegates in the ongoing trade talks.

First, the joint report stated negotiators should address structural issues in the Chinese economy that result in unfair competition and non-market outcomes, including the aforementioned discriminatory policies and subsidiesbut also topics less often in the limelight, such as hefty taxes enacted by different level of government; biased bidding processes; and delays in approving patents filed by foreign entities.

These are harming U.S. companies, workers, and consumers, the report said.

Second, the two business groups urged U.S. negotiators to push for China to eliminate policies that require technology transfer as a condition for doing business in China.

Third, it called on trade negotiators to persuade China to remove all forms of localization policies, such as Chinas data localization regulations that require companies to store all important data and critical information infrastructure on servers inside China. The joint report argued that these policies limit access to the Chinese market for U.S. digital products and services.
Charred Human Remains Found in Malibu Area Burned by Wildfire

LOS ANGELESThe charred, skeletal remains of a human body have been found in an area of the posh seaside town of Malibu left blackened by a massive wildfire in November, and investigators were trying to determine if the victim was slain or died in the flames, a Los Angeles County Sheriffs spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The bones were discovered late on Monday afternoon and sheriffs homicide detectives, joined by investigators from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiners Office, responded to the scene at first light on Tuesday, Deputy Trina Schrader said.

Human remains found near Malibu hillside where Woolsey fire burned: Human remains were discovered late Monday near a scorched Malibu hillside and investigators are attempting to determine how the person died. The body was found about 4 p.m. near the https://t.co/3LWO6GNbHV pic.twitter.com/c5YvjWwfOH  Los Angeles Best Of (@LosAngelesBests) January 22, 2019

She said the coroners office would conduct an autopsy in an effort to determine the gender and identity of the victim, and whether foul play was involved in the death.

This is a death investigation and it is being investigated by our homicide bureau, she said, adding that there were no visible indications of violence at the scene or to what was left of the remains.

Sheriffs officials asked members of the public to come forward if they had any information about the case or could help identify the victim.

Officials are investigating after human remains were discovered yesterday at Latigo Canyon Road & Calicut Road in Malibu. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. https://t.co/Ahztd58jCm pic.twitter.com/qp7WMsuh0V  Malibu Surfside News (@MalibuNews) January 22, 2019

The body is the second to be discovered in the area devastated by the Woolsey Fire, which broke out on Nov. 8 and charred 96,000 acres in the hills above Malibu, a wealthy beachfront community known for its celebrity residents, before it was contained.

On Nov. 17 a homeowner surveying fire damage to his property came across partial skeletal remains. Investigators are still seeking to identify those remains, which they believe were left before the conflagration, and a cause of death.

The Woolsey fire, one of several major blazes which erupted during a particularly fierce wildfire season across California, was known to have killed three civilians and injured three firefighters. More than 1,500 structures were destroyed by the flames and 341 others were damaged.

The Camp Fire, which erupted on the same day, roared through the foothill community of Paradise in Northern California, killing at least 86 people and burning down more than 18,000 structures to become deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history.

Combined losses from the Camp and Woolsey wildfires have been estimated at between $9 billion and $13 billion.

By Dan Whitcomb
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) departs after answering questions during her weekly press conference in Washington, on Jan. 10, 2019. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Centrist Democrat Group Urges Pelosi to End Partial Shutdown

As the partial government shutdown stretched into its 32nd day, a group of centrist House Democrats are calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to end the stalemate over funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and to offer a compromise.

President Donald Trump has made several attempts at a bargain. On Jan. 19, he outlined an offer which would provide temporary protection from deportation to some 700,000 illegal immigrants that came to the country as children. In exchange, Trump wants $5.7 billion in border wall funding.

Trumps proposal, outlined in a televised address on Jan. 19, was rejected by Pelosi before he started to speak.

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), who is leading the group of centrist Democrats, urged Pelosi to offer Trump a vote on his border wall sometime in February if he ends up signing a bill to reopen the federal government.

We know that you share our value that effective governing should not result in winners and losers, but that our job as legislators is to do the most good for the most people, the letter (pdf) obtained by Politico stated.

We understand that this shutdown was not caused by the 116th Congress, but it is our job to fix it, it continued later.

Both Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have said they would not negotiate with Trump over border wall funding until he reopens the government. They said that they would be open to talks after he has done so. Yet, when Trump asked Pelosi whether shed give him the wall money if he let the government open and allowed for a month of negotiations, she said no.

In the draft letter that did not include the names of any caucus members, the caucus requested Pelosi immediately begin debate in committee on the wall after the reopening of the government. Democrats say this will allow the Department of Homeland Security to detail the funds needed and present them to the president, guaranteeing a vote for the supplemental funding request on the House floor by the end of February.

Federal workers who have been furloughed will miss their second paycheck if the shutdown continues to Jan. 25. The shutdown hit about 25 percent of the federal government, with some 800,000 federal works affected.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is preparing to bring Trumps compromise offer to the floor sometime this week.

The President has made a comprehensive and bipartisan offer that would accomplish everything Democrats have said needs to be accomplished right now immediately, McConnell said in a Senate session on Jan. 22. Its a strong proposal. Its the only thing on the table

McConnel has rejected all the measures passed by Democrats in the house to reopen the government because Trump did not agree with them.

Trump appeared to be happy with the job McConnel and other Republicans were doing on the border wall.

Never seen @senatemajldr and Republicans so united on an issue as they are on the Humanitarian Crisis & Security on our Southern Border, he said on Twitter on Jan. 22.

If we create a Wall or Barrier which prevents Criminals and Drugs from flowing into our Country, Crime will go down by record numbers!

Democrats refuse to budge from their initial $1.3 billion offer for border-security purposes, which doesnt include funds for a border wall.

After Pelosi rejected Trumps compromise offer, the president took to Twitter and chided Democrat leaders for their refusal to negotiate.

Nancy Pelosi and some of the Democrats turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to speak. They dont see crime & drugs, they only see 2020which they are not going to win. Best economy! Trump said on Jan. 20. They should do the right thing for the Country & allow people to go back to work.

Pelosi quickly shot back on Twitter.

800,000 Americans are going without pay. Re-open the government, let workers get their paychecks and then we can discuss how we can come together to protect the border, she wrote. Epoch Times reporter Petr Svab contributed to this report.
British Lawmakers Try to Stop No-Deal Brexit

LONDONAn attempt by British lawmakers to prevent a no-deal Brexit gained momentum on Jan. 23 after the opposition Labour Party said it was likely to throw its parliamentary weight behind that effort.

The United Kingdom, facing the deepest political crisis since World War II, is due to leave the European Union on March 29, but has no approved deal on how the divorce will take place.

Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to break the deadlock after last weeks crushing defeat of her two-year attempt to forge an orderly divorce raised the prospect of an exit without a deal.

In a step that could overturn centuries of constitutional convention, some lawmakers are trying to grab control of Brexit from the government in an attempt to prevent what they say would be an economically disastrous no-deal departure.

Labour will probably back one such attempt, an amendment proposed by Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper that could result in May being given until Feb. 26 to get a deal approved by parliament or face lawmakers voting on whether to delay Brexit.

John McDonnell, the second-most-powerful figure in the party, told the BBC the amendment was sensible and Labour was highly likely to back it. At least nine Conservative lawmakers have also publicly said they will support it, suggesting it has a good chance of passing.

As the United Kingdoms tortuous crisis over EU membership approaches its finale, the possible outcomes for the worlds fifth-largest economy still include a no-deal Brexit, a last-minute deal, a delay, or a snap election.

But the EU, whose members are also worried by the prospect of a disorderly Brexit that would cost jobs in major economies such as Germany, cautioned that no-deal was still the default scenario until London proposed something else.

Preparing for a no-deal scenario is more important now than ever, even though I still hope that we can avoid this scenario, EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said in Brussels.

Opposing no-deal will not stop no-deal from happening, he said, adding it would be necessary for the British to find a majority in favor of another solution to a disorderly exit.

By Guy Faulconbridge and William James
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gestures as he delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting on Jan. 22, 2019, in Davos, Switzerland. (Fabric Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Brazils Bolsonaro Uses Davos Speech to Appeal to Big Business

DAVOS, SwitzerlandBrazils new President Jair Bolsonaro threw out the welcome mat for big business and foreign investors on Jan. 22, telling a summit of CEOs in Davos that his government would make the country one of the top 50 in which to do business.

Bolsonaro said he would work to open up Brazils relatively closed economy, reduce and simplify taxes, privatize state companies, and give his new justice minister the tools to tackle corruption.

The former army captain turned politician was elected in October on a wave of conservative nationalism and anti-leftist sentiment in a country fed up with political graft and a painful economic downturn.

We enjoy the credibility to carry out reforms that we need and the world expects of us, Bolsonaro told the Davos audience.

We will reduce the tax burden, simplify tax rules, and make life easier for those who want to produce, do business, invest, and create jobs, he said.

Bolsonaro vowed to restore macroeconomic stability with fiscal disciple.

He assured investors he has fulfilled campaign promises to form a cabinet without engaging in the political horse-trading that led to rampant corruption in the past.

He said Justice Minister Sergio Moro, accompanying him in Davos, was the right man to fight corruption and money laundering. Moro oversaw Brazils biggest graft investigation ever, landing powerful businessmen and politicians in jail, including former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro, who became president on Jan. 1, has pledged to realign Brazil with more advanced economies rather than regional allies, overhauling diplomatic priorities after nearly a decade and a half of leftist rule.

He campaigned on a promise to clean up politics, crack down on crime, and set a new direction for the country.

By Mark Bendeich from Reuters. The Epoch Times contributed to this report.
A student from Covington Catholic High School stands in front of Native American actvist Nathan Phillips while the latter bangs a drum in his face in Washington, on Jan. 18, 2019. (Kaya Taitano/Reuters)

Black Hebrew Israelite Who Sparked Washington Incident Calls Covington Students Dogs

A member of an obscure religious group who helped spark the incident between Covington Catholic High School students and a group of Native Americans defended hurling obscenities at the students, claiming he was speaking the word of God.

The Black Hebrew Israelite, who called himself Chief Ephraim Israel, was captured on video with several other members calling the students a range of expletives on Jan. 18.

The students in response started school cheers. Then, Native American and anti-President Donald Trump activist Nathan Phillips inserted his group into the situation, chanting and drumming in the face of a student while a member of his group told them to go back to Europe because they stole our land.

Israel said, The word of God  sparked the situation in an interview with the New York Post.

They seen what theyve done. Theyve been told. I believe they are from Kentucky. Theyve never been spoken like that to by a black or Hispanic guy in their lives. The words of God, he added. It was piercing. Their souls was getting ripped. They were catching darts and ninja stars all into their soul.

Israel was incensed that the students started doing school chants to drown out the slew of vulgar words. I was cutting into them. I called them dogs. They sounded like dogs, he added.

He said that Phillipss group was an unwanted interruption. I wish he didnt. We was still teaching. We had so much more to go, he said.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Black Hebrew Israelites is a black supremacist group that has grown increasingly militant.

This Hebrew Israelite from Brooklyn sparked the Covington controversy https://t.co/NdxWkjWUcp pic.twitter.com/cK2NToCxSf  New York Post (@nypost) January 22, 2019

Although most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence, there is a rising extremist sector within the Hebrew Israelite movement whose adherents believe that Jews are devilish impostors and who openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery, the organization stated.

Israel is not the only person to use racially charged language in describing the high school students, who were mostly white with many donning Make America Great Again hats in support of President Trump. The students had been in Washington to attend the March for Life, an event in support of unborn babies.

Phillips, the Native American activist, called the students beastly in one interview and in another stated they were like a lynch mob, while his initial claim that the students chanted build the wall was not backed up by the video evidence. A member of his group took to Facebook to defend the Black Hebrew Israelites and make another claim that was not supported by the evidence, that the students were allegedly heckling the Israelites with loud MAGA chants. He later admitted that the Hebrew Israelite brothers said some disrespectful things, but that he put that aside and wanted to help.

Thats their teaching, we have ours and thats what makes us equally beautiful, he added.

Sandmann, a junior at Covington who was seen standing in front of Phillips as the latter banged a drum in his face, responded to the slew of misinformation about the event in a lengthy statement over the weekend, revealing that he and his family had been subject to threats, including death threats.

Sandmann noted that his group was waiting for buses in front of the Lincoln Memorial, which would take them back to Kentucky, after participating in the March for Life rally and sightseeing, when the Black Hebrew Israelites began calling them vulgar names.

The protesters said hateful things. They called us racists, bigots, white crackers,[expletive], and incest kids. They also taunted an African-American student from my school by telling him that we would harvest his organs. I have no idea what that insult means, but it was startling to hear, Sandmann said.

Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student in our group asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin our school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group. The chants are commonly used at sporting events. They are all positive in nature and sound like what you would hear at any high school, Sandmann said.

The chants appeared to work in drowning out the hateful language but soon Phillips entered the area and approached Sandmann, chanting words the students couldnt understand.

I never interacted with this protester. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protesters, and when the second group approached I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers, Sandmann wrote.

The engagement ended when one of our teachers told me the busses had arrived and it was time to go. I obeyed my teacher and simply walked to the busses. At that moment, I thought I had diffused the situation by remaining calm, and I was thankful nothing physical had occurred, he continued.

He added, I never understood why either of the two groups of protesters were engaging with us, or exactly what they were protesting at the Lincoln Memorial. We were simply there to meet a bus, not become central players in a media spectacle. This is the first time in my life Ive ever encountered any sort of public protest, let alone this kind of confrontation or demonstration.

From NTD News
Australian Senator Calls for Limiting Unofficial Baby Formula Exports to End Shortage

The move could save Aussie farms from being sold to Chinese companies as well

The Australian government should limit unofficial baby formula exports to two tins per person to help ease product shortages in local retail stores, an Australian Senator has urged.

Senator Pauline Hanson, who leads the nationalist One Nation Party, said the ruling center-right Liberal-National Coalition should do more to protect the domestic baby formula supply from Chinese syndicates that capitalise on the 166 percent profitmore than A$80 ($57.30)for each tin when on-sold in China.

Weve known for a very long time that Chinese syndicates have been stripping shelves of supermarkets and chemists across the country in order to send the product overseas, she told News Limited. Theyre getting more than double their money back and the government have done nothing to curb the behaviour.

BABY FORMULA SOLUTION Weve known for a very long time that Chinese syndicates have been stripping shelves of supermarkets & chemists across the countrythe Government have done nothing to curb the behaviour,@PaulineHansonOz@viellarisr @couriermail https://t.co/4u1r6ZIIEl  Pauline Hanson  (@PaulineHansonOz) January 22, 2019

The senator said Singapore and other countries have already prohibited international travellers from buying their product to resell overseas. They could also confiscate the product sent by airmail when scanning mail destined abroad, she said.

.@PaulineHansonOz wants to start manufacturing more baby formula in Australia. Its a huge industry  you would get jobs going, and actually, bring a lot of money into the country. MORE: https://t.co/8g9ITCWgVt #gleeso pic.twitter.com/HMBBIjBUzB  Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) January 22, 2019

Hansons remarks came after a fifth person was arrested on suspicion of being part of a syndicate that allegedly steals baby-formula. The five individuals, all Chinese, are soon due to face court over A$1 million-worth ($716,318) of stolen baby formula after a police raid in Sydney last year.

New South Wales Police confiscated 4,000 tins of baby formula, large quantities of vitamins, and Manuka honey from two homes in Carlingford back in August 2018. Strike Force Dungv investigators also seized more than A$215,000 ($154,030) in cash from one of the properties, which is claimed to be proceeds from crime.

Supermarket groups have tried to introduce a limit of two baby formula tins per individual shopper but many Chinese shoppers simply return to the supermarket multiple times until the shelves are empty.

Woolworths plan may see more Aussie baby formula on its way to China https://t.co/JAtFkYQQ48 pic.twitter.com/47NhdwfsjH  The Daily Telegraph (@dailytelegraph) January 22, 2019

Commercial baby formula exporters blame widespread mistrust of baby milk powder manufactured in China following the 2008 Chinese milk scandal for the creation of a baby formula black market fueled by daigous or online traders who buy overseas products to sell in China for inflated prices.

The milk scandal killed at least six babies in China who suffered from kidney stones and other kidney-related damage. At least 240,000 babies were diagnosed with kidney problems from drinking domestically-manufactured milk powder.

Hanson revealed her daughter Amanda, 41, is one of many Australian parents affected by baby formula shortages due to the high demand from China.

My daughter went through enormous problems getting her hands on baby formula with her first son and the problem continued when she had her second because of this very issue, the senator said. I do not know why the government has not taken steps to stop the export of baby formula, which is meant for Australian consumers.

She also asked Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to do more to protect the sustainability of the countrys dairy farmers, suggesting fair trade protections would guarantee a decent profit and encourage the industry to produce dairy products domestically instead of selling the farm to overseas buyers.

Our government continues to allow dairies and other farming ventures to be sold off to Chinese companies who are simply shipping the fresh product by the planeload to China, she said. If they shore up our dairy industry again with prices farmers can make a buck out of, theyll return to the industry and Australia will create surplus milk, which can be used to establish baby formula facilities that the growing Chinese population is craving.

Under current legislation, any party exporting Australian dairy products weighing more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) requires both an export permit and health certificate.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade regulates neither small quantities of baby formula posted to China nor re-exported foreign-made baby formula like A2.

When you see the queues of Asians and Chinese lining-up to buy the [baby] milk powder and leaving the country, I do not think that is right, Hanson told 9 News Queensland on Jan. 22. I think the government should be doing something about it.

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Top: The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images) Bottom: Australia's Parliament House in Canberra on Sept. 7, 2010. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images) (Photo compilation made by Epoch Times Staff)

Australia Investigates Chinese-Australian Writer Yang Hengjun Feared Missing in China

Update: Later on Jan. 23, DFAT released the following statement on its website: On 23 January the Chinese authorities informed the Australian Embassy in Beijing that they have detained Mr Yang Hengjun. The Department is seeking to clarify the nature of this detention and to obtain consular access to him, in accordance with the bilateral consular agreement, as a matter of priority.

On the afternoon of Jan. 23, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age reported that Yang was detained by 10 security agents moments after arriving at an airport in China. A witness confirmed the incident, according to SMH.

SYDNEYAustralia is investigating the whereabouts of a Chinese-Australian, its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed on Jan. 23 after a local newspaper report raised fears that the dissident and former diplomat, Yang Hengjun, has been detained in China.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) newspaper reported on Jan. 23 that friends were fearing that Yang, a spy novelist, political blogger, and former Chinese diplomat who is now an Australian citizen, had been detained because he had not been reachable for several days.

Yang Hengjun was detained by 10 security agents shortly after arriving at an airport in China, according to a source who witnessed the incident. That was Saturday. @Ageinvestigates @Rory_Medcalf https://t.co/gGmkd007St  John Garnaut (@jgarnaut) January 23, 2019

According to SMH, Yang had flown to Guangzhou from New York on Jan. 18 despite friends warning him that it would be dangerous to travel to China. He had told one of his friends, Dr. Feng Chongyi, an academic at the University of Technology (UTS) in Sydney, that he didnt think he would be a target.

Feng, who had supervised Yangs doctorate at UTS, told SMH Yang believed he had done nothing to offend the authorities over the last two or three years.

But Yang has previously criticized what he described as interference by the Chinese Communist Party in Australia, according to Reuters.

Yang had previously worked in different arms of the Chinese Communist Party, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the United States and Hong Kong before he settled in Sydney with his family.

Feng and another friend of Yang were the ones to report him as missing to DFAT. Yang has not been heard from since Jan. 18, including on social media.

I believe he is in custody of the Ministry of State Security (MSS) in Beijing, Feng told Reuters.

If Yang was grabbed by state security in Guangzhou on Saturday and the #China#Australia consular agreement specifies that Canberra be informed within 3 days of any Australian being detained here why is Australia having to ask for information about this today? Isnt time up?  Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) January 23, 2019

Feng told SMH that he had spoken to Chinese contacts with connections to the security services who confirmed Fengs suspicion that Yang had been detained by the MSS. He added that Yang had then been scheduled to fly on to Shanghai but never arrived, and that relatives and close supporters of Yang believe that Yangs wife and her child were allowed to fly to Shanghai.

According to SMH, it is understood that Yang was trying to bring his wife and young son to Australia under a family reunion visa.

Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Public Security did not respond immediately to requests for comment when approached by Reuters.

A DFAT spokesperson confirmed the department was investigating but did not mention Yangs name on Jan. 23.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China. Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment, a DFAT spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

Reuters reported that a source familiar with the investigation said Australian officials had contacted Chinese officials overnight to ask about Yang.

Canadians Detained in China After Huawei CFO Arrest

Yangs disappearance comes several weeks after two Canadians, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, were detained in China. Chinese authorities claim the two men were detained for posing a risk to Chinas national security. Communist Chinas state media outlets reported that both men were detained on Dec. 10, 2018.

On Dec. 1, 2018, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the United States for her involvement in a scheme to use the global banking system to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran.

The detention of Kovrig and Spavors was widely seen as retaliation by Beijing for Mengs arrest.

Feng told The Washington Post, My judgment is this is linked directly to the Huawei case. He said he felt it was possible that the officials responsible were taking a harder line against citizens of countries aligned with the United States.

China expert John Garnaut, also a friend of Yang, told SMH: Lets hope he [Yang] reappears today and we can all agree theres just been a misunderstanding. Nobody wants an Australian Michael Kovrig.

Garnaut wrote to Twitter: Dr. Yang is not only brilliant but extraordinarily popular among the Chinese-speaking world. And a courageous and committed democrat. This will reverberate globally if authorities do not quickly find an off-ramp.

On late Dec. 30, 2018, Australias Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne expressed concerns in a statement to local media over Beijings detention of the two Canadians but only after a group of 30 scholars, foreign policy experts, and former diplomats petitioned for Payne to do so earlier that day. The statement stopped short of joining Canada in calling on Beijing to immediately release the two detained Canadians, as requested by the petition.

Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans also urged the Australian government to take bolder action against Beijing over its continuing detention of Kovrig and Spavor.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Omer Kanat, from the World Uyghur Congress, speaks at a Human Rights Walk rally in Melbourne, Australia on Dec. 9, 2018. (Rita Li/Epoch Times)

At Least 10 Australians Imprisoned in Chinas Re-Education Camp

At least 10 Australian residents may be among the hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs imprisoned in the Chinese regimes re-education camps in Xinjiang province, prompting safety concerns from family members in Australia.

Nurmuhammad Majid, president of the East Turkistan Australian Association (ETAA) said that he is aware of nine Australian residents and one Australian citizen, who have not made any contact with family members since traveling to China.

[M]ost of the visits happened at end of 2016 or 2017. Then after that period, the families did not hear from them, Majid told The Epoch Times.

Majid said the Australian residents who are currently detained went to China solely to visit family but instead had their passports confiscated and then sent to political study courses in China.

[S]ome of them have been confirmed by those living in Australia stating that they are locked up and their passports seized by authorities.

[T]hese political studies [are] now identified by the international communities as the detention camps which deprive them the basic human rights of the Uyghur people, Majid added.

Re-Education Camps a Cover-Up for Widespread Abuse

Testimonials from former Uyghur detainees have revealed widespread human-rights abuses within these purpose-built re-education camps, where over one million Uyghurs are detained.

How China Utilized Misinformation to Legitimize Repression in Xinjiang  The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long viewed the lands of Xinjiang (East Turkistan) as vital to its strategic interests. The region provides natural resources, and space for Chi https://t.co/chwAL32HIp pic.twitter.com/KEns0Wcukq  ETAA East Turkistan (@ETAAOrg) July 10, 2018

Mihrigul Tursun, a 29-year-old Uyghur woman, spoke of her accounts while being detained three times.

I spent 10 months in the camps in total, and experienced physical and psychological torture at the hands of government officials, Tursun said at a U.S. Congressional Hearing (pdf) on Nov. 28, 2018.

Tursun was first detained by Chinese authorities in May 2015, when she arrived in China from Egypt with her three two-month-old triplets. Upon arrival, authorities took her children away and then interrogated her. Her passport, ID cards and cellphone were confiscated.

Then, they handcuffed me, put a dark sack over my head, and took me to a detention center, Tursun said.

After three months, she was paroled because her children were deemed sick, which was suspicious as her children were healthy prior to arriving in China. Unfortunately, her eldest son died the next day.

During her detainment, her cellmates, whom many were well-educated professionals such as teachers and doctors, were forced to memorise the rules of the concentration camp, chant slogans hailing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and renounce their language and religion. Many were tortured, beaten, poisoned, and killed by injection. Tursun personally witnessed nine deaths during her third detainment.

Tursun eventually arrived in the United States on Sept. 2018, through assistance from the U.S. government.

On Nov. 26, 2018, scholars from 26 countries signed a public statement demanding the Chinese regime abolish its mass internment re-education camps in Xinjiang.

As concerned scholars who study China, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Central Asia, and other related regions of the world, we issue this statement to highlight our concerns and to call the international community to action in relation to the mass human rights abuses and deliberate attacks on indigenous cultures presently taking place in Chinas XUAR. The signatories to this statement are united in viewing the present situation in this region of China as one of significant international concern, the statement says.

Concerns From Australian Uyghurs

Zulfiye Hiwilla, a Sydney-based Uyghur, told SBS news that her sister and brother-in-law, who are both Australian residents, have not returned since travelling to China in 2017 and she believes that they are in the re-education camps.

Their daughter and son are still in Australia  They have been very angry, shocked, the kids cry and [are] very stressed, Hiwilla told SBS news.

Australian #Uyghurs relate stories of how their family members have been detained in concentration camps in East Turkestan and how #Chinas security agents are threatening them with their detention. pic.twitter.com/MI5HlLBVfY  Uyghur Bulletin (@UyghurBulletin) January 10, 2019

In 2017, Almas Nizamidin, an Australian citizen, went to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang in search of his wife who was detained by Chinese authorities. Nizamidin flew back to Xinjiang immediately after hearing the news that she had been taken from her home by several plain-clothes policemen under no official charge.

Concerns for the safety of Uyghurs in Australia have also been raised.

Nurmuhammad Majid of the ETAA was aware of an incident where an Australian resident was called by the Chinese police via FaceTime on WeChat. The Chinese police harassed their family members in China and demanded cooperation and information from the relative in Australia.

[W]e can confirm that Australian Uyghur families living in Australia  desperately [need] the help and the protections of the Australian government.

Magid said there could be more than the 10 confirmed cases of Australian Uyghurs imprisoned in Xinjiang, given that other Australian Uyghurs could be isolating themselves from the community due to fear by the CCP.

[T]here is no guarantee that the Chinese government can interfere the normal lives and cant harass the Australian Uyghurs when they act or leave or reside in Australia, Majid added.

Australia Responds, But Is It Enough?

A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said in an email that despite not being able to determine the exact number of Australians detained in Xinjiang, Australia has urged China to cease the arbitrary detention of Uighurs.

Omer Kanat, Executive Committee Chairman of the World Uyghur Congress told The Epoch Times that Australia could do more.

We want Australia to do more. First of all to ask China to stop ongoing repression in East Turkistan. Secondly, we want the Australia to protect its own citizens. Because there a lot of Uyghur Australians, Uyghurs who are the citizens of Australia.

On Dec. 3, 2018, Australian Labor MP Michael Danby, introduced the Australian Magnitsky Act that would see human rights violators face tough sanctions once it is passed.

Communist Party viceroy, Chen Quanguo, with his monstrous plan to incarcerate a million Uyghurs in concentration camps, will not be forgotten by legislation like this if it is passed and a future federal government has a chance to name him, Danby said in Parliament.

Nurmuhammad Majid hopes that international pressure will bring an end to the imprisonment of Uyghurs and other groups in China but understands: This is an alarming issue that the Chinese government will not listen to the directions of the countriesin terms of human rights or religious freedoms of the other groups, including Uyghurs, Tibet or Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Majid added that countries such as Australia, the United States, and European countries: should be brave enough to speak against the Chinese government and demanding the improvement of the human rights situations and also to be demanding the release of the people who are innocently detained by the Chinese authorities.

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Alyssa Milano Criticized for MAGA Hat Is the New White Hood Tweet

Actress Alyssa Milano was blasted on social media following an inflammatory tweet about Make America Great Again hats over the weekend.

Milano, who is also a liberal activist, likened the MAGA hat to the white hoods worn by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

The red MAGA hat is the new white hood, she wrote in a tweet, referencing a clip from a video of a confrontation between Native American Nathan Phillips and Catholic school students.

The red MAGA hat is the new white hood. Without white boys being able to empathize with other people, humanity will continue to destroy itself. #FirstThoughtsWhenIWakeUp  Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 20, 2019

She added: Without white boys being able to empathize with other people, humanity will continue to destroy itself, Milano continued in her tweet, adding the hashtag, #FirstThoughtsWhenIWakeUp.

In the video, one student could be seen standing still and smiling while the Native American leader drummed in his face. Students later said they were confused about what the activists were doing and said theyve faced death threats due to the hostile media coverage. Many of the students were wearing MAGA hats. In the video, captured in Washington, they were involved in an encounter with Native Americans and Black Hebrew activists.

Milano Criticized

One user tweeted at her, saying, You should be sued for that statement. Or better yet, banned from Twitter!

Please get the whole story, said another. These kids did not start this.

Who told you that? Fake news CNN? another person asked her.

Maybe dont tweet the first thought that comes to you when you wake up if this is an example of them, a person tweeted. This is not insightful, true, pithy or intelligent. Heres an idea get off of social media, think about this for another decade or two then tell us your thoughts.

Added YouTuber Mark Dice: You would celebrate the mass murder of Trump supporters, wouldnt you?

Kentucky School Closes

A number of pundits, celebrities, and news outlets accused the high school students of being racist after a video surfaced of the incident. However, a longer version of the video then emerged, showing a far more complex scenario.

The new video prompted longtime New York Times opinion writer David Brooks to tweet: Yesterday I had one impression of the maga kids from Kentucky. Now after seeing more videos I have a different more complicated impression. Makes all the hot takes seem silly.

Yesterday I had one impression of the maga kids from Kentucky. Now after seeing more videos I have a different more complicated impression. Makes all the hot takes seem silly.  David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) January 20, 2019

Due to the intense media scruitiny, Covington Catholic High School closed for safety reasons on Jan. 22.

I never interacted with this protester. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protesters, and when the second group approached I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers, Nick Sandmann, the student in the viral footage, said in a statement.

I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand, he continued.

Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good  maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

Phillips said Sandmann was in the wrong.

He stole my narrative, Phillips said. From the time I hit that first beat of the drum until I hit the last beat, I was in prayer.

Describing the students as a lynch mob, Phillips said, Now all of a sudden, hes the prayer guy and the passive one.

Concurrently, President Donald Trump pilloried the mainstream medias coverage of the video.

Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good  maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream! he wrote.

Zachary Steiber contributed to this report.
Swarthmore, PA (19081)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Alleged Organizer of Latest Migrant Caravan Arrested for Child Rape

One of the reported organizers of the latest migrant caravan that left Honduras for the United States on Jan. 15, Juan Carlos Molina, was recently arrested for child rape.

Last week, the Honduran paper La Tribuna reported that police had arrested the 26-year-old at a bus station in San Pedro Sula, from where the first members of the caravan departed. Molina, who was a resident of Catacamas, Olancho, has been sent to Tamara to comply with the sentence, the paper reported. He is to serve 15 years in prison as a result of an arrest warrant pending since Aug. 31, 2015.

A statement from the Honduran National Police read (via Google Translate): The suspect was carrying false documents and is being investigated for assuming responsibility as one of the active members coordinating the migrant caravan that exposes citizens to the dangers of such a journey.

According to La Tribuna, the Honduran National Police said Molina had been in contact with a politician who supported the caravan and had asked him not to come to San Pedro Sula because there was a large police presence in the area.

Arrest Warrant for Child Rape

Police had found that Molina was holding fake IDs. The sub-director of the Honduran Border Police Miguel Perez told La Tribuna that following further checks, which included taking Molinas fingerprints, it was determined that he had an arrest warrant [since August 2015] for the crime of rape.

According to La Tribuna, Molina had allegedly raped his 12-year-old cousin in September 2010.

The paper reported that months later, the girl gave birth to a son whose DNA is compatible with the aggressor. Molina was found guilty on April 23, 2015 for the crime of special violation against a minor.

Caravan Expected to Swell to 4,000

The first group in the new migrant caravan left San Pedro Sulas bus station late Jan. 14, taking buses headed to the Honduras-Guatemala border. Others trudged along on foot under a steady rain. More left the next day. They are attempting to reach the United States to claim asylum or illegally cross the border and disappear into the country.

The Honduras National Commission of Human Rights estimated that by the afternoon of Jan. 15, the caravan had swelled to about 2,000, Fox News reported.

The latest caravan was organized by the open-borders group Pueblos Sin Fronteras, which was believed by some to be behind the caravans that made it to northern Mexico in late 2018 before clashing with American Border Patrol agents. The group said that it expected the caravan to grow to 4,000 people.

Honduran media reported that the countrys authorities had reinforced the border with Guatemala to make sure everyone had proper documentation. Children must carry passports and written parental authorization to leave the country, and parents could face up to three years in prison if found to be taking a child without the right documents, Security Minister Julian Pacheco was quoted as saying.

Jenny Arguello, a migrant rights activist who was with the caravan, said police patrols were not blocking them but were checking IDs.

Trump: Only a Wall Will Work

Trump noted the formation of the newest caravan, reacting on Twitter.

A big new Caravan is heading up to our Southern Border from Honduras. Tell Nancy and Chuck that a drone flying around will not stop them. Only a Wall will work. Only a Wall, or Steel Barrier, will keep our Country safe! Stop playing political games and end the Shutdown!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2019

A big new Caravan is heading up to our Southern Border from Honduras. Tell Nancy [Pelosi] and Chuck [Schumer] that a drone flying around will not stop them. Only a Wall will work. Only a Wall, or Steel Barrier, will keep our Country safe! Stop playing political games and end the Shutdown! he said.

Polls are now showing that people are beginning to understand the Humanitarian Crisis and Crime at the Border. Numbers are going up fast, over 50%. Democrats will soon be known as the Party of Crime. Ridiculous that they dont want Border Security! he added soon after.

Trump and the Democrats are in a standoff over funding for a security barrier or wall the U.S.s southern border; the president refuses to sign appropriations that dont include funding for the border wall. He has requested $5.7 billion. Democrats have refused to approve any such funding, leaving an impasse that has resulted in the longest partial government shutdown in history.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristjen Nielsen also announced that U.S. officials would be keeping a close eye on the caravan.

.@DHSgov is closely monitoring the new caravan heading north. To be clear  participation in a caravan does not grant you a special status or provide you special treatment.  Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) January 16, 2019

DHS is closely monitoring the new caravan heading north. To be clearparticipation in a caravan does not grant you a special status or provide you special treatment, she said.

Members of Previous Caravans Turned Home

Activist Bartolo Fuentes, an open socialist who took credit for the last caravans, was accompanying the new one. He claimed that violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala prompted people to leave for the United States.

The last caravans, four in total, left weeks apart in some cases but coalesced in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, with about 6,000 people there at its peak. The waves of migrants devastated the citys budget, angered some locals, and ultimately forced officials to move the group away from the border to a more remote location.

In the end, many of the members turned home after finding it more difficult than they realized to make it into the United States. Most caravan members described situations in interviews with news outlets that would not qualify for asylum, such as leaving their countries due to poverty. Most asylum claims in the United States arent granted by the end of the process.

NTD reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Alec Baldwin Pleads Guilty to Harassment Violation Stemming From Alleged Punching Incident: Reports

Alec Baldwin pleaded guilty to harassment stemming from when he allegedly punched a man during a parking dispute in New York City last year.

Baldwin, who is recently known for his work as President Donald Trump on SNL, reportedly got into an argument with another man near 10th Street and 5th Avenue. The man swooped on the parking spot that Baldwin was going to take, according to reports at the time.

He has denied punching the man.

Appearing in a Manhattan courtroom, Baldwin agreed to the district attorneys recommendation that he go to a short anger management program, Fox News reported.

The district attorney also said it recommends a violation charge of harassment in the second degree, adding that Baldwin, 60, does not have a criminal record.

He will also have to pay a mandatory surcharge of $120 and provide proof of payment and completion of the anger management courses by March 27.

Fox reported that the video and photographs of the incident will be destroyed under the law.

Baldwin didnt issue a statement as he left the courtroom on Jan. 23.

The longtime actor is no stranger to public outbursts.

In 2014, Baldwin was handcuffed by an officer after getting belligerent when the officer stopped him on his bike after he was heading in the wrong direction.

Baldwin refused to [identify] himself, became belligerent, cursing and yelling. He was then placed in handcuffs, the New York City Police Department said, according to reports at the time.

Alec Baldwin agreed to complete a one-day anger management class to resolve the criminal case. https://t.co/3DEhfUlzG4  Newsday (@Newsday) January 23, 2019

Dont you know my taxes pay your salary? he screamed at the time, the New York Post reported. Baldwin was totally belligerent during the incident. How old are these officers? he also allegedly stated at the time. They dont even know who I am.

New York City is a mismanaged carnival of stupidity that is desperate for revenue and anxious to criminalize behavior once thought benign, Baldwin tweeted after the incident.

He was removed from a plane in 2011 after refusing to stop playing Words With Friends on a flight.

And in 2012, he was accused of getting aggressive with a photographer in New York. In 2013, another photographer filed a harassment claim against him.

NEW: Alec Baldwin pleads guilty to second-degree harassment, agrees to attend anger management program following last years arrest in New York City. https://t.co/omfIiFa39h pic.twitter.com/SsyA7zvkZY  ABC News (@ABC) January 23, 2019

Remembering Celebrities Who Died in 2018

Penny Marshall

Penny Marshall, the actress and director famed for her role in Laverne & Shirley, died at age 75. Marshall died at her home in Hollywood Hills, on Dec. 17, after suffering from complications from diabetes, TMZ reported on Dec. 18.

George HW Bush

Former President George H.W. Bush died on Nov. 30, 2018, a family spokesman confirmed. He was 94. His son, President George W. Bush, released a statement on Twitter, saying, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear dad has died. George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for.

Stephen Hillenburg

Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the Nickelodeon cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants, died on Nov. 26. He was 57. Hillenburgs cause of death was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrigs disease, according to reports. In March 2017, he announced his diagnosis.

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain some of the most complicated questions of life while he worked under the shadow of a likely premature death, died at 76. He died peacefully at his home in the British university city of Cambridge in the early hours earlier this year.

Anthony Bourdain

U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, host of CNNs food-and-travel-focused Parts Unknown television series, died at the age of 61, the network said on June 8.

The cause of death was suicide, the network said in a statement. He was found dead in a hotel room in France where he had been working on an upcoming episode of his program, the network said.

Avicii

Avicii, born Tim Bergling in Sweden, was found dead in Oman. Police said there was no evidence of foul play but the official cause of death was not revealed by officials. His family indicated that he killed himself.
A Socialist Party supporter holds a protest sign at a rally to urge Congress to vote against a limited military strike. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images

A Beginners Guide to American Communist Parties: Part 2

Commentary

Part Two of this series addresses American communist groups that organize outside of the Democratic Party, unlike their Democrat friendly counterparts, which were discussed in Part One.

Broadly speaking, there are two categories of hard-left organizations in the United States: those who organize within the Democrat Party and those who dont. Those who generally stay away from the Democratic Party include dedicated ideologues who are more likely to engage in street violence andlike their Democrat friendly counterpartswork with foreign communist regimes and groups.

While hardened communists represent a small fraction of the population, they have a surprisingly powerful impact but receive little scrutiny from the establishment media. The Revolutionary Communist Partys flag-burning activities, for example, resulted in a Supreme Court decision that continues to reverberate.

The Revolutionary Communist Partys front group, Refuse Fascism, placed a full-page ad in The New York Times that was signed by former Weather Underground terrorist, communist, and friend of former President Barack Obama, Bill Ayers; professor of theology and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Cornel West; and militant anti-Israel activist Marc Lamont Hill, to name a few.

The hardcore Marxist Workers World Party was behind the headline-grabbing push to demolish confederate-era statues. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! fought to keep terrorist murderer Rasmea Odeh in the United States.

Communists of all stripes descended upon Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown; they were behind the Standing Rock standoff over the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota; they flooded to the border to support the Honduras Caravan at the end of 2018; they descended upon Charlottesville, North Carolina, in August 2017 to protest the so-called Unite the Right white supremacist rally; they were behind numerous violent anti-Trump protests of 2016 and 2017.

Communists agitate their way into headlines on a regular basis; yet many Americans believe communists somehow evaporated when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in 1989.

This two-part series offers a birds-eye view of the U.S.-based organizations, and hopefully plants the seed for readers to understand that these subversive organizations exist, and they seek to hurt America.

Socialist Party USA (SPUSA)

In the early 20th century, the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA) was the largest Marxist group on the U.S. left with 100,000 members and boasted numerous elected officials, mainly in the Midwest. The SPUSA lost many members to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in the 1920s, and much of the remaining remnant to the Democratic Socialists Organizing Committee in the 1970s.

Todays SPUSA overlaps with the Green Party in some areas, with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in Memphis, Tennessee, and with DSA nationally.

In Memphis, the SPUSA controls the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center and interacts with local Democrats such as Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.).

The SPUSA is probably less than 1,000 members in total, but has a presence in almost every state.

The party is extremely militant, and is effective in some areas on local issues, but is ultimately a fringe player on the U.S. left.

Socialist Workers Party

In the 1970s, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) was a leading force in the anti-Vietnam War movement. Its newspaper, The Militant, was widely read on the U.S. left. The SWP began as a pro-Leon Trotsky split from the CPUSA in the 1920s, and for many years was the countrys second-largest communist party. Currently, the SWP is a shadow of its former self.

The SWP abandoned Trotskyism in the 1980s, and now orientates its international activities around Cuba and the old Soviet front the World Federation of Democratic Youth. The SWP has tiny sister groups in Canada, Iceland, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

In the United States, the SWP is now little more than a Marxist cult. Their tactic is to recruit bright young college students then put them to work for decades in meat-packing plants in Iowa or Nebraska to connect with the working class. This talent-wasting exercise has been applied since the 1970s with minimal results.

But they keep trying.

The once-dynamic SWP retains maybe 500 members nationwide.

Freedom Socialist Party

The Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) began in 1966 as a split from the SWP in Seattle. It is militantly feminist, anti-racist, and pro-Cuba. Today, the FSP has branches in Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Melbourne, Australia. It probably has less than 200 members in total.

The FSP is big on abortion clinic defense, usually through their front-group Radical Women.

Workers World Party

The Workers World Party (WWP) is one of the most hardcore Marxist organizations of any consequence in the United States. It was founded in 1959 as a pro-China split from the SWP. The banner line for its newspaper, The Workers World, is Workers and Oppressed Peoples of the World Unite.

They incorporate elements of Stalin, Mao, and Trotsky into their revolutionary philosophy.

The WWP is a serious communist party, very active in street protests and often prone to violence. When you see Confederate statues being toppled in North Carolina or Louisianathats the WWP.

The WWP has close ties to Russia, North Korea, and Cuba. These people are one of the most dangerous communist parties in the country.

The WWP has 400600 members in about 30 branches, mainly in the New York, Boston, Chicago, and the West Coast.

The WWP runs its own candidates, but the Durham, North Carolina, branch does work with Democrats.

In 2018, the WWPs very strong Detroit branch split from the organization to form a new group, the Communist Workers League.

Party for Socialism and Liberation

The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) was originally created in 2006, as the result of a split in the WWP, although their political line is almost identical. The San Francisco branch, as well as several other members, left the WWP in 2004. The PSL has since established two national branches in Washington and in San Francisco, as well as more than 20 smaller branches throughout the United States, from Sarasota, Florida, to West Virginia to Portland, Oregon.

The PSL is a dynamic and growing party but suffers a high burnout rate of cadre. It is probably 500800 members strong.

The PSL is very close to Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba, even the ruling Communist Party of Nepal. PSL leader Brian Becker is a regular on Russian propaganda channel Russia Today and has his own show on Russian channel Sputnik.

These people are serious communists.

Becker and the PSL have ties to several Muslim groups, including the Nation of Islam and the pro-Hamas Muslim American Society.

The PSL controls the nationwide anti-U.S. military organization the ANSWER Coalition.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization-Fight Back!

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization-Fight Back! (FRSO-FB) split from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization in 1998 but kept the same name. FRSO-FB is centered in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Wisconsin, with some strength in New York, North Carolina, northern Florida, eastern Texas, Arizona, Utah, and California. Its probably around 500 members strong, more if you count its youth wing, Students for a Democratic Society.

The FRSO-FB is hard-core Maoist. It supports China, and three officially designated terrorist organizations: the Communist Party of the Philippines, Colombias FARC guerrillas, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Because of these connections, the FBI raided the homes of several FRSO-FB members in September 2010 and issued subpoenas in a search for evidence related to material support of terrorist groups. No charges were ever made.

FRSO-FB works closely with the WWP and together have built ties to pro-Putin elements in Russia. The FRSO-FB also has close ties to Venezuela.

Solidarity

Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, Solidarity is feminist, green, and socialist. Originally formed by ex-SWP members in 1986, Solidarity is affiliated to the Fourth International, a worldwide alliance of Trotskyist parties. Only about 200 members strong, Solidarity has most presence in New York City and California.

Solidarity comrades mainly support the Green Party and have some overlap with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (not the FightBack! group) and with the DSA.

League of Revolutionaries for a New America

League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA) morphed out of the old Communist Labor Party (CLP), a Maoist grouping that originated out of a pro-China split in the CPUSA in 1958. The early CLP was predominately black and Puerto Rican, and todays LRNA is largely comprised of people of color. The LRNA is extremely secretive about membership, which probably stands at about 300.

Peoples Tribune was the newspaper of the LRNA, with Rally Comrades! now its official publication. Its best-known affiliate now is probably Caleb Maupin, a convert from the WWP. He is a regular guest on Russia Today and a correspondent for Irans PressTV.

International Socialist Organization

Founded in 1977, the International Socialist Organization (ISO) is now Americas largest Trotskyist organization. It was aligned for years with the British Socialist Workers Party, but now has relations with several foreign Trotskyist groupings in Canada, Australia, and Europe. The ISO has 1,500 to 2,000 members and is present in most northern and western U.S. cities and Texas.

The ISO is very active on campuses and in the anti-war movement. It works with and inside the Green Party. Many ISO leaders have stood for office on the Green ticket, especially in California.

The ISO publishes a daily online and monthly print newspaper, Socialist Worker. ISO also distributes the International Socialist Review and titles from the publishing house Haymarket Books, both of which are run by the nonprofit Center for Economic Research and Social Change.

Every year, the ISO hosts a well-attended Socialism conference in Chicago.

Socialist Alternative

Socialist Alternative (SA) is in political solidarity with the Committee for a Workers International, a worldwide Trotskyist alliance working in more than 30 countries. SA is the second-largest U.S. Trotskyist grouping after ISO, with probably 600 to 800 members active in most states.

SA first emerged as Labor Militant in 1986, inspired by the example of the UK socialist group Militant Tendency, which sought to infiltrate the British Labour Party. SA advocates for electoral opposition to the Democratic Party and concentrates on running its own candidates. After many electoral campaignsoften on the Green Party ticketSAs biggest success to date was electing their comrade Kshama Sawant to Seattle City Council in 2013.

Party of Communists, USA

The Party of Communists, USA (PCUSA) split from the CPUSA in 2014, mainly because they thought their party was becoming indistinguishable from the Democratic Party.

Though probably less than 200 members, the diehard Stalinist PCUSA sees itself as the true leader of American communism and has reached out to more mainstream communist parties in Mexico, Cuba, Europe, Russia, and Canada.

The PCUSA is strongest in Los Angeles and New York City, where it has some influence in the Transit Workers Union. The PCUSA publishes a magazine, Ideological Fightback!, and runs a front group called the U.S. Friends of the Soviet People.

Revolutionary Communist Party

Revolutionary Communist Party (Revcom) is the most cult-like group on the U.S. left. These people worship their great leader Bob Avakian and hang onto his every word.

Revcom has roots in the Maoist student movement of the Vietnam War era of the 1960s and 1970s. It has active chapters in at least 15 population centers, mainly centered around their Revolution bookshops. Once boasting several thousand members, Revcom today is probably around 500 to 800 members, centered largely in Chicago and the Bay Area.

Revcom supports only the most extreme foreign Maoists, such as Perus notorious Sendero Luminoso guerrillas.

Revcom leaders believe elections are not the arena where decisions are made about the future direction of the society and do not participate in them.

Their newsletter, Revolution, is published weekly in print and online. The Antifa-like Refuse Fascism protest group is a front group for Revcom.

Revcoms trademark is burning U.S. flags. If you see protesters in black T-shirts gleefully immolating Old Glory, its almost certainly Revcom.

The Nature of Communist Organizations

Keep in mind that leftist groups often overlap, morph, and split. Like their principles, these groups are forever changing, which adds to the complexity in researching them. One thing that does not change, however, is the goal of all these organizations: global communism, which they believe can only be achieved through revolution.

The biggest debate within leftist groups is how to best achieve revolution. Is it through the constant chaos of violent protest, as advised by Leon Trotsky? Is it through the march through the institutions as directed by Antonio Gramsci? Or perhaps through race-baiting tactics, turning people against one another, as preferred by Mao Zedong?

No matter how this revolution is achieved, the United States is the biggest obstacle in their path. Once the United States succumbs to communism, these activists believe they will directly oversee a new world order.

Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist ,and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Casey Hathaway, 3, went missing from his grandmother's home in Ernul, North Carolina on Jan. 22, 2019. (Craven County Sheriff's Office)

3-Year-Old Casey Hathaway Goes Missing in North Carolina, Volunteers Mobilize

Dozens of volunteers have mobilized in North Carolina after a 3-year-old boy went missing on Jan. 22.

A missing poster states that Casey Hathaway, a white male standing 2 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 25 pounds, with brown eyes and blonde hair, is missing.

Residents living in the area are asked to check storage sheds, vehicles, and their property for the child  Were in an emergency search. If you have any information that will help find the missing child, please contact our office immediately. Thank you, the Craven County Sheriffs Office said.

The boy was playing with two other children in the backyard of his grandmothers home in Ernul on Tuesday afternoon when he vanished. Adults realized he had gone missing when the two other kids went inside the house without Casey.

The grandmother and other adults searched for the boy for 45 minutes but, after failing to locate him, called 911, reported WCTI.

After an hourslong-search turned up no sign of the boy, a fresh search started on Wednesday morning, with dozens of volunteers and multiple law enforcement agencies participating. Video footage showed volunteers lining up at a table outside a parking area near the house and signing in with law enforcement.

There was such a huge response from volunteers that people started getting turned away.

As of 9 a.m., there were no new leads.

Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes told WSOC that the boy wasnt adequately dressed for the temperatures, which dipped below freezing at night, and there was extra urgency because of the numerous sinkholes and deep water ditches in the area.

NewsChannel 12's Merrilee Moore is live at the scene where 3-year-old Casey Hathaway first went missing off Toler Road in Ernul and has a look at what authorities are doing to track him down.  WCTI NewsChannel 12  2019123

We are doing everything we can to find this child, utilizing all resources at our disposal and once again, we want these folks in the Cayton community and Ernul community to certainly keep an ear out, said Hughes. Weve got well over 100 volunteers that have come here.

Speaking to WNCT, the sheriff added: Its a stressful time for the family and everybody involved. But I can tell you we are certainly doing our due diligence, spending a lot of time with them and just sorting through all the different stories. And as calls come in, and weve had a number of them about things theyve heard in the woods, none of them have panned out yet. But every lead we are following and going straight to it.

He vowed to continue the search as long as needed.

We are not leaving here until we bring some closure to this family, said Hughes. And, hopefully, it will be a positive, end on a positive note.

Anyone with information can call the sheriffs office at 252-633-0498 or the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation at 919-662-4500.

Residents living in the area are asked to check storage sheds, vehicles, and their property for the child. Please  Craven County Sheriff's Office  2019122

Missing Children

There were 464,324 missing children reported in the FBIs National Crime Information Center in 2017, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Under federal law, when a child is reported missing to law enforcement they must be entered into the database. In 2016, there were 465,676 entries.

This number represents reports of missing children. That means if a child runs away multiple times in a year, each instance would be entered into NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. Likewise, if an entry is withdrawn and amended or updated, that would also be reflected in the total, the center noted.

In 2017, the center said it assisted officers and families with the cases of more than 27,000 missing children. In those cases, 91 percent were endangered runaways, and 5 percent were family abductions.

About one in seven children reported missing to the center in 2017 were likely victims of child sex trafficking.

Missing children typically fall into five categories: kidnapped by a family member, abducted by a nonfamily perpetrator, runaways, those who got lost, stranded, or injured, or those who went missing due to benign reasons, such as misunderstandings, according to a report by the Department of Justice (pdf) in 2017. Reported missing children dropped from 6.5 per 1,000 children in 1999 to 3.1 per 1,000 in 2013.

From NTD News
13-Year-Old Texas Boy Accidentally Shot Dead by Best Friend While Playing With a Loaded Gun

A Texas teenager was fatally shot by his friend when they were apparently playing with a loaded gun, according to new reports on Jan. 22.

Gabriel Fernandez, known as Gabe, was accidentally shot in the head and died, his mother told ABC News.

He loved my son. They were best friends, Jennifer Valdez said of her 13-year-old son and his best friend.

He loved my son. They were best friends."  ABC News  2019122

About 20 minutes after Gabe and his 15-year-old brother Nick left home to the friends house, Valdez got a hysterical phone call from Nick, saying that his brother was shot.

He was just hysterical, telling me that Gabes dead, Gabes dead. What do you mean Gabes dead? Gabes dead, he shot him in the head, Valdez told ABC.

I ran over and there was people standing outside and little girls crying, she said.

A neighbor was doing compressions and giving him mouth to mouth, Valdez, a nurse, recalled.

This is so sad. Mom watches son take final breath after accidental shooting.  ABC13-Marla Carter  2019121

I could see where the bullet had exited out of his head, she added.

The mother went into the ambulance with Gabe when the emergency responders arrived on the scene. But about 10 minutes later, Valdez said she knew her son died.

The paramedic in the back told [the driver] to turn the lights off, Valdez said. I knew my baby was gone at that moment, she added.

The Houston Police Department is investigating the shooting, reported KRTK, which said it is not clear where the gun came from.

It also isnt clear why the 13-year-old who accidentally shot Gabe had the gun.

By the time his parents arrived to try and save his life, it was already too late   Daily Mail  2019122

Valdez said her sons friend called her to apologize over what happened, and she is asking for prayers for the boys family. Now hell have to live the rest of his life knowing he killed his best friend, she told ABC. I feel remorse for him too hes a baby too.

I wish they wouldve told me that they had (the gun) there, she told KRTK. I wouldve went to their mom and told them something. Dont hide it. Dont think its cool. Its not cool.

Valdez added that Nick just kept crying and saying It was an accident, we didnt know. It was an accident, ABC News reported.

Accidental Gun Deaths Down

Far fewer Americans fall victim to firearm accidents than some two decades ago, even though people own more guns, according to new data.

Accidental firearm discharges killed 486 people in 2017, down more than 50 percent since 1997, according to mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Meanwhile, gun sales increased more than 80 percent between 1999 and 2017, according to The DataFace, a San Francisco data analysis company, which based its estimates on FBI background check data. There appears to be a mix of factors behind the phenomenon.

Gabriel Fernandez' brother called their mother in hysterics on Saturday. "I answered the phone and hes crying. He said, 'Gabes dead. They shot him in the head and hes dead.'"  Chron.com from the Houston Chronicle  2019121

The gun industry has claimed credit for the dropping accidental gun deaths, pointing to its safety education efforts going back to at least the 1920s (pdf), including distribution of tens of millions of safety booklets and placing public service announcements in the media.

The situation would be considered by many observers as proof that private safety programs can be more effective than government regulation, said Kopel, associate policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute think tank, referring to declining rates of accidental gun deaths among children in a 1993 manuscript Children and Guns: Sensible Solutions.

Petr Svab contributed to this report.
Get ready to pay a bit more for your next trip to Bali.

In an effort to protect the local environment, Governor Wayan Koster has introduced a new tax for all international tourists visiting the island.

The tax, which is said to be $15 NZD, will be used to fund a number of local projects for the environment and Balinese cultural preservation, according to The Jakarta Post.

This will give us better fiscal space to support the development of Bali, Tourists will understand. They will be happy to pay it as it will be used to strengthen our environment and culture,

The new tax comes just a month after the island banned single use plastics in hopes to reduce its marine plastic by 70 per cent within a year.



"Contributions from tourists are needed to help us preserve our environment and culture. Tourists come to enjoy our environment and culture. Why not contribute to preserving it?" said Bali Legislative Council Speaker, I Nyoman Adi Wiryatama.

It's yet to be decided how the new tax will be collected but one of the options at the moment is for it to be incorporated into your airfare.
2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition Celebrates 60+ Years as SUV Icon

PLANO, TX - January 23, 2019: Six decades and millions of adventurous miles in the making, the 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition melds exclusive design with added function for its debut just ahead of the Chicago Auto Show, where it will be shown to the public for the first time.

The Land Cruiser Heritage Edition honors this legendary vehicles continuous evolution, from bare-bones, mountain-climbing 4x4 to world-renowned, full-capability premium-luxury utility vehicle. The Heritage Edition also celebrates the Land Cruisers continuous place in Toyotas U.S. lineup since 1958. For the 2020 model year there will be 1,200 Heritage Editions available, with units going on in late summer of 2019. Pricing will be announced closer to on-sale date.

The 2020 Land Cruiser Heritage Edition, only offered as a two-row model to maximize cargo capacity, is dressed elegantly for the occasion. The choice of Midnight Black Metallic or Blizzard Pearl exterior color is uniquely styled with a black-accented grille and bronze-colored BBS 18 x 8.0-inch forged aluminum wheels featuring a TOYOTA center cap. A vintage-style Land Cruiser exterior badge evokes the vehicles long, accomplished history in an understated way.

To complement its purpose-built overlanding focus, the running boards and chrome lower body side moldings of the standard Land Cruiser are deleted, while darkened headlight housings, fog lights with dark chrome surrounds and side mirrors with darkened chrome details underscore the vehicles sophisticated presence.

Highlighting the Land Cruisers renown for blending luxury with capability, the Heritage Edition is exclusively outfitted with black leather-trimmed upholstery. The bronze wheel color carries inside for the contrast stitching used throughout the cabin, including the steering wheel, door trim, center stack, console and seats. Finally, the Land Cruiser Heritage Edition features all-weather floor mats and cargo liner, so its ready to get out and have fun.

V8, 4WD Powerhouse

The Toyota Land Cruiser remains a benchmark for combining no-compromise capability with coddling luxury. Its sole available powertrain is a brawny yet refined 381-horsepower 5.7-liter DOHC V8 engine, which produces 401 lb.-ft. of torque. The 8-speed Electronically Controlled Automatic Transmission with intelligence (ECT-i) teams with a versatile full-time 4WD system, which uses a TORSEN limited-slip locking center differential and a 2-speed transfer case with selectable low-range.

Land Cruisers off-road capability is rooted in high-strength body-on-frame construction and sophisticated double-wishbone front and four-link coil-spring rear suspension. Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS) hydraulically adjusts the stabilizer bars to enhance on-road smoothness and off-road wheel articulation. Off-road prowess is supported by a plethora of advanced assist technologies, including Downhill Assist Control, Hill Start Assist, CRAWL Control, and Off-Road Turn Assist. Using the Multi-Terrain Select system, the driver can match wheel slip control to the surface and driving conditions.

Skid plates help to protect the front suspension, radiator, fuel tank, and transfer case, and Multi-Terrain Monitor provides nearly 360-degree visibility on tight trails. Equipped with a standard Trailer Towing Package, the Land Cruiser can pull a trailer up to 8,100 pounds.

Roughing It in Luxury

The 2020 Heritage Edition features Land Cruisers full complement of amenities, including ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel with power tilt and telescoping and memory, power moonroof, four-zone automatic climate control with 28 cabin air vents, and Smart Key keyless entry with push-button start. For additional storage options, the Heritage Edition removes the cool box in the center console of the front seat.

A 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system features standard Premium JBL Audio with Integrated Navigation, 14 JBL speakers, split-screen capability, advanced voice recognition, Siri Eyes Free mode, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Bluetooth connectivity and music streaming, and Qi wireless phone charging with compatible phones.

Toyota Safety Connect (with three years of complimentary service) uses onboard cellular technology, independent of the drivers phone, to provide such services as Automatic Collision Notification, Stolen Vehicle Location, Emergency Assistance Button (SOS), and GPS-enhanced Roadside Assistance.

All Land Cruiser models come standard with Toyota Safety Sense P (TSS-P). Using millimeter-wave radar and a monocular camera sensor to detect a preceding pedestrian or a preceding vehicle, TSS-P Pre-Collision System is designed to automatically apply braking if necessary to help mitigate or avoid collisions in certain conditions. The system includes Lane Departure Alert with Sway Warning System, Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, and Automatic High Beams. In addition to TSS-P, Blind Spot Monitor and Rear Cross Traffic Alert are also standard.

Land Cruiser Heritage



The Land Cruiser traces its origins to the 1951 BJ, Toyotas bid to produce a small 4WD military vehicle. It was not chosen but went on to become the first motor vehicle to reach the sixth station on the trail to the top of Mt. Fuji. The BJ became the Land Cruiser in 1954, and an updated model, the 20-Series, was one of the first Toyota exports to the United States in 1958. The next Land Cruiser iteration, the 40-Series (a.k.a. FJ-40), arrived in 1960 and became an all-terrain icon (and now a collectors item). A larger station wagon model followed in the late-1960s, putting the Land Cruiser on a path toward family adventures.

By 1991, the 80-Series Land Cruiser was well on its way to becoming a full premium model. The 100-Series codified that direction in the late-1990s with a V8 engine and full array of advanced chassis systems and luxury amenities. The current Land Cruiser, known internally as the 200-Series, is the most advanced and luxurious in the models history.

Limited Warranty and ToyotaCare

The 36-month/36,000-mile basic new-vehicle warranty applies to all components other than normal wear and maintenance items. Additional 60-month warranties cover the powertrain for 60,000 miles and corrosion with no mileage limitation. Toyota dealers have complete details on the limited warranty.

The Land Cruiser also comes standard with ToyotaCare, a complimentary plan covering normal factory-scheduled maintenance and 24-hour roadside assistance for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first.
Washington: US Vice-President Mike Pence on Tuesday declared the United States'"unwavering support" for planned mass protests in Venezuela against President Nicolas Maduro, the most explicit backing yet by the Trump administration as opposition leaders try to unseat Maduro.

US Vice-President Mike Pence. Credit:Bloomberg

The declaration, the first in which Pence used a video to directly urge Venezuelans to take action, came after months of statements by senior Trump administration officials, including several strongly worded ones from the Vice-President, that said Maduro's rule was illegitimate.

"We are with you," Pence wrote on Twitter in both Spanish and English, adding, "We stand with you, and we will stay with you until Democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of Libertad."

The post, which came as Venezuelan opposition leaders were calling for citizens to take to the streets on Wednesday, was accompanied by a video in which Pence said he and President Donald Trump were united with them in their "call for freedom."
They dumped chips on someone's beach blanket. They reportedly stole a Christmas tree from a petrol station. They were eventually issued deportation notices after police were called to a disturbance at a Burger King.

An English family touring New Zealand  about 12 people, including children  was so unruly that social media posts documenting their bad behaviour were picked up by national news outlets, which sent out alerts about the family's location and latest reported antics, including refusing to pick up garbage left on the beach and throwing food on the floor at a cafe.

Popular tourist spots around New Zealand have reported that the local infrastructure cannot handle the tourist influx. Credit:Alamy

Maybe it was just a slow news week. But a professor who studies tourism trends said the family's exploits captured New Zealanders' anxieties about the ballooning number of visitors from overseas.

"People are viewing it as not necessarily a harbinger of things to come, but it shows our worry about what could happen," said Simon Milne, a professor of tourism at Auckland University of Technology and the director of the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute.
Seattle, WA (98195)

Today

Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High 72F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. Low 53F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Washington: The White House is forging ahead with State of the Union preparations despite no commitment from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold the annual address at the Capitol, further escalating the political tit-for-tat between the two leaders as the federal government remains partially shuttered.

President Donald Trump is preparing two versions of the speech  one that could be delivered in Washington and another that would be held somewhere else in the country, depending on the circumstance  according to a senior White House official. Meanwhile, the administration is trying to conduct advance work to prepare for an address in the House chamber, originally scheduled for January 29, even though Pelosi has the power to determine whether Trump can do so.

US President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing two State of the Union speeches, in light of the shutdown. Credit:Bloomberg

The ongoing battle over what is usually a mundane process is unfolding as little progress is being made toward ending the partial shutdown that began on December 22. The Senate on Tuesday, Washington time, teed up votes for later this week on dueling measures to reopen shuttered federal agencies, although neither bill is expected to advance.

"Nancy Pelosi does not dictate to the President when he will or will not have a conversation with the American people," a White House spokesman, Hogan Gidley, said Tuesday on Fox News. "The President has an incredible story to tell about how far we've come in this country economically, in a national security capacity."
Washington: The president of the White House Correspondents' Association says the apparent end of the daily White House press briefing "sets a terrible precedent".

US President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he told White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders "not to bother" with the daily briefing.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks to the media during a daily press briefing at the White House last October. Now her boss has said she shouldn't bother. Credit:AP

It has been a long-time tradition in which a White House official answers questions in the briefing room to a group of 50 or so reporters. The last press briefing was held on December 18.

Olivier Knox, chief Washington correspondent for SiriusXM and president of the WHCA, said "this retreat from transparency and accountability sets a terrible precedent. Being able to question the press secretary or other senior government officials publicly helps the news media tell Americans what their most powerful representatives are doing in their name.
Madrid: Spain's Civil Guard said on Tuesday it is investigating whether a narrow, deep borehole that a 2-year-old boy fell into last week was drilled illegally, as authorities struggle to reach the spot where the toddler is believed to be trapped.

More than 100 firefighters and emergency workers in southern Spain have been searching for the 2-year-old toddler who fell into a narrow, 100-metre deep well. Credit:AP

The Civil Guard's press office did not elaborate on the investigation. Spanish media, including newspaper El Pais, said that the borehole made to search for water lacked proper authorisation.

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There has been no contact with Julen Rosello, who fell into the 110-metre-deep shaft on January 13 in the countryside north-east of Malaga. The only sign of the toddler that search-and-rescue teams have found so far is hair that matched his DNA inside the hole.
It wasnt the content of Marion Marechals speech that drew a flock of French journalists to the uncomfortable wooden benches of the Oxford Union on Tuesday night.

For the most part, Marechal relayed familiar anti-immigration, "identitarian" far-right talking points: the theory that nations cant survive unless theyre made up of people who all look and act the same.

No, confided Le Parisiens man on the ground. The media were here because this 29-year-old, charismatic, thoughtfully-spoken extremist could well be the woman most likely to challenge Emmanuel Macron in the 2022 presidential election.

Marion Marechal, who spoke at Oxford Union on Tuesday, is now the director of a school of political science in Lyon.

Marechal  granddaughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece of FN leader Marine Le Pen  became Frances youngest MP in modern political history in 2012, aged just 22, but quit in 2017 and is now the director of a school of political science in Lyon.
Beijing: The Australian embassy in Beijing has been formally told that Chinese authorities have detained Australian blogger Yang Hengjun, the notice coming on the eve of Defence Minister Christopher Pyne's arrival in the Chinese capital.

Pyne will meet his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, on Thursday in Beijing.

Yang's detention will prove the first real test of the repaired relationship between Australia and China, which was described in November as having moved beyond megaphone diplomacy.

China's Foreign Ministry had earlier said it was not aware of Yang's situation, when asked at a press conference.
Indonesias announcement that it would release 80-year-old Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, after serving two-thirds of his 15-year sentence for supporting a terrorist training camp in Aceh, took many by surprise.

Australians were shocked that Indonesia showed so little concern for Australian feelings about JIs 2002 bomb attack in Bali that claimed 202 lives, including 88 Australians.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo had earlier ordered a review into the release plan of radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Credit:AP

The decision was certainly a very strange one. It is not unusual for Indonesia to release prisoners who are of good behaviour and have served three-quarters of their sentence (reduced by the many remissions available in the Indonesian system). After all, Australian drugs offenders Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence both benefited from the laws that allow this.

But it is very unusual to give early release to an unrepentant terrorism offender who refuses to swear loyalty to the Indonesian republic. Bashir, consistent with his lifelong commitment to Islamic revolution in Indonesia, reportedly refuses to do this, even though the law generally requires it for terrorist convicts to be eligible for early release.
Brussels: The European Union and African Union on Tuesday committed to work closely with Congo's president-elect Felix Tshisekedi, backing off reservations about the disputed vote.

Speaking after a meeting of EU-AU government ministers, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged Tshisekedi, the son of the late opposition leader Etienne, to help heal divisions in the turbulent central African country. Tshisekedi faces inauguration on Thursday.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, third right, chairs an EU-African Union meeting at the Europa building in Brussels on Tuesday. Credit:AP

"The task facing the new president contains major challenges, in several sectors, on the security, social, economic and governance levels," Mogherini told reporters in Brussels. "All of this requires that the President be a unifier; that he engages in a dialogue inside the country as well as abroad."

Rwandan Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera, who co-chaired the talks, said the AU commits to work with Congo's people "to continue to surmount the challenges that may remain as they enter into a new political dispensation".
Gitta Scheenhouwer loved riding her bike around Melbourne.

A homeless hit-run driver who left a Dutch cyclist for dead on a busy Melbourne street was on his way to buy drugs when he caused the crash that killed her.

Michael Panayides, a heroin and ice user, told police he accidentally accelerated to double the speed limit in the stolen Mercedes-Benz SUV along Chapel Street in South Yarra on August 12 last year before the crash that killed cyclist Gitta Scheenhouwer.

Ms Scheenhouwer was cycling to work when she was pinned between a parked car and the SUV after Panayides crashed into the back of a Mitsubishi Lancer and his car rolled.

Ms Scheenhouwer, 27, was living in Australia on a working holiday with her boyfriend and had landed her dream job as a graduate architect days earlier.
NSW Labor has pledged to provide $1.2 million to assist live music venues with soundproofing and, if elected, would create a new licensing scheme in a bid to prevent "unreasonable complainants from holding venues to ransom".

The initiatives form part of the opposition's live music policy, which party leader Michael Daley spruiked as being centred on the belief that musicians have "a right to play".

NSW Opposition Leader Michael Daley has pledged to help the live music industry. Credit:Brook Mitchell

Launching the policy at the Oxford Arts Factory in Darlinghurst on Wednesday, Mr Daley said a Labor government would amend the Liquor Act to create a new class of licence for venues dedicated to live music, and would streamline the process for obtaining planning and liquor approvals in a bid to reduce waiting times.

Mr Daley also committed to creating a "one-stop shop" for venues and residents to deal with noise complaints.
Mayors from towns along the embattled Barwon-Darling river system who gathered in Sydney to discuss the water crisis have criticised the Water Minister for failing to attend or telephone into the meeting.

Niall Blair defended his absence from the meeting, agreed to by his office and held at the government's ministerial headquarters in Martin Place on Wednesday, saying he advised the council representatives in advance he would probably be unavailable.

Water Minister Niall Blair has defended his absence from the meeting. Credit:AAP

"They knew I wasn't going to be at the meeting physically and if I could dial in between appointments, then I was going to," Mr Blair said.

However, Mr Blair said he was ultimately unable to phone in to the meeting "because the appointments I had ran over".
A fight on climate and transport looms for Tony Abbott's seat of Warringah, with Malcolm Turnbull's former infrastructure adviser taking on the former prime minister by expressing concerns about a major road development, saying more needs to be done to prevent "dangerous" climate change risks, and in raising scepticism about Labor's proposed tax changes.

Alice Thompson, who will nominate as an independent for the blue-ribbon Liberal electorate, has set up a showdown about the benefits of the Beaches Link  a major infrastructure project linking the Warringah Freeway with the northern beaches strongly supported by Mr Abbott  and wants "more ambitious emissions reduction and clean energy targets".

Alice Thompson, who worked in Malcolm Turnbull's office as his transport adviser, will run against former prime minister Tony Abbott. Credit:Louise Kennerley

"Firstly, (the) government needs to be held to account for actually meeting the Paris commitments weve signed up for," Ms Thompson said.

She also entered the debate about the date of Australia Day, and said local councils who decide not to commemorate the public holiday on January 26 are "accountable to their constituents when it comes time to vote", and should not be punished by the federal government.
Aiia Maasarwe's father Saeed at the funeral for his daughter in their home town in Israel. Credit:Gabrielle Weiniger

Ben Gurion Airport, Israel: The body of Aiia Maasarwe, a 21-year-old Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who was killed in Melbourne last week, has arrived in Israel.

Schools across Aiia's home city of Baqa al-Gharbiyye will close ahead of her funeral procession, which is expected to be attended by thousands of people.

Aiias father, Saeed Maasarwe, accompanied his daughters body on her final journey. Mr Maasarwe had waited for Aiias body to be released from forensics.

Mr Maasarwe said he was relieved to be finally taking Aiia home to her family.
Residents are being urged to monitor their power consumption by limiting their use of appliances, as Melbourne gears up to endure its hottest day this summer.

It comes as thousands of homes are without power in north central Victoria, as the mercury soars above 35 degrees in some towns.

More than 1250 properties in Nagambie, north of Melbourne, as well as hundreds more in nearby towns including Avenel have been without power since Wednesday night.
Academics say they feel pressured to pass struggling international students as concerns grow about universities enrolling students with little English.

One scholar said this moral and ethical quandary was behind his decision to leave Australia and find work overseas.

"No academic wants to fail a student, one academic said. Credit:Peter Braig

Once international student enrolment in our course surpassed 50 per cent, there was significant pressure to pass work which we would not have only a few years prior, he said.

Beyond the fact that no academic wants to fail a student, failing a significant proportion of a class reflects poorly on the teaching staff and the program.
The state government is being urged to block the sale of the prime harbourside Sirius public housing building to the developers behind the cracked Opal Tower in Olympic Park.

Responding to widespread speculation that developer Ecove is well-placed to win the tender to redevelop the Sirius site, a clutch of local politicians and advocates for the building have written an open letter to Premier Gladys Berejiklian arguing that any sale to Ecove would be a "grave mistake."

Ecoves pitch, submitted with development partner Aoyuan, was one of the final shortlisted tenders for The Rocks site, along with RDA Property Group, owned by fashion identity Danny Avidan.

The Sirius building was up for sale through 2018. Credit:James Brickwood

It is understood RDAs tender involves keeping but upgrading significant elements of the Brutalist structure, built in the 1970s to house displaced public housing tenants.
A man arrested in Belgrade a year ago over one of Australia's largest cocaine shipments has been formally refused bail after he was extradited to face court in Sydney.

Tristan Waters, 35, who has been languishing in a Serbian jail since his arrest in January 2018, briefly faced Central Local Court on Thursday morning wearing an olive green Adidas t-shirt with his hair combed back.

He did not apply for bail and will remain in custody until he faces court again on February 13.

Police allege that Mr Waters and two other men, Rohan Arnold and David Campbell, who were extradited last year, were involved in the importation of a shipment of cocaine worth half a billion dollars which arrived in Sydney in April 2017.
A Canberra mother who was visited at home by a stranger and told to deliver three small balloons of suspected drugs to her son in jail has been found guilty of taking the items into the prison.

The mother said the unknown man threatened her and said if she did not hand her son the drugs during her visit the next day her son would face the consequences.

The woman passed her son drugs during a visit. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The woman took that as a threat to harm her son, as she had seen him with a black eye a few weeks earlier and he had told her he'd been knocked out twice.

She believed the only way to keep her son safe was to give him the drugs during the visit.
Investigators have exposed the litany of failures and blind faith that caused a disastrous IT meltdown halfway through a high-stakes medical exam.

An independent inquiry has shed light on the pandemonium that ensued when an unknown technical fault shut down the Royal Australian college of Physicians' (RACP) first attempt at a computer-based test.

Some of the registrars hit by the exam glitch. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The chaos on exam day in February 2018 left 1200 trainee doctors distraught, angry and confused after months of study, punishing hospital shifts on minimal sleep and personal sacrifice.

The meltdown was caused by a technical glitch with the computer-based exam timer that overrided a scheduled one-hour break halfway through the five-hour exam, according to the investigation report published last Friday on RACPs member-only website.
Neel Bhatt, a UW assistant professor of otolaryngology, specializes in treating patients with voice problems. Through his work, he began to realize people did not like the sound of their own voices. With the transition to school over Zoom, many students can relate to the discomfort of hearin
A Bahamian restaurant owner who lost a fortune as a result of the Fyre Festival debacle has recouped nearly all of her losses after a GoFundMe campaign raised more than AUD $235,000.

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The owner, Maryann Rolle, 55, was featured in the Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, one of two documentaries released this month that chronicle the 2017 music festival disaster, which left attendees stranded without food or drinking water and sleeping on beaches in makeshift tents. The other new film is Hulu's Fyre Fraud, which also takes a critical look at the festival and its organisers.

Well-heeled festivalgoers were cheated out of tickets costing hundreds or thousands of dollars, and local islanders were not paid for their services in building the infrastructure for the festival on Great Exuma in the Bahamas.
Zain has every reason to be angry. He is only 12  at least, that is his parents' best estimate  but already a criminal. He has spent most of his life hungry, scrabbling on the streetsbetween slaving in the shop owned by his family's landlord and helping his parents smuggle opioids into the local jail, where his brother can make a living behind bars selling them to fellow inmates. He never went to school. Now he faces jail himself, but what chance did he have? Meanwhile, his parents keep having children. Even he can see  perhaps he sees better than anyone  how unscrupulously, irresponsibly feckless they are. So he takes them to court and sues them. Their offence: giving him life.

Director Nadine Labaki readily admits this could never happen. "It's very symbolic, of course," she says in Cannes, where her film will go on to win the festival's Jury Prize. "A child in real life cannot do this; he would need a guardian to file a complaint against anyone and his guardians are his parents, which makes it impossible." Which makes it all the wackier to find this device in a film that is otherwise scrupulously realistic; Labaki, aware of her own privilege as a popular actor and now lauded film-maker in Lebanon, researched poor neighbourhoods for four years while piecing her story together and says repeatedly that every detail in Capharnaum, which means "mess", is drawn directly from life.

Director of Capharnaum Nadine Labaki behind the scenes with lead actor Zain Al Raffea. Credit:Madman Films

But it was that exhaustive research, she says, that compelled her to include those brief court scenes. She wanted some forum where the characters were able to speak for themselves, to make their own cases in the face of the audience's judgement. "Because I was in that situation a lot of times," she says. "I visited a lot of families, so sometimes I would enter a small apartment in a crowded building  and it is not really an apartment, it is a room  and I would see a three-year-old kid on his own with his sister or brother who is five or six. I would ask 'where is your mother?' 'She is not here.' 'How long do you stay alone in the house?' 'All day.'

"And I found myself sometimes hating the mother, being very judgmental. How can she do this? These kids can die! He just can climb over the balcony and throw himself off! There are many, many like thousands of cases like that, people who die from neglect. And sometimes it took only two minutes of conversation with the mother to completely shift my point of view and make me feel ashamed of even daring to judge her.
For documentary filmmakers, there's no place like the Sundance Film Festival.

The mountainside festival which kicks off on Thursday in Park City, Utah, has become known for launching nonfiction films to box office successes and awards, and this year is shaping up to be no different.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is one of the high-profile subjects in this year's Sundance festival. Credit:AP

The slate boasts a wide array of films about fallen titans, from Harvey Weinstein to Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes, music legends Miles Davis and David Crosby, two of Michael Jackson's sexual abuse accusers, the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, Apollo 11, Mike Wallace, Toni Morrison and Dr Ruth.

In the past five years, three of the best documentary feature Oscar winners got their start at Sundance  Icarus, O.J.: Made in America and 20 Feet from Stardom. And most of this year's Oscars shortlist premiered and won special honours at last year's festival (like Shirkers, On Her Shoulders, Of Fathers and Sons, Dark Money, Crime + Punishment and Hale County This Morning, This Evening) and some which picked up a nomination, like Three Identical Strangers, RGB and Minding the Gap, plus the overlooked Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Taiwan is only 180 kilometres from the coast of China but it displays an utterly different cast of mind. So when President Xi Jinping unleashed another round of sabre rattling rhetoric this month, declaring that Taiwan "must and will be" reunited with the mainland, one thinks instinctively of what might be lost rather than gained.

The deal, of course, would be the same as Hong Kong  "one country, two systems", but in Hong Kong it's widely believed that existing freedoms are being gradually eroded. In China itself the intrusions of government are growing so ominous that many say "it's just like the Cultural Revolution". Heaven forbid.

Kheper (2018) by Sam Jinks. Credit:Mark Pokorny

Taiwan may be thoroughly Chinese in its traditions but the influences of the United States and Japan have had a powerful impact. Among educated classes, English is spoken with an American accent, while Japanese businesses may be found everywhere. These influences extend to an art market which has a contrasting character to that of the mainland.

In China it's a show-off market, with newly rich collectors eager to strut their stuff by buying high-priced works, often with little concern as to authenticity. Dealers will tell you that Taiwanese collectors are more prone to take a slow, considered approach, laying emphasis on quality and consistency. Large sums may be spent but with a good deal of circumspection.
The union representing workers on part of the Sydney Metro Northwest project expects a group of about 40 workers to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in total backpay after the industrial umpire ruled in their favour in a pay dispute.

After hearing an appeal from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU), the full bench of the Fair Work Commission ruled that the rail construction workers were entitled to an extra $3.54 an hour from engineering firm Laing O'Rourke.

The affected workers are part of the Sydney Metro Northwest project. Credit:AAP

"Laing ORourke has used legal semantics and sophistry to avoid paying workers what they are entitled to," RTBU National Secretary Bob Nanva said after the decision, which was handed down last week.

"Unfortunately, this sort of trickiness is what we have come to expect with NSW Government transport projects."
Global sharemarkets shivered on Tuesday when it appeared there had been a setback in the trade talks between the US and China. How are they going to respond if the US opens a second big front in its trade wars?

Last year the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Trump agreed to try to negotiate a trade deal. America's demands will make it a difficult discussion. Credit:AP

The sharp fall in equity markets was in response to reports that the Trump administration had rejected an offer for two Chinese vice-ministers to travel to the US for preparatory trade talks to try to overcome an impasse on some critical issues in the negotiations.

The Dow Jones index fell 2 per cent on the reports, before recovering some ground, and closing 1.2 per cent lower on the day, after Trumps senior economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said no intermediate talks had been scheduled.

It is apparent, however, that while China has been prepared to offer concessions to reduce its trade surplus with the US, those relate to largely just buying more US products rather than the structural changes to its state-driven economic model that the US has demanded.
The Revenue Estimating Conference is made up of, from left to right, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne; House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia; Senate President John Alario Jr., R-Westwego; and LSU economist James Richardson, of Baton Rouge.
A task force charged with tracking the states efforts to discourage sexual harassment held its first meeting Tuesday, with officials vowing to keep up with an issue that had gone mostly unwatched for decades until a string of high-profile misconduct claims emerged in reports over the past year.

The Legislature is taking these issues very seriously, said Rep. Greg Miller, R-Norco. We want to make sure that we very clearly comply with federal law and state law and create a work environment that is free from sexual harassment.

The panel is expected to make recommendations to the House and Senate to update their policies for preventing misconduct in legislative environments, as well as direct broader training and anti-harassment policies across state government.

The passage of the states first government-wide anti-harassment legislation last year was seen as a key victory on one of the major issues of the session, thanks in part to the national #MeToo movement and high-profile harassment cases that emerged here.

Lawmakers send sexual harassment bill to governor's desk Legislation that would establish stricter policies against sexual harassment in Louisiana state government is heading to Gov. John Bel Edwards' desk.

Amid the national examination of sexual harassment and misconduct issues, Secretary of State Tom Schedler and Johnny Anderson, then deputy chief of staff to Gov. John Bel Edwards, both stepped down from their government roles after facing allegations that have since resulted in the state paying out-of-court settlements.

Under the legislation, state agencies must adopt comprehensive policies that must include information about conduct that isn't tolerated, including retaliation for reporting, and detailed grievance processes. Additionally, every public servant is required to undergo at least an hour of anti-harassment training each year, and annual reports are to be compiled and made public for each agency.

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Several legislators agreed during Tuesday's meeting that state government needs to create an environment where, in addition to harassment being discouraged, reporting is encouraged when employees feel they have been mistreated.

There is a perception that things get reported and nothing happens," said Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell.

The new law requires that state agencies submit annual reports due each February to outline sexual harassment complaints and outcomes.

+2 With Tom Schedler's resignation, here's what's next for Secretary of State's Office Embroiled in controversy over allegations that he sexually harassed an employee for several years, Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler w

A legislative auditor's review last spring found that Louisiana taxpayers had paid more than $5 million on harassment lawsuits across state government over the past decade.

The auditor found that more than 330 harassment claims have been reported internally in the past five years  more than half of which fell within the state's higher education and corrections systems.

A key issue noted in the auditor's report and other recent reviews was that the state had no uniform anti-harassment policy nor minimum requirements for agencies to adopt, prompting a coalition of female legislators to spearhead the effort toward a more comprehensive approach that ended with the new law.
On the 46th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday that a new law would go into effect next week that could further limit access to pregnancy termination procedures in Louisiana.

Starting Monday, Jan. 28, physicians who perform abortions must have permission to use nearby hospitals, called admitting privileges, Landry said in a news release. Thats barring any appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a decision last week by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court Appeals.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents five physicians and abortion clinics that challenged the constitutionality of Act 620, hasnt appealed to the high court. But Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the New York-based advocacy group noted that only three abortion clinics are left  down from seven in 2006  and upholding the admitting privileges law would result in more closures.

In Louisiana, a split on abortion at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals They are three judges on a conservative appeals court, nominated by conservative Republican presidents  two by Ronald Reagan and one by Georg

We will take every legal action available to block this unconstitutional law, including taking this case to the Supreme Court if necessary, Northrup said in a statement.

Act 620 requires any physician providing abortion services in Louisiana to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the procedure. The Louisiana Department of Health is responsible for licensing facilities and ensuring compliance. Generally, physicians with admitting privileges must submit a letter from the hospital saying so.

The Louisiana Department of Health is consulting with the Attorney General and examining the decision and the options we currently have at our disposal, Stephen Russo, LDH Executive Counsel, said Tuesday. After reviewing these options for enforcement of the law, we will move forward with protecting the health and safety of women in Louisiana.

In 1973, a 7-2 U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v Wade upheld the decision of a Dallas-based federal court panel that found Texas law criminalizing abortions was unconstitutional. The high court majority ruled that the right to privacy extended to a womans decision to terminate her early-term pregnancy. The decision effectively legalized abortion.

Unlike Louisianas action, the New York State Assembly on Tuesday passed legislation making abortion an affirmative right for women and is expected to be signed into law by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The law would allow abortions to remain available if Roe v Wade is overturned.

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Louisiana's Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, Act 620 of 2014, is aimed at protecting womens health, said its sponsor, state Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe.

Critics of Act 620, however, point out that few abortion procedures go awry. Less than half of one percent of the patients need hospitalization. What the law really does is make it more difficult for physicians to perform the procedure, say the five doctors who challenged the law in federal court.

Five Louisiana clinics performed 10,322 abortions in 2014. By 2017, 8,706 abortions were performed in four clinics.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a similar Texas law in June 2016 because so many Lone Star doctors couldnt obtain admitting privileges that all but eight of 40 clinics closed. The difficulty obtaining privileges, long drives and long wait times at the remaining clinics created an undue burden, the Supreme Court ruled in finding the Texas law unconstitutional.

New Louisiana anti-abortion law on hold as doctors challenge recent court ruling Enforcement of new anti-abortion restrictions will have to wait as the physicians who challenged Act 620s constitutionality asked for a revie

In September, two of three judges on a 5th Circuit found Act 620 didnt cause an undue burden on Louisiana women largely because the physicians didnt try too hard to get hospital admitting privileges.

The full court voted 9-6 Friday not reconsider the panels decision. The next step is to go to the Supreme Court.

Voting against a rehearing were 5th Circuit judges: Edith Jones, of Houston, appointed by President Ronald Reagan; Jerry Smith, of Houston, appointed by Reagan; Priscilla Owen, of Austin, appointed by President George W. Bush; Jennifer Walker Elrod, of Houston, appointed by Bush; Catharina Haynes, of Dallas, appointed by Bush; Don Willett, of Austin, appointed by President Donald Trump; James Chiun-Yue Ho, of Dallas, appointed by Trump; Kurt Engelhardt, of New Orleans, chosen by Trump; and Andrew Oldham, of Austin, appointed by Trump.

Voting for a rehearing by the full court were 5th Circuit judges: James Dennis, of New Orleans, appointed by President Bill Clinton; Stephen Higginson, of New Orleans, appointed by President Barack Obama; Chief Judge Carl Stewart, of Shreveport, appointed by Clinton; Leslie Southwick, of Jackson, Miss., appointed by Bush; James Graves, of Jackson, Miss., appointed by Obama; and Gregg Costa, of Houston, appointed by Obama.
The state-run Recovery School District in Baton Rouge is undergoing a round of changes, as contracts with two charter school management groups are discontinued, two are renewed and a school is added to another group's network.

These are changes that the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education took up in meetings last month and again this week.

Despite all the changes, RSD schools that are operating now would continue, but under different management, said Dana Peterson, an assistant superintendent with state Department of Education.

Peterson describes these changes as a third phase for this 11-year-old educational experiment and the prelude to a fourth and final phase: a reunification with the East Baton Rouge Parish school system.

The Recovery School District, or RSD, was created by voters in 2003 to take over low-performing public schools for a short period of time, improve them and then return them to local control.

That has already occurred with the dozens of public schools in New Orleans taken over in the wake of 2005s Hurricane Katrina. A 2016 state law called for RSD's charter schools to return to the control of the Orleans Parish School Board, a process completed in July. But unlike prior to Katrina, all the public schools now are charter schools or in the process of becoming charter schools.

A school reunification in the Capital City would require the cooperation of school board headquarters at 1050 South Foster Drive. The parish school system, unlike New Orleans, has been much slow to embrace charter schools, with school officials often viewing that as unwanted and unneeded competition. Charter schools are public schools run privately via charters, or contracts.

Peterson admitted that reunification wont happen right away, though he said he brings it up with Drake and other district leaders whenever he sees them.

Were hopeful that the board, which has some new members, will do so in the near future, that they are prepared to work on that, Peterson said.

East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Warren Drake said the eight schools RSD seized between 2008 and 2012 are old buildings and most are in need of substantial upgrades. Drake said bringing those schools back would require some time.

My vision would be for this would that this would take place over a period of years, maybe five years, so that it doesnt tax any one group too much, Drake said.

Drake said he has a more immediate request of the RSD: To return Crestworth Middle School to local control.

Since it was taken over in 2009, middle school age students in the Scotlandville area who want to attend a neighborhood school have had to travel a long way to go to school. Currently those students go to Park Forest Middle School, which is 11 miles away by car.

The school system is planning, starting in 2020, to spend $4 million to add middle school grades to Progress Elementary, but Drake would prefer to use that money to help fix up Crestworth Middle, which is already set up for middle school kids.

Certainly thats my top priority is to get that facility back, Drake said. It brings back a feeder pattern for Scotlandville High School.

The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last month approved some of the proposed changes for RSD Baton Rouge, renewing contracts for four RSD schools. Three are run by Celerity Schools Louisiana and the fourth, Democracy Prep, earned a one-year extension.

BESEs School Innovation and Turnaround Committee on Tuesday endorsed without opposition three department recommendations:

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Not renew the charter of Friendship Louisiana Inc., but rehire the Washington, D.C.-based charter group for one more year under a special management contract to run Capitol High School until the state settles on someone to replace them. Capitol currently has a state-issued academic letter grade of an F, down from a D previously.

Not renew the charter for Baton Rouge College Prep, which currently occupies the former Glen Oaks Middle Campus, and instead give Celerity a five-year charter to run the middle school starting this fall, making it Celerity's fourth Baton Rouge school. Baton Rouge College Prep also has an F letter grade, down from a C previously.

Renew for three years the charter for Kenilworth Science & Technology Charter School. Kenilworth currently has a D letter grade. This is the second time Kenilworth has been renewed since it opened in 2009. In 2013, when it had a C, its charter was renewed for five years.

BESE meets again Wednesday for its monthly meeting and is expected to ratify the committee's decisions.

Friendship took over Capitol High in 2014 and Baton Rouge College Prep launched its middle school in 2015. Capitol High, located at 1000 N. 23rd St., currently has 368 students in grades nine to 12. Baton Rouge College Prep, located at 5300 Monarch Ave., has 226 students in grades six to eight.

Justin Blanchard, executive director of Capitol High, said the high school has made a lot of progress and expanded opportunities for its students.

We are really proud of the work weve done, Blanchard said. We compare favorably to all of the schools that our students would be zoned for.

And weve done this in a facility that in its current state presents significant challenges, he added, noting that Friendship recently spent half million dollars to obtain a certificate of occupancy before it could reopen after making repairs due to a fire that occurred on campus.

The state, alumni of Capitol High and East Baton Rouge school officials have been holding meetings for months about what is next for Capitol High.

Kathryn Rice, founder of Baton Rouge College Prep, connected the decline in her school's performance to the shift away from paper to computer-based standardized testing in 2017 was difficult, saying that student struggled more with the computer tests. She said the school made some growth this past year, but was still one point short of avoiding an F grade.

But Rice said shes been buoyed by the conversations with Celerity Schools, which she said has come a long way in adapting and improving the educational model that worked for them in California but had to be adjusted for Louisiana.

We anticipate a pretty seamless transition and an actually improved school at Glen Oaks Middle with a lot of familiar faces, Rice said.

Kenilworth's renewal sparked some BESE discussion. Schools like Kenilworth that are seeking a third charter need a C grade to earn an automatic renewal, but Kenilworth was one point short of a C. As part of its renewal, Kenilworth has to submit an improvement plan.

Lauren Fisher Allen, director of community relations and a former teacher at the school, said the school knows three more years is not a long time.

"This won't be an easy three years," she said. "We dont want to be a C. We want to be a B or an A."

State Superintendent John White said Kenilworth has made progress and is doing better than its peer schools.

"We do believe that many students would go to lower performing schools if the school closed," White said.

Mike Gaudet, president of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, questioned that.

"Glasgow Middle has a C and it has room," Gaudet said.

White responded by saying that the bulk of Kenilworth's students live not in south Baton Rouge where Kenilworth is located but in ZIP codes in north Baton Rouge served by lower performing schools.

"(Kenilworth) is one of the highest performing schools in these ZIP codes," White said. "I dont say that happily."
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The state is launching a three-year plan aimed at improving oversight and expertise in the troubled Louisiana School for the Deaf and others, officials said Tuesday.

The changes stem from a 2018 report that said the School for the Deaf suffers from low-morale among students and other problems and that major changes are needed in the Special School District, which oversees the schools.

Report faults troubled Louisiana School for the Deaf for low morale, 'insufficient communication' The Louisiana School for the Deaf suffers from low morale among students and staff, is implementing changes without a clear plan and some staf

The initial goal is to revamp the district and improve its staff so that high-qualify services can be delivered to students.

The district oversees more than 1,800 students, including those in the School for the Deaf, Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired, both in Baton Rouge, and the Louisiana Special Education Center in Alexandria.

It is also in charge of four Office of Juvenile Justice sites and eight Department of Corrections sites.

Interim Special School District Superintendent Pat Cooper told a committee of the state's top school board that last year less than five percent of elementary students in the district scored mastery in English and math, the state's newest target for academic achievement.

In 2018 only one industry-based credential was offered to students, said Cooper, former superintendent of the Lafayette Parish School District.

"That is not a blame," Cooper said. "It is the reality."

Cooper said there are basic things the state needs to ensure a solid education experience in the district.

"We found that we did not have a lot of those in place," he said. "Those schools could not operate if they had confusion above them in the school district level."

Goals for 2019-20 include crafting individual school improvement plans, evaluating all school-level personnel based on updated job descriptions and putting in place a "consistent" math, English, science and social studies curriculum statewide.

Other planned changes include better use of technology-based teaching, ensuring teachers keep individual data profiles of students and adding career and technical education classes that can help job prospects for students.

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"We need our schools to be models of excellence," Meredith Jordan, assistant superintendent for academics in the district, told BESE.

Cooper said at some point experts will be brought in to address specific problems at the School for the Deaf and other schools.

State Superintendent of Education John White told BESE that, while the three-year plan does not answer all the questions, it will pave the way for a "more rational and coherent district."

Critics said the district still suffers from a lack of input from parents, including on a newly-created advisory panel that includes disability experts.

BESE member: Major changes needed at Louisiana School for the Deaf The Louisiana School for the Deaf, which is undergoing a review, needs significant changes to improve its performance, a member of the state B

"I would hope you would be mindful of that and, if necessary, add some more people, get some more viewpoints," BESE President Gary Jones told Cooper.

Holly Boffy, vice-president of BESE, said district changes are overdue.

"I am excited about doing this work but have a lot of regret that we have not done this work sooner," said Boffy, who lives in Youngsville.

The report that sparked the overhaul said some staff members lack the skills needed to help students at the School for the Deaf. It said student and staff morale suffered from a lack of communication and problem-solving between and among administrators, students and families. Without changes in the district, the study said, "insurmountable barriers" would hinder efforts to improve the schools.

Kathy Edmonston, a BESE member who lives in Gonzales, said ensuring more staff is proficient in American Sign Language remains a priority.

Rana Ottallah, who lives in Metairie and is the mother of a hearing-impaired child, said officials deserve time to make changes.

"There is no magic pill," she said. "Reform takes time."
A man accused of killing a Denham Springs couple in late October was formally charged by a Livingston Parish grand jury on Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder.

Michael Collins, 45, faces life in prison if convicted of the crime.

Eugene "Frank" and Patricia Gurley were found beaten to death Oct. 30 in their company building, National Pool Builders Inc., on Pete's Highway on the east side of Denham Springs.

+2 Suspect in 'heinous' killings of Denham Springs couple extradited to Louisiana The man accused of killing a Denham Springs couple in October has been extradited to Louisiana after his arrest in Kentucky last month.

Frank Gurley, 72, was a former science teacher at Denham Springs Junior High and Denham Springs High School. He retired in 2011. His wife, Patricia, was 70.

An autopsy found the couple died of blunt force injuries to the head.

Collins had lived on the business' property in a trailer that he rented from the Gurleys. Authorities have said Collins fled the area in Frank Gurley's truck after the killing.

He was arrested in Scottsville, Kentucky, in November and extradited back to Louisiana last month.

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Livingston Parish Assistant District Attorney Kurt Wall said witness statements, physical evidence tested by the crime lab and information extracted from cellphones all implicate Collins in the killings.

+10 Autopsy shows elderly Denham Springs couple died of blunt force injury to the head, police say An elderly Denham Springs couple found dead in their pool company building died of "blunt force injury to the head," according to a preliminar

Livingston Parish District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said the first-degree murder was the "appropriate" charge in the case. But he does not plan to seek the death penalty against Collins.

Perrilloux said he discussed with the family the issues associated with seeking capital punishment, including the potential for delays and the lengthy post-conviction review process.

"After going over those issues with the victims' children, they were in agreement that not seeking the death penalty was acceptable," he said.

Perrilloux said the Gurleys had tried to evict Collins from the property shortly before they were killed. But an exact motive for the crime remains unclear.

Collins was originally from Tennessee but had been in Louisiana since at least 2016, court records show. He has a lengthy criminal record, including arrests on assault and burglary in Tennessee, and a 2016 incident in Denham Springs in which he pleaded no contest to domestic abuse battery.

Denham Springs Police Chief Shannon Womack has called the killings the "most heinous and senseless crime" of his career.
A lawsuit that claimed slain drug smuggler-turned-government informant Adler Barry Seals privacy rights were violated  and his public image damaged  when his third wife and their three children sold his life story to a major motion picture studio in 2014 has been dismissed by Louisianas highest court.

Seals oldest daughter, who was born of his first marriage, filed the lawsuit in 2015 in Baton Rouge state court against Seals widow, the three children she had with him, and Universal City Studios.

Universal turned Seal's story into the 2017 film "American Made" starring actor Tom Cruise as Seal.

Lisa Seal Frigon, the administrator of Seals estate, claimed Deborah "Debbie" Dubois Seal and her three children violated Seal's privacy rights when they sold the story of his life to Universal for $350,000 without court approval or the estates consent. None of that money went to the estate, the lawsuit claimed.

Frigon also alleged the actions of Debbie Seal and her children violated the right of publicity, or Frigon's right as administrator of Seal's estate to control the commercial appropriation of her father's identity or public image.

The state's 1st Circuit Court of Appeal last June disagreed with Frigon and dismissed her lawsuit. The state Supreme Court, without issuing a written reason last Friday, denied Frigons appeal.

The 1st Circuit had written that the right of privacy is strictly personal and died with Seal when he was assassinated in Baton Rouge in 1986. The appellate court also said the state Legislature has not put the right of publicity into state law.

Universal, Debbie Seal and her children had argued that they merely exercised their free speech rights on an issue of public interest, and the appeals court agreed.

Frigons attorney, Roy Maughan Jr., said Wednesday he thought he had raised several legal issues that the state Supreme Court would want to tackle, particularly the right of publicity argument.

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I think they missed a good opportunity, he said.

+4 Lawsuit by slain drug smuggler Barry Seal's daughter over 'American Made' deal dismissed Adler "Barry" Seal's third wife and the three children she had with him did not violate the slain drug smuggler-turned-government informant's 

Seal, 46, who was born in Baton Rouge, was gunned down in February 1986 outside a Salvation Army halfway house on Airline Highway. Drug traffickers with ties to the Medellin cartel in Colombia arranged for the machine-gun slaying. Three Colombian men were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in Seal's slaying.

Seal had infiltrated the Medellin cartel and agreed to cooperate with U.S. authorities after his own 1983 arrest on drug charges in Florida.

Two years before his death, Seal was indicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 462 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $168 million. He was fined as part of his plea deal and ordered to serve time at the Salvation Army halfway house.

Seal was expected to be a key witness in a case against Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, among others. Escobar was killed in 1993.

Frigon claimed in her suit that the movie script falsely portrayed Seal as a drunkard, reckless pilot and father of three children, not five.

Seal also was portrayed by actor Dennis Hopper in the 1991 television movie Doublecrossed. Seals estate received no money from that movie because it was not authorized by the family, Maughan has said.

Seal served in the U.S. Army Special Forces and also was the youngest U.S. pilot to fly 707 and 747 jets. He was fired by Trans World Airlines for his role in a scheme to smuggle guns and explosives to Mexico. Seal then turned to drug smuggling.
ExxonMobil on Tuesday said it will drop its pending requests for property tax breaks in Baton Rouge and warned the uncertainty surrounding tax incentives could deter future spending at its local plants.

The move came days after the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, for the first time, voted to reject two requests by ExxonMobil to exempt it from paying a combined $2.9 million over 10 years to local schools. Exxon was set to ask the Metro Council Wednesday to approve the exemptions.

Exxon was seeking the tax breaks through the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, or ITEP, a longstanding and controversial property tax benefit for manufacturers.

Several local Exxon leaders issued a terse statement Tuesday decrying a lack of predictability and confusion surrounding the ITEP program. The statement was attributed to polyolefins plant Manager Stephen Hamilton, chemical plant Manager Dave Luecke, refinery Manager Gloria Moncada, plastics plant Manager Angela Zeringue and Port Allen lubricants plant Manager Scott Gleason.

"Unfortunately, the perception of Baton Rouge has become one of inconsistent treatment from one company to another, a lack of predictability and confusion among local elected officials, who are inundated with misinformation from activist groups," the company said. "We question if anti-business activist groups are opposed to the state ITEP rules or just opposed to ExxonMobils participation in the program."

Together Baton Rouge, the advocacy group that has railed against the ITEP program, applauded Exxons decision.

Local standards provide the thing thats most important, both for our corporate partners and for our community, which is predictability, said the Rev. Lee T. Wesley, of Together Baton Rouge. Whats new is that, for once, its not the predictability of a rubber-stamp; its the predictability of a genuine standard. Thats a positive and important change.

Changes sought by Gov. John Bel Edwards brought ITEP back in line with Texas and the way the rest of the country handles exemptions, the organization said. Both the School Board and Metro Council established standards for how to approve the exemptions in recent months, and the exemptions in question did not meet those standards, the group said.

Together Baton Rouge was rallying members this week ahead of the Metro Council meeting, urging members to ask their council member to reject the tax break requests.

Exxon completed several capital projects at its Baton Rouge sites more than a year ago, but said it waited to bring the exemptions for a vote until new rules were implemented for the state's ITEP program. Edwards reined in the program and gave local officials a say in whether to award the exemptions with a 2016 executive order. Now it offers an 80 percent exemption over a decade, instead of 100 percent. Before the reform, the state Board of Commerce and Industry routinely approved the local property tax exemptions without input from locals.

Exxon had already dropped two of the five ITEP requests before the Board of Commerce and Industry met and approved the remaining exemptions last month. The third ITEP request is at the company's West Baton Rouge lubricants plant, and was approved by local officials there.

But for the first time last week, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted to reject the two exemption requests in Baton Rouge. Because of state rules, Exxon had the opportunity to seek exemptions from the property taxes levied by the Metro Council and Sheriff, even though the School Board voted to reject the exemptions from its millages.

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Now, Exxon spokeswoman Stephanie Cargile said, the company will not pursue the tax breaks from the Metro Council or Sheriff Sid Gautreaux.

The requests in Baton Rouge were for $64 million in spending at the Exxon refinery, which created 18 jobs, and $3 million in spending at the polyolefins plant, which created zero new jobs. Exxon already won approval locally for a $31.7 million exemption on a separate potential expansion at its polyolefins plant that would be worth more than half-a-billion dollars. The firm has not yet made a final investment decision on building the project, but one is expected soon.

For months, local teachers and Together Baton Rouge have vocally opposed the exemptions, arguing the parish should not be giving incentives for projects that already happened. Local teachers almost staged a walkout over the ordeal.

Between the school board vote and Exxons decision Tuesday, East Baton Rouge Parish will receive more than $6 million in additional property tax revenue over the next decade, according to the companys calculations.

Cargile also said the company will continue to apply for ITEP exemptions in the future, but will "assume there is no ITEP incentive when making cost projections in advance of future investment." Exxon has said the uncertainty over ITEP hurts its chances to land new investments.

The company already filed advance notifications, the first step toward getting a tax break through ITEP, on several new capital expenditures in Baton Rouge for 2019.

Exxons statement said the decision to cancel the applications means the company must reassess previously-projected costs for the projects, which are already complete. This may include a reduction in investments that grow jobs, expand operations or support community projects, Exxon said. It was not clear what projects Exxon was referring to, and Cargile said she could not provide additional information about it.

Several industrial groups rushed to Exxons defense Tuesday.

The Baton Rouge Area Chamber, which has publicly backed Exxon and its pursuit of tax breaks, said the decision and statement is a "wake-up call." The organization said "community activists" have targeted ITEP and Exxon through "derision, attacks and misrepresentations."

"This toxic atmosphere led the school board to vote to oppose the company's recent applications for additional investments," BRAC President and CEO Adam Knapp said in a statement. "The tone has gotten to the point where this company has chosen voluntarily today to withdraw its application at a $6 million expense to the company, rather than continue to endure this circus."

The Louisiana Chemical Association, Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance and Louisiana Mid Continent Oil and Gas Association were among the industry groups that sent out statements similar to BRACs.
Assumption Parish Clerk of Court Darlene Landry may have broken state ethics laws by granting file delivery contracts that paid her daughter and juvenile granddaughter nearly $10,250, but that the clerk said were necessary due to the huge amount of appellate filings from litigation over the 2012 Bayou Corne sinkhole, a new state investigative audit says.

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Office found Landry switched the contracts from her daughter to her granddaughter in January 2018 to avoid ethics prohibitions  and the state Ethics Boards agreed later the granddaughter could do the work  but auditors discovered the granddaughter's parents still did most of the deliveries though the youth was paid.

In addition to the delivery contracts, state auditors found Landry may face more serious, criminal culpability for failing to turn over to the state treasury more than $26,750 in fees she collected for birth and death certificates over a 2-year period, the audit says.

+6 State: Proposed salt dome caverns exceed safety standards, too far from Bayou Corne sinkhole to pose risk Nearly six years after the catastrophic failure of a salt mine caused the Bayou Corne sinkhole, a company is planning two new massive mines in

Lonny Cavalier, spokesman for Sheriff Leland Falcon, said the Assumption Parish Sheriff's Office received the audit over the weekend and already has transferred the report to its chief of detectives.

"We will actively investigate it," Cavalier said Tuesday. He added the detectives' findings will be brought to 23rd Judicial District Attorney Ricky Babin.

Responding to complaints from May and July, state auditors found that Landry stopped transferring to the state treasury its legally mandated $4 share of fees for death and long-form birth certificates starting in January 2015. Landry later told auditors the state never enforced the remittance payments, adding the state should bill her if it wants to be paid.

Through footnotes, the state audit specifically raises the prospect that Landry's actions with the fees could amount to malfeasance in office and misappropriation of state funds.

In a statement, Landry says she only withheld the state treasury's share pending further clarification of the remittance requirement. She sent the $26,756 in fees to the state treasury in September after she got that clarification from her own auditors.

During the time in question, Landry continued to send an additional share of the birth and death certificate fees that was due to the state Office of Vital Records, the audit says.

Landry, a four-term Napoleonville Democrat who has worked in the clerk's office for 30 years, said she immediately responded to the auditors' concerns and apologized for "any unintended inconvenience these matters may have cause my employees, the litigants or the citizens of Assumption Parish."

"Any decisions that I have made were for the betterment of the office," Landry said. An email to Landry's adult daughter, Jamie Delaughter, was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The state Board of Ethics didn't immediately return a message for comment Tuesday about the file delivery contract, but, in the clerk's statement, Landry blames the voluminous Bayou Corne sinkhole filings for her decision to hire her family as couriers.

The sinkhole emerged in the Assumption Parish swamp due to a failed salt dome cavern, displacing dozens of homeowners in the Bayou Corne community, causing other damage and sparking a yearslong environmental response from the state and operator Texas Brine.

+5 Fire crews, SWAT teams find Bayou Corne's abandoned houses perfect for training exercises BELLE ROSE  At Bayou Corne on Saturday, percussion grenades blasted through the usually quiet community that's been mostly deserted since a s

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Many homeowner claims were settled in federal court. A number of other claims, including over pipelines destroyed by the sinkhole and state response costs, ended up remaining in state court in Assumption.

Landry said those suits, consisting of tens of thousands of pages, overwhelmed her small office in Napoleonville and produced an unprecedented number of appellate filings.

Litigants and the courts later complained about poor delivery services to the higher court. Files were late or damaged and had to be resent, Landry said.

Effort to extend time to sue insurance companies for bad faith sidelined by House panel A Louisiana House committee narrowly defeated Monday legislation that opponents called the Texas Brine Bail Out Act.

Landry said she decided to hire a person she could trust, her daughter who lives in Baton Rouge, to handle the records after problems with the old shipping service.

Landry paid her a $25-per-box charge  less than what the courier was making  with advance fees from sinkhole litigants' attorneys. Landry said she believed  it turns out erroneously  that those fees weren't public dollars.

Delaughter, the daughter, earned $1,200 from July to December 2017 to deliver files to the 1st Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge, the audit says.

The Louisiana Code of Ethics bars government officials from contracting with or participating in transactions with immediate family members in which they have a substantial economic interest. Immediate family includes children, but not grandchildren.

Amid nepotism concerns about her daughter's contract, Landry told auditors, she ended that deal and hired her granddaughter in January 2018 at the same $25-per-box rate. In March, Landry also received an advisory opinion from the state Ethics Board saying the state code would not prohibit that agreement.

Landry's minor granddaughter, who is Delaughter's daughter, earned another $9,049 in fees and mileage for deliveries between January and August 2018, the audit says.

Yet, state auditors found that Landry's daughter and son-in-law continued to play an important role. Auditors found that the granddaughter rarely completed the job, picking up the files but most often leaving the appellate delivery, usually during school hours, to her parents.

Also, Landry herself also brought files to her home or to Gonzales to facilitate the deliveries and deposited about half of her granddaughters' payments into an account for which Landry was one of the signors and which Landry acknowledged she monitored.

Landry told auditors she never spent any of the delivery payments, but Landry's daughter and son-in-law said their daughter sometimes reimbursed them for purchases they had made.

Landry said that she personally reimbursed the funds that went to her daughter and granddaughter and no delivery fees were charged to litigants. A new independent courier service has been delivering files since Aug. 30, 2018, the clerk said.
The TTU Center in Sevilla is located in Southern Spain. Students studying abroad can takes classes at the center taught by Texas Tech faculty.
Google and Wikipedia have always been working to provide a knowledge base that's readily available and free, and these two organizations have a history of helping each other out to achieve this goal.

Now Google is again donating millions of dollars, and more, to Wikipedia.

Google And Wikipedia Partnership

Google has been using Wikipedia as a source for certain information used in its products, such as the Google Assistant and Google Home. In the same vein, Wikipedia depends on Google for tools that help improve its content.

In a blogpost published on Tuesday, Jan. 22, Google announced that it's giving $2 million to Wikimedia Endowment, the funding arm of the Wikimedia Foundation, which is the organization behind Wikipedia. This is in addition to the $1.1 million Google.org donated last year to Wikimedia's annual funding. In total, Google's contribution to the Wikimedia foundation over the last decade is now more than $7.5 million.

Tools For Diversity

Aside from monetary aid, Google is also giving Wikipedia free access to its Cloud services. Google Cloud Custom Search API will be available to Wikipedia editors so they can "ensure contributions are appropriately cited from sources." The Cloud Vision API, on the other hand, will help in digitizing Indic books under public domain "to include more diverse and reputable sources for citations."

Google Translate will also be available to Wikipedia's volunteer editors to help them push out content that will cater to more languages.

"By introducing Google Translate as one of the machine translation systems, Wikipedia's content translation tool can now support an additional 15 languages, including Hausa, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Yoruba, and Zulu. Today, Wikipedia's content translation tool can facilitate translations in a total of 121 languages," Lisa Gruwell, chief advancement officer for the Wikimedia Foundation, said.

Project Tiger

Google and Wikipedia also announced Project Tiger's expansion. Now called Growing Local Language Content on Wikipedia (GLOW), the joint initiative aims to provide and improve content in underrepresented languages in India. This will also include 10 new languages from the North African region, Nigeria, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Middle East.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Something to look forward to: OLED TVs have been around for several years and smartphone OLED panels have been used for even longer. It is now time for laptops to receive the benefits of better display technologies courtesy of Samsung's 15.6-inch 4K OLED panel that is being sent to mass production.

Laptop manufacturers are about to be able to start putting Samsung's 4K OLED panels into 15.6-inch systems. Samsung Display has shared that mass production of its latest OLED panel will begin in February. Once production lines crank out large numbers of displays, premium laptops will begin to make use of the panels.

One of the major benefits to OLED is offering a high contrast ratio while also offering relatively high brightness, making it an excellent technology for HDR. Samsung's UHD OLED panel for laptops can range from five ten-thousandths of a nit on up to 600 nits of brightness.

Color space is also better represented by OLED. Samsung's laptop panels will offer twice as many colors compared to traditional LCD displays at 34 million. For those familiar with color mapping, the DCI-P3 color space is Samsung's target to meet or exceed. Reduction in blue light output during everyday use is also a claimed benefit of the 4K OLED display.

OLED panels are still not perfect replacements for LCD though. Greater efficiency and more pleasing appearances are wonderful, but can quickly be overshadowed by problems such as burn-in. Longevity of OLED panels has also been questioned in the past, but Samsung's track record of producing quality displays speaks for itself.

Although we do not know which manufacturers will specifically be using Samsung's OLED panels, there were several laptops at CES 2019 that contained OLED displays. HP is building its Spectre x360 2-in-1 with OLED and Dell is adding OLED options to the XPS 15, Alienware G Series, and Alienware m15. HP will launch its upgraded Spectre laptop in July, while Dell is planning to release new laptops as early as March.
In brief: In an attempt by Microsoft to stop the spread of fake news, users of its Edge mobile browser are being warned when visiting news sites that are considered untrustworthy. One of the biggest culprits is the Daily Mail's online edition, which the feature warns generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability and has been forced to pay damages in numerous high-profile cases.

The feature comes through a partnership with third-party startup NewsGuard and is part of Microsofts Defending Democracy program. NewsGuard rates sites based on nine criteria, such as not repeatedly publishing false content, avoiding deceptive headlines, and clearly labeling paid-for content.

NewsGuard had been available as an optional extension for Edge, but Microsoft is now rolling it out as a built-in feature in the mobile version of its browser. Its creators hope this will be the first step before a broader rollout across multiple platforms.

As noted by the Guardian, Edge is warning those who visit the Mail Online that the site regularly publishes content that has damaged reputations, caused widespread alarm, or constituted harassment or invasion of privacy. Much like the Kremlin-backed RT news service, the Mail scores just one out of five for credibility.

NewsGuard co-founder Steve Brill says websites with poor ratings should complain to his firm and not Microsoft. They can blame us. And were happy to be blamed. Unlike the platforms were happy to be accountable, he said.

One of the problems with this initiative is Edge's relatively low popularity. On desktop, its the preferred browser of choice for just 4.3 percent of users, whereas Chrome boasts 64.15 percent. The figure is even lower on mobile, where Edge has only a 0.07 percent share.

Yesterday brought news that WhatsApp was trying to stop the spread of fake news by prohibiting users from forwarding messages more than five times.

Image credit: Faizal Ramli via Shutterstock
Something to look forward to: The rumors are true: Xiaomi is working on a foldable phone. The Chinese firms president and co-founder, Lin Bin, posted a video on Weibo that shows the device in action, and it looks like one of the best implementations of the design weve seen to date.

At the start of the month, prolific leaker Evan Blass revealed a clip that allegedly shows Xiaomi's folding phone, which looks almost identical to the one from Bins video.

In the latest footage, the prototype initially resembles a small, if slightly curved, tablet. Bin then moves it to a landscape orientation before folding in both sides, making it look more like a phone. The power button is in a position where it can be easily accessed while in either tablet or phone mode.

To develop the device, Bin said Xiaomi had overcome a series of technical problems such as flexible folding screen technology, four-wheel drive folding shaft technology, flexible cover technology, and MIUI adaptation.

The company is considering naming the phone either Mi Dual Flex or Mi MIX Flex, though its open to suggestions from the public.

Importantly, Bin said Xiaomi would consider making a mass production machine in the future if people "like it," but with Samsung, LG, Oppo, Royole, and Huawei all confirmed or rumored to be working on similar devices, it would be surprising if Xiaomi didnt join the partyespecially as its bendy phone looks pretty good.
WTF?! Would you be prepared to pay $20 to view online porn? And how would you feel about that money funding, among other things, a border wall? This unusual scenario has been proposed by an Arizona state lawmaker, who wants makers and distributors of internet-connected devices to ensure they come with pornography-blocking software.

Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, introduced House Bill 2444 this week. It would require devices such as computers and phones to come with software "that renders a website that displays obscene material inaccessible by default."

Fans of xHamster and PornHub who want their fix would not only need to hand over $20 to the Arizona Commerce Authority, but also submit a request to the device distributor and provide proof that they are aged 18 or over. Additionally, retailers could ask for an additional fee on top of the twenty bucks.

That $20 would establish the John McCain Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Fund," which will fund several programs through grants. The first of the ten initiatives is the building of the border wall. Heres the full list (via Gizmodo):

1. Build a border wall between Mexico and this state or fund border security.

2. Provide physical and mental health services.

3. Provide temporary and permanent housing placements.

4. Assist victims in employment placement, education and employment training.

5. Prevent and protect victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, prostitution, divorce, child abuse and sexual assault.

6. Assist school districts.

7. Compensate crime victims.

8. Fund shelters and dream centers.

9. Pay for family counseling and rehabilitation.

10. Assist law enforcement.

Websites that allow access to prostitution and revenge porn will also be blocked and retailers must create a way for people to report any obscene material that the filter misses. Failure to block these reported cases within a reasonable time will result in a fine of $500 per site for the distributor.

The bill requires at least a two-thirds majority of the State House and State Senate to pass. Phoenixs Fox 10 reports that Griffin is its only sponsor.

Main image credit: Chess Ocampo via Shutterstock
The big picture: As the effects of human-caused climate change continue to impact the planet in more profound ways, Apple believes this will help iPhone sales. They anticipate customers will be looking for increased confidence in a mobile device that can alert them of danger and potentially save them in a disaster situation.

A non-profit environmental disclosure organization called CDP commissioned many top companies to provide a report on their company's environmental impact as well as how climate change might affect them. They received responses from more than 7,000 companies around the world, including 1,800 in the US.

Since the Trump administration continues to roll back policies meant to protect the environment, industry has slowly been preparing for what is to come. Many responses to CDP were to be expected, such as insurance companies planning for higher payouts and telecommunications companies worrying about their infrastructure getting knocked out. Disney for example is worried that rising temperatures may deter guests from staying at their parks. Intel and Coca-Cola both worry that droughts could increase costs.

Apple was one of the companies that saw climate change as a potential room for growth though. Features like the flashlight, weather predictions, and emergency contacts can all be very helpful in times of danger and Apple believes a growing number of customers will want these. Their response included the following statement:

As people begin to experience severe weather events with greater frequency, we expect an increasing need for confidence and preparedness in the arena of personal safety and the well-being of loved ones [... Apple's devices] can serve as a flashlight or a siren; they can provide first aid instructions; they can act as a radio; and they can be charged for many days via car batteries or even hand cranks.

Most of the report was not made public and Apple declined to comment further. They did however receive an "A" rating from CDP on their current environmental performance along with 29 other US firms. Other companies that anticipate a benefit from climate change include those in the healthcare and building materials industries.

Given the current administration's lack of concern for the environment, we can all expect to see the effects of climate change in the products we buy unless drastic changes are made in the near future.


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A new year means a fresh start, but it doesn't mean that old threats will go away. In fact, in the world of cybersecurity things could get far worse before they get better. Cybercrime continues to increase, as it allows nefarious actors to operate at a safe distance from victims -- and more importantly, law enforcement.

Because it rarely is violent in nature, cybercrime often doesn't get the same response from international law enforcement as other types of crimes. It is far from victimless, however. It is a threat of enormous magnitude, with the potential to affect nearly every company in the world. It even ranks as one of the biggest problems plaguing mankind.

On a global basis, cybercrime will cost US$6 trillion annually by 2021, double the toll of 2015, according to the Official 2019 Annual Cybercrime Report from Cybersecurity Ventures.

This is the largest amount of money generated by illicit means, and it could represent the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history. Cybercrime soon will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined!

Cybercrime is not one thing. It is many -- and fighting it requires understanding the various shapes it comes in. Following is a look at the various types of cybercrime, and things that can be done to fight it.

Phishers Continue to Cast Their Lines

One of the original cybersecurity threats hardly has evolved, but it is unlikely to go away anytime soon.

"Phishing will always continue as long as it works," warned Satya Gupta, CTO of Virsec, a developer of data security software.

In 2019 we can "expect it to become more targeted and specific to organizations," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"Phishing is here to stay because it's simple, it's cheap, and it will work as long as people continue to read their emails," noted Matan Or-El, CEO of Panorays, a provider of third-party security management.

"Users should be on guard against downloading applications from untrusted sources," warned Will LaSala, director of security solutions at OneSpan.

"Phishing remains an easy mechanism to harvest logins and email addresses and potentially passwords, and users should continue to adopt multifactor authentication for all their accounts to help protect against phishing attacks," he told the E-Commerce Times.

This is among the biggest cybersecurity threats, but it also could be one of the easiest to stop, as it relies on human error to work. It is typically just social engineering, rather than complex coding.

"Companies should train their employees on the risks of phishing attacks and how to avoid them," said Mike Bittner, digital security and operations manager for The Media Trust, a firm that provides real-time security for digital properties.

"This type of training should be part of creating a culture that makes cybersecurity a strategic imperative across the organization," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Ransomware on the Rise

Tied closely to phishing scams is the growing threat of ransomware, which can lock a user, or even an organization, out of a computer or network. Even more concerning, it may not be just computer systems or networks that are at risk.

"Ransomware isn't going away; in fact, we will probably see even more of it targeting consumers in 2019," said Hank Thomas, CEO of Strategic Cyber Ventures.

"This will be ransomware at scale, targeting a wider swath of middle class Americans that are equally eager to make the problem go away with a quick payment as corporate America was," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Corporate targets likely will remain in the crosshairs of those who find this an effective illicit business strategy, and due diligence may not be enough to stop all the threats.

"Healthcare remains, by far, the No. 1 target for ransomware, with more than half of all attacks targeting healthcare directly," warned Pravin Kothari, CEO of cloud security software company CipherCloud.

"Ransomware will also continue as long as there are underprotected systems with data that hasn't been adequately backed up," said Virsec's Gupta.

"However,ransomware threats are increasingly being used as red herrings to distract from other types of attacks on critical infrastructure," he added.

The greatest danger of ransomware, once again, isn't that it will block user access to data, but that it could make the leap to any connected device -- from automobiles to smart homes. The Internet of Things has opened a brave new world for hackers to lock users out of!

"Businesses need to begin to secure their IoT mobile and Web applications with the same controls that are being deployed for other markets, like multifactor user authentication, and application shielding and secure user onboarding," said OneSpan's LaSala.

So far that hasn't happened, and many users may not expect that their cars, thermostats and doorbells need the same level of security as their PCs.

"People have already been affected by IoT and automobile exploits, but so far there isn't big money to be had from it, so the scale of this activity remains small," noted Jim Purtilo, associate professor in the computer science department at the University of Maryland.

"We'll see just how weak are IoT protections, just as soon as it is in the interests of an aggressor to trigger chaos," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Here is where healthcare could face a one-two punch.

"In the case of healthcare, many medical devices are also IoT devices," CipherCloud's Kothari told the E-Commerce Times.

"They have closed operating systems, proprietary code, and wireless connectivity," he added. "These devices are essential to healthcare operation and are likely to be targeted as the cyberwar on hospitals escalates."

Protecting the Cloud

The movement of more and more data off site to cloud-based services could direct cybercriminals to the cloud as well. Because their data is off site, many businesses wrongly may assume that it is secure, but that faith may be unwarranted. Choosing a cloud provider should come down to the level of security it provides, and its track record in keeping data secure.

"The cloud is really more like a swamp of data, and it's not this idealistic place of security rainbows and data unicorns," warned Strategic Cyber Ventures' Thomas.

"Nobody really wants to trudge through it, but you know it's where the best treasure probably is," he added. "So it just might be worth it to spend a lot more time there, since the security is often really just a bunch of annoying mud, mosquitoes and thorns that are more of a nuisance than real security."

The question now is whether enough really is being done to keep data secure. The cloud holds treasures comparable to those of Fort Knox, but in many cases it lacks the same level of security.

"Effective cloud security requires strong protection at the application layer, particularly with externally facing Web, mobile and API application assets," suggested Franklyn Jones, CMO at Cequence Security, a venture-backed cybersecurity software company.

"These are prime targets for the growing number of automated bot attacks," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"These attacks are nearly impossible to detect with traditional security tools because they involve the use of legitimate user names and passwords, not malware or APTs," Jones added. "Therefore, cloud security architectures need to include tools that can detect the underlying behavior and intent of application transactions, which is essential to stop malicious automated bots."

The Rising Threat of Digital Ad Fraud

One of the lesser-known types of cybercrime is one few people know much about, but one that affects more and more people each year. Digital ad fraud makes it difficult for online content publishers to generate revenue.

Advertisers lose an estimated $19 billion to fraudulent activities each year -- equivalent to $51 million daily -- according to a report from Juniper Research published last year.

More worrisome is the forecast that ad fraud could reach $44 billion by 2022. The bulk of fraudulent ads affect video, but all content providers online, including newspaper publishers, are potential victims of ad fraud.

This has reached a point where law enforcement is taking it seriously.

The Department of Justice last year announced a 13-count indictment against eight men for various cybercrimes, including what the FBI identified as the biggest-ever ad fraud investigation. The group, which has been dubbed "3ve" (pronounced "eve"), included six Russian nationals and two Kazakhstani citizens.

"In digital advertising, the most common scams take the form of malicious or hijacked ads redirecting Internet users to phishing pop-ups that enable bad actors to commit identity and credit card theft," said The Media Trust's Bittner.

"In such attacks, bad actors pose as legitimate advertisers and use a compromised site to propagate phishing scams," he said. "All organizations are vulnerable to these attacks, which can have multiple phases as the first attack opens up the organization to later ones."

The (Crypto) Currency of Cybercrime

It is now probably safe to say that 2018 didn't exactly become the year of cryptocurrency -- at least to the degree many had suggested. However, it was the year that cryptocurrency became a key tool in many ransomeware schemes -- including the threats that personal data would be released online unless the hacker was paid.

That particular threat turned out to be bogus, but it highlighted the fact that bitcoin and other digital currencies could offer a less-traceable way for criminals to be paid -- at least in theory.

"Cryptocurrencies remain the exchange mechanism of choice for cybercriminals who need whatever direction they can get while fleecing victims," suggested University of Maryland's Purtilo.

However, bitcoin and its rival digital currencies aren't the perfect solution for cybercriminals -- at least not yet.

"Rampant use of cryptocurrencies for illicit use is a glaring misconception," explained Strategic Cyber Ventures' Thomas.

"Bitcoin, the most widely used and secure cryptocurrency, is pseudonymous and easily traceable -- making cash a much more logical choice for many criminals," he added. "Other more privacy-centric cryptocurrencies do exist and can be used for these purposes. However, privacy is never entirely rid of traceability, and attribution is often inevitable."

There are other reasons cybercriminals may shy away from bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

"Many of these are faced with illiquid markets, making cashing out to fiat currency incredibly difficult and costly," said Thomas.

The bigger threat in cryptocurrency might not be in how it is used, but rather how it is created -- as in "mined." Bitcoin and other currencies are created by having computers solve complex mathematical equations, and this is dubbed "mining."

Criminals often remotely control computers or computer networks to take on some of the computer processing. This ties to other nefarious threats, such as phishing or ad fraud, in which users are directed to an illicit website that runs Javascript on a webpage that then turns a user computer into a remote miner.

"Cryptojacking attacks played a very major role in cybersecurity last year," said The Media Trust's Bittner.

"Cryptojacking has surpassed ransomware as a pervasive digital threat in many countries. Although cryptocurrency has failed to reach the critical mass many had earlier predicted, malicious actors will continue to use cryptojacking for its stealth and relative ease," he warned.

"The fact that cryptojacking requires no interaction with the unknowing victim makes attacks easier to deliver and possible to repeat," Bittner said. "Cybercriminals may draw from the well again and again."

The Next Thing in Cybercrime

A pressing concern with cybercrime and cybersecurity is not what criminals are involved with today, but what they might target tomorrow and beyond.

"The scams I would worry about the most are the ones the good guys haven't dreamt up and prepared for yet," said Thomas.

"The scenarios are essentially limitless, with the number of criminals and intelligence services around the world constantly looking to gain access to Western enterprises and users," he added.

"Consumers -- average-Joe Americans without much of any real security -- will remain most vulnerable, but aren't the biggest target," noted Thomas. "Lucrative business and government targets will keep that honor in 2019. Phishing will continue to be a popular and efficient avenue of approach to gain entry to both consumer and business targets."

It appears that what works today, sadly, will continue to work for cybercriminals as 2019 unfolds.

Peter Suciu has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2012. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile phones, displays, streaming media, pay TV and autonomous vehicles. He has written and edited for numerous publications and websites, including Newsweek, Wired and FoxNews.com. Email Peter.




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Google must remove search results about medical regulators' conditional suspension of a Dutch physician in the first "right to be forgotten" case of its kind in the European Union.

After Google and Dutch data privacy watchdog Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens rebuffed the doctor's initial attempts to get disciplinary actions purged from online search results, a district court in Amsterdam sided with the surgeon.

The physician had an interest in preventing her full name from appearing in Google search engine links connected to a blacklist of doctors, the court found.

The surgeon's right to be left out of Google's search results outweighed the public's right to use the search engine to find the information, the court maintained.

Although the court acknowledged that information at the blacklist site was accurate, it stated that the pejorative name of the site suggested the surgeon wasn't fit to treat people, which was not supported by the regulators' findings.

Google as Censor

Because the blacklist site contained accurate information, it would have been an uphill battle for the surgeon to force it to take down the offending information about her.

"They didn't go after the site because they had no grounds," said Adam Holland, a project manager at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University in Boston.

However, "if they could render it invisible in Google, that's practical obscurity, which is the next best thing to taking the information down," he told TechNewsWorld.

Right-to-be-forgotten cases have placed Google in the role of a censor, observed French Caldwell, CFO of The Analyst Syndicate, an IT research and analysis group in Washington, D.C.

"The reason is it's much easier to deal with Google from a regulatory enforcement standpoint than it is to deal with millions of source sites," he told TechNewsWorld.

"Google has been made the de facto censor of Europe," Caldwell said. "That's an awful lot of power to hand over to a private company."

The European Union has been asking Google to exercise judgment in circumstances that didn't require it before, Robert E. Cattanach, a partner in the Dorsey law firm in Minneapolis, told TechNewsWorld.

"Once you put that power in the hands of a platform, where's the accountability?" he asked. "Who's going to say to Google, 'Take this down but leave this up'?"

Precedent for Professions

Without its search findings, people would have trouble finding relevant information on the medical regulator's Big Register, where its public records are available online, Google argued in the case.

However, the notion that consumers depend on Google search results to choose doctors is questionable.

"I don't think consumers are googling names, clicking on links and saying, 'Here's an unverifiable database of names. I'm going to make my doctor decisions based on that,'" suggested the Berkman Center's Holland. "That seems pretty tenuous to me."

The court initially handed down its ruling in the case last summer, but up to now, legal wrangling over whether it should be made public prevented its release.

Since then, the surgeon's attorney has tried to remove from the blacklist the details of 15 doctors who have been involved in disciplinary actions.

"This sets a precedent," Holland said, "especially for any profession that is often reviewed and likely to have these third-party sites collecting disciplinary information about the profession."

Missing Misdeeds

It's worrisome not only that important information about this particular doctor will be difficult for consumers to find, but also that other information will be obscured, said The Analyst Syndicate's Caldwell.

"I think there is a danger that people who commit deeds consumers should know about are going to have their information blocked," he said.

"It's going to have a negative impact on consumers," said Dorsey's Cattanach. "We all depend on online, reputable resources to make decisions. If you start denying that information, we aren't going to make as many good decisions."

In the United States, this decision rubs against prevailing trends toward transparency, to provide consumers with information about everything from police actions to sexual harassment violations, to rent charged in rent control areas, observed Timothy Toohey, an attorney with the Greenberg Glusker law firm in Los Angeles.

"Europeans believe a person is entitled to a fresh start," he explained.

That can be very hard in the digital age, when "one remark broadcast on the Internet can destroy a person," Toohey remarked.

Right to Be Forgotten

The "right to be forgotten" originated in a 2014 decision by the European Court of Justice in a case involving Mario Costeja Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, a Spanish man, filed a lawsuit with the court after a newspaper in Catalonia refused to delete a 1998 auction notice about his repossessed home. He argued the matter had been settled and no longer should appear in Google's search results.

The court sided with Gonzalez and ordered Google to erase links to the pages at the newspaper that contained the auction information.

In its ruling, the court noted that European citizens had the right to ask search engines to remove search result links that were "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant or excessive ... in the light of the time that had elapsed."

Since the decision, some 3 million Europeans have made right-to-be-forgotten requests.

However, the right applies only to European searches, a principle recently affirmed by the ECJ after France tried to expand the right globally.

A number of UK and international free speech groups opposed France's move, arguing that extending the power would encourage censorship in countries like China, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Ignored Potential Problems

The ECJ adopted a black-and-white position on the right to be forgotten, Cattanach said.

"They knew there would be places on the margin where ... it would make no sense, but they were intimidated by the prospect of creating exceptions, and exceptions to the exceptions, and getting bogged down forever in debate and drafting," he explained.

"So they made it an absolute right, and it trumps the rights, among others, of consumers to be given important public information about service providers," Cattahach noted. "They decided to go with that even though they knew it would create some problems."

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.


Police say a Florida woman was shot after performing a sex act in exchange for $5 and Pringles.

News 4 Jax reports the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office was called to a Shell gas station late Monday night for a report of a shooting. Police found a 46-year-old woman lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to her shoulder; she was taken to a nearby hospital.

The woman has not been identified. Her injuries were not considered life-threatening, the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office said.

According to the Florida Times-Union, the woman told investigators that a man offered her $5 and a can of Pringles potato chips in exchange for performing a sex act. Police said after she performed the act, the man demanded his money back and shot her before fleeing the scene on foot.

Police said a description of the gunman was not available. Investigators are using surveillance camera footage to try and identify the suspect.
Louisville, Ky.  A 10-year-old boy in Kentucky killed himself over the weekend after his family said he was repeatedly bullied at school.

Tami Charles found her son, Seven Bridges, hanging in his closet after returning from the grocery store Saturday morning, according to WDRB in Louisville.

Seven Bridges, a JCPS fifth-grader, took his life Saturday. His parents told WLKY Seven was bullied and JCPS could haveand should havedone more.https://t.co/sL8q1N3CHP pic.twitter.com/EYrwyGsCco  WLKY (@WLKY) January 22, 2019

Bridges was born with a bowel condition and had 26 surgeries to try to correct the problem. He previously used a colostomy bag and while he no longer needed one, he would sometimes have problems with bowel leakage, Charles said, according to the Courier-Journal in Louisville.

He sometimes smelled, Charles said, which sparked some of the bullying.

Charles and Bridges' father, Donnie Bridges, plan to sue Jefferson County Public Schools over the alleged lack of response to their sons bullying, WDRB said. Bridges was a fifth-grade student at Kerrick Elementary School in Louisville.

"JCPS: You all failed my baby," Charles said, according to WDRB.

In addition to bullying over his bowel condition, the boy had been called a racial slur and choked in the past, according to WHAS in Louisville.

Charles said she reported the incidents to the district, but little changed.

This is something that is just crushing, JCPS spokeswoman Renee Murphy said, according to Wave 3 in Louisville. This is nothing we ever want to hear. We are all devastated by this.

The district plans to investigate the bullying, the station said.

Charles said she and her husband never expected their sons issues would prompt him to turn to suicide, Wave 3 said.

We need to talk about this bullying, Charles said, according to the station. Talk about this pain. I want people to do that with their children.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- U.S. Reps. John Katko and Anthony Brindisi, standing side by side, said Monday that bipartisanship provides the path out of a partial government shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of federal employees without paychecks.

Katko (R-Camillus) and Brindisi (D-Utica) held a news conference at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport to tout a bill, introduced today, restoring pay to Transportation Security Administration employees affected by the partial federal government shutdown.

The shutdown, which is entering its fifth week, has left 800,000 employees without pay.

The Upstate New York congressmen both stressed that compromise among Congressional members like them would help the shutdown end and get legislation passed to comprehensively address immigration.

If compromise is going to happen, its going to happen from the rank and file members, Brindisi told reporters in the airports Grand Hall.

At the news conference, however, Brindisi and Katko didnt announce or present on a plan to end the shutdown.

And the pair appeared to have some differences of opinion on one proposal to reopen the government via immigration compromise.

Thats legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate that would grant $5.7 billion for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in exchange for a three-year extension of legal protection for children of parents who came to the United States illegally -- so-called DREAMers. That was a proposal Trump made this weekend.

Brindisi said he would consider approving money for a border wall if permanent protections from deportation were provided to DREAMers, in addition to other concessions. He also said he wants to review Trumps proposal and the Senate bill more completely before moving forward.

Brindisi also said he agrees that building physical barriers at certain parts of the southern border is necessary, in addition to better technology and staffing at ports of entry.

Katko said he supports the Trump and Senate proposal.

That Senate bill doesnt provide permanent protection for DREAMErs, but Katko said Democratic leaders should consider pushing for permanent protection as part of their negotiations.

They should take this opportunity. Cut this deal. And the president will note, too, that he had to pay a deep price to get what he wanted. Hes less likely to (shutdown the government) again, Katko said.

The bill introduced today by Katko and co-sponsored by Brindisi would allow the TSA to use security fee revenues to pay the salary of officers during the shutdown. About 100 TSA officers work at the Syracuse airport, and theyve gone without pay since Dec. 22.

Most federal workers who are not receiving pay checks -- those working and those on furlough -- will get back pay once the shutdown is done.

Brindisi and Katko said TSA officers have important jobs protecting passengers and the public from threats, and they often live paycheck to paycheck, making the shutdown especially hard on them and their families. Its for that reason that they deserve to get back pay and continue drawing a paycheck amid the shutdown affecting other government agencies.

Despite the weeks without pay, airports in Syracuse and the rest of Upstate New York have not experienced a plague of workers calling in sick, which has happened at some major airports across the country, said Bart Johnson, the TSAs Federal Security Director for the Upstate region.

Theres been no increase in calls out in Syracuse or Upstate, Johnson said. Theyre getting the job done.
Mark Reynolds is executive director of Citizens Climate Lobby. Kyle Thomas is the group leader of the Syracuse Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby.

By Mark Reynolds and Kyle Thomas | Special to Syracuse.com

In their well-intentioned effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, the French government announced it would increase fuel taxes to discourage driving and encourage low-carbon transportation. It did not go over well.

Violent demonstrations erupted in the streets of Paris and other French cities, forcing the government to delay for at least six months the tax hike. The protests raise concerns about public backlash against fuel taxes specifically and carbon pricing in general, and thats a huge concern. Putting an effective price on carbon is perhaps the most important tool for reducing the heat-trapping emissions that will inevitably cook our goose in a business-as-usual scenario. If nations feel they need to set that tool aside, the world has little to no chance of meeting the emissions reduction targets necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

Fortunately, there is a solution that can calm peoples fears about the financial repercussions surrounding carbon pricing policies: Give the revenue to people.

Late last session, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation to place a fee on carbon and allocate all revenue to households in the form of a monthly dividend. Under the policy outlined in their bill, known as the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 7173), a majority of families, particularly low- and middle-income, would receive more money from the carbon dividend than they would pay in increased costs associated with the fee.

The bill is sponsored by Representatives Ted Deutch (D-Florida), Francis Rooney (R-Florida), John Delaney (D-Maryland), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania), Charlie Crist (D-Florida), Dave Trott (R-Michigan) and Anna Eshoo (D-California). The sponsors who are returning in the 116th Congress say they intend to reintroduce their bill. On Dec. 19, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) introduced the Senate version of this legislation under the same name (S. 3791). Coons also says he intends to reintroduce the bill in this Congress. As bipartisan support continues to grow, this legislation stands a good chance of moving forward.

Starting at $15 per ton of carbon dioxide and increasing $10 per ton each year, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act would push the price of carbon to $100 per ton within a decade. Such an ambitious price will achieve at least 40 percent emissions reductions within 12 years. The bill targets 90 percent reductions by mid-century.

The steep rate of increase sends a strong signal to the market that will accelerate the transition, already under way, to a clean energy economy. Such an ambitious price would not be possible without returning revenue to households. In fact, a study of this policy from Regional Economic Models Inc. found this approach would actually add 2.1 million jobs to the economy in the first 10 years.

Climate scientists are clear that to avoid the worst impacts of climate change -- coastal cities under water, food shortages, more extreme weather and flooding, mass migrations, unbearable heat waves -- society must dramatically reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. That message was delivered most recently in the fourth installment of the National Climate Assessment , as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes report last fall. The IPCC report specifically mentioned carbon pricing as a way forward to effectively reduce emissions and stabilize our climate.

Here in New York state, residents are already seeing the impact of climate change with coastal events like Superstorm Sandy, and a general 71 percent increase in extreme precipitation events that has led to more frequent inland flooding such as that occurring in the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier in 2011 and 2018.

The IPCC has warned that time is running out for the world to take the unprecedented steps to ward off climate catastrophe. If the rioting in France keeps nations from implementing a price on carbon, catastrophe is assured. But with the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, American lawmakers have provided a model that can calm anxious citizens. By returning revenue to households, nations can implement carbon pricing in a way that is good for their people and good for their economies.
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Wednesday for numerous Central New York counties warning of freezing rain, sleet and snow.

The mixed precipitation warning is from 4 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, and includes Onondaga county along with Cayuga, Madison, Yates, Seneca, Southern Cayuga, Steuben, Schuyler, Chemung-Tompkins and southern Oneida counties.

Total snow accumulations are expected to be less than an inch, with up to one-tenth of an inch of ice possible. Roads may be slippery and visibility limited, the weather service says.

Winds may also gust up to 35 mph.
West Genesee School Superintendent Christopher Brown is leaving the district, the board announced today.

The district and Brown have entered into a separation agreement, which the board will consider Wednesday night at its meeting, the district announced in a statement posted on the district website today.

"We have come to this agreement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of litigation on behalf of the district against Dr. Brown or by Dr. Brown against the district,'' the statement said.

The district did not release any other details of the separation agreement.

Brown will resign effective Thursday, the statement said.

Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard is reaching out to Chris Brown tonight for comment on his decision to leave the district.

Browns departure came as the district was investigating allegations made on social media that Brown was in a relationship with an employee he supervises. It is not known if that investigation has been completed; the board president had said earlier this month it could take days to weeks to complete.

Brown took personal time while the district conducted its investigation. The boards lawyers were conducting the investigation.

Brown is one of the highest paid and most prominent educators in Central New York. He once spent a day at the White House for a summit on education and has taught college classes for future school administrators. He also is active online, sharing news and photos about the school district, its staff and students.

On Jan. 2, Browns wife, Rachel Gough Brown, posted on social media that her husband and a district employee sat at my kitchen table tonight and let me know that they are in love with each other and he is leaving me.

Chris Brown, contacted by Syracuse.com following the posts, denied having a romantic or sexual relationship with the district employee. He also sent a message to his staff

He said he and the employee are very close friends whom he confided in during a difficult period in his life. He declined to comment on what exactly happened in his kitchen that his wife discussed on social media.

Im not going into detail about what took place in my kitchen, he said. Unfortunately my private life made it into the public, but I need some privacy.

Chris Brown did confirm he had asked his wife for a divorce and said he didnt believe it was a surprise to her.

Chris Brown sent a letter to district staff also denying the romantic relationship.

"There was/is a lot out there and what I want to be very clear about is that I do NOT and did NOT have a romantic relationship with any other employee,'' he said in the letter.

"Splitting up is not easy, and causes a wide range of emotions and actions,'' he said in the letter.

Brown, 47, has been superintendent at West Genesee since 2008. He was superintendent in the Hammondsport school district prior to that.

He and his wife have two sons.

Jody Manning, OCM BOCES district superintendent, will serve as acting superintendent, the district statement said. He will not be paid while in that role, the board said. The district will search for an interim superintendent.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse Common Council will let the local Democratic Party pick who will fill a vacant seat -- an unusual move that drew criticism from the councils lone Republican member.

The council will be tasked with appointing someone to replace Susan Boyle, who is stepping down as 3rd District councilor next month to take a county job. Rather than interview candidates and decide among themselves, as theyve done in the past, the majority of councilors have agreed to appoint whoever the Onondaga County Democratic Committee endorses for the spot.

Council Majority Leader Steve Thompson said the decision to let the committee pick was reached after recent changes were made to state election law. State lawmakers last week approved consolidation of state and federal primaries, which means local primaries will happen in June this year, not September like in the past. That accelerated the time frame for local political committees to designate candidates.

The Onondaga County Democratic Committee will meet Feb. 16 to designate its slate of candidates. Thompson said the council has agreed to appoint whoever the committee picks.

We thought it would be wrong for us to take applications from individuals and [appoint] somebody a week before the committee makes a recommendation, Thompson said. Were going to allow the committee -- in this one unique time -- to do this."

That decision isnt sitting well with the councils lone Republican, Joe Carni, who called the process overtly political and ridiculous.

Carni said people of other political parties are being entirely shut out of the process, and so is he.

I just dont understand what my colleagues are doing, Carni said. It doesnt make any sense to me. In the past weve looked for whos the most qualified regardless of political affiliation...Were not giving anybody of other political persuasions a chance on this.

In the past, the council has solicited applications, accepted resumes, interviewed candidates then selected someone for a vote. None of that is required by the city charter, but its typically done anyways. The charter says only that the council will appoint a member in the case of a vacancy.

Last January, councilors face criticism from activists and council watchdogs while filling a vacancy. The city clerk had posted a request for resumes on the city website and councilors interviewed multiple candidates. Still, critics called for more transparency in the process. Councilor-at-Large Khalid Bey retorted that the council could put a gerbil there if you all agree.

The council is dominated by Democrats, who hold eight of the nine voting seats and the presidency.

The 3rd District covers the southwest and south sides of the city, including the Strathmore neighborhood and the Valley neighborhood.

So far, four Democrats have told the committee theyre interested in the job.

Maritza Alvarado, 61, is a pediatrician and former director of health for the Syracuse City School District. She is also a former executive director of the Spanish Action League, a non-for-profit.

Bryn Lovejoy-Grinnell, 38, is director of legal services for Vera House. She is an attorney who lives in the Strathmore neighborhood. She began her career in Syracuse working for Hiscock Legal Aid and has focused primarily on domestic violence advocacy in her career, she said.

Chol Majok, 33, is a former refugee who came to the United States from South Sudan as a young boy. Hes worked in former Mayor Stephanie Miners administration as director of constituent services, and for former state Sen. Dave Valesky in community engagement.

Emad Rahim, 40, is also a former refugee who fled the killing fields of Cambodia and settled in Syracuse when he was young. He is dean of social impact at Claremont Lincoln University and an associate professor at Bellevue University in Nebraska -- jobs he completes remotely from Syracuse. He serves on the boards of the Central New York Community Foundation and the Good Life Foundation, among other roles.

Both Majok and Rahim would be the first former refugees to serve on the council.

Whoever is designated and appointed will need to run to keep the seat in November. Others could run a primary campaign against the appointee for the Democratic nomination in June.

Only committee members who live in the citys 3rd district will get a say in the designation vote.

Boyle will step down after a Feb. 4 meeting. The council will meet again Feb. 25, at which point they could vote to appoint a new member.

The term for a district councilor is two years. The part-time job pays $21,224.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The company that paid $50 million to buy a Syracuse-based marijuana business was rejected when it sought to place a TV ad during the Super Bowl to tout the benefits of medical marijuana, according to several news reports.

CBS rejected the proposed ad from Acreage Holdings, which owns the former NYCanna LLC in New York state plus marijuana businesses in other states. Acreage had prepared an ad that showed three people suffering from health issues whose conditions improved after using medical marijuana, according to a report from USA Today that was posted on the Acreage Holdings website.

Company officials said the ad was intended to advocate further legalization of medical weed, not to promote specific products from Acreage Holdings, USA Today reported.

Based in New York City, Acreage in August 2018 acquired the Syracuse-based startup company NYCanna LLC in a transaction valued at roughly $50 million, according to regulatory filings. Acreage previously held 25 percent of the company and paid about $37 million in cash and stock to buy the rest.

NYCanna grows marijuana at the former New Venture Gear factory in DeWitt and plans to open four retail dispensaries in other New York communities. It was founded by a group that included former Syracuse Police Chief Dennis DuVal, building contractor Dino Dixie and shoe store co-owner John Vavalo. The company in 2017 won one of 10 New York state licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana. A year later, it was bought out by Acreage Holdings.

Robert Daino, who spent 13 years as president and CEO of WCNY Public Media in Syracuse, is now the chief operating officer of Acreage Holdings. Daino was an investor in NYCanna before the buyout.

The board of directors for Acreage Holdings, a publicly traded company, includes high-profile members such as former House Speaker John Boehner, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and William Weld, ex-governor of Massachusetts.

Acreage Holdings does not have any retail locations in the Syracuse area. Three other companies have opened or plan dispensaries in the area.
Lune Chocolat, the candy-maker that opened in Manlius eight years ago, has closed, according to an announcement from the business on Facebook.

The business has been sold to a former employee, who plans to reopen the confectionary in Cortland.

The owners did not immediately respond this morning to a request for comment.

We have loved every second of being in business, the Facebook message reads. Shortly after Christmas we realized that we were not the people to get our company to the next level. After speaking to a former employee who is brimming with creativity and enthusiasm we have decided to sell Lune Chocolat to her.

Barely an hour after posting, more than 75 people had commented, offering best wishes.

Mike and Emily Wolozyn originally opened their chocolate and candy company at 315 Fayette St. in Manlius. In 2015, they moved to a larger spot at 4675 Brickyard Falls Road.

Over the years, they built a loyal customer base with items such as their Abbey Hotlips (dark chocolate with rum and habanero pepper); Caramel Pyramid (dark chocolate with Madagascar vanilla caramel); and Elderberry Pancake (milk chocolate with elderberry and local maple syrup).

Some candies from Lune Chocolat, including ones with flavors like potato latke and sufganiyot (jelly donut) or sugar cookie and gingerbread. Amelia Beamish

At the newer location, Lune made chocolate from raw cocoa beans. The menu also included popsicles and homemade ice creams.

This was not an easy decision for us, the message continues. We would like to thank all who have supported Lune Chocolat over the last 8 years. We have really enjoyed getting to know each and every person who has walked thru the doors and consider ourselves fortunate that we have made so many friends.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The shooting of a 14-year-old on Ballantyne Road appears to be accidental, though the shooting is still under investigation, according to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick declined to elaborate on why he believes the shooting to be accidental, deferring to the Syracuse Police Department. The police department also declined comment beyond a statement it released earlier Tuesday.

The shooting, which was reported at 1:32 p.m. at 921 Ballantyne Road on Tuesday, left the 14-year-old girl in critical condition, police said. According to initial scanner reports, the girl was shot in the head. The girl suffered a severe head injury, Fitzpatrick said. A police release says the girl was shot in the upper part of her body.

In the initial aftermath of the shooting, several adults and children were taken out of the house at 921 Ballantyne Road. Neighbors gathered outside the police tape, which blocked off nearly the entire 900 block of Ballantyne Road.

Buckner said the girl was shot inside of the home but that he didnt know how many people were inside the house when the shooting happened.

Several officers and detectives appeared to follow a set of footprints in the snow from the back of the house at 921 Ballantyne Road behind several houses on Loomis Avenue while they investigated.

Police ask that anyone with information call the Syracuse Police Department at 315-442-5222. All calls are kept confidential. Anonymous information can also be submitted using the SPD Tips app.
Syracuse, NY -- The sister of a man murdered during a burglary in December 2017 believes the wrong teen might have taken the rap as the killer.

James Smith Jr., 33, was shot to death after four young people burst into his mothers Merriman Avenue residence looking for cash. He confronted the burglars and one opened fire.

It has seemed little in doubt that the shooter was Francis Mercado, 16. He confessed to being the shooter to police. His co-defendants all called him the shooter. He had come close to admitting to the shooting during an earlier court date. He expressed remorse in a pre-sentence report. And he sent a letter, through his lawyers, admitting that he panicked and killed Smith during the Dec. 12 confrontation inside 311 Merriman Ave.

But Smiths sister, Tanjula, isnt buying it.

I think you are taking the fall for what somebody else did, she told Mercado during sentencing today. Just tell the truth.

Mercado, in response, said he couldnt say who really killed Smith.

Tanjula Smiths comments led to a private conference between state Supreme Court Justice Gordon Cuffy and lawyers on both sides. Afterward, sentencing continued as planned.

Prosecutor Lauren Phelps maintained that the evidence proved Mercado was, in fact, the shooter. The judge agreed. Both pointed to evidence at a co-defendants trial that Mercado had brought his own gun with him that day.

In his recent confession, Mercado claimed that he hadnt wanted to participate in the crime and had been given a gun at the last minute by someone else. When the group burst into the upstairs apartment, Smith confronted them.

(Mercado) panicked, and shot James Smith to protect his safety, defense lawyer Tom Ryan said today.

But Cuffy said the credible evidence was that Mercado brought his own gun. He took exception to the idea that the burglars acted in self defense after being confronted by a large man in his familys own home.

The victims had a right to be secure in their homes, Cuffy said. I dont care how big James Smith is.

James Smith Jr.

Mercado pleaded guilty in December only after the oldest of the burglars, Michael Smyre, 25, was convicted of murder after a trial for orchestrating the deadly home invasion. Prosecutors say Smyre told others beforehand: If anything happens, shoot him. Smyre was sentenced last week to 25 years to life in prison.

Mercado had previously backed out of a murder plea midstream, telling the judge that he did not kill" Smith.

Much of the evidence about what happened came from four other cooperating witnesses, who pleaded guilty to burglary charges in exchange for testimony against Mercado and Smyre.

Quinton Gathings, 19, will get 15 years in prison after cooperating. Jonathan Mejia, 15, will get 3 1/3 to 10 years in prison (less because he was under the age of 16 at the time). And Cameron Webster, 18, who did not enter the house, will get 10 years in prison for participating. A fourth teen, Tyrone Byrd, 18, was also supposed to get 15 years for burglary, but reneged on his promise to cooperate and still faces a murder charge.

Smiths sister apparently believes that the others may have coordinated their testimony to pin the murder on Mercado.

For his part, Mercado apologized for his role in court today, without actually saying he pulled the trigger. Im sorry. I was young. I was emotional. I know youll never forgive me, but its worth trying, he told Smiths family. Thats when he added: I know you really want to know who really did it. But I cant.

Cuffy then sentenced Mercado to 25 years to life in prison, the maximum punishment for second-degree murder. (Phelps, the prosecutor, noted that Mercado could have been charged with first-degree murder, but was not due to his young age.)

After court, Tanjula Smith was asked if she still doubted Mercado pulled the trigger. Yes, I do, she said.
DEWITT, NY - A new medical pot dispensary is being proposed along Erie Boulevard East in DeWitt, planners confirmed.

The dispensary would be the second Syracuse-area location for MedMen, a California marijuana management and consulting firm which operates a dispensary at 1305 Buckley Road in Salina. It has been open for three years - MedMen bought it in January 2017 from Bloomfield Industries.

The proposal calls for tearing down the old Tokyo Seoul sushi bar and Korean BBQ restaurant, at 3180 Erie Blvd. E., and building a new 5,555-square-foot building. Tokyo Seoul closed in 2017 after 20 years in operation.

MedMen officials could not be reached for comment. There is no word on a target opening date.

No special permit is required, although the proposal must undergo site plan review, DeWitt planners said.

MedMen, based in Culver City, CA, has stores throughout California, along with operations in Arizona, Nevada and New York. Several are coming to Florida.

In New York, MedMen operates shops in Buffalo, Manhattan, Long Island and Syracuse.

New Yorks medical marijuana program requires patients to have one of about a dozen severe medical conditions to qualify for access.

According to the New York State Department of Health online list, there is a medical marijuana dispensary operated by Etain LLC at 2140 Erie Blvd. E. in Syracuse, and another in Liverpool, operated by PharmaCann at 642 Old Liverpool Road.
Volney, N.Y. -- The company that is buying Sunocos ethanol plant near Fulton says it will spend up to $100 million to create a green tech campus for renewable fuels.

Its the perfect campus, with that 130 acres, said Jeff Cosman, CEO of Attis Industries Inc. Were going to increase production, increase efficiency and build the most comprehensive green tech renewable energy campus.

Attis, which is headquartered in Milton, Georgia, near Atlanta, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to by Sunocos ethanol plant at the site of the former Miller Brewery in Volney for $20 million. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. It is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

Only about half of the 130-acre site off Interstate 481 just south of Fulton is being used by Sunoco, which leaves plenty of room to expand production, Cosman said.

In addition to increasing production of corn ethanol, Attis plans to produce other bio-based fuels and products such as plastics, using trees, plants and waste matter, Cosman said. Production is expected to start in two years, he said.

"Were talking about an $80 million to $100 million capital investment," he said.

He said the investment will also lead to the creation of about 100 jobs, he said.

Were going to need those jobs, and theyre fairly high-paying bio-refinery jobs, said Cosman.

Attis also plans to open bio-fuel production facilities in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, according to Cosman.

We see this as a national as well as a global type of advancement, he said.
Well, my whole adult life has been about patriotism and honorable service in the military, in law enforcement and in private business. I believe and stand for the words to God Bless America.
Click the image above to watch the video

In todays weather forecast we are expecting a few showers developing in the late morning, possibly heavy or thundery from afternoon. Westerlies will be changing to southeast in the afternoon.

Its a one-clothing layer day today with a high of 27 and an overnight low of 16 degrees. Humidity is 73 per cent.

High tide is at 10am and low tide at 4.20pm (Tay St). Theres a sea swell of 0.3m and sea temperature is 20 degrees. Sunset tonight is at 8.31pm.

If youre going fishing the next best fish bite time is between 3 and 5pm.

On this day in NZ history in 1865 British troops invaded south Taranaki. Over a thousand troops commanded by Duncan Cameron set out on what was to be the generals final campaign in New Zealand.

In 1980 the Soviet ambassador was expelled. The New Zealand government ordered the Soviet Unions ambassador, Vsevolod Sofinsky, to leave the country within 72 hours after he allegedly delivered money to the pro-Soviet Socialist Unity Party.

On this day in world history in 41 shortly after declaring himself a god, Caligula was assassinated by two Praetorian tribunes.

In 1722 Czar Peter the Great capped his reforms in Russia with the Table of Rank which decreed a commoner could climb on merit to the highest positions.

In 1848 gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at his partner Johann August Sutters sawmill on the South Fork of the American River, near Coloma, California.

In 1946 the UN established the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1965 Winston Churchill died from a cerebral thrombosis at the age of 90. In 1980 in a rebuff to the Soviets, the United States announced its intentions to sell arms to China.

Today is the birthday of Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia; noted for his social reforms and leading Prussia in military victories. Born in 1712 he once said A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.

To get involved in activities around the Bay of Plenty, please check out our Whats on page.

Have a great day!
Since the rescue helicopter service was pulled from Rotorua as a base late last year, local skies have been busy  day and night.

Hardly a day has passed since the Christmas/New Year holiday period, when helicopters have not landed on the pad at Rotorua Hospital with patients admitted for treatment. Or in one recorded instance, a helicopter from Tauranga has flown to Rotorua to tend a patient here.

The choppers have left either Tauranga or Taupo to transport patients from various parts of the Bay of Plenty.

Despite assurances at a political level, few believe Rotorua is better off without the helicopter service.

Certainly, members of the imminent formation Rotorua Rescue Helicopter Trust dont think so.

The review cut only Rotorua from a broadly-based North Island service. Initially, incandescent with rage, a Rotorua delegation headed by Lakes DHB chairman Deryck Shaw and Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick marched on Parliament.

They were given assurances the services would he retained. On their return, Philips suddenly announced the service was to be cut, with Tauranga and Taupo retained. The decision led to a launch pad of strident protest from Rotorua.

If the politicians had lost their will to fight for the area  Steve Chadwick was quoted as saying she was assured that Rotorua would not be disadvantaged by not having a helicopter based locally  several prominent citizens had not.

Flying times may have convinced her. And knowledge twin-engine helicopters would reach critical destinations quickly, with modernised on-board equipment to deal with emergencies.

At least that appears the line trotted out by Philips, which on its website pleads for money much like Lord Kitcheners famed your country needs you mantra of World War 1.

Under whats termed as optimal flying conditions, Rotorua is 14 minutes flying time from Tauranga, 18 minutes from Taupo and 26 minutes from Hamilton.

This doesnt take into account the number of flights from Rotorua into the Bay of Plenty hinterland and limited hospital resources in Taupo, from which often patients are transferred to Rotorua.

At least in one quarter, a review of the service was needed.

Bay of Plenty Community Trust  which trades under BayTrust - chief executive Alistair Rhodes, which trades under BayTrust, says a review was overdue by some 10 to 15 years.

It approved grants to the Philips Search and Rescue Trust, which received a $50,000 wedge in 2017. Alistair has confirmed no application was received from the rescue trust in 2018, prompting thoughts the trust had made its decision to cull the Rotorua service long before it was made public.

That Philips retained is bases in Tauranga and Taupo incurred ire from within Rotorua, leading to an informal meeting of a community leaders bent on reinstating the helicopter schedule which had been intrinsic to Rotorua since 1992.

Then, the essentially district-wide service operated from Rotorua Airport before someone had the bright idea of constructing a helipad on land adjacent Rotorua Hospital.

The pad overlooks Kuirau Park, which proved an ideal corridor for landings.

With tourism passenger Cessna aircraft flights and now helicopters  not forgetting scheduled commercial flights  the Rotorua skies did resemble a small window of the Battle of Britain on a busy day.

Why Rotorua seemed ruthlessly cut from the service can be explained politically. The dying throes of the Clark-led Labour Government had decided to cut Rotorua some 11 years ago.

But this notion came under review in the Key National years, which could have reversed the decision. Last year, the new Labour-led government approved the proposal to cut Rotorua, apparently despite assurances to the local delegation by the Minister David Clark it would not.

This hasnt prevented Todd McClay tweaking the ailerons as it were, for he has dogmatically tried to reinstate the service as he has been central to local moves in forming a local trust, acting as the settlor.

That trust has been chaired by Rotorua businessman Mark Mortimer, who heads a group of such notables as retired pilot Ron Taylor, surveyor Luke Martin and Sandra Kai Fong, a lawyer and elected member of the patrician Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust. Another is prominent businessman Paul Sumner, a timber merchant, who donated generously to the construction of the helipad and hangar.

Sandra Kai Fong and Luke Martin, once fixed term trustees of the Tauranga-based BayTrust, were strong advocates for funding to the Phillips service in Rotorua.

Once formed, Mark Mortimer, with 12 years experience as air crew, is expected to chair the committee.

Meanwhile, the BayTrusts chief executive officer, Alistair Rhodes, who also has experience in the airline industry and was for a time chief executive at Rotorua Airport, says he felt a review of the service was 10-15 years overdue.

The trust had funded the helicopter service for a number of years for around $20,000 to $30,000.

It also won interim naming rights concomitant to sponsorship.

But, we never really wanted it because theres no value for us selling our name out there  were not like a Westpac or a Trustpower. That was supposed to be on an interim basis, and that was about 10 years ago.

We then contributed $200,000 a year, but it was only supposed to be a short-term measure while they found another commercial naming rights sponsor, which they never really found.

And then we knew about the review, about how many helicopters were needed and where they were needed around the country, was underway which we really needed to happen.

The S and R organisation was asked apropos of the review whether it required funding, since it was announced Rotorua as a base was cut.

As an interim measure, a $50,000 grant helped funding in 2017. It preceded the outcome of the review, Rhodes says.

The review dragged on for about 18 months longer than we were anticipating at this stage.

But since that application, we havent had any further applications for funding from the volunteer Search and Rescue Trust, probably because  [its] my gut instinct  they knew that the [Rotorua] helicopter was likely to be discontinued and they probably had sufficient reserves, Rhodes said.

Had they done so, Alistair says, the S and R trust would have been asked to justify the need for the funding. But they never came to us for an application.

Will the new operation, the proposed new trust when formed for Rotorua, qualify for funding?

Ive sent messages to some of the key people involved in looking at all other helicopter operations in New Zealand. Theyd be wanting to secure a naming rights sponsor you can lock up for five years and youd need $200,000-$300,000 a year out of them at least.

Not only was funding scarce for the S and R trust in the last 10 years, but negotiations with ACC and the Ministry of Health could also prove an ordeal.

Until those two key pieces are resolved its not much point having any other discussions with them until theyve resolved them.

Referring to the review Alastair Rhodes says:

Its just that it gets really political. And helicopters in New Zealand  where theyre based  is based on politics.

This review was crying out to happen about 15/20 years ago. But politics always sort of got in the way. We [the BayTrust] dont want to get involved in the review. We just said there needs to be a review round optimal bases where helicopters need to be.

Every town in New Zealand would want a helicopter runway, but you have to make calls where its efficient to operate them.
Bay of Plenty

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Not even mountains will hold Professor Lynda Johnston back.

The self-professed geographer and mountaineer with attitude and altitude is off to experience some of the worlds tallest peaks in the Himalayas before returning home to navigate the Kaimai Range, relocating from Hamilton to Tauranga.

After 18 years working for the University based in Hamilton, Lynda, a Professor of Geography in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, is heading to the Bay and plans to explore Taurangas urban diversity and socio-cultural differences, investigating how place and space influence the way people relate to, and interact with each other.

As a human geographer interested in the interactions between people and place, my research always seeks to be transformative. Geographers are very well placed to offer solutions to complex global and local problems because of our ability to understand place as dynamic and ever-changing.

Ever-changing is a befitting term for New Zealands fastest growing city.

Taurangas population is changing rapidly due to local and global economies, and accelerated patterns of migration.

Spatial proximity  in other words living side by side  can generate positive encounters yet it can also foster defensiveness.

Paying attention to different social groups, in terms of gender, sexuality, race, religion/belief, disability, age, and social class, shows the way in which public space is shaped, lived, and contested.

The projects findings will be used to understand how Tauranga can be an inclusive city, she says.

Before she has a chance to settle into her rile at the Universitys new Tauranga Campus, Lynda is embracing a different kind of geography by accompanying four Waikato University Sir Edmund Hillary scholars, recipients of the Step Higher Award, to Khumbu Valley in Nepal where they will visit schools, interact with local communities, and trek to Ama Dablam Base Camp.

As an ex-mountaineer, and having climbed in Peru, the United States, Australia and Aotearoa, the extreme terrains and conditions of the Himalayas dont faze her.

Pushing my comfort zone is the norm for me! Im totally dedicated to the students Im accompanying  two of whom are from Tauranga, one from Rotorua, and one from Hamilton  and its my goal to make sure they get the most out of the experience.

After growing up in Otago, Lynda began tramping in the South Island at age 13 before moving onto rock, ice and mountain climbing at 17.

Aside from the numerous climbing experiences in her own backyard of Aotearoa, including Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring, Arthurs Pass and Fiordlands National Park, Lynda spent three months in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, regularly climbing over 5000 metres.

Other climbing and hiking experiences include three months of intensive rock climbing in Australia and six months in Boulder, Colorado.

Over the years, Lynda has had a range of jobs that have all helped shaped her career, including Outward Bound instructing in the US, being a customs officer, sheep farming, retail and cleaning.

This diversity of work experience has aided my understanding of place, peoples access to resources, and wellbeing, she says.

Her career is anything but linear, and while working at a university was something she never anticipated, her core principles of equity, justice and difference are all at the heart of her teaching, research and academic leadership.

Having published four books, two sole-authored and two jointly authored, nearly 50 journal articles, more than 20 book chapters, and numerous research reports, Lynda is internationally recognised as a researcher who works with and for marginalised communities, committed to social justice, equity and embodied difference.

Her research has focused on the ways various forms of discrimination and marginalisation, such as sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, and ableism, shape peoples everyday geographies, structure the resources available to them, and influence who they become.

Lynda is President of the New Zealand Geographical Society and Chair of the Gender and Geography Commission of the International Geographical Union.

She discovered a love of geography in high school when a teacher taught her to see the world in different ways. She is now teaching her own students to do the same.

She has supervised more than 20 PhD and 15 masters students.

Every day, I am inspired by students, whether they are first-year undergraduate or PhD students. They bring energy, ideas, and lived experiences to each learning environment. Guiding, encouraging, supporting and challenging students to think critically about our ever-changing world is hugely rewarding, says Lynda.

Lynda is no stranger to the Bay. In her roles as Deputy Dean and Associate Dean Academic of Te Kura Kete Aronui (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), she has been part of the Tauranga Academic Working Group for the past two years, assisting with the development of academic programmes in region.

Along with my colleagues and our communities, my focus is to increase the international profile and reputation of the University of Waikato in Tauranga. Im keen to see that our excellent teaching and research meets the needs of people in the Bay of Plenty region, she says.
The percentage of black voters is reduced by nearly 12 percent in the 95th, represented by Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, as Grofman removes the panhandle snaking up the northeast side of Newport News and gets rid of Prices constituents in Hampton by putting her district entirely in Newport News. The 95th was one of the districts the federal court said was racially gerrymandered in 2011, and VPAP anticipates itll move 13.7 points to the right.
What conflicts will be most prominent in 2019? Below are our estimate of the ten situations most likely to result in continued violence and clickbait headlines. Some are potentially more dangerous than others but it is difficult to measure that kind of risk. It is possible to eliminate two major sources of headlines; Russia and China. Both of these nations have nukes and a lot of disputes with neighbors. Yet both of these nations have rational leaders, at least when it comes to avoiding major conflicts. Russia was dismayed when its aggression against Ukraine in 2014 led to sanctions by its largest trading partners. Then came an unrelated permanent plunge in world oil prices that has done more damage than the sanctions. China has avoided more sanctions so far and befitted from the lower oil prices. But China has unrelated internal political, economic and demographic problems that make any major conflict suicidal for the current communist leaders. But like the leaders of Russia and Pakistan, the Chinese find it useful to create some foreign threats to distract their populations from internal problems. This is an ancient tactic that delays having to deal with internal problems at the risk of escalating into a real war. In terms of risk Russia and China are more smoke than fire. The ten situations discussed below are most definitely very dangerous although some are not so great as clickbait.

Islamic Terrorism

ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) may be greatly diminished but various al Qaeda franchises (in central Africa, Yemen, Syria and South Asia) are still very active and so are various Islamic terror groups that have been around a long time in places like Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, northern Africa, the Persian Gulf and the Caucasus where they concentrate on non-Moslems or Moslems considered heretics. Some of these groups have been terrorizing their neighbors for centuries. What is different now is that most Moslem rulers recognize that this sort of thing does no one any good and is bad for Islam. Even the new ruler of Saudi Arabia accepts this and is seeking a solution that makes things better and not worse. The problem is that there is no one recognized (by even a majority of Moslems) authority on what (if anything) defines acts that justify Islamic terrorism. So the Islamic terrorism will still be out there in 2019 and beyond. Rising affluence, literacy and access to global media and the Internet has made Islamic terrorism more visible and more likely to occur outside Moslem majority areas. It will lead to some better educated Islamic terrorists but also to more Moslems abandoning Islam. That is a capital crime in many Moslem majority states and that sometimes means execution or murder by mob.

Greater Syria And The Levant

The Syrian civil war is not over but it is entering its third phase, which may involve the rest of the Levant (Lebanon and Israel). The first phase was in 2011-2 when the majority of Syrians turned against the Assad government. The Assads seemed doomed. But then the various rebel groups began spending more time fighting each other than the Assads. It got worse when ISIL showed up in 2013 and did not end until ISIL was eliminated as a major threat by the end of 2017. Now the factions are rearranging themselves for continued fighting. Already Turkish troops are fighting, or threatening to attack Kurds in northwest Syria while American troops prepare to leave the Kurdish northeast if the Turks and Russians will agree to deal with the remaining Islamic terror groups. But Turkey has proved unreliable and Russia has not got the troops in Syria to make a difference by themselves. Russia is there to provide air and logistics support for the Syrian government. The Syrians are battle weary and also dont have sufficient ground forces to deal with the Kurds and remaining Islamic terror groups. This leaves Iran, which has paid for a large army of Shia mercenaries who are there mainly to establish bases from which to attack Israel. That leaves Israel, the most powerful military power in the region, to deal with the Iranian threat. Israel has told Iran to get out of Syria or face continued air attacks and special operations that will further embarrass the religious dictatorship that has ruled Iran since the 1980s and thought declaring war on Israel was a good idea. Most Iranians disagree with that and are out in the streets for over a year now making their opposition quite visible. This is a very volatile situation that does not present many good options.

North Korea

North Korea is not a major threat because it might invade South Korea or use its nuclear weapons. The more likely threat, especially to China, is that the North Korean economy and government will collapse to the point that there is no effective government at all. At that point, millions of North Koreans will find they can flee to China, Russia or South Korea. Most of these refugees will get to China where they will be an unwelcome and expensive presence. Worse, the Chinese will probably realize it is in their best interests to go in and clean up, as best they can, the mess that used to be a fellow communist dictatorship. That invasion might lead to disputes, or worse, with South Korea. North Korea has been sliding towards this disaster since the 1990s and its not a question of if but when something blows up. The leaders of China and North Korea have indicated they both realize the danger but that may not be enough. The Chinese have other problems, most of them economic and domestic. North Korea still has a large army, chemical and biological weapons and some unreliable and primitive nuclear weapons and the option to carry out a suicidal attack on South Korea. It is a volatile and unpredictable situation that could end badly.

Venezuela

This country has the largest oil reserves of any nation on the planet. But it also has one of the most corrupt, ineffective, lawless and clueless governments in the world. Venezuela has become a home base for drug cartels, Iranian Islamic terrorists and Chinese investors seeking a long term relationship. Drug gangs already exercise considerable power in Venezuela and leftist rebels from Colombia have moved in to exploit new opportunities. No one, not even major creditors (China and Russia) want to intervene directly. The neighbors do not want to intervene as that is not the accepted way of handling these things. However, the neighbors are faced with a choice of either intervening to deal with the chaos and violence or do nothing and wait for the chaos and violence to come to visit at intolerable levels. There might be a military coup as there have already been minor outbreaks of violence or organized disobedience by the security forces. Whatever happens here during 2019 it is unlikely to be peaceful.

Iran

Iran is at war on multiple fronts including another nationwide popular outburst against the religious dictatorship running the country. There was some of this popular protest in 2009 that called for fair elections and one in 1999 seeking freedom of speech. Those two were put down with force. But the latest outburst, that began at the end of 2017 and continues, specifically calls for withdrawal from foreign wars and paying more attention to economic problems at home. Protestors were, for the first time, calling for the corrupt religious rulers to be removed, killed if necessary. Some protestors call for a return of the constitutional monarchy the religious leaders replaced in the 1980s (after first promising true democracy). The popular uprising was quickly contained but not shut down and the government found that its many wars had also turned sour. Before the 2017 nationwide protests, the religious rulers saw Iran on the way to some major victories in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. That optimism turned out to be premature. The good times were supposed to begin in the wake of a July 2015 treaty that lifted the many sanctions Iran operated under. The government got a lot more money but did not apply most of it to improving the Iranian economy. Instead, a lot of that cash was stolen by corrupt officials or diverted to the many foreign wars. Foreign economists believe that because of this the Iranian economy wont get moving again until the 2020s. Still unresolved is the other problem that bothers Iranians; an Islamic conservative minority with veto power over any attempts at reform from within. Independent reformers are considered enemies of the state by the ruling clerics. Most Iranians just want a better life. There are some more complications. Half the population consists of ethnic minorities (mainly Turks, Kurds and Arabs), and some of these groups (Arabs, Kurds and Baluchis) are getting more restive and violent (for different reasons). Meanwhile, the Islamic conservatives are determined to support terrorism overseas and build ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons at home, rather than concentrating on improving the economy and living standards and addressing the corruption within their ranks. Expensive efforts to aid pro-Iran groups in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon have had some success and are justified as examples of the ancient Iranian empire being reborn. The government sees these foreign adventures as a way to distract an unhappy population. That has backfired and these foreign wars tend to be a losing proposition and in Syria the loss could be spectacular because the main adversary is Israel. The nukes are still important because Iran has been increasingly vocal about how Iran should be the leader of the Islamic world and the guardian of the major Islamic shrines (Mecca and Medina) in Saudi Arabia. Iranians believe that having nukes would motivate the Arabs to bow down and Israel to disintegrate. The Arabs have been kicked around by the Iranians for thousands of years and take this latest threat very seriously. That has led to a major reform effort in Saudi Arabia with a new generation of leaders willing to take on corruption and which alliances really benefit the Saudis. That has resulted in openly working with Israel to deal with Iranian aggression. This has made victories in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen less likely and an increase in anger among most Iranians more likely. This mess is unlikely to resolve itself peacefully.

Afghanistan

The major threat in Afghanistan remains the drug trade and largely Pushtun (the largest tribal minority in Afghanistan) drug gangs that are seeking to turn the country into a narco-state dominated by the wealthy and heavily armed drug lords. This is where Afghanistan was headed in early 2001 as the Taliban struggled to gain control over the entire country and were largely financed by taxes from the drug gangs. Then as now, Islamic terrorism is portrayed as the main problem in Afghanistan but what makes the Islamic terrorists so potent is the money they obtain by serving as hired guns by the drug gangs. The second major problem in Afghanistan is Pakistan, which considers Afghanistan a problem to be handled by keeping the Afghans fighting each other. Meanwhile, Pakistan gets rich by controlling most of the drug smuggling and legitimate traffic going into and out of landlocked Afghanistan. The Americans and the rest of the world are pressuring Pakistan to curb its support for Islamic terrorism and drug gangs in Afghanistan. That is unlikely to happen as the drug trade is too lucrative for too many powerful people in both countries. Afghans know that interference by more powerful neighbors, particularly the ancient Indian and Iran empires is a recurring problem. For once the Afghans have a foreign benefactor (the Americans and NATO) that are willing to help and want nothing more than the country to be peaceful and free of the drug trade. This makes these infidel (non-Moslem) foreigners more acceptable than fellow Moslems from Iran and Pakistan (which used to be part of a larger Indian Empire). The West cannot afford to have Afghanistan remain a center of heroin production because that keeps much of Afghanistan lawless and available as a sanctuary for Islamic terrorists. Western forces can stay (and have a chance of destroying the drug gangs, something most Afghans back) or leaving the drug gangs to survive and thrive, often in cooperation with Islamic terrorists willing to provide security for cash.

Kurdistan

Despite being a formidable military force, or perhaps because of it, the Kurdish minorities in Iraq, Iran Turkey and Syria are again under pressure to back off from efforts to create an independent Kurdish state. The last few decades have given Kurds hope that their time may have finally arrived. Since the early 1990s the Iraqi Kurds have been autonomous (originally with British and American help) and they had always been more effective soldiers than the Iraqi Arabs. Some things, however, do not change. The Kurds still suffer from tribal and clan divisions as well as corruption, but to a much lesser extent than the Arabs. Thus a disproportionate number of Western trainers were sent to the Kurds in Iraq and Syria when effective allies in those areas were needed. The Kurds are considered reliable enough to work with Western commandos and protect ground control teams (that can call in air strikes). Kurds regularly assist the American and British commandos in carrying out their most dangerous tasks; reconnaissance inside hostile territory. But the Kurds have not got the manpower for large scale operations. And thats why they were pushed out of Kirkuk province in late 2017 by more numerous Iraqi Arab soldiers and militiamen. Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iran are also under attack and the Kurds have not got the numbers, or cash, to deal with all their hostile hosts.

The Kurds have had more than their share of bad breaks. Like many mid-size ethnic groups the Kurds were never able to establish their own nation and for thousands of years have been subjects of one empire (Iranian, Roman, Turkish and so on) or another. A century ago they were part of the Turkish homeland because the Turks recognized the Kurds as worthy allies (but still part of the empire). Turks even like to call the Kurds mountain Turks, a name the Kurds do not like at all. After World War I the Kurds living near the Turkish city of Mosul found that they were no longer Turkish subjects but now part of the largely Arab nation of Iraq. This was done by the victorious allies (mainly Britain and France) to deny the Turks (now a country, not an empire and reduced to its present borders) oil, which had recently been discovered in the areas around Mosul and Kirkuk. Needless to say, the Arabs, long unwilling subjects of the Turkish Empire, did not welcome the Kurds (who were often the Turkish enforcers when the Arabs got out of line). The Turks recognized and used Kurdish military skills and Arabs feared the Kurds because of that. Meanwhile, the Kurds, in general, were angry that the allied post World War I promise of a Kurdish state (once the Turks were defeated) was not kept. That was mainly because the Turks, once pushed back to their homeland, made it clear that there would be a major fight if the allies tried to keep all the promises made at the expense of the Turks. The war weary allies backed off after a brief war and the Kurds were screwed again. That was the 1920s and the basic situation has not changed much. Yet the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds feel they have a chance of holding on to their autonomous enclaves which are adjacent to each other. That is not working out. The autonomy of the Syrian Kurds is threatened by Turkey, Iran and the Syrian government. As in the past, the Kurds will not just back off. There will be blood.

Central Africa

This includes the Sahel (the semi-desert area south of the Sahara desert) and the violence in Mali, Niger and Somalia. Just south of the Sahel there are major conflicts in Central Africa proper. These include wars in Congo, Nigeria and several smaller nations inland plus Sudan, South Sudan and Kenya on the east coast. Since World War II this is where most of the violence, deaths and misery have occurred worldwide. Despite that these conflicts and their aftermath have received the least attention in the media. Not much will change in 2019.

The Pakistan Plan

In Pakistan, the military staged a silent coup since 2017 and took control of the top elected leaders, the mass media and highest courts. The Pakistani military plans to keep this power by doing what they have done for decades; create foreign threats where none exist and use that to justify the continued power, prosperity and immunity from prosecution of Pakistani military leaders. To make this work Pakistani generals have to ensure that several volatile situations do not blow up. One of the more obvious examples of this is Afghanistan, which the Pakistani military sees as a potential problem that is best handled by establishing a degree of Pakistani control over who does what in Afghanistan. Thus Pakistan created the Taliban in the early 1990s to end the civil war in Afghanistan and that had unfortunate side effects. For Pakistan, Afghanistan seems to be nothing but unfortunate side effects.

In northwest India, Pakistan claims all of Kashmir province, a dispute that has been going on since the late 1940s. Pakistan is the aggressor here and has lost several wars and a protracted Islamic terrorism campaign (carried out by Pakistan supported Islamic terror groups) has not succeeded either. The Pakistani military has made an ally of China, which also has claims on Indian territory. India has a 4,000 kilometer border with China and several portions of it are in dispute. Pakistan supports China in all of these disputes. India and China fought a short war in 1962 over their border disputes. The Indians lost and are determined not to lose if there is a rematch. But so far, the Indians have been falling farther behind China in terms of military power and infrastructure (roads and military bases near the border). This all began when China resumed its control over Tibet in the late 1950s. From the end of the Chinese empire from 1912 to 1949, Tibet had been independent. But when the communists took over China during 1949 they began to reassert control over Tibet. This began slowly, but once all of Tibet was under Chinese control in 1959 India found itself with another difficult and demanding neighbor. The main disagreement was about where the border should be. In 1914, the newly independent government of Tibet negotiated a border settlement (the McMahon line) with the British (who then controlled India.) China called this border agreement illegal and wanted 90,000 square kilometers back. India refused, especially since this would mean losing much of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. The one positive aspect of all this is that most of the disputed border is mountains, the highest mountains in the world (the Himalayas). So no matter how much you prepare for war, no one is going very far, very fast, when you have to deal with these mountains. China is seen as the more serious threat but with Pakistan and China working together, India sees the problem as even more serious. All three nations have nuclear weapons and the Pakistani ones are seen as the most vulnerable to misuse. Either the Pakistani generals will seriously threaten to use their nukes if India crosses the border to deal with the Kashmir dispute or the many Islamic terror groups Pakistani supports and provides sanctuary for will get possession of one of those nukes. Because of the corrupt and greedy Pakistani military leadership, Pakistan is stuck in a perpetual state of corruption and political uncertainty.

Palestinian Meltdown

The Palestinian efforts to destroy Israel have backfired in a big way and now the two organizations that control the Palestinians (Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza) are losing the financial and diplomatic support they have enjoyed for over half a century. The cause of this calamity is the inability of the Palestinians to form a united and effective government. Instead, they have suffered under decades of corrupt and ineffective leaders that led, in 2005, to a split with Islamic radicals (Hamas) taking control of Gaza while Fatah continued to rule the West Bank. Both factions agree on a few things; Israel must be destroyed and violence is justified to get it done. Fatah was more willing to pretend it would negotiate a peace deal with Israel but has proved to be as intransigent as Hamas about actually doing so. Fatah now openly admits it shares the Hamas attitude that peace is not possible with Israel and the only solution is the destruction of Israel.

The Palestinian problem was invented by the Arab countries when Israel declared independence in 1948 and Arab nations refused to accept and absorb Moslems who fled (mostly) from the newly created Israel on the promise of the Arab nations soon mobilizing sufficient military strength to destroy Israel, drive the Jews out and allow the refugees to return home. That never happened and it was quickly recognized that there was a serious refugee problem. The UN established a program to take care of these refugees but in a very unusual move, the 750,000 original (later called Palestinian) refugees were allowed to pass on their refugee status to their children. No other refugee group was allowed to do that by the UN and now there are calls from major donor nations (especially the U.S., which has paid for most of that special treatment from the beginning) to rescind that rule. About the same number of Jews were driven out of Moslem countries after 1948 and they were all accepted and absorbed by other nations, mainly Israel and the U.S. Since 1947 the number of Palestinian refugees has grown to five million and Arab states continue to refuse to absorb them. Many Palestinians have managed to find acceptance (and citizenship) in other nations (usually not Moslem majority ones) but few have renounced their rights as hereditary refugees. This situation was all about Arabs believing they had the right to decide who can live in Moslem territories and for them, Israel was a major offense. This is nothing new. Moslems had been driving infidels out of Islamic nations for a long time. This has not worked with Israel and the Moslem world, in general, takes this as a great offense. That was the attitude for many decades but nothing changed. In the 1960s those Arab refugees rebranded themselves as Palestinians and began seeking what their Arab sponsors had promised them, a home of their own.

Since 2005 the Arab donors have become increasingly disenchanted with the Palestinians. Even by Middle Eastern standards the corruption, ineffective government, ingratitude and double-dealing of the Palestinians had become intolerable. The Palestinians ignored years of warnings from their Arab backers and failed to maintain a united Palestinian government. This wasted a lot of the Arab aid money and the corruption among Palestinian politicians became too obvious, excessive and embarrassing even for Arab backers, who had their own problems with corruption. This was compounded by the Palestinian inability to make peace with the Israelis, who had made lasting deals with Jordan and Egypt. Worse, the Palestinians were saying to their own people, and the Arab world, that they had no intention of making peace and were dedicated to destroying Israel. This was only said in Arabic and it was only a matter of time before these print, radio and TV pronouncements would be translated and become known to the rest of the world. That has happened in the last decade and now the Palestinians have few friends in the West except for anti-Semites and some leftist groups. Worse, there is less foreign aid, which is all that kept the Palestinian scams going. At this point, the Palestinians have run out of affluent donors who are willing to give. The Palestinian leaders who ran this scam for decades have no easy (or safe, for themselves) way to change tactics without admitting responsibility for the mess. It used to be said that the Palestinian situation could not get worse but Palestinian leaders regularly defied that prediction and found a way to make things worse. Thus the Palestinian leader will call for more violence as their situation becomes more desperate. That has kept most Palestinians willing to tolerate or even act on what their leaders call for. But it is not working, except to cause more Palestinian suffering. However, the Palestinian disaster did have one positive side effect; it was seen as one of the reasons for the Arab oil states to make peace with Israel and become allies in the fight against Iranian aggression. Naturally, many Palestinians support the Iranians.
Iranian clerics occupying high government posts (like the president, parliament leaders and members of the Supreme Guardians Council) are increasingly going public with their disagreements over the future of Iran. President Hassan Rouhani (a cleric himself) is not afraid of accusing the more senior clergy of not dealing with the very real problems most Iranians live with. The senior clergy and their IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) protectors repeated their ultimate defense against criticism; that the senior Shia clergy are infallible in religious matters and Islam is all about religion controlling all aspects of life. Most Iranians care more about practical matters, like having a job or a least enough money to live. Most Iranians can do the basic math required to see why 80 percent of Iranians are, technically, living in poverty. The 20 percent who are not include a lot of clerics and their families. IRGC officers and their children tend to do quite well and are increasingly visible living well and unconcerned about how most Iranians are doing.

The most flagrant and hated corruption is found among the families of the senior clergy who run the country and the IRGC which protects the ruling clerics from the wrath of the Iranian people. A growing number of senior government officials realize what the people are mad about and secretly agree with the math. But the hardliners and most senior clergy refuse to change because they are on a Mission From God and facts dont matter.

Rouhani and the members of parliament are elected, but only candidates approved by the senior clergy can run for office. These same senior clerics (or Guardians) can veto any decision Rouhani makes or law that the parliament passes. Despite that, a lot of critics (of the Guardians) get elected and are more frequently calling out the Guardians for failing the Iranian people.

IRGC leaders were particularly harsh in criticizing Rouhani and other senior clerics who describe the IRGC as a corrupt organization. There is an element of self-interest here because Rouhani had agreed with most Iranians that the IRGC controls too much of the economy. Iranians also accuse the IRGC of backing the expensive effort to support the Assad government in Syria and create another threat to Israel. Most Iranians dont want to fight Israel and believe all the recent troubles (Mossad stealing secret documents from a government warehouse, Israel bombing numerous, and expensive, Iranian weapons shipments to Iran and killing some IRGC troops in the process) puts all of Iran in danger, not just the IRGC. Moreover, the IRGC is a wealthy organization and less likely to suffer as the Iranian economy stalls because of the possibility of war with Israel and the return of heavy sanctions.

The IRGC is currently in big trouble not because another corruption scandal but because IRGC efforts to attack Israel from bases in Syria continue to fail. At the same time, the Israelis are increasingly open about their air war against IRGC operations in Syria and it is obvious to Iranians that the IRGC is unable to defend itself or strike back with any effect. This is more than just an embarrassment for the IRGC, many Iranians fear the IRGC will continue to escalate the conflict until it demands a major attack against Israel using long-range missiles based in Iran. The Guardians Council is unlikely to approve that and most senior clerics would see this as an opportunity to cut the IRGC down to a more manageable size. Whatever happens, it will be violent and it will not make Iran look good. It might also encourage reformers inside Iran to push for more reforms. Israel and the Arab countries in the region would like to see Iran pay more attention to their internal problems than aggression against neighbors, especially Israel.

Israel is increasingly active and candid about how they are preventing Iran from establishing a permanent presence in Syria, even with American troops leaving northeast Syria. This Israeli goal has been achieved via a combination of force (air and artillery strikes on Iranian bases and personnel in Syria) and diplomacy (convincing Russia to persuade Iran to keep their forces away from the Israel border or suffer Israeli attacks the Russians will not interfere with). Other diplomatic activities involved the Americans and Arab nations. Israel sees the Syrian government leaning towards rejoining the Arab League, which is an anti-Iran/pro-Israel organization at the moment. The Arab League also opposes Turkish ambitions in the Arab world, specifically Syria.

The war in Syria is not yet won and whether it is depends more on what happens in Iran. The Americans are preparing to pull their 2,000 troops out of Syria but not their support for the large force of Syrian Kurds who did most of the fighting to destroy the ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) presence in eastern Syria. The American withdrawal was dependent on Turkish willingness to continue the fight against ISIL in Syria. The Turks backed off from doing that and were unwilling to negotiate with the Syrian Kurds.

Israel still appears to be able to carry out air strikes on targets in Syria despite the presence of the most modern Russian air defense systems. Israel does not discuss this openly. In part that is to keep secret details of how it is done. This silence is also a favor to the Russians, who dont want the bad publicity that confirmation of Israeli ability to neutralize the latest Russian air defense systems. That way Russia can continue to sell its S-300 and S-400 systems.

With the Americans leaving the SDF (Syrian Kurd rebels) is shifting its forces to face the Turks who are, and always have been, their most formidable threat. Ominously the Turks have also reinforced their forces facing the SDF. But figuring out who might attack, or support, the SDF now is not easy. The Turks do not want to fight the SDF for the very simple reason that there is not much popular support in Turkey for any operation that would get a lot of Turkish troops killed in Syria. For that reason, since the Turks crossed the border into Syrian in 2016 they have used local FSA (secular Free Syrian Army rebels) forces to do most of the fighting. What the Turks do want is to get the Kurds, especially YPG (Syrian Kurdish separatist) forces, away from the Turkish border. Going much further than 20 kilometers south of the border (at least on a permanent basis) is not part of the Turkish strategy. Turkey expects to use over 10,000 FSA fighters against the Kurds, along with Turkish tanks, artillery and air power.

Likewise, the Syrians use Iranian mercenaries (many of them Afghan Shias) for the heavy combat. The Syrian Army was never noted for its combat capabilities and after seven years of civil war, there are few Syrian combat units with much ability or willingness to carry out a successful offensive. Morale in the Syrian Army is understandably bad many current members have been in uniform since 2011 or before.

The Russians dont have sufficient ground troops to carry out a large scale offensive and the most effective Russian ground troops are Russian mercenaries because Russian popular opinion is very hostile to Russian troops getting killed in foreign wars. Iraq is now sending Iraqi troops into Syria but the Iraqis have an even worse reputation for combat effectiveness than the Syrians. There was talk of the Saudis and UAE replacing the Americans in Syria. Possible in theory but not likely in practice. The Saudis are more concerned with the Iranian threat to Saudi Arabia itself.

That leaves Israel, which is focused on Iranian forces in Syria and Lebanon and continuing Iranian public backing for the destruction of Israel. Armed with the most formidable air force and special operations troops in the region Israel is currently allied with the Gulf Arab states being threatened by Iran.

Another factor in all this is that the Syrian economy is a mess and Iran is currently the only one helping out. Syrian GDP is about half what it was in 2011 and limping along largely with the help of economic aid from Iran. The enormous expense (billions of dollars a year) has caused growing unrest in Iran and that aid may have to be cut. Gulf Arab states have expressed an interest in providing huge amounts of aid and loans for reconstruction, but only if Iranian troops and mercenaries are removed from Syria. The Arab oil states are far more capable to investing in Syria but no one is willing to put a lot of money into rebuilding Syria as long as Iran has a large military force there whose main goal is to start a war with Israel.

This presents the ruling Assad clan with a dilemma or an opportunity. Do they try and betray their long time (since the 1980s) benefactor Iran for the good of Syria or stand by while Syria remains rubble, poverty and hunger while Iran tries to take on Israel. Even Iranian allies Russia and Turkey are unwilling to invest in a potential war zone and would prefer that Iranian military forces leave Syria. Worse, for the Iranian religious dictatorship, most Iranians back withdrawal from Syria and have been openly demonstrating for that since late 2017. Taking advantage of this Syria has been openly striving to rebuild diplomatic relations with other Arab nations. This presents Iran with a major problem, one that they could see coming,

President Bashar Assad gave an interview to a Kuwaiti newspaper back in October 2018. This was the first time since 2011 that Assad had talked to a Persian Gulf Arab newspaper. Assad confirmed that he had been speaking with other many Arab League members since late 2017 and had obtained offers of assistance in rebuilding Syria and assisting Syria in becoming an active member of the Arab League once more. In late 2011 Syria was suspended from the Arab League and many of the 21 other League members cut diplomatic relations or imposed sanctions. But the Arab League was unable to do much else until now. Iran would prefer Syria remain an Iranian protectorate and occupied by Iranian mercenaries. No one but Iran seems to prefer this development. Actually, most Iranians oppose the Syrian Iranian Republic. The Turks have opposed it for centuries (and prevented Iran from advancing west of its current borders.) Israel obviously opposes the Iranian presence and so do the Arab states (mainly Saudi Arabia and the UAE) who are at war with Iran. The Russians are traditional and historical enemies of the Iranians and Syria, not Iran, has been a customer for Russian weapons and useful ally for decades. You can see where this is going, and so does the religious dictatorship that currently runs Iran.

Yemen

Another reason the war is still stalemated is Iran, which has persuaded the Shia rebels that continued resistance is possible with Iranian support and that this strategy will eventually result in lasting gains for the Shia minority in northwest Yemen. Iran might appear to be overconfident what with growing popular unrest in Iran and opposition to these foreign wars. Even though supporting Yemeni rebels is relatively cheap compared to similar operations in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq most Iranians want it all halted. At the same time, the Gulf Arabs (led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE) do not want a pro-Iran Shia Arab entity in southern Arabia and are willing to keep fighting to get what they want. There are no popular protests in the rest of Arabia about the fight against the Iran-backed rebels. There is general agreement that it is not a good idea having an Iranian ally sitting on the Red Sea coast where Iranian anti-ship missiles can mysteriously appear (along with less visible naval mines underwater) to block traffic in the Red Sea. This would be a major disaster for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel who all depend of free access to the Red Sea.

The Shia rebels and their Iranian backers are both obsessed with self-destructive, and dangerous for bystanders, goals. The Shia rebels want their autonomy back. The Sunni majority in Yemen opposes autonomy or weapons for the Shia up north because those two things have made the Shia tribes a constant source of trouble for centuries. Iran wants world domination, starting with control of Saudi Arabia and most of the Middle East. Iran also seeks to destroy Israel and the United States. Neither Iran nor the Yemeni Shia have a reputation for honoring promises, treaties or anything that limits their activities. In short, negotiations may seem smooth but compliance will be in short supply. Expect both sides to resist implementing an actual, working, ceasefire or truce.

The Shia tribes never had the degree of Iranian support they have now. That support has included large shipments of Iranian ballistic missiles and rockets. These are primarily for use against Saudi Arabia. Because of that Saudi Arabia can both identify with what Israel is going through with Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks because Iranian sponsored Shia rebels in Yemen have been firing rockets, ballistic missiles and, mortar shells and machine-gun bullets into Saudi Arabia since 2015 killing over a hundred civilians and soldiers on the border. The Saudis have found the American made Patriot anti-missile missiles very effective in stopping nearly all the ballistic missiles. The shorter range rockets are another matter and there have been discussions about obtaining the Israeli Iron Dome anti-rocket system.

This rocket and missile threat to Saudi Arabia will make negotiating a Yemeni peace deal difficult. The Yemeni Shia have always been hostile to the Saudis but now it has moved beyond that. The Saudis will not accept any peace deal that does not guarantee a halt to the rocket and missile attacks. That means more government control of the Shia tribal areas of Yemen than before the rebellion began. That will be difficult for the Yemeni Shia to accept but for the Saudis nothing less is acceptable. Continued rocket and missile attacks would be evidence of Saudi inability to defend its own borders and the Saudi citizens that live there. Iran knows this too but the UN is less concerned about that sort of thing.

January 21, 2019: In Syria, Israel carried out air and missile strikes against several Iranian military targets. This included an IRGC munitions warehouse near the Damascus airport. This warehouse complex is apparently the main IRGC supply center in Syria and the Israelis have been bombing it regularly. Also, hit were a nearby IRGC training center as well as an IRGC intelligence facility. In addition, Israel bombed Syrian air defense locations, after warning Syria that these weapons would be destroyed if Syria kept using them to interfere with Israel airstrikes. Israel hit mobile as well as fixed air defense weapons. The Syrians regularly claim that their S-200 and S-300 SAM (surface to air missiles) are intercepting Israeli aircraft and missiles but there is no evidence (wreckage) to prove it. However, firing these missiles does require Israeli aircraft to change their tactics and there is some risk that an aircraft might be damaged or destroyed. Most of these air attacks were at night and apparently, 11 military personnel, two of them Syrian, were killed. It was later reported that an IRGC freighter aircraft that was in the air and headed for Damascus when these attacks took place soon turned around and returned to Iran. The daylight attack on targets around Damascus that took place during daytime yesterday came a few hours after another IRGC freight aircraft had landed at the Damascus airport.

Germany banned Irans second largest airline, Mahan Air, from landing in Germany. The IRGC was shown to be operating Mahan Air to move equipment and personnel for terror operations in and out of Germany. The IRGC o perate s several freighter aircraft, most of them B747s . The IRGC owns several Iranian airlines , including Mahan Air . The IRGC has been noticed using two B-747 freighter air aircraft they acquired in early 2017 when the IRGC revived a bankrupt Iranian air freight company. At first it was thought this was simply another example of the IRGC taking over more of the Iranian economy. But by studying how the two 747s were used Israel concluded that these air transports were being used to move military equipment. One clue was the fact that so many flights tried to stay as far away from Israeli air space as possible even if it meant greatly increasing the cost of the flights.

January 20, 2019: In southern Syria, an Iranian long-range rocket was fired at Israel and was intercepted by Iron Dome before it could hit the Israeli Golan Heights.

January 18, 2019: The UN released the results of an investigation into how Iran was supplying cash and other aid to the Shia rebels in Yemen. Iran was providing cargoes of oil, accompanied by false documents that make it possible to sell the oil as a non-Iranian product and they use that cash to provide military equipment for the Shia rebels. Many of these deceptions are directed at UN officials who monitor Iranian oil exports and the movement of aid to Yemenis lacking adequate food and other supplies.

January 15, 2019: Iran launched a three-stage missile that they said was intended to put a satellite into orbit. The mission failed when the third stage of the missile had a problem and was unable to release the satellite into orbit. It was possible this launch was a test for a long-range ballistic missile as the same rocket design is often used for satellite launchers as well as a long-range ballistic missile. The only difference is that the satellite launcher is carrying satellites high enough to put them into orbit while the same missile with a warhead would be programmed to move in the direction of its target and at a lower altitude (and for a longer distance from the launch site) than when putting a satellite into orbit.

In Iraq the government confirmed that there had been a reduction in foreign troop strength in Iraq. At the start of 2018 there were 11,000 foreign troops in Iraq, many of them involved with fighting ISIL forces along the Syrian border. A year later there were about 24 percent fewer foreign troops in Iraq and that number is expected to decline. That number does not include Iranian troops, mainly with the IRGC who provide training and tactical advice to the many pro-Iran Shia militias. There are not many (a few hundred) of these IRGC personnel and they are not considered combat troops.

Germany revealed it had recently arrested an Afghan immigrant, who was now a German citizen, and charged him with spying on the German military for Iran. The arrested Afghan had long worked as an interpreter and cultural advisor for the German military and had considerable access to German military operations and plans, especially regarding Afghanistan and Iran. Germany has been on the alert for much of 2018 to the increased Iranian espionage, smuggling and assassination activity in Europe and especially Germany. Iran often recruits Afghans to work for them in Europe because many Afghans speak Farsi (Iranian) or are Shia and thus easier to recruit.

January 13, 2019: In northern Yemen, Shia rebels used an Iranian Ababil UAV carrying explosives to attack a military base near Jizan (in Saudi Arabia). The Saudis did not report such an attack. The Yemeni rebels said they would halt their UAV and ballistic missile attacks if the Arab coalition halted all its air attacks.

Israel confirmed what was widely known, that Israel has been regularly carrying out airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria. It was also revealed that these air strikes involved some 2,000 smart bombs and guided missiles as well as some short-range ballistic missiles in 2018 alone. There were thousands of air, missile and artillery strikes at Syrian targets in 2017 and 2018 when the decision was made to make an all-out effort against the Iranian military buildup in Syria. This effort has been considered a success because it has cost the Iranians a lot of money as the destroyed weapons often included large rockets and guided missiles which are not cheap, even in Iran. In addition, hundreds of Iranian or Iranian allied military personnel were killed or wounded.

January 11, 2019: In Syria, another Israeli airstrike destroyed a warehouse at the Damascus airport. Also attacked was the site of a meeting between Iranian and Hezbollah military commanders. Some of them were at least wounded.

January 10, 2019: In southern Yemen, (Lahj province, just north of the port of Aden) Shia rebels used an Iranian Ababil UAV carrying explosives to attack a scheduled parade and ceremony at an airbase. The UAV was caught on video diving down and exploding over the area where senior officials were standing. The explosion killed seven and wounded at least a dozen. One of those killed was the chief intelligence officer of the Yemen Army. This attack could have been made with the UAV navigating on its own and following pre-programmed instructions to dive on a particular location and explode. The ceremony attacked was scheduled and the location of where the senior people would be was known. The Iranians have used this tactic before. In 2017 four UAVs that Shia rebels used to attack Saudi and UAE air defense radars were not locally made as the rebels claimed but were smuggled in (disassembled) from Iran via Oman hidden in truckloads of non-military goods. The four UAVs were identified as Ababils which are made in Iran and provided to several Islamic terror groups so far. In Yemen, the Ababils are used to try and incapacitate Saudi Patriot air defense systems. If you know where the air defense radars are you can use the GPS guidance of the Ababil to send the UAV, armed with an explosive warhead, to destroy or damage the radar. Ababil is an 83 kg (183 pound) UAV with a three meter (ten foot) wingspan, a payload of about 36 kg (80 pounds), a cruising speed of 290 kilometers an hour and an endurance of 90 minutes. The Ababil under radio control can operate as far as 120 kilometers from its ground controller. But it also has a guidance system that allows it to fly a pre-programmed route and then return to the control of its controllers for a landing (which is by parachute). The Ababil can use its GPS guidance to fly over 300 kilometers in cruise missile mode. The Shia rebels took credit for the UAV attack and said there would be more. The day after the attack the Arab air coalition attacked what they believed was the base the UAVs were operating from.

January 9, 2019: In northwest Syria, most (about 70 percent) of Idlib province has been taken over by the HTS (Hayat Tahrir al Sham) coalition of Islamic terrorist groups. This takeover was completed recently despite Turkey, Russia and Iran-backed Syria having a plan to prevent it. That plan was never implemented because no one wanted a major battle in Idlib, except Iran. Back in August 2018 Russia, Turkey and Syria agreed on a plan to attack and destroy the Islamic terrorist groups in Idlib province, particularly HTS. Idlib was and is the last Islamic terrorist stronghold and is on the Turkish border. Six months ago Idlib was controlled by various rebel groups. Back then over half of Idlib was controlled by the HTS coalition. This is the main al Qaeda organization which evolved from al Nusra by absorbing (willingly or otherwise) many other like-minded groups over the years. About a third of the province was controlled by several other Islamic terrorist groups. In late August 2018, the largest six of these factions merged to form the NLF (National Liberation Front). This merger was arranged by Ahrar al Sham, a longtime rival of HTS, and backed by Turkey. About ten percent of the province is controlled by Turkey (in the north along the hundred-kilometer long border with Turkey) and Assad forces (several towns and villages in the southeast). HTS recently convinced NLF to join a larger coalition, under the leadership of HTS that would be better able to defend Idlib. Despite its Turkish ties, NLF was persuaded (after HTS attacked and eliminated NLF factions who opposed the deal). Iran still has Syrian forces, controlled by the Assads, willing to attack but such an effort would be very costly without Russian airpower and unthinkable if Turkey opposed it (because of the risk of many Idlib civilians trying to flee into Turkey.) The Russian and Turkish leaders are to meet on the 23rd to try and work out a new agreement about Idlib, one that can be carried out.

January 8, 2019: Two Pakistani warships paid a visit to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

January 5, 2019: The United States refused to provide Russia with an export certificate for the 40 Superjet 100 airliners Russia was selling to Iran. Because more than ten percent of the components in the Superjet 100 are from the United States the Russians need an export certificate to sell these airliners. To foreign customers, Iran is subject to sanctions that block American aircraft exports. Russia can replace the American made components in the Superjet 100 with Russian ones but that will take years so it appears that the Iranian sales are lost.

January 2, 2019: In northwest Afghanistan (Faryab province) an airstrike against a group of Taliban killed 27 Taliban including two Iranian members. Afghan ground forces reached the site of the airstrike to identify bodies and seek documents and other useful material. The two Iranians were Shia clerics who worked with Afghan Shia in Iran and Afghanistan. The Iranian members of the Taliban assist in arranging Iranian weapons and other supplies for the Afghan Taliban. There are some Iran backed training camps in eastern Iran where Afghan Taliban can learn new military skills.

December 30, 2018: Syria has given Iraq permission to make attacks against Islamic terrorists in Syria at any time without prior permission. Iraq has already been doing this, especially when they had intel about where ISIL forces were gathering and needed to carry out an air strike quickly. Iraqi ground forces (pro-Iran Iraqi militias) sometimes moved across the border in response to Syria based ISIL forces attacking or regularly crossing into Iraq.

December 28, 2018: At the end of 2018, the U.S. Department of Defense revealed that it had found (via its many contacts with the Afghan government) that it had become common for Afghan officials to be bribed by Iran to support Iranian interests. Most of the bribes are in support of Iranian economic activities. But there are also bribes regarding support for the Taliban, not to overthrow the Afghan government, but to help in the fight against ISIL and protection of the Afghan minority. This last point is important because most of the Afghan refugees still in Iran are Shia and over 20,000 have volunteered to serve as Iranian mercenaries in Syria. Iran does not support the Afghan drug gangs that provide the main financial support for the Taliban and the Iranian border with Afghanistan has been a battle zone for years as Iranian border forces shoot to kill when they encounter Afghan drug smugglers (who often shoot back and fight their way through.)

These bribes have also allowed Iran to maintain official contacts with the Taliban and participate in peace talks with the Afghan Taliban. Iranian ally Qatar hosts a Taliban headquarters where the Taliban can, in effect, meet with anyone to discuss anything. Recent Russian sponsored Afghan peace talks attracted delegations from Russia, India, Iran, China, Pakistan and five former Soviet republics in Central Asia as well as non-government groups from Afghanistan and some Americans as observers. Technically the Taliban cannot be in Russia because Russia recognizes the international designation of the Taliban as a terrorist organization. Nevertheless, the Taliban insisted they would make peace only if all foreign troops left and there were international guarantees to keep the Americans from returning or aiding Afghans fighting the Taliban. Iran is seen as an ally (at least against Pakistan) by most Afghans and Iran is mostly Shia and sees itself as the defender of all Shia.

Despite all that good will, the worsening economy in Iran (made worse by the American revival of sanctions in March) caused over a quarter of the three million Afghan refugees still in eastern Iran to return to Afghanistan in 2018. Most of these Afghans are Shia who feared to return as long as the Afghan Taliban (and ISIL) were active in Afghanistan. These two groups, and Sunni Islamic terror groups, in general, consider Shia heretics and targets them for death on a regular basis. But Iran has made returning to Afghanistan easier by increasing its support for the Afghan Taliban. This gesture is also a favor to Pakistan, which Iran is trying to maintain good relations with (as Pakistan is also an ally of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan is the only Moslem nation with nukes).
At the end of 2018 the new Chinese ZTQ 15 light tank was officially accepted into army service. A month earlier large and accurate scale models of the ZTQ 15 were put on display at an event showing off new weapons used by Chinese troops. At the same time, the manufacturer released detailed information for the VT 5 export version. This is not the first time the ZTQ-15 was featured in the media. Photos and some details of the new light tank were shown in 2016 at trade shows to generate some interest among potential foreign buyers. The export models differ from the Chinese military ones in that some key (usually new) technologies are not exported, at least not right away. The export models are often built to accommodate foreign made accessories or capabilities the Chinese military does not want. The army did not say how many ZTQ 15s were in service with the troops at the end of 2018 only that some are. Over 300 ZTQ-15s are believed to exist and most of these are apparently owned by the army and in use by combat units. The Chinese marines have some for testing and the manufacturer is known to have a dozen or more for testing and demonstrations for potential export customers.

First mentioned in 2010, the ZTQ 15 began to undergo intensive testing and evaluation in 2014. Photos of the ZTQ 15 in Tibet (high altitude, cold weather) and tropical areas of southern China were seen. It was obvious from the start that the tank had a 105mm gun, improved armor protection and running gear that is more efficient and easier to maintain. It turned out that the ZTQ 15 can carry 38 rounds for the rifled 105mm gun, including high explosive, armor piercing and a guided missile (range 5,000 meters) launched via the 105mm gun tube. Secondary armament included a remotely controlled from inside the tank automatic grenade launcher (35mm or 40mm). There was also a 12.7mm machine-gun on top of the turret. The ZTQ 15 weighs 33-36 tons depending on the additional armored installed. The ZTQ 15 can have panels of composite armor or ERA (explosive reactive armor) quickly fitted to the vehicle. Slat (wire cage) protection is installed on the sides of the turret for some protection from RPGs and older ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles).

In many respects, the ZTQ-15 is a scaled down version of Chinas most modern tank, the Type 99A2. The turrets of the ZTQ 15 and T-99A2 are both of modern design and both carry similar sensors and internal technology (like the automatic loader for the big gun). Both tanks have three man crews and air conditioning as well as protection from chemical and biological weapons (as well as tear gas) when all hatches are closed. The fire control system uses thermal imagers (essential at night and in fog or other types of bad weather) and a laser range finder. The navigation system uses satellite navigation as well as the less accurate (but jam proof) INS (inertial navigation system).

ZTQ 15 is heavier than the 21 ton Type 62 light tank it replaces. There are also many other improvements as armor design has advanced greatly since the 1960s. Then again the armor piercing capabilities of artillery shells and heavy machine-guns have become deadlier. Official data on the tank was not available until late 2017 and some specifications were deduced from cell phone photos taken as some ZTQ-15s were being transported to distant places (like Tibet) on railroad flat cars or moved around by road using tank transporters for tests in different parts of the country. The turrets were often covered with netting to conceal details, although a few other photos appeared with a clear (but not as detailed) view of the turret. This turret detail revealed the TZQ 15 was using probably a smaller version of Type 99 tank, which entered service in 2007 and whose specifications were known. That turned out to be correct.

The first Chinese light tank, the Type 62 (WZ131) entered service in the 1960s and some are still used as a light reconnaissance tank. The Type 62 looked like a scaled down Russian T-55 (or Chinese clone of the Type 59) with much thinner armor (35mm/1.4 inches in the front). This provided protection from most artillery fragments as well as most machine-gun fire. The Type 62 had a four-man crew and an 85mm gun. Over 1,500 were built before production ceased in 1989. There were stories in Chinese media during 2013 indicating that the Type 62 was being retired and some officers were not happy with that because at the time there was no official replacement.

At the end of 2016 photos appeared on the Internet showing many ZTQ 15s on rail cars, painted in army colors and headed for delivery to units in southern China. This indicated that the military had placed an order after five years of testing and tinkering with the design. Although pictures of the ZTQ 15 have been showing up since 2011 it was not until late 2016 that details of the rather sophisticated turret were clearly visible. The ZTQ 15 was designed for rough, mountainous terrain as found in Tibet and the mountainous jungles on Vietnamese border. By late 2016 it was also clear that the ZTQ 15 was in mass production. By then army units were using the ZTQ 15 as a light tank in areas where the terrain is too difficult for heavier tanks. Thus in 2017 army units in Tibet, on the Indian border, were seen using ZTQ 15s. Earlier in 2017, ZTQ 15s were seen with army units operating in the mountainous areas near the Vietnam border. In 2017 it also became known that the Chinese military had officially recognized the existence of the ZTQ 15 and gave it a name; Xinqingtan and later it was referred to as the Type 15 tank. Before 2017 the ZTQ 15 was something of a mystery and some experts believed it was just another experimental vehicle. China produces a lot of those and not all make it into production, even just for export. But the ZTQ 15 passed all the testing and evaluation and appears to be a capable modern light tank.

In early 2018 the ZTQ-15 was seen in the bluish camouflage colors used by the Chines marines. It was believed that the Marines were seeking to use ZTQ 15 more as an assault gun, with its 105mm gun providing close (line of sight where the gunner can see the target) artillery support. The new marine brigades each have two marine infantry battalions and one armor battalion. The armor battalion contains Type 96A medium tanks as well as ZTQ 15 light tanks operating mainly as assault guns to help the marines fight their way off the beach as quickly as possible. Tanks often operate as assault guns for the infantry but the marine ZTQ 15s were apparently carrying mostly high-explosive shells and used crews trained to handle assault gun jobs. The military has not yet announced if the marines will be issued ZTQ-15s.

Although China still borrows (and often improves on) a lot of Russian armored vehicle tech China is also pulling even with and even ahead at times of Russia. More importantly, new Chinese designs are mass produced for widespread use in the Chinese military as well as export to a growing list of satisfied customers. The ZTQ 15 is an example of this.
Earlier this week I did something I never thought Id ever do. I watched over two hours of British Parliament. This was the session wherein Prime Minister Theresa May outlined her so-called Plan B deal for Brexit.

Needless to say, it wasnt warmly received.

But a funny thing has happened on the way to Brexit. And I am as shocked to type this as anyone who follows me will be shocked to read it.

Theresa May has risen to become Brexits main champion.

As I said in my last article here:

Theresa The Gypsum Lady May went through an extraordinary twenty-four hours. First, seeing her truly horrific Brexit deal go down in historic defeat and then, somehow, surviving a No-Confidence vote which left her in a stronger position than before it. It looks like May rightly calculated that the twenty or so Tory Remainers would put party before the European Union as their personal political positions would be terminally weakened if they voted her out of office.

Blue Mondays Parliamentary session confirmed for me that she has emerged from this fight stronger than shes been since before the 2017 snap election debacle. May rightly pointed out, patiently and with a twinkle of smugness, that all calls for extending Article 50 or holding a second referendum were irrelevant.

Article 50 happens on March 29th and the whining of Remainer MPs cant stop it.

So, if they want a deal with the EU, then they have to give her and the government clear parameters to go back to Brussels to negotiate from. Otherwise, March 29th comes and Brexit on World Trade Organization rules commences.

But May also knows that her offer for talks with all sides of the House is a bit of a lie. She knows that the fractious nature of the Remain position precludes them coming up with a deal offer that will get majority support of the House of Commons.

And if you needed proof of this all you had to do was watch the endless parade of MPs.

For two hours I watched Remainer after Remainer grandstand and virtue signal about the need for the Peoples Vote and whine for more time. The SNP threatened to leave the U.K. multiple times if they didnt get their way.

It was like watching children have a tantrum over not getting their cookie.

None of them proposed one constructive solution to break the deadlock in the House. They simply stuck to their talking points and fulminated.

And May was firm. She may have even graduated from The Gypsum Lady to Calcite or Feldspar.

If she delivers a real Brexit that leaves the EU spluttering into their lattes and Remainers simpering about how unfair it all is, Ill take back most of the mean things Ive said about her.

The Remain crowd has had two years to influence negotiations knowing a No-Deal Brexit was the default position. They thought they could play politics, use Brexit chaos as a way for Labour to seize power and destroy the Tories.

And the eventual outcome would be a Brexit betrayal after two years of creating a false reality of the apocalypse of a No-Deal Brexit.

That plan has crashed and burned. The people want the vote respected, regardless of how they voted in 2016, Leave or Remain. The polls are clear that the country hasnt shifted its stance.

The Tory Remainers in Mays cabinet thought they could scare everyone into weakening May with a horrible deal and get what they wanted  Brexit in Name Only. But that has failed as well.

You know things are desperate when the British establishment floated a rumor of a parliamentary coup against May. The calls for the Peoples Vote and all of that are coming from people like Tony Blair speaking on behalf of George Soros.

But it didnt happen. The reports of a draft amendment which would wrest control of the Brexit process from the Prime Minister made the rounds in the media, but nothing came of it during the session.

No one wanted to be the first to even broach the subject of removing the Prime Ministers ability to conduct government business. May called Tony Blairs bluff that MPs were not willing to throw out hundreds of years of Parliamentary rules to secure a political outcome there is little to no support for popularly.

The big loser in that debate was Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn who has his hands tied by Labour Remainers. The insist on him backing a way to stop Brexit despite a majority of Labour MPs now representing districts which voted Leave in 2016.

So Corbyn now must half-heartedly back a Second Referendum which is political suicide as well as continuing to screech about taking No-Deal off the table even though he, himself, voted Leave and wants to see a stronger Brexit than most of his MPs.

The press will continue to ratchet up the fear of a No-Deal while behind the scenes both governments prepare for the most likely outcome at this point, exactly that.

This entire fight continues to highlight the growing disconnect between the representatives of the people and the people themselves. British electoral politics is opaque and designed, like the U.S.s, to ensure continuity at the top while the rubes in the rural areas are systematically disenfranchised.

Parliament is paralyzed by politics, conflicting loyalties and an over-inflated sense of self-importance. So is Congress here in the U.S. The difference is, however, that it looks pretty clear that Remainers arent willing to die on the Brexit hill while Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will go full tilt off the cliff in their opposition to Trump.

Calls at this point for a second referendum are the face of absolute panic. May herself referenced the EUs track record of forcing the people to vote again if they didnt do so the way they wanted originally. That should leave little doubt as to where she stands on this.

And at this point I have to think she understands the stakes for Britain, the Tories and herself if this process is further compromised by a political class so corrupt, arrogant and misinformed that it refuses to acknowledge its growing irrelevancy.

The path on Brexit is clear: either the Remainers get together and submit a framework to Brussels which works for them that May can negotiate from or they revoke Article 50 and start the whole process over again.

For that to happen at this point requires a cross-party coup. And I saw none of that in the two hours I watched earlier in the week.

And all of the Remainers know they will be lynched if they try that.

So, another week and nothing has changed except that all the bleating and breast beating of the No-Deal Equals Death crowd has amounted to very little.

A divided house cannot stand. A divided house cannot agree on something it doesnt want even more so. May is right to stick to her guns here. It will leave her in a very strong place politically if she delivers a Brexit the people voted for and the politicians hate.

Thats the calculus she got right in this.
I'm not sure what to make of Integrity Initiative (what a great gaslighting name: integrity? Hah hah: no, just furtive paid propaganda and opinion steering). But I watch the unfolding revelations with fascination. Certainly, the whole thing is bigger than it seemed at first and all the documents being revealed appear to be true.

On the one hand, it looks like a group of superannuated old gits gassing on about how warfare today involves everything, especially "information warfare", while last century it was only bullets. (Ever read any, say, Sun Tzu or Clausewitz? Or, speaking of the last century, Goebbels? How about Bernays?) And how we concerned individuals have voluntarily come together (assisted by 2+ million of the taxpayer's money) to save democracy. Unpaid, unasked and unplotted. Completely conspiracy-free in fact. (Too late, the documents are out). In short, that the essence of democracy is never to doubt what the Ministry of Truth tells you. There's a naive and bubble-like quality to this: they never think any thoughts but their own. So maybe these guys, instead of kveching at the mirror and shouting at the TV set, have figured out how to flim-flam the government into supplementing their pensions in return for pages of conspiracy-babble.

Or are we looking at something rather bigger? As John Helmer points out, there is a long history of British intelligence operating behind such "independent" and "disinterested" cover. Did they help start the Russia hysteria in the USA? Did they not only play up the Skripal affair but actually create it? Did they have an effect on Spain and Catalonia? Infiltrate Sanders' campaign? What's this "impose changes over the heads of vested interests. NB we did this in the 1930s" stuff? Is that a reference to the Zinoviev Letter forgery? (1924 actually, but they don't look like people who bother to check details). Corbyn, of course, they see as another Kremlin stooge: is it time to "discover" a Dear Jeremy, How can I help you win? Your friend Vladimir letter? There is a danger these "clusters" of like-minded (and paid) flacks pose: in a time when the "news" media solemnly informs us that Putin has weaponised humour and Pokemon, to say nothing of killer squids, a group of "expert" "concerned citizens" who "voluntarily" appear can ratchet the hysteria up to further heights. (Although only a Russian troll would "emphasise the dangers of war in Europe (!!)") They are trying to establish a base in the USA ("challenging the ignorance of, tolerance of or sympathy for the Russian activity"  tolerance!!?? the US media Russia-bashes 24/7!) So, no matter the temptation, we can't write them off as silly old fools.

Here's their website. And here's some of their output, most of it written straight off the top of the head. Bellyfeel, as they say in Newspeak.

These guys really should get out more. If they were being paid by some private individual for this tripe that would be one thing; but the British government (and others?) is paying  in fact, it's actually paying these people to influence its own policy. Think about that: that's rather different. Even leaving aside all the stuff about "we did this in the 1930s". It's a bit Deep Stateish  it's a lot Deep Stateish.

Or maybe it's just a bunch of retirees swindling the government by writing fluff about how Russia is sapping and impurifying all our precious bodily fluids.

Sarcasm is fun but the big question is: who's winning: these guys with millions and the support of most media outlets, or us with hundreds and sites like this one? But then we have reality on our side and, eventually, but it can be a long eventually, it bites.

You decide. Here and here are the hacks. Or are they leaks? Interesting question, eh? We owe much thanks to Anonymous for exposing these people. Add Kim Klarenberg to your Twitter feed  an actual reporter doing actual reporting! I think there's lots more to be revealed.

I'm amused by Donnelly saying that the fact that their stuff has been hacked shows that they must be having an effect; no, there are people out there who are tired of the lies, secret manipulations and managed media campaigns whooping up war fever. They found you and they broke into your files. That's all.

Photo: Twitter
Raising the age to purchase nicotine-based products to 21 is just one way of curtailing use, although it may be the most effective in Virginia. Increasing taxes as a way of deterring nicotine use would come with complications involving product smuggling and the illegal resale of those products. It is already a significant problem and does not need to be exacerbated by adjusting cigarette taxes.
The Huntington building was closed at the end of the 2017-2018 school year because it is old, deteriorating and was oversized for its student population. Students who would have been sixth graders at Huntington this fall were split between Crittenden and Hines middle schools. The seventh- and eighth-graders went to their own wing of Heritage High School. Superintendent George Parker has said these arrangements are not permanent solutions.
Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal lawyer, will not testify before Congress next month, one of his attorneys said Wednesday - which could quash, at least temporarily, liberals' hopes for a public hearing in which Trump's ex-fixer aired the president's dirty laundry.

Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen said in a statement, "Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. [Rudolph] Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date." Cohen had been scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7.

"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first," Davis said.

It is not clear to which "threats" Davis was referring, and Davis declined to provide more detail. A person familiar with Cohen's account said the threats have not been reported to law enforcement.

Trump said of the claim he had threatened Cohen: "I would say he's been threatened by the truth. He's only been threatened by the truth. And he doesn't want to do that, probably for me or other of his clients." The president has been publicly critical of Cohen for his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and has suggested Cohen's father-in-law ought to be investigated.

Giuliani, the president's current lawyer, has highlighted problems with Cohen's credibility. Giuliani was particularly skeptical of Cohen after BuzzFeed News reported last week that Cohen told Mueller's office Trump had directed him to lie to Congress - an account the special counsel disputed in an unprecedented public statement.

"If you believe Cohen, I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge," Giuliani said.

It was not immediately clear that lawmakers would easily allow Cohen back out of his commitment to appear before them.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a joint statement that they "certainly understand the completely legitimate concerns for the safety and security of Mr. Cohen and his family members in light of the attacks last week by President Trump and again this past weekend by his attorney, Rudy Giuliani."

But the lawmakers added that they had "repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family," and in their discussions with Cohen's attorney, "not appearing before Congress was never an option."

"We will not let the President's tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities," Cummings and Schiff said. "This will not stop us from getting to the truth. We expect Mr. Cohen to appear before both Committees, and we remain engaged with his counsel about his upcoming appearances."

Cohen had announced to some fanfare earlier this month he had accepted an invitation to testify from Cummings "in furtherance of my commitment to cooperate and provide the American people with answers." The hearing seemed as if it could be eventful.

Cohen pleaded guilty last year to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress about a possible Trump Tower project in Moscow and arranging hush money payments to women who had alleged having had affairs with Trump. He was sentenced to three years in prison and is expected to report to prison on March 6, about a month after the scheduled testimony date.

Trump's critics had hoped Cohen might, at the very least, offer unflattering revelations about the president. He had claimed in court to have helped cover up Trump's "dirty deeds."

Almost immediately, though, lawmakers raised questions about how much Cohen could say about the topic of most interest to the public - the information Cohen was said to provide to Mueller - because Mueller's investigation is ongoing, and Cohen would probably be restricted in what he could say.

When Cohen announced he was testifying, Cummings said, "I want to make clear that we have no interest in inappropriately interfering with any ongoing criminal investigations, and to that end, we are in the process of consulting with special counsel Mueller's office."

Schiff said at the time that he hoped to schedule a private hearing so Cohen could talk with lawmakers about Russia-related topics.

It was not clear if Cohen would still be able to testify before he reports to prison, or whether he could in some way offer testimony after that.

The Washington Post's Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.
"But understand, there is a plan. It is working for us. I appreciate the unease because we all do," Pelosi said, according to the aide. "It's not just the lives of these workers, which would be reason enough, it's the contractors who are left out in the cold and it's the American people who are not receiving the services that they deserve."
With the official start of the tax filing season coming Jan. 28, the Trump administration has promised that taxpayers owed refunds will be paid on time, despite the disruption in government services caused by the partial shutdown now in its fourth week. There had been growing concern that the shutdown would delay refunds going out because the money wouldn't be available for them from Congress.
AGERPRES special correspondent Tudor Martalogu reports: The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will not stray from the principles of respecting the common European values, fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader gave assurances on Wednesday in presenting the priorities in the field of justice in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice And Home Affairs of the European Parliament (LIBE).

"We will not stray from the general guidelines, from the respect for common values, fundamental rights and liberties, the rule of law," the Romanian minister highlighted.

The Romanian official mentioned that in the work of the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council in the Justice area there will be used the "consensus method where possible and the compromise method where necessary".

He announced that a priority in this area will be the advancement in the dossier of creating the European Public Prosecutor's Office, an extremely important project to combat crime in the European Union.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office should be operational by no later than November 2020.

With "criminality on the rise at European and international level, the means of fighting it must in turn rise on the European and international level," Toader said.

Responding to the criticisms expressed by many LIBE MEPs who have voiced concerns about the situation of the rule of law and corruption in Romania, the Romanian official said that those criticisms "must be based on correct information and not on anything else."

Referring to the respective criticisms of the rule of law situation in Romania, after the LIBE hearing, Minister Toader told the press that "unfortunately, reality is different from what is perceived."

''Either there is no correct, complete information, or sometimes one does not want to know the information. What is certain is the fact that I have received two categories of questions, received as chairperson of the JHA Council, but country-specific questions related to the quality of justice minister. In the synthesis I answered. There was that question with the envisaged emergency ordinance, I tried to explain the context in which the discussion is taking place after the decision of the Constitutional Court, and I stressed that it is not only addressed to those who have been convicted, but also to those who have been acquitted. (...) I would say, when we develop the subject, that there are arguments by the European Court of Justice, arguments of the Constitutional Court, arguments by the Luxembourg Court of Justice, which show that intrusion into fundamental rights and freedoms is not justified by anything else. I repeat, only the citizen's access to an independent and objectively-appointed judge is wanted," the Romanian official mentioned.

An idea emphasized by Toader in front of the LIBE members and resumed in front of the present Romanian journalists was that the rule of law is structured from one country to another, that it has different degrees of structuring and that it needs to be consolidated according to common principles. These principles are "the European values, the irreversible process of lawmaking and consolidation, the compliance with the constitutional requirements, the compliance with the requirements of the European Court of Justice jurisprudence, the observance of the recommendations of the Venice Commission, the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism - for those who unfortunately have it, as we do. And I was also saying one thing: the fact that this consultative body, the Venice Commission, makes different recommendations to different states, wherever appropriate, is indisputable proof that the rules of law are at different levels of structuring. The important thing is that we are all aiming at the same parameters by capitalizing on and accepting the European values," the Romanian minister said.

He specified that in the field of justice, the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council took over from the Austrian 15 dossiers, most of which are legislative. "We want to advance with all the dossiers as much as possible, but that depends not only on us, it depends on the partners in the Council and the other co-legislators," Tudorel Toader said after the LIBE hearing.
Justice Minister Tudorel Toader met in Brussels on Tuesday with European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Legislative (LIBE) chair Claude Moraes, discussing, among other things, the priority of making the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) operational and improving mutual trust and mutual recognition in criminal matters according to Agerpres.

According to a Justice Ministry (MJ) press release sent to AGERPRES, the meeting took place in the context in which Minister Tudorel Toader will present the Justice priorities of the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council on Wednesday.

"The Romanian Justice Minister expressed the openness for a close collaboration between the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council and the European Parliament in the pending legislative dossiers. Among other things, it was highlighted the priority given to legislative proposals on electronic evidence in criminal matters, the operation of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), and improving trust and mutual recognition in criminal matters," the press release points out.Regarding the EPPO's operation, the source shows that the Justice Minister has highlighted the importance of collaboration between the Council and the European Parliament with a view to appointing the European Chief Prosecutor in the current legislature, and with regard to the appointment of European prosecutors he voiced confidence that the timetable will be respected, as Romania will nominate candidates until the end of March 2019."The President of the LIBE Committee expressed full confidence in Romania's ability to achieve its justice objectives as Presidency at the EU Council and showed that it could count on the support of the European Parliament to complete as many legislative files as possible in the short interval until the European legislative elections," the MJ release also reads.
AGERPRES special correspondent Tudor Martalogu reports: The Romanian Presidency at the Council of the European Union will act for a prosperous, safe, united and closer to the citizens Europe, but one that will also be an important actor at global level, Interior Minister Carmen Dan stated on Wednesday when presenting the priorities of the home affairs area in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament.

The Romanian official mentioned that the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council will pay a priority attention to the strengthening of internal security, management of EU's external border safety, migration management, policies regarding visas and asylum, as well as civil protection of the community block, having always in mind more unity and cohesion, in order to better respond to the European citizens' fears and interests.

Regarding the strengthening of internal security, Minister Carmen Dan stated that the terrorist threat is still very present in Europe, offering as an example the attack which occurred at the end of 2018, at the Christmas market in Strasbourg.Another priority will be the prevention of radicalisation. In this respect, the Romanian Interior Minister announced that a conference on preventing radicalisation in prisons will be organised in the spring. "In our opinion, the development of the preventive side is important both now and in the future years," Dan stated.In respect to borders management, Romania will take into account the strengthening of the FRONTEX duties and a better management of the migration issue.Another priority will be in the asylum policy area, with the Romanian Minister underscoring that the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council will further carry on discussions in order to identify solutions endorsed by as many member states as possible, so that the European asylum system be more efficient.At the end of her speech, Carmen Dan voiced her hope that the Romanian Presidency at the EU Council have an open and constructive dialogue with the European Commission and with the European Parliament, in view of achieving the proposed objectives and advancing all the files on the agenda.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) reform and the European Union's trade relations with the US are the "burning issues" that the EU Council Presidency must deal with over the next six months, which also has as a priority the commercial capitalization on the Eastern Partnership, Minister for the Business, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Radu Stefan Oprea, said in Brussels on Wednesday.

"I have presented to the INTA Committee the priorities that Romania has in the field of international trade. And here we are talking about "Europe as a global actor" as the main pillar that we also commit to as priorities for foreign trade, we are talking about the modernization of the World Organization of Commerce - it is a subject that is extremely important because we believe in rule-based trade and the need to have a valid appeal body that can add value to international trade," the minister told a meeting with Romanian journalists after presenting the sectoral priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council in the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA).

He added that another important priority is the Multilateral Investment Court, stating that Romania supports "the idea and the need to have judges who are highly competent in this field".

Also, in the context of the ten years of Eastern Partnership, the minister said that "trade has to be stimulated in relation to countries that have already concluded comprehensive trade agreements such as the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine or Georgia" .

"Trade can be a measure of the value of this Eastern Partnership and it is on our agenda as a priority," said the Minister for the Business, Trade and Entrepreneurship.

Another very important topic of discussion is also the relationship between Europe and Britain, "another element where we do not have all the answers today."

Concerning the difficult trade issues that Romania will manage, the minister mentioned the EU-US trade relationship and the WTO reform.

He said he met Tuesday with European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to discuss the issue.

"I invited General Director of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, to Bucharest. Also, the President of the INTA Committee, Mr Bernd Lange, is invited to take part in the informal dinner that we will have in Bucharest, because I believe the involvement of all the actors, the EP, the Commission, the Council, is the only way to be able to progress very quickly in the burning topics that we have today and which are the WTO reform and the relations, the negotiations between the US and the EU," Radu Stefan Oprea said.
President of Romania Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday afternoon in Iasi that the current Government has demonstrated "a pitiful legislative and administrative bouncing" instead of a responsible government.

The head of state also said that "current government is endangering the country's future."

"Education and infrastructure must be the priorities of a responsible government. Unfortunately, at the 160th anniversary of the moment we celebrate today, instead of the Union, around the national interest and full integration in Europe, the government preferred a populist squabble and a pitiful legislative and administrative bouncing. Instead of a coherent vision that might ensure a sustainable development for Romania, the current government threatens the country's future with an outpouring of measures that prove to be disastrous. Romania does not deserve such politicians who are not responsible for the country. Neither Iasi, with its historical heritage, deserves to become a city of ever-promised and ever-delayed investments, especially when we talk about vital projects such as the motorway or the regional hospital," Iohannis said.
Chairman of National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban is critical of Minister of Interior Carmen Dan and Justice Minister Tudorel Toader's hearings in the European Parliament, saying that their statements have embarrassed Romania.

"Tudorel Toader and Carmen Dan have embarrassed Romania in the European Parliament. (...) The hearing of the two ministers revealed the tremendous credibility issue of the current Government at the level of the European Union," says Orban in a press release issued on Wednesday for AGERPRES.

He points out that Tudorel Toader has refused to make a commitment not to initiate further amendments to the legislation in the field of justice and the criminal field without having previously received the Venice Commission's advice after express request to do so. Orban also states that the Minister of Justice has in no way explained his position on the CVM Report, preferring instead to "lie" on the implementation of the recommendations of the Venice Commission in the Romanian legislation.

"Today's hearing of the Minister of Justice will cause serious damage to Romania at the level of the European Union, which will be even greater in the context of Romania's holding the Presidency of the EU Council," says the PNL leader.

Ludovic Orban also criticizes the statements of the Minister of the Interior regarding the accession to the Schengen area.

"Carmen Dan announced, shockingly, that Romania refuses to take the following steps for joining the Schengen Area, respectively to request the evaluation of the correct application of the acquis communautaire. Basically, the Romanian Government announces on its own blocking the accession to Schengen, 'now or in the future.' For imposture and hypocrisy to be complete, the Minister of the Interior argued that Romania aims to lift the CVM, while the Minister of Justice did not say a word, given that the Government and the PSD-ALDE majority not only did they not follow any of the recommendations of the latest CVM Report, but they acted exactly against them!," stresses the leader of the Liberals.

He said that "the only way Romania must follow to be respected in the European Union, for the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism be lifted, and to join the Schengen Area is that these people sent to represent the country in Brussels understand that they cannot lie to European officials and must respect fully and to the letter the recommendations of the Venice Commission, of the European Commission through the CVM Report and of the European Parliament in the Resolution adopted in November 2018."

Read also: JusMin Toader, EP's LIBE Committee head discuss making EPPO operational

"Otherwise, Romania will become increasingly marginalized in the European Union and will be deprived of the chance to capitalize on the benefits of the EU membership, at the risk of having blocked or reduced the funds necessary for the development and balancing of the welfare at the level of the other member states, concludes Ludovic Orban. AGERPRES .
Romania remains a reliable NATO ally, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said in Brussels on Wednesday at the end of the meeting with Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg.

"It is an important moment for Romania - in the first part of this year, we are holding the presidency of the EU Council and also celebrate 15 years since joining the North Atlantic Alliance. In 2019 NATO also marks the 70th anniversary since its founding. All these landmarks call for a strategic reflection on how to respond effectively to the challenges we face together. Under these auspices, I assured the Secretary-General that Romania remains a reliable ally, firmly supporting a strong Alliance and strengthening a transatlantic relationship that is indispensable for the Euro-Atlantic security," said Viorica Dancila.
Prime Minister Viorica Dancila will pay a working visit to Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, aimed at presenting the priorities of Romania's Presidency at the Council of the European Union within the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), according to Agerpres.

Another important element of the visit will be the bilateral meeting which Dancila will have with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at thee NATO headquarters in Brussels, aimed at reviewing the main topics on the Alliance agenda, with a focus on interest themes for Romania and its contributions to implementing the allied policies and decisions, the Government informs in a release sent to AGERPRES.

At the same time, the visit includes PM Dancila's participation in the official ceremony devoted to the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, organised by the European Jewish Congress, under the patronage of European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, as well as the meeting of the Romanian PM with the chair of the EESC, Luca Jahier, and the participation in the European Socialists' meeting.PM Dancila will also participate alongside European high officials and members of the Government in Bucharest in the opening of the photo exhibition and the concert devoted to the debut of Romania's Presidency at the EU Council.The governmental delegation is made up of Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu, Defence Minister Beniamin-Gabriel Les, Economy Minister Niculae Badalau, Minister-delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba, interim Transport Minister Rovana Plumb, Culture and National Identity Minister Valer-Daniel Breaz.
Romania's contributions to NATO make the Alliance stronger and safer, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated on Wednesday at the end of the meeting with Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila in Brussels.

"Romania being such a staunch and highly valued ally. This year is the fifteenth anniversary of Romania joining our Alliance.Your membership has been important for NATO and for Romania. You contribute to our shared security in many different ways and your contributions are making us all stronger and safer," Jens Stoltenberg specified.

The Secretary General of the Alliance also talked about the presence of the Romanian armed forces in international missions under the NATO aegis.

"Romanian forces are part of NATO's training mission in Afghanistan, helping to stabilize the country. And you contribute to stability in the Western Balkans with your troops in the KFOR mission. Romania also plays a crucial role in the security in the Black Sea region. Including with a Romanian-led, multinational brigade in Craiova; air policing and a strong naval presence. Romania also hosts a site for NATO's Ballistic Missile Defence, at Deveselu. Helping to protect Europe from missile threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic area. So thank you for all that Romania does to make us all more secure," Stoltenberg said.

He underscored that NATO and the EU work increasingly closer in several areas.

"At the start of January, Romania assumed the presidency of the European Union for the first time. NATO and the EU are already working more closely than ever, in areas including military mobility, cyber and hybrid threats, and maritime security. And I welcome your plans for further strengthening NATO-EU cooperation during Romania's presidency," Stoltenberg said.

The Secretary General of NATO highlighted Romania's plans regarding the allocation of 2 percent of GDP for the endowment of the Army.

"We face a more dangerous and unpredictable world, so it is important that all Allies invest in defence. I welcome therefore Romania's plans to spend 2 percent of GDP on defence this year. And that you intend to modernise your armed forces over the next decade. This is important, because fair burden-sharing means more than just cash. It also means investing in modern capabilities, and contributing to NATO missions and operations. I encourage Romania to continue on this path," Jens Stoltenberg further said, thanking in the end the Romanian prime minister for the strong commitment to the Alliance.
AGERPRES special correspondent Tudor Martalogu reports: The enlargement of the Schengen Area through Romania's accession will be put forward during Romania's term at the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Minister of Internal Affairs Carmen Dan announced on Wednesday after the hearing in the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), where she presented the priorities of the half-year EU Presidency regarding home affairs.

''We have grown tired of repeating how unfair our situation is and how rigorous we have been in complying with the acquis. It will be a subject for serious discussion at the informal JHA meeting taking place in Bucharest in February, and we will table the subject to the Council. I think that an extended discussion is also worthwhile and we will discuss the future of the Schengen Area precisely in order to take the pulse and homogenize - I'd say, in a positive sense - the stances of the countries that put up an ungrounded opposition to Romania's Schengen accession," said the Romanian IntMin after the LIBE hearing.

Despite severe criticism by several LIBE MEPs - with the Romanian minister stating that the committee "is strongly anchored in the political component of the European Parliament" - regarding the situation of the rule of law and corruption in Romania, Carmen Dan considers it was a good hearing. ''Everything we proposed ourselves for today's hearing was to show how determined and well prepared we are to manage the files we have in the portfolio. I would not interpret it as a tense hearing, I think it was a good one. I think that in the presentation we, the two ministers gave the committee, we have been able to clearly present the priorities we have undertaken - we should also take into account the time allotted. These are important components and this is why I said in the concluding remarks that we will avoid throughout our term making very ambitious statements because I'd want us to relate to facts rather than words," added the Romanian Minister of Internal Affairs.

Migration and internal security are two files on the agenda of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, Carmen Dan mentioned, as important components that are of equal concern to European citizens.

During the LIBE hearing this Wednesday, several MEPs voiced concern about the situation in Romania. EPP Group coordinator on justice and home affairs Roberta Metsola referred to the August 10 Bucharest rally, assuring that the Romanian peaceful protesters will not be abandoned.

We are concerned about the plan to invalidate about 100 criminal convictions, said in her turn Sophia in't Veld, coordinator of the LIBE Liberal group. The Dutch MEP asked the Romanian Executive to take into account the Venice Commission's recommendations word for word.

MEP Helga Stevens from the European Conservatives and Reformists said that the situation in Romania is most worrisome these days, and asked the Romanian government to refrain from taking any measures that would actually legalize corruption.

The Romanian Minister of Internal Affairs responded to these criticisms in statements to the press after the LIBE hearing.

"I have not been able to answer in the committee because a direct question was avoided, although I know that there is a scenario in this sense, but I take this opportunity and answer to you. I will not forget even for one moment that as I sit in that chair, in that position, I am not the Minister of Internal Affairs of Romania, but I am the minister who ensures the Chairmanship of the JHA Council. Because I wouldn't have wanted anyone to understand that we are avoiding the answer, or that we facilitate putting together scenarios and hypotheses that have nothing to do with reality, I would have liked to make some clarifications about the protests, because they have been quite often invoked by the MEPs who, we have to admit it - and this applies to the LIBE Committee too - are already in electoral campaign. I tell you that we should start from the fact that we are talking about an unauthorized and therefore illegal protest. Then we should not forget that there was something particular about the August 10 rally, as the far from few violent people were deep in the crowd of protesters, in the 3rd, 4th or 5th rank and used those in front of them as a real human shield to attack the gendarmes. And then, we should also not forget about the criminal files and talk about decisions that, regrettably, have been handed down in just one case, and there we are dealing with indictments, and it's not the gendarmes who were sent to court. I believe that Romania, like any other European country, has the same methods of addressing public order issues and restoring it when required, has the same regulations and takes action just like any other EU state when public peace and order are disturbed," said the Romanian IntMin.
The development of the IT sector is one of the Romanian government's priorities, with focus placed on the implementation of 5G technologies, cloud services, the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and of the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI), said Secretary of State with the Ministry of Communications and Information Society (MCSI) Ionut-Valeriu Andrei at the Central and Eastern Europe Innovation Roundtable event organized in Warsaw.

"It is essential that Central and Eastern European countries have a synergistic, concerted approach to the sustainable development of the IT industry and the digital economy in the region, capable to lead to the creation of a hub that is truly competitive in the global economy. The development of the IT sector counts to the priorities of the Romanian government, with focus on the implementation of 5G technologies, cloud services, as well as on the development of IoT and AI," Andrei said, as cited in a MCSI release

Attending the Warsaw roundtable meeting, at the invitation of Poland's Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology Jadwiga Emilewicz, were government representatives at the level of ministers and secretaries of state in the ICT sector from Lithuania, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as business representatives from Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.

The agenda of the debates focused on the development prospects foreseen by the international technology community for the region of Central and Eastern Europe.

"In this regard, Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the huge potential for the development of the region's digital economy, thanks to performing education systems and openness to new technologies. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki expressed optimism as to the identification of the best solutions to combine the latest technological development with the region's human resource capabilities and the growing economy," the release said.

In the context of Romania's holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Romanian official invited the attendees to participate in the Digital Assembly 2019 event taking place June 13 - 14 June in Bucharest.

Digital Assembly 2019 is organized in partnership with the European Commission and MCSI and will bring together high level representatives and stakeholders from EU member states to discuss European digital policies and the implications of the latest technological developments. An interministerial conference will take place on June 12, in the run-up to the Digital Assembly 2019 forum.
The president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) National Council, Senator Mihai Fifor, criticizes the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, for the statements made in Aachen about the Government, stating that the time has come for the "Romanian-Romanian war to end", and PSD should be allowed to focus "on good governance".

"President Iohannis lost yesterday a very good opportunity to keep quiet or talk for Romania! From a purely electoral interest he succeeded in throwing mud in the country's government, although the place and moment - Aachen, the resigning of the Treaty between France and Germany - they demanded decency, pro-European attitude and national solidarity. Unfortunately, yesterday's image shows us a gentleman Iohannis who claims that there is no systematic obstruction, the sabotage that he, as president, fiercely practices, unforgivably delaying the promulgation of necessary laws, blocking useful initiatives for the people and the economy, attacking for the sake of the attack to the CCR [the Constitutional Court of Romania, ed.n.] essential laws only because they were voted by the current PSD-ALDE political majority... Perhaps the most eloquent and revolting example is the absurd refusal, outside the law, to appoint Transport and Development ministers and compromise/delay thousands of projects expected by local communities - water, canal, asphalt, school, kindergarten - but also large infrastructure investments. Therefore, President Iohannis - the saboteur of good governing, despite clear evidence, accuses PSD of ruling badly," Fifor wrote on Wednesday on his Facebook page.

He argues that "facing the electoral unleashing of President Iohannis are the figures, the facts of PSD's governing: 20.6 percent increase in purchasing power calculated at the average salary, over 18 percent increase in purchasing power at the level of the average pension, the creation of over 100,000 new jobs last year, the lowest unemployment rate, the highest number of employees - over 5.5 million, the fall in government debt - from 37 percent to 35 percent of the GDP over the last two years, robust and sustainable economic growth - 7 percent in 2017, 4.5 percent last year."

"If all these positive developments and officially certified information, including Eurostat, are proof of poor governing, as President Iohannis holds, illogically, but with an electoral interest, what can be said about the 'performance' of his supporters in PNL [National Liberal Party, ed.n.], former PDL [Liberal Democratic Party, ed.n.], who cut pensions, wages, closed hospitals, left people in the streets? Is it so easy to forget the Boc/Basescu disaster? Or was it better with 'my government', the Ciolos government, known as the zero government because it did nothing?" wrote Fifor.

The PSD senator warns that the electoral campaign must be unfold "within the limits of the law and the letter and the spirit of the Constitution".

"We believe that it is time for the Romanian-Romanian war to cease, it is time to be allowed to focus on good governing, in favor of every Romanian, in the country or wherever he/she might be, and the electoral campaign be carried out within the limits the law and the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and if possible, at home," added Fifor.
One of the occupants was airlifted with injuries described as life-threatening, while another occupant was taken by medics to a hospital with injuries not considered to be life-threatening.
Romania will make efforts for the advancement of the gas directive file, a topic which has led to many divergences of opinion among member states, Anton Anton, the Romanian Energy Minister, stated on Wednesday within the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.

"With regard to the natural gas directive, the Romanian Presidency is constructively working to negotiate this file. We want to establish a transparent European legal framework, taking into account the political will of our co-legislators. The Romanian Presidency has initiated technical talks in this regard, last week, on 15 January, in the Energy Working Group. This topic is politically very sensitive and maintains divergences of opinion among the member states. The Romanian Presidency understands that this file represents a priority for the European Parliament and will spare no effort in the council for its advancement," the minister said.

Anton specified that Romania intends to take substantial steps in these discussions.

At the same time, according to the minister, the Romanian Presidency will propose a debate on the future energy system of the Energy Union, meant to ensure the energy transition and the achievement of the objectives regarding energy and climate change.

"We intend to adopt a set of conclusions on this issue at the Energy Council meeting in June. We will pay particular attention to the development of the energy infrastructure, of the storage solutions and of the innovative new technologies," Anton said.

He also referred to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, where consensual solutions are also needed.

"With regard to the decommissioning of the nuclear power plants, we continue the effort of the Austrian Presidency to find consensual solutions at the level of the working group. Decommissioning programs are one of the priorities of the Romanian Presidency for a safer Europe, strengthening nuclear safety and contributing to the security of European citizens and the environment, in the current context which poses challenges which the member states and other international actors have to face, the Presidency of Romania will adopt a set of conclusions of the Council on strengthening nuclear safety," the minister said.

The March 4 ministerial meeting will address legislative issues and the June meeting will revolve around the adoption of conclusions on the future of the Union's energy system.

"The meetings will provide the time to debate the long-term strategies for a clean planet, as well as the European Commission's recommendations on integrated national energy and climate plans," Anton said.
Minister of National Defense Gabriel Les emphasized, during a meeting in Brussels this Wednesday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the need to strengthen NATO's posture at the Black Sea by establishing a strong allied land presence in Romania, tasked with deterring and defending the allied territory, a strengthened naval dimension, and by improving air policing activities.

The evolution of the security situation in the Black Sea region was on the agenda of the meeting of the Romanian delegation headed by Premier Viorica Dancila, that also included DefMin Gabriel Les, with Jens Stoltenberg, the Ministry of National Defense (MApN) informs in a release.

"The agenda of the meeting included subjects of major importance to the North Atlantic Alliance, such as the evolution of the security situation in the Black Sea area and the implementation of Allied decisions on strengthening the deterrence and defense posture, but also the commitments made by allied states in relation to the 3C's rule - cash, capabilities, contribution," the ministry said in a release.

The Defense Minister also emphasized the importance of completing NATO's command and control architecture in the region by setting up the corps-level Allied Command subordinated to the Joint Force Command Naples, continuing allied talks with Georgia and Ukraine on Black Sea security, and of developing regional cooperation against hybrid threats.

"The long-term strategy of the Alliance should develop a structured approach to the region as part of a detailed assessment of Russia's posture," said Gabriel Les.

Referring to the allied deterrence and defense stance, the Minister of Defense reiterated that the implementation of the forward presence remains a priority for our country, underscoring in this context the need to increase the allies' contribution with forces to the NATO-affiliated Craiova-based Multinational Brigade.

"At the end of the meeting, Minister Les reaffirmed Romania's commitment to the 3 C's principle - Cash, by continuing to allocate 2 pct of GDP for Defense; Capabilities - by allocating 35 pct of the Defense budget for the acquisition of hardware and technology, the modernization of existing resources and R & D activities; Contribution - by reaffirming the commitment to further support NATO's efforts in the fight against terrorism through participation in both coalition missions and in the new NATO mission in Iraq", the release also mentions.

The DefMin stressed that in 2019 the Romanian contribution to the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan will increase, as the number of participating troops will be supplemented to 800 with military police personnel, counselors and force protection personnel.
Equal opportunities represent a common value of social democracy and Romania has assumed, within the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the promotion of the priority objective regarding everything the principle of equal opportunities means, the Minister of Labor Social Justice, Marius Budai, said on Wednesday in the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality in the European Parliament.

"We have assumed within the Presidency the promotion of the priority objective of everything that the principle of equal opportunities means, and in particular to be able to answer the 80pct of EU citizens wishing to promote these principles. Equal opportunities are a common value of social democracy and we will fight for this," Budai told the MEPs.

Asked about the measures regarding the pay gap between women and men, the Romanian Minister stressed that Romania has experience in this respect, taking into account that the difference is only 5.2pct, compared to 16pct of the European average.

Regarding the Council of Europe's Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention), the Romanian official has stated that solutions will be sought for its ratification.

"The Istanbul Convention: We will be very careful to observe future developments and we will try to see how we can make all the member states ratify this convention. I promise that both I and the negotiating team from the Permanent Representation of Romania at the EU Council, but also the specialists from the Ministry of Labor and Social Justice in Romania will try and clearly ensure a constructive dialogue between the two parties throughout the negotiations and we will try to seek equitable, legally sound compromise solutions," explained Marius Budai, stressing that "we are here to prove our seriousness" and that if he has to participate in the works of this committee he will be present "whenever you think my presence can create added value in achieving this balance between the Commission, Parliament and the Council."
Handling negotiations on the legislative package on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the context of the new Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 is the main priority of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the field of agriculture, Romanian AgriMin Petre Daea told the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) on Wednesday.

"We intend to continue talks on the CAP process of modernization and simplification, bearing in mind that throughout the reform exercise we must ensure full observance of the provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Having in view the major role of the Common Agricultural Policy in increasing the cohesion and competitiveness of the EU Single Market, modernization and simplification can contribute to increasing the efficiency of this policy, to guaranteeing a fair standard of living for the rural and agricultural population, to ensuring food security, reasonable food prices for all, but also to increasing the productivity and competitiveness of European agriculture We must of course consider the particular nature of agricultural activities, which results from the social structure of agriculture but also from the structural and natural discrepancies among the various regions and EU member states," Daea said.

He emphasized that the Romanian Presidency will pursue to advance talks and facilitate consensus on the key elements of the architecture of the future CAP in order to obtain a partial general approach to the legislative proposals in the CAP reform package.

"Generational renewal" should be the central goal of any strategy for the future of the European agri-food sector, Daea told the AGRI Committee, and to this end, EU financial resources must be used as effectively as possible so as to genuinely encourage the transition between generations and prevent the abandonment of rural areas by the youth and the aging of farmers, which poses at risk the perpetuation of this activity that is essential for humanity, he argued.

Petre Daea also said that support should be provided to small farmers who keep rural areas and especially mountain areas alive, because they can contribute better to the convergence of the European rural environment, "revitalizing it and making it more prosperous".

Bio-economy, research and innovation in agriculture will be among the subjects of debate in the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2019.

As regards the unfair commercial practices directive, Daea reminded that the political agreement was reached in the December 2018 three-way dialogue following multiple negotiations in the Parliament, the Council and the Commission; he emphasized that the Romanian Presidency is committed to taking the necessary measures to prepare the final adoption of the directive before the end of the mandate of the current European Parliament.

AgriMin Daea also reiterated what he told on Tuesday the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), that the Romanian Presidency will continue discussions on major, highly contagious diseases with transboundary character, such as the African swine fever.

The Minister of Agriculture mentioned that forestry is another highly important activity for Romania, and the main theme in this field will be "Adjusting the forestry sector to society-induced climate change and stopping land degradation".

"The Romanian Presidency will work to advance negotiations on this file so as to promote a common standard for the sustainable forest management at European level. The current international context requires joint action by the European Union and its member states and defining a position for the 14th session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF14) in May 2019 is paramount," Petre Daea said at the end of his presentation before the AGRI Committee.
Blood and platelets are being used by hospitals faster than theyre being donated, according to a news release from state police. The Red Cross currently has less than a three-day supply for most blood types, the release said.
The remaining $1.94 million will be held by Krudy's firm until a judge can decide later this year how to divide it up among the surviving members of Mitchell's family. To date, Mitchells parents and seven half-siblings  most of whom live in Louisiana, Texas and Georgia  have been unable to reach an agreement.
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It will be up to a federal judge, however, to decide if Eric Brian Brown actually is capable of understanding the charges against him. A hearing is set for Feb. 27 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, but the defense wants it moved until late March.
F or many holidaymakers, the prelude to a trip overseas is a frantic scramble for an airport parking space followed by a desperate dash to departures under a mountain of suitcases.

Now Gatwick airport is introducing a fleet of valet-parking robots to ease the stress of getting away  and squeeze one third more vehicles into the same size car park.

Under a trial which begins in August, travellers will leave their car in a dedicated drop-off zone and summon a droid, booked by app, on a touch-screen. As the customers are shuttled to the terminal, the battery-powered robot rolls up, slides a forklift-style ramp under the chassis, and uses military-grade GPS to ferry it to a secure bay  all without needing the keys.

The autonomous droids  codenamed Stan and likened to a robot in Pixars 2008 movie Wall-E  scan each vehicles size and shape to safely steer them to their destination. And because there is no need for the drivers door to open, they can be parked more tightly together. Each booking is linked to the passengers flight number to ensure their car is ready to collect from the same location upon their return.

The three-month pilot scheme, revealed in a planning application to Crawley council, is proposed to begin at the height of the summer getaway using technology developed by French firm Stanley Robotics.

Travellers will leave their car in a dedicated drop-off zone and summon a droid, booked by app, to park their car / PR handout

Similar systems are being trialled at airports in Paris, Lyon and Dusseldorf, but this would be the first time it has been used in the UK. Stephane Evanno, Stanley Robotics co-founder, said: We call it a valet parking robot because people just need to drop off their car at the entrance of the car park and then they can basically leave and catch a flight, but its doing more than just valet parking.

He said that passenger feedback was overwhelmingly good during a five-month trial at Charles de Gaulle last year, where the system operated so seamlessly that some customers were not even aware a robot had been involved. They did not understand that their car would not stay in that wide space where they left it  they were just wondering why the car was in another position when they returned, he told industry website Airport Technology.
E astEnders hardman Danny Dyer is ready to dig further yet into his royal ancestry in new history series Danny Dyers Right Royal Family.

After uncovering some unexpected regal roots on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are, when the actor learned that he was a direct descent of Edward III, Dyer is set to take centre stage in Danny Dyers Right Royal Family.

The new BBC series will see the actor and his famous family exploring 800 years of history by living life like his ancestors.

Along the way, Dyer finds yet more royal blood in his family tree and even uncovers a saintly connection, an experience that hes described as nutty.

Heres everything you need to know about Right Royal Family.

Target practice: Dyer learned how to live like his ancestors / BBC/Wall to Wall Media

What is Danny Dyer's Right Royal Family all about?

The 41-year-old actor is set to embark upon a journey through history as he attempts to live life like his illustrious ancestors, which is a good excuse for Dyer to try out some hilarious historical tasks while dressing up in period costumes (crowns included).

In the first episode, Dyer goes back 35 generations to learn how to fight (and eat sheep's tongue) like his Viking forebear Rollo, before skipping a few centuries to live like William the Conqueror. He'll also hop across the channel to discover that he's descended from Louis XI of France, a King who was also known as Saint Louis.

Danny Dyer's Right Royal Family in pictures 1 /7 Danny Dyer's Right Royal Family in pictures Dyer tests out an Elizabethan sugar banquet BBC/Wall to Wall Media The actor dressed up in Tudor garb BBC/Wall to Wall Media Dyer took part in an archery lesson to channel his inner William the Conqueror BBC/Wall to Wall Media The actor was amazed by yet more royal revelations BBC/Wall to Wall Media Dyer will be joined by his family on the show BBC/Wall to Wall Media/Jack Coathupe Dyer suited up in armour BBC/Stephen Perry The EastEnders star tried to live like the Tudor aristocracy BBC/Stephen Perry

"I'm still in shock at the fact that I'm related to such important people," he said of his experiences filming the show. "I've had a ball getting to know them. It was a nutty experience."

Will Dani Dyer appear in the show?

Love Island fans will be pleased to learn that Dyer's 22-year-old daughter will crop up in the show, alongside her mother Joanne Mas Dyer. The pair can be seen in period-appropriate get-up as they try out some Tudor dance moves in a promotional clip for the show that was released earlier this year.

When is Right Royal Family on TV?
D avid and Victoria Beckham held hands as they arrived for the launch of the fashion designers anticipated Reebok collaboration in New York.

The couple looked cheerful as they headed out to celebrate the former Spice Girls latest fashion venture at Manhattan restaurant The Flower Shop.

Victoria looked stylish as ever in a pair of high-waisted red trousers and a snakeskin shirt from her eponymous brand, while David kept things casual in a pair of stonewashed jeans and a grey hoodie.

The couple were joined by their eldest son Brooklyn, 19, and his model girlfriend Hana Cross, 21.

Date night: David and Victoria Beckham in New York / SplashNews.com

Proud husband David shared clips from inside the event on his Instagram Stories, showing off the black and white Reebok campaign artwork on the walls.

The designer recently revealed that she was definitely not going to make a cameo appearance during the forthcoming Spice Girls reunion tour in an interview with the Guardian.

Not at all. What I do now is my passion and a full-time job, she told the paper. Im excited to see it, though.

Victoria Beckham shares video on the set of her new YouTube video

She went on to admit that she would feel a bit left out when she sees her former bandmates Emma Bunton, Geri Horner, Melanie Brown and Melanie Chisholm performing later this year.

Im sure when Im there and they are on stage, there will be a part of me that feels a bit left out, she said. Because even after all this, a part of me will always be a Spice Girl.
T he Academy Awards are not winning any prizes them-selves at the moment. The Oscars are in trouble. Theres not even going to be an MC for the big show on February 24, to replace Kevin Hart, who quit in December after past homophobic tweets resurfaced. No satisfactory host has been found for many years now, let alone a consistent face (back in the day, Bob Hope presented for 19 years!)

And the all-important viewing figures are slumping year by year. In 2014, when Ellen DeGeneres presented, they stood at 43.74 million. Last year, with Jimmy Kimmel in charge, they were down to 26.5 million, an all-time low.

There have been a series of public humiliations, including of course the whole #MeToo shaming, the Oscars being at the heart of Harvey Weinsteins manoeuvres. There was the envelope fumble in 2017 that led to La La Land apparently winning Best Picture before it went to Moonlight, a slip-up that made the whole ceremony ridiculous. There was that botched scheme last year to launch a new category for achievement in popular film, an embarrassed response to the success of Black Panther, soon abandoned.

Other troubles have proved more persistently damaging. In 2012 the LA Times conducted an investigation into the demographics of the 5,765 voting academy members, which revealed that they were 94 per cent Caucasian and 77 per cent male with a median age of 62. Only 14 per cent of the membership were under 50, only two per cent black and fewer than that Latino.

Oscars 2019: The nominations

In 2015 the #OscarsSoWhite row exploded on Twitter  trending again in 2016 when all 20 actors nominated were white. The academys response has been to actively recruit more women, people of colour and foreign film-makers, without, however, getting rid of the old guard. There are now 7,902 voting members, 2,406 more than three years ago  1,200 of them now being people of colour.

A couple of weeks ago, a punchy article in trade journal The Hollywood Report argued that there are now effectively two different academies voting for the Oscars. The old academy is studio- and Hollywood-centric; its predominantly male and white and middle-aged or older. The new academy is indie- and internationally-oriented; its made up of just as many women as men, with a healthy number of non-Caucasians.

And their attitudes conflict most when it comes to Netflix and the other streaming services. The old academy loathes Netflix for disrupting the traditional exhibition business and blurring the lines between TV/streaming and theatrical releases. The new academy couldnt care less, so long as someones financing decent films.

So which of these two academies will dominate? In the long run, the answer is obvious. And this year looks like a tipping point.

Oscars predictions 2019: Our pick of the winners 1 /6 Oscars predictions 2019: Our pick of the winners Best Picture - Roma A Star Is Born proved one of the biggest successes of the year, achieving $400m at the box office and receiving a string of five star reviews. Still, the fact that Bradley Cooper hasn't been nominated for the Best Director award  normally a prerequisite for films winning Best Picture  means it will probably miss out here. Itll be difficult for the Academy to separate The Favourite and Roma for Best Picture. Theres no doubting the genius of Yorgos Lanthimoss period drama The Favourite, but the film could ultimately just prove a little too eccentric for the Academys taste  Roma, Alfonso Cuarons beautiful tribute to his home country of Mexico, might be the slightly easier choice. Should the film win, it'll become the first Oscar-winning Netflix film. The film establishment seems to have changed its mind, very quickly  the streaming giant were banned outright from the Cannes Film Festival as recently as 2018. AP Best Leading Actor - Bradley Cooper Best Leading Actor is one of the most open categories at the 2019 awards, partly due to its lack of real standout performances. That said, the Academy been swayed dramatic physical transformations in this category in the past  it worked for Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club and Charlize Theron in Monster  which means the bulked-up, balding Christian Bale could be in contention for his turn as Dick Cheney in the aptly-named Vice. But  is the whole transformation trend just a bit done, now? Nowhere else in life does piling on the pounds come with a prize. In the end, the unanimous critical acclaim for A Star Is Born and the fact that Bradley Cooper missed out on a Best Director nod puts him as our favourite to take the gong home for his inspired, world-weary and tormented performance. Its the strongest turn on an otherwise dull list. Best Leading Actress - Glenn Close Olivia Colman is hotly-tipped for the award for her capricious turn as Queen Anne in The Favourite. While her character, one of the most eccentric monarchs in British history, could come actress on screen as irritable or irksome in the hands of a lesser performer, Colman delivered an utterly captivating performance. Glenn Close delivered a powerhouse performance in the otherwise patchy The Wife. Despite being nominated six times, the actress has never won an Oscar during her five decades on screen, and the Academy has form when it comes to honouring certain actors for their careers holistically, rather than for individual works. Weve seen it before  Jeff Bridges win for Crazy Heart, Leonardo DiCaprios gong for The Revenant, and even Judi Denchs win for Shakespeare In Love back in 1999, awarded despite just eight minutes screen time. These stars werent necessarily awarded for the right films, but it was about time they won. In 2019, it could well be Closes turn. Best Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali Much like the Best Lead Actor category, the Best Supporting Actor is amongst the least enticing of the year. With a lack of real standouts, its anyones guess. Fans of Timothee Chalamet were up in arms after he was snubbed for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in Beautiful Boy, while Brian Tyree Henry is also unfortunate to miss out on recognition for his role in If Beale Street Could Talk. Mahershala Ali, however, claimed the award in 2016 for Moonlight, and stands the best chance of scooping it again this year with his well-pitched performance as jazz pianist Don Shirley in Deep South drama Green Book. The category, though, is totally up for grabs. AP Best Supporting Actress - Rachel Weisz It shows just how fancied Roma is this year that Marina De Tavira is nominated for Best Supporting Actress, along with Yalitza Aparicio for Best Leading Actress. De Tavira gives a cultured turn as Sra. Sofia  the matriarch struggling to keep her family together in the midst of a strained marriage  and with the academy celebrating the film so comprehensively across separate shortlists, she could stand a chance of taking home the award. Regina King is magnetic in Barry Jenkinss If Beale Street Could Talk, too. However, its likely be a straight shoot-out between Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz for the award, with The Favourite, well, the favourite. Both played roles arguably as crucial as Leading Actress nominee Olivia Colman in the film, and while Stone gives a wonderfully unpredictable performance, were backing Weiszs utterly absorbing turn as Lady Sarah to clinch the award. AP Best Director - Yorgos Lanthimos or Alfonso Cuaron Spike Lee pulled off the implausible with BlacKkKlansman, creating a frequently hilarious film about the KKK that also managed to be eerily timely and horrifying in equal measure. Few could have managed it with such aplomb, making him a fantastic outside shot for the Best Director award. Like much of this years awards though, itll most likely come down to the two frontrunners. The choice is between Yorgos Lanthimos or Alfonso Cuaron, who would both walk the category any other year. Theres no splitting them on this one. The headline here, though, is the outrageous fact no female directors have been recognised  especially as Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here was more than deserving of a Best Picture nod, too.

So far Netflix has, despite its huge budgets, won precious little at the Oscars, taking home only two documentary prizes (including doc-umentary short for The White Helmets in 2017). Amazon has done only a little better, having backed Manchester by the Sea and Asghar Farhadis The Salesman.

But yesterday Netflixs Roma scored 10 nominations, including for Best Picture. Thats a game-changer.

Dropped from the line-up at Cannes Film Festival last spring because it did not meet Canness strict theatrical release criteria, Roma was snapped up by Venice in the autumn and won the top prize there, the Golden Lion, awarded the previous year to The Shape of Water, which went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Can Roma do the same? It will be a double first if so, since although foreign- language films have been nominated for overall Best Picture before, none has ever won.

So the fate of Roma looks like the key decision when the prizes are awarded  which is the only part of the process that ultimately matters, the only thing that you have the smallest hope of remembering a few months later. Then this diverse set of nominations will have to be crunched, one way or the other.

At this stage the shortlists are capacious enough to reflect the interests of both the old and the new academies. There are old-fashioned major studio dramas such as A Star is Born, Green Book, Incredibles 2 and Black Panther, and smaller, artier contenders like Roma, If Beale Street Could Talk and The Favourite.

The Favourites success  joint top scorer in the nominations  is another sign of how much the academys tastes are changing. Its director, Yorgos Lanthimos, received just a single, screenwriting, nomination for his possibly even better film The Lobster, also starring Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman, in 2015.

The Favourite - Trailer 2

Not all academy members are happy. Last year producer Bill Mechanic (whose credits include Hacksaw Ridge) resigned from the board of governors, criticising the diversity policies and saying over the past decade we have nominated so many smaller independent films that the Oscars feel like they should be handed out in a tent.

Roma, about the director Alfonso Cuarons childhood in Mexico City in the Seventies  filmed in black and white, with a little or previously entirely unknown cast who do not act at all theatrically, speaking Spanish and Mixtec  might seem one of the most improbable films to lead the nominations ever.

Yet Roma is quite clearly the best film of the year. Nobody wants to hear this at this point in the awards season, when every impulse is to cheer the cornucopia of delights lined up for us  but this has not been a strong year for film. Hands up: I rated Roma as the only five-star film I saw all year. A Star is Born is a thumper: Lady Gaga nails it but its too long and loses its momentum. BlacKkKlans-man is Spike Lees best film for years but is too much played for laughs before its serious turn. Pawel Pawlikowskis Cold War is not the equal of his Oscar-winning Ida, requiring pre-emptive belief in amour fou. Barry Jenkinss If Beale Street Could Talk is tender and flowing but pious in a way Moonlight was not.

Other films nominated this year are actually poor or objectionable. Bohemian Rhapsody may be the highest grossing musical biography of all time ($802 million on a $50 million budget) but save for Rami Maleks amazing impersonation of Freddie Mercury its an absolute clunker, with a dire script compromised by the producers de-cision to fit Mercurys raunchy life into a PG rating. It works, of course, as a nasty great earworm.

Green Book, a feelgood buddy movie set in the early Sixties, is an extraordinary act of racial patronage, and has been severely criticised by the subjects family: Mahershala Ali, who plays the lead, responded: if I have offended you, I am so, so terribly sorry  I did the best I could with the material I had.

TODO: define component type apester

Vice  despite Christian Bales in-credible physical transformation and poised performance  is a hectoring, contemptuous and smug piece of moviemaking, berating its villain Dick Cheney relentlessly.

And that leaves Black Panther, which has both earned $1.3 billion worldwide and scored a near-perfect 97 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, having been almost universally applauded by the reviewers. Now it has become the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture  Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight having notoriously failed to achieve that in 2008.

Black Panther is so important for reasons of identity and inclusiveness that it can only be impertinent to criticise it (black controversialist Armond White attempted it in an essay called Black Panthers Circle of Hype in the National Review).

It is a cultural milestone and the academy would have found itself in possibly terminal trouble if it had failed to recognise that. For the academy, like every other form of reception, judgment and establishment in the arts pretending to such a name, is now itself radically challenged by questions of identity and representation.
K atie Price has hit back at online trolls after MPs backed her pledge to make cyberbullying a criminal offence.

The former glamour model shared sweet snaps of herself cuddled up alongside 16-year-old son Harvey, insisting she will make a difference.

Thanking fans for their support, Price wrote: The support has been unbelievable so far for #HarveysLaw this is for everyone out there who has ever been a victim of online bullying.

We WILL make the difference. Thank you to all of the MPs and the select committee for backing this important campaign to me and my family- this is for you Harvey.

A second post read: Feeling the love and going to bed with a grateful heart for all the support we have received today for #HarveysLaw if only Harv knew.

Price was flooded with support from fans who praised her on taking steps to rid the internet of hate.

Moving forward: Price is hopeful a law will be introduced against online bullying / PA Archive/PA Images

One user wrote: Youre an amazing mum.

Another commented: Well done Katie you should be so proud of yourself.

A third added: Such a gorgeous genuine photo here. Probably the best ever capture Ive seen of you @officialkatieprice. Carry on the much needed work for this campaign its working. And changing views of disability associated bullying.

Prices snaps come after she won the support of MPs following a campaign against online trolls, after her disabled son was targeted with abuse.

Katie Price urges Parliament to tackle online trolling after son Harvey suffers abuse

The petition gained over 220,000 signatures and called on the government to create a register of offenders.

On Tuesday, MPs on the Petition Committee said they want to give disabled people protection under hate crime laws.

They said self-regulation of social media has failed people and internet giants should also accept responsibility for abuse.

The committee added: We agree with Katie Prices petition that the law on online abuse is not fit for purpose and it is truly shameful that disabled people have been forced off social media while their abusers face no consequences."
A riana Grande has announced the release date for her hotly-anticipated upcoming album Thank U, Next.

The US pop star shared the track list on Instagram and said it will arrive on February 8.

The album features the hit single from which it takes its name as well as previously released tracks Imagine and 7 Rings.

It also contains a song titled Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored. Other songs include Needy, NASA and Bloodline.

There are 12 songs in total.

Thank U, Next, is Grande fifth studio album, following on from Yours Truly, My Everything, Dangerous Woman and Sweetener.

The latter album was released in August last year.
R obert Burns may have known the downside to drink when he wrote on John Symes goblet Theres death in the cup  sae beware!, but he knew the draw of it too, following his alarming opening with an honest admission: But wha can avoid the fell snare? The man and his wine's sae bewitching!

It seems only right, then, to pay tribute to Scotlands greatest poet by raising a measure in his honour. The tie between whisky and Burns goes beyond a shared homeland; he wrote of it often, most famously in Tam OShanter, where he praised the bravening effects of John Barleycorn, and in Scotch Drink, where he named it as his muse.

Whether youre toasting the Address to the Haggis or wailing along to Donald, Wheres Your Trousers? (Spotify it), heres our pick of the drams thatll keep you dancing, whether you're doing a ceilidh or not.

Port Charlotte 10-year-old Scotch Whisky

On Scotlands west coast is the Hebrides, and its said their Queen is Islay. The islands known for its whisky, which is a clearer picture of the place than any postcard. Swirling inside most bottles here are flavours of peat and smoke and salt from the sea, but the Bruichladdich boys once differed from their neighbours  Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig  for keeping their stuff unpeated. Then they put together a team for their Port Charlotte experiments, named for a pretty village of white-washed houses that stare out over the water, with an aim to bottle the quintessential Islay dram.

With their flagship 10-year-old, theyve done it. Smoke? Its like sitting beside the open fire in the corner of a cosy pub. Peat? Enough to almost chew it. But whereas some peaty single malts leave your mouth feeling slight charred, theres enough seaweed and brisk air in this to level things out; drinking this excellent release feels like settling at the bar after a long walk out on the beach. It tastes similar too; sea air but sweeter, a little honey and vanilla, with some oak smoke in there. Its 50 per cent ABV, but the alcohol sits well in the drink, softened, probably, because of its time in wine casks at the end.

Macallan Sherry Oak 12-year-old Scotch Whisky

Whatever it was that pushed Macallan to run their 1824 series  the Gold, Amber, Sienna and Ruby editions  it certainly seems putting these bottles quietly away and returning to age statements is for the best. Certainly, a number shouldnt signify anything particularly, but the Macallan 12 means something; those with a long memory, or good friends with old collections, will know the Macallan 12s of the mid 90s were faintly heavenly.

Theyve had this back for a couple of years, aged in sherry wood as it should be, and recently seem to have found a consistency thats admirable. The drink tastes as it looks, standing upright and patrician in its bottle; it is utterly elegant, tasting just the way a very good, comforting Speyside should.

It smells of dried fruit, sultanas and raisins, but the sherry is in there from the off, coming across like Calvados. To taste, its nicely sweet, and goes down easily, with lots of marmalade and oak flavours. It is, perhaps, not the most complex drink in the world, but its not bottled to be  its bottled to drink every now and then with a friend, to catch up over, to enjoy without having to think about it. It's bottled to be reliable. A touch pricey, but very lovely.

Highland Park Dragon Legend Scotch Whisky

Lets skip swiftly over the name; the recent Game of Thrones whiskies put out by Diageo were bad enough (gentlemen, ladies, please: control your marketing department), but this sounds as if it were dreamt up for boys with board games in the basement. And still  still!  it makes this list as its frankly delicious and a bargain to boot.

Highland Park, so called as its the most northerly distillery in Scotland, typically produces rich, indulgent drams, all cinnamon and coffee. Here, theyve gone smokier than normal, with something which tastes like fruitcake and smells like cut wood. Its got a little citrus in there, lemon peel, lots of earthy notes too, and just the right level of peat. At 43.1 per cent ABV, the alcohol is quite upfront, but best left like that  adding water dulls things. The finish is light, though the sweetness lasts. Perfect for a long, lingering drink late in the evening.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company Bunnahabhain 11-Year-Old Scotch Whisky

That Boutique-y Whisky Company are independent bottlers, rather than distillers themselves, and they certainly have a nose for the good stuff. This is a Bunnahabhain, from Islay, limited to 712 bottles, and is another of those whiskies that would be perfect out on the shoreline, wrapped up in a Barbour, nice and tired from a long stroll.

It smells like the sea on rocks, with a little orange and hazlenut there too, but it opens into a fierce warmth that might seem like smoke but really is red hot chili peppers. Theres dark chocolate in there, cloves too; this is drink to warm up winter. Its lovely, lively, and comes with quite a hit at 49.5 per cent ABV. The packaging matters, too; so much of whisky is in the ceremony, in taking out a lovely bottle and sharing it around. Thats where Boutique-y do so well: their labels are fun, they prompt a little conversation, and they make this a beautiful, distinctive gift. This one shows the distillery; look closely, especially at the water.

AnCnoc 18-year-old Scotch Whisky

Proof, if it were needed, that smoke isnt flavour. This is really quite gorgeous; more than that, its priced the way whisky used to be before the market went AWOL. An 18-year-old for somewhere around 75 now represents fairly excellent value for money; age isnt everything, but it is, at least, a yardstick of what to expect. This non-chill filtered Highland whisky offers gentle sweetness, a gorgeous nose and lots of freshness.

The best thing to do with this AnCnoc  thats an-knock, by the way  is let it sit in the glass before tucking in. A year in the cask, a minute in the glass has rarely been as true as it is here, and something about this charmingly complex dram starts to unfurl as the air skims its surface. To start, theres butterscotch, orange peel, a certain nuttiness thats also carrying a fruity sweetness. Take a sip and out comes something reminiscent of Jamacian ginger cake, with plenty of pepper and that nuttiness from the smell. This comes from its final ageing in Oloroso sherry casks: you taste what theyve done, but it doesnt overpower. It is smooth as anything, full of body, nicely fruity and plenty rich. To go back to the beginning  theres no smoke, but no smoke needed.

Glen Moray Peated Scotch Whisky

Speyside, where this is from, isnt known for its peated whiskies, so this is an unusual offering from Glen Moray. Moray often make these best-of lists as they price so competitively; at around the mid-20s, and so, in supermarkets, this offers terrific value for money. Its not an especially subtle drink, with the smoke billowing through it from the off, but theres enough sweetness in there to keep things pleasingly drinkable. If neat scotch all evening feels like a bit much, mix this into a cocktail  it would be beautiful in a Pencillin (scotch, lemon, honey, ginger), giving a great big kick of peat. Not so good alone on ice, though.

And the alternative... Cotswold Single Malt

For something different this Burns Night, dont do a single malt Scotch at all. Blasphemous, perhaps, but if youre not Scottish, wheres the harm? This, which holds the (perhaps unsurprising) distinction of being the first whisky distilled in the Cotswolds, has a beautiful colour to it, a rich amber thats all natural and lifted from the red wine barrels its finished in. Though the idea seems like a novelty, if not heresy  English Scotch?!  its won plaudits across the industry, with Jim Murray scoring it 95 points out of a hundred in his most recent Whisky Bible.
W ikiLeaks is seeking to force the Trump administration to unseal any charges filed in the US against its founder Julian Assange.

They are also pressing Ecuador to protect him from being extradited to the United States if he leaves its embassy in London, where he has been living for over six years.

A 1,172 page application has been made to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), asking it to make an "urgent intervention" in the case.

Mr Assange is wanted in America over the leak of classified military documents in 2010, but has spent more than six years living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

He was facing allegations of sex crimes in Sweden, which he has always denied, and insisted that he could not face the claims as he then be would be extradited to the US over his Wikileaks activities.

Mr Assange was granted political asylum by the Ecuador government and has remained in the embassy since the summer of 2012, believing he will be extradited to the US if he leaves the building.

Restrictions were placed on his communications and visitors last year, described by WikiLeaks as an "isolation regime".

The move on Wednesday follows a mistake in a document filed by the US authorities in an unrelated case last year which suggested criminal charges may have been prepared against Mr Assange in secret.

WikiLeaks said calls to extradite him to the US was the reason he obtained political asylum in 2012.

The Trump administration was accused of refusing to reveal details of charges against Mr Assange despite the fact that sources in the Department of Justice have confirmed that he has been charged under seal, his lawyers said.

"The revelation that the US has initiated a prosecution against Mr Assange has shocked the international community", the legal submission stated.

The US government "is required to provide information as to the criminal charges that are imputed to Mr Assange in full", it added.

The submission said that for the first time, US federal prosecutors have formally approached people in the United States, Germany and Iceland in recent months and pressed them to testify against Mr Assange in return for immunity from prosecution.

Baltasar Garzon, the international co-ordinator of Mr Assange's legal team, said he was asking the IACHR to make an urgent intervention in his favour and was calling for "international solidarity for this case in which the right to access and impart information freely is in jeopardy".

The application by Mr Assange's lawyers identifies a raft of legal obligations that the US and Ecuador are "flouting" in their treatment of him.

The lawyers claim the Trump administration has been attempting to "pressure" Ecuador to hand over Mr Assange, including "serious overt threats" against Ecuador made by senior US political figures.

"Ecuador is required to end the regime of isolation imposed on Mr Assange, suspending the application of the so-called special protocol and guaranteeing his rights as an asylee will be respected in full," the document filed by his lawyers stated.
S tormy Daniels' lawsuit against Donald Trump over a hush-money settlement about their alleged affair could be thrown out.

A federal judge has not yet ruled on the case, but appeared to agree with lawyers for the president during a hearing on Tuesday that there was no grounds for a lawsuit.

Judge S James Otero, in the US District Court, told porn actress Ms Daniels attorney: "It seems you've achieved ... what you sought to achieve.

Mr Trump and his former fixer Michael Cohen had asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit after agreeing to rescind the nondisclosure agreement.

Adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, speaks as she departs federal court last year / Reuters

The settlement included a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels.

If the judge does throw out the case, it would give both sides a chance to claim victory.

The case would allow Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to speak without threat of legal consequences.

But it would also prevent further litigation she has sought to force the president and Cohen to give sworn testimony.

Trump has denied claims he had an affair with the porn star

Ms Daniels brought the lawsuit to free herself from the agreement that silenced her as the 2016 presidential campaign reached its conclusion.

Mr Cohen had arranged the payment and later pleaded guilty to campaign violations after admitting the deal was struck.

The now-US President has denied the alleged 2006 affair.

Claiming the agreement was not valid, Ms Daniels said Mr Trumps signature was not on it and the presidents lawyer said he was never party to it.

Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign violations / AP

Despite appearing to get what Ms Daniels originally sought, her lawyer fought hard to keep the case alive.

Her attorney Michael Avenatti wanted the case to continue so he could force Trump and Cohen to give depositions.

But it appeared the judge did not buy Avenatti's legal reasoning for keeping litigation going when there was no longer an issue in dispute.

Otero repeatedly asked Avenatti to cite case law to support his arguments.

But after he named several cases, Otero told him he was "mixing apples and oranges."

"I think we see the issues very differently," the judge said.

Still, Mr Avenatti declared his client the winner after Tuesday's hearing.

"They admitted what we said all along," he said.
D onald Trump has been told he will not be allowed to deliver an annual State of the Union address in the House chamber until a partial government shutdown ends.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi informed the President of her stance on Wednesday.

In a letter to President Trump, she said: "I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorising the president's State of the Union address in the House chamber until government has opened.

"Passage of such a resolution is required before the president can speak in the House."

Trump, Pelosi and Schumer have long come to blows over the government shutdown / EPA/Michael Reynolds

The speech had been set for January 29, she added: "I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened."

President Trump has since said he is not surprised by the situation and said will be doing his own "alternative speech".

He said the cancellation was a "disgrace" but did not detail his next move.

When asked about Ms Pelosi's action during a health care event at the White House, and as the government shutdown extended into a second month, the President said: "This will go on for a while. Ultimately the American people will have their way because they want to see no crime."

He added that he was planning a "really important speech" and called Ms Pelosi's course of action a "great blotch on the country that we all love."

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-NY) speaks with reporters outside the House Chamber on Capitol Hill / AFP/Getty Images

The move from Ms Pelosi comes just hours after President Trump told her that he was planning to deliver the speech next Tuesday in line with her original invitation.

Mr Trump, responding to her asking him to delay the speech, said in a letter: "It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!"

Mr Trump and Ms Pelosi remain locked in an increasingly personal standoff over Mr Trump's demand for border wall money.

The dispute has forced a partial government shutdown which is now in its second month and is the longest instance of its kind in history.

Ms Pelosi, as House Speaker, is second in line to the presidency after Vice-President Mike Pence.

The development has left the White House attempting to devise an alternative plan for the speech.
A Chinese model who featured in a Dolce & Gabbana advert accused of racism earlier this year has claimed the campaign nearly ruined her career.

The fashion giants ad campaign for their fashion show in Shanghai attracted outrage in November after it was accused of enforcing racist stereotypes.

D&G faced backlash from critics as the ad featured videos of a giggling Chinese model struggling to eat Italian foods, such as pasta, pizza and cannoli, with chopsticks.

Critics also said the use of lanterns and Chinese couplets in the clips were outdated and stereotypical.

Zuo Ye featured in the November campaign ahead of the brand's fashion show in Shanghai

Model Zuo Ye has said she felt guilty and ashamed following the advert.

In a statement, Ms Zuo said the ad for the high profile fashion brand nearly killed off my modelling career.

Explaining the shoot, Ms Zuo said the director told her the advert was going to feature her trying Italian delicacies.

When filming, she said she felt awkward when asked to eat food like pizza and pasta with chopsticks and the director instructed her to look shocked and in disbelief when eating.

The final cut of the advert was not seen by her prior to its release, she added.
T hree young men and a 16-year-old boy have been charged with a bomb and gun plot to attack a rural Muslim community in New York state called Islamberg.

Three home-made bombs packed with black powder, ball bearings and nails were found at the teenage boys home in Greece, in the north of the state, and detectives also seized 23 firearms.

The group had allegedly targeted Islamberg, a settlement of mostly African-American Muslims that was founded by a Pakistani Sufi cleric in the Eighties to escape crime and overcrowding in cities.

The three men  Andrew Crysel, 18, Vincent Vetromile, 19, and Brian Colaneri, 20  were appearing in court today charged with criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy.

Brian Colaneri, 20, and a 16-year-old boy were also charged

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named because he is being prosecuted as a juvenile, is facing the same charges.

Police said at least three of the suspects had been enrolled together as boy scouts.

They had a plan in place, said Greece police chief Patrick Phelan. If they had carried out this plot, which every indication is that they were going to, people would have died. I dont know how many and who, but people would have died.

Far-Right conspiracy theorists have claimed the gated settlement of Islamberg, 350 miles north-west of New York City, is a terrorist training compound for Islamist militants but authorities have dismissed the rumours.

Local residents have described their neighbours in Islamberg, which has about 200 people and is run by the Muslims of America group, as peaceful and friendly.

Police swooped to arrest the four after the 16-year-old, a student at Greeces Odyssey Academy, showed classmates a photo on his phone and remarked: He looks like the next school shooter, doesnt he?

An alarmed student reported the Friday lunchtime conversation to school officials, who called police.

The kid who said something saved peoples lives... nobodys dead and thats a good story, police chief Phelan said.

Some of the seized guns were owned by the alleged plotters and others by their relatives, and they were all apparently legally held.

In 2017, Robert Doggart, from Tennessee, was jailed for plotting to burn down a mosque, a school and a community centre in Islamberg.
B oys from Covington Catholic High School heckled two women before their confrontation with Native American protesters, one of the women has claimed.

A woman known as Linds on Twitter posted a video of her and a friend walking past a group of boys, who shout MAGA and build the wall.

She said she was "tired of reading things saying [the boys] were provoked by anyone else other than their own egos and ignorance.

The video, which has had almost 11 million views, emerged after a group of high school boys were accused of mocking elder Nathan Phillips near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Friday.

A group of students apparently heckled two women / @roflinds

Alongside the clip, Linds said: The Covington Catholic boys harassed my friends and I before the incident with Nathan Phillips even happened.

I'm tired of reading things saying they were provoked by anyone else other than their own egos and ignorance."

The clip shows Linds and her friend walking along a path while shouting can be heard in the background.

The camera then turns around to reveal a group of school-aged boys gathered around a bench, some of whom are wearing red caps similar to the MAGA hats featured in the later video with Mr Phillips.

Linds claimed the boys yelled "MAGA" at her and her friend (pictured) / Twitter/roflinds

Her friend turns round and says "I'm so tired already".

Linds added: "This video is short because we walked by and were surprised to be yelled at. I took my phone out to send it to my friends back home for a laugh.

I simply could not ignore the media saying they were provoked so I posted it.

Also for those asking the full details, the interaction wasnt very complicated.

The video prompted outrage / REUTERS

We walked by, they started yelling, we asked them how old they were, they replied "old enough", kept yelling, and we rolled our eyes and kept walking.

Last thing, for people wondering what they yelled, all we specifically heard was "MAGA", "Build the Wall", and some people say they hear "slut" at the end of the video.

It comes after US student Nick Sandmann, from Kentucky, denied claims he is "racist" after footage of a face-to-face confrontation between him and a Native American war veteran went viral.

Footage of the incident sparked outrage when Mr Sandmann and students from the Covington Catholic High School were seen wearing Make America Great Again hats and laughing around the Omaha elder.

Mr Sandmann appeared to be standing extremely close to the 64-year-old veterans face, while other pupils were seen chanting and cheering.
U S actor Alec Baldwin has been ordered to take an anger management course after pleading guilty to a harassment charge following a parking row.

The 60-year-old star, who is the eldest of the Baldwin brothers, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court over the confrontation last November where he was accused of punching someone over a parking spot.

He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment, after which a judge ordered him to pay a $120 fine then to return to court in March to show he had completed the anger management training.

When the judge asked Baldwin if he was pleading guilty and understood the conditions he replied: "Yes sir."

Actor Alec Baldwin (C) departs courtroom after a hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court / EPA

Baldwin was arrested in New York on November 2 then charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment before he was released on the same day.

At the time, Baldwin denied striking anyone, and wrote his foundation's Twitter account: "Normally, I would not comment on something as egregiously misstated as today's story.

"However, the assertion that I punched anyone over a parking spot is false. I wanted to go on the record stating as much."

Officials did not name the other driver involved in the incident.

However, local media identified him as Wojciech Cieszkowski.

Mr Cieszkowski is a construction business owner and told the New York Post one day after the altercation that he felt "sore" after the incident.

Baldwin, who currently impersonates President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, appeared dressed in a dark business suit, burgundy-colored scarf and eyeglasses.

He won an Emmy Award in 2017 for his scathing impressions of Trump and is also known for portraying network executive Jack Donaghy in NBC's "30 Rock" sitcom.

The incident is not the first case of him losing his temper and in 2014 he was given a summons for disorderly conduct after an argument with police.

This came when he was stopped for riding his bike down a one-way street in New York. It was not clear what followed the summons notice.
D anny Dyer has waded into the Brexit debate again saying theyve got to put it off again.

The actor also lashed out at David Cameron again, adding the man who called this on and left us a day later should be held account for it. Where is he?

Its not the first time the actor has hit out at the former prime minister. His expletive laden speech on the one-off programme Good Evening Britain went viral on social media after he labelled Mr Cameron a t***.

Speaking at the National Television Awards, Mr Dyer said: We still dont understand what on earth Brexit means.

I think theyve got to put it off again. I dont know. Its either we just leave with no deal which is what I think a lot of people voted for because we were told it would be alright.

So its like ok were going to leave, were just going to leave everything, well pay them a bit of money and were going to own everything, our sovereign and all this sort of stuff.

Its clearly not the case. So why have you put this vote in front of us? When weve got a government that just cant really deal with it. That were never really up for it.

So its just astonishing that these people have let us down as much as they have really.

The actor was praised on social media after his previous appearance on Good Evening Britain in which he accused Mr Cameron of scuttling off.

One fan tweeted: Id vote for Danny Dyer #MrDDyer for PM after his inspirational political analysis on #GoodEveningBritain #GEB.
A sniffer dog has had a 25,000 price put on its head by gangsters after finding millions of pounds worth of counterfeit goods.

Scamp, the springer spaniel has sniffed out 6 million worth of illegal tobacco and 60,000 in cash during his five year career.

His owner Stuart Phillips says that Scamp has had to stop working in one country because there was a 25,000 bounty put on his head.

It was believed to be linked to an organised crime group and the relevant authorities were informed. Ive also had death threats, my windscreen has been smashed and my tyres slashed, he said.

Mr Phillips runs a detection dog company in Pembrokeshire and says the scale of the illegal tobacco industry is vast.

Products are smuggled in from as far afield as China or Russia and sold from shops or homes across Wales.

It is a massive problem in terms of the volume available and the fact that its so readily available in shops. Its available on social media, through Facebook.

Mr Phillips says that Scamp is the best weapon the authorities have in the war against illegal tobacco, adding theres not enough days in the week because its a massive problem.

He added that illegal tobacco is often linked to organised crime.

The public are not fully aware of what illegal tobacco is linked to.

They are not just buying cheap cigarettes and cheap hand rolling tobacco. It has knock on effects with other criminality. Illegal tobacco is linked to drugs, to firearms, its linked to people trafficking and child sexual exploitation.

A survey carried out by ASH Wales in 2014, revealed that around 15 percent of all tobacco sold in Wales is illegal, the highest level in the UK.
B illionaire businessman Sir James Dyson is relocating his company's head office from the UK to Singapore in a blow to Brexit Britain.

The move, announced on Tuesday, means Dyson is no longer a British registered company, with Singapore now becoming its main tax base.

But the 71-year-old vacuum cleaner tycoon has been heavily criticised for the move after he publicly backed Brexit during the 2016 referendum.

Company bosses say it has nothing to do with Brexit, instead insisting the switch is in a bid to be closer to Dyson's fastest-growing markets.

Who is James Dyson?

Born in Cromer, Norfolk in 1947, James Dyson is an inventor and founder of the multibillion-dollar Dyson Company.

His company's breakthrough came in the 1990s with the invention of bagless technology, which worked on the assumption that a cyclone could collect household dust better than a clogged-up bag.

The bagless Dyson vacuum cleaners sold millions of units and made the company a household name.

Later the company branched out into the manufacturer of air purifiers, hairdryers and cleaner, which was lauded by politicians as a British success story.

Chief Executive Jim Rowan said Dyson was a "global technology company", with 96 percent of its sales outside Britain.

The company broke through the 1 billion barrier for annual profit in 2018.

In 2017, the Sunday Times Rich List put Sir James's net worth at 7.8 billion.

Why has he relocated his company to Singapore?

The company said the move to south-east Asia was not driven by Brexit or tax.

Mr Rowan said: "The move is nothing to do with Brexit or tax, it's about making sure we are future proofed. There are huge revenue opportunities in Singapore, China is the poster child of that.

"The tax difference is negligible for us, we are taxed all over the world and we will continue to pay tax in the UK. We will continue to invest in the UK, in Malmesbury, in Bristol and London."

He said that more than half of the company's profit came from Asia and added: "Our growth rate in Asia has doubled most other places in the world over recent years."

Bosses instead said the switch was motivated by wanting to be nearer its manufacturing bases and markets where it was seeing the biggest demand.

Mr Rowan told reporters on Tuesday: "It allows us to make sure we will be putting our best efforts to secure those opportunities, as well as keeping an eye on those investments, especially EV (electric vehicles) and batteries."

But this is the second blow Dyson has dealt to Brexit Britain after last year's announcement that it will manufacturer its new electric cars in Singapore, rather than the UK.

Dyson said they moved to be closer to suppliers and Asian markets for the vehicle, which is due to launch in 2021.

Will the move to Singapore affect jobs in Britain?

Jim Rowan said the move was nothing to do with Brexit / REUTERS

Very little is expected to drastically change with this move.

In reality it means two senior executives, including the company's chief financial officer, will join Mr Rowan in Singapore, and the company will be registered there instead of the UK.

Much of its product development will remain in south-west England and none of the 4,000 jobs will be affected by the move. Mr Rowan said the company will continue to invest in bases at Malmesbury, Bristol and London.

The company was keen to stress its commitment to Britain and pointed out it is investing 200 million in new buildings and testing facilities at its campus at Hullavington Airfield.

Work at Malmesbury will also continue and the company said it was still expanding its research and engineering operation in Britain.

What did Dyson say about Brexit?

James Dyson came out in favour of Brexit days before the 2016 vote, when he said Britain could be about 18.5 billion pounds better off each year if it left the European Union.

He has previously told the Standard that he backs a hard Brexit, saying that he is for "free trade" and that he has been paying WTO tariffs "for years".

When he came out in support of Brexit, he said he was doing it from the "point of view of sovereignty".

He said: "We will create more wealth and more jobs by being outside the EU. We will be in control of our destiny. And control, I think, is the most important thing in life and business.
R achel Riley has recalled the "hideous" feeling of receiving hate-filled abuse for trying to speak out about anti-Semitism.

The countdown presenter, 33, said messages she is sent on Twitter are often indistinguishable from what would be expected from a neo-Nazi.

Ms Rileys remarks came as she spoke at a Holocaust Memorial Day reception at the House of Commons on Tuesday.

She said: "On Twitter the messages I am sent are often indistinguishable from that you would expect from a neo-Nazi yet the tweeters are identifiably not neo-Nazis.

"The markers of the red Labour rose coupled with the Palestinian flag, and the hashtag of Get The Tories Out and Jeremy Corbyn For PM along with the standard claim to be against racism in all forms are their signature giveaways."

To chuckles at the packed reception Commons, she joked that her "mum's Jewish and my dad's Man Utd" before outlining some of the abuse she has endured recently.

She said she had been called "not a real Jew, a child bully, a bonkers mad conspiracy theorist, a paedo-protector minion puppet whom my dead grandfather would be disgusted by".

Rachel Riley accuses Jeremy Corbyn of giving voice to holocaust denial

Ms Riley said she has faced calls from critics to be fired from her high-profile role as the numbers whizz on Countdown.

She said she felt she has been targeted for speaking about anti-Semitism in the Labour party.

"You need to know next to nothing to propagate Nazi or Soviet Jew-hating propaganda reframed to fit today's narrative, which spreads like wildfire and is dangerous," Ms Riley said, adding that "knowledge and truth are our only weapons" in trying to tackle the problem.

"But you need to know nearly everything to stop it. The odds are stacked in the anti-Semite's favour."

The presenter said she has been trying to educate herself on the issue, saying that she watched six hours of videos on Christmas Day about the history of anti-Semitism.

Calling for the Labour party to try to help "restack those odds", she said: "No-one should have to risk their safety and jeopardise their career in speaking out against anti-Semitism in Britain in 2019."
T he lawyer of former BBC editor Carrie Gracie has issued a stark warning to the broadcaster, saying trust in the broadcaster will be eroded if radical equal pay reforms are not made.

Former China editor for the corporation Ms Gracie resigned in early 2018 after it was revealed her pay was drastically lower than her US male counterpart Jon Sopel.

The journalists treatment led to allegations of pay inequality at the broadcaster, which was found to harbour an "invidious culture" of discrimination against women in a report last year.

A report published on Wednesday by the same Digital Culture Media And Sport (DCMS) Committee claimed that little has changed, and the BBC does not accept there is a systemic problem within the organisation.

Journalist Carrie Gracie gives evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on pay at the BBC / PA

Jennifer Millins, who represented Ms Gracie during her pay dispute, has said that unless the BBC accepts and reforms its practices, trust in the old institution will be weakened.

She said: "Unless the BBC radically rethinks its position, it will further erode the trust of Parliament, its workforce and the licence-fee paying public.

"As well as the individual legal claims that BBC employees can bring in the Employment Tribunal, the BBC will remain exposed to scrutiny by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and by the Government."

The DCMS Committee report notes that the BBC refused to recognise a wider problem, and refuses to use the appropriate terminology for the problem, skirting around the term "equal pay".

Former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie / PA

Ms Millins added: "The BBC's apparent refusal to properly grapple with the conclusions of the Select Committee's report could be considered a breach of its public sector equality duty."

"The BBC's ongoing failure to recognise the important distinctions between 'fair pay', 'equal pay' and the 'gender pay gap' can only exacerbate the frustration of the many BBC women still locked in protracted internal complaint procedures.

"Failure to provide equal pay is unlawful sex discrimination.

Carrie Gracie tells select committee 'We knew we were underpaid'-

"The concept of 'fair pay' that the BBC insists on referring to in answer to allegations of discriminatory pay practices has no specific legal meaning. A 'gender pay gap' is a statistical measure used to assess the average pay for men and women across an organisation.

"Neither of these concepts addresses the very serious allegations of pay discrimination made by several hundred women at the BBC, or the DCMS Select Committee's conclusion that the BBC has operated an unlawful pay practice. Equal pay is the employer's legal duty to pay men and women the same for equal work."

The Committee report claimed that women are paid "far less" than men based on evidence brought before it, and that the situation would be closely monitored by MPs.
C onservative Michael Fabricant has hit back at claims he wears a wig after two MPs appeared to mock him during a live broadcast of Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday.

Mr Fabricant, famous for his golden hair, seemed to be ridiculed behind his back in the Commons by two Tory colleagues, business minister Kelly Tolhurst and Bexhill and Battle MP Huw Merriman.

As Mr Fabricant asked Theresa May a question during PMQs, the pair were caught on camera whispering to each other before Mr Merriman pointed at Mr Fabricants hairline.

Mr Merriman then appeared to mouth the words its a wig and definitely a wig to people on the other side of the Commons with a smile on his face as he sat on the bench behind Mr Fabricant.

People on social media were quick to highlight the gaffe, with one asking who the MP pointing is.

In response, Mr Fabricant hit back and wrote: Its Huw Merriman MP. I realise no one knows him. A newish member, a little short-sighted, and who doesnt yet realise that MPs are televised, bless.

I know people are annoyed about his antics, they have been calling my office, but hell eventually learn how to behave. Sweet.

Some people have since called for Mr Merriman to apologise, with one person writing: He needs to learn some respect.

The guy in the Commons mouthing 'its a wig' while Michael Fabricant addresses the PM could have been a little more subtle, another wrote.

Another said: The two Tory MPs visible behind Michael Fabricant particularly enjoyed his question at #PMQs today.

Others branded the apparent mocking appalling childish behaviour and foolish, while some praised Mr Fabricant for being a good sport and responding like a true gent.
From the bottom of our hearts, we want them to stay.

Without your great nation, this Continent would not be what it is today: a community defined by freedom and prosperity.

After the horrors of the Second World War, Britain did not give up on us. It has welcomed Germany back as a sovereign nation and a European power.

This we, as Germans, have not forgotten and we are grateful.
Spelman/Dromey: Tory MP Dame Caroline Spelman and Labours Jack Dromey want to see Parliament call on the Government to rule out a no-deal Brexit. But it would be non-binding. Backed by letter by 225 MPs, with 54 (including 11 Tories) signing it. Chances of success: High.

Cooper/Boles: Seeks to overturn parliamentary convention by letting MPs launch a Bill to delay Brexit to the end of 2019 and avoid no-deal. It would be binding. Backed by 58 MPs from five parties, with seven Tories including Nicky Morgan. Chances: Good but fraught with complexities.

Grieve: Drawn up by ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve to suspend standing orders and let MPs take control on six dates in February and March to pass motions. Backed by 40 MPs, including Tory ex-minister Justine Greening. Chances: Resisted by traditionalists.

Corbyn: Labours official motion calls on the Government to stage votes on the party plan for a customs union and a second referendum. Chances: Poor, with no Tory rebels on board.

Benn: Labours Hilary Benn wants indicative votes to see which Brexit options would get Commons backing. These could include a Norway-style deal and a second referendum. Chances: Needs more support.

Murrison: Tory Brexiteer Andrew Murrison wants the Irish backstop to have an expiry date. Chances: Speaker may not select it for debate.
C ountdowns Rachel Riley spent Christmas Day watching six hours of documentaries about anti-Semitism as she continues her fight against what she says is a national scandal.

In the name of Labour, Riley told a Holocaust Educational Trust reception last night, Ive been called a hypocrite, lying propagandist, tits, teeth and ass clothes horse, dolly bird, weaponiser of anti-Semitism, fascist, Right-wing extremist, Nazi sympathiser.

Riley, who calls herself a non-religious Jew, became a committed anti-Semitism campaigner in March last year and is angry about what she sees as a particular issue with the Labour Party. She says the abuse she receives on Twitter comes from accounts with markers of the red Labour rose that claim to be against racism in ALL forms, which Riley says are their signature giveaways.

It is an ongoing problem, Riley claimed at the annual Lord Merlyn-Rees reception, where Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Dame Margaret Hodge also spoke.Riley told the audience no one should have to risk their safety, and jeopardise their career, speaking out against anti-Semitism in Britain in 2019.

But she also turned her fire not just on semi-anonymous accounts but on Karl Hansen, adviser to Labour frontbencher Andy McDonald, who accused Riley of smears against her opponents, and added she isnt standing up to bullying, she is a bully. This is a tactic used over and over again against Jews, Riley said last night, and indeed anyone speaking out against anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Riley admitted that the fight against anti-Semitism was currently consuming my life but that her level of engagement was directly proportional to the amount of anti-Semitism and hostility to Jews and their allies. She had, she said, read books, watched videos, taken an online course, spoken to experts, spoken to Jewish groups, spoken to Labour Party members and MPs as well as watching the six hours of documentaries.

The Londoner contacted the Labour Party for comment today but it did not respond by the time of going to press.

Abbott to the rescue

Diane Abbott / Getty Images

The news that Diane Abbott is replacing Kate Osamor on Labours National Executive Committee is a net gain for Labour Peoples Vote campaigners as they try to force Jeremy Corbyns hand on a second referendum.

The Labour Peoples Vote Strategy relies on polling the Labour membership, which can only be done after a vote in the NEC.

Abbott is a Remainer at heart, according to a source, so it is good news for their hopes.

The crunch meeting for the NEC is on Tuesday  will Abbott swing the balance in the favour of Peoples Vote or stay loyal to the leadership?

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Wetherspoons News, the pub chains seasonal customer magazine, was found to contain copy taken directly from other publications, including The Spectator. It has now promised recompense. Spoons vouchers are in the post, editor Fraser Nelson says. Im pushing for Christmas party, deputy political editor Katy Balls adds.

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The gruesome twosome  Theresa Mays sacked advisers Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill  were reunited over a drink in Victoria last night. Should Tories worry? David Davis told The Londoner recently: The trouble is they only really work as a team, those two. They are worth more together than the sum of their parts.

Poppy turns to Milk in her enforced year of sobriety

Zanna Roberts Rassi and Poppy Delevingne / Dave Benett/Getty Images for Bea

Londons fashion stalwarts partied at Notting Hills Laylow last night as they hailed the arrival of American cosmetics brand Milk Makeup in the capital.

Alice Temperley, Betty Bachz, Katie Keight and Poppy Delevingne were among the fashionable crowd at the launch hosted by founder Zanna Roberts Rassi. Poppy has been working hard on her acting career, and filming a lot. I just havent had enough hangovers this year, she joked a few months ago, explaining: when I film, I dont drink. Because I cannot. For me, this acting career [is] like starting a new job, its the first day of school.

Delevingne may now, however, have cause for distraction: it was reported yesterday that the model has been selected as the new face of Cath Kidston.

Its the first time in the kitsch homeware and fashion brands 25-year history that they have enlisted a celebrity to front a campaign. Poppy is the older sister of Cara, who has been the face of Dior, Burberry and Yves Saint Laurent.

SW1A

Anna Soubry was asked to play Snog, Marry, Avoid with Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Jeremy Corbyn on a live chat with Mumsnet. Her answers? Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Later she was asked on the forum if she would ever run for prime minister. Her curt reply? I think people have had enough of 62-year-old women. Theresa May is, of course, 62.

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Daniel Kawczynski / (Photo by AMA/Corbis via Getty Images)

Daniel Kawczynski is making headlines for inviting the Polish government to veto a possible extension of Article 50. One journalist recalls the Shrewsbury MP in late June 2016, with the Tory leadership contest in full swing, declaring support for our next Prime Minister, Michael Grove!

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North Dorset MP Simon Hoare, who backs Theresa Mays deal, says, I know the feeling in response to a picture of Rorkes Drift, where 139 soldiers fought against 4,000 Zulu warriors in 1879. Who are the warriors? Remainers?

The only way is up

Anna Wintour / Getty Images

Dame Anna Wintour must be hoping to get the Duchess of Sussex on the cover of American Vogue: she is defending her against rumours of diva behaviour which followed reports of staff departures.

I read somewhere there were members of the royal household that were confused and upset that she woke up so early at 5am, she says in video series Go Ask Anna.

Shes a normal California girl [who] gets up early and does yoga and meditates  and sends a lot of text messages.

I mean, what do they expect? That she was going to send messages via pigeon?

Quote of the day

'In Westminster, we are deep in Alice in Wonderland'
A young woman has died after being struck by a police car while it was responding to a 999 call in east London.

The marked police car hit the female pedestrian in Forest Road, Walthamstow, at about 11.45pm on Tuesday.

Police said the car stopped and officers battled to save the woman before paramedics and an air ambulance arrived but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Met is trying to trace her family, who are believed to live outside the UK.

The woman, believed to be aged in her 20s, was staying at the YMCA in Walthamstow.

Police investigation: Emergency services at the scene of the crash / Carla Johnson/PA

They said in a statement: A resident at YMCA Walthamstow was involved in a fatal car incident last night on Forest Road.

"YMCA St Pauls Group is shocked and saddened by this news and wishes to extend its condolences to family and friends."

One witness said on social media there were at least five police cars and a forensics van in the road, near The Bell pub, on Wednesday morning.

Video posted online last night shows a sheet being held up by police while officers perform CPR.

Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, described the news as "terrible" on Twitter.

"Terrible news this morning that a young woman has been killed on forest road in Walthamstow after a fatal collision involving a police vehicle," she said.

"Thats all that can confirm at present and will update residents as and when have further details."

Waltham Forest Council wrote: "Forest Road between the Bell Junction & Shernhall Street in Walthamstow is closed until further notice due to an accident.

"Drivers are advised to avoid the area until the road reopens."

A Met Police spokesman said: The police car had been responding to an emergency call to a man threatening members of the public at a location in Walthamstow.

Forest Road is closed, and is likely to remain so for most of Wednesday morning.
L ondoners have been sharing their best wintry weather pictures after parts of the capital experienced flurries of snow as a cold snap took hold across the country.

Temperatures struggled to get much above freezing on Tuesday evening, with the Met Office issuing a yellow weather warning for ice covering much of the UK.

Excited Londoners shared pictures and video as snow began to fall across the capital, with snowflakes being reported first in Ruislip in the early afternoon before hitting the rest of London.

Londoners joked that the capital was likely to grind to a halt after the snow appeared. One person wrote on Twitter: London is about to freak out and shut down.

A bus drives through a snow shower in London / EPA

Another said: Snow in London! Bracing for immediate train network collapse.

A woman walks through a snow shower in London on Tuesday / EPA

London, you have ruined snow for me... usually Id be jumping with joy seeing snow... but instead its filled me with dread travelling into work tomorrow, one person wrote.

Commuters on Wednesday morning are facing temperatures of just 3C as the yellow weather warning for ice is set to continue until 11am after the wintry showers on Tuesday.

Chill: Tube trains covered in snow this morning

Signal failures were causing delays across the Tube network this morning, with minor delays on the Northern line and TfL rail as well as a part-suspension of the London Overground at Romford.

Services on most overground lines were running without fault during the start of the morning, although SWR passengers faced some delays due to a signal failure at Dorking.

Airports advised customers to speak to their airlines for any flight information but said they were operating as normal following the flurries of snow across the capital.

Travellers in the north of the country faced some disruption on Tuesday night as roads were closed and a handful of flights were delayed due to the icy conditions.

By mid-morning Police Scotland had received 125 reports of road incidents on Tuesday, with the force urging motorists to slow down and drive to the conditions.

Flights to Glasgow and Edinburgh from Stornoway Airport were delayed and three schools were shut in the Highlands due to the weather.
H arry Potter star Matthew Lewis has issued an appeal after his wallet was either lost or stolen in east London.

The actor, who played Neville Longbottom in the film adaptations of JK Rowlings books, said he did not care about his money or cards being returned.

But he asked that an engraved piece of metal from his wife be sent to him at the address on his driving licence, saying he would then call it even.

He said: Yo, if you stole my wallet in East London yesterday or even if you just found it: it's yours, keep it, have the money, the cards, the lot.

"But the note from my wife engraved on a piece of metal, if you can post that to the address on the driving licence I'd call it evens. Please?

Lewis, whose Twitter appeal gained more than 1,000 retweets within an hour of posting it, married Angela Jones in May last year.

Fans of the actor called for whoever finds Lewiss wallet to return it to him, with many using Harry Potter references in their responses.

One commenter wrote: Accio Matthews wallet. Accio is a spell word used by witches and wizards in the films to summon objects.
A man in his 50s is fighting for life after a car crashed into a bus stop in south-east London this afternoon.

Officers were called to Bromley Road in Beckenham shortly before 2pm on Wednesday, Scotland Yard said.

The man was treated at the scene before he was rushed to hospital by London Ambulance Service.

His injuries are life-threatening, the Met added.

Witnesses said a bus stop had collapsed after the incident, according to reports on social media.

Emergency services at the scene in Bromley / Twitter/Catford Central

A spokeswoman for London Fire Brigade said: "We were called at 1.57pm to a road traffic collision. One car in collision with a bus shelter.

"One man was injured and was taken to hospital by LAS. A second man suffered shock and was treated as a precaution. The incident was over at 2.50pm for fire fighters."

A Twitter account known as Catford Central tweeted: "There's been another crash on Bromley Road outside of St John's church. The whole bus stop has come down, looks quite serious."

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "We were called to Bromley Road at the junction with Beckenham Hill Road shortly before 2pm following reports of a crash.

"We attended with LAS and LFB and found that a car had collided with a bus stop.

"A man in his 50s was treated at the scene and then taken to hospital.

"His injuries are life-threatening.

"There were road closures in place."
P atients with the same deadly brain tumour suffered by Tessa Jowell are starting to receive immunotherapy on the NHS for the first time.

A landmark trial has opened at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Bloomsbury for people with glioblastoma.

Baroness Jowell, the former Olympics minister, had surgery there and campaigned for greater access to innovative therapies prior to her death last May.

The trial, described as the most important for brain cancer in 15 years, recruited the first of 120 patients last week. Drugs firm Bristol-Myers Squibb is donating 6 million worth of ipilimumab, while the National Brain Appeal is halfway towards raising 250,000 to cover the trials administration costs.

Former headteacher Bernice McCabe, who received ipilimumab as a private patient after being diagnosed with a brain tumour last year, told the Standard: Im delighted to hear that the immunotherapy clinical trial is now recruiting patients.

Eighty patients will receive ipilimumab in addition to the standard treatment of surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Forty will be in the control group and undergo surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Trial leader Dr Paul Mulholland said: As clinicians we have had no new treatment options for patients with glioblastoma for well over a decade. There is an urgent need for new treatments to improve clinical outcomes and survival.

When using ipilimumab previously in brain cancer patients we have seen, in some patients, some dramatic and exciting responses. The aim of this clinical trial is to see if these responses lead to improved life expectancy. Mrs McCabe, 65, co-director of Prince Charless education institute, stepped down as head of North London Collegiate School in Edgware after 20 years in 2017.

She said: I feel very lucky to have been able to receive this treatment due to having private health insurance.

It felt important to me to support the National Brain Appeals fundraising to work towards making this available to NHS patients with glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain tumour. About 2,200 cases a year are diagnosed in England. Average survival is less than a year. Six other NHS hospitals will take part in the trial, which is open to UK residents.

The treatment involves four infusions over 12 weeks. Each infusion, if given privately, would cost between 25,000 and 35,000. The drug makes the immune system more active, enabling it to destroy cancer cells.
B oris Johnson's mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl has spoken of her painful battle with Parkinsons as she and fellow sufferers in west London demanded NHS bosses replace their dedicated nurse.

Parkinsons UK said more than 300 people across Kensington, Chelsea, Paddington and Queens Park have been left without specialist Parkinsons support for over a year.

The charity said West London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) failed to replace the previous nurse, who carried out home visits, when she left in December 2017.

Mrs Johnson Wahl, 76, told the Standard that not having a nurse over the past year has left her and others feeling isolated.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl campaigns with fellow Parkinson's sufferers and carers outside a West London CCG meeting in Ladbroke Grove / James Morris

The CCG said it instead provides support at hospitals and surgeries, and that it was "not aware" of the charity's complaints.

Mrs Johnson Wahl, a celebrated artist who was diagnosed with Parkinsons 34 years ago, led a protest as CCG leaders met in Ladbroke Grove. The campaign has also been backed by actress Jane Asher.

It leaves us entirely depending on hospitals and doctors, Mrs Johnson Wahl said, costing the NHS much more than it would to pay a nurse to come to your house and have a cup of tea.

We had that, but now we havent got anybody. Its been lonely, there hasnt been anybody I can ring, and I need that. Its a lonely thing, Parkinsons. They [health leaders] just dont think they [Parkinsons nurses] are important enough.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl with son Boris in 2014 / Dave Benett

But when you have Parkinsons, having a reassuring figure is very important. We just need somebody. Somebody to liaise with, so we feel were not alone.

Parkinsons UK, which organised the protest outside the Museum of Brands in freezing conditions as CCG leaders met inside, said not employing a nurse is a false economy as it results in more hospital and surgery visits.

Benali Hamdache, the charitys campaigns manager, said: It doesnt make sense financially, as Parkinsons nurses can save the CCG up to 250,000 a year from avoiding unnecessary trips to A&E or a GP.

There are so many instances when a nurse can do a simple intervention over the phone.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl, front, centre, campaigns with fellow Parkinson's sufferers and carers / James Morris

He added: Parkinsons nurses are really an invaluable source of support. Its a really complicated condition and impacts everyone differently, from medication to mental health, and these nurses give people the support that GPs maybe dont have the time or expertise to give.

West London had a fantastic nurse but unfortunately the CCG here just hasnt understood the value that Fiona [the previous nurse] gave.

Derek Hipson, 58, of Notting Hill, was diagnosed with the condition in 2012. He said: If you had a problem of any kind you would phone the nurse and she would turn up the following day.

She had brilliant knowledge of Parkinsons, so that was great, but also she spent time with you. Shed talk to you and have a conversation. Thats very important because when you go to see your GP, its 10 minutes and youre out the door.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl: 'When you have Parkinsons, having a reassuring figure is very important' / James Morris

Its ridiculous that she hasnt been replaced.

West London CCG said in a statement: We are not aware of any complaints about local Parkinsons services, but are keen to understand Parkinsons UK's concerns and would invite them to get in touch so we can discuss this matter with them further.

All patients with Parkinsons are under the care of a specialist hospital consultant or doctor who are responsible for ensuring they receive the appropriate care.
A teenager is fighting for life in hospital today after being shot in a driveby attack outside his family home in south London.

The 16-year-old victim was blasted in the chest in a quiet cul-de-sac in West Norwood and managed to stagger several yards towards his house before collapsing.

Residents told how a car pulled up in the street of newbuild family homes, which backs onto a secondary school, and at least three shots were fired before it screeched away.

As the boy, collapsed his mother raced outside, screaming: Help me.. theyre going to kill him. My sons been shot.

Unity Close was cordoned off this morning as detectives trawled the street for clues and carried out house to house inquiries.

The scene in Lambeth last night / Lambeth MPS

Mother-of-two Amber Fox, 24, said: I heard shots and then the boys mother shouting help me my sons been shot. Call an ambulance. She was desperate.

"There were four shots then a car screeched off. Some people in a car shot him as he was near his door.

He stumbled towards his house. Everyone came out to help. They looked like they had followed him in the car and ambushed him. They wanted him dead thats for sure.

An aunt of the boy who lives in the close was at the scene today after spending all night at the boys bedside.

She said: I cant talk say anything now. We are in shock. I have been at the hospital all night.

The shooting took place yards from the Norwood community school and and staff were outside today to reassure pupils.

A source said the boy was not one if its pupils, adding: This has nothing to do with our school.

Mercedes Hunt, 25, said: I heard his mum shouting help they are going to kill my boy. There were three shots.. at first I thought it was fireworks going off."

Another witness said he heard shots and then shouting.

He said: There were three or four bangs I knew it was a gun. There was shouting, then blue lights - it was like something off a film.

Scotland Yard appealed for witnesses to come forward.

The schoolboy underwent surgery last night and is said to be critical but stable in hospital today.

The incident comes as figures show the number of shootings in London rose by 22 per cent over the last 12 months.
C harlotte Brown's father said his daughter's killer is a "crass, reckless man" after he handed himself into police in front of the media in Georgia.

Graham Brown spoke of his "overwhelming" emotion after speedboat killer Jack Shepherd, 31, was arrested in Georgia after months as a fugitive.

Ms Brown died after going on a date with Shepherd on his boat in December 2015.

Her father welcomed the news of Shepherd's arrest and called on him to "atone" for what happened.

The family of Charlotte Brown, father Graham Brown (left) sister Katie (2nd left) and mother Roz Wickens (right) / PA

He said: "My opinions towards Jack Shepherd is that he's a very crass, reckless man, who managed to abscond and stick two fingers up at the judiciary.

Smiling: Jack Shepherd has handed himself into police / Rustavi 2

"He's got to come back to atone for all that and I think that he's done the right thing and thank goodness he's realised that now and handed himself in.

"It's been quite hard over the last three years."

Father of Charlotte Brown, Graham, giving a statement outside Portcullis House / Getty Images

Shepherd had been on the run since before his trial and conviction for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown

His trial started last July and he was eventually convicted for manslaughter by gross negligence of 24-year-old Ms Brown who was killed after he took her on a date on his speedboat.

Jack Shepherd was convicted of killing his date, Charlotte Brown, in a speedboat crash on the Thames. / PA

Shepherd had denied manslaughter ahead of his trial.

Images from Georgian broadcaster Rustavi 2 appear to show a heavily-bearded Shepherd smiling and calmly handing himself in.

He was also interviewed on screen as he did so.

On Wednesday, Shepherd's legal representative in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia said Shephered had handed himself in because "he was ready to prove he was innocent".

Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd arrested

Shepherd told reporters from the Georgian broadcaster that he was "in a tragic accident."

He married his childhood sweetheart following Ms Brown's death and had a child but he is now estranged from his wife.

Katie Brown, Charlotte's sister, voiced surprise over Shepherd's "smug" appearance on clips aired by a Georgian TV channel.

She told BBC News: "I feel very surprised at how smug he looks to be honest.

"It just shows a very arrogant man.

"I don't understand how someone can go on the run for two crimes and be found guilty and still then just walk straight in with a very smug look on his face and claim innocence. It's unbelievable."

Wearing a long coat, jeans and a checked scarf, he smiled and waved for cameras as he walked into a police station on Wednesday.

Charlotte Brown death: Sajid Javid 'underlines personal commitment' to finding speedboat killer

A spokesman for the country's embassy in London said that Shepherd had surrendered to the police.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who a day earlier warned "there can be no hiding place" for Shepherd, celebrated his arrest.

"We will seek to swiftly extradite him to Britain. It is vital Charlotte Brown's family see justice done," he added.

Georgian law states that extradition is granted over convicted individuals if they have been sentenced to at least four months' imprisonment.

While Shepherd was on the run from the law, his lawyers have been working to appeal against the conviction.

Solicitor Richard Egan: "In the light of today's developments I don't think it would be appropriate to comment further until Mr Shepherd is back in the jurisdiction."

Ms Brown died in December 2015 after being thrown from Shepherd's speeding boat.

This happened during a champagne-fuelled late-night jaunt past the Houses of Parliament and Shepherd's Old Bailey trial heard that he had met Ms Brown on a dating website.

The court was told he had been trying to impress her at the end of their first date at the Shard.

After handing her the controls, the boat hit a submerged log and capsized, sending Ms Brown into the cold water.
S cotland Yard today made a fresh appeal for information as it emerged police in Georgia are hunting for a man who killed a woman in a speedboat crash on the River Thames.

Jack Shepherd fled the UK part way through his trial following the death of Charlotte Brown in December 2015.

He was sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted in his absence of manslaughter by gross negligence in July last year after Ms Brown was thrown from the boat and died.

It has now been revealed "there are records" of Shepherd, 31, being in the Georgian capital Tbilisi and "no sign" he had left the former Soviet state.

A police spokeswoman told the Sun "everything is being done by the Ministry of Interior of Georgia to find this person.

The Met refused to speculate on his whereabouts.

Jack Shepherd's speedboat, which he used to try to impress dates / Alex Lentati

Shepherd is thought to have arrived on a flight from Istanbul on March 21 last year.

Police in the country are said to have invited British officers to join their hunt for the website designer, but it is not known if they have accepted the offer.

A Met Police spokesman said: "Jack Shepherd is subject to a European arrest warrant and a Red Notice.

Tragic death: Charlotte Brown was killed in the crash / PA

The Met continues to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service, National Crime Agency and other specialist agencies to track, trace and arrest Shepherd wherever he may be.

However, we would not discuss information on specific countries for operational reasons.

All information received will be acted upon. We encourage anyone with information as to Shepherd's whereabouts to contact police."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid met Ms Browns parents on Tuesday and assured them that police were doing everything possible to find Mr Shepherd.

Mr Javid said: Charlottes family are understandably heartbroken and distraught following this awful tragedy.

I have taken a personal interest in this case and am determined to ensure Jack Shepherd faces justice.

I told the family we will strain every sinew and explore every option to bring them the justice they deserve as soon as possible.

What is clear is that Charlottes family have suffered enough. That is why I am repeating my plea for Mr Shepherd to give himself up.

Shepherd was awarded leave to appeal his conviction earlier this month despite being on the run.
P olice are investigating a series of carjackings in Greenwich in which a man posing as a plain clothes police officer pulled drivers over with blue flashing lights before making off with their car.

Scotland Yard said that within the space of a week, three people were approached by a man as they were driving in south east London.

On two occasions, the man drove up behind the drivers with flashing blue lights and then introduced himself as a police officer before stealing their car.

Officers said the first theft happened just before 7am on January 17 in Middle Park Avenue, Eltham when a 33-year-old woman thought she was being pulled over by police.

The woman was driving a white BMW 520d sport when she saw a car behind her flashing a blue light in the windscreen.

When she pulled over, a man approached and told her he was a police officer, showing her a lanyard with a leather cover but without a crest or badge.

Police said the man asked her to leave the car, and when she did, he got in the drivers seat and drove away.

The suspect's car followed behind, driven by another man.

A few days later on January 21 just before midday, a woman pulled over on Glenesk Road, Eltham, to make a phone call.

A man approached her and told her she had an oil leak, police said.

She left the keys in the ignition as she stepped out to take a look before the man got in the car and drove away.

Police said a second man then ran up the road before following the suspect in another car.

The third incident happened the following day around 3pm when a man who was driving along Academy Road, Woolwich, notice a dark people carrier behind him flashing a blue light.

Officers said he pulled over, thinking it was the police, and was asked by one of the men to step out of the car so he could have a look inside.

The suspect then drove the car away while being followed by the other man in the people carrier.

Police have not located any of the vehicles.

Detective Sergeant Dominic Bolas said: "These thefts have happened in a short space of time and appear to be specific to this local area.

"We would urge the public to be vigilant and anyone approached by a plain clothed police officer should feel comfortable speaking to them and can always ask to check their ID which should be on them at all times.

Local officers have been made aware of these incidents and will be instructed to be mindful if making stops while not in uniform and to make their identity clear."
A teenage boy has been rushed to hospital after being shot in south London.

The victim, 15, was in a potentially life-threatening condition after the shooting in Lambeth on Tuesday night, police said.

Police and paramedics were scrambled to Unity Close after reports the boy had been shot.

The victim is said to have walked away from the scene but he was found with gunshot injuries and taken to hospital where he remained last night.

There have been no arrests.

In a statement on Twitter, Lambeth police said: The hospitals initial assessment of [the] victim is that his condition is potentially life-threatening.

We await a further update.
A fraudster who disguised himself as a businessman with an overcoat, trilby and briefcase as he pulled off a 30,000 bank scam has been jailed.

Saifur Rahman, 24, also put on a tie and dark-rimmed spectacles to try to hide his identity as he carried out the illegal transaction at a MetroBank branch in Chiswick.

Rahman was caught on camera approaching his accomplice, bank cashier Tanzil Hussain, to request two cash withdrawals from an account totalling 30,000.

Inner London crown court heard that Hussain, 26, was in on the scam and had agreed to bypass the usual customer identification procedures so that they could raid a customers account.

However, the withdrawals on October 27, 2017, were flagged as fraudulent by the bank and swiftly reported to police officers from the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), leading to Hussain and Rahmans arrest.

Police discovered the brown trilby, a blue overcoat with distinctive fur collar as well as the tie, glasses and briefcase in Rahmans car.

He had kept transaction receipts for the 30,000 cash withdrawals and had other paperwork relating to the victims bank account.

Hussains home was searched and 5,000 was found hidden in his wardrobe there.

At court yesterday, Hussain was jailed for nine months and Rahman was sentenced to eight months behind bars. Detective Constable Dave Cass, who investigated the case for the card crime unit, said afterwards: These two individuals went to great lengths to plan and organise this fraud, using a disguise to try and hide the identity of Rahman.

Todays sentencing shows that anyone who is caught abusing the trust placed in them by their employer will be punished along with those who try to help them.
S peedboat killer Jack Shepherd who has been on the run since before his trial and conviction for the manslaughter of Charlotte Brown has been arrested in Georgia, the victim's father said.

Shepherd, 31, has been in hiding since he was found guilty of the manslaughter by gross negligence of 24-year-old Ms Brown who was killed after he took her on a date on his speedboat.

Images from Georgian broadcaster Rustavi 2 appear to show a heavily-bearded Shepherd smiling and calmly handing himself in front of the cameras and being interviewed.

Shepherd's legal representative in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia said on Wednesday that he had handed himself in because "he was ready to prove he was innocent". Shepherd told reporters from the Georgian broadcaster that he was "in a tragic accident."

Wearing a long coat, jeans and a checked scarf, he smiled and waved for cameras as he walked into a police station.

Smiling: Jack Shepherd has handed himself into police / Rustavi 2

Shepherd, who denied manslaughter ahead of his trial, handed himself into police in the country of Georgia on Wednesday.

Charlotte Brown who was killed in a speedboat crash on the River Thames whilst on a date with Jack Shepherd. / Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

A spokesman for the country's embassy in London said that Shepherd had surrendered to the police.

Ms Brown's father, Graham Brown, wrote on Facebook: "Just been informed that Jack Shepherd has been arrested in Georgia. Justice for Charlotte is close!"

Jack Shepherd speaks to Rustavi 2 after handing himself into police in Georgia

Scotland Yard said that if the arrested man was indeed confirmed to be Shepherd, extradition proceedings would begin immediately.

Jack Shepherd's speedboat, which he used to try to impress dates / Alex Lentati

Shepherd was granted permission to appeal against his conviction despite being on the run. After Ms Brown's death in December 2015, Shepherd is said to have married his childhood sweetheart.

The marriage has since broken down. His wife previously told police Shepherd had fled to the Georgian capital of Tblisi but it has been reported that British police did not make a request for help there until Monday last week.

His arrest comes after Ms Brown's family met with Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday to ask him to help ensure Shepherd was caught.

Local MP James Brokenshire (left) with the family of Charlotte Brown, father Graham Brown (centre) and sister Katie (right), who died following a speedboat crash on the River Thames. / PA

Ms Brown died in December 2015 after being thrown from Shepherd's speeding boat during a champagne-fuelled late-night jaunt past the Houses of Parliament.

Shepherd's Old Bailey trial heard that he had met Ms Brown on a dating website and had been trying to impress her at the end of their first date at the Shard.

Charlotte Brown death: Sajid Javid 'underlines personal commitment' to finding speedboat killer

After handing her the controls, the boat hit a submerged log and capsized, sending Ms Brown into the cold water.

Shepherd was rescued, having been found clinging to the upturned hull, while his date was recovered unconscious.

Brown's family appeal to find Jack Shepherd, and bring him to justice

Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC told jurors at the time it was "sheer madness" to take the boat out that night.

Jurors heard that life jackets had been tucked away, the kill cord was not connected, and the boat had a number of defects including faulty steering.

The defendant, who lived on a houseboat in Hammersmith and was originally from Exeter, had denied manslaughter.

He had informed his lawyers before the trial he did not plan to attend but continued to be in contact with them throughout.

A Met Police spokesman said: "We have received information from the National Crime Agency (NCA) that Jack Shepherd, who is wanted on an international arrest warrant, is in the custody of police in Georgia.

"His identity has yet to be officially confirmed.

"However, if the man is confirmed as Shepherd, extradition proceedings will begin immediately.

"Shepherd was sentenced in his absence to six years' imprisonment in July after he was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence following the death of Charlotte Brown in the River Thames in 2015."

Georgian law states that extradition is granted over convicted individuals if they have been sentenced to at least four months' imprisonment.

While Shepherd was on the run from the law, his lawyers have been working to appeal against the conviction.
A t least five people have been killed after a gunman took hostages in a Florida bank and opened fire on bystanders.

The violence unfolded in a SunTrust bank in Sebring at around midday (local time) on Wednesday.

A SWAT team was sent in after the attacker, who barricaded himself inside, refused to negotiate with police.

After armed officers entered the bank, the suspect surrendered. He has been detained and named by authorities as Zephen Xaver, 21.

Authorities said the gunman called the police himself and told them he had fired shots inside the branch.

The suspect is a Sebring resident.

Police confirmed that at least five people were senselessly murdered during the hostage situation.

"Today has been a tragic day in our community, Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said.

We've suffered significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime."

Officers said the situation was confined to the bank and that there was no danger to the surrounding area.

A spokeswoman for the bank said, "We are working closely with officials and seeking to take care of everyone affected at our Sebring, Florida branch."

Police did not offer any details about a possible motive.
T he country's most senior counter-terrorism police officer has said he finds the prospect of a no-deal Brexit "incredibly concerning".

Leaving the European Union without continued access to shared data and intelligence systems would put the UK and Europe in a "very bad place", Neil Basu said.

The head of UK counter-terrorism policing said there was a central team working on contingency plans to understand how to cope with a no-deal divorce from the bloc.

Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mr Basu said: "For counter-terrorism we have a lot of bilateral relationships, it is a devolved power for countries, it is not an EU power, so we are confident that my counterparts in those 27 countries want to exchange information with us and we are working very hard to make sure we put that in place

Theresa May: The PM is under pressure to secure a Brexit deal / EPA

"But nevertheless, to leave without ... being able to exchange data or biometrics on people who might be criminals or terrorists would be a very bad place for this country, and for Europe, to be."

Mr Basu said there was a central team working on contingency plans, while counter-terrorism police liaison officers were "embedded" in embassies and agencies in Europe.

"They are working very hard with their counterparts to understand how we cope if there is a no-deal Brexit, but as I said, a no-deal Brexit for operational security would be a very bad thing," Mr Basu said.

He said there was no intelligence pointing to an increased level of attacks after Brexit, but he was concerned about a potential rise in hate crime.

No-deal warning: Neil Basu said leaving the EU without a deal would leave Britain in a 'very bad place' / Getty Images

"What's most concerning me about Brexit is its potential to divide communities and set communities against each other," he added.

"So what we saw after the referendum (in 2016) was a rise in hate crime, and a rise in far-right rhetoric, and we have seen the growth of organisations like National Action, and what I want to make absolutely clear is that we are concentrating very heavily on making sure that doesn't get a foothold in this country.

"I'm really proud to be a UK citizen in a country that is largely tolerant, and we haven't seen an explosion in that threat.

"What I'm concerned about is the creeping rise of that threat, and if we aren't clear that we are combating that threat then that's my concern.

No-deal Brexit could have negative effect on GDP, says IMF economist

"It's still a relatively small threat compared to what we have faced from al Qaida in the past and Islamic State over the last four years or so."

Mr Basu was speaking at the launch of a major cinema advert campaign to increase awareness of suspicious activity and encourage people to report it to police.

The 60-second film shows a series of scenarios, such as a man stockpiling hazardous material and another buying weapons, before rewinding and zooming in on the danger.

TODO: define component type apester

In 2017 and 2018, around a fifth of the information passed to police from the public had a "significant" role in thwarting attacks, he said.

Four far-right extremist plots and 14 Islamist terror plots were foiled in the last two years.
C ate Blanchett will make her National Theatre debut tonight in what looks set to be one of the most talked-about theatre productions of the year.

The Standard can exclusively reveal the first images of the Oscar-winning actress on stage in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, which opens this evening.

Game of Thrones star Stephen Dillane also appears in the highly anticipated production, which has produced a flurry of controversy after a woman fainted during a performance last week .

The new play, written by Martin Crimp, is inspired by Samuel Richardsons 17th century novel Pamela, in which a master makes frequent unwanted sexual advances towards his young female servant before eventually marrying her.

It is directed by Katie Mitchell, who is no stranger to controversy; her last play at the National, Sarah Kanes Cleansed, also saw reports of audience members fainting during graphic torture scenes.

Crimp and Mitchell are frequent collaborators; previous productions at the National include Attempts on Her Life in 2007 and Pains of Youth in 2009.

Two-time Academy-award winner Blanchett was last seen on the London stage in 2012, in Crimps adaptation of Gross und Klein at the Barbican. National Theatre boss Rufus Norris said she "chased down" her current role after hearing about it from Crimp.

Obviously that kind of casting is real wishlist stuff but as it happens she caught wind of it, asked to read it, Martin gave her a script and before we knew it, it was a done deal," he previously said.
W ere always looking for a new must-try restaurant  and so is primetime Tuesday television these days.

My Million Pound Menu continued to enthral food-lovers on BBC2 this week, showcasing more up-and-coming food concepts that are looking to strike it big in the restaurant world.

Following London-based victories from BBQ Dreamz and Baba G's, this week saw high-end Spanish venture Pilgrim triumph over Nordic-inspired concept MATR and Canadian diner Blue Caribou Canteen.

Foodies may recognise Pilgrim from its London supper clubs  but who is behind the Iberian outfit? And can you still try its food in the capital? Heres everything you need to know.

What is Pilgrim?

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Pilgrim is a Spanish and Mediterranean cuisine concept run by friends Jamie Duffield, Dave Bone and Anthony Power. The idea came about when Duffield, a former London cocktail bar manager, made a trip to Spain to travel through the Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrimage routes that lead to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. Inspired by the food of north-western Spain, he joined up with chefs Bone and Power to pay homage to the produce and local recipes of the region.

Whats on the Pilgrim menu?

Spanish small plates, with lots of Spanish wine. Each dishes is named after a location and is marked with a distance in kilometres, indicating how far away on the pilgrimage the dish can typically be found from the famous place of worship. These include a dish called St Jean Pied de Port (796km)  a French starting point for the pilgrimage  which consists of a salt-baked king scallop with mushroom and sherry consomme, served with a Xeco Fino sherry. The Pamplona (710km) dish includes cider-braised Iberico pork short rib with charcoal talo, smoked celeriac and cured onions. Again, the dish comes paired with a specially selected wine, this time a 2015 Txkoli San Martin Sobre Lias from Getariako Txakolina.

Where to find Pilgrim in London

Its a little trickier nowadays than it used to be. In 2017, Pilgrim ran two pop-up supper clubs at Dalston spot Coffee Is My Cup Of Tea. It was then due to open a six-month residency in east London in 2018, but it fell through. Pilgrim is now heading north to Liverpool, and will be opening a flagship restaurant at the citys Duke Street Market in April this year. Londoners, however, havent quite missed their chance to try Pilgrims fare, as the team will be returning to London for what they claim will be their final pop-up dinner in the capital next month. February 18 will see the team take over Victory Mansion in Stoke Newington, serving up a three-course meal for Londoners ready to take the pilgrimage. Tickets will cost 35 a head for food, with beverage pairings available for 20, and can be purchased at designmynight.com. Let's hope it's not the last we see of Pilgrim in London.

For more information on Pilgrim, visit pilgrimlondon.com. My Million Pound Menu returns Tuesday February 5, 8pm on BBC Two.
I ts all haggis on deck at Deeneys this weekend. The capitals number one offal toastie emporium faces its busiest days of the calendar around Burns Night, shunting off its signature doorstoppers  made from spiced, minced lamb innards mixed with oatmeal, smoked bacon, Scottish cheddar and caramelised onion  to parties across London, where full-kilt bankers raise a toast to the poet Robbie Burns, the national bard of Scotland, and strip the willow until dawn.

And thats just catering the ceilidhs around town, says Carol Dwyer, who co-owns the E10 cafe with her husband Paddy. Were having Leytons first basement ceilidh downstairs ourselves, where a touch of tartan will suffice for dress code.

Theyll also supply the demands of 150 revellers at London Fields Brewery, backed up by the Edinburgh ceilidh band Cora, and are collaborating on a Yard Sale Pizza love-in: a one-off Burns Night pizza special topped with haggis, cavolo nero, spicy black chilli chutney and mozzarella.

Deeneys has been converting the capital to haggis since 2012, when Carol and Paddy launched a street food stall orbiting Hackney, Clapton and Broadway Market. Its since become a business with two sites in Leyton, including the new, bigger cafe on Leyton High Road, where weve met today, and a franchised offshoot in Tokyo (yes, really).

People want a sandwich that isnt what you can get on every corner, says Carol. Although we had beef, chicken and ham on the menu, people wanted haggis. So its a customer-driven product. We had a niche and we ran with it.

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The new 50-seat site, opened in Leyton last year, means they can power through more kitchen orders: the 6 Macbeth, 6 Lady Macbeth (made with vegetarian haggis), 7 Hamish Macbeth (with bacon), 5 Just Cheese (no haggis, just cheddar) and 6 Ham-ish (no haggis, cheddar and bacon). But its at the food markets that the questions fly in.

We get asked hundreds of times every day, Whats haggis? says Paddy. Were straight up: its like a spicy lamb sausage with a stuffing texture. Its familiar enough for people to know its like sausage meat, and we dont go into much detail to put them off. Same as sausages. No one wants to know how the sausage gets made.

The best cheese toasties in London 1 /8 The best cheese toasties in London Morty and Bob's The Cheese Truck Sager + Wilde Charlie Mckay Cora Pearl Alex Maguire Deeney's Dishoom The Canton Arms Kappacasein Dairy

Historically, the Scots would make it from the offal from a slaughtered lamb or sheep, using the animals stomach as a cooking bag (today, the bags are largely synthetic). Minced heart, liver and lungs are bulked out with oatmeal, onions, suet, seasoning and spices before cooking. A lot of American tourists have interesting ideas about what it is. A lot of people still think its an animal that runs around the Highlands, says Carol. It was in an episode of the Simpsons and thats where a lot of Americans get that from, adds Paddy. Groundskeeper Willy making haggis. He nearly ruined our business for us.

The couples Burns Night celebrations are a tongue in cheek take on the staunch Scottish tradition, which is as it should be.

Robbie Burns was definitely taking the piss when he toasted the haggis, says Paddy. Enjoy the poetry, the food, and have a bit of laugh with the dancing.

A rendition of the Selkirk Grace, a toast to the lassies and vote of thanks, then  but plied with plenty of McClellands Speyside and Highland Park single malt whiskies?

Well have a couple of whisky cocktails, like the Le Frog, a French martini made with Laphroaig, so it has the tartness of a French martini but the smoky, peaty flavour of a whisky, says Paddy. Raise a glass to that.
A new immersive horror pop-up is coming to London  offering cocktails made with real blood.

The Safe House, a bar inspired by the Resident Evil 2 video game, will open for two days on the South Bank, from January 25-26.

In the experience, the bar is found in the centre of a post-apocalyptic Raccoon City  a fictional city found in the Midwestern United States  where residents are infected by a T-virus.

Londoners will only be able to rid themselves of the virus after exploring the derelict Raccoon City police department and drinking a real-blood antidote, which is served as a cocktail. The drink mixes dried pig's blood with Plymouth sloe gin, Campari, Martini rosso and grenadine.

A representative for the publicity stunt told the Standard: "The blood in the recipe is ethically sourced pigs blood from a reputable wholesaler. It is entirely safe for human consumption and used across the food industry for items such as Black Pudding."

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As well as the blood cocktail, the bar will also serve more traditional cocktails, wine, branded Racoon City beer and food rations.

Sadly for horror fanatics, tickets for the immersive experience are now fully booked, though walk-in spots will be available on both days.

Resident Evil 2: Safe House Bar & Experience runs at The Barge House, SE1 9PH from January 25-26. For more information, visit re2safehouse.com
G uz Khan is a hard man to ignore. His large beard and prayer beads, reflecting the seriousness of purpose of a practising Muslim, are offset by his lime-green trainers, black tracksuit with pink flashes and no less luminous personality.

Laughing loudly and grinning broadly throughout our time together, the 33-year-old comedian is on a roll. Theres a stand-up tour with American comic Mo Amer in the spring, a Four Weddings and a Funeral remake for streaming giant Hulu and a second series of his pin-sharp BBC Three comedy Man Like Mobeen.

Not that his head is being turned: Khan assiduously acknowledges and respects his origins. Born to Pakistani parents who arrived in the UK in the Seventies, he was raised by his mother in the working-class suburbs of Coventry, taught humanities in a struggling secondary and still lives in Coventry with his wife and three children.

Man Like Mobeen reflects a life familiar to Khan, set as it is in Small Heath, a district of Birmingham all too lazily associated in the press with drug dealing, violent crime and radicalisation. Khan wanted to depict the other side of his world without sugar-coating the reality: the criminality and the tight family dynamics, the doctors and teachers alongside the dossers and truants.

Its stuff I lived through, he explains. Stuff going on in the hood right now. You might want to turn over a new leaf but not have the opportunity to do so. The school I taught in was majority white working-class kids from generations of social housing, their old men constantly in and out of prison. Its a predetermined path, so I wanted to look at that in Man Like Mobeen.

While the first four-part series addressed racial profiling, arranged marriages and Right-wing extremism, the new run tackles youth violence and knife crime, never forgoing the comedy. The new series opens with a brilliantly funny sequence in which Mobeen is caught in the verbal crossfire between two Turkish barbers, flashing razors as they argue over who does the best skin fade. Mobeen himself is a reformed criminal who has found a new direction through family  he is looking after his teenage sister  and faith. Its a situation Khan can relate to.

I look back on some things with regret, he admits. There are things I did that I should have been pinched for, but others were a consequence of our environment, where the police were either heavy-handed or not there at all. Ive been put on a car bonnet in a stop-and-search, and these experiences mould your perceptions. There was nothing for us to aspire to because no one around us had become anything more than a bus driver or takeaway owner. Unfortunately, when people fall off the radar, it does get lawless and people will provide for themselves in the way they know best.

After initially finding its patriarchal aspects off-putting, Khan found a way out through Islam. A lot of dudes I speak to, the doctrine aspect isnt massive but politically its a voice for them. I gravitated towards Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, people following faith who were confident in themselves and found a voice through it. Their spiritual journeys were very influential.

Just like his series, Khan can turn on a dime. Hes as comfortable joshing about Amir Khan (its always good to watch someone whos taken that many knockouts) as he is addressing Tommy Robinson (far more dangerous than the skinhead on the street because hes well-funded and radicalising impressionable people). Khan is often a target for abuse but remains undaunted. Weve got an important job in comedy, he says. Its a re-education process, and a tool to bring people together.

For stand-up, just as with sitcom, Khans past experiences have put him in good stead. I love it when someone gets a bit rowdy at a show and you have 15 minutes to rip them. Thats the environment I grew up in: either you make people laugh or you get beaten up. School was another version of that. These comedy crowds, what have they got on class 10c?

Khan made the leap from classroom to club after putting a few videos on Facebook in 2014. Skits where he mocked media misrepresentations of Birmingham as a no-go area for non-Muslims, or claimed that a reference to Pachys (as in pachyderms) in Jurassic World was racist, went viral. Khan gave up teaching a year later.

It was a spur of the moment thing with reasoning behind it, he says. I never thought I could grow a career from it. School thought it would blow over and let me get on with it. Then I got offered a stand-up show, which went online Every teacher at the school became a comedian for a term. I apologise to the kids who failed English because Mr Tucker was too busy dropping 15 minutes of material.

Hes keenly aware of his position as a role model, not least for class 10c, whose progress he has followed with interest and delight. This is all still so surreal. If their teacher, this geezer who chatted nonsense at them, can give something like this a go, theres 10, 12 kids who have gone into media, acting, comedy For them to give this a go is beautiful.

Khans keen focus on his roots is one reason why a more mainstream channel has never appealed. I dont want to worry about writing jokes that Patricia in Kent will laugh about at 9pm on a Friday night on BBC One. I got away with the first series because people were prepared to leave it to see how it went. Now Ive got this platform I want to represent my community on TV  the people it was about have liked it so far, which meant the world to me.

Which isnt to say that Khans comedy is exclusive: if Mobeens ethnicity, faith and upbringing arent exactly incidental, his concerns  financial, familial, social  are universal, and have clearly struck a chord, with a third series already sounding likely.

Indeed, the future looks bright, although Khan would never allow encounters with Hollywood stars to get in the way of a good gag. For Sky Ones dystopian street-racing series Curfew, for example, he was stuck in a camper van with Billy Zane for four months, at night on a dual carriageway in Manchester. Im not going to forget that.

Mindy Kalings 12-part remake of Four Weddings and a Funeral, meanwhile, casts him as Basheer, the best friend of the lead. And if you can take the boy out of Coventry

Someone sent an email accidentally with all the casts names, addresses, national insurance numbers, all that. I clicked on it and my first reaction was, F***, I should rob Hugh Grants house! If thats still my first thought, Im in the wrong place.

The second series of Man Like Mobeen will be released as a boxset on BBC Three on Feb 7; Curfew begins on Sky One next month; Guz Khans live tour with Mo Amer is at Leicester Square Theatre, WC2 (livenation.co.uk), March 28-29
B usiness leaders and politicians meeting in Davos this week are well aware that modern capitalism needs to answer some big questions if it is to survive. The World Economic Forum is sounding the alarm about social instability. Oxfam is saying 26 individuals own half the worlds wealth.

I believe that all of us involved in business need to be looking at what we can do to reduce inequality, not make it worse. Capitalism without checks is a dangerous machine which can exploit workers, rip off customers and make our societies ever more unequal.

There is an ethical way to do business, which gives back to the wider society it is part of. For me, this includes treating staff, customers and suppliers well. This isnt just the right thing to do. The success of Richer Sounds has only been possible, in my view, because we try to act in an ethical way. In my experience, ethically run businesses are more efficient and more motivated than those that care only about the bottom line.

Theres one very obvious way in which businesses can give back. The problem is, they usually put a lot of effort into finding ways to avoid it. Im talking, of course, about tax. These days you cant open the newspapers without seeing a story about aggressive tax avoidance. Its endemic. Ive heard many entrepreneurs say their success is all down to their great talent  they feel they dont depend on anyone else so are entitled to maximise profits at any cost.

Tax Justice UK calculated Britain could be losing 120 billion to tax dodging. Thats a conservative estimate because we dont know what we dont know. Just imagine how much that could help public services when the entire prison system costs less than 3 billion.

I am ashamed to admit I once used a legal loophole myself many years ago to cut my tax bill, but I now recognise how vital it is that business contributes its rightful share. Thats why last year I set up a not-for-profit organisation called Tax Watch, to investigate and expose those wealthy organisations that mistakenly think its acceptable to use aggressive tax planning to avoid paying their dues. It also recommends policy proposals to create a transparent tax system thats fairer for everyone.

If the Government ensured tax avoiders cough up it could bring in billions to fund public services without increasing taxes further on those who are already finding things tough. We also need laws to better protect workers: zero-hours contracts are evil and should be banned (unless requested by the employee), as should penalties for sickness.

If rogue businesses dont come around then new laws will be needed to force ethical business behaviour and set us on a path to a kinder, fairer form of capitalism. We cant afford not to do this. In my opinion, if we dont act, the dam will burst and we will all be sorry.
O n Monday evening I was waiting for a friend in a private members club. I know I despise myself too. I overheard three well-known journalists discussing the row about how shadow home secretary Diane Abbott was treated on Question Time. One of them bellowed: The thing is, its got absolutely NOTHING to do with her being BLACK, its because shes Diane BLOODY Abbott. And then these established, important, woke, white men fell about laughing for about three days.

Abbott is political Marmite. You either loathe her or really loathe her. Right-wingers despise her. And even so-called progressives on the Left hate her.

Ironically, I remember chairing a Question Time-style event at a conference organised by Progress, which represents the more Blairite wing of the Labour Party, and the audience was super-aggressive. She was shouted down a lot and eventually I had to intervene. I told the crowd that we were going to have a robust discussion but all this heckling had to stop, and that if people couldnt handle that then they would have to leave. One very ranty man stormed out  but thats enough about Peter Mandelson  JOKE.

I get upset watching how Abbott gets treated. I know people will be muttering about playing the race card but lets get real about the type of abuse she gets. Abbott was the first black woman to be elected to Parliament and she has received racist and sexist abuse throughout her career. And it has escalated  she told Amnesty that she had gone from receiving one racist letter a week to hundreds every day, including pictures of swastikas, monkeys and chimpanzees. Its the volume of it which is so debilitating, so corrosive and so upsetting, she said.

None of us can really imagine what it must be like to get that level of abuse and the toll it must take on your mental health. To be honest, Im surprised she wants to leave the house, let alone carry on in politics.

There are very few black women in public life or positions of power. From our television screens and newsrooms to Parliament to business, black faces are mainly the cleaners, catering or security staff. Abbott is still a curiosity and that attracts hate. That doesnt mean she is above scrutiny or criticism. Of course not. But the level of vitriol is so disproportionate when compared to the many white male and indeed female politicians who get things wrong.

"Watching a black woman get a good kicking on our flagship political programme felt grim"

I was seriously impressed with Fiona Bruces debut on Question Time but last weeks show depressed me. In the week when we remembered Martin Luther King, watching a black woman get a good kicking on our flagship political programme felt grim.

For all its faults, Question Time matters. But with power comes responsibility. In these divisive times, as well as showing steel, cant we see some empathy? Bruce has an opportunity to help change the toxic tone of politics. I wish her well and want her to succeed.

Tulip has shown Parliament the way

All eyes will be on the next round of big Brexit votes next Tuesday but on Monday another important decision will be taken involving Brexit babies. As the Standards Kate Proctor reported, MPs will be asked to approve a year-long trial to allow new political parents to vote by proxy.

Tulip Siddiq / PA

This comes off the back of Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq delaying her caesarean so she could vote against Theresa Mays Brexit plan. She didnt want to risk the pairing system  where an opposition MP agrees not to vote as well  because the Tories did the dirty on new mum Jo Swinson last year on a crucial Brexit vote.

Siddiq ended up having to be wheeled through the division lobby in a wheelchair. The good news is her son Raphael was born on Thursday, a cross-party delegation of pregnant women MPs went to see the Speaker and, within a week, they had made progress. How heartening to see leading women from Labour, the Tories, the Lib-Dems and the SNP coming together, working to do the right thing for new parents and modernise Parliament. Our political leaders could learn a thing or two.

A life in politics has served Laura so well

Its important to remember theres life after politics. Ed Balls went from almost becoming Chancellor to becoming the worlds most sought-after Gangnam Style performer.

I went from writing speeches to writing comedy.

And this week, my former Labour colleague Laura Shepherd-Robinson publishes her debut novel Blood & Sugar  a dark, historic tale about the slave trade and abolition movement set in Deptford.

The book is brilliant but I was shocked at all the violence, skull-duggery and appalling language.
N early a thousand staff are expected to lose their job on Wednesday as 70 Patisserie Valerie stores will shut.

The cafe chain collapsed into administration last night and KPMG has been appointed to try and find a buyer for all or parts of the company.

In total, more than 3000 jobs are at risk across the business, which has around 200 stores and a string of concessions, including in department store chain Debenhams and grocer Sainsburys.

Some concessionaires are understood to be trying to move staff to new roles where possible.

Intu is the most exposed of the listed landlords to Patisserie Valeries collapse as the malls owner and its rivals faced the prospect of a number of shops becoming vacant.

Intu leases 11 sites to Patisserie Valerie, although its rental income exposure is just 0.2%, and Hammerson has six branches in its properties. Other landlords that let space to Patisserie Valerie include LandSec (3), British Land (3) and NewRiver (1).

The owners of Patisserie Valerie could be sued by investors over the sudden collapse of the business, which left them out of pocket.
W hile BTs top brass were gladhanding in Davos, O2 and Vodafone were putting the finishing touches on a deal that should speed the roll-out of the next generation of mobile coverage across the UK.

The pair have long shared phone masts as a natural way of saving on the costs of rolling out network coverage. Their masts joint venture, known as CTIL, hastened the spread of 3G and 4G to millions of people.

So today they agreed to extend the network sharing partnership to 5G, in a move that makes total sense.

However, for shareholders, theres a bigger prize in the pipeline. The pair also signalled that they will increase the independence of the CTIL operation with a view to selling it.

With 16,000 masts and a heap of engineering expertise, CTIL should fetch well over a billion quid. Whod buy it?

Several global mast businesses might be interested. CTIL could offer out its services building masts for other companies, signalling a lucrative new revenue stream. Perhaps it could rent space to other networks on its existing towers, too. In the US, where most masts are owned by independent companies, the average mast carries three networks.

Vodafone and O2 are likely to start off by selling a minority stake in CTIL to a private equity-style investor before an outright disposal. Vodafones new boss Nick Read talks of wanting to maintain strategic control of the operation while raising money from it.

But overseas mast owners such as Cellnex, American Tower and Arqiva will be interested. At the right price, Voda and O2 would doubtless sell the whole thing.

That could put pressure on BTs incoming boss Philip Jansen to follow suit. BT took on EEs masts when his predecessor Gavin Patterson bought it from Deutsche Telekom and Orange. Last year, there was speculation BT might sell its 7000 masts for 1.5 billion. Patterson preferred to keep them for 5G, but Jansen may take a different view.

Preparing the nation for 5G will require massive financial firepower. Phone companies will seek to raise cash wherever they can to fund it.

METRO

So, the shorts were right. Metro Bank has long been a target for hedge funders such as Crispin Odey who have bet big that its share price was ripe for a fall.

They figured a small, UK-focused lender was bound to come under pressure at a time of rising stress on household debt and Brexit around the corner.

They hadnt bet on accounting mess-ups too. Metros failure to evaluate the risk on buy-to-let loans reeks of utter incompetence. Now a cashcall looms. As a relatively new bank with a short track record, it sends a terrible signal to investors: what else have they got wrong?

For fans of challenger banks, its also a blow. The Big Five oligopoly will sneer about how upstarts cant be trusted to get it right.
F orget the shouting, the blaming, the who did what and when. In a divorce, the first and last thing is, whats best for the kids. It is the golden rule; they are blameless, after all, and even as we lie and hide money and plot hideous revenge on our spouse, we worry: Oh god, what if I lose them?

It is unfathomable. In all the hullabaloo over leaving the EU, no one has given serious consideration to the only question that will really matter over time: what happens to the kids?

They have rights, the kids. Tangible rights to something that is valuable today and for every child in Britain should be a birthright until the day they die  to be a citizen of Europe, to be able to move across the Continent freely and to live and work anywhere that he or she pleases, from Galway to Gdansk and from Stockholm to Seville.

At the end of March, for British children, that right is extinguished. Its not just scrapped for future generations; it is ripped out of the hands of your offspring; torn up in front of their eyes.

Never in the remembered history of this country has any government wilfully torn up a right so precious that belongs to the nations children and unborn children. It has been allowed to happen without more than a moments thought. Our politicians blather on about tariffs, market access, barriers to trade. No one considers the most important economic, political and human right of all. The right to wander freely, to settle, to work, to set up a business, to marry, raise a family and to establish yourself in another place.

In Britain, we understand little of what rights mean in the modern world. Slavery was abolished long ago; we know we can speak freely and every adult has a vote.

When we talk of rights, we talk of aspiration: a right to a home, a right to a job, a right to free healthcare, a right to equal pay. These are not really rights; if they exist at all, they are duties. If I have a right to free healthcare, it is because everyone has agreed to take on the duty to provide it to me (and everyone else) by paying taxes. Its not a right at all. It is a communal provision that may wax and wane, depending on communal wealth and the whim of governments to fund healthcare.

In Britain, we think we invented rights  something called Magna Carta, a document signed at Runnymede by King John and a group of barons in 1215.

Schoolchildren are told it was the first charter of rights but it was nothing of the sort. The barons wanted protection from being robbed and imprisoned by the King and they didnt want to pay taxes; its a shopping list of demands. The King was weak and the barons forced him to sign.

Magna Carta is not about rights; it is about thugs doing a deal with the Godfather. The political mythology of Magna Carta explains why Britain struggles to understand the nature of the EU, its constitution and that precious right of free movement that so many would consign to the bin.

In Britain, we still think we can trade the rights of other people, like so many sheep and cattle. A procession of prime ministers, from Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron and now Theresa May went to Brussels, our modern-day Runnymede. Bragging and threatening, casting themselves as medieval barons with a grievance, they tried to bully the King, aka the EU, to give them more: bigger snacks now, less taxes, less pain.

The King initially offered a few sweets, to appease Thatcher and Cameron but May is at the end of the road. This King cannot negotiate further; he has a constitution, a framework law, guaranteeing the rights of people in 28 nations and the constitution will not be trifled with.

The British dont do constitutions. We have elected governments that can ride roughshod over anyones rights, if we can muster sufficient bodies to walk through a lobby. There is no higher law than a government in power, a bit like a King. Not even a referendum has power; in law it is advisory, until a prime minister with power chooses to make it so.

When we joined the EU our children acquired fundamental rights, known as acquis, including the right to move freely in Europe. By leaving, we trash the treaties that we signed and these rights will probably extinguish.
A consortium of investors is set to pay 150 million for a student housing block in Shoreditch, the Evening Standard can reveal.

Chapter  a venture between Canadian pension fund PSP, US developer Greystar and Germanys Allianz Real Estate  is in advanced talks to buy a 482-bed property at Paul Street East from Apache Capital Partners.

The accommodation was put up for sale in October. Renters using it pay from 305 per week for a studio, and one-bedroom luxury apartments cost from 485 per week.

Property sources said Chapters swoop for the asset shows confidence in London remaining a top academic city after Brexit.

Some experts had worried that leaving the EU could hit occupancy levels in student digs. There have been concerns that Brexit could impact funding for research and exchange programmes, which may result in fewer high-spending foreign pupils coming here.

MTRE, the property consultancy, is advising the vendor.
B urberry on Wednesday sounded the alarm over a no-deal Brexit, with Britains largest luxury goods firm warning it will be complex and could cost it tens of millions of pounds.

The FTSE 100 fashion designer, which has so far kept its cards close to its chest on Brexit, today used its third-quarter update as an opportunity to outline how it could be affected after March.

Finance chief Julie Brown admitted crashing out of the EU without a deal could be bad for the business, and said: It would be very complex to manage.

She warned switching to new trade tariffs will cost the brand, known for its trademark trenchcoats, in the low tens of millions of pounds a year, although it hopes to mitigate the hit.

Brown also said: The issue is the operational complexity. The biggest concern is disruption to supply chain [a no-deal] can impact the speed in which we can deliver to customers.

The firm, which transports a number of finished goods and samples between Britain and the Continent, is trying to take actions to ensure continuity, including increasing some inventory levels.

The comments came on the same day Liam Fox, the Brexiteer international trade secretary, said a no-deal is a real possibility.

Speaking to the BBC in Davos at the World Economic Forum, Fox said delaying or cancelling Brexit would be a calamitous breach of trust with the electorate and worse than leaving the EU with no deal.

Brown said: We still remain very hopeful that an outcome can be achieved that delivers the closest possible relationship with the EU. She stressed that the company is committed to the UK.

Brexit planning is among a number of challenges Burberry had to grapple with in the 13 weeks to December 29.

During the period it had to temporarily close some shops in France as anti-government yellow-vest street protests took place in Paris and other cities, and it also pointed to weaker footfall in the Americas.

Group revenue fell to 711 million from 719 million, but Burberry increased comparable sales by 1%.

It cheered demand for a limited-edition collection it did with Vivienne Westwood, with some items selling out within hours, and said Burberrys Belt bags, tops and trousers were selling well.

Chief executive Marco Gobbetti said: I am pleased with our progress in the quarter as we continued to build brand heat around our new creative vision.

The company confirmed its outlook for the full year.
T he ex-finance boss of Tesco on Wednesday became the last director to be acquitted over the supermarkets accounting scandal after a judge said there was no case against him.

Carl Rogberg, who suffered a heart attack in February, was accused of fraud and false accounting with Chris Bush, Tescos former UK boss, and John Scouler, an ex-commercial director.

But he did not stand trial with his colleagues in September until he recovered. In December, a judge dismissed the charges against Bush and Scouler halfway through a retrial because of lack of evidence.

Todays result ends the trial brought by the Serious Fraud Office over a 250 million profit black hole at the groceries giant, in another embarrassing defeat for the SFO.

Rogberg said: It is a huge relief that this day has finally come. While I always had faith that it would, the journey here has not been an easy one. The trial has had enormous consequences on my health and exemplary career, as well as for my wife, my son, my family and my friends.

In short, there was never any evidence of my wrongdoing and I should never have been charged. I have serious questions for Tesco and the SFO about the way this case has been handled throughout.

The SFO, which had been considering a retrial, could not be reached for comment.

The accounting scandal caused Tescos market value to collapse by 2 billion in 2014 and engulfed it in one of the worst corporate crises.

The SFO is expected to publish details of its agreement with Tesco, which paid a fine of 129 million in March 2017 and avoided trial. Lawyers for the defendants have argued, however, that it was unfair to publish those facts which ascribe wrongdoing to them.
T he former boss of Barclays kept payments to Qatar hidden to avoid the bank looking weak and potentially putting off other investors during the 2008 global financial crisis, a court heard on Wednesday.

Top Barclays bankers made secret payments to Qatar in exchange for 4 billion to stave off the dire consequences of a government bail-out, Southwark crown court heard today in the long-anticipated trial of four former top executives.

The executives at the very top of the banking giant believed the independence of Barclays was in jeopardy when it agreed to pay 322 million of fees which were hidden from the market, it is said. The bank feared falling into government hands during the financial crisis, and allegedly agreed to Qatari Holdings inflated fee demands to stay afloat.

Prosecutor Ed Brown QC said the Barclays executives, including former chief executive John Varley, deliberately kept the payments hidden.

Against the background of the financial crisis, it was essential that Barclays secured the investment of the Qataris. The defendants in this case knew that all too well, Brown told the court.

The defendants knew that to secure the Qataris investment they would have to find a way to pay them what they demanded while hiding the true position from other investors and the wider market.

Varley, who left Barclays in 2011, is on trial with Roger Jenkins, formerly the executive chairman of investment management in the Middle East and Northern Africa,ex-wealth management chief executive Thomas Kalaris, and Roger Boath who was head of the banks European Financial Institutions group.

A fifth executive, Christopher Lucas, who stepped down as finance director in 2013, is also said to have been involved with the hidden payments but is too unwell to face legal proceedings, the court heard.

Brown said the 2008 financial crisis had put Barclays and other banks under extreme pressure to raise capital funds.

Some United Kingdom banks had been forced into government hands, as a government bail-out was all that they could turn to, he said. Those at the top of Barclays were very anxious to avoid accepting government money, thereby placing itself under greater government control and scrutiny.

It is no exaggeration to say that Barclays future as an independent bank was in jeopardy in September and October of 2008.

The Qataris made two investments, in June and November 2008, when executives within Barclays believed that without it the consequences would be dire, Brown said. But he said the legal obligation to tell shareholders, other investors and the market about the fees paid to Qatar was not complied with.

It is the hiding of these additional fees which lies at the heart of this case and the conspiracies alleged against the defendants, disguising and hiding extra fees to the tune, ultimately, of nearly a third of a billion pounds. he said.

All four defendants deny conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation. Varley and Jenkins deny a second charge of fraud.
P erry Evans feared he would never have a family after he contracted HIV through infected blood in a transfusion. But through a revolutionary process known as sperm washing he was able to father two children without passing the virus on.

The news was broken to him in 1985, when he was just 23, and he was told he had two to three years left to live.

I was quite numb when I was told, said Mr Evans, who suffers from haemophilia, a condition that stops the blood clotting. At the time, I was quite healthy and active. I had just finished my degree. I was young, free and single. My life was just starting.

Two years after his diagnosis, he met a woman called Heather whom he married a year later. Heather went into our marriage thinking I would soon die and knowing we couldnt have kids, Mr Evans said.

Friends of ours were starting families and I felt like a part of life had been taken away from me.

But in 1999, three years after the introduction of effective HIV treatment, the future began to look very different.

Carole Gilling-Smith, a gynaecologist and fertility specialist, set up the sperm washing programme at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, giving men diagnosed with HIV in the UK a chance at becoming parents without infecting their partner or child.

Initially the treatment was available only on a paid-for basis at the hospital, and was offered on the NHS soon after.

In 2001 Mr Evanss son Isaac was born. The IT worker said: It was like a gift from God. At that point I was thinking I shouldnt be here and I most certainly shouldnt have a child.

The couples daughter Cerian was also born through sperm washing at the clinic in 2005.

Dr Gilling-Smith said: HIV would not attach itself to sperm, it was found in the fluid surrounding sperm. By processing the sperm we could separate it from the contaminated fluid. We could then inseminate that sperm in a womens uterus and she would not get infected.

The technique was developed in Milan nine years earlier, but it was undertaken in Britain only after doctors at the Chelsea and Westminster had concluded a year-long study.

Ms Gilling-Smith said the clinic experienced a drop in referrals around 2008 as HIV treatments had evolved to such a degree that the virus in the bloodstream was becoming undetectable, meaning it was untransmittable.

The team also started a womens programme in 2002, in which they would help women get pregnant if they were HIV positive and their partner was negative. They were taught how to self-inseminate using their partners sperm or they would be put on IVF.

Ms Gilling-Smith, who now runs her own assisted conception clinic in Brighton, said her patients included doctors and nurses who had acquired HIV through work.

She added: We were able to change lives. It gave HIV positive people a chance at leading a normal life, becoming parents, perhaps even grandparents in the future.

When you are told you are HIV positive, for a lot of these people they think they are going to die. So witnessing their child being born, seeing a part of you live on is a really important thing.

Mr Evans, who was living in Watford when his children were born but has since moved to Winchester, Hampshire, said: I suffer from a lot of colds, infections and pneumonias. I am unfortunately living with a body that has been scarred and its done irreplaceable damage. But I choose not to live in the past.

I had two amazing kids, whom I love very much and who are my inspiration so I feel very lucky.

TODO: define component type apester
STAMFORD  Narcotics officers seized three loaded pistols during a harrowing bust in the Stamford Town Center mall parking garage, where they found a sleeping toddler in the back seat of a car occupied by four suspects Tuesday afternoon.

Capt. Richard Conklin said officers in the Narcotics and Organized Crime squad heard on the street that four men were en route to the Stamford mall to sell some guns and perhaps some drugs, too.

The officers set up surveillance in the malls parking garage and at about 5:10 p.m. spotted a two-door silver Acura that matched the provided description.

Police watched the car pull in and observed the driver get out and open up his hood, pretending to be having some mechanical problems. The narcotics officers along with uniformed officers then moved in to make arrests. They quickly discovered the little boy asleep in the car.

During their search, Conklin said they found that Victor Noel Berrios-Sanchez, 21, of New Haven, had two guns. A loaded .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol was found hidden in a sock and he also had a loaded .22-caliber revolver along with five bags of the powerful opioid fentanyl. Police also discovered Berrios-Sanchez had a past arrest that prohibited him from possessing either guns or ammunition.

When they pulled Nyejire Redmond, 19, of East Haven, out of the car, he told officers he had a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol in his waistband. Police looked at the serial number and determined the gun was stolen from someone in New Britain in December, Conklin said.

The driver of the car, John Medina, 25, of New Haven, was charged with driving while under suspension and risk of injury to a child, because the boy was not in a car safety seat, but just sleeping on the back seat.

Joel Cruz-Berrios, 21, of New Haven, was charged with risk of injury to a child and three conspiracy charges for weapons in a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition.

Berrios-Sanchez was held in lieu of $150,000 bail and the other three each was held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

This was a very troubling case. These guys have lengthy criminal records and are found with three guns, and one was very recently stolen, in the same car with an 18-month-old child. This was very troubling, said Conklin. Our (Narcotics and Organized Crime) officers did a thorough investigation and acted very quickly on this and took three more illegal firearms off the street and got an 18-month-old child in dire conditions back to his mother.

Conklin said police contacted the state Department of Children and Families, who found the mother who lives in New Haven; she came to Stamford Hospital and retrieved the child .

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
Medical cannabis is not ready for prime time, at least so far as CBS is concerned.

Acreage Holdings, one of the largest publicly traded cannabis companies, revealed that CBS has turned down its request to air a public service announcement about medical cannabis during the upcoming Super Bowl. The ad, which Acreage plans to release publicly when the final version is complete, will feature vignettes about three people suffering severe medical problems who found relief using cannabis.

We thought this message was strong enough and important enough that we wanted to share it on the worlds biggest stage, which is the Super Bowl, but we received a terse note saying they will not air a medical cannabis ad, said Harris Damashek, chief marketing officer for Acreage.

Related: 7 Tips for Making the Switch From Just Marketing to Cannabis Marketer

A preliminary version of the 60-second ad features a boy suffering a nearly uninterrupted series of seizures -- numbering in the dozens each day -- whose mother credits medical marijuana for saving his life. A man who was reliant on opioids for 15 years to cope with the pain of broken back credits medical marijuana for giving him pain relief without opioids, while a veteran who lost a leg during his service similarly credits medical cannabis for granting him relief from chronic, excruciating pain.

The ad concludes by encouraging viewers to contact their congressional representatives to demand legal access to medical cannabis, which is legal in more than 30 states but with varying restrictions. It didnt recommend or even mention Acreage products.

Super Bowl ads cost around $5 million for a 30-second spot, which Damashek said Acreage was ready to pay.

Damashek said the company is not particularly upset, or even surprised, by the rejection from CBS, which they attribute more to the marijuanas uncertain legal status between the laws of the 50 states -- most but not all of which make it legal to some degree -- and the federal government, which has not changed the legal status of marijuana since the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

Its emblematic of the problem we are trying to highlight, which is that Americans often cannot get access to medical cannabis, Damashek said. It is such a gray area and such conflict between state policy and federal policy that nobody knows what the risks (for CBS) might be.

CBS had no immediate comment on the decision. Acreage was told the ad was rejected in a brief email that offered no elaboration. Damashek said Acreage will complete production of the full commercial and make it public on whatever channels it has available. All sorts of cannabis advertising is restricted on all the major online channels, as well as TV and radio.

There is so much hypocrisy that surrounds this issue, Damashek said. You will see countless ads (during the Super Bowl) for beer and erectile dysfunction medications but our ad with an educational goal to help people who are suffering is rejected. That is the irony we are looking to highlight.

Related:

CBS Won't Air What Would Have Been the First-Ever Super Bowl PSA for Cannabis

Strange but True: Even Texas Is Getting Serious About Decriminalization and Medical Marijuana

Seniors Are the Cannabis Market Few Companies Are Targeting



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STAMFORD  Technical workers have organized a rally for Saturday in Hartford to protest what they say is a sweetheart deal Gov. Ned Lamont struck with an Indian company that will result in job losses for Connecticut citizens.

The Connecticut Tech Workers Coalition is teaming up with a national group, Protect U.S. Workers, to protest a state deal that gives Infosys, which supplies tech labor across the United States, $14 million to open a hub in Hartford on the promise of creating 1,000 jobs. There is talk that Infosys also plans to open an office in Stamford.

Rally organizers say the technology services giant has a history of manipulating the nations visa program to displace U.S. workers with cheaper labor from India. Organizers include some of the 200 Eversource employees who were laid off four years ago, when the utility hired Infosys to supply tech support. On their way out, Eversource employees had to train Infosys workers, organizers have said.

In 2013, the federal government fined Infosys $34 million for abuse of the visa system for fraudulently bringing workers into the country. In 2017, Infosys paid New York state $1 million to settle similar allegations.

Infosys officials have said the Hartford deal is part of a company commitment to hire 10,000 American workers before the year is out, and that 7,000 have been hired so far. State officials have said the state grant money will be dispersed only after Infosys meets a set of milestones for creating good-paying jobs for American citizens in Connecticut.

But protesters say Infosys is like many other tech outsourcing companies operating in the U.S.  they use the visa system to fill jobs with underpaid foreign workers, and its time to fight back..

In the same way Protect US Workers played a role in ousting Kansas Congressman Kevin Yoder in the recent 2018 election, Governor Lamont is being put on notice that American tech workers want the system to change, a statement from the Connecticut Tech Workers Coalition reads. The rally is about putting American workers and American jobs before foreign concerns.

The rally is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at the Hartford Elks Lodge, 34 Prospect St. in downtown Hartford. For information, visit www.cttechworkers.org.
Metro-North Railroad riders can expect longer commutes in the coming months  thanks to more maintenance, track and bridge work.

We have knocked off the low-hanging fruit, Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi told Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members this week.

We are now moving to areas that will be a lot more impactful, Rinaldi said, referring to how the more extensive work will significantly delay trains.

The solution, Metro-North officials announced, is to increase trip times rather than slow down infrastructure work.

The New Haven Line plans to add four to eight minutes to trips between Stamford and New York City and trains traveling from farther away will have from 5 to 12 minutes added to their travel time.

Metro-North said the extra time will allow for slowdowns  including those required because of infrastructure work  without putting service behind schedule.

The schedule changes are set to be implemented in two phases, in April and July, officials said.

The work will ultimately result in a safer, more reliable ride for years into the future," said John Kesich, senior vice president for Metro-North.

As we take tracks out service it creates temporary operating constraints, and we are adjusting the schedules to provide customers with a reliable service, Kesich said.

Metro-North officials noted that the railroads on time performance last year  trains were on time only 90.1 percent of the time  was largely attributable to track and bridge work.

The New Haven line posted 88.9 percent OTP, due in large part to the ongoing replacement of the Walk Bridge in Norwalk.

Jim Gildea, president of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, said he understands why Metro-North is increasing trip times.

I do understand the frustration of the daily commuter, Gildea said. Having time built into the schedule is not pleasurable and extends the time that it takes to get to work.

But Gildea said the reality is that there is much infrastructure work to be done.

This is an age-old problem, reliability and safety versus speed, and as unpleasant as it may seem, this is work that needs to get done and this is the time that it takes to complete it, Gildea said.

The MTA board passed a resolution asking Metro-North officials to define the work, set a deadline for completion and create an alternative plan to speed up the pace of the work.

Reinstating safety is paramount, noted MTA board member Neal Zuckerman. Id like to know when the catch up work will be done.

bcummings@ctpost.com
STAMFORD  The two-week trial of a Bridgeport man charged with shooting two men, robbing another and setting a stolen car on fire in Stamford drew close to an end Wednesday.

Final arguments were heard from the prosecutor, Assistant States Attorney Michelle Manning, and defense attorney Miles Gerety in the trial of Onaje Smith, 20.

Smith is charged separately with shooting and killing Stamford resident Shane Slinsky in August 2016.

This trial began with the testimony of two Chinese food delivery drivers who the state says were robbed in Norwalk by Smith and Tyreik Gantt of Stamford in January 2017. The drivers said the men who robbed them were masked and they could not identify Gantt or Smith.

Gantt, who was to be tried with Smith, made open guilty pleas to over a dozen felonies that Smith also faces before the trial began. Gantt could be sentenced up to 206 years behind bars when he is sentenced later this year.

Manning told the six-member jury that she had presented enough evidence to find Smith guilty of two counts of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and attempted murder along with single charges of arson, larceny and conspiracy to commit murder.

Smith was also charged with shooting a 19-year-old man in the head while he stood in a Stamford convenience store in January 2017. Police say the two felt like they were Teflon, untouchable.

Gerety argued to the jury that the surveillance tape presented by the state of the shooting provided enough reasonable doubt to find Smith not guilty of the attempted murder. Gerety said the video and still pictures show that the man who tried to kill the 19-year-old man had much lighter skin than Smith.

Is that a dark man? Look at him, Gerety told the jury while pointing at Smith, who has a very dark complexion. Gerety also said that one of the delivery drivers told police that the man who robbed and shot him had held the gun in his left hand.

We all know that we hold weapons, pencils and other items in the dominant hand, Gerety said, reminding the jury that Smith is right-handed.

He also told the jury not to be persuaded of Smiths guilt because the police have charged him with so many crimes. There has to be evidence, and they dont have a lot of evidence. Its just nothing, Gerety insisted.

But Manning said Gerety was making a smoke screen by insisting that the man in the video had lighter skin than Smith. She said that the skin tone changes depending upon the camera and lighting. That could be seen by how the skin tone of the shooting victim differed between the surveillance video and images taken of him at Stamford Hospital, she said.

Manning told the jury to remember the testimony of all the witnesses.

Look at all the evidence. When you put it all together, you will see that Onaje Smith is a not playing some minimal part. He is in the thick of it, she said.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
Vanuatu turns the Corner LETS USE THIS AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FUTURE
Calling it perhaps the biggest opportunity for community development she has seen in two decades, a financier joined other officials Wednesday in Danbury to exhort investors to take advantage of a Trump administration program designed to unleash a flood of private-sector money to benefit struggling neighborhoods across Connecticut and the nation.

Last May, the U.S. Department of the Treasury approved more than 70 districts statewide as opportunity zones, including sites in Bridgeport, Danbury, New Haven, Norwalk and Ansonia.

The Danbury zone extends south from Interstate 84 along Main Street and adjacent blocks to South Street.

Under Treasurys Opportunity Zones program, business and real estate development investments can qualify for federal tax breaks on any capital gains they reap for eligible Ozone projects in more than 7,900 census tracts. The program was authorized as part of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017.

On Wednesday, more than 40 businesspeople and municipal officials attended a workshop on the program sponsored by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center and CityCenter Danbury.

Speakers included Liddy Karter, a partner with Enhanced Capital which funds business expansions through tax credits it secures. A similar workshop will be held in Stamford at 10 a.m. Friday, with information online at www.cerc.com.

Unlike other incentive programs that focus on grants or loans, Opportunity Zones offer full tax breaks on any capital gains from equity-based investments in real estate and businesses after a 10-year window.

Deals can be structured to resemble sophisticated financing vehicles like mezzanine debt that give investors preferred terms as a bridge to a later sale, which Karter indicated should appeal to a far wider range of financiers.

The Opportunity Zones represent the first time that we can actually ... invest in these underserved communities without government constraints and oversight at the same level that we have (had) before, Karter said Wednesday. Low-income housing tax credits, new-market tax credits, historic tax credits  all of those still exist and we will continue to work with those programs, but the Opportunity Zone is different in that it is not a program. It is a benefit, ... like depreciation is a benefit.

Bubbling up from the bottom

Karter described as dead easy the process for companies like Enhanced Capital to set up Opportunity Zone funds to focus investments where the Trump administration and Congress want moneys to be steered, and envisioned funds working alongside established community lenders to provide a boost that can get some projects over the top financially that might otherwise fall short.

With investors having a short fuse in her words to put any funds to work  the clock runs six months for them to do so, with checks in place  Karter said communities in California and elsewhere are setting up fast-track approval processes for Opportunity Zone projects to help investors meet those deadlines and jump start projects. She added that with the 10-year horizon to realized gains, Opportunity Zones investors are anxious to tee up projects this year with the goal of cashing out in 2029.

This has the potential to seriously transform our communities, Karter said. Theres so much excitement about the kinds of projects that are being done, and what we are seeing is they are all bubbling up from the bottom. And as investors, we dont want to walk into a neighborhood and say, This is what you need. We want a neighborhood to come to us and say, Hey, could you help us do this?

Investments are designed to promote the rehabilitation of existing properties or the acquisition of businesses that are already operating, rather than startups, ground-up construction or buildings that are already in good shape.

The regulations include a list of sin businesses banned from the Opportunity Zones program, to include liquor sellers, smoke shops, gambling venues and even sun-tan parlors.

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development is now working with municipalities on an online database that will list possible projects for investors to consider, according to David Kooris, a deputy DECD commissioner.

We are fleshing that out right now (and) compiling project information from towns and cities across the state, Kooris said. Theyll be able to drill down and identify individual projects and learn more about them. ... We are focused on those things that are ready to go almost immediately, things have all their entitlements in place through zoning, ... things for which elements of the capital stack are already secured and an additional equity investment can push it across the finish line.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Shaheed Alhafed, January 20, 2019 (SPS)  Member of National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, Minister of the Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad, Bashir Mustafa Sayed, has underlined that the presence of all formations of the Moroccan forces to besiege the delegation of the occupied territories returning from the Sahrawi refugee camps has unmasked lies of the Moroccan occupation state in guaranteeing freedom of movement and fundamental freedoms of persons.



Commenting on the Moroccan occupation authorities preventing the delegation of human rights activists from moving to the other occupied cities and southern Morocco, the minister highlighted that the ban came a few days after Morocco obtained an illegal authorization by the European Union to loot the Sahrawi natural resources in contravention of international law, the principles of the European Union and the world order, and against the will of the Security Council, the efforts of the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, and the Saharawi people's right, which is a conspiracy against the international community towards the just Sahrawi cause.



Mr. Bashir emphasized that the momentousness of the delegation and Sahrawis confidence in it have increased, and showed a determination that the enemy found nothing but repression to confront it, calling on the world to support peace and prevent siege on the occupied Sahrawi territories.



The Minister of the Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad deplored the decision of the European Union and its Commission regarding its approval of the Agreement on Agricultural and Fishing Products with Morocco, which covers the occupied parts of Western Sahara. (SPS)



062/SPS/TRA






This episode had some more super-exciting news for Amy and Sheldon in store: Physicists from Chicago confirmed their theory on super-asymmetry! They are over the moon and so is President Siebert. This could be a Nobel winning achievement for the couple! A Nobel! Sheldons big dream might actually become reality!When Sheldon and Amy meet the Physicists that confirmed their theory, they are rather disappointed to find out that the men never even had the intention of proving super-asymmetry. They had never even heard of it before! It was merely an accident that their experiment confirmed Sheldon and Amys theory. Still, the two scientists promote super-asymmetry like it is their big achievement. Leonard points out, that historically the Nobel always was given to the people doing the experiments, almost never to the scientists who came up with the theory. Sheldon is worried that the two men could steal his and Amys big award. The scientists from Chicago, however, have other plans. They have no intention to exclude Sheldon but they want Amy out. Only three people can share a Nobel so this is the only option for them. Amy is not a physicist so, in their mind, she has no business getting that award anyway. Surprisingly, Amy understands and even encourages Sheldon to go ahead with the men's plan and exclude her from the achievement. She does not seem happy about it but she knows that a Nobel is everything Sheldon has ever wanted and she does not want to stand in the way of that. Sheldon might be arrogant and selfish most of the time but deep down he is a pretty decent guy. He presents President Siebert two options: Either he recommends both, him and Amy, to the Nobel committee or none of them. In this case, the physicists from Chicago would get full credit. And Caltech none. Even though he is aware that it will cause a big fight with the scientists from Chicago, Siebert immediately promises to fully back Sheldon and Amy. His agreement came so quickly it made me rather suspicious. I fully expect Siebert to break his promise in the upcoming episodes.Bernadette also has exciting news to share in this episode. The Anti-inflammatory drug she has been working on for years got approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Now that the medication finally can be sold, she wants Penny to be the head of her sales team. Penny, however, does not want to take the job. She tells Bernadette that her supervisor cannot spare her at the moment. It is a lie that Bernadette uncovers within a few hours. Penny admits that she simply is not sure whether she is qualified enough for the job. After all, she has very little experience in this business and on top of all, she did not even go to college. How is she supposed to do this job? Only when Bernadette uses reverse psychology on Penny the latter finally decidea to give it a try. And it turns out she is really good at it. She is great at bossing people around. Who knew? ;)
This week on Roswell, New Mexico marked the 10 year anniversary of Rosas (Liz sisters) death which leads to a lot of hatred towards the Ortechos. The brother of one of Rosas victims tries to kill Liz dad but Max interferes and nearly kills the guy only to be stopped by Isobel and Michael. Liz finds out that Max saw her sister the night she died and learns through Kyle that Rosa was killed by an alien. This leads to Liz no longer trusting Max and thinking he had something to do with her death. Meanwhile, Kyle refuses to work with the military. Max is occasionally sleeping with his partner, Cameron. Alex and Michael continue to grow closer despite still being angry over what happened in the past.



Thank you for not being predictable: You know, last week I thought I had the writers all figured out. I was so sure they would have Kyle be involved with the military operation, completely misguided, looking for aliens while his ex would have to hide that her new boyfriend is the alien and blah ba blah. But instead, Kyle wanted nothing to do with it. He actually went to Liz with what he knew and trusted her. I hope we get to see them work together on this, especially now that hes in the loop. I dont want to see them on opposite sides again, though Im afraid its a real possibility. I just want to skip the part where they fight amongst themselves and get to the part where they stick together and fight the government. By the way, Im really liking Michael Trevino in this role.



Oh, the angst: That being said, I didnt mind all of the drama. While last week felt a bit like a romance novel, this week brought a lot of friction. Max is clearly keeping something important from Liz regarding her sister. I highly doubt he killed her, but his silence is causing her to leap to conclusions, and I cant say that I blame her. It doesnt look good. Im assuming the government covered her death up, which leaves me with a lot of questions. What happened to the people she supposedly killed? Were they also killed by an alien? Things are going to be pretty tense next week between Max and Liz.





I cant stand you: Im not sure if its the acting or the writing (or both) but I cannot stand Isobel. And I didnt have this problem with the character on the original show. Maybe its just that the actress isnt used to the role yet, or the antagonistic role of the character at the moment or maybe its just me. But theres something about her that just rubs me the wrong way (I can compare it to Lizzie on Legacies). I really hope this improves in the next few episodes.

A dark side: Max was having some issues controlling his anger this week. Im glad theyre showing a darker side to their powers. I hate it when the good guys are always so buttoned up. Show some rage, be flawed, it makes the characters more interesting. And could anyone really blame him for nearly killing that racist scumbag? They cant keep him locked up because the Ortechos would get deported if they pressed charges (nice justice system you got there) and hes clearly not going to stop, hes been doing it for years and is only escalating. Its already been stated that Isobel can get into peoples heads (she made Liz leave town) so couldnt she have made that guy leave town as well or something?





Best quotes:

Cameron: You look like garbage, partner. Ruggedly handsome garbage, but garbage.

Max: Are you sassing Jesus?

Alex: You know I just did this for attention, right?





Thats it for this week.

Check in again next week for an all-new review and let me know in the comments what you thought of this weeks episode.





Please be respectful in the comments, any unnecessary rudeness isn't welcome.






Alex takes credit for an app idea that Mariana has but Casey, another female co-worker at the company suggest that Mariana should work harder than everybody else and also make some allies. Mariana then befriends her co-worker Raj who actually seems like a decent guy, especially compared to Alex who is seriously getting on my nerves and were only three episodes in. Mariana accidentally spills coffee on Evan (the CEO of the company) who she previously encountered in the elevator in the pilot episode and we later see him asking one of his employees why Mariana did not pitch him the app idea, so it seems like Evan did not actually spring HR on Mariana. After a lot more drama at work during the episode, Mariana decides to go out partying and just collect the paycheck while not doing any work because people dont take her seriously and appreciate her hard work.Callie didnt get fired or removed from the Jamal Thompson case but Judge Wilson wanted her to re-write the memo that Rebecca turned in. Outside of work, Callie is still seeing Gael but he is also still seeing Bryan and I honestly dont really know where they are taking this storyline but Callie says that she doesnt have time for a relationship right now anyways which I kind of agree with. She does however meet up with Jamie in this episode and asks for his advice about her work situation. I actually really liked Jamie in the three-part finale so Im glad he is back.Gael was preparing for an art show but he met up with his sister, Jazmin, who needed money so Gael gave away the money and could not finish his art piece. Malika is continuing to fight for justice for Jamal Thompson but shes also struggling with the question if she should go see her mother or not. We get to see some flashbacks to when she and her brother got separated as kids when they went into the foster system. We also find out at the end of the episode that the defense motion to dismiss Jamals case is denied by Judge Wilson so they are going to trial.Its not Alex, thats for sure. I would be so incredibly frustrated if I had to work with someone like him. I totally understand why Mariana seems to have given up on work. Jamie was honestly my favorite character in this episode even if he was only in like three scenes, but I do think that hes a good friend to Callie even if he most likely wants to be more than that. I think he gave some solid advice and I think its good for Callie to have someone who understands her profession to talk things through.I loved the scene between Mariana and Casey where Mariana tried to hide from Evan in the office. It just reminded me of situations Ive been in where Ive seen someone that I didnt want to see and Ive tried to hide from them. It just looks hilarious when you watch it from an outside point-of-view and I also appreciate that Mariana has Casey that she can talk to about work stuff in that male dominated profession that they are in.Need to borrow my invisibility cloak?I was in juvie three times, its a long story (I honestly like any mention of Callie and Marianas past from The Fosters)What did you think about this episode of Good Trouble? Please, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
A Rocket Lab Electron lifts off Dec. 16 from the company's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The next Electron launch is now scheduled for late February, carrying an experimental smallsat for DARPA.

WASHINGTON  Small launch vehicle developer Rocket Lab will launch an experimental satellite for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in February, the first of a planned dozen launches in 2019.

Rocket Lab announced Jan. 22 that it will launch a small satellite for DARPA on the company's Electron rocket from its launch site in New Zealand. That launch will take place in February, likely late in the month, Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck said in an interview.

The payload is a satellite developed by DARPA called Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration (R3D2) that will test technologies for deployable antennas. Once in orbit, R3D2 will deploy a Kapton membrane that will expand to a diameter of 2.25 meters to demonstrate the ability to small satellites to carry large deployable antennas needed to support high-bandwidth communications. [In Photos: Rocket Lab and Its Electron Booster]

The 150-kilogram satellite will be the only payload on the launch as it takes up all the mass and volume available on the rocket. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for R3D2, with the antenna provided by MMA Design and the satellite bus by Blue Canyon Technologies.

"It's particularly fitting to be flying the DARPA payload and demonstrating true responsive access to space," Beck said, noting that responsive space access had been a goal of a number of earlier DARPA projects. "It's great that we have DARPA as a customer to truly demonstrate that."

"The Department of Defense has prioritized rapid acquisition of small satellite and launch capabilities. By relying on commercial acquisition practices, DARPA streamlined the R3D2 mission from conception through launch services acquisition," Fred Kennedy, director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, said in a statement. The mission timeline, from satellite design and development through launch, will take about 18 months.

One issue for the upcoming launch is the need for a new launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, as this launch will be flying on a different trajectory than previous Electron launches licensed by the FAA. However, the FAA is not issuing new licenses amid the ongoing government shutdown.

"We're hoping that the government will open up again soon," Beck said. "Our customer is working with the appropriate channels to try and get that sorted out."

The launch is the first of 12 launches Rocket Lab expects to carry out in 2019. Despite the late start, Beck said the company will increase its launch cadence as the year goes on. The second launch of the year will take place four to five weeks after this mission, and by the end of the year Rocket Lab expects to be launching Electrons at a rate of one every two weeks. There may be a break in the middle of the year, he said, to implement "block upgrades" to the Electron and its launch facilities.

"Basically, our goal for 2019 is to continue to deliver that regular, reliable service to orbit," he said.

Also scheduled for this year is the opening of the company's second launch site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Construction of that site is underway even though the ongoing shutdown has hindered the support the space agency can provide. "We're in full-on construction mode right now," he said, and on schedule to support a first launch from the new pad in September.

While Rocket Lab is among the first of a new generation of small launch vehicle startups to reach orbit, it is not alone. Other companies, such as Vector and Virgin Orbit, expect to perform their first orbital launches in 2019, with dozens of other vehicles in various stages of design and development.

The antenna for the R3D2 spacecraft during deployment tests on the ground. (Image credit: MMA Design)

Despite the competition, Beck said that Rocket Lab is continuing to see strong interest in the Electron. The company announced Jan. 8 it hired Lars Hoffman, a former SpaceX executive, as its new senior vice president for global launch services. Hoffman will be responsible for the company's sales, business development and customer experience teams.

"We're really focused on delivering the most agile and responsive tailored launch experience on the market, and bringing Lars on was critical to that," Beck said. "We're seeing strong demand for our service." That includes, he said, setting the company apart from the competition in a variety of areas, from the accuracy of orbital insertion to "the softer aspects" of good customer service.

Beck is among those who expect to see a shakeout in the small launch industry in the near future. "I think it's going to be an interesting time ahead for the hundred-plus small launch vehicles that are under development within the industry right now," he said. "I think you're going to see some fairly strong consolidation over the next 12 months."

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
NASA has announced a crew change for Boeing Starliner's first crewed flight, assigning veteran astronaut Mike Fincke to the flight after Eric Boe was pulled for medical reasons.

The crewed test flight is due to launch in the second half of this year, assuming that an uncrewed test flight currently scheduled for the spring goes smoothly. Fincke will fly with NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, who previously flew for NASA.

"Fincke takes the place of astronaut Eric Boe, originally assigned to the mission in August 2018," NASA officials said in a statement. "Boe is unable to fly due to medical reasons; he will replace Fincke as the assistant to the chief for commercial crew in the astronaut office at NASA's Johnson Space Center." [Here's Who's Flying on SpaceX's and Boeing's 1st Crewed Flights

Fincke became an astronaut in 1996 and has flown on three previous missions, including two long-duration stays at the International Space Station and one flight with the space shuttle program. The shuttle flight was STS-134, the final voyage of the shuttle Endeavour. During that mission, Fincke broke the previous U.S. record for longest time in space. His current tally is 381 days; he has also completed nine spacewalks.

NASA has named astronaut Michael Fincke, shown here on the space shuttle Endeavour in 2011, as a replacement crewmember on the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner CST-100 spacecraft later this year. He replaces astronaut Eric Boe, who will not fly for medical reasons, NASA said. (Image credit: NASA)

Fincke has worked closesly with NASA's commercial crew partners since 2013, when he became assistant to the chief for commercial crew in the astronaut office, NASA officials said in the statement.

In that role, he has worked closely with both Boeing and SpaceX, and with the astronauts assigned to their vehicles on the development and testing of the new spacecraft.

Ferguson has been working closely on the Boeing crew module, called Starliner, since 2011, when he retired from NASA and joined the company. Mann joined Ferguson in working closely with the capsule in August, when NASA assigned astronauts to the first two flights of both Starliner and SpaceX's crewed capsule, called Crew Dragon. That craft is also scheduled to complete a crewed test flight later this year.

Each crewed test flight will dock with the space station, then return to Earth.

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
WASHINGTON  The Pentagon studied the problem for years and concluded that sensors in space are the only solution to defend the United States from Russian and Chinese hypersonic weapons.

The Space Sensor Layer was one of the headlines from last week's release of the 2019 Missile Defense Review, the first update to the nation's missile defense posture in nine years.

"Look for rapid progress on that," Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin told reporters. [Military Space: The Latest Satellites and Missions]

The Pentagon views the Space Sensor Layer as a necessary military response to Russia's and China's looming deployment of hypersonic missiles. The existing U.S. missile shield was designed to counter North Korea's and Iran's intercontinental ballistic missiles. Hypersonic weapons that fly at several times the speed of sound are a different threat, as they maneuver in unpredictable trajectories and glide to their targets. Defense officials and analysts have argued that these advanced weapons could easily penetrate current U.S. defenses that rely on ground and sea-based sensors to track enemy missiles after they are launched.

"It's not all about ICBMs," Griffin said.

He explained the Space Sensor Layer will serve in a defensive role to detect and track incoming missiles, and also as a tool of war to help destroy targets.

"I think you'll see operational systems in the mid and latter part of the 2020s," Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said of the space sensors.

Griffin insisted the Pentagon will be steadfast in moving this project forward. "You'll start to see some experiments materialize over the next very few years," he said. "Those of us at a high level in the department are really here only for a limited period of time and we want to see some action. So stay tuned."

Space-based sensors for missile defense also received full support from Congress. The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Pentagon to "complete a plan and initiate development" of a space-based missile defense sensor architecture. Appropriators added $73 million to the Defense Department's 2019 budget to begin the work.

The Space Sensor Layer nonetheless faces significant technological and political hurdles. The new Democratic leadership in the House already has warned it will challenge any new spending on missile defense systems. The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a statement that he would oppose any effort to "rush to buy and deploy unproven missile defense systems."

An industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity because he works on defense contracts suggested that the Space Sensor Layer, like the Space Force, could turn into a partisan lightning rod. President Trump announced during a controversial speech at the Pentagon last week that he will request funding in 2020 for space-based missile defense, increasing the chances that the project will be caught in the political crossfire.

Pentagon's next steps

The Missile Defense Agency is evaluating nine proposals for space sensor architectures. With the $73 million that Congress already appropriated, the agency will proceed to the next phase. Of the nine submissions, three will be selected this year to continue working on the project for another six to nine months. Any further development work will require new funding that Congress would have to appropriate for fiscal year 2020.

So far all the work has been done under nontraditional contracts managed by the Air Forces Space Enterprise Consortium. The consortium was established in 2017 to attract startups and commercial companies, and to bring new space technology into defense programs.

The director of the Missile Defense Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves, said this will be a "disciplined acquisition process" that he described as "crawl, walk, run, under-promise, over-deliver.  Prove things in the laboratory, prove things on the ground, maybe go to air, maybe go to space if that's where it ends up."

How the Pentagon proceeds with this project over the next year could set the stage for success, or failure. Missile defense programs have been notorious budget busters in decades past, including the military's current missile warning satellites, the Space Based Infrared System known as SBIRS.

Griffin would not offer any cost estimates for the Space Sensor Layer. He said Congress is "asking us to do it" and did not set a price limit. "I am personally not concerned about the cost of the Space Sensor Layer," he said. "It's not some outlandish number."

A LEO constellation?

The Missile Defense Agency would not discuss the contents of the nine contractor proposals it received. Industry sources said the majority recommend that the sensor layer be placed in orbits close to Earth to it can more conclusively identify hard-to-detect targets like hypersonic glide vehicles. The thinking is that adversaries will likely launch missiles tipped with a mix of warheads and decoy balloons to confuse U.S. sensors. "We have to be closer to the action in order to do a good job of it," said Griffin. "We think the best approach is a network of satellites in low orbit. How many, what orbit, all that is to be determined."

A major unknown is whether Congress will go along. The Pentagon unsuccessfully tried a decade ago to develop a missile defense constellation in low Earth orbit and will have to persuade skeptics that the Space Sensor Layer will not end up like other Reagan-era missile defense boondoggles.

"It's ambitious," said Laura Grego, a missile defense and space security experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

There is a case to be made for a space layer in lower orbit to track targets from launch to interception, she noted. SBIRS satellites in geosynchronous and highly elliptical orbits detect launches, and then cue radars on the ground that can continue to track the target in its mid-course and beyond. The sensors pass the tracking data to command centers where operators cue interceptor missiles to take down the target. "We set up radars along the path we imagined a North Korean missile would go," Grego said. "It works ok against North Korean missiles. But the idea of the sensor layer is that it would catch any trajectory from anywhere."

Grego said the Pentagon should put forth a cost estimate and prove the system works in tests before it deploys any new satellites.

Efforts to deploy missile defense sensors in low orbits go back to the 1990s. The Air Force at the time began plans to launch a "SBIRS low" constellation in 2006 to supplement the coverage provided by SBIRS high.

The SBIRS low program in 2001 was transferred to the Missile Defense Agency where it became the Space Tracking and Surveillance System. It wasn't until 2009 that the agency launched two Northrop Grumman-made STSS satellites into low-Earth orbit. But costs escalated, and the Pentagon abandoned the original SBIRS low goal of a 24-satellite constellation. The program was later renamed Precision Tracking Space System (PTSS), intended to be a constellation of nine to 12 satellites to detect and track ballistic missiles and warheads in flight.

As things stand today, the Air Force operates the SBIRS high constellation and has committed at least $3 billion to develop a follow-on system called next-generation Overhead Persistent Infrared, or next-gen OPIR.

How SBIRS, next-gen OPIR and a new sensor layer come together into a broader missile shield is one of the central questions that lawmakers will likely ask. Can DoD afford both layers? And could SBIRS or next-gen OPIR provide more coverage to address hypersonic missiles?

It will be a technical, political and economic debate. The Pentagon will have to convince critics that this will not be a repeat of SBIRS low, STSS and PTSS. The argument in favor of having sensors in LEO is that they can see better, and they would be cheaper to build and launch than billion-dollars SBIRS satellites. A potential counter point is that the next-gen OPIR satellites that the Air Force already funded will be equipped with more advanced sensors and, conceivably, could do with a few satellites the same job that would require 100 satellites in LEO.

DARPA in the spotlight

Griffin's advocacy of a LEO constellation for missile defense goes hand in hand with his support of Blackjack, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency effort to adapt commercial space technology for military use.

Sometime in the next two to three years, DARPA plans to launch a small experimental constellation of commercial satellites in LEO, equipped with military payloads. The concept behind Blackjack is to capture the innovation in commercial space and lower the cost and development timelines of military systems. Griffin has been hugely critical of the Air Force's costly satellite developments and views Blackjack as the Pentagon's best hope to move into a new era of faster, cheaper space systems.

DARPA said missile warning could be one of the potential applications for Blackjack satellites. If the program is successful, it could serve as proof that a Space Sensor Layer can be achieved at lower cost than traditional military satellites and produced on timelines of one to two years, compared to seven to 10 years for most DoD systems.

DARPA has set even more ambitious goals for Blackjack. It wants to demonstrate the use of "smart" satellites on orbit that can collect, analyze and disseminate data autonomously, and possibly even cue interceptor weapons. This could dramatically reduce the time it takes to respond to a missile attack. SBIRS data, for example, is sent from space to command centers on the ground, where it is combined with data from other sensors and analyzed before it is passed on to the interceptor weapons.

Griffin noted that one of the issues that need further study are the "fire control approaches" for the Space Sensor Layer.

Hypersonic missiles are projected to fly much faster than ballistic missiles, so the latency of the data would be a critical factor. DARPA is tackling this issue in the next phase of Blackjack, called Pit Boss. "This is the technology that is the real 'DARPA hard' problem," the industry source said. Computers on Blackjack satellites would process data from the entire constellation and autonomously identify what weapon on the ground might be positioned to intercept a target.

DARPA has been working on a solicitation for industry proposals for the Pit Boss phase of Blackjack. Autonomous onboard processing and dissemination of data from space would break new technological barriers, experts said, although it is unlikely to be used in the Space Sensor Layer, at least for the foreseeable future.

One of the wild cards in the Space Sensor Layer project is whether it will remain under the Missile Defense Agency. There is an effort underway to establish a Space Development Agency  that would report directly to Griffin  to take on projects like the Space Sensor Layer. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Griffin have argued that the Pentagon's traditional procurement organizations are not able to capture technologies from the private sector and apply them to military systems in a timely manner. The Space Sensor Layer could be one way to test the capabilities of the new agency.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
Pictured from left: Rick Shelley, director of workforce development for Palmetto Goodwill's north region; Robert Smith, Palmetto Goodwill president and CEO; Angel Johnson-Brebner, executive vice president of Waccamaw Community Foundation; and Charles Ratleff, director of retail for Palmetto Goodwill.
Secure access control is helping to shape the post-pandemic world

With the continued rolling back of COVID restrictions in the UK, there is a palpable sense of relief. A mixture of mass vaccinations, widespread testing, and track and tracing of the infection is helping to enable a healthy bounce back for businesses  with secure access control taking an important role in facilitating this. However, rather than just being a reaction to the wake of the pandemic, there is every sign that the economy, and consequently the security sector as well, are both rebuilding and reshaping for the long-term new normal. Prioritising Safety Already deemed an essential service even during the first wave of the pandemic, the security industry has of course taken a vital role in protecting people and property throughout the crisis. Now that venues in the UK are starting to reopen again, our services are key to occupancy management and ensuring that disease transmission is limited as far as possible. Access control is also key in reassuring people that their safety is a priority. Making the upgrade Its all been about choosing the most suitable components and technology that already existed with a few tweaks Businesses and organisations have a duty of care to their employees and the safety of visitors  so controlling access, employing lateral flow testing, and deploying suitable Track & Trace mechanisms are all key components. I think those outside our industry are surprised to learn that most of the technology being deployed and used hasnt just magically developed since COVID appeared  its all been about choosing the most suitable components and technology that already existed albeit with a few development tweaks or adjustments for the situation at hand. This includes using or installing facial recognition readers rather than using fingerprint or contact tokens, it is swapping to automatic request to exit sensors instead of buttons; it is using powered secure doors rather than having people all grab the same handle. Using mobile credentials is also a key technology choice  why not use the highly secure, easy to manage, cost-effective, and of course contact-free benefits of this approach? Touchless solutions We have seen a clear shift in organisations looking to protect their staff and visitors. For instance, we have a big utility customer in Southeast Asia that has just replaced close to 200 sites using fingerprint readers with an additional facial recognition capability. We have also seen a big rise in demand for touchless request to exit sensors and Bluetooth Low Energy Readers for use with smartphone authentication. Working together Integration of security systems is of course nothing new, but in the post-pandemic or endemic age, it has perhaps never been more important. Installations need to be simple, straightforward, and rapid to help maintain safe distancing but also to ensure systems can be deployed as soon as they are needed. The world is changing and developing rapidly and there is simply no place for systems that dont work with others or cause the end-user considerable cost and inconvenience to upgrade. This flexible delivery of security solutions perfectly matches the evolving and increasing demands of the market. Its clear that end-users want systems that work well and can easily integrate with their existing systems  not only security but all the other business components which work in unison with each other over a shared network. Great opportunities ahead The recent work-from-home trend is also clearly changing the way organisations and businesses interact with the built environment. Lots of companies are downsizing, offices are being split up, there is lots of revitalisation and reuse of existing office space  all of which creates considerable opportunities for security providers. UK inflation more than doubled in April 2021 with unemployment figures dropping and the Pound rising in value There are also, in the UK at least, clear signs that the construction industry is rapidly growing again -with a forecast of 8% rebound and growth this year. UK inflation more than doubled in April 2021 with unemployment figures dropping and the Pound rising in value  all positive signs for UK-based security providers. Undoubtedly the highly successful UK vaccination rollout has helped considerably, but there are signs that the Eurozone looks set to improve considerably over the next few months as well. Using integrated access control Undoubtedly the pandemic has made security markets around the world more aware of the benefits of integrated access control in managing the needs of the new normal COVID endemic environment. For example, as a business, we have always had keen interest from the UK healthcare sector, but over the last 12 months, we have seen a big growth in previously modest international markets including Morocco, Kuwait, Bahrain, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand  all of which are very keen to adopt improved access control solutions. Learning the lessons Nobody would deny the last year or so has been unprecedentedly tough on everyone, as a society we have had to make huge changes and sacrifices. Governments, organisations, and businesses all need to be better prepared in the future, to understand the things that went wrong and those that were successful. However, there is a world beyond the immediate pandemic and its effects. Flexible working practices and the changes these will have to the way we live and work will undoubtedly present great opportunities for the security sector in helping the world evolve. The pandemic has been a wake-up call for many organisations with regards to their duty of care to employees  particularly when it comes to mental health and providing a sensible work/life balance. Where we work and the safety of these facilities has received far more scrutiny than before. Flexible security systems Integrated security solutions have a vital role to play in not only protecting the safety of people during the post-lockdown return to work but also in the evolution of the built environment and move towards smart cities - which inevitably will now need to consider greater flexibility in securing home working spaces rather than just traditional places of work. Importantly, powerful access control and integrated security systems need to be flexible to the uncertainties ahead. The COVID pandemic has shown that nothing can be considered certain, except the need for greater flexibility and resilience in the way we operate our professional and personal interactions.
Lincoln, NE (68508)

Today

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Cardinal hits more high?grade shallow gold at Ndongo East

Posted by Publisher Internet

.

Highlights?????????????????????

Today?s high?grade gold intersection from Ndongo East includes:

14m @ 7.0 g/t Au from 69m in NDDD046 (including 2m @ 42.2g/t from 80m)

Previous high?grade gold intersections from Ndongo East included:

9m @ 23.3 g/t Au from 60m in NDRC248

7m @ 4.4 g/t Au from 14m in NDRC216*

6m @ 12.6 g/t Au from 2m in NDRC275*

3m @ 29.3 g/t Au from 45m in NDDD036*

????? *Refer to press releases dated 16 July 2018 and 29 August 2018 on Ndongo East

Gold mineralisation demonstrated over a strike length of approximately 1.2km at Ndongo East;

Drilling has encountered multiple intercepts of near?surface mineralisation;

Drilling is ongoing and will continue to evaluate the strike and depth extension of the Ndongo East mineralised system;

Additional parallel mineralised structures striking NE?SW remain to be evaluated by drilling and provide high priority drill targets;

Cardinal Resources Limited (ASX/TSX: CDV) (?Cardinal? or ?the Company? http://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=298369) is pleased to announce that first drilling results following the recent wet season have commenced, intersecting further high?grade and shallow gold mineralisation at the new Ndongo East discovery. Importantly, the Ndongo Prospecting License is located only 24km north of the Company?s Namdini Gold Project for which Cardinal declared a Maiden Probable Ore Reserve of 4.76Moz on the 18 September 2018 (Figure 1).

On 16 July and 29 August 2018, Cardinal reported several intersections of high?grade gold at its new Ndongo East discovery within the Ndongo Prospecting License and has now intersected further high?grade gold in recently completed diamond drilling which has recently re?commenced following the wet season. It is planned to steadily ramp up exploration as ground conditions improve and drilling results are interpreted.

Cardinal?s Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director, Archie Koimtsidis commented:

?We are increasingly encouraged at how Ndongo East is evolving. This new discovery has the potential to add further high?grade gold ounces to our Maiden Probable Ore Reserve of 4.76Moz within the Namdini Gold Project located 24km to the south.

?The Ndongo East discovery is particularly encouraging with the initial 450m strike length of strong, shallow gold mineralisation still open along strike and at depth (Figures 2 and 3).

?Beyond this initial mineralised zone, a further 750m of gold mineralisation has been intersected along strike towards the south west, which appears to be extending the overall gold mineralisation of the Ndongo East discovery to approximately 1.2km (Figure 2).

?The Ndongo East prospect lies within a larger target area of approximately 7km in length that has yet to be drill tested. We have now recommenced drilling after the 2018 wet season with further results pending?.

Ndongo Prospecting License

The Ndongo Prospecting License covers an area of 295 km2 and is considered highly prospective for the discovery of economic gold mineralisation associated with the prolific Nangodi Shear Zone, a splay fault off the main regional?scale Bole?Bolgatanga Shear. Elsewhere, the Nangodi Shear Zone is spatially related to no fewer than four gold discoveries, including the Company?s Namdini Gold Project with a 4.76Moz Probable Reserve, the Shaanxi Gold Mine, the historic Nangodi Gold Mine and the 2.1 Moz Youga Gold Mine in Burkina Faso, adjacent to the Ghanaian border. In addition, there are numerous historic shallow artisanal workings along many parts of this shear zone ~15 to 25 km north of the Namdini Gold Project (Figure 1).

Ndongo East Prospect

The Ndongo East Prospect is located within NE?SW trending Birimian metavolcanics and metasediments. Gold mineralisation is developed mostly along diorite?granodiorite contact zones where competency contrasts create brittle fracturing allowing the ingress and precipitation of gold mineralising fluids (Figures 2 and 3). The mineralised horizons contain variable chlorite?silica?carbonate?sericite alteration with sulphides (mainly pyrite with very minor arsenopyrite).

Previously announced drilling intersected higher?grade mineralised structures concentrated in the northern portion of the shear zone, over a 450m strike length with coincident gold?in?soil and geophysical targets. Subsequent RC drilling along fence lines further to the southwest along strike and at depth to test for mineralisation has proven encouraging with further high?grade intercepts within the mineralised structures. This indicates that the mineralised system is open along a NE?SW strike and at depth with multiple mineralised intersections. The furthest drill fence to the southwest intersected 2m at 27.0 g/t Au from 10m downhole in NDRC247 which suggests a strike potential up to 1.2km of mineralised structures. (refer to Cardinal?s ASX/TSX Press Release 29 August 2018 ?Cardinal Extends Ndongo East Discovery Strike Length?).

Additional diamond drilling is continuing at Ndongo East to test the strike and depth extents of the mineralised system and to evaluate the structural components of the various lithological units.

Drill holes for this release are detailed in Schedule 1, Tables 1 and 2 below.

ABOUT CARDINAL

Cardinal Resources Limited (ASX/TSX: CDV) is a West African gold?focused exploration and development Company that holds interests in tenements within Ghana, West Africa.

The Company is focused on the development of the Namdini Project with a Maiden Ore Reserve of 4.76Moz and is now advancing the feasibility study.

Exploration programmes are also underway at the Company?s Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana) and Subranum (Southern Ghana) Projects.

Cardinal confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in its announcement of the Maiden Ore Reserve of 18 September 2018. All material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning this estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed.

The information in this press release is based on information prepared by Mr. Paul Abbott, a full-time employee of Cardinal Resources, who is a member of the Geological Society of South Africa. Mr. Abbott has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person, as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ?Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves?.

The information in this press release has been compiled and reviewed by Mr. Richard Bray, a Registered Professional Geologist with the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Mr. Ekow Taylor, a Chartered Professional Geologist with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr. Bray and Mr. Taylor have more than five years? experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which is being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person, as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ?Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves? and as a Qualified Person as defined by the NI43-101 instrument. Mr. Bray and Mr. Taylor are full-time employees of Cardinal and hold equity securities in the Company. Mr. Bray and Mr. Taylor have consented to the inclusion of the matters in this report based on the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Disclaimer

This ASX / TSX press release has been prepared by Cardinal Resources Limited (ABN: 56 147 325 620) (?Cardinal? or ?the Company?). Neither the ASX or the TSX, nor their regulation service providers accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

This press release contains summary information about Cardinal, its subsidiaries and their activities, which is current as at the date of this press release. The information in this press release is of a general nature and does not purport to be complete nor does it contain all the information, which a prospective investor may require in evaluating a possible investment in Cardinal.

By its very nature exploration for minerals is a high?risk business and is not suitable for certain investors. Cardinal?s securities are speculative. Potential investors should consult their stockbroker or financial advisor. There are a number of risks, both specific to Cardinal and of a general nature which may affect the future operating and financial performance of Cardinal and the value of an investment in Cardinal including but not limited to economic conditions, stock market fluctuations, gold price movements, regional infrastructure constraints, timing of approvals from relevant authorities, regulatory risks, operational risks and reliance on key personnel and foreign currency fluctuations.

Except for statutory liability which cannot be excluded and subject to applicable law, each of Cardinal?s officers, employees and advisors expressly disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the material contained in this press release and excludes all liability whatsoever (including in negligence) for any loss or damage which may be suffered by any person as a consequence of any information in this Announcement or any error or omission here from. Except as required by applicable law, the Company is under no obligation to update any person regarding any inaccuracy, omission or change in information in this press release or any other information made available to a person nor any obligation to furnish the person with any further information. Recipients of this press release should make their own independent assessment and determination as to the Company?s prospects, its business, assets and liabilities as well as the matters covered in this press release.

Forward?looking statements

Certain statements contained in this press release, including information as to the future financial or operating performance of Cardinal and its projects may also include statements which are ?forward?looking statements? that may include, amongst other things, statements regarding targets, anticipated timing of the feasibility study (FS) on the Namdini project, estimates and assumptions in respect of mineral resources and anticipated grades and recovery rates, production and prices, recovery costs and results, capital expenditures and are or may be based on assumptions and estimates related to future technical, economic, market, political, social and other conditions. These ?forward ? looking statements? are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Cardinal, are inherently subject to significant technical, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results reflected in such forward?looking statements.

Cardinal disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to any forward?looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, circumstances or results or otherwise after today?s date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than required by the Corporations Act and ASX and TSX Listing Rules. The words ?believe?, ?expect?, ?anticipate?, ?indicate?, ?contemplate?, ?target?, ?plan?, ?intends?, ?continue?, ?budget?, ?estimate?, ?may?, ?will?, ?schedule? and similar expressions identify forward?looking statements.

All forward?looking statements made in this press release are qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements. Investors are cautioned that forward?looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward?looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Thursday 17th January 2019, the Sint Maarten Police Force in cooperation with the St.Maarten Academy P.S.V.E section successfully concluded their Teens and Police service academy program (T.A.P.S). This eleven-week program, which was headed by Community police officer Josepha with assistance from various other officers within the department, commenced back in October 2018 with the goal to help bridge the gap between KPSM officers and at-risk youths on the island. It provided a better understanding of what it means to be a police officer through scenarios and specific topic areas associated with children and youth safety.

Among some of the topics discussed with the students were conflict resolution, what to do when stopped by police, drug use and sales, what happens when you are caught stealing, school fights, how to conduct yourself on social media and loitering. Each theory was followed up by a practical scenario. The students were given the opportunity to play the role of an officer at the scene of a crime while the officers took on the role of the suspect.

At the end of the program, each student got a chance to express their initial feeling about becoming an officer verse how they felt after completing the program. After doing the scenarios of role reversal the students now understand that being an officer is not as easy as it may appear to be and it takes a lot of discipline. The T.A.P.S program was deemed a success and will be followed up with Cops and Kids which is aimed towards the primary school level. The Cops and Kids program is sleighed to begin in February 2019 with the participation of five different primary schools on the Dutch side of the island.

The Sint Maarten Police force would like to thank the St.Maarten Academy P.S.V.E. students and teachers as well as all officers who took the time out to ensure the 2018-2019 T.A.P.S. program was a success.

KPSM Press Release.
Phoenix, Arizona: A licensed nurse has been arrested on a charge of sexually assaulting a woman in a vegetative state who gave birth last month at a long-term health care facility, Phoenix police said on Thursday.

Investigators arrested 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse, on suspicion of one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse.

Sutherland was one of the woman's caregivers at the Hacienda HealthCare facility. Authorities obtained a search warrant compelling him to give a DNA sample on Tuesday morning which was compared to DNA of the baby boy. A few hours later, he was in handcuffs.

Sutherland declined to speak with police, police spokesman Tommy Thompson said.
If there was any doubt that hiking was Gigi Wu's passion, a visit to her social media accounts would have put that to rest.

Her Facebook page was a veritable tour of Taiwan's tallest peaks and most scenic mountain ranges. Sometimes, Wu picked up trash along the trails. On other hikes, she admired the scenery and wildlife.

Tragic death: Gigi Wu, the 'bikini hiker'. Credit:Facebook

But Wu garnered a following  and the nickname "Bikini Hiker"  for posting celebratory photos of herself atop Taiwanese mountains wearing only two-piece bathing suits. She first did so after losing a bet several years ago, she told FTV News last year, but continued after realising the posts would draw more attention to the practice of hiking.

"I've hiked more than 100 peaks [in four years]," Wu told FTV News then. "And I probably have 97 bikinis, so I've accidentally repeated some a few times."
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Loading The rapid arrest suggests that Yang was on a list and authorities were prepared to strike should he set foot on Chinese soil. His wife, Yuan Rui Juan, was detained briefly but then permitted to go to Shanghai with her daughter. After leaving her child with family, it appears Yuan proceeded to Beijing, where her husband may be detained. According to sources, she has now returned to Shanghai and has not been permitted to speak to Yang. Yang's detention comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Western governments, with fears his case might be connected to the detention of two Canadian men by Chinese secret police. The arrest of the men was seemingly in retaliation for the Canadian arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the United States, over allegations of fraud linked to business dealing with Iran in violation of US sanctions. The arrest of Meng has infuriated Beijing.

Australia has joined allies in expressing concern about China's behaviour. If Yang's detention is connected to the Canadian tensions, it would be a serious escalation. Australian officials have been seeking information about Yang since he was reported missing. On Wednesday evening, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was not aware of Yangs status. "I am not aware of the situation about this Mr Yang and I cant tell you whether it will be a topic of discussion between the two sides," she said when asked at a regular press briefing if it was likely to be discussed when Pyne arrived in Beijing for talks on Thursday. The Australia-China consular agreement requires that either government be informed within three days if one of their citizens is detained. Diplomats are also entitled to communicate with and visit the person.

Loading Yang, an Australian citizen since 2002, has emerged as a popular fiction writer and vocal backer of democratisation and reform in China. He travelled to China despite warning from friends that it was too dangerous. He assured one, Sydney academic and prominent Chinese community figure Dr Feng Chongyi, that he would not be on the authorities' radar. Yang believed he had "done nothing to offend the authorities over the last two or three years," according to Feng. Feng, who was himself detained for several days by Chinese authorities in early 2017, said that he had spoken to Chinese contacts with connections to the Ministry of State Security who said Yang had been detained.

An active and popular user of social media, Yang has been conspicuously silent on his chosen platforms since departing for China. On January 17, the day before his flight, he published a post about political reform and plans to move to Europe in 2019. Last month he said he intended to set up an immigration agency in Barcelona. Yang's profile is high in China as a blogger, and in November 2016 he was interviewed by state-run nationalist newspaper the Global Times about a Chinese tour group he led to the United States to observe the general election. Earlier, in 2014, he was named as the chairman of the International New Media Co-operation Organisation, a Chinese soft power group, and the move drew criticism from overseas independent Chinese media. Concerns raised by Canada and other Western nations about the detention of the two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, have been rebuffed by Beijing. Following a sudden retrial this month, a third Canadian faces the death penalty for drug smuggling.
When new employees join Huawei, they are given books about the Chinese telecommunications company's achievements. One featured accomplishment is how the company has thrived in Europe.

A chapter in one of the books describes the hard work of Huawei employees to win over European telecom providers and sell them equipment that forms the backbone of mobile wireless networks. It says little about how the company has also subtly lobbied, promised jobs and made research investments to ingratiate itself with European governments over the last 15 years.

Huawei plans to unveil new handsets at MWC in Barcelona. Credit:Bloomberg

In Britain, for example, Huawei set up a special corporate board, led by John Browne, a former chief executive of the oil giant BP. It donated to schools, including Cambridge University; held parties for political leaders; and sponsored prominent charities such as the Prince's Trust, founded by Prince Charles. In Germany, Huawei opened facilities to conduct research on new innovations and sponsored events, including the recent convention of Germany's governing Christian Democratic Union party.

European governments have been welcoming. Last year, after Huawei announced a five-year commitment to spend 3 billion pounds, or about $5.5 billion, to expand in Britain, where the company employs 1500 workers, Prime Minister Theresa May met in Beijing with Sun Yafang, Huawei's chairwoman. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany posed for pictures at the company's booth at a trade show last year.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has justified his intervention to install Warren Mundine as the Liberal candidate for Gilmore, insisting the locals' choice Grant Schultz had to be stopped because "you can't bully your way into a seat".

In a fiery response, Mr Schultz emphatically rejected the claim and demanded Mr Morrison "provide evidence", sparking an ugly dispute just as the Prime Minister declared Mr Mundine's entry would be a "circuit breaker" on the messy events in the electorate.

Liberal candidate for Gilmore Warren Mundine with Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Nowra on Wednesday. Credit:AAP

The extraordinary spat will add fuel to a fire already raging in the ultra-marginal NSW seat, with furious party members threatening to resign over the intervention and refusing to campaign.

Meanwhile, new clues emerged confirming May 18 as the almost-certain election date, with the Liberal Party reserving space that evening at its favoured election-night hotel in Sydney.
News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch has denied his father Rupert ever said Malcolm Turnbull had "to go" as prime minister, in a bombshell claim that directly contradicts Mr Turnbull's public statements about the media mogul.

An essay in the new edition of The Monthly magazine reveals the junior Murdoch was also present at a meeting between Rupert Murdoch and Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes, during which the older Murdoch was said to have told his fellow media boss: "Malcolm's got to go."

Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan has denied his father told media mogul Kerry Stokes: "Malcolm's got to go."

That account  first aired in newspaper reports and the ABC, and confirmed by Mr Turnbull in an appearance on the ABC's Q&A  has underpinned Mr Turnbull's argument that forces in the media, particularly News Corp, conspired to oust him from the top job.

According to reports, when Mr Stokes suggested removing Mr Turnbull would result in Bill Shorten getting elected, Rupert Murdoch said a Labor government would "only be in for three years" and "won't be so bad".
Attrition among the ranks of Canberra's firefighters has more than doubled to hit its highest point since reporting began, as government promises to recruit new blood to replace the ageing workforce. Staff turnover has increased sharply in an ageing workforce. While 2.8 per cent of the workforce was aged over 60 in 2014, 7.4 per cent are in that age bracket now. Katie Burgess has the details and the analysis. Canberra house prices stall while units experience sharpest decline in 20 years The latest Domain House Price Report found Canberra's median house price held flat over the December quarter . Credit:Rob Homer

Canberra house prices have stagnated after six consecutive years of annual growth and unit prices have experienced the steepest decline in 20 years, according to Domain data. The latest Domain House Price Report found Canberra's median house price held flat over the December quarter at $738,933, but unit prices have fallen 6.1 per cent year-on-year to a median of $412,718. Despite a cooling market, Canberra was one of only three capital cities to not experience a decline in house prices over the year. Lucy Bladen has the full story. New Braddon plan will worsen the suburb's car parking problem, locals fear

Braddon resident Steve Watson, pictured above, said the area needs infrastructure upgrades to meet its growing population. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong Braddon retailers and residents have lambasted a new vision for the future of Canberra's best known "hipster hangout", fearing it could exacerbate the suburb's car parking problems. The City Renewal Authority's Braddon Place Plan, published on Wednesday, intends to make pedestrians the priority in the inner north suburb. It proposes district-wide bike lanes and wider footpaths as part of a "low vehicle-speed environment". Cassandra Morgan and Dan Jervis-Bardy report on the hipsters and their cars and bikes. Breen eyes Tokyo after blistering return

Melissa Breen returned to the track last weekend after a long lay off. Credit:AAP Australia's fastest woman is back with a vengeance following a blistering return to the track last week and now wants to strut her stuff at Canberra's biggest meet of the year. Melissa Breen ran her first 100 metres since the Commonwealth Games last April and it proved her fastest dash in more than 18 months with a time of 11.58 seconds. Breen, 28, admits she wasn't sure she'd return to the sport - let alone so strong - after battling nerve, hamstring and foot injuries over the past nine months. The two-time Olympian will start favourite in the 100m at the Canberra Track Classic at the AIS on Monday, alongside some of Australia's best track and fields athletes.
A lower price means less royalties. Many major WA iron ore mines have specific state agreements that outline royalty payments. Some agreements date back to the 1960s. Iron ore is one of WA's primary exports. Some state agreements also outline scenarios where the royalty isn't payable, such as on iron ore dug up to be used solely for testing purposes. So what has BHP allegedly been doing?

The government has disputed a deduction applied to shipments of iron ore dug up in WA, a deduction which has been applied since 2004. As a result of the deduction, the state government started negotiations more than two years ago to claw back some of the $200 million to $300 million it claims is owed. "Following a recent audit the state government identified an underpayment of royalties under various state agreements over a number of years," a WA government spokesperson said. "The state government is negotiating with BHP to resolve the matter in the best interests of the state." But BHP said the deduction had applied to its iron ore royalties for several decades, was clearly identified on its royalty returns and had been regularly audited and accepted by the states Department of Mines and Petroleum.

Premier Mark McGowan. Credit:AAP/Kelly Barnes "The mines department has recently queried a long-standing and historically accepted deduction of costs related to the sale of iron ore," a BHP spokesperson said. "The long-standing deduction has been consistently audited and accepted by the mines department. "It's concerning that previously audited and accepted payments to the government are now being revisited and BHP is now working with the mines department to resolve the matter." Why is this concerning for BHP?

BHP has been damaged reputationally since its run-in with the Australian Taxation Office late last year. The ATO attempted to fine the company $1 billion for "corporate tax avoidance" over its Singapore marketing hub. It claimed BHP was shifting profits through its overseas company and the allegations spanned an 11-year period between 2003 to 2013, totalling $661 million in primary tax. The company settled out of court and ended up paying $530 million to the ATO. The company is also still dealing with the fallout from a train derailment in the Pilbara outback in November last year.

Its also understood BHPs Japanese joint venture partners  businesses which facilitate BHPs work in Australia and abroad  were not aware of the negotiations with the state government. Any settlement reached with the state government could potentially come out of their pocket. Were we warned this could happen? Yes and no. Former Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls went to the 2017 state election with the proposal of an increase to mining payments.

Mr Grylls wanted to increase the 25 cent-per-tonne production rental fee on iron ore set for BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in the 1960s and increase it to $5 a tonne, which would have raised $7.2 billion over four years. Former Nationals leader Brendon Grylls. Credit:ABC/Andrew O'Connor Mr Grylls said at the time if iron ore prices were within the $US60-$US64 a tonne range predicted over the next four years then BHP and Rio would make profits of about $100 billion, based on a break-even price of about $US30 a tonne, and the companies could easily afford to pay about $7 billion to the WA government. The policy was notoriously unpopular within the mining sector, which spent approximately $2 million on a media campaign fighting the proposed increase. Mr Grylls was voted out of his Pilbara seat in the 2017 state election, and lost the Nationals WA leadership.

And as new Nationals WA Mia Davies told Radio 6PR on Monday morning, the tone has not changed in the two years since Mr Grylls was ousted. "This was one of the issues we were raising back in the election, only to have a majority of I think our opposition and the company saying 'nothing to see here'," she said. The Nationals have called for an inquiry into state agreements. Why does this matter to the people of WA? According to 6PR journalist Gareth Parker, the issue has a knock-on effect for both business and the state government.

"The premier and his people did not want to play this out through the media, they were surprised when I raised the matters with them," he said. News of the story broke on Gareth Parker's Morning Show program. Credit:Nathan Hondros "This has been very tightly held, but it is a massive deal, because the sums of money are enormous, especially for a premier that has made such a big deal about budget repair. "Its also such a big story because of the reputational damage for BHP, who are still recovering from Brendon Grylls mining tax proposal. "Youve seen them spend enormous amounts of money on advertising trying to convince the West Australian public that they are good corporate citizens and they are doing good in the world and good by the state.

"Now, the public will have every reason to view them as cynical rip-off merchants, who contrived a scheme to pay less tax than their fair share  much less tax, potentially $300 million less tax. "It is a disaster for them politically; its a disaster for them reputationally. And it will again stir up the anti-big mining company sentiment that they thought they were starting to head off." The issue has also renewed calls for an inquiry into the state agreement acts. Greens member for Mining and Pastoral Robin Chapple said his party would support an inquiry into how big corporations pay to operate in WA. "While large corporations short-changing the public is not an issue unique to WA, as a state heavily invested in the resources sector we have seen first-hand how underpaid royalties affect our services," he said.
One of two boys accused of throwing rocks at cars travelling along Kwinana Freeway earlier this month has been granted bail at Perth Children's Court.

Radio 6PR reported the teenager, 16, was released on Wednesday into the care of family, but he must adhere to a strict evening curfew which prohibits him from being in public unless accompanied by an adult.

Both teens accused of the rock throwing spree have been released on bail (file photo).

His lawyer indicated the boy, who had spent 20 days in custody, would plead not guilty in relation to the incident.

On Friday January 4, around 11.30pm, 14 cars on the Kwinana Freeway had rocks thrown at them while travelling north near Berrigan Drive.
A man has been rushed to hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning after he was shot in the hip while at a party in Perth's south.

Police were called to a home on Three Bears Loop in Secret Harbour at 2am on Wednesday after reports that a man had been shot.

St John Ambulance took the man to Royal Perth Hospital with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his hip.

It's understood several people who were all known to each other were at the address, including the 26-year-old victim.
"Under Victorian law, you cannot mount damages unless there are serious injuries. You have to apply to the Transport Accident Commission... you lodge an application and send medical reports and things like that. It's early days. We have to ascertain the full extent of her injuries," Me Carbone said. He said Ms Lettieri had also been suffering from neck pain, including hearing "cracking and clicking sounds", as well as shoulder pain, trouble sleeping, flashbacks and nightmares. Nella Lettieri's injured arm. Credit:Nine News "She has been playing it over in her mind. It's also had a massive impact on her three daughters." Earlier this month, Ms Lettieri said she first thought she had rammed another car when the four-metre by five-metre sign crushed her vehicle on the Tullamarine freeway, near Essendon Airport.

"I thought I hit the back of something ... but looking at it, I'm thinking, where's the car?" she told Nine. "It was like a roller door had come down right in front of me and just shut and I think I'd gone to swerve thinking, 'OK, it's fallen, let me just move to the side', but it actually fell on me and it just kept falling." Transurban's preliminary finding into the January 8 incident was that a steel component known as a "stiffener plate" was not installed in the gantry that held the sign. The plate is supposed to be placed where the vertical structural support connects to the horizontal gantry to make it more secure. An image from dashcam footage of Nella Lettieri's car being crushed by a falling sign. Credit:Nine News

Two other gantries also missing the steel plates were removed. One was on the West Gate Freeway inbound before the Bolte Bridge and the other was on CityLink outbound after Pascoe Vale Road. Mr Carbone said Ms Lettieri wanted to ensure no-one else had to endure the same experience. Loading "In their report, VicRoads said they found two other signs had steel plates missing... in their statement they talk about now checking the engineering, design and materials. Surely you think that would be done when the road was constructed?" he said. "It's a bit frightening when you have people looking after the road with the resources they have got second guessing themselves."

VicRoads acting chief executive Robyn Seymour said the company was offering Ms Lettieri support. Theres no doubt Ms Lettieri has been through a traumatic experience which is why I reached out and offered my support," she said. "I will continue to keep Ms Lettieri updated on the progress of the investigation and Ive told her she can contact me personally at any time. Transurban program director of Major Projects Victoria David Clements said the investigation into the incident remained ongoing. "We dont want to see anything like this happen and understand this has been difficult for Nella and her family. Thats why we are working around the clock to complete the investigation and ensure we get to the bottom of what occurred," he said.
A common IVF treatment marketed as a fertility booster and costing hundreds of dollars is useless and clinics should stop offering it, experts say.

The procedure known as 'endometrial scratching' does not offer women a better chance of taking home a baby after IVF, found the largest and most comprehensive trial of the treatment.

The popular IVF add-on did not increase the rate of live births in the randomised controlled trial of 1364 women in five countries (Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Sweden and Belgium) who were undergoing embryo transfers.

"On the basis of this study, which is the biggest and most robust to date, we would encourage IVF clinics to stop offering it," senior study author Cindy Farquhar, Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland, said.
Road accidents are on the rise and have come to a peak in recent times with fatal accidents causing multiple deaths being reported almost daily. On early Sunday morning six passengers were instantly killed in a road accident on the Colombo - Chilaw highway at Nainamadama when nine were travelling in a motor car at excessive speed crashed into a lorry from behind. Daily Mirror spoke to one of the top experts on road safety in Sri Lanka, Camillus R. Abeygoonewardena, the retired senior DIG, Traffic Administration and Road Safety.

Road deaths have reached horrendous proportions with one person reportedly killed every 3 hours and double or treble that number seriously wounded

Total killed was 3,164 on our roads last year, 1,211 being riders and pillion riders of motorcycles. Another 930 being pedestrians, 423 were passengers

EXCERPTS:

Q What are the main determinants you can attribute to the sharp increase of road accidents in Sri Lanka in recent times?

The volume, velocity and variety of motor vehicles keep mounting on our roads at a tremendous speed since the society is increasingly dependent on motor vehicles for personal and professional needs, pleasure and due to enormous commercial activity proliferating island-wide. Therefore, we need to evolve or resort to a solution between the necessity for mobility and the greater necessity for safety in mobility.

The inevitable result of this phenomenon is the increased variety of traffic mingling on our roads to reach their destinations with varying success. Perhaps some do and some dont, some others ending in emergency wards with deep scars, fractures and multiple injuries never to lead a normal life again. Road deaths have reached horrendous proportions in our country with one person reportedly killed every 3 hours and double or treble that number seriously wounded incapacitated for life. Total killed on our roads last year was 3,164, a greater majority of them 1,211 being riders and pillion riders of motorcycles. Another 930 being pedestrians, 423 were passengers of vehicles, 251 being Pedal cyclists, drivers 234 and other categories numbering 08 persons.

Traffic law enforcement needs to be given a much higher level of priority in police functions to reach desired objectives with adequate resources and manpower

Q What steps could Sri Lanka take to minimize road accidents?

There is a grave urgency for the state and all stake holders in the management of roads and traffic to address this challenge by implementing measures, systems inclusive of traffic regulations that have been adopted successfully in most motorized countries.

Road infrastructure and road rules must be modelled and modified on par with these countries though it costs billions and billions, as money spent for safer roads is a potential investment which could bring sweeping benefits in the longer term in economic and social spheres as road fatalities and congestions cost the country annually around 1.7 % of our GDP annually which the country can ill afford. So it is incumbent on the government and future governments to make road safety a State policy similar to policies adopted in some motorized countries.

The foremost proposal recommended to meet this volatile challenge is set up a Traffic and Transport Task Force initially to co-ordinate and co-relate all transport, traffic and highway related action plans and strategies and in the longer term to set-up a Traffic and Transport Authority under the purview preferably of the Hon: Prime Minister with relevant heads of ministries handling transport, highways, health, urban development and traffic safety to effectively evolve and implement a vigorous and a vibrant road safety action plan. This could be based on similar model of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore which came into existence in the nineteen eighties, which is functioning smoothly and effectively. By forming such an authority we would be able to remove the existing barriers or overlapping issues presently prevailing in the traffic & transport arena under different ministries.

By forming such an authority we would be able to remove barriers prevailing between rail, private and public transport services in the larger interest of the community and the country.

Perhaps to ease road congestion in the Western Province and thereafter extend to all other provinces is to introduce an efficient and a convenient public transport system overhauling the present system of private and government transport by introducing a completely novel public transport action plan perhaps under a build operate and transfer basis a Bus transport system perhaps with the intervention of a friendly country. Also getting the railway system modernized and streamlined within Colombo and the Greater Colombo region in a similar way also on a BOT basis. This of course is easier said than done with the political and trade union culture presently in vogue for their vested interests.

Camillus R. Abeygoonewardena, Retired Senior DIG, Traffic Administration and Road Safety

Q It is an established fact that many of our drivers - three wheeler drivers and motorcycle riders in particular - are extremely indisciplined and a large majority of deaths and injuries on roads involve them. Your comments?

When road indiscipline and road accidents are pervading the country, compounded by inadequacies in road infrastructure, a vibrant and a ruthless enforcement strategy undoubtedly is the need of the moment to enhance greater safety on our roads irrespective of who violates the law.

Traffic law enforcement needs to be given a much higher level of priority in Police functions to reach desired objectives with adequate resources and manpower, at least at first in the Western Province where the traffic congestion and road safety challenges are acutely felt and prevalent. It would be ideal if the Police Department could allocate the needed resources to implement a rigid and effective law enforcement strategy islandwide.

Three wheelers have contributed to numerous accidents and road deaths. Road rules and regulations have not been sufficiently or effectively enforced on this category and hence they have become intolerant in their road behaviour Road i nfrastructure and road rules must be modelled and modified on par with developed countries though it costs billions and billions, as money spent for safer roads is a potential investment which could bring sweeping benefits in the longer term in economic and social spheres.

Q I suggest to you that three wheelers on our roads are excessive and contribute to many road accidents. Do you agree?

Regulations on three wheeler drivers were proposed way back in 1996, including the dress code for drivers and a colour code for Three Wheelers to enhance their safety through greater visibility. Only the Taxi Meters and preventing entry and exit from offside has been introduced, most others had not been implemented.

One regulation that needs to be introduced and enforced rigidly is to prohibit picking passengers when three wheelers are on the move. Picking passengers should be confined to demarcated or designated three wheeler stands only - at least within Greater Colombo region and perhaps in other Municipal Council limits as well. These laws have been in force in the city of New Delhi way back in 1996. This is an urgent regulation that needs implementation to discipline Three Wheeler drivers and to enhance safety. Stopping of Three Wheelers which are on the move endanger other users and have caused numerous accidents and near accidents. Their happy go lucky ways of driving needs to be curbed with rigorous laws and enforcement strategies.

Orderliness of three wheeler parking should receive the focus of the local police, local authorities and the Motor Commissioners Department. Present haphazard parking at all locations and at intersections should cease forthwith as three wheeler drivers have become a law unto themselves.

Yes, three wheelers had contributed to numerous accidents and road deaths. Road rules and regulations had not been sufficiently or effectively enforced on this category and hence they have become intolerant in their road behaviour and their haphazard driving, uncaring, and boorish attitudes towards other users of the road which should receive the due focus of enforcement authorities.

Q Do you think the traffic law has to be further strengthened?

Present day static law enforcement strategies that are in vogue are totally ineffective and inappropriate to meet the challenges to counter the volatile accident scenario and indisciplined road behaviour prevailing in the country. Perhaps present law enforcement is more to cater to periodical police inspections conducted by senior officers which are not generally target oriented to meet the prevailing chaotic road behaviour.

Police should adopt law enforcement both by covert and overt law enforcement strategies combined with hightech enforcement techniques which are commonly adopted in all motorized countries very successfully. Deploying unmarked cars for traffic surveillance would also bring the desired results to curb errant driving. Displaying dummy replicas of traffic policeman and radio cars combined with physical police presence are other method to deter unsafe driver behaviour. A more vigorous campaign on drink driving island-wide is strongly recommended in a more systematized manner with adequate publicity through print & electronic media.

Videoing road scenes from vulnerable locations and screening motor offenders and deploying Police officers in civilian attire to observe traffic offences and booking the offending drivers at pre-determined locations subsequently needs to be adopted to bring the fear psychosis into play offending drivers. Some of these methods were adapted decades ago very successfully by the police to the extent that private buses went on strike for 3 days in the early 1990s to express their displeasure on police enforcement strategies. However, police stood their ground and the strike fizzled out with both the media & public supportive of police action.

Law enforcement strategies do not mean maximizing the detection of motor offences by issuing spot fines or taking offenders to court but by the enforcement methodologies adopted to create a perception to the road user of the likelihood of being apprehended and thereby ensure correct and safe road behavior. More vibrant law enforcement is the need of the hour to enhance safer roads.

The government must set up a Traffic and Transport Task Force initially to co-ordinate and co-relate all transport, traffic and highway related action plans

Q What are the areas that are needed for modernization or improvement to increase road safety?

In countries such as ours where road indiscipline is rampant to a very high degree, physical controls and restrictions adopting road engineering measures or features should receive a high degree of priority in the planning of road infrastructure. Such measurers will bring about a salutary effect on road behaviour.

Traffic signals at intersections in Colombo which are pre-timed should be done away at busy intersections and replaced with traffic signals operating on vehicle demand.

Traffic regulatory signage especially speed Limits indicating urban and non-urban limits which are located on roads which have 2 or more parallel lanes in the same direction should be exhibited on overhead panels or signboard posts on extended arms where motorists could see them clearly. Sufficient funds should be allocated to the RDA for this purpose. Levying a percentage of the fuel price being allocated to road maintenance is indeed a move in the right direction. Road surfaces and road infrastructure needs up-keeping and upgrading to meet desired road safety standards on our roads to enhance safety to desired levels.

Haphazard parking of motor vehicles both by day and night should be regulated and enforced more rigidly. During peak hours parking should be regulated based on peak demands. Using of main roads for parking of heavy vehicles such as buses lorries, containers and trailers should be totally prohibited both by day and night. Police should be empowered to engage companies to remove them to designated vehicle compounds and vehicle owners ordered to pay the towing charges which would serve as a deterrent to abate such offences.

Introducing rigid laws in most motorized countries such as Driver Improvement Point System (DIPS) will bring about a deterrent effect on bad road behaviour.

Q Aggressive driving mainly by young motorists has contributed to many a road accident. Your comments?

Perhaps in the prevailing road scenario with high intensities in traffic drivers in general are moving towards aggressive mode of driving with the stresses and strains encountered by them on roads.

This is a new challenge in policing activity where the law enforcers should give serious attention through hightech surveillance of traffic movement or deploying unmarked police cars.

This volatile road behaviour should receive the due attention of the law enforcement authorities if not indications are it is heading towards a huge chaotic road behaviour of an enormous magnitude.

Similarly seeking priority on roads by vehicles escorting politicians and others by displaying in-appropriate or unauthorized coloured light fittings to demand priority in traffic should be banned or totally disallowed by the authorities. Police should give sufficient publicity through print and electronic media to deter their usage. Enforcement action should also be taken to have them removed through joint inspections carried out by the police with examiners of motor vehicles.

Q Many countries use the Driver Improvement Point System (DIPS) to improve discipline among motorists and thereby minimize road accidents. Can Sri Lanka adopt a DIPS successfully to achieve similar results?

Introducing rigid laws enforced in most motorized countries such as Driver Improvement Point System (DIPS) will bring about a deterrent effect on road behavior. Habitual motor offenders are likely to get their driving licenses suspended or revoked based on the infringements committed in a given period. This law has had a salutary effect in other motorized countries, although proposed by the Police in late 1990s, these laws lie in cold storage at the expense of several valuable lives perhaps due to technicalities involved in the implementation process. .

All drivers who are involved in serious fatal accidents with clear evidence of reckless and gross negligent driving, their driving licenses should be suspended until the determination of cases filed against them. Lets hope the government and successive governments and all authorities will implement a policy to give the right impetus to secure safety and smooth movement of traffic on nations roads so that we could see miles & miles of smiles on our highways in the years to come.
South-east Queenslands mayors want to see 47 road and rail projects across the region completed to prevent total gridlock by 2041 at a total cost of $63 billion.

The plan was announced on Thursday morning with the release of a SEQ People Mass Movement Study, investigating the impact population growth was likely to have on transport issues.

A plan to push for federal and state commitment to major road and transport projects is under way in south-east Queensland. Credit:Michelle Smith

The Council of Mayors (SEQ) commissioned the study as part of exploration into a potential Olympic Games bid, but emphasised the importance of the transport plan regardless of whether that bid was successful.

The estimated cost to deliver all 47 projects from 2019 to 2041 is about $2.7 billion a year, which the Council of Mayors argued was feasible.
Months of controversy have worn down The Battered Wife, with the north Queensland fish and chip shop closing after what its owner described as "an abusive witch hunt" from domestic violence groups.

Owner Carolyn Kerr made the announcement on the business's Facebook page, saying after fighting off several investigations, she did not have the strength or money to pay for a Fair Work Commission audit sparked by another anonymous complaint.

In late October and early November last year, the shop came under intense scrutiny after a campaign against the Innisfail business erupted on social media.

Ms Kerr blamed several not-for-profit organisations for the shop's closure but The Red Heart Campaign, an anti-domestic violence group at the centre of last year's controversy, said it had "nothing to do" with it.
A woman who was shot in the head on a property near Deniliquin in the state's south on the weekend has died in hospital, prompting police to charge her husband with manslaughter.

The 31-year-old woman was on a property in Pretty Pine with five other people when she sustained a gunshot wound to her head  in what police are treating as a possible accident  just after midnight on Saturday.

The woman was taken to Deniliquin Hospital before being airlifted in a critical condition to Royal Melbourne Hospital.

No one else was injured.

Her husband, 32, was arrested by police and taken to Deniliquin Police Station.
Pope's death honoured

When the Libia, first Italian warship to visit Australia since 1904, arrived in Sydney those aboard had no knowledge of the Popes death. Captain Burzagli had only then received official advice from the Italian government to fly the Libias flags at half-mast. The flags on all H.M.A. ships were also flown at half-mast out of respect for the Pope. A solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass was held at St Marys Cathedral at 10am on February 1.

MP appalled by working conditions

How can the Government hope to get the right type of men when they offer them the living conditions provided at Molonglo  the old German concentration camp? said MP, Mr Bowden, after returning from a trip to Canberra where workmen had built 37 cottages for administrative staff. He said on a wet day rain pours through the perished roofs and the power-house is working but they cant use the electricity  they burn American kerosene.

Fundraiser for Wentworths house
After a large two-day search, the body of a missing man has been found in a river near Wagga Wagga.

Police were called to Oura Beach on the Murrumbidgee River, 20 kilometres east of Wagga Wagga, about 1pm on Monday after a 20-year-old Junee man disappeared underwater and failed to resurface.

A search involving the police helicopter, SES volunteers and police divers was launched and went well into Monday night, before resuming on Tuesday morning.

Just after 7pm on Tuesday, the man's body was found three kilometres downstream of where he disappeared.

Riverina Police District Inspector Adrian Telfer said people needed to take care in all bodies of water.
A man found dead in a vacant lot in Sydney's south-west was the victim of a "cowardly" attack, police say.

The body of Jamie Phillips, 46, was found dumped on a vacant piece of land at Rosemeadow in October.

Jamie Phillips, 46, pictured with his daughter, was found dead in Sydney's south west. Credit:NSW Police

"Jamie suffered multiple serious injuries and we believe that more than one offender was involved," Detective Inspector Greg Inger said.

Police are calling for the public's assistance after releasing images from CCTV of Mr Phillips which shows him in the hours prior to his murder.
Levi's has launched its sixth Pride capsule collection, partnering with OutRight Action International, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of the LGBTQ community around the world.

This year the group will receive 100 per cent of the net profits from the collection, which features the Pride flag worked into bandannas, tees, denim jackets and bum bags.

Levi's striped tee, $49.95

The denim company, which has a "good" rating from the app Good On You, which helps consumers decipher how a business rates when it comes to sustainability and ethical production, has a 30 plus year ally-ship with the LGBTQ community.

It was the first Fortune 500 company to offer same sex partner benefits to its employees in 1992 and has a visible presence at Pride events around the world.
Some of the most outspoken critics of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan have been selected for one of two independent probes into the recent fish kills, a move likely to ensure long-standing issues get a public airing, one of the scientists involved says.

The Australian Academy of Science - which took up a request by federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to conduct a rapid-fire probe of the river system's health - has released some of the names of the expert panel it has assembled.

Graeme McCrabb, a Menindee resident, eyes some of the thousands of dead fish in the Darling River near the town. Credit:Nick Moir

The list includes Quentin Grafton, a director at the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and

Policy, Australian National University, and John Williams, from ANU's Crawford School of Public Policy.

The two researchers have published extensively on the problems of the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan from its inception, including the reduction of environmental water savings well below the scientific estimates of that which was needed.
Nearly 69,400 recent year 12 graduates have received HSC certificates bearing the wrong date in a massive bungle by the issuing authority, which is now reprinting all the certificates.

The certificates, which most students got in the mail this week, say they were "issued by NESA [the NSW Education Standards Authority] without alteration or erasure on 14th December 2017 at Sydney, NSW, Australia".

More than 69,000 year 12 graduates have received HSC certificates with the wrong date.

NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes said he was "furious" about the error and that NESA would not receive any additional funding to reprint and mail out new certificates.

"As Education Minister, I am furious that the independent authority charged with running the HSC failed to give NSW students the respect their hard work and dedication deserves by getting something as simple as the date right on their certificate," Mr Stokes said.
The slogans plastered along the main promenade at Davos don't help. Indonesia is apparently working hard on "unity in diversity 4.0". Infosys will help you to "navigate your next". And Salesforce channels a Japanese poet in declaring: "Individually we are one drop. Together we are the ocean."

Lots of talk, but how much is achieved? Credit:AP

I mean, what does "unity in diversity" actually mean? And have there really been three earlier iterations of this meaningless paradox? Sounds like gobbledegook 4.0 to me.

Then there are some of the wackier panels taking place around the World Economic Forum. Today Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's spokesman for 11 days, will interview Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel, on the subject of "exporting cannabis innovation". Davos is incredibly easy to lampoon and criticise, which is why so many people do.

This year is no different - in fact, it may be even worse than usual. The chorus of voices bemoaning Davos as nothing more than a talking shop, where a lot of hot air is generated but not much is achieved, is building to a crescendo. Indeed, many point out that far from being the world's saviours, the global elite gathered in the Swiss mountain resort are a big part of the problem.
Its the time limit encompassing the prime period of the National Unity Government between the United National Party (UNP) and the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). After he fell out with the UNP leadership and his UPFA closed ranks with the government, President Sirisena vowed to appoint such a commission to probe corruption and frauds perpetrated during the period

It was half in jest that some of the Ministers, including the likes of Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, thanked President Maithripala Sirisena for the appointment of a Presidential Commission to probe allegations of fraud and corruption during the period between January 15, 2015 and December 31, 2018.

Its the time limit encompassing the prime period of the National Unity Government between the United National Party (UNP) and the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). After he fell out with the UNP leadership and his UPFA closed ranks with the government, President Sirisena vowed to appoint such a commission to probe corruption and frauds perpetrated during the period. The Presidents move is clear- to fix the UNP ahead of the Presidential Election to be declared around mid-October and conclude before December 9, this year.

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), along with its alliance partners, has not yet decided on the common candidate. But Gotabaya Rajapaksa has indicated his intention to be the candidate, not once but twice. Once he implied his intention twice to the press, a premature enthusiasm has been generated in respect of the presidential elections

The appointment of the presidential commission ruffled the UNPs feathers since it feared that findings would dent its reputation ahead of a national election. The President has, in fact, asked for the final report to be submitted by the Commission by June, this year. Therefore, it was only in jest that the UNP Ministers thanked the President regarding this at Tuesdays Cabinet meeting.

That they thanked the President in jest, however, became obvious when Minister of Highways and Road Development Kabir Hashim asked the President at the same meeting to take prompt action against wrong doings of the previous government that ruled the country before January, 2015. The President referred to the Presidential Commission to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC), and said he had done his part in this respect.

I appointed a commission. Its mission is now accomplished. It is for the Attorney General to proceed with litigation, the President said.

The UNP is annoyed that it is being singled out by the President

The UNP indirectly asked the President as to why it was only targeted for corruption and fraud with no action being taken against the former rulers. Politically, the President has now teamed up with the former rulers.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also added to the discussion. He said the Cabinet was collectively bound to all the decisions taken during the period concerned. As such, he said the entire Cabinet would be collectively bound if there were any decisions leading to corruption and fraud at that time.

During the period, the Presidents UPFA was party to the government. Alongside, the President also chaired the Cabinet meetings. As such, the Prime Minister, in his remarks, implied that the President would also be held responsible, or to account for any wrongdoing by that Government.

All in all, the appointment of the latest Presidential Commission increased acrimony between the President and the UNP, as both sides brace for the presidential election to be conducted later this year. The President is also a prospective candidate. Already, he has done enough political damage to the UNP by exposing the Central Banks bond fraud through a similar Commission. Another exposure, if there is any, will make a lethal political blow to the party ahead of vital elections. So, the UNPs antagonism is understandable at this hour.

Likewise, the Presidents action can be counter productive for him in a way since it is possible that the UNP would try to implicate him or his close aides in some questionable transactions done during the period concerned. Accordingly, it is all set to trigger another diatribe between the President and the UNP in the months to come. One can expect it when the commission proceeds with its deliberations.

The UNP has not yet decided on its presidential candidate. But, there are aspirants like Housing and Construction Minister Sajith Premadasa. In the meantime, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is also promoted as a possible candidate by some sections of the party.

Gotabaya increases political engagement

Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who indicated his desire to contest the presidency at the next election, stepped up his political engagements this week. As part of his political interaction, he held a meeting with the UPFA MPs representing the Gampaha District on Monday regarding his Eliya programme to be conducted in their constituencies. Eliya is the programme serving as the launching pad of Gotabaya Rajapaksa to enter politics. In his address to the Gampaha district legislators of the UPFA, Rajapaksa said though he did not engage politics in the past, he was very knowledgeable of politics as someone hailing from a long standing political family.

While interacting with the MPs, he discussed the constitutional proposals included in the report presented to Parliament recently. Rajapaksa said the report should be rejected forthwith.

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), along with its alliance partners, has not yet decided on the common candidate. But Gotabaya Rajapaksa has indicated his intention to be the candidate, not once but twice. Once he implied his intention twice to the press, a premature enthusiasm has been generated in respect of the presidential elections. There are nine more months to go for it. In politics, this is a long period. Vagaries of politics are so much so that anything can happen during such a long period.

The UNP indirectly asked the President as to why it was only targeted for corruption and frauds with no action being taken against the former rulers. Politically, the President has now teamed up with the former rulers

Sri Lankan watchers in the international arena have upped the ante as of now. So, Gotabayas moves are now under the radars of the countries interested in Sri Lankas political developments.

He has to renounce his US citizenship first to be eligible to contest for presidency here. In this instance, Section 349(a) (5) of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1481(a) (5)) is the section of law governing the right of a United States citizen to renounce abroad his or her U.S. citizenship. That section of law provides for the loss of nationality voluntarily and with the intention of relinquishing nationality:

Making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State, it says.

Be that as it may, within the SLPP- led political camp, there are those who are averse to Gotabaya Rajapaksa being given nomination. Kalutara district MP Kumara Welgama is openly against it. Besides, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara advocacy candidacy for MP Chamal Rajapaksa.

In Parliament, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chamal Rajapaksa are seated next to each other. Seated in front of them in the government sides, are Chief Government Whip Gayantha Karunatilake and Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella. On Tuesday, the four of them were making fun remarks aimed at each other. At one point, the Opposition Leader signaled to Kiriella that he wanted to go out of the Chamber. Then, Kiriella pointed his finger at Chamal Rajapaksa and said, You going leaving the common candidate with us.

The four of them had a good laugh over this remark.

Mahanayake Theras praise Gayantha

Recently, Land Minister Gayantha Karunatilake received laurels from the Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters for his programme of distribution of title deeds. The Mahanayake Theras praised him when he called on them recently.

Under this programme, Karunatilake offers title deeds to Buddhist Vihares throughout the country.
WAs ability to power the world will be bolstered over the coming years as several vanadium projects whir to life and thousands of jobs are created on the back of booming prices.

Vanadium is shaping up to be critical component in future energy storage but currently 90 per cent of the metal dug up is used to strengthen steel bars for construction.

Australian Vanadium managing director Vincent Algar.

The price for vanadium pentoxide exploded in China in 2018 to nearly US$35 a pound on the back of new Chinese construction regulations aimed at stamping out inferior steel.

It has since stabilised at US$16.10 a pound, well above the decade average.
Embattled wealth giants AMP and IOOF could face more than $2 billion in combined costs from cleaning up problems in their financial advice business, analysts have estimated, in a sign of the potential for large compensation payouts in the coming years.

As the financial services industry awaits the Hayne royal commision's report, to be delivered to government next week, shares in IOOF dropped 8 per cent to $5.25 AMP fell 1 per cent to $2.60, after Macquarie analysts told investors "You ain't see nothing yet" on compensation payouts relating to wealth management.

AMP could face further $1.5 billion in remediation costs, Macquarie analysts estimated. Credit:Jessica Hromas

The warning came as shares in another financial stock, annuities provider Challenger, plunged 17 per cent to $7.65 after it slashed its earnings guidance, warning profits had been hit by market volatility in the half.

Financial services stocks were pounded last year because of the royal commission, which is expected to trigger higher fines for misconduct, more stringent regulation, and a wave of remediation costs.
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As deer-vehicle collisions and other accidents caused by the growing population continue to rise on Staten Island, its time to take more direct action to cut the boroughs booming herd before someone is seriously injured or killed.

Thats why we were please to see that Borough President James Oddo is looking at new ways to bring down the deer population.

Oddo told the Advance he is working on bringing state and federal officials back to the table to discuss the possibility of bringing a cull  or a controlled hunt  to the Island to better manage the deer population.

We know that there is much opposition to this lethal approach, but its done in many other parts of the state and the nation and could be done here, if properly executed.

Food can be used as bait and sections of wooded areas where deer congregate can be roped off and sharp shooters sent in.

If the use of firearms remains out the question, trained bow hunters could be used.

Oddo has tried to get this option considered in the past, and if he had been successful, maybe our deer population would not be as invasive and dangerous as it is today.

In 2015, Oddo brought federal and state officials to Borough Hall to discuss a cull on the Island. However, the city expressed concern, and decided to move forward with the vasectomy program instead.

Even if I get the state and the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] to come to the table, the question is if the city is willing to be a partner in this, does that stop all of this again? Dead, cold in its tracks? Oddo said.

Maybe the winds have shifted.

We were recently somewhat surprised to hear that Mayor Bill de Blasio would not flatly dismiss the idea.

During a recent visit to Borough Hall, the mayor was asked whether he would be open to a cull once the vasectomy program wraps up. De Blasio said he wouldnt rule it out.

I dont rule out anything when it comes to new approaches, de Blasio said. If we dont see the progress we need, initial progress is promising, but I will remind you, it was not just a question of the city, there was also a lot of resistance at the state level. I think it is a complex issue, there are real complex environmental issues and other issues here, bottom line -- the current [vasectomy] approach will work, but well never take off the table other options if it doesnt work.

Given the amount of time its going to take the vasectomy program to reduce the population, why wait?

Lets get the players to the table, as Oddo suggests, and consider a strategy for a deer cull now.

And Oddo is also thinking out the box when it comes to preventing collisions.

Hes considering the use of a deer avoidance technology on Island roads that Essex County, N.J., has been experimenting with along certain roadways for the past two years.

With the system, the county has installed detection devices that are triggered by headlights and emit a high-pitched noise to scare deer away from the road when cars approach.

Oddo said he is currently in talks with the town and the device manufacturer to learn about their experience using the technology and to try to bring it to the Island.

Maybe we could use it on our highways, I dont know if its worth pursuing, but at this point, we cant leave any stone unturned, Oddo told the Advance.

Sometime in the next couple of months, Oddo said he plans to pay a visit New Jersey to learn more about the device.

In 2018, the New York City Police Department recorded 103 deer-vehicle collisions on the Island -- a 5 percent increase from the previous 98 collisions last year, and a 232 percent increase from 31 collisions in 2015. Some of those accidents involved deer strikes and some were caused by cars avoiding a deer.

Again, given the number of collisions and the obvious danger the deer continue to pose on Island roads in all parts of the borough, were encouraged to see that our borough president is seriously pushing for other options.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The NYPD Missing Persons Squad reached out to the public via social media for tips to locate a missing 69-year-old Staten Island woman.

The woman, Johynita Jordan, 69, of Clifton, frequents the Staten Island Railway, according to a post on the NYPD Missing Persons Twitter feed.

Police described Jordan as standing about 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing about 155 pounds and having brown eyes and black hair.

She was seen wearing a black three-quarters-length coat and black sneakers, according to the post.

Jordan was last seen at her Park Hill Avenue apartment on Friday at about 10 p.m., according to a previous statement from the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The search for a missing Staten Island boy continues.

Patrick Alford was last seen in Brooklyn nine years ago Tuesday while doing chores with his foster mother.

Police released a sketch on Jan. 15 that shows what Alford might look like in 2019. Patrick would now be 16, and has a scar on the top of his left eyebrow.

At the time of his disappearance, Alford was living in an apartment complex in East New York with a foster family, after he and his two sisters were taken away from the Staten Island home of their mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, who was arrested on theft charges.

She could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Interviewed by the Advance in 2017, Rodriguez said: I cant sleep at night. He was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Librada Moran -- Patricks foster mother -- was the last person to see Patrick, when he took out the trash at 9 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 22, 2010.

Moran told police he disappeared when she turned to answer her cell phone.

One week after Patricks disappearance, a Family Court judge jailed Rodriguez, believing she was involved in the case. Rodriguez was released several days later, after the city Administration for Childrens Services determined she didnt have any connection with the disappearance.

In December, the city agreed to use a $6 million settlement to benefit Patrick if he ever comes home. It can also be used to aid in the search for him.

We got involved with the case to seek justice for the child, said Jonathan J. Lerner, a pro bono attorney with the Manhattan-based law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher at Flon, which is the firm that was appointed Alfords guardians in December 2011 by the court.

The settlement was won in August in the Federal Eastern District Court of New York after a lengthy court battle that involved a lawsuit on behalf of the boy with the city and social service agencies involved in the case, according to court documents.

The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or person responsible for the disappearance of the child.

This reward is in addition to the $2,000 offered by Crime Stoppers, bringing the total to $12,000. Anyone with information in regard to this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESSTOPPER.COM or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577.
President Maithripala Sirisena today left for Singapore on a two-day state visit, President media division said.

He is expected to deliver the Keynote address at the Third Forum of Ministers and Environment Authorities of Asia Pacific during his visit.

This conference will be held on January 25 at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore and high-profile representatives, representing 40 countries including ministers of environment will attend this event.

President Maithripala Sirisena, during his two-day official visit is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with the President and Prime Minister of Singapore.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- ArchCare, the health care system of the New York Archdiocese, has begun accepting resident applications for the new community residence in Castleton Corners for adults with autism.

The unused convent at St. Teresas R.C. Church began a multi-million dollar renovation in 2017 to transform the space into nine private apartments that will allow high-functioning residents to live away from their families and in the community.

The project is in response to the critical shortage of housing for individuals aged 21 and older who age out of support programs and services they have relied on for their whole lives.

Cardinal Dolan heard the frustrations of parents who just want to know that their children will have a safe place to live as they themselves age, and he challenged ArchCare to find creative ways to help," said ArchCare President and CEO Scott LaRue.

When we told him of the opportunity to bring new purpose to an unused church property, he gave his immediate blessing to make it happen, he said.

The residence will consist of nine fully furnished apartments with individuals baths and kitchenettes and communal spaces for dining and recreation.

This is the first residence of its kind and the Archdiocese hopes the model will be replicated.

Monsignor William Belford said: The church is always looking for creative ways to address unmet needs and help those among us whose needs are too often overlooked. I cant think of any better way to do that than turning one empty building into nine happy homes.

Applicants will be screened according to guidelines created by autism advocates, parents and experts. Family members of residents must agree to a family advisory council to address any issues that may arise.

Staten Islanders will have first priority during the application process.

Final construction is expected to be complete in July and residents can begin moving in as soon as September.

For additionally information or to apply for community-based, family-governed housing for young adults with autism and ArchCare at St. Teresa go to archcare.org/community-resources/autism-housing.
CITY HALL -- Assemblyman Charles Fall (D-Staten Island) wants to make it harder for children to wind up under the same roof as a sex offender with legislation that would crack down on the courts.

Falls legislation follows a story by the Advance detailing how, amid a custody battle, an Island minor was able to live with a sex offender who was the childs the childs grandfather.

Several months after living under the same roof together, that relative showed a picture of his genitals to his granddaughter and was arrested and charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17, a misdemeanor offense.

But because the grandfather was off supervision, he was technically able to live wherever he pleased because once a sex offender, of any level, is no longer under any form of supervision, parole or probation, the Sex Offender Registry Act (SORA) does not say where they can or cannot live.

The assemblymans legislation would direct courts to not grant custody to parties involved in custody disputes unless it can prove there is no significant risk to the child and states its reasoning in writing in court records.

Currently, courts decide on what is the best interest of a child which is the standard when it comes to most judgments involving children.

Over the years, the mother of the minor had made it clear to the Islands Family Court that her daughter was not to be left alone with her paternal grandparents, and the court acknowledged he was registered sex offender, according to court documents obtained by the Advance.

My hope is that it increases the safety of a child, Fall said. We dont want a child to be put in a position where they are at risk or at harm, and prevention is really the key here.

The legislation also details when a child should be considered at significant risk as a way to prevent repeat offenses, allowing courts to place more discretion and take into consideration what the child wants if the child is of a sufficient age and capacity to reason.

The bill would also force courts, law enforcement, child protective service, medical facilities and the sex offender registry staff work together to prevent sex offenders off supervision from going on to commit additional acts against their victims.

What this bill is doing is actually bringing those agencies together, its requiring them to come together to prevent something like this from happening again because this is something that just slipped through the cracks and it shouldnt have happened," Fall said. "As somebody that has two kids, how could you put a child in a dangerous situation like that, its just unacceptable, and we have to protect our kids.

Government has to act sooner than later, and Im hoping that we can move quickly on this," he continued.

Fall said that since the announcement of his bill last, he has heard from a number of child sexual abuse survivors who lived through similar situations that went unnoticed. He said several of his colleagues have also offered to co-sponsor the bill.

In New York City, the police departments Sex Offender Monitoring Unit (SOMU) monitors every sex offender who moves to the city.

SOMUs head, Lt. Craig Nilsen, previously told the Advance that if a child is in the same home as a sex offender, SOMU can only warn the homes co-habitants that the person moving in is a registered offender.

Even when a child is in a home with a sex offender, Nilsen said SOMU will only check on that home if there is an allegation that the sex offender did something improper to that minor.

However, without a local law restricting where a sex offender can live once they are off supervision, there are no residency restrictions under SORA.

Asked at a recent press conference in Coney Island about whether New York City needs a law stipulating that children cannot live with sex offenders once they are off supervision, Mayor Bill de Blasio held back from weighing in.

Im concerned about the issue because we want to keep people safe, but I dont know the specifics of the law, so I need to talk to the NYPD before giving you an informed answer, de Blasio said.

The citys Administration for Childrens Services has since launched an investigation into the case, but has declined to answer questions about whether the agency plays a role in monitoring when minors live with sex offenders and whether they step in when it is requested that minors are not to be left alone with a sex offender who lives under the same roof.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If youve always found game shows to be irresistible and secretly wanted to be part of all the excitement, you wont want to miss Hollywoods Greatest Game Shows, hosted by nine-time Emmy Award winner Bob Eubanks, Sunday evening at the magnificent St. George Theatre.

From the stage of the former movie palace, nine vintage game shows, including The Newlywed Game, Card Sharks, Name That Tune, Dealers Choice, Minute to Win It, Dance Fever,  and others  will unfold before your eyes.

And while the entire audience will relive game show history, 42 contestants will be given a chance to win prizes on stage  including the grand prize of $1,000,000 -- to be presented toward the end of the evening.

Anyone who comes to our shows doesnt know what to expect, said Eubanks during a recent interview, But, they leave so happy and have so much fun. And I have so much fun, too. Its really an incredible evening.

A LITTLE ABOUT EUBANKS

Interestingly, Eubanks, who comes to Staten Island with a big history, has made a name for himself, not only as a game show guru, but also as business manager for greats like Barbara Mandrel and, yes, The Beatles.

I produced three tours in America for The Beatles, noted the longtime show biz Renaissance man.

He kicked off his career in show business as a disc jockey before becoming a game show host, perhaps best known as the moderator of The Newlywed Game, which has run, on and off, since 1966.

He also hosted the successful revamped version of Card Sharks from 1986 to 1989, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the year 2000 for his work in television.

The star is in front of Graumans Egyptian Theatre, where he worked during the first years of his broadcasting career.

In 2005, Eubanks received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Hes also penned two books.

During the early days, there were restrictions,'' Eubanks recalled. "You could learn a lot about people watching the show and about society. It was a comedy show that happened to have a game.

In reflecting on the myriad shows hes had the pleasure of hosting, he said he enjoyed Card Sharks a whole lot, because it was a show in which he could play along with the contestants.

The Newlywed Game was his favorite, hands down, he said, joking: It was my accountants as well.

Other live games shows had lower numbers of contestants and lacked prizes, he said, noting that they werent as much fun.

Ive had a wonderful career, he said with a chuckle. I even did the Rose Parade in California for 38 years. Ive produced TV and produced concerts and Im still having fun. And thats the beauty of this business. You can still go out there and make people laugh. And I love that.

SUNDAYS SHOW

FYI: Everyone who comes up on the stage wins a prize. Contestants are picked randomly from tickets theyll be given, and everyone has an equal chance to be a contestant.

Those who play The Newlywed Game, dont have to be newlyweds, but they have to be married.

As for Name That Tune, Eubanks said, "Im looking for three music lovers, and, of course, it depends on the part of the country youre from. We play Card Sharks, a game everyone can play. Its really a lot of fun. We put a lot of effort into this. And they always want us back.

Audience members will notice the stage is equipped with several assistants.

Theres an announcer and two lovely ladies on stage with me, one from Florida and one from Chicago,'' he said. "Its just like an actual TV stage. And I also do a game called Shake Your Booty.'

Its a fun show and we want somebody to win the $1,000,000. We buy insurance for it. And were rooting for them.

In further describing the format, Eubanks recounted playing about 12 shows per year all over the country, including shows in Syracuse, Biloxi and Las Vegas.

EUBANKS' BACKGROUND

His parents were Hillbillies from Missouri, Ebanks recalled. And when The Great Depression hit, they relocated to Michigan, so his dad could work in the automobile factories. But Eubanks later settled in California, and the proof is in his slight West Coast accent.

Fast forward five decades and Eubanks' older son, a retired firefighter from Las Angeles county, who now doubles as his traveling companion, handles all the audio/visuals. His other son is a top stunt driver in the motion picture industry.

TICKETS

Tickets are priced at $75, $55 and $45, and may be obtained by phoning the St. George Theatre at 718-442-2900, or by visiting Ticketmaster.com.

The show begins at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police have called off a search at a Pennsylvania landfill for the remains of a Westerleigh dad who went missing in December, according to a Daily News report.

NYPD brass said the trash at the Republic Service Conestoga Landfill in Morgantown is piled so high, investigators might seriously injure themselves in a fall, the News reported.

We went as far as we could, Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told reporters Tuesday, according to the report. "We searched what we could until we felt our people were in danger.

Dozens of cops scoured the landfill in recent weeks for the remains of Michael Stewart, 40, who was last seen Dec. 20 in Port Richmond. Video surveillance at a barber shop shows Stewart interacting with 33-year-old Angelo Nesimi, an ex-convict tied to multiple violent crimes over the years who multiple law enforcement sources said was a person of interest in the case.

The investigation initially focused around Nesimis West Brighton apartment, when police responded to a domestic incident days after what started as a missing person investigation.

The NYPD last week deemed Stewarts disappearance a homicide.

Nesimi remains in custody in connection with the alleged domestic violence incident at his apartment where, according to prosecutors, he bludgeoned his girlfriend with a metal object. Hes also charged for allegedly destroying an NYPD interrogation room.

He has not been charged in connection with Stewarts disappearance.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Following an announcement Tuesday that police would halt the search of a Pennsylvania landfill for the remains of a missing Westerleigh man believed dead by authorities, family gathered to discuss their next course of action.

Of course we dont want to hear the search is ending, said a close friend of Michael Stewarts family. Well continue to look for Mikey any way we can, and just stand by until Mikeys brought home.

For the past two weeks, dozens of cops scoured the Republic Service Conestoga Landfill in Morgantown for the remains of Stewart, 40, who was last seen Dec. 20 in Port Richmond. Video surveillance at a barber shop shows Stewart interacting with 33-year-old Angelo Nesimi, an ex-convict tied to multiple violent crimes over the years who multiple law enforcement sources said was a person of interest in the case.

The investigation was at one point centered around Nesimis apartment in West Brighton, where police responded to a domestic incident about a week after Stewart went missing. Prosecutors said Nesimi struck his girlfriend in the head and body with a metal object.

Defense attorney Mario Gallucci said Wednesday that Stewart was never inside the apartment, and Nesimis girlfriend accused him of the crime out of revenge, when he dumped her.

This idea of my client murdering this man is nothing more than the musings of a jilted lover, said Gallucci.

Police allegedly found blood inside a vehicle outside Nesimis apartment at the time of the domestic violence incident, then, watched video surveillance of Nesimi and his girlfriend dumping what could have been a body in a dumpster in New Jersey, according to a source familiar with the case.

Nesimi was indicted earlier this month on felony assault charges in connection with the domestic violence case, but has not been charged in connection with the homicide, according to a spokesman for the Richmond County District Attorneys office.
A weird high school challenge in west Vietnam was caught on camera, as girls competed in a wheelbarrow foot race, while trying to empty a 3 kilo bowl of flour with their mouths.



The high school in Nghe An Province, held the race on October 16, 2018, with six teams participating of 10 members each sorted into five pairs running in a wheelbarrow.



The pairs then alternate trying to empty a bowl of flour at the far end of the track over three minutes, and the team that blows out or eats the most flour wins.



Each bowl holds about three kilograms of flour. The winning team collectively blew up or ate more than one kilogram of flour.



The crowd of onlookers and participants alike found the event very funny and can be seen laughing and cheering as everyone's face grows more and more floury.
A frog filmed in a sewer of Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia on the night of January 23 was observed making a loud "booping" noise during some heavy rains.



The frog apparently makes this sound to attract other frogs, and they only emerge during the rainy season in Indonesia, gathering in fields and watery areas.



One Padang resident, Endi, said a frog of this type has only a small population in the area and is difficult to find in the city of Padang



Endi added: "This frog going back and forth can appear and be found because it is very few in number and hard to find, the presence of this frog is marked with rain."
China holds approximately 9 percent of Sri Lankas total outstanding debt as of 2017 and 14 percent amongst bilateral lenders  equivalent to the same share held by neighbouring India. Despite this, Sri Lankas engagement with China has become synonymous globally with the Asian giants so-called debt diplomacy  an euphemism for debt entrapment.



As Sri Lanka, like many other developing countries, escalates its engagement with Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the question of debt entrapment requires a more rigorous review. A decade on from the Hambantota Port projects kick off  a China-funded venture that is illustrated globally to support the debt entrapment hypothesis  when Sri Lanka is grappling with a worsening foreign debt overhang, seems a propitious time to examine some of the numbers.



From a debut US $ 500 million international sovereign bond (ISB) issuer in 2007, Sri Lanka has gone on to amass US $ 15.3 billion during 2007-2018, from subsequent ISB issues and foreign currency term financing facilities (FTFFs). In the same period, Sri Lanka tapped China for a total of US $ 9.2 billion as development loans and an additional US $ 1 billion as a FTFF in 2018. Not surprisingly, ISBs and FTFFs together account for 33 percent of Sri Lankas outstanding foreign debt in 2017, against a 9 percent share held by China.



Criticism of Chinese loan disbursements has focused not only on the volume of funds but also on the terms. Indeed, the Hambantota Port saga centres on this theme  funding for phase one of the project (US $ 307 million), costing Sri Lanka a fixed rate of 6.3 percent, when globally, rates were declining rapidly following the global financial crisis.



But when considering the total US $ 9.2 billion Chinese development loans to Sri Lanka, 61 percent has been obtained on concessional terms, according to the data available from the External Resources Department. Concessional terms on Chinese loans are typically fixed rates at 2 percent, with other fees of 0.5 percent and maturity periods of 15-20 years. The terms compare less favourably to Sri Lankas other major bilateral donors  India but most specifically, Japan. However, in comparison to the raising ISBs or FTFFs, tapping China can be more price advantageous with possibly more flexibility on loan rescheduling if required.

If only 40 percent of loans from China has been obtained on commercial terms, they account for only 20 percent of the countrys large and rising non-concessional share of foreign debt (at 55 percent of total outstanding debt in 2017). The vast bulk (80 percent) is made up of ISBs, FTFFs and foreign holdings of treasury bills and bonds. This shift in composition has been the main driver of Sri Lankas rising debt service ratios, where Chinese development loans have played a very secondary role. Thus, Chinese loans are clearly not the primary cause of Sri Lankas debt imbroglio. But, they have contributed to and possibly aggravated the problem. Loans from China are attractive to governments for multiple reasons; they are free of conditions and lengthy negotiating processes and provide access to large volumes more quickly, to be disbursed according to the presumed needs. In the event, they also carry heavy risks in the presence of poor analysis of investment projects, incentive problems and interest group influenced investment choices.



With much of Chinese development loans plugged into infrastructure projects with relatively low financial returns over the long term and policy inaction to deal with declining export competitiveness, Sri Lanka turned to ISBs for reserves accumulation  at times spending large chunks defending the currency against all odds and debt servicing. As a result, the returns on ISB/FTFF are likely to be considerably lower than their borrowing costs.



The more prudent course when simultaneously issuing long-term bonds and buying reserves with ISBs, is to accumulate resources to be used in periods of higher borrowing costs. Under the circumstances, net of debt settlements, Sri Lankas external debt exposure keeps growing.



The risks from the exposure to a large external debt stock are multiplying as the favourable external financial conditions under which Sri Lanka borrowed excessively starts to unwind. To a large extent, these pressures will also dictate future engagements with China. A shift is already taking place, as Sri Lanka increasingly taps China for FTFFs.



With narrow financing options for low-middle-income countries, there is much to be gained from active engagement with the BRI. But, the risks too must be better managed. Safeguards on project appraisal and selection and strong national debt management practices are essential for countries like Sri Lanka to safely navigate the new financing landscape.



(Dushni Weerakoon is Executive Director at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS). This article is based on a paper presented at Sri Lanka Economic Association Annual Sessions 2018, January 18-19, 2019. The author can be reached at dushni@ips.lk. To view this article online and to share your comments, visit the IPS Blog Talking Economics - http://www.ips.lk/talkingeconomics/)
DAVOS, Switzerland  World leaders in favor of international cooperation and free trade struck back Wednesday against the wave of populist nationalism that has featured more prominently than usual at the gathering of elites in Davos, Switzerland.

As a dizzying array of heads of state  from Poland to Colombia to Rwanda  addressed the political and business tycoons, the question of global cooperation emerged as a dividing line. The leaders of Japan and Germany  countries that have flourished on trade since their devastation under nationalist leaders in World War II  focused on the need for cooperation.

It was a not-so-subtle dig at earlier speeches by the populist president of Brazil and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said governments should focus more on national self-interest over international rules.

I believe that its worth bringing together like-minded people around the world, because anything else will lead us into despair, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

She said efforts to combat global problems  from an economic slowdown to tensions over trade, Brexit and migration  will only function if we are able to compromise.

She cited as a positive example a free trade deal between the European Union and Japan that will take effect Feb. 1.

Japans prime minister, Shinzo Abe, put a similarly strong focus on working together, noting another trade deal, among Pacific Rim countries.

He warned, however that there are risks.

U.S.-China trade friction is one of those risks, and Japan traditionally has said tit-for-tat trade-restrictive measures are of no benefit, he said in his first appearance in Davos in five years.

The U.S. and China, the worlds two biggest economies, are locked in a major trade dispute and have put tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of traded goods.

The administration of President Trump says China is not being transparent on government subsidies it gives Chinese companies and is swiping intellectual property from Western firms.

Trump had intended to visit Davos with a big delegation to meet with the Chinese over the trade issues. They canceled the trip, however, due to the government shutdown. Other major leaders have also had to nix their trip, including Britains Theresa May and Frances Emmanuel Macron to deal with Brexit negotiations and popular protests respectively.

Jamey Keaten and Paul Weisman are Associated Press writers.
SEOUL  Adam Crapser lives in limbo, a stranger in South Korea, the country of his birth.

Forcibly separated from his wife, children and friends in America, he is isolated by language and culture, left alone to navigate this sprawling city hes been expelled to four decades after being sent to adoptive parents in Michigan at age 3.

Crapser, now 43, was abused and abandoned by two different sets of adoptive parents in the United States then deported after run-ins with the law because none of his guardians filed citizenship papers for him. He said he has struggled in South Korea with intense anxiety and depression, even as he searches for answers about why his life has become defined by displacement.

That search has led him to file a landmark lawsuit against South Koreas government and a private adoption agency, the Seoul-based Holt Childrens Services, over what Crapser calls gross negligence regarding the way he and thousands of other Korean children were sent to the United States and other Western nations without accounting for their future citizenship.

The $177,000 civil suit, which was described ahead of its expected filing Thursday by Crapsers lawyers in a Seoul court, exposes a dark side of South Korean adoptions, which exploded as a business during the 1970s and 80s when many children were carelessly and unnecessarily removed from their families.

The country was then at the height of a so-called child export frenzy pushed by military dictatorships that focused on economic growth and reducing the number of mouths to feed. There was no stringent oversight of adoption agencies, which were infamous for aggressive child-gathering activities and fraudulent paperwork as they competed to send more children abroad at faster speeds.

Crapsers case also highlights the shaky legal status of possibly thousands of South Korean adoptees in the United States whose parents may have failed to get them citizenship, potentially leaving them vulnerable to deportation if they acquire a criminal record in a country thats becoming increasingly aggressive about going after undocumented immigrants.

Crapser said the government and Holt are responsible for failing to follow through on his adoption and ensuring that his American parents naturalized him. Because he wasnt a citizen, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ordered him deported in November 2016 over criminal convictions, including unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.

Kim Tong Hyung is an Associated Press writer.
It is that special time in the early runup to an election year in which candidates try to convince us they have personalities and are fun (see: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., declaring "I'm gonna get me a beer," awkwardly side-hugging her husband of 38 years, then drinking said beer on Instagram Live).

Case in point, on Tuesday an aide of Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., posted a video of the senator dancing to the clean version of a Cardi B song.
California Governor Gavin Newsom wants to use $20 million of state funds to create an "Immigration Rapid Response Program" that provides aid to migrants who arrive at California's border.

In his recently-released 2019-2020 budget, Newsom proposed giving $20 million to humanitarian organizations and non-profit entities that currently provide aid to migrants.

"These funds will be available over a three-year period to assist qualified community-based organizations and nonprofit entities in providing services during immigration or human trafficking emergency situations when federal funding is not available," the budget reads. "These funds will also be available to support the redirection of state-level staff who directly assist in response efforts."

In addition, Newsom calls for $5 million to be made available immediately for any "immigration-related emergencies" that arise in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The three-year period in which the $20 million becomes available would begin in July 2019, if approved.

The Los Angeles Times reported that most of the funds would likely go to the San Diego Rapid Response Network, a coalition of human rights organizations, attorneys and community leaders that provides humanitarian aid to migrants near the border.

A recent surge in migrants attempting to seek asylum at the southern border has led many to declare the existence of a "humanitarian crisis." In December 2018, two migrant children died in the custody of Customs and Border Protection shortly after making the dangerous trek to the US southern border.

Newsom toured an immigration detention facility in San Diego this past November, and said the state of California should do more in providing aid to migrants.

"My job is to be constructive ... to try to find ways to bring people to the table and to address what legitimately can be described as a humanitarian crisis," he said at the time. "We're all in this together ... I think we need to humanize this issue, not politicize the issue."

Newsom's budget proposal calls only for assisting non-profit organizations in "providing services" to migrants. It is unclear what exactly those services might be or which organizations it will be funding.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eting@sfchronicle.com and follow him on Twitter

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TRADE ARABIA: Sri Lanka-based JLanka International, a premier solar and renewable energy technology solutions provider, has announced an investment of up to US $10 million within the coming five years in Bahrains renewable energy sector.



Commencing operations in Bahrain, JLanka has been commissioned by the kingdoms Sustainable Energy Unit (SEU) under the supervision of Dr. Abdul Hussain Bin Ali Mirza, Minister of Electricity and Water, to conduct an exclusive training programme in Bahrain to educate and certify solar PV contractors and consultants as well as training EWA personnel on grid connection standards, said a statement from the company.



JLanka has also been appointed the lead consultant on a project to install solar PV systems on more than 500 government-owned buildings in Bahrain including schools and hospitals.



This comes on the back of Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) awarding Green Innova, under the consortium formed with JLanka, an operation and maintenance contract for the 5MW solar plant installed at the University of Bahrain and at various Bapco sites, it said.



The launch of JLanka International marks the inauguration of JLanka Technologies first overseas business entity outside of Sri Lanka and sees its international headquarters based in Bahrain.

JLanka has a 40-member team of scientists, engineers and technicians, as part of their 400+ staff, dedicated to research and development and, as a result, has successfully developed its own fast EV charger, smart meters and power optimisation devices.



Magdy Elnemr, Chief Business Development Officer of JLanka International, said: We are delighted we are expanding our operations internationally and Bahrain was an ideal choice for our first overseas investment.



Bahrains Government has a clear commitment to renewable energy enablement and is therefore the perfect location to launch and expand a technology driven company, Elnemr said.



Bahrain provides companies with the unique opportunity to expand directly across the GCC, making it an important gateway for any company looking to access the rest of the GCC. Whats more, the opportunity to tap into a young, motivated and highly skilled workforce, is of paramount importance for any new industry, with the sharing of knowledge with the local Bahraini workforce crucial to the success of our investment, Elnemr added.



Dr.Simon Galpin, Managing Director, Bahrain Economic Development Board, said: The fact that JLanka has chosen Bahrain as its first port of call for international expansion is a testament to the conditions that exist here for the solar power industry.



It is not just the focus and commitment put in place by the government through the National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAP), but also our highly skilled workforce and unparalleled government support for innovative technology, he said.



We welcome the investment from JLanka, a company whose application of next generation technology can undoubtedly increase the efficiency and the financial feasibility of renewable energy projects in Bahrain, he added.
A recent study by the academics of the University of Kelaniya and Open University of Sri Lanka estimates that Sri Lanka lost Rs.18 billion in tax money due to contraband cigarettes in 2018. The law enforcement authorities have seized over 580 million illegal cigarettes smuggled into the country during the same year. However, given the Rs.18 billion number and the ample availability in the market, it can be safely assumed that the majority of the illegal cigarettes smuggled into the country went undetected.



Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC), a unit of tobacco giant British American Tobacco, holds the monopoly rights to manufacture, sell and distribute cigarettes in Sri Lanka. The company pays nearly Rs.100 billion every year in taxes to the government. An influx of illegal cigarettes hurts CTCs sales and Sri Lankas tax revenue. Hence, it is vital to further equip the law enforcement authorities and Sri Lanka Customs to detect contraband cigarettes and destroy them to plug the revenue leakages. They are already doing a commendable job, given the large amount of illegal cigarettes detained last year. But the abundance of illegal cigarettes in the market questions whether their actions are adequate.



According to the study, the higher price of legal cigarettes and Sri Lanka being an island with a slew of small fisheries harbours, which in most of the times go unmonitored by the law enforcement agencies, evidently help the thriving contraband cigarette market. Also, a significant number of migrant workers, specially in the local construction sector, who come from countries where cigarettes are sold at extremely low prices, add up to this problem. About 25 percent smokers surveyed for the above-mentioned study admitted to smoking a contraband cigarette during a week. It shows the free availability of illegal cigarettes in the local market, which are sold at a significant discount to legal cigarettes.



The tobacco industry is a controversial topic in Sri Lanka, like in many other countries. Given the grave implications of cigarettes and other tobacco products pose to human health, every effort should be made to discourage smoking. But cigarettes are a legal business in Sri Lanka and the government gets substantial money out of it as taxes. The local cigarette industry is under heavy regulations, where advertising and product promotions are completely banned. Cigarette packs carry large graphical health warnings and several other regulations are also in the pipeline that will further tighten the operating environment for the cigarette industry.

Further, the government from time to time jacks up the excise and other taxes on cigarettes, which prompts a price hike from the cigarette manufacturer. Hence, it cant be asking too much from the authorities to rein on the smuggling of cigarettes into the country. Smoking is an adult choice and if someone wants to indulge in it, he or she should be smoking a legal cigarette, being fully aware of its health hazards and not a smuggled, non-taxable cigarette.



But at the same time, every effort should be made to reduce the number of smokers in the country by actively discouraging smoking. If the government increases the taxes on cigarettes with the objective to push the smokers give up the habit, it should make sure that those who give up on cigarettes shouldnt take up alternatives, which are worse to human health.



For example, if a cigarette smoker quits smoking cigarettes due to price, he should not take up low-quality contraband fags or beedies. If that is happening, the government should re-think of its strategy of regularly increasing the tobacco taxes to deter smoking.



In fact, there are products, which are now making waves in the world as safer alternatives to traditional cigarettes. Big Tobacco argue that it is not the nicotine, for which the smokers said to be smoking, but the contaminants of tobacco smoke that are harmful to human health and cause cancer and other serious illnesses.

The Royal College of Physicians, UK, in a report in 2016 concluded that vapingthe delivery of vaporized nicotine through electronic devices, which are called e-cigarettes, without the tobacco smokewas safer than smoking. They even went as far as recommending promotion of e-cigarettes to traditional cigarette smokers, as a way of quitting their lethal addiction.



But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States looks at e-cigarettes and vaping in a totally different light. The FDA recently said e-cigarettes and vaping products face an existential threat in the US, if their use among young people continues to rise.



In the US, it is not the Big Tobacco but the Silicon Valley start-up companies such as Juul Labs, which are riding the vaping wave. The FDA doesnt deny the possible benefits e-cigarettes may have for smokers. But its concerns seem to be stemming from the high possibility of minors and non-smokers picking up e-cigarettes and other vaping products.



All in all, it is clear that strict, clear-cut regulations and swift law enforcement actions are vital at least to minimize the severe damage caused by tobacco products to human health. In Sri Lankas case, the plugging of revenue leakages appear to be the immediate challenge before the illegal cigarette market, which is unregulated and non-tax paying makes further inroads.
Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa has said in a statement on the constitutional reforms, said that the draft constitution seeks to weaken Parliament and immeasurably strengthen the provincial legislatures, and it will compromise the unitary character of the Constitution.

He said if Parliament is to enact a law on a matter on the provincial councils list without the expressed agreement of each and every provincial council, that law would have to be passed with a two thirds majority by Parliament and also approved at a referendum.

Even a law on a provincial council subject passed in this manner can be vitiated by a statute passed by a provincial council with a simple majority (Clause 132 in the draft constitution).

Such limitations imposed on the legislative power of Parliament is the turning point at which the unitary state becomes a federal state. We are resolutely opposed to such a change.

Parliament can make laws on matters coming under the concurrent list only with the approval of all PCs (Clause 134). Thus, the discretion that Parliament has under the present Constitution to decide whether to consult the PCs or not, is to be done away with.

The legislative power of Parliament is to be further weakened by giving the proposed constitutional court the power to review laws that have been passed by Parliament, he said.

The statement said, When the present rulers came into power in 2015, the only constitutional agenda they had was to abolish the executive presidency and to change the system of elections so as to ensure stable parliamentary governments.

The draft constitution does have provisions to abolish the executive presidency, which we will not oppose. However, the new system of elections that has been proposed is another pure proportional representation system like the systems that were introduced at the local government and provincial council levels in 2017 with disastrous results.

Even those who voted for that elections system in 2017 now want it scrapped. If the system of elections is to be changed so as to ensure stable governments, what should be introduced is the hybrid 70%-30% first past the post/proportional representation system proposed by the Parliamentary Select Committee headed by Dinesh Gunawardene after years of careful study from 2002 to 2007 under both UNP and UPFA governments.

Even though the draft constitution refers to a provincial council list, a concurrent list and a reserved list it has not been stated anywhere whether these lists are the same as those in the present Constitution or not. Although reams of useless information are being tabled in the Constitutional Assembly, some of the most essential information such as the content of these lists, is missing.

The Federalist tilt in the proposed draft becomes obvious when the Governor - the main representative of the central government in the provinces - is placed under the chief minister. The executive power of the province is to be vested in the Chief Minister and not the Governor in complete contradiction to the provisions of the present Constitution (Clause 242).

The police force will be broken up into a national police force and nine separate provincial police forces each with its own police commission. The national police force is to have jurisdiction only over a limited number of specified offences, such as offences against the state, election offences and currency related offences etc.

The provincial police will have effective charge of all day to day police work pertaining to crime, fraud, narcotics, traffic, public order etc. (Clauses 254, 259, and 284).

This country can be destroyed simply by breaking up the police force into 10 separate police forces in the manner proposed. This is why no government in the past 30 years, broke up the police force regardless of the provisions in the 13th Amendment.

Under the new constitutional proposals, the central government will have control over state land used for subjects pertaining to the national list or the concurrent list at the commencement of the Constitution. The provincial councils are to have authority over all other state land within their borders.

If the central government requires state land in a province for any purpose, they may address a request to the provincial administration and if the latter does not comply, the dispute will be referred for arbitration to a three-member tribunal. If the central government is not satisfied with the arbitration ruling, they can petition the constitutional court.

The central government cannot unilaterally acquire state land in a province even for a national security related purpose as the provincial council can petition the constitutional court against such an acquisition (Clauses 302, 307 and 308). Under the proposed new constitution, the declaration of a state of emergency by the central government is to be made subject to judicial review by the constitutional court. A state of emergency may continue in excess of three months or a period of more than 90 days within a 180-day period only if it is approved by two-thirds of the Members of Parliament (Clauses 290-5, 291-d and 292).

What this means in practice is that the central government will not be able to respond adequately to an emergency. The declaration of an emergency is an executive action and the judiciary is not competent to deal with such matters. In any case, if a stay order can be obtained against a declaration of emergency, there will be little point in declaring a state of emergency. There are many other issues as well such as the provision to merge the northern and eastern provinces (Clause 237-3) and the creation of a constitutional court to exercise the constitutional jurisdiction currently exercised by the Supreme Court, he said.
The Colombo Fort Magistrates Court today permitted the Police Narcotics Bureau to detain the five suspects who were arrested with 95.88 kgs of heroin worth more than Rs.1 billion in Kollupitiya yesterday.

The Police Special Task Force (STF) and the PNB made the arrests yesterday at an apartment in Kollupitiya. Two Americans, two Sri Lankans and an Afghan national were among the arrested.

Video by Prasanna
Sri Lanka is likely to apply for another dollar loan from the International Monitory Fund (IMF) after the last tranche of US$ 1.5 billion was paid in late 2019, Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga said yesterday.

Dr. Samaratunga said two teams of top officials from the IMF and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) are due in mid February to finalize the future programmes and the 5th tranche of the US$ 1.5 billion loan from the IMF and to conclude discussion on the US$ 450 (Rs. 87 billion) grant pledged by the MCC in September.

The Chief Operation Officer of the MCC, Brock Bierman conveyed the message of the approval of the US$ 450 million compact running to five years when he called on President Sirisena, who was in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly in September.

However, the grant was put on hold by the MCC after the change of government on October 26.

The government is confident that it could renegotiate the MCC grant as the US government is satisfied with the turn of events that took place since the restoration of the legitimate government with Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister.

The MCC compact was expected to be presented to MCC's Board of Directors for approval by late 2018 and will fund entirely through grants which do not need to be repaid. The proposed MCC Sri Lanka Compact was designed to spur economic growth and investment by the private sector to reduce poverty and increase economic opportunities for its people.

The MCC grant to Sri Lanka would be allocated after the US congress approved segment that allocates funds to the MCC and this is expected in a week or so and added funds are approved in the US on sectoral basis.

The government expects to use the grant on infrastructure development projects, especially in the transport, land, road development, bus modernization, control of traffic congestion and traffic management etc.

The MCC is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established in 2004.

Dr. Samaratunga returned home after a successful visit to IMF and MCC in Washington with Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the weekend. Minister Samaraweera will be back today. (Sandun A Jayasekera)
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Mainly clear. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Three people will be honored Wednesday evening in Berkeley by the Center for Independent Living to celebrate Ed Roberts Day, a California state holiday to remember the late disability rights activist Ed Roberts.



The Honorable Thelton E. Henderson, Gerald Baptiste and Ted A. Dienstfrey will receive The CIL's highest honor Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the University Club at the University of California at Berkeley's Memorial Stadium at 2227 Piedmont Ave. in Berkeley.



Henderson is a former federal judge in Northern California, Baptiste is the former deputy director of The CIL and Dienstfrey is a former board member for The CIL.



Roberts pioneered the disability rights movement nationwide and at UC Berkeley where he received a degree. According to the university, Roberts is the father of the movement to give people with disabilities and special needs the opportunity to live independently. Roberts died in 1995.







A man was fatally shot in East Oakland late Saturday night, police said.



Officers who responded to the 2000 block of 22nd Avenue at about 11:55 p.m. on Saturday after receiving a report of gunshots found an Oakland man who was unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds, according to police.



The man succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.



The man's identity is being withheld pending notification of his next of kin.



Oakland police, who haven't released any information about a motive or suspects, said anyone who has information about the shooting should call the Police Department's homicide section at (510) 238-3821 or the police tip line at (510) 238-7950.







A person of interest has been arrested in the Jan. 4 fatal shooting of three men in West Oakland, police said.



However, police said they aren't releasing the man's name at this time because the investigation into the shooting remains ongoing and they are forwarding the case to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for review and charging.



The shooting occurred in the 1000 block of Center Street, about three blocks from the West Oakland BART station, shortly before 9 p.m. on Jan. 4.



Police said two of the victims were in a parked car and a third was standing outside the vehicle when the shooting occurred.



The victims were identified as Gino Houchins, 21, of Vallejo, Marcus Fuller Jr., 29, and Dante Johnson, 31, both of Oakland.







The Berkeley City Council Tuesday night passed a disposable foodware and litter-reduction ordinance that backers say is the most ambitious municipal legislation in the U.S. aimed at reducing the use of single-use disposable foodware.



"History," Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin tweeted Tuesday night after the vote. "#Berkeley passes the most ambitious groundbreaking policy to reduce throw-away foodware in the nation."



The ordinance's lead author City Councilmember Sophie Hahn said in a statement, "Single-use disposable foodware is a local and global problem, one with enormous financial and environmental costs."



Supporters say the ordinance is backed by a coalition of more than 1,400 local, national, and international organizations participating in the global Break Free From Plastic Movement, including UpStream, The Story of Stuff Project, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, the Plastic Pollution Coalition and the Surfrider Foundation.







A debate over a 7,400-acre stretch of public space at the edge of San Jose was revived Tuesday at a rally before the City Council's discussion of a $650 million infrastructure bond approved by voters in November.



Situated between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range, Coyote Valley is a critical corridor for animals and wildlife, as well as a protective buffer between Coyote Creek and the San Jose metropolitan area.



Environmental activists, business leaders, farmers and politicians have rallied around its protection as a result, but others say the city needs to catch up to its neighbors by providing adequate local jobs and mitigating hours-long commutes.



"Where would New York be without Central Park, where would San Francisco be without Golden Gate Park?" South San Jose Councilmember Sergio Jimenez asked the crowd at the rally, throwing his support behind keeping the valley as a public open space.



Measure T was approved by voters in November as a general obligation bond to repave streets and improve the city's emergency preparedness, allocating up to $50 million in land acquisition for the valley.







A new state bill introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, could possibly change the way young offenders, specifically those who identify as LGBT, are put on the state's sex offender registry list, Wiener's office announced Tuesday.



Currently, while consensual sex between 15- to 17-year-olds and a partner within 10 years of age is illegal, vaginal intercourse between the two does not require an offender to register as a sex offender. Other forms of intercourse such as oral and anal intercourse require sex offender registration.



That practice, according to Wiener, disproportionately targets young LGBT people, who usually cannot engage in vaginal intercourse.



Senate Bill 145 would put an end to "blatant discrimination against young LGBT people engaged in consensual activity," Wiener said in a statement.



"This bill is about treating everyone equally under the law. Discrimination against LGBT people is simply not the California way. These laws were put in place during a more conservative and anti-LGBT time in California's history. They have ruined people's lives and made it harder for them to get jobs, secure housing, and live productive lives. It is time we update these laws and treat everyone equally," he said.







A Lyft driver was arrested last Thursday in Emeryville for an alleged sexual battery of a passenger, police said Tuesday.



Officers were dispatched at 4:36 p.m. Thursday to a hotel in the 5800 block of Shellmound Street where they arrested 22-year-old El Cerrito resident Bipin Thapa.



Before the arrest, officers met with the victim who alleged she called for a ride to the hotel and during the ride she was sexually battered.



Police said officers located Thapa, who had come back to the hotel, and made an arrest.



Officials with Lyft said in a statement Tuesday, "The safety of the Lyft community is our top priority and the allegations described are deeply disturbing. As soon as we were made aware of these allegations, we deactivated the driver.







The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Tuesday named a Richmond preacher who's been active in preventing violence and reducing the city's homicide rates as Humanitarian of the Year during the 41st Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in Martinez.



Rev. Donnell Jones, pastor of New Direction Ministries, has been serving the Contra Costa County community for more than 25 years. He is currently serving as a consultant for the Richmond Police Department working on issues like violence prevention, immigration, education and economic development.



Jones also opened the New Soul Cafe, at 1305 Carlson Blvd., in Richmond last year.



He addressed the crowd after receiving his award, thanking the board for their recognition and telling the crowd of more than 100 onlookers that, "the struggle is real, and we are in it."



"It's not easy to stand on the corner and watch boys with bullets in them lose their last breath," Jones said.







Santa Rosa police arrested a Sacramento man last week in connection with a robbery and attempted robbery at two AT&T stores last month in Sonoma County, police said Tuesday.



Jerold Scott Jr. is suspected of attempted robbery at the AT&T store on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa at 6 p.m. on Dec. 18 and the robbery of the other store two hours later in Petaluma, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Kyle Philp said.



Scott was one of three suspects who fled the Petaluma robbery in a red sedan that was later abandoned. Multiple law enforcement agencies helped identify the suspects and Scott was arrested Wednesday, Philp said.







A woman was struck and killed by a vehicle in Vallejo on Tuesday evening, according to police.



The victim was hit by a black Kia Soul traveling eastbound on Lewis Brown Road around 6:58 p.m. as they were walking between Sonoma Boulevard - state Highway 29 - and Broadway Street, police said.



Police said the victim, likely a transient or homeless woman, was found in front of a furniture store and transported to a hospital, where she died.



According to police, the driver of the vehicle, a 52-year-old Vallejo man, is cooperating with the investigation. Speed has been determined not to be a factor, but police said investigators are trying to determine if alcohol was.



Police said this is the first traffic-related fatality of 2019.



Anyone with information in the case is asked to call Vallejo Police Officer Kenneth Trimble at (707) 648-4011.







State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and several California civil rights groups vowed Monday to continue challenging President Donald Trump's restrictions on transgender people in the military despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.



The high court by a 5-4 vote issued orders staying two preliminary injunctions that would have blocked the ban from going into effect. It overruled the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which had declined to issue a stay.



The injunctions were issued by federal judges in Seattle and Los Angeles in lawsuits filed by transgender people who are in the military or want to join. Both injunctions are on appeal before the 9th Circuit.



But the Supreme Court did not grant the Justice Department's request that it bypass the 9th Circuit altogether and take up the government's appeals directly. Instead, the two cases and two others in Maryland and Washington, D.C., will continue in the lower courts.





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SAN JOSE (BCN)



A Spanish teacher at Pioneer High School was arrested Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a student, the San Jose Unified School District and police reported.



Ricardo Chavarria, 37, was arrested during school hours at the school at 1290 Blossom Hill Road, according to spokeswoman Lili Smith, and he will not be rehired at the school or any other district position.



Police said a staff member at the school called them to report Chavarria on Tuesday. According to police, Chavarria had sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl in his classroom between November and December.



He was booked into Santa Clara County jail Tuesday and may be charged with four felony counts of sexual penetration with a person under the age of 18 and three felony counts of oral copulation.



Anyone with information about Chavarria is asked to contact Detective Frank Montoya at (408) 537-1382, or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867.





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San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Tuesday appointed Jenny Lam, her mayoral education supervisor, to fill a school board seat that was left vacant when Matt Haney resigned after being elected to the city's Board of Supervisors.



Lam had been appointed by Breed to be her education advisor and has previously served as co-chair of San Francisco Unified School District's Public Education & Enrichment Fund Committee and the Quality Teacher and Education Act Committee, according to the mayor's office.



She is a second-generation Chinese American and Bay Area resident who, prior to joining the mayor's office, served as a state engagement manager at EducationSuperHighway, a San Francisco nonprofit that seeks to get Internet access upgraded in every public school classroom.







BART riders traveling on trains in south Alameda County can expect delays of up to 40 minutes through Sunday while crews replace rails on the tracks in the Union City area, according to the transit agency.



The work began at the start of service Tuesday and is estimated to continue until 2 p.m. Sunday, prompting trains to travel both ways on a single track through Union City, BART officials said.



The single-tracking will cause delays of 20 to 40 minutes between South Hayward and Warm Springs/South Fremont, according to BART.



The work is funded by the 2016 Measure RR $3.5 billion bond measure to upgrade and replace aging infrastructure on the BART system.







A fire damaged a home and destroyed several vehicles in Antioch on Tuesday morning while causing minor injuries to a firefighter, a Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesman said.



The blaze was first reported at 7:10 a.m. in the 1700 block of East 18th Street.



The fire burned several vehicles and motorcycles as well as the structure of the home before being knocked down at 7:48 a.m., fire spokesman Steve Hill said.



It appears the fire started in the area of the vehicles before spreading to the home, Hill said. The exact cause remains under investigation.



A firefighter suffered a cut to a hand during the response and was treated at the scene, according to Hill.







A man has been charged with murder for allegedly firing a stray bullet that struck and killed a father of four young children while he was waiting at a bus stop in East Oakland last August, according to court documents.



Donovan Eugene Johnson, 19, was arrested in Oakland last Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting of Chrystian Valdez Negrete in the 4500 block of International Boulevard just before 2:15 a.m. on Aug. 11, 2018.



Johnson, who is being held without bail, was charged and arraigned on Friday, returned to court for a brief hearing on Tuesday and is scheduled to return to court on Thursday to be assigned an attorney and possibly enter a plea.







Opening statements began Tuesday in the trial for a man charged with double murder and attempted murder for a 2016 Valentine's Day shooting at San Francisco's Twin Peaks lookout.



Richard Contreras, 29, is accused of killing Santa Rosa residents Julio Peraza, 21, and Rene Mora, 19, and injuring a third victim, 18, around 2 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2016, at the popular tourist spot known for its sweeping views of San Francisco and the Bay.



During his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Adam Maldonado said that Contreras arrived at the lookout area with two women that morning, and the shooting occurred after a confrontation between Contreras and a group of 11 people, all from Santa Rosa.



Before ultimately being arrested on Feb. 16, 2016, Maldonado alleged that Contreras contacted one of the women whom he initially arrived with and asked her not to cooperate with police and said that he planned on fleeing to Mexico.







A robbery was reported late Tuesday morning at a pizza restaurant in Walnut Creek, police said.



The robbery was reported around 11:25 a.m. at the Mountain Mike's Pizza restaurant at 1817 Ygnacio Valley Road.



The suspect was last seen in a white Ford Focus van with license plate No. 8EGY745 heading east on Ygnacio Valley Road, according to police.







The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has identified a woman who died after she was found lying on a Petaluma street last week as 47-year-old Karen Lam.



Lam's city of residence has not been determined, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.



Petaluma police found Lam at the northwest corner of Caulfield Lane and Lakeville Street around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. She was conscious and breathing but unable to talk, police said.



Lam did not appear to have any visible signs of trauma or injury but appeared to be experiencing some sort of medical issue, police said. She was taken to Petaluma Valley Hospital, where her condition deteriorated and she died, police said Thursday.



Police said they found nothing to indicate the death was suspicious.







Fremont police are asking for the public's help after finding a woman with what appeared to be injuries suffered in a hit-and-run collision on Monday morning.



Police said the collision happened sometime between 7:35 a.m. and 7:42 a.m. in the area of Calaveras Avenue and Blacow Road. An officer noticed the woman sitting on the south curb of Calaveras Avenue.



According to police, the victim was suffering from injuries they believe were caused by a vehicle going east on Calaveras Avenue.







A driver was arrested after her vehicle struck and seriously injured a 35-year-old woman near San Francisco's Alamo Square on Sunday evening, police said Tuesday.



The collision was reported at about 6:40 p.m. in the 900 block of Grove Street just east of the popular park.



The woman was crossing the street when she was hit by a car driven by a 73-year-old woman, who stayed on the scene and was arrested by responding officers, according to police. Her name and the allegations she faces were not immediately released.



The pedestrian was taken to a hospital to be treated for her injuries, which were considered life-threatening, police said.







The Solano County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement with a nonprofit to provide temporary housing, shelter and related services for people with persistent mental illness.



The agreement is between Feb. 1 and June 30 with Shelter Solano Inc., part of Concord-based Shelter, Inc. The nonprofit is taking over the operations of a shelter currently operated by Mission Solano on Beck Avenue in Fairfield but is closing at the end of January.



The $700,000 agreement with Shelter Solano Inc. comes from two state grants to help the mentally ill.





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SANTA ROSA (BCN)



Santa Rosa police arrested a Sacramento man last week in connection with a robbery and attempted robbery at two AT&T stores last month in Sonoma County, police said Tuesday.



Jerold Scott Jr. is suspected of attempted robbery at the AT&T store on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa at 6 p.m. on Dec. 18 and the robbery of the other store two hours later in Petaluma, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Kyle Philp said.



Scott was one of three suspects who fled the Petaluma robbery in a red sedan that was later abandoned. Multiple law enforcement agencies helped identify the suspects and Scott was arrested Wednesday, Philp said.



He was booked into Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of attempted robbery, robbery, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and burglary.



The robbery at the Santa Rosa store failed when an employee noticed a bullet was jammed in a firearm brandished by a suspect. The employee refused the suspects' demand for money and other items and they fled without any property, according to Philp.



Customers and staff at the Petaluma store were placed on their knees and forced to surrender their phones and other personal items, Philp said.





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BERKELEY (BCN)



Berkeley police are asking for the public's help in identifying a man who was impersonating a Meals on Wheels employee in front of a grocery store last week.



According to police, the man was outside of a Safeway at 1550 Shattuck Ave. between 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. last Thursday asking people for donations. When actual Meals on Wheels staff confronted him, police said the man ran away.



The suspect is described as a black man in his 60s who is around 6 feet tall and was wearing an older version of a Meals on Wheels white shirt, white pants and shoes. He may have been driving a gray Ford Taurus.



Anyone with information on the case is asked to call police at (510) 981-5737.





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EMERYVILLE (BCN)



A Lyft driver was arrested last Thursday in Emeryville for an alleged sexual battery of a passenger, police said Tuesday.



Officers were dispatched at 4:36 p.m. Thursday to a hotel in the 5800 block of Shellmound Street where they arrested 22-year-old El Cerrito resident Bipin Thapa.



Before the arrest, officers met with the victim who alleged she called for a ride to the hotel and during the ride she was sexually battered.



Police said officers located Thapa, who had come back to the hotel, and made an arrest.



Officials with Lyft said in a statement Tuesday, "The safety of the Lyft community is our top priority and the allegations described are deeply disturbing. As soon as we were made aware of these allegations, we deactivated the driver.



"We have extended our support to the passenger involved and are actively assisting law enforcement in their investigation."



Lyft officials said people who drive for the company in California are given a background check, which is run each year. Anyone who fails the check is not allowed to drive for Lyft.



Thapa had passed a background check as late as Dec. 22, 2018, according to Lyft.





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SAN JOSE (BCN)



A debate over a 7,400-acre stretch of public space at the edge of San Jose was revived Tuesday at a rally before the City Council's discussion of a $650 million infrastructure bond approved by voters in November.



Situated between the Santa Cruz mountains and the Diablo Range, Coyote Valley is a critical corridor for animals and wildlife, as well as a protective buffer between Coyote Creek and the San Jose metropolitan area.



Environmental activists, business leaders, farmers and politicians have rallied around its protection as a result, but others say the city needs to catch up to its neighbors by providing adequate local jobs and mitigating hours-long commutes.



"Where would New York be without Central Park, where would San Francisco be without Golden Gate Park?" South San Jose Councilmember Sergio Jimenez asked the crowd at the rally, throwing his support behind keeping the valley as a public open space.



Measure T was approved by voters in November as a general obligation bond to repave streets and improve the city's emergency preparedness, allocating up to $50 million in land acquisition for the valley.



Coyote Creek flooded in February 2017, causing over 11,000 people to evacuate their homes in South San Jose and completely submerging mobile homes in the Rock Springs, William Street and Oakland Road neighborhoods.



Jimenez, whose district includes the affected areas and Coyote Valley, said the wetland must be guarded as an important watershed and flood control zone. He spoke at a rally of about 100 people, organized by the Greenbelt Alliance San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority.



"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave behind," he added, using a Native American proverb to emphasize the valley's roots alongside Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Chairman Valentin Lopez, Mayor Sam Liccardo and former Congressman Mike Honda.



The central portion of Coyote Valley is protected from urban sprawl through 2040 and its southernmost region is a permanent green space and water buffer, but the city categorizes the north as an "Employment Lands Growth Area" with the potential for 35,000 jobs. Though housing was once planned for the northern area, the current general plan only allows industrial uses for the region.



A staff report Tuesday pointed out that neighboring cities, such as Mountain View, have as much as 28 percent of its land allocated to employment use, but San Jose has only 15 percent. Fifty-seven percent of its land is housing and 28 percent is parks and public land.



The city emphasized its commitment to environmental initiatives such as Climate Smart San Jose during the study session, but showed a troubling lack of jobs in the city -- only .85 jobs for every resident, compared to 3 jobs for every resident in Palo Alto.



The City Council has also discussed moving a large portion of existing jobs in the Coyote Valley area into Downtown San Jose.



Its ongoing discussion will determine the impacts of such a move, and the City Council will return to the table next month to vote on uses for Measure T money.





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State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and several California civil rights groups vowed Monday to continue challenging President Donald Trump's restrictions on transgender people in the military despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.



The high court by a 5-4 vote issued orders staying two preliminary injunctions that would have blocked the ban from going into effect. It overruled the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which had declined to issue a stay.



The injunctions were issued by federal judges in Seattle and Los Angeles in lawsuits filed by transgender people who are in the military or want to join. Both injunctions are on appeal before the 9th Circuit.



But the Supreme Court did not grant the Justice Department's request that it bypass the 9th Circuit altogether and take up the government's appeals directly. Instead, the two cases and two others in Maryland and Washington, D.C., will continue in the lower courts.



Becerra said in a statement, "we will continue to fight to protect the rights of all Americans despite this president's disregard for equality and the rule of law. This is 2019, not 1920."



The state of California, represented by Becerra, was allowed to become a party in the Los Angeles case.



Shannon Minter, legal director of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights, said that excluding qualified individuals simply because they are transgender is "contrary to basic constitutional principles of equality and fairness."



"We are confident the courts will ultimately protect the integrity of our nation's military and hold that transgender service members must be evaluated based on the same standards applied to all others," Minter said.



The center is among the legal groups representing plaintiffs in the Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles cases.



In the Washington, D.C. lawsuit, a U.S. district judge issued a preliminary injunction, but a federal appeals court overturned that injunction earlier this month. A fourth preliminary injunction was issued by a federal judge in Maryland and currently remains in effect.



The U.S. Defense Department said the Supreme Court's action enables it to move closer to implementing the planned restrictions, but noted that the Maryland injunction is still in place.



Pentagon spokeswoman Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason said, "the department is pleased with the orders issued by the Supreme Court today. We will continue to work with the Department of Justice regarding next steps in the pending lawsuits."



Trump originally announced via Twitter in July 2017 that the U.S. government "will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military."



As refined last year by then-Defense Secretary James Mattis, the new policy would allow transgender people already in the military to remain, but would bar most from joining. The plan would reverse a policy of the administration of President Barack Obama that allowed transgender people to serve.



Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur said, "thousands of brave transgender troops around the world are currently serving our nation with honor. Their patriotism and sacrifice should be celebrated, not cruelly dismissed by a president who clearly cares more about delivering on campaign promises than he does about our national security."



Equality California is a plaintiff in the Los Angeles case.





Copyright  2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
SAN JOSE (BCN)



A 58-year-old woman who was killed in a shooting near the Alum Rock neighborhood of San Jose on Saturday has been identified by the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office as Lili Santiago Hernandez.



Police responded to a house in the 2400 block of Clyda Drive at about 5:30 p.m. and found her dead with at least one gunshot wound.



Police have not released any details about a possible suspect, and asked anyone with information to contact Sgt. Jesus Mendoza at (408) 277-5283.





Copyright  2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
Siliezar Automotive: If it fits in the door they will fix it for you
Ellen Perlo

Advocate for equality, peace, justice and socialism

When, as a student, she walked on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in the 1930s even her best friend didnt want to be seen with her. That was because Ellen Perlo often walked and talked with SI Hayakawa, a linguist who was, at that time, a young teacher at the university.

Victor and Ellen Perlo. (Photo: Courtesy of family)

It was a time of intense anti-Japanese racism but Ellen ignored the social consequences of associating with someone who was Japanese. Then, as for the rest of her life, she was an advocate for equality, peace, justice, and socialism. Then, as for the rest of her life, she never flinched in these beliefs or in doing what she had to do to back them up.

Ellen Perlo was born March 23, 1916. She died peacefully this month toward the end of her 102- plus years of living. When I was 21 years old, in 1971, I had the privilege of working with Ellen Perlo on the staff of World Magazine. There, during talks at lunchtime and in the office all day long, actually, I learned about her involvement in so many of the important struggles of the 20th century.

Her first plunge into politics took place in the mid and late 1930s when she worked tirelessly to build support in the United States for the democratic government of Spain. The people of that country were heroically resisting an attempted takeover by their own military which was operating with the open support of Italian fascists and the Nazis in Germany. The Spanish Civil War raged on from 1936 until 1939 with the eventual victory of the fascists. We were deeply involved in that fight, Ellen told me and my co-workers, because we were terrified that fascism if it was not stopped in Europe, would surely come to our shores here.

By 1942 much of the world was engulfed in World War II. It was then that Ellen married Victor Perlo, who went on to become a famous and internationally-known Marxist economist. When the war ended the right-wing politicians and the big corporations in the US launched a horrific red scare. It was their desperate attempt to stop the growth of what was becoming a powerful and growing movement in the US of the working class and its allies. Ellens husband, Victor, was blacklisted from employment, harassed by the FBI and dragged before congressional committees. He was denied the right to travel abroad.

None of that scared me one bit. It made me angry though and it made me more anxious than ever to fight, she told us during those lunchtime discussions. They thought we might stop working for and with the American Labour Party, she said. But I continued my involvement with it. I went out of the house and actively worked to defend all the Smith Act victims.

The Smith Act victims were members of the Communist Party and leaders who were jailed not for any actions they had taken but simply for their beliefs.

Ellen was always there, it seemed, on the front lines when putting herself on the line could make a difference. When Paul Robeson and people attending his concert were attacked in 1949 in Peekskill, New York, Ellen, of course, was there, unafraid and standing up to the right-wing mobs who attacked the concert-goers.

She was unafraid again to stand up when the Rosenbergs were being persecuted and when they were executed on false charges. She protested their execution in the nations capital itself as well as at frequent rallies and demonstrations across the country.

Needless to say, all of these activities did not help alleviate the extreme financial hardships with which she was faced. But yet she remained unafraid and strong.

And when the repression and the attacks were at their worst, in the 1950s, her actions were at their boldest and strongest. Unafraid again, she joined the Communist Party as had other heroes like WEB Dubois in those years. Ellen told us during those lunch hours, how much of a hero he was to her.

Ellen was far more than a devoted and loving wife to Victor. She was all that but she was also a full-fledged partner in his research and work. Between 1951 and his death in 1999, the two produced countless books on the US economy and US imperialism, the economics of militarism, the economics of racism, and comparative studies of socialism and capitalism. Ellen edited volumes of Victors works, even after his death.

There was a second Ellen Perlo. That was the artist side of her. A graduate of NYU with a degree in fine arts, Ellen painted spectacular landscapes in watercolour, later moving on to ceramics, textiles and other media.

She put those talents to use in so much of the literature we produced when she was, with me and many others, involved in the movement for friendship with the German Democratic Republic.

Travel bans and scares? What travel bans and scares? No sooner had the Supreme Court restored Victors right to travel in 1960 than Ellen and Victor both were traveling all over the socialist world, including to the socialist countries to which travel had been restricted. Ellen was a force for bringing artists and their work to the socialist countries and vice versa. She was responsible for literally helping to explode the myth that there was no real art in the socialist world and in the process she brought people together, helping lay the foundations for peace rather than war.

Ellen was a lifelong peace activist, and from the 1960s forward, a member of Womens Strike for Peace, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, and WESPAC (Westchester Peace Action Coalition). Ellen chaired the artists club of the Communist Party in New York in the 1970s and 80s and later chaired the Northern Westchester club.

As young activists all those years ago we benefitted from her leadership. As seasoned veterans, we cherish her memory and try to live her legacy. As a human race, we are all better for having had Ellen Perlo among us.

Peoples World
Brexit: Goodbye United Kingdom, hello dis-United Kingdom

To grasp the real meaning of Brexit is to understand the history of a state born in mercantilism and sustained by centuries of empire and colonialism.

Chaos everywhere, consensus nowhere has and continues to define Britains stalling and tortuous attempt to depart the EU in an orderly fashion. Such chaos should come as no surprise, however, because more than a harbinger of Britains departure from the EU, Brexit is a harbinger of the break-up of the UK.

Let me explain.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give the UK its Sunday name, is the epitome of an artificial state. It was and remains the product of the grafting together of divergent cultures, histories and national identities. At inception, this grafting together was undertaken not in the interests of its peoples but in the interests of national elites eager to take advantage of the commercial opportunities of a unified polity with added manpower and resources in an age of empire.

The venality, greed and corruption of the Scottish ruling class in the late 17th- early 18th century delivered the Scottish people into the arms of the union with England without their support, establishing thereby the Kingdom of Great Britain. This was reflected in the social unrest and riots that ensued in Scottish towns and cities both during the negotiations that brought into being the 1707 Act of Union, and upon its passage.

For the ruling elites of both Scotland and England the union of both parliaments into one had demonstrable commercial and strategic benefits. The former had been left bankrupt after Scotlands failed attempt at establishing its own overseas colony in Darien, Central America (modern day Panama) in the late 17th century. In order to forestall national immiseration the need to gain access to Englands overseas colonies was thereafter considered essential.

Meanwhile the English were eager to prevent the possibility of Scotland being used as a staging ground for an invasion from the north by the French in the context of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14).

Wales, the third nation that makes up the UK, had already been merged with England in 1536. Ireland on the other hand was a subjugated English (latterly British) colony, and was officially brought into the orbit of what would then be known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.

In 1922, after a prolonged national liberation struggle in Ireland, the 26 counties that make up todays Republic of Ireland achieved dominion status before winning full independence in 1948, while the remaining six counties that make up the entire island, or Ireland, were partitioned to become what is now Northern Ireland: hence the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of today.

This necessary historical detour out of the way, here is where things start to bear relevance to Brexit.

An unintended consequence of the Industrial Revolution that saw Britain (UK) go on to forge an empire which at its height covered a quarter of the globe, was the forging of a unified working class whose unity transcended national, cultural and regional differences.

This class unity was the product of the countrys heavy industries  coal mining, steel, shipbuilding, etc  and was expressed in common economic interests and struggles against a common enemy, the bosses and owners of those industries, in the context of the trade union movement. It also began to manifest politically with the formation of the Labour Party at the start of the 20th century.

In tandem, forged over time, was a British national identity nourished by the countless wars the states ruling elite unleashed and waged over the centuries of an empire that existed not to spread civilisation and modernity to the dark peoples of the planet, as officially claimed, but as a juggernaut of exploitation, subjugation and oppression.

In those countless colonial wars working class men were used as cannon fodder in a dynamic that continues to the present day.

Margaret Thatcher destroyed this material basis of working class unity across the UK in the 1980s. Her free market counter-revolution and resulting deindustrialisation of the nations economy turned Britain into what it is today  a service economy underpinned by financialised capital.

The countrys trade union movement, which once wielded considerable economic and political clout, is but a shadow of its former self as a consequence, while the Labour Party was gutted of its founding principles by Tony Blair and his execrable centrist crew in the 1990s and on into the first decade of the noughties.

It is the remnants of this Blairite crew within the Labour Party who have and continue to be engaged in a concerted effort to undermine the partys current socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Such people, working alongside a reactionary Tory establishment, should be careful what they wish for. Because in 2019 it is only Corbyns socialist program, offering economic and social transformation, that provides any hope of repairing the regional, national and cultural fault lines that correspond to the breakdown of the 2016 EU referendum vote.

The post-industrial north and midlands of England, parts of the country virtually untouched by investment and left without hope after being decimated by Thatcher, voted overwhelmingly for Brexit in a veritable scream from the bowels of austerity Britain. Every one of Scotlands 32 local authorities, meanwhile, voted Remain.

Wales, particularly post-industrial south Wales, voted for Brexit, while a five percent majority in Northern Ireland voted Remain.

It confirms that what was once the United Kingdom is now the dis-United Kingdom, with those previously mentioned national and regional differences informing its peoples identities and worldview over the identity of class to an extent previously unseen.

Brexit in this context is a sideshow, a pantomime largely being played out in parliament and the centrist mainstream. As Karl Marx put it: To call upon people to give up their illusions about their condition, is to call upon them to give a condition that requires illusions.

The illusion that Brexit is actually relevant to the needs of those whove seen their lives devoured by the beast of neo-liberalism and bludgeoned by austerity must soon give way to the unvarnished truth that the UK as we know it, is past its sell-by date.

RT  Russia Today
(CNN)  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday gave U.S. diplomats 72 hours to leave the country in response to the head of the National Assembly declaring himself acting president amid massive anti-government protests.

Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate president, a defiant Maduro appeared before supporters to accuse the United States of backing an attempted coup.

Maduro announced that he was cutting remaining political and diplomatic ties with Washington. "We cannot accept the invasive policies of the empire, the United States, the policies of Donald Trump," he said to cheers from the crowd. "Venezuela is a land of liberators."

"We will not surrender," Maduro added.

The announcement came as thousands of Guaido backers took to the streets in a revitalized effort against Maduro, whose military response to the widespread demonstrations seemed more measure than in the past.

Trump vowed in a statement to use "the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy."

Organization of American States General Secretary Luis Almagro and many of Venezuela's neighbors expressed support for Guaido, whose opposition-controlled legislative body called for nationwide marches against Maduro's embattled administration.

Maduro and Guaido vie for power

Maduro addressed a sea of supporters wearing red  symbolic of the government's socialist revolution  from the balcony of the Miraflores presidential palace later in the day. He recounted a long history of "gringo interventions and coups" and said that only Venezuelans can elect and remove their government leaders.

"We will not surrender," he said.

The head of the country's highest court, Juan Jose Mendoza, urged the attorney general to "act immediately" in the face of any constitutional violations.

Guaido responded to Maduro's speech via Twitter, telling all diplomatic missions and accredited staff that Venezuela "wants you to maintain your diplomatic presence in our country."

"Any messages to the contrary lack any validity, since they come from people or entities that have been characterized as usurpers," he said in the statement. "They have no legitimate authority to make any statements on this."

Sporadic clashes erupted after Guaido's swearing in  with news footage showing National Guard members launching tear gas canisters at anti-government demonstrators near one of the main highways in the capital.

Prior to his dramatic swearing-in before throngs of supporters in the capital Caracas, Guaido, 35, said the day marked the beginning of an unstoppable movement to restore independence and democracy to the troubled nation. "We know this will have consequences," Guaido said.

Calling Maduro a dictator and a tyrant, Guaido called for new elections.

"Raise your right hand, today, January 23rd, 2019, in my condition as president of the National Assembly, invoking the articles of the Constitution -- before almighty God," said Guaido, surrounded by supporters raising their hands in solidarity.

"I swear to formally assume the power of the national executive office as the president of Venezuela."

After the swearing in, Guaido and supporters sang the national anthem.

The anti-Maduro marches began at various points throughout the capital, with news footage showing Venezuelan National Guard members tear-gassing protesters near the El Paraiso neighborhood. Others marches were held throughout the country. The opposition has called for new elections, accusing Maduro's government of abusing power.

"The young people of my country need freedom," Grace Chacon said at a march in Caracas.

"We need to get loud. We need to be the voice of our country to say we are in trouble, we are in (an) SOS situation. ... We're fighting without guns. We're fighting without anything. We just have our hearts. We just have our courage."

Maduro and his supporters held a parallel rally outside Miraflores

"We are here to reject any type of attempt to interfere with our nation," said Betulio Reyes, a pro-Maduro rally participant. "We are independent and sovereign and can decide on the fate of our own lives."

Jose Luis Gutierrez of Caracas vowed to "defend my country and my President against any foreign insurgency."

The protests took place on a highly symbolic date for Venezuelans. Wednesday marks the 61st anniversary of a civilian and military uprising that overthrew former dictator Gen. Marcos Perez Jimenez.

Some signs of unrest emerged earlier this week in Caracas. A small team of soldiers, claiming to be members of the armed forces, attempted an uprising against Maduro and triggered violent street protests.

The protests come weeks after Maduro began his second term in power with the nation facing a deep economic crisis and dozens of other countries disputing his legitimacy.

Trump has mulled recognizing Guaido as president as top officials in the U.S. administration have ratcheted up their public statements against Maduro.

Trump to recognize Venezuelan opposition leader as nation's president

Depending on Maduro's response to the protests, Trump is prepared to take a range of actions in retaliation, including possible oil sanctions, two sources familiar with White House deliberations said.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence issued a message of support Tuesday to Venezuelans planning to join the marches.

"We are with you. We stand with you and we will stay with you until democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of libertad (freedom)," Pence said in a video posted on Twitter.

Pence said the United States maintains that Maduro "is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power" and reiterated the administration's policy in support of Guaido.

In response to Pence, Maduro had called for a "total, absolute revision" of Venezuela's diplomatic relations with the United States and said his government would take "political, diplomatic and defense decisions" to defend the country's democracy.

"Never before has an official of the highest level come out in the name of his government, he spoke on behalf of the President of the United States, to say that in Venezuela, the opposition must overthrow the government," Maduro said in a televised message.

Other Venezuelan officials accused Pence of being behind the purported military uprising this week in Caracas.

Wednesday's protests were expected to be the largest demonstration since 2017. Thousands clashed with security forces for months at that time, accusing Maduro of imposing a dictatorship. More than 120 people were killed in protest-linked incidents during that unrest.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly advanced efforts for an amnesty policy for civilians and military officials who would rise up against Maduro's government.

A day earlier, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled the National Assembly is illegitimate, and that no law discussed in the legislative body holds any legal value.

Maduro has continued the social welfare programs and price control policies of Hugo Chavez, who steered the country toward socialism before dying in 2013. Through nearly a decade of mismanagement, Venezuela has squandered its oil wealth, leaving its economy in tatters and Latin America reeling from a mass exodus of migrants in search of food and medicine.

The United Nations estimates as many as 3 million Venezuelans have fled since 2014.

This story was first published on CNN.com "Maduro defiant as Venezuelan opposition leader declares himself acting president"
China cant save the world from climate change by itself

With all the problems in the world  trade tensions, political instability, traffic  its easy to forget about the mother of all threats, climate change. Sure, other grievances can seem insurmountable, but its unlikely any [nuclear conflagration aside] of those carry the potential to wipe out humanity as we know it.

So how are things looking on the climate front? Previous years saw CO2 emissions actually staying flat, though this by itself would not be enough to stave off cataclysmic environmental consequences. But 2017 and 2018 have seen a rise in emissions, by 1.6 and 2.7 percent respectively, according to a report released early last month by the Global Carbon Project. Bad news, by any measure.

News stories about these numbers were quick to point the finger at China, since the country had a projected emissions increase of 4.7 percent in 2018. But this makes sense, given its size. China has the worlds largest population and the worlds second-largest economy, and still relies on manufacturing for a great deal of its growth  though that is slowly changing as it moves to a more diversified, service-oriented economy.

What some might not know is when emissions are looked at on a per-capita basis, China is closer to the bottom of the list, below Germany, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. At the very top is the United States, beating out Chinas per-capita emissions by over a factor of two. Yet this disparity was mentioned only as an afterthought, if reporters bothered at all. The implication seemed to be China is no longer concerned about the dangers of climate change.

I think China would be the first to admit more needs to be done if we are to avert apocalypse. Some parts of the country were unable to meet their reduction targets this year, and renewed vigour will be required if the twin scourges of pollution and emissions are to be eradicated. New sources of energy will have to be found, and coal use in particular must be phased out over time. This is part of an already existing strategy, with cleaner fuels like natural gas being used to bridge the gap between reliance on dirtier fossil fuels and a society with 100 percent renewable energy sources.

As a vast majority of the Chinese population lives on or near coastlines, its a little disingenuous to suggest people here are ignorant of the risks climate change poses.

Its odd. Some in the West, which has long since moved past the heavy industrial stage of development and effectively outsourced its pollution, suddenly see fit to lecture developing countries who dare to pursue better lives for their people.

Easy to say, I suppose, after getting a head start on industrialisation and reaping the benefits. To be fair, most of the highly advanced economies in the West are doing their part to invest in green technology. But there is one glaring exception.

Since the election of Donald Trump, the US has taken a protectionist, nationalist turn in the economic realm. This much is obvious. What gets forgotten in the many headlines about trade and markets is how this stance impacts the environment.

Trumps predecessor Barack Obama continued imperialist wars of aggression and presided over an economic recovery that saw massive upward redistributions of wealth, but he had undeniably better policy than Trump when it came to reducing emissions and serving as a global environmental steward. Under Obama, the US committed to the Paris Agreement. Trump is hell-bent on backing out.

With Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency had at least nominal support. Trump, meanwhile, has appointed climate change deniers to EPA leadership, making the agency a partner of the oil and gas industry in all but name.

Numbers dont lie  China is, at present, the worlds biggest polluter. But China is also doing more to curb emissions than arguably any other country. It is the largest buyer and producer of solar panels, taking heavy losses to effectively subsidize the technology and make it cheaper in the long run. It is the world leader in wind power installation and generation.

Nearly half of all new energy vehicles since 2011 were sold in China, despite the country having only 20 percent of the worlds population. Many of the largest hydroelectric power stations were built in China, and scientists continue work on new forms of energy generation with substantial public investment. Just last month, researchers in Hefei, Anhui province managed to bring a fusion reactor to 100 million degrees Celsius, an important milestone in the quest for abundant, clean, and cheap nuclear energy.

Yet despite all this effort, some continue to criticise. One report even admonished China for its success in reducing air pollution, as this had contributed to an increase in warming! Before coming here a year ago, I heard horror stories of dark, smoggy skies. This showed, people would say, the country didnt care about the environment. Now, after China has taken steps to fix the problem, they make the same accusation anyway. It seems theres no way for the country to please its detractors.

China is doing all it can, contrary to what nay sayers claim. But climate change mitigation is an international effort, and needs international participation. Though it is a big country in terms of economics, geography, and population, China cannot go it alone  nor can it make up for the inaction of other, far more developed nations. Group efforts are stymied if one party is expected to do all the work, or if another refuses to pitch in. There is much more at stake here than national pride, and plenty to lose besides a reputation for tough talk. Maintaining the status quo would spell disaster for the world and its people.

Peoples World
Registering Israels lobbyists

Depending on what criteria one uses, there are between 200 and 600 groups in the United States that wholly or in part are dedicated to furthering the interests of Israel. The organisations are both Jewish, like the Zionist Organisation of America, and Christian Zionist to include John Hagees Christians United for Israel, but the funding of the Israel Lobby and both its political and media access comes overwhelmingly from Jewish supporters and advocates.

Many of the groups are registered with the Internal Revenue Service for tax purposes as 501(c)3 educational or charitable foundations, which enables them to solicit tax exempt donations. One might dispute whether promoting Israeli interests in the United States is actually educational, but as of right now the Department of the Treasury believes it can be so construed, protected by the First Amendment.

But there is a more serious consideration in terms of the actual relationships that many of the groups enjoy with the Israeli government. To be sure, many of them boast on their promotional literature and websites about their relationships with the Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet, so the issue of dual loyalty or, worse, acting as actual Israeli government agents must be considered.

There is a legal remedy to hostile foreigners acting against American interests and that is the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA). Originally intended to identify and monitor agents of Nazi Germany propagandising in the United States, it has since been applied to individuals and groups linked to other nations. Most recently, it was used against Russian news agencies RT America and Sputnik, which were forced to register. It is also being considered for Qatar based Al-Jazeera.

FARA requires identified agents to be transparent in terms of their funding and contacts while also being publicly identified as representing the interests of a foreign nation.

In addition, anyone who directly or through any other person  (i) engages within the United States in political activities for or in the interests of such foreign principal; (ii) acts within the United States as a public relations counsel, publicity agent, information-service employee or political consultant for or in the interests of such foreign principal; (iii) within the United States solicits, collects, disburses, or dispenses contributions, loans, money, or other things of value for or in the interest of such foreign principal; or (iv) within the United States represents the interests of such foreign principal before any agency or official of the government of the United States.

In spite of language that would presumably cover many of the hundreds of Jewish organisations acting for Israel, FARA has never been used to compel registration of any such groups or individuals even when it was public knowledge that they were working closely with the Israeli government to coordinate positions and promote other Israeli interests.

That failure is at a minimum a tribute to Jewish power in the United States, but it is also due to the fact that the organisations are funded from within the United States by wealthy American Jews, not by Israel, which is the argument sometimes inaccurately made by the groups themselves to demonstrate that they are not being directed by the Israeli government.

The difficulty in proving that one is directed by a foreign government has been definitively resolved regarding one group, the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies (FDD), which has become the leading neo-conservative bastion seeking a war with Iran, Israels bete noir.

Vaknin-Gil was discussing his activities with Tony Kleinfeld, an undercover investigative reporter who was secretly recording and filming his encounters with various members of the Israel Lobby as well as of the Israeli government. Vaknin-Gil provided explicit confirmation that the FDD works directly with the Israeli government, making it an Israeli agent by the definition of FARA.

For those who are unfamiliar with FDD, it is probably currently the most prominent neo-con organisation though it nevertheless claims to be a non-partisan research group. It focuses on foreign policy and security issues by Fighting Terrorism and Promoting Freedom, as it informs us on its website masthead. It works to defend free nations against their enemies, which frequently means in practice anyone whom Israel considers to be hostile, most particularly Iran.

FDDs Leadership Council has featured former CIA Director James Woolsey, Senator Joe Lieberman, and Bill Kristol. Its executive director is Canadian import Mark Dubowitz, who is obsessed with Iran. Its advisors and experts are mostly Jewish and most of its funding comes from Jewish oligarchs.

FDDs auditorium has become a preferred venue for senior officials of the Trump administration to go and make hard-line speeches, just as the American Enterprise Institute was under George W Bush. Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton and Nikki Haley have all spoken there recently, frequently focusing on Iran and the threat that it allegedly constitutes.

FDD aside, Vaknin-Gil also confirmed that there were other groups in the United States doing the same sorts of things on behalf of Israel. He said: We have FDD. We have others working on this, elaborating that FDD is working on projects for Israel including data gathering, information analysis, working on activist organisations, money trail.

So Vaknin-Gil was admitting that FDD and others were working as Israeli proxies, collecting information on US citizens, spying on legal organisations, and both planning and executing disinformation at Israeli direction. Kleinfeld also spoke with a Jonathan Schanzer, a senior official in FDD, who filled in a bit more of what the foundation is up to in terms of discrediting groups in the US that support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement.

Schanzer admitted BDS has taken everybody by surprise before complaining that the Jewish response has been a complete mess. I dont think that anybodys doing a good job. Were not even doing a good job.

So, when will the Justice Department move on FDD now that its true colours have been exposed by al-Jazeera? The group must be required to register if justice be done, but will it? Its principal partner in crime, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has avoided registering for more than 60 years by claiming that it is an American organisation working to educate the US public about the all the good things connected to Israel.

Even though it meets regularly with Israeli government officials, it claims not to be representing Israeli interests. But just as in the case of FDD, it is time to require AIPAC to register as what it really is: a foreign agent. As a registered agent, it will still be able to exercise First Amendment rights to defend Israel but it would not be able to be involved in lobbying on Capitol Hill and directing money to politicians who are described as pro-Israeli, as it does now. Its finances will be transparent and it will be perceived not as an educational resource for what is happening in the Middle East, but as an official advocate for Israel.

Information Clearing House
BHP and BlueScope to axe last two Australian iron ore vessels

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has accused large multinational companies BHP and BlueScope Steel of using the January holiday period to quietly sack nearly 80 Australian seafarers and replace them with $2 an hour exploited foreign labour on the Australian coast.

MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the union has been informed that the MV Mariloula and MV Lowlands Brilliance would be dumped immediately  the last remaining Australian ships that have serviced BHP and subsequently Bluescope steelworks in this country for more than 100 years.

This is a national disgrace, Crumlin said. Many, many Australians have known someone who worked on the famous fleet of BHP iron boats, yet the company wants to end more than 100 years of proud trade by sending a couple of sneaky emails in early January.

One in eight merchant seafarers died defending this country in two world wars and their legacy deserves a lot more than this treacherous, underhanded attempt to dump Australian workers ahead of a federal election.

Crumlin said the two vessels move iron ore from BHPs mining operations in Port Hedland to BlueScopes steelworks in Port Kembla, then run coal to China before returning to Port Hedland and qualify as cabotage trade.

The union has written to the company demanding answers.

It is with great surprise and regret we received notice from BHP informing the impending removal of the MV Mariloula and MV Lowlands Brilliance from freight services contracted to BlueScope and consequently, their removal from Australian coastal and international trade, the correspondence says.

The decision has the potential to devastatingly affect Australian seafarers and will see BlueScopes supply chain effectively removing Australia labour from the local Australian industry, being replaced by highly exploited foreign crews paid as low as $2 per hour.

Paddy Crumlin said the MUA remains deeply concerned with BlueScopes lack of consultation and discussion prior to the announcement by BHP, as well as the fact BlueScope is planning to shut down a trade that has run successfully for more than 100 years when alternatives are available.

The union understands there to be considerable availability of Cape Size Bulk vessels suitable for the BlueScope freight task currently performed by the MV Mariloula and MV Lowlands Brilliance, the letter says.

We urge BlueScope to utilise Australian seafaring labour in its local supply chain. Australian seafarers have serviced BHP and subsequently Bluescope steel works in this country for more than 100 years.

Crumlin said the MUA had historically worked constructively with both BHP and Bluescope to meet cabotage requirement, including pay freezes during periods of economic downturn.

This contribution to the company by Australian seafarers deserves ongoing certainty of their employment in BlueScopes shipping supply chain. We note that during the period of wage freeze by workers including seafarers the Company made a $1.6 billion profit, the letter says.

The union says the move is particularly galling given the current shipping arrangements do not expire between BHP and Bluescope until June this year and that his brief discussions with company management had shed no light on the reasons behind the decision.

The MUA is now requesting a meeting with BlueScope, BHP, maritime unions and the Australian Workers Union to ascertain the real facts behind BHPs decision to dump current shipping arrangements and to further discuss what will occur between now and June.
LOS ANGELES  Teachers overwhelmingly approved a new contract Tuesday and planned to return to the classroom after a six-day strike over funding and staffing in the nations second-largest school district.

Although all votes hadnt been counted, preliminary figures showed that a vast supermajority of some 30,000 educators voted in favor of the tentative deal, therefore ending the strike and heading back to schools tomorrow, said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, accompanied by leaders of the union and the Los Angeles Unified School District, announced the agreement at City Hall a few hours after a 21-hour bargaining session ended before dawn.

This is a good agreement. It is a historic agreement, Garcetti said.

The deal was broadly described by officials at the news conference as including a 6 percent pay hike and a commitment to reduce class sizes over four years.

Specifics provided later by the district and the union included the addition of more than 600 nursing positions over the next three school years. Additional counselors and librarians were also part of the increase in support staff.

Marianne OBrien said the need for additional support staff was one of the main reasons she walked picket lines.

This is not just for teachers. Its also for counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers, said OBrien, who teaches 10th grade English.

The new contract also eliminates a longstanding clause that gave the district authority over class sizes, officials said. Grades 4 through 12 would be reduced by one student during each of the next two school years and two pupils in 2021-22.

Clashes over pay, class sizes and support-staff levels in the district with 640,000 students led to its first strike in 30 years and prompted the staffing of classrooms with substitute teachers and administrators.

District Superintendent Austin Beutner said he was delighted the deal was reached. But he hinted that financial challenges remained.

The issue has always been: How do we pay for it? Beutner said. That issue does not go away now that we have a contract. We cant solve 40 years of underinvestment in public education in just one week or just one contract.

The Board of Education was expected to move quickly to ratify the deal, which would expire at the end of June 2022.

Christopher Weber and Brian Melley are Associated Press writers.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court took no action Tuesday on the Trump administrations plans to shut down a program that shields about 700,000 young immigrants in the country illegally from deportation.

The courts inaction almost certainly means it will not hear the administrations challenge in its current term, which ends in June. The justices next private conference to consider petitions seeking review is scheduled for Feb. 15. Even were they to agree to hear the case then, it would not be argued until after the next term starts in October.

The move left the program in place and denied negotiating leverage to President Trump, who has said he wanted to use a Supreme Court victory in the case in negotiations with Democrats over immigration issues.

Trump tried to end the program in 2017, calling it an unconstitutional use of executive power by his predecessor and reviving the threat of deportation for immigrants who had been brought to the United States illegally as young children.

But federal judges have ordered the administration to maintain major pieces of the program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, while legal challenges move forward, notably by requiring the administration to allow people enrolled in it to renew their protected status.

In November, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against the administration. It acknowledged that presidents have broad powers to alter the policies of earlier administrations but said that the legal rationale offered by the Trump administration did not withstand scrutiny. The court also questioned the cruelty and wastefulness of deporting productive young people to countries with which they have no ties.

Trump has criticized that ruling and has said he would be vindicated in the Supreme Court. He also predicted that a Supreme Court victory would strengthen his hand in negotiations with Democratic lawmakers over immigration issues.

I think its going to be overturned in the United States Supreme Court, and I think its going to be overwhelmingly overturned, Trump said at a Cabinet meeting this month, adding, So if we win that case  and I say this for all to hear  well be easily able to make a deal on DACA and the wall as a combination.

Trump has taken inconsistent positions on the program. Even as he tried to end it, he called upon Congress to give legal status and an eventual path to citizenship to the young immigrants, who are sometimes called Dreamers. More recently, he offered to extend the program in exchange for concessions on a border wall.

The administration has argued that the program, instituted by the Obama administration, was an unconstitutional exercise of executive authority, relying on a ruling from the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans concerning a related program. The Supreme Court deadlocked, 4-4, in an appeal of that ruling.

But the Ninth Circuit said the two programs differed in important ways, undermining the administrations legal analysis. The appeals court affirmed a nationwide injunction ordering the administration to retain major elements of the program while the case moved forward. Such nationwide injunctions, which have been used by courts to block executive actions in both the Obama and Trump administrations, have been the subject of much commentary and criticism.

Adam Liptak is a New York Times writer.
SOUTH BEND, Ind.  Democrat Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., says hes forming an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential bid.

The reality is theres no going back, and theres no such thing as again in the real world. We cant look for greatness in the past, Buttigieg says in a video that includes before-and-after footage of South Bend, a Rust Belt city once described as dying.

Right now our country needs a fresh start, he says.

Buttigieg has touted his work to improve his city of 100,000 residents as hes prepared for a jump from local politics to a presidential campaign. Hes also said Democrats could benefit from a new generation of leaders.

Hes expected to travel to Iowa next week to meet with voters in the nations first caucus state, followed by stops in New Hampshire.

Buttigieg is a Rhodes scholar who was first elected mayor of his hometown in 2011 at age 29, making him the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents. A lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, he served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014.

Buttigieg raised his national profile with an unsuccessful 2017 run for Democratic National Committee chairman, saying the party needed a new start. He withdrew from the race before a vote when it became clear he didnt have the support to win.

Buttigieg cracks that those who do know his name still arent sure how to pronounce it. (Its BOO-tah-juhj.) Most of the time he goes by Mayor Pete.

If he were to win the Democratic nomination, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party.

Sara Burnett is an Associated Press writer.
A lawsuit filed last week accused United Airlines of failing to protect a 16-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted on a July 2017 flight from Seattle to Newark, New Jersey.

Vijaykumar Krishnappa, 29, was sentenced to 90 days at a federal court in New Jersey earlier this month.

But the complaint filed in King County Superior Court says that United failed to take appropriate action when the victim called for help, even letting Krishnappa walk off the flight afterward, prompting the girl's mother to call law enforcement so he could be arrested the next day.

RELATED: 2 men charged with sexual assault aboard Seattle-bound airplanes

"The conduct of United in this case is unconscionable from start to finish," said attorney Samuel Daheim, who, with Julie Kays, represents the victim and her mother in the case.

For its part, United issued a public statement indicating it cooperated with the criminal investigation and let the victim change seats.

The assault occurred July 23, 2017. The victim, from the Federal Way area, was about to fly alone for the first time to head for a young women's leadership conference at Princeton University, according to the lawsuit.

The girl was assigned a seat toward the back of the aircraft and the cabin lights were switched off as the crew prepared for takeoff. The teen expected to sleep throughout the flight.

However, the passenger next to her, later identified as a doctor from India working in the United States as part of a fellowship, began to touch her knee with his fingertips. The teen thought he was asleep and didn't think the touching was intentional, court documents say.

However, the touching escalated to his hand on her knee, then on her upper thigh and on her genitalia over her leggings.

RELATED: Sheriff: Son lived among parents' dead bodies for days before killing self in Sammamish

The girl felt "trapped and afraid" in the dark cabin and thought Krishnappa might do something worse if she drew attention. But when he slid his hand beneath the waistband of her pants, she confronted him and summoned a flight attendant.

The lawsuit says that the flight attendant who responded did nothing to rectify the situation except to tell Krishnappa, "not cool, dude," and move the teen a few rows ahead, where Krishnappa could still see her.

The Seattle-based flight crew allegedly did nothing to investigate or document the incident and only gave the teen a bag of peanuts as she cried hysterically.

Upon landing more than four hours later, Krishnappa walked off the flight -- meaning, Daheim said, that United crew violated federal law by failing to report the assault to authorities.

The teen called her mother in tears to report what happened. Her mother booked a flight to come see her and contacted police, according to court records.

Krishnappa was arrested the next day.

The assault left the girl unable to participate in the prestigious conference and has since suffered social isolation, the complaint said.

United Airlines issued a statement about the case that reads, in part:

"The safety and well-being of our customers is our top priority. Our customer was immediately moved to a different seat when the flight attendant was made aware of the issue. We fully cooperated with law enforcement's investigation and the perpetrator has been permanently banned from flying United."

The FBI and federal prosecutors have encouraged passengers in recent months to report any sexual assault they witness or suffer aboard an airplane. During a press conference in August, the FBI said reports of sexual assault aboard aircraft have increased 30 percent in the previous four years.

SeattlePI reporter Lynsi Burton can be reached at lynsiburton@seattlepi.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LynsiBurton_PI. Find more from Lynsi here.
Two dog trainers working with NorCal K9 are charged with multiple instances of animal cruelty, following the death of a 3-year-old German shepherd named Gunnar.

Gunnar's owners, Jeff and Denise Swank of Napa, say they enrolled the dog in a five-week training course costing $6,000 with NorCal K9 last May in an effort to "further his training," as the two told KOVR.

However, Gunnar died while with the training center.

"To send your baby off to school and then you get them in the mail, it's hard," Denise Swank said, referring to a box holding Gunnar's cremated remains.

In December, NorCal K9 owner Garry Reynolds, of Antioch, was charged with eight counts of felony animal cruelty. He was released after he posted $160,000 bail. Another trainer with NorCal K9, Devon Ashby, was charged with eight counts as well, but was released on his own recognizance.

The charges against Reynolds, filed with the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office on Dec. 12, also include charges of animal cruelty against seven other dogs, including a golden retriever, bull mastiff, chihuahua, doberman and three other dogs of unknown breeds. Charges allege that Reynolds "did inflict unnecessary cruelty upon this animal, and did abuse this animal and did fail to provide this animal with proper food, drink, or shelter or protection from the weather."

In the case of Gunnar, Reynolds said the Swanks' dog passed away on a day that was 71 degrees outside. He said he did not leave the dogs outside, and that he was always with Gunnar, unless he left the house to eat at a restaurant.

"At night, (Gunnar) slept on my bed  I was building a bond with him," Reynolds tells SFGATE. "He was a very aggressive dog ... The only time I wasn't with him was when I went out to eat."

One day, after one such instance, Reynolds said he returned home to find Gunnar had "passed away." After CPR was unsuccessful, he called Denise Swank (the Swanks also say NorCal K9 called them to inform them of Gunnar's death.).

"I was in tears  that's never happened," Reynolds continued. "I said we should call the vet."

Reynolds said they put Gunnar's body on ice and delivered him to a vet in Davis. The Swanks then subsequently ordered a necropsy on the dog through UC Davis, which found the dog had shown signs of an increased body temperature, "commonly seen in cases of heat stress or heat stroke," according to KOVR.

The Swanks filed a civil suit against Reynolds and NorCal K9.

"I'm speaking tonight in hopes that we can be his voice. He didn't have one," Denise Swank said. "I often think of, what was he thinking when he went to training? 'Where's my family? Why am I here?'"

Antioch Police reportedly received a written complaint about NorCal K9 after Gunnar's death. Police found some animals in crates at a home in Antioch, though training took place elsewhere in the East Bay.

Reynolds, however, denies culpability, though he has not yet entered a formal plea with the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office. He is due to be arraigned on Feb. 25.

Ashby has pleaded not guilty and is due in court next on Jan. 30.

SFGATE has reached out to the Antioch Police Department for more information.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


For the chef or particular home cook, farmers' markets have been the best way to guarantee some of the freshest, local seasonal options  often at a noticeable price difference than what you'd see at the local grocery store.

But between the farmers' markets themselves, is there a discernible price difference between items? Or are all farmers' markets created equal?

On a recent Saturday, SFGATE decided to put two farmers' markets to the test during the winter season, to see how the selections and prices compare.

First up: the Alemany Farmers' Market. Alemany has a long, storied existence in San Francisco, which includes the important distinction of being California's first established farmers' market. Starting in 1943 at its original location of Duboce Avenue and Market Street, the market moved four years later to its current spot at 100 Alemany Blvd. The market now operates year-round on Saturdays at this location, and has long been known as "the people's market," with a reputation for being an affordable option for families.

In comparison, the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market has become the upstart farmers' market since the Ferry Building's restoration and reopening in 2003. The shops inside the building focus on artisan, locally made, prepared foods, and the modern-day farmers' market that operates around them has pretty much followed suit.

Its thrice-weekly market has become a tourist attraction, with its weekly chef demos and educational offerings, and is also a place where local chefs are known to frequent for their supply of fruits and vegetables.

(For the purpose of this experiment, I did not include any shops or items sold within the Ferry Building as part of the price comparison.)

How do the two stack up? The answer, unfortunately, is complicated. As Serious Eats noted in its review of Alemany in 2013, a number of vendors overlap and sell goods at both Alemany and the Ferry Building; however, some of the goods at Alemany are considered "seconds" while the pristine options are more the fare of the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. If you don't mind some slightly cosmetically challenged options for a deal, Alemany is the place to go.

Largely, however, our item-by-item comparisons found most things quite evenly priced during the winter. Carrots, for example, had matching prices at both markets, as well as cilantro and kale. The most outstanding difference in pricing was between the honey and almonds at the two markets.

Curious to see the differences? Click through the slideshow at the top of this article for a side-by-side comparison of a selection of items found at the Alemany Farmers' Market and the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market.

Read Dianne de Guzman's latest stories and send her news tips at ddeguzman@sfchronicle.com.

Start receiving breaking news emails on wildfires, civil emergencies, riots, national breaking news, Amber Alerts, weather emergencies, and other critical events with the SFGATE breaking news email. Click here to make sure you get the news.
An 18-year-old man accused of brutally beating an 88-year-old woman this month in San Franciscos Visitacion Valley neighborhood went on a crime spree in the weeks following the attack, police said Wednesday.

Keonte Gathron, a San Francisco resident, was arrested Saturday after he committed a carjacking at gunpoint and robbed two teens of their phones, police said at a news conference attended by Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee and Police Chief Bill Scott.

His actions speak to somebody that doesnt value human life very much, Scott said.

Gathron allegedly beat 88-year-old Yik Oi Huang on Jan. 8 at a Visitacion Valley playground she regularly visited in the morning to exercise. Police said he went on to burglarize her home across the street until a witness came upon the scene, prompting him to flee.

As of Wednesday, Huang remained in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital. A GoFundMe page for her medical care has raised more than $14,000.

Eight days after the vicious attack, police received a report of a man robbed of his car at gunpoint on Jan. 16 on the 1600 block of Visitacion Avenue, just six blocks from Huangs residence. A San Francisco sheriffs deputy found the abandoned car nine hours later at a gas station on San Bruno Avenue, said Cmdr. Greg McEachern, of the San Francisco Police Department.

Crime lab detectives used DNA evidence to link Gathron to the carjacking and subsequent crimes, Scott said. Police on Wednesday declined to offer additional information about his criminal record beyond noting he had been arrested as a juvenile.

He has had prior contact with law enforcement, Scott said.

Three days after the carjacking, Gathron allegedly robbed two teenagers of their phones in San Francisco. He biked up to a 14-year-old girl around 4:45 p.m. Saturday as she walked down the 100 block of Woolsey Street and robbed her of her cell phone at gunpoint, police said.

An hour later, Gathron allegedly rode up to a 17-year-old girl near Belle and St. Charles avenues and punched her in the face before fleeing with her iPhone.

Investigators traced one of the phones back to a residence in San Franciscos Sunnydale neighborhood, where they found Gathron. He fled on foot but shortly thereafter was taken into custody by police, McEachern said.

Yee said Visitacion Valley residents are relieved the suspect in Huangs attack was arrested, but theres still apprehension that violent crimes will continue in the neighborhood.

Theyre still afraid it might happen again, he said.

The supervisor called on police to allocate more officers to the southeast quadrant of San Francisco and install more surveillance cameras for the area.

Rex Tabora, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Community Center, echoed Yees request for a greater police presence. The center is located three blocks from Huangs home and the playground.

Some crimes like this go unsolved, Tabora said.

Gathron was booked into San Francisco County Jail on 12 counts, including attempted murder, elder abuse and robbery. He is expected to be arraigned Thursday at the Hall of Justice.

Gwendolyn Wu is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: gwendolyn.wu@

sfchronicle.com Twitter: @gwendolynawu
This article, Prize-winning underwater photos will make you want to learn to dive, originally appeared on CNET.com.

Some of us can barely take respectable photographs on land, never mind trying to do it well below the ocean's surface. That's why these just-announced winning images from the 2018 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, made such a splash.
The working class and its allies

Appeal of the 20th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties

The 20th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties (IMCWP) took place on November 23-25, 2018, in Athens, hosted by the KKE (Communist Party of Greece), which celebrated the 100th year of its historic course.

At the meeting under the theme of: The contemporary working class and its alliance. The tasks of its political vanguard - the Communist and Workers Parties, in the struggle against exploitation and imperialist wars, for the rights of the workers and the peoples, for peace, for socialism , 90 Communist and Workers parties from 73 countries took part, representing all the continents.

The Parties representatives discussed developments at the international, regional and national level, exchanged thoughts on the experience gained from the struggle of the Communist and Workers Parties in their countries, the common and convergent actions developed during the previous period, the class struggles in their countries, their efforts to promote the alliance of the working class with other popular and anti-monopoly strata.

They discussed the tasks for the strengthening of the communists struggle; the development of struggles of the working class and the other popular strata for the rights of the workers; of the people; of the youth, in conflict with the monopolies; the power of capital and capitalist exploitation and oppression.

The contributions of the Communist and Workers Parties highlighted the exploitative, predatory and inhuman nature of capitalism. It was noted that the contradictions and competition of capitalist states and alliances are sharpening in a multi-faceted way on the terrain of the crisis or capitalist growth; that the process of realignment of forces is advancing internationally.

Imperialist interference, blockades and interventions are continuing. There are still ongoing wars, such as in Syria, Yemen, Libya, as well as in Azerbaijan. The fratricidal war in Ukraine continues under the responsibility of the anti-people Kiev regime. Military armaments and war preparations are escalating.

The Communist and Workers Parties welcome the struggles of the workers and the peoples around the world against the offensive of imperialism, against occupation, against any threats to sovereign rights and national independence, for peace, for the defence and the widening of social and democratic rights. The experience gained in many countries from the struggles against the imperialist plans and political line of the USA, NATO, the EU and their allies is valuable.

The sharpening of the contradictions involves the risk of new imperialist wars for the control of wealth-producing resources, markets and energy pipelines; this risk sets serious tasks for the workers movement and the communists for the strengthening of a broad anti-imperialist struggle for peace and disarmament, the intensification of the struggle against the political line of bourgeois governments that serves the profitability of big capital and imperialist aggression and war.

The developments highlight that the struggle for peace, disarmament, respect for popular sovereignty, for the solution of the peoples problems and the satisfaction of the peoples needs is inextricably linked to the struggle for the overthrow of capitalist barbarity, for socialism.

The Communist and Workers Parties assessed positively the initiatives taken in 2017 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution and in 2018 for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, contributing to the defence of the Soviet Unions contribution, of socialism, which is the only way out of capitalist exploitation.

They reaffirmed their internationalist solidarity with the Syrian, Palestinian, Cypriot peoples; with the peoples of Lebanon, of Sudan, of Socialist Cuba, of Venezuela, of Brazil, of Iran, with all the peoples which face imperialist attacks and threats.

They condemned anti-communism and the attack on democratic rights and freedoms and expressed full support to the communists persecuted in Poland, Ukraine, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan as well as to the communists facing legal and political processes in Russia, Transnistria and elsewhere.

It was noted that in 2019 there are several important commemorations as the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist International, the 70 years of the Chinese Revolution as well as the 60 years of the Cuban Revolution. These anniversaries could be utilised in order to strengthen proletarian internationalism; to defend the history and contribution of the Communist movement for the popular gains, for the struggle for progress, for the social emancipation of the workers and of the peoples in contrast to the falsification and distortion of the historical truth and the identification of communism with the fascist atrocities.

The Communist and Workers parties expressed their solidarity with refugees and immigrants. They condemned racism, the dangerous fascist, far-right forces that arise from the exploitative system and are directed against the peoples.

During the 20th IMCWP, a series of declarations of solidarity with the struggle of the peoples in many parts of the world were issued.

The Communist and Workers parties call for the development of common and convergent actions in the next period along these main axes:

Against imperialist war, interventions and militarisation.

Actions against NATO  whose 70th anniversary is on April 4, 2019  and the EU, which is being further militarised with PESCO and other mechanisms.

Against nuclear weapons and foreign military bases, utilising the nuclear holocaust anniversary in Hiroshima  Nagasaki (on August 6 and 9) and the 80 years since the start of the Second World War (on September 1).

To defend the history of the communist movement and the values of proletarian internationalism

Multi-faceted events for the 100th anniversary of the Communist International (on March 2), actions against anti-communism, persecutions and bans of Communist and Workers Parties. Utilisation of the 102nd anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution to highlight the achievements of socialism and deepen the theoretical discussion and practical action against capitalism and its exploitative, oppressive, aggressive, predatory and inhuman nature.

To strengthen Internationalist Solidarity with the struggling peoples, which face occupation, imperialist threats and interventions.

To strengthen internationalist solidarity and struggle demanding the end of the US blockade against Cuba and the interventions and threats against Bolivarian Venezuela.

To support the struggle of Palestinian people for the end of the occupation and self-determination, establishing a national, independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the UN resolutions, supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people and condemning the criminal policy of Israel.

To denounce imperialist interventions in the Korean Peninsula and express solidarity with the Korean people for independent and peaceful reunification. To express solidarity with refugees and with all peoples facing occupation, intervention and blockades by imperialism.

Multi-faceted class solidarity with workers struggles for labour, social, trade union rights, against the offensive of capital.

Development of actions of struggle in workplaces and in particular on International Workers Day on May 1st, highlighting the vanguard role of the communists.

Development of actions of struggle on March 8, International Womens Day, to defend womens rights and their full equality in work and life.

Struggle for political and trade union freedoms and democratic rights against fascist forces, reactionary regimes, racism and xenophobia, religious fanaticism and social oppression.

Development of actions of struggle on the day of the Peoples Victory over Fascism-Nazism.

Development of actions to protect the environment.

The participants thanked the Communist Party of Greece for hosting successfully this Meeting.
This article, Hacked Nest Cam convinces family that US is being attacked by North Korea, originally appeared on CNET.com.

A woman living in the Bay Area says she got a hoax warning last weekend that the US was under nuclear attack. The warning came from an unlikely place: her Nest Cam.

Laura Lyons of Orinda, California told the San Jose Mercury News that her smart home security camera was infiltrated after it said on Sunday that three North Korean missiles were headed to Los Angeles, Chicago and Ohio. The warning was preceded by a blaring alarm, Lyons told the newspaper.

The message said the US was retaliating and affected areas had three hours to evacuate, she said. Lyons checked news stations for coverage of the apparent attack, but found nothing. When she realized the message was coming from the Nest Cam sitting above her TV, she called the company, which is part of Google, to find out what was going on.

Lyons said a representative told her that she was a victim of a "third party hack." Lyons didn't respond to a request for comment.

Nest says Lyons' device was most likely compromised by a stolen password.

"Nest was not breached," a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. "These recent reports are based on customers using compromised passwords (exposed through breaches on other websites). In nearly all cases, two-factor verification eliminates this type of the security risk.

"We take security in the home extremely seriously, and we're actively introducing features that will reject comprised passwords, allow customers to monitor access to their accounts and track external entities that abuse credentials."

Still, as companies like Google, Amazon and Samsung try to convince consumers to turn their homes into hubs full of internet-connected gadgets and appliances, a scare like the one Lyons experienced could sour people from bringing those devices into their houses.

This isn't the first time Nest's cameras have been infiltrated by outsiders. In December, a hacker took over the camera of a man in Arizona to warn him of security vulnerabilities. In another case last month, a hacker told a couple through the device he'd kidnap their child.

Security experts have been warning for years that smart home devices are vulnerable to hackers. Some vulnerable devices come with bugs that hackers can exploit. To prevent hackers from using stolen passwords to log into security cameras and other connected devices, experts say companies need to educate users on how to use better security. Betsy Cooper, founding director of the Aspen Policy Hub, said that would help keep hackers out of security cameras and other internet connected "things."

Consumers can choose to use a stronger password and enable extra security features like two-factor authentication -- but they aren't required to do so. Device makers should flip that around, Cooper said. For example, they could turn on two-factor authentication by default and leave it up to consumers to turn it off if they don't want it.

"Companies should shift the way that they think about those things," Cooper said, "so they're not making stronger security so easy to avoid."

People can check if any of their passwords have been caught up in known data breaches using sites like Have I Been Pwned or Mozilla's Firefox Monitor. Some websites will also flag your password for you if it's been caught up in a breach, using a tool from the login company Okta.

The Smartest Stuff: Innovators are thinking up new ways to make you, and the things around you, smarter.

Special Reports: CNET's in-depth features in one place.
Cal Fire used to rely on shifts of trained lookouts poised atop mountains to track wildfire movements. But now, a network of cameras will let anyone with internet access monitor for potential dangers, 24 hours a day.

Dozens of cameras spanning the state will allow utilities, Cal Fire and the public watch thousands of miles of California wilderness in real-time, providing valuable information to first responders.

"The system is more of a 911 response," says Graham Kent, who directs the University of Nevada, Reno seismology lab which started the program. Kent says the biggest problem is not spotting the fires, but responding to their exact location and movements. That's where the network comes in.

RELATED: What PG&E Bankruptcy means for fire prevention

"It allows them to understand almost immediately what's going on," said Kent.

Since July, dozens of cameras have gone live on the AlertWildfire.org website, which is funded by several entities, including the state's four largest utilities. In the North Bay, the plan is to mount around 40 cameras by spring spanning Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa and Lake Counties.

As the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports, the latest fire lookout camera was mounted Tuesday above the area ravaged by the 2017 Tubbs Fire. A single camera cans cover up to 5,000 square miles during the day and even farther using near-infrared capabilities at night, according to the newspaper. Right now, cameras atop Atlas Peak, Mt. Tam, Geyser Peak and others are live on the AlertWildfire.org website.

Kent says he hopes future state funding will allow the network to grow without the need to hammer out individual agreements with each of the dozens of utilities operating within the sate.

Right now, existing cameras are also live in the San Diego, Tahoe and Orange County areas, among others. You can see the full network here.

The program is the result of a student idea from nearly a decade ago. They saw the potential to crowdsource fire monitoring using the power of social media.

ALSO: 911 calls reveal terror of the Camp Fire

"We want the public to help man the cameras," says Kent. And while the causal viewers won't have the ability to move the 360-degree pan the way operators can, they can prove instrumental in notifying authorities.

Kent notes that each live camera has a "tweet" button placed at the top of the screen which can be used to notify authorities of fire movement. But Kent asks the public not to stop there.

"We always say 'call 911 and then tweet.'"
A celebration of the life of Bonita Mabo

Ernestine Bonita Mabo was a small woman who became a giant of Australias Indigenous land rights and reconciliation movements. Dr Mabo was remembered as the mother of native title as well as a loving mother and grandmother at her state funeral last December 8.

She was a mighty role model, and the reason her grandchildren can walk proud as black people in Australia, mourners said.

The renowned Indigenous rights campaigner died aged 75, just days after being awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from James Cook University in recognition of her work in Indigenous education.

She was granted a state funeral following her death as a mark of the impact she had on the nation.

Dr Mabo famously worked with her late husband Eddie Koiki Mabo to help establish the Native Title Act.

The change did away with the concept of terra nullius, which had been the legal justification for forcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from their land.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told the Townsville funeral service that Dr Mabo was an unlikely giant.

I say unlikely because Bonita Mabo was not imposing, not physically, Ms Palaszczuk said.

And yet this slight woman from Ingham would change the course of history.

Bonitas story is powerful. Itll be told and retold as a beacon to generations to follow her lead.

She empowered her people to speak from the heart and stand up for what they believed in.

Dr Mabo was a history maker in her own right long before the High Courts landmark native title ruling, which forever and rightfully changed our nation, and long after.

Her gentle compassion and courage, and her unwavering conviction to stand up for justice without hesitation, will continue to inspire us all.

Dr Mabo was a Malanbarra woman, born near Ingham, with South Sea Islander ancestry and family ties to Vanuatu.

She married Eddie in 1959, and the couple had 10 children, with Indigenous education becoming one of her lifelong passions.

Dr Mabo co-founded Australias first Indigenous community school, the Black Community School in Townsville, after becoming fed up with her children not learning their own history and cultures.

Her sister Aunty Roslind White delivered the eulogy, while her grandson Kaleb Cohen read a letter to his Norni saying he didnt come to say goodbye, but thank you.

You are the reason I can walk with my chest out and my head held high. You are the reason I feel proud to be a black man in this country, he said.

In 2013, Dr Mabo was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the Indigenous community.

In recent years she had been fighting for South Sea Islanders to be recognised as a separate ethnic group in their own right, and was an honorary patron of the Australian South Sea Islanders Alliance.

Mourners included family and friends, Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, WA Senator Pat Dodson, former Australian Governor General and Queensland Governor Dame Quentin Bryce, and mayors from Indigenous Shires Alf Lacey (Palm Island), Vonda Malone (Torres Shire Council) and Eddie Newman (Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council).

Before the coffin was carried into the service Alfred Smallwood and Dr Mabos grandson William Mabo (on didgeridoo) conducted a smoking ceremony.

Pastor Tony Hallo from Townsville Worship Centre read the opening prayer and the mourners were welcomed to country by former NAIDOC person of the year Dr Gracelyn Smallwood, who gave a moving tribute to Dr Mabo.

Dr Mabo was also recognised for her commitment to the history of her South Sea Islander forebears, taken from their homes in Vanuatu to work as slaves in Queensland.

Mourners were asked to donate to Diabetes Queensland instead of sending flowers.

Koori Mail
Every Wednesday morning, SFGATE finds the biggest headlines in local (and sometimes national) beer. Check back here weekly for news, events, and information about special releases from your favorite local breweries.

Missing a beer newsletter in your inbox every other week? SFGATE is bringing it back in a whole new format. And this time, it has a new title: The Mash. If you were previously signed up for the Taploid, you will receive the new newsletter; if not, you can sign up for it here.

Alvarado Street Brewery's new sour program, Yeast of Eden, now has an officially open taproom for the public in Carmel. The new space showcases the mixed-fermentation beers the brewery has been increasingly producing, along with a food menu meant to complement it. Some beer will be produced onsite, in their oak foeders or open-top fermenter.

Have you voted yet in the San Francisco Chronicle's Beer Hall of Fame poll? Choose five beers that you believe are the most important brews that have ever come out of the Bay Area. Is it Anchor Steam? Trumer Pils? Or Pliny? The choice is yours.

This February may be your most promising shot yet to grab a Pliny the Younger pour. As the Chronicle reports, Russian River Brewing is doubling its usual Younger production this year  to 350 barrels of keg volume  thanks to the added capacity from their new Windsor brewhouse. The 10.25 percent triple IPA, to be released on February 1, will be available at both their taprooms and at the usual places you can find Russian River beers on tap.

The Brewers Association is ending an important chapter following the announcement of Charlie Papazian's retirement from the trade organization. Papazian, 70, is exiting his post with the group on Wednesday, January 23. In a public statement, the BA says they wouldn't be where they are without the beer industry great. "Armed with a vision, a mission and the passion to succeed, Charlie turned his love of homebrewing into a community and culture that has had profound implications for so many, both personally and professionally," the statement reads. "His contributions are indelible and innumerable, and his legacy lives on as the Brewers Association continues to serve the community Charlie helped to create."

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


San Franciscos unofficial art week  the third week of January, when the Fog Art + Design and Untitled, Art fairs are held  has become one of the most socially competitive times of the year. The weeks VIP experiences have become must-attend happenings for locals and for the art and social sets that flock to San Francisco as much for the parties as the paintings (and sculptures, design and video art). While some only visit the fairs with a cocktail in one hand and a selfie-ready smartphone in the other, theres also a melange of local and international artists, gallerists and collectors all too eager to discuss the finer points of mixed-media presentations and to help decode the work for outsiders (or not).

From Minnesota Street Project and Fort Mason to SoMa and Chinatown, here are the highlights of art week and what lessons I learned from my decidedly outsider perspective.

Tony Bravo / The Chronicle

Saturday: Spider-Mans Peter Parker exposed

My art week begins at the opening of Gold Standard, the Ever Gold Projects gallerys 10-year anniversary exhibition at Minnesota Street Project in Dogpatch on Jan. 12. Ever Gold gallerist Andrew McClintock shows me pieces by big names like Guy Overfelt, Ed Ruscha and Barry McGee. Mark Floods acrylic-and-ink Spiderman provokes the strongest reaction: The image of the Marvel hero with I hate you and want kill you scrawled over it is a little jarring, as is the fact that Spidey is letting his Peter Parker hang out of the fly of his costume. I post it with an adult content warning on Instagram, but it is later tagged as violating community standards by the company and removed.

Lesson: Forget Jerry Saltz  Instagram is the ultimate social media art critic.

Tony Bravo / The Chronicle

Tuesday: Bowling with Barry McGee

New York gallerist Adam Lindemann of Venus Over Manhattan gallery is presenting his first San Francisco show in the vestry of Ken Fulks Saint Josephs Arts Society, the decorator/event maestros new arts space in a converted Catholic Church in SoMa. The show includes an Alexander Calder 1961 tabletop sculpture, The Mountain, that Lindemann jokes would be worth far less if someone pocketed the button-size ornament on top.

Tony Bravo / The Chronicle

Second stop: Altman Siegel gallery in Dogpatch. But before I can see any of K.r.m. Mooneys first solo exhibition at Altman Siegel, Nacre, I almost run into a tripping hazard: two large pieces of aluminium on the gallery floor that I learn are in fact, a sculpture (?) by the artist, titled Accretion I. I later learn from the gallery website that Mooneys work tests the surfaces of meaning to locate where intimacy lies; reminding us of place and the inevitability of our relationship to it.

Final stop of the night: Mission Bowling Club for the annual Fraenkel Gallery pre-fairs bowling night, hosted this year with New Yorks David Zwirner Gallery. I immediately see filmmaker John Waters and philanthropist Nancy Bechtle, two people I never thought Id get to include in the same sentence. The scoreboard has artists names for each player. I meet artist Barry McGee and dont blurt out that I bought three of his striped T-shirts at Uniqlo last year. Waiting for my Lyft with Thomas Campbell, the new director of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, Im still plagued by thoughts of the K.r.m. Mooney sculpture.

Lesson: Sometimes, art is a tripping hazard but that does not mean a tripping hazard is necessarily art.

Tony Bravo / The Chronicle

Wednesday: Rain, Fog and Ai Weiweis bikes

It storms Wednesday night, Jan. 16, as Team Style heads to the Fog opening-night gala (benefiting SFMOMA) at Fort Mason. At this mandatory party for many in the social scene (chaired by collectors Norah and Norman Stone this year), you can travel only a few inches before falling into an air kiss. Ai Weiweis gilt-covered stainless steel bicycle sculpture Forever in the Haines Gallery booth strikes me as an obvious candidate for most Instagrammable installation of the fair.

Lesson: Ai Weiwei is more than an artist, hes a trending hashtag.

Tony Bravo / The Chronicle

Thursday : Video games and power plays

Back at Saint Josephs Arts Society on Jan. 17 to interview Italian sculptor Vincenzo De Cotiis, whose new show, En Plein Air is opening upstairs in the Carpenters Workshop Gallery Space. Im wearing a metallic, patina green track jacket by Walter Van Beirendonck; De Cotiis jokes I match his stone, metal and gilt sculptures.

That night, its Untitled, Art fair at Pier 35. Im immediately swept up by Matthew Kimball, Rafael Davis and Luke Willis to Nunu Fine Arts space to view gallerist-artist Keb Cerdas Super Nardo painting series, which is a playable video game once you download an app to view the paintings through. Artist Michele Preds Power of the Purse series in the Nancy Hoffman Gallerys space looked to feminist themes. Later, a fairgoer tells me that a gallerist told her that the latest art investment craze is buying from marginalized artists. They just come in and say, What do you have by an African American, or a woman, or another kind of person of color? she says. Whether these buyers care about the content or execution of the art is unclear. I end the night at the Catharine Clark Gallery booth, where I watch Lenka Claytons (a woman artist) 2002 video work, Qaeda, Quality, Question, Quickly, Quickly, Quiet, where she rearranged President George W. Bushs 2002 Axis of Evil speech with the words in alphabetical order.

Lesson: George W. Bushs impact on the art world extends beyond his painting hobby.

Friday: Shabbat, S.F.-style

Friday, Jan. 18, is Ever Gold Projects official 10th anniversary party at Chinatown dive bar EZ5, co-hosted with McClintock by DJ Eug (Eugene Whang) and Adam Swig. The evening begins with a traditional Jewish Shabbat breaking of the challah, which has Ever Gold baked into it.

Shabbat is supposed to be a sundown thing, but its San Francisco, jokes Swig. We do what we want.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Swig continues, comparing the light of the Shabbat candles to the light that art shines on a community. McClintock originally started Ever Gold in a space in the Tenderloin before moving to Minnesota Street Project two years ago. Its been quite the ride, he says, straddling the line between catering to traditional collectors and attracting the younger tech generation to the gallery (Ever Gold even accepts cryptocurrency). Once the old-school hip-hop bumps up on the speakers, it becomes less an art week party and more a night at the club. McClintock later reports he was out until 5 a.m. celebrating.

I think we need to have one of these every year, at art week, he says.

Lesson: Sundown is subjective in the art world, bitcoin is forever. (Maybe?)

Tony Bravo / The Chronicle

Saturday: Trash meets F-face

I finish the week on Jan. 19 where it all began: back at the Minnesota Street Project for the Untitled closing party. Immediately Im in my natural habitat: a fashion show, presented by Oakland collective Bonanza (Conrad Guevara, Lindsay Tully and Lana Williams) for their clothing label BNNZA. The clothes are somewhere between party dress and party decor, made from shimmering Mylar, strips of plastic, Ikea bags ( very Demna Gvasalia for Balenciaga ) and bike locks. The looks were created during the artists residency at Recology San Francisco, so calling them trashy isnt an insult, its just accurate.

My final art viewing of the week takes me to Casemore Kirkeby gallery for John Gossages photography/graffiti show Hey F face, which marries photos of toxic Superfund sites with obscene scrawls along the matting of the photos. Even as Im writing down the titles of the works (and the prices ranging from $9,000 to $26,000) Im already contemplating whether Ill get any of them in full into The Chronicle , since most are as obscene as the show title.

But is it art? I ask.

Theyre all very well-framed, artist Hailey Gaiser says. Its like theyre trying to be overthought but theyre actually, theyre quite under-thought.

To date, Instagram has had no objections to my post from this show.

Lesson: If it costs $26,000 its not obscene, its art.

Tony Bravo is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tbravo@sfchronicle.com
When people see the empty storefronts that have multiplied in San Francisco the past few years, they often blame competition from online vendors for the death of small retailers.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin sees another culprit: landlords who intentionally keep their properties vacant until they can extract higher rents from potential tenants. Now he wants to repopulate those storefronts by taxing property owners with consistently empty units.

This is by no means meant to be a revenue generator, Peskin said Tuesday. Its meant to be a behavior changer.

Under Peskins proposal, owners of commercial properties in Neighborhood Commercial Districts  areas where stores and services are clustered  that are vacant for more than six months would face a fine of at least $250 per day. And while storefronts are the visible face of the long-term vacancy problem, Peskin wants to target residential properties as well. Landlords with three or more units that are vacant for six months would also pay $250 per unit per day until the unit is leased.

The Board of Supervisors would need to approve Peskins plan to place it on the November ballot, where it would need to pass by a two-thirds vote to become law.

Peskins proposal has support from neighborhood groups that are tired of seeing once-vibrant streets deadened by empty storefronts, but others worry that it will punish property owners for market factors out of their control, such as soaring costs and competition from online shopping.

If (the proposal) is attacking truly vacant units that otherwise should be leased, and are kept vacant on a whim and as a pure luxury, than its not a bad idea, said developer Eric Tao, managing executive principal of AGI Capital. But not all vacancies are the same, and trying to monolithically characterize vacancies as the same is a terrible thing to do and unfair.

The tax would apply only to landlords who the Department of Building Inspection determines are keeping their units vacant intentionally, said Peskin, who is working with the department to come up with criteria for determining if an owner is acting in bad faith.

But the city could look at whether the owner has pending construction permits and if the property is actively being shown to potential renters.

Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

While the DBI requires landlords to register empty properties with the city, the database may not show the full picture, as the numbers are complaint-driven and self-reported. That makes is difficult for the city to track vacancies.

A 2018 study by the North Beach Business Association, Telegraph Hill Dwellers and North Beach Neighbors concluded that the commercial property vacancy rate in North Beach is 10.25 percent, double the rate recorded by the same group in 2015.

Peskin announced his plan Wednesday while standing in front of one of those empty storefronts, on the 500 block of Columbus Street. The property has been empty and boarded up for the past few years.

Across the street, shuttered Caffe Roma, a neighborhood coffee shop, was dark and empty.

We need to do something about the blight that has become part of North Beach, said Theresa Flandrich, a longtime neighborhood activist. We want our community back.

According to the associations study, many factors contribute to the sharp increase in vacancies, including seismic retrofits and numerous construction projects that keep pedestrians away. The study also reports that only two property owners control 21 percent of the vacant properties in the neighborhood.

San Franciscos cumbersome permitting processes and strict formula retail controls also make it difficult to find tenants, said David Blatteis, board chairman at Blatteis Realty, a brokerage firm that leases out spaces in the city  including the 500 block of Columbus Street. He said there are a number of beautiful new shops and restaurants being developed on the block that should be available for lease in next few months.

No landlord would purposely keep their store vacant. Whos going to throw away money? he said. The tax would be another horrible imposition on a landlord because the city is causing the problem in the first place.

But Dan Macchiarini, board president of the North Beach Business Association, said he supports a vacancy tax because he sees how empty storefronts have decreased the foot traffic in North Beach.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Combine all the construction going on in the neighborhood with Amazon and you have significant detriment to a vital commercial district, he said.

Across the city, Gail Baugh, president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, said a vacancy tax could prod property owners in areas like Haight Street to lease out their space more quickly.

Im always concerned when adding taxes to people ... but there needs to be motivation for property owners to get their commercial spaces occupied, she said. The bottom line is that we have ... places of business that go unoccupied, and that is a detriment to the city in terms of revenue.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the Castro  an area with many empty storefronts  said he would be interested in exploring a vacancy tax.

A lot of people see longtime business owners and beloved businesses getting priced out, and see the spaces remain empty for months or years, he said. So there is some sense in which some landlords and property owners are maybe not recognizing what a negative impact the vacant storefronts are having on their neighborhoods.

But others were less optimistic  especially when it came to the part of Peskins proposal that would tax residential property owners.

Noni Richen, president of the Small Property Owners of San Francisco, which represents residential property owners, said she worries that the proposal wont take into account reasons landlords might want to keep properties vacant, from bad experiences with tenants to saving the units for family members who may want to move in.

Its not going to create any more rentals, she said. I dont think anyone who is a hard-core vacancy owner will be swayed by it.

Still, the proposal joins a growing movement to tax vacant properties in the Bay Area.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced plans late last year for legislation and permitting changes to make it faster and easier to open a retail business. Separately, Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer introduced legislation that would force businesses to register vacant storefronts and pay a $711 annual registration fee. Those who do not comply would have to pay an annual penalty of $2,844.

In November, Oakland voters approved a parcel tax of $6,000 per year on empty lots and empty commercial and residential buildings. Empty condominiums and ground-floor storefronts will be taxed at $3,000 per year. The tax is expected to raise $10 million annually for homeless services and cleaning up blight.

A similar November ballot measure in Richmond fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

In San Francisco, Peskin said doesnt think the tax would solve the citys retail woes. But its a step, he said.

In the 20 years Ive been doing this, Ive rarely found a silver bullet for anything, he said. But I think it (the proposal) will go a long way to ameliorate the vacancy problem.

Money generated from the tax would go to the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development to provide relief for tenants and businesses displaced during seismic retrofit work.

Chronicle staff writer Roland Li contributed to this report.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

President Trumps cruel and unneeded ban on transgender troops in the military is surviving another court test. If its any comfort, the White House did lose its bid to hurry final arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court and must now wait for lower court rulings before final word from the high court.

But the latest news isnt sanguine. By a 5-4 vote, with the conservative majority on full display, the Supreme Court let Trumps surprise decision to ban most transgender applicants from military service go into effect. In July 2017 he tweeted out the ban that few in the military knew about  and a legal battle was on.
Hostile act

Declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba

On January 16, 2019, the US State Department announced the decision to suspend for only 45 days the application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, in order to conduct a careful review ... in light of US national interests and efforts to accelerate a transition to democracy in Cuba, and to include such elements as the regimes brutal oppression of human rights and fundamental freedoms and its inexcusable support for the increasingly authoritarian and corrupt regimes of Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The government of President Donald Trump threatens to take a new step that would dangerously reinforce the blockade against Cuba, flagrantly violate international law, and directly attack the sovereignty and interests of third countries.

Cuba rejects that threat in the strongest, firmest and most categorical manner. It assumes it as a hostile act of extreme arrogance and irresponsibility, while repudiating the disrespectful and slanderous language of the State Departments public message.

The Helms-Burton Act went into effect in 1996. It was conceived to codify and harden the policy of economic, commercial and financial blockade officially imposed in 1962, with the objective of subverting and overthrowing the government of Cuba and imposing a regime to the liking of the government of the United States.

It consists of four titles and has been applied since its promulgation. It is characterised by its extreme extraterritorial scope, for violating the norms and principles of International Law, for contravening the rules of trade and international economic relations and for being harmful to the sovereignty of other States, mainly by the application of its provisions against companies and persons established in their territory.

It has been rejected by the international community almost unanimously in the United Nations, in specialised international organisations and in regional organisations such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the African Union. Several countries have national laws to deal with the extraterritorial effects of this law.

Among the central objectives of the Helms-Burton Act has been to hinder Cubas economic, commercial and financial relations with third countries and to affect its ability to attract direct foreign capital investment for its development. Titles III and IV of the law are expressly devoted to this purpose.

Title III authorises US nationals to file lawsuits before US courts against any foreigner who traffics in US property that was nationalised in Cuba in the 1960s, in a legitimate process, as recognised by the US Supreme Court, carried out by the Cuban government in full compliance with national law and international law.

Among the most significant aberrations, this title extends this authorisation to owners who were not US citizens at the time of the nationalisations and whose alleged properties no one has certified.

By virtue of the provisions of the Helms-Burton Act itself, all US Presidents since 1996, including Trump in 2017 and 2018, have made consecutive use of the executive power to suspend the application of Title III every six months in order to recognise that it consists of the grossest and most unacceptable aspect of this against international law and the sovereignty of other states. Also because it understands that its application would cause insurmountable obstacles to any prospect of settlement of claims and compensation to legitimate US owners.

For its part, the Provincial Peoples Court of Havana, on November 2, 1999, declared the Lawsuit against the Government of the United States of America for Human Damages Waived and sanctioned it to repair and compensate the Cuban people in the amount of US$181.1 billion dollars and, on May 5, 2000, also for Economic Damages caused to Cuba and sentenced it in the amount of $121 billion dollars.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reiterated Cubas willingness to find a solution to mutual claims and compensation.

This decision, which the United States government threatens to adopt, would imply that, contrary to the provisions of international law and the practice of international relations, foreign individuals and entities with legitimate business in Cuba could be faced with the threat of facing unfounded and illegitimate claims before United States courts. The politically motivated and venal conduct of some Florida courts, frequently used as a weapon against Cuba, is well known.

For our people, it means facing once again, in a firm, conscious and forceful manner, the determination of US imperialism to submit to its domination and tutelage the destinies of the Cuban Nation.

If Title III were to be applied as established by this law and the State Departments announcement threatened, any Cuban and every community in the country would see lawsuits filed before US courts for the ownership of the housing they occupy, the workplace where they work, the school their children attend, the polyclinic where they receive medical attention, the land on which their neighbourhoods are built; and they will be able to verify the pretension of usurping from the Cubans the wealth of the country, the infrastructure, the arable lands, the industries, the mining resources, the energy potential and the bases on which science and technology are developed and services are rendered to the population.

We should all remember the aberrant contents of the Bush Plan, which describes and implements in detail the way in which Cuban families and the country would be stripped of practically everything.

For more than 20 years, the Helms Burton Act has guided the interventionist efforts of anti-Cuban sectors in the United States to attack the Cuban nation and undermine its sovereignty. By virtue of its application, hundreds of millions of dollars have been approved to subvert the internal order in Cuba and countless measures have been put in place to try to bring about a change of regime. Its economic effect has implied a high cost for the countrys development efforts and for the well-being of the population, with a humanitarian impact that is not greater thanks to the social justice regime that prevails in Cuba.

The pretension to fully apply Title III is promoted against the criteria of important United States government agencies and as a consequence of the power and influence they have achieved in the government, people whose political career has been marked by impotent resentment against Cuba and has rested on the use of lies and blackmail.

The majority of US public opinion consistently opposes the economic blockade, according to the most qualified polls.

History records with sufficient clarity that the policy of economic blockade and the bilateral problems between Cuba and the United States do not have their origin in the just nationalizations that, according to the law and with legitimate right, were carried out by the revolutionary government. The US governments military, economic and terrorist aggressions began against Cuba before the fundamental acts of nationalisation of US property took place.

It is known that all the nationalisations of foreign properties, including those of the United States, contemplated in law a commitment of compensation, which the government of the United States refused even to discuss, while it was assumed by the governments of the claimants of other countries, all of which enjoyed due compensation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates the postulates of the Cuban Dignity and Sovereignty Reaffirmation Act (Act No. 80), and emphasises that the Helms-Burton Act is unlawful, unenforceable, and without legal effect or value. Consequently, it will consider null and void any claim of a natural or legal person, whatever its citizenship or nationality.

The Government of Cuba reserves the right to respond in a timely manner to this new aggression.

Havana, January 17, 2019
A state appeals court justice, accused by a judicial disciplinary agency of groping a fellow justice and harassing other women in and around the courthouse, has told the commission his colleagues allegations are false and the other incidents in the complaint were either misunderstood banter or outright fabrications.

In a reply to the state Commission on Judicial Performance on Tuesday, Justice Jeffrey Johnsons lawyers said Johnson recognizes that he had not maintained appropriate boundaries at times between the professional and personal, and may have made occasional inappropriate offhand comments. But he denied sexually harassing anyone.

Johnson, 58, also denied allegations that he had appeared drunk in public, saying hes an insulin-dependent diabetic who sometimes gets wobbly when his blood sugar drops.

If the commission sustains its charges against Johnson after a public hearing, it could ask the state Supreme Court to remove him from the Second District Court of Appeal, where he has served since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him in 2009.

The commissions complaint, issued Jan. 14, included allegations that Johnson had groped and harassed Justice Victoria Chaney over a period of eight years. The commission said Johnson told Chaney in 2010 that he wanted to have an affair with her, squeezed one of her breasts in a courthouse hallway, and repeatedly hugged and pawed her in later encounters.

In Tuesdays filings, Johnsons lawyers said the allegations are contradicted by Chaneys continual endearing statements to him in writing and in person through 2018. She once described him as her twin brother, and showed that she considered the two of them friends and mutually respectful colleagues, the lawyers said.

They also said Chaney met with a supervising justice during the time of the alleged harassment, and did not mention anything to him at the time about Justice Johnsons alleged conduct which she now recalls.

In its filings, the commission cited a meeting between Johnson and Chaney in late 2017 in which they discussed sexual harassment claims against other judges and he then asked her, You would never report me, would you? or words to that effect. Johnsons lawyers said it was a bantering comment not meant to be taken seriously.

Johnson also denied telling another appeals court justice, Elizabeth Grimes, that she had the greatest ass in the Second District. Grimes also denied the allegation in a meeting with one of Johnsons lawyers, the filing said

The lawyers also denied allegations against Johnson by Tatiana Sauquillo, a California Highway Patrol officer who acted as a driver for the justices. Sauquillo complained that Johnson had made sexual comments to her and put his hand on her thigh in 2014, but the lawyers said she continued driving Johnson after that alleged incident. They also said Johnson voluntarily took and passed lie detector tests in which he denied the most serious allegations by both Chaney and Sauquillo.

Lisa Bloom, a lawyer for Sauquillo, said Wednesday the officer stands by her allegations. She also noted that lie detector evidence is generally inadmissible in California as courts deem it unreliable.

Justice Chaneys lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@BobEgelko
Richard Contreras indiscriminately sprayed gunfire into a group of people celebrating Valentines Day at San Franciscos popular Twin Peaks overlook three years ago, leaving two men dead and a third wounded before carjacking a couple and speeding off, prosecutors said Tuesday.

But attorneys for the 29-year-old Richmond resident argued he was acting in self-defense and opened fire only after he was attacked by a group of strangers while crashing a party.

The dueling narratives were laid out during opening statements in the double-murder trial in San Francisco Superior Court. Contreras attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kleigh Hathaway, said she intends to take the unusual step of putting the defendant on the witness stand to later testify about what led to the 2016 shooting.

The violent episode was one of a series of startling crimes at the famed tourist destination over a two-year period, including another high-profile homicide that prompted city leaders and police to step up security at the lookout.

Contreras is charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder, carjacking, possession of a firearm by a felon, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and unlawful taking of a vehicle. The tall, thin defendant with jet-black hair pulled into a ponytail said nothing Tuesday as he sat in court wearing a lavender shirt and tie.

The shooting happened around 2 a.m. as a group of friends from Santa Rosa gathered near their cars on Twin Peaks main concrete viewing deck, which offers an expansive view of San Franciscos skyline, the Bay Bridge and beyond.

The overlooks parking lot was filled with various couples on dates who had driven to the romantic spot for Valentines Day.

People came from all over to San Francisco to enjoy one of the most iconic places to see the city skyline. Couples brought blankets along with their significant others, Assistant District Attorney Adam Maldonado said. That night the defendant brought with him a loaded semiautomatic handgun and an extended magazine and bullets that he shot into the bodies of two teens and one young man.

Rene Mora, 19, and 21-year-old Julio Peraza were killed in the gunfire, and Eric Morales, 18, suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach but survived.

Maldonado said Contreras had been drinking at a bar in the Mission District that night with a woman hed just started dating, Rosa Marcias, and her friend. The three decided to head to Twin Peaks, and as they drove Contreras began yelling at strangers, Maldonado said.

After spending some time in the car at the overlook, Contreras and Marcias got out and walked over to the main viewing deck and without any sort of confrontation, any fight or aggression Contreras pulled out a gun, Maldonado said.

Scared for her safety, Marcias began walking back to the car, prosecutors said. As she was leaving, she saw Contreras on the ground before hearing multiple gunshots.

Maldonado played a recording of a 911 call in which a woman is heard crying, Please help us! Eric! Eric! Dont pass out. Please come now. Please come now to Twin Peaks.

Marcias and her friend drove away as the scene erupted into chaos with people fleeing and diving for cover. Amid the confusion, Contreras approached a couple sitting in a black GMC Yukon, carjacked them, slammed into another car while backing up and sped off.

He was arrested two days later at his brothers home in Richmond.

Hathaway didnt dispute that her client carjacked the couple and fled the scene. But she argued that Contreras only opened fire after being attacked and punched by someone in the group of six men and five women.

He was up there and in two seconds flat he was able to tell, These guys are on me and if I dont do something, Im going to be killed, Hathaway said. It was six against one and he fires.

Contreras was carrying a gun that day after being jumped five days earlier, Hathaway said, adding that the earlier attack left him with a pronounced shiner.

Investigators found three 9mm shell casings at the scene that came from the same gun, Maldonado said.

Contreras was no stranger to law enforcement before the shooting. In 2014, he crashed a stolen car into an AC Transit bus in Richmond, sending the bus careening into a house, injuring a mother, her baby and 3-year-old child inside the home, according to Richmond police.

Hathaway said Contreras has experienced a lifetime of violence, including trouble at home.

The Twin Peaks shooting was followed by several armed robberies and the July 2017 killing of Edward French, 71, a local film scout and photographer who was shot during an armed robbery in broad daylight, police said.

The ongoing trouble prompted San Francisco Supervisor Norman Yee, who represents part of Twin Peaks, to seek funds for additional security cameras at the overlook to prevent violence and cut down on the hundreds of auto burglaries there each year.

Fifteen additional cameras were installed at Twin Peaks at the end of 2017, Yee said Tuesday.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. forcefully pushed back Wednesday on a far-reaching wildfire-prevention plan a federal judge is considering imposing on the utility, casting the proposal as infeasible, too expensive and potentially dangerous.

PG&E laid out a series of objections in a response to the sweeping plan outlined earlier this month by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who proposed ordering the utility to inspect and rate the safety of its entire electric grid in the coming months, among other measures intended to greatly lessen the risk that the companys equipment will ignite a dangerous wildfire.

Alsups proposal intrudes on areas better handled by state and federal regulators and could have unintended consequences, PG&E told the judge. Compliance could cost between $75 billion and $150 billion, requiring a one-year rate hike  at the low end of the spectrum  of more than five times current rates in typical bills, the utility said.

Alsup, the federal judge overseeing the probation imposed on PG&E after its conviction on charges related to the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, had asked the utility and federal prosecutors to respond by Wednesday to his wildfire-prevention proposal. The U.S. attorneys office said in its own filing that it does not think the judges proposal should currently be implemented.

The filings come in advance of a hearing Alsup set for next Wednesday.

PG&E said the company agrees the status quo is unacceptable and is committed to working aggressively and expeditiously with state and federal officials on system maintenance and upgrades and on wildfire mitigation efforts.

But the path forward to mitigating wildfire risk is best designed not through probation conditions, but rather through careful coordination with state and federal regulators, after appropriate consultation with other interested parties, based on the best science and engineering advice, with policy analysis that accounts for the full range of important but often conflicting social goals, the company told the judge.

In the order he proposed on Jan. 9, Alsup said PG&E should manage vegetation around its power lines beyond the standards it is legally required to follow, encompassing any tree or branch that could make contact with its equipment and spark a dangerous fire. He suggested the utility have an engineer inspect all of its power equipment and issue safety ratings for various levels of wind, making determinations in writing that would be certified under oath.

Starting this wildfire season, PG&E would then only be allowed to power parts of its electrical system deemed safe for the winds prevailing at the time, according to Alsups plan. He said his ideas were intended to reduce to zero the number of wildfires caused by PG&E in the 2019 Wildfire Season.

PG&E said it understands fully the courts interest in its wildfire-related activities, and it would not oppose a more active role in that area from the court-appointed federal monitor assigned to the company because of its criminal convictions in the pipeline case.

But Alsups proposal goes too far and encroaches on territory regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which have the technical expertise necessary to craft rules about distribution and transmission lines, PG&E said.

The power shut-offs Alsup proposed also come with major risks and could be fatal in some cases if proper precautions are not taken, PG&E said.

And the increased vegetation management he envisioned could require removing 100 million trees or more, a drastic measure that could bring significant environmental consequences, including reducing watershed protection and increasing runoff, erosion and flooding, PG&E said. The proposal also fails to take into consideration the myriad legal obstacles to reconfiguring the California landscape in such a fashion, the company said.

Removing that many trees in the coming months would require a workforce of more than 650,000 full-time employees, PG&E said, a huge amount of staffing the utility doesnt think it can provide.

Furthermore, because PG&Es transmission lines are part of a linked network that serves other states, the judges proposal to shut them off in certain circumstances threatens to destabilize and black out large parts of the Western United States and Canada, the utility said in its filing.

The separate response from federal prosecutors in the U.S. attorneys office in San Francisco said the court-appointed monitor was in a better position than the judge to draft workable probation conditions.

The monitor should review the proposed order to keep it consistent with binding regulations and with new rules and recommendations expected from state and federal agencies, the government lawyers said. They suggested Alsup could expand the monitors current role to include overseeing PG&Es electric transmission system.

Interactive California Fire Tracker This interactive map provides information on wildfires burning across California and lets you explore coverage of past fire seasons.

The U.S. attorneys office also gave some support to the judges tentative conclusion that the most significant cause of the wildfires of the past two years was the vulnerability of PG&Es distribution lines to trees or limbs toppled by high winds.

That conclusion appears accurate as to more than half of the large 2017 and 2018 wildfires, the prosecutors said, but such an assessment is based entirely on documents submitted by PG&E and not on the investigations by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, which are not all complete.

The monitor should assess all available information on the causes of the fires and PG&Es possible responsibility, prosecutors said, not only to determine whether it has violated its terms of probation, but also to prevent future harm.

Alsup unveiled his wildfire-prevention proposal as part of the new probation conditions he is considering imposing on PG&E. He began asking the utility in November whether it violated its probation in the San Bruno case depending on its role in recent fires.

Cal Fire has said PG&E equipment sparked a series of fires in October 2017, though it is still investigating the cause of the worst blaze from that year, the Tubbs Fire that burned in and around Santa Rosa.

The cause of last years historic Camp Fire in Butte County is also still under investigation, but PG&E has reported malfunctioning equipment in the area right around when the fire started and detailed the problems to state utility regulators. PG&E has said its liability from 2017 and 2018 fires could exceed $30 billion, one of the main reasons the utility and its parent company, PG&E Corp., plan to seek bankruptcy protection next week. Hundreds of civil claims are pending in state courts.

Alsup further invited the utilities commission and Cal Fire to respond to his ideas by Friday.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Bob Egelko contributed to this report.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
SACRAMENTO  Attorneys representing numerous survivors of recent California wildfires are trying to figure out whether they can strike an 11th-hour deal that would avert Pacific Gas and Electric Co.s bankruptcy plan or ensure it doesnt upend their clients claims.

And their efforts received an injection of star power Tuesday afternoon, when famous activist Erin Brockovich stood on the south steps of the state Capitol building and questioned the necessity of PG&Es intended bankruptcy filing, which threatens to delay or reduce the payments fire survivors  and their lawyers  could receive from the utility.

Brockovich, the legal clerk whose involvement in a successful water-contamination case against PG&E in the 1990s inspired a movie named after her, was flanked by a group of wildfire survivors and attorneys from fire-devastated communities in Butte County and the North Bay.

She called on state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rein in PG&E, which she described as a runaway monopoly. She urged legislators to also extend the provisions of a bill that provides a mechanism for PG&E to handle costs arising from the 2017 fires, saying there can be no inequality between victims of the North Bay firestorm and those affected by last years Camp Fire.

There is no good reason why these good people should not have the assistance of our legislation, of our governor and of this company to help them be made whole and to rebuild their lives and recover, Brockovich said. It is time for us to intervene to ensure that for them and for the state of California.

In a statement, Newsom said PG&E is morally and legally obligated to do right by wildfire survivors, who he vowed to ensure are treated fairly. He did not comment directly on whether he would support any bankruptcy intervention.

Every survivor deserves to have their claims heard in a fair process that recognizes their pain and financial losses, Newsom said. I remain steadfastly committed to working with all stakeholders to find a solution that ensures consumers have access to safe, affordable and reliable service; treats wildfire survivors fairly; and enables California to continue making progress toward our climate goals.

To back up her skepticism about the bankruptcy plan, which PG&E has said is necessary because of the financial strain caused by recent wildfires, Brockovich pointed to a recent letter from utility shareholder BlueMountain Capital Management. The firms Jan. 17 open letter said, there is overwhelming evidence that PG&E is solvent, and it followed up with another letter Tuesday asking the utility to reconsider its headlong rush toward an unnecessary and damaging bankruptcy filing.

BlueMountain, which says it manages funds that own more than 11 million shares of PG&E stock, wants PG&E to delay its intended bankruptcy filing, currently planned for next week, until at least after the companys annual shareholders meeting in May.

PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said in an email that the decision to seek bankruptcy protection for the utility and parent company PG&E Corp. followed an extensive review and is the only viable option for PG&E and will maximize the value of the enterprise for the benefit of all stakeholders.

PG&E equipment was deemed responsible for at least 17 wildfires in 2017. The company may also be found responsible for the worst fire from that year, the Tubbs Fire that ravaged parts of Santa Rosa, and last years Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history. The causes of both of those fires are still under investigation.

Still, PG&E has said its liability from 2017 and 2018 fires could exceed $30 billion, one of the key factors behind its stated decision to seek a reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in about one week. The company said earlier Tuesday that it has lined up $5.5 billion in funding from four major banks to help it through the bankruptcy, which PG&E currently expects will last about two years.

But a group of attorneys has been trying to figure out if theres a way to stave off bankruptcy for now.

Patrick McCallum, a lobbyist who lost his Santa Rosa home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, told The Chronicle that he has worked with lawyers who represent fire victims, insurance companies and local governments in wildfire-devastated areas in considering a possible deal that could avoid the Chapter 11 filing.

At the same time, were completely prepared to go the bankruptcy route, said McCallum, who leads a group called Up From the Ashes that advocates for wildfire victims. To get a deal is a herculean task, but its possible.

Attorney Michael Kelly of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger in San Francisco said in an interview that the group has felt it has to see if there is some way to get this matter resolved without PG&E filing for bankruptcy, which he said necessarily adds time and complexity.

Interactive Vaccine Tracker: Latest developments Detailed information about the coronavirus vaccines as it becomes available.

But Kelly also acknowledged a deal may be infeasible.

If we cant do that, can we develop some mutually assured aims and goals between PG&E and the victims so that this isnt simply an opportunity for the bankruptcy specialists to spend three years processing paperwork? he said.

PG&E declined to comment directly on what Paulo described as rumors.

As PG&E faces a deteriorating financial situation, we are proceeding with plans to initiate Chapter 11 reorganization to continue safe delivery of natural gas and electricity services to our customers, and support the orderly, fair and expeditious resolution of PG&Es potential liabilities resulting from the recent Northern California wildfires, she said in the email.

The need for PG&Es planned Chapter 11 filing was also questioned by Noreen Evans, a Santa Rosa attorney and former state legislator, at the state Capitol building.

It discourages people from seeking their rightful recovery from PG&E, and it throws Northern California into chaos wondering if were gonna be able to keep the lights on, Evans said at the event, calling for action from lawmakers and regulators.

Camp Fire victim Thomas Wahl, 63, attended the Sacramento event wearing a shirt that read, Love Paradise, with the o shaped as a heart. He blamed PG&E for the horrific wildfire and said the utility should have known better because it developed the grid in the area.

They know how antiquated it is, said Wahl, who lost his Paradise home. They should step up to the plate and take care of their liability.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff called his hometown of San Francisco a "train wreck" of inequality and he blamed local technology companies like his own in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"We have a real inequality problem," Benioff said in an interview with CNBC. "It's because of the tech sector."

Benioff went on to explain, "I mean we have an incredible technology industry, one that every city in the world craves. But housing prices have increased. There has been broad gentrification. And at the same time we have a horrible homeless problem. We're not taking care of the people who need us most."

ALSO: Benioff on Bay Area's 70 billionaires: 'You're either for kids and homeless, or you're for yourself'

San Francisco has more than 7,500 people living on the streets and Benioff has been an advocate for increased city spending to house those in need. He was a champion of Prop. C, a November 2018 ballot measure that passed and promises to generate up to $300 million for homeless programs by raising taxes on big businesses.

Some tech CEOs opposed the proposition, including Zynga founder Mark Pincus, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Dorsey and Benioff locked horns over the ballot measure on Twitter when Dorsey wrote that he didn't think Prop. C was the best way to fix the homeless problem. He also said he was siding with SF Mayor London Breed, who also opposed the bill.

Benioff responded to Dorsey, "Which homeless programs in our city are you supporting? Can you tell me what Twitter and Square & you are in for & at what financial levels? How much have you given to heading home our $37M initiative to get every homeless child off the streets?"

Benioff and Salesforce have donated to multiple San Francisco Bay Area causes, including $250 million to support hospitals, $11 million to help the homeless, and $50 million to public schools.

In his talk at Davos, he called on other business leaders to give more to their communities, saying inequality is "an issue every CEO needs to focus on."

"Prop. C was a great example of where we had people who were very committed to getting that done and improving things in San Francisco," Benioff told CNBC Tuesday. "Each CEO is responsible for their little part."
Hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants may be protected from deportation for at least two more years after the Supreme Court on Tuesday opted not to review the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. Heres what you need to know about the program that remains at the center of political debate in the U.S.:

What is DACA?

Established by then-President Barack Obama in 2012, the program has given temporary reprieve to an estimated 700,000 young people brought to the country illegally as minors. DACA recipients are shielded from deportation and given work permits, allowing them to work legally in the U.S. and go to school. However, they cant vote or travel abroad.

These people, often referred to as Dreamers, qualified for DACA if they arrived in the U.S. before turning 16; were under the age of 31 as of June 2012; and didnt commit a felony or serious misdemeanor, among other requirements. They can apply to have their status renewed every two years.

Why is DACA being targeted?

President Trump moved to end DACA in September 2017 through an executive order, claiming Obama had overstepped his authority when he created the program by executive order. I do not favor punishing children, most of whom are now adults, for the actions of their parents, Trump said. But we must also recognize that we are nation of opportunity because we are a nation of laws. Trump gave Congress a six-month window to salvage the program, and lawmakers couldnt agree on a bipartisan solution.

Why does DACA remain in place?

Federal judges in San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C., kept the program alive, saying Obama acted within a presidents authority to set priorities for deporting unauthorized immigrants, and that Trump had offered no reasoned explanation for repealing the program. A federal appeals court in San Francisco backed those arguments in November.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Texas  answering to a separate lawsuit by Texas and 25 other Republican-led states  ruled that Obama acted illegally but refused to suspend DACA pending appeals.

When will the Supreme Court hear the case?

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took no action on the Trump administrations request to review the program, which means it likely wont hear arguments in the case until its new term in October at the earliest, with a possible decision in 2020.

How does DACA figure into border wall negotiations?

Trump on Saturday proposed an end to the monthlong government shutdown, offering to extend protections for DACA recipients and those with Temporary Protected Status  which provides relief to undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. if their home countries suffered life-threatening disasters  for three years in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding. Democrats and DACA recipients condemned the plan, saying Trump was seeking to reinstate programs he removed in the first place.

Were back to square one, said Manny Guisa, a DACA recipient and development coordinator with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco. Were being used as leverage to try to get wall funding and to try to prolong the battle.

Can eligible Dreamers still apply for DACA?

The program remains open only to DACA recipients looking to renew their status. An estimated 295,319 renewal applications were approved in fiscal 2018, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Whats next for Dreamers?

DACA protections are likely to remain in place until a Supreme Court decision is made. Dreamers can renew their status until then. If the program is rescinded at that point, Dreamers would be protected from deporation until their DACA status expired. For example, someone who renews their status this year will have DACA until 2021.

 Tatiana Sanchez, tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com
Residents of Bayview-Hunters Point are finally getting what theyve long been waiting for  a new community center.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a contract with Charles Pankow Builders to construct what will eventually become the new Southeast Community Facility, an important neighborhood hub providing educational, job-training, child care and social-services programs to the Bayview. The project is expected to cost around $71.2 million, with a planned opening in 2021.

After years of planning and community outreach, the PUC, which owns the 5-acre parcel at 1550 Evans Ave. where the community center will be built, decided in consultation with Bayview residents to construct a new facility rather than attempt to renovate the drab, unwelcoming campus at 1800 Oakdale Ave., about a mile away.

Demolition of the current buildings on Evans Avenue is expected to start this summer. PUC General Manager Harlan Kelly said the agency plans to move staff into 1800 Oakdale once the new center opens.

Im excited for the community benefits and that a state-of-the-art community center is finally going to come to fruition, said Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the Bayview.

The project will include a 40,000-square-foot, three-story community center and a 5,000-square-foot community room pavilion, along with more than 2 acres of open space, an enclosed playground for the on-site child care center and an 80-space parking lot. The center will also feature classrooms, a catering kitchen, a cafe and office space.

The city agreed to build the original community center at the Oakdale site in return for the build-out of an unwelcome and often foul-smelling sewage plant in the Bayviews backyard. The Oakdale campus, a drab building that city officials and residents say has outlived its usefulness as a community center, opened in 1987.

Bayview residents and the PUC decided to build a new community center, rather than renovate the old one, in 2016 after a six-month community outreach process that involved 45 public meetings and a survey that generated 1,000 responses.

The Evans Avenue site became a focal point of political tension that pitted San Franciscos punishing housing shortage against community autonomy.

In February, the release of emails between senior members of several city departments and a private developer showed that city officials had spent months working on a separate proposal for the site  one that included an affordable housing development.

News that the city had been quietly developing an alternative plan for the site without seeking input from the community stunned Bayview residents, many of whom had worked with the PUC for years to develop a plan for the new facility. The emails also came as a surprise to PUC officials, who said they were largely cut out of the parallel deliberations about the site.

Officials from the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development and the Planning Department insisted they intended to bring a fully formed proposal to Bayview residents that included housing, but the release of the

emails quickly galvanized local opposition to any plan drafted without community input.

City officials publicly backed away from any housing proposals for the site. But then-Supervisor Malia Cohen, who represented the Bayview, passed legislation rezoning the parcel to preserve the option of building below-market-rate housing one day. Kelly has been adamant, however, that the agencys plans do not include housing.

It does sound very exciting, said Commission Vice President Ann Moller Caen.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
Editorial

Corporate greed responsible for death of rivers

The loss of huge numbers of fish in the Murray-Darling River system was due to the death of blue-green algae, which breeds in slow-flowing or stagnant rivers containing run-off agricultural fertiliser. Wildlife species are also dying as their habitat decays. Some river communities must now use groundwater with salt levels that far exceed safe drinking limits. In 2015 children from Pooncarrie contracted an antibiotic-resistant staph after the Darling began to stagnate. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority drained the Menindee Lakes twice in the last two years, endangering the Broken Hill water supply.

Tourism operators and graziers, fishers, townsfolk and the traditional owners have been devastated by the ruthless exploitation of the rivers.

The Coorong wetlands near the Murrays mouth are dying slowly and in agony because of the avaricious extraction of irrigation water upstream in eastern states. The South Australian Royal Commission into water usage will release its report soon. The Commissioner has clashed with the federal government over its lack of cooperation.

Federal Minister for Agriculture and Water David Littleproud blamed the fish kill on the current drought. Aquatic ecologist Fran Sheldon disagreed, noting that the Barwon-Darling River never used to dry out to disconnected ponds, even during droughts, and that water extraction has disrupted the natural balance of the Murray Darlings massive ecosystems.

Federal and state governments have failed to ensure that water is used rationally and in the national interest, or to contribute to the international struggle over climate change.

State governments currently allocate specific water quantities for the environment and local communities. Water may be extracted from the remaining flows by graziers, cotton growers or other farmers according to amounts stipulated in their water licences.

However, cotton and rice, the biggest water guzzling crops, are grown here even though its the driest continent on earth. Cotton needs 7.8 megalitres of water per hectare, and it accounts for a quarter of the worlds pesticide consumption.

Some 3,780 gigalitres of irrigation water, about eight times the volume of Sydney Harbour, is extracted annually from the Murray Darlings upstream reaches, where most of Australias cotton is grown. Most of that water could be allocated for environmental flows.

But under current arrangements, the only way for governments to increase environment and community flows is to buy back water licences from the irrigators, in a scheme mired in corruption and incompetence. In 2011 the then Gillard Labor government introduced the scientifically-based Murray-Darling Plan, which prioritised saving the environment. However, it enraged the irrigators and soon afterwards was amended in their favour.

Large scale water theft by cotton businesses in northern NSW was later revealed by an ABC Four Corners program, but the then Water and Agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce told a group of irrigators Weve taken water, put it back into agriculture so we can look after you and make sure we dont have the greenies running the show.

In 2017 the government bought a water licence from cotton corporation Webster Ltd for $80 million, paying $3,500 per megalitre whereas the average market price was $140 per megalitre. The firm made $36 million on the transaction. Last year the government bought the water rights for Websters Tandou Station at more than twice the market price.

In May 2017 the government and opposition passed 36 water saving projects worth more than $1 billion without senators seeing the business cases or knowing the amount of water intended to be saved.

The tracking and enforcement of water conservation has been weakened by the loss of some of the Murray Darling Agencys most experienced staff after government restructures. In May last year the government amended the Murray-Darling Basin Plan to allow extraction of another 70 gigalitres for irrigation, despite scientists warnings that the Darling River and Menindee Lakes could die.

The battle to save the rivers is an integral part of the climate change struggle. The Murray Daring Basin has just had its seventh driest year on record, and on January 17 Australia recorded the fifteen hottest places on Earth. Droughts will become longer and more frequent unless climate change is brought under control.

The real enemy is the economic system under which the cotton industry controls water conservation policy and the fossil fuel industries dictate climate change policy. The Greens want a Royal Commission into the Murray Darling Basin. But to save the rivers and prevent catastrophic climate change we must support a coalition of left and progressive political parties and boot out of office the conservative coalition which is blocking changes necessary to meet these challenges.
River crisis

Indigenous leaders call for change

This article is a report from national Indigenous newspaper, the Koori Mail.

Aboriginal leaders have joined the Greens in calling for a royal commission into the crisis facing the Murray Darling river system. Around a million fish are estimated to have died in a massive fish kill along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in NSW, just weeks after another 10,000 died in a separate incident.

Images of hundred-year old cod and other native fish floating in putrid green water have flashed across the country, resulting in accusations of government mismanagement, corruption, water theft and greed.

Experts are worried that entire populations of native fish could be all but wiped out as a result of too much water being taken out of the system by irrigators, and, in particular, the cotton industry.

Angry residents in far western NSW maintain it is a man-made disaster, however the NSW government and irrigators have insisted the drought is partly to blame. Fred Hooper, chair of the Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations (NBAN) group, and Rene Woods, chair of the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN), both told the Koori Mail that they supported calls for a royal commission.

It makes you bloody cry, Hooper said about seeing the fish kill.

This has been a major issue that has been bubbling since the 1980s and 1990s with the huge increase in cotton farms, and government policy of over-allocation of water in the system. They are allowing huge cotton farms to take more water than Sydney Harbour.

As First Nations people, we are seeing the landscape and river systems, change before our eyes, and that is having a devastating effect on our people.

There should be a federal royal commission into the Murray Darling system, and we urge Minister David Littleproud, the Prime Minister and the Governor General to authorise a commission.

They need to analyse and assess whether the Murray Darling plan is achieving what it set out to achieve, and then reconsider the amendments to the Northern Basin, where they are taking 70 gigalitres of water and giving it to irrigators.

They need a royal commission to investigate water thefts and off-river storage which is not being put back into the system. They also need to start buying back licences.

Irrigators are cheating the system. Theres a whole heap of crooks and they need to be kicked out of the system.

Rene Woods said it was not only the Darling River that was being affected, with algae blooms also present in the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan rivers.

This is Mother Earth and country telling us theyre sick, he said. We need to sit back at the table. The states need to listen to the traditional owners because they are out on these rivers every day.

There are multiple cases of over-extraction and a lack of compliance and a lack of goodwill to work with stakeholders. In the short-term we need to secure that water in the Northern Basin and send the water down the Darling. We wont have a Murray Darling Basin if these things are not done.

Mr Woods said it was heart-breaking to see the dead grandmother and grandfather cod.

These are the big breeding fish and they are highly significant to the culture of the Barka people. The Darling is the breeding ground for these fish.

In a statement, the Murray-Darling Basin Authoritys chief executive Phillip Glyde said the relevant governments were doing their best to manage the consequences of the drought.

The main causes of this distressing event are the lack of water flowing into the northern rivers, and the impact of 100 years of over-allocation of precious water resources throughout the entire basin, he said.

Without more water available to flow through the system, it is possible more fish will die during summer.

Both federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister David Littleproud and his NSW counterpart Niall Blair have blamed the drought for the disaster.

Last week, scientists and locals were calling for the dead, rotting fish to be urgently removed, as the carcasses could trigger another wave of deaths.

Environmental scientist Stuart Khan said the dead fish needed to be collected before they sink to the bottom of the river and become almost impossible to retrieve. If they remain in the water, bacteria that feast on the carcasses will proliferate and rob the water of oxygen.

Meanwhile, the decaying fish will release chemicals that could trigger an algal bloom, which sparked this mass death event.

Koori Mail
Many of these federal workers are required to go to work, may not be able to look for other employment, are expected to be there and not be paid. And now its going on over 30 days now," West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor said during a town council meeting Tuesday.
Biologists at the University of California San Diego have developed the world's first CRISPR/Cas9-based approach to control genetic inheritance in a mammal.

Scientists around the world have been using CRISPR/Cas9 in a variety of plant and animal species to edit genetic information. One approach to editing the genome can control which of the two copies of a gene is passed to the next generation. While such "active genetics" approaches have been developed in recent years in insects, creating such tools in mammals is more challenging, and testing them takes much longer due to the longer time between generations.

Publishing their work January 23 in the journal Nature, a joint team of UC San Diego researchers developed a new active genetic technology in mice. The achievement of UC San Diego graduate student Hannah Grunwald, Assistant Researcher Valentino Gantz and colleagues led by Assistant Professor Kimberly Cooper, lays the groundwork for further advances based on this technology, including biomedical research on human disease.

"Our motivation was to develop this as a tool for laboratory researchers to control the inheritance of multiple genes in mice," said Cooper. "With further development we think it will be possible to make animal models of complex human genetic diseases, like arthritis and cancer, that are not currently possible."

To demonstrate feasibility in mice, the researchers engineered an active genetic "CopyCat" DNA element into the Tyrosinase gene that controls fur color. When the CopyCat element disrupts both copies of the gene in a mouse, fur that would have been black is instead white, an obvious readout of the success of their approach. The CopyCat element also was designed so that it cannot spread through a population on its own, in contrast with CRISPR/Cas9 "gene drive" systems in insects that were built on a similar underlying molecular mechanism.

Over the two-year project period, the researchers used a variety of strategies to determine that the CopyCat element could be copied from one chromosome to the other to repair a break in the DNA targeted by CRISPR/Cas9. As a result, the element that was initially present on only one of the two chromosomes was copied to the other chromosome. In one of the families, as many as 86 percent of offspring inherited the CopyCat element from the female parent instead of the usual 50 percent.

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The new approach worked in female mice during the production of eggs, but not during the production of sperm in males. This is possibly due to a difference in the timing of male and female meiosis, a process that normally pairs chromosomes to shuffle the genome and may assist this engineered copying event.

According to UC San Diego Professor Ethan Bier, a study coauthor, the results, "open the way for various applications in synthetic biology including the modular assembly of complex genetic systems for studying diverse biological processes."

Cooper and members of her lab are now springboarding off this first mammalian active genetic success -- based on a single gene -- and attempting to expand the tool to multiple genes and traits.

"We've shown that we can convert one genotype from heterozygous to homozygous. Now we want to see if we can efficiently control the inheritance of three genes in an animal. If this can be implemented for multiple genes at once, it could revolutionize mouse genetics," said Cooper.

While the new technology was developed for laboratory research, some have envisioned future gene drives that would build on this approach in the wild for efforts to restore the balance of natural biodiversity in ecosystems overrun by invasive species, including rodents.

"With additional refinements, it should be possible to develop gene-drive technologies to either modify or possibly reduce mammalian populations that are vectors for disease or cause damage to indigenous species," said Bier.

However, these data also indicate that technical improvements needed for practical use in the wild allow time for careful consideration of which applications of this new technology could and should be implemented. The researchers note, however, that their results demonstrate a substantial advance that might already decrease the time, cost and number of animals needed to advance biomedical research on human diseases and to understand other types of complex genetic traits.

"We are also interested in understanding the mechanisms of evolution," said Cooper. "For certain traits that have evolved over tens of millions of years, the number of genetic changes is greater than we can currently assemble in mice to understand what caused bat fingers to grow into a wing, for example. So we want to make lots of these active genetic tools to understand the origins of mammalian diversity."

Former UC San Diego Postdoctoral Fellow Gunnar Poplawski (co-first author, now at the National University of Singapore) and Staff Research Associate Xiang-ru Xu also contributed to the study.
With the UFC set to appear in Prague for the first time this February 23rd, Czech researchers at Charles University have been getting into the fighting spirit.

"Recent research shows that humans are capable of inferring fighting ability from facial and body cues," says Dr Vit Trebicky, lead author of a new study in Frontiers in Psychology. "But our latest findings suggest that when it comes to predicting the performance of Czech MMA fighters, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

Fighters with the highest anaerobic capacity tend to look the toughest

Trebicky and colleagues created standardized 360 degree photographs of 44 Czech MMA fighters, which were assessed on their perceived fighting ability by 94 university students (46 males).

"We compared these assessments with the fighters' actual performance -- MMA score, isometric strength, anaerobic performance and lung capacity -- as well as physical characteristics like age, height and body composition."

The MMA score consists of a fighter's wins-to-all-fights ratio.

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"In contrast to previous studies, we did not find any significant links between the actual and the perceived fighting ability," Trebicky reports.

However, based on the headshots raters were to some extent able to predict physical performance-related characteristics.

"In general, heavier fighters and those with higher anaerobic performance were judged as more successful based on their facial features."

A good big'un beats a good little'un

Trebicky suggests one reason why these results differed from previous studies might be the use of 360 degree standardized photographs, with neutral expressions and head positions.

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"This is an important point because several earlier studies used downloaded static photographs of professional fighters, which varied in lighting conditions, head tilts and expressions that might bias inferences about fighting performance."

Nevertheless, the researchers acknowledge the limitations of their approach.

"The popularity of MMA in the Czech Republic is increasing relatively slowly, so the fighters who participated in our study ranged from beginner amateurs to seasoned professionals. MMA score may provide a less accurate estimation of success rate in amateurs as they have generally had fewer fights.

"Reliability of the MMA score could also be affected by the way in which fighters are paired for matches, which is not a random process," Trebicky concedes.

"Moreover, psychological characteristics such as personality, ability to cope with stress, or successful execution of techniques and other skills probably affect fighting ability and success. These factors, however, exceed the scope of the current study and remain to be investigated in future."
Research published today (Jan. 22) in the journal Brain reveals a new approach to Alzheimer's disease (AD) that may eventually make it possible to reverse memory loss, a hallmark of the disease in its late stages.

The team, led by University at Buffalo scientists, found that by focusing on gene changes caused by influences other than DNA sequences -- called epigenetics -- it was possible to reverse memory decline in an animal model of AD.

"In this paper, we have not only identified the epigenetic factors that contribute to the memory loss, we also found ways to temporarily reverse them in an animal model of AD," said senior author Zhen Yan, PhD, a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

The research was conducted on mouse models carrying gene mutations for familial AD -- where more than one member of a family has the disease -- and on post-mortem brain tissues from AD patients.

AD is linked to epigenetic abnormality

AD results from both genetic and environmental risk factors, such as aging, which combine to result in epigenetic changes, leading to gene expression changes, but little is known about how that occurs.

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The epigenetic changes in AD happen primarily in the later stages, when patients are unable to retain recently learned information and exhibit the most dramatic cognitive decline, Yan said. A key reason for the cognitive decline is the loss of glutamate receptors, which are critical to learning and short-term memory.

"We found that in Alzheimer's disease, many subunits of glutamate receptors in the frontal cortex are downregulated, disrupting the excitatory signals, which impairs working memory," Yan said.

The researchers found that the loss of glutamate receptors is the result of an epigenetic process known as repressive histone modification, which is elevated in AD. They saw this both in the animal models they studied and in post-mortem tissue of AD patients.

Yan explained that histone modifiers change the structure of chromatin, which controls how genetic material gains access to a cell's transcriptional machinery.

"This AD-linked abnormal histone modification is what represses gene expression, diminishing glutamate receptors, which leads to loss of synaptic function and memory deficits," Yan said.

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Potential drug targets

Understanding that process has revealed potential drug targets, she said, since repressive histone modification is controlled or catalyzed by enzymes.

"Our study not only reveals the correlation between epigenetic changes and AD, we also found we can correct the cognitive dysfunction by targeting the epigenetic enzymes to restore glutamate receptors," Yan said.

The AD animals were injected three times with compounds designed to inhibit the enzyme that controls repressive histone modification.

"When we gave the AD animals this enzyme inhibitor, we saw the rescue of cognitive function confirmed through evaluations of recognition memory, spatial memory and working memory. We were quite surprised to see such dramatic cognitive improvement," Yan said.

"At the same time, we saw the recovery of glutamate receptor expression and function in the frontal cortex."

The improvements lasted for one week; future studies will focus on developing compounds that penetrate the brain more effectively and are thus longer-lasting.

Epigenetic advantage

Brain disorders, such as AD, are often polygenetic diseases, Yan explained, where many genes are involved and each gene has a modest impact. An epigenetic approach is advantageous, she said, because epigenetic processes control not just one gene but many genes.

"An epigenetic approach can correct a network of genes, which will collectively restore cells to their normal state and restore the complex brain function," she explained.

"We have provided evidence showing that abnormal epigenetic regulation of glutamate receptor expression and function did contribute to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease," Yan concluded. "If many of the dysregulated genes in AD are normalized by targeting specific epigenetic enzymes, it will be possible to restore cognitive function and behavior."

The study was funded by a $2 million National Institutes of Health grant focused on novel treatment strategies for AD.

Other UB co-authors are Yan Zheng; Aiyi Liu; Zi-Jun Wang, PhD; Qing Cao, PhD; Lin Lin; Kaijie Ma; Freddy Zhang; Jing Wei, PhD; Emmanuel Matas, PhD and Jia Cheng, PhD. Additional co-authors are Guo-Jun Chen of Chongqing Medical University, PhD, and Xiaomin Wang, MD, PhD., of the Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University.
The population of Antarctic krill, the favourite food of many whales, penguins, fish and seals, shifted southward during a recent period of warming in their key habitat, new research shows.

Antarctic krill are shrimp-like crustaceans which occur in enormous numbers in the cold Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica. They have a major role in the food web and play a significant role in the transport of atmospheric carbon to the deep ocean.

Important krill habitats are under threat from climate change, and this latest research -- published today (Jan. 21, 2019) in Nature Climate Change -- has found that their distribution has contracted towards the Antarctic continent. This has major implications for the ecosystems that depend on krill.

An international team of scientists, led jointly by Dr Simeon Hill at the British Antarctic Survey and Dr Angus Atkinson at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, analysed data on the amount of krill caught in nets during scientific surveys. The data covered the Scotia Sea and Antarctic Peninsula -- the region where krill are most abundant. The team found that the centre of the krill distribution has shifted towards the Antarctic continent by about 440 km (4 latitude) over the last four decades.

The team took great care to account for background noise in the data. Many factors, in addition to long-term change, influence the amount of krill caught in any one net. Even after accounting for these factors the team found a consistent trend throughout the data, indicating a substantial change in the krill population over time.

The study provides support for a proposed mechanism behind these changes -- an increasingly unfavourable climate leading to fewer young krill replenishing the population. This has led to a smaller population dominated by older and larger krill.

Dr Hill said: "Our analysis reveals a species facing increasing difficulty in replenishing itself and maintaining high numbers at the northern edge of the Southern Ocean."

"These northern waters have warmed and conditions throughout the Scotia Sea have become more hostile, with stronger winds, warmer weather and less ice. This is bad news for young krill."

Dr Atkinson added: "This is a nice example of international cooperation in Antarctica. It is only when we put all our data together that we can look at the large scales of space and time to learn how populations of key polar species are responding to rapid climate change."

Dr Hill continued: "The surveys which provided these data weren't intended to monitor change over large spatial scales or over 90 years. The fact that we see a signal amongst all of this noise is an indication of how much the population has changed over time. These changes appear to be driven by the global climate. Continued precautionary management of the krill fishery is important, but is no substitute for global action on climate change."
Do the same laws of biodiversity which apply in nature also apply to our own bodies and homes? If so, current hygiene measures to combat aggressive germs could be, to some extent, counterproductive. So writes an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. They propose that examination of the role diversity of microorganisms plays in the ecosystems of our bodies and homes should be intensified. The findings could challenge existing strategies for fighting infectious diseases and resistant germs.

Ecosystems like high-biodiversity grasslands and forests are more resistant to disturbances, such as invasive species, climate fluctuations and pathogens, than lower-diversity ecosystems. If this diversity is reduced, basic ecosystem functions are lost. This so-called stability hypothesis has been proven in hundreds of biological studies. This research mainly deals with the world of animals and plants, but when looking at our own body or home through a microscope, an equally diverse community of microorganisms is revealed. Potentially, similar laws could apply to these communities as to the 'big' ecosystems, and this could have far-reaching consequences for our health care.

Researchers at the iDiv research centre propose, in an article published in November, 2018 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, that the theories of ecosystem research should also be tested on our immediate environment and its microorganisms.

"We influence this micro-biodiversity on a daily basis, especially by combatting it with, for example disinfectants and antibiotics -- actually with the aim of promoting good health," says ecologist Robert Dunn, professor at North Carolina State University and the University of Copenhagen. Dunn wrote the article during a one-year sabbatical stay at iDiv -- in collaboration with iDiv scientist Nico Eisenhauer, professor at Leipzig University. "This interference in microbial species compositions could impede the natural containment of pathogens," says Eisenhauer.

According to the ecological niche theory, plants and animals apportion the available resources in their habitat among themselves, whereby species with similar needs compete with each other. Newly arriving species find it hard to gain a foothold, at least in a stable ecosystem. However, in species-poor ecosystems or those disturbed by humans, non-native species can invade much more easily.

Microorganisms also form their own ecosystems. So far, more than two hundred thousand species are known to live in human dwellings as well as on and in human bodies. Bacteria in human dwellings account for half of these, and thousands of bacteria live on our bodies. In addition, there are around forty thousand species of fungi in our homes, although these are less likely to be found on human bodies.

"Pathogens in our environment are comparable to invasive species in nature," says ecologist Nico Eisenhauer. "If you transfer the findings from large habitats to the world of microbes, you have to expect that our habitual use of disinfectants and antibiotics actually increases the dispersal of dangerous germs because it interferes with the natural species composition." As an example, this has been documented for rod bacteria of the species Clostridium difficile, which causes intestinal inflammation with diarrhoea. The use of antibiotics enabled these to spread faster. So-called non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTMs), which form a biofilm primarily on shower heads and can cause diseases, are predominant in chlorinated water. They are largely free to proliferate on metal shower hoses, while plastic shower hoses, which encourage a rich community of microorganisms, have lower levels of NTMs.

Bacteria communities which prevent disease can also be actively created. For example, in the 1960s, researchers discovered that babies whose noses and navels were inoculated with harmless strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus were rarely colonised by S. aureus 80/81. This bacterium can cause diseases ranging from skin infections to life-threatening blood poisoning and pneumonia. Another example is faecal bacteriotherapy; by transferring a healthy community of microorganisms from person to person, it is possible to treat intestinal infections.

So, is our fear of 'Bacteria & Co.' unfounded and our knee-jerk reaction to fight them actually dangerous? "We are not physician," says Eisenhauer. "I would certainly not recommend a surgeon to work non-sterile on the open body. Having said that, as far as surfaces are concerned, targeted inoculations with a selected microbial community could possibly prevent the spread and establishment of dangerous pathogens."

In any case, only a relatively small proportion of the microorganisms in our environment actually causes disease. This also applies to insects and other arthropods, usually regarded as pests in flats and houses -- especially spiders. As hunters, they provide important ecosystem services by exterminating mosquitoes, bedbugs, cockroaches and house flies, which can actually transmit diseases. "We just have to let them be," says Robert Dunn.

How the theories of biodiversity and ecosystem research apply to the health sector should, according to the three authors, be systematically investigated. Eisenhauer suggests, firstly, to test in which microbial communities common pathogens can spread better or worse on surfaces.
Since the birth of structural biology, X-ray crystallography has been the most widely used technique to determine the three-dimensional structure of biomolecules -- the chemical compounds found in living organisms. In this regard, knowledge of the interactions between the biomolecules with their crystal environment and the molecular forces that stabilize the crystals would serve to optimise this technique.

A study published in the journal Chem -- produced by the Cell group -- and undertaken by researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has been the first to achieve stable simulations of DNA crystals. This accomplishment has allowed the scientists to explain the importance of the chemical additives used experimentally to achieve suitable crystallization conditions and stable crystals in the laboratory.

"The first to benefit from this study is the community of biophysicists and computational physicists/chemists, who now have a reference and clear protocols through which to achieve stable simulations of DNA crystals," says Pablo D. Dans, postdoctoral researcher at IRB Barcelona.

Led by Modesto Orozco, head of the Molecular Modelling and Bioinformatics lab, the study presents the most detailed atomic description of the properties of DNA crystals to date.

"In the long term, the simulation of several crystals obtained in a range of experimenal conditions should allow us to anticipate and predict the effect of a given chemical additive, thus serving to guide crystallographers in their experiments and considerably reducing the cost and time needed to obtain the crystals," remarks Modesto Orozco, whose lab is an international reference in bimolecular computation and simulation.

The study has been supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC), through an ERC Advanced Grant (SimDNA) awarded to Modesto Orozco, and from the European Consortium of Supercomputing Centres, through a grant provided in the 12th PRACE Call and awarded to the three authors of the study.
A drop in the number of young children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes could be associated with the introduction of routine rotavirus vaccination of Australian infants, according to a new study by Melbourne researchers.

The researchers investigated the number of Australian children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes from 2000 to 2015 and found that type 1 diabetes diagnoses in children aged 0-4 years declined from 2007 -- the year that rotavirus vaccine was introduced as a routine infant vaccination.

This is the first time the rate of type 1 diabetes in young children in Australia has fallen since the 1980s. While not conclusively linking the rotavirus vaccine with protection against type 1 diabetes, the discovery builds on earlier research suggesting natural rotavirus infection may be a risk factor for type 1 diabetes.

The study, a collaboration led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and Walter and Eliza Hall Institute clinician scientists, was published in JAMA Pediatrics today.

Decline in type 1 diabetes

Since the 1980s, the incidence of type 1 diabetes has steadily increased in Australia and worldwide, but the reasons for this increase are poorly understood. Type 1 diabetes is a serious, lifelong autoimmune condition, in which the body's immune system destroys cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, a hormone that controls the level of glucose in the blood.

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By investigating the number of Australian children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year since 2000, the research team observed that after 2007 the rate of type 1 diabetes decreased in children aged 0-4 years, said study lead Dr Kirsten Perrett from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

"The significant decrease in type 1 diabetes that we detected in young children after 2007 was not seen in older children aged 5-14. This suggests the young children could have been exposed to a protective factor that didn't impact older children," Dr Perrett said.

"We observed the decline in the rate of type 1 diabetes in children born after 2007 coincided with the introduction of the oral rotavirus vaccine onto the Australian National Immunisation Program in 2007."

The rotavirus vaccine is routinely given to Australian infants aged 2 and 4 months to protect them against a severe, potentially life-threatening form of diarrhoea.

Exploring the connection

Professor Len Harrison from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, who is the study senior author, said the discovery followed on from earlier research implicating rotavirus infection in the development of type 1 diabetes.

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"Twenty years ago our team revealed an association between the appearance of immune markers of type 1 diabetes in children and rotavirus infection. Subsequent studies in laboratory models suggested rotavirus infection of pancreatic cells can trigger an immune attack against the insulin-producing cells -- similar to what occurs in type 1 diabetes," he said.

"While not conclusive, our latest study suggests that preventing rotavirus infection in Australian infants by vaccination may also reduce their risk of type 1 diabetes. We will be continuing this research to look more closely at the correlation, by comparing the health records of young children with or without type 1 diabetes.

"At this stage we don't yet know whether the reduction in type 1 diabetes is a permanent effect or transient, and it may only be relevant to Australian children," Professor Harrison said.

The research was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (ECF APP1054394), a Melbourne Children's Clinician-Scientist Fellowship, a Murdoch Children's Research Institute grant, the Colin North Diabetes Fund and the Victorian Government.

Dr Perrett and Professor Harrison hold honorary positions at the University of Melbourne.
I can see how some may feel that after the performance of the Republicans in this past election, it could be questionable, Stewart said of the bonus. If its tied to fundraising and the numbers show that its deserved, Im sure the committee feels it to be appropriate. I think its commonplace when you find people who do fundraising for people to be rewarded off of high numbers.
(CNN)  Gigi Wu, a Taiwanese internet star famous for hiking mountains, has been found dead after falling into a gorge 30 meters deep (100 feet), the island's state media reported.

Wu, 36, fell from Taiwan's Jupen Mountain on Saturday and was found on Monday.

Capt. Chang Ching-piao of the Nantou County Government Fire Station told CNN that Wu called a friend for assistance after the fall, but was unable to move due to injuries to her lower body.

Because of the late time of day, six rescuers from the fire department began the search the following morning. A helicopter was deployed in the search, but was unable to land where Wu fell.

Wu's body was found at midday Monday. "Her body is still there and we will send the helicopter tomorrow again to fetch the body," Chang said. Her cause of death has not yet been determined, though Chang speculated she may have died of hypothermia.

Wu gained fame by posting pictures of herself in a bikini atop mountains after she reached the summit.

The stunt started after Wu lost a bet to a friend a few years ago, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) reported. In a four-year span, she had completed 100 hikes and worn at least 97 bikinis over the past four years.

She accumulated some 14,000 followers on Facebook, CNA reported, though the page has now been converted into a memorial. Users have posted condolence messages on her final post.

This story was first published on CNN.com "Gigi Wu, Taiwanese 'bikini hiker,' dies after mountain fall"
Cancer of the esophagus claims more than 400,000 lives around the world each year. With no efficient, reliable method of screening for the disease, by the time symptoms become apparent, it's often too late to save the patient.

A Johns Hopkins researcher who has devoted his career to the detection and prevention of esophageal cancer today published a paper in the journal Clinical Cancer Research that he says could finally result in simple and inexpensive screening for the deadly disease.

In the article, gastroenterologist Stephen Meltzer, a professor of medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, along with a team of researchers, clinicians and biomedical engineers describe a test -- the "EsophaCap" -- that uses specific genetic biomarkers to detect dangerous changes in the cells that line the inside of the esophagus.

Previous studies have demonstrated Meltzer's biomarkers' ability to detect a condition called Barrett's esophagus, which causes the body to replace the tissue that lines the organ with cells that can turn cancerous.

But large-scale methods to deploy those biomarkers as a screening tool have been elusive until now.

The principle behind the EsophaCap is simple, says Meltzer. The patient swallows a small capsule that has a long string attached to it. After the capsule makes its way down the esophagus and into the stomach -- a process that takes only a minute or so -- the gelatin coating on the capsule begins to dissolve.

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From that capsule emerges a 2-centimeter polyurethane sponge, still attached to the string, much of which still hangs from the patient's mouth.

The screener gently pulls the string and the sponge begins its return journey, out of the stomach, into the esophagus and, finally, out of the patient's mouth.

As it makes its way up, the sponge comes into contact with the entire length and breadth of the esophagus, collecting genetic material all along the way. Then, as the sponge nears the top, the screener gives a final gentle tug, popping the sponge past the organ's upper sphincter muscle. The sponge emerges loaded with genetic material that holds the key to the patient's esophageal health.

The sponge is then sent to a company that performs simple genetic tests on the material to determine the patient's risk for esophageal cancer.

"Early detection is the whole ballgame when it comes to esophageal cancer," Meltzer says. "Patients have a much better chance to treat it -- or even prevent it -- if they know their risk. We believe this little sponge can bring easy and inexpensive screening to people around the world."

With nearly half a million new cases a year, esophageal cancer is the eighth most-common cancer worldwide, with the highest rates in parts of Africa and Asia.

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In 2016, the United States saw nearly 17,000 new cases diagnosed and about 16,000 deaths from cancer of the esophagus. Those numbers have increased sharply in recent years.

The five-year survival rate for people with cancer confined to the esophagus is 43 percent. When it spreads to nearby tissues or organs, that rate falls to 23 percent. And esophageal cancer that spreads to distant parts of the body offers a five-year survival rate of only 5 percent.

In previous research, Meltzer has performed rigorous testing on the set of genetic biomarkers he uses to diagnose Barrett's esophagus. The gene combination of p16, NELL1, AKAP12 and TAC1 has yielded a sensitivity of nearly 92 percent and has offered reliable diagnoses.

Medicine has never had routine screening methods for the disease. Both endoscopy and biopsy are less-than-ideal, since they're inexact, expensive and rely on random tissue samples, rather than material from the whole esophagus lining.

"It's actually possible to miss early cancerous cells using endoscopy with biopsy and most patients with Barrett's don't ever undergo endoscopy," says Meltzer. "Right now, we're confident that we have the tools to identify this type of cancer. But we previously lacked a way to collect enough genetic material to confidently determine a patient's diagnosis. We believe that EsophaCap now provides a solution to this serious problem."

Meltzer administered the EsophaCap test to 94 people over the course of the study. Eighty-five percent of subjects were able to swallow the capsule, with 100 percent successful sponge retrieval. Endoscopic evaluation of the patients after EsophaCap administration, Meltzer reported, showed no evidence of bleeding, pain, trauma or other adverse reactions to the test.

In the journal article, Meltzer reports that of the patients able to swallow the capsule, nearly half would be diagnosed with Barrett's esophagus -- a rate far higher than that of the general U.S. population. He notes that most patients enrolled in the study were being treated for gastrointestinal symptoms. "That may explain why we saw a rate of Barrett's esophagus that was higher than in the general population," he says.

Additional authors of the study are Zhixiong Wang, Ph.D; Swetha Kambhampati, M.D.; Yulan Cheng, M.D.; Ke Ma, M.D.; Cem Simsek, M.D.; Alan H. Tieu, M.D.; John M. Abraham, Ph.D; Xi Liu, Ph.D; Vishnu Prasath, M.D.; Mark Duncan, M.D.; Alejandro Stark, B.S.; Alexander Trick, B.S.; Hua-Ling Tsai, Ph.D; Hao Wang, Ph.D.; Yulong He, Ph.D; Mouen A. Khashab, M.D.; Saowanee Ngamruengphong, M.D.; Eun Ji Shin, M.D. and Tza-Huei Wang, Ph.D.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (Grants CA211457 and DK118250), the Emerson Cancer Research Fund and a Discovery Award from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Stephen Meltzer is the Harry and Betty Myerberg-Thomas R. Hendrix Professor and an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor. Zhixiong Wang was supported by a Scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and the 3-3 Fund from the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.
The two seabird species unique to Hawaii, Newell's Shearwaters and Hawaiian Petrels, are the focus of major conservation efforts -- at risk from habitat degradation, invasive predators, and other threats, their populations plummeted 94% and 78% respectively between 1993 and 2013. However, a new study in The Condor: Ornithological Applications offers hope of previously undetected colonies of these birds on the island of Oahu, from which they were believed to have vanished by the late 1700s.

Shearwaters and petrels nest colonially in crevices, burrows, and under vegetation at mid to high elevations. They currently breed on other Hawaiian islands including Kauai and Maui, but were both believed to have extirpated from Oahu prior to European contact in 1778; biologists believed that occasional records from the island were birds thrown off-course at night by city lights.

Pacific Rim Conservation's Lindsay Young and her colleagues used a spatial model based on elevation, forest cover, and illumination to identify potential suitable breeding habitat for both species on Oahu, then deployed automated acoustic recording units at 16 sites on the island to listen for the birds' calls in 2016 and 2017, accessing remote mountain locations via helicopter. To their surprise, they detected petrels at one site and shearwaters at two sites.

"We were doing a statewide survey for these species for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of recovery action planning, but Oahu was not initially included as one of the sites to survey, since evidence suggested they weren't there," says Young. "Since we're Oahu-based, we thought we would at least put a few recording units out to see if there was anything. And we were surprised, to say the least, that we not only had calls detected, but detected both species across two years."

These could be the last survivors of remnant breeding populations on Oahu, or they could be young birds from other islands that are searching for mates and breeding sites. "Either way, it gives us hope that we will be able to use social attraction -- that is, using calls and decoys -- to attract them nest on an island where they were once abundant," says Young. Oahu birds could help boost connectivity between individual island populations and provide extra insurance in case any one island's seabird population is decimated by an event such as a hurricane. As petrel and shearwater numbers continue to decline, protecting Hawaii's remaining seabirds remains a major conservation priority in the region, and the possibility that they're continuing to breed on Oahu provides new reason for optimism.
A wonderful Hungarian Goulash Soup-Gulyasleves that is true comfort food. It is a simple soup delicious beef soup with a rich paprika seasoned broth. The most perfect soup to enjoy on a cold winters day.

Today we are sharing a wonderful Hungarian Goulash Soup (Gulyasleves) that is true comfort food. It is a simple soup that is a delicious beef soup with a rich paprika seasoned broth. It is the most perfect soup to enjoy on a cold winters day.

Hungarian Goulash Soup-Gulyasleves



This is a soup that I have been making for most of my cooking life. It was something I made more often before I got married. My mother is from Hungary and there are some dishes from my childhood that spark the most profound food memories. This Hungarian Goulash Soup is one of them. Another family favorite soup is our French Onion Soup . This Paprika Cauliflower Soup-Karfiol Leves is another fantastic Hungarian soup!

As my mother married a Sicilian, she mostly cooked Italian and Sicilian recipes during my childhood. Many people even thought she was Italian, as her dishes were made just like an Italian mamma would make them. She even learned to speak the Sicilian dialect. But there were those days when she would cook something from her Hungarian childhood, and this is one of those special recipes I learned to cook from her. I have only been to Hungary a handful of times but it is a part of me and a part of my food culture.

It was at the beginning of the month when I found half of my household fighting the dreaded flu. I was home bound cooking mostly chicken soup and very light dishes. One day I asked my husband if I should cook another pot of chicken soup and he said to make instead a beef soup.

This was the first thing that came to mind and I realized I never shared the recipe here. It also seems I hadnt made this soup in quite a while. Our son was quite in love with this soup and after chicken paprikas, this is now his next favorite Hungarian dish. Although I cant compete with mom and her chicken paprikash (paprikas csirke). I will soon share her recipe here. But for now, back to this delicious soup!

Im sharing today a recipe that some could consider Hungarys national dish: gulyas (goulash). Gulyas means herdsman and this recipes origins dates back to the the nomadic Magyars of the Middle Ages. The herdsmen would cook their meals in a cauldron on an open fire during their long journeys of herding cattle. At the end of the 19th century a goulash became not just the soup of herdsmen; it also represented a connection to Hungarians identity. This simple herdsmans soup was one way of preserving a part of their cultural heritage.

As with any countrys cuisines, there are variations of a goulash. There is the csango goulash that is made with sour cream and rice. Another variation is the Kolozsvar that is made with cabbage. The Szeged (or Great Plain) version includes kale with mixed vegetables. In the csikos-goulash instead of the csipetke (pinched dumplings) they use vermicelli. And even one more version uses csusza-pasta.

Now if you would ask my mom what is her tip to making the best Hungarian Goulash Soup, she would say dont skimp on the quality of paprika. I have been lucky to always have high quality paprika in my cupboard. If you can get a hold of some, it makes the flavor difference. She would also say to not be afraid of the quantity of the paprika you use. Another tip she has taught me is to add a little bit of water when you add the paprika when you are stirring with the onion so it wont burn and get bitter (Ive had it happen and bitter paprika is awfulyou have to throw it out and start over again with the oil, onion, paprika part of the recipe if it happens).

What is the difference between Hungarian Goulash Soup and Hungarian Goulash Stew?

The thickness is the most important difference between a goulash soup and a goulash stew. Less water is added to a goulash stew than to a goulash soup. A Hungarian Goulash Soup is made with either beef, pork, or veal.

Is there more than one way to make a Hungarian Goulash Soup?

Just as with many dishes, there are variations. As long as you have the basics of water, your meat, paprika and the vegetables, you will make your own delicious Hungarian Goulash soup. Its fine if you dont add some other ingredients you may see on some other recipes. I have seen the soup served with the traditional Hungarian dumplings (nokedli)and I have seen it served without them. Its up to you. I have also seen it served with Hungarian csipetke (pinched noodles).

What is Hungarian Paprika

Paprika is made from grinding up dried peppers. Peppers can range from hot to mild, so paprika will vary from region to region. Paprika is used as a garnish in American recipe.

It is used to flavor many Hungarian recipes. Paprika can be sweet, mild, smoked and strong. Mild to sweet paprika is mostly used in Hungarian recipes.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Hungarian Goulash Soup-Gulyasleves A wonderful Hungarian Goulash Soup (Gulyasleves) that is true comfort food. It is a simple soup delicious beef soup with a rich paprika seasoned broth. The most perfect soup to enjoy on a cold winter's day. Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 2 hrs Total Time 1 hr 40 mins Servings: 6 servings Author: Lora Ingredients 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil sunflower

1 large onion

1 clove of garlic minced

1/4 cup of sweet Hungarian paprika powder

1 medium fresh tomato chopped

1 sweet yellow pepper or bell pepper, wax or banana pepper  cut into small pieces

1 pound beef shoulder fat trimmed, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 bay leaves

2 medium carrots peeled and cut into small pieces

2 medium potatoes peeled and cut into medium size cubes

salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons chopped parsley to serve Instructions In a large soup pot, saute the onions in vegetable oil over low heat, stirring frequently, until translucent. Do not let them burn. Salt lightly to help tenderize them. If they begin to stick, add a bit of water to the pot. Towards the end of the cooking of the onions, add in the garlic (it will brown pretty quickly, so keep an eye on the garlic and keep stirring).

Remove the pot from the heat, add the sweet Hungarian paprika, stir. Add the tomatoes, meat and pepper; stir again. Add a little bit of water (about 2 Tablespoons). Be sure to not burn the paprika, as it will get bitter.

Add 6 cups of water. Toss in the bay leaves and crack in some fresh pepper (to taste). Add some salt (I start with less, about 1 teaspoon. I add more as its cooking if I feel it needs it). If it seems too thick, add another 1-2 cups of water.

Reduce heat, add the carrots and potatoes. Cover and simmer until meat is tender, adding water as necessary. It takes about 1.5-2 hours or until tender. If while simmering the soup seems too thick, add a little bit more water so it's the consistency you like. Tried this recipe? Mention @savoringitaly or tag #savoringitaly
The one-on-one contact with Lamont, who has been on the job two weeks, was not an isolated case. The governor personally called a group of 10 mayors and first selectmen during the storm, according to aides, who chose cities and towns with the most power outages from a map in the states Emergency Operations Center.
But these limits are not as simple as blood alcohol levels. The presence of THC in the blood does not always correlate to when a person last used marijuana or how impaired they are, which is why three other states have zero tolerance for the presence of THC in the body, and nine more states have zero tolerance for THC or a byproduct of it.
The incentives for living like I do are almost none. There are no social programs or tax incentives that reduce my tax burden, because I dont have a child in the school system (or dont have one at all!). There are no incentives to renovate my home to increase the value and value of homes in my community.
Moscow, Jan 23: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold Syria talks in Moscow on Wednesday, with Turkey saying they will focus on Ankara's so-called "security zone" in northern Syria. The two leaders are on opposite sides of the conflict: Russia provides critical support to the Syrian government, while Turkey has backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Despite this, they have worked closely to find a political solution to the seven-year conflict. Russia and Turkey have agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria following US President Donald Trump's shock announcement on pulling 2,000 American troops out of Syria last month. In a speech on Monday, Erdogan said he would discuss with Putin the creation of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, suggested by Trump.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

The US-allied Kurds, who control much of northern Syria, have rejected the idea, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control. Moscow, a long time supporter of Assad, is likely to oppose the plan, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week saying Damascus must take control of the country's north. Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the US pullout has led to another key step in Assad's Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.

Kurdish forces who were left exposed by Trump's pledge to withdraw US troops have asked the Syrian regime for help to face a threatened Turkish offensive. The Kremlin hailed the entry by Syrian forces into the key northern city of Manbij for the first time in six years after Kurds opened the gates. Moscow plans to organise a three-way summit with Turkey and Iran at the beginning of this year as part of the Astana peace process, launched by the three countries in 2017.

Putin and Erdogan to hold Syria talks

"So far, no date has been set but after negotiations with Erdogan, we will begin preparations for the trilateral summit," Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters last week. The last meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani took place in Iran in September last year with the fate of the rebel-held Idlib province dominating the agenda.

Ties between Russia and Turkey plunged to their lowest level in years in November 2015 when Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane over Syria. But after a reconciliation deal in 2016, relations have recovered with remarkable speed with Putin and Erdogan cooperating closely over Syria, Turkey buying Russian-made air defence systems and Russia building Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
Chandigarh, January 23: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday protested against Pakistans proposal to allow only Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, pointing out that Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was a universal Guru, revered by followers of all religions, especially Hindus. The Chief Minister has urged the Indian government to take up the issue with Islamabad when the latter sends its draft agreement for regulating entry into its territory through the Kartarpur Corridor.

In a statement issued here, Captain Amarinder Singh said while Islamabad was well within its rights to set terms and conditions relating to its territorial safety and security, it should take into consideration the fact that the first Sikh Gurus ideology is not confined to Sikhs but is emulated by people of all faiths. The Sikh ethos prescribes non-discrimination, with even the concept of langar being casteless service for all, said the Chief Minister, adding that all gurdwaras are open to all, without religious bias.

Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara

A large number of Hindus in India were ardent followers of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and it was their cherished dream to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, which was closely associated with the first Sikh Guru, he pointed out. There was for years the tradition of Hindu families converting their eldest sons to Sikhism, the Chief Minister further noted, adding that the influence of Sikhism in India was so strong that to exclude members of other religions was not something that Pakistan government should even remotely consider.

To keep such followers out of Kartarpur Sahib just because they were not Sikhs was not logical, he said, urging the Indian government to take up the matter with the Pakistan government on priority. Citing media reports of the draft agreement being prepared by the Pak government on entry through Kartarpur Corridor, the Chief Minister also objected to the condition of number of pilgrims proposed by them.

It was not correct to limit the number of people to 15 a group, he said, adding that individual yatris should be permitted. Advocating khulle Dharshan for devotees, he further said the restriction of 500 pilgrims per day should also not be there, especially in November 2019, when the 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji will be celebrated. The Chief Minister also expressed concern at the reported clause making passport imperative for travel by pilgrims.

Punjab CM Protests Pak Move to Restrict Kartarpur Travel to Sikhs

With Punjabs large rural population having no passports, such a move would deprive them of making the historic pilgrimage, he observed. The Chief Minister urged the governments of India and Pakistan to sit across the table and thrash out all issues to facilitate smooth and hassle-free travel by pilgrims through Corridor before coming to a formal agreement in this regard.

Such regressive steps as were reportedly being considered by the Pakistan government to control entry through the Corridor would negate the positive initiative taken by their government and it was up to the Indian government to resolve all such issues amicably so that the pilgrims get the maximum benefit from the historic decision of the two nations, said Captain Amarinder Singh.
New Delhi, Jan 23: Congress President Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day tour of his parliamentary constituency Amethi starting Wednesday. Gandhi said he would meet and discuss issues with people in his home constituency. "I am coming to Amethi. Will be with my people and discuss issues with them. Will keep sharing the details of my story of happiness with you by way of pictures," Gandhi said in a Facebook post.

Rahul Gandhi on two-day visit to Amethi

During his stay, Gandhi is scheduled to meet representatives of gram panchayats at Fursatganj. He will also take part in the swearing-in of newly elected bar members in Gauriganj, his representative Chandrakant Dubey had said. Gandhi will address a 'nukkad sabha' at Haliyapur and stay the night at Bhueymau guest house, where he will meet party workers on the second day of his visit before leaving for Delhi, Dubey had said.

Union Minister Smriti Irani

Gandhi was scheduled to visit Amethi on January 4 but it was cancelled in view of the Winter session of Parliament. His visit would have clashed with Union Minister Smriti Irani's Amethi trip, which was also scheduled for the same day and was being seen as the first major political face-off ahead of the general elections. The Congress chief will also tour states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the coming days.
Mumbai, Jan 22: Kangana Ranaut has battled her way facing sexism, harassment and heartbreaks to emerge as one of the most powerful contemporary leading stars and the actor believes there are people waiting for her to fail. Kangana established herself by playing characters dealing with emotional turmoil in her earlier films like "Gangster", "Woh Lamhe" and "Fashion", before gaining stardom with "Queen" and subsequently headlining powerful women oriented movies.

Though she delivered hits and cemented her position, Kangana's crashing of recent projects "Simran" and "Rangoon" were more talked about. "I do feel there are people waiting for me to fail," Kangana told PTI. "That there are people who are waiting to to prove to themselves that she's not a real deal, to make themselves feel better. My failure is important to them." The 31-year-old actor, known to speak her mind, said while a certain section will look at her in a particular light but her world view is extremely positive and she wouldn't change that.

People are waiting for me to fail

"Even though I can realise or feel, I can never be like them or feel through them. I understand their cynicism but I can never be them. Personally, I've never waited for anyone to fail. That's why I think I could do what I did in my life. "That inherent positivity that I have in me. I praise everyone regardless of who they are or what they think of me is actually something I live by. I'm not a double faced person. What others feel I'm not concerned about that," she added.

Kangana is currently gearing up for her ambitious epic-drama "Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi". The actor underwent a rigorous and "exhaustive" physical and emotional exercise to tap into the character of Rani Lakshmibai, one of the key leaders in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Things changed, however, when she had to also turn director after the original helmer, Krish, was not available to re-shoot a chunk of the project.

Movie Manikarnika

Kangana said she was aware when the news dropped that she will now helm the project, there was wide spread skepticism around her. "When the studio is investing money, I must've shown them some caliber because nobody will put money on anyone. If the entire team, the writers who are India's best are ready to work with me, it's beyond me why people get so touchy," she said.

Kangana added that most of it could be "deep rooted sexism" which invited the amount of doubt on whether she could direct the film. "I'm just a new director on the block, what's the big deal? I see there is a lot of sexism involved in this- a woman, doing an epic action film and directing it. That's something even Hollywood was struggling with. "When 'Wonder Woman' came people were like 'oh a woman director making an action film' but when the film worked well, they all praised a woman pulling this off. There is clearly a deep rooted sexism," she added.

Kangna in Tanu Weds Manu

The "Tanu Weds Manu" star is currently "neck deep" in the final stage of the film from readying the print for international delivery to fixing last minute sound hiccups. Kangana said the process of directing the film became challenging as she didn't dive in thinking she would also be helming it at some point. "I wasn't prepared for it. If I was, I am the kind of person who plans to the final dot and with utmost discipline. I don't like accidental things. If I shot for 45 days, I prepped for four months. "The last few days have been intense because I am doing someone else's job. This gets difficult for me, not my own job," she said.
MOTHBALLED Maltby pit is set for a new life as an open-air auction house.

Heavy equipment auctioneer Ritchie Bros is moving its UK HQ from Donington in east Midlands to the site, with the first bids due to be made at the end of next month.

Ritchie Bros auctions for vehicles including diggers, trucks and tractors are attended by bidders from around the world in person and online.

Rupert Craven, the firms UK sales director, said: We're extremely proud and excited about moving to this new, unique location.

The Maltby colliery and region have a long, rich heritage.

With our auctions and events at this new site, we look forward to becoming part of the Maltby community, contributing to the local economy and industrial spirit.

Founded in Canada in 1958, Ritchie Bros moved to Europe in 1987, holding its first European auction in the UK.

We've outgrown our site in Donington Park, continued Mr Craven.

The new Maltby site will be better equipped for future growth and will have great additional advantages for our customers.

The first Ritchie Bros. auction in Maltby will be held on February 26.


Philosopher Paul Tillich made what I believe is the most concise distinction between loneliness and solitude when he wrote: Our language has wisely sensed these two sides of mans being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone. Although, in daily life, we do not always distinguish these words, we should do so consistently and thus deepen our understanding of our human predicament.
As indicated from the beginning, the Archdiocese will update its list as necessary, and Judge Antonio Robaina will be conducting his own independent investigation that will start on Feb. 1, Shanley said. The list released by the archdiocese includes: archdiocesan clergy who have been the objects of legal settlements or otherwise credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor from 1953 to the present; and religious order priests and priests from other dioceses who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor that took place in the Archdiocese of Hartford from 1953 to the present.
Borge faces prosecutor February 1, could return to Quintana Roo

Cancun, Q.R.  A video conference hearing for ex-governor Roberto Borge Angulo, is scheduled for February 1 says the Office of the Special Prosecutor for the Fight Against Corruption.

Rosaura Villanueva Arzapalo, head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor for the Fight Against Corruption, says that Borge will face charges from a courtroom in the state of Morelos where his is being held.

She explained that Borge will face charges for the crimes of illicit use of power and irregular performance of the public function in the case of VIP-SAESA for irregular contracts that amount to nearly 600 million peso, adding that once linked to the crime, he will then return to Quintana Roo for sentencing.

There are three arrest warrants pending by the State Attorney Generals Office against the ex-governor for the crimes of embezzlement, irregular performance while in public service and corruption and abuse of power.

Borge Angulo continues to be held in the Federal Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center in Ayala, Morelos.
Strict control of broadcast television has been a key element of Russian President Vladimir Putin's nearly two decades in power. The vast majority of Russians continue to get most of their information from TV, giving the Kremlin a powerful tool for shaping public perceptions.



Leonid Krivenkov worked as a camera operator for the Rossia-24 round-the-clock news channel from 2006 until his retirement in 2016. He worked in Studio Seven, where live broadcasts are organized, and recorded programs featuring leading political and cultural figures. He learned the ins and outs of Rossia-24's parent company, the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK).



Krivenkov spoke with RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Dmitry Volchek about what goes into Russian state TV broadcasts -- from how they squeeze out troublemakers and what they shout into the anchorwoman's earpiece to what "Give me an 8!" means.

I was shocked that they would delay a commercial flight just so Rossia-24 could do a telephone interview."



RFE/RL: When you began working at Rossia-24, did you have the political views that you have now? Or were they changed by what you saw there?

Leonid Krivenkov: I have always been very cautious regarding the ruling regime. I understood that they pursue their own interests and deceive the public while pretending they adopt laws for the general good. But while I was there I began to take an interest in politics, since I was sitting there all day long watching the news and discussing developments with the moderators. Sometimes after work we'd drink a glass of cognac and chat. They told me things that were quite different from what they were saying on the air. I came to understand exactly how things work in Russia.

In the first years of my work at Rossia-24, I was shocked by the cynicism that people had toward their work. They all, of course, understood perfectly that they were misinforming the viewers. On the in-ear talk-back channel, you can hear discussions about how best to present some bit of news -- often you'd hear the most fantastic, mutually contradictory versions. It was a favorite joke of directors and moderators that "now it's your turn to lie." That's exactly what they said to the correspondents right before they went on the air.

RFE/RL: So you weren't really an oddball there? There are a lot of people with similar views?



Krivenkov: Yes. I think the majority understands perfectly. People who really hold pro-government views are the exceptions. Some of them are trying to portray themselves as Putinist patriots. I don't know -- maybe they're putting on a show, maybe they're really like that. But the majority are normal people who by chance ended up in this orbit and are obligated to earn their living by spinning around like that.



RFE/RL: People who work in television often tell me that if the authorities changed, then the very same people who are now praising Putin would denounce him with just as much enthusiasm.



Krivenkov: I think that's true. If the authorities changed, the next day they would be saying something completely different. A lot of people there are dependent and have to say what they're told to say. The official salaries at VGTRK are laughable. If a person for some reason starts acting incorrectly, they simply start paying him the official salary that's written in his contract. Either he quits or he apologizes.



Management has levers of control over employees. Many of them have loans. Many came from different regions and bought apartments in Moscow. They have mortgages to pay. And so they hang on to their positions and have to act as they're told.

"As soon as the cameras went off for commercials, they immediately started talking about their grandchildren and turned into completely different people. It was all theater and they are just actors. You can't be angry at an actor because of the role he plays."

RFE/RL: Some people have miserly salaries, while others get a lot of money. Channel One moderator Sergei Brilyov bought an apartment in London for hundreds of thousands of pounds.



Krivenkov: The income gap is, of course, enormous. Some of the hosts come to work in personal cars with chauffeurs. They have additional sources of income -- for instance, they are often invited to host corporate events. A camera operator gets a salary of about 45,000 rubles ($680). The work is rather intensive and exhausting. There are some employees who get even less than that. But the official VGTRK salaries are pathetic, even by Russian standards. In 2015, the official salary for a camera operator was 6,860 rubles ($120). That's per month, not per day.



Of course, no one is going to work for that money, so VGTRK has a clever system of bonuses that might be paid or might not be paid depending on whether the employee behaves "incorrectly." Several times I was paid exactly that sum  6,860 rubles. I sued them over that, but the court said everything was legal.



RFE/RL: You probably know a lot of strange things that happened on the air while you were there. Can you tell us something about that?



Krivenkov: The best-known one is the 146 percent for the 2011 State Duma elections. (Editor's note: While giving the results for each party by region, state television showed several regions where the figures added up to more than 100 percent, including Rostov Oblast, where the seven parties between them polled 146 percent of the vote.)

I worked for several years in one studio with moderators Ivan Kudryavtsev and Anna Shnaider, who were announcing the 146 percent results to the whole country. I asked Anna, Ivan, and Rossia-24 editor in chief Natalya Shchedrinskaya about this. Of course, it wasn't true as [then-Central Election Commission head Vladimir] Churov said that some employee got a nice house overseas for doing that. It was all a lot simpler: The instruction came to Rossia-24 from the Kremlin stating what percentage to show for [the pro-Kremlin party] United Russia. The editor asked, "And what about the other parties?" The answer came: "Just show whatever they got." The editor wasn't going to argue with them. After all, the Kremlin knows best. So she did exactly as she was told. And that's how you get 146 percent.

WATCH: Election results add up to 146 percent:

RFE/RL: In general, the discussion shows are all staged and the roles are set in advance. But don't unpredictable things happen sometimes?



Krivenkov: There were some guests who acted "appropriately" during the preliminary interviews but then began telling the truth when they got on the air live. There was one big scandal about a guest who was invited to a program about the use of chemical weapons by the forces of [Putin ally and Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad. The guest began telling the truth about the production and use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces. The editor, Aleksei Kazakov, was screaming at the moderator on the in-ear channel: "Don't you hear what he's saying? Shut him up immediately!"

The moderator immediately interrupted the expert and said there was no more time. Later, the Kremlin called and there was a scandal. That expert never appeared on television again.



I remember once I was recording a debate between [Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir] Zhirinovsky and [Communist Party leader Gennady] Zyuganov. Initially, they were chatting like old friends. Then the cameras went on and they began cursing one another until they nearly ended up fighting. But as soon as the cameras went off for commercials, they immediately started talking about their grandchildren and turned into completely different people. It was all theater and they are just actors. You can't be angry at an actor because of the role he plays.

One director told me that the studios are set up with the help of leading psychologists in order to have a subconscious effect on the audience."

I also remember an amusing incident with [children's author, poet, and author of the lyrics to the Russian national anthem] Sergei Mikhalkov. It was early in the morning and we had to record a telephone interview with him about something immediately. They called Mikhalkov, but it turned out that he was on an airplane that was standing on the runway waiting to take off. The editor called the Kremlin and the flight was delayed by half an hour. I was shocked that they would delay a commercial flight just so Rossia-24 could do a telephone interview.



RFE/RL: Do they call often from Putin's office or other agencies and create scandals, or do they just explain what needs to be done?



Krivenkov: The editors are constantly getting calls from some people in the Kremlin telling them to "correct" the content of the news. You can easily figure out the content of those conversations, because the in-ear channel microphone is usually on and everyone who has access to it can hear the editor's side of the conversation. After such calls, the editor will demand that the moderator read the news in some new way, often one that completely contradicts what the moderator had said the previous hour.



RFE/RL: We're told that sometimes broadcasts are changed after they appear in the Far East and before they are shown in the European part of Russia. Does that happen often?



Krivenkov: Yes, there are some items that the management doesn't like that disappear entirely. There are sometimes live interviews that are later radically "corrected" for the rebroadcasts.



RFE/RL: A lot depends on the camera operator. You can flatter someone or not. Does Rossia-24 have rules about how some guests or moderators must be shown?



Krivenkov: The camera operator always follows the orders of the director so everything falls within the parameters set out by the management. In VGTRK's Studio Seven, there are about 20 or 30 photographs on the wall that were taken from broadcasts and approved by the management. All the images sent by the operator for broadcast have to correspond to one of those photos. The director might say, "Camera two, give me an eight!" That means you have to shoot the

shot that corresponds to photograph No. 8.

I didn't really understand at first why that was important, since sometimes those shots didn't really look that good. Sometimes, for instance, someone moved a bit of set decoration a little bit. Then the director would come running in and give us a lecture about how it is not allowed to touch anything. "Do you think all these little squares and beams of light are just for beauty?"

That's actually exactly what we naively thought. But it turns out things aren't that simple. One director told me that the studios are set up with the help of leading psychologists in order to have a subconscious effect on the audience. Even if you don't know what the person is saying or are watching with the sound turned off, it makes an impression....Somehow the picture increases trust in the person who is on the screen.



RFE/RL: Do they keep track of the loyalty of the employees? Did you have problems?



Krivenkov: Once an assistant to the head camera operator came up to me and asked me to remove something from my Facebook page. I had written what I thought about Ukraine. It wasn't an official reprimand. I had to remove it and that was the end of it.



RFE/RL: Recently, moderator Yekaterina Andreyeva told the BBC that she doesn't watch television at all because it gets on her nerves. Do you watch television now that you are retired?



Krivenkov: To tell you the truth, I used to have two televisions. I gave them both away. Now I don't have any. I only watch news on Internet channels. I don't believe anything on Russian television. My advice is to turn your television off.
The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill affirming congressional support for NATO, amid renewed concerns over President Donald Trump's commitment to the 29-member alliance.

The bipartisan NATO Support Act, which forbids the use of funds to withdraw from the alliance and states that it is U.S. policy to remain part of the alliance, passed by a 357-22 vote.

Beside asserting Congress's control over the money, the bill reaffirms U.S. backing of NATO and its mutual defense clause.

It also voices support for Montenegro, its newest member, and for "robust" U.S. funding for the European Deterrence Initiative, and for the goal that each alliance member spend at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense by 2024.

Just hours before the vote, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell, the top U.S. diplomat to Europe and an outspoken NATO supporter, tendered his resignation amid strained ties in trans-Atlantic relations.

The House vote and Mitchell's resignation come amid tensions with European leaders over Washington's commitment to NATO and transatlantic ties in general.

The New York Times, citing federal government sources, recently reported that Trump put forward the idea of withdrawing the United States from NATO last year, a move that would effectively destroy the alliance, which marks its 70th anniversary in April.

"The NATO alliance is central to American security and to maintaining peace and stability around the world," House majority leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement before the January 22 vote.

Mitchell's departure will be effective from February 15. He had served in the post for just over a year. Elisabeth Millard, a career public servant, will take over the job in a temporary capacity.

Reuters reports that Mitchell submitted his resignation letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on January 4, stating that he felt he had completed his goals at the job and wanted to spend more time with his family.

There was no overt sign that Mitchell, a former policy analyst on Central and Eastern Europe, was resigning in protest against the policies of Trump's administration.

The administration has been constantly losing top officials since Trump took over the White House two years ago. Jim Mattis resigned at the end of last year as defense secretary, following strong disagreements with Trump's Syria policy.

With reporting by dpa, AP, and The New York Times
Washington has confirmed that its envoy on Afghanistan has been meeting in Qatar this week with Taliban representatives as part of a peace process for the war-torn country.

The U.S. State Department said Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special representative on Afghan reconciliation, met in Doha on January 22 with "representatives of the Taliban."

A State Department spokeswoman said the talks were taking place over two days and also involved "an interagency team" from the United States.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a statement released by the Afghan Islamic Press, said two days of talks between Khalilzad and Afghan Taliban representatives began in Doha on January 21.

There was no immediate word from the Afghan government about the latest Doha talks.

In the past, the Taliban has rejected calls by the United States for Taliban delegates to meet with representatives of Afghanistan's central government.

Khalilzad has recently made visits to China, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in an effort to bring the Taliban and Afghan government negotiators together.

On Twitter, Khalilzad described those visits as successful for the Afghan peace process.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal and AFP
Bulgaria has revoked the Bulgarian citizenship of a Russian millionaire amid EU criticism of a scheme known as the "golden passport."



Sergei Adonyev's citizenship was withdrawn over a 20-year-old fraud conviction in the United States, Bulgaria's Justice Ministry said on January 23.



The announcement came after Sofia on January 22 said it intends to put an end to the practice, which allows wealthy foreigners buy citizenship in return for investment.



Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union since 2007 and its citizens can move without a visa within the European Union. However, Bulgaria is keen to also join Europe's passport-free Schengen Area.



A ministry spokeswoman confirmed an RFE/RL report that Adonyev's citizenship, which he acquired in 2008, had been revoked in May following notification that he had been convicted in the United States 20 years ago for money laundering.



The Justice Ministry also said it is planning to reform its nationality laws, including scrapping the "golden passport" scheme, as the EU Commission, in a first-ever report on such schemes, warned that passports issued in one member country of the bloc can open a back door to citizenship or residency in all 28 states.



EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jurova said at the launch of the report on January 23 that golden visas are the equivalent of "opening the golden gate to Europe for some privileged people."



"We want more guarantees related to security and anti-money laundering. We expect more transparency," she told reporters in Brussels.

EU members Cyprus and Malta, along with Bulgaria, give passports to non-EU nationals who make sufficient investments in their countries. The scale of investment required to obtain a passport there ranges from 1 million to 2 million euros ($1.1 million to $2.3 million).



They and 17 other member states also grant residence rights to investors. That right puts an individual on the path to citizenship.



The European Commission is setting up a special team to monitor the schemes and boost information-sharing.



Adonyev, 57, co-founded the Russian mobile operator Yota, which he sold to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanovs Megafon. He also owns a stake in the Russian smartphone maker Yota Devices.



The Russian edition of Forbes magazine ranked him as the country's 147th richest businessman in 2018, with an estimated net worth of $700 million.



Adonyev was a donor to the campaign of one of the candidates in last year's Russian presidential election, Ksenia Sobchak.



Adonyev was not immediately available for comment.



Bulgarian NGO Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) alerted authorities to Adonyev's conviction one year ago. ACF also questioned whether foreigners were being properly vetted before granted citizenship.



Since 2013, Bulgaria has made it possible to apply for citizenship in return for at least 500,000 euros ($568,000) of investment.



The EU has voiced concern that such schemes could pose a security risk and foster corruption.



ACF says Bulgaria has granted 225 passports to foreigners for special contributions in the past 10 years, 125 of them to Russian citizens.



In a report published in October, NGOs Transparency International and Global Witness said such schemes -- run by Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Latvia among others -- posed the risk of money laundering and were "an attractive prospect for the criminal and the corrupt."



The report said that across the European Union 6,000 passports and 100,000 residency permits had been granted in the space of 10 years.

With reporting by Reuters, BBC, AFP, and Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels
A regional Russian ombudsman says a growing number of children have been fainting from hunger at school, suggesting that they cannot afford to buy lunch.

Dmitry Kislitsyn expressed concern about the phenomenon when he presented a report to the regional assembly in the Kemerovo region in central Siberia on January 23.

"Some children [in the region] go to lunch at school, but others sit in their classrooms and do not eat lunch," the Interfax news agency quoted Kislitsyn as saying.

"Cases of children fainting from hunger have increased, which causes concern," he said.

The ombudsman suggested that these children's parents cannot afford to feed them breakfast, "let alone the 50 rubles [$0.75] that the children must pay for lunch."

"These are not isolated cases -- first there was one child [who fainted from hunger], now there are a whole bunch," he said, adding that the problem appeared to be worse at rural schools and among children who travel to school from rural areas.

Russian media reported that revised sanitary rules for state-run Russian schools prohibit schools from using food or ingredients brought by students from their homes in preparing meals.

But the consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, which sets the rules, said that they did not forbid children bringing food from home and eating it at school.

It was not immediately clear whether the new rules are already being implemented.

Based on reporting by Interfax, RT, and RIA Novosti
A Russian prosecutor has asked a court to sentence a Danish man to 6 1/2 years in prison for his affiliation with the Jehovahs Witnesses, the U.S.-based denomination deemed by Russia to be extremist.

Russian news reports said the prosecutor in the southern city of Oryol made the demand during a court hearing on January 23 in the case against Dennis Christensen.

The 46-year-old Christensen, who was detained in May 2017, is believed to be the first person to go on trial in Russia for his affiliation with the Jehovahs Witnesses.

Headquartered in New York state, the Jehovah's Witnesses organization has long been viewed with suspicion for its positions on military service, voting, and government authority in general. The group says it has around 170,000 adherents in Russia.

In 2017, the Russian Supreme Court ruled in favor of prosecutors who argued that the groups teachings qualified as extremist, ordering the seizure of its property and effectively banning worshippers from the country.

More than 100 criminal cases have been opened against followers in Russia and some of their publications have been listed as banned extremist literature.

Some of the criminal case brought before the Supreme Court by prosecutors hinged on Russian-language Bible translations by the organization.

Freedom of religion is formally guaranteed in Russia but legislation sets out Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism as the country's four traditional religions, and smaller denominations frequently face discrimination.

In an interview with Reuters, conducted from the glass cage where he watched the proceedings in the Oryol court, Christiansen denied the charges and said the case against him had echoes of the Stalin-era

"I'm afraid that history is now repeating itself," Christiansen said. "I'm afraid that it's actually like Stalin has come back."

With reporting by Reuters and Kommersant
A Russian court has ordered nearly two months of house arrest for an activist affiliated with  civil society group founded by former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.



The case against Anastasia Shevchenko appears to be the first time that Russian authorities have criminally prosecuted someone under the undesirable organization law -- a controversial measure signed into law nearly four years ago by President Vladimir Putin.



Russian news reports said that a court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don ordered house arrest for Shevchenko on January 23. The Kommersant newspaper said prosecutors alleged that Shevchenko might flee the country, even though police had already seized her passport.



"If I had the wish to hide, I would have done it a long time ago," Shevchenko was quoted by Kommersant as telling the court. "I will never ditch my mother and leave my children."



Shevchenko was charged with violating the law on January 21, as law enforcement agents in Rostov-on-Don and Kazan raided the homes of six activists affiliated with the organization known as Open Russia.

If Shevchenko is found guilty, she could face between two and six years in prison.



Open Russia, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, was founded by Khodorkovsky after he was released from prison and fled Russia.



Once Russias wealthiest man, Khodorkovsky was prosecuted in the early 2000s on financial fraud charges, and his company, Yukos, was dismantled and sold off in suspect bankruptcy auctions.



The undesirable organization measure, signed into law by Putin in May 2015, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations who received funding from foreign sources. Last year, Russian authorities formally listed Open Russia under the law.



The raids appeared to be part of a wider effort by Russian law enforcement, who targeted other Open Russia activists across the country.



The British-based rights group Amnesty International said Open Russia activists in Pskov and Krasnodar had been targeted in recent days, with one charged with selling illegal drugs.

With reporting by Kommersant and RBK
Russia has called on Israel to stop carrying out "arbitrary' air strikes on Syrian territory, days after the Israeli Air Force targeted what Israel said were Iranian forces in the war-torn country.



"The practice of arbitrary strikes on the territory of a sovereign state -- in this case, we are talking about Syria -- should be ruled out," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Moscow on January 23.



Israel has pledged to stop Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, carrying out hundreds of air strikes there against what it describes as Iranian targets in Syria and those of allied militia, including Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hizballah.



The strikes have caused friction between Israel and Russia, which along with Iran has provided President Bashar al-Assad with crucial military support throughout the Syrian conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.



Zakharova said such strikes added to tensions in the region, which she said was not in the long-term interests of any country there.



"We should never allow Syria, which has suffered years of armed conflict, to be turned into an arena where geopolitical scores are settled," she also said.



On January 21, the Israeli military confirmed it had attacked Iranian military targets in Syria, hours after Israeli forces carried out strikes near Damascus International Airport.



A Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the missile strikes in and around Damascus hit apparent weapons depots of Iranian forces and Hizballah.



Israeli missile defenses intercepted an incoming missile over the Golan Heights in the wake of the strikes.



During a visit to an army base on January 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that the Syria sorties will continue.



The Israel Defense Force is the only military that is fighting the Iranian Army in Syria," he said. "I am certain in our ability to defeat the enemy."

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and Interfax
Russia has held an elaborate presentation to amplify its claim that a new missile at the center of a dispute with the United States and NATO does not violate a key Cold War-era arms pact, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

Foreign military attaches were invited to the Defense Ministry's January 23 event outside Moscow, the latest salvo in a series of accusations between Russia and the United States over the treaty.

President Donald Trump announced in October that the United States would pull out of the pact, citing an alleged Russian violation and concerns that Washington is restricted by the bilateral treaty while nuclear-armed countries such as China are not.

On December 4, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Moscow that the United States would begin its withdrawal from the pact if Russia did not come into compliance within 60 days.

The United States says that the 9M729 violates the treaty, which prohibits the two countries from possessing, producing, or deploying ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

Russia denies it is in breach. At the conference outside Moscow, Lieutenant General Mikhail Matveyevsky, the chief of the military's missile and artillery forces, said the 9M729 -- also known as the SSC-8 -- had a maximum range of 480 kilometers.

"The distance was confirmed during strategic-command-and-staff exercises" in 2017, he said. "Russia has observed and continues to strictly observe the points of the treaty, and does not allow any violations," Matveyevsky said.

But U.S. and other Western officials have repeatedly rejected that claim, and the Defense Ministry said that U.S. and other Western diplomats who were invited to the presentation did not attend.

"The military attaches from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, and the NATO and EU officials who were sent invitations declined to attend the briefing," the ministry said.

During a visit to Washington, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on January 23 said it was up to Russia to salvage the INF Treaty.



"The ball is still in Russia's court," he told reporters after meeting with Pompeo.



Russia "so far has not been willing to establish complete transparency. Just looking at one missile won't be enough," Mass said.

Amid strained ties with the West, President Vladimir Putin's government has held several conferences and presentations in recent years that have been dominated from the Russian side by criticism of U.S. military policies such as missile-defense plans.

Moscow has said it is ready to work with Washington to save the INF agreement. But it has given no indication that it might abandon its claim that the 9M729 is compliant, and U.S. officials have suggested such remarks are a ploy.

A January 25 meeting of the NATO-Russia Council will be "another opportunity to show allied unity" and "to hear Russia's proposals for how they intend -- if they intend -- to come back into compliance," Alberque said. "Somehow, I doubt they will. I think they are going to continue to try to seek to divide allies."



The 9M729 "is a threat to European security," Alberque said at a meeting of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Security and Defense. "These missiles cannot hit targets in North America. They are designed to hit targets in Europe."



"It is designed to cut off Europe from North America," he added." It is even designed to do a dual decoupling -- to decouple Western and Eastern Europe, to divide allies, to try to build divisions within the [NATO] alliance. And so far, it has not worked."

Talks in Geneva earlier last week failed to end the dispute, and a U.S. diplomat said on January 21 that there is "only one path forward" for Moscow to return to compliance: to "verifiably destroy all SSC-8 missiles, launchers, and associated equipment."

Putin has threatened to develop nuclear missiles banned under the INF treaty if the United States does so. He said in December that he was open to the idea of other countries joining the deal or to talks on a new agreement.

Alberque, who is American, seemed to suggest that the United States would be open to a broader agreement involving other countries in addition to Russia and the United States.



"I think there is a positive way forward," he said. "There was a Russian proposal back in 2007 with the United States in the UN General Assembly to globalize the INF Treaty....I do think precision missiles in every conflict context around the world [are] a threat to crisis stability, and I think there are ways to look at some sort of globalized limits on ballistic and cruise missiles in the intermediate range."



In December, a day before Pompeo announced the 60-day deadline for Russia to comply with the INF, Trump said he was certain that "at some time in the future" he, Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping would "start talking about a meaningful halt to what has become a major and uncontrollable arms race."

With reporting by Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels, AP, AFP, dpa, TASS, and Interfax
Officials have been considering alternative venues, including a speech in the Senate chamber and a visit to a state on the southern border. Multiple versions of the speech were being drafted to suit the final venue. Trump has been presented with a series of options for making the address and is expected to decide within the next day or so, said a person familiar with White House discussions but not authorized to speak publicly about them.
(CNN)  On Tuesday, the leaders of Japan and Russia will hold talks on what remains one of the world's longest-running unresolved international disputes.

The Kuril Islands, referred to as the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan, were captured by Soviet forces following Japan's surrender to Allied Forces in 1945.

The resulting disagreement over who has rightful ownership of the islands has soured relations between the two countries, contributing to their continued failure to sign a World War II peace treaty.

The disputed territory, located off the coast of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, consists of four separate islands: Iturup, known in Japanese as Etorofu, Kunashir, or Kunashiri, Shikotan and the islet group of Habomai.

The two governments are pushing for a treaty to be signed based on a 1956 declaration, which acknowledged the cessation of WWII hostilities but did not set out terms for a formal peace agreement.

Japanese media states that the terms of the 1956 accord would hand over Shikotan and the Habomai islands to Japan, a sensitive notion inside Russia, where the ceding of any territory to Japan would likely be met by protests.

'This is Russia's territory'

The territorial dispute was raised ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's trip to Moscow this week to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

However, Sergey Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat, has downplayed the chance of the island chain returning to Japan. When Lavrov and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono met last week in Moscow, the Russian told his Japanese counterpart that "sovereignty over the islands was non-negotiable," according to Russian state media. "This is Russia's territory."

A handful of Russian nationalists took to Moscow's streets Sunday, demanding that the government stand firm on the issue, chanting "(The) Kurils are Russian land!"

Igor Skurlatov, a speaker at the rally, which was estimated at around 500 people strong by the city's security department, called any suggestion to hand over the territory an act of treason.

The unequivocal language comes following Russian dismay with Tokyo's recent statements on the island group's status, with Kono stating that he hoped 2019 would be a "turning point" for determining the island's true legal status.

The meeting of Lavrov and Kono marked the first time the two had met since being appointed by the two countries' leaders to oversee negotiations leading to the eventual signing of a peace treaty.

Lavrov called the issue of the island's ownership an "outcome" of World War II and said that there were "significant differences" between the two nations' perspectives, but invited joint cooperation on the islands, which are a rich fishing resource. Abe has also urged joint cooperation.

'Joint military exercises'

Ahead of the two leaders' bilateral meeting, the topic has inflamed Russian passions. Speaking in the Duma, Russia's parliament, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia faction leader Vladimir Zhirinovskii said that should the Japanese wish to develop bilateral ties, it should expel US forces from its territory and conclude a peace treaty with Russia -- but ruled out handing over the Kurils.

"Where the Russian flag hangs, it will always hang," he said, ramping up rhetoric to suggest "landing troops" on Japanese soil.

"Then let's conduct joint military exercises. Let's see what the Japanese navy, the Russian navy are worth, maybe we will drop the landing troops on one of the Japanese islands, let them see how our guys successfully land on Japanese soil," Zhirinovskii suggested.

The islands were occupied by Soviet forces at the end of WWII, when as many as 17,000 Japanese citizens were expelled. Around 19,000 settlers currently live on the islands, according tointelligence firm Stratfor.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website, the islands "are an inherent part of the territory of Japan, which have never been held by foreign countries. However, the Northern Territories have been under illegal occupation by the Soviet Union, and then Russia, since the Soviet Union occupied them in 1945."

According to the ministry, the Japanese government "has energetically been continuing negotiations with Russia based on its basic policy of resolving the issue of the attribution of the four Northern Islands and concluding a peace treaty with Russia."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Russia and Japan at odds over seven-decade-old Kuril Islands dispute."
Following talks with his Turkish counterpart in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the two leaders discussed how they planned to stabilize the situation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.

Speaking alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Putin said that more action was required to "liquidate the actions of terrorist groups" in Idlib.

Earlier, Russias Foreign Ministry warned that the situation in the region remained of "serious concern," saying it was almost under the full control of militants of the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate until 2016.

Russia and Turkey are on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict, which began with a government crackdown on protesters in March 2011. The war has left more than 400,000 people dead and displaced millions.

Russia provides critical diplomatic and military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government, while Turkey has backed opposition fighters who are battling against Syrian government forces.

But Putin and Erdogan in September struck a deescalation deal in Idlib that averted a Syrian Army offensive that sparked fears of a humanitarian catastrophe. The agreement created a security zone free of heavy weapons and monitored by Turkish troops.

Russia and Turkey also agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria after U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise announcement in December that he would withdraw some 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria.

"If such plans are implemented, it will mark a positive move that would help stabilize the situation," Putin told a joint news conference with Erdogan.

Putin also said the Russian and Turkish defense ministers had already held talks on specific action that the two countries would take in Idlib and that the measures would now be implemented.

He didn't provide details of the measures.

Erdogan said the two countries will continue to battle terrorist organizations in Idlib.

Cooperation between Moscow and Ankara is a touchstone for Syrian peace and stability," he also said, adding: "With our Russian friends, we intend to strengthen our coordination even more."

Erdogan has said he would talk with Putin about the creation of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria.

The Turkish leader said on January 23 that Turkey and Russia don't have any disagreements about the plan, but Putin reaffirmed Moscow's support for "establishing dialogue between Damascus officials and representatives of the Kurds."

U.S.-allied Syrian Kurds who control much of northern Syria have rejected the idea.

They fear a Turkish military offensive against territory under their control  an offensive threatened by Erdogan, who charges that the Syrian Kurds are linked with Kurdish terrorists in Turkey.

Syrian Kurdish forces, exposed by Trump's pledge to withdraw U.S. troops, recently asked the Syrian government for help against the threatened Turkish offensive and have opened the gates to Manbij, the key northern city under Kurdish control.

The Kremlin has welcomed the recent entry of Assads forces into Manbij for the first time in six years.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week rejected the idea of Turkish military forces across northern Syria, saying Damascus must take control of the country's north.

Putin also said on January 23 that he agreed to host a summit soon where Russia, Turkey, and Iran would discuss the situation in Syria, adding that he and Erdogan had agreed on the meetings provisional timing.

Putin and Erdogan called each other "dear friend" while exchanging greetings at the start of their meeting, hailing the close ties between their countries and their importance for regional security.

Ahead of the talks, a Kremlin statement said the two leaders "will discuss the settlement process in Syria as well as key aspects of bilateral cooperation in trade, the economy, culture, and humanitarian area."

Erdogan was accompanied in Moscow by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP, TASS, Interfax
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that Washington and Moscow are not "doomed to a Cold War rivalry," but "it has been a struggle" to reduce the risk of confrontation with Russia.



Pompeo said the Kremlin needed to change its "outlook and behavior," and that talks were needed with Moscow to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.



He made the remarks to global business leaders at the gathering on January 22 by live video link after an ongoing U.S. government shutdown triggered the cancelation of his trip to the event.



Pompeo chided the Kremlin for its policies on Ukraine, where Moscow supports pro-Russian separatists.



He also criticized Russia for its alleged interference into elections in the United States and other countries.



"These aren't the behaviors of nations that want to be part of the international community," Pompeo said.



"We hope that they'll return to the right course of actions...that lead them down the path of the rule of law and order and liberty," he said.



If Russia does so, Pompeo said he was "confident that our two nations can prosper and grow alongside of each other. We are not destined to be antagonists."



In his remarks, Pompeo reiterated President Donald Trump's criticism of international institutions and Trump's calls for "strong borders" to protect national sovereignty.



"New winds are blowing across the world," Pompeo said. "I'd argue that this disruption is a positive development."



Pompeo voiced optimism about a round of trade talks with China scheduled for January 30-31, saying conflict could be avoided if Beijing started protecting intellectual property rights and accepted the principles of fair and open trade.



He also predicted progress in upcoming nuclear negotiations with North Korea, saying he expected "another good marker along the way" when Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late February.



The World Economic Forum began on January 22 and will continue through January 25.



German Chancellor Angela and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are scheduled to address the gathering on January 23.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa
On the first day of 2019, 42-year-old Turahon Nurmatov was out in the pastureland of southwestern Tajikistan, tending a local family's flock. Nurmatov never brought the animals back that day.



Armed men from nearby Afghanistan had appeared and taken Nurmatov back across the border with them. Nurmatovs abductors want an astronomical sum -- $40,000 -- for his release.



While Nurmatov might be Afghan drug traffickers' latest hostage, he is far from their first and extremely unlikely to be their last. Such hostage-taking has been going on for two decades, despite the help that Tajikistan has received over the years to improve border security.



Nurmatovs case seems even more unfortunate than most. He is simply employed by the Kurbanov family as a shepherd, and the Afghan drug smugglers apparently came looking for a Kurbanov family member when they showed up at the village of Sari Chashma, some 10 kilometers from the Afghan border.



The hostage-takers possibly intended to abduct Saymuddin Kurbanov. His uncle, Abdughaffor Kurbanov, told RFE/RLs Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi, that the kidnappers phoned him from Afghanistan several times and said Saymuddin owed them $40,000 for narcotics they had passed on to him. They told him to pay the money and the shepherd would go free.



However, Saymuddin Kurbanov was convicted of drug smuggling in 2015 and is serving a 17-year prison term.



Nurmatov is more unfortunate than he probably knows. Abdughaffor Kurbanov told Ozodi that the Afghans came to him first.

They were curious what I was doing in the pasture. I told them I lost my cow. I gave them a different name, so they did not know the flock belonged to me, he said, adding, After a while, they took the shepherd away with them.



Abdughaffor Kurbanov gave the kidnappers phone number to Ozodi and, amazingly, someone answered and acknowledged he was holding the shepherd. The man on the phone did not give his name, saying that Nurmatov was not going hungry.

I well understand the herd does not belong to him, the voice said.



The kidnapper had his own hard-luck story.

Those narcotics belonged to another person, who recently took away my house and my wife. The government of Afghanistan didnt help me, so I decided to take someone hostage, too. I dont have any other way, he said.



After Nurmatov was abducted, Tajik law enforcement reportedly scoured the area but couldnt find the shepherd. Moreover, during the search, one border guard was accidentally shot dead by another border guard. Nurmatovs captor claimed to have moved to the Shahri Buzurg area in Afghanistans Badakhshan Province.



The head of the police force in the Kulob region, Bahodur Vahhobzoda, told Ozodi that a rescue operation was not currently feasible.



So, the tragic abduction of Tajik citizens by Afghan drug smugglers continues.



In July 2001, I wrote about Afghan narcotics smugglers taking away livestock and sometimes family members in bids for payments for drugs they had often forced someone in Tajikistan to take and carry farther on the way toward a desired destination. That happened in Shuroabad, not far from Sari Chashma.



At the end of September 2005, then-deputy border-guard chief Nuralisho Nazarov said 28 Tajik citizens were being held captive by drug smugglers in Afghanistan. Tajik Interior Ministry troops and border guards occasionally launched cross-border raids and freed captives.



And during these years, Russia, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Belarus, China, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the United States, NATO, the European Union, the OSCE, and others have all provided financial and material support to help Tajikistan secure its border with Afghanistan.



But Afghan drug smugglers are still able to cross the border and travel several kilometers inside Tajikistan and seize livestock and villagers.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.
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Kazakhs mourned the death of a wildlife ranger who sought to protect the rare Saiga antelope. He was killed in the line of duty.
Iranian activist Reza Khandan, the husband of a jailed prominent human rights lawyer, has been sentenced to six years in prison, his lawyer and local media say.



Khandan has been sentenced to five years in jail for conspiring against national security and one year for propaganda against the system, the lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi, said on January 23.



He has also been banned for two years from leaving the country, any activity in social media or newspapers, and membership in political groups," Moghimi told the AFP news agency.



The sentence was handed down by the Tehran Revolutionary Court, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.



Khandan has said that the charges against him were political.



Moghimi said he will appeal the verdict.



Khandan had been a vocal campaigner for the release of his wife, Nasrin Sotoudeh, until he was arrested in September after complaining on Facebook about human rights violations in Iran, including the imprisonment of rights defenders and the prosecution of women who have campaigned against the requirement to wear the Islamic hijab. He was released on bail last month.



Sotoudeh, 55, was arrested in June 2018 and ordered to serve a five-year sentence imposed on her in absentia in September 2016 for allegedly carrying out "activities against national security in collaboration with domestic and foreign antirevolutionary elements," according to Human Rights Watch.



International rights groups and the U.S. government have denounced the arrest of the lawyer, who in 2018 represented several women detained for publicly protesting the compulsory hijab.



Sotoudeh -- the co-winner of the European Parliament's 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought -- has denied all charges against her.



An outspoken critic of the Iranian establishment, Sotoudeh previously spent several years in prison on security charges, including acting against Iran's national security. She has defended journalists, rights activists, and juveniles.

With reporting by AFP and dpa
A heated debate on a historic agreement aimed at normalizing relations with Macedonia is under way in the Greek parliament, which is scheduled to vote on the deal on January 24.

The governments of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev, struck the deal in June to change the former Yugoslav republic's name to the Republic of North Macedonia.

Under the agreement, Greece will renounce its objections to Macedonia joining NATO in return for the country renaming itself -- a long-standing demand from Greece, which argues use of the current name term implies territorial ambitions on its own northern province of the same name.

Opponents have announced protests in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki to coincide with the debate and the January 24 vote. A protest by tens of thousands of people in Athens on January 20 turned violent.

The deal reached the Greek parliament after Skopje in November approved a constitutional amendment that renames the country.

Those who oppose the deal in Macedonia have called the deal "the greatest national treachery."

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
A British man who went on the run last year after his date was killed in a speedboat crash on the River Thames has turned himself in to police in Georgia.

London's Metropolitan Police said on January 23 that they had been informed that Jack Shepherd, 31, was in custody in the South Caucasus country.

"Extradition proceedings will begin immediately" once his identity was confirmed, a statement said.

Georgia's Interior Ministry said Shepherd had come to a police station in Tbilisi with lawyers and turned himself in.

In July 2018, Shepherd was convicted in absentia of the manslaughter by gross negligence of 24-year-old Charlotte Brown and sentenced to six years in prison. An international arrest warrant was later issued.

Georgia's Rustavi-2 television aired an interview with Shepherd late on January 23 in which he maintained his innocence.

Shepherd took Brown on a first date on December 8, 2015, during which the couple dined at a London restaurant before he took her for a ride in a speedboat.

Both were thrown from the boat when it hit floating debris at about midnight.

Shepherd was found clinging to the hull, but Brown was pulled from the water unconscious and died from cold-water immersion.

Prosecutors said he was drunk and that neither he nor Brown was wearing a life jacket.

Shepherd was released on bail, but later failed to show up for his trial in July.

He had reportedly arrived from Istanbul in March 2018 and since lived in Tbilisi.

Based on reporting by the BBC, AFP, AP, and Reuters
Self-described "sex trainer" Anastasia Vashukevich, also known as Nastya Rybka, was a no-show at her own press conference, a day after her release from police custody in Russia.



But the Belarusian escort whose purported footage from a Kremlin-linked tycoon's yacht made waves in 2018 attracted attention anyway on January 23, apologizing to the media in a Twitter-posted video and thanking "the president of my favorite country."

The 56-second video was a new twist in a tale that has touched on two members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's circle, months in a Thai jail, and a still-unsubstantiated claim that she has information about Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.



Vashukevich did not name her "favorite country" or its leader, but seemed to be referring to Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who Belarusian diplomats hinted had used his influence to secure her release from custody in Moscow.



That claim conflicted with the words of Vashukevich's lawyer, Dmitry Zatsarinsky, who suggested to reporters at a press conference in Moscow hours earlier that Belarusian authorities had not been involved.



Reporters at the press conference had been expecting Vashukevich and her mentor, self-styled sex guru Aleksandr Kirillov, but neither of them showed up at the event.



Zatsarinsky irritated the journalists present and those watching one of several live streams of the press conference by refusing to call her, saying he didn't want to disturb her because she was probably relaxing.



In the video posted on Twitter, Vashukevich apologized for missing the press conference, thanked the unnamed president for his help, saying in a scratchy voice that she has fallen ill and feels "very bad."



"I will definitely tell everything: What it was like for us in jail, what happened, whom I suspect," she said, without elaborating. "Just give me at least a couple of days to recover."



The developments came nearly a year after Vashukevich became the focus of a geopolitical scandal when Kremlin foe Aleksei Navalny published an expose based largely on photos and video she had posted on social media.



The photos and videos appeared to show her on a yacht with Kremlin-connected tycoon Oleg Derispaska and Sergei Prikhodko, a Russian deputy prime minister at the time and a longtime former foreign-policy aide to Putin.



Vashukevich and Kirillov, also known as Alex Lesley, were later arrested in the Thai beach resort of Pattaya while giving what they said was a class in sexual relationships, and spent about nine months in jail on charges of soliciting to provide sexual services before being released and deported earlier this month.



Upon arrival in Moscow, both were detained at Sheremetyevo airport -- where Vashukevich was prevented from traveling on to Belarus and was treated roughly by plainclothes officers.





She and Kirillov were detained on suspicion of luring people into prostitution, a crime that is punishable by up to three years in prison, and a court on January 19 ordered them held for another 72 hours. The widespread expectation was that Vashukevich would then be jailed for a longer period of time while awaiting a possible trial.



Vashukevich, 28, earlier claimed to have recordings of Deripaska talking about interference in the 2016 U.S. election in which President Donald Trump was elected, but never released them and suggested in comments after her detention that she would not do so.



Deripaska is close to Putin and had a working relationship with Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman who was investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller and convicted last year of tax and bank fraud.

The report published in February 2018 by Russian opposition politician Navalny's anticorruption outfit, drawing on photographs and video that Vashukevich published on Instagram in 2016, appeared to show Prikhodko being offered lavish treatment on Deripaska's yacht. The two also appear to discuss U.S. politics.



Vashukevich, who was pictured on the yacht, says she had an affair with Deripaska. Representatives of the tycoon have accused her of fabrication and have said that she was never his mistress.



Vashukevich and Kirillov made international headlines again when they asked for asylum in the United States while detained in Thailand -- a request that did not pan out.
Two Iranian labor rights activists who were rearrested after speaking out about beatings and other abuse in detention are at grave risk of further torture, Amnesty International warns.



Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian were arrested on January 20 in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province, in apparent reprisal for talking publicly about the torture they said they endured in detention late last year, the London-based human rights watchdog said on January 22.



The timing of their arrest strongly suggests it is part of a sinister attempt to silence and punish them for speaking out about the horrific abuse they suffered in custody, Philip Luther, research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said in a statement.



Luther urged the authorities to release Bakhshi and Gholian immediately, and ensure their allegations of torture are independently investigated and that those responsible are brought to justice.



The two activists were first arrested on November 18 after participating in a rally in Shush, Khuzestan, and seeking to meet with officials to discuss the unpaid wages of workers at the Haft Tappeh sugar factory.



Following their release on bail in December, Bakhshi and Gholian described to Amnesty International the acts of torture they said they suffered at the hands of security officials.



They said they had been relentlessly beaten, slammed against a wall and shoved to the ground, as well as being humiliated and threatened with flogging, sexual violence, and murder, according to Amnesty.



The officials tortured me until I thought I was going to die and beat me with their fists and kicks so much that I could not move in my cell for 72 hours, Bakhshi wrote on his Instagram account in early January.



Today, after nearly two months...I still feel pain in my broken ribs, kidneys, left ear, and testicles, he added.



The posts provoked a public outcry, and officials from members of parliament to high-ranking judicial figures promised a full investigation into the allegations of torture raised by Bakhshi. Key state officials later claimed that the allegations were false.



On January 19, state television broadcast confessions that the two activists said were obtained under torture and other ill-treatment.



In the videos, Bakhshi and Gholian confess to colluding with groups outside Iran to orchestrate the overthrow of Irans political system.



Luther said the Iranian authorities should invite international monitors to carry out independent inspections of detention facilities instead of "locking up activists who speak out on torture."
A district court's ruling that Chechnya's $135 million gas debt should be written off because collecting it could lead to social unrest has left other Russian regions wondering why they shouldn't get the same deal, and has prompted the local Gazprom affiliate to fight back.



On January 22, the federal Prosecutor-General's Office weighed in on Mezhregiongaz's appeal, arguing that the Chechen court had overstepped its authority in the first place. This, in turn, prompted a regional minister to claim the North Caucasus republic was owed debt forgiveness because of the two wars Moscow had waged against Chechen separatists in the 1990s and early 2000s.



The back-and-forth continued, with an official from the Russian gas giant Gazprom noting that the debt in question was not accrued during either of the two conflicts, and slamming the Chechen district court for violating legal norms.



And as four Russian regions followed Chechnya's lead by seeking their own debt amnesties, the Kremlin officially straddled the fence on the issue as new polls revealed that public trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin is hovering at near-record lows.



Forgiving Mood...



The Chechen gas-debt debate was lit on January 18 when the Zavodskoy district court in Grozny ruled in favor of Chechnya's Prosecutor-General's Office, which had filed a case arguing that the local Gazprom affiliate, Mezhregiongaz, should forgive some 9 billion rubles ($135 million) in gas debt.



The Chechen prosecutors cited two factors for their reasoning. One, they said the "statute of limitations" had run out for Gazprom to collect the debt, describing it as "nonrecoverable."



The second was that efforts to collect the money had "created social tensions in society, and could lead to protests by the population."



...And Not So Forgiving



Mezhregiongaz quickly appealed the ruling with support from its parent company and Russian authorities.



On January 22, Valery Golubev, a deputy chairman of the board at Gazprom, said the Chechen district courts decision "contradicts all existing legal norms and will be interpreted by paying customers as unfair."

The same day, Russia's Prosecutor-General's Office argued that the Chechen court had no right to determine whether the debt was recoverable or not, saying it was up to the debt holder -- in this case, Mezhregiongaz -- to make that decision.



"The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office has ordered the prosecutor of the Chechen Republic to support the rationale behind the claim filed by Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Grozny LLC in the appellate court," the office said.



Two Wars, No Debt...



But that wasn't the last word.

Dzhambulat Umarov, a regional Chechen minister whose portfolio includes media and nationality politics, cheered the local prosecutors' case and local court backing, explaining that Chechnya had suffered through two wars against Russia.



"The republic has no special rights regarding the federal center. But, considering the specifics of our region, and in particular the previous wars, when practically no one used gas, the [regional] prosecutor-general took this step -- correct and in the interests of the Chechen people," Umarov said on January 22.

He said the region should not be forced to pay debts accrued during the period of the conflicts.



He also had advice for other regions of Russia facing similar debt dilemmas.



"If it's necessary and justified, then other regions should follow [our] example. Write, contact the courts, the prosecutor-general," Umarov said. "Its your right."



Chechnya was the scene of two bloody conflicts with Russian forces: one from 1994 to 1996 and another from 1999 to 2000.



...No Connection, Pay Up



Gazprom's Golubev said the gas debt in question did not date back to either of the Chechen conflicts.



"The period when the debt arose, and which is under discussion, is not connected with the conflicts on the republics territory, as some commentators have stated," Golubev said on January 22.



Mezhregiongaz has said the unpaid gas debt accrued by consumers and businesses pertains to January 1, 2007, to September 30, 2015.



Golubev explained what he considers the root of the problem: "The debt arose because of the poor financial discipline of the population."



Natalia Zubarivich, a regional expert, said that most of the North Caucasus region of Russia is swimming in consumer debt, including Ingushetia, Daghestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria.



Speaking to the Novaya gazeta newspaper on January 18, Zubarivich also offered her take on why Chechnya may be getting special treatment.



"Why only for Chechnya?... Because it is Chechnya. Daghestan and Ingushetia residents will not take to the streets," Zubarivich said. "Meanwhile, to put it mildly, Chechnya has 30,000 to 40,000 armed men, and the issue has nothing to do with the likelihood of people's protests. It turns into a thing that is simply called 'blackmail.'"



'No Position'



The Kremlin appears wary about weighing in on the dispute.



Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on January 21 would only say it was a "very complex matter" and that the Kremlin "has not taken a stance."



"These matters cannot be considered without the companys interests or without taking into account the interests of simple citizens at the same time. The matter is very complex, and in this case, the Kremlin does not have any position," Peskov said.



It's just the latest problem facing Putin as public trust in the Russian leader has fallen to its lowest level in 13 years, according to a state pollster.



The poll, by the Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) released on January 17, found that trust in Putin had fallen to 33.4 percent, its lowest level since 2006. The president's popularity has suffered in recent months, highlighted by nationwide protests that broke out in 2018 over the government's plans to raise the age of eligibility for pensions.



According to Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, several other Russian regions have demanded that Gazprom drop their gas debts, including the regions of Chuvashia and Bashkortostan, as well as the oblasts of Smolensk and Ryazan.



Three Communist lawmakers of the regional Smolensk Duma sent a letter to the regional prosecutor's office on January 18 asking it to examine the Chechen case and consider taking similar action.



One of the letter's signers, Andrei Shaposhnikov, wrote on Facebook: "I wonder, is social discontent only happening in Chechnya? Are people who live in other regions somehow different?"

Written by Tony Wesolowsky, with reporting by Current Time
Allouz, who was living in New Haven at the time of the hospital visit, was arrested for assault by city police that day and released, but ordered not to contact his wife. By January 2017, police again arrested him for violating that order and contacting his wife at a domestic violence shelter the state placed her in, the federal criminal complaint against Allouz read.
Vietnam has told the U.N. Human Rights Council this week that ensuring human rights is its top priority and denied it was arresting rights defenders, while NGOs told the panel that communist authorities in Hanoi has mounted an unprecedented political crackdown since 2017 that has restricted key freedoms.

The Geneva-based councils Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of developments since the body last took up Vietnam five years ago received statements from the government and from groups of stakeholders  NGOS that focus on religious, political and media freedom in the country of 95 million people

Vietnams Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Le Hoai Trung told the council that Vietnam implemented 175 of 182 recommendations made at the last Universal Periodic Review in 2014, and required time to put other promises into practice.

"Vietnam gives top priority to strengthen the rule of law state, improve the system of laws, institutions and policies to better ensure the fundamental rights and freedoms for the people," Trung told the panel.

Vietnam would "continue to ensure freedom of the press and publication and the right to information access, Trung said. He sidestepped domestic and international criticism of draconian new press and internet laws while touting fast-growing internet in the country, which he said had 58 million active Facebook accounts.

NGO members of the Vietnam Working Group, however, differed sharply with Hanoi, and called for pressure on Vietnam to reverse a sharp crackdown on rights defenders that began in 2017.

Despite accepting 182 recommendations of the 227 put forward in the 2014 UPR cycle, the Vietnamese government has increasingly restricted freedom of expression, freedom of information, and freedom of assembly, the pro-democracy group Viet Tan said in a statement prior to the opening of the review in Geneva on Tuesday.

Vietnamese authorities launched an unprecedented political crackdown in 2017, imprisoning or exiling more than 25 bloggers and peaceful activists, said the statement.

'Severe crackdown' since 2017

Viet Tan and other NGOs criticized Vietnams cyber security law that took effect on Jan. 1 and requires foreign internet companies to store user data inside Vietnam, providing authorities with further reasons to arrest people under the guise of national security.

Vietnams formal submission to the council also depicted a different situation than that experienced by rights defenders, democracy activists, bloggers and religious groups

The respect for, and protection and promotion of human rights have been consistently mainstreamed in Vietnams socio-economic development strategies and policies, stated a document submitted to the U.N. for the five-year review.

Since the previous review, Vietnam has made great efforts to improve its law, institutions, and policies on human rights, providing a solid framework that has yielded encouraging achievements in practice.

The NGO statement to the panelsubmitted last July by Viet Tan, Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, Bau Bi Tuong Than Association, the Brotherhood for Democracy Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, Reporters Without Borders and the Viet Labor Movementdiffered with the government.

Since 2014, the Vietnamese government has severely restricted basic freedoms of expression and information. We are particularly concerned about the severe crackdown on journalists, bloggers and human rights defenders over the past two years, said the NGO submission to the panel.

The hearing in Geneva came several weeks after a court in Da Nang threw out an appeal by Vietnamese activist Nguyen Trung Truc, a member of the online Brotherhood for Democracy advocacy group, against his 12-year jail sentence for activities aimed at overthrowing the peoples administration, under Article 79 of Vietnams penal code.

The Brotherhood for Democracys president Nguyen Trung Ton, former president Pham Van Troi, and deputy head of the groups operations in Southern Vietnam Truong Minh Duc, were arrested along with fellow member Nguyen Bac Truyen on July 30, 2017 by Vietnamese security officers because of their ties to the group and subsequently charged under Article 79.

200 political prisoners

Nguyen Kim Binh of the Vietnam Human Rights Network said in December that Vietnam was detaining more than 200 political prisonerssurpassing figures tallied by Western human rights NGOs.

This figure includes the nearly 130 people convicted for participating in protests as of November 2018, receiving sentences of up to five years in prison.

They were among thousands who took to the streets in rare demonstrations in several cities in June to protest the draft Law on Cybersecurity and government plans to grant long-term leases for foreign companies operating in special economic zones.

Nguyen Thanh Son, a senior official in Vietnams Ministry of Public Security, told the panel that Vietnam has no so-called increase of arrests and condemnation of human rights defenders."

U.N. Human Rights Council documents on Vietnam, however, record mounting concern over recent years about arrests of rights defenders.

In October 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about a growing trend in arbitrary arrests and detentions, intimidation, harassment and attacks against human rights defenders, said the report.

In July 2017, the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release all those who had been detained in connection with the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, and to amend broad and ill-defined laws that were used  under the pretext of national security  to crack down on dissent, it said.

In April of last year, meanwhile, other U.N. officials urged the authorities not to muzzle dissenting voices or stifle the peoples rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in violation of the countrys obligations under international human rights law.

Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Nearly four dozen migrant workers from Myanmars Sagaing region returned home Wednesday after fleeing from a sugar plantation across the border in southwest Chinas Yunnan province, where they said they were cheated out of wages by their employer and forced to endure miserable living conditions.



The 45 workers said they had been promised decent salaries by two brokers to labor at a sugar plantation in Yunnans Baoshan county, as well as comfortable living conditions in dormitories that had access to electricity and clean water, when they agreed to travel to the area in several groups beginning in December last year.



But soon after arriving, their employer refused to honor the terms offered by the brokers, took away their documents, and threatened to report them as illegal migrants if they complained, according to one of the workers.



They said we would be earning [daily wages of] 20,000-25,000 kyats (U.S. $13-16) within two to three months, but didnt tell us it would be based on the amount of work we did each day, Khin San Mar told RFAs Myanmar Service after returning to her home in Kani townships Taung Pak village, in Sagaings Monywa district on Wednesday.



We only realized we had been cheated after arriving there.



Khin San Mar said the water that workers were provided with wasnt clean, and that they were forced to labor carrying heavy loads on the sides of steep hills, when they had been promised they would be cutting sugarcane on flat land.



When they decided to complain as a group earlier this month, she said, their employer demanded 100,000 kyat (U.S. $66) in compensation and cut off their food supplies.



We [ate very little] for five days, living on steamed vegetables, she said.



Another worker, named Soe Kyaing, told RFA that he believed the job offer was legal, but later realized that it was undocumented.



[The brokers] arranged for seven-day visas and promised to get residence permits once we got there, he said.



Once we arrived, they threatened to report us to the police and took away our passports and ID cards.



When families back in Monywa learned of the situation at the sugarcane plantation in China earlier this month, they contacted the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society group and the Sagaing Region Youth Affairs Department.



Representatives from 88 Generation and the Youth Affairs Department coordinated with other local officials to help the families get their loved ones back to Monywa, but Sagaing Region Social Welfare Minister Zaw Win told RFA that procedural issues delayed the process.



It was difficult for us as a regional government to contact representatives in another country, he said.



Also, [the workers] didnt go there legally, so we had to ask the foreign ministry and anti-human trafficking department [for assistance]. NGOs here  also played a crucial role.



Zaw Win added that he was the only one left at the office, as the others were attending the [annual] Naga Festival, so I had to deal with everything on my own.



Eventually, the 45 workers fled the sugarcane plantation on their own, making their way across the border to Pang Hseng, in Myanmars Shan state, where they arrived on Tuesday, before continuing on to Monywa.



Sleepless nights



Amar Kyi, the mother of a 19-year-old university student who was among the workers, told RFA that she had endured lots of sleepless nights since she had learned of her sons difficulties in China.



I had to travel a lot after I realized they were in trouble, trying to find ways to seek help, she said, adding that I couldnt even eat when I heard they had nothing to eat.



Amar Kyi said the experience had changed her son from a bright university student to someone who is desperate, physically and mentally.



Hes a totally different boy now from what he was then, she said.



Border Security Affairs Minister Col. Than Tun Aung said the brokers who brought the workers across the border are being charged, but added that there was little that could be done to hold the plantation owner accountable, as the workers went through illegal channels.



It seems they were lied tothe two job brokers cheated those 45 workers, he said.



After their safe return to Monywa, Sagaing Region Chief Minister Myint Naing pledged to provide assistance to the workers.



In November last year, Chinese authorities arrested more than 100 Myanmar nationals working illegally in Chinese border towns, many of whom were young people that had crossed the border to escape a dearth of job opportunities and fighting in Myanmars war-torn Shan state.



Mai Myo Aung from the Taang Legal Assistance Organization told RFA that laborers pay about 100 yuan (U.S. $14) for weekly Chinese permits to work as masons and on sugarcane plantations, and said the Myanmar nationals were unable to leave their work sites in time to travel to towns to get new documents from the relevant immigration offices.



Reported by Zarni Htun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Nandar Chann. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Christine Schraner Burgener (C), the U.N.'s special envoy to Myanmar, arrives in Sittwe, capital of western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Jan. 22, 2019.

The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar visited a displacement camp for Rohingya Muslims in Pauktaw township of troubled multiethnic Rakhine state on Wednesday, where she heard of hardships endured by members of the minority group who were uprooted from their homes by communal violence in 2012, a camp resident said.

Christine Schraner Burgener, appointed to her post in April by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, asked the Rohingya she met at Kyainni Pyin camp about conditions in their internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, said the resident who refused to be named out of fear for his safety.

Those with whom Burgener met have been living in the IDP camp since 2012, when violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims left more than 200 people dead and displaced about 140,000 others, mostly Rohingya, who ended up in displacement camps in the state.

We arrived here in 2012, the IDP said, relaying what he and others told Burgener. Roads and communication are not good, and we have no right to travel.

The Myanmar government doesnt recognize us Rohingya, he said. We face difficulties with access to health care, education, and social services.

Because Myanmar views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, the country denies them citizenship and restricts their movements.

Burgener also visited Pauktaws Anauk Ye IDP camp, where Rohingya residents also told her about travel restrictions imposed upon them.

We cant travel freely, a camp resident who requested anonymity told RFAs Myanmar Service about what the IDPs told Burgener. We cant even travel to [Rakhine states capital] Sittwe from here.

When the U.N. envoy discussed the issue with government officials who accompanied her on the visit, they told her that the Rohingya must have National Verification Cards (NVCs) in order to travel and work outside the confines of the camps, he said.

Despite not being listed as one of Myanmars 135 official ethnic groups, the Rohingya can obtain NVCs, documents that are part of the governments effort to register members of the minority group. The cards, however, do not confer citizenship.

Burgener also visited ethnic Rakhine and Hindu refugee camps in Sittwe. However, she was not allowed to stop in conflict areas in Maungdaw township and IDP camps in Buthidaung township because of government fears for her safety, the Myanmar Times reported, citing Mya Than, deputy speaker of the Rakhine state parliament.

Hostilities between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), a Rakhine ethnic militia fighting for greater autonomy in the state, flared up late last year and have increased instability in the state. Local relief organizations report that about 6,000 civilians have been displaced by recent clashes.

In early January, the AA attacked four police outposts in Buthidaung, killing 13 officers and wounding nine others.

Conversation with ANP officials

Following her arrival in Sittwe on Tuesday, Burgener met with representatives from the Rakhine state parliament and members of the Arakan National Party (ANP), the most popular political party in the state, which represents the interests of the ethnic Rakhine people.

She mainly questioned what the Hluttaw [parliament] has done about the current situation in Rakhine and what it is planning for the future, Mya Than said.

When the state parliament resumes its regular sessions on Feb. 13, lawmakers will recommend that state government officials provide more assistance to those displaced by armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the AA, he said.

Lawmakers will also discuss ways to immediately end the current hostilities and report their conclusions to the state government, he said.

Aye Nu Sein, vice chairwoman of the ANP, said Burgener discussed a recent press conference held by the Myanmar militarys information team, during which a spokesman said that State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi had instructed government forces to crack down on the AA after it carried out the deadly attacks on police outposts on Jan. 4.

She asked, Was it really true that instructions were issued to root out [the rebels]? Aye Nu Sein said.

Burgener then commented that Aung San Suu Kyi as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, should not have issued such an order regarding the conflict, given that there are also long-running hostilities between Myanmar forces and ethnic armies in other parts of the country, according to Aye Nu Sein.

Its a controversy between the two parties, Burgener reportedly said. Is the Tatmadaw [Myanmar military] exploiting the situation as a political ploy?

Burgener and ANP officials also discussed the discord between ethnic Rakhine people and Muslims in the ethnically and religiously divided state and the regions lack of development, pointing out that not a single factory has been built since the countrys independence from colonial ruler Britain in 1948, and that residents are forced to leave in desperation and go elsewhere to eke out a living, Aye Nu Sein said.

Myanmar protesters demand compensation for land confiscated by the Chinese and Myanmar operators of a pipeline project in Ann township, western Myanmar's Rakhine state, March 22, 2018. Credit: Photo courtesy of Myo Lwin What about China?

Another topic of conversation was Myanmars larger neighbor and biggest trading partner China, which operates dual oil and natural gas pipelines that originate in the Kyaukphyu district of Rakhines Ann township and span central Myanmar to southwestern Chinas Yunnan province.

China is also involved in a special economic zone (SEZ) and deep sea port project in Kyaukphyu.

In the past, area residents have demanded that the Chinese and Myanmar state-owned oil companies involved in the venture compensate them for land they had to give up for the pipeline project, and fishermen have opposed bans on fishing imposed by Myanmars Fisheries Department so oil tankers can operate there.

Rakhine state has been a key economic interest of China, and ethnic Rakhines have protested against gas pipeline projects before, Aye Nu Sein said.

But the previous government under [former president] Thein Sein and the current civilian-led government avoided their objections with regard to SEZs, she said.

Burgener questioned whether the current National League for Democracy (NLD) government had intervened in the issue, but ANP officials told her that it had merely blamed the previous government for any problems, she said.

The U.N. envoy also asked what the political party would like her to tell government leaders in the capital Naypyidaw.

We want her to take the message that if the army has to fight because the State Counselor said so, wed like her to issue an order to stop the fighting, Aye Nu Sein said. We then want the Tamadaw to stop their offensives once she says to do so, and hold political dialogues to find a solution and establish peace.

Villager shot

During Burgeners visit to Rakhine state, an unknown gunman shot and killed 56-year old Maung Aye Thein in Ywar Haung village of Pan Myaung village tract in Min Pyar township, a local official told RFA Wednesday.

Village tract administrator Tin Aung Kyaw said the man was shot five times around 9 p.m. Tuesday after the assailant called him to come out of his home.

The victim died at the scene from gunshots to his chest and thighs, while the shooter fled, he said.

The attacker called to the victim in the Rakhine dialect, but Maung Aye Theins wife said that she could not recognize him because it was dark, he said.

It took place in his compound, Tin Aung Kyaw said. It is said that he was called to come outside, and he was shot when he got close to the gunman.

The case is now under investigation, and [the body] has been sent to a local hospital, he said.

Police found five bullet casings at the scene, said Pan Myaung police chief Tun Aye.

Were taking action and have opened a case on this, he said. We will take action according to the law.

Locals said that Maung Aye Thein was a member of the opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and had served the community as a voluntary firefighter.

Some locals believe the attack may be related to an armed organization and could have been an attempt to silence the man to prevent him from leaking information.

Khin Than Maung, a founder and member of the central executive committee of the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), was also shot dead at his home in Kyar Inn Taung village in Rakhines Myebon township on Dec. 24.

Speculation on social media suggested that the AA was behind the killing because several weeks before it took place, a number of AA supporters accused Khin Than Maung of leaking information to the Myanmar Army, according to a December report by the online journal The Irrawaddy.

At the same time, some AA supporters accused the Myanmar militarys intelligence officials of the murder by linking them to the act, the report said.

Reported by Thiri Min Zin and Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Nandar Chann. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Guards at a prison camp in North Korea have recently enlarged a convenience store attached to the facility, pressuring inmates relatives to spend money there to purchase food and medicine formerly brought in for free, sources in the country say.



The new store at the Kaecheon Correctional Labor Camp in South Pyongan province was opened at the end of last year following a surge in the prisons incarceration rate, a source in South Pyongan told RFAs Korean Service.



The store is now crowded with visitors each day, and is being used as a way to exploit family members of the inmates and suck the money out of them, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



They are not allowed to bring in food or other necessities, so they are forced to make those purchases from the convenience store, the source said.



Employees at the store are family members of the prisons officials, the source said, adding, And they abuse their authority by selling things like alcohol and cigarettes at much higher prices than they could get by selling them at street markets outside the facility.



Visitors are afraid that their loved ones inside the prison could suffer badly if they complain about the ridiculous prices, so they reluctantly make their purchases at the convenience store, he said.



Prison officials also pressure inmates to ask family members visiting the store to buy expensive items such as solar batteries, razors, office paper and other supplies, falsely claiming that these things are needed for common use in the facility, the source said.



Severe conditions



Inmates who fail to deliver the demanded goods are often beaten or receive other kinds of punishment during bed-checks at night, he said.



Also speaking to RFA, a source in Ryanggang province said he had gone to Kaecheon after hearing that his brother, an inmate at the prison, was suffering from malnutrition there.



When I arrived, I was told that visits were allowed only once per quarter, and they refused to allow me into the visitors room, the source said, also speaking on condition he not be named.



I got frustrated, and argued with them when I was told that I should just buy food at the convenience store and send that in, he said.



I couldnt bear their attitude which cares only about their business dealings at the store, while they reject visitors requests to see their family members inside the prison, so they can hide the severe conditions at the facility and stop the spreading of rumors about it.



Prison authorities are failing to address the growing numbers of prisoners suffering from illness and malnutrition at Kaecheon, the source said.



Instead, they would rather call up the inmates families and demand that they bring in medicine and food.



Inmates families can now help save the lives of their loved ones in the prison by sending in a mixture of corn flour, sugar, and oil put into a meal, RFAs source said.



And they can do this only by purchasing these things directly from the convenience store, he said.



Reported by Hyemin Son for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Dukin Han. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have detained an outspoken Chinese writer and political commentator who holds Australian nationality.



Yang Hengjun has been incommunicado, believed detained, since arriving at Guangzhou Airport on Jan. 19 at around 5:00 p.m., his friend and Sydney-based university lecturer Feng Chongyi told RFA.



"He was taken from Guangzhou airport to Beijing by around a dozen state security police," Feng said. "His wife and kid were also held by the state security police, but they were allowed to go to Shanghai."



"They later asked to be allowed to go to Beijing as well, so they could be with Yang Hengjun, but they haven't been allowed to see him," he said.



He said the orders for Yang's detention must have come from the top.



"This is clearly not the action of a low-ranking department trying to curry favor," Feng said. "It would have taken a huge amount of preparation, organization and secret planning to detain someone in Guangzhou and then take them to Beijing."



He said Yang had traveled to China with his wife Yuan Ruijuan and her daughter, but had joined the line for foreign nationals when the family reached immigration, while his wife and stepdaughter, who hold Chinese passports, stood in a separate line.



"[His wife and stepdaughter] are now in Shanghai, at the home of Yuan's family, but they have been told not to talk to anyone about it," Feng said.



Feng said Yang's "disappearance" could be another form of reprisal over the detention by Canada, at the request of U.S. investigators, of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China's flagship telecoms giant Huawei.



"I'm guessing it has to do with Meng Wanzhou ... because Australia released a statement calling for the release of the two Canadians who were detained," Feng said. "This is hostage diplomacy."



'Hostage diplomacy'



Yang's disappearance comes a month after China's detention of two Canadians, entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, in what was widely seen as retaliation for Meng Wanzhou's arrest on suspicion of bank fraud.



"Legally, they are supposed to inform the Australian government within 48 hours of detaining an Australian citizen, but there was no notification," Feng said. "It seems that [the Chinese authorities] are prepared to do anything, with no limits, and with no regard for international law."



Sydney-based Yang Hengjun "disappeared" on a previous visit to China in 2011, at a time when he was one of the most influential political bloggers writing in the Chinese language, reaching millions of readers inside mainland China, where information is strictly controlled by a system of filters, blocks, and human censorship known as the Great Firewall.



On that trip, he resurfaced three days later saying only that he had been "unwell."



Yang's U.S.-based friend, artist Wu Zuolai, said the writer has always been a moderate commentator and supporter of the idea of "peaceful evolution" towards democracy for China, a notion that is anathema to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.



"He would like China to evolve peacefully [towards democracy], starting from within the current system," Wu said. "He takes the line that it should be gradual and peaceful."



The Australian foreign ministry said Wednesday it is "seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China. Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment."



Australian Defense Minister Christopher Pyne left Australia on Tuesday for a week-long visit to Japan, China and Singapore.



Reported by Wong Siu-sam and Tam Siu-Yin for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Gao Feng for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
After using e-cigarettes in the bathroom, the four male students returned to their respective classrooms, police Capt. Ron Milardo said. A teacher sent one of the students to the nurse's office after noticing he was drowsy and not participating in class. Soon afterward, the three other boys also reported to the nurse's office with similar symptoms, he said.
Enjoy the natural splendors of North America right in your own back yard. From backcountry hiking trips to scenic cycle tours to coastal kayaking, there's an adventure for everyone!
TORRINGTON  Jury selection will begin Tuesday for a former treatment facility worker who is accused of groping a girl.

Ulyses R. Alvarez, who was 24 when he was arrested in August 2017, is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor, promoting a minor in an obscene performance and third-degree possession of child pornography, court documents show.

According to an affidavit filed on Aug. 14, 2017 by Detective Paul Lukienchuk, a member of the Western Connecticut Major Crime Squad at Troop L in Litchfield, state police were contacted on April 14, 2017 by Christina Borel, clinical director of the Touchstone Residential Treatment Program Facility in Litchfield. The program is operated by the state Department of Children and Families.

Borel told the state police, according the affidavit, that a juvenile victim made an allegation of sexual abuse against a staff member.

Alvarez worked at the facility as an adolescent development specialist. Touchstone serves girls between 12 and 18 years old.

The complaint was the second against Alvarez, the affidavit states, and the first made to state police.

Alvarez is represented by attorney Kevin Smith of Pattis & Smith Law Firm in New Haven. Smith said Tuesday that he began representing his client in April 2018. .

The first complaint against Alvarez, made in Feb. 2017, was investigated by DCF. The agency findings showed that the complaint was unsubstantiated because the juvenile denied the allegation at the time, according to court documents.

After the first allegation, Alvarez, whose last known address was in Waterbury, was placed on paid administrative leave, the affidavit states.

More for you News Police: Man groped girl at Litchfield treatment facility

DCF was not able to substantiate the allegation and Alvarez was permitted to return to work, according to the affidavit.

More allegations followed, however, when a second juvenile provided more information about Alvarezs alleged actions. The affidavit states that Alvarez told her she had the body of a 26-year-old.

The second juvenile also said the defendant hits on all of us, and he is just a perverted person.

In May, 2017, the alleged victim from the DCF investigation reversed her earlier statement, according to the affidavit, and told staff members that Alvarez had been engaging in inappropriate behavior with other girls too.

Alvarez has been free on bail since 2017 on a $75,000 cash bond, records show.

Smith declined to say how many witnesses he planned to call, or how he would defend his client.

Youre asking about trial strategy. If people are interested, they should show up for the trial, he said.

Smith said the trial would take one week to complete.
Rodley Russo, 75, of Fowler Avenue, died at Hartford Hospital after emergency crews pulled him out from underneath his vehicle. Police responded to Fowler Avenue at 2:45 p.m. Monday and discovered him pinned beneath the car.
Minor Memorial Library has announced it has received a grant from Connecticut Humanities for its spring lecture series, Land and Culture: A Deep Look at the History of Land Use.

A collaborative program with the Roxbury Conservation Commission and the Roxbury Land Trust, the series of four lectures and a site visit will explore different aspects of our local geology, geography and the different ways people have used the land for food, shelter, and in the pursuit of wealth.

The first program will be held Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. with Professor Robert Thorson of UConn, who will describe the geological history of Roxbury and northwest Connecticut, and how landforms have influenced human activities throughout history.

A snow date of Feb. 14 is planned.

Future programs will be held Feb. 21, March 7, March 21 and April 6.

From an exploration of the geology that sets the stage for the kinds of activities that are possible in our area, through Native American land practices and cultural values, to the rise and fall of water powered industry in the Litchfield Hills, the programs will help attendees understand the intersection of culture and land.

In addition, the grant will provide for the purchase of books that further address these issues.

Professor Thorson, professor of geology at UConns Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Anthropology and faculty affiliate in the American Studies Program, has written Stone by Stone, a history of the stone walls that snake through the woods throughout New England and that unites the histories of New Englands geology, environment, culture and economy with science and passion.

More recent work includes a look at the writings of Henry David Thoreau as a keen scientific observer and writer as well as the Transcendentalist and early father of the Environmental Movement.

The series will continue Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. with a presentation by Lucianne Lavin, of the Institute for American Indian Studies, on the ways in which Native Americans interacted with the local landscape; March 7 with a discussion of the rise and fall of water-powered industry in Litchfield County presented by Peter Vermilyea; March 21 with Kyle Turoczi, who will talk about how to read the landscape; and April 6 with a field walk on Roxbury Land Trust property with Turoczi.

For information, call 860-350-2181.
BANTAM  American Legion Post 44 of Bantam will honor the first woman to be recognized as a United States Veteran and receive a pension for her service, Margaret Cochran Corbin, the 365th Veteran of the Month. The ceremony will be held Feb. 2, 10 a.m. at the Bantam Borough Hall, 890 Bantam Road/ Route 202.

When Corbins husband was killed at Fort Washington in 1776, she took over his canon position until she was severely injured. Shewas nominated for the Veteran of the Month honor by Alice Ridgway, Connecticut Regent, Daughters of the American Revolution.

The ceremony begins with the retirement of an honor flag for the December Veteran of the Month, United States Continental Army Private James Birge, who served with Captain Beebes company in New York and New Jersey in 1776.

Following the tributes all attendees are invited to remain for light refreshments with members of Post 44, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, members of the Sons of the American Revolution, James Birge descendants, veterans from other organizations and the general public. For information, contact: post44.bantam@gmail.com

Sacred chant workshop set at Wisdom House

LITCHFIELD  A Joyful Noise: Sacred Chant Workshop will be offered by Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center on Saturday, Feb. 9 from 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Marquerite Mullee, Ed.D. will present.

This workshop will help participants experience chant as prayer and meditation practice, learning both its spiritual and technical aspects through singing, listening, and writing. Gregorian notation, modes, rhythms, sight reading, and breath control will be covered. Roman, Orthodox, and Anglican chants will be sampled. The ability to read music is not required.

Dr. Mullee is a graduate of Columbia University where she earned a doctorate in Conducting and Vocal Pedagogy. She is a Professor of Liturgical Music and Sacred Art at Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, CT and the Music Consultant for Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Guildford, CT. Dr. Mullee was awarded a Statement of Recognition for Musical Excellence in Connecticut from GovernorM. Jodi Rell.

The cost for the program is $60 and includes lunch. For more information contact Wisdom House at 860-567-3163, email programs@wisdomhouse.org or visit www.wisdomhouse.org

Operation Fuel reschedules Ice House event

HARTFORD  Operation Fuels Ice House will give people an opportunity to experience how it feels to live in a freezing home. This inaugural event is the first of its kind in Connecticut. It has been rescheduled from Jan. 24 to Thursday, Jan. 31, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at Connecticuts Old State House, 800 Main St., Hartford.

Director Brenda Watson said, The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday calls for significantly higher temperatures and rain - neither of which are ideal conditions for our project. It completely compromises the safety of our ice sculptors along with the ice house structure and, ultimately, the public as the structure weighs thousands of pounds. As a result, we have no choice but to reschedule the event and use our weather date of Thursday, Jan. 31.

In addition to the Ice House, there will be music, visiting mascots, information on energy assistance programs, food trucks and other surprises. There is no charge to participate, but a donation of $5 per person is welcome.

Operation Fuel provides year-round emergency energy assistance throughout Connecticut to lower-income working families and individuals, the elderly, and disabled individuals who are in a financial crisis.

Climate change is topic of program

WOODBURY  The study of climate change is developing very quickly. Significant new information is coming out  literally  every day. Flanders Nature Center is holding a program on this important topic and why it matters to us all, led by Dr. Mitch Wagener. He holds a masters degree in Stream Ecology and a doctorate in Soil Ecology and teaches climate ecology, entomology, and related courses at Western Connecticut State University.

Wagners talk will explain the basics but also mix in some new information to an understanding of the world and our future in a warmer world where weather events will be more severe, sea levels higher, and people displaced. The talk will be followed by an opportunity for peoples questions on why climate change can be considered the greatest challenge humanity has ever had to face.

The program is being held Friday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m. at the Flanders Studio which is located at the corner of Flanders and Church Hill Roads in Woodbury. The cost is $5 for members and $10 for non-members. Those interested may register online at www.flandersnaturecenter.org or call 203-263-3711, ext. 10, for more information.

Assistance available from the Cookie Jar fund

BARKHAMSTED  In the spring of 1998, welfare assistance was removed from local communities and run by the state, and there were few resources to which residents could turn for financial assistance. At that time, the Cookie Jar was created to help meet emergency needs for Barkhamsted residents, according to Don Stein, First Selectman.

The endowment balance of this fund has come from donations and contributions of the burning permit fees, Stein said in a statement. The vision was to grow a fund which would generate revenues along with the donations.

As a result, the fund balance is substantial and is available for residents in need of assistance. There is an application form and the assistance is typically limited to $400 on a one-time basis. Such assistance can take the form of heating oil, electric bills, gasoline, grocery cards and other similar household expenses, he said.

To apply, go to https://www.barkhamsted.us/sites/barkhamstedct/files/uploads/application_for_assistance_-_updated_1-19.pdf
NEW MILFORD  Lt. Lawrence Ash was reinstated Wednesday morning after an investigation concluded he didnt do anything wrong.

But what exactly he didnt do  and the allegation that led to the investigation  is still unknown.

Ash was placed on administrative leave this summer pending the outcome of the mystery investigation, which stemmed from a complaint filed with the police.

Ash was cleared by an outside independent review of potential violations that resulted in no finding of any wrongdoing, according to a press release from the Mayor Pete Bass.

Outside investigations are standard protocol for for investigations on senior-level administration, according to the press release.

Bass directed questions to Police Chief Spencer Cerruto.

Cerruto and Ash could not be immediately reached for comment.

In the press release both men welcomed Ash back.

More for you News Veteran New Milford cop under investigation

Lt. Ash has been exonerated and we are happy to have such an important and integral part of our police administration back, Bass said.

Ash has been with the department since 1987. He started as a patrol officer and climbed through the ranks to lieutenant.

He also serves as the departments spokesman.

He followed in the footsteps of his own father, Robert, a decorated, 17-year department detective, according to an earlier article.

Cerruto said Ash has tremendous experience in town and is pleased to have him as a resource.

This has been a very challenging time for all of us, including Lt. Ash and his family, Cerruto said in the release. We are going to move forward in a positive manner as a team.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345
At least 12 of Glassdoor's 31 companies 'hiring like crazy' this year have openings in Texas.

Two companies  Rackspace and Smile Brands  are looking for employees in San Antonio specifically, according to Glassdoor. Rackspace is a leading provider of IT services looking primarily for engineers. Smile Brands, one of the largest dental organizations in the country, has openings for patient care coordinators, dental assistants, field recruiters, office managers, orthodontists and more.
Economists report that workers are starting to act like millennials on Tinder: They're ditching jobs with nary a text.

"A number of contacts said that they had been 'ghosted,' a situation in which a worker stops coming to work without notice and then is impossible to contact," the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago noted in December's Beige Book, which tracks employment trends.

National data on economic "ghosting" is lacking. The term, which normally applies to dating, first surfaced on Dictionary.com in 2016. But companies across the country say silent exits are on the rise.

Analysts blame America's increasingly tight labor market. Job openings have surpassed the number of seekers for eight straight months, and the unemployment rate has clung to a 49-year low of 3.7 percent since September.

Janitors, baristas, welders, accountants, engineers - they're all in demand, said Michael Hicks, a labor economist at Ball State University in Indiana. More people may opt to skip tough conversations and slide right into the next thing.

"Why hassle with a boss and a bunch of out-processing," he said, "when literally everyone has been hiring?"

Recruiters at the global staffing firm Robert Half have noticed a "ten to twenty percent increase" in ghosting over the past year, D.C. district president Josh Howarth said.

Applicants blow off interviews. New hires turn into no-shows. Workers leave one evening and never return.

"You feel like someone has a high level of interest only for them to just disappear," Howarth said.

Over the summer, woes he heard from clients emerged in his own life. A job candidate for a recruiter role asked for a day to mull over an offer, saying she wanted to discuss the terms with her spouse.

Then she halted communication.

"In fairness, Howarth said, "there are some folks who might have so many opportunities they're considering they honestly forget."

Keith Station, director of business relations at Heartland Workforce Solutions, which connects job hunters with companies in Omaha, said service workers in his area are most likely to skip out on low-paying service positions.

"People just fall off the face of the Earth," he said of the area, which has an especially low unemployment rate of 2.8 percent.

Some employers in Nebraska are trying to avoid unfilled shifts with apprentice programs that guarantee raises and additional training over time.

"Then you want to stay and watch your wage grow," Station said.

Other recruitment businesses point to solutions from China, where ghosting took off during the last decade's explosive growth.

"We generally make two offers for every job because somebody doesn't show up," said Rebecca Henderson, chief executive of Randstad Sourceright, a talent acquisition firm.

And if both hires stick around, she said, her multinational clients are happy to deepen the bench.

While ghosting in the United States does not yet require that level of back-up planning, consultants urge employers to build meaningful relationships at every stage of the hiring process.

Someone who feels invested in an enterprise is less likely to bounce, write Melissa and Johnathan Nightingale, co-authors of "How F*cked Up Is Your Management?: An uncomfortable conversation about modern leadership."

"Employees leave jobs that suck," they said in an email. "Jobs where they're abused. Jobs where they don't care about the work. And the less engaged they are, the less need they feel to give their bosses any warning."

Some employees are simply young and restless, said James Cooper, former manager of the Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone Park, where he said people ghosted regularly.

A few of his staffers were college students who lived in park dormitories for the summer.

"My favorite," he said, "was a kid who left a note on the floor in his dorm room that said 'sorry bros, had to ghost.'"

Other ghosters describe an inner voice that just says: Nah.

Zach Keel, a 26-year-old server in Austin, made the call last year to flee a Texas bar-slash-cinema after realizing he would have to clean the place until sunrise. More work, he calculated, was always around the corner.

"I didn't call," Keel said. "I didn't show up. I figured: No point in feeling guilty about something that wasn't that big of an issue. Turnover is so high, anyway."
Police received a tip that the FBI in New Haven had received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The initial referral came from Dropbox, Inc., an electronic service provider based in San Francisco whose terms say users are not to publish or share illegal pornographic material. Dropbox identified Kevin Smith as downloading 157 files of suspected child porn in August 2017, an arrest warrant affidavit released Wednesday says.
Source:

Last updated on: January 23, 2019 22:39 IST

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has busted an 'ISIS-inspired' group, which was planning mass casualty attacks using poisonous chemical mixtures at big gatherings, an official said on Wednesday.

The ATS has also arrested eight men and detained a minor boy -- all suspected members of the group -- following searches in Thane and Aurangabad over the last two days, he added.

The arrests have come just days ahead of the Republic Day on January 26.

The ATS has seized liquids, chemical powders, a chemical bottle with 'hydrogen peroxide' written on it, six knives, six pen drives, six laptops, over 24 mobile phones, several gadgets, WiFi routers, DVDs, CDs, hard drives, graphics cards, modems and computer RAMs (random access memory), the ATS official said.

The group, which had engineers in its ranks, had planned to prepare toxic chemical mixtures and blend those with food or water at big events to cause mass casualty, he added.

All the seized materials were sent to the forensic science laboratory for examination, he said.

"These people had created a terrorist gang inspired by the ISIS called the Ummat E Mohammadiya and had planned terror activities at various places," the official said without elaborating.

"The idea was to make some poisonous mixtures and mix those in water or food at places of big events so that people consume it," he said.

The locations where the group had planned the terror activities were being ascertained, he added.

"We will verify all the aspects, including (a possible) attack at the (ongoing) Kumbh Mela (in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh) and at other big events as well," the official said.

The chemicals seized from the group were of experimental quantities, he said, adding, "We are also investigating whether the group had any associates in the state or other parts of the country."

Among those arrested was Mazhar Abdul Rashid Sheikh, the son of Rashid Malbari -- a underworld criminal and dreaded sharp-shooter of the Dawood Ibrahim gang -- the ATS official said.

Sheikh was arrested from Aurangabad in central Maharashtra, he added.

The minor, who was detained, was aged around 17 and was a student of class 11 (Science), the official said. The other members of the terror group were engineers and professionals, while one was a pharmacist, he said.

They were identified by the police as Mohsin Sirajuddin Khan, Taqui Sirajuddin Khan, Mushahid Ul Islam, Mohammad Sarfaraz, Salman Sirajuddin Khan, Jamman Khuteupad and Fahad Ansari.

The group, the members of which were based in Aurangabad and the adjoining Thane district, was active on the Internet and its members were well connected with each other on social media websites and messaging apps, the ATS official said.

The main accused was in direct touch with their ISIS handler in Syria, he added.

The group had been carrying out experiments at Thane and Aurangabad on how to execute its terror plan, he said.

Some of the accused had procured passports, the official said, adding, "We suspect that after carrying out the terror activities, the accused had planned to leave the country."

"The group was on the radar of the ATS since the last few weeks and when we felt they might take further steps, we decided to intervene and carried out searches," Maharashtra ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni said.

Around a dozen ATS teams had carried out the searches through Monday and Tuesday in Mumbra (Thane district) and Aurangabad and nabbed the accused, he added.

All the arrested accused were produced before a court in Aurangabad, which sent them to police custody till February 5, another ATS official said.

The minor was sent to a remand home in Mumbai, he added.

The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and the relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bombay Police Act, he said.

Image only for representation.
January 23, 2019 10:35 IST

'Pure, uncluttered anti-Modi-ism, however angry, can't be an ideology or an electoral alternative.'

'The best it can do for you is damage Mr Modi enough for him to finish below 200.'

'Can it enable you to cross 100 to begin with?' asks Shekhar Gupta.

Photograph: INC/Twitter

Once upon a nearly forgotten time, leaders in democracies talked to all citizens. When they were elected to office, they looked after the interests of all, including the very sizeable number who did not vote for them, because public office was public trust. Now they only talk to what is called their 'base'. The rest don't matter.

Donald J Trump is called a ranting idiot and a racist so-and-so by millions. Yet, the nuttier he looks to them, the more his base adores him. All the rest can go take a walk. If you don't vote for me, don't expect anything from me.

Take Narendra Damodardas Modi's BJP, for example. It rides the Hindu vote to power. So, it fields no Muslim candidate in the Lok Sabha and even the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which has a Muslim population of more than 20 per cent, and sweeps both.

They can afford to exclude the Muslims and mostly Dalits from power because they own the Savarna, most of the upper and much of the middle caste vote. That's why the 10 per cent reservation for them is one of the last big actions of their outgoing government.

So which constituency is Rahul Gandhi addressing?

How does he define his base? Does he know what it is?

Vanilla anti-Modi-ism can't be your only proposition to India.

We know that only 31 per cent Indians voted for Mr Modi in 2014 and you can presume many more dislike or disagree with him. They are entertained and encouraged by Rahul's relentless attacks on him. It doesn't follow that they will vote for him.

If anger against Mr Modi is your only motivation, you will likely pick what you consider the best of the many choices available.

In West Bengal it could be Mamata Banerjee; in Uttar Pradesh the SP/BSP; in Bihar Lalu Prasad; in Kerala the Left; and KCR, Naveen Patnaik and Arvind Kejriwal in Telangana, Odisha and Delhi, respectively. And so on.

Even if this Rahul single-mindedness results in such crippling damage to Mr Modi's image that people defeat him, does it follow that they will elect the Congress instead?

Today, it is most unlikely. One proposition (Mr Modi is the worst) doesn't naturally lead to the other (the Congress is the best).

Until 1989, the Congress base was large enough to win everything: Lower castes, minorities, tribals, Brahmins, some middle castes and a large number of the very poor. The BJP was then limited to the urban trader and Hindu middle classes. That's why Indira Gandhi would derisively call the Jan Sangh/BJP a Baniya party, and almost never a Hindu party.

It follows that until she was in charge, the BJP could never call hers a 'Muslim' party, which the waffling UPA decade, beginning with POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) repeal, enabled Mr Modi to do.

Once Rajiv Gandhi began losing this base in 1989, the Congress had survived, and prospered by aggregating its remaining vote and anti-BJP political forces. After 2014, it will take more than that to bring the party back in the reckoning.

Approaching the big test about a hundred days from now, the Congress doesn't have a critical mass of loyal voters in any state today except probably Punjab. It shares the east-central heartland tribals with the BJP.

Dalits are elsewhere, Muslims have other choices in key states (Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, and Assam), the urban middle class, especially the large, sub-25 age group, is still essentially pro-Modi.

You cannot build a new voter base simply by sweeping together all those disgruntled with Mr Modi under your tent. You can damage Mr Modi, but the benefit will be divided among many, friend and foe.

At this point, Rahul is following the Arvind Kejriwal-style of 2010-2014. Using Anna Hazare, and much RSS throat power, Mr Kejriwal played a stellar role in destroying the credibility of the UPA, especially the Congress.

It was done so masterfully that even Congress people themselves were too psyched out to defend themselves against corruption charges.

It is fashionable to give credit to the BJP and the Vivekananda Foundation, but the main weapon in that war against the Congress was Mr Kejriwal. He was young, trusted, incorruptible, and not bound by vocabularies and hypocrisies of conventional politics.

He conjured up the 'sab chor hain' image for the Congress party. It is just that most of the voters he persuaded to dump the Congress did not come to him. He had not built a base for that.

His gains were confined to Delhi. Elsewhere, he only succeeded in diverting those voters to Mr Modi.

That is the peril of politics of pure negativity without offering an alternative. For that you need to define a target base first. This is where Rahul is in the danger of ending up.

It is heady, and effective to be an insurgent, but there is enough evidence that all you can then do in a democracy is inflict damage, not win power, and gift it to someone else.

Rahul's success in the three heartland states, headline-hunting and most notably on Twitter, has fired the imagination of his intellectual supporters and the Modi-hating Left-liberal commentariat.

But they count for too few votes and those millions of retweets and 'likes' are not counted by the EVMs.

As in guerrilla warfare, Rahul has deftly adapted his tactics on the move. We are asking: What is the strategic outcome? What does it add up to?

To toss the slur of being a Muslim party, Rahul has been making televised visits to temples, flaunting his sacred thread and high Brahmin gotra.

At the same time, his party has had to be muted on the key secular-liberal issues of the day: Triple talaq, Sabarimala, upper caste reservation.

The same lack of conviction reflected in its convenient walkout from the Lok Sabha on this awful Citizenship Act amendment, which effectively codifies the Zionification of India.

The debate, here, is not about Zionism. Israel set itself up as an ideological, Zionist State. India gave itself the opposite: A non-ideological, secular Constitution. It's being challenged and the Congress can do no better than walk out. Both Hindus and Muslims in Assam and elsewhere are watching this.

It suits the BJP. This is what its base wants. When it calls the 'illegal' immigrants termites, it applauds. If it amends the Constitution to 'clarify' that only the Muslims among these are termites, they go rapturous.

The Congress doesn't even know what its base is, or what it is that it wants to build in the next month or so as the campaign begins.

Pure, uncluttered anti-Modi-ism, however angry, can't be an ideology or an electoral alternative. The best it can do for you is damage Mr Modi enough for him to finish below 200.

Can it enable you to cross 100 to begin with?

Take a close look at the map of India, count state by state. By May, even if the people get greatly disillusioned with the BJP, the Congress will not be their default choice in too many states.

That's Rahul's rude reality check.

By special arrangement with ThePrint
January 23, 2019 11:29 IST

'Karpoori Thakur must be remembered by people today who are tired of witnessing fractious politics where corruption, bigotry, hatred and violence seems to have become distressingly recurrent,' says Mohammad Sajjad.

IMAGE: Not many chief ministers in independent India had such high integrity in public office and frugality in lifestyle as Karpoori Thakur (January 24, 1924-February 17, 1988).

On January 24 falls the birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur, a tall Socialist leader and freedom fighter, who was twice chief minister of Bihar and prior to that, the state's education minister and deputy chief minister.

Besides his successful efforts towards empowering the weaker sections, his interventions in legislative business are quite impressive.

Two thick volumes of his legislative interventions and debates were published in 2003. This possibly could be a rare feat that his role as Leader of the Opposition was recorded and analysed in a book. This should be instructive for some of the taller legislators of our days whose attendance remains pathetically poor in the Houses.

Thakur's consistent anti-Congressism, empowerment of the backward castes and removal of English as a compulsory language in high school examinations (thereby, enabling Hindi-speaking rural students for mobility towards higher education) are some of the most significant steps for which he must be remembered. This enabling exercise was condescendingly referred to as 'Karpoori Division'.

Despite being a leader of Socialist conviction, his pragmatism in striking alliances with ideological rivals such as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, yet, empowering the religio-linguistic minorities is another equally significant step.

In his cabinet (1977-1979), the most important portfolios of education and health were held by Muslims: Ghulam Sarwar (1926-2004), and Professor Jabir Husain, respectively. Not only this, these ministers were granted enough space to implement their vision and programmes. Urdu was made a vehicle for employment in government offices and schools.

Karpoori Thakur challenged the upper caste hegemony in politics and education, even though he did not belong to a caste of numerical preponderance.

Contrary to certain dubious stereotypes against Bihar, it must be made widely known that not many chief ministers in independent India had such high integrity in public office and frugality in lifestyle as Karpoori Thakur.

For this he earned the sobriquet of Jana-Nayak (people's leader).

Ironically, during the final years of his life, he was marginalised by those very social groups for whose upward mobility and empowerment he tirelessly worked.

After 1985, he was dubiously replaced by Anup Lal Yadav, as leader of the Opposition. Lalu Yadav is said to have developed an aversion to him, condescendingly referring to him as 'Kapati' (wily as a fox) Thakur'.

Karpoori Thakur must be remembered by people today who are tired of witnessing fractious politics where corruption, bigotry, hatred and violence seems to have become distressingly recurrent.

IMAGE: Karpoori Thakur, second from right, then the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly, leads a procesion of opposition MLAs to Raj Bhavan to protest against the abrupt adjournment of the Budget session of the assembly.

Karpoori Thakur was born in a poor family of barbers at a village, Pitaunjhia (now named after him as Karpoori Gram) near Samastipur, and very close to the village Waini, from where the violent revolutionary Khudiram Bose was arrested in 1908, to be hanged in Muzaffarpur jail.

Acharya Narendra Dev's visit to Waini in 1938 to address a peasant rally propelled Karpoori to join the freedom movement and Socialist politics in his youth.

The caste of barbers (Hajjam/Nai) are estimated to be less than two per cent of Bihar's population. Yet, in Bihar, where electoral politics testifies to deeply entrenched caste-based loyalties, mobilisation and polarisation, he never lost any assembly election after he won it for the first time in the first such election in 1952. (The only election he lost was in 1984 in the Lok Sabha election, which was held soon after Indira Gandhi's assassination, hence, a huge sympathy wave for the Congress.)

In 1967, when he was minister for education as well as deputy chief minister, he abolished English language being compulsory for school students. It courted intense controversies, but the deprived segments were enabled to move up.

He further made it mandatory for Christian missionary schools to teach Hindi. Making education more accessible, he did away with the fee for children from a weaker economic background.

The movement for making Urdu a second official language got a great boost and encouragement from Karpoori Thakur.

Between December 1970 to June 1971, when he was chief minister for the first time, he took some pro-subaltern steps in his brief tenure such as remission of revenue on less fertile-uncultivated lands.

He is said to have made it a point not to miss solemnisation of any inter-caste marriage. His efforts for poor and low caste people mounted enough pressure on the subsequent Congress government (1971-77) to institute the Mungeri Lal Commission.

In late June 1977, Karpoori Thakur became chief minister a second time. Immediately, he implemented the Mungerilal Lal Commission's recommendations. It provided for reservations (protective discrimination) for the backward castes in recruitments to public employment and enrolments in government educational institutions.

More importantly, it split the backward castes in two blocs, so that the upper Shudras (Yadavas, Koeris, Kurmis) should not take away the cake of the lower Shudras. This became popular as the 'Karpoori Formula'.

He also implemented three per cent reservations for women and another three per cent for the poor segments of upper castes which was struck down by the judiciary.

Besides, he also conducted Panchayati Raj elections in 1978, to reconfigure the upper caste hegemony in the rural power structure. The next Panchayati Raj elections were held in Bihar only in 2001, that too after a protracted judicial battle against the reluctant Congress and Lalu Yadav-Rabri Devi regimes.

In Karpoori Thakur's final days as chief minister, there was communal violence in Jamshedpur in April 1979. A few hours before quitting office, he instituted a three member enquiry under Justice Jitendra Narayan.

Thakur was in alliance with the Jan Sangh (with its 68 MLAs) whose leader Dinanath Pandey, an MLA from Jamshedpur, was in the state cabinet. The report, which came out in October 1981, indicted Pandey in no uncertain terms for his involvement in the violence. Atal Bihari Vajpayee -- who headed the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Jan Sangh's progeny -- suspended Pandey from the party.

Throughout the 1980s, the Congress ruled Bihar. Congress rule saw even worse communal violence -- in Biharsharif (May 1981), and in Bhagalpur (October 1989) -- which was unprecedented in its ferocity and barbarity.

IMAGE: Then Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, left, with then Haryana chief minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, centre, and then Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at a National Development Council meeting, January 19, 1979.

Today, when Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejaswi Yadav is trying hard to re-build a social coalition of lower castes and Dalits, mobilising them against the BJP's politics of providing 10% reservations for economically weak upper castes, one feels tempted to re-visit the legacy of Karpoori Thakur.

It becomes even more interesting as the BJP's ally, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United, has also been trying to reclaim Karpoori Thakur's legacy.

While a Socialist-Saffron alliance has been a regular affair in Indian politics since Independence -- Karpoori Thakur -- was not averse to it, it is pertinent to note that he pursued a wise politics of astute pragmatism, Paul Brass points out in his well researched 1976 essay.

Between 1965 and 1972, the Socialists in Bihar were divided in two factions. One, led by Bhola Prasad Singh, advocated an alliance with the Jana Sangh, the other led by Ramanand Tiwary (1909-1980; father of RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary). Kapoori Thakur did not identify with either Socialist group.

This strategy, according to Paul Brass, helped Kapoori Thakur rise. This was helpful for Thakur because in the anti-Congress, Socialist campaign for backward caste empowerment, Socialist leaders from an upper caste background could not have succeeded.

Such was the success of Socialist politics between 1965 and 1972 that even the Congress had to prop up a number of backward and Dalits as its chief ministers in Bihar.

IMAGE: An all party condolence meeting to pay tribute to the late Karpoori Thakur in Patna, February 29, 1988. From right to left, Hemawati Nandan Bahuguna, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Ram Awadhesh Singh, George Fernandes, then Bihar chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad and Vinayak Prasad Yadav.

Karpoori Thakur's popular politics, on the streets, to mobilise the common people, during the 1960s and the 1970s is a relatively lesser known aspect particularly to today's youth.

Thakur became deputy chief minister on March 5, 1967 and remained in office till January 31, 1968. This 'accomplishment' was preceded by massive initiative and intervention by Thakur. For instance, in 1965, he led a powerful mass movement against the Congress's repressive anti-student regime so much so that the Congress had to take recourse to violent suppression of the popular agitations.

Thakur also protested to ensure job security for Tatas employees in Jamshedpur. He went on a fast unto death for 28 days. The Tata management had to yield and eventually conceded the workers's demands.

Similar dramatic mobilisations of workers, teachers, engineers, journalists, etc were undertaken in 1974. Thakur appealed to the Opposition, intelligentsia, students and youth to declare a jihad against Congress misrule. His pro-people performance as deputy chief minister in 1967 and as chief minister in 1970-1971, helped him connect with the people.

His slogan, 'Poora rashan, poora kaam, nahin to hoga chakka jam' caught the popular imagination. He went to the extent of proposing to arm poor peasants against violent subjugation by the landed elites of upper and intermediate castes.

Compare it with the performance of Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav!

They have hardly been able to launch such popular mass agitational movements against the incumbent regime. For instance, despite Muslims being their tremendous unflinching support-base, they did not hit the streets on the issue of lynching.

According to Jagpal Singh (Economic and Political Weekly, 2015), Karpoori, in the final phase of political career (1980 to 1988), was in search of a popular base among the lower OBCs, Dalits and the poor, struggling after being marginalised by the dominant OBCs.

So much so that he once aired his anguish, saying, 'I would not have faced such humiliation if I were born a Yadav'. During this period, he attempted to mobilise the Hindu community of fishermen (Mallah/Kaivartas/Nishads/Sahnis), listed as Ati Pichhrha (Most Backward). He addressed their rallies on June 19, 1983 and also on February 14, 1988, just three days before his death.

This could possibly be why Tejaswi and Akhilesh may not like to emulate his politics.

Despite massive suffering (of the poor and lower middle classes) owing to demonetisation, (and of the petty bourgeoisie) owing to GST, the messiahs of social justice -- Akhilesh, Tejaswi and also Mayawati -- kept themselves almost confined within the comfort zones.

Without such street politics, they are now trying to join hands together. Such coalitions may help them in forthcoming elections, but that certainly exposes the limits of their leadership.

Such lethargy and deficit in conviction and action will not help the masses as much as they really need in the face of palpable socio-economic inequalities at the moment.

Rural distress and mounting youth unemployment, in the face of aggressive crony capitalism, with their dangerous control on the media, need leadership which could mobilise the suffering segments, removing their fear of State repression/

The toiling masses need to be brought out on the streets with catching slogans. Karpoori Thakur's legacies need to be reclaimed. Only then can a stronger and robust Republic really be made.

Precisely, there lies the significance of remembering Karpoori Thakur!

Mohammad Sajjad -- professor of history at the Centre of Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University -- is the author of Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours and Contesting Colonialism and Separatism: Muslims of Muzaffarpur since 1857.
January 23, 2019 09:22 IST

'No country can ever be free to make its choices and remain independent if it continues to wear borrowed plumes,' warn Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).

IMAGE: Indian Air Force fighters rehearse for the Republic Day 2019 parade. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/PTI Photo

As we celebrate the 68th Republic Day, one thing that remains unchanged: Over 70% of the armed might that will march down Rajpath will consist of foreign imported weaponry.

Historically, Indians have been rather indifferent to technology. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain that a people who could correctly compute the days of eclipses and the visibility of planets on a particular day nearly 1500 years ago had to import swords in the 17th century.

When Babur won his battle in 1526 using guns, it made no dent, and the Indian rulers continued with their weaponry as if nothing much has changed. Technology makes things easier for the user; it enables him to do things which he could not do earlier.

This could not have been lost on the intellectuals who created the Upanishads and the shoonya-vad that are stunning in their majesty.

Is there an explanation for this asymmetric development?

Perhaps, there is. The philosophers concentrated on self-denial and austerities to 'purify' their minds, and unconsciously rejected comforts and convenience that the technologies of those times yielded.

Wars were regarded as battles between Dharma and Adharma with a strong belief that where there is Dharma, there will be victory.

The Indian tendency to view history in terms of yugas comprising thousands of years played a role too. Defeats were seen as a passing phase as they waited for the 'ultimate' victory.

The current trials were seen stoically as result of bad karma. With this philosophical background, very little intellectual effort was directed to understand the changes that fire arms and gun powder brought in.

IMAGE: Akash missiles, which will be seen at the Republic Day 2019 parade. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/PTI Photo

The Indian view of the progressive deterioration in human morality with the passage of time -- from Satya to Kali Yug -- made them regard advances in science and technology with suspicion.

Products of technology were then created by tradesmen with their hands and the varna concept may have created a gulf between the thinker and the doer that was difficult to bridge.

And last of all, the total absence of strategic culture made the intellectual indifferent to wars.

They found it convenient to believe that war could be avoided by trusting the enemy, and making him concessions. The Simla Agreement is testimony to this attitude.

All countries and civilisations have their pacifists. But in the most countries they are on the margins, while in India they are a dominant force and dictate policies and shape perceptions of the entire society. Being prepared to defend oneself and acquiring strength is labeled as 'war mongering'.

The long and short of it is that even today things have not greatly changed: A nation that can put numerous satellites in their designed orbits and plans to send man into space cannot design and manufacture fighters and fighter bombers of its own and has to 'import' technology.

Intellectuals take pride in disassociating themselves from defence research. In the field of social sciences, 'anti-State-ism' is venerated. In extreme forms, it manifests in leading universities as support to anarchists and separatists of all hues.

Unless a timeline is drawn and the defence research and development organisations as well as the users -- that is the armed services -- are made to take a vow that there shall be no import of weapons and weapon platforms thereafter, no decisive change is likely to come about.

If self reliance is a virtue, in this field it is a dire necessity.

Our weaknesses have been compounded by lack of study of our own military history.

In the late 18th and early 19th century as the British battled the Marathas for supremacy, they continued to supply them gunpowder. The board of directors of the East India Company, overseeing the India operations, had raised this question with Warren Hastings.

Hastings's response is instructive. He responded that if the English stopped the supply of gunpowder, the Marathas may try to make their own, so it is better to keep them dependent.

The import of weapons and weapon platforms has invariably proved problematic: Either there is shirking for fear of charges of corruption, or certain unavoidable opacity which can be politically exploited by the Opposition notwithstanding the damage it does to national security.

The first such controversy started with the Jeep scandal of the 1950s. Desisting from imports for the fear of allegations -- justified, or otherwise -- has at times led to inaction. That the inaction has been at the cost of war preparedness is easily forgotten.

Interestingly, there is another model that we need to follow. The Indian Navy opted for indigenisation early enough and the nation has greatly benefited from this.

The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force should draw the right lessons and be prepared to rely on what the nation can produce, if need be by compensating quality with quantity as the Soviets had done in World War II.

Many scientists in India excel in information technology which is likely to play a major part in development of artificial intelligence that in turn is bound to impact emerging cyber warfare.

Here seems to be a field that is crying out for action by Indians within India. There must be other such areas on the horizon, or just below it, which are in need of exploration.

IMAGE: The Indian Army's Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher systems displayed during the Republic Day 2019 parade. Photograph: Rupak de Chowdhuri/Reuters

The object should be for India to develop something that is totally indigenous. That day may be far away, but a beginning has to be made without further waiting.

The close cooperation between the armed forces and the scientific community is meaningful, because the product has to be integrated into the warp and weft of strategy.

Lowest yield nuclear weaponry is soon likely to enter the domain of armed 'dissuasion'. It is time to revisit the Indian 'no first use' stance in this context.

We indeed have a window of opportunity at the present since India and the US (and the West with it) is, for the first time, sympathetic to Indian concerns.

Throughout the Cold War we were at the receiving end of technological denial. With the supply of latest gadgets to our Western neighbour, our R&D had to virtually run a technological race with the US.

That situation has changed and we do see a glimmer of hope that India would not be pulled back. China, that has replaced the West, is no match as far as advanced weaponry is concerned.

Thus, it should be possible to take a relatively relaxed view. We have some breathing space to develop our own weapons and weapon platforms to defend ourselves.

No country can ever be free to make its choices and remain independent if it continues to wear borrowed plumes!
January 23, 2019 23:28 IST

Besides the dairy business, the transaction also involves sale of 100 per cent shareholding in Sunfresh Agro Industries, a step-downsubsidiary of Prabhat, via a share purchase agreement, the company said.

Global dairy major Lactalis will buy Mumbai-based Prabhats milk business in its third acquisition in India.

Prabhat told the stock exchanges on Monday that Lactalis Indian subsidiary Tirumala Milk Products was acquiring its dairy business for Rs 1,700 crore, which is 1.09 times its FY18 sales of Rs 1,554 crore.

The transaction is subject to mandatory approvals. The company did not specify a timeline for completion of the deal, but analysts expect it to be done in the next six months.

At Mondays closing price of Rs 93.05 per share, Prabhats market capitalisation stands at Rs 909 crore. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company was the financial advisor to Prabhat on the deal. Veritas acted as the legal advisor.

Besides the dairy business, the transaction also involves sale of 100 per cent shareholding in Sunfresh Agro Industries, a step-downsubsidiary of Prabhat, via a share purchase agreement, the company said.

Prabhat will now focus on its cattle field and animal genetics business with the sale of its dairy business.

Earlier this month, Prabhat had tied up with Denmark-based DLG Group as part of its plans to foray into the animal nutrition business.

The company had been looking to offload its dairy business for some time now, said experts tracking the market, and was in talks with Tata Global Beverages last year for a possible sale at Rs 400 crore.

That did not come through though.

Raviraj Vahadane, chief financial officer of Prabhat Dairy, said, the acquisition represented a meaningful opportunity for the employees of the company to be associated with one of the global leaders in the dairy products business.

The company intended to share a substantial portion of the proceeds from the sale with shareholders after meeting its tax and transaction cost obligations, he said.

For Lactalis, the acquisition of Prabhats dairy business is its fifth in five years.

In January of 2014, the company had bought South Indias second-largest dairy company Tirumala Milk for Rs 1,750 crore.

It then snapped up the dairy business of Indore-based Anik Industries for Rs 470 crore in March of 2016, indicating that it was ready for more.

Photograph: PTI Photo
Last updated on: January 23, 2019 10:11 IST

'Last time, there was an incumbent and a challenger. This year, the roles have been reversed.'

'The challenger is the incumbent and the ones ruling then are now the challengers.'

'So, the realities have changed and so have the electorate's expectations.'

IMAGE: Prasoon Joshi with Prime Minister Damodardas Modi at the Bharat Ki Baat event in London, April 18, 2018. Photograph: @PIBIndia/Twitter

Ad agency McCann India was adjudged the Agency of the Year at the Effie Awards for the second consecutive year. Some of the biggest agencies in the country -- Ogilvy, J Walter Thompson and DDB Worldwide -- took part.

"Election advertising is a great time to study the consumer's mind, and to understand where the nation is headed," McCann India CEO and Asia-Pacific Chairman Prasoon Joshi tells Viveat Susan Pinto.

The fight between McCann and Ogilvy at the Effie awards was close. At one stage, Ogilvy even overtook McCann on the leader board. What clicked for McCann in the end? I was sure of the work for some of our clients such as Coca-Cola, Nestle, Mastercard and Paytm. We have been winning awards on a regular basis for these clients. I think, this year, we added dimension with some of our newer accounts such as Ikea, where we used technology to communicate the message of a store launch, created an engaging ad campaign et al. We also worked for the tourism and social sectors such as Incredible India, on campaigns on skill development and for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This was again a new dimension we were adding to our body of work. In all, the width of work was greater this year, which helped us bag the Agency of the Year trophy for the second consecutive year.

IMAGE: Prasoon Joshi cleans the streets outside the Sofi Mahal building in Lalbaug, south central Mumbai, as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Photograph: Sahil Salvi

Where do you stand in the effectiveness versus creativity debate in advertising? In the past few years, most agencies have been entering work in the Effies, skipping the Abbies. Your take. I don't get into this debate at all. However, there was a time when the Abbies could strike a balance between popular culture and creative work. It stood for the best in advertising. Today, the Effie Awards are doing that. I don't see a problem with it. The clients are loving it, and so are the agencies. Every era will have awards that will strike a balance between popular culture and good work. We simply have to accept it and move on.

Will this mean that McCann will give Goafest a miss this year, and focus on getting even better at the Effies? We are already focusing on the Effies, which is why we bagged Agency of the Year for two years in a row. We will continue to put our effort in award shows that make a difference. You have to understand that there are a number of award shows around. We have to judiciously enter our work, and see how it adds value to us -- whether local or international ad shows. Let me add here that I have no problem with award shows that are purely indulgent for creative people. But it has to be focused. The award has to clearly define itself and stick to it even if it is indulgent. While the Goafest does start out with good intentions, I think trying to be something for everyone tends to do it in. People are left confused and wondering what the show is all about and, thus, it becomes less coveted in the process.

IMAGE: Prasoon Joshi with Aamir Khan and Ram Sampath. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar

The general elections are around the corner. What are you and your agency doing for the polls this year, given that you were involved with advertising for the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014? We have not been approached by anyone so far. So, I have no update to offer on that front. At a broader level though, election advertising is a great time to study the consumer's mind, and to understand where the nation is headed, and what people expect of it and its leaders. It is a celebration of democracy and I would love to interact with people. It will be a huge learning experience for me.
With a new year comes new accomplishments, and one student at the University of Georgia is setting the bar as the first student from the unive
A ribbon cutting on Wednesday night celebrated a new opportunity for Athens visitors looking to enjoy the Classic City.

Although Homewood Suites by Hilton in Athens opened the day after Thanksgiving, the new hotel hosted its grand opening on the evening of Jan. 23 with food, prizes and room tours.
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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/22/2019



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Larissa Christina Dos Santos Lima has denied her now-estranged husband Colt Johnson 's claim that she downed half a bottle of pills and threatened to kill herself when they got into a bloody brawl earlier this month.When Larissa was arrested in the early morning hours on January 11 following a domestic dispute with Colt in their Las Vegas home, Colt told authorities an enraged Larissa swallowed half a bottle of antidepressants and then locked herself in the bathroom, TMZ reported last week.However, Larissa has refuted Colt's statement that she attempted to take her own life before her arrest that day."Dear followers, friends and family, I would like to clarify that the rumors about drug abuse or suicide attempts are not true," Larissa, 32, wrote Monday on Instagram."I love for my life so much that I would never try to do something like this. These allegations are completely false and I have all my medical records to prove it."The TLC reality star continued, "I am going through a difficult moment in my life and at this moment I would like to ask people to respect and avoid talking about things that are not real. I will make a video to talk about everything on my right time."According to Larissa, she had locked herself in the bathroom to defuse her argument with Colt and then she took a shower.Larissa also alleged to police at the time Colt was taunting her by playing with the lights and touching her inappropriately during her shower, TMZ reported.Colt filed for divorce from Larissa on January 11, just hours after their explosive fight which started when Larissa accused Colt of purchasing pornographic videos. She claimed to have found email receipts for such content.Tension reportedly escalated into violence and neither Colt or Larissa walked away from the brawl unscathed. Larissa apparently had a large gash on her cheek as well as scratches on her torso, while Colt had a cut on the inside of his lip."Colt called the cops on me. I am going to be deported. I just scratched him because he was hurting me. As you see, I am really hurt," Larissa said in an Instagram Story that was subsequently deleted. "But he called the police first."Larissa has since been charged with misdemeanor domestic violence for the incident. She was previously arrested for domestic battery twice before in 2018, but both cases were eventually dropped.Prior to this blowout fight, Larissa had accused Colt of cheating on her and flirting with multiple women on social media.Colt eventually owned up to his mistakes and claimed he was going to try to be a better man and fight for his marriage, but his efforts clearly didn't last long.Colt and Larissa got married in June 2018 and both starred on Season 6 of .
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/22/2019



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Steven Frend and Olga Koshimbetova have reunited in Russia!One month after Olga's K-1 visa application was approved by the United States, which will allow her to travel to America, Steven has returned to Russia to see his fiancee and their son, Richie, in her native country.On Tuesday, Olga, 20, announced Steven, 20, had arrived in Russia and she surprised him at the airport to make for an even sweeter reunion."So I told Steven that I can't meet him because I have to go to the doctor but [right now] he has no idea that I'm waiting [for] him at the airport," Olga wrote in an Instagram Story.Ever since Steven touched down in Russia, he has been sharing Instagram Stories of his precious time with Olga and their baby boy.In one video, Richie could be seen gazing into the camera with a confused look on his face."He's thinking, 'I've only seen you on a phone screen. This is different,'" Steven wrote on social media.But after posting a couple of videos in which Richie could be seen smiling, laughing and jumping, Steven wrote, "He's cool with me now."On Sunday, Steven took to Instagram and revealed to fans he was leaving Maryland and flying out of the country."For all asking, I am going to russia to be there with her during her interview. I have all of the correct paperwork they need for the interview. Then we come back to USA together!" Steven wrote Sunday night on Instagram. "Bye bye USA."Steven also shared a photo from inside his airplane before takeoff at the time.The couple had learned Olga's K-1 visa was approved on December 24.Steven met Olga while she was visiting America for the summer, and after only a month-and-a-half of dating, the couple discovered Olga was pregnant. Steven said learning he was going to be a father was "a holy sh-t moment."Olga returned to Russia about a week after learning she was pregnant, but Steven proposed they get married and have her return to America on a K-1 visa.Steven told Olga he had applied for her K-1 visa shortly after her return to Russia but the visa application had been delayed, leaving her stuck overseas for the birth of their son, Richie Aleksandr Frend, on April 19.However, viewers saw Steven eventually admit to Olga on the show's December 23 episode he had been lying and didn't apply for the visa until after traveling to Russia to be with Olga for Richie's birth.Once Steven admitted the truth to Olga on Season 6 of the TLC reality series, she appeared to take the news surprisingly well and quickly forgive him.
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In this latest report on Silicone Rubber Waterproof Coating Market the market size is expected to scale up to USD BN by the end of financial year 2025. This report valued the market at USD BN in 2018. After evaluating the various market drivers and market restraints the report expects a % of CAGR across the study period. The report takes a deep dig in the market with detailed analysis on the Revenue, Production, and Capacity from 2013 to 2025.

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I have known Brian Frosh for many years, long before he became Marylands attorney general. He is smart, kind and humble, and even though we do not share every political opinion or belong to the same political party, I have financially supported several of his campaigns. I now fear that, due to his role in Marylands gerrymandering case to be heard by the Supreme Court, my friend Brian may go down in the history books as a villain.

Americans are deeply frustrated and disenfranchised by our current political system. According to a recent Pew Poll, six out of 10 Americans believe that we need sweeping changes in our government, while American faith in our government remains at historical lows. Gerrymandering, the pervasive practice of drawing congressional districts for political purposes, owns a great deal of responsibility for the dysfunction of our government and the loss of trust among Americans in their government.

In Maryland, for example, congressional districts have been drawn to blatantly benefit the Democratic Party, and have resulted in much more extreme representation. If our states eight House seats were divided proportionally  that is to say, if they represented the entire spectrum of Maryland voters -- our congressional delegation would consist of: one far-left Democrat, four moderate Democrats, one independent, two moderate Republicans, and one far-right Republican. Instead, after the districts were redrawn under Democratic Gov. Martin OMalley, who admitted doing so to most effectively elect party members, the state is represented by six far-left Democrats, one moderate Democrat, and one far-right Republican. In other words, instead of the five seats they should hold, Democrats control seven. Worse yet, instead of six moderates and two extremists, we have one moderate and seven extremists. Similar dynamics exist in most states, with predictable results: poisonous partisanship on Capitol Hill.

How does this happen? It starts with Congressional District 1, which was drawn by Democrats to put as many Republican voters as possible into one jurisdiction, resulting in the election of Andy Harris, an arch-conservative member of the Freedom Caucus. Six of the other seven districts were drawn to be safely Democrat, which means that the most liberal Democrat usually wins the primary and coasts through the general election. The only somewhat contested district is the 6th.

Today, the fight to end gerrymandering is moving to the forefront of the national debate about how to save our democracy. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would take up cases on the gerrymandered congressional districts in Maryland as well as in North Carolina, which together may lead to consequential decisions on the constitutionality of gerrymandering. In Maryland, Brian Frosh is appealing the verdict of federal judges who determined that the current congressional map was improperly drawn by the Democrats in 2010 with the intent to break up a Republican-leaning seat.

While the state attorney fights to maintain the status quo, 71 percent of Americans want to end gerrymandering. Organizations such as FairVote and Represent.Us have built enthusiastic networks of political reformers eager to change the system for the better. Apparently, because Frosh feels that Republicans are guilty of skewing elections in places like Texas and Wisconsin, he believes he must do the same in Maryland to serve his partys interests. While he is correct that Republicans do the same thing elsewhere, he should choose to fight gerrymandering nationally rather than to preserve partisan advantage in Maryland.

With the Supreme Court preparing to hear arguments, Frosh should instead propose standards for how elected officials in charge of redrawing congressional districts must perform their duties. The court should strike down redistricting done for partisan advantage, including upholding the ruling in Maryland, and should suggest independent commissions or computer algorithms to draw districts. If the Supreme Court chooses not to set such a standard, Congress should use the legislative process to reform our elections. Under the Constitutions Elections Clause, Congress has the authority to set rules on redistricting, such as the CLEAN Act in 2017, which required states use of an independent, nonpartisan commission when redrawing districts. Whether by a court ruling or by legislative action, the elimination of gerrymandering would be a victory for our nation -- not for any one political party -- and would have a profound impact in the fight to fix our democracy.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade promises to continue the large economic benefits of the earlier North American Free Trade Agreement, but one threat to those benefits has emerged in the form of mandated production cuts in the Alberta oil sector. For U.S. firms operating in Alberta, this policy in effect can confiscate the value of their prior investments, an outcome both self-defeating and inconsistent with the overall objectives of USMCA.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced on December 2 that the provincial government would enforce a reduction of 325,000 barrels per day (b/d) in Alberta oil production, or about 8.7 percent. This decision was driven by a severe constraint in pipeline and rail capacity for export of Alberta oil either to the U.S. or to export facilities in eastern or western Canada, a bottleneck resulting to a significant degree from political opposition to Alberta oil production, driven in particular by the politics of climate policy.

The effect of this transport problem was a sharp reduction in the price of Alberta crude (western Canada select) relative to the price of U.S. crude oil (west Texas intermediate) on the U.S. Gulf coast. That WCS/WTI differential---$52 per barrel last October---now is about $10 per barrel in the wake of the announcement and the actual production cuts implemented January 1. The price of WCS increased from $11.56 per barrel on November 27 to $34.25 on December 4 to $43.36 on January 17.

Sounds like a successful policy? Not so fast: This production cut is an obvious cartelization of the Alberta oil production market, and the unintended consequences---there always are unintended consequences attendant upon government meddling in markets---now are just beginning to merge. The 325,000 b/d cut ostensibly will be in place only until the excess crude in storage is drawn down. The cuts will then drop to 95,000 bpd until Dec. 31, 2019. Seriously? Unless overall market conditions change significantly---there is no evidence for any such shifts observable in current price movements---it is not quite clear how the Alberta crude oil market over the next year will avoid a return to the conditions that led to Notleys decision. It is no answer to say that supplies in storage will have been drawn down, because a return to the previous production/export balance obviously will create the same excess amounts in storage over time.

Bear in mind that because crude oil can be stored, current prices reflect market expectations of future prices. The fact that the price of WCS has increased and the WCS/WTI differential has declined so sharply over the past month suggests a market expectation that the production cut is not temporary; if WCS production were expected to return to the previous levels, with little effect on the production of WTI and other competitive crudes, then the WCS price would decline now in anticipation of that future production increase. Or do Notley and her advisers believe that market prices do not reflect expectations about the future?

This obvious reality is reinforced by a small detail that seems to have escaped notice in much of the reporting: The production cut is expected to increase Alberta royalty revenues by CA1.1 billion ($824 million) in the fiscal year beginning April of this year. Will those additional revenues not be spent? Will the beneficiaries of that spending not demand that it continue? Will new supplicants demanding a share of the revenues not emerge? The higher prices benefiting some subset of the industry and the new revenues yielding political benefits from this cartelization policy will work to engender an endless series of temporary delays in the promised winddown of the production cuts, a display of the rent-seeking that is an eternal effect of government meddling in market outcomes. Notley and Albertans generally are going to discover that such government interference is far easier to implement than to exit.

Notley has proposed that the province purchase 7000 rail cars to move Alberta crude to refinery markets. Transport of oil by pipeline is substantially safer and lower-risk in terms of spills than transport by rail (or truck). An examination of the data shows that for crude oil and petroleum products in the U.S., rail transport results in 2.1 incidents (accidents, spills, etc.) per ton/mile, while the figure for pipeline transport is 0.6, a difference factor of about 3.5. The Canadian experience is similar: Pipeline transport of petroleum has been 2.5 times less likely than rail transport to result in an incident resulting in a spill. The upshot of these realities is straightforward: Notley would serve the interests of Alberta far better were she to use her influence and political capital to overcome the political opposition in neighboring provinces and in Ottawa to construction of the pipeline capacity needed to move increasing quantities of Alberta crude oil to market. A mandated reduction in Alberta production is inconsistent with that goal, as politicians outside the province will ask why they should address the problem when Alberta has solved it unilaterally.

There also are the adverse investment effects of the production cuts, whether permanent or temporary. If permanent, then it is difficult to see how investment in new production capacity can be made consistent with the cartelization objective, unless the demand for Alberta crude oil is expected by government officials to increase over time; and even in that case, the allocation of production quotas necessarily will be politicized, an outcome not conducive to increased private-sector investment unless two-way promises between oil producers and politicians are made in advance. That is a process fraught with the potential for corruption. And how would such promises be enforced? Once an investment has been made, policymakers have powerful incentives to renege so as to allocate some of the promised production quotas to others, a reality that anyone can foresee, so that the overall depressing effect on investment is obvious.

If the production cuts are advertised as temporary---as discussed above, this will prove self-defeating---then the adverse investment effects of the policy are just as obvious for the opposite reason: Prices assumed to be higher only temporarily will not elicit more investment. The general problem with the Notley production cuts is that such meddling in market processes cannot be made consistent with the economic efficiency ordinarily driven by market prices reflecting known uncertainties, which then are exacerbated by additional political risks.

Notleys gambit brings to mind the Brownsville U-Turn, a supremely amusing political response to one of the many distortions engendered by the 1959-1973 U.S. oil import quota program. This was a limit on U.S. oil imports justified rhetorically on the basis of a deeply-dubious national security rationale. Unsurprisingly, this political meddling with market forces created myriad problems, one resulting from the difficulty of defending the proposition that oil imported from Canada was insecure. Accordingly, a highly-complex overland exemption for Canadian oil was implemented, an outcome that made officials in Mexico, and their allies in the State Department, rather unhappy; they too wanted an allocation of rights to export oil to the U.S. because the quota program increased U.S. prices above world market prices. The solution was the Brownsville U-Turn, an arrangement under which Mexican oil was shipped by ocean tanker to Brownsville, Texas, then pumped into trucks that drove across the Rio Grande into Mexico, made a U-turn, and returned into the U.S., thus qualifying the Mexican oil for the overland exemption.

Albertans can expect similar absurdities as the distortions from the Notley policy grow, an outcome inconsistent with the larger goals of U.S.-Canada trade policy. A far-wiser course would be a renewed effort to reform Canadian pipeline regulatory policies; the Alberta cartelization scheme is a poor substitute.
The ascension of Xi Jinping to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has often been posited as a turning point for China's policy in the South and East China Sea maritime disputes. As early as 2013, You Ji of the University of New South Wales assessed that Xi had been instrumental in changing China's passivity into an assertive strategy to defend China's claims. More recently Xue Gong of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore has argued that China has become more assertive in the South China Sea since Xi became General Secretary of the CCP in 2012. Xi himself seemed to encourage such a reading when he cited South China Sea island construction in his 2017 Party Congress work report declaring China had reached a new era marked by the transition under his leadership from growing prosperous to getting strong.
EUROPE: Political support for Rail Baltica and public awareness have increased significantly in the past year as government and EU agreements have been reached, Acting CEO Ignas Deaks said at tri-national project promoter RB Rails annual press conference in Tallinn on January 23.
More than 700 indie booksellers gathered in Albuquerque, N.M. yesterday for Winter Institute 14, though, par for the course for this annual gathering, weather and other travel issues made it difficult for a few booksellers to get to the annual conference sponsored by the American Booksellers Association.

While several booksellers PW spoke to expressed ambivalence that Winter Institute continues to grow beyond the cap of 500 booksellers initially set in 14 years ago at WI1 in Long Beach, Calif., all the booksellers PW spoke to agreed that it is well worth the time and expense, due to the energy created by the mix of veteran and young booksellers. Of this years 700+ attendees, 200 are first-timers, including Megan Wells, who opened The Willow Bookstore in Perham, Minn. in November, and was being escorted at the opening night reception Tuesday evening that filled two ballrooms at the Hyatt Regency by her mentor, Jeannie Costello, a longtime bookseller at Marias Bookshop in Durango, Colo.

It never gets less exciting and it never gets less intimidating, said Emily Hall, the owner of Main Street Books in St. Charles, Mo., who has been attending Winter Institute since 2015, after buying the bookstore from Vicki Erwin five years ago this week. [Erwin] told me it was the most important industry event for me to go to.

But, two Pennsylvania booksellers expressed concerns that younger booksellers might be dazzled by the big names major houses can bring to Winter Institute, and may overlook the small presses and the authors they are promoting. I dont want the small presses to be pushed out, one bookseller said.

While two busloads of about 90 booksellers spent Tuesday touring Santa Fe, many others attended educational seminars at the Albuquerque Convention Center, including sessions on best practices in store management.

Meanwhile, the Independent Publishers Caucus convened for almost three hours, with about 65 independent and small presses strategizing on how best to build up their presence in the marketplace. Michael Reynolds of Europa Editions informed the publishers that IPC is hammering out the final details with the ABA on a backlist marketing initiative modeled on Indies Next. Publishers will be asked to nominate backlist titles, which will then be submitted to indie booksellers for selection. Selected backlist will be marketed along with Indies Next picks.

Dont pick the titles you love the most, Reynolds urged the publishers, Pick the titles that have the most potential, the ones that are still selling well online.

The Caucus also featured two panel sessions: the first featured Daniel Slager, the CEO of Milkweed Editions in Minneapolis, IPC executive director Ben LeRoy, and Johnny Lee Byrd of Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of publishing outside of New York City. While all three agreed that trips to New York were necessary, they insisted that lower overhead and fewer daily distractions made up for the travel expenses.

New York City is the most provincial large town, Byrd said, noting that his trips to New York City to meet with national media and the trades always included educating them on the press ongoing commitment to maintaining its headquarters in Texas, where it specializes in multicultural books.

New York City-centric publishers run the risk of a cultural blindness, LeRoy said, explaining that if New York City-based publishers dont make the effort to understand the rest of the country, they run the risk of having a skewed perspective, similar to the national medias myopic perspective during the 2016 campaign season that resulted in their being blindsided by Trumps victory.

The second panel featured Grove Atlantic publisher Morgan Entrekin, Two Dollar Radio publisher Eric Obenauf, and Akashic editorial director Ibrahim Ahmad, discussing best practices as a small press.

The playing field today is much more level, Ahmad said, We have every opportunity to publish successfully. While small presses should not be afraid to go head to head with the Big Five, Entrekin said, they should think of publishing like a poker game. Dont get too over-confident or aggressive when you are holding a good hand, he said, Publishing, like poker, has its ups and downs. Youre doing some good publishing, and you will have some luck. The three publishers also emphasized that diversifying revenue streams is essential, so that a press is not relying on frontlist, but on a sustaining backlist and subsidiary rights as well.

Its just very cool that we can have a three-hour conversation about indie publishing and not mention by name [Amazon] or the names of the Big Five, Dan Simon of Seven Stories Press noted as the caucus wound down. Thats a sign of good health. It means our energies are focused in a very positive way."
Christian Product Expo (CPE)s winter show, taking place at the Kalahari Resort in the Poconos Mountains, Penn. from Jan. 27-29, is expected to attract close to 300 attendeeshalf of which are Christian retailers from around the country, according to its president Bob Munce. The event is the first since Munce launched the new Christian Retailers Association (CRA), which has become a popular option for booksellers due to changes at the Association for Christian Retail (known as CBA).

Donna Baker, owner of Dightman's Bible Book Center in Tacoma, Wash., is attending CPE for the training and networking that happens between store owners, she told PW. "We learn so much from each others stories and ideas. It is a great place to see and understand what is going on in this fast-changing industry."

"Its an excellent time of worship, connecting with other retailers, [and] meeting with vendors," said Lorraine Valk, owner of Parable Christian Store in St. Joseph, Mich. "Its important to stay on top of whats happening in the industry, the new items being offered, to partake of show-only specials, and to be inspired."

Jack Savage, owner of Jack's Church Supply in Salisbury, Md. and past president of the board of CBA, said CPE is the only show left for Christian retailers. "The Munce Group [which hosts CPE] is like what the CBA used to bea family," he said.

In addition to significant staff changes at the CBA, the organization has failed to pay a promised reimbursement to attendees of its 2018 trade show, UNITE, which took place last July. Several retailers spurned by CBA are joining the Christian Retail Association, and further, plan on being at CPE as well as its fall show, CPE International (CPEI), which is taking place in Murfreesboro, Tenn. from August 25-27 this year. Both events offer full reimbursements to qualifying attendees.

We keep adding stores, said Munce. We will be giving our usual reimbursement for expenses.

CPE and CPEI may potentially entice more attendees than CBAs UNITE, which, according to the organization's website, is taking place at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn., from June 25-28 this year. According to the sales and events staff at the resort, however, nothing by that name is scheduled as of yet. No additional details were available, and the CBA did not respond to PW's request for a comment.
Nonfiction

Feb. 1

Suffering is Never For Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot (B&H, $19.99, ISBN 978-1535914154) features never before published teachings from the wife of a slain Christian missionary Elisabeth Elliot, who detailed her experiences in the book Through the Gates of Splendor.

Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot by Valerie Shepard (B&H, $19.99, ISBN 978-1433651564). Shepard, who is the daughter of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, collects love letters leading up to Jim's 1956 murder in Ecuador. The book is timed with the release of Suffering is Never for Nothing (listed above).

Feb. 5

I Think Youre Wrong (But Im Listening) by Sarah Stewart Holland (Thomas Nelson, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-4002-0841-8) features a conversation between two working mothers on opposite ends of the political spectrum who strive to set an example for how others can have calm political conversations.

The Fool and the Heretic by Todd Charles Wood and Darrel R. Falk (Zondervan, $16.99 paper, ISBN 978-0-3105-9543-4). Two scientists with opposing views about creation and evolution explore their stances and how they were able to form a relationship.

The Truth About Men by Devon Franklin (Howard Books, $26; ISBN 978-1-982101-27-5). Hollywood producer Franklin explores damaging beliefs and behaviors of men and how to change them. 75,000-copy announced initial printing.

Feb. 12

Outlandish by Derek Penwell (Chalice, $19.99 paper, ISBN 978-0-8272-3166-5) calls on Christians to follow Jesus radical lead and become more active in areas such as immigration policies, LGBTQ issues, and more.

Future Sacred: The Connected Creativity of Nature by Julie J. Morley (Park Street, $19.99 paper, 9781620557686). Rejecting the survival of the fittest theory, Morley argues for the importance of achieving synergy with nature and with each other, according to the publisher.

Feb. 19

Here, Now, With You: Six Movements of Compassion for Life and Leadership by Gregg Louis Taylor (Abingdon, $17.99 paper, 978-1-5018-6817-7) introduces ways to bring compassion to ones daily life that can result in more meaningful connections.

How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answersand Why Thats Great News by Peter Enns (HarperOne, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-0626-8674-9) argues that the Bible is an instrument for study and not a how-to manual with easy answers.

The Common Rule by Justin Earley (IVP, $18 paper, ISBN 978-0-8308-4560-6) examines how personal habits and routines, including the use of technology, can impact ones beliefs, and what readers can do to discover new hope and purpose, according to the publisher.

Feb. 21

In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy by Frederic Martel (Bloomsbury Continuum, $30, ISBN 978-1-4729-6614-8) features research on the Roman Catholic Church including issues surrounding the celibacy of priests, cases of sexual abuse, and more.

Feb. 26

Keep Showing Up by Karen Ehman (Zondervan, $17.99 paper; ISBN 978-0-310-34764-4) features advice for a healthy marriage that stems from an acceptance of differences.

Thrive in Retirement: Simple Secrets for Being Happy for the Rest of Your Life by Eric Thurman (WaterBrook, $15.99 paper, 978-0-7352-9182-9) lays out ways to maintain a quality life as the average life expectancy increases.

Fiction

Feb. 1

The Forgiving Jar by Wanda E. Brunstetter (Shiloh Run, $15.99 paper, ISBN 978-1-6241-6748-5). After learning someone has been impersonating her, Sara Murray must learn to move forward and trust others again.

Feb. 5

Mending Fences by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Revell, $15.99 paper, ISBN 978-0-8007-2751-2) follows one mans attempt at making amends for wrongdoing, both past and present.

The Seamstress by Allison Pittman (Tyndale, $14.99 paper, ISBN 978-1-4143-9046-8) features cameo characters from A Tale of Two Cities who take on different roles in the French Revolution.

Feb. 26

The Secrets of Paper and Ink by Lindsay Harrel (Thomas Nelson,$15.99 paper, ISBN 978-0-7180-7572-9). A bookstore in England brings three women together to reveal lessons on love.
Iron Stream Media (ISM), which produces curriculum, discipleship materials, and other content for ministries and missionaries, is adding three new imprints to its publishing efforts. In addition to its flagship imprint, New Hope Publishers, the Birmingham, Ala.-based company will house Ascender Books, Iron Stream Books, and New Hope Kidz, each geared toward the Christian marketplace.

Ramona Richards, associate publisher, will oversee all lines with critical input from the entire team, especially our CEO, Dr. John Herring, she said.

We want to continue to serve our current customers and brands, but its now time to expand into areas that we see need reliable and foundational resources, Richards said.

Ascender Books will feature books on spiritual growth, spiritual warfare, and in-depth studies of Scripture. The first book under the new line, The Heart of the Caregiver by Mary Tutterow, will release on June 3.

Iron Stream Books (ISB) will center on leadership, spiritual growth, business, millennials, and specialty markets. Its inaugural title, The Restored Man by Randy Hemphill, was published on January 14.

New Hope Kidz will publish picture and board books for preschool and early readers. Storybooks and Bibles for boys and girls will be added in 2020. The inaugural title for New Hope Kidz, Rivers Overseas by Sarah Nunnally, will be out August 12.

The New Hope Publishers imprint, which launched in 2017 after Iron Stream acquired the publishing arm of the Woman's Missionary Union (an offshoot of the Southern Baptist Convention), focuses on Christian trade nonfiction and fiction aimed at conservative-to-mainstream audiences. Output across all imprints will total 40-45 titles a year, according to Richards, who noted that half would come from New Hope. All four imprints will feature expanded studies and online resources available through ISMs Life Bible Study and Student Life Bible Study curriculum brands.

No staff changes are planned at this time, and Baker & Taylor will continue to handle distribution.
Denpa Books is a newly launched independent manga publisher based in Portland Ore.

The new house was cofounded by Ed Chavez, former long-time marketing director at Kodanshas Vertical Comics imprint, and Jacob Grady, founder and CEO of Fakku, a fast-growing publisher of adult (aka hentai or sexually explicit) manga, also based in Portland.

While Denpa and Fakku share some staff, the two publishing companies are separate entities, with distinctly different approaches to their publishing line-up. Denpa will offer a broad range of manga, Chavez explained, but will focus on an edgy, eclectic array of stories aimed at grown-up readers. The house debuted its first list at AnimeNYC in November 2018, launching with four titles.

In Japanese, Denpa has a literal meaning (electromagnetic waves), and a colloquial meaning (delusional, disconnected, or prone to wild fantasy) and the publishing house's name is a combination of those meanings. The notion of waves stuck with me given how we are in an increasingly digital age. It's also a crazy idea, so I thought the name described the project well in a humorous way, Chavez said.

Denpas initial line-up of titles includes gritty fare like Gambling Apocalypse KAIJI by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, the story of a group of down-on-their-luck men pitting their wits and guts against mobsters in high-stakes gambling challenges. Also released late last year was An Invitation from a Crab by panpanya, an anthology of experimental manga short stories; and Inside Mari by Shuzo Oshimi (creator of The Flowers of Evil), the story of an extremely introverted college student who switches bodies with a pretty, popular co-ed.

Denpa announced three new titles during AnimeNYC in November, including quirky horror master Shintaro Kagos Super-Dimensional Love Gun, Pleasure and Corruption, a dark teen romance with BDSM undertones, and Heavenly Delusion, a sci-fi manga series by Masakazu Ishiguro. Theyre also exploring licensing yaoi/boys love and yuri/girls love manga genres, and josei manga titles, which are aimed at older women readers, as well as acquiring doujinshi or self-published manga.

Currently Denpa Books distributes its books into the market via direct sales to online retailers such as Amazon, and Right Stuf; independent bookstores as well as to select comic shops and other physical bookstores.

We're in early talks with full-service distributors in the U.S. and U.K. right now, said Chavez. Most of our sales are handled in-house as we are setting up accounts with retailers in North America.

U.S. manga sales have been on the rise for several years. And a new generation of North American manga readers, Chavez explained, are more receptive to content beyond the usual teen-focused categories. Manga is much more than just ninjas and fantasy titles, said Chavez.

Many North American manga publishers have direct relationships to, or investment from, Japanese manga publishers. But Chavez and Grady are aiming to keep Denpa independent and open to licensing titles from various publishers. To date, theyve picked up titles from such Japanese manga publishers as Kodansha, Kadokawa, Square Enix, Futabasha, Hakusensha and Wanimagazine.

Chavez said the titles on the Denpa list are not what is commonly seen on American manga bookshelves. And Grady added: the manga industry in the United States has been stagnating for years. There has been little innovation in terms of what content has been licensed and how it is being delivered to consumers. Starting an independent company that expands the market for manga outside of Japan has been a goal of mine for many years.
Kali is a leader who strives to create a collaborative culture and mindset. He is well known for driving innovation and organizational excellence in healthcare.

Greenway Health, a leading health information technology and services provider, today announced Kali Durgampudi has been named chief technology and innovation officer. Durgampudi will advance Greenways products and services to continue to help its customers turn data and insights into action through next-generation technologies.

An experienced industry leader, Durgampudi will work within an agile culture at Greenway where teams work collaboratively to provide customers with innovative solutions that help them navigate value-based care, maintain a thriving, profitable practice, and deliver exceptional care to patients.

The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and our customers are looking to us for guidance on what technologies they need to implement and integrate. To meet this demand, Greenway must be forward thinking, nimble and continue to deliver solutions and services that meet these needs and more, said Richard Atkin, CEO of Greenway Health. Kali is a leader who strives to create a collaborative culture and mindset. He is well known for driving innovation and organizational excellence in healthcare. His insights and expertise in the marketplace will help us consistently innovate and push the limits of whats possible.

Durgampudi joins Greenway with a wealth of diverse technology experience delivering highly complex, enterprise-class products and solutions. In previous roles, he led the development of state-of-the-art technologies, including health information management, electronic medical records, artificial intelligence (AI) and more. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of research and development with Nuance, a conversational and cognitive AI technology company. Prior to that role, he was vice president of product development at Eclipsys before its merger with Allscripts.

I am excited to join the Greenway team, a market leader for nearly 40 years, and I look forward to our work pioneering the future of healthcare, Durgampudi said. Our focus at the company is to deliver innovative and high-quality solutions on time, every time.

Durgampudi currently serves as an International Advisory Board member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). Recently, he received the CHIME Foundations prestigious Industry Leader Award for 2018. Winners of the award have more than 20 years of positive, long-lasting influence within the healthcare IT industry and have supporting evidence of the positive impact of their work.

Durgampudi has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Automobile Engineering from Gulbarga University in India, and a Master of Science degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Central Oklahoma. He also holds a masters certificate in Project Management from George Washington University.

For more information about Greenway, its leadership team, and leading-edge solutions, please visit http://www.greenwayhealth.com/leadership.

About Greenway Health

Improving health is at the heart of Greenway Healths work. We connect providers to the right information and insights, at the right place and time, so they can make patient-driven care a reality while navigating the ever-changing healthcare system. Greenway delivers exceptional service through a deep team of clinical, financial and technology experts committed to innovations that keep people healthier and happier. We partner with over 8,000 organizations and 75,000 progressive providers across more than 40 specialties, which translates into more than 100 million lives that are touched by our solutions. All of Greenway Healths solutions and services are designed to meet our company-wide goals of serving physicians, connecting the industry, and empowering better care. Whether as a customer, strategic partner or staff member, we invite you to partner with us to create a smarter healthcare system. For more details, visit http://www.greenwayhealth.com, call (866) 242-3805 or follow Greenway on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Considering the Federal Government spent more money in contracts here than in any other state, opening an office in the Richmond area was a key part of our growth plan.

Winvale, a leading advisor to government contractors, is excited to announce a recent expansion into Richmond, Virginia. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. since 2003, Winvale helps companies navigate the federal market and secure GSA Schedule contracts. Opening their new Richmond office is a strategic move to attract more Central Virginia clients who are interested in selling to the Federal Government. The potential of Central and Eastern Virginia currently includes more than 10,000 registered federal contractors, with strategic government buyers including the world's largest naval station in Norfolk. The Federal Government spent $58 billion dollars on contracts and Indefinite Delivery Vehicles in the state of Virginia in Fiscal Year 2018. Virginia received the most dollars of any state in the past year.

Winvale opened their 4,000 square foot office in Henrico County off Cox Road in Innsbrook, which is a growing area in Richmonds West End and close to other professional services firms. 2018 was another year of growth for Winvale, who also brought 10 new jobs to the Richmond area. Winvale anticipates additional growth in 2019 as they continue to expand their market presence and engage with more central Virginia clients.

Considering the Federal Government spent more money in contracts here than in any other state, opening an office in the Richmond area was a key part of our growth plan, said Brian Dunn, Winvales Chief Executive Officer. The opportunities for Federal contracting in central and eastern Virginia are enormous, and we are excited to bring our Washington, DC consulting experience to businesses here.

We welcome Winvale to Henrico County, says Thomas M. Branin, Supervisor for the Three Chopt District. The Innsbrook Corporate Center offers an attractive setting where professional services companies are proud to welcome clients and their employees enjoy abundant amenities. We wish Winvale much success in serving businesses in Henrico County and the Richmond regional market.

About Winvale

Winvale is a government contracts consultancy and leading advisor on the GSA Schedule program. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. since 2003, Winvale provides expertise to companies throughout the U.S. seeking to conduct business with Federal, State and local governments. Winvale also offers channel-friendly reseller services designed to help companies reach government buyers quickly by allowing them to place their products and services on its existing contract vehicles. Winvales client portfolio includes many small emerging firms as well as Fortune 500 and international companies. For more information, visit http://www.winvale.com.
Winter Fancy Food Show 2019 "2019 will be crucial for the Italian system in the United States. According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce referred to the first 10 months of 2018, the Italian exports of food and beverage resulted in a total of 4,274 billion dollars, gaining 9,5% over the previous year."

Vinitaly Internationals first mission for its 2019 tour took some of the best Italian wines to San Francisco, California, where the 44th edition of the Winter Fancy Food Show was in full swing from January 13th to 15th at the Moscone Center. For the third year in a row, Veronafiere and Vinitaly International spread the gospel of Italian wine culture through numerous wine tastings which were held in the Italian pavilion and were organized in cooperation with ICE - Italian Trade Agency (ITA) and its New York office.

Organized by the Specialty Food Association, the Winter Fancy Food Show is the largest trade show devoted to food and beverage on the West Coast, where the most influential decision-makers in the retail, foodservice, e-commerce, and hospitality sectors gather annually to do business. The 2019 edition of this large-scale convention featured an exhibition space of more than 200,000 square feet, 1,400 exhibitors from around the globe, 80,000 specialty foods and beverages, and the industrys top networking events. Due to its interactive character, the Winter Fancy Food Show offered unique opportunities to experience the latest trends in food and beverage through numerous educational seminars, tastings, and cooking demos. According to the first estimates, more than 25.000 food and beverage professionals attended the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco this year. This high turnout provided the Vinitaly Internationals Italian wine bar and the wines it featured great visibility on each day of the event.

Maurizio Forte explained that "2019 will be crucial for the Italian system in the United States. According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce referred to the first 10 months of 2018, the Italian exports of food and beverage resulted in a total of 4,274 billion dollars, gaining 9,5% over the previous year." Now more than ever, Vinitaly International is committed to elevating the image of Italian wine with the U.S.A., the most important wine market for Italian wine.

The show opened on Sunday January 13th in the morning, when the Ambassador of Italy to the United States Armando Varricchio performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony. President of the Specialty Food Association Phil Kafarakis, Italian Consul General in San Francisco Lorenzo Ortona, and Italian Trade Commissioner Executive Director for the U.S.A Maurizio Forte were also present. Set up by ICE  Italian Trade Agency in New York in cooperation with Universal Marketing, the Italian pavilion held more than 50 exhibitors and featured three of the most important Italian trade shows in the field of food and beverage: TuttoFood in Milan, Cibus in Parma, and Veronafieres Vinitaly inVerona.

For three days Vinitaly International presented wines from various regions of Italy, from North to South, with a different wine list being showcased each day. Prosecco DOC offered by the Consorzio di Tutela del Prosecco DOC was the protagonist of the first day due to its huge popularity in the U.S.. The wine selection included La Marca Prosecco DOC extra dry, Mionetto Prestige Prosecco DOC Treviso brut, Valdo Prosecco DOC brut, and Villa Sandi Il Fresco Prosecco DOC Treviso brut.

On the second day, Vinitaly International celebrated central Italy. The Consorzio Tutela Morellino di Scansano DOCG and the Consorzio Tutela Vini Maremma Toscana provided a fine selection of Tuscan red wines. The wine list included seven Morellino di Scansano DOCG labels and one red Maremma Toscana DOC. This last one was the La Chimera DAlbegna Caletra 2012 vintage. Visitors of the Winter Fancy Food Show had the opportunity to taste Morellino di Scansano DOCG from the 2016 and 2015 vintages: Tenuta Pietramora Brumaio, Germile, Morisfarms, and Pietramora for 2016; Doga delle Clavule and Conte Guicciardini Massi di Mandorlaia for 2015. A Morisfarms Morellino di Scansano Riserva DOCG 2011 was also poured.

The third and last day was devoted to southern Italy in partnership with Lyra Fine Wine Importers. Four different labels and wineries from the Campania, Abruzzo, and Sicily regions were presented. Three white winesFattoria La Rivolta Fiano Sannio DOC 2016, Benanti Etna Bianco DOC 2016, and Ciavolich Donna Ernestina Passerina IGT 2017opened the wine list, followed by a rose, Paolo Cali Osai Frappato Rosato IGT 2016.

Vinitaly International will be back to California from February 18th to 22nd, to stage the VIA Italian Wine Ambassador certification course in Los Angeles. Funded by ICE  Italian Trade Agency, this tasting-intensive course provides in-depth knowledge of Italian wine, along with a lot of background information, historical references, and food culture. The certification enables candidates to further their careers in the wine sector and connects them with peers all over the world, to spread, in turn, knowledge of Italian wines in their respective markets. Enrollment for the Los Angeles edition of the VIA Ambassador course is still open. Sector professionals and experienced wine lovers are welcome to submit their candidacy for this rewarding course. For further information, visit the Vinitaly International Academy website or email via(at)vinitalyinternational.com.

About: The grand Vinitaly 2019 will be held from April 7th to the 10th. Every year, Vinitaly counts more than 4,000 exhibitors on a 100,000+ square meter area and 130,000 visitors from over 140 different countries with more than 30,000 top international buyers. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, which will be held on the 6th of April, one day prior to Vinitaly will unite international wine professionals in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 100 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly International travels to several countries such as Russia, China, USA and Hong Kong thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA this year launched the seventh edition of its Certification Course and today counts 157 Italian Wine Ambassadors and 13 Italian Wine Experts.
Village Podiatry Centers announces they will be moving to a new convenient location. Foot and ankle physicians Maria Pacheco, DPM and Shelley Brand, DPM, are the primary podiatric care providers at Village Podiatry Center of Dalton, now located at 1505 Professional Court, Dalton GA 30720. Dr. Pacheco sees patients Monday-Friday. Dr. Brand sees patients Mondays and Thursdays, with same day appointments available for both providers.

Both Dr. Pacheco and Dr. Brand are looking forward to collaborating in serving the Dalton community. Village Podiatry Centers offers all-inclusive treatment of a wide variety of foot and ankle conditions, including podiatric surgery, laser treatment, innovative heel pain therapy, and diabetic foot care.

Our new location is just around the corner from the current location with easy access and plenty of parking. It is also conveniently located to Hamilton Medial Center and numerous medical offices.

Dr. Pacheco graduated from Barry University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a minor in Chemistry. She continued on to Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine where she graduated in the top of her class. Dr. Pacheco completed her three-year Reconstructive Foot and Ankle Residency training program at JFK Medical Center in Boynton Beach, FL. She specializes in forefoot reconstruction, joint arthroscopy, diabetic wound care, limb salvage, reconstructive surgery of the rearfoot and ankle, and trauma of the rearfoot and ankle. Her bilingual skills allowed her to provide exceptional medical care and doctor/patient interaction within the large Spanish speaking population.

Dr. Shelley Brand is a graduate of the Kingwood Medical Center PMSR residency program in Houston, Texas where she served as chief resident in her third year. She earned her medical degree from Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2015. During her residency, she won several awards including the Nickerson Essay Award for her research on peripheral neuropathy in patients suffering from Hansen's disease. Dr. Brand specializes in diabetic limb salvage, reconstructive foot and ankle surgery, and peripheral nerve surgery.

About Village Podiatry Centers:

Village Podiatry Centers, a division of Extremity Healthcare, Inc., is the largest foot and ankle surgical practice in the Southeast and one of the largest Podiatry practices in the country. Village Podiatry Centers has more than 60 Doctors and 50 offices throughout the metro-Atlanta area, Middle Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. Our highly experienced board-certified and board qualified physicians provide comprehensive treatment and surgery for all foot & ankle conditions and injuries.
Chris Holton, GM - Customer Operations at BankTEL Now youre directly connected with someone who can help. I appreciate that BankTEL doesnt transfer you all over the place or make you hold. - Kyla Collins, Centennial Bank ($15B bank in Conway, Arkansas)

The U.S. leader in financial institution accounting software, BankTEL Systems, increased customer support satisfaction, as measured by key performance indicators, by nearly 20 percent in 2018.

Weve always had good customer support, but things are different than when we started. Now we have so many end-users, weve had to change procedures to stay up-to-date, says Chris Holton, BankTELs General Manager of Customer Operations.

At the beginning of 2018, BankTEL transitioned from a ticketed/callback customer support system to a queue, which means that about 90 percent of BankTEL support calls are answered immediately by actual technicians.

I like that we dont have to go through the switchboard anymore, says Kyla Collins, an accounts payable clerk with BankTEL customer, Centennial Bank, based in Conway, Arkansas.

Now youre directly connected with someone who can help. I appreciate that BankTEL doesnt transfer you all over the place or make you hold.

According to Collins, the convenience of immediate help is invaluable, especially if the call is about something thats preventing us from doing our job or if end-of-day deadlines are pressing.

Holton also designed a tiered support system so that consultants can funnel challenging cases up the chain, resulting in quicker resolution. The new system has been so effective that despite exceeding its targeted new client numbers in 2018, BankTEL was able to move two support consultants to other departments.

Thus far, response time and client ratings for 2019 are even higher, averaging a full five points, on a scale of one-to-five. The 2018 year-end average was 4.9.

Holton says the companys commitment to client care has contributed to BankTELs current position as the industry leader.

We have always viewed customer service as a venue where we can outshine our competitors. Its not just something that we do; its a core tenet of our business, he says.

About BankTEL Systems

BankTEL helps financial institutions manage expenses with easy-to-use software solutions that maintain transparency, accountability, and regulatory compliance. BankTEL is the only international software company that focuses solely on accounting solutions for financial institutions, with 20% of the U.S. market share and a 27-year history of serving clients of all sizes.


We are honored to welcome Sebastian into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Agency Council.

Sebastian Jespersen, founder and CEO of digital New York based agency, Vertic has been accepted into Forbes Agency Council, an invitation-only community for owners of and executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative, and advertising agencies.

Sebastian was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

We are honored to welcome Sebastian into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Agency Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.

As an accepted member of the Council, Sebastian will collaborate with other respected leaders in a private forum and be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

Im truly excited about joining the Forbes Agency Council. Im honored to have the opportunity to not only learn from my fellow peers, but also give back to the professional community through my own personal experiences of starting and growing a digital agency business.

ABOUT FORBES COUNCILS

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Agency Council, visit forbesagencycouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.

About Vertic:

Vertic is a strategic digital agency dedicated to creating groundbreaking solutions. The name Vertic echoes its Nordic heritage, and is written with a stylized capital "V"  deriving from the Old Norse letter or rune "Dagaz", which means 'day'. In countries with long nights and dark winters, a new day signifies transformation and bold change. It is Vertic's mission  through a foundation of strategy, creativity and technology  to shed light on bold change, overcome challenges that keep us up during those long nights, and to create groundbreaking solutions that help clients grow. At the heart of brands within a digital-first age, Vertic has created a business marketing model called 'Share of Life'. The new model and paradigm shift in "one-with-one" relationship marketing strives to ensure that a relationship between brand and customer can last a lifetime. This methodology is being applied by our work for world leading brands such as GE, Microsoft and SAP.

Contact:

Marwa Khalife

mkhalife@vertic.com
Together, we are raising the awareness of the Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), its affordable, Independent Living options, and the health research studies taking place to test new, transformational care approaches for older Americans.

Van Eperen, an award-winning integrated communications firm, announces the addition of the Knollwood Military Retirement Community (Knollwood), which is owned and funded by the Army Distaff Foundation (ADF), as a new client, and a top-rated provider of comprehensive, person-centered, state-of-the-art health and wellness care for officers retired from the Uniformed Services and their families.

Van Eperen will support Knollwood and ADF with public relations (PR), digital marketing and advertising, social media, and executive leadership training services. Marketing of the retirement community includes celebrating Knollwoods 60th anniversary with events, and a robust outreach campaign in 2019.

As a firm dedicated to serving seniors in our health and science practice, our team of PR and Marketing pros are already shaping and telling the story about Washington, D.C.s best kept retirement community, said Laura Van Eperen, CEO of Van Eperen. Together, we are raising the awareness of the Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), its affordable, Independent Living options, and the health research studies taking place to test new, transformational care approaches for older Americans.

Located on 16 acres in Northwest Washington, D.C., Knollwood is directly adjacent to Rock Creek Park, and in close proximity to medical care at The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and the countless cultural and historical activities offered in the nations capital city.

Van Eperen, based near Washington D.C. and in Baltimore, Maryland as a minority business enterprise (MBE)  disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE), prides itself on exceptional client service with renowned results. The firm serves a number of health and science clients, which have included: Ingleside Retirement Communities, The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, Society for Cardiology Angiography and Intervention, Select Medical, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, The American Geophysical Union, and Comprehensive Health Services. The firm also enjoys industry and business accolades, including being named one of Washington Business Journals Best Place Places to Work.

For more information about Van Eperens health and science practice, please contact Laura Van Eperen at laura@vaneperen.com or Jeffrey Davis at jeff@vaneperen.com or call 301.836.1516.

About Van Eperen

Founded in 2004, Van Eperen is a trusted and established professional marketing services firm that has earned the trust of its clients by offering strategic and proven programs geared toward customer and member engagement for government agencies, national associations and corporations. Led and staffed by former journalists, Van Eperen is a Maryland certified minority business enterprise (MBE) / disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) with public education and outreach expertise in health and science, higher education and transportation sectors. The agency blends PR, digital, social and creative strategies to drive meaningful results. For more information follow @VanEperenAgency on Twitter and visit http://www.vaneperen.com.
With Unimarket 6, weve done more than just design a fresh new user interface. Weve paved the way for users be more focused, more efficient and more effective, said Peter Kane, CEO of Unimarket.

Unimarket 6 streamlines processes for users by enabling them to interact with the platform based on their role. Whether they are responsible for purchasing, contracts, invoicing, sourcing, expenses or reporting, the platform enables every user to focus on what matters and move efficiently through their work. This new role-based interface creates a platform for Unimarket to continue to build out new features and functionality aligned to the needs of specific users, whether an accounts payable specialist, buyer or contract manager.

In addition to the new role-based interface, other key new features and functionality in Unimarket 6 include:



Simplified layout that delivers intuitive access to common functions.

Menu enhancements that improve navigation and mobile responsiveness.

Redesigned checkout page that improves readability and ease of use.

The ability to set up holiday calendars and put a hold on approvals when everyone is away from the office on weekends and holidays.

Flexible sharing settings for clients configuring communities with multiple organizations.

Product tagging to help users quickly and easily identify products with certain characteristics - for example, green, sustainable products or hazardous products that may require special handling or approvals.

A new catalog template that allows additional information to be included in the product description.

Enhanced search filters that allow users to refine results by tags, category, supplier and pack size.

Unimarket 6 also introduces several new API integrations to enable greater connectivity with other software platforms. These include:

Payments: Send payments to the platform to be automatically matched to invoices and displayed to suppliers.

Contracts: Upload contract data into the platform from an external system.

Users: Create and update user information from an external identity management system.

Approvals: Upload both position- and organisation-based approval information from an external system.

With Unimarket 6, weve done more than just design a fresh new user interface. Weve paved the way for our users be more focused, more efficient and more effective, said Peter Kane, CEO of Unimarket. We understand the demand for procurement teams to deliver more value and we approached the design of this new release with this in mind. The feedback so far has been very positive and were excited to keep building on the foundations weve laid with this new release.

About Unimarket

Unimarket is a leading provider of procurement software and services. Its powerful, easy-to-use cloud-based solution brings together sourcing, purchasing, invoicing, payments, contracts, expenses, and an extensive supplier marketplace  all in one unified platform. Founded in 2005, Unimarket supports clients in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, spanning a range of industries including higher education, government, financial services, transport and logistics, and healthcare. For more information, visit unimarket.com or follow on Twitter @Unimarket
"With the amazing help of uBiome, we now have access to advanced technological methods to determine whether the gut microbiome is potentially contributing to the increasing prevalence and severity of asthma in children in the Caribbean. - Dr. Davis, MBBS, MPhil

Through its Microbiome Grant Initiative, uBiome, the leader in microbial genomics, has awarded microbiome research support in study design, planning, sample collection, and analysis to researchers at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Faculty of Medical Sciences, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad led by Dr. Elaine Monica Davis, MBBS, MPhil, Lecturer of Physiology, and Mr. Cerano Da Silva, MPhil, graduate research student, and the Global Asthma Network representative to Trinidad and Tobago, to study the emergence of histamine-secreting gut microbiota as a factor in childhood asthma.

The goal of the study is to quantify any differences in histamine-secreting gut microbiota and dysbiosis of gut microbes between asthmatic and non-asthmatic children living in Trinidad, in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The researchers hope this study will lay the foundation for further research on how alteration of the gut microbiome might affect asthma and possibly provide new therapeutic avenues.

Data collected from the study will include microbiome composition from uBiomes patented kits, the genetic tendency to develop allergic diseases, and lung function status. The team hypothesizes that these factors may contribute to the high prevalence and severity of allergic asthma in the Caribbean region.

We are proud to support the University of West Indies in their investigation to better understand the relationship between asthma severity and microbial diversity, which has yet to be explored in children, said Jessica Richman, PhD, co-founder and CEO of uBiome.

Dr. Davis is a lecturer of physiology in the Faculty of Medical Sciences and former Associate Dean of Communications, Public Relations and Special Projects at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus and Senior Lecturer in the MSc. Environmental Engineering program. Additionally, she is Dean of the Consular Corps of Trinidad and Tobago, chair of the World Federation of Consuls Caribbean Committee, co-chair of its Caribbean Membership Committee, and a member of its Charitable Agreements and Events, World and Regional Conferences Committee. Dr. Davis is supervising Mr. Cerano Da Silva for this study, who is pursuing a Masters degree and has developed this investigative microbiome research for his thesis, which he proposes to continue to a Doctoral degree.

About the grant, Dr. Davis said, We have been able to provide the means whereby asthmatic children in Trinidad will know which types of environmental allergens may be responsible for triggering an asthmatic attack. This will result in better asthma management through mitigation and will help determine the extent their lunch function has been compromised. With the amazing help of uBiome, we now have access to advanced technological methods to determine whether the gut microbiome is potentially contributing to the increasing prevalence and severity of asthma in children in the Caribbean.

Through its Microbiome Grant Initiative, uBiome has awarded millions of dollars in research support to hundreds of investigators around the world at renowned academic institutions and not-for-profit research organizations, including Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California, San Francisco, Oxford University, and the University of Sydney. Awards include patented microbiome sequencing kits, as well as research support in study design, planning, sample collection, and analysis. To learn more about our award process or to submit a grant proposal, visit http://www.ubiome.com/microbiome-grant-initiative/.

_____

About uBiome

Founded in 2012, uBiome is the leader in microbial genomics. The Companys mission is to advance the science of the microbiome and make it useful to people. uBiome combines its patented proprietary precision sequencing with machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop wellness products, clinical tests, and therapeutic targets. uBiome has filed for over 250 patents on its technology, which includes sample preparation, computational analysis, molecular techniques, as well as diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

uBiomes commercial products include SmartGut, the worlds first sequencing-based clinical microbiome test, which identifies microbes in the gut for patients with chronic gut conditions such as IBD, IBS, Crohns Disease, and ulcerative colitis; SmartJane, the first sequencing-based womens health screening test, which genotypes all 19 clinically relevant strains of HPV, identifies four common STDs, and surveys more than 20 vaginal microbes associated with bacterial vaginosis and other conditions; and Explorer, a health and wellness product to understand the role that food and lifestyle can play in wellness.

uBiomes platform has been used by hundreds of thousands of consumers, patients, and doctors and more than 200 research institutions around the world, including the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California, San Francisco, Oxford University, and the University of Sydney.

Since its launch, the company has received widespread recognition including CNN 10: Startups to Watch, the IVY Technology Award, CNN Future 30, and was named one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare in 2016 and in Data Science in 2018, as well as a Technology Pioneer from the World Economic Forum in 2018. For more information, visit http://www.uBiome.com.
Enclosure.io is pleased to announce that Hearst Newspapers Times Union in Albany, NY, has gone live on the new Enclosure.io platform as its online Real Estate solution in the upstate New York area. The project was completed in less than three weeks and has organically grown traffic by 25 times in the first weeks since post-launch.

Jeff Kiley, Automotive/Real Estate Sales Manager, Times Union, said Our launch experience with the Enclosure Real Estate platform has been fast, proactive, and highly supported. The training has been comprehensive and we are thrilled with the account management and ongoing communications. In addition to listings for sale and rentals, Enclosures new homes subvertical is the best solution for our vibrant real estate market, and were now seeing more traffic each day than we saw over an entire month from our previous solution.

Steve Lavine, Chief Executive Officer of Enclosure.io added, The Albany Times Union team has been a delight to work with, and are fast adopters of innovative solutions. Weve been impressed with their singular focus on customer success, and are excited to partner with them.

The new Times Union Real Estate site is based on the latest release of Enclosure V3.2 which includes searching by school districts, new personalization tools for saving searches and favorite listings with private notes, Youtube video support to enhance listings, and more opportunities for revenue-generating sponsored listings.

The Enclosure solution  which is cloud-based and responsive  is built on the patented, award-winning Transparensee Discovery Search Engine that uses geography, relevancy, and user-based customization to provide a stunningly fast and robust experience resulting in increased time-on-site and exponential audience growth.

About the Times Union:

The Times Union is the leading newspaper in New Yorks Capital Region, and timesunion.com is Upstate New Yorks most innovative news website. The newspaper is widely respected for its focus on local news and watchdog reporting, particularly on state government and politics. It has won numerous state and national awards for its work in print and online and has repeatedly been named New Yorks Newspaper of Distinction by the state editors association. The Times Union also publishes several niche magazines and hosts major regional events, including the Times Union Home Expo at the Times Union Center, which is the areas premier arena.

About Enclosure.io:

Enclosure.io is a Real Estate solution that provides lightning fast, visual-mapping and data-rich search, and a mobile responsive experience that consumers love while delivering to publishers  and the agents, brokers, property managers and builders they serve  increases in traffic, engagement, and tools to support custom business models and content integration. Enclosure is now used by a growing group of progressive publishers across the nation and continues to evolve and expand based on real-time data analytics, feedback, and partnerships.
Penang beach Penang Malaysia Healthcare is one of the most important factors potential expats consider before moving abroad and in the right places overseas its possible to access world-class care for a fraction of the cost back home."

Medical bills you can afford, doctors who make house calls and healthcare so affordable retirees are simply paying out of pocketthats just the reality for those who live in the spots that score the highest in the Healthcare category of this years Annual Global Retirement Index, says International Livings Executive Editor, Jennifer Stevens.

Healthcare is one of the most important factors potential expats consider before moving abroad and in the right places overseas its possible to access world-class care for a fraction of the cost back home.

Across the 25 countries we rank and rate in our annual Index, we assess the cost, access, and quality of care as well as insurance and the cost of medications in the communities where we recommend expats go.

We ask questions like, how much will you have to pay for things like laser eye surgery, a tooth crown, or a blood transfusion? Can you get common medications for things like asthma and diabetes? And do you need a prescription to get a rell? When it comes to assessing healthcare, we factor in both quality and price to give a fair and balanced view.

The six countries that scored the highest marks for Best Healthcare in the World in this years Annual Global Retirement Index are...

#1 Malaysia

Scoring 95 out of 100, Malaysia takes the top spot in the Healthcare category of the Healthcare category of the International Living 2019 Annual Global Retirement Index.

The healthcare in the Southeast Asian gem is simply world class with up-to-date and sophisticated infrastructure.

There are 13 JCI-accredited hospitals in the country and almost every doctor is fluent in English. In fact, most Malaysian doctors were trained in the UK, U.S., or Australia so communication is flawless. Its not surprising Malaysia a popular tourism destination.

Here, you dont need an appointment to see a specialist, and you dont need a referral from a general practitioner, either. Its as simple as registering at a hospital and waiting in line to see your specialist of choice.

Prescriptions in Malaysia cost a fraction of U.S. prices. But its not just the cost thats attractiveits the service. The pharmacists, like the rest of Malaysias medical staff, are well trained and informed. Malaysians are friendly people, but its the genuine interest that they take which impresses.

Recently, I decided on a whim to have a medical wellness exam, says Keith Hockton, IL Malaysia Correspondent. Id never had one done before and as I had a free morning I decided just to pop in to the Lam Wah Eee Hospital, says Keith Hockton, IL Malaysia Correspondent, who lives on the island of Penang.

I was already registered and found myself sitting outside a general practitioners office not five minutes after arriving. Within an hour, I had been examined by a doctor, had an ECG and blood and urine tests doneand I was on my way home.

The total cost of the visit was just $44. The doctor who had examined me called me later that afternoon with the results. Its this level of service that makes medical care in Malaysia an attractive option. Its all so easy.

#2 France

In second place, with 93 points, is France. The low cost of health insurance and the superb quality of care means that France consistently receives high scores in the Healthcare category of International Livings Annual Global Retirement Index. And with the World Health Organization.

Life expectancy now averages 85.7 years for women and 80.1 for men according to the latest WHO data published in 2018, giving France a World Life Expectancy ranking of 5the United States ranks at 34.

There is a reason France is consistently named by the World Health Organization as having the best healthcare in the world, says Stewart Richmond IL South of France Correspondent.

It is accessible to all and affordable. Prescription medicine is heavily subsidized and is among the cheapest in the world. For those developing long-term illnesses such as cancer or MS, all healthcare and medicine is provided free of charge.

#3 Thailand

Renowned for its excellent healthcare throughout the country, Thailand takes third position with 92 points.

Thailand leads the way in medical tourism for Southeast Asia, says Michael Cullen, IL Thailand Correspondent. That means quality, international standard hospitals with well- trained, English-speaking medics in all the major cities and regional towns right across Thailand.

Dental and other health services are also well coveredand all to that same high international standard.

For expats living in Thailand it is sensible to have health insurance as there is no national system within the country they can tap into.

But with healthcare costs averaging from a quarter to less than a half of what they would cost in the U.S., the insurance costs will not break the bank.

Although there is no public health insurance available to expats, there are several options to obtain private insurance from a variety of excellent companies, both domestic and international.

Thailands private healthcare system consists of a large number of well-equipped, state-of-the-art hospitals. A real plus is youre often able to visit a specialist within a short time of walking through the front doorwithout booking an appointment beforehand.

#4 Ecuador

One of the great perks for foreign residents living in Ecuador is high-quality, low-cost healthcarewith 89 points, the Land of Eternal Spring comes in at fourth place.

In February of 2016, Ecuador passed a law that all new residents must have some form of healthcare coverage, says Jim Santos, IL Salinas Ecuador Correspondent. However, the same law prevents all private insurers from denying coverage because of age or pre-existing conditions.

This opened up the private market, although expats may still also choose to sign up for the state-run health plan, which covers all medical, dental, and eye-care expenses (including prescriptions, testing, rehab, etc.) at IESS hospitals and clinics with no deductible and no co-pay.

Expats are eligible to use the system after paying into it for the first three months.

In the bigger cities, youll find hospitals with state-of-the-art equipment, as well as specialists in all fields and physicians with private clinics. But expats dont need to live in a metropolis to take advantage of good quality healthcare. Smaller cities also have private clinics and modern hospitals. And in small towns youll often find private doctors who go that extra mile with some even making house calls if youre too ill to go out.

International Living Correspondent Donna Stiteler lives in Ecuadors third-largest city and the economic center of the Southern Sierra, Cuenca.

My husband, Rowland, who is a writer and not a carpenter, recently sawed his index finger, she says.

The trip to the emergency room on a Sunday required a five-minute wait in the emergency room, where a surgeon stitched his finger for a mere $60. This was walk-up pricing without using any insurance.

However, we do have the governments IESS plan which covers both of us for under $100 a month, we do most of our medical treatments out of pocket because healthcare runs about 80% cheaper than in the U.S., and you can just walk in and see specialists for $40 a pop, Donna says.

Costa Rica and Mexico are tied for fifth place, scoring 87 points.

#5 Costa Rica (tie)

By almost any standard, Costa Rica has some of the best healthcare in Latin America. There are two systems, both of which expats can access: the government-run universal healthcare system, Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, known as Caja, and the private system. Both health systems are constantly being upgradednew hospitals, new equipment, and improvements in staff training.

Many doctors, especially in private practice, speak English and have received training in Europe, Canada, or the U.S. But despite the advancements, costs are low in comparison to those back home.

Texan doctor John Michael Arthur, M.D., who now lives in the Central Valley, Costa Rica, has a lot of praise for the Costa Rican Healthcare system.

Having both the public healthcare system and the private healthcare system available to residents gives great options as you shop for care, he says. High-quality healthcaremedical, surgical, and dentalis easily found and at about one-third the cost of U.S. prices in the private system.

For example, I recently had a new state-of-the-art zirconium crown placed for about $275. And I had an echocardiogram for only $145 and I left with the complete analysis and report in my hands.

#5 Mexico(tie)

A favorite for expats looking for a haven close to the U.S. and Canada, Mexico offers an affordable cost of living and great healthcare.

Most doctors and dentists in Mexico received at least part of their training in the U.S. Many of them continue to go to the U.S. or Europe for ongoing training.

Every medium to large city in Mexico has at least one first-rate hospital with the cost of healthcare generally half or less what you might expect to pay in the U.S. The same goes for prescription drugs.

Plus, health insurance in Mexico costs much less than it does in the U.S.

Mexico offers two national healthcare plans for residents, says Don Murray, IL Rivera Maya Correspondent. The one most popular with expats seems to be the Seguro Popular program where annual costs may be only a few hundred dollars for full coverage.

More details on the top six countries in the Healthcare category of International Livings Annual Global Retirement Index 2019 can be found here: The 6 Countries with the Best Healthcare in the World 2019

Editor's Note: Members of the media have permission to republish the article linked above once credit is given to Internationalliving.com

Further information, as well as interviews with expert authors for radio, TV or print, is available on request. Photos are also available.

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Bianca McNamara, Regional Sales Manager All three companies have consistently achieved favorable growth year on year." - Kathleen Larmour, CEO, Professional Retail Services

Professional Retail Services (PRS), Retail Security Services (RSS) and Retail Mechanical Services (RMS) are national facility service companies that provide facility services, security guards, and HVAC/R services to Americas top brands; the companies announced today that Bianca McNamara would be on-boarding the group of corporations as Regional Sales Manager. Bianca will be responsible for selling in the eastern half of the United States.

Kathleen Larmour, CEO, and founder of the companies said, All three companies have consistently achieved favorable growth year on year. We require competitive, fervent and focused people on our team and know that we have chosen the right person in Bianca. On behalf of our entire team, we welcome Bianca and look forward to sharing in our continued success.

Bianca McNamara will be working closely with the operations team, servicing both the United States and Puerto Rico. Prior to her new position, Biancas background includes operations and account management, sales, and finance in the facility, construction, and title industries. We are confident that she will be an insightful asset to all companies and their clientele.

When speaking with Bianca in regards to joining the team, she had the following to say: I am thrilled to join the PRS, RSS, and RMS teams! I am looking forward to working for these reputable companies, which were built on a customer-first philosophy. I am grateful for this opportunity and am excited to build lasting relationships with both our current as well as our future customers.

________________________________________

Professional Retail Services (PRS) is a national facilities services company that serves Americas top brands across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Retail Security Services (RSS) provides a vast array of security guard services to many industries on a national level in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Retail Mechanical Services (RMS) a nationally trusted HVAC and refrigeration company that serves restaurants and retailers.

If you would like more information regarding this announcement, please call 888-834-2411.
Big thank you to all of our school partners for taking part in this donation, said Tap Water Watch, President, Scott Nelson. The engagement in this program enabled us to make an important contribution to provide clean, filtered drinking water for both students and staff this school year.

Tap Water Watch announced today the donation of Elkay water bottle filling stations to high schools in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina as part of the Making Water COOL in School initiative.

The Making Water COOL in School initiative replaces old, contaminated school drinking fountains with new, filtered bottle filling stations to schools throughout the country.

Big thank you to all of our school partners for taking part in this donation, said Tap Water Watch, President, Scott Nelson. The engagement in this program enabled us to make an important contribution to provide clean, filtered drinking water for both students and staff this school year.

Each school that participated in the program received two Elkay water bottle filling stations.

To register your school for future donations, go to: https://www.tapwaterwatch.com/donation-registration

About Tap Water Watch

Tap Water Watch is the leading supplier of water testing, remediation and monitoring services to commercial and residential customers nationwide.

Our service offerings are used in many different markets ranging from oil and gas and utilities to schools and homes. It is our mission to give you peace of mind with your drinking water.
The 2020 Kia Telluride promises off-road thrill and interior comfort

Theres an adage which goes, If its not broke, dont fix it. Used primarily to dissuade prospective reformers from trading the assurance of something good for the possibility of something great, this saying represents a feeling shared by many  its better to rely on what you have than to throw it away for what you might have.

For a decade, Kia has made the mid-size Kia Sorento its flagship SUV with excellent returns. Now lauded as a top contender in the popular family SUV class, the Kia Sorento offers third-row comfort and convenience to drivers and passengers alike.

The industry has noticed the vehicle also. J.D. Power awarded the 2018 Kia Sorento as the Highest Ranked Midsize SUV in Initial Quality, while U.S. News and World Report named the 2018 Kia Sorento the Best 3-Row SUV for the Money.

The current 2019 Kia Sorento is the recipient of a Top Safety Pick + award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Its no doubt that the Sorento could be described as not broke and yet the designers and engineers at Kia have decided to improve their lineup with a new flagship.

Arriving in the first half of 2019, the 2020 Kia Telluride is a larger SUV than the Kia Sorento. It also features a luxurious exterior design and a standard towing capacity of over 2 tons.

To help spread the word on the 2020 Kia Telluride, the staff at Friendly Kia  a new and used Kia dealership and service center in New Port Richey  have published a page to the dealerships website featuring photography and specs revealed at the 2019 North American International Auto Show this past week in Detroit.

Members of the Friendly Kia sales staff are also hoping to direct interested shoppers to a page they built late last year which allows interested parties to place a reservation for the 2020 Kia Telluride.

Those seeking more information are encouraged to visit the dealership's website, http://www.friendlykia.com, or call the sales team directly at 877-544-6719. Friendly Kia is located at 5819 U.S. Highway 19 in New Port Richey.
Being awarded the Technology Based Conferencing Services Texas DIR Contract validates Swagits dedication to providing government agencies with full end-to-end streaming, broadcast and captioning solutions along with our five-star customer service, said Bryan Halley, Swagits President.

Swagit Productions has been awarded the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) Technology Based Conferencing Services Contract.

Through this contract, state and local agencies, as well as public education institutions, may purchase Swagits Software Products and Related Services, including Software as a Service, at the negotiated contract pricing.

Being awarded the Technology Based Conferencing Services Texas DIR Contract validates Swagits dedication to providing government agencies with full end-to-end streaming, broadcast and captioning solutions along with our five-star customer service, said Bryan Halley, Swagits co-founder and President.

How to Order

Obtain a Quote by visiting the Swagit website and completing the Contact Us form, or request a Quote via email to David Owusu at david@swagit.com.

Purchase Order Guidelines



Order must reference DIR Contract No. DIR-TSO-4268.

All orders must be made payable to Swagit Productions, LLC.

Address purchase orders to your designated Swagit representative.

E-mail Purchase Order and signed Quote form to Swagit Corporate Office, or fax to (214) 750-9513.

Designated Order Fulfillment: There are no resellers on this contract. Customers can purchase directly through DIR contract.

About Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR)

Texas DIR is a streamlined cooperative purchasing program for State and Local Government, Public Education and other public entities focused in Texas, but also serving public entities outside of the State.

About Swagit Productions, LLC

Swagit Productions, LLC, based in Dallas, TX, provides hands-free video streaming, captioning and broadcast solutions to local, state and federal government agencies. Swagit pioneered the Avior HD Broadcast System  a complete package of HD PTZ (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) cameras and professional video-switching equipment that enables any client to fully outsource the production, operation and distribution of multi-camera broadcasts for public meetings. Swagits progressive online, mobile and social platform solutions include the Extensible Automated Streaming Engine (EASE): a hands-free webcasting system for public meeting indexing, agenda integration, archiving, on-demand playback, closed captioning, and the innovative Sound Search. Swagits focus is on emerging technology and relevant avenues of distribution  for example, Swagits ISD  Community PEG (Public, Education and Government Access) portal and app featuring HD viewing, social media integration, and on-trend resident engagement.
Special Operations Outlook is available in print and digital format.

Faircount Media Group and DefenseMediaNetwork.com are offering a free print subscription to SPECIAL OPERATIONS OUTLOOK, set to debut this coming May. The free print edition is available to U.S. defense, federal, industry, and academic professionals.

Professionals, click here to subscribe.

All others are eligible to receive the digital edition when they join the SPECIAL OPERATIONS OUTLOOK Newsletter.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS OUTLOOK provides an in-depth look at special operations forces (SOF) today and includes stand-alone features on U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) as well as each of its service component commands. Interviews with the commanders of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM), and United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), describe present-day challenges and future initiatives. As always, there is a review of developments in international SOF as well.

To advertise in the upcoming edition, please contact:

Patrick Pruitt

Associate Publisher

+1 (813) 675-3862

patrick.pruitt(at)faircount(dot)com

About Faircount

Faircount creates highly targeted print and digital publications for the worlds most iconic institutions and historic national events. The companys work within government and scientific sectors is second to none with a portfolio including an extensive range of commemorative publications developed in partnership with government departments and agencies. The company has published for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Royal Navy (U.K.), Royal Australian Navy, DARPA, and many others. Faircount also develops and publishes websites that showcase high-quality content in the defense sector. DefenseMediaNetwork.com features defense, homeland security, and veterans affairs and military medicine content. More information is available at faircount.com
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With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-352-3334 or email legals@waverlynewspapers.com.
Promise Dental We are excited about the opportunities to partner with practices like Promise Dental who have a passion for serving the patient and delivering high quality, cost-effective dentistry.

Smile Brands Inc., one of the nations leading dental support organizations (DSO) providing business support services to over 400 affiliated offices across 17 states, is pleased to announce its latest partnership with Promise Dental in Nashville, Tennessee.

Smile Brands will provide full-service administrative support to the practice, including; purchasing, payroll, accounting, IT, billing, facilities management and marketing. Practice staff will remain in place and the business will continue to operate under the Promise Dental brand.

Dr. Byron Bush, D.D.S. has been practicing dentistry for 40 years. He has owned and operated Promise Dental for the past eight years, and is committed to providing the highest quality of care in family and cosmetic dentistry for his patients in the Nashville area.

Affiliating with a DSO makes perfect sense for us at this stage in our practice and Smile Brands stood out as a clear choice based on our shared commitment to quality patient care, stated Dr. Bush. Not only do we have a partner who shares our values, well now have access to Smile Brands world-class support services to simplify day-to-day practice management while making sure we meet the needs of our own team and our patients.

We welcome the Promise Dental team to Smile Brands and look forward to working together to deliver even more smiles in Nashville, said Steve Bilt, co-founder and CEO of Smile Brands. We are excited about the opportunities to partner with practices like Promise Dental who have a passion for serving the patient and delivering high quality, cost-effective dentistry.

About Smile Brands

Based in Irvine California, Smile Brands Inc. is one of the largest providers of support services to dental groups in the United States. Recently ranked #25 on Glassdoors 2019 Best Places to Work list, Smile Brands Inc. provides comprehensive business support services through exclusive long-term agreements with affiliated dental groups, allowing dentists to spend more time caring for their patients and less time on the administrative, marketing and financial aspects of operating a dental practice. Smile Brands supports nearly 400 Bright Now! Dental, Monarch Dental, Castle Dental, A+ Dental Care, OneSmile Dental, Johnson Family Dental, P3 Dental Group, and DecisionOne Dental Partners offices in 17 states. Smile Brands is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors, a leading middle-market private equity firm based in San Francisco, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.smilebrands.com.
SBTC President James Lamb "Unlike other civilian Federal employees who can just quit their jobs after 30 days of shutdown and walk away from civil service, members of the military cannot," Lamb said.

James Lamb, the president of the Small Business in Transportation Coalition ("SBTC"), a 501(c)(6) non-profit business league announced today that his transportation industry trade group launched an "Emergency Relief Fund" for United States Coast Guard ("USCG") families over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Weekend.

Lamb, who also serves as a volunteer civilian member of the USCG Auxiliary as Public Affairs Officer in USCG District 7, indicated the creation of the fund was a result of a January 18, 2019 Fox News report entitled "Coast Guard becomes first branch of military to miss their paychecks during government shutdown."

Lamb said he kicked off the fund with a personal $500 donation because the USCG is in a uniquely precarious situation because unlike other members of the armed services who are being paid as essential military employees, the USCG is a military force but it is housed in the Department of Homeland Security, an agency being affected by the shutdown.

"Unlike other civilian Federal employees who can just quit their jobs after 30 days of shutdown and walk away from civil service, members of the military cannot," Lamb said. We therefore need to highlight their plight and the private sector stepping up where the Government lets them down is the right move. We have therefore adopted the new slogan: "Small Business Cares!"

According to Lamb's public relations agent, Laurence Socci, this is not the first time Lamb has connected the USCG with the private sector when times have gotten rough for the Coasties. In 2013, Lamb worked with the owner of Fort Lauderdale Italian Restaurant "Umberto's" to feed the station through a number of generous donations when the USCG Fort Lauderdale Station's galley was out-of-service. Lamb also arranged for a $5,000 corporate donation from his for-profit consulting business in 2017 when USCG personnel and their families were in need of supplies after they were evacuated from Puerto Rico and temporarily housed in South Florida due to the September 2017 Hurricanes. During the course of his philanthropic and fundraising work in Puerto Rico over the last year, Lamb even saved a drowning toddler at a waterpark on the island in July of 2018. He is currently being considered for recognition by his Flotilla Commander for the rescue, Socci said.

Lamb said the SBTC is hoping to raise $500,000 to help USCG families during this difficult time. Members of the USCG wishing to apply for grants from the fund should contact the group via email: Support@truckers.com.

For more information, you can visit the group's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EmergencyFundforUSCGFamilies/

For information about the SBTC, visit http://www.truckers.com.

Mr. Lamb can be contacted on Twitter.
"With the UAV technology, we can shoot a scene, for example an 800-foot scene that we recently had, we shot that entire scene in a matter of 22 minutes," Lieutenant Robert Hainje of the Tippercanoe County Sheriff's Department

Road safety is an issue that does not receive anywhere near the attention it deserves  and it really is one of our great opportunities to save lives around the world, Michael Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Disease and Injuries. The Global Status Report on Road Safety of 2018 states that road traffic accidents claim more than 1.35 million lives each year: globally. Thats 3,750 lives each day. Furthermore, road traffic crashes are now the leading cause of death for individuals between the ages of 5 and 29.

Blocked or shut down roadways are an inconvenience for both drivers and officials, but on-scene road traffic crash reconstruction is a necessary requirement. Investigators need to reveal evidence and discover why and how a crash occurred, particularly when personal injury, death, or property damage is involved.

Distracted drivers who fail to yield to the slowed down or stopped traffic provide the perfect breeding ground for secondary crashes. This public safety issue is one of the biggest concerns for officials when investigating and reconstructing a traffic crash.

Secondary crashes are the reason many investigators and officers feel rushed to collect evidence and clear a scene quickly, but conventional mapping of a fatal crash can take several hours depending on the severity of the scene.

Like a growing number of police agencies across the United States, drones and lasers are transforming the way investigators collect data of crash scenes. With the constant imminent risk of secondary crashes, the addition of a drone to help document crash scenes reduces the risk of secondary crashes by a factor of 24. Lasers are used to measure key ground measurements that can be overlaid with aerial photos and point data to ensure accuracy.

Lieutenant Robert Hainje of the Tippecanoe County Sheriffs Department explains that With the UAV technology, we can shoot a scene, for example an 800-foot scene that we recently had, we shot that entire scene in a matter of 22 minutes (AUVSI NEWS).

Remote pilots send up their drones taking high-resolution images that are transmitted into a computer and run through a software program that creates highly detailed and accurate 3D diagrams. Reducing the time investigators and officers spend on scene, creating a safer roadway for all.

The drone phenomenon isnt going to quiet down anytime soon. According to a 2017 report by Freedonia group, drone spending by county and municipal government spending for drones, mostly within police, fire, and rescue agencies, is estimated to reach $80 million by 2025. In addition, the use of drones for emergency services rose by 82% in 2018! (Drone Center, Bard College) Drones are an exciting piece of tech that have many life-saving benefits for emergency services.

But before you go out and purchase a UAV for your department, there are many steps that need to be taken before operating your drone. From aircraft and location requirements, local laws and regulations, to certifications, registrations, and FAA laws and regulations, it can become discouraging for any new drone user.

On February 5th, 2019, at 10:00 AM (MST), join industry experts from the U.S. and Canada,

Mike Allard, David Reinholdt, and Matt Hewko, who will be providing a great foundation on how to get started with drones and how lasers can complement the mapping process. In addition, this webinar is qualified for 1 CEU credit through ACTAR.

Dont miss out on this incredible, and free, opportunity!

Register here!

If you have any questions regarding this webinar, please contact:

Tauren Nyland for more information
"We happily remain very involved in the community which supported our organization for so long." - William Randall, President, Randall CAP

Randall CAP was established by the Randall Family after the sale of the Frederick News-Post whose initial and primary function was to serve as a Family Office. Since its inception, the organization has grown to include consulting services and back-office support to external clients throughout Maryland.

Randall CAP operates out of the former Frederick News-Post building located at 200 E. Patrick Street, the future site of the Downtown Hotel and Conference Center.

William Randall, former owner/C.E.O. of the Frederick News-Post heads up the organization as President.

The family and I are frequently asked what the Randalls are up to since the sale of the paper. Weve been involved in the newspaper business since 1883 so its an understandable question. While some of the family members are enjoying a much-deserved retirement, we are working to maintain and uphold the business of the family which includes local property management and assets. We happily remain very involved in the community which supported our organization for so long.

Aside from the family business, Mr. Randall and his Family Business Office Manager, Heather Hardy also formerly of the Frederick News-Post, work as a team to assist clients with needs spanning from high-level strategic planning and business planning for start-ups and nonprofits, to supporting the back-office functioning for clients whose strengths lie on business development and growth.

While currently functioning out of 200 E. Patrick Street, Randall CAP will move its operations elsewhere once the sale of the property is complete.

More information about Randall CAP can be found on their website, http://www.RandallCAP.com.

Randall CAP is a family office, a management company, and a consulting business. It is primarily a family office that provides services for the Randall Family, through managing and coordinating the familys charitable giving, financial and business assets, and real estate property.

While its main focus is on providing services to the Randall Family and related entities, Randall CAP also offers its services to outside clients. Randall CAP provides high-level strategic management consulting. For more information, visit http://www.randallcap.com. Be sure to like the Randall CAP Facebook page (@RandallCAPFrederick) for the latest news and updates.
We continue to connect Americans with their friends and families in new ways.

Q Link Mobile, a prepaid wireless company with one of the nations most affordable plans, announced today that it would donate phones with annual prepaid plans to foster kids and teens as part of a partnership with Forever Family, a Florida nonprofit.

Forever Family helps children and teens in foster care find adoptive families. The organization has placed hundreds of children in forever homes, and to date, more than $30 million in earned media time has been donated to raise awareness about the program. In addition, the nonprofit has received more than $1,000,000 in monetary donations, services, and goods from the community  including those from Q Link Mobile.

Our companies have a history of giving back, added Issa Asad, founder and CEO of Q Link Mobile and Q Link Wireless. Forever Family plays a crucial role in helping children and teens in foster care get support, locate crucial resources, and, most importantly, find placement in adoptive homes. Contributing to this nonprofits life-changing program, even in a small way, is an honor.

Q Link Mobile launched in 2018 to provide a cost-friendly alternative to prepaid cellular plans. The company is headed by CEO and founder Issa Asad, who also leads Q Link Wireless, one of the nations top providers of wireless voice and data service through the Lifeline Program. The Federally-run Lifeline program provides subsidized voice and data service to low-income Americans.

We continue to connect Americans with their friends and families in new ways, added Issa Asad. Q Link Mobile represents the next phase of our expansion, and, for the first time, we can serve customers all over the country.

Q Link Mobiles plans are half that of most prepaid providers, and customers receive unlimited data and free roaming, as well as international calling to more than 60 countries. The company aims to reach tens of thousands of customers by the end of the first quarter of 2019.

To sign up for Q Links services, visit QLinkMobile.com. For more information about Q Link, or to schedule an interview with Issa Asad, please contact Meieli Sawyer at 305-668-0070 or msawyer(at)weinbachgroup(dot)com.

About Q Link Mobile

Q Link Mobile, a Quadrant Holdings Company, provides voice and data service to customers throughout the U.S. through its low-cost, prepaid mobile phone plans. The company is headquartered in Dania Beach, is recognized as one of the Inc. 5000, and earned an A rating from the Better Business Bureau.
MY FATHER TAUGHT ME ABOUT RUNNING A BUSINESS. A FEW OF THESE THINGS HAVE STUCK TO THIS DAY, FOREMOST OF WHICH WAS, YOU MUST EMBRACE AND GET INVOLVED WITH THE COMMUNITY AROUND YOU.  - MIKE HIERL

Hierl Insurance Inc., a third-generation insurance agency, is celebrating their 100th anniversary serving the Fond du Lac and Fox Valley communities.

Started in 1919 by Harry T. Hierl, the Hierl agency has been and continues to be family owned and operated. Harry T. Hierl was succeeded by his son, Tom Hierl and grandson, Mike Hierl, who is the current President of the company.

My father started [Hierl] when he was 22 years old in 1919, with the original sign stating that Hierl served the community with Insurance, Real Estate and Loans. said Tom Hierl.

Since its start, Hierl has narrowed their scope of service and now engages their expertise strictly in the Employee Benefits and Property and Casualty lines of business.

Beginning 100 years ago with Harry T. Hierl, the underpinnings of the legacy within Hierl Insurance has been community involvement. From father to son to grandson, it was never enough to just write a check but more important to give of your time and your knowledge. This principle - rooted in kindness, selflessness and integrity - was not only preached but practiced by every generation of Hierls. From charitable causes to organizational leadership, Harry, Tom and Mike Hierl always embraced an opportunity to do good, give back and encourage others around them to do

the same.

Over the course of 2019, Hierl will share a heartwarming look inside how the agency got its start 100 years ago. Some of these include sharing valuable lessons learned along the way, and endearing memories from the Hierl family, the employees and the community over the years.

We invite our community into our story to see the moments and people that have made this such an incredible journey. Throughout the year, we will be conducting monthly trivia contests with fun historical facts about our agency and local community on social media, as well as sharing a monthly newsletter that is sure to make you proud to be a part of the community that has helped Hierl grow to who they are today.

Hierl invites friends throughout the community to share in their celebration using #hierl100 throughout the year.

A lot of the reward of working at Hierl comes from helping each employee reach his or her goals and be connected to their family, explained Mike.

The Hierl100 celebration will culminate in an event in August. More details to follow on this event in the future.

For more information on Hierl Insurance, please contact Mike Hierl at (920) 921-5921.

About Hierl Insurance Inc.

A third-generation family owned business, Hierls goal is for you to Expect More and Demand Better. Since 1919, Hierl has earned the trust of Wisconsin employers by using insight and innovative technology to create unique strategies that protect business owners, their employees and their budgets. Hierls mission is to provide clients with the wisdom and tools necessary to build a more engaged, productive and loyal workforce. With locations in Fond du Lac and Appleton, Hierls expertise in employee benefits, commercial insurance, human resources and wellness creates a great business team. Learn more at hierl.com.
Phantom Screens, the leading provider of retractable screens in North America, is pleased to announce the expansion of the executive team, recruiting a Chief Financial Officer, Ralph Berzins, and a Chief Revenue Officer, Rod Terry, to help drive business growth in 2019. The Company has grown significantly over the past few years with the expansion of their manufacturing warehouse and the addition of 30 employees to their workforce.

Rod Terry joined Phantom Screens as the Chief Revenue Officer in November 2018 bringing vast experience in executive management. Terry previously held the position as President of Creekside Customer Foods and the President and Chief Executive Officer at Larosa Fine Foods Inc.

In August 2018, Ralph Berzins joined Phantoms executive team as the Chief Financial Officer bringing extensive experience driving business results for national organizations. Prior to joining Phantom Screens, Berzins held the positions as the Vice President of Finance for Serta Simmons Bedding Canada and the Vice President of Financial integration for OfficeMax based in Chicago, IL.

I am thrilled to expand our executive team with the addition of Rod and Ralph, comments Esther de Wolde, Chief Executive Officer of Phantom Screens. With their respective experiences and seasoned approach to growing and scaling notable brand companies, I am excited to work with them and the rest of the Phantom team to take our products to new markets and continue to deliver exceptional service to our current customers."

About Phantom Screens

Founded in 1992, Phantom Screens is North Americas leading provider of retractable screens. Based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Phantom Screens offers customers a variety of retractable screen solutions for doors, windows, multi-panel systems and outdoor spaces. Phantom Screens products provide customers with insect protection, solar shading, temperature control and enhanced privacy in living spaces. For more information, visit http://www.phantomscreens.com.
Peter Marino, Jean-Michel Othoniel, and Juan Carlos Menendez  BFA

On January 16th Architect Peter Marino was honored by Chanel, celebrating his new design for the 57th Street boutique, Chanels largest in the US to date at 14,000 sq ft.

At the fete hosted by Chanel last Wednesday, Marino mingled with guests throughout the boutique along with French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel, in from Paris for the event. Marino and Othoniel have been collaborating since 2004 and Othoniel created a show-stopping focal point: a dramatic sculpture of an entwined necklace that cascades down the center of the four-story central staircase, dazzling visitors upon entering the first floor. Specially commissioned, the impressive 60-foot tall sculpture evokes a strand of timeless pearls, a nod to the pearl necklaces so dear to Mademoiselle Chanel. A stunning piece crafted in mirrored stainless steel and gilded glass beads, it appears as though magically suspended from the ceiling, visually drawing the eye upwards to the top of the boutique.

The New York City flagship seamlessly extends the brands presence from the inside out with a striking glass facade covering six stories; the interior retail space has been expanded from three to five floors. Notably marked by its graphic exterior composed of white printed glass panels framed by a thin black metal grid, Marinos design for the facade exudes the spirit of CHANEL referencing the brands color palette while presenting an abstraction of its emblematic tweed.

Guests transitioned to the nearby Lobster Club for dinner, also designed by Marino and located in the historic Seagram Building. Responsible for the architectural and interior design, Peter Marino conceived The Lobster Club as an art-infused, colorful, playful counterpoint to The Pool and The Grill upstairs. Original artworks, staff uniforms, custom textiles, tabletop design, and brand identity were also developed by Marino, from his Manhattan studio.
Peoria County joins the Illinois Purchasing Group In addition to our time savings, our valued vendors can now access not only our open bids, but those from other municipalities, counties and school districts.

Peoria County announced that it has joined the Illinois Purchasing Group. BidNets Illinois Purchasing Group helps local governments, such as Peoria County, post, distribute and manage RFPs, quotes, addendums and awards online. The Illinois Purchasing Group provides notification to registered vendors of new bids related to their industry, and any addenda and award information from participating agencies across Illinois online at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/illinois.

Peoria County joined the Illinois Purchasing Group in December 2018. There was a need for Peoria County to automate their purchasing process to save time, increase competition and achieve cost savings over the traditional paper-based bid process. The Illinois Purchasing Group streamlines the creation and issuance of bid requests, supplier response submission and the awarding of bids. By providing a single, online location for managing sourcing information and activities, local Illinois government agencies minimize costs and time delays associated with the procurement process.

Peoria County now has access to an extensive vendor pool, thereby enhancing competition without increasing distribution costs. In addition to the existing vendors on the Illinois Purchasing Group, all vendors looking to do business with local government agencies can register online: https://www.bidnetdirect.com/illinois/peoriacounty. Peoria County invites all current vendors not already registered on the Illinois Purchasing Group to do so today.

Registered vendors can access bids, related documents, addendum and award information. In addition, the Illinois Purchasing Group provides a value-added alert service to notify vendors of new bids targeted to their industry and all addenda associated with those bids.

We look forward to being able to improve our efficiency by using the Illinois Purchasing Group. In addition to our time savings, our valued vendors can now access not only our open bids, but those from other municipalities, counties and school districts throughout Illinois. We invite all of our current vendors to register, said Jim Smith, Purchasing Director of Peoria County.

Vendor benefits include:

-Receive targeted bids

-Receive bid deadline reminders

-Notification of term contract expiration

-Access a single point of entry for all participating agency bids

-Contact with a dedicated vendor support team

Vendors may register on the Illinois Purchasing Group at https://www.bidnetdirect.com/illinois/peoriacounty. Vendors may also contact BidNets vendor support team at 800-835-4603 option 2 with any questions regarding registration on the bid system.

Other local Illinois government agencies looking to switch from a manual bid process, please contact the Illinois Purchasing Group for a demonstration of the no-cost sourcing solution.

About Peoria County:

Known as the Heart of Illinois, Peoria County is at the center of a multiple county region along the Illinois River midway between Chicago and St. Louis. Peoria County, Illinois (population 182,495) combines big city assets with a small town lifestyle and is an attractive location for new businesses. The region's central location and moderate population encourage local economic growth and support a variety of recreational and cultural opportunities.

About the Illinois Purchasing Group:

The Illinois Purchasing Group is a part of BidNets regional Purchasing Groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. With years of input from procurement professionals, BidNet specifically developed the bid system to fill the need for a robust bid and supplier management solution for local government agencies. BidNet runs 40 regional Purchasing Groups used by over 1,300 local government entities. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit https://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers
"The State of Oregon has a long history of being on the leading edge of healthcare innovation. This is particularly true of its recognition of the naturopathic medical profession, and its confidence in the quality of NUNM medical education, clinical training and care." Tafflyn Williams-Scott

The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) has awarded National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) a biennial grant of $250,000 to provide educational scholarships for a select group of naturopathic medical students through the Scholars for a Healthy Oregon Naturopathic Physicians Opportunities (SHONPO) program. Upon graduation, the student recipients agree to provide healthcare services as primary care practitioners to Medicaid patients in medically underserved areas of Oregon. The SHONPO program provides each naturopathic student up to $35,000 per year through graduation.

The scholarship funds were made available by the Oregon legislature and OHA in 2017 as a healthcare incentive program to address lack of access to health care in underserved communities. While a small number of states offer financial incentives to naturopathic doctors (NDs), Oregon is the first to offer scholarships to retain its most promising future naturopathic doctors to address the medical practitioner shortage.

Tafflyn Williams-Thomas, MBA, NUNMs director of Career Services, who is overseeing the launch of the SHONPO scholarships, said four NUNM students have been identified as the inaugural award recipients. We were looking for students with the vision, skills, experience and commitment necessary to address the needs of medically underserved Oregonians for this landmark program. We are delighted to announce that naturopathic medical students Kelsey Barnett, Andrea Bustamante, Maya Rios, and LaKota Scott all submitted exceptional applications that far exceeded that criteria.

A PERFECT CONFLUENCE OF NEEDS AND GOALS

The NUNM scholarship awardees may choose to practice in any of the areas designated by OHA as an underserved area at the time of graduation. Those areas are defined as falling below the median threshold of unmet needs. A majority of NUNMs naturopathic students are often motivated to practice medicine due to healthcare inequity and lack of access to healthcare for underserved populations, but for NUNM student LaKota Scott, the SHONPO scholarship addresses a more personal and deeply held goal. Raised in Tuba City, Arizona, located on the northwest side of the Dine (Navajo) Nation north of Flagstaff, Scott grew up volunteering in the hospital there and has long aspired to practice medicine within indigenous communities.

Noting that the scholarship grant will alleviate the burden of paying her last two years of tuition and fees, Scott believes the scholarship also has a number of other important advantages, including preceptorship opportunities through the OHAs Office of Rural Health. After completing her residency program, Scott is planning to meet her OHA scholarship obligation on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation.

Scott said that her volunteer service in her hometown hospital reinforced her desire to be a medical practitioner. She remembers that she was asked to be an interpreter for many of the Dine-speaking patients who entered the hospital. I realized that they needed someone who understood not only their language, but their cultural values and belief systemsthat was missing in the care they received from non-native medical providers. Naturopathic medicine resonated with the way I grew up and the way I understood healing culturally.

Scott is looking forward to her future career in Oregon. Im very thankful for the opportunity to expose Oregons tribal communities to naturopathic medicine, she said. The SHONPO scholarship has already altered her future plans, Scott said, noting that originally she planned to return directly to Arizona. Ive shifted my career plans to stay in the Pacific Northwest after graduation and am now focusing on studying to practice family medicine.

OREGON'S HISTORY OF SUPPORT FOR NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE

Williams-Thomas notes that Oregon has been a leader in naturopathic medicine since 1927, when it first awarded licensure to NDs in the state. Said Williams-Thomas, The State of Oregon has a long history of being on the leading edge of healthcare innovation. This is particularly true of its recognition of the naturopathic medical profession and its confidence in the quality of NUNM medical education, clinical training and care. From expanding our pharmaceutical formularies in 2009, to large grants from the Oregon Health Authority to treat patients, to recognizing our clinics as top-tiered Patient-Centered Primary Care Homes, NUNM has been fortunate to build a strong alliance with our partners at OHA. Were particularly grateful for the SHONPO scholarships that directly benefit our students.

NUNM has graduated more than 2,500 NDs since 1956. NUNMs accredited naturopathic program is an intensive four-year medical degree. The first two years are focused on biomedicine courses: anatomy, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, pathology and physiology. Students begin clinical observations and preceptorships in their first year. They also take more than 300 hours in nutrition alongside a comprehensive study of the microbiome. The objective is to incorporate nutrition as a fundamental part of every clinical diagnosis. In addition the program also includes botanical medicine, pharmaceutical medicine, midwifery, minor surgery, mind-body medicine and physical medicine, among other modalities.

Naturopathic medicine provides safe, cost-effective and preventive health solutions for minor, chronic and acute conditions. The goal of a naturopathic doctor (ND) is to identify and treat the root cause of a patients health complaint by combining natural therapies with modern science to help facilitate the bodys inherent ability to restore and maintain optimal health.

To learn more about SHONPO, visit studentservices.nunm.edu/shonpo-scholarship/. To learn more about NUNMs naturopathic medicine program, visit: nunm.edu/programs/nd/.

ABOUT NUNM

Founded in 1956, NUNM is the oldest accredited naturopathic medical school in North America and the leader in natural medicine education and research. In addition to three undergraduate degrees in health sciences, NUNM offers a number of doctoral and masters degree programs in naturopathic and classical Chinese medicine, nutrition research, mental health, global health and Ayurveda, and will soon launch an online Masters of Nutrition degree. NUNM Institutes provide community education seminars, workshops and conferences. NUNM Health Centers, the SIBO Center for Digestive Health, and NUNMs affiliated Portland metro community clinics provide healthcare services to thousands of patients each year. Visit nunm.edu for more information.

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Today

Partly cloudy. Hot. High 94F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Mostly sunny skies. High 88F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 22)  Residents of Maguindanao province voted "yes" for the creation of a new Bangsamoro autonomous region.

With a voter turnout of 93.63% (608,846) on Monday, 599,581 voted "yes," while 9,096 said "no" to the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Commission on Elections and the Maguindanao Plebiscite Board of Canvassers confirmed Tuesday.

The provincial board said ballots of 36 municipalities have been canvassed. Elections results are still to be officially declared by the National Board of Canvassers.

Maguindanao, along with other provinces in the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), on Monday took part in a plebiscite to determine the areas that would make up the proposed Bangsamoro ARMM.

The tally excludes Cotabato City, which is not an official part of ARMM but hosts its regional offices and line agencies.

In a partial, unofficial Comelec tally of the Cotabato City plebiscite, the "yes" vote also leads by a 7,000 margin as of publishing time.

Meanwhile, residents of Marawi City in Lanao del Sur also overwhelmingly ratified the law.

READ: The Bangsamoro plebiscite: Things you need to know

President Rodrigo Duterte in July announced he signed the Bangsamoro law, which is envisioned to end the decades-long conflict and rebellion in Mindanao.

Comelec is scheduled to hold another plebiscite on February 6 for Lanao del Norte excluding Iligan City, North Cotabato and the 28 areas which petitioned for inclusion into the new Bangsamoro region.
NRD Ionmaster

NRD will be joining over 9,000 professionals in the electronic manufacturing industry providing products that address static control needs at IPC APEX Expo 2019; the largest electronics manufacturing event in North America. You can find NRD at booth #1605, offering unique solutions for both their alpha and corona technologies to exhibitors and attendees January 29-31 at the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA.

For many organizations in electronics manufacturing industries, the biggest challenge they face is managing the static charge in their environments. This electrostatic discharge can short the devices and cause latency failure, resulting in production downtime, lost revenue and jeopardized client relationships.

It is NRDs mission to work with their customers to evaluate the most effective, reliable, and safest solution based on their companies manufacturing goals. Due to the nature of the electronic manufacturing environment, most solutions utilize corona static control technologies. NRD is the only company that provides safe and effective alpha and corona solutions, uniquely designed to fit seamlessly into your work environment with the users comfort in mind.

At the show, NRD will be showcasing some of their newest and most popular products from 2018. They will also be highlighting their soon-to-be released smart ionization system, Ionmaster Quality Management System (QMS). The Ionmaster QMS is ideal for the electronic manufacturing marketplace, enabling customers to monitor and better ensure their ionizers are at optimal performance levels. NRD will be providing a preview of the immediate benefits companies will capture with this system for those who stop by booth #1605.

About IPC APEX EXPO

IPC APEX EXPO 2019 is a five-day event like no other in the printed circuit board and electronics manufacturing industry. Professionals from around the world come together to participate in the Technical Conference, Exhibition, and Professional Development, Standards Development and Certification programs. These activities offer seemingly endless education and networking opportunities that impact your career and company by providing you the knowledge, technical skills and best practices to address any challenge you face.

Learn more at http://www.ipcapexexpo.org/html/default.htm

About NRD

For nearly 50 years, NRD has been a global supplier of devices that eliminate electrostatic discharge in environments such as R&D, laboratory, technology, industrial applications, and automotive, as well as specialty sources for ECD, IMS, and more. They service each industry and static concern uniquely with a customer-first approach and are the only company in the world that offers both alpha and corona static control solutions.

For more information about NRD, visit https://www.nrdstaticcontrol.com/

Or

Contact us at sales(at)NRDLLC(dot)com and well help you find your unique solution.
I am incredibly grateful to have learned from this distinguished faculty2018 LTC Power Lawyer Program Participant

Pendulum, LLC and the Long Term Care (LTC) Risk Legal Forum are proud to announce the continuation of the LTC Power Lawyers program. Nominations for its Class of 2019 are now being accepted.

Now in its third year, LTC Power Lawyers is a one-of-a-kind, innovative educational program designed specifically to train new lawyers in the intricacies of long term care trial practice. Students work on practical trial skills and receive instruction from an esteemed faculty of seasoned trial lawyersall with at least 15 years of experience in this specialized of law.

The six-month program includes an opening eight-hour in-person session in the spring and a final, eight-hour in-person summer session and graduation ceremony. At both of these daylong sessions students are afforded the opportunity to network with in-house counsel as well as risk management, compliance, and insurance professionals from across the LTC spectrum. In addition, there are five one-hour webinars taught by faculty members, in-house counsel, and insurance professionals in the industry.

All members of the LTC Risk Legal Forum are eligible to nominate a young lawyer to join this program. For information on joining the Forum, please call (888) 803-4447. If you are already a Forum member and wish to nominate an individual for the LTC Power Lawyers, please email Adminstrator@LTCPowerLawyers.com.

The opening session will be held March 21, 2019 at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada. All nominees must be submitted to Dan Moriarty and Ric Henry by Monday, February 11, 2019.

Pendulum, LLC is a full-service, independently owned risk management company providing consulting services, tools, products, and training to healthcare providers of all types. The companys mission is to assist organizations with minimizing professional and general liability risk and strengthening defensibility. Its unique third-party approach in evaluating potential risk provides clients with innovative risk management strategies. https://www.wearependulum.com/

The LTC Risk/Legal Forum was designed and built specifically for risk management and legal professionals in the LTC industry. The Forum is a secure environment where industry professionals can share information with each other and the defense firms who represent them across the United States. https://ltcrisklegalforum.com/


Scale Computing, a market leader in edge computing, virtualization and hyperconverged solutions, closed out a record-breaking sales year in 2018 with hundreds of new customers and successful installations, major funding and a portfolio of new partnerships that is adding fuel to the companys blistering growth around the world.

Topping off last years news was significant funding from new and existing investors, a new global partnership and joint product with Lenovo for an edge infrastructure solution on Lenovo servers, and a partnership with APC by Schneider Electric to deliver the Data Center in a Box solution. These milestones are driving Scale Computings growth worldwide with retailers, distributed enterprises and SMBs. The company also made customers successful in its first full year of its partnership with Google on the joint hybrid-cloud solution, HC3 Cloud Unity, to move application workloads freely in the cloud or on-premises for disaster recovery.

We have secured the financial and structural foundation to take Scale Computings edge computing software platform to all new levels, said Jeff Ready, CEO and co-founder of Scale Computing. We are proud to be recognized as the top hyperconverged solution for many organizations, as evidenced by our high ratings and reviews as a top hyperconvergence solutions provider on Gartner Peer Insights, Spiceworks, TechValidate and TrustRadius. Customers want to reduce both complexity and cost from their IT infrastructure, and Scale Computing has the proven solution to solve these customer problems and continue our worldwide growth.

Other key partnerships formed by Scale Computing this year include:



Schneider Electric to launch Micro Data Center in a Box in North America.

Ingram Micro to expand its distribution agreement to provide customers with an all-in-one hyperconverged solution across the United States and Canada.

ALSO to integrate Scale Computings HC3 software with Lenovo servers to expand the use of hyperconverged solutions across Europe.

Amnesium, a software, hardware and services provider to introduce Scale Computing to Australian federal government agencies.

Axiz to deliver Scale Computings HCI solution to South Africa.

BCDVideo to deliver turnkey hyperconverged solutions based on Scale Computings HC3 software to its global network of security integrators and OEM customers.

Kokusai Sangyo Gijutsu (KSG) to expand sales in Japan. KSG, a value-added distributor and a leader in delivering IT solutions, is reselling Scale Computings innovative HC3 solution throughout Japan.

Key award recognitions:



Scale Computing also expanded its MSP partner program with a new flexible pricing model that reduces CapEx through a per-node-per-month OpEx subscription license. The program was created to boost partner profitability and enable partners to sell additional vital services that will meet growing customer requirements around Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS), Infrastructure as-a-Service (IaaS) and Remote Management as-a-Service (RMaaS).

About Scale Computing

Scale Computing is a leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions for customers around the globe. Scale Computings HC3 software eliminates traditional virtualization software, disaster recovery software, servers, and shared storage, replacing these with a fully integrated, highly available system for running applications. Using patented HyperCore technology, the HC3 self-healing platform automatically identifies, mitigates, and corrects problems in the infrastructure in real-time, enabling applications to achieve maximum uptime even when local IT resources and staff are scarce, making it the ideal application platform for distributed enterprises, global retailers, and SMBs alike. More at http://www.scalecomputing.com.
Ideum is pleased to announce its Exploring Pueblo Pottery exhibit has been selected for a 2019 German Design Award and is shortlisted for the One Show 2019.

Award recipients for the 2019 German Design Award are honored for pioneering contributions to the German and international design landscape. The awards jury is comprised of esteemed designers and artists charged with selecting projects that advance the design-oriented community. The jury noted that Exploring Pueblo Pottery is a tremendously stimulating combination of innovative technology and history, seemingly encouraging playful learning. The jury also attributed special mention for both Excellent Product Design and Computers and Communication.

It is an honor to be included among such illustrious artistic projects, said Jim Spadaccini, Ideum Founder and Creative Director. Not only was Exploring Pueblo Pottery an exciting technical challenge for our team, but we were able to create a deeply immersive experience. Seeing the pot come alive with the designs of Michelle Lowden is inspiring, and it provides an ideal interactive platform to learn about the ancient Pueblo culture the motifs illuminate.

This marks the second major design award for the projection mapping exhibit. In 2018, Exploring Pueblo Pottery received a Global Design Award from SEGD, the Society for Experiential Graphic Design.

The German Design Awards ceremony will take place at the Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, on February 8, 2019. Winners of One Show 2019 will be announced in March 2019.

Visit Ideums website for more details:

https://ideum.com/portfolio/experimental-pottery-project

Read our blog post for more information about the projects 2018 Global Design Award:

https://ideum.com/news/pottery-design-awards

Visit our Flickr page for high-resolution images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ideum/albums/72157688283898141

Watch our YouTube video to see the exhibit in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc0Mtpdcedc&t=14s

About Ideum

Ideum is an innovative digital design company based in Corrales, New Mexico. For the past decade, Ideum has designed and produced integrated and hardened large-scale multitouch tables and touch walls for museums, educational institutions, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies. In addition to its established line of touch tables, the firm focuses on creating the next generation of visitor experiences that blend the physical and digital realms. Ideum has partnerships with Barco, Christie Digital, Crestron, LG, and others, allowing its creative work to have direct access to leading-edge equipment and specialized hardware expertise. For more information, please visit http://www.ideum.com.

###

For more information:

Ideum Inc.

Phone: 505-792-1110 x1

sales (at) ideum (dot) com
Momenta Partners are uniquely positioned to secure and place exceptional executive talent, for the Connected Industry and Digital Transformation.

Momenta Partners, the leading global advisory, talent, and ventures firm focused on Connected Industry, announced today the appointment of Andy Matthy as a Partner in their Executive Search practice.

Andy Matthy spent the past five years with Hobbs & Towne as a Vice President in their Executive Search practice. He specialized in the sustainability, infrastructure and renewables markets, with a specific focus on the utility scale sector and assisting early-stage organizations with the commercialization of emerging technologies. He has experience placing executives across a variety of disciplines, including project finance, project development, commercial management, construction, PSCM, engineering, and technology. Prior, Andy was a Senior Recruiter at Ajilon Finance.

Andy expands Momentas Executive Search team across the East Coast. His deep domain experience in Energy complements Momentas recently launched Professional Search practice, focused on placing talent that are designing and operationalizing disruptive technologies including data science, blockchain and augmented reality, as well as associated operational and commercial teams  across Connected Industry.

The digital transformation of energy over the past decade is now expanding into broader industrial markets. Renewable energy projects are multiplying rapidly with emerging technologies driving new projects, creating new roles at a rapid rate and optimizing how energy companies operate.

According to Momentas Managing Partner of Talent, Jonathan Moulton:

"We are delighted to welcome Andy Matthy to our team. He brings a wealth of Retained Executive Search experience and industry knowledge, executing cross-functional mandates across renewable power, energy, infrastructure, and broader connected industries. Andys track-record of placing CxOs across some of our key markets and growth areas make him the perfect fit to add new and immediate value to our team and clients."

According to Andy Matthy:

"Momenta Partners are uniquely positioned to secure and place exceptional executive talent, who can drive innovation and growth in Connected Industry and Digital Transformation. Their work has been impressive across disruptive and high-growth companies, and I am excited to be joining the team.

About Momenta Partners:

Momenta Partners are Connected Industry Growth Partners, with industry-leading Advisory, Talent, and Ventures practices, accelerating the growth of Connected Industry companies globally since 2012. For more information, visit http://www.momenta.partners, join the @MomentaPartners conversation or contact info (at) momenta (dot) partners.
We are extremely fortunate to have a leader of Michaels caliber join our Sr. Management team. He brings a wealth of Human Resource experience to our rapidly growing company.

Michael Heiner recently joined Green Lawn Fertilizing as its Corporate Director of Human Resources. As the new HR Leader of Green Lawn Fertilizing, LLC, Michael will oversee employee benefits, payroll, risk management, employee relations and all talent acquisition & development for both Green Lawn Fertilizing and Green Pest Solutions.

We are extremely fortunate to have a leader of Michaels caliber join our Sr. Management team said Matt Jesson, President. He brings a wealth of Human Resource experience to our rapidly growing company, which will help us immeasurably in our mission to be the leader in the lawn and pest industry by providing a superior customer experience.

Michael comes to Green Lawn Fertilizing with over 20 years of HR experience. He most recently was Corporate VP of Human Resources and Administration a large HVAC and plumbing company. Before that he spent over 14 years as VP of Human Resources for a leading food distribution company. At the food distribution company he provided HR leadership to a company which more than doubled in size during his tenure, which is something that is very likely to happen again with the growth trajectory that Green Lawn Fertilizing, LLC is currently experiencing.

Michael has a proven track record of building out successful HR teams and at Green Lawn Fertilizing he will be tasked with doing just that. The company has just recently hired two recruiters and is looking to add a HR / Payroll Manager to the mix. As the company continues to grow more new roles in HR will be created to support a growing staff.

Between Green Lawn Fertilizing and Green Pest Solutions, Michael will be overseeing a plan of 80 new hires in 2019. Setting up that many new employees with everything they need for successful onboarding will be a significant task. Green Lawn Fertilizing and Green Pest Solutions are currently hiring for multiple positions including lawn and pest technicians, sales, and customer service. Michael and team will be looking for top talent to fill those roles in order to execute on the company mission: to be the leader in the lawn and pest industry by providing a superior customer experience.

Green Lawn Fertilizing and Green Pest Solutions is an independent lawn and pest control company that was founded in 2004. Under the leadership of Matt Jesson, President and Owner of Green Lawn Fertilizing / Green Pest Solutions, the company has grown to over 130 team members and over 80 service vehicles in its fleet. They have a mission to become the leader in the lawn and pest industry by providing superior customer service. Over the last several years, highly reputable publications have taken notice of the company succeeding in that mission. For six consecutive years the company received the Inc. 5000 award for being recognized as one of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the America. In 2018, Green Pest Solutions was named "Best of Philly Earth-Friendly Exterminator" by Philadelphia Magazine and in 2017 they were named "Best Pest Control by Philly.com. In 2017, the company received the Customer Service Excellence Award by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
We are thrilled to have a new space that reflects the energy and enthusiasm of Lucas Groups D.C. team.

Lucas Group, ranked third on Forbes Best Professional Recruiting Firms list for 2018, announced that its Washington, D.C. office has moved to a new, larger downtown location. Located at 1110 Vermont Avenue in the Central Business District, the expanded office provides a contemporary and collaborative workspace for Associates in the Accounting & Finance, Legal, Military Transition and Human Resources (HR) practice areas to further connect with clients and candidates.

The fast-growing branch also plans to add a Manufacturing practice later this year. In a recent report by WalletHub, Washington, D.C. ranked No. 8 out of more than 180 cities as the best place to find a job in 2019.

The D.C. office has been on an amazing run, posting strong profits with great branch revenue growth year over year, said Jim Lose, Managing Partner of the Washington D.C. Military Transition practice. With its communal social area and conference facility, this state-of-the-art, collaborative office will allow our clients and candidates to more easily connect with us face-to-face and prepares Lucas Group to continue to attract elite talent in the D.C. area as the office further accelerates its growth.

Situated two blocks from The White House and in close proximity to public greenspaces, the building boasts high connectivity with a Walk Score of 98 and is a six-minute stroll from the Metrorail Blue Line, Orange Line and Silver Line via the McPherson Square station. On the first floor of the building, employees can also enjoy easy access to Starbucks and Lincoln, a chef-driven restaurant with seasonal American menu.

With the central downtown location of this building, our Associates can step outside to take a walk or grab lunch at any of the many nearby restaurants, say Carolina King, Chief People Officer of Lucas Group. We encourage our Associates to lead wholesome, fun and productive lives and here they can enjoy a new gym, a yoga studio that offers two free classes per week and an arcade/game room, for a bit of healthy competition during the day.

We are thrilled to have a new space that reflects the energy and enthusiasm of Lucas Groups D.C. team, said Ann Reiling, Managing Partner of the Washington D.C. HR Executive Search Practice. The new office will allow all of our divisions to grow individually, but still remain as one unified team and, with its outstanding amenities, it exemplifies our firm belief in work-life fit.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with 15 branches across the country, Lucas Group recruiters are able to source leading talent with unparalleled results. In addition to Washington, D.C., branch offices are located in Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Irvine, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Diego and Tampa Bay.

Lucas Group specializes in Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, Manufacturing, Military Transition and Sales & Marketing recruitment. Taking pride in the professional growth and career advancement of its Associates, Lucas Group provides clear career path trajectories together with the industrys most sophisticated onboarding and ongoing educational programming.

Lucas Group is North Americas premier executive search firm. Since 1970, our culture and methodologies have driven superior results. We assist clients ranging in size from small to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500 companies find transcendent, executive talent; candidates fully realize their ambitions; and associates find professional success. To learn more, please visit Lucas Group at http://www.lucasgroup.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Dr. Scott Hicks

Liberty University has announced that Dr. Scott Hicks, who has been serving as interim provost since July 1, 2018, has officially been named to the role of provost.

Hicks first served at Liberty as an assistant professor in 2007. He was named dean of the School of Business in 2012, where he led the creation of several new degree programs with over 65 cognates and/or concentrations, launched a Center for Entrepreneurship, developed strategic partnerships with global companies such as Adobe, Apple, Aruba, Cisco, and Oracle, and attained ACBSP accreditation for School of Business programs. He was named vice provost of graduate education in 2017.

Prior to coming to Liberty, Hicks spent several years in the oil industry and served as director of retail operations for Mansfield Oil Company, one of Americas largest Forbes 400 companies.

Hicks holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration with concentrations in Financial Management and International Business from Northcentral University and an MBA and B.S. in Business Management with specializations in Finance and Management from Liberty.

Hicks said he is honored to be able to continue to serve an institution that meant so much to his own success.

Liberty University is truly a special place to study, to live, and to work, Hicks said. I know what it cultivated in my own life, and I am grateful for the opportunity to lead others in advancing the mission of Training Champions for Christ and to serve people where they are, throughout the world. Like so many of us who work and teach here, I dont see it as a job, but as a calling. Its an amazing honor to be a part of this world-class institution and to witness Gods blessings on this university every day.

President Jerry Falwell Jr. said Hicks has used his background in the business world to meet the needs of college students today.

We are proud to name Dr. Scott Hicks our provost. He has a heart for our students and cares about preparing them not only for graduation, but also for successful, long-term careers, Falwell said. Dr. Hicks knows how to develop academic programs that match the demands of the job market and, most importantly, he understands our mission as a leader in Christian higher education.

As part of Libertys executive leadership team, the provost is the primary voice on academic matters for all residential and online programs. Hicks works with the administration to develop and implement the academic vision and values of the university, providing leadership to continuously improve undergraduate and graduate instruction and academic support services.

About Liberty University

Liberty University, founded in 1971, is the worlds premier Christian university, one of the largest private, nonprofit universities in the nation, and the largest university in Virginia. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 600 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. Over 300 programs are offered online. Utilizing its world-class infrastructure and Christian faculty, Libertys mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrows world.
Lendio Gives to Low-Income Entrepreneurs Through Kiva "By giving even a small boost to underserved businesses, we empower individuals to take advantage of opportunities. Small loans really do have a big impact.

Lendio announced today that through continued efforts to support business growth around the world, the Lendio Gives program has funded more than 5,000 Kiva microloans. To-date, Lendios employee contribution and employer matching program has provided more than $130,000 in loans to underserved business owners in 78 countries.

Kiva is an international nonprofit organization that connects borrowers and lenders in an effort to alleviate poverty and expand financial inclusion. One hundred percent of every dollar lent to Kiva turns into micro credit for borrowers who cant be serviced by traditional banks.

Recognized by Banking Technology for dedication to the industrys betterment, Lendio Gives aims to close the financial gender gap for women business owners. Lendio Gives allocates over 90 percent of total funds donated to loans for females or female groups in the developing world and beyond. Around the globe, women-owned businesses often fail to qualify for traditional loans and must look beyond banks to access credit.

When the bank says no, micro credit becomes the answer for many of the worlds entrepreneurs, said Brock Blake, CEO and founder of Lendio. Lendio Gives was created to make a positive global impact. By giving even a small boost to underserved businesses, we empower individuals to take advantage of opportunities. Small loans really do have a big impact.

Lendio is the nations largest business loan marketplace. Committed to making access to capital simpler and quicker for the millions of small business owners in the U.S., Lendios mission to fuel the American dream goes hand-in-hand with Kivas goal of fueling economic growth through entrepreneurship. As such, for every loan facilitated on Lendios marketplace platform, Lendio donates a percentage of funds to Kiva to support global entrepreneurship. Lendio reinvests all repayments into reloans, furthering the impact of every dollar donated.

Lendio Gives top sectors for microloans include food, retail, agriculture, clothing, services and construction, and the top countries loaned to are Rwanda, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Peru. In less than three years, Lendio has become one of the fastest-growing Internal Business Groups on the Kiva crowdfunding platform, ranking among companies like PepsiCo, Hitachi, Apple and Google for total fundings. Lendio Gives funded 3,200 new loans in the last year alone.

Lendios participation in the Kiva microloan program starts with regular, generous donations from the majority of our 150 or so employees, said Blake. Many of our peers that give to Kiva have upwards of 100,000 employees, and its an honor for Lendio to be listed among them as we strive to support the dream of entrepreneurship.

For more information about joining the Lendio Gives Kiva lending team, visit http://www.kiva.org/team/lendio_gives.

For more information about Lendio, visit http://www.lendio.com.

About Lendio

Lendio is a free online service that helps business owners find the right small business loans within minutes. With a network of over 75 lenders offering multiple loan products, Lendios marketplace is the center of small business lending. Bringing all options together in one place, from short-term specialty financing to long-term, low-interest traditional loans, our technology makes small business lending simple and decreases the amount of time and effort it takes to secure funding. For every loan facilitated on Lendios marketplace platform, Lendio Gives, an employee contribution and employer matching program, donates a percentage of funds to low-income entrepreneurs around the world through Kiva.org. More information about Lendio is available at http://www.lendio.com. Information about Lendio franchising opportunities can be found at http://www.lendiofranchise.com.
Dr. Marianne Urbanski and Dr. Gregory Toback, Periodontists in New London, CT

Drs. Gregory Toback and Marianne Urbanski, leading periodontists serving New London, CT and Westerly, RI, have announced Shoreline Periodontics Synergy Study Club and Hygiene Study Club 2019 schedules. These continuing education courses hosted by Drs. Toback and Urbanski encourage advanced knowledge and continued development among area dental clinicians. Each session is devoted to helping dental professionals acquire and implement the latest techniques in periodontology to benefit patients with concerns such as tooth loss and periodontal disease.

Januarys Hygiene Study Club features keynote speaker, Dr. Rui Ma, who will present on the topic of Maximizing Non-Surgical Periodontal Therapy. Dr. Mas session will provide attendees with a better understanding of alternatives to traditional periodontal therapies. Participants can also earn three continuing education units (CEUs) at this meeting. The January Synergy Study Club Meeting, also available for three CEUs, will be led by Drs. Jeffrey Kozlwoski and Michael DePascale.

Later in the year, Dr. Jeffrey Rouse will speak at the Synergy and Hygiene Study Club on the subject of Could It Be an Airway Problem? The Story of Three Patients and Dr. Dean Vafiadis at the Synergy Study Club about Digital Technologies & Full Mouth Rehab Without the Stress. Both Dr. Rouses and Dr. Vafiadis workshops offer six CEUs to participants.

In November, Drs. Toback and Urbanski will host The Hygienists Role in Long-Term Implant Health for members of the Hygiene Study Club. Their three-hour talk will focus on the experiences they have had placing dental implants as periodontists serving New London, CT and Westerly, RI patients.

Those interested in learning more about either the Hygiene and Synergy Study Clubs by Shoreline Periodontics are welcome to visit http://www.shorelineperio.com. Memberships are available for the full year.

Individuals looking for periodontists in New London, CT and Westerly, RI areas, who concentrate on learning the most advanced technologies and treatment should contact Drs. Toback and Urbanski at Shoreline Periodontics to schedule initial examinations.

About the Periodontist

Shoreline Periodontics is a periodontal practice offering personalized dental care for patients since 1998 and is located in New London, CT and Westerly, RI. Leading board-certified periodontist, Dr. Gregory A. Toback, received his B.A. from St. Johns University and his Doctorate of Dental Medicine from the University of Connecticut. He also received advanced training in periodontics and dental implants at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Dr. Toback focuses on minimally invasive surgeries, offering LANAP and belongs to a small group of dental professionals currently providing the Chao Pinhole Surgical Technique for treatment of gum recession. Dr. Marianne Urbanski has been voted one of Connecticuts top dentists for more than seven years by Connecticut Magazine. Dr. Urbanski graduated cum laude from the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts where she earned a Bachelors degree in Biology. She also received her Doctor of Dental Medicine degree and her Masters of Dental Science degree from the University of Connecticut Dental School. Dr. Urbanski prides herself on offering caring, professional treatment to each patient. To learn more about Shoreline Periodontics and their dental services visit their website at http://www.shorelineperio.com or call 860-443-2428 for the New London, CT location, or 401-596-0000 for the Westerly, RI office.
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With a Digital Only subscription, you'll receive unlimited access to our website and e-edition. Our digital products are available 24/7 and are accessible anywhere, anytime.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please call our customer service team at 319-283-2144 or email circ@oelweindailyregister.com.
"It's a colorful and fun candy alternative to give as a Valentine that kids love," says Tina Navestad, Owner of The Crayon House.

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. Do you have an idea for your kid's class Valentine favors this year?

More schools are going candy free due to allergy and nutrition concerns. The Crayon House in Wyoming, PA has just created a rainbow heart crayon Valentine that is unique, creative, fun and ready to give.

"It's a colorful and fun candy alternative to give as a Valentine that kids love," says Tina Navestad, Owner of The Crayon House.

Consumers can find out more information by visiting: TheCrayonHouse.net

The Crayon House is an woman owned business that hand makes over 30 different shaped themed crayon party favors. Valentine hearts and rainbow name crayons are their most popular items. Children can get their name personalized in one of a kind rainbow crayons that come beautifully gift boxed and bakery string tied. They make great Valentine, birthday or Easter gifts that kids just love!
John Millard Ferren (American, 1905-1970)

Kaminski Auctions will hold an estate auction February 2nd and 3rd, 2019 starting at 10:00 AM featuring high-end furnishings from a Biltmore, Palm Beach residence. Painting highlights include a specially commissioned Emile Gruppe waterfront scene, two modernist paintings by John Millard Ferren and a collection of sculptures by Kahlil Gibran, the Lebanese-American, Boston-born artist, and sculptor.

The two John Millard Ferren pieces on offer, are abstract plaster reliefs signed and dated 1937 and numbered no. 33 and no. 29. John Millard Ferren (1905-1970) was an American born painter who was mostly self-educated. In his early twenties, he studied art for a brief time in San Francisco and also worked for a company that produced plaster sculpture. He later apprenticed to a stonecutter. He briefly attended art school in San Francisco. In his thirties, he moved to Paris and went on to study informally at the Sorbonne, and different art academies. Working in the 1920s and 1930s his contemporaries included such names as Hans Hoffman, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, and others.

His paintings were largely abstract works, and on his return to New York City in 1938 he became an integral part of a collection of artists labeled the New York School of abstract expressionism. During his time in Paris, he married the daughter of a Spanish artist, Manuel Ortiz de Zarate. Through his father-in-law and wife, he met the Spanish painters that were working in Paris at the time that included Picasso, Miro and Joachim Torres-Garcia.

In addition to the two Ferren paintings, there is also a Joachim Torres Garcia,

harbor scene on offer from a Boca Raton estate. Modern paintings continue with an interior view by the Swiss artist Rene Auberjonois (Swiss, 1872-1957), an abstract composition on board by Antoni Tapies, and a morphic abstraction, oil on canvas, attributed to Jean Arp.

Cape Ann art collectors will take note of a large Emile A. Gruppe (1896-1978), oil painting of the Town Landing at Gloucester Harbor, signed and dated 1948. A vibrant waterfront scene of fishing boats, nets, and fishermen setting out for the daily catch. The painting hailed from a Gloucester, Massachusetts collection and was purchased by Gruppe's lawyer directly from the artist and thence descended within the family. It is conservatively estimated at $12,000-$15,000. There is also a seascape with a boat in the view by the American artist Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908).

American art continues with a Frederic Remington watercolor and gouache, signed and dated 1890, titled "Comanche Brave" from the collection of Ralf Levy of Palm Beach, Florida.

An important collection of sculptures by Kahlil Gibran (American, 1922-2008), the Lebanese-American, artist, and sculptor includes a bronze head of a woman in a collar, signed K. Gibran valued at $3,000-$5,00, a bronze Delphic mask, and a bronze head on painted wood base among others.

Asian highlights include an Indian Kashmir carved stone sitting Buddha from approximately the 10th century. It stands twenty-three inches high by thirteen inches wide and is valued at $5,000-$8,000. There is also a Chinese blue and white porcelain jar from the Kangxi period, with cover and decorated flower pendant from a private New England collection and a large 18th-century Chinese enamel on copper Zun vase decorated with Hundred Deer motif standing eighteen inches high from the same collector.

Furniture in the sale features a 19th century Chippendale mahogany chest-on-chest, with dental carving, bat-wing pulls, and bracket feet from a Plymouth, Massachusetts collection, a 19th-century mahogany Chippendale bonnet-top chest and an antique Horner Brothers library table with carved griffins and hand-carved top.

From a Rome Italy estate comes several marble sculptures including an18th- century Italian marble torso representing Efebo Romano on a newer marble base, standing fifteen inches in height plus base, a 19th-century Italian marble skull with an iron spike on the top to hold a candle, used for Masonic rites, and a carved marble bust on a marble pedestal standing nineteen inches overall.

Jewelry and silver entries include a South Sea pearl necklace with 14k gold clasp and twenty-eight lustrous white pearls measuring 12.5-13.5 mm each and one center pearl measuring 16.9 mm. 16" long from a Kaunakakai, Hawaii collection and a sterling silver six-piece tea service by Bailey, Banks & Biddle Co., in the Paul Revere pattern.

A collection of antique and semi-antique Persian Kazvin, Bibi Kabad, Kashan, Heriz, and Shirvan rugs from various estates, scrimshaw, coins, and decorative furnishings are available to view at our preview at the Kaminski Auctions gallery at 117 Elliott Street, Rt. 62, Beverly, Massachusetts. Preview hours are Monday-Friday, January 28-February,1, 2019 from 9:00 AM -5:00 PM and days of the sale starting at 8:00 AM. The auction preview is available when the auction is live. For more information go to http://www.kaminskiauctions.com and sign up to bid online with KaminskiLIVE.


American IRA CEO, Jim Hitt Contribution limits are vital for investors because they help them plan out their investment year

A recent decision by the U.S. government to raise contribution limits on Self-Directed IRAs, Roth accounts, and other retirement accounts for the tax year 2019 could be a boon for Self-Directed IRA holders. Thats according to a recent post at American IRA, where the Self-Directed IRA administration blog detailed these contribution limit changes.

For example, the post noted, Traditional IRAs including Self-Directed IRAs saw increases of $5,500 in allowable contributions to $6,000 per year. The same was true for Roth IRAs, which includes Self-Directed Roth IRAs. The post did note that the annual catch-up contribution allowance for those aged 50 and older remains unchanged for the tax year 2019.

Why do contribution limits matter? These contribution limits can determine how much money an individual with a Self-Directed IRAor any IRA, for that mattercan put away toward retirement. And because IRAs come with special tax protections (such as a Roth IRA allowing money to grow tax-free), those differences can add up to vast sums of wealth over a lifetime of contribution.

People need to know when the contributions go up, said Jim Hitt, the CEO of American IRA. Contribution limits are vital for investors because they help them plan out their investment year. And with higher limits, investors who are taking a proactive approach to their retirement strategy will be able to put more money away for retirement. That means they will have a healthier nest egg when they reach retirement age. And when you are getting started with investing from an earlier age, those little raises in the yearly allowable contributions really add up.

The news includes the first raise in limits since 2013, which means that this represents an opportune time for investors seeking to put away money for retirement. The post, which can be found at the American IRA blog, further detailed other allowable income limits for deductible IRA contributions and Roth IRA contributions.

For more information about these changes, visit the blog at http://www.AmericanIRA.com or call 866-7500-IRA.

About:

American IRA, LLC was established in 2004 by Jim Hitt, CEO in Asheville, NC.

The mission of American IRA is to provide the highest level of customer service in the self-directed retirement industry. Jim Hitt and his team have grown the company to over $400 million in assets under administration by educating the public that their Self-Directed IRA account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more.

As a Self-Directed IRA administrator, they are a neutral third party. They do not make any recommendations to any person or entity associated with investments of any type (including financial representatives, investment promoters or companies, or employees, agents or representatives associated with these firms). They are not responsible for and are not bound by any statements, representations, warranties or agreements made by any such person or entity and do not provide any recommendation on the quality profitability or reputability of any investment, individual or company. The term "they" refers to American IRA, located in Asheville and Charlotte, NC.
In 1983 there was almost a nuclear war because of a false alarm warning from Soviet military computers.

Lounge Lizard is globally recognized as a top internet marketing company within the web design and development industry. Lounge Lizard's brandtenders are creative, tech-savvy, and passionate in developing innovative strategies that drive conversion for both startup and established clients of all industries, making them the "best of breed since 1998."

According to the Rand Corporation, AI could cause a nuclear war by 2040. That thought should have people concerned, and yet people are letting Alexa take over their house on a regular basis. While some might point to science fiction and say that it is just a concept used to write a good story, how can top minds in science all be wrong? Should we not be concerned about these warnings from people universally respected in their fields such as the late Professor Stephen Hawking or Elon Musk? Today the Internet Marketing Company, Lounge Lizard, predicts a war between AI and humans.

In movies such as iRobot or Her, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) displayed is ridiculously sophisticated compared to current capabilities. Robots are depicted with abilities such as creative thinking, the ability to learn, and a general level of consciousness. This level of AI is called AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, by experts in the field. There is also human-level AI, or HLAI, which is a level of intelligence between AI and AGI. Opinions vary about how close or far we are currently from attaining either HLAI or AGI, although one study from a recent HLAI conference found that 37 percent of those surveyed think HLAI will be created in the next 10 years.

That creation of HLAI is viewed by many as a problem. In 1983 there was almost a nuclear war because of a false alarm warning from Soviet military computers. The warning was incorrect, and Stanislav Petrov recognized this, preventing a catastrophe. Military applications of AI are concerning to many including Elon Musk who in 2017 joined with 115 other robotics experts to call for a ban on killer robots in an open letter to the United Nations.

It is not that the idea of artificial intelligence and bot-style programs shouldnt be used, but that there should be more thought placed on how they will be used along with a failsafe built to prevent a sci-fi movie like the Matrix becoming reality. For those who have not seen the movie the concept is that computers have taken over the planet after a devasting war versus humans and the machines farm humans for an energy source. Using AI to create autonomous weapons would create a new level in warfare that could be devastating to humanity.

There is also the concern of losing essential elements of what it means to be human. While using AI will amplify or increase human effectiveness, there is also a threat to autonomy. In medicine the ability of AI to diagnose and treat patients is viewed as a positive. Educational uses are also touted. However, the list of concerns related to the integration and increased use of bots and AI-styled machines is not small:



Loss of control  As processes are automatically performed based on data and algorithms, privacy and power of choice disappear resulting in less control.

Data abuse  AI tools are going to be in the hands of corporations and governments looking for either profits or power. Decisions being made will not always be based on values or ethics which is a concern as recent abuses by Facebook have already proven.

Job loss  Some jobs will completely disappear. While other jobs will be created in and around innovative technologies the offset of a technological revolution could widen economic divides.

Dependency  While technology does make aspects of life easier, at the same time it creates a dependence on technology and reduces survival, social, and cognitive skills. Consider how helpless people feel when they cannot access a smartphone.

The war we are predicting between AI and humans is one that will focus on solutions to perceived problems that will de-humanize us along with safeguarding ourselves from a technological takeover and that battle will be between the general population and the governments or corporations developing the AI. Collaboration, values, and people will need to be prioritized globally to ensure that the fears top minds in robotics and engineering do not come true. By collaborating globally and coming to common agreements for approaches to problems, maintaining control over complex networks, ensuring technology meets both social and ethical responsibilities, and prioritizing people, we can then win important battles and eventually the war.

Lounge Lizard Digital Marketing Agency is an award-winning, high-end design boutique specializing in website and mobile app development, UX/UI, branding, and marketing. This Long Island SEO Company excels in creating the ultimate brand strategy, fully loaded with expertly crafted visuals that work together to increase sales and effectively communicate a client's unique personality.

Media Contact: Ken Braun, Lounge Lizard, 631-581-1000, ken.braun(at)loungelizard(dot)com
By 2030, all baby boomers will be older than 65 years old, according to the Census Bureau. As the silver tsunami and seniors preference to age in place continues to raise demand for home healthcare, the leading national franchisor of home care, hospice and healthcare staffing, Interim HealthCare Inc., reveals its 2019 predictions for the industry. Here are a few of the trends forecasted:

1. Caring for caregivers will become increasingly crucial. The much-discussed caregiver shortage will only continue to surge, increasing the need to better tend to the mental, physical and emotional stress of those doing the caregiving. For better retention, not just recruitment, home care agencies need to engage in more effective and innovative tactics, including offering flexible work schedules, specialized training, recognition opportunities and mentorship.

2. Chronic care will come home. An estimated 117 million adults have one or more chronic health conditions, and one in four adults have two or more chronic health conditions. This increasingly large elderly population means there will be more patients with long-term care needswhether it be in homes or at a healthcare facility. Specialized care programs, such as Interims patient-centered dementia program in the home setting, will be in heavier demand and a bigger differentiator for home healthcare agencies.

3. Value-based care still front and center. The push for providers to transition from fee-for-service payment models to value-based care will accelerate. The importance placed on improving patient outcomes will become a major focus and driver for industry change for patients, providers and payers as we look to the future of healthcare.

4. Technology will improve care quality and industry efficiency. The importance of improving operational efficiencies through innovation will continue to play a significant role in patient care. Digital health technologies, such as artificial intelligence, voice enabled assistants and telemedicine, to name a few, will gain further traction in 2019. In fact, Forbes estimates that digital health tech catering to out of hospital settings will grow by 30% to cross $25 billion market globally by end of 2019.

5. Medicare Advantage will encourage greater education and partnership. CMS announced that some non-skilled in-home care services would be considered a supplemental benefit under the Medicare Advantage (MA) program in 2019. Although, most experts dont expect real MA opportunities to arrive until 2020 or possibly 2021. This news will likely result in more payer partnerships and increased need to educate consumers and insurers on the value of home-based care.

Interim HealthCare Inc. is unique in combining the commitment of local ownership with the support of a national organization that develops innovative programs and quality standards that improve the delivery of service. For more information or to locate an Interim HealthCare office, visit http://www.interimhealthcare.com.

About Interim HealthCare Inc.

Interim HealthCare Inc., founded in 1966, is a leading national franchisor of home care, hospice and healthcare staffing. It is part of Caring Brands International which also includes UK-based Bluebird Care and Australia-based Just Better Care, both well-known franchise brands in their countries. With more than 530 franchise locations in seven countries Caring Brands International is a global health care leader.

Interim HealthCare in the United States is unique in combining the commitment of local ownership with the support of a national organization that develops innovative programs and quality standards that improve the delivery of service. Franchisees employ nurses, therapists, aides, companions and other healthcare professionals who provide 25 million hours of home care service to 190,000 people each year, meeting a variety of home health, senior care, hospice, palliative care, pediatric care and healthcare staffing needs. For more information or to locate an Interim HealthCare office, visit http://www.interimhealthcare.com.
It comes down to respect; respect for other people and respect for yourself.

Ilene B. Price (http://ilenepricedesign.com), author of The ABCs of Non-Consent, recently participated in GBK's 2019 Golden Globes Luxury Celebrity Gift Lounge, where she gifted copies of the 40-page, short illustrated poem to celebrities, VIPs and select members of the press stopping by The Artisan Group exhibit.

The Gift Lounge took place January 4-5, 2019 at the LHermitage Hotel Beverly Hills, California. Attendees included Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, Danny Huston, director Joe Russo, Golden Globe nominee Spike Lee, Matilda Szydagis (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Danielle Macdonald, Luke Benward and Odeya Rush of Netflixs breakout hit Dumplin, and many others.

The ABCs of Non-Consent is intended to be used by parents, educators and counselors as a tool to help prompt discussion about what is, and what is not consent, using examples and scenarios that a teenager or young adult may find themselves in.

Ilene is best known for her whimsical watercolor and ink mandalas. When her daughter was about to start college, she began therapeutically jotting down her thoughts and fears and somehow, unplanned, her scribblings and doodles evolved into an educational book on consent. Her hope is that this book can help other parents speak to their kids, of all genders, about this important subject, starting as early as middle school.

In October, The Harvard Independent, Harvards weekly student newspaper since 1969, gave a positive review of The ABCs of Non-Consent, explaining the importance and the need to talk about rape culture in todays world.

The national organization Character.org asked Ilene to write a guest blog post about respecting others in relation to her book and teaching consent to young people, where she noted, It comes down to respect; respect for other people and respect for yourself. No one should ever make someone else feel fearful, forced or threatened, Ilene noted in a recent blog post.

View a one-minute video synopsis of The ABCs of Non-Consent on YouTube.

The ABCs of Non-Consent is available to purchase in paperback format on Amazon.com.

Members of the press and others who have inquiries or need additional information about The ABCs of Non-Consent, may contact Ilene B. Price at (201) 704-3502 or email her using the email link in the contact information box to the right. Click here for book updates.

For more information about The Artisan Group, visit theartisangroup.org.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ilene B. Price, founder of IlenePriceDesign.com, is an artist, designer, creative soul and mom, known for her mandalas, doodles and other whimsy. She studied graphic design at the University of Arts in Philadelphia and worked in the field for many years before turning to art in the form of watercolor and ink mandalas and other scribblings. Her artwork is a combination of the composition, symmetry, and color she learned in design, mixed with her organic and whimsical line work. The ABCs of Non-Consent is Ilenes first foray as an author.

Ilene is a member of the Creative Womens Collective and The Artisan Group.


Having recently led one of the most complex change initiatives for a much admired and recognized global brand, our clients will truly benefit from Kim's experience, valuable insights and perspective.

HudsonLake is pleased to announce that Kim Cerda has joined the firm to lead its Organizational Change and Culture practice. With more than 25 years of experience as a leader in corporate human resources strategies and internal communications, Kim adds a valuable new dimension to the firms work in this area.

Kim joins HudsonLake from Toyota Financial Services where she was most recently Vice President of Human Resources and Operational Excellence. In this role, she oversaw human resources strategy and operations, talent acquisition, organizational development and employee reward programs. She has proven experience identifying and leading company-wide process improvement initiatives, as well as award-winning cultural and operational transformations.

We are incredibly fortunate that Kim is joining HudsonLake, said firm founder and principal Cynthia Hudson. Having recently led one of the most complex change initiatives for a much admired and recognized global brand, our clients will truly benefit from her experience, valuable insights and perspective.

Throughout my time at Toyota, I worked with many firms and Ive seen how companies need clear, creative and impactful solutions to manage the changes facing them, Cerda said. Having been a HudsonLake client for several years, I am excited to now call myself a member of the HudsonLake team. I know first-hand the tremendous value HudsonLake brings to companies and am honored to be joining this team.

HudsonLakes Organizational Change and Culture practice brings a campaign-like approach, experienced counsel and a customized solution to address diverse leadership, operational and cultural transformations to companies ranging from global, Fortune 50 companies to smaller regional businesses.

Kim earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at Pepperdine University, and her MBA at California State University Long Beach. She served on the board of Linkages Women in Leadership (WIL) Institute and was the executive sponsor for female development programs at Toyota. Most recently, she was appointed overall project manager for that companys cultural transformation, field reorganization and headquarters relocation effort. The multi-year undertaking was recognized for excellence by i4cp as a 2018 Next Practice Award recipient.

About HudsonLake

HudsonLake represents best-in-class strategic, crisis and transformative workplace communications. Its clients gain unparalleled depth and breadth of experience through hands-on senior-level counsel and access to a full suite of communication and creative services. Clients most often turn to HudsonLake to manage multi-faceted, complex and highly sensitive initiatives. With client service hubs in Washington, DC, and Dallas, Texas and professionals located across the country, HudsonLake works across a broad spectrum of organizations and industries, including healthcare, airline, automotive, retail, higher education and financial services. To learn more, please visit our website at http://www.hudsonlake.com.
SmartBen Bridge is a powerful partnership program that allows our partner/vendor community to formulate unique connections with our solutions to meet and exceed our clients needs, notes Mike Ehrle, SVP of Strategic Partnerships, Hodges-Mace.

Benefits delivery innovator, Hodges-Mace, LLC, announces the SmartBen Bridge program (Bridge) for benefit partners and vendors. Bridge offers an exclusive and innovative partnership where stakeholders involved in the lifecycle of a client can connect to provide a superior benefits delivery experience for their mutual clients.

In todays tumultuous healthcare environment, the ability to meet the diverse benefit needs of companies requires Hodges-Mace to bring together a deep portfolio of capabilities from outside resources. Bridge is the culmination of extensive industry research and analysis into how Hodges-Mace, with the help of its partners and vendors, can best service the growing needs of its customers and brokers. The new program is designed to educate the market about the software and services that Hodges-Mace brings to the table and how the organization interfaces with various providers to deliver smarter benefit solutions.

Hodges-Mace currently has an extensive network of partners including brokers, carriers (both medical, and group/VB), payroll/HRIS firms, and value-added companies (i.e. FSA / COBRA / telemedicine, etc.). The company also works with a variety of vendors to help employers and their employees maximize their benefits coverage.

These stakeholders interact at the direction of a client to exchange information regarding the end consumer, because ultimately how data is exchanged and displayed to the employer and employee matters. Bridge takes all the disparate pieces of information and packages it into a smart, online tool to improve the employer/employee experience.

SmartBen Bridge is a powerful partnership program. It allows our partner/vendor community to formulate unique connections with our solutions to meet and exceed our clients needs, notes Mike Ehrle, SVP of Strategic Partnerships. We are excited about the synergies we will create through Bridge and the impact they will have on delivering an exceptional benefits experience.

A well-respected leader in the benefits space, Hodges-Mace has a reputation for developing and maintaining deep lifelong partner relationships, which has enabled the firm to scale its business and grow. The firm is on track to outperform its record growth year in 2018, which it attributes in large part to the strength of its thriving partner network.

The SmartBen Bridge program information resides on Hodges-Maces website. Multiple pages have been created for each stakeholder with individual pages into each vendor partnership. Bridge includes general education and FAQs along with how to become a partner. Also available on the site is information about some of the companys recent tech innovations in mobile and AI such as SmartBen NOW and Project ECHO.

To learn more about the SmartBen Bridge program and opportunities, contact Mike Ehrle at mikeehrle(at)hodgesmace(dot)com OR 404.941.3573

About Hodges-Mace

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Hodges-Mace, LLC is a leading provider of benefit management software and services. Their portfolio ranges from small-to-mid-size companies and Fortune 500 enterprises in a variety of industries, including education, energy, gaming, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. Hodges-Mace is a respected leader in the employee benefits industry and is dedicated to helping employees and employers make smarter benefits decisions through a blend of innovative technologies and intelligent service solutions. The company was named a 2018 Top 10 Cloud Solution provider by HR Tech Outlook Magazine. Employees voted Hodges-Mace One of the Best Companies to Work for in Georgia in 2016 and 2017. For additional information visit http://www.hodgesmace.com.
Im excited to be joining the team and look forward to helping grow EveryPig globally, as it is quickly becoming the go-to platform for pig farmers and veterinarians alike.

EveryPig, a groundbreaking pig-health management tool for pig owners, today announced the appointment of Polly Hoogeveen as the companys new Ambassador. In her new role, Hoogeveen will focus on expanding EveryPigs relationships with pork producers and swine veterinarians around the world to help them effectively manage their pigs health.

Hailing from Northwest Iowa, Hoogeveen is an award-winning marketing manager with extensive experience in the agriculture, cattle, and swine industries. Prior to joining EveryPig, Hoogeveen worked as National Calf and Heifer Marketing Manager at Cargill Animal Nutrition. Previously, Hoogeveen was the Senior Marketing Manager of Swine Biologicals at global animal health company Zoetis and spent time as the Associate Director of Biological Regulatory Affairs at Pfizer Animal Health, where she focused on USDA regulation and the launch of new cattle biologicals.

Polly brings a tremendous amount of industry knowledge and expertise to our company, said EveryPig Founder Chris Bomgaars. Her experience with industry giants such as Zoetis, Cargill, and Pfizer, as well as her broad network of established relationships with veterinarians and pork producers will serve as tremendous assets for EveryPig as we continue our trajectory of strong growth. But even more importantly, Polly also has genuine love for people, animals, and innovation, which makes her a perfect fit for our team.

Hoogeveen added: I am incredibly inspired by EveryPigs mission to improve animal health and increase transparency in our food chain by bringing new technology to the swine production industry. Im excited to be joining the team and look forward to helping grow EveryPig globally, as it is quickly becoming the go-to platform for pig farmers and veterinarians alike."

About EveryPig

EveryPig is a groundbreaking management app for pig owners, producers and veterinarians. Created by people who truly understand the challenges of pork production, EveryPig is the only software solution of its kind that helps save pigs lives by recognizing health issues in real time.

Utilized by some of the nations top pork producers, the sophisticated yet easy-to-use platform supports a wide variety of business models, legacy software integration, and can be accessed on any device, including smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. To learn more, visit: https://www.everypig.co
Goodman Automotive publishes latest model research page on new 2019 Chevy Colorado

The car-buying process can be a difficult one for drivers. Especially when it comes to research, it can be a challenge to learn the key elements of a new model in a concise and accurate way, all in one place. Goodman Automotive, a new Chevy, Nissan and Cadillac dealership in Glasgow, is trying to make the process a little easier with its latest online model research page breaking down the new 2019 Chevy Colorado.

The model research pages that Goodman Automotive publishes are aimed at helping drivers by providing them with accurate and important information about the latest models in the dealerships inventory, with this page breaking down the new 2019 Chevy Colorado.

The Chevy Colorado has seen a boom in popularity over the past handful of years as the midsize pickup truck class has become more popular to drivers looking for pickup truck capability but sedan-like efficiency and drivability. Those that are interested and would like to learn more about the 2019 Chevy Colorado can read the online review, here.

At Goodman Automotives website, http://www.goodmanautomotive.com, drivers will find more online model reviews of the latest Chevy and Nissan models including the new Chevy Silverado, Chevy Suburban, Nissan Altima, Nissan Rogue and more. Readers can also check out the dealerships online blog, which updates regularly with the latest news and information about Chevy and Nissan vehicles as well as information about the local Glasgow community.

Those that are interested in the new 2019 Chevy Colorado and would like to learn more can contact the dealerships staff directly online or by calling them at 27-678-1300. Drivers may also stop by the dealership in person at 1003 Happy Valley Road, Glasgow, with any questions or to schedule a test drive.
What's Included

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How To Get The Cheapest Car Insurance Drivers can easily lower how much they pay for car insurance. Our tips will surely help pay less, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com has released a new blog post that presents six ways in which drivers can save money on car insurance.

Obtaining cheaper auto insurance is not impossible. A driver should improve his cars safety rating, make smart coverage selection and look for several investment opportunities with the current provider. In order to get the best car insurance prices, follow the next tips:



Bundle multiple insurance services. Getting coverage for all households cars with the same company is a smart thing to do. Also, try to insure the home with the same company. Multi-car and multi-policies discount are great ways for saving money.

Ask for discounts. Car insurance companies offer a wide variety of discounts. Some of their discounts are the homeowner discount, good student discount, getting married, and many other discounts that are available in certain situations.

Keep a clean driving record. Safe driver discount can range from 10 percent to 20 percent. Maintain a clean driving record for a number of years, usually three to five years.

Consider UBI policies. Some companies offer usage-based programs. Good drivers can benefit from significantly discounted rates. All they have to do is to let the company monitor the client while driving. If the results are satisfactory, the company can customize prices and provide a better deal.

Consider raising deductibles. Drivers can lower full coverage costs by agreeing to pay a larger deductible. The larger the deductible amount he agrees to pay, the lower his insurance will cost.

Shop online for multiple quotes. The best way a driver can save money is by shopping online for quotes. Insurance rates are not the same on all insurance companies, and the best way to find out who has the best deal is by going to a brokerage website and fill in some quotes.

For more car insurance info, money-saving tips and free online quotes, please visit http://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com

Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
"KNOCK KNOCK will further enhance our credit union mission to improve the economic conditions of our members by providing them with a seamless digital experience. Justin Ganaden, EVP, Gather Federal Credit Union.

CU RateReset, the provider of Financial Product Reset, Acquisition and Retention Software, today announced that Gather Federal Credit Union has agreed to license its KNOCK KNOCK platform. The agreement with CU RateReset provides Gather Federal Credit Union with cost effective, simple, easy and attractive digital solutions to retain existing loans, as well as recapture and generate new loans.

CU RateResets three primary product programs on the KNOCK KNOCK Platform:

Reset  for Auto, Mortgage, Credit Cards, CDs, and Personal Loans:



CURateReset enables a member to reset existing financial products they have with a credit union without the cost and hassle of refinancing.

Credit union selects members for program inclusion based on their internal requirements and CURateReset automates the member outreach, reset, and the closing documentation.

For the credit union, CURateReset automates loan and CD retention so member Advocates can focus on expanding exisiting and developing new member relationships.

LoanGEN  for Loan Acquisition and Recapture:



Recapture member mortgages, auto loans, personal loans and credit cards at other financial institutions as well as showcase products to attract new members.

Members can design their custom auto payment and move their existing loans over to their credit union.

Digital Pre-Approval - for Credit Card, Auto Recapture, Home Equity Loans and new CDs



Credit union selects members to receive offer, submits data to CURateReset, a Personal URL (PURL) or MEO (Member Exclusive Offer) code is created, and placed into an email, traditional mail, social media or text message.

Members can select the options offered, execute the required documents, and authorize the balance transfer to their new account.

Digital account opening process

Pre-screen for one that is always on

We are very excited that Gather Federal Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the state of Hawaii, is the first Hawaii credit union to join our family of credit unions. said Keith Kelly, CEO CU RateReset. With the KNOCK KNOCK platform they will be able to give their members a digital experience that no one has yet experienced in the state of Hawaii.

We are very excited about bringing new and simpler solutions for our members that better enable them to do business with us,  said Justin Ganaden, Executive Vice President, Gather Federal Credit Union. KNOCK KNOCK will further enhance our credit union mission to improve the economic conditions of our members by providing them with a seamless digital experience.

About Gather FCU:

Gather Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in the state of Hawaii, has been serving members since 1954. As a member-owned financial cooperative, federally-chartered, NCUA insured, Gather Federal Credit Unions goal is to improve the economic condition of its members and to offer its services to all residents who are eligible to join the other credit unions on the island. Gather Federal Credit Union provides financial products and services to more than 35,000 members in Kauai and Niihau and has assets of over $508 million and combined membership savings exceeding $452 million. Learn more at https://www.gatherfcu.org/

About CU RateReset:

CURateReset is a CUSO that offers award winning products that allow the member to be in control of what have historically been routine administrative tasks that are time consuming for both front line and support staff. Both Reset Auto and Reset Mortgage, products successfully tested and adopted in the market, allow a member to reset the term of an existing auto loan, personal loan or mortgage based on credit union criteria. The software promotes loan retention at a very low cost, and provides a member with a favorable view of the member advocacy of the credit union. The Digital Pre-Approval Solutions make it simple and fast for a credit union to acquire or recapture member automobile loans, mortgage loans, personal loans and credit cards. For more information on CURateReset visit http://www.CURateReset.com.
CHSI Technologies

CHSI Technologies, Inc., a provider of enterprise-class insurance software, is pleased to announce that Friedlander Group Inc., the manager of pooled risk safety groups and the leader in workers compensation for a host and variety of businesses in New York, has chosen CHSIs Connections insurance management software to facilitate its claims management oversight.

CHSI Connections incorporates CRM, underwriting, billing, claims management, analytics, broker and policyholder portals into a single platform. Friedlander Group will leverage Connections CRM, Claims Management, Analytics and Policyholder Portal to engage with seven different safety groups currently underwritten by the New York State Insurance Fund.

Connections cloud-based system, with its flexible and modular design, will replace some of the functionality of Friedlander Groups current agency management system. In particular, notes Adam Friedlander, CEO of the company, Connections ability to generate reports that can be accessed through its safe and secure customer portal is a win-win for all stakeholders.

One of the things Im excited about is that well be able to access the data, create custom fields that do the math, analyze the data, generate the results and create reports on an automated basis, Friedlander says.

The new system will enable Friedlander Group to notify any of their 2,500 clients that their report is available on the portal and ready for review, replacing the current method of sending PDF files and emails. This adds value at all levels and reinforces to our customers that we are interested in creating efficiencies for them, too.

Lee Mashore, CHSI Technologies Chief Product Officer, notes that with Friedlander Group, the larger goal of the Connections system is to provide full lifecycle claims management. They will be able to seamlessly integrate with their existing system and provide access to the loss and claims data they need to quickly create loss runs, loss ratios, adjuster notes and frequency reports.

For Friedlander Group, the larger goal is to create efficiencies that will foster growth. We want to raise our level of capabilities, Friedlander says. This technology will enable us to aim for larger clients, do the reporting, prepare for our meetings, which now take considerable time, and employ the benefits of automation.

About Friedlander Group Inc.

Friedlander Group is the market leader for Workers Compensation solutions to retailers, wholesalers, restaurants, hotels, oil dealers, home health and residential care facilities in New York. In addition to reducing costs, Friedlander Group adds value with specialized services: experience modification premium recoveries, professional guidance in claims reporting and self-imposed deductibles, quarterly loss analysis reports, and specialized loss control services and training. As the manager of seven Safety Groups underwritten by the New York State Insurance Fund, Friedlander Group has saved thousands of our clients more than $500 million in workers compensation costs since 1992. For more information: http://friedlandergroup.com

About CHSI Technologies Inc.

CHSI Technologies is an award-winning global provider of affordable, core enterprise-class insurance software that is tailor-made to fit the unique needs of small property and casualty carriers, commercial Workers Comp carriers, municipal risk pools, captives and self-insured groups. Leveraging a flexible, hosted platform, CHSI Connections Management System solution enables efficient functioning across a variety of business units and combines policy and underwriting administration, CRM, billing and receivables, workflow, claims integration, BI Analytics, broker and policyholder portals into a single cloud-based insurance practice management system. Recognized by CIO Applications Magazine as a Top 25 Insurtech company for 2018, CHSI was also ranked No. 1 in Customer Implementation, Experience in the 2018 RMIS Report. CHSI Technologies also earned shortlist consideration in 2018 and top honors in 2017 from US Captive Awards in the category of Technology Initiative. For more information: CHSI Connections
One of the keys to providing excellent service to our clients is our ability to optimally leverage the vast pool of experience within our global firm.

Foundation Software Group, developer of the first enterprise experience platform for law firms, announced today that 21 Am Law 100 firms have selected Foundation Experience Management as their strategic solution for managing experience and expertise. These firms, including Akin Gump, Baker Botts, Blank Rome, Duane Morris, Hunton Andrews Kurth, McGuire Woods, Orrick, Pillsbury, Seyfarth, Sidley Austin, Skadden, and Troutman Sanders, provide evidence of continued market momentum for Foundation, the legal professions leading experience management solution.

Foundation is a knowledge management platform that helps firms leverage their collective work experience and the expertise of their lawyers. The solution provides a single comprehensive repository that is tightly integrated with existing business applications and, at the same time, supports the collection of additional information during the matter lifecycle.

One of the keys to providing excellent service to our clients is our ability to optimally leverage the vast pool of experience within our global firm, according to Aaron Ruleman, Chief Information Officer of Akin Gump. We chose Foundations configurable platform architecture because it enables us to continuously adapt to meet the evolving needs of our clients and lawyers over time. This solution will put all our collective work experience and talent  drawn from both internal and external data sources  more rapidly at our fingertips, ensuring that we continue to provide the best outcomes for our clients.

There is a growing demand for experience applications right now, added Barry Solomon, Executive Vice President of Foundation Software Group. Firms realize experience management is strategic and are looking for a new class of tools to drive business results. We have cultivated strong partnerships with all of our clients and are innovating together to realize our vision of Foundation as a mission critical platform for law firms and get more business value from their new and existing data.

Fueling Foundation adoption is the ease of which it can be integrated with external and internal data sources, including time & billing, human resources, matter intake, CRM, content management, and various other popular firm line of business applications. Moreover, many firms choose to integrate directly with their data warehouses or data lakes, providing more depth to firm analytics.

About Foundation Software Group

Foundation Software Group is a developer of next-generation software for large law firms. The company is led by an accomplished team of professionals who have a proven track record of success in law firm application development. The companys flagship offering is Foundation Experience Management, an enterprise software platform that helps firms leverage their collective work experience and the expertise of their lawyers. For more information, please go to http://www.foundationsg.com.
ESChat supports encrypted PTT communication between P25 public safety radio systems and smartphone devices on commercial wireless carriers.

ESChat today announced commercial availability of its latest server release, which includes enhanced P25 Inter-Sub System Interface (ISSI) support for P25 Phase II trunking systems. Also included in this release is support for TIA-102 compliant Key Management Functions (KMF) encryption re-keying.

ESChat had previously deployed ISSI based interoperability for P25 systems in March of 2017. Support for P25 encryption over ISSI was added later in the year, however the initial release required encryption key loading be performed via ESChats key-loader utility application.

This release is significant for a number of reasons, said Josh Lober, Chief Executive Officer, ESChat. On the KMF side, we have a number of existing deployments with contractual obligations to support OTAR re-keying, including the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport. As for P25 Phase II support, we have a number of orders pending which we are now able to fulfill.

Support for P25 Phase II over ISSI and KMF re-keying are the latest elements to a larger set of system enhancements. Other ESChat features recently added include; Client-Side Playback, Emergency Group Calls, Listen Only Group Members, Configurable Idle Timeout and Hierarchical Departments.

ESChat will be demonstrating these and other advanced Broadband Push-to-Talk features at the International Wireless Communication Expo (IWCE) in Las Vegas, NV, which takes place March 4th  8th.

About ESChat:

ESChat (http://www.eschat.com) is the leading solution for carrier independent Secure Broadband Push to Talk (PTT). ESChat includes AES-256 encrypted PTT voice and multimedia (text and image) messaging. ESChat also provides live and historical (bread crumb) tracking and mapping. ESChat is a FirstNet Certified solution, offering Quality of Service, Priority and Preemption (QPP) to FirstNet subscribers. ESChat supports Quality of Service (QoS) enhancements on the Verizon Wireless (via PNTM) and AT&T commercial networks (via DTM). Currently used by all branches of the U.S. Military as well as Federal, State and Local public safety agencies, ESChat is able to operate over and across any wireless network, including all commercial carriers, private 3G/4G networks and WiFi. ESChat supports interoperability with all LMR radio networks, including P25 via the native Inter RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI) protocol and DMR via the native Inter Application Interface Specification (AIS) protocol.

For more information, please visit http://www.eschat.com

Press Contact:

For ESChat

Holly Luban

media(at)eschat(dot)com
Dutch Bros donates more than $82,000 to fallen Officer Natalie Corona's memorial fund Were honored to see our communities come out and support someone whos sacrifice impacted them deeply, said Sean Provost, owner of Dutch Bros Davis, Dixon and Woodland. Our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Coronas family and friends in this difficult time.

26 Dutch Bros locations banded together on Thursday, January 17 to raise $82,602 for the memorial fund of fallen Davis Police Department Officer Natalie Corona, who was shot and killed on duty January 10. Officer Corona was a beloved regular customer at the Davis Dutch Bros location.

Were honored to see our communities come out and support someone whos sacrifice impacted them deeply, said Sean Provost, owner of Dutch Bros Davis, Dixon and Woodland. Our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Coronas family and friends in this difficult time.

Dutch Bros locations in Davis, Dixon, Woodland, Oakley, Vacaville, Fairfield, Roseville, Granite Bay, Sacramento, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Santa Rosa, Lodi, Elk Grove, Auburn, Rocklin, Live Oak, Napa, Sonoma and Stockton all participated in Thursdays giveback, donating $1 from each drink sold.

We are so moved by the generosity and support of our customers, said Nikol Grubbs, owner of Dutch Bros Sacramento. Officer Corona left a mark on our communities and we all feel the loss.

The funds raised by the giveback were directly donated to the Natalie Corona Memorial Fund organized by the Davis Police Department.
Avia Apartment Homes, Brook Creek Crossings and 2000 West Creek Apartments Win Big at RAMMY Awards Winning six categories this year, especially in such a competitive industry, is a reflection of the hard work our teams put in each and every day and their dedication to this company, said Andrew Chisholm, Director of DF Multifamily.

The RAMMY Awards from the Central Virginia Apartment Association, a division of the Virginia Apartment Management Association, is an industry awards program that recognizes the hard work and accomplishments of apartment professionals and apartment communities in the Greater Central Virginia Area. The awards ceremony took place Friday, January 18, 2019 at The Greater Richmond Convention Center. Categories included Resident Lifestyle Award, Best Amenity Package, Best Supporting Role, Marketing Professional of the Year, Community of the Year and many more. Drucker + Falk, a national multifamily investment company and full-service real estate/investment firm, was recognized with six awards for its hard work and achievements in the multifamily sector.

Founded in 1938 as a small business that grew to one of the nations largest property management companies, Drucker + Falks 2019 wins include, Best Amenity Package for Avia Apartment Homes in Henrio, Tax Credit Community of the Year for Brook Creek Crossings in Midlothian, Best Model Apartment and Community of the Year with Average Rents $1,401 and Above for the brand new 2000 West Creek Apartments in Richmond, and Marketing Professional of the Year went to Tarra Secrest, Drucker + Falks Mid-Atlantic Director of Marketing and Property Development. The prestigious overall winner Best In Class for the 2019 RAMMY award was presented to 2000 West Creek Apartments.

Winning six categories this year, especially in such a competitive industry, is a reflection of the hard work our teams put in each and every day and their dedication to this company, said Andrew Chisholm, Director of DF Multifamily. We are so proud of Tarra Secrest, our Marketing Professional of the Year and of all our DF employees who work tirelessly to ensure our residents receive over-the-top customer service and beautiful communities to call home.

Drucker + Falk offers comprehensive multifamily services designed to address the most challenging and complex owner needs. Drawing on eight decades of experience, vast corporate resources, and a team of some of the most highly skilled and certified property management professionals in the industry, Drucker + Falk employs nearly 1,000 team members and manages more than 30,000 apartments in nine states: Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, and Missouri.

ABOUT DRUCKER + FALK

Founded in 1938, Drucker + Falk is a full service real estate and investment firm managing a diverse portfolio of more than 30,000 apartment homes and approximately 3,000,000 square feet of office, retail and industrial space in nine states. In addition to managing a broad range of properties, including class A+ to affordable apartment communities, mixed-use and all types of commercial properties, Drucker + Falk partners with clients on developing new properties, renovating and repositioning assets, converting historic properties to unique, upscale apartment homes and offers commercial leasing and sales services. For more information see http://www.druckerandfalk.com.

ABOUT THE VIRGINIA APARTMENT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

The Virginia Apartment Management Association  the states retail housing industrys premier association  represents more than 130,000 apartment homes and communities. The Central Virginia Apartment Association, a division of the Virginia Apartment Management Association, hosts Central Virginia's largest multifamily rental housing annual event: the RAMMY Awards. Each year groups of out of town judges tour Central Virginia area communities, interview team members and have recognized the following apartment communities and staff as leaders in the field of property management.
GPS tracking device Installing anti-theft devices will help you get better rates, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains what anti0theft devices will help drivers get the cheapest auto insurance rates.

Car theft is still a major problem in the United States. However, the recent technological innovations, especially GPS tracking, has helped recover numerous stolen vehicles, the annual losses caused by car thieves are still several billion dollars. Insurance companies will provide discounts to clients who invest in cars safety and install the following devices:



Steering wheel lock. This device goes over the steering of the vehicle and locks it into one place so that no one that doesn't have the key can drive it. They are physically effective and act as a visual deterrent for most thieves.

Ignition kill switches. Kill switches prevent the car from starting by disabling the ignition switch. These systems are cheap to purchase and can be installed in hidden locations.

Audio alarms. Most alarms are activated by pressure or proximity. They can be really noisy and deter many thieves.

Vehicle identification number (VIN) etching. VIN etching allows the authorities to easily identify stolen cars. Usually, drivers engrave their VIN on their cars windows. In that way, if a car gets stolen, the thief will have to replace all windows. And some car-shops may ask questions and even alert the authorities.

Satellite tracking system. Drivers can hide a small device that is capable of emitting signals in order to track its location. A GPS device will help the police recover the car

Armored collars. These devices are installed around the steering column and prevent the thieves from hot-wiring the vehicle.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
This tool has greatly improved our retention and customer experience. We have over 80% of buyers coming back for their first appointment. Jim Leckie, Director of VW Operations, Humberview Volkswagen.

Dealer-FX, the leading customer experience management provider for automotive OEMs and their retailers, is announcing the release of Sales2Service, the automotive industrys first digital pre-delivery checklist mobile solution.

Sales2Service seamlessly integrates with all ONE Platform applications to create an end-to-end digital dealership. This mobile solution empowers the salesperson to provide a digital retail experience to the customer and ensures that their first service visit is booked through the integrated Online Scheduler. For the customer, the application validates their contact information, registers them in the OEM ownership portal and captures their communication preferences up front. With these details quickly sorted, it leaves more time for a detailed delivery and customers leave with a better understanding of their vehicles features.

The transition from sales to service is an often overlooked process at the time of delivery, said Gary Kalk, President and CEO of Dealer-FX. The Sales2Service mobile solution is an effective tool that will not only build credibility and trust with the sales customer but also will dramatically increase first service visit retention and customer satisfaction. Its another way that Dealer-FX is thinking forward and driving the digital transformation of our dealers.

Sales2Service enriches the ownership experience for the customer, increasing customer satisfaction and CSI scores. It also improves the process flow for the dealer, notifies management of customer concerns and helps them deliver on key performance indicators set out by each OEM.

This tool has greatly improved our retention and customer experience. We have over 80% of buyers coming back for their first appointment, said Jim Leckie, Director of VW Operations, Humberview Volkswagen.

The Dealer-FX Team will be at the NADA 2019 Expo in San Francisco, January 25-27, 2019, in booth #3625S to demonstrate the features and benefits of Sales2Service to OEMs and dealers.

# # #

About Dealer-FX

Dealer-FX is transforming how consumers interact with automotive brands and their retailers. Our customer experience management platform uses advanced data analysis and mobile applications to deliver convenience, transparency and trust to consumers, and increased efficiency, profitability, retention and brand loyalty to OEMs and dealers. The company is backed by the strength and resources of HGGC.

Dealer-FXs core offering, ONE Platform, is comprised of seven components, which along with the Service Dashboard, manage the entire service experience from initial contact through drive-off and to next visit. It delivers the best dealer service experience. Period.

Dealer-FX is the exclusive or preferred service technology provider for FCA, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Lexus, Audi, VW, Mitsubishi in the US and Canada, and has more than 2,500 dealership clients. Dealer-FX is based in Toronto, ON. For more information please visit, dealer-fx.com.
darslaw.com The addition of attorneys Alisa Cummins and Nora Murphy enhances our commitment to serving the Baltimore-Washington community with highly skilled, compassionate counselors who are dedicated to achieving the best possible client outcomes. - Paul G. Skalny, Esq., Managing Director

The law firm of Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC has announced that Alisa G. Cummins, Esq., as well as the other attorneys and staff from the Law Offices of Alisa G. Cummins, PC, will be joining its practice on or about February 1, 2019. Founded in 2003, Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny is an established and highly respected law firm with decades of experience helping businesses, entrepreneurs, families, and individuals achieve their goals. Offering a robust portfolio of legal services from business and transactional law, to real estate transactions, to civil litigation, to estate planning, probate and trust administration and more, the firm is a leader in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

The Law Offices of Alisa G. Cummins, PC, has also enjoyed a prominent legal presence in the region and its attorneys possess significant knowledge and experience in the most pressing family-related legal issues, including child custody, child visitation, child support, property division and spousal support. Founder Alisa G. Cummins, Esq., who will lead the Family Law practice group, together with Associate Nora H. Murphy, Esq. and Paralegal Kelly A. Wilson, will be joining Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny. The new organization will allow the firm to further expand its suite of legal services and better serve its clients, particularly those who require strong representation in challenging family law situations.

Were keenly aware of how difficult it can be to deal with family law matters, said Paul G. Skalny, Esq., Managing Director of Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny. The addition of attorneys Alisa Cummins and Nora Murphy enhances our commitment to serving the Baltimore-Washington community with highly skilled, compassionate counselors who are dedicated to achieving the best possible client outcomes.

The merger of The Law Offices of Alisa G. Cummins, PC, into Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, together with the merger of Farrell & Gunderson into the firm at the end of last year, are all part of the firms strategic plan to better serve the legal needs of businesses, entrepreneurs, families, and individuals in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

About Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC: Founded in Columbia, Maryland in 2003, the attorneys of Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, LLC provide clients with the expert legal guidance, support and representation they need to achieve their goals. For decades, their experienced attorneys have worked closely with thousands of businesses, organizations and individual clients. The firm offers a full portfolio of legal services, ranging from business and transactional law, to civil litigation, to estate planning, to probate and trust administration. For more information about Davis, Agnor, Rapaport & Skalny, please visit the website at https://www.darslaw.com or call 410-995-5800.
The styles at this year's shows were almost as minimalistic as the Critics' Choice Awards logo. Brands that use quality material to create their pieces can produce timeless collections that never go out of style.

A January 14 article on Womens Wear Daily covers the fashion trends seen at the 2019 Critics Choice Awards. The article says that the most notable styles worn by celebrities were pale hues and all-white looks. Whether it was a subconscious message of hope as one stylist speculated, or a minimalist trend inspired by the current obsession with organization guru and Netflix star Marie Kondo, it seems that a simple and subdued look is here to stay this fashion season. Los Angeles-based wholesaler, Fabric Selection Inc. notes that regardless of what the current fashion trends may be, brands that use quality material to create their pieces can produce timeless collections that never go out of style.

Fabric Selection Inc. says that the secret to a collection that consumers will love is attractive, high-quality fabrics. In todays trend towards more simplicity, customers are more likely to purchase clothing when pieces are made from quality, durable fabric that will stand the test of time without going out of style. Designers can also stand out by creating pieces that that can complement each other when worn together. Fabric Selection Inc. notes that, in order for brands and manufacturers to be able to offer quality clothing whatever the trend may be, it is important to have access to a reliable fabric supplier that offers a large variety of fabrics in different colors, textures and prints.

The wholesaler mentions that it provides a wide assortment of materials with competitive pricing at their Los Angeles warehouse and on their e-commerce website. It adds that it understands that designers work on their collections seasons in advance and that they need their materials on time, says Fabric Selection Inc.; thats why the firm says that it keeps its warehouse stocked all year round with materials and prints appropriate for every season of the year. The supplier adds that it creates its prints with an in-house team and owns the rights to the designs, so manufacturers and designers can rest assured knowing their masterpieces wont be beset by copyright issues.

Readers who are interested in learning more about Fabric Selection Inc. can call the wholesaler at (213) 516-7053 or visit its website at http://www.FabricSelection.com. The firm notes that its team of friendly and professional team members is looking forward to providing outstanding expert service to manufacturers and designers from throughout California, across the United States, and all over the world.
Protests have resulted in multiple church closures in Minya, Egypt (C) Copts United "...we must confront the reality that Coptic Christians in Egypt do not receive the same protections under the rule of law as others...the U.S. government must use the tools it has to hold our allies to a higher standard if they are to continue to receive our aid. - Rep. French Hill

Rep. French Hill (R  AR) introduced a resolution, H. RES.49, expressing support for Coptic Christians and religious liberty in Egypt with co-lead Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and an additional 11 other cosponsors on January 16, coinciding with Religious Freedom Day. Coptic Solidarity strongly commends Reps. Hill and Cicilline for continuing to champion equality and religious freedom for the Copts of Egypt in an equitable, tangible, and realistic manner. Coptic Solidarity urges all U.S. Representatives to support human rights and religious freedom for Copts and all Egyptians by cosponsoring the resolution.

Congressman Hill stated Egypt and the United States are important partners in the fight against terrorism. However, we must confront the reality that Coptic Christians in Egypt do not receive the same protections under the rule of law as others. I have been on the front lines of this struggle and met with government and religious leaders throughout Egypt. While we have seen progress from Egyptian President el-Sisi, the U.S. government must use the tools it has to hold our allies to a higher standard if they are to continue to receive our aid.

Coptic Solidarity strongly urges all concerned individuals to send messages to their U.S. Representative through Coptic Solidaritys website asking them to cosponsor this resolution. A sample letter is provided, and once signed it will be delivered directly to the correct Congressional office based on the senders address. Gathering the maximum number of cosponsors is a critical step to show sufficient support for the resolution to be marked-up in the Foreign Affairs Committee and then scheduled for a full floor vote.

Earlier this month, members of the US administration and a high -profile delegation visited Egypt for the opening of the Nativity Cathedral in Egypts new administrative capital. Many referred to this building as a gift from the Egyptian government, lauding the state of tolerance and religious freedom in Egypt. In reality, the cathedral was paid for by private donations from Copts. Additionally, a January 15, 2019 report stated that the Egyptian government continued its policy of arbitrary church closures, with four churches closed in the previous four and half weeks.

The introduction of H. RES. 49 is critical given Egypts increasingly authoritarian environment in which minorities suffer. A recent report ranked Egypt the third most likely country to witness genocide. Co-sponsoring and passing the resolution will send an important message to Egypts government that the US Congress cares about the state of human rights and religious freedom in Egypt, and is willing to address it, while simultaneously acknowledging positive steps.

Coptic Solidarity is an organization seeking to help minorities, particularly the Copts, of Egypt and we support those in Egypt working for democracy, freedom, and the protection of the fundamental rights of all Egyptian citizens. It advocates in cooperation with the affiliated organizations in Canada and in Europe (Solidarite Copte). For more information, contact Lindsay Griffin at 801-512-1713 or coptadvocacy(at)copticsolidarity(dot)org
Prefix Corporation's Headquarters in Rochester Hills, Michigan Its as much of a celebration of our people as it is 40 years in business. explained Prefix President, Eric Zeile. We sincerely believe we currently have the strongest team in our history.

In 1979, when Prefix Founder and CEO, Mr. Kim Zeile left big corporate America to start his own company, there is no way he could have predicted what the organization would eventually become. After 40 years, we are honored to be known as a company that has maintained the nimble, entrepreneurial spirit from our early days even as we've grown from a single small office, to four impressive facilities and nearly 250 people. explained Zeile.

Prefix is one of the countrys most highly-regarded companies for the creation of prototypes, concept vehicles, and design mock-ups. They continue to create some of the most technologically advanced and high profile concept vehicle builds in the industry, are helping to develop the latest innovations in electric and autonomous vehicles, and are even involved with movie props and theme park attractions for clients around the globe.

Prefix Corporation originally focused on Engineering services, yet over the last four decades it has broadened its scope to the impressive current list of capabilities required to lead the prototype and concept vehicle industry. We were very fortunate during our early history to have worked with some amazing clients who have continued to rely on us for projects year after year. continued Zeile. This has provided us with the ability to invest heavily in our equipment, facilities, and people. And now as the transportation industry evolves with so many new technologies, we are perfectly positioned to be able to help our customers. We are grateful to our clients for the opportunities to provide them with the solutions needed to bring their innovative ideas to life.

In celebration, the company will commemorate the occasion with a number of industry events and public promotions throughout the next twelve months. Its as much of a celebration of our people as it is 40 years in business. explained Prefix President, Eric Zeile. We sincerely believe we currently have the strongest team in our history. Each week throughout the year, the company will highlight various team members within the organization, as well as featuring various milestones and historic and high-profile projects that Prefix has been part of.
Codan Sentry-H 6110-MP Codans ability to support partner forces is second to none because of the reliability, sustainability and ease of use of its products as well as the continued support-the-soldier forward ethos of the company

Building on its successful Software Defined Radio (SDR) products, Codan Communications has developed its latest manpack, the Sentry-H 6110-MP, one of the smallest and lightest tactical manpacks in the market. It complements Codans other SDR communications and data interoperability products to specifically address the tactical defense market.

The Sentry-H 6110-MP Software Defined Manpack provides the latest technology allowing for ease of use, affordability and quicker upgrades ensuring our customers have the flexibility required in todays challenging environments, stated Paul Sangster, Executive General Manager, Codan Communications.

Codan has worked extensively with its customers worldwide to identify their needs and ensure that its solutions meet those needs without costly and over-engineered utilities and features which are under or never utilised. Codans focus is on providing customers only the feature set they need, avoiding an expensive one size fits all architecture, offering solutions that while principally focused at the tactical edge, allow seamless communications and data transfer up to the national level if necessary.

Codans ability to support partner forces is second to none because of the reliability, sustainability and ease of use of its products as well as the continued support-the-soldier forward ethos of the company, stated, Lieutenant General Charles Cleveland, US Army retired, Commander US Army Special Operations Command 2012-2015.

Codan will be showcasing its new Sentry-H 6110-MP manpack along with its range of tactical solutions at the forthcoming IDEX tradeshow in Abu Dhabi, booth 01-C07. View Codans tactical communications and data interoperability product range and global impact here: http://www.codancomms.com/sectors/military.

About Codan Communications

Codan Communications is a leading international designer and manufacturer of premium communications solutions. With operations in the US, we deliver our capability worldwide for the military, defense, humanitarian, peacekeeping, commercial, security and public safety markets.

We provide tactical communications solutions that enable our customers to be heard, ultimately to support them to accomplish their mission in some of the toughest operating environments in the world. With almost 60 years in the business, we have garnered a reputation for quality, reliability and customer satisfaction, producing innovative and industry-leading technology solutions.

Contact

Gene McConville, VP Business Development and Government Relations

Codan US, Inc.

M +1 571 919 6432

E: Gene.McConville@codanradio.com

Media Contact

Francesca Doyle, Director of Marketing

M +61 407 095 986

E: francesca.doyle@codancomms.com
Left to right Jareiq 'JQ' Kabara, A&R Rhythm Nation Jason Peterson, Chairman GDMG, Janet Hunter Paletsas, CFO GDMG Barry Daffurn, President Cinq Music Photo Credit Solaiman Fazel We wanted to expose Janet to an expanded LATAM audience, so we suggested to Rhythm Nation that Janet go back into the studio to record a Latin version

Janet Jacksons recently released Made For Now song and video featuring reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee is soaring up radio playlists across Latin America thanks to a fresh Latin version produced and distributed by Cinq Music. The song is currently #1 on Mexico radio, besting such notable artists as Ariana Grande and Maroon 5.

Younger World Audience

We wanted to expose Janet to an expanded LATAM audience, so we suggested to Rhythm Nation that Janet go back into the studio to record a Latin version, says Cinq Music President/Co-founder Barry Daffurn. Janet really nails the song in Spanish, while Daddy Yankee added a new verse. Everyone here at Cinq is pretty stoked with the results.

Coming Attraction

Cinq will be working with Janet and her team at Rhythm Nation in the coming year on several new projects, including a forthcoming single and new album.

About Cinq:

Cinq Music is a technology driven record label, distribution, and rights management company. Cinqs repertoire has won four Grammy awards, dozens of Gold and Platinum RIAA certifications, numerous number one chart positions on the Latin Urban and Tropical Billboard charts, and was nominated for Latin Rhythm Label of The Year at the 2016 Latin Billboards. http://www.cinqmusic.com


Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) will be featured in a forthcoming documentary about resources for families in New York Citys autism community. Eurydice Romans film Au Type Documentary highlights CARD as a premier source for behavioral health treatment and for its efforts to increase autism awareness. The film is expected to be submitted to the 57th Annual New York Film Festival in 2019.

Roman, the parent of a child with autism, is promoting Au Type Documentary with the tagline, Being a parent with a child with autism in New York is never easy. Heres a movie for you. The film aims to provide parents with a wide-ranging guide of resources available to them when their child is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a developmental disability that affects 1 out of every 40 children. Two of the people interviewed for Au Type Documentary are CARD New Yorks regional manager Deidra King, MA, BCBA, and Jovanni Guzman, CARD regional manager designee. King and Guzman, along with Roman, explain what sets CARD apart as a valuable resource for families working to meet the needs of their children with ASD, including CARDs commitment to wide-ranging outreach and awareness and its effort to ensure that applied behavior analysis (ABA) is available to New York Medicaid enrollees who are diagnosed with ASD.

As a clinician in the field of autism and applied behavior analysis (ABA) for the past 18 years, I am honored to participate in this documentary that will help provide knowledge and support to the New York autism community, said King. As a community, we need to continue to bring awareness to the unique needs of the autism community as we highlight the resources available for families and ASD individuals.

Au Type Documentary will be screened for free at Comisionado Dominicano de Cultura in New York City on Friday, February 8, 2019. For more information and to register to attend, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/au-type-documentary-tickets-54017188866.

About Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD)

CARD treats individuals of all ages who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at treatment centers around the globe. CARD was founded in 1990 by leading autism expert and licensed psychologist Doreen Granpeesheh, PhD, BCBA-D. CARD treats individuals with ASD using the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA), which is empirically proven to be the most effective method for treating individuals with ASD and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Surgeon General. CARD has over 200 locations throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.centerforautism.com
Better Mobile Threat Defense Now Available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace "The strategic collaboration between Better Mobile Security and Microsoft is an extremely important development for Coca-Cola, stated Mark Dunkerley, Sr. Manager IT Architecture & Systems, Coca-Cola Business Services North America

Better Mobile Security, a leading provider of AI-powered mobile security solutions, today announced immediate availability of its Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) solution in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. Better Mobile can now meet the markets growing requirement for cloud strategy flexibility and customers can take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined deployment and management.

The Better Mobile and Microsoft relationship allows clients to combine the power of Betters Mobile Threat Defense and AI platform to thwart attacks with the end-to-end security of Microsoft Azure, stated Purna Bhat, VP of Better Mobile Worldwide Sales & Business Development. In todays rapidly changing security environment, customers want the option to build custom threat models, detection capabilities and responses into their security platforms. The ability to easily customize solutions is only available on the Better DeepThinker AI platform, and Azure provides the hosting safeguards that customers require. We are very excited to launch our solution on the Azure Marketplace for both SaaS and PaaS.

Sajan Parihar, Director, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp., said, Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure. Were happy to welcome Better Mobiles solution to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem.

Clients already experiencing the benefits from the Better Mobile MTD + Microsoft Intune Solution hosted in Azure have been deeply satisfied with the results. The strategic collaboration between Better Mobile Security and Microsoft is an extremely important development for Coca-Cola, stated Mark Dunkerley, Sr. Manager IT Architecture & Systems, Coca-Cola Business Services North America Better MTD is a simple, powerful, affordable and easy-to-manage solution that provides enterprise-class protection without the enterprise-class headaches.

According to Dionisio Zumerle, Senior Director with Gartner, Enterprises that need to provide their mobile workforce with protection against untrusted or malicious networks and applications, or that operate large fleets of Android devices will benefit from MTD.1

The Azure Marketplace is an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative, cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed solutions that are ready to use.

About Better Mobile

Better Mobile is a leading Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) solution provider that uses predictive AI technology to identity and stop mobile security threats without compromising end user productivity or privacy. Better MTDs predictive protection comes from its Deep Thinker AI platform that applies artificial intelligence and learning models to identify known and unknown threats at the device, network and application levels. Better MTD works seamlessly with leading enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions to protect corporate resources and can be easily deployed to vast mobile networks with just a few clicks. Learn more about Better Mobile Security here: https://www.better.mobi/microsoft.

For limited time, In an exclusive offer with Microsoft, Better Mobile is providing Microsoft Intune customers 50 mobile device licenses of their product for 18 months period. To start a free Better MTD trial from Microsoft Azure Marketplace: Microsoft Azure Marketplace | Microsoft AppSource

PR Contact

Elaine Kennedy

ekennedy(at)diventaconsulting.com

646-493-8837

References

1. Hype Cycle for Endpoint and Mobile Security 2018  Gartner: Published 25 July 2018
Chairman of Heirs holdings; Mr. Tony Elumelu, Executive Vice-Chairman of Globacom, Mrs. Bella Disu and Chairman of Dangote Group; Aliko Dangote at the Choose France Summit at Chateau Versailles These agreements are geared towards ensuring that Globacom continues to provide first-rate telecommunications services in the countries where we operate

Over 150 global business leaders including Globacoms Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Mrs. Bella Disu, attended the 2019 Choose France International Business Summit which took place at the Chateau de Versailles, France, on Monday, January 21, 2019.



The executives from multinational companies across the world met with the President of France, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, at a dinner organised to promote Frances attractiveness as a business environment. They also used the Summit to publicise major investments and partnerships involving French companies.

Mrs. Disu, who represented Nigerias foremost telecommunications company, Globacom, announced a deal with Nokia Alcatel-Lucent, a global telecom equipment manufacturing company, to supply, install, and integrate a new Sure Pay Intelligent Network platform that will substantially enhance Globacom subscribers experience. She also presented a Purchasing Order (P.O.) to Vocalcom Technology, another French company, to enhance Globacoms Interactive Voice Response and Contact Center Solutions.

These agreements are geared towards ensuring that Globacom continues to provide first-rate telecommunications services in the countries where we operate, Mrs. Disu said.



Earlier on Monday, she attended the inaugural meeting of the France-Nigeria Investment Club, which President Macron launched during his 2018 visit to Nigeria.



Speaking in an interview, Mrs. Disu described her engagements with global business leaders in France as impactful, adding that it was an important platform for exploring collaborations and business development.

We have long chosen France, and we welcome every opportunity to expand our interests and alliances here, Mrs. Disu said.

The Mike Adenuga Group is known for its strong ties with France. Globacom and Conoil Producing Limited have had over a decade of strong business relationships with French companies, including Total and Alcatel, which is now Nokia Alcatel-Lucent. The group of companies also supports the principal international French cultural organisation, Alliance Francaise, in Lagos. During his state visit to Nigeria last year, the French President commissioned the state-of the-art Mike Adenuga Alliance Francaise Centre donated by the Globacom Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga, to promote French and Nigerian cultures in Lagos.
Barrister Executive Suites, Inc. donated to over 50 charities over the course of 2018. Many of the chosen charities lay near and dear to the hearts of clients and employees at Barrister, and each charitys mission is centered on helping others and lifting up the surrounding community.

Barrister Executive Suites, Inc. prides itself on being a company that gives back to the community. Many of the chosen charities lay near and dear to the hearts of clients and employees at Barrister, and each charitys mission is centered on helping others and lifting up the surrounding community.

The organizations Barrister made donations to in 2018 were focused on charities whose aim is to help veterans, mothers and children, and the homeless. Though these categories encapsulate the majority of charities that donations were sent to, the list of charitable organizations that Barrister gives back to yearly includes cancer fighting organizations, animal rescue groups, higher education universities and much more. See the full list here.

Veterans hit close to home for Barrister as many of the clients and employees have family members who have served or are serving in the United States military. Both the CEO & COO of Barrister have fathers who have served. To honor our nations veterans, donations were sent to Cammies & Canines, USO, Wounded Warrior Project, and Wreaths Across America.

The employee population at Barrister is made up of 75 percent women, and of those, about 50 percent have children, some being single mothers. Barrister believes in supporting mothers and children because todays children are the future of tomorrow. To support women and their children in the community, Barrister Executive Suites donated to Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Prevent Child Abuse America, Single Mothers Outreach, The National Domestic Violence Hotline, and Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services.

The majority of Barristers locations are in urban Los Angeles County. Every big city has a homeless population, and communities throughout Southern California are not immune. Through supporting charities who work with those experiencing homelessness, Barrister hopes to do their part in helping bring those numbers down. Organizations Barrister chose to support in 2018 include Bridge to Home, LA Food Bank, Rise Against Hunger, Saint Josephs Center, Santa Clarita Shelter, Stop Hunger Now, and United Way of Greater LA.

About Barrister Executive Suites, Inc.

The originator of the executive suite concept, Barrister was founded in 1966 as a cost-effective alternative to traditional office space by providing turnkey office space, virtual offices, meeting room facilities, and administrative support services. Independent business practitioners, small start-up companies, and national corporations benefit by having more time to focus on their core business with less financial risk. Today, with dozens of locations throughout Southern California, Barrister operates with a foundation of longevity and financial stability in providing its tenants with a business-friendly environment coupled with exceptional customer service. Additional information on Barrister Executive Suites, Inc. is available at barrister-suites.com.
Maya Richmond, Executive Director of the Animal Welfare Association (AWA), announced today that the organizations Building a Place Where Happiness Begins capital campaign has taken a giant leap forward with the contribution of the largest single individual donation to AWA in its seventy-year history.

Animal lovers and dedicated AWA friends, Albert and Barbara Dragon, pledged $250,000 to galvanize community support of AWAs $2.5M capital campaign to fund construction of a new, modern animal adoption center to be located at AWAs current location on Centennial Blvd in Voorhees.

In recognition of the Dragons generosity, the entrance lobby of the new shelter will be named the Al and Barbara Dragon Lobby.

The five million dollar, 15,000 sq. ft. center will house and care for more homeless animals, expand AWAs innovate community programs and be outfitted with specialty animal care space dedicated to the medical and behavioral rehabilitation of the many injured and abused animals AWA takes in each year. Richmond shared that in the last decade, the number of homeless senior, behaviorally, and medically needy dogs and cats has nearly doubled.

The Dragons adopted their beloved Winston after nursing him back to health. Winston was rescued during a cruelty investigation and came to AWA severely underweight, suffering from pneumonia, and unfamiliar with any life other than that of living in a dirty wire cage. At that time Al and Barbara were looking for a dog to adopt. They responded to AWAs plea for foster volunteers to care for Winston since the abused animal needed time and love to recover.

From the moment Winston entered the Dragons home he has been their loving loyal friend. He is the best companion Al and I could have hoped for, Barbara shares. He overcame his past and today he is a certified Pet Therapy dog. We appreciate what AWA does for the animals and are proud to be AWA adopters, volunteers, and donors for over thirty years.

Over its 70 years, AWA has offered diverse community programs designed to improve the lives of pets and people. AWA launched comprehensive and free humane education and pet therapy programming in the 1960s, opened the regions first public spay /neuter clinic in the 1970s, and in the last decades, AWAs progressive lifesaving programs have directly resulted in the reduction of stray animal impoundment to other area shelters and, therefore, lowered the euthanasia rates of pets in our community.

The new adoption center will:



Be able to adopt more dogs and cats, train and rehabilitate additional behaviorally-needy dogs and cats, care for more injured and ill dogs and cats that other shelters ask AWA to transport in and aid each year, and add a neonatal intensive care room for kittens during kitten season

Provide an enhanced visitor experience with new and better space for Humane Education as well as for AWAs community partnerships for senior citizens and individuals with learning or physical disabilities

House a pet food pantry for those in our community struggling to feed their pets

Expand care space for pets owned by individuals in crisis such as owners who lose their home in a fire, victims of domestic abuse fleeing for safety, and seniors unexpectedly hospitalized and unable to afford pet boarding.

I am looking forward to 2020, walking into the new centers lobby and seeing the Dragons name prominently displayed. Their gift will be a daily reminder to all of us of how important it is that AWA is the place where animals that are on deaths doorstep can recover and go on to live the lives they deserve, states Richmond. AWAs capital campaign is about ensuring tomorrows animals receive all that they need while also ensuring that our community remains vigilant when it comes to caring for animals.

Since announcing their campaign in November 2018, AWA has raised over 50% - $1,275,000 - of the campaigns $2,500,000 goal.

Al and Barbaras gift will inspire other AWA friends and animal lovers to join the Building a Place Where Happiness Begins campaign, AWA board member and Capital Campaign Co-Chair Lynn Fryckberg shares. These are the kind of magnanimous gifts that generate excitement as well as participation from other equally loyal friends. Without a doubt the remaining funds will be raised in 2019.

AWAs anticipates beginning construction in twelve months with the new center opening in late 2020.

To take a tour of AWA, learn more about the AWAs capital project, or to make a capital campaign gift, please contact Gina Guida, Director of Development at 856-424-2288 ext. 101 or email ginag (at) awanj (dot) org.

Animal Welfare Association, a private, non-profit, 501(c) 3 animal welfare organization, serves the people and animals of southern New Jersey. AWA is dedicated to eliminating animal suffering, promoting the importance of the human-animal bond, and improving the role of animals in the well-being of people. Through a variety of programs including adoptions, veterinary services, pet therapy, and humane education, in 2018 over 22,000 pets were served through AWA programming. AWA is South Jerseys leader in progressive companion animal care.
Avitus Group President Don Reile presents Employee of the Quarter Rilie Stovall with Award Rilie has a passion for creative projects and Avitus Group always tries to match team member passions with appropriate projects and positions. Rilie takes on several projects at the office without missing a beat, all while going to school and being a mom.

Many of our team members have seen first hand Rilies work ethic. Ive personally been privileged to work with Rilie, and she is the type of person who is willing to jump into any project or task head first without asking whats in it for her. Our committee was happy to see so many nominations for Rilie to receive this award, says Avitus Group Employee of the Quarter Committee Co-Chair Chansie Van Dyke.

Stovall joined Avitus Group in 2015 as an Inception Administrative Assistant and has been promoted to her current position of Lead Inception Administrative Assistant. She is based out of the companys Billings, Montana Operations Center. Numerous nominations pointed to Stovalls ability to be incredibly thorough, accurate, efficient, hard-working, dedicated and positive. Stovall has also taken the initiative to learn new skills such as photography and videography in order to assist the marketing team with employee photos and video projects.

Rilie has a passion for creative projects and Avitus Group always tries to match team member passions with appropriate projects and positions. Rilie takes on several projects at the office without missing a beat, all while going to school and being a mom. We are certainly grateful to have her on the team and are always looking for dedicated team members like Rilie to join our company. says Avitus Group Recruiting Manager Alex Mozota.

Avitus Groups Employee of the Quarter program recognizes employees who make significant contributions to Avitus Group and its customers. Employees of the Quarter receive a paid day off, a $150 gift card and $50 in Avitus Group branded apparel.

This is the least we can do for our top performing team members who represent our entire staff and company so well. Rilie is in a position where errors can be easy to make and can become detrimental to employees and payroll accuracy, however, she is extremely diligent in making sure all information is entered correctly, the first time. We sincerely appreciate her and enjoy seeing her smile around the office each day, says Avitus Group President Don Reile.

"I am so thankful to be a part of a company that allows me to attend higher education classes and is so understanding of my busy schedule. I look forward to my future with Avitus Group," says Avitus Group Employee of the Quarter Rilie Stovall.

About Avitus Group

Avitus Group is a worldwide company that simplifies, strengthens and grows businesses by providing 'back office' support (payroll, accounting, taxes, recruiting, information technology, human resources and much more). When a business uses Avitus Group, all of the necessary yet burdensome functions of the business become Avitus Group's responsibility, so the business can focus on what it does best. Avitus Group serves clients nationwide through regional office locations from coast to coast. The company also serves international clients through partner locations.
Toni Jaramilla A law that says we cant silence victims with confidential settlements anymore will deter harassers and the companies that enable them, thereby protecting potential victims.

#MeToo advocate Jaramilla, named one of the Top 75 Labor & Employment Lawyers for 2018, was the only workers rights attorney on the panel. She provided perspective to the Daily Journal roundtable on how recent legislation strengthens protections for California workers as well as the importance of gender and race diversity in the workplace.

I had the benefit of actually working with the California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA) and womens rights organizations on several of these bills that were signed into law, including SB 820, the secret settlement bill, as well as SB 1300, the omnibus bill, said Jaramilla.

SB 820, introduced by Senator Connie Leyva (D), limits confidentiality and bans silencing victims. The ban on keeping sexual harassment settlements confidential applies only when there is a civil or administrative action. Therefore, a plaintiff has the choice to allow confidentiality by not filing a court arbitration, DFEH, or EEOC action. Furthermore, the settlement amount does not have to be disclosed, nor the identity of the plaintiff whether an action is filed or not. Additionally, SB 820 addresses the issues of secrecy in sexual harassment cases and public accountability.

For plaintiffs attorneys, it is hard to find witnesses in sexual harassment cases when such conduct happens where there are no eye witnesses. It is even harder when past victims are bound by confidentiality provisions, noted Jaramilla. A law that says we cant silence victims with confidential settlements anymore will deter harassers and the companies that enable them, thereby protecting potential victims.

Although these bills were inspired by the #MeToo movement and focus primarily on sexual harassment, if one looks at the language of the bills, they have applicability beyond sexual harassment cases. For example, SB 1300 clarifies the severe or pervasive standard, which also applies to other forms of harassment, such as racial or religious harassment. It also expands protections by establishing that third-party harassment is not just limited to sexual harassment under FEHA, but all forms of harassment based on a protected category.

SB 1300 also bans sneaky releases and non-disparagement agreements that are often slipped into employee hiring documents, which has broad applicability, concluded Jaramilla, who testified in Sacramento before the Legislature in favor of SB 1300. It ensures workers are free to speak out about whats happening to them in the workplace.

About Toni Jaramilla, A Professional Law Corporation

Toni Jaramilla is committed to achieving the best possible results for employees who have experienced problems in the workplace. Serving clients throughout Los Angeles, her focus is on achieving positive social change for workers. Through zealous and ethical advocacy, lawyers at the firm have built a reputation for excellence in the practice of employment and labor law. For more information, please call (310) 551-3020, or visit http://www.jaramilla.com. The office is located at 12100 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA 90025.

For media inquiries, please call the NALA at 805.650.6121, ext. 361.


This partnership will enable us to take on projects we did not have the capacity for, including opening up archive migration services. We trust that in partnering with TDS, we will increase both companies business revenue and customer attach, said Vincent Chang, President, Arrosoft

Arrosoft Partners with Trusted Data Solutions to Enhance Legacy Data Transformation Services

TDS Evolve Archive Migration Solutions and Restoration Assurance Program Further Arrosoft Services

Trusted Data Solutions (TDS), the global leader in legacy data and voice management and transformation, and Arrosoft Solutions, a highly-skilled service company specialized in data protection, storage and availability solutions, have partnered to add TDS tape and email archive migration expertise to Arrosofts already-proficient team of solution architects and consulting engineers in various areas of IT, data center and enterprise solutions.

Developing a clear strategy around legacy data management is crucial for every business today, said Marcella P. Arthur, vice president of worldwide marketing and channel operations at TDS. Arrosoft has been a leader in providing effective solutions for their customers data transformation initiatives, helping shape visions into actionable business objectives. We are excited to deliver our solutions in partnership with Arrosoft to help realize more transformations.

Arrosoft focuses their service offerings on designing, deploying and supporting technology for data protection, information availability, information governance and information security. This makes TDS Restoration Assurance Program  a subscription-based, fully managed service for the on-demand restoration and extraction of email and data files from tape  a natural fit for the partnership. Coupled with their depth in the archive migration space, Arrosoft can now offer proven, end-to-end strategic legacy data management services to their growing customer base that will reduce their overall hardware and software footprint, as well as their management costs.

Our mission is to leverage modern technology and our vast collective experience to help our customers protect their data, store it efficiently, keep critical data and applications online, and satisfy retention and eDiscovery requirements while increasing productivity, increasing performance, reducing cost, and reducing risk, said Vincent Chang, president of Arrosoft. We are excited to find that TDS also holds the same principles. The partnership will enable us to take on projects we did not have the capacity for, including opening up archive migration services. We trust that in partnering with TDS, we will create a synergy on both ends, increasing both companies business revenue and customer attach, added Chang.

For more information on Trusted Data Solutions go to http://www.trusteddata.com. For more information on Arrosoft Solutions and their services, go to http://www.arrosoft.com.

About Trusted Data Solutions

For more than two decades, Trusted Data Solutions (TDS), the foremost expert in legacy data, tape, email and voice, has set the standard for compliance while transforming the management and accessibility of legacy data and voice logger system electronically stored information. Their leadership in backup tape restoration, email migration, and voice logging retrieval and restoration services, coupled with their recent Voice Compliance Practice advancements which include the delivery of voice technology migration, implementation, and end-to-end system support, makes them a one-stop-shop for organizations requiring an all-inclusive voice managed service. As the preferred choice for corporations, regulated institutions, eDiscovery specialists, government agencies and law firms that require an expert, trusted partner for their compliant data transformation initiatives, TDSs industry leadership is demonstrable in their commitment to advancing their services and operations to support the demands of their growing, global customers and partners.

With its North America Headquarters in New York City, and two international headquarters in the United Kingdom and Singapore, TDS maintains one of the most expansive global restoration assurance facilities footprint in the market  with facilities in New York, New Jersey, California, Canada, England, Wales, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore  with millions of customer tapes under management, equating to over 500 petabytes of data, across 37 thousand successfully delivered projects.

TDS is a wholly owned subsidiary of TDS Global Holdings which is privately held.

About Arrosoft Solutions

Arrosoft Solutions is a highly-skilled services company comprised of solution architects and consulting engineers with experience in various areas of IT, Data Center and Enterprise Solutions. The Arrosoft team is focused on designing, deploying, and supporting technology solutions for information storage, backup, disaster recovery, high availability, archiving, and eDiscovery.
Author and Former Playboy Model Gail Thackray

Gail Thackray, the author of the tell-all book Running with Wolves: A womans Memoir of Sex, Sandal and Seduction, is receiving harsh feedback after the release of her funny but shocking memoir.

Not surprising, since the book has all kinds of juicy real-life details on naked celebrity photos, bank scams, hidden sex tapes and working with the mob.

Thackray ran a naked photo business in the 80s and 90s amassing a library of thousands of nude layouts of models (including Stormy Daniels and a few celebrities) which she sold to magazines like Penthouse. Working with Larry Flynt, Guccione and Hugh Hefner, she shares the life and parties at the Playboy Mansion.

At the launch of the Internet, Thackray owned the largest erotic library in the world with over a million nude photos and was the premier provider of sexy images to the web. Her library was ultimately valued at over $50 million.

Naked pics hit the web and it was like men all over the world were losing their minds! explains Thackray, as she describes the drug crazed parties during the dot com boom and the creation of online porn.

Thackray was also a scream queen starlet at the time (aka Gail Harris) and she reveals the inner workings and both sides of the Hollywood Casting Couch, until she finally landed at the respected CAA with Michael Ovitz. She starred in a slew of Roger Corman B movies and Quentin Tarantinos Personal Favorite Cell Block Sisters.

The book spans more than two decades of both the Hollywood underworld and the ins-and-outs of the sex biz. It contains jaw-dropping details about working for the Mob and how they made millions in online porn. It is filled with scandalous revelations such as shopping sexy pics of a famous Billionaires wife with attorney Keith Davidson who recently represent Stormy Daniels in the hush money payoff to Michael Cohen for President Trump.

And if youre surprised that Kim Kardashian confessed she was on drugs during the making of her sex tape, wait until you read the story of another celebrity sex tape, where the star overdosed on drugs and almost died in the John Belushi room at the Chateau Marmont.

The book is an incredible insider view of the whole sex industry from soft-core magazines to the advent of the Internet.

Thackrays memoir is not about a woman as a victim, dishing out the dirt on powerful men in Hollywood and the Sex Industry, its actually a light-hearted, often hilarious look at the real inner workings of two male-dominated-industries and how a young woman was able to hold her own.

Still some people Thackray includes in the book dont seem to have such a sense of humor.

I knew I was going to get some kick-back, but the books only been out for five minutes and Im already getting hate mail, says Thackray. As her book launched on Amazon last week it was met with a slew of people contacting their legal departments trying to get it banned.

Im not violating any content standards, so they cant do anything, Thackray says. This really happened, Im not trying to hurt anyone but if I started sugar coating anything explosive, thered be nothing left! Real life is sometimes so absurd its hilarious and I just couldnt make this stuff up. These stories are just so fun, I had to share.

The journey finds Thackray in lots of sticky situations, dodging mob hits and the FBI and occasionally falling in love. Think Wolf of Wall Street in the sex biz.

Its raw, its juicy, its hilariously funny, say readers.

Today, Thackray is currently in talks with producers to turn her sexy story into a TV series. The first taker on this was originally Harvey Weinstein, one week before his scandal broke out.

Running With Wolves on Amazon
ADS-B Out, as I see it, is more of an informational device, broadcasting who you are and where you are. Its a requirement we have to comply with and thats why were doing it," said Rick Livingstone, President of Intermountain Helicopters.

With less than a year remaining, aerial firefighters are on-track to meet the January 1, 2020 deadline for ADS-B Out equipment installations. After that date, any noncompliant helicopter or fixed wing aircraft will have limited access to US airspace.

ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance broadcast) is considered an essential tool of 21st century air traffic management and is being implemented in both the US and Europe. ADS-B Out avionics continuously broadcast an aircrafts position (out) to air traffic controllers, within as little as one meter of accuracy. While ADS-B Out is mandated, operators can also select ADS-B In as an option, enabling pilots, themselves, to see the location of nearby aircraft on a cockpit-mounted display.

To meet the ADS-B Out deadline in the US, operators have been actively scheduling equipment retrofits--in some cases, as an integral part of scheduled winter maintenance.

For example, Helimax Aviation began installations of ADS-B Out equipment on its four CH47D helicopters commencing in its 2014 winter maintenance cycle, with all compliant by January of this year. According to Josh Beckham, the Sacramento-headquartered companys general manager, each installation was performed by Helimax under FAA field approval, and included new global positioning system (GPS) equipment, and new radios and transponders, We have always been proactive about adopting the latest technology, Beckham said.

Neptune Aviation Services has selected both ADS-B Out and ADS-B In for its nine BAe 146 tankers, with retrofits slated for completion during this years winter maintenance period. Dan Snyder, Chief Operating Officer of the Missoula, Montana-based company, explained that the retrofits are being implemented under a supplemental type certificate (STC) developed in-house and certified by the FAA in November, 2018.

The STC mainly focuses on enabling the aircrafts existing transponders to work with a wide area augmentation system (WAAS) component, we are purchasing, off-shelf, Snyder said. The WAAS will provide a GPS location within the required one meter of accuracy range.

Snyder justified the selection of the optional ADS-B In for its extra margin of safety in the aerial firefighting environment. With ADS-B In deployed, our pilots will be able to see the call signs of all the aircraft working on the fire, he said. This will improve situational awareness.

Sandpoint, Idaho-based Timberline Helicopters has modified five of its nine helicopters with ADS-B Out equipment, with the remaining four to be completed this winter. The company, which operates five former military UH60 Blackhawks, plus two MD500s and two K-MAX helicopters, is implementing ADS-B Out under FAA field approval. It is also considering ADS-B In at some future date.

I have flown fixed-wing general aviation aircraft with ADS-B In, and from my experience, it makes pilots more aware of exactly how many aircraft are operating nearby, said Brian Jorgenson, Timberline Helicopters vice-president. In the meantime, ADS-B Out also enhances safety, since it allows air traffic controllers to see where you are at all times. It will make the national airspace system that much safer.

Rick Livingston, president of Intermountain Helicopter in Sonora, California, stated that he is waiting until the autumn of this year to modify his single Bell 212 helicopter with ADS-B Out, given the rapid changes in technology likely to occur. The installation can be done quickly since our helicopter is already equipped with an ADS-B Out compliant transponder, he explained. By holding off on the retrofit, we may also benefit from some price reductions, as products are improved and competition increases as the mandate gets closer.

Livingston, however, questions whether ADS-B Out will make a difference with safety in firefighting, or other jobs, such as construction or snowpack surveys, in which his helicopter is typically engaged. The helicopter has been equipped with TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system) due to a US Forest Service requirement a few years ago, he said. ADS-B Out, as I see it, is more of an informational device, broadcasting who you are and where you are. Its a requirement we have to comply with and thats why were doing it.

Rogers Helicopters in Fresno, California, plans to have its 12 helicopters and three fixed wing aircraft ADS-B Out compliant by November. Robin Rogers, the companys vice-president, also has some doubts about how ADS-B Out will make firefighting operations that much safer. It really has no great advantage in aerial firefighting, he said. The helicopters TCAS will make the pilot aware of other traffic around him, but ADS-B Out will not.

In fact, he expressed some concern has to how air traffic controller will react when they see large clusters of helicopters operating close to one another during a typical firefighting operation. It will be very interesting to see how this would play out, he said.

Helimax Aviation, Intermountain Helicopter, Neptune Aviation Services, Rogers Helicopters, and Timberline Helicopters are members of the American Helicopter Services And Aerial Firefighting Association (AHSAFA), the Washington, D.C. headquartered trade association representing the privately operated aerial firefighting industry before government agencies tasked with wildland and natural resources protection and management. http://www.ahsafa.org
We chose the innovative approach of crowdfunding with advisors versus going the traditional venture capital route to ensure that we would be able to stay focused on serving the needs of our core target market of financial advisors.

AdvicePay, a leading fee-payment-processing platform designed exclusively for financial advisors, announced today a seed extension funding round of $2 million that bypassed the traditional venture capital investing route to instead be crowd funded from within the advisor community.

Proceeds from this innovative funding approach will be used to power AdvicePays growth plans, including the launch of a new Enterprise version to meet strong demand from the hybrid independent broker-dealer and large RIA marketplaces.

We chose the innovative approach of crowdfunding with advisors versus going the traditional venture capital route to ensure that we would be able to stay focused on serving the needs of our core target market of financial advisors, said AdvicePay co-founder and veteran financial advisor Michael Kitces. As a solution built by financial advisors, for financial advisors, we knew the advisor community would immediately understand the need and problem that AdvicePay was built to solve. This approach was more than validated by the high advisor demand we saw from just one article on the Nerds Eye View blog, allowing us to get full commitments for the entire funding need in less than 2 months.

AdvicePay Enterprise, which was built over the past 4 months from AdvicePays seed extension funding, includes expanded features, functionality, and dedicated tools built specifically for organizations that support large numbers of advisors and must manage key oversight and compliance protocols. These include a dedicated home office portal enabling firms to centrally manage and control billing and payment processing, while allowing for local flexibility at the advisor level. Additionally, AdvicePay Enterprise meets the specialized compliance and security requirements of larger financial services organizations, as well as provides dedicated relationship managers to facilitate onboarding of new advisors, training and ongoing support.

As the fee-for-service movement in financial planning gains momentum, more and more advisors are working with clients by directly charging for their advice outside of or alongside an asset management fee for portfolio management, said AdvicePay Co-Founder and CEO Alan Moore. However, current billing systems from third-party providers are not built to avoid triggering SEC custody, and present a number of compliance oversight issues for larger financial institutions that service hundreds or thousands of advisors.

AdvicePay is an innovative payment processing system that advisors can incorporate to expand their business models to charge minimum advice fees, ongoing monthly, quarterly, or annual retainer fees, along with standalone planning fees  all innovative ways to work with clients and then bill them directly through technology, avoiding paper checks, invoices and manual processes. This new technology solution enables advisors to open up new markets of clients who simply want to pay for financial planning advice directly from a checking account or credit card.

The interest for an Enterprise version of AdvicePay to meet the specialized needs of larger organizations serving advisors has been tremendous, noted Moore. Firms have been looking for a solution to support a fee-for-service model that is compliant and relieves them of the operational nightmares of manual processes for handing a high volume of fee payments. As a result, we are working with some of the largest organizations in the industry, with several in the onboarding process and a very robust pipeline.

AdvicePay will be exhibiting at the upcoming Technology Tools for Today (T3) conference to be held January 29-February 1, 2019 in Denton, TX as well as at the TD Ameritrade Institutional LINC conference to be held February 6-9, 2019 in San Diego, CA.

###

About AdvicePay

Established by well-known, experienced advisors Michael Kitces and Alan Moore, AdvicePay is a leading payment processing platform for financial advisors designed to help advisors bill their hourly, retainer, subscription, and other financial planning and advice fees while complying with custody regulations, keeping client data secure, and providing efficient ways to manage fee-for-service billing. Users can accept ACH and credit cards, bill one-time payments, and establish recurrent retainer or subscription billing compliantly  all through the AdvicePay system. http://www.AdvicePay.com
New Grand Deluxe Three-Bedroom Oceanfront Suite The Grand Deluxe Three-Bedroom Oceanfront Suite is truly one of Acqualinas most elegant spaces providing a distinctive design and strong sense of coastal living with its dramatic views of the ocean, said Deborah Yager Fleming, CEO & Partner of Acqualina Resort.

The Five Star, Five Diamond Acqualina Resort & Spa unveils the new Grand Deluxe Three-Bedroom Oceanfront Suite located on the 32nd floor of the ultra-luxury resort featuring sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean and Miami skyline. To celebrate the new suite, guests who book a minimum three night stay will receive a Rolls-Royce Ghost for one day during their stay to explore the vibrant city of Miami.

The Grand Deluxe Three-Bedroom Oceanfront Suite is truly one of Acqualinas most elegant spaces providing a distinctive design and strong sense of coastal living with its dramatic views of the ocean, said Deborah Yager Fleming, CEO & Partner of Acqualina Resort. It has a quiet elegance that provides a great sense of comfort and calmness. The luxurious contemporary fabrics, soothing color palette, and marble that adorn the suite make it an ideal seaside sanctuary for loved ones.

Yager Fleming continues, To celebrate the announcement, we felt it was a wonderful match to partner with Rolls-Royce by offering a luxury motor car experience as part of the suite stay. Its only befitting as Acqualina has the worlds largest collection of independently owned Rolls Royce vehicles in a single property.

Designed by Stephanie Trump and Yager Fleming, the resorts ownership team, together with Florida-based design firm SBI, the suites elegant styling and contemporary glamour carries the magnificent ocean grandeur throughout the interior design. The white, blue, silver and gray palette combined with modern and traditional elements creates a tranquil-luxe experience. The elegant entry foyer with chic marble flooring has three round mirrored sconces, linear polished nickel light fixture and hand painted wall paper.

The suites expansive living room features modern end tables with a geometric design pattern, a 65-inch 4K TV and a flush mount chandelier. Elegant drapery adorns the floor-to-ceiling window. The sitting area has a queen sofa sleeper with quilted back cushions and accented pillows, antique brass coffee table and an area rug. There is also a serene gathering area with a sleek writing desk and lounge chairs for four.

A full gourmet kitchen has designer Arctic white quartz countertops with full backsplash, a Sub-Zero built-in refrigerator/freezer, microwave, dishwasher, stainless-steel sink, and fully stocked private bar. The dining area has a Ralph Lauren Baxter metal shade chandelier, bay window and floor-to-ceiling views of the ocean, two bar stools and dining table for four people.

There are three bedroom options including an oceanfront master bedroom with king-size bed, a large bedroom with two twin beds with a wall-to-wall panel and a bedroom with a queen bed. All beds are outfitted with Frette duvet covers in light grey. Plus, there are three private bathrooms.

The oceanfront master bedroom with terrace access is furnished with a midnight blue rug, a king bed, walk-in closet, side table with nightstand, high definition TV and a sparkling chandelier reminiscent of a jewel box with its exquisite ring pattern. The master bathroom features imported marble flooring, beautiful chandelier, double sinks, custom vanity area, bathtub and glass-enclosed shower.

The art reflects the warmth and the soft, luxurious lines of the interior. All of the art was personally selected for its ability to set the mood no matter the occasion; whether you are coming from the beach to enjoy a glass of wine or relaxing for an intimate evening. Touchpad thermostats, Lutron lighting control and high speed WiFi connection throughout the suite.

The 2,375 square-foot oceanfront suite is priced at $6,500 per night. The Rolls-Royce promotion is being offered from January 5, 2019 through April 1, 2019 for guests who book three nights or more in the new suite.

For more information or to make a booking, please contact Acqualina Resort at 305.918.8000 or visit acqualinaresort.com.

About Acqualina Resort & Spa

Acqualina Resort & Spa is a place where the charm of a Mediterranean villa meets elegance on the beach. A seaside luxury haven located on 4.5 beachfront acres in pristine Sunny Isles Beach, Acqualina Resort & Spa features 98 impeccably appointed guest rooms and suites and 188 residences with breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, world-class dining including Il Mulino New York, three oceanfront swimming pools, spacious meeting rooms and an innovative marine biology-based childrens program. A variety of lavish interior and exterior venues provide an ideal background for opulent weddings and memorable events. Acqualina Spa by ESPA, the first ESPA-branded spa in the United States, provides guests with an exquisite 20,000-square-foot, two-story tranquil sanctuary of excellence and relaxation. A family owned and operated property, Acqualina is a recipient of the coveted Forbes Travel Guide Awards for both the hotel and spa and the AAA Five Diamond Award.
Kay & Burton has announced seven new equity partners into its new corporate structure.

Founded in 1938, Kay & Burton is Melbourne based specialising in prestige property, what they suggest is "an increasingly dynamic market."

In recent times the business has seen major investments including the development of Kay & Burton Projects as a player in high end off-the-plan new developments.

Property management businesses have been launched in Armadale and Brighton to meet the needs of an expanding client base.

The firm also implemented cloud based technology throughout the organisation to enhance the customer experience, plus a host of cutting-edge digital marketing products that more effectively and efficiently promote properties to active and passive buyers.

To maximise the impact of these investments, a corporate structure with a unique equity offering for partners to buy into the entire Kay & Burton Group as opposed to a piece of only one office or division," Kay & Burton's non-executive chairman Rob Edgley said.



In contrast to a franchise model, Kay & Burton operates as one firm working.

We are very excited to announce this diverse group of talented and high-performing business professionals as our new equity partners.

"We are certain that they will be instrumental in taking Kay & Burton to even greater heights, Kay & Burton's non-executive chairman Rob Edgley said.

Managing director Michael Gibson sold down his shares for there to be new equity partners.

Kay and Burtons new equity partners comprise:

Gary Ormrod

Gary joined Kay & Burton as a property manager in late 1997 and moved into the sales division in 2001. Garys client service skills were initially developed in senior positions at National Australia Bank and Crown Casino. Over the last twenty years, he has honed these skills to be one of Kay & Burtons most consistent performers, winning the award for 2018 Top Salesperson by transaction volume.

Tom Staughton

Tom has enjoyed a long career at Kay & Burton since graduating from Swinburne University. Starting in property management, then moving into sales where he has spent the past fifteen years. Through a combination of hard work, attention to detail and a dynamic approach to marketing properties in his care, Tom was recognised by Kay & Burton as a Rising Star in 2013.

Andrew Sahhar

Andrew has experienced success in selling property in Melbourne's most prestigious suburbs, since joining Kay and Burton South Yarra in 2007. He previously graduated with Bachelor of Applied Science (Construction Management) gaining skills in negotiating, project and risk management as a team member working in international construction companies.

Rebecca Edwards

Rebecca has been a member of the Hawthorn office since September 2011 and has built an reputation during her 12 years in the real estate industry. As a lifelong Kew resident, she has an understanding of the market place and demographics across the Boroondara and Yarra environs. Rebecca was recognised by Kay & Burton as a Rising Star in 2016 and won the 2016 and 2017 Top Salesperson by transaction volume award.

Grant Samuel

Grant joined Kay & Burtons South Yarra office in July 2014 and has extensive experience at a directors level in sales and corporate marketing roles. Grant was awarded the companys Rising Star Award in 2016 followed by the 2018 Top Salesperson of the Year.

Lou Opie

Currently the COO, Lou joined Kay & Burton in February 2016 with a wealth of experience gained from her 23 years as a chartered accountant in the financial services sector in Australia, London and the Middle East. Lous skills and experience in investment banking and funds management span across finance, operations, risk & compliance, IT, marketing and HR.

Carolyn Purnell-Webb

Carolyn joined Kay & Burton in September 2016 to lead the property management division after running her own property management consultancy and training business for 16 years. Under her guidance, the property management division has become one of the fastest growing divisions at Kay & Burton. Carolyn has been recognised by the company and received the Outstanding Leadership award in both 2017 and 2018. She has an MBA from Griffith University and will complete a law degree in 2019.
Chinese billionaire Zetian Zhang, also known as Sister Milk Tea, has taken a $2.7 million loss on her prized three-level 598sq m penthouse atop the Stamford Residences in Gloucester Street, The Rocks.

The leasehold penthouse was reportedly offloaded through Richard Shalhoub, of Sydney Sothebys, who had overseen the marketing price adjustment to $15 million late last year.

However despite the January 17 settlement, the listing for 28A/171 Gloucester Street still mysteriously appears as for sale on the agency website.

.7 million loss in the Rocks" />

Standard industry practice is that a property that has sold is then either moved to sold or removed from the listing website within 72 hours, as being kept in the buy section of websites is commonly viewed as a breach of the acceptable industry policy.

The settlement paperwork obtained by Property Observer indicates it sold for $13.5 million to hotelier Ramy Arnaout and his wife Nadia, under a company name.

.7 million loss in the Rocks" />

After purchasing it for $16.2 million in April 2015, Zetian, the wife of e-commerce billionaire Richard Liu, initially put the penthouse on the market with an $18 million price tag in mid-2017.
Colliers International has sold two DA approved sites at Hemmant to a Brisbane developer for $5 million.

Estates Co. purchased the two sites, totalling 2.23ha.

The new owner has obtained development approval for 36 home sites ranging from 400sqm to 600sqm.

The sites at 261 & 273 Hemmant-TINGALPA Road are within 10km of the Brisbane CBD and within close proximity to the Port of Brisbane employment hub

They previously had acquired 30 Oswald St, Hemmant around 12 months ago for $4.715 million for a total of 68 residential lots.

Estates Co. has developed other infill projects in the surrounding area.

These sites as the last available flood free land in the area.

"There are other sites in the area, but they are badly affected by flood or environmental issues," Jason Dao, at Colliers International said.

The business recognises the keenness of homeowners to live and work near the city while being surrounded with other key amenities such as shopping centres, train station, schools and parks, he said.

Both projects will be developed in the first quarter of 2019.
Bengaluru, Jan 23 : Global software major Infosys would speed up digital makeover of enterprises using the HPE's consumption-based IT model, said the tech behemoth on Wednesday.

"The partnership with HPE will help enterprises make smart infrastructure investments, paying for what they consume, while benefiting from the security offered by a trusted managed services provider," said the city-based IT firm in a statement.

The US-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE) cloud platform focuses on outcome-based consumption and simplifies IT and freeing up resources.

Clients will also benefit with a secure private cloud and the advantage of economics in public cloud.

"As enterprises look at optimising their hybrid IT investments and accelerate digital initiatives, our partnership with HPE will provide them value proposition of a consumption-based IT model and the comfort of managed services," said Infosys' Vice-President Narasimha Rao in the statement.

As part of the expanded offerings, Infosys will invest in building skills and solutions across the hybrid cloud to drive business outcomes for its clients.

"Enterprises are seeking ways to consume the outcomes they want. Our tie-up with Infosys will contribute to the success of their customers' business," said HPE Chief Sales Officer Phil Davis on the occasion.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : Former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the collegium's December 12 resolution elevating Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Rajendra Menon to the top court not being made public and advocated "tweaking" the collegium system.

Overruling the collegium's December 12 decision of which Justice Lokur was a part, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna were on January 10 recommended for elevation to the Supreme Court (SC), superseding as many as 32 other judges, triggering a major controversy.

As former and sitting judges expressed their reservations about the judges being superseded, the Narendra Modi government on January 16 elevated both Justices Maheshwari and Khanna to the SC.

Participating in an interactive session here, Justice Lokur, who retired on December 31, did not hide his disappointment.

"It does disappoint me that the resolution passed on December 12, 2018 wasn't put up in public domain. Usually resolutions are always put on the (SC) website, but why it wasn't put up, I don't know," he said.

Asked what made the collegium change its decision, Justice Lokur said he was not privy to the "additional material" that could have led to the collegial change its mind.

While observing that the Collegium system was the best bet under the current circumstances, he did admit it had certain limitations and said there was a need to tweak it and bring in improvements.

"Like any other system, its needs tweaking. The system needs to improve, there has to be a timeframe that must be strictly adhered to," he said adding that it was public knowledge that government on many instances has sat on the collegium's recommendations for months.

Pointing out that the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) was silent on many aspects including the eligibility criteria of the judges, Justice Lokur said there was an urgent need of discussing the issue of improving the system, with the government and stakeholders.

While denying the existence of nepotism or influence in the collegium system, he admitted that there were instances of decisions reflecting "arbitrariness".

On the issue of judges accepting post retirement assignment, he said there were laws that mandated that retired judges and retired chief Justice of India could only be the chairperson of NHRC and other commissions.

"If all judges start declining such posts, then who will run these commissions?" he asked.

He also dismissed the hype made over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the SC and having met judges.

"Do you want judges not to see the face of the Prime Minister?" said Justice Lokur when asked to comment on the issue.

"A judge shouldn't be expected to be in ivory tower or live like a hermit. I don't think there is anything wrong in Prime Minister either visiting the SC or meeting judges," he said.

On a question on why there has been no appointment of a Dalit judge to the SC in the last 8 years, Justice Lokur said: "There was no one senior enough to be appointed".

He also opined that criminal defamation law and the sedition law should be done away with and lamented the lack of discussions on making the justice delivery system quicker and more accessible.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : The NGT on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to take action against Andhra Pradesh where allegedly illegal construction activity is being carried out for the Purushothapatnam Lift Irrigation Scheme.

A National Green Tribunal (NGT) bench headed by its Chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel said that the matter has been pending for two years now and hence, the Ministry has to take a decision on the matter within one month.

"The MoEF&CC must consider the matter and decide whether action under Section 5 -- which provides for powers of the Central government to close or prohibit an activity for violation of any directions -- is called for," the tribunal said in its order.

The bench was hearing a petition which sought an injunction against the construction activities undertaken by the state of Andhra Pradesh for Purushothapatnam Lift Irrigation Scheme without environmental clearance.

The project is located at Akhanda Godavari Left Bank near Purushothapatnam village in Seethanagaram, East Godavari district, which involves diversion of flow of river Godavari to Yeluru river. In the process, experts say, there will be damage to the environment, including destruction of fertile land.

"The project envisages irrigation of 10,000 hectares of agricultural land. Though the project is for irrigation and other allied activities, the same is being claimed to be only for drinking water, to avoid the legal requirement of environmental clearance," the order said.

The bench said that though the Ministry filed a reply on the matter, it did not mention whether the project needed environmental clearance. "We expected the MoEF&CC to have taken a specific stand in the matter," it said.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : Telecom major Vodafone Idea on Wednesday said its Board has approved raising funds up to Rs 25,000 crore through rights issue.

During the Board meeting on Wednesday, the promoter shareholders -- Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group -- reiterated that they would contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and Rs 7,250 crore, respectively, as part of such rights issue.

"The Board has considered and approved the offer and issue of fully paid-up or partly-paid up equity shares of the company and other securities convertible into equity shares of the company, including but not limited to, compulsorily convertible debentures, for an amount aggregating up to Rs 25,000 crore, by way of a rights issue to existing eligible equity shareholders of the company as on the record date," Vodafone Idea said in a regulatory filing.

Further, the promoter shareholders also said that in case the rights issue is under-subscribed, each of the promoter shareholders reserves the right to subscribe to part or whole amount of the unsubscribed portion, subject to applicable law.

Share price of Vodafone Idea on the BSE closed at Rs 33.75, higher Rs 0.30 or 0.90 per cent from the previous close.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted searches at eight locations across the country in connection with Pakistan-based Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) terror funding case.

The locations where searches were conducted by the agency include Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, Sikar and Jaipur in Rajasthan, Delhi, Valsad and Surat in Gujarat and Kasargod in Kerala.

"A total of 26 SIM cards, including three foreign, 23 mobile phones, five memory cards, one compact disk, five hard disks, one pen drive, one CPU, eight passports/ foreign cards, nine debit cards, one laptop, Rs 21 lakh in cash, gold items (used jewellery) approx 2 kg and various incriminating documents (also related to Dubai) were recovered during the searches," an NIA official said.

The NIA registered the FIF terror funding case on July 2, 2018 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

As per the case, some Delhi-based individuals were receiving funds from FIF operatives based abroad and using the same to further terror activities. FIF was established by Jamaat-ud-Dawa of 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is a designated "global terrorist". The US also designated FIF as a terrorist entity in 2010. It is a front-end organisation of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terror organisation proscribed under the UAPA. It was founded in 1990 by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

To date, four accused have been arrested by the NIA in connection with the case. "The investigation is continuing to unearth the larger conspiracy, to collect evidence and to arrest the other accused persons," said the NIA official.

The NIA on Monday arrested suspected LeT member Mohammad Hussain Molani, 43, from Jaipur airport in Rajasthan after his arrival from Dubai on Sunday.

Molani, a resident of Kuchaman city in Rajasthan's Nagaur district, had been evading arrest and living in Dubai. The agency had earlier issued a lookout circular against him. He was produced before a special NIA team in New Delhi on Monday and remanded to nine-day custody.

The NIA said it busted FIF terror funding module during searches at multiple places in Delhi on September 25, 2018. The agency had earlier arrested Mohammad Salman, 52, alleged hawala operator, Salim, 62, and Sajjad Abdul Wani, 34, in connection with the case.
Shops remain closed after ban was imposed on fish sales in Patna, on Jan 15, 2019. Authorities imposed ban after formalin and lead were found in fish samples Image Source: IANS News

Patna: People stage a demonstration to protest against the ban on fish sales in Patna after formalin and lead were found in fish samples; in Patna, on Jan 16, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Patna, Jan 23 : The Bihar government on Wednesday decided to continue its ban on sale, storage and transportation of fish from Andhra Pradesh in Patna following lab tests that confirmed presence of high content of toxic chemical formalin. A team of officials will visit Andhra Pradesh to examine the fish, an official said.

Sanjay Sinha, Principal Secretary of state Health Department, said a meeting called by the chief secretary on Wednesday decided that the ban will continue on fish from Andhra Pradesh.

"It was also decided that a team of state government officials will visit Andhra Pradesh in a day or two to examine ponds as well as wholesale markets there," Sinha said.

Last week the state government had lifted the ban on sale of live fish, three days after it banned the sale, transportation and storage of all kinds of fish.

After Bihar banned the fish from Andhra Pradesh in Patna, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu urged his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar to take steps to restore the fish trade in the larger interest of farmers and those engaged in the trade.

In a letter to Nitish Kumar, Naidu said the fish farmer associations of his state represented to his government that their fish trade with Bihar was badly affected due to apprehensions about alleged use of formalin in the fish supplies.

Naidu requested the Bihar government to depute a technical team to undertake quality checks to clear these apprehensions.
New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) Priyanka Gandhi's official entry into politics has come as a "shocker" for the BJP even as it was preparing to counter the newly formed alliance of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh.

Although party leaders officially dismissed her appointment as a "family matter" which would not impact the BJP's fortune especially in Uttar Pradesh, they admit privately that the road ahead for the party in the most populous state will not be as easy as it was in 2014.

Soon after Priyanka Gandhi's appointment, the BJP leadership tried to dismiss the development as "a family matter" of the grand old party.

The first attack came from its spokesperson Sambit Patra who said this was expected from a party that practices dynasty politics and said her formal entry into politics was an admission by the party that Rahul Gandhi had "failed" in providing leadership.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and his cabinet colleague J.P. Nadda, who is the BJP's election in-charge in Uttar Pradesh, also called it a part of "dynasty politics".

Prasad conveyed his good wishes to Priyanka Gandhi while taking a dig at the Congress and calling her appointment a "family concern".

Nadda too spoke about "dynasty politics", saying: "Everyone knows how this household company works."

But a senior party leader who did not wish to be identified told IANS that Priyanka Gandhi would definitely be a crowd puller but it needed to be seen how she converts them into votes.

"She has her own appeal. She is a look-alike of Indira Gandhi and has all the ability of a crowd puller," he said.

Asked about her impact in Uttar Pradesh, he said: "It needs to be seen. But 'asar to padega hi' (It will have an impact)."

A party office bearer added that the decision to ask Priyanka Gandhi to oversee eastern Uttar Pradesh was unexpected.

"The Congress had been uprooted from this area and the Congress President has taken a big risk by giving her charge of East Uttar Pradesh. This is shocking," he said.

Another party office bearer said the BJP was yet to devise a strategy to counter the SP-BSP alliance when the Priyanka factor had come into play.

"We will have to draw a new strategy," he said.

However, some party insiders feel that Priyanka Gandhi's task will not be easy because she will have to start from ground zero.

The area she has been assigned is a bastion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.

The BJP won 71 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 while an ally, Apana Dal, got two seats. After the SP-BSP alliance was announced, many BJP leaders openly admitted that the road ahead would not be that easy in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

With Priyanka Gandhi joining the battle, BJP leaders are cautious even in attacking her.

( can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in)
Bengaluru, Jan 23 : State-run Vijaya Bank on Wednesday reported a Rs. 143 crore net profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2018-19, registering a whopping 79 per cent annual growth from Rs. 80 crore in the same period a year ago.

Sequentially, net profit for the quarter (Q3) under review, however, remained flat from Rs. 140 crore a quarter ago.

The city-based bank earned Rs. 3,848 crore as interest for Q3, registering 23 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) growth from Rs. 3,135 crore in the like period a year ago and 5.9 per cent sequentially from Rs. 3,634 crore a quarter ago.

"Total income grew 19 per cent YoY to Rs. 4,106 crore from Rs. 3,451 crore year ago and 4.5 per cent sequentially from Rs. 3,931 crore a quarter ago," the bank said in a statement here.

The operating profit, however, declined 1.6 per cent YoY to Rs. 756 crore from Rs. 768 crore a year ago and remained flat (0.4 per cent) sequentially from Rs. 759 crore a quarter ago.

Provision for non-performing assets (NPA) shot up 79 per cent YoY to Rs. 582 crore from Rs. 333 crore a year ago and 19 per cent sequentially from Rs. 488 crore a quarter ago.

General provision, however, declined 6.3 per cent YoY to Rs. 578 crore from Rs. 677 crore a year ago 1.9 per cent sequentially from Rs. 589 crore a quarter ago.

Gross NPA increased 19.3 per cent YoY to Rs. 8,140 crore from Rs. 6,829 crore a year ago and 7.7 per cent sequentially from Rs. 7,557 crore a quarter ago.

Similarly, net NPA spiked 22.6 per cent YoY to Rs. 5,296 crore from Rs. 4,317 crore and 10 per cent sequentially from Rs. 4,810 crore a quarter ago.

Net NPA ratio declined to 4.05 per cent from 3.99 per cent a year ago and 3.81 a quarter ago, while gross NPA ratio was fractionally up to 6.14 per cent from 6.17 per cent a year ago but marginally less from 5.86 per cent a quarter ago.

The bank's Chief Executive R.A. Sankara Narayanan told the media here that total business for the quarter grew 23.5 per cent YoY to Rs. 3,07,248 crore, with deposits up 26 per cent YoY to Rs. 1,74,615 crore and advances up 20 per cent YoY to Rs. 1,32, 634 crore.

"Our Net Interest Income (NII) grew 2.85 per cent YoY to Rs. 1,187 crore," Narayanan added.
London, Jan 23 : Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday told her MPs that moves to prevent the UK from leaving the EU will not "solve the situation" or rule out a no-deal Brexit in the future.

"The decision remains the same -- the deal, no-deal or no Brexit," she said at Prime Minister's Questions. The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29.

Senior backbenchers have drawn up parliamentary legislation that seeks to extend Article 50 and prevent Britain leaving the EU without an agreement if May's revised deal gets rejected by MPs, the BBC reported.

"What we have seen is amendments seeking to engineer a situation where Article 50 is extended - that does not solve the issue, there will always be a point of decision. The decision remains the same: no deal, a deal or no Brexit," said May.

"Extending Article 50, I don't believe, resolves any issues because at some point members of this House have to decide whether they want to have a no-deal situation, agree a deal or have no Brexit," she added.

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn reiterated his calls for May to take no-deal off the table. In response, the Prime Minister attacked him for refusing to take part in cross-party talks with her on the way forward.

"The Right Honourable Gentleman has been willing to sit down with Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA without preconditions, yet he won't meet me to talk about Brexit," she told MPs.

Corbyn replied, saying: "The door to her office may be open but the minds inside are completely closed."

Earlier in the day, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said delaying or cancelling Brexit would be a "calamitous" breach of trust with the electorate and worse than leaving the EU with no deal.

He said MPs pushing for a delay actually wanted to stop Brexit, and they should think about the "political consequences" of that.

According to former UK Chancellor George Osborne, who campaigned for Remain during the referendum, delaying Britain's exit from the EU was now the "most likely" option and that prospect of no deal meant "the gun was held to the British economy's head".

The UK has to choose between no deal, which he compared to Russian roulette, or no Brexit for now, Osborne was cited as saying by the BBC.

"Russian roulette is a game which you should never play because there's a one-in-six chance that the bullet goes into your head," he said at Davos.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : Expressing his disappointment over the Supreme Court Collegium's December 12 resolution of elevating Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Rajendra Menon to the Supreme Court not being put in public domain, former apex court judge Madan Lokur on Wednesday advocated "tweaking" the Collegium system.

"It does disappoint me that the resolution passed on December 12, 2018 wasn't put up in public domain. But why it wasn't put up, I dont know," said Justice Lokur at an interactive session here.

As opposed to the December 12 collegium decision of which Justice Lokur was a part, the collegium on January 10 recommended elevating Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna to the Supreme Court, superseding as many as 32 other judges, triggering a controversy.

Asked what made the collegium change its decision, Justice Lokur said he was not privy to the "additional material" which led to the change in the collegium decision of December.

Although the collegium system under the present circumstances was essential, Justice Lokur said there was a need to tweak the system and bring in improvements.
Agartala, Jan 23 : Four state-owned companies under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry will provide Rs 80 crore to Tripura to make the northeastern state Open Defecation Free (ODF) soon, a top ONGC official said here on Wednesday.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Executive Director Gautam Kumar Singha Roy after handing over a cheque of Rs 20 crore to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb told the media that four companies under the Ministry would give Rs 80 crore to Tripura to make the state ODF soon.

Besides ONGC, the other companies who would provide the finance assistance for the scheme are Indian Oil Corp, Oil India Ltd and Gas Authority of India Ltd.

The Chief Minister said for the state to achieve ODF status, a new scheme -- Jibandhara State Water and Sanitation Mission (JSWSM) -- has been launched which would cover at least 3.50 lakh families.

Singha Roy, who is also the head of company's Tripura asset, said that with Rs 80 crore, 67,430 Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) would be constructed in the state.

He said that as part of the ONGC's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the government-owned company has decided to provide a total of Rs 25 crore to the JSWSM.

A cheque of Rs 20 crore was handed over to the Chief Minister on Wednesday and the remaining Rs 5 crore would be given later.

Tripura Chief Secretary Lalit Kumar Gupta is the ex-officio Chairman of the JSWSM.

ONGC's CSR chief S.S.C Parthiban said that under the CSR programme, during the fiscal 2017-18, the company spent Rs 503 crore on various projects across the country, and for the current financial year 2018-19, Rs 480 crore had been earmarked for CSR activities.

Executive Director Roy added that it has already given financial support worth several crores to the state government for making Tripura an ODF state.

"To realise the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the country ODF by October 2, 2019, ONGC has been extending its support," he added.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendment to Article 280 and the sixth schedule to the Constitution to improve the financial resources and administrative powers of the autonomous district councils of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura to fulfil the "long standing aspirations" of tribal population residing in these northeastern states.

Calling the decision a landmark move, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the finance commission constituted by the Centre will now be specifically mandated to recommend devolution of financial resources to the ten autonomous district councils as well as the village and municipal councils in the sixth schedule areas.

"This will be a game changer, as it will substantially enhance the funds available to these local government institutions for undertaking development works in these tribal areas," Prasad said after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Explaining in detail, a government statement said the amendment also provides for constitution of state finance commissions in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.

"The amendment provides for transfer of additional 30 subjects including Public Works Department, Forests, Public Health Engineering, Health and Family Welfare; Urban Development, Food and Civil Supply department to Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC) and Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC) in Assam, thus greatly strengthening the autonomous councils and giving them a major role in the day to day governance and developmental activities," said the statement.

The amendments, the statement said, also provide for elected village and municipal councils ensuring grass root democracy.

"The village councils will be empowered for preparation of plans for economic development and social justice including those in relation to agriculture, land improvement, implementation of land reforms, minor irrigation, water management, animal husbandry, rural electrification, small scale industries and social forestry.

"There will be reservations of at least one-third of seats for women in the village and municipal councils in the sixth schedule areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura and at least two of the nominated members in all autonomous councils in the northeast sixth schedule areas resulting in empowerment of women," said the statement.

There will be state election commissions for holding elections to the autonomous councils, village and municipal councils in the areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.

Meghalaya has for the time being kept out of the purview of the provision for elected village and municipal councils and one-third reservations for women.

The amendments will fulfil the commitments made under tripartite memorandum of settlements signed by government of India, state governments of Assam and Meghalaya, United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), Dima Halam Daogah(DHD) and Achik National Volunteers' Council(ANVC).

The amendments propose to rename the existing autonomous councils as KAATC, DHATC, Garo Hills Autonomous Territorial Council (GHATC), Khasi Hills Autonomous Territorial Council (KHATC), Jaintia Hills Autonomous Territorial Council (JHATC) and Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous Territorial Council (TTAATC) as the present jurisdiction of these Councils extend to more than one districts.
Colombo, Jan 23 : The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) on Wednesday said it had written to Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera recommending him to make a budgetary allocation to make state buildings and transport accessible to persons with disabilities, keeping in line with the country's laws as well as international obligations.

In its letter, as reported by Xinhua news agency, the HRCSL said that during the past three years the commission had engaged in numerous activities to ensure persons with disabilities had access to public buildings and transport.

It said several training programmes were conducted in collaboration of the Human Rights Commission of Australia along with audits of public buildings to assess disability accessibility.

The HRCSL said Sri Lanka was a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and has undertaken international legal obligations to enable persons with disabilities to access facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.
Ranchi, Jan 23 : Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Wednesday held a 'padyatra' with the soil from the homes of martyrs of freedom struggle on the occasion of Netaji Jayanti in Ranchi.

The Chief Minister announced that a statue in memory of the 1857 freedom fighters will be constructed at the Old Birsa Munda Central Jail museum.

The Chief Minister's 'padyatra' began from Morabadi ground of Ranchi and terminated at old Birsa Munda Central Jail in the city.

The state government had got the soil collected from respective villages of freedom fighters who had died for the freedom of the country. The soil were collected at Morabadi ground in an earthen pot.

The freedom fighters from whose villages the soil was collected are Birsa Munda, Siddo-Kanho, Nilamber and Pitamber, Ajatra Tana Bhagat and others. The soil will be used for constructing a statue of each freedom fighter at old Birsa Munda Central Jail which is now being developed as a museum.

Birsa Munda was hanged by the British at the Old Central Jail.

Hundreds of people, including BJP leaders, joined the 'padytra'.
Mumbai, Jan 23 : The Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday celebrated Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra's political debut with many activists appealing to her to contest from Mumbai.

Party workers were seen dancing, cheering, distributing sweets at various places in Mumbai and other districts, while top leaders welcomed her appointment as an AICC General Secretary.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan congratulated her and described her as "an able administrator" who has been nurturing the Rae Barelly and Amethi constituencies effectively for many years.

"She knows the pulse of the people and understands peoples' issues and concerns very well. Now, she will have a wider canvas in Uttar Pradesh and under her able leadership, the Congress will definitely register an outstanding victory in that state," Chavan said.

Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam terms it as "a great decision by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and will strengthen the party" in a big way in UP and elsewhere.

Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said "Priyanka Gandhi's dynamism and personal charisma will definitely invigorate the Congress."

"Her induction will have an impact far beyond UP, along with a renewed challenge to the Modi-Shah style of dictatorial rule," Chavan added.

Former minister and senior leader Naseem Khan said Priyanka's personality will strenghten the party and ensure the Congress' return to power in the 2019 elections.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit India for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before this year's general elections and as early as February, a media report suggested on Wednesday.

Reporting out of Beijing and New Delhi, the Nikkei Asia Review business journal cited an Indian source as saying that the visit might happen as early as February with the elections due in May though a Chinese source was quoted as saying it will take place after China's National People's Congress in March.

The report comes amid speculation here about when Modi will host Xi for a return informal summit with elections around the corner. The Chinese leader hosted the Prime Minister for a similar summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in April last year.

According to the report, the impending visit is being seen as a move by Beijing to counter Washington's increasingly antagonistic trade policy and aggressive Indo-Pacific diplomacy.

It stated that Xi is expected to discuss with Modi measures to defuse border tensions as well as propose deals to expand imports of Indian farm products and increase cooperation in advanced technologies.

"The visit, whenever it occurs, offers Modi a golden opportunity to show voters a diplomatic victory ahead of an election in which he likely faces an uphill fight," the report said.

In 2017, Indian and Chinese troops were in a face-to-face situation at the Doklam region in India-Bhutan-China international trijunction after China's People's Liberation Army tried to construct a road there.

After being made President for life, Xi then hosted Modi for the informal summit last year to break the chill in bilateral ties in the wake of the Doklam incident.

In 2018, apart from the Wuhan summit, Modi and Xi met three more times - on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July and the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December.

Xi's visit will also help Beijing in re-balancing its strategy in the Indo-Pacific after India, the US, Japan and Australia revived a quad in 2017 to work for peace and prosperity in the region.

The revival of the quad was seen as a move by these four important powers to counter China's increasing influence in the Indo-Pacific, a region stretching from the east coast of Japan to the east coast of Africa.
Shimla, Jan 23 : Nearly 200 road links in Himachal Pradesh were reopened on Wednesday a day after widespread snow and rain blocked highways and link roads.

A majority of commuters, who were stranded across the state, were moved to their destination with the clearing of snow from roads, officials said here. Still, several others remain stranded in upper Shimla and Kinnaur district.

Snow hit vehicular movement beyond Shimla town while traffic on the Pathankot-Chamba highway was badly hit. The entire Kinnaur district is cut off. However, there was no loss of life.

Road links to Kinnaur district and towns in Shimla district such as Narkanda, Jubbal, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal remained suspended for a second day, a government official told IANS.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday reviewed the losses, restoration and rescue operations.

As per the government, a total 690 roads were closed after Tuesday's snowfall. Of these, 200 roads were cleared on Wednesday and the remaining would be reopened after Thursday.

The Public Works Department estimates a initial loss of Rs 51.92 crore to the roads.

While the picturesque tourist town Manali recorded 30 cm of snowfall, it was 39.6 cm in Kalpa and 60 cm in Dalhousie. Dharamsala had 52 mm of rainfall, the state's highest.

"There is no movement of traffic towards Kinnaur district on the national highway five beyond Tapri. Work is on to restore electricity in Kinnaur. The Pangi valley in Chamba district is also cut off from the rest of the state," an official said.

The Queen of the Hills, as Shimla was called by the British, recorded the highest snowfall on a single day in January in the past 15 years.

Manmohan Singh, Director of the meteorological office here, told IANS the town recorded 44.5 cm of snowfall on Tuesday, the highest in the first month of the year since 2004.

Keylong town in Lahaul-Spiti district saw over three feet of snowfall.

Officials said bad weather has affected the road network in the higher reaches of Kinnaur, Shimla, Chamba, Kullu and Sirmaur districts and efforts were being made to reopen the roads.

There are chances of moderate snow in the state till Friday, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told IANS.

The government has advised people not to venture to the high hills of Kullu, Shimla and Kinnaur districts owing to threats of avalanches.
Kolkata, Jan 23 : FMCG major ITC Ltd on Wednesday reported a 3.85 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in its standalone net profit to Rs 3,209.07 crore for the third quarter ended on December 31, 2018 as compared to Rs 3,090.20 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Driven mainly by FMCG, agri business and paperboards, paper and packaging, its gross revenue for the quarter soared to Rs 11,340.15 crore, up by 15.1 per cent from Rs 9,852.74 crore in the corresponding period last year.

However, the company said the profit after tax before considering exceptional items, grew by 13.8 per cent, a 17-quarter high.

"Profit for the period in respect of the quarter and nine months ended on December 31, 2017, before considering exceptional items of Rs 270 crore (post tax), stood at Rs 2,820.20 crore and Rs 8,020.54 crore respectively. Consequently, profit for the period in respect of the quarter and nine months ended on December 31 before considering exceptional items, represents a growth of 13.8 per cent and 12 per cent respectively," it said in a regulatory filing.

Further, the filing said: "Exceptional items in the previous period represent provisions for earlier years in respect of Tamil Nadu entry tax that were written back based on favourable order of the Supreme Court."

In its cigarettes business, the revenue during the quarter under review was at Rs 5,073.38 crore as against Rs 4,629.19 crore in the year-ago period.

The cigarette major said the "punitive and discriminatory taxation and regulatory regime" continues to exert severe pressure on the domestic legal cigarette industry even as illegal cigarette trade grows unabated.

According to it, the legal cigarette industry, already reeling under the cumulative impact of steep increase in taxation over the previous five years and intense regulatory pressures, was further impacted by a sharp increase of 13 per cent in tax incidence on cigarettes (19 per cent increase for the king-size filter segment) under the GST regime.

"Segment results during the quarter include the impact of escalation in input costs largely on account of consumption of higher cost leaf tobacco crop and increased salience of capsule cigarettes in the sales mix. Despite an extremely challenging operating environment, the business consolidated its leadership position," it said in a statement.

The company's FMCG-Others segment during the quarter posted a revenue of Rs 3,200.98 crore growing year-on-year by 11.5 per cent led by atta, snacks, premium cream biscuits and noodles in the branded packaged foods business, fragrancing products and liquids in the personal care business and others.

"Growth in overall segment revenue was partially impacted by the ongoing restructuring of the lifestyle retailing business and structural changes pertaining to the timing of trade promotions in the matches and 'agarbatti' business," it said.

The company also said the segment Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) at Rs 173.38 crore posted strong growth of 42 per cent on the "back of enhanced scale, product mix enrichment and cost management initiatives, notwithstanding increase in input costs, sustained investments in brand building, gestation costs of new categories and start-up costs of new facilities".

In the hotels business, it posted Rs 451.86 crore revenue during the December quarter registering a growth of 12 per cent driven by improvement in average room rate. Operations at the recently commissioned hotels were scaled up, it said.

Its agri-business posted Rs 1,924.61 crore in the quarter. Market opportunities in wheat and oilseeds along with enhanced focus on value-added portfolio, especially coffee, spices and aqua, resulted in robust growth in revenue during the quarter.

"However, in the leaf tobacco vertical, subdued demand for leaf tobacco in international markets, relatively steeper depreciation in currencies of competing origins in recent years along with leaf cost escalation pertaining to Andhra Pradesh 2017 crop continued to weigh on segment results," it said.

In the paperboards, paper and packaging, segment revenue growth of 20.5 per cent was driven by strong demand and capacity augmentation in value added paperboard and decor products.

"Segment results registered a healthy growth of 23.8 per cent driven by product mix enrichment, higher realization, strategic investments in imported pulp substitution, process innovation," it added.
Guwahati, Jan 23 : Thousands of people gathered at a playground in Assam capital on Wednesday to participate in a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 as the All Assam students' Union (AASU) resolved to organize a community and village-level meetings against the contentious Bill.

The mass demonstration programme titled 'Bajraninad' (voice of thunder) was supported by at least 30 organizations of the northeastern states, political parties and people from different walks of life.

"We have agreed to accept the burden of illegal immigrants who came till 1971 as part of the Assam Accord. When the accord was presented in Parliament, BJP leaders such as Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani supported it. Now the government wants to grant citizenship to those who came after 1971. We are not going to accept that," said AASU adviser Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya.

He termed the BJP-led government at the Centre as well as in Assam as protector of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators. He said the BJP spoke for the protection of indigenous people before the polls, but concentrated on illegal Bangladeshis after the victory in the polls.

"We are going to organize 'Raij Mel (community meeting)' and Gaon Sabha from tomorrow to make the people aware about the protectors of the illegal Bangladeshis. A mass movement will be raised across the state," said Bhattacharyya.

He said the Centre's decision to grant citizenship won't be accepted as it will jeopardize the identity of indigenous people.

"We have seen how Hindu Bangladeshis have changed the demography of Tripura. Out of the total 40 lakh population of the state, only 12 lakh are indigenous Tripuris. We won't allow this to happen in Assam," said Bhattacharyya.
Chennai, Jan 23 : Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) on Wednesday said it would invest Rs. 16,641 crore in Tamil Nadu for expanding its retail outlet network, upgrading its infrastructure and laying of gas distribution pipelines.

The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government.

According to IOC, it would invest Rs. 7,941 crore over the next five years.

The company said Rs. 5,100 crore will be invested in expanding its petrol bunk network; Rs. 1,824 crore in upgrading the storage infrastructure and fuel handling facilities; Rs. 214 crore towards liquified petroleum gas (LPG) infrastructure augmentation; and Rs. 803 crore in modernisation and capacity enhancement of its Ennore Lube Complex here.

The company also signed a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for an investment of Rs. 8,700 crore in two mega gas distribution projects - (a) Ennore-Thiruvallur-Bengaluru-Puducherry-Nagapattinam-Madurai-Trichy involving an outlay of Rs. 4,500 crore and (b) City Gas Distribution project in the Salem and Coimbatore geographical areas at an outlay of Rs. 4,200 crore.

"With a contribution of around Rs. 6,800 crore to the state exchequer per annum, the Indian Oil in Tamil Nadu would like to play a stellar role in the State's growth," R. Sitharthan, Executive Director - Tamil Nadu and Puducherry - said.
Mumbai, Jan 23 : Model-turned-actor Dheeraj Dhoopar has been roped in as a celebrity host of the grand finale of the show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa".

The "Kundali Bhagya" actor will join Aditya Narayan as the show's host for the episode.

"Hosting is something that I always wanted to do and I'm glad that I am getting good opportunities to showcase my talent. I feel that as an actor, it is essential to keep evolving," Dheeraj said in a statement.

"Hosting the grand finale of 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' as a celebrity host is great," he added.

Dheeraj had earlier hosted the Zee Rishtey Awards.

He will shoot for the episode on Wednesday evening.
London, Jan 23 : Former UK Chancellor George Osborne has said delaying Britain's exit from the EU is now the "most likely" option and that prospect of no deal means "the gun is held to the British economy's head".

The UK has to choose between no deal, which he compared to Russian roulette, or no Brexit for now, Osborne was cited as saying by the BBC on Wednesday.

"Russian roulette is a game which you should never play because there's a one-in-six chance that the bullet goes into your head," he said at Davos.

MPs were proposing alternative plans to Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the EU, including seeking an extension to the UK's exit date -- it is due to leave on March 29.

But May said the "right way" to rule out no-deal Brexit was to approve her withdrawal agreement. According to her, it was "impossible" to rule out leaving without a deal any other way because, under current law, the UK will exit the EU on the decided date, whether or not a deal had been struck.

Osborne, who campaigned for Remain, said his successor Philip Hammond had "sensibly" told businesses that leaving without a deal was not a possibility.

"But we now need to hear it from the British Prime Minister," he said.

Opposition Labour Party's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC that it was "highly likely" the party will back an amendment put forward by Labour MP Yvette Cooper, with support from MPs in other parties.

It will give time for a bill to suspend the Article 50 process for leaving the EU if a new deal had not been agreed with Brussels by the end of February, the report said.

It is one of several alternative plans by MPs that will be put forward when May returns to the Commons on January 29 to set out her own proposed next steps.

Another proposal seeks to win over some opponents of May's deal by insisting on "an expiry date to the backstop" -- the "insurance policy" intended to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The backstop has been opposed by some Conservative MPs and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party because it could mean keeping the UK in a customs union with the EU indefinitely and having different rules for different parts of the UK.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was expected to meeting May for talks on Wednesday, said she supported seeking an extension to the Brexit deadline.
Rome, Jan 23 : The government has decided to nominate 82-year-old Italian comic actor Lino Banfi to represent Italy on a Unesco committee, Deputy Premier, Welfare and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said.

"The government has nominated Maestro Banfi to represent Italy," Di Maio said at a presentation of the government's flagship basic income for the poorest citizens. "We have given Lino Banfi Unesco World Heritage status," he quipped, standing beside the veteran film actor and presenter.

Born Pasquale Zagaria in the city of Andria in Italy's southern Puglia region, Banfi has appeared in over 100 films since 1960. He became a Goodwill Ambassador for the Italian National Committee for UNICEF in 2000.
Bhopal, Jan 23 : Two days after the Madhya Pradesh Police arrested three including a woman for abetting the suicide of spiritual guru Bhayyuji Maharaj, the state Congress unit on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the case.

Madhya Pradesh Congress General Secretary Bharat Porwal has written a letter to state's Chief Secretary S.R. Mohanty demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to find out whether it was actually a suicide or murder.

"A letter was earlier sent to the Central government demanding a CBI probe into the case, on which the government had sought comments of the Chief Secretary. But the Indore police closed the case declaring it a suicide," said Porwal.

Speaking to IANS, Porwal said: "Bhayyuji was continuously being doped which proves that someone else was using his mobile phone. So, an attempt to malign his character is being made, which is wrong. Only a CBI probe will unravel the conspiracy."

Asserting that it was big game and real culprits are still moving scot-free, Porwal said the police are trying to bury the matter by arresting Palak Puranik, Vinayak Dudhale and Sharad Deshmukh, but they are just pawns. "The real culprits can be sent to jail only after a fair CBI investigation."

Spiritual guru Uday Singh Deshmukh, or Bhayyuji Maharaj, committed suicide by shooting himself on June 12 last year. There were rumours that ideological differences between his daughter and the second wife drove Bhayyuji to take the extreme step. But on Monday, the police arrested three, including his lady caretaker, on charges of abetting the crime.

According to the sources close to Bhayyuji, Shree Sadguru Dharmik Ewam Parmarthik Trust, Indore has many branches across the country. These properties, worth crores of rupees, belong to the Trust.

Besides, Bhayyuji had undisclosed partnership in many big businesses and Palak was aware of these all. That's why she came close to the spiritual guru and later forced him to marry her, they say.
Bengaluru, Jan 23 : A case of assault has been registered against Karnataka Congress legislator J.N. Ganesh for his alleged attack on party MLA Anand Singh on Sunday, police said on Wednesday.

"An FIR under sections 323 (causing hurt) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC was filed against Ganesh based on the statements given by Anand Singh in the hospital," a police official from Ramanagar Police Station in Ramanagara district told IANS over phone.

Singh was hospitalised on Sunday after an alleged attack by Ganesh when he was at a resort on the city's outskirts along with other party MLAs last week.

The police have formed teams to nab Ganesh, who is allegedly absconding, the official said.

While Ganesh is an MLA from Kampli in Ballari district, Singh is a legislator from Vijayanagara Assembly segment in the same district.

"Ganesh will be arrested soon as the state police is searching for him. Nobody is above law and the Congress MLA is no exception," state Home Minister M.B. Patil told reporters here on Wednesday.

The incident has "ruined" the image of legislators in the southern state, remarked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar.

"The Congress has been trying to cover up the issue, which has ruined the image of all legislators in the state," Shettar told the media.

The Karnataka Congress had earlier said it has suspended Ganesh from the party.

"We at Congress show zero tolerance towards violence by any of our representatives. Based on preliminary information gathered about the brawl between the MLAs, KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao has ordered the suspension of Ganesh," the party tweeted.

An inquiry committee under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara and Congress leaders K.J. George and Krishna Byre Gowda was formed to look into the incident, the party added.

The party's legislators were lodged at the resort from January 18 to 21 to keep them at one place amid reported of poaching by the BJP.
Bengaluru, Jan 23 : Japanese flag carrier Japan Airlines Ltd (JAL) will fly from Bengaluru to Tokyo non-stop from 2020, it said on Wednesday.

"The new non-stop service between Tokyo and Bengaluru will be flagged off during the summer of 2020," JAL said in a statement here.

JAL, which currently has direct flights to Tokyo from New Delhi, will operate flights on the Bengaluru-Tokyo route daily.

A Boeing 787-8 will be operated on the nine-hour long route.

"The launch of this route will provide travellers from North America a new option when travelling to the south of India," the statement said.

Connecting Tokyo with Bengaluru, which as India's tech hub has thriving IT, telecom and biotech industries, will help in contributing to the economic development of both the countries, JAL said.

"With this development, not only will tourism flourish in Karnataka and Japan, but also many new businesses will be established, thereby creating lots of new opportunities," said the Consul-General of Japan in Bengaluru, Takayuki Kitagawa.

The service will also help travellers in flying to US cities easily, he added.
New Delhi, Jan 23 : Actress Yami Gautam, whose latest release "Uri: The Surgical Strike" has become her first movie to cross the Rs 100 crore mark, says it is most appropriate to dedicate the success to the Indian Army and their families.

The movie is about the 2016 surgical strikes that India conducted following a terrorist attack in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir.

"No matter how much gratitude I have towards our Army, it will always be less. During the shooting and promotion of the film, I got the privilege of meeting our Army men every other day. They made me realise the real value of hard work. Their honesty, hard work and sacrifices inspired me to put my best into the film.

"They stand for us, they fight for us. We exist because of them. I salute them and their families for always supporting them in every crucial situation. Through 'Uri...', I wanted to make them feel proud. And now that the film is doing so well, without any second thought, I want to give the credit of the film's success to our brave Army men and their families," Yami told IANS over phone.

Yami said the Army personifies patriotism at its best.

"The true meaning of being a patriot comes from the Army. For them, it is always duty before anything else. They are always serving our country. They depict the true meaning of patriotism. So, we all should get inspired by them and whatever role we are doing in life, we should do it with utmost honesty."

According to her, citizens should also lean back to the Indian Constitution.

"In today's time when too much is happening, there are too many opinions and too many clashes... which is good, but some of these might resonate negative feelings too. So, I feel since we talk about patriotism and Republic Day is also approaching, I feel we must lean back to our Constitution.

"I know it is the lengthiest constitution in the world but we should try to incorporate at least certain factions of what's written in there," added Yami.

In "Uri...", Yami essays an intelligence officer. She says it will always be a special film in her career.

"I have never experienced such amount of love and responses which I am getting after the release of 'Uri'. This is a surreal feeling. And through 'Uri', I have connected with the audience in a better way. I am honoured to have been a part of such a film."

Directed by debutante Aditya Dhar, "Uri: The Surgical Strike" also stars actor Vicky Kaushal as Major Vihan Singh Shergill.
Chandigarh, Jan 23 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday protested against Pakistan's proposal to allow only Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in the neighbouring country.

Pointing out that Sikhism founder, Guru Nanak Dev, was a universal guru revered by followers of all religions, especially Hindus, the Chief Minister urged the Indian government to take up the issue with Islamabad when the latter sends its draft agreement for regulating entry into its territory through the Kartarpur Corridor.

Amarinder Singh said while Islamabad was well within its rights to set terms and conditions relating to its territorial safety and security, it should take into consideration the fact that the first Sikh Guru's ideology is not confined to Sikhs but is emulated by people of all faiths.

"The Sikh ethos prescribes non-discrimination, with even the concept of langar being caste-less service for all. Gurdwaras are open to all, without religious bias," the Chief Minister said in a statement here.

"A large number of Hindus in India were ardent followers of Sri Guru Nanak Devji, and it was their cherished dream to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, which was closely associated with the first Sikh Guru," he pointed out.

"There was for years the tradition of Hindu families converting their eldest sons to Sikhism. The influence of Sikhism in India was so strong that to exclude members of other religions was not something that Pakistan government should even remotely consider.

"To keep such followers out of Kartarpur Sahib just because they were not Sikh was not logical," he said, urging the Indian government to take up the matter with the Pakistan government on priority.

Citing media reports of the draft agreement being prepared by the Pakistan government on entry through the Kartarpur Corridor, the Chief Minister also objected to the condition of the number of pilgrims proposed by them.

"It is not correct to limit the number of people to 15 in a group. Individual yatris should be permitted," he said, advocating 'khulle darshan' for devotees.

He said that the restriction of 500 pilgrims per day should also not be there, especially in November 2019, when the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will be celebrated.

The Chief Minister also expressed concern at the reported clause making a passport imperative for travel by pilgrims. "With Punjab's large rural population having no passports, such a move would deprive them of making the historic pilgrimage."

The Chief Minister urged the governments of India and Pakistan to sit across the table and thrash out all issues to facilitate smooth and hassle-free travel by pilgrims through the corridor before coming to a formal agreement in this regard.

"Such regressive steps, as were reportedly being considered by the Pakistan government, to control entry through the corridor would negate the positive initiative taken by their government and it is up to the Indian government to resolve all such issues amicably so that the pilgrims get the maximum benefit from the historic decision of the two nations," Amarinder Singh added.

The Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, located about three kilometres from the international border near the town of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and it was his final resting place.
Ankara, Jan 23 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday departed for Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over Syria, amid the US troops' withdrawal from the war-torn country.

During Erdogan's one-day visit, the two leaders were expected to exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria, as well as bilateral relations between the two countries, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Prior to his visit, Erdogan on Monday said he would discuss with Putin the establishment of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, which was initiated by US President Donald Trump following the military withdrawal decision, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week said Damascus must take control of the country's north, adding that Moscow will consider the interests of all parties, including Turkey, in setting up a safe zone.

Meanwhile, Erdogan and Putin may also discuss their cooperation on the creation of "de-escalation zone" in Syria's Idlib province, as a fruit of Turkey, Russia, Iran three-way summit held in Astana.

The two leaders had seven one-on-one meetings in 2018 and 18 phone calls to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, especially Syria.
Kozhikode : Jan 23 (IANS) On the eve of Pinarayi Vijayan's completion of 1,000 days in office, state Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran on Wednesday slammed the Kerala Chief Minister for his abject failure and challenged the CPI-M leader to a dialogue on his governance.

Vijayan was sworn in on May 25, 2016, after the Communist Party of India-Marxist led Left Democratic Front (LDF) trounced the Oommen Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Assembly elections.

"I am throwing a challenge at Vijayan and I invite him to have a dialogue with me on his 1,000 days in office. He has been an abject failure," said Ramachandran.

The Congress' Lok Sabha member from Badagara in Kozhikode district dared Vijayan while inaugurating the UDF's statewide protest here against the state government's failure in rebuilding Kerala in the aftermath of the worst ever floods in a century that hit the state last August.

The manner in which the Kerala government cheated the Sabarimala believers in trying to break the customs and traditions of the temple is the other topic that the Congress would like some answers on.

Ramachandran's challenge comes at a time when Vijayan and his government are getting ready to organize a series of programmes to celebrate his 1,000 days in office.

At Kasargode, former State Minister and state Congress Working President A.K. Sudhakaran also slammed Vijayan and said like many, he too had believed that Vijayan would be one Chief Minister who would be a doer.

"But looking back, Vijayan has proved to be the biggest disaster.

"Many, including me felt he would be one man who would bring about change, but he has been able to do nothing. Even a woman would have done better," said Sudhakaran while launching the protest.
Bangkok, Jan 23 : Thailand will hold general election on March 24, the first polls since a coup d'etat in May 2014, the Electoral Commission said on Wednesday.

Commissioner Ittiporn Boonpracong told a press conference that parties must register their candidates for the elections between February 4 and February 8.

The announcement came hours after the military junta that governs Thailand issued a decree asking the Electoral Commission to set a date for the polls.

The decree, signed by King Vajiralongkorn and published in the Royal Gazette - the official bulletin - paved the way for a return to democracy after the bloodless coup of May 2014 led by current Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha.

He did not say whether he intended to run, but he was widely expected to.

When he took power, he pledged to impose order and fight corruption and political divisions after months of anti-government protests.

The coup occurred days after then Prime Minister and leader of Pheu Thai, Yingluck Shinawatra, was removed from office by the Constitutional Court for abuse of power.

Prayut's critics have accused him of trying to hold on to power and of persecuting his rivals, mainly members of the Shinawatra family, who have won every election since 2001 under different political parties - Thai Rak Thai, People's Power Party and Pheu Thai.

Thailand has seen 20 successful and attempted coups since absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932.
Napier, Jan 23 : A brilliant all-round effort helped India thrash New Zealand by eight wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method in the first One Day International match at the McLean Park here on Wednesday.

Asked to field first, the Indian bowlers were right on the money as they restricted the hosts to a paltry score and then Indian batters displayed a clinical performance to hand India a 1-0 lead in the five match series.

Chasing 157, Indian openers Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (75 not out) started on a positive note, forging a crucial 41-runs partnership before Rohit was dismissed by Doug Bracewell in the 10th over. He was caught by Martin Guptil in the slips.

Just after the fall of Rohit's wicket, sun stopped the play for around 30 minutes. The sun rays were directly getting into the players eyes which prompted the umpires to suspend the proceedings.

The break saw the match officials reduce the match by one over and the new target for India was revised to 156 from 49 overs.

After the restart, skipper Virat Kohli (45) joined Dhawan in the middle and the duo hammered the New Zealand bowlers all round the park. In the process, Dhawan reached the landmark of 5000 ODI runs and became the second fastest Indian to reach the milestone.

It seemed like the Delhi duo will remain unbeaten and complete the match with ease but in the 29th over, Kohli was sent packing by Lockie Ferguson when scoreboard was reading 132. He was caught behind by Tom Latham.

New batsman Ambati Rayudu (13 not out) and Dhawan then joined hands and completed the proceeding with 85 balls remaining.

For New Zealand, Ferguson and Bracewell took one wicket each.

Earlier, India rode chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and pacer Mohammed Shami's exceptional bowling effort to restrict New Zealand to a paltry 157 runs.

While Kuldeep's figures were 4/39, Shami was also phenomenal with the leather, scalping three Kiwi wickets conceding just 19 runs from his six overs.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav picked two and one wicket, respectively.

Other than New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson (64), no other batsmen put up a fight against the disciplined Indian attack.

Opting to bat, the hosts had the worst possible start as Shami struck early sending back both the openers -- Martin Guptill (5) and Colin Munro (8), cheaply.

Newcomers Williamson and Ross Taylor (24) then tried to rescue their side from the early damage, taking New Zealand past the 50-run mark in 13.3 overs.

However, Taylor's stay was cut short by Chahal in the 15th over with the hosts at 52/3.

With the addition of just 24 runs in the Kiwi scorecard, Chahal struck again to dismiss incoming batsman Tom Latham (11). Jadhav and Shami then joined the party as they sent back Henry Nicholls (12) and Mitchell Santner (14), leaving the hosts reeling at 133/6.

Williamson, however, continued to show resistance and kept one end safe, but lacked support from the other end.

While trying to clear the fence in the 34th over off a Kuldeep delivery, the Kiwi skipper misread the ball and offered a simple catch to Vijay Shankar at long-on.

Kuldeep then put the final nail in the coffin, picking the tailenders -- Doug Bracewell (7), Lockie Ferguson (0) and Trent Boult (1) in quick succession to wrap up the host in just 38 overs.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 157 all out (Kane Williamson 64, Ross Taylor 24; Kuldeep Yadav 4/39) vs India 156/2 (Shikhar Dhawan 75 not out, Virat Kohli 45; Doug Bracewell 1/23)
Patna, Jan 23 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday supported VVPAT-fitted EVMs for the coming Lok Sabha polls.

"My stand is very clear on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). I don't agree with people who question it. It is perfectly fine. And when there will be VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) machines at every polling booth, there will be no problem at all," he told the media.

"I don't agree with the things that are being said about EVMs. EVMs have strengthened people's right to vote."

The Janata Dal-United leader said that elections earlier would see both bogus voting and physical capture of voting stations.

"This will not be possible now with EVMs and VVPAT machines at polling booths."
Mumbai, Jan 23 : Actor Akshay Kumar on Wednesday started shooting with actress Kareena Kapoor Khan for their upcoming film "Good News".

Amidst the ongoing 10-year-challenge on social media, Akshay took to Instagram and posted his throwback and current photographs with Kareena.

"2009 to 2019, the good news is that not much has changed, or so we hope. First day of the shoot it is, do send in your best wishes. #10YearChallenge," he wrote.

Akshay and Kareena are reuniting on the big screen after four years. They last co-starred in "Gabbar is Back."

They had also featured together in films like "Ajnabee", "Kambakkht Ishq", "Tashan", "Aitraaz" and "Bewafaa".

In "Good News", Akshay and Kareena are playing a married couple, who is trying for a baby. The film also stars actors Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani.

Directed by Raj Mehta, "Good News" is co-produced by Dharma Productions and Cape of Good Films. It will release on September 6.
Panaji, Jan 23 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address party workers from North Goa Lok Sabha constituency via video conference on January 27, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state President Vinay Tendulkar told reporters on Wednesday.

We have been informed about this by the Prime Minister's Office, he said, adding that the BJP was already preparing for the upcoming general election.

"The party machinery is ready for Lok Sabha elections," Tendulkar said.

On Sunday, Modi had interacted with party workers from the South Goa Assembly constituency, during which he promised a "judicial solution" to restart mining in the coastal state which has been banned by the Supreme Court since February 2018.
Phuket, Jan 23 (IANS) Budget carrier GoAir will start seven more flights to Phuket by the end of 2019, as well as seek more bilateral flying rights to Thailand, a senior official has said.

"The level of interest from Indian travellers after GoAir started direct flights from India to Phuket has been excellent," GoAir Vice-President (International Oerations) Arjun Dasgupta told IANS on the sidelines of the just-concluded "Thailand Yacht Show & Rendezvous 2019" here.

Dasgupta said that Chandigarh and Lucknow would be among the Indian cities to be connected to Thailand in the coming months.

The airline recently started flights to Phuket from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and also announced 50 per cent discounts for Indian enthusiasts heading for the yacht show.

Dasgupta noted that the number of Indian tourists coming to Phuket had "grown a lot" after the direct flights started on December 22, 2018.

Royal Phuket Marina Chairman Gulu Lalvani said that Indians currently rank 11th in terms of footfalls into Phuket and with the increase in direct flights, India would be second only to China in this respect by the end of 2019.

According to Dasgupta, Indians strongly felt the need for direct flight connectivity between Phuket and India.

"The only resentment everyone had was the harrowing experience of deboarding and reboarding the flight at Bangkok airport, especially while returning to India.

"Now with GoAir having started direct flights to Phuket, the travel time will be cut short by 4-5 hours providing tourists great relief," Dasgupta said.

Talking of plans ahead, the official said that 90 per cent of the GoAir fleet is new. GoAir has already placed the order for 144 A-320 Neo aircrafts, he added.

( was in Phuket on the invitation of Royal Phuket Marina and GoAir. He can be contacted at ritiraj.b@ians.in>)
Kolkata, Jan 23 : Nobel Laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan said books on science should deal with human aspects of the scientists for better communication rather than the highly sanitised versions that are usually seen in science writings.

"When people write about science, the work is usually a highly sanitised version. They follow one step after another in the noble pursuit of truth. But real science is not like that. Mistakes, dead ends, competition, rivalry, impatience, ego, all of these that you find in a play or a novel, exist in science," the eminent structural biologist said while discussing his latest book "Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome" at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here on Tuesday.

Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath, for his research in the structure and function of the ribosome in 2009.

Describing his motivation behind the book with frank and honest revelations, 'Venki' (as he is popularly called) said: "Nobody thinks of science as very humane and a messy enterprise while writing. I wanted to bring in the science and also the scientist. I wanted to throw open their world. Also, I was influenced by one book 'Double Helix' by James D. Watson as it was the first time someone wrote about the human side of science."

Explaining the importance of fundamental news, he said: "Government needs to set aside money for scientific research as it underpins all scientific knowledge. Scientists are needed to train doctors and engineers. Also, advance science and research is important to exploit development made elsewhere."

Ramakrishnan, the current President of the Royal Society, gave an example of the discovery of laws of electricity and how it took almost hundreds of years to exploit its capacity.

"We still don't know if we have exploited it to its fullest capacity. Also, one needs to know Newton's Laws of Motion to launch satellites," he said.

Sharing about his journey from Vadodara in Gujarat to the US at the age of 19, he said: "I had grown up at home and suddenly landing in America was a bit of a cultural shock for me. Another challenge was that when I started to research I realised that I was not cut-out for physics. I sort of retreated by doing things like playing in the chess team, hitchhiking."

He decided to learn biology after he got his PhD in physics.

He feels an award like a Nobel 'gives satisfaction' but also makes people anxious.

"It becomes a sort of political campaign, everyone wants to be chosen but very few scientists will actually admit it," Ramakrishnan said.

Speaking about the after-effect he said: "People treat a Nobel Laureate as a genius. For instance, I am asked about climate change but what do I know about it as I too just read about it. Outside my field I am just like anybody else."
London, Jan 23 : Television personality Katie Price's former husband Kieran Hayler has slammed her for badmouthing him in front of their children.

Hayler, who shares two children -- Bunny, 4, and Jett, 5, with Price, claimed she called him a "d***head" in front of the children, reports mirror.co.uk.

"Not one part of me wants to fight. I don't want the kids to come home telling me 'Mummy hates you'. Price says a lot of things in front of the kids that they repeat and a lot of it is not very nice, let's put it that way. Jett came home once and said 'Mummy thinks you're a d***head'. I think everything she does now is to hurt me," Hayler said.

Hayler said he has sought legal advice about his parental rights and is "at ease" now that he knows what contact he can have with his own kids.
Mumbai, Jan 23 (IANS) In a new development, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday moved to recover loan outstandings of Rs 405 crore from absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi, his family and companies.

This is the first time the country's biggest bank's exposure has been revealed in the case involving Choksi, who is among the prime accused in the Rs 13,500 crore fraud in the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Significantly, the developments came two days after it became clear that Choksi had surrendered his Indian citizenship in favour of the nationality of Antigua & Barbuda Isle in the West Indies.

Choksi, his nephew Nirav Modi, several of their family members, employees and retired or serving top PNB executives and officials are accused in the PNB scam.

In a prominent media notice on Wednesday, the SBI has demanded repayment of the loan amount sanctioned against various assets in Mumbai, Raigad, Nashik and Hyderabad belonging to Choksi, his family and group companies.

These include residential and commercial premises with multiple parking spaces, plus several plots of land in Maharashtra and Telangana, standing in their names.

The SBI has already served notices to them at their "last known addresses" as on December 31, 2018, under section 13(2) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets & Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002. But the notices returned undelivered.

The loan amount - described as a 'Working Capital Facility' - was extended to Gitanjali Gems Ltd, Bandra Kurla Complex, Gemplus Division at Andheri East, premises in Bharat Diamond Bourse, a property in Santacruz and a plot in Maheshwaram Mandal in Rangareddy district of Telangana.

The SBI said that in order to avail the loan amount, the borrowers (above) had pledged shares and mortgaged various properties on 'pari passu basis'.

These include properties in Cumballa Hill, Bandra Kurla Complex, Andheri, 27 plots measuring a total 9.60 hectares in Panvel, Raigad, 42 big and small plots of land in Balwant Nagar, Nashik.

In Telangana, a total of 38.51 hectares of land in two plots situated in Rangareddy district are named.

Choksi is shown as a guarantor for the 12-odd defaulter loan accounts, Priti Choksi and the late Guniyal Choksi are two security providers, all residing in Gokul Apartments, Malabar Hill.

The other companies include: Decent Securities and Finance Ltd, Decent Investment and Finance Ltd, and Nashik Multi Services Ltd, all located in Bandra Kurla Complex, and the Hyderabad Gems SEZ Ltd, Telangana.

The SBI has warned them to repay their outstanding dues within 60 days failing which the bank would proceed against them vis-a-vis the securities provided to recover the full dues.

In February 2018, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar had said that the bank had no 'direct exposure' in the scam involving Nirav Modi, barring a Rs 1,360-crore due from PNB.

There was no mention of the Rs 405-crore Choksi loan default in the matter till now.
Kolkata, Jan 23 (IANS) Indians will not tolerate an atmosphere of "coercion, intimidation and bullying" any more and the upcoming general elections may bring some change, says historian and biographer Rajmohan Gandhi.

"In the last three-four months, I am seeing that the mood in the country is changing. This atmosphere of coercion, intimidation and bullying will not be tolerated by Indian people for too long. It is possible that in the coming elections we may see something really good," the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi told IANS on the sidelines of 10th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival here.

Rajmohan Gandhi, the biographer of Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, said anyone could make a difference.

Speaking on the issue of lynching and the fear of 'gau rakshaks' (cow vigilantes), Gandhi said: "Nothing can be more tragic and sad. Relatives of those who are killed are being interrogated and the ones accused of killing them are not being interrogated."

Still, everyone must work patiently and speak up when given a chance, he said.

"Had Gandhiji and Netaji (Subhas Chandra Bose) been alive, would they have allowed this malice and ill-will to go on? A major reason for the unchecked advance of bigotry today is the silence of most important and influential persons in India," pointed out the man who led the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1990.

Asked about patriotism and the chanting of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', Gandhi said: "If patriotism was so easy, that in six seconds one could establish themselves as patriots, then the whole world would have been full of patriots!"

According to him, patriotism is about doing something for the neighbours; it may be someone in the college, in the locality, one's relatives or someone in the family.

Hinting at the Centre's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign), Gandhi said: "Patriotism also means that if one sees some dirt, not just physical dirt (yes remove physical dirt, make India cleaner) but if one sees hatred, anger and injustice, one must remove them. If one makes the country less cruel he is a better patriot."

As Gandhi equated patriotism with loving one's neighbours, he was asked about his views on India-Pakistan relations.

"We should not think of Pakistan as one monolith or homogenous mass of people. One must understand Pakistan is a state with its government and is a nation of many people. Like in India, all Pakistanis are different from one another," he opined.

( can be contacted at binita.d@ians.in)
Mumbai, Jan 23 : Actor Tiger Shroff has praised actor Hrithik Roshan, whom he will be seen sharing screen space with in an upcoming actioner and said that he is looking even better and younger now than he did in his debut film "Kaho Na Pyaar Hai", which released almost two decades ago.

Tiger, 28, a huge admirer of Hrithik, will collaborate with the 45-year-old actor for the first time in a yet-untitled Yash Raj Films' production.

Asked Tiger if the audience would get to see a dance off between the two in the film, Tiger said: "I think that's what the audience is expecting and we are going to give exactly that to them and we are we are going to give lot more so, audience can expect the best."

The "Baaghi" star said that Hrithik is in his top form.

"Hrithik sir is coming in top form. I have seen him train day and night, I have seen him work hard on a set and I have seen his work ethic so, I think, if he is not the same as he was in 'Kaho Na Pyaar Hai', he must be even better and younger looking now," he said while interacting at the launch of Ganesh Acharya Dance Academy (GADA) along with choreographer Ganesh Acharya.

Tiger, who is the son of actor Jackie Shroff, says he would like to see the remake of "Parinda" being made because that is my favourite film of his father.

"It was one of his best roles in his career. I don't think I will be ready to be part of it because I can't match up tp my father but if that film is being remade, I would love to watch it,"he said.

Jackie will be celebrating his 62nd birthday on February 1.

Asked Tiger his family's plans to celebrate birthday of his father, he said: "My father has a farm in Pune so, he likes to go farming and he just like to go and sit in his farms so, I think we will go over there and have lunch or something and come back."
Rome, Jan 23 : Italy's premier Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday moved to ease tensions between Rome and Paris after welfare and industry minister Luigi Di Maio accused France of neo-colonial policies that were "impoverishing" Africans and fuelling migration.

"We need to commit greater resources and put more energy into empowering a continent to be able to fulfil its vast potential," said Conte.

"We will continue to work side by side with France's government and with European institutions and countries to find a shared solution," Conte stated.

Earlier on Tuesday, Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini sided with Di Maio in the row which saw France summon the Italian ambassador to protest his assertions on Sunday.

"The migrant problem has many causes," the far-right League leader Salvini told Mediaset television.

"In Africa some take away wealth from the people and the continent and France is among them".

Salvini added that Italy had "no lessons to learn" from France, which had turned back "tens of thousands of migrants" at the coastal border town of Vetimiglia including women and children.

Salvini also accused French police of dropping off migrants in woods in Italy's northwest Piedmonte region under cover of darkness.

Salvini and Di Maio are also deputy premiers in the populist Italian government that took office in June last year.
Washington, Jan 23 : The US State Department's top diplomat focused on Europe policy has resigned his post, effective February 15, media reported.

In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dated January 4, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Wess Mitchell said, "I feel that I have completed what I set out to do in taking this position."

Mitchell, who took on the role October 2017, said he was proud of the accomplishments made under his tenure but said "the time has come for (him) to spend more time with (his) young family."

The Washington Post was the first to report Mitchell's resignation, reports CNN.

In a tweet Tuesday, Pompeo commended Mitchell for "an outstanding job" in the role.

"I have valued his counsel and wisdom as he has led our European team in this administration. I wish him and his wife Elizabeth, who is also a committed public servant, much happiness with their two young children," Pompeo tweeted.

Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino also praised Mitchell's service.

"Assistant Secretary A. Wess Mitchell has been a valued and effective leader in @StateDept and good friend to our allies and partners in #Europe. We thank him for his service and wish him and his family well."

Palladino said that Elisabeth Millard, principal deputy assistant secretary, will serve as acting assistant secretary of state for the bureau.
Washington, Jan 23 : The US Supreme Court once again refused to intervene in any way in the dispute over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, which currently protects some 690,000 young undocumented people known as Dreamers from deportation.

In a brief statement, the high court announced its decision not to review the case, thus rejecting a request to do so by the Department of Justice, Efe reported.

In practice, the decision means that DACA remains in force and US immigration services must continue accepting renewal requests for that immigration authorization, which halts the deportation of the Dreamers and allows them to work in this country.

The Donald Trump administration last November asked the high court to evaluate several cases regarding the cancellation of DACA, demanding that the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, review the legality of eliminating the programme during the current judicial session, which runs until the end of June 2019.

DACA was approved by former President Barack Obama in 2012 to protect from deportation hundreds of thousands of young people brought illegally to this country as children, but in September 2017, Trump ended the program, which at that time was protecting 690,000 people.

Specifically, the government asked the high court to examine three cases: one in a California federal court, another in New York and the third in Washington state.

However, the court decided to reject the request, thus dealing a blow to the White House.

This is not the first time that the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to examine this dispute.

In January 2018, a federal court ruled that the cancellation of DACA be stayed nationwide and ordered the government to continue accepting requests to participate in the program.

The government appealed to the Supreme Court to issue a ruling on the matter, but the high court in February 2018 ruled that that decision must fall to the appeals court.

On October 17, the government threatened a California appeals court with taking the matter to the Supreme Court if it did not issue a ruling by October 31, but it did not do so.

Those appeals courts have still not ruled on the matter, and thus the Trump administration has argued in recent months that they are not complying with the previous decisions and that, thus, it must be the Supreme Court that settles the dispute and issues a "definitive" ruling.

This past weekend, it was leaked that Republican senators will present a bill to end the partial government shutdown, which began on December 22, including a clause providing the Dreamers with three more years of protection in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding to begin construction of Trump's much-touted and very controversial US-Mexico border wall.

However, Democrats, who are seeking a permanent solution for the Dreamers, have categorically rejected that idea.
Varanasi, Jan 23 : India on Tuesday called upon its diaspora to play a role in boosting the renewable energy sector, with Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh calling for suggestions from the participants at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) -- the Indian diaspora conclave -- on how to develop solar energy.

Singh outlined the achievement of the government in attaining nearly 25gw of the 100gw target set for solar energy till 2022 at a plenary session on the role of Indian diaspora in capacity building for affordable solar power.

He invited the audience to contribute with positive suggestions for successful implementation of the government's policies.

India initiated the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the Paris climate summit in 2015.

Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then French President Francois Hollande at the Paris climate summit in 2015, the ISA was conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs and provide a platform to collaborate on dealing with the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach.

It is open to all 121 prospective member countries falling between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
CHICAGO, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- When Celeste Jones consults Fortune 500 Company leaders, she hears about the same problem frequently; young people entering the business world lack vital life skills. "Most traditional schools are letting our kids down. They're not helping students develop emotional intelligence (EQ) or grit that they need to succeed in leadership positions."

Jones developed a way for parents to help their children develop these vital life and business skills. She is launching the JuniorCEOs program at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. It's an intensive leadership workshop series for kids ages five to twelve. "Parents cannot wait until their kids are in high school to start preparing for college. With the intense competition to get into top universities, preparation must begin in elementary school," said Jones.

Students will experience high impact workshops, engaging projects, and an interactive online curriculum. Mentors from Fortune 500 Companies will help young people develop strategic and critical thinking skills. "Through this program, kids will learn skills and earn credentials that will help them apply for both jobs and academic opportunities," said Jones.

Training Modules  EQ Development  Entrepreneurship  Conversational Fluidity  Collaboration  Fiscal Responsibility  Cross-Generational Business Etiquette  Community Service  Resume Boosters

Junior Board Opportunities

Program graduates can apply for junior boards at companies like Google, McDonalds, and Microsoft. Jones smiled, "What an amazing opportunity for kids to exercise their creative thinking skills while learning about how to market products and services. I can't wait to see what these young entrepreneurs accomplish."

Class Dates

Classes are one Saturday a month ( Full 1/26 , waitlist 2/16, 3/9, openings 4/27, 5/18, 6/1). To apply for this exclusive program or to learn more visit juniorceos.org. Hurry as space is limited and workshops are closing.

About JuniorCEOs

JuniorCEOs is a non-profit division of EESPB.com. Founder Celeste Jones helps Fortune 500 Companies bridge generational gaps and improve cross-generational communication. The non-profit organization is accepting corporate sponsorships to provide scholarships to exceptional students in need.

Contact | Celeste Jones

312-785-4017 | [email protected]

SOURCE JuniorCEOs

Related Links

https://www.eespb.com/juniorceos


Clock Spring and NRI, headquartered in Houston and Riviera Beach, Florida, respectively, are manufacturers of composite materials, insertion valves, and gaskets used in the transmission pipeline, refinery and petrochemical, water, utility, and civil infrastructure industries. Customers use the composite products to combat the effects of aging and corrosion, including permanently reinforcing and strengthening pipe works, extending the life of deteriorating concrete columns and civil structures, and temporarily restoring leaking lines. Public utility systems use ClockSpring|NRI's valve technology to perform faster and less invasive water main break repairs. Recently introduced fugitive emission-free flange gaskets are used in high-risk applications to avoid potentially harmful, microscopic gas leaks. ClockSpring|NRI supports its products with best-in-class design, engineering, testing and training services to ensure proper installation and optimal performance.

Alex Washington, Managing Director at Wind Point, commented, "We spent significant time canvassing the critical infrastructure repair industry for a quality business to establish a platform investment. With Clock Spring and NRI, we happened to find two quality and complementary organizations that are a strong fit with our strategy. We are excited for the opportunity to partner with ClockSpring|NRI and look forward to supporting the Company's growth via new products and capabilities, as well as through add-on acquisitions."

Clock Spring CEO Matthew Boucher will lead the combined Company, while Christopher Lazzara, NRI's long-time CEO and a well-known leader in composite repair technology, will retain an equity position and join the Company's board of directors. Former Clock Spring lead sponsor, Spindrift Equities, will continue as an investor and director. Also joining the board will be Guy Broadbent, who has worked previously with Wind Point in both CEO and director roles, as non-executive chairman and Peter Cella, former CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, as director.

"Clock Spring and NRI are high-quality, innovative companies, with similar core values and cultures," said Mr. Boucher. "This combination enables us to deliver a greater range of solutions and value to our customers, while enhancing our capability to invest in our people and pioneer new products and processes designed to solve complex problems."

Mr. Lazzara stated, "NRI and Clock Spring established themselves as the most trusted and third-party verified providers of high consequence repair and rehabilitation solutions with a relentless focus on safety, innovation, and stewardship of customer assets and the environment. I look forward to partnering with Wind Point, Matt, and our combined teams to build on this foundation."

"With operations in Texas, Florida, the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as multiple sales offices and distribution capabilities around the world, ClockSpring|NRI offers the most comprehensive and rapidly available suite of solutions in the industry," added Boucher.

Palm Beach Capital partnered with NRI in May 2017 to accelerate NRI's international expansion and provide capital to fund strategic acquisitions. At closing, Palm Beach Capital will exit as a shareholder.

Antares, Hartford Investment Management Company ("HIMCO"), Solar Capital, Northwestern Mutual Capital, and Nuveen Private Markets will provide debt financing for the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel for Wind Point and KPMG LLP provided transaction advisory services in connection with the transaction.

About ClockSpring|NRI

ClockSpring|NRI is a Houston-based manufacturer and provider of high-performance critical infrastructure construction and repair products and associated engineering support and training services. Our customers use our solutions to maintain, rehabilitate, and construct pipelines, natural gas distribution lines, high-consequence industrial pipe works, electrical grids, and civil structures. ClockSpring|NRI composite pipe repair systems and inline insertion valves are in use in more than 75 countries and include industry-leading products such as Clock Spring, Syntho-GlassXT, Scar-Guard, Contour, and DiamondWrap composite products, as well as the award-winning AVT EZ Valve for water and gas lines. All ClockSpring|NRI products are easy to install, cost-effective to deploy, and durable for decades. For more information, please visit www.cs-nri.com, www.clockspring.com, and www.neptuneresearch.com.

About Wind Point Partners

Wind Point Partners is a Chicago-based private equity investment firm with approximately $2 billion in assets under management. Wind Point focuses on partnering with top caliber management teams to acquire well-positioned middle market businesses where it can establish a clear path to value creation. The firm targets investments in the consumer products, industrial products, and business services sectors. Wind Point is currently investing out of Wind Point Partners VIII, a $985 million fund that was initiated in 2016. For more information, please visit www.windpointpartners.com.

Media Contacts:

Ron Liberman, Wind Point Partners

Phone: 312-255-4812

Email: [email protected]

Judy Murray, ClockSpring|NRI

Phone: +1-713-419-1552

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE ClockSpring|NRI

Related Links

http://www.cs-nri.com


NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The management team of Northwood Securities, a global listed property fund manager, is pleased to announce the formation of Jaguar Listed Property ("JLP" or the "Firm").

With substantial minority equity investments from strategic partners Jaguar Growth Partners ("JGP" or "Jaguar") of New York and Hwa Hong Corporation Limited ("Hwa Hong") of Singapore, the newly-reconstituted independent asset management firm will continue to manage all of the institutional and private accounts and strategies established by its predecessor Northwood Securities, previously affiliated with Northwood Investors. Majority-owned by its veteran management team, the Firm will continue to exclusively focus on publicly-listed real estate companies and operating platforms globally. Through this strategic alliance JLP will have the corporate support and ability to leverage Jaguar's global relationships and market knowledge as well as Hwa Hong's experience in Asia and the UK as it continues to seek attractive investment opportunities in publicly-listed real estate companies in developed and developing markets.

The creation of JLP represents the next chapter for an established investment management team with nearly 20 years of shared experience with predecessor entities, including Northwood Securities and EII Capital Management. JLP will continue to manage active, unconstrained and concentrated publicly-listed real estate portfolios on behalf of its institutional investor partners and clients in the U.S, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. All investment team members from Northwood Securities have joined JLP and will manage the existing and new investment strategies.

"For our team, the new structure gives us operational independence and greater control over our future, including the ability to add differentiated products and expand our platform over the long term," said JLP's CEO Jim Rehlaender. "We look forward to capitalizing on our strategic partnerships with JGP and Hwa Hong, whose principals have been investing in real estate markets for decades, while continuing with the objective to build on our well-developed investment approach to publicly-listed real estate that has drawn strong interest from institutional investors globally."

JLP is headquartered in New York, with research offices in Amsterdam and Singapore. The Firm currently manages assets for institutional investors through a range of segregated accounts, mutual funds, and is a sub-advisor for UCITs/SICAV funds that are tailored to meet clients' objectives.

"We're thrilled to welcome JLP to the Jaguar family as we thoughtfully expand our global investment activity centered on real estate companies and operating platforms, honed over the past 20 years," said JGP's CEO, Gary Garrabrant. "We have long admired Jim and his colleagues and share their partner-centric and rigorous approach to investment and value creation," he added. "We are particularly excited about partnering with Hwa Hong, and look forward to seeking to establish additional ventures with similarly-differentiated and highly-regarded strategic partners in developing and developed markets."

"We believe that JLP's senior team has a compelling strategy and strong experience in real estate investing," said Ong Eng Yaw of Hwa Hong. "Our investment enables Hwa Hong to strategically expand our core real estate activities into real estate investment advisory services," said Ong Eng Yaw. "We are excited to work with JGP on this venture and partnering with JGP and JLP significantly broadens Hwa Hong's network of strategic partners globally. The partnership between Hwa Hong, JLP and JGP also creates a powerful global platform for enhanced insight into global real estate markets, companies, management teams and above all else, we believe the ability to deliver strong risk adjusted returns for investors."

About Jaguar Listed Property

Jaguar Listed Property ("JLP") is a privately held SEC registered investment advisor specializing in publicly-listed real estate markets globally. Headquartered in New York, with research offices in Amsterdam and Singapore, JLP is dedicated to structuring and managing real estate securities funds and segregated accounts for institutional investors in the US, Europe, Asia and Middle East.

JLP takes an opportunistic approach to investing in listed real estate, concentrating portfolios in those companies that the team believes can create substantial value through the active management or development of commercial and residential real estate. Investments are focused on the most compelling risk/reward opportunities, unconstrained by industry benchmarks. JLP offers several distinct investment strategies, varying in regional focus and risk/return parameters, but in all cases using the same fundamental approach to creating value through the active management of publicly-listed real estate.

The JLP team includes senior professionals who have worked together for nearly 20 years, including shared experience at predecessor firms Northwood Securities and EII Capital Management, with responsibilities for research, portfolio management, operations, marketing and investor relations.

About Jaguar Growth Partners

Headquartered in New York with affiliated offices in Latin America, Europe and Asia, Jaguar Growth Partners ("JGP" or "Jaguar") is a privately-held investment management firm focused on real estate companies and operating platforms. Founded in 2013 by Gary Garrabrant, Chief Executive Officer and Thomas McDonald, Managing Partner, Jaguar is distinguished by a partner-centric, highly active and collaborative approach to investing, optimizing value and achieving liquidity. The firm is differentiated by a long history in growth markets, and carefully blending entrepreneurship with a commitment to the highest institutional standards.

Jaguar currently manages two funds focused on Latin America, supported by investment offices in New York, Sao Paulo and Mexico City. Portfolio companies are active in five countries on two continents, and across multiple property sectors ranging from logistic and corporate property to retail and hospitality. Jaguar is a strategic partner and substantial minority equity investor in Jaguar Listed Property ("JLP"), an institutional investment manager of listed real estate companies globally. Based in New York, JLP has research offices in Amsterdam and Singapore.

Jaguar Growth Partners is a member of the Pension Real Estate Association, Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, Latin America Private Equity & Venture Capital Association and the Institutional Limited Partners Association.

About Hwa Hong

Hwa Hong is an investment holding company quoted on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited since 1979 and engages in, inter alia, the investment, development, and rental of residential, industrial and commercial properties in Singapore and the UK. Portfolio of assets include high-end residential, offices, industrial, retail, medical suites and a data centre in Singapore and London.

As of 31 Dec 2017, Hwa Hong has not incurred financial losses in any fiscal year since 1990, and has been one of the most generous corporates in rewarding shareholders especially after the completion of Rivergate, its flagship residential development in Singapore and the sale of its construction and insurance arms.

Media Contact

Shree Dhond

Dukas Linden Public Relations

[email protected]

(646) 722-6531

SOURCE Jaguar Growth Partners

Related Links

http://www.jaguargrowth.com


MISGAV, Israel, January 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Vessi Medical Ltd., ("Vessi") a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group Ltd. (SGX: 42T) (OTCQX: TRNLY) announced a successful animal study demonstrating the use of its surface cryoablation therapy inside the urinary bladder. Vessi's minimally invasive solution introduces an alternative for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). Vessi's bladder-specific cryoablation technology seeks to eliminate problems often reported with Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor (TURBT), today's first line of treatment.

TURBT, a costly, highly invasive surgical procedure performed under general anesthesia, is often an inadequate treatment option: In up to 80% of cases the cancer returns; increased complications occur with multiple procedures that further reduce patients' quality of life.[1] [2]

Vessi's minimally invasive cryoablation solution for NMIBC addresses an initial market estimated at $1.2 billion. Categorized as surface cancer on the inside lining of the bladder, NMIBC affects 2 million people globally, with 300,000 new cases reported annually.[3]

The porcine model study was performed on three subjects, each with 2-4 targeted ablation sites in the bladder. Five days post treatment, the histology demonstrated localized, focused ablation on the target sites, without damaging untargeted tissue.

The patent-pending Vessi system - inserted transurethrally into the bladder - includes a cryo-spray designed for the bladder's unique environment. The system balances the ideal cooling temperature and pressure for targeted cell destruction, while protecting the untargeted bladder tissue. The procedure, aimed to be administrable in an office or outpatient setting, is designed as an intuitive "same-style" TURBT procedure for efficient user adoption.

Prof. Gilad E. Amiel, Department of Urology Chair at the Rambam Health Care Campus, performed the procedures. He observed, "Surface cryotherapy is a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of superficial bladder cancer. Tissue response to the cryo spray can be seen in real time, allowing physicians to assess destruction of the tissue. Visualization was excellent at all procedure stages and was not affected by the cryo spray. Additionally, histology results demonstrated the efficacy of tissue destruction and safety as there was no revealed bladder perforation or bleeding. The trial results provide Vessi with the necessary data and confidence to proceed to first-in-human trials."

Vessi's CEO Eyal Kochavi remarked, "Our successful animal study is an important step toward making cryo-spray ablation a significant tool for the treatment of superficial bladder cancer. Our next step is demonstrating the technology in humans prior to regulatory submission. Vessi's technology focuses first on bladder cancer, but can hopefully address other bladder illnesses such as overactive bladder, providing a win-win solution for patients, physicians and the healthcare system."

References:

1. Babjuk M. Transurethral Resection of Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer. European Urology Suppl 2009 8(7):542-548.

2. Traxer O1, Pasqui F, Gattegno B, Pearle MS. Technique and complications of transurethral surgery for bladder tumours. BJU Int. 2004 Sep;94(4):492-6.

3. Kamat AM, Bagcoglu M, Huri E. What is new in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer in 2016 Turk J Urol. 2017 Mar; 43(1): 9-13.

Eyal Kochavi, CEO

Tel: +972-525235454

[email protected]



SOURCE Vessi Medical Ltd.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  The House of Representatives approved on second reading a bill which seeks to legalize the use of medical marijuana in the country.

House Bill No. 6517 or the proposed Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act has hurdled second reading in the lower chamber on Wednesday.

BREAKING: The House of Representatives approves on second reading House Bill 6517, or the proposed Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act | @xianneangel pic.twitter.com/mWq8Ftlryn  CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) January 23, 2019

The proposed legislation, authored by Isabela Representative Rodolfo Albano III, was first approved in September 2017 by the House Committee on Health.

The bill seeks to legalize and regulate the medical use of cannabis or marijuana, which is known to have therapeutic purposes in the treatment of chronic or debilitating medical conditions such as arthritis, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, among others.

Rep. Albano, however, previously clarified the bill disallows marijuana to be administered in its raw form, as a plant or as hash which would be smoked.

Even prior to his presidential term, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was for the use of medical marijuana, as it is "an ingredient of modern medicine now."

In a press briefing in December, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo noted Duterte will sign any bill that will legalize the use of medical cannabis in the country.

Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III earlier said there is no need to pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana.

Sotto, citing a provision under the Republic Act No. 9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, said the use of medical marijuana is already legal if used for appropriate medication.

A provision under the law states that patients can apply for a "compassionate special permit" from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which allows unregistered drugs in the country to be used for medication.

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier this month vouched for the effectiveness of the medical cannabis. She said it relieves her neck pain whenever she is in a country where it is legal.

READ: Arroyo says medical marijuana works for her

CNN Philippines' Xianne Arcangel and Alyssa Rola contributed to this report.
South Africa: All systems go for final voter registration weekend

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is ready to receive millions of South Africans who will at the weekend take to voting stations to register or confirm their details as the commission prepares for the national and provincial elections later this year.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday, IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said 22 925 voting stations will be open for registration at the weekend between 8am and 5pm on both days.

Mamabolo said this weekends voter registration will allow new voters to register and all existing voters to update and check their address and registration details.

Each voting station will be stocked with registration forms in all official languages, maps of the ward to help locate voters place of residence and copies of the current voters roll, along with various stationery items and sign boards.

Each voting station will also be equipped with a zip zip ID scanner, which contains the voters roll and helps to link each visitor to the voting station and ward, he said.

Each voting station will be staffed with about three registration officials, who will assist voters swiftly and efficiently.

There are currently 26 million registered voters on the national common voters roll and the Electoral Commission hopes at least one million additional voters will be added during this weekends registration drive, he said.

Mamabolo and IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini reiterated that the youth was the biggest section of society that needed to be urged to go to voting stations at the weekend.

Despite this weekend being the last general voter registration drive, the IEC will next month have special registration campaigns at tertiary education campuses to help boost youth registrations.

The Electoral Commission is hopeful that voters, who are already registered, will use the opportunity to visit their voting station to check their registration and specifically to confirm and update their address details, said Mamabolo.

Registered voters can also do this online via the Click, Check and Confirm facility on the Electoral Commissions website at www.elections.org.za.

Since this service was introduced in October 2016, more than 125 000 voters have used the service to confirm or update their address details. The current registration drive ahead of this years national and provincial elections has seen a surge in the use of this portal, with more than 2 000 users per day updating their addresses on the site over the past week.

After this weekend, registered voters can update their details online and unregistered voters can visit their local IEC office during office hours to register  but only for a short period, Mamabolo said.

Once the elections are proclaimed by the President and Premiers, the voters roll for this years elections will be sealed and no further registrations will be allowed.

Mamabolo said voter registration has been taking place at correctional facilities around the country over the past two days, allowing offenders the opportunity to exercise their vote. South Africans living abroad will register at South African foreign missions between 1 and 4 February 2019.

Meanwhile, the IEC has welcomed the signing into law of the Political Party Funding Act by President Cyril Ramaphosa this week.

The commission said it is working on implementing the relevant sections of the act from 1 April.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
HOUSTON, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- United Imaging Healthcare (United Imaging), an international leader in advanced medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment, today announced US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of the uEXPLORER total-body scanner. uEXPLORER is the world's first medical imaging scanner that can capture a 3D picture of the whole human body at one bed position. uEXPLORER was developed by United Imaging in partnership with the EXPLORER Consortium led by Simon Cherry, Ph.D., and Ramsey Badawi, Ph.D., from the University of California, Davis.

uEXPLORER is a combined Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanner that can image the entire human body at the same time.

"This is truly a game-changing, revolutionary day for the advancement of medical technology," said Jeffrey M. Bundy, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of UIH Solutions. "The human images the uEXPLORER produces have been nothing short of astonishing, especially when one considers the very short acquisition times. This device will bring us into completely new areas of discussion with our customers, as we jointly re-think the role of PET in the North American healthcare system. We are thrilled to be able to start sharing it widely in the US."

The developers expect the technology will have a wide range of applications, from improving diagnostics to tracking disease progression to researching new therapies. For example, uEXPLORER will be used to better visualize cancer that has spread beyond a single tumor site. Researchers also envision using the scanner to measure blood flow across the entire body, and study inflammation, infections and immunological/metabolic disorders.

United Imaging developed uEXPLORER based on its latest hardware and software platform, focusing on not only delivering the target performances but also making such a large system more robust and user-friendly, resulting in technology that produces higher-quality diagnostic PET scans than have ever been possible. The first images from scans of humans using the new device were unveiled at the 104th RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, the official meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), in Chicago.

"As we had originally envisioned the uEXPLORER will have a profound impact on clinical research and patient care," said Dr. Cherry, professor in the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering and co-developer of uEXPLORER. Dr. Badawi, Chief of Nuclear Medicine at UC Davis added, "With this device, we will be able to ask and answer an array of new biological questions - that's truly incredible for the future of healthcare for all of us."

ABOUT UIH

United Imaging Healthcare Co., Ltd. develops and produces a full portfolio of advanced medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment and offers medical IT and intelligent solutions. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Shanghai, the company has subsidiaries and R&D centers across China, US, and other parts of the world. Half of its 3,300 employees work on research and development. To date, more than 3,000 hospitals worldwide are using UIH products.

To learn more, visit https://www.united-imaging.com

SOURCE United Imaging Healthcare Co., Ltd.

Related Links

https://www.united-imaging.com


Ukraine's tech sector has grown at an average of 28 per cent annually over the last three years and the capital Kyiv is now challenging more established centers to become one of the top tech hubs of Europe.

"Last year we already had two companies that became unicorn companies and I predict that in the next few years we will have a total of seven," said Andrey Kolodyuk, Chairman of Ukrainian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and also Managing Partner of Aventures Capital.

Code collaboration and development operations platform GitLab raised $100 million in September last year giving the company a valuation of $1.1 billion, while bitcoin mining infrastructure provider Bitfury raised $80 million in a closed funding round in December, becoming the second Ukrainian unicorn. Mr Kolodyuk said he expected Ukraine's next unicorns to include Grammerly, the spelling app; Softserve, the developer; Ciklum, the software development outsourcing company; and Rosetka, the e-commerce company.

The prediction was made on a panel "Emerging Markets: Faster Growth or Fasten your Seatbelts" sponsored by EBS and moderated by Helen Volska, its founding partner. Ukraine is becoming increasingly popular for private equity and venture capital investors, as witnessed by the UVCA which added 12 new members in the last year.

Lenna Koszarny, Founding Partner and CEO at Horizon Capital, said the IT services sector had grown from $110 million industry in 2003 to a $3.6 billion last year. "This is all very new for Ukraine, but it has delivered a J-curve in terms of growth," she said.

The improved investment outlook for Ukraine was partly attributed to progress in improving the investment climate, which has been recognised by benchmark rankings. Ukraine has risen 81 spots on the World Bank's ease of doing business ranking to 71st place, above Brazil, Argentina and India, Ms Koszarny said. On the Global Innovation Index, Ukraine is placed at 43, above India and many other emerging markets.

"Ukraine has a competitive advantage in terms of the rise of exports to the EU, we have seen food and agriculture continue to deliver double digit growth and 28 per cent growth for IT services," she said.

Ukraine is receiving interest from contrarian investors, she added, including financial investors, hedge funds, regional private equity, family offices, foundations, pension funds and investors looking for value.

"In many markets you are talking about 15-20 times EBITDA pricing, while Ukraine offers value with fabulous companies, strong entrepreneurs, strong systems, lots of depth and substance priced in a value way," she added.

Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, said 74 per cent of his members were expecting another year of growth in 2019 despite continuing conflict with Russia and a series of presidential and parliamentary elections starting in March.

On Wednesday, Ukraine House Davos is expected to host the National Investment Council meeting in the presence of President Petro Poroshenko and a high-level government delegation.

About Ukraine House Davos

Ukraine House Davos is powered by co-organizers Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA), Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), Victor Pinchuk Foundation and Horizon Capital. Ukraine House Davos is proud of its all-female, five-member Organizing Committee of volunteers Svitlana Grytsenko (Victor Pinchuk Foundation), Jaroslawa Johnson (WNISEF), Lenna Koszarny (Horizon Capital), Olga Afanasyeva (UVCA) and Alexa Chopivsky (Ukraine House Davos).

In addition to the generous support of its Co-Organizers and Gold Sponsor Temerty Foundation, Panel Sponsors of Ukraine House Davos include BHFF, Business 100, EBS, Effective Investments LLC, First Generation Capital, Hillmont Partners, ICU, IT Ukraine Association, TA Ventures, TIU Canada and UFUTURE Investment Group.

Ukraine House Davos is supported by UkraineInvest, National Investment Council, Ukrainian World Congress, Aspen Institute, Aspen Institute Kyiv and the Atlantic Council.

Social media:

Twitter: @UAHouseDavos

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ukrainehousedavos

Instagram: #ukrainehousedavos

YouTube: ukrainehousedavos

SOURCE Ukraine House Davos
ATLANTA, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ThingTech, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Platform-as-a-Service provider that helps asset-intensive organizations connect equipment, devices and people, today announced that it has raised a Series A funding round of $4 million led by BIP Capital with follow on investor Engage Ventures.

ThingTech delivers visibility into high-value assets, equipment and the mobile workforce in real-time using advanced analytics and cloud services. Its platform leverages IIoT data streams to solve complex business problems, support machine learning and help businesses work smarter. ThingTech is unique in its ease of implementation, versatility in accepting all data streams and ability to leverage data to drive better business and operational decisions.

Bain & Company estimates that the combined markets of the Internet of Things will grow to about $520 billion by 2021, more than double the $235 billion spent in 2017.

"ThingTech delivers enterprise capability with startup agility, which is what we believe sets us apart," said Tim Quinn, CEO and co-founder of ThingTech. "We help asset-intensive organizations connect their equipment and devices in order to glean real-time, actionable intelligence. The team at BIP Capital will be invaluable to usboth in terms of capital and mentorshipas we seek to continue our growth and expand our depth and reach in the marketplace."

"We're excited to partner with ThingTech as IoT continues to become a significant business disruptor," said Dan Drechsel, senior vice president at BIP Capital. "ThingTech's agility and ability to be deployed quickly distinguish it from other IoT solutions. They've already had notable successes across multiple industries, including transportation/distribution, equipment rental/leasing, and state and local government, and we're looking forward to working with them to gain even greater momentum."

In December 2018, ThingTech was named by Atlanta Inno as one of its 2019 Startups to Watch. The IoT platform provider was also a recipient of a 2018 Top 10 Innovation Award from the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). Also in 2018, ThingTech was selected for ATDC's exclusive 2018 Venture Showcase to Boston and by Venture Atlanta as one of Atlanta's Top Companies to Watch.

About ThingTech

ThingTech is an Atlanta-based software company that provides a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution that combine Enterprise Asset Management, Field Service, Smarter Cities and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions into a single, cloud-based, connected platform for enterprise asset intelligence. ThingTech customers rely on its platform to track and optimize the performance of their mission-critical mobile assets and workforce to increase business performance and improve their customers' experience. For more information, visit www.ThingTech.com.

About BIP Capital

BIP Capital is recognized as one of the most active and successful venture investors in the Southeast, serving entrepreneurs, investors and operators to grow the emerging company ecosystem. It applies experience and process to make investment decisions and operational recommendations, allowing its portfolio companies to achieve and stay on a glide path of growth. Areas of focus include Enterprise SaaS, Healthcare IT, Digital Media, Dev Tools, Infrastructure, FinTech and MarTech. For more information, visit www.bip-capital.com or follow BIP Capital on LinkedIn or Twitter @BIPCapital.

Media Contact:

Chris Coffey

ThingTech

(470) 261-3655

[email protected]

www.thingtech.com

SOURCE ThingTech

Related Links

http://www.thingtech.com


ATLANTA, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Identity, employment and income verifications are an integral part of the overall transaction process with dealers and lenders, as well as loss mitigation. Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX), a global information solutions company, will display at the NADA Show & Expo in San Francisco its Equifax Verification Services leveraging The Work Number database of employment records furnished by employers  the largest database of its kind.

Employment and income verification are the most commonly requested types of verification at the dealership. The information provided through Equifax comes directly from employers and includes: employer name and address, headquarter location, job title (when available), employment status, most recent hire date, stated income and length of time with the employer. This can help speed up the process, avoid surprises and ensure all parties are working with verified information.

Auto dealers and lenders can also leverage The Work Number database to authenticate identities using The Work Number ID.

Key Features:

The Work Number ID allows users to draw upon employers' previously confirmed identity establishing processes to verify whether an applicant's SSN and name match.

The employee onboarding process lends itself to authenticating identity to mitigate falsification.

The Work Number ID provides data that has been previously validated by contributing employers.

The Work Number ID can be used to verify whether an SSN matches an applicant's name.

"Process efficiency, reducing time at the dealership and lowering the risk of losses through inaccurate verifications are all top-of-mind concerns for decision-makers at dealerships and lenders," said Jennifer Reid, vice president, Automotive Strategy and Marketing, Equifax Automotive Services. "In today's world of connected data sources, incorporating critical verified information into the process can help to improve the customer experience, enhance the dealer and lender relationship, as well as help get dealers funded faster."

The Work Number ID helps businesses make prompt, more informed decisions during account opening process (credit application) and may greatly reduce the cost of manual reviews.

For more information, please visit Equifax AFSA booth #201 and NADA booth #6447W.

About Equifax

Equifax is a global information solutions company that uses unique data, innovative analytics, technology and industry expertise to power organizations and individuals around the world by transforming knowledge into insights that help make more informed business and personal decisions. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 11,000 employees worldwide. For more information, visit Equifax.com and follow the company's news on Twitter and LinkedIn .

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Wyatt Jefferies

Media Relations

404-885-8907

[email protected]

SOURCE Equifax Inc.

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NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Increase in global outbreaks of foodborne illnesses and stringent food safety regulations is expected to drive the overall growth of the food safety testing market.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05100652



The global food safety testing market size is projected to grow from USD 17.0 billion in 2018 to USD 24.6 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.7% during the forecast period. The food safety testing market is driven by various factors such as an increase in global outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, globalization in food trade, stringent food safety regulations, and the availability of advanced rapid technology. However, the lack of coordination between market stakeholders and improper enforcement of regulatory laws & supporting infrastructure in developing countries can hinder the growth of the market.



The pathogens segment is estimated to dominate the food safety testing market in 2018.

The pathogens segment is estimated to account for the largest share in 2018, in terms of value.Pathogens are harmful and contagious agents liable for food contamination, resulting in diseases in the host.



They form a major part of food contaminants; Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, and Campylobacter are the major pathogens responsible for food contamination and toxicity; they account for nearly 99% of the contaminants present in food and account for 96% of food safety testing. Other pathogens responsible for food contamination are Staphylococcus and Shigella, among others. In developing and under-developed countries, pathogens are the major cause of illness and death, amounting to approximately 1.8 million deaths, annually. These factors are expected to drive the pathogens segment.



Rapid food safety techniques are projected to account for the larger market share during the forecast period.

There is an increasing demand for rapid tests from food manufacturers, to test an adequate number of samples in less time, thereby accelerating the supply chain activities.Rapid microbiology involves advanced technology that is used for isolation, early detection, characterization, and enumeration of microorganisms and their by-products such as toxins from the provided samples.



Rapid technology in the food industry is used to monitor the count, type, and metabolites of microorganisms that lead to food spoilage, preservation, fermentation, safety, and foodborne pathogens.



Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing region in the food safety testing market.

The market in Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing due to higher adoption of new technologies with increasing foodborne illnesses.The growth of the market in this region is driven by various rules & regulations implemented in different countries.



Food security standards are increasingly becoming stringent to ensure safer supply of food to individuals in local and foreign countries. Governments have put various regulations in place for consumers, producers, and regulators.



In-depth interviews were conducted with chief executive officers (CEOs), marketing directors, food safety testing service providers, and executives from various key organizations operating in the food safety testing industries.

 By Company Type: Tier 1: 35%, Tier 2: 45%, and Tier 3: 20%

 By Designation: C-Level Executives: 35%, Directors: 25%, and Others: 40%

 By Region: North America: 45%, Europe: 20%, Asia Pacific: 30%, and RoW: 5%



The food safety testing market comprises major service providers such as SGS (Switzerland), Eurofins (Luxemburg), Intertek (UK), Bureau Veritas (France), Merieux (US), ALS Limited (Australia), TUV SUD (Germany), and TUV Nord Group (Germany), Microbac Laboratories (US), AsureQuality (Australia), FoodChain ID (US), Romer Labs (Australia), Symbio Laboratories (Australia), and R J Hill Laboratories (New Zealand). The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of these key players in the food safety testing market, with their company profiles, recent developments, and the key market strategies.



Research Coverage

The study covers the food safety testing market across segments.It aims at estimating the market size and its growth potential across different segments such as target tested, technology, food tested, and region.



The study also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market; along with their company profiles, key observations related to product and business offerings, recent developments, and key market strategies.



Key Benefits of Buying the Report

The report will help the market leaders/new entrants in this market with information on the closest approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall food safety testing market and the subsegments.This report will help stakeholders understand the competitive landscape and gain more insights to position their businesses better and to plan suitable go-to-market strategies.



The report will also help the stakeholders to understand the pulse of the market and will provide them with information on key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05100652



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LONDON, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global cloud-based language learning market is projected to reach values of around $8 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of approximately 7% during 2018-2024. This market research report also offers market size analysis in terms of the number of users (mn) during the forecast period.



Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/5724765



Large corporate organizations are investing in the efficient channelization of IT resources and expenditure to bring-in measurable improvements in workforce efficiency, thereby augmenting the growth of the global market. Cloud solutions are designed to enable the resources to learn language on-the-go at their convenience of time, place, and mode.The global cloud-based language learning market is driven by the growing requirement of technology-enabled tools that can facilitate user engagement, motivation, and collaboration. The business outsourcing activities across several countries such as India, the Philippines, Indonesia, China, and Thailand will drive the demand for language training solutions in the global market. The market research report provides in-depth market analysis and segmental analysis of the global cloud-based language learning market by language, end-user type, and geography.



The report considers the present scenario of the global cloud-based language learning market and its market dynamics for the period 2019?2024. It covers a detailed overview of various market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The study covers both the demand and supply sides of the market. It also profiles and analyzes the leading companies and various other prominent companies operating in the market.



Cloud-based Language Learning Market  Dynamics



The increasing number of internet users and device adoption is attracted significant private investments in digital learning solutions, thereby, propelling the growth of the global cloud-based language learning market. There are more than 350 language learning startups which are privately funded through angel investors, established venture capital, and private equity firms across the global market. The establishment of these companies will lead to innovative learning delivery solutions, tools, and content solutions in the global cloud-based language learning market.The growing demand for e-learning courses across several schools and universities will fuel the growth of the global cloud-based language learning market. The increasing emphasizes on skills pertaining to secondary language that facilitate skill development as per international standards and requirements in the primary and secondary education sector will attribute to the revenues in the market. Government departments and schools are undertaking initiatives that not only propelling the adoption of digital media but also inducing a perennial demand for digital content in the market.Mobile internet and an increasing number of social media users will positively impact the transformation of the global cloud-based language learning market. Many service providers are creating bite-sized lessons and deploying learning modules in sprints easily in order to match the user's daily routine of students in the market. Mobile platforms are designed to overcome the limitation of time and facilitate a better collaboration than static web platforms in the market.



Cloud-based Language Learning Market  Segmentation



This market research report includes a detailed segmentation of the market by language, end-user type, and geography.The global cloud-based language learning market by language is categorized into English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, and others (German, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and others). English language segment dominated more than half of the total market share in 2018, growing at a CAGR of around 7% during the forecast period. The implementation of new educational policies to increase the proficiency of English across several countries is augmenting the growth of this segment in the global market.The growing dominance of China as the second largest economy in the world and an industrial powerhouse is propelling the demand for Mandarin Chinese courses in the global market. The rise in the business interactions of the other countries with China will positively impact the cloud-based language learning market. Learning Mandarin Chinese opens up more opportunities to work, live, communicate, and understand a country that will continue to play an important role in the world's future.



The end-user type segment in the global cloud-based language learning market is divided into K12, higher education, vocational training, corporate training, examination number, and others. The corporate sector is the fastest growing end-user segment in the global market, at a CAGR of over 8% during the forecast period. The increasing focus on outsourcing of the e-learning resources is driving the growth of this segment in the global market. The growing investments in corporate wellness programs and training modules with packaged content, platform, and authoring tools will create lucrative opportunities for the vendors operating in the global market.The growing popularity of vocational training that are designed to enhance skills for starting careers is augmenting the growth of this segment. The government initiatives to promote vocation training for skill development will boost revenues in the cloud-based language learning market. The growing demand for foreign language courses that enable people from different fields and countries to participate in programs around the world will encourage service providers to introduce different modules.



Market Segmentation by Language

 English

 Chinese

 Spanish

 Arabic

 Others

 German

 French

 Japanese

 Portuguese

 Others



Market Segmentation by End-User Type

 K12

 Higher Education

 Vocational Training

 Corporate Training

 Examination Number

 Others



Cloud-based Language Learning Market  Geography



The global cloud-based language learning market by geography is segmented into APAC, Europe, North America, Latin America, and MEA. APAC occupied the largest market share in 2018, growing at a CAGR of over 7% during the forecast period. The increasing internet penetration, rising disposable expenditure, improvement of public amenities, and progression of the pedagogy in educational institutions are the primary factors attributing to the growth of the APAC market.The growing demand for examination training, especially for GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, and IELTS will contribute to the growing revenues in the APAC market.The expansion of cloud computing services across Africa is fueling the growth of this region in the global market. The establishment of e-government strategies in the educational sector is propelling the demand in the African market. Increasing investments by tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft across various African countries will positively impact the cloud-based language learning market. The growing need to learn languages such as English, Chinese, German, and French across various Middle Eastern countries, especially Saudi Africa will propel the development of the market in this region.



Market Segmentation by Geography

 APAC

 China

 India

 Japan

 North America

 US

 Canada

 Europe

 UK

 France

 Spain

 Latin America

 Brazil

 Mexico

 MEA

 Saudi Arabia

 UAE



Key Vendor Analysis

The global cloud-based language learning market is witnessing significant growth due to the presence of various players. The vendors are focusing on expanding the business and gaining maximum market share by creating awareness about their products. The growing demand for online language courses will encourage companies to diversify their product portfolio in the global market. The players are investing in marketing activities, low or free initial pricing, and broad sampling to sustain the intense competition in the market. The vendors are leveraging freemium offerings with attractive short-term subscription pricing to attract a maximum number of consumers in the global cloud-based language learning market.



The major vendors in the global market are:

 Speexx

 Rosetta Stone Inc.

 Duolingo

 Busuu.com

 Babbel.com



Other prominent vendors include 50 Languages, Linguatronics, Sanako, Okpanda, Livemocha, Software and Network Solutions, Voxy, Sanoma, Memrise, and Edusoft.



Key market insights include

1. The analysis of global cloud-based language learning market provides market size and growth rate for the forecast period 2018-2024.

2. It offers comprehensive insights into current industry trends, trend forecast, and growth drivers about the global cloud-based language learning market.

3. The report provides the latest analysis of market share, growth drivers, challenges, and investment opportunities.

4. It offers a complete overview of market segments and the regional outlook of global cloud-based language learning market.

5. The report offers a detailed overview of the vendor landscape, competitive analysis, and key market strategies to gain competitive advantage.



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About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +1 (718) 213 4904

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NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Rising demand for handling larger volumes and efficient operation in industries is expected to fuel the demand for conveyor system

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05026087

The conveyor system market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.33% during the forecast period, to reach a market size of USD 9.9 billion by 2025 from an estimated USD 7.4 billion in 2018. The market is driven by factors such as increased demand for automation, demand for cost-efficient material handling systems, need to handle larger volumes in several industries, increasing FDI investments in developing countries, and other factors. The key factor that restrains the market is high initial investment, which may not be feasible for various small and medium scale enterprises.



Automotive: Asia Pacific constitutes the largest conveyor system market

The growing vehicle production in the automotive industry has resulted in increased demand for conveyor systems.Conveyor systems help automotive plants work at a higher efficiency to meet the desired production levels.



Asia Pacific is estimated to be the largest market for conveyor systems, backed by the growth of the automotive industry in China and India.China is the largest vehicle-producing country in the region and is also the strongest economy.



It is home to many global as well as regional automotive manufacturers such as BYD Automotive, Geely, Dongfeng, Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co., and others. Other than OEMs, there are many Tier 1 players such as Mitsubishi Electric, Denso, and foreign players such as BorgWarner, Bosch, and Continental. The presence of big players drives the growth of the conveyor system market in the region. In terms of conveyor technology, overhead conveyors, which are used in painting applications, are expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period.



Mining: Asia Pacific is estimated to be the largest market for conveyor system market followed by ROW

Today, the mining industry has made noteworthy advancements in productivity, technology adoption, environmental standards, process automation, and health and safety of mine workers.As conveyors help in achieving these advantages, several mining companies have invested heavily in conveyor systems.



With increasing investments in mining activities, Latin American, African, and Asian countries are the most promising markets for the mining conveyor system. For example, Tembo Capital (UK) plans to invest USD 400 million in African and other emerging markets.



Asia Pacific: Largest market for conveyor system

The Asia Pacific leads the conveyor system market.The end-user industries for conveyors including automotive, airport, and food & beverage have witnessed the rapid growth of infrastructure and technological advancements.



This growth has enhanced the market for conveyors in the Asia Pacific region. RoW is expected to be the fastest growing market for conveyor system due to ongoing as well as upcoming projects and increasing investments in mining and automotive industry.



BREAKDOWN OF PRIMARIES

The study contains insights provided by various industry experts, ranging from conveyor system suppliers to retail, food & beverage, airport, and automotive industries. The break-up of the primaries is as follows:

 By Company Type  Tier-1 - 45 %, Tier-2 - 35%, and Others - 20%

 By Designation - C level - 45%, D level  34%, others  21%

 By Region - North America - 30%, Europe - 25%, Asia Pacific - 25%, RoW  20%



The report provides detailed profiles of the following companies:

 Emerson (US)

 Siemens (Germany)

 Daifuku (Japan)

 Fives (France)

 Taikisha (Japan)

 Honeywell Intelligrated (US)

 Dematic (US)

 SSI Schaefer (Germany)

 Invata (US)

 Bastian (US)



Research Coverage:

The report provides a picture of conveyor system market across different verticals and regions.It aims at estimating the market size and future growth potential of conveyor systems across different industries, conveyor types, and regions.



The report provides country-wise industry level market for the conveyor system. Countries considered are Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, & Rest of Asia Pacific), Europe (France, Germany, UK, & Rest of Europe), North America (US, Canada, and Mexico), and the Rest of the World (Brazil, South Africa, & RoW others).



The report provides insights with reference to the following points:

 Market Development: The report provides comprehensive information about lucrative emerging markets. The report analyzes the market for the conveyor system across regions.

 Product Development/Innovation: The report offers detailed insights into R&D activities, upcoming technologies, and new product launches in the conveyor system market.

 Market Diversification: The report provides detailed information about untapped markets, investments, new products, and recent developments in the conveyor system market.

 Competitive Assessment: The report provides an in-depth assessment of strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of leading players in the conveyor system market.

 Market coverage: The report provides market details for 11 countries by industry as well as market for different conveyor type at regional level.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05026087



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cohen Group, a global business advisory firm, announced today that it will launch a presence in Australia with the appointment of Sir Angus Houston, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, as Senior Counselor. This new presence will be serve as the hub for the firm's operations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

"Australia is a key ally centered in one of the fastest growing regions of the world", said The Cohen Group's Chairman and CEO, former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Defense William Cohen. "Our office and the appointment of Sir Angus Houston, will allow us to deepen our already significant coverage in this part of the world."

Sir Angus Houston retired as Chief of the Australian Defence Force in July 2011 after a distinguished 41-year career. As Chief of the Defence Force, Sir Angus was Australia's most senior uniformed officer. Since retiring from the Australia Defence Force, Sir Angus has continued to serve Australia in leadership roles at the highest levels.

In addition to Sir Angus, The Cohen Group's presence will be led by Alison McGuigan, a Vice President at the firm. A native of Australia, Alison joined The Cohen Group in Washington D.C. in 2013 after 15 years with the Australian Trade Commission. Her industry focus has been in technology, and she also has an in-depth understanding of trade, innovation and economic development policies.

The work in Australia will continue to draw on the senior leaders in The Cohen Group with deep experience in Australia, the Asia Pacific and around the world. In addition to Secretary Cohen, these include:

General Joseph Ralston , former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;

, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Ambassador Marc Grossman , former US Ambassador to Turkey , former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and former US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan .

, former US Ambassador to , former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and former US Special Representative for and . Ambassador Nicholas Burns , former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and US Ambassador to NATO and Greece ;

, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and US Ambassador to NATO and ; General Paul Kern , former Commander of the Army Materiel Command and the Senior Adviser for Army Research, Development and Acquisition.

, former Commander of the Army Materiel Command and the Senior Adviser for Army Research, Development and Acquisition. Lord George Robertson , former NATO Secretary General and Defense Minister of the United Kingdom .

General Joseph Ralston will visit Australia in February 2019 to attend the Avalon Airshow and officially launch The Cohen Group's Australian operations.

About The Cohen Group:

Formed in 2001, The Cohen Group is comprised of more than 60 professionals with many decades of combined experience working in top-level positions in Congress, the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, other federal agencies, and in European and Asian governments, international organizations and the private sector.

With offices in Washington, London, Beijing, Tianjin, New Delhi, Riyadh, and Brisbane, The Cohen Group provides its clients the insights and intelligence needed to better understand and shape the business, political, legal, regulatory, and media environments in which they operate. This includes both developing strategic business plans to help clients achieve their objectives, and actively participating with clients in the execution of those plans. The Cohen Group practice groups include Aerospace & Defense; Homeland Security; Middle East; China; India; Telecommunications and Information Technology; Energy & Resources; Transportation & Logistics; Health Care & Life Sciences; Financial Services & Investment; and Real Estate, serving clients in North America, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa and Latin America.

The Cohen Group also has a strong strategic partnership with DLA Piper, a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

For more information, please visit www.cohengroup.net

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SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE: TEL) today reported results for the fiscal first quarter, which ended December 28, 2018.

First Quarter Highlights

Net sales were $3.35 billion , flat as reported, and up 2 percent organically from the first quarter of 2018

, flat as reported, and up 2 percent organically from the first quarter of 2018 Diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations were $1.11 , and adjusted EPS were $1.29

, and adjusted EPS were Cash flow from continuing operating activities was $328 million and free cash flow was $69 million , with $645 million returned to shareholders, including proceeds from the sale of the company's Subsea Communications business

and free cash flow was , with returned to shareholders, including proceeds from the sale of the company's Subsea Communications business Orders were $3.3 billion in the quarter, down 6% year-over-year and 4% lower than the prior quarter

First Quarter Results

For the first quarter, the company reported net sales of $3.35 billion, with diluted EPS from continuing operations of $1.11, and adjusted EPS were $1.29, in line with the company's guidance. Cash flow from continuing operating activities was $328 million and free cash flow was $69 million. Total orders were $3.3 billion, below the company's expectations, and the book-to-bill ratio was 0.99.

"First quarter results were in line with our guidance and demonstrated resiliency in what turned out to be a slower demand environment than we expected, due primarily to weakness in China markets. Our Industrial and Communications segments showed solid sales growth, while our Transportation segment outperformed a weak global auto production environment through strong content growth," said Terrence Curtin, Chief Executive Officer of TE Connectivity. "Due to a slower market environment, we are updating our guidance for the remainder of the fiscal year, accelerating several levers in our business model to sustain resilience, and investing for long-term growth in alignment with our strategy."

2019 Outlook

For the fiscal second quarter of 2019, the company expects net sales of $3.3 billion to $3.4 billion. Diluted EPS from continuing operations are expected to be $1.13 to $1.17, including net restructuring, acquisition-related and other charges of $0.12. The company expects adjusted EPS of $1.25 to $1.29.

For the full year, the company expects net sales of $13.45 billion to $13.85 billion. Diluted EPS from continuing operations are expected to be $4.94 to $5.14, including net restructuring, acquisition-related and other charges of $0.41. The company expects adjusted EPS of $5.35 to $5.55.

Information about TE Connectivity's use of non-GAAP financial measures is provided below. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures, see the attached tables.

Conference Call and Webcast

The company will hold a conference call today beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. The dial-in information is provided here:

At TE Connectivity's website: investors.te.com.

By telephone: For both "listen-only" participants and those participants who wish to take part in the question-and-answer portion of the call, the dial-in number in the United States is (800) 230-1059, and for international callers, the dial-in number is (612) 234-9960.

is (800) 230-1059, and for international callers, the dial-in number is (612) 234-9960. An audio replay of the conference call will be available beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET on January 23, 2019 and ending at 11:59 p.m. ET on January 30, 2019 . The dial-in number for participants in the United States is (800) 475-6701. For participants outside the United States , the dial-in number is (320) 365-3844. The replay access code for all callers is 458594.

ABOUT TE CONNECTIVITY

TE Connectivity Ltd. is a $14 billion global technology and manufacturing leader creating a safer, sustainable, productive, and connected future. For more than 75 years, our connectivity and sensor solutions, proven in the harshest environments, have enabled advancements in transportation, industrial applications, medical technology, energy, data communications, and the home. With 80,000 employees, including more than 8,000 engineers, working alongside customers in approximately 140 countries, TE ensures that EVERY CONNECTION COUNTS. Learn more at www.te.com and on LinkedIn, Facebook, WeChat and Twitter.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We present non-GAAP performance and liquidity measures as we believe it is appropriate for investors to consider adjusted financial measures in addition to results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP"). These non-GAAP financial measures provide supplemental information and should not be considered replacements for results in accordance with GAAP. Management uses non-GAAP financial measures internally for planning and forecasting purposes and in its decision-making processes related to the operations of our company. We believe these measures provide meaningful information to us and investors because they enhance the understanding of our operating performance, ability to generate cash, and the trends of our business. Additionally, we believe that investors benefit from having access to the same financial measures that management uses in evaluating our operations. The primary limitation of these measures is that they exclude the financial impact of items that would otherwise either increase or decrease our reported results. This limitation is best addressed by using these non-GAAP financial measures in combination with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in order to better understand the amounts, character, and impact of any increase or decrease in reported amounts. These non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures reported by other companies.

The following provides additional information regarding our non-GAAP financial measures:



Organic Net Sales Growth  represents net sales growth (the most comparable GAAP financial measure) excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange rates, and acquisitions and divestitures that occurred in the preceding twelve months, if any. Organic Net Sales Growth is a useful measure of our performance because it excludes items that are not completely under management's control, such as the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates, and items that do not reflect the underlying growth of the company, such as acquisition and divestiture activity. This measure is a significant component in our incentive compensation plans.

Adjusted Operating Income and Adjusted Operating Margin  represent operating income and operating margin, respectively, (the most comparable GAAP financial measures) before special items including restructuring and other charges, acquisition related charges, and other income or charges, if any. We utilize these adjusted measures in combination with operating income and operating margin to assess segment level operating performance and to provide insight to management in evaluating segment operating plan execution and market conditions. Adjusted Operating Income is a significant component in our incentive compensation plans.

Adjusted Other Income (Expense), Net  represents net other income (expense) (the most comparable GAAP financial measure) before special items including tax sharing income related to adjustments to prior period tax returns and other items, if any.

Adjusted Income Tax Expense and Adjusted Effective Tax Rate  represent income tax expense and effective tax rate, respectively (the most comparable GAAP financial measures) after adjusting for the tax effect of special items including restructuring and other charges, acquisition related charges, other income or charges, and certain significant tax items, if any.

Adjusted Income from Continuing Operations  represents income from continuing operations (the most comparable GAAP financial measure) before special items including restructuring and other charges, acquisition related charges, tax sharing income related to adjustments to prior period tax returns and other tax items, other income or charges, and certain significant tax items, if any, and, if applicable, the related tax effects.

Adjusted Earnings Per Share  represents diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (the most comparable GAAP financial measure) before special items including restructuring and other charges, acquisition related charges, tax sharing income related to adjustments to prior period tax returns and other tax items, other income or charges, and certain significant tax items, if any, and, if applicable, the related tax effects. This measure is a significant component in our incentive compensation plans.

Free Cash Flow (FCF)  is a useful measure of our ability to generate cash. The difference between net cash provided by continuing operating activities (the most comparable GAAP financial measure) and Free Cash Flow consists mainly of significant cash outflows and inflows that we believe are useful to identify. We believe Free Cash Flow provides useful information to investors as it provides insight into the primary cash flow metric used by management to monitor and evaluate cash flows generated from our operations.



Free Cash Flow is defined as net cash provided by continuing operating activities excluding voluntary pension contributions and the cash impact of special items, if any, minus net capital expenditures. Voluntary pension contributions are excluded from the GAAP financial measure because this activity is driven by economic financing decisions rather than operating activity. Certain special items, including net payments related to pre-separation tax matters and cash paid (collected) pursuant to collateral requirements related to cross-currency swap contracts, are also excluded by management in evaluating Free Cash Flow. Net capital expenditures consist of capital expenditures less proceeds from the sale of property, plant, and equipment. These items are subtracted because they represent long-term commitments.



In the calculation of Free Cash Flow, we subtract certain cash items that are ultimately within management's and the Board of Directors' discretion to direct and may imply that there is less or more cash available for our programs than the most comparable GAAP financial measure indicates. It should not be inferred that the entire Free Cash Flow amount is available for future discretionary expenditures, as our definition of Free Cash Flow does not consider certain non-discretionary expenditures, such as debt payments. In addition, we may have other discretionary expenditures, such as discretionary dividends, share repurchases, and business acquisitions, that are not considered in the calculation of Free Cash Flow.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks, uncertainty and changes in circumstances, which may cause actual results, performance, financial condition or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, financial condition or achievements. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature are forward-looking and the words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "estimate," "plan," and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have no intention and are under no obligation to update or alter (and expressly disclaim any such intention or obligation to do so) our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. The forward-looking statements in this release include statements addressing our future financial condition and operating results. Examples of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements include, among others, business, economic, competitive and regulatory risks, such as conditions affecting demand for products, particularly in the automotive and data and devices industries; competition and pricing pressure; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and commodity prices; natural disasters and political, economic and military instability in countries in which we operate; developments in the credit markets; future goodwill impairment; compliance with current and future environmental and other laws and regulations; and the possible effects on us of changes in tax laws, tax treaties and other legislation. More detailed information about these and other factors is set forth in TE Connectivity Ltd.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Sept. 28, 2018 as well as in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other reports filed by us with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)

















For the Quarters Ended

December 28,

December 29,

2018

2017

(in millions, except per share data) Net sales $ 3,347

$ 3,336 Cost of sales 2,233

2,172 Gross margin 1,114

1,164 Selling, general, and administrative expenses 389

377 Research, development, and engineering expenses 161

165 Acquisition and integration costs 5

2 Restructuring and other charges, net 75

34 Operating income 484

586 Interest income 5

4 Interest expense (27)

(26) Other income (expense), net (1)

2 Income from continuing operations before income taxes 461

566 Income tax expense (78)

(599) Income (loss) from continuing operations 383

(33) Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes (107)

(7) Net income (loss) $ 276

$ (40)















Basic earnings (loss) per share:





Income (loss) from continuing operations $ 1.12

$ (0.09) Loss from discontinued operations (0.31)

(0.02) Net income (loss) 0.81

(0.11)







Diluted earnings (loss) per share:





Income (loss) from continuing operations $ 1.11

$ (0.09) Loss from discontinued operations (0.31)

(0.02) Net income (loss) 0.80

(0.11)







Weighted-average number of shares outstanding:





Basic 342

352 Diluted 344

352

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)

















December 28,

September 28,

2018

2018

(in millions, except share data) Assets





Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents $ 505

$ 848 Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $26 and $22, respectively 2,380

2,361 Inventories 1,986

1,857 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 507

661 Current assets held for sale -

472 Total current assets 5,378

6,199 Property, plant, and equipment, net 3,550

3,497 Goodwill 5,648

5,684 Intangible assets, net 1,648

1,704 Deferred income taxes 2,580

2,144 Other assets 384

1,158 Total Assets $ 19,188

$ 20,386







Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity





Current liabilities:





Short-term debt $ 585

$ 963 Accounts payable 1,538

1,548 Accrued and other current liabilities 1,348

1,711 Current liabilities held for sale -

188 Total current liabilities 3,471

4,410 Long-term debt 3,382

3,037 Long-term pension and postretirement liabilities 1,101

1,102 Deferred income taxes 207

207 Income taxes 335

312 Other liabilities 456

487 Total Liabilities 8,952

9,555 Commitments and contingencies





Shareholders' equity:





Common shares, CHF 0.57 par value, 357,069,981 shares authorized and issued 157

157 Accumulated earnings 11,886

12,114 Treasury shares, at cost, 17,727,608 and 12,279,603 shares, respectively (1,550)

(1,134) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (257)

(306) Total Shareholders' Equity 10,236

10,831 Total Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity $ 19,188

$ 20,386









TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (UNAUDITED)

















For the Quarters Ended

December 28,

December 29,

2018

2017

(in millions) Cash Flows From Operating Activities:





Net income (loss) $ 276

$ (40) Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes 107

7 Income (loss) from continuing operations 383

(33) Adjustments to reconcile income (loss) from continuing operations to net cash





provided by operating activities:





Depreciation and amortization 168

162 Deferred income taxes (11)

510 Provision for losses on accounts receivable and inventories 23

17 Share-based compensation expense 23

28 Other 18

(6) Changes in assets and liabilities, net of the effects of acquisitions





and divestitures:





Accounts receivable, net (26)

(139) Inventories (119)

(177) Prepaid expenses and other current assets 67

(45) Accounts payable (9)

161 Accrued and other current liabilities (190)

(239) Income taxes 15

7 Other (14)

37 Net cash provided by continuing operating activities 328

283 Net cash provided by (used in) discontinued operating activities (31)

67 Net cash provided by operating activities 297

350 Cash Flows From Investing Activities:





Capital expenditures (210)

(237) Proceeds from sale of property, plant, and equipment 1

- Proceeds from divestiture of discontinued operation, net of cash retained by sold operation 288

- Other 3

- Net cash provided by (used in) continuing investing activities 82

(237) Net cash used in discontinued investing activities (2)

(4) Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 80

(241) Cash Flows From Financing Activities:





Net increase in commercial paper 63

241 Proceeds from issuance of debt 350

119 Repayment of debt (441)

(708) Proceeds from exercise of share options 7

54 Repurchase of common shares (519)

(167) Payment of common share dividends to shareholders (150)

(141) Transfers (to) from discontinued operations (33)

63 Other (29)

(32) Net cash used in continuing financing activities (752)

(571) Net cash provided by (used in) discontinued financing activities 33

(63) Net cash used in financing activities (719)

(634) Effect of currency translation on cash (1)

11 Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash (343)

(514) Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at beginning of period 848

1,218 Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at end of period $ 505

$ 704







Supplemental Cash Flow Information:





Interest paid $ 19

$ 41 Income taxes paid, net of refunds 75

82









TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. RECONCILIATION OF FREE CASH FLOW (UNAUDITED)

















For the Quarters Ended

December 28,

December 29,

2018

2017

(in millions) Net cash provided by continuing operating activities $ 328

$ 283 Excluding:





Cash (collected) paid pursuant to collateral requirements related





to cross-currency swap contracts (50)

18 Capital expenditures, net (209)

(237) Free cash flow (1) $ 69

$ 64







(1) Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure. See description of non-GAAP financial measures.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. CONSOLIDATED SEGMENT DATA (UNAUDITED)

























For the Quarters Ended

December 28,

December 29,

2018

2017

($ in millions)

Net Sales



Net Sales

Transportation Solutions $ 1,986



$ 2,032

Industrial Solutions 928



882

Communications Solutions 433



422

Total $ 3,347



$ 3,336



























Operating Operating

Operating Operating

Income Margin

Income Margin Transportation Solutions $ 332 16.7%

$ 417 20.5% Industrial Solutions 100 10.8

102 11.6 Communications Solutions 52 12.0

67 15.9 Total $ 484 14.5%

$ 586 17.6%

























Adjusted Adjusted

Adjusted Adjusted

Operating Operating

Operating Operating

Income (1) Margin (1)

Income (1) Margin (1) Transportation Solutions $ 356 17.9%

$ 426 21.0% Industrial Solutions 138 14.9

126 14.3 Communications Solutions 71 16.4

75 17.8 Total $ 565 16.9%

$ 627 18.8%











(1) Adjusted operating income and adjusted operating margin are non-GAAP financial measures. See description of non-GAAP financial measures.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. RECONCILIATION OF NET SALES GROWTH (UNAUDITED)









































Change in Net Sales for the Quarter Ended December 28, 2018

versus Net Sales for the Quarter Ended December 29, 2017

Net

Organic Net









Sales Growth

Sales Growth (1)

Translation (2)

Acquisition

($ in millions) Transportation Solutions (3):

















Automotive $ (48) (3.2)%

$ (9) (0.6)%

$ (39)

$ - Commercial transportation (3) (1.0)

5 1.7

(8)

- Sensors 5 2.3

8 3.8

(3)

- Total (46) (2.3)

4 0.2

(50)

- Industrial Solutions (3):

















Industrial equipment 12 2.5

(2) (0.5)

(7)

21 Aerospace, defense, oil, and gas 31 12.2

33 12.7

(2)

- Energy 3 1.9

9 5.8

(6)

- Total 46 5.2

40 4.5

(15)

21 Communications Solutions (3):

















Data and devices 19 8.0

22 9.3

(3)

- Appliances (8) (4.3)

(3) (1.7)

(5)

- Total 11 2.6

19 4.6

(8)

- Total $ 11 0.3%

$ 63 1.9%

$ (73)

$ 21







































(1) Organic net sales growth is a non-GAAP financial measure. See description of non-GAAP financial measures. (2) Represents the change in net sales resulting from changes in foreign currency exchange rates. (3) Industry end market information is presented consistently with our internal management reporting and may be periodically revised as management deems necessary.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES For the Quarter Ended December 28, 2018 (UNAUDITED)





































Adjustments









Acquisition

Restructuring









Related

and Other

Adjusted

U.S. GAAP

Charges (1)

Charges, Net (1)

(Non-GAAP) (2)

($ in millions, except per share data) Operating Income:













Transportation Solutions $ 332

$ 3

$ 21

$ 356 Industrial Solutions 100

3

35

138 Communications Solutions 52

-

19

71 Total $ 484

$ 6

$ 75

$ 565















Operating Margin 14.5%









16.9%















Other Expense, Net $ (1)

$ -

$ -

$ (1)















Income Tax Expense $ (78)

$ (1)

$ (19)

$ (98)















Effective Tax Rate 16.9%









18.1%















Income from Continuing Operations $ 383

$ 5

$ 56

$ 444















Diluted Earnings per Share from













Continuing Operations $ 1.11

$ 0.01

$ 0.16

$ 1.29















(1) The tax effect of each non-GAAP adjustment is calculated based on the jurisdictions in which the expense (income) is incurred and the tax laws in effect for each such jurisdiction. (2) See description of non-GAAP financial measures.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES For the Quarter Ended December 29, 2017 (UNAUDITED)













































Adjustments









Acquisition

Restructuring













Related

and Other

Tax

Adjusted

U.S. GAAP

Charges (1)

Charges, Net (1)

Items (2)

(Non-GAAP) (3)

($ in millions, except per share data) Operating Income:

















Transportation Solutions $ 417

$ 5

$ 4

$ -

$ 426 Industrial Solutions 102

2

22

-

126 Communications Solutions 67

-

8

-

75 Total $ 586

$ 7

$ 34

$ -

$ 627



















Operating Margin 17.6%













18.8%



















Other Income, Net $ 2

$ -

$ -

$ (1)

$ 1



















Income Tax Expense $ (599)

$ (2)

$ (8)

$ 506

$ (103)



















Effective Tax Rate 105.8%













17.0%



















Income (Loss) from Continuing

















Operations $ (33)

$ 5

$ 26

$ 505

$ 503



















Diluted Earnings (Loss) per Share from

















Continuing Operations (4) $ (0.09)

$ 0.01

$ 0.07

$ 1.42

$ 1.42



















(1) The tax effect of each non-GAAP adjustment is calculated based on the jurisdictions in which the expense (income) is incurred and the tax laws in effect for each such jurisdiction. (2) Includes $567 million of income tax expense related to the tax impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and a $61 million income tax benefit related to certain legal entity restructurings. (3) See description of non-GAAP financial measures. (4) U.S. GAAP diluted shares excludes 3 million of nonvested restricted share awards and nonvested options as the inclusion of these securities would have been antidilutive because of our loss during the period. Such amounts are included in adjusted (non-GAAP) diluted shares.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES For the Quarter Ended March 30, 2018 (UNAUDITED)





































Adjustments













Restructuring









Acquisition

and Other









Related

Charges

Adjusted

U.S. GAAP

Charges (1)

(Credits), Net (1)

(Non-GAAP) (2)

($ in millions, except per share data) Operating Income:













Transportation Solutions $ 427

$ 2

$ (2)

$ 427 Industrial Solutions 125

3

7

135 Communications Solutions 69

-

1

70 Total $ 621

$ 5

$ 6

$ 632















Operating Margin 17.4%









17.7%















Other Income, Net $ 1

$ -

$ -

$ 1















Income Tax Expense $ (108)

$ -

$ 1

$ (107)















Effective Tax Rate 18.1%









17.6%















Income from Continuing Operations $ 490

$ 5

$ 7

$ 502















Diluted Earnings per Share from













Continuing Operations $ 1.38

$ 0.01

$ 0.02

$ 1.42















(1) The tax effect of each non-GAAP adjustment is calculated based on the jurisdictions in which the expense (income) is incurred and the tax laws in effect for each such jurisdiction. (2) See description of non-GAAP financial measures.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES For the Year Ended September 28, 2018 (UNAUDITED)













































Adjustments









Acquisition

Restructuring













Related

and Other

Tax

Adjusted

U.S. GAAP

Charges (1)

Charges, Net (1)

Items (2)

(Non-GAAP) (3)

($ in millions, except per share data) Operating Income:

















Transportation Solutions $ 1,578

$ 12

$ 33

$ -

$ 1,623 Industrial Solutions 465

10

80

-

555 Communications Solutions 288

-

13

-

301 Total $ 2,331

$ 22

$ 126

$ -

$ 2,479



















Operating Margin 16.7%













17.7%



















Other Income, Net $ 1

$ -

$ -

$ (1)

$ -



















Income Tax (Expense) Benefit $ 344

$ (5)

$ (31)

$ (716)

$ (408)



















Effective Tax Rate (15.4)%













17.1%



















Income from Continuing Operations $ 2,584

$ 17

$ 95

$ (717)

$ 1,979



















Diluted Earnings per Share from

















Continuing Operations $ 7.32

$ 0.05

$ 0.27

$ (2.03)

$ 5.61



















(1) The tax effect of each non-GAAP adjustment is calculated based on the jurisdictions in which the expense (income) is incurred and the tax laws in effect for each such jurisdiction. (2) Includes a $1,283 million net income tax benefit associated with the tax impacts of certain intercompany transactions and legal entity restructurings including an increase to the valuation allowance. Also includes $567 million of income tax expense related to the tax impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. (3) See description of non-GAAP financial measures.

TE CONNECTIVITY LTD. RECONCILIATION OF FORWARD-LOOKING NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES TO FORWARD-LOOKING GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES As of January 23, 2019 (UNAUDITED)









Outlook for





Quarter Ending





March 29,

Outlook for

2019

Fiscal 2019 Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (GAAP) $1.13 - $1.17

$4.94 - $5.14 Restructuring and other charges, net 0.10

0.33 Acquisition related charges 0.02

0.08 Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (non-GAAP) (1) $1.25 - $1.29

$5.35 - $5.55















Net sales growth (GAAP) (7)% - (5)%

(4)% - (1)% Translation 5

3 (Acquisitions) divestitures, net (1)

(1) Organic net sales growth (non-GAAP) (1) (3)% - (1)%

(2)% - 1%















(1) See description of non-GAAP financial measures.

SOURCE TE Connectivity Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.te.com


SAINT PAUL, Minn., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Companies, a premier fire and life safety company, announced its acquisition of ABC Fire Extinguisher Co. Inc. d/b/a ABC Fire and Cylinder Service ("ABC Fire"). Reno, Nevada-based ABC Fire expands Summit's Southwestern U.S. presence northward, having previously acquired businesses in Las Vegas, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona. Summit Companies has locations in Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin, and provides its services across the United States.

ABC Fire has been serving the greater Reno market since 1985 and the Las Vegas market since 2012 as a family-owned and operated business. Today, ABC Fire offers the following fire protection and life safety services, which are consistent with Summit's capabilities: installation, inspection, and repair of fire alarm systems, fire hydrants, kitchen range-hood suppression systems, back-flow preventers, and total flood systems; fire extinguisher sales, service, and installation; kitchen exhaust cleaning; fire extinguisher training classes; and fire pump weekly/monthly runs and annual maintenance. Summit Companies' even broader service expertise will complement ABC Fire's offering for customers in its markets.

"Summit's continued expansion in Nevada furthers the company's growth strategy to expand nationally," stated Summit Companies CEO, Jeff Evrard. "Expanding our presence in Nevada with the addition of ABC Fire's Reno and Las Vegas operations both complements our current operations in Nevada and Arizona and demonstrates Summit's commitment to serving our customers in the Southwest."

Summit Companies will retain ABC Fire's management, staff, and service technicians and its Reno office will become a new branch office for Summit Companies operating under its A-1 National Fire Co. subsidiary.

"We are excited to join the Summit family. As we looked for the right partner to continue our journey it was important to find a partner whose core values align with ours," stated ABC Fire COO, Nic Brown. "Summit's core values of client service excellence, family first, accountability, and high integrity are values we both share."

"Jeff and the Summit management team have rapidly and strategically expanded the company's geographic coverage, now strengthening its presence in the Southwest," said Timothy Hall, Managing Director of CI Capital Partners. "We look forward to continuing to support Summit's growth beyond the company's 20 acquisitions to date under CI Capital's ownership."

ABOUT SUMMIT COMPANIES

Summit Companies is a premier fire and life safety company with an expanding national presence in the United States. The company has expertise across the entire spectrum of fire and life safety categories, including: fire extinguishers; extinguishing agents; pre-engineered kitchen, industrial and vehicle suppression systems; special hazard suppression systems; fire sprinkler systems; fire alarm systems; and security monitoring systems. In addition to its commitment to the design, installation, maintenance, and monitoring of these fire and life safety systems, Summit Companies is also engaged in the practice of fire protection engineering and risk management consultancy. Summit's success is driven by its people. The company is a culture-first organization committed to client service, diversity of capabilities, and technical excellence. Summit Companies is owned by management and CI Capital Partners. Learn more at: www.SummitCoUS.com

ABOUT CI CAPITAL PARTNERS

CI Capital Partners LLC is a leading North American private equity investment firm that has invested in middle-market companies since 1993. CI Capital forms partnerships with experienced management teams and entrepreneurs to build substantial businesses through add-on acquisitions, organic growth, and operational improvements. Since inception, CI Capital and its portfolio companies have made over 315 acquisitions representing approximately $10 billion in enterprise value. For more information on CI Capital Partners, please visit www.cicapllc.com.

Media Contact:

Daniel Yunger

Kekst CNC

212.521.4800

SOURCE CI Capital Partners

Related Links

http://www.SummitCoUS.com


SEATTLE, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Stoel Rives LLP is pleased to announce that 13 experienced attorneys from Foster Pepper PLLC have agreed to join Stoel Rives in its Seattle office, in the real estate and land use practice groups. The addition of the new attorneys to Stoel's already top-ranked real estate and environmental, natural resources and land use practice groups enhances the firm's ability to provide sophisticated legal advice to clients with a wide variety of legal needs.

Rated by Chambers USA as "the first choice in Seattle for handling real estate transactions," the group that will join Stoel Rives includes partners Beth A. Clark, Joe Delaney, John A. Fandel, Michael Kuntz, Colm Nelson, Chris Osborn, John Santa Lucia, and Sabina L. Shapiro. Together, they have more than 200 years of combined legal experience representing regional, national and international real estate investors, owners and developers in acquisitions, dispositions, development, leasing, and financing of commercial, retail, and multi-family building and real estate projects nationwide.

Also agreeing to join Stoel Rives are five associate and of counsel attorneys: land use of counsel attorney Alexandra Kleeman; real estate of counsel attorneys W. Adam Coady and Nathan Luce; and real estate associates Hunter Jeffers and Emily Kelly.

The new attorneys are expected to start with Stoel Rives on Feb. 1. They chose to take their practices to Stoel Rives in order to provide expanded legal services to their clients, many of which are the country's and the region's top companies.

For more information about the attorneys, visit Stoel Rives' website.

About Stoel Rives LLP: Stoel Rives is a leading U.S. corporate and litigation law firm. One of the largest national firms focused on energy, natural resources, climate change and the environment, Stoel Rives also serves the agribusiness, food and beverage, health care, life sciences, real estate and construction, and technology industries. With more than 350 attorneys operating out of 10 offices in seven states and the District of Columbia, Stoel Rives is a leader in regulatory and compliance matters, and business, labor and employment, land use, and intellectual property law.

Contact Stoel Rives LLP:

Jasmine Trillos-Decarie, 206.386.7637

SOURCE Stoel Rives LLP

Related Links

http://www.stoel.com


PORTLAND, Maine, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Steward Partners Global Advisory , LLC, an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership associated with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC), today announced it has opened a new office in Portland, Maine, making it their 17th location nationwide and first within the Pine Tree State. In addition, they've recruited several new advisors who'll be based in the new space.

Ralph Good, CFP and James Nylund, CFP who comprise the newly formed GoodNylund Wealth Management Group, have joined Steward Partners as a Managing Director and Vice President, respectively. Christine Balfour, their longtime associate, also joins the firm. The new GoodNylund team joins from Wells Fargo, where they oversaw $200 million in client assets.

Adam Dunbar, also formerly of Wells Fargo, has joined Steward Partners as a Senior Vice President and will lead his own team with roughly $138 million in client assets. Dunbar's colleague, Jackie Gervais, also joins the firm. Dunbar, Gervais and the GoodNylund team will be based out of the new Portland office.

"When we decided to expand our growing New England presence by opening our first office in Maine, we knew we needed to find the right group of advisors to help us make that happen. James, Ralph and Adam represent just the type of talented, client-focused advisors we were looking for," said Jim Connors, Divisional President at Steward Partners. "We couldn't be happier that more and more advisors are beginning to see the benefits of our independent, employee-driven approach for their business, and we're so excited to start 2019 by welcoming these advisors to our growing family."

"This is a big day for us and our clients," added Ralph Good. "We're thrilled to get started working and look forward to the increased level of flexibility Steward Partners gives us, which in turn will allow us to better serve and interact with our clients in ways which were often previously out of reach."

"I've looked at multiple options in the past and nothing quite appealed to me on all levels of practice management, sophisticated investment products and tools, outstanding client service capabilities and finally, firm culture," said Adam Dunbar. "Steward Partners with the support and platform of Raymond James just offers the right combination which made this an obvious choice for my practice."

Dunbar and the GoodNylund Wealth Management Group represent the first group of advisors to join Steward Partners this year after a successful year of growth in 2018. With this new location in Maine, Steward now operates 17 offices across 11 states and the District of Columbia, and is maintaining its ambitious plan to continue upward as one of the fastest growing full-service independent partnerships in the country.

About Steward Partners Global Advisory

With offices in Newtown, CT., Washington, D.C., Clearwater, FL., Andover and Boston, MA., Baltimore and Bethesda, MD., Portland, ME., Keene, Manchester and Portsmouth, NH., Paramus and Morristown, NJ., Albany and New York City, NY., Houston, TX., and Richmond, VA., Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, is an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership catering to family, institutional and multigenerational wealth. For more information, visit us at www.stewardpartners.com .

About Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is a financial services firm supporting more than 4,300 independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) a leading diversified financial services company with approximately 7,800 financial advisors throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are $764 billion.

Steward Partners Holdings, Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, the GoodNylund Wealth Management Group and Adam Dunbar maintain a separate professional business relationship with, and our registered professionals offer securities through, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Steward Partners Investment Advisory, LLC, 1776 I Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20006. Toll Free: (844) 801-8268.

Media Contact:

Jesse Chen  Water & Wall Group

212-625-2365

[email protected]

SOURCE Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC

Related Links

http://www.stewardpartners.com


TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Self Care Catalysts, a digital health company specializing in helping patients with self care through digital therapeutics backed by real-world evidence, is pleased to announce that Dr. Ethan Basch has joined as a Scientific Advisor. Dr. Basch is a world-renowned expert in Oncology and Real World Evidence Outcomes Research and will advise Self Care Catalysts in optimizing their Health Storylines product for the generation of evidence for biomedical sciences and for the next generation of digital therapeutics.

"Dr. Basch as a true luminary in the field patient-centered outcomes research and the emerging science and discipline of self-care backed by real world evidence in oncology," said Grace Castillo-Soyao, CEO of Self Care Catalysts. "The ways in which patients can best manage their conditions is extending the science of medicine and what works in the "real world" beyond clinics and clinical trials. Dr. Basch is one of the best possible experts to help Self Care Catalysts continue to create digital tools and programs to improve patient clinical outcomes and quality of life "

Castillo-Soyao continued, "Dr. Basch is a true pioneer in the field or real world evidence and digital therapeutics. We are thrilled to work with him to drive the science of real world evidence and continue to build pioneering tools for patients."

Basch's research focuses on the use of patient-reported outcomes and novel technologies to measure the impact of interventions on patients' experiences, and to inform decisions. According to Dr. Basch, "There are substantial opportunities to improve care quality, outcomes, and the patient experience with emerging technology-based tools. It is exciting to see the innovative approaches being developed that can improves the lives of our patients, and how we deliver cancer treatment."

Dr. Basch will work with Self Care Catalysts to focus on how cancer patients can best direct their own care when away from their doctor or health care system. "For oncology patients, most of their time is spent away from health systems, where they and caregivers make decisions and direct care that can enormously impact outcomes," says Castillo-Soyao.

About Ethan Basch

Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, is a practicing oncologist and Director of the Cancer Outcomes Research Program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Dr. Basch's research focuses on the use of patient-reported outcomes and novel technologies to measure the impact of interventions on patients' experiences, and to inform decisions. He has served on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute and the Board of Directors of the International Society for Quality of Life Research, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and Co-Chair of the cancer Care Delivery Research Committee for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. His clinical practice focuses on prostate cancer. Dr. Basch received his BA from Brown University, MD from Harvard Medical School, MSc in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, and MPhil in literature from Oxford University. He completed his oncology training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he served on the faculty until taking up his current post at the University of North Carolina.

About Self Care Catalysts, Inc.

Self Care Catalysts is a patient solutions, intelligence, and analytics company deriving value from patient-centered real world evidence designed to inform care management, treatment decisions, product life cycle management and behavior change interventions. More information may be obtained at https://www.selfcarecatalysts.com/ .

SOURCE Self Care Catalysts Inc

Related Links

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RoomKeyPMS has reached a milestone this year, celebrating its 19th year anniversary as a leader in Hotel Property Management. Coming to market in 2000, RoomKeyPMS' all-in-one cloud-hosted software makes running a hotel easier.

With rich features for independent hotels and hundreds of interfaces to disparate hospitality systems, the RoomKeyPMS platform helps hoteliers to manage their operations, create better guests experiences, increase revenues and save time. RoomKeyPMS is used by over 800 hotel properties and handles over 20 million client transactions annually.

Tim Major, RoomKeyPMS CEO, reflects on the company's anniversary by commenting, "We are delighted to achieve this longevity and success in serving hotels. It's quite amazing what this team has created over the past 19 years. Looking back, we were one of the early innovators to allow hotels to access PMS software from anywhere, long before the term "cloud" became a catchphrase, and we were the first PMS to interface to Expedia when the OTAs were in their infancy. It's inspiring to reflect and appreciate how these initial leaps set the pace for what has become our team's deep understanding and experience in hospitality property management software. It's this experience that pervades how we tackle hotel technology to this day and allows us to continue to add to our platform complex interfaces and features".

RoomKeyPMS has also continued to strengthen their service experience by employing experienced hoteliers locally for their North America and global customers. Tim Major comments, "Although the past 19 years have been anchored in improving and evolving our cloud software, the real acclaim for the success of the company must be given to our team of exceptional customer service representatives and seasoned trainers. They are hoteliers through-and-through, working hard to onboard hotels effectively and efficiently and jump-to-the-pump to answer the phone, email or chat on the first request, solving problems for customers side-by-side on the front lines. Congratulations to the RoomKeyPMS team!"

To see what RoomKeyPMS' current hotel partners are saying, visit https://roomkeypms.com/client-stories/ or download their newest hotel resources at https://roomkeypms.com/resources/

About RoomKeyPMS

RSI International Systems Inc. is the developer of RoomKeyPMS , a web-based Property Management System (PMS) that incorporates a fully integrated Online Reservation Booking engine and seamless real-time connectivity to the major Global Distribution and Internet Distribution Systems. RSI markets its RoomKeyPMS and a number of other proprietary "hosted" software solutions to a wide variety of Hospitality Industry clients around the world. For more information, please see our website at www.roomkeypms.com .

RSI Systems International Inc.

Tim Major

(604) 914-3711

[email protected]

SOURCE RoomKeyPMS

Related Links

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Dean Yoost, member of the Board of Directors at MUFG Union Bank and Pacific Life Insurance Company, to address RMA's 13th annual Governance, Compliance, and Operational Risk Conference regarding directors' expectations

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading banking industry experts will share their experiences regarding AI, machine learning, and blockchain, as well as their views on evolving cyber resiliency and third-party risk management practices at GCOR XIII. The Risk Management Association's 13th annual Governance, Compliance, and Operational Risk Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, Mass., April 10-11, 2019.

Dean Yoost, author of the forthcoming Illuminating Data in the Boardroom, scheduled to be published by RMA later this year, will be a keynote speaker, outlining some of the opportunities, risks, and regulatory issues, as well as describing notable concerns and issues associated with data.

The conference will also feature sessions on topics such as effective challenge; risk appetite; LIBOR risk management; agile risk management; and additional programming on culture, conduct, and reputation risk.

"Evolving customer preferences are driving a demand for innovation in the financial services industry, and institutions are increasingly focused on using blockchain, AI, and machine learning to improve the customer experience and drive efficiencies. It is critical that institutions understand that these innovative technologies can confer superior benefits over existing technologies but also give rise to significant operational risk and reputational risk to financial institutions," said RMA Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Edward J. DeMarco, Jr.

For more information and to register, visit www.rmahq.org/gcorxiii.

About RMA

Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk management principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 2,500 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by 18,000 individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia/Pacific.

SOURCE The Risk Management Association
WAYNE, Pa., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Renovus Capital Partners ("Renovus") announced today that it has acquired a controlling interest in Tempus Nova ("TN" or the "Company"). Headquartered in Denver, CO, Tempus Nova is a trusted technology services partner to over 200 public and private sector organizations located throughout the United States.

Tempus Nova, Inc. was founded in 2001 by Joseph Dellanno. The Company is a Google Premier Partner and authorized Reseller of Google cloud technologies including G Suite and Google Cloud Platform. They specialize in G Suite implementations, enterprise collaboration, custom application development, managed services, data visualization, business transformation and workforce productivity.

Since 2008, Tempus Nova has successfully migrated over two million email accounts and hundreds of enterprise applications to G Suite and Google Cloud Platform for Fortune 500 companies and public sector organizations such as the Federal General Services Administration (GSA), the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Iowa, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Tempus Nova received three of the first Google certifications in the world for their knowledge about the G Suite platform and was also one of the first partners invited to participate in the Google Cloud Transformation Program launched in September 2011. Tempus Nova is growing rapidly and always looking for top notch talent to join its team of technology professionals and participate in the management of some of the most exciting Google Cloud Platform and G Suite projects in the country.

Tempus Nova is led by the CEO Didi Dellanno and the CTO Joe Dellanno, an experienced management team that bring over 50 years of technology and engineering excellence. The Company is supported by a team of bright, experienced professionals with diverse IT backgrounds. The entire team will continue to operate the company following the transaction.

Atif Gilani, the Renovus partner who led this investment, said, "Didi and Joe have built a business that offers great products and services, has a solid customer base and is led by a highly dedicated and entrepreneurial management team. We are excited to become their partners and are committed to providing additional capital for both organic and acquisition driven growth."

Grayson Harcourt, Associate at Renovus added, "We are strong believers in technology enabled businesses with talented teams and Tempus Nova is exactly that. Renovus has the experience and opportunity to add tremendous value to this organization."

"Tempus Nova is thrilled to become part of the Renovus family. The synergies between Tempus Nova and other Renovus portfolio companies will allow us to offer our customers additional high value products and services. From an operational perspective, Tempus Nova will continue to provide our customers with the same great service. Strategically, the company will have access to a wealth of additional executive resources, geographical presence and capital to help accelerate our growth," said Didi Dellanno, CEO of Tempus Nova.

DLA Piper served as legal counsel and CTS as a financial advisor to Renovus.

About Tempus Nova

Headquartered in Denver, CO, Tempus Nova is a leading technology services firm serving the commercial, government, and professional services industries. Tempus Nova, Inc. was founded in 2001, is a Google Premier Partner and authorized G Suite and Google Cloud Platform Reseller. More information about Tempus Nova can be found on its website at https://tempusnova.com.

About Renovus Capital

Founded in 2010, Renovus Capital Partners is an education, training and human capital focused private equity firm. Renovus is based outside of Philadelphia and manages over $500 million of committed capital. To date, the firm has acquired twenty portfolio companies specializing in areas such as technology, educational content, traditional education, corporate consulting and training, and human capital. The firm is an active investor in profitable and growing enterprises where the Renovus team, in partnership with management, seeks to create value through operational improvements, strategic growth initiatives and acquisitions. More information can be found on its website at http://www.renovuscapital.com .

SOURCE Tempus Nova

Related Links

https://www.tempusnova.com


NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The conversation on both sides of the political aisle  laden with overwhelming political correctness  is halting. The nation better wake up. The conversation is no longer black and white. Racist Hate, a book by T. R. Affatato, will get the job done: https://www.RacistHatesconsequences.com/Book/

Racist Hate The Human Condition and the Consequences

Serial killers are often described as having high IQs: being charming, charismatic, and cunning; and fitting right into society. This description comes from psychologists, psychiatrists, and FBI profilers. The purpose of this book is to reveal in laymen's terms that history is rife with serial killers who controlled and killed not only their own people but millions of other people around the world. These killers include emperors, kings, queens, mullahs, popes, and even today's socialist leaders, dictators, and communist leaders. Their names are quite familiar, but any lessons that they've taught us seem to have been lost on society, especially in the sometimes unbearable rhetoric of America's political elite and the daily vitriol that permeates America's constant information feedor rather disinformation feedand relegates history to the trash heap.

The human condition, as described by T. R. Affatato, has been a part of our DNA since the beginning of time. It is a condition of hatred and inhumane treatment of one another for millennia. Affatato lives in one of the world's most culturally diverse cities, New York City, which gives him a unique perspective on the subject of racist hate. The child of Italian immigrants, Affatato grew up in the 1960s and 1970s surrounded by assassinations, the civil rights movement, Vietnam War demonstrations, race riots, and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War era. Affatato now is more than troubled about the current affairs and future of the United States of America. Affatato knows hate and racism very well, as readers will discover in these pages, and fears the onset of civil war. The fear is real and cannot be overlooked. However, the real culprit in all of this hysteria is the human species.

The Author:

T. R. Affatato served in the U. S. Army and pursued a career in mechanical contracting and as a union contractor in New York City. He is disturbed by the vitriolic rhetoric of today and fears for the future of America. In this book, he offers anecdotal medicine that may be hard to swallow but is sorely needed.

He highlights how a civil war that began with blacks and law enforcement is now threatening to spread to society at large, how President Obama fanned the flames of hate, and how we learn to hate.

The author explores how President Donald J. Trump has set off the worst firestorm of vitriolic hate that our nation has ever seen, not just splitting the country into political factions, but outright enemies.

Join the author as he sparks a serious and realistic conversation about the issues we must solve if we're to move forward as a nation. RacisthatesConsequences.com

Also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Racist-Hate-Human-Condition-Consequences/dp/1532063563

Media Contact:

T.R. Affatato

[email protected]

718-725-7071

SOURCE T.R. Affatato
RESTON, Va., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- QTC Medical Services, Inc, a Leidos company (NYSE: LDOS), was awarded four prime contracts by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to continue to provide medical disability examinations for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). The multiple award, fixed-unit-price, indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contracts have a one-year base period of performance and nine option years with a total aggregate estimated ceiling value of approximately $7 billion, if all options are exercised. These awards are in addition to the previous award of VBA's only nationwide contract supporting disability examinations for separating and retiring Department of Defense Servicemembers.

The series of contract awards is part of a VA initiative to improve disability examination experiences for Veterans through an efficient and streamlined process. The new program management and delivery process will also continue to ensure broad national and international coverage of medical examination requirements to meet Veterans' needs worldwide. QTC will apply its more than 35 years of expertise in providing high-quality, technology-driven exam solutions to continue to provide the VBA with medical disability examination services under the new contracts. QTC uses its customized, systematic operational workflow to manage operations and help VA achieve efficiency and accuracy goals.

"Our Veterans deserve an expedient, efficient and reliable system to provide medical disability examinations," said QTC Senior Vice President Grant Kim. "We have a long history of supporting the VA  20 years and over 7 million exams  and are honored they've entrusted us to continue to provide these important services for our Veterans."

About QTC

QTC Medical Services, Inc., acquired by Leidos in 2016, partners with each customer to identify existing and forecasted program needs and delivers a full complement of disability-focused medical examination and diagnostic testing services. Since 2000, QTC has provided more than 7 million physical evaluative examinations.

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.17 billion for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2017. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 29, 2017, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

SOURCE Leidos

Related Links

http://www.leidos.com


SIENA, Italy, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Philogen S.p.A., a privately-owned biotechnology company, today announced through its wholly-owned Swiss subsidiary, Philochem AG, a collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, to discover new small molecule-based therapeutics utilizing Philochem's novel lead-generation technologies. The collaboration was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC.

"We are extremely pleased to establish a new collaboration with Janssen, one of the leaders in the discovery and development of novel pharmaceuticals, with an impressive track record in developing small-molecule based therapeutics. We hope our technology will contribute to bringing innovative treatment for serious unmet medical needs," commented Prof. Dario Neri, co-founder and President of the Scientific Advisory Board of Philogen.

No financial details of the agreement were released.

About the Philogen group

Philogen is a Swiss-Italian clinical-stage company engaged in the discovery and development of novel pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products. Philogen's strategy is to deliver bioactive agents, for example cytokines or drugs, to the site of disease using antibodies and other ligands that specifically and efficiently target stromal antigens. This technology has generated a strong proprietary pipeline of clinical-stage products and pre-clinical compounds in an array of disease indications. Philogen is headquartered in Siena, Italy, and has research activities at its subsidiary company Philochem in Zurich, Switzerland. Philogen is independently owned, and has signed agreements with several major pharmaceutical companies. For more information please visit www.philogen.com and www.philochem.com .

SOURCE Philogen S.p.A.

Related Links

http://www.philogen.com


AMSTERDAM and DALLAS, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and the American Heart Association , the world's leading voluntary health organization devoted to a world of longer, healthier lives, today announced a collaboration to increase sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survival rates in densely populated cities around the world. The Connected Pulse program leverages a unique end-to-end solution combining education programs to increase awareness of CPR , the use of publicly-available AEDs (Automated External Defibrillator), and new technologies to strengthen the 'chain of survival' from the moment an incident occurs to the patient reaching the hospital.

Related Documents View PDF Philips and the American Heart Association join together to increase global survival rates of sudden cardiac arrest. The Connected Pulse Program combines education, training and technology for an integrated customized solution around the world. This collaboration aims to increase awareness of CPR, the use of AEDs, and new technologies to strengthen sudden cardiac arrest survival outside the hospital.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of global mortality, accounting for almost 17 million deaths annually  31 percent of all deaths [1]. It is estimated that 70 to 80 percent of SCAs happen outside the hospital [2]. For every minute that passes without CPR and defibrillation, a SCA victim's chance of survival decreases by seven to 10 percent [3]. These cardiac arrests can happen anywhere, at any time. With bystander intervention and treatment with an AED, the survival triples to 31.4 percent [4].

"Philips is dedicated to providing integrated cardiology solutions with a focus on prevention, diagnosis and treatment," said Frans van Houten, CEO, Royal Philips and member of the American Heart Association CEO Roundtable , a leadership collaborative of 40-plus members who collectively represent more than 10 million employees and their family members to tackle the biggest workforce health challenges. "By joining with the American Heart Association to offer a large-scale, integrated suite of services and expertise, we have the opportunity to make a significant positive impact on the chances of survival from sudden cardiac arrests that occur outside of the hospital, especially in major cities with huge populations."

"This alliance marks the first time two major global organizations have come together to offer a worldwide, scalable solution to increase out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest survival rates," said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association. "When we educate everyone about the life-saving skill of CPR and make AEDs readily available, we increase the chance of survival for all people. Together with Philips, we've combined trusted science and innovative health technology to create a positive health impact in all communities around the world."

Connected Pulse: strengthening the chain of survival for sudden cardiac arrest

By leveraging technology to better connect victims and rescuers  both professional and lay responders  the Connected Pulse program helps optimize improved outcomes within the four critical steps of the chain of survival: 1) alerting emergency medical services; 2) giving CPR to the patient; 3) delivering treatment using an AED; and 4) advanced critical life support, provided by the emergency medical services. Training and awareness programs increase the likelihood of a lay responder being on-hand to provide CPR and treatment using an AED. In addition to the AEDs themselves, technology applications including mapping AEDs and automated alerting of nearby lay responders have the potential to significantly strengthen the chain of survival and increase survival rates.

Components of the customized end-to-end solution from Philips and the American Heart Association will include:

GPS positioning  identifies the nearest available AED and a CPR certified person in close proximity to help assist.

 identifies the nearest available AED and a CPR certified person in close proximity to help assist. Command center application  software intelligently guides dispatch operators to coordinate care delivery to the patient during an SCA event.

 software intelligently guides dispatch operators to coordinate care delivery to the patient during an SCA event. Integration and analytics engine  using industries standards, the solution will provide data driven decision making to enable smooth data transfer across systems.

 using industries standards, the solution will provide data driven decision making to enable smooth data transfer across systems. Telephone CPR training  dispatch operators give hands-only CPR instructions over the phone until the emergency responders arrive. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients who receive Telephone CPR are 64 percent more likely to survive to discharge than OHCA patients who do not receive CPR [5].

 dispatch operators give hands-only CPR instructions over the phone until the emergency responders arrive. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients who receive Telephone CPR are 64 percent more likely to survive to discharge than OHCA patients who do not receive CPR [5]. Updated EMS Training  ensures first responders receive competency-based training on CPR and assess gaps to identify where better training is needed.

 ensures first responders receive competency-based training on CPR and assess gaps to identify where better training is needed. Training Kiosks  interactive touch screens offer a 30-second CPR test, currently available in 32 high traffic areas in the U.S. including airports. More than 160,000 people have been trained on the kiosks.

 interactive touch screens offer a 30-second CPR test, currently available in 32 high traffic areas in the U.S. including airports. More than 160,000 people have been trained on the kiosks. CPR in Schools Training kit  easy to use kit contains content to train 10 to 20 students at a time.

 easy to use kit contains content to train 10 to 20 students at a time. AHA Training centers  currently available in 80 countries across the world, including China , Brazil , Japan , Mexico , United Arab Emirates , Italy and India .

 currently available in 80 countries across the world, including , , , , , and . Public Education Training Campaign  drives awareness of symptoms of cardiac arrest and helps promote bystander education.

 drives awareness of symptoms of cardiac arrest and helps promote bystander education. In hospital CPR quality improvement through RQI (Resuscitation Quality Improvement) program  low-dose, high-frequency quarterly skills sessions improve CPR competency and are setting a new standard of resuscitation and patient care currently at more than 400 hospitals and for over 300,000 healthcare professionals in the U.S.

 low-dose, high-frequency quarterly skills sessions improve CPR competency and are setting a new standard of resuscitation and patient care currently at more than 400 hospitals and for over 300,000 healthcare professionals in the U.S. Heartsaver Hero Award program  recognizing anyone who has been part of the chain of survival in any way with a Heartsaver Hero Award within the community.

 recognizing anyone who has been part of the chain of survival in any way with a Heartsaver Hero Award within the community. Consultancy, design and delivery  With its vast experience in health care transformation programs, the American Heart Association and Philips will consult, co-create, design and manage the implementation of the program as a turnkey solution to meet the needs of specific communities.

Philips and the AHA expect to announce the first pilot cities participating in the program in 2019. To learn more about the Connected Pulse program, visit www.connectedpulse.org .

[1] World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)

[2] Cardiac Arrest vs Heart Attack, American Heart Association, September 16, 2016

[3] AHA Releases 2015 Heart and Stroke Statistics, Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, September 16, 2016

[4] Response to Cardiac Arrest and Selected Life-Threatening Medical Emergencies, Mary Fran Hazinski; et al, American Heart Association, September 16, 2016

[5] https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(17)30297-6/pdf

For further information, please contact:

Kathy O'Reilly

Philips Group Press Office

Tel.: +1 978-221-8919

E-mail: [email protected]

Tracie Bertaut, APR

American Heart Association

Tel/WeChat/WhatsApp: +1 504-722-1695

E-mail: [email protected]

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2017 sales of EUR 17.8 billion and employs approximately 77,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at http://www.philips.com/newscenter .

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a leading force for a world of longer, healthier lives. With nearly a century of lifesaving work, the Dallas-based association is dedicated to ensuring equitable health for all. We are a trustworthy source empowering people to improve their heart health, brain health and well-being. We collaborate with numerous organizations and millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, advocate for stronger public health policies, and share lifesaving resources and information. Connect with us on heart.org , Facebook , Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

SOURCE Royal Philips

Related Links

http://www.philips.com


EDISON, N.J., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's largest health network, today announced the formation of a Maternal Health Task Force, a blue-ribbon panel of internal and external experts, dedicated to improving maternal health outcomes.

"At Hackensack Meridian Health, we always put our patients first, aim to provide the highest quality care and deliver the best patient experience," said Robert C. Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. "New Jersey has the fifth highest maternal death rate in the country, which is unacceptable. Our mothers deserve better. As New Jersey's largest health network, Hackensack Meridian Health is dedicated to changing that outcome in New Jersey. Our newly formed Maternal Health Task Force will help address maternal health issues."

The Maternal Health Task Force will build upon Hackensack Meridian Health's work to improve maternal health and raise awareness in the communities it serves, as well as foster collaboration with other health providers and legislators across the state. The task force will ensure that the health network's goals for success are aligned among clinician team members, hospital leaders and network executives. Members are leading maternal health experts from across New Jersey including:

Former First Lady Mary Jo Codey , Co-chair

Co-chair Kathy Ellis , Co-chair and Hackensack Meridian Health Board Trustee

Co-chair and Hackensack Meridian Board Trustee Manuel Alvarez , M.D., Chair OB/GYN, Hackensack University Medical Center

Chair OB/GYN, Hackensack University Medical Center Carol Barsky , M.D., Hackensack Meridian Health Executive Vice President, Chief Quality Officer

Hackensack Meridian Executive Vice President, Chief Quality Officer Michael Kleiman , D.M.D., Hackensack Meridian Health Board Trustee

Hackensack Meridian Board Trustee Andrew Rubenstein , M.D., Section Chief of Labor & Delivery, Hackensack University Medical Center

Section Chief of Labor & Delivery, Hackensack University Medical Center Andria Schneiderman , Hackensack Meridian Health Hospital Corporate Board Trustee

Every day, two women on average die in the United States following childbirth and an additional 1,000 women are affected every week by severe complications during delivery. The Maternal Health Task Force will oversee all of network's efforts to improve maternal health. Hackensack Meridian Health is declaring, along with New Jersey's First Lady Tammy Murphy, that these outcomes are unacceptable. Hackensack Meridian Health will work tirelessly to make New Jersey the safest state in the nation to have a baby.

"New Jersey is one of the best states in the nation to live in and is often on the forefront of national issues. That is why it is imperative that we improve maternal health in our great state," said Maternal Health Task Force Co-Chair and former First Lady Mary Jo Codey. "I am proud to serve as co-chair on Hackensack Meridian Health's Maternal Health Task Force to address this important issue, and I look forward to working with leading experts across the state to see how New Jersey can be a national leader on improving maternal health."

"As New Jersey marks the second annual Maternal Health Awareness Day, Hackensack Meridian Health has made a commitment to providing the best care for our patients and mothers," said Maternal Health Task Force Co-Chair Kathy Ellis, Hackensack Meridian Health board trustee. "The Maternal Health Task Force will examine best practices and find solutions to improve maternal outcomes across the communities we serve."

The announcement of the task force was made on January 23, the State of New Jersey's second observance of Maternal Health Awareness Day  the first state in the nation to designate a day focused on maternal health. "I want to thank Governor Phil Murphy, First Lady Tammy Murphy and Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal's leadership for shining a light on this critical issue to better understand what we can do as a community to raise awareness about maternal health and safety," said Garrett.

"Hackensack Meridian Health is committed to ongoing collaboration with First Lady Tammy Murphy of New Jersey and the Department of Health," said Maternal Health Task Force member Carol Barsky, M.D., Hackensack Meridian Health executive vice president, chief quality officer. "It is an honor to improve maternal health care, to eliminate disparities. We are committed to reducing maternal mortality, maternal complications and racial disparity in material health outcomes."

At least half of maternal deaths are preventable. Hackensack Meridian Health is on the forefront of addressing maternal health:

After a review of C-section rates and adopting a multidisciplinary approach, the network successfully decreased the number of C-sections since 2016. In one year, Hackensack University Medical Center reduced its C-section rate by eight percent and is committed to reaching the Healthy People 2020 goal this year

Hackensack Meridian Health is working with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to engage the nation's leading experts in maternal health and labor.

is working with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to engage the nation's leading experts in maternal health and labor. Hackensack Meridian Health is working with the New Jersey Perinatal Collaborative and participated in the first annual 2018 Maternal Health & Perinatal Safety Symposium

is working with the New Jersey Perinatal Collaborative and participated in the first annual 2018 Maternal Health & Perinatal Safety Symposium Hackensack Meridian Health hosted a free New Jersey's Maternal Health Awareness Day community event at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The event was dedicated to advancing maternal health and safety to physicians, nurses, lactation consultants, and doulas, among other community health care workers, who work with pregnant and post-partum women

Hackensack Meridian Health is deeply committed to saving lives in New Jersey. Every Woman. Every Hospital. Every Time.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers  Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children's hospitals - Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals - Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood; and two rehabilitation hospitals - JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick; and a behavioral health hospital, Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has 33,000 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network's notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and Top 150 Places to Work in Healthcare/2018 by Becker's Healthcare.

Hackensack Meridian Health partnered with Seton Hall University to launch the only private medical school in New Jersey  Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org

SOURCE Hackensack Meridian Health
CENTER VALLEY, Pa., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Olympus Corporation of the Americas (OCA) announced today a new partnership with Bentley University's Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business (CWB) to address issues affecting workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I) and to identify actionable solutions. As a member of the CWB Executive Working Group, Olympus will engage with topical experts and practitioners to explore policies, processes, and programs that drive real change.

"Our participation in the CWB reflects Olympus' continued commitment to developing a more diverse workforce and fostering a climate of inclusion," said Nacho Abia, President and CEO, Olympus Corporation of the Americas. "Benchmarking with other CWB partner companies will help further these important goals."

Olympus has aligned its organizational mission, core values, goals, practices and objectives to support growth and development in D&I. Enhancements to the company's benefits portfolio demonstrate this commitment. The Dave Thomas Foundation named Olympus among the 100 Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces in the U.S. in recognition of Olympus' adoption credit and improved parental leave benefits. Establishing employee-led affinity groups, called Colleague Affinity Networks (CAN), has allowed employees the time and space they need to foster communities that support a diverse, inclusive workplace. Moreover, through the CANs, employees have been able to inform human resource policies.

"Research clearly shows that organizations with greater diversity of all kinds are more innovative and more profitable," said CWB Executive Director Deb Pine. "We are excited to work with Olympus and other forward-looking companies to build a broad understanding of the critical issues limiting progress and the inclusive best practices advancing change."

"Olympus understands the business imperative for diversity," said Kelly Pettis, Manager for Diversity and Inclusion at Olympus Corporation of the Americas. "Our new partnership with the CWB demonstrates Olympus' ongoing commitment to building a more inclusive organization."

The tools and training provided by the CWB include curated research reports that synthesize current literature, practical research, and solutions, roundtable and panel discussions focused on timely issues, and custom programs addressing the unique D&I goals of the organization. By considering topics such as intersectionality, allyship, the corporate talent pipeline, mentorship/sponsorship, and workplace flex, the partnership will help drive changes that improve diversity and foster a culture of inclusion.

About Olympus

Olympus is a global technology leader, crafting innovative optic and digital solutions in medical technologies; life sciences; industrial solutions; and cameras and audio products. Our solutions enable specialists to look inside the human body, further scientific research, ensure public safety and capture images of the world. Throughout our 100-year history, Olympus has focused on being true to society and making people's lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling every day.

Olympus Corporation of the Americas (OCA)a wholly owned subsidiary of Olympus Corporation in Tokyo, Japanis headquartered in Center Valley, Pennsylvania and employs more than 5,100 employees throughout locations in North and South America. For more information, visit www.olympusamerica.com.

OLYMPUS...TRUE TO YOU. TRUE TO SOCIETY. TRUE TO LIFE.

SOURCE Olympus Corporation of the Americas

Related Links

http://www.olympusamerica.com


OKEx OTC trading allows users to place orders with self-selected exchange rate and payment methods to buy or sell Virtual Financial Assets with fiat currencies, which benefits them by offering a low-volatility market and zero transaction fee. Instead of the listing of the new currencies, Thai Baht (THB) and British Pound (GBP), OKEx OTC trading platform has already been facilitating global digital assets trading with the Vietnamese Dong (VND) and Chinese Renminbi (CNY) fiat-to-cryptocurrency markets, and more currencies are expected to come in at a later time this year. The Thai Baht (THB) and British Pound (GBP) OTC trading markets currently support BTC, USDT, ETH, and LTC.

"Our mission is simple at OKEx. We aim to offer flexibility and convenience to our traders. Thailand and the UK own the fastest growing crypto communities in the world. We see great potential in these two markets and want to support the needs there. Because of the increasing trading volume and number of traders in these two countries, we decided to launch the new THB and GBP trading services on our OTC trading platform. Wherever the market potential locates, we will expand to there. In 2019, you can expect more currencies will be supported on OKEx," said Andy Cheung, OKEx's Head of Operations.

OKEx OTC Network Launch Events and Promotions

To celebrate the launch, OKEx has come up with new incentives to encourage new sign-up for merchants and customers in Thailand and the UK. From January 23 to 27, newly registered customers can earn up to 50 USDT for making a minimum deposit of 100 USDT (or equivalent) and complete their first OTC transaction on OKEx, while the top 70 merchants with the most transaction volume will be rewarded 30 USDT (1 time per day).

In addition, the OKEx OTC Network Launch events will be hosted in Bangkok, Thailand on February 13, 2019 and London, UK in March respectively.

For more details, please refer to OKEx Twitter.



Risk Warning: Trading digital assets involves significant risk and can result in the loss of invested capital. Users should ensure that they fully understand the risk involved and take into consideration their level of experience, investment objectives and seek independent financial advice if necessary.

About OKEx

OKEx is a world-leading digital asset exchange headquartered in Malta, offering comprehensive digital assets trading services including token trading, futures trading, perpetual swap trading and index tracker to global traders with blockchain technology. Currently, the exchange offers over 400 token and futures trading pairs enabling users to optimize their strategies. The platform provides a safe, reliable, and stable environment for digital asset trading, serving millions of customers from over 200 countries and regions.

SOURCE OKEx

Related Links

https://www.okex.com


OSLO, Norway, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NEXT Biometrics (Oslo Bors: NEXT), a global leader in fingerprint sensor technology, today announced that it will start sampling its dual interface smart card solution (One Touch Flex CL) early in the second quarter of 2019. The solution enables NEXT's unique technology to be used with contact and contactless smart cards, including payment cards.

NEXT One Touch Flex combines the high security and accuracy levels of the Company`s flexible, large area fingerprint sensors with the ease and convenience of dual interface smart cards. The biometric card module is capable of performing one touch fingerprint enrollment and verification operations on a dual interface smart card by solely harvesting power from a standard ISO/IEC 14443* NFC reader.

"This is a key milestone in our Company strategy and we are excited to be part of the development of these next generation dual interface smart cards," said Ritu Favre, CEO of NEXT Biometrics. "We are convinced that card issuers and their customers will greatly benefit from the smooth and reliable fingerprint enrollment and verification that our technology offers."

Independent research in several countries shows that consumers are willing to abandon PIN codes and passwords in favor of more convenient yet safer fingerprint authentication for smart card transactions. Adoption of biometric smart card technology is projected to gain a foothold in the market from 2020 onwards. Market size for biometric smart cards is expected to reach up to USD 800 million in 2022 with payment cards accounting for some 60 percent, Government ID for some 25 to 30 percent and transportation and access control applications for some 5 to 10 percent of total market volume.

Based on NEXT`s unique fingerprint sensor technology, enhanced user experience and excellent cost-sensor size-ratio, the Company is ideally positioned to gain a significant position in this sector. The NEXT One Touch Flex biometric dual interface smart card subsystem has been specifically designed to meet the card industry`s requirements for ISO compliance, interoperability, and durability. It integrates with state-of-the-art smart card chip and operating system technologies and is suited for standard card manufacturing technologies.

*ISO/IEC 14443 is an international standard that defines contactless smart card interface and transmission protocols

NEXT Media contact:

Tanja Moehler, [email protected]

NEXT Investor contact:

Knut Stalen, [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/next-biometrics/r/next-biometrics-to-start-sampling-dual-interface-smart-card-solution,c2723763

SOURCE NEXT Biometrics
Annual report by Clarivate Analytics identifying Top 100 Global Innovators shows the continuous trend of Asia solidifying its stronghold as the global innovation hub

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia has widened its lead in global innovation according to the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 report published today by Clarivate Analytics, the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate discovery. Utilizing proprietary Derwent patent data, tools and technology, this annual report identifies and celebrates the world's most innovative organizations who successfully develop valuable patented inventions that also have strong commercialization potential based on originality, market reach, and opportunities for spin-off inventions.

Now in its eighth year, Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators utilizes editorially enhanced, authoritative and accurate patent data from Derwent World Patents Index (DWPI) and Derwent Patent Citations Index (DPC I) to track innovation based on four indicators:

Volume: The organization must have had at least 100 inventions protected by a granted patent in the past five years. Success: There must be a high ratio of success in obtaining patent grants. Globalization: The organization must maintain globalization or international breadth of patent filings across Europe , China , Japan , and the U.S. Impacts: The organization's innovations must have an impact by being highly cited externally by other organizations.

"By focusing on developing high-quality innovation and cutting-edge technologies, the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators are leading the way in creating compelling solutions to both current and future challenges. They understand that intellectual property is the bridge connecting innovation to economic growth and we are proud to acknowledge their contributions to enriching our future," said Dan Videtto, President, Derwent at Clarivate Analytics.

Following last year's trend, the epicenter of global innovation continues to shift from west to east. Asia leads the Top 100 list with 48 companies, while the United States follows with 33 companies and Europe with 19. This year's report also features seven companies appearing for the first time: BYD, Cisco, JFE Steel, Kaspersky Lab, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Quanta Computer, and Xiaomi.

The analysis determined three key trends among this year's Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators:

Continued focus on high impact innovation:

The nature of innovation has shifted to focus on higher quality inventions with wider potential markets and greater potential to be leveraged for future development. Inventions that have multiple granted patents and have been highly cited by later published inventions fall into this category.





The nature of innovation has shifted to focus on higher quality inventions with wider potential markets and greater potential to be leveraged for future development. Inventions that have multiple granted patents and have been highly cited by later published inventions fall into this category. China continues to pick up momentum:

Mainland China's drive to transform its economy from manufacturing to knowledge-based has increased the number of Chinese companies appearing on the Top 100 Global list.





Mainland drive to transform its economy from manufacturing to knowledge-based has increased the number of Chinese companies appearing on the Top 100 Global list. Hot technology:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Fifth generation (5G) mobile telecommunications are two rapidly growing sectors. Thirty-one companies identified in this year's Top 100 Global Innovators list have AI inventions as a major part of their portfolios and innovations from the Top 100 hi-technology sectors in 5G have climbed to over 900 patent families in 2018.

Bob Stembridge, Patent Analyst at Clarivate Analytics and report contributor, said, "Tracking patent activity gives a detailed picture of an organization's commitment to innovation through analyzing its inventions with potential for commercialization. This year's findings show that leading organizations continue to differentiate themselves through a laser-focus on high-value and high-impact innovation and a full embrace of emerging technologies."



Industry Sector and Regional Snapshot:



The Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 are from three continents and 12 countries/regions namely, Japan, the U.S., France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, and Switzerland have been represented on the list since the report was first published in 2011. These regions are joined by Taiwan for the sixth consecutive year, Mainland China for the fourth time and Finland for the third year. Russia joined the list for the first time this year with the inclusion of the software company, Kaspersky Lab.



Representation among the different industry sectors is remarkably stable this year. The Hardware & Electronics industries lead the way with 35 organizations  just one more than last year. Other notable changes in industry representation include the number of Aerospace & Defense organizations doubling from 3 to 6 and minor decreases in the number of Chemicals & Cosmetics, Pharmaceuticals and Oil, Gas & Energy representatives.



Additional findings and the full list of the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 can be found here: www.clarivate.com/top100innovators



About Derwent

Derwent powers the innovation lifecycle from idea to commercialization  with trusted patent data, applications and services including Derwent Innovation, Derwent World Patent Index, Derwent Patent Citation Index and Derwent Data Analyzer. We build solutions for inventors, patent attorneys and licensing specialists at start-ups and the largest global innovators, legal professionals at the leading intellectual property practices, and patent examiners at more than 40 patent offices. Our solutions are used to monitor technology trends and competitive landscapes, inform FTO opinions, prosecute patents, monetize and license assets and support litigation activities.



About Clarivate Analytics

Clarivate Analytics is the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate the pace of innovation. Building on a heritage going back more than a century and a half, we have built some of the most trusted brands across the innovation lifecycle, including the Web of Science, Cortellis, Derwent, CompuMark, MarkMonitor and Techstreet. Today, Clarivate Analytics is a new and independent company on a bold entrepreneurial mission, to help our clients radically reduce the time from new ideas to life-changing innovations. For more information, please visit clarivate.com.



Media Contacts:

Jessica Stanek  North America

[email protected]

Sofia Nogues  Europe

[email protected]

Zhihong (Jack) Wan  Asia-Pacific

[email protected]

SOURCE Clarivate

Related Links

http://clarivate.com


CHICAGO, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading automotive digital solutions provider Cars.com (NYSE: CARS) announced today the launch of a suite of digital retailing tools that gets car shoppers one step away from purchase, so they can show up at a dealership and sign on the dotted line with speed and efficiency. Why should dealers care? The new tools can generate higher quality and quantity leads from Cars.com, more qualified leads from dealer websites and a more robust funnel of ready-to-buy consumers (up to 4 times more) from social media.1 In addition, these car buyers are more likely to make a purchase in under 60 daysa higher conversion rate means more sales.2 The new solutions, in addition to the company's fastest-selling social selling products and innovative reputation management tools, will be showcased at the 2019 National Automobile Dealer Association Show (NADA) January 25-27 in San Francisco.

"Our goal is to equip our dealer partners with emerging technology and insights tools that ultimately help grow their business. The integration between Cars.com, Dealer Inspire and DealerRater delivers unprecedented value for dealers. It is an unbeatable combination in our industry," said Alex Vetter, chief executive officer of Cars.com. "Today's car shoppers want to shop on their terms. More and more want to complete as much of the purchase as they can online, before they ever step foot into a dealership. Our suite of digital retail solutions is designed to give shoppers the flexibility they want, while streamlining the process for our dealer partners with improved understanding of who their customers are, and what matters to them."

As Cars.com continues expanding beyond listings to a full-service digital solutions provider, its portfolio of companies and technology has rapidly expanded this year to help dealers get ahead of three trends dominating the auto industry:

Digital Retailing: As an increasing number of consumers want to complete more of the purchase process online, Cars.com and Dealer Inspire will debut for the first time at NADA 2019 a suite of digital retailing solutions that offer an option for every type of dealer. "Online Shopper on Cars.com" provides consumers with advanced payment options, resulting in higher intent, higher quality and faster-to-close leads for dealers. Early testing revealed that when a consumer engages with the product, dealers receive trade-in details, estimated credit score, average miles driven per year, desired payment range and more 60 percent of the time. 3 In addition to Dealer Inspire's original end-to-end digital retailing solution, "Online Shopper: Redline  ," which can seamlessly integrate into virtually any website provider in 24 hours, on average. After turning on Online Shopper Redline, dealers report seeing up to two to three times more qualified leads, on average, to dealer websites. 4 The company will also unveil at NADA 2019 its new " Online Shopper: Electric." The enhanced solution easily plugs into a dealer's website and showroom, allowing shoppers to save, customize and compare multiple deals. A new "Garage" feature allows car buyers to customize and compare deals across multiple vehicles and check out in three easy steps from anywhere.

As an increasing number of consumers want to complete more of the purchase process online, Cars.com and Dealer Inspire will debut for the first time at NADA 2019 a suite of digital retailing solutions that offer an option for every type of dealer. provides consumers with advanced payment options, resulting in higher intent, higher quality and faster-to-close leads for dealers. Early testing revealed that when a consumer engages with the product, dealers receive trade-in details, estimated credit score, average miles driven per year, desired payment range and more 60 percent of the time. In addition to Dealer Inspire's original end-to-end digital retailing solution,  which can seamlessly integrate into virtually any website provider in 24 hours, on average. After turning on Online Shopper Redline, dealers report seeing up to two to three times more qualified leads, on average, to dealer websites. The company will also unveil at NADA 2019 its new The enhanced solution easily plugs into a dealer's website and showroom, allowing shoppers to save, customize and compare multiple deals. A new "Garage" feature allows car buyers to customize and compare deals across multiple vehicles and check out in three easy steps from anywhere. Social Selling: As social selling becomes increasingly important for the auto category, Cars.com will reveal at NADA 2019 an enhanced version of Cars Social , its social selling solution that serves native ads displaying real-time inventory to Cars.com's 80 percent unique, unduplicated audience on Facebook and Instagram. 5 The updated solution gives dealers access to car shoppers on social media and delivers 4x more qualified leads. 6 With growing popularity of Cars.com's Social Sales Drive solution, the company is now the No. 1 provider of listings on Facebook Marketplace, helping to connect dealers with social car shoppers. Since its national launch in August 2018 , Social Sales Drive has driven more than 218,000 conversations between buyers and sellers and delivers a nearly 40 percent chat to lead conversion rate. 7

As social selling becomes increasingly important for the auto category, Cars.com will reveal at NADA 2019 an enhanced version of , its social selling solution that serves native ads displaying real-time inventory to Cars.com's 80 percent unique, unduplicated audience on Facebook and Instagram. The updated solution gives dealers access to car shoppers on social media and delivers 4x more qualified leads. With growing popularity of Cars.com's solution, the company is now the No. 1 provider of listings on Facebook Marketplace, helping to connect dealers with social car shoppers. Since its national launch in , Social Sales Drive has driven more than 218,000 conversations between buyers and sellers and delivers a nearly 40 percent chat to lead conversion rate. Reputation Management: Cars.com and DealerRater together make up the largest, most trusted review platform in the industry with 6 million consumer reviews. Salesperson Connect, a DealerRater solution on Cars.com that connects shoppers directly with salespeople and allows dealership employees to create profiles and collect reviews, results in an average 89 percent higher closing rate and leads that close 15 percent faster.8 Salesperson Connect will be integrated into Online Shopper on Cars.com in the coming months to deliver even more value to dealers and shoppers. Dealers can integrate the solution onto their own websites with DealerRater Connections, available in booth at NADA 2019.

To learn more about Cars.com's integrated solutions, visit GrowWithCars.com or visit the Cars.com/Dealer Inspire/DealerRater booth #2311S in the South Hall of the Moscone Center at the 2019 NADA Show in San Francisco from January 25-27.

ABOUT CARS.COM

Cars.com is a leading two-sided digital solutions automotive marketplace that creates meaningful connections between buyers and sellers. Launched in 1998 and headquartered in Chicago, the company empowers consumers with resources and information to make informed buying decisions and enables advertising partners with innovative digital solutions and data-driven intelligence to increase inventory turn and gain market share. A pioneer in online automotive classifieds, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting thousands of local dealers across the country with millions of consumers. In 2018, Cars.com acquired Dealer Inspire, an innovative technology company building solutions that future-proof dealerships with more efficient operations, a faster and easier car buying process, and connected digital experiences that sell and service more vehicles.

Cars.com properties include DealerRater, Dealer Inspire, Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com and NewCars.com. For more information, visit www.Cars.com.

1Cars.com testing metrics, December 2018

2Based on Q4 2018 internal Cars.com data

3Cars.com testing metrics from two pre-post analysis tests and one a/b test, November 28, 2018  January 8, 2019

4Based on 2018 Dealer Inspire internal data from a test group of dealers 90 days after a dealer is turned on to the Online Shopper: Redline product vs. the 90 days prior.

5Cars.com internal testing November 2017-December 2017

6Cars.com testing metrics, December 2018

7Cars.com internal data, September 2018

8Pilot metrics from 39 DealerRater customers July 12-December 31, 2017

SOURCE Cars.com

Related Links

http://www.cars.com


WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Many Realtors, members of the National Association of Realtors, go beyond helping consumers buy and sell homes by giving back to their communities through volunteer work. In fact, according to NAR's Community Aid and Real Estate report, nearly 70 percent of Realtors volunteer in their community each month. To recognize that commitment by Realtors across the country, NAR is currently accepting applications for the Good Neighbor Awards from Realtors who have made an extraordinary impact through volunteer service.

"This year, we celebrate the twentieth year of the Good Neighbor Awards," said NAR President John Smaby, a second-generation REALTOR from Edina, Minnesota and broker at Edina Realty. "We are incredibly proud of the good work of nearly 200 Good Neighbor Award recipients in the U.S. and across the globe through their dedicated volunteer service since this program launched in 2000."

Ten finalists will be announced in September and the public will have a chance to vote for their Web Choice Favorite. Judges will select five winners who will be announced in the November/December issue of REALTOR Magazine and will receive a $10,000 grant for their nonprofit organizations. The winners will be recognized at the 2019 REALTORS Conference & Expo in San Francisco, receive travel expenses to the conference, and also gain considerable national and local media exposure for their cause. In addition to the winners, five honorable mentions will each receive a $2,500 grant.

Since 2000, the Good Neighbor Awards has donated more than $1.2 million to Realtor-led nonprofits. The Good Neighbor Awards is supported by primary sponsor realtor.com and Wells Fargo Home Lending.

"We are proud to renew our commitment to the Good Neighbor Awards, particularly in the 20th year of the program," said Ryan O'Hara, CEO of realtor.com, the Good Neighbor Awards' primary sponsor, and the sponsor of the Web Choice Favorite, which gives additional grant money to the three finalists who get the most votes from the public.

"At realtor.com, home is everything, and community is a big part of that. We support this awards program because we think it's important to shine a spotlight on the industry's commitment to communities and the Realtors who take that commitment to the next level."

Last year's Good Neighbor Award winners contributed thousands of hours to their causes and raised millions of dollars. They drew a standing ovation from more than 5,000 Realtors and guests during the annual conference in Boston.

The 2018 winners were Omayra Borges, Reality Realty, San Juan, Puerto Rico, cofounder of Fundacion Mochileando 100x35; Chet Choman, Colorado Realty and Land Co., Alamosa, Colorado., cofounder of La Puente Home; Jeremy Lichtenstein, RE/MAX Realty Services, Bethesda, Maryland., founder of Kids In Need Distributors (KIND); Joy Nelson, Haugan Nelson Realty, Watertown, South Dakota, founder of Joy Ranch; and Elias Thomas, III, EXIT Key Real Estate, Shapleigh, Maine, leader of a Rotary International project to build dams in rural India.

2018 Good Neighbor Award winner Joy Nelson says that her charity continues to benefit from the media exposure that resulted from winning the Good Neighbor Award.

"The incredible exposure the Joy Ranch received through the Good Neighbor Awards Program has brought people all over the nation to inquire more about the ranch," says Nelson. "People now understand all the quality of life issues that we address and it motivates me to work harder to help even more."

Nominees are selected based on their personal impact on the community through volunteer work. To be eligible, nominees must be NAR members in good standing. Good Neighbor Award entries must be received by Friday, May 10, 2019. For more details, judging criteria and a nomination form, call 800-874-6500 or visit nar.realtor/gna.

realtor.com, the Home of Home Search, offers an extensive inventory of for-sale and rental listings, and access to information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. It pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today is the trusted resource for home buyers, sellers and dreamers by making all things home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com is operated by News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS. For more information, visit realtor.com.

Wells Fargo Home Lending is one of the nation's leading originators and the leading servicer of residential mortgages, offering home loans to consumers through the country's largest network of mortgage locations and bank branches, online, and via phone. With more than 4,400 Home Mortgage Consultants across the country, expanded digital capabilities, and products and programs for today's market, Wells Fargo is committed to meeting Realtor expectations and homebuyer needs. Focused on a culture of caring for communities, Wells Fargo is a proud sponsor of both the Good Neighbor Awards and Volunteering Works, both of which recognize the extraordinary contributions made by Realtors in the communities where we, together, live and serve.

The National Association of Realtors is America's largest trade association, representing over 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Information about NAR is available at www.nar.realtor. This and other news releases are posted in the newsroom in the "About NAR" tab.

SOURCE National Association of Realtors

Related Links

http://www.nar.realtor


LAS VEGAS, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MGM Growth Properties Operating Partnership LP and MGP Finance Co-Issuer, Inc. (together, the "Issuers"), consolidated subsidiaries of MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP) (the "Company"), have priced $750 million in aggregate principal amount of 5.750% senior notes due 2027 (the "notes") at par. The $750 million aggregate principal amount of the notes represented an increase of $250 million from the original offering size of $500 million. The offering is expected to close on January 25, 2019, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Issuers plan to use the net proceeds of the offering (i) to repay revolver draws, which were primarily related to payments for acquisitions completed in 2018 or expected to be completed in early 2019, (ii) for working capital and general corporate purposes, which may include additional acquisitions and (iii) to pay fees and expenses related to the offering.

The notes offered will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to any U.S. persons absent registration under the Securities Act, or pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The notes have been offered only to "qualified institutional buyers" under Rule 144A of the Securities Act or, outside the United States, to persons other than "U.S. persons" in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the notes, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of any notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The Company gives no assurance that the proposed offering can be completed on any terms or at all.

Statements in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking" statements and "safe harbor statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and/or uncertainties, including those described in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. Therefore, we caution you against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements include risks related to the Company's ability to receive, or delays in obtaining, any regulatory approvals required to own its properties, or other delays or impediments to completing the Company's planned acquisitions or projects; the ultimate timing and outcome of any planned acquisitions or projects; the Company's ability to maintain its status as a REIT; the availability of and the ability to identify suitable and attractive acquisition and development opportunities and the ability to acquire and lease those properties on favorable terms; the Company's ability to access capital through debt and equity markets in amounts and at rates and costs acceptable to the Company; changes in the U.S. tax law and other state, federal or local laws, whether or not specific to REITs or to the gaming or lodging industries; and other factors described in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In providing forward-looking statements, the Company is not undertaking any duty or obligation to update these statements publicly as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. If the Company updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those other forward-looking statements.

SOURCE MGM Growth Properties LLC
UE // Concurs de propuneri de proiecte in cadrul Programului de granturi locale al Uniunii Europene (EU) Fii schimbarea: Cetateni implicati - comunitati durabile in regiunea de dezvoltare Centru
SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockaway Storage, owner-operator of 31 self storage facilities in the greater San Antonio area, announced today that the company is waiving all late fees on self storage units and RV storage spaces for government employees during the ongoing government shutdown.

Lockaway Storage has been a proud member of the the San Antonio community for almost 20 years and offers a wide range of self storage and RV storage solutions. In an effort to help support local government employees during this difficult time, the Lockaway Storage team is waving all late fees for customers who present a valid government employee ID.

"Here at Lockaway Storage, our top priorities have always been our customers and our community. We understand how difficult the government shutdown has been on many of the hardworking men and women in the San Antonio area and, in order to help our customers and their families through this trying time, we've decided to waive all late payment fees on storage units and RV storage space for current government employees," Lockaway Storage Vice President Tristina Volesky said.

This announcement by Lockaway Storage is in keeping with their corporate culture of supporting their customers and their community. Throughout the year the team participates in a variety of charitable endeavors, including work with the San Antonio Food Bank that raised more than 50,000 meals for families in the summer of 2018.

For more information about Lockaway Storage's government employee support program or to learn more about Lockaway Storage in San Antonio, please visit www.lockaway-storage.com .

ABOUT LOCKAWAY STORAGE OF SAN ANTONIO:

Lockaway Storage is the premier self storage solution for San Antonio residents. With dozens facilities in San Antonio and the surrounding metro areas, Lockaway Storage is committed to providing the right kind of storage. Lockaway's team of professionally trained self storage managers are ready to handle anything. From climate controlled space, to boat and RV storage, to drive-up storage units, Lockaway has a storage solution for almost any need.

SOURCE Lockaway Storage

Related Links

http://www.lockaway-storage.com


The data contained within the book provides details on population statistics in certain cities as well as key organizations and presses of Canadian and American Jewish communities.

This work hints at the story of what might have happened in Canada had the allies lost World War II. It also demonstrates that the Holocaust was not a purely European event, but rather an operation that was stopped before it reached North America. The book adds a great deal of insights worthy of reflection for Canada about World War II, and is an important tool to fight Holocaust denial.

The bookplate bears a stylized eagle, swastika, and the words "EX LIBRIS ADOLF HITLER" indicating it came from Hitler's personal library.

The acquisition of this book highlights our mandate to acquire material that reflects the published record of Canada as well as to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. It is also a way to let us reflect on what would have happened in Canada had the Second World War ended differently.

Quotes

"It is fundamental for a national institution like Library and Archives Canadaand other memory institutions around the worldto acquire, preserve and make available documents no matter how controversial or contentious they could be. It allows us to educate and to advocate for the most complete historical record possible. The truth of history is woven from many sources, and it is only when history is presented in its entirety that it can support the free exchange of ideas that lies at the heart of a democratic society."

Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada

"This invaluable report offers a documented confirmation of the fears felt so acutely and expressed by so many Canadian Jews during the Second World War: that the Nazis would land on our shores and with them, the annihilation of Jewish life here. While these fears may seem unfounded given the geographic distance of Nazi Europe to Canada, this handbook offering detailed statistics of Jewish populations across North America underlines their nightmarish potential."

Rebecca Margolis, Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program, University of Ottawa, and President, Association for Canadian Jewish Studies

Other interesting facts:

The book is written in German, though many names are in English.

The author of this book, Heinz Kloss , was a noted German linguist whose specializations included German speakers living in the United States .

, was a noted German linguist whose specializations included German speakers living in . Kloss visited the United States in 19361937.

in 19361937. Kloss had contacts amongst Nazi sympathizers in the United States .

. Kloss was responsible for producing official and scholarly information used by the Nazi regime.

Kloss was the head of the Publikationsstelle Stuttgart-Hamburg that dealt with research on nationality issues, particularly in the United States .

. This book was part of a confidential series and was for official use only.

The owner of this book, Adolph Hitler , was a prolific reader and book collector. Although his collection was never inventoried, reports estimate the number of books to have been between 6,000 and 16,000.

, was a prolific reader and book collector. Although his collection was never inventoried, reports estimate the number of books to have been between 6,000 and 16,000. This book was likely brought to the United States as a war souvenir, as thousands were taken by American soldiers from the Nazi leader's alpine retreat outside Berchtesgaden in the spring of 1945.

as a war souvenir, as thousands were taken by American soldiers from the Nazi leader's alpine retreat outside Berchtesgaden in the spring of 1945. We acquired the book from a reputable Judaica dealer who had obtained it as part of a collection owned by a Holocaust survivor.

Other libraries in North America with books once owned by Hitler include the Library of Congress and Brown University Library.

with books once owned by Hitler include the Library of Congress and Library. The book will be preserved in the Jacob M. Lowy Collection where other important items related to Holocaust remembrance reside.

Collection where other important items related to Holocaust remembrance reside. Library and Archives Canada hopes that this book becomes a tool for Holocaust remembrance and for fighting Holocaust denial.

A recent American study suggested that two-thirds of American millennials could not identify what Auschwitz was and that 22% of American millennials have not heard of the Holocaust or were not sure if they had heard of it. These statistics reaffirm the importance of preserving the memory of the Holocaust.

Links

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/events/Pages/2019/Holocaust-Day-Commemoration.aspx



Upcoming event: International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration

The public will have a chance to view this book as part of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration at 395 Wellington Street.

Eli Rubenstein, National Director of the March of the Living Canada, will hold a special lecture reflecting on the Holocaust and how to respond to hatred without losing our humanity.

As seating is limited, registration is required.

DATE:

Sunday, January 27, 2019

TIME:

1:30 to 3:30 pm (Eastern Time)

PLACE:

Library and Archives Canada

Alfred Pellan Room, 2nd Floor

395 Wellington Street

Ottawa, Ontario

About Library and Archives Canada

The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations, and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, thereby contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada. Library and Archives Canada also facilitates co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and serves as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions. Stay connected with Library and Archives Canada on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

SOURCE Library and Archives Canada

Related Links

http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca


INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The nation's largest veterans organization is calling on the American public to do what the Coast Guard routinely does for others: come to the rescue.

"Members of the Coast Guard were last paid on January 1. This is completely outrageous," said American Legion National Commander Brett P. Reistad. "There are many things the American public can do. First, demand Congress immediately pass and the president sign a clean version of the Pay Our Coast Guard Act, HR 367. Second, help The American Legion support Coast Guard families in need by donating to The American Legion Veterans and Children Foundation. The American Legion has already awarded almost $700,000 in nonrepayable grants to junior ranking Coast Guard families in need. There are hundreds of additional requests already in the pipeline which The American Legion is trying to grant, but we have a very limited budget. So any amount that you can give would be most appreciated."

Reistad is also calling on bill collectors to offer flexibility for members of the Coast Guard. "Due dates should be extended until the Coast Guard is paid and interests and late fees should be waived," Reistad said. "We are hoping that the private sector as well as public utility companies all step up."

In a Twitter video, Admiral Karl Schultz, the Coast Guard commandant, acknowledged the gravity of the situation. "Ultimately, I find it unacceptable that Coast Guard men and women have to rely on food pantries and donations to get through day-to-day life as service members," Schultz said.

"As a nonprofit, The American Legion is not capable of funding the entire Coast Guard payroll," Reistad said. "But we are hoping that Americans immediately demand that Congress and the White House pay the Coast Guard. Any donations that people wish to make to the foundation will be especially appreciated at a time like this."

The American Legion has awarded grants to meet the shelter, medical and nutritional needs for the minor children of military personnel since 1925. It is funded by donations made to The American Legion Veterans and Children Foundation, https://www.legion.org/donate.

Media contact: John Raughter, (317) 630-1350/ cell: (317) 441-8847, [email protected]

SOURCE The American Legion

Related Links

http://www.legion.org


"It is a pleasure to welcome Trevor to our Houston office and the firm. Trevor is well-known in Houston as a talented banking lawyer, with a deep commitment to client service and a creative, thoughtful approach to energy finance," said Tim Fenn, Houston Office Managing Partner. "He will bring an informed and fresh perspective to clients, and is well-positioned to serve them now and into the future."

Catherine Ozdogan, Houston-based partner and Local Finance Department Chair, noted: "Clients trust Latham's lawyers to take a practical, business-oriented approach to achieve their objectives, and Trevor's talent for business-focused and creative solutions will complement our team in Houston and across our banking and capital markets practices well. His experience in the energy markets here in Houston will strengthen our finance offerings, particularly as clients seek counsel with a sophisticated understanding of financial transactions and a tailored approach to meet their needs."

"Few organizations possess the global footprint and depth of US banking and capital markets capabilities of Latham & Watkins. I am excited to continue to grow my practice here, and to support clients on their most complex mandates," said Wommack. "With the talented team here in Houston, I am pleased to be able to continue to offer clients innovative solutions tailored to their particular market needs."

Wommack joins Latham from Vinson & Elkins LLP. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003 and earned his JD, with honors, from the University of Texas Law School in 2006.

About Latham & Watkins (lw.com)

Latham & Watkins delivers innovative solutions to complex legal and business challenges around the world. From a global platform, our lawyers advise clients on market-shaping transactions, high-stakes litigation and trials, and sophisticated regulatory matters. Latham is one of the world's largest providers of pro bono services, steadfastly supports initiatives designed to advance diversity within the firm and the legal profession, and is committed to exploring and promoting environmental sustainability.

Notes to Editors

1 Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in France, Italy, Singapore, and the United Kingdom and as affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan. Latham & Watkins operates in South Korea as a Foreign Legal Consultant Office. Latham & Watkins works in cooperation with the Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Contacts

Tim Fenn, Houston Office Managing Partner, +1.713.546.7432

Catherine Ozdogan, Local Finance Department Chair, Houston, +1.713.546.7494

SOURCE Latham & Watkins LLP

Related Links

https://www.lw.com


ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- John Eric | Trevor Moore and Associates (JETMA) have announced that 2018 was full of record-breaking prices and sales for their real estate group. JETMA, founded by John Eric and Trevor Moore in the spring of 2018, emerged as a leader in the Washington metro real estate market within a year of formation. Its sales and referrals business combined was almost $60M with over 115 transactions.

"We had a great year," says John Eric. "I am most proud of the results that we have achieved for our clients. Right now, we are gearing up for the spring sales season, which is always the most active in real estate. We are now in the process of preparing quite a few homes for listing and look forward to continuing our upward trajectory in the market."

Among the noted sales for JETMA were two transactions which resulted in the highest sales prices ever recorded in Lyon Village and in Lyon Park history. Homes at 1801 N. Hartford Street in Lyon Village and 3115 7th Street N in Lyon Park sold for $2.595M and $2.105M, respectively.

"Our reputation throughout the market is growing quite strong," says Trevor Moore. "We are producing great results in terms of sales price and days-on-market. We are also starting to diversify our listings, bringing different types of homes onto the market, such as estates and farmhouses."

JETMA is quickly becoming the leader in breaking records throughout the metropolitan region. The group has many other newsworthy transactions. 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, PH18 sold for $1.040M, which is the highest comp ever in Market Square East for a one-bedroom condominium. The sale of Unit W304, 1600 Clarendon Boulevard in Arlington, Virginia, sold for $1.295M and is a record sale for its square footage in the Wooster Mercer Lofts. And, a single-family home located at 1318 Kurtz Road in McLean sold for $2.395M fetching its full list price in just 4 days.

Angela Casey/JETMA/202-716-2988

John Eric and Trevor Moore joined forces and merged their extremely successful groups at Compass Real Estate to create John Eric | Trevor Moore and Associates. The team combined has over 50 years of experience and sales topping half a billion dollars. They are leaders in the Washington, DC metro real estate market.

Based on market share, Compass is ranked the number one largest independent brokerage in The United States. Compass utilizes a robust network, which connects buyers and sellers throughout America's most dynamic markets. With 140 offices nationwide, covering 20 major markets, Compass is now among the largest luxury brokerages in the country's most vibrant communities.

SOURCE JETMA
NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- HSA administrators, Clarity Benefit Solutions, shares popular employee benefits that are on the rise.

Some employers may find it challenging to find just the right mix of benefits to entice employees to enroll in benefits programs. Fortunately, there are a number of benefits programs that are on the rise that employers should consider offering their employees. Here are several of them.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs are accounts that allow employees to pay for numerous healthcare costs by contributing pre-tax monies through payroll deductions. These costs can include (to pay for expenses such as) co-pays, deductibles, prescription drugs, as well as vision and dental expenses. HSAs follow employees when they change jobs and earn tax-free interest. Plus, unused funds roll over from year to year.

Paid Parental Leave. This employee benefit is definitely more popular than it was years ago. Studies show a 10 percent increase in paid maternity leave in the last two decades. Adoption, fostering and surrogacy options are also on the rise. Progressive employers are adding parental leave benefits for employees, which has resulted in increased employee satisfaction and retention.

Fitness Challenges/Competitions. The past several years have seen an increase in employers offering company-organized fitness challenges and competitions. These promote overall well-being in a positive manner and keep employees engaged in their health. This perk offers incentives to remain healthy.

Standing Desks. The ability to stand while working is one of the fastest rising employee benefits, with recent studies reporting long hours of sitting have been linked to diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and certain cancers. Employees are requesting standing desks in droves, and employers are responding in kind.

Flexible Working Options. There are several flexible working benefits that are promoting work/life balance and increasing employee engagement and productivity. Flex time, telecommuting, and shortened work weeks are popular options.

Dress-down Fridays. More and more employers are implementing casual dress, particularly one day a week on Fridays, with other employers offering a more casual work environment during the summer months. This has proven to be a boon to employee morale over the past several years.

About Clarity Benefit Solutions: Clarity Benefit Solutions provides technology that makes the health insurance plan selection process fast, easy, and straightforward. For over two decades, we have provided clients with industry-leading technology, compliance, and exceptional customer service. Our offering is designed to save time and lower the costs of managing benefits while also promoting employee self-service and automated ACA compliance.

SOURCE Clarity Benefit Solutions

Related Links

https://claritybenefitsolutions.com/rfl-hsa-brokers


SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Gorilla, a leader in clinical interoperability solutions, and Grupo Angeles Servicios de Salud, a 24-hospital system in Mexico, today announced a strategic collaboration to enable clinical interoperability across its network of hospitals and clinics.

As part of this initiative, Grupo Angeles Servicios de Salud will bring together data from multiple disparate IT systems across the organization, including electronic medical record systems, labs, imaging systems, and pharmacies. Providers can view aggregated data at the point of care, while seamlessly and securely sharing medical data with other providers involved in the patient's care plan. In addition, patients will have access to a mobile app that provides full access to their medical information from anywhere they received care in the Grupo Angeles system.

"Clinical networks like this offer a competitive advantage to health systems by empowering patients and providers with the full scope of medical information, reducing gaps in care and improving patient engagement," says Steve Yaskin, co-founder and CEO of Health Gorilla. "We are excited to bring Health Gorilla's platform and point-of-care technology to Grupo Angeles to improve outcomes for millions of patients across Mexico."

"Clinical data interoperability is absolutely essential to building a world class hospital system and offering patient-centered care," said Florentino Bernardo Perez, chief information officer at Grupo Angeles Servicios de Salud. "By establishing our own clinical network, we will become the largest aggregator of personal health data in Mexico."

This announcement follows Health Gorilla's expansion into Latin America through a partnership with the Puerto Rico Primary Care Association Network, which enables seamless data exchange across 20 federally qualified health centers in Puerto Rico.

About Health Gorilla

Founded in 2014, Health Gorilla is a secure interoperability solution that enables the entire health care ecosystem  patients, payers, providers, digital health solutions, and labs  to seamlessly share health data and aggregate each patient's entire clinical history in one place. With enterprise-grade patient identity matching, an unparalleled patient index, and best-in-class security, the Health Gorilla network makes it easy for providers to pull their patient's information from any other clinical records system. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Health Gorilla works with health care organizations around the world, helping them gather the clinical data they need to deliver the best and most appropriate care for their patients. For more information, visit healthgorilla.com or follow us on Twitter @HealthGorilla.

About Grupo Angeles Servicios de Salud

For more information, visit http://www.gass.com.mx/.

SOURCE Health Gorilla

Related Links

https://healthgorilla.com


HOUSTON, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hastings Equity Partners (Hastings), a private equity firm focused on investing in lower, middle-market energy and industrial services businesses, announced today the hiring of two industry experts, Walter Pinto and Daniel Donaldson.

Walter Pinto is a highly accomplished and deeply experienced industry executive, who has spent his entire career in the downstream industry. Pinto recently retired as senior director of global projects, engineering, turnarounds, maintenance and reliability at LyondellBasell after 25 years with the company. LyondellBasell is one of the world's largest polymer, petrochemical and fuel companies with more than $40 billion in annual revenue, plants in 24 countries and products sold in more than 100 countries. Pinto has joined Hastings as a senior advisor.

"Walter Pinto is a perfect fit for Hastings," said Ted Patton, managing director of Hastings. "We are fortunate to have someone with his knowledge, experience and relationships join our firm." In his role as senior advisor, Pinto will provide strategic and diligence advice on companies Hastings chooses to partner with across the downstream and industrial sectors. With the addition of Pinto, Hastings will gain a unique competitive advantage to source and develop investments in growing, high-quality and differentiated product and service companies, generating excellent returns for Hastings investors.

Daniel Donaldson is a distinguished executive with more than 25 years of experience in the industrial services sector. Donaldson spent most of his career serving in several senior management positions at Brock Enterprises, most recently as senior vice president of operations. Donaldson will serve on the executive team of Refractory Construction Services, LLC (RCS). RCS is a leading provider of refractory services to refineries, petrochemical plants, LNG facilities and export terminals across the Gulf Coast.

"Hastings strives to recruit the best talent that the industrial service industry has to offer. Adding an executive like Danny to RCS will accelerate the growth of RCS and position it as a leader in the refractory space," said Patton. Donaldson will work with Chris Lanclos, president and founder of RCS, to expand RCS' reach within the industry.

"The industrial services sector is a key area of focus for Hastings," said Patton. "We are building a strong portfolio of investments in Fund IV, and adding Walter and Danny to our team further solidifies Hastings as the premier private equity firm investing in lower, middle-market energy and industrial services companies. It is an exciting time to be part of Hastings, and we look forward to working closely with Walter and Danny."

About Hastings Equity Partners

Hastings Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused on investing in lower, middle-market energy and industrial service businesses. Hastings' approach is to leverage the extensive operational experience of the firm's managers and investors, many of whom are active or former CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies. In addition, due to the firm's expanding portfolio of oilfield services companies, it is able to share best practices, technology trends and contacts across its platform to ensure that all of its investments benefit. Hastings strives to help its portfolio companies create sustained value for their employees, customers and investment partners.

SOURCE Hastings Equity Partners

Related Links

http://www.hastingsequity.com


DUBLIN, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Capnography Devices Market by Component - Global Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast, 2014-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Global capnography devices market size is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2025, the market is mainly driven by growing prevalence of respiratory diseases, technological advancements, and rising government initiatives.

Based on component, the capnography devices marked is categorized into original equipment manufacturer (OEM) modules and others. OEM modules held the largest share in this market, accounting for 44.6% in 2017. The largest share is attributed to its ability of making etCO2 or CO2 monitoring simple and accurate, even in the smallest and most portable monitors.

On the basis of product, the capnography devices market is categorized into hand-held, stand-alone and multi-parameter. During the forecast period, the market is expected to witness highest growth for multi-parameter capnographs, with a CAGR of 19.5%. Multi-parameter capnographs can be integrated into the surgery patient, monitoring routine easily, and some devices can be used as pulse oximeters as well.



Based on technology, the market is categorized into side stream, main stream, and micro stream. Side stream technology is expected to continue holding the largest share in the capnography devices market in the coming years. It accounted for 53.7% share in this market in 2017. This is mainly due to the fact that, this technology is more comfortable for the patients, because the thin tubing that is connected with side stream capnographs is lighter and less bulky than a mainstream version.



Based on application, the capnography devices market is classified into emergency medicine, critical care, procedural sedation, pain management and others. During the historical period, emergency medicine was the largest application area of these devices, with 25.5% contribution in 2017. The use of capnography devices increases the safety of sedating patients in emergency departments.



During the forecast period, the capnography devices market is projected to witness fastest growth in APAC, with a CAGR of 19.7%. This is due to increasing need for efficient respiratory monitoring systems for treating respiratory diseases, supported by growing awareness, rising number of government initiatives, and increasing incidents of preterm birth in the region.



Moreover, increase in geriatric population, that is prone to various chronic diseases contributes to higher adoption of capnography devices in developing regions. Local presence of manufacturers and well-established distribution networks of major players in this region also supports the market demand. Various companies, including Schiller AG, and Medtronic plc, are distributing their products through distribution networks present in developing countries, such as China and India.



In order to increase market share, key players of the capnography devices industry are seeking partnerships and acquisitions to provide more effective solutions. For instance, in February 2018, Medtronic plc and Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), an eight-hospital network in Northeastern Pennsylvania, announced a five-year strategic partnership with the aim to cover more than 70 major medical conditions and reducing the cost of care of 500,000 patients in Northeast Pennsylvania by $100 million. One of the programs aimed to reduce respiratory compromise related adverse events by making use of Microstream capnography technology.



Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Research Background

1.1 Research Objectives

1.2 Market Definition

1.3 Research Scope

1.4 Key Stakeholders



Chapter 2. Research Methodology

2.1 Secondary Research

2.2 Primary Research

2.3 Market Size Estimation

2.4 Data Triangulation

2.5 Assumptions for the Study



Chapter 3. Executive Summary



Chapter 4. Introduction

4.1 Definition of Market Segments

4.1.1 By Product

4.1.1.1 Hand-held

4.1.1.2 Stand-alone

4.1.1.3 Multi-parameter

4.1.2 By Technology

4.1.2.1 Side stream

4.1.2.2 Main stream

4.1.2.3 Micro stream

4.1.3 By Component

4.1.3.1 Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) modules

4.1.3.1.1 Infrared sensors

4.1.3.1.2 Others

4.1.3.2 Others

4.1.4 By Application

4.1.4.1 Emergency medicine

4.1.4.2 Critical care

4.1.4.3 Procedural sedation

4.1.4.4 Pain management

4.1.4.5 Others

4.1.5 By End User

4.1.5.1 Hospitals

4.1.5.2 Ambulatory care centers (ACCs)

4.1.5.3 Others

4.2 Market Dynamics

4.2.1 Drivers

4.2.1.1 Growing prevalence of respiratory diseases

4.2.1.2 Technological advancements in capnography devices

4.2.1.3 Rising government initiatives

4.2.1.4 Impact analysis of drivers on market forecast

4.2.2 Restraints

4.2.2.1 Wide-scale availability of inexpensive alternatives in emerging economies

4.2.2.2 Impact analysis of restraints on market forecast

4.3 Porter's Five Forces Analysis



Chapter 5. Global Market Size and Forecast

5.1 By Product

5.2 By Technology

5.3 By Component

5.3.1 OEM Modules Market by Type

5.4 By Application

5.5 By End User

5.6 By Region



Chapter 6. North America Market Size and Forecast



Chapter 7. Europe Market Size and Forecast



Chapter 8. APAC Market Size and Forecast



Chapter 9. LATAM Market Size and Forecast



Chapter 10. MEA Market Size and Forecast



Chapter 11. Competitive Landscape

11.1 Strategic Developments

11.1.1 Product Launches/ Approvals

11.1.2 Partnerships

11.1.3 Other Developments



Chapter 12. Company Profiles



Diamedica (UK) Limited

Shenzhen Comen Medical Instruments Co. Ltd.

Edan Instruments Inc.

Nonin Medical Inc.

Drgerwerk AG & Co. KGaA

Nihon Kohden Corporation

Masimo Corporation

Becton

Dickinson and Company

Medtronic plc

Smiths Group plc

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9tszlg/global?w=5

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Field Agent, the industry leader in crowdsourced data for the retail and consumer goods industries, today announced the acquisition of retail media firm SMACK along with its online properties and marketing products.

The purchase affords Field Agent new opportunities to leverage its ever-growing mobile panel of over 1.4 million U.S.-based shoppers and to provide companies entirely new, shopper-driven methods for generating product awareness and purchase.

"For years we've been connecting companies with their core consumers," said Rick West, co-founder and CEO of Field Agent. "With this purchase we'll now start using our crowd of consumers to build awareness of new products and ultimately move those products off store shelves."

With the acquisition, Field Agent launches a new division, Field Media , consisting of two digital-content properties, Aisle 9 and Product 1. In contrast to conventional, "top-down" methods like banner ads, both Aisle 9 and Product 1 will showcase high-quality, trial-based, user-generated content for extensive distribution through social media and sponsored-content channels.

According to SMACK founder Sean Womack, who will serve as Field Media publisher, the new division will be managed separately from Field Agent's research and auditing arms.

"We've been working with Field Agent for over two years developing our publishing technology," Womack said. "Once we landed on the Digital Demo, we realized how much sense it made to join forces."

Field Media's Digital Demo is disrupting the way brands think about shopper marketing and sales. The program directs shoppers to "buy and try" specific products in-store or online. Their feedback then becomes the basis for digital content published on Aisle 9 or Product 1, which is shared via social media or sponsored content channels. This program combines trial research, content generation, and everyday influencers into a single powerful tool proven to drive sales for the world's largest brands.

Womack added, "We build awareness through the audience themselves by turning them into everyday influencers, which means other consumers are more likely to trust and act on the message."

Field Media will specifically serve marketers and brand managers who previously lacked a targeted media solution, building on Field Agent's current client base of Fortune 500 sales, operations, category, and research teams.

For more information on Field Media visit fieldmedia.com

About Field Agent: Field Agent created the mobile crowdsourcing solution for the retail and branded-goods industries in 2010 and has defined the space for nine years. Field Agent leverages its global network of over two million app users to connect businesses with fast, reliable information. Visit the Field Agent blog, named a top 10 market research blog, for more information on location-based mobile audits and research.

Follow Field Agent on LinkedIn , Facebook , and Twitter to stay up-to-date with current projects and research materials.

Cory Nelson

Field Agent

(479) 755-4499

[email protected]

SOURCE Field Agent

Related Links

http://www.fieldagent.net


Just over a year before the Iowa caucuses, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has jumped into the race for president. During her announcement on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she hit on key themes  health care as a right, taking on institutional racism, addressing climate change  that may resonate with Democratic primary voters in 2020. But New Yorks junior senator has also faced questions about the more conservative policy views she has held in the past, particularly when she was a congresswoman representing an upstate district.

Earlier this week, we asked our readers what they think of Gillibrands chances. Most (87 percent as of Tuesday evening) predicted that she would not prevail in the Democratic primary, while readers also said two other New Yorkers  President Donald Trump and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg  have a better shot at winning in 2020 than Gillibrand. (A number of write-in votes were also cast for non-New Yorkers.)

As part of City & States new weekly Ask the Experts feature, were turning to the experts to offer their analysis: Doug Muzzio, a political scientist at Baruch College; Ken Fisher, an attorney at Cozen OConnor and a former member of the New York City Council; Bruce Fisher, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies at SUNY Buffalo State; and Larry Levy, executive dean of Hofstra Universitys National Center for Suburban Studies.

What are U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrands chances in the Democratic presidential primary?

Ken Fisher: As the last three Democrats elected president looked improbable a year before their New Hampshire primaries, Kirsten Gillibrand cannot be ruled out for 2020, but its not easy to see her path. She is not one of the top three  Biden, Sanders, Warren. Rather, like any one of a dozen next-tier candidates, she has to hope that the party is both impatient for a generational shift and that she can somehow break out from the rest. Despite her professional accomplishments, she does not have a compelling personal story, having grown up in a politically connected middle class upstate family, done a stint as a corporate lawyer, winning a Republican House district, and then appointment to the Senate. Nor does she have an uncontested lock on a particular demographic or ideological cohort. Rather, she offers a keen intellect and a pleasant demeanor, with political views that continue to flip or evolve depending on whether one is a fan.

Larry Levy: In a crowded field her appeal to suburban voters could give her a base to work from. Her image is more moderate than most of the others and suburbanites are more comfortable with a so-called pragmatic progressive than some of the others moving harder to the right. Understand that in many states, suburbanites do not play the outsiders role in a Democratic primary as they do in the general election  where they are decisive  but there are enough Democrats in these places between city and country to make a difference with many candidates splitting up other bases.

Doug Muzzio: Between slim and none. A better shot at VP but true for everyone.

Bruce Fisher: Gillibrand is a cautious establishment Democrat asking party activists  most of whom agree on the 2016 Bernie Sanders platform  to choose her over Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke and Amy Klobuchar. It's crowded in Gillibrand's middle, it's even more crowded on the left, and Elizabeth Warren already has ground operations in Iowa and New Hampshire.

What is her path to victory?

Larry Levy: Through West Des Moines, neighborhoods just north of the the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border, and the suburbs of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and those of other smaller cities.

Doug Muzzio: No reasonable path. A great deal of good fortune. At least she has to win the woman lane.

Bruce Fisher: Shes a great candidate for a party that has super delegates. Since they're gone, shes going to have to convince centrists that Biden is too old, and that everyone else is too left. The Democratic party base is now farther left than her, but shes starting with insufficient name recognition or infrastructure to outlast Biden.

Ken Fisher: Gillibrand is overtly running a gender-based campaign, touting her status as a young mom focusing on fired-up women, whose initial entry to the national stage was calling out sexual abuse of women in the military, a broadly well-received precursor to the #MeToo movement. Touting her rural upbringing and values, she also claims the moderate mantle of one who can cross political divides, notwithstanding her steady drift left on guns, health care and immigration. She has been tactically shrewd, building a large online network, hoarding cash from her recent campaign and locating her headquarters in Troy, less than an hour from the New Hampshire border. She bills herself as a fearless reformer who gets results, whose campaign launch video closes with Jon Stewart reciting her legislative accomplishments while observing that they were under the radar screen and out of the spotlight. What she will need is a viral moment commanding the nations attention sufficiently to warrant a closer look as the front-runners stumble.

Does having Donald Trump in the White House make it harder for another New York candidate for president to succeed?

Doug Muzzio: No. Depends on the candidate. And the Electoral College calculation.

Bruce Fisher: She is a very strong vice presidential candidate, and being from New York, and knowing Wall Street, will help the ticket, which won't be led by her.

Ken Fisher: Trumps New York association is no obstacle to Gillibrand, or Bloomberg, de Blasio or Cuomo should they run, given his failure as a favorite son, but Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs is. Gillibrand will tout her small town upbringing but her gender will inevitably draw linkage to the social media savvy democratic socialist with big city sensibilities. Whether Republicans shift from attacking Nancy Pelosis San Francisco radicalism to Chuck Schumers New York elitism as control of the Senate moves to the fore remains to be seen, but given their deficits in an increasingly urban and diverse America, it's hard to see this as an appeal to swing voters. Regardless, the fact remains that three of the four Democrats from other than the eastern seaboard won and the two who were lost. Democrats focused on winning may remember that.

Larry Levy: Nah. If people don't like New Yorkers, they don't like New Yorkers and she wouldn't get them anyways. If anything, her early stands on behalf of women  who overwhelmingly dislike the president  provide a strong contrast to Trump.
LONG BEACH, Calif., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Epson America, a leading provider of digital imaging solutions, today expanded its workgroup document scanner portfolio with new DS-970 and DS-870 color duplex document scanners designed for busy and high-volume workgroups. Offering blazing-fast speeds for the demanding office environment, Epson's first 85 ppm/170 ipm1 document scanner, the DS-970 offers a peak daily duty cycle of up to 9,000 sheets2, while the new DS-870 scans as fast as 65 ppm/130 ipm1 with a peak daily duty cycle of up to 7,000 sheets3.

Featuring a 100-page Automatic Document Feeder for high-volume batch scanning, the versatile DS-970 and DS-870 help professionals easily scan, organize and upload a variety of documents, including mixed stacks of business and ID cards, long documents and folded pages4 up to 11" x 17". Using advanced paper feed technology which includes Slow Speed Mode for delicate sheets, Double-Feed Detection and Paper Protection to prevent misfeeds, the DS-970 and DS-870 allow the user to conveniently scan important documents hassle and worry-free. With the included OCR and powerful Document Capture software as well as compatibility with both Windows and Mac, users can create searchable PDFs, store and share their work to online storage accounts such as Evernote, SharePoint and Google DriveTM5. Additionally, both models come with a compact, space-saving footprint, designed to easily fit within virtually any modern workspace.

"We are proud to introduce our first 85 ppm1 document scanner designed for high-volume workgroups," said Sean Gunduz, group product manager, Scanners, Epson America. "As one of the fastest growing document scanner brands in North America6, we are committed to providing affordable and reliable world-class scanning solutions for the commercial document scanning market."

Equipped with an LCD screen for easy navigation and mode selection, the DS-970 and DS-870 come with advanced TWAIN and ISIS drivers for seamless integration with existing third-party document management software. With expanded versatility, users can choose from the optional Network Interface Unit to share the scanner across a network or optional Flatbed Dock to connect to a compatible Epson photo scanner for scanning photos, passports, or bound materials7.

Pricing and Availability

The Epson DS-970 (MSRP $1,499) and DS-870 (MSRP $999) are available through authorized CaptureProSM resellers starting in February. Both scanners include a three-year limited warranty with an Advance Exchange program featuring Next-Business-Day Replacement8. For more information and availability, please visit www.epson.com.

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. With a lineup that ranges from inkjet printers and digital printing systems to 3LCD projectors, watches and industrial robots, the company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises more than 81,000 employees in 85 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental impacts.

Epson America, Inc., based in Long Beach, Calif., is Epson's regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (twitter.com/EpsonAmerica), YouTube (youtube.com/EpsonAmerica), and Instagram (instagram.com/EpsonAmerica).

1 Based on letter-sized scans at 300 dpi in Black-and-White, Grayscale or Color Mode.

2 Peak daily duty cycle is the highest recommended number of scanned sheets per day. For best results, do not exceed the peak daily duty cycle. Calculations based on a scanning speed of 65 ppm and an assumed daily use time.

3 Peak daily duty cycle is the highest recommended number of scanned sheets per day. For best results, do not exceed the peak daily duty cycle. Calculations based on a scanning speed of 85 ppm and an assumed daily use time.

4 Carrier sheet required for folded oversized pages, sold separately.

5 With Epson Document Capture software installed on the connected Windows PC or Mac. Internet connection is required.

6 IDC, North America Document Imaging Scanner Market Shares 2017: Digital Transformation Influences Scanner Market #US42614218, May 2018

7 Compatible with Epson Perfection V19 or Epson Perfection V39 flatbed photo scanners, sold separately.

8 For more information, go to www.epson.com/3yearscannerwarranty. Subject to limited warranty terms and conditions. Expedited shipping not available in all areas. Road Service orders must be in by 3 p.m. Eastern Time for Next-Business-Day delivery.

EPSON is a registered trademark and, EPSON Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark of Seiko Epson Corporation. Mac, macOS and OS X are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Android and Google Drive are trademarks of Google LLC. Excel and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Nuance is a trademark and/or registered trademark of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. Copyright 2018 Epson America, Inc.

SOURCE Epson America, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.epson.com


AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, announced today the 'Customer of the Year' winners in its third annual Epicor Customer Excellence Global Awards program. The awards recognize innovative organizations that have successfully transformed operations by deploying Epicor solutions and services to achieve excellence in business efficiency, customer experience, and overall performance.

Congratulations to the Customer Excellence Global Awards recipients for showcasing how Epicor helps them unleash growth and stay competitive in their disruptive industries. Its rewarding to see how our customers are creating value to their core business with our solutions. -Steve Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, Epicor Software

Epicor Customer Excellence Awards programs are run in the Americas, Asia Pacific, the United Kingdom, Middle East, India, and Africa, with regional program winners automatically considered as finalists in the global categories for overall 'Customer of the Year' recognition.

The following companies are the 2018 Epicor Customer Excellence Award 'Customer of the Year' global winners:

Radwell International, Inc. is the Business Transformation global winner, chosen for implementing new processes and growth strategies with Epicor Prophet 21. The Prophet 21 Software gives Radwell a foundation that allows them to open new locations with a few mouse clicks as opposed to months of set up. Radwell also utilizes the automated picking and warehouse solutions, reducing labor by 30% and improving pick output by approximately 40%.

global winner, chosen for implementing new processes and growth strategies with Epicor Prophet 21. The Prophet 21 Software gives Radwell a foundation that allows them to open new locations with a few mouse clicks as opposed to months of set up. Radwell also utilizes the automated picking and warehouse solutions, reducing labor by 30% and improving pick output by approximately 40%. Northern Transformer leveraged Epicor Cloud ERP to upgrade the finance, purchasing, and inventory systems in addition to benefits associated with 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and bill of materials (BOMs). They are the global winner in the Cloud Deployment category.

category. The Customer Experience category global award winner is Prophet 21 customer Jergens Industrial Supply. Jergens teamed up with MindHARBOR to design and launch an innovative Internet of Things (IoT) supply chain solution using Amazon Dash buttons. The solution enables on-premises remote resupply of products from WiFi-enabled IoT buttons, through a web portal and into Prophet 21. The Prophet 21 Software has transformed how Jergens works with its customers, both increasing efficiencies, saving valuable time, and lowering costs.

category global award winner is Prophet 21 customer Jergens Industrial Supply. Jergens teamed up with MindHARBOR to design and launch an innovative Internet of Things (IoT) supply chain solution using Amazon Dash buttons. The solution enables on-premises remote resupply of products from WiFi-enabled IoT buttons, through a web portal and into Prophet 21. The Prophet 21 Software has transformed how Jergens works with its customers, both increasing efficiencies, saving valuable time, and lowering costs. In the Rapid Time to Value category, Epicor ERP customer Rentokil Initial took home the global award by integrating its Time and Attendance system, Tensor, with Epicor ERP to provide a real-time data feed. This integration has enabled Rentokil Initial to accurately provide true costs and profitability for a range of products.

category, Epicor ERP customer Rentokil Initial took home the global award by integrating its Time and Attendance system, Tensor, with Epicor ERP to provide a real-time data feed. This integration has enabled Rentokil Initial to accurately provide true costs and profitability for a range of products. The global winner in the Technology Innovator category is Epicor ERP customer Sistema, selected for seamlessly automating multiple processes using advanced technologies to drive down cost, while adhering to aggressive business goals of doubling business turnover by 2020. Sistema is able to run more machines with the same amount of staff and has gone from 24/7 to 24/5 shifts with only occasional overtime shifts. Sistema's warehousing solution now enables them to deliver on average 200 40-foot containers per month, doubling their output from 12 months prior.

"Congratulations to the Customer Excellence Global Awards recipients for showcasing how Epicor helps them unleash growth and stay competitive in their disruptive industries," said Steve Murphy, chief executive officer, Epicor Software. "It's rewarding to see how our customers are creating value to their core business with our solutions. With a deep understanding of the industries we serve, our solutions promote growth while easing complexity. The strength of Epicor solutions lies in our unique ability to deliver industry-specific functionality and technology that fit our customers' unique processes."

Criteria used to evaluate nominations included customer, employee, and business impact, process improvements, and positive changes gained within the organization to demonstrate benefits and impact of the technology on the customer's business. Project complexity, business objectives, and results achieved were also weighed in the final decisions. For more information on the Epicor Customer Excellence Awards programs visit the Epicor website.

About Epicor Software Corporation

Epicor Software Corporation drives business growth. We provide flexible, industry-specific software designed to fit the precise needs of our manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industry customers. More than 45 years of experience with our customers' unique business processes and operational requirements are built into every solutionin the cloud or on premises. With this deep understanding of your industry, Epicor solutions dramatically improve performance and profitability while easing complexity so you can focus on growth. For more information, connect with Epicor or visit www.epicor.com.

Epicor and the Epicor logo are trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation.

Contact: Katie Chubb

Public Relations Specialist

Epicor Software Corporation

+1 512 278 5365

[email protected]

SOURCE Epicor Software Corporation

Related Links

http://www.epicor.com


DAVOS, Switzerland, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Edgybees, a leader in advanced, collaborative, visual intelligence technology, and HCL Technologies Ltd., a leading global technology company, today announced that they are hosting live demonstrations of Edgybees' life-saving software enabled by DRYiCETM AIOps technology, as part of their participation at the World Economic Forum 2019 in Davos, Switzerland. The presentation is part of the HCL 2030 Ecosystem Platform, which will explore how humanity's relationship with technology will evolve through the next decade of rapid innovation.

Edgybees and HCL Technologies are working together to showcase remote drone operations that impact societal resilience at scale, namely Edgybees' intelligent video drone software application in search and rescue operations during flood emergencies driven by DRYiCE[TM] AIOps zero-touch automation of tasks and processes.

Overlaying data such as street names, individual locations, and key points of interest on real-time video footage, the solution provides context to emergency responders in critical situations. The unmatched perspective of a drone combined with the added overlay provides first responders improved situational awareness and open communication - vital components that can determine a successful first response scenario or search and rescue operation.

With this predictive technology, the drone solutions will be able to send real-time updates on the number of deployments possible in a single battery charge as well as inform on external factors while the drone is in flight.

"Extending the enterprise proven AIOPS platform into Drones Management is a powerful means to augment the automation of the entire stack," said Kalyan Kumar, Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, HCL Technologies. "In the case of drones, AIOps allows a level of predictive analytics and other functional data that substantially enhances the drone's capabilities, and HCL is pleased to be partnering on this development."

"HCL Technologies' competence on AI and their DRYiCE Software Platform made it a natural partner for Edgybees," said Adam Kaplan, CEO of Edgybees. "We look forward to showcasing the capabilities of this technology at WEF in Davos. This ground-breaking innovation was made possible by Edgybees' in-house R&D Team via HCL's ETO Open Innovation Program in partnership with Consulate General of Israel to South India."

The technology will be part of the HCL Pavilion, which includes a Tech Showcase Zone, representing transformational examples of how technology - such as AI, Automation, Machine Vision, and Brain Computing - has impacted human lives. Please visit the live showcase from 21st till 25th Jan 2019 in [email protected] Pavilion, The Escher Raumdesign, Promenade 115, 7270 Davos Platz.

About Edgybees

Edgybees is the leader in real-time collaborative visual intelligence technology, providing critical software that enables for the most accurate, collaborative virtual worlds of any complex environment. Its First Response ("FR") C2 (command and control) system for professional drone users in emergency response organizations is currently operational in over 70 organizations in the US, Australia, Europe, and Israel.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Diego, Edgybees has raised $6.4M to date.

About HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies is a next-generation global technology company that helps enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age. Its technology products, services and engineering are built on four decades of innovation, with a world-renowned management philosophy, a strong culture of invention and risk-taking, and a relentless focus on customer relationships. With a worldwide network of R&D, innovation labs and delivery centers, and 127,000+ 'Ideapreneurs' working in 43 countries, HCL serves leading enterprises across key industries, including 250 of the Fortune 500 and 650 of the Global 2000. HCL generated consolidated revenues of USD 8.2 billion for 12 months ended 30th Sep 2018.

HCL offers an integrated portfolio of products, solutions, services, and IP through our Mode 1-2-3 strategy built around Digital, IoT, Cloud, Automation, Cybersecurity, Analytics, Infrastructure Management and Engineering Services, amongst others, to help enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age.

Media Contact:

Sarah Small

[email protected]

+1-929-255-1449

SOURCE Edgybees and HCL Technologies
CLEVELAND, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion Energy offers flexible winter bill payment options, energy assistance programs and energy-saving tips, to help ease financial stress for customers facing such economic disruptions as federal employee furloughs and plant closings and those on fixed incomes.

"No customer should have to be cold this winter because they can't afford to pay their heating bill," said Jim Eck, Dominion Energy vice president and general manager, Ohio & West Virginia Distribution. "We encourage those who may be facing financial hardship, including those impacted by the federal government shutdown, to learn more about special payment arrangements and take advantage of our energy assistance programs."

ENERGY ASSISTANCE

Dominion Energy offers a number of different options for customers who are experiencing high winter bills. Customers can make arrangements through their online account at www.dominionenergy.com or contact us at 1-800-362-7557. Contacting us early may provide more options. Some accommodations include:

Budget Billing: a convenient option to avoid seasonal fluctuations in bills. The amount you pay on your Dominion Energy natural gas bill will be the same every month, making budgeting easier.

Flexible payment plans: help spread payments out and make them more manageable.

For more information on these and other payment plans and energy assistance programs, view: https://www.dominionenergy.com/community/energy-assistance.

ENERGYSHARE

EnergyShare is our energy assistance program available to qualified customers facing financial hardship. The program provides bill pay assistance when all other state and federal assistance programs have been exhausted. The Salvation Army administers EnergyShare in Ohio for Energy customers. For program and eligibility details or to apply, contact your local Salvation Army office.

ENERGY-SAVING TIPS

"Customers can take small steps toward reducing their energy use to help keep bills low," Eck said. Small adjustments can make a big difference in your energy bills. Help reduce energy waste and save money by:

Lowering your thermostat to 68 degrees. Learn more about your thermostat settings and energy savings by visiting the U.S. Department of Energy website.

Learn more about your thermostat settings and energy savings by visiting the U.S. Department of Energy website. Sealing air leaks. Seal all holes from pipes and wires that enter/exit the living space, including entrances, pull-downs and attic stair openings, light fixtures, pipes and wires.

Seal all holes from pipes and wires that enter/exit the living space, including entrances, pull-downs and attic stair openings, light fixtures, pipes and wires. Sealing duct work. Make sure that all duct work is sealed at joints and intersections with duct sealer or silicone caulk. Ducts can be sealed using foil-backed tape or silicon caulking.

Make sure that all duct work is sealed at joints and intersections with duct sealer or silicone caulk. Ducts can be sealed using foil-backed tape or silicon caulking. Changing your furnace filters monthly. This is the number one reason for furnace breakdowns. Inspect heating and cooling equipment annually, or as recommended by the manufacturer. Have a professional check and clean furnaces once a year.

This is the number one reason for furnace breakdowns. Inspect heating and cooling equipment annually, or as recommended by the manufacturer. Have a professional check and clean furnaces once a year. Weather-stripping doors, windows and attic entryways. Inspect windows and doors for air leaks. If you can see daylight around a door or window frame, then the door or window needs sealing. Air leaks can be sealed with caulking or weather-stripping. Insulate attic entryways.

More energy saving tips can be found here: https://www.dominionenergy.com/home-and-small-business/ways-to-save/energy-saving-tips .

HOUSEWARMING

Dominion Energy Ohio's Housewarming program offers free weatherization assistance to income-eligible customers. The program is administered by CHN Housing Partners (formerly Cleveland Housing Network) and provides free weather-stripping, attic and sidewall insulation, door sweeps and other energy efficiency improvements. Client education also is part of the program. Please contact CHN Housing Partners at 1-888-377-3774, or visit www.chnet.com .

HOME PERFORMANCE WITH ENERGY STAR

Dominion energy Ohio's Home Performance with Energy Star program is designed to help you improve your home's energy efficiency. A home assessment is conducted to evaluate how your home is using energy. The program is administered through CLEAResult and the customer may be eligible to receive rebates for recommended improvements. To be eligible, the customer must not be on Percentage of Income Payment Plan Plus (PIPP Plus) and/or be eligible for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP). Contact CLEAResult at 1-877-287-3416 or visit http://deohpwes.com .

About Dominion Energy: Nearly 7.5 million customers in 18 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to sustainable, reliable, affordable and safe energy and is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy with about $100 billion of assets providing electric generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas storage, transmission, distribution and import/export services. As one of the nation's leading solar operators, the company intends to reduce its carbon intensity 60 percent by 2030. Through its Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, as well as EnergyShare and other programs, Dominion Energy contributed nearly $35 million in 2018 to community causes. Please visit www.DominionEnergy.com to learn more.

SOURCE Dominion Energy Ohio
Dionisio Gutierrez began the conversation assuring that Liberalism is a system of ideas that has promoted the development and welfare of the Western Countries: "It is a political program that blends with democracy and rule of law. It defines social order and encourages economic growth." However, he explained: "Politics are no longer a space for ideas, reflections and proposals; it became a vain activity."

Mario Vargas Llosa, stated that "in order to reach development, is important to overcome the sense of inferiority regarding liberalism. We must insist that, thanks to liberalism, democracy has become modern and has been strengthened. We must break away from the stigma that the left wing created around liberalism, as if it was part of the status quo and a stumbling block for progressive reforms."

Regarding the decrease of the political class in Latin America, Gutierrez pointed that "the discredit of politics in our days, is a phenomenon that does not respect frontiers. Almost all over the world, the intellectual level, the professional career, and moral quality of politicians has decayed. This has provoked a generalized lack of interest and absence of new leaderships in election processes."

Additionally, Vargas Llosa indicated, that corruption is responsible for pushing youth away from politics and that "when the best people don't participate in politics, the worse are those who fill in the public roles. It is necessary to convince young people that great things can be achieved through politics." He argued that "the existence of a good moral within a society is absolutely indispensable because it is one of the great shields against corruption."

Moreover, they concluded that the massive use of Internet has brought consequences for politics due to the spreading of fake news and defamation. Gutierrez explained that "the problem in this post-truth era, is that a 67% of internet users does not distinguish fake from true information. To be strong and effective, a democracy needs citizens with critical thinking."

Dionisio Gutierrez made the most out of the meeting to interview Mario Vargas Llosa for his Razon de Estado TV show.

SOURCE Fundacion Libertad y Desarrollo
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenX, the world's largest independent advertising technology provider, today announced that agency and digital media veteran Carol (Chung) Reed is joining the company as global senior vice president of buyer development. In the role, Reed will lead all agency and brand relationships for OpenX.

Reed comes to OpenX after 15 years at Digitas, part of Publicis Media, where she led the transformation of the agency's Media Technology practice, designing data and ad tech solutions for some of the world's largest brands including GSK, Dunkin' Donuts, American Express, L'Oreal, Mattel and Taco Bell. Reed helped introduce programmatic media to Digitas and build that business line from the ground floor, and led a team of over 100 people focused on executing programmatic campaigns.

At OpenX, Reed will continue to work with global brands and agencies to help them navigate the changing media landscape and rapid evolution of programmatic technology. The role of SVP, Buyer Development, is a new position at OpenX, representing its increased emphasis on working directly with brands and agencies, and ensuring all buyers understand the value delivered by the supply side of the programmatic ecosystem. OpenX today works with every major demand side platform and over 34,000 advertisers, including 100 percent of the Ad Age top 100. With the increased focus on brands and agencies, OpenX will work with these partners on solving the core issues they care about today, including optimizing their supply path, identifying core drivers of quality, understanding how to benefit from identity and people-based marketing, and more.

"Brands and agencies are getting much closer to their programmatic supply partners, and they are making it clear that everyone involved in their campaigns and media spend needs to deliver both quality and value," said John Gentry, President, OpenX. "Carol is one of the most experienced leaders in digital advertising today, with a unique understanding of brand objectives, and how they can best use programmatic media to meet those objectives. We're thrilled that she will be able to continue leveraging this expertise at OpenX."

"All advertising technology providers are not the same, and brands recognize that," said Reed. "OpenX has for years stood out as one of the technology players that is truly focused on providing value, and when I look at the company's approach today and product roadmap, it's clear that we will be able to continue bringing value to buyers globally for years to come. There is a huge opportunity for companies like OpenX to help brands navigate the increasingly fragmented media landscape. I could not be more excited to build on what the company has today and continue to help brands reach their target customers in the most efficient and effective way possible."

About OpenX

OpenX powers highly relevant advertising at global scale, delivering quality and value to brands, publishers and consumers across every type of connected screen and ad format. The company's leading technology aggregates, curates and values consumer interest in real time on one of the world's largest and highest quality ad exchanges to ensure marketers reach exactly the audience they want. OpenX serves more than 30,000 of the world's most recognized brands, more than 1,200 publishers and more than 2,000 premium mobile apps.

http://www.openx.com

@openx

Media Contact

OpenX Corporate Communications

Max Nelson

(650) 207-6267

[email protected]

SOURCE OpenX Technologies, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.openx.com


Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) announces new additions to its portfolio of purpose-built technology designed to challenge, engage and inspire K-12 educators and students worldwide. This newest line of products, including an interactive monitor plus intelligently tough Latitude and Dell Chromebook devices and a new charging cart, helps educators integrate technology with new teaching and learning practices, while encouraging students to follow their own path of discovery.

Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8356753-dell-technologies-bett-education/

"Recent Dell Technologies research on Generation Z  those born in the mid-1990s and later  confirms our belief that for students to be successful now and in the future, educators must empower them to drive their own success and support them with tools and resources that ignite students' natural curiosities," said Adam Garry, director of education strategy at Dell. "These new devices enable both educators and students to inquire, create and collaborate seamlessly, wherever learning takes place."

According to the Dell Technologies study, 80% of Gen Zers want to work with cutting-edge technology, yet only 57% rate their schools as good or excellent in preparing them for future careers. Backed by more than 30 years of purposeful innovation, Dell's new education devices are designed to help prepare students for the evolving workforce, while providing the flexibility and choice that schools need today.

Dell 75 4K Interactive Touch Monitor (C7520QT)

Gen Zers indicate a strong preference for peer learning (75%) and teamwork (58%), and today's classrooms are transforming into collaborative-friendly spaces that facilitate group learning and productivity. The new large-format Dell 75 4K Interactive Touch Monitor (C7520QT), available this spring, is ideally suited as a primary classroom display or for group collaboration. It features vivid 4K resolution and 20-point multi-touch InGlass capability allowing multiple users to interact with the screen simultaneously. Using their fingers, or passive styluses (two included), students can write or draw with virtually zero lag and can easily erase written content with the palm of their hands. The natural and intuitive touch functionality is compatible with virtually all industry-standard software.

Enabling collaboration for all, the exclusive Dell Screen Drop is the world's first accessibility feature2 improving reachability for users working from different heights. Buttons at the side of the panel enable users to lower the displayed image to three different height settings so it's within easy reach. Other features that make the 75" monitor ideally suited for classroom use include:

The wide viewing angle enabled by IPS technology allows for vivid and consistent colors across the screen to be seen from virtually anywhere in the room.

Dell monitor technology optimizes fonts and ensures visuals appear sharp while operating everyday programs like Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel.

Anti-glare and anti-smudge coatings reduce distracting reflections and fingerprints while Dell ComfortView reduces blue light emission to optimize eye comfort.

The unique design supports seamless integration of an optional Dell OptiPlex Micro PC into the display for an all-in-one solution that lowers operating costs over the life of the monitor.

RS232, RJ45 and HDMI CEC connectivity enables IT managers to manage the display remotely.

To enable more flexible learning spaces, an optional mobile AV cart allows the monitor to go where needed.

Beautifully Designed Notebooks Built to Survive the Classroom and Beyond

As the first digital-native generation, Gen Z has strong opinions about their technology. More than 98% of those surveyed have used technology as part of their formal education, and 91% said the type of technology offered by a future employer would influence their choice among similar job offers. Dell's new education PCs combine the attractive design and top performance that students demand with the durability and reliability necessary in the learning environment.

Drawing on Dell's experience building rugged mobile devices for field services, law enforcement, first responders and the military, Dell's new education PCs are designed to ensure that students have the most durable products to rely on both in and out of the classroom. All of the new notebooks have been designed to 15 MIL-STD specs to survive the daily bangs, drops and slams of student use, and include such features as spill-resistant sealed keyboards and captive keys for better pick resistance. The devices are also more rugged than previous models. Tested to be schoolyard tough, the Latitude 3300 Education and the new Chromebook 3100 and 3100 2-in-1 have been hinge cycle and micro-drop tested from 4" at every angle for thousands of cycles to more closely replicate the real-life damage that can occur over the lifespan of a classroom device. And both the Latitude 3300 and the new Dell Chromebook series are designed to withstand 30"+ drops onto steel and 48" drops onto plywood.

Latitude 3300 Education

Available today, the Latitude 3300 Education offers a higher resolution display and up to 16 hours and 52 minutes of battery life3 in a 13" notebook with an Embedded Full HD Touch option. Featuring an attractive dark grey matte finish, the notebook is available with Intel Celeron, Pentium, and up to Core i5 processors to support the demands of STEM applications. The device features USB-Type C4 for power and data transfer and DDR4 4GB or 8GB memory options. Dell Chromebooks 3100, 3100 2-in-1 and 3400

The reliable Dell Chromebook 3000 series, available in late March, gets a refresh with Intel Gemini Lake processors, which have shown great performance on speedometer 2.0 testing showcasing a 42.3 score on the Chromebook 3100.5 To support connectivity and collaboration, the series features new 2x2 Intel wireless cards and USB Type-C for charging and data transfer. The devices are also easier to manage for IT, with two-year life cycles and six-plus years of Google Auto Updates at time of launch. Chromebook 3100: Features 11.6" display with Embedded Touch or nontouch options with a 180-degree lay-flat, durable hinge that allows students and educators to gather around a single device to view material together. Battery life: up to 14 hours and 3 minutes. 6

Features 11.6" display with Embedded Touch or nontouch options with a 180-degree lay-flat, durable hinge that allows students and educators to gather around a single device to view material together. Battery life: up to 14 hours and 3 minutes. Chromebook 3100 2-in-1: Convertible design with 11.6" display and Gorilla Glass NBT Touch; also features an optional world-facing camera to encourage student creativity. Battery life: up to 13 hours and 25 minutes. 7

Convertible design with 11.6" display and Gorilla Glass NBT Touch; also features an optional world-facing camera to encourage student creativity. Battery life: up to 13 hours and 25 minutes. Chromebook 3400: Features 14" nontouch display with optional full HD. Battery life: up to 12 hours and 58 minutes.8

Dell Compact USB-C Charging Cart Prewired for USB-C Laptops (CT36UC20)

To eliminate the need for on-site wiring prior to deployment, the Dell Compact USB-C Charging Cart Prewired for USB-C Laptops (CT36UC20), available in March, ships with 36 USB-C power adapters pre-installed into the cart, saving valuable IT time. Cart power is provided by Ergotron's patented PowerShuttle charging management system which efficiently charges up to 36 devices from a 12A wall outlet and is 40% faster than standard round robin systems.

Pricing and Availability

The new Latitude 3300 Education notebook is available today starting at $299 USD ; learn more at Dell.com

notebook is available today starting at ; learn more at Dell.com The Dell Chromebook 3000 series will be available in late March: Chromebook 3100 starting at $249 USD ; Chromebook 3100 2-in-1 starting at $359 USD ; Chromebook 3400 starting at $319 USD

will be available in late March: starting at ; starting at ; starting at The Dell Compact USB-C Charging Cart Prewired for USB-C Laptops (CT36UC20) will be available in March starting at $2,249 USD

will be available in March starting at The Dell 75 4K Interactive Touch Monitor (C7520QT) will be available later this spring starting at $5,999.99

Dell Technologies at #Bett2019

These announcements come as part of Dell Technologies' participation as an exhibitor at Bett 2019, taking place 23-26 Jan. in London. To learn more about the partnership between Dell and the Natural History Museum, visit stand #B316 where you can also explore classroom technology, STEM education, and how the latest technology is helping empower the students, curators, historians and scientists of the future. Check out the Bett website to learn more about Dell's presence at the show. For more on Dell's solutions for education, visit Dell.co.uk/education.

Visit the Dell Technologies stand #B316 at Bett2019 in London, 23-26 Jan.

Additional resources

For more information on Gen Z: The future has arrived , please visit DellTechnologies.com/GenZ

, please visit DellTechnologies.com/GenZ Connect with Dell via Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and LinkedIn

, , and LinkedIn Follow the latest news on Twitter from @Dell

About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies is a unique family of businesses that provides the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important asset, information. The company services customers of all sizes across 180 countries  ranging from 99 percent of the Fortune 500 to individual consumers  with the industry's most comprehensive and innovative portfolio from the edge to the core to the cloud.

Dell, Dell EMC and Dell Inc. are trademarks of Dell Technologies in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

1 Source: IDC Quarterly PC Monitor Tracker, Q3 2018.

2 Based on Dell internal analysis, November 2018. Available on C8618QT, C7520QT and C5518QT monitors only.

3 With Intel i3-7020U, 8G memory, 256GB SSD, HD non touch, Windows 10, and 56 Whr battery. The stated Watt Hour (WHr) is not an indication of battery life. Battery life is based on Mobile Mark 2014 benchmark test, available at www.bapco.com. Test results are for comparative purposes only. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time.

4 Does not apply to Celeron configurations.

5 Based on Dell internal testing, January 2019, using Speedometer 2.0 benchmark to compare web browsing on a Dell 3100 Chromebook configured with Intel Celeron N4000. Actual results will vary.

6 Battery life: Chromebook 3100 tested with Intel Gemini Lake N4000 processor, 4GB memory, 16GB eMMc, HD non-touch panel, Chrome OS, and 3-cell 42W battery using Google Chrome Power LoadTest available at http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-testing.Test results are for comparative purposes only. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time.

7 Battery life: Chromebook 3100 2-in-1 tested with Intel Gemini Lake N4000 processor, 4GB memory, 64GB eMMc, HD touch panel, Chrome OS and 3-cell 42W battery using Google Chrome Power LoadTest available at http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-testing. Test results are for comparative purposes only. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time.

8 Battery life: Chromebook 3400 tested with Intel Celeron N4100 processor, 8GB memory, 64GB eMMc, HD non-touch panel, Chrome OS and 3-cell 32W battery using Google Chrome Power LoadTest available at http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-testing. Test results are for comparative purposes only. Actual battery life may be significantly less than the test results and varies depending on product configuration and use, software, usage, operating conditions, power management settings and other factors. Maximum battery life will decrease with time.

SOURCE Dell Technologies
LONDON, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

St Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister Timothy Harris announced earlier this month that business expansion in the country over the last four years was at its peak. The progress has been made possible in large part by the increased popularity of the country's Citizenship by Investment (CBI), specifically via the Sustainable Growth Fund (SGF).

This means good news for residents and for foreign entrepreneurs looking to benefit from St Kitts and Nevis' growing economy. During his Fourth Annual Gala Event, PM Harris made the announcement that "over the last four years, the growth in new businesses entering the formal economy has been phenomenal." What has not yet been explained is the significant role played in this by SGF. Additionally, such national growth increases the profitability of entrepreneurs' investments in the fund.

The SGF is the investment fund option under St Kitts and Nevis' CBI Programme. The fund requires a simple, one-time investment in return for the grant of Kittitian and Nevisian citizenship and the numerous benefits of the SGF. For instance, the SGF recognises that many applicants have demanding schedules, and thus follows a quick and efficient timeline. From submission of the application to receipt of approval, total processing time is three months or less. Many applicants receive approval faster, often between 8 and 10 weeks. This is due to the simplicity of the SGF, and the lack of need for additional contracts or later financial obligations. Fund applicants can also apply through the Accelerated Application Process (AAP) which reduces processing time to 60 days or fewer. St Kitts and Nevis is the only jurisdiction worldwide to offer such a programme.

Applications for second citizenship must go through an authorised agent. The agent provides necessary advice and support to the applicant and liaises with the Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU), who review their application. Under the SGF, clients can choose any authorised agent they wish, and therefore select one that best suits their needs. The CIU provides an official list of agents here.

Given the array of CBI programmes worldwide, it can be confusing for applicants to identify which is the best quality. A programme's quality is determined by the length of time for which it has been running, and thus gained knowledge of the industry, and its level of due diligence, which maintains its integrity. St Kitts and Nevis' Programme is not only the most experienced in the world, the due diligence procedures conducted under the SGF are internationally respected. Regularly evaluated and awarded full marks in the Financial Times' CBI Index, they have been copied by other countries. By applying to the SGF, applicants ensure their personal information and reputations are safeguarded, and that their applications have the greatest chance of success.

Furthermore, SGF offers protection for entrepreneurs and Growth for residents. The fastest and easiest route to second citizenship, it also provides protection for the applicant's wealth, future prosperity and safety, and their family. This is because all monies invested into the fund go directly to the long-term, sustainable development of the country. This includes everything from education, infrastructure, and healthcare to technological innovation and business. For example, plans are currently underway for a new state-of-the-art High School in Basseterre, the nation's capital. As well as providing employment opportunities to construction workers and teacher, the school will offer high-level education to children of residents and investors.

The historical growth in new business establishment is another example. Since 2015, the net total of annual business licences issued by the Inland Revenue Department has exceeded 400 each year. 2018 especially was a success, in which the top three new business areas were retail shops and stores (except liquor), snackette, and taxi operators. All three are sectors into which funds from the SGF are directed, as is business development itself. Furthermore, as a result of the success in the taxi sector, the significant increase in total passenger spend in 2017/2018 (up 77 percent since 2014/2015) has continued in 2018. This is no doubt influenced by higher numbers of CBI investors travelling to the country.

As the economy becomes stronger and development is conducted on a long-term basis, so the future of Kittitian and Nevisian citizens is protected. For second citizens, this includes their future, those of their children, and those of future generations. Therefore, the more the SGF continues to attract applicants, the more gains each investment generates.

SOURCE CS Global Partners
CALGARY, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Crescent Point Energy Corp. ("Crescent Point" or the "Company") (TSX andNYSE: CPG) is pleased to announce the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") has accepted its notice to implement a normal course issuer bid ("NCIB") to purchase, for cancellation, up to 38,424,678 common shares, or seven percent of the Company's public float, as at January 14, 2019. The NCIB is scheduled to commence on January 25, 2019 and is due to expire on January 24, 2020.

"We believe share repurchases provide an accretive form of returning capital to shareholders at current share prices," said Craig Bryksa, President and CEO of Crescent Point. "We will be disciplined during the execution of this repurchase program, which will be funded within cash flow. In the current commodity price environment, the Company plans to allocate excess cash flow to debt reduction, share repurchases or a combination thereof."

Purchases of Crescent Point's common shares under the NCIB may be made through the facilities of the TSX, the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") and alternative trading systems by means of open market transactions or by such other means as may be permitted by the TSX and under applicable securities laws, including by private agreement pursuant to issuer bid exemption orders issued by applicable securities regulatory authorities. The price the Company will pay for any common shares will be the market price at the time of purchase or such other price as may be permitted by the TSX. Any private purchase made under an exemption order issued by a securities regulatory authority will generally be at a discount to the prevailing market price.

In connection with the NCIB, Crescent Point will enter into an automatic purchase plan ("Plan") with its designated broker to allow for purchases of its common shares during internal blackout periods. Such purchases would be at the discretion of the broker based on parameters established by the Company prior to any blackout period or any period when it is in possession of material undisclosed information. Outside of these periods, common shares will be repurchased in accordance with management's discretion, subject to applicable law. The Plan has been reviewed by the TSX and may be terminated by Crescent Point or its broker in accordance with its terms, or will terminate on the expiry of the NCIB.

As of January 14, 2019, the Company had a public float of 548,923,981 common shares and 550,611,816 common shares issued and outstanding. Crescent Point will not acquire, through the facilities of the TSX, more than 1,022,228 common shares during a trading day, being 25 percent of the average daily trading volume of the Company's common shares on the TSX for the six calendar months prior to the date of approval of the NCIB by the TSX (being 4,088,914 common shares), and, in addition, will not acquire per day on the NYSE more than 25 percent of the average daily trading volume for the four calendar weeks preceding the date of purchase, subject to, in both cases, certain exceptions for block purchases.

The actual number of common shares that will be repurchased under the NCIB, and the timing of any such purchases, will be determined by Crescent Point on management's discretion, subject to applicable securities laws. There cannot be any assurances as to how many common shares, if any, will ultimately be acquired by the Company.

Crescent Point is a leading North American light oil producer, driven to enhance shareholder returns by cost-effectively developing a focused asset base in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Forward-Looking Statements and Other Matters

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and "forward-looking information" for the purposes of Canadian securities regulation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). The Company has tried to identify such forward-looking statements by use of such words as "could", "should", "can", "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "will", "may", "intend", "projected", "sustain", "continues", "strategy", "potential", "projects", "grow", "take advantage", "estimate", "well-positioned" and other similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements.

In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements pertaining, among other things, to the Company's normal course issuer bid, the use of cash flow to fund purchases under the NCIB, the process the Company plans to follow to evaluate purchases under the NCIB, and the expected benefits to shareholders associated with the NCIB and the Plan and its operation.

All forward-looking statements are based on Crescent Point's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the assumption was made. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in these 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 report should not be unduly relied upon. By their nature, such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which could cause actual results or other expectations to differ materially from those anticipated, expressed or implied by such statements, including those material risks discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2017 under "Risk Factors," in our Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2017, under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Information" and for the quarter ended September 30, 2018 under "Derivatives", "Liquidity and Capital Resources", "Changes in Accounting Policy" and "Outlook".

Additional information on these and other factors that could affect Crescent Point's operations or financial results are included in Crescent Point's reports on file with Canadian and U.S. securities regulatory authorities. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date it is expressed herein or otherwise. Crescent Point undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required to do so pursuant to applicable law. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Crescent Point or persons acting on the Company's behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CRESCENT POINT ENERGY, PLEASE CONTACT:

Brad Borggard, Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning and Capital Markets, or

Shant Madian, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

Telephone: (403) 693-0020 Toll-free (US and Canada): 888-693-0020 Fax: (403) 693-0070

Address: Crescent Point Energy Corp. Suite 2000, 585 - 8th Avenue S.W. Calgary AB T2P 1G1

www.crescentpointenergy.com

Crescent Point shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CPG.

SOURCE Crescent Point Energy Corp.

Related Links

http://www.crescentpointenergy.com


DUBLIN, Ohio, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) today announced that Brian Rice will join the company as executive vice president, chief information officer and customer support services. Rice's most recent role was senior vice president, chief information officer and global business services for Kellogg Company. In his new role at Cardinal Health, he will report to Mike Kaufmann, CEO of Cardinal Health.

"We are very excited to welcome a professional with Brian's breadth of global experience to join our team at a time when technology is central to our business success," said Kaufmann. "Brian's expertise and achievements in identifying, implementing and running extremely complex, global information technology strategies and processes make him a perfect fit to lead Cardinal Health's experienced and committed technology and customer services teams."

While at Kellogg Company, Rice's role as CIO was expanded to include Global Business Services and he managed more than 2,000 professionals across six global and regional service centers. During a previous engagement with Kellogg in the 1990s, Rice led an information technology team in Sydney, Australia as the regional CIO. Rice worked at General Motors in Detroit, Mich. where he was global process information officer and global services information officer. Previously, he led Mars, Incorporated's Asia Pacific Information Services from Singapore.

Rice will officially join Cardinal Health on February 4, 2019.

About Brian Rice

Rice was senior vice president, chief information officer & global business services for Kellogg Company from 2009 through the beginning of 2019.

Rice previously held leadership positions with Kellogg Company in information technology and enterprise business practices, both in the U.S. and Asia Pacific from 1993 to 2000.

Prior to rejoining Kellogg, Rice was employed by General Motors Corporation from 2005 to 2009, where he served as global services information officer and was responsible for all aspects of global computing for the company. From 2000 to 2005, he was employed by Mars, Incorporated and served as vice president and chief information officer for its Asia Pacific business based in Singapore.

Rice received a bachelor's degree in computer information services from Ferris State University.

About Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health, Inc. is a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide. The company provides clinically proven medical products, pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions that enhance supply chain efficiency from hospital to home. To help combat prescription drug abuse, the company and its education partners created Generation Rx, a national drug education and awareness program. Backed by nearly 100 years of experience, with approximately 50,000 employees in nearly 46 countries, Cardinal Health ranks #14 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit cardinalhealth.com, follow @CardinalHealth on Twitter, @cardinalhealthwings on Facebook and connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/ company/cardinal-health.

SOURCE Cardinal Health

Related Links

http://www.cardinalhealth.com


Posted Wednesday, January 23, 2019 1:25 pm

MANCHESTER, N.H.  Sounding very much like a presidential candidate, Gov. Jay Inslee spent Tuesday previewing a 2020 campaign focused on fighting climate change, making his case to students at two private colleges in the state that holds the first-in-the-nation primary.

Entering his Tuesday morning appearance at Saint Anselm College's New Hampshire Institute of Politics, Inslee paused in a corridor to eye a photo of former President Jimmy Carter visiting Robie's Country Store before the 1976 primary, from which the ex-Georgia governor emerged a surprise winner.

"Funny, a small state governor with no name ID became president of the United States. Isn't that strange? I wonder how that could happen," Inslee quipped.

In talks at Saint Anselm and later across the state at Dartmouth College in Hanover, Inslee urged the few dozen students at each event to join him in insisting the next Democratic presidential nominee makes climate a top priority.

"We know we have to essentially decarbonize our economy. We know we have to stop being slaves to the oil and gas industry," Inslee said at Saint Anselm, dressed casually in bluejeans and a dark blazer, sporting an apple pin.

He took shots at President Donald Trump, calling him "a fearful man who is a pessimist ... He is wrong about the basic character of the American people, and he is wrong about the science of climate change. And that's going to be proven in the next election cycle if I have anything to do about it."

Inslee's New Hampshire talks were part of a three-day political trip amid a frigid winter storm that canceled one of his flights and upended some scheduled appearances. His time in the Granite State was bookended by stints in New York City for TV interviews and talks with potential campaign staffers and supporters.

During his public speeches, Inslee did not lay out a detailed platform he might propose if he enters the presidential race, and he declined, in response to a student question, to endorse a national carbon tax or cap-and-trade mechanism for making fossil fuels more expensive.

He, instead, emphasized a clean-energy economic-growth message he said could appeal to voters from the Midwest to the coasts.

Asked by reporters about his plans for the 2020 presidential race, Inslee said he will make a decision within "weeks, not months."

Inslee's rhetoric left little doubt of his intentions, said Christopher Galdieri, an associate professor of politics at Saint Anselm.

"You don't come to New Hampshire to tell a bunch of college students about your four-point plan on climate change if you are not running," he said.

Galdieri said Inslee, like other lesser-known candidates, will face difficulty emerging from a pack of better known Democratic contenders who already have entered or are likely to enter the race, but he said Inslee's climate-change emphasis could resonate with younger voters.

Some students who watched Inslee said they appreciated his climate focus, though they're not sure who they will support in 2020.

"I loved his speech. I didn't really know much about him before this," said Ailish Husband, a freshman at Saint Anselm. "If he did run, I would seriously consider him."

Hayley Morgan, a junior at Saint Anselm, said "even if he decides not to run I would be interested in seeing more accountability among candidates to make [climate change] a bigger, more pressing issue."

At his Dartmouth event later in afternoon, Inslee and political aides chowed on pizza with students and met with some in a small group before his larger talk.

Gigi Gunderson, a sophomore and president of the Dartmouth Democrats, the group that invited Inslee, said she was impressed.

"It was one of the most refreshingly authentic conversations I have had with a political person in a long time," she said.

However, one student with Washington roots at the event wasn't sold.

In a small-world moment, Elsa Ericksen, a Dartmouth freshman, showed up wearing the campaign T-shirt of her father -- state Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, a longtime Inslee critic and oil-industry ally who has opposed the governor's climate agenda.

A smiling Inslee and Elsa Ericksen posed for a photo together. Inslee jokingly said he was confident she would bring her father over to his side.

A member of the campus Republicans, Ericksen didn't agree, but she said she enjoyed hearing Inslee's talk. "I think I am forming my own opinions. I want to get as many views as possible."

As he approaches a decision about his political future, Inslee has faced criticism back home about his national travel schedule, which began heating up last year during his stint as chair of the Democratic Governors Association.

The travel costs for the governor and two political aides who accompanied him to New Hampshire were borne by a federal political-action committee, Vision PAC, he formed late last year to explore a possible presidential bid.

However, taxpayers are bearing the expenses for the State Patrol security detail that accompanies the governor wherever he travels. Three members of the patrol's Executive Protection Unit (EPU) accompanied Inslee on the trip.

The Seattle Times and Northwest News Network reported in November that Inslee's intensifying, out-of-state travel had caused the EPU to overspend its budget, largely because of overtime and travel costs for the troopers. The patrol has requested a $1.3 million budget boost to cover such costs over the next two years.

In a statement Tuesday, Caleb Heimlich, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, criticized Inslee's latest cross-country trek as part of a "self-absorbed, longshot campaign for President."

"Inslee's passion for personal political gain exceeds his desire to govern our state. In fact, not even a winter storm will stand in his way as he travels the country attempting to appease the far-left base with resistance and obstruction," Heimlich said.

Asked how he would respond to Washington residents who wonder if his pursuit of higher office is interfering with his job as governor, Inslee argued he's been performing his duties, pointing to recent slates of legislative proposals on orca recovery, health care and climate change.

"I feel confident in my ability to do this. We have kind of been doing this for a couple months and we're rocking and rolling in Washington state," he said.

While openly eyeing the White House, Inslee has not ruled out running for a third term as governor in 2020.

Inslee's travel schedule this week was complicated by a frigid winter storm that struck the Northeast, with temperatures Monday hovering at zero degrees -- reaching -20 degrees and colder with wind chill.

The icy conditions forced cancellation of the governor's scheduled flight from the New York area to Manchester, leading Inslee to miss an appearance at a fundraiser for the League of Conservation voters at the home of former Rep. Paul Hodes.

The governor and his entourage drove the four-plus hours from New York to New Hampshire on Monday night, pulling off the side of the road to talk via Skype with attendees at the fundraiser, according to Jamal Raad, Inslee's political spokesman.

Inslee was scheduled to return to Washington state on Wednesday. He has no additional out-of-state political trips planned at the moment, Raad said.
The One Congress office tower, with a unique glass curtain wall design, will deliver a total of one million square feet of trophy quality office to the Boston market, with a set of market leading amenities for its customers. The building will feature a one-acre, outdoor roof garden on the 11th floor, in addition to over 30,000 square feet of fitness, shared conferencing, wellness, and upscale food and beverage offerings. Market leading bike facilities and ample parking are also planned. Located only three blocks from North Station, One Congress features unparalleled transit alternatives with immediate access to the Haymarket MBTA Station (located on site), Logan Airport, and I-93 and I-90. Featuring a 99-point Walk Score, One Congress offers easy pedestrian access to the Boston Public Market, Boston's North End and the Rose Kennedy Greenway which offers an array of public parks, gardens and art offerings. In addition to the expansive amenity offerings, and unparalleled transit access, at 528-feet in height, One Congress will offer sweeping views of Boston Harbor, the Financial District, North End, West End, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Charlestown, and the Zakim and Tobin bridges. Construction on One Congress will begin this summer and the building is planned for delivery by year-end 2022. Carr Properties will manage One Congress at project completion.

"We are delighted to welcome State Street as the anchor for One Congress and to kick off construction of this phase of Bulfinch Crossing," said Jeffrey J. Kanne, President and Chief Executive Officer of National Real Estate Advisors. "Having been a part of this redevelopment plan for almost 12 years, we could not be more excited about the transformation that is beginning to take place. Beginning construction on this portion of the project exemplifies National's commitment to transforming communities with state-of-the art, sustainable projects while creating good job opportunities for the women and men living in those communities."

One Congress is the second phase of Bulfinch Crossing, which is remaking the existing Government Center garage site (4.8 acres in total) into one of the most vibrant developments in downtown Boston. Upon completion, Bullfinch Crossing will feature over 2.9 million square feet of first class residential, office, hotel and retail offerings featuring more than 800 residential units, 200 hotel rooms, 1.15 million square feet of office space, and 82,500 square feet of new retail.

"We are thrilled to be part of One Congress and to have an iconic company like State Street choose One Congress as their new home," said Oliver Carr, Chief Executive Officer of Carr Properties. "One Congress offers a unique design and a set of amenities that will contribute to the fabric of downtown Boston. The project fits perfectly with our strategy of owning, developing and operating differentiated buildings that offer an amazing experience for our customers. We intend to take very good care of State Street as a valued customer for many years to come."

"By choosing One Congress as the new location of their corporate headquarters, State Street and its employees will be able to take full advantage of Bulfinch Crossing's central location, accessibility and proximity to Boston treasures such as the Greenway and the Boston Public Market," said developer Thomas N. O'Brien, founding partner and managing director of The HYM Investment Group. "This move brings State Street into a neighborhood that's at the center of Boston's new urban evolution."

About National Real Estate Advisors



National Real Estate Advisors is an investment manager specializing in build-to-core, developing and owning large-scale, urban commercial and multifamily projects for its institutional client accounts. National constructs investment portfolios of modern property assetsapartment, office, mixed-use, industrial, data center and hotelwith design features, technological enhancements, and amenities that can drive high tenant demand and create value for investors. National is an independently operated subsidiary of the National Electrical Benefit Fund, a substantial pension trust with a significant amount of assets that are managed by National on a discretionary basis. For more information, please visit www.natadvisors.com.

About Carr Properties

Carr Properties is a privately held real estate investment trust that owns, manages, acquires and develops high-quality office properties in Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts. The company currently owns a portfolio of 17 commercial office properties totaling approximately 4.7 million square feet, as well as, a pipeline of five development projects that include: The Wilson and The Elm Development in Bethesda, MD; Signal House in the Union Market area of Washington, DC; and One Congress in Boston, MA. Upon completion, these projects will add 2.4 million SF of trophy-quality office space to the company's portfolio. The company is continuing to expand its portfolio through strategic investments in the Washington, D.C., and Boston, MA areas and recently completed the $220 million acquisition of 200 State Street in Boston. www.carrprop.com

About The HYM Investment Group, LLC:

The HYM Investment Group, LLC is a Boston-based real estate company focused on the acquisition, development and management of complicated urban mixed-use projects. HYM is currently leading the development of over eighteen (18) million square feet of mixed-use development in Greater Boston, including the following notable and complex projects: Bulfinch Crossing (including the one-million-square-foot office tower known as One Congress), Boston Landing, NorthPoint and Suffolk Downs.

HYM is focused on creating significant value for investors by recognizing real estate investment opportunities where others may not. Each real estate asset is treated as a unique business opportunity, and each asset plan seeks to cause the real estate to reconnect, energize and enhance the urban communities of which it is a part. For more than 35 years HYM's principals have been working on real estate ventures in the Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., corridor. To learn more, please go to www.hyminvestments.com.

SOURCE National Real Estate Advisors

Related Links

http://www.natadvisors.com


DUBLIN, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BSI's global centre of excellence for Cybersecurity and Information Resilience has announced a new partnership with Relativity to use its SaaS product, RelativityOne. BSI Cybersecurity and Information Resilience plans to leverage the SaaS product at their headquarters in Ireland and will be the first partner deployed in RelativityOne's Netherlands data center.

With the new cloud-based e-Discovery platform, BSI Cybersecurity and Information Resilience will expand their best-in-class data advisory and compliance services into new areas and markets thanks to the flexibility and global reach of RelativityOne. The BSI e-Discovery and Forensics consultants have expert knowledge of the platform and will leverage the speed and efficiency of the secure SaaS product to respond quicker to the growing GDPR, litigation and regulatory requests of their clients.

Commenting on the partnership, Ines Rubio, Head of Information Management and Incident Response at BSI Cybersecurity and Information Resilience said, "We are delighted to become a certified RelativityOne partner and look forward to incorporating the platform into the uniquely tailored solutions that we offer our global clients. Relativity is a ground-breaking technology and it has really made the e-Discovery process more insightful, manageable and efficient."

"We're excited to welcome BSI Cybersecurity and Information Resilience as a new RelativityOne certified partner," said Steve Couling, Vice President of International at Relativity. "We look forward to seeing how they leverage the extensibility and flexibility of our SaaS product to further optimize and transform the businesses of their clients."

Built on the industry-leading security controls of the Microsoft Azure Cloud, RelativityOne provides an added layer of security to the leading security posture BSI is known for. To celebrate the new partnership and its commitment to joint security, Relativity Solutions Specialist, Clare Longworth, will speak at the inaugural BSI International Cyber Resilience Exchange on 26 March 2019 at The Convention Centre in Dublin where she will present an interactive workshop titled 'Information Management and e-Discovery: Which of Your e-Discovery Workflows are Primed for Change?' To find out more visit: www.bsicyberexchange.com

BSI Cybersecurity and Information Resilience provides a range of solutions to help organizations address their information challenges covering cybersecurity, information management and privacy, security awareness, compliance and testing. For more information visit bsigroup.com/cyber-ie

About BSI Cybersecurity and Information Resilience centre of excellence

The BSI centre of excellence for Cybersecurity and Information Resilience is based in Sandyford, Dublin, where it manages and secures corporate information for BSI's global clients. The company provides expertise to clients on the identification, protection, compliance and management of their information assets through a combination of consultancy, technology, research and training. Its mission is to help clients achieve Information Resilience - an environment where infrastructure is protected and secure, regulatory and compliance obligations are met, people are safe, and reputation and trust is maintained. The companies highly qualified consultants' experience and expertise cover the entire Information Governance landscape.

The companies' credentials are enhanced by adherence to internationally recognized accreditations and certifications (CREST / Cyber Essentials / Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Qualified Security Assessor). BSI is the originator of the ISO 27000 series of Information Security Standards and the global leader in providing training and certification to ISO 27001, the established best practice in Information Security Management Systems (ISMS).

About BSI

BSI is the business improvement company that enables organizations to turn standards of best practice into habits of excellence. For over a century BSI has championed what good looks like and driven best practice in organizations around the world. Working with over 86,000 clients across 193 countries, it is a truly international business with skills and experience across a number of sectors including automotive, aerospace, built environment, food, and healthcare. Through its expertise in Standards Development and Knowledge Solutions, Assurance and Professional Services, BSI improves business performance to help clients grow sustainably, manage risk and ultimately be more resilient. To learn more, please visit bsigroup.com.

About Relativity

At Relativity, we make software to help users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. Our e-discovery platform is used by thousands of organizations around the world to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance projects. Relativity has over 180,000 users in 40+ countries from organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 70 Fortune 100 companies, and 198 of the Am Law 200. RelativityOne offers all the functionality of Relativity in a secure and comprehensive SaaS product. Relativity has been named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for eight consecutive years. Please contact Relativity at [email protected] or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information.

SOURCE Relativity

Related Links

https://www.relativity.com


- The company received multiple offers with the round being led by 24Haymarket

- Existing investors including MMC Ventures also participated

LONDON, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Growth Intelligence has raised 1.7m to help marketers and sales leaders drive faster growth with AI. Founded in 2013, Growth Intelligence helps high profile brands, including American Express, FedEx, Western Union, iZettle and Vitality Health, target their direct marketing activity to businesses that are most likely to buy. The AI Platform combines records of a client's previous successful and unsuccessful marketing attempts with Growth Intelligence's own proprietary data gathered from the digital footprint of every company in the economy, to train an AI for each client. The AI then serves up recommended future clients and advice on how to approach them. It allows sales and marketing teams know who will buy, who will be most valuable, when should they attempt to contact them and what to say when they do.

Left - Thomas Gatten, CEO, Growth Intelligence; right - Prashant Majmudar, CTO (PRNewsfoto/Growth Intelligence)

Growth Intelligence reached profitability early in 2018 and has tripled recurring revenue year on year. The company will use this funding to invest in its AI Platform - building new AIs to solve additional challenges faced by B2B marketers. The company will be investing heavily in data science, engineering and commercial talent.

With demand for Growth Intelligence's sales and marketing AIs strong and growing, 2019 will see continued triple-digit growth. Growth Intelligence also plans to bring on board leading commercial and technical executives this year.

As part of the investment joining the Board are Andy Robertson, Martin Brown and Stuart Dawson as the Chairman.

Thomas Gatten, CEO of Growth Intelligence, adds: "This is a great opportunity to invest on top of our triple-digit revenue growth. Trade is the human super-power, by applying AI to boost trade we are helping companies and economies grow faster. We're hiring!"

Paul Tselentis, CEO of 24Haymarket, comments: "24Haymarket are thrilled to invest in Growth Intelligence. We have been tracking the company's progress and its unique approach to improving the productivity of B2B sales and marketing processes for two years. There is an exciting market opportunity ahead of them, as businesses embrace functional AI offerings. We look forward to applying our network to support the team on the next phase of their growth journey."

Alan Morgan, Chairman, MMC Ventures, adds: "Growth Intelligence is one of a small number of companies using AI to deliver true predictive marketing. We are happy to announce our continued support for the business and look forward to working with Thomas, Prashant and 24Haymarket in the next phase of their growth."

Growth Intelligence

Growth Intelligence is a pioneering UK AI vendor, aimed at helping businesses maximise their B2B marketing efforts through the power of machine learning. Our technology goes beyond the traditional "black and white" sets of data e.g. firmographics, and mines more subtle and nuanced information  or 'signals' - from all over the open web, on every UK business. These signals are woven into unique AI prediction models which identify high-converting prospects, predict their value and the best time to contact.

Examples of signals available to Growth Intelligence's AI, but from nowhere else are:

How many inbound or outbound telephone lines they maintain

Whether they seem to be open to changing utility suppliers

Whether they ship with DHL, Royal Mail or DPD etc. and how much they charge etc.

Founded in 2013 by an ex-BBC journalist and a military computer scientist, Growth Intelligence has been growing revenues year on year. American Express, Vitality Health Insurance and FedEx are among a successful roster of clients that have driven marketing efficiencies up by 10x and more.

www.growthintelligence.com

24Haymarket24Haymarket is a premium deal-by-deal investment platform focused on high-growth businesses, investing up to 5 million in any particular company. 24Haymarket's Investor Network includes several highly experienced private equity and venture capital investors, seasoned entrepreneurs and senior operators. We invest our own capital in direct alignment with entrepreneurs and typically seek board representation to actively support their growth agenda. Since inception in 2011, 24Haymarket has invested in more than 50 high-growth businesses. www.24haymarket.com



MMC VenturesMMC Ventures is a research-led venture capital firm. Founded in 2000, the firm has backed more than 60 high-growth technology companies from the Seed and Series A stage. MMC Ventures focuses on scaling enterprise software and consumer internet companies with the potential to disrupt huge markets, particularly those employing AI technologies. Based in London, the firm has c. 280 million under management and is investing more than 40 million annually. Companies MMC Ventures has backed include; APEXX, Bloom & Wild, Echo, Elder, Gousto, Interactive Investor, Masabi, Omni:us, Opal, Peak, Signal Media, SafeGuard, Senseye, Sky-Futures and StorageOS.

www.mmcventures.com



For further information, please contact:

[email protected]

Website: www.growthintelligence.com

Address: 25-27 Horsell Rd, London, N5 1XL

SOURCE Growth Intelligence
MORRISTOWN, N.J., Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Beacon Investment Advisory Services, Inc., a registered investment advisor and wholly owned subsidiary of Beacon Trust Company, a leading New Jersey-based, full-service wealth management firm (together "Beacon Trust"), today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire New York City-based Tirschwell & Loewy, Inc. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Founded in 1977, Tirschwell & Loewy is an independent registered investment adviser that provides asset management services to individuals, families, endowments, foundations, retirement accounts and institutions. The firm has approximately $750 million in assets under management. Upon closing of the transaction, the firm will become known as Tirschwell Loewy & Friedner Investments, a division of Beacon Trust. Jeffrey Loewy and Howard Friedner will continue to manage the investment strategy.

"We are thrilled to have the clients and employees of Tirschwell & Loewy join Beacon Trust. For over 40 years, Tirschwell & Loewy has successfully deployed a solid investment approach through all types of markets and has maintained an unwavering commitment to helping its clients achieve their financial goals," said Valerie Murray, President of Beacon Trust. "The combination of our two firms will allow us to provide enhanced wealth management offerings to Tirschwell & Loewy's clients and expand Beacon's footprint into the New York City market," concluded Murray.

Jeffrey Loewy, President and CEO of Tirschwell & Loewy added, "We are delighted to announce our plans to become a division of Beacon Trust. Our knowledge and approach to wealth management will ensure that Tirschwell & Loewy clients continue to receive the same high level of service and advice they are accustomed to. In addition, our clients will benefit from Beacon's strength in wealth advisory services and its range of investment strategies, as well as its enhanced operating scale and extensive market insight."

The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2019 and is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the acquisition, the total assets under management of the combined companies will be approximately $3 billion.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods served as financial advisor to Beacon Trust, and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP served as its legal counsel. Park Sutton Advisors, LLC served as financial advisor to Tirschwell & Loewy, and BakerHostetler served as its legal counsel.

About Beacon Trust

Based in Morristown, New Jersey, Beacon Trust is a full-service wealth management firm, which together with Beacon Investment Advisory Services, Inc., has approximately $2.2 billion in assets under administration and decades of proven success, superior solutions and exceptional client service. The firm focuses on helping its clients attain, preserve and expand their assets through customized wealth management planning.

Beacon Trust Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Provident Bank which, in turn, is a subsidiary of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: PFS), which reported assets of $9.71 billion as of September 30, 2018.

SOURCE Beacon Trust

Related Links

https://www.beacontrust.com


LOS ANGELES, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at 1 p.m. PST / 4 p.m. EST, filmmaker Ava DuVernay and her foundation ARRAY Alliance will partner with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to present #HowWeHeal: Celebrating the National Day of Racial Healing.

The event, which will be streamed live via official #HowWeHeal partner Facebook at fb.com/NationalDayofRacialHealing, will feature change-making conversations and collaborative live performances curated by DuVernay to build awareness and drive dialogue around racial equity, justice and healing.

Confirmed speakers and performers for #HowWeHeal include:

Actress and Philanthropist Eva Longoria

2018 Georgia Gubernatorial Candidate Stacey Abrams

Filmmaker Judd Apatow

Actress and Activist Laverne Cox

Author Jacqueline Woodson

Actress Storm Reid

Journalist Amy Goodman

Music Icon Melissa Etheridge

Actor and Producer David Oyelowo

Female Tap Group Syncopated Ladies

Movement Artist and Choreographer Jon Boogz.

"There's a lot of talking and tweeting these days. A lot of pontification about where we are as a country and how we arrived here," said Ava DuVernay. "When the Kellogg Foundation approached ARRAY about working together on furthering and deepening those conversations, I was all in. The responsibility of fighting inequality and injustice is all of ours. But it's particularly important that those of us with certain visibility and influence use our platforms to urge bold conversations. We can never give up on pushing this nation to live up to its promise."

The "National Day of Racial Healing" was established by the Kellogg Foundation in 2017 to promote healing as a critical path for ending racial bias and creating a society in which all children can thrive. The annual outreach is part of WKKF's Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation effort, a national and community-based process designed to bring transformational and sustainable change to communities, while addressing the historic and contemporary effects of racism.

"Healing is at the heart of racial equity," said La June Montgomery Tabron, W.K. Kellogg Foundation president and CEO. "Conversations like these  held in community spaces, in offices and living rooms  are an opportunity to widen the conversation. The National Day of Racial Healing is an opportunity to begin and a process to help all of us share stories and engage in authentic conversations. A partner like Ava DuVernay brings her artistic lens to the experience and invites more voices into the dialogue."

#HowWeHeal livestream watch parties are planned in many communities across the country on the 22nd, along with music performances, faith-based services, museum tours and other local activities. Visit dayofracialhealing.org for livestream details available prior to the event, and follow the official hashtag #HowWeHeal on social media.

ABOUT ARRAY

Founded in 2010 by Ava DuVernay, ARRAY is a film collective dedicated to the amplification of images by people of color and women directors. Now in its ninth year, ARRAY Releasing focuses on grass-roots distribution of feature narrative and documentary work by varied voices. Newly formed non-profit ARRAY Alliance expands on the organization's deep roots in independent film through special programming geared towards impactful, inclusive initiatives. Together, ARRAY continues to champion underrepresented creators in creative spaces.

ABOUT W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org .

SOURCE W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Related Links

http://www.wkkf.org


MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Network Designs, Inc. (NDi) announced today that Anthony E. Zeruto (Col, U.S. Army, RET) is its new President and CEO. Mr. Zeruto will succeed Martin P. Schweitzer (BG, U.S. Army, RET), who has held the positions of President and CEO since 2015. Mr. Schweitzer will remain on the NDi Team and operate in a Senior Executive Advisory capacity of our newly formed Board of Advisors. Mr. Zeruto brings considerable IT acumen to the leadership position, with deep experience and expertise in cybersecurity and cyber infrastructure. The addition of Mr. Zeruto's knowledge and background to NDi's leadership team adds significant value to the company's corporate objectives and growth plans.

Anthony E. Zeruto, NDi President and CEO Network Designs, Inc. (NDi)

"We are thrilled to have Anthony at the helm of NDi," said Kevin McGreevy, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President. "He will continue the excellence in leadership that Marty demonstrated every day while leading us the past four years. Mr. Zeruto is a leader who will guide NDi through its next phase of growth so that we will continue to deliver mission-critical value and thought leadership for our clients, as always."

Mr. Zeruto is a retired Colonel and Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army where he spent most of his 24 years of active-duty in U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operation Forces. His last position was as Director of Operations for U.S. Army Cyber Command. In that role, Mr. Zeruto was responsible for directing the U.S. Army's full spectrum cyberspace operations, including DoD Information Network Operations (DODIN), Defensive Cyberspace Operations (DCO) and Offensive Cyberspace Operations (OCO).

Most recently, Mr. Zeruto was Commander of NSA-Georgia in Fort Gordon, Georgia. In this capacity, he led the largest and most complex Joint, Interagency, and multi-national Signals Intelligence and Cyber Command in the Department of Defense. His experience also includes extensive service as a Senior Intelligence Officer within Special Operation Forces as TF-J2 Iraq, TF-J2 Levant and TF-J2 Africa.

A U.S. Army War College Fellow at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Mr. Zeruto holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of South Florida and is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).

Mr. Zeruto comes to NDi from Unisys, where he served the last two years as their Executive Director of Industry for the Unisys Stealth suite of cybersecurity software, which is focused on zero-trust, software defined micro-segmentation for the protection of applications, data centers and transport layers.

About Network Designs, Inc. (NDi)

NDi is a VA-Center for Veteran Enterprises (CVE), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) that specializes in designing, developing, and delivering resilient network solutions for the modern enterprise. NDi's services include cyberspace operations & resiliency; IT infrastructure & cloud migration; digital communications & strategic marketing; business intelligence & information management; enterprise & mobile application development; and program management. In business for more than 23 years, NDi is proud to deliver outstanding results for clients including the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of State, Department of Energy, Department of the Navy, Food and Drug Administration, US Census Bureau, Department of Transportation, and the General Services Administration. For more information, visit www.netdes.com.

For more information on Network Designs, Inc.:

Network Designs, Inc.

1651 Old Meadow Road, Ste 105

McLean, VA 22102

888-NDi-5665

[email protected]

netdes.com

SOURCE Network Designs, Inc. (NDi)

Related Links

http://www.netdes.com


FORT COLLINS, Colo., Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ampt LLC, the world's #1 DC optimizer company for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems, today announced Ampt String Optimizers are powering a record-breaking PV peaker power plant that has 28 megawatts (MW) of solar PV and 100 megawatt-hours (MWh) of DC-coupled energy storage. Ampt String Optimizers are DC/DC converters that are used in the PV array to lower the cost and improve the performance of utility-scale PV+storage systems.

The Lawa'i Solar and Energy Storage Project in Hawaii, which completed this month, became the world's largest operational solar PV+storage peaker plant and is responsible for delivering 11% of Kauai's power while providing mission critical grid support during peak demand periods. The completion of this system allows the utility to deliver up to 40% of the island's evening peak power using stored solar energy.

To meet the demanding operational needs of a clean energy peaker plant while being cost competitive, the project developer chose to use a DC-coupled storage architecture based on Ampt String Optimizers for its cost and performance advantages. DC-coupled energy storage systems charge batteries using energy from the DC solar array rather than the AC grid.

Ampt String Optimizers decrease the total cost of the entire power plant. Ampt's unique features lower the cost of all the power electronics, including the inverter and battery converter, and save in electrical wiring of the PV array.

Moreover, Ampt String Optimizers maximize the performance of the PV system by managing power on each string of PV modules rather than across the whole array at a central point. This increased granularity mitigates system degradation to deliver more lifetime energy. DC-coupled storage systems based on Ampt operate at a higher efficiency and capture energy that would otherwise be lost.

The power plant includes the wireless communication feature of Ampt optimizers to enhance operations and maintenance (O&M) effectiveness with high-accuracy synchronous string-level data.

"The Lawa'i project sets the standard for PV+storage system design," said Levent Gun, CEO of Ampt. "We are pleased that Ampt technology played a key role in achieving this industry milestone and we look forward to being part of follow-on projects in Hawaii."

About Ampt

Ampt delivers innovative power conversion and communication technology that provides system level optimization of PV power plants. As the world's number one optimizer company for large-scale systems, Ampt serves the global solar market with award winning products. The company is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado and has sales and support locations in North America, Europe, and Japan as well as representation in Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Along with our strategic partners in the HDPV Alliance, Ampt is lowering the cost of solar energy. For more information, visit www.ampt.com.

SOURCE Ampt LLC

Related Links

http://www.ampt.com


HOUSTON, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- alliantgroup will be hosting a "Generating STEM" luncheon for recipients of its Greater Houston Area STEM Scholarship Award, where the company will give out $30,000 in scholarships to local high school seniors who have chosen to pursue a degree in a STEM field.

The luncheon will take place on Tuesday, January 29, at alliantgroup's global headquarters in Houston. During the event, the six scholarship recipients will be recognized for both their academic and extracurricular activities and will receive $5,000 to go toward their college education. Fox26 Houston Meteorologist John Dawson will emcee the event.

"It's so inspiring to see how passionate these students are for STEM," alliantgroup CEO Dhaval Jadav said. "These six individuals are shining examples of students who are the future of STEM, which touches countless industries and has proven to be a driving force behind our country's economy and overall success."

Each of the scholarship recipients attends a high school in the Greater Houston Area and have shown a dedication to STEM through their academic performances and extracurricular activities. In order to be considered for the scholarship, students needed to write an essay answering a number of questions, including how their passion for STEM has fueled their education goals and what impact they feel they could make in today's economy.

"We were so overwhelmed with the number of quality applicants that we ultimately had to increase the number of scholarships we originally intended to give out!" Jadav said. "This group is so incredibly talented, diverse and driven. I'm so excited to see where their STEM educations take them because the possibilities are endless."

The scholarships were given as a part of alliantgroup's STEM Scholarship program, which in 2018 gifted a total of $240,000 to students who have dedicated themselves to STEM educations.

Born from the alliantgroup's mission of education and awareness, the firm's Blue Heart Fund is a non-profit charity focused on giving back to the community and fostering STEM education across the nation. Along with fundraising for various philanthropic endeavors and promoting STEM education in K-12 schools, the Blue Heart Fund offers generous STEM-based scholarships to students pursuing a career in the field. The Blue Heart Fund is a non-profit organization sponsored by alliantgroup. For more information about alliantgroup and/or The Blue Heart Fund, please follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

SOURCE alliantgroup

Related Links

http://www.alliantgroup.com


LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced it has been awarded additional on-site nitrogen supply by one of its stratetic global customers, who is among the world's largest manufacturers of electronic components, for its new production line in Binhai New Area, Tianjin, China.

Air Products has been supplying on-site nitrogen to the customer's manufacturing site in Tianjin and supporting its ongoing expansion for over 12 years. The company has been building several facilities with three currently running and two starting up in the coming months. Air Products will add the sixth facility, further strengthening its supply position in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to serve the customer's increasing need from the new production line.

"It is our honor to have earned the continued trust of our strategic customer. The expanding relationship will further position us to support their upcoming and long-term growth," said Saw Choon Seong, China president at Air Products. "For over 40 years, Air Products has been serving the global electronics industry and the world's leading manufacturers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service. Our ongoing investment in the strategic Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is part of our longstanding commitment to supporting the development of China's electronics manufacturing industry under the government's 13th Five-Year Plan and beyond."

Binhai New Area, taking advantage of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development and serving as the gate to northern China, represents a high-end modern manufacturing and research and development base, a northern international shipping and logistics center, as well as China's third economic growth pole.

Air Products has been committed to China's electronics industry and supporting many world-leading and domestic manufacturers in the development of next generation electronic devices. In addition to Tianjin, the company has also been supplying customers in other key electronics manufacturing bases including Nanjing, Xi'an and Fujian Province.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE:APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 75 years. The company provides industrial gases and related equipment to dozens of industries, including refining, chemical, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the world's leading supplier of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment.

The Company had fiscal 2018 sales of $8.9 billion from operations in 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $35 billion. Approximately 16,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from diverse backgrounds are driven by Air Products' higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

NOTE: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release regarding important risk factors. Actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors not anticipated by management, including risk factors described in the Company's Form 10K for its fiscal year ended September 30, 2018.

SOURCE Air Products

Related Links

http://www.airproducts.com


Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Fair  March (3FJ) is one business platform that doubles as a reference point to all things vogue.

Scheduled for February 27 to March 2 in Halls 3 and 6 of the AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE), 3FJ is a bridge that connects buyers to fashion jewellery and accessories suppliers from around the world.

The fair will bring together about 300 exhibitors and draw 6,000-plus quality buyers from more than 90 countries and regions. India, Korea, Mainland China, the Philippines and the Taiwan region will have their group pavilions, further reinforcing their competitive strengths in fashion jewellery and accessories design and production.

Also not to be missed are the Designer Atelier, Fashion Accessories Zone and Stainless Steel Jewellery Pavilion, which are among the show's popular attractions.

Latest Collections

Blue Planet of the Philippines is celebrating the beauty of natural forms, colours and textures in its extensive selection of chic fashion jewellery made of wood, abaca, seashell and raffia.

Necklaces, accessories that pack a powerful punch, are going to show off the elegance and natural beauty of wood  a medium that Blue Planet has full mastery of. Hand jewellery, such as bangles and bracelets, will be made of light materials, including small shells, cords, abaca and raffia, says company executive Richard Forteau.

Stainless steel jewellery maker Sumsoar Group of China is giving professional buyers the opportunity to meet their customers' style preferences through product personalisation. Clients may request Sumsoar to custom-engrave charms and bangles, and choose the gold colour plating they prefer, says company executive Winnie Xu.

Earrings, consistently one of the most compelling accessory trends, are among India-based SK4 Creations' main offerings at 3FJ. SK4 continues to make waves with its tassel earrings in cobalt blue, coral, tourmaline green and other vibrant hues. "Hair accessories are also a strong product category for SK4. Buyers will be impressed with our fabric turban and knot headbands," notes company owner Adnan Khan.

Product Photography

3FJ exhibitors will be delighted to learn that they may avail themselves of free product photography and video services onsite through the fair's partnership with Picup Media, the company behind GemLightbox.

Picup Media is the Official Product Photo Partner for the 2019 editions of Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Fairs  March & September, and the June and September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fairs.

Website: https://exhibitions.asiafja.com/3fj/en-us/

About UBM Asia's jewellery fairs

Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Fair  March (3FJ) is organised by UBM, which in June 2018 combined with Informa PLC to become a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organiser in the world. Please visit www.ubm.com/asia for more information about our presence in Asia.

SOURCE UBM Asia Limited - Asias Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Fair - March

Related Links

http://www.ubm.com/asia


Posted Wednesday, January 23, 2019 9:32 am

A Cleveland, Ohio man  while working as a door-to-door salesman in Lewis County  forced his way into a Centralia residence to demonstrate a cleaning product then attempted to kiss and touch a teenager, authorities say.

Frederick D. Howard, 50, was charged Dec. 31, 2018, with indecent liberties  forcible compulsion for the alleged 2015 incident. He failed to appear to a preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon, and a no-bail bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

According to a probable cause affidavit, on Nov. 13, 2015, police went to a Centralia house for an alleged incident that occurred the day before. They learned Howard allegedly went to the house trying to sell cleaning products when a female teenager was the only one home.

The teen tried to close the door after declining to buy anything, and Howard then pushed his way into the house and began demonstrating his cleaning products. He then allegedly touched the teens face and tried to kiss her and unbutton her pants, documents say.

She shoved him out the door.

Howard  who court documents indicates lives in Cleveland, Ohio  was issued a summons on Jan. 7, and failed to appear to a preliminary hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Judge James Lawler issued a no-bail bench warrant for his arrest.
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mazda3 is part of a long line of groundbreaking Mazda vehicles that have helped make it the best-selling Mazda in the world. The 2019 Mazda3 sets a new milestone as the first production model to lead Mazda into a bold new era. Blending beautiful design and exhilarating driving dynamics, Mazda3 was developed to inspire and create an emotional bond with its customers in two very distinct ways. A completely new design approach was taken when styling the sedan and hatchback, each embodying strikingly different personalities.

2019 Mazda3: Leading Mazda Into a Bold New Era

Mazda's further-evolved KODO design is skillfully applied to the sedan's hood, cabin and trunk and evokes an air of elegance and sense of sleekness. The body features a horizontal flow that accentuates the look of a wide and low stance, while presenting a calmness that appeals to a sophisticated audience. In contrast, the hatchback is meant to be sportier and more emotional, featuring aggressive body sides and C-pillars that do away with traditional body lines and adopt constantly shifting reflections. The hatchback design is topped with a roofline that suggests speed and helps express a powerful presence. Exclusive to the Mazda3 hatchback, Polymetal Gray is a newly developed exterior paint option that fuses the hard appearance of metal with the glossy, smoothness of plastic to create an entirely new expression of style.

Mazda's design ethos continues with an all-new interior and cockpit environment that helps drivers experience a perfect fit and connectedness while driving the 2019 Mazda3. The center console has been redesigned with the shift knob, new commander control and armrest moved forward, while the cupholders are repositioned to the front. This new configuration is meant to provide a more natural feeling for any driver. Mazda3 is the first to introduce an all-new 8.8-inch MAZDA CONNECTTM infotainment screen to the brand, which comes standard on all models. Also standard is an all-new 3-way layout 8-speaker sound system, new steering wheel design featuring illuminated controls and switches, 7-inch TFT reconfigurable gauge cluster display, LED headlights and taillights, Bluetooth phone and audio pairing, HD radio, remote keyless entry, push-button ignition, electronic parking brake, new knee air bags, rearview camera and two USB audio inputs, amongst a long list of other standard features. The 2019 Mazda3 offers two new interior color options. First is a new Greige leatherette interior color that combines the cool tones of gray with the soft feel of beige to create a pleasing sensation of vitality, warmth and sophistication. The new Red leather interior color is exclusive to the Mazda3 hatchback and offers a deep, vivid appearance that helps heighten the emotion of the exterior design.

Mazda3 sedan comes standard with 16-inch alloy wheels, cloth seating surfaces and door trims, power windows with one-touch down/up feature. Mazda3 hatchback is standard with a rear roof spoiler, 18-inch alloy wheels, Apple CarPlayTM and Android AutoTM infotainment technologies, leatherette seating surfaces and door trims, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, automatic dual-zone climate control, power windows with one-touch driver down/up feature, rain-sensing windshield wipers and Mazda Advanced Keyless Entry. Standard i-ACTIVSENSE safety features in the Mazda3 hatchback includes an all-new, first for the brand Driver Attention Alert that displays an alert and sound when it detects driver fatigue or decreased attentiveness, along with Smart City Brake Support, Smart Brake Support, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning with Lane-Keep Assist, High Beam Control and Mazda Radar Cruise Control.

The 2019 Mazda3 will be introducing new package options meant to appeal to a wide range of customers. In addition to the standard models, Mazda3 sedan will be available in Select, Preferred and Premium packages, while Mazda3 hatchback will be offered in Preferred and Premium packages.

Mazda3 Select package, exclusively for sedan models, will be available with i-ACTIV all-wheel drive. This package incorporates features such as Apple CarPlayTM and Android AutoTM infotainment technologies, leatherette seating surfaces and door trims, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, automatic dual-zone climate control, 18-inch wheels, automatic on/off headlights, rain-sensing windshield wipers and Mazda Advanced Keyless Entry. Mazda3 Select package i-ACTIVSENSE safety features include new Driver Attention Alert, Smart City Brake Support, Smart Brake Support, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning with Lane-Keep Assist, High Beam Control and Mazda Radar Cruise Control with Stop & Go function.

Building upon the features found in standard models and Mazda3 Select package, the Mazda3 Preferred package is highlighted by a BOSE premium 12-speaker audio system with custom tuning to provide more powerful bass and higher audio quality. Other upgrades to the audio are an aluminum speaker grille, shark fin antenna and SiriusXM satellite radio with a three-month trial subscription. The driver is comforted with 8-way power driver's seat, power lumbar support and 2-position driver memory system, while also including heated front seats. This package also features new memory position door mirrors.

The lineup is topped with the Mazda3 Premium package, which is also available with i-ACTIV all-wheel drive and features windshield-projected Active Driving Display, leather seats, power moonroof, signature front and rear LED lighting and Adaptive Front-lighting System. Mazda3 Premium package sedan includes paddle shifters while Mazda3 Premium hatchback offers 18-inch black finish alloy wheels and paddle shifters when equipped with SKYACTIV-DRIVE six-speed automatic transmission.

As a brand that keeps purist drivers in mind, Mazda continues to champion the manual transmission, offering Mazda3 Premium package front-wheel drive hatchbacks with an available SKYACTIV-MT six-speed manual transmission.

All 2019 Mazda3s come equipped with a SKYACTIV-G 2.5-liter engine that is rated to deliver 186 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 186 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. While front-wheel drive is standard, Mazda's predictive i-ACTIV all-wheel drive is available on the Mazda3 hatchback and Mazda3 sedan option packages. To build upon the fuel efficiency Mazda's SKYACTIV engines are known for, cylinder-deactivation technology is standard on all Mazda3 hatchbacks, Mazda3 Premium package sedans and Mazda3 sedans equipped with i-ACTIV all-wheel drive. Along with G-Vectoring Control Plus vehicle dynamic enhancements standard on all 2019 Mazda3 models, various improvements, such as redesigned seats, retuned body structure and an all-new suspension, absorb road vibrations to help provide a smoother and more enjoyable driving experience.

MSRP1 for all models is as follows: TRIM HATCHBACK SEDAN Mazda3 FWD 6AT $23,600 $21,000 Mazda3 Select package FWD 6AT - $22,600 Mazda3 Preferred package FWD 6AT $25,200 $24,200 Mazda3 Premium package FWD 6MT $27,500 - Mazda3 Premium package FWD 6AT $27,500 $26,500 Mazda3 AWD 6AT $25,000 - Mazda3 Select package AWD 6AT - $24,000 Mazda3 Preferred package AWD 6AT $26,600 $25,600 Mazda3 Premium package AWD 6AT $28,900 $27,900

PREMIUM PAINT COLORS Soul Red Crystal $595 Machine Gray Metallic $300 Snowflake White Pearl Mica $200

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom.

Follow MNAO's social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaUSA and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaUSA.

1 MSRP does not include $895 for destination and handling ($940 in Alaska), taxes, title or additional fees. Dealers set actual sale prices.

Contact: Tim Olson, Mazda North American Operations, 949-727-6651

Justin Pagtalunan, Mazda Information Bureau, 714-913-9829

SOURCE Mazda North American Operations

Related Links

http://www.mazdausa.com


CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Stoner's Pizza Joint, a millennial-focused, quick-service pizza franchise, announced today the opening of its newest corporate-owned location in Columbia, South Carolina. Located at 1216 Washington St., in the city's historic Arcade Building, the new restaurant marks the brand's first location in Columbia, fourth overall in the state. The new location will host a grand opening celebration on Saturday, January 26 from 1-3 p.m., where they'll be giving out free pizza slices and wings, as well as a gift card raffle and swag giveaways. Two grand prize winners will receive free pizza for a year and catering for The Big Game, valued at $250.

In addition to making its entry into Columbia, the new Stoner's Pizza Joint showcases the brand's new 1,500-square-foot restaurant prototype, which will be the prototype utilized for all standalone restaurants moving forward. The new design features energy-efficient LED lights throughout, an Instagram selfie area and a focal wall tailored to the local community. The Columbia restaurant's focal wall is University of South Carolina Gamecock-themed, paying homage to the local college campus.

"We're so excited to kick off 2019 strong with the opening of a new location in our home state of South Carolina, as well as debuting our new flagship restaurant. Being a University of South Carolina alumni myself, bringing Stoner's to Columbia feels as though things are coming full circle," said Nick Bergelt, chief concept officer of Stoner's Pizza Joint. "We look forward to becoming a part of the Columbia community and serving the residents and students here for years to come."

Founded in 2013, Stoner's Pizza Joint was purchased by HospitalityX, a holding company with a current brand roster that includes Charbar Co., Whiskey Room, Holy Tequila! and Healthy Habit. Experienced restaurateurs and partners behind HospitalityX, Drew Ciccarelli and Nick Bergelt, developed and launched Stoner's Pizza Joint's franchising program in 2018 with the goal of growing the brand's footprint to 100 locations by 2023. Since the launch, Stoner's has continued to identify the Southeast region as a key market for expansion with plans to open a new location in Valdosta, Georgia early next month, as well as another South Carolina location in March 2019. The brand also recently signed a franchise agreement in Florida to develop two new restaurants and will be opening its new convenience store prototype in Nacogdoches, Texas in the coming months.

Stoner's Pizza Joint Columbia is open Sunday  Thursday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Friday  Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. For more information, visit https://www.stonerspizzajoint.com, or call 803-708-9333.

Stoner's Pizza Joint features fresh, high quality non-GMO food prepared in-house daily with minimal production time, including proprietary recipes for the pizza dough, sauce, and cheese blend. Menu items are prepared in a state-of-the-art conveyor oven, and include a variety of specialty pizzas, calzones, strombolis, hickory-smoked chicken wings made daily in-house, freshly prepared salads, and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

Stoner's Pizza Joint is currently seeking qualified franchisees to help the brand grow nationwide in college town markets, with a focus on the Southeast region. Prospective franchisees should have a minimum net worth of $250,000. The ideal candidate is a proven multi-unit operator in the restaurant industry and has a strong knowledge of their market. Stoner's Pizza Joint's Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) reveals an estimated initial investment range of $90,000 to $206,000 for the first location, including a franchise fee of $25,000. If franchisees chose to develop multiple units, the franchise fee for three units is $65,000 and, for five units, $95,000.

To learn more about ownership opportunities with Stoner's Pizza Joint, visit https://www.stonerspizzajointfranchise.com/ or contact the Stoner's Pizza Joint Franchise Development team, at [email protected] or call 843-518-1972.

About Stoner' s Pizza Joint

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, Stoner's Pizza Joint is a millennial-focused, quick-service pizza restaurant that uses high quality, fresh ingredients. The company offers a variety of specialty pizzas, hickory-smoked wings made daily in-house, salads, strombolis, and calzones. Today, Stoner's Pizza Joint has grown to nine locations throughout South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. For more information about Stoner's Pizza Joint, visit https://stonerspizzajoint.com/.

About HospitalityX

HospitalityX is a holding company on a mission to create, acquire, build and invest in the best hospitality brands in the world in an effort to grow them through its know-how, expertise, emerging technology and capital. Done through an innovative and playful approach, quality-focused food and beverage experiences, HospitalityX currently owns the concepts Charbar Co., Whiskey Room, Holy Tequila!, Healthy Habit and Stoner's Pizza Joint. To learn more about HospitalityX, visit https://www.hospitalityx.com/.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Caitlin Willard

Fish Consulting

[email protected]

954-893-9150

SOURCE Stoner's Pizza Joint

Related Links

https://www.stonerspizzajoint.com


INDIANA, Pa., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- S&T Bank, a full-service financial institution with assets of $7.1 billion, and locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, is proud to promote six leaders within the Bank. Each individual has been recognized for their critical role in the company's continued growth and success.

Sandy Loperfito has been promoted to executive vice president, deputy chief risk officer and has been with the Bank for the past 28 years. In her expanded leadership role, Sandy will assist S&T's chief risk officer in designing, managing, and monitoring the adequacy of the Enterprise Risk Management Program. She will also be responsible for managing the federal and state regulatory agency relationships. Sandy earned her finance degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania . She is actively involved with several charitable organizations within the community.





has been promoted to executive vice president, deputy chief risk officer and has been with the Bank for the past 28 years. In her expanded leadership role, Sandy will assist S&T's chief risk officer in designing, managing, and monitoring the adequacy of the Enterprise Risk Management Program. She will also be responsible for managing the federal and state regulatory agency relationships. Sandy earned her finance degree from . She is actively involved with several charitable organizations within the community. Jeffrey Bierlein has been promoted to senior vice president, commercial banker. Jeff joined S&T Bank in 2017 after a decade of experience in corporate real estate finance. Jeff will be responsible for leading new business development initiatives and complex commercial loans in central Pennsylvania and southeastern Pennsylvania . Jeff earned his bachelor's degree from Dickinson College and is currently a student of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He plays an active role in enhancing the Lancaster community as a participant in Leadership Lancaster.





has been promoted to senior vice president, commercial banker. Jeff joined S&T Bank in 2017 after a decade of experience in corporate real estate finance. Jeff will be responsible for leading new business development initiatives and complex commercial loans in central and southeastern . Jeff earned his bachelor's degree from and is currently a student of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He plays an active role in enhancing the community as a participant in Leadership Lancaster. David D'Angelo has been promoted to senior vice president, commercial banker after working for the Bank for the past six years. In this new role, David will help build and manage a portfolio of commercial real estate and commercial and industrial (C&I) loans for the Harrisburg , Lancaster , and York markets. David earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his Diploma in Banking from the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison .





has been promoted to senior vice president, commercial banker after working for the Bank for the past six years. In this new role, David will help build and manage a portfolio of commercial real estate and commercial and industrial (C&I) loans for the , , and markets. David earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the and his Diploma in Banking from the Graduate School of Banking at the . Sean Dockery has been promoted to senior vice president, regional business banking team leader and has been on the team for over five years. In his expanded role, Sean will call on new prospects and maintain a network of referral professionals to enhance business development and relationships within the expanding Ohio market. Sean attended Kent State University , Cuyahoga Community College , and completed the Ohio Bankers League Leadership program. Sean has served on the board for the Community Action Council of Portage County for the past five years.





has been promoted to senior vice president, regional business banking team leader and has been on the team for over five years. In his expanded role, Sean will call on new prospects and maintain a network of referral professionals to enhance business development and relationships within the expanding market. Sean attended , , and completed the Ohio Bankers League Leadership program. Sean has served on the board for the Community Action Council of for the past five years. Jonathan Kowalski has been promoted to senior vice president, C&I banking group manager and has been on the team since 2015. In this position, Jon will lead a larger team of C&I relationship managers in the Bank's western Pennsylvania market. Jon earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Allegheny College and is a graduate of the Risk Management Association's Commercial Lending School. Jon is a graduate of Pittsburgh's Leadership Development Initiative program and is a member of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation's Children's Trust.





has been promoted to senior vice president, C&I banking group manager and has been on the team since 2015. In this position, Jon will lead a larger team of C&I relationship managers in the Bank's western market. Jon earned his bachelor's degree in economics from and is a graduate of the Risk Management Association's Commercial Lending School. Jon is a graduate of Leadership Development Initiative program and is a member of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation's Children's Trust. Steven Matzus has been promoted to senior vice president, managed assets administrative and financial risk manager after nearly two decades with S&T. Steve will supervise the operation and personnel that manages the risk profile of the criticized and classified graded corporate relationships. Steve earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Management from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and is an honors recipient of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association Advanced School of Banking. In addition, Steve is an active member of the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg Alumni Association.

"We are pleased to announce the well deserved promotions of these experienced banking professionals," said Todd D. Brice, chief executive officer of S&T Bank. "I am confident that in their expanded roles, they will provide leadership to help us continue to build our company and reward our shareholders."

About S&T Bancorp, Inc.

S&T Bancorp, Inc. is a $7.1 billion bank holding company that is headquartered in Indiana, Pa. and trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol STBA. Its principal subsidiary, S&T Bank, was established in 1902, and operates locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. For more information visit www.stbancorp.com, www.stbank.com, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

SOURCE S&T Bank
"This year we are awarding $50,000 in grant funds to five different research institutions for projects that will investigate and educate the public on the history of chocolate and its impact on American culture," said Gail Broadright, Director Mars Sponsorships. "2018 entries were exceptionally competitive and we feel strongly that these grant winners will lead groundbreaking research into discovering the influence of chocolate on global heritage and culture. We look forward to their outputs on chocolate's role in global history."

Mars Wrigley Confectionery and AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate awarded grants for the following:

Smithsonian Museum of American History : ( Washington, DC ) To Research the Business of Chocolate and present the findings from the research as daily programming for 2 months reaching at least 6,000 visitors.

: ( ) To Research the Business of Chocolate and present the findings from the research as daily programming for 2 months reaching at least 6,000 visitors. The University of Wisconsin : ( La Crosse, WI ) To educate K-8 students in 17 schools in rural Wisconsin and Minnesota on the concepts related to chocolate including history, science, economic, and the environmental issues.

: ( ) To educate K-8 students in 17 schools in rural and on the concepts related to chocolate including history, science, economic, and the environmental issues. The New York Historical Society : ( New York, NY ) To Research, develop, and deliver 2 chocolate focused family programs incorporating history and recipes to teach about the American Revolution.

: ( ) To Research, develop, and deliver 2 chocolate focused family programs incorporating history and recipes to teach about the American Revolution. The Betsy Ross House : ( Philadelphia, PA ) To Research the role chocolate played in the lives of four middle class women in 18th century Philadelphia  Betsy Ross , Mary Crathorne , Hannah Lithgow , and Phyllis, a freed slave.

: ( ) To Research the role chocolate played in the lives of four middle class women in 18th century  , , , and Phyllis, a freed slave. The Office of Historic Alexandria: ( Alexandria, VA ) To Research the importation, sale, use and consumption of chocolate by people in Alexandria, VA during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Last year's grant winnersThe New York Historical Society, Fort Ticonderoga and Jared Hardesty with The Old North Foundation (Please make sure you have correct names) made presentations to their peers during the annual meeting highlighting how last year's funds were used to meet institutional goals.

Mars plans to continue to award grants on an annual basis and the submission period for the 2019 awards begins in the summer of 2019 at www.AmericanHeritageChocolate.com. AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate is a line of artisanal chocolate products developed from ingredient lists from the 1750s. Developed by Mars Wrigley Confectionery, AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate helps illuminate the stories of our collective history - from chocolate's Mesoamerican roots, dating back over 3500 years, to its place in the lives of European and Colonial American families, to its role in popular culture today. While its rich history provides context for this intriguing global narrative, it is chocolate's future, and its story of connection, that brings people together, spanning cultures, time and place, that inspires the Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Chocolate History Research Grant to push the boundaries of discovery.

About AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate:

In 2003, Mars Incorporated undertook an extensive global research initiative to uncover the history of chocolate and its global impact. A group from Mars led a multi-disciplinary team of more than 115 experts from around the globe who accessed over 200 archives, libraries, museums and private collections to reveal chocolate's origin and history in the Americas. "CHOCOLATE: History, Culture, and Heritage," (Wiley, 2009), has contributions from 45 authors, including researchers, culinary chefs, food scientists and historians from leading historic institutions.

Out of this research project, the AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate brand was developed in 2006 by Mars Chocolate North America (now Mars Wrigley Confectionery) to help educate consumers about the history of our multi-cultural nation through the engaging story of one of our most beloved foodschocolate! With a flavour profile drawn directly from the archives of chocolate's historic past, AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate provides an inspiring, versatile way to make, bake, drink, explore, share and show love. With AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate, individuals have a culinary partner for making new stories of their own - from creating to entertaining to educating. Rainforest Alliance Certified and made with no preservatives, AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate currently comes in four NEW unique formats: Tasting Squares, Tablet Bars, Grated Chocolate for baking/drinking and Gourmet Hot Cocoa.

In 2015, Mars launched "Great Moments in Chocolate History," a book created in partnership with National Geographic. "Great Moments in Chocolate History," the first book in a two-book agreement between Mars and National Geographic, is authored by Howard-Yana Shapiro, Chief Agricultural Officer, Mars Incorporated. The book brings chocolate's story to life through detailed information and extraordinary images based on decade's worth of research by Mars and an uncommon collaboration of history leader and food historians. In 2018 Mars and National Geographic published an Educators guide with a 14-week STEM based curriculum for grades 4-8 called, Great Moments in World History: Global Stories Where Chocolate Sparked Discovery, Innovation, and Imagination! More information about both books and chocolate history is available here.

2018 also marks the launch of a partnership with First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise focused on equal access to quality education for kids in need. Their co-programming includes creating special teacher appreciation packages for educators serving children in low income communities across the U.S., offering teachers credit toward purchasing material on the First Book ecommerce platform, and holding virtual classroom experiences with the brand's Chocolate Historian David Borghesani.

AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate is sold in over 100 fine gift shops at historic sites, museums and historic inns across the USA and Canada. The brand can also be found on Amazon.com, at M&M's World in New York City and Las Vegas, and at the Ethel M chocolate store in Henderson, Nevada. For a complete listing, or to purchase online, please visit our store locator on our website.

Learn more about AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate at www.Facebook.com/AmericanHeritageChocolate, on Instagram at @AmericanHeritageChocolate, Twitter @Choc_history, Tumblr @americanheritagechocolate.tumblr.com, and on Pinterest @Chochistory. Or, visit us on YouTube @AmericanHeritageChoc to hear all about "A Day Without Chocolate."

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars is a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love. With an excess of $35 billion in sales, the company is a global business that produces some of the world's best-loved brands: M&M'S, SNICKERS, TWIX, MILKY WAY, DOVE, PEDIGREE, ROYAL CANIN, WHISKAS, EXTRA, ORBIT, 5, SKITTLES, UNCLE BEN'S, MARS DRINKS and COCOAVIA. Mars also provides veterinary health services that include BANFIELD Pet Hospitals, Blue Pearl, VCA and Pet Partners. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five Principles  Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom  inspire its more than 100,000 Associates to create value for all its partners and deliver growth they are proud of every day.

For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Contact: Arabella Smith Valerie Donati

Mars Wrigley Confectionery Brand Building Communications

1-201-841-3495 [email protected]

SOURCE AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate

Related Links

http://www.americanheritagechocolate.com


MANILA, Philippines and ARMONK, N.Y., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), a universal bank headquartered in Manila, have signed a $260M, multi-year services agreement. IBM will provide IT infrastructure services to support an agile IT and hybrid cloud, as well as digital development capabilities to accelerate BPI's digital transformation.

BPI is the third-largest bank in the Philippines in terms of assets, with more than 9 million customers. The bank continually improves the digital banking experience for customers by investing in technology, including this renewed IT services agreement with IBM, across online, mobile apps, ATMs, CAMs (Cash Accept Machines) and branches.

BPI aims to maintain an agile and compliant IT environment to maintain leadership in the Philippine banking industry. To achieve this, BPI will leverage IT infrastructure and hybrid cloud management services from IBM that delivers seamless technology regardless of whether it resides within BPI's existing infrastructure or its private or public cloud environments. In doing so, IBM will host the bank's digital solutions of today and in the coming years.

As part of the Digital Experience Solution, IBM and BPI have also designed an IT environment that supports an open API economy strategy that makes the most of the bank's data to create compelling customer applications and services. The agreement will help to achieve some of the bank's digital transformation goals which include the continual upgrades for bank branches with new technology as well as other financial services apps for customers.

The services provided by IBM will have "born in the cloud experiences" at its core to support BPI's Hybrid Cloud Strategy, including Infrastructure as Code, and an open API consumption. IBM Security services will underpin the success of the IT services strategy designed by IBM for BPI.



"The rapidly changing business environment requires us to accelerate the pace of our digital transformation. We need to continue to be responsive to an ever-changing market," said Cezar P. Consing, BPI President and CEO. "Our extended agreement with IBM will help us become more agile in introducing innovations and transforming how we do things in BPI."



"Banks like BPI are going through a major shift and embracing a complete transformation of their business with advanced services to respond to the needs of today's connected consumer," said Martin Jetter, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Technology Services. "We are excited about helping one of the leading banks in South East Asia power its core IT infrastructure and bring new digital experiences with IBM Cloud in a secure and open environment to help prepare BPI for the future of banking."

Media Contact

Kaveri Camire

[email protected]

1 (914) 625-6395

SOURCE IBM

Related Links

http://www.ibm.com


CHICAGO, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hireology , the leading recruitment CRM for multi-location, decentralized enterprises, has developed a full-stack recruitment management platform to help dealers build their best teams. Hireology's Recruitment CRM creates a competitive advantage for dealers by transforming the recruitment journey from a transactional, ad-hoc process to a deliberate, ongoing talent-nurturing one that helps dealers see the greatest value from their greatest investment  people.

"In an industry that faces both a talent shortage and perception problem, dealers must be more proactive in managing their single greatest operating cost and competitive advantage  human capital," said Adam Robinson, Co-Founder and CEO of Hireology. "Hireology specifically designed our Recruitment CRM to apply the same tactics dealers use to digitally retail their cars. We help dealers meet their job candidates where they are to build better teams and positively impact their bottom-line."

The platform features Hireology's Attract, Hire and Integrate products, each of which streamlines every touchpoint along the applicant journey from attracting talent, hiring candidates and engaging employees. For a potential applicant, that relationship begins the moment they first interface with a dealer  whether it's via their website, a job board or the show floor. As a result, it's critical to extend a dealership's brand equity into the hiring process  from tailored postings, thoughtful applications and rapid response times  into onboarding and beyond.

For a dealer with open positions, Hireology's recruitment CRM can reduce the time-to-hire. On average, dealers take 10 days to review an applicant at a cost of $1,000 per day in lost revenue due to unfilled roles. Hireology's platform reduces that time to 3 days. It also helps dealers extract greater value from their new hires by operationalizing onboarding and employee integration by getting them on the floor and contributing to the bottom line.

Hireology's recruitment CRM also features new functionality including added SEO capabilities, text-to-recruit options, passive sourcing, and candidate records. As a result, this platform enables dealers to manage all hiring activity  job descriptions, open position promotion, interview scheduling, background checks  and onboarding. Post-hire, dealers can further manage all payroll, human resources, time and attendance, and benefits needs in one place.

By investing in their employment brand, dealers can future-proof their businesses by building the best teams that are invested in the company's success.

To learn more about Hireology's recruitment CRM platform, visit Hireology at Booth #3401 S at NADA 2019 from January 24-27 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. Adam Robinson will be speaking at:

"Solve Job Seeker Perception with Recruitment Marketing," Thursday 4 p.m.

"Build Your Best Team Using Insights Driven Decision Making," Friday 10:30 a.m.

"Rethink Your Fixed Ops People Strategy to Drive Profits," Saturday 10:30 a.m.

About Hireology

Hireology's recruitment CRM empowers multi-location, decentralized enterprises and independently owned businesses to build their best teams with confidence. The company equips HR and business leaders with the skills and technology needed to manage the full employee lifecycle  from hire to retire  in one seamless platform. With focused expertise across several industries  including retail, automotive, healthcare and professional and consumer services  more than 6,500 businesses today trust Hireology to help build great teams, lift customer service and drive profitability. For more information, visit www.hireology.com .

Kristin Tschantz

Manager, Marketing

[email protected]

847.528.0418



SOURCE Hireology

Related Links

http://www.hireology.com


Dorothea Lange (18951965) is recognized as one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century, and her insightful and compassionate work has exerted a profound influence on the development of modern documentary photography. With hardship and human suffering as a consistent theme throughout her career, Lange created arresting portraits with the aim of sparking reform. Politics of Seeing encompasses approximately 130 vintage and modern photographs and personal memorabilia, including a handwritten letter from the author John Steinbeck. Portions of a documentary produced by one of Lange's granddaughters will also be on view.

Upon Lange's death in 1965, her husband, the labor economist Paul Taylor, gave her extensive archive of more than twenty thousand negatives, six thousand prints, and assorted field notes and letters to the Oakland Museum of California, which is located near their longtime home in Berkeley. The exhibition is drawn from that noteworthy collection. In addition to appearing in Nashville and Oakland, Politics of Seeing has been presented at the Barbican in London and the Jeu de Paume in Paris.

Born in 1895 in Hoboken, New Jersey, Lange knew from a young age that she wanted to be a photographer. In San Francisco, she began work in a photography shop and quickly became enmeshed within the city's artistic community. In 1919, she opened what would become a successful portrait studio. Lange shifted her attention from capturing the city's elite to the impoverished unemployed figures she saw on the streets through her studio window as the devastating effects of the economic depression spread throughout the country. "Lange applied her skill as a portraitist to connect with her subjects throughout her career," says Frist Art Museum curator Katie Delmez. "Her empathy for the 'walking wounded,' which she attributed to her own experience of living with a physical disability, led her to create photographs meant to raise awareness of suffering and injustices."

In addition to recording scenes of urban poverty, Lange documented the plight of American refugees who had left the Midwest because of drought and dust storms. The 1936 photograph Migrant Mother, of a mother and three children in a pea-pickers' camp in Nipomo, California, has become an emblem of the hardship endured by many during the American Great Depression. Lange worked for the government's newly established Resettlement Administration (later called the Farm Security Administration), and her images were powerful arguments for government assistance. In southern states, Lange saw and made images that exposed racial and economic power relationships that led to exploitative tenant farming practices.

World War II, and the industrial jobs it created, helped bring the United States out of its economic depression. When President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order calling for the forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans on the West Coast in the wake of the Pearl Harbor bombing, the government hired Lange again to photograph the process. "This time, though, she was not in agreement with the government's motivations, which she saw as racist and unfair," says Delmez. "Her disgust at the policy and her sympathy for her subjects is evident in her photographs. Most were censored and remained unseen for decades."

Through these works and others, including empathetic portraits demonstrating the lack of equity in our urban criminal justice system, Politics of Seeing offers a comprehensive examination of a woman who is widely recognized as one of the most important documentary photographers of the twentieth century. "Although Lange's photographs were taken over half a century ago, many of the issues they address remain relevant today," says Delmez. "Poverty, environmental degradation, the treatment of immigrants, and racism, as well as the role of images in shaping public opinion and political positions, are topics very much on our minds in today's turbulent climate."

Exhibition Credit

Organized by the Oakland Museum of California

Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing is supported in part by the Oakland Museum Women's Board, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Susie Tompkins Buell Fund, Ann Hatch and Paul Discoe, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, and Peter Rossi/Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

Sponsor Acknowledgment

Silver Sponsor: Ameriprise Financial

This exhibition is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

About the Frist Art Museum

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the Frist Art Museum offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways. For additional information, call 615.244.3340 or visit FristArtMuseum.org.

SOURCE Frist Art Museum

Related Links

https://fristartmuseum.org/calendar/detail/dorothea-lange


RAMAT GAN, Israel, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

EarlySense, the market leader in contact-free continuous monitoring solutions across the care continuum, announced today that its 10,000 installed systems have surpassed one million patients monitored. With growth stemming from within the company itself, and via partners such as Philips and the world's leading hospital bed manufacturer, Hill-Rom, EarlySense expects to monitor an additional estimated three million patients in the next three years.

EarlySense's continuous monitoring sensors are projected to help global medical institutions collectively save more than $3 billion over the next five years, with per bed savings of over $10,000 per year. These savings are realized due to EarlySense assisting health clinicians:

Shorten length of stay [1]

Reduce Code Blue cardiac arrests by 86% [1]

Reduce ICU patient days by 45% [1]

Reduce Hospital readmissions from post-acute care by 19%[2]

Over the past year, EarlySense helped clinicians save more than 180,000 patient hospital days, assisted in the prevention of over 14,000 pressure ulcers, and also helped hospitals save over three thousand lives.

"Every day, one thousand patients die unnecessarily in hospitals across the United States. Tools like our advanced sensing and data analytics solutions increase the number of patients continuously monitored, assisting clinicians to drastically reduce that difficult statistic," said Avner Halperin, Co-founder and CEO of EarlySense. "Surpassing one million patients is a tremendous milestone for EarlySense and for healthcare systems worldwide, proving that continuous monitoring is becoming the new standard of care in the healthcare industry. As a result of our partnership with Hill-Rom, we expect this number to grow exponentially, empowering clinicians to save thousands of lives and significantly reducing costs for healthcare systems across the globe."

Placed under a bed mattress, EarlySense's patented sensor utilizes artificial intelligence and big data analysis to accurately monitor heart rate, respiratory rate, motion and sleep. The medical technology is FDA cleared, CE-marked and approved in South Korea.

About EarlySense

EarlySense is the global leader in contact-free, continuous monitoring solutions for the healthcare continuum. Used worldwide in hospitals, post-acute care facilities, and homes, EarlySense assists clinicians in early detection of patient deterioration. The solution has been proven to help prevent adverse events, including code blue events which are a result of cardiac or respiratory arrest, preventable ICU transfers, patient falls, pressure ulcers, and hospital readmissions. EarlySense's FDA-cleared solutions leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) and big data analytics to provide actionable health insights and improve clinical outcomes. The company has partnered with leading global technology companies including Hill-Rom, Philips, Welch Allyn, Mitsui and Beurer. EarlySense is based in Ramat Gan, Israel and Woburn, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.earlysense.com.

Follow EarlySense on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

References:

Brown, Harvey et al. Continuous Monitoring in an Inpatient Medical-Surgical Unit: A Controlled Clinical Trial. The American Journal of Medicine, Volume 127, Issue 3, 226 - 232 https://www.slideshare.net/FrostandSullivan/technology-as-a-competitive-edge-for-post-acute-providers

Media Relations Contact :

Goel Jasper

Finn Partners

+1-929-222-8002

[email protected]

Company Contact:

Hila Peleg

+972-54-527-3117

[email protected]

SOURCE EarlySense
"Super Bowl is one of the most exciting times of the year for our team, and people all over the country. Those who wait for the best commercials all year expect Budweiser to show up big, and we felt there was no better way to show up this year than to talk about our commitment to Renewable Electricity," said Ricardo Marques, VP of Marketing Core & Value brands at Anheuser-Busch. "We are proud to be the first Anheuser-Busch brand and the first major beer brand to be brewed with 100% renewable electricity from wind power and hopefully we can use this moment to inspire others in our pursuit for a more sustainable future."

To further emphasize the importance of Budweiser's commitment, the company is donating clean electricity to Atlanta to power the city the week of Super Bowl. Atlanta is a city that has set remarkably high sustainability goals for itself  and by donating this electricity, Bud is offsetting 100% of the electricity used to power Super Bowl week with clean, renewable electricity.

Atlanta is the largest city in the South to make the pledge to clean energy and develop a blueprint showing how to get there. As Atlanta hosts its first Super Bowl since 2000, Budweiser's donation aligns with the city's goal of reducing the environmental impact of the Super Bowl and creating a lasting legacy.

The program also builds on Anheuser-Busch's ambitious 2025 Sustainability Goals, which guide the brewer's industry-leading sustainability efforts in the U.S.

"As a member of RE100, Anheuser-Busch is committed to sourcing 100 percent renewable electricity. We are thrilled the company is spotlighting this to its consumers during the Super Bowl," said Amy Davidsen, Executive Director  North America, The Climate Group. "It's exciting to see Budweiser partner with Atlanta to power the city with renewables, too. By working together to drive down emissions, businesses and local governments can accelerate the clean energy transition around the world."

To continue doing its part with people all across the country, Budweiser wants to inspire communities to adopt the use of clean electricity in their homes. With the help of Drift, a leader in the clean electricity space, the two brands are making it easier than ever for people to upgrade their own homes and opt for green electricity sources. Beginning today, through Sunday, February 7, Budweiser and Drift will offer one month's free trial of a green plan to consumers who sign up as a thank you for making the switch.

Fans can watch "Wind Never Felt Better" on Budweiser's YouTube page and follow the brand on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. To make the switch to clean electricity, visit joindrift.com/Budweiser.

The creative for Budweiser's commercial is led by DAVID the agency, out of Miami.

To learn more about Anheuser-Busch's sustainability efforts and commitment to renewable electricity, visit https://www.anheuser-busch.com/betterworld.html

About Budweiser

Budweiser, an American-style lager, was introduced in 1876 when company founder Adolphus Busch set out to create the United States' first truly national beer brand  brewed to be universally popular and transcend regional tastes. Each batch of Budweiser stays true to the same family recipe used by five generations of Busch family brewmasters. Budweiser is a medium-bodied, flavorful, crisp and pure beer with blended layers of premium American and European hop aromas, brewed for the perfect balance of flavor and refreshment. Budweiser is made using time-honored methods including "kraeusening" for natural carbonation and Beechwood aging, which results in unparalleled balance and character.

For more information, contact:

Jennifer Goldsmith

[email protected]

Chris El-Dabh

[email protected]

*Electricity is one type of energy we use to brew. Find out more at Budweiser.com.

SOURCE Budweiser
MIAMI, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Aquila, a full-service, on-site health, fitness and wellbeing management group, announced today that it has been selected as winner in four categories of the ACQ5 2018 Global Awards by ACQ5. Aquila's President and CEO, I. Yvan Miklin, was also named "Gamechanger of the Year."

The ACQ5 Global Awards celebrate achievement and innovation, recognizing organizations and individuals selected by members within their own industry. Winners are selected for having demonstrated the greatest impact in their industry with their achievements, professionalism and best practices.

Aquila ACQ5 Global Awards (https://www.acq5.com/magazines/123_45a) 2018 include:

US - NICHE CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR (HEALTH / FITNESS)

US - BRAND OF THE YEAR (HEALTH / FITNESS)

US - FITNESS / WELLBEING MANAGEMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR

US - SCALE-UP COMPANY OF THE YEAR (HEALTH / FITNESS)

US - GAMECHANGER OF THE YEAR, I. YVAN MIKLIN

The ACQ Annual Award Framework is a structured assessment model that enables participating organizations to be measured against industry-leading performance standards.

"These awards sum up the amazing work of our employees, partners, and customers who make our mission of impacting human fitness and wellbeing a priority," said Miklin. "To be recognized in 5 different categories by the ACQ5 is a true honor."

About ACQ5 Global Awards

ACQ5 is a leading corporate magazine news site. Serving the finance sector since 2003, ACQ5 provides its Global audience of over 168,000 subscribers with the information behind the headlines. ACQ5, the English-language magazine news portal is read exclusively by senior executives holding power and authority at major organizations. ACQ5 achieves its objectives through unbiased, concentrated, up to date flagship coverage, country reports and multilateral documents, in some cases commissioned by corporate, governmental and multilateral institutions. ACQ5 is a valuable addition to the sources of expert information required by leading businessmen when they are fine-tuning their corporate strategies. For more information, please visit https://www.ACQ5.com or contact ACQ5 at +44(0)871 218 2470.

About Aquila

For nearly a quarter of a century, Aquila has specialized in fitness center design, management and programming, employee wellness programs and employee health and wellbeing engagement. The Aquila model provides demonstrable ROI through data gathering and reporting. For more information on Aquila please visit www.aquilaltd.com or contact Aquila at 305.400.8444 or [email protected].

SOURCE Aquila

Related Links

https://aquilaltd.com


Posted Tuesday, January 22, 2019 4:12 pm

The Centralia Police Department says a woman and her two grandchildren who were reported missing Tuesday have been located safe east of Packwood.

Jennifer M. Glaze and her 12-year-old grandson, 6-year-old granddaughter and golden retriever were stranded in a vehicle that became stuck in the snow on a forest road, spending the entirety of Tuesday night into Wednesday morning in the vehicle.

Glaze had been driving in the area looking around for new camping spots with her grandkids, police say.

Due to their location, they didnt have cell reception, so they couldnt call for help. They spent the night huddled in a Chevrolet Tahoe with some snack food available.

At around 10 a.m. Wednesday, a citizen was driving in the area looking for animal tracks, the press release reads, and came upon the stuck Tahoe. The citizen then transported them all to the Packwood fire station.

No one was injured, and all were in good health.

The Centralia Police Department wants to thank the Lewis County Sheriffs Office and all the volunteers who assisted with this case, the press release reads.

Prior to them being found, the department had issued an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory Tuesday afternoon, reporting the three had been last seen Monday.
LONDON, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

APRIL International Care, the international private medical insurance (IPMI) division of APRIL Group, has launched MyHealth France, an IPMI policy designed to meet the needs of expatriates living in France in both the pre and post Brexit era.

France is currently home to 1.3 million expatriates of all nationalities, a figure which is expected to rise to 1.5 million within the next two years. UK nationals make up 150,000 of this group and are the largest single foreign nationality resident in the country.

For expatriates who are no longer covered by the health system in their country of origin, the new policy from APRIL International Care can be used to meet top up expenses, which typically are not covered by the basic French social security system. These can include items such as the cost of a private room in hospitals and optical and dental services. The new policy offers a modular structure with five levels of cover to enable residents to pick their own level of protection. No age limit applies and no restrictions apply where pre-existing conditions exist.

Commenting on the new policy launch, APRIL International UK Managing Director, Joe Thomas said, "This new policy will give considerable comfort and reassurance to UK and other nationals living in France, whilst Brexit negotiations continue. Healthcare insurance and healthcare costs in general have emerged as a major concern for all foreign nationals living in France, particularly UK nationals, so this solution should provide a clear way forward."

Importantly for expatriates, the new policy is administered in English and includes a direct settlement network for medical expenses of 156,000 healthcare professionals within France when treatment is required. . Policies are taken out on an individual basis, with premiums set according to age. The amount of medical costs reimbursed depends upon the level of cover taken and is paid after any French social security contribution. MyHealth France also offers policyholders up to 90 days of temporary cover if they travel outside France, for example, to visit their country of origin.

APRIL International Care will be exhibiting on stand P251 at the France Show which takes place at London Olympia from 25 to 27 January 25, where experts will be on hand to discuss healthcare questions in France.

About APRIL

Established in 1988, APRIL is an international insurance group operating in 31 countries. Its goal is to offer a simpler and more accessible experience for policyholders. Its 3800 staff design, distribute, and manage specialized insurance solutions (health, damage, mobility and legal protection), and provide support for APRIL's partners and clients, including private individuals, professionals and companies. Listed on Euronext Paris (Compartment B), the group recorded 928.4 million euros in sales in 2017.

SOURCE APRIL International Care
Breitbart

January 23, 2019

A gang of between 20 to 30 young men, described by police as being predominantly migrants, attacked local Germans as well as employees at the train station in the city of Gelsenkirchen over the weekend.

The incident took place on Saturday night with the gang of mostly migrant youths, who were identified as such by employees of the tram company Bogestra who are themselves of migrant background, attacking passengers at the metro station, emptying fire extinguishers and causing havoc, Focus reports.

Several employees of the tram company were also struck with stones by the gang and quickly called the police, who were only able to arrest three members of the gang as the rest of the youths involved had fled the scene by the time they arrived.

The area around the central station in Gelsenkirchen has become a security issue according to police, who also arrested another man on the same night, already wanted for a separate crime, near the station.

The suspect attempted to flee the officers, forcing both he and an officer through a glass window and causing both men to require hospitalisation.

Read more

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 7:04 am

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January 23, 2019

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is making her boldest pitch yet for her latest socialist pipe dream.

While speaking with activist Ta-Nehisi Coates on Monday at an event honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., the 29-year-old lawmaker appeared to be arguing for racial reparations in America.

Until America tells the truth about itself, were not going to heal, she said in a clip posted by Grabiens Tom Elliott.

When we tell the stories of the mistakes we have made in the past, economically speaking, when we talk about the issue of reparations, people think, you know, people think, she rambled, clearly struggling to verbalize her thought.

And here's @AOC arguing for racial reparations over  the New Deal? "Until America tells the truth about itself, we're not going to heal." pic.twitter.com/TnIDl5RLCl  Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 22, 2019

Reparations for slavery. But really, economically speaking, reparations are for the damage done by the New Deal and red lining, she added.

After a slight, barely noticeable applause from the audience, Ocasio-Cortez went on to claim that the government at the time drew red lines around black communities so that they could not be around white communities.

She claimed white people got home loans and access to the basic bedrock of wealth for many years to help white America benefit over all other communities.

Ocasio-Cortez told the audience that slavery was not 500 years ago and said that white people today still benefit from privelage.

The 29-year-old socialist rounded out her comments by claiming Germany gave out reparations years ago as a way to heal communities.

She appeared to be advocating for some form of compensation to the descendants of Africans who had been enslaved many years ago.

Later in the event, Ocasio-Cortez argued that climate change is our World War II.

AOC on millennials and climate change: Like, this is our World War II. pic.twitter.com/f8Pu1v8gDf  Natalie Johnson (@nataliejohnsonn) January 22, 2019

She was attempting to argue that World War II  where over 60 million people were killed  is comparable to climate change, which was another push for her Green New Deal.

I think that the part of it that is generational is that millennials and people, in Gen Z, and all these folks that come after us are looking up and were like, the world is gonna end in 12 years if we dont address climate change. And your biggest issue is, your biggest issue is how are we going to pay for it?  and like this is the war, this is our World War II, Ocasio-Cortez began.

I think for younger people, were looking at this are more like, how are we saying lets take it easy when 3,000 Americans died last year, how are we saying lets take it easy when the nth person died from our cruel and unjust criminal justice system? she asked.

How are we saying take it easy, when the America that were living in today is dystopian with people sleeping in their cars so they can work a second job without healthcare and were told to settle down. Its a fundamental separation between that fierce urgency of now, the why we cant wait that King spoke of, Ocasio-Cortez added.

Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal, which would require the U.S. to completely get off fossil fuels within 10 years, would trillions of dollars.

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 6:28 am

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January 23, 2019

The upcoming speech by the German chancellor comes just a day after she and the French president signed a new treaty on Franco-German cooperation, which, as described by Angela Merkel is a step toward the European army.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Merkel is expected to speak about the issues and challenges the EU has been facing, including the refugee crisis that rocked Europe in 2015 and has barely simmered down since.

The speech comes just a day after Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a new treaty on Franco-German Cooperation and Integration in the German city of Aachen, which, among other things, aims to boost defence cooperation between the two countries, reaffirms their readiness to help if the other one is attacked. In addition, the agreement focuses on border regions and the facilitation of trans-border projects.

When commening on the matter on Tuesday, the German chancellor described the treaty as a step toward the creation of a joint European army proposed by the French president, but strongly criticised by US President Donald Trump as insulting.

For his part, Macron later told a forum after the signing ceremony that as authoritarian powers are emerging everywhere lets build a real European army to protect ourselves and have a real foreign policy.

Both Macron and Merkel have pushed the idea of a joint European Army for the bloc that would be part of the wider transatlantic NATO alliance.

EU foreign policy and defence chief Federica Mogherini rejected this idea in November, just as NATO head Jens Stoltenberg warned that EU efforts should not compete with the alliance, which he called the bedrock of European security.Washington-Brussels tensions over the EU army followed multiple statements made by US President Donald Trump, who has been accusing NATO members of freeloading off the United States. According to Trump, the United States is spending far more on NATO than any other country, while the alliance benefits Europe much more than the US.

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 6:48 am

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January 23, 2019

President Donald Trump earlier tweeted that social media and a vast number of media outlets have been verbally attacking a group of students wearing MAGA hats, who were falsely accused of harassing a Native American protester, saying it has become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be.

Nick Sandmann, who has probably become the most famous MAGA hat-wearing teen after being falsely accused of confronting Nathan Phillips, a 64-year-old Native American, believes his actions were not disrespectful.

Speaking with NBCs Savannah Guthrie, Sandmann, who was filmed smiling in the face of Phillips, while he was beating his drum, said that he had every right to stand before the man.

My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr Phillips. I respect him, I would like to talk to him. In hindsight, I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing, he said.

"Do you feel from this experience that you owe anybody an apology? Do you see your own fault in any way? Tune in to @NBCNightlyNews for a preview of @SavannahGuthrie's interview with Nick Sandmann. Full interview tomorrow on TODAY. pic.twitter.com/7Croh0Toyj  TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 22, 2019

The boys interview comes shortly after an earlier statement, in which he said that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to [defuse] the situation. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand.

In a parallel development, Twitter has suspended the account named @2020fight that shared the video of the viral standoff between Covington Catholic High School students wearing MAGA hats and Phillips, which prompted a wave of racism accusations against the boys.The account is assumed to belong to a California schoolteacher, who posted the clip with the caption this MAGA loser gleefully bothering a Native American protester at the Indigenous Peoples March on 18 January.

While @2020fight was not the first to share it, that particular tweet and caption helped promote it and foment a nationwide controversy, reportedly racking up over 2.5 million views and 14,400 retweets.

The account was reportedly frozen after CNN Business inquired about the users profile picture, which appeared not to be of a schoolteacher, but a Brazil-based blogger.

Deliberate attempts to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter by using misleading account information is a violation of the Twitter Rules, a spokesperson for the social media platform said in a statement to The Hill.

The video, shared by @2020fight, showed boys in hats with Trumps signature brand surrounding a Native American man as he beat his hand drum. Initial media reports suggested that the students were chanting and harassing the elder, with the camera largely focusing on Sandmanns smiling face.

Shortly after the clip led to a widespread condemnation on social media and beyond, with the boys being slammed as racist and disrespectful to Phillips, a full video of the confrontation emerged, showing that the Native American man was the first to approach the group of MAGA kids. Phillips walked up to Sandmann and started beating his drum.As Sandmann later explained, he didnt step aside and smiled in the mans face in order to let him know that he was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation.

After facing overwhelming backlash, Sandmann issued a statement, saying that misinformation and outright lies were being spread about the encounter. He elaborated that a group of African-American protesters shouted hateful things at him and his schoolmates.

The protestor everyone has seen in the video began playing his drum as he waded into the crowd, which parted for him. I did not see anyone try to block his path. He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face. He played his drum the entire time he was in my face, he wrote.

Addressing the widespread indignation and false accusations, US President Donald Trump described the incident as a symbol of fake news:

Looking like Nick Sandman & Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgements proving out to be false  smeared by media. Not good, but making big comeback! New footage shows that media was wrong about teens encounter with Native American @TuckerCarlson  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good  maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 6:46 am

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Michael Snyder

End Of The American Dream

January 23, 2019

More than anything else, wearing a MAGA hat is a way to publicly identify yourself as a Trump supporter.

Of course other politicians have used apparel to promote themselves in the past, but when Donald Trump introduced the red MAGA cap early on in his presidential run, it changed everything. Today, the red MAGA hat has become an iconic symbol that is instantly recognizable everywhere in the entire country, but it is also a lightning rod that can provoke a violent backlash from those on the left. And for millions of teens that wish to rebel against the dominant politically-correct culture of the day, such a symbol can be irresistible, and perhaps that is why so many of them are now wearing MAGA hats. The following originally comes from a Vox article entitled It isnt just the Covington Catholic students  MAGA hats are a teen trend

MAGA hats, however, hold special significance for some middle and high school students. Travel to any tourist destination in DC and youll see swaths of school groups, many of them wearing hats purchased at nearby souvenir shops.

Of course Vox is definitely not applauding these teens for wearing these hats. In fact, the article goes on to state that MAGA hats are a familiar marker of exclusionary preteen politics

But for those for whom the phrase Make America Great Again refers to only a small slice of who or what America is, it isnt just a hat. One Muslim American mother whose son went on a middle school trip to DC in which every single white kid besides maybe one or two returned wearing a MAGA hat said that the red caps became a familiar marker of exclusionary preteen politics.

The author of that article would have never made the same sort of accusation about groups of teens that were wearing Obama caps, because that would not be a politically-correct thing to do.

But somewhere along the line it became acceptable to label Donald Trump, all Republicans and anyone that supports them as racists, and all of this constant fueling of anger and hatred is going to have very serious implications for our nation down the road.

If you doubt this, just look at what just happened to the Covington kids. Photos and video clips that were completely taken out of context resulted in calls for violence against them from liberals all across the country

Tucker Carlson excoriated famous liberals and a few anti-Trump GOP who called for the harassment, assault and murder of a group of Kentucky high school students who were falsely accused of bigotry against a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, at a pro-life demonstration on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Based on an out-of-context staredown between student Nick Sandmann and Phillips, high-profile liberals across Twitter went on a blitzkrieg of fake news over the weekend  falsely claiming that the Covington High School group harassed Phillips while chanting build the wall  which never happened.

And many public figures jumped at the chance to condemn these kids

Covington Mayor Joe Meyer called the students appalling. Presidential candidate and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., praised the Native American for his dignity and strength in the face of the teenagers hateful taunts. CNNs Reza Aslan asked if anyone had ever seen a more punchable face than this kids. The ostensibly conservative National Review declared, The Covington students might as well have spit on the Cross.

Of course as more video evidence emerged, it quickly became clear that it was actually a group of radical leftist protesters that were attempting to intimidate those kids. As one group of protesters shouted insults at the kids that I cant even print in this space, Nathan Phillips approached Nick Sandmann and started beating a drum just inches from his face.

Who does such a thing to a young kid?

And then somehow the media got everyone to believe that young Nick Sandmann was the aggressor, which was not true at all. But what most people will ultimately remember about this story is the narrative that Sandmann was attempting to intimidate a member of the Native American community while wearing a large red MAGA hat on his head.

The fury that has been directed at Sandmann has been off the charts. For example, Hollywood producer Jack Morrissey suggested that Sandmann should be fed into a woodchipper

#MAGAkids go screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper, Morrissey tweeted with a photo of a woodchipper.

For now, Sandmann still apparently has his Twitter account.

As does Kathy Griffin, who said things about Sandmann on Twitter that I cannot even repeat.

And what was Sandmanns crime?

Simply smiling in the face of insults and persecution while wearing a MAGA hat.

The White House reached out to the Covington kids to show their support, and there are rumors that they may eventually visit the White House

President Donald Trumps administration reached out to offer support for the Covington Catholic High School students involved in a confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial over the weekend, but officials pushed back on a report that the students would visit the White House this week. Weve reached out and voiced our support, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. If the president does have them here, it will be sometime after the shutdown, if that happens.

Hopefully that visit will take place, because after everything that they have been through those kids certainly deserve it.

As for Trump, things are about to get a lot more uncomfortable for him in Washington. On Tuesday, we learned that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is joining the House Oversight Committee

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is among a group of progressive lawmakers joining the House Oversight Committee, Politico reported Tuesday. In addition to Ocasio-Cortez, fellow freshmen Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) are also set to join the committee, as is Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), according to Politico.

If alarm bells are going off in your head, there is a good reason for that, because that is the committee that is expected to open investigations into Trump and his administration during the new Congress

The Oversight Committee is the main investigative committee in the House and is expected to open investigations into Trump and his administration during the new Congress. Ocasio-Cortez is also set to join the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees banks and the financial sector.

We knew that this would happen if the American people gave control of the House to the Democrats. During the 2018 election, we needed to send Donald Trump some reinforcements, and we didnt get that done.

But now the 2020 election is coming up, and it will probably be the most pivotal election in any of our lifetimes up to this point. It will be another opportunity to fundamentally change the direction of our government, and this time we need to make it happen.

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 6:37 am

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RT

January 23, 2019

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to prevent President Donald Trump from withdrawing the country from NATO, but called on European allies to pay their dues  just like Trump has demanded.

The bipartisan NATO Support Act was passed on Tuesday in a 357-22 vote that reiterated US commitment to the military bloc and included a provision that rejects any effort made by the president to withdraw from it, banning funding for such actions.

Its crazy that we have to be introducing this bill. But it is, unfortunately, both necessary and urgent,said Rep. Tom Malinowski, one of the Democratic co-sponsors of the bill. I believe its necessary that I take the president of the United States seriously. President Trump has made no secret of his disdain for NATO and his willingness to consider leaving it.

On the campaign trail and during his presidency, Trump repeatedly criticized NATO, saying the organization allowed other members to take advantage of American generosity and enjoy protection it offers without sharing the burden. The US is by far the biggest contributor to the alliance in terms of finances and soldiers carrying out its missions.

Among other NATO allies, few meet the benchmark two percent of GDP that they are required to spend on defense, which is a commitment that all members made. On many occasions, Trump demanded that this slight was addressed.

The new bill makes the same demand, but Rep. Jimmy Panetta, who spearheaded the legislation, insists it is not like those made by the president.

What we have to realize is that NATO is not just a transactional relationship, he said, adding that the focus cant just be on who pays what and who gets what. Being a member of NATO is not like being a member of a country club.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t



In their statements on the bill, several lawmakers stressed NATOs role in defending Europe from aggression by Russia. This perceived threat has been used to justify an increased military presence of NATO troops close to Russias border and regular exercises on a scale unseen since the Cold War. Russia is responding with additional deployments of troops in the west of the country and exercises of its own.

NATOs uncontrolled expansion eastwards, contrary to verbal assurances made to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, made Moscow increasingly suspicious of the Wests actions and caused it to spend a lot of resources modernizing its armed forces and boosting its nuclear deterrence over the past two decades.

This policy is now cited as the reason why NATO is necessary. Retired US four-star general David Petraeus recently called it the greatest gift the bloc could receive.

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 7:42 am

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RT

January 23, 2019

Matteo Salvini, Italys opinionated deputy PM, said that he hopes the French people can rid themselves of the terrible leadership of President Emmanuel Macron. Salvinis jibe is the latest salvo in an ongoing feud with Paris.

I hope that the French will be able to free themselves from a terrible president, the populist leader said in a Facebook video posted on Tuesday. The opportunity will come on May 26 [the European Parliament elections] when finally the French people will be able to take back control of its future, destiny, pride, which are poorly represented by a character like Macron.

While French voters will not be exactly replacing Macron in the upcoming elections, his En Marche! movement is expected to lose ground to right-wing rival Marine Le Pens National Rally party. The more nationalists France sends to the European Parliament, the bigger the blow to Macrons Europhilic ambitions, which include sharing of sovereignty with Frances neighbors and an EU army.

Speaking in Poland earlier this month, Salvini called on fellow nationalists to take part in a renaissance of European values to bring an end to the German-French axis on the continent. The elections, he said, are a chance to steer away from a Europe run by bureaucrats.

Macrons situation at home is precarious. The president, who once described his aloof style of rule as Jupiterian, has faced an outpouring of public anger from the Gillets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement. Protests that began as a response to a fuel tax hike evolved into a broad rejection of his economic policies, and thousands of rioters have been arrested in ten consecutive weekends of unrest.

Salvini has cheered on the protests. I support honest citizens who protest against a governing president [who is] against his people, he said earlier this month. Salvinis coalition partner, Luigi Di Maio of the Five-Star Movement (M5S) added that politics in Europe has become deaf to the needs of citizens who have been kept out of the most important decisions affecting the people.

Frances Minister for European Affairs Nathalie Loiseau gave Salvini and Di Maio a telling-off for commenting on her nations state of affairs, but in a speech to corporate executives at Versailles on Monday, Macron unexpectedly told the suits that he is willing to reform. Speaking to his guests 226 years to the day since French King Louis XVI was guillotined, Macron said historical leaders who failed to listen to the people ended up like that.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t



However, Macron pledged not to roll back the labor and tax reforms that sparked the Yellow Vest protests, and Salvini and Di Maio poured more criticism on the French leader for his countrys past offenses as well as his present predicament.

I dont take lessons on humanity and generosity from Macron, Salvini said on Monday, before blaming Frances oil interests in Libya for Paris alleged lack of interest in stabilizing the situation there.

Di Maio blamed France for impoverishing Africa, with the anti-establishment leader reportedly saying on Sunday In order to keep the Africans in Africa, it would be enough for the French to stay home.

If today people are leaving Africa it is because some European countries, with France taking the lead, have never stopped colonizing Africa in their heads, Di Maio continued, in a rant that reportedly earned Italys ambassador to France a summons to explain the comments.

Macron has clashed with the Italians on migration before, with Macron calling Romes refusal to pick up migrants from the Mediterranean Sea sickening, and unacceptable. Salvini in turn called Macron an international embarrassment, after French policemen were spotted dropping apprehended migrants off in an Italian forest along the border with France.

Macron and Salvinis diametrically opposed views on immigration the future of the EU could see this feud drag on up to and beyond the May elections.

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 6:50 am

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January 23, 2019

French President Emmanuel Macrons push for what he previously called a real European army got a big boost on Tuesday amid France and Germany signing an updated historic treaty reaffirming their close ties and commitment to support each other during a ceremony in the city of Aachen, a border town connected to Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire. But the timing for the renewal of the two countries 1963 post-war reconciliation accord is whats most interesting, given both the rise of eurosceptic nationalism, the uncertainty of Brexit, and just as massive Yellow Vests protests rage across France for a tenth week.

Macron addressed this trend specifically at the signing ceremony with the words, At a time when Europe is threatened by nationalism, which is growing from within Germany and France must assume their responsibility and show the way forward.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron attend a signing of a new agreement on bilateral cooperation and integration, known as Treaty of Aachen. Image via Reuters

Germanys Angela Merkel agreed, adding in her own remarks: We are doing this because we live in special times and because in these times we need resolute, distinct, clear, forward-looking answers. The agreement, which is being described as sparse on specifics or detail, focuses on foreign policy and defense ties between Berlin and Paris.

Populism and nationalism are strengthening in all of our countries, Merkel EU officials at the ceremony. Seventy-four years  a single human lifetime  after the end of the second world war, what seems self-evident is being called into question once more.

Macron said those who forget the value of Franco-German reconciliation are making themselves accomplices of the crimes of the past. Those who spread lies are hurting the same people they are pretending to defend, by seeking to repeat history.

And in remarks that formed another affirmation that the two leaders are seeking to form an EU army Merkel said just before signing the treaty: The fourth article of the treaty says we, Germany and France, are obliged to support and help each other, including through military force, in case of an attack on our sovereignty.

The text of the updated treaty includes the aim of a German-French economic area with common rules and a common military culture that Merkel asserted could contribute to the creation of a European army.

Later before a press pool, Merkel endorsed the idea of a joint European army further:

We have taken major steps in the field of military cooperation, this is good and largely supported in this house. But I also have to say, seeing the developments of the recent years, that we have to work on a vision to establish a real European army one day.

She clarified that the new military organization wouldnt exist as a counterpart to or in competition with NATO, similar to prior comments she made before European parliament.

Previously in November she had assured, This is not an army against NATO, it can be a good complement to NATO. This was also in support of Macrons early November statements wherein he said of the proposed EU army, We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the US  words that were issued on the heels President Trumps initial announcement that the US would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

Despite such such assurances analysts say the natural and long term by-product of a real European army  as Macron and Merkel suggesting  would be the slow eroding and demise of US power in the region, which would no doubt weaken the NATO alliance.

The closest thing to a current EU army that does exist (if it can be called even that)  the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)  is generally perceived as more of a civil and emergency response joint EU member mechanism that would be ineffectual under the threat of an actual military invasion or major event.

Meanwhile perhaps a prototype EU army is already in action on the streets of Paris, revealing what critics fear it may actually be used for in the future

The expected push back came swiftly and fiercely as Marine Le Pen, the leader of Frances National Rally party, slammed the updated Aachen treaty as an act that borders on treason, while others worried this is an attempt to create a super EU within the bloc.

Alexander Gauland of Germanys Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), for example, warned:

As populists, we insist that one first takes care of ones own country We dont want Macron to renovate his country with German money  The EU is deeply divided. A special Franco-German relationship will alienate us even further.

Italys far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, warned earlier this month that his country could seek an Italian-Polish axis to challenge the whole premise of a Franco-German motor that drives European centralization.

Also notable of Tuesdays signing is that the Aachen document prioritizes Germany being eventually accepted as permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, which it mandates as a priority for French-German diplomacy. Such a future scenario on the security council would shift power significantly in favor of a western bloc of allies the US, Britain, and France, which Germany would vote alongside.

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 6:40 am

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  The Manila Zoo will be temporarily closed to the public pending improvements in line with the upcoming rehabilitation of the Manila Bay.

The 60-year-old zoo will be shuttered "until further notice," according to signs taped on its front gates.

It was once a world-class facility, but the zoo's administration admitted management had trouble keeping it in shape throughout the years.

Manila City Hall Administrator Ericson Alcovendaz on Tuesday said Mayor Joseph "Erap" Estrada issued the order to give way for the construction of sewer lines for zoo waste. He said it will be closed until the construction is finished.

The city government has jurisdiction over the facility.

It will take around four months to connect the zoo to the sewerage system.

At recent inspection, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said the zoo partially contributes to the bay's pollution through liquid wastes being discharged into a tributary  the Estero de San Antonio Abad.

The upgrades will include connecting all restrooms to the sewer lines of water concessionaire, Maynilad, the construction of all septic tanks, and  if needed  a sewage treatment plant.

Rogelio Legaspi, Manila City engineer, said they have already asked for Maynilad's help in the rehabilitation.

"Sa'n nearest available site na pwede magconnect ng CR (comfort room) then drainage lines, surface rain water will be collected na hindi sasama sakaling gawan ng treatment plant," he said.

[Translation: Where the nearest available site where we can connect CRs, then drainage lines, surface water will be collected separately should a treatment plant be built.]

City Administrator Ericson Alcovendaz added,"Kasi maraming kabataan nagtutungo dyan lakbay aral... Para di maabala, para rin makacomply tayo sa ipinag-utos ng DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) na gawin natin ito."

[Translation: A lot of children go there for fieldtrips... So there won't be a bother, and so we can comply with the DENR's order to do this.]

The local government said it is also studying the possibility of moving the animals who live in the zoo without causing them distress.

"Rest assured, as much as possible i-try namin ma-minimize ang stress ng hayop na madudulot ng construction. Kung ilalabas mas stressful kasi ang hayop 'pag 'di binibigyan ng pampatulog, sedatives," said Jas Garcia, officer in charge of the city's Public Recreations Bureau.

[Translation: Rest assured, as much as possible we will try to minimize the stress animals will feel because of the construction. It will be more stressful for them if they are taken out and then transferred with no sleeping aids or sedatives.]

Concessionaires will not be charged by the zoo during the closure, but they will have to clarify the issue of vouchers for attractions which were booked online.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the Lagos State governorship candidate of the party, Jimi Agbaje, visited four business hubs in the city on Wednesday, assuring traders of a robust economy should their party come into power.

Mr Agbaje, who expressed misgivings about President Muhammadu Buharis failure to sign into law the new electoral bill passed by the National Assembly, recalled that after the 2015 elections in Lagos, PDP had headed to the Electoral Tribunal, Appeal Court and Supreme Court, which all ruled that card reader machines were compulsory for an acceptable election.

He said his case on the 2015 governorship election, in which Akinwunmi Ambode was declared the winner, had been based on the premise that contrary to the INEC regulation, the election had been majorly conducted without card readers and therefore should be declared null and void.

However, the Supreme Court finally ruled that although the INEC regulations approved the use of card readers, the method lacked the backing of any extant law.

Upon this, he said that the National Assembly passed a law to back the use of card readers that President Muhammadu Buhari had presently refused to sign.

Accompanied by his deputy governorship candidate, Haleemat Busari, and legislative candidates, the PDP entourage received tumultuous receptions when they held town hall meetings with businesses at the Computer Village in Ikeja, Games Village in Surulere, Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market in Ladipo and FESTAC Town.

Mr Obi placed the blame for countrys recession on the government of the All Progressives Congress (APC), whom he accused of lacking capacity to manage businesses.

How can a man who does not have a shop aspire to be the chairman of the traders in the market? Obi asked rhetorically at Computer Village. I have always been a trader. You know that Jimi Agbaje too is a trader. So we understand your needs.

According to him, Nigerias problem began when her administration was placed in the hands of people who neither participated in nor understood business and trading.

You know that the Vice President runs the economy, he said. With me, you have someone who understands business and understands your need.

Describing ICT as the future, Mr Obi said that Nigerias exchange rate would regain health when the country became an exporter of computer technology.

Mr Agbaje blamed the Lagos government for Google corporation diverting to Ghana and Uganda a plan to provide free Wi-Fi in all schools, pointing out that, if the scheme had succeeded, it would have created more business for Nigerians in the sector.

If all the schools get free Wi-Fi, Computer Village go benefit abi e no go benefit? he asked, to which his audience roared, We go benefit!

He said that it had been proved that when internet use increased by 10 per cent, the GDP of the benefiting country rose by 3.8 per cent, which he described as a significant addition to the economy.

According to him, the current regime in the state had put stumbling blocks of corruption to telecommunications companies and had failed to appreciate the impact ICT would make on the economy of the state.

Criticising Lagos States current tax system that had given room for multiple taxation, Mr Agbaje assured the business representatives that his government would put in place a tax regime that would eliminate double taxation.

Lamenting that there had been no improvement in Ladipo since his last campaign visit in 2015, Mr Agbaje promised that he would not indulge in the current APCs government rhetoric of threatening to shut down the market, but rather he would improve access roads to and facilities in the market.

General Chairman of the Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market, Jude Nwankwo, said that the place had suffered neglect from the current regime.

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A Federal High Court in Akure, on Tuesday, ordered a member of the House of Representatives, Bode Ayorinde, to stop parading himself as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming House of Representatives election for Ose/Owo federal constituency.

The presiding judge, Abdul Dogo, also directed the national secretariat of the PDP to submit the name of Sodiq Obanoyen to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the authentic candidate of the party for the coming election scheduled for February 16.

Mr Obanoyen had won the House of Representatives ticket in a PDP primary for the constituency held in October 2018, scoring 107 votes to defeat Mr Ayorinde who polled 73 votes.

The party, interestingly, sent the name of Mr Ayorinde to the INEC as the partys candidate for the election, resulting in the legal action by Mr Obanoyen.

In the suit, the PDP; its chairman in Ondo State, Clement Faboyede; Mr Ayorinde and INEC were the first, second, third and fourth defendants respectively.

The counsel to the third defendant, Tolu Babaleye, in one of his prayers, asked the court to uphold the disqualification of the plaintiff on the grounds that the latter did not resign his appointment as a legislative aide to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekeremadu, before obtaining the form to contest. The action was said to be against the partys election guidelines, but the court struck out the prayers.

The plaintiffs legal team, led by Remi Olatubora, presented the evidence that showed the appropriate resignation of the client to the court.

Meanwhile, Mr Ayorindes lawyer has filed an appeal against the judgment, as well as filing a motion for stay of execution of the judgment.
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The Peoples Democratic Party has lashed out at the All Progressives Congress in Osun State for criticising former President Olusegun Obasanjo after his comments on the conduct of the last governorship election in the state.

The former president, in his open letter on Sunday, scolded INEC on its performance during the governorship election in Osun State last year, describing the rerun election as unnecessary.

The unnecessary rerun, if viewed as a test for general elections, would lead people to expect incidences of deliberately contrived, broken or non-working voting machines or card readers, confusion of voters as to their voting stations, inadequate supply of voting materials to designated places, long line to discourage voters and turning blind eyes to favour the blue-eyed political party of INEC because the commissions hands will be tied to enable the hatchet men and women to perform their unwholesome assignment, Mr Obasanjo had stated.

But, in a statement on Monday, the APCs Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy in Osun, Kunle Oyatomi, chided the former president for his comments on the election.

Its a pity that our respected former president is using the privilege of his position to express an opinion that is sub judice to a case thats already in court and is currently being litigated, said Mr Ayatomi.

His comment on the Osun governorship election of last September is a matter that should be left to (the) court to decide.

However, the deputy national publicity secretary of the PDP, Diran Odeyemi, in a statement on Tuesday, said Mr Obasanjo did not say anything new about Osun governorship election. He said all that transpired, especially during the September 27 Rerun Election, was already in public domain.

He commended Mr Obasanjo for standing by the truth and for not joining the multitude to perpetrate evil, even at the risk of his life.

Mr Odeyemi said beyond what Mr Obasanjo said in his statement, the Nigerian Bar Association monitors and several international and local observers in their reports all gave vivid details of how INEC colluded with the ruling party to rig Osuns poll.

The statement by APC and an aide to Ogbeni Aregbesola, in reaction to what our respected former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo said on the last Osun governorship election should not have ordinarily attracted such an outburst from those that stole the collective mandate of Osun people during the last election, Mr Odeyemis statement read.

The world knows APC colluded with INEC to rig the last Osun poll. Reports by election observers exposed all their atrocities. Why the attack on the elder statesman that observed that Nigeria was heading towards a precipice under the Buhari and cried out?

We advise APC, President Buhari and INEC to see the warning signs and back down on their plans to rig the general elections as done during Osun governorship poll. We also call for end of attacks on Chief Obasanjo, who has remained the conscience of our nation by the enemies of democracy.
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The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE) has kicked against the continued plan by the Lagos State government to run the state-owned waterworks using a public-private partnership model.

Addressing a press conference in Lagos, Tuesday, Abiodun Bakare, AUPCTREs state secretary, said the scarcity of potable water provided by the water corporation to some parts of the state is deliberate.

Water scarcity in some parts of the state is a deliberate strategy by the management of Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) to cajole Lagosians into believing that the only sustainable way of supplying water to Lagos residents is to adopt the much-discredited privatisation model of public-private partnership (PPP), said Mr Bakare.

It is disheartening to state here that at this critical period when countries throughout the world are embracing re-municipalisation, Lagos State is spearheading privatisation.

The Lagos State Government had continually insisted that it was not privatising its waterworks, but turning to the PPP model to enable it meet the water demands across the state.

Last week, the state government signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Finance Corporation to enhance revenue generation and provide advisory services on infrastructural development, a move civil society groups described as suspicious.

An agreement which virtually asphyxiates all the sectors in the state will ultimately be extended to a crucial sector such as water going by the IFC description that the deal is the first step,' Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy director at the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said in a statement last week.

This is going to be a long, windy road. It is unsurprising that this deal between the World Bank and the Ambode administration was done without proper consultation with the people of Lagos, and this is simply unacceptable.

At Tuesdays press conference, Mr Bakare said their union would resist any attempt to privatise water supply in the state.

We are against water privatisation under any name PPP or otherwise, he said.

We urge the Lagos government to halt the privatisation plans in the sector and prioritise sustained budgetary allocation to the sector.

We also demand a probe of monies allocated to increasing water supply in the state, especially channelled through the LWC, since 2016, and a halt to the ongoing intimidation and victimisation of workers in AUPCTRE who are doing their legitimate work even under very poor work conditions created by the management.

In his speech, Mr Oluwafemi thanked AUPCTRE members for standing firm in the face of brazen intimidation.

It is disheartening that the water sector is allowed to slide even when the state government is internally generated revenue is now close to N60billion monthly. It is time for Lagos residents to ask questions.
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The police in Ebonyi have arrested an insane man from Onyikwa community of Ebonyi Local Government Area who killed his wife, two children, and five other members of the community.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the suspect after killing the seven victims and wounding four others fled into the bush before resurfacing to kill another victim.

Loveth Odah, the spokesperson of the police in Ebonyi, told journalists in Abakaliki that the suspect, identified as Simon Ugbala, was arrested on Wednesday in a bush in the community.

Ms Odah said a manhunt had been placed on the suspect since Monday by police personnel and youth of the community.

The suspect was arrested and brought to the police headquarters before being referred to the psychiatric facility of the Federal Teaching Hospital (FETHA), Abakaliki.

We want to ascertain the suspects mental status as he is said to be insane by members of the community, she said.

The police spokesperson said the report of the suspects mental status would assist the police in its investigation into the heinous crime.

We thank the public for contributing to the suspects arrest and assure them that the matter would be thoroughly investigated.

Cases of insanity are not one-persons business as communities should send such persons away from their areas, possibly to psychiatric facilities for adequate care.

Ebonyi people should not allow such acts to be committed in the state. Though the state has the lowest crime rate in the zone, the rate of murder is high, she said.

NAN reports that relieved residents of Abakaliki and members of the community thronged to the state police headquarters to see the suspect.

The situation, however, caused gridlock along the Ogoja road location of the Police headquarters, especially opposite the state Government House. (NAN)
Nigerias former vice president and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, assured the people of South-east region of policies that will lead to success in their businesses and a robust economy for the region and the country when elected.

Mr Abubakar spoke in Owerri during the flag-off of the South-east presidential campaign in Imo state.

He added that the PDP would take over the state, come February 16.

Let me tell you, the reason why we are having this rally in Imo State today, is because we are going to take over Imo state.

Come February 16, I want you to vote and protect your vote. The APC are not campaigning, because they believe in rigging.

I want to assure you that we will restructure Nigeria and rebuild your business.

Dont vote for APC. APC is (an) evil party. They have destroyed our economy, they have made Nigeria the capital of poverty in the world.

We promise to create Jobs and empower our youths and women, Mr Abubakar said, while charging the people to rise and defend their votes.

Similarly, the vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, assured his kinsmen of smooth business environment.

The man (Mr Abubakar) is aware that we are predominantly businessmen and as such, he would make our businesses work again, he said, while assuring Mr Abubakar of massive votes from the South-east.

On her part, wife of the presidential candidate, Jennifer Douglas Abubakar, said her husband had already become part of the NdIgbo, having married from the region.

Her words, If you want to eradicate poverty, hunger, infrastructural decay and insecurity, the answer is Atiku/Obi.

Atiku is part of you, he understands all your plights, come February 16, lets turn out en-masse and vote for Atiku, so we can get Nigeria working again.

The national chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus, while presenting flags to the governorship candidates from the region, warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against rigging the forthcoming general elections.

Multitudes present during Atikus visit to Owerri. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku] PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and hos vice, Peter Obi during their campaign in Owerri. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku] PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his vice, Peter Obi during their campaign in Owerri. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku] PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his vice, Peter Obi during their campaign in Owerri. [PHOTO CREDIT: Official twitter handle of Atiku]

Come February, INEC wont rig elections, this election cannot be rigged, except they are looking for trouble. The security agencies too should be cautioned. Its no longer business as usual, we mean business, Mr Secondus said.

In his remarks, the president of the Senate and Director-General of Atiku/Obi campaign organisation, Bukola Saraki, said the South-east rally was enough to send message to the entire Nigeria, that we need a brand new president, a president that will unite Nigeria.

The chairman of South-east Governors Forum, David Umahi, said there was no crisis in the party in the zone as all the governors have vowed to deliver their states to the party in all the elections.

The deputy president of the senate, Ike Ekweremadu, former senate president, Anyim Pius Anyim, PDP governorship candidate in Imo, Emeka Ihedioha, and various speakers who addressed the crowd, all pledged to work towards positioning the PDP in the path of victory in the South-east, in the forthcoming general elections.

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A debate for the governorship candidates of four major political parties in Abia State on Tuesday ended in chaos, following sporadic gunshots at Abia Hotels, Umuahia, venue of the event.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the gunshots and teargas cannisters were fired by security aides to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Alex Otti, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The shooting and teargas caused a stampede on the hotel premises, as scores of people, including newsmen and supporters of the candidates at the venue, scampered to different directions in a desperate bid to escape being hit by bullets.

In the process, many fell down, suffering injuries, while struggling to escape through the main gate, which was the only exit route in the hotel.

Trouble started immediately after the tension-soaked debate, when the governors motorcade was about to leave the venue.

Scores of Abia youth, said to be students, had besieged the hotel, seeking to have audience with the governor.

They were said to have also organised another governorship debate in Umuahia on the same day and had invited the governor to participate.

Their attempt to get to the governor, who was already seated in his car, was stopped by his security aides.

As the students surged toward the governors motorcade, the security aides seized and manhandled their leaders, forcing other students to barricade the main gate to the hotel.

In an attempt to disperse the crowd and bring the tensed situation under control, the security aides fired several shots and teargas cannisters into the air before forcing their way out of the hotel.

The debate, organised by a group of online practitioners and some private radio stations in the state, was attended by Mr Ikpeazu, who is the governoship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and Mr Otti.

Others were the governorship candidates of the Social Democratic Party and Accord Party, Blessing Nwagba and Emeka Uwakolam.

Discussions at the debade centred mainly on the state of the Abia economy, security, infrastructure development, youth employment, education and health, among others.

Me Ikpeazu rated his administration high on road infrastructure, saying he had built roads that would outlive his administration.

According to him, no past administration in the state built any road that lasted up to 10 years.

He also scored himself high on education, security and health, agriculture and development of small and medium enterprises.

His claims were however disputed by Messrs Otti and Uwakolam, who argued that the administration had further impoverished Abia citizens.

Me Otti faulted the governors claim on the number and quality of roads constructed by his administration, adding that insecurity worsened from 2015 to date.

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He also said only 59 roads with a cumulative length of 79.38km were constructed by the present administration.

The opposition candidates also berated Mr Ikpeazu for failing to pay workers salaries and pensions.

They alleged that the administration failed woefully to transform the state, in spite of the huge resources at its disposal as oil-producing state, and the Federal Governments bail out fund and Paris Club refunds to the state.

Each of them alleged that the state resources had not been judicously deployed in addresing the numerous development needs of the state by the Ikpeazu administration and promised to do better, if elected.

(NAN)
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Twenty-nine governorship candidates in Kano State have signed Peace Accord to ensure peaceful conduct of the forthcoming general election in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the accord was signed under the auspices of Kano Election Peace Committee at the convocation arena of Bayero University Kano on Wednesday.

The co-chairmen of the committee, Namaza Nyimiri, a reverend, and Ibrahim Umar described the accord as key in a democratic practice anywhere in the world.

They urged the candidates to play politics by the rules and abide by the code of conduct.

Earlier, the chairman of National Peace Committee, Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former head of state, urged the parties to run issue based campaigns at both state and local government levels.

He also urged them to caution their supporters against violence or incitement before, during or after the election.

Mr Abubakar also commended the efforts of the peace committee for organising the event.

He lauded the candidates and the party leadership for signing the accord.

Mr Abubakar urged them to abide by the rules and regulations of the accord.

The representative of United Nations (UN), Mohammed Ibn Chambas urged the candidates and their supporters to refrain from hate speech and violent campaigns.

He said the UN is in support of consolidation of Nigerias democracy through peaceful conduct of the poll.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, implored other candidates to work towards successful and peaceful conduct of the election.

Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, condemned spilling of blood in any form and warned politicians against violence before, during and after the election.

Mr Ganduje of APC and Abba Kabir Yusuf of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were among the candidates who signed the accord.

Those who witnessed the event include, members of international community, Civil Societies Organisation (CSOs), traditional rulers, as well as members of academia among others.

(NAN)
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The remains of the 15th Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Alex Badeh, were on Wednesday lowered into the grave at the National Military Cemetery in Abuja.

The ex-CDS, an Air Chief Marshal who served under former president Goodluck Jonathan, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on the Keffi-Abuja Expressway on December 18, 2018, when he was returning from his farm.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Badehs remains were committed to mother earth after a prayer offered by D.B. Gani, a Group-Captain and the Director of the Air Force Chaplaincy, followed by the laying of wreaths at his grave.

Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), led others to perform the solemn ceremony.

He was followed by representatives of the Minister of Defence, Nuratu Batagarawa, Permanent Secretary in the ministry; Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin; and Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.

Others were Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ette Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar; Mr Badehs wife, Mary; and a representative of Course 21, which Mr Badeh belonged.

The ceremony was rounded off with a 21-gun salute in honour of the late CDS, who was also the 18th Chief of Air Staff.

Born on January 10, 1957, in Vimtim, Mubi Local North Government Area of Adamawa, then Gongola State, Mr Badeh acquired his secondary school education at Villanova Secondary School, Numan.

Thereafter, he proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in 1977 as a member of the 21 Regular Course and was commissioned as a pilot officer on July 3, 1979.

He attended both the junior and senior staff courses, rose through the ranks and was appointed the Chief of Air Staff on October 4, 2012.

On January 16, 2014, he was appointed the 15th Chief of Defence by ex-President Jonathan.

He is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.

Dignitaries at the occasion included the governors of Adamawa and Plateau, Umar Jibrilla and Simon Lalong; Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, John Jonah; and Deputy Speaker of Adamawa House of Assembly.

Others were Oluseyi Petirin, a former CDS and former Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika. (NAN)
The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, on Tuesday, narrated his working relationship with the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, describing it as difficult.

Mr Dambazau said the ministry experienced better friendly relationships with a previous Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase.

According to The Nation newspaper, Mr Dambazau spoke during a courtesy visit by the recently appointed acting IGP, Mohammed Adamu, in Abuja.

He urged the new police chief to have a better working relationship with the Ministry of Interior.

I congratulate the Acting Inspector General of Police. I appreciate your coming here recognising the significance of the Ministry of Interior following its supervisory mandate of the police and other agencies and also its mandate in internal security and public safety.

Because we are happy that you took this step because since November 2015 that I came in here as minister, Mr. Solomon Arase, who was the then Inspector General of Police, we had a cordial relationship.

But after Arase left, I think there was perseverance of relationship between the police and the Ministry of Interior, Mr Dambazau said.

Mr Dambazaus ministry supervises the activities of the countrys security outfits vis a vis internal security.

Mr Idris recently handed over to Mr Adamu as the new Acting Inspector General of Police after he retired.

Mr Idris reign as the nations top cop was largely characterised by brushes with the parliament, civil society, media, and the public with many critcising him for his abuse of authority.

The Nation quoted the former Chief of Army staff as saying that in his three years in office as the minister, he had presented over 25 memoranda to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which had to do with projects and none had included the police.

Not completely because most of our dealings in terms of internal security and public safety were with the present DIG Operations because we thought we must do everything possible regardless to ensure that we ensure our mandate in terms of police and also ensure that the police as an institution does not suffer. We are glad today that you came in with a different idea to strengthen this relationship, he said.

Throughout the three years, we have presented more than 25 memorandums to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that have to do with policies and projects. But none of those 25 memorandums that went to FEC included the police. So, this is the kind of things that we should avoid, he explained.

He said the police needs a parent ministry to represent it at the FEC.

Except for few memorandums that came from the Police Academy. I think we need to work together, particularly with the kind of internal security challenges we are experiencing in this country, he said. We appreciate the idea of community policing. Ours stops at making policies, but for implementation, it is absolutely yours. We will not interfere in that.

Mr Dambazau also assured the new police boss of support from the ministry.

Meanwhile, Mr Adamu acknowledged issues facing the police force in terms of policies promising to always attend meetings summoned by the minister when necessary.

We want to be deeply involved in the activities of the ministry. We want the minister to know that we (police) are 100 per cent ready to participate in every activity in the ministry that will involve security.

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We do have challenges involving security in the country; challenges that can be surmounted with the support of the parent ministry.

If in the past we were not participating the way we should in the ministry, but now we have retraced our steps to come back and do the needful for the benefit of the country and for the benefit of everybody. That is the reason why we are here, Mr Adamu said.

He later went into a closed door meeting with the minister.
The clampdown by Nigerian authorities on the press, including by raiding media organisations and arbitrarily detaining journalists, is having a chilling effect preventing people from freely expressing themselves, Amnesty International said in a briefing today.

In 2018, at least four journalists were arrested in Nigeria, double the number in 2017, the organization revealed as it launches Press For Freedom a campaign to support freedom of expression in Nigeria.

In the first week of 2019 alone, security forces raided the Abuja and Maiduguri offices of the Daily Trust newspaper, arresting two reporters and confiscating computers and mobile phones.

There is an increasing climate of fear across newsrooms in Nigeria as it becomes harder for journalists to do their job. More and more, the authorities are responding to critical reporting with arrests, raids and intimidation, said Osai Ojigho, Director Amnesty International Nigeria.

Journalists are coming under attack in Nigeria, facing increased risks simply for publishing articles and demanding accountability from the authorities. This is totally unacceptable. The authorities must immediately put an end to the hostile environment journalists are facing.

Amnesty International has been examining cases of journalists who were detained, threatened or intimidated over the past five years. Investigation reveals a disturbing escalation in the authorities threats and attacks against Nigerian journalists who have expressed critical opinions of the government on both conventional and social media.

In some cases, security forces intimidated journalists who had asked probing questions or expressed critical opinions of government policies.

Journalists arbitrarily detained and threatened

In 2018, journalists Tony Ezimakor of the Daily Independent, Musa Abdullahi Kirishi of the Daily Trust, Samuel Ogundipe of the Premium Times and Olanrewaju Lawal of the Daily Sun were detained at various times, just for carrying out their jobs.

The year before, Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of the online newspaper Premium Times, was arrested alongside Evelyn Okakwu, a correspondent, when security personnel raided their office on 17 January 2017. The arrest came after the newspaper had published a story about the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, alleging that he had not declared a property he owned in Dubai in breach of the Army Code of Ethics. Both journalists were later released without charge.

On 23 July 2016, Abiri Jones, a publisher of Weekly Source, was arrested by members of the Department of State Services, Nigerias secret police, and held incommunicado without access to family or lawyers for two years. He was released on August 15, 2018.

In August 2016, an arrest warrant was issued against journalist Ahmed Salkida after having reported on the ongoing Boko Haram conflict. He was accused of links to Boko Haram. Though he was not charged he has since received death threats.

In October 2018, publisher Jaafar Jaafar at the online Daily Nigerian also received several death threats against himself and his family after publishing videos of a serving governor allegedly receiving a bribe.

Federal and state authorities must ensure journalists are able to exercise their right to freedom of expression as provided for in international human rights law and the Nigerian constitution. The government must ensure that state officials do not harass and intimidate anyone who expresses opinions that those in power dislike, said Osai Ojigho.

Raids and confiscations

Over the past two years, two radio stations critical of the government were stopped from broadcasting. The facilities of Breeze FM in Lafiya, Nasarawa state, and Fresh FM in Ibadan, Oyo State, were demolished by state authorities allegedly for their non-compliance with land administration laws. Both stations were previously harassed by the authorities and were part of a targeted campaign to silence dissenting voices.

In January 2017, security forces raided the Abuja office of Premium Times and held journalists under siege for several hours.

In June 2014, military officers tried to stop the circulation of several publications by confiscating copies of Nigerias Leadership, Daily Trust, The Nation and Punch newspapers. They also harassed distributors of these papers to prevent people from buying copies.

Journalists must be free to investigate and report on issues of human rights and public interest. The authorities must immediately stop their campaign of stifling the press and silencing dissenting voices. No one should be punished for asking questions or expressing their opinion on the government, said Osai Ojigho.

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The presidential campaign train of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has departed for Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital, after a rally in Sokoto on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that President Muhammadu Buhari and his entourage first paid a courtesy visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar III, before moving to the stadium for the rally where he addressed a mammoth crowd.

The president, who alongside APC bigwigs addressed the crowd of party faithful, enjoined all APC members and supporters to ensure victory for the party in the forthcoming general elections.

Mr Buhari, who spoke in Hausa language, said the governing APC government has done tremendously well in the key areas of security, revamping the economy and the fight against corruption.

While reassuring that his administration will continue to identify and bring to book all those found wanting in misappropriation of public funds, the president vowed never to betray the trust reposed in him by Nigerians.

President Buhari expressed delight over the bumper harvests experienced by farmers in different parts of the country in the last two years and urged the people to embark on agricultural activities.

We thank God that our country witnessed stable rainfalls and subsequent bumper harvest in 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons.

Let me call on all our people to engage in agricultural activities to enable them obtain additional income to solve some of their domestic challenges like paying childrens school fees, offsetting medical bills and other needs.

The president, who presented the Sokoto APC governorship candidate to the people of the state, urged APC members to vote only the partys candidates in the forthcoming elections.

Mr Buhari alongside APC National Chairman Adams Oshiohmole; APC National Leader Bola Tinubu; Director-General, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Rotimi Amaechi; and Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazau; departed Sokoto for Birnin Kebbi at about 1:15 p.m.
The National Assembly stood down the option of overriding President Muhammadu Buharis veto on the electoral bill because it couldnt get enough numbers, the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has said.

While answering questions on a live programme Wednesday morning, Mr Saraki also refuted rumours that the PDP presidential hopeful, Atiku Abubakar, journeyed as his aide to the United States of America recently.

The programme, Kaakaki, was televised by African Independent Television (AIT).

Today, it is clear that people are taking positions along parties like APC, legislators are supporting their president. We have elections and I dont think they will go against their president. So, theres no way we could have gotten the veto, Mr Saraki said.

Mr Buhari, for the fourth time, refused to assent the electoral bill in December.

With his decline, the National Assembly then had the option of overriding the veto but needs at least two-thirds of members to actualise this.

While some lawmakers called for the override, some others publicly spoke against such move.

Mr Saraki belongs to the group that wants the lawmakers to exercise their power of override but was constrained by the glaring reality that a good number will not vote in favour.

At no time was the consideration of such override mentioned at the chamber of the Senate.

Despite, these developments, however, Mr Saraki is optimistic the bill will be signed by the president after the election, obviously unconscious of his preferred candidate for the presidency.

But its not about the veto, I think the president should have reasoned above the politics and the election and signed it in the interest of the country.

He acknowledged that it is a good bill and he said that (the) bill will be signed after his election. I think he should have risen above that and signed the bill.

Mr Saraki also reacted to rumours that Mr Atiku travelled to the US as his aide.

Before the journey, Mr Atiku was challenged by opposition members who said the presidential candidate cannot travel to the country over corruption allegations.

However, after making the journey months after, some opposition critics again said he travelled under the pretence of being an aide to the Senate president.

Thats not true, Mr Saraki said. He applied for his visa, he was invited to a function. How do you do that, to say he travelled as somebodys aide? Thats ridiculous. Its like there is a whole sort of lies and propaganda to Nigerians.

Theyve been saying how can we have a president that cant go to America? It was important for us to settle that. Theyve always said he cant go, now when he has gone to America, instead of them to move on, they now come up with he went as my aide. How do you do that? He got his visa on his own merit.

The Senate president, who doubles as Director-General of Atiku Campaign Council challenged Mr Buhari to a debate just as his presidential candidate did.

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Mr Atiku had to abort his participation in a presidential debate on Saturday due to Mr Buharis absence.

The former vice president had said he made the decision based on his determination to debate the incumbent whom he thought is in the best position to be engaged on national issues. Mr Saraki shares the same sentiment.

We are ready any time. We came back all the way from America because we got information that the president will be there. We cut our trip short to come quickly back to attend that and that is the focus. Anytime, we are ready for it. We are telling the president, choose a day and time and we will be there.
A prosecution witness on Wednesday gave graphic detail of last years gruesome killing of Lagos lawyer, Symphorosa Otike-Odibi, by her lawyer wife, Udeme, before an Igbosere High Court, Lagos.

The witness, Olusegun Bamidele, an assistant superintendent of police in the Homicide Section, State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Panti, told the court that Udeme, in her statement, confessed to killing her husband and cutting his manhood.

Udeme was arraigned on June 13, 2018 on a two-count charge of murder and misconduct with regard to a corpse by Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Titilayo Shitta-Bey.

According to the prosecutor, Udeme stabbed Symphorosa, also a lawyer, to death and mutilated his corpse by cutting off his genitals on May 3, 2018, at their Diamond Estate, Sangotedo, Lekki, Lagos home.

The prosecutor said the offences contravened Sections 165 (b) and 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Udeme pleaded not guilty and was remanded in prison custody.

At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, the prosecutor called Bamidele, a police veteran, as the states final witness.

Bamidele told the court that as the head of a team that investigated the killing, he personally recorded the defendants statement.

He said that Udeme wrote a detailed confessional statement during an interactive session with her in protective custody in the police hospital.

According to him, the defendant was recuperating from what doctors described as superficial and self-inflicted wounds, when she made her statement.

He said the defendant spoke freely after identifying herself as a lawyer.

Bamidele said: While she (Udeme) was writing her statement, it was an interactive session. I put questions to her, she would explain it to me and put it down in writing.

She stated in her statement that she was married to the late Symphorosa and that they were having marital issues.

She stated that the deceased was having extra-marital affairs and whenever she raised the issue with him, his responses were not satisfactory, he appeared nonchalant.

She said that on May 2, 2018, she was preparing to travel to United Kingdom when she checked the bedside locker for her marriage certificate. When she could not find it, she went to the deceased where he lay on the bed and asked him about it but there was no response, the response given was not okay.

She had a discussion with him and there was hot exchange of words, which made her to go to the kitchen and get a frying pan and knife.

When she returned to where the deceased lay, she hit him on the head with the frying pan and said Tell me, what is in your mind that you are withholding.

She stated that the deceased called his mother to report her conduct. She continued to hit the deceased on the head again and again. Finally, she confirmed that she used the knife to stab the deceased in his abdomen.

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She also said while the deceased was lying on his back, she was still angry. She sat beside him, looking at his intestines coming out of the deceased and said: If this your penis is the one that is giving you license to have the feeling of another person, its better we cut it off, she proceeded to do so with the same knife she used in stabbing him and hanged a piece of the penis in his right hand.

Bamidele explained that later that night, Udeme sent her close friend Maureen Offor, a WhatsApp message which read: I have done something terrible.

The witness said further investigation showed that she sent two other WhatsApp messages, firstly to the husband of the deceaseds younger sister, Charles Akpoguma, which read: Just pray for us. May God forgive.

He said the last message was to her mother in Calabar the same night. It read: Sorry mum, we engaged in a fight.

However, things took a more graphic turn when the prosecution played pictures of the defendant on a hospital bed after the incident and her bloodied deceased husband on his deathbed.

Shitta-Bey also tendered, through Bamidele, several exhibits recovered from the defendant.

They included a big, shiny frying pan allegedly used by the defendant on the deceased, a blood covered kitchen knife Udeme allegedly used in killing Symphorosa, a blood stained pen, four phones, two of which were blood stained, Udemes Nigerian and British passports.

But when the prosecutor sought to tender the two statements which Udeme allegedly made to the police, her counsel, Mr Olusegun Banjoko, opposed the admissibility of the statements.

Banjoko prayed the court not to admit the statements as evidence, adding that they were not made in the presence of the defendants lawyer as required by law.

Justice Adedayo Akintoye adjourned until February 25 to consider the admissibility of the statements in a trial within trial.

(NAN)
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Members of the House of Representatives have commenced debate on the 2019 appropriation bill presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Buhari had in December 2018 proposed a budget of N8.8 trillion for 2019.

The president presented the budget at a joint session of the National Assembly.

The proposed budget shows that about a quarter of the sum (N2.14 trillion) will be used for debt servicing while capital expenditure is expected to gulp

N2.03 trillion.

A further breakdown presented by the president shows that the proposed recurrent expenditure is N4.04 trillion, statutory transfers is N492.36 billion, there is a sinking fund of N120 billion.

Leading the debate, the leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, highlighted the figures of the budget as presented by the president.

In his contribution, the Deputy Speaker of the house, Yussuf Lassun (APC-Osun) said there is a need to set records straight on issues regarding the budget.

According to him, as a country, we are not what we think we are which can be deducted from the figure the executive arm of government has been presenting over the years.

Mr Lassun said that from the figures, one would think that Nigeria is a rich country whereas, it is a very poor country.

He said the 2019 budget was only $28.5 billion when converted.

Mr Lassun said the Executive could not be held responsible for certain things and that Nigerians should not think that the country is rich.

According to him, if we are 160 million Nigerians, going by 2019 budget, it is 178 dollars per person in a year.

We all Nigerians have to start thinking outside the box on how we can develop our country, it cannot be left to the government alone, he said.

In his contribution, Adamu Chika (APC-Niger) raised observations on the budgetary allocation for the Ministries of Finance, Education, Budget and Planning and the Office of the Secretary General of the Federation (OSGF).

He said there were huge discrepancies in figures that reflected in recurrent part of the budget as against what appeared in the summary page for the respective parastatals.

After contributions from several members, Speaker Yakubu Dogara ruled that the debate will continue on Thursday.
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The London School of Economics annual conference, Africa Summit, will this year focus on opportunities in the continent and challenges of managing the continents demographies.

LSE Africa Summit is an gathering of policymakers, researchers and business leaders from across Africa and the world.

This years edition of the summit, the sixth since inception, will hold from March 30 to 31 in London.

A joint-statement from the four Co-Directors of the 2019 summit, Oluwagbemileke Jegede, Muqaddam Malik, Sidney Trompell and Aba Wilson, said the 2019 theme Africas Future Frontiers seeks to address the socio-economic dilemma of the continent as it explores vast opportunities amidst a widening age gap between the aging and the youth.

They said the conference would explore how Africa can navigate its crossroads to position itself for economic and social sustainability and inclusivity by tapping into Africas future frontiers.

These frontiers include the prospects of reaching beyond its borders to bring about exponential growth, the revolutionising of banking to ensure financial inclusion, the establishment of the rule of law for a fairer and just Africa, the harnessing of technology for private sector development, and the embracing of a sustainability culture and African soft power for socio-cultural empowerment, among many others, they added.

Last year the summit was on the theme Africa at Work: Educated, Employed, Empowered, focussing on the unemployment challenge, especially amongst the youth on the continent, with solutions proffered by diverse speakers, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, founder and CEO of the Pan African Dakar-based Advisory firm.

The organisers assured of showcasing some of Africas brightest minds and connecting the continents most passionate advocates at what has become one of the leading student-run events here at the LSE.

The 2019 summit will be delivered by a 24-person team, with Daniele Weulassagou as Head of Business Development; Khutso Tsikane, Head of Speakers Coordinators; Benedicta Asare, Head of Logistics; and Gimba Kakanda, Head of Media and Communications.

The LSE Africa Summit was founded in 2014 and has since then held on the campus of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and managed by its students.
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The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has cautioned politicians to stop dragging the corporation into partisan politics as this may have a negative Impact on its performance.

In a statement released Wednesday in Abuja, NNPC spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, said the corporation which is the cash cow of the nation should not be used as a launchpad for political attacks against opponents.

Mr Ughamadu said the names of some of its top management were already being dragged into partisan politics and are being used as a tool for their (politicians) electioneering strategies.

As a national oil company with partners in almost all the continents of the world, the ongoing attempts by politicians to drag the name of the corporation into the murky arena of partisan politics is a potent danger to the corporations business interests, its multi-faceted contract deals and MoUs which should ordinarily be insulated from political brinkmanship, he said.

The corporation said while it is typical of the politicians to seek the hearts of the electorate, dragging NNPC into the battle was unfair and unreasonable.

The corporation urges political office seekers to note that the NNPC is a public corporate entity run by well-groomed technocrats who are apolitical and inclined only to their fiduciary responsibility to the governments and people of Nigeria, the statement added.
A Plateau High Court sitting in Barkin Ladi on Wednesday sentenced a 34-year-old dismissed soldier, Sunday Umaru, to death by hanging, for hacking his lover to death over a message found on her phone.

Justice S.P. Gang handed down the sentence after finding Mr Umaru guilty of killing his girlfriend, Charity Thomas, on January 23, 2016.

Delivering the judgment, Mr Gang declared that Umaru mercilessly took the life of Charity Thomas in cold blood and had to face the full wrath of the law.

This sentence is mandatory; the law states that any person convicted of murder shall be punished with death by hanging.

The sentence of this court upon you is that you, Sunday Umaru, will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy on your soul, Gang declared.

NAN recalls that Mr Umaru, an ex-military man, was dragged before the court on July 14, 2016, for allegedly killing his lover.

Mr Umaru, a married man, was a private in the Nigerian Army and was serving at the Special Task Force (STF), Sector 7, Barkin Ladi, at the time of the incident, on January 23, 2016.

At his arraignment, Umaru faced a one-count charge of culpable homicide.

He was specifically accused of killing his lover, Charity, who visited him from Kaduna, by stabbing her with a knife in the stomach, slaughtering her thereafter and dumping the body by the roadside.

According to the prosecutor, Emmanuel Awe, the accused person committed the crime on January 23, 2016, in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau.

Mr Awe, while reading out the charge, said that Charitys lifeless body was found the next day, January 24, 2016, by neighbours and some soldiers, who trailed the blood marks to the accused persons house.

Friends of the accused, who were the military men that evacuated the body, also recognised the girl as Umarus lover, who was seen with him the previous day.

The accused, he further told the court, quickly fled his base and returned to his family at the Rukuba Barracks in Bassa Local Government.

The prosecutor said that a team of military men mobilised and went after the accused and arrested him at his home in the barracks, while in the company of his family.

He said that during the investigation, the police discovered several gory pictures and videos of the deceased that the accused took in his phone, immediately after the murder.

NAN also reports that the Nigerian Army quickly tried the accused and dismissed him after finding him guilty of killing his lover.

Counsel to the accused, David Adudu, told NAN after the judgment that he was not satisfied with the death sentence death passed by the court.

I will get a copy of the judgment, study same and raise possible grounds for an appeal, he said.

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(NAN)
Some Lagos residents have urged the acting Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mohammed Adamu, to take more steps to change the face of the force in the country.

They spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday on the heels of Mr Adamus first steps to reposition the force.

Mr Adamu had, on Monday, ordered the immediate decentralization of operations of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit. Before the development, operations of SARS were centralised at the Force Headquarters.

He said with the new arrangement, commissioners of police in the 36 states and the FCT would assume full command and control of all SARS in their commands.

The police boss said, henceforth, the SARS unit in the force headquarters would be under the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (FCIID).

He also announced, among other things, the disbandment of the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) and Special Tactical Squad (STS) and other quasi-investigation and operation units of the force.

Babayemi Adeyemi, an artisan, said Mr Adamu should do more by setting up an independent task force to checkmate abuse of power by police officers and police brutality against civilians.

The acting IGP should also look into the welfare of police officers so that they would not engage in bribery and corruption, Mr Adeyemi said.

Zainab Sonde, a Lagos trader, said Mr Adamu must work on the image of the police in the eyes of the public.

She said that the saying, Police is your friend was a sharp contrast to how people are treated by the Nigeria police which did not make ordinary citizens see them as friends.

According to her, people spend too much money to bail people out of police cells.

She appealed to Mr Adamu to look into such issues to ensure bail is truly free as the slogan of the police force says.

Mrs Sonde also urged the acting IGP to ensure good security in the forthcoming elections as it was in 2015, and ensure that police officers are not partisan in carrying out their duties.

Oluwakayode Isaac, a storekeeper, said Mr Adamu should ensure policemen are well equipped and trained to combat crimes in the country.

Mr Isaac said steps must be put in place to check the activities of dubious officers who collect bribe and tarnish the image of the police, and those caught must be brought to book.

Amusa Sheriffdeen, a cleric, urged Mr Adamu to reinforce the directive of his predecessor, who ordered police checkpoints to be decreased to avoid extortion of the citizens.

He said the new police chief should also build on the security success made in the 2015 general election and other elections conducted under President Muhammadu Buharis administration.

Alex Adenuga, who works with a paramilitary organisation in Lagos, urged Mr Adamu to instill discipline in the personnel of the force so that they would be respected.

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He also said that they should be charged on how to handle information given to them carefully so that the people would see them as friends.

A student, Abisola Sodeeq, said that the police should be made to really understand their roles as some of them seem to do things that were not expected of them.

In Lagos for instance, you see some policemen work hand in hand with motor park touts instead of arresting them, which is not supposed to be so, she said.

Miss Sodeeq urged the new police chief to give a directive that will put a stop to such acts and if possible, use some people as examples.

NAN reports that the acting IGP had said on Monday that the capacity of personnel of the force would be enhanced towards situating its operations within the practice of intelligence-led policing.

He said that at the end of the reform, a protocol that would document its outcome would be developed.

The police boss had also charged the officers to remain dedicated to their duties by exhibiting the highest level of leadership and character. (NAN)
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Five weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari rejected the National Transport Commission (NTC) Bill, the Senate has reviewed and approved the bill, in compliance with the presidents observations.

The Senate had in March, passed the National Transport Commission Bill, ten years after it was first sponsored. The commission was expected to create a multi-modal transport system that will drive the nations transport policy and engender speedy economic development.

The president had, in December, declined assent to the bill because some regulations of the bill are being implemented by other agencies like the maritime agency, NIMASA, he said in his letter.

He also said safety regulations enshrined in some sections of the bill which are textile in nature, falls within the purview of sector legislation implemented like agencies like NIMASA and therefore, should be expunged from the bill.

The percentage of the amount to be retained by the agency is collected under section 9 (2) (d) should be reduced from 10 to 5 percent. Section 12 (9) stipulates that a portion of the proceeds from the royalties collected from the authority to collect royalties from transport service providers should not exceed 10 percent of what is collected by service providers and concessionaires.

Section 19 (2) (f) which stipulates charge of three percent freight tariff stabilisation fee on all import to and export from Nigeria including wet and dry cargo should be amended and reduced from three percent to one percent as what is contained in the Nigeria Shippers Council legislation, he wrote.

Reading out the highlight of the conference committee report, Gbenga Ashafa (APC, Lagos East) explained that some differences were noticed in different versions passed by the two chambers. He read out the highlight of the report which he said, is in compliance with the observation of the President.

All single regulatory provisions enshrined in some sections of the bill which are technical in nature that falls within the purview of the legislations of some agencies were expunged from the bill.

The percentage of the amount obtained by the agency for royalties collected under section 19 (2) d which stipulates that a portion of the proceeds from royalties collected by authorities empowered to collect royalties from transport service providers was reduced from 10% to 5%.

In section 19 (2) f, the tariff stabilization fee was reduced from 3% to 1%. This is in compliance with the observation of the President, he said.

He thereafter, recommended that the Senate approve the report of the conference committee on the NTC Bill  the recommendation was adopted.
The Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, says it plans to increase its modern training aircraft to 14 this year.

According to the institution, the aim is to assert its position as the foremost civil aviation training institution in Africa.

The Rector of NCAT, Mohammed Abdulsalam, a Captian, who made the disclosure on Wednesday while speaking to newsmen in Zaria, Kaduna State, also affirmed that the institution was safe and conducive for learning for foreign students.

Mr Abdulsalam noted that the federal government had given approval for NCAT to acquire 20 Diamond aircraft, comprising five DA42 twine engine and 15 with DA40 single engine.

When I assumed duty in 2017, we took delivery of one DA42 in April 2017.

The college placed orders for additional aircraft but we were informed by the contractor that the Diamond Aircraft Company was bought over by another company and that a new owner decided to relocate the production line from Austria to Canada.

They told us that they will not be able to produce aircraft for at least nine to 10 months due to the relocation of the assembly line.

That is what affected the delivery of the four additional DA40 which we have on order now.

That factory is up and running in Canada now and we expect to take delivery of those four DA40 aircraft sometime this year.

The school also has an additional DA40 aircraft given to it by an insurance company as part of an insurance settlement.

So by the time we have the four delivered, we will have one DA42 and five DA40s.

According to him, these acquisitions in addition to the eight serviceable aircraft already being put in use by NCAT will increase the number of training aircraft for students to 14.

Mr Abdusalam said the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Regional Training Centre of Excellence (RTCE) status of NCAT had given the college global visibility and increased its ability to attract students from other parts of the world.

There are very few RTCEs in the world. It takes a lot of effort and process before any institution is recognised as regional training centre of excellence.

And when you have this status, it affords you the opportunity to develop courses in all the ICAO annexes. That is the advantage.

We can also import courses from any part of the world that are ICAO approved and conduct them here.

Right now, we have some foreign students in the college. Some from Cameroun, some from Gambia who are doing training and we expect more.

The countries in West and Central African region have indicated interest in what NCAT is doing, so I am supposed to go and meet with them and discuss training opportunities here.

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The rector, however, noted that some of the foreign students who had shown interest of coming to NCAT for their programmes were being discouraged that Zaria is not safe for learning.

A lot of them that I have met with recently, have this misconception that Zaria is insecure. That is the main reason they are reluctant to come.

We have gone to great length to convince them that Zaria is totally safe. We have had a lot of foreigners come and go without any problems.

So they are being misinformed and some of them claim that it is their embassies that tell them that it is not safe to come to Zaria but we are making effort to disabuse peoples mind in this regard, Mr Abdulsalam said.

He further disclosed that an automatic fire simulator was being installed at NCAT to provide training for fire officers, which was hitherto done in Cameroun and other countries.

We have another simulator that is being installed in Zaria for this year. The simulator is for firemen. It is automatic fire simulator.

As you may be aware, we have never had fire simulator in Nigeria in spite of the number of firemen that we have in this country, all these years, we have been sending our firemen to Cameroon for training.

So, this administration felt it is more economical for us to have our own simulator here in Nigeria and this decision was taken to house it here because we have the land. The simulator is being built in the United Kingdom.

As you know, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has firemen in every airport and you can imagine the number of firemen that require training and retraining.

We also expect people from the Federal Fire Service to make use of this simulator, he said.

(NAN)
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has reaffirmed his support for presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

He said his former deputy, though not a messiah, was far better than President Muhammadu Buhari, Punch Newspaper reports.

Mr Obasanjo reportedly made this statement during an interview with the BBC Pidgin where he also explained why he forgave Mr Abubakar.

Mr Obasanjo, who had earlier flayed his former deputy as being corrupt and not worthy of leading Nigeria has since swung political support in his (Atiku) favour.

He has, on the flipside, withdrawn support for Mr Buhari, whom he supported in 2015. He has also accused the president of ineptitude and nepotism.

The former president also said those in the Buhari-led administration will not only go to jail, they will go to hell if their corrupt acts are exposed.

What I am saying is that where we are today; our present situation, if you look at those who are there today and our boss (Buhari), I insist that Atiku will do better than them.

I did not say he (Atiku) will behave like Jesus. I did not say he will behave like Prophet Muhammed, but he will do better, in fact twice better than what we have at present.

This is not a prophecy. Those in government today, if we expose them, all of them will enter hell; they will not only go to jail. They will go to hell. Whoever that God does not expose his sins to the public is the person whose secret is kept, he said.

Knocks For Buhari

Mr Obasanjo said President Buharis performance in the area of the economy was worse than his assessment of his (Buhari) knowledge of the economy in 2015.

Those who talked about what I said about Atiku, what about what I said about Buhari? His performance is even worse than what I thought.

I said Buhari did not know anything about economy. Have you not seen it? I said he did not know about diplomatic relations, have you not seen it?

Look at our economy, is it the way it should be? Our economy can never develop if foreign investors do not come to invest in the economy . But, as it is, they are not coming into the country and they will never come.

He said all that Mr Buhari has shown is utter incompetence, nepotism, condoning of evil and misconduct, including corruption.

He said the president gave priorities to his ethnic group when appointing people into sensitive positions.

Look at what is happening, the person that is leading us says he cannot appoint any other tribe into the posts he considers sensitive because he does not trust them. If he cannot trust my tribe and your tribe what is the benefit?

And he still wants my tribe and your tribe to vote for him. So, he can ask us to vote for him but he cannot trust us to be appointed into sensitive positions. What is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander.

If you dont trust us, how do you want me to trust you? If you trust me and I misbehave, replace me with another person. But if only your maternal and paternal relatives are the only people you can appoint because they are the only people you can trust

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On insecurity, the former president lamented that the Boko Haram insurgents are deadlier than before.

One Of Many Attacks

Mr Obasanjos latest comment comes barely three days after he attacked the president in an open letter accusing him of planning to rig the general election.

This is not the first time the ex-president will be verbally lashing out at a successor. He similarly wrote damming missives against ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, whom he also fell out with after accusing him of incompetence.

It is no use, to keep lamenting about the failure, incompetence, divisiveness, nepotism, encouragement and condonation of corruption by Buhari administration as there is neither redeeming feature nor personality to salvage the situation within that hierarchy. You cannot give what you dont have, he said in his latest barb.

Mr Buhari is seeking re-election on the platform of the ruling APC with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate.

The presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on February 16.
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President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday signed into law a legislation that will henceforth criminalise common discriminations against persons with disabilities.

The Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act would see corporate entities and individuals face excruciating sanctions if found guilty of discriminating against persons with impairments, according to Ita Enang, the presidents National Assembly liaison who announced the assent on Wednesday night.

This Act prohibits all forms of discrimination on ground of disability and imposes fine of N1, 000, 000 for corporate bodies and N100, 000 for individuals or a term of six months imprisonment for violation concurrently, Mr Enang said.

It guarantees right to maintain civil action for damage by the person injured against any defaulter.

It provides for a five-year transitional period within which public buildings, structures or automobile are to be modified to be accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, including those on wheelchairs, the official added.

Other key elements of the new law are:

Before erecting any public structure, its plan shall be scrutinised by the relevant authority to ensure that the plan conforms with the building code.

A government or government agency, body or individual responsible for the approval of building plans shall not approve the plan of a public building if the plan does not make provision for accessibility facilities in line with the building code.

An officer who approves or directs the approval of a building plan that contravenes the building code, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of at least N1, 000, 000 or a term of imprisonment of two years or both.

Discrimination is prohibited in public transportation facilities and service providers are to make provision for the physically, visually and hearing impaired and all persons howsoever challenged. This applies to Seaports, Railways and Airport facilities.

The rights and privileges include education, healthcare, priority in accommodation and emergencies.

Furthermore, all public organisations are to reserve at least 5 % of employment opportunities for these persons.

The National Commission for Persons with Disabilities is also established in Section 31 with Executive Secretary as the head

The signing comes days after Mr Buhari accused lawmakers of not passing the bill during a town hall appearance with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

But lawmakers rejected the claim, saying they passed the law since 2018 and submitted it to the president for assent. A document later circulated on social media showing that the State House acknowledged receipt of the bill.

The law brought a major relieve to anti-defamation campaigners, who accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to protect citizens with disabilities.

President Buhari has written his name in gold by assenting to this bill, Razak Adekoya, a development and disability inclusion expert, told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday night.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo failed to sign the law when National Assembly passed it under him, saying it would have serious cost implications for the country, Mr Adekoya said. Former President Goodluck Jonathan also raised some objections about the bill when lawmakers again passed it under him.

We are grateful now that those with some forms of disabilities now have a sense of belonging going forward, Mr Adekoya added.
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The sacked Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TeTFund), Abdullahi Baffa, said he was forced out of office after the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, accused him of collecting bribes from tertiary institutions.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the sack of Mr Baffa on Monday by President Muhammadu Buhari. No reason was given for the sack. The president replaced Mr Baffa with Suleiman Bogoro, who was earlier sacked from the same position in 2016.

Mr Baffa told BBC Hausa on Wednesday that Mr Adamu sent his closest contractor to him to accuse him of three things.

He mentioned the first, the second; and the third one he said I distributed over N200 billion to tertiary institutions.

(He said) even if I used to collect at least 10% as kickback, I am supposed to have gotten at least N20 billion for myself.

The sacked official then denied that he never got any kickbacks from any institution that TETFund distributed money to.

I want to say here now that I have never asked any institution to give anything as kickback and if there is, let that school come forward.

If they bring any evidence indicting me, Im ready to accept death punishment, Mr Baffa said.

He said Mr Adamu on several occasions accused him of insubordination for addressing press conferences without his consent.

Mr Adamu could not be reached for a reaction to Mr Bichis allegations. A spokesperson for the education ministry, Ben Goong, could not be reached on his known telephone number as at the time of this report.

Also, the Minister of State for Education, Anthony Onwuka, declined comment after our reporter introduced himself and his organisation. Mr Onwuka did not also reply a text message sent to his phone.

EDITORS NOTE: This story has been updated with the exact translation of the Hausa statement of Mr Baffa during the interview. He did not accuse the minister of demanding bribe but said the minister accused him of collecting bribe from government institutions.
A former Chief of Army Staff, Theophilus Danjuma, said former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, manipulated former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his vice, Atiku Abubakar, to drive a wedge between the two in the first term of their administration between 1999 and 2003.

Mr Danjuma said this at a meeting on October 25, 2002 with then United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Howard Jeter, in Abuja.

A diplomatic cable dated November 5, 2002 which recorded the meeting was published by Wikileaks.

At the time of the meeting, the relationship between Mr Obasanjo and Mr Abubakar had been poisoned especially by politics ahead of the presidential election of 2003 and Mr Obasanjo was facing an impeachment threat from the House of Representatives then led by Ghali NaAbba.

According to the cable in the custody of Public Library of US Diplomacy, Mr Danjuma, who was at the time the Minister of Defence, said Mr Babangida had been painstakingly pursuing a strategy to divide and conquer Obasanjo and Atiku for over a year.

He said Mr Babangida first tried to persuade Mr Obasanjo to dump Mr Abubakar to ease Mr Obasanjos image problem in the North.

After nine months of failing to convince Obasanjo to eject Atiku, IBB decided to focus on manipulating Atiku, Mr Danjuma said.

The cable continued: According to Danjuma, IBB has hoodwinked Atiku, who now believes he has IBBs support. Noting that IBB once fired Atiku from his job as head of customs because of rumored links with drug barons and that he considers the Vice President to be lazy and corrupt, Danjuma said he thought Atiku had been blinded by his own ambition, saying Babangida is singing a song he (Atiku) wants to hear.

Mr Danjuma said as part of his plan to weaken Mr Obasanjo, Atiku planted the Mandela Option stories in the Nigerian press leading to calls for the President to step down after his first term in order to cement the transition to democracy.

Danjuma sees this as playing right into IBBs hands. If Obasanjo can be convinced not to run, Atiku would represent an easy opponent for IBB or his surrogate. If Obasanjo stays in the race, Danjuma said the notoriously tight-fisted President would need to spend far more money to insure his victory in the PDP primary.

A week before the meeting with Mr Danjuma, the US ambassador meet with Mr Abubakar for 90 minutes on October 10 at the Vice Presidents residence.

Another diplomatic cable dated October 16, 2002 recorded Mr Abubakar at the meeting telling Mr Jeter that his relationship with Obasanjo was in tatters and provided a detailed chronology of the relationship.

Atiku said that he and Obasanjo were relative strangers before the 1998 prelude to the 1999 elections. Their nexus was the late Shehu Yar Adua. Yar Adua was second-in-command during Obasanjos stint as military Head of State. Yar Adua was also Atikus political mentor. Atiku inherited leadership of Yar Aduas political machine, the PDM, when the general died in detention, likely at the sinister hand of the late Sani Abacha.

Atiku recalled not only working for Obasanjos release from prison but also assisting in his ascent to the Presidency. Atiku stated that he along with former Heads of State Babangida and Abdulsalami and current NSA Aliyu Mohammed were the four men most responsible for Obasanjos successful climb.

Seeking to redeem his image after the 1993 electoral debacle, Babangida convinced Obasanjo to run, then placed his considerable clout and money into the Obasanjo Project. While Babangiba pulled the strings from Minna, General Mohammed performed much of the legwork while also drumming up other support.

Then Head of State Abdulsalami backdated Obasanjos pardon, an act that allowed him to be eligible to contest in the election. Abdulsalami also funneled money into the campaign and steered the considerable powers of incumbency to Obasanjos favor.

Atikus contribution was political. Exploiting the PDM (Peoples Democratic Movement, a political group formed by Mr YarAdua) machinery, Atiku successfully engineered Obasanjos primary victories in the PDP. Along with Babangida and the others, he recalled working hard to ensure Obasanjos nomination at the convention.

It was at that point, Obasanjo asked Atiku, already Adamawa States governor-elect and very content with that status, to be his Vice-Presidential running mate. Atiku accepted.

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On paper, Obasanjo had the credentials of a perfect leader  a perceived detribalized Yoruba with ties to the North, a former military leader with a good record, and good standing in the international arena; but, in practice, he had fallen far too short of the mark, Atiku lamented.

In a parenthetical comment, the diplomats noted in the cable: Atikus version of his selection differs from common lore. Most accounts have a reluctant Obasanjo being pressured to take Atiku because of need to cement the support of the PDM faction of the party and to balance the ticket with a running-mate from the North. End comment)

THINGS BEGAN TO SOUR  ANENIH TO BLAME

Although they did not know each other well, Atiku recalled that the two quickly melded. However, there was an early premonition that foreshadowed todays troubles.

Atiku recounted having agreed with Obasanjo on whom they would back for the Senate leadership. Shortly thereafter, Atiku went to the United States only to discover Obasanjo had changed heart, selecting another person for the Senate President.

According to Atiku, the shift was precipitated by presidential advisors warning Obasanjo that an Atiku loyalist should not be Senate President because Atiku already had too much influence in the Lower House. With one of his men as Senate President, they warned that Atiku could engineer Obasanjos impeachment. Atiku stated that he acquiesced in the change in order to avoid a confrontation with Obasanjo so early in the Administration.

Atiku stated that the relationship with Obasanjo assumed its current negative momentum in April, during preparations for Obasanjos reelection announcement.

Pointing the finger at Works and Housing Minister Tony Anenih as the main culprit, Atiku accused Obasanjos handlers of purposefully misinforming the President that he was angling to announce his presidential bid before Obasanjos was announced. Obasanjo came to believe these innuendoes when Atiku refused to participate in Anenihs convoking of party figures at Obasanjos farm in Ota to request that Obasanjo run again.

Tony Anenih

Atiku claimed that his absence did not signal opposition to the President; instead, it underscored his distaste for a procession he claimed was too reminiscent of the late Sani Abachas effort to succeed himself by casting himself as a consensus candidate for civilian President.

Atiku contended that Anenih attempted to keep him ignorant of preparations for Obasanjos reelection announcement and tried to schedule the event when Atiku was abroad. After talking to Obasanjo and disavowing intentions to break the ticket, Atiku said that Obasanjo ordered Anenih to stop his antics and have Atiku participate in the reelection event. Still, Atiku identified these machinations as causing a split that in the intervening months has only worsened.

NO HAND IN THE IMPEACHMENT; NO HAND IN STOPPING IT

On the current impeachment crisis, Atiku claimed the President was the victim of his own hubris. Because of Obasanjos suspicions of his influence in the Lower House, Atiku assiduously avoided contact with its Members, letting the Presidents other advisors work both Chambers. The Presidents men quickly antagonized the Representatives.

Atiku Abubakar

Early on, Atiku remembered telling Obasanjo that a close relationship with the Senate was essential since his advisors had spoiled his relationship with the House. Obasanjo erred in getting involved in Senate President Anyims tussle with the Ebonyi State Governor over control of the party machinery in that State; in doing so, Obasanjo lost hold of the Senate. With both Houses alienated, impeachment became possible.

Atiku felt the overall aim was not to impeach Obasanjo but to render him unelectable. He disavowed supporting the move. With Obasanjo finally realizing seriousness of the threat by late August, the President asked Atiku to use his influence to calm the waters at the National Assembly.

Atiku responded that he would meet House leaders provide Obasanjos advisors not savage him by claiming Atikus meetings with House leaders were signs of betrayal. Obasanjo promised his advisors best behavior. Atiku met with House leaders; as he feared, however, Obasanjos people accused him of backing the House rebellion. Since then, Atiku claimed to have washed his hands of the affair, leaving Obasanjo and his men to their own devices.

OBASANJO IN DIRE STRAITS IN THE PARTY

Because of his lack of political skills, Obasanjo has severely compromised his position in the party. Atiku measured his strength in the PDP as vastly superior to Obasanjos, clearly suggesting that Obasanjo would have a difficult time securing the party nomination without him.

At the PDPs most recent National Executive Committee meeting, Obasanjo suffered an embarrassing defeat when his proposal for the sequencing of the party primaries was roundly defeated by Atiku loyalists.

Olusegun Obasanjo

Atiku claimed to have passed a message to Obasanjos men that they would suffer more defeats if they tried to bypass him again on preparations for the party convention and primaries.

Atiku boasted that he held the loyalty of most PDP governors, who generally control their state party machines. He also contended that he controlled the party NEC and that most PDP National Assembly members were loyal to him.

Atiku downplayed the potentially negative effect of Obasanjo not gaining the party re-nomination. Obasanjo, he asserted, did not have a large constituency of his own. Thus, his ouster would not convulse the party. Moreover, Obasanjo was not very popular with his own ethnic kinsmen so the Southwest would not erupt as it did with the annulment of the 1993 election.

THE BIG THREE ARE ALSO MAD AT OBASANJO

Perhaps more fatal to Obasanjos chances than his anemic support within the party, is the anger of Babangida, Abdulsalami and Aliyu. Atiku claimed to be in regular contact with the other three whom he described as very disenchanted with Obasanjo.

Babangida has sworn off any association with a second Obasanjo Project, an allusion to their cooperation to elect Obasanjo in 1999. Abdulsalami was miffed when he came to ask Obasanjo for a favor and the Presidents response was to show him the door.

Realizing Obasanjo was digging a hole for himself, Atiku once asked the President if he really understood how he had won office. He warned Obasanjo that it was akin to political suicide to insult these men by telling them they had made a bad investment if they expected favors due to their contributions to his election.

When Obasanjo pleaded ignorance as to the role of the Big Three in his election, Atiku proceeded to summarize the contributions they and he had made. When the President continued to feign ignorance and asked how he could reconcile with the others, Atiku said he admonished the President for being ungrateful and he knew very well that he had to make amends for past behavior.

While in Abuja for the September 23 Commonwealth meeting on Zimbabwe, South African President Mbeki expressed concern about Nigerias internal politics. Previously, Obasanjo had dismissed his troubles as a teapots tempest; this time, he admitted to Mbeki that he was in serious trouble.

However, when Mbeki tried to meet Atiku, Obasanjo invited himself to the session and placed Mbeki and Atiku in an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation Atiku said that he choose to leave. However, before Mbeki departed, he and Atiku managed to talk outside of Obasanjos earshot, with the VP speaking frankly about the Presidents political mistakes.

Atiku told us that Mbeki wanted to talk to Babangida as well. In the end, Babangida traveled to South Africa with Obasanjos consent. Mbekis apparent motive was to patch what was broken but Atiku did not give the venture much chance, particularly given Babangidas position.

Atiku said the Presidents Chief of Staff had admitted that Obasanjo was desperate. In fact, the meeting with Ambassador Jeter was interrupted by several phone calls from the Presidents Office to arrange a dinner that evening for Obasanjo, Atiku and the Big Three, with Babangida having returned that day from South Africa.

Atiku said that for months he had kept the Big Three from breaking openly with Obasanjo. He reminded them that they had enlisted his support for Obasanjo. He then told them that since they had backed Obasanjo together, they all must stick with him or leave him together.

While that argument held things in abeyance, the day of decision was near. In a recent conversation, Abdulsalami cautioned Atiku about hitching his political future to Obasanjos, the Vice President explained. (Comment: It seems unlikely that Obasanjo would have been in haste to hold the dinner without a signal from his friend Mbeki that what Babangida would say would not be too difficult to swallow. However, Mbeki could have misread Babangida. It would not be the first or last time someone misinterpreted Babangidas next steps. End Comment.)

Atiku stated his rumored antagonisms with Aliyu and Babangida were media fabrications. He stated Aliyu respected his political clout; in any case, the two operated in different spheres with Aliyu more at home on foreign policy and national security issues. As for Babangida, the former Head of State was encouraging him to run. Atiku, however, would not reveal his next moves, but did tell the Ambassador that he could put two and two together. He acknowledged the potential turmoil and paralysis of government that could result should he and Obasanjo battled for the PDP nomination. Atiku cryptically said he would do all he could to avoid these negative developments but stopped far short of disavowing presidential ambitions.

As the meeting ended, Atiku informed the Ambassador the meeting with Obasanjo was confirmed for that evening. Before going to the Presidential Villa, he and the Big Three would huddle to determine whether to walk away from Obasanjo or give him one more chance, spelling out concrete conditions for keeping their support.

The rupture in the relationship between Mr Abubakar and his boss, Mr Obasanjo, went to the wire as Mr Abubakar, as late as the night preceding the PDP national convention in Abuja said in a BBC interview that he was still keeping his options open.

He named the options as whether to challenge Mr Obasanjo for nomination, run with him or with another aspirant (most likely Alex Ekwueme who was the only other serious aspirant in the race at the convention).

However, in his pre-ballot address to delegates to the convention, Mr Obasanjo, with Mr Abubakar standing with him on the podium, announced that he would keep Mr Abubakar on the ticket if renominated.

They went ahead to win the 2003 election but their relationship only worsened afterward to the point that Mr Obasanjo divested Mr Abubakar of influence in government and eventually pushed him out of the PDP before the 2007 election.

The president assumed full control of the party and corralled its leaders into backing an attempt to amend the Constitution to enable Mr Obasanjo seek a third term in office.

The attempt, however, failed at the Senate after which Mr Obasanjo picked then Katsina State governor, Umaru Musa YarAdua, as the presidential candidate. Mr YarAdua died in office in 2010 after a protracted illness.

Messrs Obasanjo and Abubakar remained implacable foes until last year when Mr Obasanjo suddenly announced he was endorsing his former estranged deputy who days before had won the nomination of the PDP in Port Harcourt for the 2019 presidential election.
The Nigerian government has said it reinstated Suleiman Bogoro as the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) after it found out he was wrongly accused of misappropriating N200 billion at the agency.

President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 sacked Mr Bogoro over the allegation and appointed Abdullahi Baffa in his place.

The president sacked Mr Baffa Monday morning. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who announced the sack, did not give reasons for the presidents decision.

Mr Baffa, who was an aide to Mr Adamu, was named the head of TETFund on August 2, 2016 alongside 14 other heads of parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Education.

The reinstated Mr Bogoro was appointed the Executive Secretary of TETFund by former President Goodluck Jonathanin 2014.

The Minister of Education, Mr Adamu, in a statement on Monday, said his reinstatement was with immediate effect, with the same terms and conditions as it were in his previous appointment and as stipulated in the TETFUND staff conditions of service.

Allegations against the reinstated TETfund Boss

Mr Bogoro was alleged to have misappropriated N200 billion released for special intervention projects to beneficiary institutions. He was accused of ploughing the funds into the failed reelection bid of Mr Jonathan in 2015.

The Senate summoned Mr Bogoro over the allegation, following a motion sponsored by Abdullahi Sabi, the senator representing Niger North.

The News Agency of Nigeria in 2015 reported Mr Sabi saying TETfund under Mr Bogoros administration also approved and organised a workshop and pre-retreat in the United States and Kenya in 2014-2015 without recourse to the guidelines of the TETFund Act.

A whopping sum of about N500 million was budgeted for advertising and media in TETFunds 2015 budget, Mr Sabi alleged

The lawmaker said: The state of infrastructure in tertiary institutions was still shabby, dilapidated and mostly run down after government spent nearly N1trillion on the institutions between 2011 and 2015.

Following the resolution to probe TETFUND, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, directed the Committee on Tertiary Institutions to report back to the Senate within a month.

The probe was to cover the diversion of the tax collected between 2012 and 2013 and used for projects not recognised in or permitted under the TETFund establishment Act, 2011.

The committee was also to look into the alleged misappropriation of funds from 2011 to 2015.

I want the Committee to do a thorough job and within a month, report to the Senate so that we get a clearer picture of the situation, Mr Saraki said.

But nothing more was heard about the investigation until Mr Bogoro was reinstated on Monday.

Govt. Reacts

The reinstatement of Mr Bogoro generated controversy as Nigerians were not informed if he was cleared of the allegations against him.

The education minister was silent on the allegation in the statement announcing Mr Bogoros reinstatement on Monday.

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However, speaking with PREMIUM TIMES Monday night, the permanent secretary of the ministry, Sunny Echono, said the allegedly misappropriated money was never released.

So we discovered there is no such money that was misappropriated by him because it was never released in the first place, he said

The funds were used for something else, including the first tranche of revitisalisation that ASUU keeps talking about. N200 billion was given to ASUU out of the N1.3 trillion for revitilisation of public universities. Other monies was also given like that for different usage, he said.

The current chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, was the third Executive Secretary of TETFund.

After Mr Yakubus exit, Manya Aliyu was appointed the executive secretary in an acting capacity for 17 months, before Mr Jonathan appointed Mr Bogoro.

TETFund was established (originally as Education Trust Fund (ETF) by the Act No 7 of 1993 as amended by Act No 40 of 1998 (now repealed and replaced with Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act 2011) as an intervention agency to provide supplementary support to all levels of public tertiary institutions.

The main source of income for the Fund is the two per cent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies registered in Nigeria.

The Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) collects the tax on behalf of the Fund.
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An Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court sitting in Abuja has dismissed an application by a lieutenant-colonel, Silas Santoi, who claims he was unlawfully retired by the Nigerian Army.

The judge, Januaria Moreira, in her short judgment on Wednesday said after an analysis of all the processes filed and the submissions of counsels from both sides, the applicants claims against the army is adjudged baseless.

His claims are groundless and are hereby dismissed, Ms Moreira said.

She, however, said the army did not oppose any of the claims by the plaintiff.

Immediately after the court sitting, the plaintiffs counsel, identified simply as Mr Stephen, told journalists the claimant would go through the ruling and possibly file an appeal.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Santoi said he had approached the court having been denied justice in the Nigerian court for 14 years.

According to him, he has also provided strong evidence of his alleged ill-treatment by the Nigerian Army.

Mr Santoi said he has a running legal battle with the Army for allegedly retiring him prematurely on return from a study leave.

But efforts to get justice over the years had been frustrated, Mr Santoi added.

In the past, I have written to two former presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. I also appealed to the National Judicial Council, the 6th and 7th National Assemblies and other pro-democratic organisations in the country, seeking justice, but all to no avail.

He said he had equally appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari through the National Council of State to intervene in the matter but, I am yet to get justice, he said.

Unlawfully retired

The plaintiff in the suit EWS/CCJ/APP17/18 filed through his counsel, Elela Stephen, asked the court to declare that his fundamental human rights and rights to a fair hearing were breached before he was unlawfully retired.

Mr Santoi then prayed the court to declare as unlawful the stoppage of his salary, benefits, and entitlements.

The army officer also prayed the court for an order that all his salaries, benefits and entitlements with effect from 2005 to date be reinstated, while his record of service corrected.

Mr Santoi, lastly, prayed the court to order the payment of N10 billion as general damages and compensation due to the breach of his fundamental human right.
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In an effort to step up the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the federal government has signed an agreement worth N2.6 trillion ($ 71 billion) in funding support with Global Fund.

A press statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES by Boade Akinola, director, media and public relations, Ministry of Health on Wednesday said the funds would particularly help the country control the TB epidemic for the period of 2019 to 2020.

Global Fund is an international financing organisation which fights AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria by attracting, leveraging and investing resources to countries to end the epidemics.

Before the latest signing, the international financing organisation had been working in Nigeria since 2005 in these three aeas.

Speaking at the signing, Osagie Ehanire, the minister of state for health, said TB now ranks as the ninth leading cause of death and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, ranking above HIV/AIDS (WHO Global TB Report 2018).

Hence, it makes it a threat to any country like ours with high burden of the disease. This trend must not be allowed to continue, he added.

He said many children in the country have become orphans due to the scourge.

He said over the years, the National Tuberculosis & Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP) through the support of several partners like WHO, Global Fund has made giant strides in the control of TB in the area of policy development, capacity building, expansion of services and provision of quality care while addressing the need of vulnerable groups and key populations.

He also said: Global Fund has committed $ 246 billion to Tuberculosis control response in Nigeria since the inception of GF support to TB in 2005.

Mr Ehanire pointed out that through this investment and in collaboration with other partners, the country has treated over one mollion Nigerians with Drug Resistant TB on quality treatment till date.

The minister pledged the commitment of the government towards ensuring adequate budgetary allocation and release to the TB programme in line with achieving the set targets in the grant and National TB Strategic plan.

We will also work with the various levels of Government, our partners and the private sector to mobilise additional domestic resources to fill the current gap in TB funding.

In his welcome remarks, the Permanent Secretary, FMOH, Abdullaziz Abdullahi, said the federal government was delighted to be a principal recipient of the grant.

He also assured of strict compliance to due process and transparency in the management of the funds.

Speaking earlier, the Head of Grant Management, Global Fund, Mark Edington, commended the federal government for the prompt release of her 2018 counterpart fund.

He also solicited for more commitment from state governments towards the programme so as to end the scourge. The fight against TB and HIV/AIDS should no longer be business as usual, Mr Edington said.
Residents of Dutsen Alhaji are excited about the commissioning in their community of a solar-powered electricity system.

Sited in the public primary health care centre in the community, the facility produces electricity and has the capacity to supply 20,000 litres of treated water daily.

Madam Popular, a woman in her early 40s who lives in the community in the suburb of Abuja, said the facility has brought relief to the residents.

Light in Dutse is not regular, sometimes it is off for three days, depending on your area, she told PREMIUM TIMES during the commissioning of the project Thursday last week.

From what I heard here today, this machine will not only provide light for us it will also give us water. That is good news for everyone in this community.

The private project was wholly financed by PVWater International Ltd, a joint venture company between SC Sustainable Conceots GmbH in Erfurt, Germany and KXN Nigeria.

Another resident, Adeniyi Mary, said residents often could not access the local primary health centre at night because of the irregular power supply.

When there is no light, even using the restroom is a problem, because there is no water to clean it.

This is a great relief for the people and we appreciate Baba Buhari for this project, she said.

Mrs Adeniyi, however, called on the government to empower women to be able to contribute to the growth of their community.

A resident identified as Ladi said the project will save them from relying on water vendors.

At least we know this water is clean and safe for drinking, unlike the pure water we drink every day.

Getting water is not easy in Dutsen Alhaji. Sometimes, the water vendors wont be available, she said.

Speaking during the commissioning, the Minister of State for Health, Osagie Ehanire, said it is one of the few water projects providing treated water to health facilities and communities.

Mr Ehanire who was represented by the Director, Public Private Partnership Unit of the ministry, Omobolale Olowu, said the pilot project is a Public Private Partnership between PVWater, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Capital Territory Administration.

This installation provides solar  generated electricity and treated water which is safe for drinking. Electricity and clean water are essential to service delivery in a primary health care centre (PHC) and integral to diseases prevention and health promotion, the minister said.

This project is a good example of private sector collaboration with Government in a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement where they have undertaken the installation at no cost to Federal Government and will recover their investment over time.

Solar-powered electricity system opens in Abuja community.

He commended PVWater and the FCTA for their technical support toward the Federal Ministry of Healths effort to revitalise PHCs across Nigeria.

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In his remarks, the Minister of FCT, Muhammad Bello, said, Dutsen Alhaji PHC Centre is one of the busiest PHC facilities in the community and provides essential maternal and child health care services such a antenatal and postnatal care, delivery services, immunisation and laboratory services, among others.

Represented by the Secretary, Health and Human Services, FCTA, Adamu Bappah, Mr Bello said the project would be extended to PHC facilities in other area councils of the FCT.

The director of PVWater International Ltd, Nigeria, Anthony Ighodaro, thanked the government for the opportunity given to the company to establish an innovative system on the premises of the PHC, where its services would be available to the community.

The Managing Director, Sustainable Concepts, Hubert Auilch, said the system was privately financed and will compete with other potable water systems that do not have the same quality standards as water from PVWater.

The district head of Dutsen Alhaji, Abubakar Bako, said the project would go a long way in providing access to healthcare and water to the people of the community.

Speaking on having to pay N5 per litre for the water, he said its just like we are paying for light and water. With the benefit we will be getting, we can afford to make the payment.
In July 2018, the preparedness of Nigerias health researchers to respond to emerging challenges was tested when a strange eye disease blinded 15 persons, including children, in Ruga community located in the heart of Abuja.

Perhaps, the involvement of many children should have triggered an enquiry into the immediate and remote causes of the infections, and a decisive medical response, including impairment remediation.

Instead, both primary and tertiary health responders to the outbreak resorted to nonclinical conclusions and administered help on a national basis, a situation that has kept the issue a mystery and continued to astound locals.

Notwithstanding the proximity of the affected community to medical research laboratories, universities, hospitals and research institutes, as well as the ministry of health; several months after an NGO reported the debilitating disease, its nature and causes have remained in the realm of speculation.

As the authorities fail to provide any verifiable diagnosis and the issue continues to gain public attention, the fear and confusion that enveloped Ruga community in Wuye District of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) over the outbreak remain, even though health officials appear to have rested the matter.

A visit to the community revealed the eagerness of residents to know what resulted in the most scandalous disease outbreak in their community. A resident, Salamatu Zubaru, appealed to relevant health authorities to carry out a forensic investigation and bring the outbreak under control.

Apparently, the disease came as a shock to residents who had hitherto, not experienced any similar occurrence in their entire lives. One very disturbing trend was the speed at which people became blind as minor itches on the eyes were enough to trigger an impairment.

Residents of the community first discovered the outbreak of the disease when two children of the same parents became blind within an interval of one week, which forced community leaders in the area to report the matter to a primary healthcare centre in their domains for diagnosis and treatment.

Some of the speculations were those of a health worker with the Primary Healthcare centres in one of the communities, who simply identified herself as Naomi. Naomi said the outbreak occurred because of excessive intake of fatty foods by residents of the area.

According to her, tests were carried out on a number of patients and the results showed that they indulged in excessive intake of groundnut oil, while others tested to high cholesterol in the bloodstream. All these can cause blindness, especially among children. Although we have put measures in place to prevent further spread of the disease; we are as well calling on other relevant stakeholders for assistance.

However, a doctor with the Ministry of Health, Ibrahim Kana, said an investigation had been carried out and about 300 persons in the community were treated of different eye problems, while many of the children were only suffering from conjunctivitis of the eye also called Apollo.

Another worrisome drift was the environment of the community which Mr Kana said contributed to the spread of the disease as it does not have potable water and toilet facilities. The disease is spreading across two closely-linked communities, which are largely living in squalid conditions with poor drainage systems and dirty environment littered with waste materials.

Also, the case of a two-year-old boy in Ruga community, Suleiman Buhari, who was born with good sight but became blind after his eyes were swollen, was attributed to measles infection.

From the submissions above, the disease is attributed to at least three causes, high cholesterol, measles and conjunctivitis. But apparently, while the circumstances adduced by the officials are capable of causing isolated cases of blindness, they are not enough to trigger an epidemic of such proportion. There is the need for a thorough investigation to forestall a repeat of the outbreak or even further spread of the disease to other communities.

As dire as the situation has become, it provides an opportunity for visual health experts in the country to test their might by ensuring that they get to the roots and forestall what could spiral into an emergency within the shortest time. If the rest of the country sits back and watch over 20 per cent of the children in that community go blind, it would be adding to the over 25 million population of disabled people in the country with attendant difficulties in providing infrastructure, facilities and care for them.

So far, despite the array of potentials from private practice, none has volunteered services to this community and others. Or perhaps, not to public knowledge.

While a lot of health officials from the FCT and World Health Organisation (WHO) have visited the affected community, as well as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Muhammad Bello, it is now imperative to unearth what has been hidden from plain sight and save Nigerians living in the community from becoming visually handicapped.

A concerted effort is required from all stakeholders to ensure that victims of the epidemic, especially children, are given necessary assistance to acquire special education in order to live a normal life as adults.

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Mr Eno is with COO, Ikang Relief Services Network.
Nigerias low revenue generation capacity is the reason the country has not been able to take advantage of her reputation as Africas largest economy and make wealth, Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, has said.

The minister was speaking on Wednesday at the unveiling of the Federal Governments Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives (SRGI) for sustainable revenue generation in Abuja.

The strategy, which covers all sectors of the economy, could help find solutions to the challenges successive administrations in the country have faced in generating enough revenue for the government.

We have faced difficulty in mobilising domestic funds necessary for human capital development and infrastructure that are both drivers of sustainable economic growth, Mrs Ahmed said.

Our current revenue-togross domestic product (GDP) ratio of about seven per cent is unsatisfactory and we are keen on exerting all efforts in turning this around, she added.

According to her, the case remains the same with the countrys current contributions between oil and non-oil revenues to oil and non-oil GDP.

Statistics

She said current government analysis showed oil revenue to oil GDP stood at about 39 per cent, while non-oil revenue to non-oil GDP stood at a paltry 4.2 per cent.

The minister said the countrys Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue to GDP stands currently at 0.8 per cent, which compares unfavourably to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) average of 3.4 per cent.

Also, the countrys revenue collection from excise duties is about 4.1 per cent, compared to Ghanas 15 per cent, and Kenyas at 19.5 per cent.

The minister said the first thematic area of the strategy is on achieving sustainable revenue generation, by optimally collecting revenues, and always maintaining fiscal buoyancy and resilience.

She said the other thematic area is identifying new revenue streams and enhancing the enforcement the law with regards to revenue collection on existing revenue streams.

The third thematic area is targeted at achieving cohesion between revenue generating entities and equipping them with cutting-edge tools and expertise needed to support high performance, to turnaround the current performance on revenue outturn to meet revenue targets the country is charged with, she said.

The revenue initiatives have been broken into clear implementable portfolios for each relevant MDA and I believe that these are well thought out initiatives targeted at improving our tax base and collections, ensuring we have big data to work with, deploy a single trade platform, among many others, the minister explained.

Strategy

The minister, who chairs the initiative said a strong coordinating and governance unit will be deployed to monitor progress and results on revenue generation.

From the ministrys end, a results framework has been designed and would be deployed by a strong coordinating and governance unit that will monitor progress and result realisation, especially with regards to revenue generation.

This is to ensure that the resources, time and efforts being used are productive and that the outcomes from the supporting Monitoring & Evaluation framework will guide executive decision-making as well as proposed reforms of the incentives provided for performance by our revenue collecting agencies.

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Guided by the Nigeria Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), some of the issues include enhancing oil and non-oil revenues; optimising capital and recurrent expenditures; the management of global and domestic fiscal risks; working with colleagues in other economic MDAs, to closely coordinate Nigerias fiscal, macroeconomic, monetary and trade policies.

In addition, the minister said the focal issues include revenue enhancement through mobilisation of fiscal resources to deliver on socio-economic development targets as set out in the ERGP.

These are based on the current fiscal terrain and recent revenue performance with the realisation of budgeted revenue at about 50 per cent as at the third quarter of 2018, which has a distance to transverse to achieve the ERGPs target of a tax to GDP ratio of about 15 per cent.

The permanent secretary in the ministry and Secretary, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit be (PICA), MK Dikwa, said the new revenue drive was one of the mechanisms to boost public confidence in the tax system.

It would also deliver on governments priorities as it concerns the welfare of its citizens, grow the revenue system and ensure the full recovery of the countrys stolen commonwealth.

It is now left for us as reform drivers with the needed political will from the top, to steer the ship in the right direction and this requires a great deal of perseverance, commitment, dedication and discipline on our side to enable solutions that will be beneficial to our country.
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For causing the illegal detention of a school proprietor, Henry Odunayo, a Lagos State High Court has awarded N5 million as damages against the management of First Bank Nigeria Plc.

Kazeem Alogba, the judge, in his ruling on Tuesday, December 18, in the matter with suit number; ID/803/201313 between Mr Odunayo, Olufunmilayo Odunayo, and First Bank of Nigeria Plc. and Lagos State Commissioner of Police also awarded another N250,000 in cost in favour of Mr Odunayo for what the judge described as compensation for expenses incurred while the trial lasted.

But the banks spokesperson, Folake Ani-Mumuney, said she was not yet aware of the judgement.

She, however, said she was sure the financial institution would pursue the matter to a logical conclusion.

Mr Odunayo, who is the proprietor and chairman of Topmost International School, Ipaja, Lagos State, had, according to his lawyer, Femi Agbaje, taken a loan of N24 million from the bank in 2012 but there was controversy over repayment schedule.

Mr Agbaje said following the controversy that ensued over the schedule of payment and accruable interests, rather than abiding by the resolution reached at meetings held with the financial institutions management, the bank used the police to harass and intimidate his client, and forcefully detained him in 2013.

The plaintiff had discovered an excess charge of about N3 million and First Bank agreed. Two days before an agreed date to hold a meeting for settlement in September 2013, some bank officials visited my client with armed police officers and subjected him to harassment including illegal detention.

But we are surprised by the banks self-help method because the loan was collateralised. One of his properties was used as a collateral for the loan. It is a legal mortgage that is collateralised and the best the bank could have done if my client had flouted any rule was to approach law court to seek an order to confiscate the property.

My client was paying back the loan on a monthly basis and has since liquidated the whole loan as far back as 2015.

Mr Agbaje described the judgment as well deserved, saying it took his client five years to right the wrongs.

As far as I am concerned the judgment is well deserved and merited, and the bank has 90 days to appeal, whether it wants to comply or not.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Ms Ani-Mumuney on Tuesday, she promised to check with the banks legal department to know the true status of the matter.

She also promised to call back in less than an hour but did not.

More than 24 hours after, the reporter called again but another person picked the call, saying the spokesperson was attending a meeting.
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The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman, has said that the authority is fully committed to providing an enabling environment for businesses to grow in the maritime sector.

She stated this on Tuesday while receiving the Danish Ambassador to Nigeria, Jesper Kamp, who paid her a courtesy visit at the NPA headquarters in Lagos.

Represented by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Sokonte H. Davies, she called for continuous engagement on the way forward in the maritime sector.

Mr Sokonte told the ambassador that the Authority is committed to the development of Deep Seaports across Nigeria in line with the development of global economy which is about maritime.

He disclosed that efforts are on-going to increase the depth of the draught of Onne port to 11 meters as a way of encouraging bigger vessels, adding that as a pioneer in the maritime business, the Authority will always tap from the wealth of experience of the Danish government.

Earlier, the ambassador told the managing director that he has embarked on the visit as part of his efforts to promote Danish-Nigerian trade relations and attract investment to Nigeria.

Mr Kamp asserted further that besides facilitating investment in infrastructure to Nigeria, he has been mobilising Danish companies to come and invest in Nigeria, as exemplified by MAERSK Line and other companies.

The ambassador said that Danish government operates thirty commercial vessels in the Gulf of Guinea and therefore his country is concerned about security in the Nigeria maritime domain.

The envoy added that the Danish government is collaborating with NIMASA and IMO on training of marine cadets and maritime security and called on NPA to be part of this collaboration.

In his contribution, the Managing Director of MAERSK Line, Gildas Tohouo, who accompanied the Danish Ambassador thanked the management of Nigerian Ports Authority and other stakeholders for their support for Maersk Line and for efforts at increasing the depth ofOnne port.

The Maersk Managing Director, also reiterated the willingness of the company to patronise Onne Port the moment the port channel is deepened by additional one meter as being proposed, stressing that the Maersk Line Operation will eventually increase the revenue base of the port by $2 million.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 13:46:17

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One of the biggest public growing threat is the rapid emergence of mosquito borne virus called as Zika virus. Zika virus was first identified in rhesus monkey in the year 1947 in Uganda. Later in 1952 the virus was identified in humans. The virus is a single-stranded RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family, and is transmitted by two species of Aedes genus, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These are the same mosquito species that also spread dengue and chikungunya virus. The virus can also be vertically transmitted during fetal/perinatal period or by unprotected sexual contact. In case of perinatal transmission the virus can pass from mother to fetus through trans-placental transmission which can lead to the most common birth defect of brain called as microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Eye defect, hearing problems and impaired growth are some of the issues commonly associated with the infection of Zika virus in fetus. Apart from this several evidences of Guillain-Barre syndrome, have also been reported in patients carrying the virus. Guillain-Barre syndrome is an uncommon sickness of the nervous system which leads to ascending paralysis. However, the risk is found to be higher in pregnant womens during their first trimester of pregnancy period. Symptoms associated with the infection of Zika virus includes, fever, rashes, joint pain, conjunctivitis, muscle pain and headache. These symptoms last for several days to weeks. Africa, America, Asia and Pacific regions are likely to be dominated regions witnessing outbreaks of Zika virus.The first largest outbreak of Zika virus was reported in the year 2007 across the Pacific island of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia. In 2016, World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the local transmission of Zika infection in more than 20 countries and territories across the Americas. Currently a number of Zika virus testing assays are available in the market some of which have received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) while some of them are used for Research Use Only (RUO) and are used as Laboratory Developed Test (LDT). Currently, a number of diagnostic tests are available in the market for the diagnosis of Zika virus in humans. This includes, Zika ELITe MGB detection test, Sentosa SA ZIKV RT-PCR, LightMix Zika rRT-PCR test and many more. All these tests allow qualitative detection of RNA from Zika virus from body samples such as urine, human serum and plasma. The market for zika virus testing is expected to rise over the forecast period owing to continuous increase in population exhibiting symptoms of Zika virus over the forecast period.Request Report Sample@ www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2913 Zika Virus Testing Market: Drivers & RestraintsExpanded disease surveillance efforts undertaken by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is expected to spur the market for Zika virus testing in the U.S. In august 2016, FDA announced screening of all donated blood and blood products for Zika virus across the world. This would help prevent increased chances of getting infected through transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs). Substantial spending by U.S. government and FDA to add Zika screening program across all the hospitals and blood banks in U.S. is expected to spur the market for Zika virus testing over the forecast period. Furthermore, increasing efforts by various manufacturers to develop Zika virus screening tests is expected to accelerate the market growth in the coming years. Major demand for Zika virus testing is expected to come from Florida attributed to increasing number of patients exhibiting symptoms of Zika virus. Lack of awareness in the developing countries and inaccurate results from available diagnostic tests may affect the revenues for Zika virus testing market globally over the forecast period.Zika Virus Testing Market: SegmentationZika virus testing market is segmented by test type, route of administration, end user and geography:By Test TypeNucleic Acid Amplification Test/ Molecular TestsZika Virus Antibody Test/ Serological TestBy End UserHospitalsDiagnostic CentersPathology ClinicsZika Virus Testing Market: OverviewAccording to WHO, since 2007, 67 countries and territories reported the evidence of Zika virus transmission. At present, the diagnosis of Zika virus in humans is dependent upon the molecular detection of viral RNA. However, presence of RNA only during the viraemia i.e. presence the virus in blood, and close clinical association of Zika symptoms with dengue and other infections, has resulted in lare number of undiagnosed cases.Accessibility of better diagnostic testing services (i.e. rapid near-patient tests) across several haeltcare facilities is expected to fuel the market for Zika virus testing over the forecast period.Zika Virus Testing Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of region presence, Zika virus testing market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Continuous spread of Zika virus across several countries in North America is expected to increase the demand for Zika virus testing services over the forecast period. WHO estimated that as of July 2016, in the U.S. CDC reported 12 birth defects related cases and six pregnancy losses. Furthermore, increasing efforts by HHS, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to raise the fund for development of diagnostic assays for Zika virus detection is expected to drive the market growth of Zika virus testing over the forecast period. Also the Zika virus outbreak in several Latin American countries is rapidly growing. For example in Brazil alone the virus is known to affect 21 states out of 26 states. Rapid local transmission of Zika virus across the globe is expected to result in more number of diagnostic assays performed thus driving the revenues.Visit For TOC@ www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2913 Zika Virus Testing Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in the Zika virus testing market are, ELITechGroup Inc. Molecular Diagnostics, Abbott Molecular Inc., ARUP Laboratories, Vela Diagnostics USA Inc., Roche Molecular Systems Inc., InBios International, Inc., Luminex Corporation, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc., Hologic, Inc. and Focus Diagnostics, Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 19:26:54

HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / On January 17, 2019, Steve Kherkher, Cesar Tavares, and Kevin Haynes won a $6,500,000.00 verdict in the 96th District Court of Tarrant County, Texas, on behalf of their clients, Liliana "Lily" Valdez and Pedro "Pete" Galindo. Lily and Pete tragically lost their son, Zachary, on May 22, 2017, when an 18-wheeler tractor trailer hauling an oversized load of large utility poles through a busy Midland street made a reckless right turn, resulting in the poles striking Zachary's passing truck. Zachary was killed almost instantly. He was only 21 years old and beloved by his family and friends.Cesar Tavares spent a hard fought year-and-a-half proving the liability case against the truck driver and his construction company employer. The company was unwilling to accept responsibility and even blamed Zachary for causing the accident. Cesar established that the company failed to properly train the truck driver and the escort vehicle driver who trailed behind the 18 wheeler. He also demonstrated that the company failed to provide any of the proper flagging, lights, and other equipment required by the industry standards when transporting a dangerous, oversized load on a public road.Due to these efforts, about one week before trial, the defendants strategically stipulated to liability, in an attempt to limit the damaging liability evidence the jury would hear. This strategy was successful in the short run, as the judge excluded all liability evidence and only permitted the jury to hear that this case involved a "motor vehicle incident." But the defendants' strategy did not pay off in the long run. The plaintiffs were able to overcome this setback and tell a compelling story to the jury about how the loss of Zachary's life devastated Lily and Pete. At trial, Steve Kherkher put on compelling testimony from Lily and Pete, as well as Zachary's sister and grandmother. They told heartfelt stories of how Zachary, as a teenager, took care of Pete, who had suffered a major stroke that left him bedridden. The jury also heard Zachary's family share how he loved to help people who were in need and never expected anything in return.The jury awarded a total of $6,500,000 to Lily and Pete, all in mental anguish and loss of companionship damages. The verdict is one the largest in a personal injury case in Tarrant County in recent years. It is also believed to be among the largest non-economic damages awards ever to come out of a Tarrant County jury trial.The trial lawyers at Williams Kherkher continue to achieve unmatched success in representing the victims of corporate wrongdoing. Contact Williams Kherkher today if those or their loved ones have been injured.For more information about Williams Kherkher, contact the company here:Williams KherkherJohn Eddie Williams, Jr.8441 Gulf Freeway #600Houston, TX 77017SOURCE: Williams Kherkher
Waterborne Coatings Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 12:45:17

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Waterborne coatings are green substrates using water as solvent to dissolve a resin, making them environment friendly and easy to apply. These coatings usually contain approximately 80% of water with minimum quantities of other solvents such as glycol ethers. As per the U.S. and European regulations of waterborne coatings to have a VOC content less than 3.5 gallons of water, these are considered eco-friendly in nature. Various types of coatings such as water-soluble paints, water-dispersible paints, latex paints and water-based alkyds are used for a variety of applications including automotive, industrial, architectural, wood, and packaging.Significant investments from certain large scale companies such as BASF SE, AkzoNobel, and Valspar among others to expand in quite a few countries of Asia Pacific and Latin America have been witnessed. Demand for green coatings in these regions have still been in the development and are anticipated to have a huge potential in the near future. Moreover, focus on R&D activities in the green coatings industry coupled with product innovation has also contributed to the growth of the market.Request Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3460 Growing demand for non-hazardous, eco-friendly, low VOC green coatings from the end-user industry are expected to boost the demand for waterborne coating over the next few years. In addition, growth of the automotive and construction industry has also been the current growth factors for waterborne coatings. However, increasing use of other better performing green substrates such as powder coatings is expected to hamper the growth of the waterborne coatings market.North America was the largest consumer for waterborne coatings. However, future market growth is expected to be from Asia Pacific. Green coatings are expected todominate the market over the next few years due to the expansions by the major manufacturers in emerging economies such as China and India in the region.AkzoNobel, Asian Paints Limited, BASF SE, Hempel A/S, Jotun A/S, Masco Corporation, PPG Industries Inc., Rpm International Inc., The Valspar Corporation, and Tikkurila OYJ among others are some of the key players involved in the waterborne coatings industry.Visit For TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3460
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 13:40:39

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The veterinary ultrasound scanner is used In Health & Care.The veterinary ultrasound scanner mainly works by Pulse echo method and Doppler Effect. These two different methods are widely used in diagnostic. Analytic imaging is necessary for determination and administration of numerous fundamental issues in veterinary medicine, veterinary ultrasound scanner gave quick outcomes and was not so much costly but rather more adequate and instructively significant to the general population. Veterinary ultrasound scanner system is non-intrusive fast system likewise gave important clinical data. This framework additionally helps patient to discover their issues in early stages for treatment of various infections and additionally determination of pre-birth. Mechanical advances in the course of recent years have made veterinary ultrasound scanner gear very convenient.Veterinary ultrasound scanner market: Drivers and RestraintThe worldwide market of veterinary ultrasound scanner framework is relied upon to be driven by headway in PC programming that takes into consideration enhanced imaging in a littler bundle and shortening exam times by lessening the quantity of steps required. Ultrasound framework can be effortlessly transported and require less space can likewise be key variables which will build its request in the market. Veterinary ultrasound scan system has less availability of trained and experienced operators can restrain the market of the veterinary ultrasound scanner. Unawareness of these technologies in rural areas can also consider as speed breaker for veterinary ultrasound scanner marketRequest Report Sample@ www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3356 Veterinary ultrasound scanner market: SegmentationThe global market forVeterinary ultrasound scanner segmented by product type, modality, end user, and geography:Segmentation by Product TypeErgonomicsPortableHand-heldExplorationMulti-purposeophthalmicSegmentation by modalitySpecial reduction imagingSpatial compound imagingHarmonic imagingMulti-beam formation technologySegmented by End UserVeterinary HospitalsVeterinary Center for ResearchAnimal husbandrySegmented by geographyNorth AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding JapanJapanThe Middle East and AfricaVeterinary ultrasound scanner Market: Overviewveterinary ultrasound scanner showcase makes incredible chance to grow their wings. Makers constant created veterinary ultrasound scanner strategies and they likewise present the assortment of veterinary ultrasound scanner reliably in the market. Income of the veterinary ultrasound scanner advertises increment step by step with great qualities.By product type global market can be categorized into two parts such as ergonomicsand exploration, then further these parts divided into various subdivision by their characteristics and functionalityBy product modality,Veterinary ultrasound scanner devices are functionally based on different type of technology such as harmonic imaging, spatial compound imaging, etc. which are used in diagnosis.By end users, the Veterinary ultrasound scanner market is segmented into the veterinary hospital, veterinary center for research, and animal husbandry.Veterinary ultrasound scanner Market: Region-wise OutlookTopographically, North America rules the worldwide market for veterinary ultrasound scanners because of expanding the interest of indicative test for creatures. Additionally, developing mindfulness among individuals about veterinary ultrasound scanners for pet animals will likewise complement the market in the North American locale. Europe speaks to the second position in the worldwide market because of mechanical progression and expanding mindfulness among individuals. Asia-Pacific is considered as a developing business sector in the global veterinary ultrasound scanners showcase because of vast number of creatures (dairy animals, wild ox, goat) are experiencing different maladies. Also, the market for veterinary ultrasound scanners is at an introductory stage in Asian nations. It is normal that Asia Pacific will contribute a critical piece of the overall industry amid the estimate time frame because of expanding social insurance foundation. Rest of the World (Line) is considered as an undiscovered market in the worldwide veterinary ultrasound scanners showcase because of weak medicinal services framework in African nationsVisit For TOC@ www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3356 Veterinary ultrasound scanner Market: Key Market ParticipantsSome of the major players stand in global Veterinary ultrasound scanner marketsuch are Accutome, BCF Technology, Biocare, Biomet, BMV Technology, DRAMINSKI, DRE Veterinary, etc. Companies are involved in collaboration agreements for R&D to exploit maximum revenue potential in global cosmetic lasers market.
Beauty Tools

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 19:36:55

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Pune,indiaSales Manager+91-9764607607

As analysis has become an integral part of every business to make informed decisions in the businesses which have been effectively carried out by analysts. This report throws light on cost structure includes the cost of raw material, manpower, tools, and technologies. Furthermore, it discusses numerous platforms that are boosting the performance of the industries.Request report sample pages prior purchase@: https://www.qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=105724 Top key player profiled in this report: Shiseido, Etude House, LOrAal, Avon,.Maybelline, Estee Lauder, Chanel, Dior, Lancome, Yve Saint Laurent, Coty, LVMH, Revlon etc.To present a clear vision of the Beauty Tools market, it provides the statistical data of existing as well as past records of the companies. North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Africa have been studied clearly which helps to gain a better understanding of the spread of this Beauty Tools market. It also includes competitive profiling of key players operating in the Beauty Tools sector. Additionally, it covers major trends which are influencing the progress of Beauty Tools market.Reasons for buying this report?1. It offers an analysis of changing competitive scenario.2. For making informed decisions in the businesses, it offers analytical data with strategic planning methodologies.3. It offers 2019-2026 year assessment of global Beauty Tools sector.4. It helps in understanding the major key product segments.5. Researchers throw light on the dynamics of the market such as drivers, restraints, trends, and opportunities.6. It offers regional analysis of global Beauty Tools industries along with business profiles of several stakeholders.7. It offers massive data about trending factors that will influence the progress of the Beauty Tools market.Request report Discount on this Premium Report@: https://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=105724 More profound information of the global Beauty Tools market has been analyzed to get a proper guidelines for the businesses. It takes a closer and analytical look on different market segments and sub-segments. Different driving and restraining factors are the major pillars of the businesses which help to understand the ups-downs stages of the businesses. Top-down and bottom-up approaches have been used to estimate the size of the Beauty Tools market.A notable feature of this research report is, it offers several sales techniques which help to increase the clients rapidly. To discover the global opportunities different tactics have been mentioned in the research report.It sheds light on numerous rising factors that is increasing the productivity of the companies. This statistical surveying report presents applicable information about the various risks and challenges faced by different stakeholders. An exclusive data gathered by research experts to understand the market briefly. Insightful case studies from some significant industry experts help to make a report more authentic. Various factors are responsible for market growth, which has been examined clearly. It also offers analytical data about the bargaining power of vendors and buyers.Request report Complete Report@: https://www.qyreports.com/report/global-beauty-tools-market-size-trends-applications-status-analysis-and-forecast-reports-2019-to-2026-105724/ Table of Contents:Global Beauty Tools Market Research Report 2019-2026Chapter 1: Beauty Tools Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3: Beauty Tools 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 Type.CONTINUED FOR TOC
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the  Steering Column Control Modules Market Segmentation and Modules  report to their offering Upcoming

Future Market Insights

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:48:48

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# 820 Words

U.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesManager+1 03479183531

Automobile design, operation, aesthetics and technology are continuously evolving and witnessing significant advancements. Previous designs and operations in automobiles included various switches for different purposes, which were simple in design but complex in operation. Especially, steering systems witnessed prominent advancements in past decade. Development of hybrid, electric and hydraulic steering are some of the examples. Integration of various operational switches for convenience in steering wheels and column is indeed a timely innovation, which can also be claimed as one amongst the important innovation in an automobile.It was never thought that someone could come up with an idea of Steering Column Control Module (SCCM) where one can control the switches very comfortably with ease while driving. The safety and the ease of driving an automobile has increased considerably due to the installation of steering column control modules on the steering wheel of vehicles.The module which controls the switches on or around/below the steering wheel are known as the steering column control modules. Typically, there are many electromechanical systems installed on the steering wheels nowadays in automobiles. A Steering column control module is mounted on the steering column but it is placed below the steering wheel, this steering column module is the main network for all the systems surrounding it. The operating switches known as the stalk lever switches, are positioned to the right and the left sides of the steering column control modules. The stalk lever switches and the controls which are mounted on the steering wheel and systems i.e. (sound controls buttons, cruise controls, horns, Bluetooth and hands free calling buttons and air bags) are all connected with the other system through the Steering Column Control Module. Typical assembly components of steering column control module includes circuit board, connectors and electrical wire cables for interconnection between the systems. The features and controls which are provided in the steering column control module are also dependent the type of the automobile i.e. Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles, Transport vehicles etc. Introduction of new technologies, comfort features and active safety systems in vehicles is expected to drive steering column control modules market in near future.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2073 Steering Column Control Modules Market dynamics:The market of steering column control module has been marked with presence of established players. A challenging task in steering column control modules market is to manufacture these modules as the interconnection between many components and the systems in the steering assembly. The automotive manufacturers are heavily dependent on the providers of the steering system owing to their technological expertise. Steering column control module market is witnessing continuous development from its providers with new ideas and innovation.Increasing safety of vehicle occupants and pedestrians is one of the prime concerns of automakers and many manufacturers are trying to develop steering column control modules so that safety and comfort features are enhanced to a much higher level. As per the current scenario, steering column control modules have become integral part of automobiles. The increasing standard of cabin comfort level has triggered utilization of requirement specific or custom made steering column control modules in great demand and this is expected to provide significant boost in the near future. The market for the steering column control modules is expected to provide significant opportunities to component providers, integrators and original equipment manufacturers across the globe.Steering Column Control Modules Market segmentation:Steering Column Control Modules can be segmented by type of sales channel, by components position and automobile type.By sales channel,Steering Column Control Modules Market can be segmented as:Original equipment manufacturerAftermarketBy Component Position type, Steering Column Control Modules Market can be segmented as:On the Steering Wheel (Sound Control, Airbags, etc.)Around/Below the Steering Wheel (Stalk levers, i.e. Wiper control, Head light control etc.)By Automobile type, Steering Column Control Modules Market can be segmented as:Passenger carsCommercial vehiclesHeavy Trucks and BussesOff-road VehiclesSteering Column Control Modules Market: Regional Outlook:Steering Column Control Modules can be divided into seven different geographical regions/divisions such as North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa. The demand for steering column control modules is significant in Asia Pacific followed by Europe and North America owing to automotive steady rates of production volumes and sales. Owing to lack of production facilities in Middle East and Africa and relatively low production of vehicles in Latin America, the market potential of steering column control module is low. The Asian giant countries like India and China which have significant sales and production of automobiles are expected to witnessmomentous growth in steering column control module market in the coming years.Steering Column Control Modules Market: Key Players:ZF TRWLeopold Kostal Gmbh & Co. KGDelphi Automotive LLPIdiditNexteer AutomotiveValeoRequest to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2073
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:59:05

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Spectral Computed Tomography is a scanning technique unlike conventional computed tomography it separates the energy into two or more narrow energy bands instead of using one broad energy band of x-rays. Energy bands are absorbed differently by different body tissues. Introduction of spectral computed tomography has revolutionized the diagnostic system by offering radiologists more clear view over any type of discrepancy in body organs. The exclusivity and preciseness of spectral computed tomography proved them to be a useful and reliable tool for radiologists around the globe. Spectral computed tomography is able to perform image acquisition and processing at multiple energy levels, which are to improving visualization than conventional CT and providing urgent diagnosis for disorders having large prevalence these days such as aneurysm, cancer, tumor, cardiovascular impairment and disease related to bones.The demand for spectral tomography foreseen to increase on the back drop of rising healthcare expenditure in the economies worldwide. Furthermore, in some cases for accurate diagnosis a contrast agent is administered intravenously prior to the scan, the drug or the agent dose used is comparatively lower than the dose used in conventional CT scans. Besides, easy availability of conventional x-ray imaging systems and its cost the spectral tomography is gaining popularity and as a result adoption is anticipated to increase in the near future.Spectral Computed Tomography Market: Drivers & RestraintsSpectral computed tomography is an upcoming scanning technique that may overshadow the applications of conventional computed tomography. The images formed from spectral CT are reconstruction of two or more sets of spectral absorption values measured during the scan. Broad application base and superior diagnostic quality is anticipated to drive the market in near future. Moreover, the disease with high prevalence rate, especially the chronic non-communicable diseases is expected to underpin the spectral computed tomography market. Diseases such as cancer, tumor, cardiovascular disease, renal and hepatic disease are forcing the spectral computed tomography market to grow with high pace. The gradual rise in aging population is also expected to drive the market positively. Rise in novel and unknown disease is favoring the demand for clearer imaging techniques is expected to push the market upwards. Although, significant number of factors are is in favor but still there are some unavoidable restraints such as cost for imaging, contrasting agent reaction, high installation cost, lack of skilled personnel, initial phase of technology, lack of awareness and high installation costs are few factors, which are anticipated to resist the market growth.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2023 Spectral Computed Tomography Market: SegmentationSpectral Computed Tomography market is classified on the basis of application areas, product type, technology and end-userBased on application areas, the global spectral computed tomography market is segmented into the following:Medical Imaging DeviceOncologyBody ImagingCardiologyNeurology,Spine,Urology,Musculoskeletal disordersOthersIndustrialElectronicsOil and GasAutomotive and TransportationOthersBased on product type, the global Spectral Computed Tomography market is segmented into following:Spiral CTElectron Beam TomographyMulti-slice computed tomographyBased on technology, the Spectral Computed Tomography market is segmented into the following:Dual-layer detectorGemstone spectral imaging detectorBased on end-user, the Spectral Computed Tomography market is segmented into the following:HospitalsPrivate clinicsDiagnostic and Imaging centersAcademic institutes and research centersOthersSpectral Computed Tomography Market: OverviewSpectral computed tomography market is predicted to rise during the forecast period due to its broad application base and quality imaging. Spectral computed tomography market is projected to grow with prominent CAGR due to increase in ageing population in developing countries. Innovations like dual-layer detector is expected to propel the market demand for spectral computed tomography. The market is anticipated to show the high growth rate due to eruptions of novel unknown diseases and increase in per-capita healthcare expenditure.Spectral Computed Tomography Market: Region-wise OutlookBased on geographic regions, spectral computed tomography market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America seized major share in the global market of spectral computed tomography market due to increase in aging population and high adoption rate of new technologies followed by Western and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific is expected to have gradual rise in growth due to developing economies and moderate expenditure on healthcare. The spectral computed tomography market in japan will have a constant growth due to the balance between adoption of technology and prevalence of diseases. Middle East and Africa holds promising future for rise in the global spectral computed tomography market as expenditure on healthcare from foreign countries is increasing which is favoring the introduction of latest technologies.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2023 Spectral Computed Tomography Market: Key PlayersThere are many key performers in spectral computed tomography market some of the names who are leading the market in spectral computed tomography market worldwide are Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Toshiba Medical System Corporations, Hitachi Medical Corporations, Pie Medical Imaging, Shimadzu Corporation, Neusoft Medical Systems.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 18:02:32

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42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0 , Muskoka, Ontario, CanadaCEO16317214201

The market for scoliosis management is likely to witness an increment, globally over the duration of the assessment. The market is expected to be estimated at US$ 2,462 Million during 2018 and is likely to increase at a 3.7% CAGR for the duration of the forecast, 2028. Region-wise, the North America market is forecasted to direct the overall market on the basis of value within the conjecture time frame, trailed by Western Europe regional market.Request for Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110115017/Scoliosis-Management-Market The development of the overall market is on the whole driven by the higher generality of the disorder, higher acceptance pace of braces as well as progress of technology along with GPS devices which may possibly screen the patients health. Besides, mounting need for non-obtrusive therapy is expected to boost the market for scoliosis braces. The ailment happens in the same way in both the sexes nevertheless the degree of curve approaches in females eight times more contrary to guys. Then again, these devices have got to be worn every day for 22 23 hours by the patient so that it sets in their body making hassle on top of rashes the skin. Furthermore, it breaks down the abdomen and chest partition and accelerates breathing troubles that might possibly manipulate the pulmonary functions along with oxygen flow. Also, more low-priced braces together with growing awareness amid persons are a handful of the indicators expected that may possibly boost market extension for the duration of forecast.Request for Report Discount: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110115017/Scoliosis-Management-Market Scoliosis is the outcomes in turning into the spine of C-formed or S-formed. This spine disorder builds the body to seem not level from the abdomen, shoulders or hips. The spinal combination, exercises and braces are the significant remedies for scoliosis dealing. In most cases, a person experiencing scoliosis prefers using customized braces, while the remedies are less expensive rather than the surgery.In terms of the product type, the worldwide market includes Thoracolumbosacral Orthosis (TLSO), Lumbosacral Orthosis (LSO) and Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Sacral Orthosis (CTLSO). Of these, the TLSO category is likely to exhibit a noteworthy CAGR of 3.9% within the projected period. With reference to the age groups, the market is segmented into adolescent scoliosis, juvenile scoliosis and infantile scoliosis. The adolescent category is likely to dominate the overall market throughout the period for assessment and is projected to touch US$ 3,494.9 Million through 2028 end on the basis of revenue over the period of assessment. By distribution channel, the market is divided into retail pharmacies, online sales and hospital pharmacies. The online sales distribution channel is likely to see the maximum expansion over the period of assessment.Report Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110115017/Scoliosis-Management-Market The key market players operating in the worldwide market are DJO Global, Aspen Medical Products, Horton's Orthotics & Prosthetics, Ottobock, TRULIFE, Boston O&P, Spinal Technology Inc, Bauerfeind AG, Wellinks, Inc, Fited and Other
Refrigerated Vehicles Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 12:46:17

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305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Team Lead+1-646-568-7751

Refrigerated vehicles are used for transportation of vulnerable food, pharmaceutical and healthcare products. The increasing population and consumer spending on food products has surged their production globally. Among food products, dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables require cold storage and transportation for their sustainability. The increasing global warming has been emerging as a matter of great concern for the food producers globally which is reducing the shelf life of these products in non-refrigerated conditions. Most of the pharmaceutical and healthcare products need protection from heat and light to maintain their chemical and biological formulation. All these concerns have been driving the refrigerated vehicles market globally and are expected to increase in terms of growth rate during 2014-2020.Refrigerated vehicles include a large types of vehicles used in several transportation requirements based on loading requirement. Some of their types include refrigerated vans, refrigerated trucks, refrigerated trailers, refrigerated railcars, refrigerated ships, refrigerated transport by air, refrigerated containers, atmosphere controlled containers, intermodal refrigerated containers, insulated containers, integral reefer containers and multimodal temperature containers. The increasing consumer awareness about fresh products is one of the important factors which have been escalating the demand for refrigerated vehicles globally.Request Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3595 The developing and underdeveloped countries have an underdeveloped cold-supply chain infrastructure which leads to destruction of a large quantity of food products every year. This also increases warehousing charges of the food manufacturers and the distributors as they have to maintain local distribution points in the area of demand. The growing population and increasing per capita income in these countries is boosting the demand for food products which is further creating demands for the refrigerated vehicles in these countries. The dairy product consumption in Asia Pacific countries have also been increasing to a great extent in recent times. The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries have also been growing at a rapid pace in these developing countries which is creating demand for the refrigerated vehicles in this domain as well. The shortage of skilled labor and unstable fuel prices are the key hurdles for the refrigerated vehicles market. The companies operating in the refrigerated vehicles market are improving the fuel efficiency and noise reduction of these vehicles.There have been several technology development and introduction in the recent times by the refrigerated vehicle manufacturers. They include CorroGuard and ThermGuard by Great Dane, Strip door solution for refrigerated trucks by R.O.M, GRIPTM by RTE, LED based indicator by Carrier, economical cold plates by Johnson, reefer monitoring system by PAR, reefer-trak sentry solutions by Star-Trak, Secureseal system by OEM Group, new alternator by Robert Bosch and Fleetview by Terion.Among regions, North America dominated global sales of refrigerated vehicles market, followed by Europe. There are a large number of market players in the refrigerated vehicles market which are operating in a particular country or globally through their subsidiaries. The global refrigerated vehicles market is fragmented however; it is increasingly advancing towards consolidation with a number of companies engaged in merger and acquisition activities.The key market players include Great Dane Trailers, Ingersol Rand Company Limited, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited, Schmitz Cargobull, R.O.M., Thermo King, Carrier Transicold, Johnson, PAR, Star-Trak, GE, OEM Group, Robert Bosch, Terion, Northgate Plc and Fraikin Limited.Visit For TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3595
QYReports proclaims a new addition of an informative report titled as, Business Management Consulting Software market. This statistical report throws light on the existing scenario of the market to understand the different up-down stages of the businesses. It highlights the past records of profit margin also predicts the future growth in the upcoming year. This informative study is expected to guide the new entrants as well as existing key players in the Business sector.

Business Management Consulting Software

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 19:37:25

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Pune,indiaSales Manager+91-9764607607

The business profiles of top level companies have been profiled to get an accurate and detailed knowledge of top level companies. It includes several online and offline activities to enlarge the businesses rapidly. Some significant brand promotion strategies, sales strategies, advertising strategies have been mentioned in the research report. North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Europe have been analyzed on the basis of various business parameters like investment, financial budget, and profit margin.Request report sample pages prior purchase@: https://www.qyreports.com/request-sample?report-id=105637 Top key player profiled in this report: Accenture, Bain & Company, Barkawi Management Consultants, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, EY, IBM, Implement Consulting Group, KPMG, McKinsey, Poyry PLC, PwC, Ramboll Group, Solon Management Consulting, The Boston Consulting,etc.The report also implements primary and secondary research techniques for gathering the most crucial pieces of professional information, and applies a number of industry-best techniques upon the data for projecting the future state of the global Business Management Consulting Software market. Based on current market development, the report includes an analysis of how activities such as mergers and shapes the markets future.Reasons for buying this report?1. It offers an analysis of changing competitive scenario.2. For making informed decisions in the businesses, it offers analytical data with strategic planning methodologies.3. It offers 2019-2026 year assessment of global Business Management Consulting Software sector.4. It helps in understanding the major key product segments.5. Researchers throw light on the dynamics of the market such as drivers, restraints, trends, and opportunities.6. It offers regional analysis of global Business Management Consulting Software industries along with business profiles of several stakeholders.7. It offers massive data about trending factors that will influence the progress of the Business Management Consulting Software market.Request report Discount on this Premium Repor@: https://www.qyreports.com/ask-for-discount?report-id=105637 A section containing exceptional detailed data about all the influential players operating in the market has also been included in the report, giving readers and enterprises access to information such as challenges faced by the companies, the growth strategies implemented, the recent developments reported by them, and the financial and business overview of the company.To conclude, contemplation of the noteworthy enactment of the Global Business Management Consulting Software Market is driven by various analysis tools and wide-ranging research reports. Citations are engaged to mount clear results and validate them.Table of Contents:Global Business Management Consulting Software Market Research Report 2019-2026Chapter 1: Business Management Consulting Software Market OverviewChapter 2: Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3: Business Management Consulting Software Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4: Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type.CONTINUED FOR TOCRequest report Complete Report@: https://www.qyreports.com/report/global-business-management-consulting-software-market-size-trends-applications-status-analysis-and-forecast-reports-2019-to-2026-105637/
A preterm birth diagnostic test kits helps in detecting on set of preterm labor and possibilities of premature rupture of membrane through biomarkers. In this report, the preterm birth diagnostic test kit manufacturing market is further categorized into sample type, product type, stages, and end users. The preterm birth diagnostic test kits report analyses the demand from the incidence preterm births and adoption of preterm birth diagnostic test kits.

Preterm Birth Diagnostic Test Kits

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:24:26

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

A new study by the company titled 'Preterm Birth Diagnostic Test Kits Market: Global Industry Analysis 2013-2017 and Opportunity Assessment 20182028', has listed out the key points being considered by preterm birth diagnostic test kits companies to emerge and stay sustainably profitable in the long run in the preterm birth diagnostic test kits market. The global preterm birth diagnostic test kits market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 7.4% over the forecast period to reach a value of over US$ 200 Mn by 2028, and the North America preterm birth diagnostic test kits market is expected to remain as a main sink market for revenues. Europe is expected to remain as the main source market for preterm birth diagnostic test kits, as most of the preterm birth diagnostic test kits facilities are located in this region. However, with the increasing demand and cost-effective diagnostic options in countries such as China and India, and various countries of Asia Pacific and Middle-East, is fueling the growth of preterm birth diagnostic test kits market.Key Findings Presented in the Report on the Preterm Birth Diagnostic Test Kits MarketThe report finds that approximately 115.4 million birthsoccurred in 2017, out of which 11.1% births were preterm, which is approximately 12.8 million births. As per WHO, preterm birth complications are the leading cause of deaths amongst children under the age of 5, directly responsible for approximately 1 million death in 2015. Out of these, 3/4th of these deaths can be prevented with cost-effective interventions. The adoption rates for preterm birth diagnostic tests kits ranged from 2% to 15% distributed over various geographies. Majority of the existent patient pool are unaware about the cost-saving benefits of preterm birth diagnostic test kits, thus, a major portion on the preterm birth test kits market has remained untapped which remains open for manufactures of preterm diagnostic test kits to exploit the preterm birth diagnostic test kits market over the forecast period.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7551 Analysis of the Preterm Birth Diagnostic Test Kits MarketFor preterm birth diagnostic test kits, blood sample is the most common sample take for diagnosing preterm labor and premature rupture of membrane. Blood sample-based preterm birth diagnostic tests in preterm cases are the most common and widely accepted in the preterm birth diagnostic test kits end users. However, vaginal discharge sample type preterm birth diagnostic tests are gaining popularity for preterm birth diagnostic test kits.Hospitals, outpatient clinics & diagnostic laboratories using preterm birth diagnostic tests are the primary point of contact for patients experiencing preterm birth symptoms. Hospitals are estimated to account for majority of the revenue share under the end users segment for preterm birth diagnostic test kits market in 2017, owing to being the primary healthcare facility for preterm cases. The prevalent cases of preterm birth, growing demand for cost-effective diagnostic options and preterm birth test kits, and success in clinical studies for developing a rapid preterm birth diagnostic test kits is expected to fuel the growth of the global preterm birth diagnostic test kits market over the forecast period.Activities across the preterm birth diagnostic test kits manufacturers are restricted to efficiency and specificity testing. The top activity associated with preterm birth diagnostic test kits manufacturers is joint collaboration with various organizations in order to spread awareness, further development, and test the sensitivity, specificity and efficiency of preterm birth diagnostic test kits.Factors Impacting Growth of the Preterm Birth Diagnostic Test Kits MarketRising focus on cost-effective diagnosis using preterm birth diagnostic test kits is expected to boost the growth of the preterm birth diagnostic test kits market. Preterm birth diagnostic test kits manufacturing companies focusing on spreading awareness about preterm birth diagnostic test kits and marketing preterm birth diagnostic test kits through campaigns and joint research studies is expected fuel the growth of the preterm birth diagnostic test kits market during the forecast period. However, Preterm birth diagnostic kits experience stiff competition from alternative product lines. Trans-vaginal scans, advanced ultrasound are some of the examinations adopted by healthcare providers over preterm birth diagnostic kits and would pose challenges to the growth of the preterm birth diagnostic test kits market.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-7551 Preterm Birth Diagnostic Test Kits Market: CompaniesSome of the key preterm birth diagnostic test kits companies analyzed in this report titled Preterm birth diagnostic test kits market include Creative Diagnostics, Qiagen, Medixbiochemcia, Hologic Inc, Sera Prognostics, IQ Products, Biosynex, Nanjing Liming Biological Preparations Co Ltd, Clinical Innovations LLC, BIOSERV Diagnostics GmbH, Wuxi BioHermes Biomedical Technology Co. Ltd, and Anhui Deep Blue Medical Technology.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 18:55:21

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / PowerBand Solutions Inc. (OTCQB: PWWBF) (TSX-V: PBX)(Frankfurt: 1ZVA) ("PowerBand," "PBX" or the "Company"), a leading online automotive auction, remarketing and sales platform in North America, announced today it is negotiating a definitive Unit Purchase Agreement with MUSA Holdings, LLC to acquire 75% of MUSA Holdings, LLC, and its subsidiaries, including MUSA Auto Finance, LLC ("MUSA"), in a transaction valued at US$15 million. The acquisition will transform PBX into an industry leading FinTech company in the areas of vehicle acquisition, leasing, lending, and auction services. The acquisition is subject to financing and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.MUSA Auto FinanceFounded in 2016, MUSA, based in Dallas, Texas, has quickly become the FinTech leader in the auto leasing market in the United States. Its innovative technology platform modernizes the new and pre-owned vehicle leasing experience. As a result of its proprietary technology, MUSA was awarded a contract by Tesla Motors to become its national leasing partner in 2018. With the Tesla contract and 450 dealer partners, MUSA originated over US$24.5 million in 2017 and US$157.5 million in 2018 in vehicle leases with an average FICO Score of 765. MUSA's product offering streamlines the vehicle sales process for dealers across the United States leveraging its innovative technology to navigate underwriting, funding, and the physical delivery process. The platform allows consumers and dealers to complete the entire customer leasing experience in minutes.PBX's acquisition of MUSA will bring together two leading edge companies with the vision to become a one-stop SaaS platform for the entire vehicle purchase lifecycle. Franchised, independent dealers, and consumers will be able to:Use MUSA's real-time lease and loan origination platform to buy new and used vehicles from Tesla and over 8,000 dealers through the PBX-DealerSocket partnershipAcquire pre-owned vehicles for MUSA consumers through PBX's online auction platformRetain customers through new lease options using the PBX-RouteOne partnershipResell off-lease vehicles to D2D Automotive Auctions ("D2D") through the PBX auction platform. D2D is a joint venture partnership owned equally by PowerBand and Hunt Automotive Group in the U.S. (see PBX news release dated November 19, 2018)Mike Moen, President/COO of PowerBand, commented, "We are excited to work with MUSA's management team to accelerate MUSA's ability to service its existing lease portfolio and originate new leases in 2019. We will work closely with our partners to raise new equity capital and warehouse facilities to position MUSA to be able write an increased volume of new leases in 2019, targeting over 10,000 leases. The combination of MUSA's lease platform with PBX's financial experience, and automotive partnerships with RouteOne and DealerSocket, will accelerate PBX's growth in the United States." Jeff Morgan, CEO of MUSA, stated, "We are joining forces with a dynamic company which shares MUSA's passion to disrupt and modernize vehicle lease and auction services. The partnership with PBX will enable the continued growth of our core leasing business, as well as the addition of multiple related auto lease and finance services. With PBX as a partner, we intend to significantly grow our lease originations in 2019 and add over 50,000 pre-owned and trade-in vehicles to the PBX auction platform." MUSA's lease portfolio consists of new and pre-owned vehicles leased through Tesla and non-Tesla franchised and independent dealers across 33 states. A snapshot of MUSA's auto lease portfolio is outlined below (numbers in US$):Core PortfolioValue of lease originations = $94 millionNumber of leases originated = 2,071Average FICO score = 700Average vehicle lease value = $44,000Tesla PortfolioValue of lease originations = $88 millionNumber of leases originated = 897Average FICO score = 806Average vehicle lease value = $98,000Total PortfolioOrigination value = $182.5 millionLeases originated = 2,968Total Portfolio Book Value, as at December 31, 2018, = $161 millionTotal Portfolio Warehouse Facility, as at December 31, 2018 = $141 millionAverage Portfolio FICO = 765Average Lease Value = $60,600Average Delinquency Rate = 0.6%Effective Portfolio Lease Rate = 7.1%Total Tesla and non-Tesla Dealers = 450With total originations of US$182 million, MUSA generated US$21 million in lease and service related revenue in 2018. With its leading position in the auto lease finance space, combined with its Tesla and non-Tesla dealer partnerships, MUSA anticipates lease originations will increase significantly in 2019.In addition to expanding its lease origination portfolio, PBX and MUSA have plans to pursue:Direct-to-consumer lending platformOnline consumer-to-consumer marketplace - connecting individual sellers with buyers who use MUSA for loan or lease financingAggressive expansion toward nationwide operations by adding at least 15 states, bringing the company's total number of states to 48.Financial metrics for MUSA include:2017 Actual2018 EstimatedRevenue$17,286,970$21,355,109EBITDA-$1,734,677$4,315,223Net Income-$7,094,611-$10,262,963Assets$63,930,558$186,297,940Liabilities$60,737,675$184,586,619To finance the acquisition of MUSA, PBX is negotiating a US$15 million Bridge Loan facility from multiple funding sources to acquire 75% of the equity in MUSA Holdings, LLC, and to fund PBX and its subsidiary Companies. MUSA Holdings, LLC will be a majority controlled subsidiary of PBX. MUSA's leadership team will remain in place and continue to operate under the leadership of PowerBand's management team. PBX and MUSA will work together to restructure and grow the business in 2019. Kelly Jennings and Mike Moen will join the Board of Directors of MUSA Holdings, LLC. Kelly Jennings will assume the role of Chairman, Mike Moen will assume the role of Vice Chairman and Managing Director, and Jeff Morgan will continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer. The acquisition of MUSA Holdings, LLC is an arm's length transaction. There are no finder's fees pay
Global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market is expected to witness healthy CAGR over the forecast period as few new therapies are expected to hit the market during the forecast period such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation device, adipose derived stem cell therapy, non-invasive Neurostimulation device etc.

Parkinsons Disease Therapeutics

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:55:34

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Parkinsons disease is a central nervous system disorder affecting motor neuron activities, characterized by tremor, rigidity, dementia, depression etc. According to GDB 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators report, in 2013, 53 Mn people were living with Parkinsons disease while the disease caused 103,000 deaths globally. Risk of Parkinsons disease increases with age and the disease mainly affects person over 50 years of age. Treatment for the Parkinsons disease in mainly symptomatic and no curative treatment options are available. The main aim of the Parkinsons disease treatment is to provide control on signs and symptoms such as shakiness in hands, difficulty with walking, slowness of movement etc.Therapeutic approach for each person varies according to his or her symptoms. Treatment options include medication or surgical treatment. Levodopa in combination with carbidopa is considered as a gold standard for symptomatic treatment of Parkinsons disease. Surgical treatment options include deep brain stimulation and Carbidopa/levodopa enteral suspension therapy. However, surgical therapy is effective only for patients who have previously responded to Levodopa therapy. Some of the commercially available drugs for treatment of Parkinsons disease are Cycloset, Parlodel (Bromocriptine Mesylate), Requip (ropinirole), Rytary, Azilect, Northera, Stalevo, Comtess/Comtan and others. Over the past decade, great progress has been made in the treatment of Parkinsons disease such as identification of new therapeutic targets through genetic research, understanding the common mutations that contribute to Parkinsons disease etc.Parkinsons disease Therapeutics Market: Drivers and RestraintsRecent advances in Parkinsons disease therapeutics such as combination therapies to prolong the action of continuous dopaminergic stimulation drugs, approval for Neurostimulation devices neuroprotective therapies to slow down prognosis of a disease, gene therapy, neural transplantation etc. are expected to bring massive growth in global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market over the forecast period. Moreover, increasing aging population, prevalence of Parkinsonism across the world are the factors fueling demand for Parkinsons disease therapeutics. But generic erosion due to expiry of patents for several drugs such as Rytary, Stalevo (2012), Azilect (2017), Comtan (exclusivity expired in 2013) etc. would deter the growth of global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2527 Parkinsons disease Therapeutics Market: SegmentationThe global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market is classified on the basis of treatment type, end user and geography.Based on treatment type, the global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market is segmented into the following:MedicationsDopamine PrecursorsPeripheral Decarboxylase InhibitorsCOMT InhibitorsMAO InhibitorsOthers (anticholinergics, antihistaminics etc.)Medical DevicesDeep Brain Stimulation (DBS) DevicesCarbidopa/Levodopa Enteral Suspension (Duopa) delivery devicesBased on end user, the global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market is segmented into the following:HospitalsClinicsHomecare SettingsParkinsons disease Therapeutics Market: OverviewGlobal Parkinsons disease therapeutics market is expected to witness healthy CAGR over the forecast period as few new therapies are expected to hit the market during the forecast period such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation device, adipose derived stem cell therapy, non-invasive Neurostimulation device etc. Increasing burden of Parkinsons disease management on healthcare systems of major countries such as the U.S. and U.K. would stimulate the exhaustive efforts by the government to increase the pace of R&D in Parkinsons disease therapeutics. For instance, in the U.S. over 40 medicines are being developed for the treatment and diagnosis of Parkinsons disease many of which have gained fast track designation from the U.S. FDA.Parkinsons disease Therapeutics Market: Regional OverviewRegion wise, the global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market is classified into seven regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America has conventionally dominated the global market for Parkinsons disease therapeutics due to good reimbursement policies and high prevalence of the disease. According to Parkinsons disease Foundation (PDF) approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinsons disease annually. Europe is expected to hold second highest share in the global market owing to increasing R&D efforts by the key players in the region.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2527 Parkinsons disease Therapeutics Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in global Parkinsons disease therapeutics market include GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Salix Pharmaceuticals, mpax Laboratories, Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Novartis AG, Orion Corporation, Mylan N.V. while generic players include Par Pharmaceutical, Cipla Inc., Daiichi Sankyo, Apotex Inc., Wockhardt Limited and others.
Some of the major hospitals which provides technologically advanced treatment for paediatric patients are St Jude Childrens Research Hospital (USA), St Louis Childrens Hospital (USA), Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hospital (USA), Birmingham Childrens Hospital (UK), Royal Childrens Hospital (Australia)

Paediatric Oncology Therapeutics Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:54:37

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Children are affected by different forms of cancer than adults, there also exists a major difference between children and adults regarding treatment and development of new oncology therapies. The prominent variation is the concept of survival. With adult cancer patients, it is acceptable to look to immediate, 5 and 10-year survival rates, along with quality of life, for the best approximations of therapeutic success. On the other hand, a child cancer patient receives treatment to be cured. A typical difference between adult and pediatric oncologists is in treatment protocols; pediatric protocols are much more vigorous, often hitting patients as hard as possible to achieve a successful, long-term cure.Paediatric Oncology Therapeutics Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe markets significant rise through the forecast period can be attributed to the industry as it is becoming more familiar with designing and implementing trials in the pediatric population. The growing incidence of disease conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity in children is contributing to the surge of this segment. In addition, the recognition of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, along with certain behavioral health conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression and anxiety coupled with the rising prevalence of childhood obesity among the pediatric population is aiding the rise in these segments at a brisk rate.However, the relatively small market of pediatric oncology does not provide the financial incentives for companies to actively pursue pediatric oncology solutions. In addition, the development of formulations for children a major challenge that separates pediatric drug development from mainstream R&D. Not surprisingly, each type of formulation poses difficulties depending on the age of the child which incurs additional cost for the companies.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2815 Paediatric Oncology Therapeutics Market: SegmentationThe paediatric oncology therapeutics market, is segmented on the basis of indication, treatment and region.Segmentation by IndicationLeukemiaCentral Nervous System (CNS) disordersBone TumorsInflammatory disordersRespiratory disordersRetinoblastomaSegmentation by TreatmentChemotherapyRadiotheraphyTumor SurgeryBlood and Marrow TransplantationDrug TherapySegmentation by RegionNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificLAMEAPaediatric Oncology Therapeutics Market: IndicationLeukemias are the most common childhood cancers which are the cancers of the bone marrow and blood. Accounts for about 30% of all cancers in children. The most common types in children are Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) and Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL).Central Nervous System (CNS) and Brain tumors are the second most common cancers in children and account about 26% of childhood cancers. There are many types of brain tumors, and the treatment and outlook for each is different.Cancers which that start in the bones (primary bone cancers) occur most often in older children and teens, however they can be developed at any age. They account for about 3% of childhood cancers. Two main types of primary bone cancers occur in children are Osteosarcoma and Ewing Sarcoma.Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the eye. It accounts for about 2% of pediatric patients. It usually occurs in children around the age of 2, and is seldom found in children older than 6.Paediatric Oncology Therapeutics Market: TreatmentChemotherapy and radiotherapy are used as a first-line radical therapy in a number of paediatric oncology (such as ALL or AML) commonly used for palliation, where disease is clearly incurable. Often, surgery is attempted to remove a tumor entirely. This is only feasible when there is some degree of certainty that the tumor can in fact be removed.A bone marrow transplant is a medical procedure in which bone marrow that contains cancer is replaced by hematopoietic stem cells that develop into healthy bone marrow.There is also a rapid expansion in the use of monoclonal antibody treatments, notably for lymphoma (Rituximab), and breast cancer (Trastuzumab). Vaccine and other immunotherapies are the subject of intensive research and will take time to get added in the treatment for paediatric oncology.Paediatric Oncology Therapeutics Market: RegionGeographically, the market is classified majorly into regions namely North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.North America dominates the market due the presence of continuous sophisticated R&D technology development for paediatric oncology diagnosis and treatment in the region. Addition, the increasing incidence rate of cancer and obesity in children is contributing to the surge of this market augmenting for the market. APAC is expected to witness significant growth as compared to other regions and countries owing to increased healthcare and research expenditure.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2815 Paediatric Oncology Therapeutics Market: Key PlayersSome of the major hospitals which provides technologically advanced treatment for paediatric patients are St Jude Childrens Research Hospital (USA), St Louis Childrens Hospital (USA), Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hospital (USA), Birmingham Childrens Hospital (UK), Royal Childrens Hospital (Australia), National Center for Child Health and Development (Japan) and Dana-Dwek Childrens Hospital Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Israel).
Fact.MR

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:10:37

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11140 Rockville Pike,Suite 400 Rockville, MD 20852 United StatesMarketing Manager353-1-4434-232

Global gap filler adhesive demand grew at a healthy rate in 2018, as broader gains in the construction sector induced the much-needed momentum in the market. The spurt in global demand has led to heightened activity in gap filler adhesives market, with leading players focusing on following modern construction trends to meet the evolving demand. Fact.MRs latest study analyzes the gap filler adhesives market, bringing key insights to the fore.According to the study, recovery in global housing markets, coupled with capital injection in infrastructure development are among the key macro factors driving demand for gap filler adhesives. Gains in the US and European construction are likely to be an important factor for the long-term prospects of the gap filler adhesives market. Recent trends have been encouraging -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced in its new residential construction statistics for May 2018 that the number of privatelyowned housing starts authorized in May 2017 increased by over 20.3% by the end of May 2018. In Europe, the building construction increased by 1.5% and civil engineering rate rose by 2.7% during the period October 2017-October 2018.Request For Sample Report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2797 The Fact.MR study opines that innovation remains a key differentiating strategy for gap filler adhesive manufacturers. Development of products that can reduce air leaks and improve energy efficiency is emerging as a key focus area for manufacturers.Growing Production and Consumption Fuel Asia Pacific One Component Foam MarketOne component foam market in emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region is gaining momentum with the increasing production and consumption of polyurethane foam in China and India. China is one of the leading producers of polyurethane, which translates into stable prices and consistent supply of raw materials for one component foam manufacturers in the region. This is enabling players in the one component foam market in the Asia Pacific region to introduce competitive prices and gain an edge in the upcoming years.The ever-growing trend of industrialization in developing countries in the region, such as China and India, is further expanding the range of applications for one component foam products in the region. Thereby, leading players in the one component foam market are introducing a variety of features of their products to suit specific requirements from end-users in the region.In addition, the Chinese government has imposed stringent regulations to limit harmful emissions of polyurethane spray foams, which is coaxing market players to turn to environmentally friendly alternatives of one component polyurethane foam. Manufacturers in the one component foam market in the Asia Pacific region are shifting their focus on introducing energy-efficient and more sustainable products to be in-line with the dynamic demands of environment conscious end-users.Browse Full Report on Gap Filler Adhesive Market with TOC- https://www.factmr.com/report/2797/one-component-foam-market One Component Foam as Sealants and Adhesives to Find Maximum Applications Across End-user IndustriesOver 75% of the one component foam products available on the market are used as sealants and adhesives in a wide range of end-user industries, which is one of the leading trends in the one component foam market. Owing to the simplicity and ease of use of one component foam sealants or one component foam adhesives, its demand is increasing across various industrial verticals. Leading manufacturers in the one component foam market are adopting advanced manufacturing strategies to further improve cost-efficiency, safety, and eco-friendly characteristics of one component foam sealants and adhesives.However, a majority of end-users are discovering extraordinary features of one component foam products when they are used in insulating and filling applications. With the increasing growth of the end-user industries, including the construction industry, one component foam products are likely to witness maximum demand on account of its burgeoning use in insulating and filling applications. Fact.MR recently published an insightful market research report on one component foam market on analyzing various trends and other microeconomic factors that can influence growth prospects of the market in the assessment period 2018-2027. Based on the thorough analysis, the study predicts that the one component foam market will grow at a healthy 5.2% CAGR during the forecast period.Ask Our Industry Expert for details of this report- https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2797
On the basis of region presence, Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa.

Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:52:56

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Diabetes has evolved as one of the primary healthcare epidemic characterized by high sugar levels and principle cause of mortality worldwide. In 2014, World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 8.5% of adults living with diabetes. A diabetic person cannot either synthesize enough insulin (type 1 diabetes) or either does not make enough insulin or cannot effectively use the insulin produced by the body (type 2 diabetes). Another type of diabetes that occur in women during her pregnancy is gestational diabetes. However, gestational diabetes is usually resolved after delivery but can precede towards type 2 diabetes later in a womens life. Most of the continuous glucose monitoring devices are invasive and involves use of needles leading to increased chance of infection. Furthermore, the invasive glucose monitoring device is considered to be discrete glucose measurement system which cannot be practically used for continuous monitoring of blood glucose. Certain evidences of hyperglycemia between measurements are however not recorded thus resulting in false or no representation of the blood glucose pattern. Noninvasive monitoring of glucose levels eliminates the need of painful pricking with increased risk of infection, and amount of damage caused to the finger tissue.Therefore, non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring devices are being widely investigated and studied over the past few years for their ability to monitor glucose continuously under highly controlled (e.g. in-clinic) conditions. Various techniques that involves measurement of blood glucose levels non-invasively includes, Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), Mid -Infrared Spectroscopy (Mid-IRS), Raman Spectroscopy, Photo-acoustic Spectroscopy (PA), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and many more.Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring DevicesMarket: Drivers & RestraintsRising prevalence of diabetes globally is expected to result in greater use of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring devices among the prevalent population. Owing to the several disadvantages imposed by the use of invasive blood glucose monitors and growing need to develop noninvasive glucose monitoring diagnostic techniques, the market for non- invasive blood glucose monitoring devices is expected to rise at a greater pace during the forecast period. For instance, in June 2015, researchers in U.K. developed blood glucose device that utilizes low-powered lasers in order to measure the blood glucose levels on the skin surface. Also a bench-top version of the system is currently in clinical trials studies which might land in the market over the next few years. This includes, a finger-touch device similar to a computer mouse and a wearable version for continuous blood glucose monitoring.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2613 In addition, increasing efforts by several startup manufacturers, for example, Prediktor Medical- a Norway based manufacturer is developing a wearable device for estimation of blood glucose levels based on the combination of several principles determining the noninvasive glucose monitoring including, advanced multivariate analysis and dynamic models for insulin or glucose interaction. The device is expected to be in the form of a watch or bracelet communicating with the mobile phone or a tablet for data presentation. This would enable patients monitor their glucose levels continuously without the need for an implant. Currently available blood glucose measuring devices lacks specificity and sensitivity due to the substantial physical and chemical interference. Non-invasive glucose monitoring devices use multivariate regression analyses converting optical signal to glucose concentration. Hence the device should be designed in such a way that it leads to accurate detection of blood glucose levels imperative for optimum therapy and disease management.Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: SegmentationNon- invasive blood glucose monitoring devices marketis segmented by technology, modality end user and geography:By TechnologyMIR/NIR (Mid/Near Infrared Spectroscopy)Raman SpectroscopyOcclusion SpectroscopyOptical Coherence TomographyThermal Emission SpectroscopyPhotoacoustic SpectroscopyImpedance/Dielectric SpectroscopyElectromagneticPolarimetryFluorescenceBy ModalityWearable Blood Glucose Monitoring SystemsNon-wearable /Table top Blood Glucose Monitoring SystemsBy End UserHospitalsHome Care SettingsClinicsNon- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: OverviewRising prevalence of diabetes worldwide imposes significant economic consequences on the individuals life. Currently, there are 350 million people worldwide estimated to live with diabetes. Thus continuous monitoring of blood glucose levels is essential in order to manage the ever increasing prevalent population living with diabetes currently. For this reason manufacturers are focusing on developing diagnostic techniques that are highly reliable and monitors individuals blood glucose levels with greater accuracy with the capability to improve glycemic control and patient wellbeing. By integration of sensing elements, electronics along with a reliable power source in a single unit, noninvasive blood glucose monitors are offering immense opportunity for all the device manufacturers along with patients and various healthcare providers across the world. Accelerated regulatory approvals of blood glucose monitors is one of the another important factor leading to increased revenues of noninvasive blood glucose devices over the forecast period.Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of region presence, Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Growing number of diabetic population in U.S. is the leading factor contributing towards higher adoption of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring systems. Center of Diseases Control and Prevention estimated 29.1 million of U.S. population with diabetes in the U.S. The data also estimated adult population with diabetes are at 50% higher risk of death. Furthermore, growing need of continuous non-invasive method of blood glucose diagnosis among patients is expected to create higher demand for noninvasive blood glucose monitoring systems worldwide. The incidence of diabetes is higher in regions such as Asia Pacific, North America and Western Europe. Presence of several pipeline blood glucose monitoring systems and their expected launch is expected to drive the market for noninvasive blood glucose devices over the forecast period.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2613 Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in the non- invasive blood glucose monitoring devices market are, Abbott, Animas Technologies, Bayer Healthcare, Cercacor, Pendragon Medical, OrSense, and Bayer Healthcare.
Persistence Market Research

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:24:06

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According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Nano-Enabled Packaging For Food and Beverages: Intelligent Packaging to Witness Highest Growth by 2020, the global nano enabled packaging market for food and beverages industry was worth USD 6.5 billion in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.7% during 2014 to 2020, to reach an estimated value of USD 15.0 billion in 2020.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/2809 The global progress in technologies is making lives simpler and safer. Nanotechnology is one such field which is dynamically progressing and is contributing to the development of several industries, including food and beverages packaging. Nano-enabled packaging gives longer shelf life to food and beverages as compared to traditional plastic packaging. Food and beverages packaging is done through two different technologies under nano-enabled packaging-active and intelligent packaging. Active packaging has a comparativelylarger market than intelligent packaging.Intelligent packaging is growing at a faster rate as compared to the active packaging. Customers prefer traceable food and beverages packaging, since it offers information such as expiry date and best use period, present state of the consumables. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags keep customers informed about the state of the food within the packaging. Intelligent packaging is mostly used for fruits and vegetables, meat products, and beverages. Stricter regulations associated with active packaging have been stimulating the use of intelligent packaging in Europe and North America.Intelligent packaging in the U.S. is growing mainly due to the increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables. Americans are shifting their breakfast preference from junk foods to fresh alternatives. The U.S. is one of the largest producers and exporters of cherries globally. With the ease in trade regulations, fruit exports of the U.S. have increased. In September 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that after ten years of negotiations, U.S. cherries can be exported to Western Australia, one of the most important markets for cherries. The increasing demand for intelligent packaging in international trade (especially in fruits) is laying out opportunities for this technology in food packaging.The Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) proposed by FDA in 2011 is another growth indicator for intelligent packaging wherein the fresh produce, including fruits and vegetables, are required to be scientifically grown, harvested, packaged, and stored. The farm products that come in the acts domain are lettuce, spinach, cantaloupe, tomatoes, sprouts, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cabbage, citrus produce, strawberries, and walnuts.Nano-enabled packaging finds its application in several industries, including bakery, meat, beverages, fruit and vegetables, prepared foods, and others. The increasing demand for meat products, beverages, vegetables, and prepared foods is expected to drive their respective nano-enabled packaging markets, while the market share of bakery products is expected to decline on account of the rapid growth of other application segments.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/2809 Nanotechnology is at a nascent stage and, therefore, usage of nano-enabled packaging is low in the food and beverages industry. Limited numbers of buyers have more leverage to negotiate with nanotechnology companies. On the other hand, there is a plethora of companies providing nano-enabled packaging solutions to the food and beverages industry.Nano-enabled packaging market for food and beverage is very competitive with a large number of players offering an array of patented products. The major players in this industry include Amcor Limited, Bemis Company, Inc., Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, L.L.C., Klockner Pentaplast, Sealed Air, and Tetra Pak International S.A.
Muscle Relaxant Drugs

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:51:45

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comSEO Manager3479183531

Muscle relaxant drugs are primarily used in conjunction with general anesthetics to achieve muscle relaxation during surgical interventions. However, they are also being used in the treatment of muscle spasm and spastic neurological conditions secondary to multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome etc. Muscle relaxants can be used in alleviating acute pain in muscle spasm, tension headache etc. Spasticity arises from conditions affecting brain and spinal cord, and lasts for a long time. However, muscle relaxant drugs only provide symptomatic treatment and do not cure the underlying disease or disorder. Loss of muscle tone associated with old age, due to loss of fibrous tissue and reduced vascular network in the skin makes old age population the biggest target group for the use of skeletal muscle relaxant drugs.Moreover, geriatric population is highly prone to the musculoskeletal disorders including Carpal Tunnel syndrome, ligament sprain etc. Muscle relaxant drugs are commercially being used from 1940s, and since 1995, 10 new muscle relaxant drugs have been introduced in a market including vecuronium, Atracurium etc. Some of the commonly used brands of skeletal muscle relaxant drugs include Gablofen (baclofen injection), Lioresal Intrathecal (baclofen), Soma (Carisoprodol), Lorzone (Chlorzoxazone), Flexeril (Cyclobenzaprine), Dantrium (Dantrolene), Skelaxin (Metaxalone) and others. According to the Medicaid reported data, carisoprodol, cyclobenzaprine and metaxalone comprised 45% of overall prescription for lower back pain in the U.S. in 2015.Muscle Relaxant Drugs Market: Drivers and RestraintsGlobal market for muscle relaxant drugs is primarily driven by increasing incidence of lower back pain, surge in number of surgical procedures and expanding geriatric population. Low back pain has been ranked among the top 5 causes of physician visits in the U.S. In 2007, The American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians published a guideline for the treatment of low back pain in which skeletal muscle relaxants are recommended as a second line therapy for low back pain. Moreover, changing prescription practices may alter the growth rate of muscle relaxant drugs market. For instance, even though muscle relaxants drugs are not recommended as a first line of therapy 35% of patients suffering from non-specific lower back pain are prescribed with muscle relaxants in the U.S. However, severe side effects related to muscle relaxant drugs such as habituation and respiratory arrest will restrict the growth of global muscle relaxant drugs market.Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2836 Muscle Relaxant Drugs Market: SegmentationThe global muscle relaxant drugs market has been segmented on the basis of product type, formulation, retail sales channel, and geography.Based on product type, the global muscle relaxant drugs market is divided into following:Peripherally Acting Muscle RelaxantsNeuromuscular Blocking Agents (e.g. Tubocurarine,Direct Acting Muscle Relaxants (e.g. Dandroline, )Facial Aesthetic Relaxants (e.g. Botulinum toxin A)Centrally Acting Muscle Relaxants (e.g. Carisoprodol, Chlorzoxazone etc.)Based on formulation, the global muscle relaxant drugs market is divided into following:Solid Oral FormulationsInjectable FormulationsBased on retail sales channels, the global muscle relaxant drugs market is segmented as below:Hospital PharmacyOnline salesRetail PharmacyDrug StoresMuscle Relaxant Drugs Market: OverviewThe global market for muscle relaxant drugs is expected to gain traction during the forecast period due to increasing aging population and availability of generic drugs. Centrally acting muscle relaxant drugs segment is expected to hold the largest share in the global muscle relaxant drugs market due to increasing number of prescriptions. However, facial aesthetic relaxants segment is expected to witness highest growth rate due to increasing number of facial and cosmetic surgeries and changing perception of beauty all over the world. Increasing usage of neuromuscular blocking agents during general surgeries would drive the growth of global market for muscle relaxant drugsMuscle Relaxant Drugs Market: Regional Wise OutlookGeographically, the global muscle relaxant drugs market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America will continue to hold largest share in the global muscle relaxant drugs market due to rising number of ANDA applications being filed by the key players. Europe is expected to hold second largest share in global market for muscle relaxant drugs market. However, APAC is expected to witness highest growth rate due to expansion activities by the key players in the regionand launch of generic muscle relaxant drug formulations.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2836 Muscle Relaxant Drugs Market: Key PlayersSome of the market players operating in global muscle relaxant drugs market are Abbott Laboratories, Mallinckrodt plc., Medtronic Neuromodulation (Medtronic Inc.), Vertical Pharmaceuticals LLC, Johnson & Johnson, Par Sterile Products, LLC., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., SteriMax Inc. and others. Companies are facing patent cliff as majority of the muscle relaxant drugs have lost the patent exclusivity. However, generic players such as Upsher Smith Laboratories, Inc., Orient Pharma Co., Ltd. and others are introducing generic versions of these drugs in the global muscle relaxant drugs market.
XploreMR is one of the worlds leading resellers of high-quality market research reports. We feature in-depth reports from some of the worlds most reputed market research companies and international organizations. We serve across a broad spectrum  from Fortune 500 to small and medium businesses. Our clients trust us for our unwavering focus onquality and affordability. We believe high price should not be a bottleneck for organizations looking to gain access to quality information.

XploreMR

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:42:47

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In robust of the market included Keyword market report. Which helps to heighten the industry growth along with assorted market subjects such as growth path, predictions, revenue, trends, and market size analysis which are directly impacted on market dynamics. XploreMR provides the data on the bases of the past and current years for forecast the market covering in the next upcoming years as well as covering the latest trends of the market. The report will provide a detailed study of the market which will aid the reader for judgment and better comprehension.Microalgae has emerged as new promising source of nutrients that comprise high-value compounds such as anti-oxidants, pigments, and fatty acids. Despite challenges such as climatic conditions coupled with low consumer demand and complexities in regulations, demand outlook for microalgae is expected to be positive, driven by the scientific and technological innovations and dominance of microalgae in agri-food markets worldwide.This Market Study presents an all-inclusive report titled, Microalgae Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) & Forecast (2017-2026). The report encompasses all major trends playing a fundamental role in growth of the global microalgae market, and highlights opportunities restraints and drivers that are likely to leave a significant effect on the market through the forecast period.The report imparts an exhaustive perspective on the global market for microalgae in terms of revenues (US$).Report StructureThe report initiates with an executive summary that provides a complete picture of the global microalgae market, including the region-wise outlook coupled with relevant market numbers.The executive summary also offers forecast on other microalgae market segments in terms of market share, revenues, and CAGRs. A chapter on overview, which trails the executive summary, provides a concise market introduction which includes a market taxonomy table and a formal definition of microalgae.The overview chapter elucidates key nodes of the global microalgae market such as supply chain, cost structure, service provider list, raw material sourcing strategies, and pricing analysis. This chapter also issues a succinct study on the overall market approach of key players partaking in the global microalgae market, displaying their presence on an intensity map.Buy Now Full Report @ https://www.xploremr.com/cart/reports/buynow/536 Competition LandscapeA chapter provided in the report, which is dedicated to the global microalgae markets competition landscape, issues analysis on key players underpinning the market expansion. Imperative information on these market players along with novel strategies adopted by them for staying at the markets forefront has been delivered in this chapter.Companies included in the report are profiled individually by the report in terms of their product overview, company overview, key financials, and key developments. A SWOT analysis has been offered on each company, providing detailed intelligence on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats dealt. The chapter on competition landscape is priceless for readers of the report, owing to the provision of a deep understanding of the market players.This concluding chapter of the report is also valuable for new market entrants for better understanding their competitors.Get Report Sample Copy @ https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/536
Medication Dispenser Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:26:55

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Reformation in healthcare policies across various countries has resulted in enhancement of healthcare services, favoring the adoption of medication dispenser in hospitals. The change in the quality of healthcare services provided to patients is mainly ascribed to ongoing technological advancements, which is simultaneously elevating the effectiveness of healthcare systems. Such positive alterations are helping healthcare organizations to increase productivity as well as mitigate healthcare costs and medical errors. Further, hospitals are bound to offer quality care to patients in order to stay competitive. Increasing adoption of novel medical technologies such as Electronic medical record (EMR), Pharmacy Information Systems (PIS), and Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) has led to the automation of various procedures in hospitals.Request for Report Methodology @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/16393 Factors as such are anticipated to support the growing use of medication dispenser in ambulatory surgical centers, hospitals and nursing homes. Moreover, the need to eliminate manual task of dispensing medicines is further boosting the demand for medication dispensing systems of late. As per the latest report published by Persistence Market Research, the global medication dispenser market will reach a valuation of US$ 1,824.7 Mn, riding at a CAGR of 7.0% over the forecast period (20172025).PMRs report, titled Medication Dispenser Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Forecast (2017-2025) also cites that the medication dispenser market in North America will retain its top spot over the forecast period. The region is expected to account for nearly 64.3% revenue share of the global market by 2017-end. This is primarily owing to the rising geriatric population and availability of highly accurate medication services in the region. During this eight years of the forecast, the region is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.2% and reach a market valuation of US$ 1,187.1 Mn. In addition, the contribution of the U.S. in the regions market will remain exceptionally high throughout the assessment period. Meanwhile, APEJ is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 8.2% over 2025, primarily due to increasing per capita income and a greater healthcare reach in many of the emerging countries in the region.Additional Highlights of the Report Include:On the basis of product type, pharmacy based ADSs currently hold the largest share of the global medication dispenser market in terms of revenue, and the trend is projected to continue throughout the forecast period. Pharmacy based ADSs are anticipated to account for 55.4% share of the market over the forecast period, expanding at a CAGR of 7.5%.By end-user, demand for medication dispenser is expected to remain robust from hospital pharmacies in 2017 and beyond. Hospital pharmacies are anticipated to account for around 61.9% share of the global market over 2025.Request Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/16393 Competitive DashboardPMR in its report has profiled some of the leading companies operating in the global medication dispenser market, which include: Becton, Dickinson and Company, Omnicell Inc., Cerner Corporation, Capsa Solution LLC, InstyMeds Corporation, PARATA SYSTEMS, LLC, TriaTech Medical Systems Inc., ARxIUM Inc., ScriptPro LLC, YUYAMA Co.,Ltd , Howard Industries, Inc., Swisslog Holding AG, Healthmark, Talyst, Robotik Technology, Tema Sinergie, Synergy Medical, RxMedic Systems, Inc., Accu-Chart Plus Healthcare Systems, Inc., Medipense Inc.
Medical Marijuana Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:57:56

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Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.comAssociate Consultant800-961-0353

The medical marijuana market is anticipated to record a year-over-year growth rate of 15.9% and reach a market value of US$ 39,891.2 Mn by 2026. Extract form segment is expected to have high revenue share, accounting for 63.9% share in 2018 of the overall medical marijuana market. In this report, the medical marijuana market is segmented based on product type, application type, distribution channel and region.The extract form is the dominant segment in the market for medical marijuana as maximum number of products are made out of extract form and they are conveniently used by majority of the population. The product listed include oil concentration, tinctures, sprays, edibles, tablets, and capsules based on prescription. In contrast, the companies conduct research activities to introduce novel products in the market. In terms of revenue, the extract segment is expected to account for large revenue share of 63.9% in 2018, is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period. The growth in the dried flower segment is expected to be primarily driven by traditional use and purpose of usage with options available to consume dry form medical marijuana without any interventions.Request Sample Report@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13897 Pain management seems to be the preferred choice to use medical marijuana, as the segment includes pain associated with many diseases such as cancer, arthritis, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and nerve damage, among others. The common practice associated with the routine checks involve the dynamic use of medical marijuana. Others segment has a range of indications in which medical marijuana is used such as PTSD, anxiety, mental health conditions, and many more. However, the seizures segment which involves cases of multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons disease, and convulsions is expected to witness high CAGR of 16.1% during the forecast period.The retail pharmacy distribution segment is expected to hold maximum share in the overall medical marijuana market due to the large number of companies forming dispensaries of their own to sell the products on a major scale. Retail pharmacy is the first choice of distribution among manufacturers and consumers. Retail pharmacy distribution segment is estimated to have a market share of 77.9% in 2018 and a steady growth the E-commerce is also expected in the medical marijuana market due to change in operational functions that offer a high growth rate during the forecast period.Medical marijuana is well known for its notorious qualities that are being projected in different communities around the world. It is not in use by majority of the global population for medical cases. In the U.S., marijuana is classified as a schedule 1 controlled substance, which makes it illegal to consume or possess. Limited use of medical marijuana has latched on to claims that it is useful to treat various ailments such as Crohns disease, multiple sclerosis results into muscle spasm, epilepsy, glaucoma, and nausea, among others. Though the medical marijuana is being synthesized to be used for medical purposes, the legalization of recreational marijuana would have some serious effects on overall marijuana pricing. Recreational marijuana is not subjected to be in use for health reasons, but are often consumed for its soothing and psychotic nature. But with developments for medical marijuana usage for medical purpose are on a rise in both developing and developed countries, progress with medical marijuana consumption in severe health issues often makes it a noticeable choice for physicians to prescribe it to treat diseases.Besides, there must be solid evidence to make it rather official to be in use. Conventional medicines are becoming expensive with time, whereas the adult population is increasing, which fails to adapt to this dynamic shift.PMRs report has segmented the global medical marijuana market on the basis of region into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific Excluding China, China and Middle East & Africa. This report assesses trends driving each market segment and offers analysis and insights about the medical marijuana market in specific regions. North America is expected to account major share in the global medical marijuana market and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.2% being the most lucrative regional market for medical marijuana. Europe is expected to follow North America during the forecast period due to high prevalence of cases that require medical marijuana for the treatment.Request Report TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/13897 The key players in the Medical marijuana market include GW Pharmaceuticals PLC, MedReleaf Corporation, Canopy Growth Corporation, Aphria Incorporation, Aurora Cannabis Inc, Medical Marijuana, Inc., Green Relief Inc., Cannabis Sativa, INC., Insys Therapeutics, Inc., and The Peace Naturals Project.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 12:47:36

The global demand for advanced sensor technology has been on a steady rise over the last few years, owing to a growing need for biopharmaceuticals brought about by a rising prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Increased demand for biopharmaceuticals has necessitated the manufacturing of sensor products and this is likely to positively impact revenue growth of the global measurement technology in downstream processing market. Future Market Insights presents a comprehensive forecast of the global market for measurement technology in downstream processing in a new report titled Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012  2016) & Opportunity Assessment (2017  2027). Besides a historical market valuation for the period 2012 to 2016 and detailed revenue projections for the period 2017 to 2027, the report also provides useful information on the key market dynamics  growth drivers, revenue inhibitors, current and predicted market trends, as well as opportunities for manufacturers  with an objective to provide the report audience with pertinent qualitative and quantitative insights on the market.To Get Sample Copy of Report Visit at: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-5922 According to the forecast presented in the report, valuation of the global measurement technology in downstream processing market is anticipated to increase from an estimated US$ 3,772.4 Mn in 2017 to about US$ 6,827.9 Mn by the end of the forecast period in 2027. This reflects a CAGR of 6.1% in terms of value during the period of study.Sensors Dominant Product Type in the Global Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing MarketThe global measurement technology in downstream processing market is segmented on the basis of product type into Sensors, Transmitters and Controllers, Sensor Housings, Cables and Connectors, and Buffers and Standard Reagents. Sensors are the widely adopted product type with an increased market share throughout the forecast period. Conductivity sensors and cell density sensors are two of the fastest growing sensor types. In 2017, the market volume of the sensors segment was pegged at 4,165.4 (000 units) and this is expected to increase to 8,094.9 (000 units) by 2027 end.Single Use to Remain the Most Preferred Modality in the Global Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing MarketOn the basis of modality, the global market is segmented into Single Use and Reusable. The single use segment is the fastest growing modality type with a CAGR of 6.9%.Biopharmaceutical Companies the Fastest Growing End Users of Measurement Technology in Downstream ProcessingThe global market for measurement technology in downstream processing is segmented based on end user into Biopharmaceutical Companies, Food & Beverage Companies, Contract Manufacturing Organisations, Contract Research Organisations, Academic and Research Institutes, and Others. Biopharmaceutical companies are the largest end users of measurement technology in downstream processing, and this segment is slated to register a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period  the highest among all the end user segments of the global market. Food & beverage companies are the second largest end users of measurement technology in downstream processing, and this segment is expected to reach a market valuation of US$ 2,273.2 Mn by 2027 end.Request Report for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-5922 Western Europe Largest Regional Market for Measurement Technology in Downstream ProcessingThe report studies the performance of the global measurement technology in downstream processing market across the key geographies of North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. The Western Europe regional market is the largest in terms of revenue, with an estimated market valuation to the tune of US$ 2,677.1 Mn by the end of 2027. However, the Asia Pacific Excluding Japan measurement technology in downstream processing market is projected to witness the fastest growth rate of 8.3% between 2017 and 2027.70% of the Global Measurement Technology in Downstream Processing Market Comprises Tier 3 PlayersThe report profiles some of the tier players operating in the global market such as Applikon Biotechnology, Inc., Broadley-James Corporation, Endress+Hauser AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hamilton Company, Mettler-Toledo International, Inc., PendoTECH, PreSens Precision Sensing GmbH, and Sartorius AG. Just about 8% of the global market is represented by Tier 1 players.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/measurement-technology-in-downstream-processing-market
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 10:57:58

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Mascarpone is fresh cream cheese manufactured from cows milk. It has a smooth and creamy texture and thus, is easy to spread. Mascarpone is a traditional Italian cream cheese that can be directly consumed; it finds a number of applications in the food industry. Mascarpone is manufactured from cream; it is heated and acidified at 100 degree Celsius, which causes precipitation of the curd. Further, the curd is separated from lactoserum through mechanical separation. In terms of nutritional content, mascarpone cheese has very high-fat content, i.e. approximately 60%  80%. The fat consistency in mascarpone cheese varies from manufacturer to manufacturer  it is sometimes sold as soft cream and other times sold as hard butter. The texture of mascarpone cheese is buttery, creamy, and milky smooth, owing to which it is widely consumed in sweet and savory dishes. Currently, the demand for mascarpone cheese is increasing among Asia Pacific countries, especially China, Japan and Australia.Increasing Demand for Mascarpone Cheese in Food Industry, owing to its Functional and Organoleptic PropertiesThe demand for mascarpone cheese has been increasing in household consumption as well as industrial use. One of the key factors driving the demand for mascarpone cheese is its varied application in the food industry as a substitute for cream, in desserts, sauces, ready-to-cook dishes, soups and others. Furthermore, the demand for mascarpone cheese is also growing due to its functional and organoleptic properties as it is used for thickening and binding purposes in many food recipes.Currently, the demand for mascarpone cheese is driven by its sweet and savory applications, higher shelf life and functional properties. On the other side, different flavors of mascarpone cheese are also gaining popularity in the food retail industry. The demand for mascarpone cheese as an Italian cheese is gaining traction in Western European countries, the U.S. and Asia Pacific, owing to its taste and the fact that it has no added preservatives. Mascarpone cheese, being a vegetarian cheese product, is also popular among the growing vegetarian population in Western Europe.A sample of this report is available upon request https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/25546 Mascarpone Cheese Market: SegmentationThe global mascarpone cheese market can be segmented on the basis of flavor, end use, distribution channel and region.On the basis of flavor, the global mascarpone cheese market has been segmented as:FlavoredUnflavoredOn the basis of end use, the global mascarpone cheese market has been segmented as:BakeryDessertsSoups, Sauces and DressingsSavoryReady-Cooked DishesRetail/HouseholdFood Service IndustryOthersOn the basis of distribution channel, the global mascarpone cheese market has been segmented as:Business to BusinessBusiness to ConsumerHypermarkets/SupermarketsDepartmental StoresSpecialty StoresOnline RetailOthersOn the basis of region, the global mascarpone cheese market has been segmented as:North AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East & AfricaMascarpone Cheese Market: ParticipantsSome of the key players operating in the business of mascarpone cheese are BelGioioso Cheese Inc., Somboled, Granarolo S.p.A., Bella Casara, Ferraro Dairy Foods, FITSA Group, Sordi Impianti Ltd., Newlat Food S.p.A., Green Pastures Donegal, Kerry Inc., Vermont Creamery and others.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/25543
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 13:26:22

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616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comManager+1-347-918-3531

There are several huge aspects impacting medical device technology field nowadays. A number of trends including consolidation, research and developments, and international strategies and alliances are driving the market for china spinal fusion market. The spinal fusion is one of the most common surgeries suggested for back problems. With the increasing spinal fusion surgery volumes in china due to the favourable reimbursement levels and patients willingness to undergo surgery with minimal invasive techniques is expected to foster the china spinal fusion market. Spinal fusion is surgical process are done to the patients suffering from a number of conditions such asdeformity, scoliosis, disc disease and fracture.The China Spinal Fusion Market is expected to register a double digit growth holding the fact that there is an increasing number of surgeries due to advancement in the technologies and use of minimal invasive techniques that benefits reduced cost. The procedures are highly benefited with the investment in the new technologies and their clinical success which are gaining more and more importance in the recent days and causing the China spinal fusion market to grow.The emerging China spinal fusion market has been experiencing a phase of new product development and technological advancements due to greater demand. The manufacturing companies are raising their respective market share with aggressive marketing activities and increased R&D activities.Request Report Sample@ www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-cn-877 China Spinal Fusion Market: Drivers & RestraintsSome of the major factors subsidizing the growth of China spinal fusion market are increasing rate of aging population with spine related diseases & related injuries coupled with the rising incomes of the Chinese populace ensuring the patients capability to pay for the treatment. On the other hand the price sensitive population of china is very responsive to the treatment price that are anticipated to drip considerably in near future due to the increasing competition in the market.Due to existing and upcoming advance technologies such as minimal invasive surgery and better implant materials are making it more widely accepted including the younger adult populace and thereby increasing the China spinal fusion market.The economic growth and additional initiatives taken by the Chinese government had resulted in treatment of a large number of previously untreated spinal disease patients in China's rural populace who are now undergoing minimally invasive spine surgery due to increased access.Despite of being widely used procedure for curing extremely debilitating disease related to spine, and spinal deformities, such as scoliosis and kyphosis, the China spinal fusion market is facing some challenges such as reimbursement cuts and heavy government regulations, high surgery cost, risk factors involved in the surgery etc.Due to high competition in the market, prices for bone graft substitutes and spinal implants are expected to come down in the Asia Pacific market, even when demand and expenditure on them has become greater than before, thus restraining the China spinal fusion market from growing. Some of the other growth restraining factors of the China spinal infusion market can be growing awareness for some other treatment methods such as IDET, artificial disc, posterior dynamic stabilization, disc regeneration.China Spinal Fusion Market: SegmentationBy spine fusion device types is segmented as follows:Spinal Plating SystemsPedicle Screw SystemsInterbody CagesBy procedure, the china spinal fusion market is segmented as follows:Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF)Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF)Anterior/Posterior Spinal FusionTransforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF)Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF)Visit For TOC@ www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-cn-877 The developing region of China is projected to be potentially growing in market with reference to the increasing demand for spinal fusion holding the fact that increased number of technological advancements have made the devices and surgeries cost-effective.China Spinal Fusion Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the China spinal fusion market are Trauson, Depuy Synthes Companies, Biomet, Inc., Medtronic, Inc, Nuvasive Inc, Stryker Corporation, Zimmer Holding, Inc., Orthofix International N.V, B. Braun Aesculap and Weigao Orthopaedic Device Co., Ltd.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 17:15:20

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42 joseph street, Portcarling P0B 1J0 , Muskoka, Ontario, CanadaCEO16317214201

RRI delivers key insights on the global liningsmarket in its latest report titled Linings Market: : Global Industry Analysis, Size, Sales and Forecast By 2028. The long-term outlook on the global liningsmarket remains positive with the market value expected to increase at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period 2028). Among the segments bychemistry, thewaterbornelinings segment is expected to expand at a significant CAGR in terms of value and volume over the forecast period.While the solventborne segment holds a bigger market share, the powder based segment is expected to grow at the fastest pace. The global sales of liningsis estimated to be valued at US$ 3,958.7Mn by the end of 2018. China is estimated to account for a value share of 35.3%in the global liningsmarket by 2018end and is anticipated to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period. In this report, throws light on the drivers and restraints likely to impact theliningsmarket during this period.Increasing consumption of linings in end use segments, especially the marine industry, drives the market. Countries such as China, Koreaand Japan dominate the global shipbuilding industry. Trade through marine ports accounts for the biggest volumetric share of the international trade. This positions the marine segment as one of the top consumers of linings. Moreover, the chemical industry has exhibited optimistic growth over the past few years. Wiith significant growth in the industrial sector in countries such as India and China, the demand for linings has been increasing. The global chemical industry generated a revenue of over US$3.5 Trillion in 2015 and is estimated to be valued at over US$ 5.05Trillion by the end of 2028. With this healthy growth in the chemical industry, the linings market is set to grow in tandem with it.Due to the rapidly growing demand from various end use industries, market entry is expected to be easierfor small players,owing to the fact that there is vast scope for manufacturers to differentiate their linings product offerings through the introduction of novel linings products.On the other hand, stringentenvironmental regulations over VOC content may hamper the growth of the solvent-borne linings segment. Volatile raw material prices affect the optimum production of paints, coatings and linings and thisgradually leads to a hike in the finished product cost, which might hinder the growth of the linings market to a certain extent.Request for Report Sample: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110115000/Linings-Market Segmentation Analysis:The liningsmarket has been segmented on the basis of product typeinto epoxy, polyurethane, acrylic, alkyd, fluoropolymer and vinyl ester & flake-filled vinyl ester. On the basis of product type, the epoxy segment is anticipated to dominate the market in terms of value over the forecast period The epoxy segment is forecast to grow at a relatively higher CAGR over the forecast period. It is expected to represent a total incremental opportunity of US$ 624.6 Mn between 2018 and 2028 Vinyl ester & flake-filled vinyl ester productsegmentsare expected to register stagnant growth throughout the forecast periodRegional Market ProjectionsChina is expected to be the leading region witha 35.3% market share in terms of revenue in the global linings market by the end of 2018. The Europe linings market is estimated to followChinathrough 2028 in the global linings market. The India linings market is projected to hold a significant market share in terms of value in the global liningsmarket over the forecast period, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.7% in terms of value.Request for Report Discount: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110115000/Linings-Market Vendor InsightsThe report highlights some of the top companies operating in the global linings market, including The Jotun Group, The Sherwin Williams Company, Hempel A/S, Akzo Nobel N.V., Polycorp Ltd., Teknos Group, GBT-BucolitGmbH, Steuler-KCH GmBH, Ultimate Linings, Ltd., Sauereisen, Inc., Solvay SA, PPG Industries, Inc.Report Analysis: https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110115000/Linings-Market
Latin America Capnography Equipment Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:08:20

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Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.comAssociate Consultant800-961-0353

According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Latin America Capnography Equipment Market: Brazil to Witness Highest Growth by 2021, the capnography equipment market for Latin America was valued at USD 9.7 million in 2014 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 17.5 % from 2014 to 2021, to reach USD 30.2 million by 2021.The capnography equipment market is growing rapidly in Latin America majorly due to the recommendations to use capnography in routine hospital settings by esteemed organizations and government bodies. The World Health Organization (WHO), in its 2009 report on safe surgery, recommended the use of capnography monitoring during endotracheal tube placement, hypoventilation, and esophageal intubation for better outcome. The Uruguayan Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Society of Anesthesiologists recommended capnography monitoring in routine-use during procedural sedation and anesthetics. These guidelines substantiate the importance of capnography equipment in hospital use. Moreover, high impact of the U.S. health care system on the health care market in Latin America is augmenting the capnography equipment market in this region.Request for Report Methodology @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/5129 Based on types of capnograph, the sidestream capnograph segment dominated the capnography equipment market in 2014, with a share of around 52.9%. Easy-to-use and capability to monitor the patient in non-intubated condition are the major factors that contributed to the high demand for sidestream capnograph. Additionally, presence of large number of players including local companies offering sidestream capnograph in their portfolio has increased the awareness and demand for sidestream capnograph in Latin America. The microstream capnograph segment has been projected to witness high growth during the forecast period in Latin America as these are cost-effective and offer several advantages in all hospital settings. The device could also be used for monitoring both non-intubated patients and neonates.However, sidestream capnograph cannot be used to monitor neonatal patients and mainstream capnograph lack the capability to monitor non-intubated patients. Based on countries, Brazil held the largest share of around 31.4% of the capnography equipment market in Latin America in 2014. High demand for plastic surgery, rising medical tourism for various types of dental surgeries, cosmetic surgeries and cardiac procedure, and large proportion of GDP expenditure on health care in Brazil are the major factors propelling the capnography equipment market in the region. Brazil is anticipated to be the fastest growing market for capnography equipment in Latin America during the forecast period.Request For Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/5129 Key players operating in the capnography equipment market in Latin America include Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Masimo Corporation, Medtronic, Inc., NIHON KOHDEN CORPORATION, Nonin Medical, Inc., Philips Healthcare, Smiths Medical, and Welch Allyn, Inc. Market players are continuously engaged in developing new and advanced capnography equipment along with additional features to strengthen their position in the capnography equipment market.
India Construction Chemicals Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 08:21:53

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A new research report presents an overall analysis of Indias construction chemicals market. This report depicts every detail related to the market and the dynamics impacting revenue growth. The general observation of the market shows that India is progressing rapidly in every industry sector. With rapid advancements taking place in every sphere, an exponential growth is foreseen in Indias construction and construction chemicals market. This research report titled Construction Chemicals Market: India Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Forecast 2017  2025 reveals that the market is expected to reach a valuation of over US$ 2,600 Mn by the end of 2025, growing at a robust CAGR of 13.7% during the forecast period.Companies Targeting Admixtures and Plasticizers to Experience a Better and More Lucrative FutureThe Indian construction chemicals market is believed to be dominated by the four brothers, i.e. BASF India Limited, SIKA India Private Ltd., Fosroc Chemicals India Pty. Ltd, and Pidilite Industries Limited, which together contribute around 30%-80% of the market revenue. Among these companies, Pidilite marked the highest revenue generation of around US$ 840 Mn in 2016. There are other companies too, which are expected to expand vigorously in Indias construction chemicals market, with concrete admixtures emerging as the most preferred product type. The research report suggests that the companies capitalizing on concrete admixtures will have a positive growth trajectory as this particular product is expected to hold a market value of over US$ 1,200 Mn by the end of 2025. However, in terms of growth rate, water proofing chemicals leads the market and is expected to register a higher CAGR of 14.4% during the forecast period.Request Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/22522 Key Players Focusing on Expanding Their Manufacturing Capacity and Product Line GloballyIn order to maintain their position in the Indian market, several companies are aiming at expanding their manufacturing capacity in different parts of India. This will also allow them capture a larger market share and enhance their brand identity. These companies were seen inaugurating their 3rd or 4th office in various parts of India during the past few years. Their expanded product line includes a wide range of products and solutions that facilitate the construction of buildings that are more durable and energy efficient and require less maintenance. This is also assisting market companies to meet the rising demand for construction chemicals and reinforce the supply chain in India.Visit For TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/22522 Expansion and innovation has also given rise to the adoption of eco-friendly and cost-effective products. Latest market trends suggest that stringent regulations have pushed several manufacturers towards improvising their existing product line and exploring opportunities to introduce new and innovative products in the market. Major focus is being laid on service-life performance of protective coatings, introduction of multipurpose and hybrid coatings and eco-friendly advanced products such as nano-coatings, green coatings, etc. This shift is expected to create a profitable impact on the market and also open new vistas for companies in the construction chemicals market in India.
China to dominate volume share in the global hybrid rice seeds market. Adaptabilities offered by hybrid rice seeds pushing global market growth.

Hybrid Rice Seeds Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 08:18:56

Hybrid rice seed varieties are the first filial generation of two distinct parent seeds. These hybrid rice seeds demonstrate superior productivity, raising yields above the high yielding varieties of the original Green Revolution. Hybrid rice seeds fit well for a New Green Revolution, which are a must for meeting the rapidly increasing need of the growing population. The quality of seeds largely affects the efficiency of the added fertilizers, pesticides, and other agricultural inputs. Hence, to enhance productivity, quality seeds with appropriate properties are needed to develop and be made available to farmers.Hybrid rice seeds are getting widely acknowledged for their enhanced productivity. Yet, at present, the hybrid rice seeds technology is limited to India, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the U.S., while China is cultivating around half of its rice with hybrid rice seeds. Major limitations are generally due to the hybrid rice seed technology being laborious and intensive, besides the high cost of the seeds. Still, hybrid rice cultivation tops other hybrid crops. FMI predicts that the global market for hybrid rice seeds is expected to grow at a rate of 7.5% in terms of revenue during the forecast years.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8182 Hybrid Rice Seeds Scenario in Developing Countries at a GlanceThe hybrid rice seeds market growth in developing countries is varying from moderate to stagnant, owing to the lack of trained human resources, lack of sufficient water, and unfavorable climatic conditions. Rice producing Asian countries, apart from China, which include India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Pakistan, together have 4.5 million hectares of land under hybrid rice seed cultivation. The area contributes to a small percentage in each country. The U.N. FAOs regional office in this region has developed a strategy in collaboration with these countries to move toward sustainable food security in Asia. In African countries such as Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, Madagascar, and Tanzania, cultivation with hybrid rice seeds started in the early 2000s. The Green Super Rice (GSR) project, which was introduced in some countries in the African continent cultivating hybrid rice seeds, developed in Asia, coordinated by the Chinese Academy Agricultural Sciences, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Africa Rice, during 2009-2011, succeeded from the yield perspective.However, these hybrid rice seeds are not practical for commercial rice production, since they are susceptible to African diseases. Developing hybrid rice seeds that have better resistance to these diseases as well as high yield potential will be more beneficial. On the other hand, Egypt has succeeded in producing a local hybrid rice seed variety on a commercial scale through a rice breeding program. With strategic programs and support from the private sector, governments, and leading companies, hybrid rice development in Asia and Africa has a great potential to achieve a breakthrough in the technology related to hybrid rice seeds.Self-Cloning Hybrid Rice  a Milestone in Hybrid Rice Seeds TechnologyHybrid rice seeds are a product of the hybridization of two good parent rice varieties, which are engineered with desirable traits such as higher yield. Such hybrid rice seeds do not pass the same genetic information to the next generation of seeds. Hence, if farmers need to achieve the same yield the next time, buying new hybrid rice seeds is a must.However, a recent study conducted at the laboratory level shows the possibility of preserving genetic information through the self-cloning of hybrid rice seeds. On December 12, 2018, it was reported that, hybrid rice seeds engineered with CRISPR, a gene-editing tool, can produce such a rice plant that can clone their seeds. Successful commercial production of such hybrid rice seeds can lead to a marvelous improvement in hybrid rice seed technology and overall crop development.Need more information about Report Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-8182 Hybrid Rice Seeds Giving Higher Economic ReturnsRice cultivation using hybrid rice seeds has been reported to produce higher economic returns when compared to the economic returns of conventional rice varieties. This is due to the significant yield the hybrid rice seeds over conventional rice seeds. Also, the milling yield of hybrid rice seeds was found to be the same, or in some cases better than the milling yield of conventional rice seeds. This advantage of cultivation with hybrid rice seeds is likely to encourage poor farmers to shift from conventional rice seeds to hybrid rice seeds.
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the  Global sales of automotive washer systems is expected to expand at a CAGR 3.5% by 2026 report to their offering Upcoming

Future Market Insights

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:25:55

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U.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesManager+1 03479183531

Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the global automotive washer system market in its latest report titled, Automotive Washer System Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026. Global sales of automotive washer systems including headlamp and windshield washer systems is expected to reach US$ 17.5 Bn in 2016, witnessing a y-o-y growth of 4.2% over 2015. The long-term outlook on the global automotive washer systems market remains positive, with the market expected to register a 5.4% value CAGR during the forecast period 2016-2026. Passenger car segment will account for maximum share of the total sales, extending the market share to 76.7% in 2026 as compared to 74.5% in 2016.In terms of volume, the global sales of automotive washer systems is expected to reach 1,453.4 Mn units in 2016 and is expected to expand at a CAGR 3.5% over the forecast period 20162026.Increasing vehicle production and adoption of efficient wiper and washer technologies are primary factors bolstering the sales of washer systems globally. Moreover, high replacement rate of washer system components is expected to result in high sales in the aftermarket segment. The emergence of newer wiper blade and windshield cleaning technologies is resulting in higher cost of end products, which is a major factor restraining adoption of these products among consumers. High market penetration of relatively low-cost wiper and washer system alternatives restricts demand for wiper de-icer, nozzle integrated wipers and heated nozzle washer systems.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1081 Segmentation highlightsThe global automotive washer system market is segmented on the basis of Component (Nozzles, Reservoirs, Hose & Connectors, Pumps, Windshield Wipers, Wiper Motor); Sales Channel (OEM, Aftermarket); Technology (Electric, Mechanical); Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicles, Heavy Commercial Vehicles); and Application (Windshield Washer System, Headlamp Washer System).Windshield wiper was the largest segment by component in 2015 and this will remain unchanged in 2016Nozzle and hose & reservoir segments are expected to be the next large segment in terms of volumeBy value, wiper motor segment is expected to remain dominant over the forecast period. The segment is expected to account for share of 45.9% in 2016 and is expected to maintain dominance over the forecast periodBy product type, windshield washer segment was the largest segment in 2015, and this segment is anticipated to hold 72.3% of the market revenue by 2026. Advancements in wiper blade technology and nozzle design will support growth of the market over near futureHeadlamp washer system segment is anticipated to witness a relatively high value CAGR than windshield washer system. Increasing sales of premium and luxury vehicle globally is anticipated to bolster the growth of headlamp washer system. Furthermore, automakers in the market are focussing on introducing value added features in their mid-range vehicles, so as to earn competitive edge in the marketRegional projectionsThe global automotive washer system market is segmented into the regions of North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, MEA, and Japan. Asia Pacific, the largest market for automotive washer systems is expected account for US$ 5.5 Bn revenue in 2016. Increasing adoption of headlamp washer systems in semi-luxury and mid-sized cars is major trend witnessed in the region. North America is expected to be the next big market, the region accounted for 21.1% of the total revenue share in 2015 and is anticipated to hold 20.7% in 2016. The recent relocation of automobile production facilities to developing nations such as Mexico will impact the OEM sales of washer systems in the region. Western Europe is expected to account for US$ 3.3 Bn revenue in 2016. The market for headlamp washer systems in the region is majorly driven by the existing stringent regulations to deploy these systems with high intensity headlamps.Get More Information@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/automotive-washer-systems-market Vendor insightsRobert Bosch GmbH, Denso Corporation, Valeo S.A., continental AG and Mitsuba Corporation are the top five players in the global automotive washer system market, accounting for about 30% market revenue share in 2015. The leading players in the market are focusing on acquisition, collaboration and partnerships of/with technology providers to increase their product portfolio and market presence. Furthermore, expansion of production facilities, particularly in developing nations, is the key strategy adopted by major players in the market.Need more information about Report Methodology? @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1081
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 10:49:26

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Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/Sales3479183531

Green Development is the first priority for large scale industries around the world, with the purpose of reducing their carbon footprint. The aviation industry contributes 2% in the emission of greenhouse gases, which may rise to 3% in coming future. Air transport, being a fast growing transport medium that carries around two billion people and employs 30 million people, plays a crucial role in accounting for carbon emission. It is thus important for the aviation industry to incline towards green development and switch to biofuels.The aviation biofuel market offers second generation sustainable biofuel as first generation biofuel could not meet cost expectations. The aviation biofuel market offers an alternative for current traditional jet fuel, and it is produced from natural feedstock and plant material, such as algae, jatropha and halophytes without acquiring agricultural land or fresh water resources. Thus, the aviation biofuel market is expected to dominate the aviation market throughout the forecast period, owing to its stability in operational cost and the reduced carbon emission advantage.A sample of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3768 Initiatives taken by the European Commission and by aviation industries involved in aviation biofuel production have introduced advancement in aviation biofuel in the European region, in order to achieve consumption of 2 million tonnes of biofuel in the European Civil Aviation sector over the forecast period. With the availability of sustainable raw materials at low prices, it is expected that the supply of aviation biofuel will be accessible across the Europe and on an international platform by 2030. Thus, aviation biofuel is projected to gain remarkable opportunities over the forecast period.Aviation Biofuel Market: Drivers and RestraintsIn the aviation sector, traditional jet fuel is used, which is extracted from the kerosene fraction of crude oil under stringent regulations. Air transportation accounts for more than 10% in energy consumption on a global level. Among gaseous biofuels, electrification, and liquid biofuels, the most advanced substitute for the aviation sector is liquid biofuel, owing to its high specific energy content. With the objective of reduction in CO2 gas emission, the aviation biofuel market is expected to witness robust growth over the forecast period. The rising demand for bio jet fuel, with increasing international trade are expected to drive the aviation market globally, where hydrogenated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) is expected to become a promising alternative to supple ample amount of biofuel in the aviation biofuel market.European airlines, such as British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa, in co-ordination with Airbus and European aviation biofuel producers have initiated the endorsement of aviation biofuel in Europe. Also, the U.S. Federal government is evolving as an active promoter and buyer of aviation biofuel. An interagency biofuel partnership has been made between the Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy in order to avail biofuel for the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy.However, strict regulations to maintain standard specifications in producing aviation biofuel may affect growth of the aviation biofuel market. This challenge can be overcome with innovative technologies over the forecast period.Aviation Biofuel Market: SegmentationThe aviation biofuel market can be segmented based on the certified production technology:Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO)Fischer-Tropsch (FT)The aviation biofuel market can be segmented based on the feedstock:SugarcaneCassavaGrassesIndustrial and Municipal WasteJatrophaAlgaeSweet SorghumAviation Biofuel Market: Region-Wise OutlookBased on geography, the aviation biofuel market is expected to remain predominant in the U.S. over the forecast period. Being a fast growing region in the aviation market, the U.S. civil aviation sector is estimated to account for a significant value share in the aviation biofuel market over the forecast period. The strategic expansion of aviation biofuel producing industries, along with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are expected to increase the consumption of biofuel by 1 Bn gal/Yr of sustainable aviation biofuel by 2018. Followed by the U.S., European nations are expected to witness robust growth in the aviation biofuel market in the coming decade.Oslo city, Norway has become worlds first airport to deliver jet biofuel, offering it on-tap to all airlines. Such a trend, of swapping into bioport to supply aviation biofuel is anticipated to boost the aviation biofuel market in this region over the forecast period. Other countries, such as Australia are taking initiatives to study the novel concept of bioport. Developing nations in Asia-Pacific region, such as India and China are expected to gain significant opportunities in the supply chain for providing feedstock to produce aviation biofuel in near future. Also, the target of attaining 7.5 billion gallons per year of aviation biofuel promoted by China is expected to offer significant opportunities for the aviation biofuel market in the coming future.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3768 Aviation Biofuel Market: Market ParticipantsExamples of some of the market participants in the aviation biofuel market are listed below:Honeywell International Inc.Red Rock BiofuelsTargray Technology International Inc.Vega BiofuelsArgent EnergyGEVOKFS Biodiesel GmbH & Co. KGPetroSun, Inc.Shirke EnergyArcher Daniels Midland Company
Gamma Knife Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:04:40

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Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.comAssociate Consultant800-961-0353

According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Gamma Knife: Asia to Witness Highest Growth by 2020, the global Gamma Knife market is valued at USD 526,733.2 thousand in 2014 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2014 to 2020 to reach an estimated value of USD 651,241.9 thousand in 2020.Radiation therapy is a procedure entailing the precise delivery of high doses of radiation to tumors and other relevant anatomical targets. Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a major form of radiation therapy. It is mainly used to treat brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations, trigeminal neuralgia, acoustic neuroma, and pituitary tumors. Globally, the Gamma Knife market is witnessing significant growth due to increasing prevalence of cancer and obesity and growing aging population. In addition, rising number of initiatives undertaken by various government associations and the advanced features of Gamma Knife systems are also driving the growth of the market. However, stringent regulatory requirements and prolonged approval time for Gamma Knife systems and a high cost of implementation and shortage of skilled manpower inhibit the growth of the market. The global Gamma Knife market is anticipated to grow from an estimated USD 526,733.2 thousand in 2014 to USD 651,241.9 thousand by 2020 at a CAGR of 3.6% during the forecast period.Request for Report Methodology @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/3742 In North America, the Gamma Knife market is growing due to the rising incidence of cancer in the region. In addition, increased awareness about Gamma Knife technology for cancer treatment is also boosting the growth of the market in the region. According to WHO, approximately 2.8 million people had cancer, including brain cancer, in the U.S. in 2000. Moreover, according to the Hindawi Publishing Corporation, an international journal of surgical oncology, approximately 98,000 to 170,000 new brain metastases cases occur every year in North AmericaIn Europe, increasing prevalence of cancer is boosting the growth of the Gamma Knife market in the region. According to WHO, Europe accounts for only one-eighth of the worlds population. However, the region records around a quarter of global cancer cases. Several government associations, such as the Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe (WALCE) and European Head and Neck society (EHNS), are trying to increase awareness about breast cancer, lung cancer, and head and neck cancer and their brain metastases effects in Europe.However, Asia represents the fastest growing region in the Gamma Knife market due to the rise in cancer patients in various countries such as India, China, and Japan. According to WHO, the occurrence of cancer in India and China is set to climb at a rate of 78% from 2013 to 2030. In addition, growing aging population is also supporting the growth of the Gamma Knife market in the region.In Latin America, construction of manufacturing and research facilities by many companies is driving the Gamma Knife market in Latin America. Furthermore, the governments of Latin American countries have recognized the growing epidemic of cancer and are actively devising several patient awareness programs to raise awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer, including brain cancers.Request to Sample Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3742 Elekta AB, Varian Medical Systems, Inc., and Hokai are some of the leading players in the Gamma Knife market. Other major players in the Gamma Knife market include Huiheng Medical, Inc., Cyber Medical Corporation Limited, Masep Infini Global, Inc., Nordion, Inc., ET Medical Group, and American Shared Hospital Services.
Fungicides Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 12:45:06

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Fungicides is a type of pesticide used to kill the fungi or fungi spores. Fungicides finds major use in the agricultural sector for crop protection. It is used to prevent the damage to crops caused by the attack of fungicides. It gives higher yield with better quality of the crops. It is also used to kill the fungal infections in animals. The use of fungicides differ according to the type of crop. Different types of fungicides available are translaminar, systemic and contact fungicides. The active ingredients include chlorothalonil, mancozeb, prochloraz, propicanazole, prochloraz, propicanazole and many more. One of the most common active ingredient in the fungicides is sulfur. Some fungicides are dangerous to human health and so the major laws governing the use of fungicides in different countries is expected to hamper the growth of global fungicides market in the near future. However, the global fungicides market is expected to witness a moderate single digit growth in the forecast period.The most significant demand driver for the global fungicides market is the increasing demand for fungicides in the crop protection sector for ensuring higher crop yields. The growing population is also expected to be the major driving factor for the global fungicides market. The increasing concerns pertaining to the disease control is anticipated to drive the global fungicides market. The shrinking arable land and the growing demand for food is projected to increase the demand for fungicides, thereby driving the global fungicides market.Request Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3387 The growing technological advancements in the seeds is expected to restrain the global fungicides market in the upcoming years. The use of genetically modified crops is projected to restrain the growth of global fungicides market in the near future.The development of new organic fungicides is expected to create new opportunities in terms of revenue for the major players in the global fungicides market.The global fungicides market can be segmented on the basis of product type and crop typeOn the basis of type, the global fungicides market is segmented as:BenzimidazolesTriazolesDithiocarbamatesChloronitrilesPhenylamidesStrobilurinsOthersOn the basis of crop types, the global fungicides market is segmented as:FruitsVegetablesCereals and grainsOilseedsOthersThe global fungicides market is segmented into five key regions on the basis of geography as North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Asia pacific holds the largest market share in the global fungicides market, owing to the large agricultural business in this region. India and China is expected to be the maximum market share holding countries in the global fungicides market. Use of fungicides in the European countries is also expected to increase in the near future due to the stringent regulatory authorities in this region. The consumption of fungicides is also anticipated to escalate in the European countries in the upcoming years. The consumption of fungicides in Middle East and Africa is projected to demonstrate a stagnant growth in the forecast period.Some of the key players identified in the global fungicides market are, BASF SE, Bayer AG, Syngenta AG, The Dow Chemical Company, E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Company, Cheminova A/S, Nufarm Ltd, Chemtura CorporationVisit For TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3387
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 19:16:23

CALGARY, AB AND SAN ANTONIO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC: EMBYF) (the "Corporation", the "Company" or "Emerald Bay") today reported that the Corporation has closed its previously announced private placement. Pursuant to this closing of the private placement, an aggregate 25,000,000 units ("Units") were issued to nine (9) subscribers (of which 2,500,000 Units were acquired by a director and officer of the Corporation and 8,000,000 were acquired by an insider of the Corporation) at a price of $0.02 per Unit, for aggregate consideration of $500,000. Each Unit consisted of one (1) Common Share of the Corporation and one (1) share purchase warrant (the "Warrant") (each full Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to purchase one (1) additional Common Share of the Corporation for a period of 12 months from the issuance of the Units at a price of $0.05) (the "Offering").The Warrants are subject to an acceleration clause whereby if after four months and one day following the date the Warrants are issued, the closing price of the Common Shares of the Corporation on the principal market on which such shares trade is equal to or exceeds $0.10 for 30 consecutive trading days (with the 30th such trading date hereafter referred to as the "Eligible Acceleration Date"), the Warrant expiry date shall accelerate to the date which is 30 calendar days following the date a press release is issued by the Corporation announcing the reduced warrant term, provided, no more than five business days following the Eligible Acceleration Date: (i) the press release is issued; and (ii) notices are sent to all warrant holders.The net proceeds will be used on the Corporation's assets in Texas. The Corporation will use the funds from this offering as follows:land and lease renewals at Wooden Horse, Texas and Gonzales County, Texas at an approximate cost of $65,000;electrical upgrades to the Kuhn 3, Kuhn 4 and Kuhn A5 wells (Wooden Horse) at an approximate cost of $68,000;progressive cavity pumping equipment installations at Kuhn 3 and Kuhn A5 (Wooden Horse) at an approximate cost of $70,000;Kuhn A5 (Wooden Horse) hydraulic fracture stimulation at an approximate cost of $43,000;drill and test new Kuhn A6 (Wooden Horse) well at an approximate cost of $135,000; andre-enter and test the upper Edwards formation in the Kuhn 1H (Wooden Horse) horizontal well at an approximate cost of $110,000.All of the Common Shares and Warrants issued pursuant to the private placement are subject to a 4-month hold period. The terms of the private placement are according to the TSX Venture Exchange Discretionary Waivers of $0.05 Minimum Pricing Requirement Bulletin dated April 7, 2014 and are subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.About Emerald BayEmerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC: EMBYF) is an energy company with oil producing properties in southwest Texas as well as non-operated oil and natural gas interests in Central Alberta, Canada. EBY is the operator of the Wooden Horse and Nash Creek Projects in Guadeloupe, Texas, where the Company currently now owns a 50.00% working interest those projects. Additionally, the Company owns various working interests in the HugoCellR and MarPat partnerships. The Company also owns 75% of Production Resources Inc., a South Texas oil company.For all upcoming news releases, articles, comments and questions, to stay updated and speak with management about Emerald Bay Energy. Please JOIN our Investor Information Group at:For further information, please contact:Emerald Bay President, Shelby D. Beattie, by telephone at (403) 262-6000Email: info@ ebyinc.com Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipates", "projects", "potential" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts.Information inferred from the interpretation of drilling results may also be deemed to be forward looking statements, as it constitutes a prediction of what might be found to be present when and if a well is actually developed. BOE's may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A BOE conversion ratio of 6 Mcf: 1 Bbl is based on energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information, which are considered reasonable by Emerald Bay at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect. Actual results achieved will vary from the information provided and the variations may be material. There is no representation by Emerald Bay that actual results achieved will be the same in whole or part as those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this document include statements regarding the Company's exploration, drilling and development plans, the Company's expectations regarding the timing and success of such programs. In particular, forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: pipeline acquisitions and leasing; pipeline permits, pipeline construction, production estimates, drilling operations, completion operations, funding and development goals. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in the prices of oil and gas, uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of oil and gas reserves and projecting f
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 16:32:02

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Global Coke Dry Quenching Market: An OverviewThe iron and steel industry is continuously broadening its vision and reaching new heights. With modern infrastructures becoming more advanced, need for effective and more efficient technology is higher than ever before. The growing demand for power is prompting the sector to scout for innovative solutions. Coke dry quenching are heat recovery system used particularly in iron and steel plants. Coke dry quenching recovers heat from red hot coke during quenching process. With the help of coke dry quenching system the recovered heat is used for production of steam and electricity. Coke dry quenching system consists of cooling tower and waste heat recovery boiler. Nowadays coke dry quenching are fully automated with advanced process control and optimization systems. Coke dry quenching technology was introduces in 1970s and is now used worldwide in iron and steel plants. A positive outlook can be seen for coke dry quenching during the forecast period.Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2629 Global Coke Dry Quenching Market: DynamicsProminent stakeholders in iron & steel industries are leverage emerging technology such as coke dry quenching technology to boost performance. The Coke dry quenching technology (CDQ) is helping in abating climate change by reducing carbon footprint. The state of the art technology will help to achieve Kyoto protocol targets by reducing carbon dioxide emission. Moreover, the coke dry quenching technology also helps in the reduction of coke dust and water utilization. Stringent government regulations on emission control are influencing manufacturers to adopt innovative technologies. Owing to high number of benefits, coke dry quenching technology is expected to be used most widely in iron and steel manufacturing plants, which is encouraging manufacturers to develop more suitable and technologically advanced and apt equipment. Thermal energy of red-hot coke lost in the conventional system can be used in coke dry quenching system by circulating gas in an enclosed system. A 100T/hr. treating capacity of Coke dry quenching system can produce about 18MW electric power by effective utilization of energy which would be lost in conventional wet quenching method system. Increased efficiency and effective utilization of energy will continue to create demand for coke dry quenching technology in the upcoming years. Demand for coke dry quenching system likely to surge in China, Japan, India, and US in the upcoming years owing to high production of iron and steel in the above-said countries. A positive outlook can be seen for coke dry quenching system in the foreseen future but high cost of processing system as well as long setup time for installation might impede the overall growth for coke dry quenching market during the forecast period.China, India, Japan and US dominate the iron and steel production. Lucrative opportunities for coke dry quenching system manufacturers exists in the above said countries. Less than 35% of iron and steel plants employs coke dry quenching system and hence creates abundant of opportunities for coke dry quenching system in China. Demand for coke dry quenching system likely to grow in European countries owing to strict emission norms in the region. The Latin America Coke Dry Quenching market outlook is expected to remain positive during the forecast period. Asia Pacific leads in terms of installed base for coke dry quenching systems.Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=2629 The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.For more information on this report, please visit: https://www.factmr.com/report/2629/coke-dry-quenching-market
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the  Coal Tar Pitch Market " report to their offering

Future Market insights

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 16:25:13

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Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb: https://www.futuremarketinsights.comMANAGER3479183531

Tier-1 companies in coal tar manufacturing represent 60-70% share of the total market revenue. With massive coal tar distillation capacities across the globe, these players in coal tar pitch landscape maintain their focus on both, standard grade and special grade coal tar pitch (CTP) production.Tier 2 players have a strong presence over restricted regions, whereas that of Tier 3 competitors is limited to regional sales. Standard grade coal tar pitch is the key focus area for the latter two, according to Future Market Insights study on the global coal tar pitch landscape.Production facility expansion, strategic acquisitions, and CTP product innovation will remain the key developmental strategies trending among leading players, says a senior research analyst at FMI. The analyst adds further, Massive Aluminum demand from automotive and transportation sectors has been pushing the Aluminum production levels 4-5% (yearly) since the recent past. Growing demand for lightweight vehicles is among the most impactful factors driving the consumption of Aluminum, subsequently contributing to sales of coal tar pitch.Read Report Overview @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/coal-tar-pitch-market Long-term Contractual Partnerships & Backward Integrated Supply Rule Strategic Minds of Coal Tar Pitch ManufacturersWhile manufacturers of coal tar pitch are preferring long-term supply contracts with leading coal tar manufacturers, FMI has also identified these players entering strategic partnerships with steel manufacturers, where coal tar is often the byproduct of coke processing ovens. A few other activities that make this landscape dynamic include long-term contracts between manufacturers of coal tar pitch and those of primary aluminum and graphite electrode, with a sole objective to sustain the coal tar pitch supply to end markets.Aluminum Grade CTP Holds a Winning Revenue Share in Coal Tar Pitch MarketApplication-wise, around 80% revenue share belongs to the aluminum electrode, according to the study. As coal tar pitch is increasingly being consumed by aluminum smelters lowing to higher sustainability and economic feasibility, the mushrooming Aluminum production is constantly driving the growth of coal tar pitch landscape. In 2019, the revenue of Aluminum grade coal tar pitch is pegged for over 5% Y-o-Y growth. Besides, Graphite electrode is also slated for promising performance and the application base of coal tar pitch as a chemical intermediate in carbon black manufacturing is visibly growing.Development of Specialized Zero QI Impregnating Coal Tar Pitch Expands ApplicabilityA specialized impregnating pitch obtained by processing coal tar at a high temperature is widely used in the Graphite industry during the electrode manufacturing process. The resultant technological advancements in the life of electrodes pushes CTP applications in roofing, coating, electrode, refractory, and others.China Commands over Global Coal Tar Pitch Landscape, India Leads Asia Pacifics CTP ScenarioRequest Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7186 China, India, Russia, and Western Europe have a significant aluminum production base, whereas MEA is demonstrating promising growth in coal tar pitch landscape in recent years. North America, however, is observing passive growth over the recent past, post decline in the aluminum production levels.According to the FMIs report, China is the global leader in coal tar pitch ecosystem owing to significant Aluminum production and thriving production levels of Graphite electrode. China is projected for a 6% year on year revenue growth by this years end, reflecting ample growth opportunities for coal tar pitch manufacturers.On the other side, APACs market for coal tar pitch is witnessing growth concentration in India that has been attributed to an impressive rate of Aluminum production in the country.Request Report Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-7186
XploreMR is one of the worlds leading resellers of high-quality market research reports. We feature in-depth reports from some of the worlds most reputed market research companies and international organizations. We serve across a broad spectrum  from Fortune 500 to small and medium businesses. Our clients trust us for our unwavering focus onquality and affordability. We believe high price should not be a bottleneck for organizations looking to gain access to quality information.

XploreMR

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:43:43

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In robust of the market included Keyword market report. Which helps to heighten the industry growth along with assorted market subjects such as growth path, predictions, revenue, trends, and market size analysis which are directly impacted on market dynamics. XploreMR provides the data on the bases of the past and current years for forecast the market covering in the next upcoming years as well as covering the latest trends of the market. The report will provide a detailed study of the market which will aid the reader for judgment and better comprehension.Global Casein and Caseinate Market: OverviewThe report on the casein and caseinate market delivers valuable insights on how the said market will progress in the near future, with the period of evaluation being 2017 and 2025. The report is a useful instrument for casein and caseinate manufacturers globally as the projections shared in the study can help them make informed business decisions with respect to investing in novel production techniques, cost-effective procurement of raw materials, and penetration into new markets beyond domestic market.Comprehensive Research Methodology Offers a Multitude of Valuable InformationThe making of the report involved collaborative research methodology to obtain data from multiple sources. The data obtained has been scrutinized employing a multidisciplinary approach that traces the evolution of casein and caseinates, links consumer requirements to demand for casein and caseinates, and offers presumptions on how this demand will evolve in the upcoming years.Supply chain of the global market for casein and caseinates has been split and examined to identify the challenges. In addition, analysis of the casein and caseinate market with respect to consumers reveals the impact of micro, macro, and socio-economic factors on the demand for casein and caseinate.The research process involved two extensive phases, namely primary and secondary. Secondary research phase involved gathering data to obtain a high level of intelligence of the market.Following this, the data collected in secondary phase is used in primary research to validate the credibility of the data. Thereafter, the data undergoes several rounds of accuracy validation until the research concludes. The final data related to market segments reflects close to 100 percent accuracy that depicts an accurate market scenario.Buy Now Full Report @ https://www.xploremr.com/cart/reports/buynow/721 In-depth Analysis of Market Segments Serves to Make Informed Business DecisionsThe expansion of the global casein and caseinate market has been predicted across multiple geographies. The section throws light on distinct buying trends between consumers in developed economies and developing economies.The report provides projections on the lucrativeness of a region, which has been obtained by identifying their value with respect to sales, outsourcing, product development, and production. Regions that exhibit high profits for manufacturers of casein and caseinate have also been identified. The report also contains a multicultural regional analysis of the casein and caseinate market.Key players in the global casein and caseinate market have been profiled to assess the competitive landscape. Details on competitive outlook is of great value for casein and caseinate manufacturers vying to outperform their rivals.The competitive landscape covers established market players, industry leaders as well as new market entrants. The objective of the report is to provide manufacturers with first-hand information on key competitive strategies that can help them gain competitive advantage. The report aspires to serve as a credible business document that can help casein and caseinate manufacturers plan their future growth strategies.Get Report Sample Copy @ https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/721
Persistence Market Research

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 11:24:21

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Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Team Lead800-961-0353

According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Breakfast Cereals: Hot Cereals to Witness Highest Growth by 2019, the global breakfast cereals market was valued at USD 32.5 billion in 2012 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2013 to 2019, to reach an estimated value of USD 43.2 billion in 2019.The need for convenience and busy schedules of people has been propelling the processed food industry, which includes breakfast cereals. Developed nations already have breakfast cereals as part of their regular course of meals. Increasing per capita income in developing countries is further giving the breakfast cereal industry a new dimension to look for.Request For Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3030 The market in the US is declining which is compelling the companies in this industry to increase their markets in the emerging economies. These companies have been increasing their advertising spends in the emerging markets in Asia Pacific region to make consumers aware about the breakfast cereals and the health benefits associated with them. Companies have also developed some brands according to the regional preferences, such as inclusion of saffron and raisin flavored cereals in India.Special emphasis on healthy living has prompted market players to introduce new products, which suit all age groups and lifestyles. International players are also focusing on reformulating their products by replacing harmful hydrogenated fat and oils with healthier ingredients such as fiber and fruits. Demand for gluten-free cereals has increased in the market, especially in North America and Europe. There also has been an increase in demand for whole-grain cereals worldwide.Breakfast cereals are broadly marketed under two segments: RTE cereals and Hot cereals. The market for RTE cereals is much bigger as compared to that of Hot breakfast cereals. The Ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal had the larger share in the breakfast cereal market and was valued at USD 27.8 billion in 2012. However, the Hot cereals is growing at more than double the CAGR of RTE cereals due to its increasing consumption in the Asian markets.Geographically, North America, led by sales from the US, accounted for the largest share in the breakfast cereals market and was valued at USD 13.9 billion in 2012. Though China does not have a large market, but the market in the country is growing at a brisk pace, therefore showing opportunities for the companies to increase investments in this region. Major companies operating in the market are Kelloggs, Cereal Partners Worldwide and PepsiCo.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC)@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/3030
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the "Automotive Exhaust Manifold Market is Projected to Bring in US$ 11,219.6 Mn Revenues by 2026-End" report to their offering

Exhoust System

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 05:22:38

The FMI market report titled Automotive Exhaust Manifold Market: Global Industry Analysis 20142017 & Opportunity Assessment 20182026 examines the Automotive Exhaust Manifold market and offers key market insights for the next eight years. According to the companys analysis, the global sales of Automotive Exhaust Manifolds was valued at US$ 8,064.6 Mn by the end of 2017 and is anticipated to register a 3.7% CAGR over the period of 20172026. This report analyses the demand for Automotive Exhaust Manifolds and its break-up on the basis of different sales channels, materials, product types, engine types, vehicle types, fuel types and regions.By product type, the log manifold segment is anticipated to register significant growth over the forecast period in the Automotive Exhaust Manifold market with manufacturers focusing on developing new technologies for Automotive Exhaust Manifolds as per the demand from different countries.Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3434 Use of Advanced Materials to Develop Durable & Strong Automotive Exhaust ManifoldAccording to estimates, the global Automotive Exhaust Manifold market is anticipated to reach approximately US$ 8,995.5 Mn by 2020. Key market players are trying to develop strong and long-lasting exhaust systems that are efficient and can sustain a variety of loads depending on the engine capacity of the vehicle. Advancements in science technologies (for materials) in manufacturing industries have allowed players to use newly developed materials such as alloys of stainless steel, which make exhaust manifolds durable and strong under extreme pressure and temperature conditions.Prominent players in the market have been promoting their products to enable the transition to upcoming and latest government emission regulations such as Euro 6C, China National Standard V and VI, Bharat Stage VI. Such emission regulations are expected to trigger innovation in the exhaust system market.Cast Iron Automotive Exhaust Manifold Segment to Capture Significant ShareOn the basis of material, the Automotive Exhaust Manifold market has been segmented into cast iron and stainless steel. Among the two segments, the Cast Iron Automotive Exhaust Manifold segment accounts for a significant share in the market.Passenger Car Segment Projected to be an Important Segment in Automotive Exhaust Manifold MarketBy vehicle type, the passenger car segment is projected to be an important segment in the Automotive Exhaust Manifold market. The demand for passenger cars is anticipated to be grow at a significant CAGR over the forecast period.APEJ and North America to Hold Noteworthy Shares in Global Automotive Exhaust Manifold MarketOn the basis of region, the Automotive Exhaust Manifold market has been segmented into seven regions: Latin America, North America, APEJ, Japan, MEA, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Asia-Pacific, North America and Western Europe are estimated to hold significant shares in the global Automotive Exhaust Manifold market. Economic growth in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) countries such as China and India is likely to accelerate in the coming years, which will translate to an increase in industrialization and manufacturing activities in the region. This will lead to higher demand for automobiles and components, which in turn is estimated to boost the demand for Automotive Exhaust Manifolds.Eastern Europe is a developed region with abundant demand for vehicles. The government authorities in this region have implemented stringent regulations to ensure the safety of drivers. If any loopholes are found, heavy fines are levied on the manufacturer. Therefore, manufacturers are utilizing good materials in the production of automotive exhaust manifold.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-3434 Global Automotive Exhaust Manifold Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the players reported in this study of the global Automotive Exhaust Manifold market are Faurecia SA, Tenneco Inc., Eberspacher Climate Control Systems GmbH & Co. KG, Futaba Industrial Co. Ltd., Katcon, S.A. De C.V., Bentler Group, Sango Group, Friedrich Boysen GmbH & Co. KG., Sejong Industrial Co. Ltd., Westcast Industries Inc. and Yutaka Giken Company Limited
Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the  Automotive Brake System Market: Drivers & Restraints report to their offering Upcoming

Future Market Insights

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:51:39

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Development of the smart braking systems in automotive brake system market resulted in decreasing number of accidents. Advancement of automotive brake system includes safety systems, which enables speed control as well as prevents vehicle from skidding. This in turn minimizes the risk of potential accidents, thereby driving the growth of automotive brake system market. Rapid increase in the production and sales of vehicles coupled with stringent regulations regarding stopping distances is anticipated to magnanimously contribute further towards growth of automotive brake system market. Growing demand for installation of passive and active safety in vehicles is expected to trend in automotive brake system market.Growing concern over road traffic crashes and increasing number of deaths have influenced the key players in automotive brake system market to integrate robust safety features in developing vehicles. Stringent safety regulations by regulatory bodies and governments will continue to drive the growth of automotive brake system market. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), agency of U.S. DOT (Department of Transportation) has planned to mandate adoption of AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking), nearly from 2022.Latest technologies in automotive brake system market are creating challenges for automakers owing to their inability to incorporate the high-cost technologies in low-priced vehicles. This in turn is expected to adversely affect the revenue growth of automotive brake system market in the forthcoming years.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-503 The developing industry of automotive has largely emphasised on the development of the vehicles that are fast and safe. Brakes have become an important and crucial part of any vehicle so as to ensure the safety which becomes very essential when the demand of speed is increasing steadily. Being commonly used in different automobiles an automotive brake system comprises a brake device having different components (such as brake pads, brake shoes, brake drum, rotor, piston, calliper, master cylinder, and brake booster) which are used for decelerating a vehicle.The growth in automotiveindustry is anticipated to fuel the growth of global automotive brake system market along with the increasing concerns over safety and resulting government pressures that have upturned the OEMs towards the launching of higher technology content, thereby driving the demand for global automotive brake systems across the globe.Automotive Brake System Market: Drivers & RestraintsEver-increasing demand and succeeding vehicle production is considered as one of the biggest driver for the increasing demand of the automotive brakes and global automotive brake system market penetration. Also the increasing governmental mandates for improving the vehicle safety has strongly contributed to the demand of the global automotive brake system market. The major restraint in the global automotive brake system market implies to be the higher cost of the newer technology of Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) when compared to the commonly used Hydraulic Brakes.Automotive Brake System Market: SegmentationOn the basis of product type, the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Disc Brakes and Drum Brakes.On the basis of applications the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Two Wheeler Motor Vehicles, Passenger Car Vehicles, and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV).On the basis of technology the global automotive brake system market is segmented as Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Traction Control System (TCS), and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) that comes under the electronic braking systems (EBS).Automotive Brake System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global automotive brake system market is expected to register a favourable growth for the forecast period, 2015?2025. Asia-Pacific is projected to endure its control on the global automotive brake system market. The key countries in the mentioned region are projected to be India, South Korea, and China as an outcome of the increasing demand for commercial vehicles and passenger cars. Japan also contributes to the global automotive brake system market remarkably. China is expected to be the largest opportunity in terms of revenue of the industry. Europe is expected to be the second largest market in global automotive brake system market followed by North America.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-503 Automotive Brake System: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global automotive brake system market are TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., Aisin-Seiki Co. Ltd., Continental AG, Akebono Brake Industry Co. Ltd., Brembo S.P.A., Halla Mando Corp., and others.
Automotive Adhesives Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 13:13:03

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Adhesives and sealants are the most versatile bonding agents available today and are used by automakers to make cars lighter and tougher. Adhesives are made from precise blends of synthetic rubber elastomers, resins and agents or additives used to enhance certain characteristics, depending on the end use. Automakers today use aluminum and composites that cannot be welded together but have to be glued to hold the body parts together even at top speed and high pressure. Adhesives do not lose strength and hence are used for these applications. Adhesives bonding renders the vehicles quieter, more durable and safer and are replacing conventional joining techniques such as welding, riveting and bolting.Adhesives find numerous applications in the automobile industry and have revolutionized the way automobiles have been designed and built. Adhesives are used to assemble rubber, metal, glass, plastics and numerous other materials during the manufacture of automobiles. Adhesives help prevent the ingress of salt, dirt and water in the car body shell. Adhesives help in improving body stiffness and durability and provide improved crash performance. Every stage of production of an automobile, whether for non-load-bearing body components or structural parts, uses adhesives in one form or other. Adhesives are used in manufacture of engines, body components, gear boxes and mounted parts such as wing mirrors, seats and steering wheels. Interior applications include tray systems, safety systems, seating systems, as well as sub assembly and acoustical material assembly. In addition, adhesives are used for direct glazing, where they contribute to an increased rigidity of the car body.Request Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/6385 Adhesives can be applied with high speed on the production line, which results in cost reduction and savings. Hence, adhesive consumption per vehicle is expected to increase, as automotive designers continue to exploit the cost saving potential of adhesives. In addition, adhesives help to cut down on noise, vibration and harshness characteristics. Adhesives improve fuel efficiency of automobiles and provide enhanced performance which is a key driving factor behind the advancement of adhesives in the automotive industry.Consistent growth and presence of wide range of suppliers, distributors and manufacturers are the some of the characteristics of the adhesives market. Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America hold potential for growth. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region for the adhesives industry due to growing demand for adhesives in South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Australia and India.North America and Europe are saturated markets and will grow with a low compound annual growth rate in the near future. The adhesive market in the U.S. has lost ground to China due to migration of manufacturing facilities to China but the country continues to play a significant role in the adhesives market.The industry remains fragmented, with numerous medium-sized companies with a high level of customization, particularly in the highest-value adhesive segments. The cost of producing adhesives is attributable to the cost of the raw materials along with the requisite service component of training customers and helping them resolve manufacturing issues. Some of the key players in this market are Sika AG (Switzerland), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Bayer (Germany), Henkel (Germany), BASF (Germany), 3M Company (U.S.), Ashland Specialty Chemical Company (U.S.), H.B. Fuller Company(U.S.), Hindustan Adhesives Limited (India), ExxonMobil Chemical Company (U.S) , Dynea International Oy (Finland) , Forbo Adhesives Switzerland (Switzerland), Hexion Specialty Chemicals (U.S) and Covalence Adhesives (U.S.) among others.Visit For TOC@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/6385
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 16:35:46

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Office: Dublin 2Suite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandHead of Marketing+353-1-4434-232

Automated Mooring System Market - IntroductionThe automation plays pivotal role in the marine industry. The incorporation of the automation process is critical for expansion of port operations and to sustain growth. The automated mooring system reduces manhandling of any equipment and, thereby minimizing the need of total manpower. Additionally, these automated mooring system can be controlled via radio remote control from shore or on-board the ship. Moreover, the automated mooring system also eliminates the non-productive berth areas at the end of quay and in-between ships.The global automated mooring system market is largely driven by demand from oil & gas industry. Additionally, increasing investments in emerging economies with proven oil & gas reserves is anticipated to escalate the automated mooring system demand in the near future.Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2625 Automated Mooring System Market - DynamicsThe demand for automated mooring system market is highly augmented with increasing demand of efficient and safe operations. The shifting preference towards using technologically advanced systems in order to enhance the drilling capability in both deep, as well as ultra-deep water, is likely to fuel the demand of automated mooring system. The Automated Mooring System offers improved cargo handling operations, reduced waiting time (thereby, resulting into shorter port stays) and efficient terminal utilization. Additionally, the installation of automated mooring system also require deployment of less personnel (max. 2) for smooth operation. Moreover, increasing subsea exploration and production activities in Latin America and Middle East and Africa region is further likely to contribute towards the growing demand for Automated Mooring System.One of the major factor hampering the sale of automate mooring system market is high initial installation cost and maintenance cost.Automated Mooring System Market - SegmentationThe global automated mooring system market can be segmented on the basis of system type, application, anchorage and depth. Based on system type, automated mooring system market can be segmented into catenary, taut leg, semi taut, dynamic positioning, single point and spread. Based on application, the automated mooring system market can be segmented into floating production storage and offloading (FPSO), floating LNG (FLNG), tension leg platform (TLP), spar, semi-submersibles and other applications. On the basis of anchorage type, the global automated mooring system market can be further segmented into drag embedment anchors, vertical loaded anchors and suction. On the basis of depth, the global automated mooring system market can be further segmented into ultra-deep/ deep and shallow.The catenary automated mooring system is largely used in shallow waters. The single point automated mooring system is widely used for floating production storage and offloading application. The FPSO is estimated to hold lions share in the global automated mooring system market. However, the tension leg platform is likely to witness significant growth during the forecast period. The dynamic positioning automated mooring system are in its introduction phase and are used in semi-submersibles and FPSO application.Automated Mooring System Market  Regional OutlookGeographically, the global automated mooring system market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Asia Pacific region, spearheaded by India and China, is anticipated to witness significant growth in global automated mooring system market throughout the forecast period. The discoveries of oil & gas in offshore of Australia, South China Sea etc. is anticipated to escalate the demand for these automated mooring system. Moreover, North America is anticipated to hold the lions share in the global automated mooring system market. The rising demand for energy is likely to escalate the drilling activities and subsea exploration in near future. Europe region is expected to witness considerable growth owing to entry of new market players in this region coupled with growing water exploration investments. Additionally, owing to liberal regulatory policies in Africa, this region is likely attract more investment in near futureAsk For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=2625 The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the Automated Mooring System 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 Automated Mooring System market report provides analysis and information, according to market segments such as geographies, system type, application, anchorage and depth.For more information on this report, please visit: https://www.factmr.com/report/2625/automated-mooring-system-market
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 08:59:47

Apart from accurately depicting the position of aircraft and relatable information, demand for air traffic control equipment has increased multifold in recent times, considering its paramount utility in navigation and surveillance in various aircraft operations. Data processing innovations and advancements in the communication technologies has been providing major opportunities for the market players as the demand for air traffic control equipment continues to rise in the aviation industry.Technological Advancements Fostering Growth of Air Traffic Control Equipment MarketAutomation plays a crucial role when it comes to enhancing the capabilities of the air traffic control. The deployment of automation in the air traffic control equipment is witnessed in the major aviation bases. The deployment of automation systems in air traffic control centers by FAA is one instance, where the involvement of automation as key market driver could be observed.Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4841 Moreover, technologies innovations such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are also expected to provide future avenues to the providers of air traffic control equipment. Ottawas Searidge Technologies, an air navigation service provider and a company recognized as a major air traffic control equipment market player is partnering with the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority for developing applications and conducting research for AI in air traffic control.Furthermore, the emergence of smart airports is expected to significantly boost the demand for air traffic control equipment to achieve next-generation navigation and control.Emerging Regions to Witness Key Investments by Major ManufacturersAmongst the key regions that hold a significant scope for air traffic control equipment, the North American market has witnessed developments in the form of investment strategies that allow effective business opportunities. For example, Raytheon Company, a key player in the air traffic control equipment market plans to invest $72 million in a manufacturing unit in Massachusetts campus which would a have industrys leading manufacturing innovations. The space would deliver advanced automation technology to foster the integration and complex testing of radars.BAE Systems, recognized as a key air traffic control equipment market contributor has entered into a contract with the U.S. Navy in accordance to which it is expected to support landing systems and air traffic control equipment at shore facilities and on ships. With such opportunities in the United States, air traffic control equipment providers could expect increasing profit in business while investing in this region.Europe has also been highlighting a promising future for the air traffic control equipment market with the increasing collaborations to suffice air traffic management needs. The partnership between HungaroControl and Azeraeronavigation Air Traffic Control Center (AZANS) for providing air navigation services in Azerbaijan. Such collaborations in Europe are expected to drive the growth of the air traffic control equipment market.Increasing Demand for Air Traffic Control Equipment to Provide Growth Avenues for Market ParticipantsThe market players in the air traffic control equipment market are grabbing major business opportunities as the demand for the product escalates. The market players are continuously seeking key opportunities to extend their capabilities.For instance, the France-based Thales group is supporting a program for modernization of surveillance radars in Saudi Arabia. Thales is recognized as a major supplier of air traffic control equipment in the region. This deal acts as a crucial commitment for Thales group as they focus on broadening their support in the civil aviation domain to the Kingdom.Another major player in the air traffic control equipment market, Raytheon Company, is also working towards providing effective solutions to FAA with a contract of over $70 million. With respect to this contract, the company focused on enabling futuristic next-generation air traffic control equipment and air traffic control tools which would enhance the efficiency and safety of National Airspace System.Collaborations and mergers have been a crucial strategy for companies as they focus on business expansion and growth. Similar merger between the key market participant, Harris Corporation and defense giant L3 technologies resulted in a largest defense merger. The combined company would offer an extensive portfolio of products including secret space hardware, military radios, and air traffic control system.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4841 Segmentation of Air Traffic Control Equipment Market Based on Device type, Application & End useThe air traffic control equipment market is classified in accordance with the type of device, its application, and the end use sector. A broader classification based on the region also helps in understanding the scope of the air traffic control equipment market.Based on the device type, the air traffic control equipment market is subdivided into proximity devices, information system devices, radar devices, simulator devices, and safety and navigational devices.The application segments in the air traffic control equipment market include surveillance, navigation, and communication.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 16:31:49

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Air Drills Market: OverviewAir drill is used for most robust pneumatic applications in construction, agriculture, and mining industries. Due to the durability and versatility, the air drills are in massive demand across sectors. Also, the air drills are low cost and more efficient as compared to conventional drills. The increase in the need for reversible air drills in industrial as well as agriculture applications is boosting the growth of air drills market. The air drills are most widely used in agriculture, forestry, mining, and other industries. The air drills are operated by air pressure that is used for breaking hard surfaces. The air drills are flexible and lightweight and are used mainly for high-pressure pneumatic applications. Also, the air drills have a longer service life as compared to conventional drills. This is one of the factors that can create demand for air drills for industrial and other applications. The air drills used in agriculture enables to plant seed and fertilizer faster and efficiently. It delivers accurate seed placement with on row packing. It is primarily used for more extensive operations. Pneumatic drills are for daily use in various industrial applications.The key vendors in air drills market are focusing on developing a variety of air drills such as inline air drills, pistol grip air drills, right angle air drills, etc. The reversible air drills are robust and are used for manual drilling into wood, steel, other materials, therefore, the increase in the introduction of innovative air drills that are used for various industrial applications is driving the growth of air drills market.Get Free Exclusive Sample Copy of This Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2631 Air Drills Market: DynamicsThe air drills are adjustable, flexible and efficient which are the key factors driving the adoption of air drills across the globe. Also, these air drills are offered in a variety of configurations such as a pistol, right angle, inline, grip etc. This factor is highly contributing to the growth of the air drills market.High maintenance cost is the crucial factors that can hamper the growth of air drills market.The high adoption of air drills in agriculture and aerospace is one of the latest trends in the air drills market.Examples of some of the key players in the global air drills market are Flexi-Coil, Ingersoll Rand, Mazergroup, APEX Tool Group, Morris Industries Ltd, Salford Group, Inc., Great Plains Manufacturing, Inc., W.W. Grainger, Inc, Cervus Equipment Corporation, Bourgault Industries, AGCO Corporation, CNH Industrial, Deere & Company, Gasweld Tools, Pacific Pneumatic Tools, Inc, Climax, etc.Ask For Customized Report @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=RC&rep_id=2631 Air Drills Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is expected to dominate the air drills market followed by the Europe region owing to the availability of advanced technologies and the vast presence of air drills providers. The air drills market in Europe is also increasing due to the technology advancement in this region. Also, the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow significantly in the air drills market due to increase in demand of air drills in agriculture and defense applications. Latin America and MEA are expected to witness significant growth rate in the air drills market.In June 2018, Morris Industries, which is one of the leading air drills providers launched Quantum air drill with interlocking frame technology for the durability of seeding equipment in AustraliaThe report covers exhaustive analysis on:For more information on this report, please visit: https://www.factmr.com/report/2631/air-drills-market
Advanced Computed Tomography Scanners Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 14:53:54

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Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.comAssociate Consultant800-961-0353

Understanding various facets of the advanced computed tomography scanners market, Persistence Market Research has come up with an analytical research report titled Advanced Computed Tomography Scanners Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) and Forecast (2017-2027). This comprehensive research report focuses on various trends, developments, drivers, opportunities and restraints that influence the growth of the global advanced CT scanners market. The intensity of these aspects vary across various geographies. The scenario of these factors is covered in this study which gives a heads up to the reader from an investment standpoint. Along with historical data, the study covers a weighted forecast analysis for a period of 10 years, starting from 2017 till 2027.Global Market for Advanced CT Scanners: Segmental SnapshotThe global market for advanced CT scanners is segmented on the basis of product type, end user and region.By product type, the adoption of cone beam CT scanners is expected to soar at a high rate in the coming years, making it a fast growing segment. Low dose CT scanners segment is the largest with maximum value shareBy region, North America is the most lucrative and is expected to dominate the global market with a high market share. By the end of the year of assessment, the advanced CT scanners market in North America is projected to expand at a stellar CAGR and is estimated to reach a billion dollar milestoneBy end user, hospitals and diagnostic centers expected to largely contribute to the growth of the global market for advanced CT scannersRequest for Report Methodology @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/22348 Increasing Strategic Collaborations Between Players to Present Lucrative Growth Opportunities in the Global MarketStrategic collaborations among key players in the advanced CT scanners market is expected to present potential growth opportunities for advanced CT scanners. Strategic alliances and collaborations can spur the development rate of the market as key players can focus on development of innovative technologies and advanced imaging systems. Collaborations are usually carried out by players that have strong product portfolio and patented technologies. This can support the international players in gaining market hold with support of local players in that respective region. For instance, Toshiba Medical Systems signed contracts with Russian imaging equipment manufacturer ZAO Roentgenprom to carry out licensing and sub-contracting production of CT scanners in the country. This initiative was a move towards enhancement of the healthcare system and infrastructure in Russia with main goal being the improvement in the countrys overall healthcare space.Moreover, increasing number of diagnostic centers is anticipated to spur the demand for advanced CT scanners. Since recent past, a number of diagnostics and imaging centers across various emerging and developed regions has increased substantially. Independent diagnostic centers offer better service and superior quality diagnosis at a pocket friendly cost. Several insurance companies have adopted efficient marketing strategies to shift the patient volume to the cost efficient independent diagnostic centers thus reducing the out of pocket costs of the patients.Global Market for Advanced CT Scanners: Factors Influencing GrowthThere are several aspects that have contributed to the growth of the global advanced computed tomography scanners market. Aspects such as increasing ageing population, growing need for medical imaging across various regions in the globe, increasing prevalence and growth in adoption of minimally invasive diagnostic procedures, high funding for research and development to carry out product innovations in medical devices and imaging systems, ease in FDA clearance, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and dental and orthopedic disorders, growing number of hospitals and diagnostic centers and growing need for faster and more definitive result are driving the growth of the global market. However, factors such as exposure to radiation, inadequate reimbursement policies, adoption of refurbished medical devices, lack of skilled personnel and lack of healthcare infrastructure in emerging markets are the main challenges restricting the growth of the global market for advanced CT scanners.Request to Sample Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/22348 Global Market for Advanced CT Scanners: Competitive LandscapeAcquisitions, mergers, strategic collaborations and alliances are the key expansion strategies adopted by manufacturers and integrators for technology transfer and to increase consumer base in different geographies. Moreover, companies are focusing on new product launches and reducing the costs of advanced computed tomography devices in order to gain maximum market share.Some of the leading companies operating in the advanced computed tomography scanners market are Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric Company, Siemens AG, Carestream Health, Inc., Canon Inc., Xoran Technologies, LLC., Medtronic, Plc., iCRco, Inc., and NeuroLogica Corp.
Research Report Insights

PR-Inside.com: 2019-01-23 13:17:50

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Research Report Insights (RRI) delivers key insights on the global Bulk terminal market in its latest report titled, Bulk Terminal Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026. The report projects the market size on the basis of bulk volume throughputs from global sea ports. According to the report, total volume throughput from sea ports is projected to expand at an estimated CAGR of 3.2% over the forecast period. The bulk volume throughput implicates the loading and unloading of unpacked bulk commodities like coal, grain, iron ore, forest products, etc. from barges and vessels.The Bulk terminal market is classified into two main segments - dry bulk and liquid bulk based on bulk type. The dry bulk segment is expected to hold 62.9% share in bulk terminal volume throughput, while liquid bulk terminal holds the remaining share. The dry bulk segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% with coal and iron ore holding over 52% of share in terms of volume throughput. The other sub-segment of dry bulk, which include minor bulk commodity (minerals, agricultural bulks, forest products, manufactures, etc.) is expected to hold 37.68% volume share in dry bulk volume throughput during 2016.Request For Report Sample with Table of Contents@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110114773/Bulk-Terminal-Market The liquid bulk segment is expected to grow with a CAGR of 3.4% during 2016-2026 with oil sub-segment holding 86% of share in liquid bulk volume throughput by the end of 2026. The oil sub-segment involves both crude oil as well as finished petroleum products. Global Bulk Terminal Market Volume throughput expected to increase at a CAGR of 3.2% over 20162026, with China driving the overall market of sea trades: RRIIncreasing global population and enhanced affordability is expected to raise the consumption of bulk commodities and therefore drive the bulk terminal market growth. Also, emphasis on increasing industrial productivity is expected to be one of the key drivers of the trade through bulk terminals. The increasing trade of grain and concentrated agricultural productivity is expected to push the dry bulk commodity market. Whereas, rising environmental concerns and adoption of cleaner energy approach by major coal consumer countries is expected to reduce the rate of coal consumption.Request For Report Discount@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/discount/110114773/Bulk-Terminal-Market APEJ is expected to remain the key region for bulk terminal market accounting for major share in bulk terminal volume throughput. China is one of the largest consumer of bulk commodities and it is expected to hold majority of share approx. 50% in APEJ. It is estimated to remain dominant in the market in terms of volume throughput. While developing economies like India are expected to cater high growth opportunities with a healthy CAGR of 4.8% during forecast period.Prevailing trade of grain and minor bulk commodities in North America and Latin America is expected to be the main driving factor of bulk commodity volume throughput in the regions. The cumulative grain volume throughputs in Latin America and North America is expected to mark over 383 million tonnes in 2016. Expanding shale oil and gas production in U.S and Gulf of Mexico is predicted to cater to high growth opportunities in North America liquid bulk volume throughput, where gas sub-segment of liquid bulk is expected to grow with a CAGR of 3.6% between 2016 and 2026. The expansion project of Panama Canal is also expected to lever up the terminal market in Latin America.With the development of Suez Canal, the trade through Europe and MEA should increase catering diversified growth opportunities of trans-shipment on the ports lying in proximity of Suez Canal. Slowdown in global economic growth has adversely affected the global seaborne trade in past few years. Also, overcapacity condition raised due to lower freight rates in shipping industry is expected to affect the bulk terminal market during initial years of forecast. Transformations of industrial production and international trades in major bulk consuming countries like China, Japan, Russia, India, and Australia are expected to stabilize the market by the end of 2018. The overall bulk terminal market is hence expected to grow with higher CAGR post 2018.Key playersChina Merchants Port Holdings Co. Ltd. and DaLian Port (PDA) Company Limited, Thessaloniki Port Authority SA., Global Ports Investments PLC., Ports America, Inc. APM Terminals, Euroports Holdings S.a.r.l., Puerto Ventanas S.A., HES International B.V., Yilport Holding Inc, DP World Ltd., Noatum Ports, S.L.U., and Ultramar GroupReport Analysis@ https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/rd/110114773/Bulk-Terminal-Market
For those of you in the New Haven area, Ill be returning to Yale on Thursday afternoon (if the airlines and weather cooperate!) for the next in my series of lectures for the William F. Buckley Program at Yale, this time on the subject The Endless Quest for Social Equality. The actual lecture has taken a differentand I guarantee more provocative!direction since the description written for the early announcement below, which I wrote months ago before the mid-term election and the arrival of our Savior Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she of the 70 percent income tax rates.

If the print in this announcement is too small, the lecture will be at 4:30 pm in WLH 116, located at 100 Wall Street near the middle of the Yale campus. There is coffee and light snacks available, which will be nice on what is like to be a cold day, though I expect I will warm up the place plenty.

Among other things, I am going to argue at length that the current furious egalitarian mood of the left is really just a case of envy run amok, but envy is something social scientists dont study any more, largely because it would discredit the program of the left. In looking around for scholarship on this point, I stumbled across a terrific 1966 book by a German scholar named Helmut Schoeck, Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior. I cant believe I never came across this book before now. It is stupendously good.

There are too many great parts of his argument o summarize or quote (though I may make a series out of this topic), but heres one:

It would be a miracle if the democratic political process were ever to renounce the use of the envy-motive. Its usefulness derives, if for no other reason, from the fact that all that is needed, in principle, is to promise the envious the destruction or the confiscation of assets enjoyed by the others; beyond that there is no need to promise anything more constructive. The negativism of envy permits even the weakest of candidates to sound reasonably plausible, since anybody, once in office, can confiscate or destroy. To enlarge the countrys capital assets, to create employment etc., requires a more precise programme. Candidates will naturally try to make some positive proposals, but it is often all too apparent that envy looms large in their calculations. The more precarious the nations economy at election time, the stronger the temptations for politicians to make redistribution their main plank, even when they know how little margin is left for redistributive measures, and, worse still, how likely they are to retard economic growth.

Schoecks book is chock full of passages like this, every one of them making you think right away of AOC. And Ill have lots of other fun stuff, including some fun from Thomas Sowell, and a cameo appearance from Kurt Vonnegut. My plan all along has been to slowly ratchet up the provocation level of my lecture series, slowly boiling the liberals frogs of Yale until it is too late to mount a protest.

Not to worry if you dont live in the New Haven area or if it is too cold to come: Ill post the lecture as a Power Line podcast probably next week.
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Scott Gillespie is the editorial editor and vice president of the Star Tribune. He is in charge of the opinion side of the newspaper. In his daily email newsletter on Monday, Scott discussed the papers coverage of Rep. Ilhan Omar under the subject heading Opining on Ilhan Omar. I think its fair to say that Scott is proud of it. I asked Scott if I could have his permission to post his message on Power Line with the thought that I might respond in an open letter to him. Scott asked only that I make clear that news and opinion are separate at the Star Tribune  a point I make often in the newsletter but might be lost on Power Line readers  and that I am responsible for opinion.

Dear Scott: This open letter to you responds to your January 21 message to readers that I posted here on Power Line. Thank you for your permission to share your message with Power Line readers. It takes up a subject I have written a lot about on Power Line and elsewhere. Responding to a critical Wisconsin reader, you defend the Star Tribunes news and editorial coverage of Ilhan Omar. I find it poor. I thought I might take the opportunity raised by your message to revisit the subject with a senior officer of Omars hometown newspaper (i.e., you).

When it comes to Omar I think the Star Tribune has particularly ill served its core Fifth District DFL readers. You refute and disparage the critical reader whom you quote, but (to borrow Bill Clintons famous expression) I feel his pain. I think the Star Tribunes coverage of Omar has been superficial at best, both on the news and editorial side. To make the subject manageable, I will limit the period of time in issue from June 5 (when DFL candidates filed to run for the Fifth District seat) to August 14 (the date of the primary election).*

The Star Tribune emphasized in its June 18 editorial that primary voters [would] be making a choice with long-lasting consequences. The Fifth District has been represented by only four U.S. House members  Walter Judd, Don Fraser, Martin Sabo and Keith Ellison  in the past 76 years. The Fifth District now being one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the country, the August 14 primary represented the date of the real election for the Fifth District seat. If my focus on the June 5-August 14 period is fair, the Star Tribune had a little over two months to do its job for readers making up their mind to vote in the primary. How did it do?

The primary election pitted Omar against two serious DFL candidates. Maya Raos July 1 profile of the three candidates is utterly superficial. The superficiality was characteristic of the Star Tribunes coverage of the race during the period of time in issue  and there wasnt much of it anyway.

Kelly Smiths August 3 article reported on the candidates joint appearance at a forum of community and business leaders. Maya Raos August 7 article reported on the candidates joint appearance at Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park before a largely Jewish audience. Neither adds much to the candidates quotes.

Raos August 11 article is the last whack before the primary. In this article Rao notes that Omar had recently traveled to Southern California for fundraising events hosted by the political action committee for that states chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

One would never know it from reading the Star Tribune, but CAIR is a terror-supporting front group that holds itself out as a civil rights organization. CAIRs support of Omar fits neatly with her support of the anti-Semitic BDS movement that Omar obscured for one night only  during the August 6 Beth El Synagogue forum.

The Star Tribune has been missing in action on every aspect of this matter that is of interest to many Fifth District voters (witness the packed August 6 Beth El forum). Rao leaves it at this: Omar has also drawn criticism in the Jewish community for previous statements critical of the Israeli government and military. She has said that criticism of Israeli military strikes against Palestinians does not mean she is anti-Semitic. This is pathetic. Omars vocal support of the BDS movement on days other than August 6 belies Raos indirect statement of Omars defense (not that one would have known it if one got his news from the Star Tribune).

Raos story added: Omar has drawn national media attention but also controversy. Some conservative bloggers alleged she married her brother to help him obtain U.S. citizenship, which Omar adamantly denied. Would it be too much to ask the Star Tribune to do some reporting of its own on this question?

The Star Tribune endorsed Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the primary. Beyond observing Omars lack of experience, the editorial offered nothing of substance on Omar. Is it any wonder that Fifth District DFLers found it unpersuasive?

Defending the Star Tribunes news and editorial coverage of Omar, you berated an out-of-state correspondent with the -isms of the Deplorables. Your message adds a weary nobody knows the trouble Ive seen tone to the equation. As the Star Tribunes opinion editor, you might have made a more worthy contribution to the papers cause with a little professional introspection in the context of Omars current national embarrassment.

________________________________

*You link to Stephen Montemayors On the edge of making history, Ilhan Omar confronts fresh wave of scrutiny (October 24) as addressing some of the issues raised by the reader whom you disparage. By my lights, however, Steves article came more than two months after the real Fifth District election.

Even so, Steves article is yet another superficial contribution. A reader interested in the issues addressed in it (to use your word) would find no reporting to help sort things out for himself. Was Omar married to her brother until late 2017? Omar says the claim is made only by fake journalists on bigoted blogs.

I think Omar was referring to me and to PJ Media New York editor David Steinberg. Her insults are par for the course with her  they hark back to her original response to my inquiry to her in 2016  but Steve doesnt even bother to let readers know who or what she is talking about.

Unlike the Star Tribune, David Steinberg undertook an investigation of Omars marriage to husband number 2 (Ahmed Nur Said Elmi), whom she just got around to divorcing at the end of 2017. Steinberg thinks Elmi is Omars brother and that she married him for some dishonest purpose. Steinberg reported his findings in stories posted here (August 8), here (August 12), here (October 23), here (October 30) and here (November 5).

But for Omars allusion to him, Steinberg and his reporting have gone unmentioned by the Star Tribune. Doing no reporting of its own, the Star Tribune published Amy Forlitis October 17 AP story Minnesota House hopeful calls marriage, fraud claims lies. I contrasted Steinbergs work with Forlitis in Ilhan Omars disgusting lies.'

In his October 13 story Steve added this bizarre touch as if it were completely normal: During an interview, Omar showed a reporter cellphone photos of documents from her familys U.S. entry in 1995 after fleeing Somalias civil war. She declined to provide copies of the papers, which included refugee resettlement approval forms and identification cards, but they appeared to list her father, siblings and Omar by order of birth, with Omar as the youngest of seven children. No one named Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, who is three years younger than Omar, could be seen listed in the documents. Omar did not even allow Steve to jot down names. He left that out of his article. I find this exceedingly strange. Dont you?

Steve also addressed tweets conveying Omars view of Israel. At least he quoted Omars reference to the apartheid Israeli regime, but Steves article is completely unilluminating. Steve gives Omar the last word: I dont think there is anyone who spends five minutes with me who does not clearly see where my values are and that I will advocate for them and defend them and their humanity always. One would not know of her avid support in the legislature of the anti-Semitic BDS movement seeking the destruction of Israel.

Omar amplified her view of Israel as an apartheid regime on the floor of the Minnesota House in support of BDS. Her speech is a matter of public record. Did the Star Tribune ever cover it in the course of the Fifth District election? For your information, I posted the video and transcribed Omars statement in Ilhan Omar: Why I hate Israel.

Omars assertion that Israel is an apartheid regime is a stupid and anti-Semitic lie. It would have been of interest to many Fifth District voters. The Star Tribune barely reported it  see Steves story above  though the reporters who covered Omars primary victory gave it the usual treatment with a vague allusion (Omar hasattracted some controversy with negative comments about Israel).
Is Nathan Phillips, the American Indian who tried to intimidate Covington Catholic students by banging a drum in their faces, an anti-Catholic bigot? Thats how it looks. It turns out that the day after the March For Life, Phillips and a gang of followers tried to disrupt a service at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington:

While chanting and playing ceremonial drums, a group of Native American rights activists reportedly led by Nathan Phillips attempted Jan. 19 to enter Washington, D.C.s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception during a Saturday evening Mass. The group of 20 demonstrators was stopped by shrine security as it tried to enter the church during its 5:15 pm Vigil Mass, according to a shrine security guard on duty during the Mass. It was really upsetting, the guard told CNA. There were about twenty people trying to get in, we had to lock the doors and everything. The guard said the incident was a disappointment during a busy and joyful weekend for the shrine. We had hundreds and hundreds of people from all over the country come here to celebrate life, to celebrate each other together. That a protest tried to come inside during Mass was really the worst.

Phillips attempted invasion of the Basilica was much like his invasion of the group of Covington Catholic kids who were minding their own business, waiting for a bus.

Video footage showed one supporter saying that the group had gathered at the shrine to listen to Phillips, and to hold the Catholic Church accountable for the alleged actions of the Covington Catholic students and for the colonial violence that the Catholic Church reproduces every day. A photograph attached to the post shows Phillips addressing the group outside the shrine.

There you have it. Bigotry was indeed on display at the March For Life, and after. It came from the blacks who harassed the Covington Catholic kids for over an hour, calling them faggots and worse, and from Nathan Phillips, who attacked Catholics wherever he found them. Against this background of bigotry, the Covington Catholic kids are to be commended for keeping their cool and smiling through it all.
By Zhu Wenqian, China Daily | Jan. 22, 2019

Delta Air Lines, an Atlanta-based major US carrier, said it is confident on the long-term growth potential of Sino-US aviation market and will continue to launch new flights, spurred by robust demand, despite the overcapacity of the market and the ongoing Sino-US trade dispute.

In 2020, Delta plans to launch direct flights between Shanghai and Minneapolis, Minnesota, which will be the first direct flight that connect China and Minneapolis, the company said at a news conference on Monday.

The launch of the flights is due to the approval by the transportation authorities of both countries. Delta plans to operate the flights with Airbus A350, and it is also the first carrier to use the aircraft for Sino-US flights, it said.

In July, Delta launched direct flights between Shanghai and Atlanta, Georgia, operated with Boeing B777 aircraft. Now the route serves as the only direct flight that connects the Chinese mainland and the southeastern United States.

"We remain optimistic on the long-term growth potential of Sino-US flights. For long-haul flights, the cost is extremely high, we have done comprehensive analysis to make the decision to launch new flights," said Wong Hong, president of Delta Air Lines for the China and Singapore region.

"Besides, China Eastern will move to the new Beijing Daxing International Airport.

We have a close cooperation relationship with China Eastern, now we are doing careful research about how we can provide better services for our customers and whether we will move to the new airport," he said.

In 2015, Delta invested $450 million to acquire a 3.55 percent stake in China Eastern Airlines.

In October, two Sino-US direct flights stopped operations, dampened by rising fuel costs and overcapacity of the competitive market. American Airlines canceled direct flights between Chicago and Shanghai, and Hawaiian Airlines stopped direct flights between Beijing and Honolulu.

In the past few years, the Sino-US flights market has witnessed double-digit annual growth, and now it has entered a more stable period.

Delta said sales of most of its Sino-US flights have remained stable.

The company did not see significant fluctuation under the impact of Sino-US trade dispute, and it will keep an eye on the relations between the two countries.

"For now, Sino-US trade tensions are not playing a significant impact on the performance of Sino-US flights.

In the long term, trade tensions between the world's largest two economies may affect business travel," said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at Carnoc, a Chinese civil aviation website.

"The approvals of business and tourism visa have become tighter, and travel demand growth is likely to slow down," Lin said.
Officers with the Guam Police Department arrested Robert Lucio, 37, following allegations that he had attacked another man with a machete.

GPD spokesman Sgt. Paul Tapao said the incident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday next to S.J. Mart on Adrian Sanchez Street in Harmon.

Officers from the Tumon Precinct Command went to the San Agustin Apartments in Harmon to meet with the adult male victim, who had a towel wrapped around a laceration on his right arm, Tapao said.

The victim told police he had been walking along the roadway when he was attacked by a man who struck his arm with a machete.

Tapao said the victim was responsive and transported to Guam Regional Medical City for care.

Police later located Lucio at the RK Apartments in Harmon. A machete was confiscated from his apartment.

Lucio was booked and confined on charges of reckless conduct, aggravated assault and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.

No motive was given for the attack.
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Imagine the young mother feeding her infant and then settling the child in for a nap, as the mom sighs in relief at what she believes is a mom Read more
Joe A. Wasilowski, 69, a longtime Stewartville resident, died on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, of natural causes at Edenbrook Care Center in Rochester, where he had been a resident since March of last year.

Joe Albert Wasilowski was born on Jan. 19, 1949, in Sauk Rapids, to Albert and Diane (Wesenberg) Wasilowski. He moved with his family to Stewartville as a 4 year old, where he grew up and attended school, graduating from Stewartville High School in 1967. He entered the U.S. Army, serving two years, including duty as a payroll clerk in Germany. He returned to Stewartville, where he was employed as a heavy equipment operator in the area, including employment with Rochester Sand and Gravel for a number of years.

He was a past member of Operating Engineers Local 49 in Rochester. Joe was married on July 3, 1980, at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Stewartville to Linda Ridgeway. Following their marriage, the couple lived in Stewartville, where they raised their family. They were later divorced.

Joe was a past member of St. Johns Lutheran Church in Stewartville. He was a longtime member of the Stewartville American Legion Post 164 and had also served as Post manager for three years, a number of years ago. He was an active member of the Stewartville Sportsmens Club for many years and always enjoyed cooking for their wild game feeds. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, grilling and cooking and was a long-suffering Minnesota Vikings and Twins fan. He enjoyed his many friends and especially enjoyed time spent with his sons and families.

Joe is survived by three sons, Shawn Vriezen of Minneapolis, Sonny (Lisa) Wasilowski and Jeremy (Alicia) Wasilowski, both of Faribault; four grandchildren, Ridgeway and Maguire Wasilowski, Paige and Wyatt Wasilowski; a sister, Diane Phetteplace of Rochester; two nieces, Becky Phetteplace and Robyn Parker; his former spouse, Linda (Les) Fairbanks of Mahnomen, Minn.; and good friends and caregivers, Steve and Rhonda Berg of High Forest. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Edward Wasilowski; and a nephew, Kevin Thompson.

A celebration of Joes life will take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, at the Stewartville American Legion Post 164. Military honors will take place at 7 p.m. A private family burial and committal service will be held at Woodlawn Cemetery in Stewartville.

Arrangements are with Griffin-Gray Funeral Home in Stewartville. Condolences and memories of Joe are welcome at www.griffin-gray.com.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  Following a backlash from experts and opposition from senators, the House of Representatives approved on second reading the bill lowering the minimum age of social responsibility of child offenders to 12 years old, instead of 9.

LOOK: House Bill 8858 lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 years old to 12 years old, as approved by the House on second reading. @cnnphilippines pic.twitter.com/TMbI1tyiG8  Xianne Arcangel (@xianneangel) January 23, 2019

SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta through a substitute bill introduced last-minute changes during the plenary session Wednesday afternoon. House Justice panel chair Oriental Mindoro 1st District Rep. Doy Leachon confirmed this to reporters.

House Majority Leader Fredenil Castro told CNN Philippines' The Source that he is open to following suit with some senators who prefer lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 12 years old instead of nine.

However, the Psychological Association of the Philippines said that children in conflict with the law, especially those aged nine to 15, find it more difficult to determine what is right or wrong, as they are usually poor, lacking in education, living in crime-ridden environments, and are victims of parental neglect or abuse.

Child development specialist Nina Era also told CNN Philippines' Newsroom Ngayon that children as young as 12 years old are still too young to be held responsible for crimes.

"Ang 12 years old ay isang napakabatang edad pa rin, still in the formative years. Parang ang nasa isip ko nga lang, mayroon tayong age of 18 years old para makaboto ang isang bata dahil siguro ang thinking ng tao, kaya dapat 18 years old para makapag-decide kung sino dapat iboto. Paano 'yung 12 years old din? Lalong mahirap 'yung kanilang posisyon na at 12 years old makakapag-decide sila," she said.

[Translation: 12 years old is still a very young age, still in the formative years. In my mind, we require voters to be at least 18 years old, perhaps because people think they are old enough to decide who to vote. What more for 12 year-olds? It would be more difficult for them to decide.]

Clinical psychologist and National Social Scientist Lourdes "Honey" Carandang also sees no valid reason in lowering the minimum age of criminal liability.

Carandang said the government should instead focus on implementing the existing law properly.

"We already have laws and we have centers and intervention programs for the existing law and there are psychologists and social workers working to rehabilitate these people," she said in an interview on CNN Philippines' On The Record.

"I'm so surprised that we're going back to this law and bringing it down to a much lower age, I don't understand what is the valid reason," she added.

Carandang said syndicates and other groups using children to commit crimes should be the ones prosecuted.

"The right thing to do is to do something about the syndicates who are committing the crime and not punish the children who are the victims of these syndicates. That is the most radical and real solution," she said.

Lawmakers only spent two days debating on the bill.

"'Pag hindi ito mindali, sayang effort mo [If this isn't rushed, your efforts would go to waste] for two years. It will be back to square one [in the 18th Congress,]" Leachon said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed to lower the MACR, now at 15 years old.

Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she supports the passage of the measure "because the President wants it."

As the bill is not certified as urgent, it would be taken up for approval on third and final reading in at least three session days.

BREAKING: Bill lowering age for criminal responsibility passed on 2nd reading | https://t.co/CGAArQWB89 pic.twitter.com/ls6XowfiLP  CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) January 23, 2019

CNN Philippines' Xianne Arcangel and Xave Gregorio contributed to this report.
Sometimes Liv Tempesta feels like she doesnt have any emotions. That comes with the territory when youre coping with clinical depression.

The 19-year-old sophomore at Temple University last year tried a new type of treatment: a cat. Skittles, her 8-year-old tabby and her first emotional-support animal, lived on campus with her in Johnson Hall her freshman year, forcing her into a routine and snuggling up with her when she was affected.

Now, in some ways, hes made her feel whole.

"If I have feelings for this animal," she said, "that means Im still human."

Emotional-support animals, or ESAs, are owned by people with mental health disorders and deemed necessary by medical professionals. The animals, which typically have not had special training, gained popularity in 2015 when they prompted a federal guideline for housing providers, but they seemed to go viral last year following news stories about someone trying to take a dog or a peacock or a goat onto an airplane  sometimes with success.

Ever since, ESAs have become the target of ridicule: Popeyes released an "emotional support chicken" carrier available only in airports. Ellen DeGeneres poked fun at them in her recent Netflix special. Some talking heads have questioned whether ESAs are just elaborate scams.

But despite the cries of "theyre just trying to bring their pet everywhere for free," people  particularly those of the younger variety  are still turning to emotional-support animals as a means of treating depression and anxiety.

Animal House

Besides perhaps airports, nowhere is the trend more apparent than on college campuses, some of which have seen residence halls turn into Animal Houses as more students file paperwork to keep an emotional-support cat, dog or hamster in their dorm room. The ESA trend took hold over the last several years while rates of anxiety and depression among college students have soared in the last decade.

In the 2017-18 school year at Temple, six students requested permission to keep such animals on campus. This school year? Twenty.

Most local colleges and universities with on-campus housing have policies related to both service animals and ESAs, which are different. The Americans for Disabilities Act describes a service animal as one that is trained to perform a task its owner cant. For example, a trained service dog may lead a blind person while they walk or protect the head of a person with epilepsy when he or she has a seizure.

ESAs, also sometimes called "assistance animals," usually arent trained as such and serve the purpose of comforting their owner, making them indistinguishable from a regular pet to an outside observer. At most schools, students must show that the animal was designated necessary by a medical provider.

In 2016, St. Josephs University implemented an emotional-support animal policy, stating students must notify the schools Office of Student Disability Services of their need and accept responsibility for the animals actions, said Christine Mecke, director of Student Disability Services at St. Joes. Likewise, Drexel put in place a policy including emotional-support animals in 2015, while Villanovas emotional-support animal policy went into effect last summer.

The permission needed to bring an ESA on campus isnt difficult to obtain, and those who cant get a "prescription" from a doctor turn to the internet. CertaPet, one of the most recognized companies that certifies ESAs, connects clients with mental health providers from across the country who conduct a clinical assessment via phone and, if they deem it medically appropriate, email a letter that satisfies ESA housing or travel requirements. The whole process can be done in a matter of hours and for about $150.

Depression, loneliness, anxiety

Prairie Conlon, the clinical manager at CertaPet, said she knows some people may feign a mental health disorder so they can bring their pooch to college or the grocery store or another country with them for free. Shes admits theres "a lot of fraud out there."

She says ESAs are medically legitimate, though, and "animal-assisted intervention" is her specialty as a therapist.

Problem is, the research on ESAs is scant, and many therapists wont "prescribe" them. Center City-based therapist Madeleine May said shes only ever written one ESA letter for a client and instead refers patients to third parties. She questions whether ESAs can help patients expand social skills or if they instead function as a "crutch," but she said an increase in college students requesting them makes sense.

"Depression, loneliness and anxiety, theyre on the rise on college campuses, and even if you dont have one of those diagnosed illnesses, transitioning can be hard," she said. "I think about people who are soothed by touch and tapping into a sensory experience. Dogs could be a good thing."

Benjamin Daniels, clinical director at Equilibria and a psychologist based in Center City, said ESAs may help reduce anxiety for some people, but theres a risk the animal serves as a "safety signal," meaning the person believes theyre safe only because the animal is around.

"Then a person becomes dependent on that animal to be able to function in the world," he said. "Its a double-edged sword in that way."

They take care of you

Tempesta said her emotional-support cat helped her socially  his presence forced her to meet other people on her floor who wanted to play with him. Additionally, she said, "its nice to know that youre wanted."

"If Im stressed about doing homework or if I had a bad day and am crying on my bed," she said, "he will come up and lay on me and start purring."

Emotional-support dogs that need to be taken outside regularly can also provide a reason to get up, which can be especially effective for owners with clinical depression, according to a junior at Eastern University in St. Davids, Delaware County, whos had a dog for several years that helps her cope with depression and anxiety. The woman, who is studying social work, didnt want to be named because she didnt want future employers and clients to judge her use of an emotional-support dog if they found her in a Google search.

Minnie, a 3-year-old Jack Russell terrier/chihuahua mix that lives in the womans dorm room, was initially trained as a service dog that can recognize when her owner is having a panic attack or engaging in self-harm. Over the last several years, Minnies owners health has improved, and now the dog acts more as an emotional-support dog, providing a comforting presence and a sense of routine.

"Its almost like a security blanket," the woman said. "Especially when you go into a new place or go away from home. Although its not an actual family member, you have each other and you take care of them and they take care of you."

Plenty of research has showed therapy dogs can relieve stress for people they interact with. But Molly Crossman, a researcher at Yale who focuses on human-animal interaction, said that research has been limited to short-term interactions and there have been few studies that conclude if, how or why ESAs work.

If they do, theres not likely to be just one "active ingredient." Some people respond to the soft, soothing touch. Others feel like the animal is a presence that wont judge them.

"Its a number of different things," she said, "just like friends arent helpful just for one thing."
DENMARK  The water is rotten in the city of Denmark.

That's what some residents and advocates claim: They tell stories of brown-tinted water, odors of sulfur or sewage, dulled clothes coming out of washing machines and sediment pouring out of faucets into bathtubs.

Many in this small town about 20 miles southwest of Orangeburg have opted to stop drinking public water completely. They're looking to bottled water or a nearby spring instead. Some, such as Pauline Brown and Eugene Smith, have been decrying the quality for years; others stopped drinking the water only recently, after the issue gained its largest notoriety yet in a documentary on CNN.

In reality, nobody knows just how bad the situation is because it's never happened before. What is clear is that residents are losing confidence in their city.

For 10 years, the city used a disinfectant called HaloSan in one of its four drinking water wells. The chemical has been used to clean pools and hot tubs but is not approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. Its use is at the center of two class-action lawsuits pending against the city.

Meanwhile, residents of Denmark still have little information to help them make a new and difficult choice: How much of this water can they stand to come in contact with?

Resident Marcus Wheeler said that he didn't take the issue seriously until recently. But his sister, Shantel Moncrieft, hasn't even been using it to brush her teeth.

She stopped using the public supply four years ago, Wheeler said, when she was diagnosed with lupus, an unpredictable autoimmune disease that can be difficult to manage.

When Moncrieft started, Wheeler said he thought not brushing with the water was "extreme."

"I used to tease her all the time," he said, "then she was right, the whole time."

No confidence

It's unclear exactly what health effects HaloSan has when consumed in water over a long term. An EPA assessment from 2007 suggests it could cause eye and skin irritation, one of the symptoms some residents in Denmark have described.

But the fact that it was used in only one of the city's wells adds even more ambiguity to the situation, because it's not clear who in town would have received water containing the chemical or its byproducts, said Marc Edwards, an environmental engineer at Virginia Tech.

Aside from possible health risks, the biggest risk of using a chemical like HaloSan is creating a breakdown in public trust, said Edwards, who was at the forefront of uncovering the recent water quality crisis in Flint, Michigan.

If there's no confidence in the system, then the users can attribute any and all of their ailments to it, whether or not the water is really the cause.

"More often than not, it's not a health issue," Edwards said. "It's just annoying, expensive water thats undermining trust between the government and the people, quite frankly because (city leaders) weren't being honest about it."

The well that was treated with the chemical was taken offline last summer. Denmark Mayor Gerald Wright has consistently asserted the city's water is safe to drink.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has taken the step of putting its own test results on a website, and spokesman Tommy Crosby said the agency is offering free in-home water sampling to any concerned Denmark resident.

Nonetheless, Edwards has found in some of the brown water elevated levels of lead, which hovered around EPA limits. Lead isn't safe for human consumption in any amount, however.

As Edwards has worked with Smith, Brown and other residents concerned about water quality, he eventually asked to test the drinking water wells directly, but the city denied his request.

"We got a regular, routine method of testing, and that is done through DHEC," Wright said. "They have qualified competent staff and so weve  were covered, and the water is fine."

When Wright was asked Tuesday why it would be a problem to allow an outside scientist to test the wells, he told The Post and Courier he would not answer any other questions on the matter and referred other questions to the city attorney, who did not return a phone message.

One suit alleged the city has been poisoning its residents, and the other claims they should be reimbursed the fees they've paid for water of dubious quality.

In its responses to the two class-action suits, the city has broadly denied the claims that it is harming residents' health and that it is overcharging residents for water. In both suits, the city blamed discolored water on the plaintiffs' faulty plumbing.

'Citizens helping citizens'

Some in Denmark have resorted to buying the water they drink and cook with, but many others rely on a nearby natural supply, God's Acre Healing Spring in Blackville, about a 20-minute drive away.

Debra Stephens, 50, goes to the spring fairly frequently. She lives in nearby Williston, and her home is hooked up to city water there, but she still prefers the taste of the water that bubbles out of a network of pipes jutting about a foot out of the ground.

Her daughter, Zakaya, helped her fill empty juice jugs to take home on a trip last Thursday. Zakaya used to live in Denmark and scrunched her nose at the thought of the water there.

Stephens' elderly mother still lives in the small Bamberg County town and can't leave her home easily because she's disabled. Some of her daughter's haul from the springs went back to her.

"It's bad down there, I'll tell you," Stephens said.

One other option has been the water distributions organized by several groups, including Denmark Citizens for Safe Water.

Organizer Deanna Miller-Berry, who is also a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, helped run a string of distributions Thursday. She first delivered water to local schools and then handed out bottles to residents from the back of Denmark Furniture, which offered up its space for the events.

"This is citizens helping citizens," Miller-Berry said as she streamed live from the site under an overcast sky. A few feet away, residents showed their driver's licenses to claim a share of the water, five packages per household.

Miller-Berry, who unsuccessfully ran against Wright in the city's last election, said that a natural support system of volunteers has popped up to help with each distribution. Thursday marked the group's fifth, and organizers were planning a rally on the water issue on Jan. 26.

"I don't even have to call them, when they see it, and they hear about it, they're coming," she said.

But for some, the community group's work may not be enough.

Kasandra Jones, who waited in line wearing a pair of pink flamingo slippers, said she's contemplating moving away when her 6-year-old daughter finishes school later this year.

Jones has lived in Denmark for three years, but she said she doesn't want her daughter to get sick, and she's frustrated that the city government continues to charge for a utility most people have lost faith in.

"This ain't right, this ain't fair to these people living in this town. And then they knew it was messed up anyway, they (should've) told somebody," Jones said. "You dont keep secrets."
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 75F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 75F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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Donald Trump may think he is winning his shutdown battle but a new poll from POLITICO shows that with each passing day his disapproval ratings are skyrocketing to new heights.

People who participated in the poll say that Trumps record-long government shutdown is bad for the country, and they are also increasingly concerned about Trumps relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Almost 60% of poll respondents said they disapprove of Donald Trump and his performance as president. This is in contrast to the meager 40 percent of voters who approve of what Trump is doing.

Just as importantly, 54 percent of voters blame Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill for the government shutdown compared to just 35 percent of voters who put the blame on Democrats in Congress.

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As the shutdown nears completion of its fifth week  and as millions of Americans are affected by loss of income caused by the shutdown  neither side has indicated they are willing to give in.

No only has there has been no progress on shutdown negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, but leaders of the two parties and Trump are not even trying anymore. There really are no negotiations, as the parties have quit talking to each other. The only communication that resembles a dialogue occurs on Twitter where Trump keeps trying to blame Speaker Nancy Pelosi. For her part, Pelosi is being much more restrained than the president, but occasionally posts a tweet pointing out how many millions of people Trump is hurting financially.

There is also increasing concern that an extended government shutdown will harm the U.S. economy and help push it into a recession before the 2020 elections.

Despite this, Trump has not changed his demand of $5.7 billion for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which Democrats say they will never agree to.

Tyler Sinclair, who managed the poll for POLITICO, said:

As the government shutdown enters its second month, President Trump continues to carry the bulk of the blame among voters for the stalemate. In this weeks poll nearly half of voters (49 percent) say the president is responsible  up 6 points since the shutdown began. At the same time, 35 percent of voters blame blame congressional Democrats, up 4 points, while 4 percent of voters blame congressional Republicans, down 3 points.

In addition 43 percent of voters are in favor of building a border wall while 49 percent are against it.

Just 7 percent of voters said that they are in favor of approving funding for a border wall if it is the only way to end the government shutdown. On the other hand, 72 percent oppose dedicating funding to a Mexican border wall if it is the only way to get the government to re-open.

When asked whether they would approve of dedicating money to border security, but not a wall, to end the shutdown, 34 percent were in favor of this while 51 percent were against it.

A majority of poll respondents also indicated that in their opinion Russia has incriminating information which they can use against Trump. Not only are they concerned about the results from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into collusion with Russia in 2016, but they are also concerned that Trump may be working for Russia.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the FBI began investigating Trump due to evidence they had which caused them to suspect that he was acting as a Russian agent. The FBI probe began shortly after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey.

According to the new poll, 57 percent of voters believe its likely that Russia has compromising information on the president, compared to only 31 percent who dont think its likely they do.

The fact that Trump is continuing his government shutdown despite its increasing unpopularity shows how desperate he is. He knows that Mueller and House Democrats are coming for him, and his days in the White House are numbered. Apparently he has decided to do as much harm, and create as much chaos as he can, during the short amount of time that he has left in office.
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A new poll shows that the American people support Speaker Nancy Pelosis position on the shutdown over Donald Trumps by a 47%-35% margin.

According to the latest CBS News poll:

Trump is losing the shutdown messaging war to Pelosi

Trump hasnt been able to convince anyone outside of his base that the wall is worth the government shutdown. In the same CBS Poll, respondents said by more than a 2 to 1 margin (66%-31) that they wanted Trump to agree to a budget with no wall funding. Trump has lost the messaging war on the shutdown for a simple reason; most Americans dont want the wall. Trump has saddled himself and his party with a crisis caused by an unpopular policy.

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Speaker Pelosi is winning because she didnt shut the government down, and has no demands. All that she wants is for the government to be opened up so that people can go back to work.

Trump has lost the PR battle, and with each day that the shutdown continues, the hole that he is digging gets even deeper.

Pelosi has no reason to negotiate with Trump

Democrats are right. If they give Trump anything on this shutdown, he will be back in six months asking for more, which is why Pelosi wont give in to Trumps political blackmail. Democrats dont have any demands, so there is nothing to negotiate over. Trump is holding the country hostage for his wall, so it is Trump who will have to decide how he is going to end the crisis that he created.

Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, and Congressional Democrats arent going to bail Trump out.

Pelosi and the Democrats are crushing Trump, and the president knows that the only way out is to reopen the government.

Democrats arent going to negotiate with a presidential terrorist.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.
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Many people are now suggesting that Democrats in Congress give Trump his border wall funding in order to get the government reopened. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made very clear that giving in to Trumps demands is not an option. The situation is similar to a terrorist hostage situation, and everyone knows that you simply do not negotiate with terrorists.

Pelosi also made clear that by giving in to Trumps attempts to blackmail her in order to get his way, she would just encourage him to use the same illegal and immoral tactic in the future.

While Trump has been insanely tweeting from the White House Pelosi has been restrained and consistent in saying she is concerned about the families going without any income for so long.

She first tweeted:

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Trump should stop holding the paychecks of Americas workers hostage to his radical demands. Our workers are suffering and hes proud of it. Its time he end the #TrumpShutdown now!

Trump should stop holding the paychecks of Americas workers hostage to his radical demands. Our workers are suffering and hes proud of it. Its time he end the #TrumpShutdown now!  Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) January 22, 2019

Then she added her rationale for refusing to give in to Trumps blackmail, tweeting:

Understand this: if Trump gets away with shutting down the government to get what he wants, he will do this again going forward. He *will* continue to hold workers hostage to his demands.

Understand this: if Trump gets away with shutting down the government to get what he wants, he will do this again going forward. He *will* continue to hold workers hostage to his demands. -NP#TrumpShutdown  Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) January 23, 2019

Her thinking on the topic was also shown in an interview she gave to ABC News, which tweeted this comment:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: We cannot have the president, every time he has an objection, to say Ill shut down the government until you come to my way of thinkingIf we hold the employees hostage now, theyre hostage forever.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: We cannot have the president, every time he has an objection, to say Ill shut down the government until you come to my way of thinkingIf we hold the employees hostage now, theyre hostage forever. https://t.co/GjzjkZ20Ko pic.twitter.com/GUreuWL4KC  ABC News (@ABC) January 22, 2019

Nancy Pelosi knows that this is a test of her strength on Donald Trumps part. He wants to see if he can blackmail her and the entire country into getting his way. And she knows he wont stop at doing it just once  he will keep doing it to get his pet projects funded. (Hes too dumb, however, to see that if House Democrats gave in to Trump there would be outrage throughout the Democratic Party base also.)

If Democrats give Donald Trump his $5.7 billion in ransom money in order to get the government reopened, he would probably shut the government down again next month and demand even more money. He might demand that the Mueller probe be disbanded and that criminal charges against him be dropped.

Nancy Pelosi knows that if she gives in to Donald Trump it would give him almost unlimited power. And doing that would actually put federal employees and contractors who are out of work in even worse positions than theyre in right now.

Yes, it is sad to see so many federal workers and contractors and their families suffering. But Nancy Pelosi is right: we cant negotiate with the terrorist in the White House. Doing that would only make a bad situation much, much worse.

The real solution to the shutdown problem is either for Mitch McConnell to grow a pair and stand up to the president, or for the president to be forced from office ASAP.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters)  A House of Representatives oversight panel said on Wednesday it would investigate the White House security clearance process, citing incidents involving President Donald Trumps son-in-law and his national security adviser.

U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the wide-ranging probe would examine why Trumps transition team and the White House appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information.

Cummings said the panel would seek information in the cases of multiple current and former officials, including Trumps son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner, current national security adviser John Bolton, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former staff secretary Rob Porter.

He said the panel would also evaluate the extent to which the nations most highly guarded secrets were provided to officials who should not have had access to them.

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Trumps former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, acknowledged shortcomings in the clearance process last year in response to a scandal involving Porter, who was accused of domestic abuse by two ex-wives.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Alexander)
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House Democrats are investigating acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to determine if he has ever improperly shared information about special counsel Robert Muellers investigation with President Trump or his lawyers.

In his position as acting Attorney General Whitaker has learned sensitive information about the investigation by participating in Justice Department briefings. Democrats believe that this put him in a position to serve as a mole spying on Mueller for the benefit of the president.

House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, (D-N.Y.), wrote a letter to Whitaker that was sent yesterday, in which he addressed these questions. Reportedly Nadler wanted Whitaker to have advance notice of the questions the House Judiciary Committee wants to ask so that he can consider if he will invoke executive privilege and refuse to answer certain questions the committee will have for him.

In his letter Nadler wrote:

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Short of a direct and appropriate invocation of executive privilege, I will expect you to answer these questions fully and to the best of your knowledge. I would view with considerable skepticism any effort to decline to answer on the basis that the inquiry is related to an ongoing criminal investigation.

Please take any steps that may be necessary for the White House to consider these communications and for the President to determine whether he will invoke executive privilege.

The questions Nadler gave to Whitaker relate to whether there has been interference with the special counsels work, the chairman said, and do not relate to the underlying substance of the investigation.

The acting Attorney General is scheduled to appear before the Nadlers committee on February 8. This will be his first testimony before a congressional committee since he was appointed to his current position after Trump fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in November.

Whitaker will also be the first Trump administration official to testify before a House committee since Democrats took control on January 3.

Nadler said he also plans to ask Whitaker about his December announcement that he would not recuse himself from oversight of the Mueller investigation. This announcement caused a great deal of concern among House Democrats.

Sessions did recuse himself, causing Trump to blame him for the Mueller probe. This eventually led to his firing by the president.

Nadler said he also wants to know if Whitaker has had any communication of any kind with Trump or any other White House official about recusal. Hes especially interested in discussions about recusal that took place before Whitaker was appointed by Trump to the position of acting Attorney General.

In refusing to recuse himself, Whitaker rejected the advice of a Justice Department ethics official. This puts him in position to have oversight of the special counsels investigation, which he had previously criticized.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteins office, however, is still involved with the management of the special counsels investigation on a day-to-day basis.

Nadler also said that he wants to know if Trump has reacted to the guilty plea of Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, to him. Trump reportedly lashed out at Whitaker after the guilty plea, Nadler noted, and he wants to know if Whitaker has taken any action as a result.

Whitaker will also be asked if Trump expressed concern, anger, or similar frustration at the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Cohen for a series of financial crimes connected to the president.

I intend to ask you about these conversations with the White House because I believe that the independence of the Department has been placed at risk, wrote Nadler, calling Whitakers testimony vital to the committees oversight of both Muellers investigation and the Justice Department.

Whitaker will serve in his current position until a permanent Attorney General is confirmed. William Barr was nominated by Trump in December and it is expected that he will confirmed by the Senate within a few weeks. No vote to confirm Barr has yet to be scheduled on the floor of the Senate, leaving Whitaker in charge for now.

There is no question that Donald Trump appointed Matthew Whitaker to his current position because he thought Whitaker would take orders and work for him instead of for the American people. If this has happened, it is fairly certain that Jerry Nadler will get to the bottom of it and bring to public light whatever dark secrets Matthew Whitaker has.
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BuzzFeed News hit back at Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday night, publishing a massive treasure trove of documents proving the presidents involvement in detailed plans for a Trump Tower Moscow.

Giuliani now claims the Trump Tower Moscow project was barely more than a notion. But hundreds of pages of biz documents, emails, texts, and architectural plans, obtained by BuzzFeed News over a year, tell a different story. Look at the plans here: https://t.co/rDfvBNZQtV  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 22, 2019

BuzzFeeds new report specifically contradicts Giulianis recent claims that there were no plans drawn up for Trump Tower Moscow. Giuliani said in a New Yorker interview that plans for Trump Tower Moscow did not extend beyond a mere a letter of intent.

The only thing that ever happened was that Trumps team submitted a letter of intent about a possible project in Moscow that never went beyond that, Giuliani falsely told the New Yorker. No money was ever paid, no plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file. Nothing ever happened to it.

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The Moscow talks of course did result in what is known as a letter of intent and this was widely reported in the media weeks ago. (A letter of intent is a non-binding legal agreement that sets forth basic parameters for formal discussions about the huge real estate project.) But documents show that very detailed plans for Trump Tower Moscow were created, involving many different people.

BuzzFeed said that the documents it obtained over more than a one-year period of investigative research and reporting show that architects and developers drew up detailed plans for a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow.

A New York-based architect in 2015 completed plans for how the Russian property would look, imagining a building that could have been 100 stories high with prominent Trump logos. According to documents published by BuzzFeed, the architect was in contact with Trumps then-attorney Michael Cohen.

Documents signed by Trump in September 2015 stated that Trump Tower Moscow would include approximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums, the report said. It also which would have included a spa and fitness facility dubbed The Spa By Ivanka Trump, according to BuzzFeed.

Russian developers and construction firms were going to build the Trump Tower in Moscow.

Giuliani appeared on NBCs Meet The Press on Sunday, saying that Trump remembered having conversations about the real estate project with his former attorney, Cohen, throughout 2016 and as far as October, November. Then on Monday Giuliani tried to walk back those comments, maintaining they were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the President.

Cohen last November admitted that the talks about Trump Tower Moscow lasted until June 2016  six months longer than he had previously claimed in congressional testimony.

BuzzFeed reported a week ago that Trump had directed Cohen to lie before Congress about the plans to build the Trump Tower Moscow, and that Robert Mueller had evidence of the claim.

BuzzFeeds editors have consistently stood by their initial report even after Muellers office issued a statement claiming that certain unspecified details in the report were not accurate.

Some key facts in this drama are still not known. For example, we dont know which specific facts Mueller believes were inaccurately reported by Buzzfeed. And we dont know if Donald Trump directed his underling Michael Cohen to commit perjury, or what evidence Mueller has concerning these possible crimes.

One thing it appears we do know for certain, however, is that Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Cohen and others did extensively lie about the Trump Organizations business dealings with Russia before the 2016 election. And therefore we know that a massive fraud was perpetrated upon the American people, and this is why Donald Trump is president.
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During a Fox News appearance Tuesday, Don Trump Jr. blamed Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) of leaking what was said when was called before the committee.

The younger Trump stupidly attempted to declare father-son privilege, something that doesnt exist in the law. As a result, he refused to answer most of the committees questions.

But Schiff is the new sheriff in town, and he wont continue to allow Don Jr. to get away with flouting the law. Over the past two years, the Trump crime family was allowed to get away with their crimes with no accountability thanks to Devin Nunes, the corrupt Republican who until January 3 was Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Nunes brought in Donald Jr. to testify so the presidents son could lie under oath while attempting to make the Trump-Russia scandal go away.

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Nunes also tried to protect Junior from facing perjury charges which were well deserved.

But everything has changed now that the committee is being run by straight shooting Democratic Chairman Schiff.

Schiff also made an appearance on Fox News and opined that Don Jr. is desperately trying to avoid having to answer questions when hes brought back in to testify. This time, he knows, he will have to tell the truth or go to prison for perjury. Schiff ridiculed Juniors attempt to claim that he has some kind of client-client privilege with Donald Trump, simply because theyre father and son, even though no such thing exists under the law.

Schiff made clear on-air that he and the newly Democratic-controlled House Intelligence Committee have no intention of allowing Donald Trump Jr. or anyone else to get away with anything. Junior will be issued a subpoena and dragged before the committee if necessary. He will be forced to face questions in front of the television cameras for all the world to see.

He has been making this claim of privilege all along, Schiff said. What upsets Don Jr.  I can understand why he is upset  is he was saying, Im fully cooperating with Congress, Im answering questions. Then he goes before our committee and refuses to answer a whole host of questions, making completely false claims of privilege. We called him out on it as we have done with other witnesses.

Schiff noted that the other side of the aisle did similar things when they exposed former aide Steve Bannon for refusing to answer questions.

He calls that a leak because we exposed the fact that he refused to answer questions and was making up some attorney/client privilege to cover conversations between he and his father when neither is an attorney nor the client of the other, the chairman continued. Thats his upset. Thats not a leak. Its exposure of his non-cooperation and his stonewalling of our committee.

Schiff noted that the committee has always maintained that they would not talk about the substance of the witness testimony, but would reveal non-cooperation.

So, they cannot mislead the public into thinking they are answering our questions, Schiff said. That is not only a practice that we have had, but also my colleagues in the GOP have from time-to-time used the same practice, for example, when Steve Bannon came in and stonewalled our committee. They were more than willing to go out publicly and say, he is not answering our questions. Thats been our practice both Democrats and Republicans. Don Jr. may not like it because he wants to maintain a facade of cooperation. Thats the reality.
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By Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  The Trump administration said on Tuesday it is exploring ways to keep providing food assistance to Americas poor if a partial government shutdown continues much longer, and urged lawmakers to end the uncertainty with a budget deal stalled by President Donald Trumps demand for funding for border wall with Mexico.

The administrations position places the so-called Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, (SNAP) which feeds roughly 40 million Americans, at the center of a budget standoff between Trump and the Democrat-controlled Congress that has cut off funding for much of the government since late December.

SNAP has received funding through February thanks to a legal provision that allowed money to be allocated within 30 days of a government shutdown, but the government has not identified a mechanism to extend the program into March.

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We continue to examine our options for SNAP benefits in March. The best solution is for Congress to pass appropriations legislation in a form the President can sign, Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in an emailed response.

He did not elaborate on the content of options that are being examined.

The partial government shutdown was triggered last month by Trumps demand that lawmakers provide nearly $6 billion dollars for a wall along the U.S.Mexico border  which he had promised voters during his election campaign.

Democrats have refused to include that funding, arguing a wall is unnecessary, and that there are more sophisticated ways to shore up national security and limit illegal immigration.

There was little sign on Tuesday that Trump and Democrats were any closer to agreeing on a compromise to end the shutdown, now in its fifth week.

The shutdown has rippled through a broad swatch of federal government, impacting national parks, airline security screening and the release of economic data. About 800,000 federal workers have been furloughed or are working without pay.

On Saturday, Trump proposed ending the government shutdown in a deal that would have restored temporary protections for immigrants brought illegally to the United States as minors, in exchange for the $5.7 billion he is seeking for the wall. Democrats promptly rejected Trumps plan as insufficient.

Last year, SNAP was at the heart of months-long bitter partisan debate over farm bill, when Trump wanted to tighten requirements to be eligible for the food stamps, a move for which he failed to garner enough support.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Diane Craft)
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) called out Senate Republicans for siding with Trump and doing Putins bidding by blocking the effort to keep sanctions in place on a Russian billionaire.

Van Hollen said on MSNBCs The Beat with Ari Melber:

Well, this was an all-out push from the Trump Administration. They sent Treasury Secretary Mnuchin down to the hill just before the vote to say that President Trump really wanted to loosen the sanctions on Deripaska and what we see is what were seeing far too often. That Republican senators at least enough of them, fell in lockstep with president trump and did the presidents bidding, and in doing so, gave this big win to Putin and the Kremlin.

It was a very shameful day. Youre right, it got lost in the news. Im sort of glad youre covering this. There was want a lot of attention given it to at the time, but thats what happened. Signal the Trump Administration sent to Russia and President Putin is, you know, all the sanctions we put on, we are just looking for our first opportunity to roll them back. And we all remember president trump way back when he met in Helsinki with Putin. He sided with Putin on the whole issue of election interference.

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Video:

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) explains how a group of Republican Senators did Trumps bidding and gave Putin a big win. https://t.co/M65troyKcC pic.twitter.com/ak5Gr6z5IA  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 23, 2019

Republicans who do Trumps bidding are doing Putins bidding

The vote to move forward on the legislation that would keep the sanctions in place fell two votes short. This isnt a difficult concept. Donald Trump is siding against the interests of the people of his own country. When Senate Republicans back him up, they are also working for Putin and against America.

It isnt just Trump doing Putins bidding. A group of Senate Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have been paving the way for Putins agenda in the United States.

What the group of Senate Republicans who stood with Trump did was un-American. They put their compromised president ahead of their country. Voters should not forget this fact as they must make it their mission to remove Republicans from power in the best interests of the nation.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.
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Four progressive Democrats, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ro Khanna, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib have all been named to the House Oversight Committee that will play a key role in investigating Trump and his administration.

It was reported that the progressives were added to the committee:

Confirming @LissandraVilla: progressive flamethrowers Ro Khanna, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib also got Oversight spots.  Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) January 23, 2019

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The Oversight Committee Will Be Loaded With Democrats Who Arent Afraid Of The Truth

Under the chairmanship of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Oversight Committee is going to be formidable. Rep. Cummings has promised that his committee is coming to put a check on the Trump administration. For example, the Oversight Committee will be calling Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in to answer questions about the Trump administrations citizenship question on the census.

Trumps worst nightmare is being checked by a committee that is made up of both experienced legislators who are experts at oversight, and firebrands who arent going to be afraid to challenge this White House.

Democrats are putting the pieces in place to make Trump face something that he has never seen. House Democrats are going to use their power to check the out of control president.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.
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Trump has killed the White House press briefing at the same time that Robert Mueller is closing in and the American people need answers.

Trump tweeted:

The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the podium much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

The White House Correspondents Association responded:

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Statement on White House news briefings from WHCA President Olivier Knox. pic.twitter.com/jhQjVrz1bC  WHCA (@whca) January 22, 2019

By fairness, Trump means the press should repeat his propaganda

Trump has made it very clear that he expects the press to repeat his false lies and statements while never questioning him., Kellyanne Conway suggested that what she and Trump want is to have the ability to control what the American people see, hear, and read in their news. This isnt a question of fairness. Trump doesnt believe in press freedom. This administration cant answer questions from objective journalists, so they retreat to Fox News and other conservative outlets.

Mueller is closing in, and Trump is trying to dodge questions

It is not a coincidence that as Mueller is preparing his final report this White House makes it official that they will not be holding briefings and taking questions from the press. Trump is running scared. The president doesnt understand that he cant control the press narrative by talking to his friends at Fox News.

Mueller is coming and now Trump decides that his administration wont be holding press briefings.

Those two things are not unrelated.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.
Today at the 2019 Aussie Millions sees the start of two more events, the 8-Game Mixed Event and the exciting Accumulator which allows players to combine stacks should they advance from more than one starting flight.

The champion of the Six Max will also be crowned, with Ta-Wei Tou starting the day as the chip leader with only 15 players remaining.

Here's today's schedule:

Day Event Time Buy-in 23rd January Event #7: 8 Game Mixed Event 12:10 PM AUD$2,500 Event #8: No Limit Hold'em Accumulator Day 1 Flight 1 6:10 PM AUD$1,150 Event #6: No Limit Hold'em Six Max Final Day 1 PM Registration closed

2018 8 Game Champion Richard Ashby

Last year British bracelet winner Richard Ashby outlasted a field of 71 players and defeated a star-studded final table to win the AUD$2,500 8 Game Mixed Event for AUD$52,270.

This year's tournament gets underway shortly after noon, with players receiving 20,000 in chips and playing 18 40-minute levels or until the final table of seven is reached if earlier

Late registration is available for six levels.

Finally, the first of three flights in Event #8: AUD$1,150 No Limit Hold'em Accumulator gets underway at 6:10 pm. Last year it was Eugene Portlen who took down this event for AUD$154,925, defeating Wei-Cheng Yin heads-up to secure his second Aussie Millions title.

2018 Aussie Millions Accumulator Champion Eugene Portlen

With 10,000 starting chips, there will be 12 40-minute levels on each of the starting flights. The event is an accumulator/repechage format. Players may play multiple starting flights.

Players who survive multiple flights will have their stacks combined on Day 2. Day 2 will play until the final table is reached.

Late registration and re-entries are available for six levels. This tournament is played with a big blind ante, with the big blind posted before the ante.

Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates live from the 2019 Aussie Millions.
Conveyor covers used for 800mm belt width were dispatched to Oman

2019-01-23

Yesterday, a batch of conveyor covers ordered by Oman client was dispatched to loading port Qingdao to destination port Salalah, so as to catch the sailing date 22nd January, 2019.

The conveyor cover is used for 800mm wide belt conveyor, since the standard conveyor cover length is 970mm, after computing, the needed quantity of belt conveyor cover is 130.



This batch of conveyor hood is required to be fully enclosed type, the conveyor cover is 1150mm in opening width, 700mm in height and 0.8mm in thickness. Four sets of buckle, 2 handles and corresponding rivets are included.

Conveyor cover is used to protect the conveyed materials, belting, idlers and framework from rain, wind, dust during transportation as well as to avoid the dispersion of powders. The steel plate can be manufactured in galvanized steel, aluminum, stainless steel, fiberglass and painted steel.



Anti-rain conveyor cover is suitable for belt conveyor with width of 500/650/800/1000/1200/1400/1600/1800/2000mm in power station, cement plant, steel mill, chemical plant, port, dock, mine, coal plant etc.

If you have any inquiry of belt conveyor cover hood, please feel free to contact us: info@pkmachinery.com, Further information, please click: www.pkmachinery.com
Bay View Music Festival returns after nearly two-year hiatus

Bay View Music Festival is returning this summer, with things kicking off on June 27.
It is interesting to us that Pennsylvania Democratic Leadership teamed up with a labor leader to cast blame for the partial federal government shutdown instead of offering solutions.

We agree that the shutdown is causing harm to federal workers. Under the leadership of Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, legislation is being pushed in Washington, D.C., to pay federal employees who are required to show up for work despite the partial shutdown. This would include TSA agents, federal contractors, corrections officers, and any other employee who has been deemed essential.

Sen. Toomey is also a co-sponsor of legislation that would halt government shutdowns completely. The End Government Shutdowns Act, which was authored by Senator Rob Portman from Ohio, sets in place continued funding for federal agencies should there be a lapse in appropriations. At the same time, it provides incentives for legislators to keep negotiating.

In a recent Morning Consult poll, 79 percent of registered voters said they believe that there is either a crisis or a problem at the southern border. We call on Sen. Bob Casey to work with his Republican colleagues to find a compromise that boosts border security and reopens the government. Instead of casting their stones, it would be more productive for our colleagues to urge Sen. Casey to put his support behind the Toomey-supported measures to ensure paychecks are delivered and to support border security for all Americans.

--

Jake Corman, R-Centre County, is the state Senate majority leader and Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, is the Senate president pro tempore
A Wilkes-Barre police officer is charged with sexually assaulting multiple women, threatening to bring criminal charges against them if they didnt perform sexual acts.

Court documents filed against Robert Matthew Collins, 53, of Mountain Top, detail accounts involving four different women who police say were solicited and sexually assaulted during interactions with the officer.

Pennsylvania State Police said the assaults occurred over a 16-month period between August 2013 and December 2014. The assaults occurred while he was on duty.

The case was investigated by state police, assisted by the FBI Scranton office and the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department. The case will be prosecuted by the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office.

"This case is reprehensible  the perpetrator is a public official, someone who the community entrusted to protect them, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a news release. My Office will prosecute sexual assault offenders to the fullest extent of the law, no matter who they are. As Attorney General, I will not allow any person in power to abuse their position  without fear or favor.

Collins was charged with three counts of rape, two counts of aggravated indecent assault, four counts of witness intimidation, false imprisonment and related charges.

Collins was taken to a Luzerne County Magisterial District Judge, according to officials, but online court dockets do not reflect bail information.

Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to call the Pennsylvania State Police Wyoming Barracks at 570-697-2000.

Court documents say all four women encountered Collins as a police officer. According to those documents:

The first woman said in 2012 that she was robbed by several individuals and encountered Collins afterward. Collins pulled up to her and offered to give her a ride, which she accepted. Once at her apartment, Collins told the woman she had to perform a sexual act in exchange for the ride home. The woman refused, left the vehicle and went inside.

The next day, she contacted Wilkes-Barre police about the robbery, but did not mentioned the solicitation from Collins, because she was cared, she told investigators.

About three weeks later, she contacted police to file a complaint in an unrelated matter, and Collins went to her apartment in response, the documents said

While investigating the matter, Collins told the woman he could jail the person responsible if the woman performed a sexual act. She refused and asked him to leave her apartment.

In August 2013, the woman was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by Collins near the Luzerne County Courthouse, she told police.

Collins was in uniform, but in an unmarked police car, the woman said. Collins patted her down and told her he found paraphernalia. She was placed in the back seat of the unmarked car, the others were allowed to drive away.

In the car, Collins once again solicited the woman, but this time she complied because he threatened to arrest her if she didnt, she told police.

After, Collins put the woman in the backseat of the car, drove part of the way to her house, then dropped her off and she walked the rest of the way. She said Collins told her not to tell anyone what happened and said he could always go back and file charges if she did, according to the documents.

The second woman shared a similar story, that in December 2013 or 2014, Collins drove up while she was in the area of a convenience store and began talking with her. He patted her down, and found drugs that she had on her, she said.

After the drugs were found, she got into the marked patrol vehicle, and Collins drover her to a secluded area. Once there, the woman said Collins asked her what she wanted to do. She asked him if he wanted sexual contact, and he exposed himself.

The woman said she performed sexual acts on Collins, and he told her not to say anything about what happened. After, he refused to take her to where she was picked up and dropped her off at a complex, she told police.

The court documents also details what law enforcement said was Collins contacts with two other woman.

One of the women said she had several contacts with Collins, and it was after she was charged with retail theft that she encountered Collins in an unmarked vehicle at the police station. He offered to give her a ride home, and after some convincing, she accepted.

The woman said she didnt want to get in the vehicle, but felt like she had to. Collins drover her to a parking lot, where she said he began inappropriately touching her and sexually assaulting her, according to the court documents. The woman said she cried because it was painful, and Collins told her she liked it, she told police.

Collins tried to get her to perform additional sexual acts, but she refused, so Collins masturbated instead, she said.

After it was over, Collins asked her if he should pay her, and she went off on him, she told police. Collins warned her not to tell anyone, saying he knew her family and where she lived, according to court documents.

He then offered to give her a ride home, but she refused and walked instead.

The final woman described in court documents told police she was a passenger in a car that was stopped by Collins, who was in a marked police vehicle.

Collins searched her, including touching areas in a sexual way she said, and told her he liked what he felt. At the time, she told police, she was an addict and had drugs on her.

She said he took the drugs from her, put her in his cruiser and let the people in the other vehicle go, court documents said.

Once in the car, Collins told her to perform a sexual act and if she did she would get out of the situation, she told police. She said she complied, but was crying the entire time.

Afterwards, he told her she could go and and she left the vehicle and she called her friends to get her.

Police checked each womens criminal history to find that charges related to three of the women were never filed. The woman picked up on a retail theft charge had records that simply stated she was picked up and transported to the police department where she was processed and released, and that charges would be filed.
The wife of a Pennsylvania firearms dealer convicted of illegally buying 71 machine-guns cant have a federal license to keep the family business going, a U.S. appeals court panel ruled Tuesday.

That decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit likely will put Warminster-based Armament Services International Inc. out of operation.

The firms president, Vahan Kelerchian, was convicted by a federal jury more than three years ago of conspiring with corrupt members of a police force in the state of Indiana to illegally acquire the machine-guns, Judge Michael A. Chagares noted in the appeals courts opinion.

Chagares noted the conspirators lied when they reported those automatic weapons were being purchased for law enforcement purposes. Instead, the machine-guns were dismantled and sold for parts, investigators said.

The case before Chagares court involved an attempt by Kelerchians wife Maura to secure a federal firearms dealer license to keep ASI in business. She appealed to the 3rd Circuit after U.S. Eastern District Judge Michael M. Baylson upheld a decision by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to deny that license application. The ATF found Maura Kelerchian was ineligible for the license because she had aided and abetted the machine-gun scam.

Chagares rejected Maura Kelerchians claims on appeal that she had no involvement in that crime. He noted she was vice president of ASI and it is beyond dispute that ASI knew of Vahans actions and is thus, under the licensing regime, responsible for his conduct.

It was Maura Klerchian who sent the law enforcement conspirators the forms for the falsified letters they needed to provide to make the machine-gun purchases pass federal muster, Chagares wrote. He noted she also sent them directions on how to dismantle the weapons so the parts could be sold.

It is plain that ASI willfully violated the Gun Control Act and Maura aided and abetted those violations, the appeals judge wrote.
State Sen. Rich Alloway surprised lots of political Pennsylvania when he announced his resignation from a safe and comfortable Senate seat Friday, stating its time to explore other opportunities.

For Alloway, who has spent most of his adult life in government service and seemed born to the role of a local politician, the news caught a lot of the states political intelligentsia flat-footed. And that, in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, spawned a torrent of rumors.

After all, a guy like that wouldnt be leaving a job like that of his own volition, would he?

His resignation takes effect Feb. 28. A special election for the 33rd Senatorial District, which is comprised of most of Franklin County, all of Adams County and smaller portions of York and Cumberland counties, will be scheduled for later this year to fill the unexpired portion of his term.

Alloway reached out to PennLive Tuesday and addressed his story, and some of the stories it has spawned.

First off, Alloway insisted, in a bid to reassure constituents and colleagues alike at a time where public officials have semi-regularly been felled by personal scandals or corruption charges, there is no other shoe to drop.

He is not leaving office under pressure in any sense, Alloway said. Rather, it was a confluence of events that caused him to take stock in recent weeks, including:

1) Alloway, as a junior member of the Senate Republicans leadership team, has been looking to position himself for advancement to a senior leadership post within the majority caucus. Those senior leaders, in case youre wondering, wield out-sized power at the Capitol. Think of it as being the senators for the senators.

Alloway has come to a realization, he said Tuesday, that there is no clear path for advancement in the caucus room right now. And looking ahead, Alloway said, he doesnt want to be part of a fight, nor does he want to wait for a better shot, later.

It was never my intent to be there (in Harrisburg) twenty to thirty years, he said Tuesday. I wanted to be a strong leader who got stuff done.

2) He says that he is getting increasingly frustrated with state-level politics, and the time that it takes to deliver good policy wins for the people of Pennsylvania. After the 2018 elections, in particular, Alloway said he thinks the partisan divide at the Capitol will be even tougher to bridge, and leaves him feeling...

3) Burn-out.

My heart has not been in this as much and my staff knows my heart has not been in it, Alloway said.

Asked if he feels like hes failing an obligation to his constituents by leaving with two years on a term that he voluntarily sought in 2016, Alloway said hes sees it quite differently: Im not leaving for another opportunity. Im leaving because I dont feel that Im giving my all to the job.

The speculation surrounding his decision, he added, hasnt helped.

One of Alloways GOP colleagues empathized this week.

"A lot of people get so sick and tired of the personal attacks, smears and mudslinging. I can understand when people get fed up, said Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington County, who noted she experienced being at the center of unfounded rumors when she first ran for the Senate.

I think thats a big reason why he wants to step away.

Alloway said recent communications from his office including releases citing his goals for the new legislative term where simply part of the course of usual business for his district office at a point where he was finalizing the timing of his decision.

As for whats next?

Alloway earned a law degree from Widener in 2002, and he says his immediate intent is to re-invigorate a law practice that has largely taken a back seat during his 14 years as district magisterial judge, followed by the last 10 in the Senate.

My plan is to stay in Chambersburg, reopen my Alloway Law office and try and build a business, he said Tuesday.

Alloway will not start from scratch in that regard.

At age 50, he is eligible to start collecting a state pension for a combined 19 years of public service employment - including five years as a legislative staffer. At a cost of 1 percent of his final salary, of $101,040, or about $84 a month, Alloway is also eligible for lifetime health care and prescription benefits.

Alloway said he timed his departure for Feb. 28 so that Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the new presiding officer of the Pennsylvania Senate, could set the special election for the same date as this springs municipal primary, a move that should considerably cut down on the costs.
HARRISBURG  John Fuld has worked for the federal government most of his life.

He joined the U.S. Army when he was 18 and, as a civilian, has been with several departments for the last 12 years, working his way up to become the U.S. Media Relations Manager in Environmental Protection Agencys Office of Water.

One thing the Hanover resident never thought hed have to do is apply for food stamps.

It hurts, he said. More than anything, it hurts that were being let down.

Fuld shared his story -- one similar to 800,000 federal employees who have been furloughed or are working without pay during the federal government shutdown -- at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank today.

Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey held a press conference there, asking President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to end the 33-day-old shutdown.

Our first priority is to open the government, Casey said, standing in the large warehouse where a million pounds of food is processed through each week for the regions needy, who now include federal workers and their families.

Once the government is open again, Casey said the parties can hold a debate on immigration and the proposed southern border wall. But first, the shutdown has to end.

But Jason Gottesman, communications director for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, countered, Sen. Casey can end this shutdown in 15 minutes by doing what he said hed do by coming to the table, and urging his Democratic counter parts who have supported border security in the past to come to the table, and negotiate a border security package that includes a border wall.

In the meantime, federal workers are feeling the pinch, but the food bank is there to help.

Joe Arthur, executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, said the organization has a good supply of food right now and is able to provide for the addition of the 500 federal workers and their families that have been using their services for the past few weeks. But hes worried the supply wont last long.

If we get into late February, then its a completely different story, he said. Were hoping this shutdown gets resolved quickly.

The food bank has put together packages of food for federal workers and their families that include dry goods, healthy staple products and also fresh vegetables, eggs, milk and frozen meats.

He sees many federal workers coming through, and its a heartbreaking to watch.

Theyre not used to coming through the pantry system for help, he said. Its hard. This is a hard thing for folks to do.

In his visit today, Casey said the shutdown not only harms federal workers, but it puts the recipients of programs like SNAP and WIC at risk.

Democrats say the president should agree to end the shutdown, and then negotiate funding for border security. The president is demanding money for border security that includes a wall or other barrier be part of any move to reopen the government.

Unless action is taken tomorrow to reopen the government, federal workers will miss a second paycheck on Friday, Casey said.

Meanwhile, Fuld said at 54 years old with a Ph.D. and decades of federal employment, he never thought hed be in this situation. Hes had to extend his mortgage and seek subsidies, like food stamps and going to food banks.

Its hard to swallow at times, Fuld said. Federal employees, we are one community. Were sticking together, calling each other and giving each other support. Im hopeful there will be a speedy recover soon.

This story has been updated to clarify John Fulds position with the EPA.
Chester Countys top prosecutor has already opened a criminal investigation into the construction of three natural gas liquid pipelines, and now he is saying the company has employed hired muscle to protect a sinkhole.

District Attorney Tom Hogan on Tuesday expressed concerns with the company that owns the Mariner East 1, 2 and 2X pipelines hiring armed security to protect another sinkhole that opened up in the Chester County, Action News 6 ABC reports.

After a sinkhole opened Sunday, exposing a portion of the pipeline in a backyard in West Whiteland Township, Hogan said some detectives went to the scene on Monday and were met with an armed guard, who flashed a badge, told them to step back, and identified himself as a constable, according to reports.

"The detectives ask him, 'Who do you really work for and who is paying you?' and the armed man's answer was 'Sunoco,' so at this point this looks like hired muscle," Hogan told Action News 6. "Private security masquerading as a constable, coming down here to work security for this pipeline which is only going to intimidate, infuriate citizens of Chester County."

According to reports, Sunoco Pipeline said it hires private security and did so at the request of the family who lives in that home, but the company would not explain why the employee may have been posing as local law enforcement.

The pipeline has caused some concern locally in Cumberland County, with homeowners addressing safety issues and problems with their drinking water. County commissioners sent a letter to the company to address some of these concerns.

Meanwhile, Hogans investigation into the Mariner East projects, blamed for causing sinkholes and polluting water, continues.

We expected the state regulators and the governor to step in and assure the safety of Pennsylvanians. They have not," Hogan told The Associated Press in December. "So now the Chester County District Attorneys Office will demand that every aspect of these pipelines be conducted safely, or we will bring into play all of the tools of the criminal justice system.

In August, state officials levied a $148,000 fine against Sunoco Pipeline LP for harming private wells while building the Mariner East 2 pipeline in Lebanon, Berks and Chester counties.

And in April, Sunoco agreed to pay a $355,622 penalty for allowing materials from drilling for the natural gas products pipeline to flow into streams and wetlands in Cumberland, Dauphin, Blair, Cambria, Huntingdon, Indiana, Lancaster, Washington, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.
A Wilkes-Barre police officer is facing charges after officials say he sexually assaulted four women while on duty.

Robert Collins, 53, was arrested and charged with three counts of rape, two counts of aggravated indecent assault, four counts of witness intimidation, false imprisonment, and other charges, according to a news release from the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office.

Collins is accused sexually assaulting four women while in uniform and operating a marked or unmarked police vehicle between August 2013 and December 2014.

Collins threatened the women to not report the crimes in all four cases, according to the release. In three of those cases, Collins searched a woman after a vehicle stop or street encounter, found a small amount of a controlled substance, and placed the woman in his car.

Thats when officials say Collins forced them to perform sexual acts by threatening arrest.

Times Leader goes into detail about all four incidents.

Collins was arraigned on his charges Tuesday before a district judge, and was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $125,000 bail.

I plan on answering these charges, and fighting them vigorously, Collins said during his arraignment, Times Leader reports.

Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Joseph Coffay told the news agency that Collins, a 12-year veteran of the force, has been placed on paid suspension until an internal investigation can be completed.

Collins is the second police officer in Luzerne County to face charges for pressure women into sexual acts.

Mark Icker, 29, is accused of forcing two women into sexual acts following traffic stops, and groping a third.
A fatal, two-vehicle crash that occurred this morning in Franklin County is under investigation.

State Police spokesman Trooper Brent Miller said there is one confirmed fatality in the crash at the intersection of Letterkenny Road and Letterkenny Road West in Greene Township.

The crash involved a Chevrolet sedan and a Nissan SUV.

Its unknown at this point how many were injured.

The Pennsylvania State Police at Chambersburg were called to the crash at 7:47 a.m.

The identity of the person killed in the crash has not yet been released.
The first group of nurses seeking bachelors degrees by way of online classes through Harrisburg University of Science and Technology recently began their studies.

The program lasts 18 months. Its for registered nurses who lack a bachelors degree, now commonly required to work in hospitals. Harrisburg University expects another group to begin in March, and intends to bring in six groups per year, according to spokesman Steve Infanti.

Harrisburg University launched the program after health care systems including Penn State Health and UPMC Pinnacle cited a need for new avenues for staff nurses to further their educations.

The university, based in downtown Harrisburg, also plans to soon offer an online program to enable nurses to obtain masters degrees, Infanti said.

Harrisburg University further said it offers scholarships to cover any program cost not covered by an employer or other financial aid.

People who want more information can call 717-901-5146 or email Connect@HarrisburgU.edu.
As the partial federal government shutdown continues, key programs helping Pennsylvanians buy groceries and pay bills are funded through February, Gov. Tom Wolfs administration said Wednesday.

But its unclear what happens beyond that.

The Wolf administration offered an update on how the shutdown is affecting programs in Pennsylvania.

My administration is doing everything that it can to help those impacted by this situation, Wolf said in a statement.

Heres a rundown of some critical programs.

Food assistance

About 1.8 million Pennsylvanians rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to help put food on the table. Recipients received their benefits for February on Jan. 18. Those benefits need to last for the month of February and its unclear what happens after that, the Wolf administration said. The state Department of Human Services has notified recipients.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Using federal funds from the previous year, payments for this program will continue through mid-April, the Wolf administration said. The state has also provided $4.2 million for the Child Care and Development Fund, which helps provide child care for more than 100,000 children from families with lower incomes.

Women, Infants and Children program

The WIC program has enough federal funds to continue through February. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which supports the program, has recovered unspent grant money and is sending it to Pennsylvania and other states. The program provides food, health care and other services for women and kids 5 and under.

Unemployment assistance

The state is making it easier for furloughed federal workers to obtain unemployment benefits. Pennsylvania is waiving work registration and work search requirements for those federal workers who meet Unemployment Compensation eligibility requirements, the administration said.

Emergency management

Aid to assist those most affected by flooding last year is continuing. Some training exercises involving federal agencies have been canceled.

Federally funded state employees

The Wolf administration is using state funds to pay federally funded employees at state agencies. The state will be reimbursed after the shutdown ends, the administration said.
Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas will most likely decide who the next Harrisburg School District school board member will be.

District leaders were unable to reach a majority vote Tuesday to fill their board vacancy. The new appointed member would be taking the seat of the late Melvin Wilson Jr., who passed away unexpectedly in December.

School board members cast four votes in favor of both nominees. Members Brian Carter, Carrie Fowler, Judd Pittman and Ellis Roy voted for Cornelius Chachere; and President Danielle Robinson, Lola Lawson, Lionel Gonzalez and Patricia Whitehead-Myers voted for Ralph Rodriguez.

Once it was realized members reached a stalemate, they then voted on whether they wanted to allow the courts to determine the ninth school board member or open up the candidate pool again. Members voted 5-3 to allow the courts to decide, which means 10 residents have to sign a petition in favor of whomever they want as a school board member: either nominee or another school district resident.

Board solicitor Sam Cooper explained that if there is no petition, then the seat could remain vacant.

Members cast one vote for nominees throughout the 45-minute discussion, and ran into a tug-of-war over how to conduct the districts business in public, which led them to the 5-3 vote.

Fowler said she thinks the public has witnessed the board being stacked in similar situations, which is why she voted for the decision to be rendered by the court.

Stop the in-fighting and back talk, Robinson said at one point when members became passionate about making a selection.

Chachere garnered four votes at a special meeting last week, and Rodriguez received three. Gonzalez was absent. Pennsylvania school code requires a majority vote of current board members, meaning five votes are needed to be appointed, Cooper said.

Rodriguez said he had no comment about the boards decision.

Chachere, who has attempted to be on the board three times, said nothings going to change in the district until board members make the best interest of the students priority" and leave the boards small-town politics behind.

I didnt want the decision to go to the courts, Chachere said. Im a willing resident of the city. I want to see the school district get better. I am a person whos willing to help, and roll up my sleeves."
LOCK HAVEN - The state Superior Court appeal of a man convicted of third-degree murder in a 27-year-old Clinton County homicide will be the responsibility of a public defender.

But, Loyd W. Groves, 69, will not notice the difference other than he will not be footing the bill.

That's because David I. Lindsay, who with George E. Lepley Jr. had been representing him, also is a public defender and accepted the assignment.

Groves, 69, in a motion filed Friday in county court, stated his only income is $500 a month from a pension and annuities.

He cannot collect Social Security while in prison and he claims he has no cash, savings, real estate, vehicle or stocks and bonds. He is divorced.

Groves was sentenced Jan. 17 to 10 to 20 years in state prison and fined $10,000 as the result of jury finding him guilty of the 1991 murder of Katherine Dolan Heckel.

He maintains he is innocent of the murder the prosecution contends occurred because Heckel wanted to end the extramarital affair she was having while her husband John was away with the National Guard.

Her body has never been found and Groves is accused of disposing it in a way it never will be.

Lepley will not be directly involved in the appeal, even though he said after the sentencing the defense believes that Lycoming County Senior Judge Kenneth D. Brown, specially assigned to the case, erred in several of his rulings.

READ MORE: Pa. man gets maximum penalty for death of woman whose body was never found

They include refusing to suppress the speck of blood containing Heckel's DNA found in Groves' van and a handgun recovered from his desk at work.

The defense claims there was a lack of probable cause to issue the search warrants.

Also likely to be contested is the ruling allowing Gayle Taylor to testify Groves told her while they were working in Ohio in the early 1990s he could show her how to get rid of a body so it could never be found.

Heckel, 40, was last seen leaving for lunch on July 15, 1991, from the former International Paper Co. mill in Lock Haven where she worked in the human relations office and Groves was an industrial hygienist.

Members of her family and relatives testified at sentencing about the impact Heckel's death had on them while Groves for 27 years could live life as he pleased.

He had private counsel since his arrest four years ago in Beaver where he was living. He has been in custody since then.
PHOENIX (AP)  A licensed practical nurse has been arrested on a charge of sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman who gave birth last month at a long-term health care facility, Phoenix police said Wednesday.

Investigators arrested 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse, on suspicion of one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said.

Sutherland was one of the womans caregivers at the Hacienda HealthCare facility and he was charged after authorities obtained a court order to take a DNA sample from him, which was compared to DNA of the baby boy, said police spokesman Tommy Thompson.

Sutherland declined to speak with police, Thompson said.

The 29-year-old victim has been incapacitated since the age of 3 and gave birth at the facility on Dec. 29.

Nathan Sutherland, a nurse, has been arrested on a charge of sexual assault of an incapacitated woman who gave birth last month at a long-term health care facility.

Employees said they had no idea she was pregnant. As her guardian, the womans mother was required to submit an annual report to the court that included results of a medical exam.

Police had said they were collecting DNA from all male employees at the center.

Hacienda HealthCare on Sunday announced that one doctor who had cared for the woman resigned and another was suspended.

The woman's parents on Tuesday through their attorney disputed characterizations that their daughter is comatose.

They described her as being intellectually disabled because of seizures in early childhood. While she doesn't speak, she has some mobility in her limbs, head and neck. She also responds to sound and can make facial gestures.

By TERRY TANG, The Associated Press
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP)  Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty against a man accused of breaking into a central Pennsylvania home and raping and strangling an elderly woman.

Forty-eight-year-old Kristopher Gartrell is charged with criminal homicide, rape, kidnapping and arson, among other charges in the murder of 87-year-old Virginia Barbour.

Adams County prosecutors say they will seek capital punishment if he is convicted of first-degree murder. They said execution is warranted because other felonies were committed, the victim would have been a witness on those charges, she was tortured and the defendant has a "significant history of felony convictions."

Prosecutors allege that he entered the Huntingdon Township home the day before Thanksgiving, forced Barbour to give up her valuables, raped and strangled her and tried to set the house on fire.
We're learning today that Apple Pay is rolling out now in Target stores and will be available in all 1,850 locations across the US in the coming weeks. Customers can use Apple Pay today at more than 245 Hy-Vee stores in the Midwest and inside the store at all of Speedways approximately 3,000 locations across the Midwest, East Coast and Southeast. Apple Pay is also rolling out to more than 7,000 Taco Bell and 2,200 Jack in the Box locations in the next few months.

With the addition of these national retailers, 74 of the top 100 merchants in the US and 65 percent of all retail locations across the country will support Apple Pay.

Apple also stated today that "These top merchants join other national retailers that already support Apple Pay. In 2018, Costco completed the rollout of Apple Pay to over 500 US warehouses and CVS Pharmacy introduced Apple Pay at all of its nearly 8,400 stand-alone locations. 7-Eleven launched Apple Pay at 95 percent of its US stores last year."
It would be both disingenuous and insulting to compare the plight of journalists in the United States to nations with three-digit scores on the Press Freedom Index (countries black on the map). What Washington Post Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian endured in Irans Evin Prison cannot be compared to venomous tweets, no matter how viperine.

Yet it would also be foolish to not recognize that an adversarial stance by both the executive office and an alarming number of citizens threatens to erode the fundamental power of the Fourth Estate in a nation which prides itself on a robust, independent and accountability-forcing press corps. Unlike the regimes and juntas which suppress information with brute force, the American attack is less on journalists than their primary tenet: truth.

With Prisoner, Rezaian shares the horrors of his descent from a journalist providing a nuanced view of Iran to a hostage taken by the most monstrous aspects of its government. (In a supreme act of ungratefulness, Rezaian had brought Anthony Bourdain to the country before being arrestedkidnapped, really.) Rezaian was seized and accused of espionage by Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps, despite not being the Islamic Republics actual intelligence agency: the Ministry of Information and Security. Myriad details of his lifecontact with diplomats, a Kickstarter campaign to bring avocados to Iranwere deliberately tortured beyond all common sense in an attempt to build their case against him. This justified, as Rezaian came to understand, holding him long enough (544 days) to be a bargaining chip and attempt to scare out a confession. His brief dives into despair and fear are as fast as a free dive; mostly, Rezaian details his detention in rhetoric sharpened against Evins walls, as when he deems his captors counterintelligence, literally.

Amid threats and interrogationsRezaian was spared physical violence or corporeal torture, something the Iranians took great pleasure in juxtaposing with the treatment of inmates at Guantanamo, in case we needed any more reason to be ashamed of our own Devils Islandtheir strongest psychological weapon was isolation. Keeping him apart in his own thoughts where the lights never turned off seems to be what came closest to breaking Rezaian; the deprivation of information is in and of itself a form of torture.

Information is a fundamental human right. The ability to know what is happening, be it next door or in the very halls of power themselves, is a prerequisite for life in an open society. Information, and the journalism that delivers it, is a bulwark against oppression and corruption. It is the klaxon which awakens the citizenry; it is the police of the people. When the free flow of information is threatened, all democracy is threatened.

The black nations on the Press Freedom Index are some of the most repressive and dangerous on earth, places which demand the eyes and throats of the world hold them: Iran, China, Syria, Vietnam, Somalia, Azerbaijan, North Korea. These countries and others like them are essentially doing to their citizenry what the guards at Evin did to Rezaian; they have cut the lifeblood of free societies and hold their excised people hostage, prisoners of avarice and fear and ego.

A free press, for all its flawsand it does have them, including a rabid desire for simplifying, a dependence on funds, a misuse of the megaphoneprovides a vital function. The silencing of any voicepeople of color, the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities, womenis untenable in a society which considers itself just. The silencing of the citizenrys voice is a crime against humanity.

In Prisoner, Rezaian does what any journalist or interrogatee must: answer a question. How important is a free press?

B. David Zarley is a freelance journalist, essayist and book/art critic based in Chicago. A former book critic for The Myrtle Beach Sun News, he is a contributing reporter to A Beautiful Perspective and has been seen in The Atlantic, Hazlitt, Jezebel, Chicago, Sports Illustrated, VICE Sports, Creators, Sports on Earth and New American Paintings, among numerous other publications. You can find him on Twitter or at his website.
Daily Dose is your daily source for the song you absolutely, positively need to hear every day. Curated by the Paste Music Team.

Lula Wiles are provocateurs of the best kind, rabble-rousers with the purest intentions. One of the brightest recent signees to Smithsonian Folkways, the Smithsonian Institutions nonprofit record label, Lula Wiles are a Boston-based folk trio made up of Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland and Mali Obomsawin, and it seems like theyre hellbent on stirring up folk conventions for the better. They make traditional roots music stacked with warm harmonies, acoustic expertise and the occasional electric element, but theres nothing antiquated about the subject matter of their songs. The three women, who were swapping songs at summer camp in Maine long before they attended college in Boston and became a band, sing with distinctly American voices, but theyre not afraid to question every single thing it means to be just that.

To that end, one of their most in-depth tunes is Good Old American Values, a single from their label debut What Will We Do, which is out this Friday, Jan. 25, on Folkways. Its a striking critique of country musics and American pop cultures repeated abuse and misrepresentation of indigenous culture, and weve got the live music video for the track premiering today (Jan. 23) here at Paste, which you can watch below.

Obomsawin, a citizen of the Abenaki Nation, takes the lead on Good Old American Values. Heres what she wrote about the song in the albums liner notes:

As an Indigenous songwriter, I hope that it becomes equally unacceptable to write and sing anti-Native lyrics as it now is to write and sing anti-Black lyrics. Unfortunately, Indian hating is a good old American tradition. In fact, American culture has depended on it. ... The best I can offer is to reclaim and repurpose the rhetorical and aesthetic space of country music carved out for me by colonialism, in pursuit of beauty and truth.

Elsewhere on the record, Lula Wiles tackle small-town tribulations on Morphine and Hometown, loves selfish side on Shaking As It Turns and crushes gone wrong on the witty Nashville Man. Even as they play raw, old-time melodies and whittled-down folk arrangements, theyre sharing honest, modern music told from a refreshingly smart millennial perspective.

Again, you can watch Lula Wiles new video for Good Old American Values below. Further down, see the bands recent Paste Studio session and tour dates. You can pre-order What Will We Do here.

Lula Wiles Tour Dates:

February

06  Portland, Maine @ One Longfellow Square

07  Northampton, N.H. @ The Parlor Room

08  Lebanon, N.H. @ First Congressional Church

09  New Hartford, N.H. @ Nights at the Beekley

23  Toronto, Ontariou @ Burdock

24  Wakeman, Ohio @ Riverdog

26  Chicago, Ill. @ The Hideout

27  Cedar Rapids, Iowa @ CSPS Hall

28  Madison, Wis. @ Sugar Maple Concert Series at North Street Cabaret

March

01  Nisswa, Minn. @ Grassroots Concerts

02-15  Home Routes Tour of Manitoba

19  Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Ave & 7th St. Entry

26  Washington D.C. @ Pearl Street Warehouse

27  Philadelphia, Pa. @ Locks at Sona

28  New York City, N.Y. @ Rockwood Music Hall, Stage Two
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka.

Monday, Jan. 21

9:38 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a Greendale Township residence for a panic alarm. The deputy made contact with the new residents of the building, who had pressed the button not knowing what it did.

8:54 p.m. -- Deputies arrested a 32-year-old Porter Township man for driving while license suspended following a traffic stop in Lee Township.

6:47 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to Mount Haley Township for a property damage accident involving a single tractor trailer.

5:36 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a Geneva Township home for a report of a deceased 69-year-old man. He appeared to have died of natural causes.

3:05 p.m. -- Deputies arrested a 43-year-old Port Huron man for driving while license suspended following a traffic stop in Lee Township. The man had 19 current open suspensions and 13 open warrants.

10:43 a.m. -- An Edenville Township couple reported that an unknown person ran over their mailbox, causing $100 in damage.

10:39 a.m. -- A deputy responded to a tripped alarm at a Larkin Township residence. The company made contact with a woman who had the wrong password. The deputy arrived and checked the house, receiving no answer. The house was secure and there were no tracks in the fresh snow. There were fresh tire tracks in the driveway indicating a vehicle had recently left.

10:02 a.m. -- A deputy was sent to Lee Township for a report of a truck parked in the roadway, causing a traffic hazard. The deputy located the truck and attempted to contact the registered owner from Clare, but was unable to. The truck was towed by Cole's Wrecker Service and Garage.

9:37 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a Lee Township business for a tripped alarm. Deputies made contact with the 58-year-old woman who owns the business and said everything was OK. The alarm was due to the exterior door being froze shut, and the owner not being able to reach the alarm panel quickly enough.

9:18 a.m. -- A Jerome Township man, 43, reported someone had "egged" his house. The damage did not appear to be permanent and there are no suspects.

6:45 a.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Midland Township business for an alarm. Deputies made contact with a 37-year-old man, who was an employee, who said everything was OK, and the cause of the alarm was unknown.

12:33 a.m. -- A deputy responded to Lincoln Township for a breaking and entering alarm. The deputy located a door with a frozen latch that wasn't secure. The deputy checked for any occupants of the building, finding no one. The door was able to be secured.

12:23 a.m. -- A deputy responded to a car/deer crash in Warren Township on Saginaw Road near Lewis Road.

Sunday, Jan. 20

10:15 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car/deer crash in Geneva Township.

10:11 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a car/deer crash in Larkin Township.

3:08 p.m. -- A 46-year-old man was arrested on an outstanding Midland County child support warrant. The man owes more than $1,100 in unpaid child support. The man had been stopped for a seat belt violation, and was lodged in the Midland County Jail.

Saturday, Jan. 19

9:34 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a Midland Township residence after a 59-year-old man reported a possible larceny. Deputies made contact with the man, who was highly intoxicated. Deputies told the man that he had already reported the incident and it had been found to be a civil offense. Deputies then reminded the man how to take care of the issue.

7:21 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a vehicle crash in Jasper Township.

1:19 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash in Warren Township.

1:17 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a vehicle crash that resulted in property damage in Hope Township.

11:58 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a vehicle crash that resulted in an injury in Warren Township.

10:45 a.m. -- A deputy was sent to U.S. 10 in Warren Township for a traffic crash. Upon arrival, the deputy made contact with a subject who had spun out into the median. The vehicle did not sustain any damage except a flat tire. The deputy provided traffic control until a wrecker arrived and changed the tire.

10:12 a.m. -- Deputies arrested a 27-year-old Midland man on a warrant out of the 75th District Court for failure to appear, with the original charge of embezzlement. He was arrested and lodged at the Midland County Jail, and was also issued citations for no insurance and expired registration.

3:09 a.m. -- A 38-year-old Larkin Township woman reported someone banging on her front door. Deputies did not locate any footprints in the fresh snow, but did find bird feeders hitting a post on the porch, which the woman believed was likely the source of the sound.
State Sen. Jim Stamas is reminding residents of the 36th Senate District that his new office is open and ready to meet their needs or hear their feedback.

"The 100th Legislature has officially started, and we are already working hard to improve our state and the lives of all Michigan families," said Stamas, R-Midland. "I am honored to continue to be able to serve people of the 36th District in the state Senate, and my top priority remains to provide residents with the best service possible.
Goose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
A 21-year-old man who admitted sexually abusing a horse in a Hillsboro-area barn last April was sentenced Friday to a year and eight months in prison.

Kenneth L. Duyck pleaded guilty the same day in Washington County Circuit Court to sexual assault of an animal, unauthorized use of a vehicle and second-degree burglary. He admitted to abusing Ellie the horse on April 18, stealing a pickup from another barn in Forest Grove sometime the next week while released from jail, and then breaking into the Forest Grove Storage Lot on May 2, court records show.

A judge banned Duyck from owning any horses or domestic animals for 15 years. Duyck must also register as a sex offender and participate in sex offender and mental health treatment programs. The judge also ordered Duyck not to contact his victims and revoked Duyck's license for one year.

Duyck, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was at one point ordered by a judge to obtain a mental health evaluation at the Oregon State Hospital, court records show.

According to a psychological evaluation report, the Hillsboro-area property owner told county deputies she found one of her horses tied up in a stall on April 19 different from the way she left the animal and later found semen on its genitals. She recalled someone who gave his last name as Duyck had called her the day before, asking if he could sleep on her property and she said no. She thought the incidents may been related.

A neighbor described a man who gave the same name asking for work earlier that day. A former employer linked Kenneth Duyck to the incidents, the report said.

Duyck was found sleeping in the stolen pickup on April 24. He admitted to a detective that he called the Hillsboro-area stable during the day and requested to sleep there. Despite being rejected, he went there anyway at night while out on a walk, the report said.

Duyck said he went to the stable, tied up a horse with a rope and planned to groom it, but instead claimed he ejaculated on the horses tail, according to the report.

Duyck said he hadnt been taking his medication for more than a month at the time and made a bad decision, the report said.

Police later linked the DNA evidence collected by the horse's owner to Duyck.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

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A 40-year-old man was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison after a Washington County jury found him guilty of sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl.

David A. Detgen was convicted Friday of first-degree sexual abuse. He was ordered by a judge to register as a sex offender, undergo a sex offender treatment program, and not live within three miles of the victim when he is released from prison.

The girl reported the abuse to her father and school counselor in Hillsboro in March 2018. She told authorities that Detgen would sit her on his lap while she was watching television or playing video games and abuse her, court records show.

Detgen told police he did touch the child. He claimed he has huge hands that could have ended up on the girls chest while giving her hugs and that the girl liked to sit on his lap while they play video games, court documents said.

Detgen later told police he may have also inadvertently touched the girl inappropriately while tickling her.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

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A 29-year-old driver who lost control of his car and hit several parked vehicles, causing traumatic injuries to one of his passengers, was arrested Tuesday, police say.

Police said Nicholas Woods ran away after crashing his car in Southeast Portland on 92nd Avenue just south of Powell Boulevard at 12:04 a.m. Sunday. Police formally identified Woods as a suspect on Monday, and he was arrested and jailed Tuesday.

Woods has since been released from jail, records show. Hes accused of two counts of felony failure to perform duties of a driver to injured persons, as well as two misdemeanors, and is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Police said Cherie Marie Swanson, 34, was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries in the crash. On Monday, officers said her condition had improved and she was in serious condition.

Her fiance was also in the car and was treated at the scene.

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

Andrew Theen of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report

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WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is pressing ahead with plans to deliver his State of the Union address at the Capitol next week, despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosis request that he postpone the speech amid the partial government shutdown.

In a letter to Pelosi, Trump dismissed the California Democrat's concerns about security due to the shutdown.

"It would be so very sad for our country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!" he said.

It was unclear how Trump would address lawmakers Jan. 29 as the House and Senate must pass a concurrent resolution for a joint session of Congress to hear the president.

The sparring over the president's annual address to Congress - a typically mundane event - comes as the federal government is in the midst of the longest shutdown in U.S. history, with 800,000 federal workers forced to go without pay and states scrambling to mitigate the impact on the poorest Americans.

Pelosi had sent a letter to Trump earlier this month, inviting him to deliver his annual address at the Capitol. But with Democrats and the White House at an impasse over Trump's long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, Pelosi wrote to Trump again last week, urging him to delay the speech, or deliver it in writing.

Trump responded by denying Pelosi the use of a military plane for a trip to Afghanistan. Pelosi accused Trump of then publicizing her and other lawmakers' plans to make the journey on a commercial flight, forcing them to abandon the trip. The White House has denied Pelosi's claims.

Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday on Trump's letter.

While Pelosi last week suggested that Trump reschedule the address, she didn't formally rescind her invitation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Wednesday that his own preference would be for Trump to reopen the government and then address Congress. But he noted that the U.S. Capitol police and Secret Service would be ready to protect the president if he chose to give his speech; Hoyer otherwise did not indicate any logistical obstacles to Trump addressing a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.

"The Capitol police and the sergeant at arms have assured us we will be fully prepared if in fact there is a State of the Union address on the 29th," he told reporters before Trump announced his intentions. "He's the president of the United States and although I disagree strongly with his policies, I disagree strongly with his rhetoric and disagree strongly with his demeaning the office of president, in my opinion, but he is the president of the United States."

In an exchange with reporters Wednesday morning, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that officials had "satisfied" the safety concerns raised by Pelosi, without giving further details.

"The United States Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, who would have jurisdiction over whether or not the Capitol is safe for the president to visit, have addressed those concerns," Sanders said. "I think they're the most qualified people, not only to address it, but to make that assessment."

 The Washington Post
BEND  Rep. Greg Walden, the only Republican in Oregons congressional delegation, held his first town hall in Bend in nearly two years to discuss national and local issues facing his 2nd Congressional District.

The Bulletin reports a crowd packed into the Mountain View High School auditorium on Saturday to hear from Walden. Before fielding questions Walden said: Lets be civil to each other as Oregonians.

A big issue was Waldens thoughts on the federal government shutdown.

Walden earned applause from many in the crowd when he reminded them he recently voted with Democrats to reopen much of the government. He also told the audience he supports President Donald Trump's views on strengthening border security.

"We have a humanitarian crisis on the border, and we have a broken immigration system in the interior, and we need to fix both," Walden said.

Walden received push-back from some in the audience when he described his support for the federal tax cuts that some say benefit corporations more than individuals.

"It is no secret I supported them, and I think they have had a strong effect on the economy," Walden said as audience members bellowed in unison, "No."

A couple of high school students asked questions about planning for Bend's growing population and Walden's plans for gun safety, especially after all the school shootings in America.

"I'm fully committed to making sure our schools are safe," Walden said.

Walden explained he is working on creating more training for law enforcement around active shooter situations, more access to mental health services and a stronger background check system for gun owners.

Walden said he fully supports the Second Amendment.

"I also take an oath of office to stand up and support every amendment of the constitution," Walden said.

Oregons vast 2nd District includes all of the eastern part of the state. He held a town hall Friday in Klamath Falls. The Herald and News reported:

Walden wasnt shy about his thoughts on border security and the wall on the border between the United States and Mexico during a town hall in Klamath Falls on Friday, where he discussed recently casting a vote outside Republican Party lines to end the partial shutdown of the federal government.

Walden specifically took issue, though, with the furlough of employees of the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Ive cited the Klamath Basin and the Biological Opinion as one of the things that got delayed (in the) course of these discussions, Walden said.

Walden wants to exempt agencies funded by Department of Interior, Agriculture, and Fish and Wildlife from the shutdown.

Why inflict all this? he said. I didnt sign up for this kind of shutdown, Walden added.

During the town hall, which drew about 150 people to Oregon Tech, he called the vote a bit of a break with party lines, a comment met with applause from some in the audience.

Walden headed back to Washington, D.C., for congressional business and had to cancel other town halls originally scheduled for this week.
Time has run out for one of the most famous clocks in the city.

In this day and age, few have seen the clock and fewer know the story behind it.

For decades, it was a grand and remarkably precise timepiece that dutifully kept time atop The Oregonian clock tower in downtown Portland. It was made more than a century ago by the E. Howard Watch & Clock Co., an elite clockmaker in Boston.

The newspapers owners paid $1,845 for the clock, known as the No. 4 Striker. It was designed to strike a bell on the hour, but the model installed in The Oregonian building was silent.

A dozen of its kind were produced; only four remain, including the one in Portland. The others are in still running in towers in New York City, Buffalo, New York, and Lawrence, Massachusetts.

The No. 4 Striker was destined for the trash heap when The Oregonian building was demolished in 1950, but an engineer paid $300 for the clock and used it as a teaching tool at Oregon State University.

By the late 1950s, the clock made its way to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where it remained ever since.

Heres where its story may come to an end.

Young people raised on smartphones dont quite know what to make of the No. 4 Striker with its mass of brass gears and jigsaw puzzle of intricate parts. To them, it looks like a lot of effort just to keep track of the time.

Thats not to say visitors to OMSIs Turbine Hall didnt stop to check it out. They just didnt linger.

As one museum staffer put it, the No. 4 striker was cool but not quite a crowd pleaser.

I have never seen people clustered around it or people drawn to it like they would be a dinosaur skeleton, said John Farmer, an OMSI spokesman.

When the museum staff decided the Turbine Room was ready for a fresh look with more hands-on exhibits, their plans didnt include the No. 4 Striker.

So last month it came down.

The museum called in a local group of clock and watch enthusiasts to help prepare it for storage. It will then go into a crate and sit in storage unless another venue wants it. Kerry Tymchuk, the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, on Tuesday said he would explore whether the clock could go on display at the societys museum.

The prospect of the No. 4 Striker vanishing from public view is a sad development for people like Bill Butcher, a retired hospital pharmacist from Tigard who has carefully documented the rare clocks history.

Butcher is one of the clock experts who have volunteered to decommission the timepiece.

He worries something is lost without the No. 4 Striker on display. Portlanders wont learn how the clock once kept time atop what was once the citys tallest building and how in the early 20th century people set their own watches by glancing up at the clock as they bustled along Southwest Alder Street and 6th Avenue.

The Oregonian newspaper and its building were iconic in its day, he said. Its part of the history of Portland.

Added Butcher: I just hate to see a timepiece like that, thats iconic, go out of view and into storage.

-- Noelle Crombie

ncrombie@oregonian.com

503-276-7184

@noellecrombie

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Southwest Washington authorities are asking for help solving a missing persons case and possible homicide.

The Skamania County Sheriffs Office said Tuesday that investigators believe a missing man, 55-year-old William Bill Sutton, was likely killed. His location is unknown.

The agency said deputies responded Oct. 9, 2017, to an undesignated campsite north of Stevenson on a report of suspicious circumstances and found what appeared to be signs of an assault.

Sutton had been camping in the area with a group for a long time before moving to the campsite where the apparent assault occurred, the sheriffs office said.

The agency said investigators think Sutton was the victim of foul play and likely died of homicidal violence because of the condition of the camp and evidence found there.

The sheriffs office is continuing to interview witnesses and process evidence.

The agency asks anyone who was in the area of Blue Lake Road from approximately Oct. 6, 2017, through Oct. 9 of that year  or may have seen something suspicious afterward  to call 509-427-9490. Tipsters should ask to speak with Detective Sgt. Buettner or Detective Schultz.

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

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A 28-year-old Hood River man has been missing in Mexico for over a month, and searchers have yet to find any sign of him.

Max Watson has been missing since Dec. 18, according to a news release from searchers. The Hood River News reports he had been hiking in the Sierra de la Laguna mountains near Todos Santos in southern Baja.

The Mexican government and more than 100 U.S. and Mexican volunteers have searched for Watson for almost a month, searchers said. Air, foot and canine searches have come up empty, according to searchers, and the primary search is focused on finding a couple who gave Watson a ride.

Searchers said Watson was last seen when he parked his van at a local ranch and left with the couple who were driving a silver or gray car.

Watsons family and friends ask anyone who visited the Sierra de la Laguna mountains in southern Baja about Dec. 18 to contact them at searchformax@gmail.com.

At this point we believe finding the couple that last saw Max alive and gave him a ride is critical, Watsons brother Wiley Watson said in the news release. We need to hear from anyone that was visiting the Sierra de la Laguna mountains east of Todos Santos on December 18th or may know anything about who this mystery couple was.

The Hood River News reports Watson is a designer for a skateboard company and spends winters in Baja. Hes described as having long, blond hair and blue eyes and being 5-foot-10 and 145 lbs.

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

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By Jennifer Rubin

Opinion writer

President Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still count on his bases support. Media, politicians and longtime political operatives predicted again and again that THIS (whatever the outrage of the day) would be the final straw. Not repealing Obamacare as promised? Nope, that had little if any effect. Equating neo-Nazis and anti-Nazi protesters or endorsing Roy Moore or siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence advisers? Nope, nope and nope.

Expecting voters who didnt care about or, worse, cheered his xenophobia, misogyny, know-nothingism and cruelty were not going to throw up their hands when he demonstrated his xenophobia, misogyny, know-nothingism and cruelty. So long as Trump railed at their favorite targets -- mainstream media, immigrants, government workers, zealous prosecutors and Democrats -- they were content.

Even when Trump was unable to change the status quo (e.g., repealing the Affordable Care Act), his fans could rationalize that the fault lay with others. When he didnt do what he promised (pass a tax cut wholly directed at the middle class) and instead favored his cronies and rich friends, they could be mollified with the promise of higher wages and more jobs for everyone.

No revelation about Russia or Trumps alleged criminality and/or unethical behavior moved them, either. They knew he was a swindler, a jerk and a provocateur, but he was their swindler, jerk and provocateur. And if he was too cozy with Russia or got help to win an election, why he was just outwitting the professional diplomats. Besides, what did it matter to them (his Fox News-saturated base) if Russia ran amok? It wasnt like the Russians threatened their families.

However, where it got sticky for Trump was when he actually hurt his own base. Its one thing not to make good on an unrealistic promise (cheaper, fairer, better health care for everyone!); its another to take money out of their pockets.

First came the tariffs that hit rural America hard. In the run-up to the midterms, we heard this kind of report: The rust belt states he won over, in some cases very narrowly, are losing faith . . . [A]cross five of the rust belt states won by Trump in 2016 more voters believe the presidents tariffs on foreign imports are harmful to their families than beneficial.

Then came the shutdown. The Post reports, While Trumps relationship with much of his base remains strong, two years after his inauguration his ties are fraying with voters . . . who voted in droves for Trump in key pockets throughout the industrial Midwest, flipping previously Democratic states to him in 2016. Now, The shutdown fight, as it has played out over the past month, is further eroding the presidents support among voters who like the idea of beefing up border security  but not enough to close the government. Suddenly Trumps destructive tendencies dont seem amusing:

[F]ar from the nations capital and in an area not dominated by federal workers, the government shutdown is resonating in an unusual way. A trampoline park is giving government employees and their families an hour of free jumping. A local credit union is offering low-interest loans for furloughed employees who need to replace lost salaries.

Some local governments in the area are beginning to allow federal workers to defer payments on property taxes, utility bills and parking tickets. Food drives are being discussed to help Transportation Security Administration workers at Detroits airport, and a yoga studio is offering free classes for federal employees.

Working-class people understand in a very personal way that Trump really doesnt care about them (the shutdown standoff has also poked holes in Trumps ability to say he cares for the working class, given that 800,000 federal employees and an additional number of contractors are going without paychecks.).

When Trumps voters finally get hit, then they may finally abandon him. (His support among key groups such as suburban men and white, non-college educated men dropped significantly.) Wed like to think all Americans care about one another, want to point to the president as a role model for their kids and fret when bad policies hurt the most vulnerable. Many Americans do operate that way -- just not Trumps hardcore base. This is a zero-sum ground -- immigrants or them, elevation of Christianity or its eradication, white nationalism or white victimhood.

Its fine in their book to watch Trumps manic conduct infuriate experts and see hardship inflicted on immigrant children -- until it hits home.

This was in large part why Democrats successfully ran in 2018 on bread-and-butter issues including health care. Returning to a traditional Democratic economic record, they can remind even previously devoted Trump followers that the president has betrayed their interests.

Trumps defenders should see some blinking red lights ahead. If the shutdown continues, if the trade war drags on and, worst of all, if the economy does backslide, Trumps base may flee in greater numbers. This should be instructive for Democrats: Focus on the workers whom Trump wont allow to be paid, reach out to farmers whose income Trump slashed and present the sort of economic program that Trump could have followed to great success. Call it fairness or justice or whatever you please. It is now plain for all to see that the one most responsible for rigging the system against ordinary Americans is Trump.

-- Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post.
A judge sentenced a 51-year-old man who threatened to kill a state child welfare worker to five years in prison Wednesday.

Freddy Velasquez-Sotos defense attorney had asked the judge for no prison time or at least a much shorter sentence after a jury last month found Velasquez-Soto guilty of pulling out a knife and declaring that he intended to end the life of the Oregon Department of Human Services worker. He also threatening to hurt a co-worker who was with him, the jury found. That prompted the workers to crawl out onto a fire escape and call police, investigators said.

The two employees had arrived at Velasquez-Sotos Southeast Portland apartment to question him about a safety plan for his daughter. The department ended up taking the girl into its custody about a week after Velasquez-Soto threatened its workers.

I was set up on this, Velasquez-Soto said Wednesday, gesturing to the prosecutor. He knows it. And he knows what hes doing, trying to make a example out of me.

Judge Angel Lopez responded: Well, the jury heard the testimony and they believe the victims. So I doubt thats a set-up.

Lopez told Velasquez-Soto that he terrorized the workers.

Society in our lives should not operate that way," Lopez said. "We should have the ability to live free from fear.

Swiveling in his chair and shaking his head, Velasquez-Soto said he was going to appeal.

The jury in December found Velasquez-Soto guilty of unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and obstructing governmental administration after a two-day trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The encounter unfolded Aug. 14, 2017, after the workers arrived at Velasquez-Sotos apartment near Southeast Fifth Avenue and Morrison Street. Velasquez-Soto became angry and began saying he was going to hurt or kill anyone who tried to interfere with his childs life, said Brent Weisberg, a spokesman for the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office.

Velasquez-Soto has a criminal history stretching back to his young adult years. He has been sentenced to jail or prison for terms ranging from about a year to nearly six years for crimes including first-degree robbery and second-degree assault, according to his court file. He most recently had been released from prison in 2013 and appeared to remain crime-free for four years until he threatened the state workers, court papers show.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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BALTIMORE  Russell Baker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, essayist and biographer who hosted the series Masterpiece Theatre on PBS and had a long-running column in The New York Times, died at his Leesburg, Va., home Monday, his son said.

The cause of death, which followed a recent fall, was unknown, said son Allen Baker, of New York. Baker was 93.

Baker was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his commentary and a second in 1982 for his autobiography, Growing Up, a memoir of his childhood in the Great Depression. He was born in Virginia and spent his early years there before his family moved to New Jersey and then Baltimore.

Baker was as great of a patriarch as he was a writer, Allen Baker said.

We couldnt have asked for a better father, Allen Baker said Tuesday. He was a tender and loving man to his family.  He was just a Regular Joe with an extraordinary job.

Baker was born Aug. 14, 1925, and graduated from Baltimore City College in 1942. He enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University, then put his education on hold to enlist in the U.S. Navy in 1943 to serve during World War II.

Baker completed a bachelors degree at Hopkins in 1947, his son said. He married the former Miriam Nash, in Baltimore in 1950. The pair had four children; Mrs. Baker died in 2015.

Bakers journalism career began as a police reporter at The Baltimore Sun in 1947 and 1948, and he made his way to the newspapers London bureau at age 27.

His work there caught the eye of James Scotty Reston, then running The New York Times Washington bureau, The Sun said in a 1999 article. Bored with reporting, he was given the column in 1962. He was 37.

He was a New York Times columnist until announcing his retirement on Christmas Day, 1998  a 36-year run that made him the longest-running columnist in the history of the paper of record.

Dont make too much of it, he joked in the 1999 interview with The Sun. Its only daily journalism.

In addition to his son Allen, Baker is survived by a sister and three children, Kasia Baker, of Nantucket, Mass.; Michael Baker, of Morrisonville, Va.; and Phyllis Baker, of Morrisonville, Va.; as well as four granddaughters.
The Oregon Health Authority could face two lawsuits alleging the agency hurt people with severe mental illness by forcing them out of treatment homes based on decisions by embattled contractor Kepro.

Attorneys for two mentally ill people put the state on notice in recent months that they may sue. The tort filings mark the first signs of possible legal repercussions for the state as it continues to reckon with a program faulted by advocates for repeatedly putting vulnerable people in harms way.

One of the legal threats stems from a case highlighted by The Oregonian/OregonLive last year involving a 54-year-old woman with schizophrenia who wandered the streets for a week after being kicked out of a locked care facility. The other involves a 58-year-old woman with paranoid schizophrenia and diabetes who, after being under state-funded care at a foster home, was displaced to an apartment with no supervision.

Until Monday, that woman hadnt responded to numerous calls or visits from her legal guardian for a month. She hung up when the guardian brought up an upcoming doctors appointment to check her blood sugar.

Theyve put her in, really, a life and death situation, said Hayley Adams, who is the sister and guardian of the 58-year-old. And all of that couldve been avoided because she was in the appropriate level of care already.

The Oregon Health Authority said Tuesday it doesnt comment on potential litigation. Kepro didnt respond to a request for comment left late Tuesday.

Both potential suits stem from a three-year project by the health authority that included determining if all of the approximately 1,600 people with severe mental illness in residential facilities needed to be there. The state hired Pennsylvania-based contractor Kepro, as part of a $27 million contract, to evaluate patients medical needs.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported in November that the Kepro contract and its implementation had been riddled with problems, including three cases of serious harm to people forced to leave a facility following a Kepro decision.

State officials have conceded problems and vowed to make fixes. Among other things, officials since December have been reviewing each of Kepros care decisions for people in locked facilities. They reversed 17 of 17 decisions.

The first tort claim against the state, dated Nov. 30, was filed by Legal Aid Services of Oregon. The nonprofit is representing Ruane Oliverio, who was kicked out of a locked facility in June despite warnings she was too vulnerable. Oliverio was found catatonic and severely dehydrated after walking the streets for a week. Oliverios case was one of the three highlighted by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Attorney Andrea Ogston claimed in her tort filing that the states negligence caused Oliverio serious injuries and trauma. After filing the notice, Oliverio was again told that Kepro determined she could not stay in a locked facility. Her case became one of the 17 overturned by the state. She is now at the Oregon State Hospital.

In the second filing against the state, dated Dec. 20, an attorney for Adams claims the states actions caused her sister severe emotional distress.

At Adamss request, The Oregonian/OregonLive isnt naming the alleged victim to protect her medical privacy.

Adams, 50, said her sister in July was going to be kicked out of an adult foster home where she lived successfully for two years. The woman was so distressed that she walked to a nearby church for help, Adams said. The woman eventually moved into a church acquaintances house, with no supervision. Adams said shes now worried her sister isnt taking medications.

Adams said shes grateful the state recently reversed its decision to kick her sister out of foster care. The woman has now been approved to move back into a facility with caregivers, Adams said.

But, Adams contends, her sister shouldnt have been moved out in the first place.

Completely a waste of time, effort, money, Adams said. Only to have her go back to where she was at.

Have a tip about the Oregon Health Authority or mental health? Get in touch.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin

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Portland Public Schools is about to begin the process of redrawing attendance boundaries for potentially all its schools, marking the most significant redistricting initiative the states largest school district has undertaken in years.

It is planning to outsource most of the parsing of which boundaries should be reset  and how  to a private firm with geographic information systems expertise and experience helping other school districts rezone schools.

The Portland school board was set to approve a $296,000 contract Tuesday with data firm FLO Analytics to study current boundaries and recommend new ones for the districts schools.

The timetable to implement the new boundaries is the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, according to the bid submitted by the company.

The district most recently re-drew boundaries last summer to convert Roseway Heights into a middle school and to relieve overcrowding at Beverly Cleary K-8 .

That year, Harriet Tubman was also renovated and reopened, six years after the school was initially shuttered .

But this latest revision could affect more than 46,000 students enrolled in Portlands nine public high schools and the middle and elementary schools that feed into them.

Its also the first time an outside firm will preside over a process previously handled by a volunteer committee.

FLO Analytics proposal makes references to using mapping technology used by government agencies and private companies to draw boundaries and map routes for emergency services.

Spokesman Harry Esteve said PPS solicited bids from companies that have experience with similar work for large districts. FLO and one other firm submitted bids.

The Seattle- and Portland-based company has provided enrollment forecasts and boundary reviews for Salem-Keizer Public Schools, Tacoma Public Schools and the North Clackamas School District, according to its pitch.

FLO Analytics will present an initial assessment to district leaders in July. The data firm said it will put forth three different boundary scenarios for the district to consider and then solicit input from the public during community meetings.

Gathering community feedback and setting up those meetings, according to the bid, will comprise more than half the projects expenses: $151,000.

The school board, teachers, parents, students and communities of color are all listed as key stakeholders for the boundary redrawing project.
Portland school board member Julia Brim-Edwards thinks Portland Public Schools got a raw deal in its negotiations with the city police bureau to pay for more policing in schools.

As a result, she expects the school board will put on hold the contract it approved to spend up to $1.2 million a year to deploy nine Portland Police officers full-time in the states largest school district. Currently, the officers work in schools three-quarters time and the city provides them at no cost to the district.

Back in December, the board of education voted to move forward with a contract to authorize paying the city for those nine officers to patrol its nine high schools full-time. The lead-up to that vote drew ire from students and local activists who said the school board didnt give dissenting voices the time to make their case .

Brim-Edwards agrees.

She wants the school board to suspend the original agreement and seek more input. The Portland school board veteran, who returned to the body after serving one term from 2001 to 2005, told her fellow board members Tuesday that she would seek to pull back the agreement at their next meeting.

Brim-Edwards said the police bureau gave the board a false deadline of Dec. 31. The message from the city was: Agree to pay millions for school resource officers by that date or watch the bureau pull officers from Portland schools.

We were presented with the proposition that if we did not approve the (inter-governmental agreement), that the City of Portland would de-fund the school resource officers, Brim-Edwards told the board at the tail end of a four-hour meeting.

The school board rushed to pass the resolution under those pretenses, Brim-Edwards said. Mayor Ted Wheeler and the city council were supposed to take it from there, but its been more than three weeks since the year-end deadline passed and the City Council still hasnt voted on the agreement.

It was sort of a betrayal of what we were told, Brim-Edwards told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Board member Amy Kohnstamm brought up the police bureaus proposed timeline for approving the contract at the boards Dec. 11 meeting. She abstained from the vote, citing a desire to re-work the agreement before she could make a decision. Board member Scott Bailey abstained on similar grounds  he pushed to postpone a vote until February.

We didnt feel like we had sufficient time to talk with students and talk this through, Kohnstamm said. I was not convinced that the timeline we were presented with was particularly urgent.

Julia Esparza-Brown, the only board member of color, voted against the contract.

The vote came under further scrutiny when a former Portland activist tweeted about his jarring experience with a school resource officer in Beaverton nearly a decade ago.

Portlands Resistance founder Gregory McKelveys 24-tweet thread reinforced the critique that putting police in schools criminalizes teen misconduct better dealt by school disciplinarians. Proponents of putting officers in schools said having police walk the halls and get to know students helps teenagers receive rehabilitation rather than a rap sheet.

McKelvey said he put his story out there in hopes of swaying the five-member Portland City Council to reject the contract approved by the school board. City Hall hasnt yet signaled when commissioners might take up the matter.

According to a proposed resolution Brim-Edwards provided fellow board members Tuesday, she wants to suspend the cost-sharing provisions the school board agreed to.

She wants to allow board members to offer other suggestions before putting a final resolution to a vote. Brim-Edwards told the board she also wants to give students more time to offer their input on the school districts contract with Portland police.

We were hurried into something that turns out it was a false timeline. This provides us the timeline to act appropriately and engage with our students before we move ahead, she said.

School board member Scott Bailey chimed in to propose gathering input from another affected group. The engagement needs to include staff as well as students, he said.

Board Chair Rita Moore, looking to head finish the late meeting without delay, leaned into her microphone to tell her colleagues they werent discussing officers in schools until their next meeting.

The board passed its business agenda unanimously in a voice vote, then adjourned.
The 28-year-old man accused of killing Assistant Federal Public defender Nancy Bergeson in her Southwest Portland home nine years ago made his first appearance in court Tuesday since his arrest late last week.

Christopher Alexander Williamson told court officials he had no relationship with Bergeson, records show.

Williamson was arraigned on a single allegation of murder. A court-appointed lawyer Joe Calhoun entered a not guilty plea on Williamsons behalf in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Additional charges are expected after the case goes to a grand jury. Williamson is being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center without bail. Hes due back in court next Wednesday. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Kathleen M. Dailey.

The lead prosecutor in the case, Chief Deputy District Attorney Don Rees, and Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson stood in the back of the courtroom during the three-minute hearing. A few of Bergesons friends from her dragon boat paddling team and colleagues from the Federal Public Defenders Office attended the hearing.

Portland homicide Detectives Mark Slater and Erik Kammerer arrested Williamson on Friday afternoon at a kidney center in Tualatin where he received dialysis.

8 Nancy Bergeson homicide

Williamson was 19 at the time of Bergensons strangulation on Nov. 24, 2009.

Police havent discussed what led to Williamsons arrest, but investigators suspect it wasnt a random attack or related to her work as a criminal defense lawyer. Tips to law enforcement helped provide breakthroughs in the case.

Williamson is unemployed, receives disability benefits and food stamps, and most recently was living with his mother in Vancouver. At the time of the killing, however, he lived in Southwest Portland, about two miles from Bergesons home.

About 3 p.m. that day, Bergeson was found lying face down in the dining room of her home. A girl who had stopped by to walk Bergesons golden retriever saw her body through a front window and alerted a neighbor.

Patrol officers were called to the home at 4146 S.W. Hamilton St. A police forensic criminalist and a deputy medical examiner also responded. The deputy medical examiner thought it was a natural death, so Bergesons body was removed from the house. But an autopsy the next morning showed Bergeson had been strangled.

Homicide detectives were called to start a criminal investigation, about 16 hours after Bergesons body was discovered. At the time, a sergeant said the chain of events wasnt ideal because fibers, hairs or evidence could have been lost when Bergesons body was moved. Police have said there were signs that Bergeson fought back against her attacker.

Sources familiar with the investigation told The Oregonian/OregonLive that an associate of Williamsons tipped off police and prosecutors, helping to crack the case. They wouldnt say more about the associates connection to Williamson. Police havent disclosed details of their investigation or a motive in the case, and Williamson waived his right to a probable cause hearing before a judge, court records show.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
A federal public defender strangled in her Southwest Portland home nine years ago appears to have been killed in a burglary gone bad involving two teenagers, according to court records.

One of the teenagers lived around the corner from Nancy Bergeson, an assistant federal public defender, but he wasnt arrested in the burglary until a year and a half ago, court records show.

Justin Joseph Panek, who was 18 at the time of the burglary and is now 27, told at least two others that he was connected to the unsolved Bergeson case and knew something about the killing, and they alerted police and prosecutors, according to police documents.

Panek, while facing the burglary allegation as well as unrelated felony charges in two other counties, is believed to have offered information that helped police identify Christopher Williamson as his alleged accomplice in the November 2009 burglary of Bergesons home. Williamson was arraigned Tuesday on a single count of murder. Panek has not been charged in Bergesons death.

The information helped investigators link Williamson to Bergesons strangulation, sources said. They asked not to be identified because theyre not authorized to discuss the case.

Prosecutors arent saying why only Williamson is charged with murder. It may have resulted from DNA evidence discovered at Bergesons home.

Police arrested Williamson, now 28, last Friday, a breakthrough in a case that had confounded authorities from the start.

Christopher A. Williamson, 28, on left, is accused of murder in the Nov. 24, 2009 killing of Nancy Bergeson. Justin Joseph Panek, 27, on right, is accused of first-degree burglary of her home, on the day her body was found.

On Nov. 24, 2009, a girl arrived at Bergesons house to take her golden retriever for a walk, saw her body on the floor through a window and alerted a neighbor. Patrol officers were called to the home on Southwest Hamilton Street about 3 p.m. and found Bergeson lying face down in the dining room, wearing pajamas. A deputy medical examiner thought it was a natural death, but an autopsy the next morning showed Bergeson had been strangled and there were signs of a struggle. There was no sign of forced entry.

The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained documents and talked to people familiar with the case to piece together the latest developments.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Don Rees, the lead prosecutor in both Paneks burglary case and Williamsons murder case, declined to comment through an office spokesman. Paneks attorney didnt return repeated messages for comment.

In 2009, Panek lived with his grandfather in the 4500 block of Southwest 42nd Place, around the corner about 540 feet from Bergesons home. Williamson was 19 and also lived in Southwest Portland. Its not clear how the two knew each other. A relative of Paneks is a Facebook friend of Williamson.

Bergeson often kept the door unlocked for her dog walkers. Her home had been burglarized about two months before her death and her iPod was stolen, detectives previously reported.

Without an obvious motive and clear forensic evidence, detectives cast a wide net and eventually asked cold case and retired detectives to take a fresh look, finding by 2012 an unidentified persons DNA among the evidence.

In late 2016 and early 2017, Washington County police and prosecutors had heard from other inmates that Panek, accused in robberies in Tigard, had shared information with them about the Bergeson case, according to Washington County case documents reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive. Washington County authorities alerted Portland homicide detectives, who interviewed those inmates and others.

One inmate told police in January 2017 that Panek had shared details regarding Paneks involvement in the Bergeson unsolved murder. Another inmate in Washington County also told police that Panek was in some way involved in the murder of Federal Public Defender Nancy Bergeson, the documents said.

The inmates offered the tips to try to soften their own sentences, the records indicate.

On Sept. 18, 2017, Panek waived indictment and prosecutors the next day filed a criminal information, accusing him of first-degree burglary. They alleged that he was unlawfully inside Bergesons house on the day she was found dead.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Eric J. Bergstrom quickly took the unusual step of sealing every document and audio recording of any related hearing in the case until he ordered otherwise.

The court docket shows Justin Joseph Panek is accused of first-degree burglary, and the date of the offense is Nov. 24, 2009, the day Nancy Bergeson's body was found at her home.

Panek is now set to be sentenced before Bergstrom in the next month to at least 10 years in prison for the burglary and several other felonies in Washington and Linn counties, including an unrelated solicitation to commit murder. His plea agreement is part of a negotiated settlement with prosecutors.

His sentencing was scheduled for this Thursday, six days after investigators booked Williamson into jail. Its been postponed month after month, and on Tuesday, it was postponed again until Feb. 22, in stark contrast to the robbery cases of Paneks co-defendants that were quickly resolved in 2016.

Panek has been in jailed in Multnomah County since May 2017.

The cases hes expected to be sentenced for, according to court records:

-- Nov. 24, 2009, burglary of Bergesons home.

-- Second-degree robberies in Tigard, accused of holding up Dottys Deli and the DoubleTree Hotel in June 2016 with two others.

-- Solicitation to commit aggravated murder, accused of trying to convince a cellmate in jail on Dec. 15, 2016, to kill one of his co-defendants in the Tigard robberies after he learned his alleged getaway driver was going to testify against him, court records indicate.

-- Second-degree robbery of a woman in July 2016 in Albany.

Panek entered guilty pleas to the Washington County robberies and solicitation case in Multnomah County on Sept. 18, 2017. The same day, he was charged with the Bergesons home burglary, court records show. Hes set to enter a plea and be sentenced in the Linn County case and 2009 Bergeson burglary, in addition to the Washington County cases.

Panek also has an extensive record of drug convictions: methamphetamine possession and theft in 2015; criminal mischief, resisting arrest and methamphetamine possession in 2014; theft, resisting arrest and methamphetamine possession in 2013; and marijuana possession near a school in 2012, all in Multnomah County.

In 2016, he also was convicted of being felon in possession of a gun and attempted second-degree assault and sentenced to seven days in jail and five years of probation under the Multnomah County Justice Reinvestment Program. That case followed Paneks arrest after he was accused of ramming a stolen car into two police vehicles.

At the time of Bergesons killing, Panek lived with his grandfather, said a neighbor who also lived behind Bergesons home for 25 years.

The grandfather, Roger Giles, frequently spoke of how he was struggling to help his grandson and would express frustration that he couldnt get Panek to keep a job or stay off drugs, the neighbor recalled.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
Thomas Lauderdale, the pianist and leader of the band Pink Martini, on Wednesday joined the growing chorus of concerned Portlanders opposed to closing a handful of MAX stations downtown.

TriMet in September floated the idea of closing four stations between Goose Hollow and the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, citing low usage and proximity to other light-rail stations.

On Wednesday, the TriMet board heard an hour of comments from residents, many of whom had already lodged complaints about the proposal.

The main opposition is centered around the Skidmore Fountain and Kings Hill stations. The former is the main hub of the popular Saturday Market and has support from the University of Oregon and the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. The Kings Hill stop is in a densely populated Southwest Portland neighborhood poised to see even greater development, neighbors argue.

TriMet riders who testified said the agency needs to think about improving safety, cleanliness and access to transit for disabled riders, not closing existing infrastructure.

Lauderdale, the front man behind the globally popular Portland-based band, said hes been a TriMet rider since 1982 and is baffled about closing any stations.

TriMet is also considering closing the Mall/SW 5th Ave and Mall/SW 4th Ave stops, which are close to the Pioneer Courthouse Square stop. The agency has said closing the stops would save roughly two minutes for a one-way trip between Old Town Chinatown and Goose Hollow. Public backlash to date has not included the Mall stations.

Lauderdale, whose office is on Southwest 1st Avenue close to two other Red and Blue line stations, said it seems crazy to close any stops to save a couple minutes. He, and other public speakers, wondered aloud whether the station idea is being pushed at the request of Intel and Nike. Some residents have speculated that the two Fortune 500 companies want their employees to get to job hubs in Washington County quicker.

MAX has been a grounding presence in downtown, Lauderdale said. If you take away one of those grounding presences, the city becomes less.

Lauderdale said if the agency is concerned about efficiency and saving riders time, Id be happy to work on a campaign, for free, he said.

But Lauderdale also intimated maybe waiting a few minutes isnt all that bad. Americans really should spend some time abroad, he closed, where people stand in lines regularly.

Doug Kelsey, TriMets general manager, thanked Lauderdale for his amazing musical talents and noted Pink Martini played a free concert to celebrate the opening of the Orange Line in 2015.

Kelsey also attempted to quash the notion Intel and Nike were driving the station closure proposal. I can absolutely tell you that is not the case, he said. Im the one who actually raised this issue, he added, saying it was unfair to target the large corporations.

Kelsey said he expects to bring a final proposal to the board in March or April.

He said the Portland region expects to see millions of new residents in the next 20 years. The station closure plan, he said, is one way to address keeping the rapid in rapid transit.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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Dispatch audio from a quadruple killing Saturday provides a harrowing glimpse into the rampage carried out at a rural Clackamas County home near Woodburn.

Covering about an hour, the audio outlines 911 callers concerns, deputies response and their eventual confrontation with a man suspected of killing four family members.

At one point, a dispatcher reports hearing someone say, He just broke her neck.

Later, a dispatcher relays a womans belief that a whole family is dead.

And eventually, someone announces deputies are entering the home.

The Oregonian/OregonLive collected and condensed dispatch audio from the incident. Its included in the video above.

Sgt. Brian Jensen, a Clackamas County Sheriffs Office spokesman, said investigators are working on determining how much time elapsed between when deputies were called to the home and when they went inside, as well as other elements of Saturday nights sequence of events.

Authorities say Mark Leo Gregory Gago, 42, killed his mother, stepfather, girlfriend and 9-month-old daughter in the massacre. Roommate Tracy Burbank, 40, and an 8-year-old girl survived. Jerry William Bremer, 66, Pamela Denise Bremer, 64, Shaina E. Sweitzer, 31, and Olivia Lynn Rose Gago, 9 months, were killed.

Family members of the surviving girl told The Oregonian/OregonLive that an ax-wielding man with bloody hands grabbed the girl by the hair, spoke in riddles, threw her against a wall and put his hands around her neck.

Jensen said deputies shot Gago before he could kill the girl. A GoFundMe account in the girls name has garnered more than $4,100 of its $5,000 goal.

Burbank told a neighbor that Gago attacked her while she slept and she thought she evaded more serious injury because Gago couldnt get a full swing at her, the neighbor recounted.

The neighbor said Burbank reported being able to get the ax away from Gago. She ran to the neighbors fenced-in farmhouse, screaming, Call 911, as she approached. Burbank said she thought Gago was high on drugs.

Resources available Clackamas Womens Services: 503-654-2288 A Safe Place Family Justice Center: 503-655-8600 National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 Call to Safety: 503-235-5333 Domestic Violence Resource Center: 503-469-8620

The sheriffs office said Tuesday afternoon that Gagos victims died of homicidal violence. A combination of blunt-force trauma and sharp-force trauma caused Jerry Bremers death, and sharp-force trauma caused the deaths of the other three victims.

An ax and knives are among the weapons used in the killings, deputies said.

The sheriffs office has yet to release the identities of the deputies involved in Saturdays shooting. Jensen said the agency doesnt have a timeline for when that information will be released.

The attack remains under investigation, according to the sheriffs office.

Detectives continue to process evidence and conduct interviews, the agency said in a news release. This includes pending interviews of the involved deputies and construction of a detailed timeline of events leading up to the murders and officer-involved shooting.

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

Samantha Swindler of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report

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VALLEY FORGE, Pa.  John C. Bogle, who simplified investing for the masses by launching the first index mutual fund and founded Vanguard Group, died last week, the company said. He was 89.

Bogle did not invent the index fund, but he expanded access to no-frills, low-cost investing in 1976 when Vanguard introduced the first index fund for individual investors, rather than institutional clients.

The emergence of funds that passively tracked market indexes, like the Standard & Poor's 500, enabled investors to avoid the higher fees charged by professional fund managers who frequently fail to beat the market. More often than not, the higher operating expenses that fund managers pass on to their shareholders cancel out any edge they may achieve through expert stock-picking.

Forty years ago, the thought of buying a stock index fund was ridiculed. Why would anyone be satisfied with an investment that promised nothing more than the same return as the market?

Later this year, however, U.S. stock index funds may for the first time control more in assets than mutual funds run by stock-picking managers trying to deliver better returns than an index like the S&P 500.

The surge in popularity for index funds is a product of their lower fees, better performance and the preaching of John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Group, which launched the first index mutual fund for individual investors in 1976. Bogle died Jan. 16 after pushing for years to keep costs down and widen access to index funds.

Bogle and Vanguard shook up the industry further in 1977. The company ended its reliance on outside brokers and instead began directly marketing its funds to investors without charging upfront fees known as sales loads.

Bogle served as Vanguard's chairman and CEO from its 1974 founding until 1996.

He stepped down as senior chairman in 2000, but remained a critic of the fund industry and Wall Street, writing books, delivering speeches and running the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center.

The advent of index funds accelerated a long-term decline in fund fees and fostered greater competition in the industry. Investors paid 40 percent less in fees for each dollar invested in stock mutual funds during 2017 than they did at the start of the millennium, for example. But Bogle continued to maintain that many funds were overcharging investors, and once called the industry "the poster-boy for one of the most baneful chapters in the modern history of capitalism."

Bogle also believed that the corporate structure of most fund companies poses an inherent conflict of interest, because a public fund company could put the interests of investors in its stock ahead of those owning shares of its mutual funds. Vanguard has a unique corporate structure in which its mutual funds and fund shareholders are the corporation's "owners." Profits are plowed back into the company's operations, and used to reduce fees.

"A lot of Wall Street is devoted to charging a lot for nothing," billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC. "He charged nothing to accomplish a huge amount."

Vanguard, based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, manages $5 trillion globally. It helped usher in a new era of investing, and index funds have increasingly become the default choice for investors. In 2017, investors plugged $691.6 billion into index funds while pulling $7 billion out of actively managed funds, according to Morningstar.

Vanguard offers both index and managed funds, but remains best-known for its index offerings. Vanguard's original index fund, now known as the Vanguard 500 Index, is no longer the company's biggest, but remains among the company's lowest-cost funds.

Bogle spent the first part of his career at Wellington Management Co., a mutual fund company, then based in Philadelphia. He rose through the ranks and, in his mid-30s, was tapped to run Wellington.

He engineered a merger with a boutique firm that was making huge sums, but was ousted after the stock market tanked in the early 1970s, wiping out millions in Wellington's assets. He said he learned an important lesson in how little money managers really know about predicting the market.

Bogle suffered several heart attacks and underwent a heart transplant in 1996, the year he stepped down as CEO. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 for Vanguard directors in 1999 and left as senior chairman the next year.

Vanguard did not provide a cause of death. Philly.com is reporting he died of cancer, citing Bogles family.

"Jack Bogle had unwavering passion for America, our capital markets, and most of all our Main Street investors," said Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton.

John Clifton Bogle was born in May 1929 in Montclair, New Jersey, to a well-off family; his grandfather founded a brick company and was co-founder of the American Can Co. in which his father worked.

Bogle attended Manasquan High School in Manasquan, N.J, for a time, then got a scholarship to the prestigious all-boys Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey. It was at Blair that Bogle discovered his knack for math. He graduated from Blair in 1947 and was voted most likely to succeed.

Bogle graduated from Princeton with a degree in economics in 1951. His thesis was on the mutual fund industry, which was then still in its infancy.

Bogle is survived by his wife, Eve, six children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
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The aircraft assists in generating revenue from non-ticketing sources such as baggage charges, boarded food, subscription to premium services, additional amenities, and the sale of travel retail services. The airline incidental services market is expected to increase due to the increase in the aircraft connectivity solution. Airline operators are strengthening their wireless architecture to provide better entertainment options for all onboard passengers.For a strong effective business outlook, The Research Insight has added an advanced data to its source titled as global Airline Ancillary Services market. This analytical information studies about the different product segments, applications as well as end users of the global Airline Ancillary Services sector. This following research document highlights on the current statistics about the market to comprehend the ongoing trends in the businesses.Request a sample report copy-Major players operating in the Global Airline Ancillary Services market include, The Emirates Group, United Airlines Inc., American Airlines, Inc., KLM, Southwest Airlines Co, Delta Air Lines Inc., Alaska Airlines, Inc., Ryanair DAC, etc.The study further presents the details on financial attributes such as pricing structures, shares and profit margins. Top level companies profiled in this report includes Airline Ancillary Services The competitive landscape of the Airline Ancillary Services market has been provided by analyzing different successful and startups industries. The economic aspects of the businesses have been presented by using facts and figures.Covered in this reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2026 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?Ask for Discount copy of this report-Table of ContentsGlobal Airline Ancillary Services Market Research Report 2018Chapter 1 Global Airline Ancillary Services 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 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeContinue for TOC.The reports conclusion reveals the overall scope of the global Airline Ancillary Services market in terms of feasibility of investments in the various segments of the market, along with a descriptive passage that outlines the feasibility of new projects that might succeed in the market in the near future. Key segmentations of the global market have been made on the basis of product types, into small, medium, and large enterprises.Reasons for Buying this Report-This 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 segments.Hi,About usThe Research Insights  A global leader in analytics, research and advisory that can assist you to renovate your business and modify your approach. With us, you will learn to take decisions intrepidly. We make sense of drawbacks, opportunities, circumstances, estimations and information using our experienced skills and verified methodologies. Our research reports will give you an exceptional experience of innovative solutions and outcomes. We have effectively steered businesses all over the world with our market research reports and are outstandingly positioned to lead digital transformations. Thus, we craft greater value for clients by presenting advanced opportunities in the global market.Contact usThe Research InsightsRobin(Sales Manager)+91-996-067-0000sales@theresearchinsights.com
GLOBAL SMART TEXTILE FOR MILITARY MARKET TOP KEY PLAYERS ARE BAE SYSTEMS, INTELLIGENT TEXTILES LTD., TEXTRONICS, LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP., GENTHERM INC., SCHOELLER TECHNOLOGIES AG, TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC

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The main aim of the smart textiles is to reduce the weight of the electronic gadgets, battery pack and connecting cables so as to improve survivability of soldier at war fields.Smart textiles or smart fabrics are created by integrating electronic components into them in order to increase the functionality of the product. Some of the integral parts of smart textiles are sensors, actuators, and control units. These fabrics are made such as they are capable of interacting with the environment and have the ability to react to physical stimuli from thermal, mechanical, electrical, and chemical sources. Smart textiles are also capable of health monitoring, ballistic protection, and inducing technological applications like global positioning system (GPS) system and other sensors. The smart textiles market in military is expected to register compound annual growth rate of XX% in the forecast period till 2022.Request For Free Sample-Market DynamicsEver present race for modernization among the developing countries in their armed forces is the major driver for the Smart Textile Market for Military. No country wants their soldiers to lack in terms of advanced equipments. If the next war ever happens it will see soldiers with almost equal firepower, the only factor that will decide victory will be the protective vest worn by survivorsHigh costs of the product and lack of exhaustive standards andregulations are the restraints that are faced by this market.There are a lot of opportunities for this market, some of them are growing application for smart textiles in wearables and also the development of key enabling technologies. As the technologies used also keeps on developing further it again presents a lot of opportunities.Technical difficulties related to integration of Electronics and Textiles is the major challenge faced by this market.Market SegmentationThe market for GlobalSmart Textiles for MilitaryMarket is segmented by two categories, they are1) By PurposeSensingEnergy HarvestThermalLuminescenceProtection & MobilityHealing2) By TypeActive SmartPassive SmartUltra SmartGeographic AnalysisAsia Pacific market will become the largest market for these vests, but North America, Europe and South America will be major investors. The reason for it that the Indian Army, the second largest in the world needs XX million modular bullet proof jackets, and is open for tenders for the next 10 years. This offers a great market opportunity for military textile vendors.Also if India succeeds in acquiring smart vests for its soldiers, then the surrounding countries will also be in a race to procure the same due to a power battle in the region.Asia Pacific market lacks the technology and funds to mass produce such vests due to developing economies, but cheaper labour and lower taxes can be boon for such ventures in Asia Pacific.Request For Customization-Key PlayersThe major players of this market are as follows:Globe Manufacturing Company, BAE systems, Intelligent Textiles Ltd., Textronics, Lockheed Martin Corp., Gentherm Inc., Schoeller Technologies AG, Texas Instruments Inc., E.I. DuPont De Nemours and Co., Milliken & Company, Outlast Technologies LLC, Noble Biomaterials Inc.Report ContentsRegional AnalysisReport HighlightsMarket segmentsMarket Drivers, Restraints and OpportunitiesMarket Size & Forecast 2016 to 2022Supply & Demand Value ChainMarket - Current TrendsCompetition & Major CompaniesTechnology and R&D StatusPorters Five Force AnalysisStrategic and Critical Success Factor Analysis of Key PlayersNorth AmericaUS and CanadaLatin AmericaMexico, Brazil, Argentina and Rest of Latin AmericaWestern EuropeEU5 (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, U.K.)Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden)Benelux (Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Rest of Western EuropeEastern EuropeRussiaPolandRest of Eastern EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanAustralia and New ZealandRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and AfricaGCC countries (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE and Kuwait)South AfricaNorth AfricaRest of Middle East and AfricaThis report is an elaborate aggregation of primary inputs from industry experts and participants across the supply chain. It provides details on market segmentation which is derived from several product mapping exercises, macroeconomic parameters and other qualitative and quantitative insights. The impact of all such factors is delivered across multiple market segments and geographies.Detailed Historical Overview (Market Origins, Product Launch Timeline, etc.)Consumer and Pricing AnalysisMarket dynamics of the industryMarket SegmentationEstimated Market Sizing in terms of volume and valueRecent trends in Market and impactResearch Status and Technology OverviewExtensive Industry Structure CoverageRead More-About Kenneth ResearchKenneth Research is a reselling agency providing market research solutions in different verticals such as Automotive and Transportation, Chemicals and Materials, Healthcare, Food & Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods, Semiconductors, Electronics & ICT, Packaging, and Others. Our portfolio includes set of market research insights such as market sizing and market forecasting, market share analysis and key positioning of the players (manufacturers, deals and distributors, etc), understanding the competitive landscape and their business at a ground level and many more. Our research experts deliver the offerings efficiently and effectively within a stipulated time. The market study provided by Kenneth Research helps the Industry veterans/investors to think and to act wisely in their overall strategy formulationContact Us1412 Broadway,21st Floor Suite MA111,New York, NY 10018Name:DavidEmail:sales@kennethresearch.comPhone: +1 313 462 0609
North America Ethanolamine Market Value is looking to raise up to $1,224 Million Worldwide By 2025

North America Ethanolamine Market

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"Ethanolamine manufacturers and research institutions worldwide have heavily invested in developing better manufacturing techniques to reduce the impact of the fluctuating raw material prices. This in turn is anticipated to lower the price of ethanolamine, and thus, reduce the cost of production."According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled,"Ethanolamine Market by Type, Application, and End-User: North America Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 2025"the North America ethanolamine market was valued at $794 million in 2017, and is projected to reach $1,224 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2018 to 2025. The monoethanolamine segment accounted for nearly half share of the North America ethanolamine market in terms of volume in 2017.Buy Now this Report @Ethanolamine is an organic chemical compound utilized in several applications such as acid gas purification, surfactants for soaps and detergents, and others. The North America ethanolamine market is driven by growth in demand from end-user industries such as personal care, cleansing, and oil & gas. In addition, boom in the surfactants industry is expected to boost the growth of the North America ethanolamine market. However, fluctuation in prices of raw materials, which are used to manufacture ethanolamine is expected to hamper the growth of the North America ethanolamine market. Conversely, promising growth of ethanolamine owing to increase in demand for gas-sweetening agents is projected to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the North America ethanolamine industry.Based on type, the market is segmented into monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, and triethanolamine. Triethanolamine is the most lucrative segment in the North America ethanolamine market owing to the increase in demand for bio-surfactants, as triethanolamine is used in the manufacturing process of bio-surfactants in the U.S. and Canada.Based on application, the market is divided into cleaning, gas treatment, water treatment, cosmetics, lubricants, and others. The lubricants segment is projected to be the most lucrative segment, owing to growth in the lubricants industry and rise in demand from automotive, construction, and industrial machinery industries. This is anticipated to boost the demand for ethanolamine during the forecast period.Based on end-user industry, the market is categorized into polyurethane, personal care, chemical, agrochemical, oil & petrochemical, and others. The chemical segment is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to the promising prospects of the shale gas industry. This is anticipated to create lucrative growth opportunities for chemical manufacturers in North America, which is indirectly expected to boost the ethanolamine market.Request Sample Report @The North America ethanolamine market is segmented based on type, application, end-user industry, and country. Based on type, it is categorized into monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, and triethanolamine. By application, the market is segmented into cleaning, gas treatment, water treatment, cosmetics, lubricants, and others. Based on end-user industry, the market is segmented into polyurethane, personal care, chemical, agrochemical, oil & petrochemical, and others. By country, the market is analyzed across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.Key Findings Of Ethanolamine Market: The cleansing application segment accounted for nearly four-ninth share in the North America ethanolamine market in 2017. The lubricant segment is anticipated to grow with the highest CAGR throughout the forecast period. U.S. is anticipated to grow at the highest rate in the North America ethanolamine market during the forecast period. The monoethanolamide market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period.In 2018, U.S. is expected to be the highest revenue contributor owing to increase in oil & gas explorations and refineries. Ethanolamine is used in the removal of unwanted compounds from refinery and natural gas streams to make products safe for domestic or industrial usage. This eviction or removal of undesirable compounds requires gas treatment, where chemicals such as ethanolamine are used for treating gases is known as amine treatment.The key players analyzed in this report are BASF SE, Huntsman International LLC, INVISTA, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Akzo Nobel N.V., Diacel Chemical Industries Ltd., The Dow Chemical Company, INEOS, SINOPEC, and TAMINCO.The other prominent players in the North America ethanolamine market include Brenntag, HELM AG, LyondellBasell Industries N.V., Sintez OKA LLC, and IDESA.Send Enquiry on this report @About usAllied Market Research, a market research and advisory company of Allied Analytics LLP, provides business insights and market research reports to large as well as small & medium enterprises. The company assists its clients to strategize business policies and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.Allied Market Research provides one stop solution from the beginning of data collection to investment advice. The analysts at Allied Market Research dig out factors that help clients to understand the significance and impact of market dynamics. The company amplies clients insight on the factors, such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys among others. As follows, the company offers consistent business intelligent support to aid the clients to turn into prominent business firm.Contact:David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1(855)550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb:
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  Police found the caliber .45 pistol supposedly used in shooting AKO Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe in a fish pond in Albay on Wednesday.

Police said they recovered the gun, along with a magazine loaded with 10 live ammunition at Barangay Busay, Ligao City in the province of Albay.

One of the suspects, Christopher Naval, who was with the police during the operation, said it was one of the two firearms used by main gunman Henry Yuson. On January 10, police found some parts of the gun in a septic tank in Camarines Sur.

AKO Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin earlier told CNN Philippines that Yuson had confessed trying to fire a .45 caliber firearm, but it jammed, prompting him to use his licensed .40 caliber gun instead to kill Batocabe.

Batocabe and his security aide SPO2 Orlino Diaz were shot dead in broad daylight on December 23 during a gift-giving activity.

All six suspects have pointed to Daraga, Albay Mayor Carlwyn Baldo as the brains behind the crime. The mayor, who was supposed to be Batocabe's rival in the 2019 mayoral race, has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Baldo was arrested for illegal possession of firearms on Tuesday but was rushed to the hospital hours after due to "hyperventilation."

READ: Daraga mayor rushed to hospital due to 'hyperventilation' hours after arrest
Fire Tube Industrial Boiler Market anticipated to grow at a CAGR 4% by 2024|International Participant GE, Siemens, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Thermax Limited, Babcock & Wilcox, Groupe Atlantic

Fire Tube Industrial Boiler Market

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Rapid industrialization coupled with rising investment toward expansion of industrial facilities will drive the global fire tube industrial boiler market. Stringent legislative mandates along with measures to reduce dependence on conventional fuel will further elevate the business growth. For instance, the European Union Directive (EU) 2015/2193 limits the emissions of pollutants from medium combustion plants.The U.S. market is set to surpass 4 thousand units by 2024. Increasing industrial investment for the replacement of conventional heating units intended toward environmental compliance will stimulate the industry growth. Sizeable expansion in the refining capacity to serve the rising demand of fuel coupled with strengthening measures to upgrade the manufacturing capabilities will further favor the industry landscape.Request for a sample of research report @Compact design, low ownership cost and high efficiency are some of the products prominent features that will propel the fire tube industrial boiler market size. Furthermore, rising focus toward technological advancements, primarily for the improvement of fuel utilization efficiency will augment the product demand. For instance, in 2017, Bosch Thermotechnology introduced ULS steam boiler system that is capable of providing low running cost while saving over 47 cubic meters of natural gas per hour.The chemical industry is yet another segment that demands industrial boilers on a large scale. Being one of the largest industries across the globe, it goes without saying that its colossal expansion scope is likely to create positive growth avenues for the fire tube industrial boilers market. in 2017, chemical industry accounted for approximately 25% of the fire tube industrial boiler market revenue, propelled by the rising demand for petrochemical products, cosmetics, commodity and fine chemicals. With the demand for such chemicals growing each year, the chemical industry is expected to receive a boost, which in turn will be reflected in the fire tube industrial boiler market growth statistics over 2018-2024.Make an inquiry for purchasing report @The food processing industry is one of the most ardent users of boilers  in most probability, fire tube industrial boilers. Industrial food processing involves the application of heat at several stages as heat still constitutes one of the basic means of reducing and effectively eliminating microbiological risk in food. Industrial boilers play a major role in producing this heat and it is needless to mention that with the expansion of the food processing industry, fire tube industrial boiler market share is certain to depict a major upsurge.Fire tube industrial boiler market is predicted to grow on account of the products suitability for small and medium scale industries along with the ongoing expansion of small-scale industry sector. According to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), there are over 30 million small and medium scale industries operating in the U.S. as of 2017. Furthermore, low initial cost, easy maintenance, compact design, steady steam/hot water supply and optimum load surge handling capability are some of the key features that will boost the products adoption.Fire Tube Industrial Boiler Competitive Market Analysis & Forecast, 2018  2024 in detail along with the table of contents:Eminent participants in the global Fire tube industrial boiler market: Cleaver-Brooks Fulton Boiler Works (GB) Limited Hurst Boiler & Welding Company, Inc. Clayton Industries IHI Corporation Hoval Fondital S.p.A. Ferroli S.p.A. AC BOILERS S.p.A. formerly ANSALDO CALDAIE MIURA AMERICA CO., LTD.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales Market 2019 by International Paper Company (U.S.) , Mondi Group (South Africa) , DS Smith Plc (U.K.) , Packaging Corporation of America (U.S.)

Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales Market 2019

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The Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales Market research report highlights the detailed analysis of industry participation, growth factors, development trends, size, leading manufacturers and forecast for 2025. The report also reviews innovative business strategies, value-added factors and opportunities of business.This report studies the global Retail E-commerce Packaging market status and forecast, categorizes the global Retail E-commerce Packaging market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia India and Other regions (Middle East & Africa, Central & South America).Download sample copy @The major players covered in this report International Paper Company (U.S.) Mondi Group (South Africa) DS Smith Plc (U.K.) Packaging Corporation of America (U.S.) Rengo Co (Japan) Klabin S.A. (Brazil) Nippon Paper Industries Co (Japan) Georgia-Pacific LLC (U.S.) Orora Packaging Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) Smurfit Kappa Group (Ireland)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Protective Packaging Corrugated Boxes Security Envelopes Tapes & Labels OthersOn 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, including Electronics & Consumer Goods Apparel & Accessories Home Furnishing Auto Parts Food & Beverages Healthcare & Personal Care OthersSegment by Regions North America Europe China Japan Southeast Asia IndiaEnquire before purchase@:Table of contents:1 Retail E-commerce Packaging Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Retail E-commerce Packaging1.2 Classification of Retail E-commerce Packaging by Product Category1.2.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Protective Packaging1.2.4 Corrugated Boxes1.2.5 Security Envelopes1.2.6 Tapes & Labels1.2.7 Others1.3 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.1 Electronics & Consumer Goods1.3.2 Apparel & Accessories1.3.3 Home Furnishing1.3.4 Auto Parts1.3.5 Food & Beverages1.3.6 Healthcare & Personal Care1.3.7 Others1.4 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Market by Region1.4.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Retail E-commerce Packaging Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Retail E-commerce Packaging Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Retail E-commerce Packaging Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Retail E-commerce Packaging Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Retail E-commerce Packaging Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Retail E-commerce Packaging (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)2 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4 Global Retail E-commerce Packaging (Volume) by Application3 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.3 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)3.2 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)3.3 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)3.4 United States Retail E-commerce Packaging Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)TOC continued!Browse full report from here:About usWe have a strong network of high powered and experienced global consultants who have about 10+ years of experience in the specific industry to deliver quality research and analysis.Having such an experienced network, our services not only cater to the client who wants the basic reference of market numbers and related high growth areas in the demand side, but also we provide detailed and granular information using which the client can definitely plan the strategies with respect to both supply and demand side.Canada Office:302-20 Misssisauga Valley Blvd, Missisauga, L5A 3S1, TorontoContact UsEmail- info@supplydemandmarketresearch.comWebsite-Phone Number: +1-276-477-5910
Commercial Satellite Launch Service Market 2019-2024 Report By Top Regional Manufacturers Lockheed Martin, NASA, Boeing, Orbital ATK, SpaceX, Airbus

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Proliferating use of GPS and communication-based facilities will require additional launches thereby boosting commercial satellite launch service Market from 2018 to 2024. Rising sales of passenger vehicles with built-in navigation facility has increased adoption of this facility in various sectors including information & technology, electronics, and automobile. Companies in oil and gas sector trace the fuel tankers and vehicles for monitor the on-shore facilities that requires well established communication network. Owing to diverse applications the service demand is predicted to expand thereby supporting industry growth rate.Get Sample Copy of This Report @LEO segment of commercial satellite launch service market will exhibit CAGR of around 3.2% during forecast period owing to less deploy time and low launching cost in comparison with other orbits. Additionally, the segment is the positive gateway for expanding connectivity in remote areas.The micro commercial satellite launch service market will experience more than 6% of growth rate during the projected time span. This growth rate can be credited to rising developments for enhancing affordability and reliability of the launching vehicles. Micro SATs penetration is observed in various industries owing to compact size.Communication commercial satellite launch service Market will dominate industry volume share owing to increasing usage of wireless technology and rising connectivity among various countries. Reconnaissance segment is anticipated to hold over 35% of overall revenue share owing to utilization of imagery SATs for improving farming techniques. Online web sources and GIS tools for farmers will further spur segment revenue over the forecast period.Commercial Satellite Launch Service Market by Orbit LEO MEO GEO HEOCommercial Satellite Launch Service Market by Size Large Medium Small MicroCommercial Satellite Launch Service Market by Application Navigational Communication Reconnaissance Weather Forecasting Remote SensingMake an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @North America is predicted to dominate commercial satellite launch service Market and will be worth over USD 2.5 billion by 2024. This dominance can be credited to availability of robust infrastructure in the region and presence of multiple space organizations including SpaceX and NASA. Expansion of navigation industry demand to locate destinations is contributing significantly in regional revenue generation. Asia Pacific is anticipated to register robust growth owing to low launching cost offered by organizations such as ISRO.Increasing public spending and availability of financial investment is spurring the use of smart appliances, such as smart televisions and web streaming which in turn will fuel commercial satellite launch service Market. Soaring smart phone sales along with internet usage among youngsters is enhancing web-based applications such as AccuWeather, Google search, Facebook, and Instagram. In addition, introduction of smart classes will further improve internet penetration. In 2017, the number of online users reached approximately to 25 million. This in turn will escalate the commercial satellite launch service Market in next seven years.Browse Report Summery @Commercial satellite launch service market players are Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Space Exploration Technology, Boeing, Axelspace Corporation, and Orbital ATK. Industry players are adopting mergers and acquisition strategy to enhance their industry share. In January 2018, ULA acquired Atlas division of Lockheed to reduce cost and enhancing business efficiency.Related Report Satellite Launch Vehicle Market Size to exceed $2.4bn by 2024Satellite Launch Vehicle Market size is estimated to exceed USD 2.4 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Growing high speed internet connectivity demands in conjunction with the requirement to gain tactical intelligence over the neighboring nations can be achieved through space missions. This in turn has led to increased frequency of launches every year for applications in defense, scientific research, and communication, which in turn will fuel the global satellite launch vehicles market.Get Sample Copy Of This Research Report @About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.com
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market 2019 by Top Key Players: 23andMe, Ancestry, Color, EasyDNA, Family Tree DNA, Genesis HealthCare, Helix, Identigene, Karmagenes, Living DNA, MapMyGenome, MyHeritage, Pathway Genomics

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market

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The Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market research report prepared by Market Study Report, LLC, is a thorough analysis of the latest trends prevalent in this business. The report also dispenses valuable statistics about market size, participant share, and consumption data in terms of key regions, along with an insightful gist of the behemoths in the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Genetic Testing Market.Rising consumer awareness regarding DTC genetic tests in developed as well as developing economies will propel the DTC industry growth in forthcoming years. Key industry players developing DTC genetic tests implement special marketing efforts such as providing discounts on the ancestry and nutrigenomics test that will positively impact sales of DTC tests. For instance, Color Genomics has offered promotional discounts on DTC tests. Moreover, companies such as Ancestry.com are providing heavy discounts on certain occasions such as Black Friday. Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Market will exceed USD 2.5 billion by 2024; as per a new research report.Request a sample of this premium report atCompany Profiles 23andMe Ancestry Color EasyDNA Family Tree DNA Genesis HealthCare Helix Identigene Karmagenes Living DNA MapMyGenome MyHeritage Pathway GenomicsIncreasing prevalence of genetic diseases globally has proven beneficial for the industry growth as it increases the demand of DTC genetic tests. According to Global Genes, around 7,000 different genetic diseases have been discovered and more are being discovered each day. However, cost of genetic testing is predicted to hamper it?s affordability in developing and underdeveloped region that will impede industry growth to some extent.Nutrigenomics segment will grow at 20.3% from 2018 to 2024 Growing preference for nutrigenomics tests amongst the adult population should propel business growth over forecast timeframe. Nutrigenomic tests provide information regarding the patient?s metabolic requirements. Every individual has unique set of genes that influence the metabolism. Defects in the metabolism due to alteration in genes may lead to various genetic metabolic and endocrine disorders that will positively influence the demand for nutrigenomic tests escalating segmental growth.Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) segment held 49.5% revenue share in 2017 and it should expand enormously in foreseeable future due to its increasing usage in analyzing the genome. 23andMe majority of companies extensively use SNP chips in providing information regarding carrier status for a genetic disease. Preference is high for SNP technology as it is comparatively affordable than the whole genome sequencing technology.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report atGermany direct-to-consumer genetic testing market will grow at 18.3% over forecast timeframe owing to growing adoption of technologically advanced DTC genetic tests. Growing prevalence of genetic diseases such as anemia and thalassemia will drive the demand in Germany. For instance, according to The World Bank, increasing prevalence of anemia among the women in reproductive age group of 15-49 years in Germany will escalate demand for DTC genetic tests boosting the industry growth.China direct-to-consumer genetic testing market was valued at USD 29.1 million in 2017, as a result of increasing per capita income, healthcare expenditures and awareness regarding DTC genetic test. Rising awareness regarding availability of technologically advanced DTC genetic tests amongst population in China will positively influence the market growth. Furthermore, growing popularity for prenatal and cancer DTC tests along with presence of significant number of DTC genetic test suppliers will positively impact the industry growth.Prominent industry players operational in the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market include 23andMe, Ancestry, Color, EasyDNA, Family Tree DNA, Full Genomes, Genesis HealthCare, Helix, Identigene, Karmagenes, Living DNA, MapMyGenome, MyHeritage and Pathway Genomics. Key industry players adopt various strategic initiatives such as acquisitions and new product launch, that enable them in sustaining market competition. For instance, in March 2018, 23andMe received FDA approval for marketing newly developed cancer screening tests that will prove beneficial for the companys growth.Complete report atAbout Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report LLC4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:
Automotive Pin Market Overview and Growth Rate Analysis 2019-2025 | by Leading Companies: Illinois Tool Works (USA), Nabtesco (Japan), LISI Group (France), Burgess-Norton (USA), Tenneco (USA)

Automotive Pin Market 2019-2026, Automotive Pin Market Sales, Automotive Pin Market Survey, Automotive Pin Market Insights

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MarketResearchNest.com published an Exclusive Research Report on Global Automotive Pin Market Insights, Forecast to 2025 that highlights the in-depth market analysis and covers significant data with future prospects of the market.Gudgeon pin connects the piston to the connecting rod and provides a bearing for the connecting rod to pivot upon as the piston moves and the kingpin is the main pivot in the steering mechanism of a car or other vehicle.The gudgeon pin is typically a forged short hollow rod made of a steel alloy of high strength and hardness that may be physically separated from both the connecting rod and piston or crosshead.Global Automotive Pin market size will reach xx million US$ by 2025, from xx million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019-2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Automotive Pin.This industry study presents the global Automotive Pin market size, historical breakdown data (2014-2019) and forecast (2019-2025). The Automotive Pin production, revenue and market share by manufacturers, key regions and type;The consumption of Automotive Pin in volume terms are also provided for major countries (or regions), and for each application and product at the global level. Market share, growth rate, and competitive factors are also evaluated for market leaders Illinois Tool Works (USA), Nabtesco (Japan), etc.Request for sample copy of Automotive Pin Market Report 2019@The following manufacturers are covered in this report: Illinois Tool Works (USA) Nabtesco (Japan) LISI Group (France) Burgess-Norton (USA) Tenneco (USA) Aisin Seiki (Japan) Mahle (Germany) Samkrg Pistons and Rings (India) Elgin Industries (USA) JE Pistons (USA) Shriram Pistons and Rings (India) Arias Pistons (USA) Ross Racing Pistons (USA) PIOLAX (Japan)Automotive Pin Breakdown Data by Type: Automotive Gudgeon Pin Automotive King Pin OthersAutomotive Pin Breakdown Data by Application: Passenger Cars Commercial VehiclesAutomotive Pin Production by Region: United States Europe China Japan South Korea India Other RegionsBrowse full content and In-depth TOC of Automotive Pin Market Report 2019@Automotive Pin Consumption Breakdown Data by Region: North America-United States, Canada, Mexico Asia-Pacific-China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam. Europe-Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Rest of Europe. Central and South America-Brazil, Rest of South America Middle East and Africa-GCC Countries, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Rest of Middle East and AfricaThe study objectives are: To analyze and research the global Automotive Pin capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast; To focus on the key Automotive Pin manufacturers and study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in next few years. To focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region. To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market. To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Automotive Pin: History Year: 2014-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2018 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Inquiry for buying a sample copy of Automotive Pin Market Report 2019 @About us: - MarketResearchNest.com is the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services on the Web. We offer reports from almost all top publishers and update our collection on daily basis to provide you with instant online access to the Global and Southeast Asias most complete and recent database of expert insights on industries, organizations, products, and trends.Contact us: - Mr. Jeet Jain, Sales Manager, sales@marketresearchnest.com ;+1-240-284-8070, +44-20-3290-4151;Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Foot Care Products Market 2019 Futuristic Trends and Competition Overview | by Manufacturers (GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson and Johnson, Bayer, Implus), Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024

Foot Care Products Market 2019-2024, Foot Care Products Market Sales, Foot Care Products Market Survey, Foot Care Products Market

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MarketResearchNest.com published an Exclusive Research Report on Global Foot Care Products Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024 that highlights the in-depth market analysis and covers significant data with future prospects of the market.The market for foot care products comprises several foot care medication and devices that offer acute and long-term care for preventing occurrence of various foot disorders or for treating conditions that have already manifested. It also includes the products used to beautify the skin, relieve fatigue, medical correction and so onScope of the Report:1. In the last several years, global market of Foot Care Products developed steadily, with an average growth rate of 2.54% during 2013 to 2017.2. Asia-Pacific is the largest consumption place, with a consumption market share nearly 34% in 2017. Following Asia-Pacific, Europe is the second largest consumption place with the consumption market share of 28%. And, North America is about 24%.3. The worldwide market for Foot Care Products is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 7.5% over the next five years, will reach 110 million US$ in 2024, from 75 million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.4. This report focuses on the Foot Care Products 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.Request a sample copy of Foot Care Products Market Report 2019@Foot Care Products Market continues to evolve and expand in terms of the number of companies, products, and applications that illustrates the growth perspectives. The report also covers the list of Product range and Applications with SWOT analysis, CAGR value, further adding the essential business analytics. Foot Care Products Market research analysis identifies the latest trends and primary factors responsible for market growth enabling the Organizations to flourish with much exposure to the markets.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: GlaxoSmithKline Johnson and Johnson Bayer Implus Superfeet Lush Baby Foot RG Barry Corporation Aetrex Worldwide Blistex Sanofi McPherson ProFoot Alva-Amco Pharmacals PediFix Tony Moly Aetna Felt Corporation Grace and Stella Xenna Corporation Karuna SkinMarket Segment by Type, covers: Medicine Device Beauty ProductMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into: Medical Treatment Foot BeautyBrowse full content and In-depth TOC of Foot Care Products Market Report 2019@The Foot Care Products Market research report completely covers the vital statistics of the capacity, production, value, cost/profit, supply/demand import/export, further divided by company and country, and by application/type for best possible updated data representation in the figures, tables, pie chart, and graphs. These data representations provide predictive data regarding the future estimations for convincing market growth. The detailed and comprehensive knowledge about our publishers makes us out of the box in case of market analysis.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.) Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Key questions answered in this report: What will the Foot Care Products Market Size is in 2024 and what will the growth rate be? What is the key Foot Care Products Market Trends? What is driving this Foot Care Products Market? What are the challenges to Foot Care Products Market Growth? Who are the key vendors in this Foot Care Products Market Space? What are the Foot Care Products Market Opportunities and Threats faced by the key vendors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Foot Care Products Market Key Vendor?Inquiry for buying a sample copy of Foot Care Products Market Report 2019 Copy@About us: - MarketResearchNest.com is the most comprehensive collection of market research products and services on the Web. We offer reports from almost all top publishers and update our collection on daily basis to provide you with instant online access to the Global and Southeast Asias most complete and recent database of expert insights on industries, organizations, products, and trends.Contact us: - Mr. Jeet Jain, Sales Manager, sales@marketresearchnest.com ;+1-240-284-8070, +44-20-3290-4151;Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Cannabis Market Analysis Report: Canopy Growth Corporation Aurora Cannabis Inc., Medmen, Terra Tech Corp., Aphria Inc, Vivo Cannabis Inc., Chronos Group

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Cannabis market is expected to rise from its initial estimated value of USD 13.4 million in 2018 to an estimated value of USD 110.7 million by 2026, registering a CAGR of 32.2% during the forecast period of 2019-2026. This rise in market value can be attributed to rising need of plant protein amid rising amount of health concerns and veganism worldwide.The cannabis industry is composed of legal cultivators and producers, consumers, independent industrial standards bodies, ancillary products and services, regulators and researchers concerning cannabis and its industrial derivative, hemp. The cannabis industry has been inhibited by regulatory restrictions for most of recent history, but the legal market has emerged rapidly as more governments legalize medical and adult use. Uruguay became the first country to legalize recreational marijuana through legislation in December, 2013 Cannabis in Uruguay. Canada became the first country to legalize private sales of recreational marijuana with Bill C-45 in 2018 Cannabis in Canada. Recently, Coca-Cola has shown interest in producing cannabis infused drinks.Legal marijuana has started gaining traction worldwide due to very high demand among consumers and increasing legalization of recreational or medical marijuana in various countries. Additionally, high public and private investment for research and the development of safer forms of ingesting marijuana such as tinctures, oils, vapes and other edibles are expected to positively reinforce market growth. The number of conditions treated using medical marijuana is growing rapidly, as new patients are added to the market, the demand for medical marijuana is expected to increase multiple folds over the forecast period. Countries like Canada and the U.S. are moving towards legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes, this in turn is expected to create a shift form medical to recreational marijuana. Lengthy purchase and approval process for medical marijuana prescription and ease of availability of recreational marijuana is expected to trigger this this change.Get Exclusive Sample PDF of Report at:Global cannabis market is highly fragmented and the major players have used various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in this market. The report includes market shares of cannabis market for global, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East & Africa.Competitors:Canopy Growth Corporation Aurora Cannabis Inc., Medmen, Terra Tech Corp., Aphria Inc., Vivo Cannabis Inc., Chronos Group Inc., Medical Marijuana, Inc., Stenocare, Tikun Olam, Organigrams Holding Inc., Cannabis Science Inc., Maricann Group Inc., Tilray Inc, Hexo, Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., GW Pharmaceuticals PLC,, MedReLeaf Corp., Insys Therapeutics Inc., CanniMed Therapeutics Inc., Cara Therapeutics IncMarket Drivers: Growing medicinal application of cannabis Increasing legalization of cannabisMarket Restraints: Complex regulatory structure for the usage of cannabisKnow More Business Opportunities In Cannabis Market. Speak To Our Analyst And Gain Crucial Industry Insights That Will Help Your Business Expand. Request Analyst Call for More InsightCannabis Market Segmentation: By Product Typeo Flowero Concentrateso Others By Applicationo Medicalo Recreational By Compoundo Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-Dominanto Cannabidiol (CBD)-Dominanto Balanced THC & CBD By Geographyo North America U.S. Canada Mexicoo South America Brazil Argentina Rest of South Americao Europe Germany France United Kingdom Italy Spain RussiaAnd More GET DETAILED TOC ATData Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and esoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com
Global Liver Cancer Therapeutics Market 2019  2023, Emerging Industry Reviews - ALNYLAM PHARMACEUTICALS, ONYX PHARMACEUTICALS, F. HOFFMANN-LA ROCHE, PFIZER, ARQULE, JENNEREX BIOTHERAPEUTICS

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The global liver cancer therapeutics market is expected to register a CAGR of around 8% during the forecast period (2018 - 2023). North America dominates the market due to the growing demand for cancer therapeutics.Detailed Sample Copy of Updated Analysis @Note: If this link doesnt work in Internet Explorer, kindly try copy pasting it in other browsers.Rising Incidence of CancerIn 2017, according to the American Cancer Society, there would be 29,000 cases of cancer death in US. Liver cancer incidence has been rising in the US since the mid-1970s, and it is expected to continue to grow through till 2030. Change in the current lifestyle of individuals has led to the exposure of a large amount of population to the risk factors that contribute to liver cancer. The risk factors include hepatitis (caused by either the hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus), type 2 diabetes, metabolic disorders & excess body weight, alcohol consumption, and tobacco smoking. It has also been shown that liver cancer risk increases substantially with the increase in ones body mass index (BMI). More than half of the adult population in the US is overweight. Along with this high demand for therapeutic drugs for liver cancer, this creates great opportunities for manufacturers to produce more drugs and create a competitive landscape.Key Developments in the MarketSeptember 2017 - Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (Opdivou00ae)for some patients with advanced liver cancerMajor Players:ALNYLAM PHARMACEUTICALS INC., ONYX PHARMACEUTICALS INC., F. HOFFMANN-LA ROCHE LTD., PFIZER INC., ARQULE INC., JENNEREX BIOTHERAPEUTICS INC., CELSION CORP., BAYER SCHERING PHARMA AG, 4SC AG, BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB COMPANY are amongst others.Request Discount on this report @Note: If this link doesnt work in Internet Explorer, kindly try copy pasting it in other browsers.Stringent Regulatory Policies for TherapeuticsIn the expanding market for therapeutics, there are stringent regulatory policies in place to ensure the safety of such drugs. These policies are well studied. However, while rigorous regulatory procedures guarantee the quality of the product entering the market, they also delay the entry of a drug or device into the market which could be beneficial to patients suffering from a disease. Pre-market approval is an FDA process of scientific and regulatory review to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of drugs. There have been procedures by the FDA to heighten the post-market surveillance. The FDA review process takes twice the amount of time as the European regulatory commissions review bodies. Hence, citizens from countries where the review process is shorter benefit more than countries with longer review processes and stringent regulations. The presence of stringent regulations is dampening the innovation in the market and hindering the growth of this market. Strict regulatory policies have resulted in a reduction of investment by medical device manufacturers and drug companies in R&D of new products.North America Dominates the MarketNorth America dominates the global liver cancer therapeutics market, owing to high incidence of liver cancer, technological advancement in therapeutics, and growing popularity of non-invasive radiation therapies in the region, leading to growing adoption of liver cancer therapeutics. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow during the forecast period owing to factors such as high prevalence of cancer, less stringent regulatory scenario, and presence of huge population base.Enquiry Before Buying@Note: If this link doesnt work in Internet Explorer, kindly try copy pasting it in other browsers.About Market PrognosisWe at Market Prognosis believe in giving a crystal clear view of market dynamics for achieving success in todays complex and competitive marketplace through our quantitative & qualitative research methods.We help our clients identify the best market insights and analysis required for their business thus enabling them to take strategic and intelligent decision.We believe in delivering actionable insights for your business growth and success.Contact us:ProgMarkPvt Ltd,Thane - 421501India.Contact No: +1 973 241 5193Email: sales@marketprognosis.com
Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market to 2023  Global Analysis and Forecasts by Types, Technologies, Applications and End-User Verticals

Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions

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A fresh report titled Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market  By Component, By Type, By Enterprise, By End-users and Global Region Market Size, Share, Trends & Forecast 2018-2023  has been presented by Research Reports Inc.. It evaluates the key market trends, advantages, and factors that are pushing the overall growth of the market. The report also analyses the different segments along with major geographies that have more demand for Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market.Download Sample Report For Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions :Endpoint security or endpoint protection is an approach to the protection of computer networks that are remotely bridged to client devices. The connection of laptops, tablets, mobile phones and other wireless devices to corporate networks creates attack paths for security threats. Endpoint security attempts to ensure that such devices follow a definite level of compliance to standards.The global market size of Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions is $$$ Million in 2017 with $$$ CAGR from 2013 to 2017, and it is expected to reach $$$ million by the end of 2023 with a CAGR of $$$% from 2018 to 2023.The Compnaies Include :ESET spol s r o (Slovak Republic), IBM Corporation (US), McAfee (US), Sophos Ltd. (UK), Symantec Corporation (US), Trend Micro (Japan) et al.There are 3 key segments covered in this report: geography segments, end use/application segments and competitor segment.For geography segment, regional supply, application-wise and type-wise demand, major players, price is presented from 2013 to 2023.Make An Enquiry For Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions :This report coverss following regions :North AmericaSouth AmericaAsia & PacificMEA (Middle East and Africa)EuropeThe key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil etc.For end use/application segment, this report focuses on the status and outlook for key applications. End users also can be listed.Grab Discount For Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions :For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions as well as some small players.The information for each competitor includes:Company ProfileMain Business InformationSWOT AnalysisSales, Revenue, Price and Gross MarginMarket SharePurchase Now :We also can offer customized report to fulfill special requirements of our clients.TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1 Executive SummaryChapter 2 Abbreviation and AcronymsChapter 3 PrefaceChapter 4 Market LandscapeChapter 5 Market Trend AnalysisChapter 6 Industry Chain AnalysisChapter 7 Latest Market DynamicsChapter 8 Trading AnalysisChapter 9 Historical and Current Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market inChapter 10 Historical and Current Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market in South America (2013-2018)Chapter 11 Historical and Current Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market in Asia & Pacific (2013-2018)Chapter 12 Historical and Current Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market in Europe (2013-2018)Chapter 13 Historical and Current Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market in MEA (2013-2018)Chapter 14 Summary for Global Corporate Endpoint Server Security Solutions Market (2013-2018)Chapter 15 Global Market Forecast (2019-2023)Chapter 16 Company ProfileResearch Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. Our repository features an exhaustive list of market research reports from thousands of publishers worldwide. We take pride in curating a database covering virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories. We are one of the premier sources for such reports & report customization services.Research Reports Inc.#766, 99 Wall Street, New YorkNY 10005, United StatesUS / Canada Toll Free: +18554192424,UK :+4403308087757Email: info@researchreportsinc.com
New study on Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market 2019: Global Analysis, Research, Review, Applications | Forecast to 2024

Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market

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BusinessIndustryReports have new report on Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market 2019-2024. The report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends. The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.This Report covers the Major Players data, including: shipment, 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.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Worldwide increasing demand for automotive safety systems is driving the Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market. However, the increase in road accidents due to drivers fatigue, distraction, and lack of alertness coupled with drink and drive cases together helps DMS market to witness notable growth. DMS find major adoption among luxury cars with small share for the premium cars. Thus, growing market of luxury cars observed as one of the most prominent factors influencing DMS market growth.Furthermore, increasing count health issues such as fatigue, low vision among others resulting in increasing demand for such drivers safety tools. Emerging need for safe, efficient and convenient driving experience along with the strengthened government safety regulations regarding drivers safety further set DMS market to grow over the review period. Increasing market for luxury cars ensures positive impact on DMS market, thereby placing high demand for advanced DMS systems. DMS find major adoption among luxury cars considering high price of the system. Luxury passenger cars has witnessed rise in market penetration in year 2017, owing to increase in driver safety concerns coupled with the improving per capita income of developing countries.Geographically, Europe accounted for highest market share in recent years, owing to increasing automotive industry coupled with high demand for driver safety tools in global DMS market. Government initiatives such as New Car Assistant program (NCAP) pointed as a major cause behind Europe leading overall market for driver monitoring systems (DMS). European government has strengthened the safety regulations regarding integrations of safety tools among both passenger as well as commercial cars. DMS witnessed high adoption in both passenger as well as commercial cars segments in this region. Technological advancements in automotive industry is pointed as one of the highly contributing factor in overall DMS market growth.Key Players:1 Magna International2 DENSO CORPORATION3 Omron Corporation4 Continental Ag5 Visteon Corporation6 DELPHI AUTOMOTIVE LLP and more....Purchase this report online with 137 Pages, List of Tables & Figures and in-depth Table of Contents on Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market Outlook 2019-2024 @The report covers the Segments and sub-segments of the Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market by:Regions:1 North America2 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)3 Middle East & Africa4 othersKey questions answered in the report include:1 What are the key factors driving the Driver Monitoring System (Dms) market?2 What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) market?3 What are the challenges to Driver Monitoring System (Dms) market growth?4 Who are the key vendors in the global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) market?5 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) market?6 What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) market?Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @Table of Content:1 Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Introduction and Market Overview2 Industry Chain Analysis3 Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market, by Type4 Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market, by Application5 Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Production, Value ($) by Region (2014-2019)6 Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2014-2019)7 Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions8 Competitive Landscape9 Global Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market Analysis and Forecast by Type and Application10 Driver Monitoring System (Dms) Market Analysis and Forecast by Region11 New Project Feasibility Analysis12 Research Finding and Conclusion13 AppendixAbout us:BusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940
Latest Research on Imitation copper Doors Market with Top Key Players: Huilehao Tongmen, Shanghai PuYu Copper Art Decotation, Shanghai Shuangxiong, Fetty, Kygroup, JinXingTong, Yongjia Door etc.

Imitation copper Doors

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UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Imitation copper Doors Market Analysis and Forecast 2018-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 129 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Get Exclusive FREE Sample Copy Of this Report @ https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/47676Imitation copper Doors Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Imitation copper Doors Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018  2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Imitation copper Doors Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Global Imitation copper Doors Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)For More Information On This Report, Please Visit https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/47676The Major players reported in the market include: Huilehao Tongmen Shanghai PuYu Copper Art Decotation Shanghai Shuangxiong Fetty Kygroup JinXingTong Yongjia Door Xizhou Yin dun si jin Royalty Duke KINGKIND Seeyes Xindong SIMTO CLTHG FUSIMGlobal Imitation copper Doors Market: Product Segment Analysis: Outside Door Interior doorsGlobal Imitation copper Doors Market: Application Segment Analysis: Factory Door Apartment Door OtherThe Report covers in- depth analysis as follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Imitation copper Doors Chapter 2 Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions Chapter 3 Global Market Status and Forecast by Types Chapter 4 Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry Chapter 5 Market Driving Factor Analysis of Imitation copper Doors Chapter 6 Imitation copper Doors Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Imitation copper Doors Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Imitation copper Doors Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Imitation copper Doors Chapter 10 Status Analysis of Imitation copper Doors Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceAvail Discount On this Report @ https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/47676Imitation copper Doors Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Global Imitation copper Doors Market: Key Stakeholders: Imitation copper Doors Manufacturers Imitation copper Doors Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Imitation copper Doors Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Imitation copper Doors are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Imitation copper Doors Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Imitation copper Doors market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Get Exclusive FREE Sample Copy Of this Report @ https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/47676Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.You can also ask for region wise market research report, as below: Imitation copper Doors - Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Imitation copper Doors - North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Imitation copper Doors - South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Imitation copper Doors - Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Imitation copper Doors - EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Imitation copper Doors - Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Imitation copper Doors - China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Imitation copper Doors - India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Imitation copper Doors - United States Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well- defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States.
Image Sensor Market 2019: Business Applications with Top Key Players Sony, Canon, GalaxyCore, Tessera, OmniVision, Samsung | Forecast to 2022

Image Sensor Market

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Global Image Sensor Market Report 2019 offers elaborated knowledge on the market parts like size, Key Regions, growth, trends, dominating firms, Major Manufactures. The Image Sensor report introduces market competition situation among the vendors, revenue, product & services, latest developments and business strategies.Global Image Sensor Market Overview:According to market analysts, Global Image Sensor Market is projected to grow at a high CAGR value from 2019 to 2022.Sample Copy of Global Image Sensor Market Report Available @Image Sensor detects and conveys information used to make an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves (as they pass through or reflect off objects) into signals, small bursts of current that convey the information. The waves can be light or other electromagnetic radiation.Factors driving the growth of the image sensor market include the increasing penetration of image sensors in automobiles, the trend of miniaturization and dual camera in smartphones and tablets and demand for improved medical imaging solutions.The Image Sensor Market is segmented based on Technology, Processing Type, Spectrum, Array and Regions. On the basis of technology, the market is sub-segmented into CMOS, CCD and Others. CMOS technology is expected to hold the largest share due to their reduced system size and lower power consumption.By processing type, the market is sub-segmented into 2D and 3D. 3D image sensors to grow with the highest growth rate during the forecast period; driver that is expected to drive the market for 3D image sensors is artificial intelligence in smartphones.Regionally, Asia Pacific held the largest share of the image sensor market. Asia Pacific is the largest market due to the fact that more than 80% of the demand for image sensors is coming from the consumer electronics application, which includes smartphones and tablets, cameras, computers, and wearable electronics.Purchase this report online along with table of contents @Key Regions:1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Top global key service provider companies covered in the study include:1 OmniVision2 Tessera3 Samsung4 Sharp5 Teledyne Technologies6 SiliconFile7 SoftKinetic8 E2v technologies Inc and More..Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @Key Questions Answered in this Report:1 How has the Image Sensor market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?2 What are the price trends of Image Sensor ?3 What is the structure of the Image Sensor industry and who are the key players?4 Who are the key vendors in the global Image Sensor market?5 What are the latest market trends?Table of Content:1 Image Sensor Introduction and Market Overview2 Industry Chain Analysis3 Global Image Sensor Market, by Type4 Image Sensor Market, by Application5 Global Image Sensor Production, Value ($) by Region (2014-2019)6 Global Image Sensor Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2014-2019)7 Global Image Sensor Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions8 Competitive Landscape9 Global Image Sensor Market Analysis and Forecast by Type and Application10 Image Sensor Market Analysis and Forecast by Region11 New Project Feasibility Analysis12 Research Finding and Conclusion13 AppendixAbout us:BusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940
Drug Delivery Technology Market 2016-2026 : By Market Size, Share, Growth, Top Companies like Johnson and Johnson Pvt Ltd, 3M, Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, Glaxosmithkline PLC and their Development Analysis

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Drug delivery system is the process of administering therapeutic substance through common route of administration to achieve a therapeutic effect in humans or animals. Drugs release the active ingredients in the target area so that in the period of time it controls though its formulation. The most important driving factor for drug delivery technology market is the increasing demand for effective delivery mechanisms of novel biopharmaceuticals.Recently, AstraZeneca signed a licensing agreement with Starpharma for the use of its DEP drug delivery technology aiming to enhancing the dosing and efficacy characteristics of pharmaceuticals. AstraZeneca agreed to fund all development and commercialization costs, including ongoing and future collaborative work conducted with Starpharma.Drug Delivery Technology Market: Drivers & RestraintsGrowing incidence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer, technological advancement, innovation, the growing focus on pediatric and geriatric patients, change in lifestyle due to growing urbanization, the increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries, are the most important driving factors in drug delivery technology market. Since growth of biopharmaceutical market is fast, the demand for drug delivery technology market has increased.Request Sample Report @With so many advantages and splendid features of drug delivery technology, it has few disadvantages too. Side-effects related to drugs, patents expiry and regulatory hurdles are acting as key barrier for drug delivery technology.Drug Delivery Technology Market: SegmentationDrug delivery technology market is broadly classified on the basis of the following segments By Route of Administration :Oral RouteParenteral RouteIntramuscularIntravenousIntra-arterialSubcutaneous routeTransdermal RouteInhalation RouteNasal Drug DeliveryBy End User:HospitalsClinicsDiagnostic CentresHome care settingsOthersDrug Delivery Technology Market: OverviewThe drug delivery technology market has grown substantially at a healthy CAGR due to growing incidence of chronic diseases and change in lifestyle. With rapid technological advancement and innovation, drug delivery technology market is expected to grow globally. North America is the largest market for drug delivery technology and Asia Pacific would be the fastest growing market in the forecast period.Drug Delivery Technology Market: Region-wise OutlookThe drug delivery technology market is expected to register a double-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, drug delivery technology is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is the largest market for drug delivery technology market and is contributing the most as compare to other regions. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the forecast period.Request to View TOC @Drug Delivery Technology Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in drug delivery technology market are Johnson and Johnson Pvt Ltd, 3M, Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, Glaxosmithkline PLC, Merck & Co., Inc, Antares Pharma, Generex Biotechnology, pSivida Corppration, Alkermes, Aradigm Corp., Vectura Group plc, NanoPass Technologies Ltd.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb:
Exclusive Report On Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market 2019-2025| SATAKE, Buhler, Fowler Westrup, AGREX, Milltech Machinery, HTM, Nishimura Machine, Yamanoto

Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market

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UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 112 pages which highly exhibits on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2019-2025.Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Report@Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018 - 2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.For more information on this report, please visit@The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery market industry analysis & forecast 2019-2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region-wise Analysis Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The key players covered in this study SATAKE Tw Grandeur Machinery Buhler Fowler Westrup AGREX Milltech Machinery HTM Nishimura Machine YamanotoGet Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Report@Market segment by Type, the product can be split into Horizontal Mill Rollers Vertical Type Mill RollersMarket segment by Application, split into Commercial Milling Village Level MillingThe Report covers in-depth analysis as follows: Chapter 1 Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market Overview Chapter 2 Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market Competition by Manufacturers Chapter 3 Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region Chapter 4 Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region Chapter 5 Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type Chapter 6 Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market Analysis by Application Chapter 7 Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis Chapter 8 Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Manufacturing Cost Analysis Chapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers Chapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders Chapter 11 Market Effect Factors Analysis Chapter 12 Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market Forecast (2019-2025) Chapter 13 Research Findings and Conclusion Chapter 14 AppendixGrab Best Discount Price @Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market-driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real-time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real-time scenario.Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery Market Industry Analysis and Forecast 2019-2025 and its commercial landscape Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations To understand the future outlook and prospects for Paddy and Rice Milling Machinery market industry analysis and forecast 2019-2025.Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.About UpMarketResearch:UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Leo Pharma, Pfizer, Inc., Sanofi SA, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd are some key players of Global Heparin Market forecast 2018 -2026

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In order to study the various trends and patterns prevailing in the concerned market, Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has included a new report titled Heparin Market to its wide online database. This research assessment offers a clear insight about the influential factors that are expected to transform the global market in the near future.This report provides in-depth country wise analysis of the heparin market in Europe. Stakeholders of this report include manufacturers of heparin products, crude heparin suppliers, heparin processing companies, and new players planning to enter the market.Request for Sample Copy @The report provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of the heparin market in Europe. Qualitative analysis comprises market dynamics, trends, product overview, and country-level market information. Quantitative analysis includes market share held by companies in 2015, market size, and forecast for the heparin market in major countries in Europe such as Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia, and Rest of Europe from 2014 to 2024. Market revenue is provided in terms of US$ Mn from 2014 to 2024 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2016 to 2024 for all the segments, considering 2015 as the base year. The executive summary of the report provides a snapshot of the heparin market in Europe with information on leading segments, country wise market information with respect to the market size, growth rate (CAGR %), and growth factors.The market overview section comprises impact factors such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities for the heparin market in Europe. These factors would aid the stakeholders in establishing a strong foothold in Europe. Furthermore, the market overview section comprises key industry events, product overview, mortality rate of CVD in Europe, leading causes of death, and country-wise pharmaceutical expenditure. The market attractiveness analysis provides a graphical view comparing the growth and market dynamics in various segments to identify the most attractive market.Market share analysis is also provided in the competitive landscape section of the report for the year 2015 in terms of value (%). Furthermore, the report analyzes different heparin product types such as unfractionated heparin, low molecular weight heparin, and ultra-low molecular weight heparin. The product type section provides market analysis for different types of heparin in Europe. This includes an overview of product types, indications for use, presence of any biosimilars, market drivers, issues, and regulations amended for its production and use. Prices of products vary based on product type and formulation. Moreover, the heparin market by end-users such as hospitals, blood and stem cell banks, and others has also been analyzed in the report. The report provides average pricing analysis (based on the current prices) to offer an overview of prices of heparin-based pharmaceutical products in the EU (2015 & 2024).The report provides market analysis for heparin in the major countries in the EU: Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia, and Rest of Europe. Market analysis for each of these countries has been provided from 2014 to 2024 along with the CAGR from 2016 to 2024. The market has been estimated for finished heparin formulation and has not considered its APIs. Major factors such as aging population and increasing prevalence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) that propel the market for heparin in Europe are elaborated in the report. This report also covers certain regulations governing the manufacture and import of heparin in some countries.Get Complete Research Report With TOC @Major players operating in the heparin market in Europe such as Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Leo Pharma, Pfizer, Inc., Sanofi SA, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. are profiled in this report.The Europe heparin market is segmented into the following categories:Europe Heparin Market, by ProductUnfractionated HeparinLow Molecular Weight HeparinUltra-low Molecular Weight HeparinEurope Heparin Market, by End-userHospitalsBlood and Stem Cell BanksOthersEurope Heparin Market, by CountryGermanyFranceU.K.ItalySpainPolandSwitzerlandAustriaHungaryBelgiumPortugalCzech RepublicGreeceSlovakiaRest of EuropeFurther Info@@Have any query? Ask our expert @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. 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Global Fish Oil Softgel Market 2013 | Major Key Players  GNC, BY-HEALTH, Lysi, Natrol, NBTY, Nordic Naturals, NOW - Analysis & Forecast

Fish Oil Softgel Market 2023

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Description:Fish Oil Softgel-Global Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 offers a comprehensive analysis on Fish Oil Softgel industry, standing on the readers perspective, delivering detailed market data and penetrating insights. No matter the client is industry insider, potential entrant or investor, the report will provides useful data and information. Key questions answered by this report include:Worldwide and Regional Market Size of Fish Oil Softgel 2013-2017, and development forecast 2013-2023Main manufacturers/suppliers of Fish Oil Softgel worldwide, with company and product introduction, position in the Fish Oil Softgel marketMarket status and development trend of Fish Oil Softgel by types and applicationsCost and profit status of Fish Oil Softgel, and marketing statusMarket growth drivers and challengesRequest For sample Report @The report segments the global Fish Oil Softgel market as:Global Fish Oil Softgel Market: Regional Segment Analysis (Regional Production Volume, Consumption Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate 2013-2023):North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanRest APACLatin AmericaGlobal Fish Oil Softgel Market: Type Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume, Average Price, Revenue, Market Share and Trend 2013-2023):Food TypePharmaceutical TypeGlobal Fish Oil Softgel Market: Application Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume and Market Share 2013-2023; Downstream Customers and Market Analysis)Direct SellingDistributionGlobal Fish Oil Softgel Market: Manufacturers Segment Analysis (Company and Product introduction, Fish Oil Softgel Sales Volume, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin):GNCBY-HEALTHLysiNatrolNBTYNordic NaturalsNOWOrtho Molecular ProductsCaptek SoftgelNature MadeSundown NaturalsComplete Report Details @Table of ContentsChapter 1 Overview of Fish Oil Softgel1.1 Definition of Fish Oil Softgel in This Report1.2 Commercial Types of Fish Oil Softgel1.2.1 Food Type1.2.2 Pharmaceutical Type1.3 Downstream Application of Fish Oil Softgel1.3.1 Direct Selling1.3.2 Distribution1.4 Development History of Fish Oil Softgel1.5 Market Status and Trend of Fish Oil Softgel 2013-20231.5.1 Global Fish Oil Softgel Market Status and Trend 2013-20231.5.2 Regional Fish Oil Softgel Market Status and Trend 2013-2023Chapter 2 Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions2.1 Market Development of Fish Oil Softgel 2013-20172.2 Production Market of Fish Oil Softgel by Regions2.2.1 Production Volume of Fish Oil Softgel by Regions2.2.2 Production Value of Fish Oil Softgel by Regions2.3 Demand Market of Fish Oil Softgel by Regions2.4 Production and Demand Status of Fish Oil Softgel by Regions2.4.1 Production and Demand Status of Fish Oil Softgel by Regions 2013-20172.4.2 Import and Export Status of Fish Oil Softgel by Regions 2013-2017Chapter 3 Global Market Status and Forecast by Types3.1 Production Volume of Fish Oil Softgel by Types3.2 Production Value of Fish Oil Softgel by Types3.3 Market Forecast of Fish Oil Softgel by TypesChapter 4 Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry4.1 Demand Volume of Fish Oil Softgel by Downstream Industry4.2 Market Forecast of Fish Oil Softgel by Downstream IndustryChapter 5 Market Driving Factor Analysis of Fish Oil Softgel5.1 Global Economy Situation and Trend Overview5.2 Fish Oil Softgel Downstream Industry Situation and Trend OverviewChapter 6 Fish Oil Softgel Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers6.1 Production Volume of Fish Oil Softgel by Major Manufacturers6.2 Production Value of Fish Oil Softgel by Major Manufacturers6.3 Basic Information of Fish Oil Softgel by Major Manufacturers6.3.1 Headquarters Location and Established Time of Fish Oil Softgel Major Manufacturer6.3.2 Employees and Revenue Level of Fish Oil Softgel Major Manufacturer6.4 Market Competition News and Trend6.4.1 Merger, Consolidation or Acquisition News6.4.2 Investment or Disinvestment News6.4.3 New Product Development and LaunchChapter 7 Fish Oil Softgel Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data7.1 GNC7.1.1 Company profile7.1.2 Representative Fish Oil Softgel Product7.1.3 Fish Oil Softgel Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of GNC7.2 BY-HEALTH7.2.1 Company profile7.2.2 Representative Fish Oil Softgel Product7.2.3 Fish Oil Softgel Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of BY-HEALTH7.3 Lysi7.3.1 Company profile7.3.2 Representative Fish Oil Softgel Product7.3.3 Fish Oil Softgel Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Lysi7.4 Natrol7.4.1 Company profile7.4.2 Representative Fish Oil Softgel Product7.4.3 Fish Oil Softgel Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Natrol7.5 NBTY7.5.1 Company profile7.5.2 Representative Fish Oil Softgel Product7.5.3 Fish Oil Softgel Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of NBTYContinued.About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Global Coast Surveillance Radar Market 2018 - Thales , Airbus , IAI , SRC , CETC , Blighter , Bharat Electronics Limited ,

Coast Surveillance Radar Market 2018

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The Global Coast Surveillance Radar Market has valued at USD [XX] million in 2018 moreover is expected to reach USD [XX] million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of [XX] % between 2018 and 2025.The Coast Surveillance Radar Global Market report divulges strength and weakness of the industry players with SWOT analysis method. It accumulates summary on trends and growth of industry includes unstable structure of the market. The Coast Surveillance Radar report discloses a superior approach to examine important decision for growth and profitability of industry. Thales , Airbus , IAI , SRC , CETC , Blighter , Bharat Electronics Limited , , are the top most leading players of market those who are growing the industry.Request for the sample copy here @The report presents a detailed segmentation Internal Coast Surveillance Radar , Universal Coast Surveillance Radar , Others, Market Trend by Long Range Surveillance Radar , Medium Range Surveillance Radar , Short Range Surveillance Radar , , Vehicle Industry, General Mechanical Industry, Others of the global market based on technology, Land Based , Portable , various processes and systems.This report provides large evaluation of the Coast Surveillance Radar market as well as reveals industry legal statistics, and actual facts of the global market. The Coast Surveillance Radar industry report gathers crucial outline over the necessary characteristic of market like cost, capacity, gross margin, capacity utilization rate, import, export, production, consumption, supply, and market share. The most leading players of market have highlighted with their contact details, sales, and product specification. This report accommodates basic reviews of the Coast Surveillance Radar embracing classifications, specifications as well industry chain structure.Drivers, restraints, projections, and framework of market have evaluated for making this Coast Surveillance Radar report more vital for development of the industry. The Coast Surveillance Radar report highlights on industries, market, technologies, and abilities in addition to determine market as well as future scope of the global industry players. The Coast Surveillance Radar global industry studied market size of Coast Surveillance Radar for a year and predicts for next five years on the basis of anticipated previous records. Moreover, in the global Coast Surveillance Radar market report, the main product type and segments are Type 123 of the global market are elaborated.Read more report @The Coast Surveillance Radar global market report unveils best approach for premeditated and prevented management. Topographically, market has classified on the base of segments and sub-segments of the Coast Surveillance Radar industry. The Coast Surveillance Radar global market has enveloped the countries involved Middle East and America, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, And Europe. This report has valued the Coast Surveillance Radar industry with volume [k MT] and revenue [USD Million].Reasons for Buying Coast Surveillance Radar market research reportThe Coast Surveillance Radar report presents locate analysis for changing competitive dynamicsThis also gives a onward looking perspective on different features driving or preventive market developmentThe report highlights six- years forecast review on the basis of how the market is predicted to developThe industry report helps in consideration about the key product segments and their future growthThis report makes available pin point analysis of varying competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsThe valuation of the global Coast Surveillance Radar market report symbolizes approximate calculation of historic verities and statistics which make this Coast Surveillance Radar industry report an inconceivable precious mention for marketing, consultants, industry executives, sales and product managers. The Coast Surveillance Radar global report has evaluated with study from several illustrious institutions of the global industry along with using a number of analytical toolsInquire before buying here @Market Research Trade is the right place to land up if you are looking for a repository of the Market research reports. It covers reports from a range of categories that include and are not limited to chemical, healthcare, consumer goods, machinery & equipment, and manufacturing & construction. It covers tabs such as niche market, category, latest reports, and newswherein latest international, national, and business news are been provided.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free : +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803
Cyber Security Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  Symantec Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., BAE Systems Inc., EMC Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise

Cyber Security Market

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Cyber Security Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  Symantec Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., BAE Systems Inc., EMC Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.Description:-The Cyber Security market is anticipated to reach over USD 269 billion by 2026. In 2017, the enterprise segment dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. North America is expected to be the leading contributor to the global market revenue in 2017.The growing need for protection of sensitive data, and increasing cyber terrorism has boosted the adoption of cyber security solutions. The rising penetration of mobile devices, and increasing trend of BYOD further support the growth of this market. Additionally, the increasing demand of cyber security solutions from small and medium enterprises has supported market growth over the years. Increasing investments by vendors in technological advancements coupled with growing demand for cloud-based cyber security solutions would accelerate the growth of the cyber security market. However, However, growing use of pirated cyber security solutions, and complexities associated with device security hinder market growth. Growing demand from emerging economies is expected to provide numerous growth opportunities in the coming years.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThe cases of cyber-attacks in the healthcare sector have increased significantly over the years. The high demand for electronic health records in the black market has resulted in numerous cyber-attacks. The healthcare sector is prone to cyber-attacks owing to limited budget allocation by healthcare institutions for cyber security. The healthcare sector is dominated by small practices and rural hospitals, which lack the resources for investment in cyber security, thereby increasing risks of cyber-attacks. However, introduction of affordable cyber security solutions for healthcare sector, increasing awareness, and growing incidences of cyber-attacks are expected to promote the adoption of cyber security in this sector.North America generated the highest revenue in the market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global market throughout the forecast period. The increase in number of cyber-attacks, and growing trend of BYOD drive the market growth in the region. The growing penetration of mobile devices, and technological advancements further support market growth in the region. The increasing spending on data protection in BFSI and defense sectors in the region further promote market growth in the region. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to growing need for data privacy across various industries in the developing countries of the region.The end-users in Cyber Security market include BFSI, IT & Telecom, healthcare, retail, defense and government, travel and hospitality, and others. In 2017, the defense and government segment accounted for the highest market share owing to increasing need to protect sensitive data and avoid cyber-attacks. The growing government spending to provide enhanced cyber security to the public sector and increasing implementation of cyber security installations in the defense sector, especially in developing countries, supports the market growth in this sector. The increasing adoption of cloud-based cyber security in this sector is expected to support market growth in the coming years.The well-known companies profiled in the report include Symantec Corporation, Cisco Systems Inc., BAE Systems Inc., EMC Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Intel Security, Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint Inc., LogRhythm Inc., IBM Corporation, Fortinet, Inc., and Centrify Corporation among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.Enquiry About Report @Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1. Overview and Scope1.1. Research goal & scope1.2. Research assumptions1.3. Research Methodology1.3.1. Primary data sources1.3.2. Secondary data sources1.4. Key take-away1.5. Stakeholders2. Executive Summary2.1. Market Definition2.2. Market Segmentation3. Cyber Security Market Insights3.1. Cyber Security  Industry snapshot3.2. Cyber Security - Ecosystem analysis3.3. Cyber Security Market Dynamics3.3.1. Cyber Security  Market Forces3.3.1.1. Cyber Security Market Driver Analysis3.3.1.2. Cyber Security Market Restraint/Challenges analysis3.3.1.3. Cyber Security Market Opportunity Analysis3.3.2. Industry analysis - Porter's five force3.3.2.1. Bargaining power of supplier3.3.2.2. Bargaining power of buyer3.3.2.3. Threat of substitute3.3.2.4. Threat of new entrant3.3.2.5. Degree of competition3.3.3. Cyber Security Market PEST Analysis, 20173.3.4. Cyber Security Market Value Chain Analysis3.3.5. Cyber Security Industry Trends3.3.6. Competitive Ranking Analysis4. Cyber Security Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Type4.1. Key Findings4.2. Enterprise security4.3. Network Security4.4. Application Security4.5. Endpoint security4.6. Others5. Cyber Security Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Deployment Model5.1. Key Findings5.2. On-Premise5.3. Cloud-Based6. Cyber Security Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by End-User6.1. Key Findings6.2. BFSI6.3. IT & Telecom6.4. Healthcare6.5. Retail6.6. Defense and Government6.7. Travel and Hospitality6.8. OthersContinuedBuy 1-user PDF @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.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Smart Grid Security Market By Top Players - BAE Systems PLC, IBM Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Intel Security (Mcafee), Siemens AG, Symantec Corporation, N-Dimension Solutions, Inc., Elster Solutions, Alertenterprise, Leidos

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An exclusive Smart Grid Security Market research report created through broad primary research (inputs from industry experts, companies, and stakeholders) and secondary research, the report aims to present the analysis of Global Smart Grid Security Market by Type, By Application, By Region - North America, Europe, South America, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyses the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges and opportunities in the global Infection Surveillance Solutions Market. Additionally, the report also highlights market entry strategies for various companies across the globe.Worldwide Smart Grid Security Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the ASIC Miner industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global Smart Grid Security Market with detailed market segmentation by product/application and geography. The global Smart Grid Security Market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Surveillance Solutions Market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Get | Download FREE Sample Copy of This Report :A smart grid is a massive complex network consisting of millions of devices and units connected with each other and this integration results in empowering of the electrical utilities providers and consumers. It also increases the efficiency and the availability of the power system while continually monitoring, regulating and managing the demands of customers. Smart grid incorporates the traditional electrical power grid with information and communication technologies (ICT).Global Smart Grid Security Market OutlookIn the report, the market outlook section mainly encompasses the fundamental dynamics of the market which include drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges faced by the industry. Drivers and Restraints are intrinsic factors whereas opportunities and challenges are extrinsic factors of the market.Key factors such as global improvement of smart grids, requisite to comply with regulations and standards, increased the complexity of cyber attacks, increasing internet of things (IoT) penetration are anticipated to drive the Global Smart Grid Security in the forecast period,On the contrary, long investment cycles in the energy sector, lack of security awareness among smart grid investors and dissimilar guidelines concerning cybersecurity could be the major restraining factors in the growth of this market in the coming years.Ask For Discount @Verified Market Research narrows down the available data using primary sources to validate the data and use it in compiling a full-fledged market research study. The report contains a quantitative and qualitative estimation of market elements which interests the client. The Global Smart Grid Security Market is mainly bifurcated into sub-segments which can provide a classified data regarding the latest trends in the market.Global Smart Grid Security Market Competitive LandscapeThe Global Smart Grid Security Market study report will provide a valuable insight with an emphasis on global market including some of the major players such as BAE Systems PLC, IBM Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Intel Security (Mcafee), Siemens AG, Symantec Corporation, N-Dimension Solutions, Inc., Elster Solutions, Alertenterprise, Leidos. Our market analysis also entails a section solely dedicated for such major players wherein our analysts provide an insight to the financial statements of all the major players, along with its product benchmarking and SWOT analysis. The competitive landscape section also includes key development strategies, market share and market ranking analysis of the above-mentioned players globally.Global Smart Grid Security Market, By Application Smart Meters Smart Application Renewable Energy Resources Energy Efficient ResourcesGlobal Smart Grid Security Market, By Service Type Managed Services Professional Services Consulting Education and Training Support and MaintenanceGlobal Smart Grid Security Market, By Security Type Endpoint Security Application Security Database Security Network SecurityGlobal Smart Grid Security Market, By Solution Firewall Identity and Access Management (IAM) Security and Vulnerability Management (SVM) Encryption Antivirus/Antimalware OthersGlobal Smart Grid Security Market, By Deployment Type Cloud On-PremisesReport is Available @Global Smart Grid Security Market Geographic Scope North Americao U.S.o Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Franceo Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Chinao Japano Indiao Rest of Asia Pacific Latin Americao Brazil Rest of the WorldAbout us-Verified Market Research has been providing Research Reports, with up to date information, and in-depth analysis, for several years now, to individuals and companies alike that are looking for accurate Research Data. Our large database includes the latest Content from renowned authors and publications worldwide. Weve recently developed a one of its own kind smart-system, which helps us determine the authenticity and reputation of the content and its author. This smart-system ensures that we always include high  quality content in our database. We also provide customized Data and Reports according to the need of our client. We strive for excellence and perfection in all our work, and our in-house team is working 24/7 so that you get the Data, Reports, and Analytics you need to help make better decisions. We believe in Customer Satisfaction, and to achieve that we aim to understand the clients need to provide tailor-made services.Our aim is to save your Time and Resources, providing you with the required Research Data, so you can only concentrate on Progress and Growth. Our Data includes research from various industries, along with all necessary statistics like Market Trends, or Forecasts from reliable sources.Contact us -New Jersey ( USA )218 Washington Street,Boonton 07005Tel:+1 (800) 782 1768sales@verifiedmarketresearch.com
Global Oil Refining Pumps Market Scenario Highlighting Major Drivers & Trends, 2018 - 2028 | Key Players - Xylem, Flowserve Corporation, KSB SE & Co. KGaA, Weir Group, Sulzer Ltd., GRUNDFOS

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The global demand for oil refining pumps is expected to surpass 3 million tons by 2018 end, according to a latest Fact.MR report on oil refining pumps market. Rising oil and gas production, and increase in petroleum-based power generation are driving oil refining pumps demand. The oil supply has sharply increased from Russia, Middle East, and the US, compensating for fall in oil production in Iran and Venezuela.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The demand for centrifugal pumps is constantly rising in upstream oil and gas industry in multiphase or tri-phase pumping application. With the increasing demand for oil, especially in developing regions, transporting a large amount of liquid has become necessary to ensure operational efficiency. This is driving the demand for centrifugal pumps to transport a significant amount of liquid in a short period.APAC to Continue Strong Position in Oil Refining Pumps MarketThe Fact.MR study projects that APAC continues to register significant growth in the oil refining pumps market and is likely to account for over 40% of total demand by 2018 end. The positive outlook in the region can be attributed to the growing demand for diesel and gasoline in emerging nations like India and China.The upgradation of existing oil refineries and robust investment in the construction of new oil refineries is fueling the growth in the oil refining pumps market in the region. Rising oil demand and faced with strict emission regulations, India is also moving towards development of new and modern refineries.According to the International Energy Agency (IEAs) latest World Outlook Projection, Indias refining capacity is likely to grow by two-thirds in the next 25 years. This is expected to make India worlds third largest refining center by 2040, following the US and China.Major oil companies in Southeast Asia are also investing in increasing their refining capacity. Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand are likely to see growth in new refining capacity in the coming years. The development of new and advanced oil refineries in APAC is expected to create growth opportunities for oil refining pumps manufacturers.Get complete report with Comprehensive table of contents @Energy Transition Emerging as Serious Challenge for Oil Companies and Oil Exporting CountriesGlobal oil companies and oil exporting countries are likely to face a challenge with the rise in energy transition. The biggest challenge for oil companies make changes in their business model and integrating low-carbon assets in their portfolios. With the growing trend of renewable energy sources, oil exporting countries with good reserves-to-production ration are facing the risk of loss in export revenues and monetizing their large reserve base.Penetration of renewables has increased in Europe to meet the energy demand, resulting in reduced oil demand. Moreover, regulation by national governments and European Union is likely to further reduce refined oil demand in the region. Oil refineries in Europe are unable to find buyers, resulting in constant drop in profit margins. Inability to find buyers and drop in profit margins is forcing oil refinery operators to shut down the plants.More refinery plants shutdown expected in the coming years in Europe is likely to impact the oil refining pumps market in the region. Moreover, key oil companies across various regions are also planning to invest more in low-carbon energy sources with aim to reduce carbon footprints.The Fact.MR report tracks the oil refining pumps market for the period 2018-2028. According to the report, the oil refining pumps market is expected to reach 2.9% CAGR during 2018-2028.Make an Enquiry before buying this report @About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:Read Industry News at -
Engineering Services Outsourcing Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  HCL Technologies Limited, IAV GmbH, P+Z Engineering GmbH, Tata Consulting Services Limited, Wipro Limited

Engineering Services Outsourcing Market

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Engineering Services Outsourcing Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  HCL Technologies Limited, IAV GmbH, P+Z Engineering GmbH, Tata Consulting Services Limited, Wipro Limited.Description:-The global engineering services outsourcing market is anticipated to reach more than USD 1.96 trillion by 2026. The major factors which are driving this market is the access to low cost highly skilled resources which can work towards complex tasks of not only designing and testing but also on validation, simulation and execution. Companies are moving from business process outsourcing to knowledge process outsourcing and major industry verticals such as automotive, consumer electronics, semiconductors, aerospace and telecom are providing huge opportunities to the consulting companies. The traction of offshore outsourcing can be seen owing to the low cost and added capabilities from the service providers. There are pureplay ESO service providers which are not only providing basic services but also, they are jointly investing with the companies to expand their businesses in growing markets and geographies. Companies are also focusing on ESO services to expand their market reach along with faster turnaround times from these providers. These are some of the major advantages for the companies to outsource their services.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThe market for ESO has been evolved from outsourcing of simple low-cost engineering services to capacity augmentation. These days companies are focusing more on reduced timelines, increased productivity and quality of outsourcing services. Countries such as India, China are the biggest market for ESO providers. Growing number of engineering professionals every year coupled with low cost of service have pushed the market for ESO in this region.Companies in North America and Europe are considered to spend more on these services however, Asia Pacific is the largest market for the ESO service providers. Countries such as India and China have pushed the market for ESO and are estimated to continue the trend over the forecast period. ESO applications in the automotive, telecom, consumer electronics and aerospace segments is considered to have large market share in 2017. There has been an increase in adoption in the offshore services as compared to onsite service due to low costs and highly skilled professionals on the offshore locations. The offshore outsourcing type would grow at a higher rate during the forecast period as compared to its counterpart. The major restrains this market is facing is the intellectual property theft specifically during the offshore outsourcing. This is the major problem faced by many companies, which eventually generates a loss for these companies. However due to strict laws and changing regulations, this challenge is expected to overcome during the forecast period.Major players which are profiled in the study include HCL Technologies Limited, IAV GmbH, P+Z Engineering GmbH, Tata Consulting Services Limited, Wipro Limited, EDAG Engineering GmbH, ASAP Holdings GmbH, FEV Group, Cybage software, Kistler Instruments AG, Infosys Ltd, among others.Enquiry About Report @Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1. Overview and Scope1.1. Research goal & scope1.2. Research assumptions1.3. Research Methodology1.3.1. Primary data sources1.3.2. Secondary data sources1.4. Key take-aways1.5. Stakeholders2. Executive Summary2.1. Market Definition2.2. Market Segmentation3. Engineering services outsourcing Market Insights3.1. Engineering services outsourcing  Industry snapshot3.2. Engineering services outsourcing - Ecosystem analysis3.3. Engineering services outsourcing market dynamics3.3.1. Engineering services outsourcing  Market Forces3.3.1.1. Engineering services outsourcing Market driver analysis3.3.1.2. Engineering services outsourcing Market restraint/challenges analysis3.3.1.3. Engineering services outsourcing Market opportunity analysis3.3.2. Industry analysis - Porter's five force3.3.2.1. Bargaining power of supplier3.3.2.2. Bargaining power of buyer3.3.2.3. Threat of substitute3.3.2.4. Threat of new entrant3.3.2.5. Degree of competition3.3.3. Engineering services outsourcing market PEST analysis, 20173.3.4. Value Chain Analysis3.3.5. Engineering services outsourcing Industry trends3.3.6. Competitive Ranking Analysis4. Engineering services outsourcing Market Size and Forecast by Location Outlook4.1. Key findings4.2. Onsite4.2.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017 - 20264.3. Offshore4.3.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017 - 20265. Engineering services outsourcing Market Size and Forecast by Application Outlook5.1. Key findings5.2. Consumer Electronics5.2.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017 - 20265.3. Automotive5.3.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017 - 20265.4. Telecom5.4.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2016  20255.5. Pharmaceuticals5.5.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017 - 20265.6. Energy5.6.1. Global market estimates and forecast, 2017 - 20265.7. Semiconductors5.7.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017 - 20265.8. Construction5.8.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017  20265.9. Aerospace5.9.1. Global market estimates and forecasts, 2017 - 20266. Engineering services outsourcing Market Size and Forecast by Regions6.1. Key findings6.2. North America6.2.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.2.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.2.3. U.S.6.2.3.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.2.3.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.2.4. Canada6.2.4.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.2.4.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.3. Europe6.3.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.3.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.3.3. Germany6.3.3.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.3.3.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.3.4. UK6.3.4.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.3.4.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.3.5. France6.3.5.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.3.5.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.4. Asia Pacific6.4.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.4.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.4.3. China6.4.3.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.4.3.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.4.4. India6.4.4.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.4.4.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.4.5. Japan6.4.5.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.4.5.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.5. Latin America6.5.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.5.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.5.3. Brazil6.5.3.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.5.3.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20266.6. Middle East & Africa6.6.1. Engineering services outsourcing market by location outlook, 2017 - 20266.6.2. Engineering services outsourcing market by application outlook, 2017 - 20267. Company Profiles7.1. HCL Technologies Limited7.1.1. Overview7.1.2. Financials7.1.3. Product Benchmarking7.1.4. Recent Developments7.2. IAV GmbH7.2.1. Overview7.2.2. Financials7.2.3. Product Benchmarking7.2.4. Recent Developments7.3. P+Z Engineering GmbH7.3.1. Overview7.3.2. Financials7.3.3. Product Benchmarking7.3.4. Recent Developments7.4. Tata Consulting Services Limited7.4.1. Overview7.4.2. Financials7.4.3. Product Benchmarking7.4.4. Recent Developments7.5. Wipro Limited7.5.1. Overview7.5.2. Financials7.5.3. Product Benchmarking7.5.4. Recent DevelopmentsContinuedBuy 1-user PDF @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.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Policy Management in Telecom Market Research and Analysis 2019-2023 | Huawei Investment & Holding Co. Ltd., Nokia Corporation, Amdocs Limited, Oracle Corporation, Astea International Inc., Comarch Sa.

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Policy Management in Telecom Market, By Component (Solution, Service), By Network Type (Fixed, Mobile), By Deployment (Cloud, On-Premise), By Organization Size (Small & Medium Enterprises, Large Enterprises) - Forecast 2023Key PlayersThe prominent players in the Policy Management in Telecom Market are- LM Ericsson Telephone Company (Sweden), Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd. (China), Nokia Corporation (Finland), Amdocs Limited (U.S.), Oracle Corporation (U.S.), Astea International Inc. (U.S.), Comarch Sa. (Poland), Wipro Limited (India), Intracom Telecom (Greece), Genpact (U.S.) and others.Get Sample Report @Market Highlights:On the basis of regional analysis the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. North America region is generating highest market share in the policy management in telecom market owing to better network infrastructure, digitization and higher technology implementation. Digitization in North America is mainly due to the invention of advanced technology and economies benefitting from it. North America region is leading due to presence of major players from the region in the policy management in telecom market. The implementation of policy management in telecom solution by both small and medium enterprises is increasing rapidly, especially one into network sector. The policy management in telecom is gaining demand as organization seeks to improve their business growth by shifting from on-premise to cloud based. The initial low cost, saving amount spent on infrastructure, automatic software upgrading and seamless integration is driving the market of cloud based policy management in telecom market.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 30 market data tables and figures spread over 100 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on The Policy Management in Telecom Market Research Report -Forecast to 2023.Segmentation:The policy management in telecom market has been segmented on the basis of component, network type, deployment and organization size. The network type segment consists of fixed and wireless. Fixed networks provides ultra-fast broadband services to customers. With the help of fixed networks, the landline broadband internet connection is able to achieve bandwidths of many megabyte per second.Get Report Details @Market Research Analysis:The policy management in telecom market in North America region is growing due to rise of high volumes data by enterprise and need to improve information governance in organizations. According to the study, the policy management in telecom market will show considerable growth in Europe region. Asia-Pacific market is estimated to be one of the fastest growing market as it is continuously investing into research and development of policy management in telecom market and growing smartphone penetration give rise to network complexities is driving policy management in telecom market in the region. Increasing population, and growing IT landscape is boosting the market in the region. The region is witnessing high adoption of telecom solutions by enterprises. Developing countries such as India and China are providing telecom solutions at a large scale owing to increasing telecom industries, complexities in network and increase is smartphone users boosting the market in the region. By deployment segment, cloud services is driving the policy management in telecom market. The region is witnessing high growth in policy management in telecom market due to growing technological advancement in cloud, analytics and mobile technologies.TABLE OF CONTENTS1 MARKET INTRODUCTION1.1 INTRODUCTION1.2 SCOPE OF STUDY1.2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE1.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS1.2.3 LIMITATIONS1.3 MARKET STRUCTURE2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 RESEARCH TYPE2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH2.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH2.4 FORECAST MODEL2.4.1 MARKET DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS & FORECAST2.4.2 MARKET SIZE ESTIMATION3 MARKET DYNAMICSContinued..LIST OF TABLESTABLE 1 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET, BY COMPONENTTABLE 2 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET, BY NETWORK TYPETABLE 3 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET, BY DEPLOYMENTTABLE 4 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET, BY ORGANIZATION SIZETABLE 5 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET, BY REGIONContinued..Get More Information @LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 RESEARCH COMPONENTFIGURE 2 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET: BY COMPONENT (%)FIGURE 3 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET: BY NETWORK TYPE (%)FIGURE 4 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET: BY DEPLOYMENT (%)FIGURE 5 POLICY MANAGEMENT IN TELECOM MARKET: BY ORGANIZATION SIZE (%)Continued..About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.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 membersContact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Digital Intelligence Platform Market Research and Analysis 2019-2023 | IBM, SAS Institute, Evergage, Google Inc., Mixpanel, Optimizely, Webtrekk GmbH, New Relic, Localytics

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Global Digital Intelligence Platform Market: by Component (Energy Optimization, Analytics, Data Management), Touch point (Mobile, Social Media, Web, Kiosk, Email), Organization Size (SMEs, Large Enterprises), Vertical  Forecast to 2023Key PlayersSome of the prominent players in the global digital intelligence platform market: Adobe Systems (U.S.), IBM (U.S.), SAS Institute (U.S.), Evergage (U.S.), Google, Inc. (U.S.), Mixpanel (U.S.), Optimizely (U.S.), Webtrekk GmbH (Germany), New Relic (U.S.), Localytics (U.S.) and Cxense (Norway).Get Sample Report @Market Highlights:The global digital intelligence platform market is projected to witness a rapid growth during the forecast period. Increasing emergence of cloud-based technologies and growing adoption of mobile devices is a major factor driving the growth of the market. Moreover, increasing demand for digital intelligence platform across various industry verticals such as BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and IT & telecommunications is fueling the growth of the global market.The global digital intelligence platform market, by geography, is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. As compared to other regions, the digital intelligence platform market in North America is expected to witness a significant growth and hold the largest market share during the forecast period. The U.S and Canada are anticipated to drive the growth of the North American digital intelligence platform market owing to the presence of a large number of established key players such as Adobe Systems, IBM, SAS Institute, Evergage, Google, Inc., Mixpanel, Optimizely, New Relic (U.S.) and Localytics (U.S.) in this region. Due to the drastic fall in the usage of native applications and a considerable shift towards the adoption of mobile applications in the region, the market is likely to show immense growth in the coming future. Additionally, North America also has a well-established infrastructure, which allows a higher penetration of devices and ultimately provides better connectivity. Increasing need for innovations and advancements in the technology are other major factors responsible for the growth of the global digital intelligence platform market.In the global digital intelligence platform market, Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness a relatively faster adoption at the highest CAGR during the forecast period as compared to other regions owing to the growing adoption of digital platforms across different enterprises in countries in the region.The global digital intelligence platform market is projected to reach USD 15 billion at a CAGR of over 20% by the end of the forecast period 2018-2023.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 30 market data tables and figures spread over 100 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Digital Intelligence Platform Market Research Report-Forecast to 2023.Get Report Details @Segmentation:The global Digital Intelligence Platform Market is segmented on the basis of component, touchpoint, organization size, and vertical. The component segment is further classified into energy optimization, analytics and data management. The increasing need to extract real time customer data to make informed decisions on a digital platform is driving the growth of the digital intelligence platform market. Digital intelligence platforms offer various benefits to the businesses by providing real time business insights.Market Research Analysis:North America is estimated to account for the largest share of the market, whereas Europe market is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. The North American market is witnessing a rapid growth due to technological advancements and increasing adoption of mobile devices across different industry verticals in this region. The U.S. holds the majority of market share both in terms of revenue as well as the adoption of mobile applications.TABLE OF CONTENTS1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market LandscapeContinued.LIST OF TABLESTable1 Global Digital Intelligence Platform Market: By Region, 2018-2023Table2 North America Digital Intelligence Platform Market: By Country, 2018-2023Table3 Europe Digital Intelligence Platform Market: By Country, 2018-2023Table4 Asia-Pacific Digital Intelligence Platform Market: By Country, 2018-2023Table5 Middle East & Africa Digital Intelligence Platform Market: By Country, 2018-2023Continued.Get More Information @LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 Global Digital Intelligence Platform Market SegmentationFIGURE 2 Forecast MethodologyFIGURE 3 Five Forces Analysis Of Global Digital Intelligence Platform MarketFIGURE 4 Value Chain Of Global Digital Intelligence Platform MarketFIGURE 5 Share Of Global Digital Intelligence Platform Market In 2018, By Country (In %)Continued.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.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 membersContact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Trends in Nasogastric Tubes Market During Period 2025 By Application, Regional Outlook and Key Players Andersen Products, Bard Medical, Bicakcilar, Degania Silicone, Pacific Hospital Supply, Rontis Medical etc.

Nasogastric Tubes Market

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The " Global Nasogastric Tubes Market Professional Survey Report 2019 " is a specialized and in-depth study of the Nasogastric Tubes industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of the Global Nasogastric Tubes Market with detailed market segmentation by type, service, destination, end user, and geography.DOWNLOAD SAMPLE OF THIS PREMIUM REPORT ATNasogastric Tubes Market Report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Nasogastric Tubes market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.The Global Nasogastric Tubes market analyzes and researches the Nasogastric Tubes development status and forecast in United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India & Central & South America.The Global Nasogastric Tubes Market focuses on global major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out.Key Players covered in this report are Andersen Products, Bard Medical, Bicakcilar, Degania Silicone, Guangdong Baihe Medical Technology, Pacific Hospital Supply, Rontis Medical.The report analysed by applications like Children Use, Adult Use. Then report is analysed on the basis of type Levin Tube, Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube, Others.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states the supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.A DISCOUNT CAN BE ASKED BEFORE ORDER A COPY OF NASOGASTRIC TUBES MARKET REPORT ATThe Nasogastric Tubes Market report provides key statistics on the market status of the Nasogastric Tubes manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.Major Points Covered in Table of Contents:Global Nasogastric Tubes Market Research Report 20181 Industry Overview of Nasogastric Tubes2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis3 Development and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Nasogastric Tubes4 Key Figures of Major Manufacturers5 Nasogastric Tubes Regional Market Analysis6 Nasogastric Tubes Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Nasogastric Tubes Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Nasogastric Tubes Major Manufacturers Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Nasogastric Tubes Market10 Marketing Channel11 Market Dynamics12 Conclusionand MoreList of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Nasogastric TubesTable Global Nasogastric Tubes Production (K Units) Growth Rate Comparison by Types (2014-2025)Figure Global Nasogastric Tubes Production Market Share by Types in 2018Figure Levin Tube Product PictureFigure Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube Product PictureFigure Others Product PictureTable Global Nasogastric Tubes Consumption (K Units) Comparison by Applications (2014-2025)Figure Global Nasogastric Tubes Consumption Market Share by Applications in 2018ASK FOR ANY QUERIES ABOUT THIS REPORT ATAbout InForGrowth:We are a market-intelligence company formed with the objective of providing clients access to the most relevant and accurate research content for their growth needs. At InForGrowth, we understand Research requirements and help a client in taking informed business-critical decisions. Given the complexities and interdependencies of market-intelligence, there is always more than one source to explore and arrive at the right answer. Through our smart search feature and our reliable & trusted publishing partners, we are paving way for more simplified and relevant research.For all your Research needs, reach out to us at:Address: 6400 Village Pkwy suite # 104, Dublin, CA 94568, USAContact Person: RohanEmail: sales@inforgrowth.comUS: +1-909-329-2808UK: +44 (203) 743 1890
Data Science Platform Market Insights | Key Players : Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corporation, Google, Wolfram, DataRobot Inc. and Sense Inc

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According to recent research "Data Science Platform Market by Business Function (Marketing, Sales, Logistics, Risk, Customer Support, Human Resources, & Operations), Deployment Model, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", The data science platform market is estimated to grow from USD 19.58 Billion in 2016 to USD 101.37 Billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 38.9%. Enterprises are focusing on methods enabling simpler use of data to drive their business and advancement in big data technologies and these are the key driving forces of the data science platform market.Browse 44 market data tables and 43 figures spread through 136 pages and in-depth TOC on Data Science Platform Market"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.The logistics business function is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast periodThe logistics business function is expected to have the largest market share, as well as, the highest growth rate. Most of the enterprises are embracing revered data science platforms to ingest data from numerous sources. These data science platforms have helped enterprises to address the business queries with the help of actionable insights delivered as an end result from data science platform solutions. This has led enterprises to enhance and maximize their Return on Investment (ROI). Moreover, data science platform also helps sort data to support efficient network planning and network optimization through analysis of historical data of transportation routes.The on-demand deployment model to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast periodThe market by deployment model has been segmented into on-premises and on-demand model. The on-demand deployment model is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The on-demand deployment model will gain traction in the future, owing to low operational expenses, ease of deployment, and improved scalability & integration.Speak to Analyst@North America is expected to dominate the data science platform market during the forecast periodThe data science platform market segments the global market on the basis of regions, which includes North America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Latin America. North America is expected to hold the largest share of the data science platform market in 2016, due to the presence of large enterprises, technical experts, and growing demands for data science platform in this region. The market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2021. The APAC market is expected to adopt data science platform significantly, owing to increased Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), flexible government policies advocating the growth of digitalization, industrialization, and smart city initiatives by various governments, which will be instrumental in adoption of the technology by leaps and bounds.The report also encompasses different strategies, such as acquisitions, partnerships & collaborations, and product developments, adopted by major players to increase their shares in the market. Some of the major technology vendors include Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), Google, Inc. (U.S.), Wolfram (U.S.), DataRobot Inc. (U.S.), Sense Inc. (U.S.), RapidMiner Inc. (U.S.), Domino Data Lab (U.S.), Dataiku (France), Alteryx, Inc. (U.S.), and Continuum Analytics, Inc. (U.S.).Request Bundle Report@MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies revenues. Currently servicing 7500 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, "Knowledgestore" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche marketsMr. Shelly SinghMarketsandMarkets INC.630 Dundee RoadSuite 430Northbrook, IL 60062USA : 1-888-600-6441newsletter@marketsandmarkets.com
Global Casino Management System Market 2019 By International Game Technology, Konami, Micros Systems, LGS, Honeywell

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The Global Casino Management System market report offers a detailed analysis of the global Casino Management System market. It also highlights the novel contributors and existing players in the Casino Management System market. This report summarizes the global Casino Management System market. It emphasizes on the leading performers in the global market. The global Casino Management System market report offers comprehensive data of the principal contributors in the market by highlighting their latest developments, market shares, business review, and product contributions. The report analyzes the growth of the key market players with the help of SWOT analysis.This report focuses on the global top players and Manufacturers, covered bellow:-International Game Technology, Konami, Micros Systems, LGS, Honeywell, Aristocrat Leisure, Next Level Security SystemsYou have to check this link for free PDF sample report @The Casino Management System report emphasizes the key features helping for the growth of the global Casino Management System market. It also projects the market valuation within the estimated time period. The global Casino Management System report reveals the latest market trends in the related field. The report comprises of the global revenue [USD Million] and size [k MT] of the market. In addition, the major product types and segments [Video Surveillance Systems, Access Control Systems, Alarm Systems, Others] along with their sub-segments or application [Security & Surveillance, Accounting & Cash Management, Player Tracking, Property Management, Marketing] of the global market also are enclosed in the report. The study discusses the details of major market players, their strategies, and other factors.The research report evaluates the global market growth with the help of various methodical tools. The Porters five forces are been considered for analyzing the growth of the global market. The global Casino Management System market is segmented on the basis of applications, product categories, and regionally. It furthermore highlights all product categories in the consumer application segmentRead detailed index of full research study at @The study objectives of this report are:-To analyze and study the global Casino Management System sales, value, status (2013-2018) and forecast (2019-2025);To analyze the top players in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, to study the sales, value and market share of top players in these regions.Focuses on the key Casino Management System players, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Enquire here get customization & check discount for this report @Available Customization'sWith the given market data, Market Deeper offers customization according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Turf Protection market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players, if you want Customization in report please Contact Us: sales@marketdeeper.comThanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Asia-Pacific Europe, Central & South America, Middle East & Africa.About usMarket Deeper is a well-versed platform that offers precisely crafted market reports. With the integration of expert teams efficiency and reliable data sources, we produce some finest reports of infinite industries and companies. We make reports that cover critical business parameters such as production rate, manufacturing trends, supply chain management, and expansion of distribution network.Market Deeper is also associated with various leading publishers and persistently upgrades the data to provide enhanced access to our work for the client's betterment. We offer our clients with diverse customization options. No matter what statistics you need, our proficiency in the field will help to fetch minuscule information of the specific industry and company.Our aim is to deliver detailed picture of the market trends and forecasts for precise business executions.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, USAUSA Tel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketdeeper.comWeb:
Orthopedic Devices Market - Recommendations to Market Players | Medtronic, NuVasive, Inc., Smith & Nephew plc., Stryker Co, Zimmer Inc. Etc.

Orthopedic Devices Market

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Orthopedic Devices Market is growing steadily and expected to continue its growth near future. The Market for Orthopedic Devices was US$ 43,802.1 million in 2016 and expected to reach US$ 58,814.6 million by 2023. The Global Orthopedic Devices Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period.Global Orthopedic Devices Market - Competitive LandscapeOrthopedic devices market demonstrates high growth potential which is expected to attract several new entrants to the market intensifying the competition further. Manufacturers of these devices strive to develop innovative materials to develop a range of orthopedic devices with the best practices. Incorporating strategic initiatives such as acquisitions, collaboration, expansion, and partnership matured players try to gain a competitive advantage to maintain their positions in the market. They investment substantially in manufacturing & expansion programme that can help them to reduce logistics cost and increase production capacities and leveraging potential to fetch larger turnovers.Dominant Key Players:Some of the key players in this market are:DePuy Synthes Companies (US)Globus Medical, Inc. (US)Medtronic (Republic of Ireland)NuVasive, Inc. (US)Smith & Nephew plc. (UK)Stryker Corporation (US)Zimmer Inc. (US)Industry Developments:November 21, 2018  Colfax Corporation (US), a corporation involved in the manufacturing welding, air, and gas handling equipment, and medical devices announced its plans to acquire DJO Global, Inc. (US), a manufacturer of a variety of orthopedic products for rehabilitation, pain management and physical therapy for USD 3.15 BN. This significant deal is based on the diversification and favorable demographic trends for DJO. Colfax is making a big acquisition as it seeks to diversify its revenue streams, reduce cyclicality, and apply its approach to operational excellence.Get Sample Report @A leading musculoskeletal solutions company, Globus Medical Inc., has announced the launch CREO Fenestrated Screw System that is used for treating patients suffering from advanced stage tumors of the thoracolumbar spine.Medtronic Plc. has declared that the US Food and Drug Administration has offered 510k clearance of Kyphon HV-R Bone Cement for fixation of fractures of sacral vertebral body with the help of sacroplasty or vertebroplasty.Global Orthopedic Devices Market - OverviewThe Orthopedic Devices Market is growing pervasively, witnessing an exponential growth backed by the increasing investments in the R&D activities. Healthcare segment extensively absorbs orthopedic devices for a range of surgical applications such as implants. Over the past decade, orthopedic devices have significantly evolved. As a result, the market is garnering huge traction.Global Orthopedic Devices Market - SegmentsGlobally, the orthopedic devices market has been segmented on the basis of type, application, region and end users. On the basis of type, the market can be segmented into spinal devices, consumables and disposables, trauma fixation, joint replacement, bone repair, and others.On the basis of application, the market can be segregated into trauma and extremities, foot, knee, spine, hip, spine, ankle, and others, where knee and hip applications hold the largest market share. It has been witnessed that high rate of knee and hip replacement surgeries combined with the innovations in their treatment is contributing towards the market growth of orthopedic devices.Based on end users, the market for orthopedic devices can be bifurcated into hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and medical research centers, where hospitals hold the maximum market share.Global Orthopedic Devices Market - Regional AnalysisTaking the Global scenario of Orthopedic Devices Market into consideration, North America was holding the highest market share of around 39.6 % in the year 2016. With the presence of major market players and advanced technologies, the market in this region is growing steadily.Europe has been considered as the second largest market and is expected to reach USD 19,467.6 Mn by the end of 2023.Asia Pacific (APAC) is expected to witness the fastest growth with CAGR of 6.2 % during the assessment period. Availability of government regulations and presence of untapped markets are sure to attract attention of global players.Browse Complete 110 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with 40+ Respective Tables and Figures @Moreover, Middle East and Africa can exhibit a dull growth over the forecast period due to slow implementation of latest technologies.Considering the global scenario of the market, North America was holding largest market share of 39.6% in global orthopedic devices market in 2016. Europe is second largest market and expected to reach USD 19,467.6 million by 2023. APAC is expected to grow at fastest CAGR of 6.2% during 2017-2023. On the other hand. Middle East and Africa (ME&A) Orthopedic devices market was growing lower than global average and expected to grow at steady pace.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.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.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
Cardiovascular Monitoring & Diagnostics Devices Global Market Segmentation and Major Players Analysis 2025

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Global Cardiovascular Monitoring & Diagnostics Devices IndustryNew Study On 2018-2025 Cardiovascular Monitoring & Diagnostics Devices Market Global Key Player, Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Forecast Added to Wise Guy Reports DatabaseThe report covers the analysis and forecast of the cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices 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 cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices market, by segmenting it based on by product type, and regional demand. Robust development in medical devices in the past several years propels the growth for the cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices market. Growing occurrence of cardiovascular diseases is another prime factor driving the market demand. Additionally, development of healthcare infrastructure in the urban areas are further expected for making the market demanding.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 product type in all regions. These include different business strategies adopted by the leading players and their recent developments.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 cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices 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 2017 to 2025, along with offering an inclusive study of the cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices market.The report provides the size of the cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices market in 2017 and the forecast for the next eight years up to 2025. The size of the global cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices 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 has 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. The cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices market has been analyzed based on expected demand. Bottom-up approach is done to estimate the global revenue of the cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices market, split into regions. Based on product type, the individual revenues from all the regions is summed up to achieve the global revenue for cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices. Companies were considered for the market share analysis, based on their innovation and revenue generation. In the absence of specific data related to the sales of cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices several privately held companies, calculated assumptions have been made in view of the companys penetration and regional presence.Try Sample Report @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 Boston Scientific Corporation, Fukuda Denshi Co., Ltd., GE Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic Inc., Nihon Kohden Corporation, Philips Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Spacelabs Healthcare, and St. Jude Medical, Inc.The global cardiovascular monitoring & diagnostic devices market has been segmented into:Global Cardiovascular Monitoring & Diagnostic Devices Market: By Product Type ECG systems ECG management systems Event Monitors Holter Monitors Implantable loop recordersGlobal Cardiovascular Monitoring & Diagnostic Devices Market: By Geography North Americao U.S.o Canadao Mexico Europeo U.K.o Franceo Germanyo Italyo Rest of Europe Asia Pacifico Indiao Chinao Japano Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East and Africao South Africao Rest of Middle East and Africa Latin Americao Brazilo Rest of Latin AmericaFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @Some Major Points from Table of content:1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, ASSUMPTIONS AND ACRONYMS2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2.1 GLOBAL CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET3 GLOBAL CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET-MARKET OVERVIEW3.1 INTRODUCTION3.1.1 GLOBAL CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET REVENUE FORECAST AND POTENTIAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET3.1.2 GLOBAL CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET SNAPSHOT4 GLOBAL CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET OVERVIEW- BY PRODUCT TYPE4.1 INTRODUCTION4.1.1 GLOBAL CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET REVENUE FORECAST AND POTENTIAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET- BY PRODUCT TYPE4.1.1.1 ECG SYSTEMS4.1.1.2 ECG MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS4.1.1.3 EVENT MONITORS4.1.1.4 HOLTER MONITORS4.1.1.5 IMPLANTABLE LOOP RECORDERS5 GLOBAL CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET REVENUE FORECAST AND POTENTIAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET, BY REGION5.1 INTRODUCTION5.2 KEY TAKEWAYS6 NORTH AMERICA CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET REVENUE FORECAST AND POTENTIAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET6.1 MARKET DYNAMICS6.1.1 DRIVERS6.1.2 RESTRAINTS6.1.3 OPPORTUNITIES6.2 NORTH AMERICA CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET ANALYSIS- BY PRODUCT TYPE6.3 U.S.6.4 CANADA6.5 MEXICO7 EUROPE CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET REVENUE FORECAST AND POTENTIAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET7.1 MARKET DYNAMICS7.1.1 DRIVERS7.1.2 RESTRAINTS7.1.3 OPPORTUNITIES7.2 EUROPE CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET ANALYSIS- BY PRODUCT TYPE7.3 U.K.7.4 FRANCE7.5 GERMANY7.6 ITALY7.7 SPAIN7.8 REST OF EUROPE8 ASIA PACIFIC CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET REVENUE FORECAST AND POTENTIAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET8.1 MARKET DYNAMICS8.1.1 DRIVERS8.1.2 RESTRAINTS8.1.3 OPPORTUNITIES8.2 ASIA PACIFIC CARDIOVASCULAR MONITORING & DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES MARKET ANALYSIS- BY PRODUCT TYPE8.3 INDIA8.4 CHINA8.5 JAPAN8.6 REST OF ASIA PACIFICContinued..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+91 841 198 5042Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Canon Inc., Ricoh Company, Dell Inc., NEC Corporation, Seiko Epson Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise are some key players of Global Computer Peripherals Market forecast 2018 -2026

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In order to study the various trends and patterns prevailing in the concerned market, Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has included a new report titled Computer Peripherals to its wide online database. This research assessment offers a clear insight about the influential factors that are expected to transform the global market in the near future.Request for Sample Copy @Consumers demand related to computer peripherals is constantly evolving, which results in firms investing in creating technologically advanced & ergonomic computer peripheral devices. Some of the driving factors of the computer peripherals market are rise in disposable income, increase in demand for external storage devices, and reduced prices of consumer peripheral devices.The aforementioned insights are taken from the report titled, Computer Peripherals Market  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018  2026, included recently in the extensive repository of Market Research Reports Search Engines (MRRSE).However, increase in the demand for other electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablets over laptops and desktops may create a hindrance in the growth of computer peripheral market.In 2017, North America was a lucrative region for the growth of the computer peripherals market and the status quo is expected to prevail in the near future. Computer peripherals adoption in different industries in the region has increased. Furthermore, there is a surge in the demand for computer peripherals in countries such as Canada and the U.S. which will help to increase sales in the region.The primary aim of this report is to offer a brief analysis on the computer peripherals market, along with analysis on key opportunities, challenges, trends and drivers that influence the market growth. With 2017 as base year, the report offers a precise forecast on the industrial coatings market to the year 2026. Size of the market has been provided in terms of volumes (million units) and value (US$ Mn). Estimated values have been evaluated on the basis of total revenues of the computer peripherals manufacturers.Get Complete Research Report With TOC @The report has also included a detailed discussion on economic as well as technological trends influencing expansion of the computer peripherals market. The report also delivers a segmental analysis of the computer peripherals market, and includes imperative market numbers such as value and volume comparison, and CAGRs of the market segments identified in the report.The report has also offered assessment of the computer peripherals market by splitting it geographically into South America, North America, Middle East & Africa, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. A country-level analysis on the computer peripherals market in all these regions has also been offered in the report.The report includes data tables to give a brief forecast of the computer peripherals market. An overview of the computer peripherals market has been offered in the report, along with assessment of key application areas and technologies of computer peripherals. Country specific analysis and data for have also been covered in the report.A peek into the environmental concerns as well as government regulations associated with the industry has led to accurate analysis on the dynamics of the computer peripherals market. The report also offers in-depth study of the competition landscape of the computer peripherals market. Key players identified in the report include Toshiba Corporation, Apple, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Canon Inc., Ricoh Company, Dell Inc., NEC Corporation, Seiko Epson Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Intel Corporation, and Hitachi Ltd.Further Info@@Have any query? Ask our expert @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  12207(United State)United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Non-Destructive Testing Services Market 2025 | MISTRAS Group, Inc., Olympus Corporation, GE Inspection Technologies, Intertek Group PLC, SGS S.A., Olympus Corporation, Nikon Metrology, Inc.

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https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/upcomming/120124733/Non-Destructive-Testing-Services-Market

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Market Overview:The non-destructive testing services market is growing, with a quick pace. Non-destructive testing services are gaining popularity due to the need for ensuring the prevention of accidents and promoting safety for workers during overhauling and maintenance. The rise in demand for improving quality and longevity of the machines is one major factor driving the growth of non-destructive testing services market. Also, increase in the use of renewable energy resources is another major factor responsible for driving the growth of non-destructive testing services market.Global Non-Destructive Testing ServicesMarket is expected to grow in the forecasted period, in 2017 market size of the Non-Destructive Testing Services was XX million and in 2025 is expected to reach at XX million with growing CAGR of XX%.Market Dynamics:Major factors that drive the market include user-friendly software, strict government regulations for safety, reliable performance and quality control combined with continuous evolvement in robotics, automation, and electronics industry. Rising need for extending the life of aging assets and running the assets at high capacities along with the high costs involved in developing new infrastructure is projected to drive industry growth.However, lack of awareness within the end-users and high infrastructure costs may act as a challenge to growth. Additionally, high cost along with requirement of qualified and skilled personnel may curb industry growth over the forecast period.Key Players:The Non-Destructive Testing Services market consists global and regional players includeMISTRAS Group, Inc., Olympus Corporation, GE Inspection Technologies, Intertek Group PLC, SGS S.A., Olympus Corporation, Nikon Metrology, Inc., Ashtead Technology, Inc., Sonatest Ltd., Bosello High Technology S.R.L., Fujifilm Holdings Corporation and others.Request For Report Sample:Market Segmentation:The non-destructive testing services market is bifurcated on the basis of by technique, application, type, vertical and region. By technique, the market is segmented into traditional and advanced non-destructive testing services. By type, the market is classified into eddy-current testing services,radiography testing services, ultrasonic testing services, liquid penetrant testing services, magnetic particle testing services, and visual inspection services.Moreover, based on application, the market is segmented into leak detection, chemical composition determination, dimensional measurement, flaw detection, estimation of physical properties, and stress & structure analysis. Whereas, based on vertical, the market is segmented into aerospace & defence, automotive, oil & gas, infrastructure, and power.Non-Destructive Testing Services Module by region segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. In 2017, North America is expected to dominate the non-destructive testing services market due to rising technological enhancements and growing adoption of industrial internet of things in the region.Market segmented on the basis of type:- Eddy-Current Testing Services- Radiography Testing Services- Ultrasonic Testing Services- Liquid Penetrant Testing Services- Magnetic Particle Testing Services- Visual Inspection ServicesMarket segmented on the basis of application:- Leak Detection- Chemical Composition Determination- Dimensional Measurement- Flaw Detection- Estimation of Physical Properties- Stress & Structure AnalysisMarket segmented on the basis of technique:- Traditional Non-Destructive Testing Services- Advanced Non-Destructive Testing ServicesMarket segmented on the basis of technique:- Aerospace & Defence- Automotive- Oil & Gas- Infrastructure- PowerRequest For Report TOC:Market segmented on the basis of region:- North America US Canada Mexico- Europe UK Germany France Rest of Europe- Asia-Pacific China Japan India Australia Rest of Asia-Pacific- Latin America Brazil Rest of Latin America- Middle East and Africa (MEA) South Africa Saudi Arabia Rest of MEAReport Analysis:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalized in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trendsContact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com
Piperacillin Global Industry Report - History, Present and Future 2019

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The global market size of Piperacillin is $XX million in 2017 with XX CAGR from 2013 to 2017, and it is expected to reach $XX million by the end of 2023 with a CAGR of XX% from 2018 to 2023.There are 3 key segments covered in this report: geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment.For geography segment, regional supply, application-wise and type-wise demand, major players, price is presented from 2013 to 2023. This report coverss following regions:*North America*South America*Asia & Pacific*Europe*MEA (Middle East and Africa)Access more details about this report at:The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil etc.For end use/application segment, this report focuses on the status and outlook for key applications. End users also can be listed.For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Piperacillin as well as some small players. The compnaies include:Pfizer, IBI, SAGENT, NCPC, HAISUN, RUIYING, LONGCH GROUP et al.Purchase a copy of this premium research report at:The information for each competitor includes:*Company Profile*Main Business Information*SWOT Analysis*Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin*Market ShareWe also can offer customized report to fulfill special requirements of our clients.. CONTINUEDInquire further details about this report at:Contact Us:Office No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune  411001Phone Number: 020 - 2612 6969Email: info@research2reports.comResearch 2 Reports offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No. 212/213, B Block 2nd Floor,Parmar Chambers,Sadhu Vaswani Road, Pune  411001
Electric Toothbrush Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2019  2025

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Global Electric Toothbrush IndustryNew Study On 2019-2025 Electric Toothbrush Market Global Key Player, Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Forecast Added to Wise Guy Reports DatabaseIn 2017, the global Electric Toothbrush market size was million US$ and is forecast to million US in 2025, growing at a CAGR of from 2018. The objectives of this study are to define, segment, and project the size of the Electric Toothbrush market based on company, product type, application and key regions.This report studies the global market size of Electric Toothbrush in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa, focuses on the consumption of Electric Toothbrush in these regions.This research report categorizes the global Electric Toothbrush market by players/brands, region, type and application. This report also studies the global market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels, distributors and Porters Five Forces Analysis.The various contributors involved in the value chain of Electric Toothbrush include manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, intermediaries, and customers. The key manufacturers in the Electric Toothbrush includeOral BPhilips SonicarePhilipsFairywillHermitshellWaterpikSterlineColgateYASIAiyaBrushASURIONSweetLFGreater GoodsBESTOPEMikizTry Sample Report @Market Size Split by TypeVibrationRotation-OscillationMarket Size Split by ApplicationKidsTeensAdultsMarket size split by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaCentral & South AmericaBrazilRest of Central & South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyEgyptSouth AfricaThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global Electric Toothbrush market size (value & volume) by company, key regions/countries, products and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of Electric Toothbrush market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global Electric Toothbrush manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years.To analyze the Electric Toothbrush with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.To project the value and volume of Electric Toothbrush submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.For Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @Some Major Points from Table of content:1 Study Coverage1.1 Electric Toothbrush Product1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Electric Toothbrush Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Vibration1.4.3 Rotation-Oscillation1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Electric Toothbrush Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Kids1.5.3 Teens1.5.4 Adults1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Electric Toothbrush Market Size2.1.1 Global Electric Toothbrush Revenue 2016-20252.1.2 Global Electric Toothbrush Sales 2016-20252.2 Electric Toothbrush Growth Rate by Regions2.2.1 Global Electric Toothbrush Sales by Regions2.2.2 Global Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Regions3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers3.1 Electric Toothbrush Sales by Manufacturers3.1.1 Electric Toothbrush Sales by Manufacturers3.1.2 Electric Toothbrush Sales Market Share by Manufacturers3.1.3 Global Electric Toothbrush Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)3.2 Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Manufacturers (2016-2018)3.2.2 Electric Toothbrush Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2016-2018)3.3 Electric Toothbrush Price by Manufacturers3.4 Electric Toothbrush Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Types3.4.1 Electric Toothbrush Manufacturers Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters3.4.2 Manufacturers Electric Toothbrush Product Category3.4.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into Electric Toothbrush Market3.5 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans4 Breakdown Data by Type4.1 Global Electric Toothbrush Sales by Type4.2 Global Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Type4.3 Electric Toothbrush Price by Type5 Breakdown Data by Application5.1 Overview5.2 Global Electric Toothbrush Breakdown Data by Application6 North America6.1 North America Electric Toothbrush by Countries6.1.1 North America Electric Toothbrush Sales by Countries6.1.2 North America Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Countries6.1.3 United States6.1.4 Canada6.1.5 Mexico6.2 North America Electric Toothbrush by Type6.3 North America Electric Toothbrush by Application6.4 North America Electric Toothbrush by Company7 Europe7.1 Europe Electric Toothbrush by Countries7.1.1 Europe Electric Toothbrush Sales by Countries7.1.2 Europe Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Countries7.1.3 Germany7.1.4 France7.1.5 UK7.1.6 Italy7.1.7 Russia7.2 Europe Electric Toothbrush by Type7.3 Europe Electric Toothbrush by Application7.4 Europe Electric Toothbrush by Company8 Asia Pacific8.1 Asia Pacific Electric Toothbrush by Countries8.1.1 Asia Pacific Electric Toothbrush Sales by Countries8.1.2 Asia Pacific Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Countries8.1.3 China8.1.4 Japan8.1.5 Korea8.1.6 India8.1.7 Australia8.1.8 Indonesia8.1.9 Malaysia8.1.10 Philippines8.1.11 Thailand8.1.12 Vietnam8.1.13 Singapore8.2 Asia Pacific Electric Toothbrush by Type8.3 Asia Pacific Electric Toothbrush by Application8.4 Asia Pacific Electric Toothbrush by Company9 Central & South America9.1 Central & South America Electric Toothbrush by Countries9.1.1 Central & South America Electric Toothbrush Sales by Countries9.1.2 Central & South America Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Countries9.1.3 Brazil9.2 Central & South America Electric Toothbrush by Type9.3 Central & South America Electric Toothbrush by Application9.4 Central & South America Electric Toothbrush by Company10 Middle East and Africa10.1 Middle East and Africa Electric Toothbrush by Countries10.1.1 Middle East and Africa Electric Toothbrush Sales by Countries10.1.2 Middle East and Africa Electric Toothbrush Revenue by Countries10.1.3 GCC Countries10.1.4 Turkey10.1.5 Egypt10.1.6 South Africa10.2 Middle East and Africa Electric Toothbrush by Type10.3 Middle East and Africa Electric Toothbrush by Application10.4 Middle East and Africa Electric Toothbrush by Company11 Company Profiles11.1 Oral B11.1.1 Oral B Company Details11.1.2 Company Description11.1.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.1.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.1.5 Recent Development11.2 Philips Sonicare11.2.1 Philips Sonicare Company Details11.2.2 Company Description11.2.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.2.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.2.5 Recent Development11.3 Philips11.3.1 Philips Company Details11.3.2 Company Description11.3.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.3.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.3.5 Recent Development11.4 Fairywill11.4.1 Fairywill Company Details11.4.2 Company Description11.4.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.4.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.4.5 Recent Development11.5 Hermitshell11.5.1 Hermitshell Company Details11.5.2 Company Description11.5.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.5.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.5.5 Recent Development11.6 Waterpik11.6.1 Waterpik Company Details11.6.2 Company Description11.6.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.6.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.6.5 Recent Development11.7 Sterline11.7.1 Sterline Company Details11.7.2 Company Description11.7.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.7.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.7.5 Recent Development11.8 Colgate11.8.1 Colgate Company Details11.8.2 Company Description11.8.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.8.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.8.5 Recent Development11.9 YASI11.9.1 YASI Company Details11.9.2 Company Description11.9.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.9.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.9.5 Recent Development11.10 AiyaBrush11.10.1 AiyaBrush Company Details11.10.2 Company Description11.10.3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin of Electric Toothbrush11.10.4 Electric Toothbrush Product Description11.10.5 Recent Development11.11 ASURION11.12 SweetLF11.13 Greater Goods11.14 BESTOPE11.15 MikizContinued.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+91 841 198 5042Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Cancer Diagnostics Global Market 2019 Top Key Players  GE Healthcare, Abbott, Roche, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. , Agilent Technologies, Inc., Illumina, Inc. and Forecast to 2024

Cancer Diagnostics Market

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3534870-global-cancer-diagnostics-market-2018-by-manufacturers-regions

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Global Cancer Diagnostics MarketWiseGuyRerports.com Presents Global Cancer Diagnostics Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 124 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionThis report manily covers cancer diagnostics market.Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body.Scope of the Report:North America is expected to account for the largest share in the cancer diagnostics market, followed by Europe and Asia.The Asian market is slated to grow at the highest CAGR in the coming five years and serves as a revenue pocket for the companies operating in the cancer diagnostics market.The worldwide market for Cancer Diagnostics is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 12.7% over the next five years, will reach 18400 million US$ in 2023, from 8990 million US$ in 2017, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.This report focuses on the Cancer Diagnostics 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 coversBecton, Dickinson and CompanyGE HealthcareAbbottRocheThermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.Agilent Technologies, Inc.Illumina, Inc.Siemens HealthcareC.R. Bard, Inc.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversPlatform-basedInstrument-basedMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoBreast CancerLung CancerColorectal CancerMelanomaOthersComplete Report Details @Table of Contents -Major Key Points1 Market Overview1.1 Cancer Diagnostics Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Platform-based1.2.2 Instrument-based1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Breast Cancer1.3.2 Lung Cancer1.3.3 Colorectal Cancer1.3.4 Melanoma1.3.5 Others1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2013-2023)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Becton, Dickinson and Company2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Cancer Diagnostics Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Product A2.1.2.2 Product B2.1.3 Becton, Dickinson and Company Cancer Diagnostics Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 GE Healthcare2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Cancer Diagnostics Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Product A2.2.2.2 Product B2.2.3 GE Healthcare Cancer Diagnostics Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Abbott2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Cancer Diagnostics Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Product A2.3.2.2 Product B2.3.3 Abbott Cancer Diagnostics Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Roche2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Cancer Diagnostics Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Product A2.4.2.2 Product B2.4.3 Roche Cancer Diagnostics Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.5 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Cancer Diagnostics Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Product A2.5.2.2 Product B2.5.3 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. Cancer Diagnostics Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.6 Agilent Technologies, Inc.2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Cancer Diagnostics Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Product A2.6.2.2 Product B2.6.3 Agilent Technologies, Inc. Cancer Diagnostics Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)..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 Monoclonal Mouse Antibody Market 2018 - Roche Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis., AbbVie, Amgen, Seattle Genetics,

Global Monoclonal Mouse Antibody Market 2018

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The Global Monoclonal Mouse Antibody Market 2018 - overview combining the data integration and analysis capabilities with the relevant findings, the report has predicted strong future growth of the market. The research analyst combining secondary research which involves reference to various statistical databases, relevant patent and regulatory databases and a number of internal a nd external proprietary databases. Cell Line Development Equipment report has focused on each region market size in terms of US$ Mn for each segment and sub-segment for the period from 2018 to 2023, considering the macro and micro environmental factors. With the help of inputs and insights from technical and marketing experts, the report presents an objective assessment of the Cell Line Development Equipment market.Read Complete Report @According to the Cell Line Development Equipment Market report, The potential of the products has been rigorously tested in conjunction with the key market challenges. The existing condition of the market and future prospects of this segment has also been studied. Furthermore, key market strategies, which include product developments, scope of product, and market strategies are also discussed. It constitutes quantitative and qualitative evaluation by industry experts, assistance from industry analysts, and first-hand data.The report explore product market by end users or application, product market by region, market size for the specific product, sales and revenue by region, manufacturing cost analysis, Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Market Effect Factors Analysis, market size forecast, and more.Key Players of Cell Sorting Market includeRoche Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis., AbbVie, Amgen, Seattle Genetics, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lilly, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Lonza biologics expansion, Genentech NIMO, AstraZeneca, Biogen Idec, SanofiMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report covers : North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico), Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc), South America (Brazil, Argentina etc), Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc)Market segment by Type, the product can be split into :MAB, FAB, Variable Fragments, Bispecific Monoclonal AntibodiesMarket segment by Application :Disease Diagnose, Disease Therapy, Food & Beverage IndustryThe Cell Line Development Equipment Market covers key highlights points as follows :- A complete framework market analysis providing in-depth information through investigation(Emerging niche segments and regional markets).- This report includes market synopsis, market features, market restraints, statistical analysis of product based on the facts.- Historical, present, and prospective size of the market from the perspective of both value and volume(product type, application, and regions).- Information on market segmentation, major opportunities and market trends, market limitations, and major challenges faced by the competitive market.- Recommendations to companies to substantiate their foothold in the market.- It includes the upstream and downstream analysis of the market players, their activities related to production and distribution channels, product cost analysis.Request for Sample Report @In short, this report provides an in-depth analysis of the global Cell Line Development Equipment market, including business stats, market valuation, market size, and market players.Overall, the Cell Line Development Equipment Market report provides an in-depth insight of the industry covering all important parameters including, Market Dynamics, Opportunities, Market Share by Region, Price and Gross Margin, Competitive Landscape and Profile, New Project Feasibility Analysis, Analysis and Suggestions on New Project Investment.About Us:MarketResearchStore is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel JohnTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com
District Heating Pipeline Network Market to Surpass $600 Billion by 2024: Analysis by Leading Players Uponor, BRUGG Cables, REHAU, Perma Pipe, LOGSTOR, Thermaflex International, Huntsman Corporation, Aquatherm North America

District Heating Pipeline Network Market

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https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/district-heating-pipeline-network-market

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Global District Heating Pipeline Network Market growth is driven by rising space heating systems demand along with growing concerns relating to GHG emissions. Extreme weather conditions across the U.S., China and Europe will further complement the product penetration. As per the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, in the southern Finland, the average temperature during the winter season ranges from 00 to -40 Celsius. District Heating Pipeline Network Market is predicted to reach over USD 600 billion by 2024.The U.S. district heating pipeline network market is projected to surpass 5,000 Km by 2024. Ongoing adoption of clean energy technologies coupled with growing penetration of District Heating (DH) systems across the commercial and residential establishments will embellish the business growth. As per the IDEA, 289 heating systems out of 601 are district energy systems in the nation.Request for a sample of this research report @The expansion and modernization of existing heating networks coupled with ongoing legislative reforms related to sustainable energy technologies will fuel the district heating pipeline network market growth. Rapid industrialization and urbanization across the developing countries along with government focus towards energy efficient buildings will further drive the industry growth. The "Renewable Energy Directive" of European Union has introduced standards for the reduction of emissions caused by industrial establishments.Polymer district heating pipeline network market is projected to witness growth owing to its increasing application as a service pipe in DH systems. Ongoing innovations in the pipe material coupled with rapidly developing thermoplastic technologies will drive the industry growth. Low carbon emission, ease of transport, and corrosion free are some of the prominent features which will positively impact the product demand.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Government assisted R&D initiatives toward the development of efficient insulating materials along with increasing usage of small scale heating technologies across residential buildings will stimulate the 20mm - 100mm diameter pipes. Increasing usage as a service pipe on account of its ease to transport, installed, and rolled in the constructions will positively influence the product penetration.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis:1. Uponor2. BRUGG3. REHAU4. Perma Pipe5. Logstor6. CPV7. Microflex8. Thermaflex9. Huntsman10. Flender11. Smithline12. Golan Plastic13. AquathermBrowse Complete Report Summary @Growing suburban population leading to investment toward real-estate sector will embellish the district heating pipeline network from residential applications. Government-backed renewable technology targets will further complement the industry outlook. As per the World Bank, in 2016, urban population in India increased to 33.14% when compared with 32.37% in 2014.China market is set to witness significant growth on account of growing funding toward commercial and residential establishments across the nation. Ongoing government initiatives to encourage deployment of energy-efficient systems will further propel the district heating pipeline network market. With the support of EU, the Government of China has launched China-EU partnership and EU-China 2020 strategic agenda with an objective to strengthen the nation's urban infrastructure.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:
Global Coir Market Research Report 2019 | Industry Top Key Players  BENLION COIR INDUSTRIES, Classic Coir, Sai Cocopeat Export, Kumaran Coir, Travancore Cocotuft and Forecast to 2025

Coir , Coir Market, Coir Market Trends, Coir Manufacturing, Coir Market Share, Coir Market Growth, Coir Market Size

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3377979-global-coir-market-insights-forecast-to-2025

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Global Coir Market Insights, Forecast to 2025Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Coir - Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers and Analysis of Top Key Players to 2023 To Its Research DatabaseGlobal Coir Market 2023Coir is a natural fiber, which is extracted from the husk of the coconut. It is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut. Coir is native to the Asia Pacific region, specifically India and Srilanka, where coconut is produced in a large quantity and exported across the world. Currently, the global annual production of coir is 650 000 tones. Mainly the coastal region of India, produces around 60% of the total world supply of white coir fiber, whereas Sri Lanka produces around 36% of the total world brown fiber output. Over 50% of the coir produced annually throughout the world is consumed in the developing countries. Recently, countries such as Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam and certain Caribbean countries have started to supply coir to the global market on a large scale.The growing demand for eco-friendly products in the market is where coir should fast step in. It is a lightweight, soilless growing medium made from the fibers which are found between a ripe coconut's shell and an outer surface. As its a material that occurs in nature, its completely renewable and is therefore considered an excellent choice for environmental sustainability. The efforts support the market expansion for coir and the Asia Pacific hopes to further increase production by streamlining the fiber collection process to meet demand. Research and development efforts are continuing to focus on the use of coir in geotextiles and other new applications as the market show promising prospects. The coir market also has many weaknesses and is facing real threats. It is under constant threat from other natural fibers and synthetics. The key reasons which are restraining the market to grow are the negligence towards the benefits of coir and its market. The market as a whole has not influenced government policies to improve its chances for competitiveness. Government policy assumes coir is a byproduct of the coconut industry, rather than an industry on its own. As a result, little thought, much less funding, has gone into improving the competitiveness of the coir industry. The government, for instance, has no long-term plans for modernization loans and no minimum standards for exporters of coir products.Global Coir market size will increase to xx Million US$ by 2025, from xx Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Coir.This report researches the worldwide Coir market size (value, capacity, production and consumption) in key regions like United States, Europe, Asia Pacific (China, Japan) and other regions.This study categorizes the global Coir breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.This report focuses on the top manufacturers' Coir capacity, production, value, price and market share of Coir in global market. The following manufacturers are covered in this report:Geewin EximSMS ExportersSai Cocopeat ExportKumaran CoirAllwin CoirTravancore CocotuftBENLION COIR INDUSTRIESClassic CoirGet Sample Report of Coir Market@Coir Breakdown Data by TypeBrown FiberWhite FiberCoir Breakdown Data by ApplicationFood IndustryAgriculture IndustryUpholstery IndustryFishing IndustryCarpentry IndustryCoir Production Breakdown Data by RegionUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanOther RegionsCoir Consumption Breakdown Data by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyEgyptSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaThe study objectives are:To analyze and research the global Coir capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast;To focus on the key Coir manufacturers and study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in next few years.To focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Coir :History Year: 2014-2018Base Year: 2018Estimated Year: 2019Forecast Year 2019 to 2025For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2018 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.Complete report with Comprehensive table of contents@Major Key Points in Table of ContentGlobal Coir Market Research Report 2019-2025, by Manufacturers, Regions, Types and Applications1 Study Coverage1.1 Coir Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Coir Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Brown Fiber1.4.3 White Fiber1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Coir Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Food Industry1.5.3 Agriculture Industry1.5.4 Upholstery Industry1.5.5 Fishing Industry1.5.6 Carpentry Industry1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Coir Production2.1.1 Global Coir Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global Coir Production 2014-20252.1.3 Global Coir Capacity 2014-20252.1.4 Global Coir Marketing Pricing and Trends2.2 Coir Growth Rate (CAGR) 2019-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key Coir Manufacturers2.4 Market Drivers, Trends and Issues2.5 Macroscopic Indicator2.5.1 GDP for Major Regions2.5.2 Price of Raw Materials in Dollars: EvolutionContinued..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
Psoriasis Treatment Market 2022 Major Players are Eli Lilly, Novartis International AG, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc.

Psoriasis Treatment Market

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/psoriasis-treatment-market-2769

Market Insights:Psoriasis is a highly common chronic skin condition. Market Research Future's (MRFR) in-depth market report on the global psoriasis treatment market has disclosed that the market is anticipated to witness a promising CAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period of 2016 to 2022. The social stigma and discomfort that is associated with psoriasis is expected to promote swift market growth. Valued at USD 7 Bn at the beginning of 2016, the global market is expected to witness increased revenue which results in an approximate evaluation of over USD 10 bn by the end of the assessment period.Free PDF Sample @Rising awareness and screening for psoriasis is the leading factor driving growth in the demand for psoriasis treatment. This chronic condition is exacerbated by several factors which can vary from patient to patient, thus further increasing the demand for appropriate and effective treatment options. Increasing exposure to chemicals and polluted environments have resulted in an increase in the diagnosis of psoriasis. Presently, all treatment options are temporary in nature or need ongoing patient involvement with no concrete cure. Drugs for psoriasis treatment carry a high cost which will hamper market growth. However, increasing adoptions of alternative psoriasis treatments, and the race among market players to develop an effective psoriasis treatment solution will lead to market opportunities.Key Players:Market leaders who participate in the competitive landscape of the global psoriasis treatment market include Eli Lilly, Novartis International AG, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc., Merck and Co Inc., Amgen and AbbVie.Latest Industry News:Eli Lilly & Company in Korea has received government approval from the Ministry of Health & Welfare for the reimbursement for its psoriasis treatment drug Taltz.Market Segmentation:The global psoriasis treatment market is segmented in MRFR's competitive analysis on the basis of mechanism of action, route of administration, drug types, and region. Based on mechanism of action, the market is segmented into interleukin blockers, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, TNF inhibitors, and others.By route of administration, the market is divided between oral, injectable, and topical. Oral treatment options are highly popular and capture around 40% of the global market.On the basis of drug types, the market is segmented into biologics and small molecules.Globally, the market is divided into the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and the Middle East and Africa.Browse Full Report @Regional Analysis:Due to the presence of North America, the Americas account for the largest share of the global market. The presence of several market players and a high patient population afflicted with psoriasis is expected to lead to increased revenue generated for market growth. Moreover, the awareness about this condition is quite high in the region and has led to an increased demand for effective treatment options. Increasing R&D activities to develop a long-term solution for psoriasis is expected to facilitate market expansion opportunities.Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region due to the swiftly developing healthcare sector and the growing awareness regarding conditions like psoriasis which has resulted in increased demand. The affinity for natural skin care methods is expected to reveal effective alternate treatment strategies that may assist future market growth.About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Disc Backup Pad Market Outlook, Geographical Segmentation, Size & Share, Comprehensive Analysis to 2024

Disc Backup Pad Market

https://market.biz/report/global-disc-backup-pad-market-sp/105161/

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Market.Biz Append Latest Research Report Entitled Global Disc Backup Pad Market 2019 By Producers, Territory, Product Type And Use, Forecast To 2024 To Its Huge Report Database.Complete TOC of the Report@Disc Backup Pad Market Report dispenses vital information interconnected to the comprehensive Disc Backup Pad market and price estimate over the period, from 2019-2024. In this part, the specialists have given requisite figures which associate to the production and utilization appraise for the considerable sections that the Disc Backup Pad market is segmented into, production estimate by type, and utilization estimate by an implementation.Disc Backup Pad Market report offers the characteristic scrutinizing of the parent market depending upon best players, present, past and emergent data which will serve as a profitable guide for all the global Disc Backup Pad Market competitors. Disc Backup Pad Market is an enhancing market into the following sector at present years. The Disc Backup Pad Market has revealed frequent expansion in the current and past years and is probably going to advance with a continuing enlargement in the forthcoming years.With accurate Disc Backup Pad market segment in terms of various Countries, this report furnishes the market into a few vital countries, with sales (consumption), proceedings, Disc Backup Pad market share, and success rate of the market in these countries over the predicted period 2019-2024.Top Manufacturers/Companies Cited in International Disc Backup Pad Market Report:3MNortonDewaltSaint-Gobain(Carborundum)KWH Mirka LtdARC AbrasiveCheck This Link For Your Free Sample Report:On the Grounds of Regions of Disc Backup Pad Market Report:South America (Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina)North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Middle East and Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Saudi Arabia)Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy and Russia etc.)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Korea)In this analysis, the decades believed to forecast the global Disc Backup Pad market size are the Following:Base Year: 2018Maximum Year: 2019History Year: 2014-2018Forecast Year 2019 to 2024Check This Link For Your Free inquiry Report:Major Points from Table of Contents:1. Study Coverage, Study Objectives2. Executive Summary: Production, the rate of growth, Analysis of Competitive Landscape, Disc Backup Pad Market Drivers, Trends and problems3. Global Disc Backup Pad Market Size by Manufacturers: Production, Revenue, worth by makers4. Production by Regions: Production and Revenue Disc Backup Pad Market Share by Regions5. Consumption by Regions: Consumption Disc Backup Pad Market Share by Regions, by Application and Countries6. Disc Backup Pad Market Size by Type: Breakdown information, Revenue, and worth by kind7. Market Size by Application: Breakdown information and Consumption Disc Backup Pad Market Share by Application (2013-2018)8. Manufacturers Profiles: Company Details, Description, Product Description, Capacity, Production and worth, and SWOT Disc Backup Pad Analysis9. Production Forecasts: Production and Revenue Disc Backup Pad Forecast (2019-2024) by Regions, Type10. Consumption Forecast: by Application and Regions (2019-2024)11. Upstream, trade Chain and Downstream Customers Analysis: Key material, trade Chain Analysis, selling & Distribution, and material Disc Backup Pad Market Concentration Rate12. Opportunities & Challenges, Threat and poignant FactorsThis record canvassed thorough Disc Backup Pad data regarding the important players hired in the market. This Disc Backup Pad report includes a business outline, revenue, advantages, recent events, Disc Backup Pad product offering, and technique of those players. The improvement of the vital Disc Backup Pad companies along with their resources such as improvements, price, and client fulfillment is covered in the Disc Backup Pad research report about the global Disc Backup Pad market.About Us:Market.Biz is designed to provide the best and most penetrating research required to all commercial, industrial and profit-making ventures in any sector of online business. We take pride in our ability to satisfy the market research needs of both domestic and international businesses.Market.Biz has access to the worlds most comprehensive and up-to-date databases in your business sector, including countless market reports that can provide you with valuable data relating to your business. We understand the needs of our clients, and keep our reports updated as market requirement changes.Contact US:James JohnsonS. no. 51/14 First Floor,Office No. 4, Vishwa Arcade,Near Navale Lawns, Pune.Tel: +1(857)5982522Email: inquiry@market.bizWebsite:Blog:Blog:
Cigar Market key players General Cigar Company Inc., Partagas cigars, Perdomo cigars, Oliva cigars

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http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com

Cigars are firmly-rolled cylindrical bundle of fermented and dried tobacco which is ignited and smoked by drawing in the mouth. Cigar tobacco is mostly grown in Latin America, Philippines, Eastern United States, Spain and Italy. Cigar is considered to be a status symbol by many and is more prevalent in European countries within premium segment.The Cigars market across the globe is expected to show a single digit increase in CAGR growth by the year 2019. There is a significant increase in the Cigar market due to the usage of Cigar in multiple occasions such as social parties, birthday parties, colleges and among corporate.Request for sample report:The key drivers of this market include the addition of smokers to inhale and cigars are considered superior than cigarettes due to lower levels of nicotine. Rising middle class, culture shift and affluent life style are among other driving forces in cigar consumption. Restraining factors could be plethora of government regulations and ban on tobacco production and consumption in several countries. In addition growing health concerns and aging of population act as another major restrains to consumption of Cigar. Major distribution channels are supermarkets, speciality stores and departmental stores.The Cigar market can be segmented into three major types on the basis of composition as wrappers, fillers and binders. It can also be segmented on the basis of shape and size as Parejo, Figurado, Pyramid, Culebras, Tuscanian and Little Cigars. In this report we have segmented the market geographically into North America, APAC, Europe and RoW regions.Some of the key players in the Cigar market are Finck Cigar Company, ITC Limited, Altadis, General Cigar Company Inc., Partagas cigars, Perdomo cigars, Oliva cigars, Rodrigo cigars, Paul Stulac cigars, and Rocky Patel cigars.Request Report TOC @Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance. To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Optimizing Networks Market for Small Cells and Carrier Wi-Fi: Key Players Such As Cisco Systems, Inc., Ericsson Inc., NEC Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co.

ResearchMoz

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Optimizing Networks Market for Small Cells and Carrier Wi-Fi: Key Players Such As Cisco Systems, Inc., Ericsson Inc., NEC Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co." to its huge collection of research reports.Global Optimizing Networks Market for Small Cells and Carrier Wi-FiThe study includes key trends and detailed geographic analyses regarding the small cell equipment market and its various segments. It also describes the global market size, compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and revenue prospects for various segments and subsegments through 2023. The report classifies the global small cell and carrier Wi-Fi market into the equipment types: femtocell, picocell, microcell, metrocell, C-RAN small cell and carrier Wi-Fi. The report provides the market size for standalone equipment and Cloud RAN (C-RAN) small cell technology and carrier Wi-Fi.The market is also segmented on the basis of operating environments in which small cells devices are deployed, including indoor and outdoor operating environments. Further, the small cell and carrier Wi-Fi market is segmented based on the various user types including enterprises; single offices and home offices (SOHOs), small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises. The study is primarily aimed at providing insights on the market trends and analyzing revenue generated through penetration of small cell and carrier Wi-Fi devices across regions of North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world (RoW). The report also analyzes the revenue generated by small cell and carrier Wi-Fi deployment in various locations or coverage areas; urban areas, rural areas, and residential areas. Additionally, it also analyzes its application in hospitality industry, and public safety.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @This report also includes company profiles of key small cells and carrier Wi-Fi vendors (i.e., vendors holding maximum market share) and their competitive analysis. Some of the key small cell and carrier Wi-Fi vendors include CommScope, Ericsson, Huawei, ip.access Ltd., Samsung, NEC Corp., Nokia and ZTE Corp. Cisco has confirmed end-of-sale and end-of-life for its various small cell product line as, mentioned on its website, annual report and other publications. The companys entire in-house licensed-spectrum small-cell base station portfolio was scheduled to reach the end of its life in July 2017. Some of the other key small cell and carrier Wi-Fi manufacturers are Airspan, Argela, Arqiva, Baicells technology, Fujistsu, Fiberhome Networks, Parallel Systems, Zyxel and others.However, the report also profiles some of the key MNOs such as AT&T, Vodafone, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and others reselling other manufacturers small cells under their own brand name.Browse TOC @Report Includes:- 39 data tables and 21 additional tables- Comprehensive overview of the global markets for small cell and carrier Wi-Fi- Analyses of global market trends with data from 2017, estimates for 2018, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2023- Identification of growth inhibiting drivers, restraints and other factors impacting the global small cell and carrier Wi-Fi market- Characterization and quantification of market potential for small cell and carrier Wi-Fi by product type, user type, operating environment, location/coverage area and geographical region- A brief study of applications of small cell and Wi-Fi technology at different type of locations on the basis of area size and user density- Comparison of product offerings and market strategies of key players and stakeholders in the small cell and carrier Wi-Fi ecosystem- Description of key mergers and acquisitions in the small cells and carrier Wi-Fi industry- Company profiles of key small cell vendors, including Cisco Systems, Inc., Ericsson Inc., IP.Access Ltd., NEC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and ZTE Corp.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 Electric Heater Market Outlook 2019 | NIBE, OMEGA, Watlow, Tutco, Chromalox, Tempco, CCI, Minco and more

Electric Heater Market

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https://www.inforgrowth.com/r/880098/global-electric-heater-market-professional-sur

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This report studies the global Electric Heater market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Electric Heater market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.This report focuses on the global top players including NIBE, OMEGA, Watlow, Tutco, Chromalox, Tempco Electric Heater Corporation, CCI Thermal Technologies, Minco, Industrial Heater Corporation, Durex Industries, Friedr. Freek GmbH, Delta MFG, Thermal Corporation, Akinsun Heat Co., Inc., Hotset GmbH, Wattco, Ulanet, BUCAN.Ask for Sample copy of this report atThe study objectives of this report are: To study and forecast the market size of Electric Heater in the global market. To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players. To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use, and region. To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World. To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks. To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting market growth. To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments. To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Find more information on this report atTABLE OF CONTENTS FOR ELECTRIC HEATER MARKET INCLUDE:1 Industry Overview of Electric Heater2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis3 Development and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Electric Heater4 Key Figures of Major Manufacturers5 Electric Heater Regional Market Analysis6 Electric Heater Segment Market Analysis (by Type)7 Electric Heater Segment Market Analysis (by Application)8 Electric Heater Major Manufacturers Analysis9 Development Trend of Analysis of Electric Heater Market10 Marketing Channel11 Market Dynamics12 Conclusion13 AppendixEnquire more about this report atAbout InForGrowth:We are a market-intelligence company formed with the objective of providing clients access to the most relevant and accurate research content for their growth needs. At InForGrowth, we understand Research requirements and help a client in taking informed business-critical decisions. Given the complexities and interdependencies of market-intelligence, there is always more than one source to explore and arrive at the right answer. Through our smart search feature and our reliable & trusted publishing partners, we are paving way for more simplified and relevant research.For all your Research needs, reach out to us at:Address: 6400 Village Pkwy suite # 104, Dublin, CA 94568, USAEmail: sales@inforgrowth.comPhone: +1-909-329-2808UK: +44 (203) 743 1890
Herpetic Neuralgia Treatment Market 2026 | Pfizer Inc., Mylan N.V., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo, Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Purdue Pharma L.P, Acorda Therapeutics, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,

https://www.researchreportinsights.com/report/sample/110115020/Herpetic-Neuralgia-Treatment-Market

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Rising incidences of post herpetic neuralgia therapy are growing the number of forwarding to pain management clinics ensuing in an expansion of the market. The worldwide market for post herpetic neuralgia treatment is likely to hold more than US$ 909 Million, in value terms, before the end of 2026, registering a CAGR of 5.4%.The players penetrating in the market are centering on arising novel drugs. There is an absence of curative and effective post herpetic neuralgia treatment. Symptomatic therapy is the foremost goal of treatment since there is no therapy for PHN. The calcium-channel blockers, for instance, pregabalin and gabapentin are first-line agents in the therapy of PHN. Worries over opioid usage as well as the rising mortality from overdose are the major restraints on the PHN treatment market.Request For Report Sample:In terms of the treatment type, the worldwide market is categorized into steroid injectable, patches and drugs. Of these, the drugs category holds the biggest market share with an estimation of 80.9 % during the year 2018. On the other hand, the patches category is likely to expand at the fastest CAGR of 5.6% for the duration of the forecast. In terms of the distribution channel, the worldwide market is categorized into retail sales and institutional sales.Request Report Discount:North America is anticipated to be the predominant regional market and captured a higher market revenue share in 2017. The U.S market for PHN treatment is anticipated to hold a huge share as well as to increase at a 4.5 % CAGR for the duration of the forecast, whereas Canada is likely to record a 5.3% CAGR. The Asia Pacific and Europe PHN treatment markets jointly are projected to expand at CAGRs of 6.1 % and 4.7 %, correspondingly. The PHN treatment market is likely to reflect in favor of emerging regions dominated by China on account of its quick growing healthcare infrastructure and economy. Revenue from the PHN treatment market in the nations of Asia Pacific, for instance, China is likely to grow at the comparatively faster CAGR as a result of growing economy and progressing healthcare infrastructure that registers a high PHN treatment market equity.The PHN treatment market for the Middle East and Africa is led by the Gulf economies as a result of their higher per capita income in addition to higher public healthcare spending. The expansion of a huge hospital complex in the Gulf countries is fuelling a huge market implementation of PHN treatment products.The foremost market players active in the worldwide market are Pfizer Inc., Mylan N.V., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo, Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., Purdue Pharma L.P, Acorda Therapeutics, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Teikoku Pharma USA, Inc., and Others.Report Analysis:About Us:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalised in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trends.Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com
Global 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market to Surpass USD 6,803.9 Mn, Globally, by 2028

Global 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market

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Global 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market 2019 gives exceptional insight into the for the forecast from (2019-2028). The analysis has covered the factors which are contributing to the growth of the worldwide 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market. Highlighting the fundamental tendencies such as drivers, 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market trends, along with restraints which are currently influencing. An indicator has been provided by this report to the pursuers around the latest update on the industry.The worldwide market for 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 19.5% over the next ten years, and will reach US$ 6,803.9 Mn in 2028, from US$ 1,145.7 Mn in 2018, according to a new Market.us (Prudour Research) study.Request For The Sample Report Here:The scope of this 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence ReportThe Global 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market covers product and scope summary to specify the product types and will be offering step by step information regarding market dynamics. That is followed closely investigates and with the perspective and the 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence report is composed of those truths and attributes of this market concerning revenue and volume, earnings and its growth speed.One of the many vital aspects in 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence report would be competitive analysis. The analysis covers market plans of the players and global 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market share, sales development and research, all of the parameters like product creation, and promote expert perspectives.Based on of this product types mainly split intoPlastics MaterialCeramics MaterialMetals MaterialMaterialBy Application mainly split intoCommercial AerospaceDefenseSpaceRegional prognosis:The 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market evaluating the industry status, highlighting changes, hazard analysis, and leveraged with all tactical decision service. The industry research is placing a great deal of focus on regulatory problems, macroeconomic impacting aspects, key 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market size, and growth drivers which are altering the industry dynamics. In accession for the detailed quantitative analysis of economic growth elements and dangers, chances within 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence challenges and industry are covered at the outline section. As a way to find a deeper perspective of economy Size, the competitive landscape is given, i.e. revenue (Mn/Bn USD) by 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence players (2019-2028), revenue market share (percent) by participants (2019-2028) and a qualitative investigation is made towards economy immersion 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence growth, product/service differences, and new entrants along with the technical trends.Major Key Manufacturers of 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence :BrukerJEOLOther attributes covered in the 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market accounts are:Economy 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence information: volume and value information with expansion evaluation for 2019-2028;Evaluation: Significance and growing evaluation to the international 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market with inputs within a single section reveal inside every class and their shift on the market share throughout the forecast period for 2019-2028;3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market Supply data: Amount of earnings within every segment through supply stations;Market Players: share and size of 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market of private labels and brands;Major Important Features of International 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Economy:International 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market crucial producers with product information, company information, contact info, and manufacturing details;3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence report additionally simplifies traders/distributors, market influence variable evaluation and investigation of the plan;3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence analysis of the downstream sector, business series construction and upstream sector;Intro of global 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market with prospective growth and standing;Analysis of 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market, price, and gain, ability, and creation of this market;Economy prediction of with import and export, demand and distribution, global 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market shares, profit, and price;The industrial tech of 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence report with opportunities and tendencies;3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence Market analysis together with market rivalry and standing by nations and businesses;Trending factors impacting the market shares of their 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing in the Aerospace & Defence in Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, Latin America and Middle East and AfricaCardan Shaft Research Report | Emerging Growth at a CAGR of 2.1% Till 2028 2019:Coconut Water Market Is Statistics Show 12.5% CAGR to 2028 2019 :Condom Market Research Report | Emerging Growth at a CAGR of 9.1% Till 2028 2019 :Market.us offers its clients a one-stop solution platform for all market research needs. We are confident about our offering, and intelligent and accurate reports, through which we cater to a wide range of clients globally. Our focus on custom research, consulting projects, syndicate reports covers a variety of industries, sectors, and verticals, and we cover niche market titles, and we also cater to client-specific requirements420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170, United States
Industrial Eye Protection Market Trend, Revenue & Regional Analysis 2018-2024 By Top Players - Kimberly-Clark, 3M, Avon, Honeywell, Bolle Safety, MSA - The Safety Company, Ansell, Teijin

Industrial Eye Protection Market

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Industrial Eye Protection Market size is estimated to exceed USD 2.5 billion by 2024. Major key players inculde 3M, Bolle Safety, Honeywell, MCR Safety, Egde, MSA Safety, Encon Safety, Ergodyne and Gateway Safety. Mergers, acquisitions, new product launches and supply agreements are the key strategies adopted by the major players.Positive outlook towards occupational safety in oil & gas, chemicals, mining and construction industry will propel industrial eye protection market growth. Prevention from chemicals, heat & optical radiation are the key properties enhancing product demand.Request for a sample copy of this report @North America industrial eye protection market will witness gains at 3.2% up to 2024. High prevalence for employee safety along with stringent government regulations are the key factors supporting the business growth. As per NIOSH, about 2000 workers in U.S. sustain workplace eye injury per day, that requires medical treatment.Europe industrial eye protection market was more than 70 million units in 2016. Favorable socio-economic factors accompanied by increasing manufacturing facilities will drive the demand. Strong presence of the key manufacturers in this region will propel the industry growth. Changing lifestyle along with increasing awareness regarding worker safety has encouraged the product penetration.- Industrial Eye Protection Market, By Materialo Polycarbonateo CR-39o Trivexo Glass- Industrial Eye Protection Market, By Application Construction Oil & gas Chemicals Mining Pharmaceuticals Food Transportation FirefightingMake an inquiry for purchasing this report @Construction application was worth over USD 310 million in 2016. Increasing government spending on building tunnels, dams, roads, and bridges globally will drive the growth. China is projected to be among the major contributor. China construction spending was over USD 730 billion in 2016.CR-39 lenses will witness gains at 3% up to 2024. High optical quality compared to glass along with comparatively less manufacturing cost has driven industry growth in this segment. Entrance of trivex as an ultra-light, thin and high impact resistant lenses will open new avenues in the industry.Safety goggles will generate revenue over USD 970 million by 2024. Rising product penetration in pharmaceutical laboratories and research centers will create new opportunities for the business growth.Browse Complete Report Summary @Face shields will witness growth over 4% up to 2024. Manufacturing and construction industry expansion in developing countries will support the industry demand. Superior protection against chemical splash and blood borne pathogens has enhanced the product demand.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:Contact Person: Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone:1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:
Connected Health Market Predictions and Industry Overview to 2027 - SAMSUNG, McKesson Corporation, GENERAL ELECTRIC,KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Medtronic, Boston Scientific Corporation, Omron Healthcare and Dragerwerk AG & Co

Connected Health Market to 2027 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Type

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An off-the-shelf report on Connected Health Market which has been compiled after an in-depth analysis of the market trends prevailing across five geographies (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle-East and Africa, and South America). Various segments of the market such as type/components/ application/industry verticals/ end-users are analyzed with robust research methodology which includes three step process starting with extensive secondary research to gather data from company profiles, global/regional associations, trade journals, technical white papers, paid databases etc. followed by primary research (interviews) with industry experts/KOLs to gain their insights and views on current scenarios and future scope of the market as well as validating the secondary information, further internal statistical model is used to estimate the market size and forecasts till 2025.The Connected Health Market report aims to provide a 360-degree view of the market in terms of cutting-edge technology, key developments, drivers, restraints and future trends with impact analysis of these trends on the market for short-term, mid-term and long-term during the forecast period. Further, the report also covers key players profiling with detailed SWOT analysis, financial facts and key developments of products/service from the past three years.Get Sample Copy of this Report atCompetitive Landscape of Global Market:Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in the last years are identified. The trends and strategies section highlights the likely future developments in the Connected Health market and suggests approaches. It also contains in depth information and data about the company and its operations.Leading Connected Health Market Players:- athenahealth, Inc.- KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.- Medtronic- Boston Scientific Corporation- Omron Healthcare, Inc.- Cisco Systems, Inc.- SAMSUNG- McKesson Corporation- GENERAL ELECTRIC- Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaAConnected Health Market - Global Analysis to 2025 is an expert compiled study which provides a holistic view of the market covering current trends and future scope with respect to product/service, the report also covers competitive analysis to understand the presence of key vendors in the companies by analyzing their product/services, key financial facts, details SWOT analysis and key development in last three years. Further chapter such as industry landscape and competitive landscape provides the reader with recent company level insights covering mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, collaborations, new product developments/strategies taking place across the ecosystem. The chapters also evaluate the key vendors by mapping all the relevant products and services to exhibit the ranking/position of top 5 key vendors.The Connected Health Market report is a combination of qualitative as well as quantitative analysis which can be broken down into 40% and 60% respectively. Market estimation and forecasts are presented in the report for the overall global market from 2017 - 2025, considering 2017 as the base year and 2018 - 2025 forecast period. Global estimation is further broken down by segments and geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America covering major 16 countries across the mentioned regions. The qualitative contents for geographical analysis will cover market trends in each region and country which includes highlights of the key players operating in the respective region/country, PEST analysis of each region which includes political, economic, social and technological factors influencing the growth of the market.Buy Complete Report @Reason to Buy- Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the global Connected Health Market- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Connected Health Market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.About 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, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Automotive and Defense.Contact Us:The Insight partners,Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comWebsite:
Void Fill Pillows Market 2027: Ongoing Trends and Key Players

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Due to budding cross-border trade and expanding geographical outreach of the manufacturers, the export of the merchandise goods has been rapidly increasing. To cater to the transportation needs of these companies, packaging manufacturers are innovating new packaging solutions. Primarily, the focus of packaging manufactures is to improve the safety of the goods during transit and to improve the efficiency of the company. Void fill pillows are such a product innovated by packaging manufacturers for meeting the demand from various industries. Void fill pillows provide a cushion for packed products from external physical shocks, thus, ensuring the safety of the products during the transit. Void fill pillows are commonly manufactured using plastic films and are used for protecting electronic items, glass items, and other fragile products. Use of void fill pillows with larger air pockets are often printed with the company name or the logo, therefore enabling manufacturers to build their brand image.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Void Fill Pillows Market: Market DynamicsOn the backdrop of technological advancement in the packaging industry world packaging market has been expanding rapidly. World packaging market has been estimated at over Mn 820 US$ and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 4.5% during the forecast period. The key factor driving void fill pillows market is despite being light in weight void fill pillows are extremely efficient in protecting packed goods from external shocks. The extensive use of void fills pillows while transportation of goods is boosting the growth in void fill pillows market. Increasing penetration of e-retail especially in developing economies are some other factors supporting the growth in void fill pillows market. Printability of void fill pillows increases manufacturers attraction as it enables them to increase their visibility and helps in building brand image in the market. However, increase in use of foam and molded fiber trays for protective packaging of goods may hamper the growth in void fill pillows market. Using foam and molded fiber trays costs as low as void fill pillows and molded fiber trays being made from environmentally friendly products can limit the use of void fill pillows for packaging which may negatively impact void fill pillows market.Void Fill Pillows Market: Market SegmentationVoid fill pillows market is segmented by material type, and by end use industry.Based on the material type, void fill pillows market is segmented into:By Material TypeKraft paperPlasticMetal FoilsBased on the end use industry, void fill pillows market is segmented into:Automotive industryPharmaceuticals industryE- CommerceElectronics industryVoid Fill Pillows Market - Regional Outlook:Regionally global void fill pillows market is segmented intoNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEastern EuropeWestern EuropeAsia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)Middle East & Africa (MEA)JapanBeing the production hub of the world APEJ region is expected to lead the void fill pillows market during the forecast period. North America is expected to follow APEJ region in void fill pillows market as the region is the largest importer and second largest exporter of the world merchandise. The demand for void fill pillows in Eastern and Western Europe is expected to be moderate over the forecast period. Latin America and Japan are expected to represent small but rapidly growing market share in void fill pillows market. The demand for void fill pillows in MEA region is expected to be sluggish during the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Void Fill Pillows Market - Key Players:Some major players of the void fill pillows market are Sealed Air, DDN Industries, Inc., Automated Packaging Systems Ltd., Polycell, Storopack Hans Reichenecker GmbH, Emballages AT, 2013 DE-Tech Packaging, Inc., Industrial Packaging, Intertape Polymer Group, Hangzhou Bing Jia Technology Co., Ltd., Ruian Growel Packing Co., Ltd., Dongguan Homyell Packaging Materials Co., Ltd., Jiangyin Changjing Xinda Plastic Film Co., Ltd., Zhangzhou Air Power Packaging Equipment Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Packbest Air Packaging Co., Ltd.About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb:
Future Of Demand Planning Software Market: Recent Industry Activity, Focus on Key Players like JDA Software Group, Blue Ridge, RELEX, John Galt, INTUENDI, INFORM, Just Enough, o9, Logility, Etc.

Demand Planning Software Market

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Demand Planning Software Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period.Get Exclusive FREE Sample Copy Of this Report @UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Demand Planning Software Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Demand Planning Software Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018  2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.For More Information On This Report, Please VisitThe generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Demand Planning Software market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Global Demand Planning Software Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The Major players reported in the market include: JDA Software Group Blue Ridge Solutions RELEX Solutions John Galt Solutions INTUENDI INFORM Business Forecast Systems GMDH Just Enough o9 SOLUTIONS Logility Demand WorksGlobal Demand Planning Software Market: Product Segment Analysis: Cloud based On premiseGlobal Demand Planning Software Market: Application Segment Analysis: Large Enterprise SMBMajor Topics Covered in this Report: Chapter 1 Study Coverage Chapter 2 Executive Summary Chapter 3 Market Size by Manufacturers Chapter 4 Demand Planning Software Production by Regions Chapter 5 Demand Planning Software Consumption by Regions Chapter 6 Market Size by Type Chapter 7 Market Size by Application Chapter 8 Manufacturers Profiles Chapter 9 Production Forecasts Chapter 10 Consumption Forecast Chapter 11 Upstream, Industry Chain and Downstream Customers Analysis Chapter 12 Opportunities & Challenges, Threat and Affecting Factors Chapter 13 Key Findings Chapter 14 AppendixDemand Planning Software Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Global Demand Planning Software Market: Key Stakeholders: Demand Planning Software Manufacturers Demand Planning Software Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Demand Planning Software Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Demand Planning Software are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Demand Planning Software Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Demand Planning Software market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.You can also ask for region wise market research report, as below: Demand Planning Software - Global Market Status & Trend Report 2018-2025 Top 20 Countries Data Demand Planning Software - North America Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025 Demand Planning Software - South America Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025 Demand Planning Software - Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025 Demand Planning Software - EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025 Demand Planning Software - Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025 Demand Planning Software - China Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025 Demand Planning Software - India Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025 Demand Planning Software - United States Market Status and Trend Report 2018-2025About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well- defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States.
The Italy Coffee Market was expected to growing during the forecast period Some of the key players in the market are:Illy Coffee,Suchard,Caf do Brasil,McCaf,Luigi Lavazza

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The Italy Coffee Market was valued at US$ XX Mn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ XX Mn by 2022 growing at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period. Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans (which are the seeds of berries from the Coffea plant). It is slightly acidic in nature and has a stimulating effect in humans. It is one of the most popular and widely consumed drinks in the world. Coffee is an important part of Italian culture.Market Dynamics:The following factors are significant in deciding the fate of the market:Market Drivers: Owing to its close association with the Italian culture from old times, Coffee market enjoys a great maturity and stability in Italy. Italians tend to value high-quality coffee and are loyal to specific brands and flavors. These allow manufacturers to safely exercise value addition to enhance the quality at the cost of higher selling prices.Request For Free Sample:Italy has a strategic location and acts as an important trade node for the coffee market. It acts as an important entry point for traders aiming to access the markets of the surrounding nations of Central and Eastern Europe.Market Restraints:Italian customers possess a high degree of loyalty towards certain local brands and flavours and a corresponding aversion towards foreign brands. Thus it inhibits foreign investments and expansion of the existing market.Market Opportunities:Catering to the rich taste for coffee of the Italians the market opportunities mainly lie in introducing new and innovative flavors.Request For Customization:Market Segmentation:The market can be segmented into the following categories:By SpeciesBy Product TypeBy FlavourBy ProcessingIt provides details on market segmentation which is derived from several product mapping exercises, macroeconomic parameters and other qualitative and quantitative insights. The impact of all such factors is delivered across multiple market segments and geographies.Detailed Historical Overview (Market Origins, Product Launch Timeline, etc.)Consumer and Pricing AnalysisMarket dynamics of the industryMarket SegmentationEstimated Market Sizing in terms of volume and valueRecent trends in Italy Coffee Market and impactResearch Status and Technology OverviewExtensive Industry Structure CoverageRead More:About usKenneth Research is a reselling agency providing market research solutions in different verticals such as Automotive and Transportation, Chemicals and Materials, Healthcare, Food & Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods, Semiconductors, Electronics & ICT, Packaging, and Others. Our portfolio includes set of market research insights such as market sizing and market forecasting, market share analysis and key positioning of the players (manufacturers, deals and distributors, etc), understanding the competitive landscape and their business at a ground level and many more. Our research experts deliver the offerings efficiently and effectively within a stipulated time. The market study provided by Kenneth Research helps the Industry veterans/investors to think and to act wisely in their overall strategy formulationKenneth Research is a reselling agency providing market research solutions in different verticals such as Automotive and Transportation, Chemicals and Materials, Healthcare, Food & Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods, Semiconductors, Electronics & ICT, Packaging, and Others. Our portfolio includes set of market research insights such as market sizing and market forecasting, market share analysis and key positioning of the players (manufacturers, deals and distributors, etc), understanding the competitive landscape and their business at a ground level and many more. Our research experts deliver the offerings efficiently and effectively within a stipulated time. The market study provided by Kenneth Research helps the Industry veterans/investors to think and to act wisely in their overall strategy formulationContact UsName:DavidEmail:sales@kennethresearch.comPhone: +1 313 462 0609
The Global Yogurt Market is estimated to growing during the forecast period By 2022 The market for yogurt is concentrated largely among key players like Danone, Fonterra, General Mills, Muller, Nestle, and Yakult

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By 2022, the Global Yogurt Market is estimated to reach US$ XX Mn, up from US$ XX Mn in 2016, growing at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period.Yogurt is a dairy food product derived from the bacterial fermentation of milk. The fermentation of lactose by these yogurt cultures' produced lactic acid, which acts on the milk protein to give yogurt its characteristic texture and tart flavour. Milk from locally available cows, water buffalos, goats, ewes, mares, camels, and yaks is used to produce yogurt. Moreover, yogurt is often associated with probiotics having positive effects on the metabolic and cardiovascular health. Evidence suggests that these live strains of 'good bacteria' that are found in many yogurt products can help boost the immune system and promote a healthy digestive tract.Because of its numerous health benefits, the yogurt section of most grocery stores today has practically taken over the dairy aisle.Request For Free Sample:Market DynamicsPopulation growth, rising health consciousness, increasing disposable incomes, and growing inclination towards ready-to-consume food products are the key factors propelling the growth of the market. The yogurt market is also surging due to a rapidly rising demand for low-fat and low-sugar foods and beverages coupled with an increasing availability of flavoured yogurt, especially in the developing regions. Conversely, high rise in the cost of production poses a major threat to the market growth.Market SegmentationThe Global Yogurt Market is fragmented on the basis of product type, formProduct TypeRegular yogurtFat-free yogurtFormSet YogurtYogurt DrinksGreek YogurtFrozen YogurtDistribution ChannelRequest For Customization:Although yogurt is consumed all over the world, its penetration and consumption levels vary widely across the globe. The European Union is currently the major contributor to the global yogurt market, followed closely by North America. These markets are expected to introduce new variants in flavours, thus leading to a stable growth in the near future. In the developing countries of Asia-Pacific, China and India are expected to show a substantial growth in the forecast period due to the rise in demand for flavoured yogurt in these countries.This report is an elaborate aggregation of primary inputs from industry experts and participants across the supply chain. It provides details on market segmentation which is derived from several product mapping exercises, macroeconomic parameters and other qualitative and quantitative insights. The impact of all such factors is delivered across multiple market segments and geographies.Detailed Historical Overview (Market Origins, Product Launch Timeline, etc.)Consumer and Pricing AnalysisMarket dynamics of the industryMarket SegmentationEstimated Market Sizing in terms of volume and valueRecent trends in Market and impactResearch Status and Technology OverviewExtensive Industry Structure CoverageRead More:About usKenneth Research is a reselling agency providing market research solutions in different verticals such as Automotive and Transportation, Chemicals and Materials, Healthcare, Food & Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods, Semiconductors, Electronics & ICT, Packaging, and Others. Our portfolio includes set of market research insights such as market sizing and market forecasting, market share analysis and key positioning of the players (manufacturers, deals and distributors, etc), understanding the competitive landscape and their business at a ground level and many more. Our research experts deliver the offerings efficiently and effectively within a stipulated time. The market study provided by Kenneth Research helps the Industry veterans/investors to think and to act wisely in their overall strategy formulationKenneth Research is a reselling agency providing market research solutions in different verticals such as Automotive and Transportation, Chemicals and Materials, Healthcare, Food & Beverage and Consumer Packaged Goods, Semiconductors, Electronics & ICT, Packaging, and Others. Our portfolio includes set of market research insights such as market sizing and market forecasting, market share analysis and key positioning of the players (manufacturers, deals and distributors, etc), understanding the competitive landscape and their business at a ground level and many more. Our research experts deliver the offerings efficiently and effectively within a stipulated time. The market study provided by Kenneth Research helps the Industry veterans/investors to think and to act wisely in their overall strategy formulationContact UsName:DavidEmail:sales@kennethresearch.comPhone: +1 313 462 0609
Max Planck Institute relieves load on primary storage with PoINT

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Siegen. The Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research (MPI) has freed up terabytes worth of measurement data by adopting the PoINT Storage Manager, benefiting in a number of ways as a result. The institute has been able to reduce costs and backup times while also enabling audit-compliant archiving of its research data.For many years, the MPI stored its data on hard drive-based systems. This included measurement data with file sizes measured in gigabytes or terabytes which is only rarely accessed. As a result, the MPI sought out a solution which would free its primary storage of this seldom-used data. MPIs IT staff found the right solution to their storage challenge in the PoINT Storage Manager software. Following a test phase in which we tested the software under every scenario we could think of, we were convinced by its ease of use thanks to its clear, intuitive interface  not to mention its wide range of functionality. Other plus points included the PoINT Storage Managers clear and easy-to-understand archiving and HSM rules, which can be modified and expanded as required. Moreover, the PoINT product allows us to quickly and elegantly restore data, said Prof. Dr. Mario Looso, Head of the IT and Bioinformatics Facility at the MPI.Since the PoINT Storage Manager was introduced, the software has archived MPIs research data for the long term while providing transparent read access. This is made possible by so-called stubs, which allow users to read archived data without having to transfer it back to the primary storage system. This function allows the PoINT Storage Manager to free up inactive data, enabling full backups within the MPIs desired time window.We see this mature software as a long-term, future-proof solution whichgives us flexibility despite rising volumes of data, said Prof. Dr. Mario Looso,summing up the results. We are very pleased with both the product and theservice we received. PoINT meets all of our requirements in full.For more information, visitPoINT Software & Systems GmbH specialises in developing software products and system solutions for storing, managing and archiving data. Its storage and data management solutions enable simple, efficient integration of a wide range of storage technologies within the framework of a business specific requirements and workflow.Katharina Alber MarketingPoINT Software & Systems GmbHEiserfelder Str. 316, 57080 Siegen, GermanyTel.: +49 271 3841-159Fax: +49 271 3841-151marcom@point.deNicole Gaugergood news! GmbHKolberger Str. 36, 23617 Stockelsdorf, Germany Tel.: +49 451 88199-12 Fax: +49 451 88199-29nicole@goodnews.de
Fiji to receive health boost thanks to Canberra Company
With no place in SP-BSP alliance & no local face in UP, Congress had only hope in Priyanka Gandhi

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

New Delhi, Jan 23: A big development occurred in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election due in a few month's time on Wednesday, January 23, when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra - sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and great granddaughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, was appointed as the party's general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. The development naturally left the Congress workers and supporters ecstatic for they had been wanting the 47-year-old's formal entry into politics for some time. On the other hand, the BJP did not find anything special in the announcement and denounced it as yet another instance of dynastic politics.

Priyanka Gandhi though always maintained a distance from formal politics, she has in the past campaigned sincerely for her brother and mother Sonia Gandhi in their constituencies - Amethi and Rae Bareli - respectively, in Lok Sabha as well Assembly elections. If one looks back to Priyanka's involvement in electoral politics even informally, it had happened as back as 1999 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not even at the helm in Gujarat. She has been a hard-working lieutenant for her family members who took care of their constituencies when it mattered.

Priyanka Gandhi in politics: BJP leaders take potshot at Congress, Rahul Gandhi

In the past, whenever the question arose over Priyanka's entry into formal politics, it was said that either she was not interested or that the party was not keen to project both siblings as that could lead to an unfavourable result eventually. But eventually, it happened and exactly after six years since Rahul Gandhi had become the vice-president of the Congress in January 2013.

There could be a few good reasons behind Priyanka's entry at this very time.

With no major allies and strong local leadership, Priyanka was the Congress's only option in UP

First, the non-inclusion of the Congress in the mega alliance between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - the two big players in UP, had perhaps left little other option for the Congress' top brass. With Sonia Gandhi ailing and Rahul remaining busy with the national politics, it would have been difficult for the Congress to work in the crucial state without a presentable leadership. The Congress was decimated in the state in both the 2014 Lok Sabha election (only Sonia and Rahul won) and the 2017 Assembly election (it won just seven seats out of 403) and in the absence of a viable leadership with which the people can connect themselves, it would have been impossible for the Congress to do good in the state and if it doesn't better its record in UP, the mission to topple Modi from the Centre will remain a dream. With no strong allies and neither local leadership in the party, the Congress had no other way but play the Priyanka card eventually. It also has assigned the task of looking after western UP to Jyotiraditya Scindia, who recently missed out from becoming the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

In the fight against Modi, Priyanka Gandhi has to find her 'Michelle Obama moment'

Priyanka will get Congress some publicity for sure

Secondly, by roping in Priyanka, the Congress will at least get some better publicity ahead of the big election. The focus will be on Priyanka for sure and given the fact that she has taken charge in East UP where PM Modi and UP Cm Yogi Adityanath also have their zones of influence, the probability of a Modi versus Priyanka showdown can't be ruled out in the Lok Sabha election, just like in 2014 when the over-ambitious Arvind Kejriwal had challenged Modi from Varanasi only to get drubbed badly. But he had his share of publicity undoubtedly. When the SP and BSP have decided to have the full cake and the BJP still a powerful force in the state, the Congress had to bank on some glamour factor to make a space in the prime slots.

Time to play on the front foot: Rahul Gandhi on Priyanka's poll plunge

We can recall here that during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Priyanka had a strong dig at Modi after the latter had said she was "like his daughter". Priyanka on that occasion had said that she was the daughter of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Priyanka's projection against Modi could see Indian democracy witnessing its 'Michelle Obama moment' as the US had ahead of the 2016 presidential election when the former first lady had made a tremendous indirect jibe at Donald Trump saying "When they go low, we go high".

What if Priyanka eclipses Rahul?

Priyanka's entry, however, could also have its share of problems for the Congress. First, she is yet to prove herself as a leader who can deliver across the state, especially on turfs away from Amethi and Rae Bareli. Secondly, she will have the baggage of Robert Vadra, her husband, on her shoulders. And thirdly, if Priyanka succeeds in delivering for the Congress in UP, could there be a possibility of her eclipsing her own brother, who has been a slow learner in the art of politics?

Time will tell.
Indians do not come first for PM, politics does: Priyanka on Covid crisis

While going out to vote, people will see Indira Gandhi in Priyanka: Shiv Sena

India

pti-PTI

Mumbai, Jan 23: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday said the Congress will benefit from Priyanka Gandhi's entry into politics as she has a good personality and possesses qualities of her grandmother Indira Gandhi.

[Will the Priyanka Trump Card' work?]

Priyanka formally entered politics with the Congress appointing her the general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, ending years of speculation and signalling the party's intent to go full throttle in the state ahead of the general elections.

Talking to PTI, Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said the Congress has strong reasons to rejoice because Priyanka Gandhi, who was so far on the periphery, will now be a part of active politics. "The party will benefit from her good personality, her ways of presenting herself and her ability to strike a chord with the voters. She has the qualities of her grandmother," she said.

[Priyanka Gandhi in politics: BJP leaders take potshot at Congress, Rahul Gandhi]

"While going out to vote, people will see Indira Gandhi in Priyanka," Kayande added. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said Priyanka's formal induction into the party will enthuse party workers and the Congress will reap "special benefits" in Uttar Pradesh.

"The SP-BSP alliance will not be affected much because they have a fixed vote bank of Yadavs, Dalits and Muslims. However, her (Priyanka's) clout will charge up the party workers," he said. Malik said if the Congress plays intelligently using Priyanka's charm, the party will easily win 20-21 seats in UP, repeating its performance of 21 seats in the 2009 general elections.

PTI
We made tea and food, cleaned utensils at RSS office: PM Modi

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he would go "somewhere in a jungle - a place with only clean water and no people" for five days during Diwali every year.

In an interview with the popular Facebook page The Humans of Bombay, the Prime Minister has talked about his childhood, inclination towards the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and his two-year-long trip to the Himalayas when he was 17 years old.

Taking the mantle of politics away from Narendra Modi, Humans of Bombay took to their Instagram account to post a smiling picture of the Indian PM with the 3rd part of #TheModiStory.

"After coming back from the Himalayas, I knew that I wanted my life to be one that is lived in the service of others. Within a short span of returning, I left for Ahmedabad. It was my first brush with living in a big city - the pace of life was very different. I began my time there by occasionally helping my uncle at his canteen," the post read.

"Eventually, I became a full-time Pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. There, I got the opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life and do a wide range of work. We all took turns to clean the RSS office, prepare tea and food for colleagues and clean utensils," he said.

"Not many people know this, but I would go away for the five days of Diwali. Somewhere in a jungle - a place with only clean water and no people. I would pack enough food to last for those five days. There would be no radios or newspapers, and during that time, there was no TV or internet anyway," he said.

"I would reflect - and the strength that this alone time gave me still helps me to handle life and its various experiences. People often asked me, 'Who are you going to meet?' And I would say -- I am going to meet myself," he remembered.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a word of advice for his "young friends" too. "...in the midst of your fast paced life and busy schedules, take some time off...think and introspect. It will change your perception - you will understand your inner self better," he said.
Lakshadweep MP says Amit Shah has assured draft laws won't be finalised without consulting locals

WB govt grants permission to BJP for landing chopper at Jhargram helipad

India

oi-Vikas SV

Kolkata, Jan 23: Amid row and war of words between the BJP and the TMC over the denial of permission for landing Amit Shah's chopper at a helipad in Jhargram, the West Bengal Police has now reportedly granted the permission.

Permission has been granted to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for helipad in Jhargram, news agency ANI quoted the West Bengal Police as saying.

It was earlier reported that the BJP chief Amit Shah would skip the party rally in West Bengal's Jhargram, following the state administration's denial of permission for landing his chopper in the area.

Amit Shah was scheduled to land in Jhargram this morning.

This comes a day after a row between the BJP and the state government over a landing spot for his helicopter.

The BJP alleged on Monday the West Bengal government had denied permission for the landing of a helicopter carrying its president Amit Shah at an airstrip in Malda on Tuesday, a charge Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said was "absolutely not true".

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 13:54 [IST]
Today, Mahatma Gandhi is most ignored in his home state Gujarat, says historian Ramachandra Guha

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Kolkata, Jan 23: Historian and biographer of Mahatma Gandhi - Ramachandra Guha - and West Bengal's former governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Tuesday, January 22, were at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet at Victoria Memorial Hall premises where they discussed various facets of Bengal's relationship with the Mahatma (2019 marks 150 years since his birth).

Guha, who has written a number of masterpieces on the Father of the Nation anchored the session during his conversation with Gopalkrishna, the great grandson of the Mahatma.

The two men, both considered to be authorities on Mahatma Gandhi, spoke on various known and unknown facets of the iconic leader's tryst with the state. Gandhi had come to Bengal during a bloody riot in the mid-1940s even though he could not stop the Partition. However, according to Gopalkrishna, Gandhi could manage to dilute the poison of the Partition.

It was during the discussion that Guha remarked that it is in his home state Gujarat where Gandhi is most ignored now. The Gujarat of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah has distanced itself from Gandhi's harmony and environmental awareness, the noted historian opined.

Gandhi is often seen with distrust in Bengal over his rivalry with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who hailed from the state, during the freedom movement.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 11:10 [IST]
The insider job that may have helped terrorists attack Amarnath Yatra

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, jan 23: Two years on since the horrific Amarnath Yatra attack, more details are emerging. The investigations clearly point towards an inside job, which may have helped the terrorists execute the attack in which 8 pilgrims lost their lives.

The letter written by the National Investigation Agency to the Jammu and Kashmir Police makes a startling revelation about the car of a former PDP MLA being used in the attack. The PDP leader in question is Aijaz Mir, who was in the news last year when an SPO posted at his residence decamped with nine weapons including 4 AK-47 rifles.

PDP MLA's car used in Amarnath Yatra attack says NIA

The NIA after taking over the probe into the July 10 2017 attack found that there was a well oiled machinery that worked to ensure that the attack was executed. The attack took place despite high security and this went on to show that the logistics provided to the terrorists was perfect.

The attack was a dastardly one and terrorists broke an unwritten rule by attacking the Yatra, which provides employment to lakhs of locals from Jammu and Kashmir. It is not clear, how the terrorists ended up sourcing the car of the MLA. However using this vehicle could have helped the terrorists dodge security.

Sources say that it is too early to conclude whether it was an insider job. The J&K police will now have to provide information about the vehicle. Further the NIA has also asked for the antecedents of the former MLA.

The NIA suspects that Mir has a soft corner for separatists. In its letter, the agency said, " it is believed that he (Mir) has soft corner for separatists. It has also come into notice that once his vehicle was used on the attacks on pilgrims of the Amarnath Yatra. Therefore, you are requested to provide criminal record/antecedents if any and integrity report on respect of aforesaid Ex-MLA namely Ajaz Ahmad Mir to Shri Rakesh Shrama SP/CIO of the instant case.

The probe revealed that those who carried out the attack were part of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. All those who were part of the attack have been eliminated by the security forces. The NIA has however been probing further on those who provided logistics to the terrorists.

On July 25 2017, two terrorists were killed in an encounter at Bragpora. They were identified as Jibran and Saad. It was suspected that the duo were part of the team that provided the logistics

Cracking a blind case:

It began as a blind case and for long there was no lead. The investigators then found an adverse number which belonged Zahoor Ahmad Shaikh, who was working as a driver with the State Road Transport Corporation. The number was on their radar and his phone conversations were being recorded.

After the call detail records were sourced, it was found that his location was close to the spot. It was learnt that he was in touch with Ajaz Ahmad Wagay, who was a medical representative. This was a crucial breakthrough as Wagay was not on the radar of the agencies. Wagay was an overground worker, who was later killed in an encounter.

Amarnath yatra attack: Lashkar wanted to avenge killing of its terrorists

This led to the rest of the persons who were part of the attack. With the help of the intelligence agencies, the investigators managed to get more details. All the terrorists involved in the attack were killed in separate encounters.

It began with the killing of Abu Ismail, the mastermind of the attack. The Army then went on to kill Abu Mavia, Fukran and Chhota Qasim. NIA officials tell OneIndia that while the larger conspiracy has been revealed in their probe, they are now focusing on the finer details.

An attack of such a magnitude would not have been possible, without the support of more locals and those part of the establishment. We have under our scanner several persons, who are sympathetic towards the separatists and also terror groups.

An Intelligence Bureau official says that many within the establishment knowingly or unknowingly lend support to such acts. It has increased considerably over the years. Many are sympathetic towards such groups, which helps them go about their job with much ease, the IB officer also said.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 5:43 [IST]
PM-led panel's meet to select CBI chief remains 'inconclusive' as Kharge seeks more time

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 24: A high-powered selection committee will meet any time next week to appoint the new CBI director after Alok Verma was removed from the post on January 10, this year. The selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge met late in the evening to finalise the name of the next CBI chief.

Both the CJI and Kharge said they needed more time about who served in what position and the officers' respective competencies. They also requested that next meeting be called at the earliest.

The meeting comes nearly two weeks after Alok Verma was removed as the CBI boss by the high-powered panel in a 2:1 majority verdict. PM Modi heads the three-panel member; the other two members are Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress.

The government has shortlisted as many as 12 candidates based on their seniority, integrity, experience in probing anti-corruption cases and most importantly, their experience of working in the CBI or handling vigilance matters.

Kharge had written on January 15 a strong letter to Modi attacking the appointment of M. Nageshwara Rao as interim Chief as illegal and sought an immediate meeting of the Selection Committee.

While ousting Verma from the post on January 10, the government shifted him as as Director General Fire Service, Homeguard and Civil Services but he refused to take up the new post and quit.

There has been a controversy ever since with Justice A.K.Sikri, the representative of CJI, who had sided with the government in the Jan 10 meeting, refusing to accept his nomination for a London-based Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT) after it triggered a row.
Analysing ISIS Voice of Hind: How it is being used to provoke Muslims against the government

Radicalising them young: The Madrasa-terror nexus is spiralling out of control

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 23: The Shia Waqf Board chairman, Waseem Rizvi dashed off a letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to shut down primary level madrasas in order to check the influence of the Islamic State on Muslim children.

Let them complete their high school and then take admissions into madrasas, he said. It can be seen that children are soft targets for running any mission and at this point of time ISIS is a dangerous terror organisation which is gradually getting hold over the Muslim population across the world.

"...if madarasas are not shut down, about half of the country's population will become supporters of the ISIS ideology in 15 years' time," Rizvi said in the letter.

The concerns about madrasas breeding hate has been raised several times by the various security agencies in India. This problem is rampant in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala.

D-company aide held for plotting to kill Shia Waqf Board chief Waseem Rizvi

Last year there were protests that broke out in Bhadrachalam, Telangana after allegations were made against a madrasa for indulging in mass conversions. During the probe the name of one Mohammad Taufeeq cropped up as he had studied in this madrasa. Taufeeq was killed in an encounter at Jammu and Kashmir and was part of the Hizbul Mujahideen.

The concerns by Rizvi also comes in the wake of the rise of Wahhabism in states like Kerala. This school of thought is being made popular in the madrasas in these states. In Kerala many parents had complained that their children have been ordering them to stop watching television. There were also complaints that their children had become aggressive and would pick up fights with their sisters about their dressing sense.

Radicalising them young:

In 2016, at a school in Mallapuram, some of the students had approached their headmaster and sought for a change of their biology teacher. They clearly told the headmaster, that they would not take lessons from a woman.

In another incident, a 14 year old boy in Kerala returned home and told his parents that he would no go to school as he did not want to mix with students of other faiths. Intelligence Bureau officials, who have been tracking the growth of Salafi faith in Kerala, Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and other states tell OneIndia that outfits which subscribe to the ISIS ideology have been targeting children at a very young age. These children are more vulnerable and tend to pick up the ideology, without even questioning it.

Officials say that there is a deadly cocktail of the Wahhabi school of thought and online Islam, which is being used to drive across the agenda among children. The moderate Muslims have shunned this, but the problem lies with the youth, who are being told to follow Online Islam, which only preaches a radical school of thought.

From Saudi to Pakistan:

India is facing a problem of plenty when it comes to radicalisation. The Saudi-ISIS influence is big and has worked for them in select states. The problem does not stem from Saudi Arabia alone.

In 2014, India had flagged concerns about the activities of the madrasas along the Indo-Nepal border.

ISI-Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh hatched plot in UK to strike India ahead of LS polls

It was pointed out that these Pakistan funded madrasas were carrying out an anti-India propaganda and were providing safe haven to terrorists who were trying to sneak into India. India also did not rule out the possibility of inter-lineages between these madrasas and a number of Mandarin learning centres along the India-Nepal Terai belt.

Last year, the National Investigation Agency busted a module of the Falah-i-Insaniyat, which was pumping in money into India. It was found that the money was being sent in the name of Muslim welfare, but in reality it was a defence fund to be used to carry out terror activities. Several religious leaders came under the scanner and it was found that the money was being used to fund madrasas as well, in a bid to radicalise youth and children.

The NIA also last month busted a module, which was ISIS inspired in Delhi and UP. Several persons arrested were religious teachers of various madrasas. The NIA said that they were plotting a major attack ahead of Republic Day. However the scanner on the madrasas came right back as many of those arrested were part of it.

In July 2018, the NIA arrested one Abdus Sami, a madrasa owner from Seelampur in Uttar Pradesh.

Adbus Sami had been delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches in the support of 'Caliphate', NIA officials said. He had launched a few websites wherein his speeches have been uploaded. Abdus Sami has been allegedly instigating and motivating youth for anti-national activities and has visited various parts of the country in order to deliver his 'Takreer and Bayaan' (speech and statement), the NIA officials said.

He ran a trust and madrassas and some of his financial transactions in this connection had allegedly been found to be of suspicious nature.

Establishing a network through madrasas:

NIA officials say that in recent times, they have come across several such cases, where the funding had been enhanced for madrasas. The source of the funding has been the bigger concern. Either it is coming from Wahhabi groups in Saudi Arabia or through the FIF in Pakistan.

NIA officials say that Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief, Hafiz Saeed, through his financial wing, FIF was trying to establish a network in the Delhi-NCR region and in a bid to achieve this he was funding several madrasas as well. It was found that the funds were reaching madrasas in the Mewat, Haryana, where hate would be taught to the students. A set of teachers had been arranged, who through their sermons would misguide the students.

Investigators learnt that the funds were sent in not only to fund the madrasas, but also to transport it to other states to carry out terror related activities. The intention is to radicalise as many youth and children as possible and get them prepared for anti-India activities over the years.

Rizvi had pointed out in his letter to the PM that the support to the ISIS is clearly visible in Kashmir where children are being alienated from people of other religion in the name of Islamic education.

"In rural areas of the country too, primary madarasas in the name of donations are harming the future of our children and promoting fundamentalist thinking... this is damaging both the country and Muslim children," he said.
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Arun Jaitley unwell, Piyush Goyal gets finance ministry charge days before Interim Budget

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Jan 23: Piyush Goyal on Wednesday was given additional charge of Finance Ministry, days before the Interim Budget has to be presented. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will remain a minister without any portfolio.

Arun Jaitley had left for the United States for a medical check-up earlier this month. He has not yet returned.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan in a satement that Arun Jaitley was "indisposed" and would remain a minister without portfolio.

"The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, hereby directed that during the period of indisposition of Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister; the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs held by him, be temporarily assigned to Shri Piyush Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios," the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.

Traditionally, an interim budget gets parliament's approval for expenses for the financial year starting in April till a new government is in place. The incoming government presents a fresh budget for the rest of the financial year.

The parliament will meet from January 31 to February 13 for the budget session.
PFI linked ISIS module busted in Maharashtra: Republic Day attack thwarted

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Mumbai, Jan 23: Nine persons have been detained in Maharashtra for alleged links to the Islamic State. The raids were carried out by the Maharashtra ATS, following specific inputs about the ISIS link.

The ATS picked up four suspects from Aurangabad and 5 from Thane. ATS sources said that these persons had formed a group and were planning on leaving India for Syria. The ATS also said that those arrested in Thane had alleged links with the Popular Front of India.

Officials also said that they had inputs that the members of this module was also planning on carrying out a big strike ahead of Republic Day, before fleeing the country.

During investigation, it was also revealed that they were planning to go to Syria and were to undergo training for fidayeen strikes. The ATS source also said that the suspects arrested in Thane were in touch with a PFI member of the Aurangabad branch who goes by the name Salman.

Officials said that those arrested also included a minor, who is 17 years of age. The others to be arrested include, Salman Khan, Fahad Shah, Zamen Kutepadi, Mohseen Khan, Mohammad Mazhar Shaikh, Taki Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Zahid Shaikh.

Sheikh is a mechanical engineer by profession, while Khan is a civil engineer. Shah on the other hand is an architect.

ATS officials are now on the look out for Salman, who they suspect was the main link. He is said to have coaxed these persons and also was trying to help them get out of the country and reach Syria.

The ATS said onn receipt of a very reliable input about a group aligned with the proscribed international terrorist organisation ISIS, ATS Maharashtra mounted watch on the suspects and gathered all relevant information about the members of the group for several weeks.

The ATS in a bid to nab these persons formed several teams and also carried out search and seizures at five different locations in Mumbra, Thane and Aurangabad during the intervening night and early morning of January 22.

The ATS has seized SIM cards, mobile phones, hard drivers, acid bottles and sharp knives.
Why govt used COVID-19 data as 'propaganda tool' rather than to stop coronavirus, asks Priyanka Gandhi

Indians do not come first for PM, politics does: Priyanka on Covid crisis

Most awaited entry in Indian politics: Prashant Kishor on Priyanka's appointment

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 23: Strategist Prashant Kishor on Wednesday hailed Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics as one of the "most awaited entries in Indian politics.

Kishor took to Twitter and Congratulated Priyanka Gandhi saying that it was"real news" that Priyanka "finally decided to take plunge".

"One of the most awaited entries in Indian politics is finally here! While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real news is that she finally decided to take the plunge! Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi," Kishor said in a tweet.

From Nehru to Priyanka, journey of the Gandhi family in the Congress

He had worked with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh as a poll strategist before joining the Janata Dal (United).

Ending years of speculation, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally entered politics Wednesday with the Congress appointing her general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East in a move reflecting the party's intent to go full throttle in the state ahead of the general elections.

The appointment is being seen as a masterstroke which will boost the morale of party workers in a state where Congress influence has been waning over the years and where the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have announced a tie-up.

Priyanka Gandhi, who turned 47 on January 12, will assist her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the Hindi heartland state, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the largest of any state in the country.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 15:59 [IST]
Kejriwal warns against division of votes, claims Cong can't win single LS seat in Delhi

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 23: Attending a gathering of Imams of mosques in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday warned against division of votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Delhi and claimed that the Congress would not win a single seat in the national capital.

At the event hosted by the Delhi Waqf Board, its chairman and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan said the hike in the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins (mosque staff who give the prayer call) of the 200-odd mosques under the board will be implemented from February. He added that the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins of 1,500 other mosques in the city would also be increased.

Urging the Imams to support the AAP, Khan said, "People are saying they will vote for the Congress because the next prime minister will be from that party. If that is indeed so, we will also extend support to the Congress, but in Delhi, only the AAP can defeat the BJP, not the Congress." Echoing the same sentiment, Kejriwal said, "If I felt the Congress could win, the AAP would give them all the seven seats (in Delhi) and leave the contest in their favour. The Congress cannot win even a single seat in Delhi." Asking the gathering to be wary of division of votes, he said it would help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win all the seven seats in Delhi.

"If your votes are divided, the country will suffer immensely," the chief minister said. Explaining the "vote mathematics" to the Imams, Kejriwal pointed out that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all the seven seats in Delhi by polling 46 per cent votes, whereas the AAP had got 33 per cent and the Congress 15 per cent votes.

"It is being said that the BJP is going to lose 10 per cent votes. If these votes go to the Congress, the BJP will win again. But if the AAP gets these votes, we will bag the seven seats," he said. The AAP supremo also told the gathering that there was no need to bother about who would become the next prime minister. "The TV channels are showing the polls as a contest between (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. Do not get confused by it because it is a misconception. "Neither Modi nor Rahul will become the prime minister. We will support anyone else who becomes the prime minister," he said, hinting at a "mahagathbandhan" or grand alliance of non-Congress parties. Just as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and K Chandrashekar Rao in Telangana could defeat the BJP in their respective states, the AAP could also defeat the Modi-Shah duo in the national capital, Kejriwal said. "If Modi and (BJP chief Amit) Shah return in 2019, the country and the Constitution will be endangered. They will break the country like Hitler," he added.

The AAP national convener also accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of meeting the locals at the parks of the city and attempting to shift the "anti-Modi" votes to the Congress.

"They apparently speak against Modi, saying even the Congress was better than him. It is a ploy to shift votes to the Congress and if that happens, the BJP will win the Lok Sabha polls," he said. Delhi ministers Imran Hussain and Kailash Gahlot also urged the gathering to ensure the AAP's victory in the national capital in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Khan said, "Do not waste your vote. The votes will be wasted if given to the Congress. Vote for the AAP if you want to defeat the BJP." The Delhi Waqf Board chairman said the increased salaries of the Imams and Muajjins would be paid in their bank accounts in February. The board has decided to hike the existing monthly salaries of Imams (Rs 10,000) and Muajjins (Rs 9,000) to Rs 18,000 and Rs 16,000 respectively.

PTI
Karnataka: Monkey fever scare grips Bengaluru, other parts

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Bengaluru, Jan 23: Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka has been put on alert after the outbreak of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), also known as 'monkey fever' claimed seven lives in Shivamogga.

According to media reports, till now there have been no reports of infections from Bengaluru, but the disease has been confirmed in Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Chikmagalur where over a 50 people are said to have contracted the deadly disease.

Meanwhile, with six deaths in Karnataka during January due to the tick-borne infection Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Goa have taken precautionary steps to prevent the spread of the disease in their states.

The virus responsible for causing monkey fever is a member of the flavivirus genus. It is transmitted to humans via infected ticks and has been largely associated with the death of monkeys in the wild.

Should a person come in contact with a sick, recently infected, or even dead infected monkey, they run the risk of contracting the infection.

Can Kyasanur forest disease be prevented?

A vaccine does exist for KFD and is used in endemic areas - of a disease or condition occurs regularly in a particular area. Additional preventative measures include using insect repellents, wearing protective clothing in areas particularly where ticks are endemic, and avoiding contact with dead monkeys.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 18:57 [IST]
False: Centre is not planning to bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir

Some actions by Indian government inconsistent with democratic values: Top US official

We will soon take decision on conducting Amarnath Yatra: Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha

J&K: 3 terrorists killed in Baramulla encounter, operation underway

India

oi-Deepika S

Srinagar, Jan 23: At least three terrorists were killed during an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district on Wednesday.

"A joint team of army's 46 RR, SOG and 53 bn CRPF launched a cordon-and-search operation at Binner village in outskirts of Baramulla following inputs about the presence of militants," an official said.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Binner area of Baramulla district following information about presence of militants in the area, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into a gunbattle after militants opened fire on the security forces.

No casualties have been reported so far in the encounter, he added.
Indian Air Force's MiG-21 woes: What are the possible replacement options?

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Jan 23: With barely 32 squadrons of fighter aircraft currently in inventory, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is staring at a massive problem. The IAF should ideally have a strength of 42 combat squadrons to be fully prepared for a two-front war. It never had 42, the maximum number it has eaver reached is 39.5 in the early 1990s.

In the IAF, each fighter squadron is expected to hold 18 fully operational planes plus two trainers. Some of the squadrons - especially those of the older generation MiGs - are operating with much lesser number of aircrafts. The IAF has raised a new squadron of Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). However, the nine indigenous aircraft in this unit are not fully cleared for operations.

According to the information available in the public domain, the IAF currently has around eleven squadrons of the Su-30MKI, three each of the MiG-29 and Mirage 2000, six of the Jaguar and six of the MiG-21.

The MiG-27 and the MiG-21 are one of the the oldest in the IAF inventory. The MiG-21 and MiG-27 squadrons have been in decline and the MiG-23 has been phased out completely. The IAF will phase out nine squadrons of the MiG-21 and 2 MiG-27 over the next 5 years.

India purchased 874 MiG-21s since 1963. Of these nearly 490 were reportedly involved in accidents or crashes killing almost 200 pilots. Delays in the FOC of indigenous 'Tejas' Light Combat Aircraft programme is adding to the woes of IAF. Some 120-odd MiG-21s continue to be in service. These will be retired in phases till 2021-2022.

[Why it may take 10 years to address IAF's depleting squadron strength]

Two squadrons of Rafale fighters, two of the LCA Tejas and two more Sukhoi-30MKI would be added in the coming years, but that still will not make up for the shortfall. So, all in all, there is a big problem at hand.

Options before the IAF:

Fighter aircrafts: Single engine vs twin engine:

Which is better - Single engine fighters or twin engine ones? Well, there is no clear answer to it as it depends on the requirements of intended use of the aircraft and to some extent the level of available technology. Single engine fighters cost less and require less maintenance. On the other hand, a twin-engine aircraft has a greater operational ceiling, high-altitude kinematic performance and can carry higher payload. A single-engine aircraft's primary advantage is being relatively light-weight and often less-draggy airframe. While twin-engine aircraft gets the advantage of a lot more thrust, that is usually always to compensate the additional weight of the airframe/payload due to mission requirements.

Choices that IAF may consider:

It was thought that India's requirement for single engine fighters could be met with LCA Tejas. But due multiple problems encountered during Tejas's develpment and HAL's failure to meet the delivery deadlines has forced IAF to look at other foreign aircrafts.

Sometime back, reports had emerged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) was showing interest in Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II fighter jet. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole fighters. The fifth-generation combat aircraft is designed to perform a ground attack and air superiority missions. But on March 1, 2018, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa rubbished the reports and said that no such "request been made to the Americans." The other good single engine fighters that India can consider are F-16, Mirage, Gripen, other SAABs, MiG-27, Su-7 through 17.

[Is J-20 fighter really better than US' F-35? At least Chinese media claims so]

Airbus' Eurofighter Typhoon is considered more advanced than Dassault's Rafale. Although both were finalists in the IAF's stillborn 2007 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest, and are Generation 4.5, the two companies announced in April that they plan to cooperate on developing Europe's Future Air Combat System.

Defence Ministry has made it clear that two separate "Make in India" programmes will be considered - the first for a single-engine type and the second for a twin-engine type. It has been speculated that the F-16 and Gripen will be in competition for the former category, while the F/A-18 and the Rafale will compete in the latter category. Lockheed Martin is excited about the prospect of making F-16 fighter aircraft in India and making India a global manufacturing and supply base for the aircraft. There is legitimate concern that the choice of a new single-engine fighter type could jeopardize India's own Tejas project. This should not be an issue since the single-engine type being sought is to replace the MiG-23-MF/-BN and MiG-27ML aircraft in service, while the Tejas has been earmarked to replace the MiG-21.
Why govt used COVID-19 data as 'propaganda tool' rather than to stop coronavirus, asks Priyanka Gandhi

Indians do not come first for PM, politics does: Priyanka on Covid crisis

From Nehru to Priyanka, journey of the Gandhi family in the Congress

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 23:The Nehru- Gandhi family has played a crucial role in Indian politics. When it comes to their family, Congressmen offer a strange formula: three is equal to one. There is complete unity in the trinity of UPA President Sonia Gandhi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and his younger sister Priyanka Gandhi. And Priyanka's formal entry into Congress leadership has only strengthened Sonia's or Rahul's roles at the helm.

Here are the key things to know about India's most famous political family:

The Nehru-Gandhi family has dominated Indian politics since independence from Britain in 1947, when Jawaharlal Nehru became the country's first prime minister.

Priyanka Gandhi's entry to politics: BJP says Rahul Gandhi has failed

Of the 15 people who led the 132-year-old party post independence, four belonged to the Gandhi-Nehru family. Long before independence, his great-great grandfather, Motilal Nehru, headed the party, the first from the family to do so.

The Nehru-Gandhi clan was at the helm of affairs of the party after independence for 38 years: Nehru for three years, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi for eight years each, and Sonia Gandhi for a record 19 years.

Indira Gandhi held the post in 1959 and 1978-84, her son Rajiv Gandhi in 1984-91 and daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi, from 1998 till date.

The dynasty has produced three prime ministers and a member of the family has been in charge of the country for nearly 50 of the 70 years since independence.

In 1984, Nehru's only daughter Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards when she was prime minister, following a deadly confrontation between Indian security forces and Sikh separatist militants at the Golden Temple in Punjab state.

She had groomed her younger son Sanjay to be her political heir, but he was killed in 1980 when the small plane he was piloting crashed.

Her eldest son Rajiv reluctantly took over her political mantle, and served as prime minister from 1984 to 1989. He too was assassinated in 1991.

The Nehru-Gandhi family's decades-long dominance of Indian politics began to diminish in the late 1990s with the fortunes of the Congress party.

Priyanka Gandhi in politics: Significance of Eastern Uttar Pradesh?

After Rajiv's death, the party was not led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family for several years, but in 1998, Sonia Gandhi agreed to take over.

She propelled Congress back to power in 2004 and ruled behind the scenes for 10 years. But in 2014, the party was routed by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party following a string of corruption scandals.

Rahul Gandhi is the fifth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to lead Congress.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 15:25 [IST]
Will make Assam govt party to case against CAA in SC if voted Congress to power: Gaurav Gogoi

For Indian citizenship, State approval mandatory: MHA

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 23: Indian citizenship would not be granted to any foreigner without the consent of state governments concerned after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the home ministry said on Tuesday.

Ministry spokesperson Ashok Prasad said every application for Indian citizenship will be checked by the deputy commissioner or district magistrate concerned, who will carry out due diligence and submit it to the state government concerned.

Protests rage on in Assam over Citizenship Bill

"The state government also has to conduct an inquiry through its agencies. Only then, an individual will be granted Indian nationality. Without the state government's recommendations, no one will be given Indian citizenship," Prasad told reporters here.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019, being strongly opposed by a large section of people and organisations in the northeast, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities - Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians - from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after they have stayed in India for seven years, instead of 12 years at present. This is applicable to those who came to India before December 31, 2014.

The six religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were earlier given a special dispensation for grant of long term visas.

People belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhism, Jain, Parsi and Christian religions from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan will have to prove they belonged to any of the three countries and were persecuted on religious lines among other things for Indian citizenship.

A large section of people and organisations in the northeast have opposed the bill saying it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion.

There have been sporadic protests against the bill in the region ever since it was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8.

After backing JPC probe into Rafale, Sena determined to oppose Citizenship Amendment Bill

Union home minister Rajnath Singh has already said the bill will apply to all states and union territories and the beneficiaries can reside anywhere in the country.

"The burden of these persecuted migrants will be shared by the whole country. Assam alone would not have to bear the entire burden and the government is committed to giving all help to the state government and people of Assam," Singh had said.

Home ministry sources said the ministry is considering a proposal to provide incentives to those people who want to settle anywhere in India, except the northeast.

(With agency inputs)

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 6:09 [IST]
Delhi Police registers case against EVM hacker Syed Shuja

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

New Delhi, Jan 23: Delhi Police Wednesday registered a case based on a complaint filed by the Election Commission regarding allegations of hacking EVMs and rigging polls levelled by self-proclaimed cyber expert Syed Shuja.

The EC asked the police to investigate the matter promptly for violation of certain sections of the IPC dealing with spreading a rumour to cause public alarm and under other provisions of related laws.

"Through media reports, it has come to the notice of the Commission that allegedly one Syed Shuja, on January 21 in London... claimed that he was part of the EVM design team and he can hack the EVM used in elections in India.

The act of Shuja is violative of IPC, particularly its Section 505(1)(b)," the EC said.

Months ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, a self-proclaimed US-based cyber expert Syed Shuja at an EVM hackathon in London has claimed that the "entire" 2014 polls were "rigged". He further said that even the recent assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh were also rigged. He blamed the BJP for carrying out rigging of the electronic voting machines.

Shuja claimed that senior BJP leader from Maharashtra Gopinath Munde was murdered because he knew about EVM rigging and was about to expose the BJP. He, however, provided no corroborative facts to substantiate his claims. The Election Commission has rejected all his claims and written to Delhi Police requesting it to lodge an FIR and investigate the claims made by Syed Shuja.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 17:27 [IST]
Crowd claps, but Amit Shah says 'Don't...Mamata di may object'

India

oi-Vikas SV

Kolkata, Jan 23: Amit Shah was in West Bengal yesterday and in a no-holds-barred attack at the Mamata Banerjee-led government, the BJP president slammed the TMC government for opposing Centre's ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Banerjee announced on Thursday (January 17) that her government will pull out of the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme. She said the Narendra Modi-led BJP government has been taking credit for the scheme, which is funded by state governments.

Addressing the rally in Malda on Tuesday, Shah was highlighting the benefits of the scheme to the poor. The crowd began to clap, but Shah, in a bitter jibe at Banerjee, reportedly said, "Don't clap. Mamata di is obstructing it."

Opposition has queue of PMs, Amit Shah says in Malda where Trinamool doesn't have single seat

Referring to Banerjee's remark where she had questioned Modi's performance since he assumed power in 2014, Shah said: "I have come to reply. He has given 129 welfare schemes to the people."

"The state government has come out of Ayushman Bharat. When the poor people in other states will be able to avail the health insurance benefits under this scheme, the people of Bengal will be deprived of it," he said.

The West Bengal government had initially declined to participate in the Ayushman Bharat scheme as it already had its own health protection scheme called Swasthya Sathi. However, in July last year, the state government signed an agreement to implement the Centre's health insurance scheme under the joint banner 'Ayushman Bharat-Swasthya Sathi'. Following the merger of both schemes in October last year, the cost for the beneficiaries was shared in a 60:40 ratio with the state government bearing 40 per cent of the cost, said an Indian Express report.

West Bengal government had sent a letter to the Centre on its intent to pull out of the scheme also known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (PMJAY).

"How can they take credit when the state governments bear 40 per cent of the cost for this scheme?" she had said.

2019 polls will determine Bengal's future, says Amit Shah in Malda

Urging people to remove the TMC government from Bengal, Shah on Tuesday said, "Tell me, if poor people of UP get Rs. 5 lakh for treatment, shouldn't Bengal's poor also get it? If Bihar, Maharashtra's poor people get Rs. 5 lakh, should not Bengal's poor people get it? Mamata di says you shouldn't get."

Shah was particularly critical of the recent mega rally held in Kolkata's Brigade Parade Grounds saying it was an alliance of opportunistic and power-hungry people. He said the alliance is only concerned with toppling Prime Minister Narendra Modi and come up with a government which will be weak and unstable, adding that they wanted a strong government which can deal with neighbours like Pakistan.
Between 2004 and 2018, National parties collected Rs 8721.14 crore from unknown sources

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Jan 23: Political Parties play a key role in democracies as they contest elections, form governments, formulate policies and are responsible for providing governance and improve the lives of the common man. Political parties need access to money in order to reach out to the electorate, explain their goals/policies and receive inputs from people. But where do they collect their funds from?

An analysis of their Income Tax returns and donations statements filed with the Election Commission of India (ECI) shows that the sources remain largely unknown. At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs. 20,000 nor those who donated via Electoral Bonds. As a result, more than 50% of the funds cannot be traced and are from 'unknown' sources.

BJP earned over Rs 1,000 crore in 2017-18

While the National Political Parties were brought under the RTI Act by the CIC ruling in June 2013, they have still not complied with the decision. Full transparency is, unfortunately, not possible under the current laws, and it is only the RTI that can keep citizens informed.

Observations by Association for Democratic Reforms:

Between FY 2004-05 and 2017-18, the National Parties have collected Rs 8721.14 cr from unknown sources (links to reports given in 'Reference').

During FY 2017-18, BJP declared Rs 553.38 cr as income from unknown sources which is 80% of the total income of National Parties from unknown sources (Rs 689.44 cr). This income of BJP forms more than 4 times the aggregate of income from unknown sources declared by the other 5 National Parties.

Out of Rs 689.44 cr as income from unknown sources, share of income from Electoral Bonds was Rs 215 cr or 31%.

Combined income of INC and NCP from sale of coupons between FY 2004-05 and 2017-18 stands at Rs 3573.53 cr

According to the donations reports (containing details of donations above Rs 20,000), Rs 16.80 lakhs was given to the National Parties by cash. Mode of contribution of Rs 689.44 cr of unknown sources will remain unknown.

Income of Political Parties from Known, Other known and unknown sources

For this report, known sources have been defined as donations above Rs 20,000, whose donor details are available through contributions report as submitted by national parties to the ECI.

The unknown sources are income declared in the IT returns but without giving source of income for donations below Rs. 20,000. Such unknown sources include 'Donations via Electoral Bonds', 'sale of coupons', 'relief fund', 'miscellaneous income', 'voluntary contributions', 'contribution from meetings/ morchas' etc. The details of donors of such voluntary contributions are not available in the public domain.

Other known sources of income include sale of moveable & immoveable assets, old newspapers, membership fees, delegate fee, bank interest, sale of publications and levy whose details would be available in the books of accounts maintained by political parties.

Regional parties declared Rs 321 crore as annual income: Report

For this analysis, 6 National Parties were considered, less CPM, as the 'Schedules' or 'Annexures' were unavailable for CPM for FY 2017-18. Schedules contain specific details of income from various sources, without which ADR was unable to analyse sources of funding of CPM.

Total income of 6 National political parties in FY 2017-18: Rs 1293.05 cr.

Total income of political parties from known donors (details of donors as available from contribution report submitted by parties to Election Commission): Rs 467.13 cr, which is 36% of the total income of the parties.

Total income of political parties from other known sources (e.g., sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc.): Rs 136.48 cr, or 11% of total income.

Total income of political parties from unknown sources (income specified in the IT Returns whose sources are unknown): Rs 689.44 cr, which is 53% of the total income of the parties.

Out of Rs 689.44 cr as income from unknown sources, share of income from Electoral Bonds: Rs 215 cr or 31%.

Income from unknown sources:

Out of total income of Rs 689.44 cr of 6 National Parties from unknown sources, 51.38% or Rs 354.22 cr came from Voluntary contributions (below Rs 20,000).

Donations from Electoral Bonds formed 31.18% (Rs 215 cr) in income from unknown sources, while income from sale of coupons declared by INC and NCP formed 16.78% of income from unknown sources of the six National Parties.

Mode of payment of all donations (above and below Rs 20,000), income from sale of coupons, membership fees, etc. should be declared by the parties in the 'Schedules' of their audit reports, submitted annually to the Income Tax department and the ECI.

Recently, the ECI has recommended that tax exemption be awarded only to those political parties which contest and win seats in Lok Sabha/ Assembly elections. The Commission has also recommended that details of all donors who donate above Rs 2,000 be declared in public domain.

ADR supports ECI for its strong stand to enforce reforms in funding of political parties and hopes that these reforms are proactively taken up by the Government for implementation.

Scrutiny of financial documents submitted by the political parties should be conducted annually by a body approved by CAG and ECI so as to enhance transparency and accountability of political parties with respect to their funding.

The National and regional political parties must provide all information under the Right to Information Act. This will only strengthen political parties, elections and democracy.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 17:40 [IST]
Conviction debatable in Naroda Patiya case says SC, while granting bail to 4 accused

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Jan 23: The Supreme Court has ordered the release of four convicts on bail in connection with the 202 Naroda Patiya riots case.

A Bench comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar granted bail to four convicts on the ground that the high court order of conviction was debatable. They should be released on bail as they appeals would take time, the Bench said.

The Bench granted bail to Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Padmendrasinh Jaswantsinh Rajput and Harshad alias Mungda Jila Govind Chhara Parmar on bail after imposing ordinary conditions to be laid out by the trial court.

At least 97 Muslims were killed in Ahmedabad's Naroda Patiya area on February 28, 2002, when a mob of thousands descended upon the locality, and murdered them.

The Gujarat HC had primarily relied upon identification of these convicts by police officials but in some cases, no identification parade was conducted and the appeals raised doubt over their identification in a group of around 15,000 persons, the SC said.

"Prima facie, we find that the approach of the High court is debatable," said the bench, while granting bail to Bharwad. It also noted that Bharwad was undergoing treatment for HIV and that he had been on bail during the trial of the case.

"Prima facie, we find this approach to be doubtful, especially when the witnesses relied upon by the prosecution are police officials and no identification parade of this applicant was conducted during the investigation by the Police," the Bench said while granting bail to Rajkumar.

The court also released another convict, Prakashbhai Sureshbhai Rathod, on interim bail between January 28 and February 15 to attend his daughter's wedding.
Maharashtra unlock 2.0: Despite remaining in level 1 category, some Covid lockdown curbs to remain in Nagpur

15 police personnel injured in attack by tribals in Melghat

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Amravati, Jan 23: More than 15 police personnel were injured after being attacked allegedly by tribal community members of Melghat in Amravati district on Tuesday.

Police were attacked after they arrested 20 squatters from the Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) for trespassing in reserve and cut off ration supplies to over 150 others who are still holed up in the relocated Kelpani village.

According to Time of India report, over 250 residents, including women and children from around eight villages - Barukheda, Ammona, Kelpani, Dhargad, Kelpani, Somthana (Khurd), Gullarghat and Somthana (Bujurg) - marched on January 14 and entered the reserve during night through Khatkali breaking open the forest gate.

Thackeray memorial: Maharashtra government approves Rs 100 cr

Home to more than 27000 tribals (Korku, Gaoli and Nihal), Melghat Tiger Reserve provides unique opportunity to get an insight into the eco-friendly tribal tribal culture, the Korkus being one of the few tribes who worship Tiger as a God.

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Story first published: Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 16:17 [IST]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  Despite criticisms from some lawmakers and experts, President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said he was "comfortable" with the proposed measure lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 12.

"I am comfortable with 12, okay na ako (I'm okay with it)," Duterte told reporters in a chance interview.

House Bill 8858 hurdled the second reading at the House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon. The proposed measure seeks to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 12 -- a sudden turn around from the initial proposal to lower the MACR to 9.

Lawmakers who spent two days debating on the House bill amid backlash from some Senators and child rights advocates -- also agreed on Wednesday to drop the term "criminal responsbility" and changed it to "social responsibility," saying that is to make the measure "acceptable."

Duterte added he would have also been amenable to lowering the age of liability to 9.

The country's chief executive said it would force parents to discipline their children at a young age.

"Kasi ang gusto ko (because what I want is), at that age, pati ang (even) parents must be conscious of the criminal accountability already," the President said.

"Ganoong edad pa lang, pukpukin na because they will be ultimately responsible. Sila 'yung tatamaan eh, any violation of law na ang bata ngayon at nagkulang 'yung supervision at vigilance ng parents, sila idedemanda."

[Translation: At that age, the children should be disciplined because they (parents) will be ultimately responsible. They would be held accountable, any violation of the law by the children would mean the lack of supervision and vigilance by the parents, and they will be sued.]

Meanwhile, Malacanang on Thursday said it wants the bill to include a provision that would sanction "neglectful" parents.

The pending bill does not directly mention any punishment for parents of children who commit heinous crimes.

"I think there should be some kind of punishment also for parents if they are neglectful, either deliberately or recklessly," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said during his media briefing.

"Supposedly the parents are the trainer of children, the molder of children to become righteous individuals and good citizens."

Panelo added the issue on the bill was not really about the age, but the imprisonment of children who commit crimes.

"I agree, you cannot be putting to jail these minors. You have to correct them, rehabilitate them," the spokesperson added.

"Pag kinulong mo 'yan, lalo 'yang mapasama sa mga hardened criminals."

[Translation: If you put them to jail, the more they will be hardened criminals.]

Duterte, in a speech Tuesday, earlier pointed out how children as young as 6 years old were being used by drug syndicates in their operations.

CNN Philippines' Ina Andolong, Alyssa Rola, and Xave Gregorio contributed to this report.
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Aldi is set to recruit for its Offaly shops as part of a national expansion plan.

Aldi Ireland confirmed it is seeking to recruit 30 new employees across its stores in Offaly, Laois and Westmeath. Opportunities are now available for store manager, assistant store manager and store assistant positions.

Aldi Ireland also announced a new minimum rate of pay of 11.90 an hour, matching the Living Wage rate recommended by The Living Wage Technical Group. The new rate will be effective from, February 1, 2019.

Commenting, Donald Mackay, Managing Director Aldi Naas Region confirmed the recruitment was part of a bigger staff expansion.

We plan on hiring 500 new employees this year to join the Aldi team and contribute to our growth and success. We need the very best people to join our business to help us continue to deliver the highest level of customer service and lowest grocery prices in Ireland.

"Our expanding store portfolio, market performance and new Project Fresh stores demand that we continue to future proof our business with the best people in retail, he said.

Aldi says it has a 10.8% share of Irelands grocery market. It says it experienced its busiest Christmas week ever in 2018, with sales value up over 10% on the previous year.

Full details of the different roles and pay offered by Aldi are available at https://www.aldirecruitment.ie
Seeing (or experiencing) is believing on climate change.

Following 2018s horrific wildfires in the west, drought, extreme rainfall and extensive damage from Hurricanes Florence and Michael in the southeast, America may have reached a tipping point on climate change.

More than half (51 percent) of Americans are extremely or very sure global warming is happening now, according to a survey conducted in December and released Jan. 22 by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.

Thats up from 37 percent from the Climate Change in the American Mind study conducted in the spring of 2015.

Edward Maibach, a professor at George Mason University, said the extreme weather conditions of 2018 shifted the perception of global warming as a distant worry to a more immediate threat.

He told Inside Climate News: And from everything I understand about the social science of how people think about climate change, its when they get the fact that its not just a polar bear problem, thats when they come to deeply care.

The survey also found that nearly three-in-four (73 percent) of Americans agree with 97 percent of the worlds climate scientists that global warming is happening. Sixty-two percent understand that human activity is largely responsible for climate change.

While Americans make the connection between extreme weather and global warming, the denier-in-chief wallows in his ignorance.

President Trump took advantage of the recent cold snap to tweet on Jan. 20:

Be careful and try staying in your house. Large parts of the Country are suffering from tremendous amounts of snow and near record setting cold. Amazing how big this system is. Wouldnt be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!

Trumps position would be sad, if it wasnt so tragic. Hes the guy who is slashing environmental regulations and gutting the Environmental Protection Agency.

And in a way, Trumps wish for a little warming has come true. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reported that 2015, 2016 and 2017 ranked as three of the four warmest years on Earth in more than a century of record-keeping. Note to Trump: that's not good news.

Numbers for 2018 are not yet available because NOAA researchers arent considered essential federal workers and are furloughed thanks to Trumps shutdown of the federal government over a wall that nobody wants.
A woman in Northern Ireland lived with a plastic painkiller packet stuck in her throat for 17 days, after unknowingly swallowing it in the middle of the night.

The 40-something woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, reportedly swallowed a Tramadol pill in the middle of the night, without first taking it out of its plastic packaging. The morning after the incident, she woke up with a foreign body sensation in her throat, and went straight to the hospital where she complained of discomfort and difficulty swallowing. However, the ear, nose and throat doctor at the hospital found that she was tolerating fluids, had no difficulties breathing and could mobilize her neck without feeling any pain.

Photo: F1Digitals/Pixabay

A chest x-ray showed an abrasion in her throat, which had most likely been caused by the sharp edges of the pill packet, but no foreign object. The woman was told that everything looked fine and to return if she didnt notice any improvement in the next few days.

The womans symptoms didnt go away, so three days later she went back to the hospital. She spent two nights there and was treated with steroids and painkillers until her symptoms improved. However, five days later, she returned and complained about the same symptoms as before. This time, the medical team performed a special X-ray exam that focuses on the back of the mouth and throat, but the results came out normal, so she was sent home.

It was only on her fourth visit to Craigavon Area Hospital in Co Armagh and the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast that doctors finally identified the problem. Having exhausted all other options, they performed a more invasive procedure called oesophago-gastroduodenoscopy (OGD) scan, in which a lighted tube and camera are used to examine the upper intestinal tract.

Photo: British Medical Journal

Doctors were shocked to find the intact Tramadol packet lodged in the womans throat, but were able to remove it safely. According to the womans own account, it had been stuck there for 17 days.

She had swallowed her Tramadol tablets whole in the original foil packet which was lodged in the upper oesophagus, doctors wrote in a case report published by BMJ Case Reports. She underwent rigid oesophagoscopy and removal of foreign body uneventfully [17 days after ingestion of her tablets] and she was discharged after a period of observation.

The strangest thing about this case is that the patient had no idea that she had swallowed the pill along with the packaging, and was just as shocked as the doctors when she saw the pictures of it in her throat.

I had no idea I swallowed this. It was a very frightening three weeks and I couldnt believe [it] when I saw the picture, the woman said.
JERUSALEM  He kept quiet for months, his poll numbers creeping up against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Benny Gantz, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces who is offering himself up as a savior to the opposition, is finally making some noise.

In three hypermacho new campaign videos, Mr. Gantz, a three-star general who fought two wars in Gaza, flaunts the numbers of terrorists killed and targets destroyed.

[Whos who and whats what in Israels elections.]

Palestinian neighborhoods are shown in ruins. A Hamas military leader is mocked as his car is seen exploding in an assassination by airstrike. The soundtrack wouldnt be out of place in a Call of Duty commercial. Nor would the tagline: Only the strong prevail.

The body-count braggadocio horrified leftists, who asked acidly why the 500-plus Palestinian children killed hadnt rated a mention. And it failed to mollify right-wing rivals who say that Mr. Gantzs reluctant-warrior hesitancy and command miscalculations had actually cost Israeli soldiers lives.
MADRID  Taxi drivers protesting against Uber and other ride-hailing services clashed with the police in Madrid on Wednesday, cutting off a highway that rings the capital and picketing the opening of an international tourism fair.

The capitals taxi drivers are in the third day of an indefinite strike, and intensified their protests in response to an apparent victory for their counterparts in Barcelona, who began striking on Friday. The regional government there said late Tuesday that it would ban ride-hailing companies from carrying passengers who booked less than an hour in advance, a proposal that has left Uber and others threatening to suspend services.

By noon, the authorities in Madrid said that 11 people had been injured in clashes in the capital on Wednesday, including five police officers.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were ushered into the opening of Madrids annual tourism fair though a side entrance under heavy escort, as police officers charged against drivers who burned tires and containers to block road access.
Despite the United States rejection of the Russian offer, Moscow went ahead Wednesday with its show-and-tell for a wider audience.

Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister who deals with arms control, said at the event that the United States had yet to present any data to prove its contention that the missile violates the treaty. He also accused the United States of going through the motions of talks rather than trying to save the treaty.

The treaty must be preserved, Mr. Ryabkov said at the briefing, which was broadcast live on national television.

After he spoke, the military rolled one missile and its mobile launcher into a cavernous, otherwise empty convention center. A soldier wearing combat fatigues and a helmet used a green laser pointer to indicate various parts of the missile as General Matveyevskiy described them.

Although there have been some modifications from the previous version of the missile, the 9M728, he stressed that the booster, cruising engine and fuel tank are identical. The older version can fly up to 490 kilometers, he said, and the range of the new one is actually 10 kilometers shorter because its control systems and warhead are heavier.

United States officials have also accused Russia of seeking to undermine the treaty while painting Washington as the boogeyman who wants to destroy it. That sentiment is echoed by some analysts in Russia and elsewhere, while others suggested that American hard-liners feel constrained by the treaty.

At the time the pact was negotiated by the United States and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers had a near monopoly on such weapons, and the treaty led to the destruction of more than 2,000 of them.
LONDON, Jan. 22 (UPI).  The British government is soon to start a rent a soldier scheme to give idle troops something to do.

What it means is that anyone will be able to hire a soldier for a day, a week or even a month to do any of the following:

 Help out in disaster areas or during emergencies.

 Work in construction and demolition and other specialized fields.

 Drive special transport units.

British Defense Minister Denis Healey said the move is being made because many British troops are coming back to Britain following withdrawals from foreign areas.

Mr. Healey wants to stop potential boredom and also to help pay for the upkeep of the army.

A 24-page leaflet gives employers full details and points out the troops are not cheap labor and cannot be used if there is a union conflict.
The intention of his writing is clear  he wanted to educate people about democracy and universal values, and has influenced many young people, said Weican Meng, a friend of Mr. Yangs and the founder of Boxun News, a Chinese-language website in the United States.

Before he went back to China, we had a meal together and a number of friends told him its not a good time to go, added Mr. Meng, whose pen name is Wei Shi. The situation in China right now is a bit like during the Cultural Revolution: People are being punished for talking about very minor things.

On Thursday, Chinas minister of public security, Zhao Kezhi, told a meeting of police commanders in Beijing to guard against political subversion and attempts to foment color revolution against the government.

Mr. Yangs family and friends believe Mr. Yang is being held in Beijing.

Feng Chongyi, a friend of the writers and an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney who was himself detained by the Chinese authorities in 2017, said he had spoken to Mr. Yangs relatives. They told him that Mr. Yang had landed in Guangzhou early Friday morning, but that he did not make his planned connection to Shanghai, Mr. Feng said.

According to Mr. Feng, Mr. Yang went to China in part because his United States visa was to expire in a few months and he was waiting for a residence visa in Australia for his wife and stepdaughter. They had traveled with him to China on this trip.

According to Mr. Fengs conversations with the writers relatives, Mr. Yang and his wife were interrogated for over 12 hours  probably at the airport in Guangzhou  before Mr. Yangs wife was then allowed to go to Shanghai to drop off her daughter.

At home in Shanghai, Mr. Feng added, she was in tears and asked relatives to not contact them again, but said she would post their whereabouts.
SEOUL, South Korea  A former chief justice of South Koreas Supreme Court was arrested early Thursday on charges of conspiring with the nations disgraced former president to manipulate its ruling on a case that threatened to upset relations with Japan.

The ex-justice, Yang Sung-tae, 71, is the first former or sitting chief justice to be arrested on criminal charges in South Korea. He was taken into custody shortly after a court in Seoul, the capital, issued an arrest warrant early Thursday.

Mr. Yangs arrest is expected to be followed by a formal indictment. Although Mr. Yang has vehemently denied all charges against him, prosecutors in South Korea seldom fail to indict criminal suspects they have arrested.

Mr. Yang, who served as chief justice from 2011 until 2017, is also accused of discriminating against judges considered unfriendly to his leadership and to the former and impeached president, Park Geun-hye, by influencing job postings and promotions.
DAVOS, Switzerland  A month before President Trump is scheduled to meet for a second time with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan appealed to Mr. Trump to keep him in the loop as he seeks a disarmament deal with the North.

Mr. Abe, speaking in an interview Wednesday at the World Economic Forum, said he was confident that he was in sync with Mr. Trump on North Korea. But privately, Japanese officials and analysts worry that the American president will make a deal with Mr. Kim that leaves Japan vulnerable to a missile strike from the North.

I would like to make sure that both of our national security councils, as well as national security advisers and relevant teams, would collaborate as we move forward, Mr. Abe said, so that we will be able to meet the goal of denuclearization of North Korea.

The first time Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim met, in Singapore last June, the two leaders agreed to a vague commitment to work toward the complete denuclearization of North Korea. Left unsettled was the status of North Koreas arsenal of medium- and short-range missiles, which are capable of striking Japan.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  The Pakistan Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the acquittal of a man accused of stabbing a woman 23 times, nearly three years after the attack prompted a national debate on violence against women.

Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, leading a three-member panel, reinstated the conviction of Shah Hussain, accepting an appeal from Khadija Siddiqi, who survived the attack in Lahore in May 2016. Ms. Siddiqi said that Mr. Hussain, a former classmate, had attacked her after she rebuffed his romantic overtures. Mr. Hussain was rearrested in the courtroom on Wednesday.

Ms. Siddiqi, a 24-year-old law student, said on Wednesday that she felt vindicated by the courts decision.

Today is a victory for all women, she said. I think this case will serve a steppingstone for the future cases of women in Pakistan.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia  First came the 8,900-pound sticky-rice cake, stuffed with mung beans and pork belly, displayed at Angkor Wat and heralded as officially amazing by Guinness World Records.

Then, in rapid succession, came a series of record-setting feats: The largest-ever performance of Madison dancing, with 2,015 participants. The worlds longest scarf (3,772 feet), woven over the course of six months and paraded through the streets of Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

And in November, the worlds longest dragon boat (286 feet) was launched into the Mekong River and rowed by 179 oarsmen.

While this streak of oddball achievements might seem unconnected, they are all part of Prime Minister Hun Sens push to get young people excited about his aging regime, which he appears to consider essential to maintaining his grip on power.
KABUL, Afghanistan  Afghanistans intelligence agency said on Wednesday that the mastermind of a bloody attack on the agencys base this week had been killed in an airstrike, but residents and local officials in the area said the airstrike had in fact targeted a group of hunters on a hilltop.

In a daring attack on Monday, the Taliban used an armored Humvee it had seized from Afghan forces, packing it with explosives and driving it onto an Afghan intelligence base to detonate. At least 40 intelligence personnel were killed and 60 others were wounded.

The intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, said in a statement on Wednesday that its forces had traced the mastermind of that attack, a man they identified as Commander Noman. The agency said it had targeted him and seven others it described as terrorists on Tuesday with an airstrike in Maidan Shahr, in the center of Wardak Province.

He was targeted in the provincial capital, the statement added.

The agency did not say who had executed the strike, though Afghan forces often rely on the American military to carry out airstrikes. A spokesman for the American military in Afghanistan said that United States forces had carried out a strike in Wardak, without providing further details.
LONDON  South Africas president said Wednesday that his corruption-ridden party, the African National Congress, had lost its founding values and now faced a Damascus moment in trying to regain the peoples confidence and support.

We have said to ourselves: We cannot carry on like this. We have deviated from the values and the principles that have always defined the A.N.C., President Cyril Ramaphosa said in an interview with The New York Times in Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum.

People have lost confidence in us, said Mr. Ramaphosa, who will lead his party in national elections that will most likely be held in May.

Repeating the message he was pushing at the forum, Mr. Ramaphosa said efforts to clean up the African National Congress were already underway. And he pledged to return the party of Nelson Mandela to its past glory.
Read Thursdays story on the shooting at a bank in Florida that police say left five dead.

The call came in at 12:37 p.m. Wednesday. A 21-year old gunman, clad in a T-shirt that bore the image of four scythe-wielding grim reapers on horseback, wanted the police to know that he had just opened fire in a bank in the small city of Sebring, Fla., the police said.

I have shot five people, he told a dispatcher, according to a police statement. There were only five people in the bank at the time, the police said, and they all died.

When the Sebring Police Department and the Highlands County Sheriffs Office responded to the SunTrust Bank branch on U.S. Route 27, they said, they found the shooter barricaded inside. What followed was a tense standoff with police negotiators that ended when an armored police vehicle rammed into the bank doors, shattering their glass, video footage shows.

The police said in a statement that negotiators and members of the SWAT team persuaded the suspect to surrender. Video from the scene shows officers inching toward the broken glass with their firearms drawn. They soon emerged with the suspect in handcuffs.
But Ms. Jackson Lees case most resembles that of Representative Elizabeth Esty, a Connecticut Democrat who did not seek re-election last year over what she called her failure to protect women on her staff from sexual harassment and threats of violence from her former chief of staff.

As laid out in the complaint, the case dates to October 2015, when the woman, then 19 and a student at Howard University in Washington, spent the fall semester as an intern at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, an influential nonprofit linked to the Congressional Black Caucus that promotes African-American career advancement through internships, seminars and policy research. She says that the internship coordinator took her out drinking one night and then back to his apartment where he forced her to perform oral sex and other unwanted sexual acts. The woman could not remember parts of what occurred during the encounter, the filing says.

The woman spoke with the internship coordinator the next day, who denied they had sex. When she met with representatives of the foundation, they placed him on leave. A foundation official, speaking under the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing legal case, said the foundation fired him after the 2015 incident for drinking with a minor. The internship coordinator denied to the foundation that he had any inappropriate sexual contact with the woman.

The woman initially pursued legal action, but did not bring a lawsuit at the time, and police did not bring charges, according to the complaint.

About two years later, after she graduated from Howard, the woman was hired by Ms. Jackson Lees office, where she helped manage the congresswomans communications and drove her around the capital, among other duties. When it appeared that Ms. Jackson Lee might hire the former internship coordinator to work in the office, the woman told her chief of staff, Glenn Rushing, that she had a prior situation with the prospective colleague, the complaint says. Mr. Rushing indicated he would not be hired.

A short time later, the woman saw a text message to Ms. Jackson Lee from A. Shuanise Washington, the foundations chief executive, saying that she had learned of the womans position with the congresswoman and had some background on her to share with the congresswoman, the complaint says. The woman saw the text messages as a clear reference to the earlier claims she had made to the foundation.

In March 2018, the woman told Mr. Rushing that she planned to resume legal action against the foundation and asked to speak with Ms. Jackson Lee about it. The meeting never took place, and the woman claims Ms. Jackson Lee refused a personal request to speak. Two weeks later, she was fired.
A nurse at a Phoenix nursing home who had been assigned to care for a woman in a vegetative state who was raped and later gave birth to a child was charged on Wednesday with sexual assault, the police said.

Detectives at the Phoenix Police Department took the nurse, Nathan Sutherland, 36, in for questioning in the case on Tuesday, the police said, and collected a DNA sample from him that matched that of the child, a boy who was born on Dec. 29. Mr. Sutherland was booked on Wednesday morning at the Maricopa County Jail on one charge of sexual assault and one charge of vulnerable adult abuse, the police said.

Through a combination of good old-fashioned police work, combing through evidence, talking to people and following up on information, combined with the marvels of DNA technology, we were able to identify and develop probable cause to arrest a suspect, Jeri L. Williams, the Police Departments chief, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Detectives started to focus on Mr. Sutherland because he was among the medical staff members at the nursing home, Hacienda HealthCare, who were assigned to care for the woman around the time last year that the police believe she was assaulted. The woman had been at the nursing home since 1992 and since then had been in the same condition, unable to communicate or move, according to medical records. A lawyer for the family on Wednesday said they were aware of the arrest but had no comment.
Eric Garcetti: I have a good relationship with the school district and the union knows me and trusts me, so it seemed clear that I could do things other people werent able to do. The depth of the lack of the communication took my breath away. Everybody had an excuse to say, Were not going to sit down. Theres plenty of blame, but I think I can help people get to know each other. In August, I started these conversations and then got more involved in December, saying you should be sitting down with each other and offered City Hall or even my office. There was just a lot of mistrust at the beginning. I laid down some ground rules: no surprises, positivity, confidentiality and a commitment  nobody was going to walk away from the table.

You called this a new day for public schools in Los Angeles  do you think this will significantly change the publics attitude about public education?

Absolutely. For 10 or 15 years, its just been: Are you pro-charter or pro-union? There hasnt been a culture of cooperation. I said from all along, I will only stay involved if we move beyond that.

The final round of negotiations stretched into dawn Tuesday morning. Did you ever think a deal might not happen?

It almost all fell apart this morning. It had gone over the cliff. We had done all the other items  I think there were 27 other issues that had been resolved by then. But we still had a disagreement about the class size cap. The teachers have for so long seen class size as an unachievable, never-enforced ideal. Superintendent Austin Beutner really wanted to hold on to the prerogative to change it if he needed to. I said it was time for a new day on this, because I think its the right thing to do.
michael barbaro

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today  over the course of three days, the narrative has gone from a young man in a MAGA hat harassing an older Native American veteran to a pick-your-side story where who holds power and whos at fault are all up for debate. What can actually be said about what happened on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial? Its Wednesday, January 21st.

elizabeth dias

In Covington, Kentucky, everything was normal on Friday night. [CHANTING] The Covington Catholic high school boys had their big game against the St. Xavier Bombers in basketball.

michael barbaro

Elizabeth Dias covers religion for The Times.

elizabeth dias

And they lost the game, and it was a big upset because Cov Cath ended up losing 55 to 45. And for Cov Cath, sports is everything. I mean, their identity is wrapped in state championship titles and the all-male brotherhood of this Catholic school. Thats what theyre really known for. But the next day, the whole conversation changed. And that school in northern Kentucky was thrust into the middle of a fiery national debate on everything from racism to white privilege to the president.

michael barbaro

So Elizabeth, how does this story explode over the weekend?

elizabeth dias

Everyone first heard of this when a video popped up online on social media, and quickly was being shared because it showed this group of teenage white boys whod been in Washington, D.C., for the March for Life, an annual protest against abortion in America. Its very common for Catholic schools across the country to send busloads of kids. Sometimes they give them the day off of class so that people can go and protest.

archived recording

A group of teenagers, some Catholic high school students, seen wearing Make America Great Again hats, appearing to face off with Nathan Phillips, a 65-year-old Native American as he pounds his drum near the Lincoln Memorial during an Indigenous Peoples March.

elizabeth dias

And you have this image that the world sees of an older Native American man drumming and a young white boy from this Catholic high school, wearing a bright red Make America Great Again hat, who appeared to be asserting his dominance over this older, not-white man.

archived recording (nathan phillips)

When I was there and I was standing there and I seen that group of people in front of me, and I seen the angry faces and all of that, I realized I had put myself in a really dangerous situation, you know.

elizabeth dias

The white boy is not moving, and this older Native American man continues to drum.

archived recording (nathan phillips)

It was like, here is a group of people who were angry at somebody else, and I put myself in front of that. And all of a sudden, Im the one whos  all that anger and all that wanting to have the freedom to just rip me apart, you know, that was scary.

elizabeth dias

Almost immediately, media outlets from the entire political spectrum, from the right to the left, condemned this video.

archived recording

Now to the outrage over a video showing an encounter between teenagers and a Native American veteran near the Lincoln Memorial. This video has sparked outrage toward Covington Catholic High School.

elizabeth dias

Everyone was pointing out, like, Look how disrespectful these kids are being, doing these cheers or mocking Native American communities. And look at this entitlement of these young kids who are on this field trip to D.C. Look at this racist behavior from these kids.

archived recording

Newly elected congresswoman Deb Haaland is among the first Native Americans elected to Congress, and she reacted on Twitter, writing, This veteran put his life on the line for our country. The students display a blatant hate, disrespect and intolerance. Its a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking.

elizabeth dias

And the immediate narratives seem to all make sense. And at this point 

archived recording

The dioceses of Covington issued a statement saying, quote, We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically. This behavior is opposed to the churchs teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.

elizabeth dias

Fox News and even the boys school and their diocese, the Catholic Church leadership in the area, was condemning the boys behavior. I mean, the school and the diocese issued a statement at first saying that they were taking the boys behavior very seriously and would consider the necessary punishment, up to and including expulsion.

archived recording

It represented a behavior and an attitude that certainly does not reflect the values that we here in Covington, Kentucky have and promote.

michael barbaro

But then what happens?

archived recording

We are here to tell you to wake up to the four corners of the Earth.

elizabeth dias

Well, then all these new videos start to appear, and some of them are longer, and you see different angles of all these encounters from different peoples cell phones. And the whole thing gets more complicated because there are new people involved. Theres this small group of African-American men who identify with the Hebrew Israelites.

archived recording

Before you started worshipping totem poles, you was worshipping the true living God. Thats right. Before you become an idol worshipper, you was worshipping the true and living God. And this is the reason why this land was taken away from you.

elizabeth dias

Its the type of thing that in Washington, you know, you might see them on a street corner preaching something, and most people walk by, because it doesnt make a lot of sense.

michael barbaro

Theyre rabble-rousers.

elizabeth dias

Yeah, theyre rabble-rousers.

archived recording

The most high God, his name is Jehovah. Youre not supposed to worship eagles, buffaloes. Thats right. Rams. Right. All types of animals. Thats right. This is the reason why the Lord took away your land. Why are you so angry? Why am I so angry? Give me your Proverbs 7:7.

elizabeth dias

And theyre, you know, going after the boys 

archived recording

They touch us if you wanted to.

elizabeth dias

And instigating conflict between them. [CROWD NOISE] And at one point, one of them, you know, starts bringing up the N-word and says to the kids, you know, You only have one N-word in your group. And then you see one of the kids, like, turn around and flash two fingers and say, We got two.

michael barbaro

Wow.

archived recording

Look at this fool here. [CHANTING] Look at his head.

elizabeth dias

So the whole thing becomes much more layered. Everyone starts picking sides. And on the right 

archived recording

Overnight, new video calling into question just how this encounter began. They say Phillips forced his way into the center of their group. Phillips telling ABC News he still believes he was the victim. He initially told the media that Sandmanns fellow students were yelling, Build that wall. But so far there is no evidence of those claims.

elizabeth dias

The narrative started to change to, look at this. All of the boys are absolved of any wrongdoing.

archived recording

A chaperone who was on the trip says students were targeted for wearing MAGA hats and describes what happened. I think that was one of the reasons they were targeted, and I think they were also targeted for what they stood for, which is Christianity. The president tweeting, Looking like Nick Sandmann and Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgments proving out to be false, smeared by the media.

michael barbaro

So suddenly there are so many complicated details to all these interactions here that you can sort of see what you want to see in whatever angle and version youre looking at.

elizabeth dias

Right. The entire encounter becomes basically this Rorschach test for the country. People see exactly what they want to see.

archived recording

The kid with a red hat, who looks like he has a smirk on his face, so he must be a racist. This was a left-wing fantasy. You had the perfect villains, right? Yep. With MAGA hats, white kids. You had the perfect  Catholic. Catholic at a pro-life  perfect law and order suspect, right? You know. They just needed to have super-rich parents who were architects. And then you had the perfect victim, Native American, Vietnam vet. And its almost, Glenn, the kind of profiling that the left accuses police of doing regularly. But theyre doing it. Like, everybodys profiling each other, like snap judgments, without taking a breath, without saying, O.K., lets look at really what happened here.

elizabeth dias

They identify with the characters in this video that most align with them and with the narrative that seems to fit with their political or cultural identity.

archived recording

So what happens with a story like that, its too good to check. And between this story and the BuzzFeed story, the medias in worse shape than my liver after spring break. I dont know how youre going to come back from this. Pretty bad. Because its so bad. Is it that we just instantly say, Thats what it is, based on what we see in that moment, and then have to walk stuff back when it turns out were wrong? Why is that? Why do we keep making the same mistake? Because were desperate to get Trump out of office. [LAUGHING] I think that thats the reason. I think our press jumps the gun a lot because we just  we have so much circumstantial evidence against this guy that we basically are hoping that, you know, Cohens got the goods, and what have you. And so its wishful thinking.

michael barbaro

Well, Elizabeth, you report on religion for The Times. So why did it come to be that you were trying to make sense of what happened at the Lincoln Memorial?

elizabeth dias

Well, whenever there is an event that catches the nations attention on anything related to religion, thats where I want to be. Like, thats the story that I want to dig into and better understand the context for this, and the religious and kind of cultural and political underpinnings around, in this case, this group of Catholic students. And for me it was especially interesting because the last time that the country was really fixated on a Catholic high school and Catholic high school boys was during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. And so now that that same demographic of kid was in the news again, I wanted to better understand the Catholic school environment that theyre coming from in northern Kentucky. You know, why were they there to march in the March for Life and in this kind of conflict to begin with?

michael barbaro

And how did you do that?

elizabeth dias

So I got on a plane on Sunday morning and flew from D.C. to Covington, Kentucky. And I landed in Covington and drove straight to the school. Its not very far from the airport. You go down the Dixie Highway, on a sloping hill towards the Ohio River. And on the left, as I was approaching, theres Covington Catholic High School. And you know, its the kind of place where when they say the Pledge of Allegiance, they actually change the end so it says, With liberty and justice for all, born and unborn. In other words, this is a very conservative Catholic community, and those values are really instilled in the young men at the school. I spoke with one parent, a dad of one of the kids who was actually at the March for Life, was in the scene at the Mall, and he immediately used an expletive with me to describe what he thought was really unfair coverage by the media of the incident. And he said, you know, It should be reported how great these young men did in the face of these protesters who were trying to bait them. Things like, The left has an agenda, and facts dont really matter to them if it goes against their agenda. So it was very clear that for the immediate community of parents and Cov Cath students, they were under attack, and they felt like they were under siege. Then that evening, I went to Mass at the basilica in Covington, which is the main church for the Catholics in that area. Its where the bishop is. And during the Mass, the priests talked about the importance of the March for Life and fighting abortion rights. And then at the end, one of the priests got up and made a short announcement, saying, you know, Im sure everyones heard whats going on at Cov Cath, and please pray. Please pray for the community. Please pray that the truth will become known. Its really hard when you see your loved ones up in the media. And we trust that God will work all of this out. And on the way out of Mass, there was the man who was really angry with the priests and with the bishop. And he pulled one of the priests aside and said, How dare the bishop apologize for the students behavior with that first statement that the dioceses and the school did?

michael barbaro

So even though ultimately, the Catholic diocese there was at this Mass, speaking about protecting these boys, these members of the community and this man in particular felt that the church had betrayed these families and this town by ever questioning them in the first place.

elizabeth dias

Yes. And the dad told me, We trust the school and we trust the dioceses that they will protect their flock.

michael barbaro

And what do you think he meant by that  protect their flock?

elizabeth dias

As a religion reporter I hear that phrase, protect the flock, and it reminds me of everything else going on in America right now with religious conservatives and this broader idea that white Christians seem to feel under attack, right? And that theyve needed a defender, which really has become President Trump. And so in Covington, with the Cov Cath kids  you know, this isnt about President Trump, right? I mean, all that theyre doing is wearing the Make America Great Again hats. But it is about who protects you and who will be your champion when you feel under attack? And how do you band together to defend your traditions?

michael barbaro

Its fascinating, Elizabeth, that you were drawn to this story with the Brett Kavanaugh story in mind. Because hearing this all reminds me of a story that I havent been able to forget that The Times published following Kavanaughs confirmation as a Supreme Court justice. He actually returned to his alma mater, Georgetown Prep, an all-boys high school, Catholic, like Cov Catholic, for an alumni event. I think it was a homecoming football game. And when he got there, he was applauded and treated as kind of a heroic figure by the current students and their parents, by the school. And hes described as being sort of engulfed at this event by his former classmates, these very same men whose names had come up over and over again as witnesses and character testimonials during the confirmation hearing  Tobin, Timmy. And when you talk about this visual of protecting the flock, it feels to me kind of like the same image.

elizabeth dias

It does. Its almost like theres this transition from villain to hero. I mean, thats whats happening at Covington right now, I think. Covington Catholic is pretty similar to Georgetown Prep, except maybe its not known in quite the same elite way. Its a bit more suburban, maybe the families arent quite as wealthy. But that brotherhood and that cultural pride of, you know, sticking with your brother in the midst of distress and outsider attacks  thats very similar to whats going on on the ground right now.

michael barbaro

But isnt the notion of protecting the flock, isnt that kind of true of any community in the country? Isnt that in some ways 

elizabeth dias

Yeah.

michael barbaro

In fact maybe even a good thing for a community to circle around its own members when they feel theyre being attacked.

elizabeth dias

Of course it is. And so whats so interesting is it now becomes the question of, well, which of those groups have power, and which of those groups need protecting?

archived recording

Whats so interesting about the coverage of Fridays videos was how much of it mentions something called privilege. Whats so fascinating about all of these attacks is how inverted they are. These are high school kids from Kentucky. Theyre far less privileged, in fact, than virtually everyone who has called for them to be destroyed on the basis that they have too much privilege.

elizabeth dias

And so for the people of Cov Cath and the Catholic community there in northern Kentucky, the aggressor is the big, bad liberal media.

archived recording

And the media dont pause for a moment before casting judgment. CNN legal analyst Bakari Sellers suggested one of the boys should be, quote, punched in the face. Longtime CNN contributor Kathy Griffin seemed to encourage a mob to rise up and hurt these boys  quote, Name these kids. I want names. Shame them. If you think these fers wouldnt dox you in a heartbeat, think again.

elizabeth dias

The left that is determined to attack President Trump and conservative politics and policies and ideals and traditions as much as possible.

michael barbaro

To attack the white male identity.

elizabeth dias

Yes, to attack the white male identity. And then on the other side 

archived recording

So a high school in Kentucky took a field trip to Washington, D.C., and in the middle of it decided to take a racist detour to the Indigenous Peoples March.

elizabeth dias

People say, Well, wait a minute, is there any better example of white Christian power in America right now than President Trumps election? And so both sides genuinely believe that their side should have power, that they dont, and that the other side is trying to rob them of their power.

michael barbaro

And in that case, the outcome seems kind of preordained. Everybody will go to their corner, they will be angry, and no one will have a meaningful conversation about, say, what happened on the steps of the monument in Washington.

elizabeth dias

Right. Nuance disappears, and the realities that different communities face disappear. Everyone has their own community and their ideas about how to protect your own flock. And so what happens is when communities become so busy protecting their own flock, the facts about the situation or the more unseemly parts of it that are harder to confront for either side, those become obscured.

michael barbaro

Elizabeth, thank you very much.

elizabeth dias

Thanks so much, Michael.

michael barbaro
The play also allowed her to talk about race in a small American city with big city issues. New Havens population of 130,000 is 34 percent black, 31 percent white and 27 percent Hispanic.

Over four years of research, Ms. Hartman  who lived in New Haven in the 90s while a graduate playwriting student at Yale School of Drama  sat in on training sessions at the fire academy, rode in fire trucks and hung out among first responders.

The conversations were revelatory, she said. They were charged and real and honest in a way that Ive never seen before in conversations about race. What I want the play to convey is the possibility of communication around race and fairness and, to some degree, class in an American city. Those are the big themes.

The play is presented as a series of chats  Ms. Hartmans deliberately chosen nonthreatening word  in the years following the verdict, centering mainly around four first-name-only characters: two African-American firefighters, a white firefighter and a white female lawyer, with a fifth character representing the playwright.

I am, in a sense, the audience  someone trying to figure things out, following my nose and going with what was interesting to me, Ms. Hartman explained.

She knew she would be initially seen as an outsider: a liberal white woman artist swanning in with all of the assumptions that come with that, and her expectations were not mistaken. But concern about how Ms. Hartmans narrative will be presented came from both sides.
There was no consensus on what a global architecture might look like.

The United States has largely deferred to the tech behemoths of Silicon Valley, which have favored some kind of international understanding among governments on data standards, but want those standards to impose few restrictions on how companies use that data.

European governments have advocated much greater limits on how companies can use data, notably through the European Unions imposition last May of strict data privacy rules, the General Data Protection Regulation.

China has not accepted any limits on the governments ability to access peoples personal information. The Chinese government has wide access to electronic communications and employs indoor and outdoor facial recognition and other monitoring and people-tracking technology.

The rapid spread of digital technology in daily life and the implications that has on the future of work and data security will require more international cooperation, not less, Ms. Merkel said. But she acknowledged that nobody knows how to write the rules.

Neither the American nor the Chinese approach would work for Europeans, who place a high value on privacy and social justice, Ms. Merkel said.

I still have yet to see any global architecture that deals with these questions, she said.

Mr. Abe said Japan wanted to move fast on data governance during its leadership this year of the Group of 20. But he provided only a general indication of what a new architecture might look like.

We must, on one hand, be able to put our personal data and data embodying intellectual property, national security intelligence, and so on, under careful protection, while on the other hand, we must enable the free flow of medical, industrial, traffic and other most useful, non-personal, anonymous data to see no borders, repeat, no borders, he said.
A Sustainable Label Hits Its Stride

This may just be the year of Cienne. Though the label was introduced in 2014 by Nicole Heim and Chelsea Healy, it really hit its stride in 2018, becoming a semifinalist in the International Woolmark Prize and appearing on the backs of Gigi Hadid and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Theres little mystery why. Its sustainable business model is welcome today, and, for many of us, its subversive staples and fuss-free design fill a smidgen of the hole left by Phoebe Philos departure from Celine.

Cienne cotton-linen pants with slit-front detail, $640; silk crepe dress with smocking detail, $780; textured linen shirt, $560; at shop.ciennenewyork.com.
Three Houses and a Lake in Southern Ecuador

$720,000

This 19th-century hacienda is in Susudel, Ecuador, a small town about 50 miles south of Cuenca, a city in the Andes Mountains whose many historic buildings have made it a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The estate, which covers about 62 acres, has been owned by the same family since the late 1800s, said Veronica Arpi, the owner of Cuencas Best Properties, which has the listing. It comprises three buildings, with a total of nine bedrooms and nine bathrooms: a six-bedroom main house, including an adjoining chapel; a two-bedroom guesthouse; and a one-bedroom building currently used as servants quarters.

All are built from adobe, using local methods, accented with eucalyptus beams, flooring and windows. Traditional elements can be found throughout the property, including antique light fixtures, painted tile floors, gothic windows and terra-cotta roofs. The main house was once used as a factory to produce sugar-cane liquor.

A short dirt road leads from the highway to the property, which is fronted by a covered terrace. The two-story main house underwent an extensive renovation in recent years, and has a new kitchen and bathrooms, as well as new electric and gas lines, Ms. Arpi said.
[boat motor] [yelling] [radio chatter] - [inaudible] [yelling] [radio chatter] November 6, 2017, around 150 migrants leave Tripoli aboard a flimsy raft desperate to reach Europe and start new lives. Many of them will drown, the result of decisions made by politicians far away in European capitals. Most are fleeing violence and economic desperation in sub-Saharan Africa. And once in Libya, they face new dangers like torture and human trafficking. But to escape to Europe and to safety, they must first cross the Mediterranean Sea. Smugglers forced them onto dangerously overcrowded and fragile rafts. Over the next eight hours, the sea becomes rougher, and the raft starts taking on water. Many passengers fall into the sea, some without jackets. The migrants best hope for rescue is their satellite phone. They call the Italian Coast Guard for help. The Italians then alert all ships in the area to the rafts approximate location. They also contact their go-to partner, the Libyan Coast Guard, and by the time anyone arrives, the migrant craft is just outside of Libyas waters. In 2016, the European Union and Italy made an abrupt decision to outsource rescue operations here to a new partner, the Libyan Coast Guard. Its a policy with deadly consequences. Together with the research groups Forensic Oceanography and Forensic Architecture, we reconstructed the events of November 6 to show you how this one decision cost at least 20 lives on a single day. Two hours after being contacted by the Europeans, the Libyan Coast Guard vessel arrives first on scene. We have blurred the migrants faces to protect them from retaliation. Watch how close the Libyan vessel gets to the raft, ignoring standard rescue tactics. Some migrants are pulled under. [yelling] We obtained footage from this Libyans phone. [screams] [yelling] This is Sea-Watch, a German humanitarian rescue operation. Theyve also been contacted by the Italians and arrive a few minutes after the Libyans. Sea-Watch positions themselves at a safe distance. Sea-Watch is also recording with nine video cameras and photos because the Libyan Coast Guard has a history of violence towards volunteer rescue groups. They quickly dispatch their small speedboats to reach victims. Everything started quite early in the morning. We got a first message about this situation. They also warned us about the presence of the Libyan Coast Guard. They told me that I should tell the crew to be careful and that we should take all measures against aggressions from the Libyan Coast Guard. Of course, the first things coming to my mind are like, O.K., what are their intentions? Are they letting us rescue the people, or are they going to threaten us? Are they even going to attack us with weapons? Is my crew safe from this moment? Sea-Watch immediately starts making split-second decisions about who to rescue first. Migrants are scattered in every direction. Its impossible to reach everyone at once. [yelling] It was such a chaotic rescue situation. There are a lot of different things in the water, and then you see, O.K., its a body. So we have to go there directly. We have to be there, now. These people normally cant swim. Drowning is like a thing of 30 seconds or maybe a minute. There was so much people in the waters. We tried to rescue all of them, but there were  there were a big distance between them. At this moment, the frame shows at least nine people in immediate need of assistance. Many more are out of view. Amidst the chaos, Sea-Watch notices a desperate hand that is nearly within reach. One of the rescued migrants jumps in to save him, but its too late Meanwhile, the Libyans continue to hinder rather than help the rescue operation. And if youre wondering why the Libyans even show up at all, its mainly to fulfill a deal with the EU that keeps funding and resources coming their way. Saving lives doesnt seem to be at the top of their list. There were like 12 soldiers. They were just standing there and were screaming. We tried to communicate with them that they should just be silent. When theyre silent, you can at least hear what other people are screaming. As the rescue continues, the Libyans turn increasingly confrontational. Its part of a longstanding pattern of threatening humanitarian workers. This is Europes preferred humanitarian partner in action. The Libyans have even boarded other NGO ships by force and fired on them. [gunfire] These past incidents are on the minds of Sea-Watch as they approach the Libyans on November 6. I think that altogether the threat level in the minds of our crews is very high. The driver of the speedboat said that they are facing big aggressions from the Libyans. They said theyre threatening to shoot us. They made signs like this and like holding like weapons like this. Suddenly, the Libyans began hurling hard objects and potatoes at the Sea-Watch group. Its not only a potato. Its like a very physical attack on  on one of our crew members, and that makes me very angry. The threats escalate. Anybody onboard? Sea-Watch is forced to retreat for their own safety. Without Sea-Watch filling in the gaps, the incompetence of the Libyans rescue efforts is on full display. They cant do anything because they have no capability of taking people who are already in the water to the ship. This man begins to sink. His life could be saved if the Libyans deployed the raft mounted on their vessel. But they claim its broken. They throw life jackets, but its not enough. He drowns. The Libyan Coast Guard, its  theyre  its not a rescue boat. Its just a warship, but they dont have the speedboats. They dont have a medical treatment area. They dont have doctors. Theres no chance for a good rescue. Botched rescues like this were almost unimaginable just a few years ago when European countries were still leading rescue efforts. Between 2013 and 2014, Italy alone saved more than 100,000 lives. But then everything changed. Nationalism and anti-immigrant fervor spiked. So Europe decided to stop the flow of migrants at any cost without getting its hands dirty. Its a cynical solution, outsourcing the responsibility to the coast guard of what is essentially a failed state. The EU provides the Libyans with millions in equipment and training. Italy even helped repair the very ship used in this rescue and paraded it in front of the media to make it seem like they solved the crisis. But they havent. 8 of the 13 Libyans manning the November 6 rescue received EU training, including on human rights. Yet they blatantly abused the migrants onboard their vessel. Many migrants frantically jump back into the water, even though some cant swim. [yelling] After being beaten, this man jumps from the ship. He clings to the ladder. The Libyan ship still takes off, ignoring all pleas to stop. [yell] [music] An Italian Navy helicopter realizes their partners have gone too far and intervenes. Only then do the Libyans pull him back onboard. The fate of those who survive hinges on which boat they end up on. Those rescued by Sea-Watch will be taken to safety  [music]  while those on the Libyan boat are taken to detention centers, where migrants are often beaten, raped, held for ransom, or sold for slave labor. We tracked down two of the migrants who were brought back to Libya, and we interviewed them by phone. These two Nigerians, a student and a waiter, later escaped the detention camp. They spoke to us from a secret location, where they were hiding. One of the migrants eventually escaped and reached Europe. The other remains trapped in Libya. The Libyan Coast Guard is not rescuing these people. Theyre endangering these people in the moment, and theyre killing people. Its an act of murder in the end. In Europe, we know we cant kill people at our border, but if Libyans do that, its Libya. And its Africa, and then, yeah, Africa is a sad story, and then we can live with that. But still, its European money whos leading to people drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. Every European citizen should be very upset actually with this kind of approach. Europe likes to think it is a beacon of tolerance and human rights. But its actions tell a different story. [music]
We have repeatedly emphasized that the Y.P.G. has left Manbij and that our forces pose no threat to Turkeys national security. We believe that Mr. Erdogan fears not the presence or the absence of any given military force but the peaceful and democratic coexistence of Arabs, Kurds, Christians and others in northeastern Syria.

Mr. Erdogan cannot exploit such coexistence. He plans to use the Turkey-backed Islamist opposition in Syria to invade Manbij, just as he used it in the nearby Azaz, Jarabulus and Afrin areas.

While Turkey claims to be returning these territories to their true owners, Mr. Erdogan is instead dooming Syrians to foreign occupation and militia rule and making the prospect of peace after eight brutal years of war even more elusive.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Afrin, where Turkey has been accused of enlisting former members of the Islamic State and militias with ties to Al Qaeda to decimate the peaceful region and its autonomous administration. Turkeys incursion into Afrin in northern Syria displaced around 300,000 people, and the militias backed by Turkey seized, looted and destroyed property of Kurdish civilians.

If the United States allows Turkey to attack Manbij, that will be our fate, too.

Unfortunately, it seems that global powers are still willing to play Turkeys games. Mr. Erdogans road map for Manbij does not serve and reflect the interests of its people. He also proposes the establishment of a safe zone in the wake of an American withdrawal, a plan that Mr. Trump appears to have, in some form, agreed to.

We are not opposed to the concept of a safe zone. We believe that it is possible for the United States to withdraw its forces from our region without abandoning our people. However, we will not accept any Turkish incursion into the areas we have liberated, no matter the words used to describe it.

Any safe zone in northeast Syria must be guaranteed by international forces and not by the Turkish troops and jihadist militias massing at our borders. An international safe zone would ensure that Turkeys borders are protected, without subjecting the people of northeast Syria to the mercy of Mr. Erdogans proxies. It would also facilitate the continuing reconstruction efforts taking place in our region, which are key to peace and stability.
As fate would have it, word of Russell Bakers death came the same day as a Manhattan screening of a new HBO documentary, Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists. Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill were archetypes of a New York brand of columnizing that they all but invented more than half a century ago. They came at writing with chins out and fists clenched, crafting sentences taut and devastating.

Mr. Baker, 93 when he died, was a deadline artist, too. But he approached the world at a 45-degree angle, tending toward whimsy and japery in some 5,000 Observer columns that he wrote for The Times across 36 years. His approach was no less shattering than that of the New York brawlers. He punctured those who were pretentious, satirized that which was foolish, lamented what was distressing and pondered the endless inanities of daily life. He did it three times a week for much of his career, in 750-word offerings graced with the effortlessness of a Ted Williams swing.

Like Breslin and Hamill, Mr. Baker grew up poor, in his case in rural Virginia. An impoverished childhood may not be indispensable to becoming a great columnist, but it sure doesnt seem to hurt. In their heyday, Mr. Hamill and Mr. Breslin were widely imitated by big-city newspaper writers everywhere. Mr. Baker not so much. Maybe thats because copying a Swiftian sensibility doesnt come easily. I know, because I tried in my own years as a city columnist. Russell Baker was my ideal. But I never amounted to more than Beatlemania to his Beatles. Face it, you cant match an original.

His reflections on journalism remain as valid as ever  these days, more valid than ever. In a memoir, he despaired of the life of a young reporter, sitting outside a closed Senate meeting and waiting for somebody to come out and lie to me. Yet he also appreciated the importance of showing up and hanging in there. He told of an afternoon in Washington when he was walking to The Timess offices with the papers bureau chief, James Reston. They heard a car crash not far away. Lets take a look, Scotty Reston said. Why bother? Mr. Baker replied. Because, his boss said, you never know; a cabinet secretary might be in the car.
Watch Giuliani on TV and you see a man being devoured by egomania. Lawyers are supposed to serve as a screen between their clients and the outside world. If said client is being accused of a crime, their mission is to make the whole matter sound as boring as humanly possible.

Its no problem for us that Trump picked an attorney whos so wildly hungry for attention that he cant follow the rules. Really, its great that were getting to hear so much unfiltered information. The depressing part is that this is just one more piece of evidence that Donald Trump surrounds himself with people who have both terrible judgment and terrible aptitude for the jobs theyre supposed to be doing.

Whatever shred of credibility Giuliani still retains is connected to his role as mayor on Sept. 11, when the whole world saw him walking through the dust of the World Trade Center collapse. He needed to get uptown since the citys emergency management center had been destroyed by the attack. Thats because Giuliani had it located in the W.T.C.  a place that had been targeted for bombing by terrorists in the past  despite vigorous objections from his security advisers. He just sort of wanted it close to City Hall.

Later, the mayor would take dignitaries to the disaster site, sometimes shielded from the deadly asbestos floating through the air by a face mask. And, it appeared, totally ignoring the fact that most of the workmen had no protection whatsoever.

Giuliani had already begun to evolve from competent city official to hapless big-time political candidate before the attack occurred. He tried to run for Senate against Hillary Clinton in what was undoubtedly one of the most disaster-ridden campaigns in history. That was the time he held a news conference to announce he was leaving his wife, without mentioning the matter to the spouse in question.

His unharnessed libido has been part of his story ever since. Last summer, after Giuliani bragged to a reporter about his new girlfriend, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was forced to declare that she was not today or tomorrow or at any point ever going to comment on Rudy Giulianis love life.

And the beat goes on. During his parade of super-strange comments over the last week, he volunteered that hes afraid it will be on my gravestone: Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump.
Steven Romalewski, who runs the mapping service at the CUNY Center for Urban Research, wrote me by email that Ocasio-Cortez did best in areas such as Astoria/Steinway and Sunnyside, which happen to be more white than other parts of the district, a point he elaborated upon in a story quoting him posted on The Intercept:

You can also see that most of her votes, the strongest vote support, came from areas like Astoria in Queens and Sunnyside in Queens and parts of Jackson Heights that, number one, were not predominantly Hispanic, so theyre a more mixed population, and are areas where  this is kind of a term of art  are in the process of being gentrified, where newer people are moving in,

Grace Segers, writing in July on the City & State website, noted that Crowley

fell victim to gentrification and that force may upend expectations in Democratic primaries throughout Manhattan and western Brooklyn and Queens. And the rise of younger voters who are newer to their districts and unattached to incumbents could power insurgent candidates throughout New York City.

David Freedlander, writing in Politico Magazine, captured the unanticipated voting patterns that gave rise to Crowleys defeat. Ocasio-Cortezs best precincts, Freedlander wrote, were

highly educated, whiter and richer than the district as a whole. In those neighborhoods, Ocasio-Cortez clobbered Crowley by 70 percent or more.

Conversely, Crowley did best in the working-class African-American enclave of LeFrak City, where he got more than 60 percent of the vote. In fact, Crowley

pulled some of his best numbers in Ocasio-Cortezs heavily Latino and African-American neighborhood of Parkchester, in the Bronx  beating her by more than 25 points on her home turf.

Jerry Skurnik, a New York political consultant, describes gentrifying communities outside Manhattan as experiencing an influx of people who really want to live in Greenwich Village but cant afford to.

This younger, well-educated constituency  predominately but not exclusively white  is hostile to cautious establishment Democrats, especially to older white men, and they are determined to engineer an intraparty cultural and ideological insurgency.

The emergence in force in 2018 of these insurgent Democrats grows in part out of the Sanders presidential campaign. Sanders mobilized millions of voters, many of whom did not want the Democrats to nominate a candidate with deep ties to party regulars and to the major donor community.

Maps of primary voting patterns in 2016 and 2018 produced by CUNYs Graduate School of Journalism and the Center for Urban Research show that Sanders beat Clinton in just a handful of New York City neighborhoods. Many of those Sanders neighborhoods are in Ocasio-Cortezs district and they are the communities that provided her biggest margins of victory.

Sanders also carried Somerville in 2016, 12,247 to 9,016, where support for Capuano imploded two years later.

If the turnout patterns in the Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley districts are even modestly predictive, the Democratic Party may be changing in significant ways.

Tom Kiley, who conducted polling for Capuano, described in an email the shifting makeup of the Democratic electorate in the Seventh District of Massachusetts:

Mike did best among older, white, non-college educated Democrats who, for the most part, still described themselves as liberals or moderate liberals.

Pressleys base, Kiley wrote,

was overwhelmingly made up of liberal, college-educated, white voters, especially those under 45 who did not have a history of voting in off-year elections. We were expecting what we considered a robust turnout of 75,000 for the day after Labor Day. In fact it ballooned to over 100,000, largely on the strength of this younger white cohort.

While the Boston-Cambridge-Somerville district is far more liberal than the national average, Kiley argued that trends there are likely to be replicated in many regions of the country. These new voters will have a major impact in the Democratic nomination process in many states, he wrote:

The desire for change in general is huge, and Trump is a powerful accelerant. I have to believe these new voters arent going to just retreat after electing new members of Congress; theyll come out in droves in the primaries next year. And theyll be voting for change.

While primary voters are normally predominately committed partisans with a long history of voting, in the Pressley-Capuano contest more than half of the voters had no record of previous primary voting (24 percent) or were recorded as voting in only one previous primary (29 percent).
Since 1851, obituaries in The New York Times have been dominated by white men. With Overlooked, were adding the stories of remarkable people whose deaths went unreported in The Times.

Mabel Stark was taking a walk one evening in Venice, Calif., around 1911 when a sound lured her to the grounds of the Al G. Barnes Circus.

Though the site was locked, She found a rattletrap, unsecured gate and squeezed herself through, Roger Smith, a close friend, said. There she found herself face to face with a mature Bengal named King.

The sight of the caged tiger in twilight transfixed her. She had been working as a nurse and a carnival hoochie coochie dancer but now, all she could think about was being around tigers. Al Sands, the circuss manager, hired the eager woman as a horseback rider, but her burning ambition to work with tigers led her to the circuss wild animal trainer.

Within a couple of years, she was one of the worlds top big cat trainers, never happier than when she was behind steel bars with a dozen or more tigers, commanding them in her chirpy voice to leap through fiery hoops, walk on wires, roll large balls and arrange themselves in a pyramid.
Andy de Groat, a dancer and choreographer best known for his collaboration with the director Robert Wilson, died on Jan. 10 in Montauban, France. He was 71.

The cause was heart failure, said Catherine Galasso, a family friend whose father, the composer Michael Galasso, collaborated frequently with Mr. de Groat.

Mr. de Groat was a significant presence on the New York downtown dance scene and in Paris in the 1970s and 80s. Introduced to audiences through his work with Mr. Wilson, he later formed his own company and built a distinctive choreographic identity through his use of spinning, a technique he began to develop for Mr. Wilsons work.

Mr. de Groats path into the dance world was unconventional. Born in November 1947 in Paterson, N.J., he grew up in a working-class family with little involvement in the arts. His father, a truck driver, was unsupportive of his interests, and Mr. de Groat had little contact with his family after leaving high school. He was studying painting at the School of Visual Arts in New York when he met Mr. Wilson in late 1966 at the Bleecker Street Cinema in Greenwich Village, where Mr. de Groat had a part-time job.
He hated black men. He wanted to kill one, and he did.

In a videotaped confession, James Harris Jackson, a white Army veteran from Baltimore, told investigators that he spent several days two years ago stalking black men in Manhattan before he spotted a 66-year-old man sifting through trash for recyclables.

And in an undeniable testament of his hate, Mr. Jackson said he pulled a short sword from his coat and repeatedly stabbed the man, Timothy Caughman.

The killing, Mr. Jackson said, was practice for a larger attack he had planned for Times Square where he intended to murder young black men who were with white women because he loathed interracial dating.

Mr. Jackson, 30, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to rare state charges of murder as terrorism and murder as a hate crime, accepting what is certain to be a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. His dramatic plea to all counts against him came four months after the video of his interview with police was presented at a pretrial hearing in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Something is missing here, and its not just all the people, though their absence is unmistakable from a deserted Fifth Avenue, a vacant New York Stock Exchange and along the West Side Highway, which is empty of all but a few ominous figures in uniform .

In these New York Times photographs, taken during mandatory civil defense drills in the fervid early years of the Cold War, you can almost hear the absence of sound. All the rumbling, honking, chattering, clattering noise of everyday life has suddenly paused as the city goes into hiding  leaving the click-click-click of a traffic signal or the flutter of a pigeon at Penn Station audible now, in eerie relief.

But even in the photos that show New Yorkers scrambling for cover in the streets or peering up from the shelter of a subway station, the terror that theyre running from is missing, like King Kong erased from the frame. Its the threat of atomic annihilation, nebulous and unseen.
TRENTON  [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

Every weekday, from the time when the sun starts to sink over the bridge that reads Trenton Makes The World Takes until long after the bustling downtown of New Jerseys capital city has grown dark and empty, Rosy Herera scrubs floors, shines sinks and polishes sticky stains off conference tables. She is a custodian and a minimum wage worker.

When Ms. Herera, 50, who provides for four children and two grandchildren, learned last week that lawmakers had agreed to gradually raise the wage from the current rate of $8.85 to $15 by 2024, she smiled broadly and looked up while clasping her hands in prayer.

Oh, thank you, she said outside her workplace on East Front Street. Its been too much work, not enough money.
[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

The newly emboldened Democratic-led New York State Legislature waded into the battle over immigrants rights on Wednesday, approving a bill that for the first time offers undocumented students access to state financial aid and scholarships for higher education.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has confirmed he will sign the measure into law.

The Dream Act is the latest in a wave of state-level protections for immigrants as blue state legislatures increasingly seek to act as a counterbalance to President Trumps federal immigration policies. These issues are also expected to play a prominent role in the Democratic Partys 2020 presidential primary, with candidates who are courting liberal activists supporting the state measures.

After New York Democrats won control of the State Senate in November for the first time in a decade, protections for immigrants became a legislative priority. They included permitting undocumented residents to obtain state drivers licenses and reducing maximum jail sentences for certain misdemeanors that could otherwise lead to deportation.

It took us almost a decade to get the Dream Act, and its going to take another five, 10, 20 years to undo the damage that Washington is causing our families, said Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz of Queens, who was born in Colombia and came to New York as an undocumented child.
The uncertainty over the fare increase highlights the growing dysfunction at the authority, which has increasingly been subject to the whims of Mr. Cuomo and his allies. For years, subway leaders had been planning to close the L train tunnel between Manhattan and Brooklyn to repair damage from Hurricane Sandy. Then Mr. Cuomo abruptly called off the shutdown this month.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat in his third term, has criticized the agency, complaining of its stodgy bureaucracy and saying he wants to blow up the M.T.A. The idea of calling off the fare increase  something Mr. Cuomo has supported for months  sounds good in theory. The subway is still far from reliable nearly two years after the system descended into crisis.

But the transit agencys financial plan relies on modest fare and toll increases, every two years, across its sprawling system of subways, buses, commuter railroads and paratransit service. The fare increase is expected to bring in an additional $316 million per year.

The authority is working to make reforms and improve service with its existing resources, said Shams Tarek, a spokesman for the authority.

The M.T.A. board will have robust discussion and decide on the best course of action in the context of the M.T.A.s dire financial position, which requires fare and toll increases as well as new, sustainable, adequate sources of funding in order to balance the budget while avoiding painful service cuts, Mr. Tarek said in a statement.

The authoritys board has been considering two options for fare increases of about 4 percent: The first would keep the base fare at $2.75, but end the bonus for buying a pay-per-ride MetroCard; the second would increase the base fare to $3 and double the bonus to 10 percent. A weekly pass would rise to $33, up from $32. A monthly pass could increase to $127, up from $121.

Even with the fare increase, subway leaders say the system is in a grim financial situation. They have warned that without new revenue sources, their only options would be even higher fare increases or drastic cuts to subway and bus service. The agency expects to have a deficit of nearly $1 billion by 2022.
Before reading the article:

Do you know where your water comes from?

Do you feel confident that you have easy access to safe, clean water?

Scroll through the images and videos in the article depicting the shrinking of the Tuyuksu glacier in Central Asia and its impact on the water supply of millions: What do you notice? What story do these images tell?

Now, read the article, Glaciers Are Retreating. Millions Rely on Their Water., and answer the following questions:

1. The article begins: On a summer day in the mountains high above Almaty, Kazakhstans largest city, the Tuyuksu glacier is melting like mad. Rivulets of water stream down the glaciers thin leading edge. How do the authors try to draw you into the story of a distant geographic region? How do the authors language and images grab your attention in different ways? What words and descriptions are most effective?

2. Maria Shahgedanova, a glaciologist, has studied the Tuyuksu glacier for over two decades. How do she and her team of researchers study and measure its glacial retreat? What recent evidence has alarmed them most?
Do you deliberately devote classroom time to social-emotional learning, or SEL? Does your school address it building-wide? How?

In a 2015 piece about the need for schools to focus on these skills to improve grades and lives, The New York Timess Fixes columnist introduces the movement this way:

[There is a] growing body of evidence  including long-term studies drawn from data in New Zealand and Britain  that have profound implications for educators. These studies suggest that if we want many more children to lead fulfilling and productive lives, its not enough for schools to focus exclusively on academics. Indeed, one of the most powerful and cost-effective interventions is to help children develop core social and emotional strengths like self-management, self-awareness and social awareness  strengths that are necessary for students to fully benefit from their education, and succeed in many other areas of life.

Because we know more and more schools are incorporating strategies to bolster these strengths, we have collected recent Times writing that seems to us to speak especially well to the five SEL core competencies as defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (Casel).

Our list is long, yes, but we also know its not nearly complete: Wed love to hear what books, articles, podcasts or videos youve read, watched or listened to that have been especially helpful. Please post ideas in the comments, or write to us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com, since we hope to add a section of educator-recommended sources to this post.

One additional place we can recommend ourselves, however, is Little Free Librarys Action Book Club that will run from January 29 through July 30 and focus on the theme of Moving Forward. There youll find novels from Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams to In Every Moment We Are Still Alive by Tom Malmquist, as well as nonfiction like (Dont) Call Me Crazy edited by Kelly Jensen, all of which focus on themes of growth and well-being.
Ms. Way and Mr. Stewart met in September 2015 at the National Black M.B.A. Conference in Orlando, Fla., while both waited to be interviewed by the same company for the same job. At the time, she was working in marketing for Southwest Airlines in Dallas and he was studying for his M.B.A. at Emory in Atlanta.

She was gorgeous, Mr. Stewart said. I was completely taken with her beautiful, confident smile.

Ms. Way was looking at things a bit differently: I saw him as the competition for a job I wanted. She said she thought he seemed funny and confident and sure of himself, and he was very handsome.

But she was not to be distracted by small talk. At days end, the company invited all of those who had been interviewed to nearby happy hour, where Mr. Stewart and a few of his classmates from Emory gathered, along with Ms. Way, who had gone to the conference alone.

When Mr. Stewart tried reapproaching Ms. Way, all he got was that smile again.

She kind of ignored me, he said with a sigh. She was too busy talking to recruiters, still trying to get that job.

He retreated back to his classmates, one of whom said, Oh man, Charles, that was rough.

As the happy hour wound down, Mr. Stewart and his fellow classmates were milling around and discussing plans for later that evening to attend what was billed as a Southern hip-hop dance party at a nearby events space called Grits & Biscuits.

When Mr. Stewart turned toward the door, he found Ms. Way standing directly in front of him.

Are you ready to go? she asked him, flashing that confident smile once more.
Renault installed temporary leadership but kept Mr. Ghosn officially at the helm even as Nissan and Mitsubishi fired him as chairman.

We now must move to a new phase, Mr. Le Maire said last week.

After replacing Mr. Ghosn, Renault plans to intensify efforts to repair the acrimonious rift that opened with Nissan, the dominant partner in the alliance, after his arrest. Since then, each company has viewed the other as trying to seize the opportunity to tip the balance of power in its favor.

Mr. Ghosn was the dominant personality who held the alliance together, overseeing the operation and performance of the three companies simultaneously.

Addressing the leadership crisis may fall mainly to Mr. Senard, a veteran industrialist known in France for his no-nonsense management style. He will need to install a climate of confidence between all the parties, said Ollivier Lemal, the managing director for France of the management consulting firm EIM.

The key issue is not so much the leadership of Renault, but who is going to lead, manage and develop the alliance, Mr. Lemal said. And for that, you need someone who is going to devote all his time and energy to restore dialogue between the manufacturers.

The replacement of Mr. Ghosn at Renault will be a turning point in the dramatic saga of one of the most powerful executives in the auto industry. Over two decades, he built one of the worlds most successful groups in the sector by reviving Nissan and Renault, an alliance that later expanded to include Mitsubishi.

A Japanese court declined again on Monday to release Mr. Ghosn on bail, meaning that he is likely to remain in jail for months until his trial.
Its very hard. Its hard to go in there and do my job 100 percent like Im supposed to, knowing that Im not going to get paid. Having to go back to work is going to be an expense that I simply cant afford. Its going to require, you know, getting gas for my car to go to work. I cant afford that right now. Ive got to try to keep the lights on or keep the water on and I got to keep my phone on and I dont know how Im going to be able to do all of that. Like, Its not our fault. Weve done our job up to this point. You know, we were working overtime before all this, to be able to meet the taxpayers needs. Im under the impression that we are not eligible for unemployment because we are still working. And my employees, many of them are struggling to have money for fuel to come to work. You know, I just bought a house. Nov. 13, 2018, and five weeks later, we have a shutdown. So, you know, I was able to make my first payment. We didnt ask for any of this. We didnt want to be  we just wanted to go to work and do our job. Period. Well, theres all of this coverage about people in the D.C. area who are getting free lunches and going to food banks and that there is some level of community support there. But out here in, you know, sort of Middle America, out here in Mississippi, we dont have that network. I think to secure the border is important. I guess I can understand where the presidents coming from. But at the expense of 800,000 peoples livelihood? I dont. I think a lot of people just dont realize that the food thats on their table, you know, for the most part is inspected by one or another governmental regulatory agency. And so this really is having an impact on everyones life, just not on these 800,000 federal employees. Get us back to work. Get us our paycheck, and you guys continue your issues. You know, it shouldnt affect the smaller people in this.
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__________

Shareholders havent been successful in holding companies accountable for data breaches.

That changed in the first month of 2019.

The former officers and directors of Yahoo agreed to pay $29 million to settle charges that they breached their fiduciary duties in their handling of customer data during a series of cyberattacks from 2013 until 2016. Three billion Yahoo user accounts were compromised in the attacks. The settlement ended three so-called derivative lawsuits filed in Delaware and California against the companys former leadership team and board, including Marissa Mayer, Yahoos former chief executive. Insurance coverage will pick up the tab.

The settlement, approved this month by a Superior Court judge in Santa Clara, Calif., marked the first time that shareholders have been awarded a monetary damages in a derivative lawsuit related to a data breach. There have been very few breach-related derivative lawsuits, and all had been dismissed by the courts or settled without a payment to the shareholders.
Background: Last year, Ms. Seo accused Mr. Ahn  once a rising star at the Justice Ministry  of sexually molesting her. She said she had been so traumatized by the abuse that she had a miscarriage. But she said that when she lodged a formal complaint, Mr. Ahn used his influence to have her transferred to an obscure posting in a small provincial city.

Mr. Ahn has denied the charges against him.

Why it matters: Ms. Seos decision to make her accusations public was a highly unusual move in a country where victims of sexual violence have been afraid to speak out, and it encouraged a steady stream of other women to break their silence about alleged sexual abuse.

In other South Korea news: A former chief justice of the countrys Supreme Court was arrested on charges of conspiring with the ousted and impeached president, Park Geun-hye. He is the first former or sitting chief justice to be arrested.
Hall, a professor of classics at Kings College London and the author of Introducing the Ancient Greeks, is not the first contemporary theorist to claim that philosophy  particularly ancient Greek philosophy  can change, and even save, a life. Twenty-five years ago the French classicist Pierre Hadot argued that the Greeks never intended the love of wisdom to end up as the most arcane of intellectual disciplines. Instead, according to Hadot, philosophy appears as a remedy for human worries, anguish and misery.

Image

In the last decade, the ancient Stoicism articulated by the Roman ruler Marcus Aurelius in the second century has re-emerged as self-help for the smart set  a way of regulating our passions, doing our duties and resigning ourselves to the things we cannot change. The Stoics are wildly popular among readers (predominantly men) who want to train their stiff upper lips. Silicon Valley moguls, N.F.L. stars and Olympians flock to Stoicon, an annual conference of modern-day Stoics who spend a week attempting to think like a Roman emperor. There are probably worse ways to spend ones time, but according to Halls Aristotle there are also far better ways to approach life.

In the end, according to Hall, Stoicism is a rather pessimistic and grim affair.  It recommends the resigned acceptance of misfortune rather than active, practical engagement with the fascinating fine-grained business of everyday living and problem solving. In short, an Aristotelian life is not solely about bearing the inevitable, but about identifying the particular talents or natural proclivities that each of us has, and then pursuing a path, consistently and deliberately, over the course of a life. This will make one deeply happy. In Halls assessment, Stoicism does not encourage the same joie de vivre as Aristotles ethics.

As one who is perhaps not overly predisposed to dwell on the joys of life, I was skeptical. Cold showers have their virtues: They prepare an adult for the unavoidable tortures and small indignities of the day. But Halls treatment of Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics reveals that true virtue, the inner core of human happiness, is a matter of living in accord with the ancient Greek proverb inscribed on the Delphic Temple, nothing in excess. According to Aristotle, the first Western theorist to develop a moral system tethered to this principle, character traits and emotions are almost all acceptable  indeed necessary to a healthy psyche  provided that they are present in the right amounts. He calls the right amount the middle or mean amount, the meson.

Hall suggests that her adult reader aim for this Golden Mean by first asking a number of diagnostic questions: What sort of moral being am I right now? Am I prone to envy or revenge, rage or lust, overblown confidence or secretive cowardice? Do I find acute pleasure in precisely the things that stand in the way of my long-term happiness? If you are unable or unwilling to answer these thorny questions, Hall writes, you might as well stop reading here. Hall excels when she is at her most frank. For Aristotle, there is latitude when it comes to which endeavors merit our pursuit, but authenticity and self-knowledge are nonnegotiable.
BREAKING NEWS

The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now

By Alan Rusbridger

440 pp. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $30.

A deathwatch beetle is an insidious insect, eating away at furniture or homes, capable of destroying them if left undetected. The structures look sound, Alan Rusbridger writes, but have been hollowed out from within and, if youre really unlucky, turn to dust.

The destructive beetle is the dark metaphor conjured by Rusbridger, the former editor of the British daily The Guardian, to describe the impact of Craigslist on the newspaper industry. He recalls the day a colleague returned to Fleet Street from a trip to the United States, carrying news of the free advertising sites booming success and the resulting decline in paid newspaper classifieds, long a revenue life force. The Craigslist website looked like nothing and had no editorial content at all, but here was a publishing revolution not playing a journalists game. Underscoring the point was a slide accompanying his colleagues report: an image of The New York Timess new 52-story Manhattan skyscraper alongside a photo of Craigslists San Francisco headquarters  a frame house with room for the staffs 18 desks.

Rusbridgers 20 years as editor of The Guardian  1995-2015  parallel a period of dramatic transformation in the newspaper industry, arguably the most dramatic since the invention of the printing press. The staggering changes are illustrated by his efforts to explain the predigital publishing cycle to an Oxford class of phone-dependent 18-year-olds. He draws a set of stick figures starting with a reporter working on a manual typewriter and ending, 18 stick figures later, with carriers delivering a newspaper to subscribers front doors. The group look as if I have been relating how cave dwellers created fire by rubbing dry twigs together.
Fannie used her profits to provide for her family, but as Davis movingly shows, the proceeds allowed for something more. The family home wasnt just a roof over their heads; it became our armor against a world designed to convince us, black working-class children of migrants, that we didnt deserve a good life. Davis remembers how abundance afforded her the indulgence of daydreams and a first-rate education. Fannie also put some of her profits into the local community, supporting black-owned businesses and giving out a little piece of money when someone needed it.

Davis links her mothers generosity with the bigger outlays of the established numbers operators, some of whom used their profits to fund Detroits civil rights movement. This makes me wary of the charge that numbers had a negative impact on the black community, she writes. If there were disadvantages, if some folks gambled too much, and if others spent coins and dollars on the numbers that couldve gone to more so-called honorable means, then in my mind that is completely offset by the invaluable ways numbers money was used.

Completely offset? Is such an exacting calculation possible, or even necessary? Gambling can be a source of hope and pleasure; it can also be grinding addiction. Anyone ruined by it, or duped by a proprietor less scrupulous than Fannie, might feel like a discounted item in Daviss ledger. Not to mention that Fannie herself took risks that were bigger than many people would willingly hazard. She kept a gun in the linen closet and another in her purse. One of Daviss older sisters became so anxious that she wrote pleading letters to God.

The private philanthropy that Davis commends leaves it up to the people with means to apportion the money as they see fit  an individual solution to what is arguably a structural problem. But then Fannies experience taught her not to put much stock in public forms of redistribution. Black folks, Davis writes, had many, many reasons not to trust the government. She describes her mothers politics as a blend of progressive and conservative, girded by a firm belief in self-reliance. Davis herself calls the Michigan state lottery, legalized in 1972 as a way to bring in government revenue, a usurping.

Yet the novelist in Davis knows that Fannies whole story was more complicated than a daughters protectiveness will allow. The state lottery ended up being a mixed bag for Fannie. It was a competitor, yes, but Davis concedes that it injected new energy into Fannies business by taking some of the stigma away from gambling. Fannie started to use the daily lottery as her source for three-digit numbers, shrewdly turning the state into her backup bank; she could offset a customers heavy bet by playing the same number in the lottery, which meant she no longer had to depend on the big numbers men for cash flow.

Nice irony, Davis writes, though her mother might have called it something else. Like so many other times in her remarkable life, Fannie had found a way beat the odds.
Syfys risque magic show returns for a fourth season. And the rapper Killer Mike hosts a documentary series on Netflix.

Whats on TV

THE MAGICIANS 9 p.m. on Syfy. Over three seasons Syfys fantasy show about students at a school for magic has differentiated itself from, you know, that other series you probably just thought of, through a potent mixture of killings, depression and magic-augmented sex. The magical youngish adults here, adapted from novels by Lev Grossman, use words like vibe and phrases like pro tip; the story centers on a graduate student, Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph), and some other magic students who struggle with both magical malefactors and mental health. In his review of the first season for The New York Times, Mike Hale wrote that the series manages to be more engaging and credible than the usual basic-cable genre drama, noting that its different enough in its details that from moment to moment you can forget how derivative it is. The fourth season, debuting Wednesday night, involves rebellion and memory loss.

DROP THE MIC 10 p.m. on TNT. This musical competition series, birthed from a segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden and previously on TBS, returns on its new home network: TNT. The show pits celebrities against each other in rap battles. Previous guests have included Seth Rogen, Taye Diggs and Molly Ringwald. Wednesdays episode has a pair of face-offs, with the Saturday Night Live alums Taran Killam and Rob Riggle going head-to-head before Boy George takes on Laverne Cox of Orange Is the New Black.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep  and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If youre interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox.

Shorter Show, Same Conan

Conan OBrien returned after a long hiatus, sporting a more casual outfit (This is how I dress in real life  I call my look hip biology teacher), a new set backdrop (It looks like a strip club in Grand Theft Auto! his sidekick Andy Richter complained), and the same old self-deprecating sense of humor.

The new version of his TBS show  which OBrien decided to alter after hitting his 25th year in late night in 2018  is just 30 minutes long. After the crowds welcoming applause died down, OBrien joked, Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. We did not have time for that. Thats it  good night, everybody! He then squeezed in a quick monologue, a This Is Us parody skit with Richter as OBriens worried wife, and a long, chummy interview with Tom Hanks.

And OBrien did something sneakily revolutionary in the Trump era of late night: He barely mentioned the president. (Although he did welcome his audience with an unveiled reference: It is great to be back. I am happy to announce right now that the three-month Conan shutdown is officially over.)
In the first episode of the final season of Broad City, BFFs Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana (Ilana Glazer) celebrate Abbis 30th birthday by walking the length of Manhattan, Inwood to the Battery. They shoot video of dirty water  city juice  on the subway tracks. They visit the stately Morris-Jumel Mansion. They get chicken and waffles at Red Rooster in Harlem. They get their hair braided on the sidewalk.

Then Ilana falls into a manhole. (Or as she calls it, a womanhole.)

The episode, an ingenious love letter to friendship and the city in the form of an Instagram Story, perfectly encapsulates the relationship of Broad City with the second half of its title. Its New York City is a frenemy that charms you and grosses you out, embraces you and picks your pocket, shows you a good time and tries to break your foot.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  Daraga, Albay Mayor Carlwyn Baldo, who was recently arrested for illegal possession of firearms, has been rushed to the hospital due to "hyperventilation", police reported.

Atty. Arnold Ardiente, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region V Head, said Baldo was brought to the University of Santo Tomas Hospital in Legazpi City, Albay Tuesday evening.

Baldo underwent a 2D echocardiography test to check his heart condition, members of his family said.

This happened hours following the mayor's arrest and detention at the CIDG Regional Headquarters, after policemen seized unregistered firearms while serving a search warrant in Baldo's home.

Ardiente assured that the mayor disclosed all information on his medical conditions such as insulin injections due to diabetes, when he was arrested. In the wake of his arrest, a post on Baldo's official Facebook account appealed his innocence to his constituents in his local language.

"Unu man na kadipisilan an umabot satun, padagos kitang mamuhay nin tama asin maray. Padagos kitang magtiwala na sa tamang panahon, maga luwan an kamatu'ran asin hustisya. Indi mag andal, banwang Daraga. Inosente an Mayor nyo. Magtiwala kita sa Diyos asin sa justice system ta," the post said.

[Translation: Whatever hardship that may come, let is continue to live rightly. Have faith that at the right time, truth and justice will prevail. Do not worry, Daraga, your mayor is innocent. Have faith in God and our justice system.]

Baldo was also previously tagged as the alleged mastermind behind the killing of AKO Bicol Party-list Representative and political rival for the Daraga mayoralty race, Rodel Batocabe, last December. He is currently facing two murder charges regarding this case.

Atty. Edwin Engay, Police Regional Legal Chief, reported that Baldo was not able to submit a counter-affidavit to the murder charges against him. Instead, Baldo asked the prosecution for a 30-day extension as he has not hired a lawyer yet.

Justin Batocabe, Rodel Batocabe's son, spoke to reporters on Wednesday, saying he wishes the mayor to get well soon so the cases can move forward.

"I hope he gets well soon so that he may immediately answer the charges against him," he said.

Ardiente said inquest proceedings may be conducted where the mayor is confined, depending on the decision of the fiscal. This is a developing story.

Albay-based journalist Rosas Olarte contributed to this report.
When John Ashbery died in 2017, he left behind more than 30 collections of elliptical, often collagelike poetry, including Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, which won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize.

He also, like most writers, left behind another cache of books: an eclectic personal library of some 5,000 volumes, which will now be getting space on the shelves at Harvard University, his alma mater.

The universitys Houghton Library, which began acquiring the poets manuscripts and other papers in 1986, has announced the acquisition of the John Ashbery Reading Library, which includes more than 5,000 books of poetry, art criticism, architectural history, philosophy, religious history and cookbooks collected over the poets lifetime.

The collection, which was donated by Ashberys husband, David Kermani, convey the traces of the poets thought, and also of his hand. There are annotated editions of books by Boris Pasternak, Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche and others, as well as the copy of the Oxford Book of American Verse he used as an undergraduate, with pressed flowers used as bookmarks.
Ben Pederson

Through Feb. 3. Ortega y Gasset Projects, 363 Third Avenue, Brooklyn; oygprojects.com.

Entering Ben Pedersons solo exhibition, Some Stuff You Forgot About, at Ortega y Gasset Projects, feels like stepping into a dream world: You see familiar forms, but they dont adhere to a logic you understand. Theres a pair of jean shorts (part of a work called Jorts, from 2017) dangling upside dow n and fitted on painted cardboard stumps that look like cactuses. In another work, Sup? (2017), a short, speckled ladder hangs in midair. Recurring rectangles covered with bright streaks and blobs of color look like miniature abstract paintings or clay tablets or even photo frames.

Many of these objects are sculptural remnants from Mr. Pedersons studio. Theyre connected by hooks, chains and strands of beads in a series of dazzling mobiles that fill the hallway leading to the gallerys main space. Hanging floor to ceiling and obstructing the path, the mobiles form a kind of web that seems to evoke Mr. Pedersons wacky artistic subconscious. Visitors are both invited and forced to navigate it .

The tone in the main gallery is more sober. A book displays 28 watercolors, each one a distinct shape awash in pattern and color. Mr. Pederson, who says ideas often come to him from an Alien Platonic Realm, created the forms while in a meditative state. They reappear in three dimensions in a set of sculptures suspended from the ceiling and a line of Shape Trees (2018) displayed on pedestals, where they seem to sprout from artificial branches. Mr. Pedersons work can seem purely playful  but at his best, he mines the limits of recognizability to challenge our perception. His shapes and sculptural scraps are like pictographs in an artistic language thats still unfolding. JILLIAN STEINHAUER
For many people, the term net art might conjure specific associations from a certain era  the 90s, hackers, Berlin, Web 1.0.

These things are part of the story of digital-born art, but only part of it. Net art was never a specific scene: It was born before the internet existed and continues to be created today, worldwide, in disparate media.

A project called Net Art Anthology, curated by Rhizome, an affiliate of the New Museum, was an attempt to tentatively create a historical understanding of net art. Unveiled online over the course of two years, the effort involved the archiving and restoration of 100 digital artworks  often a laborious process because browsers that could display the pieces no longer existed, or other aspects of the technology had to be preserved or emulated.

It was intended really as a way of filling in major gaps in public understanding of and access to net arts past, to make it more of a resource for the present for artists and people interested in internet culture and how we got here, said Michael Connor, artistic director of Rhizome.
Given where the world is today, it is absolutely critical, he added. My interest and that of the board is how the Holocaust applies today.

The Auschwitz installation, the first exhibition to feature major loans of artifacts from the former Nazi concentration camp in occupied Poland, is currently on display in Madrid and has drawn some 600,000 visitors. It will open in New York on May 8  the date of the Nazi surrender in 1945.

The idea originated with Musealia, a Spanish for-profit company and creator of traveling shows including a world tour of Titanic items. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, on the site of the former camp complex, is receiving a fee to help produce the exhibition and it authorized Musealia and host museums to charge admission, a prospect that initially stirred some unease. But many Jewish leaders have endorsed the fees, saying they help to underwrite a highly professional introduction to artifacts that teach people who cannot travel to Auschwitz about the human capacity for evil.

In New York, the museums entry fee will rise $4 to $16, with free admission for Holocaust survivors, service members, police and firefighters and public school students and teachers. Leaders of the Heritage Museum said they hope the exhibition will heighten awareness of their institution, which two decades after opening continues to have lackluster attendance  155,000 visitors a year  in a city with more than one million Jews. Part of the problem, officials suggested, stems from its conflicted identity.

With the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington a huge success, the New York museum at its founding in 1997 tried to distinguish itself with its Jewish heritage branding. Though its subtitle, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, always called attention to those horrors, and temporary exhibitions were typically about suffering during World War II, the museums identity seemed generic  about culture, not loss.
[The show did not open as scheduled on Thursday. Read more here.]

Exhibition efforts have been plagued by problems. The debut was initially planned for Berlin in September  intended as the first stop of a three-city tour that would then travel to Paris and London. It was canceled weeks before it was supposed to open, when city administrators rejected a proposal to build a concrete wall around the interactive spectacle. The wall was intended to be 1.5 miles long and painted by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, encircling the event until its final night, the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, when it would be torn down.

Once announced, the wall began to divide people (as walls do), stirring up debates about painful historical events that are never far from the surface in Germany. I dont believe in reconstructing a totalitarian system as an experiment, said Sabine Bangert, a politician from the Greens party, who, like many Berliners, felt that the construction of a concrete barrier just meters from where the Berlin Wall once stood was an insult to those whose lives had been torn apart by it.
Iran said Tuesday it had formally protested the F.B.I.s arrest of an American newscaster who works for the Iranian governments Press TV, and her family said rallies in Washington and elsewhere were planned if she was not freed.

The arrested American, Marzieh Hashemi, has been held for more than a week as a material witness in an unspecified criminal case and has appeared before a grand jury in Washington twice. She has not been charged with a crime.

Iranian officials have seized on the arrest as a provocative new irritant in the tense relationship between Iran and the United States, which has worsened since the Trump administration renounced the Iranian nuclear agreement last May and reimposed severe sanctions on the country.

Ms. Hashemi, 59, who has lived in Iran for more than a decade and travels back to the United States sometimes to visit family members, was arrested Jan. 13 in St. Louis and transferred by the F.B.I. to Washington.
MOSCOW  President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Tuesday dashed Japanese hopes of a settlement any time soon to a territorial dispute that has festered since 1945, declaring after a meeting with the visiting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan that there was still much painstaking work ahead.

In his remarks to reporters, Mr. Putin gave no sign that Russia might accede to Tokyos demand that it relinquish Japanese islands seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. He said that any agreement must have support from the public, which in Russia, according to a November opinion poll, is strongly opposed to returning any islands to Japan.

Mr. Abe, whose father, Shintaro Abe, spent years trying in vain to settle the territorial dispute with Russia while serving as Japans foreign minister, has made improving relations with Moscow a priority. But he, too, conceded on Tuesday that resolving a problem left unresolved for over 70 years since the end of the war is not easy.

Mr. Putin had previously raised Japanese hopes of reclaiming at least a small portion of what it calls its Northern Territories and what Russians refer to as the Southern Kuriles, a chain of islands off Japans northern prefecture of Hokkaido.
A Bahamian restaurant owner who lost a fortune as a result of the Fyre Festival debacle has recouped nearly all of her losses after a GoFundMe campaign raised more than $177,000.

The owner, MaryAnn Rolle, 55, was featured in the Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, one of two documentaries released this month that chronicle the 2017 music festival disaster, which left attendees stranded without food or drinking water and sleeping on beaches in makeshift tents. The other new film is Hulus Fyre Fraud, which also takes a critical look at the festival and its organizers.
After Iowa and New Hampshire, the race moves to potentially favorable terrain for Ms. Harris: Nevada, which borders California and has a large Latino population, then South Carolina. Then, on Super Tuesday, California will be among the states voting, as will four southern states where black voters made up more than a quarter of the 2016 primary electorate.

Even with these advantages, Ms. Harris still has plenty to worry about. Already, shes fending off attacks on the tough-on-crime positions she took as a prosecutor in California. In her first remarks after announcing her campaign, Ms. Harris described the criminal justice system as horribly flawed. And her liberal bona fides may be found lacking by an insurgent wing that is ascendant in the party.

Obviously Ms. Harris does not have anything locked down. (Need I take you back to the winter of 2007, when Hillary Clinton led primary polls by double digits.) Were in the early stages of what will likely be a very, very long primary contest. A lot can happen.

Just ask Howard Dean.

____________________

Talking Points for Biden 2020?

Advisers to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are circulating a document to his supporters that outlines a rationale for him to run for president and rebuts potential lines of attack  the latest indication that Mr. Biden is leaning toward a 2020 bid but has not yet fully committed.

The talking points, which were sent to The Timess Jonathan Martin by an ally of Mr. Biden, reflect some of his core arguments he would make if he does enter the Democratic primary. He and his advisers contend that his long experience in politics  he served in the Senate for over 35 years  would represent an appealing contrast to President Trumps erratic style.

In a time of almost unprecedented political chaos under a President whose first and last thought every day is about himself, his image, and using the most powerful office in the world to enrich himself, Americans are reacting to  and looking for  the trustworthy, compassionate leadership that Joe Biden has brought to the national and international stage his entire career, the document states.

But what is more revealing about the 10-paragraph document is that Mr. Biden and his small circle of aides feel the need to sketch out his message before he announces his candidacy. It is, a Biden ally said, a distillation of his thinking. The decision to put these thoughts on paper while other Democrats are announcing full-blown campaigns indicates Mr. Biden is still eager to gauge reaction to his candidacy before taking the plunge.
WASHINGTON  Americas traditional adversaries will take advantage of the weakening of the postwar order and isolationist tendencies of the West to assert greater influence, a new strategy document from the director of national intelligence warned on Tuesday.

Russian efforts to increase its influence are likely to continue, and China is continuing its pursuit of economic and territorial predominance in the Pacific region, the report said.

The document, compiled every four years, is meant to guide the intelligence agencies broad strategic goals. While it outlines the threat to the United States in broad terms, it includes little in the way of details about specific threats from China, Russia or other countries.

The leaders of American intelligence agencies are expected to testify to Congress in early February with a more fulsome assessment of the threats facing the country. Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, will most likely field questions at that hearing about Chinas intensifying espionage activities and Russias continuing efforts to interfere in democratic institutions in the United States and the rest of the West.
The wall or the steel barrier. They can have any name they want. But we have to have it. President Trump often repeats the same things when talking about why he wants a southern border wall. The crime. Drugs. American jobs. While there is little evidence these problems are caused by unauthorized immigration or that any of this will be helped by a wall, he has remained steadfast. I will build a great, great wall. You need that wall. We can do without a wall. But as the fight over border security has dragged on, heres how hes expanded his argument. Hes always said it was about securing the border. But recently, Trump has emphasized that he believes building the wall is the moral and compassionate thing to do. This is the cycle of human suffering that I am determined to end.  And he says a wall will benefit people on both sides of the border, addressing what he is calling  This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul. But Democrats say the current situation at the border was escalated by Trumps policies. A challenge that President Trumps own cruel and counterproductive policies have only deepened. So who does Trump think will benefit? Over time, Trump has named many groups that he says will benefit from a wall. It started as the  American worker. And then expanded to  Legal residents. And  And our vets. Our immigrant communities. Asian-Americans. Hispanic-American communities. African-American workers. Its also what our professionals at the border want and need. How will Trump pay for the wall? After some discrepancies regarding the walls price tag  $6 billion. Probably $8 billion. Maybe $10 or $12 billion. $18 billion. $5.7 billion for a physical barrier. Trump has modified his claim that Mexico is going to pay for the wall. Mexico  will pay  for the wall. 100 percent. Its gone from  They dont know it yet, but theyre paying for it. To  It may be through reimbursement, but one way or the other Mexico will pay for the wall. And  The border wall would very quickly pay for itself. And finally, what will Trumps wall look like? Trumps vision for the wall itself has also changed over time. Early on, Trump said the wall would be  Its going to be a Trump wall. Its going to be a real wall. An impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful  A serious wall. This is a wall thats a heck of a lot higher than the ceiling. Its going to be made of hardened concrete and its going to be made out of rebar and steel. Now, its sounding more like this: I never said Im going to build a concrete  I said Im going to build a wall. Just so you know, because I know youre not into the construction business. Steel is stronger than concrete. Its a new design, highest technology. Walls that you can see through. It will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall. So, will his latest push end with a wall? Theres still a tough political fight ahead.
On the night of Jan. 10, someone walked into a home tucked near the forests that blanket Nevadas northwest border and fatally shot 56-year-old Connie Koontz, the authorities said. Three days later, again under the cover of darkness, someone walked into another Douglas County home about a mile up the road and shot and killed Sophia Renken, 74.

Then, three days after that, Washoe County sheriffs deputies searched a home about 40 miles farther north on La Guardia Lane. There, they found 81-year-old Gerald David and his wife, Sharon David, 80, both with gunshot wounds; they, too, were dead.

For nine days, law enforcement officials from across the region banded together to both reassure and ready residents who had been shaken by what prosecutors would call brutal murders. Lock your doors and windows, the authorities said; turn on outdoor lights; keep your cellphones handy.

By Sunday  the 10th day of regionwide panic  they were able to deliver some calming news: A suspect was in custody; they believed the man, who they have varyingly identified as Wilbur or Wilber Martinez-Guzman, was responsible for all four homicides.
As he said in his Off Broadway show Unconstitutional (from 2013, though in terms of American politics it feels like several lifetimes ago), hes pro-guns, pro-choice, pro-death penalty and pro-marriage equality. He toes no ones line, yet he comes across as the kind of guy you might like to have a beer with, which may be as much of a plus in a comedian as it is in a politician. Unlike a politician, though, he will almost surely make you laugh, and more than once.

Directed by Bobby Moresco at the Minetta Lane Theater, Red State Blue State leaves the president out of the discussion for the first half of the performance. That frees Mr. Quinn up to talk about what ails us that wont disappear with a change of Oval Office occupant  and how embarrassing Americans would look fleeing if the country collapsed into civil war: Refugees in flip-flops and jorts, pulling coolers across the Canadian border.

When he does mention the president, whom he calls a compulsively tweeting totalitarian psychopath, Mr. Quinn lands an impressive one-two punch  first a defense of the economically beleaguered Americans who voted for Donald Trump, so evidently heartfelt that it quieted the room on Monday night, then an excoriating Trump bit thats one of the tightest, funniest sections of the show.

Mr. Quinn is a gruff presence, and he bristles like any comedian at the idea of watching his words. He must know, for example, that a good chunk of his audience will be unamused by a brief riff on how sexual harassment could be defended under the Constitution, even though he doesnt mean it as an endorsement. But in other ways  like the shows absence of ethnic humor, so plentiful just a few years ago in Colin Quinn: The New York Story  he seems not to want to inflame.

That restraint is embodied in the shows excellent design: warm lighting (by Aaron Copp) on a set (by Edward T. Morris) whose wooden-plank upstage wall is painted with a mottled map of the continental United States.
By 2016, a policy was in place for transgender people already serving. Two years later, the military put in place a process for new recruits, officer candidates and people on inactive status like myself. The day after that , I contacted my recruiter to begin the process of rejoining the military.

Over the past year, Ive had countless medical and psychological exams in my quest to return to the job I was trained to do: flying Blackhawk helicopters. This involved a lot of time off work and considerable travel, all at my own expense. At every turn, the people examining me reached the same conclusion: I was aeromedically adapted  fit to fly  and able to return to the service. There was, finally, a chance that I might be able finish my career after 16 good years of service.

I was hoping against hope, throughout this process, that Id be able to join my friends who had fought alongside me for the right to serve openly. Nearly every week I would see pictures of them in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. It gave me a thrill in December to see a picture of four of them together at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. One was an airborne ranger, and one was Special Forces.

All of this makes the administrations dogged attempt to undo everything achieved over the last few years even more baffling. The ban was developed in secret, without the sort of careful study that went into the policy it reversed. It does not reflect any current medical understanding of transgender people, and it has been denounced by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association.

No one, including the lawyers for the Trump administration, has been able to show that inclusion of transgender service members or providing care to them has had any measurable negative impact on morale, readiness or unit cohesion. The chiefs of staff of all four service branches of the military have testified to Congress that there have been no issues.
President Trump remains bullish that the North Korea nuclear threat can be contained. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, the president praised the incredible meeting he had the day before with a top representative of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, trumpeting the tremendous progress the two sides had made.

The optimistic view is that the White House meeting with Kim Yong-chol, a former North Korean intelligence chief and now his governments lead nuclear negotiator, was indeed productive, and Mr. Trump is on his way to resolving one of the worlds most complex and dangerous nuclear weapons problems.

But a path to that outcome isnt yet visible to the outside world. North Korea has forgone nuclear tests, missile tests and rhetorical attacks for more than 400 days. Thats an important development. At the same time, however, it continues to produce nuclear fuel, weapons and missiles. It has not denuclearized, as Mr. Trump has demanded.

So, as the two leaders prepare for their second summit (reportedly next month in Vietnam ), the pressure is on the Trump administration to articulate a realistic strategy for achieving a mutually agreed upon outcome.
All of this shapes how I think about Trumps abrupt order to withdraw from Syria and desire to get out of Afghanistan. I think he is right on Afghanistan. Weve defeated Al Qaeda there; its time for us to negotiate with the Taliban and Pakistan the best phased exit we can  and take as many people who worked for us as we can. Afghanistan has hard countries around it  Russia, Pakistan, India, China and Iran  and they have the ability to contain and manage the disorder there. We gave at the office.

Id keep our special forces in Syria, though, but not because weve yet to defeat ISIS. ISIS is a direct byproduct of the wider regional struggle between Sunnis and Shiites, led by Saudi Arabia and Iran. ISIS arose as an extreme Sunni response to the extreme efforts by Iran and pro-Iranian Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria to ethnically cleanse and strip power from Sunnis in Iraq and Syria. As long as Iran pursues that strategy, there will be an ISIS in some form or other.

Thats why the only peace process that could have a stabilizing effect across the Middle East today is not between Israelis and Palestinians  but between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

What the small, not-all-that-costly U.S. force in Syria does that is most important is prevent the awful there from becoming the truly disastrous in a couple ways. It does so in part by protecting the Kurds and moderate Sunnis from the murderous Syrian government and Turkey. The mainstream Syrian and Iraqi Kurds have been, for the most part, forces for decency and Western values in that corner of the world. One day we might build on their islands of decency; theyre worth preserving.

Our forces also help stabilize northeastern Syria, making it less likely that another huge wave of refugees will emerge from there that could further destabilize Lebanon and Jordan and create nativist backlashes in the European Union like the earlier wave did. To me, the European Union is the other United States of the world, and we and NATO have a vital interest in protecting the E.U. from being fractured over a fight over the influx of Mideast refugees.

Finally, Id take $2 billion of the $45 billion wed save from getting out of Afghanistan and invest it regionally in all the cultural changes that made Tunisia unique  across the whole Arab world. Id give huge aid to the American University in Cairo, the American University in Beirut, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, and the American University of Afghanistan.

And Id massively expand the scholarship program we once ran by which top Arab public school students were eligible for a U.S.-funded scholarship to any U.S.-style liberal arts college in Lebanon or anywhere else in the region.
To glance at Twitter as the video of the Covington teenagers went viral over the weekend was to see each pundit one-upping the disdain of the pundits who vented before him or her. It was also to wonder about the degree of preening and performance involved. They werent merely spreading the word of what had supposedly happened in Washington. They were seizing the opportunity for a fresh and full-throated reminder of their own morality and politics. They were burnishing their brands. And that self-interest was  and is  the enemy of caution.

Im not going to single out any particular pundits and tweets, because there were many and because, under different circumstances, one of those tweets could easily have come from me. As it happens, I missed this pile-on. But Im sure that if I scrubbed my Twitter history, Id find that Ive behaved in the fashion that Im lamenting here.

My focus on pundits may seem narrow, but were stand-ins for a much larger group of Americans, including politicians, many of whom denounced the Covington kids as prematurely and confidently as pundits did. Also, were visible, and our trade is influence. Were sometimes called thought leaders, for heavens sake. Do we mean to be leading people toward overconfidence in their ingrained perspectives and a disposition to see all of life through one narrow lens? Should we be modeling snap assessments and press-a-button derision? The teenagers have received death threats.

The rest of the media didnt behave all that differently from how we did, and to some degree probably followed our example. Newspaper and television stories bought into preliminary versions of what happened in Washington, which encouraged readers and viewers to do the same. And we all abetted our detractors efforts to delegitimize us. Witness the way President Trump framed the initial condemnations of the Covington kids as fake news. We let him keep banging his drum.

Some of the condemners counter that their essential point remains, that entitlement, cruelty and racism persist and even thrive in todays America. Thats for sure. But when the evidence cited for that turns out to be inconclusive or wrong, their position is weakened. Their goal isnt served.

Some conservatives are gleeful about how this went down. But isnt their vengeful joy its own rushed celebration, its own self-serving simplification of a complex sequence of events? Weve realized the error of the first draft, but well probably never produce a final, indisputable one. I wish more of us had the humility to concede that.

I invite you to sign up for my free weekly email newsletter. You can follow me on Twitter (@FrankBruni).
The British always had one foot in the E.U. and one foot out  now with Brexit they want the opposite, a French legislator, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, joked. But Britain had strong allies among the other member states. Its first-class diplomatic personnel brought welcome expertise to Brussels. Even the French understood that the British were a powerful addition to this extraordinary supranational entity.

Hence the idea, sold by the Brexiteers to their voters, that negotiating new terms with the Continent would be easy because the union had so much to lose in this divorce. It was even expected that other countries would follow Britains example. Whos next? was the only question that President Trump put to the European Council president, Donald Tusk, in a phone call in January 2017, I was told by Anthony Gardner, the American ambassador to the European Union at the time.

It didnt turn out that way.

The European Commission designated an affable Frenchman, Michel Barnier, as its chief negotiator and gave him a team of 60, drawn from 19 nationalities. A former center-right member of Parliament, government minister and union commissioner, Mr. Barnier viewed Brexit as a lose-lose case and was determined that the union would lose as little as possible. He understood early that unity would be crucial and repeatedly toured the remaining 27 member countries to brief their leaders.

Doing so, Mr. Barnier observed a new feeling of gravity among European leaders, spurred by the realization that faced with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Europe must not be weakened by Brexit. So instead of intra-European infighting and rivalry, Londons negotiators met a solid wall of unity and sense of purpose. The European Union became so relevant that exiting it is not an issue anymore, even among the most Euroskeptic governments.

Some are more patient than others. Last month, President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania tweeted her Christmas wish for Britain: Finally decide what you really want and Santa will deliver. On Twitter, Germanys economy minister, Peter Altmaier, professed admiration for the epic struggle of the British people, and more than 20 German politicians and celebrities wrote Britons an emotional letter saying they would always have friends in Germany and Europe. Others secretly pray for Britain to finally leave, solve its domestic problems and come back in a decade or two.

The ball is in Britains court, facing a March 29 date to exit with or without a deal. E.U. governments are accelerating preparations to face a no-deal catastrophe.

There was another, less glorious lesson from the Brexit saga. The uprising that brought it in 2016 was not, it turns out, isolated.
Joseph Howze, the first African-American bishop appointed to preside over a Roman Catholic diocese in the 20th century and an advocate for blacks within the church, died on Jan. 9 in Ocean Springs, Miss. He was 95.

His death was confirmed by Terrance Dickson, a spokesman for the Diocese of Biloxi, Miss., which Bishop Howze led from 1977 to 2001.

Before Bishop Howze, the only bishop known to be of African-American descent to lead an American diocese was James Augustine Healy, who became bishop of Portland, Me., in 1875.

Appointed by Pope Paul VI, Bishop Howze had the task of expanding a predominantly white diocese in the Deep South. Though he was apprehensive on arriving in Mississippi in the early 1970s, as an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Natchez-Jackson, most parishioners accepted him, he said, despite the states history of racial unrest.
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The government shutdown continues to put extraordinary pressure on the nations air-travel system, with as many as one of every 10 transportation security officers failing to show up for work and reserve workers having to be flown in to bolster depleted ranks at some airports.

The rate of unscheduled absences of airport screening agents dropped to 7.5 percent on Monday, down from 10 percent the day before, the Transportation Security Administration said. But the agency still had to deploy some backup officers to big airports, including Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, a spokesman for the agency said on Tuesday.

The agencys force of more than 50,000 officers learned on Tuesday that they, like the rest of the 800,000 federal workers who have not been paid during the monthlong shutdown, would miss another paycheck this week. The agency said that many of the absentees had cited financial troubles as their reason for not coming to work, a signal that the call-out rate is likely to continue rising until the shutdown ends. The absentee rate for Tuesday will be available on Wednesday.

Transportation experts and elected officials have begun asking how much longer the air-travel system can continue running safely.
The report was only six pages, but it painted a damning portrait of an egregious work environment where managers routinely retaliated against subordinates, rigged contracts and destroyed appliances meant for residents. They also clocked overtime without working extra hours, and drank alcohol and held on-site parties.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said Nycha was seeking to dismiss the two managers accused of misconduct in the report. But critics said the findings were emblematic of widespread systemic failure at the housing agency and insufficient oversight of the citys 325 housing projects where 400,000 people live.

Below are some of the reports most startling findings.

Retaliation and threats

The report described a hostile workplace where two managers, Brianne Pawson and Wallace Vereen , bullied and threatened employees, and openly boasted about the power they wielded.

Ms. Pawson, the daughter of Charles Pawson, who was in charge of maintenance at Nycha-run buildings before retiring over the summer, began working at the Throggs Neck Houses in 2016, and once said in front of staff members that one worker should rape another worker, the report said. On a separate occasion, she said she wanted someone to break the legs of an employee whom she suspected of filing a complaint against her.

The two would give better work assignments to employees in their clique and retaliate against those they did not like, once forcing a longtime groundskeeper into retirement. Mr. Vereen, who became the developments housing manager in 2017, once said he ran Throggs Neck like a jail, according to the report.
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A seemingly offhand remark in a high school lunchroom set off an investigation that uncovered an arsenal of weapons and a plot to attack a Muslim enclave in upstate New York, law enforcement officials said.

The comment was made by a 16-year-old student at Greece Odyssey Academy in Greece, N.Y.

On Friday, he showed classmates a photo of someone and said that person looked like a potential school shooter, authorities said.

The statement alarmed fellow students, who reported it to school officials. The local police became involved and started interviewing people at the school to determine whether there was a potential threat.

The threat, it turned out, came from the 16-year-old whose comments had triggered the investigation, authorities said on Tuesday. He and three young adults stockpiled 23 firearms and three homemade bombs as part of a plan to target the secluded Muslim enclave of Islamberg, a rural settlement about 150 miles northwest of New York City, authorities said.
McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm whose conduct in bankruptcy cases has already drawn the attention of two judges, was accused before a third on Tuesday of improperly receiving and concealing payments from a client on the verge of bankruptcy. This raised the prospect that the judge overseeing the case could order the return of tens of millions of dollars in fees earned by the consulting company.

Signs that something could be wrong at the client company, SunEdison, began to surface after its board hired an outside firm to investigate unrelated employee claims that managers were misstating cash flows. The outside company, FTI Consulting, described an email exchange between a McKinsey consultant and a SunEdison executive, discussing how McKinsey was going to be paid for the work it had already done for the company.

Ultimately, there was an agreement that McKinsey would not keep billing SunEdison itself  instead, it would call back its unpaid bills and redirect them to four solar-energy projects that SunEdison had set up for various customers. But there was a problem: McKinsey had not done any work for them.

Acknowledge that this is not ideal, the McKinsey partner wrote, adding that there had not been many options. We should anticipate spirited opposition from some PMs that we will need to push through, he added, in a reference to the project managers who would be asked to pay for consulting services they had not received.
The hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers who rely on the Healthy Indiana Plan may not realize it yet, but the state's Gateway to Work program implemented work requirements for enrollees starting Jan. 1.

This insidious initiative has been years in the making.

It was publicly rolled out Feb. 2, 2018, when Gov. Eric Holcomb and Alex Azar, U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, announced the Trump administrations approval of a three-year extension to HIP. A similar requirement was placed on recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, in 2015.

Along with Arkansas, Kentucky, and New Hampshire, Indiana was among the first states given approval. Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin was sued in federal court Jan. 15 over that's state's program. After being given approval Jan. 18, Arizona became the eighth state to add such requirements.

Gateway to Work's slow-moving implementation means that starting July 1, enrollees will have to work 20 hours a month unless they are exempted or meet the requirements through an approved alternative. That will jump to 40 hours per month starting Oct. 1; 60 hours per month starting Jan. 1, 2020; and, ultimately, 80 hours per month starting June 30, 2020.

This is exactly the opposite of the direction we should be heading in this country. We need more access to health care, not more obstacles. Americans' life expectancy at birth is the lowest among comparable countries.

For the second time in three years, our life expectancy actually fell, the worst such trend in a century. The last time the trend was this bad was during the 1918 influenza outbreak.

The mentality behind these sort of requirements is, in a word, cruel.

The message is loud and clear: If you do not contribute to society at a rate we determine is acceptable, you don't deserve to live.

These Republican governors can put whatever spin they want to about the value of work, and self-esteem, but this is the baseline truth.

Ayn Rand, eat your heart out.

And, what's extra galling is that this mean-spirited campaign is emanating from the so-called pro-life party. What is pro-life about denying people access to health care? This sort of policy is pro-death, if anything. In Arkansasthe one state where this has been chugging along at full steam since June 2018nearly 17,000 residents have already lost coverage.

Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren't they? They're all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn, said the late, great George Carlin on his 1996 comedy album, Back in Town. But once you're born, you're on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to 9 months. After that, they don't want to know about you. They don't want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no Head Start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing.

If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're fucked.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg made it official early Wednesday: He is forming an presidential exploratory committee.

If Buttigieg decides to run, he will become the first openly LGBTQ elected official to run for president.

Buttigieg joins a crowded field of prominent Democrats with their eyes on The White House, as President Donald Trump seek re-election. Other Democrats who have formed exploratory committees or declared their candidancy include: Julian Castro, former U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development; former Maryland Rep. John Delaney; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; California Sen. Kamala Harris; West Virginia State Sen. Richard Ojeda; and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

A Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University, and holds a bachelors degree in history and literature from Harvard University.

From 2009-2017, Buttigieg was an officer in U.S. Navy Reserve. He took a leave of absence to serve in Afghanistan during a seven-month deployment in 2014, earning the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his counterterrorism work.

He ran unsuccessfully in 2010 for state treasurer against Republican Richard Mourdock. The following year, he was elected mayor of South Bend. At only 29, he was then the youngest mayor of a city with more than 100,000 residents in the country. Buttegieg won mayoral re-election in 2015, but ran unsuccessfully for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017.

Buttegieg married his partner, Chasten Glezman, on June 16, 2018, making him the first South Bend mayor in 40 years to marry while in office.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund, the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ people, cheered Buttigiegs decision Wednesday. Mayor Annise Parker, president and CEO, released the following statement:

An openly LGBTQ elected official forming a presidential exploratory committee is a historic and powerful moment for the LGBTQ community and the entire country. Exactly fifty years after the Stonewall uprising that gave birth to the modern LGBTQ rights movement, we are finally in a place where an openly LGBTQ presidential candidate can be a serious contender. For the teenager in small-town America who is just coming to terms with their sexual orientation or gender identity, having an openly LGBTQ person running for the most important political office in the world will demonstrate there is no limit to what they can achieveand that is transformative.

In such a wide-open presidential race, Mayor Buttigieg would be a welcome contribution to the marketplace of ideas that will determine where our nation is headed in 2020 and beyond. And while he is not running on his sexual orientation, his presence will undoubtedly elevate LGBTQ issues in the Democratic primary. LGBTQ voters are an important part of the primary base, and with Mayor Buttigieg on the campaign trail and on the debate stages, other Democratic presidential candidates will need to be outspoken and well-versed on LGBTQ equality issues.

Mayor Buttigieg is well-positioned for this political moment. He represents a new generation of presidential contenders and brings a sense of optimism and American solidarity that is entirely absent from the current national dialogue. He brings a unique set of skills and values to the race as a successful two-term executive, a first-generation American and a gay war veteran from a deep red state. Mayor Buttigieg understands that Americans are tired of politics as blood-sport and instead want politicians to address real issues affecting real lives. He sees the similarities between the blue-collar worker in Indiana, the undocumented immigrant in Arizona, and the young lesbian in middle school in rural Virginiaand he believes with strong leadership all their lives can be improved.

Our country is in crisis and it is essential diverse perspectives are heard in this presidential race.
Roseburg, OR (97470)

Today

Mostly clear. Low 54F. NNW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low 54F. NNW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Jan 23, 2019 NR

The Regional Censor Board in Hyderabad has finished the censor formalities of Yatra - The Biopic of Late YS Rajasekhara Reddy the other day. The movie was awarded U certificate with no cuts. The movie is just 126 minutes long which is very apt for a Biopic Project.

The movie is all set for a grand release on February 8th. It will be a simultaneous release in Telugu and Malayalam. Since Mammootty is the hero, Kerala release is on cards. Opposition Leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is all set to make his Film Debut with this film. He will be playing his own character in the film. Click the Movie button below for more info:

Yatra

Mammootty Pictures
UNNC VR research showcases virtual time travel

SPARK visitors interact with virtual objects (photo: ATUM Images)

Professor Eugene Chng, Director of NVIDIA Joint-Lab on Mixed Reality at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) was recently invited to an international event in Hong Kong, SPARK: The Science and Art of Creativity, where he and his team reconstructed Ningbos Sanjiangkou Site (a historical port from 13th century), using state-of-the-art photogrammetry and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies.

The event titled Virtual Time Travel took visitors back to the Yuan dynasty site, an important part of the Maritime Silk Road. Immersed with a VR headset within the richness of a computer graphics simulated virtual environment, visitors interacted with 3D objects and acted in the role either as a smuggler attempting to smuggle goods on merchant ships, or as a port officer checking against smuggling activities. Commercial goods such as silk, crystals, china, spices, paintings and so on were reconstructed based on historical records. To attract participants Professor Chng used Augmented Reality (AR) to project an ancient mythical beast  the Qilin from the Beijing Palace Museum, right at the front of the exhibit tent.

Professor Chng and his teams research created a buzz in social media. Participants commented that they were amazed at the vividness of the imageries that present VR and AR technologies were able to simulate, and how they were able to learn cultural heritage by being transported back in time.

The digital reproduction of ancient artefacts was made possible with the support from Ningbo Museum and Zhejiang Science and Technology commonwealth programme. It is one of the many research projects that Professor Chng is leading, both within China and globally where he is known for his expertise.

Cultural heritage is being exposed to greater threats than ever, he said during the Urban Repurposing panel session but digital technologies are making it possible to both preserve and communicate, as well as mitigate against further damage towards the great treasures of our history.

The British Councils SPARK: The Science and Art of Creativity is an event billed as a cultural platform between the UK and Hong Kong, which celebrates creativity within and across the arts, sciences and education. Apart from Professor Eugene Chng, several University of Nottinghams academics also participated in the event from across the three campuses.

Learn more about

Watch a video about Professor Eugene Chng's VR project with Ningbo Museum
We cant replace what we displace. The New Orleans City Council on Thursday (Jan. 24) will be asked to take a stand for New Orleanians through the adoption of the Smart Housing Mix, securing affordable housing for locals and incentives for developers who are committed to the people and the future of our city.

This comes at a time when we can wait no longer. In fact, this year the state created legislation that aimed to strip the City Council of its power to pass affordable housing requirements. In response, Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the legislation to give us one more chance. And so, the time is now for New Orleans to prioritize its own residents and to stand up for the neighborhoods and the genuine culture that we all know and love today.

New Orleans affordable housing crisis grows more dire each year with the Louisiana Association of United Ways reporting that more than half of the citys households (53 percent) are living at or below the poverty line. We have watched our neighbors being pushed farther and farther out of the city and out of Louisiana, and we know of many others who still have not been able to return. In only a few years, weve seen entire neighborhoods rapidly transformed and made unavailable to locals who are simply attempting to live near work and near family.

But we also know what works, and we know that we can stop it. With a strategy that keeps the best interest of locals at the forefront, we can correct the housing market in a way that serves all New Orleanians.

So, the good news is that, not only do we have the chance right now to do something different, but we also already have a well-researched plan  and it will work if done intentionally. After years of additional study and discussion, the City Council has everything it needs to move towards full implementation of the Smart Housing Mix, a strategy that will guarantee the creation of safe, equitable and affordable housing near the jobs that power this city. With most of our neighbors working in low-to-moderate paying industries, and with our steady increase in housing costs, this is a critical issue to address in defense of our citys very near future.

We know we deserve better; its time we demand better. Lets band together for our future. Even through overwhelming, divisive national politics, lets show the nation how New Orleans steps up and works together in celebration of all of its people. Lets prove what can be accomplished when people are put before politics.

Contact your City Council member today and urge them to vote yes for our people. Vote yes on the Smart Housing Mix.

Flozell Daniels is president and CEO of Foundation for Louisiana.
Most weeks, 350 to 375 families will pass through the Northshore Food Bank in downtown Covington, where they receive boxes of food and lagniappe such as fresh fruit when its available.

Since the food bank put a note on its Facebook page that it could help families suddenly struggling without a paycheck due to the federal government shutdown, the numbers have start to creep upward. At last count, 14 such families have taken the agency up on its offer.

Its a manageable uptick so far, but Food Bank CEO Terri Turner-Marse fears what may come: Those numbers could grow much larger if the shutdown drags on longer.

We can handle it at this point, Turner-Marse said. But the longer this goes on 

Some 800,000 federal employees are either furloughed or still on the job but working without pay as the partial shutdown of the government entered its 33rd day Wednesday (Jan. 23). Many federal employees are bracing for a second missed paycheck this Friday.

Across metro New Orleans and the U.S., food pantries have reported more federal employees waiting in line for groceries to help tide them over. The established food centers have been joined by smaller pop-up sites run by churches and civic groups. In Belle Chasse and Slidell, for instance, the spouses of people serving in the Coast Guard have set up food distribution locations to help the families of federal employees.

A representative of Second Harvest, which provides food in 23 parishes across south Louisiana, said Wednesday that the food banks it supplies have seen a significant increase in families needing assistance. (Click here for information on Second Harvests assistance for federal workers.)

Its been across the board, spokesman Jay Vise said.

In a news release, Second Harvest said that because the state of Louisiana issued Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for February early to help eligible families cope with the shutdown, it could worsen things next month.

The Associated Press reported that U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue asked states to issue February SNAP benefits no later than Jan. 20.

Louisiana residents receiving SNAP will spend these limited February dollars much earlier than normal, Melanie McGuire, Second Harvest chief impact officer, said. This means many families will run low on food much earlier than normal.

The impact on food banks will be twofold, according to Second Harvest.

This is a really unprecedented situation were facing, Second Harvest President and CEO Natalie Jayroe added. The lost wages by so many federal employees combined with the impact upon low-income residents will put our ability to serve those in need to a serious test.

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In Belle Chasse, spouses of people serving in the U.S. Coast Guard opened a food pantry in a church near the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.

Kathi Callahan of Gretna said First Baptist Church, at 8828 Belle Chasse Highway, offered space. Wednesday marked the fifth day the pantry was open and Callahan said more than 150 families had been helped.

A lot of Coast Guard people, especially our young enlisted, they dont make a lot of money, said Callahan, whose husband is retired from the Coast Guard. So going without a paycheck is really hard for them.

The pantry, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Friday next week, is available to any federal workers, not just Coast Guard, going without pay because of the shutdown.

Whatever we have, we give, Callahan said, adding that donations are welcome.

In Slidell, a distribution site was open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday at 370 Gateway Drive, Suite A, at an Allstate Insurance location. Leila Perez and Crystal Meadowcroft, who both have spouses working without pay in the Coast Guard, spent much of the day preparing for the distribution.

Meadowcroft, who sells insurance, said her employer had provided the space for Wednesday. Perez said theyll distribute food from noon until 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Northshore Church, 310 Kensington Blvd.

Like the pop-up in Belle Chasse, Meadowcroft and Perez said the site is open to all affected federal employees.

Theyre struggling, Perez, a real estate agent, said of some of the Coast Guard families she knows. They dont want to say it, but they are.

Meadowcroft said she and her husband had a little cushion" so theyre OK for now. But not everybody has that," she said.

Turner-Marse from the Northshore Food Bank, which serves St. Tammany and Washington parishes, said furloughed an unpaid federal workers they must present their employee IDs to be put on a schedule to receive food.

Some federal workers, especially those in the military, are reluctant to seek help, she said. About half of the families of seeking assistance are from the U.S. Coast Guard, she added.

People are people. They like to take care of themselves. They wont come to us until they really need help, Turner-Marse said. It can be very humbling.
What appeared to be human remains were discovered by a state highway department work crew adjacent to Interstate 10 near Slidell, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office reported Wednesday (Jan. 23).

Deputies were dispatched to an area near I-10 between Gause Boulevard and the I-10/I-12/I-59 split at approximately 10:15 a.m. Tuesday after being summoned by workers with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. The workers were clearing debris alongside the highway when they observed what appeared to be badly decomposed human remains, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

Investigators have turned the remains over to the St. Tammany Parish Coroners Office for identification. There were no immediate signs indicating foul play, according to the sheriffs office.
Fontainebleau High School teacher Trey Ryals claims he cant draw to save my life. But he is teaching students how to express themselves creatively through DogHouse Design.

The school-based enterprise officially opened with a ribbon cutting Jan. 18 at FHS, officially kicking off its services to design and print everything from T-shirts to promotional items such as keychains, stickers, vinyl decals, banners, and flags.

Our grand opening today is the culmination of years of hard work by a lot of dedicated people, said Ryals, who teaches Graphic Arts I, II and III and is DogHouse Designs operator.

I was inspired to start this when I saw a similar program at Bonneabel High School where I used to teach, he added. I realized school is more than just math and English. We really need to equip our students with practical skills. I certainly dont discount the traditional education,  but I think its vital that we teach kids skills that they can use out in the real world.

Doghouse Design is operated by students in the Graphic Arts department, who become certified in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator in Graphic Arts I and get opportunities to design t-shirts for DogHouse Design customers.

Graphic Arts is a class that allows students to escape sitting in a classroom and taking notes all day, and allows for students to show their creative sides, according to DogHouse Designs promotional materials.

That was the reason senior Owen Best chose to enroll in the classes. I wanted something different on my schedule for school; just being in core classes doesnt let me be creative enough, he said.

Students in Graphic Arts II run the business behind DogHouse Design, learning how to design pieces according customers wishes and screen print t-shirts, as well as print stickers, large-format banners and posters. Yet the main focus is learning how to fill orders on time while still producing a quality product.

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I think being in the shop kind of fosters creativity because I know I cant just come up with t-shirt designs off the bat with no one to create them for, said Abigail Desposito, a senior in the program who interns with . I think being in the business side of it gives me experience because gives it gives me something to design for.

Jake LeBoeuf, a senior who is interning with DogHouse Design, said the program has given him the opportunity to fulfill the wish to make shirts and branding hes had since he was younger. One of my biggest strengths is being creative, and being in Graphic Arts allowed me to be creative in school. The class inspired me to take what Ive learned about Photoshop and screen-printing and apply it to everyday life, he said.

Ryals said he tells kids a lot that they dont have to be artistic to be in this program. There is so much you can do to express yourself.

To date, DogHouse Designs customers have included various clubs and departments at FHS, as well as the Wrestling Academy of Louisiana, the Southern University Alumni Association, Chompers BBQ, Donut King and more.

To see the work these kids are doing, its just professional, FHS principal Johnny Vitrano said.

Businesses and groups interested in working with DogHouse Designs should email Ryals at robert.ryals@stpsb.org.

Introduction to Digital Photography with instructor Steve Randon, Wednesdays Jan. 23 to Feb. 13, 6 to 8 p.m., STAAs Art House, 320 N. Columbia St., Covington. This course will teach the basics of using a digital camera and creating images. It will start by identifying your camera and its basic functions. Students will then learn how to properly expose an image using aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, as well as the characteristics of these controls and how they translate visually. Students will examine and practice the elements of composition as they pertain to photography, and learn to create compelling and aesthetically pleasing images. Cost is $150 for STAA members or $200 for non-members. www.sttammany.art

Sarah Bonnette is a freelance writer on Louisiana arts and culture. She may be contacted at sgbonnette@gmail.com.
Happier days: Saints fans at Vaughan's celebrating the New Orleans Saints' securing the NFL Championship game.

Tracey's Original Irish Channel Bar

2604 Magazine St., New Orleans, 504.899.2054

The bar plans to rerun games from the 2009 season when it opens at 11 a.m. It will screen the Saints victorious Super Bowl game during the broadcast of the 2019 game. Expect New Orleans-themed food for sale. On its Facebook page, the bar assures viewers that yes, you can still catch the Puppy Bowl here. Watch the Facebook page for more details. No cover charge. The bar is open until 4 a.m.

Vaughan's Lounge

4229 Dauphine St., New Orleans, 504.947.5562

This hotbed of Saints fandom will not show the "not-so-super bowl," owner Cindy Wood said on the bar's Facebook page. The bar will show the Saints' victory bowl. "I think everybody and all bars in New Orleans should not watch or show the (Super Bowl)," Wood wrote. "Let's make the (Super Bowl) ratings the worst in its history. #Dontwatch."

Other events

Another event planned includes the Cruisin' for the Saints caravan. On Super Bowl Sunday, Saints fans are encouraged to dress in black and gold, festoon their cars in team colors and meet at the New Orleans Lakefront Shelter No. 1 at 9 a.m. A meet-and-greet is planned from 9 to 12:30 p.m. From 1 to 4 p.m., the group plans to ride to downtown. Then, the group will return to the lakefront and handout at 5 p.m.

Expect more events as business owners and fans get organized. Also in the works is a Boycott Bowl music festival in New Orleans on Feb. 3. Plans are tentative, but the festival, if pulled off, would benefit "New Orleans musicians, chefs, bartenders, and the entire service industry rather than the NFL," according to the Facebook event page. Read more about that event here.

Even Popeyes threw a little shade on NFL referees on Twitter with this blurry shot.
A group of private companies and coastal advocates are looking for volunteers to help plant 1,000 bald cypress trees in the Pointe-aux-Chenes Wildlife Management Area on Feb. 9. Volunteers will receive lunch and a t-shirt, according to a news release.

The planting will later be expanded to 30,000 trees in an effort to restore a historic Cypress-Tupelo swamp. BHP, formerly known as BHP Billiton, funded the $1 million project, which includes five years of monitoring. Other project partners include Americas Wetland Foundation, Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC and the eRotary Coastal Club, which will provide lunch and drinks for volunteers.

Louisiana tribes say federal recognition will help to face threat of climate change

The tree planting will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers are asked to register by sending their name, email and phone number to info@americaswetland.com. Driving directions and a map to the staging area will be provided to registered volunteers.

Volunteers are encouraged to wear sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen, close-toe shoes and bug spray. Snacks, bottled water and a change of clothes are also recommended for volunteers.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Norco will close for good at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans said Wednesday (Jan. 23). The announcement marks the fourth notice in three weeks of Catholic school closures in the New Orleans metro area.

The archdiocese said student enrollment at Sacred Heart has dropped to a point where it is not sustainable, falling from 136 students in the 2013-2014 academic year to 80 this year. The co-ed Catholic elementary school was founded in 1959 and teaches pre-kindergarten through 7th grade.

Tuition at the school was nearly $5,000 a year, according to information from EdNavigators Catholic Schools guide.

Schools Superintendent RaeNell Houston said the staff of the Office of Catholic Schools will work with the families of students from Sacred Heart to make the transition to a new school as smooth as possible. Students who receive the Louisiana State Scholarship for Excellence, for instance, will be allowed to transfer at the end of the year to another Catholic school that accepts scholarship students through a process negotiated with the Louisiana Department of Education, Houston added.

Two Catholic schools in Metairie, New Orleans to close; new one to emerge with new mission

Last week, the 80-school archdiocese on Jan. 16 said it would close Our Lady of Divine Providence School in Metairie as well as the Holy Rosary School in Uptown New Orleans due to low enrollment. Those closures would allow the archdiocese to form the new St. Therese Academy for Exceptional Learners school this fall at Divine Providences 8617 W. Metairie Avenue campus.

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On Jan. 9, the archdiocese said it is closing St. Peter Claver in Treme because of declining enrollment and finances.

The closure of Sacred Heart in Norco leaves four remaining diocese schools near the Norco area: St. Charles Borromeo in Destrehan, Ascension of Our Lord School and St. Joan of Arc School in LaPlace, and the St. Peter Catholic School in Reserve.

Families with questions or concerns may call the Office of Catholic Schools at 504.866.7916 or email superintendent@arch-no.org.

St. Peter Claver School in Treme closing; more Catholic school changes coming in New Orleans area

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
Principal Maurice McMorris stood in the hallway of ReNEW Schaumburg Elementary this month, surrounded by colleagues and students at their Grant Street campus. Two years earlier, he had been standing in that same hallway, watching a friends home next door get destroyed by a tornado and fearing for his own safety and that of his students and staff.

Schaumburg resumed classes Jan. 9 at its home campus, nearly two years after the Feb. 7, 2017 tornado damaged the Grant Street facilities in New Orleans East. Schaumburg had been temporarily located at the Gaudet campus after the tornado. The Gaudet Elementary building in August will be occupied by the new IDEA Oscar Dunn school, which is managed by the Texas-based IDEA Public Schools charter school network.

The Schaumburg campus sustained major structural damage to its roof, heating-cooling system and playground equipment, as well as other structures across the school grounds. The tornado was the strongest ever recorded in the city, injuring 33 people and severely damaging nearly 700 buildings. Schaumburg was the only school seriously damaged, but no one there was hurt. The total cost of the campuss restoration project, which included safety improvements to the concrete, lighting, heating-cooling system, fencing and grounds work, was $2.1 million, according to the Orleans Parish School Board.

The cost of repairs were covered by an insurance claim made by the Recovery School District and a planned capital repair fund also managed by the RSDs capital team, the OPSB stated.

McMorris said it was nearly a regular day at the ReNEW Schaumburg campus on Feb. 7, 2017, until the school leadership team's phones all shrieked alerts moments before noon. He recalled how the schools intercom advised the campus that this is not a drill, prompting teachers to get students into their tornado protocol positions.

Every teacher followed directions and every hallway had children in it, McMorris said. ReNEWs students got on their knees, faced the wall and covered their heads. McMorris said he stood in one hallway and watched through a door down the hall as his friends home was torn apart by the winds. McMorris learned later that his friends wife barely made it into their bathroom before the tornado damaged their home. He called the event one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.

Im from Chicago and I was thinking Im really going to lose my life in New Orleans East in a tornado, McMorris said.

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McMorris called the new campus a fresh start and pointed out how things can get better even when tragedy happens.

The building feels good. It doesnt contain any of the bad feelings we had on that day and from subsequent years of not being able to come back, McMorris said.

Sean Hudson, ReNEWs chief operating officer, said their return to campus took so long because of the buildings very complicated, very large roof." The schools entire roof had to be replaced due to the tornados devastation. Hudson also said so every lightbulb had to be replaced, all the ceiling tiles had to be replaced, and the floors had to be stripped down because the building had been vacant for two years.

Wet paint signs were still present in some hallways because school staff these last few weeks have been finishing paint jobs across campus, Hudson said. Regardless, Hudson expressed gratitude because no one was injured during the tornado.

The teachers and their ability to get kids where they were supposed to be is nothing less than heroic, Hudson said.

Schaumburg Elementary's 850 students brave New Orleans' worst tornado

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
Lycee Francais de la Nouvelle-Orleans, a French-language public school in Uptown New Orleans, has received approval from the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to make changes in its admission criteria for students applying for enrollment during the 2019-2020 school year.

Lycee offers a French immersion curriculum that is accredited by the French Ministry of Education for French. The school serves pre-kindergarten through 8th grade students with plans to build to 12th grade. It currently does not require French proficiency for students entering pre-kindergarten or kindergarten, but entry into first grade and up requires applicants to pass a French language proficiency exam.

However, BESE on Tuesday (Jan. 22) approved the schools request to issue a proficiency test waiver to students who come from French accredited schools. Students will also be waived from the test if they have passing scores on the Diplome d'Etudes en Langue Francaise exam, which is a standardized test from the French Ministry of Education to certify the competency of non-native speakers from outside France in the French language. The latter exam is given to students at French immersion schools through the administration of the Louisiana Consortium of Immersion Schools.

Louisiana Department of Education Superintendent John White Tuesday told BESE the Lycee amendment would fix a common sense issue for students who have already taken the French curriculum and are proficient to have them come in without the test. Whites comments were echoed Tuesday afternoon by Lycee board chair David Amoss.

The change is aimed to help our school to attract qualified French-speaking students from accredited schools and eliminate the hardship for parents of having to go through another rigorous process for entrance, especially at the higher grade levels as we open our high school, Amoss said.

Morris Jeff School to offer International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

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The admission criteria change will also streamline the testing process that is currently burdensome for Lycee staff, according to the BESE request application signed by Amoss. Lycee CEO Marina Schoen on Tuesday said this will put less of a burden on the administrative staff that provides the test.

The B-rated Lycee Francais is one of the most in-demand schools in Orleans Parish. It is a Type 2 charter school authorized by BESE to serve students statewide. School placement data from the state shows Lycee filled all its kindergarten seats for the 2018-2019 school year.

Class sizes at Lycee vary per grade, but hold a maximum capacity of 25 students per class, according to the schools website. Pre-K classes consist of 20 students per class. Meanwhile Lycee has noted year-over-year growth in enrollment: from roughly 466 students in the 2014-2015 academic year to nearly 939 students this school year.

The Uptown school teaches Pre-K through 2nd graders at the 5951 Patton Street campus, and the other grades learn at the 1800 Monroe Street campus.

See OneApp 2018 school placement results: searchable database

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
The son of the newly sworn-in head of the New Orleans Police Department was arrested Tuesday (Jan. 22) in connection with a domestic dispute that occurred over the weekend, according to NOPD spokesman Andy Cunningham.

Shane Ferguson, son of NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday evening, Cunningham said in a statement late Tuesday.

Shane Ferguson lives in Algiers and turned himself in at the 4th District police station in Algiers, according to municipal court records obtained by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

The 21-year-old was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail on a charge of domestic-abuse battery, WDSU 6 reported, citing inmate booking information from the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office.

His first court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

While this is a family matter, Chief Ferguson wants to be clear that the NOPD will conduct a proper and complete investigation just like we do in every case, Cunningham said.

No additional details were immediately available about the dispute."

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Shaun Ferguson, who served as an NOPD commander, was sworn in Friday as NOPDs new superintendent.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Jan. 14 announced the 46-year-old Ferguson as her choice to replace former chief Michael Harrison, who has taken a job as police commissioner in Baltimore.

NOTE: This story was updated Wednesday morning with additional information from court records. Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office also released Fergusons booking photo Wednesday morning, and it has been added to the story.

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reporters Heather Nolan and Carlie Kollath Wells contributed to this story.

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

Shaun Ferguson named new NOPD chief by Mayor LaToya Cantrell
A pharmacist who shot an armed robber who tried to hold up a Luling drug store was justified in using deadly force, according to St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne.

Man killed during Luling drug store robbery IDd by authorities

All indications in this investigation, including the recovered store surveillance video, shows that the pharmacist and the store clerks lives were in imminent danger, Champagne said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 22). This incident is currently deemed a justified shooting.

Authorities earlier identified the deceased man as Mark Fisher Jr., 36, who lived in or near Madisonville. Fisher is accused of trying to rob Thrift Village Drugs Inc., 737 Paul Maillard Road, Luling, Monday night.

The Sheriffs Office also released more details about the holdup. Fisher walked into the store just after 6 p.m. wearing a mask and gloves, authorities said. He was armed with a pistol and ordered the unnamed pharmacist and a clerk to go behind the counter.

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Fisher demanded drugs from the pair before pulling out zip ties to bind them, authorities said. He secured the ties around the clerks hands.

But the pharmacist managed to get hold of his own gun before Fisher could zip tie his hands, according to the Sheriffs Office. Fisher and the pharmacist scuffled for a bit before Fisher ran for the front door.

Fisher made it outside but turned to charge the pharmacist when the latter tried to lock the door, authorities said. The pharmacist fired one shot that hit Fisher in his right leg, hitting the femoral artery.

Fisher hobbled for about 100 feet before collapsing behind the strip mall. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
An ex-DEA agent standing trial in federal court in New Orleans elicited false testimony from a pair of drug dealers for the trial of a Texas drug supplier, a prosecutor said in his opening statement on Tuesday (Jan. 22).

Chad Scott, the longtime DEA agent who led a New Orleans-area task force, also got a dope dealer to buy him a truck, the prosecutor said, and then lied about it in the seizure paperwork, to make the deal look clean, when it in fact never was.

He betrayed his duties and abused his power by lying, cheating and manipulating so he could get what he wanted, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Duree told the jury.

Duree told jurors the arrested drug dealer, Frederick Brown, who falsely testified in 2016 against the accused supplier did so because he was trying to get out from under the defendants thumb. The drug dealer lied on the stand in trial because Scott made clear it was what he needed from the dealer for Scott to shake him from his grip, Duree said.

Scotts attorney Matt Comen, a former longtime prosecutor in the U.S. Attorneys Office based in Louisiana, suggested many of the governments crucial witnesses in Scotts trial also would be operating under the thumb of the feds.

2 Louisiana narcotics agents indicted on federal charges

Comen pointed out the alleged drug supplier, Jorge Perralta, whose conviction was overturned after Scotts alleged misconduct came to light, no longer faces criminal charges and will be a witness for the government. The two drug dealers, Brown, a lower-level dealer and one of Scotts confidential sources; and Edwin Martinez, described by prosecutors as a middle man, were facing prison sentences that could possibly be significantly reduced if they cooperate in the case against Scott.

They faced life prison, death sentences, unless they gave the government what they wanted to hear, Comen said.

Comen also emphasized instructions given by U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo, who told jurors they would hear testimony from people with criminal records and must use their judgment to weigh witnesses' credibility against other evidence.

The only credible evidence will lead you to one determination, that is Chad Scott is an asset to law enforcement, and he is not guilty of these charges, Comen said.

Scott worked as a DEA agent since 1997 and led a task force whose members are accused of selling narcotics and tampering with witnesses. He faces additional charges in a separate trial, along with his former colleague Rodney Gemar, a Hammond police officer accused of participating in the conspiracy with Scott.

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In this weeks trial, Scott faces two counts of falsification of government records, related to the Ford pickup the prosecutors said was a gift ... from a dope dealer, three counts of obstruction of justice -- related to accusations Scott induced false testimony at a hearing and trial for Perralta -- and two counts of perjury, related to Scotts testimony in the Perralta case.

In Peraltas case, prosecutors said, Brown falsely claimed, then testified, that he saw Perralta at a drug deal where Martinez was also present. Prosecutors said Brown had, in fact, never met Perralta. Scott twice testified, at a hearing and at Perraltas trial, that Brown volunteered to him that he knew who Perralta was and that he saw him at the drug deal, prosecutors say.

Scott pleaded not guilty in Oct. 13, 2017, shortly following his indictment. He had been suspended from his job earlier that year, and the indictment prompted his firing.

Unsealed records reveal more on former deputies accused of drug dealing

A DEA investigation of the task force began in 2016, and two other members were accused of dealing narcotics.

Karl Newman, a Tangipahoa sheriffs deputy, was arrested in February 2017 and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and abuse of office. Johnny Domingue was booked January of that year on charges of principal to distribute schedule I drugs and conspiracy to distribute schedule I drugs. Newman and Domingue have pleaded guilty but have not yet been sentenced.

Scotts indictment says the conspiracy started around July 2014, when Scott convinced Brown to give him a truck. Scott got Newman, who Duree described as both a dirty cop, and Scotts go-to guy, to falsely say he was present when the truck was seized from Brown. DEA rules require more than one agent to communicate with confidential source, Duree explained. They also falsified paperwork by saying the truck was seized in Metairie, which is within their jurisdiction, when they actually picked up the truck in Houston.

Agents cant strong-arm drug dealers into buying them trucks, Duree said. But thats exactly what they did.

Comen argued Newmans testimony will reflect someone seeking to say whatever will help his case. He showed jurors a slideshow that included a slide he said displayed a quote from a telephone call between Newman and his wife.

Im just going to tell them what they want to hear, whether its true or not, Comen read from the slide, citing Newman.

The trial is expected to last several days and included testimony from Newman, Perralta, Brown and others.
A badly decomposed body found alongside Interstate 10 in the Slidell area Tuesday (Jan. 22) is believed to be that of a Pearl River man who disappeared in December 2017, the Slidell Police Department said.

Tony Tiger Bennett was last seen Dec. 13 at Motel 6 in Slidell, which is in the vicinity of where the body was found by highway workers, police said in a news release. Certain undisclosed property found near the body led detectives to believe the body is that of Bennett, the release said.

There were no immediate signs that indicated foul play, authorities said.

The police department said that DNA tests are being conducted to definitively identify the body.

Slidell Police investigators are working closely with the Sheriffs Office and Coroners Office to determine manner and cause of death, as well as to confirm the identity of the body, police said.

Deputies were dispatched to an area beneath a small bridge on I-10 east between Gause Boulevard and the I-10/I-12/I-59 split at about 10:15 a.m. Tuesday after being summoned by workers with the state highway department. The workers were clearing debris alongside the highway when they discovered the remains.

Last year, a Slidell police spokesman said foul play was suspected in the mans disappearance, though he would not elaborate other than to say, "The circumstances behind his disappearance are very suspicious.

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Bennetts grandmother, Evelene Thornton of Pearl River, said Wednesday that shes certain the remains - down to the clothing and boots that were found - are those of her grandson, whom she raised.

I have been praying to God and asking him for his remains to be found, Thornton said. I know in my heart thats him. I know God has answered my prayers. I know where my boys at. Hes in heaven.

Thornton described Bennett, 41, as a good hearted boy, who would go out of his way to help people. Anytime Bennett saw someone with a flat tire or car trouble, he would make her stop the car so he could help, she said.

Bennett was a father of five, with two grandchildren, she said.

Thornton still believes foul play was involved in her grandsons death.

Its like a relief to know that were going to have closure. But in my heart, theres a hole there that will never be filled. I know somebody hurt my boy.

'I know my boy's been murdered': grandmother of missing Pearl River man
UPDATE: The NOPD later said the 19-year-old man was the perpetrator in the shooting and had fired on another man. Investigators were not sure what caused the teens injury.

A 19-year-old man drove himself to the hospital after he was shot in the abdomen in the Plum Orchard area of New Orleans East Tuesday morning (Jan. 22), police said.

He was driving near 1-10 and Chef Menteur Highway around 10:10 a.m. when a stranger started shooting inside his car, according to a police report. The report noted the 19-year-old was driving at ground level," not on the elevated portion of I-10 at that intersection.

Additional information on the suspected shooter was not available in an initial police report.
A fugitive opened fire at police who tried to arrest him, leading to a lengthy standoff in downtown Salem City before the wanted man surrendered Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

Members of a law enforcement task force were trying to arrest Eric Smith on a warrant for charges including aggravated assault on a police officer and for failing to appear in court when the ordeal began, according to Salem Police Chief John Pelura and court records. After an initial exchange of gunfire, a negotiator connected with Smith and he surrendered around 3 p.m.

Pelura said at least one task force officer returned fire. There were no injuries to Smith, 26, or law enforcement officers, according to New Jersey State Police.

As Smith left the building at 172 Broadway with hands up, family members yelled for him to follow orders from police. A crowd cheered as the standoff ended and members of the State Police tactical took the suspected shooter into custody.

Police could be heard using a megaphone to communicate with the man.

Smith, a Salem resident, was wanted because he had previously crashed his car into a police cruiser and fled a traffic stop in the city Jan. 7, according to the charging documents filed in Salem County Superior Court.

Police wrote that an officer stopped Smiths vehicle at the Sunoco on East Broadway and called for backup after smelling marijuana in the car. Smith revved the engine and reversed his car causing extreme risk of injury to the officers around the vehicle and struck the cruiser behind him and a gas pump before fleeing, the complaint said. A high-speed chase ensued but was later terminated, the complaint said.

He was charged with four counts of aggravated assault on a police officer by attempting to cause injury and one count each of eluding and obstructing the administration of law.

Multiple police vehicles crowded around the building and armed police could be seen on the rooftops of buildings near the shooting scene. The bottom floor of 172 Broadway is a tax office with a separate entrance for what appear to be apartments on the second and third floors.

Salem County offices were placed on lockdown and authorities told people to stay away from the area.

The Salem County Offices located in Salem City are currently on lock down, the county posted on its Facebook page. Please do not come in this surrounding area as currently there is an active shooter incident taking place.

A satellite office for Salem Community College is on the block and the county courthouse is behind that row of buildings.

The colleges Salem Center building on Broadway was placed on lockdown at about noon, according to spokesman Bill Clark.

Sixteen workers at the Salem Center were evacuated by police escort around 12:30 p.m., Clark said. They are employed by the Salem County Chamber of Commerce and the state Department of Labor, he said. Salem Citys school were also on lockdown.

An employee at Pats Pizzeria, located near the shooting scene, confirmed the business was on lockdown after receiving a call from the sheriffs office.

Market Street is blocked off, according to a bystander. Roads leading into the city were also blocked.

WATCH LIVE: Chopper 3 is live over the 100 block of East Broadway in Salem where New Jersey State Police say there is a possible shooter from a roof of a building. UPDATE: Police confirm a gunman has fired shots from the roof of a building. https://cbsloc.al/2FJthfA Posted by CBS Philly on Wednesday, January 23, 2019

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Multiple members of Gov. Phil Murphys inner circle have said under oath in recent weeks they do not know who hired an official accused of rape for a top state job last year.

And Murphy on Tuesday wouldnt say who did, turning back reporters' questions for the second time in less than a week.

Now, unhappy with those answers, a top lawmaker heading a special legislative investigation into Katie Brennans allegations, told NJ Advance Media she may call more witnesses to find out.

State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, the co-chairwoman of the special legislative committee examining the matter, said shes perplexed how three top officials for the governor havent been able to tell lawmakers who gave Brennans accused rapist, Albert J. Alvarez, a $170,000-a year job with the New Jersey Schools Development Authority.

How could we be satisfied? We talked to three top people and nobody knows how he got hired, Weinberg, D-Bergen, said.

Weinberg referred to Peter Cammarano, Murphys former chief of staff; Matt Platkin, the governors chief counsel; and Jose Lozano, who headed Murphys transition team. In recent weeks, all three men testified before the joint committee and all three said they didnt know who hired Alvarez.

If the governor would like to clear this up it would be helpful, Weinberg said. And if not, we might have to ask his closest advisers to see how somebody gets hired into a top position.

Weinberg said the committee will call Lynn Haynes, Murphys deputy chief of staff for cabinet affairs whose signature was on a form Weinberg said told Alvarez he would get a job in the administration. But she didnt say who else the committee may consider asking to testify.

Murphys spokesman, Dan Bryan, referred an inquiry into who hired Alvarez to Chris Porrino, the governors outside counsel. Porrino declined to comment.

Murphy so far refused to say who in his administration gave him the job.

Ive said everything Im gonna say, Murphy said at a public event in Newark Tuesday after he was asked the question by a reporter.

He punted on the same question on Friday.

Brennan has said Alvarez sexually assaulted her in her apartment in Jersey City in April 2017. He had driven her home from a campaign-related social gathering and asked to use the bathroom, Brennan has said. The Hudson County Prosecutors Office declined to file charges against him.

Alvarez was chief of staff to the New Jersey Schools Development Authority until he resigned Oct. 2 after he was contacted by the Wall Street Journal, which was preparing to publish a story about Brennans allegation and the administrations failure to investigate or hold Alvarez accountable.

Murphy campaign and administration officials testified that Alvarez was told twice to look for a new job. But none have said they actually hired him.

Alvarez has denied he raped Brennan and has declined to comment on the hearings.

The legislative committee will hold its sixth public hearing Friday.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

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EDITORS NOTE: Interested in the marijuana business industry? NJ Cannabis Insider is a new premium intelligence briefing that features exclusive weekly content geared toward entrepreneurs, lawyers and realtors. View a sample issue.

Within weeks, Gov. Phil Murphy could sign a law putting New Jersey on a path to a $15 minimum wage.

But the future of another one of Murphys top priorities  legalized marijuana  is still murky.

The state Legislature is scheduled to vote at the end of the month on a recent deal Murphy and top lawmakers struck to gradually raise the states minimum wage to $15 an hour for most workers by 2024.

The state Assembly labor committee will consider the measure Thursday, while the state Senate budget committee will consider it Monday.

Both houses are expected to vote on final passage Jan. 31. It would then be up to Murphy to sign it.

Im looking forward, with the pen right here ready to go, the Democratic governor said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Its a really good deal, Murphy said. "Were very proud where we came out on that."

Murphy and his fellow Democrats who lead the Legislature  Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin  had disagreed for months on what the final minimum wage measure would look like.

But they struck an agreement last Wednesday. The plan is to raise the standard minimum wage to $10 an hour on July 1, $11 an hour in 2020, $12 an hour in 2021, $13 in 2022, $14 in 2023 and $15 in 2024.

New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal Trenton think tank, estimated more that than one million workers in the state will benefit from the hike.

Still, about 10 percent of those workers will be placed on a slower path. Seasonal employees and small business employees wont reach $15 an hour until 2026, while farm workers will hit $12.50 in 2024. After that, it would be left up to state officials in the executive branch to decide whether to keep going to $15 an hour by 2027 for farm workers.

Not everyone is pleased. Republican lawmakers  and some Democrats  oppose the plan, saying it would hurt small business. The New Jersey Business and Industry Association, which represents 20,000 businesses in the state, said it marks another hit to small businesses.

But numerous Democrats would have to vote against the measure for it to fail in the Senate and Assembly.

Sweeney was asked by NJ Advance Media on Tuesday if there are enough votes to pass the bill in the Senate.

I would think so, the Senate president said.

As for marijuana? Murphy has said getting minimum wage done would allow leaders to focus on other issues  especially like legalizing recreational weed for adults as a way to improve social justice and bring in more tax revenue to the state.

Murphy and legislative leaders all agree on legalizing pot. But they have disagreed on what the tax rate would be and who would regulate the industry.

A legislative source told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday that they remain far apart on the issues, although Murphy is legitimately getting along" with Sweeney and Coughlin after some rough patches in his first year as governor.

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Sweeney told NJ Advance Media that theres nothing new on the marijuana discussions.

Were in the same place weve been, he said. Im hopeful we get someplace soon. There hasnt been a whole lot of movement.

The lead sponsor of the marijuana bill, state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, told NJ Cannabis Insider last week hes losing faith that Senate Democrats and Murphy will come to an agreement.

Scutari, D-Union, also said he and Sweeney have discussed letting New Jersey voters decide by putting the issue on the ballot in November.

Murphy said Tuesday that his staff has a meeting with legislative staffers coming up, and pot is expected to be a topic.

I still believe we can make progress on this, the governor said. To be determined.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Susan K. Livio and Samantha Marcus contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday urged the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build a brand new AirTrain monorail system to carry passengers to their terminals at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Murphy said a replacement for the current AirTrain  estimated to cost $2.1 billion  would benefit the 33,000 people who use the aging, 23-year-old system each day at one of the nations busiest airports. Eleven million people ride it annually.

They deserve more than a bubble-gum-and-duct-tape approach for meeting their flights, the Democratic governor said during a news conference at one of the AirTrains stops at the airport, where he was joined by two top Port Authority officials.

Murphy also said, if approved by the Port Authority, the project could delay plans for a PATH extension in Newark because doing the extension first might be problematic for the AirTrain.

To be determined, he said.

Funding for the PATH extension was included in the Port Authoritys $32 billion 2017-2026 capital plan, but only $380 million was allocated for AirTrain interim repairs and maintenance, according to the document.

That could change. A refresh of the capital plan is being prepared, said Rick Cotton, the Port Authoritys executive director.

Murphy said it would cost more than $400 million to simply keep the AirTrain running for another 10 years.

He argued just refurbishing it isnt enough because the airport is a huge selling point for New Jersey, and the current AirTrain system breaks down too often, causes delays for passengers, and is costly to repair.

Lets not waste money keeping it on life support," Murphy said, adding that there needs to be a modern system to match the future vision we have for the airport.

At Newark airport, where @GovMurphy is set to make an announcement regarding AirTrain/terminal improvements. pic.twitter.com/8khEOboLlu  Brent Johnson (@johnsb01) January 22, 2019

Over 11 million travelers ride the AirTrain at @EWRairport every year. When the system breaks down  as it often does  passengers are delayed and airport personnel are unable to get to work on time. Its time for the @PANYNJ to replace the AirTrain. https://t.co/oaHIF2tuSt pic.twitter.com/8Cp0tKUQQv  Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) January 22, 2019

Unlike the AirTrain that serves Kennedy Airport, the Newark Airport version is a monorail, designed with a 25-year lifespan, which would lapse in 2021. The monorail has had service interruptions during its lifespan due to power failures, accidents and maintenance.

Murphy said a new system is especially critical to compliment the $2.7 billion renovation to the airports Terminal A, which the Port Authority has broken ground on.

The AirTrain replacement would need to be approved by the Port Authoritys board of commissioners, which includes members from both New York and New Jersey.

Joining Murphy at Tuesdays event were Cotton, the top-appointed New York official at the agency, and board Chairman Kevin OToole, the top-appointed New Jersey official.

Cotton didnt expressly endorse the AirTrain plan, but he said he recognizes the system is beyond its design life.

OToole told Murphy: We hear you about the AirTrain. There is a deep commitment to your priorities.

Murphy said he has not discussed the issue with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has the power to veto such a project.

Murphy also said the project would be self-funded but didnt explain how. Typically, some airport improvements have been funded through ticket surcharges and fees, which must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The actual formula with how this will be paid for is still being baked, Murphy said.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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By Robert C. Garrett

As a health care leader for 35 years, I have watched with pride how our collective will to save lives and improve the quality of life in New Jersey and the nation has paid huge dividends.

Deaths from cancer plummeted 25 percent in a generation in the U.S. Joint replacement grants us decades of extended mobility our grandparents could only dream of. Precision medicine is on a path to make treatment almost as unique as our fingerprints.

But there is an appalling health crisis that is on a reverse trajectory  more women are dying of complications from pregnancy and childbirth in recent years and black women are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.

Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Phil Murphy, First Lady Tammy Murphy and Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal, New Jersey is shining a light on this critical issue to better understand what we can do as a community to raise awareness about maternal health and safety and prevent any more women from dying in childbirth.

This is a great opportunity to harness our collective will to invest in research, enhance education and improve outcomes. Remember when President Kennedy vowed to put a man on the moon? Lets commit to doing better for our mothers with that same spirit of determination and collaboration.

Its a must. The U.S. is only one of 13 countries where the maternal mortality rate is worse now than it was a generation ago. And despite our best intentions, experts tell us half these deaths are preventable. Additionally, the loss of 700 women in the women in the U.S. as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications is occurring while we are spending more on care delivery. We live in the richest country in the world, yet our mothers are dying at a higher rate than mothers in some developing countries.

Experts are researching several possible causes for the increase in deaths as well as the disparity in outcomes based on race and ethnicity. High blood pressure and cardiovascular disease are two of the leading causes of maternal death, according to the CDC. Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, have been on the rise of the past two decades.

Our network, Hackensack Meridian Health, has significantly lowered C-section rates throughout our entire network  down to an average 26 percent, well under New Jerseys rate of 36 percent

We made it our mission to improve outcomes. We consulted with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology to engage the nations leading experts in maternal health and labor. We selected top specialists who formed multi-disciplinary teams who meet weekly to discuss these vital issues.

We also created a blue-ribbon panel of internal and external experts to ensure our goal to improve outcomes is aligned among clinical staff, hospital leaders and network executives. This panel is being co-chaired by former First Lady Mary Jo Codey and Kathy Ellis, a member of our board of trustees.

Additionally, the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University is deeply committed to eliminating racial and socio-economic disparity in health outcomes. A key feature of the innovative curriculum is the focus on community-based care and the social determinants of health.

Many other health networks and community organizations are working tirelessly to change the narrative. The Partnership for Maternal & Child Health of Northern New Jersey deserves much praise for their aid of pregnant women, including conducting daily outreach in many communities to help women access health care and social services.

Several other states are also working to improve the odds for women.

California through the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) has been working to address high rates of maternal deaths and in the last five to seven years reduced deaths by 50 percent by focusing on best practices and listening to mothers.

We are deeply committed to saving lives in New Jersey and we call on all hospitals and health networks to join the states Maternal Mortality Review Program, an effective initiative to track outcomes. Together, we can collaborate and end this crisis.

Robert C. Garrett is the CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jerseys largest health network.

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In a case that cast a dark cloud over the governors office, prosecutors have decided not to press sexual assault charges against a former official in Gov. Phil Murphys administration.

The Middlesex County Prosecutors Office said it has closed the book on charges against Albert J. Alvarez, who was accused of rape by a former worker for Murphys gubernatorial campaign. In a statement, the prosecutors office said it ended its independent review without bringing charges due to a lack of credible evidence and corroboration that a crime was committed.

It was the second investigative agency to decline to prosecute the charges. The Hudson County Prosecutors Office had also decided not to proceed.

Prosecutors in Middlesex referred further questions to the state Attorney Generals Office, which said it stood by the decision.

The Attorney Generals Office has reviewed both the MCPO and HCPO case files and stands by the independent decisions of both offices in this matter, said spokeswoman Sharon Lauchaire in a statement.

A spokesman for the governors office said they would defer comment to the attorney general.

An attorney for the alleged victim, Katie Brennan, said he was first informed via fax that the review of the case was closed and a decision was made not to file charges, upholding the determination first made by the Hudson County Prosecutors office in Nov. 2017, when it learned of the incident and decided not to take the case to a grand jury.

It is deeply disturbing that the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office refused to prosecute a case involving serious, highly detailed allegations of rape, said Brennans attorney, Alan Zegas.

In a statement, Brennan said she will continue to pursue justice for myself and other survivors of sexual violence, and I will keep fighting for accountability for Al Alvarez.

She said she wont stop fighting to "shed light and demand serious policy changes to make sure we fix this broken system that has protected sexual predation, silenced survivors, and put victims like me in danger.

Katie Brennan, who accused a former Murphy staffer of rape. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Alvarezs attorney, Stacy Biancamano, said after two thorough investigations, by two separate county prosecutors offices, her client has come out on the right side of justice.

This, to me, confirms what I have known to be true about Mr. Alvarez since the day I started representing him  that he is unequivocally innocent, Biancamano added. It is the result I anticipated, and the vindication Mr. Alvarez deserves.

Brennan has said Alvarez, a Murphy campaign official at the time, sexually assaulted her in her apartment in Jersey City in April 2017. He had driven her home from a campaign-related social gathering and asked to use the bathroom, Brennan has said. The Hudson County Prosecutors Office declined to file charges against Alvarez.

Alvarez was chief of staff to the New Jersey Schools Development Authority until he resigned Oct. 2, after he was contacted by the Wall Street Journal, which was preparing to publish a story about Brennans allegation and the administrations failure to investigate or hold Alvarez accountable.

Murphy campaign and administration officials testified that Alvarez was told twice to look for a new job. But none have said they actually hired him.

Alvarez has denied he raped Brennan. He told his boss this was a consensual incident that she called rape.

Brennan has accused Murphys team of ignoring her pleas until it risked hurting the Democratic governor politically.

State lawmakers have been investigating how Murphys office handled rape allegations, which have roiled the administration amid growing questions over whether politics and friendships had been factors, at times putting Murphy at odds with legislative leaders from his own party.

Concerns have been raised as well over how the Hudson County Prosecutors Office treated the case, before alerting the state Attorney General of a potential conflict of interest. The matter was then referred over to Middlesex County.

Asked earlier this week why the matter was assigned to prosecutors in Middlesex, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal declined to discuss deliberations in detail, citing the ongoing inquiries. But, he said, if you go to victims rights organizations, when it comes to survivors of sexual assault, if you ask them to say who does this best in the state  I would say Middlesex is usually considered best in class.

Public hearings over how the Murphy administration handled the accusations started in December in which Brennan detailed the people she told in the days and months after the alleged rape. During the legislative hearings, more than a half dozen people in the governors campaign, transition and administration testified who had been told of the alleged incident.

Esther Suarez, the top law enforcement official in Hudson County, has defended her offices investigation, saying she played no role in the decision by career prosecutors not to pursue criminal charges

In an interview Sunday, then head of special victims unit in the Hudson County Prosecutors Office, John Mulkeen, said he was the one who made the final call to close the case after a six-month investigation and neither he nor Jane Weiner, the assistant prosecutor handling the case, discussed any details of the alleged rape with Suarez.

Mulkeens comments line up with what Suarezs public statement of the case, that the first time she was told about the case was when called for comment in October 2018 by the Wall Street Journal, which first reported Brennans account.

In a statement on Wednesday Suarez said, The decision by the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office in conjunction with the earlier conclusions reached by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability and the Attorney Generals Office should leave no room for interpretation about the independence of the Hudson County Prosecutors Office in the handling of this matter.

Following the announcement that charges would not be filed, state Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen  a member of the legislative committee that has been holding hearings on the allegations  said she was surprised to learn the news.

What could they possibly know that we dont? Schepisi asked in a phone interview. This whole thing has been a bit surreal.

She said she doesnt see this changing the committees work.

Here you have very credible testimony that there was a sexual assault, said Schepisi, an attorney by trade. Knowing that there was this allegation, there was still the hiring of this individual, and from what weve seen so far, no attempt to conduct any internal investigation on it. I think it doesnt change anything that were doing.

The problem is  and I think the frustration that everybody on the committee is experiencing  is thus far, we havent really received any answers to any questions. Everybody is just kind of saying. Not it.

Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin, D-Essex, a co-chairwoman of the legislative committee, said the decision will not affect what the committee does next.

Obviously Im disappointed for Katie, Pintor Marin said.

But she said it will not change who will be called to testify, or change what the legislature may do with regard to policy.

We are deeply disturbed and disappointed by this egregious miscarriage of justice, said Brennans attorney,

Katy McClure of Smith Eibeler, another of Brennans attorneys, called the decision to drop the case a miscarriage of justice.

The Hudson County Prosecutors Office failed Katie Brennan. The Governors staff failed her. The Attorney General failed her. And now the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office has failed her as well, she said.

NJ Advance Media staff writers Brent Johnson, Samantha Marcus, and S.P. Sullivan contributed to this report.

Craig McCarthy may be reached at 732-372-2078 or at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A New Jersey priest charged last week with the sexual assault of a teenager nearly three decades ago served as the youth director at St. Ceclias Church in Iselin at the time of the alleged incidents, and had sex with the victim in New Jersey, Florida and Washington, D.C., according to criminal complaints filed by the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office.

The teen also performed oral sex on the priest, the Rev. Thomas Ganley, according to the complaints and affidavits of probable cause released in response to a public records request. Ganley was a parochial vicar at St. Philip and St. James Catholic Church in Phillipsburg and a chaplain at St. Lukes Warren Campus Hospital until his arrest on Wednesday  just two days after the victim in the case, who is now 42, came forward.

The complaints also revealed that the priest was recorded in a consensual intercept with the victim, in which he admitted sexual conduct. In a later interview with investigators, he conceded he had sex with the victim on multiple occasions, according to the affidavit that was filed in the matter.

The documents did not disclose the sex of the victim, but the state Attorney Generals office did report that it was a teenage girl.

Ganley, 63, has been charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, and two counts of sexual assault in the second degree. Currently in custody, he is scheduled to appear before a detention hearing in New Brunswick on Wednesday, according to a spokeswoman for the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office, which is handling the case.

Meanwhile, a parish meeting will be held on Wednesday night at St. Philip and St. James Catholic Church, to allow congregants to speak with Bishop James Checchio, head of the Diocese of Metuchen. In a statement last week, the bishop said the accusations were the first time the diocese had been made aware of any sexual abuse of misconduct regarding Ganley.

The diocese has said it is also contacting all the parishes and diocesan organizations where Ganley ministered to alert them of the charges.

The charges against Ganley mark the first sexual assault case brought by New Jerseys Clergy Abuse Task Force, which was created in September by state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal after a Pennsylvania grand jury was released, detailing decades of abuse by priests who preyed upon children. As part of that task force, New Jersey set up a 24-hour hotline  (855) 363-6548  to allow victims to report allegations of abuse, and that hotline has so far received more than 350 calls since September, officials said.

One of those calls came in last Monday, according to the Attorney Generals office, when the victim called to report being assaulted by Ganley.

The victim, whom Ganley met in his role as youth director supervising the CCD program, alleged having sex with the priest, and performing oral sex, on multiple occasions in New Jersey, Florida and Washington, D.C., between 1990 and 1994  when the teenager was 16 and he was 39 years old. The affidavit did not explain why the victim and the priest allegedly traveled to Florida or the nations capital, or if anyone else was with them.

Two days after the victim called the hotline, authorities disclosed that the unnamed individual agreed to record Ganley, apparently by phone. The complaint said he admitted the sexual contact in that recorded intercept. Detectives then met with him, read him his Miranda Rights, and he again acknowledged he had intercourse with the teen, and that oral sex was performed, while he was a priest at St. Cecilias.

Diocesan officials said Ganley was parochial vicar at St. Cecelia from Oct. 8, 1991 until June 10, 1996, before he transferred to another parish. A parochial vicar is a priest who assists the pastor in the ministry of a parish. They said there did not seem to be any indication that the transfer it was anything but a routine move that many priests may be asked to make, based on the needs of the diocese, diocesan parishes, the needs of the priests, the population and the number of priests in a parish.

They said they were unaware of anything more about the circumstances of the allegations, than what has been released by authorities.

In a statement to parishioners at St. Philip and St. James Church last week, Bishop Checchio said he was disheartened by this accusation of, both, the sexual abuse of a minor and the abuse of power in a trusted relationship, calling such crimes morally reprehensible, shameful and criminal. He said the diocese was cooperating fully with law enforcement.

According to Ganleys bio that was recently removed from the church website, he has been a priest of the Metuchen Diocese since his ordination by then Bishop Theodore E. McCarrick at St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in 1985. McCarrick remains mired in his own scandal. The former head of the Archdiocese of Newark who later became a cardinal, was removed from public ministry in June in the wake of allegations that he had sexually abused a teenage altar boy while serving as a priest in New York 47 years ago, and has since resigned under pressure by Pope Francis.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Whats that smell?

For years, residents of Tinton Falls have been complaining about a stench coming from a garbage dump located in the south end of town. And its getting worse.

Now the foul odor is spreading into neighboring towns.

Theres been a lot more complaints recently in Ocean Township, Eatontown and Neptune, said State Senator Vin Gopal, who has organized a public meeting on the issue.

The meeting will be held Monday, Jan. 28 at 6p.m. at the Hamilton Fire House, 10 Jumping Brook Road in Neptune.

More than 100 people have already registered to attend the meeting, Gopal said Tuesday.

Affected residents who register in advance can share their concerns with officials from the county and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection who will attend, he said.

By having all the parties in the same room, Gopal said he hopes a path to resolve the odor can be laid out. Is it infrastructure thats needed or funding? he asked. If we dont do anything the problem will continue.

Residents are encouraged to report the odor by calling the state Department of Environmental Protection at 877-927-6337, or the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission at 732-493-9520. Theyre asked to provide their names, addresses and phone numbers, note the time, date and location when the odor was noticed, give a description of weather conditions and the type of the odor.

Monmouth County opened the Reclamation Center in 1976 at Asbury Avenue and Shafto Road in Tinton Falls because of the towns central location and good road network. The county pays the borough a host community fee of more than $2.4 million each year to house the garbage dump. And more than $5 million has been spent on landfill gas controls, according to the county.

Despite these efforts, the landfill has reportedly topped a list of the worst Shore air polluters, with greenhouse gas emissions nearly quadrupling between 2010 and 2014, according to the Asbury Park Press.

To share your experience at the meeting, you must RSVP by January 25 by visiting www.SenatorGopal.com and clicking on the Public Meeting tab, or emailing SenGopal@njleg.org.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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Federal agents arrested a truck driver in Morristown last Wednesday after finding roughly 44 pounds of cocaine and heroin when they stopped the tractor-trailer he was driving, according to documents filed in federal court in Newark.

The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court provides only limited information on the arrest of Alejandro Roberto Hernandez, but reveals investigators had stopped the truck as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking organization that was shipping narcotics via tractor-trailer."

Law enforcement officers conducting surveillance Wednesday stopped the truck after Hernandez engaged in what they described as counter-surveillance techniques, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent wrote in the complaint.

After Hernandez gave investigators permission to search the tractor-trailer, investigators found approximately 33 pounds of cocaine and 11 pounds of heroin packaged in a manner consistent with narcotics, the affidavit says.

Hernandez, who is represented by the Federal Public Defenders Office, made his first appearance Wednesday before Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer. Hammer ordered Hernandez  who waived his right to a preliminary hearing  remain jailed pending further proceedings, records show.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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One person was killed in a house fire Monday night in Morris County, authorities said.

The blaze broke out in a single-family home on Pickle Road in Washington Township around 10:30 p.m, a spokesman for the Morris County Prosecutors Office said Wednesday.

The cause and origin of the fire remain under investigation. The spokesman declined to say if anyone was rescued or injured, adding that additional information would be released later.

The identity of the victim has also not been released.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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The man accused of strangling his childhood friend during a robbery and then dumping her body off a Jersey Shore bridge in 2016 thought he was going to get $100,000 but actually only got around $9,000, an admitted accomplice testified Wednesday.

Liam McAtasney, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Sarah Stern, was with Stern when she found a shoebox full of cash with a note from her deceased mother at her familys second home in Avon-by-the Sea, according to testimony from Preston Taylor, who has pleaded guilty to helping toss Sterns body off the Route 35 bridge in Belmar.

Taylor, who wore a blue suit and a blue tie, was the first witness called by the state in McAtasneys trial before Judge Richard English in Monmouth County Superior Court. McAtasney, 21, of Neptune City, is also charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, disturbing human remains, conspiracy to disturb human remains, hindering apprehension and tampering with evidence.

After Stern and McAtasney found the money, Taylor said he was told by McAtasney that there was about $100,000 in the shoebox.

At first we started discussing the fact that it was a lot of money, what we would do if we had that type of money, Taylor said. And then the conversation evolved into, Well, what if we did have that type of money,' specifically her money. That was when the idea to rob her came about."

McAtasney, in a later conversation at the bar where Taylor worked at, then made a shocking statement, according to the latters testimony: It was the type of money that someone would kill for."

This is when the plan to seek Sarahs newfound fortune started to take shape, Taylor testified.

Taylor revealed Wednesday that before Stern was killed, the two hatched a plan to try and get Stern drunk at her Neptune City home one night and steal the money. McAtasney went to Sterns house with Mikes Hard Lemonade but he learned that Sarah had already deposited the money in the bank, Taylor said. McAtasney, speaking through a walkie-talkie to Taylor to avoid using their cellphones, told him Sarah didnt have the money but to come by anyway, Taylor said.

With the money in the bank, the two men needed to prompt Stern to withdraw the cash, Taylor said. Sarah, an aspiring artist who had traveled to digital media conventions in Canada, often talked about wanting to move there, Taylor said.

Liam saw that as an opportunity to convince her to take the money out of the bank, count the money and start discussing taking a trip, Taylor said.

McAtasney went with Stern to the bank on Dec. 2, 2016, where she withdrew money, authorities have said. The two went back to Sterns home and McAtasney strangled her and stole the money, according to authorities. Taylor testified that the two made away with a little more than $9,000 in cash, recovered from a safe that was buried in Sandy Hook. Taylor led authorities to the safe.

Earlier on Wednesday, assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Meghan Doyle said McAtasney laughed about killing Stern in a recorded conversation with a friend, Anthony Curry, who was working with investigators.

He laughed and said, I thought I was going to get about $100,000 and got $8,000," McAtasney allegedly told Curry, according to Doyle. "He laughed as he said, I dont even feel any different. ... Its the reality of Sarahs last days, as directed and acted out by this defendant.

That taped confession is expected to be played during McAtasneys trial, which could take as long as six weeks.

Doyle said McAtasney first pitched Curry, an experienced horror filmmaker, his idea of killing Stern on Thanksgiving night in 2016. Curry realized it came to fruition after he read about Sterns disappearance on Facebook, Doyle said.

It wasnt a movie. It wasnt a joke, Doyle said. It was actually what he planned to do.

McAtasneys attorney, Carlos Diaz-Cobo, said his client made up the entire story because he was trying to impress Curry.

The statement to Anthony Curry is not a confession, Diaz-Cobo said. Its an elaborate lie, its an audition. Its a script. Its not true. ... A young, immature boy decided he was going to use this unfortunate disappearance and make up this story."

In his opening statement that his client is innocent, Diaz-Cobo said the jury will hear from a witness who claims to have saw Stern after it was reported that she was went missing.

Sterns death grabbed national attention after authorities charged McAtasney and Taylor, her two high school friends, with her murder two months after she went missing.

Police found Sterns 1994 Oldsmobile abandoned on the Route 35 bridge in Belmar early on Dec. 3, 2016. Her body has never been found.

After McAtasney strangled Stern at her home, authorities say, he instructed his roommate and Sarahs junior prom date, Taylor, to remove the body from the house so Sarahs family wouldnt find it. Taylor has already admitted his role in the case and will get between 10 to 20 years in state prison in exchange for his testimony against McAtasney.

Taylor described in grisly detail on Wednesday how he found Sarahs lifeless, pale body slumped over the toilet in the bathroom. He said that McAtasney told him Stern took a while to stop breathing and that she said his names several times during the killing.

Taylor said he dragged Stern out of the house and hid the body in some bushes in the backyard. He said he was supposed to place Sterns body in her car, but he was unable to unlock the door and decided to leave the body in the backyard.

Later that day, when McAtasney finished work at a nearby steakhouse, the two returned to Sterns home, got the body in her car and then drove to the Route 35 bridge in Belmar where they dumped it into the Shark River inlet when there wasnt any traffic, Taylor said. They left her car with the keys inside to make it appear as if she had committed suicide, authorities said. Taylor drove his own car to the bridge and acted as the getaway driver, authorities said.

To further thwart suspicion, McAtasney and Taylor participated in a search party weeks later that scoured several beach towns for clues in Sterns disappearance, Taylor said. McAtasney even recorded an interview with a local TV news station.

Taylor said he opted not to talk to the press because he though it was a pretty stupid idea.

Diaz-Cobo will get to cross-examine Taylor, the states star witness, on Thursday.

McAtasneys mother and twin brother sat in the third row of the standing-room only courtroom. On the other side, in the second row, sat Michael Stern, Sarahs father, and several of Sarahs cousins. Reporters and producers from local and national news outlets also were in the courtroom.

At one point, assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Decker asked Taylor if Stern was off the grid living a life elsewhere.

No, he responded.

That point was emphasized by Doyle in her opening argument.

Sarah Stern will not be walking through those doors into this courtroom at any point, Doyle said. She will never send her father another text. She will never hug him or tell him she loves him. Her friends and family will never get to enjoy her company -- her smile, her laugh. ... Its because this defendant murdered her and set into action a course of events that ensured her body would never be found.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Local music fans know Malcolm Marsden from the Sensational Country Blues Wonders and the Bottomless Mimosas, two popular acts that entertain with a mix of mostly covers and a few originals, focusing on old-timey country-western and bluesy lounge music.

Marsden will unveil another side of his musical personality on Friday, Jan. 25, when he takes the stage at Jersey City's FM with the Neithernors, a band that specifically showcases his songwriting. It's neither country nor lounge, but a style that Marsden describes as "a two-guitar celebration of noise and nerve" celebrating the sounds of Hoboken and the Lower East Side in the edgy early '80s.



"It sounds to me like I picked up where I left off when I stopped playing music back in the '80s," Marsden said. "Back then, I was pursuing on a fairly serious basis, and those ideas just stick with you, even though time has passed."

Also on Friday, the Neithernors will release their debut album, "Pleasant Valley Fun House," which will be available for download on their Bandcamp page.

"We wrote and rehearsed these songs in a rented house on Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange," Marsden said, "and we had a lot of fun doing it, so the name seemed appropriate."

Marsden's compatriots in the Neithernors include Carrie Cantor on guitar and vocals, Richard Pasquini on vocals and bass, and Brett Vallone on drums, all veterans of the local band scene.

"I was talking to my friend Tom Lucas, who recorded us, and he said that we sound like the music from the Lower East Side made by smart people," Marsden said. "It's aggressive and it's loud."

Marsden has a long history of performing in New Jersey, Manhattan, and Connecticut, but his origins are quiet different.

"I'm an immigrant; my parents were from the U.K.," Marsden said. "I was born in Montreal and we moved around a lot when I was young, until we settled in Montville, New Jersey."

By high school, Marsden was playing in local bands.

"I dropped in and out of college a few times," he said, and found himself in New Haven during the heyday of the punk movement in the late '70s. "I had an electric guitar and I had been playing in bars and such but I hadn't really played in a band, when I saw an ad in the paper one day. It was a strange ad. It was 1978, and the ad said, 'Avant garde, you swine! Do you like the Beach Boys or the Dead Boys? The Dead Boys or Pere Ubu? Call this number.'"



Marsden had heard of the Dead Boys, who had developed a following at CBGB, although he had no idea who Cleveland avant-punks Pere Ubu were.

"But I called the number, and it turned out to be a guy named Craig Bell," he said. "He had moved to New Haven from Cleveland, and he had been the bass player in Rocket From The Tombs, and was starting his own band.



"Craig said, 'Go home and write some songs, we're going to play all originals and we're going to make our own record,' and I looked at him and said, 'Can you do that?' Remember, this was 1978. And Craig just said, 'Hell yeah,' and he played me all this stuff that bands were putting out on their own labels in Cleveland, and it just blew my mind."



That band, called Saucers, recruited a young keyboard player named Malcolm Doak, who would go on to play with Lou Reed.

"He was incredible. He was customizing keyboards for Rick Wakeman at 18 years old, and later worked with Lou Reed," Marsden said.

Other Saucer members included Mark Mulcahy, who later founded Miracle Legion, and Seth Tiven, who went on to form Dumptruck.



"I'm the underachiever of the group," Marsden laughed. "But that was an amazing experience. Six months after we started the band, we were playing at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City. Cheetah Chrome came to town and we opened for him, and we opened for John Cale (of the Velvet Underground). It was a life-changing experience and, of course, I was hooked. I decided I wanted to be in the music business and I moved to New York in 1980."

But life had other ideas, and a series of personal challenges forced Marsden to abandon music for decades.





"It was funny, I got the itch to play out again and I started going to open mics and getting back into it, living in Maplewood and South Orange, and suddenly the old Hoboken scene started coming out to me," he said. "I remember seeing Glenn Mercer of the Feelies play in Montclair and thought, 'Wow, this is awesome.' I lived in Paterson as a kid and, of course, I had heard of the Feelies and I knew there was something going on in nearby Haledon, but I was too shy to do anything about it. And now all these years later, there he was. It's a small world and it was pretty cool. Here we all were reigniting our careers after our kids had grown up."



At that point, Marsden had sold his family business and he needed something to do, so he started exploring the open mic scene, first in Montclair and then in Jersey City and Hoboken.

"It was a way to get out and meet people in an unconventional way," he said.

And that's how he met Gary Van Miert.



"I was at an open mic at Dorian's Red Hand in Manhattan and Gary showed up with a guitar player, and I thought, 'These guys are pretty good,'" Marsden said. "And then the next time I saw Gary, his guitar player wasn't there because he had quit, and I thought, 'Gary's better without that guy.' So I walked up to him and said I liked what he was doing, and we had a conversation where we talked about how much we both liked Sister Rosetta Tharpe."



A bond quickly formed, and the Sensational Country Blues Wonders followed.

"We didn't even practice, we just took our gear and our guitars and went to an open mic and started playing these songs we both knew," Marsden said. "It was electric, and so much fun. To this day, I don't think we've ever practiced in the last six years. It's just second nature when we play together."

If you go ...



The Neithernors will perform at FM Bar & Lounge, 340 Third St., Jersey City, on Friday, Jan. 25, with the Lili Vakili Band, Quiz Show and The Schwam. Showtime is 8 p.m.; admission is $8.
JERSEY CITY  A Jersey City man who alleged in court that he was attacked by police and falsely arrested as he walked home in 2013 has settled his dispute with the city for $70,000.

Jarrett Blair, who was 19 at the time of the incident, alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court in 2015 that cops hit him in the face with a baton, pulled him by his hair so hard they ripped dreadlocks out of his head and then refused to seek medical attention for him as he sat in a jail cell.

The council is expected to approve the $70,000 settlement at its Thursday meeting.

Although the settlement does not take into account any wrongdoing against the Jersey City police officers it does provide some closure for both Mr. Blair and his family, said Blairs attorney, Brooke Barnett. Moreover, I hope that it sends a message to the Jersey City Police Department, that (its) citizens of Hudson County will not be silenced and they will do whatever they can within the confines of the law.

The accusations in Blairs case are brutal.

He alleged he was walking with friends on Culver Avenue toward his home in January 2013 when police approached them. The cops were responding to a report of a large group of people fighting in the street.

Officers attacked some of the men when one of Blairs friends said they were walking home, the lawsuit says, and the matter escalated when Blair told the cops they were abusing their authority.

One cop, Concepcion Minervini, hit Blair in his leg with a baton, then another, George Graham, pushed him from behind and struck him in the face with his baton, Blair alleged. Graham picked Blair up off the ground and then threw him down again, then Minervini dragged him by his dreadlocks with such force that she ripped several from his head, the lawsuit says. Both officers were named as defendants.

Blair was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and aggravated assault. All the charges were later dropped.

The lawsuit also named the city as a defendant, saying there is a "pervasive and systemic" pattern of excessive force by Jersey City police.

City officials told NJ Advance Media last year that officers may not have reported every time they used force. Jersey City cops reporting using force 1,150 times between 2012 and 2016. Newarks total was 2,568 and Patersons was 1,869.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY  The New Jersey Supreme Court last week declined to weigh in on a lower courts ruling that requires Jersey City to repay $2 million to the developer behind a failed tower project in Journal Square.

An appellate panel in August ruled that it was grossly unfair for the city to take the $2 million  a prepayment of the payments-in-lieu-of-taxes the developer planned to owe the city  and it need to be given back. New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said on Jan. 14 the decision would not be reviewed by the states highest court.

The developer, Multi-Employer Property Trust, never constructed the project, planned for a property adjacent to the Journal Square PATH hub that was later purchased by Kushner Companies and KABR Group. Those developers have their own tower project that is also stalled.

MEPT declined to comment. A request for comment from Jersey City was not immediately returned.

The MEPT project was a two-tower plan that received 30-year tax breaks from the city in 2009. The city asked for $2 million upfront to help close a budget shortfall. MEPT asked for the money back when the project fell apart.

The appellate panel ruled last year that state law does not permit cities to require prepayment of PILOTs in exchange for abatements.

MEPT also sought a return of $710,769 it contributed to the citys affordable housing trust fund. The appellate panel ruled that state law allows municipalities to condition the awarding of tax abatements on contributions to housing trust funds.

The property in question remains vacant as Kushner Companies  run by the family of Jared Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law and adviser  and KABR Group allege in federal court that Jersey City and Mayor Steve Fulop put a stop to the project because of Fulops animus toward Trump. Fulop has denied that charge.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
Nearly 40,000 old Jersey City Municipal Court warrants for minor offenses have been wiped off the books by order of the New Jersey Supreme Court  likely without the wanted people even knowing their good fortune.

Clearing this decades-old backlog will allow judges and prosecutors to focus on current caseloads and provide more meaningful interactions between the public and our states municipal courts, Jersey City Municipal Court Prosecutor Jake Hudnut said Tuesday.

The 39,221 warrants have already been deleted from the courts records by the Administrative Office of the Courts in Trenton by order of Chief Justice Stuart Rabner.

Rabners order issued Thursday dismissed nearly 800,000 unresolved municipal court matters statewide dating before Jan. 1, 2003. Those complaints on minor municipal court matters had resulted in arrest warrants because defendants failed to appear in court. Most of the dismissed cases are from 1986 to 2003.

Hudnut said there is no plan to inform the defendants that their cases have been dismissed. He said there are a number of reasons the cases were unresolved, including address changes, out of state residency and deaths.

The prosecutor said the dismissals do not include criminal charges, DWIs or any of New Jerseys more serious traffic offenses.

The dismissed cases and warrants include parking violations; motor vehicle offenses (such as going through a stop sign, improper passing, general motor vehicle equipment violations, certain speeding offenses, and running a red light); local ordinance violations; fish and game violations and penalty enforcement actions such as unpaid fines.

Bayonne Law Department Director John Jay Coffey II said hes glad the state Supreme Court recognized the longstanding issue of old warrants and charges related to the most minor motor vehicle violations and ordinance violations.

Coffey said most of the dismissals in Bayonne Municipal Court are related to parking tickets, parking meter violations and street sweeper tickets.

Coffey also said the city does not plan to notify those whose warrants have been dismissed.

If we knew where they were, we would have executed the warrants, Coffey said.
A Jersey City police officer previously accused of using his authority to resolve personal conflicts is the subject of a new lawsuit that alleges he arrested his neighbor on fabricated charges at the mans own engagement party.

The lawsuit accuses police Lt. Keith Armstrong of arresting Gerald Guillaume in 2017 after the officer became fed up with the party next door. In the incident, which was caught on video, Guillaume was charged with assault on an officer, resisting arrest and failure to disperse, and lost his job as a result of the arrest, according to the lawsuit.

Mr. (Gerald) Guillaume is yet another victim of Officer Armstrongs decades-long pattern of abusing peoples rights, said attorney Joel Silberman, who filed the suit against Armstrong and a second officer, Keith. Sampson. "Mr. Guillaume and the citizens of Jersey City should not have to fear rogue officers like Armstrong.

The lawsuit asserts that 28 complaints were filed against Armstrong between 1996 and 2006, most of which came from neighbors claiming he targeted them for minor infractions in the neighborhood. Last year, the city settled a separate lawsuit for $7,500 that accused Armstrong of manhandling a couple and arresting them following a road-rage incident.

Armstrong could not be reached for comment on the allegations contained in the new lawsuit. Jersey City spokesman did not return a request for comment.

The new lawsuit revolves around the May 28, 2017 engagement party in the area of Garfield Avenue and Eastern Parkway. Armstrong stopped in at the party, ate and had a couple of drinks. But as the day wore on, he became fed up with the gathering, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the complaint, Armstrong cursed at some children when they strayed from the party onto his driveway. He called police to complain about parking by party-goers and again to have the music turned off, the lawsuit states.

The third time Armstrong called members of his police department he was hell-bent to assert his authority and have Plaintiff arrested, the suit alleges.

A cellphone video from the incident shows Guillaume speaking with Armstrong in the street while surrounded by police and onlookers. Hes eventually led away in handcuffs, but no violence transpires during the two-minute video.

In an effort to support these charges, Armstrong authored a whimsical police report," the lawsuit continues. "Fortunately, cellphone footage captured plaintiffs interaction with Armstrong which unequivocally demonstrates the utter dishonesty contained in the charges.

Silberman said that after nearly two years, an internal affairs investigation into the matter is still not complete. He said the charges were immediately downgraded, but are still pending and have cost his client the job he was about to start as a state investigator of claims of abuse against the disabled. The official disposition of the case was not available Tuesday.

The five-count lawsuit demands a jury trial and seeks attorney fees, costs and compensation for damages, which include the plaintiffs arrest as his family looked on. Guillaumes fiancee filed a complaint with the police department shortly after the arrest.

When Armstrong filed a lawsuit against the city in 2008 alleging racial discrimination, the city used his own record of misdeeds toward his neighbors to defend itself against the allegations in the lawsuit that was eventually dismissed, the suit says.

It defies logic that Jersey City can argue Officer Armstrongs incompetence as an officer to a judge while at the same time allow him to terrorize those he swore to protect, Silberman said. It is about time Jersey City took appropriate action."

The lawsuit also lists the city and police department as defendants.
The 24-year-old felon wanted for shooting two men in Jersey Citys Newport Centre Mall food court this month was arrested Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

A spokeswoman for Jersey City said Ahmad Broadway was taken into custody at 4 p.m. and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, weapons offenses related to a gun, and causing the risk of widespread injury for the Jan. 11 shooting at the Downtown Jersey City mall.

Two men who were wounded when the gunfire erupted after a fistfight have since been discharged from the hospital. Five days after the shooting, the Jersey City Police Department released Broadways mugshot and sought the publics help in locating him.

One of the men who was wounded in the 6 p.m. shooting  Jalil Holmes, 19  was released from the hospital and taken into the police custody on charges he shot two people on Grant Avenue on Jan. 9. The lunchtime shooting resulted in three schools being locked down.

Holmes is charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of aggravated assault and weapons offenses that include possession of a firearm by a felon. He was also charged with rioting in connection to the mall incident.

The state has moved to detain Holmes through the course of his prosecution and a detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday but was pushed back to Thursday. He remains at the Hudson County jail in Kearny.

Broadway was in prison from June 27, 2014 to Jan. 17, 2018 and again from Jan. 26, 2018 to March 9, 2018 for two handgun-related convictions and a parole violation, state corrections records indicate.

The gunfire in the mall sent evening shoppers fleeing for their lives, while some remained trapped inside stores as police searched for the shooter.

A source familiar with the investigations said recent gun violence in Jersey City appears to be based on a beef between rival gangs from different areas of the city.
Prosecutors have charged a Union man with child endangerment in the suspicious death of a 7-year-old boy in Newark, authorities said Tuesday.

Detectives from the Essex County Prosecutors Office arrested Mark Harper on Monday evening, less than a day after Aydin Brown was pronounced dead at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, authorities said. Harper, 36, remains jailed at the Essex County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing in state Superior Court in Newark, according to the prosecutors office.

It was not immediately clear whether Harper had an attorney who could comment on the criminal allegations.

While the circumstances of Browns death remain under investigation, the prosecutors office said Harper  his mothers boyfriend  was caring for the University Charter School second-grader before Brown was rushed to the hospital Monday morning.

Newark police officers, responding to a report of a sick or injured child, found Brown unresponsive in a home in the 100 block of Weequahic Avenue around 8 a.m., authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital just over an hour later.

Investigators said the cause and manner of Browns death will be determined by an autopsy at the Northern Regional Medical Examiners Office.

The prosecutors office has urged anyone with information about the case, which is being handled by the county Homicide Task Force, to call the offices tip line at 877-847-7432.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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China has no wish to be the United States' enemy and it would be unwise and wrong for the U.S. to antagonize a country that shares extensive common interests, a Chinese media expert said at an international symposium commemorating the 40th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-U.S. diplomatic ties at the Carter Center in Atlanta, the United States, on Jan. 18.

Zhou Mingwei, former president of the Beijing-based China International Publishing Group (CIPG), the largest foreign language publishing house in China, said despite disagreement and problems, the world's two largest economies should recognize the importance of a coordinated, cooperative and stable bilateral relationship to both and the world. The two countries should observe their relationship in the context of an era with "profound and unprecedented changes" and with a sense of historical responsibilities.

The world has seen the rise of emerging economies, new challenges in global governance and an anti-globalization movement. Non-traditional security issues are increasing and new technologies are exerting a profound impact on the international community.

"Among all these changes, the biggest are the incredible changes that have happened in China--a country with one fifth of the world's population--and their impact on the world," Zhou said. "Alongside these are the changes in the relationship between China and the U.S., the most important and complicated bilateral relationship in the world."

At the moment, there is negative sentiment on both sides and instead of a strategic partnership, there is constant talk of a trade war, with China positioned as the main strategic opponent of the U.S. "China has no wish to be America's enemy, and no policy that treats China as an enemy is in line with America's interests. It would be unwise and wrong to antagonize a major country with a population of 1.4 billion and a rising economy that shares extensive common interests," Zhou said.

China and the U.S. will have extensive common interests and vast space for cooperation in the next 40 years and wield great influence, he said. "The Sino-U.S. relationship extends beyond its bilateral impact. If China is sound, the U.S. is sound, and vice versa, and if they are on good terms, the whole world will benefit. Confrontations triggered by arbitrary or irresponsible actions on the part of either side will be a disaster for both countries and for the world."

Need for new framework

Zhou quoted a popular Chinese saying: "At the age of 40, one has no doubts about the world." But as the Sino-U.S. relationship turns 40, "we find ourselves beset by so many doubts and questions we never had before," he said. "We should fully recognize the importance of Sino-U.S. relations in the new era. (It) is not (the) standard bilateral relationship, but a strategic one."

The relations now stand at a new historical starting point and both countries need to jointly work out a new framework for the next 40 years, Zhou said. He suggested both view each other's strategic intentions rationally and objectively, intensify strategic communication, extend strategic mutual trust, and avoid strategic misjudgments.

The U.S. should objectively view China's development, which is based on its own logic and doesn't aim to surpass or overwhelm any other country, and take an objective view of the desire of the Chinese to develop their economy for a better life. China should make it clear that its strategic goal is to succeed in its own development rather than challenge anyone, he said.

"How China and the U.S. assess each other's strategic intentions will directly influence the policies they adopt and the type of relationship they develop. We cannot afford any mistakes on this fundamental issue," he emphasized.

Since China and the U.S. are two major countries with different cultural traditions and different stages of development, disagreements and frictions are inevitable at times, but accusations and antagonism can't resolve any issues but only make things worse. The key is in the attitude toward the differences and disagreements and how the problems are dealt with, he pointed out. How to work cooperatively while recognizing mutual divergences and differences is one of the key requirements of Sino-U.S. cooperation under the new framework. In the end, the two countries need to make rational choices and create positive trends. To minimize the negatives and maximize the positives is not a methodology, but also the mentality and principle of win-win solutions, Zhou said.

The bilateral relations could easily go astray if not handled properly. However, the common interests far outweigh differences and cooperation is the only choice that makes sense. Both countries should adopt a strategic and long-term perspective and jointly explore a path of co-evolution, he said.

Zhou said neither China nor the U.S. has sufficient experience in dealing with each other as the top two economies. Moreover, the U.S. has never worked with a country with such a large population and rapid growth momentum. So, prejudice, conflicts of interest, and the influence of "politically correct" populism could easily lead to "zero-sum" thinking. The two countries should respect, adapt to and promote each other, combat risks, pursue interests, and achieve co-evolution. This is the way to avoid provocation and misjudgment, effectively curb hostility, fear and mistrust, and prevent zero-sum conflicts and confrontations. It is a long and hard learning process and the key lies in whether these two major countries can co-exist and co-develop in the new era, go beyond the traditional thinking that if one wins, the other loses, and join hands for the greater good.

Historical responsibilities required

Admittedly, China and the U.S. are facing many disagreements and issues. Both sides might be dissatisfied and uncomfortable with and distrust each other. However, they should look at the future of their relations in a spirit of philosophical thinking and with a sense of historical responsibilities.

History is enlightening, Zhou said. When Chairman Mao Zedong met with President Richard Nixon in 1972, they had many issues to discuss and resolve. To Nixon's surprise, Chairman Mao did not mention a word about the issues and problems that beset the normalization. Instead, they discussed human history, the universe, and philosophy. "The philosophical issues they talked about concerned the direction of human society, their world outlook, and long-term development--not only logic, but also dialectics," he said.

"We have reasons to negotiate the balance of trade, and to talk about fairness, interests, and many other issues," Zhou said. But the experience from the past 40 years shows that "if both countries can stand high and look far, and see the actual interests and confrontations through not only logic but also dialectic eyes, we might not be beset by immediate interests and reverse the trend."

"When building our relationship, we need to listen carefully to the voices and wishes of the ordinary (Chinese and American) people," he said.

There is no predetermined outcome. Any result must come from the interactions between the two. Common interests do not pop out of thin air but are formed through careful contact and cooperation. Zhou urged both sides to give up "conspiracy theories" and "imaginary enemies" and make fewer accusations and raise fewer objections. Instead, the two countries should be more honest with each other, stand in each other's shoes, be patient with each other, and make each other feel comfortable, he said, adding they need constructive criticism and must avoid taking any extreme position.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi on Wednesday said she will object the city's inclusion in the new autonomous region as a result of the historic Bangsamoro plebiscite.

A total of 36,682 or 59 percent of residents voted "yes," while 24,994 voted "no" for the city to become part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Guiani-Sayadi said the election result does not reflect the desire of the people of Cotabato City because it has been marred by violence and irregularities.

"May violence, sobrang massive disenfranchisement ng voters, we even caught teachers writing 'yes' doon sa balota ng mga botante. Maraming violation kaming ma-cite. Pero ang pinaka grabe po, libo-libong outsiders ang nasa polling precincts," she told CNN Philippines.

[Translation: There was violence. There was massive disenfranchisement of voters. Some teachers were even caught writing 'yes' on the ballots against the will of the voters. We can cite a lot of violations, but the worst is the thousands of outsiders who were in the polling precincts.]

She added the breakdown of votes is "statistically impossible" considering the city has voted twice against its inclusion in the Muslim autonomous region.

The mayor is set to file the protest before the Commission on Elections. She said she will take the proper course despite the close ties of poll body chairman Sheriff Abas to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

"Whatever is the result, importanteng malaman ng tao, ng buong bansa na hindi iyan reflective ng tunay na nangyari dito," she said.

[Translation: The world needs to find out that the result is not reflective of the true desire of Cotabato. We will pursue the protest regardless of the result.]

Cotabato City-- along with Isabela City in Basilan and other areas in the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)-- took part in the first Bangsamoro referendum on Monday.

Related: Cotabato City Mayor wants Comelec Chair to inhibit from Bangsamoro plebiscite

The plebiscite would determine the areas to be covered by the BARMM, once the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) is officially ratified.

The Comelec en banc, acting as the National Plebiscite Board of Canvassers, has yet to commence the official counting of Bangsamoro votes.

Comelec earlier said it has rescheduled the canvassing, as it has yet to receive a single certificate of canvass from the plebiscite areas.

Working together

Meanwhile, Malacanang on Wednesday said all stakeholders in the region should "work together" in order to attain the "common aspiration" of the Bangsamoro people.

"Those who are against the BOL must yield to the rule of the majority," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

View image on Twitter

"All the major players, pro and con, must now come together and work together for the success of the common aspiration of the Bangsamoro people, which is to have a progressive and peaceful Mindanao."

The Palace added claims of fraud and irregularities are not new during election period.

"If they do not affect the credibility of the elections and alter the result thereof, while those responsible for the undemocratic methods will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, the result of the plebiscite must be upheld despite discordant voices," the statement read.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)  Authorities say an inmate who escaped a Delaware corrections center on Christmas Day has been found in New Jersey.

Delawares Department of Correction announced Tuesday that 31-year-old David Succarote was arrested on Jan. 15 by police in Montclair. He has been extradited and was committed to the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on an escape after conviction warrant.

Officials said last month that Succarote went over the Plummer Community Corrections Center fence and fled. The center manages inmates transitioning back into the community and they can work, seek jobs or attend treatment sessions.

Department spokeswoman Jamie Young said Succarote, who was serving time for a probation violation and due to be released next summer, had escaped previously.
One evening in 1996, a large display of books by an author I'd never heard of caught my eye as I passed a Georgetown bookstore. The author was David Baldacci and the book was "Absolute Power." I walked in, read the book jacket's synopsis and bought it. Back at my hotel, I climbed into bed and was hooked after the first few pages. Baldacci's debut novel kept me awake half the night. I'm still a fan.

I had the same reaction when I picked up Matthew Quirk's "The Night Agent" (William Morrow, 432 pp., $26.99). I don't know why I haven't bumped into him before, as he's written a number of thrillers. Now that I have, I'll seek out his others.

FBI Agent Peter Sutherland is on overnight desk duty at the White House. Sutherland has always performed flawlessly, but promotions have eluded him. He's permanently tainted by his late father's reputation as a traitor to agency and country. So having been approached by the chief of staff to monitor the emergency line at least seems like a step forward.

Peter's job is to immediately direct any calls he receives to Diane Farr, the president's chief of staff, or James Hawkins, the president's in-house counterintelligence advisor. But in 10 months the phone has rung only once.

One night, the phone rings at 1:05 A.M. Peter picks it up to hear the voice of a frantic young woman who tells him two people have been murdered and the killer may still be in the house. She provides the code she says one of the victims gave her, Peter knows the victims are national security employees. He keeps the frightened Rose on the line while conveying the information to Farr. With that, his job is technically completed.

But Peter stops by the address on his way home, where he encounters Rose outside. She's in shock and still terrified. He tells her to phone him if she ever feels unsafe.

This is the first time Peter ever has departed from the rules of his job. It won't be the last.

Farr is annoyed when Peter asks what will happen to Rose; even discussing the subject is beyond his security clearance level. Farr assures him Rose will be protected. But when Rose phones a day later to say there is no one outside her hotel door, Peter instinctively knows her security protection has been withdrawn.

Peter attempts to follow his job routine while surreptitiously protecting Rose. But there's no doubt Rose is being hunted - and very soon Peter is, as well.

While faced with trying to determine who among his superiors is trustworthy, he learns there is a Russian mole in the White House. This dramatically escalates his concern. America's democracy is in jeopardy.

The story's page-turning thread is the building tension throughout Peter and Rose's efforts to elude their determined executioners, each near miss ratcheting up the burgeoning breadth of corruption at the top levels of government.

Best to start this at the beginning of a weekend, as you'll be burning the midnight oil til you're finished.

For a relatively more relaxing read, N.D. Galland's familiarity with Martha's Vineyard enriches her new novel, "On the Same Page" (William Morrow Paperbacks, 305 pp., $15.99). As a resident of the small island off the coast of Mass., the author is intimately familiar with the coastline, the intrinsic character of each town, the distinct personalities and attitudes of and the differences between its two property-owning populations (those with summer homes and those who live there year-round), the priorities of each population and, most pertinent here, the unique style and character of each of the newspapers that serve the island. The latter is the focus of her new novel.

Johanna Howes, who grew up on the Vineyard, moved to New York and became a journalist. It's been a long time since the island had any hold on her. But return she must when her elderly Uncle Hank, a widower, falls off his roof and breaks his leg.

Johanna leaves her boyfriend in the city (frankly, a bit relieved it will buy her some time to decide whether to move in with him) and returns to the island for a couple of weeks to help Hank get back on his feet. But Hank's injury is more incapacitating than she realized, along with other health concerns he can't manage by himself, so she settles in for a longer stay.

Knowing she'll lose her apartment if she doesn't come up with the monthly rent, she gets a freelance job from Hank's longtime friend Everett the Journal to write up short bits for the paper and its website. When she realizes the pay won't be sufficient to stay afloat (island salaries aren't comparable to New York's), she enlists the help of a former English teacher now working at the Newes to persuade the publisher to allow her freelance for that paper under the pen name she used when she wrote restaurant reviews in high school.

The Newes is "an old-fashioned broadsheet ... the sort of paper an Eddwardian butler would iron for his master before serving it at breakfast." The Journal is a scrappy tabloid with large-type headlines launched years earlier by a group of Newes defectors. There is more than a healthy rivalry between the two publications, and keeping up the ruse is critical to Johanna keeping both jobs.

But an assignment to cover a hot issue on the island turns into a regular gig, and both papers want her to cover the story. Covering the same story for both papers might not seem to be a problem, as the respective stories will appear under different bylines. But the issue is heated enough that the town board and attendees, all of whom are known to one another, quickly notice that the only reporter covering the story for the local press is Johanna.

There's also a developing romance here - and it isn't the one Johanna left on hold in Manhattan.

You don't need to be familiar with the island to enjoy Galland's appealing story, but it will have unique appeal for readers who are.

Fran Wood, retired Star-Ledger op-ed columnist and former books editor, blogs at nj.com.
Thought James Gandolfini would have no part in the Sopranos prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark?

Think again. Michael Gandolfini, the late actors own son, has been cast to play a young Tony Soprano in the film, Deadline reports.

Gandolfini, 19, previously appeared in HBOs The Deuce" as Joey Dwyer. His mother is Gandolfinis first wife, Marcy Wudarski. James Gandolfini died in 2013.

Its a profound honor to continue my dads legacy while stepping into the shoes of a young Tony Soprano, Gandolfini said in a statement to Deadline. Im thrilled that Im going to have the opportunity to work with David Chase and the incredible company of talent he has assembled for The Many Saints of Newark.

The report says it didnt hurt the younger Gandolfinis chances that he bears a striking resemblance to his father. The actor, who also had a small role as a busboy in the 2018 film Oceans 8, joins several other actors in the cast, including Alessandro Nivola, who will play Tonys mentor Dickie/Dickey Moltisanti (Christopher Moltisantis father), along with Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy Magnussen and Corey Stoll. It is not yet known what parts those actors will be playing.

The Many Saints of Newark," which is forthcoming from New Line, has a script co-written by Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, and Lawrence Konner. The film will be directed by Sopranos" veteran Alan Taylor. The story is set in the 1960s, during the Newark riots.

As with flashbacks during the TV series, the younger Tony Soprano may be seen at various ages in the film, meaning more than one actor could play him, but the rest of the cast is yet to be announced.

Michael Gandolfini recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Sopranos at a cast reunion in New York, mingling with his fathers on-screen family, Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

Robert Iler, at left, with Michael Gandolfini and Jamie-Lynn Sigler at a 20th anniversary panel discussion for "The Sopranos" on Jan. 9 in New York.Getty Images

Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
Authorities seized high-capacity firearms and arrested a Virginia man on weapons trafficking charges following an undercover operation that spanned several months, the Gloucester County Prosecutors Office announced Wednesday.

Shawn Archie, 45, of South Hill, Virginia, was arrested on Tuesday in Deptford Township on charges that he planned to sell several firearms to an undercover officer. He was arrested without incident, along with his wife and adult son.

A search of their 2017 Chevrolet Impala turned up several additional firearms, including a 9mm carbine, 10mm carbine, an AR-15 assault rifle and a 9mm handgun, prosecutors said.

Also seized were four 30-round AR-15 high-capacity magazines, a 40-round AR-15 magazine, several high-capacity handgun magazines and ammunition.

The investigation focused on the illegal transport and sale of firearms between Virginia, North Carolina and Gloucester County, county prosecutor Charles Fiore said.

This wasnt Archies first trip to New Jersey.

He also traveled to New Jersey in the fall and sold tactical rifles and shotguns to an undercover officer.

In all, investigators recovered seven firearms throughout the operation, including two tactical AR-15 shotguns and an AR-15 rifle with a high-capacity magazine, authorities said.

Archie was lodged in Salem County Correctional Facility on various weapons offenses, including transporting weapons into state for unlawful sale, unlawful possession of an assault firearm, unlawful possession without identification and certain persons not to have weapons.

Archies wife, Tara Simmons-Archie, 45, and son, Shawn Archie Jr., 21, were charged with lesser offenses and released pending court. The details of their charges were not immediately available.

South Hill, Virginia is a town of about 4,500 people in central, southern Virginia off U.S. Route 1, about 15 miles from the North Carolina border
Johnny Bobbitt, the once-homeless man at the center of a viral fundraising campaign that ended in criminal charges, is heading to New Jersey for court again.

Bobbitt was arrested in Philadelphia earlier this month after failing to appear for a court hearing in New Jersey on potential violations of his probation.

At that hearing, a judge would have reviewed his compliance with terms of release including seeking employment, getting drug treatment and attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Judge Mark Tarantino issued a bench warrant for Bobbitt following the no-show.

Bobbitt appeared in court in Philadelphia Tuesday for the extradition proceedings. A public defender warned him if he failed to appear again, hed be right back in court.

Bobbitt was first extradited to New Jersey in December, when a municipal drug matter in Philadelphia was cleared up. That allowed him to head across the river to Burlington County for a detention hearing on the GoFundMe-related theft charges.

Also charged in the alleged scam are Kate McClure and Mark DAmico, a former couple who lived in Florence. The GoFundMe account was purportedly to aid Bobbitt, a homeless military veteran after they said he gave McClure his last $20 one night in Philadelphia, when he car ran out of gas.

But the scheme quickly unraveled as money poured in, and the three began fighting over it. Prosecutors say trio made up the whole story, and conspired to split the $400,000 in proceeds.

Donors to the campaign have since been refunded.

This article contains information from The Associated Press.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@JBrandt_NJ. FindNJ.com on Facebook.

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HARTFORD  They want to create a statewide LGBTQ network, hope to increase access to HIV prevention medication and are pushing to ban gay and transgender panic as a criminal defense.

The states only openly gay lawmakers, Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan, D-Bethel, and Rep. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford, are fighting for new legislation to help LGBTQ individuals in Connecticut. They filed three bills addressing these issues Friday.

These are three things we can champion and get across the finish line, hopefully, Allie-Brennan said Tuesday. They are important and affect different communities, each one of them.

About 100,000 LGBT individuals live in Connecticut, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think-tank focusing on LGBT issues. Thats approximately 3.5 percent of the states adult population.

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Currey said Connecticut needs a network with about $100,000 in state funding to assess the needs of the states LGBTQ population and provide mini grants to nonprofits tackling key initiatives. New York and California have a similar networks in place.

We do know especially within the Northeast and Northwest corners (of Connecticut), it is definitely more difficult to find ways in which we can get those programs or activities in those areas, Currey said.

The lawmakers want to eliminate the need for parental consent when minors want to start using the HIV prevention drug, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Taking the pill daily reduces the risk of contracting HIV from sex by more than 90 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

You have to view it almost like contraceptive, said Allie-Brennan, a former board member at Triangle Community Center in Norwalk. Teens are having sex. ... about 20 percent of new HIV infections are between the ages of 13 and 22.

HIV is a particular issue for black men in Connecticut, who were nine times more likely than white males to be diagnosed with HIV in 2016, the CT Mirror reported.

The Centers for Disease Control projects that half of all black men who have sex with men could be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime, if trends continue. The number is one in four for Latino gay men.

In addition to the bills by Currey and Allie-Brennan, Martin Looney, D-New Haven, the Senate President Pro Tempore, has filed a bill to ban gay and transgender panic as a criminal defense to justify violence. That means a suspect in an act of violence cant use the fact that he or she was surprised or stunned by hearing that someone is gay or transgender to excuse their actions.

Looney was unaware of any such instances in Connecticut. But Allie-Brennan said he was more convinced that this legislation is needed following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision Tuesday to green-light the Trump administrations plan to restrict military service by transgender men and women.

Its important to the community that while they are seeing on a national level, the community being demonized or singled out and targeted, there are people here in Connecticut that identify with them that are pushing to make sure they still have a voice and they feel safe, he said.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Doha on Tuesday for a two-day visit, his first foreign trip since the outbreak of domestic protests demanding his ouster more than a month ago.

Al-Bashir arrived at Hamad International Airport, where he was received by Qatar's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Soltan Al-Muraikhi, state-run Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is expected to meet al-Bashir on Wednesday to discuss friendly relations between the two countries and issues of mutual interest, QNA said.

According to Sudanese government statistics, 26 people have been killed during the protests that called for an end to the almost three-decade rule of al-Bashir.

The emir of Qatar expressed support for Sudan in a phone call with al-Bashir last December.
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China on Tuesday urged Canada to immediately release Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou and the United States to withdraw its arrest warrant for her.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular news briefing after the United States informed the Canadian government that it planned to proceed with a formal request to extradite Meng.

"China has repeatedly expressed its solemn position on the matter," the spokesperson said. "Anyone with normal judgment could see that the Canadian side has made a serious mistake from the beginning and Meng's case is not an ordinary judicial case."

"Canada and the United States arbitrarily misused the bilateral extradition treaty between them, which had severely violated Chinese citizen's safety and legitimate rights and interests," said Hua, urging Canada to immediately release Meng and safeguard her legitimate rights and interests.

"The Chinese side strongly urges the United States to correct its mistake right away, withdraw the arrest warrant and stop seeking extradition for Meng," she added.

According to reports, Richard Fadden, who served as the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2013, allegedly suggested that "Canada's government should ban Huawei from Canada's 5G networks to protect the security of Canadians."

In response to the reports, Hua said security issues should be based on facts. "If there is no evidence, they'd better stop delivering such ridiculous speeches."
NEW HAVEN  A teenager who was taken to the ground by police during an arrest at the 2015 St. Patricks Day Parade  an incident widely shown on a video  will get $35,000 in a payment from the city.

The settlement, first reported by the New Haven Independent, involved Teandrea Cornelius, then 15 years old, and drew widespread criticism and protests of how the teen was treated and of community policing in general.

Police said Cornelius had a knife in her possession (her family said she carried for protection) and the officer used proper police training, but the teens family said Cornelius had to be treated at the hospital for a shoulder fracture and a facial wound.

To get $35,000, that is nothing compared to the emotional scars and physical scars she probably still has, city activist Barbara Fair said Wednesday. Thats sad and whats more sad is that theres no acknowledgment from the Police Department or apology.

Fair said excessive use of force by police doesnt seem to be going away in New Haven.

They (police) dont seem to be held accountable, not by the mayor or the police chief, Fair said. I dont look at the individual officer, I look at the system that allows this to flourish.

Recently, the city created a Civilian Review Board to monitor, review and independently investigate complaints against police, after immense public pressure to have more accountability of police practices.

The settlement signed in December says the city will pay Cornelius $35,000 for releasing Officer Joshua Smereczynsky and the city from any and all past, present or future claims related to the case. The settlement also stipulates that the payment doesnt constitute an admission of liability by the city.

Cornelius cant talk about any of the conditions or terms of the settlement or any information relating to it, as a condition of the agreement. Moreover, none of Cornelius spouses, family members, attorneys, advisors, agents, representatives, insurers, successors or assigns may share any information.

If Cornelius were asked about the incident or the settlement she would simply state that the matter has been resolved.

Speaking as a father of several daughters, I wouldnt feel comfortable with my daughter getting slammed like that, given $35,000 and being told to shut up, Community & Police Relations Task Force member Rodney Williams said.

Mayor Toni N. Harp appointed the Community & Police Relations Task Force in 2015 in response to the parade incident to address community/police relations. The panel is charged with looking at police policies and procedures and making recommendations on how they could be improved. Williams said police dont practice certain techniques anymore, such as the leg sweep maneuver used on Cornelius, but the settlement money doesnt balance out what happened.

If the police slammed my daughter like that you wouldnt be giving me $35,000 to stay quiet, Williams said.

The task force hasnt met for months since it delivered its recommendations to the department and talks of the CRB were reignited, because the CRB would take up handling police issues, said Leroy Williams, task force chairman and retired public school administrator.

But the CRB and task force serve different purposes, Rodney Williams said. One handles complaints, while the other was a forum to talk about community/police relations and issues, he said.

There are some officers practicing community policing, but theres no forum for us to be able to get together like there was before, Rodney Williams said. I felt there were a lot of good things coming out of it. I looked forward to it. I thought it was a perfect forum for me to talk about some of the things that I saw going on in Newhallville. We go from that to nothing.

Leroy Williams said much of what was done by the task force has been taken up by the Board of Police Commissioners, which acts as a forum in which people can air their concerns about police.

I dont think we need to duplicate services but we need to see what the police commissioners are doing and see how we can get communication back to the right people, Leroy Williams said. You do have a CRB that will be coming, so whatever we can do to make people feel theres a place people can go to lodge complaints, we need communication.

The task force wasnt about what the officer did to people, it was about looking at the future and how to prevent stuff, Leroy Williams said. When we talk about community policing, lets build and we both have input on what we want to implement. He said the lawsuits facing the city are not brought from community wrongdoing, but because of what police are doing to the community.

Then-Police Chief Dean Esserman announced weeks after the parade incident that Smereczynsky had been exonerated of wrongdoing. Esserman said at the time that Smereczynsky was found to have acted according to his training when he cuffed the 15-year-old and brought her to the ground.

If its a need for different training, thats on me, Esserman said.

Smereczynsky was trained by Meriden police and since 2015, the Police Department has adopted a policy that requires all New Haven officers to go through NHDP training, even if they go to another municipalitys academy, Leroy Williams said.
NEW YORK  New York Attorney General Letitia James announced this week that the state has reached two settlement agreements with Walgreens relating to its insulin pen and prescription drug pricing practices.

The settlements also included other states whose Medicaid programs were allegedly defrauded, and the federal government. In sum, New York will receive more than $14.5 million in settlement money.

"Cheating our state's Medicaid program will never be tolerated by this office," James said. "We will continue to root out illegal practices that increase costs of health care and medication for all New York Medicaid recipients, and will hold accountable any provider that engages in these deceptive practices."

The first agreement settles allegations that the Illinois-headquartered retail pharmacy chain violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicaid at higher-than-usual rates for certain prescription drugs. As a result, Walgreens will pay six states and the federal government $60 million, all of which is attributable to the states' Medicaid programs.

An investigation revealed that Walgreens submitted claims to the states' Medicaid programs in which it identified prices for certain prescription drugs sold through its Prescription Savings Club that were higher than what the chain actually charged for those drugs. In doing so, Walgreens obtained more money in reimbursements from the states' Medicaid programs than it was entitled to receive, James said.

As part of the settlement, New York Medicaid will receive more than $8 million in restitution and other recoveries. Other states receiving settlements include California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

The second agreement resolves allegations that Walgreens knowingly engaged in fraudulent conduct when it dispensed insulin pens in boxes of five, regardless of the dosage requested by the patient's doctor and the patient's needs. This resulted in a pattern where Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries routinely received more insulin than prescribed and Walgreens then billed Medicaid for the additional doses.

Under the settlement, Walgreens will pay the U.S. and six states $209.2 million. New York will receive $6.5 million of this amount in restitution and other recovery. Other states receiving money include Indiana, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma and Massachusetts.

An investigation was initiated after a whistleblower filed a lawsuit in 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
NEW HAVEN  The attorneys in Joel Alexanders felony murder trial Tuesday gave closing arguments focused on the credibility of two prosecution witnesses who implicated Alexander in conspiring to rob Durell Law.

The three Superior Court judges who will decide the case  Jon Alander, Melanie Cradle and Jon Blue  listened to the arguments throughout the afternoon and will deliberate at various times during the remainder of this week. Alander said they will announce their verdict next Tuesday.

Alexander, 26, of Russell Street, had exercised his right to be tried by a three-judge panel rather than by a 12-person jury.

He is charged with felony murder, attempted first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robery and carrying a pistol without a permit.

The prosecutors allege Alexander conspired with Damarquis Gray, Thomaine Riddick and Arik Fraser to rob Law, 20, outside the Fairways apartments on the afternoon of Jan. 20, 2014, and that in the course of the robbery attempt Law was killed (by Gray). Gray has been convicted of felony murder in Laws shooting death. Riddick and Fraser are awaiting trials for felony murder.

Defense attorney Dan Baker Tuesday morning lost his bid to suppress the 31/2- to four-hour statement Alexander gave to police the day after the shooting. During that statement, given from about 2 to 6 a.m., Alexander provided several different versions of what he observed of the shooting. In his final version, he blamed another man, who has not been charged.

Baker argued last week that the statement should be considered involuntary because Alexander seemed to be saying on the videotape that he wanted to stop the questioning so he could get a lawyer. At the beginning of the interview he had waived his Miranda rights and agreed to answer questions from the two detectives.

The judges had expressed concern that the detectives, David Zaweski and Michael Wuchek, had not stopped the interview when Alexander seemed to be asking for an attorney. But after repeated playbacks of the videotape Tuesday, Alander said, We find the transcript is not accurate on what Mr. Alexander said about a lawyer.

Alander said Alexanders words are unintelligible. Detective Zaweski spoke at the same time. As a result, we cannot discern what Mr. Alexander is saying about an attorney.

Alander added, We cannot find he made an unambiguous request for an attorney. The motion to suppress is denied.

Baker Tuesday called a witness who testified he had an argument with Alexander at a residence near the shooting scene in the hours before the crime occurred. The witness said both he and Alexander were angry as they argued but that the witness never saw Alexander display a gun nor threaten him with a weapon.

But Assistant States Attorney Lisa DAngelo then called a rebuttal witness who testified that that earlier witness told him Joel tried to pull a gun on him.

DAngelo, who delivered the first closing argument, said the testimony of the two key states witnesses was credible. She also asserted that all four co-defendants were members of a neighborhood group called the Playboys.

DAngelo cited testimony by one of the key witnesses, who said he heard Alexander tell the others in his group that he had a gun. According to the witness, Joel said a boy named Durell had an iPhone and money. The witness also alleged he saw Alexander pull out a gun and hand it to Gray moments before Gray shot Law.

Then DAngelo recounted the testimony of the second key witnesss. She said she saw Law get surrounded by the four co-defendants. The witness also testified Alexander said to Law: Run your sneakers, meaning he should take them off.

According to the witness, Law refused to obey and got into a physical altercation with the four young males. She said all four of them, including Alexander, reached into Laws pockets just before Gray shot him.

But Baker in his closing argument noted those two witnesses gave different versions of what happened. For example, only one of the two reported hearing Run your sneakers. Also, only one of the two testified to hearing Alexander say to Gray moments before the shooting: Lets go do it.

One thing is clear: the state doesnt know what happened that day, Baker said. He called the testimony of both of those witnesses unbelievable, not credible. He charged both of them lied about what they saw.

The lack of overall consistency creates a cloud of doubt, making it impossible to convict him, Baker said.

Baker also noted there is no DNA or fingerprint evidence and that the gun was never found.

Baker offered this scenario: It couldve been nothing more than a planned fight and Gray, acting independently and recklessly, shot Mr. Law.

During the closing arguments by Baker, DAngelo and then Senior Assistant States Attorney Michael Pepper, the judges peppered the attorneys with questions. Blue asked Pepper why, if four people supposedly were hitting Law, the state medical examiner testified he saw no bruises on Laws face. Pepper said it could be they werent using their fists in the attack.

When Alander asked Pepper to explain the different versions given by the two witnesses, Pepper replied: Different people wont see the same thing. They dont have tape recorders in their heads. Theyre not at an age where theyre particularly savvy.

Pepper asked: What motive do they have to make this up?

Pepper closed the arguments by reminding the judges that Alexander gave a series of hemming and hawing verions about what happened the day Law died.

randall.beach@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  The Board of Alders voted against the reappointment of Board of Education Vice President Jamell Cotto Tuesday night by an 18-8 vote following concerns from the community about his fitness for the role.

Cotto declared to run against board member Ed Joyner for the latters seat in 2017 before being appointed by Mayor Toni Harp to complete the term of Daisy Gonzalez, one of four mayoral appointments to the school board, after her unexpected death that summer. Although Cottos reappointment by Harp was unanimously recommended to the full Board of Alders by the Aldermanic Affairs Committee earlier this month, more than half of three hours of testimony at the meeting criticized Cotto for what some in the community saw as a deviation from Gonzalezs commitment to parents and transparency.

Ive been calling alders and I knew it was going to be tough tonight, said Cotto following the vote. Its my belief theres a proxy war against Mayor Harp and I was caught in the crosshairs.

Cottos relationship with an outspoken, organized group of mostly parents calling themselves the NHPS Advocates has been icy ever since Cotto was effectively the swing vote to approve the hiring of Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks after hours of nearly unanimous negative testimony from the community and a contentious, yearlong search process.

Cotto said that when he was reaching out to alders, many of them questioned him on a list of concerns released by the NHPS Advocates, which he characterized as lies. The statement raised concerns about Cottos attendance, conduct, conflicts of interest and irrational decisions, all of which were waved away at the aldermanic committee earlier this month. On his attendance, critics and supporters differed on whether 87 percent meeting attendance was exemplary or unacceptable.

Hours before the meeting, the NHPS Advocates group released individual statements from 19 community members opposing Cottos reappointment.

A vote for Jamell Cotto is an endorsement of the status quo on the Board of Education, the statement began. Families voices maginalized, [c]onflicts of interest, [i]nfighting and discord, [p]olitics before kids.

Cotto, executive director of public schools contractor Farnam Neighborhood House, has abstained from votes concerning that organization, but his signature nevertheless appears on public school contracts on behalf of Farnam Neighborhood House.

Sarah Miller, an organizer within NHPS Advocates, expressed mixed sentiments as to whether the groups organizing was responsible for Cottos aldermanic defeat.

The vote reflects the way people in the community feel, she said. Not many people go to Board of Education meetings and see whats happening, so it is our responsibility to tell the story.

Board of Education President Darnell Goldson said he would not yell shame at the alders, a reference to when members of the community feeling ignored  angrily chanted in opposition to the school board after the vote to hire Birks.

We take the loss and move on, he said.

Alder Adam Marchand, D-25, said his vote against Cotto was based on feedback hed heard from his constituents  unanimous in its opposition  but also based on one of the decisions Cotto participated in that was branded irrational by the NHPS Advocates, when it was publicly floated that six schools in the wards of influential alders might be subject to closure amidst a budget deficit crunch after alders rerouted a proposed $5 million raise to the Board of Education in the mayors budget to another line item, effectively flat-funding the school district, which was facing a projected $20 million deficit at the time.

Alder Darryl Brackeen, D-26, denied that his vote in opposition to Cotto was because of opposition to Harp.

I simply believe he has not lived up to the expectations he promised in his initial hearing, such as replicating Gonzalezs parent outreach, Brackeen said.

Although Cotto will remain on the school board until the alders reconsider their vote or another appointment is approved to take his role, Brackeen said he would not consider Cotto again.

This was his second chance, he said.

Alder Kenneth Reveiz, D-14, for whom Cotto is a constituent, voted in favor of Cottos reappointment. He cited the need for Latino representation on the school board amidst a growing English-learner population between 16 and 18 percent  and a plurality of Latino students in the school as his primary reason.

Theres a huge need there, he said.

Alder Evelyn Rodriguez, D-4, chairwoman of the Aldermanic Affairs Committee, said she recommended Cottos reappointment because of testimony from young men whom he has mentored throughout the years as well as private correspondence from supporters.

At the Aldermanic Affairs Committee hearing on his appointment on Jan. 2, Cotto defended against criticisms that he does not have a background in education, saying a school board formerly controlled by educators contributed to the districts current projected $9 million deficit. All four members of that committee were among the eight votes in favor of Cottos reappointment to the school board.

Cotto said he would continue to seek a full term.

I need a chance to serve my community; I need a full term, he said. Im not going to stop fighting the fight; I have a fire for education.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
WASHINGTON  Its likely the nations federal courts will run out of money on Friday, making them one of the latest victims of the federal governments partial shutdown, curtailing services and stopping paychecks for about 33,000 court employees.

The Supreme Court, federal appeals courts, district courts and bankruptcy courts around the country will have to decide on a court-by-court basis how they will adapt to an end of funding and its not clear yet what Connecticuts federal courts will do.

One thing is known. Dozens of court employees will either work without pay or be sent home, adding to the number of federal employees in the state hurt by the shutdown.

Robin Tabora, clerk for the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, said on Tuesday that the chief judge and the courts board of judges were in the process of finalizing a draft plan that would determine which court functions and employees would be deemed essential.

Were looking at every position, were looking at every function, she said.

Although congressional appropriation for the court ended on the day the Justice Department was shut down, Dec. 22, federal courts have been able to continue to pay their employees with court fee balances and other funds that are not dependent on a new congressional appropriation.

The Administrative Office for the U.S. Courts says its likely all money will run out on Jan. 25.

After Friday, its likely the only employees in federal courthouses who wont be affected by the shutdown are district and appellate court judges, federal appointees that under the U.S. Constitution will continue to get paid.

Federal courts in several states have already initiated their shutdown plans, some curtailing or postponing civil suits and advising jurors they wont get their fees until the government reopens.

Decisions of Connecticuts federal district court, located in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, are filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Southern District of New York.

Catherine OHagan-Wolfe, the clerk of that New York courthouse, said all of its work will continue and all employees of the court will be required to show up for work, but none will be paid.

The bitter fight between congressional Democrats and President Trump over funding for the presidents border wall led to a lapse in appropriations for the Justice Department, eight other major federal agencies, and several independent agencies, including NASA. That prompted the partial shutdown.

There was an agreement in the Senate on Tuesday to finally vote on legislation that would end the shutdown, which is now entering its second month.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to schedule votes on Thursday afternoon aimed at reopening the government. Each would require 60 votes to advance.

The first vote would be on Trumps proposal to reopen the government, provide $5.7 billion in funding for his border wall, and extend legal protections to some immigrants for three years. Democrats reject the border wall funding and say the immigration provisions would make it more difficult for certain immigrants to apply for asylum and provide little new protections for young immigrants known as Dreamers.

If the first bill fails, there would be a second vote on a stopgap bill that would reopen the shuttered agencies through Feb. 8, but contains no money for Trumps wall. Republicans are expected to oppose that bill, and Trump is unlikely to sign it.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, said the deal simply allows both sides to offer alternatives, but there is no change in Trumps stated opposition to a short-term reopening of the government as proposed by Democrats.

Meanwhile, at least 1,500 federal workers in Connecticut, including 400 working for the Coast Guard and the rest for a number of other federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Justice Department, are slated to miss another paycheck at the end of the month.
Forbes and other news sources are reporting that Venezuelas National Guard and Maduros low-income base are involved in demonstrations against the current regime.

The Miami Herald indicates there will be a large anti-government march. Jan. 23 marks the 61st anniversary of the military uprising that toppled dictator Gen. Marcos Perez Jimenez. They hope that Wednesdays protests could be a turning point to topple the current dictator Maduro.

This is not a technology related article. It is future related. Nextbigfuture predicted in March, 2018 that there would be a military coup in Venezuela. The prediction was by the end of 2018 and assumed that Venezuelan oil production would fall to below one million barrels per day. I over-estimated the speed of the decline in Venezuela and the exact timing of a successful coup. We will see if this succeeds in removing Maduro. Successful removal of Maduro and the ruling party would alter the geopolitics and economics of the South American region.

France24 reported on Monday that a few dozen national guardsmen had taken captive a loyalist officer and seized a stockpile of assault rifles in a pre-dawn raid. The government quickly quelled the uprising, but residents in a nearby slum took to the streets to show their support for the mutineers by burning cars and throwing stones at security forces, who fired back with tear gas.

Retired Maj. Gen. Cliver Alcala, a one-time aide to Chavez and now in exile, said the oppositions newfound momentum has been getting support in Venezuelas militarys lower ranks. Lower ranking soldiers are suffering the same hardships as regular Venezuelan families.

Alejandro Arreaza, a Latin America economist at Barclays Capital in New York, says this time it is different. In the past, there have been periods of high internal pressure for PSUVs ouster but low external pressure. Venezuela was basically a nonstory in the foreign political press.

Washington started pressuring the Maduro government in late 2017 and into 2018, but by then protests had died down and millions of Venezuelans had left the country. This time we have bothexternal pressure and internal pressure against PSUV.

Juan Guaido is the Venezuelan president of the National Assembly. The Organization of American States recognizes him as Venezuelas leader, not Maduro.
Euler Hermes is an Allianz company that provides financial analysis and trade insurance. They have provided a global economic analysis and an analysis of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative in 2019.

Belt and Road will add $117 billion to global trade in 2019. China will have US$56 billion in additional exports and import an extra US$61 billion worth of goods from Belt and Road countries.

The Belt and Road Initiative has resulted in US$460 billion worth of investments in the five years since its inception in 2013

Belt and Road countries are adding substantial to exports into China.
There was a report that Tesla had signed up Tianjin Lishen as a battery supplier but Elon Musk said this is not true.

Tesla is looking to expand its battery supplier base outside of Panasonic, which has supplied the cells for all of Teslas electric vehicles since Tesla started production a decade ago.

In late 2018, Musk said Tesla may source cells from other companies, as long as they meet the exact same specification[s] as the 2170 cells currently used.

untrue  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2019

EXCLUSIVE: Tesla has signed preliminary agreement with Tianjin Lishen to supply batteries to Shanghai factory  sources pic.twitter.com/JcjgzNS7nZ  Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) January 22, 2019
Is it good or bad to have a country with billionaires?

Is an economy better without billionaires?

Is there less poverty or richer people when there are no billionaires?

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. said it is immoral to allow billionaires to exist in a society where others do not have access to healthcare.

I do think a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they dont have access to public health is wrong, Ocasio-Cortez told a reporter Monday at a forum in New York honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

I dont think that necessarily means that all billionaires are immoral, she added. It is not to say that someone like Bill Gates, for example, or Warren Buffett are immoral people.

Comparing Countries Without Billionaires and Countries With Billionaries

Here is the Wikipedia list of countries and their billionaire counts.

Sweden is cited by Cortez as a model economy. They have 31 billionaires. The countries population is about 10 million. Norway as 14 billionaires. Denmark has 6 billionaires. If Sweden has the US population and had the same ratio of billionaires then Sweden would have 960 billionaires. This would almost be a total as high as the count for the US and China combined.

Before 2000, China did not have billionaires and now China has the second most or the most billionaires depending upon the list. Pre-2000, China did not have billionaires and from 2001 onwards it had billionaires. China was vastly poorer pre-1978 and became 40 times richer over the next 40 years.

China had achieved a land without wealthy people after 1949 by stealing all of the private wealth. The exceptions being some people who escaped to Hong Kong, Taiwan and some other countries. Those people outside China became wealthier first and then helped fix China after 1978.

Hong Kong and Taiwan are richer on a per capita basis than China and did not go through the 29 year financial screw up.

In 2001, Liu Yongxong and Liu Yonghao, two brothers from Sichuan have been described as Chinas first billionaires. They made a fortune in the animal feed business. The Hope Group had assets worth $1 billion in 2001. In 2009 Yonghao, was No. 4 on the list of Chinas richest, with a net worth of $2.2 billion and holdings in real estate, feed and banking.

The Liu brothers story began in 1982, when the pawned everything they owned to raise $120 so they could start a business to buy and sell quail eggs. By the late 1980s, they had the largest quail egg business in the world. They produced 10 million quail eggs a day. On a sales trip to Shenzhen, they saw a huge line of people waiting outside a pig feedlot and realized there was big money to be made in that. The Liu brothers also have holdings in real estate, banking and other sectors.

In the 1950s, the Liu family of southwest Chinas Sichuan Province was so short of food, they sent one of their youngest sons to be raised by another family.

All of todays Chinese entrepreneurs trace their fortunes back to December 1978, when Deng presided over the Third Plenary session of the Communist Party and first encouraged the Chinese to get rich.

Soon after, they pooled $125 and began raising quails in Gujia. Gujia was one of the regions most impoverished villages, located 17 miles northeast of Chengdu, the provincial capital. It had no electricity or running water and its houses were small huts constructed with mud and grass. But conditions were good enough to raise quail. If you raise quail, you dont need much feed, says Liu Yongxing. Quails are small. And we didnt have much land or money. Suddenly other villagers began raising quail too, and customers in bigger towns lined up to buy quail eggs. Gujia became the quail-breeding capital of China. And the Liu brothers thrived.

Before long they were among the first in the region to be honored by local Party officials as 10,000 RMB men, model socialist entrepreneurs who accumulated Chinese currency or renminbi. If you did business during the Cultural Revolution, you were the evil capitalist and you would be paraded through the street and people would throw garbage at your head, said Gao Peineng, 53, the former village chief of Gujia and a longtime friend of the Liu brothers. But in 1982, the government began honoring what they called the advanced wealth maker.

There are about 100 countries without billionaires. They tend to have broken economies and more poverty.

Ocasio-Cortez seems to be pushing the 29 failure of Mao.

Cuba has healthcare for everyone and the only two cuban billionaires live in the USA. Cuba has per capita income of about $6500 per person which is about eight times less than the $53000 per capita income of the USA.
OTTAWA, Jan. 21, 2019 /CNW/ - Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, visited with members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) deployed in Kuwait and Iraq as part of Operation IMPACT, from January 18 to 21, 2019.

Accompanied by General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, the Governor General was able to show her support for and witness the work being done by the troops. She also met with MajorGeneral Dany Fortin, Commander of NATO Mission Iraq, Mr. Paul Gibbard, Ambassador of Canada to Iraq, and Mr. Louis-Pierre Emond, Ambassador of Canada to Kuwait.

"Canada contributes to helping bring peace and stability to Iraq and the region. The hundreds of men and women deployed with the CAF's Operation IMPACT, in Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar and Lebanon, help improve the security structures, training and professionalism of the Iraqi forces, and contribute to the fight against terrorism," said the Governor General. "They are away from home, working for Canada and for a better world. They make us immensely proud."

The Governor General also had the opportunity to meet with His Highness Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait and Commander of the Kuwaiti Military Forces, and with His Excellency Barham Salih, President of Iraq.

The visit served as a reminder of Canada's deep commitment to international peace and security and to the fight against terrorism, both at home and abroad.

Additional facts:

Operation IMPACT is mainly a training, assistance and advising mission. The efforts of the CAF in support of the global coalition against Daesh are increasing the capacity of Iraqi security forces. The CAF contribution has several dimensions, including working with regional partners to help make the region more stable and secure.

Understanding the sacrifice and commitment that comes with serving our country, the Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada regularly visits military establishments across the country and abroad.

regularly visits military establishments across the country and abroad. In January 2018 , the Governor General met with Canadian military personnel deployed as part of Operation UNIFIER in Ukraine and Operation REASSURANCE in Latvia . She has also visited military personnel across the country, including 5th Canadian Division Support Base (5 CDSB) Gagetown , 12 Wing Shearwater, CFB Esquimalt, CFB 17 Wing Winnipeg, CFB 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Joint Task Force (North) and 5 Wing Goose Bay.

Media wishing to obtain more information or photos of the visit can contact

the Rideau Hall Press Office.

SOURCE Governor General of Canada

For further information: Natalie Babin Dufresne, Rideau Hall Press Office, 613-993-8158, 343-548-1865 (mobile), [email protected]; Ashlee Smith, Press Secretary to the Governor General, 613-993-0439, 343-548-1857 (mobile), [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.gg.ca/


The partial government shutdown, now into its fifth week, is a national crisis. The lack of a border wall - used to justify the shutdown - isn't. As I have noted, the number of apprehensions at the southern border is down 75 percent since 2000, immigrants are more law-abiding than the native-born, and most drugs come through legal ports of entry. But don't take my word for it. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, whose district includes 820 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, says the border crisis is a "myth" and the wall a "third-century solution to a 21st-century problem."

Chief executives have a limited amount of time and energy. While President Donald Trump is fixated on a faux crisis, he is ignoring these actual crises.

- Climate change. Both the U.S. government and the United Nations have issued reports, reflecting the consensus of climate scientists, which warn that global warming is accelerating. New studies find that U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions rose 3.4 percent in 2018, the oceans are heating up 40 percent faster than the United Nations estimated just five years ago, and ice in Greenland and Antarctica is melting much faster than predicted. We are seeing a rise in sea levels, The Post reports, that "would result in the inundation of island communities around the globe, devastating wildlife habitats and threatening drinking-water supplies."

- Gun violence. America has more guns than people, and almost 40,000 people died of gun violence in 2017 - the highest level in half a century. Nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are self-inflicted; according to the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, "The U.S. gun suicide rate is eight times that of other high-income countries." Meanwhile, "the U.S. gun homicide rate is 25 times that of other high-income countries." Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the group notes that "firearms are the second leading cause of death for American children and teens."

- Opioids. Drugs are killing even more people than guns. More than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2017, a record number, because of the popularity of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin. The number of fentanyl overdose deaths was up 45 percent since 2016 and 833 percent since 2013. The New York Times writes that drug overdoses have contributed to a fall in life expectancy and are now "the leading cause of death for adults under 55."

- Debt. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget notes that, despite a strong economy, the budget deficit is projected to hit $1 trillion this year and public debt to exceed 160 percent of gross domestic product by 2050. "By 2041," the group warns, "spending on Social Security, health care, and interest will exceed all revenue. That essentially means every dollar Congress appropriates --- whether for defense, education, or basic research - will be financed with borrowed money. By 2050, interest will be the single largest federal spending program."

- Autocratic populism. Autocratic populists have taken power in countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Hungary, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Serbia and the United States. Dictators have already destroyed democracy in Egypt, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela. Freedom House finds that democracy is in retreat around the world - even in the United States. Even when they aren't undermining democracy per se, populists are waging war on good government. The United Kingdom has no Brexit plan but faces a March 29 deadline to exit the European Union, while the United States is mired in a record-setting government shutdown.

- China and Russia. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are the world's foremost champions of autocracy. Russia helped to elect Trump and to pass Brexit; China has been exerting influence from Australia to Africa. Both countries are building up their armed forces and aggressing against their neighbors: Russia invaded Georgia and Ukraine, while China has de facto annexed the South China Sea. They are also turning more repressive, with Xi imprisoning 1 million members of the Uighur minority and Putin presiding over the suspicious murders of opposition leaders and journalists.

That's my (admittedly subjective) list of our most urgent crises. Other problems, such as crumbling infrastructure, cybersecurity, terrorism, wage stagnation and unaffordable health care, could easily be added.

What's depressing is that one of the few crises on my list that Trump has tried to address is opioids. He signed legislation in October to combat this scourge. But, showing where his priorities lie, he has tweeted about opioids only 16 times, compared with 627 tweets about the border. At least that's better than his response to climate change, which he literally treats as a joke. Or his response to gun violence: He won't do anything meaningful because he is so beholden to the National Rifle Association. He is confronting China on trade, although not on the South China Sea or the Uighurs, but he largely kowtows to Putin. He is indifferent to the debt crisis, reportedly saying "I won't be here" when it blows up. And, of course, when it comes to autocratic populism, Trump is part of the problem, not the solution.

How can the government address the most pressing crises we face when the president won't even acknowledge they exist?
STAMFORD  Money is so tight for federal employee Tori Ruther, she had to stop herself from spending 99 cents on an iTunes song recently.

I heard a song on the radio the other day and wanted to download it  but I was like, Dont do it. You never know when the charge is going to go through, Ruther said.

Since the government shutdown in late December, Ruther, 32, has worked without pay as a vocational instructor at the Danbury federal prison. The Stamford resident has missed one paycheck and expects to miss a second Friday as the shutdown continues, with no apparent end in sight.

Shes called local senators and representatives  as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  every day since the government closure.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy took notice, recently reading one of Ruthers letters on Facebook Live.

This is becoming a very stressful situation financially, her letter read. The idea this would go on for months and years is disconnected from what is happening to real people across Connecticut.

Murphy said Ruther, one of 800,000 federal employees across the country going unpaid, is being held hostage over a campaign promise from President Donald Trump to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

Trump has asked Congress for $5.7 billion to pay for the wall, even though he repeatedly said Mexico would fund the wall during his campaign. Democrats have not budged in their denial of the request, saying the wall would do little to stop illegal immigration or the transportation of drugs into the country, since the vast majority comes in through legal ports of entry.

Democrats have urged for the government to be reopened while the border wall is debated, instead of keeping the government closed before coming to a compromise.

While the debate continues, some federal employees, including prison workers like Ruther, are being asked to work with no pay; others have been furloughed, meaning theyre not working, nor being paid.

Many federal employees live paycheck-to-paycheck, meaning even one missed payday can have devastating effects.

Dont believe this mythology that everybody who works for the federal government is making $100,000 a year. Thats just not true, Murphy said, in his Facebook Live video. If you are an entry-level employee, and you live in a high-cost state like Connecticut, your paycheck is just enough to cover your expenses for that pay period.

The Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury is a medium-security prison for male and female prisoners and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

After four years working at the Danbury prison, Ruthers base salary is about $77,000. Her day-to-day job involves teaching classes on horticulture to both male and female prisoners. She can have up to 15 prisoners in her class at once and is the only correctional officer in the room with them. Because she is part of the correctional staff, she can assume the duties of an officer in the prison at any moment, which means she can be in charge of safekeeping of incarcerated people.

While Ruther is content with her paycheck, she has to deal with a number of monthly payments, including a student loan balance of $90,000. Fortunately for her, because her loan is through the federal government, she was able to put it in forbearance, meaning payments can be delayed, but interest will continue to accrue.

Her monthly expenses also include rent, utilities, a car payment, car insurance, a cell phone bill, credit card payments, and groceries.

While shes been able to stretch her last paycheck, missing another one could be costly.

This idea that we have savings and can afford to go a month without pay is completely unrealistic, she said, referencing comments by some that federal employees can survive with a temporary stoppage in pay. I live in Fairfield County. Its exceptionally expensive to live here. (Unlike) many people my age, I may not have children or family, but I have very large student debt and I just dont know how this is going to be sustainable.

Shes found that relief has been inconsistent to find. For example, one credit card company she uses agreed to defer her payment until February, while another wouldnt budge on payment deadlines. Those two credit card bills are her main concern right now.

Im just being very, very frugal with what cash I have available to me, because once that cash is gone, its all credit cards, she said. Its just like very stressful not knowing when this is going to end.

Ruther said that while she is concerned about her own financial well-being, others at the prison are in more dire situations.

A number of her fellow employees, she said, are married couples. Many have children, and have to pay for day care, a major expense.

People are worried, said Rob Curnan, a union executive vice president at the Danbury prison. They are saying this could last months or years. We have a lot of single-income employees.

In total, 262 corrections officers at the Danbury prison are working without pay. On top of money woes, the officers worry about the reaction of inmates to the federal government shutdown and the impact it is having on the officers.

Inmates know this. They look to take advantage, Curnan said. We are looking for increased violence.

Ruther, meanwhile, said shes been able to get some help through family. One friend, she said, even offered to pay for her dinner one night.

I have been so blessed in that sense in that I have very supportive family who have been able to help me, she said. I work with people who arent as fortunate as me in that sense.

Includes prior reporting from Bill Cummings and Dan Haar.
With rain expected Wednesday, its possible the state will see some flooding and possibly ice jams  which plagued the Kent area last January.

The Housatonic River  a lot of it is frozen pretty solid, said Bill Jacquemin, a meteorologist at Connecticut Weather Center in Danbury.

He said the rain and warmer temperatures means its likely the frozen ice will break and some areas might see ice jams like last year.

Jacquemin said residents near water should be alert and keep an eye on rise water levels that could lead to flooding as well.

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for all of Connecticut through Thursday afternoon.

Rain will move into southern New England tonight and continue through Thursday, the NWS said. Rainfall may be heavy at times. By the time the rain tapers off, Southern New England will receive 1 to 2 inches of rain. The high rainfall rates may cause flash flooding as well as urban and poor drainage flooding.

A snowstorm Saturday into Sunday brought snow, ice, freezing rain, sleet and wind to Connecticut. Following the storm were temperatures so dangerously cold, officials were warning residents to limit their time outside for fear of hypothermia or frostbite.

The rain expected Wednesday into Thursday will fall on frozen snow and frozen ground  meaning most of it wont be absorbed into the ground.

Instead, Jacquemin said, the rain will melt the ice and snow that was left from the weekend storm and several inches of water run off will spill into rivers and streams and make them rise.

By tomorrow (Wednesday) night with this rain and these temperatures, its not going to thaw the ice out, its just going to break the ice, Jacquemin said. We dont often have to worry about that except in the spring.

On Jan. 13, 2018, several Kent residents were evacuated from their homes because of flooding from the Housatonic River. Law enforcement had to shut down Route 7 between Route 341 and Bulls Bridge Road that same day. That stretch of roadway didnt reopen until five days later.

The ice jam in 2018 took days to thaw, and was able to do so with consistent temperatures in the area of 40 degrees and a bit of precipitation.
BROOKFIELD - Firefighters battled a house fire on Long Meadow Hill Road Wednesday morning.

The call came just before 7 a.m. The fire in the kitchen was knocked down minutes after firefighters arrived.

The extent of damage to the house is not known at this time.

The towns fire marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze.

According to Brookfield property records, the two-story, single-family house was built in 1979.

The house has four bedrooms and 2,972 square feet of living area.

The house is appraised at $455,050.
DANBURY  The achievement gap is slowly shrinking at Danbury High School as graduation rates among low-income, special education and minority students continue to trend upward.

Although the graduation rates at DHS still lag behind the overall state average, the largest high school in Connecticut has increased its total graduation rate by more than 4 percentage points over the past five years, according to a new district analysis of graduation data.

The improvements are even bigger for those student subgroups normally at the bottom end of the achievement gap, who are becoming an increasingly large portion of the high school as Danburys demographics continue to dramatically shift.

The graduation rate among Hispanic and Latino students  nearly half of the almost 3,100 member DHS student body  has increased 13 percent since the 2012-13 school year to 74.2 percent in 2018.

We would love 100 percent of our students to pass in four years and were working very hard with that goal in mind, but we have had some things that impacted that, DHS Principal Dan Donovan said. Raising graduation requirements, shifting our expectations for all students ... weve had a pretty significant shift in the demographics of our students.

With that, we not only maintained our graduation rate, but weve improved it and were also closing the achievement gap, he said. While our totals only gone up by minimal amounts, these numbers have grown dramatically.

Last year, two-thirds of DHS special education students, who represent about 13 percent of the school, graduated on time compared to half of the special education students in 2012-13, according to the data.

Graduation rates have increased by 9 percent for black students over that same time period and 7 percent for students from low-income households who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.

Exactly 83 percent of all Danbury High School seniors graduated last May, though that number is expected to remain below the statewide average, which is not yet available for 2017-18 but has hovered at or just above 87 percent over the past four years.

The graduation rates do not neatly increase steadily year over year  sometimes they jump several percentage points for one class only to drop the next  which reflects how each graduating cohort has different students with different needs, Donovan said.

But the overall increase across several classes illustrates teachers are making meaningful improvements even as the school rapidly expands and teaches more challenged students, he said.

Ten years ago, for example, only 23 percent of students came from low-income homes and qualified for free or reduced-price lunch.

Today, 58 percent of DHS students qualify.

The student body had drastically changed, but weve still been able to improve our rates, Donovan said. Thats why we see this as a positive result, even though, of course, I want every student to graduate.

Not captured in that typical graduation rate is the additional 7 percent of students who graduate within six years, many of whom are English-language learners who arrived at DHS with little formal education, and special education students, Associate Principal Meghan Martins said.

The school is expanding its after-school courses and adding a free summer English course for non-native speakers to help those students to graduate within four years, she said.

Importantly, 87 percent of DHS graduates who enrolled in college completed their freshman year and returned for their sophomore year, she said. That is 13 percent higher than the national average.

Graduation rates Danbury High School graduation rates have been released for the 2017-18 school year. By student groups, the rates include: Total: 83 percent White: 90.8 percent Hispanic/Latino: 74.2 percent Black: 90.8 percent Asian: 92 percent Special education: 66.7 percent English language learners: 50.8 percent See More Collapse

Superintendent Sal Pascarella said the latest rates show the district is on the right track.

All of those things you allowed us to work on have started to pay off, he told the school board on Wednesday night. The kids are stepping up to the plate as they can, as they have the abilities, even when they have deficiencies. We clearly have work to do, particularly in those areas or subgroups of our students.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.com
Auto insurers tapped the brakes on rate increases last year in Connecticut, though drivers still paid an extra 3.4 percent on average from 2017 to cover higher liability reserves factored into their premiums by carriers.

That was a smaller hike than the overall 4.1 percent increase that drivers absorbed from 2016, according to the Connecticut Insurance Departments annual study of property and casualty insurance rates.

Auto insurers underwrote $2.9 billion in private passenger coverage in Connecticut last year, with Geico and parent Berkshire Hathaway the market leader with $340 million in written premiums, and Liberty Mutual the No. 2 carrier ahead of Progressive, Allstate and State Farm.

State Farm had the biggest rate cut of major carriers underwriting auto insurance in the state as reported by the Connecticut Insurance Department, at 2.7 percent on average for its largest subsidiary here. Progressive cut premiums 2.5 percent for one Connecticut subsidiary, while raising them by a smaller margin for another.

Geico hiked its Connecticut rates 7.4 percent last year, according to the report, with Liberty Mutual putting in place bumps between 2.8 percent and 5 percent, with Allstates increases ranging between 1.7 percent and 4 percent.

Were getting a really good return in the auto business today  we like (those) returns and so were growing the business, said Allstate CEO Tom Wilson, speaking in November on a conference call. Were comfortable with the overall profitability, and as to whether (accident) frequency ... goes down or severity goes up a little more, we factor all of that in.

Under Katharine Wade, who stepped down in December as state insurance commissioner, the Connecticut Insurance Department reviewed more than 5,300 rate filings last year for property and casualty coverage, from auto and homeowners insurance to workers compensation for injuries sustained on the job.

Homeowners insurance rates rose 2.9 percent on average in Connecticut last year, with a half-dozen underwriters entering the market last year including the AmGuard subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway; Lemonade, a New York City insurer focused on city properties; and the Berkley Insurance Co. unit of Greenwich-based W.R. Berkley.

And workers compensation insurance continues to drop, with the insurance department approving last October a 16.8 percent reduction in the average rate paid by Connecticut businesses to cover their workforces.

Its pretty clear that in many lines of business, loss costs are moving up, said W.R. Berkley CEO Rob Berkley in an October review of his firms third-quarter results. Workers comp may be one of the few ... where were seeing certain components of the loss cost  particularly the (claims) frequency trends  being negative.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Lahore:

Pakistani authorities on Tuesday sacked the head of the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) after a probe into a weekend shootout revealed that three members of a family were killed in a fake encounter on a highway. Terrorism and murder charges were also registered against five CTD officials present during the encounter, police said. In the light of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), five senior officers, including CTD Punjab Chief Additional Inspector General Rai Tahir, have been sacked and five officials of the CTD who took part in the encounter booked under terrorism and murder charges, Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja told a press conference here.

The CTD officials on Saturday last killed four persons, including a teenage girl, in an encounter in Sahiwal, 200 km from Lahore, suspecting them to be terrorists.

The CTD team opened indiscriminate fire on the car in which a couple along with their four children and the driver were sitting. Three children survived the firing.

The anti-terror department initially termed the victims as terrorists of the Islamic State, but later declared three of themthe couple and their

13-year-old daughterinnocent civilians.

Raja said action against more officials would be taken after completion of the investigation.

Replying to a query on whether any action has been taken against the ISI officials on whose lead the operation was conducted, the minister said: The investigation is still underway.

He also said the fourth victim, Zeeshan Javed, was a terror suspect and the government would give a detailed briefing of his alleged links with terrorists on Wednesday.

The CTD had said Javed was an active member of the IS (Daesh) and a phone call was recorded from Afghanistan in which an IS commander was directing another member of the network to ask others to hide after the killing of Zeeshan.

Saturdays shootout had drawn nationwide condemnation and Prime Minister Imran Khan had also vowed to award exemplary punishment to the culprits.

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New Delhi:

Earth was at risk as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in an atypical study led by a group of scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), found that Asteroid AX8 on Tuesday passed our planet around 3:35 am GMT (UTC) at a speed of over three miles per second. The giant asteroid, which was first observed about two weeks ago, made an incredibly close flyby of Earth in early morning of Tuesday.

Dubbed NASA Asteroid 2019 AX8, the space rock is half the length of The Great Pyramid of Giza and measures somewhere in the range of 91.8ft to 206.7ft (28m to 63m) in diameter.

Though the impact chances were low, the massive size and the speed of the asteroid could be incredibly dangerous if their trajectories crossed paths directly with the Earths orbit.

Talking about the possible meteor attack, the American space agency said, "Several thousand meteors enter Earths atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight".

"Those that occur at night also are rarely noticed by people. Due to the combination of all of these factors, only a handful of witnessed meteorite falls occur each year. Thankfully, Asteroid AX8 missed the planet entirely today by more than four million miles," the research team added.

Besides, two more space rocks named - 2019 AM8 and 2019 AG7 - have been recorded under NASAs near-Earth object (NEO) list and are far larger than its predecessor. Early in the month the duo made a close shave with Earth.

As many as twelve near-Earth objects are expected to fly past our planet between now and the end of this month, meaning the recent phenomenon is not an unusual one. However, after AX8, NASA asteroid trackers do not expect that close approach anytime in the foreseeable future.

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Beijing:

The second woman carrying a gene-edited foetus in China could now be 12 to 14 weeks into her pregnancy, according to a US physician in close contact with the researcher who claimed to have created the world's first genetically-modified babies last year. Chinese scientist He Jiankui shocked the scientific community after revealing that he had successfully altered the DNA of twin girls born in November to prevent them from contracting HIV.

State media reported on Monday that a preliminary investigation confirmed that a second woman became pregnant and that she will be put under medical observation, but no other details about her are known. Professor He, who now faces a police investigation, had mentioned the potential second pregnancy at a human genome conference in Hong Kong in late November, but its status was unclear until now.

William Hurlbut, a physician and bioethicist at Stanford university in California who has known He for two years, told AFP it was "too early" at the time for the foetus to appear on an ultrasound. Based on extensive conversations with He, Hurlbut said: "I get the impression the baby was fairly young when the conference happened. It could only be detected chemically, not clinically (at the time).

"So it could be no more than four to six weeks old (at the time), so now it could be about 12 to 14 weeks." Hurlbut said he met He at a scientific conference co-chaired by Hulburt two years ago. Since then the pair have met at least four times during He's visits to Stanford. Hurlbut added he was not involved in He's project in any capacity, and only knows about the second pregnancy from what He has told him.

Wang Haoyi, a Development Biologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told AFP that the experiment's effects on the health of the twin babies is hard to predict, but that their identities should be protected to give them the best chance of a normal life. "I think we definitely need to take serious measures to protect their privacy," he said.

"We don't even need to let them know that they are any different from others." Hurlbut said he had planned to visit He's lab following the genome summit.

But after news of his experiment was published, He was placed "under protection of security people" and the two have not seen each other in person, he said.

They exchanged emails and spoke on the phone every week after that, but Hurlbut last heard from He seven days ago. He has been residing in an apartment at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in the city of Shenzhen, where his family has been allowed to visit him in the day time, Hurlbut said.

"He doesn't sound like a person under terrible fear or stress." said Hurlbut. He said he was free to go out on to the campus and walk around." But He could be facing legal trouble.

Fan Chen, a Beijing-based lawyer, told AFP that He could face up to three years imprisonment for forging research papers. But Si Weijiang, a Shanghai-based lawyer, said He could face harsher penalties.

Authorities could prosecute him for on endangering public security or medical malpractice "but ... these laws have never been applied to such acts", Si added. A probe by the Guangdong provincial government found that He had "forged ethical review papers" and "deliberately evaded supervision", according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

He had "privately" organised a project team that included foreign staff, it said. He will be "dealt with seriously according to the law," and his case will be "handed over to public security organs for handling", Xinhua said.

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Beijing:

Air pollution may contribute to low levels of happiness among urban population, according to a study which combed through millions of social media posts from residents of 144 Chinese cities. For many years, China has been struggling to tackle high pollution levels that are crippling its major cities, said researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

The study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, found that higher levels of pollution are associated with a decrease in people's happiness levels. Despite an annual economic growth rate of eight per cent, satisfaction levels amongst China's urban population have not risen as much as would be expected, researchers said.

Alongside inadequate public services, soaring house prices, and concerns over food safety, air pollution -- caused by the country's industrialisation, coal burning, and increasing use of cars -- has had a significant impact on quality of life in urban areas.

Research has previously shown that air pollution is damaging to health, cognitive performance, labour productivity, and educational outcomes. However, air pollution also has a broader impact on people's social lives and behaviour, according to Siqi Zheng, an associate professor at MIT.

"Pollution also has an emotional cost. People are unhappy, and that means they may make irrational decisions," Zheng said.

On polluted days, people have been shown to be more likely to engage in impulsive and risky behaviour that they may later regret, possibly as a result of short-term depression and anxiety, according to Zheng. "So we wanted to explore a broader range of effects of air pollution on people's daily lives in highly polluted Chinese cities," she said.

The researchers, including those from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, used real-time data from social media to track how changing daily pollution levels impact people's happiness in 144 Chinese cities.

"Social media gives a real-time measure of people's happiness levels and also provides a huge amount of data, across a lot of different cities," Zheng said.

The researchers used information on urban levels of ultrafine particulate matter -- PM 2.5 concentration -- from the daily air quality readings released by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Airborne particulate matter has become the primary air pollutant in Chinese cities in recent years, and PM 2.5 particles, which measure less than 2.5 microns in diameter, are particularly dangerous to people's lungs.

To measure daily happiness levels for each city, the team applied a machine-learning algorithm to analyse the 210 million geotagged tweets from China's largest microblogging platform, Sina Weibo.

The tweets cover a period from March to November 2014. For each tweet, the researchers applied the machine-trained sentiment analysis algorithm to measure the sentiment of the post.

They then calculated the median value for that city and day, the so-called expressed happiness index, ranging from 0 to 100, with 0 indicating a very negative mood, and 100 a very positive one.

Finally, the researchers merged this index with the daily PM2.5 concentration and weather data. They found a significantly negative correlation between pollution and happiness levels. Women were more sensitive to higher pollution levels than men, as were those on higher incomes.

When the researchers looked at the type of cities that the tweets originated from, they found that people from the very cleanest and very dirtiest cities were the most severely affected by pollution levels.

This may be because those people who are particularly concerned about their health and air quality tend to move to clean cities, while those in very dirty cities are more aware of the damage to their health from long-term exposure to pollutants, Zheng said.

Through a creative use of social media data, the researchers convincingly demonstrate a strong relationship between air quality and expressed happiness, a subjective measure of well-being, said Shanjun Li, a professor at Cornell University, who was not involved in the research.

"The study adds to the growing scientific knowledge on the social cost of air pollution by focusing on the cost borne by the silent majority' who do not typically show up in the studies based on morbidity and mortality outcomes," Li said.
New Delhi:

The Hindu Sena, a right-wing group, Tuesday paid tributes to Queen Victoria on her 118th death anniversary and said she "freed India from the autocratic rule of the Mughals". The organisers of the event at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi said it was the first time they paid tributes to the Empress and credited her with "uniting the princely states of India in 1857".

Surjeet Yadav, the national spokesperson and vice-president of the Hindu Sena, claimed, "India would have disintegrated into thousands of pieces had it not been the Britishers, who under the Queen, united a large number of princely states into one entity in 1857." He also claimed that "the Britishers gave what we have today, be it the law, railways, roads, communication networks, schools, buildings, etc."

"The Britishers did not destroy our temples like the others did...They gave us the law which we follow even today," Yadav said. "Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru could raise their voice because it was not an autocratic government. They gave Indians the first taste of freedom by allowing local self-governance in 1882," he said.

He claimed the imperial army strived for equality among all castes in India. "They (the Britishers) formed the Mahar regiment. Earlier, in Bengal presidency, only people belonging to upper castes were allowed to enlist in the army," he claimed, adding "if there is a gentlemen race in the world, it's is the British".The Hindu Sena had celebrated the birthday of US President Donald Trump with a cake weighing 7.1 kg in New Delhi in 2017.

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New Delhi:

Reacting to Priyanka Gandhi Vadras formal entry into active politics after being appointed the AICC general secretary of Uttar Pradesh East, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sambit Patra said, "This is not a challenge for BJP. This was expected. It's family dynasty and reflects that Rahul Gandhi has failed. And in future, Robert Vadra too will enter politics. Only a Gandhi can become president of the party." "The Congress party is a family party, there is no doubt about it. After being rejected from the 'Mahagathbandhan' everywhere, the party has sought a crutch from within their own family," he also said.

BJP national spokesperson and MP GVL Narasimha Rao said on Twitter, "Priyanka Vadra (Gandhi) as @INCIndia Gen Secy for UP East is the MOST UN-EVENTFUL NEWS of 2019. Yet, for sychofants this is BIG; EARTHSHAKING, GROUNDBREAKING. "Priyanka card" was played before every election. It flopped each time. Perils of Parivar Politics: FAIL & THRIVE. Pity!!"

Priyanka Vadra (Gandhi) as @INCIndia Gen Secy for UP East is the MOST UN-EVENTFUL NEWS of 2019. Yet, for sychofants this is BIG; EARTHSHAKING, GROUNDBREAKING. "Priyanka card" was played before every election. It flopped each time. Perils of Parivar Politics: FAIL & THRIVE. Pity!!  GVL Narasimha Rao (@GVLNRAO) January 23, 2019

It's unsurprising that they are continuing the dynasty politics, says BJP leader Chandra Bose. While Union Minister Smriti Irani said, "Congress has accepted Rahul Gandhi's failure."

JPNadda, the BJP in-charge of Uttar Pradesh said, "Priyanka Gandhi officially becomes General Secretary of Congress , but everyone knows how this household company works. It is also first official declaration from Congress that Rahul ji has failed, he should tell what is his view of Parivarwadi soch?"



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New Delhi :

Happy with Congress president Rahul Gandhis decision to appoint his younger sister Priyanka Gandhi as the party General Secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, party supporters today projected her Goddess Durga. Several party supporters were seen waving such posters at the Congress office in Lucknow. The poster reads  Priyanka Gandhi Ji is an incarnation of Maa Durga (Maa Durga ka avataar Priyanka Gandhi Ji).

The supporters have also compared Priyanka with former prime minister Indira Gandhi in the poster. Indira is Back, reads the poster. The jubilant Congress workers also shouted slogans hailing Priyanka's entry into politics.

Posters seen at Congress office in Lucknow after #PriyankaGandhiVadra was appointed party's General Secretary for Eastern Uttar Pradesh pic.twitter.com/goT7AOX2rE  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 23, 2019

This is not the first time when party workers have projected Priyanka as goddess Durga'. Earlier, Congress supporters had released a poster stating "Woh Indira hai, woh Durga hai, who hai shakti ka avatar (she is Indira, she is Durga, she is the embodiment of power),".

Priyanka, who is known to have had a say in formalising election strategies and candidates' list of the party in previous elections, has been appointed as AICC general secretary and has made in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh. She will be taking charge of the new responsibility from the first week of February. With this, speculations are rife that she may contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from her mother Sonia Gandhis constituency Rae Bareli.

Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra has extended support to her and said that he will be by her side in every phase of the life. "Congratulations P. Always by your side in every phase of your life. Give it your best," he posted on Facebook with a photo of her wife.

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New Delhi :

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led high-powered panel on CBI chief will meet today and discuss probable names for the coveted post. The panel meeting will be attended by Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi or his nominee and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, officials said.

Among the officers whose name would be discussed at the meeting are J K Sharma and Parminder Rai from the 1982 batch -- the senior most but lacking experience in the CBI. Rai, a Haryana-cadre officer who is set to retire on January 31, 2019, is Director General, State Vigilance Bureau, which makes him eligible for the post, the officials said.

Special Secretary (Internal Security), Home Ministry, Rina Mitra of the 1983-batch is another contender. She served in the CBI for five years and had a long tenure in Madhya Pradesh state vigilance where she handled serious corruption cases.

Mitra headed the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, an organisation tasked to combat organized wildlife crime, in its early years, they said, adding that if chosen, she would become the first woman chief of the CBI.

Current chief of National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences Javeed Ahmed, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has served the CBI for 13 years -- starting as an SP to DIG from 1994 to 2002 and as joint director from 2009-14, they said.

He could not be promoted to post of Additional Director, CBI, as the then Home Secretary Anil Goswami had not cleared the empanelment file of the entire 1984-batch IPS officers till his term came to an end, they said.

Goswami was forced to resign for trying to stall the arrest of a former Union minister in a case, they said. Ahmed was posted as Uttar Pradesh DGP and he led many initiatives like Twitter outreach campaign, UP100 and special help line for women.

Closely following him in terms of experience is O P Galhotra, former Rajasthan DGP, who has served in the agency for 11 years -- as an SP from 1996-2000 and as a Joint Director from 2008-15, the officials said.

H C Awasthy, Galhotra's batchmate from the UP cadre, also served in the agency for over eight years, they said.

Director General, National Investigation Agency, Y C Modi, a 1984-batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, is a favourite in the race to the top post in the CBI.

Y C Modi was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team which probed the 2002 riots in Gujarat from 2010 to 2012. The SIT had cleared Narendra Modi who was then the chief minister of the state.

He was also part of the CBI team that probed the murder of former Gujarat minister Haren Pandya and arrested 12 accused. But the evidence was rejected by the Gujarat High Court which acquitted all the accused, they said.

Director General of CISF Rajesh Ranjan, a 1984-batch Bihar cadre officer, has served in the agency for nearly five years and also in Interpol. He was never inducted into the CBI after 2011 as there were "vigilance issues", the officials said.

BSF Director General Rajni Kant Mishra, a 1984-batch officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre is also being considered a frontrunner for the post of the CBI Director, they said.

He is retiring in August, 2019 and had served for nearly five years in the agency.

Another contender DG Indo-Tibetan Border Police S S Deshwal has five years' experience of working in the CBI, they said.

Arun Kumar, a 1985-batch officer of the UP cadre, who led the first CBI team that probed the Aarushi case, is also in the race.

The report prepared by him indicting three servants of the Talwars in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case was rejected by the then CBI chief Ashwani Kumar as he was not convinced by the evidence.

Other contenders from the 1985-batch include Rishi Raj Singh and Loknath Behera from Kerala cadre who have around 6 and 10 years' of experience in the CBI respectively.

Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik has also been shortlisted but he lacks experience in the agency, the officials said adding that experience in the vigilance unit of the state compensates it.

The selection panel would meet Thursday to find a replacement for Alok Verma was removed as the CBI director on Januray 10, three weeks before he was to demit his office.

A 1979-batch IPS officer, Verma was locked in a bitter tussle with agency's Special Director Rakesh Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer.

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New Delhi :

Finance and Corporate Affairs ministries will be temporarily held by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in addition to his existing portfolios. Arun Jaitley will be designated as Minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition, said ANI in a tweet.

The decision has been taken in view of the indisposition of Arun Jaitley, who is currently undergoing treatment abroad in the US.

During the period of indisposition of Arun Jaitley, the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs will be temporarily held by Piyush Goyal in addition to his existing portfolios. pic.twitter.com/VlJNRLibDH  ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, the President, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, directed that during the period of Jaitley's indisposition, the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Corporate Affairs, held by him, be temporarily assigned to Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios.

Jaitley has been designated as a minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time when he is able to resume his work.

He was to present his sixth and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments last Budget on February 1 - the last one before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However Jaitley had to leave for the US for treatment for a medical check-up relating to his kidney ailment.

Jaitley, who had undergone a renal transplant surgery on May 14, 2018, had not travelled abroad in the past nine months. His post-operative recovery was being closely monitored by a team of transplant surgeons, pulmonologist, nephrologist, endocrinologist, cardiologist and critical care experts among others.

The 65-year-old political leader received a kidney from a distant relative, a middle-aged woman, according to sources at AIIMS. The donation fell under the category of live unrelated donation.

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Shillong:

The Indian Navy has resumed its operation to retrieve the decomposed body of one of the trapped miners detected inside a 370-feet deep illegal coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district but failed to achieve success. Navy divers, who had suspended their operation on Sunday on the advice of the district administration, along with NDRF personnel, used remotely operated vehicles. After day-long efforts, they only managed to move the body a few metres from where it was left on Sunday and brought it near the bottom of the main shaft, officials said.

"The body has been pulled near the bottom of the main shaft... The process to bring the body to the top will take some more time due to the presence of some obstructions inside the mine," spokesperson of the operation R Susngi said.

Efforts to retrieve the body would continue Wednesday, he added. The Navy personnel had earlier managed to pull the body, seen 200 ft along the horizontally dug small hole, about half way to the bottom of the shaft. But, it could not be brought out due to apprehension that further moving it could result in its disintegration, Susngi said.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma was briefed on the development at the site and he is constantly monitoring the situation, a senior home official said.

The district authorities are waiting for the family members of at least seven miners trapped inside to identify the retrieved body, he said.

At least 15 miners are trapped in the rat hole mine at Khlooryngksan area of the district since December 13 which has led to a multi-agency operation involving the Navy, the NDRF and leading firms in the country to join the efforts to rescue them in the longest such mission in the country.

Close on heels of Navy's Sunday decision, Conrad had on Monday suspended operations to retrieve the body to avoid disintegration of the decomposed corpse.

The Navy had also spotted several skeletons in the flooded mines.

Coal India Ltd, Odhisa Fire Service and the KSP continued dewatering the nearby abandoned mines and the total discharge of water since yesterday was 80.15 lakh litres, Susngi said.

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New Delhi:

The Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad arrested 9 men from Aurangabad, Mumbra over alleged links with ISIS on Wednesday. The arrests came after massive searches conducted by the security personnel at five locations in Aurangabad, Mumbra and Thane districts. The men were brought for questioning and later arrested. According to news agency ANI, the Maharashtra ATS has recovered certain chemicals, powder, mobile phones, hard drives SIM cards, acid bottle, sharp knives etc seized during searches. A case under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 has been registered against the men and the further investigation is underway.

The arrests come after a massive operation conducted by the National Investigation Agency in December last year. At that time, the officials had conducted raids at 16 location in areas such as Hapur, Ghaziabad, Amroha in Uttar Pradesh and Zaffrabad in Delhi. As many as 10 individuals were arrested after the NIA operations. The probe agency had said that they accused were planning to attack crowded places and political personalities. The fairly-new group was identified as 'Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam. NIA inspector general Alok Mittal told reporters that searches were carried out in Delhi's Seelampur locality, UP's Lucknow, Amroha and Hapur districts where a huge quantity of explosives, a country-made rocket launcher, 100 mobiles and 135 SIM cards were recovered.

Five people were picked up from the western Uttar Pradesh district of Amroha following a joint operation with the UP Anti-Terrorist Squad, Inspector General ATS Asim Arun said in Lucknow.

On January 17 also, the NIA had conducted fresh raids and arrested one more individual. The agency had earlier said it had seized a locally made rocket launcher, material for suicide vests and 112 alarm clocks to be used as timers besides recovering 25 kg of explosive material -- Potassium Nitrate, Ammonium Nitrate, and Sulphur.

The group had allegedly purchased remote-controlled cars and wireless doorbells to use their circuits in assembling remote-controlled improvised explosive devices.

Besides, the NIA had also seized steel containers, electric wires, 91 mobile phones, 134 SIM cards, 3 laptops, knife, sword, ISIS-related literature during the searches conducted earlier.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi:

Prateik Babbar is all set to marry his long-time girlfriend Sanya Sagar in Lucknow today. After dating for almost two years, Prateik and Sanya got engaged on January 22, 2018. The actor has many times talked about his love for Sanya and never shied away from expressing it. The two also keep on sharing adorable posts on social media, giving us immense relationship goals, time and again.

However, before dating Sanya, Prateik was in a serious relationship with actress Amy Jackson. Sparks flew between the two during the making of Ekk Deewana. Soon, the two were inseparable and even got each others name inked on their arms. Unfortunately, their relationship didnt last long and they parted ways. In an interview with DNA, Amy had revealed that she has not spoken to Prateik since their break-up.

Amy had said, "We haven't been in touch at all. It's not that I can't be friends with an ex. I don't think it's impossible to remain friends. But we have never spoken after that (the break-up)."

The two have now moved on with their lives and found love again. While Prateik is getting married to Sanya, Amy recently got engaged to George Panayiotou.

In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Prateik had said, ''Sanya and I, along with our families, decided that something as pure as love should be solemnised on an auspicious day and what better day than Basant Panchami. Shes the best partner I could have asked for. It didnt take me long to figure out that she was the one for me. I know it sounds cliched, but I cant stop counting my blessings and thanking God for all the good that is happening in life.

Sanya is a graduate from NIFT and holds a diploma from Film Academy in London. Prateik, on the other hand, is actor-politician Raj Babbars son.



Reportedly, a reception is expected to be held in Mumbai as well later.





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New Delhi:

Prateik Babbar is all set to tie the knot with Sanya Sagar, daughter of BSP leader Pawan Sagar today. The lovebirds are currently in Sanya's hometown in Lucknow and the photos from their mehendi and haldi ceremony, which took place yesterday, are making rounds on the social media.

In one of the photos, Prateik can be seen donning a light coloured kurta. While the bride-to-be Sanya is seen in a lemon yellow dress. She looked elegant as she wore a floral head accessory to complete her look.

Check out the pictures:







As per the reports, many political leaders are set to descend for the wedding ceremony that will take place in Lucknow today.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, BSP chief Mayawati, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, chief ministers of Congress-ruled states  Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattishgarh, that of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and other senior leaders of various political parties are likely to attend the ceremony to be held in a hotel.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is on a two-day visit of his constituency Amethi, might also bless the couple after landing in Lucknow today, as per reports.

After dating for almost two years, Prateik and Sanya got engaged on January 22, 2018. In an interview with Mumbai Mirror Prateik had said that he had been mentally ready for marriage for quite some time as he believed that it gives substance to a relationship.

Sanya is a graduate from NIFT and holds a diploma from Film Academy in London. Prateik, on the other hand, is actor-politician Babbars son. Reportedly, a reception is expected to be held in Mumbai as well later.

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New Delhi:

Bring Priyanka into active politics, this has been the long-awaited demand of most of the Congress party workers and today, finally, the party has announced the Gandhi family scion Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her foray into the political arena as she has been appointed as the general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East.

UP is central to building a new hope filled & compassionate India. The new UP AICC team lead by Priyanka & Jyotiraditya, will herald the dawn of a new kind of politics in the state. We will offer the youth in UP a dynamic new platform to transform the state.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) January 23, 2019

UP is central to building a new hope-filled & compassionate India. The new UP AICC team lead by Priyanka & Jyotiraditya will herald the dawn of a new kind of politics in the state. We will offer the youth in UP a dynamic new platform to transform the state, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Priyanka Gandhi, 47, will take over her new assignment in the politically crucial state -- a Congress bastion till the mid-1980s -- from the first week of February, a statement from the party said. She will assist her brother, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, in the Hindi heartland state, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the largest of any state in the country. As soon as the news of Priyanka Gandhis appointed broke, the political reactions started flowing across party lines.

Union Minister JP Nadda said, Priyanka Gandhi furthered the legacy of Gandhi Congress Pvt Limited and officially becomes the General Secretary of @INCIndia. It is also the first official declaration from congress that they don't have trust in Rahul Gandhi's leadership.

#ParivarKiCongress

Priyanka Gandhi furthered the legacy of Gandhi Congress Pvt Limited and officially becomes the General Secretary of @INCIndia. It is also the first official declaration from congress that they don't have trust in Rahul Gandhi's leadership.#ParivarKiCongress  Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) January 23, 2019

"The Congress has basically publicly announced that Rahul Gandhi has failed and needs crutches from within the family. Because of his rejection by grand alliance parties, he has opted for a family alliance," said BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra.

Sambit Patra, BJP on #PriyankaGandhiVadra appointed Congress General Secretary for East UP: Expected, to promote dynasty is what Congress is all about. They consider family as the party while BJP considers party as the family. Congress has accepted that Rahul Gandhi Ji has failed pic.twitter.com/NlTdF2LmxS  ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

One of the most awaited entries in Indian politics is finally here! While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real news is that she finally decided to take the plunge! Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi.  Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) January 23, 2019

Prashant Kishor, vice president of the JD(U), described the appointment as Congress' general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East as "one of the most awaited entries in Indian politics".

Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh also took to twitter and said "Congratulations to @INCIndia leaders appointed by @RahulGandhi as in-charge of various states ahead of LS polls. Special congrats to Priyanka Gandhi on being appointed AICC General Secretary in-charge of UP East. Her appointment will help rejuvenate the party across the country."

Congratulations to @INCIndia leaders appointed by @RahulGandhi as in-charge of various states ahead of LS polls. Special congrats to Priyanka Gandhi on being appointed AICC General Secretary in-charge of UP East. Her appointment will help rejuvenate the party across the country.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) January 23, 2019

Punjab Congress leader, Navjot Singh Siddhu expressed his happiness and said "This is a boon for me... everyone in the Congress is thrilled and inspired by the good news... it is a shot in the arm... the catalyst that will galvanise the party and infuse fresh spirits in our veins."
New Delhi:

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will announce the results of Common Proficiency Test (CPT) examination along with the CA Final (old course and new course) and foundation examination today i.e. January 23, 2019. As per the official notification, the ICAI will announce the results at around 6 pm.



The exam for CA Final was held on November 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15 & 17, 2018, the exam for CA Foundation was conducted on November 11, 13, 15 & 17, 2018 and that for CPT was held on December 16, 2018.Soon after the official announcement, candidates can visit the official websites icaiexam.icai.org, caresults.icai.org and icai.nic.in to check and download the results.



Alternatively, students can also check the ICAI Results through SMS service provided by the institute. For the convenience of the students, we have elaborated the process through which the candidates can get their results:



To get the CA Result 2018 by email:



The candidates will first have to visit the official website of the institute i.e. icaiexam.icai.org.



On the homepage of the website, the candidates need to log in by clicking on 'Login/ Register' tab.



Enter their Login ID and Password.



Submit the login details, after which, click on the 'Email Registration' link.

In the next screen, the candidates have to provide their Name, Roll Number, E-mail id and then click on the Register Me button.

To get the CA Result 2018 by SMS:



CA Final Result 2018 through SMS (New Course): CAFNLNEW (space)XXXXXX (Where XXXXXX is the six digit Final examination roll number of the candidate) , e.g. CAFNLNEW 000128. Sent the message to 58888.

CA Final Result 2018 through SMS (Old Course): CAFNLOLD (space) XXXXXX (Where XXXXXX is the six digit Final examination roll number of the candidate), e.g. CAFNLOLD 000128. Sent the message to 58888.



CA Foundation Result 2018 through SMS: CAFND (Space)XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is the six digit Foundation Examination roll number of the candidate), e.g. CAFND 000171. Sent the message to 58888.



CPT Foundation Result 2018 through SMS: CACPT(Space)XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is the six digit Common Proficiency Test roll number of the candidate) , e.g. CACPT 000171. Sent the message to 5888.
Paris:

French carmaker Renault said on Tuesday that it would hold a board meeting on Thursday to name a replacement for its boss Carlos Ghosn, who remains in custody in Japan over alleged financial misconduct. Sources close to the discussions told AFP that the company would put forward Thierry Bollore to replace Ghosn as chief executive and Michelin chief Jean-Dominique Senard as board chairman. Ghosn currently holds both roles.



Renault, part of a powerful alliance with Japanese carmakers Nissan and Mitsubishi, officially declined to comment on Ghosn's replacement, beyond confirming Thursday's board meeting. A trade union source said the meeting would take place at 10:00 am (0900 GMT) on Thursday.



Ghosn has already been stripped of his positions as chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi in the wake of the allegations. The French government, Renault's biggest shareholder with a stake of more than 15 percent, is particularly keen to see the company appoint a new leader.



Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had last week demanded a board meeting "in the coming days" to name Ghosn's successor. The Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian businessman, who was arrested on November 19, is set to remain behind bars for the forseeable future after a Tokyo court again denied him bail on Tuesday.



Prosecutors suspect he under-declared his income in official statements to Nissan shareholders between 2010 and 2015 to the tune of some five billion yen ($46 million), apparently in an attempt to avoid accusations that he was overpaid. A separate but similar charge is that he continued to do this between 2015 and 2018, under-reporting his income by a further four billion yen. He also faces a complex charge of seeking to shift personal investment losses onto Nissan's books and transferring company funds to a Saudi contact who allegedly stumped up collateral for him.



Bollore, who has been running Renault in the wake of Ghosn's stunning arrest, was named deputy CEO a day after he was taken into custody. The 55-year-old has spent his entire career in the car industry, much of it in Asia.This is seen at Renault as valuable experience in terms of smoothing fraught relations with its Japanese partners and developing business in China. Senard, 66, has worked at tyre giant Michelin since 2005 and was the first non-family member to head the historic company. He was due to hand over the CEO role to his deputy in May.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  The office of then Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel incurred 127.83 million in expenses in 2017, the most that a senator spent that year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).

COA on Tuesday released an itemized list of the 1.86 billion spent by all senators in 2017, signed by Supervising Auditor Olympia Balugay. This included the 49 million spent by former Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who resigned in May 2017 to serve as Foreign Affairs Secretary.

Next to Pimentel with the biggest expense was Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, with almost 87 million.

Both Pimentel and Trillanes noted that the COA did not flag any irregularity in the use of office funds.

Pimentel said it was expected for him to incur the highest expense in 2017 as the Office of the Senate President has a higher budget.

"It's part of the job. Ganun talaga. When you're Senate President, you're head of the agency. Mas marami kang meetings. Meron kang ini-entertain, mga ganun. Marami kang pinupuntahan. May escort ka pa," Pimentel told reporters on Wednesday.

Pimentel spent the most on the salaries and benefits of his staff at around 49 million, followed by 28.4 million for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

Trillanes, meanwhile, said his office "merely utilized those allocations instead of realigning them for other purposes." He also spent the biggest chunk of his budget, 39.85 million, for his staff's salaries and benefits, and P15.96 million for other MOOE.

Other senators who spent more than 80 million were Manny Pacquiao (86.4 million), Bam Aquino (85 million), Risa Hontiveros (85.2 million), and Ralph Recto ( 84.4 million). Senator Joel Villanueva spent the least at 63.2 million.
Prions can infect both humans and animals, causing Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, mad cow disease in cattle, and chronic wasting disease in elk and deer. The infectious, misfolded protein particles often go undetected as they destroy brain tissue, causing memory loss, mobility issues, and ultimately death. Preclinical detection of prions has proven difficult, but new research suggests skin samples hold early signs of prion disease that precede neurologic symptoms.

"Currently a definitive diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is dependent on the examination of diseased brain tissue obtained at biopsy or autopsy. It has been impossible to detect at the early preclinical stage," said Wenquan Zou, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

In a ground-breaking study published in Nature Communications, Zou and an international team of researchers successfully used two methods to detect prions in skin samples collected from inoculated rodents. The study provides the first proof-of-concept evidence that readily accessible skin samples could be used to detect prion disease early--before clinical symptoms appear.

In the new study, Zou and colleagues successfully detected prions in rodent skin samples as early as two weeks post-infection. They also detected prions in the skin of uninoculated rodents that were housed alongside inoculated cage mates, demonstrating that prion transmission can occur between cohabitating rodents.

Prions were detected in skin samples from the inoculated rodents before they showed any clinical signs of prion disease. The researchers first inoculated the brains of hamsters and humanized transgenic mice with rodent or human prion samples, respectively. Then, they collected skin and brain samples at different time points, and used two different methods to detect disease-associated prion proteins in the tissues. In both hamsters and mice, the researchers detected prions in skin before they could be detected in brain tissue. The researchers concluded that skin prions could serve as a useful biomarker for preclinical diagnosis of prion diseases.

The study compared two highly-sensitive prion detection methods: RT-QuIC (real-time quaking-induced conversion) and sPMCA (serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification). "Both assays were able to efficiently amplify trace amounts of disease-associated prion protein found in the skin tissues of infected animals," said the study's first author Zerui Wang, MD, a PhD student from the First Hospital of Jilin University, China, working in the Zou laboratory. The tests use prions in tissue samples as a template and either normal brain tissue or synthetic prion protein as "building blocks" to dramatically amplify minute amounts of prions to detectable levels.

One of the methods, RT-QuIC, has been used to detect prion particles in symptomatic CJD patients. However, it normally requires invasive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling that may be contraindicated for certain patients. Additionally, "The CSF-based prion test results could be uncertain in some cases and not all CSF specimens from patients with prion disease are RT-QuIC positive," said Qingzhong Kong, PhD, associate professor of pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and co-corresponding author on the study. "Although skin samples may not replace CSF in routine RT-QuIC-based prion disease diagnosis, they may be helpful when prion disease is suspected but CSF is either unavailable or RT-QuIC-negative."

The study results build upon previous work by Zou and colleagues showing that autopsy skin samples from human prion disease patients exhibit prion seeding and infectivity. The next step will be to develop and validate the skin prion tests for clinical use.

Said Zou, "Since the skin is readily accessible and skin biopsy is minimally invasive, detection of skin prions will be very useful for monitoring disease progression and assessing therapeutic efficacy during clinical trials or treatments when prion therapy becomes available in the future."

Zou and Kong were recently awarded a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to validate the test methods using human skin samples. They will determine if skin prions could serve as a diagnostic biomarker for CJD or a source of prion transmission.

The researchers believe the methods may also be adapted for diagnosis of other diseases involving misfolded proteins. "Sensitive, minimally invasive detection of various misfolded proteins in skin, such as tau in Alzheimer's disease and alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease, could be highly valuable for disease diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression and efficacy of treatments," Zou said. "It's possible that the skin will ultimately serve as a mirror for us to monitor these misfolded proteins that accumulate and damage the brain in patients with these conditions."
A team of scientists from Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (MSMU) together with their colleagues described a number of genetic mutations causing Usher syndrome (inherited deaf-blindness)

A team of scientists from Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (MSMU) together with their colleagues from leading scientific centers of Moscow and India described a number of genetic mutations causing Usher syndrome (inherited deaf-blindness). They found previously unstudied unique mutations in investigated DNA regions. The results of the study were published in the Ophthalmic Genetics journal.

Usher syndrome is an inherited disorder that accounts for almost a half of all cases of deaf-blindness. There are three types of the disease that are differentiated based on the level of deafness (type I - innate deafness, type II - diminished hearing that does not worsen with time, and type III -progressive decrease in hearing). According to one of the works dating back to 2010, the disease affects 3 to 6 in 100,000 people depending on the region of study. However, among American children the share of patients with this condition may reach 1 in 6,000. Mutations that cause Usher syndrome occur with different frequencies in different populations.

The authors of the work studied and described mutations in Russian patients with Usher syndrome. Due to the rarity of this condition the team worked with 28 patients (11 men and 17 women) 35-60 years of age in which the disease manifested when they were 1 to 18 years old. The group consisted of 21 (75%) Russians (of Slavic origin), 3 (10%) Ukrainians, 2 (7%) Jews, 1 (4%) Belarusian, and 1 (4%) Chuvash. The patients were selected according to their medical records and underwent tests to confirm their clinical diagnosis. All participants suffered from vestibular sickness and vision disorders, and 22 out of 28 also had hearing problems.

Clinical examinations of vision, hearing, and vestibular system showed that 15 and 11 patients had USH of type I and II respectively. Genetic testing demonstrated different mutations associated with the development of Usher syndrome in 23 patients. 11 patients had mutations in the genes associated with type I USH: MYO7A (8 people; a gene that codes a protein in charge of cell movement and intracellular transportation), CDH23 (1), PCDH15 (1) (genes that code signal proteins playing a role in the work of retina and inner ear), and USH1C (1) (a gene that codes a protein playing a role in the development of retina and inner ear). MYO7A displayed 11 mutations, 6 of them have not been described before. 2 new mutations were found in the PCDH15 gene. Genetic testing confirmed around 91% of type II USH diagnoses. The USH2A gene associated with type II USH showed 11 mutations, 3 of which turned out to be new. The prevalence of type II USH in Russian patients was lower than in other countries, and the frequency of mutations in MYO7A in charge of type I USH was very high.

"While analyzing the databases of mutations associated with Usher syndrome we understood that some of the mutations we had found were completely new. Unfortunately, they would not help recognize the disease on earlier stages or with higher probability, but would be able to confirm the diagnosis. The search for new genetic variations associated with the syndrome may help identify new targets for specific therapy. However, this is not happening in the near future," said Prof. Dmitry Zaletaev, a chief research associate at the laboratory of Medical Genetics, Sechenov University.

Among the participants of the study were scientists from India, employees of Ophthalmic Ltd, Center for Ophthalmology of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, Research Centre for Medical Genetics, Institute of General Pathology and Pathophysiology, and many others. The work was carried out with the support of So-Edinenie Deaf-Blind Support Foundation and Sensor-Tech Laboratory.
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have received a grant from leading men's health charity, Prostate Cancer UK, as London continues to lead the way in advanced prostate cancer research.

Six separate grants worth over 2.5 million have been awarded in London as part of the charity's Research Innovation Awards scheme which funds forward thinking, ambitious research proposals from across the UK which challenge the status quo.

Dr Gunnel Hallden is leading one of the pioneering studies at Queen Mary. It builds on previous work funded by Prostate Cancer UK, which saw Dr Hallden develop a modified type of flu virus that specifically infects and kills cancer cells, leaving non-cancer cells unharmed.

Dr Hallden from Queen Mary University of London, said: "Our first study proved very successful when the virus was injected directly into cancer cells in mice and used alongside standard chemotherapy drugs. However, we wanted to find a way of delivering it via the blood, so it can reach all tumours in the body at once, instead of being injected into just one.

"This has proven difficult in the past, but by 'packaging' the virus with special proteins to help protect it as it travels through the blood, we hope the virus can survive long enough to reach the tumours. We'll also modify the virus to give it the ability to alert the patient's immune system to prostate cancer so the patient's own body will continue to fight the disease.

"Thanks to Prostate Cancer UK's generous grants, we hope we can soon have a new treatment for men with incurable prostate cancer which will improve both the length and quality of their life."

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the disease kills one man every 45 minutes in the UK, amounting to more than 11,500 men every year.

Dr Matthew Hobbs, Director of Research at Prostate Cancer UK said: "Prostate cancer is on target to become the UK's most commonly diagnosed cancer by 2030, and every year over 9,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer too late and told that it can't be cured.

"That's why we're funding innovative research like this to benefit men diagnosed with a later stage of the disease. By funding these six hugely exciting research projects at three different London institutions we believe that London will become an even more effective hub for research that will help to tame prostate cancer.

"Prostate Cancer UK is determined to tame this disease and we have the focus and expertise that will enable us to achieve that aim. However, funding the best research like these six projects requires funds. That's why we're encouraging everyone to sign up to the London March for Men - one in our series of mass participation walking events taking place across the UK this summer. The London march alone has raised an incredible half a million pounds over the last two years to help fund vital research, and we'd like to ask you to pull your boots on again for an even bigger, even better March for Men in 2019."

In a bid to ramp up its fundraising Prostate Cancer UK launched three March for Men walks, in 2017, to help raise the vital funds needed for research.

Two years on, Prostate Cancer UK's March for Men series includes walks in London, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow - with more to be announced soon. So far, 6,300 walkers have raised over 825,000 in funds to stop prostate cancer being a killer.
Peak Analysis & Automation (PAA), a global leader in laboratory automation for over 30 years, will be showcasing its range of innovative, cutting-edge automation solutions and providing expert automation advice on booth 1429 at the SLAS 2019 conference in Washington, DC, February 2-6th 2019.

Featured on booth will be the new and improved S-LAB automated plate handler, entered into the SLAS 2019 New Product Award. S-LAB is an easy-to-use, compact, and budget-friendly single instrument loading solution.

Now more reliable than ever before, PAAs S-LAB plate handler redefines automation by being cost-effective with the same reliability as an expensive robotic arm - making it easier for labs to automate their processes. Compatible with up to 300 different laboratory instruments the S-LAB easily fits standard lab benches and most safety cabinets and PAAs intuitive Harmony software package makes operation easy.

Visitors to the booth will be able to see an S-LAB loading and unloading a Thermo Multidrop, controlled via a phone or table without a PC. The plate handler also efficiently and reliably handles lidded microplatesessential for sterile cell-based assaysand is a truly easy-to-use system, without complicated installation or robot teaching.

At the other end of the automation spectrum and also a highlight on booth 1429 are PAAs S-CEL robotic systems, delivering tailored and fully integrated solutions for rapid assay scalabilityfrom simple benchtop automation through to complex cell-based science. Breaking the mold of traditional laboratory automation, PAAs S-CEL systems effectively streamline both equipment usage and throughput, while simultaneously reducing the need for specialized knowledge to operate - enabling researchers to focus on applications rather than automation.

S-CELs impressive instrument density enables integration of multiple instruments while minimizing floor and height space. Safety is fundamental to the design, and the systems can be ETLus and NRTL certified. S-CEL systems exceed Biosafety Level 2 and are the only solutions on the market to provide a laminar airflow across the whole system to maintain sterility and protect valuable assays.

Visitors to the booth can learn more about the systems and receive expert advice on the best solution tailored to their needs.

PAAs automation systems are powered by Overlord advanced scheduling software, allowing more consistent control over processes, higher reliability, and greater data connectivity. PAA will be running an Overlord User Group Tutorial at SLAS2019 on Monday 4th February at 12.30pm, room 150A, with speakers from Genmab and Sanofi Pasteur who will explain the benefits that PAAs solutions bring to their businesses. Lunch will be provided. Delegates interested in attending can sign up by contacting PAA or via the website.

In addition, PAA will have experts on hand on booth 1429 for automation advice. The company is well known for its approachable automation and is used by some of the biggest names in pharma. Representatives will be happy to assist with any and all automation queries, no matter how big or small. Visitors to the booth will also have the opportunity to enter a competition to win a $100 voucher and pick up a free giveaway.

For more information please visit booth 1429 at SLAS2019 or www.paa-automation.com
With the help of a multidisciplinary register and questionnaire study, Finnish researchers showed that both the educational level and its occupational orientation predict the mother's smoking during early pregnancy.

Approximately 15% of pregnant Finnish women smoke during early pregnancy. The number has remained stable during the past decades, and it is higher than in the other Nordic countries where smoking during pregnancy has decreased strongly. Smoking during pregnancy has a dramatic effect on fetal health.

Smoking during pregnancy is unevenly distributed between different socio-economic groups and sets, thus, their offspring in an unequal position. An international cohort study reveals that in Finland, the disparities of smoking during pregnancy resulting from socio-economical variation are explained by the mother's educational level and orientation to vocational or general education.

Socio-economic Status Indicator Matters

In the earlier studies on the socio-economic disparities of smoking during pregnancy, the generally used indicator describing an individual's socio-economic status has been either education, occupational status, level of income, or housing conditions. These factors are strongly connected and predict smoking during pregnancy regardless of the indicator.

- However, such an approach does not take the complexity of the socio-economic status into account. Despite the positive connection between education and income, not all employees with academic degrees have high incomes, for example. Therefore, education might have a different kind of an effect on smoking during pregnancy than income, explains Docent at the University of Turku Juho Harkonen, who is also Professor at the European University Institute and the Principal Investigator of the research project.

A large number of women try to quit smoking when they are planning pregnancy or find out that they are expecting. The likelihood of smoking during pregnancy is also affected by smoking habits developed earlier on in life.

Previously, it has not been precisely known which socio-economic factors most strongly contribute to smoking during pregnancy. The newly published study helps to understand the underlying factors behind the disparities of smoking during pregnancy and to develop measures to tackle the problem.

Low Educational Level and Vocational Education Predict Smoking during Pregnancy

The data of 2,667 pregnant women were used in the study. The educational and occupational data and information on smoking during the first pregnancy trimester were retrieved from national registers. The information on the income support recipiency and the mother's subjective economic well-being were retrieved from the FinnBrain birth cohort study questionnaires of the University of Turku.

In addition, the analyses took into account the mother's age, partnership status, residential area type, parental separation, parity, childhood socio-economic background, childhood adversities, and antenatal stress.

The central outcome of the study was that the socio-economic disparities of smoking during early pregnancy are linked to the educational differences between expectant mothers. The mother's occupation or subjective economic well-being were not linked to smoking during pregnancy when the other factors were taken into account. Instead, income support recipiency was linked to smoking, even though there were few such mothers involved in the study. Also, depressive symptoms during pregnancy were linked to smoking, but taking this into account did not decrease the disparities related to the socio-economic status.

- In line with the earlier studies, we observed that low educational level is strongly connected with smoking during pregnancy. In terms of expectant mothers with a university degree, only approximately 2% smoked, whereas 44% of mothers with compulsory schooling only smoked during early pregnancy, says Harkonen.

In contrast to earlier studies, the study also investigated the link between the vocational orientation of education and smoking during pregnancy. One significant outcome was that smoking among expectant mothers with vocational degrees was more common at all educational levels. 27% of mothers with vocational secondary level degrees smoked, whereas the number of smokers among those with general secondary level degrees was significantly smaller (9%). Additionally, smoking was more common among mothers with combined secondary level (general and vocational) degrees (13%) than those with general secondary level degrees only (9%).

- Smoking was more common also among those with a polytechnic degree (5%) than among those with a university degree (2%). According to our interpretation, these differences might be explained by the fact that deciding to start smoking and the social acceptability related to it varies between vocational and generalist schools, adds Harkonen.

Significant in terms of health care and political decision-making, the study was carried out within the Life course experiences, intergenerational processes, and child well-being and development project funded by the Academy of Finland. Combining social sciences and medicine, the project investigates the impact of the parents' life cycles on prenatal conditions and the health and early development of newborn babies. The project is a part of the FinnBrain study of the University of Turku.

Launched in 2010, FinnBrain is a birth cohort study of the University of Turku involving over 4,000 families and aiming at exploring environmental and genetic factors influencing the development of a child. In addition to questionnaires and registers, the FinnBrain project also utilizes the mapping of genes, behavioral traits, and hormonal metabolism as well as brain imaging that produce new information on the factors promoting well-being during childhood.
Breath analysis medical device manufacturer, Bedfont, will be returning to Arab Health 2019  the largest healthcare exhibition in the Gulf Cooperation Council. They will be exhibiting their wide range of breath analysis medical devices, including the new and improved NObreath FeNO monitor.

Image credit: Bedfont Scientific

The NObreath offers a quick, simple and non-invasive method of measuring FeNO to assess airway inflammation, aiding in the diagnosis and management of asthma.

Interpreting FeNO levels aids in identifying patients who do/do not require on-going treatment whilst also differentiating between allergic (eosinophilic) and non-allergic asthma, and if used daily, FeNO measurements can help to predict exacerbations and attacks.

Alongside a fresh and aesthetically pleasing design with a full-color touchscreen, new features of the 2nd generation NObreath also include the ability to save patient profiles on the device, Bluetooth connectivity, and SteriTouch technology for optimum infection control.

Furthermore, the NObreath comes with free patient management software allowing the equipment to synchronize with a PC, enabling reports to be generated, data to be backed up, and much more.

Established in 1976, their other monitors include the Smokerlyzer, used for smoking cessation, and the ToxCO, used by emergency services, to screen for CO poisoning. The Gastrolyzer range aids in the detection of gastrointestinal disorders and food intolerances.

Bedfont aims to continue improving and innovating health, and being the largest healthcare gathering in the GCC, Arab Health is the perfect place to find like-minded companies to work with and help raise awareness of the benefits of breath testing. Matthew Skinner, Sales Team Manager

This year, Arab Health is taking place between 28-31 January in Dubai and Bedfont can be found at stand C57, Hall 7.

Source: https://www.bedfont.com/news/home/bedfont-brings-the-2nd-generation-nobreath-to-the-gcc
Many positive results have been obtained since China implemented a total ban on ivory processing and sales in its domestic market in January last year, according to scholars and relevant institutions.

A new public campaign has been launched nationwide by China Customs and the National Forestry and Grasslands Administration (NFGA) with non-profit organizations WildAid and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), aiming to reinforce the ivory ban in tourism ahead of the upcoming holiday season.

"China has set an example for the world in wildlife protection and shown the determination of a responsible stakeholder on the global stage," said Dr. Sun Quanhui, science officer of World Animal Protection, a United Nations general consultative organization.

Since domestic sales of ivory were banned in China, there's been a clear decline in illegal sales and demand for ivory on the mainland, according to surveys released by TRAFFIC and WWF in September 2018.

Several months after the ban was enacted, a 90-percent of the public surveyed stated support for the ban, and within 12 months ivory consumption had decreased in a significant manner, reported by the WildAid.

Twelve percent of respondents claim to have purchased ivory in the first 6 months since the ban, compared to 26 percent of respondents who reported doing so in a similar 2017 pre-ban survey, a 54 percent decline, according to the TRAFFIC-WWF survey.

"The change has been notable," Sun said. "The public demand for ivory products has largely gone down as has poaching and ivory traffic."

On the other hand, a huge rise has been seen in the society's protection awareness of endangered wildlife.

"China's ivory ban shows the determination of a responsible nation and sets an example for the world in wildlife protection ... The ban was the most extraordinary measure that the world has seen to protect wild elephants," Sun said.

WildAid also praised China's efforts in enforcing the ban on both domestic and international levels. In 2018, China's National Forestry and Grasslands Administration (NFGA) had worked with diplomatic, cultural, customs and market surveillance departments to carry out inspections and promotions in major municipalities and provinces including Beijing, Tianjin, Hubei, Yunnan, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong.

Chinese authorities including NFGA and the customs have collaborated on organizing campaigns in several African countries such as Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda and Ethiopia, urging the public to stay away from the illegal trade of wildlife products.

For three years straight, China customs has been cracking down on wildlife trafficking in "Sword at the National Gate" operations alongside forestry, public security and commerce authorities.

A number of international organized criminal groups were busted during the joint actions. In July 2017, two major ivory traffic rings were dismantled with 22 suspects arrested in Maoming and Putian, in the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. They were accused of smuggling tons of ivory worth over 100 million yuan ($14.7 million) from Africa through China's neighboring countries.

"China's total ban on the ivory trade is a milestone achievement in the history of elephant protection and a most extraordinary measure taken in the global efforts of wildlife protection in recent years," Sun said.

It has been proven in practice that only by cutting and restraining market demand for wildlife products could the endangered species be protected effectively.

Early this week, a new campaign to remind outbound tourists not to purchase ivory products was launched jointly by China Customs, NFGA, WildAid and WWF. The campaign warns that "souvenirs could be contraband."

In the new public awareness campaign, popular Chinese actor Huang Xuan, dressed as a customs officer, informs travelers that purchasing wildlife products is driving certain species toward extinction and reminds them that it is illegal to bring ivory into China, even as souvenirs.

The campaign came as part of a three-year initiative by China customs to tighten security at borders and halt imports of illegal wildlife products. Since 2018, customs has made two trips to Africa to extradite Chinese nationals involved in wildlife smuggling, according to the WildAid.

Study shows that more than 18 percent of outbound travelers bought ivory products on trips abroad, with Thailand and Hong Kong being the top two markets. Other destinations popular with Chinese travelers are also of concern.

The new public awareness campaign will appear on public media and customs entry and exit points at airports, train stations and border crossings, particularly where China borders Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, in hopes of countering the trend of tourists shopping for wildlife products.

"WildAid brings decades of experience delivering high-impact media campaigns to protect wildlife to this partnership," said CEO of WildAid Peter Knights. "We've seen how these campaigns generate results in increased awareness and reduced consumption of wildlife products such as shark fin."

"WWF's goal is to reach Chinese travelers who have the means to buy ivory and access to it in popular destinations where ivory can still be found," said Jan Vertefeuille, senior director for advocacy at the WWF.

"This campaign is the kind of collaboration we need between government agencies and conservation groups to get the word out that ivory is illegal to bring home and is not socially acceptable," said the director.

"China and the international community should stay focused on species protection and step up joint efforts to end wildlife traffic on a global scale," Sun said.
Do the same laws of biodiversity which apply in nature also apply to our own bodies and homes? If so, current hygiene measures to combat aggressive germs could be, to some extent, counterproductive. So writes an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. They propose that examination of the role diversity of microorganisms plays in the ecosystems of our bodies and homes should be intensified. The findings could challenge existing strategies for fighting infectious diseases and resistant germs.

Ecosystems like high-biodiversity grasslands and forests are more resistant to disturbances, such as invasive species, climate fluctuations and pathogens, than lower-diversity ecosystems. If this diversity is reduced, basic ecosystem functions are lost. This so-called stability hypothesis has been proven in hundreds of biological studies. This research mainly deals with the world of animals and plants, but when looking at our own body or home through a microscope, an equally diverse community of microorganisms is revealed. Potentially, similar laws could apply to these communities as to the 'big' ecosystems, and this could have far-reaching consequences for our health care.

Researchers at the iDiv research centre propose, in an article published in November, 2018 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, that the theories of ecosystem research should also be tested on our immediate environment and its microorganisms.

"We influence this micro-biodiversity on a daily basis, especially by combatting it with, for example disinfectants and antibiotics - actually with the aim of promoting good health," says ecologist Robert Dunn, professor at North Carolina State University and the University of Copenhagen. Dunn wrote the article during a one-year sabbatical stay at iDiv - in collaboration with iDiv scientist Nico Eisenhauer, professor at Leipzig University. "This interference in microbial species compositions could impede the natural containment of pathogens," says Eisenhauer.

According to the ecological niche theory, plants and animals apportion the available resources in their habitat among themselves, whereby species with similar needs compete with each other. Newly arriving species find it hard to gain a foothold, at least in a stable ecosystem. However, in species-poor ecosystems or those disturbed by humans, non-native species can invade much more easily.

Microorganisms also form their own ecosystems. So far, more than two hundred thousand species are known to live in human dwellings as well as on and in human bodies. Bacteria in human dwellings account for half of these, and thousands of bacteria live on our bodies. In addition, there are around forty thousand species of fungi in our homes, although these are less likely to be found on human bodies.

"Pathogens in our environment are comparable to invasive species in nature," says ecologist Nico Eisenhauer. "If you transfer the findings from large habitats to the world of microbes, you have to expect that our habitual use of disinfectants and antibiotics actually increases the dispersal of dangerous germs because it interferes with the natural species composition." As an example, this has been documented for rod bacteria of the species Clostridium difficile, which causes intestinal inflammation with diarrhoea. The use of antibiotics enabled these to spread faster. So-called non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTMs), which form a biofilm primarily on shower heads and can cause diseases, are predominant in chlorinated water. They are largely free to proliferate on metal shower hoses, while plastic shower hoses, which encourage a rich community of microorganisms, have lower levels of NTMs.

Bacteria communities which prevent disease can also be actively created. For example, in the 1960s, researchers discovered that babies whose noses and navels were inoculated with harmless strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus were rarely colonised by S. aureus 80/81. This bacterium can cause diseases ranging from skin infections to life-threatening blood poisoning and pneumonia. Another example is faecal bacteriotherapy; by transferring a healthy community of microorganisms from person to person, it is possible to treat intestinal infections.

So, is our fear of 'Bacteria & Co.' unfounded and our knee-jerk reaction to fight them actually dangerous? "We are not physician," says Eisenhauer. "I would certainly not recommend a surgeon to work non-sterile on the open body. Having said that, as far as surfaces are concerned, targeted inoculations with a selected microbial community could possibly prevent the spread and establishment of dangerous pathogens."

In any case, only a relatively small proportion of the microorganisms in our environment actually causes disease. This also applies to insects and other arthropods, usually regarded as pests in flats and houses - especially spiders. As hunters, they provide important ecosystem services by exterminating mosquitoes, bedbugs, cockroaches and house flies, which can actually transmit diseases. "We just have to let them be," says Robert Dunn.

How the theories of biodiversity and ecosystem research apply to the health sector should, according to the three authors, be systematically investigated. Eisenhauer suggests, firstly, to test in which microbial communities common pathogens can spread better or worse on surfaces.
The irregular migrant refugees coming to European nations are often accused on bringing with them host of exotic communicable diseases that tend to spread among the host communities. The World Health Organization (WHO) this week has absolved the migrants of spreading disease in its first report that deals with this issue.

Image Credit: WHO

Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe in a statement says, The refugees and migrants that come to Europe, they do not bring any exotic diseases with them  any exotic communicable diseases... The diseases that they might have there are all well-established diseases in Europe, and also we have very good prevention and control programmes for these diseases. This applies both for tuberculosis but also HIV/AIDS.

The report says that these beliefs of migrants bringing in infectious diseases are a myth. Dr. Jakab added, International migrants make up about 10 per cent of the population in the European Region, that is about 90 million. Out of this, less than 7.4 per cent are refugees and in some of the European countries, citizens estimate that there are three or four times more migrants than there are in reality.

The report was formed on the basis of over 13,000 documents dealing with the health conditions of the migrants and refugees in and around the WHO European Region. There are a total of six such regions around the world. The European region includes 53 nations and a total population of around 920 million. International migrants make up over 50 percent in Andorra and Monaco and vary in rates to less than 2 percent in countries such as Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Poland and Romania. With rise of migration across the world, this report provides a cross sectional picture, say experts. The report points out migrants are at a greater risk of ill health compared to the host communities and populations.

Image Credit: WHO

The data from the UN migration agency says that over 50,000 refugees and migrants have lost their lives in and around the Mediterranean since 2000. This new report from the WHO also adds that unaccompanied minors, teenagers, young men and women are most commonly at risk of deceptive recruitment and modern slavery. This practice gives way to serious mental and physical health impacts that not only affects the victims but also their families and communities, the report says. UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs states that there are 258 million migrants across the globe.

Some of the examples of diseases that plague migrants according to the report include 

Diabetes - The WHO says that there is a higher incidence, prevalence and mortality rate, of diabetes among migrants especially among women.

Cervical cancer rates are higher among migrants and it is more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage, write the authors of the report. This means that the victims are at a risk of considerably worse health outcomes than those of the host population.

Mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety also affect migrants more than host populations. Unaccompanied minors are more at risk says the report. They are also at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sexual exploitation and slavery is common among unaccompanied minors leading to incidences of PTSD and depression later in their lives.

Work related injuries and trauma is more common among young men migrants compared to men from host populations.

Lack of access to health care, poor living conditions and poverty also raises the risk of infectious diseases among the migrants and refugees, the authors of the report add.

The report adds that the major problem here is lack of access to health care. Dr. Jakab said, I dont think that in most of the countries the illegal migrants have access to the health system services. So that is an area where we have to do substantial additional work and conviction of the countries, because, the best way to protect their own population and the refugees is to give them access. One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) devised by the WHO for 2030 is to provide rights-based healthcare systems that meet the needs of refugees. At present for example, only 12 out of the 53 countries in the studied region have vaccination policies for the immigrants along with host populations. This includes UK, Italy, Greece and Uzbekistan.

Dr Santino Severoni, the coordinator of public health and migration for WHO Europe in a statement said, This report is a wonderful opportunity to diffuse false myths, misperceptions and negative narrative. Health is very politicised and used as a tool of fear, but this report has very solid facts and data that is coming from our member states. Severoni added, Countries tend to use costs as a justification of limiting or delaying healthcare access to newcomers or providing emergency access only. But this is not cost effective, early identification costs less than delaying until absolutely necessary hospital treatment.
As the drive to commercialize graphene continues, it is important that all safety aspects are thoroughly researched and understood. The Graphene Flagship project has a dedicated Work Package studying the impact of graphene and related materials on our health, as well as their environmental impact. This enables safety by design to become a core part of innovation.

Researches and companies are currently using a range of materials such as few layered graphene, graphene oxide and heterostructures. The first step to assess the toxicology is to fully characterize these materials. This work overviews the production and characterization methods, and considers different materials, which biological effects depend on their inherent properties.

"One of the key messages is that this family of materials has varying properties, thus displaying varying biological effects. It is important to emphasize the need not only for a systematic analysis of well-characterized graphene-based materials, but also the importance of using standardized in vitro or in vivo assays for the safety assessment," says Bengt Fadeel, lead author of this paper working at Graphene Flagship partner Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

"This review correlates the physicochemical characteristics of graphene and related materials to the biological effects. A classification based on lateral dimensions, number of layers and carbon-to-oxygen ratio allows us to describe the parameters that can alter graphene's toxicology. This can orient future development and use of these materials," explains Alberto Bianco, from Graphene Flagship partner CNRS, France and deputy leader of the Graphene Flagship Work Package on Health and Environment.

The paper gives a comprehensive overview of all aspects of graphene health and environmental impact, focussing on the potential interactions of graphene-based materials with key target organs including immune system, skin, lungs, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal system, central nervous system, reproductive system, as well as a wide range of other organisms including bacteria, algae, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates in various ecosystems.

"One cannot draw conclusions from previous work on other carbon-based materials such as carbon nanotubes and extrapolate to graphene. Graphene-based materials are less cytotoxic when compared to carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide is readily degradable by cells of the immune system," comments Fadeel.

Andrea C. Ferrari, Science and Technology Officer of the Graphene Flagship and Chair of its Management Panel added that "understanding any potential Health and Environmental impacts of graphene and related materials has been at the core of all Graphene Flagship activities since day one. This review provides a solid guide for the safe use of these materials, a key step towards their widespread utilization as targeted by our innovation and technology roadmap."

The Graphene Flagship was launched by the European Union in 2013 as part of its largest research initiative ever. With a budget of 1 billion it represents a new form of joint, coordinated research initiative. The overall goal of the Graphene Flagship is to take graphene and related materials from the realm of academic laboratories into European society, facilitating economic growth and creating new jobs. Through a combined academic-industrial consortium consisting of more than 150 partners in over 20 European countries, the research effort covers the entire value chain, from materials production to components and system integration, and targets a number of specific goals that exploit the unique properties of graphene and related materials.

Source: http://graphene-flagship.eu/news/Pages/Graphene-safety-Human-Health-and-the-Environment.aspx
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is definitely not running for president in 2020, despite appearing on multiple short lists as a potential candidate.

Im flattered that Ive shown up on some of these lists, hopefully it means Im doing a decent job in Washington, the Connecticut Democrat said Wednesday after a news conference at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, where he was discussing airport security amid the federal government shutdown.

I dont think that I have to run for president to make a difference for Connecticut or for the issues that I care about it, he said.

For up-to-date information on public policy issues, sign up for the CT Politics newsletter

Murphy later tweeted an official announcement, let me be 100 percent clear: Im not running in 2020. I love the job I have now. And at least two or three Democrats in the Senate need to stay behind to keep the fight going here!

Several of his colleagues in the Senate have lined up to run for president, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

Murphys top communications aide, Chris Harris, announced this week he is leaving Murphys staff to join Harris campaign.

Im really excited for Chris, Murphy said. Hes been a great friend and staffer.

Nancy Wyman, who was to officially become chairman of the Connecticut Democratic Party Wednesday evening, called Murphys decision unfortunate for the country, but great for the state of Connecticut.

Hes been a great representative for our state and he will always have my backing no matter what he decides to do, she said. Especially with the president we have now, we need people in Senate who will stand up to him.

Murphy did not say who he would support in 2020.

He was easily re-elected to a second term in the U.S. Senate in November, and has long implied he wouldnt be in the presidential running. But that hasnt stopped his name from being included in the pool of potential candidates on lists by outlets like The Washington Post and Politico.

Murphys popularity among progressives has soared since 2012 thanks to his activism on gun control. At 45, he is one of the youngest members of the Senate, and served in the House of Representatives for Connecticuts 5th Congressional District.

I certainly havent been traveling to Iowa or New Hampshire like other folks have, Murphy said Wednesday, adding, I havent been acting like a candidate for president for quite some time.

On whether its something he would consider in the future, he said, Its not something I would rule out.

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt
Courtesy of Gina Kensek

The Methodist Church in New Milford stands along Elm Street in the postcard photographed by P.M. Cassedy from the early 20th century. The church called Elm Street home until the 1960s when it moved as the United Methodist Church to its present location on Route 7. Next door to the Methodist Church during New Milfords early 20th century days was the towns Roman Catholic church, St. Francis Xavier, a parish that moved to its present home along Chestnutland Road. If you have a Way Back When photograph youd like to share, contact Deborah Rose at drose@newstimes.com or 860-355-7324.
State Senator Julie Kushner (D-24th) recently joined Secretary of the State Denise Merrill to announce that they are seeking an amendment to Connecticuts constitution that would allow Connecticut voters to enjoy a minimum of three days of early voting.

Kushner represents Sherman, New Fairfield, Danbury and Bethel.

Last year, nearly 40 million Americans voted prior to election day, which was a record for mid-term elections.

Connecticut is currently one of only 12 states in America with no provision for early voting, and is one of only nine states that actually requires voters to provide an excuse in order to vote by absentee ballot.

The proposed constitutional amendment - which would need legislative and voter approval - would allow for at least three days of in-person, early voting in Connecticut.

Connecticuts absentee voting laws were set in stone in 1932, when Herbert Hoover was running for president, and theyve barely changed since then, Sen. Kushner said. Thats nearly 90 years of national progress on voting rights for women and minorities and of striking advances in voting technology that have all but fallen by the wayside here in the land of steady habits.

Id like to see Connecticut become a more participatory democracy, so we need to look at every possible avenue to achieve that, from more government transparency to better communication with constituents to ensuring that everyone has the ability to vote, she said. Our participatory democracy would be enhanced by early voting.

A record number of Connecticut citizens registered to vote leading up to the 2018 election, and we had record turnout, despite long lines and heavy rains. We should continue to remove barriers to Connecticut voters exercising their most fundamental right to vote by joining the overwhelming majority of states that allow their voters to cast a ballot before Election Day, said Secretary Merrill. This popular, common-sense election reform will help ensure that not only can every Connecticut citizen easily register, but that every registered voter can conveniently vote.

Representatives from AARP Connecticut, the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the ACLU, ConnPirg, Indivisible and the African-American womens sorority Delta Sigma Theta also spoke Tuesday in support of early voting, as did other Democratic state senators.

Throughout our history, access to the ballot box has increased with progressive changes to our laws and our Constitution, said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-11th). Connecticut should take the next step in expanding voter participation and enact early voting as so many other states have done. This expansion of enfranchisement will strengthen our democracy and encourage responsible citizenship.
Businesspeople in the Tibet autonomous region are feeling more confident about their careers thanks to the regional government's efforts to boost the green industry.

The region plans to make significant progress this year in ecologically sound ventures, Qi Zhala, chairman of the regional government, said during the recent regional people's congress.

Tibet remains one of the globe's best-preserved environments and is therefore an ideal place for green industries to prosper, such as bottled water and Tibetan medicine.

According to Tibet's 2018 government work report, the added value of green products hit 5.3 billion yuan ($783 million) over the year, an annual increase of 14.3 percent.

Tsewang Nyima, head of Manling county, said he has been encouraging people to plant Tibetan medicinal herbs.

In 2010, the county government took steps to make the area a center of Tibetan medicine. Seeing a business opportunity, entrepreneur Nyima (not related to Tsewang Nyima) and his son Tsering Norbu established the Golden Sun Tibetan Herbal Plantation Farm in 2012.

The farm grows six kinds of herbs and sells them in other parts of Tibet and neighboring Yunnan province. In 2017, the business earned more than 300,000 yuan.

Elsewhere, the region's Nang county is focusing on apples and chili peppers.

"Green industries have become an important second source of income for rural residents," said Dawa Drolma, a deputy to the congress and an agricultural technician from the region's Nang county. She added that collecting caterpillar fungus was a primary source of income for farmers there.

"In the past, farmers had to find their own markets and sell products individually. But since last year, the government has helped to establish cooperatives to expand the market," she said.

"Every year, we conduct three to four workshops for the farmers to help them improve their skills and business thinking."

In Chushul county, near Lhasa, a grape farm owner - a Tibetan Catholic named Lucy - is delighted with the region's commitment to boost green industries. Since 2015, she has run a grape vineyard on a national agricultural pilot base. To produce genuine green products she uses sheep dung as fertilizer.

"It was a bumper harvest for me. I made more than 1,500 liters of grape wine last year and earned about 20,000 yuan," she said.

Her wine is gaining popularity in Lhasa, she said, adding that she also helps residents raise their incomes by renting their land and providing jobs. As one of the local government's efforts to aid the green industry, the Chushul county government invested 400,000 yuan in her grape farm.

"I will always stick to green innovation, and I hope to produce more green products for the rest of my life," she said.
To the Editor:

Forty-six years ago, on Jan. 27, 1973, an announcement was made that all American prisoners taken during the Vietnam War would be released within 90 days of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.

During Operation Homecoming, 591 Americans were repatriated. Over 2,500 Americans had not been accounted for.

There are still unrecovered prisoners of war, those listed as last known alive, and those still missing in action from Southeast Asia for whom there has not been an accounting.

In 1985, 41 Connecticut servicemen were unaccounted for from Southeast Asia.

Fifteen have been accounted for, beginning with Danburys Cmdr. Lee Coles remains which were returned in 1988 and identified in 1989.

However, three of those burials were co-mingled remains with no individual identifications possible.

Twenty-six families still wait.

One of those men, Major Peter Hesford, was listed as Last Known Alive in Laos. Seven are still missing from Laos. No prisoners captured by the Pathet Lao were returned during Operation Homecoming.

We are grateful for the return of identifiable remains (203 in Fiscal Year 2018) from World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Only 10 of the 203 were from the Vietnam War.

The fate of unrecovered POWs and those Last Known Alive in Southeast Asia must be addressed at the highest levels of our governments immediately in order to bring anyone home while they are still living.

All wartime records must be declassified. We must not be satisfied with the slow process of the return of identifiable remains.

Kathy Shemeley

President

Prisoner of War/Missing in Action, Connecticut Forget-Me-Nots

New Milford
NEW MILFORD  Residents will decide if the town should sell one of its surplus properties at a town meeting next week.

The 1.64 acre property is at 82 Perry Drive and is an undeveloped lot. It is listed for $40,000.

It originally went for $50,000 in 2017, according to the last online listing from July.

The lot is in an existing neighborhood near Candlewood Lake.

Mayor Pete Bass said the listing agent hired by the town has a buyer interested in purchasing the land and building a home on it.

This will allow the property to go back on the tax roll and the town can start collecting taxes on it, Bass said.

He added only part of the site was good for building and so it was better for the town to sell it.

Bass said the town has had the property for a while and believes it acquired it because of a tax issue.

The town has been examining its surplus properties and trying to sell some of them so that they can generate taxes again. This is one of those properties, Bass said.

A lot of these properties are small parcels that are generally attractive only to property owners that neighbor those lots and are looking to expand, he said.

The meeting will be held at 6:45 p.m. Monday in the E. Paul Martin Room in town hall.

kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345
To the Editor:

I would like to publicly thank the New Milford Commission on the Arts for the financial support to continue, and expand, the national feed the hungry event called Empty Bowls to our extended community.

Two workshops were added this year for a total of four - two to three hours each for two weekends - on Jan. 5-6 and Jan. 12-13.

The money awarded to me was spent on supplies for 90 people, of assorted ages, to decorate 100 bowls.

Because of the generosity and civic mindedness of the commission, there was no charge to the public to take part in these events.

Decorating workshop participants included a diverse population: Gallery 25 members, local public and private school students and alumni, Girl Scouts, Loaves & Fishes volunteers and the mayor.

The workshop series encouraged the collaboration of the art, education, public and charitable communities. This strengthens the entire New Milford community.

I have observed that volunteers who decorate bowls develop an appreciation for the time, skill and patience needed to create professional quality functional pottery.

In the workshops, volunteers tell me that they have learned the artistic styles of under glaze application, including stamping, brushing and pouring. They were encouraged to try new techniques and color combinations.

I also asked the volunteers to consider the symbolism of Empty Bowls and feeding the hungry.

Participants say they enjoyed the camaraderie of making art in a communal setting.

Past evidence shows that bowl decorators become more invested in both the public art community and the movement to feed the hungry. Bowl painters have become supporters and participants in the Commission on the Arts and in other Gallery 25 programs.

Many of the bowl-decorating volunteers will attend the Empty Bowls event and take home the bowls they have decorated.

Nearly 300 people attended the 2018 Empty Bowl dinner and took home bowls.

In addition to this bowl decorating workshop series, several professional potters in the community have agreed to donate bowls.

The Connecticut Clay Artists will hold a bowl-a-thon to construct, fire and glaze more bowls.

In addition, students at Brookfield High School and Village Center for the Arts are committed to donating bowls.

Empty Bowls New Milford is scheduled to take place April 6 at St Johns Episcopal Church on Whittlesey Avenue.

For more information, call 860-350-6612 or visit www.loavesandfishesofnewmilford.org, or to learn more about the commission, email newmilartscomm@gmail.com.

Paula Marian

Sherman
WASHINGTON  With the partial government shutdown now in Day 34, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., is joining the ranks of those on Capitol Hill deferring pay until it is over.

I will be withholding my pay for the month of January onward until the government reopens, DeLauro said. Federal workers are missing their paychecks, and members of Congress should be in the same boat until those workers start getting paid again.

DeLauro joins more than 80 House members and 20 or more senators who have elected to forgo pay. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is the only other Connecticut lawmaker to give up a paycheck for the duration. Blumenthal, who regularly tops the list of wealthiest members of Congress thanks to the Malkin real estate fortune via wife Cynthia, is donating the money instead to Homes for the Brave of Bridgeport, which helps homeless veterans.

I made the personal decision to donate my salary during the Trump Shutdown to Homes for the Brave, but there are a variety of ways that Members of Congress can show support for federal employees, like participating in food drives and charity dinners, he said . . . graciously.

DeLauro may not be in Blumenthals well-heeled stratosphere but its safe to assume shes comfortable, with husband Stan Greenberg doing well as a big-name Democratic pollster and consultant.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., still get his checks but he is making donations to organizations that are helping Connecticut residents who may be harmed by the shutdown, his spokesman Patrick Malone said.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is not donating, his spokeswoman, Laura Maloney, said. End of story.

Rep. Jahana Hayes spokesman said the freshman from Waterbury is not donating her salary.

=================

The House Financial Services Committee can be a volatile place, given its role in overseeing Wall Street and all those Fairfield County-based hedge funds and private equity firms. After all, a financial meltdown doesnt happen but once a decade or maybe a bit longer  or so we hope.

But most of the time, the committees work is a mind-numbing walk through the thicket of financial regulation, with only the well-versed  yes, like Himes  attuned to the ripple effect downstream.

Now comes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.  AOC to the initiated. AOC, of course, is the much celebrated (or reviled, depending on your point of view) uber-leftist whose ultimate ambition is to level the income-distribution playing field. Some would call it Socialism, a label from which she does not flee. Others would call it long overdue after years of one-percenters delivering truckloads of trickle-down Kool-Aid to the masses.

After a decade in Congress, Himes is a senior member of the committee. He helped draft sections of the Dodd-Frank law, which Democrats passed after the Great Recession to bring an unprecedented level of regulation to the financial-services world.

And thanks to 12 years at Goldman Sachs, Himes actually may know more about the inner mechanics of the nations financial structure than anyone else in Congress.

But hes not adverse to tweaking Dodd-Frank to make it work more effectively and not tie up the players in needless red tape.

Even so, some of his fellow Democrats see any attempt to revise Dodd-Frank as capitulation to Republicans.

So even though theyre members of the same party, Himes and AOC may find they dont have a lot upon which to agree. But lets face it, making an enemy of AOC may not be the wisest move for a Democrat  even one like Himes, who leans to the center.

Himes, for the record, is excited for AOC to join the Committee, spokesman Malone said. She brings energy and attention to the important issues (Financial Services) tackles and he looks forward to working with her.

dan@hearstdc.com
The Western Connecticut State University Opera Ensemble will present Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts "The Magic Flute" in four performances on Feb. 8, 9 and 10 at the MainStage Theatre of the Visual and Performing Arts Center on the universitys Westside campus in Danbury.

The WCSU Opera Ensemble cast, directed by Professor of Music Dr. Margaret Astrup , will perform the two-act opera in English, translated from the original German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, according to a news release.

The Magic Flute, which premiered in Vienna two months before Mozarts death in 1791, recounts the tale of Prince Taminos quest to rescue and ultimately marry Pamina, daughter of the Queen of the Night. Aided by a magic flute that turns sorrow to joy and accompanied by his worldly companion Papageno, Tamino endures trials in the temple of the high priest Sarastro to prove his worthiness to wed Pamina, while the queen and her accomplice Monostatos are banished for scheming to prevent their marriage and destroy the temple.

 The Magic Flute is one of the most delightful operas in the repertoire, Astrup was quaoted as saying. It was Mozarts last opera, and many consider it his best. With set pieces and dialogue, the form is that of a singspiel or sing-play opera, not so different from contemporary musical theatre. By presenting our production in English, we are making it truly accessible to everyone.

Most principal roles in the opera have been double cast for separate performances. Sergio Mandujano, of Norwalk, and Edwin Rodriguez, of New Haven, will appear as Prince Tamino; Callie Sorrento, of Carmel, New York, and Christine Manalo, of Watertown, as Pamina; Sam Cournoyer, of Seymour, and Anthony Deluco, of Cheshire, as Papageno; and Tiffany Owen, of Stratford, and Natalie Andrews, of Salem, as Papagena. Amy Cerbie, of Meriden, and Olivia Doolittle, of Trumbull, will share the role of the Queen of the Night; Peter Ryan, of Watertown, and Zachary Nelson, of Hopewell Junction, New York, will be featured as Monostatos; and Dan Satter, of Trumbull, will appear in all performances as Sarastro.

The WCSU Orchestra will be conducted by Associate Professor of Music Dr. Fernando Jimenez . Sets have been designed by Adjunct Professor of Theatre Arts Joshua Joshbob Rose, with costumes by Summer Lee Jack.

The WCSU Alumni Association will host a special evening package on Feb. 9 featuring a cocktail reception at 6 p.m. at The Daily Grind in the Westside Campus Center followed by the 7:30 p.m. performance of "The Magic Flute." The fee for the reception and opera admission is $30 per guest. Tickets may be purchased online at http://wcsu.edu/alumni/2018/12/11/the-magic-flute-saturday-feb-9/; inquiries should be directed to the WCSU Alumni Association at 203-837-8298.

WCSU Visual and Performing Arts Center, 43 Lake Ave. Ext., Danbury. Evening performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. with matinee performances Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m. $25; $15 seniors and under age 12. Reservations may be made online at www.eventbrite.com/e/the-magic-flute-tickets-53202740830
China's weather was generally stable last year, and the nation experienced significantly less weather-related damage and fewer deaths and injuries than in recent years, the China Meteorological Administration reported on Tuesday.

Phenomena such as rainstorms, floods, droughts and dust storms were less severe than usual last year, according to the 2018 China Climate Bulletin.

Natural disasters killed 635 people, damaged around 20.8 million hectares of crops, and led to direct economic losses of more than 264.5 billion yuan ($38.8 billion) last year, the report said.

Still, compared with average figures from 2013 to 2017, all three categories saw a major drop overall. In two areastyphoons and extreme coldcasualties and economic damage were higher than usual last year, said Zhang Qiang, the deputy director of the National Climate Center.

The number of typhoons that reached China rose, and the places they came ashore were more to the north, hitting some of China's most economically vibrant regions, Zhang said.

Between 1949 and 2017, only six typhoons hit Shanghai. From late July to August, however, the city was struck by four typhoons. That included Rumbia, the typhoon that caused the most damage in China, affecting over 18 million people in seven provinces, the report said.

The 10 typhoons that landed in China last year killed 83 people and caused 69.7 billion yuan worth of damage. Rumbia accounted for more than half of the deaths and damage, killing 53 people and causing around 37 billion yuan in losses.

Temperatures and precipitation were also slightly above average last year, Zhang said. The national average temperature last year was around 10.1 C, which was 0.5 C higher than the average from 1981 to 2010.

Many parts of China saw record high temperatures, especially during spring and summer. The number of high-temperature days (at 35 C or above) was also the second highest in history, reaching 11.8 days, second only to 2017, the report said.

Precipitation reached a national average of some 673.8 millimeters7 percent higher than the average from 1981 to 2010. The extra rainfall mostly took place in the northern regions and during the summer and fall seasons.

This year, forecasters say that El Nino, a global climate phenomenon characterized by warming surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, might reach its peak in early spring, Zhang said.

That might bring more precipitation to eastern and southern parts of China, while northern regions might see less rain, he said. "El Nino is one of the main factors affecting China's climate, so we have to keep closely monitoring the situation."
China will recruit 30,000 firefighters for its newly created China Fire and Rescue Team under the Ministry of Emergency Management in its latest effort to reform the national rescue force and minimize the cost of accidents and natural disasters.

Liu Kehui, who is in charge of the ministry's training division, said 18,000 of the 30,000 positions would be open to the public. The rest of the positions will be taken by former firefighters who meet the eased age criteria.

Chinese firefighters - once under public security authorities or from armed forest police units responsible for forest fire control - were recruited under the Military Service Law and will be managed as soldiers. The candidates should be aged between 18 and 22.

For the new team, the upper age limit can be extended to 26 for candidates with a bachelor's degree or higher. Candidates were also bound to a minimum service period of five years - up from two years in the previous rules - which experts and insiders believe helps ensure that firefighters have enough time to gain the necessary skills and knowledge for their work.

"To enhance the team's firefighting capabilities, we've established a special system regarding their professional levels, titles and ranks," he said.

Liu was speaking at the ministry's first news conference since it was created following the institutional reshuffle in March, taking over 13 responsibilities from 11 government bodies, mostly on disaster relief.

The formation of the new team is a crucial step to "modernize the State governance system and capabilities", and to formulate an "emergency response system for the new era", he said.

Liu said the team's timely response to several natural disasters and accidents since last year demonstrated that the reform is headed in the right direction. But he added the task ahead remains arduous.

Through further reforms and policies, "we need to create a training method that suits the country's conditions and the profession's traits," he said.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, firefighting forces and engines were mobilized 12.7 million and 2.19 million times respectively last year. About 676,000 people were rescued and damage of 3 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) was prevented.
Contract prices for server DRAM are expected to fall by more than 20 percent this quarter over the same period in 2018, even more than the earlier forecast of 15 percent, reports DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce.

The demand outlook remains weak due to high inventory levels, seasonal buying patterns, a tapering in demand, and uncertainties over the U.S-China trade war and the possibility of tariffs.

Mark Liu, senior analyst at DRAMeXchange, said the main reason for price decline is because DRAM makers are having difficulty reducing inventory. The DRAM suppliers fulfillment rate went from 90 percent last quarter to 120 percent in this quarter, which means there is an oversupply.

Major operators of data centers in North America have enough server memory inventory to last for at least five to six weeks, while OEMs have around four weeks of inventory. Thats double the normal levels or even higher.

With the massive expansion of data centers around the globe and the demand for in-memory applications, its not hard to see where the demand came from. Memory makers like Micron and SK Hynix got their DDR4 production down to a science and were churning out a lot of memory for the last two years.

But the upgrade cycle to Intels Purley platform for Xeon has started to wear off, and memory component orders have also been fulfilled. More pressing is the uncertainties brought by the threat of a trade war, which may also affect the DRAM market.

I say may because a lot of DRAM manufacturing is not done in China. Micron makes its memory in Idaho, while Hynix is in Korea. If the DRAM is installed after the bare bones server is brought into the country, then it is not affected by the tariff. But if it is sold in a completed system, then the system itself would be affected by the tariff, not the individual components. And were talking a potential 25 percent tariff.

DRAMeXchange believes that the demand for servers will begin to recover in the second quarter. And if the inventory problems are addressed, server DRAM price decline may be moderated in the third quarter and by Q4, annual price fall to almost 50 percent.

With data center operators and OEMs anticipating falling prices and an expected cutback in production by the manufacturers, then prices could go up in the future. So even if you have an oversupply in the closet, the time to buy is now while the prices are in decline because it wont last that way forever.


County chaplain marks Holocaust Memorial Day County chaplain marks Holocaust Memorial Day

The Chaplain to Norfolk County Council, Rev Dr Liviu Barbu, was asked to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27 with a message to Senior County Hall staff and a seminar on this year's theme, 'Torn from Home'.

To help Norfolk County Council mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday, January 27, their Chaplain, Rev Dr Liviu Barbu, who is also Rector of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Norwich, was asked to share his reflections about the significance of the day in a message on the weekly blog for Norfolk County Council's Senior Officers.



Rev Dr Liviu Barbu will also be hosting a lunchtime reflection seminar around the Holocaust Memorial Days theme for this year, 'Torn from home', on Monday, January 28 from 12.30-1pm, in the Quiet Room of the Ground floor in the South Wing of County Hall (by the interview rooms).

Rev Dr Liviu Barbu writes:



Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, I would like to share with you a few thoughts on the significance of this commemoration. It is a day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.



I grew up in quite a homogeneous society in Romania, where, at the time, as a child, seeing a person of a different colour was a rare occurrence and met with acute interest and even wonder. Years later, I found myself in London, amid a most diverse society.



Having learnt about the historic struggles of different groups of people, for freedom and basic human rights, I was puzzled, and still am to this day, by the ills of racism and its many disguised ideologies and practices. I keep asking myself: how could ones skin colour, race, religion or any other personal trait be used by some as an excuse for humiliation, mutilation or killing? What could make ones views, attitudes, decisions or actions so extreme and inhuman? What could possibly qualify a person - who looks very much and is in every way as human as everyone else, in his or her basic existence, needs and aspirations - as less human?



If were to go back to our common roots, we find that we all share the very fundamentals of humanity, which today are recognised as our inalienable human rights: the right to life and free determination and enjoyment of it. We are all brothers and sisters, descending, according to the Judeo-Christian tradition, from the same parents.



The Book of Genesis also informs us that each and every person is born with a divine seal in them (Genesis 1:27: God created man and woman in his own image), which is uniquely tailored to each person. That means that in God's sight every person is unique, irreplaceable and eternal, enduring even beyond death.



As we commemorate the sacrifice of so many lives of people, who were denied their divine and human right to live out and fulfil their own lives on earth, we pray that their memory may live on for ever with us as it does with God!



Whatever our background, race, religion, belief, or no belief, Holocaust Memorial Day is a day for us to reflect on how far we have come  as individuals, as a county, as a country, as a world  and how far we still have to go, to achieve understanding, peace and compassion.



The chaplaincy of Rev Dr Liviu Barbu to Norfolk County Council is funded by Good Work.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought Wednesday to reassure U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria that they will be safe after American troops withdraw from the country.

Amid confusion over plans to implement President Donald Trump's pullout order and threats from Turkey to attack the Kurds, Pompeo made an unannounced stop in Iraq while on a weeklong trip to the Middle East aimed at assuaging the fears of Washington's Arab partners that the U.S. is abandoning the region or walking away from the fight against the Islamic State group.

"These have been folks that have fought with us and it's important that we do everything we can to ensure that those folks that fought with us are protected," Pompeo said of the Kurds while visiting Irbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, after talks in Baghdad.

His comments were similar to those made earlier in the week by Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, who said on visits to Israel and Turkey that protecting the Kurds is a priority for the U.S. even as it moves to withdraw some 2,000 American troops from Syria.

Bolton's comments drew a quick rejection from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said they were a "serious mistake" and that Turkey "cannot make any concessions in this regard." Turkey regards the Kurds as terrorists and has vowed to attack them.

Pompeo, however, downplayed Erdogan's response to Bolton and predicted that any differences could be ironed out in upcoming talks between the U.S. special envoy for Syria, Jim Jeffrey, and Turkish and Kurdish officials.

"Erdogan has made commitments; he understands that - I think he uses the language - he talks about he has no beef with the Kurds. We want to make sure that that's the case, and I'm confident that as Ambassador Jeffrey and others travel through the region in the days ahead, we'll make real progress on that," Pompeo said.

Still, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday that Turkey will not refrain from military action to protect its borders from what he describes as threats posed by Syrian Kurdish fighters.

The Turkish rebuffs continue to amplify a rift between the NATO allies and raise new questions about how the United States would protect fighters who are U.S. allies in the war against the Islamic State group.

Earlier in Baghdad, Pompeo said he told Iraqi officials that "the fight to counter Iran is real and important."

Pompeo and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi discussed efforts to ensure the "lasting defeat throughout the region" of the Islamic State group, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said.

Pompeo also promoted the U.S. push to move Iraq toward energy independence, said Palladino. Iraq imports electricity and natural gas from Iran to meet its energy needs.

Iran has cultivated close ties with Iraqi politicians and religious and business leaders since the 2003 U.S. invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and destabilized the country. Neutralizing those relations will be a difficult  and possibly dangerous  task. Iran has the ear of several powerful Iraqi militias that rival the might of the country's U.S.-funded security forces.

Abdul-Mahdi and Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi, who met with Pompeo separately, both said they told the American diplomat that Iraq values good relations with its neighbors.

Pompeo also met with Iraqi President Barham Salih and Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim and stressed the U.S.'s support for strong, relations based on the 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement between the two countries.

Pompeo has said the Syria withdrawal would not detract from U.S. efforts to contain Iran's considerable clout in the region. The White House reinstated sanctions against Iran last year for allegedly violating the 2015 nuclear deal championed by former President Barack Obama. International nuclear inspectors had said there was no evidence that Iran was violating the deal.

Pompeo's visit is the third high-profile visit by an American official to Iraq in the last month. Iraqi politicians were incensed when Trump last month made an unscheduled visit to a U.S. base in western Iraq without also meeting Abdul-Mahdi, as his predecessors Obama and George W. Bush had done.

Trump said on his Dec. 26 visit that the United States could use its bases in Iraq as a platform for continued operations against the Islamic State group in Syria.

The visit left lawmakers smarting and prompted calls to annul a 2014 agreement that brought U.S. forces back to Iraq. Some 5,200 U.S. troops are now stationed in the country.

Earlier in December, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry urged Iraq to sever its energy dependence on Iran and open its energy sector to American investment. He was in Baghdad with a trade delegation arranged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Anti-abortion activists in Rhode Island are fighting legislative attempts to enshrine abortion protections in state law.

More than 200 activists gathered in Providence on Tuesday on the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the nation.

The Providence Journal reports it was also the day that state lawmakers introduced the state Senate version of the Reproductive Health Care Act.

Anti-abortion speakers denounced the bill, saying it would expand existing abortion rights to an extreme level.

Supporters say the bill would ensure abortion rights in Rhode Island even if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

It would also prohibit the state from interfering with a woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy before the fetus is viable or when necessary to preserve the woman's health.
A Massachusetts man is facing charges after authorities say he beat his dog at an MBTA stop Tuesday evening in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood.

Michael Webb, 26, of Natick, is facing animal cruelty charges following his arrest by transit police at the Ashmont Station.

Transit police said they were called to the station at 6:45 p.m. for a report of a man beating his dog. When officers arrived, witnesses pointed out Webb who they say used his dog's leash to "viciously whip and beat the animal."

When the two officers approached Webb, he told them they would need more officers to take him into custody due to his size.

Additional officers responded and arrested Webb. While he was in custody, authorities discovered there was an arrest warrant out for Webb out of Boston Municipal Court for cruelty to animals.

The mixed breed dog named Coco was taken by the City of Boston Animal Control.

It's unclear when Webb will appear in court to face charges or if he has an attorney.
A man was arrested in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood after police resonded to a report that shots were fired in Somerville, Massachusetts.

State police initially said 27-year-old William Freeman-Benjamin of Leominster had been arrested on kidnapping charges, but later said that information should be disregarded and that any charges would come from Somerville Police.

A 2017 Hyundai Sonata was being sought by police in Somerville in connection to shots being fired. A state trooper spotted that vehicle around 12:20 p.m. on Interstate 93 southbound in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, state police said. It was stopped on Savin Hill Avenue.

Police said Freeman-Benjamin and a 33-year-old Woburn woman were in the car.

Freeman-Benjamin was taken to the state police barracks in South Boston. The woman who was in the car was also taken to the barracks in a different cruiser to speak with detectives.

Police from Somerville arrived around 1:30 to bring Freeman-Benjamin to the Somerville Police Department.

It was not immediately clear if Freeman-Benjamin had an attorney.
A Massachusetts magician faced a judge on Wednesday after being accused of indecently assaulting three juveniles who attended magic classes.

David Hussey, 53, of Weymouth, was arraigned in Hingham District Court on two counts of indecent assault and battery and one count of indecent assault and battery under the age of 14, according to the Plymouth district attorney's office.

Hussey, who is also known by his stage name of David Oliver, appeared in court wearing a bandage on part of his head. His defense attorney said he is battling cancer.

The alleged incidents involving the juveniles happened at a home in Rockland in the early 2000s, according to the DA.

According to the alleged victim's interviews, the victims were given private lessons at his home and they assisted him as stagehands in his show.

Hussey is accused of inappropriately touching three boys in hotel rooms while on the road. Prosecutors say some of the alleged victims describe Hussey as having "power over them".

Hussey was arrested late Wednesday morning by state police troopers.

Authorities said Hussey was expected to post his $2,000 bail on Thursday. Once he's released, he has been ordered to have no contact with the alleged victims and no unsupervised contact with children under 19. He must also wear a GPS monitoring device.

Hussey is due back in court March 5.
Kindergartens affiliated with urban residential communities should be inexpensive and nonprofit, according to a notice issued by the State Council's General Office on Tuesday.

Existing community-affiliated kindergartens should all be handed over to local education authorities and turned into public or low-priced private ones, it said.

China has launched a campaign to address problems in kindergartens affiliated with urban residential communities. A task force will be set up with officials from the State Council, the Ministry of Education and several other ministry-level departments, the notice said.

Lyu Yugang, director of the basic education department of the Ministry of Education, said local education authorities should conduct a thorough inspection of all community-affiliated kindergartens by the end of April.

All new kindergartens should be handed over to education authorities by the end of June, he said at a news conference.

The authorities should complete plans for communities that need new kindergartens and those that need renovation and expansion by the end of this year, and all construction work on the kindergartens should be finished by the end of 2020, Lyu said.

The government will make sure that all kindergarten teachers, private or public, earn a reasonable salary and that their basic benefits, including insurance and housing funds, are paid in full and without delay, he said.

Although it is still too early to include three years of preschool education in the country's compulsory, free education program, the government will make sure more students enjoy an inclusive, affordable and high-quality preschool education, he added.

Luo Xiaolong, a professor at Nanjing University's School of Architecture and Urban Planning, said the notice reflects the government's determination to provide affordable preschool education.

"The second-child policy implemented in early 2016 has increased competition for good preschool education resources, and the government should increase its investment in the sector," he said.

Kindergarten teachers should have better salaries and a good working atmosphere so that more qualified individuals will apply for such jobs, he said.

Children attending inexpensive public kindergartens, or low-priced private ones, will account for 80 percent of all preschoolers by 2020, according to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

By 2035, a three-year preschool education will be available for all children between the ages of 3 and 6, and a national preschool network will be established, it said.

Affordable preschools will be the priority of the campaign, the document said. Governments at all levels are encouraged to establish public kindergartens, in a bid to put about 50 percent of all preschool children into public education by 2020.
Police in Boston say they have safely located a missing 13-year-old girl.

The department thanked the public Wednesday for their assistance in finding Maria Fernandez of Boston.

Fernandez had last been seen on Jan. 11 around 3 p.m. at the Indigo House in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Authorities provided no further details on the case.
On the 33rd anniversary of a tragic crash of a Maryland State Police helicopter, the widower of a trooper killed and the police chaplain who responded to the accident visited the state police aviation unit in Baltimore.

Pastor Mike Adams, who still serves as the units chaplain, and Bob Simpson, a former trooper whose colleague and wife Carey Poetzman died in the crash, met with Maryland State Police aviation staff.

Adams and Simpson have become close friends since the crash.

Adams leads the Christ Lutheran Church in Baltimore County and is one of the longest-serving police chaplains in the region. He began his unpaid work with Maryland State Police just months before the Jan. 20, 1986, tragedy, in which one of the agencys helicopters crashed into a West Baltimore park. Troopers Poetzman and Gregory May died.

I knew I needed to be there to support (the troopers and families) and lead them and guide them, Adams said. I knew not only were their families going to be in crisis, but the whole aviation division.

I wasnt going to protect them from the pain theyre going to feel. I let them feel that and reassure them its OK. Its natural. Youre going to feel that way.

Simpson, Poetzmans husband and colleague, said Adams counseling helped convince him and others to eventually return to their work, despite the trauma of losing two colleagues in a crash.

He knew how bad I was feeling, Simpson said. He sat me down in a chair and started talking to me. I was still hurting but I knew I was glad this man was sitting here. (I knew) I needed this.

Adams was part of a first generation of police chaplains at many local police departments. All of those surveyed by News4 said their chaplain corps are unpaid volunteers who respond to emergency calls. Maryland State Police officials said Adams' work after the 1986 crash underscored the importance of finding and growing police chaplaincy in the region.

A News4 survey of four major Washington, D.C.-area police departments showed all have increased their number of chaplains since starting their chaplaincy programs. The Metropolitan Police Department now has five chaplains serving D.C. Virginia State Police, Fairfax County police and Anne Arundel County police all have boosted the size of their chaplaincy corps. Anne Arundel County has added five additional chaplains since 2009.

Maryland State Police aviation commander Maj. Mike Tagliaferri said chaplains serve a vital function inside police departments.

We are fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters, he said. We have families to go home to.

Colleagues said Adams, who has begun his 34th year as a police chaplain, has helped define the role from another generation of chaplains, of all denominations.

Adams said he has learned how to connect with police employees, who are often reluctant to display emotions or weakness.

We train our state police and other police officers and emergency (responders) to stay cool and calm, but there is a time to let yourself go, he said. The tears have to come. The anger has to come.

Reported by Scott MacFarlane, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Steve Jones.
Northern Virginia's top prosecutor says he'll push local police agencies to make better use of a nationwide crime-fighting tool that matches shell casings from different locations to help solve violent crimes.

Last week, the News4 I-Team showed how some departments in Northern Virginia fail to make full use of the technology even though it could help solve crimes in neighboring cities.

"We really do have to change our thinking," said Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which includes Northern Virginia.

The director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recently appointed Terwilliger to a three-year term on the National Crime Gun Intelligence Board, which includes police chiefs, forensic lab directors, and federal and state prosecutors,

Part of his role is to encourage full participation in the effort to reduce gun violence in communities across the nation. The model includes urging all law enforcement agencies to utilize a comprehensive way of collecting evidence and rapid entry into a nationwide system of shell casing images.

"Gathering every one of the shell casings is really important," Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham told the I-Team.

Newsham calls gun violence the number one problem in the city, with 160 murders in 2018 and already twice as many murders in 2019 as this time last year.

His officers are required to collect every single casing they see, even if there is no victim injured, no property damage and no major crime.

The outside of those casings can read like fingerprints for the gun that fired them; every gun leaves unique markings.

When a gun is found on a suspect, it's test fired, and those casings get entered into the system, too.

The National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, or NIBIN, can compare the 3-D images side by side with other casings already in the system and connect cases together.

"To the extent that other jurisdictions on our border are involved in this, it would be helpful," said Newsham.

The I-Team surveyed departments across the capital region and found neighboring police departments in Prince George's and Montgomery counties in Maryland utilize the same policy as Washington, D.C., and each of the departments has their own NIBIN machines.

But the I-Team found that is not the case in Northern Virginia, which doesn't have as much violent crime. The only machine available to local detectives is at the state lab in Manassas.

"Getting [another] one of those machines in Northern Virginia is absolutely a priority," Terwilliger told the I-Team.

It currently takes the Virginia Department of Forensic Science labs about four months to get NIBIN results back to detectives. Departments with their own machines can typically do it in days.

"If I take the extra time to collect, bag the shell casings, put it into evidence and submit it, and then it's coming back after it's not really as useful anymore, you're going to stop doing it," said Terwilliger.

He's exploring how to better utilize the Manassas machine in off hours as well, perhaps with grant money or a sharing agreement. He'll work to make sure Northern Virginia departments get feedback when their casings help solve cases in neighboring cities.

"I think it's incredibly important, he said. I mean, the whole idea is that you will have guns that routinely show up in shooting after shooting and it tells the story.

Most D.C. residents cannot legally own a gun, and ATF data shows of the crime guns recovered in the District, more come from Virginia than any other state.

The ATF operates a local crime gun intelligence center, which is currently a partnership between D.C. and Prince George's County, where they share information in real time to help link related cases to solve violent crimes faster.

ATF Special Agent Christie Weidner supervises the center and says Northern Virginia is a natural fit to join the partnership.

"I think the timing is right now for us to do that expansion," said Weidner. "Because not only do the criminals go between D.C. and Maryland, but they also come into Virginia."

Terwilliger couldn't give a specific time frame, but he does think all of the Northern Virginia law enforcement agencies will eventually adopt a comprehensive collection strategy for shell casing evidence.

He said it will require a shift in mindset for officers to collect and enter every shell casing and gun they find, but he said that will come with time  as they see how it helps solve violent crimes across the region.
A food emporium in the heart of San Diegos Little Italy community has been named among the top 10 best new food halls in the United States, according to USA Today.

The Little Italy Food Hall (LIFH)  located next to the Piazza della Famiglia, on West Date Street between India and Columbia streets  opened last summer.

After only six months in business, it seems the site has already made a mouthwatering mark: it recently ranked No. 7 among USA Todays 10Best Readers Choice Awards, in the category of Best Food Hall.

Food halls from across the country were nominated by a panel of food editors and contributors for USA Today and 10Best.com. For four weeks, people voted on the picks until the 10 best were named.

The LIFH  operated by the local hospitality group Grain & Grit Collective  features six food stations offering everything from tacos, pizza, Italian food, seafood and sandwiches to Japanese and Asian comfort food.

One of the stations  Not Not Tacos  is the work of San Diego-based TV personality Sam The Cooking Guy Zien. As the name suggests, Zien is whipping up all kinds of creative tacos there such as Sams Meatloaf taco featuring chipotle apricot glaze, green onion, lettuce, Monterey jack, sour cream and crispy onions.

Little Italy Food Hall

The other food stations are Mein St. Asian Kitchen, Single Fin Kitchen, Ambrogio15, Roast Meat & Sandwich Shop and Wicked Main Lobster.

The LIFH also features a central bar cranking out craft cocktails, local craft brews and wine. As of last month, patrons walk around the 11,000-square-foot Piazza della Famiglia with that drink in hand.

Little Italy Food Hall

Another cool feature of the food hall is its mobile outdoor chefs area where pop-up cooking demonstrations are held, sometimes by Sam the Cooking Guy himself.

The LIFH features Happy Hour Monday through Friday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with deals on some dishes like sliders and Temaki (Japanese handrolls). Happy Hour at the bar goes until 7 p.m. The food hall is free to enter, but bring money to buy some snacks.

By the way, other food halls that made the cut on USA Todays 10Best poll are, in order:

Keg and Case West 7th Market (St. Paul, Minnesota) Legacy Food Hall (Plano, Texas) Morgan Street Food Hall & Market (Raleigh, North Carolina) Finn Hall (Houston) La Centrale (Miami) Riverside Food Lab (Riverside, California) Little Italy Food Hall (San Diego) Auction House Market (New Orleans) Revolutsia (Wichita, Kansas) Pythian Market (New Orleans)

First Look: Little Italy Food Hall Opens Thursday
A blind San Diego resident is getting ready for the journey of a lifetime: a 60 day sailing trip to Fukushima, Japan.

I can feel nature very much with sailing, said Hiro Iwamoto. And I can be a driver. I cant do that in a car on the street but I can in the ocean with a boat!

With the help of a sighted sailor, Doug Smith, the two will leave on February 24 aboard the Dream Weaver, a 40-foot sailboat.

"The boat is big enough to be comfortable and safe for a voyage but still small enough," said Smith.

Iwamoto was born in Tokyo and now lives in San Diego with his wife and daughter. He lost his sight as a teenager.

"Growing up, my father had a fishing boat," said Iwamoto. "I have always loved the ocean."

If the trip is successful, Iwamoto would be the first blind man to complete a crossing of the Pacific as part of a crew composed of one totally blind person and one sighted person, he said.

A couple, both diagnosed as legally blind, became the first blind pair to cross the Pacific Ocean in 2003 when they sailed from San Francisco to Australia, according to their website.

Iwamoto attempted to make the journey in 2013, but the voyage ended prematurely.

"We had a collision with a whale and the boat got a giant crack and sank," said Iwamoto. "We were floating around in 15-foot waves before rescue came."

After that, Iwamoto did not want to sail for a long time. He said he will be sailing again both to raise money for charity and to show people that you should conquer your fears.

"Failure can make your future success one thousand times greater, so never give up," said Iwamoto.

The boat will have a tracking device on it so that fans can follow Iwamoto online during his journey.
What to Know A man accused of firing shots from a rooftop in Salem, New Jersey, leading to a standoff that lasted for hours, is now in custody.

Investigators say the suspect, identified by a family member as Eric Smith, was wanted for an outstanding warrant.

Smith allegedly fired at a U.S. Marshals Task Force that was trying to take him into custody. No one was hurt during the shooting.

Police descended on downtown Salem, New Jersey, Wednesday after a gunman fired shots from the roof of a building then barricaded himself inside for hours.

The ordeal began around noon near Broadway and Market Street. The U.S. Marshals Task Force approached a man, identified as 27-year-old Eric Smith, who was wanted for an outstanding warrant out of Salem City and didn't appear in superior court.

Smith, who police say was armed with a handgun, allegedly went onto the roof of a nearby building and fired shots at the officers. A member of the task force returned fire.

"I was a few blocks away and just heard a bunch of shots," one witness, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10. "Eight, nine."

No one was injured in the shooting, which prompted a standoff that lasted for several hours.

A large police presence of local, county and state law enforcement were on the scene as they negotiated with the shooter to surrender. Armored tanks and SWAT team members with guns drawn surrounded the building.

Hostage negotiators used a bullhorn and also called on Smith's family members to help get him to surrender, investigators said.

"He's a good man," Smith's aunt, Rebecca Holmes, told NBC10. "Good father. Good son. This is not normal for him. This is like shocking for me."

Just before 3 p.m., the shooter was taken into custody without incident, state police said. No law enforcement members were hurt.

"It seems to be a contained situation in the area," New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said at an earlier news conference for another event.

The building that police surrounded is owned by Salem County Community College, a campus receptionist said. It was unclear if any students were in the building at the time of the gunfire. Classes continued as normal at the main campus, which is located miles away in Carney's Point.

The community college and nearby county courthouse were placed under a lockdown, the prosecutor's office said. People were urged to avoid the area as court offices were closed for the day.

A worker at Pat's Pizza and Bistro, which is down the street on Broadway, said the sheriff's office told them to keep everyone inside after the initial shooting. They didn't hear any shots.

Police have not yet revealed what the initial warrant was for or the charges Smith will now face.
What to Know Philadelphia's DA is vowing to enforce a decade-old law that penalizes people who fail to report lost or stolen guns within 24 hours.

The law says that any gun owners who don't report lost or stolen guns within 24 hours will be fined $2,000 and face 90 days in jail.

Past districts attorney have been reluctant to enforce the measure.

While lambasting what he characterized as his predecessors' ulterior motives and their tendency to kowtow to the National Rifle Association, Philadelphia's District Attorney took aim Wednesday at people who buy guns for others who can't legally own them.

District Attorney Larry Krasner said his office will use a decade-old but barely enforced law to prosecute cases in which gun owners fail to report lost or stolen guns. Anyone who breaks this law will face a $2,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail.

In a fiery hour-long news conference, Krasner also took aim at the NRA, past Philadelphia district attorneys, the federal government, the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Legislature and the state Attorney General.

"A lot of the guns that are claimed to be lost and stolen never were; they were sold illegally and they end up in the hands of people who commit crimes," Krasner said.

The district attorney painted a vivid picture of gun owners who have purchased up to 20 guns and who had at least one of those firearms traced to crimes. He called claims that those guns were all lost or stolen "bogus."

Kimberly Burrell, whose 18-year-old son was gunned down in 2009, backed up Krasner's assertion. Her son's killer, she said, got ahold of his gun through a so-called straw purchase, whereby someone who is not legally allowed to buy a gun obtains one through a middleman. Her own son was carrying a gun attained through a straw purchase at the time of his death.

"The community hurts when guns are not being accounted for," Burrell said.

The law in question has been in the books since 2009 and dictates that anyone whose gun was lost or stolen must report it to police within 24 hours. Failing to call 911 to report the gun lost or stolen will earn its owner a $2,000 fine. On the second offense and any subsequent offenses, they will be fined the $2,000, as well as get a 90-day jail sentence.

While he emphasized that the city and state Attorney General's Office have worked collaboratively to enforce gun laws, Krasner obliquely criticized the office for its reluctance to participate in enforcing this particular law. "They have declined to participate in this effort," Krasner said, refusing to elaborate.

In a statement, the Attorney General's Office pushed back, highlighting its role in running the Gun Violence Task Force in Philadelphia and increasing illegal gun seizures by 36 percent last year.

The statement also referenced Attorney General Josh Shapiro's 2008 vote for a statewide lost or stolen handgun reporting law and his continued belief that "such a law is smart policy, would protect municipalities and would help to combat the scourge of gun violence in our communities."

Touting his own hunter safety certificate, as well as that of his children, Krasner called the Philadelphia law "reasonable." "This is not something that regulates guns, it doesn't even regulate gun owners," he said.

Backers of the new enforcement measures include City Council President Darrell L. Clarke - who helped enact the 2009 law - and Police Commissioner Richard Ross. "This is important to us. This is one of those things that we believe will help us," Ross said.

But past district attorneys have been hesitant to enforce the ordinance.

Krasner sharply criticized those district attorneys, calling "disingenuous" claims that they were refusing to enforce the law due to concerns over its constitutionality. Instead, Krasner argued, those district attorneys might have had political ambitions and were afraid to run afoul of the National Rifle Association.

"There certainly is a long history of prosecutors in the United States making decisions that were political and specifically about their own politics, their own career advancement," Krasner said. "We are living in a state where it has long been believed that in order to run statewide, you have to be good with the NRA."

The NRA has repeatedly filed lawsuits opposing gun control measures throughout the country. It was unclear if the group will be pursuing a suit against the Philadelphia law, but Krasner said he could see such a legal fight in the horizon.

"You are going to hear that loud screeching noise, that sound of a broken engine," he said. "And yes, it is really true that the NRA is a broken engine in our United States, that it is completely out of touch, and its foolishness is out of touch with what people who appropriately handle and own guns believe."

Clarke also said the city is prepared to defend the constitutionality of the law.

The NRA did not immediately return a request for comment.

Krasner promised people a 30-day "amnesty" period during which they will be allowed to report their lost or stolen guns without facing a fine or jail time.

Despite characterizing the law as a positive step toward reducing gun violence, Krasner also said more needs to be done by lawmakers.

"What we really need is the Pennsylvania Legislature to stand up, and the United States government to stand up, to the NRA and do the right thing."
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), speaks at the first plenary session of the 49th Annual Meeting of WEF in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 22, 2019. The 49th WEF Annual Meeting will be held on Jan 22-25 this year in Davos. [Photo/Xinhua]

World leaders and business elites gathered on Tuesday in Davos to discuss globalization 4.0, a buzzword that means a new wave of globalization in a digital world.

More than 3,000 participants braved the winter chills and icy roads to the snow-covered Swiss resort for the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, a leading platform for global economic affairs.

More than 60 heads of state or government, 40 international organization heads and 1,700 business leaders will attend this year's event that runs through Friday, themed Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Addressing the opening ceremony, WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said participants at the meeting will have to look at all the global challenges and shape the future of the world over the next four days.

In an increasingly interconnected world, globalization 4.0 has to be human-centered, more inclusive, and more sustainable, Schwab said, adding that much emphasis was put on environmental issues at the forum.

In an article published on the US magazine Foreign Affairs, Schwab wrote, like its predecessors, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is best described by its leading technologies: artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and the Internet of Things.

"In this world, globalization won't disappear; it will deepen. If in the past global integration grew as trade barriers came down, it will now rely on the connectivity of national digital and virtual systems and the related flow of ideas and services. This is the core of Globalization 4.0," he wrote.
Georgia's outdated election system has drawn criticism from cybersecurity experts and voting integrity advocates, and now a commission tasked with examining potential replacements is preparing to make recommendations to lawmakers.

The paperless system was closely scrutinized during last year's nationally watched gubernatorial race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp, who was Georgia's secretary of state and chief elections official. Abrams and her allies accused Kemp of suppressing minority votes and mismanaging the election, including by neglecting elections infrastructure. Kemp, now governor-elect, has vehemently denied those allegations.

Cybersecurity experts have warned that the touchscreen voting machines Georgia has used since 2002 are unreliable and vulnerable to hacking, and provide no way to do an audit or confirm that votes have been recorded correctly because there's no paper trail.

The state's voting system has been challenged in lawsuits, including one filed after the November election by Fair Fight Action, a nonprofit backed by Abrams. In addition to the outdated machines, critics also raised concerns after security lapses exposed the personal information of Georgia voters.

U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg wrote in September that Georgia election officials had stalled too long in the face of "a mounting tide of evidence of the inadequacy and security risks" of the state's voting system. She declined to order the state to use paper ballots in the midterm elections, saying there was not enough time before voting began. But she warned that "these same arguments would hold much less sway in the future."

Kemp has insisted that the current system is secure and reliable. But after legislative efforts to replace it failed earlier this year, he established the Secure, Accessible and Fair Elections, or SAFE, Commission in April to study potential replacements.

Made up of lawmakers, political party representatives, voters and election officials, the commission is expected to make recommendations before the legislative session begins Jan. 14. A vendor demonstration of election technology is scheduled for Thursday.

Ryan Germany, general counsel for the secretary of state's office, told the commission at a meeting last month in Macon that Georgia must act quickly.

"The 2020 election cycle is an aggressive goal, but I think it's the correct goal," he said, adding that the state would almost certainly face additional litigation if a new system isn't in place by then.

The commissioners seemed to agree Georgia's system should produce a paper record and that election officials should conduct post-election audits.

Some commission members said they support paper ballots that voters mark by hand, filling in bubbles with a pen or pencil. But others prefer touchscreen ballot-marking machines that print a paper record.

Republican State Rep. Barry Fleming, who co-chairs the commission, said costs vary widely. Initial expenditures would be roughly $50 million for a hand-marked paper ballot system and about $150 million for a ballot-marking machine system, he said at last month's meeting.

Georgia Tech computer science professor Wenke Lee, the only computer and cybersecurity expert on the commission, told his fellow commissioners that technology evolves quickly and investing in an expensive, tech-heavy system could leave Georgia with an outdated system again within just a few years. He recommended hand-marked paper ballots read by optical scanner.

"From a cybersecurity point of view, that's the best available solution," he said at the meeting. "Now, if you say we don't want that, you need to justify why."

Supporters of ballot-marking machines argue that they reduce voter error and provide better accessibility for voters with disabilities. They say the touchscreen machines are similar to those in use now, so voters already know how to use them.

Critics say such machines are no more secure than the current system and don't actually allow voters to verify their votes.

The machines print out barcodes that correspond to the voter's selections, as well as a separate list that's readable by a voter. But votes are counted by machines that scan the barcodes, so there's no way for voters to know whether what's scanned actually reflects their votes, said Marilyn Marks, executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, which has sued the state over the current system.

Additionally, she said, voters may not notice if a race is missing or may not remember how they voted on, say, "Statewide Referendum B."

Wenke said voters might not bother to review a printout. If what the machine recorded is incorrect and the voter doesn't catch it, the ability to audit is meaningless, he said.

Commission member Darin McCoy, the probate judge and election superintendent in Evans County, dismissed that concern.

"If we provide the voter with a paper ballot of what they've done and they don't take the time to look at that and verify, there's nothing we can do," he said. "That's the voter's responsibility."

After the commission makes its recommendations, lawmakers would have to pass legislation to change the state's election laws. Funding would have to be secured and the system purchased in time to educate election workers and voters.

Whatever they decide, the timeline is tight. Commission members seemed to agree they'd like to have a trial run during the November 2019 municipal elections and implement a new system statewide for the 2020 election cycle.
What to Know Officials say two Saudi Arabian sisters whose bound bodies mysteriously washed up in New York City in October had killed themselves

The medial examiner says Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 23, "bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River."

Investigators say the sisters traveled from Virginia where they were reported missing and stayed at hotels in the days before they died

Officials say two Saudi Arabian sisters whose bound bodies mysteriously washed up in New York City in October had killed themselves.

The medical examiner on Tuesday said 16-year-old Tala Farea and 23-year-old Rotana Farea "bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River." The cause of death was drowning.

Investigators say the sisters traveled from Virginia where they were reported missing and stayed at hotels in the days before they died. A witness told police he saw them praying near the river before their bodies were found Oct. 24.

Police say the sisters told people they would "rather inflict harm on themselves" than return to Saudi Arabia.

Their deaths shone a light on the secretive and risky journeys Saudi women take to flee their homes in the kingdom and abroad.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text TALK to 741741.
What to Know An avid runner in New York City is on the hunt for the hit-and-run driver who slammed into her, injuring her

The crime that happened in Brooklyn played out on surveillance video that she obtained near the intersection in Fort Greene

Jennifer Wood was left with broken bones and so far no arrests have been made

A runner in Brooklyn is on a mission to find the driver who hit her with their car and then took off and she is hoping her detective works pays off.

It was a crime that was all caught on a frightening video earlier this month at an intersection near Fulton Street and Ashland Place in Fort Greene.

Jennifer Wood exclusively spoke to NBC 4 New York about that day she went out on a jog, when a car hit her and sped away, sidelining the once active runner for weeks.

Came out of nowhere, Wood said. I broke both of my bones at the wrist. It also knocked my jaw out of place.

Surveillance video on that Sunday afternoon shows Woods dangerous run-in with the vehicle, a car she says stopped briefly. The driver got out to see what had happened, but quickly got back into the drivers seat and floored it.

Wood was left lying in the street, a scare that turned her from a victim to an investigator.

I was in a lot of shock and I was in a lot of pain, too, she said. I went to all of the places that were near the intersection where it happened and asked store owners if I could look at the footage.

It was then when Woods obtained the video that shows what she believes is a black Subaru with New York license plates smacking into her. Wood has since turned the video over to detectives, but no arrests have been made.

I would really like to find this person, Wood said. I would really like to ask him why he left.
Maria Orbelina Cortez says she fled El Salvador for the U.S. after her husband attacked her and knocked a pan of scalding oil onto her youngest son's head.

After quietly planning for months, she took the 3-year-old boy and his two brothers and headed north without telling her husband. As she spoke in the yard of a Catholic Charities shelter in South Texas, the boy played nearby. He had a hairless scar on top of his head in the shape of a jagged, capital "T."

"I will always feel culpable," said Orbelina, 30. "Always."

President Donald Trump's push for a $5.7 billion wall  a demand that triggered the longest government shutdown in history  is unlikely on its own to stop families with stories like Orbelina's, who are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by the thousands each month.

The Trump administration wants to use that money to construct more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) of border wall. Most of those miles would likely go in South Texas, where more people cross illegally than anywhere else.

Congress has already funded 33 miles (53 kilometers) of new barrier construction here. But much of that new barrier will be built north of the Rio Grande, which carves a natural boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. That means migrants will still be able to reach American soil in front of the newly constructed barrier and request asylum.

The latest proposal Trump and Senate Republicans made to fund the wall includes provisions that could possibly be far more consequential than the wall, by making the already difficult task of winning asylum even harder.

Their bill would require all asylum claims to be in "the national interest" to be granted and allow more claims to be judged as frivolous. It would also require all Central American children arriving on their own to seek asylum in their countries of origin, not in the United States.

Trump did not describe those provisions in his speech Saturday announcing the proposal. But Greg Chen, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said they amounted to "a historic change" and criticized the bill. Top Democrats have already said they won't support it.

Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities in the Rio Grande Valley, said the families at the organization's shelter sometimes resort to crossing the Rio Grande illegally out of desperation after being stopped at bridges.

"It is important that we secure our borders, that we keep our country safe from criminals," Pimentel said. She added that Trump "needs to meet the families that are not criminals. He needs to meet the children and the great number of families that are here asking for protection."

Deysi Yanira Centeno reached the border a month after fleeing El Salvador, where gangs threatened her 15-year-old daughter.

Centeno said a human smuggler told her crossing the Rio Grande would be easier than trying to enter the U.S. through a bridge, where customs agents often tell asylum seekers they have no room to process them. So she paid $20 each for herself, her teenage daughter, and two children ages 11 and 7, to board a raft. She described how scared she was as it slowly moved across the river.

"In that moment you think about life and death," she said. "You think, 'Maybe it would have been better for me not to leave my country.'"

Others refuse to cross the river illegally, insisting they will only seek asylum at an official border crossing. Many of the border crossings in South Texas and elsewhere on the border turn away asylum seekers or accept very few daily, leading families to camp out at the bridges or wait in shelters in Mexico.

Esperanza Vargas, who fled Nicaragua with her 18-year-old son, waited for weeks next to the Mexican side of the bridge connecting Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas. Vargas and her son feared that they would be targeted in the government's ongoing conflict with paramilitary groups.

"You can't say we're a danger for the U.S. if we're here," Vargas said. "If we're here, it's because we want to do things the right way."

Trump administration officials argue many asylum seekers are making illegitimate claims to enter the U.S. for years while their cases are processed. Immigration courts last year denied asylum in about 65 percent of cases.

The administration has long fought to limit asylum protections. A federal judge in December struck down a policy change restricting asylum for victims of domestic violence. The Department of Homeland Security has also announced a plan to make all asylum seekers at the border wait in Mexico.

Most of the people who arrived at the border had taken several weeks to get there. Some admitted they hired smugglers to get them through Mexico. Others said they took buses on their own.

But the women waiting at Catholic Charities all said they had no choice.

Sitting in the yard of the shelter, wearing an ankle monitor, Orbelina said her husband would often attack her after coming home from a night of drinking. Sometimes he would hit their children too, she said.

She says she reported him to police in their town of Sonsonate, west of the capital of San Salvador. But her husband told police she had attacked him, and he wasn't arrested, she said.

It took six months to plan her escape, saving money and relying on her parents in California, who sent money as she moved through Mexico. She said she entered the U.S. through an official border crossing at Progreso, Texas.

She plans to join her parents and file for a divorce and a protection order.

"My hope is to work and to see my children grow up," Orbelina said. "I see them happy, but I know that at times they suffer."
What to Know Deputies arrested 24-year-old Robert Eddington after the incident Monday afternoon at the victims home south of Daytona Beach.

A North Florida man is behind bars after police say he beat and pepper sprayed his mother, claiming to do so because she was a narcissist.

Deputies in Volusia County arrested 24-year-old Robert Eddington after the incident Monday afternoon at the victims home south of Daytona Beach.

According to police and NBC affiliate WESH-TV, Eddingtons mother invited him over for lunch  where he showed up with a knife, zip tie and pepper spray before attacking her and leaving the victim seriously injured after repeatedly punching her and slamming her head into a window.

Eddington called 911 and confessed to the incident, adding he pepper-sprayed the victim because it had to be done, later telling police he tried to zip-tie her hands before calling her a narcissist according to an arrest report.

Eddington was ordered held without bond by a judge Tuesday. His mother told officials Eddington is bipolar and has not been taking his medication.
The FBI arrested a man from California who is accused of using Instagram to threaten, taunt and harass the relatives and friends of the victims who died in the Parkland school shooting, according to court documents.

The criminal complaint obtained Tuesday by NBC 6 South Florida alleges that Brandon Fleury of Santa Ana, California, created numerous posts on Instagram through multiple accounts mentioning the handles of relatives and friends of the students who were killed in last Februarys mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Between Dec. 22, 2018, and Jan. 11, 2019, Fleury allegedly tagged multiple people in taunting messages such as Your grief is my joy, I gave them no mercy and I killed your loved ones hahaha and even threatened to kidnap.

FBI agents and law enforcement executed a search warrant on Jan. 16 at Fleurys home after tracking down the IP address to an address in Santa Ana. During a post-Miranda interview, Fleury admitted to detectives to creating the Instagram profiles in an attempt to troll the victims, spark reactions and gain popularity, the complaint stated.

Fleury also told detectives about his fascination with the confessed Parkland school shooter, other mass shooters and serial killers. He did not show remorse for the posts but told detectives he would not follow through on the threats.

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime died in the shooting, was one of the people who received the messages and told NBC 6 he was glad it was over.

Fleury is being charged with using a computer or an electronic communication service with the intent to kidnap, harass and intimidate and to cause substantial emotional distress to a person.

Attorney information for Fleury was not immediately available.
Some of the Republican members of Florida's congressional delegation are supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself the nations interim president Wednesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was joined at the White House on Tuesday by Republican senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart. They exited their meeting with President Donald Trump urging him to apply pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"I think now is the moment and leadership can really, really make a difference for the people of Venezuela," DeSantis said.

Trump on Wednesday said he was recognizing Guaido as the interim president.

"I will continue to use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy," Trump said in a statement. "We encourage other Western Hemisphere governments to recognize National Assembly President Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela, and we will work constructively with them in support of his efforts to restore constitutional legitimacy."

Scott says socialism in Venezuela has left it without food, gas and medicine, and notes that millions of people have left the country. Venezuelan opposition leaders called for nationwide protests Wednesday.

The once-wealthy oil nation is sliding into a deepening political and economic crisis.

"It's a national security issue for the United States. Right now, it's the largest refugee crisis in the history of this hemisphere," Diaz-Balart said. "You have Venezuelans, in what used to be one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, having to flee, and now they are frankly all throughout the hemisphere. And the solution is for Venezuela to recover its sovereignty and its democracy."

The Republicans' visit to the White House comes as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said Venezuelans have the "unwavering support" of the United States in their effort to restore democracy to their country.

In a video message released Tuesday, Pence called Maduro a "dictator with no legitimate claim to power."

The vice president says the U.S. joins other "freedom-loving" nations in recognizing the popularly elected National Assembly as the "last vestige of democracy" in Venezuela.

He says he supports the decision by National Assembly president and opposition leader Juan Guaido to declare Maduro a "usurper" and call for the creation of a transitional government.

Pence says the American people will be with Venezuelans until democracy is restored.
What to Know Chancellor Martin Tadlock said "human error" caused 680 acceptance emails to be sent out when only 250 applicants were actually admitted.

A Florida college says it mistakenly sent out more than 400 acceptance letters for applications still under review.

The Tampa Bay Times reports the University of South Florida St. Petersburg on Saturday sent hundreds of acceptance letters that were quickly revoked. Applicants say their excitement died shortly after they got a second email that day that said, "There was an error in the system. Please disregard the previous email."

Chancellor Martin Tadlock said "human error" caused 680 acceptance emails to be sent out when only 250 applicants were actually admitted.

University spokeswoman Carrie O'Brion says the school is working to contact each applicant who received the erroneous acceptance letter to "discuss possible pathways" for future admission. Tadlock says the university's rolling admissions means that affected students could be accepted later.
A former prison guard trainee who recently moved to Florida from Indiana will remain behind bars after police say killed five people during a standoff at a small town bank before surrendering to a SWAT team that stormed the building.

Investigators said Zephen Xaver, 21, called police from inside the SunTrust Bank branch in Sebring on Wednesday to report that he had opened fire. He barricaded himself inside and when negotiations failed, the SWAT team burst in, capturing Xaver and discovering the bodies, police said.

During his first hearing in Highlands County court on Thursday, a judge announced the five charges of first degree murder and awarded no bond for Xaver.

Investigators did not offer a possible motive, and a police spokesman said he did not know if the attack began as a robbery. The victims were not immediately identified.

"Today's been a tragic day in our community," Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said during a news conference. "We've suffered significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime."

The victims were not immediately identified.

Hoglund said a man contacted police to say he had fired shots inside the bank around 12:30 p.m. Officers responded and after negotiations to get the suspect out of the bank were unsuccessful, a SWAT team entered the bank.

The suspect eventually surrendered to the SWAT team. Police didn't say what charges Xaver faces or give a possible motive for the shooting.

Florida Department of Corrections records show that Xaver was hired as a trainee prison guard at Avon Park Correctional Institution on Nov. 2 and resigned Jan. 9. No disciplinary issues were reported.

Public records and neighbors said Xaver had arrived in Sebring last fall with his mother, living in a non-descript pre-fabricated home about 4 miles from the bank. No one answered the door Wednesday night after police finished searching the home.

Public records and neighbors say he and his mother moved to Sebring in the fall from Plymouth, Indiana, a town south of Notre Dame University.

Xaver "for some reason always hated people and wanted everybody to die," Alex Gerlach, his former girlfriend, told WSBT-TV in Indiana shortly after Wednesday's massacre in Sebring. "He got kicked out of school for having a dream that he killed everybody in his class, and he's been threatening this for so long, and he's been having dreams about it and everything."

"Every single person I've told has not taken it seriously, and it's very unfortunate that it had to come to this," Gerlach said.

Gerlach told The Washington Post that Xaver said he purchased a gun last week and "no one thought anything of it" because he had always liked guns.

John Larose, who lives next door, said Xaver kept to himself, but he could hear him playing and yelling at video games in the middle of the night.

Sebring Mayor John Shoop called the shooting "a very senseless act with no reasoning."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was in the region for an infrastructure tour and traveled to Sebring after news of the shooting broke, the Associated Press reported. The governor said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would assist Sebring police and the Highlands sheriff in any way possible.

"Obviously this is an individual that needs to face very swift and exacting justice," DeSantis said.

SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers issued a statement saying he was "deeply saddened" by the shooting.

"We are working with officials and dedicating ourselves to fully addressing the needs of all the individuals and families involved. Our entire team mourns this terrible loss," Rogers' statement read.

Late Wednesday, police investigators still swarmed the bank, which sits between a hotel and a hair salon located in a business district of U.S. 27, a four-lane highway that connects South Florida and Central Florida. Sebring, with 10,000 residents, is known internationally for its annual 12 Hours of Sebring endurance auto race that draws world-class drivers.

An FBI mobile command unit arrived at the bank Wednesday evening to join the investigation.

Terry Spencer and Davis Fischer of the Associated Press contributed.


Global risks are intensifying but the collective will to tackle them appears to be lacking, the World Economic Forum warned in its latest report on Wednesday.



The world is facing a growing number of complex and interconnected challenges, from slowing global growth and persistent economic inequality to climate change, geopolitical tensions and the accelerating pace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, WEF's Global Risks Report 2019 said.

"There has never been a more pressing need for a collaborative and multistakeholder approach to shared global problems," it said.

The report suggested globalization needs to be done in new ways. In some areas, redoubling efforts at the international level -- implementing new approaches to a range of issues: technology and climate change to trade, taxation, migration and humanitarianism. In other areas renewed commitment and resources will be needed at the national level -- tackling inequality, for example, or strengthening social protections and the bonds of political community.

It said rising geopolitical and geo-economic tensions are the most urgent risk in 2019, with experts predicting further economic confrontation between major powers in 2019 and erosion of multilateral trading rules and agreements, it said.

"With global trade and economic growth at risk in 2019, there is a more urgent need than ever to renew the architecture of international cooperation. We simply do not have the gunpowder to deal with the kind of slowdown that current dynamics might lead us towards. What we need now is coordinated, concerted action to sustain growth and to tackle the grave threats facing our world today," said Borge Brende, President of the WEF.

Environmental risks continue to dominate respondents' concerns beyond the short term, including biodiversity loss, extreme weather events, failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation, man-made disasters and natural disasters, according to the report.

Alison Martin, Group Chief Risk Officer, Zurich Insurance Group, said: "To effectively respond to climate change requires a significant increase in infrastructure to adapt to this new environment and transition to a low-carbon economy."

"By 2040, the investment gap in global infrastructure is forecast to reach 18 trillion U.S. dollars against a projected requirement of 97 trillion U.S. dollars. Against this backdrop, we strongly recommend that businesses develop a climate resilience adaptation strategy and act on it now," Martin said.

The WEF's 2019 annual meeting will take place Jan. 22-25 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, themed Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.




A federal trial began Tuesday for lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, a plan that a different court blocked last week.

Former U.S. Census Bureau director John Thompson, the first plaintiffs' witness for the bench trial in Maryland, testified Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross disregarded "long established" Census Bureau protocols in adding the citizenship question. Thompson, who oversaw the bureau from 2013 through June 2017, said he doesn't think officials properly tested the question for the 2020 census.

"It's very problematic for me," Thompson said of Ross' decision.

The trial before U.S. District Judge George Hazel in Greenbelt, Maryland, began one week after a federal judge in New York barred the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950. The Justice Department is appealing that ruling by U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman, who concluded Ross acted in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner before deciding to add the citizenship question.

A trial for a separate suit over the same issue, filed by the state of California, began in San Francisco on Jan. 7. A judge finished hearing testimony in that case on Jan. 14 and is scheduled to hear closing arguments Feb. 15.

The plaintiffs for the case being tried in Maryland include residents of Texas, Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Attorneys from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund also sued on behalf of more than two dozen organizations and individuals. The court agreed to consolidate the claims in December.

In a court filing, plaintiffs' attorneys say Ross communicated with former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other administration officials before issuing the March 2018 directive "to further the unconstitutional goal of diluting the political power of non-white immigrant communities." The Census Bureau's own analysis shows the citizenship question would lead to a lower response rate to the 2020 census by households with at least one non-citizen member, the lawyer said.

"Consistent with numerous other statements and actions of President Trump and Trump Administration officials, these efforts were driven by racial animus against non-white immigrants," they wrote.

The Census Bureau began collecting citizenship data through the annual American Community Survey in 2005. Ross decided to use the same wording from that "well-tested question" on the ACS for the citizenship question on the 2020 census, government lawyers said in a court filing.

"Secretary Ross carefully considered, but was ultimately unpersuaded by, concerns that including a citizenship question would reduce the self-response rate for non-citizens," they wrote.

Plaintiffs' attorneys had urged Judge Hazel to proceed with the Maryland trial as scheduled since the judge's ruling in the New York case could be reversed on appeal. The clock is ticking for all of the cases: The Census Bureau has said the "drop-dead" date for changes to the 2020 census questionnaire is June 30, 2019, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers.

Denise Hulett, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the Los Angeles-based group's lawsuit is the only one to allege that the citizenship question on the 2020 census is a "product of a conspiracy that began in the early days of the Trump administration."

"It allows us to talk about the motives of a large group of people instead of the motives of just Secretary Ross," she said during a break in the trial.
What to Know JW Marriott LA Live wine-tasting pop-up on Jan. 25 and 26

Pop-up visitors have the chance to win tickets to the G'Day USA Gala on Jan. 26

Pink Lake Shakes available at Roo Coffee in Silver Lake on Jan. 26

Taking a quick jaunt to Australia is a daily daydream shared by many wanderlusty Southern Californians, but, for the most part, time, commitments, budgets, and jobs keep us close to home, to work, and to all of our life stuff.

There are those marvelous moments, however, when Australia comes to us.

Not as in the entire gigantronic land mass, which absolutely is perfect right where it is, thank you very much. Rather, Australian treats and eats and stars all gather to pay tribute to Australia Day, the LA way.

After all, over tens of thousands of Australians live 'round these parts  the Australian Consulate General estimate is well over 40,000  and you can multiply that number by ten to find the general range of visiting Australians each year (that stands at 411,000, per a 2017 LA Tourism report).

Australia Day is just ahead, on Jan. 26, and the South Australian Tourism Commission and Western Australia are giving Southern Californians a chance to visit the faraway land while staying mostly put.

You will need to get to the JW Marriott LA Live on Jan. 25 and/or 26 if you'd like to try wines of Adelaide and South Australia.

The "Multi-Sensory Wine Tasting Experience" will find inspiration in the d'Arenburg Cube in McLaren Vale, so prepare for some geometric wow of the visual assortment.

Also? Visitors to the pop-up will have the opportunity to enter for two tickets to the splashy G'Day USA Gala on Jan. 26, plus a night's stay at the DTLA hotel.

If you're more of a Pink Lake lover, and you dig desserts, best make your way to Roo Coffee in Silver Lake on Jan. 26.

That's the place to find the sweet treat, a goodie that'll be comprised of McConnell's vanilla bean ice cream, coconut milk, tart cherry preserve, dark chocolate chunks, and shredded coconut.

Lake Hillier, a spectacular wonder found in the Western Australia Golden Outback, is the famous Pink Lake. And while you won't be sipping your shake on its shores, you will be at a business that's Australian-owned and -operated.

How are you celebrating Australia Day, while here in LA? So many local restaurants are owned by Down Underers, that there are multiple avenues to making merry.

But two offbeat choices, at the JW Marriott LA Live and Roo Coffee, are bringing a wine-wonderful, lake-lovely twist to the annual occasion.
A Central Texas man stabbed his nephew's dog in retaliation for the dog killing his chicken last year, authorities say.

Owen Jay Pettit, 45, was arrested Saturday on a charge of cruelty to non-livestock animals. He has since bonded out of the Travis County jail.

According to an arrest-warrant affidavit obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, Pettit's 28-year-old nephew told Travis County authorities that he could hear his dog, Jess, yelping and barking around 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Read more from our media partner The Dallas Morning News.
It has become the norm to see Coast Guard men and women, some in uniform, in the aisles of the pop-up food pantry at the Coast Guard Academy in New London.

While everyone has said theyre extraordinarily grateful for the community support, not receiving a paycheck has faded optimism and built anxiety as the shutdown lingers on.

Theres a lot of hurt. Weve come together but were going to forever feel this. This has been really hard, said Petty Officer Second Class Crystal Walker, a yeoman with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Walker said shes extremely grateful to have her Coast Guard family to lean on. But with it nearing week five of the partial government shutdown, that family is getting smaller.

Weve lost a lot of our Coast Guard civilians who have had to take other jobs, Walker said.

Her paycheck helps support her husband and four children. Hes part of the Navy and receiving an income.

On day 33, theres still no end in sight to the partial government shutdown. Across the nation Coast Guard families are still not receiving a paycheck.

You can just see the morale, its going down. Were going along with our jobs and doing the best we can, but you can see the hurt it is causing, Walker said.

The Coast Guard is still out on missions. Just yesterday crews were breaking ice on the Connecticut River.

We rely on the paycheck month to month. The fact that its not there, it puts a real gap there, said Petty Officer Third Class Kameko Zayas-Bazan, also a Coast Guard yeoman.

She and her family live in military housing and the landlord has been understanding of the shutdown situation. But Zayas-Bazan said credit card companies and student loan payments have not been.

She has two young kids. Her husband works part-time.

Now his is the only paycheck we have coming in, Zayas-Bazan said.

Im starting to stay awake at night worrying about finances, said Anna Griffiths, whose husband is in the Coast Guard.

She has a toddler and an infant at home and said she is considering taking on a part-time job, or that her husband possibly will.

Griffiths even told her parents not to spend the money to come visit since she had to borrow from them.

It hits close to home, Griffiths said. It is home.

Griffiths is so grateful for and frequents the pop-up pantry that when the shutdown is over, she said she wants to prioritize giving back to the community even more than she has in the past.

Other Coast Guardsmen have said the one positive from this situation is that its brought them even closer together as a Coast Guard family.

NBC Connecticut spoke with a Coast Guard wife who traveled about 70 minutes from Rhode Island, where her husband is stationed, to use the pop-up pantry during the shutdown.
Officials continue to investigate an odor of chlorine in New Haven Wednesday morning.

According to fire officials, firefighters received a call around 3:30 a.m. from a resident near the H. Krevit & Company, a chlorine plant, on Welton Street reporting that he or she was having trouble breathing. He or she was taken to the hospital to be checked out.

Crews found a strong chlorine smell in the area, according to firefighters, but it was not considered to be a hazmat situation.

The smell has dissipated and officials said that while it smells like chlorine, they cannot confirm that's what the odor was.

Firefighters checked H Krevit & Company and said their meters did not picking up any measurements of a chlorine leak at the plant.

This is where they make chlorine, but right now theres nothing at Krevit thats going off at this time. Theres no leaks, theres no releases or anything. Right now were in the process of metering. We have a crew right now metering," said New Haven Fire Department Battalion Chief Tyrone Ewing.

An odor has prompted an investigation at a New Haven chlorine plant on Wednesday morning.

Firefighters expanded their search to nearby buildings and the AMTRAK train tracks behind the plant.

Fire officials said at one point that they believed the odor was coming from the Leeway Nursing Home on Albert Street, which is right around the corner from the initial investigation at the chlorine plant, but that was a dead end.

I guess what it was is that it was getting dragged into the sewer lines and then being pushed into the buildings, but once they metered Leeway as well, we didnt get any readings in there as well. So the odor that was out here made its way in there probably through the HVAC system, or through the sewer lines, Batallion Chief Tyrone Ewing said.

Crews from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to assess whether sewer lines need to be cut.

Welton Street was closed between Albert Street and Armstrong Street.
An Illinois father and stepmother will spend decades in prison in the starvation death of their 6-year-old son, who authorities say weighed just 17 pounds when he died.

Chief Circuit Judge Eric S. Pistorius on Wednesday sentenced Michael L. Roberts to 25 years in prison and Georgena L. Roberts to 20 years, The Alton Telegraph reported. The 43-year-olds from Jerseyville both pleaded guilty in November to first-degree murder in the 2017 death of Liam Roberts.

"For this to have occurred is beyond comprehension," the judge said.

Authorities have said the couple starved the boy as a form of punishment and that they withheld food and nourishment on a regular basis. When he died, Liam weighed about a third of the typical weight of a 6-year-old. A preliminary autopsy indicated he died of extreme malnourishment.

[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More

"The two solely responsible for the death of this beautiful child will now spend the better part of their adult lives in prison, where they belong," Jersey County State's Attorney Ben Goetten and Jerseyville Police Chief Brad Blackorby said in a joint statement.

School personnel said Liam was so obsessed with food that "when he came to school he would literally eat food off the floor," Jerseyville Police Department deputy chief Maj. Scott Woelfel said.

Liam's biological mother, Kim Roberts, spoke at the hearing, calling out the "evil people" who ensured her son died "terrified" and "alone." The Telegraph report didn't explain why she did not have custody of Liam.

Georgena and Michael Roberts made emotional statements and their attorneys asked for leniency. Michael Roberts described himself as a "coward" and said his son paid the price. His wife apologized, saying: "My heart is shattered, and I will be forever broken."
Flu season is upon us and hitting its peak across Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Thursday, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human services has confirmed the first flu-related death in the Granite State.

State health officials are hoping the unfortunate news of that flu-related death will encourage people to get a flu shot.

Inside Convenient MD in Exeter, mom Katie Warburton is desperately hoping for some relief for her little girl.

She doesnt want to get up and play, I just want her to be happy again thats the goal, Warburton said.

Two-year-old Riley has flu-like symptoms.

Coughing and getting sick at night, Warburton said. This year, for some reason, its been really, really bad.

According to the CDC, the flu is now widespread in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

And with flu season hitting its peak locally, doctors say parents should have their sick children seen right away.

Medication given to help treat influenza is most effective if given in first 24-48 hours, said Convenient MD Regional Medical Director Dr. Jo Gates.

She says thats also true for elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions.

Influenza does kill people, Dr. Gates said.

Because of that, Dr. Gates wants families to know what to look out for. She says despite common misconceptions, having the flu doesnt mean you have to be nauseous.

In general, its like the worst cold youve ever had, Dr. Gates said. Congestion and cough, and usually a sore throat and headache at some point during the illness.

She says the best way to protect yourself is with the flu vaccine.

You wont be as sick and you are far less likely to die, she said.

Hampton resident Casey Ward says take it from him  the flu shot works.

I got it for the first time ever, he said. Ive always been against it, but this is the first year, I did not get sick.

Dr. Gates says its not too late to get your vaccine. She thinks this flu season will last well into March.
A Bay Area family was terrified by a warning of a nuclear attack broadcasting from her security camera, but it turned out to be nothing but a hoax.

Orinda resident Laura Lyons told The East Bay Times that she heard a loud noise similar to what you'd hear during an emergency alert coming from her Nest camera, and then she heard a message that warned North Korean missiles were headed to Los Angeles, Chicago and Ohio.

Lyons said the message sent her, her husband and their 8-year-old son into a panic, according to the East Bay Times.

"We need to get in the car, we need to grab the dog, I wish we had more cash, which direction should we drive?," Lyons described her thought process at that moment to the newspaper.

Security experts say smart home devices that are connected to the internet can be vulnerable to hackers and Lyons' family isn't the first to experience it.

In December, a woman in Houston, Texas, said a mans voice came through her Nest camera, and it said "Im going to kidnap your baby. Im in your babys room."

Internet-enabled cameras, speakers, TVs or even refrigerators are open to outside attacks, especially if security measures aren't taken during the set up of the devices.

"Can we trust any of these? Personally, I always have problems trusting," said Fleming Shi, the Chief Technology Officer at Barracuda Networks, a security company based in Campbell.

Nest is owned by Google, which admitted that there had been an outside breach and that some of their devices may have been affected.
SAN FRANCISCO - Once again, Barry Bonds saw small gains in Hall of Fame voting, but it wasn't nearly enough.

Bonds was listed on 59.1 percent of ballots this year, a bump from his total of 56.4 percent in 2018, but remains well short of the 75 percent required to make the Hall of Fame. This was his seventh time on the ballot, meaning he has just three more years of eligibility.

Four players will be inducted this summer, led by former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who became the first player to be inducted unanimously. Former Mariners star Edgar Martinez easily made it in his final year on the ballot, the late Roy Halladay made it in his first, and longtime Orioles and Yankees ace Mike Mussina made it in his sixth year.

Bonds, a seven-time MVP and the all-time home run leader, was first on the ballot in 2013, when he got just 36.2 percent of the vote. He dipped to 34.7 percent the next year before going 36.8, 44.3 and 53.8 the next three years. The final jump coincided with Bud Selig, who oversaw the steroid era, getting in, which led many voters to change their minds.

Bonds has also slightly benefited from younger voters entering the process. According to Ryan Thibodaux's vote tracker, Bonds was on the ballots of seven of the eight first-time voters who made their choices public before Tuesday's announcement. Still, it has not been nearly enough. The climb has been slow, and he does not appear to be trending towards induction.

Bonds and Roger Clemens have always been side by side because of their similar cases. They are all-time greats, worthy of unanimous inclusion if not for PED connections. In recent years, Bonds has mostly stopped commenting publicly about his fate, but he has become more visible in San Francisco. Bonds had his number retired last season as part of an ongoing effort to celebrate his achievements.
Several months ago, my 99-year-old father, who was a life long Republican, said to me, "Donald Trump is going to ruin our democracy." He said that we will not have a democracy when Trump is through with us. He also said that Trump, who he voted for, and regretted it, is "a dummy." Now, my dad was a smart man, and thought JFK was a great man, but supported Republican values. However, I know he is appalled by what is going on today. Sad.
(Natural News) In the wake of the mainstream media further destroying their reputation and any remaining semblance of being trustworthy after they piled on the #CovingtonBoys following a viral video that only showed part of what really happened, leftist lunatics all across America are calling for violence upon Trump supporters, with one crazy calling for the kids school to be burned down with all of the children locked inside while also recently tweeting, apparently with twitters full approval, I want you to fire on any of these red hat bitches when you see them. On sight.

(Article by Stefan Stanford republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

With the mainstream media proving once again that they truly are the enemy of the American people via their only showing one small part of the total events that went on in Washington DC over the weekend, showing theyll drop to the lowest of lows to take down and dox President Trump supporters, even children, as Susan Duclos reports within this new ANP story, their narrative has totally backfired as more video came out of the incident providing proper context yet the damage has been done.

And now, as well see detailed below, twitter actually claims that the crazy, leftist lunatic calling for MAGA hat wearing kids to be shot on sight isnt a violation of their terms of service. Seriously?! If a so-called white supremacist called upon black or American Indian children to be shot on sight, the FBI and local police would have the address of the perp within a moment, and exactly as it should be. Why are children who are supporters of President Donald Trump apparently fair game during wide open hunting season in the eyes of twitter and the mainstream media?

And so we must ask, with all of this now unfolding and leftists calling for violence against children, how long might it be until all-out civil war breaks out in America with even members of the US Congress recently coming close to fisticuffs as LMT Online reported within this January 19th story? As their story reports, One political rule of life is never ask a question unless you really want to know the answer. Example: It cannot possibly get worse in Washington, can it?

Proceeding to then detail for us an event which recently happened at the Capitol with tensions flaring and lawmakers actually walking provocatively towards each other in the well of the House, their story reported that the chance of a very real physical confrontation seemed to grow each moment, what their story called a cross between a Spike Lee movie where one remark turns an entire neighborhood into flames and a moment inside the regular brawls that occur in Taiwans parliament. (Who wouldnt love to see video of either of those two happen in US Congress?!)

With many on the left actually having come to believe that they are the chosen people and morally superior to everyone else after the 8 year reign of terror over America by Barack Obama, how long might it be until one leftist lunatic takes the lies from the mainstream media too far and attacks a Conservative, Christian school for their support of POTUS Trump? As one commenter recently pointed out, America is absolutely a powder keg, ready to explode, all it might take is one spark.

Americans

account

As Susan had also mentioned within her new story, what are peaceful, law-abidingon the right to think when a Hollywood producer actually calls for the murdering of young children, just for wearing #MAGA hats , as Jack Morrissey did on twitter before locking down hisso only confirmed followers can see his tweets? And what about twitter, do they have a policy where those calling for the murders of young Conservative children get a free pass because those calling for the slaughter are liberals?

As twitter user Civiltarian reported in this tweet as seen on the top of this story, they had reported the twitter account of user @HouseShoes for their abusive tweets calling for MAGA kids to be shot and twitter actually responded there was no violation of twitter rules. Yet you can see this idiots tweets above. Those are ok, twitter, really???

With 2019 showing us that Democrats are moving even further to the left than theyve been in years with Nancy Pelosi apparently petrified of the freshman newbies including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, we may have reached a point in time when there really will be no compromise between the parties, leaving America in limbo for the next two years as we approach the 2020 election and every day tensions between Americans growing hotter and hotter.

Yet as William B. Stoecker had reported on ANP back on December 31st, the very last thing that the left should want is Civil War breaking out in this country in 2019 with the Democratic partys terrorist wing antifa composed largely of beta men, soy boys, shrieking witches and girly-boys while 10s of millions of well-armed Patriots on the right have been members of the US military and members of law enforcement, with many very well trained and prepared to protect their families and their country from enemies of America within or without.

And while well continue to pray that a bloody civil war in America remains a thing of the late 1800s and will never happen again within our lifetimes, should another civil war break out in America today, those on the left now calling for violence against children could eventually see their very worst nightmares coming true with America transformed into something that looks like a 3rd world, with Americans fighting Americans due to mainstream media inflicted Trump derangement syndrome.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
(Natural News) For Americans who still believe that things can be worked out between the Left and Right, between progressives and conservatives so that we can all come together and have a political Kumbaya moment and live happily ever after, youre in for a rude awakening.

Thats simply not going to happen. The days of reasonable compromises and getting together to solve common concerns and problems are over if they ever really existed.

The American Marxist Left, which has found a home in the Democratic Party, isnt interested in compromising, solving problems, or getting along. All they want to do is destroy the political opposition, and with it every last vestige of American tradition, history, and culture, all of which they say is bad.

A microcosm of this ongoing effort occurred in Washington, D.C., last weekend, as a group of teens from a Catholic high school in Kentucky were targeted by a serial outrage grifter named Nathan Phillips.

A Native American, Phillips was born to play the role of Left-wing agitator, and he does it well thanks to huge assists from another compromised American institution, the mainstream media (MSM).

As you may have read, media reports initially claimed that Phillips was harassed and accosted by the Catholic teens, many of whom were white and wearing MAGA hats  the Lefts perfect Boogymen (white, young Trump supporters). But as numerous videos of the confrontation surfaced, it became apparent that Phillips was the one who confronted the teens as he banged away on a ceremonial Native American drum (because Native American culture is good, American culture is bad).

Subsequent reports also noted that Phillips has done this sort of thing before, stoking Left-wing outrage by pretending to be a victim of racism and bigotry by white America. And each time the MSM laps it up and regurgitates it as fact before ever bothering to dig even a little bit into the situation to find out whats really going on. (Related: Fake news smears against Covington Catholic School students prove how left-wing media is deliberately inciting mob violence against whites.)

This outrage artist has a history of staging fake bigotry to smear the Lefts favorite targets

In fact, as Big League Politics reports, Phillips was featured in a 2012 Skrillex video which was about attacking police officers.

The video, titled, Make it Bun Dem, features him doing some spiritual warfare connected to a violent attack on a police officer, the news site noted.

Phillips was identified as the star of the video in his speaker bio for Tribal Hemp & Cannabis Education and discussed the role in a 2017 interview, Big League Politics noted further.

Whats more, hes raising money with the assistance of a large big-money Alt-Left operation. The Native Youth Alliance appears to be standalone, but a much larger entity, the well-funded Native Youth Leadership Alliance  which told Big League Politics it isnt associated with Phillips  is nonetheless promoting his fundraising campaign that stems from his harassment of the Catholic teens.

The news site notes:

The Native Youth Leadership Alliance (NYLA) is a non-profit organization that is funded by the same far-left power players who are often involved in bankrolling leftist causes. The organizations funding partners include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Social Justice Fund Northwest.

Phillips is not simply a random Native man who was accosted by racist MAGA-hat wearing teens, as the mainstream press has reported. He is connected to leftist activists who donate large sums to leftist causes, Big League Politics noted.

Phillips was also involved in a very similar confrontation in 2015. As reported by local media in Detroit, he claimed he was accosted by mostly white fraternity boys who were dressed in Native American attire for a party. He claimed they threw beer on him and called him names but, given his history, its difficult to take him seriously.

Read more about hoaxes like this one at Hoax.news.

Sources include:

BigLeaguePolitics.com

NewsTarget.com

TheNationalSentinel.com
(Natural News) For more than a year, conservative commentators, publishers, and political leaders have complained that the Left-wing social media giants including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube have been censoring and/or downgrading search results for their content.

For just as long, the CEOs of the social media giants have stated  often under oath  that no, their platforms do not censor or downgrade conservative content, even though some studies have shown that, for some reason, user engagement of Right-leaning content has fallen off, in some cases dramatically.

Now, however, Breitbart News has discovered evidence refuting those denials, at least at Google-owned YouTube.

Last month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told a House panel that the platform does not manually intervene when it comes to any particular search result. However, an internal discussion thread leaked to Breitbart News reveals that Google regularly intervenes in search results on its YouTube video platform  including a recent intervention that pushed pro-life videos out of the top ten search results for abortion, the news site reported.

Abortion was one of the terms that Google engineers added to a blacklist file for controversial YouTube queries, where a list of search terms the company considers sensitive are housed.

In addition to the term abortion, additional terms such as abortions, the Irish abortion referendum, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and anti-gun activist David Hogg were included, according to anonymously leaked information cited by Breitbart News.

Lets make sure we reverse things in four years

In addition, a second partial list of terms the social media platform has blacklisted was leaked to the news site by another Google source. In that leaked discussion thread, a site reliability engineer for Google indicated there may be additional blacklists, according to the source.

We have tons of white- and blacklists that humans manually curate, said employee noted. Hopefully this isnt surprising or particularly controversial.

Breitbart noted that other employees seemed more concerned that Google was keeping blacklists. One source said the software engineer who started the discussion thread described the existence of the blacklist containing the abortion term a smoking gun. (Related: The big social media companies are being used as a weapon to advance the agenda of the new world order.)

Separately, The Daily Caller reported in November, a few weeks after the midterms which saw Democrats retake control of the House, that Google employees held internal discussions over whether to bury conservative media search results as a result of POTUS Donald Trumps 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton, which most did not expect.

How many times did you seeitems from opinion blogs (Breitbart, Daily Caller) elevated next to legitimate news organizations? Thats something that can and should be fixed, Google engineer Scott Byer wrote in a Nov. 9, 2016, post that was leaked to TheDC, incorrectly describing that site and Breitbart as something other than legitimate news sources.

I think we have a responsibility to expose the quality and truthfulness of sources  because not doing so hides real information under loud noises, he continued. Lets make sure that we reverse things in four years  demographics will be on our side.

As for the latest leak to Breitbart, the software engineer who called the blacklists a smoking gun also observed that the addition of the term abortion took place after a far-Left journalist from Slate complained to Google about the prominence of pro-life videos being returned in search results on YouTube. Soon after April Glasers complaint, the top 10 search results for abortion returned pro-abortion videos.

The Slate writer said she had complained last Friday and then saw different search results before YouTube responded to her on Monday, the Google leaker wrote to Breitbart. And lo and behold, the [changelog] was submitted on Friday, December 14 at 3:17 PM.

Starting to see a pattern

Video content that was manually downgraded included a number from Dr. Antony Levatino, a former abortion doctor who became a pro-life activist (and someone, you would think, who has an experts viewpoint of the procedure and its after-effects on women). Another featured pro-life conservative Ben Shapiro, while still another featured one womans personal story of being pressured into having the procedure.

Glaser, in her complaint to Google, called those videos dangerous misinformation.

Breitbart noted further:

Since the Slate journalists inquiry and Googles subsequent intervention, the top search results now feature pro-abortion content from left-wing sources like BuzzFeed, Vice, CNN, and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. In her report, the Slate journalist acknowledged that the search results changed shortly after she contacted Google.

In December, Republican lawmakers called for an investigation into Google following prior revelations that the platform was downgrading conservative content.

So what do we have here? Looks like a monopoly scheming to use its market power to silence news [and] viewpoints it doesnt like. Starting to see a pattern here, then-U.S. Sen.-elect Josh Hawley of Missouri wrote on Twitter. Google execs need to explain what is going on under oath.

So what do we have here? Looks like a monopoly scheming to use its market power to silence news & viewpoints it doesnt like. Starting to see a pattern here. https://t.co/Up1KyJDXeN  Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 30, 2018

One did. And, based on leaks to Breitbart, he wasnt being honest.

The question for ruling Democrats in the House is, are you prepared to take action against Google CEO Pichai?

Read more about social media censorship of conservatives at Conservative.news.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

NewsTarget.com

DailyCaller.com
Trump claims his imaginary wall is needed to address a "humanitarian crisis" at the border. The crisis is real, but it is of Trump's own deliberate creation. Given the administration's combination of malice and incompetence, it is safe to assume that some of the children who we snatched away will never see their parents again. They are mere props that let Trump demonstrate how far he will go to punish Latinos for daring to seek a safer, better life.
Cebu City (CNN Philippines, January 23)  Authorities are looking at politics as the motive behind the ambush attempt on San Fernando, Cebu Mayor Lakambini Reluya, Central Visayas police chief CSupt Debold Sinas said on Wednesday.

The attack occurred on Tuesday night along the national highway in Talisay City. An injured Reluya survived, but her husband Ricardo and two others died on the spot after three men fired 70 shots at their van.

Sinas said Reluya personally told him in the hospital that she has been receiving threats. The mayor told him that this was the first time she received threats with "intention to kill." The police chief asked for the help of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Division to check on social media posts that allegedly threatened the mayor prior to the shooting incident.

Sinas also admitted they feel pressured to solve the case immediately after Philippine National Police Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde issued a two-week ultimatum to find the suspects or else they will be relieved immediately.

CNN Philippines' stringer Dale Israel contributed to this report.
(Natural News) As weve all witnessed over the last few days with the massive, coordinated media hoax over the Covington Catholic School students, the fake news pushed by the dishonest left-wing media has real consequences.

In the hours following the Covington media hoax, hundreds of journalists and liberals called for the mass murder of the Catholic schoolchildren, demanding they be burned alive in their own school, executed in a mass shooting, organ harvested and otherwise obliterated with extreme violence. This is what now passes for news media in America  a lunatic mob of fakers, hoaxers and crisis actors who stage events to push utterly fabricated narratives that put the lives of real people in grave danger.

Now, were learning that the climate change hoax has quite literally convinced nearly an entire generation of lunatic Leftists that the world is going to end in just 12 years if we dont bow down to the demands of Al Gore and the rest of the climate hoax cartel.

In the last few days, a young Millennial member of Congress  the incoming Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  has gone full libtard with a public pronouncement that the world is going to end in 12 years if climate change isnt stopped.

This wasnt a verbal flub by an ignorant socialist. She has now doubled down on her statement, reasserting her lunatic belief that carbon dioxide is bad and the entire world will come to an end in 12 years unless we all stop burning fossil fuels.

For some reason GOP seems to think this is a gaffe, but its actually a generational difference, Ocasio-Cortez explained, underscoring the stupefying truth that an entire generation of young people literally believe the world is coming to an end because thats what theyve been told by the fake news media and scientifically illiterate public school teachers.

Weve seen these predictions before, and they all turn out to be hoaxes

Ocasio-Cortez was only barely born when the UN first warned in 1989 that entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by the year 2000 if global warming wasnt stopped. (h/t to Information Liberation)

In the years following, Al Gore has made numerous predictions about the world coming to an end, always moving the deadline after being proven wrong again and again. The reason these predictions keep failing, of course, is because Al Gore and the rest of the global warming hoax crowd are all lying.

Marc Moranos outstanding book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change, covers the hilarious history of fake climate change scares from Al Gore, MIT professors and other quack science hoaxers who have pushed this irrational fiction for decades. Via ClimateDepot.com:

Book Excerpt:

CHAPTER 13

The Ever-Receding Tipping Point

Eighteen-Sixty-Four Tipping Point Warns of Climatic Excess

As early as 1864 George Perkins Marsh, sometimes said to be the father of American ecology, warned that the earth was fast becoming an unfit home for its noblest inhabitant, and that unless men changed their ways it would be reduced to such a condition of impoverished productiveness, of shattered surface, of climatic excess, as to threaten the depravation, barbarism, and perhaps even extinction of the species. MIT professor Leo Marx

Newsweek magazine weighed in with its own tipping point: The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality. That warning appeared in an April 28, 1975, article about global cooling! Same rhetoric, different eco-scare.

Perhaps the best summary of the tipping-point phenomenon comes from UK scientist Philip Stott. In essence, the Earth has been given a 10-year survival warning regularly for the last fifty or so years. We have been serially doomed, Stott explained. Our post-modern period of climate change angst can probably be traced back to the late-1960s, if not earlier. By 1973, and the global cooling scare, it was in full swing, with predictions of the imminent collapse of the world within ten to twenty years, exacerbated by the impacts of a nuclear winter.

Its difficult to keep up whether it is hours, days, months or 1000 years. Here are few recent examples of others predicting tipping points of various duration.

HOURS: Flashback March 2009: We have hours to prevent climate disaster  Declares Elizabeth May of Canadian Green Party

Days: Flashback Oct. 2009: UKs Gordon Brown warns of global warming catastrophe; Only 50 days to save world

Months: Prince Charles claimed a 96-month tipping point in July 2009

Years: 2009: NASAs James Hansen Declared Obama Only First Term to Save The Planet!  On Jan. 17, 2009 Hansen declared Obama only has four years to save Earth or Flashback Oct .2009: WWF: Five years to save world

Decades: 1982: UN official Mostafa Tolba, executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), warned on May 11, 1982, the world faces an ecological disaster as final as nuclear war within a couple of decades unless governments act now.

Millennium: Flashback June 2010: 1000 years delay: Green Guru James Lovelock: Climate change may not happen as fast as we thought, and we may have 1,000 years to sort it out

It is becoming obvious that the only authentic climate tipping point we can rely is this one:

Flashback 2007: New Zealand Scientist on Global Warming: Its All Going to be a Joke in 5 Years

There is no climate emergency; only an emergency of ignorance and stupidity among climate hoaxers

There is no climate emergency on planet Earth. Carbon dioxide isnt a poison or a pollutant; its actually the single most important nutrient for supporting the greening of our planet with increased growth rates for crops, forests, grasses and ocean plants. Earth is dangerously low in CO2, and rising CO2 levels are necessary to support more photosynthesis, more greening and more production of oxygen through plant respiration.

AOC is a scientifically illiterate fool who operates on the verge of mental retardation. But in the same way you should never give a retarded child access to nuclear launch codes, you also shouldnt give a scientifically illiterate socialist moron anything resembling political power in Washington. Its dangerous to society when people run around making utterly false claims that the world will end in 12 years if we dont surrender all rights, freedom and economic power to the very same people who fabricated the climate change hoax in the first place.

Remember, these are the same dishonest, deceptive people who said the Covington Catholic School students were racist bigots for merely standing in place and calmly smiling as they were harassed by a Native American instigator / professional crisis actor. The entire narrative was a lie, but its exactly the same kind of lie that Leftists are pushing with their climate change hoax.

Almost everything the Left says is either a calculated lie or a shining turd of ignorance and stupidity. Nothing the Left promotes makes any sense in the real world, and all the Lefts facts are nothing but fictions. Every Leftist alive today is living in a world of delusion and falsehoods. It wouldnt matter much except for the fact that these delusional idiots have political power and are demanding the engineered pollution of Earths atmosphere to combat their imaginary climate change hoax. If we allow them to pollute the planet, they will achieve the very destruction theyve wrongly assigned to climate change.

When it comes to climate change, the only real crisis is the fact that idiots like AOC remain utterly ignorant of scientific reality, having zero understanding of atmospheric chemistry, the process of photosynthesis or the simple truth that a warmer, wetter world is actually good for planetary ecosystems (global warming hoaxers demand Earth be transformed into a frozen ice ball with plummeting ocean levels and near-zero CO2 levels which would collapse entire ecosystems).

If dangerous, delusional propagandists like AOC get their way, they will be the very ones who end up destroying life on planet Earth through their delusional global dimming schemes that rely on geoengineering to deliberately pollute the atmosphere and kill off the entire global food web. In other words, its morons like AOC who are the real threat to life on Earth, not the fictitious crisis they call climate change.

Perhaps its time we sequestered AOC, Al Gore and the rest of the climate change loon squad whose actions would quite literally devastate life on our planet as they claim to be saving it.

If AOC really believes the world will end in 12 years unless we stop climate change, then shouldnt she advocate a military invasion of China and India to stop the top sources of CO2 emissions?

Theres one more important point that I heard mentioned by a caller to the Rush Limbaugh show. Given that China and India are by far the largest sources of CO2 emissions for our world, if AOC truly believes climate change must be stopped in order to save the world in the next 12 years, why wouldnt she demand the military invasion and destruction of China and India?

The U.S. produces nowhere near the CO2 produced by China, yet somehow China always escapes any blame by Democrats who solely point the finger at the U.S. fossil fuel industry. (Because, of course, Democrats never operate from facts. Rather, they are driven purely by irrational emotion thats never subject to reality.)

Yet I dont see AOC demanding the destruction of China and India to save the world, as she claims. So even her end of the world warnings arent genuine, as we can all see from her lack of commitment to her own fabricated narrative.

You want to really save the world in the next 12 years? Vote all Democrats out of power and send them packing. Turn off all left-wing media. Denounce and reject the lunacy of the Left. If enough people do that, human civilization might actually have a chance of making it through this insane chapter of left-wing lunacy that represents the real threat to sustainable life on Earth.

Stay informed. Read Climate.news for the real story on climate science.
(Natural News) Not to be outdone by all the brain-dead celebrities and zombie media pundits spreading endless fake news, a slew of Catholic clergy from all across the country has reportedly come out, one after another in lockstep, to condemn the Covington Catholic High School boys who are being falsely accused of taunting a Native American elder during the recent March for Life event in Washington, D.C.

Despite the fact that the whole charade has now been proven to be yet more anti-white, anti-Trump drivel contrived by the mainstream media, religious leaders from the Catholic religion have proceeded to trash the innocent boys all over Twitter, bearing false witness against them in a desperate effort to appease rabid Leftists, many of whom are calling for the boys to be violently attacked and even murdered.

We now know that the Covington boys were the ones being harassed and verbally assaulted by a group of hate-filled black supremacists who describe themselves as Black Hebrew Israelites, when they were suddenly approached by Nathan Phillips, the Native American man whom the fake news media outlets are describing as a war hero. The Covington boys did not in any way threaten or intimidate Phillips, and had initially thought, as evidenced in longer video footage of the incident, that Phillips was there to chant along with them as a fellow supporter.

When it became evident that Phillips was there to intimidate and harass the Covington boys along with the black supremacists, thats when Nick Sandmann, the boy whose face is being plastered all across the mainstream media, stared back at him nervously and resolutely  his facial expression also deliberately misconstrued by the fake news media as representing a taunt.

All of this is obvious simply from watching the full-length video footage of the incident, which the mainstream media conveniently failed to air. But this didnt stop one Catholic leader after another from virtue signaling all over social media about how the Covington boys were somehow in the wrong simply for being present in front of the Lincoln Memorial while wearing Make America Great Again hats, which apparently triggered both the black supremacists and Phillips and his fellow Native American aggressors.

Twelve years of Catholic school and this insults everything I was taught there, tweeted Catholic virtue signaler and CNN correspondent Jim Sciutto, perpetuating the fake news myth that the Covington boys were guilty of something bad, when they were actually innocent. I see the school and diocese have condemned the behavior. I hope the students apologize directly and publicly to this man.

Sisters of Mercy in Silver Spring, Maryland, tweeted similar nonsense, describing the boys alleged behavior as [r]acism and intolerance. The disturbing videos being shared of this incident showcase a bigoted disrespect of indigenous peoples and remind us how urgent our work for racial justice remains, the same tweet added, followed by a link to the truncated fake news video that was initially being spread by the fake news media.

Catholic leaders demonstrate once again that theyre nothing more than virtue signaling frauds who cant discern truth from lies

On and on the tweets came from Catholic leaders everywhere, as they shamelessly pandered to the fake Leftist narrative that the Covington boys were aggressors rather than victims. And even after it was irrefutable that they were innocent, based on lengthier footage of what actually took place, not a one of the Catholic leaders who tweeted against the boys made any attempt whatsoever to set the record straight.

In fact, when they were confronted with the fact that the fake news tweets remained, and no apology was given, all of the Catholic clergy whom The Daily Caller tried to contact refused to provide a statement  which only reiterates that many of those in charge of modern-day Catholicism have no regard for the truth, and couldnt care less about doing the right thing, even when it unequivocally presents itself.

For more related news, be sure to check out LeftistMob.com and Libtards.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyCaller.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Is your over-the-counter pain reliever turning you into a zombie? New research has shown that might just be the case. While you may not have a hankering for brains that you cant explain, it turns out acetaminophen (the active ingredient in drugs like Tylenol) can turn off more than just your pain  it can dull your emotions and reduce your ability to feel empathy for others.

While it may be available over the counter (OTC), it appears that acetaminophen is actually a mind-altering drug.

If you take the drug regularly, the zombifying effects of acetaminophen can potentially lead to problems with interpersonal relationships, both at work and in your social life. There are many other dangers associated with OTC pain relievers, and this new finding confirms that more natural, less harmful methods of pain relief should be encouraged by the medical community  even if it means less profit for Big Pharma.

The pharmaceutical industry has proven time and time again that they are either too incompetent or unwilling to investigate their products thoroughly  as evidenced by the fact that many drugs (including ones available over the counter) are on the market for decades before adverse effects are ever attributed to them.

Acetaminophen kills empathy

A growing body of research is showing that acetaminophen is actually capable of mind-altering effects. Researchers from Ohio State University recently conducted a study to examine acetaminophens effect on the emotional state. The findings were published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience in 2016.

The study featured two experiments. In part one, the team studied 80 college students. Half of the students were given 1,000 milligrams of acetaminophen, while the remainder received a placebo. As Natural Health 365 reports further:

Participants were then read a series of stories about people going through pain and asked to rate the pain of those in the stories. The studys results found that those given acetaminophen consistently gave lower pain ratings for people in the stories compared with those receiving placebos. Hence the suggestion that these students are turning into zombies  after taking a common painkiller.

In a second study of 114 students, researchers assessed their responses to unpleasant, loud noises. All of the students received two-to-four second blasts of sound from a white noise machine, between 75 and 105 decibels. They were then asked to rate the noises on a scale of 1 (not unpleasant at all) to 10 (extremely unpleasant).

Half of the students were given the 1,000 milligrams of acetaminophen and the rest got a placebo.

According to the results, the acetaminophen group consistently rated the noises as less bothersome than the placebo group. Participants who took the acetaminophen also believed the noise would be less irritating to others.

Across the board, study participants who were given acetaminophen displayed a reduction in their ability to empathize with others. This can spell big trouble at home and in the workplace.

Dangerous medicine

As study leader Baldwin Way commented, Empathy is important. If you are having an argument with your spouse and you just took acetaminophen, this research suggests you might be less understanding of what you did to hurt your spouses feelings.

Whether its your spouse or your coworkers, empathy is essential. But acetaminophens deleterious effects on emotional state arent the only thing to be concerned about.

Acetaminophen and other OTC pain relievers have been linked to a host of health concerns  liver damage and increased risk of heart attack, to name a few.

Combined with the negative effects on brain function and emotional state, and its hard to imagine how these drugs got approved in the first place  never mind for OTC sale.

Fortunately, there are great alternatives out there. Acupuncture, for example, has been a part of traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years  and science continues to confirm its immense benefits for pain relief.

Learn more about harmful medicine at DangerousMedicine.com.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalHealth365.com

ScienceDaily.com
(Natural News) The widespread use of natural medicine is not without reason. Many people choose them over medications since they remedy diseases without causing adverse side effects, which are the downfall of most commercially available drugs. A group of researchers from Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences and Tehran University of Medical Sciences has created a helpful list of plants, commonly used in traditional Persian medicine, that are scientifically proven to have antidiabetic activity.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 30 million Americans suffer from this condition. Treating diabetes is very important since this disease increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, vision loss, and premature death. Although there are conventional antidiabetic medications, many people opt not to take them because of their associated side effects. These include extremely low sugar levels, headaches, nausea, tumor formation, and kidney damage. Fortunately, many natural remedies can be used as alternatives for these.

Antidiabetic plants in traditional Persian medicine

In this study, which was published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, the researchers looked at various traditional Persian textbooks to determine which plants were used for treating diabetes. They then proceeded to search electronic databases for in vitro, in vivo, and clinical studies that prove the efficacy of these plants. To narrow down their search, they used the keywords diabetes mellitus, diabetes, hypoglycemia, hypoglycemic effect, as well as the plant name.

From their search, they came up with the following list of Persian medicinal plants with proven antidiabetic activity:

Gum arabic tree (Acacia arabica)  The fruits of this plant significantly reduced sugar levels in different animal models. Moreover, its bark is rich in polyphenols that can improve insulin sensitivity for better management of sugar levels.

(Acacia arabica)  The fruits of this plant significantly reduced sugar levels in different animal models. Moreover, its bark is rich in polyphenols that can improve insulin sensitivity for better management of sugar levels. Bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea)  This plant inhibits enzymes involved in the conversion of carbohydrates to sugar, effectively reducing glucose in the bloodstream. It also improves insulin production by promoting the regeneration of cells in the pancreas.

(Bambusa arundinacea)  This plant inhibits enzymes involved in the conversion of carbohydrates to sugar, effectively reducing glucose in the bloodstream. It also improves insulin production by promoting the regeneration of cells in the pancreas. Frankincense (Boswellia carterii)  Frankincense has been shown to improve insulin production and protect pancreatic cells from damage that could impair their activity.

(Boswellia carterii)  Frankincense has been shown to improve insulin production and protect pancreatic cells from damage that could impair their activity. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)  The antidiabetic activity of coriander has been proven in animal models as well as in human trials. It effectively reduces sugar and cholesterol levels.

(Coriandrum sativum)  The antidiabetic activity of coriander has been proven in animal models as well as in human trials. It effectively reduces sugar and cholesterol levels. Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra)  Licorice root contains glycyrrhizic acid that can improve insulin sensitivity, reduce cholesterol levels, and increase insulin production. Moreover, it also has antioxidant activity that can prove beneficial against free radical-induced chronic inflammation.

(Glycyrrhiza glabra)  Licorice root contains glycyrrhizic acid that can improve insulin sensitivity, reduce cholesterol levels, and increase insulin production. Moreover, it also has antioxidant activity that can prove beneficial against free radical-induced chronic inflammation. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)  Similar to bamboo, lettuce also inhibits enzymes for carbohydrate break down. In addition, it improves the condition of insulin-producing cells.

(Lactuca sativa)  Similar to bamboo, lettuce also inhibits enzymes for carbohydrate break down. In addition, it improves the condition of insulin-producing cells. Common myrtle (Myrtus communis)  The leaves of this plant were observed to reduce glucose levels in mice with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. It also improves diabetes through the antioxidant activity of one of its components, myricetin.

(Myrtus communis)  The leaves of this plant were observed to reduce glucose levels in mice with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. It also improves diabetes through the antioxidant activity of one of its components, myricetin. Wood sorrels (Oxalis)  Eating the fruit of wood sorrels leads to significant improvements in glucose levels due to increased production of antioxidant enzymes in the liver.

(Oxalis)  Eating the fruit of wood sorrels leads to significant improvements in glucose levels due to increased production of antioxidant enzymes in the liver. Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea)  A clinical trial proved that seed powder from this plant has many benefits on Type 2 diabetic patients. It reduces sugar and cholesterol levels, improves insulin sensitivity while inhibiting enzymes for glucose production.

(Portulaca oleracea)  A clinical trial proved that seed powder from this plant has many benefits on Type 2 diabetic patients. It reduces sugar and cholesterol levels, improves insulin sensitivity while inhibiting enzymes for glucose production. Pomegranate (Punica granatum)  Drinking pomegranate juice causes significant improvements in sugar and cholesterol levels of Type 2 diabetic patients. This action could be attributed to the presence of the phenolic compound ellagic acid.

(Punica granatum)  Drinking pomegranate juice causes significant improvements in sugar and cholesterol levels of Type 2 diabetic patients. This action could be attributed to the presence of the phenolic compound ellagic acid. Damask rose (Rosa damascena) and dog rose (Rosa canina)  The flowers and fruits from Damask rose and dog rose, respectively, have shown potent antidiabetic activity in rats with Type 1 diabetes.

(Rosa damascena) (Rosa canina)  The flowers and fruits from Damask rose and dog rose, respectively, have shown potent antidiabetic activity in rats with Type 1 diabetes. Common grapevine (Vitis vinifera)  Different parts of this plant work against diabetes in different ways. The seeds are rich in proanthocyanidins that have potent antioxidant activity while the fruits have polyphenolic compounds that reduce glucose levels and insulin resistance.

Overall, this review proves that many plants in traditional Persian medicine are scientifically proven to have antidiabetic potential. These plants could improve the condition of the millions who suffer from diabetes. (Related: Diabetes has doubled in the U.S. over the last three decades, but industry experts claim to have more control over the disease than ever.)

For more articles about natural diabetes remedies, visit DiabetesCure.news.

Sources include:

Science.news

Journals.SagePub.com

CDC.gov
(Natural News) Pain is a common and distressing side effect of cancer and its associated treatments. Fortunately, a team of researchers from Atrium Health has found natural alternatives that provide immediate relief from cancer-related pain. In their study, the research team found that both healing touch and oncology massage therapies can relieve pain brought about by cancer.

The study, which was published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, examined and compared the effectiveness of healing touch and oncology massage therapies on cancer-related pain. To carry out the study, the research team recruited 572 cancer outpatients to undergo a single session of either healing touch or oncology massage from a certified practitioner.

Healing touch is a biofield therapy based on ancient Eastern healing practices. The practitioner uses light, gentle touch, and/or make sweeping hand motions near the patients body to restore and balance energy. In oncology massage, the therapist applies gentle pressure and kneads the muscles and joints of the patient to relieve physical and emotional stress.

Out of the 572 participants, 291 of them received healing touch, while the remaining 281 received oncology massage. Healing therapy and oncology were tailored to the needs of the patients. The cancer patients also reported pain before and after receiving the intervention.

The results showed that both healing touch and oncology massage significantly reduced pain in cancer patients. However, the duration of pain relief was not determined in the study.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that both healing touch and oncology massage therapies hold potential as natural alternatives in treating pain caused by cancer and its associated treatments.

How alternative therapies help cancer patients

Alternative therapies provide pain and anxiety relief to cancer patients, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) Monographs. The study revealed that alternative therapies such as bodywork and Chinese acupressure and acupuncture significantly reduced pain and anxiety among cancer patients.

Researchers from Allina Health at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis looked at the data gathered from over 1,800 cancer patients who had received an alternative therapy in combination with traditional therapy at least once while hospitalized. The patients had a range of cancers, such as lymphoma and cancer of the breast, prostate, lung, bronchus, and trachea.

The alternative therapies included in the study were bodywork, such as head massage, body massage, and reflexology; mind-body and energy therapies, such as meditation and guided imagery; and traditional Chinese medicine, including acupressure, acupuncture, and Korean hand therapy.

Before and right after every alternative therapy session, the patients answered questionnaires rating their pain and anxiety levels on a 10-point scale, with zero being no pain (or anxiety) and 10 being worst pain (or anxiety) imaginable.

The study found that the cancer patients reported an average of 47 percent decrease in their levels of pain and a 56 percent decline in their anxiety levels right after receiving the alternative therapy. Lung, bronchus, and trachea cancer patients reported the greatest reduction in pain, while prostate cancer patients reported the greatest decrease in anxiety.

Therapeutic body massage, reflexology, acupressure, and acupuncture were the most effective for reducing pain, although there was no significant difference observed among the therapies for reducing anxiety. (Related: Acupuncture at these specific points alleviates pain in cancer patients.)

Were thrilled that these are low-toxic, low-risk and relatively low-cost solutions to managing pain and anxiety in an acute care setting, which is very challenging, said Jeffrey Dusek, one of the authors of the study.

With these findings, the researchers also suggested that alternative therapies may play a role in reducing the use of addictive and harmful opioid drugs for the treatment of cancer-related pain.

Read more news stories and studies on natural alternatives for pain relief like healing touch and oncology massage by going to HealingArts.news.

Sources include:

Science.news

MinnPost.com
(Natural News) Just when you thought your blue-pilled perception of the world couldnt take another red-pilling reality check  after Buzzfeeds lies and mainstream medias Covington Catholics chaos  it turns out that the man wondering quietly across the concourse before not being accosted by young MAGA-hat-wearing teens is not some hapless native American

(Article by Tyler Durden republished from ZeroHedge.com)

It turns out that Nathan Phillips is raising money with the help of a major big-money left-wing operation, and has a history of appearing in the press claiming to be a victim of anti-Native racism.

In 2015, Phillips claimed that he was bombarded by racial slurs by students at Eastern Michigan University.

As Fox 2 Detroit reported, an Ypsilanti man says he was trying to teach a few students dressed in American Indian theme party about respecting Native Americans. Not long afterward, Nathan Phillips said that an interaction with party-goers and students turned ugly.

Nathan Phillips says he was out for a noon walk on a Saturday in mid-April. He walked by a home where he saw Eastern Michigan University students dressed as Native Americans. They had little feathers on, I was just going to walk by, Phillips said. A group of them said Come on over, come here.' He says he walked over to the fence and saw roughly 30 to 40 students involved in a theme party. They had their face painted, Phillips said. I said what the heck is going on here. Oh we are honoring you. I said no you are not honoring me. It was a statement he says they took offense to. Then started whooping and hollering, he said. I said that wasnt honoring, that was racist. Then at that time, it really got ugly. Phillips says he was bombarded with racial slurs. (They said) Go back to the reservation, you blank indian,' he said. One student, he says, threw a beer can at him. If I would have stayed where I was at, it would have hit me in the head, he said. I backed up and it hit me in the chest. He had seen enough at that point and says he called the police. By the time police got there, it was like there was no party there at all, he said. Phillips filed a report with campus police who tell FOX 2 they are investigating the matter. Whoever would sit judgement on them, the university the law, society, that is their job, Phillips said. I will pray for them that they will see a better way.

Rings a bell?

Additionally, Phillips starred in a 2012 Skrillex video called Make It Bun Dem, in which Phillips does some spiritual warfare connected to a violent attack on a police officer.
(Natural News) Finally, a prosecutor has decided to start throwing lunatic, Leftists in prison for promoting terrorism and violence against schoolchildren. Rob Sanders, a Kenton County Prosecutor, confirmed Tuesday that there are multiple investigations into Twitter users who made terroristic threats against Covington Catholic High School, reports The Gateway Pundit:

Weve got multiple ongoing investigations into numerous, numerous threats, Mr. Sanders said Tuesday in a podcast interview with 700 WLW. Theres probably a dozen law enforcement agencies, if not more involved in this  its growing, its spreading, there are other jurisdictions now involved in this, Sanders added.

Its about damn time. So far, there have been zero consequences for deranged, lunatic Leftists making death threats against President Trump and repeatedly threatening violence against Trump supporters. These are the same left-wing lunatics who declare themselves defenders of schoolchildren after every school shooting. But now, theyre demanding that Covington Catholic School students be burned alive, executed with firearms, murdered and organ harvested in order to appease the vile liberal mob that now runs roughshod over Americas social media landscape.

In other words, according to the lunatic Left, the only thing wrong with the Sandy Hook school shooting was that it didnt happen to Covington Catholic School first. Leftists are now openly pro school shooting as long as the students are Trump supporters. So much for the we love schoolchildren lie that underpins nearly every argument for gun control pushed by deceptive Democrats.

The Gateway Pundit goes on to report:

Hollywood producer Jack Morrissey said the MAGA hat kids should go into a woodchipper and LA DJ Michael Buchanan AKA House Shoes called for Covington HS to be burned down with the teens locked inside.

There is. Its called terroristic threatening in Kentucky and it is a felony offense punishable by 1 to 5 years in prison to make a threat of violence to an educational institution, so everyone who makes a specific threat.

Michael Buchanan lives in Los Angeles, and the LAPD is apparently going to get involved in the investigation. Buchanan is a hip hop producer and DJ who goes by the name House Shoes. At least for now. Once he ends up in prison, a more accurate name might be House Bitch. In prison, this guy is going to get passed around more than a piped-up bong at a Michael Phelps reunion party.

Tech giants are complicit in granting a platform to these left-wing terrorists who now threaten Americas children with extreme violence

Notably, these threats are being made from verified Twitter accounts that Twitter refuses to ban. Thats because Twitter is run by the same deranged lunatic Leftists who are making these threats, and its refusal to ban these accounts makes it complicit in the terrorism threats being made against schoolchildren.

Thats why Im calling for the Dept. of Justice to initiate criminal investigations into Twitter, Facebook and other social media for their complicity in refusing to remove left-wing content that openly called for the mass murder of innocent schoolchildren in America.

Oh, but its not merely the tech giants that are complicit in all this. Its the media, too. In fact its primarily the left-wing media that pushed this massive, coordinated news hoax to falsely demonize Trump-supporting children while touting the orchestrated lies of a so-called Indian elder who, by the way, has now been confirmed to have lied about serving in Vietnam. The guy is a crisis actor, an orchestrator of social engineering and media propaganda. The media ran with his false allegations out of a deliberate attempt to whip up threats of violence against children.

If anyone is truly guilty of inciting violence and terrorism over this incident, its the left-wing media reporters who are deliberately operating as journo-terrorists. As Ive already pointed out here, the First Amendment does not protect journalists who abuse their positions of influence to incite acts of extreme violence against innocent children. It is the modern-day equivalent of shouting fire! in a crowded theater.

Dozens of fake news journalists need to be prosecuted over this incident, joining Michael Buchanan in prison for their active, deliberate role in causing terroristic threats to be leveled against an entire school of Catholic students. Without real prison time in the mix here, these left-wing journo-terrorists will continue to spread dangerous fake news without consequence, believing that they are untouchable even when they intentionally spread dangerous lies that could get people killed.

It is time for these treacherous instigators of fake news terroristic violence to fake real legal repercussions for their reckless, dangerous actions. And every news organization that published fake news about these students  CNN, WashPost, NBC, BuzzFeed, etc.  should also face criminal liability for its role in perpetrating this outrageous hoax that has now put the lives of children on the line.

By the way, if there was ever an argument for arming school teachers against violence, this is it. The media just reminded the whole world why lunatic left-wing nut jobs who try to attack schools and murder children need to be met with armed, trained teachers carrying concealed weapons. If these lunatics on the Left try to burn down this school, we should all pray that school personnel shoot them before they can pull it off.

No wonder Leftists want schools to be gun-free zones. They want to be free to murder students of their choosing, without any resistance.
(Natural News) Even though the First Amendment guarantees the right to a free press, there are still some legal limitations on what news organizations can publish.

For instance, federal courts have upheld jail sentences for reporters who refuse to divulge sources of classified information. Also, obscenity is another type of speech that is not protected by the First Amendment.

And neither is defamation in specific cases. In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan that the press isnt guilty of defaming a public figure unless the aggrieved party can prove actual malice, which is defined as knowingly and recklessly publishing false information instead of just reckless reporting.

And it is on that premise that a noted constitutional lawyer who has a reputation of winning high profile cases has offered his services  for free  to students of Covington Catholic High School who were victimized by a number of mainstream media (MSM) outlets over the weekend.

As reported by Debra Heine at PJ Media, attorney Robert Barnes tweeted on Sunday that he would represent the kids for free if they wanted to sue New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman and others in the press for falsely claiming that Covington students verbally harassed and intimidated a Native American activist following a March For Live event in Washington, D.C.

Noted Heine:

Thanks to the sloppy, one-sided reporting of the malicious, agenda-driven media, a group of Catholic high school teenagers and their families have become the subjects of threats and harassment from a hateful online outrage mob. Their only sins? Being white, Catholic, and supporters of the president.

As NewsTarget reported, the rush by the MSM to frame a confrontation between a white teen aged Covington student wearing a MAGA hat and activist Nathan Phillips, who banged a Native American drum in the young mans face, as a racist, bigoted incident act actually endangered the teens life, as well as those who were with him. (Related: Anti-Christian bigot Kamala Harris wants to be president in 2020, but not for ALL Americans.)

Anyone who doesnt correct and retract will be sued

But as video of the encounter spread on social media, two things became obvious: 1) Phillips was the one who initiated the confrontation; and 2) the MSM got their reporting completely wrong.

Here is a video clearly showing that Nathan Phillips approached the students. On the basis of the evidence we now have, I believe that people who issued categorical and one-sided condemnations of the students should retract and apologize, wrote Matthew Schmitz, senior editor of the Catholic Herald, on Twitter as he retweeted the video.

Here is a video clearly showing that Nathan Phillips approached the students. On the basis of the evidence we now have, I believe that people who issued categorical and one-sided condemnations of the students should retract and apologize. pic.twitter.com/GxmXcMuQgC  Matthew Schmitz (@matthewschmitz) January 20, 2019

The MSMs defamatory smears against the kids, as Heine wrote, are now being advised to publish corrections and/or retractions of their stories or face a lawsuit filed by Barnes.

Contrary to the medias malicious narrative, the kids were not racist rednecks mobbing a Native American elder with hateful slurs. It was quite the opposite, she wrote.

In an interview with PJ Media, Barnes said he was currently working with families of the Catholic students to sue the media outlets responsible for defaming them.

He noted that anyone who doesnt correct and retract the false allegations against his clients will be subjected to lawsuits, adding that new reporting by the same outlets indicating something like a more complex picture has emerged isnt going to cut it.

Asked if those kinds of stories would count as a retraction, Barnes said it depends, Heine wrote.

Its important to note that, as the students were waiting for a bus to come pick them up after the Walk For Life event, another group  the Black Israelites, who have a reputation for being racist and anti-gay  also began verbally abusing them over their MAGA hats.

Its not likely that the Trump Derangement Syndrome-afflicted MSM will voluntarily print retractions, which is why its admirable for Barnes to step up and take them on, in the name of truth and justice.

Read more about the habitually biased MSM at Biased.news.

Sources include:

NewsTarget.com

PJMedia.com
(Natural News) Two years after the end of the most corrupt presidential administration in modern history, Americans continue to learn just how corrupt and dysfunctional many of our governing institutions became during the reign of Barack Obama.

That is especially true about the FBI  and no, there is no need to include the customary disclaimer here that all agents arent corrupt.

Everybody knows that, but it doesnt take away from the fact that the Joes and Janes who are actually running the bureau arent neck deep in the D.C. Deep State.

We know, for instance, that former FBI Director James Comey was corrupt after he excused Hillary Clintons serial violations of national security statutes via her gross mishandling of classified emails.

We know that FBI Deputy Director Rod Rosenstein is corrupt because he appointed Robert Mueller special counsel on the basis of a phony Trump campaign-Russian collusion narrative.

And now, according to Terry Turchie, a former deputy assistant director at the bureau, we can likely expect more corruption down the road thanks to a changing electorate that is becoming more comfortable with corrupt and morally bankrupt political ideologies. (Related: Shocking documents reveal FBI was collecting data on internet activist without a warrant.)

In comments to Fox News Tucker Carlson this week regarding the never-ending Russia investigation (compliments of Rosenstein and Mueller), Turchie said this regarding what has become of his former employer:

And I think we can expect more of this, because quite honestly the electorate in some places is putting more and more progressives and self-described socialists in positions. And ironically, years ago, when I first got into the FBI, one of the missions of the FBI in its counterintelligence efforts was to try and keep these people out of government. Why? Because we would end up with massive dysfunction and massive disinformation and massive misinformation, and it seems to me thats where were at today.

What changed from Hoovers FBI to Obamas FBI?

What makes Turchies comment about when he first joined the bureau  in July 1972, according to his LinkedIn profile  is that what the FBI has done in the age of Trump differs little from what it was doing in the age of J. Edgar Hoover and the Kennedy, LBJ, and Nixon administrations.

In those days, the FBI was active in undermining perceived socialists and communists of the time, including civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., as noted by Caitlin Johnstone writing at Medium.

The history books tell us that Hoover was essentially an enemy of King, having kept extensive files on him and even denouncing the civil rights activist in November 1964 as the most notorious liar in the country.

In fact, a few days after Hoover made that claim, one of his top deputies, William Sullivan, penned a letter to the civil rights leader posing as a disillusioned follower to urge King to commit suicide before evidence of his extramarital affairs became public knowledge.

There is only one thing left for you to do, Sullivan warned vaguely in the final paragraph of the typed letter. You know what it is.

He would be assassinated nearly four years later, on April 4, 1968, at a hotel in Memphis, Tenn., in an act that some believe involved Hoovers FBI.

Caitlin noted further that in addition to hating on King, Hoovers FBI devised an unconstitutional operation known as COINTELPRO which sought to infiltrate and sabotage dissident political and activist groups. In fact, she blames the FBI for assassinating Fred Hampton, a leader of the Black Panther Party, in Chicago in 1969.

How can anyone justify the FBIs continued existence after such an admission? Johnstone wrote regarding Turchies comment. Even if you very trustingly subscribe to the belief that the FBI no longer engages in any such practices to any extent (and that would be extremely naive), how can you justify keeping it in power knowing that it did?

Read more about the FBIs corruption at FBICorruption.news.

Sources include:

DailyMotion.com

TheNationalSentinel.com

TheRoot.com
So Prime Minister,

Viorica,

Welcome to NATO. It is a great pleasure and honor to meet you here at NATO Headquarters. Romania being such a staunch and highly valued Ally. Its really great to have you here. This year is the fifteenth anniversary of Romania joining our Alliance.Your membership has been important for NATO and for Romania. You contribute to our shared security in many different ways and your contributions are making us all stronger and safer.

Romanian forces are part of NATOs training mission in Afghanistan, helping to stabilize the country. And you contribute to stability in the Western Balkans with your troops in the KFOR mission. In Europe, Romania serves in our multinational battlegroup in Poland. Romania also plays a crucial role in the security in the Black Sea region. Including with a Romanian-led, multinational brigade in Craiova; air policing and a strong naval presence. Romania also hosts a site for NATOs Ballistic Missile Defence, at Deveselu. Helping to protect Europe from missile threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic area. So thank you for all that Romania does to make us all more secure.

At the start of January, Romania assumed the presidency of the European Union for the first time. NATO and the EU are already working more closely than ever, in areas including military mobility, cyber and hybrid threats, and maritime security. And I welcome your plans for further strengthening NATO-EU cooperation during Romanias presidency.

We face a more dangerous and unpredictable world, so it is important that all Allies invest in defence. I welcome therefore Romanias plans to spend 2% of GDP on defence this year. And that you intend to modernise your armed forces over the next decade. This is important, because fair burden-sharing means more than just cash. It also means investing in modern capabilities, and contributing to NATO missions and operations. I encourage Romania to continue on this path.

So Prime Minister,

Once again welcome to NATO and many many thanks for your leadership and your strong commitment to the Alliance.

So please.

Viorica Dancila [Prime Minister of Romania] [Interpreted]: I would like to thank Secretary General Stoltenberg for the warm welcome and for the substantial discussions we have had. This is an important moment for Romania. During the first half of this year, we have the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and we also celebrate 15 years since our country's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. At the same time, in 2019, NATO celebrates 70 years since its founding. All these landmarks prompt us to a strategic reflection on the modalities to answer as efficient as possible to the challenges that we are confronted with. Under these auspices, I have assured the Secretary General that Romania remains a staunch Ally.

We strongly support a strong Alliance and also the strengthening of the transatlantic relation, which is crucial for the Euro-Atlantic security. We have fulfilled and we will continue fulfilling all our responsibilities within NATO. We have significantly increased the budget allocated to the defence sector and we provide special attention to the programmes meant to modernise and procure new equipment for our armed forces. We are present in the Allied theatres of operation and I'd like to mention here Afghanistan, as Romania is there as one of the most important contributors, as well as our participation to the measures taken in order to strengthen the defence on the Eastern Flank, on the national soil as well as in Poland.

The sacrifice of Romanian soldiers, to whom I'd like to pay a tribute on this occasion as well, represents the ultimate proof of our commitment within NATO. I have presented the Secretary General with the Romanian priorities during our Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with a focus on such priorities and that improving cohesion and cooperation among member states, facing the new security challenges, as well those priorities which would like to ensure a more visible role to the European Union on the global scene. We wish for the European Union to strengthen its capacity, to answer to any security threats.

However, as a NATO partner, I have underlined the importance that Romania provides to the further development of the NATO-EU partnership, based on a number of specific measures taken by the two organisations. The EU actions taken on security policy area must complement Alliance's actions and should avoid any overlapping. We are confronted with more and more common challenges, such as hybrid attacks, including the cyber-security area, and the use of disinformation and of fake news in order to create tension and distrust. We must face such challenges together. These are some of the topics included within the priorities that Romania will have throughout its mandate, at the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as within NATO.

We are still witnessing some complex security challenges in the immediate neighbourhood of the Alliance. We upheld the Romanian government support towards the important progress achieved in the process of adapting NATO to the new realities and we have focused on the need for this process to continue. Strengthening NATO's defence and deterrence posture represents a priority which requires sustained efforts from behalf of all Allies. During the discussions we had today, we have had a substantial exchange of assessment on the security situation in our region, with a focus on the developments in the Black Sea area. The defence on the Eastern Flank and in the Black Sea region is an integral part of these efforts and it represents a paramount action for the entire Alliance, and Romania will continue to pay special attention to these efforts.

I have underlined that the Black Sea security represents an integral part of the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic area, and the Alliance needs to have a strategic approach in this region. At the same time, we upheld the importance of deepening cooperation between NATO and its partners; those in the southern neighbourhood as well as with those in the eastern neighbourhood in the Western Balkans. Our partners require a strong support from the Allies in order to be able to face the existing security risks, and Romania is prepared to have an active contribution in this respect.

Concluding, we will continue our excellent cooperation with the Alliance and we will be waiting for the Secretary General to pay a visit to Romania, in order to participate to the meetings organised under the auspices of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as in order to continue our dialogue on security topics. Thank you.
Portage Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham, who recently announced hed seek the Democratic nomination for mayor in the May primary, said that elected officials and city department heads must submit a statement of economic interest, and among the disclosures are if that person has received any compensation from a city contractor or an entity in the queue for city business.
The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will hold a press point on Friday 25 January 2019 to brief the media in his capacity as Chairman of the NATO-Russia Council.

11:30 Press point by NATO Secretary General at NATO Headquarters (Podium  Agora, NATO HQ)

Media will be escorted to the location of the press point from the Public Square, ground floor (next to the press shop).

Access to the location of the press point will be open as of 10:50, last departure at 11:25.

General Information

The press point will be streamed live on the NATO website and will be available on worldfeed via satellite.

After the event photos, video and audio files will be made available on the NATO website.

Professional-quality videos and b-roll will be available for download from http://www.natomultimedia.tv/.

Please register for access. Contact: content@natomultimedia.tv

Languages

Live material from the press conference will be offered in English, French and Russian.

After the event, audio files will also be made available in original sound, English, French and Russian.

Accreditation and Access

Media permanently accredited at NATO

Media representatives in possession of permanent NATO media pass can access to the NATO HQ directly by tapping their badge at the turnstiles (NATO HQ Guard House South - GHS, media entrance, NATO Headquarters, Boulevard Leopold III 1110).

Ad-hoc accreditation (day-pass)

Media representatives not permanently accredited and wishing to attend the event are invited to request ad-hoc accreditation directly at the NATO HQ Guard House, media centre, on Friday 25 January 2019. They will have to present an ID and a valid press card (provided by a recognised national professional body of a NATO country  i.e. Government, Professional association, Union of journalists).

Media representatives not in possession of a valid press card are invited to send a signed letter from their editor to the NATO Accreditation Office to NATOaccreditations@hq.nato.int no later than COB 24 January 2019 (Brussels time).

Television networks requesting access of a sat van must inform NATO by emailing details here: Dekens.henk@hq.nato.int.

Security Procedures

A security check will take place and all equipment and personal effects carried onto the site will be examined by security personnel. Media representative are therefore encouraged to arrive with sufficient lead time to allow for security proceedings.

Points of Contact

General queries:

Front Office

+32.2.707.5041

Press arrangements:

Alina Coca

+32.2.707.1465

Accreditation:

Angelo Pacifico

+32.2.707.8346

TV/Radio issues:

Henk Dekens

+32.2.707.5051

Post-event Video distribution

+32.2.707.1227

content@natomultimedia.tv

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised Romania on Wednesday (23 January 2019) for its strong contributions to the Alliance. Mr. Stoltenberg was speaking after talks with Prime Minister Viorica Dancila at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The Secretary General highlighted the crucial role Romania plays in the security of the Black Sea region.

Read the Secretary General's joint press point here
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed President Salome Zourabichvili to NATO on Wednesday (23 January 2019) for talks on the Alliances deepening partnership with Georgia. The Secretary General thanked President Zourabichvili for Georgias contributions to NATOs training mission in Afghanistan and to the NATO Response Force, and for hosting an upcoming joint exercise in March. Calling Georgia a unique partner, Mr. Stoltenberg welcomed the countrys progress on reform, and pledged NATOs support as Georgia continues to prepare for membership in the Alliance.

Read the Secretary General's joint press point here
Oceans Are Getting Louder, Posing Potential Threats to Marine Life New York Times (Robert M)

A Meteorite Hit the Moon During Total Lunar Eclipse New Scientist

Drone sighting disrupts major US airport BBC

The Matchmaker Who Flirts on Dating Apps for You524 The Cut. Resilc: Just wait until AI can do it, then your robot can go out for you too.

Seafood processing water is a surprising source of nutrients TreeHugger. Resilc: When do we see fish gutzNstuff kombucha at Whole Foods for $19.99 a pint?

China?

Brexit

Europes mightiest river is drying up, most likely causing a recession in Germany. Yes, really. Busines Insider (Kevin W)

MasterCard Fined $648 Million for High EU Card Fees Bloomberg

Macron looks to labour reforms to placate gilets jaunes Financial Times

New Cold War

US man accused of spying in Russia may have had state secrets, says his lawyer Guardian. Resilc: Just an innocent dishonorable discharged Marine, working as the security chief for an American firm that does business in Russia, carrying Russian secrets to a wedding.happens all the time.. Ex-U.S. marine held in Russia for spying was misled, says lawyer Reuters. Resilc: The old holiday photos on the thumb drive excuse

Syraqistan

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Trump Transition

The Future of the Supreme Court in the Liberal Imagination Corey Robin, Jacobin

How Voting-Machine Lobbyists Undermine the Democratic Process New Yorker (furzy)

Mainstream Media Is Literally Making People Sick Caitlin Johnstone, Consortium News

The Young Lefts Anti-Capitalist Manifesto FiveThirtyEight (resilc). Pull out the fainting couch!

Media: why is AOC so popular? Ppl: her politics are popular Media: social media? Ppl: no, her politics of unafraid socialism Media: its cuz she young n hot Ppl: s o c i a l i s m Media: we may never know  matthew miles goodrich (@mmilesgoodrich) January 22, 2019

Erin Brockovich to lead protest against PG&E bankruptcy at Capitol in Sacramento. Sacramento Bee. In case you hadnt worked it out:

Bankruptcy would turn wildfire claimants into unsecured creditors, along with bondholders holding billions in PG&E debt. Its unlikely that the fire survivors would get paid in full, legal experts say.

PG&E shares surge as company secures $5.5 billion in bankruptcy financing Reuters

New CalPERS CIO Orders Full Review of CalPERS Investment Activities Chief Investment Officer (Kevin W). Not consistent with Marcie Frosts much ballyhooed plan of getting the new PE scheme approved by March.

McKinsey & Company Is Again Accused of Misdeeds in Bankruptcy Case New York Times (Robert M)

The 10 most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2019 Business Insider

Climate Change, Financial Stability and Monetary Policy ScienceDirect (UserFriendly)

Guillotine Watch

After the Storm: Progress and the demented quest for historical purity The Baffler (Anthony L)

Antidote du jour. Martha r via Twitter: This mother hen was found taking care of two small kittens in a snow storm!

And a bonus from martha r:

Shoebill Storks are living Dinosaurs pic.twitter.com/oUbv8JwrnT  Welcome To Nature (@welcomet0nature) January 20, 2019

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
When I searched on Brexit just now, I saw such a rehash of what ought to be old stories that I thought there must be something wrong with Google. May to focus on Irish backstop. May mulls amending Good Friday Agreement. U.K. Parliament Moves Closer to Stopping a No-Deal Brexit And the body of a Guardian story has this blather:

Tory Brexit supporters alarmed by the prospect of a delay have hinted they could be won over in the coming weeks  if Theresa May can produce a serious concession from Brussels on the Irish backstop. The Tory backbencher Andrew Murrison tabled an amendment to next Tuesdays Brexit motion that insists on an expiry date to the backstop in the hope that it could allow MPs such as Bradley to demonstrate the level of parliamentary concern to both Downing Street and the EU.

Help me. As if no one noticed that Mays deal was voted down by a margin of 230?

The press is dignifying the barmy the idea that Parliament can take the steering wheel from the Government. Even though this issue has been discussed in comments, with our regulars providing explanations, it seemed worth making this issue a post topic, particularly since its going to come to the fore in the next week plus.

As David pointed out, the UK isnt supposed to be where it is, with a weak, discredited government that isnt merely soldiering on, but is refusing to abandon a position that Parliament has rejected on the highest-stakes issue of at least a generation. But Parliament cannot fix this problem by usurping the Government. It would need to replace the current Government with one more aligned with its views. But as we know, the Tories have been unable to defenestrate May, and they are unwilling to risk a general election. And now with so little time left, even if the EU were to give the maximum realistic extension (till June? early July?), the GE process would chew up so much time that there would be no net addition of Parliamentary days.and no assurance that a GE would produce any real change in the political configuration.

Well turn the mike over to Clive, who provided more detail on the Constitutional/procedural issues by e-mail. This is mildly tweaked from a series of messages. What triggered this discussion was one of the new unicorns, Yvette Coopers bill. As summarized in the Independent:

At the moment, if parliament fails to act, the UK will leave the EU on 29 March. Coopers bill says that, if a deal has not been approved by 7 March, the government would be required to seek an extension of the Article 50 deadline.* That would mean asking the EU to postpone the UKs departure until the end of this year  and EU leaders have said they would agree to an extension if it were to hold another referendum.

Well put aside the fact that the EU has never indicated any willingness to extend Brexit to year end. Clive gives a Parliamentary tutorial to work up to why the idea that Parliament can order the Government to take an executive action is not on:
GoodNews Church founder Prophet Uebert Angel has made an impassioned call for peace in Zimbabwe following the death of an estimated 12 people and over 68 being admitted to hospital for gunshot wounds following a crackdown by security forces in the aftermath of protests.

Writing on his Instagram account, Angel wrote; ZIMBABWEANS are a people of GREAT RESOLVE. They are not a POLITICAL PARTY or a POLITICAL AFFILIATION and to be SILENT at this hour is to GREATLY ERR so I break ranks and CALL for PRAYER for ZIMBABWEANS everywhere.

And I go further and ask everyone with a VOICE to call for an AMICABLE SOLUTION and to call for PEACE. Needless to say WHATEVER political ideology we agree with, it is of paramount importance that we speak the same voice and say VIOLENCE is NEVER the answer, united we stand and divided we WILL always FALL. #GoodNews #ZimbabweForJesus, Angel wrote.

Various commentators have criticised the church for maintaining a silence in the midst of the mainly state-sponsored violence that erupted after an unpopular government decision to double fuel prices.

The main labour union the Zimbabwe Congress Trade Union (ZCTU) last week called for a stayaway which saw sporadic incidents of violence and looting. The government responded with a crackdown which has been condemned by the United Nations (UN) as excessive.

(The) government will not stand by while such narrow interests play out so violently, President Emmerson Mnangagwas spokesman George Charamba told the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper. The response so far is just a foretaste of things to come.

President Mnangagwa has since cut short his European tour, posting on Twitter: In light of the economic situation, I will be returning home after a highly productive week of bilateral trade and investment meetings. The first priority is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again.

 NehandaRadio

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Whistle-blower William Mutumanje popularly known as Acie Lumumba has told President Emmerson Mnangagwa that Zimbabwes latest problems relating to violence are caused by Vice President Constantino Guvheya Chiwenga.

Mr. President one week ago your government butchered innocent men and women. Mutumanjue said.

It was NOT the right thing to do to announce a fuel hike and run. Its not the announcement or running thats crazy, its who you left in charge. Musadaro mudhara! Tinopera kufa.

Mutumanje was responding to President Mnangagwa who had said, One week ago, I announced measures to stabilise our nations crucial fuel supply. I was aware that these measures may not be popular, and this was not a decision we took lightly. But it was the right thing to do.

Mr President one week ago your government butchered innocent men and women. It was NOT the right thing to do to announce a fuel hike and run. It's not the announcement or running that's crazy, its who you left in charge. Musadaro mudhara! Tinopera kufa. pic.twitter.com/DSej9tPT8f  #ThePeoplesChampion (@acielumumba) January 22, 2019

Mutumanje who is alleged to be working with embattled Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa to mastermind the ousting of Vice President Chiwenga has been vocal in seeking to brand the Vice President as a ruthless or incapable person.

Over the weekend when Mnangagwa announced that he is dumping the World Economic Forum trip and has sent Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube to represent him Mutumanje said, You might not have a single person who can ably represent you boss. The ably (abry) representative you left akavhara masai sai; Tatoverenga tweet yenyu pa black market.

A faction of ZANU PF which is alleged to be aligned to Chiwenga is reported to have convened a meeting at Chiwengas farm over the weekend to discuss processes of impeaching Mnangagwa whom they regard as too weak and too compromising and not consistent with their values.

The plot was revealed by Gokwe-Nembudziya Member of parliament Justice Mayor Wadyajena who took to Twitter to expose that the faction lacks numbers to impeach Mnangagwa.

They threatened to kill me and harm my family. I stand by Mnangagwa and wish they knew ours isnt just a political relationship. However they try, well never quit nor be intimidated. The plot is foiled, they lack numbers for impeachment.

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Former Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education Jonathan Moyo said he is done with Zanu PF and that if he rejoins the party his family will disown him.

He said this on Twitter whilst unpacking Letters To My Father, one of the two books that he is working on. Moyo said Letters To My Father is an academic memoir where he unravels state politics in Zimbabwe since King Lobengula and tells his father Melusi Job Mlevu his story since his brutal murder; especially his ordeal in the ZanuPF leadership ranks between 2000-05 and 2009-17. Below is Moyos explanation of what the book will be about:

On 22 January 1983 my father, Melusi Job Mlevu, was callously murdered in Tsholotsho by Gukurahundi soldiers & the CIO. They tortured him upon his arrest & in front of his family; got him to dig a shallow grave, tortured him again; pumped bullets into his body & buried him!

One of the two books Im working on, LETTERS TO MY FATHER, is an academic memoir in which I unravel state politics in Zim since King Lobengula & tell my father my story since his brutal murder; especially my ordeal in the ZanuPF leadership ranks between 2000-05 & 2009-17!

LETTERS TO MY FATHER starts with the Nov 2017 coup. I tell my father untold things about the coup. I tell him that Mnangagwa, Chiwenga, Shiri & others who sent soldiers to torture & murder him; also sent soldiers to come after me & my family but his spirit & God intervened!

On the back of the 2017 violent coup whose casualties remain hidden, the stolen 2018 poll & the 1 Aug 2018 atrocities, I tell my father that last weeks Army massacres & Internet shutdown had the trappings of gukurahundi; with the same murderers in charge then, in charge now!

I tell my father I regret I understood better after the damage had been done that by joining ZanuPF to change it; I risked having ZanuPF changing me. I assure him Im done with ZanuPF & that my family will disown me if I ever again rejoin it in any disguise, shape or form!

https://twitter.com/ProfJNMoyo/status/1087786636077867008

https://twitter.com/ProfJNMoyo/status/1087786640402198528

3/5 "LETTERS TO MY FATHER" starts with the Nov 2017 coup. I tell my father untold things about the coup. I tell him that Mnangagwa, Chiwenga, Shiri & others who sent soldiers to torture & murder him; also sent soldiers to come after me & my family but his spirit & God intervened!  Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) January 22, 2019

https://twitter.com/ProfJNMoyo/status/1087786645980700672

5/5 I tell my father I regret I understood better after the damage had been done that by joining ZanuPF to change it; I risked having ZanuPF changing me. I assure him I'm done with ZanuPF & that my family will disown me if I ever again rejoin it in any disguise, shape or form!  Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) January 22, 2019

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ABOUT 28 victims of torture by State security agents were on Monday morning arrested from a safe house in Harare from where they were receiving treatment and are today expected to appear in court for public violence.

According to the victims lawyer Kudzayi Kadzere from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), the victims were accused of setting alight a Zupco bus that was burnt near the Whitehouse area during last weeks demonstrations.

However, Kadzere said the seriously injured victims still needed medical care.

Police reportedly busted the safe house with a search warrant, purportedly looking for senior MDC officials.

They have been charged with public violence and they are going to appear in court tomorrow (Wednesday). They are being charged with public violence that took place near Whitehouse, where the Zupco bus was burnt along the Bulawayo Road, Kadzere said.

They were arrested while receiving treatment at a house in Hatfield, which is a safe place where they were seen by the doctors. They were raided in the night, around midnight. They are seriously injured, but they were put in cells.

Some of them need continuous care from the doctors and for them to be removed from treatment to police cells is absolutely ridiculous.

According to NewsDay sources, the victims were battered in Kuwadzana Phase 3 on Sunday on accusations that they participated in the recent protests.

Following the seriousness of their condition, a distress call was made to a medical institution which responded positively and treated them.

The medical institution further kept the victims at a safe place for them to recuperate. During the raid, police reportedly assaulted the victims despite their names not appearing on the warrant they had brought.

Meanwhile, heads of Civil Society Coalitions (CSC) have called on government to withdraw the military from suburbs.

From the government, we demand an immediate end to the de facto state of emergency in the country and ensure the return of the military personnel to their barracks and the lifting of the curfew imposed across the country, the CSC heads said in a statement.

They urged the government to respect rights of those arrested and to ensure that the right to a fair trial was respected in accordance with the Constitution as well as the international treaties such as the International Covenant and Political Rights to which Zimbabwe is a party.

We call upon President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa to immediately acknowledge the extra-judicial killings of civilians and take steps towards identifying and holding the perpetrators accountable, part of the statement read.

Speaking at a media briefing in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights executive director Roselyn Hanzi said reports they received were that the judiciary was being infiltrated by politicians.

Our lawyers were facing challenges where minors were being denied bail and in some instances suspects were not given enough time to prepare for defence.

Some victims are failing to access emergency medical healthcare and the State security agents are putting some impediments, obstructing the victims from accessing emergency medical healthcare, she said.

Hanzi said police and army were going about randomly invading peoples homes and in some cases abducting, torturing and later dumbing victims at police stations.

 NewsDay

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FORMER Defence and War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube said the shooting of civilians in August last year and during the violent protests of last week has dragged the country many years back and turned it into a pariah State.

The police said three people were killed, including a police officer, but human rights groups and lawyers said evidence suggested that a dozen people were killed by security forces during last weeks protests over the high costs of fuel and other services.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday promised to investigate violence against civilians and punish any misconduct by security forces which analysts say showed that the country was slipping back into authoritarian rule.

But Dube, a Zanu PF politburo member and a retired army colonel, said the fact that the culprits who used lethal force were known and have not been apprehended and made to account for their actions, shows that the country was sliding back into the dark days of 10 years ago when hundreds of mainly opposition MDC party supporters were killed in a violent election run-off.

A lot of things that have happened were not foreseeable. Some very unfortunate things happened which affected us as well as our economy. Those [killings] put us years back, not months, but many years, because the world was beginning to understand us better. I dont want to say who did it as the problem that we have in this country is that the truth is very sensitive, Dube told Southern Eye.

With the way things have taken shape, it will take too long to get the situation right. Some countries take this [shootings] very seriously. No-one accepts the blame that someone killed these people, but the truth is that someone killed those people unless its not true that those 12 people were killed.

Dube said authorities seem reluctant to apprehend those who shot and killed civilians.

If its true that civilians have been killed, then someone did it and it cannot be everybody. I dont understand why we have such problems in identifying the culprits. Nobody seems to want to identify them, instead they begin to point fingers at each other.

 NewsDay

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Portage Township Schools is offering substitute positions to federal employees looking for work due to the government shutdown. All applications submitted for a substitute teacher, custodian, food service and bus driver/attendant position will be fast-tracked and quickly reviewed. Those who submit an application will receive a call with an interview date and time. Interested candidates should visit the Portage Township Schools website at www.portage.k12.in.us for more information on each position and to apply. From the main page, click on the Employment link under Our District and click on Job Postings to learn more about the qualifications for each position.
Erik Walsh has spent 24 years with the city, rising to the top. The San Antonio native has emerged as the sole finalist to be the next city manager  his dream job since he was a freshman at Central Catholic High School.

Walsh has the experience for the position and exudes a love for San Antonio, and he has the respect of city staff and a reputation for staying cool during heated moments.

Such intangibles should serve him well because he is taking the reins at a sensitive moment. He will need to maintain the standard of excellence that outgoing City Manager Sheryl Sculley has set, and yet manage with a much different style and tone that puts City Council at the forefront of policymaking.

Sculley served this city for 13 years, and she was an excellent city manager. But her base compensation of $475,000 was a flashpoint, and her critics accused her of acting imperiously. It all came to a head with this fall with the overwhelming passage of Proposition B, one of three charter changes on the ballot. Proposition B limits Walshs compensation to 10 times the pay of the lowest-earning city employee and his term to eight years. Proposition C also passed, giving the fire union the sole right to declare an impasse in contract negotiations. In response, Fitch downgraded San Antonios credit rating.

Walsh also faces a fairly big to-do list.

Top of the list is negotiating a contract with the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association, which pushed for these charter changes. We suspect the fire union will wait to see the results of Mays municipal elections before it comes to the table. Still. There is a new manager, and no excuse not to talk.

The city and Bexar County remain at an impasse over the countys new Justice Intake and Assessment Center. The citys intake and detention center at the Frank Wing Municipal Court is outdated and depressing. The countys building is modern and embraces best practices. Is it perfect? No. But in this dispute, local officials have lost sight of taxpayers, who should not be paying for two intake and detention centers.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg has made transit a priority, and if Nirenberg wins re-election this year, the public will likely vote on his transit plan in November 2020. Walsh will play a key role in implementing this vision. And the city needs more affordable housing and better controls for residents affected by gentrification.

If Walsh can hit the mark on these issues, and others, perhaps voters will rethink those unfortunate charter changes that have ushered in this new era.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is offering $15,000 for information on a wanted alleged Mexican Mafia gang member who is known as "Ghost."

Anthony Gonzales, 45, is a Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitive with ties to Corpus Christi and Goliad, authorities said.
San Antonians looking for a job have multiple opportunities to further their careers this month.

National Career Fairs, a Nevada-based company that hosts recruiting events, is kicking off San Antonio's 2019 schedule on Jan. 31. There will be seven local fairs throughout the year. Each, including the January event will be hosted at the Omni Hotel at 9821 Colonnade Blvd., according to the website.

Hopefuls will be able to meet with companies like New York Life, Hulu and Lyft under one roof from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration can be completed online and is free.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

"You will save a lot of time since there will be no need to craft a customized personal statement for each company you visit: You'll be able to tell them why you wish to work them, and you'll have the chance to sell yourself," the website reads.

Companies will have the chance to interview "thousands," according to National Career Fairs. Employers should call 877-561-5627 to register.

RELATED: Austin-based Gourdough's Public House to open River Walk location soon

Those looking to make "dough" at Gourdough's Public House, the River Walk's upcoming restaurant, should set time aside for a Jan. 23 and 24 job fair, where more than 100 positions will be on the table. The "Big. Fat. Job Fair" will be hosted at the River Walk location, 215 Losoya Stree, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days, according to a news release.

See which companies are participating in the San Antonio Career Fair hosted by National Career Fairs in the gallery above.

Madalyn Mendoza is a breaking news and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, mySA.com and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | mmendoza@mysa.com |@MaddySkye
The man who was killed on Monday when he was struck by a motorcycle and then run over several times by passing drivers on Interstate 10 has been identified.

Randale Bagby Lackey, 58, of Centerpoint, had stopped on the side of the highway near Callaghan Road at about 11:45 p.m. after his car broke down, authorities said.
A former member of the Bandidos who helped bring down the outlaw motorcycle clubs national leaders got a huge break in a San Antonio courtroom Wednesday when he walked out with probation instead of the 14 to 17 years in prison he faced for a drug-trafficking conviction.

Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra granted a request from federal prosecutors to cut Raul K-Oz Puente a break for his assistance in the Bandidos racketeering case.

At Wednesdays hearing, everyone was careful not to mention what Puente did for the feds or to speak of the Bandidos by name as Ezra departed from the recommended sentencing guideline range of 168 months to 210 months in prison, without parole, and instead sentenced Puente to five years of probation. Puente pleaded guilty three years ago to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamines.

On ExpressNews.com: Jurors find Bandidos leaders guilty

Ezra cautioned that he would not normally, if ever, consider a probated sentence  as requested by the government  for someone who faced such a high sentence for a drug offense.

Every so often, and not that frequently, there are circumstances where the government has justified the request, Ezra said. Sadly, this is one of those situations where it requires that (the motion for downward departure) remain sealed, pursuant to law.

It might seem to public that the court is not being as stern as it should be in terms of drug cases, the judge continued. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish I can go into detail of why Im imposing the sentence I am, but I cant. If I did, it would endanger individuals.

Ezra added that Puentes sentence reduction was not as drastic as that of Sammy the Bull Gravano, the infamous mafia underboss who killed 19 people but avoided life in prison, or the death penalty, because he got government-sanctioned breaks for helping convict mob boss John Gotti. In Gravanos case, the government (and the judge who approved Gravanos pass) looked at the bigger picture: Taking down the head of a mafia organization was more important then imposing a hefty sentence against one individual, Ezra said.

Related: Bandidos upset Cossacks patch was bigger than ours

According to court records, Puente went from being president of the Northeast San Antonio chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club to something that put him in danger  he flipped. During a trial last year, testimony surfaced that Puente cooperated and agreed to wear a wire and record phone calls with other Bandidos, following his 2015 drug indictment. That helped the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety identify the Bandidos drug-trafficking, and to solve other crimes that were also rolled into a racketeering indictment against the organizations national leadership.

Puentes cooperation helped the government flip other high-ranking members of the Bandidos and to convict its top two leaders, former national president Jeffrey Fay Pike of Conroe and then-national vice president John Xavier Portillo of San Antonio. The pair were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in a three-month trial in 2018 of leading the Bandidos racketeering conspiracy that included drug-trafficking, assaults on rivals and murder.

I tried to balance everything out, the good (and) the bad, Puente told the judge Wednesday. Theres no excuse for the situation I was put in. I could have gone left and I went right. Ive done my best to rectify and correct and fix and prevent.

Related: Fight at strip club leads to drug arrest

For several years before 2015, Puente was in all things Bandido. He drew headlines for a bloody fight over turf with a member of another gang, the Texas Syndicate, at a local strip club in 2009. He was caught on a wiretap during a drug-dealing investigation of Johnny Romo, a national sergeant-at-arms of the Bandidos who later turned states evidence himself and testified against Portillo and Pike.

In one of those intercepted calls, Puente warned another Bandidos member that it appeared the call was being monitored by law enforcement.

Puentes lawyer, Tony Jimenez, said after Wednesdays hearing that his client is no longer in the Bandidos.

Its a very difficult situation, Jimenez said. Hes just wanting to move on and put this behind him.

Puente, knowing hes at risk, told the judge it wont be easy to forge ahead.

Even after this, I dont know what tomorrow brings, Puente said. Its just something that Im going to have to look over my shoulder (for) the rest of my life. Its going to be what its going to be. I apologize to my family and everybody in general.

Guillermo Contreras covers federal court and immigration news in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
To receive the highest level of neonatal and trauma care, families in Northwest Indiana can either drive the roughly 30 minutes to the University of Chicago or 3.5 hours to Riley Childrens Hospital in Indianapolis. In these cases, time is of the essence and distance is so critical to survival, Johnson said.
A Bexar County Jail inmate is accused of using a two-way radio to crush a deputys hand on New Years Day, according to court records.

Richard Fryer, 50, was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault against a public servant.

Fryer has been in jail since July 3, 2018, on a charge of assault of family member by choking or strangulation, according to court records.

RELATED: Bexar sheriff announces development in triple shooting at S.A. luxury home

At approximately 6 p.m., Fryer became upset with another inmate and attempted to assault him, investigators said.

The deputy tolds Fryer to stop fighting, after which Fryer walked over to the deputys station and grabbed a jail-issued radio.

As the deputy tried to pull the radio away, Fryer slammed it down on the deputys right hand, according to Fryers arrest warrant affidavit.

The deputy was taken to an area hospital where he had surgery on his hand. Authorities said metal screws and braces were placed in his hand to help it heal.

Fryer was still in jail Tuesday with bail totaling $90,000, according to court records.
A University of Texas at San Antonio biology professor who was suspended last semester for calling police to remove one her students from a class was suspended again Sunday because of her continued emphasis on student behavior.

The professor, Anita Moss, began teaching again this semester. She had been required to complete classroom management training with the university's Teaching and Learning Services and was to be subjected to ongoing monitoring, officials said.

On Sunday, university leaders became aware of a new concern regarding classroom management by Moss, according to an email to faculty from Kimberly Andrews Espy, the UTSA provost and vice president for academic affairs.

A preliminary inquiry revealed that despite persistent and substantive intervention, there remain persisting concerns with Dr. Mosss classroom management that warrant her relief from all instructional responsibilities at this time. A formal investigation will be launched in order to afford due process to all involved, the email said.

On ExpressNews.com: UTSA president: Black faculty is right about endemic racism

The student escorted from class on Nov. 12 was African American, and some minority faculty members have criticized the findings of two university investigations into the incident. The university concluded that Moss, who is white, didnt act out of racial bias but overreacted to the students placing her feet on the chair in front of her and suspended the professor from teaching for the rest of the semester.

On ExpressNews.com: UTSA student says she exchanged apologies with prof who ousted her

A video of the incident posted on social media went viral. Officers questioned the student and determined there was no reason to keep her from class, but by then Moss had ended the lecture early after other students criticized her decision to call police. The ousted student later issued a statement saying she didnt believe race was a factor in Mosss actions.

University spokesman Joe Izbrand declined comment on the reasons for the second removal of Moss, citing an open investigation. But emails exchanged with Interim Dean of the College of Sciences Howard Grimes show other faculty had complained about Moss Spring 2019 syllabus as evidence that she had not changed, and Grimes reply indicated he agreed.

Placing your legs or feet on the classroom furniture and reclining in class  behaviors that precipitated the November incident  are included under Moss warning about disrespectful behavior.

In a response to multiple faculty and staff, Grimes said he shared their upset and distress and had relieved Moss from her instructional responsibilities.

I also disagree with Dr. Mosss assessment that these behaviors disrupt  todays learning environment, Grimes wrote. In fact, her department Chair and I have explicitly stated to her previously that these behaviors are not disruptive.

Grimes called it particularly troubling that Moss listed the behaviors she considered disruptive after her participation in the intensive and substantive intervention that UTSA officials put her through to address the classroom incident this past fall.

Espy could take additional administration action after the investigation, Grimes email said.

Some of her students, who arrived in her class Monday to find a new professor teaching it, are coming to Mosss defense. Several took to social media to attempt to persuade UTSA President Taylor Eighmy and the biology department to reinstate her and created an online petition that garnered more than 380 signatures as of noon Wednesday.

Can I have Dr. Moss back plssss ... my semester is ruined, one student wrote on Twitter. UTSA really messed up my semester by replacing Dr. Moss ... Didnt even give us an explanation as to why we got a new professor one week into the semester after she already started teaching, tweeted another.

Krista Torralva covers several school districts and public universities in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | Krista.Torralva@express-news.net | Twitter: @KMTorralva
Greenlands enormous ice sheet is melting at such an accelerated rate that it may have reached a tipping point, and could become a major factor in sea-level rise around the world within two decades, scientists said in a study published Monday.

The Arctic is warming at twice the average rate of the rest of the planet, and the new research adds to the evidence that the ice loss in Greenland, which lies mainly above the Arctic Circle, is speeding up as the warming increases. The authors found that ice loss in 2012, more than 400 billion tons per year, was nearly four times the rate in 2003. After a lull in 2013-14, losses have resumed.

The study is the latest in a series of papers published this month suggesting that scientific estimates of the effects of a warming planet have been, if anything, too conservative. Just a week ago, a separate study of ice loss in Antarctica found that the continent is contributing more to rising sea levels than previously thought.

Another new analysis suggested that the oceans are warming far faster than earlier estimates. Warming oceans are the leading cause of sea-level rise, since water expands as it warms.

Researchers said these findings underscored the need for action to curb emissions of planet-warming gases and avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Rising sea levels are one of the clearest consequences of global warming; they are caused both by thermal expansion of the oceans and by the melting of ice sheets on land. Current projections say that if the planet warms by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial times, average sea levels will rise by more than 2 feet, and 32 million to 80 million people will be exposed to coastal flooding.

Much of the previous research on Greenlands ice has dealt with the southeast and northeast parts of the island, where large chunks of glacial ice calve into the sea. The new paper focuses on the ice-covered stretches of southwest Greenland, which has few large glaciers and was not generally considered as important a source of ice loss. But as the earth warms, the paper concludes, the vast plains of southwestern ice will increasingly melt, with the meltwater flowing to the ocean. Within two decades, it says, the region will become a major contributor to sea level rise.

The study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used satellite data and ground-based instruments to measure Greenlands ice loss in the 21st century. It looked closely at what seemed to be a pause in the ice loss for about a year, beginning in 2013, that followed a stretch of greatly accelerated melting.

The researchers tied the pause in melting to a reversal of the cyclical weather phenomenon known as the North Atlantic Oscillation. Before the pause, the oscillation was in what is known as its negative phase, which is associated with warmer air hitting west Greenland, along with less snowfall and more sunlight, all of which contribute to ice loss. When the cycle shifted into a positive phase in 2013, an abrupt slowdown of melting occurred.

Yet, the slowdown was anything but good news, said Michael Bevis, the lead author of the paper and a professor in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State University.

The North Atlantic Oscillation has occurred throughout the historical record, he noted. But before 2000, overall average temperatures were cool enough that the NAOs positive and negative cycles did not have much of an effect on rates of melting in Greenland.

Now, the strong effect that the cooler cycle had on the rate of melting  even if it was helpful in stopping ice loss  is a reason for concern, Bevis said. If the warm cycles of the NAO are associated with huge losses of ice, and the cool cycles only pause the melting, it suggests a threshold has been reached: As average temperatures rise further, melting will be more sustained, and the cooling cycles will have less of an effect in slowing the ice loss.

If a relatively minor cycle can cause massive melting, he said, it means youve reached a point of amazing sensitivity to warmer temperatures, which could represent the tipping point.

And so, he said, One degree of warming in the future will have way more impact than 1 degree of warming in the last century.

The new research dovetails with other recent papers on the accelerating melting. In December, a team of researchers published a paper in Nature that used satellite observations, analysis of ice cores and models to show that losses from the Greenland ice sheet have reached their fastest rate in at least 350 years.

At the other end of the Earth, the speed of Antarcticas ice loss is also becoming clearer. A study published last week, also in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, surveyed four decades of data and found faster losses in some regions than scientists had previously estimated.

The continent has presented a mixed story in recent years, with researchers measuring substantial losses in some regions but stability and even gains in others. But the new paper found considerable losses of glacial ice in East Antarctica, previously considered to be relatively stable. As a whole, Antarctica lost about 40 billion tons of ice per year in the 1980s, but it has been losing roughly 250 billion tons per year in the past decade.

That new paper adds to a body of recent research showing that Antarcticas ice loss is accelerating, including a study in June that found that the rate of ice loss had tripled since 2007. Scientists estimate the Antarctic melting will contribute 6 inches to sea-level rise by 2100.

Luke Trusel, a glaciologist at Rowan University and an author of last months Nature paper on Greenland, said the new research by Bevis and his colleagues provides clear and further illustration of how sensitive Greenland now is to global warming.

Whats happening today is well beyond the range of what could be expected naturally, he said. The human fingerprint on Greenland melting today is unequivocal.

Still, he said, most estimates of a tipping point for Greenland ice loss cite higher average temperatures than are occurring, more along the lines of 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Global average temperatures have already increased by about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

A co-author of the Nature paper, Sarah Das, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, agreed that Bevis study reinforced her own teams conclusions and showed how quickly Greenland is disappearing. The common finding, she said, is that climate change has brought Greenland to a state in which a little bit of a nudge is going to have an outsized impact, causing enormous melting.

But, she said, I take issue with using tipping point to describe the accelerating mass loss Greenland is experiencing, because it makes it appear as if we have passed, or soon will pass, the point of no return. She said she saw reasons for hope.

Trusel agreed that talk of tipping points could discount humans ability to mitigate global warming. We may be able to control how rapidly the ice sheet changes in the future, he said.

By limiting greenhouse gas emissions we limit warming, and thus also limit how rapidly and intensely Greenland affects our livelihoods through sea-level rise, he added. That, it seems, is our call to make.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, will not testify before Congress next month, one of his attorneys said Wednesday - which could quash, at least temporarily, liberals' hopes for a public hearing in which Trump's ex-fixer airs the president's dirty laundry.

Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen, said in a statement, "Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. [Rudy] Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date."

Cohen was to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7.

"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first," Davis said.

It is not clear to which "threats" Davis was referring, and Davis declined to provide more detail.

A person familiar with Cohen's account said the alleged threats have not been reported to law enforcement.

Trump said of the claim that he had threatened Cohen: "I would say he's been threatened by the truth. He's only been threatened by the truth. And he doesn't want to do that, probably for me or other of his clients." The president has been publicly critical of Cohen for his cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller and has suggested that Cohen's father-in-law ought to be investigated.

Giuliani, the president's current lawyer, has highlighted problems with Cohen's credibility. Giuliani was particularly skeptical of Cohen after BuzzFeed News reported last week that Cohen had told Mueller's office that Trump directed him to lie to Congress - an account the special counsel disputed in an unprecedented public statement.

"If you believe Cohen, I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge," Giuliani said.

It was not immediately clear that lawmakers would easily allow Cohen to back out of his commitment to appear before them.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a joint statement that they "certainly understand the completely legitimate concerns for the safety and security of Mr. Cohen and his family members in light of the attacks last week by President Trump and again this past weekend by his attorney, Rudy Giuliani."

But the lawmakers added that they had "repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family," and in their discussions with Cohen's attorney, "not appearing before Congress was never an option."

"We will not let the President's tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities," Cummings and Schiff said. "This will not stop us from getting to the truth. We expect Mr. Cohen to appear before both Committees, and we remain engaged with his counsel about his upcoming appearances."

Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., who sits on the Oversight Committee, said several members of the panel "would be in favor of subpoenaing him sooner rather than later to try to get him prior to his incarceration."

Cohen had announced to some fanfare earlier this month that he had accepted an invitation to testify from Cummings "in furtherance of my commitment to cooperate and provide the American people with answers." The hearing seemed as if it could be eventful.

Cohen pleaded guilty last year to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress about a possible Trump Tower project in Moscow and arranging hush-money payments to women who had alleged having had affairs with Trump.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and is expected to report to prison on March 6, about a month after the date of his scheduled testimony.

Cummings said, though, that Cohen could testify even after that.

"We can always bring him in. Even if he's in prison," he said. "We can bring him in. The marshals can - you know, they can make arrangements."

Trump's critics had hoped Cohen might, at the very least, offer unflattering revelations about the president. Cohen had claimed in court to have helped cover up Trump's "dirty deeds."

Almost immediately, though, lawmakers raised questions about how much Cohen could say about the topic of greatest interest to the public - the information Cohen was said to provide to Mueller - because Mueller's investigation is ongoing, and Cohen would probably be restricted in what he could say.

When Cohen announced he was testifying, Cummings said, "I want to make clear that we have no interest in inappropriately interfering with any ongoing criminal investigations, and to that end, we are in the process of consulting with special counsel Mueller's office."

Schiff said at the time that he hoped to schedule a closed hearing so Cohen could talk with lawmakers about Russia-related topics.

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Video: President Trump on Jan. 23 dismissed the threats Michael Cohen cited in delaying his congressional testimony, saying Cohen has "only been threatened by the truth."(The Washington Post)

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Authorities seized nearly a dozen firearms and a plethora of drugs after a raid in a southwest Houston home, police said.

Members of the Fort Bend County Narcotics Task Force started an investigation into a massive illegal drug operation Townewest subdivision near Alief in early January.
To minimize paw injury, the directors suggest putting booties on dogs when they go outside if possible. They also recommend using pet-friendly ice melt or sand on slick pathways, since traditional road salt can hurt dogs paws or at the very least, make them sick if they lick their paws when they come inside.
Friends of a North Texas woman are asking for help finding her after she didn't return from a trip to Laredo.

Courtney Elena Rodriguez, 25, was recently listed as a "want to locate" person by the Dallas Police Department. Rodriguez is believed to have been traveling from Dallas to Laredo on Jan. 13, but has not been seen or heard from since Jan. 14.

Monica Estevez, a friend of Rodriguez, said Rodriguez drove to Laredo to pick up a friend, intending to bring him back to Dallas. Around 6 p.m. on Jan. 14 Rodriguez told friends she was on her way back, but no one could get in touch with her after 7 p.m., Estevez said.

READ ALSO: Human smuggling suspect ID'd after police chase in south Laredo

Friends contacted Rodriguez's family who were able to track her phone and see that her last known location was in Laredo between Jan. 14 at 7 p.m. through Jan. 15 at 1:44 a.m. That was the last moment her location was available.

Estevez said that no one has been able to contact the friend Rodriguez was with and that she is concerned that they could be in a bad situation.

She also said disappearing isn't in Rodriguez's character.

"That's the thing that worries us. She's one of those people who if she says she's going to call in 30 minutes, she's going to call you in 30 minutes. She's always responsive. Always active on Facebook and WhatsApp," Estevez said. Her last Facebook post was on Jan. 14.

RELATED: 10 missing persons last seen in Laredo, according to Texas DPS

A spokesman for the DPD said that Rodriguez was listed as a want to locate person and not a missing person because she is a willing adult who left on her own accord and because she doesn't appear to be a danger to herself or the public.

Rodriguez was driving a Pearl White 2007 Ford Expedition, according to Estevez.

To report information on the whereabouts of Rodriguez, call the DPD at 214-671-3503.
GALVESTON -- The lead plaintiff in an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging Galveston County's cash bail system as unconstitutional took the stand during a hearing Tuesday, testifying about his experience as a felony detainee and making his case for changing the bail process.

Aaron Booth, 37, testified that when he was processed for bail after his April 2018 arrest for felony drug possession he was "under-informed and overwhelmed." He said he accepted a magistrate judge's decision to set his bail at $20,000 -- a sum he could not afford -- without determining whether he was a flight risk.

"(The judge) just read my rights and told me what I was charged with, really," Booth said. "I wasn't represented by an attorney or anything like that. I didn't know which way to go."

The ACLU of Texas and the Arnold & Porter law firm filed the lawsuit in April on Booth's behalf, accusing Galveston County -- including local judges and magistrates as well as District Attorney Jack Roady -- of operating an arbitrary, two-tiered system of justice based on wealth. The system violates the constitutional right to counsel, the right to due process and equal protection under the law, the suit alleges.

Booth was arrested April 8 in Galveston when police stopped him after responding to reports he was looking into other people's cars in a parking lot. Booth told the arresting officers he had marijuana and methamphetamine in his bag. He was booked on drug possession charges that day.

The ACLU contacted Booth shortly after his arrest in April and asked him to be the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. Booth, who was released from jail in June after striking a deal with a bail bondsman, said he wanted to fight for a fairer process for other defendants.

Booth said the bail process should be "a little more individualized for people instead of being treated like a number."

Galveston County Magistrate Judge Kerri Foley, who set Booth's $20,000 bond, testified that "nobody dictated to me where to set bond." Foley said she had always been "very conscientious" in considering felony and misdemeanor defendants.

Foley testified that she never asks defendants if they have the means to pay their bail, and that Booth's financial situation -- he stated he makes roughly $238 per week -- would not have affected her decision.

"I felt in Mr. Booth's case it was a fair amount because of his criminal history and the circumstances of the arrest," Foley said.

Tuesday's injunction hearing before Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison came one week after a federal district judge upheld Edison's denial of the county's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In that same ruling, Edison wrote that the ACLU sufficiently argued that under the Constitution's 6th Amendment, Booth and all defendants are guaranteed a right to counsel at any bail hearing.

Edison also previously ruled that Roady, who controls the county's bail schedule, is liable for his role in perpetuating a wealth-based detention system, noting that county magistrate judges "always strictly adhere" to the bail amounts recommended by the district attorney.

Galveston County Judge Mark Henry, who was called to testify by the defense, maintained that the county is already instituting reforms to its bail system, including requiring a bond reduction hearing for detainees within 24 to 48 hours of incarceration.

"It's not just a fiscal benefit to (the county), I do agree it's a community benefit to have pretrial defendants back with their families," Henry said.

Henry added that the ongoing lawsuit was hurting the county's bail reform process.

Edison is expected to make a ruling on a preliminary injunction in the coming days.

Nick Powell covers Galveston County for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and send him tips at nick.powell@chron.com
Photos courtesy of The National Museum of the Pacific War.

Apparently, out-of-towners haven't heard of Fredericksburg.

But a magazine report suggested its worth a visit. The town, about 70 miles northwest of San Antonio, was named one of 50 charming American towns you havent heard of but should visit ASAP," by House Beautiful.

Fredericksburg is known for Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and many wineries. It's a quaint town with just over 11,000 residents that makes for a popular day trip for San Antonians and Austinites.

RELATED: Brand new Hill Country lodge headed to no-reserve online auction

"This small town has surprising German roots and old-time residents even refer to it as Fritztown. But the Magic Mile (a shopping scene with more than 150 stores) and some of the best wine tasting in Texas are what keeps the tourists coming back," the magazine reported.

Fredericksburg was the only Texas destination on House Beautiful's list.

Click through the slideshow to see some popular Fredericksburg destinations.

S. M. Chavey is a breaking news and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, mySA.com and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | sarah.chavey@express-news.net | @smchavey
If you don't feel like waking up before 4:30 a.m. for Friday's annual Cowboy Breakfast, there are plenty of other options around San Antonio to get your fill of tacos and tradition.

Cowboy's Dance Hall's parking lot welcomed an estimated 30,000 hungry guests as part of the 41-year tradition to kick off the San Antonio Rodeo. In recent years, many bars and restaurants have started planning their own offshoots of the event.
Rumor has it Chuck Norris holds every world record and those listed Guinness Book of World Records are simply the closest anyone else has ever gotten.

This May, Norris is hoping to break one of those secondary records anyway. Naturally, he's turning to Texans for help.
Justin Timberlake, who hits the stage at downtown's Toyota Center Tuesday night, is making it a special night for one Houston teen.

In a heartwarming gesture, the pop star gave Sarah Salazar, a surviving victim of the Santa Fe High School shooting, a pair of VIP tickets to see his performance, KHOU reports.

The free tickets make good on a promise Timberlake made to Salazar when he visited the 17-year-old in the hospital in May.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: The Giving Machines - ATMs for charitable giving

It looks to be a long road to recovery for Salazar, who had emergency surgery after she was "shot from the neck down to her thigh," according to a GoFundMe page set up to raise funds to help with her recovery expenses. The site also says she suffered a shattered shoulder and several rib fractures, and has several more surgeries left to go.

During his May 2018 Houston concert, Timberlake took a few moments to show his support of the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting, asking the crowd to raise their cell phones into the air, according to the Houston Chronicle. "We're gonna light the whole arena, this whole city up for Santa Fe High School," he told the crowd. He also wore a "Santa Fe Strong" T-shirt.

Timberlake's 2019 Houston stop comes on the heels of his performance at San Antonio's AT&T Center on Saturday. Timberlake took a break from his "Man of the Woods" tour to visit with young patients at HCA Healthcare's Methodist Children's Hospital, reports the San Antonio Express-News.

RELATED: Justin Timberlake honors Santa Fe shooting victims during Houston concert

The Salazar family could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter specializing in social media, the famous, and food. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
Oak Park police said the men were being followed by authorities while they drove in the area. Police said that shortly after 8 a.m., the men exited the dark-colored car near the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Maple Avenue in western Oak Park, and then ran in different directions through the neighborhood. Police said a video from a security camera at a nearby home showed one of the men was carrying what police described as a rifle.
Sonora High School logo View Photos

Sonora, CA  The Sonora Union High School District Board of Trustees broke into closed session to discuss its response to a cease and desist letter sent by the Tuolumne County Farm Bureau regarding the sale of the Wildcat Ranch property.

We reported earlier that the Farm Bureau sent a letter to the district after the boards decision to sell 112 acres for $1-million, at the intersection of Tuolumne and Wards Ferry roads, to The Park Foundation. The district is retaining 25 acres for its agricultural education program. Many members of the ag community would like to see the sale nixed and the district retain the entire property. The Farm Bureau argues that the district violated the Brown Act by earlier discussing the sale with members of the foundation in closed session. It was an issue that was later addressed by the board at a later meeting.

Asked about what occurred during last nights meeting, Superintendent Dr. Mark Miller tells Clarke Broadcasting, Closed session is confidential and really cant be discussed publicly. What I can say is that this issue is now in the hands of our attorneys, who will respond in writing to the cease and desist letter. After that, our attorney and the Farm Bureau will have to decide where the go from there.

Dr. Miller confirms that the district is not rescinding the sale. He adds that the attorney representing the school district is Anne Collins with the Sacramento based firm Lozano Smith. He anticipates that the legal matter could be discussed further at future board of trustee meetings.
Union Democrat Building View Photos

Sonora, CA  Western Communications, the owner of the Union Democrat newspaper, is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company, based in Bend, Oregon, owns seven newspapers, two in California and five in Oregon. The company also filed for bankruptcy in August of 2011 after it had difficulty renegotiating $18-million in loans with Bank of America, as reported here.

In todays edition of the newspaper, a story states that the most recent move will help the company reduce debt and strengthen operations. It will be restructured for a changing media world. The article ends by pointing out that readers of the Union Democrat will see changes over the coming months designed to create an economically sustainable and locally focused product, but no additional details were listed.

The Union Democrat was founded in 1854 and purchased by Western Communications in 1998.
Project Saluting Freedom is a benefit fundraiser to help build the Veterans 9/11 Global War on Terrorism Memorial in Tuolumne City.

Candace Olsen, founder and spokesperson for Project Saluting Freedom was Wednesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day.

The benefit will be held on Friday night February 22nd inside of the Sonora Opera Hall. This event will consist of a BBQ dinner, dancing to the live music provided by Left of Centre, a silent auction and a live auction.

So, what is the Memorial all about?

In 2016, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors approved the proposed memorial on the east lawn of the Tuolumne Veterans Memorial Hall, in Tuolumne City. The 9/11 Global War on Terrorism Memorial is intended to continue with the tradition of honoring all Veterans, as well as those who lost their lives that tragic day, including the uniformed services that keep us safe; Law Enforcement, EMT/Medics and Firefighters.

This will be a multi-use memorial forum where Memorial and Veterans Day ceremonies can be held as well as other events. The memorial will feature a brick walkway leading to an elevated platform with a flagpole and stone plaques honoring those who served and lost their lives. It will also house artifacts from the Twin Towers, The Pentagon and The Shanksville Museum.

However, due to lack of funds, the project missed its completion date of fall 2017.

Olsen, who is a senior at Summerville High School said, My respect and gratitude for Veterans is abundant and I want to help raise money to complete a very important and respected project in our area. This is an effort to help the Tuolumne Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4748 bring to life a one of a kind memorial that will honor veterans and those who have lost their lives while serving and protecting our country. I am reaching out to businesses, Veterans organizations, law enforcement agencies, firefighters, first responders, and service clubs and asking them to sponsor this memorial. I am hoping to find as many sponsors and donations as possible to make a huge impact on this event.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4748 have joined Olsen for this event.

Donations are tax deductible; Veterans of Foreign Wars is a non-profit 501C (19), Tax ID # 77-0446201. Contact the Sonora Area Foundation for donation information.

If you have any questions regarding dinner tickets, you can e-mail Olsen at projectsalutingfreedom@gmail.com

Information can also be found on Facebook at Project Saluting Freedom.

Additionally, T-shirts are available for just $15 each.

If you have any questions about the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4748 or The 9/11 Global War on Terrorism Memorial Project you may also contact:

Aaron Rasmussen, Commander Frank Smart, Project Chairman

Iraq Veteran Vietnam Veteran

(209) 206-6768 (209) 559-0439 (209)536-0439

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
Rescue In Yosemite National Park View Photos

Yosemite, CA  Two men visiting from England were rescued in Yosemite National Park.

The CHP reports that the men became lost in the snow while hiking in the area of North Dome. Thankfully they were able to make a 911 call to alert officials. A CHP helicopter flew overhead and spotted the men wedged within a crevasse on the east side of North Dome. Due to a heavy incoming storm system, it was decided the quickest and most effective way to rescue the men was to put safety gear on National Park Service Rescue Team members and have them placed via helicopter and rope into the crevasse. The hikers were then safely located, packaged in a rescue harness, and pulled to safety.

The hikers later reported that they were attempting to descend into Yosemite Valley but they lost track of the trail, due to the heavy snow, and became trapped in the crevasse. They were then transported to Ahwahnee Meadow where Yosemite National Park Paramedics were staged to receive and treat the two cold and wet visitors. The incident occurred late last week.
Oakbrook Center security staff sometimes uses license plate readers as it drives around in an attempt to make sure employees are not parking in spaces designated for customers. Police departments in Darien and La Grange ran into problems a few years ago with false readings from moving plate readers picking up other things with numbers, including mailboxes, street signs and billboards.
A: There might be. Well see. The last thing we want, none of us ever want, whether you would call it an addiction or anything negative to the individual. We certainly would not encourage that. This is strictly, you come in, you play a little bit, you have a little fun, you try your luck, but lets not go to the point to where it would hurt somebody financially. This is not Family Palace. You come in here, maybe you have a nice meal and you say, You know what? Maybe well throw up 20 bucks or, whatever, 10 bucks, and just play a couple rounds and see what happens. This is meant to be fun only.
Naperville READS is primarily funded by a SECA grant from the City of Naperville. Sponsoring organizations include Jumping Off the Page, Naperville Community Unit School District 203, Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204, the Naperville Public Library and Anderson's Bookshop. For more information, go to www.andersonsbookshop.com.
Welcoming my first child was the ...
Jacksonville is one of the safest cities in Illinois, according to a home security retailers annual rankings.

The designation is largely thanks to a downward trend in crime in the city.

The National Council for Home Safety and Security, a national trade association for trade groups in the home security industry, named Jacksonville among the safest cities in the state based on rates of violent crime and property crime tabulated from the FBIs Uniform Crime Report Statistics.

Although Jacksonville was toward the bottom of the 112-city final list  in 104th place  it was one of 7,639 cities with populations ranging from 7,639 to 4,007,147 that initially were factored into the ranking. In making the final list, cities with populations under 10,000 and those that failed to report their crime data were cut.

Jacksonville Police Chief Adam Mefford said he was pleased to see the city on the list and noted this is probably a result of crime trending down.

Its a testament to the men and women of the Jacksonville Police Department to be on that list, Mefford said. I think its important to note that here in our department we focus largely on training and education for our officers. I think thats showing in their quality of service and the way they conduct investigations.

Violent crime, as defined by the FBI statistics, includes murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime includes burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.

Jacksonville was listed as having 73 violent crimes and 669 property crimes in the 2017 statistics, which were released in 2018, although Mefford said police data showed 614 property crimes reported. Mefford said this number is down 122 from 2016-17 report and crime in the city is down 21 percent overall for the year.

Were hiring quality people and giving them quality training and were also putting a big emphasis on getting officers out into the community, Mefford said. Any time a police agency has established a line of trust with a community, youre going to see a decrease in crime.

Topping the list was was Warrenville with eight violent crimes and 89 property crimes. At the bottom were Springfield and Danville, respectively.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
At the End of the Century

By Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Counterpoint. 448 pp. $26

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What right does a privileged European author have to write about servants, swamis and sex in modern India? By today's strict standards for cultural appropriation, not much. The audacity to mine foreign cultures to make one's art provokes social media outrage and criticism. Such a writer risks being "canceled" before any kind of literary liftoff. Fortunately for readers, then and now, the late German-English writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was writing about India at a different time. The new anthology "At the End of the Century" brings 17 of the Booker Prize-winning writer's most haunting short stories to a new generation of readers.

Jhabvala, who died in 2013, was best known in the United States as the Oscar-winning screenwriter for the filmmaking team of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. She adapted E.M. Forster, Henry James and Kazuo Ishiguro for the screen and helped create a commercial model for handsome, bourgeois adult cinema. But her first love was literary fiction, reflected in this beautifully curated selection of some of her most celebrated writing. Collected over six decades of a writing life that unfolded in England, India and America, they're stories of exiles, lovers and professional transgressors.

My reservations about Jhabvala's "Indian" writing despite her non-Indian background quickly dissipated as I found myself fully absorbed and binge-reading this extraordinary collection.

Decades before the ascent of contemporary immigrant fiction, Jhabvala was using her migrations to illuminate the universal human longing for connection and place. Jhabvala was born in 1927 into a privileged and assimilated German Jewish family in Cologne. She experienced the indignities of the Nazis' rise to power and fled with her family to England at the last possible moment in 1939.

After the war, her father learned that his entire family had been executed in German death camps, and he committed suicide. It was something she rarely spoke about in interviews and never wrote about in her fiction. But loss, melancholy and darkness pervade even the most lighthearted stories in the new collection. Her defining experience as an outsider informed her ability to inhabit characters regardless of their gender, class, race and caste. In a public lecture entitled "Disinheritance," she spoke of how the erasure of her past allowed her to adapt elsewhere and turned her into a writer. "Once a refugee, always a refugee," she told the BBC.

Jhabvala married an Indian architect and moved to New Delhi in 1951, just four years after India gained its independence from the British Empire. At the fault lines of the country's transition from colonial rule to freedom, Jhabvala found her infinite sea of stories.

Jhabvala's best stories are almost all women's stories - of being conned, wronged and loved by lesser men. She reserves her most acid humor for the privileged white female tourists who came to India to "find themselves," crafting delicious scenes in ashrams where Oxbridge-educated English women seek nirvana. In the story "An Experience of India," one of these clueless characters exclaims: "I had come to India to (BEGIN ITAL)be(END ITAL) in India. I wanted to be changed."

Jhabvala writes in biting first person from the perspective of a woman who doesn't see herself as racist: "I ate anything anywhere and always like everyone else with my fingers (I became good at that) - thick, half-raw chapattis from wayside stalls and little messes of lentils and vegetables served on a leaf, all the food the poor eat; sometimes if I didn't have anything, other people would share with me from out of their bundles. Henry, who had the usual phobia about bugs, said I would kill myself eating that way. But nothing ever happened." That is of course, until something terrible and nauseating does.

Jhabvala's stories of Indian women stifled by religions tradition, nosy relatives and unfulfilled sexual desires are equally cutting. In the story "The Widow," she writes, "when he was dead, she almost missed him, and it was when she reminded herself of other things about him - his old-man smell, and his dried legs, when she had massaged them, with the useless rag of manhood flopping against the thigh - that she realized it was better he was gone." For a screenwriter responsible for the manicured world of Merchant-Ivory films, on the page, Jhabvala is surprisingly vibrant, darkly funny and, dare I say, racy. Illicit affairs, interracial arousals and fiery arguments followed by intense makeup sex are par for the course.

Jhabvala's writing falls between the high empire stories of Rudyard Kipling and E.M. Forster and the post-colonial reclamations of Indian stories by Indian writers. There is a stillness, precision and conservative restraint to Jhabvala's narratives that runs counter to the explosive, expressive and liquid energy of later Indian Booker Prize winners, including Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy. Her frame is less democratic, often focusing on lives of the privileged, Westernized and geographically mobile. As historian Maya Jasanoff recently wrote in the New Yorker, Jhabvala's work fell out of style by the 1980s, replaced by writers untangled from the rules of the traditional English novel and the political immediacy of empire. She also moved on physically, leaving New Delhi for New York and a prolific screenwriting career.

Today Jhabvala's writing feels as if it has slipped through time. The India of which she writes has ceased to exist. The post-colonial condition she portrayed, for Indian and British alike, has been replaced by other political and cultural nationalisms. But the questions her stories raise - about belonging, desire and the boundaries of love - feel as contemporary as great literature always does. She was a reticent and private woman who rarely gave interviews. Today,when book tours and literature festivals deliver writers to audiences, Jhabvala probably would have failed. She would have been unmasked and eventually branded a cultural appropriator, "stealing" from others' lives and places, in ways writers almost always have. But in 2019, Jhabvala's angled ways of seeing reveal truths beyond the certitude that our current moment demands of its artists. This posthumous collection is a wonderful reintroduction to one of the 20th century's great female writers and a deliciously intersectional and thoughtful passage to her India.

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Qureshi is a culture writer and radio journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, the New York Times and Newsweek, and on NPR.
A neighbor was able to contact the homes resident to get the code so firefighters could enter through the garage. Once inside, firefighters found smoke coming from the laundry room on the main floor, the release said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 23)  Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday said the programmed budget for the proposed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region is "substantial."

"Well on the Bangsamoro law there's money there, which is the seed money for the Bangsamoro. That's the ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) fund. We will start from there. And if it's necessary, we will file a supplemental budget," Diokno said in his regular briefing.

Finance Chief Sonny Dominguez in a CNN Philippines' exclusive interview flagged the need for the region to have a separate funding.

This comes after former House Majority Leader and now Committee on Appropriations Head Rolando Andaya Jr. claimed Diokno did not set aside funding for the implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law in the 2019 appropriations.

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading the 2019 General Appropriations bill. The bicameral conference committee--made up of members from both houses of Congress--will iron out contentious provisions in the budget before it is submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for signing.
Only after receiving the license six months ago did he decide to look for a few employees who could do full body massages, Tung said, while noting he needed to recoup his investment and it was an option under the license he didnt even need.
Four US cities are among the worlds top 10 least affordable housing markets, according to a study.

Three cities in California made the list, compiled by urban planning consulting firm Demographia. They are San Jose (ranked fifth), Los Angeles (sixth), and San Francisco (eighth). Outside the Golden State, Honolulu ranked ninth.

Topping the list for the ninth consecutive time is the Chinese city of Hong Kong, followed by Vancouver, Canada, and Melbourne, Australia.
Valentines Day is around the corner and, if things arent entirely hunky dory in your love life, you may feel like hiding under the duvet and avoiding the whole damn thing.

But what if, to use that hoary old cliche, it really isnt them and it is YOU?

Some of us have an absolute gift for trashing our relationships, dont we? Our happiness lies in understanding the reasons behind this self-sabotage.

So, buy yourself some chocolate and settle down with a pen and paper and really think about the patterns that seem to endlessly repeat themselves in your love life.

Because they will be there, trust me.

Whether you are always cheated on, or your relationships fizzle out, whether you get bored after the thrill of the chase is over or you seem to pick someone with the same annoying habits over and over again, understanding why will help you move forward in a more positive way.

Its too trite to say that we repeat childhood patterns but, very often, we do tend to recreate the environment we grew up in or pick people who remind us of a parent or strong authority figure  for good or bad.

We are also great at putting ridiculous amounts of pressure on ourselves to couple up. I answer lots of dating questions on Quora and a frequent one is do I need to be in a relationship to be happy? Of course not.

But if you find you are avoiding being in one when you secretly would love a significant other, its time for a little soul searching.

I think a good mantra to have is connection not perfection. By that, I mean that no relationship is perfect and if you tend to expect hearts, flowers and holidays in the Maldives and then strop off when theyre not forthcoming, you might be shooting yourself in the foot.

This year, take a step back and chill a little. These tips may help.

Accept the love life you currently have

It is what it is  as the husband annoyingly likes to remind me. Theres a reason your love life is the way it is and thats what you need to work on this year. Whether you are in a relationship or single, it really doesnt matter. Your goal is your happiness and deciding whats right for you.

Tell others to mind their own business

Teach yourself to not care what others think about your love life. Its really none of their business. Do what makes you happy, even if its not the norm. You dont want to end your life with regrets.

You dont need someone else to make you happy

You might think you do, but that way misery lies if you are constantly seeking someone new. It is easy to become addicted to the thrill of the chase  and then all too easy to become dreadfully disappointed when you realise that, yet again, this one isnt the one which leads me to

The lie of the soul mate for life

Ever dated someone you just gelled with and yet it still didnt work out? There are some lucky individuals who meet their partner and thats it till the end of their days but they are the exception rather than the norm. If there was really one soul mate for all of us, the divorce rates would be a lot lower.

Very often couples who marry at a very young age find that theyre not compatible enough for a traditional relationship after five, ten, or twenty years.

Many couples in our parents generation stayed together because of the social stigma surrounding divorce in those days. Who knows how many of those relationships would have lasted if things had been different?

Dont believe all you read about celebrity relationships

The savvier among you will be able to spot a showmance a mile off. Yes, agents and PR companies will suggest to celebs that coupling up will increase their chances of work. (Love Island, anyone?). Its all fake.

The airbrushed image these couples present to the world may belie what really goes on at home.

Career gone a bit flat? Lets split up and make sure everyone on social media knows about it then make up just in time for the launch of that new reality series.

What goes around, comes around

The late Helen Gurley Brown (the woman who created Cosmopolitan magazine), once said that she believed you dont personally have to do the work of the gods.

By that she meant that if someone is an unreliable, unfaithful or unpleasant partner, sooner or later Karma will sort them out  without you having to do anything.

Now obviously this does not include any form of abuse or violence (for which you should seek help immediately), but in general life has a way of dealing with those who think theyre all that.

Lighten up and relax

There are loads of stories of people who met their partner when they werent looking and were concentrating on other things  like their own interests, goals and happiness.

Desperation is a huge turn off and confidence a huge turn on.

Make sure you have enough time to relax, rejuvenate, and become centered, whether its through meditation or other ways so that you present your best self to your partner or a new potential love interest.

Ultimately, you dont need to rush to sort things out unless you are desperately unhappy and even then it is better to have a strategy rather than just throw the whole relationship away.

Once you have worked out what would make you happy then you can communicate that to your partner (existing or future) and set new ground rules. It may take time to work this out, especially if you have just gone from one relationship to the next.

It all starts with you. Not them.
British Columbias best and brightest are packing up and leaving for more affordable housing destinations elsewhere in the country, market observers warned.

Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said that while Vancouver magnetizes people who are just starting up  that is, those still studying and those in the earliest parts of their careers  the market doesnt fare so well in holding these skilled professionals in place.

Vancouvers outsized housing costs mean that even if these young professionals can have higher incomes, they would not be able to buy anything more expensive than modest condo units, Yan explained.

In a world like that, the labour pool has options, Yan told The Canadian Press. It doesnt become cool when youre 37 and have a roommate.

The cautionary statements definitely have a lot of grounding in reality: December data from Statistics Canada showed that while international migration pushed B.C.s population to exceed the 5 million mark for the first time, the province also lost about 1,200 people in Q3 2018.

Read more: Canadian optimism flags further as 2019 starts

Finance Minister Carole James asserted that theres no question that Vancouver is facing a brain drain.

Crisis is not too strong a word to describe the challenges we are facing, not just in Vancouver, but other urban settings around our province.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouvers report covering December indicated that the median price of a detached home stood at just over $1 million, while attached properties were at $809,700 and apartments at $664,100.
Serendipity

At first glance, Jack Bogles career appears to have been fully by design. After all, the man wrote his undergraduate thesis about the mutual fund industry. If there ever was somebody who had his lifes work planned from an early age, it would seem to be John Clifton Bogle.

Not so. After college, Bogle planned to enter banking--until a mutual fund company, Wellington Management, contacted him to schedule an interview. Several years later, when still at Wellington, Bogle orchestrated a merger with another fund company that became unsuccessful, leading him, as he was later fond of saying, to be fired with enthusiasm.
Market-cap-weighted indexes have their benefits. Funds that track cap-weighted indexes cut back on turnover and the related trading costs. They also grasp the markets collective opinion of each stocks relative value, a consensus that has historically proven tough to beat. But using a cap-weighted approach with certain markets or strategies can compromise diversification and intended factor exposure.

How Market-Cap Weighting Works

The stock market, like any other market, is simply the sum of all transactions for shares of publicly listed companies, millions of which are conducted every day. Hour by hour, minute by minute, Benjamin Graham's voting machine is hard at work as market participants express their opinions regarding a company's future prospects through the price at which its shares transact.
No-moat-rated Volkswagen (VLKAF) was fined EUR 1.0 billion by a German public prosecutor, including a maximum penalty of EUR 5 million and EUR 995 million disgorgement of economic benefits. The companys press release referred to the prosecutor issuing an "administrative order" against the company for a breach of "monitoring duties" of the Powertrain Development department in the "context of vehicle tests" (the diesel crisis), resulting in the fine. Because of the nature of the fine, EU regulations precludes any other EU country from fining the company for the same breach of monitoring duties.

However, other matters could still be litigated, including stock market manipulation by a lack of timely public notification of the diesel issue, noncompliance of diesel emission regulations, and consumer agencies seeking relief similar to remuneration received by U.S. consumers who had the option to have Volkswagen buy back the vehicle or receive $5,100 cash plus free repair. The fine is also unrelated to the current ongoing investigation regarding diesel equipment collusion among all three German automakers.

We have maintained our EUR 230 fair value estimate as the EUR 1.0 billion fine had less than a 1% impact. Our fair value estimate continues to include a EUR 20 billion reduction to our enterprise value due to the remaining potential European litigation. In addition, we assume margin contraction relative to Volkswagen's 10-year historical performance to reflect higher spending for industry disruptive technologies including mobility services, autonomy, and electrification. We contract margin through our entire five-year forecast from 7.2% in 2018 (versus 8.7% in 2017) to a normalized sustainable midcycle of 5.1%. Our midcycle assumption represents a 170-basis point reduction from the 10-year median. Even so, the 4-star-rated shares of Volkswagen trade a compelling 29% discount to our EUR 230 fair value estimate.

Morningstar Premium Members gain exclusive access to our full analyst reports, including fair value estimates, bull and bear breakdowns, and risk analyses. Not a Premium Member? Get this and other reports immediately when you try Morningstar Premium free for 14 days.
In addition to promoting our club and getting our name out there for the derby, we want people to get out in the winter, to get outside and enjoy the outdoors, he said. In the past few years, it seems fewer people are participating in outdoor activities, Dane said. The festival and derby, he said, is an incentive for adults and children to enjoy the outdoors in winter.
January 23, 2019

Venezuela - U.S. Again Tries Regime Change Which Is Again Likely To Fail

The U.S. has been intervening in oil-rich Venezuela since at least the early 2000. Several U.S. backed attempts to oust the elected socialist government, first under Chavez and then under Maduro, failed. But the economic sanctions by the U.S. and its lackeys have made the life for business and the people in Venezuela more difficult. With access to international financial markets cut off, the government did its best to work around the sanctions. It, for example, bartered gold for food from Turkey. But the Bank of England, which is custodian of some of Venezuela's gold, has now practically confiscated it.

The Trump administration is launching another attempt to kick the elected government led by President Maduro out of office. Today the usually hapless opposition in Venezuela is set to launch another period of street riots against the government. It calls on the military to take over:

Opposition leaders are also urging Venezuela's powerful armed forces to withdraw their support for Maduro. And they are taking their campaign abroad by lobbying foreign governments to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Caracas. On Tuesday, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence said that Washington would support any effort by the opposition to form a provisional government to replace Maduro. Addressing average Venezuelans, Pence added: "We stand with you and we will stay with you until democracy is restored."

President Trump is now expected to recognize the opposition leader in the National Congress Juan Guaido, who does not have a majority in the country, as the nations president.

But the National Congress no longer has legal power. In 2017 that role was taken over by the elected Constitutional Assembly, which supports the Venezuelan government. The Venezuelan Supreme Court ratified the change. That Guaido may be called president by Trump does not make him such.

Juan Guaido, the self declared 'opposition leader', is just a telegenic stand in for the right wing leader Leopold Lopez, who in 2014 was jailed after inciting violent protests during which several people died. Lopez, now under house arrest, is a Princeton and Harvard educated son of the political and financial nobility of Venezuela, which lost its position when the people elected a socialist government. Lopez is the man the U.S. wants to put in charge even while he is much disliked. A U.S. diplomatic cable, published by Wikileaks, remarks that he "is often described as arrogant, vindictive, and power-hungry".

The poor were the winner of the socialist changes. The socialists, first under President Hugo Chavez and now under Nicolas Maduro, used the profits from oil exports to build housing for the poor and to generally lower their plight. These masses will be called upon to protect their government and gains.

The military, which the U.S. already secretly tried to instigate stage a coup, is unlikely to do so. It does well under the socialists and has no interest in changing that. The U.S. also tried to incite Brazil and Columbia to invade their neighbor. But neither country is capable of doing such. The U.S. itself is also unlikely to invade. At the United Nation Venezuela has Russia's and China's support.

Like in 2017 we can expect several weeks of violent protests in Caracas, during which tens or hundreds of police and protester may die. There will also be a lot of howling from the U.S. aligned media. But unless there is some massive change in the political and power configuration, the demonstrations are likely to petter out.

Has the Trump administration a consistent game plan to achieve such a change in the balance of power? I for one doubt that.

Posted by b on January 23, 2019 at 17:54 UTC | Permalink

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With Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor, Doctor Who Season 11 is a show thats even bigger on the inside.

I stopped watching Doctor Who around the time the thing with the Pandorica was going on. I say the thing with the Pandorica because Im not actually sure what was going on with that, or even which Doctor was involved. Not Capaldi, I know that much  but the other Doctors, young white men with a penchant for cleverness that often crossed into smarm, were all more or less indistinguishable in my mind. Similarly, by the time I had stopped watching, it felt as if the story lines had gone from being clever in a delightful, surprising sort of way to clever for the sake of showing off just how much the writers could trick the audience.

Thus it was with great hesitation that, mid-way through my universitys winter break, I settled onto the sofa with my cat and queued up the first episode of Doctor Who, Series 11. My motivations for watching were: Its winter break so what else do I have to do, and, Jodie Whittaker. Suffice to say, I finished the series with a week. (OK, that doesnt sound so impressive, but since I can barely sit through any show longer than an hour, watching one episode per night is basically the equivalent of binge-watching for me.)

Whats so great about Series 11? Well, the Doctors a woman. While I will shamelessly admit that the montage scene in the first episode where the Doctor does blacksmithing in a rumpled tuxedo was both extremely attractive and inspirational, its not just the Doctors physical form that has changed. The way that others interact with her has also changed. Per usual, when the Doctor encounters a unusual danger, her first instinct is to take charge of a situation, questioning up witnesses, and delegating tasks to her supremely competent companions Yaz, Ryan, and Graham. But, as a woman, at times she faces pushback because of her gender, notably from men who are used to being the ones in charge, such as King James I in Witchfinders and Trump-knockoff Jack Robertson in Arachnids in the UK.

What really made Series 11 a delight for me was how the Doctor responds to sexism: with surprise (which Whittaker does an excellent job of embodying) and then proceeding to not give a damn. Her concept of self is unshakeable. She exists as a woman who is perfectly free from the influence of misogyny, male fantasies and female insecurities. If women who grow up in patriarchal societies are, as Margaret Atwood writes in The Robber Bridegroom, a woman with a man inside watching a woman, the Doctor is simply a woman, unsexualized, unrestricted, and wholly unimpressed with male attempts to demean her.

And, perhaps because of the writers revisioning of the Doctor as a woman, certain aspects of her character have also changed. One of my quibbles with earlier series of Doctor Who was how much the show seemed to buy into the great man theory of history (a belief popular in the 19th century that history is shaped by the actions of a few highly influential, charismatic, and intelligent men) with the Doctor as, of course, the greatest of men. Although Whittakers Doctor is still the leader of her group of companions and, almost always, the most competent person in the room (and, indeed, the whole building), her cleverness never crosses over to that unsettling smarm of earlier Doctors. Rather, she truly seems to be focused on helping others by listening to what they need and enabling them to help themselves.

The Doctors willingness to put others first comes across perhaps most clearly in the historical episodes, Rosa and Demons of the Punjab, where the Doctor and her companions must balance the desire to ensure a positive outcome with the knowledge that they must limit their interference in history. I wont go into more detail, in case some folks reading this havent watched those episodes yet, but I will say that seeing the Doctor struggle with the emotional weight of her decisions in those episodes has stuck with me much more than any interaction between the Doctor and the Master.

That brings me to my final point about what makes Series 11 so great: you really dont have to know the lore about the Master, Gallifrey, Daleks, or anything else to be able to watch, understand, and enjoy these episodes. I can confirm this because I watched over Skype with a friend whose entire knowledge of Doctor Who was limited to the second half of a random episode he saw on a TV at the gym four years ago, and he had a great time. In that sense, Series 11 almost feels like a reboot of the reboot. And with almost every episode in the series functioning as a stand-alone story, you really dont have to worry about keeping track of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey plot shenanigans.

However, no piece of media is perfect, and I did have some reservations about other representations of identity in this series. Nineteen year old companion Ryan has dyspraxia, a neurological disorder that affects his ability to coordinate body movements, yet it would appear, on multiple occasions, that with the help of a few words of encouragement, he can simply overcome his disability and complete complex tasks like jumping from one moving platform to another or quickly climbing a makeshift ladder. I wish the show writers had instead given Ryan room to actually be a person with a limitation and still be an important companion. Further poor writing on disability is seen in It Takes You Away, which features Hanne, a blind teenage girl. Again, Ill skimp on details to avoid spoilers, but essentially, the portrayal of Hanne felt more like a sighted persons idea of how blind people inhabit the world than the actual experiences of people with blindness.

And, lastly, racial diversity. Between the companions, supporting characters, and background cast, Series 11 features quite possibly more racial diversity than the rest of the series combined, yet its impossible to forget that the Doctor is  once again  a white person. That she is now a woman doesnt change the fact that this is the Thirteenth iteration of the Doctor and each and every one of them have been white. As thrilling as it was for me to see in Series 11 a Doctor who actually looks like me, I cant help but hope that Jodie Whitakers run ends soon, so we can get a new Doctor who is a person of colour, and someone else can also experience the joy of seeing themselves at the helm of the TARDIS.

Series 11 does a great job of shaking up the Doctor Who canon, but after 55 years of white guys dominating the show on screen and in the writers room, theres still a lot left to be done.

Tagged in: Doctor Who, dyspraxia
The Supreme Court on Tuesday took note of the arbitrary and haphazard manner in which the information commissioners in the Central Information Commission were selected recently and directed the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to reply by 29th January, at the next hearing.

This is a sequel to Supreme Courts directive to DoPT to upload on its website details of the process of information commissioner appointments by the selection and search committee. Thanks to legal intervention by three right to information (RTI) activists, Anjali Bharadwaj, Amrita Johri and Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd), these documents, in the public domain now, reveal how the selection committee violated several norms to appoint the Chief Information Commissioner and four information commissioners of their choice.

Now, it is clear that the appointment of Sudhir Bhargava, an information commissioner until now in the CIC and four information commissionersVanaja N Sarna (the only lady), formerly, chief of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC); Yashwardhan Kumar Sinha, former High Commissioner of India to the UK; Suresh Chandra, former Union law secretary and Neeraj Kumar Gupta, secretary in the department of investment and public asset management are not as per the norms laid out for these committees as per the RTI Act.

On Tuesday, one of the petitioners, Anjali Bharadwaj, pointed out in the Supreme Court, the search committee had, in violation of its mandate, short-listed persons who had not even applied for the post in response to advertisements. Further, the minutes of the search committee meeting revealed that no rational criteria were adopted on the basis of which the short-listing was done. Also, the minutes showed the completely ad-hoc manner of functioning of the search committee, wherein people who were appointed members of the committee, also applied for the post and had to be subsequently replaced and were finally even short-listed. One of the person who has been appointed- Shri Suresh Chandra, had not even applied for the post.

The Supreme Court took serious note of all the issues and directed that the government should file a report on all the issues highlighted by the petitioners and listed the matter for Tuesday, 29 January 2019. All the states were also directed to file their reports before the hearing.

Research scholar and RTI activist, Venkatesh Nayak has closely studied the documents put up by the DoPT regarding the selection committees glaring bias of appointing present and former government servants as information commissioners, by throwing to the winds rules under Section 12 (5) and 15(5) of the RTI Act as well as the Supreme Court ruling in the matter of Union of India vs. Namit Sharma [ AIR 2014 SC 122], which clearly state that eminent persons from various fields should also be chosen for the posts.

The following is Venkatesh Nayaks observations and analysis, along with those of Commodore Batra:

The file notings show that 64 applications were received within the stipulated deadline, from across the country against the vacancy advertised in two English language and two Hindi language newspapers. Four applications were received after the lapse of the deadline. The DoPT has only disclosed the names of these applicants and withheld their applications and bio data by invoking Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act which seeks to exempt personal information of an individual from disclosure. About 20 pages of documents contained in the files have been withheld from disclosure in this manner.

Who were the search committee members?

The six-member search committee headed by the cabinet secretary included the secretaries of the DoPT and the dept. of expenditure (in the finance ministry), the information & broadcasting, and the additional secretary to the prime minister of India. The director of the Institute of Economic Growth was the independent member. Interestingly, the secretary, dept. of expenditure declared that he had applied for the post of information commissioner. So after consultations with the PMO, he was retained on the search committee

How many times did the search and the selection committees meet?

Only four members of the search committee met on 24 November, 2018 in the committee room of the cabinet secretariat to draw up the shortlist. According to the file notings disclosed by the DoPT, the secretary I&B and the secretary, expenditure could not attend the meeting.

The selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, his nominee, the finance minister and the leader of the single largest party in opposition in the Lok Sabha met on the 11th of December to finalise their recommendation to the President of India. Only one name of the appointee was recommended. In fact, contrary to media reports, the selection of the chief information commissioner preceded the finalisation of the names of the information commissioners.

Whom did the search committee shortlist?

The search committee shortlisted four candidates for the consideration of the selection committee. All four of them were retired IAS officers including the newly appointed chief information commissioner, Sudhir Bhargava. No women were included in this short list. The list of 68 applicants reveals the names of at least four women. No candidate from other areas of specialisation mentioned in the RTI Act was shortlisted. This is a clear breach of the Supreme Court's directions.

Further, the serving information commissioners, Bimal Julka and D. P. Sinha who had also applied for the post of the chief information commissioner, were not even shortlisted. Further, three of the four shortlisted candidates had not even applied in response to the advertisement for the vacancy of the chief information commissioner. They included Madhav Lal, a former secretary of the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises,

Alok Raawat, a former secretary of DoPT's sister department, department of administrative reforms and public grievances, R P Watal, the current principal adviser Niti Ayog and former secretary, dept. of expenditure and Dr. S. K. Nanda, former addl. chief secretary, government of Gujarat.

Observes Nayak, The search committee meeting minutes indicate that its members considered names of other serving and retired civil servants who had not applied at all. This is perplexing to say the least. One of the women applicants had recently retired as the chief secretary of the government of Karnataka. How her candidature was given lesser weightage than that of the former addl. chief secretary of Gujarat who had not even put in his application in the first place, is a mystery. The minutes of the search committee meeting are silent on this issue. This raises serious questions about the manner in which the search committee determined "eminence" in public life. Neither the committee nor the DoPT have publicised the criteria adopted for determining "eminence in public life". Further, how the claims of the two serving information commissioners were undervalued in comparison to the three shortlisted retired bureaucrats who had no previous experience of adjudicating RTI disputes in any information commission is also a mystery that needs to be cleared.

Tenure and terms and conditions of service of the new appointees

It may be remembered here that the government sought to amend the RTI Act mid-2018 to give itself the power to determine the tenure and the terms and service conditions of the information commissioners across the country. Despite giving notice of its intention to introduce a bill to this effect in the Rajya Sabha, the government was not able to introduce it during the 2018 monsoon session. The documents disclosed by the DoPT indicate that the government sought to make the changes through the ordinance route. However, this plan did not materialise and the documents that the DoPT has disclosed on its website are silent on the underlying causes. The file notings indicate, the government was planning to reduce the term of the information commissioners to three years.

The only good part of these appointments:

The selection intimation letters issued to the new appointees indicate that the terms of appointment are in accordance with the provisions of the RTI Act, namely five years (including term served as information commissioner) subject to the maximum age limit of 65. Salaries will be equal to that of the chief election commissioner and the election commissioners, as the case may be, in accordance with the provisions of the RTI Act. So despite advertising that the government would determine the tenure and service conditions of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners, the government has had to eat humble pie by toeing the line of the law.

Box

How much time did the Committees spend making the final selections?

The documents released by the DoPT reveal only the date, time and venue of the meetings of the search and the selection committees.

The search committee met on three occasions (twice for shortlisting the candidates for appointing as ICs and once for shortlisting the candidate for appointment as the chief information commissioner).

The selection committee met twice. The duration of these meetings is not recorded in the meeting minutes. However, the minutes indicate that the search committee looked at all eligible applications (the number is not known- whether all applications received were found eligible or not) and also discussed names of other serving and retired civil servants suggested by its members.

The minutes of the selection committee indicate that it not only examined the applications shortlisted by the search committee but also all eligible applications. A simple thought experiment may be conducted to estimate the time required to consider all applications:

Chief information commissioner's post: There were 64 applicants who submitted their applications in a timely manner. The search committee recommended three more names. So the selection committee had to examine 67 applications. Assuming that each bio data would require at least 5 minutes to read and familiarise oneself, each member of the selection committee would require to spend 335 minutes. In other words this implies spending at least 5.5 hours merely examining all applications. If the 4 late applicants' bio data are included, another, 20 minutes will have to be added to this figure.

Information commissioners' post: There were 281 applicants who submitted their applications in a timely manner. The search committee recommended one more name. So the selection committee had to examine 282 applications. Assuming again that each bio data would require at least 5 minutes to read and familiarise oneself, each member of the selection committee would require to spend 1,410 minutes, that is, at least 23.5 hours - or almost an entire day examining all applications. If the 10 late applicants' bio data are included, another 50 minutes will have to be added to this figure. Taken together, the selection committee would have to spend at least 29 hours merely reading the applications. How much time would be required to "consider all relevant factors" before arriving at a consensus on the five names (one chief and 4 ICs) as mentioned in the minutes is anybody's guess.

Asks Nayak, Did the committee actually spend so much time on the selection process? The government must urgently answer.
We had mentioned in Tuesdays closing report that Nifty, Sensex were directionless. The major indices of the Indian stock markets suffered a correction on Wednesday and closed with losses over Tuesdays close. On the NSE, there were 682 advances, 1,012 declines and 364 unchanged. The trends of the major indices in the course of Wednesdays trading are given below:

After a largely choppy trade session for the better part of Wednesday the Sensex closed lower owing to the last hour selling in index heavyweight ITC, which missed estimates in its quarterly result. ITC lost over 4% after it reported its third quarter results on Wednesday. The FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) major reported a 3.85% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in its standalone net profit. Globally, market sentiments were weak over concerns of a slowing global economy and the ongoing US-China trade tension.

Metal stocks were back in favour on Wednesday after closing 2% lower on Tuesday, while IT (information technology), FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) and financials came under selling pressure. Markets globally had reversed course after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its forecast for global growth.

Analysts said IMF now projects a 3.5% growth rate worldwide for 2019 and 3.6% for 2020 which is 0.2% and 0.1% points below its last forecasts in October 2019, making it the second downturn revision in three months. Investors were also cautious owing to reports that the US turned down an offer to hold preparatory trade talks with China. This was later denied by the US administration.

The Indian rupee, however, gained 17 paise to trade at 71.27 (around 3.30 p.m.,) against the US dollar, providing some support to the overall dismal sentiment. It closed at 71.27 per dollar on Tuesday.

FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) major ITC Ltd reported a 3.85% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in its standalone net profit to Rs3,209.07 crore for the third quarter ending on December 31, 2018 as compared to Rs3,090.20 crore in the corresponding period last year. Driven mainly by FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), agri business and paperboards, paper and packaging, its gross revenue for the quarter soared to Rs11,340.15 crore, up by 15.1% from Rs9,852.74 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Private life insurer HDFC Life Insurance Co Ltd closed the nine month period with a net profit of about Rs913 crore, said a top company official, against Rs762 crore registered for the earlier corresponding nine month period. HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company shares closed at Rs372.00, down 3.09% on the NSE.

Budget airline IndiGo said its flight from Lucknow to Jaipur returned after take-off after the pilot noticed high vibration in the engine. "The pilot observed high vibration on engine number 2. As a precaution, he returned the aircraft to Lucknow," a company statement added. InterGlobe Aviation shares closed at Rs1,111.00, down 0.86% on the NSE.

Hearing an appeal by ArcelorMittal for early resolution of bankrupt Essar Steel, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday ordered its Ahmedabad Bench to pass the verdict in the case by January 31. Failing which, the two-member bench of NCLAT headed by Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay said it would call the matter and pass an order at its next hearing. The appellate tribunal has asked for the matter to be listed for next hearing on February 4. ArcelorMittal's Rs42,000 crore resolution plan was approved by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) to Essar Steel last October and has been waiting for the Ahmedabad NCLT's approval. The next hearing on the matter by the Ahmedabad Bench is on January 31. Essar Shipping shares closed at Rs12.15, down 0.82% on the NSE.

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:

The closing values of the major Asian indices are given below:
Rank 4 | Company: SpaceX | Country: United States | Industry: Space flight | Venture valuation: $33 billion (Image: Reuters)

Europe's Arianespace is discounting the price of satellite launches with its Ariane 5 rockets as it competes against US rival SpaceX for customers before the release of the cheaper Ariane 6 rocket next year, a senior executive said on January 23.

Arianespace is aiming for the cost of launching the Ariane 6 to fall by around 40 percent versus the Ariane 5 through design changes and higher volume production, bringing its prices more in line with Elon Musk's SpaceX, Arianespace Managing Director and Head of Sales for Asia-Pacific Vivian Quenet said.

He said in current marketing campaigns, the company is offering customers such as telecoms an Ariane 5 launch for the same price as the Ariane 6.

"We have made a lot of effort on the sales price. When we do that, the result is very positive," Quenet told reporters on Wednesday, declining to discuss details of profitability.

Arianespace is competing for two major launch contracts in the Asia-Pacific region that should be awarded this year and expects there could be tenders for another three, he said.

Arianespace, majority-owned by a joint venture of Airbus and Safran, completed 11 launches with its Ariane 5, Vega and Soyuz rockets in 2018, in line with guidance that had been lowered mid-year from an initial 14.

The company, which has a mission of guaranteeing Europe independent access to space and is used by government and commercial clients, this month forecast up to 12 launches in 2019, with four of them targeted in the first quarter.

The Satellite Industry Association lobby group estimates the satellite launch services market is worth $5.5 billion a year. SpaceX has upended the industry with reusable rocket technology that has slashed the cost of space transportation.

Another US group, the United Launch Alliance joint venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, said last week it would conduct the final design review for its new flagship Vulcan rocket within months as it also looks to lower costs to better compete against SpaceX.

Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin said this month it will fly its still-in-development New Glenn rocket in 2021 - the same year as Vulcan.

SpaceX, which media reports say is valued at $30.5 billion, has its own problems and said this month it will fire about 10 percent of its more than 6,000 employees in a bid to be a leaner company. And Musk said that the company was facing "extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead".

Arianespace's majority shareholder, ArianeGroup, announced on January 22 it had signed a contract with the European Space Agency to study a mission to the moon before 2025 with the aim of mining regolith, an ore from which it is possible to extract water and oxygen.

Quenet said if the mission proceeded, it would be launched with the Ariane 6 at its facilities in French Guiana.
The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is just around the corner, and the internet is teeming with smartphone leaks and rumours. The show offers an excellent platform for manufacturers to showcase new devices, software updates and improved hardware. From the revival of the classic banana phone to the release of several Android One devices, Nokia had an action-packed 2018; the foundation stones for which were laid down at the Mobile World Congress. At the event, attendees were treated to Nokias current flagship, the 8 Sirocco and the Nokia 8110, a 4G feature phone with Qualcomms 295 Mobile Platform processor.

Nokia will once again be attending the event, occupying a massive 3110 m space; this does beg the quest: What does Nokia have in store for us? If we are to go by recent leaks, a new mid-range Nokia smartphone, codenamed TAS and a flagship smartphone titled, the Nokia 9.1 PureView.

As the Nokia 6.1 features a Snapdragon 630 SoC with 4GB of RAM, we are likely to see possible upgrades in the RAM and SoC to improve performance and battery. The Nokia 9.1 PureView smartphone will likely succeed the Nokia 8 Sirocco becoming the companys best flagship phone. The Sirocco 8 was one of the best-value smartphones of 2018, leaving us to expect nothing less from the 9.1 PureView phone. We can also expect the new flagship to feature a penta-lens setup.

Juho Sarvikas, HMD Globals Chief Product Officer, only recently posted a video on Twitter that offered a small teaser of things to come at this years Mobile World Congress. It has been over two years since HMD have been selling smartphones under the Nokia brand, providing a unique value proposition with their strong software game. HMD Globals Vijay Thangavelu, recently stated in an interview, Part of our promise at HMD Global is to also deliver pure, secure, and up-to-date software updates to the Android One programme, which we believe is something our customers appreciate.
Krikhaar who suggested a needlepoint portrait of the mansion and a quilt for the crib in the master bedroom. Anne Zick of Hinsdale organized the making of the quilt, and at least 24 guild members have worked on it so far. Each stitch is hand-done, and the primary shape is the hexagon. Zick and her crew researched period appropriate designs, colors and fabrics and they emphasize that their quilt is an authentic reproduction.
Uri- The surgical strike

Uri: The Surgical Strike, a movie produced for Rs 25 crore has earned Rs 100 crore in just 10 days, giving Bollywood a dream start in 2019.

The success has given its lead star Vicky Kaushal, recognition not just in the film industry, but also among advertisers. Does this mean Uri's success will strengthen his presence in the endorsement space?

What may work in the actors favour in terms of bagging brand deals, is his versatility.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Harish Bijoor, brand strategist and founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, said, Brands are looking towards the chemistry a star can awoke for their individual fit. Brands are looking for endorsers that fit quite right. It could be the boy next kind of an image or the action star kind of an image these two are normally liked. Aamir Khan is the classic guy who embodied it for a period of time, Ranveer Singh is embodying it. Good guy-bad guy is a great combination.

While the actor came to limelight with Masaan in 2015, it was year 2018 that reaffirmed Kaushals status as a star in the making. His ventures like Sanju, Raazi, digital offerings like Lust Stories and Love Per Square Foot gained traction among viewers. He will be seen next in Karan Johar's magnum opus Takht.

Kaushal bagged four brand endorsements in 2018. He currently endorses brands like Housing.com, Wildstone, Aegon Life and Goibibo.

I think it is yet another stepping stone for him (Vicky Kaushal) to reach a point where he comes into the consideration to a set of people towards brand endorsements. However, stars take many films to come into the brand endorsement set. And my view is that you need to have core good hits before you actually command the correct kind of brands coming to you. There is a huge clutter in the space that he operates in but he has to rise above the clutter, Bijoor said when asked if Uris strong performance will make a difference to the actors endorsement deals.

Fastest to Rs 100 crore

Uri's success is notable as the film was fastest to touch the Rs 100-crore mark among medium-sized films in the last one year.

Movies like Stree, Raazi, Badhaai Ho, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety reached this benchmark in 16, 17, 17, 25 days, respectively. The only film coming closer to Uri in recent times is Tanu Weds Manu Returns, which achieved the feat in eleven days.

According to film trade analyst Taran Adarsh, Uri: The Surgical Strike is the best trending film, as far as medium-budget films go. Even better than Tanu Weds Manu Returns, which is the highest grossing film in this category.

Uri has not only emerged as the first Rs 100 crore film of 2019 but is also the first blockbuster of this year. Its dream run has continued as the film has now collected over Rs 115 crore in 12 days of its release. It is also surpassing the business of new and holdover titles.

The film is continuing the winning streak offshore as well. Its collections have crossed $3 million (Rs 21.36 crore approximately), in the overseas market. In the SA and Canada markets, the film raked in Rs 11.39 crore.

Experts are of the opinion that smaller budget films are proving to be an important factor in the film industrys growth. According to Rahul Puri, Managing Director, Mukta A2 Cinemas, limited budget is the key to sustenance of films and the industry through the year.

Producers are also keen on investing in films made on tight budgets. The primary reason for this is the amount of money spent in making them. It is the small cost of the film that makes the proposition risk-free as producers do not have to invest a lot in various aspects of movie-making.

When the cost is less, an average performance of the film is a lower risk for the producer. With more small and mid-size films tasting success, studios have become more affirmative is taking up such films.
People protest against the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) at Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi, India July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton - RC15FDAFEFD0

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal might join protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on January 30, Hindustan Times has reported.

The protests, expected to be attended by thousands of farmers, Dalits and ex-servicemen, are being held to express grievances with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.

The report states that along with All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), Indian Ex-Servicemen Association and Young India have planned a nine-day long dharna, aimed at setting the agenda for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The protests will address a new issue every day, such as unemployment, agrarian crisis and violence against women and minorities.

"Farmers, jawans and young people have been let down by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. He made several promises in 2014, but sections of society are feeling cheated," former MP and general secretary of AIKS, Hannan Mollah, told the newspaper.

Also Read: Congress plans mega farmers' rally on Republic Day, presents memorandum to PM Modi

According to the report, major Opposition parties, including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have pledged support to the protests.

The protests will end on February 7 with a march from Red Fort to Parliament. Over 50 student organisations and unions are expected to participate in the rally.

"Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Samwidhan reflects the aspirations of people who have a right to dignified employment," All India Students Association president Sucheta De told newspaper while talking about the slogan of the protests.

All India Kisan Congress general secretary Nana Patole had earlier told Moneycontrol that a rally of farmers will be organised at Rajghat on January 30. "On January 30, the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, there will be a programme held in Rajghat. Around 15,000 farmers from across the country will attend that event," Patole had said.
Moto Razr Foldable Smartphone

Motorola is reviving the once-popular Moto Razr phone with a foldable screen. This new foldable smartphone might be called the Moto Razr V4 and is unlikely to be a feature phone. Motorola is planning to adopt the same flip design of their old Razr feature phone to create a new full-fledged foldable smartphone with a similar flip mechanism.

The Motorola Razr phone first made its debut in 2004, long before the days of the smartphone. The Moto Razr, then an ultra-thin flip phone with a futuristic design, was seen as a status symbol touted by celebrities. The Razr revived a failing Motorola and allowed them to once again compete with the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson. The Moto Razr marked the beginning of the ultra-thin, flip phone revolution; a revolution that ended in 2007 with the release of the first iPhone.

The Lenovo Group, which bought Motorola Mobility handset business from Google in 2014, has announced a partnership with Verizon Communications Inc. on an exclusive deal to begin the selling new Razr devices in the US. It is unclear if this new breed of smartphone will be sold outside the US; one can only hope and wait. Verizon is partnering with several smartphone manufacturers in the race to release smartphones compatible with faster 5G networks.

Pricing of the phone remains unclear, but reports put it at approximately $1500 that would mean it may very well cross the Rs 1 lakh mark if it reaches Indian market. According to a WSJ report , Lenovo hopes to manufacture over 200,000 units of the new Razr smartphones. Motorolas share of the US smartphone market it once dominated continues to slump. Motorolas motives with a foldable smartphone version of the Razr phone are still unclear, considering a phone priced at $1,500 will likely be seen as more of a luxury than a necessity. But one thing you can be sure about is Lenovos plan to douse every feature flip phone user in nostalgia by revamping the Moto Razr flip phone.
Facebook is now making attempts to capture new users. The tech giant is building an app which would be used to lure teenagers especially in face of challenge from competitors like Snapchat, TikTok, 9GAG among others.

As per a report by TechCrunch, the social networking website is soon going to launch an app, possibly to be named as LOL, that will focuse on memes.

Facebook has not made any official announcement about the making or the launch of such an app.

Detailing the content of the app, the report adds that the feed of the upcoming app will be divided into several categories such as For You, Animals, Fails, Pranks and more.

By selecting one of these, the content will be pulled from News Feed posts by top meme pages on Facebook.

LOL is currently in private beta with around 100 high school students who signed non-disclosure agreements with parental consent be part of focus groups and one-on-one testing with Facebook staff, said the report.

The company is yet to decide if LOL would be a stand-alone or be a part of the main Facebook app.

The news of the app comes soon after reports that Facebook is working on increasing the reach of its Messenger Kids app by introducing Video calling and messaging app for children under 13. The company launched the Messenger Kids app in the US in 2017.

The company has a history of apps that have been launched, but only a few have succeeded.

For instance, the company invested heavily in Instagram and WhatsApp while working on its standalone messaging app, Messenger and these apps have been successful in their respective verticals whereas there are other apps like Lasso, Facebook Inbox, Facebook Lite, Slingshot and many others that failed to attract users.
Congress

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi has criticised the Trinamool Congress for trying to undermine the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and said Mamata Banerjee's party does not want him as the next prime minister of the country.

His comments came just days after the mega opposition rally convened by TMC in Kolkata, which was attended by senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, apart from top leaders of various other parties.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had deputed Kharge and Singhvi and had wished the opposition rally a success.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be the prime minister of the country after 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gogoi asserted at a rally in Rampurhat in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Tuesday.

"Recently, TMC organised an opposition rally. But they have a problem with Rahul Gandhi. They don't want him as next prime minister of the country. But I want to say it loud and clear that Rahul Gandhi will be the next prime minister of the country. The next government at the Centre will be formed under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi," Gogoi, the party's in-charge for West Bengal, said.

He had in December last year questioned TMC's silence in congratulating Rahul Gandhi after Congress' win in the three Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh.

He had said the TMC leaders were having "sleepless nights" fearing their dream of Mamata Banerjee becoming the prime minister may not be fulfilled.

Reacting to Gogoi's comments, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said it mattered little as senior Congress leaders attended the opposition rally.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra ruled out any alliance with the TMC for the Lok Sabha polls.

"We are willing to fight in all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. If secular and democratic forces want to fight against TMC and BJP, we will also talk with them," Mitra said.
Moscow on January 23 insisted the range of a missile system that has prompted Washington to say it will withdraw from a key Cold War arms treaty is allowed under the agreement.

Russian artillery chief Mikhail Matveevsky told a briefing that the 9M729 missile's maximum range is 480 kilometres. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty bans missiles with a range above 500 kilometres.

Russia has long denied it violates the treaty but the January 23 briefing was the first time it has offered details of the missiles in question.

"The distance was confirmed during strategic command and staff exercises" in 2017, Matveevsky told an audience of journalists and military attaches.

The United States and Russia agreed to the INF treaty in 1987.

Last month Washington gave Russia a 60-day deadline -- which ends on February 2 -- to dismantle the missiles it claims breach the agreement or the US would begin the six-month process of formally withdrawing from the deal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Moscow is ready to work with Washington to save the agreement, after bilateral talks in Geneva on the INF this month failed to resolve the impasse.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to develop nuclear missiles banned under the INF treaty if it is scrapped.

He said in December he was open to the idea of other countries joining the deal or to starting talks on a new agreement.
Facing a demand for at least 12 seats from the Indian National Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is considering plan B to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with an alliance that does not include the Rahul Gandhi-led party.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the Tejashwi Yadav-led party is working on an 'alternative plan' by asking smaller Mahagathbandhan constituents to be prepared for an alliance that does not include the Congress.

The constituents of the alliance currently include RJD, Congress, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhis Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and Left parties.

The talks with Congress have however not failed, the report added.

Just because Congress political stock has gone up a bit after its win in three states, it does not mean it can improve its Lok Sabha tally (two seats) in Bihar. It should put forward a realistic demand, the newspaper quoted an RJD leader as saying.

RJD has reportedly offered 7-8 seats to Congress as it has been also trying to get Left parties on board.

Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC)'s campaign panel's chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh conceded that the RJD is the 'big brother' in the state. "There is no problem. Discussions are taking place and things will be sorted out amicably," Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, told PTI.

"We will get respectable share in Bihar. What happened in UP will not be repeated here. We respect the RJD as the big brother of the grand alliance in Bihar. Nobody, however, denies that Congress President Rahul Gandhi is the face of anti-NDA forces at the national level," Singh said.

The newspaper report also quoted a Congress leader as saying that their demand for '10 plus seats' is realistic, adding that most constituents of the Opposition alliance are ready to finalise the seat-sharing formula before Congress mega rally in the first week of February.

It was earlier reported that Congress was gearing up for a rally at Patnas historic Gandhi Maidan, which will be addressed by Rahul Gandhi. The party is hoping to draw large crowds and use it to showcase its strength. The party believes it could use the rallys possible success as a bargaining chip in the seat-sharing discussions.

Earlier this month, Tejashwi Yadav met Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati. Reports suggest Tejashwi is willing to offer Bihars Gopalganj seat to BSP. The constituency borders Uttar Pradesh, where SP and BSP have left Congress out of their alliance.

Bihar sends 40 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Lok Sabha. Performing well in the state is crucial for both the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Mahagathbandhan.

In 2014, BJP won 22 seats in the state. This was followed by Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) six. Nitish Kumars Janata Dal (United), which had then fought the polls separately, managed to bag just two seats. RJD had won four seats followed by RLSP and Congress three and two seats, respectively. Sharad Pawars Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had won one seat.

The NDA is facing a stiff challenge from the RJD-led Opposition alliance.
Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day tour of his parliamentary constituency Amethi starting on January 23. Gandhi said he would meet and discuss issues with people in his home constituency.

"I am coming to Amethi. Will be with my people and discuss issues with them. Will keep sharing the details of my story of happiness with you by way of pictures," Gandhi said in a Facebook post.

During his stay, Gandhi is scheduled to meet representatives of gram panchayats at Fursatganj. He will also take part in the swearing-in of newly elected bar members in Gauriganj, his representative Chandrakant Dubey had said.

Gandhi will address a 'nukkad sabha' at Haliyapur and stay the night at Bhueymau guest house, where he will meet party workers on the second day of his visit before leaving for Delhi, Dubey had said.

Gandhi was scheduled to visit Amethi on January 4 but it was cancelled in view of the Winter session of Parliament.

His visit would have clashed with Union Minister Smriti Irani's Amethi trip, which was also scheduled for the same day and was being seen as the first major political face-off ahead of the general elections.

The Congress chief will also tour states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the coming days.
New Delhi: BJP National President Amit Shah addresses on the first day of BJP National Executive Meet, at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, Friday, Jan 11, 2019. (PTI Photo/Kamal Kishore) (PTI1_11_2019_000121B)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is relying on legislation granting 10 percent reservation to economically weaker section (EWS) in the general category and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, to consolidate voters from the Hindu community in West Bengal.

According to a report by The Indian Express, the saffron party will soon finalise a programme for utilisation of the two legislations.

BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya told the newspaper that "a large section of people" in West Bengal are happy about the steps taken by the government. "We will chart out different ways to campaign about them," he said.

"In West Bengal, there is lot of anger within the Hindu community over Muslim appeasement policies of consecutive governments. The state has fixed 10 percent for Muslims in government jobs also. So, the new law on EWS quota could favour us," a party source told the newspaper.

According to the report quoting the source, the party's acceptability within the tribal and rural regions of the state has also risen. Combined with the legislations, the party feels that the electorate will be made "more optimistic about the party."

The party's General Secretary (Organisation) has managed to bring different groups within the party and the Sangh Parivar together, while Vijayvargiya has worked to lure senior leaders like Mukul Roy into the party fold, the report adds.

"In Bengal, a large section of people can take benefit of the reservation for EWS quota. BJP will definitely do everything to use it to create a conducive atmosphere for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls," Vijayvargiya said.

According to the report, the Sinho Commission Report of 2010 states that West Bengal has the largest general category population in the country at 15.2 percent.

The saffron party aims to win at least 22 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats during the upcoming polls. BJP National President Amit Shah on January 22 addressed a rally in the state's Malda, stating that the upcoming elections will be for restoring democracy in the state.
Viju Cherian

On Wednesday, January 23, the Congress announced Priyanka Gandhi Vadras entry into active politics. In a press statement, Ashok Gehlot, the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), said that party president Rahul Gandhi appointed Priyanka Gandhi, his sister, as the AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East.

For many who look up to the first family of the Congress, this announcement has been a much-awaited one. Understandably, it will be a morale booster for them. Priyanka Gandhis entry into active politics, at an initial glance, has its merits and demerits for the Congress.

First the positives. Priyanka Gandhis entering politics at a time when the Congress stock is low in UP (where she will be focusing). The Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party (BSP-SP) tie-up, in which both parties will contest 38 seats each, has excluded the Congress from its electoral alliance for the general elections. Of the total 80 seats, the BSP-SP combine has spared just four seats, out of which two (Amethi and Rae Bareli) are meant for the Congress. The Congress is likely to fight the polls in UP on its own and Priyanka Gandhis leadership could give the party a fighting chance against the BSP-SP combine, and even the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

With Rahul Gandhi spreading his campaign focus across India and Sonia Gandhi unlikely to actively campaign (due to health reasons), it will have to be seen if Priyanka Gandhis focus on UP will pay dividends.

Also, it is not a coincidence that Priyanka Gandhi has been given charge of UP East under which the constituencies of Varanasi and Gorakhpur (both strongholds of the BJP) fall. Her entry also raises the question whether she will contest from Amethi or her mothers seat of Rae Bareli. This announcement also adds weight to news reports that Rahul Gandhi could contest from Nanded in Maharashtra.

Now, to the negatives. Priyanka Gandhis entry as a general secretary will strengthen the accusation by other parties that the Congress is overly reliant and run by a single family. Expect the BJP to use this as ammunition during the election campaign.

Then there is the perennial question: How will this lateral entry affect the morale of leaders who believe that growth is possible in the Congress?

Will her entry a few months before the polls have the desired effect the Congress expects? Should the party have done this much earlier to give Priyanka Gandhi enough time to work among the cadre in the state?

A charge the BJP (among other parties but more successfully by the saffron party) has used against the Congress is its dependence on the Gandhis. On innumerable occasions BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have accused the Congress of ignoring other leaders in the party to boost the Gandhis.

Call it bad timing for the Congress or serendipity for its rival parties  the Congress has announced Priyanka Gandhis entry into the party on a day when the nation is celebrating the birth anniversary of a freedom fighter and Congress leader who fell out with party leaders thenSubhas Chandra Bose.

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A: On Thanksgiving Day, I was out with three friends of mine, and I was with my daughter and my girlfriends daughter. We were giving coats out to the homeless. We ran into this guy on Michigan Avenue and he said, Hey, I could really use your box of coats. Were all downstairs. We went downstairs and there were about 100 homeless people. They were eating Thanksgiving dinner. They all had their to-go boxes, and it looked pretty well organized. I asked who does this, and I was told it was (Dwana Roby of Emerald City Services Inc.) She feeds them every Tuesday. I got her phone number  and thats how the partnership grew.
Welcoming his sister's entry into active politics, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he was "very happy" that Priyanka will assist him in the Lok Sabha polls and asserted that he was ready to cooperate with BSP-SP to defeat the BJP.

"I am very happy that my sister Priyanka will assist me in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, she is very capable," Rahul said.

He also said that Jyotiraditya Scindia is a dynamic youth leader.

Rahul's comments came hours after Priyanka became AICC general secretary and was made in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Scindia was given the charge of western Uttar Pradesh.

"I have not sent them here for two months but given a mission to take ahead the true ideology of the Congress to take the poor and deprived sections of society along," he said.

"The Congress is fighting for its ideology... Priyanka and Jyotiraditya are young and strong leaders and with their help we want to change the politics of Uttar Pradesh," Rahul said, adding he had complete faith that both of them will work and give what is required to Uttar Pradesh and its youth.

To a question whether Priyanka will contest the Lok Sabha election, he said it is up to her but his point is that the party will not play on the backfoot anywhere.

"We won't play on the backfoot, we will play on the frontfoot, be it Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh," he said without mincing words.

"My point is that we do politics for the people and development and wherever we will get an opportunity we will play on the front foot," he said.

"I feel that this step will usher in a new kind of thinking and bring a positive change in Uttar Pradesh politics," he said.

On being kept out of the SP-BSP alliance, he said, "SP, BSP have formed alliance in Uttar Pradesh to defeat the BJP. I have no animosity against them. I have to take forward Congress ideology and make place for Congress philosophy in Uttar Pradesh," Rahul told newspersons here.

His remarks assume significance in the light of the Congress party's decision to go it alone in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

To a question if today's announcement was aimed at countering the BSP-SP alliance, from which Congress has been left out, the Congress president said, "I have said this earlier too that they have stitched an alliance and the aim of all of us is to defeat the BJP."

"There is no animosity against Mayawati or Akhilesh... but we have to fight for the Congress ideology and will fight in Uttar Pradesh with our full strength...if they want to talk there is no problem with it," he stressed.

Rahul said that he was ready to "cooperate" with these parties to defeat the BJP.

He reiterated that he respected both BSP president Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

"Our ideologies have many similarities... Our fight is against the BJP, and wherever we can cooperate with Mayawati and Akhilesh we are ready to do so," he said.

"Wherever we can work together to defeat the BJP, we will cooperate... But nevertheless is our job to take the Congress ideology ahead and make a place for it for which we have taken a big step," he said.

"Lastly, I will tell the people of Uttar Pradesh that they have wasted a lot of time...they have elected a BJP government ...I want to tell them to remove them as we are ready to give a new direction...we want Uttar Pradesh to be number one state," he said.

"The youth of the state, irrespective of caste, creed, have seen how the state has been harmed. They have seen corruption...we want to fulfil a new dream...BJP people are also worried," he said.

The Congress president arrived here in the morning on a two-day tour of his parliamentary constituency. He is scheduled to meet people in his home constituency and discuss issues with them.

"I am coming to Amethi. Will be with my people and discuss issues with them. Will keep sharing the details of my story of happiness with you by way of pictures," Rahul said in a Facebook post ahead of his visit.

During his stay, Rahul is scheduled to meet representatives of gram panchayats at Fursatganj. He will also take part in the swearing-in of newly elected bar members in Gauriganj, his representative Chandrakant Dubey had said.

He will address a 'nukkad sabha' at Haliyapur and stay the night at Bhueymau guest house, where he will meet party workers on the second day of his visit before returning to Delhi.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday said that Narendra Modi government has taken a decision to conduct caste-wise census in 2021, after the last one under British rule in 1931.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, during his weekly Lok Samvad programme on January 21, had also favoured caste-wise census in 2021.

"After the first caste-census in 1931, the Narendra Modi government has taken a decision to conduct caste-wise census in 2021. "After the 2021 caste-census, the central government, if needed, will bring constitutional amendment bill to increase the reservation cap in order to provide reservation in proportion to the various castes," Sushil Modi said.

Sushil Modi, who also holds finance department, said while addressing a function organised by BJP's Extremely Backward Class Morcha to celebrate 'Jannayak Karpoori Thakur birth anniversary' here.

Kumar, during his Lok Samvad programme on Monday last, had said that it will be better if all the castes are provided quota in proportion to their population. The caste-wise counting of people should be done during the decadal census of 2021, he had said.

Sushil Modi asked the Congress party, which ruled over 45 years at the Centre, as why it did not carry out caste wise census after 1931. Why it did not provide reservation to economically weaker sections among upper castes, the Dy CM said adding that why Congress did not implement the recommendations of Mandal and Mungeri Lal Commissions. It also did not provide constitutional status to Commission for Backward Class, he said.

Coming down heavily on RJD, which ruled for 15 years in the state, Modi asked why it did not give reservation to scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) in panchayat polls held after 27 years in 2003.

Stating that 20 per cent and 17 per cent reservation is given to EBC and SC/ST respectively in panchayat polls in Bihar at present, Modi said that "there is scope to increase 13 per cent reservation in panchayat polls which will be done by next panchayat polls."

"Why the RJD government in 1992 did away with the provision of three per cent reservation on economic basis which was extended by Karpoori Thakur government?", Modi asked.
Rahul Gandhi

Visiting his home turf on Wednesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi renewed his attack on Prime Minister Narendra over the Rafale aircraft deal, accusing the watchman of giving Rs 30,000 crore to industrialist Anil Ambani. The charge has been repeatedly denied by the Modi government and the Reliance Group.

Gandhi's visit coincided with the appointment of his sister Priyanka Gandhi as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East, the region in which his Amethi constituency falls.

Against the backdrop of an alliance between Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party that has excluded the Congress, Gandhi made it clear that his party was all set to give a tough fight in the state in the coming Lok Sabha election.

Now the Congress will work to install its own chief minister here. We will form the next government at the Centre, and will contest with full strength in UP."

Speaking at an event in Paraiya Naseerabad village, Gandhi alleged that Modi helped Ambani get a contract of Rs 30,000 crore from the French company Dassault that manufactures the military aircraft.

Gandhi also accused the BJP-led government of entering into a inflated deal for the aircraft compared to the price that the previous Congress-led government was negotiating, a charge again denied by the Modi government.

"Modiji says don't make me the Prime Minister, make me the chowkidar (watchman). But the chowkidar has taken Rs 30,000 crore from the Indian Air Force, and given it to Anil Ambani."

The Modi government has said it had nothing to do with the deal signed between Rafale manufacturer Dassault and the Ambani Group.

Under India's offset policy, foreign firms entering into defence contract must give business to Indian entities.

The Ambani Group has also said the business it will get from Dassault is less than the claimed Rs 30,000 crore.

Gandhi urged people to remove Modi and bring in a Congress government that works for the the poor and the farmers.

I will stand by you, wherever you need me. Not only for Amethi, but in the entire country. Wherever I am needed, I will be present for you," he said.

Later, addressing village 'pradhans' at Fursatganj, Gandhi accused the Centre of trying to end the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGS.

He also criticised the government over demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying it has hurt small traders.
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy meets Congress President Rahul Gandhi, in New Delhi on Thursday, Aug 30, 2018. (Congress Twitter via PTI)(PTI8_30_2018_000084B)

Karnataka's ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee is scheduledto meet on January 24, amid chinks in the alliance and an alleged bid by the BJP to dislodge the H D Kumaraswamy government.

The meeting gains significance as it comes days after political turmoil that also saw Congress, the senior partner, herd its MLAs to a resort to shield them from BJP's alleged poaching bid, where two law makers entered into a brawl, causing embarrassment to the government.

The coalition government's coordination committee meeting,chaired by Siddaramaiah (committee Chairman), is scheduled totake place tomorrow (Thursday) at 5 PM, Siddaramaiah's office said in a statement.

Sources said that the meeting is expected to discuss the upcoming state budget, preparations for the Lok Sabha polls and recent political developments that include the alleged bid by the BJP to topple the government and disgruntlement within the Congress.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy,who also holds the Finance portfolio, is scheduled to present the coalition government's second budget on February 8 and the coordination committee is expected to primarily discuss it. Recently in an interview to PTI, Kumaraswamy had said that he would fulfil his Rs 46,000-crore loan waiver commitment made to farmers "completely" in the budget.

The coordination committee is likely to start preliminary discussions on seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls and preparations, the sources said. As the negotiations on seat sharing have already been delayed, the two partiesare likely to discuss the procedures to be adapted and fix the time line to arrive at a decision.

Four dissidents Friday skipped the Congress Legislature Party meeting that was meant to be a show of strength against BJP's alleged toppling bid. The absentee MLAs have been served show cause notices, asking why action should not be taken against them under the Anti-Defection Law.

Congress in Karnataka Monday suspended its MLA J N Ganesh, who was also slapped with a case of attempt to murder by police based on the complaint by Anand Singh. Meanwhile, there is also growing demand to expand the coordination committee by inducting state presidents on both Congress and JD(S) into it. JD(S) state president Vishwanath Wednesday said the coordination committee was incomplete without state presidents of alliance partners in it.

However, Pradesh Congress President Dinesh Gundu Raohas said that the party has to decide on his inclusion into the committee. According to reports, Siddaramaiah is not in favour of Vishwanath coming on board as both don't enjoy a cordial relationship anymore,as the former Chief Minister suspectsthe JD(S) chief of having worked for his defeat inChamundeshwari in Mysuru during the assembly polls.

The coordination committee comprises Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC chief G Parameshwara, Siddaramaiah, Congress General Secretary Venugopal and JD(S) Secretary General Danish Ali. While Siddaramaiah is the chairman,Ali is theconvener of the coalition coordination and monitoringcommittee.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and BJP's Devendra Fadnavis

Amid constant bickering with ruling partner BJP, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at an event here on Wednesday, though the Opposition dismissed it as a "poll ploy".

Fadnavis also tweeted pictures of him and Uddhav participating in rituals marking the the start of construction of a memorial for Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

On Bal Thackeray's 93rd birth anniversary, the two leaders jointly offered prayers to Lord Ganesha and performed 'vaastu pujan' at the memorial site at Shivaji Park in Dadar area.

Until now, the Sena had been targeting the BJP, its ally at the Centre and in Maharashtra, over issues such as the Rafale aircraft deal, Ram temple, farm crisis, rising fuel prices, etc. The two parties have also spoken of going it alone in the Lok Sabha elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to laud Bal Thackeray's intellect and oratory skills.

"Remembering the courageous Balasaheb Thackeray on his Jayanti. Respected Balasaheb was unwavering in his commitment towards protecting the rights and wellbeing of people," he tweeted.

"He was bold and was blessed with a sharp intellect and wit. His oratory skills mesmerised lakhs of people," Modi wrote on Twitter.

PM Modi is expected to be invited for the formal 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony, a source said.

Fadnavis and Uddhav were seen warmly shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries at the event.

A Sena legislator present there said the two leaders had a brief meeting over tea. "However, there were no political discussions," he said.

"The chief minister and other BJP leaders were very comfortable in the presence of Uddhavji and his family," he said adding it seemed they were "members of one family".

The chief minister later tweeted that Bal Thackeray will continue to remain a source of energy and inspiration for him.

A number of BJP and Sena leaders, city mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation chief Ajoy Mehta and members of 'Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak Nyas, including BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, were present at the event.

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Cabinet approved Rs 100 crore for the construction of the memorial, which is expected to begin next month. The move is being seen as an attempt to reach out to the ally ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The prime sea-facing property built in 1928, measuring around 11,500 sqm, currently houses Mumbai mayor's bungalow.

The Sena had last year announced to go solo in future elections. A party leader on Tuesday said the state government's decision to approve funds for the Thackeray memorial would have no bearing on alliance prospects between the two parties for the upcoming poll.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the memorial should have been built at 'Matoshree' (the Thackeray residence in suburban Bandra), as he (Bal Thackeray) spent all his life there.

"Despite the Sena having a lot of money, it is using the government's and people's money, which was not needed. The BJP is only trying to woo the Sena ahead of elections," he said.

They want an alliance to happen, so people's money is being used. "More than the memorial, the BJP is concerned about polls," Sawant added.

NCP leader Chitra Wagh said the memorial's announcement was made a few years ago, but its construction did not start despite the Sena being in power in the BMC and a partner in the state government.

"The Sena has always belittled the BJP. However, as elections are nearing, both the parties have realised they will be decimated if they do not come together. Hence, this drama in the name of memorial," she said.

The BJP desperately needs Sena's "change of heart" to retain its relevance, she claimed.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with the media inside the parliament premises on the first day of the winter session, in New Delhi, India, December 11, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi - RC149F995270

Paying tributes to Bal Thackeray on his birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday described the Shiv Sena founder as a bold person with an unwavering commitment towards protecting rights of the people. Wednesday is the 93rd birth anniversary of Thackeray.

"Remembering the courageous Balasaheb Thackeray on his jayanti. Respected Balasaheb was unwavering in his commitment towards protecting the rights and wellbeing of people. He was bold and was blessed with a sharp intellect and wit. His oratory skills mesmerised lakhs of people," Modi tweeted.

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has been at loggerheads with its senior NDA partner and critical of various policies of the governments.
Attending a gathering of Imams of mosques in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday warned against division of votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Delhi and claimed that the Congress would not win a single seat in the national capital.

At the event hosted by the Delhi Waqf Board, its chairman and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan said the hike in the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins (mosque staff who give the prayer call) of the 200-odd mosques under the board will be implemented from February.

He added that the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins of 1,500 other mosques in the city would also be increased.

Urging the Imams to support the AAP, Khan said, "People are saying they will vote for the Congress because the next prime minister will be from that party. If that is indeed so, we will also extend support to the Congress, but in Delhi, only the AAP can defeat the BJP, not the Congress."

Echoing the same sentiment, Kejriwal said, "If I felt the Congress could win, the AAP would give them all the seven seats (in Delhi) and leave the contest in their favour. The Congress cannot win even a single seat in Delhi."

Asking the gathering to be wary of division of votes, he said it would help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win all the seven seats in Delhi.

"If your votes are divided, the country will suffer immensely," the chief minister said.

Explaining the "vote mathematics" to the Imams, Kejriwal pointed out that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all the seven seats in Delhi by polling 46 per cent votes, whereas the AAP had got 33 per cent and the Congress 15 per cent votes.

"It is being said that the BJP is going to lose 10 per cent votes. If these votes go to the Congress, the BJP will win again. But if the AAP gets these votes, we will bag the seven seats," he said.

The AAP supremo also told the gathering that there was no need to bother about who would become the next prime minister.

"The TV channels are showing the polls as a contest between (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. Do not get confused by it because it is a misconception.

"Neither Modi nor Rahul will become the prime minister. We will support anyone else who becomes the prime minister," he said, hinting at a "mahagathbandhan" or grand alliance of non-Congress parties.

Just as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and K Chandrashekar Rao in Telangana could defeat the BJP in their respective states, the AAP could also defeat the Modi-Shah duo in the national capital, Kejriwal said.

"If Modi and (BJP chief Amit) Shah return in 2019, the country and the Constitution will be endangered. They will break the country like Hitler," he added.

The AAP national convener also accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of meeting the locals at the parks of the city and attempting to shift the "anti-Modi" votes to the Congress.

"They apparently speak against Modi, saying even the Congress was better than him. It is a ploy to shift votes to the Congress and if that happens, the BJP will win the Lok Sabha polls," he said.

Delhi ministers Imran Hussain and Kailash Gahlot also urged the gathering to ensure the AAP's victory in the national capital in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Khan said, "Do not waste your vote. The votes will be wasted if given to the Congress. Vote for the AAP if you want to defeat the BJP."

The Delhi Waqf Board chairman said the increased salaries of the Imams and Muajjins would be paid in their bank accounts in February.
Avinash M Tripathi

Strap In an income-sharing model, students do not have to pay any upfront enrollment or tuition fee, but will share a certain percentage of their annual income for a specified period.

Increasing college tuition fee has pushed higher education out of reach, even for the middle class, not to speak of those at bottom of the income pyramid. Education loans can mitigate some of the problems, but only up to a point. One alternative educational financing model that has received attention in recent times is the income sharing agreement (ISA). Recently, Lambda School, an online coding school that pioneered this funding model, has received venture capital financing to the tune of $30 million.

In this model, students do not have to pay any upfront enrollment or tuition fee. Instead, they sign an agreement stipulating that they will share a certain percentage (around 17 percent) of their annual earning with the education provider for a fixed period. This income sharing clause gets triggered only if the student manages to start earning within a certain time period.

Will this model prove effective in handling bottlenecks in the education sector? This is not merely an academic question. Advanced economies like the US are dealing with a high level of income inequality which has distorted their political economy. It has been established conclusively by economists such as Raj Chetty and his co-authors that one important leveller is the access to higher education. With a large youth population and challenges in financing tertiary education, developing countries like India should explore this model.

One positive thing about ISA is the efficient risk sharing between the student and the education provider. If we think of education as an investment, then in the traditional model of educational finance, the entire risk is borne by a student.

This is somewhat counter-intuitive because compared to a formal institution, the student should be more risk-averse. Arguably, an optimal contract would entail a greater degree of risk-bearing by education providers. ISA is the perfect instrument to achieve this.

What it means in practice is that students who are competent, but are worried about debt repayment, can take advantage of this option. This will expand the pool of educated and skilled manpower, and will be a win-win for both the education providers and studentsultimately benefiting the economy.

Not everything will be hunky-dory, however. One can think of at least three main challenges this model can face, especially in a developing country like India.

The first challenge will be related to contract enforcement. Compared to a plain educational loan, ISA is a more complex contract. It requires greater effort in terms of monitoring future income and enforcing payments. Disputes are bound to emerge and a speedy resolution will be key to the success of this model. Unfortunately, according to the World Bank, India is one of the worst performers in terms of contract enforcementa typical contract takes more than 1,445 days to get resolved. This will be a big hindrance to Lambda School type experiments in India, unless policy measures are undertaken to alleviate the problem.

Second, in traditional educational loans, the student is the sole residual claimant to future earnings. Consequently, she has strong incentives to find and retain a job. Income sharing agreements taking away a certain percentage of earnings attenuates the incentives to earn more at the margin.

If the part of the income being extracted by the education provider is too high, the student might decide to drop out from the labour market altogether. Even in the moderate rate case, there are a variety of strategies available to the student to slack off. One implication of this incentive problem is that these schools will need to screen, not merely the students aptitude, but also the level of motivation. Further, the income share claimed by the education provider cannot be too high.

Third, the success of this model will also raise concerns about what economists call cream-skimming. Typically, educational institutions cross-subsidize non-lucrative but vital disciplines like mathematics, basic sciences, humanities and social sciences by charging more from lucrative and marketable courses. As more standalone profit-oriented courses like Lambda School become popular, this model will face competition and difficulties, unless supported by public funds and private philanthropy. This is unlikely to be in public interest.

In conclusion, ISA is an important institutional innovation in an important sector. It can certainly expand the pool of skilled labour in an economy. However, it is unlikely to be a magic wand that can fix all the woes.

(Avinash M Tripathi is associate research fellow (economics) at Takshashila Institution. Views are personal)
Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra on Tuesday said India is one of the few countries that is moving on track to meet the Paris commitments on fighting climate change.

Mahindra added that he has taken a pledge on behalf of all employees of his group that the entire conglomerate and all its 100 companies will be carbon neutral 10 years before the agreed deadline for the world in the Paris agreement.

Speaking here at a plenary session on 'Safeguarding our Planet' during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), he said "India, unlike many other countries, including in the West, is on track to meet the Paris commitments. India is not backing down."

Mahindra said he has not come across anyone in India who is not concerned about climate change. "It is about staying alive, after all," he said.

Asked about the problem of air pollution in Indian cities, Mahindra said India is one of the youngest countries and the youth also understands it is a matter of survival.

"They know it is their home and not a hotel and no one will be able to check out from here," he said while stressing that everyone in India is concerned about the problems.

Moderating the session, former US vice president Al Gore said the fastest growing jobs in America relate to solar energy and wind turbines.

Temperatures are going up everywhere in the world and 18 of the 19 hottest years have been in the last 19 years, Gore said.

He said 85 per cent of all the energy on our planet comes from burning fossil fuels, but the good news is we can change that.

"We can solve the problem of climate change, and we know how we can solve it, but the remaining question is - will we change?" he said.

Broadcaster and nature filmmaker Sir David Attenborough said he cannot imagine a situation more serious.

"Things are getting worse faster than they were, and the maddening thing is we do know how to deal with it, we just need to do it," he said.

During the discussion, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there is no greater threat to our well-being than the current threat of climate change.

"Politicians have a short time in power and the challenge is to embed in that short period of time the infrastructure of short term change. It needs to endure beyond us as individuals," she added.

Ardern also hailed civil society and young people for having done an incredible job.

"But now everyone is looking to us. We have the chance to transition and future-proof our economies as well," she said referring to the world leaders.

There is good cause to be optimistic, she said, while recalling that she was booed for talking about climate change when she first got into politics 10 years ago. "Thankfully, this has changed," she added.
The Congress on Tuesday expressed hope that it would get a "respectable" share of seats in Bihar in the Lok Sabha polls from its allies and would not meet the same fate it did in Uttar Pradesh where it was dumped by the SP and the BSP. Conceding that the RJD is the "big brother" in the state, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee's campaign panel's chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi, however, was "the face of anti-NDA forces" in the country.

"There is no problem. Discussions are taking place and things will be sorted out amicably," Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, said here.

The NDA has been claiming that the 'grand alliance', which comprises nearly half a dozen parties, was not coming out with its seat-sharing formula as the constituents of loosely-knit formation were unable to reach a consensus on the issue.

The constituents of the grand alliance included RJD, Congress, Hindustani Awam Morcha, RLSP, Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal and Left parties.

"We will get respectable share in Bihar. What happened in UP will not be repeated here. We respect the RJD as the big brother of the grand alliance in Bihar. Nobody, however, denies that Congress president Rahul Gandhi is the face of anti-NDA forces at the national level," Singh said.

Once-arch rivals, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party on January 12 announced their tie-up in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, sharing 38 seats each and keeping the Congress out of the alliance.

Singh was here to attend a "Mahagathbandhan Milan" programme organized by local RJD leader Vijay Samrat.

He said the Congress was positive about fielding controversial MLA Anant Singh from Munger Lok Sabha seat saying "no court has convicted him in any of the criminal cases he has been named in".

Anant Singh, a third-term MLA, is known for his strong-arm style of politics and is accused in several criminal cases.

An Independent MLA from Mokama which falls under Munger Lok Sabha constituency, Anant Singh had last week held a massive roadshow and claimed that all his opponents will end up losing their deposits.

His entry into the grand alliance has met with resistance from RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav as both of them have said "entry of bad elements will send across a bad message".

Formerly associated with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), Anant Singh had quit the party ahead of the 2015 assembly polls since he was opposed to the party tying up with the RJD.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is worried that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which processes nearly half of all the digital payments across the country, may become a monopoly and be a too-big-to-fail entity in India's retail payments sector.

The central bank published a consultation paper on January 21 where it discussed the pros and cons of a single operator for all retail payment systems including National Financial Switch (NFS), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), among others.

The regulator wants to encourage competition and innovation in the fast-growing sector and is seeking to invite more players to the industry by relaxing entry and other regulations.

"The Reserve Bank had announced that it would encourage more players to participate in and promote pan-India payment platforms. The objective is to minimise the concentration risk in the retail payments market, from a financial stability perspective and to give a fillip to innovation and competition," the note said.

"NPCI has become an organisation which is pivotal to operations of many of the critical retail payment systems of the country with concentration of many tasks. In October 2018, NPCI processed nearly 48 percent of the retail electronic payment transactions in volume terms, aggregating to 15 percent of the value of retail electronic payment transactions," it added.

There were 89 authorised non-bank payment system operators across money transfer, ATM networks, cards, wallets, etc. at the end of December 2018. Dominant in the cards space were Visa and Mastercard, while non-bank entities such as MobiKwik and PhonePe ruled in the wallets and funds transfer segment.

NPCI, a 'not for profit' company, was set-up in December 2008 as an umbrella organisation for retail payment systems in India under the guidance of RBI and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA). With initial shareholding of 10 promoter banks, the ownership has since been diversified to 56 banks.

While a single player in any sector ensures uniformity in operations, it also crushes innovation and upgradation. The central bank has invited comments on the same till February 20.
4. HDFC Asset Management Company (AMC) | Return: 42.41% | Issue size: Rs 2800 crore | Listing date: August 6, 2018 | Subscription ratio: 83.06 | HDFC AMC operates as a joint venture between Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and Standard Life Investments.

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AUM growth ahead of industry; favourable asset mix- Operating expenses decline- Impact of total expense ratio manageable- Rich valuations to limit near-term upside in the stock price- HDFC AMC remains the key beneficiary of enduring growth in the MF industry-------------------------------------------------

HDFC Asset Management (HDFC AMC) reported strong Q3 FY19 earnings, with net profit rising 25 percent year-on year, on the back of an increase in assets under management (AUM) and favourable asset class mix. It also regained its position as the largest asset management company (AMC) in India, with total AUM market share of 14.4 percent as on December 31, 2018.

HDFC AMCs AUM increased to Rs 3,29,100 crore as of December-end, a growth of 12 percent YoY, better than industry growth of 8 percent during the same period.

Growth in AUM was mainly driven by liquid assets, which increased to Rs 78,655 crore during Q3, a sequential growth of 72 percent. Against this, industry growth in liquid funds was a mere 15 percent quarter-on-quarter. The AMC earns negligible fees on liquid funds. So, how should investors read this growth? As positive.

The MF industry faced large redemptions (withdrawals) in liquid schemes in September last year, triggered by the default of IL&FS group companies. HDFC AMC, however, saw a surge in liquid flows in the aftermath of the liquidity crisis. Market share gains during this tumultuous period is a testimony of HDFC AMCs strong brand.

Equity AUM growth of 4 percent was in line with the industry during the quarter under review. Share of high revenue earning equity assets declined 48 percent in Q3 from 52 percent of the AMCs total assets QoQ. This decline in equity asset mix shouldnt bother investors much as it was mainly due to disproportionate growth in liquid assets. In terms of asset mix, HDFC AMC still stands out far better than the industry, which has 44.8 percent of its total AUM in equity assets as at December-end.

HDFC AMC continues to enjoy the highest share of individual customers. The AMC reported unique individual accounts of 8.86 million as at December-end, a growth of 17 percent YoY. As a result, 62 percent of the AMCs total monthly average AUM is contributed by individuals compared to 54 percent for the industry. This is very encouraging as flows from individual customers are relatively sticky. Also, individual investors favour equity schemes, which generate higher investment management fees compared to debt schemes.

Current monthly flows through systematic investment plans (SIP) stood at Rs 1,169 crore. Around 64 percent of the SIP book has tenure of more than 10 years, adding to predictability and visibility in AUM growth.

The AMC reported a 22 percent decline in operating expenses during Q3 due to decline in scheme-related expenses, which will be borne by MF schemes and not by the AMC as per market regulator SEBI's directive.

In its circular dated October 22, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) banned payment of upfront commission and mandated a full trail model for distributor commission. It has further mandated that all scheme-related expenses, including distributor commission, will have to be paid by MF schemes and not by the AMC.

HDFC AMC took a Rs 9 crore hit during Q3 (Rs 21 crore in Q2) on its Rs 40 crore exposure towards IL&FS (holding company) preference shares. Adjusting for this one-off impairment expense, core operating profit increased 25 percent YoY, better than the reported growth of 21 percent.

SEBI had earlier announced a major overhaul of the fee structure that AMCs charges to investors. Read: SEBI cap on MF fee income will have a widespread impact, and not just on AMCs

The proposed reduction in total expense ratio (TER) by SEBI will come into effect from April 1. While it will lead to an weighted average impact of 24 bps on HDFCs equity-oriented AUM, the management reiterated that it will pass on 21-22 bps by cutting distributor commissions. This should limit the adverse impact of SEBIs move on the AMCs financials, which spooked investors, leading to a free-fall in the stock.

For new inflows, AMC will have to absorb some impact, but it will be more gradual from a Profit & Loss perspective. The extent of cost sharing with the distributor (whether it is 50:50 or 60:40) will be determined in due course, based on how the competition pans out.

HDFC AMCs stock has corrected almost 25 percent from its 52-week high. Despite the sharp fall in its stock price, valuations are still rich as the AMC is trading at 9 percent of its trailing AUM (December 2018) and 33 times FY20 estimated earnings. On a relative basis also, HDFC AMC is being valued at a premium of more than 50 percent to its closest listed peer. This doesnt come as a surprise.

Akin to most of HDFC group companies, the AMC also commands a relative premium valuation, purely stemming from its brand and consistency in performance. Given HDFC AMCs best-in-class return ratios, with return on equity (RoE) above 40 percent and future growth levers, we believe rich valuation can sustain. However, premium valuations limits near term upside.

While SEBIs mandate will induce some pain in the medium term, the lower charges (TER) will make mutual funds more attractive to investors and aid penetration in the long run, benefiting industry leader like HDFC AMC. Hence, long term investors should look to buy the stock in a staggered manner as SEBIs move doesnt alter the structural growth story of HDFC AMC.

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Microsoft Corporation is coming up with ethical practices to implement its artificial intelligence-backed facial recognition technology to prevent risks of biased outcomes and invasion of users' privacy after it asked governments to come up with more regulations in the field, Bloomberg reported.

In December 2018, the tech giant had called upon countries to formulate laws and regulations to prevent bias in facial recognition.

"We do need to lead by example and were working to do that," Microsoft President Brad Smith is quoted as saying in the report.

The company has planned to draft policies and build governance systems that make sure the technology usage is in line with its principles and goals. This would include setting controls for the company's global sales to ensure the AI technology is not sold to parties where there is a risk of wrongful usage.

There have been growing concerns about the use of facial recognition software by law enforcement, border security and the military due to possible risks of mass surveillance. Well-known researches have shown that products perform poorly and make mistakes with people who have darker skin. Many research and advocacy groups have protested against tech giants including Google, Amazon and Microsoft regarding the same.

Smith made it clear that this doesn't mean Microsoft will stop providing governments and militaries with the technology altogether. They just want to ensure that it is not used for surveillance without preferred safeguards.

Microsoft is rejecting some contracts for the same reason. In one case, Smith said providing the technology would have led to public surveillance "in a country where we were not comfortable that human rights would be protected".

With respect to China's new rule where citizens will be judged on their social behaviour, he said Beijing is anyway more interested to get the recognition technology from Chinese firms, rather than American ones.

"You never want to create a market that forces companies to choose between being successful and being responsible and unless we have a regulatory floor, there is danger of that happening," he added.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - JULY 10: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen at the PM's Office on July 10, 2017 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two heads of state discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula and how Japan and Denmark could enhance their strategic partnership further. The Japanese PM said during their joint press conference that North Korea undermines the international order seriously. (Photo by Ole Jensen - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday asked world leaders to rebuild trust in the international trading system and urged countries like the US, China and India to breathe fresh life into the WTO.

He also cited the example of his own country for creating a new hope-driven economy, asserting that Japan has "defeated the defeatism" by pushing 'womenomics' to tackle the problem of its ageing population.

As the new Chair of G20, he also said Japan is committed to preserving and enhancing the free, open, and rules-based international order.

In a special address here at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019, Abe said when he came back to office as prime minister in 2012, many were thinking Japan was doomed and the argument was its population was ageing and it could not grow.

"It was a wall of despair, a wall of Japan pessimism. Since that time, our working-age population has dropped by 4.5 million people. We have responded by pushing hard for 'womenomics', encouraging more and then still more women to work, while lessening the burden on women's shoulder," he said.

As a result, the country now has 2 million more women employed, the rate of female labour participation has hit 67 per cent, an all-time high for Japan, and higher than, say, in the US, he said.

All of this has "defeated defeatism", Abe added.

"Meanwhile, the number of people over 65 still actively working has also increased by 2 million, thanks to our policies that enable them to keep working... Out of every 100 college graduates looking to work, 98 find employment, also a record number," he said.

Abe said companies have raised the wages and the country's GDP has grown strongly in the last six years.

He said he sees Japan hosting the G20 Summit in June as a chance to regain optimism for the future, providing reassurance that it is possible to achieve a hope-driven economy like in Japan.

"I would like Osaka G20 to be long remembered as the summit that started world-wide data governance," he said.

"It will be great if every one of us, from the US, Europe, Japan, China, and India, to leap frogging countries in Africa, share our efforts and our successes in breathing fresh life into the WTO," Abe said.

Regarding his second top priority for the G20 Osaka summit, Abe said there was a need for disruptive innovations for climate change.

On the changing international order, Abe asked the world leaders to "rebuild trust toward the system for international trade. That should be a system that is fair, transparent, and effective in protecting IP and also in such areas as e-commerce and government procurement".

He said the US, Europe and Japan must join forces to facilitate changes within the WTO, especially its rules for government subsidies.

"The Osaka Track, needless to say, will make the WTO more relevant in the age of the data-driven economy... hope matters more than anything when it comes to generating growth," he said.

"Most importantly, this year, for the first time in as long as 200 years, His Majesty the Emperor of Japan will abdicate and a new Emperor will take the throne. It is the dawn of a new era.

"Japan, now reinvigorated and revitalised, with your embrace, will continue to be one of the foremost open, democratic, and law-abiding contributors to peace and growth in the world," Abe said.

To address the decline in its working population, Japan has recently approved measures to increase the number of foreign workers  as many as 340,000 skilled workers would be invited to Japan from abroad , drawn up plans to expand its free education programme and introduced policies to empower elderly workers.

"A long-awaited positive feedback cycle is taking root, with growth in employment and income generating greater demand and even more employment," Abe said.

Talking about his vision for 'Society 5.0', the Japanese leader stressed the importance of a society driven by borderless data and worldwide data governance to leverage future growth.

Every day, more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data come into being, which, according to one estimate is as much as 250 times the printed material in the US Library of Congress, he was quoted as saying in a release issued by the WEF.

"In Society 5.0, it is no longer capital but data that connects and drives everything, helping to fill the gap between the rich and the less privileged.

"Services of medicine and education, from elementary to tertiary, will reach small villages in the sub-Saharan region," Abe said.
India has shown to the world that it can grow irrespective of the government in power, but there is an urgent need to ensure all-inclusive economic expansion by addressing the twin problem of unemployment and farmers' distress, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath said on January 23.

Addressing a session on emerging market outlook here at the WEF Annual Meeting, Nath said India is heading towards becoming the world's second largest economy but that is happening because of lot many factors.

"India grows irrespective of the government policies and is driven by its tremendously aspirational young generation," the Chief Minister of one of the India's largest state Madhya Pradesh said.

He, however, cautioned that there is huge unemployment and that coupled with issues faced by farmers are the biggest problems faced by India.

Any policy decision should focus on these issues to unlock India's huge growth potential, Nath who had held various ministerial positions at the central government said.

On importance of sustainable economic growth and why it is not a political issue in India, Nath said, it was indeed a political issue in the country and India was certainly addressing issues like environment.

On inequality, he said the figures released by Oxfam are indeed distressing and a lot needs to be done for this disparity to be removed.

According to the Oxfam study, in the year 2018, the top one per cent of the country's richest got richer by 39 percent as against just 3 percent increase in wealth for the bottom-half of the population.

Oxfam further said, 13.6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10 percent of the country, continue to remain in debt since 2004.

Nath said there is a need to look at the "distributed justice" in a new way.

"There is a global disorder in all facets, whether it's economy or politics and all of this needs to be looked at in a holistic manner. Unless that is done, this disparity will further increase," he said.

Problems in India and for Indian farmers are different from what is the problem of inequality in the US and therefore the solutions would need to be different, he said.

Nath noted that it's very important that rule based trading systems remain in place for the global trade to happen.

"Nowadays bilateral trade deals are happening a lot, raising questions about multilateral frameworks," said Nath who also served as a union commerce minister in the past.

He added that India has always supported rules based trade systems and it will fully support it. But one must understand that free trade should also mean fair trade.

Hong Kong SAR Government CEO Carrie Lam said the emerging economies also need to ensure that their economic growth is inclusive. She said her country spends almost 60 per cent of GDP on social services.

On sovereign issues raised by India on China's Belt and Road Initiative and how it can impact the economic international cooperation, Lam said such issues need a "constructive dialogue".
Workers spread wheat to dry at a grain market in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh April 4, 2009. Wheat purchases by Indian state agencies have started strongly in the new season, further boosting government stocks and leading to industry calls to allow exports after a two-year ban. REUTERS/Ajay Verma (INDIA AGRICULTURE BUSINESS) - RTXDM5B

India is poised to raise the subsidies for the world's biggest food welfare programme by 6.5 percent for the fiscal year beginning April 1, the smallest increase in three years, in the nation's interim budget next month, two sources directly involved in the decision told Reuters.

The government is set to earmark about 1.8 trillion rupeesA ($25.28 billion) for food subsidies next fiscal year as it tries to contain its budget deficit ahead of the next general election due by May.

Its budget targets for the next two years are already under pressure because of plans to make various payments to farmers to offset low crop prices.

The 6.5 percent increase in food subsidies might not be adequate to cover the cost of the mammoth food welfare programme, especially after a sharp increase in the price at which the government buys rice from domestic farmers, the sources said.

The sources didn't wish to be named as the budget discussions were not public.

On Feb. 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is currently in the United States for a medical check-up, could make these numbers public while presenting an interim budget for the 2019/20 fiscal year.

Under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), India's main food welfare plan, the state-run Food Corp of India (FCI) buys rice and wheat from farmers at a guaranteed price and the state agencies sell the staples to 67 percent of Indias 1.3 billion people at about one-tenth of the market price.

The bulk of the food subsidies go towards covering the cost of buying rice and wheat from farmers at a higher price and selling these grains to the poor at highly subsidised prices.

"The finance ministry officials are struggling to keep the fiscal deficit under check," said the first source, adding more funds could be allocated in the full budget if the current government is re-elected. That budget is likely to be presented in July.

The finance ministry had previously estimated next fiscal year's food subsidies at 1.9 trillion rupees.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised food subsidies, the federal government's biggest spending after defence, by nearly 47 percent to 1.69 trillion rupees in the current fiscal year.

But the allocations for food subsidies are still falling short, and the FCI, the main grain procurement agency, has been forced to borrow billions of dollars to run the welfare programme.

Last month, the country's top auditor said the arrears of FCI have gone up to 813 billion rupees by March 2017, up from 234 billion rupees in the 2011/12 fiscal year.

Of the 1.69 trillion rupees allocated for food subsidies for the year to March 31, the government had spent 1.46 trillion rupees until November.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said countries like India and China have begun affecting the world economy much more today and that needs to be taken into account for having a relook at the global trade and financial systems.

In a veiled attack at policies being adopted by countries like the US, she said, "There is a new approach in the world that says shouldn't we look after our own, and ensure that our own are looked after."

"I have great doubts about this approach. We should always remember that others have their own interests," Merkel said. "Let's call a spade a spade."

Speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here, she said there are a number of disturbances around the world and the IMF has painted a rather gloomy picture of the global economy.

If we look at the international order today, the global architecture is still driven a lot by what was created by people who were in power after the Second World War and they had the insight and their decisions should not be cast aside, Merkel said.

She added that politicians have got a lot to face and banking industry has also lost a lot of credibility after the financial crisis.

"The global financial system has got damaged quite a bit and we need to do a lot to fix the things," she said, while noting that international bodies such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), IMF and the World Bank have very much contributed to making the world a better place.

"Countries like China and India are affecting the global economy much more today and the global organisations need to take that into account," she said, while highlighting the emergence of organisations like G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

She said there is a wake up call for the world and we need to find out how to move forward.

Merkel said compromise these days has a bad reputation, but a global architecture is only possible if we are able to compromise.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on January 23 referred Gross domestic product (GDP), as a "fancy figure" and said that economic growth must translate into well being of people on ground.

At a session on the emerging market outlook at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019, Nath also strongly defended his government's farm loan waiver decision and said the agricultural sector in India and particularly in his state has been in distress.

Referring to the latest IMF forecast for Indian economy, he said, "GDP is a fancy figure and at times it can be misleading as one needs to see where all a 7.5 percent growth figure translates into".

Defending the loan waiver, the Congress leader, who also had a long stint in central government in various ministries, said it was very necessary as agriculture is a backbone of the Indian economy and he had to take into account the distress the farmers were in.

He said, the waiver amounts to USD 8 billion, but what it amounts to is taking over the loans of scheduled banks that had gone bad and the lenders have taken a haircut in the process.

Anyway, an NPA would have hit the balance sheet of the banks and the decision was in their interest also, Nath said.

Talking about the global economic scenario, he said the global order is getting changed.

"The world has changed but some of the people have not," he said while adding that the US leadership may think what they have done may be good but they need to realise that things have changed in terms of the world order.

McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said business leaders are very confident about their own business but they are worried about others' businesses.

In the same panel, Hong Kong SAR Government CEO Carrie Lam said there are some underlying worries about global trade, but she is positive.

Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said Turkey is the only stable economy in its region but it has learnt a lot from the problems of the region. He also said Turkey and the US has a very important relationship.

He said Turkish economy has strengthened its immune system in a big way.

Agility CEO Tarek Sultan Al Essa, the only corporate leader on the panel, said China and the US are still growing at a healthy rate while emerging markets are showing a superior growth rate.

He said there is a need to understand what is holding SMEs back and how to make them contribute more to the global economic growth.
Naresh Goyal may be looking for the 'right price' to exit, at least partially, from Jet Airways, but he may not get more than Rs 250 a share, say industry executives.

The valuation is central to making a success out of the deal, and injecting liquidity into the struggling airline. Facing cash crunch, Jet has grounded aircraft, delayed salary payments, and faces a steep debt repayment schedule.

The airline's lenders, led by State Bank of India, had last week met senior executives of Jet and Etihad Airways. The Abu Dhabi-based airline owns 24 percent stake in Jet, and is the most likely to bring in more funds.

But Etihad has made an offer of Rs 150 a share, a marked climb down from the Rs 754.74 a share it had paid to Jet Airways in 2013 to get a 24 percent stake.

Jet's stock is now hovering around Rs 270 a share, and that doesn't give much space for Goyal to bargain. The airline at present has a market cap of Rs 3,112 crore. On the other hand, it has debts of over Rs 8,000 crore.

"Goyal is bargaining hard. But it is unlikely that he will get more than Rs 250 a share," said a senior executive from an airline.

Other conditions

While the valuation is high on the conditions list that Goyal has put, the Jet Airways founder is also seeking a board position for his family.

Sources told Moneycontrol that his son Nivaan Goyal could get a board position. Nivaan had joined Jet Airways in 2011 as a trainee. Anita Goyal, Naresh Goyal's wife, is a director and part of the airline's board.

Goyal also wants to retain a considerable part of his present 51 percent stake, but may not want to dilute his shareholding below 25 percent.

Etihad, on the other hand, wants an exemption from giving an open offer, which will be triggered if it invests more in Jet Airways, taking its stake beyond 25 percent. According to regulations, any investment that goes beyond 25 percent of the total shareholding, triggers an open offer.

The banks want both the sides to finalise a deal as soon possible, as Jet Airways has already defaulted on debt repayments. The airline needs to make another payment of Rs 1,700 crore by March.
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India's largest carrier IndiGo will start flying to the Turkish capital of Istanbul from March, as it looks to expand its international operations this year, co-founder and interim CEO Rahul Bhatia said on January 23.

"We have received our first A321 neo which has a higher seating capacity and lower unit costs compared to the A320neos and also has longer range. We plan to start direct flights to Istanbul from March and open other international destinations as the year progresses," he said during a conference call.

The A321 Neo has a flying time of six hours, and will enable the airline connect to more international destinations. IndiGo already flies to 15 overseas destinations. In the domestic market, it flies to 49 destinations.

The third quarter saw the airline adding six new international destinations and 22 new international routes. IndiGo also signed its first code share agreement, with Turkish Airlines. The agreements allows passengers for the two airlines to use each other's networks.

The codeshare "will allow IndiGo customers to reach several European destinations beyond Istanbul," said Bhatia. The conference call followed announcement of IndiGo's third quarter results.

The low-cost carrier reported a net profit of Rs 191 crore for the December quarter, against a profit of Rs 762 crore, a year earlier. Profit of the company was hit due to adverse impact of crude oil prices as well as depreciation in the rupee. But was propped up by a handsome increase in other income.

The airline said that 30 percent of its growth in the fourth quarter will come from its international operations.

When asked if the company has gone slow on flights to European destinations like London - as was reported - the airline said it has "not given up on the destinations" and that the answer is neither no, nor yes.

The company added that its domestic network gives it a "huge advantage" as it expands overseas. The domestic network, it said, will feed its international service.

"At present, we have 6 percent share in international traffic from India. Overseas airline have 61 percent share," said Chief Commercial Officer William Boulter. The international growth, he added, will be the third phase of expansion for the airline, after establishing itself in the trunk routes between metros, and expanding its network to smaller cities.
I will keep monitoring the situation as it evolves to see if there are areas where we can be of help. I have stated many times that Elgin is a city and a city is where people go to get help whether they are homeless, a battered woman or someone having emotional issues, Kaptain said.
Some council members want to hire Akerman to conduct and independent investigation, including forensic examination of all available financial and other records and interviews of potentially relevant witnesses, regarding the circumstances surrounding the purchase and use of two Chevrolet Tahoe motor vehicles in 2018, according to the agenda for Mondays special meeting.
'Missionary Radio' Giveaway Campaign to Enable Asia's Unreached to Dial into the Good News Kicks Off FEBC plans record distribution of free radios to share the gospel in countries where poverty and political restrictions keep people from hearing about Jesus



Contact: Gregg Wooding, 972-567-7660, gwooding@inchristcommunications.com



LA MIRADA, Calif., Jan. 23, 2019 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christian broadcaster FEBC (Far East Broadcasting Company, www.febc.org) has launched a year-long initiative to distribute a record number of its free "missionary radios" to unreached people groups, most of whom have never heard the name of Jesus.



Photo: FEBC's free radio giveaway provides sets that enable people who would otherwise have no access to Christian broadcasting to hear the gospel, like this recipient in the Philippines.



The organization plans to give away 15,000 of its specially designed radios in 2019 to people in remote, unreached parts of Asia where broadcasting may be the only avenue for sharing the good news, but without a radio many have no way of hearing the programming.



Communities in Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand will be among the first to receive the sets this year, during visits to individual churches and homes by FEBC staff and local pastors, or at special "radio rallies."



In addition to radios, FEBC has also developed Gospel Speaker Boxes, small hand-held devices that can deliver up to 300 hours of Christian messaging and which are typically listened to by at least 25 people at a timemeaning that if FEBC achieves its goal, up to half a million people could hear about Jesus, many for the first time.



"We are hearing from our teams in Asia that there is great hunger for our programming, but too often people do not have the money for, or access to, equipment to be able to listen," said FEBC USA President and CEO Ed Cannon. "It's frustratinglike having life-giving water people so desperately need, but no cups to pour it into."



FEBC's effort underscores the critical, ongoing importance of traditional radio, even with advances in technology. Almost two-thirds of the world's population has no internet access because of geographical or political restrictions. Meanwhile, some four billion people live within broadcast range of FEBC's 149 stations around the world.



"That's half the world's population who can hear about the hope of Jesuswhen they have a radio," said Cannon. "And not only can radio reach those living where there is no Christian witness, it also bridges the illiteracy gap that exists in many parts of the world, which makes the use of evangelistic literature ineffective."



Cannon had an opportunity to experience firsthand the impact of FEBC's radios when he helped distribute 60 units to ethnic villagers in northern Cambodia, during a recent visit. Among those whose lives have been transformed by one of the radios is a man from the country's Kampong Thom province who told of listening to the ministry's daily "Family Radio" programming in the Khmer language.



"It is very encouraging and increases my knowledge as well," he said of his morning listening. "Before we meet people or start working, we have to meet and talk with God first. I want to tell everyone, Christians or non-Christians that if you want to relax, please listen to Family Radio. From my experience, when I feel bad, if I turn on the radio to listen to Family Radio, then I will feel better."



Gospel Speaker Boxes are available in solar-powered versions because many recipients have no access to electricity. Each unit comes with SD program cards that add many more hours to the pre-loaded content. Listeners can hear sermons, dramatizations of the life of Christ, Bible readings and more. Last year, FEBC distributed 14,400 units in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Russia, Vietnam and elsewhere.



Each radio or Gospel Speaker Box costs $40. To support FEBC's 2019 radio giveaway campaign, go to www.febc.org/give-a-radio.



FEBC (Far East Broadcasting Company, www.febc.org) was founded in 1945 to share the gospel in China. Today, more than 900 staff and 1,800 volunteers produce around 850 hours of programming each day, broadcast across Asia, Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa. Programs in 113 languages air from 149 stations.



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South Africa: Government to unveil clothing, textile master plan

Government will soon announce a master plan aimed at growing the clothing, textile, footwear and leather retail value chain.

Our department has developed a master plan to grow the clothing, textile, footwear and leather retail value-chain. The plan, which is aimed at creating 60 000 jobs in the sector and enhance competition, will soon be announced, said Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Bulelani Magwanishe on Tuesday.

The Deputy Minister was speaking at the opening of Africa Bespoke Apparel (ABA) factory in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal. The firm is a beneficiary of the Department of Trade and Industrys Black Industrialists Programme.

The R81 million black-owned and black-managed, cut-make-and-trim (CMT) factory has capacity to handle over 235 000 garments per month and is equipped with state-of-the-art technology which makes it able to compete internationally.

The opening of the factory, Magwanishe said, is in line with government policy to set the economy on a higher path of shared growth, while also transforming its structure, enabling opportunities for millions of South Africans.

The Deputy Minister said South Africas future economic growth and transformation will rely on industrialists who can produce, own and distribute goods, anchored in value-addition.

These are the ones who harness the development of local content and are able to integrate into global value-chains. It is industrialists like Africa Bespoke Apparel who give meaning to Africas agenda and policy implementation, he said.

Magwanishe said the opening of the factory is a crucial milestone in the roll-out of the Black Industrialists Programme, as the company is the first black industrialist company in the textile, clothing and footwear sector.

He said that at the heart of governments policy intervention was the advancement of the industrial sector to alleviate poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Magwanishe welcomed ABAs planned training academy, saying it will go a long way in developing the skills of young people and equip them for the new age of innovation and discovery.

Also speaking at the opening, the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Sihle Zikalala, said the industry has in the past succumbed to severe international pressure that led to job losses.

We are pleased to report that government, in partnership with private sector stakeholders, is working to rebuild our manufacturing capacity in the clothing and textile industry. Government continues to avail financial assistance and other support to make the domestic clothing and textile industry more competitive, Zikalala said. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
UPDATE: Man accused of shooting officer in face also gets shot in face during his arrest

SAGINAW TWP, MI  When a Saginaw Township police officer approached a vehicle driving without its headlights in the early morning darkness, he likely planned to just give the driver a warning. He had no idea the vehicle in question was stolen, let alone that the parole-absconding driver would open fire on him.

Now, as the officer recovers from gunshot wounds in an Ann Arbor hospital and the man believed to have shot him does the same some 60-odd miles away, authorities are deciding how to proceed in the matter spanning four counties.

A photograph of Saginaw Township Officer Jeff Koenig is shown during a press conference at the Saginaw Township Police Department, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019.Kaytie Boomer | MLive

After being shot himself at least once by a police detective and taken into custody in Shiawassee County, 29-year-old Joshua M. Rosebush was in a Lansing hospital the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 23, according to Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner.

Hes being held as a Michigan Department of Corrections parole absconder, so that gives us some time to get our charging together, Gaertner said. Normally, criminal suspects have 72 hours from their arrest to be arraigned on charges in court. Rosebushs status as a parolee negates that, Gaertner said.

Well confer with prosecutors in Genesee and Shiawassee counties as to what their plans are, Gaertner continued. The case started here and were handling our aspect of it. There is the possibility that the cases will all be joined as one, as (the crimes) were one continuous act. We can petition the Michigan Attorney Generals Office for permission to consolidate all of the incidents in the counties and have it designated to Saginaw County. If the other counties dont wish to proceed that way, well respect that and just handle the incidents that happened in Saginaw County.

Gaertner said after meeting with detectives, he expects to issue several charges against Rosebush.

Its a foregone conclusion that we will be charging him with assault with intent to murder for the offense against Officer Jeff Koenig, he said, adding that crime is a life offense. There will also be weapons offenses and offenses dealing with the vehicles that were allegedly stolen.

As a convicted felon, Rosebush was prohibited from possessing firearms.

We fully anticipate once hes able to be discharged from the hospital, (Rosebush) will immediately go into the custody of the MDOC, Gaertner said. When we do our charging, well bring him back from whatever correctional facility hes at.

He will, at no time, be out in the public, period.

Rosebush has at least 13 convictions on his record, 10 of which netted him prison time. Most recently, a Tuscola County judge in March 2016 sentenced him to three concurrent terms of two to 15 years in prison. The MDOC paroled Rosebush in April and he absconded on Jan. 3 of this year by removing an electronic tether, confirmed spokesman Chris Gautz.

Suspect in Saginaw Township Police shooting.

Around that time, police in Vassar and Marlette began looking for Rosebush as a suspect in numerous vehicle thefts.

Rosebush, a Vassar resident, began living with a relative or friend in St. Charles, according to Michigan State Police Special 1st Lt. David Kaiser, whose agency is lead on the investigation.

The night of Jan. 21 or early the next morning, Rosebush allegedly walked a few doors from where he was staying and stole a white Dodge pickup truck. About 2 a.m. on Jan. 22, Officer Koenig, 48, spotted the truck driving with its headlights off. Koenig pulled over the truck on Tittabawassee Road between Fashion Square Boulevard and Bay Road in Kochville Township.

He was going to warn the driver about turning on his headlights, said Saginaw Township Police Chief Donald F. Pussehl Jr. At that point, it had not been reported stolen to any law enforcement agency.

The driver ended up shooting Koenig in the right shoulder area and the face before driving off. Pussehl said he believes Koenig returned fire, but he was unable to confirm that.

The wounded Koenig managed to radio for help and gave a description of the truck his assailant was driving. Initially hospitalized in Saginaw, Koenig was later transferred via ambulance to University Hospital in Ann Arbor, where he remained Wednesday morning.

Hes doing well, Pussehl said. My understanding is that he had a good night last night and rested well. The doctors are hopeful that maybe he can go into surgery today.

Pussehl added he believes Koenig has been sedated since his initial hospitalization and thus has not been able to communicate.

The manhunt for Rosebush led police to discover the abandoned Dodge near Davis and Liberty roads in Kochville Township. Police believe he then stole an AIS Construction Equipment truck, which they later found abandoned in a Home Depot parking lot on Corunna Road in Genesee Countys Flint Township.

The pursuit continued to Burton, where police believe Rosebush stole a third vehicle  this time, a van  later spotted by an on-duty Shiawassee County Sheriffs detective heading east on Interstate 69. The detective followed the van as it pulled off I-69 at the Woodbury Road exit. The van eventually stopped between Lansing and Braden roads in Woodhull Township, just south of the interstate, Shiawassee County Sheriff Brian BeGole said.

Rosebush exited the van with a handgun and pointed it at the detective, who in turn fired several shots, striking Rosebush at least once.

Speaking with MLive on Wednesday, BeGole declined to speculate on if Rosebush fired any rounds at his detective, how many times he was shot, or where the detectives bullet(s) struck him. The Michigan State Police is investigating that shooting as well and the detective has been placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard for police-involved shootings, BeGole said.

Rosebush was taken into police custody at about 1 p.m. Tuesday. BeGole on Wednesday morning did not know Rosebushs current status, apart from that he was still hospitalized.

I dont think itll be a long-term hospitalization, he said.

Koenig is a 16-year veteran of the Saginaw Township Police Department. The last time an officer with the department was shot in the line of duty occurred July 19, 2017. In that instance, an officer was struggling with a drunken driving suspect in the back of a patrol vehicle when the suspect gouged at the officers eyes. The officer began shooting, killing the suspect and injuring a fellow officer who was assisting. The wounded officer took a bullet to his arm.

Apart from that, no other officer with the department has been shot in at least the 15 years Pussehl has been chief, he said.

In the day since Koenigs shooting, a Facebook page has been started to raise funds for his and his familys expenses, with a stated goal of $250,000. As of 10:56 a.m. Wednesday, 3,752 people had donated a total of $120,130.
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MI  Shiawassee County Sheriff Brian BeGole is applauding the actions of a detective that led to the capture of a suspect in the shooting of a police officer.

Saginaw Township police Officer Jeff Koenig was performing a traffic stop around 2 a.m. Jan. 22 between Fashion Square Boulevard and Bay Road in Kochville Township when he approached a vehicle and was shot in the face. The driver then fled, authorities have said.

Koenig was able to radio other officers who arrived on the scene and transported him to an area hospital where hes been listed in critical, but stable, condition. Koenig is expected to be flown to a hospital in Ann Arbor.

The shooting sparked a region-wide manhunt for 29-year-old Joshua M. Rosebush. The manhunt led police to the Home Depot on Corunna Road in Flint Township, then to Burton where Rosebush allegedly stole a vehicle that he was spotted in on westbound Interstate 69 in Shiawassee County.

BeGole said the detective was patrolling I-69 after picking up radio traffic from Genesee County of a van stolen out of Burton.

He got a description of the vehicle. He called and confirmed, got a further description of the stolen vehicle and what the suspect was last seen wearing, commented BeGole Tuesday evening.

The detective spotted a vehicle fitting the description heading west on I-69, but it turned out not to be the suspect.

BeGole said the detective turned around and began traveling east on I-69 when he spotted another vehicle matching the description.

He got behind that one and everything started adding up description wise on what he was wearing, noted the sheriff.

The detective began following the suspect vehicle to allow for other units to get in place, but it then exited at the Woodbury Road exit and continued until stopping between Lansing and Braden roads in Woodhull Township, just south of the interstate.

Thats when the suspect got out of the vehicle.

He did pull over and, at some point, he exited his vehicle with a handgun and pointed it at the detective, said BeGole. Several shots were fired by the detective in which time the suspect was struck.

The sheriff declined to comment further until the investigation is complete on whether or not the suspect fired any shots at the detective, who was not injured during the incident. Michigan State Police said earlier in the day that the suspect fired shots at officers.

The suspect was taken into custody around 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. He was transported to a local hospital where hes under 24-hour guard, BeGole said. His condition was not released.

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded during the arrest, including the Perry Police Department, Michigan State Police, East Lansing Police Department and the Bath Township Police Department.

The detective will be on administrative leave while Michigan State Police conduct their investigation, but BeGole applauded his effort.

Id like to say that Im proud of the actions that detective took today to protect this community from further harm, he said, while offering best wishes to Koenig, a 16-year veteran of the Saginaw Township Department.

Koenig received the Chiefs Commendation Award in 2013 and 2016.

On Easter Sunday in 2014, Koenig along with two other officers arrived to the scene of a burning apartment at the Lakeside Village Apartments before firefighters and rescued a 62-year-old man and his cat.

Our thoughts are with the Saginaw Township officer that was shot and his family, said BeGole. We are happy that today ended in no other police officers or innocent people being injured or killed.
BAY CITY, MI  A Clare man who was caught driving away from a Taco Bell while highly intoxicated with his sober girlfriend and her two kids in the car has been ordered to serve jail time.

Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran on Tuesday, Jan. 22, sentenced Adam J. Chapman, 37, to 60 days in jail with credit for two days already served. The judge also ordered Chapman serve two years of probation, during which he is to perform 60 days of community service, pay a $500 fine, and complete a substance abuse treatment program.

Chapman in December pleaded guilty to one count of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated with an occupant younger than 16. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second count of the same charge and not seek a habitual offender sentencing enhancement.

Chapmans conviction stems from Bay County Sheriffs deputies responding to a drunken driver report at 8:10 p.m. on May 12. Callers had reported the driver was in a blue 2004 Toyota Camry at the Taco Bell at 4111 E. Wilder Road in Bangor Township. As deputies neared, they saw the Toyota exit the restaurant's parking lot and head west on East Wilder.

Deputies watched as the car repeatedly crossed the center lane and nearly hit a curb, they wrote in their reports, contained in court files. Deputies stopped the car on Castle Drive and made contact with the Chapman, who was behind the wheel.

In the passenger seat was Chapman's 33-year-old girlfriend. In the backseat were her 13- and 7-year-old daughters.

Chapman smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes and slurred his speech, deputies wrote. When they asked him how much hed had to drink, he replied, a couple. More specifically, Chapman told deputies he had been drinking Bells Two Hearted Ale.

Chapman could not perform the deputies' requested sobriety tests and began crying. "I shouldn't be driving," he said at one point, according to deputies' reports.

Deputies administered a preliminary breath test to Chapman, which yielded a result of a 0.23 blood alcohol level. In Michigan, a person is legally intoxicated when his or her blood alcohol level hits 0.08; a person is considered super drunk under Michigan law when that level reaches 0.17.

Deputies arrested Chapman. His girlfriend said she had not been drinking and also submitted to a breath test, which indicated she had no alcohol in her system.

Taken to the jail, Chapman submitted to a Datamaster alcohol test, indicating his blood alcohol level was at 0.19, court records show.
KALAMAZOO, MI  The Kalamazoo County Sheriffs Office is urging people to stay off the roads and limit travel due to extremely icy conditions.

Police are handling multiple traffic accidents throughout the county due to extremely icy road conditions, the sheriffs office said in a community roadway email alert at 4:37 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Please stay off the roadways and limit travel if possible, the sheriffs office said in the message.

The warning comes soon after police urged drivers to avoid ice-covered I-94 in Southwest Michigan, where several crashes happened Tuesday afternoon.

The weather caused cancellations of nighttime events in the Kalamazoo area.
CASSS COUNTY, MI  A Niles man was killed in a three-vehicle crash Tuesday, Jan. 22, that left two others hospitalized.

Joseph Johnson, 52, died in the crash.

He was a passenger in a vehicle that crossed the center line of US-12 and crashed into two oncoming vehicles, Cass County sheriffs deputies said.

The crash happened just before 6 p.m. on US-12 near Frantz Drive in Milton Township.

Ryon Koth, 31, of Niles, was driving east on US-12 when he lost control of his vehicle and it crossed into oncoming traffic, striking two westbound vehicles, police said.

One of the vehicles involved in a fatal crash on Jan. 22 in Cass County.

Koths vehicle first hit a vehicle driving by Samantha Meyer, 35, of Niles, before hitting a vehicle driven by Victoria Mallard, of South Bend, Indiana. Koth and Mallard were hospitalized.

Johnson died at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Icy conditions are contributing to more utility failures throughout the city of Kalamazoo.

Kalamazoo is repairing water main breaks on Lake Street, Pitcher Street, Piccadilly Road and Stadium Drive that resulted in precautionary boil water advisories to be issued this week. The Department of Public Services also responded to a sanitary sewer overflow that released 20,300 gallons of partially chlorinated wastewater from a manhole at the intersection of Lake Street and Clarence.

Water customers of the city of Kalamazoo are urged to keep their water running to prevent pipes from freezing. A late-January cold snap caused the citys water system to be damaged in six other incidents last weekend.

During a Monday, Jan. 21 press conference at City Hall, Public Services Director James Baker said a forecast of frost depth shows more pipes could be impacted if residents dont take precautions. Baker advised residents to run their water at a pencil-sized stream 24 hours a day until April 1, unless otherwise notified. This applies to all city of Kalamazoo water customers, including those who do not live within city limits.

The city was notified of the sewer overflow at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22 and removed a blockage in the system at 7 p.m.

Overflow from the spill reached the Kalamazoo River by local storm sewers. The Department of Public Services and the Kalamazoo County Environmental Health and Community Services are advising people to avoid contact with the Kalamazoo River between King Highway Bridge and Mills Street Bridge.

The city notified the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Kalamazoo County Environmental Health and Community Services of the spill.

Meanwhile, a boil water advisory remains in effect for homes on Lake Street until samples confirm no bacteria is present in the water main where it broke. All water intended for drinking within the affected area should be boiled due to a temporary pressure loss that will occur within the water main during the repair.

The affected area includes:

The south side of Lake Street from Division Street to Fulford Street

Both sides of Francis Court from Lake Street to the end of Francis Court

Both sides of Fulford Street from Lake Street to Fulford Street

Another boil water advisory issued Wednesday evening includes the following:

Both sides of Piccadilly Road from West Main Street to Sunnydale Avenue, including the northwest corner of Piccadilly Road and Sunnydale Avenue.

Both sides of Sunnydale Avenue from Piccadilly Road to Darby Lane. This does not include the northwest corner of Sunnydale Avenue and Darby Lane.

Both sides of Darby Lane from Sunnydale Avenue to the end of the street.

Businesses in Westwood Plaza on West Main Street

The city expects to lift the advisories by Jan. 26.

Another boil water advisory remains in effect after a water main broke on Stadium Drive earlier this week. Businesses on Stadium Drive at Seneca Lane are affected, including PNC Bank, McDonalds, Moes Southwest Grille, Dickeys Barbecue Pit, and Burger King.

The city expects to lift the advisory by Jan. 25.

Westbound Stadium Drive will be down to one lane between Seneca Lane and Lakesedge Drive through Jan. 29 for water main break repairs.

Pitcher Street at Walnut Street will also be closed through Feb. 6 for water main break repairs.

Once an advisory or notice has been lifted, residents should flush out all plumbing lines and fixtures with running water and replace all water filters.

Call (269) 373-5337 with any questions related to boiling tap water or general water quality questions or visit the City of Kalamazoo website at kalamazoocity.org.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Dangerous driving conditions caused the Kalamazoo City Commission to cancel its Tuesday, Jan. 22 meeting.

A vote on the 2019 budget and action on other items will be postponed until Monday, Jan. 28. The announcement was made after the National Weather Service issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Southwest Michigan.

Freezing rain, snow and sleet is expected Tuesday afternoon and night. The weather is expected to impact carry over to impact the Wednesday morning commute, so motorists are advised to plan on slippery dangerous road conditions.

Due to dangerous, icy roads, the Kalamazoo City Commission meeting scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, January 22, 2019 has been cancelled. pic.twitter.com/bgtlWRSpwO  City of Kalamazoo (@KalamazooCity) January 22, 2019

The Kalamazoo City Commission was set to vote on a 138-page budget proposal that includes expenditures of $181.7 million, an increase of 8.3 percent from last years adopted budget. It increases the capital improvement budget to $42 million, setting aside more money for repairs to roads and the citys water system.

The commission was also scheduled to made a decision on whether to accept federal grants that caused some controversy last fall.

Requirements added to U.S. Department of Justice grants in 2017 deny federal funds if cities dont cooperative with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in deporting non-citizens. The conditions clash with a 2018 resolution passed by the City Commission that prohibits resources from assisting federal agencies in separating undocumented children from their families and detaining people based on their immigration status.

New conditions require jurisdictions to provide ICE with access to prisons and jails and give the agency 48-hours notice before a person if interest is released.

Two Edward Byrne Justice Memorial Assistance Grants worth $92,000 and $75,000 were scheduled to be considered on Tuesday, Jan. 22. The grants fund law enforcement equipment and a program to prevent youth incarceration.

One of the grants was not accepted by the city last November due to stipulations that prevent policies or practices from impeding the sharing of information with ICE about a persons immigration status.

However, Susan Reed, managing attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said Kalamazoo should be able to accept Byrne Justice Assistance grants thanks to one of many legal challenges working their way through the court system.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Evanston, Illinois issued a joint lawsuit against the U.S. Attorney General in 2018. Last August, the presiding judge issued an injunction preventing the the Attorney General from attaching immigration enforcement requirements to the Byrne grants.

Reed said cities that belong to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, like Kalamazoo, arent required to comply with ICE to receive the funding. Kalamazoo can assert that they are protected by this injunction during any attempt to disturb any pro-immigrant policy the city has now," she said.

A decision must be reached before Feb. 4, or else the grant is denied.
ALLENDALE, MI -- Grand Valley State Universitys selection for a new president is a longtime higher education administrator with past ties to the Michigan.

Philomena Mantella, who officially becomes GVSUs first female president on July 1, currently serves as senior vice president and CEO of Northeastern Universitys Lifelong Learning Network. She is set to replace retiring GVSU President Thomas J. Haas.

Haas, the universitys fourth president, was appointed in 2006. He said he plans to stay in West Michigan during retirement.

Mantella, 63, described her management style as quick-paced, hard-working and engaged with others.

Im a pretty open person, a pretty dialogic person, which means I need people around me to think and talk," she said. "I dont sit in an office and pop out a white paper and say, This is going to be our vision.

Mantella is a mother of three sons and grandmother of four. Shes been married to attorney Robert H. Avery for 40 years.

Mantella has worked at Northeastern, a private university in Boston with a total undergraduate and graduate enrollment of about 26,000 students, for the past 18 years.

Originally from upstate New York, Mantella traveled to Michigan in the mid-1980s for a job at Ferris State University. There, she worked as assistant dean for enrollment services and director of scholarship and financial aid from 1985 through 1989, according to her LinkedIn page.

Around that time, she earned a doctorate in college and university administration from Michigan State University.

Mantella said she recalls her period in Michigan as a wonderful time" in her life. She said she and her husband loved the warmth and beauty of the state.

Its great to be home, she said. It feels like home.

Mantellas 91-year-old mother also will make the move to West Michigan with her.

Mantellas previous education, a bachelors in social work and a masters in individual and family therapy/gerontology, was earned at Syracuse University.

After Ferris State, Mantella worked for three years, from 1989 to 1992, at State University of New York College of Optometry as vice president of student affairs.

She went to Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey after that, working from 1992 to 1995 as associate vice president of enrollment management.

Her last job before Northeastern was at Pace University in the New York City area. She worked as executive vice president of enrollment management and student life from 1995 to 2000.

From 2001 to 2016, Mantella worked as senior vice president and CEO of Northeastern University's Global Network.

During that time she was "responsible for leading the universitys strategic market and enrollment planning, as well as a broad portfolio of enrollment management and student affairs programs and services in support of the institutions strong student-centered mission and rising position in the market -- now a top 50 research university according to U.S. News & World Report, according to her LinkedIn page.

She additionally led the development of graduate campus hubs in other cities, as well as the university's "graduate professional online and hybrid portfolio."

In 2016, she took on the role of senior vice president and CEO of Northeastern Universitys Lifelong Learning Network.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Three Lansing men had pledged allegiance to ISIS and one was arrested at the Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids moments before he was to board a plane to join the terrorist group, federal authorities said.

The three men are charged with conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)

Federal prosecutors said Muse Abdikakir Muse, 20, was arrested at the airport on Monday, Jan. 21, after he checked in for a flight ultimately headed for Mogadishu, Somalia.

Federal agents later arrested Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, 23, who is the brother of Muse Muse, and Mohamed Salat Haji, 26, as alleged conspirators. Haji is a cousin to the brothers.

All three men were born in Kenya but are U.S. citizens -- Haji is a naturalized citizen and the brothers received citizenship as minors through the naturalization of their parents.

In a federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, an FBI agent alleged that all three men recorded videos pledging allegiance to ISIS.

Muse Muse and Haji allegedly discussed with each other their desire to join ISIS, kill non-believers and even to potentially use a car for a martyrdom operation to run down non-believers here in the United States if they could not travel overseas to fight for ISIS, according to a statement from prosecutors.

The arrests of the three men were made by members of an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force at the Ford Airport. Police said Haji and Mohamud Muse drove Muse Muse to the airport in a Toyotal Matrix.

Police said they searched a house in Lansing following the arrests.

According to the complaint, investigators first began looking at the three men in April 2016 because of public posts on Facebook. In later months, undercover agents also communicated with the men via Facebook.

One of the agents posed as an ISIS recruiter, another as a Somali man involved in ISIS and a third as a convert to Islam located in Chicago.

During 2017 and 2018, investigators served several search warrants on Facebook to gather information.

In May 2018, Muse Muse allegedly sent Haji a screen shot of the truck attack that happened in October 2017 in New York City and killed eight people. In that instance, a terrorist drove a rented truck into cyclists and runners.

Later, in August, the two talked about Muse Muses ability to drive in the context of using the vehicle as a weapon in a planned attack, according to the complaint

Haji wrote: On this Kufarr [Arabic word for non-believers] and Wallahi [Arabic phrase for I swear to God] Im ready to meet Allah."

The undercover agent acting as the Somali eventually received videos from the three men, pledging their allegiance to ISIS. The FBI then worked covertly, using the undercover personas, to provide partial funds for a $1,700 flight out of Grand Rapids for Muse Muse because he continued to state a desire to go to Somalia.

Muse Muse was arrested at the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint.
While the last note of Jerry Partovichs ukelele has been plucked, the song of his life plays on.

The sound waves he created continue to reverberate through countless people he connected with in life, said his girlfriend -- also his musical and spontaneous dance partner, Sabina Bauer of Livonia.

He took time to visit lonely or disabled neighbors at his mobile home park in Ypsilanti, made daily calls to his sister in California to ask about her birds, brought tears to the eyes and smiles to the faces of fans while performing music around Ann Arbor and supported venues, including The Ark, Hill Auditorium and Trinity House Theatre, by working for free as an usher, lighting technician or bartender.

The 65-year-old put in his ear buds, hugged his girlfriend goodbye and left for one of his frequent walks on the evening of Jan. 10.

"We were joking when he was leaving the house and he looked really cute," Bauer remembers. "He had his red hat on ... I was straightening it up for him and he gave me a hug."

Partovich would never return.

His girlfriend imagines Partovich was absorbed in his favorite radio program, NPRs Prairie Home Companion, or possibly listening to an old Lone Ranger episode, when he was crossing Seven Mile Road in Livonia about 8:30 p.m. and was struck by an 18-year-old driver.

Livonia police initially said the driver had the right of way. The fatal crash remains under investigation.

The sudden death shocked many in the Ann Arbor music community and beyond, said Bauer.

Bauer, who admits she was a bit of a homebody since a series of setbacks -- the loss of her husband in 2001, a car accident that left her permanently injured in 2006 and a battle with colon cancer that lasted through 2015 -- met the gray-bearded Partovich in 2016 when a friend asked her to come over for a jam session. Bauer's job was to play a cajon drum and keep the beat.

There was this guy there playing the ukelele, she said. Well, we got talking and before you know it, we were talking after band practice, maybe an hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, each time the band met."

The pair began meeting up regularly at an area Kroger. From there, theyd set off into the city to watch live music.

In September (2016), we decided that we were dating and weve been dating ever since then, she said. " ... The more I got to know him, the more I could see what a kind man he was."

Partovich taught Bauer how to play the ukelele; eventually they performed together as a duet on open-mic nights and in concert with their band, the Undecided.

He got me not only to play the ukelele, but to get up on stage with him, Bauer said, and thats something I thought I would never do.

" ... I have probably have had more fun in two and a half years than I have in all my life. ... I was just so amazed by the number of people he knew and how much he influenced people ... He had friends all the way from the poorest of the poor to people that were very well to do, and he was respected by all of them."

Partovich grew up in Southeast Michigan before attending Kalamazoo College and transferring to San Francisco State University, where he graduated with a degree in communication.

He worked various jobs over the course of his life, including as an office management instructor at Washtenaw Community College, and teaching developmentally disabled children, according to Bauer.

Friends spoke at Partovichs funeral about the many jam sessions where he displayed fearless musicianship and a primary goal of putting a smile on peoples faces."

Nancy Hand, a childhood friend and high school sweetheart, remembers Partovich as a gentle kid who wore a U.S. Army surplus jacket and once organized a sit-in protest in 7th grade.

"He didn't care what other people though about him," she said.

On Tuesday, nearly two weeks after her best friends death, Bauer prepared to welcome friends over for a jam session, where Partovich surely would have strummed and smiled.

He wanted me to continue with (the music), and I dont want to let that go, Bauer said. "He inspired me so much that I want to carry on what he started with me ...

I am just glad that I had him in my life as long as I did, because I dont think you meet too many people like him.

Partovich, the youngest of three children, was preceded in death by his parents and sister Heather Berry. He leaves behind sister Iris Zaft.
Some members of Congress say its time to prioritize PFAS as a national issue, and they think they can elevate their concern in the House of Representatives.

U.S. Reps. Dan Kildee of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania announced on Wednesday that theyve initiated a bipartisan PFAS Task Force. They were joined by elected leaders from several states who say theyre united behind the goal of better protecting the public from the dangers of per- and poly-fluorinated chemicals.

The approach should help federal legislators better understand the concerns about the chemicals and respond to them through legislation and oversight, officials said.

Each week, more PFAS chemical contamination sites are being identified across the country. Hundreds of communities are already affected by this growing public health threat, and Congress must do more to address PFAS contamination," Kildee said.

Michigan is just one state dealing with drinking water contamination and PFAS in surface water and groundwater. The chemicals are coming from industry and fire-fighting foam, in addition to consumer products and other routes.

PFAS is used as a water repellant, with only a few among thousands forms of the chemicals prompting cleanup standards. And, as many types of the chemicals remain in use, scientists are discovering properties across PFAS varieties that make them persistent in the environment and link them to health conditions like cancer and developmental delays.

The impact on the public ranges from contamination spreading from closed military installations to public drinking water supplies - like the one in Parchment, near Kalamazoo - being shut down due to high levels of PFAS.

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujon of New Mexico said that in his community, PFAS is getting into wells, including water used for cattle. Now, neither milk nor meat from the cows can be sold after contamination ranging from 35 to 200 times the health limit was found. The dairy at one time employed 40 and generated 15,000 gallons of milk per day.

I want to emphasize the human impact and what it means ... to different areas of America, said Lujon.

Goals from the PFAS task force, according to Kildees office, include:

Holding informational events to educate Members of Congress and their staff to increase awareness about the chemicals.

Crafting legislative to address PFAS.

Meeting with committees and congressional leadership to ensure PFAS is adequately and more urgently addressed.

Fighting for more robust funding through federal appropriations to clean up PFAS contamination.

The move is the latest federal attempt to address the chemicals and contamination. Recent efforts include a pending bill that would list all per- and poly-fluorinated chemicals as hazardous substances, improving chances for federal cleanup funding through the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund program.

However, also pending is a federal PFAS action plan initially promised by the EPA by fall 2018 but still not released. Michigan officials join others in the public health realm by requesting an enforceable drinking water standard for how many parts per trillion represents a safe level for the chemical in drinking water. Also sought is definition of PFAS as a class of chemicals, instead of focusing on two types - PFOA and PFOS - and leaving similar chemicals unaddressed and under-researched.

Today, the EPA only offers unenforceable guidance that 70 parts per trillion (ppt) is acceptable. Some health officials - including a panel of scientists working at the request of Michigan - urge a lower ceiling for an enforceable limit in drinking water, a point underscored on Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell.

The problem reaches across the nation, others emphasized.

The American people ... should not have to worry about the quality of water, said U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, whose 1st Michigan district includes the norther Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula.

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, who represents an area that includes Grand Rapids and communities on the Lake Michigan shoreline, said the public deserves Congressional attention on PFAS.

At the end of the day, residents deserve to know the truth and the full picture about the health risks, he said.
Just because your vacation may be delayed by COVID doesn't mean it can't be better than in prior years.
LAS VEGAS -- SureFire LLC unveiled its latest weapon light/laser device at SHOT Show 2019, which it developed for special operations shooters.

"It's got white light, it's got an infrared illuminator, it's got a visible laser in green and it's got an IR laser," said Andrew Wright, a spokesman for SureFire, describing the new XVL2 Pistol & Carbine Light/Laser Module system.

"We are very excited about this. ... We have been working on this for about five years for some special operations end-users, and we are finally coming to market with it. It's an awesome capability in a very small package."

The XVL2 runs on one CR123A battery and has a max runtime of 1.5 hours. The white light puts out 400 lumens, while the IR output on the illuminator is 300 milliwatts, Wright said.

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"The green laser is super visible for day-time stuff," he said, adding that both the green and IR lasers "are slaved, so if you zero your visible laser, the IR laser is also going to be zeroed."

Shooters can set multiple outputs, such as dual high and dual low, as well as aiming high and aiming low, Wright said.

The XVL2's activation lever is similar to the X300 line, he said, adding that it can also be used with a remote pressure switch for handguns and short-barreled carbines.

The first XVL2s to market will be restricted to military and law enforcement, Wright said, but Surefire is planning on launching an "eye-safe civilian version" later this year.

The XVL2 is projected to retail for $1,350.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
The U.S. Navy is moving ahead with plans to bolster the firepower of its littoral combat ships, adding new capabilities to the vessels that will improve their lethality and survivability in a conflict, a Lockheed Martin executive said Jan. 17.

Plans are underway to equip the LCS with the Naval Strike Missile, an over-the-horizon anti-ship missile made by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence and Raytheon that Joe DePietro, Lockheed's vice president of small combatants and ship systems, described as having a "long-range surface-to-surface capability that exceeds what the [Boeing-made] Harpoons can do today on current surface combatants."

The Navy also plans to add the Surface Electronic Warfare Information Program, or SEWIP, Block 2 electronic surveillance sensors to the vessels and the MK 53 Decoy Launching System, or Nulka, to protect against inbound missiles.

DePietro said the service hopes to put the NSM on all LCS platforms, starting with those slated to deploy in 2020.

"Having some of these capabilities helps it to be in a position to be more 'a little bit scout, a little bit more offensive,' have a little more capability to be integrated with cruisers and destroyers," he said.

The changes are being made to the ships -- the oldest is less than 10 years old -- out of concerns for their ability to handle a changing mission set. The LCS initially was built to conduct operations in the shallows, including defense, anti-surface warfare and mine counter-measures. It now will need to perform those missions and more as China and Russia assert their maritime power, DePietro said.

"What's been changing with our near-peer threats is really driving some of this. The flexibility of this ship allows it to go places where other ships can't go. But while we are putting it in these places, given the change in the threat, we need to have additional capabilities inherent to the ship," he said.

Of the 32 LCSs the Navy plans to commission, 16 have been delivered, including LCSs 1-14, 16 and 18. The USS Wichita, LCS-13, was the most recent to be commissioned, earlier this month in Mayport, Florida.

According to the Navy, 10 additional LCSs are under construction, and three are in the pre-construction phase.

The LCS has been built in two variants: the Independence variant, built by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, and the Freedom variant, built by Lockheed and Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin. Of the Navy's current LCS fleet, seven are Freedom variants and nine are Independence.

The modernization upgrades -- being designed by Lockheed Martin -- will go on both variants, DePietro said.

The NSM has a range of more than 100 nautical miles and advanced target recognition capabilities that allow it to reach a target without needing additional ships or aircraft to maintain the track.

The LCSs currently are equipped with a 57mm rapid-fire gun and launcher able to fire the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile, or RAM. It also can accommodate armed MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters and unarmed MQ-8B Fire Scout aerial systems.

The LCS program has had its share of setbacks and controversies, including problems over design and construction issues with the early ships and concerns about the class's survivability and effectiveness in battle.

Three LCSs deployed between 2014 and 2016, with floats lasting from 18 to 23 months in the case of the USS Fort Worth, LCS-3, which was stuck in the port of Singapore for an extended period after experiencing a major setback when its combining gear was run without oil. The USS Coronado, LCS-4, also broke down on its way out to the Pacific.

None of the ships deployed in 2018 due to maintenance scheduling issues. Navy officials said earlier this year that at least three LCSs will deploy in fall 2019.

Last May, the Pentagon awarded a $14.8 million contract to Raytheon for the initial Naval Strike Missile buy. The contract is worth up to $847.6 million if all options are exercised.

Lockheed is managing the design integration portion of the contract, starting with LCS-7, the USS Detroit.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, is reaching out to Coast Guard members near its headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, offering free rabies vaccinations and spay or neutering services during the partial government shutdown.

As a gesture to the service that decided in 2018 to stop using live animals in trauma training and rescued animals during Hurricane Florence, the animal rights nonprofit will provide the services to Coast Guard families and other government workers affected by the shutdown through its fleet of mobile veterinary clinics, according to a release.

PETA had named the Coast Guard its 2018 Agency of the Year after it decided to stop using live animals in military exercises. The service had used pigs or goats to simulate trauma, which included shooting and stabbing them and removing their limbs.

In asking the Coast Guard to stop the practice, PETA and several members of Congress argued that simulators could provide sufficient training for military personnel who might be exposed to combat injuries, accidents and disaster sites.

"[This] award was more than just kudos and a plaque -- it was a promise to have boots on the ground in times of need," said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in a statement. "The Coast Guard has helped save the lives of so many animals, and it's an honor for PETA to help personnel care for their own animals during this unprecedented government shutdown."

In addition, PETA is sending free dog food to personnel in Cape May, New Jersey, home to the Coast Guard Training Center, where staff is working without pay and recent recruit graduates are have been sent home without pay.

Coast Guard families living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia who wish to make an appointment for veterinary services with PETA can call (757) 622-7382, extension 3 and mention the shutdown offer or go on the PETA website to make an appointment.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.
An outspoken critic of the Trump administration's defense policies and a proponent of sexual-assault policy reform in the Defense Department will chair the House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on military personnel.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, has served on the HASC since 2012 and was named the personnel subcommittee's ranking member in 2017. Since serving on the committee, she has introduced 17 bills to reform military personnel policies, including legislation that would require the DoD to establish a sexual-assault oversight and response office; that would allow transgender personnel to remain and serve in the military; and that would ensure that military service women have access to birth control without having to pay for it.

More recently, Speier has pledged to hold hearings on the Feres doctrine -- the ruling that bars service members in most cases from suing the government for injury -- and was instrumental in expanding funding for the Boards of Corrections for Military and Naval Records, money considered necessary to hire more staff to review applications for veterans who received other-than-honorable discharges for behavior linked to combat trauma, sexual assault or sexual orientation.

"After seven years serving on the House Armed Services Committee, I am ready to lead the subcommittee on military personnel, where we will rigorously pursue solutions to end the cultural rot that has allowed sexual assault to run rampant in our armed forces for far too long and address many other critical issues that impact not only our service members but their families, who also bear the burden of sacrifice and commitment to our country," Speier said Wednesday in a release.

She added that her priorities include "combating the Trump administration's campaign of discrimination against transgender service members; addressing the fallout of Feres ... increasing accountability for retaliation against whistleblowers and assault survivors; employing better data to optimize recruitment and retention programs; and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse at all levels."

The military personnel subcommittee is responsible for overseeing and managing military personnel policy, education and employment issues, reserve component integration, military health care, benefits and POW/MIA issues.

Speier is a native of San Francisco. After earning a bachelor's degree from the University of California-Davis and a law degree from the University of California Hastings College of Law, she went to work as a congressional aide to Rep. Leo Ryan, a California Democrat. She was accompanying him on a fact-finding mission to Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978, when followers of Jim Jones and the People's Temple cult ambushed the congressional group, killing Ryan and shooting Speier five times.

After the tragedy, she unsuccessfully ran for her former boss' seat. She was then elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and later elected to the California State Senate, where she represented parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.
The Air Force had planned to ask for $206 million next year for development on T-7, but will ask for just $189 million...
The Pentagon has released the identified of an Army Special Forces soldier killed in action Tuesday in central Afghanistan.

Sgt. 1st Class Joshua "Zach" Beale, 32, of Carrollton, Virginia, died in Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan province, while conducting combat operations, according to military releases. Beale was attached to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

He suffered fatal wounds from enemy small-arms fire, officials said.

Beale enlisted in the Army in 2011 after graduating with a degree in criminal justice from Virginia's Old Dominion University in 2008, officials said. He graduated in 2013 from the Army's Special Forces Qualification Course in 2013, before being assigned to 3rd SFG. He earned his Ranger tab while assigned to the unit and also graduated from the Advanced Leader Course and Special Forces Sniper Course as a member of 3rd SFG.

Beale had deployed twice before to Afghanistan, and four times overall in support of military operations.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medal. His prior awards included two more Bronze Stars and the Army Achievement Medal.

"Joshua was a smart, talented and dedicated member of 3rd SFG (A) and the special operations community. He will be greatly missed by everyone who had the fortunate opportunity to know him. We extend our deepest condolences to his family for this tragic loss," Col. Nathan Prussian, 3rd SFG (A) commander, said in a statement.

Beale is survived by a wife and two children.

He is the second service member to be killed in action in Afghanistan as the war enters its 18th year.

An Army ranger, Sgt. Cameron Meddock, died Jan. 17 from wounds sustained earlier in Badghis province in northwestern Afghanistan.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
A pilot with the Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team was forced to make an emergency landing Tuesday after his F/A-18 Hornet's landing gear did not deploy upon runway approach, officials said.

The pilot, whose name and position on the team are not being disclosed, was conducting a normal training demonstration flight near Naval Air Facility El Centro, California, around 10:30 a.m., said officials with Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA). When the pilot realized not all the landing gear were extended as he prepared to land at El Centro, he had to execute emergency landing procedures.

"The front landing gear was down and locked. The right gear at the back was down, and the left was up," CNATRA spokeswoman Lt. Michelle Tucker told Military.com on Wednesday. "When [the plane] touched the ground, the right side did collapse ... it skidded to a stop."

It's not clear what damage the aircraft sustained, Tucker said. She added that the impact on the aircraft was likely lessened by the partial deployment of the rear landing gear.

At no point were ground personnel or spectators in danger, and the pilot himself emerged from the landing uninjured, officials said.

"The pilot landed safely, and did everything he was supposed to do at the time he was supposed to do it," Tucker said.

The mishap is being investigated. Tucker said the Hornet that conducted the emergency landing will be sidelined temporarily to determine what went wrong, but training flights will continue without a pause.

The legacy F/A-18 Hornet flown by the Blue Angels entered service for the Navy in the early 1980s. While the Marine Corps still flies legacy Hornets, with plans to retire the fleet as F-35B Joint Strike Fighters enter service, the Navy has replaced them entirely with F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

The Blue Angels demonstration team consists of eight aircraft that fly in precision formations at air shows throughout the country. This year, the team is scheduled to conduct 61 flight demos in 32 locations, beginning March 16 with the annual El Centro Air Show.

While the Blue Angels are among the Navy's most elite pilots, the demonstrations are dangerous work. In June 2016, Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss, the Number 6 soloist, was killed in a crash near Smyrna, Tennessee, after a training maneuver went wrong.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
While a tornado touched down in Florida's Panhandle over the weekend and moved over Tyndall Air Force Base, officials say the base did not sustain significant damage and normal operations were not affected.

There has been "no impact" to units or missions stationed at Tyndall, said base spokesman Don Arias. The base was devastated in October by Hurricane Michael.

The tornado "did not impact the recovery schedule for the base in any way," he told Military.com.

It swept through the south side of the base, which houses logistics and support. The flight line and aircraft remain on the north side of the base and were undamaged, Arias said.

"The flying mission is unaffected," he said, referring to ongoing air training or exercises in coordination with Eglin Air Force Base, roughly 60 miles away.

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Arias said a roof on a lodging facility known as the Sand Dollar Inn was damaged. Visiting or temporary duty airmen not assigned to a dorm often stay there.

"We had to move a handful of people out of that building to other buildings on base," he said.

Other parts of the inn complex were already temporarily closed and under repair from Hurricane Michael.

The commissary, base exchange, dining facility, walk-in clinic and pharmacy on the south side of the base remain open and were not impacted, Arias said.

Tyndall currently has roughly 2,000 people on base.

"This number fluctuates as people [permanent change of station] in and out of the base, and personnel on temporary duty move in and out," Arias said. "There were no assignment adjustments or airmen rerouted due to the tornado."

The service has been assessing building-by-building "what needs to be done" at the base, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in November.

She noted that roughly 500 airmen who have missions at Tyndall have moved to other bases, but said the majority would return.

The mission mainly affected by the hurricane was the base's F-22 Raptor stealth fighter.

Some were undergoing maintenance and could not fly before the storm, and so had to be left behind, Wilson said.

About "95 percent of the buildings were damaged in some way; now we're figuring out which ones need to just be leveled, and which ones we need to rebuild," Wilson said in November. "Base recovery as a whole is probably going to three to five years' time."

The National Hurricane Center estimated Hurricane Michael reached 150 mph winds as it made landfall. Tyndall at one point was in the eye of the storm.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
In freezing and almost unbearable living conditions on the world's southernmost continent, four airmen had one mission in December: Create an expanded communications network.

As part of Operation Deep Freeze, an ongoing joint U.S. military mission for more than 60 years in Antarctica, members of the Air National Guard's 263rd Combat Communications Squadron conducted a two-week experiment by installing and testing various combat communications capabilities and tapping into satellite networks, according to a recent Air Force release.

"Essentially, this was a proof of concept to determine if combat communicators can provide local, temporary services to increase the network data rate via our tactical satellite terminals," said Master Sgt. Chris Farnsworth, a communications technician with the 263rd Combat Communications Squadron, a detachment of the North Carolina Air National Guard's 145th Airlift Wing.

Along with Farnsworth, the airmen involved were Staff Sgts. Kristofer Vandermark, Titus Poulose and Michael Jennings.

"Our role was to deploy a four-man team to install and validate isolated SATCOM capabilities at Williams Field while simultaneously developing processes for continued mission support through 2021," Farnsworth said in the release.

Williams Field is part of McMurdo Station, the central hub of operations in Antarctica. It also supports another mission, the National Science Foundation's Polar Program research effort, which calls for military and international partners to travel annually to the South Pole.

The U.S. considers its mission to support the scientific research arm as non-mil-to-mil training, under the 1961 Antarctic Treaty System.

On any given day, "it's minus 30 degrees and you're standing and landing on ice that is two-and-a-half-miles thick," Lt. Col. David Panzera, director of the 109th Airlift Wing's program integration office, said in a 2016 interview with Military.com.

At that time, he said McMurdo can grow to 1,000 station personnel between October and February each year.

The airmen worked to go beyond current, limited communications, Farnsworth said. Whether they were successful was not disclosed.

But they're not alone in their efforts. It has been reported that both Russia and China have ramped up their presence on the continent.

For example, China has been active inside the Australian Antarctic Territory, northeast of McMurdo.

According to a report from The Australian newspaper, the Chinese too have begun experimenting with improvised communication networks.

"By 2020, the U.S. may well have lost its technological advantage in GPS over strategic rivals Russia and China, who have been developing their own satellite navigation systems -- GLONASS and BeiDou," according to Anne-Marie Sharon Brady, a New Zealand politics academic who specializes in Chinese politics.

Additional satellite and receiver stations on the continent could help players such as Russia and China expand their defensive and offensive military operations around the globe, Brady told The Australian in September.

The Antarctic Treaty System bans militarization and weapons use on the continent but allows for military personnel and equipment to flow into the region.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
The following are recent arraignments released by the Middletown Police Department on Jan. 23, 2019.

Jan. 15, 2019

An 18-year-old Woodbury Circle resident was charged with sixth-degree larceny.

Jan. 19, 2019

A 39-year-old High Street resident was charged with disorderly conduct/fighting capable of injuring a minor.

Jan. 23, 2019

A 20-year-old Thimble Rock Road resident was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon.

A 22-year-old Stoneycrest Drive resident was charged with third-degree criminal mischief, criminal violation of a protective order, and third-degree assault.

As of January 2019, Hearst Connecticut Media does not include names in online police blotters.
NORTH BRANFORD  The North Branford Land Conservation Trust hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Dec. 1 at the new Harrison Farm Preserve, to celebrate the transfer of ownership of the farm from Dudley and Vicky Harrison. The Harrisons worked the 21 acres for more than 50 years, raising a family while tending cattle and crops. They grew to love the land and the wildlife that now calls it home. As they approached retirement, they began to consider what to do with the land that they could no longer maintain. Though the parcel was prime real estate for development, the Harrisons made a bold decision. Five years ago, the Harrisons approached NBLCT with the idea of donating the land so that it could be protected and preserved in its natural state in perpetuity. Earlier this year, the transfer of the property became a reality.

The morning of the celebration started out with a family friendly hike that included a tour of the beautiful forest of mixed hardwood, native flora and a vernal pool. Most were seeing the property for the first time, and they were excited to have another place to hike in North Branford. At 11 a.m., the Harrisons and several guests lined up for the ribbon cutting. State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-Durham, presented the Harrisons with an official citation from the Connecticut General Assembly for their contribution.

Land trust president David Sargent thanked the Harrisons for their generous donation and promised to protect the land for all to enjoy.

The Harrisons wanted to leave a legacy that future generations could enjoy so they turned to the only organization in North Branford that will protect and preserve the land in its natural state. Planned giving for the future creates a legacy for you and your family, and confirms your commitment to preserving North Branfords natural resources. There are several options for planned giving, including donating land as the Harrisons did, or naming NBLCT in your will or living trust. You can also designate NBLCT as the beneficiary of an IRA, a life insurance policy, or a charitable remainder trust or annuity. Some of these options come with income and estate tax benefits.

NBLCT is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to acquire and maintain open space and to promote the conservation of land and natural resources within the Town of North Branford and environs. If you are interested in helping to preserve and protect open space in North Branford or would like to know more about planned giving, email info@nblandtrust.org, go to www.nblandtrust.org or visit on Facebook.

Spring antiques show dates set

HARTFORD  Offering a mix of antiques, fine and decorative arts, the Connecticut Spring Show returns to Hartford on March 23 and 24. Held in the historic Hartford Armory, the show celebrates its 46th year with 50 of the best antiques and art dealers in the country. To stay relevant in a fast-paced, changing world the show will offer a more diverse selection of goods, while staying true to its early American niche, organizers said.

The Connecticut Spring Show is a benefit for the Thankful Arnold House Museum and Haddam Historical Society.

The 2019 Hartford Show will feature a millennials perspective to the world of antiques and arts. Kate Avery, artist, furniture designer, painter, blogger and influencer, is on tap to share her knowledge and design savvy with a fresh twist. She will show how to incorporate that unique and special antique object into a 21 st century setting and how to curate a space as a reflection of your individuality and style. Although known for her refurbished painted furniture, Avery has a deep understanding and respect for the exceptional and unique pieces found at the Connecticut Spring Show. Her talk Fresh Design with Antiques will be held Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m., and is included in admission.

The weekend will feature other educational programs. On Sunday, March 24, visitors age 35 and younger will receive free admission. Area museums will be showcased to highlight Hartfords numerous cultural venues which make the city a desirable destination.

Additional information is available at www.ctspringshow.com . Or contact Elizabeth Malloy at contact@haddamhistory.org or call 860-345-2400.

Arts alliance holding Mardi Gras gala

GUILFORD  Shoreline Arts Alliances 7th Annual Mardi Gras Gala to benefit Shoreline Arts Alliance programs, advocacy, and educational outreach, will be Feb. 2 at the Saybrook Point Inn and Spa in Old Saybrook, 6-11 p.m. The gala will feature live music from Eight to the Bar, gourmet food, complementary drinks, a live and silent auction, and a Mardi Gras Parade.

Tickets are for sale on the website and can be found at www.shorelinarts.org/mardi-gras-gala. Individual tickets are $150 per person ($95 tax deductible), sponsorships are available at different levels, including the purchase of a 10 person table starting at $2,500 ($1,950 tax deductible). All proceeds will go towards supporting Shoreline Arts Alliances scholarship program, free programs, and educational outreach.

Shoreline Arts Alliance is a non-profit 501(c)3 located in Guilford. Its mission is to Transform Lives through the Arts and we do that through encouraging, engaging, educating, and enriching the arts on the Shoreline and beyond. Learn more about Shoreline Arts Alliances free programs by visiting the website www.shorelinearts.org.

Summer internships available

WESTBROOK  Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses properties across 70 miles of coastal Connecticut, is seeking applications for its summer 2019 intern positions. The refuge offers unique opportunities  such as serving as an island keeper in Norwalk, or working with endangered birds at Falkner Island in Guilford  that are of interest to people who want to gain experience in the natural resources field.

More details about the internships are available at :www.fws.gov/refuge/stewart_b_mckinney/
HARTFORD  Four area Democratic Senators are among those who voted this week to provide financial relief to federal employees during the government shutdown.

State Sens. Norm Needleman (D-Essex), Mary Daugherty Abrams (D-Meriden), Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, and Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, along with other members of the Senate, supported bipartisan legislation to financially help the estimated 1,500 federal employees who live and work in Connecticut, but who have been furloughed without pay, according to a press release.

The Senate voted 32-1 in favor of House Bill 5765, An Act Establishing the Federal Shutdown Affected Employees Loan Program and Providing Additional Assistance to Federal Employees.

This bill was sponsored by all six legislative leaders from both the Democratic and Republican caucuses, and crafted with the input and endorsement of Gov. Ned Lamont and the Connecticut Bankers Association, the release said.

I am proud to join my colleagues today and come together in a bipartisan way to provide support for federal workers in Connecticut that are suffering from this government shutdown, Needleman said in a prepared statement. This measure will help families pay for gas, go to the grocery store and pay for day care. These simple everyday expenses have been causing unnecessary havoc on our families, and I am glad we were able to step up and help, he added.

Today I had the opportunity to vote yes on a bill that will provide much needed relief for up to 1,500 Connecticut residents affected by the Trump shutdown. Protecting our residents is vital, Abrams said in the release.

The bill  which becomes effective immediately upon Lamonts signature  affects approximately 1,500 federal furloughed employees, non-furloughed employees, and furloughed employees who have been called back to work, the release said.

The new program calls for the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority to guarantee loans to eligible employees from private banks. The loans are equal to $5,000, or the regular monthly take-home pay of an employee (whichever is lower), minus any unemployment the employee may be receiving.

Eligible employees may receive up to three loans, one for each 30-day period of the shutdown. Loans are interest-free for 270 days after the shutdown, and the loans must be repaid within 270 days of the end of the federal shutdown in three to six installment payments, according to the release.

The state of Connecticut is guaranteeing just 10 percent of the aggregate amount loaned.

The bill also allows (but does not require) municipalities and/or special taxing districts to offer local tax deferment programs and/or water/sewer payment deferments to federal employees affected by the shutdown.

This interest-free loan program will provide some relief to the hardworking Connecticut residents impacted by President Donald Trumps partial government shutdown, said Lesser, who attended the bill signing.

No ones livelihood should depend on whether President Donald Trump gets his wall. This no-interest loan program will give our federal employees impacted by the partial government shutdown some much-needed cash flow during the shutdown, Cohen said.
Police are investigating the death of an upstate Connecticut man who was fatally shot in the head.

Manchester police were called to 158 Eldridge St. at around 1:25 p.m. Tuesday and found a man with a gunshot wound to the head.
Contributed photo

Old Lyme  Shoreline Arts Alliance, a regional Arts Council in Guilford, is hosting the 35th Annual Future Choices program, a visual arts competition and exhibition for high school students. The competition and exhibition takes place on the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts campus in Old Lyme, and features work from high school students in the region. Shoreline Arts Alliance is seeking artwork from young artists for in person submissions on Feb. 4-6 at the Sill House Gallery.

High School Students within the 24 town region of Connecticut are encouraged to submit artwork to the visual art competition. The 24 town region consists of all of Middlesex County, Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Salem, Madison, Guilford, North Branford, Branford, and East Haven.
KINDE  Elizabeth Trudeau was recently selected as an FFA Star Finalist in Agriscience Research.

The North Huron student's Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) focuses on plant research and social systems research. She recently completed a research project in the North Huron greenhouses on liquid fertilizers and their effect on vegetable growth.

The results will be used to help grow plants for the spring plant sale.

Trudeau has also had opportunities to study plant science as well as aquaponic and hydroponic systems at Disney World.

Trudeau's first research project involved her trip to Africa where she researched what specific topics Ugandan farmers wanted to know more information about.

Her research helped build some curriculum that will be shared with technical schools. She is excited to use the gathered information when she returns to Uganda at the beginning of February.
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Michigan Withdraws from Clean Air Act Cases

Michigan Withdraws from Clean Air Act Cases

Kelly Rossman-McKinney 517-373-8060

January 22, 2019

LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed motions to withdraw from four federal lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), originally filed by her predecessor.

At Nessels direction, the state is withdrawing from the following cases:

West Virginia, et al v EPA, et al, (Case No. 15-1363) challenges the Clean Power Plan rules governing greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.

North Dakota v EPA (Case No. 15-1381) challenges the Clean Power Plan rules governing greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants;

Murray Energy Corporation v EPA (Case No. 16-1127) challenges a supplemental finding by the EPA related to the rules governing the emissions of mercury and other hazardous and toxic substances from power plants, referred to as the EGU-MATS rule; and

American Petroleum Institute v EPA (Case No. 13-1108) challenges the rules governing the emission of methane from oil and gas operations.

Under my watch, said Nessel, Michigan will not be a party to lawsuits that challenge the reasonable regulations aimed at curbing climate change and protecting against exposure to mercury and other toxic substances.

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Come hell or high water, Anthony Gerald shows up. Be it with a cane, a walker or simply limping; he rarely misses a community event because he knows how important it is to be a shining example to his children, often seeks out every opportunity he can to serve as a blessing to someone else.
PHOTOS Heart healthy foods to add to your diet

When it comes to showing your heart some serious love, there are a few things you can do. Managing stress and getting enough sleep are massively important, but so is eating well, according to Julia Zumpano, a registered dietician in preventive cardiology and rehabilitation at the Cleveland Clinic. Managing your diet can help reduce cholesterol, reduce blood pressure, reduce weight, weight circumference, triglycerides; all of those things are influenced by the way that you eat, Zumpano said. And all of those are risk factors for developing heart disease. Incorporating more of these foods into your diet can help you do those things, and youll be giving your heart a helping hand.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday he was optimistic that U.S.-China trade talks would have a good outcome and the two countries could "thrive and prosper together."

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks through live video conference at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. [Photo: AP/Markus Schreiber]

"There are those who say that conflict, superpower conflict between our two countries is inevitable. We don't see it that way. We want to find places where we can work together," Pompeo told the World Economic Forum participants via video link.

Pompeo canceled his trip to Davos due to the current U.S. government shutdown.

Commenting on the next round of U.S.-China trade talks, Pompeo said he was optimistic that the Chinese delegation would be well received and both sides would "have a good outcome from those conversations."

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said last week that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States on Jan. 30-31 for trade negotiations.

When asked whether effort to resolve the U.S.-China trade friction could achieve any breakthrough, Pompeo said that he was hopeful that each of those issues could be dealt with constructively.

"I don't want to get ahead of the conversations and negotiations that are taking place. There is lots of hard work to do," he said.

"I am very confident that there will be a bright future for the United States and its people, but for the Chinese people as well," he added.

Washington imposed steep tariffs on Chinese imports worth billions of dollars last year,prompting retaliatory tariffs by Beijing.

The two sides have conducted several rounds of talks to resolve their trade frictions since U.S. President Donald Trump first announced tariff plans against China in March last year.

Leaders of the two countries agreed at a meeting in the Argentine capital city of Buenos Aires in December to halt additional tariffs and resolve their trade dispute via talks.
Horse Thief Hollow is churning out some of the most interesting beers in the city. Inside the airy space, there are currently 11 brews on tap, and you can try a flight of six for just $8, or a regular 16-oz pint for between $6 and $9. Your options include, among others, a sour IPA, a hazy IPA, a smores-inspired porter brewed with cocoa and toasted marshmallows, and a milk stout with cinnamon and vanilla. The food menu features elevated bar snacks like short rib poutine, ($14.99), plus a variety of burgers and sandwiches. As you sip, check out the brick walls bedecked with art from local Beverly artists.
Hadiya Pendleton was killed in 2013. Micheail Ward, a young black man, was convicted and sentenced to 84 years for Hadiyas murder. There is no explanation that can justify the difference in these two sentences for the murder of a human being. Both murder victims were young black people from Chicago with lives to live. Their young life experiences are very different, but they both came from families that cared for and loved them. The primary difference is the backgrounds of their convicted killers. The criminal justice system and these judges send the message that the life of a young black man is worth less than the life of a white man. We demand a criminal justice system that is fair to all.
Given the list of past officers accused of wrongdoing, the weak efforts at reform and the challenge of fighting crime in a violent city, we arent expecting a miraculous reinvention of Chicago policing. The local Fraternal Order of Police is resisting the consent decree, though its court challenge so far has been rebuffed. Each promise in the decree has to be converted into a policy. And then the culture of the department has to change. Consent decrees are long-term documents.
The city argues that dangers arise when gun owners transport their weapons, which they may decide to use in traffic altercations or personal disputes. But anyone transporting a firearm in the city has to keep it locked, unloaded and inaccessible in transit, which is a protection against rash choices. If that requirement suffices for gun owners traveling from Brooklyn to Queens, it should suffice for gun owners traveling from Manhattan to Jersey City.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING ISD #482 LITTLE FALLS, MN August 20, 2018 (A full text of the minutes is available for public inspection at the District office, by mail or on the District website) The School Board of Independent School District #482 held a Business Meeting on Monday, August 20, 2018, 5:00 p.m., at the Community Middle School Media Center. Members present were: Sharon Ballou, Cathy Adamek, Jay Spillum, Julie LeMieur, Mark Gerbi, and Brad Laager. Also present were: Stephen Jones, Superintendent and Shelly Kircher, Business Manager. The Business Meeting was called to order by Chairperson, Sharon Ballou, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Motion to approve the agenda with addendum by Jay Spillum and Cathy Adamek. Motion carried 6-0. There were no public comments. Motion to approve the consent agenda with addendum by Brad Laager, seconded by Cathy Adamek, as follows: PERSONNEL EMPLOYMENT: RESIGNATION: LANE CHANGE ADJUSTMENT: The Financial Transactions were approved. The minutes of the July 16, 2018 Board of Education meeting were approved. Motion carried 6-0. Member Cathy Adamek introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption: Resolution for Acceptance of Gifts WHEREAS the following have generously offered to donate to Little Falls Community Schools THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Little Falls Community Schools Board of Education to gratefully accept the gifts. The motion for adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Member Sharon Ballou and upon roll call vote being taken thereon, the following voted in favor thereof: Julie LeMieur, Mark Gerbi, Jay Spillum, Sharon Ballou, Brad Laager and Cathy Adamek. and the following voted against the same: None The foregoing resolution was approved this 20th day of August 2018. Motion carried 6-0. Other donations generously offered to Little Falls Community Schools: Board Member Reports were presented. The Superintendents Report was presented. Old or Unfinished Business Motion by Cathy Adamek, seconded by Brad Laager that the Board of Education approve the 2018-19 Student Handbooks. Motion carried 6-0. New Business Member Cathy Adamek introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption: RESOLUTION RELATING TO ELECTION OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS AND CALLING THE SCHOOL DISTRICT GENERAL ELECTION General Election Ballot Independent School District No. 482 (Little Falls Community Schools) November 6, 2018 Instructions to Voters To vote, completely fill in the oval(s) next to your choice(s) like this: School Board Member Vote for Up to Three Sharon Ballou Mark Gerbi Brad Laager write-in, if any write-in, if any write-in, if any The motion for the adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Jay Spillum and upon vote being taken thereon the following voted in favor thereof: Mark Gerbi, Cathy Adamek, Sharon Ballou, Brad Laager, Jay Spillum and Julie LeMieur and the following voted against the same: None whereupon said resolution was declared duly passed and adopted. Motion carried 6-0. Motion to adjourn the meeting by Brad Laager, seconded by Jay Spillum. Motion carried 6-0. The Business Meeting was adjourned by Chairperson, Sharon Ballou at 5:18 p.m. Sharon Ballou, Chairperson Cathy Adamek, Clerk PUBLISH: September 23, 2018 (860722)

Ad details PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING ISD #482  LITTLE FALLS, MN August 20, 2018 (A full text of the minutes is available for public inspection at the District office, by mail or on the District website) The School Board of Independent School District #482 held a Business Meeting on Monday, August 20, 2018, 5:00 p.m., at the Community Middle School Media Center. Members present were: Sharon Ballou, Cathy Adamek, Jay Spillum, Julie LeMieur, Mark Gerbi, and Brad Laager. Also present were: Stephen Jones, Superintendent and Shelly Kircher, Business Manager. The Business Meeting was called to order by Chairperson, Sharon Ballou, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Motion to approve the agenda with addendum by Jay Spillum and Cathy Adamek. Motion carried 6-0. There were no public comments. Motion to approve the consent agenda with addendum by Brad Laager, seconded by Cathy Adamek, as follows: PERSONNEL EMPLOYMENT: RESIGNATION: LANE CHANGE ADJUSTMENT:  The Financial Transactions were approved.  The minutes of the July 16, 2018 Board of Education meeting were approved. Motion carried 6-0. Member Cathy Adamek introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption: Resolution for Acceptance of Gifts WHEREAS the following have generously offered to donate to Little Falls Community Schools THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Little Falls Community Schools Board of Education to gratefully accept the gifts. The motion for adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Member Sharon Ballou and upon roll call vote being taken thereon, the following voted in favor thereof: Julie LeMieur, Mark Gerbi, Jay Spillum, Sharon Ballou, Brad Laager and Cathy Adamek. and the following voted against the same: None The foregoing resolution was approved this 20th day of August 2018. Motion carried 6-0. Other donations generously offered to Little Falls Community Schools: Board Member Reports were presented. The Superintendents Report was presented. Old or Unfinished Business Motion by Cathy Adamek, seconded by Brad Laager that the Board of Education approve the 2018-19 Student Handbooks. Motion carried 6-0. New Business Member Cathy Adamek introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption: RESOLUTION RELATING TO ELECTION OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS AND CALLING THE SCHOOL DISTRICT GENERAL ELECTION General Election Ballot Independent School District No. 482 (Little Falls Community Schools) November 6, 2018 Instructions to Voters To vote, completely fill in the oval(s) next to your choice(s) like this: School Board Member Vote for Up to Three Sharon Ballou Mark Gerbi Brad Laager write-in, if any write-in, if any write-in, if any The motion for the adoption of the foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Jay Spillum and upon vote being taken thereon the following voted in favor thereof: Mark Gerbi, Cathy Adamek, Sharon Ballou, Brad Laager, Jay Spillum and Julie LeMieur and the following voted against the same: None whereupon said resolution was declared duly passed and adopted. Motion carried 6-0. Motion to adjourn the meeting by Brad Laager, seconded by Jay Spillum. Motion carried 6-0. The Business Meeting was adjourned by Chairperson, Sharon Ballou at 5:18 p.m. Sharon Ballou, Chairperson Cathy Adamek, Clerk PUBLISH: September 23, 2018 (860722)
First responders are often involved in difficult and stressful critical incidents, exposing 
My point is that even those who strongly disapprove of these kids and their action should not write them off. They are high school students, which almost by definition means they are deficient in knowledge, judgment and experience. Given those shortcomings, they are prone to mistaken opinions and unwise choices, just as every previous generation of teenagers was.
Meridian, MS (39302)

Today

Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
When the sun rose on 17th November 1962, it was a new day full of opportunities and newer possibilities for every person. The early winter morning didn't betray the hidden chain of events that were to unravel as the day progressed.

21-year-old Jaswant Singh Rawat, of the famed Garhwal Rifles Regiment, was deployed in the NEFA region on this fateful day along with his unit - 4 Garhwal Rifles. The Indo-China war in the northeastern region of Nuranang (present-day Arunachal Pradesh) was soon to face the fourth assault from the Chinese Army, the final one after its two previous attacks were neutralised by his battalion. An attack that would turn this young braveheart into a legend.

 YouTube

Born on 19th August 1941 to Guman Singh Rawat in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, Jaswant joined the Indian Army on 19th August 1960, aged 19 years, as a Rifleman. On 17th November 1962, when the troops of Garhwal Rifles were ordered to retreat from the Battle of Nuranang, Jaswant refused to budge and desert his post.

It was the last phase of the war, which had otherwise fared poorly for the Indian Army, as the Indian troops began to fray from a shortage of manpower and ammunition. So when the Chinese attacked that morning from the Sela top, they did not expect to encounter the daredevilry and rare courage of a young Indian soldier to come in their way and destroy their bigger plans.

 YouTube

The attack, which started on the morning on 17th November, went on for the next seventy-two hours. At one point, when the Chinese came to close to his company with an MMG, Jaswant decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and went ahead to neutralise it with Lance Naik Trilok Singh Negi and Rifleman Gopal Singh Gusain. In the events that followed, Jaswant held on to his post alone, fired continuously from different bunkers, and ended up killing almost 300 Chinese soldiers single-handedly, before he was fatally injured by the Chinese.

This one selfless act turned the course of the entire battle and helped the Indian troops get an edge. The Indian Army was able to stop the Chinese progress into Arunachal Pradesh. It turned Jaswant into a legend and the locals have event erected a Buddhist temple at the spot.

 Wikipedia

Not just the locals, but even the Indian Army has kept Jaswant alive amongst them. According to an India Times report, a hut has been constructed on the spot where he was Martyred. The bed placed inside the hut is kept neat and tidy by the Army jawans posted there, while his shoes are regularly polished and letters sent to Jaswant are kept in the hut for Jaswant to read, and taken away the following day.

It is also believed that this fourth assault gave rise to the legend of Baba Jaswant Singh who guards the Indian borders in the East. The locals also give a different account of the of the events that unravelled that day.

They believe that when Jaswant's company fell back, he remained at his post. Then along with the help of two Monpa porter-girls, he set up weapons at different spots and kept firing at the Chinese troops in rotation, which created an illusion that the Chinese were facing the entire battalion instead of just one soldier.

 Rediff/Rajesh Karkera

It was only when the Chinese captured the man who supplied Jaswant with ration that they realised the actual situation. Following this revelation, one of the Monpa girls was killed in a grenade attack and the other was captured, while Jaswant killed himself by shooting a bullet to his head to prevent his own capture.

No matter which version of the story we wish to believe, there is no denying the show of ultimate courage and sacrifice by him when was faced with a possibility that could cost his country a part of it's being and identity.

Jaswant Singh Rawat, who was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra (posthumously), deserves to be remembered as the hero that he is, by one and all.
OTTAWA

Jan. 23, 2019

Canada

Christine Elliott

Ontario

Canada

Ontario

$1.9 billion

$4.2 billion

Canada

$11 billion

Canada's

$102

Canada

$51.2 million

Canada's

Ontario

To improve home and community care across Canada , the Government of Canada has committed to investing $6 billion over 10 years.

, the Government of has committed to investing over 10 years. Similarly, the Government of Canada has committed to investing $5 billion over 10 years to improve access to mental health and addiction services across the country.

has committed to investing over 10 years to improve access to mental health and addiction services across the country. Budget 2018 included one-time emergency funding of $150 million for provinces and territories to increase access to evidence-based treatment services. The Emergency Treatment Fund is cost-shared with provinces and territories and will bring the total investment to close to $300 million .

Quebec

Canada

Ontario

Canada

/CNW/ - The Government ofis working with the provinces and territories to strengthen health care and to address the opioid crisis that continues to devastate individuals, families and communities.Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, and the Honourable, Deputy Premier andMinister of Health and Long-Term Care, signed two bilateral agreements.Thebilateral agreement on Shared Health Priorities outlines how the province will invest approximatelyin targeted federal funding over five years as part of a ten-year federal financial commitment of approximatelyto expand home and community care as well as mental health and addiction services.The Government ofhas made historic, new investments in health care through Budget 2017, which committedover 10 years in targeted funding for provinces and territories to improve access to mental health and addiction services, as well as for home and community care. Provinces and territories already received the first year of this funding through a legislated transfer following their endorsement of the Common Statement of Principles on Shared Health Priorities.*In addition, underEmergency Treatment Fund, the Ministers signed a bilateral agreement to invest more thanmillion$51.1 million from the Government ofandfrom the province of Ontarioto help increase access to evidence-based treatment services for people with substance use disorder in the province.Providing people dealing with problematic substance use with access to treatment in their own communities ultimately helps people who use drugs to live healthier lives. Supporting harm reduction measures is an integral part of the Government ofstrategy to addressing the opioid crisis."I am very pleased to have signed two bilateral agreements with the Government ofto improve health care and treatment services in the province. These agreements will support increased access to mental health services, targeted funding for home and community care, and new and expanded options for the treatment of substance use disorder. Today's announcement is an important step toward ensuring that individuals and families have access to the services that they need for their health and wellbeing."* The federal government has agreed to an asymmetrical arrangement with, distinct from the Common Statement of Principles.Backgrounder:bilateral agreement to improve health care services Backgrounder: Emergency Treatment FundCommon Statement of Principles News Release Common Statement of Principles on Shared Health Priorities Canada.ca/Opioids National report: Apparent opioid-related deaths inSOURCE Health Canada
A novel genetic approach that repairs broken connections between brain cells could lead to treatments that restore memory capacity in Alzheimers disease. Share on Pinterest By using epigenetics, it may soon be possible to reverse memory loss in Alzheimers disease. The new approach reverses changes to gene expression that tend to occur in the later stages of the disease. Scientists at State University of New York at Buffalo demonstrated how the method was able to reverse Alzheimers memory decline in mice. Much genetic research on the causes of Alzheimers disease focuses on changes in the DNA of genes. The new study, however, focuses on epigenetics, which concerns mechanisms that can switch genes on and off without disturbing their DNA code. A paper about the work now features in the journal Brain. In this paper, says senior study author Zhen Yan, Ph.D., who is a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, we have not only identified the epigenetic factors that contribute to the memory loss, we also found ways to temporarily reverse them in an animal model of [Alzheimers disease].

Alzheimers disease and loss of synapses Alzheimers disease is the leading cause of dementia. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 60 and 70 percent of the 50 million people worldwide who are living with dementia have Alzheimers. Most people who develop Alzheimers disease begin to experience symptoms between the ages of 60 and 70 years. They will have difficulty remembering, thinking, and carrying out simple daily tasks. Eventually, they will not be able to live independently. Although experts do not fully understand the causes of Alzheimers disease, they suggest that it develops due to a combination of genes, environment, and lifestyle. One of the distinguishing features of Alzheimers disease is a type of brain damage that leads to the loss of synapses, which are the junctions between neurons, or brain cells. Signals from one cell pass to another by means of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, which cross a gap in the synapse.

Epigenetics and glutamate receptors For communication across synapses to work effectively, brain cells need an abundance of specialized proteins called receptors. One of these, the glutamate receptor, is crucial for short-term memory and learning, says Yan. It appears that the most significant decline in memory and thinking skills occurs in the later stages of Alzheimers disease, and a major reason for this seems to be the loss of glutamate receptors. We found that in Alzheimers disease, explains Yan, many subunits of glutamate receptors in the frontal cortex are downregulated, disrupting the excitatory signals, which impairs working memory. She adds that the epigenetic changes that occur in Alzheimers tend to occur in the later stages of the disease. This is when people struggle to retain new information and experience the most dramatic cognitive decline. Various epigenetic mechanisms can switch genes on and off, or upregulate or downregulate their expression. For example, some mechanisms can put chemical tags on a genes DNA or alter the structure of its packaging to make parts of its DNA more or less accessible to cell processes. Where the gene codes for a protein, upregulation or downregulation will lead to cells making more or less of the protein. The researchers discovered that the type of epigenetic mechanism that was causing a reduction in glutamate receptors was a packaging-altering one that goes by the name of repressive histone modification. They found evidence of increased repressive histone modification in the mouse model of Alzheimers and in postmortem tissues of people with the disease. The epigenetic mechanism downregulates the gene and reduces the production of glutamate receptors. This leads to loss of synaptic function and memory deficits, says Yan.
New research finds that oolong tea can damage breast cancer cells and that people who consume large amounts of this tea have a lower risk of developing breast cancer.

Share on Pinterest Oolong tea may have secret cancer-fighting properties, a new study suggests.

Despite recent advances in screening procedures and treatment, breast cancer remains both the most common form of this disease and the second leading cause of cancer death among women.

According to estimates by the American Cancer Society, more than 250,000 women in the United States developed breast cancer in 2017, and more than 40,000 died as a result.

In this context, researchers are still in need of more effective prevention and treatment strategies. Moreover, given the side effects of chemotherapy, the need for nontoxic alternatives is also dire.

With these aims in mind, scientists have investigated the potential benefits of green tea for breast cancer and found that certain compounds have anti-cancer effects. However, few studies have examined other types of tea and their role in breast cancer prevention.

Now, a study looks at the potential benefits of oolong tea. Chunfa Huang, Ph.D., who is an associate research professor in the department of internal medicine at Saint Louis University in Missouri, led the new research.

Huang and colleagues published their findings in the journal Anticancer Research.
In this article, we discuss some common causes of front shoulder pain and explain how doctors diagnose and treat them.

These bones interact at four joints. A joint called the glenohumeral or shoulder joint connects the upper arm bone and shoulder blade. Although surrounding structures provide support, this joint is susceptible to injury.

The shoulder is a mobile structure that allows the arm to move freely in all directions. Shoulder problems may limit arm movement, causing pain or discomfort.

Damage to the shoulder may result from repetitive movements, manual labor, sports, or aging. A person may also injure this part of the body due to a bad fall or accident. Many people visit the doctor with front, or anterior, shoulder pain.

Share on Pinterest Causes of front shoulder pain include rotator cuff injury and osteoarthritis.

Shoulder pain can develop from problems in any part of the shoulder.

Damage to the joint may result from repetitive movements, manual labor, sports, or aging.

It may also occur when a person has a bad fall or accident.

Some injuries may cause a sudden onset of shoulder pain. Examples include dislocations, separations, and fractures.

Common causes of chronic front shoulder pain include the following:

Rotator cuff injury

The rotator cuff comprises muscles and tendons that act to stabilize the shoulder.

Bursae, which are fluid-filled sacs, reduce friction between the shoulder structures. The rotator cuff tendons, which connect the muscles to the bone, are vulnerable to compression from surrounding bony structures.

Rotator cuff tendinopathy, or injury to the rotator cuff tendons, may develop from repetitive activity, generally at or above shoulder height. People with rotator cuff tendinopathy may have pain around their shoulder, particularly when reaching overhead.

Impingement occurs when the acromion, a part of the shoulder blade, puts pressure on the rotator cuff tendons and bursae. It presents in an almost identical way to rotator cuff tendinopathy.

Rotator cuff tendon tears may result from sudden injury or slow, degenerative change. Symptoms include shoulder weakness and pain, as well as popping sensations during arm movement. Severe tears may impair the use of the shoulder, limiting day-to-day activities.

Biceps tendinopathy

Biceps tendinopathy is an injury to the tendon of the biceps muscle, which may result from repetitive lifting and reaching overhead. Symptoms include pain in the front of the shoulder that becomes worse when lifting, reaching overhead, and carrying objects. Continued performance of these activities may result in the sudden rupture of the tendon.

Adhesive capsulitis

Adhesive capsulitis, which people sometimes refer to as frozen shoulder, may develop from not using the shoulder. People with this condition may experience pain, a decrease in their range of motion, and stiff joints. Common causes of shoulder disuse include rotator cuff tendinopathy, diabetes mellitus, biceps tendinopathy, and trauma to the shoulder.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis, also known as wear and tear arthritis, commonly occurs in either the glenohumeral joint or the acromioclavicular joint. In this form of arthritis, the bones rub together as the cartilage between them wears away. Symptoms include pain, swelling, and stiffness in the shoulder joint.

Osteoarthritis generally worsens over time.

Fracture

Fractures, or breaks, occur most often in the collarbone or upper arm bone. Both types of fracture may result from a fall onto an outstretched hand or a blow to the shoulder. In most cases, they will cause severe pain, swelling, and bruising. The shoulder will be tender to touch around the injury, and the bones may appear out of position.

Dislocation

Shoulder dislocations occur when the ball of the upper arm bone pops out of its socket. The arm bone may dislocate forward, backward, or downward, either partially or completely.

Dislocations may recur if the surrounding structures of the shoulder become worn down. Symptoms include pain, swelling, numbness, and weakness. The arm may look out of place.

Separation

A shoulder separation occurs when the ligaments tear. The ligaments are tissues connecting the bones and cartilage. Separations in the acromioclavicular region between the collarbone and shoulder blade may occur from falls or direct blows. Symptoms include pain, swelling, and tenderness in the front shoulder, as well as a bump at the point of separation.
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Papular eczema is a skin condition that causes a rash of small, itchy bumps to develop on the skin. These bumps are called papules. Eczema refers to a range of related skin conditions. When eczema looks like small lumps rather than a rash, doctors may refer to the condition as papular eczema. This article will explain what papular eczema is, who is most likely to experience it, and how people can treat it.

What is papular eczema? Share on Pinterest Papular eczema causes small, itchy bumps on the skin.

Image credit: Tvbanfield, 2009 Eczema is a group of skin conditions that affect more than 30 million people in the United States. The most common type of eczema is atopic dermatitis. Some people may have both atopic dermatitis and papular eczema. Like other types of eczema, its symptoms are linked to inflammation and faulty immune system responses. There is currently no cure for papular eczema, but people can use treatments and home remedies to manage their symptoms and reduce flares. In some cases, a doctor may recommend systemic, or body-wide, treatments such as tablets. However, papular eczema may not respond to treatments as well as other forms of the condition.

Symptoms The symptom that makes papular eczema different is the way the eczema rash looks. Rather than appearing red and flaky, the rash comprises small lumps. Papules can look similar to pimples but without the pus. They may appear on the torso, arms, or legs. Papular eczema can be very itchy. Other symptoms are the same as other forms of eczema and may include: a scaly rash

dry, cracked skin

skin infections

Causes and risk factors Eczema affects everyone differently. Papular eczema is more likely to affect African-American people or people with darker skin. Scientists do not yet know what causes eczema, but they believe that a persons genes play a role. If someone has eczema, asthma, or hay fever in their family, they are more likely to develop eczema. People with eczema may have a problem with a gene that creates a protein called filaggrin. This plays a role in building a protective barrier on top of the skin. A weakened barrier means that moisture can get out and bacteria, viruses, and other irritants can get in. This is why people with eczema tend to have dry skin that is prone to infections. Eczema is an autoimmune condition. This means that it is a result of the immune system working too hard. Irritants can trigger the immune system and cause eczema outbreaks. Some triggers that cause the immune system to overreact include pollution, laundry detergent, and pollen. The triggers, however, are different for different people.

Treatment Share on Pinterest Lotions and oils can help moisturize skin prone to papular eczema. While there is no cure for eczema, people can use a range of treatments and remedies to ease their symptoms, depending on the type and severity of the condition. Over-the-counter treatments . These include creams that can ease itching and prevent infection. They are available without a prescription.

. These include creams that can ease itching and prevent infection. They are available without a prescription. Prescription products . A doctor may recommend a prescription cream or ointment, such as steroids, PDE4 inhibitors, topical calcineurin inhibitors, and skin barrier creams.

. A doctor may recommend a prescription cream or ointment, such as steroids, PDE4 inhibitors, topical calcineurin inhibitors, and skin barrier creams. Phototherapy . Doctors may recommend phototherapy if a person has more severe eczema. They use a machine to emit ultraviolet B light onto the skin. This helps reduce itching and inflammation, increases vitamin D production, and helps the skin fight bacteria.

. Doctors may recommend phototherapy if a person has more severe eczema. They use a machine to emit ultraviolet B light onto the skin. This helps reduce itching and inflammation, increases vitamin D production, and helps the skin fight bacteria. Biological medications. Often called biologics, a doctor will give these medicines as an infusion. They work by targeting parts of the immune system that cause inflammation. Home remedies Many people with eczema have dry skin, which can lead to eczema flare-ups. Use a moisturizer after every bath or shower to prevent dry skin and flare-ups. Try applying a generous layer of fragrance-free product over the skin within 3 minutes of bathing or showering. Apply creams using downward strokes of the palms of the hands. Some people find that using complementary or natural remedies can help them manage flare-ups. These remedies include: Coconut oil Many people use coconut oil for eczema. Coconut oil can moisturize the skin and reduce the symptoms of dry skin conditions. Applying virgin or cold-pressed coconut oil to damp skin may also reduce the amount of Staphylococcus bacteria on the skin. This can reduce the chances of developing an infection. Aloe vera gel People can also try aloe vera gel for eczema. Its antibacterial properties may help reduce skin infections. Apple cider vinegar Diluted apple cider vinegar could also help with eczema by balancing the skins acidity levels and killing bacteria. Sunflower oil In adults, applying sunflower oil to the skin can help the skins barrier retain moisture. People can use it twice per day on damp skin. People who are allergic to sunflower seeds should avoid this remedy. Cardiospermum Using ointments containing extracts of the tropical cardiospermum vine may reduce inflammation and itching and kill bacteria on the skin.
Substance Abuse Treatment Market  Insights

Global Substance Abuse Treatment Market is expected to grow at an approximate CAGR of 11.6% during forecast period, 20182023.

Increasing cases of tobacco smoking is one of the prominent factors driving the substance abuse treatment market. According to the information published in the Frontiers in Psychiatry journal, China is facing an immense public health challenge from tobacco smoking. It is estimated that number of deaths, due to cigarette smoking, will reach 2 million by 2030 and 3 million by 2050.

Various other factors such as increasing incidence of drug addiction, technological advancement in the diagnostics industry, rising patient awareness about substance abuse treatment and improvement in treatment rates and healthcare infrastructure are also expected to propel the growth of the market.

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However, poor treatment compliance in some countries and reluctance of individuals for accessing treatment can hamper the market growth over the forecast period.

Key Players

Some of the key players in the global substance abuse treatment market are Pfizer Inc., Alkermes Plc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc., Purdue Pharma LP, Allergan, Mylan Laboratories, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Inc., Accord Healthcare, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Apotex, BioCorRx, Cipla, Glenmark, INSYS Therapeutics, LFB Group, Lupin, Opiant Technologies, Sanofi Aventis, Sanquin, Sterinova, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and others.

Segmentation:

The Global substance abuse treatment market is segmented based on abuse type, treatment type, end user, and region.

The Global market for substance abuse treatment, by abuse type is segmented into alcohol dependence, tobacco/nicotine addiction, and drug abuse. The drug abuse segment is anticipated to hold the largest market share owing to the increasing addiction of opioid.

The market, by treatment type, is segmented into alcohol addiction treatment, tobacco/nicotine addiction treatment, and drug abuse treatment. The alcohol addiction treatment segment is further classified as disulfiram, acamprosate, and naltrexone. The tobacco/nicotine addiction treatment segment is further classified as nicotine replacement treatment, and non-nicotine medication. The nicotine replacement treatment segment includes nicotine patch, nicotine gum, nicotine lozenge, nicotine spray, and nicotine inhaler. The non-nicotine medication segment includes bupropion, and varenicline. The drug abuse treatment segment is further classified as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone.

Based on end user, the market is segmented into outpatient treatment centres, residential treatment centres, and inpatient treatment centres.

Regional Overview:

The Americas dominated the global market for substance abuse treatment owing to presence of major market players and rising awareness about substance abuse treatment within the region. In recent years, various private and government organizations have launched campaigns and seminar to spread awareness about substance abuse. For instance, in February 2017, the Ad Council and Viacom have launched the LISTEN campaign and a new PSA to address Americas substance abuse crisis.

In 2017, it was estimated that Europe stood second in the global substance abuse treatment market. This can be attributed to the rising research and development investments.

Asia Pacific was projected to be the fastest growing region in 2017. Factors such as increasing incidences of tobacco addiction and increasing technological advancements within the region are boosting the regional markets of the Asia Pacific region.

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Pericaditis Market  Overview:

Global Pericarditis Market is expected to touch a valuation of USD 2,741.39 Mn by the end of 2023 up from USD 1,750.38 Mn in 2017. The report also reveals that the market is predicted to thrive at a CAGR of 7.96% during the forecast period 2018 to 2023. Cardiovascular diseases are widely prevalent across the world, and the patient population is presumed to increase further over the next couple of years. A major proportion of these patients are likely to develop symptoms of pericarditis. It has been projected that the pericarditis market will witness an influx of patient population, thus, generating demand for advanced drugs and treatments.

The advent of advanced minimally invasive surgeries has revolutionized the pericarditis market. It has encouraged patients for early diagnosis and treatment. Also, the introduction of robot-assisted cardiac surgeries has gained considerable popularity among the patients due to its assurance of precision. This, in turn, is likely to have a positive influence on the proliferation of the pericarditis market.

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The trouble-free settlement of reimbursements is anticipated to favor the growth of the market through the assessment period. On the flip side, the risk of infections owing to the insertion of catheters in the body remains an impediment to the market growth. Furthermore, the continuous dosages of anti-inflammatory drugs used for the treatment of pericarditis can lead to side-effects. It is predicted to hinder the expansion of the pericarditis market in the foreseeable future.

Key Players

Some of the prominent players operating in the global pericarditis market are Pfizer Inc., Bayer AG, AstraZeneca Plc., Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, Novartis International AG, PerkinElmer, Inc., FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc., Sanofi, Allergan plc., and Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.

Segmentation:

This MRFR report offers a comprehensive segmental assessment of the global pericarditis market based on type, diagnosis & treatment, and end-user. By type, the market is segmented into acute pericarditis, chronic pericarditis, and recurrent pericarditis. Among these, the acute pericarditis market is presumed to account for a major share of the market in the upcoming years. The valuation of the segment is forecasted to grow from USD 888.91 Mn in 2017 to USD 1,365.94 Mn in 2023. Meanwhile, the recurrent pericarditis segment is expected to expand at a comparatively higher CAGR during the projection period.

By diagnosis & treatment, the pericarditis market has been segmented into diagnosis and treatment. The diagnosis segment has been further sub-segmented into electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, CT, X-ray, and others. The treatment segment is sub-segmented into medication, surgical treatment, and others. Among these, the treatment segment is projected to attract a larger customer base across the review period. However, the diagnosis segment is anticipated to strike a relatively higher CAGR of 8.32% over 2023.

By end-user, the global pericarditis market has been segmented into hospitals and clinics, medical institutes & research organizations, and others. Among these, the hospitals and clinics segment has been estimated to expand at a CAGR of 8.05% over the assessment period. Its valuation is expected to reach USD 1,323.16 Mn over 2023.

Regional Outlook:

The global pericarditis market, by region, has been segmented into Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. Americas is the largest regional market for pericarditis and is poised to touch a valuation of USD 1,122.46 Mn towards the end of 2023. The drastic increase in the healthcare expenditure of the U.S. and Canada is contributing significantly towards the development of the pericarditis market in the region.

Europe, on the second spot, has been expected to strike a relatively higher CAGR of 9.14% during the forecast period. The access to affordable and standard medical facilities in the region is poised to boost the future trajectory of the pericarditis market. In addition, the efforts directed towards the development of the health systems in the region is further anticipated to propel the expansion of the market.

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Doctors are a busy bunch! From an endless stream of patients to frequent team meetings, from piles of paperwork to hours in the operating or emergency room  the list goes on. In a drastically slow and often back-logged healthcare system, physicians often feel the need and responsibility to get through as many patients as possible in a given day. With the arrival of the Affordable Care Act, many insurance companies were beginning to feel a financial pressure that could only be alleviated if healthcare providers started to change the way they deliver their service. Stellar Health is a new startup working to bridge the incentive gap between insurers and providers using a unique technology platform. We had a chance to chat with Stellar Healths CEO and co-founder, Ben Kraus, about some of the challenges the industry faces and how Stellar aims to solve them.

Mohammad Saleh, Medgadget: Can you tell us about your background and how you came to be a part of Stellar Health?

Ben Kraus, Stellar Health: I began my career as an analyst at a hedge fund, where I covered the healthcare and technology sectors. I was exposed to early concerns around the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) and its mandate to shift healthcare from a volume to value-based service. In 2012, I earned an MBA from Wharton, and then spent several years at McKinsey & Company focused solely on helping healthcare delivery systems manage their evolution to value-based care models. By 2014, four years into a post-ACA world, the challenges were the same, but the urgency had increased. Payors and providers were starting to feel the pain where it hurts most  their wallet. Payors like Aetna and United Healthcare were spending massive amounts of money to answer the question: How does one motivate a physician to transform her way of thinking, when she is not your employee and has her own things to worry about?

To be honest, there werent a lot of great answers in the market, so I started seeking out innovators that were focused on this challenge. I joined a very homegrown company that was founded by twelve physicians in 2010 when they hired an engineering team to build software to support their own practices evolution to value-based care. They created a technology platform that allowed physicians to manage their patients more efficiently and in accordance with the new rules of the post-ACA world. I spent three years helping to grow the business, all the while learning the ins and outs of practice management, managed care delivery and technologys role in it all.

In 2018, building on this positive momentum, I founded Stellar Health with three former-colleagues. Mike Meng was a principal at Apax Partners, investing $3b out of their healthcare group since 2008. Ari Brenner, a former McKinsey healthcare expert and close friend, and Octavian Costache, an ex-Google engineer that helped build the original Google Finance platform back in 2006. The four of us teamed-up to attack the problem on a larger scale. My previous company had built a solution to address ten thousand patients. We were asking ourselves: How do build something to address ten million patients?

Our mission was to build a scalable technology platform that facilitates dynamic information-sharing and incentives to bring payors and providers onto the same team, rather than opposite sides of the pitch. We realized that solving the behavioral economic roadblock was the answer to the same $4 trillion question mentioned earlier: How does one motivate a physician to transform her thinking and behavior?

Medgadget: For our readers who are not familiar with the term, could you clarify what value-based care is?

Kraus: Before the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare was passed in 2010, our healthcare system was based on a fee-for-service payment model. This meant each individual physician provides a service, like a mammogram or an x-ray, and is paid a set fee for that specific service, regardless of whether that service was necessary or helpful for that patients overall health. Unfortunately, no one was accountable for thinking about how these discreet services added up to a healthy patient at the end of the day.

The problem with a pure fee-for-service model is that it does not inherently incentivize healthcare service providers to keep people as healthy as possible. Instead, it incentivizes more services. And more services we have gotten. We will reach $4 trillion in annual healthcare spend in the U.S. in 2019, which is 20% of our GDP. The system was not designed to force healthcare delivery systems to think about efficient ways to keep patients healthy over long periods of time. In 2010, our government, the largest single payor of healthcare services, decided to make a change.

The ACA created what is now more commonly known as a value-based reimbursement model. Post-ACA, the government began paying for health outcomes, rather than healthcare services. A practical example is rather than a group of providers receiving payment for each of their individual services, now they are graded as a unit on how well they manage the health of a group of patients. Compensation is now directly tied to the health outcomes of a population  in other words, the value created by those health services.

That was a huge transformation in the industry. It was an overnight change that created a massive knee-jerk reaction to figure out how to make it work. Its a really a hard task to transform from a world where you do a service, get paid and call it a day, to having to organize among a variety of service providers to achieve a coordinated positive outcome.

Medgadget: How does Stellar Healths mission factor into this and how you are working to achieve it?

Kraus: Our mission is singular: help providers keep their patients healthy in an efficient manner. We accomplish this by influencing the way primary care physicians engage with their patients on a daily-basis. We provide them with the information and incentives needed to inspire a wholesale change in the way they operate their business.

The ACA re-wrote the rules and created incentives for those who could deliver care efficiently. Our government laid it out plainly: Keep people healthy, do it efficiently, and you will do very well financially. Unfortunately, its already 2019 and those incentives have not fully trickled down to the frontlines, where the real difference can be made. There are two major gaps that persist today: (1) data-sharing to give providers the right information at the right time, and (2) fully aligned incentives among payors, providers and patients.

Stellar Health bridges the information and incentive gap between the insurance company and the provider. The insurance company has a lot of data that is helpful, in terms of managing populations, but not very accessible to frontline providers. A lot of providers today are relying on the electronic health records (EHRs) and maybe collecting some of their own actionable information on each patient, but that EHR is missing most of what the provider actually needs to delivery care efficiently.

We have a technology platform that brings together data from not just one, but many sources, including EHRs, billing and claims data, reimbursement schedules, and real-time alerts from hospitals. We present simple reminders to the provider at the point-of-care. For example: There are two things that you really need to do for this patient today, based on their history. It simplifies everything and prioritizes the actions that contribute to a healthier patient in the long-run. Trying to use an EHR to do this doesnt work because EHRs were designed to serve as a complete clinical record of a patient, which is cavernous and lacks actionability. EHRs were not designed to align payor and providers incentives and create a prioritization framework to maximize health outcomes.

There are innovative companies out there today that have done much of what we do. Our little bit of differentiation centers around working with payors to allocate an additional budget to sweeten the pot for providers to act on our platforms recommendations. Today, most providers bear all of the financial risk for spending more time to do whats right for their patients. Thats because many high-value actions are not compensated. Stellar Health helps payors and providers fill in those incentive gaps.

What has been observed in this industry, is if you just present the information of You can do these extra things for better outcomes, more often than not, nothing happens because providers are already busy and running full speed to make ends meet. Theres a lot of white noise and every provider weve talked to is feeling a financial burden because of this massive transition. You really need to pair the information with an immediate and incremental incentive.

Medgadget: What would a Stellar Health client hospital look like compared to the status quo, both from a patient experience and a provider perspective?

Kraus: Imagine you are a primary care physician who is responsible for 2,000 patients  they are attributed to you. You are busy. With the influx of red tape and paperwork, you are busy all of the time. If one of those patients comes in needing a prescription for hayfever, youre going to get him in and out as quickly as possible because you have 30 patients to see today, you have 3-hours of paperwork after the doors close and you are already behind schedule. The problem is this patient that just walked out of your exam room with a prescription for an antihistamine, was also a 68-year old diabetic that stopped taking his medicine 6 months ago and is about to go down a bad path. But in most situations today, there is no way for you to have known that.

Now imagine youre a Stellar client. You walk into your room and immediately see a prompt: Dr. Saleh, this patient is noncompliant with his diabetes medication. If you spend 5 minutes to get him back on his medicine, you will be reimbursed an extra $100 for your efforts. Now its meaningful. You understand the clinical importance, but you also have extra funding so you can afford to spend the extra time with that patient to address the bigger issue.

Medgadget: How does your system pick up that the patient is noncompliant?

Kraus: In addition to our data connections to insurance claims, which provide a broad medical history, we ingest pharmacy and lab data. For all Stellar patients, we have a clear picture of their chronic and acute conditions. Our system can see when a prescription is missed and alert the appropriate provider to intervene. But our system isnt just monitoring your 2,000 patients. Were monitoring 100,000 patients and hope to someday be responsible for 10 million patients. Allowing providers to return to the aspects of being a doctor that they enjoy, like spending time talking to, understanding, and motivating their patients.

Medgadget: Are these prompts just for doctors or do you also provide a platform for nurses and other care providers?

Kraus: On the average care team, the physician is actually spending the least amount of time in our application. A lot of interaction with our system is by nurses, medical assistants, and front office staff. Most office staff huddle in the morning to go over the logistics of patients that are coming in. They look up insurance coverage, skim through past clinical notes and write sticky-note reminders on the patient chart. As a part of that workflow, Stellar office staff print out a one-page summary for each Stellar patient. In less than a second, the Stellar app scanned millions of lines of data, to reveal the three most important action items for that patient today. The physician simply glances over that one-pager when she walks into the exam room, and now is informed on a couple actions she should think about taking for this patient.

A good example of when office staff can use the app without having a physician involved at all, is for referral management. A big problem today is that many simple services are being done at very expensive facilities. A primary care office might be referring all their x-rays to the nearby Yale Medical Center, a great institution for complex neurosurgery, but not necessary for a simple x-ray scan. These expensive facilities might charge $2,000 for an x-ray that costs $300 at a free-standing office down the street. Heres the kicker: its the same doctor looking at the images at the end of the day. In this example, our app prompts office staff to make a high-value referral before the patient walks out of the office. We have seen many of our clients advance from 20% high-value referrals, to 80% in a single year. Its a huge efficiency benefit for the whole system.

Medgadget: Medicine is a very complex field. How are you able to include every single scenario and account for it in your algorithms recommendations?

Kraus: The short answer is we dont. We seek out the most impactful actions to take at a given moment. We help prioritize and remind providers at critical moments. We do not try to tell a doctor how to practice medicine. Which simplifies things immensely. There are plenty of research institutions and biotech companies trying to figure out new cutting-edge techniques to practice medicine. Were doing something much less glamourous  we remind providers to keep up with existing standards in an increasingly complex environment.

Medgadget: Stellar Health is a pretty young company. Where have you rolled your system out so far?

Kraus: Today we serve medical groups in Florida and New Jersey. By the June 2019, we will also be in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois.

Medgadget: What are some next targets you want to achieve for Stellar Health?

Kraus: We currently manage 10,000 patients, and we are going to improve the care for these individuals. Our ultimate goal is to manage 10 million patients. We want to get to 1 million patients by 2022. At the end of the day, were only valuable to our clients if we execute consistently and continue to make their lives easier as they fight on the frontlines to deliver high quality care. It wont be easy, but I believe we are up to the task.

For more information, check out the Stellar Health website!
Adroit Market Research launched a study titled, Global Dermatology Devices Market Size by Type (Diagnostic Devices  Dermatoscope, Microscope and Imaging Devices; Treatment Devices  Electrosurgery Equipment, Cryotherapy Devices, Microdermabrasion, LED Light Therapy Devices, Liposuction Devices and Lasers); by Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle-East & Africa and Forecast 2018 to 2025.

The global dermatology devices market analysis consists of value for a period ranging between 2015 to 2025, where 2015 to 2017 imply the actual annual revenue with forecast between 2018 and 2025. The global dermatology devices report also includes qualitative insights of the market such as drivers, restraints, value chain, regulatory framework and trade statistics. The value chain has been analyzed in detail covering key stages in the supply chain where significant value is added.

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The global dermatology devices market size is estimated to be over USD 20.1 billion by 2025. Incidence of various skin disorders such as psoriasis, acne, melanoma and vascular lesions is rising due to pollution across the world. In addition, increasing application areas for dermatology devices and increased awareness of such disorders are some of the prime factors supporting the growth of the global dermatology devices market. Driven by the factors mentioned above, the global dermatology devices market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% between 2018 and 2025.

With increasing number of people diagnosed with skin disorders and more number of people preferring minimally invasive cosmetic surgeries, the demand for dermatology treatment and diagnostic devices is increasing. LED light therapy devices market accounted for the largest share of the dermatology treatment devices. The dominance of this market segment was due to increasing incidences of skin disorders such as pigment lesion, skin cancer and vascular lesion. With the increasing number of aesthetic procedures and demand for less invasive surgeries, the market for treatment devices is increasing. Melanoma is the leading type of skin cancer and one of the main causes of death due to skin diseases. The incidence of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer is grouped by race and climate and is the highest amongst the fair skinned races. The risk of melanoma increases with the white skinned people and their proximity to the equator.

Geographically, in 2017 North America dominated the global dermatology devices market majorly due to increasing number of people diagnosed with skin diseases, increasing incidence of skin disorders and growing awareness for skin diseases and rising preference for minimally invasive surgeries. In addition, technological advancements in the field of deramtology devices such as portability, minimal incision and precision also support the growth of the North America dermatology devices market. The Asia-Pacific and South America, Middle-East and Africa dermatology devices market are identified as a lucrative market owing to factors such as growing demand for low cost devices and key players establishing their presence in these markets lured by rising number of people suffering from skin disorders.

Some of the key players opearting in the global dermatology devices market are Heine, 3Gen LLC, Welch Allyn, Carl Zeiss, Hitachi, Leica Microsystems, Olympus, Michelson Diagnostics, GE Healthcare, Phillips Healthcare, Toshiba Medical Systems, Palomar Medical technologies, Ellipse A/S, Heine, Genesis Biosystems, Syneron Medical, Alma Lasers Ltd., and Siemens Medical Systems. These market players are adopting various growth strategies such as new product development through technological advancements to enhance and expand their market share in the global dermatology devices market.

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Key segments of the global dermatology devices market

Device Type Overview, 2015-2025 (USD Million)

Diagnostic Devices Dermatoscope Microscope Imaging Devices

Treatment Devices Electrosurgery Equipment Cryotherapy Devices Microdermabrasion LED Light Therapy Devices Liposuction Devices Lasers



Regional Overview, 2015-2025 (USD Million)

North America U.S. Canada Mexico

Europe Germany U.K. France Russia Italy Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific China Japan Korea India Southeast Asia Rest of Asia Pacific

South America, Middle-East & Africa Brazil Egypt Saudi Arabia South Africa Nigeria Rest of the World



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MRFR is Leading Research Firm who recently published Capsule Endoscopy Market Research Report 2019 which includes Growth Study, Regional Analysis, Top Industry Players Formation, Major Drivers, Upcoming Trends and Forecast to 2023.

Global Capsule Endoscopy Market  Overview

The capsule endoscopy procedure is used where the traditional endoscopy is ineffective. Capsule endoscopy helps to capture internal images of the digestive tract using a small camera, transmitter, battery, and light sources. Capsule endoscopy is majorly performed in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal complications such as small intestinal bleeding, chronic pain, ulcer, and abnormal tissue growth.

The real-time data provided by the capsule help expediting diagnosis of gastrointestinal complications and hence, the faster treatment and recovery. As a result, the uptake of capsule endoscopy is widening rapidly. This, in turn, is allowing the capsule endoscopy to evolve further, escalating its market on the global platform.

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Acknowledging the traction, this market is witnessing currently; Market Research Future (MRFR) in its recently published study report asserts that the global capsule endoscopy market will garner exponential accruals registering approximately 8.7% CAGR throughout the forecast period (2018-2023).

Leading Industry Key Players

IntroMedic Co., Ltd.

Given Imaging (Israel)

Olympus Corporation

CapsoVision Inc.,

Fujifilm Holding Corporation

Chongqing Jinshan Science & Technology (Group) Co., Ltd

Check-Cap Ltd.

RF System lab

And More

Global Capsule Endoscopy Market  Growth and Analysis

Additional factors substantiating market growth include the growing prevalence of intestinal diseases and cancerous tumors and diseases. Factors such as the changing lifestyle and the inclination towards the sedentary lifestyle among people are fostering the market growth, leading to the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases and stomach cancer.

Undoubtedly, technological advancements transpired into the field of medical science qualifies as a predominant factor propelling the market growth. Seminal efforts & investments put into the R&D activities to bring the betterments in the endoscopy are driving the market growth. Favorable reimbursement policies are playing a significant role, propelling the market growth to an extent.

On the other hand, factors such as the high cost of capsule endoscopy, limited reimbursement, and the risk of capsule retention are obstructing the market growth. Also, the low awareness among physicians about the benefits of capsule endoscopy acts as a headwind that hampers the growth of the capsule endoscopy market.

Detailed Market Segments Analysis

MRFR has segmented the analysis into five key dynamics; for better understanding: 

By Type : Wireless Capsule Endoscopy, Workstation, and Receiver Capsule Endoscopy among others.

By Purpose : Investigation, Treatment, and Diagnostics among others.

By Application : Crohns Disease, Intestine Disease, and GIT Bleeding among others.

By End-user : Clinics & Hospitals, Diagnostic Centers, and Medical Research Institutes among others.

By Regions : Europe, North America, APAC and the Rest-of-the-World.

Global Capsule Endoscopy Market  Regional Analysis

North America accounts for the dominating market in the global capsule endoscopy market, holding the largest market share. Factors influencing the market growth include the increasing number of gastrointestinal cases, increase in inflammatory bowel diseases, and the increase in the number of colon cancer patients, government initiatives, and technological advancements in the region.

Moreover, factors such as the presence of a well-proliferated healthcare sector and the leading market players alongside the availability of skilled healthcare professional fuel the growth of the market. Continuing with the same growth trends, the capsule endoscopy market in the region will retain its dominance throughout the assessment period.

The European region holds the position of the worlds second-largest market for capsule endoscopy following the North American market closely. This market is fostered by the resurging economic conditions that are increasing the per capita healthcare expenses and penetration of healthcare in the region.

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Additionally, huge market growth in countries like the UK, Germany & France drives the growth of the regional market on a large scale.

Furthermore, the increasing demand for advanced diagnostic and treatment methods, the research and development expenditure provided by the public and private associations, increasing competition among key players, increasing patient population, and amendments in reimbursement of healthcare policies are expected to foster the market growth in the European region.

The Asia Pacific market for the capsule endoscopy perceives an exponential growth, emerging as one of the promising markets.

Attributing to the factors such as the huge patient population and the availability of low-cost procedures & drugs to treat the diseases, growing markets in Indian and China will lead the market growth. Additional factors that would support the market growth in the region include favorable government policies and others.

Industry/Innovations/Related News

December 13, 2018  Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published their study of an ingestible capsule that can be monitored outside the body for health data, using Bluetooth wireless technology that they have developed.

The capsule could deliver drugs as well as sense the condition of its surroundings in the gut, including gastrointestinal diseases, infections or allergic reactions, the researchers explained.

Once these health conditions were spotted, one of the gastric devices could release the proper medicine in response. The 3D-printed capsule could someday become a personalized diagnostic and treatment that is widely accessible.

December 13, 2018  University partners in the UK, Glasgow, Dundee, Heriot-Watt and Leeds, and features a multidisciplinary team of researchers ranging from electrical and mechanical engineers to life scientists and clinical fellows who are working together under a 5-year, USD 10MN programme  Sonopill acknowledged efforts from the National Instruments and combined LabVIEW software in accelerating the design and test of Sonopill.

The team Sonopill required a single, unified instrumentation platform to take it from component and system integration testing, to lab-based in vitro testing, to in vivo pre-clinical trials.

The solution came from National Instruments and combined LabVIEW software with a broad range of NI Hardware, including PXIe, CompactRIO, myRIO, and Diagnostic Sonars FlexRIO-based FIToolbox, to implement a full-featured system taking the Sonopill prototypes from initial characterization through encapsulation to final deployment for pre-clinical validation.

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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.

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An outgoing county commissioner says he is concerned about budget changes in the county jail project that could lead to leaving out something 
Hiram, GA (30141)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
After two years of talks with the community, architects, students, staff, teachers and officials, construction is set to begin at Old Fort Elementary.

Members of the McDowell County Board of Education, McDowell County government, Town of Old Fort, BEAM construction and Holland & Hamrick gathered in front of Old Fort Elementary on Friday, Jan. 18 to hold an official groundbreaking ceremony. Old Forts fifth-grade ambassadors were also present to dig a chunk out of the ground to kick off construction.

We have a great school board, and this is going to be a highlight for this community, said County Commissioner David Walker.

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After the ceremony, officials were allowed to tour the areas set to be demolished firstthe Family Resource Center, the old rock gymnasium and the 1936 auditorium. They are set to be demolished in that order starting this week.

The entire school held their own groundbreaking ceremony involving the teacher who had worked there the longestMonica Elliott with 29 yearsand the teacher who had been there the least amount of timeArvis Boughmanwho started in August. They were joined by the fifth-grade ambassadors, plus kindergarten leaders Jaxon Shomaker, Bailey Honeycutt and Jeffrey Thompson.
KEVIN HARVISON | Staff photo

Michael Hull, left, and Robin Woodely are shown as they wait for enough members to constitute a quorum to show up at a meeting of the Downtown McAlester Tax Increment Financing Review Committee that was set for noon Tuesday at City Hall. Chairman Zach Prichard and Pittsburg County Assessor Michelle Fields were also present for the meeting  which had to be cancelled when no other members of the 10-member board attended.
When Jonathan Hart was captured by police days after the killing of his great uncle Joseph Cernauskas in 2011, he told investigators he wanted to hurt Cernauskas.

Hart claimed Cernauskas, a former selectman in Hardwick, molested him for years beginning when Hart was around 6 years old.

The motive behind the 2011 killing inside Cernauskas Maple Street home in Hardwick was revealed Wednesday as Hart pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

In the days after the killing, Hart was caught in Florida with his friend, Jason Lopez, who still has pending charges against him in the killing.

Troopers interviewed Hart on Sept. 17, 2011, two day after he was found in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Its over. We know what happened, Trooper Jeff Perry told Hart.

Hart then revealed that the victim had molested him since he was 6 or 7 years old until he was 12 or 13, prosecutor Christopher Hodgens said as Hart pleaded guilty in Worcester Superior Court. Hart said that for a few years he had harbored the desire to hurt the victim and told several people of this desire.

Hart faced a murder charge in the case, but the charge was lessened to voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal. He will be sentenced to 19 to 20 years on the manslaughter charge and another 6 to 10 years for arson of a dwelling, according to the plea deal. He will serve the sentences consecutively.

Hart will be on probation for 10 years after he is released from prison. The probation sentence was for burglary and larceny charges.

Sentencing in the case was scheduled for Friday.

I just want to thank you, your honor, Hart said as he was led out of the courtroom. Hart asked his sentencing to be delayed so he could see his grandmother.

Hodgens said Hart and Lopez waited outside Cernauskas home in the Wheelwright section of Hardwick just before midnight on Sept. 5, 2011.

The two men waited in the darkness outside and watched for the lights to go out. Hart, armed with a knife, went inside the home with Lopez once they thought Cernauskas fell asleep.

They found Mr. Cernauskas asleep in his bed, stabbed him, and killed him, the prosecutor said. They dragged the body to the victims minivan, drove to a remote field, and dumped the body.

The two men returned to the home, stole some items and set the house on fire. They then took the minivan and left. They planned to burn the minivan in an attempt to destroy evidence, but Hodgens said Lopez was too preoccupied with getting high on marijuana instead.

Hardwick police and firefighters responded to the Maple Street home around 7:45 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2011 for the fire.

Cernauskas, who was just days short of his 85th birthday, was missing along with his minivan.

Emergency personnel found evidence of apparent violence, Hodgens said. They found blood-stained bedding items in an outhouse, a puddle of blood on the outhouse floor, drag marks on the ground, and a blood-stained car seat from the minivan.

The minivan was found three days later at an apartment complex in Ware. Bloodstains and a plastic tarp were found in the minivan.

The two men drove another car to Florida. Lopez tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of a moving car there on Sept. 14, 2011, authorities said. He was then arrested, at first, on a stolen motor vehicle charge.

The following day, Hart was arrested in Florida.

Hart first tried to tell troopers he was working at the time of the killing. He then admitted to attacking Cernauskas, removing his body and setting the home on fire.

Cernauskas body was found Sept. 20, 2011 off Blair Road in Barre. He died from sharp force injury of the neck and torso, reports show.
BOSTON  Opening statements were held Tuesday in U.S. District Court here in a lawsuit alleging police brutality filed against three Springfield police officers and the city of Springfield.

Lee Hutchins of Springfield sued officers Daniel J. McKay, Felix Romero and Thomas Hervieux, alleging the three used excessive force against him on Jan. 20, 2013.

Hutchins claimed police pepper-sprayed his eyes and beat him with batons while he was trying to defuse a domestic melee.

The disturbance involved Hutchins' two adult sons, Lee Jr. and Keith Hutchins, who were living at his home, according to the complaint. Just after midnight, the mother of Lee Hutchins Jr.'s 2-year-old arrived at the house, demanding to take the child back, the court record states.

During the ensuing altercation, Hutchins attempted to assist the police in taking his two sons in custody in the hopes this would de-escalate the situation," the complaint said.

McKay pepper-sprayed Hutchins in the face, according to the complaint. The use of pepper spray on Hutchins was unjustified and caused him pain and temporary blindness, said his lawyer, Luke Ryan.

The complaint added that Hervieux unnecessarily thumped Hutchins with a police baton.

"Despite the fact that plaintiff was suffering the effects of the pepper spray and posed no threat to any of the officers, defendant Hervieux struck plaintiff twice with his baton, knocking plaintiff to the ground," it states.

Hutchins alleges McKay drafted a police report which resulted in charges against him for disorderly conduct, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. The suit says McKay falsified the allegations.

According to the suit, Hutchins was acquitted of all charges after a Springfield District Court trial.

Other allegations in the suit are: unlawful entry, false arrest, failure to discipline and train officers, assault and battery (against McKay and Hervieux), false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process.

Hutchins is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest and costs of the suit, attorneys' fees and any other relief the court deems just and proper.

In an answer to the complaint filed in court records on behalf of the three officers, lawyer Kevin B. Coyle said the defendants denied the excessive force and other allegations. Coyle said the court lacks jurisdiction, the officers are entitled to immunity to the claims, and the complaint was filed late.
SPRINGFIELD  After three and one half days and the questioning of several hundred prospective jurors, 16 people have been selected to be on the jury for the murder trial of Michael Brawner.

Jury selection started Thursday and continued Friday and Tuesday before wrapping up at about 1 p.m. Wednesday in the trial before Hampden Superior Court Judge John S. Ferrara.

The jury was scheduled to be taken by bus on a view Wednesday afternoon to several places that will be talked about at trial, including the shooting scene.

The shooting, at around 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2017, happened after Brawner and his fiancee Sorheyddi Colondres went to get Colondres' 16-year-old daughter at the home of Kevin Blanton, the victim in the case. Blanton was the girls father.

Colondres, 35, was sentenced by Ferrara on Jan. 7 to five to seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to misleading police and attempting to cover up the shooting.

Alan J. Black represents Brawner and Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom is prosecuting the case.

Opening statements are scheduled for Thursday morning.
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trumps former lawyer, will no longer testify before a U.S. House Committee in early February, his attorney said Wednesday.

Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison last month after pleading guilty to lying to Congress, among other things, was scheduled to speak before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Feb. 7.

His lawyer, Lanny Davis, announced in a Wednesday statement that Cohen would indefinitely postpone his appearance before the panel due to ongoing threats, including President Donald Trumps verbal attacks on his former attorney and some of his relatives, the New York Times reported.

By advice of counsel, Mr. Cohens appearance will be postponed to a later date, Davis said in the statement to the newspaper. Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman (Elijah) Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time.

Davis further offered that this is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first, according to The Times.

Trump, however, told reporters that he believed Cohen was threatened by the truth.

Hes always been threatened by the truth and he doesnt want to do that probably for me or other of his clients. He has other clients also, I assume, and he doesnt want to tell the truth for me or other of his clients, the president said, according to White House pool reports.

I would say hes been threatened by the truth. Hes always been threatened by the truth and he doesnt want to do that probably for me or other of his clients. He has other clients also, I assume, and he doesnt want to tell the truth for me or other of his clients.

Cohen, who became a subject of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, pleaded guilty in August to federal charges involving his taxi businesses, bank fraud and campaign finance work.

In late-November, he pleaded guilty to making false statements in 2017 testimony before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III sentenced Cohen early December. He argued that the attorney deserved a tough punishment for his crimes.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren urged federal officials this week to clarify how the Trump administration has handled congressionally authorized funds for Puerto Ricos hurricane recovery efforts, following reports suggesting that the president had cut off such spending and is using the government shutdown to stall further aid to the island.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who is eying a 2020 White House bid, sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson seeking answers on whether President Donald Trump ever ordered officials to end disaster relief funds for Puerto Rico.

The senator also requested information -- by Feb. 5 at the latest -- on the administrations policy regarding congressionally authorized and appropriated funds for Puerto Ricos recovery, as well as details on why officials concluded that the $600 million in House-approved nutrition assistance for the island was unnecessary.

Warren raised concerns about a recent Washington Post report, which suggested that Trump sought to end all emergency funds for Puerto Rico in September after wrongly hearing the island was using such aid to pay off its debt.

She also took issue with an NBC News story that found the partial federal government shutdown has halted HUDs disbursement of billions in funding to help Puerto Rico rebuild infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Maria.

Warren, who traveled to Puerto Rico Tuesday as part of her presidential exploratory process, said she is particularly concerned about the shutdowns impact on the islands recovery efforts.

The senator argued that the administrations refusal to provide this funding, which will go to the restoration of damaged and destroyed homes, businesses and infrastructure,' is directly at odds with HUDs own Contingency Plan for Possible Lapse in Appropriations'" that requires the agency to continue disbursing Community Development Block Grants and certain other grants during a shutdown.

Given the presidents reported orders to his senior staff to eliminate Puerto Ricos disaster recovery funding, this failure to provide congressionally approved funds raises serious concerns that HUD is using the shutdown as a pretext for withholding funds from Puerto Rico," she wrote in her letter.

NBC noted that while HUDs contingency plan states that disaster recovery assistance programs cannot be stopped during a government shutdown, Puerto Ricos program was technically not approved at the time federal funding ran out.

Warren further questioned why OMB opposed a $600 million grant for disaster nutrition assistance, which the senator argued could help Hurricane Maria survivors who faced food insecurity after the storm.

She argued that such reported actions appear to reveal that President Trump either does not care about or does not understand the needs of the Puerto Rican people and the federal laws that govern assistance to the U.S. citizens who live on the island.

In addition to the letter, the senator doubled down on her criticism of the Trump administrations response to hurricane recovery efforts on the island during a 2020 organizing event in San Juan.

Contending that Puerto Rico has not been treated with respect, Warren offered that its time to change that in Washington.

The Democrat, who led a delegation of Massachusetts lawmakers to tour the island last year, recently renewed her push for an independent, 9/11-style commission to examine the Trump administrations response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico.

She has also called on Congress to pass legislation that would provide longer-term housing supports to hurricane evacuees and others impacted by natural disasters.
WESTFIELD -- St. Mary's High School will remain open for the 2019 to 2020 school year, Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield said during a meeting Tuesday with school families and church parishioners.

The announcement came almost a year after the Rev. Frank Lawlor, former pastor of St. Mary's Parish, announced the high school would close in June 2018 due mainly to declining enrollment. The community rallied to keep the high school open and Rozanski said the school could remain open for one year as long as a list of stipulations were met. One of those was an incoming freshman class of 20 students.

St. Mary's High School Principal Matthew Collins said there are 13 freshman this year and another 13 already enrolled for next fall.

Although that stipulation was not met, Rozanski said the school would remain open and leadership would work together to find a sustainable model for the school's future.

Rozanski, reading from a letter that was later emailed to school families and passed out at the meeting, said that "in the last six months, your parish and high school have witnessed a change in leadership, both with the start of Father (Matthew) Alcombright's pastorate as well as Mr. Matthew Collins' appointment as high school principal. At the same time, our diocesan community has welcomed our new superintendent Dr. Daniel Baillargeon. With renewed interest, there has been a significant increase in energy and direction at St. Mary's Parish School. While there are many challenges, this vibrancy is a sign of movement in the right direction for the entire school community."

Caroline Leahy, a STMHS junior who hoped to graduate a St. Mary's Saint, said she was ecstatic following the announcement.

"This was the best news I could have received," she said. "I love St. Mary's. I love the family aspect of the school. If I'm having a bad day, my friends cheer me up. And I can go to my teachers to talk about anything, not just academics. There's something special about St. Mary's."

Leahy's father, James Leahy, of Holyoke, said he was happy and hopeful for his daughter and future students.

"I was pleased to hear that St. Mary's will be graduating a class in 2020," he said. "St. Mary's solid faith-based education with high academic standards and strong sense of community were the reasons we choose to send our daughter there. I am hopeful the diocese is true to their word and they continue to work with the school to allow them to continue providing a solid education to the high school students west of the river."

Rozanski said a team, including the St. Mary's Parish School Board and the Diocesan School Board, will work together to research the best model for the high school to become sustainable.

"From a school viability standpoint, St. Mary's Parish School has struggled in maintaining the level of enrollment necessary to sustain the high school efforts," Rozanski read. "At the same time, the school has not had the opportunity to truly research the best manner in which to provide a high school education with the current enrollment and resources available at the school. As Catholic schools have struggled nationally to answer the same questions, models have emerged which are both sustainable financially and meet the mission-based requirements of Catholic schooling."

Rozanski noted that the school recently purchased a minibus to help with transportation needs for students in the region who wish to attend St. Mary's. Collins said the bus is being painted now and he hopes it will be in use within the next few weeks.

Collins, a STMHS Class of 1992 graduate who took the helm at St. Mary's High School early last summer, said he was thrilled to be moving forward.

"I'm excited," he said. "We're going to do what we need to do to be a sustainable educational option for the foreseeable future."

Collins added that he was thankful for the students and families of the parish school.

Asked whether the diocese would offer funding to help St. Mary's High School, Rozanski noted that $300,000 was given to the school this year and further funding assistance would be discussed. Rozanski did not comment when asked which of the expectations outlined last year were not met. In addition to the enrollment requirements, creating a new board was one of the stipulations. Others included having 20 new students this coming year and 30 incoming freshmen from 2019 forward and payment of $385,000 in pension funds. Also, Rozanski required that all funds raised for the high school go through the parish.

Tuesday night Rozanski said there was only one stipulation that came with the announcement.

"During this time, the only condition which is placed on the school is to develop a sustainable model of education which will continue to serve the families of the greater Westfield area for the foreseeable future," he said.
SPRINGFIELD  Teach Western Mass, a nonprofit that works with 30 schools in Springfield and Holyoke, has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Barr Foundation to implement strategic planning for its mission to attract, prepare and support high-quality and diverse teachers.

There are currently multiple pathways into the classroom in Western Mass. However, these pathways do not produce enough high-quality, diverse teachers, and thus there remains a chronic shortage of prepared educators in the region particularly for Holyoke and Springfield schools, said Pema Latshang, Teach Western Mass executive director. Teach Western Mass helps its partner schools to hire up to 300 teachers each year, most often in critical shortage license areas. In the past two years, (the organization) has added four programs, and we are on track to add up to 100 teachers each year to classrooms.

The Boston-based Barr Foundation has contributed more than $911 million to charitable causes.

The Barr Foundation looks forward to learning from the Teach Western Mass team as they and their partner districts and schools pursue a strategic planning process," said Kate Dobin, senior program officer for the foundation, in a prepared statement. "We are confident that this effort will develop valuable insights into what it will take to achieve the vision of developing and sustaining a strong and diverse pipeline of educators for the students of Western Massachusetts.Teach Western Mass, launched in 2015, leads regional teacher recruitment campaigns in collaboration with school and district partners. The organization is the primary source of job opportunities for prospective teachers in Western Massachusetts.

The generous funding from the Barr Foundation will ensure that Teach Western Mass is laying a strong foundation as an organization so that we may support local schools for many years to come, Latshang said. "Grant funds allow TWM to work with a strategic consultant who is experienced in assisting small, educational startups like us to grow in ways that are both sustainable and impactful.

A Teach Western Mass session in Holyoke. 2-- (L to R) Claire Bunn, scholar, Smith College Isabelle Brown, scholar, Smith College, Alissa Marcello, scholar, Mount Holyoke College, Dana Auger, Teacher, Springfield Prep Charter School, Phelipe Johnson. Teacher, Springfield Prep Charter School. (Photo submitted by Julie Anderson)

Latshang said grant funds also will be used to support key capacity building work such as creating business and operational support and structures for the nonprofit as well as some professional development of staff members to increase their skills and knowledge.

Teach Western Mass offers four regionally based teacher training programs that seek to address persistent talent and hiring challenges faced by partner schools, which include both district and charter schools.

We are proud to support the efforts of the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership, the Holyoke Public School district, UP Academy-Kennedy, Veritas Prep, Springfield Prep Charter, Baystate Charter, MLK Charter, Phoenix Charter, and Libertas Academy, Latshang said. In addition to funding from our partner schools, we are fortunate to also be generously supported by the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation and the MassMutual Foundation.

In the last two years, the organizations schools, all of which pay a membership fee, have accelerated hiring timelines and increased the percentage of incoming teachers who self-identify as people of color to 40 percent, Latshang said.
The Massachusetts State Lottery will move some warehouse operations from Springfield to Worcester later this year, shifting many of its employees.

The Lottery maintains a regional office at 20 Fort St. in Springfield. The lease for that office runs out May 31.

Lottery management identified the expiration of the lease as an opportunity to assess operational efficiencies, said Lottery spokesman Christian Teja.

According to Teja, the Lottery does plan to maintain a presence in Greater Springfield and is working with the states Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance to find a new space. That space will be used for customer service, as an office where customers can go to claim prizes and purchase products.

But warehouse needs that have been fulfilled in Springfield will be shifted to the Lotterys office in Worcester.

According to Teja, all 25 current Springfield employees will remain employed by the Lottery, but not necessarily in Springfield.

Six jobs will remain in Springfield. One person accepted a position at the Lotterys headquarters in Braintree. Another 18 field positions will report to the Worcester office. Because much of their work is in the field, they will not be going to Worcester on a daily basis, Teja said.
A 13-year-old girl from Boston has been found safe after going missing nearly two weeks ago.

Boston Police announced Wednesday morning that Maria Hernandez had been located.

The Boston Police Department would like to thank the public for their assistance in safely locating Maria Fernandez, 13-years-old, of Boston, police said in a news release.

Fernandez, a 5-foot tall, 100-pound girl who was last seen at the Indigo House in Arlington, went missing on Jan. 11, police said.

Police did not release any additional details about the situation.

Police put out a public request for help finding Fernandez on Jan. 17, and local news stations posted brief stories about the notification online.

Her case did not initially widespread media attention. But after the disappearance of 23-year-old Olivia Ambrose from a Boston bar created a media firestorm, culminating in her rescue Tuesday from an alleged kidnappers apartment, advocates began putting a spotlight on Fernandez' case on social media.
Boston police continue to search for a second man caught on video with Olivia Ambrose before she disappeared on Saturday night.

We want to know who that other suspect is, if he is a suspect, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said at a Tuesday night press conference. He could be a witness.

Ambrose, 23, of Jamaica Plain, went missing after a night out with friends at Hennessys pub in Boston on Saturday. Surveillance footage at Hennessys showed she left the bar around 11:04 p.m. with a man who police say was later eliminated as a suspect.

Surveillance footage, however, showed Ambrose encountered two men around 11:40 p.m., after leaving the bar. One was later identified as Victor Pena, 38, of Charlestown, who is charged with kidnapping Ambrose.

Police continue to search for the second man seen in the video footage.

Ambrose was found alive Tuesday afternoon in Penas apartment at 49 Walford Way in Charlestown. Gross said footage showed it was clear Ambrose did not follow Pena willingly. At points he guided her and put his arm around her, Gross said.

Ambrose was not in a physical state to do go along willingly with Pena, Gross said.

Ambrose was taken to the hospital to be evaluated. Gross said she appeared in good health, but he could not attest to her state of mind.

Gross said the investigation into Ambroses kidnapping is still active and that the investigation would include looking into whether there were any other victims.

Police want to speak with anyone who was at Hennessys Saturday and are seeking tips that could lead to identifying the second man in the video, although it is unclear at this point what his involvement was.
Under the plan, the state would send up to $100 million of its $12 billion in investments to financial institutions that agree to extend low-interest loans to federal workers who are not being paid, Frerichs said. Terms of the loans would be set by the banks and credit unions, and they would determine who is eligible. The banks, not the state, would be on the hook if borrowers default.
Victor Pena, the 38-year-old man accused of kidnapping Olivia Ambrose in Boston, appeared shackled and sobbing at Charlestown Municipal Court on Wednesday as a judge ordered he undergo a competency evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital.

Pena, who moved to Massachusetts from New Jersey and lives in public housing at the Bunker Hill Housing Development, was held without bail and ordered to undergo a 20-day mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital. His next court date will be on Feb. 11.

Pena is accused of guiding 23-year-old Ambrose onto the MBTA Saturday night, toward his Charlestown apartment at 49 Walford Way, where he kept her against her will for three days. Ambrose had been with her sister and friends at Hennessys Bar on Union Street and had last been seen leaving the bar Saturday night with a man who had been asked to leave. Police said Ambrose parted ways with that man and he was not a suspect. But police say Pena and one other man were later seen walking next to Ambrose shortly before midnight on Congress Street on surveillance video obtained by police.

The other man has since been cleared by police and was determined to be a witness. But Pena could be seen in video putting his arm around Ambrose and guiding her to the State Street MBTA stop, according to police.

Its obvious from the video surveillance that she did not go along willingly, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said Tuesday at a press conference shortly after Ambrose was found alive at the Bunker Hill apartment.

Hours before the press conference, police converged on that apartment. Ambroses family, using an app, had determined her cell phone had last been pinged nearby before going silent. And police had used multiple surveillance camera footage to trace Ambroses movements to the area. Police knocked and attempted to remove locks installed on the apartment door before the door was unlocked from the inside. There police found Pena standing there as well as Ambrose. Police said the Ambrose was crying with a horrified look on her face. She told police she had been held against her will, that Pena had taken her phone from her. Police said as they tried to handcuff Pena, he resisted and struggled with police before being placed under arrest.

In the courtroom Wednesday afternoon, Pena winced and cried, at times bending forward, and at other times looking up and mumbling words to himself. Defense attorney Joseph Perullo first requested Pena undergo an examination by a medical expert to see if he was competent enough for proceedings.

After examining Pena, a clinician said his behavior appeared to be somewhat psychotic, but also bizarre, and that it is possible he could be exaggerating psychotic symptoms. At times during the examination, she said Pena sucked his thumbs, began praying for forgiveness, and expressed hearing voices and having paranoid thoughts.

The clinician said Pena told her, with the help of a translator, that he drinks sometimes, smokes marijuana and has been forced to use cocaine, something the clinician said she questioned. She recommended a further mental health evaluation take place, and Judge Catherine K. Byrne ordered he be committed to Bridgewater Hospital until his arraignment.

Pena has been accused of violating a restraining order against his ex-girlfriend in 2013. This past July, Pena was arrested at Twin River Casino for allegedly obtaining more than $1,500 under a false pretense and cheating at a casino game, according to Rhode Island court records.

This story was updated to reflect the most recent information.
The man accused in the kidnapping of Olivia Ambrose has been ordered to undergo a competency evaluation.

Before a Charlestown District Court judge Wednesday, an attorney appointed to represent Victor Pena requested he undergo an examination to determine if Pena is fit to stand trial.

Following an initial evaluation on Wednesday, he was ordered to undergo further evaluation and be held without bail at Bridgewater State Hospital. His arraignment was postponed until Feb. 11.

In the initial evaluation, the examining psychologist told the court that Pena complained of hearing voices and was unsure why he was arrested by police.

She added that it appeared he presented some psychotic symptoms but that they could be exaggerated during the evaluation.

Pena was arrested by Boston Police Tuesday. Ambrose, 23, was found alive in his Charlestown apartment. She went missing after a night out with friends in Boston.

The location of Penas apartment was revealed to police through family tracking Ambroses phone. Police say Ambrose told them her phone was taken while she was held in Penas apartment against her will. Just before police were able to locate Ambrose, they learned she had regained her phone and was sending text messages to her mother.
Boston Police announced Victor Pena, 38, of Charlestown, has been charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of Olivia Ambrose, the 23-year-old woman who was found Tuesday afternoon.

In a press conference, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said authorities entered the home of Pena at 49 Walford Way, at the Bunker Hill Housing Development on Tuesday, where they found the suspect standing near Ambrose.

Police apprehended and arrested Pena, while Ambrose was taken to a local area hospital where she is under evaluation. Gross said the victim appears to be in good health, though added: As for state of mind, I cannot attest to what state of mind.

Pena has been charged with kidnapping and additional charges may follow as the investigation continues, Gross said. Pena will be arraigned in Charlestown on Wednesday.

I cant thank the public enough. The Ambrose family. You never gave up on your sister, your daughter, your loved one, Gross said. And the people of Boston never gave up either.

Ambrose, a Wenham woman who recently moved to Jamaica Plain, went missing after a night out with friends at Hennessys pub in Boston on Saturday. The Ambrose family first told Boston Police Olivia was missing on Sunday, Jan. 21, after her twin sister Francesca and other friends had not heard from her. They visited her Jamaica Plain apartment twice without finding her, Francesca said, and tried to contact her cell phone. Francesca said the last location of Olivias iPhone pinged at Walford Way and Corey Street, near where police found her on Tuesday.

Surveillance footage at Hennessys revealed she left the bar around 11:04 p.m. with a man who police say was later eliminated as a suspect. Through various camera systems" in the area, police learned that around 11:40 p.m., Pena and one other unidentified man engaged with Ambrose on Congress Street.

Twice, Pena was observed engaging Miss Ambrose on Congress Street, to the point where at certain points, he was physically guiding and holding onto her, Gross said. Pena had his arm around her for much of the time they were seen together, according to Gross.

Surveillance footage showed Pena guiding and clutching Ambrose along, according to Gross, and at some point they got onto an MBTA train. They stopped at Bunker Hill Community College stop where the two walked off toward the Bunker Hill Mall, Green Street and then toward the Bunker Hill Housing Development where the suspect lives.

Its obvious from the video surveillance that she did not go along willingly, Gross said. Lets just say she wasnt in a state, a physical state to possibly acknowledge going along with Mr. Pena."

In their search over the last three days, Boston Police canvassed Charlestown neighborhoods and searched around high schools, fields and even in dumpsters, Gross said. The investigation is active and ongoing, and Boston Police are still searching for the second man who initially engaged Ambrose alongside Pena. The commissioner said that unknown man could be a potential suspect or witness in the case.

Boston Police said they are still ascertaining whether Pena has a criminal history.

Gross said the investigation was the result of cooperation between Boston Police, the MBTA Transit Police and Boston Housing Authority. He thanked the public for sending in tips, as well as the media for helping to share information, and said the investigation is still active and ongoing.
A second man spotted on video just prior to the disappearance of Olivia Ambrose has been identified and cleared.

Boston Police said Wednesday morning that the man seen in surveillance video on Congress Street spoke with detectives and is now considered a witness by the department.

We want to know who that other suspect is, if he is a suspect. He could be a witness," Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said at a Tuesday night press conference.

Ambrose was identified in surveillance footage along with two men. One man, 38-year-old Victor Pena, appeared to be forcibly moving Ambrose along, police said, and has been charged with kidnapping.

Ambrose disappeared after a night out with friends at Hennessys bar in Boston Saturday night. She was found alive Tuesday by Boston detectives in Penas apartment.

The location of Penas apartment was revealed to police through family tracking Ambroses phone. Police say Ambrose told them her phone was taken while she was held in Penas apartment against her will. Just before police were able to locate Ambrose, they learned she had regained her phone and was sending text messages to her mother.

Pena is scheduled to be arraigned on a kidnapping charge at Charlestown District Court on Wednesday.
At one point during her disappearance, 23-year-old Olivia Ambrose was able to regain possession of her iPhone and sent messages to her mother, police said. At the same time, police were closing in on the apartment where they say she was being held against her will.

According to an incident report filed by Boston Police, just as detectives Tuesday were preparing to enter the apartment they believed Ambrose was being held, they learned that she had just reactivated her phone and was sending messages to her mother.

Using surveillance video and tracking Ambroses cell phone before it was shut off early Sunday morning, Police had been led to the Bunker Hill Housing Development apartment where they found Ambrose. Theyd tracked the last known location of Ambroses phone to the intersection of Walford Way and Corey Street in Charlestown, the exact location of 49 Walford Way, where Ambroses alleged kidnapper, Victor Pena, 38, lived.

On Wednesday, Pena, 38, of Charlestown, was charged with kidnapping Ambrose, a Wenham woman who recently moved to Jamaica Plain. Ambrose had been out with her twin sister and a large group of friends to Hennessys bar Saturday night before she disappeared. She had last been seen leaving with a man who had been asked to leave the bar. The two went their separate ways and police determined early on that the man shed left with was not a suspect in the case. But video footage showed police that Ambrose had been approached by two men after leaving the bar. One of the men, could be seen in security footage putting his arm around Ambrose and guiding her to the State Street MBTA stop, police said.

Its obvious from the video surveillance that she did not go along willingly, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said at a press conference Tuesday night after Ambrose had been found.

Using surveillance footage from the MBTA and other video, as well as Charlie Card information for residents who live on Walford Way, detectives found probable cause that Pena was the man who abducted Ambrose. The other man seen in the video footage was later cleared by police as a witness who was not involved in abducting Ambrose.

Once they tracked Ambrose possible whereabouts to the Bunker Hill housing development, detectives began knocking on the door before deciding to have the Boston Housing Authority open the door of Penas apartment to conduct a sweep. But police said Pena had installed a private lock on the door, counter to the rules of housing authority. After about 20 minutes of knocking on the door, police used keys and a drill to remove the lock. Once the top lock was undone, police said the locks began to open from the inside.

Inside the apartment, detectives saw Pena standing in the hallway. Ambrose was standing next to Pena, crying with a horrified look on her face, according to police.

Ambrose told police she was being held against her will at the apartment, according to the police incident report. She also said Pena took her phone and refused to let her leave for the entire time she was held there. After detectives found and rescued Ambrose Tuesday afternoon, she was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment.

When the detectives tried to arrest and place handcuffs on Pena, he refused to comply and violently resisted, police said in their incident report.

At Charlestown District Court on Wednesday, a court clinician questioned his competency and Pena was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation at Bridgewater Hospital for no more than 20 days. He is scheduled to next appear in court on Feb. 11.

Victor Pena, 38, is being charged with kidnapping Olivia Ambrose.

This story has been updated to reflect the most recent information.
Several Newton firefighters escaped a burning home safely after a second-floor ceiling collapsed on them during a 3-alarm blaze early Wednesday morning.

The fire broke out in a two-family home on Cook Street around 1:30 a.m., NBC Boston reported. Firefighters rescued a cat and no residents were injured.

"They started an aggressive interior attack, made their way to the second floor bedroom. The ceiling above them collapsed down, rained down fire around them. The fire got too heavy up in the attic area. They had to back out," Newton Fire Chief Bruce Proia told the television station.

Despite icy conditions, crews were able to keep the fire from spreading to nearby homes.

The blaze was extinguished by 5 a.m., according to NBC Boston, but drivers are still being asked to avoid the area.
We left out a biggie 

Marian Myers of Martinsville called the Stroller to say that she has enjoyed seeing the Strollers list of uses for vinegar, but you-all have missed the most important vinegar of all.

For years and years I have been taking a tonic of vinegar and honey, and it makes all the difference, she said.

This is apple cider vinegar to which she is referring, and not the white vinegar the Stroller has been writing about, she conceded.

Every day, she mixes a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and a couple of teaspoons of honey into hot water and drinks it. She used to have troubles with arthritis until she started this remedy many years ago.

Though any apple cider vinegar might do, she said, its best to get the kind that says the mother on the label, or Braggs brand.

Ive told many people in my aerobics class, and theyve just started it and it does wonders, she said.

Some people balk at the idea of the taste, but its just a sweet and sour combination like sweet and sour pork or pickles, she said.
With this weeks bitter blast of arctic air, more people have been coming to the warming shelter at the Salvation Army Martinsville Corps headquarters on Memorial Boulevard in Martinsville.

The warming center is seeing an increase in number of nights open and guests, Lt. Ruby Outlaw-Keith of the local Salvation Army corps said.

In December, they were open 26 nights due to the snow and extreme weather.

We are in desperate need of all volunteers: intake, meals and overnight to cover all the days we are having to be open.

Temperatures will be on a roller-coaster the next few days, and theres chance of light freezing rain Wednesday morning, according to Robert Beasley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg.

Weve been in a deep freeze over the weekend and the start of the week, Beasley said of the significant arctic freeze.

Freezing rain possibly could begin in Henry County early Wednesday morning, followed by rain Wednesday afternoon and evening. Ice accumulation morning could be around a trace in most areas.

High temperatures are expected to reach the lower 50s Wednesday, about 20 degrees more than Tuesday.
A benchmark of 175 has been set for how many inmates can be safely housed at the Henry County Jail. The inmate population more than 175 is housed at other facilities. As of Dec. 28, 173 of Henry Countys inmates were housed at the Henry County Jail, one at the Patrick County Jail, six at Roanoke City Jail, three at Virginia State Mental Hospital, 14 at Martinsville City Farm, one at Martinsville City Jail, five at South Hampton Regional, 40 at Western Virginia Regional Jail, and three were on home electronic monitoring, for a total of 246 inmates.

The fiscal year 2019 jail budget included $1 million for housing out inmates.

Expenditures to Western Virginia Regional Jail were estimated to exceed $600,000 this fiscal year, but with this change, the amount will be less and the balance will be used at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail and New River Valley Regional Jail.

The Western Virginia Regional Jail is based in Salem, the New River Valley Regional Jail is based in Dublin; and the Blue Regional Jail has its central office in Lynchburg and operates detention facilities in Amherst, Bedford, Campbell, Halifax and Lynchburg.

When asked Tuesday if the change will cost Henry County or the Henry County Sheriffs Office more money, Deputy Administrator Dale Wagoner stated: The fees payable to the new facilities are identical of the rates charged at the Western Va. Regional Jail ($30/day/inmate).The Blue Ridge and New River Valley jails are farther away, so indirectly, there will be additional costs associated with added travel distance and officer time outside of the county.

Paul Collins reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at paul.collins@martinsvillebulletin.com
Firefighters were dispatched around 1:15 a.m. to the 4400 block of Pagle Road in Harvard, where a snowmobile had hit a tree off the road, according to Harvard Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Don Davidson. At least one other snowmobile was at the scene, he said.
Theresa May gathered her Cabinet for more crisis Brexit talks today amid mounting signs of panic among Tory rebels and the DUP over Remainer plotting.

The PM and her senior ministers are taking stock of the high drama at Westminster as the battle over leaving the EU reaches its endgame.

Ministers were briefed on the latest preparations, including the warnings being issued to citizens and businesses on preparing for no deal.

Unlike recent weeks Brexit did not dominate as ministers had a lengthy conference call on Sunday to hammer out her Plan B of renewed demands for concessions on the backstop allied with cross party talks.

Hopes are rising among Mrs May's team that they could yet revive her Brexit deal - despite it being humiliatingly rejected in a Commons vote last week.

Hardline Tory Eurosceptics have been alarmed by a wave of cross-party bids to seize control of the process from the government and stop the UK crashing out of the EU.

Amendments being tabled by Labour and Conservative Remainers are due to be voted on next Tuesday, and include measures to force Article 50 to be delayed or revoked, or trigger a second referendum.

Theresa May (pictured in the Commons last night) and her senior ministers will take stock of the high drama at Westminster as the battle over leaving the EU reaches its endgame

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss was among ministers seen leaving Downing Street following Cabinet today

Home Secretary Sajid Javid (left) and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson (right) took part in today's Cabinet meeting

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd was also in Downing Street for the talks on terrorism and Brexit at today's Cabinet

Energy minister Claire Perry (left) and Trade Secretary Liam Fox (right) were among the ministers attending Cabinet in Downing Street today

Tory MP Nadine Dorries last night said her Brexiteer colleagues were realising that they must support Mrs May's plan to avoid 'Europhile Kamikaze MPs' taking control

Mrs May has also been warned that around 40 ministers could quit if she orders them to vote against blocking no-deal Brexit next week.

As pressure grew, Tory MP Nadine Dorries last night said her Brexiteer colleagues were realising that they must support Mrs May's plan to avoid 'Europhile Kamikaze MPs' taking charge. However, Ms Dorries tried to play down the comments today, insisting she would not vote for the deal unless the backstop is dropped altogether.

The DUP's Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson also indicated his party - which is propping up Mrs May in power - could support an Irish border backstop if it had a unilateral exit clause.

Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said he believed there had been 'movement' over recent days.

However, it is still far from clear whether Mrs May will be able to wring enough concessions out of the EU to satisfy the Eurosceptics.

Speaking on the BBC's Newsnight programme, Ms Dorries - previously an outspoken critic of Mrs May - suggested she would 'swallow her pride' to support her deal if it comes to a vote again.

'I can feel a growing consensus among a number of MPs who in the light of being faced with these Europhile Kamikaze MPs who really don't care about their careers going up in flames, who want to overturn Parliamentary tradition in order to stop Brexit,' Ms Dorries said.

'I think many people are now realising that we would support this deal in order to get it over the line.

'Because every day here is a dangerous day at the moment.

'We may have to see that this is a deal, we will have to swallow our pride, swallow what we would prefer, and vote for it.'

Mr Wilson said a backstop with a unilateral exit clause would 'not be ideal' as it would mean 'Northern Ireland could potentially be treated differently for a period of time'.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley (left) and Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes were also in Downing Street this morning

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright (left) and Health Secretary Matthew Hancock were also at the Cabinet gathering this morning

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in the Commons last night) has tabled an amendment that raises the prospect of holding a second referendum on Brexit

However, he added: 'We're prepared to look at any arrangement and work with her on any arrangement which ensures the UK as as whole leaves the EU and that Northern Ireland is not left stuck in the EU.

'And if there has to be some flexibility there, we have said that of course we are always willing to look at those possibilities.'

What is Tuesday's Plan B vote and what will it mean? What is happening? Because Theresa May's Brexit deal was defeated, the law says she must tell Parliament what her Plan B is. This has to be done in a motion to the Commons, which will be voted on by MPs next Tuesday night. That motion can be re-written by MPs if they table amendments and win a vote in favour of them. Some amendments have already been tabled and MPs can keep producing them until Monday night. What does May's plan say? It promises more cross-party working, renews commitments to protecting workers' rights after Brexit and says the PM will ask Brussels for more concessions on the backstop. It it based on the current deal that was crushed by 230 votes last week. What do the main amendments say? Jeremy Corbyn's amendment says Parliament should vote on 'options' including a renegotiation of the deal to get a permanent customs union and for a second referendum. A cross party amendment from Yvette Cooper and Nicky Morgan seeks to block no deal by giving time to a draft law that would require the Government to delay Brexit if a deal has not been agreed by February 26. It upturns normal convention by putting a backbench MP's Bill ahead of Government plans. An amendment from Tory rebel Dominic Grieve seeks to set up weekly debates that would mean regular votes on what to do in the absence a deal. His amendments sets aside six named days for the debates - including as late as March 26. What would the vote do? Legally nothing - but if the Commons votes in favour of a clear way forward by a majority it will be a major political signal of what might happen. Is it a new 'meaningful vote' that can approve May's deal? No. At some point, the PM will have to stage a repeat of last week's vote to get explicit approval from MPs to go ahead with her deal if she wants it to survive. Advertisement

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith also voiced alarm at the threat from Remainers to seize control of Parliamentary business in order to block Brexit.

'This opens the door to mayhem in the Commons... those who think the House of Commons can act as a government negotiating in Brexit are living in cloud cuckoo land,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

In another apparent shift, Eurosceptic ringleader Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested over the weekend that Mrs May's deal was better than no Brexit.

As the Remainer uprising gathered pace today, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd is said to have warned Downing Street that dozens of ministers could quit if they are blocked from backing moves to delay Brexit.

Ms Rudd is said to have argued that as many as 40 ministers want to vote for a rebel amendment designed to postpone Britains departure date and prevent a no-deal scenario.

With the time to agree a deal running out, her comments will be seen as a sign of growing concerns among senior ministers that Britain could end up leaving without a deal.

A cross-party group of MPs led by Labours Yvette Cooper and Tory former minister Nick Boles has drawn up plans to defer Article 50  the EU process that enables a country to leave the bloc  by nine months if Theresa May has not secured an agreement by the end of February. The proposal is expected to come before Parliament next week.

Miss Rudd has reportedly told No10 that Tory MPs should be given a free vote on the issue to declare their views on what should happen next.

In a statement to the Commons yesterday, however, the Prime Minister made clear her opposition to any mechanism that rules out No Deal.

Mrs May described it as a course of action we should take, or which this House should support.

Last night, one supporter of the Cooper plan said there was growing optimism that the amendment would get through with support from Labour.

Jeremy Corbyn himself appeared to hint that his party could back the plan.

The Labour leader told the Commons: As we have said consistently from the beginning, we will back amendments that seek to rule out the disaster of No Deal.

But sources close to Mr Corbyn said the party had not decided to support the Cooper amendment yet.

Jenny Chapman, one of the partys Brexit team, described the proposal as quite promising, adding: It is absolutely something we are seriously considering. The Cooper plan would set Mrs May a deadline of February 26 to get parliamentary approval for her Withdrawal Agreement, which was voted down by a historic majority last week.

If no agreement had passed by then, MPs would be able to seize control of Commons business and change the law to mandate Mrs May to extend Article 50. However, this would require the approval of the EU. The measure could also be amended, meaning MPs could extend Article 50 for longer, further delaying Britains departure from the EU.

The move is backed by Tory former ministers Nicky Morgan and Sir Oliver Letwin as well as Labours Hilary Benn, Liz Kendall and Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb.

Miss Cooper said it would stop a chaotic and damaging No Deal. She added: The Government cannot just push the country into No Deal because they have run out of time. Separately, former attorney general Dominic Grieve has drawn up plans to allow MPs to force a debate without a majority of MPs.

Instead, just 300 out of a Parliament of 650, from at least five parties and including ten Tories, would be able to force a motion on to the floor of the House.

It would then be debated as the first item of Commons business the next day.

The Tory MP, who wants a second referendum, insisted the move was wholly in keeping with our democratic traditions.

He told the BBC it was not some sort of constitutional upheaval or revolution at all, adding: Its a tweak of the standing orders to ensure the House of Commons has that space to express its views.
Detroit's main airport has reopened after icy weather prompted officials to shut down flights for about 14 hours amid freezing rain.
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Detroit man bound over for death of retired Sterling Heights cop
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A small group of international students from the island of Mauritius in East Africa spent a day during their first semester at Lycoming College visiting Stevens Primary School in the Williamsport Area School District, to share a bit about their country. All enrolled in the French for Native Speakers course, the students read favorite childhood stories from the book series, The Adventures of Tikoulou, exposing Stevens students to a new culture and new languages.

A popular book series in Mauritius, The Adventures of Tikoulou, has delighted island children for decades. Author Henry Koombes developed the series to help local children form a connection to their culture and values by experiencing life on the island through the eyes of young boy, Tikoulou.

Led by Andrew Stafford, visiting assistant professor at Lycoming College, the students translated Tikoulou stories from French and Creole, to English. The Stevens students were provided with engaging games and activities that challenged them to learn words and phrases in another language, and to think about what life is like in a country on the other side of the globe. The Lycoming students visited a total of six classrooms, including three second grade classrooms, and three third grade classrooms, with each class visit providing a new and different learning experience.

"Attending Stevens Elementary opened my eyes to primary school in the United States. I was impressed by how welcoming and attentive the students were, and their eagerness to learn new languages, said Shania Appadoo, Lycoming College freshman. I hope to return to interact more with the students"

In addition to emphasizing the differences between learning French in Mauritius and learning French (or another foreign language) in the United States, this project allowed these college students to see the value they bring to Lycoming College and to Williamsport, said Stafford. The Stevens students  and teachers  were excited to learn about Mauritius, and I think this helped the Mauritians to view their internationality as a resource and an asset.

The class collaborated with Mallory Weymer, director of civic engagement and personal development at Lycoming College, on this service project. The following international students, all from the Class of 2022 and all hailing from Mauritius, visited Stevens Primary:

Shania Appadoo

Medhavi Bhunjun

Shruti Bhunjun

Yugtha (Yajna) Jungbadoor

Vishesh (Ghanshyam) Ram

Roomana Sokeechand
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: January 23 2019

Gaughran joins American Federation of Government Employees in helping those in need.

Huntington Station, NY - January 23, 2019 - Senator Jim Gaughran and American Federation of Government Employees AFGE will be dropping off donations of food and supplies to Long Island Cares' Senator Jim Gaughran and American Federation of Government Employees AFGE will be dropping off donations of food and supplies to Long Island Cares' Huntington Station location on Thursday, January 24th at 11:30am. Senator Gaughran has been collecting food, personal care products, household supplies, pet food, and other items to benefit federal employees affected by the government shutdown. AFGE workers will be entering their 34th day working without pay, the longest shutdown in United States history.
Green, 82, a retiree living in the West Chesterfield neighborhood, died Tuesday when he was struck at a South Side intersection stopping to pick up some keys he had dropped in the middle of the roads walkway, according to Chicago police and his family. Relatives said Green co-founded one of the areas only all African-American chamber symphony orchestras.
Local News, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: January 23 2019

Curran discusses the roadway sustainability study, plans for 2019 including resurfacing 175 lane miles - a 130% increase since 2017 and more.

Mineola, NY - January 23, 2019 - Nassau County Executive Laura Curran held a press conference today to announce the expansion of a successful pilot program that provides an immediate fix for potholes, long-term permanent resurfacing programs, and infrastructure goals for 2019. As peak pothole season is upon us, Curran has mandated an aggressive approach to roadway infrastructure investment, maintenance and improvement.

With over 1,500 lane miles in Nassau, we have a lot of work to do, said County Executive Curran. In 2019, we plan on doubling the number of roads paved, for a total of 175 lane miles. It is vital to Nassau Countys residents and businesses to maintain a top-quality road infrastructure.

Looking toward the future to address infrastructure, Nassau County is undergoing a Roadway Sustainability and Compliance Study, through New York Metropolitan Transportation Councils United Planning Works Program (UPWP). The study is assessing existing roadway conditions on County-owned roads so that DPW staff can prepare ongoing long-term plans to maintain these roadways consistent with federal and state guidelines for pavement assessment and roadway signage.

The prior administration neglected road resurfacing. My team has put an aggressive plan together to get Nassaus roads back in top-notch condition. Everywhere I go, people ask about roads. Let me assure you, we are listening, and we will get the job done, said Curran.

While conducting this study, we recognized that there was an immediate concern of roadway conditions, so the Department of Public Works (DPW) began a pilot pothole program in fall 2018 for short term/interim resurfacing. The resurfacing included milling and filling larger areas of roadway allowing for safer road surfaces in anticipation of our long-term permanent resurfacing program, said Brian Schneider, Deputy County Executive for Parks and Public Works.

The pilot program has proven to be successful and DPW plans to significantly expand it in 2019. In 2018, DPW:

filled a total of 60,057 potholes,

paved 87 lane miles (up 20% from 2017),

filled approximately 37 potholes per mile,

deployed seven three-man crews a day during peak pothole season.

In 2019, DPW plans on doubling these numbers to repave a total of 175 lane miles  a 130% increase since 2017. The County recently purchased six new hot boxes used for asphalt to address potholes to help carry out the ambitious plan.

It is important for the gateways of our communities in Nassau County to be welcoming and safe for motorists. In particular, I am confident this will address safety concerns on Shore Road, enhance the areas natural beauty and improve the accessibility of the beach and playground, said Nassau County Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton.

Historically, DPW has bid $4-5 million resurfacing contracts. This year, DPW will bid a $15 million road resurfacing contract to solicit interest from new firms capable of delivering large projects, as well as expanding their vendor pool. In addition, this new contract will include incentives for the firm selected to complete the resurfacing of over 63 lane miles within the 2019 paving season.

DPW contractors will begin permanent repaving in the spring when the weather breaks. DPW will continue with temporary resurfacing efforts throughout the winter if/when the weather is warm enough to accommodate the laying of asphalt.
School & Education, Local News, Crime, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: January 23 2019

Authorizes Stop Arm Cameras on School Buses and Increases Fines for Passing a School Bus.

New York, NY - January 23, 2019 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced new proposals in his fiscal year 2020 Executive Budget to bolster student safety on school buses. The Governor's comprehensive proposal would authorize school districts to install stop-arm cameras on school buses, increase the fine for passing a stopped school bus and require students to wear seatbelts on school buses. These proposals build on the Governor's stated plans of ensuring student safety and modernizing school safety laws.

"The safety of New York's schoolchildren is our top priority and reckless drivers who put our kids in danger must be held accountable," Governor Cuomo said. "Motorists have a responsibility to pay attention and abide by the law, especially when driving in the vicinity of school buses, and these measures will ensure students make it to and from school safely and help prevent needless tragedies."

In New York, approximately 1.5 million students ride school buses to and from school every year. Although it is illegal to pass a stopped school bus, on Operation Safe Stop in April 2018 - a day in which law enforcement target citations for passing a stopped school bus - over 850 people ignored the law and were ticketed. Extrapolated for 180 days of school, someone passes a stopped school bus 150,000 times a year, endangering the safety of school children.

To ensure students are safe on their way to and from school, the Governor is proposing authorizing school districts to install stop-arm cameras, which would document and record illegal passing of the school bus, and issue a resulting ticket in order to stop this behavior for good. As an added deterrent, the proposal would increase the fine for passing a stopped school bus to further increase student safety. In addition, the Governor has put forth a proposal that would require students to wear seatbelts on school buses.

Building on student safety reforms proposed in the FY 2020 Executive Budget, Governor Cuomo recently announced a proposal to formally reinstate the speed camera program in New York City and more than double the number of zones in which the cameras would be installed from 140 to 290. Speed cameras are a proven method to not only reduce car crashes, but improve the survivability rates in school zones. After the Republican-led Senate blocked passage of legislation that would have allowed the program to continue in 2018, Governor Cuomo declared a State of Emergency as a temporary means of reinstating the program.
Local News, Crime, Business & Finance, Health & Wellness, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: January 23 2019

Walgreen Co. to Pay a Total of $60 Million to New York, Other States, and Federal Government in Joint Settlement.

New York, NY - January 23, 2019 - Attorney General Letitia James today announced that New York has joined with other states and the federal government to reach an agreement in principle with Walgreen Co. (Walgreens) to settle allegations that Walgreens violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicaid at rates higher than its usual and customary (U&C) rates for certain prescription drugs. As a result, Walgreens, a Delaware corporation headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, will pay the states and federal government $60 million, all of which is attributable to the states Medicaid programs.

My office will continue to investigate and stop unlawful practices that hurt New York States Medicaid Program, said Attorney General Letitia James. We will never let companies get away with illegally billing Medicaid with inflated amounts for prescription drugs."

The national federal and state civil settlement will resolve allegations relating to Walgreens discount drug program, known as the Prescription Savings Club (PSC). The investigation revealed that Walgreens submitted claims to the states Medicaid programs in which it identified U&C prices for certain prescription drugs sold through the PSC program that were higher than what Walgreens actually charged for those drugs. In doing so, Walgreens obtained more money in reimbursements from the States Medicaid program for sales of such drugs than it was entitled to receive.

The investigation resulted from a qui tam action originally filed in 2012 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York under the federal False Claims Act and various state false claims statutes. As part of the settlement, New York Medicaid will receive over $8 million in restitution and other recoveries.

A National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) Team conducted the settlement negotiations with Walgreens on behalf of the states. The Team included representatives from the Offices of the Attorneys General for the states of New York, California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

The civil settlement was handled by Special Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Heim Harris of the New York City Regional Office, under the supervision of MFCU Civil Chief Carolyn Ellis. MFCU is led by Director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney.
Upgrades to the N4 and N55 need to be made a priority in the the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) if Longford is to thrive, say local councillors.

Longford County Council made their opinions clear to representatives of the Eastern & Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA) earlier this month at a special meeting to discuss the draft RSES.

One thing we have been working on here in Longford - and on a regional basis - is the N4 upgrade between Mullingar and the Leitrim border, said Cllr Seamus Butler who requested that the EMRA make that piece of infrastructure a high priority.

We presented to the Transport Dail committee in May 2018 and they voted to give it number one priority before we left the meeting.

Also read: The View: Longford's N4 upgrade is good news but let's not all jump at once

The section of road between Longford and Mullingar is 120% over capacity at the moment and we believe that this would be a gamechanger and would open up the whole region. In fact, it would extend the Dublin hinterland into the region, he added.

Its the one radial road to Dublin that really hasnt been given the attention it should.

The N55 was also up for major discussion, with a number of councillors putting their thoughts on infrastructure forward.

The N55 is a north-south route. There is some extremely heavy traffic on that route. I know there are sections being looked at but again it would be a major connectivity issue, said Cllr Butler.

His opinion was soon echoed by Cllr PJ Reilly who stressed the importance of the road which runs between Athlone and Edgeworthstown, Granard, Cavan and further north.

That road is improving but I have to say there is more traffic year by year coming in on that route and its going to get quite busy and more busy next year with Center Parcs because that is going to be the main route between the northern suburbs and Center Parcs in Ballymahon, so it definitely needs more upgrading, he stressed.

Cllr John Brown went even further to suggest that Longford look at connectivity with the west of the country via the N55 as well as the east.

Read also: Claims spatial plan will decimate rural Ireland

The R397 from Longford to Ballymahon and the N55 require investment, he said, adding that a modern road structure between Longford and Athlone would provide fast access to the M6 motorway and leading on to the N17 and the M18 motorway providing connection to the cities of Galway and Limerick.

It is my strong opinion that Longford needs to link itself to the West of Ireland rather than looking to the east of the country, he said.

Councillors also suggested a serious upgrade to the rail line between Longford and Dublin to decrease the length of time it takes commuters to get to the capital.
Munoz, who was appointed to his seat by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1993, is the citys longest-tenured Hispanic alderman. He announced in July that he would not seek re-election. At the time he said he was retiring because he was having fun writing the next chapter of my life.
Logan, WV (25601)

Today

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Lockport, NY (14094)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
The Tribune's "Unsolved: 75 shot" series examined Chicago gun violence during the first weekend of August, a particularly violent period of time in the city. Reporters hoped to better understand the challenges authorities face in solving crime, as well as the impact unsolved shootings have on the city's ongoing cycle of violence.
A visitation and funeral have been scheduled for a mother and her two daughters who were found shot to death in a luxury home in far Northwest Bexar County two weeks ago.

Hairstylist Nichol Leila Olsen, 37, and daughters Alexa Denice Montez, 16, and London Sophia Bribiescas, 10, will be honored together, said the teens father, Carlos Montez Jr.

Visitation will take place from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday at Mission Park Funeral Chapels Stone Oak at 23755 U.S. 281 North, said Michael Hoffman, general manager of that facility.

The funeral will follow at 11 a.m. Saturday at Place for Life Church at 5820 N.W. Loop 410, Hoffman said.

Interment will happen at a later date, he said. That will be private.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

Olsen and her two daughters were found fatally shot Jan. 10 in a house where they lived with Olsens boyfriend in the gated Anaqua Springs Ranch subdivision near Leon Springs.

Olsen had been shot once in the head, and her death was ruled a suicide by the Bexar County medical examiners office. But her friends and family have strongly rejected that finding, saying she never would have harmed her children or herself.

Montez, a cheerleader and sophomore at Clark High School, had been shot once in the head, while Bribiescas, a fifth-grader at Leon Springs Elementary School, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and neck. Their deaths were ruled homicides.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has been reluctant to accept the medical examiners ruling that Olsen died by her own hand without doing further investigation. His agency still is examining the shootings. Salazar has called in the FBI to assist.

Olsens boyfriend, Charlie Wheeler, 31, who owns the house where the shootings occurred, told authorities he returned there the morning of Jan. 10 to find the mother and daughters dead.

RELATED: FBI joins investigation into fatal triple shooting in luxury San Antonio-area home

He told investigators hed left the house the previous night after a conflict with Olsen and went to stay at a family members home in another city.

Investigators are waiting on cellular tower records and vehicles GPS data to verify his statements.

Salazar has called Wheeler a person of interest, but not a suspect.

Wheeler has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has fully cooperated with the investigation since the day of the shootings, sheriffs officials said. His attorneys said they welcome the FBIs involvement.

Wheeler is not the only person of interest, Salazar said.

Peggy OHare is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: @Peggy_OHare
A man was fatally shot at an apartment complex Tuesday evening on the Northwest Side.

The man, 20, was found shot at about 8:30 p.m. at the Ingram Ranch apartments, 2400 Oak Hill Road, San Antonio police said.

Officers found the man near the office of the complex.

RELATED: Bexar sheriff announces development in triple shooting at S.A. luxury home

He was taken to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Police said they have at least two crime scenes sectioned off inside the complex.

No suspects were identified as of Tuesday night.

Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | Twitter: @JBfromSA
However, the country as a whole is still not on track to meet the Paris Agreements end goal of keeping global temperatures below the threshold for potentially devastating impacts from climate change. In fact, last year, even as coal plants were retired at a record pace, carbon emissions rose sharply from increased production at industrial sources and greater-than-normal energy use from buildings withstanding inclement weather, according to estimates from Rhodium Group, an independent research firm. The 3.4 percent spike marks the second largest rise in emissions in more than two decades.
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it would no longer recognize Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, instead offering its formal support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, who was elected leader of the Venezuelan Congress earlier this month.

The 35-year-old Guaido has become a figurehead for anti-Maduro protests since the Venezuelan president was inaugurated to a second term after a widely disputed election. While the body that Guaido is in charge of - the opposition-controlled National Assembly - holds little practical power, it is widely viewed internationally as a symbol of democracy.

Guaido declared himself president on Wednesday amid huge opposition street protests that left at least one person dead by midday. Recognition from the United States may well bolster his case - though it will likely present some considerable complications to the U.S.-Venezuela relationship.

David Bosco, an associate professor at Indiana University's School of Global and International Studies, said the U.S. decision to recognize Guaido as the legitimate president is an unusual move that some legal scholars would view as potentially "dicey."

"Governments for the most part try to avoid doing this kind of thing," Bosco said. "States just try to recognize whoever claims to be the government and whoever has effective control of the country."

There are exceptions - though they are generally temporary and take place in instances of a conflict or a military coup. The Taliban was recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan only by a few countries, and a number of states refused to recognize a new government installed after a military coup in Haiti in 1991.

"By far the longest nonrecognition of a government that had control of a country was the case of Communist China," Bosco added. "From the time that the nationalist regime collapsed in China until the early 1970s, the U.S. recognized the government in Taiwan as the legitimate government of all China."

Two of the most recent cases took place in the midst of a civil war. In 2011, for example, the United States recognized the National Transitional Council in Libya as the legitimate government, despite the fact that forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi were still in charge of much of the country. A similar situation took place in 2014, when Syrian opposition groups were granted diplomatic representation in the United States.

Recognizing Guaido as president would have a significant effect on how U.S. officials handle their relationship with their Venezuelan counterparts. In particular, it may mean that Venezuela's diplomatic presence in Washington would need to change, as the accredited diplomats would no longer represent the recognized government. "Presumably you'd then have the opposition able to designate people," Bosco said.

There could also be significant knock-on economic effects for both U.S. and Venezuelan interests. The United States could seize assets belonging to the Venezuelan state in the country and turn them over to forces loyal to Guaido, for example.

"If the U.S. government recognizes Juan Guaido as president, U.S. courts would see his government as the only one that can manage assets," Francisco Rodriguez, chief economist at the New York-based Torino Capital investment firm, told The Washington Post earlier this month. "A parallel government could have significant economic power."

There will also be questions raised about what happens to Venezuelan diplomats accredited with the United Nations. Though some other countries have also recognized Guaido as interim president, Maduro retains the support of key U.N. members such as Russia and China.

It is unclear what effect U.S. recognition of Guaido could have on his standing in Venezuela - some analysts have expressed worry that it may embolden Maduro to arrest him or lead to a split in control of the country. In 2011, ahead of U.S. recognition to Libya's National Transitional Council, Harold Koh, then-legal-adviser to the State Department, told Congress that recognition can sometimes absolve governments of the responsibility of governing.

"As a general rule, we are reluctant to recognize entities that do not control entire countries because then they are responsible for parts of the country that they don't control," he said. "And we are reluctant to derecognize leaders who still control parts of the country because then you're absolving them of responsibility in the areas that they do control."
Wednesday

 Barton, Glenn L. 1 p.m. Wednesday at Pittsfield United Methodist Church. Niebur Funeral Home in Pittsfield is in charge.

 Mefford, Rodney Lee. Graveside service with military honors 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bloomfield Cemetery. Visitation at Coonrod Funeral Home in Winchester will precede the service, with the family meeting with friends from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday.

 Trent, Marilyn F. (Dawdy). 2 p.m. Wednesday at Williamson Funeral Home.



Thursday

 Cummings, William Ray Bill. 2 p.m. Thursday at Centenary United Methodist Church, with burial with firefighter honors at Diamond Grove Cemetery. The family will meet friends from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Williamson Funeral Home.

 Dunbar, Ruth Anne. 10 a.m. Thursday at Hendricker Funeral Home in Mount Sterling, with burial at Cooperstown Cemetery. Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.

 Lahey, Mary Virginia (Tarzwell). Memorial Mass 11 a.m. Thursday at Church of Our Saviour in Jacksonville. The family will meet friends one hour prior to the service at the church. Williamson Funeral Home is in charge.

 Leedy, Charles E. Mike. 12:30 p.m. Thursday at Airsman-Hires Funeral Home in Pittsfield. Family will meet friends from 11 a.m. Thursday until the time of the services at the funeral home.

 Peterson, Robert F. Bob. 11 a.m. Thursday at Wood Funeral Home in Rushville. Visitation 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.



Friday

 Andre, Linda Jane. 11 a.m. Friday at Worthington Funeral Home in Rushville. Visitation 4-6 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

 Reznicek, Rose Mary. 11 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church, north of Greenfield. Visitation 4-7 p.m. Thursday at Shields-Bishop Funeral Home in Greenfield.

 Walch, Carmen Ann (Kocot). 11 a.m. Friday at Niebur Funeral Chapel in Barry. Visitation 4-6 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.



Saturday

 Moore, Michael Ray. Memorial service 11 a.m. Saturday at Central Christian Church. The family will meet friends from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, prior to the service, at the church.

 Pence, Brenda K. (Money). 2 p.m. Saturday at Kingdom Hall in Jacksonville. Neece-Airsman-Hires Funeral Home in Waverly is in charge.

 Spears, Charles L. Charley. 11 a.m. Saturday at Buchanan & Cody Funeral Home in Jacksonville. The family will meet friends 5-7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

 Woods, John Allan. 11 a.m. Saturday at Neece-Airsman-Hires Funeral Home in Waverly. Visitation 4-7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.



Saturday, Feb. 9

 Coates, Don Eldon. A celebration of Dons life 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at Church of Universal Fellowship, 82 Main St., Orono, Maine. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments in the parish hall following the service. A service of remembrance also will be held in late summer at Somesville Union Meeting House in Mount Desert, Maine. Brookings-Smith funeral home in Bangor, Maine, is in charge of arrangements.
GLEN CARBON  Representatives of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield and Theuvenot, Wade and Moerchen (TWM), came before the Glen Carbon Planning and Zoning Commission to request approval of a preliminary development proposal (PDP) for a large senior living development on Bouse Road.

The commissioners held a public hearing on the issue Tuesday, where they voted 6-0 to recommend approval. Two commissioners were absent. The plan will now go before the village board trustees to vote on at their Feb. 12 meeting.

The diocese already owns the land involved, approximately 55 acres. If approved, it would rise on the south side of Bouse, west of Father McGivney Catholic High School, which is on diocese-leased land.

Dana Link, a TWM project manager, said the development would involve at least two phases of work and would be annexed to Glen Carbon prior to construction.

She said the first phase would create a town center, a building with four distinct wings. In the center would be space for the chapel, a dining hall and administrative offices. Two wings pointing northwest would be for independent living (102 units) while the other two wings pointing southeast would be for assisted living (37 units) and memory care (32 units) for a total of 171 units.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki wants this project for the diocese, said Greg Fleck, who is with the dioceses properties, buildings, and cemeteries department. The diocese has done integrated marketing studies and discovered a need in this area for such a project. There would be no skilled nursing facility on-site as the study found that the area is over-bedded for skilled nursing and the nearby Liberty Village of Maryville is already well placed to handle that need.

Beyond the town center building, two groups of six cottages would be built on either side of the main entrance, which would be directly opposite Fairview Drive, the entrance to Fairfield Subdivision.

In the second phase, 132 additional cottage units are envisioned, however, Fleck said they would be built only after they are sold. He added that the diocese would own and maintain all of the developments buildings, roads, and grounds and there would be no basements in the development.

If approved, groundbreaking would happen in 2020 with the first phase projected to complete in late 2020 or in 2021. As phase two progresses, the diocese plans to add three additional entrances/exits west along Bouse. There could be anywhere from 218 to 324 parking slots for employees, residents, and visitors within the development.

Depending on how many phases are ultimately built, the project may sprout a future road connecting it to Liberty Village, according to the plans shown Tuesday, but Link and Fleck cautioned that is preliminary.

Fleck said the diocese has partnered with Franciscan Ministries, which has created similar developments in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. There are similar facilities for other faiths in this area and the bishop would like to see one erected for Catholics, Fleck said.

A few Fairfield residents attended the hearing, with concerns after the last project, about 10 years ago, was proposed then halted after residents objected. Commissioner Bill Davison, who remembers the previous project, said this one is completely different even though it is on part or all of the same property.

As the project would use former farm fields, four detention ponds would be built to capture runoff while the projects sanitation sewers would connect to those used by the high school. As more cottages are sold, the sewer lines would be extended, said Village Administrator Jamie Bowden, and residents on the north side of Bouse could potentially take advantage of such.

Link said the development would not cause any water pressure issues. She told residents that elevation causes those, not the number of users hooked up to mains.

Bowden reminded residents that vacant land in the village doesnt tend to remain vacant.

As construction plans have already been reported for Bouse Road, in conjunction with the Old Troy Road construction project, Link said TWM would collaborate with the contractor when and where their projects overlap.

Current plans are for installing stop signs on Bouse at Old Troy and monitoring traffic counts as construction progresses. There are no current or future plans for a traffic light at Bouse and Old Troy.

Fleck pointed out that traffic counts for a development like this are well under those for a similarly sized, single-family home subdivision, which he said would average three vehicles per house.

Here, assisted living and memory care residents would not have cars, and some independent living residents may not have cars while those residing in the cottages would typically have one car each.

In other planning and zoning action, the commission tabled a discussion regarding the villages subdivision code. The next village planning and zoning meeting is Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the village hall at 151 N. Main Street.

Reach Charles Bolinger at (618) 656-4700, ext. 31
Bloomberg photo by Pete Marovich

Pope Francis has made no secret in the past of his disdain for President Donald Trump's immigration policy. Francis speaks frequently of welcoming migrants; he has said he prefers bridges rather than walls.

On Wednesday, as the pope flew to Panama for a massive gathering of Catholic youth, a reporter asked Francis about a barrier constructed between the United States and Mexico, near San Diego, California, according to Reuters.
Every one of the public housing residents wanted their own gym, their own auditoriums, their own schools. They were alienated from the neighborhood, Jones said in an interview last week. There was a neighborhood here and public housing there. We stopped all that. Now, its all merged together so they are getting the same amenities as the community. They are a part of the community.
Laredo City Manager Horacio De Leon retired Tuesday night after City Council spent nearly two hours in executive session discussing his performance objectives for the year and his employment agreement, which they had approved in August.

Several people in the audience gasped when De Leon announced his retirement. De Leon indicated that his retirement was spurred by council wanting to move in a different direction.

"After discussions with council in executive session about their vision and what they wanted to do, and how they wanted things to be considered, I think it was best that I retire and they look for someone that is willing and able to bring their vision to fruition," De Leon told reporters outside council chambers.

His retirement took effect immediately.

READ ALSO: Laredo Justice of the Peace offering free marriages for federal employees

As De Leon got up to leave council chambers, the audience stood and gave him a standing ovation. He shook people's hands and grinned on his way out.

When asked what he'll be doing next, he smiled and said he is looking forward to enjoying travel and will be searching for a second career.

Council asked that Chief Innovations Officer Rosario Cabello take over the city manager's spot for the rest of the meeting, but they did not name her interim city manager.

Deputy City Manager Cynthia Collazo, the second-highest ranking city employee, was not present at Tuesday's meeting. She had previously expressed interest in retiring at the end of this month. It was not immediately clear if she had decided to retire.

De Leon had served as city manager for about a year and a half. He took the helm as interim city manager in May 2017 after then-City Manager Jesus Olivares retired. Similar to De Leon, Olivares announced his retirement after meeting with council members in executive session. Olivares had spent about two and a half years in the position.

In response to De Leon's announcement, each council member and the mayor went around and thanked De Leon for his service. He has worked for the city for nearly 26 years.

READ ALSO: Laredo City Council agenda has 100+ items, including reality TV series, scooter pilot program

Mayor Pete Saenz said they were indebted to his service, and they respect that he wants to take another course. Councilman George Altgelt said he admired his by-the-book approach, and that he was grateful for De Leon to have taken them through this transition phase after Olivares' retirement.

De Leon's employment contract specifies that if he had been removed from his position, he would have received a lump sum worth two years of his salary, about $520,000. However, his voluntary retirement does not qualify as removal.

The terms of his retirement were not divulged.

The discussion of De Leon's employment agreement and performance objects was brought forward by Councilman Alberto Torres. Saenz and Altgelt co-sponsored the item.
A woman has been arrested after her 3-year-old child went outside the house looking for her, according to Laredo police.

Brenda Olguin, 34, was charged with abandoning, endangering a child with intent to return.
For the length of the Trump presidency, Laredo City Council has been very clear that they do not support the construction of a border wall in their city.

However, as the federal government shutdown  which hinges on the president's aspirations for funding new sections of wall  continues to drag on, the city is getting in front of the issue, and is presenting their ideal version of a barrier in Laredo.

This would be a bulkhead, or a retaining wall, along the river; almost a reverse wall, with park space and development leading up to a 15-or-so-foot drop down to the Rio Grande and an adjacent pedestrian path that Border Patrol could use. The distance from the river's edge to Tres Laredos Park currently is about 7 feet, for reference.

"If they're going to impose some physical structure on us, we'll accept that funding and apply it this way," Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz said at a news conference Tuesday.

READ ALSO: Mayor Pete Saenz felt 'disenfranchised' at lack of communication with Trump during McAllen visit

Saenz and City Manager Horacio De Leon presented this idea to local Border Patrol leadership on Monday.

"They have no authority to respond or act accordingly. They just heard. But based on their facial expressions  they seemed pleasing," Saenz said. "It seemed favorable, but it's not definitive. ... They did say that they would take this concept, as an alternative, to Washington."

Saenz said that Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, is currently advocating for this bulkhead approach at the capitol as well. Then city leadership will be taking this plan to Washington D.C. on their annual legislative trip, which will be the first week of March. But De Leon noted that they present this master plan at the capitol every year when they visit.

The concept is called the River Vega Master Plan, and it was initiated by the city about 15 years ago, the city manager said. Viviana Frank and Frank Rotnofsky, the architects who designed the plan, said it was created to encourage economic development and beautification along the Rio Grande. It just so happens to work for border security too.

The idea is that the bulkhead would span about 12 miles of diverse river vega land in Laredo, from Chacon Creek up to Manadas Creek in north Laredo. Each area would have to be studied carefully, and the whole project would be millions of dollars. But the idea is that it would be paid for with allocated wall funding from the federal government.

If the president's mutli-billion-dollar hardline for wall funding is in fact met, 55 miles of barrier in Webb County would be priority No. 8 on the list, according to Cuellar.

Saenz said that council would have to meet again on this topic to discuss anything beyond their plan for this 12 miles.

A retaining wall is by no means a new concept. They've been around for centuries, Viviana Frank noted. She showed a photo of a promenade along the Seine in Paris.

"This is the 12th century solution right there," she said.

The project here would be a solution that fits with the character of Laredo's architecture and existing urban design, Frank told reporters.

Saenz said his dream would be for Nuevo Laredo to do something similar on their side, to create a true binational river walk.

Council would still prefer a virtual, technological wall over a physical structure, as they've been saying for years, Saenz noted. But if a compromise is in fact reached in Congress, the bulkhead would be preferable over an unattractive fence or wall "that seems defensive and detracting," he said.

Tricia Cortez is the executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center, whose mission to protect and preserve the Rio Grande and its watershed.

RELATED: Razor wire quietly taken down in Laredo, but border wall looms large

She said Tuesday that given the options, a bulkhead is a creative solution that would meet a lot of competing interests.

"We don't want to sacrifice those unique green spaces for some political promise that needs to get delivered in two years," Cortez said. "Because the long-term impact for us, 50 years, 100 years down the road, would be terrible if (they) were to have to build some 30-foot wall. You really deal with an ecological crisis.

"Because this is a wildlife corridor. It's our only source of drinking water, it's an endangered river, it needs the free flow of water from runoff to tributaries to keep it alive  and I just think these aren't things that (the federal government is) thinking about rationally and logically right now. And I think something like this (bulkhead) would take more of that into account."

Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com
Sony to move European HQ to Netherlands to avoid customs issues tied to Britains planned exit from EU, while P&O Ferries confirms plan to re-flag its UK vessels in Cyprus

A growing number of companies are revealing plans to move parts of their businesses from the UK in order to remain competitive after the UK leaves the EU or to minimize the risks of disruption and complications to their businesses resulting from Brexit.

Technology giant Sony today confirmed that it will move its European headquarters from the UK to the Netherlands to avoid disruptions caused by Brexit, the latest Japanese company to announce a move to the continent in response to Brexit. The company said the move would help it avoid customs issues tied to Britains exit from the EU, the BBC reported today.

Sony said the move would mean we can continue our business as usual without disruption once the UK leaves the EU. All our existing European business functions, facilities, departments, sites and location of our people will remain unchanged from today. A spokesperson told the BBC the move would make Sony a company based in the EU so the common customs procedures will apply to Sonys European operations after Britain leaves the bloc.

Sonys rival Panasonic has already moved its headquarters to Amsterdam, mostly because of tax issues potentially created by Brexit, it has been reported.

A number of Japanese carmakers have also expressed concern over the impact of a hard Brexit. Toyota has warned that a no-deal Brexit would affect investment and would temporarily halt output at its plant in Burnaston. Honda has already planned a six-day halt in April to plan for all possible outcomes caused by logistics and border issues.

Several other Japanese firms, including Nomura Holdings, Daiwa Securities and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, have said they plan to move their main EU bases out of London. Japanese bank Norinchukin announced earlier this month that it would set up a wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands in response to Brexit and other economic changes in Europe, the BBC reported.

Freight and passenger ferry operator P&O Ferries today confirmed plans originally revealed in December to register its six remaining UK-flagged ferries on the register of a country that will be remaining in EU, Cyprus. A spokesman said: In advance of Britain leaving the European Union on 29th March 2019, we undertook a review of the flag status of our ships on the English Channel. For operational and accounting reasons, we have concluded that the best course of action is to re-flag all ships to be under the Cyprus flag.

The Cyprus flag is on the white list of both the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding, resulting in fewer inspections and delays, and will result in significantly more favourable tonnage tax arrangements as the ships will be flagged in an EU member state. We have no plans to make any other changes, including the terms and conditions of any of our seafarers, as a result of the new arrangements.

It also emerged today that the UK-headquartered appliance manufacturer Dyson is to move its headquarters to Singapore, from Wiltshire in England. Dyson chief executive Jim Rowan claimed the move from Wiltshire to Singapore had nothing to do with Brexit and was about future-proofing the business. But the fact that the companys founder and owner, James Dyson, is such a high-profile and outspoken advocate of Brexit means that the move to Singapore is inevitably being seen as a negative verdict about his companys perception of the UK as a base after Brexit, analysts say.

Image: Shutterstock.com
A new theory holds that Earth might have received the elements it needed for life to form from a massive collision with a Mars-sized planet.

The ancient collision that formed the moon may also have brought with it all the ingredients needed for life, a new study finds.

Over 4.4 billion years ago, a Mars-size body smashed into a primitive Earth, launching our moon into permanent orbit around our planet.

But a new study finds that this event could have had a much larger impact than previously thought. The collision could also have imbued our planet with the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur needed for life to form, scientists reported today (Jan. 23) in the journal Science Advances.

Back then, Earth was a little like Mars is today. It had a core and it had a mantle, but its noncore portion was very poor in volatile elements such as nitrogen, carbon and sulfur. [Science Fact or Fantasy? 20 Imaginary Worlds]

Elements in the noncore parts of our planet, called the "bulk silicate Earth," can intermingle with each other, but they never interact with the elements of the core. Though some volatiles existed in the core, they couldn't make their way to the planets outer layers. And then a collision happened.

One theory holds that special kinds of meteorites, called carbonaceous chondrites, slammed into Earth and gave the bulk silicate Earth these volatile elements. This idea rests on the fact that the ratios of different versions  or isotopes  of nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen seem to match those found on these meteorites. So, proponents of the theory argue, the meteorites must be the source of these elements.

But there's just one problem: the ratio of carbon to nitrogen is off.

While the meteorites have about 20 parts carbon to one part nitrogen, Earth's noncore material has about 40 parts carbon to each part nitrogen, according to study author Damanveer Grewal, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

An ancient collision

So, the study authors' group decided to test another theory: What if another planet brought the goodies?

"Earth could have collided with many different kinds of planets," Grewal told Live Science. Could one of those planets have given the bulk silicate Earth the correct proportion of elements?

If this collision happened, the two planetary cores would have merged and the two mantles would have merged.

So, they set out to create a possible planet that could have collided with our own.

In the lab, in a special kind of furnace, Grewal and his team created the high-temperature, high-pressure conditions under which a planets core might form. In capsules of graphite (a form of carbon), they combined metallic powder (which represents the core and includes elements such as iron bound to nitrogen) with different proportions of silicate powder (a mixture of silicon and oxygen, meant to mimic the hypothetical planets mantle).

By varying the temperature, the pressure and the proportions of sulfur in their experiments, the team created scenarios of how these elements could have divided between the core and the rest of the hypothetical planet.

They found that carbon is much less willing to bond with iron in the presence of high concentrations of nitrogen and sulfur, while nitrogen bonds with iron even when a lot of sulfur is present. So for nitrogen to be excluded from the core, and be present in other parts of the planet, it should have contained very high concentrations of sulfur, Grewal said.

They then fed these possibilities into a simulation, along with information about how different volatile elements behave, and the present-day amounts of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur in Earths outer layers.

After running over 1 billion simulations, they found that the scenario that made the most sense  the one that had the most probable timing and could lead to a correct ratio of carbon to nitrogen  was one that posited a collision and merger of Earth with a Mars-size planet that contained about 25 to 30 percent sulfur in its core.

This theory "is very probable," said Celia Dalou, an experimental petrologist at the Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques in France, who was not a part of the study. "This work is a very successful result of years of research of various different teams."

Originally published on Live Science.
Prince William talks with British naturalist Sir David Attenborough during a plenary session during the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2019.

Famous British naturalist Sir David Attenborough had words of warning for the economic heavyweights gathered in Davos, Switzerland, this week: Climate change has already dramatically altered the Earth.

Speaking to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday (Jan. 22), Attenborough said that during his lifetime, humans have changed the climate so much that we are no longer in the Holocene epoch  "the 12,000-year period of climatic stability that allowed humans to settle, farm and create civilizations"  but are now in the "Anthropocene," the "Age of Humans."

"I am quite literally from another age," said Attenborough, The Washington Post reported. At 92, he was born prior to a frequently proposed cutoff for the start of the Anthropocene, which is generally set around 1950.

But is Attenborough really from "another age"?

A controversial proposal

The idea that we've officially entered a new geological epoch is controversial.

A geological epoch must be marked by something in the geologic record that future scientists could point to as a transition or unique feature of the era. The International Commission of Stratigraphy makes the call as to whether a geological unit qualifies for the official geologic time scale. The Anthropocene hasn't officially made the cut yet, but an Anthropocene Working Group has been formed to consider a formal definition.

The arguments for the Anthropocene are many, but the boundaries are still fuzzy. According to the Anthropocene Working Group, the start of the new epoch might be considered to be the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when humans began pumping fossil-fuel emissions into the atmosphere and warming the climate. That would put the date at around 1800, well before Attenborough's birth.

A popular alternative suggestion is one that Attenborough referenced in Switzerland. Setting the Anthropocene in the 1950s would peg its beginning to an unmistakable global record that exists in the form of radioactive isotopes left over from nuclear testing.

Signs of humans

Other recent, indelible marks of human activity might include millions of miles of holes and tunnels from mining and oil drilling, scientists have suggested. Future geologists may notice layers of "plastiglomerate," a new kind of rock formed from melted plastic and organic debris. The fossil record might even mark us by what we eat: Since the 1950s, chickens have become huge and weird.

Attenborough's remarks weren't meant as an academic debate about epochs, however. In his speech, he exhorted global influencers to take action to save the planet.

"We are destroying the natural world," he said, "and with it, ourselves."

Originally published on Live Science.
However, the animal's long wait in species limbo is finally over.

Researchers recently revealed that not only is the snake a new species; it also represents a new genus. And the name they gave it, Cenaspis aenigma, is a whimsical nod to where the snake was found, translating from Latin as "mysterious dinner." [Photos: This Python Chowed Down on 3 Deer]

The presumably delicious snake, an adult male, measured about 10 inches (26 centimeters) in length. It belongs to the snake family Colubridae, which includes hundreds of species  about 51 percent of all known snake species.

Yet, the so-called dinner snake possesses certain traits that make it unique among all of its Colubridae relatives, such as the shape of its skull and reproductive anatomy, and the undivided, enlarged plates under its tail, according to the study.

A drawing of Cenaspis aenigma reconstructs the swallowed species in life. (Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto/The University of Texas at Arlington)

Using computed X-ray tomography (CT) scans, the researchers created digital models of the snake's skull, reproductive organs and other skeletal features, and compared them to models of known snakes. They identified the snake as a member of the Colubridae family, but with features that represented a new species and genus, according to the study.

An elongated skull and the distribution of scales hinted that it was a burrowing snake, lead study author Jonathan Campbell, a professor of biology at the University of Texas at Arlington, told Live Science in an email.

This Cenaspis aenigma skull was digitally modeled from CT scans. Its flattened shape suggests that the snake burrows in soil. (Image credit: The University of Texas at Arlington)

Decades of searching

Campbell has known about this mysterious snake for decades, ever since it was collected in 1976 in Mexico, he said. Soon after the snake was recovered from the belly of a coral snake, scientists recognized it as a novel species. But researchers hesitated to describe the species from only one specimen  and a partly digested one, at that, they reported.

Over the next four decades, Campbell and his colleagues combed the highlands of southern Mexico, making dozens of trips to search for more evidence of the "enigmatic little snake," they wrote in the study. But they were unable to find any living individuals resembling the one from the coral snake's stomach, likely for a couple of reasons, Campbell said.

Many snakes live in very restricted geographic ranges; at the same time, snakes aren't typically abundant in their native ecosystem, which can make them harder to find, Campbell explained.

In the end, after 42 years went by, the scientists decided that it was finally time to share their discovery.

"At some point, you have to realize that you need to make the information available and let other researchers follow up," Campbell said in the email.

The findings were published online Nov. 27 in the Journal of Herpetology.

Originally published on Live Science.
Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai's famous painting, known as "Under the Wave off Kanagawa" and "The Great Wave," is thought to be a so-called freak wave.

It takes a perfect storm to generate a freak wave, a wall of water so unpredictable and colossal that it can easily destroy and sink ships, a new study finds.

Take, for instance, the Draupner freak wave, which struck on Jan. 1, 1995, near the Draupner Oil Platform off the coast of Norway. That wave reached an incredible 84 feet (25.6 meters) tall, or about the height of four adult giraffes stacked on top of one another. Another famous rogue wave is depicted by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai in his19th-century woodblock print called "The Great Wave," which shows an enormous surge of water moments before an inevitable crash.

To figure out why these freak waves appear so suddenly and without warning, an international team of researchers from England, Scotland and Australia reproduced a scaled crest of the Draupner wave in a lab tank. [In Photos: Check Out These Monster Waves]

The team successfully decoded the rogue wave's recipe: It simply needs two smaller wave groups that intersect at an angle of about 120 degrees, they found.

A rogue wave breaking, as seen by Veronique Sarano in the Southern Ocean. (Image credit: Copyright V. Sarano)

The discovery shifts scientists understanding of freak waves "from mere folklore to a credible real-world phenomenon," study lead researcher Mark McAllister, a research assistant in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford in England, said in a statement. "By recreating the Draupner wave in the lab, we have moved one step closer to understanding the potential mechanisms of this phenomenon."

When ocean waves break under typical circumstances, the fluid velocity (the speed and direction of the water) at the top of the wave, known as the crest, exceeds the velocity of the crest itself, McAllister told Live Science in an email. This causes the water in the crest to overtake the wave, and then crash downward as the wave breaks.

However, when waves cross at large angle (in this case, 120 degrees), wave-breaking behavior changes. As waves crisscross, the horizontal fluid velocity under the wave crest gets canceled out and so the resulting wave can grow taller and taller without crashing. "Thus plunging breaking no longer occurs and upward jet-like breaking, as illustrated in our video [see below], occurs. And, seemingly, this second type of breaking does not limit wave height in the same way," McAllister said.

In other words, when waves cross at large angles, they can create monster waves like the Draupner freak wave and Hokusai's Great Wave.

However, wave groups don't necessarily need to meet at a precise angle of 120 degrees to go rogue.

"In the case of the Draupner wave, the angle of 120 degrees is what was necessary to support such a wave," McAllister said. But "more generally speaking, any amount of crossing in the oceans will support steeper waves."

The finding illustrates "previously unobserved wave-breaking behavior, which differs significantly from current state-of-the-art understanding of ocean wave-breaking," study senior author T. S. van den Bremer, an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, said in the statement.

The team hopes that their work will lay the groundwork for future studies that may one day help scientists predict these potentially catastrophic waves, they said.

The wet and wild experiments were done at the FloWave Ocean Energy Research facility at the University of Edinburgh.

The laboratory recreation of the Draupner wave. (Image credit: McAllister, M.L. et al. J. Fluid Mech. (2019); CC BY 4.0)

"The FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility is a circular combined wave-current basin with wavemakers fitted around the entire circumference," Sam Draycott, a research associate in the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, said in the statement. "This unique capability enables waves to be generated from any direction, which has allowed us to experimentally recreate the complex directional wave conditions we believe to be associated with the Draupner wave event."

The study will be published in the Feb. 10 issue of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

Originally published on Live Science.
Conservators and archaeologists complete conservation work of the wall paintings in the burial chamber of King Tut's tomb in the spring of 2016.

Conservators have finally completed a decade-long restoration of the tomb of King Tutankhamun in Egypt.

The project  carried out by the Los Angeles-based Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) and the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities  involved stabilizing the wall paintings that decorated the 3,000-year-old tomb, as well as adding features like new barriers and a new ventilation system that would reduce damage to the site in the future.

"Conservation and preservation is important for the future and for this heritage and this great civilization to live forever," Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist and former minister of State for Antiquities in Egypt, said in a statement.

Tutankhamun was born during Egypt's New Kingdom, around 1341 B.C. Sometimes called the boy king, he began his rule at age 9, and died suddenly in his late teens. [In Photos: The Life and Death of King Tut]

Tut's tomb became world famous in 1922, when British Egyptologist Howard Carter found the site in pristine condition. While many other royal tombs in Egypt's Valley of the Kings had been pilfered in antiquity, Tutankhamun's burial chamber was discovered intact, thanks to mud and rocks that blocked the entrance.

Carter's team spent 10 years removing artifacts from the richly packed tomb. After their investigation, the site became a major tourist attraction.

But visitors bring dust as well as changes in humidity and carbon dioxide levels that have threatened the fragile environment inside the burial chamber.

The restoration included an investigation of mysterious brown spots that were feared to be growing like a fungus in the wall paintings.

Conservators confirmed that the spots were microbes, but they were long dead, and had not in fact spread since Carter opened the tomb in 1922. What's more, the microbes had already grown into the paint layer, so they couldn't be removed from the wall paintings without damaging the artwork.

The tomb  open to visitors through much of the conservation  still contains some of its original artifacts, including the mummy of Tutankhamun.

Environmental monitoring outside King Tut's tomb. (Image credit: copyright J. Paul Getty Trust )

"All of these objects have to be protected because they are the results of an excavation that, by the very definition of archaeology, has destroyed an archaeological site in the process of digging it," said Egyptologist Kent Weeks in a video about the restoration released by the Getty Conservation Institute. He added that the conservators might be the most important players on a modern archaeological excavation in Egypt.

"Objects that we get out of that site are only as useful to us as the context that we have recorded them having been found in."

Original article on Live Science.
LIMERICK City and County Council has been asked to apologise to Hyde Road residents, after it was claimed ownership of the land used to develop a car park is actually under dispute.

Local activist Noel Hannan also called for the local authority to abandon any plans for a car compound at the Hyde Road park, work on which kicked off last week.

It comes after the Limerick Leader learned the ownership of the land is being claimed by the beneficiaries of the Pearse Estate.

The late Mary Ellen Pearse owned huge swathes of land across the southside, including the area which the council is planning to develop on.

The land was the subject of three Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) in 1942, 1954 and 1956.

But a dispute over the compensation to Ms Pearse, who died in 1958, meant no money ever changed hands.

Now, a spokesperson for the Pearse Estate beneficiaries claims that this makes the CPO null and void, and by rights ownership should fall back on the estate.

Limerick Council has no title to do work there, they told this newspaper.

A case on the land ownership has been listed before the High Court for the last five years, but has yet to be heard.

In that time, the estate informed the Land Registration Authority who, its understood, ordered a freeze on new registrations to the Hyde Road park.

Although the council insists just 10% of the land will be used for parking spaces, with the remainder landscaped and turned into a public walking space there is widespread opposition.

More than 1,330 people have signed a petition set up by election candidate Elisa ODonovan, citing the loss of a green space, traffic danger for local youngsters and a feeling there are other car parking spaces which could be used instead.

The people objecting to this park are there for the last 70 to 80 years, and Im sure they would have some rights in relation to what happens there. I would be supportive of their objection. They have lived in the area, and whatever goes in there should be their choice, said a spokesperson for the Pearse Estate.

Mr Hannan added: It [the car park] should be abandoned, filled in, the fence should be taken down, and the people of the Hyde Road should get an apology from Limerick City and County Council.

He added the car park would be a terrible eyesore.

People up there feel cheated. The council has just come along, put up a fence and made it an eyesore, and the bottom line is  where are their children going to play, Mr Hannon asked.

A council spokesperson did not respond to several requests for comment from the Leader. They have previously defended the project, saying it has already been passed by members, and the land affected by the plan is not in regular use.
UNIVERSITY Hospital Limericks overcrowded emergency department cannot afford strike action next week, a local TD has warned.

Fianna Fail TD Willie ODea made the statement this week, ahead of an historic nationwide strike which is to be held by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation next Wednesday.

INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said that, as of yet, the Government has made no proposals to avert the upcoming strike following discussions between INMO, Psychiatric Nurses Association and the HSE this Monday.

We have referred the health employers to the Workplace Relations Commission, and they have agreed to attend. Preparations for the strike continue, she said.

It is possible, the INMO has warned, that five days of subsequent strike action could take place nationwide if the Government does not come up with a solution to nurses pay and conditions.

Deputy ODea said that the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick already has the worst overcrowding in the country and cannot afford for our excellent nurses to be forced out on strike action.

The Fianna Fail motion which called on the Government to engage with nursing organisations the INMO and the PNA, and also called for the establishment of an expert group which would examine the nursing and midwifery profession as well as remuneration, contracts and allowances, was endorsed by the Dail, with the Government voting against it.

He added: We need to bear in mind the changing nature of the nursing and midwifery professions in recent years and the ever increasing demands of their jobs given the countrys demographic needs.

There were 59 patients on trolleys in the ED and wards this Tuesday at UHL.
To identify those who are at risk of suicide, screening needs to ask specifically about it, Grupp-Phelan said. Not all depressed kids think about suicide, and those who are suicidal do not always have depression, she pointed out.
A JUDGE has expressed concerns that safety orders are being misused and that vexatious complaints are being made to gardai relating to alleged breaches.

Judge Brian OShea made his comments as he dismissed charges brought against a 47-year-old woman who was accused of breaching an order which was previously granted to her estranged husband.

The prosecution, before Limerick District Court, related to an incident which was alleged to have happened in the Raheen area of the city on August 3, last.

The complainant, whose aged in his mid-30s, told gardai he had an altercation with the woman at around 9.30am while making arrangements relating to their young son. He added that she had made threats against him during the incident.

She is a little bit mental, he said.

Garda Des Buckley confirmed when he met the complainant, he alleged his wife had driven at him while he was pushing a buggy and that she had verbally abused him.

Being questioned by solicitor Andrew DArcy the defendant accepted he has a number of previous convictions and is an accomplished Thai boxer.

He said he is not worried that the woman will physically hurt him but that he is scared psychologically of her.

Dismissing the charge, Judge OShea said it was clear to him that the court was dealing with two adults who are enveloped in a bitter dispute.

He commented that both the complainant and the defendant were behaving immaturely and that the prosecution before the court had no merit.

Its a complete and utter waste of court time, he said adding that the making of vexatious complaints to gardai amounts to an abuse of process.
AS CELEBRATIONS marking the anniversary of the first Dail took place this week, two intelligent and insightful Limerick students delivered special addresses from the venue where it first met 100 years ago.

Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh student Megan Ni Laighin and Ceiti Ni Mhathuna, from Laurel Hill Colaiste, were among 15 students who delivered TED-Ed Club presentations in Mansion House on Tuesday.

The presentations by the students were delivered in the Round Room of the Mansion House, the venue for the first public sitting of Dail Eireann on January 21, 1919.

The calibre of the students presentations is simply outstanding and will be inspiring to all those who hear them, Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail TD said, speaking before the ceremony.

These are brave, empathetic, intelligent and insightful young people with powerful messages.

There can be no better way to commemorate the first hundred years of Dail Eireann than to highlight voices of future leadership in our country as these students surely represent.

In their addresses, Ms Ni Laighin spoke about the dangers of alcohol to our society, while Ms Ni Mhathuna asked where the pride in Irish has gone.

Other students chose topics that included the power of democracy, the impact of social media, challenges in mental health services, coping with stress and the relevance of education in the real world.

Ms Ni Laighin and Ms Ni Mhathuna were selected from 350 students following a nationwide competition open to students across the country.

The selected group, all aged between 16 to 17 years old, spent many hours preparing their presentations as part of 13 TED-Ed Club lessons under the guidance of their teachers and parliamentary education officer Conor Reale.

Mr Reale, who is from Hospital in County Limerick, set up the Oireachtas Education TED-Ed Club.

TED-Ed clubs are a branch of the main TED organisation where secondary school students can create, craft and deliver a speech in the TED style around a topic that they feel strongly about, he said.

They go through a series of lessons called explorations from TED. I delivered those through a mixture of onsite sessions in Leinster House and online as well. I set it up as part of our Dail 100 celebrations to give young people the chance to speak in the building where the first Dail met.

Both presentations by Ms Ni Laighin and Ms Ni Mhathuna will be available to watch on the Ted-Ed YouTube channel.
Cavan Fianna Fail Deputy Brendan Smith says the Department of Education has sought further information from the Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board (ETB) relating to the proposed closure of St Bricin's College, Belturbet and St. Mogue's College, Bawnboy.



The Minister in Dail Eireann last week was replying to Deputy Smith's question on the plans to close two schools and build a new 16m second level school in Ballyconnell.



Deputy Smith also outlined the opposition of the local communities to the ETB proposal.

Meetings held in Bawnboy and Belturbet this month heard from a large number of local people opposed to closing the schools.

A protest was held at Cavan County Council last month and further action is expected from the two communities as they fight to save their schools.

Also read: Confirmed: St Mogue's and St Bricin's Colleges to close and merge into new school
Local TD, Denis Naughten, has welcomed the statement by FBD Insurance that its agricultural motor product provides insurance protection cover for farmers who respond to local emergency situations. This includes clearing snow from local road networks and entrances to private dwellings as seen during Storm Emma.

This is a welcome development and comes on top of an assurance I secured last year at a meeting of the National Emergency Coordination Group (NECG) that approval be given to farmers and those with heavy equipment to clear local roads, once they did so with common sense and on a voluntary basis, said Denis Naughten.

Last year during storm Emma hundreds of farmers throughout the country helped neighbours who were marooned in their homes, and there is no doubt that without this huge voluntary effort by the farming community many more families and older people would have experienced far greater hardship.

The clarification now provided by FBD insurance provides reassurance to farmers who act as good Samaritans that they will not be legally exposed by taking such actions. It is great to see the community spirit that is thriving in rural communities is being supported by one of the biggest insurance companies in Ireland, concluded Denis Naughten.
A 344 year old portrait of Emily FitzGerald, the Duchess of Leinster which will be unveiled in Castletown House in Kildare tomorrow morning, the original home of her sister, Louisa Conolly.

The portrait was last displayed in Ireland in 1957 and has been hanging in the dining room of Carton House for many years, before being acquired by the OPW, the Castletown Foundation, with support from the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland.

Emily had a fascinating life, and gave birth to 22 children with two husbands. Fourteen of her children predeceased her. She was married to James FitzGerald, the first Duke of Leinster and was referred to as the Queen of Ireland for her role as a political influencer. Her son Edward, was a major figure in the United Irishmen, was injured during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and died in prison of his wounds.

Born on 6 October 1731, Emily Lennox was the god-daughter of George II and was the second of seven surviving children of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Lennox and Sarah, daughter of William Cadogan, Earl Cadogan. She married James FitzGerald, the 20th Earl of Kildare on February 7, 1747. After their wedding in London, the couple returned to Fitzgerald's native Ireland and resided in Carton House, Frascati House, Blackrock and Leinster House, Dublin.

Their marriage was reportedly a happy one, despite Lord Kildare's infidelities and the couple had 19 children together (although the paternity of the last child was questioned). Lord Kildare was made the Marquess of Kildare and the Duke of Leinster in recognition of his contribution to the political life of his country, which many have attributed to the skilful political networking by his wife.

After his death she caused quite the scandal when she married her Scottish lover William Ogilvie, who originally had come to Carton House as a tutor to her children. They had three further children and lived well thanks for a generous 4,000 annual allowance that was left to her in her first husbands will.

In fact that will was so generous that it put their son William, who inherited the title from his late father, under serious financial pressure to meet the allowance.

She died on March 27, 1814 at the grand old age of 82.

Read also: REVEALED: This is where the 500,000 EuroMillions Plus ticket was sold in Kildare

The portrait of Emily was by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was painted in 1774, when she was in London visiting her dying sister, Caroline, Lady Holland. It shows Emily looking stately in a pink dress and ermine shawl, within a painted oval. She was 43 at the time, a year after her husbands death, and would go on to have a further three children with Ogilvie.

Reynolds had also painted a portrait of her in 21 years earlier in 1753.

The painting to be unveiled tomorrow originally hung in the dining room of Carton House, and will now be displayed in Castletown House, home of her sister Lady Louisa Conolly of Castletown House.

The FitzGeralds and indeed the Conollys played a hugely significant role in Irish historical life at the time. It was Emily who arranged the marriage of her the 14 year old sister to the Thomas Conolly, a parliamentarian nine years older than her.
Aldi will recruit 33 new employees across its eight stores in Kildare this year with opportunities available for store manager, assistant store manager and store assistant positions.

The German retailer has announced a new minimum rate of pay of 11.90 an hour, matching the Living Wage rate recommended by the Oireachtass Living Wage Technical Group.

The company claims that this will reaffirms Aldis position as Irelands highest paying supermarket and will make Aldi the first grocery retailer to pay the Living Wage rate of 11.90 rate.

The new rate will be effective from the February 1," the company said in a statement.

Donald Mackay, Managing Director Aldi Naas Region said the company is seeking to recruit 33 new employees this year for our stores in Kildare.

We plan on hiring 500 new employees this year to join the Aldi team and contribute to our growth and success. Our expanding store portfolio, market performance and new Project Fresh stores demand that we continue to future proof our business with the best people in retail.

Aldi claims to have a 10.8% share of Irelands grocery market. In a statement they said that they had their busiest Christmas week ever in 2018 with sales up over 10% on the previous year.

And they welcomed an additional 270,000 new customers to its stores in 2018. It is currently engaged in a new store opening programme, while also investing 60m in revamping and refurbishing its existing stores nationwide, introducing its Project Fresh design and layout.

For full details of the different roles and pay offered by Aldi click here.
Many of the 12,000 Laois commuters who face daily trips to Dublin and other places for work would not have to do so if rural broadband was rolled out.

So said Laois Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley during a Dail Debate on the National Broadband Plan. He also claimed that more than 25,000 households in Laois and Offaly remain unserviced while the plan to cover the country is stalled.

The National Broadband Plan, (NBP), is supposed to connect the remaining 542,000 households and businesses requiring high-speed broadband. Taking County Laois alone, there are 12,721 houses or premises left to be serviced, while in Offaly there are 12,420 remaining.

"There are large areas in both counties that are not covered, including Banagher, Ferbane, Daingean, Rhode, Geashill, Kilcormac and Killeigh, along with many other places in Offaly. In Laois the areas not covered include Borris-in-Ossory, Ballaghmore, Ballinakill, Clonaslee, Rosenallis, Vicarstown, Ballylynan, Graigue and Crettyard," he said.

He said broadband blackspots has a direct impact on job opportunities and choices.

"Almost 12,000 people commute from Laois to work every day and many of them do not need to do so. Many of them have complained to me, saying that if they had services locally, they would not have to commute long distances," he said.

The Laois TD said the procurement for the National Broadband Plan has been "a series of failures" leaving homes and businesses waiting for reliable high-speed broadband. He called for a plan B.

In 2012 Sinn Fein proposed the use of infrastructure already in place and in State hands for the NBP. The electricity infrastructure which is going to virtually every home in the State, is already being used to carry fibre.

The backbone of saving and growing rural Ireland will be the future high-speed broadband network which is long promised. When this Government took power in 2016 they committed to connecting every home by 2020. We dont know if it will even begin in 2020. This Government need to realise the vital need for broadband and for this to start," he said.

He asked the Minister responsible Richard Bruton when the contract would be signed and when work begin and how long will the contract take to deliver.

Just one company is in the running to deliver rural broadband in a process that has been beset by controversy and led to the resignation of a minister.
Two men were arrested and are due in court on Wednesday charged in connection with a number of offences including the burglary of a car in the Killeshin area on the Laois/Carlow border.

Following the burglary in the Killeshin area of Laois on January 11, Gardai from Abbeyleix, Portlaoise and Carlow arrested and detained two males.

The 19 and 20-year-old Carlow natives will be appearing at Carlow District Court on January, 23 charged with a number of offences in connection with this and other incidents.

A woman who was assaulted in the car burglary incident was taken to the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. While her injuries are not life-threatening, she is believed to be badly shaken by what happened.

Laois Offaly gardai thanked the public for their help.

"We would like to thank the public for their assistance in these matters and always remain vigilant."

READ MORE: Garda appeal for stolen Nissan Qashqai after woman assaulted by a gang in Laois on Carlow border.
The German-based Aldi supermarket chain is set to recruit for its Laois shops as part of a national expansion plan.

Aldi Ireland confirmed it is seeking to recruit 30 new employees across its stores in Offaly, Laois and Westmeath. Opportunities are now available for Store Manager, Assistant Store Manager and Store Assistant positions.

Aldi has outlets in Portlaoise and Portarlington and has preliminary plans to open a shop in Mountmellick.

Aldi Ireland also announced a new minimum rate of pay of 11.90 an hour, matching the Living Wage rate recommended by The Living Wage Technical Group. The new rate will be effective from, February 1, 2019.

Commenting, Donald Mackay, Managing Director Aldi Naas Region confirmed the recruitment was part of a bigger staff expansion.

We plan on hiring 500 new employees this year to join the Aldi team and contribute to our growth and success. We need the very best people to join our business to help us continue to deliver the highest level of customer service and lowest grocery prices in Ireland.

"Our expanding store portfolio, market performance and new Project Fresh stores demand that we continue to future proof our business with the best people in retail, he said.

Read also: LAOIS TOWN MAY GET NEW ALDI

Aldi says it has a 10.8% share of Irelands grocery market. It says it experienced its busiest Christmas week ever in 2018, with sales value up over 10% on the previous year.

Full details of the different roles and pay offered by Aldi are available at https://www.aldirecruitment.ie
The Downings said they got positive feedback from social media users on the pilot when it premiered last month and they need more people to tune in Friday. If Double Down is picked up to series, it would not be the only Chicago home renovation show on TV. Windy City Rehab, which follows Alison Victoria Gramenos as she flips North Side homes, premiered on HGTV this month.
A flood watch is in effect for the Lehigh Valley and northwestern New Jersey through Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

We can expect an inch or two of rain starting Wednesday afternoon and continuing through Thursday afternoon, the watch statement says.

A flood watch doesnt mean flooding is imminent. Rather, flooding is possible.

Sensitive streams and creeks will be susceptible to flooding, the weather service says. An isolated instance of flash flooding cannot be ruled out.

A Flood Watch has been issued for portions of the area from this afternoon through Thursday afternoon. Rain will overspread the area this evening, becoming moderate to heavy at times. For the latest forecast, visit our webpage: https://t.co/IqjGqGzzwq. #PAwx #NJwx #MDwx #DEwx pic.twitter.com/SRiGX18vNK  NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) January 23, 2019

The forecast for Easton includes the possibility of freezing rain from noon through 2 p.m. Wednesday. After a few dry hours, we can expect above-freezing temperatures and more rain by 7 p.m. Wednesday which will last into mid-Thursday, the forecast says.

EPAWA Weather Consulting says midday icing on Wednesday is more likely in high elevation areas.

This map shows the possibility of icing on Jan. 23, 2019. (Courtesy EPAWA Weather Consulting)

Rain will wind down Thursday morning, and possibly end as a mix of snow briefly in spots, EPAWA Weather Consultings forecast says. Expect partly to mostly sunny and colder conditions both Friday and Saturday. A fast-moving clipper system could bring some snow showers on Sunday, but areas affected and timing is still in question.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter@RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Carbon Countys district attorney said a police officers fatal shooting of a suspect following a 17-mile pursuit was accidental and she will not be filing criminal charges in the case.

Danny Washington, 27, of Fort Lauderdale, died after being shot by a police officer on Dec. 18, 2018, in Franklin Township, Carbon County, authorities said.

Washington was one of five men in a Dodge white minivan that police attempted to stop after a witness reported it was driving erratically in Beaver Meadows. The van initially stopped on Route 93, but then sped off, according to police.

The van fled south on Route 93 and as it neared the Carbon County jail in Nesquehoning, stolen checks were thrown from the vehicle, police said. The pursuit continued at speeds up to 90 mph into Jim Thorpe and Lehighton before ending on Route 209 in Franklin Township when officers used spike strips, authorities said.

Once the van stopped, numerous officers surrounded the van and ordered the occupants out.

Washington was in a backseat on the drivers side, and allegedly refused to comply with the officers' commands. Police said Washington was being removed from the van, when he began to forcibly struggle with the officer.

The pair collided with another officer, whose weapon fired and wounded Washington, District Attorney Jean Engler said in a news release. Washington was taken to St. Lukes University Hospital in Fountain Hill, where he was later pronounced dead.

Engler ruled the shooting was accidental, and that she would not be filing criminal charges. Engler did not name the officer or the police department for which the officer worked.

It is unfortunate that Mr. Washington lost his life during this encounter, but it is also abundantly clear from both civilian and police eyewitnesses that Mr. Washingtons own conduct in failing to comply and physically struggling with the officers contributed to his being shot and killed, Engler said the release.

The four other men in the van are facing criminal charges: Driver Mitchell Knight and passengers Creshaun Caldwell, Cedric Cason and Tyrone Parker Jr.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A vehicle split in half and the speeding driver was seriously injured Tuesday night after a crash on Route 309 in Luzerne County, troopers said.

Pennsylvania State Police at the Hazleton barracks said Gilberto Rodriguez Sanchez, 25, of Hazleton, was speeding at 5:18 p.m. while traveling south on Route 309 in Hazle Township, when he lost control of the 2006 Honda Accord and struck a utility pole.

The car started spinning, troopers said, and crossed over the northbound lane, then hit the pole.

The crash split the Honda into two pieces and Rodriguez Sanchez was ejected, state police said. He was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township with suspected major injuries.

Troopers said Rodriguez Sanchez will be charged with speeding, failing to stay in his lane and driving without a license.

Hazle Township Fire and Rescue Company 141 posted photos of the wreckage, which can be seen below:

A driver was seriously injured Jan. 22, 2019, after he lost control of a car and hit a utility pole in Hazle Township, Luzerne County, splitting the car into two pieces, Pennsylvania State Police said. (Photos courtesy Hazle Township Fire and Rescue Company 141 | For Lehighvalleylive.com)

A driver was seriously injured Jan. 22, 2019, after he lost control of a car and hit a utility pole in Hazle Township, Luzerne County, splitting the car into two pieces, Pennsylvania State Police said. (Photos courtesy Hazle Township Fire and Rescue Company 141 | For Lehighvalleylive.com)

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A man found frozen to death in an outdoor New Hope pool had been missing from a Hunterdon County town since last month.

New Hope police officers and Bucks County detectives were called Tuesday afternoon to 10 West Ferry St., and found the body of a man submerged in an in-ground pool.

The building was a business in a construction area, the Bucks County district attorneys office said in a news release.

The man was identified as Jose Quiroz Marcial, 29, who had been reported missing from his home in Lambertville, New Jersey, in mid-December after he did not appear for work. Marcial was last seen on Dec. 15.

Members of the New Hope Eagle Fire Company assisted the Bucks County Coroners Office in removing Marcials body from the ice.

His death was due to drowning and hypothermia, and was ruled an accident.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Six months after a new marijuana decriminalization law was passed, Bethlehem police have opted to fine people caught with a small amount of pot only four times.

On Tuesday evening, Bethlehem City Councils public safety committee learned that the decriminalization ordinance it passed unanimously in June isnt being used much by the citys 154 police officers.

Bethlehem joined Allentown and a growing number of cities when it passed its own ordinances to treat possession of a small amount of pot as a summary citation that just calls for a $25 fine for a first offense. State law deems it a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in prison and a $500 fine.

City police Chief Mark DiLuzio said in 2018 his officers made a 196 total arrests for possession of a small amount of marijuana and opted to use the fine four times. The chief did not know how many of those arrests took place after the new fines went into effect. Over the last 10 years, the city has made 1,500 arrests for possession of a small amount of pot, he said.

I was hoping the number would be higher than four, DiLuzio said.

He emphasized officers are generally busy with more pressing matters during their shifts; they arent hiding in bushes trying to catch someone smoking a joint. The majority of the charges stem from weed thats discovered while arresting someone for other violations, like driving under the influence or a bar fight or underage drinking, DiLuzio.

If the officer is filing a criminal complaint, they cannot charge them under both the state criminal code and the city ordinance, he said. In that situation, cops have a choice of ignoring the marijuana, which some do, or filing a misdemeanor charge, the chief explained.

Councilwoman Olga Negron urged DiLuzio to continue driving home the option in hopes of it gaining traction.

Once the change was enacted, department lieutenants were briefed at a monthly meeting and directed to share it with their officers. It was also announced at roll call and in a department-wide memo, he said.

They were given education on the ordinance, DiLuzio said.

Councilwoman Dr. Paige Van Wirt said shes a bit disappointed by the utilization thus far. She urged the chief to dig into the available data and find out why officers arent using the law. She suggested finding out what percentage of the 2018 arrests couldve been downgraded.

We really want this ordinance to be used, she said. It was not a puff piece.

Councilman Michael Colon echoed the councilwoman, asking the chief to find out how many of those arrests were for just marijuana possession and to monitor that through 2019. He acknowledged officers have broad discretion in charging, but said he hopes the number will rise as officers see cases holding up.

The department could track officers who are not using it and ask them why; council would welcome hearing from them, Van Wirt said. Council wants to empower officers, not hinder them, she said.

We want to make it a functional, useful thing for your officers, Van Wirt said.

The chief acknowledged some officers support the change while other do not. He expressed hope that the Pennsylvania Legislature would act on the matter to clear up the local level conflicts. In the meantime, he often tells his officers:

As society changes, so must law enforcement, DiLuzio said. "Thats the bottom line.

Before council passed the ordinance, DiLuzio warned council they were putting him in a difficult position enacting such an ordinance in a city that straddles two counties where the district attorneys have very different views on decriminalization. Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin has said he thinks such statutes are unconstitutional because they try to supersede state law. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli backed councils efforts.

In Pennsylvania, the district attorney is the chief law enforcement officer of a county, so they hold a lot of power, DiLuzio said. But Bethlehems marijuana fine has not run afoul of Martin yet.

With Morganellis decision to not run for another term and instead seek a judgeship, the Northampton County section of the city will be under a new DA come next year, Colon noted. Martin is seeking a sixth term.

This could go either way for us, Colon said.

Nuria DiLuzio, the Northampton County public defender and Bethlehem police chiefs wife, announced earlier this month shes running for Morganellis job.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter@sarasatullo and Facebook. Findlehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A quick thinking secretary faced with an armed former co-worker was able to close and lock a door to keep the gunman from going inside a warehouse, Bethlehem Township police said.

Thomas Decker Jr. was fired Tuesday after allegedly assaulting a co-worker at the 4000 Township Line Road facility in Bethlehem Township, between Hanoverville and Brodhead roads. He was escorted out by staff from GEODIS Logistics, which manages security at the facility, police said. Decker had been employed by QPSI, a company contracted by Just Born Quality Confections, which has operations in the facility, according to police.

A little before 3 p.m. Tuesday, Decker, of the 200 block of Ramblewood Driver in Saylorsburg, Monroe County, came back to the building and went into the office, police said.

As Decker tried to enter the warehouse, he was confronted by a GEODIS manager and secretary, according to police. The pair told Decker he was not allowed in the building, when Decker allegedly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at them.

The secretary was able to close and lock the door, keeping Decker from going inside the facility, according to police.

The secretary described the look on Thomas Deckers face as a blank stare, police said in court paperwork.

More than 100 employees were inside the building at the time, and the business went into an active shooter lockdown, as did surrounding businesses and a preschool.

Decker drove off, and was eventually arrested at 4:30 p.m. by Pennsylvania State Police Lehighton Barracks.

Decker, 28, is charged with making terroristic threats and two counts of simple assault. He was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Thanks to our robust safety procedures and quick thinking of GEODIS-trained teammates, the building was kept secure and everyone is safe, a statement from GEODIS says. Through our employee assistance program, GEODIS is offering services to those impacted by the incident.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
- Nigeria WhatsApp users expressed joy as the app reportedly crashed in some other countries

- The crash lasted for a few hours after the technology company said it is limiting forwarded messages

- Reacting to the development, a Twitter user said Buhari deserves a second term of office since Nigeria didnt experience any crash

WhatsApp users in Nigeria on Wednesday, January 23, rejoiced that the messaging app did not crash on Tuesday contrary to what was experienced in some parts of the world.

It would be recalled that several users worldwide, both on Android and iOS, were unable to log into their apps on Tuesday, January 22, NAN reports.

The development manifested itself just a few hours after the messenger announced that it would be curbing the number of forwards for users worldwide.

READ ALSO: TY Danjuma: Babangida caused division between Atiku, Obasanjo

However, it was observed that the app did not crash in Nigeria as many Twitter users claimed the app worked perfectly well for them throughout Tuesday, January 22.

Some Nigerians reacted to the development differently as some said the countrys President Muhammadu Buhari deserves a second term of office since we didnt experience any crash.

We are now the most powerful country in the world. What a time to be alive," Wizz official tweeted.

Aquila_Olaniyi tweeted: At least we can see the evidence of the prayer meetings we have been holding for Nigeria. Even, the Bible worked for us this time, Psalm 91:7 says, A thousand shall crash at thy side and 10,000 at your right hand but it will not come near us."

Nishant Kumar tweeted: "Everybody checking on Twitter if WhatsApp is down, including me, reminds me of childhood days when everyone would check with neighbours to confirm a power cut. What a good day to be a Nigerian."

Princewill Felix tweeted:Nigeria WhatsApp is operating on a very high level encryption, reason why the app didnt crash in Nigeria. In summary Nigeria is the most secured cyberspace in the world."

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that WhatsApp said it is set to put a strict measure on message shared across the platform by users of the app to curb the spread of fake news.

The companys vice-president for policy and communications at an event in Jakarta, Victoria Grand, on Monday, January 21, announced that with the new policy, users will be blocked from forwarding messages to more than five individuals or groups.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

THE SCOOP: Weekly top chart on social media | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- Atiku Abubakar has described report of Ghana overtaking Nigeria as West Africas largest recipient of foreign direct investment as disappointing

- The presidential candidate of the PDP vowed to make Nigeria regain its status as Africas top recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) if elected as president

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to the news that Ghana has overtaken Nigeria as West Africas largest recipient of foreign direct investment.

Legit.ng gathered that Atiku described the development as disappointing, pledging to make Nigeria regain its status as Africas top recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) if elected as president during the 2019 presidential election.

The PDP presidential candidate in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, January 23, said: "As a businessman and employer of labour, I am disappointed that a nation with 15% of our population has outperformed us in this area. This is an economic emergency that must be addressed.

Nigeria's former vice president further said he foresaw this happening, which is why he was in the United States last week to get foreign investors who have been divesting from Nigeria, to return their investments.

READ ALSO: 2019 elections: Days of PDP over in Taraba - APC governorship candidate

Read the full statement below:

"It is with a very heavy heart that I received the news that the Republic of Ghana has overtaken our dear nation as West Africas largest recipient of foreign direct investment.

"For all the years that the Peoples Democratic Party governed Nigeria, including the 8 years of which I was Vice President, Nigeria always set the pace for Africa in terms of foreign direct investment and became the number one recipient of FDI in Africa in 2013 under a PDP administration. In that year, we also became Africas largest economy, thanks to the PDPs leadership.

"As a businessman and employer of labour, I am disappointed that a nation with 15% of our population has outperformed us in this area. This is an economic emergency that must be addressed.

"Sadly, this unfortunate economic indicator has escaped the attention of the current administration, who are more interested in hounding real and imagined opponents, like the Chief Justice of Nigeria and many legislators, than in addressing the rapid economic decline Nigeria is witnessing under their watch.

"I foresaw this happening, which is why I was in the United States last week to get foreign investors who have been divesting from Nigeria, to return their investments. Prior to my US trip, I had undertaken similar missions in Europe and the Orient.

"It is of particular importance to understand why Nigeria has become an economic pariah under the present administration leading to us becoming the world headquarters for extreme poverty. When you have a leader who habitually travels abroad to de-market his own nation and its economy, things like this are bound to happen.

"It is further exacerbated when that same leader stubbornly blames his predecessors for problems he caused, while at the same time taking credit for achievements and progress initiated and delivered by those same leaders he makes a habit of denigrating.

"Economic challenges will bow only to proper agenda. Propaganda has no effect on them and will only make a bad situation worse, as we see today.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Therefore, I solemnly declare to Nigerians, that if I am elected President on February 16, 2019, I will be Nigerias Chief Marketing Officer, and will never speak ill of our economy, our polity and our youths. My utterances, both at home and abroad, will be used to lift Nigerias economy because Atiku means JOBS.

I believe in JOBS - Jobs, Opportunity, Being United and Security and it is time to get Nigeria Working Again. I, therefore, make this promise to all Nigerians, elect me, and I assure you the good people of Nigeria, that we will regain our status as Africas top recipient of FDI."

Legit.ng previously reported that the Miyetti Allah Kautal Ho*e Fulani said Atiku Abubakar is not Fulani.

Saleh Alhassan who is the national secretary of the group was reacting to Atikus alleged claim that President Buhari is not a real Fulani.

At a rally in Jigawa, Atiku reportedly said a real Fulani man would not drag his followers into extreme poverty like what is happening under the All Progressives Congress administration. Alhassan said the fact that Atiku speaks Fulfulde does not make him Fulani.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

EXCLUSIVE: Be patient with President Buhari, Femi Adesina tells Nigerians | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Civil servants in Adamawa state have praised the federal government for tackling the issue surrounding the new minimum wage

- Also, a pressure group based in Abuja commended the government for avoiding a national industrial strike with its action on minimum wage

- Both groups agreed that resolving the minimum wage crisis was good for Nigerian workers

A cross section of civil servants in Adamawa state on Wednesday, January 23, commended the National Council of State (NCS) for resolving the national minimum wage issue.

Also, an Abuja-based pressure group, Noble Youths Mass Support Association (NYMSA), hailed the government for taking action to avert nationwide industrial action, NAN reports.

They said that the resolution was in the best interest of the Nigerian workers.

Idris Tarfa, a civil servant, who works with Adamawa Ministry of Works, told NAN on Wednesday, January 23, in Yola, that the present administration made N27,000 minimum wage a basic bench mark for a Nigerian worker.

READ ALSO: Atiku is not Fulani - Miyetti Allah reveals where ex-VP is from

According to him, the question of states going back to negotiate as it was the practice in the past has been put to rest.

Alhaji Sulaiman Dauda, another civil servant with the Ministry of Environment, said that the resolution on the new minimum wage would go a long way in boosting the living standard of Nigerian workers.

Dauda called on civil servants to reciprocate the gesture by giving their best for wealth creation in the country.

Also Aisha Aliyu, a civil servant with Federal Ministry of Education said that the new minimum wage would help boost the nations economy.

Aliyu noted that the development would stimulate the purchasing power of civil servants which in turn would boost the production of goods and services in the country.

NAN recalls that the national council of state approved N27,000 minimum wage for the Nigerian worker, while the federal government agreed to pay federal civil servants N30,000.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Similarly, an Abuja-based pressure group, Noble Youths Mass Support Association (NYMSA), commended the federal government for the approval of N30,000 minimum wage for federal workers and N27,000 for the states.

Godwin Omonya, the national coordinator of the group, made the commendation in an interview with NAN in Gwagwalada on Wednesday, January 23.

According to him, Nigerian workers deserve a better pay and good working condition as they are the goose that lays the golden egg for the country.

He said: Approving N30,000 minimum wage for federal workers by the government and N27,000 for the states by the Council of State is a step in the right direction.

In this country, you see a senator earning huge amounts as salary, meanwhile the teacher that impacts the knowledge earns very little.

The new minimum wage will add value to the lives of workers; I also urge workers to be more diligent and committed to duties.

Omonya, however called on the National Assembly to speedily pass the new minimum wage into law.

The coordinator also urged the state governors and private organisations in the country to comply with the approval.

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We believe the National Assembly will give it a speedy passage, so that it will come into effect as soon as possible. The minimum wage issue is long overdue in this country and I expect the state governors and corporate organisations to be fair to workers, he said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) declared it is rejecting the N27,000 as the minimum wage approved by NCS on Tuesday, January 22, even though the federal government agreed on N30,000.

The rejection came in a statement to Legit.ng hours after NCS presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari approved the amount while the federal government said it would augment the one of its workers with N3,000 and that states could decide what to top theirs with.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

Minimum Wage: Is N30,000 Too Much for FG to Pay Workers? - Nigeria Street Gist | Legit TV

Source: Legit Nigeria
- Former governor of Oyo state, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has said that the opposition parties in the state would team up to defeat APC in the forthcoming election

- Alao-Akala said the APC has failed the people of the state and that the party would be defeated at the polls

- The ADP governorship candidate also noted that he left N110b in the government's covers while he was handing over to Ajimobi in 2011

The former governor of Oyo state and gubernatorial candidate of African Democratic Party (ADP) for 2019 general elections, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has said the opposition parties in the state would team up to defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Legit.ng regional reporter in Oyo, Imran Khalid, reports that while featuring on Fresh FM 105.9, a radio station in Ibadan on Monday, January 21, Alao-Akala, said the opposition parties in the state would team up to defeat the ruling APC.

He said the mistake of splitting without cohesion and unity made in 2015 general elections by the oppositions would not repeat itself as state moves closer to 2019 general elections.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Akala said the leading gladiators in the respective opposition parties were working assiduously to ensure that alliance works among one another.

While reiterating his commitment to 2019 general elections, Akala noted that APC could not win the state as work among opposition parties was in progress to reclaim the state from APC-led administration, adding that he would not disclose the opposition parties' permutations and strategies on air.

On amount he left in state's treasury, the former governor said he left the sum of one hundred and ten billion Naira (N110b) in government's covers, adding that he had all evidences to substantiate his claim.

He noted that anybody who doubts his claims has right to challenge him, asking Governor Abiola Ajimobi to present the duplicate and original copies of handover note he presented in 2011 while leaving the office.

Akala said despite all bail outs received in tranches from the federal government, Ajimobi would leave the state in debt, considering the huge amount of money he had lent both at home and in diasporas on behalf of Oyo state.

On traditional heritage, Alao-Akala said the candidates that had no regard for cultural heritage, tradition and traditional institutions should not be voted for, adding that the state remained a pacesetter in cultural heritage as anyone that would be voted for should be someone who understands the traditions and values.

As elections approach, he enjoined the people of Oyo state to vote according to their consciences so as to bring on-board a cerebral personality who knows the nitty gritty of governance.

READ ALSO: PDP challenges Buhari to prosecute corrupt APC leaders

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the former governor of Oyo state and gubernatorial candidate of African Democratic Party (ADP) in the state, Adebayo Alao Akala, said that he left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), because Governor Abiola Ajimobi wanted to make him irrelevant in political space of the state and Nigeria as a whole.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better!

We are honestly tired of Buhari and Atiku | - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
"For a week, that was probably 50 percent of my job - fielding calls from England and Canada and all over the United States," Pam Culver, the local nurse supervisor working the night of the concert, told the newspaper. "People wanted to know how much did it cost to do that, and did it hurt, and how many shots did he have to have, what part of his body did we have to attack."
- President Ouattara of Ivory Coast is said to be considering a third term in office

- According to sources, the president was said to have informed his inner circle about it

- However, Ouattara's aides have dismissed the report, saying the president will not seek a re-election

Sources have disclosed that Ivory Coast's president Alassane Ouattara has the intention to seek another term in office as the country prepares for presidential election.

Bloomberg reports that the 77-year-old president was said to have informed his inner circle in the Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace coalition about his intention.

Legit.ng gathers that the sources said President Ouattara has not decided when to make a public declaration of his intention to seek re-election.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

However, the spokeswoman for the president, Massere Toure, said Ouattara had said several times that he would not seek a third mandate.

A spokesman for the party, Mamadou Toure, also said: We have to take his word for it. According to him, the president's intention to seek re-election is false.

The constitution of the country stipulates that one person can only be allowed two terms of five years at the presidency.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that following the decision of International Criminal Court in Hague to acquit former Ivory Coast president and warlord, Laurent Gbagbo, of post-election violence, the prosecution team vowed to appeal the judgement.

Gbagbo, together with his right-hand man, Charles Ble Goud, were cleared of violence and crimes against humanity on Tuesday, January 15, by the ICC judges.

The court also ordered their release, but postponed it pending a fresh hearing on Wednesday, January 16, where prosecutors would be able to lay out objections.

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But in a reaction to the court verdict, disgruntled prosecution lawyers, in a document, filed an "urgent request" for appeal of the judgement.

The team said: "It has determined that it intends to appeal... following the acquittals."

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better

Source: Legit
- Federal government has approved the payment of the new salaries scale for men of the Nigerian Police Force

- This development is sequel to the earlier approval of the salary rise for the force by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2018

- Reports said the salary rise is targeted towards boosting the morale of policemen for effective performance in the forthcoming elections

With few days to the beckoning hours of the 2019 general elections, an emerging report has indicated that the federal government has approved the payment of the new salary boost to men of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

The Independent reports that the new payment scale, which will commence next week, will be targeted towards boosting the morale of policemen for effective performance in the forthcoming elections.

Legit.ng gathers that the new payment scale was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2018, with report claiming that presidency released a special fund two weeks ago for the payment.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

The new salary scale, according to Daily Independent, was not part of the 2019 budget and was not supposed to be paid until the approval of the budget by the National Assembly.

It was gathered that the immediate inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris, was mandated by the presidency to figure out new salary scale and the modus operandi of payment for the police force.

But with the emergence of Abubakar Adamu as the new police IG, report said the new salaries will be paid in January and spread over to the subsequent months.

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The president made the declaration after meeting with members of the Police Service Commission (PSC) on Monday, November 26, at the State House, Abuja.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better Is President Buhari

Really Unable to Rescue Leah Sharibu from Boko Haram? - Street Gist | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- Some prominent Nigerians have been alerting the country about alleged rigging plots in the forthcoming 2019 general elections

- Lending his voice to the allegations, General Danjuma (rtd) said there are plans to cause unrest in some states which is aimed at systematically manipulating the elections

- Danjuma urged the people to protect their votes by ensuring that their votes and the choices they made at the polls are counted

A former Chief of Army Staff, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), has alleged that there is a plot by some people he described as elements of primitive democracy, to rig the 2019 general elections in several parts of the country.

Danjuma, 80, made the statement on Tuesday, January 22, at the inauguration of a medical laboratory at Rufkatu Danjuma Maternity Hospital in Takum, Taraba state, This Day reports.

According to him, there is a sinister plan to cause unrest and mayhem in some states, including Taraba aimed at systematically manipulating the elections.

The former minister of defence allegation is coming days after former president Olusegun Obasanjo accused the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of planning to rig the forthcoming elections.

READ ALSO: Buhari ended era of free money - Senator

He, however, advised the people of Taraba state to be very cautious of the intrigues so as not to fall prey of the plot of the evil elements just as he urged them to remain calm in the face of any provocation.

While urging the people of the state to remain vigilant and steadfast, the elder statesman charged them to protect their votes by ensuring that their votes and the choices they made at the polls are counted.

His words: We must be careful, if we want another four years for our able governor Architect Darius Ishaku. We must work hard for peace in addition to just registering and obtaining our Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

There is no need for us to fight ourselves because they will use police and soldiers to destabilise us and rig elections. It is in our best interest to ensure there is peace. We will suffer all provocation, because there is going to be enough provocation between now and the time of election.

Those behind this plot know that they will not win election if there is peace. I want to call on you not to sell your votes because you will be selling your birthright if you do so."

He appealed to everyone to maintain peace so that there will be no surprises and so that there can be peaceful elections and there is no postponement as a result of instability.

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The last time, even when Darius political party was the ruling party, he was made to go into a run-off three times. This time, they have perfected rigging. Once you dont win the first time they will sit down and write the result in the run-off for their candidate. This is the primitive democracy we have in Nigeria today," Danjuma added.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over his comments against Obasanjo, describing it as disrespectful, reckless, unguarded and indecorous.

The party was responding to the APC leader's comments on Obasanjo after the former president took the APC-led federal government to the cleaners over its performance in office.

The PDP in a statement sent to Legit.ng by its spokesman, Kola Ologbodiyan, on Tuesday, January 22, said, Tinubu in his tirade against the former president, sounded like a disrobed ruler facing a pang of defeat as he watches his empire being legitimately taken.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

Nigerians rip Buhari, Atiku apart over absence at presidential debate | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- Ekiti state indegenes have been urged to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

- Osinbajo said previous government budgeted for projects without executing them citing the second Niger Bridge

- The vice president said that three out of the four refineries in Nigeria were built by Buhari when he was the minister of petroleum

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has told the people of Ekiti state that re-electing president Muhammadu Buhari means benefiting from `Next Level projects.

Osinbajo stated this while addressing a gathering at the Palace Hall of the traditional ruler of Omuo-Ekiti, Oba Noah Omonigbehin, on Tuesday, January 22.

The vice presidents visit was part of his community engagement ahead of the forthcoming presidential election.

He said that previous government budgeted for projects without executing them citing the second Niger Bridge which was inaugurated but had no design.

READ ALSO: If APC leaders are probed, they will be thrown into hell - Obasanjo

The vice president said that three out of the four refineries in Nigeria were built by Buhari when he was the minister of petroleum.

Do not be deceived; everyone should be focused on the Next Level projects, he said.

Osinbajo promised the people that the Federal Government would address their demands for roads and other infrastructure as well as the proposed college of education.

He listed some of the completed and ongoing projects as Lagos-Ibadan railway, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Itakpe-Warri railway, Abuja- Kaduna railway, Abuja light rail, second Niger Bridge among others.

Earlier, Omonigbehin commended the vice president for the good works he was doing towards national development.

Omonigbehin reminded the vice president of a pending bill for establishment of a college of education in the town and appealed for his assistance in bringing it to fruition.

The monarch also commended the Federal Government over its various social intervention programmes.

He appealed for federal governments assistance in addressing the infrastructural deficit in the area as the town was in dire need of electricity, water, good roads among others.

Osinbajo also made a stop at Oja Oba market where he interacted with traders before visiting Mr Ayoleke Adus family for a chat.

The town was thrown into a frenzy as residents trooped out en masse and lined up the route cheering and chanting APC slogans.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that president of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Najeem Usman-Yasin, warned members of the union nationwide against being used as political thugs during the general elections.

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Usman-Yasin said this in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, January 22, at the inauguration of the 20-member newly elected State Executive Committee of the union.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better

The Next President of Nigeria. Who Will Win the 2019 Elections? | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- Nigerian clerics have begun a 30-day prayer and deliverance session for former president Obasanjo

- The clerics also urged Nigerians to pray for the "troubled soul of Obasanjo and as well tell God to chase away the demons tormenting him"

- According to these clerics, it is important to pray that God should not judge Nigeria based on Chief Obasanjos sins

Some clerics across Nigeria have declared a 30-day deliverance session for former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

The clerics under the aegis of the National Inter-Faith and Religious Organisation for Peace said Obasanjo's problem is beyond ordinary, hence, the call for prayer.

Members of the group led by their president, Musa Garba, during a a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, January 22, said no normal human being would make the kind of statements credited to Obasanjo against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking at the conference, Garba said during the 30-days fasting period, Nigerians should pray for the "troubled soul of Obasanjo and as well tell God to chase away the demons tormenting him."

Garba said recognition of the fact that there is nothing prayers cannot solve, they are appealing to Nigerians to join in the 30-day prayer to seek Gods intervention for the deliverance of Obasanjo.

READ ALSO: Breaking: NLC rejects N27,000 minimum wage

He said those who feel inclined or led can add fasting as they intercede on behalf of the former leader.

Garba said: "As a guide, the 30-day prayers begins tonight and those willing to participate can do so from their homes. Those who are led to congregate in groups are welcome to do so. We have the following prayer points:

That God should forgive Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo of all his sins against himself, his family, his neighbours and associates, Nigeria and humanity.

That God should banish the demons that have taken over Dr. Olusegun Obasanjos body, reasoning faculty and personality.

That God should guide Dr Obasanjo not reject the timely help being offered him to reject his occult connections.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Buhari Campaign Organization slams N40m libel suit against Atiku

That God should bring peace to Dr. Obasanjos troubled soul.

That God should not judge Nigeria based on Chief Obasanjos sins.

That God should severe, terminate and expunge all occult covenants that Onbasanjo signed Nigeria into during his tenure.

That God should save Nigeria from Dr. Olusegun Obasanjos machinations while he remains under the influence of the occult."

Garba also extended an invitation to many Nigerians whom the former president may have offended in and out of power to please forgive him so that his life can get back on track and become free of the darkness that is tormenting him.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Obasanjo had alleged that leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress will be thrown into hell fire if their records are examined.

The former president said this in an interview with BBC Yoruba.

Obasanjo also criticised President Buhari for allegedly placing ethnic considerations above nationalism and merits in his appointments.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Obasanjo bombs Buhari again, says FG is empowering Boko Haram | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- Nigerian clerics have begun a 30-day prayer and deliverance session for former president Obasanjo

- The clerics also urged Nigerians to pray for the "troubled soul of Obasanjo and as well tell God to chase away the demons tormenting him"

- According to these clerics, it is important to pray that God should not judge Nigeria based on Chief Obasanjos sins

Some clerics across Nigeria have declared a 30-day deliverance session for former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

The clerics under the aegis of the National Inter-Faith and Religious Organisation for Peace said Obasanjo's problem is beyond ordinary, hence, the call for prayer.

Members of the group led by their president, Musa Garba, during a a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, January 22, said no normal human being would make the kind of statements credited to Obasanjo against President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking at the conference, Garba said during the 30-days fasting period, Nigerians should pray for the "troubled soul of Obasanjo and as well tell God to chase away the demons tormenting him."

Garba said recognition of the fact that there is nothing prayers cannot solve, they are appealing to Nigerians to join in the 30-day prayer to seek Gods intervention for the deliverance of Obasanjo.

READ ALSO: Breaking: NLC rejects N27,000 minimum wage

He said those who feel inclined or led can add fasting as they intercede on behalf of the former leader.

Garba said: "As a guide, the 30-day prayers begins tonight and those willing to participate can do so from their homes. Those who are led to congregate in groups are welcome to do so. We have the following prayer points:

That God should forgive Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo of all his sins against himself, his family, his neighbours and associates, Nigeria and humanity.

That God should banish the demons that have taken over Dr. Olusegun Obasanjos body, reasoning faculty and personality.

That God should guide Dr Obasanjo not reject the timely help being offered him to reject his occult connections.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Buhari Campaign Organization slams N40m libel suit against Atiku

That God should bring peace to Dr. Obasanjos troubled soul.

That God should not judge Nigeria based on Chief Obasanjos sins.

That God should severe, terminate and expunge all occult covenants that Onbasanjo signed Nigeria into during his tenure.

That God should save Nigeria from Dr. Olusegun Obasanjos machinations while he remains under the influence of the occult."

Garba also extended an invitation to many Nigerians whom the former president may have offended in and out of power to please forgive him so that his life can get back on track and become free of the darkness that is tormenting him.

PAY ATTENTION: Download our mobile app to enjoy the latest news updates

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Obasanjo had alleged that leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress will be thrown into hell fire if their records are examined.

The former president said this in an interview with BBC Yoruba.

Obasanjo also criticised President Buhari for allegedly placing ethnic considerations above nationalism and merits in his appointments.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better. Obasanjo bombs Buhari again, says FG is empowering Boko Haram | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
Not everyone knows that we have the Federal Fire Service that has been existing even before Nigeria's independence. Learn the history of Fire Service in Nigeria and learn a bit more about this highly important organization.

Photo: sunnewsonline.com

When did the Fire Service start?

Exploring the history of Fire Service in Nigeria is interesting. According to fedfire.gov.ng, it began back in 1901, it was created by the British gobvernment.

During those years it wasnt the Nigerian Fire service as we know it today. It was just a unit that was a part of the police department in Lagos. It offered help solving fire-related problems that happened across nearby-Lagos territories.

Because of this, the police office was often called Lagos Police Fire Brigade. It was a 2-in-1 department that had to fight both crime and fire.

Photo: dailypost.ng

READ ALSO: Nigerian Fire Service Recruitment form and requirements in 2018

The history of Federal Fire Service in Nigeria

The Federal Fire Service was created in 1963. You should remember that we got our full independence from Britain in 1960, and three years later the government released the special Fire Service Act that officially penned the existence of our own independent Nigerian Fire Service.

It is necessary to note that those people who worked for the Lagos Police Fire Brigade were automatically transferred to the newly established Fire Service under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Federal Fire Service main functions:

Fire fighting

Rescue service

Fire prevention

Search service

Humanitarian help

Other fire-related services

Photo: www.independent.ng

The history of Federal Fire Service in Nigeria includes the creation of a number of fire stations all across the country. All officers and other staff who is working at the fire departments these days are referred to as paramilitary workers.

The history of Federal Fire Service in Nigeria continues today. It is believed that the organization has many challenges (lack of equipment, capacity, bad infrastructure, etc.) that are yet to be overcome.

The country is working on fixing all the problems. For example, in 2017, according to informationng.com, the Nigeria fire service received 25 brand new fire trucks along with water tenders which is great because this was the first car garage upgrade since 1901. Hopefully, such tradition will continue, and most issues will be solved eventually.

P.S. Now you know when did the fire service start in Nigeria and how it used to be a small unit in the British colony that grew into a big Federal Fire Service with the independence of our country.

READ ALSO: Federal Fire Service salary structure

Source: Legit.ng
The world was more entwined at that time than you might expect, she said, and she wanted to detail Africa's role as a kind of fulcrum in that interconnectedness. Its because of the gold resources and the importance of gold in economies of that period of time. That is the impetus for this trade to really expand. But along with that comes a lot of other things: People move and ideas move and other types of materials move. And what the exhibition does is it traces all of those things, and you begin to see how these networks really extend across a very vast area.
Another day, another award for Stephanie Izard. At least she has company this time.

Izard, named Tuesday to Food & Wines annual Best New Chefs list, is among the 18 Chicago chefs, restaurateurs and beverage professionals dubbed Rising Stars on Wednesday by online culinary magazine StarChefs.com.

The Rising Stars awards are issued annually, but StarChefs focuses only on four or five cities per year; StarChefs last visit to Chicago was 2008, when the Rising Stars recipients included Bill Kim, Michael Sheerin, Giuseppe Tentori and 10 others.

In addition to Izard, of Girl & the Goat restaurant, Rising Star chefs were Jimmy Bannos, Jr. (Purple Pig), Curtis Duffy (Avenues), Dirk Flanigan (The Gage, Henri), Chris Pandel (The Bristol), Shin Thompson (Bonsoiree) and Andrew Zimmerman (Sepia).

Jared Van Camp received the Concept award for his work at Old Town Social; Geoff Rhyne received the Sustainability award for his green efforts at Sugar Toad in Naperville and Ryan Poli, of Tavernita (opening soon), received the Community award for community involvement.

Pastry chef winners were Patrick Fahy (Blackbird), Meg Galus (Cafe des Architectes) and Jimmy MacMillan (University Club). Sommelier awards went to Rachael Lowe (Sixteen) and to beer director Michael McAvena (The Publican), and the Mixologist award went to Paul McGee (The Whistler).

Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz, whose restaurants include Boka, Girl & the Goat, Landmark, Perennial and the just-opened GT Fish & Oyster, shared the Rising Stars Restaurateur award.

The Rising Stars will be profiled in a gala tasting event on May 23 at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park hotel. Tickets, $125 and $175, will partly benefit Common Threads.
Abundant rainfall on New Years Eve has pushed Bagnell and Truman dams to generate heavy amounts power this week, Ameren (the utilities company that owns/operates Bagnell Dam) says. The company expects the annual winter drawdown to begin this weekend.

Ameren has been conducting heavy power generation this week, keeping the Lake of the Ozarks' water level around 659.5, with intermittent heavy releases reaching over 30,000 cubic feet per second (cfs).

As of Thursday morning, the Lake of the Ozarks water level was measuring about 659.33 feet of elevation above sea level. Full pool is considered to be 660 feet.

Truman Dam decreased power generation on Dec. 31, but Ameren said the dam that flows into Lake of the Ozarks had heavy power generation planned this week. Ameren will allow the outflow from Truman Dam to pass through the Lake of the Ozarks until Truman Lake returns to normal levels. Once the basin is back to normal, Ameren will begin their annual drawdown of Lake of the Ozarks. Dock owners should prepare for water levels to drop by as much as eight-and-a-half feet through February, depending on power generation requirements and weather conditions. Ameren forecasts the Lake to be at 654 by mid-to-late February.

Ameren reminds dock owners along the Osage River to prepare for sudden changes in water level. Ice on the river can cause dock damage when water rises quickly, and Ameren recommends docks be pulled to shore to avoid damage.

The winter drawdown will keep the Lake of the Ozarks about six feet below full pool until around April 1, when Ameren will raise the Lake level (with the help of anticipated spring rains) to reach full pool by Memorial Day weekend, when the first major influx of vacationers come to play on Lake of the Ozarks.
Rome, January 23 - A national federation representing Italian physicians on Wednesday urged Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico to suspend a press conference organized Thursday at the House by an anti-vaccination organization from Veneto. The president of the National Federation of the Guilds of Doctors and Dentists (Fnomceo), Filippo Anelli, signed the open letter to Fico expressing the "concern of the medical world for the promotion, moreover in an institutional place like the Lower House," of information considered by the Italian Medicines agency (Aifa) as "scarcely reliable" and which could create "unjustified alarmism" in the population. The press conference is organized by Veneto-based organization Corvelva - the Veneto regional coordination for the freedom of vaccinations - to publicize the results of some tests carried out on vaccines in private labs.
Rome, January 23 - Premier Giuseppe Conte told the World Economic Forum in Davos Wednesday that "we need a new humanism", a "radically new" vision of politics which "focuses on human beings, families, and communities. "This is the Europe we are dreaming of. A Europe of the people, made by the people and for the people". Conte earlier voiced confidence the government will last the full five years. Speaking to Bloomberg TV in Davos, he said "we are a strong coalition and the 5-Star Movement and the League have a great sense of responsibility. "We are working strenuously, there is a united spirit and I am very confident we can last five years". Conte also ruled out any change to the make-up of the government. Addressing the WEF later, Conte said "there is a key word around which we have built our political vision and (government) activity, and that word is 'THE PEOPLE'. He recited in Italian the part of the Constitution that says sovereignty belongs to the people. "We must give a response to all this", he said. Conte said that "we need a new humanism", a "radically new" vision of politics which "focuses on human beings, families, and communities. "This is the Europe we are dreaming of. A Europe of the people, made by the people and for the people". Conte told the WEF that "European public opinion has for years considered the 'European project' as the instrument to tackle these challenges and protect from their negative impact" but today "it is calling into question its validity and credibility". The reality of the euro created growing public debt, and budget frugality slowed GDP growth, Conte said. Italians have been "patient" with the EU for many years, trusting to European political and technical institutions, Conte said. Conte added that he did not see any State intervention in the banking sector and the exposure to derivatives was "very low". For troubled Genoa lender Carige, he said a capital hike and a merger with another bank was "more likely".
Cuneo, January 23 - An Italian woman was found dead with severe facial injuries near Cuneo on Wednesday, police said. She was found near the church of San Rocco at Barge, they said. Local inhabitants found the body of the woman, whose clothes were torn. She was named as Anna Piccato, 70, a former factory worker and a Red Cross volunteer for many years. POlice said she may have been hit with an axe or sickle.
Castelnuovo di Porto, January 23 - A 25-year-old Nigerian who has been ejected from the CARA asylum seeker processing centre in this town near Rome on Wednesday told reporters she feared she would end up on the streets with her six-month-old son. "I'll end up on the street, I don't know where to go and I hope I'm not forced into prostitution again," said the woman, Blessing. Like many others, she has been stripped of her humanitarian protection status by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's new security decree, and seen her refugee request turned down. "I'm desperate," she said. "My aim now is to protect my son".
Shah said he is not thrilled by the controversy surrounding the Trump administration, and by extension the building emblazoned with the presidents name in 20-foot letters. He nonetheless remains bullish on his investment in the 14,260-square-foot full-floor penthouse, which includes five bedrooms and a 360-degree view of the city.
Rome, January 23 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Wednesday called on French President Emmanuel Macron to take action to hand over Italian fugitives living in France. The government has said it is out to bring more terrorists to justice after the recent return from South America of Cesare Battisti, a former leftwing terrorist who is now serving a life sentence for four murders after 37 years as a fugitive. There are reportedly 14 fugitives accused of crimes from Italy's 'years of lead' of political violence in the 1970s and 80s who have been tracked down to France. The justice ministry said extradition requests had been sent to France for all those fugitives, contradicting French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet who had said earlier in the day that no such requests had yet been made. "I have read that Battisti is complaining. Oh, the poor killer," said League leader Salvini. "He should have dignity and apologise to those whose family members he took away. "He should have the good taste to be silent. He should have thought before he shot. "We'll ask the French president to do what (Brazilian President Jair) Bolsonaro did, and I thank him again. "I'd like the French president and the French government to show that same good sense... we await a signal of good will". Earlier on Wednesday, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet told France Inter that was it was "possible" that there were 14 Italian terrorist fugitives in France. But the minister added that no extradition requests had been received "yet".
On board the papal plane, January 23 - Fear "makes us crazy", Pope Francis said on a flight to Panama Wednesday referring to the fact that fences to keep out migrants on the US-Mexican border at Tijuana stretch into the Pacific Ocean. Francis urged people to read an editorial in Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano entitled The Walls Of Fear". The pope added that he would travel to Japan in November, while he had been advised against visiting Iraq because it was not safe. Francis was travelling to World Youth Day in Panama City.
Catania, January 23 - Police in the Sicilian city of Catania on Wednesday arrested an Italian convert to Islam for allegedly instigating people to join terrorist groups, sources said. The man, a 32-year-old Catania native with a criminal record, allegedly used social media to spread extremist propaganda after becoming a Muslim in 2011, according to investigations. He has been taken to jail, the sources said.
Matera, January 21 - Matera has inaugurated its year as European capital of culture in 2019 - the first southern Italian city to be granted this recognition. The opportunity is "an occasion for the whole South", said Premier Giuseppe Conte at the opening ceremony held at the weekend in the city's Auditorium della Cava del Sole. "As a southern man and premier" Bari-born Conte expressed confidence that Matera's year as cultural capital will be an occasion "for the whole South so that the future can be here", promising fresh investments and a "a contract of development for Basilicata", the city's region. Once one of Europe's poorest cities, Matera became internationally renowned when writer Carlo Levi was exiled by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime to a town nearby in 1935, describing in his novel Christ Stopped at Eboli the extreme poverty he witnessed. Conte quoted Levi at the inauguration ceremony - "Anyone who sees Matera cannot help but be awe-struck, so expressive and touching is its sorrowful beauty", citing the writer's Le Mille Patrie (A Thousand Homelands). Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli said the European capital of culture could "become a new model of development for the whole South". Bonisoli met with Tibor Navracsics, the European commissioner for culture, before reaching Cava del Sole on which the ministry has invested five million euros so it can host events this year, the minister said. The culture minister also said that talks are ongoing with Milan's La Scala Theater "to organize something in Matera", speaking about the possibility of staging short opera productions "that last about an hour instead of three". Conte has also said that the government will invest in projects that are "sustainable, innovative and plausible". "This must be the starting point for a wider project for the entire south", the prime minister explained. Large crowds of residents turned out to celebrate the occasion for the city, known for the grottoes where families used to live, the Sassi (stones) carved out of the limestone that date back to Matera's prehistoric age. UNESCO in 1993 declared the Sassi, once a symbol of the city's extreme poverty, a world heritage site. Mayor Raffaello De Ruggieri said that with its debut as European capital of culture Matera is shifting from "shame to redemption".
As the shutdown stretches into an unprecedented fifth week, basic living expenses have slipped out of reach for many of the 800,000 federal employees who arent getting paid. More than 12,600 of those workers are in Illinois, according to National Association of State Workforce Agencies. At least 700 federal workers in Illinois have applied for unemployment insurance as a result of the shutdown, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
"These might work in a brand new neighborhood that is well-lit and has new sidewalks, but most of the world isn't like that and neither is most of the United States," Kara said. "Congratulations for experimenting, but in terms of full implementation, I don't see that any time soon."
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THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. THE MISSING ENDANGERED PERSON ADVISORY ISSUED FOR KENDRA ARLENE ROSE ROBERTS HAS EXPIRED. KENDRA IS STILL MISSING. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON KENDRA, PLEASE CONTACT RAVALLI COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE AT 4 0 6, 3 6 3, 3 0 3 3 OR DIAL 9 1 1.

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 9 PM MDT SATURDAY... The National Weather Service in Billings has issued a Red Flag Warning...which is in effect from noon to 9 PM MDT Saturday. The Fire Weather Watch is no longer in effect. * IMPACTS: Low humidities, unseasonably warm temperatures, strong gusty winds, and wind shift with a cold front will create erratic fire behavior and new fire starts. * AFFECTED AREA: In North Central WY Fire Zone...274. In South Central MT Fire Zones...125...126...127...128...129. In Southeast MT Fire Zones...130...131...132. * COUNTIES AFFECTED: In Central MT...Golden Valley...Musselshell. In North Central WY...Sheridan. In South Central MT...Big Horn...Carbon...Park...Stillwater Sweet Grass...Yellowstone. In Southeast MT...Custer...Powder River...Rosebud...Treasure. * WIND: Northwest 15 to 25 mph with gusts 30 to 35 mph. Winds becoming north to northeast by Saturday evening. * HUMIDITY: 14 to 19 percent. * TEMPERATURES: Highs in the mid 80s to lower 90s. * COLD FRONT: Saturday evening, turning winds to the northeast. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior. &&
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...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 410, 411, 413 BELOW 6000 FEET, 425 AND 427 BELOW 7000 FEET... ...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 10 PM MDT SATURDAY FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE 413... The National Weather Service in Pocatello has issued a Red Flag Warning for gusty winds and low relative humidity, which is in effect from noon to 10 PM MDT Saturday. The Fire Weather Watch is no longer in effect. * AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 413 Caribou Range/Caribou NF. * WINDS...West 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. * RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 12 percent. * IMPACTS...Strong winds and low humidity coupled with dry fuels will create critical fire weather conditions. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will shortly based on these criteria for Southeastern Idaho: - Relative humidity at or below 15 percent and wind gusts of at least 25 mph in the mountains, or 30 mph in the Snake Plain. - Thunderstorm coverage of 25 percent, without specific rainfall criteria. - Other high impact events deemed critical by the National Weather Service and area fire management agencies. &&
Troopers asking for public's help in Lincoln Co. waste of bull elk case
Three cow elk left to waste in Tillamook County; OSP asking for public's help
A US border patrol truck is seen next to US President Donald Trump's border wall prototypes from the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, northwestern Mexico, on April 3, 2018.
Auburn, IN (46706)

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Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
Angola, IN (46703)

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Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

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Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
Police are looking for Xaria Garling, 15, who was last seen on Friday
Police looking for man who allowed 11-year-old to drive herself to school
The mother of a patient at a long-term care facility where an incapacitated woman gave birth could hardly believe that a 36-year-old nurse who helped care for her son was the suspect arrested this week.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office announced the conviction and prison sentence of Bryant Ballard who was convicted of dumping tires in the city.
(CBS News) -- A close friend of the Colorado mom who disappeared two months ago today is speaking out for the first time about Kelsey Berreth's relationship with her fiance Patrick Frazee. Berreth is presumed dead and Frazee has been charged with her murder.

Ashley Cogburn told CBS News' Nikki Battiste her friend had a lot going for her: a dream job, a baby and a fiance. But she said Berreth also often appeared to be upset, and she believes, it had to do with Frazee.

"The moment that I found out that she had been missing, the first words that came out of my mouth were, 'He did something to her,'" Cogburn said.

Cogburn said she saw red flags in their relationship, including that he was always "mad about something."

"She couldn't win  the things that he would say to her were somewhat demeaning  I remember one time in particular she came to me and she was just crying. And Kelsey is this  she's a tough girl  and I can't remember specifics, but I just remember gathering, 'This person is borderline emotionally abusive to you right now,'"

Cogburn and Berreth met in elementary school and grew up like sisters in Washington state. They recently lived together in Colorado while Berreth, who was pregnant at the time with Frazee's child, was working nearby as a pilot.

Murder charges filed against man in case of missing Colorado mom Colorado prosecutors filed five charges against Patrick Frazee in the death of Kelsey Berreth, his missing fiancee and mother of his 1-year-old daughter.

"Kelsey was a kind, sweet girl. She kind of had it all going on. She was, you know, she was really smart. She was on top of her game in life," Cogburn said. "She was doing it all."

Berreth hasn't been seen since she was captured on surveillance video Thanksgiving Day at a Colorado grocery store with her and Frazee's now one-year-old daughter, Kaylee. Frazee was arrested less than a month later and charged with Berreth's murder. Investigators do not believe he acted alone.

When Frazee was arrested, at first, Cogburn wanted to believe that she was still alive.

"I wanted to hold onto hope that that wasn't the case. You know, so you  I grasped onto, 'Well, maybe somebody took her. Maybe.' I think deep down I knew."

Cogburn said she had at times encouraged Berreth to end her relationship with Frazee, but Berreth believed she could still make it work. Cogburn now believes Berreth would just want to know her daughter Kaylee is safe.

"I know that your mom loved you so much  She was so happy that you were here. And I know that if she were still around  she would be an awesome example of a person that you could grow up to be like."

"Kelsey was a kind, sweet girl who was spunky and playful, you know, shy at first but was really easy to get along with," Cogburn said. "I'm just thankful for the friendship that she gave me and for being the person that she was. I mean, I'm inspired by her and I'll just  I'll just take that. And I know that she  that's what she would want. She would want us to focus on the good."

Investigators eye Idaho woman suspected of disposing of missing mom's phone Police are looking at an Idaho woman suspected of disposing of the phone of Kelsey Berreth, the 29-year-old Colorado mom allegedly killed by her fiance, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN Thursday.

Berreth's parents have been granted temporary custody of their granddaughter. Frazee has not entered a plea and his public defender tells us he can't comment on the case. A preliminary hearing for Frazee is scheduled for February.
A horrific case of animal cruelty and neglect in Mesa has landed a female suspect behind bars.
Authorities in Egypt have cracked down on the LGBT community in recent years.
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP)  The case against the man accused of killing a woman and sexually assaulting two others inside a St. Louis area religious supply store will go to a grand jury.

Alleged Catholic Supply killer charged in separate sexual assault of elderly woman The man accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a woman inside a St. Louis County Catholic Supply store is now a suspect in an assault of an elderly woman in rural Jefferson County, according to the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department.

The suspect, 53-year-old Thomas Bruce, sat passively Wednesday during a brief court appearance. Afterward, an assistant prosecutor said a grand jury is expected to take up the case before the next scheduled court hearing on March 13.

Bruce is charged with first-degree murder and several other felonies in the Nov. 19 attack at the Catholic Supply store near Ballwin. Prosecutors say the one-time minister fatally shot Jamie Schmidt after she refused his sexual demands. Two other women who were in the store were sexually assaulted.

Bruce also has been charged with sexually assaulting another woman two months earlier.
Stuff reports:

The justice ministers United Nations speech in which National says he apologised for being a Kiwi has also been compared to David Cunliffes apology for being a man.

Little lead a delegation to New Zealands third Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where he said: It is fair to say the justice system is broken.

I cant believe we have a Justice Minister who tells the rest of the world that NZ has a broken justice system. Ministers are now bad mouthing NZ internationally.

Nationals Justice spokesman Mark Mitchell likened Littles speech to ex-Labour leader Cunliffes 2014 apology for being a man, where he pledged to invest $60 million to tackle domestic violence. Now you have got Little apologising for being a Kiwi, Mitchell said. He said the minister had talked-down the nation.

If Little thinks the justice system is broken, then as the Minister for the last 18 months he should resign.

During his speech, Little explained the Governments wellbeing approach and achievements such as paid parental leave, the Child Poverty Reduction Act, healthy homes and the child, youth and wellbeing strategy but acknowledged New Zealand must still improve when it came to its broken justice system.

New Zealand had one of the highest incarceration rates per capita in the world and it has risen in recent years, he said.

He said the damaging effects of colonisation were still being felt today with Maori facing considerable disadvantages and having a disproportionate number of Maori in state care and prison.

There was no escaping the fact New Zealand had very high levels of family violence and the system was failing NZ women, girls and families, he said.

So Little calls the justice system broken because of high incarceration rates and high levels of family violence.

Using such cherry picked statistics, I reckon every country in the world could find their justice system broken.

The measure of success of a justice system isnt the number of people in prison, but the number of victims of crime and the severity of the crimes.

Little seems to think the goal of a justice system is to have as few people in prison as possible, rather than having as few victims of crime as possible.

Our justice system is of course far from perfect. I support for example the proposed commission for miscarriages of justice. But Id say our system measures up very well to most OECD countries. For example:

A non-corrupt Police force

Declining crime rate for the last couple of decades

A huge reduction in youth crime

A large fall in victims of crime since 2008

A fall in recidivism

Again far from perfect. But there is a massive difference between imperfect and broken.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday, announcing U.S. recognition of the countrys opposition leader as interim president and signaling potential new sanctions against its vital oil sector.

With street protests against Maduro underway across Venezuela, Trump said the United States recognized Juan Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled Congress, as the countrys leader and called socialist President Nicolas Maduros government illegitimate.

I will continue to use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy, Trump said in a statement, encouraging other governments in the Western Hemisphere to also recognize Guaido.

The administration had been waiting to issue its announcement after Guaido had been sworn in as the countrys temporary president on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Venezuelan opposition sympathizers had been urging Guaido to assume the presidency since Maduro was inaugurated to a second term on Jan. 10 following a widely boycotted election last year that the United States and many other foreign governments described as a fraudulent.

Guaido, a newcomer on the national scene who was elected to head Congress on Jan. 5, had said earlier he was willing to replace Maduro if he had the support of the military, with the aim of then calling for free elections.

U.S. officials in recent days had stated openly that Maduro no longer had a legitimate claim on power.

The sources acknowledged that formal recognition of Guaido would be complicated by questions of how to deal with Venezuelas U.S.-based diplomats. Such a move could also backfire if Maduro took action to prevent Guaido from being sworn in or used it as a pretext to detain him again.

Adding to pressure on Maduro, multiple sources said the Trump administration could impose new U.S. sanctions on Venezuelas vital oil sector as soon as this week if the political situation there deteriorates further.

U.S. officials are considering a range of potential measures, including restricting U.S. imports of Venezuelan oil or even a full ban, to punish Maduros government but no final decisions have been made as Washington closely watches the street protests unfolding in the country, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Two other sources briefed on the matter said the U.S. administration had privately informed U.S. energy companies of its deliberations.
"The plan is to look into, potentially, another currency, euro is a possibility," Mohammed al-Jadaan said.

He said the government would also consider raising debt in other currencies such as the yuan.

Saudi Arabia issued $7.5 billion in international bonds this month, bringing to almost $60 billion the total amount it has raised through U.S. dollar-denominated public debt issues since 2016.

(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Till death do us part? Not so much. In the past 25 years, the divorce rate for Americans over the age of 50 has more than doubled. While divorce rates for other age groups have leveled off or even fallen, one out of every four people going through a divorce in the United States is 50 or older, according to research by sociologists Susan L. Brown and I-Fen Lin. Compare that to 1990, when fewer than 1 in 10 people who got divorced was over 50. The research went on to note that it wasnt just remarried older people who were getting divorced  more than half of all gray divorces are with couples who have been married for over 20 years. He slurps his soup; she nags him about not putting the dishes in the sink; he doesnt understand me  I get that. I thought after 20 years, the soup slurping and dirty dishes on the table just get to be part of the daily married-life ballet. You have history, kids, family, illness and frankly have lived through a lot of drama that life throws your way. The Tipper and Al Gore Syndrome Their story is much the same as many long-term marriages. After having four kids and 40 years of marriage, they simply had grown apart and wanted to go it alone. Tipper asserts that it was not that he was dull and boring or cheating on her. But, they are a classic example of a gray divorce.

Are people expecting more of a sense of happiness and fulfillment today, than they were before? Its possible. And it seems that couples are just not willing to put up with an Irish Divorce anymore. The Urban Dictionary describes this term with related words like; the not-divorce marriage, abandoned, deserted, dumped, loveless marriage. You may have grown up seeing your parents or your friends parents going through the motions of marriage, and not engaged in a loving partnership. Have you ever been at a restaurant and seen couples eating and not interacting at all? Many of us just thought that was the way advanced married couples acted, that was the way it was supposed to be. Why Is This Happening? Several factors are converging. The stigma of divorce is disappearing. Even Pope Francis and the Catholic Church are re-examining their posture toward the churchs stance on divorce. People are also living longer, and so the prospects of remaining in an empty relationship dont bode well for many people today. They are allowed to act to change their future. Another reason for the increase in gray divorce appears to be the economic gains women are making, according to an NPR report quoting Brown. Many no longer have to choose between a bad marriage and poverty. The advent of easy online dating may also have given older people hope for a better relationship. The prospect of living with someone you no longer love and respect appears to not be a sacrifice worth taking for many. Online dating is accepted and is the norm for all age groups. Seniors are also meeting via activities and travel.

OK, you have decided to call it quits in your twilight years, what do you have to know about the money side of your relationship and life on your own? Financial Considerations Alimony is almost always granted after long-term marriages. When you divorce in your younger years, usually rehabilitative alimony is granted, which will supply support while the spouse gets back on their feet. However, if its a long-term marriage, in most cases alimony is given for life. If it is a second marriage that is short term, alimony may fall in between the above circumstances.

When you divorce in your younger years, usually rehabilitative alimony is granted, which will supply support while the spouse gets back on their feet. However, if its a long-term marriage, in most cases alimony is given for life. If it is a second marriage that is short term, alimony may fall in between the above circumstances. Retirement money is usually cut in half. It doesnt matter if this is a no-fault or at-fault divorce. Pension plans may be used to offset alimony, but make sure that you both are being advised on the tax implications.

It doesnt matter if this is a no-fault or at-fault divorce. Pension plans may be used to offset alimony, but make sure that you both are being advised on the tax implications. The family house will become an asset that has to be valued and split. Make sure that if you opt to keep the house that you dont become house-poor. The house needs to be maintained, taxes and utilities paid and those costs may greatly eat into any monetary settlements.

Make sure that if you opt to keep the house that you dont become house-poor. The house needs to be maintained, taxes and utilities paid and those costs may greatly eat into any monetary settlements. Remarriages are more likely to end in divorce, so think about a pre-nup for your next marriage. In it you can deal with a lot of these monetary issues before emotions are running at a fevered pitch. There may be adult children on both sides to consider, other assets, and lots of other issues to think about. Seek professional advice from your lawyers, accountants and financial advisers. Your wills need to be adjusted to reflect your new circumstances, as well. Gray divorce might not be a tragedy. You may be empowered to design and obtain a more fulfilling life than you may now have. How wonderful not to feel that your present marriage is a life-sentence. But also, I caution you: Maybe its better to work on your present relationship and not assume that your spouse will be inflexible. The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, but sometimes, its not.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - A woman complained of injuries to her leg after she was police say she was hit by a vehicle in a Hy-Vee parking lot.

Authorities said it happened Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at Hy-Vee Crossroads when 49-year-old Kelly Olson was cutting through the parking lot and didnt see a 54-year-old woman pushing her cart until it was too late. Police said Olsons vehicle hit the womans cart, which forced the woman to fall to the ground. She was seen by Gold Cross Ambulance. Olson was cited for reckless driving.
THORNTON, Iowa  A Cerro Gordo County man is facing a drug charge after a late night traffic stop.

Richard Dean Thompson, 37 of Thornton, was arrested a little before 1:30 am Tuesday. He was stopped near the intersection of 5th Street N and 130th Street for an equipment violation. A Cerro Gordo County sheriffs deputy says Thompson was seen throwing something out the drivers side window.

Authorities say the item was recovered and turned out to be a baggie of suspected methamphetamine.

Thompson has been booked into the county jail on $7,000 bond. Hes charged with possession of meth-3rd or subsequent offense, and driving while barred.
MASON CITY, Iowa - Iowa's senior U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley made a few stops in North Iowa on Tuesday as part of his 39th annual town hall tour. The Senator got a tour of Wood Harbor Custom Cabinetry in Mason City this morning, and met with employees.

He enjoys visiting his constituents.

"It's very essential to make representative government work. Those of us elected must discuss those with our constituents, both face to face and answering their email."

Tuesday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed President Trump's ban on allowing most transgendered people to serve in the military to move forward, though lower courts will hear arguments on the issue. There are some exceptions to the ban; service members who have been stable for three years in their biological sex prior to joining the military, members diagnosed with gender dysphoria after joining the military can stay if they don't require a change of gender and remain deployable, those who were diagnosed before the policy took effect can still serve and receive treatment, and those without a diagnosis or history can serve under their birth sex. The Defense Department can issue waivers depending on each case.

Grassley disagrees with the decision, saying that all should be allowed to serve their country, if they're able to perform the required duties.

"There's a mission for every group of military people, and if you're going to be a part of that mission, you gotta be able to carry it out."

JoAnn Hardy is a member of One Iowa, and while she appreciates Grassley's position, she hopes that the support can be followed through.

"I hope he cares enough about the issue to fight for the rights of the LGBTQ community. That's my hope."

And her hopes don't end there.

"Hopefully we can come back to where we were, so that the LGBTQ community can have their rights. And if they want to serve, they should get to serve."

Also discussed on Tuesday was the ongoing federal government shutdown, with Grassley saying he personally feels embarrassed by the shutdown, and is ready to get the government back open by voting on Thursday.

"I'm gonna have to cut short some of my county meetings because of it, but I think the government should open, and I'm glad that we're having this opportunity this week and probably go into next week to get 800,000 people back to work."

The Senate plans to vote on competing bills, one by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and by House-passed legislation backed by Democrats to reopen the government, on Thursday. However, both proposals would need 60 votes to advance.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  Another business falls victim to funny money.

Rochester Police tells KIMT it was Big Brads on Broadway Avenue.

Back on January 16, the bar reported getting three fake $100 bills.

Apparently, Big Brads employees went to the bank and thats how they found out the bills werent real.

A neighboring bar tells us its pretty easy to tell if money is fake, unless its prop movie money used in films.

Its a lesson for everyone to always examine the cash you receive carefully.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -

The Diocese of Winona Rochester is facing 121 claims of child sexual abuse by clergy and while the process for the bankruptcy is still happening, one priest is speaking out about the Church's scandals.

"Now, they are working towards settlements and towards a final summary of all the claims," Father Jason Kern, the Vocations Director for the Diocese said.

Kern says now is a time of healing for the Church which has been rocked by child sexual abuse claims.

"The church is broken, it has broken members and leaders like myself who are not perfect and we are all in need of healing," Kern said.

Kern is upfront about the fact that the claims have also hurt him.

"I suffer with them in this," Kern said. "It's been difficult, all of the allegations and working through these things for what feels like way too long."

Selina Leang is active in the Church and supports the Diocese's move.

"As practicing Catholics, we have to hold our bishops, our priests, everyone in the Diocese to be accountable for their actions as well and continue to pray for them," Leang said. "They are our shepherds."

Leang stands by her Church because it has always been about faith for her.

"You can't just run away because something goes bad, something goes wrong, that's an easy way out for a lot of people," Leang said. "I know that's harsh but it's so true, people leave so many things but when you stand strong and you know what you are fighting for is for a good cause and that's what makes it worthwhile."

Father Kern tells KIMT the lawyers and insurance companies are still going through the bankruptcy process and has no specific timelines as of now.
NORTHWOOD, Iowa  One of the people accused in a bloody hotel room beating is pleading not guilty.

Abdirizak Warsame Mohammed, 41 of Owatonna, and Kadra A. Bashir, 32 of Minneapolis, are charged with willful injury. Authorities say they assaulted a woman at the Holiday Inn on Wheelerwood Road in Worth County on December 1, 2018.



Kadra Bashir Kadra Bashir

Law enforcement says the victim with left with blood all over her face and a swollen shut left eye.

Mohammed is accused of punching the woman many times. His trial is now set for February 20.

Bashir is accused of holding the woman down. She has not yet entered a plea.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Rochester is looking into making changes to the way police patrol downtown during key times of the nightlife scene.

Councilmembers Mark Bilderback, Randy Staver, and Michael Wojcik are behind the council-initiated action, that aims to keep downtown Rochester safe as more people move to town and it becomes a more active scene.

On Wednesday, the Council is simply asking city administration to look into how feasible the increase in patrolling would be for Rochester.

Specifically, city administration is looking into whats called the Fargo model, where if people were causing problems in the downtown area, officers would be able to track where they were last served alcohol.

John Krusel is one of the two retail shops on 3rd St. and has owned that retail shop for 41 years. Hes pleased the city is taking action but says its long overdue.

We are tired of being taken advantage of by having to pick up, clean up vomit, glasses, straws. There are people in the alleys that defecate. There is a lack of oversight, he said.

But more policing comes with a price.

The city is looking into upping the cost of liquor licenses to area bars. That money would then go into paying for the extra policing.

Since the conversation is in such infant phases, there is no word yet on how much liquor licenses would go up.

The Rochester city council meeting is on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers.
NORTHWOOD, Iowa - The man accused of driving through a North Iowa cornfield is pleading guilty.

Blake Aaron Peterson, 25 of Fort Dodge, was arrested on August 1, 2018, after a Worth County sheriffs deputy pulled his vehicle over after it was seen driving erratically and dragging corn stalks behind it.

Peterson pleaded guilty to OWI-1st offense and had been sentenced to two days in jail, with credit for time served, and a $1,250 fine.

A passenger in the vehicle was also accused of swallowing  a gram of methamphetamine before the traffic stop. Cody Richard Peterson, 22 of Carpenter, has pleaded not guilty to possession of a controlled substance and is due to stand trial on February 20.
FLOYD COUNTY, Iowa  Authorities say a New Years Eve traffic stop turned up over 100 grams of heroin.

Keith Benard Tucker, 50 of Detroit, Michigan, was stopped for a traffic violation on December 31, 2018 near the 212 mile marker of Highway 218. Law enforcement says he was found with a brown powdery substance about the size of a softball that tested positive for heroin. A loaded .45 caliber handgun was also found on the passenger seat of Tuckers vehicle.

According to court documents, Tucker admitted he was transporting the heroin from Detroit to Mason City.

Authorities say marijuana was then found tucked in Tuckers sock when he was booked into the Floyd County Jail.

Hes charged with possession with intent to deliver heroin and possession of contraband in a correctional facility.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Thirty-two days into the government shutdown, the Olmsted County Housing and Redevelopment Authority presented their recommendation to the Board of Commissioners on how to protect affordable housing. They recommended to authorize the use of the HRA's levy, county money, to supplement Housing Choice Voucher (also known as Section 8) funds through March if there are no federal funds available. The board voted 5 to 1 to approve the recommendation.

"That allows us kind of one more month before we have to evaluate solutions that are maybe more dramatic and certainly something that we don't want to do," explains Dave Dunn, housing director of the OCHRA. He eleborates that the government shutdown is impacting affordable housing in the area in multiple ways. For one, federal employees not receiving a paycheck may be struggling to make their rent or mortgage payments. Additionally, federal funds used by multiple housing programs in the area including the Housing Choice Voucher rely on federal funding.

This reassurance is coming at a good time, as some community members are beginning to worry about how they will maintain a roof over their heads. Che Lopez, lead organizer of Communities United for Rochester Empowerment, has met with CURE members who rely on Section 8 housing. "They're very concerned...A lot of our members that are living under section 8 are worried that they're not going to have a place to stay if the program closes," he explains.

"For our clients, not knowing where their next rent payment may come from, you can imagine just how concerning and distressing that is so what we're trying to do is provide some reassurance and stability to let our clients know that not only are their rental assistance payments going to be fine for February, they're also going to be fine for March," adds Dunn.

The OCHRA is hoping that the government shutdown ends before the end of March, but what if it doesn't? "We would absolutely find other solutions," says Dunn. "We'd have to get really creative and we'd have to dip into some reserves, but we would find other solutions."

Some of the population utilizing affordable housing options overlaps with some of the population utilizing the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. While housing is now secure through March, SNAP is only secure through February at the moment. "A lot of them are saying where are we gonna get money for food, what's going to happen with our situation feeding our kids?" says Lopez.

According to Olmsted County, "staff are monitoring state and federal guidance regarding March benefits" for SNAP. Snap participants may also be eligible for funding through the Women Infant and Child Program, which has federal funding through April.

Veteran services are not impacted as this time, as the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs is funded through the end of the year.

According to Olmsted County, here is a list of other programs and services that are not affected currently, but the county is monitoring:  Child Care Assistance Programs (CCAP); Medical Assistance (MA); Group Residential Housing (GRH); Child Support (CS); Diversionary Work Program (DWP); General Assistance (GA); Minnesota Supplemental Assistance (MSA); Emergency Assistance/Emergency General Assistance (EA/EGA); Public Health services including home visits, immunizations and check-ups, refugee screening, and food and lodging inspections and licensing; Transportation and road construction projects in the county; Elections, passports and vital records services.
Friends and family turned out in large numbers on Friday night to celebrate the 80th birthday of Foroiges longest serving volunteer John Sullivan.

His local club, Cuffesgrange Foroige Club organised the birthday party, which was held at the Springhill Hotel on the Waterford Road, as a mark of their deep appreciation for the huge contribution Mr Sullivan has made over the decades at local and national level.

Remarkable

Rosie OBrien, Foroige, described Mr Sullivan as a remarkable stalwart in his local community.

John is an amazing man, an inspiration, she said. He has been volunteering for Foroige continuously since 1964 but, coupled with volunteering with Foroige, John is still an active member of his community.

Active Volunteer

John is still an active volunteer for the following groups and organisations: Kilkenny Foroige District Council, Cuffesgrange Foroige, Danesfort Parish and GAA Lotto, Danesfort Community Hall Bingo, Danesfort Field Day.

He is also on the Board of Management of Fr Campion Place, Board of Management of Churchill NS, Cuffesgrange Cemetery Committee, DCK Mens Shed, Danesfort Parish Pastoral Committee and Danesfort Community Hall Committee.

The octogenarian is also the sacristan in Cuffesgrange Church. He is behind the illuminated Crib which lights the way for all who travel on the N76 Callan Road each Christmas.



A number of presentations were made on the night to John by a multitude of community groups. There was also plenty of music, storytelling and banter.

John is actively involved with Foroige for the past 55 years and his name is synonymous with the organisation at a local, regional and national level.

Current Foroige youth members presented John with a plaque which they made for the occasion. The plaque bore the following inscription:

Your kindness and never ending willingness to volunteer and help people in our community is greatly appreciated. You are an inspiration to us all.
Whats your idea of a perfect day, or perfect weekend out in Kilkenny?

Perfect day for me would be a trip into Kilkenny with all the family. Head straight to the Castle Park, down to the playground, and a nice walk around the grounds. There is just something special about Kilkenny Castle and the park. We are so lucky to have such an amazing piece of history on our doorstep. I have to say Savour Kilkenny Festival this year was absolutely amazing.



Who has made the greatest contribution to Kilkenny in your lifetime - and why?

There are so many people who have made such a massive contribution to Kilkenny. From a sporting, musical, political, cultural and community perspective i think its almost impossible to pick just one!

Whats your first Kilkenny memory?

My first Kilkenny memory is heading into Nowlan Park as a young chap with my father to watch Kilkenny hurling games in the National League. We would stop off then in The Pike Bar or The Fox and Goose on the way home for a drink and a bag of crisps or bar of chocolate!

Whats your favourite part of the county - and why?

My favourite part of the county would have to be my homeplace, Skeoughvosteen. I was born and reared here, and though I have travelled and lived in other parts of the country, I love the sense of community in the place and the many many friendships that I have made over the years.



What do you think gives Kilkenny its unique identity?

Kilkenny is a city and county where we value our heritage, culture, tradition and our history, but we also celebrate its diversity. However, for me its the people which gives Kilkenny its unique identity. Since I have become Mayor, I have been very fortunate to meet so many brilliant people right around the county. People who give up so much of their time for the betterment of their communities, its just brilliant to see. I have witnessed first hand ordinary people doing extraordinary things.



Do you have a favourite local writer or author?

I love reading biographies, and I have read Henry Shefflins, Jackie Tyrrells, Charlie Carter and Brian Codys books from front to back in one sitting! Im looking forward to reading the legend Tommy Walshs biography whenever it comes out. A guaranteed best seller!

Whats the biggest challenge facing the county today?

We have many challenges facing the county today. Mental health is a significant issue and despite some brilliant work locally by the likes of Teac Tom, is totally underfunded by this government and needs to be increased significantly. Broadband is a also a huge issue especially in rural parts of the county. Also, whilst we have seen improvements, there is still a serious shortfall of housing supply in Kilkenny and this is a challenge. Also, having not won the All Ireland in a few years, we have to get back to Croke Park on All Ireland Final Day - one hopefully we can overcome this year..

If you had the power to change on thing in, or about Kilkenny, what would it be?

If I could change one thing, I would make sure that Kilkenny would get a third level educational campus immediately. I know plans are in place for a Technological University of the South East, but for me i think Kilkenny should be the centre of this new campus, and it should be located in the Abbey Quarter.
SPOKANE, Wash. - A jury convicted a Spokane man of rape on Tuesday in connection to a sexual assault in 2017. Steven Pallett was found guilty of 1st Degree Rape with a special verdict of firearms enhancement on Tuesday. Pallett was originally arrested in September 2017 for rape and kidnapping. A woman said she accepted a ride from a man who was armed with a handgun and forced her to give him oral sex.
EUGENE, Ore. -- After the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump's transgender military ban to go into effect on Tuesday, a transgender veteran living in Eugene is speaking out.

Seda Collier told KEZI 9 News the Supreme Court decision was disappointing.

Collier served in the Marine Corps for four years between 1979 to 1983. She said she joined the military to feel more like a man and to serve her country.

Through her time in the military, Collier said she had some ups and downs, but she said she doesn't regret her service.

However, Collier said Tuesday's decision is blatantly discriminatory against the LGBT community.

"They're not relying on the military personnel, on trusting them to do the right thing," Collier said. "They're creating a blanket restriction for a whole group of people regardless of whether they are the best people for the job."

READ MORE: Supreme Court allows transgender military ban to go into effect

The Justices did not rule on the merits of the case but will allow the ban to go forward while the lower courts work through it. The policy, which was first announced in July 2017, blocks trans individuals from serving with limited exceptions.

According to government data, nearly 9,000 service members identified as transgender in 2016.
EUGENE, Ore. -- With Starbucks teaming up with Uber Eats to provide delivery service, your morning routine could be getting a little more convenient.

The new service will start in San Francisco, and in the coming weeks, it will also be available in New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

Starbucks started testing deliveries in Miami last year and saw a strong demand.
MILLERSBURG, Ore.  A woman accused of stealing more than $300,000 from her mothers retirement account is in jail in Linn County, Sheriff Jim Yon said.

Detectives arrested Mary Ellen Gray, 68, of Richland, Missouri, on Monday, and she was charged with first-degree aggravated theft and criminal mistreatment.

Adult Protective Services told the sheriffs office that Gray had allegedly withdrawn thousands of dollars from an account belonging to her mother, Lena Fenn, 86, of Millersburg. Detectives then conducted an investigation.

Yon said financial records show Gray withdrew the money from the account over a two-year period and used the money for her own personal gain.

Gray moved to Missouri in 2017, but was back in Millersburg when detectives contacted her at her mothers residence. She was lodged at the Linn County Jail.
EUGENE, Ore.  Some students are getting a jump start on a career in software and mechanical engineering at Churchill High School in Eugene.

The school has a two-year robotics program. Its an elective course where students get to program robots with coding language.

I had more interest in science and math classes versus English and stuff, but I just wanted to get this done because I want to be a mechanical engineer and robotics is the basics of it, senior Grace Cosare said.

Through trial and error, the students learn to gather the right components and code the robots to complete certain challenges.

Its definitely not a boring class, thats for sure, sophomore Isaac Libert said. Its a lot of fun but definitely dont do it if you dont want to do things with code because its not all about building the robot. A lot of it has to do with coding.

Students said its challenging but very rewarding.

Churchill High School offers more CTE courses than any other high school in the area.

KEZI is partnering with employers in our area to address the lack of workers for skilled jobs. To learn more, click here.
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These days we are talking more about advanced directives and living wills in health care. This is progress, but as a member of the sandwich generation, I am focused on the aging process. I dont have kids, but I have parents and have the honor of watching patients struggle with aging and helping loved ones grow old  walking the long, winding and thorny road.

Patients have asked me, Where are the golden years? Aging is a process of loss and grief: letting go of what you can no longer do for yourself or have the energy to do, living with pain and discomfort and sorting through the could, should, would haves.

As the eldest child, I have tried to respect my parents autonomy to make a decision even if I dont agree, but temper it with the realities of what Mom or Dad could and could not do. With lots of siblings, it means working to be on the same page, which is sometimes easier said than done. No surprise, there is no direction manual or easy answers. I am learning as I am doing. As a physician, I have the benefit of watching others do the same: some do it well, some do not. Someday, Ill have more authority when I am grieving the loss of my own capabilities.

My dad was disillusioned in his final years as he came to terms with the loss of his physical strength. He did make it out to spray the weeds along the farm fence rows at 90, his goal. Doing it once at 90 was enough, although neighbors watched with their hands on the phone. However, he may have benefited from antidepressants in his final years; it might have helped him emphasize the cup half full as opposed to the half empty point of view. That said, we celebrated his 92 years of living two years ago this Christmas.

My 88-year-old mom has soldiered on without him, now alone after sixty some years of marriage. Recently she fell and broke her shoulder. Due to the nature of the break, she needed surgery. The surgery was successful, but claiming independence is tough. Its even harder to keep your balance when you cant use one arm. What about dressing, bathing, using the bathroom, cooking? She has reminded all her daughters what we take for granted.

Mom faced the options of assisted living or having 24-hour caregiver aides in her home. She wasnt thrilled with either choice. With assisted living, you have more privacy but lose familiar surroundings and your own bed. With aides, you are in your own home, but you lose your privacy  the aides are always there. Because it is a low wage job, there is turnover and different lifestyles. There was the aide who went outside to smoke every 30 minutes, the one who stole money, the one with unkempt hair, tattoos and a nose ring. But there were some wonderful and caring aides as well. Big adjustments to make when you are under the weather and need help you wish you didnt need  more grief and loss.

Of course, there is the driving issue. In our culture, where effective public transportation is a rarity, losing the keys is an affront to independence. As a physician, I have been the bad guy and taken car keys away from patients at the request of their children. Sure you can get on the senior van to go to the grocery, line-up transportation to take you to medical appointments, but you cant come and go when and where you want. Less control and more patience. More grief and loss.

How do we make sense of these challenges? Several of George H. W. Bushs eulogizers talked about the lubricant of his humor and how welcome it was during tough times and tough decisions. A friends mother with dementia was able to make fun of her forgetfulness. Some patients have the ability to laugh instead of cry at the changes and losses. Hurrah for humor!

A spiritual life helps. My aunt who played and taught the piano and guitar for years now has numbness, tingling and burning in her fingers. It seems like cruel punishment to lose the use of body parts that were not only her livelihood but also her joy. Because of her faith, she believes that through her suffering she is earning heaven. A spiritual life helps find meaning in the unpalatable, plugs us into something greater than ourselves, and provides community.

Mindfulness helps. Focusing on the smalls joys that are available to us day in and day out means celebrating the everyday lights or de-lights that cross our paths. But we have to watch for them. I remember James Earl Jones celebrating the mornings sunrise at the end of a movie about the horrors of apartheid in South Africa.

Family helps. Patients that have family geographically close who are engaged with the elder, checking in, providing transportation to doctor appointments, bringing meals, engaging him/her in family activities appear to avoid loneliness and isolation. As I was arranging the 24-hour caregiving for my mother, one of the aides said to me, Where is her family? Shame on me, I thought, I am a product of my culture having left Ohio again. While some families in the US do venerate family connections, many do not, and children move for jobs and other opportunities. Todays economy also requires the caregiving child, usually female, to have a job of her own. Of course, close family is not without its own complications.

Perhaps these are the lesson here. Aging is tough, not for sissies, but how we live our lives, how we celebrate the people who come and go along the way, how we celebrate the delights and avoid taking ourselves or others too seriously are the tools for coping with the grief and loss of the long, winding and thorny road of growing old.

Therese Zink is a family physician and can be reached at her self-titled site, ThereseZink.com.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
It was important for the new space to be inviting to prospective employees, she said, with lots of meeting rooms, places to have impromptu meetings and indoor and outdoor areas to take a break.

In the companys current offices, there are all the accouterments you might expect in the home of a tech company: shuffleboard and pingpong tables, scooters and snacks. In the new offices, which are expected to open in early 2021, there will be a similar work-and-play attitude, Pilgrim said.

Omahas Lockwood Development, which has overseen the Sterling Ridge development, will develop the LinkedIn buildings, which the tech company will lease. Emily OConnor, Lockwood vice president, said the company had been in talks with LinkedIn since 2015 to land its Omaha expansion.

Though the Sterling Ridge development has a mix of uses  retail, residential and office  the LinkedIn buildings wont be mixed-use: only Class A office space for the company. Omahas Holland Basham is the architecture firm designing the two buildings, each 100,000 square feet and five stories.
He spends between 30 and 90 minutes reworking lyrics by himself, then spends about a half-hour recording the video until he nails it in one take. He keeps a list of potential songs on his phone.

The end result is a silly video that helps him become more recognizable around school and, he hopes, puts a smile on a few faces while spreading the word.

Of course, Hoesing said he realizes a snow day isnt fun for everyone, despite the lighthearted videos.

I know there are kids that arent going to get a meal that day and parents who cant go to work that day, he said. But hed rather keep kids home than risk an accident.

In his video Tuesday morning, he had one assignment for students on their day off. And, of course, he sung it, replacing the Uptown Funk lyric Saturday night and were in the spot. Dont believe me? Just watch.

He sang: Tuesday morning, just stay inside. Maybe play some Fortnite. 
KEARNEY  Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Fleming Kleeb of Hastings will address the Buffalo County Democrats at their annual kickoff event 1:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday at the University of Nebraska at Kearney Alumni House at 2222 Ninth Ave.

Kleeb will review the partys 2018 achievements and its strategies for 2019.

A time to socialize and exchange ideas will follow her presentation. Refreshments will be served. John Turek, vice chair of the Buffalo County Republicans, is available at 308-293-2144 for more information.
GOTHENBURG  The Gothenburg Board of Education has chosen Todd Rhodes as the next superintendent of Gothenburg Public Schools, according to board president Nate Wyatt.

Rhodes, who replaces Superintendent Dr. Michael Teahon, will assume his leadership duties beginning July 1.

The Gothenburg School Board was committed to a rigorous superintendent search process and with providing the community clear and comprehensive information that began last April, a press release said.

Focus groups and community meetings provided input on the desired qualities of the next superintendent. GPS received over 20 applications for the position.

The desire for so many prospective candidates to work at GPS is evidence of Dr. Teahons legacy and the current administrative teams expectation for excellence within the district, Wyatt said.

In reference to the four finalists, Wyatt said the candidates presented many strengths to further the mission of GPS, creating a challenging decision.

Interviews were conducted over two days. Candidates interviewed with breakout groups composed of certificated staff, classified staff, administration and community leaders before meeting with the board.
KEARNEY  The owner of the newest Thunderhead Brewing Co. taproom in Omaha said the popularity of the Kearney brand is spreading so rapidly hes planning additional locations in Lincoln and West Point in northeast Nebraska.

The first location hit our expectations in two years. We were expecting five, said Beau Starkel, who this week announced his plans to open a second Thunderhead taproom in Omaha just south of the Old Market district.

Starkels first Thunderhead taproom is at 13304 W. Center Road in west Omaha.

He said his business relationship with Thunderhead Brewing Co. owner Trevor Schaben formed about six years ago when Starkels girlfriend was attending the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

It all started with a girl. I was cruising out there on the weekends, and, you know, a man likes to find a nice watering hole, he explained.

Starkel teaches at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and owns several businesses, including a social media company and wine business. He scouted for about two years to find the location for Omahas first Thunderhead taproom. He said hes using Thunderhead logos and brands in marketing the taprooms. Youll swear its no different than Kearneys.
January 17, 2019

Lincoln, Neb.  Managing weed challenges, integrating cover crops, and identifying and controlling new pest threats are among the featured topics at the Nebraska Crop Management Conference Jan. 28-29 in Kearney.

Geared to farmers and agribusiness professionals, the conference offers research-based, in-depth presentations on a variety of timely topics specific to Nebraska crop production, said Chris Proctor, conference coordinator and extension weed science educator. There will be 24 presentations, with many offered more than once so that attendees can be sure to catch priority sessions. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts will address the audience on the afternoon of Jan. 29.

Online registration for the conference, to be held at the Younes Conference Center, is available at https://agronomy.unl.edu/NCMC. Registration is $150 for both days or $80 for one day through Jan. 20, $165 for both days or $95 for one day after that.

The conference offers unique opportunities to learn about recent research and new recommendations to address the current and developing challenges that crop managers face in Nebraska, Proctor said. It also offers opportunities for attendees to talk with researchers and crop and agribusiness experts from across the state.
CENTRAL POINT, Ore.  State troopers are looking for information after finding a red-tailed hawk that had been shot in the Central Point area, leading to its death shortly after.

According to Oregon State Police (OSP) a Fish and Wildlife trooper found the red-tailed hawk "acting strangely" on January 16. Upon closer inspection, the trooper found that the hawk had been injured by a bullet.

Troopers were able to capture the hawk and bring it to Wildlife Images in the Merlin area for treatment, but the creature died.

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact Oregon State Police Dispatch at 541-776-6111. Reference OSP Case Number SP19-018083.

OSP's TIP program offers cash rewards for information leading to an arrest or issuance of a citation for the unlawful take/possession or waste of Mountain Sheep, Mountain Goat, Moose, Elk, Deer, Antelope, Bear, Cougar, Wolf, Upland Birds, Waterfowl, and Furbearers. Cash rewards can also be awarded for the unlawful take of Game Fish and Shellfish and for Habitat Destruction.

CASH REWARDS:

* $1,000 Mountain Sheep, Mountain Goat and Moose

* $500 Elk, Deer and Antelope

* $300 Bear, Cougar and Wolf

* $300 Habitat Destruction

* $100 Upland Birds and Waterfowl

* $100 Furbearers
MEDFORD, Ore.,-United States Senator of Oregon, Ron Wyden was originally going to host two town halls today, one in Jackson County and the other in Josephine County.

Yesterday, NewsWatch 12 got word that both of the town halls are being postponed until a later date.

This due to Senator Wyden having to be in Washington D.C. for an important senate vote tomorrow. Two senate proposals that could fully re-open the government will be presented tomorrow. The White House's plan offers temporary protection from deportation to some immigrants and also funds a border barrier.

This vote could possibly answer some of the questions that Oregonians were going to ask Senator Wyden at the town hall meetings. NewsWatch 12 talked with Jackson County Republican Chairman Reagan Knopp about what he thought would be a main part of the town hall discussions.

"I think reopening the federal government and border security are going to be top concerns as well as probably a lot of Oregonians are still concerned about making sure that they have well-paying middle class jobs and health care as well," Knopp says.

Newswatch 12 also spoke with a representative from the progressive group Indivisible. Teresa Safay also hoped to see the government shutdown addressed at today's town hall.

"I would like to see him address Trump's shutdown and if he see's a way out to get the lead McConnell to do anything at all to break the deadlock. I would really like the see the federal workers stop being held hostage by these antics by the president," says Safay.

As of now, the town halls have not been rescheduled.
MEDFORD, Ore. -- Fentanyl is normally a prescription pain reliever. Nowadays it's being mixed with street drugs like heroin.

Someone buying street drugs may have no way of knowing the already dangerous heroin is laced with a deadly synthetic opioid. In 2018 Jackson County had at least 25 overdose deaths and Max's Mission is doing something to change that.

"We are doing this to help save lives in Southern Oregon," said Julia Pinsky, Director of Max's Mission.

Tomorrow the organization is handing out fentanyl test strips at the Medford Public library from 3:30 - 6:30 pm. The strips can be used on prescription drugs and street drugs. The strip will tell you if fentanyl is mixed in.

"Another tool in harm reduction. To help save lives and with the scale of the epidemic being so broad we feel like we have to embrace everything we can," Pinsky said.

Max's Mission is handing this out along with naloxone. A drug used to reverse an opioid overdose. The strips and the naloxone are free. Pinsky is very passionate about naloxone and getting it in the hands of people who could use it.

"My son Max died from an overdose. We lived in an rural area lots of people in Jackson County live in rural areas and emergency response time is longer then it is if you live in Medford," said Pinsky.

Pinsky believes if she had naloxone at the time her son was overdosing she might have been able to save him.

"The quicker you can respond to an overdose the more likely you are to save a life," said Pinsky.

Jackson County has a law called the "Good Samaritan Overdose Law." It protects you if you call for medical help because of an overdose  you can't be arrested or prosecuted if you have drugs on you or have a warrant.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.  The deputies involved in a shooting that left a 33-year-old Beatty man dead on December 29 have been cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury, according to a statement released on Tuesday by Klamath County District Attorney Eve Costello.

The grand jury saw the results of an Oregon State Police investigation into the shooting, plus testimony from the deputies on the scene and a Crisis Intervention team member from Klamath Basin Behavioral Health who was also there at the time of the incident.

Deputies Leach and McAdams were the two members of the Klamath County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) directly involved in the shooting.

According to Costello, 911 dispatch received a call from Mark Farell's mother on December 29, indicating that the 33-year-old had attacked her and she was "in fear for her life."

"Klamath County Sheriff's office responded to the scene with information in CAD notes indicating the residence, in particular Mark Farrell, created an officer safety risk and had mental health issues," Costello said.

Farrell's parents reportedly told the deputies that their son had threatened to kill his mother while physically attacking her.

Farrell himself retreated into his home on the property and barricaded himself inside, telling deputies that they would "have to kill him in order to arrest him." Deputies told Farrell's parents to leave for their own safety, according to Costello.

KCSO called in the Crisis Intervention counselor from Klamath Basin Behavioral Health. Costello said that the counselor tried to speak with Farrell, but he refused to respond.

"Shortly thereafter, Mark Farrell exited the back door of his home, having spotted Deputy Leach at the corner of the garage," Costello said.

Farrell advanced on Deputy Leach with a knife in hand, yelling "I see you pig," and "Come and get me pig," according to the DA's narrative of events. Although Leach gave Farrell commands to drop the knife and began backing away, Farrell broke into a run towards him.

"Deputy McAdams had run to the area upon hearing Deputy Leach's increasingly emotive commands for Mr. Farrell to drop the knife. Both deputies fired on Mr. Farrell," Costello said.

Farrell was pronounced dead at the scene. He had a catalogued history of mental health struggles, and investigators later found that he had not been taking medication "for some time"  apparently finding 1900 unused tablets in his home.

"Mr. Farrell had talked about suicide by cop many times prior to this incident," Costello said. "The tragedy of untreated mental health issues creates significant collateral damage...[the DA's office] extends its sympathy to the Farrell family and to the involved Deputies."
MEDFORD, Ore. -- A family whose members lost their home because of the Camp Fire are rebuilding their lives in Medford.

Brittany Santos now lives in a two bedroom apartment with her 7-year-old daughter and her parents. They lost everything in the fire. But community members stepped up to make sure Jazelle, Brittany's daughter, has a bed and toys.

The bed came as a donation from Ashley Furniture Homestore, part of its Home to Dream program. The toys came from the community, and a Facebook page community.

"We all need to help each other," Debbie Saxbury said. She organizes the "Central Point Oregon - What's Happening Around Town" page. "We need to help our community; we need to help our neighbors."

Santos adds the group "Paradise Fire Adopt a Family" helped donate toys so Jazelle could have a Christmas this year. She says all the support has been appreciated, and badly needed.

"I had people messaging me just to give me an encouraging word which went a along way for me," Santos said. "Because you're at a place where you just feel really down and helpless [and] scared -- it was a holiday season and we had nothing."

The Camp Fire had a special impact on one of the owners of Ashley Furniture Homestore, Rochelle Loogman. She grew up in Paradise.

"It definitely hit me personally," Loogman said. "It still is actually pretty emotional for me."

That's because she knows people whom the fire impacted.

"Many, many of my friends, my family's friends, and my parents -- they all lost everything."
Tim and Beverly Nyden stopped in Kansas City on Tuesday to get some much needed rest after leaving Lynchburg, Virginia the night before.
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Two people who worked for a Sioux City hotel have been accused of a scam using guests' credit cards.

Woodbury County court records say 35-year-old Sandra Lalumendre and 19-year-old Ethan Ehlers have been charged with theft and other crimes. Her attorney didn't immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press. The records show Ehlers has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled to begin March. 5.

Court documents say that from May 14 through Sept. 8, Lalumendre and Ehlers fraudulently overcharged guests' credit cards at the Howard Johnson hotel in downtown Sioux City. They'd then force refunds and split the money. The documents say the total was more than $32,700.
Under the sea: Kansas State University geologist explores the depths of the oceans

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019



Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, has been spending weeks at sea on research vessels while she studies the ocean floor, underwater volcanoes and hydrothermal vents. In this video, Farough discusses her work on the U.S. research drilling vessel called the JOIDES Resolution. Video courtesy of the JOIDES Resolution.



View video.





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News release

MANHATTAN  Kansas may be landlocked, but that has not stopped a Kansas State University geologist from going 1.5 miles underwater to explore the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean.



Aida Farough, a teaching assistant professor of geology, has been spending weeks at sea while she studies the ocean floor, underwater volcanoes and hydrothermal vents at mid-ocean ridges. But Farough's underwater explorations are doing more than helping scientists understand the minerals and microbial life on the ocean floor. Her research can provide key insights to the origin of life on Earth as well as the existence of life and hydrothermal vents on other planets.



"Just because we dont have an ocean in our backyard in Kansas, we shouldnt ignore the oceans and the opportunities of marine exploration," Farough said. "We know less about the oceans than we know about some of the planets in our solar system. In fact, we have better maps of Mars than parts of the oceans within the U.S. territory."



That's why Farough is involved in several large international research projects that are aiming to learn more about the geologic processes on the ocean floor. Her research deals with three things  water, rocks and heat  and the interactions among them. She is primarily interested in fluid flow and heat transfer in seafloor hydrothermal systems, which are like chimneys or vents on the oceanic crust.



"Much of the work that I and many other scientists do is hampered by lack of data, such as heat flow from the seafloor," Farough said. "To collect such data, one has to make a trip to an actual study area. My study area just happens to be 1.5 miles underwater and spread out over square miles of rugged seafloor."



Farough just returned from three weeks on the research vessel Atlantis in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. During the ocean cruise, Farough dove to the bottom of the ocean  a depth of 2,500 meters, or about 1.5 miles  in Human Occupied Vehicle Alvin. Alvin was involved in the 1986 exploration of the wreckage of the Titanic.



Atlantis researchers focused on the mid-ocean ridge called East Pacific Rise. Mid-ocean ridges are regions of the oceanic crust where heat, fluid and lava escape from deep below the seafloor through the spreading of tectonic plates. Hydrothermal vent systems are found along mid-ocean ridges and host rich ecosystems.



The research vessel, or ship, is a floating science lab full of analytical instruments. During oceanic cruises, researchers like Farough gather rock samples and data from the seafloor, either by drilling or by driving submersibles to the bottom of the ocean.



When Farough was on the bottom of the ocean, she used instruments to measure heat from hydrothermal systems, where material from inside the Earth is released into the ocean in the form of hot, black water. The temperatures of hydrothermal fluid reach up to 680 degrees Fahrenheit and the heat supports nearby ocean life, such as crabs and tubeworms.



Hydrothermal vents may have been present on early Earth and could provide key insights into the early evolution of the Earth and life, Farough said. Her research also links to hydrothermal vents on planetary bodies, such as Saturn's moon Enceladus, which has a global liquid ocean.



"The heat from hydrothermal systems is responsible for life thriving in the most hostile environments on Earth, deep in the oceans where there is no sunlight and seawater temperatures are near freezing," Farough said. "Learning more about hydrothermal systems can take us a step closer to understanding heat distribution in oceanic crust, origination of life on Earth and existence of life on other planets."



Farough's underwater dive was part of a National Science Foundation-funded research cruise with the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System. Farough was one of 11 early career U.S. scientists selected for the cruise to investigate underwater volcanic, hydrothermal and biological activity.



Farough also recently spent two months with International Ocean Discovery Program scientists on the U.S. research drilling vessel called the JOIDES Resolution to study the mineral resources near Brothers volcano, which is the most hydrothermally active volcano in the Kermadec Arc in the Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand. The project marked the first attempt to drill into a submarine volcano.



Farough was selected as one of 11 researchers from the U.S. on the 34-person science team that also included researchers from Europe, Japan, China and the United Kingdom. Farough is specifically studying the fluid transport properties and permeability of rock samples from Brothers volcano.



She also spent two weeks on Japans drilling vessel, called Chikyu, to analyze cores drilled from the ancient seafloor in the deserts of Oman. The Oman Drilling Project focuses on oceanic formations at mid-ocean ridges, hydrothermal alteration of the seafloor and mass transfer between the crust and the oceans. The Oman Drilling Project involves 166 scientists representing 30 countries from five continents.



Now that she is back on land and in Kansas, Farough is further analyzing the rock samples and data she collected at sea. This includes evaluating the samples' physical properties, such as permeability, density and porosity. She is collaborating with many other scientists and engineers to achieve her scientific goals.



"Mineral resources play an important role in the Kansas economy, but population growth is constantly challenging us to seek more resources," Farough said. "Now that mining and farming on the moon and colonization of Mars are becoming a reality, why not consider using the resources in the oceans first? Oceans have so much to offer to us, including unknown and unlimited amounts of energy and mineral resources."







Aida Farough, a Kansas State University teaching assistant professor of geology, stands on board the U.S. research drilling vessel called the JOIDES Resolution. Farough spent two months on a research cruise to study the mineral resources near Brothers volcano in the Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand. | Photo credit: Bill Crawford, International Ocean Discovery Program
A German appeals court Wednesday lengthened the jail term for a Syrian refugee found guilty of war crimes and taking part in the kidnapping of a Canadian UN peacekeeper.

The defendant, named only as Suliman al-S., 28, was sentenced to four years and nine months for the 2013 abduction carried out in Damascus by an Islamist militant group.

German prosecutors had appealed against a more lenient prison term of three and a half years that the Stuttgart court had handed down in September 2017.

Suliman al-S. arrived in Germany as a refugee in 2014 and was later granted asylum.

In January 2016 he became the first Syrian to be arrested in Germany for war crimes committed in his homeland.

The Stuttgart court in September 2017 found him guilty of war crimes and aiding and abetting the abduction of UN observer Carl Campeau.

Campeau, a veteran UN legal advisor, has written a book about his ordeal at the hands of the Al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front, which demanded a seven-million-dollar ransom for their captive.

Campeau, who had been stationed in the Golan Heights with the UN Disengagement Observer Force, has said he was abused and forced to convert to Islam by his captors before, after eight months in captivity, he managed to escape.
Qatari state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera on Tuesday criticised Sudans arbitrary decision to withdraw accreditation for three of its journalists covering widespread anti-government protests in the African country.

Al Jazeera Media Network denounces this arbitrary decision which lacks any credible justification and contradicts basic norms of press freedom, said the network in a statement.

The network reaffirms its journalists commitment to Al Jazeeras editorial standards in the coverage of the latest developments in Sudan.

The accreditation of correspondents Osama Ahmed and Ahmed Alrehaid were withdrawn earlier this week along with that of cameraman Badawi Bashir.

Work permits were also withdrawn for journalists covering Sudan for Al-Arabiya television  which is close to Saudi authorities  and Turkeys Anadolu news agency, according to media reports.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was due in Qatar on Tuesday on his first trip abroad since demonstrations against his rule erupted in December.

Qatar and Sudan are long-term allies. Doha mediated between Khartoum and rebel groups involved in the Darfur conflict that erupted in 2003.

The current anti-government protests, the biggest challenge since Bashir swept to power in 1989 in an Islamist-backed coup, have now spread from Khartoum to other major cities.

Officials say 26 people have died so far in the protests. Rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at more than 40.

Bashirs regime has been accused of widespread human rights abuses and he has been charged by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Kirkland Mining Inc. (WKM:TSXV) (West Kirkland or the Company) is pleased to announce the Nevada State Engineers approval for an inter-basin transfer of water from basin 137A where the Three Hills Mine is located to basin 142 where the Hasbrouck Mine is located. Approval for piping water from the Three Hills Mine, where the Company leases a water right, to the Hasbrouck Mine eight km to the south effectively finalizes the Companys water supply plans for the project as a whole. A Plan of Operations for the Hasbrouck Mine has been accepted as complete by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is in addition to the federal and state permits already on hand for construction and operation of the Three Hills Mine.

Water

Water supply to the Three Hills Mine is already planned and permitted to come from a well to be installed there under a water right leased from Liberty Moly, LLC (see News Release dated February 21, 2017). The Company took the measure of leasing a water right from Liberty Moly, LLC in 2017 as no new water rights are being issued in basin 137A as it is over-appropriated. Basin 142 where the Hasbrouck Mine is located is also over-appropriated. West Kirkland has filed an application for a water right in Basin 142, which will be held in abeyance until one or more existing water rights are extinguished. Thus, obtaining permission to transfer water from the Three Hills Mine to the Hasbrouck Mine is a logical and efficient method to source water for the Hasbrouck Mine. The State Engineers approval for inter-basin transfer satisfies one of the few remaining prerequisites for mine construction and operation of the Hasbrouck Mine.

Plan of Operations at Hasbrouck Mine

While all key permits for the Three Hills Mine construction and operations were secured in 2016, the Company continues work on permitting the open pit Hasbrouck Mine and is focusing on obtaining all necessary permits for mine construction and operation. Permitting for the Hasbrouck Mine was started in 2017 and is on track to obtain federal permits in Q4 2019. The Companys Plan of Operations for the Hasbrouck Mine was accepted by the BLM in March 2018. The Company anticipates permitting at Hasbrouck Mine to essentially follow the same path as at Three Hills Mine, which proved to be straight-forward with federal permits obtained seven months after submission of a Plan of Operations. Specialist for all critical permitting areas are engaged and preparing the required reports. The Company plans to apply for key state permits, which are subject to less uncertainty and take less time than federal permits, as the federal permitting process advances.

About the Hasbrouck Gold Project

The Hasbrouck Gold Project consists of two all-oxide gold-silver deposits eight km apart, near the Town of Tonopah in southern Nevada. The Preliminary Feasibility Study supports that both deposits can be open-pit mined with 1:1 stripping ratios, minimal pre-stripping, and 76% heap-leach gold recovery. There are no known technical, environmental, economic, or social obstacles preventing immediate construction at the northern deposit (Three Hills Mine) and finalizing permit acquisition is the only outstanding item for construction at the southern deposit (Hasbrouck Mine). Permitting Hasbrouck Mine was started in 2017 and is now well-advanced with federal permits targeted in Q4 2019.

The Hasbrouck Gold Project contains Proven & Probable Reserves of 784,000 gold equivalent oz (45,270,000 tons at 0.017 Au oz/t for 762,000 contained Au oz; 0.233 Ag oz/t for 10,569,000 contained Ag ounces) (Technical Report and Updated Preliminary Feasibility Study for The Hasbrouck and Three Hills Gold-Silver Project, Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA, Report Date: September 14, 2016 prepared by Thomas L. Dyer, P.E. and Paul Tietz, C.P.G. of Mine Development Associates (MDA)). Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP holds a 25% interest in the Hasbrouck Gold Project and is participating in project expenditures. The first pit is fully permitted and permitting the second pit is ongoing.

About West Kirkland Mining Inc.

West Kirkland is focused on acquiring and advancing near-construction gold projects in safe jurisdictions, and owns a 75% interest in, and a 1.1% net smelter return royalty over, the Hasbrouck Gold Project in Tonopah, Nevada.

The Company has secured an option on a district scale land position for future exploration. At this time, the Company will focus its efforts on completing full permitting for its gold reserves.

On behalf of West Kirkland Mining Inc.

R. Michael Jones

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please see the Companys website at www.wkmining.com or contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Investor Relations:

R. Michael Jones

(604) 685 8311 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Authors and Qualified Persons Statement

Sandy McVey, P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer for West Kirkland, and a non-independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), has reviewed the technical information contained in this news release and has verified the relevant data. Quality Control and Assay information is as previously disclosed in the Companys technical reports.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, without limitation, discussion of regulatory processes and permitting; planned construction activities and the timing thereof and other statements that are not historical facts. Information about details contained in the prefeasibility study are also forward-looking statements in that they reflect a prediction of the mineralization that would be encountered, and the results of mining it, if a mineral deposit were developed and mined. Although West Kirkland believes that such information as set out in this press release is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations and estimates will prove to be correct. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the state of the market for gold or other minerals that may be produced generally, significant increases in any of the machinery, equipment or supplies required to develop and operate a mine, a significant change in the availability or cost of the labor force required to operate a mine, a significant increases in the cost of transportation for the Companys products, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Regarding the Use of Mining Terms

This press release has been prepared in accordance with the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all resources and reserve estimates reported by the Company in relation to the 2016 Updated Pre-feasibility Study have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Canadian standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) Industry Guide 7, and resource or reserve information contained herein may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, resources and reserves established under NI 43-101 standards may not qualify as resources and reserves under U.S. standards. Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a reserve unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. In addition, under U.S. standards, a Final or Bankable feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical average price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority. Disclosure of contained ounces in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute reserves by SEC standards as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth in this press release may not be comparable with information made public by companies that report in accordance with U.S. standards.

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.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Ramos-Gomez was in jail after being accused of trespassing and damaging a fire alarm at a Grand Rapids hospital. He is apparently suffering from PTSD. He was scheduled to be released while awaiting sentence, but ICE took custody of him and planned to deport him.

Now, what could have made ICE think Ramos-Gomez wasnt a U.S. citizen?

By the way, it was the evil ACLU that stepped in and stopped him from being deported.

Heres a U.S. Marine, for Gods sake, suffering from PTSD, in need of help, and Trumps ICE forces tried to deport him. I wasnt for disbanding ICE before, but I am now. How do we know ICE hasnt deported other U.S. citizens?

All those right-wing Trump followers who think he can do no wrong need to soak in this: They are following the wrong messiah for the wrong reasons.

Roger L. Mack

Winston-Salem

Please submit letters online, with full name, address and telephone number, to Letters@wsjournal.com or mail letters to: The Readers Forum, 418 N. Marshall St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Letters are subject to editing and are limited to 250 words. For more guidelines and advice on writing letters, go to journalnow.com/site/forms/online_services/letter/
Former Vice President Joe Biden's appearance at Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast gathering underscored that a potential presidential candidate's advantages and disadvantages are a matter of context and history.

Biden's tough-on-crime history and chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee were positives when Barack Obama was shopping around for a VP. In 2019, Biden actually apologized, albeit obliquely, for his past record. "You know I've been in this fight for a long time. It goes not just to voting rights. It goes to the criminal justice system," Biden said. "I haven't always been right. I know we haven't always gotten things right, but I've always tried." His support for the 1994 crime bill will be a sticking point with progressive voters should he run for the Democratic nomination; if he makes it to the general election, it will be a powerful weapon against President Donald Trump -- who talks tough but has smeared the FBI, used border control agents to rip kids from their parents' arms, tried to punish cities that wanted to focus on violent crime and community relations rather than immigration round-ups, and joked about police misconduct.
In North Carolina, Confederate soldier statues were toppled by protesters in Durham in 2017 and in Chapel Hill in 2018.

Here, the statue has been vandalized twice, both times with nothing more serious than graffiti. But city officials say that both for the protection of the public and the statue, it should be moved.

City officials say that if the UDC does not move the statue by the end of the month, it will start legal proceedings to have the statue moved.

Winston Courthouse LLC, which owns the land the statue stands on but not the statue itself, has asked the UDC to remove the statue by Jan. 31 as well.

The apartment owner said it wants to ensure the safety of residents.

The city has offered to help pay for moving the statue. Joines has proposed placing the monument in Salem Cemetery, which has a section where 36 Confederate soldiers are buried together in rows.

The section of the cemetery was started, it is said, by soldiers who decided they wanted to be buried together with other veterans rather than elsewhere or in family plots. There are other Civil War veterans buried in the graveyard in scattered locations.
Herzog said she sees Gottliebs comments more as political posturing than anything; we doubt the FDA would/could really affect a total ban on e-cigs/vapor.

Herzog projected $7 billion in e-cig sales in 2018 and more than $9 billion in 2019 sales.

Bottom line, we expect more and more consumers to convert to next-generation, reduced-risk platforms, Herzog said.

In the latest report, MarkTen XL of NuMark was third at 5 percent, blu eCigs of Fontem Ventures was fourth at 4.4 percent and Logic of Japan Tobacco was fifth at 2.5 percent.

Altria announced Dec. 7 its decision to discontinue MarkTen, Green Smoke and oral nicotine product Verve.

In the traditional cigarette category, Herzog said industry volume declined by 5 percent after recent price increases by Philip Morris USA, Reynolds and ITG Brands LLC. She predicted industry volume to decline 4.2 percent in 2019.

Despite all the buzz, Herzog said, e-cigs are only the fourth largest tobacco product: They account for 4 percent of tobacco retail sales, compared with 83 percent for traditional cigarettes, 8 percent for chewing and smokeless tobacco and 5 percent for cigars.
It is a cause of profound sorrow and of soul-searching for me that we bishops ... have often failed to grasp the spiritual and moral devastation that results from sexual abuse.

The Rev. Leonard P. Blair

Archbishop of Hartford

Pull Quote
David Abel, 72, died June 18th, 2021, at his home in El Dorado, AR, surrounded by his family after a short battle with cancer. David was born November 26, 1948, in Sacramento, CA, to Earnest "Bood" Abel and Peggy Downing Abel. David attended school in Miami, OK, and graduated in 1967. He joi
Johanna Love steers the newsroom as editor. Her time off is occupied by kid, dog, biking, camping and art. She loves to hear from readers with story tips, kudos, criticism and questions.
Scene Editor Billy Arnold covers arts and entertainment. He apprenticed as a sound engineer at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio before making his way to Jackson, where he has become a low-key fan of country music.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The head of Unifor has ruled out a potential boycott of General Motors in the campaign to save the Oshawa Assembly Plant.

Speaking at a union rally in front of GM Canada's Oshawa office, Unifor president Jerry Dias says the union will never call for an outright boycott of GM products.

Last week, Unifor's Quebec director Renaud Gagne said there were no plans to boycott GM, but that it may be a solution the union will have to consider.

The union also released an Ekos Research poll last week noting that 45 per cent of Canadians support an outright boycott of GM.

Dias says he supports the products union members make at GM in Canada, but objects to the company's shifting of production to Mexico.

He says the union will have a press conference on Friday as it continues its fight to save the Oshawa plant that GM plans to shut down later this year.
This is a summary of recent testimony to the Wyoming Senate Education Committee. Len Carlman, Glen Esnard, Sally Frese and Sandy Shuptrine are concerned citizens with decades of combined county planning experience. Guest Shots are solely the opinion of their authors.
Allie Gross covers Teton County government. Originally from the Chicago area, she joined the News&Guide in 2017 after studying politics and Spanish at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Emily Mieure covers criminal justice and emergency news. She also leads the News&Guides investigative efforts. She has reported for WDRB TV in Louisville, Ky., WFIE TV in Evansville, Ind., and WEIU TV in Charleston, Ill.
Cody Cottier covers town and state government. He grew up with a view of the Olympic Mountains, and after graduating Washington State University he traded it for a view of the Tetons. Odds are the mountains are where youll find him when not on deadline.
Kylie Mohr covers the education and health beats. Mohr grew up in Washington and came to Wyoming via Georgetown. She loves seeing the starry night sky again.
Mike has reported on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem's wildlife, wildlands and the agencies that manage them since 2012. A native Minnesotan, he arrived in the West to study environmental journalism at the University of Colorado.
Photo: CTV News

A man convicted of killing his common-law wife almost 25 years ago has been granted bail by a B.C. Supreme Court judge.

Wade Skiffington has proclaimed his innocence in the 1994 murder of Wanda Martin in Richmond.

He was found guilty based on a confession to undercover police as part of a so-called Mr. Big operation that began five years after Martin was shot six times.

Justice Michael Tammen said Wednesday that he agreed with defence counsel that Skiffington would have been released on parole four years ago if he hadn't continued to claim his innocence.

Martin's body was found in a friend's apartment along with the couple's unharmed 18-month-old son.

The federal justice minister is reviewing Skiffington's conviction after an appeal by lawyers with Innocence Canada, which is also challenging the credibility of the undercover sting, arguing that police extracted a false confession.

Tammen said that it wasn't in the public interest to keep Skiffington in prison because his behaviour in prison suggests he is neither a risk to public safety nor a flight risk, adding the justice minister could take years in reaching a decision.

He imposed several bail conditions, including that Skiffington live with his father in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Skiffington's father told the court during the bail hearing that he would put up $100,000 in cash and his home as a surety for his son's release.

Crown counsel Hank Reiner opposed the man's release and told a bail hearing earlier this month that Skiffington knew his common-law wife would be alone for at least 20 minutes while she visited her friend and that provided him an opportunity to kill her on Sept. 6, 1994.

Reiner said Skiffington's anger motivated him to kill Martin because he'd run into a man he believed was having an affair with her shortly before the murder and he also didn't want her returning to their home province of Newfoundland and Labrador with their son.
Photo: The Canadian Press Furloughed EPA worker holds sign outside the offices of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, in Park Hills, Ky.

Senate leaders on Tuesday agreed to hold votes this week on dueling proposals to reopen shuttered federal agencies, forcing a political reckoning for senators grappling with the longest shutdown in U.S. history: Side with President Donald Trump or vote to temporarily end the shutdown and keep negotiating.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. set up the two showdown votes for Thursday, a day before some 800,000 federal workers are due to miss a second paycheque. One vote will be on his own measure, which reflects Trump's offer to trade border wall funding for temporary protections for some immigrants. It was quickly rejected by Democrats. The second vote is set for a bill approved by the Democratic-controlled House reopening government through Feb. 8, with no wall money, to give bargainers time to talk.

Both measures are expected fall short of the 60 votes need to pass, leaving little hope they represent the clear path out of the mess. But the plan represents the first test of Senate Republicans' resolve behind Trump's insistence that agencies remain closed until Congress approves $5.7 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. For Democrats, the votes will show whether there are any cracks in the so-far unified rejection of Trump's demand.

Democrats on Tuesday ridiculed McConnell's bill, which included temporarily extended protections for "Dreamer" immigrants, but also harsh new curbs on Central Americans seeking safe haven in the U.S.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the GOP plan's immigration proposals were "even more radical" than their past positions. "The president's proposal is just wrapping paper on the same partisan package and hostage taking tactics," offering to temporarily restore programs Trump himself tried to end in exchange for wall funding, Schumer said.

McConnell accused Democrats of preferring "political combat with the president" to resolving the 32-day partial federal shutdown. He said Democrats were prepared to abandon federal workers, migrants and all Americans "just to extend this run of political theatre so they can look like champions of the so-called resistance" against Trump.

The confrontational tone underscored that there remained no clear end in sight to the closure. Amid cascading tales of civil servants facing increasingly dire financial tribulations from the longest federal shutdown in history, the Senate chaplain nudged his flock.

"As hundreds of thousands of federal workers brace for another painful payday, remind our lawmakers they can ease the pain," Chaplain Barry Black intoned as the Senate convened.

The upcoming vote on the Democratic plan marked a departure for McConnell, who had vowed to allow no votes on shutdown measures unless Trump would sign them.

The White House views its latest offer as a test of whether Democratic leaders can hold their members together in opposition, said a person familiar with White House thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. The administration also wants to show they are willing to negotiate, hoping it will push more blame onto Democrats, who are opposing negotiations until the government reopens. Public polls show Trump is taking the brunt of the blame from voters so far.

"How long are they going to continue to be obstructionists and not solve the problem and not reopen the government?" White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Democrats.
School of Music Awarded Illinois Arts Council Grant

Jan. 23, 2019

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.  Illinois Wesleyan Universitys School of Music recently earned a $14,700 grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency (IACA) to support the schools programs and music events on campus and in the Bloomington-Normal community.

The $14,700 Illinois Arts Council grant has allowed enhanced Illinois Wesleyan University programming with a focus on community outreach and engagement, said Interim Director of the School of Music Victoria Folse 86. The funding allows the School of Music to have a greater artistic presence in the community, and makes quality programming available for individuals and families in the region.

Programs and events receiving funding through this grant include: The Jazz Festival (Feb. 1-2), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Gospel Festival (Feb. 18), Chamber Music Festival (July 7-27), Childrens Opera Tour, the Illinois Wesleyan Symphony Orchestra and the Fall Choral Concert.

The IACA has been a long-time financial supporter of the School of Music, which will expand its programming as a result of increased funding. So far, the upcoming Jazz Festival has added two community concerts to the lineup, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday Gospel Festival will host traditional gospel group The Fantastic Jones Family thanks to this years grant.

The Illinois Arts Council Agency was created as a state agency by the Illinois General Assembly in 1965. The agency is governed by up to 21 private citizens chosen for their demonstrated commitment to the arts and appointed by the Governor. Council members serve in a voluntary, non-paid capacity and are charged with developing the states public arts policy, fostering quality culturally diverse programs, and approving grants expenditures.

By Rachel McCarthy 21
SALSA to Celebrate Latin American Culture at Barrio Fiesta

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.  Illinois Wesleyan Universitys Spanish And Latino Student Association (SALSA) hosts its 8th annual Barrio Fiesta on Saturday, Feb. 2 from 6 - 9 p.m. in the Memorial Centers Young Main Lounge. This event is free and open to all current IWU students and prospective students.

Each year, SALSAs Barrio Fiesta celebrates the food, music and traditions of four countries in Latin America in order to showcase the diverse cultures within the region. This years highlighted countries are Puerto Rico, Cuba, Ecuador and Argentina. The event will include dinner, music, traditional dances led by students and faculty members, poetry readings and a special guest performance.

Prospective students who attend Tu Universidad!, also on Feb. 2, from 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., are invited to attend the Barrio Fiesta as a chance to engage with current students and experience firsthand the impact that SALSA has on the campus community. Tu Universidad! is designed to help Latinx students and their parents learn more about the University community, the admissions process and all financial aid resources.

SALSA hopes the Barrio Fiesta will show prospective Latinx students that there is a supportive student community waiting for them, even before they step on campus as first-year students.

The Spanish and Latino Student Association is an RSO dedicated to increasing awareness and emphasizing Latin American culture, achievement and history at Illinois Wesleyan University. Any student interested in learning more about Latin America is encouraged to attend weekly meetings on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in State Farm Hall 201.

By Rachel McCarthy 21
DTE 3 Day Startup Aims to Help Students Launch Businesses

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. --- A $3,000 prize is at stake as Illinois Wesleyans Design, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (DTE) Program hosts the 3 Day Startup, Friday, Jan. 25 through Sunday, Jan. 27, at IWUs State Farm Hall.

Local college students, high school students, and community members who register for the 3 Day Startup will work together in small groups to start a business all the way from ideation, to prototyping, to pitch. The group which presents the most compelling pitch will earn $3,000 to help fund their startup.

"As the Design, Technology, and Entrepreneurship program at Illinois Wesleyan continues to grow, we hope to strengthen our roots in the greater Bloomington-Normal startup ecosystem, while also creating more resources and points of connection for our students and community members, said DTE Coordinator of Entrepreneurial Activities Lauren Hicks.

The 3 Day Startup is free for Illinois Wesleyan students who register for the event. There is a $50 registration fee for community members and all other college and high school students, and participants are asked to register by no later than 10 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24.

The 3 Day Startup is a wonderful event in which participants of all specialties and knowledge levels can come together and effectively jump-start their career and entrepreneurial ideas, Hicks said. This is a great opportunity for participants to innovate, network, and gain business acumen."

The goals of the seminar include providing participants with hands-on experience in starting a business and to help them develop viable ventures, all the while, connecting them with local entrepreneurs, experts and potential investors.

The seminar aims to bring together students and citizens from all disciplines by engaging them in a collaborative, creative and transformative three-day experience.

No business or entrepreneurial background is required to participate. Meals are included and will be provided.

To register for the 3 Day Startup, please visit: https://www.iwu.edu/entrepreneurship/startup.html. Questions about this event can be directed to Lauren Hicks at lhicks1@iwu.edu.

By Megan Baker 21
Obviously, the Costco decision-makers don't live in Kelowna/West Kelowna or have ever attempted to manoeuvre the accident-prone bridge.

To travel over to the Westside, you generally just throw the dice up in the air, as it is always a gamble. Scheduling to avoid the disastrous congestion at certain times of the day is never easy. I moved from the Westside because of that frustration.



I know so many people living in Kelowna who won't ever travel to the Westside unless they are heading out of town, just because of the traffic frustration.

Has the city even considered how much business it will lose? Don't they realize, those people who do travel to shop at the Kelowna Costco are also shopping other stores while they are here and frequenting many restaurants as well.



People will most definitely think twice about a long journey to the Westside. They will have to carefully consider if they want to pay extra gas, put extra mileage on their vehicles and have the frustration and personal time they will have to endure driving over to the Westside.

I heard hints about this Westside option months ago, but thought it would never ever happen, as the City of Kelowna would never want to lose any business and would be negotiating a good option for Costco to remain on the Kelowna side.



Get ready Superstore, the Costco decision to move will ensure you become the busiest outlet in Kelowna!

Jennifer Melwicks
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
On Friday, officials with the Walker County Hospital District board announced that they have finalized a $7.8 million purchase of Huntsville Memorial Hospital. Do you feel like this is a good use of tax dollars, and is this the right direction for the struggling health care facility?

You voted:
January 23, 2019

POCATELLO  On Feb. 8, Idaho State University Creative Writing will host nationally acclaimed poet and professor Robin Behn, who will give a poetry reading and a talk on teaching high school and college creative writing at 5:30 p.m. in the Pond Student Union Bengal Cafe.

The event is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

Behns work is noted for its spellbinding musical quality. Mark Doty, who selected Behns Horizon Note for the Brittingham Prize, writes in his judges citation that Horizon Note turns speech into music, even as it resists and questions the slippery, beloved, difficult stuff it's made of.

Behn is a full professor who teaches in the Master of Fine Arts Program for Creative Writing at the University of Alabama. She has published five books of poetry including Paperbird, the winner of the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Prize in Poetry, and most recently Quarry Cross. Her poems have been included in the Best American and Puschart anthologies, and she has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In addition to her award-winning volumes of poetry, Behn has co-edited a collection of poetry exercises titled The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach by HarperCollins, that is widely used in university teaching. She also has a book forthcoming about creative writing activities for high schoolers titled Once Upon a Time in the Twenty-First Century: Unexpected Exercises in Creative Writing, by the University of Alabama Press.

Her work in support of high school creative writing was awarded the University of Alabamas Office of Social Responsibility Community Development Award.

Behns visit is made possible by support from the ISU Cultural Events Committee, ISU College of Education, and Black Rock & Sage.
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 (7:44 am) - Score 2,779

Mobile operators Vodafone and O2 have today announced a tentative agreement that will see their current UK network sharing deal being extended to include future 5G (mobile broadband) services. On top of that theyre also exploring the prospect of delivering a shared, future proof fibre (fibre optic) transmission network.

At present both operators already have a network sharing agreement, which is managed by Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited (CTIL). The 50:50 joint venture has been running since 2012 and is also known to work with over 12,000 individual landlords and most major property portfolio organisations.

CTIL helps both operators to generate efficiencies in cell site deployment and the operation of their network infrastructure (inc. cost savings). On top of that it also gives them a greater choice of locations and means they can strengthen the quality of their network coverage.

We expected that they would at some point look to extend this arrangement in order to help balance against the high cost of building future ultrafast 5G mobile services, which will tentatively start to be commercially deployed in the UK from later in 2019. Indeed O2 and Vodafone have now entered into non-binding heads of terms to do just that.

NOTE: The large-scale 5G roll-out wont happen until 2020 as operators will be cautious until The large-scale 5G roll-out wont happen until 2020 as operators will be cautious until Ofcom releases all of the spectrum (they can access 3.4GHz today but 700MHz and 3.6GHz  3.8GHz etc. have yet to follow).

The deal should enable both operators to deploy 5G faster and to reach a wider geographic area (i.e. reach more customers), albeit at a lower cost than if they were to act alone. In addition, both parties will look to extend greater network autonomy in a number of larger cities by deploying their own separate radio equipment on approximately 2,500 sites (represents around 15% of sites outside London).

The low latency Gigabit data speeds of 5G, and potential for it to be used as part of a fixed wireless broadband network, will also require extra capacity, which means feeding their masts and base stations with even faster fibre optic links. In response Vodafone and O2 said they were exploring options around their future transmission operating model, which could drive synergies in the investment and operation of their end-to-end networks.

Nick Jeffery, CEO of Vodafone UK, said: We believe that these plans will generate significant benefits for our business and our customers as we move into the digital era of connected devices, appliances and systems on a mass scale. Customers will benefit from the best 5G experience available and we will deliver even faster speeds by using our spectrum holding more effectively.

Mark Evans, CEO of Telefonica UK, said: Im excited by the potential of these plans to meet the future needs of our customers while delivering value for our business. In addition, these plans would allow us to utilise the spectrum we acquired in the last auction very effectively.

Finally, Vodafone and O2 said they intend to devolve additional activities to CTIL. The operators claim this will empower CTIL to take an enhanced role in the operation of the passive infrastructure, in order to improve the efficiency of its operations and pursue opportunities to add further third party tenants to the towers. The parties will thus explore a potential monetisation of CTIL after the new arrangements have been finalised.

At this stage the deal remains subject to an agreement on detailed terms and all of the usual regulatory approvals. Nevertheless if everything goes according to plan then a final deal should be signed sometime this year.
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 (12:01 am) - Score 2,014

The Governments 1.6bn+ Broadband Delivery UK project has just published its latest take-up data to the end of September 2018 for its state aid supported roll-out of superfast broadband (24Mbps+) services across the United Kingdom, which has so far extended coverage to 5,011,052 extra premises.

The figures reflect the percentage of premises (homes and businesses) that have chosen to sign-up with a superfast broadband network (delivered via FTTC, FTTP or Fixed Wireless), specifically those which have been covered via support from the publicly funded BDUK programme (i.e. % subscribed of premises passed).

At present this data largely reflects both the first two phases of the programme and some related phase 2 extension contracts (technically Phase 3). We also skipped the June 2018 (Q2) data update last year and so have added that in below.

BDUK Phases 1 (Finished Spring 2016) Supported by 530m of public money via the Government (mostly extracted from a small slice of the BBC TV Licence fee), as well as significant match funding from local authorities and the EU. The public funding is then roughly matched by BTs private investment. Overall it helped to extend superfast broadband (24Mbps+) services to cover 90% of homes and businesses in the United Kingdom. BDUK Phase 2 (Technically on-going) Supported by 250m of public money via the Government, as well as match funding from local authorities, Local Growth Deals and private investment from suppliers (e.g. BT, Gigaclear, Airband, Call Flow etc.). This phase extended superfast broadband services to 95% of premises in time for the end of 2017, although some extension contracts are on-going until c.2020 and will reach beyond 95%.

Phase One was broadly dominated by Openreach (BT) linked contracts, while the on-going Phase Two contracts have attracted a mix of extension deals alongside BT and several alternative network providers (Gigaclear, Airband, Call Flow etc.).

Crucially the BDUK contracts include a clawback (gainshare) clause, which requires the suppliers to return part of the public investment as customer adoption of the new service rises. The funding can then be reinvested to further improve coverage and speeds via future contracts. Efficiency savings from earlier phases can also be reinvested.

So far it looks as if a total of around 721m could in theory be returned via clawback from BT (Nov 2018 figure) and 210m from efficiency savings (Jan 2018 figure), which may rise again in 2019 (details here and here). BDUK has estimated that this reinvestment could be enough to boost the UK coverage of fixed line superfast broadband networks to around 98% by the end of 2020.

NOTE: A fair few of the on-going contracts linked to BDUK are now focusing on the deployment of ultrafast full fibre A fair few of the on-going contracts linked to BDUK are now focusing on the deployment of ultrafast full fibre FTTP

BDUK Phase One Take-up (Average %)



The following table breaks the take-up data down by each BDUK local authority (project area), although for the proper context these percentages should ideally be considered alongside the most recent premises passed (network coverage) data, which can be seen at the bottom of this article. Overall 52.4% of premises in this phase have adopted the new service (up from 47% in March 2018).

NOTE: Some of the counties have divided their deployments into separate contracts. For example, Phase One in Shropshire doesnt include the Telford and Wrekin area because that is part of a separate Phase Two contract inside the same county. On top of that the contracts were all signed at different times and so are at different stages of development.

Project Area (BDUK Phase 1) Uptake % (Mar 2018) Uptake % (Jun 2018) Uptake % (Sep 2018) Berkshire Councils 54.3 56.4 58.6 Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire 56 58.2 60.8 Cambridgeshire, Peterborough 51.8 53.6 56 Central Beds, Bedford Borough, Milton Keynes 54.9 57.4 60.2 Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, Warrington, Halton 52.9 55 57.9 Devon & Somerset (including, Plymouth, Torbay, North Somerset, Bath & NE Somerset) 46.6 49 51.7 Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire 53.6 56.4 59.8 Cumbria 47.7 49.7 52.4 Derbyshire 45.1 47.4 50.1 Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole 46.7 49.1 51.8 Durham, Gateshead, Tees Valley and Sunderland 45.1 47.5 50.3 East Riding of Yorkshire 49 51.5 54.3 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 52.3 54.8 57.6 Essex, Southend-On-Sea, Thurrock 51.6 53.9 56.5 Greater Manchester 39 41.3 44.9 Hampshire 49.8 51.9 54.5 Herefordshire and Gloucestershire 47.2 49.5 52.2 Isle of Wight 43.8 46.2 49.4 Kent and Medway 50.5 52.7 55.3 Lancashire, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen 44 45.9 48.5 Leicestershire 51.4 53.2 55.9 Lincolnshire 49.8 52.1 55.1 Merseyside 39 41 44 Newcastle upon Tyne 41.8 43.6 46.6 Norfolk 49.7 52 54.9 North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire 48.4 51.1 53.9 North Yorkshire 51.5 53.4 55.7 Northamptonshire 54.4 56.5 59.2 Northumberland 51.1 53.4 56 Nottinghamshire 50.9 52.9 55 Oxfordshire 54.1 56.1 58.6 Rutland 60 61.5 63 Shropshire 47.6 49.9 52.7 Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent 47.2 49.3 52 Suffolk 51.6 54.1 56.7 Surrey 55.5 57.5 60 West Sussex 53.4 56.1 58.9 West Yorkshire 44.1 46.3 49 Wiltshire 52.6 54.8 57.3 South Gloucestershire 56.4 57.4 59.7 Worcestershire 51.2 53.9 57.4 Devolved Administrations Highlands and Islands 45.3 47.6 50.7 Northern Ireland 48.2 50 50.3 Rest of Scotland 40 42.4 45.8 Wales 42.5 44.9 49.8

BDUK Phase Two Take-up (Average %)

So far in Phase 2 an overall total of 35.7% (up from 30.56% in March 2018) of premises have adopted the new service and some projects have yet to report. We note that a number of Phase 2 schemes also consist of more than one contract type and so you may see several figures being reported for certain areas in order to reflect each of those deals.

Project Area (BDUK Phase 2) Uptake % (Mar 2018) Uptake % (Jun 2018) Uptake % (Sep 2018) Berkshire 20.8, 3.1 22.9, 4, 1.9 23.7, 4.3, 6.4 Black Country 25.3 28.3 32.3 Bucks & Herts 26.8 31.4 34.4 Bedford & Milton Keynes 29.7 32.6 37.3 Cambridgeshire no data no data no data Cheshire 36.5 39.2 41.7 Cornwall 26.7 34, 3.6 39.1, 16.2 Cumbria 24.5 29.3 34.7 Derbyshire 27.7 30.2 30.7 Devon & Somerset 9.8 9 10.1 Dorset 28.5 34.7 40.3 Durham 23.7 26.5 31 East Riding (Yorkshire) 39.2 42.9 44.6 East Sussex 45.5 49.1 51.1 Essex 32.9 , 26.8 34.2, 26.4 36.7, 27.7 Greater Manchester no data no data no data Hampshire 27.5 30 33.8 Herefordshire & Gloucestershire 30.9 33.3 , 10 35, 10.7, 3.4 Kent 35 39.8 43.5 Lancashire 28.4 31 35.6 Leicestershire 26.6 28.3 32.1 Lincolnshire 31.1 31.7 31.5 Norfolk 38.3 39.6 41.9 North Lincolnshire 30.9 29.6 33.7 North Yorkshire 46.3 49.5 52.9 Northamptonshire 34.7 38.7 , 4.8 , 11.6 42.5, 8.9, 17.8 Northumberland 36.3 38.9 42.4 Nottinghamshire 35.5 37.7 40.8 Oxfordshire no data no data no data Rutland no data no data no data Shropshire 17.4 24.1 32.2 South Gloucestershire 27.7 33 , 16.3 38.3, 31.6 South Yorkshire 27.4 30.9 35.6 Staffordshire 33 35.3 37.8 Suffolk 38.4 38 41.6 Swindon 4.6 5.7 8.2 Telford & Wrekin 36.4 40.2 45.6 Warwickshire 41.2 40.2 40.8 West Oxfordshire no data no data no data West Sussex 35.6 40.1 41.7 West Yorkshire 28.5 30.4 33.1 Wiltshire 32.3 34.6 38.1 Worcestershire 42 44.4 44.7 Devolved Administrations Highlands and Islands no data no data no data Northern Ireland 22.9 27.2 32.5 Rest of Scotland no data no data no data Wales no data no data no data

IMPORTANT: Take-up is a dynamically scaled measurement, which means that at certain stages of the scheme it may go up or even down depending upon the pace of deployment (i.e. premises passed in any given time-scale), although over time the take-up should only rise.

Explained another way, earlier phases of the roll-out were easier and faster to deploy, so you could expect to see a bit of a yo-yo movement with the take-up % sometimes falling if lots of new areas were suddenly covered. Some contracts are also younger than others and will thus take time to catch-up. On top of that BDUKs roll-out pace has slowed to a crawl as it reaches remote rural areas, which will give take-up a chance to climb.

A number of other factors can also impact take-up, such as the higher prices for related fibre services, as well as customers being locked into long contracts with their existing ISP (they cant upgrade immediately) and a lack of general awareness (locals dont always know that the faster service exists) or interest in the new connectivity (if you have a decent ADSL2+ speed and only basic needs then you might feel less inclined to upgrade).

The fear of switching to a different ISP may also obstruct some services. In other cases the new service may run out of capacity (i.e. demand is higher than expected), which means that people who want to upgrade are prevented from doing so until Openreach resolves the problem, although the scale of this issue is fairly small.

Now, for some context, heres the latest progress report on related contracts for the same period.

Funding and Premises Passed Progress (BDUK Phase 1 + 2)

Total BDUK Funding Total Local Body Funding (Councils etc.) Total Contracted premises Delivered to Sep 2018 Bedford & Milton Keynes 8,130,000 9,443,694 56,269 47,278 Berkshire 5,153,017 4,603,250 43,723 29,164 Black Country 2,988,349 2,988,349 39,109 36,980 Bucks & Herts 10,837,000 11,415,000 94,428 81,159 Cambridgeshire 8,250,000 17,750,000 105,850 100,842 Cheshire 6,461,000 16,091,055 82,468 79,779 Cornwall 5,960,000 12,529,786 15,288 9,478 Cumbria 19,959,519 18,798,000 120,065 117,780 Derbyshire 9,579,550 9,580,000 103,755 93,914 Devon & Somerset 58,111,798 40,910,985 344,835 289,574 Dorset 13,741,841 12,349,470 79,874 75,840 Durham 12,786,267 11,763,000 112,898 111,280 East Riding (Yorkshire) 10,507,459 5,193,079 49,510 48,420 East Sussex 13,640,000 13,000,000 70,040 61,587 Essex 14,254,755 14,254,755 155,871 115,266 Greater Manchester 3,440,000 5,923,000 41,363 40,062 Hampshire 15,262,307 14,180,000 106,434 88,716 Herefordshire & Gloucestershire 31,090,658 27,246,760 152,367 122,329 Highlands & Islands 50,830,000 75,600,000 149,730 144,388 Isle of Wight 2,490,000 2,490,000 17,617 17,649 Kent 17,063,509 14,998,391 137,881 137,536 Lancashire 14,670,000 22,540,000 147,334 143,020 Leicestershire 7,968,895 10,884,647 74,479 71,729 Lincolnshire 16,110,000 17,910,000 137,949 129,529 Merseyside 5,460,000 4,374,000 43,905 43,578 Newcastle 970,000 945,131 6,760 6,697 Norfolk 24,650,000 24,210,000 202,367 188,216 North Lincolnshire 4,181,242 1,880,963 29,442 28,996 North Yorkshire 28,160,000 14,654,726 175,283 165,581 Northamptonshire 9,856,669 11,009,000 79,349 72,609 Northern Ireland 11,454,000 21,954,000 66,907 67,173 Northumberland 10,687,867 11,986,750 49,620 46,884 Nottinghamshire 7,850,000 9,288,644 69,401 64,325 Oxfordshire 8,184,500 13,924,500 78,007 76,055 Rest of Scotland 50,000,000 108,000,000 572,563 567,052 Rutland 1,000,000 1,670,000 10,004 9,364 Shropshire 19,317,466 12,722,000 69,782 61,877 South Gloucestershire 3,370,000 3,521,123 21,673 17,789 South Yorkshire 10,395,000 13,646,000 105,390 88,454 Staffordshire 9,620,000 7,440,000 82,371 76,095 Suffolk 26,940,000 26,044,703 126,812 115,212 Surrey 1,310,000 19,020,081 76,981 72,974 Swindon 950,000 950,000 20,138 16,381 Telford & Wrekin 2,157,000 1,843,000 8,822 8,698 Wales 66,967,000 170,000,000 744,693 700,364 Warwickshire 14,557,172 14,557,172 74,301 53,248 West Oxfordshire 1,600,000 1,556,675 4,788 0 West Sussex 8,011,243 7,510,000 54,443 51,570 West Yorkshire 11,019,827 11,175,487 103,485 87,737 Wiltshire 9,270,000 16,496,000 83,610 73,854 Worcestershire 8,387,032 11,390,000 66,561 56,970 715,611,942 934,213,176 5,466,595 5,011,052

The above figures only include 24Mbps+ capable premises in BDUK intervention areas.
The economic power of the foreign students who have come into our community is tremendous, says Robert Trezise, chief executive of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership. The AIE estimates that international students bring about $346 million into the East Lansing economy and support about 4,700 jobs. Unfortunately, Michigan State has seen an 18 percent drop in their international student enrollment from 2014 to 2017. The AIE identified other schools around the nation that welcome and attract international students to even a larger degree than Michigan State. For example, the large contingent of international students at three schools in and around Boston (MIT, Boston University, and Northeastern University) contribute about $1.6 billion to the local economy.
News Pro-Military Rally in Capital Organized by Central War Veterans Group: Ex-Soldier

A pro-military campaign is held in Naypyitaw on Jan. 23, 2018. / Htet Naing Zaw

NAYPYITAWA pro-military rally held in Naypyitaw on Wednesday was organized by the Myanmar War Veterans Organization (Central), a former Army captain told The Irrawaddy.

U Yan Myo Win, who is also chairman of the Zabuthiri Township branch of the Myanmar War Veterans Organization, said: No [pro-military rallies] had been held in Naypyitaw, though they had been held elsewhere across the country. So, one was organized in Naypyitaw at the instruction of the Myanmar War Veterans Organization (Central).

As U Yan Myo Win was telling The Irrawaddy this, however, another veteran interrupted him and told him not to provide this information. U Yan Myo Win then changed his answer and said the rally was organized by a Naypyitaw-based war veterans group.

The Myanmar War Veterans Organization consists of former soldiers from the rank of private to major-general. Its current patron is Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) commander-in-chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing. His predecessor as patron was former Senior-General Than Shwe.

Around 500 war veterans from the Naypyitaw Union Territory took part in the rally at the old long-distance bus terminal in Pyinmana Township.

We are here to support the role of the Tatmadaw. We have gathered as an auxiliary force of the Tatmadaw, said U Yan Myo Win.

Pyinmana Township War Veterans Organization chairman U Than Aung told the media his members proposed organizing a rally in Naypyitaw as similar rallies have been held in other parts of the country.

They asked why we hadnt organized [a rally] while other places already had. So, at the request of the rank and file of the war veterans organizations, we have organized [the rally] according to their wishes, he said.

The Tatmadaw has come under mounting international pressure in the wake of operations in northern Rakhine Statetriggered by militant attacks on security poststhat have driven some 700,000 people, mostly Rohingya, to neighboring Bangladesh.

In September, the UN Human Rights Council voted to set up a body to prepare evidence for possible future prosecutions at the International Criminal Court relating to the militarys treatment of the Rohingya.

Since then, Army sympathizersincluding ultranationalists, war veterans and their familieshave organized rallies across the country to express support for the militarys actions in Rakhine State.

The country can only survive if the Tatmadaw exists, former Lance Corporal U Kyaw Win told reporters.

At a conference of the Myanmar War Veterans Organization in Naypyitaw in November last year, Sen-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing publicly praised pro-military rallies.

He told the audience that nationalistic and patriotic people in various townships have organized rallies to show their opposition to one-sided allegations and interference by some foreign countries and organizations in the internal affairs of our country, and to show support for the actions of the Tatmadaw.

He added, Such good traditions should be maintained.

Over 80 pro-military rallies have been held since 2016, according to the Myawady Daily, a military mouthpiece.

Lower House lawmaker U Aung Win said pro-military rallies are unnecessary because Myanmar already supports the Army. He said the Tatmadaw should focus on its duties providing defense for the state, and not get involved in politics.

[In the past] there were never pro-military rallies. When the Tatmadaw said the country will be strong only when the Tatmadaw is strong, it was the countrys only institution. But we also have [an elected] government now. But the [previous] government supported and prioritized the Tatmadaw, said the lawmaker, who is a retired Army captain.
News New Army Bases Spark Fears of Fresh Fighting in Kayah State

Karenni soldiers on parade during the 70th anniversary of Karenni Resistance Day in August 2018. / Karenni Soldiers KA Pictures / Facebook

The Myanmar Army has recently established four new bases in areas of Kayah State where Karenni rebel groups remain active, evoking fear among locals that fresh clashes may break out in the area.

The Karenni Civil Society Network (KCSN), based in Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State, reported on Jan. 21 that the Myanmar Army has built new bases in the townships of Demawso, Pasaung, Bawlake, and Shadaw. Myanmar Armys Light Infantry Battalion No. 54 have built a new base in Daw Pu Village, Demawso Township. Battalion No. 428 have established a base in Nat Ye Thweh Pauk (aka Bo Than Win Gone) in Pasaung Township. Battalion No. 429 have built a base between Daw Wiraw and Thiri Dah villages in Shadaw Township and battalion No. 337s new base is at Nam Mahn Kee in Mae Set Township. The four battalions will be temporarily based at those locations for three months, according to the Myanmar Army. The construction of the bases began on Dec. 23 and were completed on Jan. 7.

Many locals, including members of KCSN from the region, have questioned the motives of the Myanmar Army as the bases were built during the unilateral four-month ceasefire.

Khu Tu Reh, a spokesperson for KCSN told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that there is a feeling of fear among many of the locals who are worried about the onset of renewed fighting.

There has been serious fighting in the past in these areas so the locals have memories of bad experiences from the past and they suffered a lot [during previous outbreaks], he said.

The four-month ceasefire declared by the Myanmar Army covers Shan, Kachin, and Kayah states, but Khu Tu Reh said it raises questions on whether Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing really wants to have peace or if his army are in fact preparing bases and planning ahead for future conflict.

If he loves peace and he wants the people to benefit from peace, his army should not act like that, said Khu Tu Reh.

The Myanmar Army has already moved into the newly-built bases, according to KCSN. Some local people who disagreed with the building of the bases approached members of the army to express their disapproval of them basing themselves in the area. The armys response was that they intend to stay in the area only temporarily.

They told our locals that they will stay only for three months, said Khu Tu Reh.

Khu Oo Reh, vice chairman of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that his party had recently sent a delegation to meet some Myanmar Army officers.

Those army officers told us at the meeting that the order came from the top (the ministry of defense based in Naypyitaw) and that troops would stay in bases where the ceasefire was declared for the duration of the temporary ceasefire, said Khu Oo Reh.

They even told us that if we (the KNPP) wanted to approach this issue officially, both sides could sit and discuss it at the monthly meeting, he said, referring to the meetings which are held between the Myanmar Army and the KNPP at the end of every month.

The KNPP is set to bring up the issue with the Myanmar Army at the end of January, according to Khu Oo Reh.

For our KNPP, we will seek a solution through dialogue during our monthly meeting, he said.

Both the Myanmar Army and the KNPP have a long-standing agreement on the circumstances of building new bases during ceasefire periods, according to the KNPP. The Myanmar Army is required to inform the KNPP in advance if they wish to build a new base in an area where KNPP troops are active. In this case, however, the Myanmar Army did not inform them prior to building the four new bases, according to the KNPP.

The KNPP have also expressed concerns that renewed fighting may break out in the near future, ending the peace and stability the area has enjoyed in recent years. The KNPP fears for the safety of local people of the area should fighting break out, said Khu Oo Reh.

We are also worried that the progress of the peace process could be damaged by [the Myanmar Armys] actions, said Khu Oo Reh.

The Irrawaddy was unable to reach the Myanmar Armys Eastern Regional Command for comment on Wednesday.
News Family of 3 Killed in Yangon Tea Shop Blaze

A fire truck shoots water at a building that caught fire in Yangon on Wednesday morning. / Yangon Western District Fire Service Department

YANGON  A family of three was killed in a fire at a tea shop in Yangons Sanchaung Township on Wednesday morning.

The fire started after a cooking fire was set up and a nearby gas cylinder that was leaking caught fire, U Htay Win, assistant director of the Yangon Western District Fire Service Department, told The Irrawaddy.

He said the family  U Mya Khine, 74, his wife, 83, and their daughter, 38  lived above the shop, and that two employees also received minor injuries in the blast.

It was mainly because the gas cylinder was placed too close to the cooking fire. So the fire erupted quickly due to the gas leak. It would be better to keep the gas cylinder separately outside, U Htay Win said.

Police have opened a case against an employee of the tea shop suspected of causing the fire out of negligence and who ran away after it started, he added.

The two-story wooden building housing the tea shop was destroyed in the fire and half of a brick building beside it was also damaged. The total damage is estimated at about 18 million kyats ($11,700).

The fire was put out at about 6 a.m., 30 minutes after it started. More than 250 firefighters and nearly 30 fire engines participated in extinguishing the blaze.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Projects Approved by Previous Govt Should Not Be Abolished: State Counselor

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets locals in Kalay Township on January 21, 2019. / Myanmar State Counselors Office / Facebook

KALAYMyanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said no investor would trust in Myanmar if a new government abolishes projects approved by its predecessor just because they do not comply with its policies.

Her comments were in response to a question posed by a student at a meeting with locals in Kalay Township in Sagaing Region on Tuesday.

Suppose a foreign investor established a business and the government that approved that business then left office. If its successor terminates the project saying it did not approve it, then no businessperson would want to invest in this country, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

If the successor breaks a promise made by its predecessor, the country will lose its credibility, she said, adding that every government is responsible to protect the interests of the country.

Her statement coincides with widespread concerns among the members of the public over Chinas attempts to resume the Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State which has been suspended for seven years.

U Thein Seins administration halted the $3.6 billion hydropower project in Kachin States Myitsone, at the source of the Irrawaddy River, for its term in response to massive public outcry.

Many opponents of the dam project, especially Kachin residents, hoped that the new government would terminate the project. Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang visited Kachin State at the end of December to meet the leaders of local political parties and social organizations.

Following his visit, the Chinese Embassy on Jan. 13 released a statement saying that Kachin people were not against the resumption of the dam project.

The local people of Kachin State do not oppose the Myitsone hydropower project: it is some individuals and social organizations from outside that oppose the project, said the statement.

The following day, prominent political parties in Kachin State called the Chinese embassys statement inaccurate and misleading and that the Kachin want to permanently shelve the project.

The government of the National League for Democracy (NLD) has not released a clear statement on the project because it would be facing a political crisis, according to Lower House lawmaker NHtng Hka Naw San representing Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

If we terminate it, China will be angry. But if we approve it, there will be protests against us across the country as people do not support the project at all, said the lawmaker who is also a member of the central executive committee of the ruling party.

Lower House lawmaker U Aung Thein of Bhamo Township in Kachin State said, China never does a project if it is not beneficial to them. There is no such project that serves the interests of Myanmar. For example, take a look at the oil pipeline [from Rakhine to Kunming], only the signatories get benefitsnot Myanmar people.

While she was in opposition, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called for making the dam contract public. But nearly three years into her administration, she has not revealed the contract either.
Burma Indian Police Arrest Rohingya Muslim Group Stuck on Bangladesh Border

A Border Security Force official registers the names of Rohingya Muslims after they were detained while crossing the India-Bangladesh border from Bangladesh at Raimura village on the outskirts of Agartala on Tuesday. / Reuters

NEW DELHI  Indian police on Tuesday arrested 31 Rohingya Muslims stranded on the border after they were denied entry into Bangladesh and border officials failed to agree on what to do with members of the community fleeing a crackdown in India.

Indias Hindu nationalist government regards the Rohingya as illegal aliens and a security risk, and has ordered that tens of thousands of them who live in scattered settlements and slums around the country be identified and repatriated.

The stranded Rohingya, including women and children, had been stuck in no-mans land on Bangladeshs border with India since Friday. Two rounds of talks between border officials failed to find a solution.

We have arrested them under the Foreigners Act on charges of entering India without valid travel documents, said Ajay Kumar Das, a police official in the northeast state of Tripura that borders Bangladesh.

Hundreds of thousands of members of mostly Buddhist Myanmars Rohingya community have left their homes in Myanmars Rakhine State over the decades, most fleeing military crackdowns and discrimination.

Many have sought shelter in Bangladesh  where nearly one million live  but others have ended up in India, Southeast Asia and beyond.

The 31 had been living in Kashmir and some of them carried identity cards issued by the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR.

The UNHCR has issued about 16,500 Rohingya in India with identity cards that it says can help prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation. India does not recognize the cards.

Indias deportation of seven Rohingya men to Myanmar in October raised fears in the community of a wider crackdown and prompted hundreds of Rohingya families to leave India for Bangladesh.

Indian police arrested another group of 30 Rohingya on Monday in the northeastern state of Assam, where they had moved after living for six years in Jammu and Kashmir, Indias only Muslim majority state.

Members of the group said they were looking for work after losing their jobs in Kashmir, police said.

The arrests were made during a routine check by police and after interrogation we found they are all from Myanmar, said Imon Saikia, a police official in the city of Karimganj, where the group was arrested.
Arts Concept, Context, ContestationArt That Asks You to Look Inside Yourself

Artist Htein Lin's exhibit "Recently Departed" at the Concept, Context, Contestation contemporary art exhibition in the Secretariat photographed on January 23, 2019. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy

YANGONA wide-ranging set of political issues, societal injustices and human rights abuses of both the past and present from across Southeast Asia have been brought to life through art in the latest exhibition to be held at Yangons Secretariat. This is the Yangon leg of a traveling exhibition commissioned by Thailands Bangkok Art & Culture Centre and organized in conjunction with Goethe Institut Myanmar.

Viewers should consider two main things when looking at this exhibition: that Southeast Asia has its own unique journey in art, politics and history, and that art and society are deeply and intimately connected. For artists showing in this work, there is no separation, said Nathalie Johnston, founder of Yangon modern art gallery Myanm/art and curator of the exhibition.

Spanning the entire southern wing of the historic Secretariat building, the artists have used photographs, glass, paintings, video, models, sculpture, projections and performances to introduce their ideas to the viewer. Many of the art pieces awaken a sleeping inner citizen in us, dealing with topics like the distortion of cultural traditions, globalization, consumerism, citizenship, genocide and displacement. They ask the viewer, Where do you stand?

In the collection of works by Thai, Cambodian, Indonesian, Philippine, Vietnamese and Myanmar artists, the voyeur is shaken into the urge to take action; the cell phone addict is forced to look up and be present in reality; the materialistic youth is face to face with atrocities suffered by the last generation.

In Cambodian artist Vandy Rattanas piece16 documentary-style photographsviewers are seen casually watching the Khmer Rouge trials on a television. Subjects are distracted by newspapers, dozing in chairs and sipping coffee, raising critical ideas about a generation of Cambodians who may have been forgotten.

During the opening ceremony, veteran Myanmar artist Aung Myints performance involved creating an outline of the map of Myanmar with rice and adding cheap plastic China-made toys to depict the loss of Myanmars natural and cultural heritage to globalization. In the remaining installation, traditional toys and lengths of wood are seen moving en masse across the border to China.

Thai artist Manit Sriwanichpooms piece Horror in Pink is a provocative set of photographs from three events of violent social repression in Thailands past, which have been infused with the image of a cheerful character watching the scene with impartiality, raising questions about our civic responsibility in a crisis today.

Myanmar artist and ex-political prisoner Htein Lin uses the charred remains of a mighty old tree felled in downtown Yangon by the city authorities in his piece Recently Departed. A number of pieces depict family life, loss and displacement, which are too often connected for members Myanmars ethnic minority groups. The artist recounts visiting villages in northern Myanmar in previous decades where the people had recently fled for their lives, with only the scorched skeletons of their homes and belongings left behind.

A strong dichotomy between Htein Lins workshowing what we can sayand Sawangwongses work, showing what we cannot, I think best reflects the complicated situation Myanmar finds itself in at this time, said Johnston, referring to the almost-blank board that is Myanmar artist Sawangwongse Yawnghwes exhibit titled Myanmar Peace Industrial Complex No. 1 (censored version).

The exhibition continues to run daily from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Feb. 10. Admission is free.
Asia Cambodian Leader, in Beijing, says China Pledges Nearly $600M in Aid

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during the welcome ceremony for the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China on 15 May 2017. / REUTERS

PHNOM PENHChina has pledged 4 billion yuan ($588 million) in aid to Cambodia from 2019 to 2021, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Tuesday, highlighting strong ties between Beijing and Phnom Penh amid a European Union threat of trade sanctions.

Hun Sen is on a three-day visit to China, his most important regional ally, and held bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping in Beijing in which he asked for more aid and investment in his Southeast Asian countrys crucial textile industry.

Xi pledged the 2019-21 grant in response, Hun Sens official Facebook post said. The Chinese leader also promised to import 400,000 tons of rice from Cambodia, vowed to push bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2023 and encouraged more Chinese investment, the post said.

The President said the relationship between China and Cambodia is very special, compared to other countries, Hun Sens post said.

Chinas Foreign Ministry said in a statement Xi told Hun Sen China wanted to strengthen political, economic and security cooperation with Cambodia and increase China-Cambodia coordination at the United Nations and within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The two sides should hasten links between Chinas Belt and Road plan and Cambodias development strategy, Xi said. The statement made no mention of the financial aid.

China has already poured billions of dollars in development assistance and loans into Cambodia through Xis Belt and Road initiative, which aims to bolster land and sea links with Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Some Western governments have accused China of pulling countries into a debt trap with the initiative, an accusation China has denied.

Hun Sens Cambodian Peoples Party won all seats in a general election in July after the Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in 2017 at the governments request.

The European Union condemned the election as not credible and threatened to strip Cambodia of its Everything but Arms status because of the crackdown on the opposition, media and civil society groups before the election.

It imposed tariffs on rice from Cambodia last week for the next three years to curb a surge in imports it said had damaged EU producers.
That doesn't mean we learn nothing about the candidates from their campaigns. To the contrary, we often know the direction in which they want to head. There was little doubt Obama was going to shoot for some quasiuniversal health care plan, that Bush was going to cut taxes and that Trump was going to go after immigrants and dole out tariffs. We knew these things not only because they said them during the campaign, but because these goals were consistent with their past pronouncements and with their current philosophies (to the extent that they had them).
Pope Francis has said fear of migration is "making us crazy" as he began a trip to Central America amid a standoff over President Donald Trump's promised wall at the US-Mexico border and a new caravan of migrants heading north.

Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind.

He responded: "It is the fear that makes us crazy".

Francis, the Roman Catholic Church's first Latin American pope and the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, has made the plight of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his papacy.

He is also expected to offer words of encouragement to young people gathered in Panama for World Youth Day, the church's once-every-three-year rally that aims to invigorate the next generation of Catholics in their faith.

Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa said Francis's message is likely to resonate with young Central Americans who see their only future free of violence and poverty in migrating to the US - "young people who often fall into the hands of drug traffickers and so many other realities that our young people face".

The pope is expected to urge young people to create their own opportunities, while calling on governments to do their share as well.

The visit is taking place as the US government remains partly shut down in a standoff between the Trump administration and Democrats over funding for Mr Trump's promised border wall.

Francis has famously called for "bridges, not walls".

After celebrating Mass in 2016 on the Mexican side of the US border, he denounced anyone who wants to build a wall to keep out migrants as "not Christian".

Crowds are expected to be smaller than usual for this World Youth Day - only about 150,000 people had registered as of last week - but thousands more will certainly throng Francis's main events, which include a vigil and a final Mass on Sunday.

Pilgrims attend the opening ceremony and mass of World Youth Day Panama 2019, in Panama City, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Pope Francis will visit Panama on Jan. 23-27.(AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

The Vatican conceded that the January date does not suit school holidays in Europe or North America, both of which typically send huge numbers of pilgrims to World Youth Day gatherings.

Francis's trip, the first in a year packed with foreign travel, comes at a critical moment in the papacy as the Catholic hierarchy globally is facing a crisis in credibility for covering up decades of cases of priests molesting young people.

The pope is expected to soon rule on the fate of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the high-powered US archbishop accused of molesting minors and adults.

And he is hosting church leaders at the Vatican next month to try to chart a way forward for the global church.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said there were no plans for Francis to meet with abuse survivors in Panama.

Central America has not yet seen the explosion of sex abuse cases that have shattered trust in the Catholic hierarchy in Chile, the US and other parts of the world.

This is the first papal visit to Panama since St John Paul II was there during a 1983 regional tour that famously included an unscheduled stop at the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador.

Archbishop Romero had been gunned down by right-wing death squads three years earlier, at the start of El Salvador's civil war, for having spoken out on behalf of the poor.

Pope Francis waves as he boards a plane on his way to Panama, at Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci international airport, in Fiumicino, Itlay, 23 January 2019. EPA/TELENEWS

Salvadoran bishops had hoped Francis would follow suit and make a stop in El Salvador this time to pay his respects at Archbishop Romero's tomb since Francis canonised him in October.

But the Vatican said a Salvador leg was never really on the cards.

Nevertheless, Mr Gisotti said Archbishop Romero was likely to loom large at the Panama gathering, given he is such a point of reference for young Central American Catholics who grew up learning about his defence of the poor.

The Panama visit is also the first by a pope since the Vatican embassy played a crucial role during the 1989 US invasion of Panama, when dictator Manuel Noriega took refuge there and requested asylum on Christmas Eve after four days on the run trying to escape US troops.

Noriega eventually surrendered, bringing to an end one of the more unusual US military operations: it involved US troops blasting heavy metal and rock music - including Van Halen's Panama - at the embassy to try to force Noriega out.

Noriega, a onetime US ally, eventually served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States.

He died in 2017 after his final years were spent in a Panamanian prison for the murder of political opponents during his 1983-89 regime.

Pope Francis confirmed to reporters aboard the papal plane that he plans to go to Japan in November.

The pope also said he wants to visit Iraq, but that local church leaders have told him that the security situation is not yet right.

This year, the pontiff has already scheduled trips to the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bulgaria and Macedonia, and a trip to Madagascar is rumoured.

PA
The widow of a Polish mayor killed earlier this month has blamed his death on "hate speech" used against him on government-controlled television.

Magdalena Adamowicz said in an interview published on the Onet.pl portal that TVP has "responsibility" for the death of Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz.
The unfolding farce of British exceptionalism, unmoored either to actual British interest or any plan for practical application, will be imitated in miniature today in the Dail.

Niall Collins, the Fianna Fail spokesman on foreign affairs, will move the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill authored by and steered through the Seanad by Frances Black.

Relatives arrive to a morgue to see the body of a woman killed by Israeli troops during a protest at the Gaza Strips border with Israel this month.

It prohibits and criminalises economic activity between Ireland and occupied territories. Its a catch-all provision which relies on international law to legally qualify targets.

Politically, it is focused on Israel alone. It is dunce diplomacy wrapped up as a human rights campaign.

It begs the fundamental question of how did a mainstream party, which keeps alive the hope of becoming again the main party, get caught up in something so wacky.

Apart from its political purpose which is Israel only, there is the issue of actual consequences.

The bill completely undermines effective management of foreign affairs by the executive, enshrined in the Constitution, to which the party advancing the bill in the Dail today claims to be the political heir.

It proscribes not just Israeli settlements now, but, in situations we cannot foresee, requires future governments to go to the brink, economically and politically, with other countries regardless of our political judgment then on what would serve Irelands interest best. It seeks to write our playbook politically before we know what either the issues or the stakes will be.

At the moment we rely absolutely on solidarity from the EU27 to stand with us against Brexiteer exceptionalism, to protect open borders on this island and unfettered free trade between all of the island and the EU. We would create a precedent for Irish exceptionalism in trade relations beyond the EU with Israel alone in the first instance, but ultimately with as many countries as may be caught in the maw of the criteria of this bill.

In terms of Irish interests, this is dangerous nonsense. Right now, it is lunacy that leaves us open to criticism from allies in Europe who are absolutely clear that on this issue, as on others, we should act as 27 together.

We looked askance on Monday when the Polish foreign minister, Jacek Czaputowicz, suggested a five-year limit for the backstop, intended to preserve the integrity of EU trade on this island, if the UK leaves the customs union and an overarching trade deal fails to effectively address the salient issues.

One can only imagine the diplomatic note from the Polish embassy in Dublin, if barring a procedural block, this bill is passed into law. Lets be clear, with Fianna Fail in harness with Sinn Fein on this, this has the numbers to go all the way legislatively.

Perhaps an embarrassed apology to Czaputowicz might be more appropriate than a rebuke. What it says in Brussels, at absolutely the wrong moment, is that the integrity of the customs union is not so high a priority that we can refrain from a quixotic adventure in virtue signalling internationally.

It will serve nothing except extreme politics in the Middle East. It will gift the Brexit press in Britain an Irish joke that puts past paddywhackery in the hapenny place. But that is only the start of the farce. Whatever about principles and politics, there is enforcement.

Here you must delve deep into the dark cave of Brexit fantasy to find answers.

Unsurprisingly in this Irish story, as on the border with Northern Ireland, there is a technical solution that separates grapes from the West Bank from produce of Israel.

Even assuming science that performs this minor miracle for produce, what about products that are intrinsic to manufacture sent all over the world?

If you have heard the barmiest Brexiteers bang on about technology and borders, just replay the tape. Because what is proposed today in the Dail, is that Ireland imposes unilaterally on Israel what we oppose here because trade is an integral matter for the EU.

Thats not to talk of Star Trek stuff that would somehow make it work in practice anyway.

There is tawdriness about the politics of leapfrog being played to get to the top of the queue to promote this bill. Collins, like Fianna Fail on water charges, wont be outflanked by Sinn Fein.

It is expected that the Government will send a money message to the Ceann Comhairle asking him to disallow the bill under Article 22 of the Constitution, which confers on it alone power to raise taxes or spend money. That will then be a matter for Sean O Fearghail to decide.

That is brinkmanship with the national interest, for petty party advantage and especially cynical game-playing in real time, with a very complex political issue.

But it is not a bolt from the blue. Some criticism aside, and water charges is the obvious issue, Fianna Fail has been remarkably sure over the nearly three years since the last election.

It arguably has the most difficult hand politically of any opposition in the history of the State. Most of the self-doubt inside and the derision outside has been misplaced. On December 18, however, there was another extraordinary demarche.

Only a tied vote in the joint committee on communications, climate action, and environment ensured for now at least that a bill sponsored by People Before Profit TD Brid Smith but robustly supported by Fianna Fail energy spokesman Timmy Dooley, was stymied. It provided for a complete stop of further Irish exploration for oil and gas, not already licenced.

Fianna Fail energy spokesman Timmy Dooley.

Even as we must sharply reduce carbon dependency, it would have the effect of hugely increasing dependence on Russian gas and Middle East oil for decades. In the space of a month, there have been two complete breakdowns in political judgment and effective political leadership in Fianna Fail. If this is the cabin fever of opposition, it is a bad case.

A cure should be sought.

There is still the fact of a fraught political situation for Palestinians. The occupation which is the actual object of this bill, was caused by an Arab invasion in 1967 intended to totally eradicate the state of Israel. And there is an example of Israeli withdrawal. Its called Gaza.

Regrettably the lesson for most Israelis is that it isnt a policy that is working. President of the Palestinian Authority is Mahmoud Abbas. At 83 he is in the 15th year of a four-year term of office. His writ doesnt run in Gaza, which Hamas controls. Hezbollah, supported by Iran, is now a significant presence in Syria, as well as Lebanon.

So? Give land for peace to who exactly?

This requires addressing the actuality on the ground, not play-acting in Dublin.

In a week when we are defending our own vital national interest, and are shocked to have been reminded in Derry of the real consequences of conflict, we should take greater care. Gestures send people to the grave.
Cork solicitor Catherine Kirwan is the latest legal eagle to turn her hand to writing novels. The two trades to well together, she tells Colette Sheridan.

When solicitor Catherine Kirwan, whose debut novel has just been published, set up a Ulysses reading group to read James Joyces difficult to me with like-minded people, it was a life-changing experience.

It gave Kirwan a way into writing.

The Cork-based Co Waterford-born legal eagle, and now a writer of crime fiction, had been to see an adaptation of Ulysses at the Everyman about five years ago.

Afterwards, she got chatting to a friend. They both loved the show and said theyd like to read the most famous novel of the twentieth century.

Kirwan put out a call on Facebook for fellow readers and a group of 12 used to get together every Monday night in the bar of the Pavilion where theyd discuss an episode (chapters in Ulysses are called episodes), reading one a week. (This was aided by Declan Kiberds book, Ulysses and Us.)

Kirwan took it upon herself to write up a report on each meeting, some of which was about Ulysses with the rest of it being made up and creative and trying to be funny.

The lads were all really supportive of me. I really enjoyed having to write it up every week. At the end of it, the group printed out my posts in booklet form and gave it to me.

For Kirwan, it was a form of validation and soon afterwards, she wrote her first short story.

She showed the story to a number of people. One of them said it made her stomach lurch. It gave me a huge thrill that I had done that to somebody. I realised the twist in the story was like what youd get in a crime novel.

"I thought that maybe I should write a crime novel. That short story was long-listed for the Fish literary prize which was great encouragement for me.

Kirwan, who grew up on a farm in the parish of Fews, in the Comeragh region of Co Waterford, was always interested in writing and says she went through a Little Women phase, wanting to be Jo March, the literary sister in Louisa May Alcotts nineteenth-century novel. Kirwans mother always said that she should write a book. But Kirwan didnt think shed ever be able to.

English and history were Kirwans favourite subjects at school, but she was also interested in law, being a fan of TV legal dramas such as Rumpole of the Bailey. Kirwan won a place at Mary Immaculate teacher training college in Limerick but she really wanted to come to Cork. She decided to study law at UCC as it was the 1980s when nobody had jobs.

"I thought Id have a better chance of getting a job with a law degree. Nobody in my family had done law.

Kirwan says that coming to Cork (at the tender age of 16) was such a big deal that she might as well have been coming to New York. She got to know the city well and has made Cork a character in her novel, Darkest Truth.

Cork is a little bit cranky and awkward but beautiful, she says.

In the novel, Kirwan writes: Cork is small, with all kind of hidden connections. Information is currency here and news seeps through the cracks in the broken-down pavements.

Like herself, the main character in Kirwans novel, Finn Fitzpatrick, is a practising solicitor who is interested in the arts. When Fitzpatrick is approached by a man to investigate the death of his daughter, her initial instinct is to refuse.

The father is grieving, unable to accept that his daughter committed suicide. The father has reason to believe that his daughter was groomed and abused by Irelands most famous film director when she went to workshops given by him at a film festival.

Fitzpatrick, despite herself, is somehow drawn to the story and endangers her own life in the course of her investigation. Written in the first person, its a pacey page-turner, full of twists.

Kirwan wrote her novel at weekends and during holidays from work, and an extract was short-listed in a competition run by Penguin Random House and the Daily Mail in 2016. One of the judges, Luigi Bonomi, is also a literary agent. He read the novel in full and took Kirwan on as a client.

Congrats to the supremely talented, @catherinekirwan, on her terrific launch this evening at @WaterstonesCrk. "Darkest Truth" is published by @PenguinRHUK & is out now!  pic.twitter.com/0FiZuLpoki  The Well Review (@TheWellReview) January 17, 2019

She did further work on the novel and Century Arrow, part of Penguin Random House, decided to publish it.

After that came the editing process and Kirwans fleshing out of some under-written characters.

Shrewdly, Kirwan has created a whole world in her novel with characters such as a garda detective, and others, who will reappear in her next novel of what she hopes will be part of a series.

What is it about the legal profession and its incursion into crime literature? There are a number of crime and thriller authors in this country with a legal background such as Andrea Carter, Michael OHiggins, and Eoin McNamee.

Kirwan, an avid reader of crime fiction as well as other genres, says: An awful lot of lawyers were good at English in school and enjoy writing. Also, working in law is about persuading people and constructing arguments. Its about putting words together. Thats a lot of what I do. Its very compatible with writing books.

..apropos to our recent tweet-out for the 3D medium of print & ink we freely admit that we will be buying the audio book of DARKEST TRUTH by Catherine Kirwan [a newly published author residing in this city of writers] which will be narrated by Eileen Walsh. #BuyLocal Always!  pic.twitter.com/sdpsvewPtK  whaZonCork (@whazoncork) November 21, 2018

Asked if there is snobbery about crime fiction being a lesser genre than literary fiction, Kirwan says: Some people think that. I dont really. Crime fiction is just different. I think there are only good books and bad books. A really well-written crime novel by John Le Carre can be every bit as good and better than some literary fiction.

As well as the best writers of crime fiction such as Ian Rankin, Kirwan likes literary fiction by authors such as Anne Enright and Maggie OFarrell. The river Lee features heavily in Darkest Truth. Kirwan has been involved in the Save Cork City campaign that opposes the plan for flood walls.

I had spent so long observing the river and writing about it that I was horrified beyond belief at the stupidity and barbarism of the OPW plans. I couldnt stand by so I got involved in the campaign. Ive had to step back from it with the book.

There have been improvements made to the plan. I love the river. Its beauty is for everyone and it gives some people solace. Clearly, Cork needs a tidal barrier. If this was Dublin, theyd be building the barrier already.

Spoken like a true (albeit adopted) Corkonian.

Darkest Truth by Catherine Kirwan is published by Century at 14.99.
Can the Meghan effect make sustainable fashion cool for the crowd? Carolyn Moore says we can all learn how to shop better.

Did you get Kondo-d this Christmas? Social media was awash with commentary after Netflix aired Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, and inspired by the Japanese decluttering queen, people vowed 2019 would be the year they too would get their lives and homes in order.

The show proved quite the spectacle. Charged with keeping only things that spark joy, viewers watched as people grappled with the insane volume of stuff they had accumulated, with one couple discarding 150 bags of unwanted possessions.

But the programme-makers gave little thought to the space that rubbish would continue to take up after it had been KonMari-d out of the couples home and back into the wider world.

It begs the question, why  with our growing awareness of the long-term impact of plastic and textile waste  didnt Kondo take the time to encourage people to buy less stuff in the first place?

Shows like the BBCs Drowning in Plastic have woken us up to the ecological impact of our voracious appetite for stuff and forced us to reckon with our addiction to fast fashion  the billions of tonnes of waste it creates, the pollution and emissions arising from its production, and the energy pumped into creating garments which, much like single-use plastics, have a lifecycle completely disproportionate to the resources it takes to make them.

These clothes will be languishing in landfills for many decades after their usefulness has expired, and the planet only has so much space to accommodate them, so somethings got to give.

One approach is to shop better, and celebrities have taken this cause to heart; most notably Meghan Markle, who used her recent tour of Australia and New Zealand to promote sustainable brands like Stella McCartney, Gabriela Hearst, Veja, Reformation, and Outland denim.

Along with dressing high-profile women like Markle, Stella McCartney recently launched a UN Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, outlining how the industry can curb its impact on the planet. Hopefully in the future we wont see the likes of Burberry burning 32m worth of stock or H&M admitting falling sales have left them sitting on 4 billion worth of unsold clothes.

Its a staggering level of waste, and its something we all must play a part in reducing.

Embracing sustainable fashion is only one part of the solution. Since sharing an anti-Black Friday post on Instagram, comedian Aisling Bea has been using the platform to highlight conscious consumerism, including the need to shop less.

At a BAFTA event in October, she wore a Reformation dress shed borrowed from a friend, and she also showcases charity shop finds. Lets use the clothes that are already in existence and help out charities and your pocket, she said.

In an ideal world, wed all have the budget to shop sustainably or the time to trawl second-hand shops, but thats not reality for most people and the high street will remain a go-to destination for affordable fashion.

However, we have the power to simply buy less; to invest well, to buy only the things we truly love or absolutely need. We can choose NOT to buy those 10 sale jeans we think we might slim into by summer or the acrylic sweater in four colours because its only 15, and invest instead in wool knit that costs a little more but will last longer.

We can borrow instead of buy, swap clothes, and accept that, even in this Instagram age, its ok to wear the same dress to three different weddings this summer.

The payback is enormous. Youll actually like whats in your wardrobe, youll waste less, and those who partook in No Buy January this month will attest, youll have more money in your pocket to boot. Things have to change and change fast.

Green is the new black, and one way or another, its a trend were all going to have to embrace.

Stella McCartneys Caban trench is a wear-with-anything modern classic. 1,695, Brown Thomas.

Theo & George's Emma Bret on top washes like a dream so you can treasure it for longer. 59, theoandgeorge.com.

Ira merino wool sweater, 72, ethicalsoulsboutique.com.

People Trees Matilda (149).

Cecile straight leg jeans by People Tree are both ethically sound and a sound investment. 129, peopletree.co.uk.

This lightly padded jacket from Noa Noa will fulfill a multitude of roles in your slimmed down wardrobe. 159, Paper Dolls.

Veja trainers put the Spanish brand on the map. 125, vejastore.com.

Earrings, 75, aliquo.ie.

List of Stockists:
The organiser of the recent 40th anniversary commemoration of the Whiddy island disaster is expecting a response from the Taoiseach after concerns about marine safety were passed directly to Leo Varadkar.

Michael Kingston, who lost his father in the 1979 disaster and who is also a special advisor to the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment working group, told attendees that the families of those who died were considering a High Court challenge to achieve full disclosure from the government as to what happened on the day of the disaster, as well as urging the government to ratify other laws that would improve safety at sea.

His comments were also addressed to Junior Minister Jim Daly who was in attendance.

A member of Minister Daly's staff wrote to Mr Kingston, telling him: The Minister has sent your correspondence to the Taoiseach's office for his direct reply.

In a response which he copied to all members of the Oireachtas as well as the French Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Kingston said: I have heard informally from Government channels, that you will be in touch with me to discuss a way forward.

"You have of course also told me that An Taoiseach will be responding. I sincerely thank you Minister Daly for asking An Taoiseach to do so.

Returning to the need for Ireland to increase safety levels at sea, he said: I have been asked by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a hugely significant arm of the United Nations, whose security Council we as a Nation are seeking election to at present, to help them to get the Torremolinos Convention for fishing boat safety ratified which has been sitting on Government shelves since 1977, including Irelands.

"I was accompanied on Friday by their Maritime Director, who I have worked closely with, and she is very aware of the world turning up in Bantry to support respect for IMO UN regulation, and sent a message of support.

"We must enact maritime safety conventions so that they become law in Ireland and in other countries.

"It is no good saying we have mirrored some of their provisions via European Law, when a fishing vessel from outside Europe is in trouble and we have to deal with the problem in International waters.
It resonated with me on so many levels, he said. It broke my heart. We care so much about our kids that come to school every day and do everything we need to do to make sure they are well taken care of. To think there was part of our country that was devastated by this hurricane and we essentially turned our back on them  and they are still suffering  its heartbreaking.
The Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) is calling for a national review of fire safety on halting sites.

It follows the conclusion yesterday of the inquest into the Carrickmines fire tragedy, in which 10 people died.

In the Coroners Court yesterday, a verdict of misadventure was returned by the jury at the inquest into the deaths of the 10 victims of a fire at the Dublin halting site on October 10, 2015.

Thomas Connors (aged 27), his wife Sylvia (aged 30) and their children Jim, five, Christy, three, and six-month-old Mary died in the fire. Willie Lynch (aged 25), his partner Tara Gilbert (aged 27) who was pregnant, and their daughters Jodie, aged nine, and Kelsey, age four also perished. Jimmy Lynch (aged 39), a brother of Willy, also died in the blaze. The fire destroyed the mobile home in which all 10 were sleeping at the Glenamuck Halting site in Carrickmines, Dublin 18.

The ITM has said overcrowding issues raised in the inquest are getting worse around the country.

It wants a comprehensive review of the 2016 audit which highlighted fire risks in Traveller accommodation.

Director of the Irish Traveller Movement, Bernard Joyce, has said the fire at Carrickmines was not an isolated incident:

Mr Joyce said: "Since Carrickmines, there have been further fires that have taken place on Traveller accommodation and this could well have resulted in further loss of life.

"There are families in sub-standard, overcrowded, poor accommodation that's unacceptable. There are absolutely no excuses for the conditions that the people in my community are living in."

The poor standard of temporary accommodation is just not acceptable, he added.

He is calling on the Government to introduce policies and procedures to ensure there is not a repeat of the Carrickmines fire tragedy.

The deaths in Carrickmines should shock and shake the very foundations of the State to act in a rapid way to ensure no such tragedy occurs again, said Mr Joyce.

A tragedy on that scale should never happen again, he told RTEs Morning Ireland.

Mr Joyce said it was absolutely shocking that in 2019 budgets allocated by local authorities are being unspent, year after year, to address temporary accommodation provisions for Travellers.

An expert group is due to present its findings on the Traveller Accommodation Act in the first quarter of this year, he said. Well be asking that review to look at overcrowding, accommodation that is over used, and the lack of delivery of new accommodation. This is exacerbating the Traveller accommodation crisis.

Mr Joyce said that the Traveller community is at crisis, breaking point.

He said: We are looking at a situation that is horrific, disturbing and upsetting.

Were upset that weve lost members of our community in a tragedy that could have been avoided.
Update: The EU's chief Brexit negotiator says any time limits on the backstop aimed at avoiding a hard border would be useless.

Michel Barnier has told a French newspaper that only having the measure in place for a certain period would be like taking out home insurance for five years and having a problem after six.

He also said there will have to be checks on the Irish border if Britain leaves without a deal.

Mr Barnier told Le Monde, Rzeczpospolita and Luxemburger Wort that the current backstop proposal over the border was the only option available.

Mr Barnier said: "The question of limiting the backstop in time has already been discussed twice by European leaders. This is the only possible option because an insurance is of no use if it is time-limited."

Earlier: Taoiseach did not suggest checks at French ports as 'desirable' option, says Mary Lou McDonald

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has said that European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas is right when he says there would need to be a hard border in Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

That is why the backstop is so important, she told RTEs Morning Ireland, as it mitigates the effect of Brexit in the event of the UK crashing out with no agreement.

The Government needs to hold its head and has the responsibility to start preparing for that eventuality, she said.

The first job is to look for breathing room for Irish businesses, for society in general and for peace structures.

Ms McDonald dismissed reports that the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had told other party leaders that the absence of a single market border in Ireland could mean checks at ports in France or the Netherlands is a "desirable" option if there is a no-deal Brexit.

Reports had suggested that it was one of the options mentioned in a discussion around what might happen if there is no withdrawal agreement.

However, Ms McDonald said such a suggestion was not a runner and that the Taoiseach had not proposed it at their meeting.

She said: "He didn't set that up as a proposition or a desirable outcome.

"I have emphasised to the Taoiseach that the task now for him and his government is to hold their nerve."

A Border Poll was not something in Never Never Land, she said. The Good Friday Agreement was the ultimate backstop.

The border is not just an Irish problem  its a European problem.
The surging cost of the national children's hospital will see 100m cut from other government plans this year - with half of the sum coming from the Department of Health.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted the runaway 1.7bn budget's immediate impact as it emerged three Dail committees are now insisting the Department of Public Expenditure's secretary general Robert Watt is forced to give answers on the overspend.

Mr Varadkar told the Dail the reality is "about 100m worth of capital expenditure" will be the subject of "re-profiling" this year.

Answering questions from Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, Mr Varadkar said the national children's hospital budget overrun means between 1% and 2% of the planned capital projects fund will have to be paused this year.

However, despite saying "half of that" will come from the Department of Health, he said "it is not true to say any project will be stopped or cut or cancelled" - claiming they will just be "deferred".

"It [the national children's hospital overrun] requires a re-profiling of about 100m worth of capital expenditure this year out of a total capital budget of 7bn.

It requires a re-profiling of the budget of somewhere between 1% and 2%, half of that coming from the Department of Health and the other half coming from other departments.

"It is not true to say any project will be stopped or cut or cancelled. Some may well be deferred," he said.

Ms McDonald lashed out at the Taoiseach over the revelation, saying the surging national children's hospital cost "is at best a fiasco and at worst an example of gross incompetence".

She said "what is most worrying is that, despite the fact this overrun is set to blow a hole in the capital budget for years to come, no one seems willing to take responsibility for it", and ridiculed Mr Varadkar's claim capital projects rather than services will be affected.

The Irish Examiner confirmed that three Dail committees are now insisting Mr Watt answer questions in public over the growing scandal.

After Mr Watt sparked anger by refusing to attend yesterday's health committee, the Dail budgetary oversight committee wrote to the senior official insisting he attend a meeting with it in early February.

Noting his previous refusal to meet the budgetary committee in December and Mr Watt's claim he could not meet the health committee as he is answerable to the budgetary committee, the latter's chair and Fine Gael TD Colm Brophy said he would be happy to oblige.

Separately, Sinn Fein TD Jonathan O'Brien will formally ask the Public Accounts Committee at its meeting tomorrow morning to order Mr Watt to attend next week on the same issue.

A number of PAC members, including Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy and Labour health spokesperson Alan Kelly, have previously said they want Mr Watt to answer questions on the overrun.
SIPTU members at Pfizer's two Cork pharmaceutical plants have voted overwhelmingly to reject Labour Court recommendations on the company's plans to discontinue their Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme.

The union's members will now vote on a ballot for industrial action, which could be up to and including strike action.

Around 200 SIPTU employees at Pfizer's Ringaskiddy and Little Island plants voted on Tuesday night to reject the Labour Court recommendations.

Pfizer first proposed the introduction of a Direct Contribution (DC) pension scheme to replace non-contributory DB pension schemes in 2014.

The company said this would be for future accrual only, and it would continue to fund the existing DB schemes in accordance with its obligations.

The Labour Court recommendations included allowing those aged 55 and over to continue on the DB scheme.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said the company was "disappointed" the union had rejected the recommendations as management had accepted them.

Pfizer's current DB pension plans are non-contributory, meaning that employees make no contributions towards their benefits. The company says this is very unusual today in either the private or public sectors.

The proposed changes affect approximately 900 of Pfizer employees across four sites in manufacturing, shared services and commercial operations in Ireland, but doesn't affect deferred members or pensioners on the DB scheme.

Pfizers other 1,400 Irish employees are in DC schemes and these schemes are not affected.

The spokeswoman claimed the cost to the company of funding the DB schemes had risen 1000% since 2009 and this is affecting the competitiveness of its Irish operations.

SIPTU divisional organiser Teresa Hannick confirmed that a significant majority of her members had rejected the Labour Court recommendations.

She said two ballots will now be held at each of the plants next week.

The first ballots will take place at Ringaskiddy on Tuesday evening and will be followed the next day with ballots at Little Island.

Ms Hannick said that the first ballot would be for industrial action, which could include overtime bans, work stoppages etc. The second will be for strike action.
One of Cork citys best-known early houses, a pub licensed to sell alcohol from 7am, has had to hire extra security to cope with an influx of college students celebrating on the fringes of college social events.

The head of the citys branch of the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), Michael ODonovan, described it as a new phenomenon. He called on the government to introduce sooner rather than later the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill which includes provisions for minimum unit pricing to end the sale of cheap booze, particularly from supermarkets.

The issue was raised at the citys joint policing committee (JPC). Cllr Mary Shields (FF) expressed shock that students had packed into one of the citys early-morning houses early last Wednesday during UCCs Refreshers Week, with queues of students outside.

The early-morning licence was never designed for students. It was never envisaged that there would be taxi loads of students flocking in, she said.

It prompted calls from her ward colleague, Cllr John Buttimer (FG), for the establishment of a multi-disciplinary taskforce to tackle the scourge of alcohol-fuelled mass student gatherings, particularly in the citys university residential precincts, linked to annual college events such as Freshers Week, Rag Week and the so-called Christmas Day celebration in November.

We really need to address this  the same problems come up every year. We need to get a grip on it, he said.

Mr ODonovan, the recently-elected chairman of the Cork branch of the VFI, told the JPC proprietors of the early houses have done what they can to manage the arrival of hordes of students. But he said the availability of cheap booze from supermarkets must be addressed.

Early houses were there historically to serve people working in the docks or people that were on night shift, or people on shift work generally, he said.

I know the particular bar mentioned has put on extra security in the morning  other than that theres not a whole lot they can do.

Its [the early licence] for people on shift work. It would be disheartening for them if, for one week that the students do this  to take it [the licence] away.

Mr ODonovan said VFI members have attended several meetings with gardai, university management and student leaders in advance of the college social events to discuss how best to manage them. But he said the owners and operators of off-licences have never attended those meetings.

He told the JPC that there has been an explosion in off-licence sales  accounting for 20% of all alcohol sales some 25 years ago to around 52% last year.
A protest is taking place outside RTE's studios in Dublin over the appearance of Graham Linehan on tonight's Prime Time programme.

The Father Ted co-creator is set to feature in a segment on transgender issues which will focus on the increasing number of young people looking to change gender.

Graham Linehan

Almost 6,000 people have signed a petition calling for his appearance to be cancelled as he is not a medical expert on the issue.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Times this week Mr Linehan said he was sceptical of early affirmation of transgender; self-identification of transgender; and the actions of some activists, which will stop those genuinely needing help from getting it.

RTE reports that around 50 activists were at the studio this evening

Ellen Murray from Transgender Equality Network Ireland does not feel Linehan's opinions should be given a national platform.

"Trans people in Ireland enjoy widespread support from women's organisations, from human rights organisations and right across the political spectrum," said Ms Murray.

"The arguments that this particular guest brings up are just not grounded in facts, in research or in experiences of trans people on the ground."

Mr Linehan told the Times on Monday that: "I dont think Im saying anything controversial. My position is that anyone suffering from gender dysphoria needs to be helped and supported."

In October 2018, it was reported that

Read More:

West Yorkshire Police spoke to the writer and told him to cease contacting Stephanie Hayden, who he has rowed with on Twitter.

Ms Hayden reported him for transphobia after he referred to her as he and for deadnaming her by referring to her by names used before she transitioned.

Mr Linehan told the Press Association at the time: The police asked me to stop contacting someone I had no intention of contacting.

It was a bit like asking me to never contact Charlie Sheen.

Labour LGBT released a statement today saying they are "concerned the producers of the RTE PrimeTime programme airing this evening have decided to go ahead with a programme on Trans Youth, despite the clear calls not to do so by those who are directly concerned with the welfare of young Trans people and their families in Ireland."

The group believes "the programme-makers have failed in their duty of care to consider the impact of the programmes promotion has already had on young Trans people."
But broadcasts of meetings of the full bodies, known as floor sessions, have been limited to audio-only feeds on the legislatures website. The House and Senate rules generally forbid lawmakers from using one anothers names. Instead, they refer to one another by their district number or their home county, such as the delegate from Howard County, which can make it difficult for listeners to know who is speaking.
A father and son along the Irish border will soon be looking at each other over the ditch from different jurisdictions after splitting their farm along border lines due to Brexit concerns.

David Crocketts family  distant relatives of the famous American frontier hero  bought the farm outside Derry in 1911, just 10 years before it was divided down the middle by the border along Derry in the North and Donegal in the Republic.

At present, David can walk from his farmyard off Coshquin Rd in the North to the border a few feet away at the edge of a field in the Republic of Ireland just outside his silage bales.

On RTEs Ear to the Ground, he reveals how he decided to hand his son Gordon an early inheritance of the portion of the farm in the Republic of Ireland, while he will continue to farm the land north of the border.

Although the Crockett family farmed the 300 acres on the outskirts of Derry with difficulty through the Troubles, David has decided to divide the land because of concerns over Brexit.

While the border has been effectively invisible in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, the father and son face a future where they will be looking across the fields at each other from two different jurisdictions, with the possibility of a hard border running between them.

Gordon, 24, says he has taken over the reins of managing the farm in Donegal much earlier than he expected due to Brexit.

Its just over the ditch, but Im still emigrating, says Gordon, referring to how he will have to move house to the Republic side of the farm.

Its very early. Usually youre well into your 40s when youre getting the farm and Im only 24.

There is going to be opportunities and there is going to downfalls in it no matter what. Its just a matter of how you get around them. Its going to be a learning curve.

David, who voted Remain in the June 2016 referendum, says he decided to turn his land into two separate farms cut along the border because of his familys experience when there was a hard border.

The yard is Northern Ireland and you can walk up to the border at a [fence], he says.

I voted to stay in Europe and my father [Robert] knew what it was like when we were out of Europe and when we were in Europe. I had to take him in in a wheelchair to vote to stay in Europe.

David said he still has the Irish customs passbook belonging to his late father, Robert, which was used up to 12 times a day when there was a hard border between the two countries.

In the paperwork, he described how, if he wanted to bring in a load of hay or turnips, he had to get an export licence from Dublin and an import licence from London.

Do they not learn from history? David asks. There has never been a politician here to look to see what the situation was before the vote and after the vote.

- Ear to the Ground will be shown on RTE One at 7pm tomorrow
A judge today ordered the jailing of two men for their contempt of court concerning the Bank of Irelands attempts to repossess a home near Corofin in Co Clare.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Patrick Meghen ordered the committal to prison of Tommy Collins (46) of Dysart, Corofin and member of the Anti-Eviction Task Force, Brian McCarthy of Tralee, Co Kerry over their contempt of court.

In the long running court saga, Judge Meghen ordered the jailing of the two following an application from the Bank of Ireland for the committal to prison of the pair.

Judge Meghen told Mr McCarthy that he would be released from prison when he purges his contempt.

Counsel for Bank of Ireland, Michael Collins SC said that the last payment made by Tommy Collins on the two loans totalling 172,000 in relation to the Dysart property was 100 in 2008.

Michael Collins said that Tommy Collins, assisted by Mr McCarthy, has refused the vacate the property since the Bank of Ireland obtained a re-possession order for the property in 2012.

Tommy Collins did not show up in court and Gardai secured a warrant from the court to locate him and bring him to Limerick prison.

At Ennis Courthouse there was a large Garda presence as members of the Anti-Eviction Task Force were prevented from attending the court for the 50 minute long court hearing.

Around 30 Gardai were present in the foyer of the courthouse and the court room along with manning the front and back entrances.

Mr McCarthy was brought into court by two Gardai and had to be manhandled into the dock of the court when he resisted.

Brian McCarthy at a previous court sitting

He told the court - where there were eight Gardai present - that what was going on was outrageous.

Mr McCarthy said:

This is about the protection of banks at all costs. It is outrageous what is going on and everyone here is aiding and abetting it.

Mr McCarthy told the court that Tommy Collins was not in court because he was in fear of his life.

"He cant deal with the intimidation outside the door and he is not coming in. He is a very vulnerable individual.

Mr McCarthy told Judge Meghen that he had no jurisdiction to hear the case as he had not produced his declaration.

Judge Meghen said that this was a nonsensical position to take.

Mr McCarthy stood in the dock for the duration of the 50 minute hearing with his back to Judge Meghen.

When asked by Judge Meghen towards the end of the hearing if he wished to respond to the submissions made by counsel for Bank of Ireland, Michael Collins SC, Mr McCarthy repeated that the judge didnt have the jurisdiction to hear the case.

In response, Judge Meghen said:

Very well, I make an order imprisoning you and Tommy Collins and you are to be committed to Limerick prison until you purge your contempt.

Earlier in court, Michael Collins said that the case has been before the court on a number of occasions since the Bank of Ireland obtained a re-possession order for the property in 2012.

Michael Collins said that the court has previously shown phenomenal patience with Mr Collins and Mr McCarthy and has given them every opportunity to avail of legal advice that was offered to them.

Michael Collins said that Tommy Collins had defaulted on two loans - one totalling 96,000 taken out in 2004 and a second loan of 76,000 taken out in 2006.

Tommy Collins had put his home, which he inherited, as security for the loans and the Bank eventually secured a repossession order in January 2012 after Mr Collins had defaulted.

The interest payments on the loans resulted in Tommy Collinss indebtedness to the bank climbing to 244,000.

Three years ago, a filmed incident at the Collins property saw security men, mostly dressed in black, trying to conceal their identities by covering up most of their faces, were prevented from entering the home by members of the Anti-Eviction Taskforce.

The security men were accompanied by Gardai and the YouTube clip has been viewed more than 200,000 times.

In court, Michael Collins referred to a Facebook post by the Anti-Eviction Task Force calling for support at Ennis courthouse

It stated that Following the highly publicised events in Roscommon, it is obvious that people have had enough and the support from normal people throughout the country has been phenomenal so let us not rest on our laurels and show the State and the particularly the judicial arm of the State that enough is enough.

Michael Collins said that the post called on people to show support against the criminal justice system and the criminal banksters.

Michael Collins said that the post entitled Faces of Corofin Eviction included two photos of circuit court judges, a partner in the legal firm representing the Bank of Ireland in the case and two counsel representing the bank

Michael Collins said that in October 2015, an attempt by the bank to carry out an execution order on the repossession could not be performed at the home because of crowd opposition.

Michael Collins said that the Execution Order was carried out in 2016 but that in May 2016, Tommy Collins re-entered the premises and notified the Gardai that he had done so.
Ireland could be isolated with Britain in a worst-case no-deal Brexit, with a customs hard border erected in Calais or Rotterdam instead of along the Irish border.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told opposition party leaders of the risk that border checks could be operated in France or the Netherlands just hours after the European Commission warned a hard border is the obvious consequence of a no-deal Brexit.

In a private meeting with party leaders last night, Mr Varadkar and his department secretary general John Callinan said unless the Irish question is resolved, the EU could hypothetically move control of any border away from Ireland and onto the continent.

Such a scenario would remove the need for a hard border between the Republic and the North.

However, it would also mean Ireland and the UK would be treated as one bloc, several sources at the meeting told the Irish Examiner, which must be avoided at all costs.

Mr Callinan said technical EU rules could apply which require it to protect its outer reaches.

One source said: The risk is restrictions could be imposed in Calais or Rotterdam as they [EU] would not trust us. It would be if the UK was bringing in chlorinated chicken or the likes into Ireland.

A spokesperson for Mr Varadkar declined to comment last night, saying it was a private meeting.

Mr Varadkar and Mr Callinan raised the risk of a no-deal Brexit as the European Commission, for the first time, publicly warned that a hard border is an obvious consequence of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal.

The commissions chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, said a no-deal Brexit will inevitably cause a hard border in Ireland.

Just hours after British prime minister Theresa May refused to rule out the doomsday Brexit scenario, Mr Schinas was asked if a hard border can be avoided if there is no deal.

He said: If youd like me to push and speculate on what might happen in a no-deal scenario in Ireland, I think it is pretty obvious, you will have a hard border.

The remark led to alarm bells in Dublin amid growing fears a no-deal Brexit is becoming inevitable.

The Taoiseachs spokesperson and Tanaiste Simon Coveney claimed such a scenario can still be avoided by the withdrawal treaty  despite last weeks landslide House of Commons vote against the plan.

Speaking at the weekly Cabinet briefing, Mr Varadkars spokesperson said the Government is not in denial over the scale of the crisis.

However, he repeatedly declined to explain how to avoid a no-deal Brexit without using the withdrawal agreement or the backstop, stressed there are no preparations for a hard border, and said it remains up to Britain to find a solution.

Asked if there has been any contact with the commission since Mr Schinass comments, the Taoiseachs spokesperson added: Im not aware of any communication. No, we werent notified.

At a separate briefing at Government Buildings, Mr Coveney repeatedly referred to the withdrawal agreement and backstop as the solution to the stand-off, saying that is how we prevent this issue becoming a real problem.
We are witnessing the return of an ugly, xenophobic corruption of nationalism President Michael D Higgins has warned.

Speaking at a special event in Dublins Mansion House to mark 100 years since the first Dail, Mr Higgins gave a wide-ranging speech which included a criticism of our handling of the migrant crisis and global warming.

The joint-sitting of Dail Eireann and Seanad Eireann was attended by direct descendants of the first members of the Dail, past and present Taoisigh, leaders of the various political parties, ambassadors as well as TDs, senators and members of the legislative assembly.

Mr Higgins warned those seated in the Round Room that climate change is now posing such grave challenges that we must immediately act and also hit out at the fact that refugees and migrants fleeing persecution are being openly disdained.

Though just 27 elected members attended the first Dail  34 were in prison and some didnt take up their seats  it marked a crucial step in the aspiration for independence.

Members claimed the right of Ireland to self-government and adopted a constitution.

Reflecting on the ideals which were invoked by those elected to the first Dail, Mr Higgins said the first Dail was a reflection of a global movement for national self-determination, one that had united peoples from India to Vietnam, from Poland to Algeria.

He said that when the first Dail met in the aftermath of the catastrophe of the First World War they issued a revolutionary message to to other nations which stressed the need for frank co-operation between the peoples and for equal rights.

"The destiny of our country, the fate of our Irish revolution, now lies in the hands of this generation of Irishwomen and Irishmen. It falls to us, the Irish people, to forge a renewed vision of Irish freedom in the world today."#Dail100 https://t.co/rAR7g5JOOy pic.twitter.com/Bzu1ZLU9lo  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) January 21, 2019

Mr Higgins said:

For us today the words should be a testament to our foundational and enduring commitment to a just and peaceful world order."

Today, across the world, we are witnessing the return of an ugly, xenophobic corruption of nationalism, long since thought vanquished from our political life.

The duty to welcome and shelter those fleeing war, persecution, and famine, so often relied upon by Irish men and women throughout the ages, is now being openly disdained, even discarded, by elements in our European Union.

"True nationalism addresses need, not only as part of a nation, but as part of an international family of nations, he said.

Regarding global warming and increasing carbon emissions, the president said:

In this century, our planet and our people face new dangers undreamed of by our forebears: the disastrous loss of natural habitats and species both here and across our shared and vulnerable planet; and the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change present the Ireland of today with stark challenges.

"Challenges that cannot wait to be addressed.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the event the commemoration was an opportunity to recall the past and look to the future.

He admitted the State has fallen short on the declaration made by the first Dail that the the primary duty of the Government will be to ensure no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter, but that all shall be provided with the means and facilities requisite for their proper education and training.

He said this declaration reminds us of our responsibilities to children.

Industrial schools, illegal adoptions, and mother and baby homes were a betrayal of those ideals.

"Although today the rate of child poverty in Ireland is only a fraction of what it was 100 years ago, and is falling, we must do better, Mr Varadkar said.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said we are now facing a new challenge in Brexit:

At this critical moment in our history the challenges are daunting but they are clear.

"We need to show a level of urgency and commitment which has too often been lacking.

"We dont just need to get through Brexit, we need to define and shape a new agenda for this island, for these islands and for our place in a renewed Europe.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said the Ireland of today is not the Ireland promised in the 1916 Proclamation.

"This is not the Dail of the Democratic Programme.

She said there is now an opportunity to build a new and united Ireland and called on the Government to convene an all-Ireland forum to build for unity.
Update: The discussion of predatory men in the transgender community is "offensive". according to a leading specialist in the area following the Prime Time programme on the topic of transgender young people last night.

A protest was held outside RTE over writer Graham Linehan's appearance on the show.

Professor Donal O'Shea, who runs the gender dysphoria clinic at St Columcille's Hospital in Loughlinstown in Dublin, said the programme was helpful but some of the issues raised were not.

Professor O'Shea said: "I think the issue of predatory individuals is a standalone issue and you would have a small percentage within each section of society.

"I think to raise it as a specific issue within the transgender community, I think it is offensive."

Earlier: Graham Linehan's views on transgender issues 'not grounded in facts', say protestors

A protest was held outside RTE in Dublin last night over the appearance of Graham Linehan on a programme on transgender issues.

The Father Ted co-creator featured in a segment on Prime Time which focused on the increasing amount of young people looking to change gender.

Linehan has been criticised for his controversial opinions on the issue where he recently said that "you don't tell vulnerable kids fairy stories about being born in the wrong body".

More than 6,000 people had signed a petition calling for his appearance to be cancelled as he is not a medical expert on the issue.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Irish Times this week Mr Linehan said he was sceptical of early affirmation of transgender; self-identification of transgender; and the actions of some activists, which will stop those genuinely needing help from getting it.

RTE reports that around 50 activists were at the studio last night.

Ellen Murray from Transgender Equality Network Ireland does not feel Linehan's opinions should be given a national platform.

The issues raised in tonight's #PrimeTime 'Generation Gender' programme deserved a more indepth and nuanced exploration. Many unfounded assertions simply went unchalleged. This serves only to misinform and ultimately misrepresent issues requiring serious and sensitive treatment.  Stephen O'Hare (@SOHare75) January 22, 2019

"Trans people in Ireland enjoy widespread support from women's organisations, from human rights organisations and right across the political spectrum," said Ms Murray.

"The arguments that this particular guest brings up are just not grounded in facts, in research or in experiences of trans people on the ground."
The Government has been accused of being in denial over the potential return of a hard border after the European Commission said it is an obvious consequence of Britain crashing out of the EU without a Brexit deal.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkars spokesperson and Tanaiste Simon Coveney were forced to reject claims they are in denial and have their head in the sand over the crisis after repeatedly refusing to explain how they will avoid the prediction.

At the daily media briefing in Brussels, the European Commissions chief spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said a no deal crash out Brexit will inevitably cause a hard border in Ireland.

Just hours after British prime minister Theresa May refused to rule out the doomsday Brexit scenario, Mr Schinas was asked if a hard border can be avoided if there is a no deal Brexit.

He said: If youd like me to push and speculate on what might happen in a no deal scenario in Ireland, I think it is pretty obvious, you will have a hard border.

The remark led to opposition alarm bells in Dublin amid growing fears a no deal Brexit is becoming inevitable. However, the Taoiseachs spokesperson and Tanaiste Simon Coveney claimed the crisis can still be avoided by the withdrawal treaty  despite last weeks landslide House of Commons vote against the plan.

At the weekly cabinet briefing, Mr Varadkars spokesperson said the Government is not in denial.

However, he repeatedly declined to explain how to avoid a no deal Brexit without using the withdrawal agreement or the backstop,, stressed there are no preparations for a hard border and said it remains up to Britain to find a solution.

Asked if there has been any contact with the European Commission since Mr Schinass comments, the spokesperson added: No, we werent notified.

At a separate briefing, Mr Coveney said no, I dont when asked if he thinks avoiding a hard border is no longer credible, but declined to say the commission prediction was wrong.

Mr Coveney repeatedly referred to the withdrawal agreement and backstop as the solution to the stand-off, saying that is how we prevent this issue become a real problem.

He then admitted it will be a very difficult job to avoid a hard border if there is no Brexit deal, before adding: The only credible way to do that is through some customs union and regulatory alignment, which is what the backstop does. That is what we have to work on even in a no deal Brexit scenario.

Fianna Fail Brexit spokesperson Lisa Chambers told the Irish Examiner the Governments failure to explain how it will avoid a hard border in a no deal crisis shows ministers are in denial.

The Government are being secretive and drip feeding information. The conversation with Transport Minister Shane Ross that was caught on tape last week appears to suggest some planning had been done or at least it was discussed within Government as to what might happen in a no deal Brexit. However, the Tanaiste has strongly denied this when I have asked him directly. If it is an attempt to scare Britain into solving the crisis, then it is a risky game, Ms Chambers said.

Similarly, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said Mr Varadkar and Mr Coveney must stop dodging the question, saying: The time for burying heads in the sand is over.
A geophysical survey of infant burial grounds is to begin today at the site of the former Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home in Tipperary.

The survey is expected to last a number of days. It is understood that the survey is being carried out on foot of information received by the Commission from a member of the public.

It is the first time that any potential infant burial site outside of Tuam has been examined and comes more than three years after the first geophysical survey of the Tuam site.

The plans were confirmed in the Commission's fourth interim report, which requested a 12-month extension to publish its final report. It will now report in February 2020 after the extension was granted by the Cabinet.

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, which ran the Sean Ross Abbey and Bessborough institutions, gave death registers it held for the homes to the HSE in 2011. They are now held by Tusla.

In the case of Sean Ross Abbey, the death register lists a total of 269 deaths between 1934 and 1967. However, research by campaigners indicates that hundreds more children may have died there.

The Commission states in the fourth interim report that it has had "difficulties" uncovering the burial arrangements at a number of institutions and that the drafters of its terms of reference "are unlikely to have foreseen the extent of the problem and the amount of time and effort that has had to be given to this issue"

It will now also deliver a substantial report on burial arrangements for persons who died while resident in these institutions by March 15.

The Commission has said it is "dismayed" that the HSE has discovered such little information in relation to the involvement of health boards with Mother and Baby Homes and said it was clear that the HSE "does not have any system, much less a proper system, of storing and archiving material".

The report reveals that the Commission has received more than 100,000 pages of documentation sought under discovery from the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA), with thousands more pages being delivered just last month.

To date, it has spoken to 519 witnesses through the work of its Confidential Committee and expects this process to be completed by the end of this month.

Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, Children's Minister Katherine Zappone apologised to survivors upset at the delaying of the final report but said the additional time will ensure the Commission can fully complete its work.

In a statement, Adoption Rights Alliance said it hoped the request for an extension was a sign that the Commission was undertaking a thorough investigation but that this was impossible to know as it operates "in secret" and has refused requests for public hearings.

The covert nature of the Commissions investigation is contrary to international standards and best practice regarding investigations into human rights abuses. Public hearings can empower the people affected, including direct victims and survivors and family members, and enable all stakeholders and society at large to understand the causes of and contributions to historical abuse," said a statement.

Paul Redmond of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors hit out at the decision to grant an extension and said that the survivor community had been "utterly failed and stabbed in the back" by Minister Zappone and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Founder of the Bethany Home Survivors Group Derek Leinster hit out at the granting of the extension and said survivors of the Protestant orphanages had waited long enough for redress.

"We have had enough talking and want action. The Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB), that can pay compensation, is still in operation. Refer us there or set up a fast forum to give overdue justice now," he said.
I thought no more of it until about a month later when Carolyn and I attended a weekend conference of the Mason Dixon Outdoor Writers Association where Lefty was one of the expert speakers. We were eating breakfast when Lefty spotted us from a table at least 40 yards away. He bee-lined to our table, stood between Carolyn and me, and expounded at length on how well done my article was and urged me to submit it for national publication. I was stunned by his generous gesture.
Gardai have warned people not to engage with senders of a sexploitation scam email, which threatens to release videos of the receiver accessing online porn sites if they do not pay thousands of euro to the scam artists.

Gardai issued the warning after a Limerick businessman contacted them about receiving the scam email last Friday.

Its great this man contacted us. It highlights for others that this is a scam and for people to ignore such emails, said Sgt Ber Leetch, Crime Prevention Officer, Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick.

Even if you know its a scam and you get one of these emails please let us know about it because then it gives gardai an opportunity to warn others about it, she added.

The person sending the email stated that they had a compromising video of the business owner which had been obtained from his computer and which would be shared with many if he did not pay up, Sgt Leetch explained.

The man also received a subsequent scam phone call informing him his computer had been hacked. The caller offered assistance for a payment, and thankfully, it was at this point that the business owner hung up.

The businessman also ignored the bogus email.

The (receiver) of such an email could be so profoundly concerned they might release their banking details. Dont engage with it, ignore it and contact the gardai, Sgt Leetch said.

Another Limerick businessman, who did not wish to be identified, said he was shocked when he recently received two similar emails including his correct personal password.

The sender warned the man a compromising video of him accessing an erotic website would be sent to their family, friends, and colleagues, if he didnt pay 2,000 in bitcoin.

The businessman, who said he had not visited porn sites, added he was more concerned the email contained my actual password.

It is understood the mans password may have been one of thousands more stolen in some previous online data breach.

I was worried and shocked that they had it and I immediately changed my password. It looked authentic, and Id be concerned that there are very gullible people out there.

"But, if you havent engaged in visiting porn sites, thats not going to be a worry for you.

They are obviously playing on peoples fears, the man added.

The email also warns the receiver that it is futile to contact the gardai as it is impossible to trace them.

The man said the language used in the email is also concerning...You have the last chance to save your social life - I am not kidding. Dont forget the shame and if you ignore this message youre life will be ruined, the email warned.

The man said: One of the emails warned that I had a last chance to save my (social) life - I believe thats a threat to my life, whether its a physical threat...perhaps not...but its a threat to ruin my life.

That is serious, if you are vulnerable it would be worse. Im still distressed after receiving it, even though I know its a scam.

Appealing for people not to engage with the scammers, Sgt Leetch said: If you are alone and you get this threat, and youre worried, always talk to someone about your concerns.

She added it is almost impossible to trace those behind the scam.
Senior health officials will today tell TDs of concern about excessive costs involved in the construction of the national childrens hospital and how this will undoubtedly impact on other priority health investments.

It has also emerged the head of the Department of Public Expenditure has doubled down on a rejection to appear before the Oireachtas health committee and will not allow officials attend there either.

The developments come amid growing questions about the 1.7bn bill to build the national childrens hospital.

HSE deputy director general Dean Sullivan, who also sits on a steering group for the new hospital, will tell the health committee today that the outcome of phase B of the build is a cost which is considerably in excess of that envisaged following the initial tender process.

Mr Sullivan will tell TDs: As has been noted already, this escalation in costs is of significant concern and will undoubtedly impact on other priority health investments.

An independent review of the project will begin this week, TDs will be told. To be completed in March, it will help identify any weaknesses in the proposed project.

Nonetheless, Mr Sullivan will add: There is no doubt that there is an urgent need for a new childrens hospital to care for sick children, and their families, in Ireland.

At the same meeting, Department of Health assistant secretary general Colm Desmond will reiterate that to complete the project, an extra 450m will be needed between 2019 and 2022. This includes an extra 100m this year.

The 450m extra will be made up of 320m in exchequer funding and 130m in philanthropy funding.

This is a very significant and disturbing escalation cost. On balance, the Government decided to proceed with the project in the face of these higher costs because of the importance of the project for childrens healthcare, Mr Desmond will tell TDs and senators.

He will reiterate that, of the 100m extra this year, 50m must come from other departments in savings. This issue has already caused concern at Cabinet discussions.

There is no doubt that the additional costs associated with the project are of great concern and we must have assurance that phase B of the construction project will be delivered within budget and timescale, he will add.

Meanwhile, the heath committees efforts to get Department of Public Expenditure secretary general Robert Watt to appear and answer questions about the hospital cost have been rejected a second time.

Mr Watt wrote back to the committee on Monday night, reiterating that he was not the appropriate department head to appear on the issue.

In his second rejection letter, he added: It would be impractical for officials of this Department to also attend meetings of each of the 14 sectoral committees
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told opposition leaders there is a risk border checks in a no-deal Brexit could be operated in France or the Netherlands as opposed to on the island of Ireland.

In a private meeting with party leaders yesterday evening, Mr Varadkar and his department secretary general John Callinan said the EU could move control of any needed border away from Ireland and onto the continent.

This was one of the risks in a no-deal, opposition leaders were told. Such a scenario would see Ireland and Britain treated as one block, a source at the meeting confirmed, and must be avoided at all costs.

Up until now, both Dublin and London have pledged that no new border would be erected. However, an EU spokesman yesterday said that in the event of a no-deal, a hard border would be needed.

Opposition leaders were told of this risk of a third country operating new border processes. This would be in the case were customs or goods checks were not trusted here and produce leaving Ireland for mainland Europe would instead be vetted at ports such as in Calais in France or Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Mr Varadkar met Labour leader Brendan Howlin, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, Green leader Eamon Ryan, Independent TDs Mattie McGrath and Tommy Broughan, and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Relaying the points made by the Taoiseach and Mr Callinan, one source present said: It was said that it would be very catastrophic for us if the border was in Calais. The whole vibe is to sit tight. There was a mention of this in extremis and for it be avoided at all costs.

Another source present at the meeting added: The risk is restrictions could be imposed in Calais or Rotterdam as they [the EU] would not trust us. It would be if the UK was bringing in chlorinated chicken or the likes into Ireland.

While it was a hypothetical situation raised by Mr Varadkar and his department head, the leaders were told this was one of the risks of a Brexit no-deal. The leaders and TDs were told this would involve a third country, such as France, taking the lead on a border infrastructure that would essentially apply to Ireland and the UK as one block.

This would see a border essentially put in place in Calais as opposed to Monaghan, said one shocked TD.

Nonetheless, Mr Varadkar stressed to opposition TDs that he still thought there would be deal before Brexit.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney suggested there could be developments on a deal next week, while speaking in the Seanad last night. He told the Upper House that there would be more clarity next Tuesday evening, after British prime minister Theresa May brings her plan B options before MPs there.

A number of votes will take place, Mr Coveney said, and Ms May would respond after that.
Around 700 jobs at Aughinish Alumina in Limerick now appear to be fully secure after the US Treasury accepted concessions made by its owner to end sanctions imposed on it.

The Treasury said it was satisfied Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska had made provisions to relinquish control over a number of companies, including Rusal, the parent of Aughinish Alumina, near Askeaton.

In response to a New York Times investigation into Mr Deripaskas future arrangements with Rusal, EN+, and ESE, the Treasury said the companies had provided it with an unprecedented level of transparency into their dealings to ensure that Mr Deripaska does not reassert control.

The investigation suggested the Treasury deal with Mr Deripaska was favourable to the oligarch after intense lobbying on his behalf by Washington insiders.

The Treasury defended the deal made, saying it would prevent Mr Deripaska from carrying out illicit activities on behalf of the Kremlin.

Treasury will be vigilant in ensuring these commitments are met, and failure to comply will bring swift consequences, including the reimposition of sanctions, it said.

Mr Deripaska had been targeted by the US administration over perceived close ties to the Kremlin, and companies linked to him had suffered in the fallout as sanctions were imposed last April.

The sanctions on the companies that led to Rusals shares plummeting last April and volatility in the metals markets are expected to be lifted imminently.

Aughinish Alumina has been described as one of Limericks best employers, supporting 700 jobs, with hundreds more indirectly tied to it.

As well as Aughinish, Rusal supplies about 6% of the worlds aluminium and operates mines, smelters, or refineries in locations including Guinea, Jamaica, and Russia.

The threat to the jobs had led to intense lobbying on behalf of the company by the Government, with Business Minister Heather Humphreys negotiating in Washington for their preservation.

Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said the sanctions were never intended to punish companies like Rusal, but to target Mr Deripaska.

US political figures on both sides of the political divide voiced their disapproval at ending the sanctions on the companies last week. The dissenters included more than 100 Republicans in the House of Representatives.
The TV adaptation of George RR Martins Nightflyers qualified for corporate tax credits of between 10m and 30m from the Revenue Commissioners last year.

New figures provided by the Revenue Commissioners show Nightflyers was one of the top beneficiaries of the Governments Section 481 tax relief scheme for movie and TV productions. The TV series, adapted from Game of Thrones author George RR Martins sci-fi novella, was made at Troy Studios in Limerick.

It received its first airing on the US SyFy channel in December.

The Revenue list of movie and TV productions to qualify for the tax incentive scheme shows the Nightflyers production was one of three large-scale productions to qualify for tax credits in the 10m to 30m bracket last year.

The others are series six of Vikings, shot at Ashford Studios, Co Wicklow, and series three of Into the Badlands, shot around Dublin and Wicklow.

A Department of Finance report in October showed the cost of the Section 481 tax credit scheme to the State was 242.5m between 2015 and 2017.

The shooting of Vikings at Ashford Studios helped the studio post a profit of 2.1m in 2017.

In total, 86 TV and movie productions received tax reliefs under the Section 481 scheme last year.

The list includes Cartoon Saloon, which has been nominated for an Oscar for Late Afternoon.

Its Pete the Cat animation qualified for tax credits in the 2m to 5m range.
The British Irish Chamber of Commerce has called for greater cooperation between the port and transit sector in Ireland and the UK.

The Chamber's policy paper will be discussed by Tanaiste Simon Coveney who is confirmed as the keynote speaker at the second UK-Ireland Port and Transit Forum which will take place in Cork on January 25.
Here's your morning bulletin.

GET INFORMED ...

IRELAND: Ireland faces isolation with Britain as EU border mooted

IRELAND: Gardai hold three men overnight in connection with murder of Polish man in Cork

IRELAND: Pubs hire security to deal with students at 7am

IRELAND: Graham Linehan's views on transgender issues 'not grounded in facts', say protestors

WORLD: Chinese model in racist Dolce & Gabbana ads apologises

BUSINESS:Threat to 700 Limerick jobs lifted

SPORT: DONAL LENIHAN: A case for bringing Munster Rugby to Pairc Ui Chaoimh

... SOME DISTRACTION

SHOWBIZ: Ant McPartlin thanks Declan Donnelly as duo claim Best TV Presenter award at NTAs

VIRAL: WATCH: Kerry school recreate that Father Ted caravan scene on a recent Ryanair flight

FEATURE:The creative arm of Cork solicitor Catherine Kirwan
Shenzhen, China - January 23, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) RoboSense, a leader in LiDAR perception technology, announced today that Dr. Leilei Shinohara has joined RoboSense as Vice President of R&D. With more than a decade of experience developing LiDAR systems, Dr. Shinohara is regarded as one of the most accomplished experts in this field. He previously served as the lead of Valeos SCALA LiDAR project, the worlds first automotive grade LiDAR product. Dr. Shinohara brings RoboSense a wealth of valuable experience that will help with the growth and development of the automotive grade mass production of RoboSenses LiDAR products.

Prior to joining RoboSense, Dr. Shinohara was the Technical Lead for Asia OEMs at Valeo, responsible for multiple programs, including automotive LiDAR, automotive safety products, and sensor fusion projects. He managed an international sensor product development team located in six countries, responsible for the development and implementation of systems, software, hardware, mechanics, testing and validation, and functional safety, building the first automotive grade LiDAR product.

"We are thrilled to have a top LiDAR expert like Dr. Leilei Shinohara joining our team," said Mark Qiu, RoboSense COO and Co-founder. "Dr. Shinohara is one of the worlds most seasoned talents in the LiDAR industry, exceptionally well suited to lead the R&D department here at RoboSense. We are confident that Dr. Shinohara will bring his valuable experience to build automotive grade LiDAR products that can be mass produced to empower highly automated driving."

Dr. Shinohara graduated from Tokyo Institute of Technology with a Bachelor Degree in System and Control Engineering and a Master Degree in Mechanical and Control System Engineering. In 2008, he began PhD studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, receiving his PhD degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2014. During his six years of PhD studies, Shinohara focused on LiDAR systems and was involved in several sensor projects, including the design and simulation of optical sensor systems, optical quality measurement (MTF) systems, coherent Doppler wind LiDAR systems, and 3D LiDAR technology based on MEMS micromirrors for autonomous driving. As an outstanding LiDAR project manager and the chief engineer, Dr. Shinohara and his research team at KIT developed a LiDAR system which was later acquired by a German Tier 1 company.

"I was impressed by the innovation capabilities and technical acumen of RoboSense, which were the major reasons that attracted me to join the team," said Dr. Shinohara. "I am honored to join such a dynamic and promising team in the field of LiDAR technology. At CES 2019, a group of autonomous driving industry gurus expressed their ambition to accelerate the commercialization of AV [autonomous vehicle] technology, which further indicated the urgent demand for automotive grade solid-state LiDAR products that can be mass produced. This year at CES, RoboSense exhibited its latest MEMS solid-state LiDAR, which has superior performance to its peer products. With RoboSenses leading technology and my previous experience in this industry, I am confident that together, we can greatly accelerate the development of automotive grade LiDAR products that can be mass produced to make highly automated driving a reality."

As an honoree of the CES 2019 Innovation Award, RoboSense demonstrated its new automotive grade MEMS solid-state LiDAR to the world: RS-LiDAR-M1, which has attracted the attention of major international OEMs and Tier 1 automotive companies. The RS-LiDAR-M1 offers a wide 120 degrees horizontal field of view with very high resolution. It adopts a lower-cost, mass production-friendly 905nm Laser waveband that achieves a long 200 meter detection range.

About RoboSense

RoboSense (Suteng Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.) is a world leading LiDAR environment perception solution provider. Founded in 2014, RoboSense has headquarters in Shenzhen, China, with branch offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou, China, and in the United States and Germany. Robosenses core R&D engineers are from the worlds top universities and top tech companies. RoboSense is committed to delivering comprehensive LiDAR environment perception solutions with high performance automotive grade LiDAR hardware and the RoboSense unique AI based innovative intelligent environment perception algorithms.

RoboSense has two product lines, the MEMS solid-state LiDAR systems and mechanical LiDAR systems. Customers include the worlds major autonomous driving technology companies, automotive OEMs, and Tier 1 suppliers. RoboSense LiDAR solutions are widely used in various application scenarios, such as self-driving logistics vehicles, buses, trucks, highly autonomous driving cars, reference systems for other sensors, and more. RoboSense continues to work on cutting-edge LiDAR systems that ensure safe autonomous driving. For more information, see the website: http://www.robosense.ai.

Photos:

Dr. Leilei Shinohara, Vice President of R&D, RoboSense: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/robosenseshinoharavp.htm

CES 2019 Innovation Award Winner - RoboSense RS-IPLS Diagram: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/robosenseces2019innovationawardwinner.html

RoboSense Team: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/robosenseteam.html

RoboSense Logo: http://www.thomas-pr.com/136/photos/robosenselogo.html

Video:

RoboSenseYouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYCK8j678N6d_ayWE_8F3rQ

RoboSense RS-LiDAR-M1: https://youtu.be/Ijpbjlw_8OY

RoboSense Applications: https://youtu.be/4Ooc-rJODHU

Press Contact:

Karen Thomas/Eva Yutani

Thomas PR

Emails: kthomas@thomaspr.com / eyutani@thomaspr.com

(631) 549-7575 websites: http://www.thomaspr.com

http://www.thomasprsocial.com

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Vancouver, British Columbia - January 22, 2019 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Bearing Lithium Corp. (TSXV: BRZ) (OTCQB: BLILF) (FSE: B6K2) ("Bearing" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results from a Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") for the Maricunga Lithium Project (the "Maricunga Project") prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). The report was prepared by WorleyParsons for the Maricunga joint-venture company, Minera Salar Blanco ("MSB"), and will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) within the coming days. The Maricunga Project is wholly owned and operated by the joint-venture company, Minera Salar Blanco ("MSB") and Bearing holds an 18% interest in MSB along with Minera Salar Blanco SpA at 31% and Lithium Power International at 51%.

NI 43-101 Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) Highlights

The Maricunga Lithium Brine project's Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) supports 20,000 tonnes per annum (t/a) production of lithium carbonate (LCE) over 20 years.

Project NPV1 (levered basis) of US$1.302B before tax at 8% discount rate, providing an IRR of 29.8% and a 3.4-year payback.

Operating cost places Maricunga among the most efficient producers with an OPEX of US$3,772 per tonne (/t) without any credits from the potassium chloride (KCl) by-product, as KCI production was not considered in the DFS.

Project Direct Development Cost estimated at US$456M, with Indirect Costs of US$45M and Contingency Costs of US$63M, providing a total CAPEX for the project of US$563M.

Maiden reserve estimate prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 guidelines, account for a total of 742,000 tonnes of LCE2, exceeding the project mine life production estimate.

Project infrastructure including water rights have been secured through long term contracts for project construction and operation. Access to the National Power Grid has been granted by the corresponding authorities, thus assuring future power supply.

DFS completed by Tier-1 engineering consultancy WorleyParsons (excluding the Reserve and Resource Estimate prepared by FloSolutions). Accuracy of Operating and Capital Cost estimates expected within a +/- 15% range.

Discussions with major Chilean and international financial institutions to secure project development finance for the project have commenced and expected to be finalized during 2019. Approaches from international companies have been received regarding off-take agreements and future participations.

Continuing to work with the Chilean Government and other corporate bodies to finalize all remaining licenses, agreements and operational relationships.

1 Assumes a 50% leverage. On an unlevered basis, the pre-tax NPV is US$1.286B, providing an IRR of 23.8% and a 4.1-year payback.

2 Adjusted for 58% lithium process recovery efficiency, total LCE reserves are 430,000 tonnes.

Minera Salar Blanco's Chief Executive Officer, Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro, commented:

"The Company is very pleased to advise of the successful completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study to international standards, on its Maricunga lithium brine project, with highly experienced engineering company Worley Parsons. The strong economics detailed in the DFS confirms the overall attractiveness of the project, as previously identified in the PEA study. The project, through its Joint Venture partner company, Minera Salar Blanco, is now poised to take the project to the next stages of development. Priorities will now shift to secure financing for the project and off-take agreements for the high purity lithium carbonate output."

Bearing Lithium's Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Poirier, commented:

"We are excited with the results of the DFS study that not only highlight the Maricunga project's economic viability but also its low-cost competitiveness relative to other lithium projects globally. This DFS marks a transformational step for the company as it firmly places the Maricunga as one of the most advanced, pre-production lithium brine projects globally."

Definitive Feasibility Study Summary and Key Highlights

The Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) reserve estimates of 742,000 tonnes of LCE (203,000 Proven - 539,000 Probable), supports the 20,000 tonnes per annum (t/a) projected for Maricunga throughout its 20 years mine life (c.f. Figure 1). Resources were updated to a total of 2,070,000 tonnes of LCE and reclassified as Measured or Indicated Resources in conformance to NI 43-101 definitions. (c.f. Figure 2).

Figure 1: Maricunga Lithium Reserve Estimate

Notes to the reserve estimate:

Reserves presented without accounting for lithium process recovery efficiency

The effective date for the Reserve Estimate is January 15, 2019.

The Qualified Person for this Mineral Reserve estimate is Frits Reidel, CPG

Lithium is converted to lithium carbonate (LiCO) with a conversion factor of 5.32

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Figure 2: Updated Maricunga Mineral Resource Estimate

Notes to the resource estimate:

CIM definitions (2014) were followed for Mineral Resources.

The Qualified Person for this Mineral Resource estimate is Frits Reidel, CPG

No cut-off values have been applied to the resource estimate.

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

The M&I Resources are inclusive of those Mineral Resources modified to produce the Mineral Reserves

The effective date is December 24, 2018

Lithium is converted to lithium carbonate (LiCO) with a conversion factor of 5.32

Potassium is converted to potassium chloride (KCl) with a conversion factor of 1.91

The strong economics of the project, with a levered NPV on a pre-tax basis (8% discount) of US$1,302B, providing an IRR of 29.7% and a payback of 3.5 years, confirms the attractiveness of the project. On a pure equity basis, the pre-tax NPV is US$1,286 with an IRR of 23.8% (c.f. Figure 3).

Figure 3: Financial Model Summary (NPV, IRR, Payback)

Notes to the resource estimate:

CIM definitions (2014) were followed for Mineral Resources.

The Qualified Person for this Mineral Resource estimate is Frits Reidel, CPG

No cut-off values have been applied to the resource estimate.

Numbers may not add due to rounding.

The M&I Resources are inclusive of those Mineral Resources modified to produce the Mineral Reserves

The effective date is December 24, 2018

Lithium is converted to lithium carbonate (LiCO) with a conversion factor of 5.32

Potassium is converted to potassium chloride (KCl) with a conversion factor of 1.91

The project has a potential to generate total life of operations revenues of US$6.93B and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation) of US$5.07B. After-tax cash flow over the life of the project is presented in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Annual Cash Flow

Operating Cost (OPEX) of US$3,772, places Maricunga among the most efficient producers (c.f. Figure 5 and Figure 6). Production process design, as well as future supply contract for the equipment and production plant, was awarded to Tier-1 German company GEA Messo, one of the leading suppliers in the lithium industry.

Figure 5: Lithium carbonate cash cost curve, including royalties, 2027 (US$/t)

Figure 6: Lithium carbonate cash cost curve, excluding royalties, 2027 (US$/t)

DFS price estimates were delivered by Roskill Consulting Group ltd ("Roskill"). Roskill forecasts that the average annual price (in real terms) during the life of the project for battery grade lithium carbonate will be US$ 14,400 /t.

With all the necessary project infrastructure including water and power supply, as well as road and port access now secured, priorities now will shift to secure construction financing for the project. Discussions with major Chilean and international financial institutions to secure project finance for the project have commenced and expected to be finalized during 2019. Also, a number of international companies have approached the joint-venture company for off-take agreements and potential equity participations.

Don Hains, P.Geo., who is a technical consultant to the Company and is a qualified person within the context of National Instrument 43-101, has read and takes responsibility for this news release.

About Bearing Lithium Corp.

Bearing Lithium Corp. is a lithium-focused mineral exploration and development company. Its primary asset is an 18% interest in the Maricunga Lithium Brine Project in Chile. The Maricunga Project represents one of the highest-grade lithium brine salars globally and the only pre-production project in Chile. Over US$30 million has been invested in the Maricunga Project to date and all expenditures through to the delivery of a Definitive Feasibility Study have been fully-funded by the earn-in joint-venture partner.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Jeremy Poirier"

Jeremy Poirier, President and CEO

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Jeremy Poirier-- President and CEO Bearing Lithium - Telephone: 1-604-262-8835Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operating or financial performance of the Company, are forward-looking statements.

The words "expect", "target", "estimate", "may", "will" and other similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, mineral reserve and resource estimates, grades and recoveries, financial forecasts including the net present value and after-tax internal rate of return estimates of the Maricunga Project, projected tax rates, the anticipated life of operations, annual production expectations including cash flows, capital costs, expected operating costs and construction financing. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are beyond Bearing's ability to predict or control and may cause Bearing's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any of its future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, strategic, legal, planning and other risks, the impact of changes in, or to the enforcement of, laws, regulations and government practices, potential defects in title to the Maricunga Project that are not known as of the date hereof, the occurrence of unexpected financial obligations, fluctuations in the price of lithium and other commodities, fluctuations in the currency markets, changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments, risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding), risks related to operational matters and geotechnical issues, the success of future exploration and development activities, the occurrence of any labour unrest, the ability to accurately predict decommissioning and reclamation costs, the risk of budget and timing overruns, potential opposition to the Maricunga Project by local communities and the ability to secure construction financing. Such forward-looking statements are also based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect including changes in Maricunga Project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time with the securities regulators in the Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Bearing undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements contained herein whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

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January 23, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) The internationalization of Medellin involves the construction of relationships and contacts with various entities around the world to positively activate the progress of the city. It is when ACI Medellin acquires a relevant value as a strategic organization for the attraction and establishment of new international entities, such as the first Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

This process has been a path of dialogue and agreements with the World Economic Forum in which the national and local governments have set goals in the short and medium term to comply with the agreement. The first agreement is related to the efficiency of public entities through the implementation of artificial intelligence applications; the second will promote the appropriation of new technologies to develop the internet of things and thus consolidate smart cities; finally, a final agreement which focuses on prioritizing Blockchain-based solutions: digitization of information that will allow making decisions to streamline procedures in real time.

All these advances and the commitment to make them a reality, require the support not only from the government but also from the private and academic sectors. Therefore, Medellin's University-Business Sector-State Committee will be key to increase the competitiveness of the city to promote the development of regulations and policies at the service of all the countries of Latin America through the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

From Davos, Switzerland, the President of Colombia, IvAn Duque, announced the new Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be installed in Medellin.

Finally, after the announcement has been made official on January 23 at the 2019 World Economic Forum, the activities for the implementation of this Center in the Ruta N facilities will start. A specialized team will oversee the activities required for its establishment under the direction of the WEF together with the other Centers of the same category which already exist in the world: San Francisco (United States), Tokyo (Japan), Beijing (China) and Mumbai (India).

"This is a project of great importance for our country, we have worked constantly to make it a reality so that Medellin is the host city. Today I can say that we take a step forward towards the recognition of a new era that implies great advances but at the same time a great commitment. ACI Medellin will have a key role supporting the articulation with the World Economic Forum and meet the guidelines for its opening in the first semester of 2019," said Catalina Restrepo Carvajal, Executive Director of ACI Medellin.

Information for journalists

Sandra Milena Ospina D'Alleman / Director of Communications

sospina@acimedellin.org / +57 3185285705.

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Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions.

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California state Sen. Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, on Tuesday announced a bill to allocate $1 billion in funding over the next 10 years to retrofit homes across California.

The bill was timed to follow the 25th anniversary of the Northridge Earthquake that took place in January 1994. More than 60,000 single-family houses, apartments and mobile homes were destroyed or rendered temporarily unlivable in the wake of the earthquake, which caused $20 billion in household damage and left 22,000 people homeless.

The California Earthquake Authority in 2014 launched the Brace & Bolt program, under which the CEA has retrofitted more than 4,000 homes in Los Angeles County alone.

Hertzbergs legislation, which will be formally introduced later this month, restructures the CEAs finances to free up money that will be used to fund retrofits of homes.

For more than a million California houses, a code-compliant retrofit could cost just a few thousand dollars, Hertzberg said in a statement. And it could prevent a family from losing everything. It could be the difference between life and death.

Hertzberg represents nearly 1 million San Fernando Valley residents of Senate District 18.

Related:

Topics Mergers California Legislation
A program that helps people rebuild homes that were damaged or destroyed in West Virginias 2016 flood is being affected by the partial federal government shutdown.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports a statement from the West Virginia National Guard, which oversees the RISE program, says it cannot draw down new funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The statement says the funding is needed to begin 170 new housing reconstructions and 83 new mobile home replacement projects.

Officials say that doesnt mean work has stopped. It continues on 46 reconstruction and mobile home replacements because that contractor received initial payment for the project. Rehabilitation work also continues.

The statement says management teams are taking steps to get projects in order to move forward aggressively when the shutdown ends.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Flood Virginia West Virginia
A few comic books from a stolen Batman collection worth $1.4 million have been recovered after an arrest in Arizona.

News station ABC-15 in Phoenix reports that police charged Phillip Weisbauer of Royal Palm Beach, Florida, with theft and trafficking in stolen property after he tried to sell four comic books. Those items alone are valued at nearly $100,000, part of a collection of nearly 450 comic books stolen from a storage unit in Boca Raton.

Their owner, Randy Lawrence, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that someone broke into the unit through the ceiling. He discovered the theft on Jan. 8. Now hes hoping the rest of the collection can be recovered.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Florida
A settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit accusing an Oklahoma school district of shielding a sexual predator and calling children liars.

Perry Public Schools admitted liability for the unwanted and unlawful touching of 14 girls by a former teachers aide and agreed to pay the families $3.5 million to settle the case, according to court documents.

Arrest affidavits note the Perry Upper Elementary School students detailed how Arnold Cowen, 87, fondled them in 2016 and 2017, sometimes during lengthy hugs and inappropriate touches.

Cowen was charged with 20 counts of lewd or indecent acts to children under 16 and one count of aggravated possession of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to all charges last February and is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

The girls had been silenced by faculty and teachers, said Cameron Spradling, an attorney for the victims and their families. There was no doubt that these children were molested and (the school district) admitted it. Theres no doubt that they were responsible for allowing that to happen. They did everything wrong.

One of those officials, the schools ex-principal, was put on five years probation in March for failing to report the misconduct. Kenda Miller, 51, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of failure to promptly report child abuse or neglect after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. She resigned in June 2017.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Abuse Molestation Education Oklahoma
Bryan Shofner has joined Houston-based wholesale insurance broker and managing general agency, LP Risk, as director of operations.

Shofners previous roles include senior vice president of Marsh McLennan Agency LLC and president and CEO of Shofner & Associates Insurance Agency.

Shofner serves on the board of directors of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, a position he has held since 2015. He previously served as president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas and was named Young Agent of the Year by the IIAT in 2001.

Shofner also has served on Congressman Randy Neugebauers Financial Services Advisory Board.

Source: LP Risk

Topics Texas
Value-based care, political party changes in several states, and a more holistic view of patient injuries will impact the workers compensation industry this year, according to two experts hosting a workers compensation webinar series, Out Front Ideas.

Mark Walls, vice president for communications and strategic analysis with Safety National, and Kimberly George, chief healthcare officer for Sedgwick, kicked off the new year with a webinar on 20 Issues to Watch in 2019 in workers compensation.

George said to expect continuing healthcare discussions now that the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is under renewed court scrutiny. States will continue to expand Medicare programs with a focus on addressing costs of prescription costs, she added.

Big pharma is bracing for smaller, but significant, regulatory changes, George said.

She also believes there will be greater focus on value-based care  with the goal of improving health outcomes and quality of care.

Walls believes the elections in 2018 may have a big impact on the workers compensation landscape going forward. He noted that gubernatorial changes took place in eight states  Alaska, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin, and this means new regulators and administrative law judges could decide workers compensation practices in individual states.

In addition, he thinks the industry could see legislative changes resulting from the six states (Democrats: California, Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi and Florida. Republicans: Alaska) where one party has total control of the governorship and both legislative branches.

I would put all of these states on the watch list for potential workers compensation legislation, Walls said.

With the American Medical Association sixth edition guidelines to consider, Walls said states will need to address whether subjective factors should be considered in permanent impairment ratings.

Perhaps the most pervasive trend to watch is the overarching focus on injured employees, not only in the customer service sense, but also in terms of offering personalized experiences, with stakeholders increasingly viewing injured workers as consumers instead of claimants.

George said there will be moves to include the voice of injured workers in the handling of their claims.

In addition, there will be increased focus on the social determinants of health, she said. The impact of loneliness, safe housing, employment and transportation concerns on a patients ability to heal and return to work will be examined. Workers comp payors are already addressing these issues by offering meal replacement delivery services post-surgery and offering caregiver services for food preparation and companionship.

The psychology of pain refers to the biological, emotional and social factors that impact pain, according to George. When patients focus on pain, studies indicate their pain worsens. She sad employers and claims teams are addressing the issue by introducing a pain philosophy into their programs, including creating pain assessment tools and identifying a pain expert that can consult on more complex cases.

Also, watch for more employers to experiment with employee health models.

Employee health models are evolving with employer-purchased care, in part, because health insurers are not negotiating and managing costs in a way that employers can do so directly, said George.

Mega claims, natural disaster planning and dealing with impairment at work related to legalized marijuana are other issues to watch, thy said.

A version of this article was first published by ClaimsJournal.com.

Topics Workers' Compensation Talent
A wheeled robot named Marty is rolling into nearly 500 grocery stores to alert employees if it encounters spilled granola, squashed tomatoes or a broken jar of mayonnaise.

But there could be a human watching from behind its cartoonish googly eyes.

Badger Technologies CEO Tim Rowland says its camera-equipped robots stop after detecting a potential spill. But to make sure, humans working in a control center in the Philippines review the imagery before triggering a cleanup message over the loudspeaker.

Rowland says 25 of the robots are now operating at certain Giant, Martins and Stop & Shop stores, with 30 more arriving each week. Carlisle, Pennsylvania-based Giant says it has two robots now working at stores in the state, and plans to expand to all 172 Giant stores by the middle of this year.

The chains are all part of Dutch parent company Ahold Delhaize.

The robots move around using laser-based lidar sensors and pause when shoppers and their carts veer into their path.

The googly eyes are fake, but each robot has eight cameras  some directed down at the floor and others that can see shelves. Rowland said the robots can eventually be repurposed to help monitor a stores inventory.

A robot observed Tuesday at a Stop & Shop store in Seekonk, Massachusetts, alerted store associates to a price tag that had fallen in one aisle, and a tiny sprig of herbs in another. After moving along for a few minutes, it returned to the scene of each spill and waited until an employee pushed a button to acknowledge that the debris was picked up.

Its not the only robot that U.S. shoppers might spot this year. Walmart and Midwestern supermarket chain Schnucks have deployed robots that help monitor inventory.

A union that represents Giant and Stop & Shop workers says its keeping an eye on Marty. It remains to be seen what the groceries will ultimately use the technology for.

UFCW President Marc Perrone said in an emailed statement that the aggressive expansion of automation in grocery and retail stores is a direct threat to the millions of American workers who power these industries and the customers they serve.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A former Iowa insurance agent has been convicted of insurance fraud following an insurance fraud investigation by the Iowa Insurance Divisions Fraud Bureau.

The division reported that Joy Marie Heldt, age 48, of Madrid, was convicted of Fraudulent Submissions to an Insurer, a Class D Felony. Heldt is a former insurance agent in Urbandale, Iowa.

The conviction follows an investigation that began in March 2018. The investigation concluded that Heldt, while acting as an insurance agent, used the identifying information of another individual to complete an individual term life insurance application. The individual who was listed as the proposed primary insured and policy owner did not authorize Heldt to submit the application.

Heldt was granted an Iowa insurance producer license in 2015. On March 28, 2018, Iowa Insurance Commissioner ordered the permanent revocation of Heldts Iowa insurance license and ordered her to immediately cease and desist from engaging in the practice of insurance in Iowa as a result of her misconduct.

On Jan. 10, 2019, Heldt received a deferred judgment, two years probation, and was ordered to pay a fine of $750.00.

Source: Iowa Division of Insurance

Topics Agencies Fraud Iowa
Yoder mum business is thriving Gary and Arlene Yoder, owners of 218 Market west of Camden, are also in the wholesale mum business, a business...

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Frances data protection watchdog fined Alphabets Google 50 million euros ($57 million) on Monday [Jan. 21] for breaching European Union online privacy rules, the biggest such penalty levied against a U.S. tech giant.

The French regulator said the worlds biggest search engine lacked transparency and clarity in the way it informs users about its handling of personal data and failed to properly obtain their consent for personalized ads.

The EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the biggest shake-up of data privacy laws in more than two decades, came into force in May. It allows users to better control their personal data and gives regulators the power to impose fines of up to 4 percent of global revenue for violations.

The amount decided, and the publicity of the fine, are justified by the severity of the infringements observed regarding the essential principles of the GDPR: transparency, information and consent, the CNIL said in a statement.

Google issued a statement saying that people expect high standards of transparency and control from us.

Were deeply committed to meeting those expectations and the consent requirements of the GDPR, it said, adding that it was examining its next steps.

The CNIL decision follows complaints by two non-governmental organizations, None Of Your Business (noyb) and La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), which the regulator said had been mandated by 10,000 people to present the case.

The French authority, known for its stringent interpretation of privacy rules and for favoring a tough approach toward U.S. Internet companies, sets a record with this penalty, which could reverberate in Silicon Valley.

More than just a significant amount of money, this sanction is particularly detrimental to Google as it directly challenges its business model and will, in all likelihood, require them to deeply modify their provision of services, Sonia Cisse, Managing Associate at Linklaters, said.

($1 = 0.8797 euros) (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; editing by Alexander Smith)

Topics Europe France Privacy
Two ships ablaze in the Black Sea region, leaving at least 10 crew dead, caught fire while transferring fuel mid-sea after one vessel was barred from using its usual port in southern Russia due to U.S. sanctions risk, two sources told Reuters.

The vessels, which caught fire on Monday, have the same names as two gas-transporting tankers, the Maestro and Venice, which were included on a U.S. sanctions advisory note last year for delivering fuel to Syria.

The U.S. Treasury note, published in November, advised that any dealings with these or other vessels involved in transporting fuel to Syria could result in sanctions.

The Maestro was subsequently barred from using Temryuk port in southern Russia by the owners of its only gas terminal, Maktren-Nafta, two industry sources said, where it had previously loaded liquefied petroleum gas of Russian and Kazakh origin for export to the Middle East.

The Russian company Maktren-Nafta could not be reached for comment.

Vessels can resort to ship-to-ship transfers of fuel  a risky maneuver especially if they are transferring flammable fuel  if they do not have access to a port for loading.

Temryuk port did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters was unable to reach the owners of the vessels.

Russias Transport Ministry said the two ships caught fire on Monday while loading gas ship-to-ship mid-sea, during stormy conditions.

Russia permits loading of gas at just three locations in the region  all on-land ports  a source in the ministry said.

All ship-to-ship transfers, especially of such dangerous cargo, moreover during stormy weather and in the winter, raises big questions, the source said.

The ministry source said they did not know whether the tanker had been barred from the port, but added that doing so was within the rights of the owners of the gas loading terminal.

Rough Sea

Ten sailors out of a combined crew of 32 were confirmed dead by the ministrys maritime unit on Tuesday. A further 10 remain missing, presumed dead, while 12 were rescued, it added.

The crew was made up of 16 Turkish citizens and 15 from India, the ministry said.

The ships are still on fire and no attempts are being made to put out the blaze due to rough sea conditions, a ministry spokesman said.

Refinitiv data showed Milano Shipping as the owner of the Venice, and Maestro Shipping of the Maestro. The Venice was recently renamed as the Candy, one industry source said.

But two traders, separate to the industry sources, told Reuters that both vessels were ultimately owned by one Turkish company, Milenyum Denizcilik Gemi.

Milenyum was placed on the U.S. sanctions list in 2015 for arranging the shipment of liquefied petroleum gas and gasoil to Syrian government controlled areas.

Phone numbers for Milenyum and Milano Shipping, listed online, were not answered.

Sanctions List

On Nov. 20 last year, the U.S. Treasury Department added nine Russian and Iranian individuals and companies on its sanctions list for participating in the shipment of petroleum to Syria.

It also issued an advisory note warning of the potential sanctions risk for any entities involved in such shipments which listed 35 ships, including the Maestro and Venice, as having delivered oil to Syria between 2016 and 2018.

Reuters reported in December that both the Maestro and Venice continued operations after the U.S. announcement, and regularly entered Temryuk port, according to Refinitiv data.

After the Reuters report, the Maestro was barred from using the ports gas terminal by its owners, and thereby denied access to the port, the two industry sources said.

But the Venice  now known as Candy  continued to dock at Temryuk, Refinitiv data showed.

Theres every indication that some black scheme was going on, one of the industry sources said.

Why else would (the Venice) load up with gas and then immediately transfer it onto another tanker? the source said, adding that the Venice was likely to have been permitted access to the port as it had changed its name to Candy since the U.S. sanctions note.

Since the U.S. announcement, the Venice/Candy has traveled to near the Lebanese and Syrian coastline on three occasions, Refinitiv data showed on Tuesday, while the Maestro has made the same journey once.

The data does not show at which port the vessels finally docked. They appear to turn around before reaching the coast.

Vessels wishing to conceal their location have been known to switch off their transponders and go dark.

Though ships are allowed to switch off their signaling systems in certain circumstances, for example for reasons of security, such instances are relatively limited and rare, Richard Meade, managing editor of Lloyds List Intelligence in London, said.

Both vessels werent showing up as live despite being fairly close to land-based receivers, Meade said. This certainly would raise red flags in terms of anybody looking at the accident or criminal investigation.

The Maestros signaling system last reported its location on Saturday, when it was located off the coast of Turkey in the Black Sea, according to Refinitiv data.

But on Monday, it was near the Kerch Strait, a body of water between Russian-annexed Crimea and southern Russia, which connects the Azov Sea to the Black Sea.

There, it met the Venice, which had left Temryuk port on Sunday morning with a fresh cargo of liquefied petroleum gas, an industry source said.

After attempting to transfer the highly flammable fuel, both ships were on fire.

(Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov, Natalia Chumakova and Tom Balmforth; writing by Polina Ivanova; editing by Christian Lowe and Alison Williams)

Topics USA Energy Oil Gas Russia
U.K. entrepreneur Luke Johnsons efforts to save Patisserie Valerie failed as an accounting scandal pushed the bakery chains parent into insolvency, threatening as many as 2,800 jobs on Britains beleaguered shopping streets.

Patisserie Holdings Plc appointed KPMG as administrator after announcing last week that it had found thousands of false entries in its books. The accounting firm plans to keep 121 of the chains roughly 200 stores open as it seeks a possible buyer.

The dramatic failure of Johnsons most visible enterprise comes after an unsuccessful last-ditch bid to raise new funding from Patisseries lenders, which include HSBC Holdings Plc and Barclays Plc. Johnson, the companys chairman and largest shareholder, has extended an unsecured, interest-free loan of 3 million pounds ($3.9 million) to help pay January wages. HSBC couldnt be reached for comment and Barclays declined to comment.

Because of the extensive fraud discovered in its accounts, Patisserie has been unable to renew its bank facilities, and therefore regrettably the business does not have sufficient funding to meet its liabilities as they fall due, the company said Tuesday in a statement.

The insolvency will wipe out investors in the chain, whose shares havent traded since the scandal erupted in October. The loss of at least 70 bakeries adds to the empty storefronts on the U.K.s shopping streets, where retailers ranging from electronics chain Maplin to the British arm of Toys R Us Inc. have already disappeared. Consumers are increasingly turning to online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc., and the Brexit-weakened pound has undermined spending power.

Hopefully, this will prompt the industry to sharpen up their act, before the loss of yet another high-street company and large number of jobs, Nick Burchett, head of U.K. equities at Cavendish, said by email. He held shares in the business.

Johnsons Loans

Former Patisserie Chief Executive Officer Paul May stepped down in November after the baking company reported a surprise deficit that led to the arrest of former finance director Chris Marsh.

Johnson had worked to save the business from insolvency, saying in October that hed lend it 20 million pounds to stave off collapse. The company also said then that it raised 15.7 million pounds through the issuance of new shares.

After Patisserie hired forensic accountants to comb through its accounts, they discovered very significant manipulation of the balance sheet and profit-and-loss accounts, according to a statement last week.

Marsh and former company auditor Grant Thornton LLP are under investigation by U.K. regulators, and the Serious Fraud Office has opened a criminal probe.

The extraordinary black hole in Patisserie Valeries accounts which has led to this administration raises grave corporate-governance concerns and poses serious questions regarding the effectiveness of the auditor and the current arrangements for regulation, Rachel Reeves, chairwoman of the U.K. Parliaments Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said in a statement.

Johnsons private equity firm Risk Capital Partners backed the acquisition of Patisserie Valerie 80 years after it opened in London in 1926. The serial entrepreneur, who first made his fortune by investing in the successful restaurant chain Pizza Express, also holds shares in the iconic Brighton Pier on Englands south coast and swimming brand Zoggs International Ltd.

The existing management team, including CEO Steve Francis, will assist in trying to find a buyer, KPMG said.

Related:

Patisserie Holdings CFO Arrested as UK Fraud Office Probes Accounting Scandal

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Fraud Uk
Broker ED&F Man has filed a $284 million lawsuit against two Hong Kong companies, alleging that they knowingly provided fraudulent warehouse receipts for nickel stored in Asia, court documents show.

The two Hong Kong firms, Come Harvest Holdings Ltd (CHH) and Mega Wealth International Trading Ltd, have denied the charges.

News of the filing comes in the first week of a trial at Londons High Court that also relates to fraudulent warehouse receipts for nickel. In this case, French bank Natixis is suing commodities broker Marex Spectron for $32 million.

Other details in the cases are also similar. CHH is a defendant in both the Natixis/Marex suit and the ED&F Man case.

ED&F Man declined to comment on the case.

In Tuesdays hearing of the Natixis/Marex trial, Judge Simon Bryan said he had received an email from lawyers acting for CHH and Mega Wealth expressing concern that proceedings in the Natixis/Marex case would have an impact on their clients in the ED&F Man case since much of the background was the same.

A lawyer for CHH and Mega Wealth said on Tuesday they had no immediate comment.

CHH is mentioned in the Natixis/Marex case, but is not a party to the action.

None of the parties in the Natixis/Marex case have disputed that the warehouse receipts for nickel were fraudulent but no accusation has been made as to who faked them.

The warehouse receipts were part of a repurchase (repo) agreement, brokered by ED&F Man between Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and the two Hong Kong firms.

ANZ is not a party to ED&F Mans lawsuit in UK courts, but in June 2017, it filed papers asking the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to allow it to interview U.S. witnesses about the alleged warehouse receipt fraud. ANZ declined to comment.

Forgeries

ED&F Man paid $117.3 million to CHH and $167.2 million to Mega Wealth for nickel stored in Asian warehouses, but the warehouse receipts the two firms provided were forgeries, lawyers for ED&F Man said in court documents.

The ED&F Man documents alleged the two Hong Kong firms knew or had sufficient reason to suspect the receipts were forged.

The two Hong Kong companies said they had no knowledge that the receipts were fake, a defense filing showed.

During the Natixis/Marex trial on Tuesday, the insurer for Marex alleged that CHH owner Wong Wei Kwok was under pressure to repay a $50 million loan when he secured the Marex-brokered deal for financing in return for the warehouse receipts for nickel.

Marex has filed a claim for indemnity with its insurer for potential losses from the fraud. The insurer, Lloyds syndicate MCAP, has rejected this claim.

MCAP lawyer Luke Parsons told the court on Tuesday that Marex had not gathered enough background knowledge about CHH and its owner before finalizing the deal involving the warehouse receipts.

The lawyer for CHH and Mega Wealth, who also represents Wong, said all three clients had no immediate comment about the allegations in the Natixis/Marex trial.

The practice of using metal as collateral in warehouse repo deals has come under increasing scrutiny since a $3 billion fraud four years ago at Qingdao port in China, which led to a $440 million fine for the firm involved, Dezheng Resources, and a 23-year jail sentence for its chairman.

Reporting by Eric Onstad; editing by Dale Hudson and Edmund Blair)

Related:

Marex Spectrons Metals Financing Deal Triggers Fraud Lawsuit, Insurance Dispute

Topics Lawsuits Agencies Fraud
This case, involving two global charities, caught the attention of national media and showed that non-profit organizations have just as much management and professional liability exposure as private companies.

The media interest in the #MeToo movement has definitely spurred an uptick in management and professional liability insurance submissions, said Melissa Yurich, assistant vice president at NIF Pro, a specialty management and professional liability division within NIF Group, Inc. Were getting a lot more calls and queries about sexual harassment and molestation coverages. Were also getting lots of requests from non-profit insureds who want to increase their coverage limits for their employment practices liability (EPL) and directors and officers (D&O) insurance policies. We all know from watching TV or listening to the radio that this exposure is everywhere, whether youre a for-profit or a non-profit organization.

NIF Pro is a brokerage unit that handles the management and professional liability business for NIF Groups insurance programs, including its non-profit and social service program. With access to 50+ markets, NIF Pro is well-placed to transfer tricky professional exposures and deal with fluctuating market situations like the #MeToo movement.

On the brokerage side, weve definitely seen some carriers change their risk appetite as a result of the #MeToo movement, but there hasnt been as much reaction as I thought there might be, Yurich told Insurance Business. I think once claims start to pay out, which may take a few more months to a year, then well start to see some markets being a little bit more selective around what theyre willing to quote from the get-go. For example, were already starting to see some markets be a little bit more cautious if a non-profit or an association has a celebrity figure on its board. Moving forward, I think some carriers might seek higher retention if theres a celebrity aspect to the risk.

At NIF Pro, we have access to 50+ markets so were not concerned about some carriers changing their risk appetite. We always find a way to get something written for the right price and with the right coverages because the capacity out there is really strong. One thing we must do is make sure our insureds understand that non-profit management and professional liability could potentially become a tougher class to write if the market changes dramatically.

One thing non-profit organizations have to be careful about is making sure that any volunteers they employ are covered under their EPL policies, according to Paul Orlando, vice president, marketing and sales, at NIF Group.

He said: From the perspective of our non-profit and social service program, we always want an insured to have the proper hiring processes in place, including carrying out adequate background checks for both employees and volunteers. Its very important for brokers who work with non-profit organizations to clarify and make sure that the definition of an employee under the EPL policy includes volunteer workers.

Another element of coverage organizations can and should take advantage of are the value-added risk management services that come with most EPL and D&O policies, Yurich added. A lot of policies include access to advice hotlines or attorneys who will provide training for employees and managers around best practices in the workplace.

Carriers definitely want to make sure that insureds have the right employee handbooks and sexual harassment procedures in place, she said. Some will not bind an EPL policy until they have confirmation of the insured having some sort of discrimination or harassment policy in place so that employees know their rights.
Bouchard will maintain its existing locations and operate as Bouchard Insurance, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company. Doug Bishop, CEO of Bouchard, will continue to lead the operation.

Bouchards strong client-first culture and commitment to the education and development of its colleagues make it a powerful addition to our growing presence across the US, said David Eslick, chairman and CEO of MMA.

By joining the MMA team, we have the opportunity to provide innovative resources and solutions for our clients and new growth opportunities for our colleagues, Bishop said. Equally important, MMA shares our passion to support the communities we serve. We are excited to play a role in the ongoing growth of this dynamic national firm.
As a specialty general agency, MARM underwrites insurance products on behalf of members of Great American Insurance Group, The Travelers Indemnity Company and Century Insurance Group.

MARM will continue to distribute its Center Pivot and Farm Owners Package products, as well as offering complementary product offerings from K2 partner companies. A company release also noted that the firm will partner with carriers looking to mitigate their exposure to the volatility of those farm risks.

Paul Friskopp, the founder and president of MARM, will continue to serve as president of the unit following the transaction. Kerry Besnia, formerly of Great American Insurance Group, joins MARM to help the underwriter with its program.
While clients have a greater appreciation for the cyber risks they face, Hodkinson says its likely well see an increase in the number of attacks.

We expect to start to see more cyberattacks to industrial assets with perhaps more physical damage consequences, he tells Insurance Business.

Hodkinson also warned that catastrophe claims will continue to rise as the population and industrialisation spreads at an ever-increasing rate.

Power claims will be more challenging and interesting in these scenarios as the shift from hydro carbon to renewables and battery storage becomes more mainstream, he adds.

When asked if the claims trends were specific to Australia or consistent globally, Hodkinson stressed that the cyber issue is a universal obstacle.

The cyber challenge is a global problem with first world countries more likely targets. Australia is such an industrialised country, he said. Catastrophe claims affect all regions but in different ways. The severity and duration of such events appears to be increasing but this is more a function of an increased human footprint on the planet.

While there is certainly no shortage of challenges for the insurance sector in 2019, Hodkinson says hes far from worried.

The insurance industry is adaptable and large  it has a great ability to evolve, to stay relevant, and to this end the evolution will no doubt continue, he tells Insurance Business. The trick will be to evolve with it, if not ahead of it.
Ed Martin, who joins BHSIs London office from global legacy and run-off specialist Enstar Group Limited, has been appointed as transactional liability head for the UK and Europe. He served as lead in-house M&A (mergers and acquisitions) lawyer at Enstar.

As the need for solutions for the risks and uncertainties in corporate transactions continues to grow, BHSI is pleased to bring to market the local expertise, financial strength, and capacity that will enable companies in the UK and throughout Europe to respond, quickly and strategically, to the exposures of mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions, noted senior vice president and head of transactional liability Robert Underhill.

Ed is a stellar addition to our expanding transactional liability team worldwide.

In the US and Canada BHSI provides representations and warranties, contingent liability, and class action settlement insurance while its new market will be offered warranty and indemnity, tax, and contingent liability cover.

Our capabilities in the UK, throughout Europe, and around the world continue to expand to help our customers respond to pressing risks, said UK and Europe head Chris Colahan. This latest expansion follows the well set pattern of BHSIs growth: We grow where and when we can offer outstanding expertise and provide meaningful long-term solutions, backed by our stable capacity and financial strength.

In Europe, BHSI operates as part of Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Limited.
As a novel and improved product offering to the international maritime community, the SWRIC contributes to Singapores standing as a thought leader in the field of marine insurance, said Senior Minister of State for Transport and Health, Dr Lam Pin Min.

Lam spoke at the Singapore Shipping Associations Chinese New Year cocktail reception at Raffles City Convention Centre on Tuesday.

According to Lam, the offering is Singapores equivalent to war risk insurance provided by internationally recognised plans such as the Nordic Plan and Britains Institute Time Clauses. It is also part of Singapores effort to improve its status as a regional and global maritime power. Another of these efforts is a push towards digitalising the countrys shipping industry.

At the reception, the Singapore Shipping Association, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Singapore Customs and Infocomm Media Development Authority signed an agreement to develop an inter-operability framework for electronic trade documents.

Shipping is a major industry in Singapore, given its strategic location at the Malacca straits  one of the worlds most important trade routes. The industry contributes 7% of GDP, with 35.6 million containers passing through Singapores ports in 2018, up 8.7% from the previous year.
Posted 1/22/19

Buffalo was host to five southwest Missouri communities last week as they convened at Market 116 to discuss economic opportunities and challenges unique to rural communities. This collaboration was 
Woodbridge, VA (22192)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Trustee for the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and daughter of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi (right) meets physically disabled scooter recipients in New Delhi on Aug. 22, 2012. Some 450 three-wheeler scooters were distributed to disabled people across the country by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. (Raveendran/AFP/GettyImages)
Seen above are the founders of Voice of Indian American Voters, or VIA Voters, a new organization launched in Elmhurst, Ill., Jan. 13 (l-r): Dr. Anuja Gupta, Dr. Bharat Barai and Sanjjeev Singh. (Voice of Indian American Voters/Facebook photo)
Demonstrators, many of them recent immigrants to America, protest the government shutdown and the lack of a deal on DACA outside of FederalPlaza on Jan. 22 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
McConnell, R-Kentucky, appears to have taken on the role of Hand of the King as featured in the series Game of Thrones. He has decided to stop the congressional and Constitutional process by not bringing bills that have passed the House of Representatives up for vote in the Senate simply because he can.
While activists are rallying for people from the LGBT community to be accepted, respected and granted the same rights as anyone else, there is still a very long way to go as far as changing perceptions is concerned. A 21-year-old transgender was shot by two men in New Delhi on January 20, after she refused to have sex with them.

Reuters

The men offered her a ride from Trilokpuri to Barapulla area, as reported by Hindustan Times. They tried to rape her and then realised that she was a transgender. When she refrained, they shot her and threw her out of the cab.

She was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) by passersby. When we reached the hospital, we were told that the transgender had sustained a gunshot wound in her abdomen, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal. We registered a case of attempt to murder. She is out of danger now, according to Biswal.

Reuters

The cab driver was arrested the next day - January 21 - and was identified as 24-year-old Sagar Kumar, a resident of Trilokpuri. While investigating, he admitted to the crime and identified his companion too - Chandra Kant. The investigation is still on and police are looking for Chandra Kant.

It is sad and shameful that human beings can treat fellow human beings so mercilessly. How will we ever call ourselves a progressive nation if this is how we treat people from our own country?
Cabin crew have the most difficult job in the world - from dealing with badly behaved passengers to some drunk ones who threaten to hijack the plane, they see the worst of it.

RT/Twitter

More recently, one inebriated passenger aboard Aeroflot flight from the Siberian city of Surgut to Moscow threatened to hijack the plane.

ALSO READ: Passenger Insists On Smoking Inside Delayed Amritsar-Kolkata Flight, Vistara Leaves Him On Airport

The pilot was forced to land some 240 km short of its destination after a passenger demanded the plane be diverted to Afghanistan, reports RT.

Aeroflot flight #SU1515 from Surgut to Moscow is diverting to Khanty-Mansiysk with squawk 7600 (radio failure).

According to @RT_russian a passenger demanded the aircraft to fly to Afghanistan.https://t.co/lO2rs9X4Dr pic.twitter.com/9NFRQh8C5y  Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) 22 January 2019

According to Aeroflot, all passengers and crew safely deplaned the Boeing 737-8LJ in the western Siberian town of Khanty-Mansiy, and the suspect was detained, reports CNN.

  -    -. ,  ,     ,    https://t.co/eyElUDF19d pic.twitter.com/WCwjUw0omc    |  (@rentvchannel) 22 January 2019

The RT report states 10 police squads were dispatched to the airport to nab him and he may now face 12 years in prison for the offence.

ALSO READ: Travelling Like A Queen - This Woman Was The Only Passenger On The Plane & It Still Took Off!
In a bizarre incident, 27-year-old Christopher Wayne Cleary from Colorado has been arrested on terrorism charges after he posted really weird messages on his Facebook profile saying that he was planning to carry out a mass shooting, killing as many girls as he sees, authorities in Utah said.

"All I wanted was a girlfriend, not 1000 not a bunch of hoes, not money none of that," he wrote, according to a probable-cause statement cited by authorities. "All I wanted was to be loved, yet no one cares about me I'm 27 years old and I've never had a girlfriend before and I'm still a virgin, this is why I'm planning on shooting up a public place soon and being the next mass shooter cause I'm ready to die and all the girls the turned me down is going to make it right by killing as many girls as I see."





Cleary was taken into custody on January 19 from Utah, the Provo Police Department said. He is also on probation in Jefferson County, Colorado, for stalking and threatening women, police said.

During an interview with police, Cleary apparently admitted that he made the threats "but claimed to be upset and not thinking clearly when he did so," according to the probable-cause statement.

Authorities also said that during the interview, Cleary also made suicidal comments, telling the police that it might be better for him if he dies. A court date for Cleary hasnt been set yet.
We all know at least one person who likes to show off, and if that person were a company they'd be this Chinese company. As the Spring Festival (also known as the Chinese New Year) is approaching, companies in China are getting creative while handing out year-end bonuses to employees.

A steel plant in Jiangxi province took this a bit too far and built a cash mountain with banknotes worth over 300 million yuan which equal to Rs 3,13,41,42,000 (Rs 313.41 crore)!

Shanghaiist

The money was then distributed among the companys 5,000 employees. Each employee got an average year-end bonus of 60,000 yuan - that equals Rs 62 lakh! (You want to join this company now, don't you?).

"Such a big bonus, I don't know how to spend it all!" one employee was quoted as saying by the Shanghaiist.

Shanghaiist

This isnt the first time a Chinese company has come up with a quirky idea of distributing year-end bonuses. Last year, employees of a company participated in a game show-inspired cash grab, giving them a limited amount of time to sweep up as much cash as they could.

This is a nice idea of distributing bonus - a similar pattern of 'sweeping' as much cash as we could, would be really thoughtful for us too!
What would you do if your company refused to pay you for the work you did? Write a letter to the authorities, talk to them, get really annoyed and try to take legal action against them? But, this construction worker did nothing of that sort.

The worker used a construction vehicle to destroy the reception area of a newly built hotel in Liverpool, UK because his pay was overdue, the police said.

Video of the whole incident which took place on January 21 afternoon, shows the worker using an excavator to destroy the reception. In the video, you can also see other workers watching the worker in amazement as he uses the crane to scrape tiles and wires from the ceiling of the hotel. He fled the scene after wreaking havoc in the building, according to the police.





Samuel White, a ceiling repairer at the site said that the destruction lasted for good 20 to 30 minutes and he also referred to the man as some idiot in a mini digger who claimed that the company owed the guy 600 pounds which is equal to Rs 55,538.

"The handover was today, everything completed, we'd put the last tile in, cleaned up and made sure everything was perfect," White said. "Then some idiot in a mini digger decided to drive through the middle of the building."

"It is alleged that the labourer couldn't track down the owner of MF Construction and he became increasingly frustrated," England-based Triton Construction, who was looking after the construction of the hotel, said in a statement. "Fortunately, there were no injuries to Staff Members or other operatives, subcontractors on site. Additionally, there is no structural damage, so repairs can be undertaken relatively quickly."

Read More: Sikhs In US Offered Free Food To Thousands Of Workers Affected By Government Shutdown

MF Construction - the company the guy works for - did not respond to his request and the allegation too. One person was treated for eye irritation at a hospital after being exposed to diesel, but thankfully no one was severely injured.

After the video went viral, a GoFundMe page has since been set up to help the driver replace his wages and to help with any legal fees he may face after the incident.
Winter is no longer coming - it's already here and making us snuggle deeper into our blankets with cups of tea and coffee. Literally, no one has been able to escape the nail-biting cold - not the plants, not the animals, not even the majestic Niagara Falls. Parts of the world-famous Falls have frozen over and it kind of reminds us of the 2013 Disney movie Frozen.

This has, however, done nothing to dampen the spirits of people, who continue to pour in to watch the majestic Niagara Falls.

Despite being frozen the falls continue to look amazing. In fact, it's now more Instagramable, no kidding! The pictures of the waterfall are worth it. According to BuzzFeed News, one person has estimated that the temperature was around -35 degrees Celsius.

Say what you will about winter, but a frosted Niagara Falls certainly is lovely this time of year  #ShareYourWeather @NiagaraFalls

See more winter weather video in our Gallery: https://t.co/UIULq233NV pic.twitter.com/lKNWdTfgOK  The Weather Network (@weathernetwork) January 17, 2019

Emma Grafham, a traveller, told CNN that she felt like she was in Elsas Castle from the movie Frozen. She added, "There was even this set of stairs that were placed just outside the look-on spot and they had so much ice on them, it looked like Elsa had just cast her arm out and summoned up some stairs as she does in the movie."

Another traveller took to Instagram and wrote The sun came out for only 15 minutes. Just to make this experience even more memorable I guess. I froze my butt off with -25.

But different from these, Stuart M. Evans, a professor at the University at Buffalo told The Buffalo News, "Something moving as fast as the falls is extremely difficult to freeze." Yet, somehow the winters managed it and now we have one large chunk of ice hanging mid-air. How cool is that?
Indian Army has been struggling with stone pelters in Jammu & Kashmir for a long time now, and a group of students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Madras have decided to do something about it. As an aid to the army, the team of IITians has offered to use artificial intelligence (AI) to detect crowd behaviour.

The concept first gained visibility during the Army Technology Seminar-2019 in Delhi, an initiative by the Army Design Bureau to collaborate the army and the private sector for meeting the forces requirements. Four IIT students presented how crowd analysis could be used in the prevalent situations in the J&K region, where stone pelters aim to distract the army personnels from carrying out their operations.

Reuters

Using action recognition algorithms, crowd density maps and analysis of live images coming in from CCTV cameras, it is possible to predict abnormal events including stone pelting. We think it could help the Indian Army that faces such attacks regularly in J&K, explained S Raghav Vaidyanathan (student executive head - Centre for Innovation, IIT-Madras) to an HT correspondent.

Former army vice-chief Lieutenant General AS Lamba (retd) said innovative solutions such as AI-assisted prediction of crowd behaviour could be tried out in J&K where the situation is most difficult. Such innovations could lead to a good solution in the long term.

Reuters

While the solution looks promising and can definitely lead on to a big relief for the army, its actual implications and effectiveness will have to be tested before the Indian Army can incorporate it into their regime. For this, a team of army officers is likely to visit Chennai soon.

Army has been actively involved in such idea exchanges with various institutes of the country as well as the private sector. Recently, IIT Delhi came up with the concept of waterless hygiene for the Indian Army soldiers posted in regions with extreme temperatures like Siachen.
I believe in the Second Amendment and the right of someone to own a gun for home protection and I believe thats where it should remain, in the home or in a car on your way to or from hunting.
Smartwatches usually just help to keep your fitness routine on track, and keep you connected to your smartphone when you're away from it.

But recently, a fitness tracker was also the unusual witness in a court case in the UK, that helped jail a dangerous killer.

Mark Fellows was arrested last year as the main suspect in a series of murders in the area, purportedly for the mob. He was picked up after the murder of a rival mobster in 2018, where surveillance footage caught Fellows riding a cycle in the vicinity, seeming to scout the area. At the time, local police wondered if there was also a chance he was tied to the 2015 murder of the rival mob boss Paul Massey.

Also Read: There's Now A Fitness Tracker Only For Cows, Allowing You To Track Their Health & GPS Location

When cops investigated in 2018, they found that Fellows had a GPS jammer in his car. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't yet installed it in 2015, so the cops were able to pull location data off his Garmin Forerunner from that year, putting him at the scene of the crime. Paired with his presence on CCTV camera at the other 2018 murder scene, and they had a solid case.

Garmin

Also Read: Why In The World Are The Chinese Putting Fitness Trackers On Toilet Paper Rolls?

The judge sentenced Fellows to life in prison, what he rightfully deserved. More important than justice being served though, it does illustrate once more just how intrusive technology can be in our lives. In this case it was the police pulling data off someone's wearable, legally.

But if a malicious attacker or a stalker were to do it, they could glean a lot of sensitive information from a simple wristband.
Putting an end to the years of rumours and demand from a section of the party, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has formally joined electoral politics. Priyanka, the sister of Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been appointed as the AICC General Secretary in-charge of east Uttar Pradesh.

She is expected to take charge next month and lead the party's campaign in the state, which will be crucial for chances of Congress which is eyeing a comeback to power.

Many congratulations to Shri K C Venugopal, Smt. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Shri @JM_Scindia on their new appointments. We're fired up & ready to go! https://t.co/q7sMB8m6DO  Congress (@INCIndia) January 23, 2019

While Priyanka is not new into the political scene, her role till now had been limited to campaigns, mostly for mother Sonia and brother Rahul in two party strongholds, Raebareli and Amethi.

AP/ FILE

Since 2014, which many saw as defeat of Rahul, who led the party's camping there have been a growing voice within the Congress to bring Priyanka into the party folds and give her a leadership role.

Priyanka's resemblance to her grandmother Indira Gandhi struck a chord with many in the party, and even saw her as the next leader of Congress.

BCCL

Reacting to the announcement, Rahul Gandhi, who was in Amethi hinted that Priyanka is not on a short assignment.

"I have not sent Priyanka and Jyotiraditya for just two months. I have sent them to take the Congress' ideology forward in Uttar Pradesh," Rahul said.

While the Congress hailed the move, BJP hit out at the party and claiming that one family is controlling Congress.

"The Congress party is a family party, there is no doubt about it. After being rejected from the 'Mahagathbandhan' everywhere, the party has sought a crutch from within their own family," BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

PTI

The induction of Priyanka is elected to boost the moral of Congress workers especially in UP which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha. She is likely to lead the campaign of Congress in Yogi's Uttar Pradesh, where the CM himself is likely to be the star campaigner for BJP.
26/11 Mumbai terror attacks had the country virtually under siege for almost 72 hours.

Backpackers with assault rifles opened fire at people at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, blew up a gas station near Nariman House, attacked posh Leopold Cafe and carried out a mass shooting at Taj Palace and neighbouring Oberoi-Trident hotel.

The terrorists had entered India via the western coast, which raised serious questions regarding Indias security. The country realised that it was just not prepared to deal with a magnitude of attack like the one they experienced that killed 166 people. MARCOS personnel had to be summoned to rescue people stuck in Taj hotel.

Photo: Indian Navy website/Representational Image

A decade has gone by since the Mumbai terror attacks took place and Indian Navy launched first of its kind multi-drill agency or sea vigil on Tuesday, PTI reported.

The drill will man the countrys entire 7,516 km long coastline, 13 coastal states and Union Territories as well as exclusive economic zone. The unparalleled drill deployed 150 ships, 40 aircraft and strategic assets of the Navy and Coast Guard.

Navy Spokesperson Capt. D K Sharma told PTI, "The exercise aims to comprehensively and holistically validate the efficacy of the measures taken since the Mumbai terror attack.

Photo: BCCL

The two day exercise is being described unprecedented because of its scale, the stakeholders involved, the number of units that are participating and objectives that need to be met.

During Mumbai terror attacks, the terrorists snooped into India from Karachi by boat. Since then, Indian Navy was given the charge of full time maritime security, including offshore and coastal security.

D K Sharma further added that this is the first time the exercise will do wide frontage coverage of the entire coast of India. Fishermen too were made a part of this exercise.

The objective of sea vigil is to perform a realistic assessment of strengths and weaknesses, which will help to strengthen the maritime security. Reportedly, the exercise is a build up towards the major theatre level tri-service exercise TROPEX [Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise] which Indian Navy conducts every two years.

The coastal infrastructure has been strengthened since the 26/11 attacks and all the bottlenecks have been addressed. Also, a robust surveillance network comprising 42 radar stations linked to a control centre headquartered Gurgaon has been put in place.
Most of us know Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) as a relatively new introduction to the electoral process in India. But the first time an EVM was used in an election in India was way back in 1982.

In a by-election in the No. 70 Paravur Assembly Constituency in Kerala where a total of six candidates were in the fray.

EVMs which were introduced on an experimental basis was made available only in 50 of the 84 polling booths.

BCCL/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

After the election Communist Party of India's (CPI) Sivan Pillai, who secured 30,450 votes was declared the winner. Out of the 30,450 votes secured by Pillai 19,182 votes were from the EVMs and 11,268 from paper ballots.

But the election result immediately ran into trouble after AC Jose of Congress who had come second with 30,327 votes against his name challenged the outcome.

Jose filed a petition in the court claiming the validity of the results and argued that the under the Representation of the People Act 1951 and the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, there was no provision for any other method of voting other than paper ballot.

A trial court, which first heard the petition upheld the validity of EVMs and held that Pillai was the winner. Jose however challenged the verdict in the Kerala High Court and subsequently in the Supreme Court. On 5 March, 1984 the SC held that by using EVMs the Election Commision had overstepped its mandate.

BCCL/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

If we were to accept the contention of the respondents (Election Commission), it would convert the Commission into an absolute despot in the field of election. If the Commission is armed with such unlimited and arbitrary powers.bring about a constitutional crisis, setting at naught the integrity and independence of the electoral process, so important and indispensable to the democratic system Justice Fazal Ali had noted.

The SC ruled in the favour of the petitioner and ordered a repoll in the 50 booths using paper ballots. The court had also noted that

In the election which followed, Jose defeated Pillia who was the winner in the first vote with a margin of around 2000 votes.

BCCL/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

Though it was a setback to the EC, the EVM experiment continued in following elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

The first time an entire state election was held on EVMs was in 1999 in Goa Assembly Elections.

Since then, EVMs were widely used in all elections that followed and in 2004, for the first time the Parliamentary Elections were held using EVMs.
Kanakadurga, one of the two women who had earlier this month, become the first to offer prayers at the Sabarimala Temple has now taken shelter in a government-run home. This development comes after she came under a physical attack last week from her mother-in-law and her husband's refusal to let her enter the house. Kanakadurga, a mother of two, in a complaint to the police alleged that she is being ostracized by her husband and in-laws for defying the customs and entering the Sabarimala shrine.

AFP

The 44-year-old woman approached Perinthalmanna police seeking protection to enter her house as she was facing threats.

But even after mediation attempts by the cops, Kanakadurga's husband refused to let her in and insisted that she won't be allowed to enter the house until she apologizes to the Ayyappa devotees for hurting their sentiments. Even her brother, while speaking at a gathering to protest the Supreme Court order allowing women of all ages to enter the shrine, had said that Kanakadurga was not welcome at his home. Both her family and her in-laws family claim that they were kept in the dark about her plans to visit Sabarimala.

AFP

Kanakadurga along with another woman, Bindu had first attempted to travel to the hill shrine on December 24, but were forced to turn back mid-way due to protests.

The duo however surprised everyone on January 2 by trekking to the shrine in the early hours and discreetly returning before dawn.

But ever since it hasn't been easy for them. The duo had to go underground for nearly two weeks due to threats.

BCCL

On January 15, she tried to enter her in-laws house in Malappuram, but was attacked by her mother-in-law leaving an injury on her head.

Following the attack, the two women had filed a petition seeking police protection. The Supreme Court last week ordered the Kerala government to provide security to them.

Sabarimala, one of the most popular Hindu shrines in South India had turned into a venue for showdown between those wanting to enter the temple and those who are opposed to it saying they are upholding the tradition.

Ever since the temple first opened in November after the Supreme Court allowed women below 50 to enter the temple, dozens of them including activist Trupti Desai tried to reach there, but remained unsuccessful due to the protests.

Last week, the Kerala government had told the Supreme Court that a total of 51 women below the age of 50 had entered the shrine till now. However later it was revealed that many of the names in the government list were above 50 and some of them even turned out to be men.
As 2019 elections are approaching, political films have been the flavour of Bollywood since the beginning of 2019. A lot of people say that films such as The Accidental Prime Minister and Uri: The Surgical Strike have propagandas. Whats more? Prime Minister Narendra Modis frequent meeting with the Bollywood stars also received quite a lot of backlash.

Modiji, we understand your 'Love Aaj kal' is directed towards Anil Ambani but the youth are unemployed, the farmers are distressed & the economy is in turmoil, so it wouldn't hurt to pay a little more attention to the rest of the country. https://t.co/8KMjGDOro4  Congress (@INCIndia) January 21, 2019

If this wasnt enough already, rumours were afloat a couple of days ago that Congress leaders are trying to get Kareena Kapoor as one of their candidates for Lok Sabha Polls. According to reports, her name was suggested by Congress leaders, Guddu Chouhan and Anas Khan, as a potential candidate for Bhopal parliamentary seat, where the party hasnt tasted success since 1984.

Kareena, however, rubbished the reports saying that her only focus right now is movies.

freepressjournal.in

It didnt end there. Now, grapevine is abuzz with rumours that Madhuri Dixit is all set to enter the world of politics. She will be contesting Lok Sabha elections, as per rumour mills. This, of course, left people puzzled.

theindianmoviechannel.com

Turns out, it was an unsubstantial rumours. Laughing it off, Madhuri Dixit said, Please tell me first, who is your source, at a recent interview, as quoted by DNA.

Also Read: From Supporting Roles To A Solo Lead In Uri, Vicky Kaushal Is On His Way To Becoming The Next Big Star Of Bollywood
In times where many people are questioning whether 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' was a warning or a slogan, all India needed was some freshness in someone who is leading the campaign. It goes without saying that the 'Beti Bachao' has created a lot of talk and awareness around the subject, yet, it has done anything groundbreaking.

#betibachaobetipadhao A post shared by Pradeep Batra (@thepradeepbatra) on Apr 24, 2018 at 7:55pm PDT

Anu Kumari, who secured the second rank in the prestigious civil services 2017 examination, would be made the brand ambassador of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign in Sonipat district, Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain said today.

Kumari, the topper among the female candidates, has graduated with BSc (Hons) in Physics from the Delhi University and has done an MBA (Finance and Marketing) from IMT, Nagpur. She hails from Haryanas Sonipat.

BCCL

The significant achievement of Anu has given a befitting reply to such people who have killed their daughters in the womb. She has emerged as an inspiration in changing the mindset of people towards the girl child, the minister said in a statement.

Congratulating Anu and members of her family on her success, Jain said today daughters are in no way behind in any field.

There is need to give them an opportunity to prove their mettle. It is a matter of pride not only for Sonipat but for entire Haryana that daughter from an ordinary family has proved her mettle in the civil services exam, she said.





jagran

In all, 990 candidates have been selected for the coveted services. UPSC conducted the Civil Services (preliminary) examination on June 18, 2017.

A total of 9,57,590 candidates registered for this examination, out of which 4,56,625 candidates appeared. As many as 13,366 candidates qualified for an appearance in the written (Mains) examination held in October-November, 2017. Of them, 2,568 candidates qualified for the Personality Test conducted in February-April, 2018.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three phases  preliminary, main and personality test or interview to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.


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Indiana, PA (15701)

Today

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
CHARLOTTE  The N.C. Department of Transportation will hold two public meetings next week about a project to improve a section of N.C. 73 between N.C. 115 in Mecklenburg County and U.S. 29 in Cabarrus County.

The project's aim is to reduce congestion in the corridor and provide accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists. Recommendations to improve the roadway are included in comprehensive transportation plans developed by the Cabarrus-Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization and Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization.

People can attend either or both meetings on the following dates:

- Monday, Jan. 28, at Lake Norman Church of Christ, 17634 Caldwell Station Road in Huntersville

- Tuesday, Jan. 29, at Connect Christian Church, 3101 Davidson Highway in Concord

Both informal meetings will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. People can drop in at any time to view design maps, speak with project team members and leave comments. The same information will be presented at both meetings.

Comments can also be submitted by phone or email through February 12. Contact Theresa Ellerby, NCDOT Project Manager, for more information at 919-707-6020. All comments received will be taken into consideration as the project develops.
There are no true-ups to this new contract, Pate said. We do have control over our cost. We know going into the year what our demand cost is going to be, and with some forecasting we can figure out our energy cost.

NTE emerged as the clear favorite from about five or six other options. Pate said officials and staff evaluated them on a number of different things, but at the end of the day, NTE had the lowest prices.

Itll give us control of the cost, Pate said of the new contract. I think itll stabilize our cost. We wont have swings in our costs each year for our customers. We can stabilize it for a long time, and I think thats a benefit. I think its a great opportunity.

NTE also provides for some purchase flexibility. Payne said the city can buy power wherever its the least expensive, even if that isnt from NTE.
CONCORD- Cannon Schools Black Student Affinity Group organized its second annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast to encourage discussion and collaboration.

The event was held at the school on Monday, Jan. 21 and it was organized by student leaders in the group. Michelle Zelaya, associate dean of students who also oversees the schools diversity efforts, said all Cannon students of color and their parents were invited to participate.

Its a chance for them to meet each other and get to know each other, she said. It gave us a chance to reflect and think and connect with other families in the same age range.

During the breakfast students lead small table discussions centered on the current climate and how they feel. Zelaya said events like these foster a sense of community and connection that coincides with Cannon Schools mission statement; Cannon School nurtures relationships at the heart of learning and engages the learner in a journey of growth.

Parents that share a certain affinity, they get to meet each other and get to know each other, Zelaya said. You can share your struggles and triumphs and experiences. If its a negative experience, maybe somebody has some advice they can offer. Its a way to foster those relationships and help them connect.
Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 301 Mount Olivet Road will have a Bible discussion round table on Wednesday mornings from 10 to 11 a.m. The study will be David Jeremiahs Facing the Giants in Your Life. Workbook is available. Come enjoy the lively discussions.

A Chair/Mat Yoga Class will be held at St. James Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall on Wednesdays from 1-2 p.m. (drop-in). Each class is $3 and all ages are welcome. The church is located at 104 Union St. S, Concord. Instructor is Angie Buchannan. For more information, call 704-467-3321.

Tutoring sessions are back Wednesdays from 5-6:30 p.m. at Harmony United Methodist Church, 101 White St., Concord. For more information, call Pastor Thad Brown at 704-782-8237 or Kaylene Thompson at 980-622-8171.

Chair/mat yoga class will be held every Wednesday at St. James Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, 104 Union St. S, Concord. Drop-in from 1-2 p.m. Each class $3 and is given by Angie Buchannan, certified yoga/pilates instructor. For more information, call 704-467-3321.

Thursday
The US Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to enforce his policy barring certain transgender people from joining or staying in the military.

The justices put on hold previous lower court rulings blocking the plan on constitutional grounds.

The conservative majority granted the Trump administration's request to lift injunctions issued by federal judges against the policy while a legal challenge continues in lower courts.

Liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have kept the injunctions in place blocking the policy.

The justices refused the administration's request for them to decide the merits of the legal fight even before a California-based federal appeals court already considering the matter is given a chance to rule.

The lawsuits challenging the policy were filed in 2017 by civil liberties and gay and transgender rights groups on behalf of current transgender military service members, including some deployed overseas with decades of experience in the armed forces, and transgender people aspiring to join the military.

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Mr Trump in 2017 announced a plan to ban transgender people from the military, moving to reverse a policy announced a year earlier under Democratic former president Barack Obama allowing them for the first time to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders.

Mr Trump, whose administration has taken other steps to limit the rights of transgender Americans, cited the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" of having transgender military personnel.

Mr Trump in March 2018 announced he would endorse a plan by then-defence secretary Jim Mattis that replaced the ban on all transgender people. The revised policy would ban the service of transgender people who seek or have undergone gender transition steps. It also would ban under certain circumstances transgender people who experience gender dysphoria, a condition the American Psychiatric Association defines as clinically significant distress due to "a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender" and the individual's gender identity.

Federal courts had blocked the administration's original policy, finding it likely violated the US constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. Various injunctions allowed transgender troops to join the armed forces as of January 1, 2018. The administration then failed to convince federal judges in Washington state, California and the District of Columbia that the revised policy was any more legally sound than the original ban as these judges found the revised policy was merely an attempt to implement Mr Trump's original ban.

But Mr Trump's revised policy got a boost on January 4 when a federal appeals court in Washington DC sided with his administration and overturned the injunction issued by the judge there, saying the updated policy was no longer a blanket ban.

That ruling had a limited effect because other injunctions covering the whole nation remained in place. Though another injunction issued by a judge in Maryland was not on appeal, the administration said in court papers the high court's action would apply to that one, too.

In asking the Supreme Court to review the cases, the Justice Department said Mr Mattis and other military leaders determined that Mr Obama's policy "posed too great a risk to military effectiveness and lethality".

Mr Mattis announced his resignation as Pentagon chief in December over other differences with Mr Trump.

A 2016 Pentagon-commissioned study completed before Mr Obama acted to allow transgender troops found any impact on cost or military readiness would be marginal.

It estimated there were around 2,450 transgender personnel serving in the military at the time. Not all transgender people experience gender dysphoria, according to the American Psychiatric Association, which opposes a transgender military ban. Military policy had barred service by transgender people until Mr Obama's administration began allowing transgender people already in the military to serve openly and set a date when transgender people would be allowed to enlist.

President Donald Trump's administration has revisited those policies.

The Trump administration has sought to generally restrict service by transgender people to only those who don't seek to undergo gender transitions.
The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday, announcing US recognition of the country's opposition leader as interim president and signaling potential new sanctions against its vital oil sector.

With street protests against Maduro underway across Venezuela, Trump said the United States recognized Juan Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled Congress, as the country's leader and called socialist President Nicolas Maduro's government "illegitimate."

"I will continue to use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy," Trump said in a statement, encouraging other governments in the Western Hemisphere to also recognize Guaido.

The administration had been waiting to issue its announcement after Guaido had been sworn in as the country's temporary president on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Venezuelan opposition sympathizers had been urging Guaido to assume the presidency since Maduro was inaugurated to a second term on Jan. 10 following a widely boycotted election last year that the United States and many other foreign governments described as a fraudulent.

Guaido, a newcomer on the national scene who was elected to head Congress on January 5, had said earlier he was willing to replace Maduro if he had the support of the military, with the aim of then calling for free elections.

US officials in recent days had stated openly that Maduro no longer had a legitimate claim on power.

The sources acknowledged that formal recognition of Guaido would be complicated by questions of how to deal with Venezuela's U.S.-based diplomats. Such a move could also backfire if Maduro took action to prevent Guaido from being sworn in or used it as a pretext to detain him again.

Adding to pressure on Maduro, multiple sources said the Trump administration could impose new US sanctions on Venezuela's vital oil sector as soon as this week if the political situation there deteriorates further.

US officials are considering a range of potential measures, including restricting US imports of Venezuelan oil or even a full ban, to punish Maduro's government but no final decisions have been made as Washington closely watches the street protests unfolding in the country, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Two other sources briefed on the matter said the US administration had privately informed US energy companies of its deliberations.
Investigators at work in Forest Road, east London, where a 21-year-old woman died after being hit by a police car responding to a 999 call. Carla Johnson/PA Wire

A tribute left at the scene in Forest Road, east London, where a 21-year-old woman died after being hit by a police car responding to a 999 call.Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire

A 26-year-old refugee from Eritrea has been killed after being hit by a police car responding to a 999 call.

The Metropolitan Police said the collision with the marked police car happened in Forest Road, east London, on Tuesday night.

The woman was a refugee from Eritrea who had been living at YMCA Walthamstow for the last 18 months, YMCA St Paul's Group have said.

A spokesman said: "The YMCA St Paul's Group is shocked and saddened by this news and wishes to extend its condolences to the family and friends of the resident.

"YMCA Walthamstow is supporting its residents and staff with counselling. Flowers have been laid at the site of the incident on Forest Road today by residents and staff, led by the YMCA chaplaincy team."

The organisation serves young people and communities across London and beyond. YMCA Walthamstow provides hostel accommodation across South West, West, South and East London, as well as for some single homeless individuals.

Expand Close Flowers which have been left at the scene in Forest Road, east London, where a 21-year-old woman has died after being hit by a police car responding to a 999 call. Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe /PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Flowers which have been left at the scene in Forest Road, east London, where a 21-year-old woman has died after being hit by a police car responding to a 999 call. Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe /PA Wire

The car had been responding to a call about a man threatening members of the public in Walthamstow. The Met confirmed the man had left the premises before they arrived.

A police spokesman said the car stopped at the scene and the officers tried to help the woman before medics arrived, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Images and video posted to social media a little after midnight show at least five police cars and two ambulances near the pedestrian crossing by Waltham Forest Council.

Officers can be seen performing CPR in one video, before being joined by paramedics in later footage. A third video shows officers holding a blanket to shield the scene from public view.

Gilbert James, 44, who lives on Forest Road, said he "heard a loud bang and police sirens".

When he came out to investigate he said he "saw the person lying on the floor".

According to Mr James there was a "big impact" and the police car windscreen had been "completely smashed".

"The police officer driving appeared in shock" but "no police officers appeared injured", he said.

Police are trying to trace the woman's next of kin, who are believed to be outside the UK.

The Met's internal Directorate of Professional Standards has been informed, as has the Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog.
The leaders of France and Germany have signed a new treaty updating their 1963 post-war reconciliation accord, aiming to reinvigorate the European Union's main axis as eurosceptic nationalism tests EU cohesion.

At a warm ceremony in the German border city of Aachen - a historic symbol of European concord - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron sought to show they are ready to give fresh leadership to the troubled EU project.

The leaders want the 16-page Aachen Treaty, negotiated over the past year to update the 1963 Elysee Treaty of post-war reconciliation, to give an impulse to European unity strained by Brexit, immigration and the eurozone crisis.

"We are doing this because we live in special times and because in these times we need resolute, distinct, clear, forward-looking answers," said Ms Merkel, noting Aachen had been home to Charlemagne, whom she dubbed "the father of Europe".

Mr Macron added: "At a time when Europe is threatened by nationalism, which is growing from within, when Europe is shaken by the pains of Brexit and worried by global changes that go far beyond the national level, Germany and France must assume their responsibility and show the way forward." Short on detail, the treaty extension commits to closer foreign and defence policy ties but does little to push forward eurozone economic reform.

Sabine von Oppeln, expert on Franco-German ties at Berlin's Free University, said of the slow progress on eurozone reform: "The German side is not responding to Macron's ideas, which are of course also driven by national interests.

"This could be an opportunity for a real renewal of co-operation but I fear the chance has been lost."

Franco-German treaties are seen as milestones for European integration, paving the way for the bloc as a whole to deepen co-operation.

"Today Europe needs a revival of faith in the meaning of solidarity and unity, and I want to believe that enhanced Franco-German co-operation will serve this objective," said European Council chief Donald Tusk, who attended the ceremony with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

The Aachen document stipulates it will be a priority of German-French diplomacy for Germany to be accepted as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Germany has for years sought greater influence within the international body, to which its closest allies the United States, Britain and France belong.

While making clear that Germany and France remain committed to the EU and Nato defence alliance, the agreement also signals Berlin and Paris will combat efforts by some nationalist politicians in Europe to erode the EU.

Facing new challenges from President Donald Trump in the United States as well as EU governments in Italy, Poland and Hungary, Ms Merkel and Mr Macron are keen to head off any breakthrough for eurosceptic parties in a European Parliament vote in May.

As Ms Merkel waited to welcome Mr Macron at Aachen - also known as Aix-la-Chapelle - city hall to sign the updated treaty, some people gathered outside with blue and yellow EU balloons.

Another group wore the yellow vests adopted by members of the grassroots rebellion against Mr Macron.

Eurosceptics also voiced their opposition. Alexander Gauland, leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), in the Bundestag, said: "The EU is now deeply divided. A German-French special relationship will alienate us even further from the other Europeans."

The original Elysee Treaty was signed in 1963 by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Charles de Gaulle, who in the same year vetoed the British application to join the European Community, the precursor of the EU.
After that report  and the defendant is free to produce his own experts  the judge or jury would decide if he is not criminally responsible based on evidence given. The defense will have until March 15 to file the plea.
France has summoned Italy's ambassador to Paris after deputy prime minister Luigi di Maio accused the French of "impoverishing" West Africa by keeping it in a colonialist embrace.

But far from ending the spat, Italy's other deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini added fuel to the fire by claiming France had deliberately let the security crisis fester in Libya for national gain.

In the latest acrimony between the two neighbours, Mr Di Maio pointed the finger at the CFA, the West African franc, which several countries still use and which he dubbed "the franc of the colonies".

As a result of being downtrodden, Africans are trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe and dying in the attempt, said the head of the populist Five Star movement.

"If we have people who are leaving Africa, it's because certain European countries, France in particular, have never stopped colonising Africa," he claimed.

Lectures

Speaking on Italian radio, he said French President Emmanuel Macron "first lectures us [on migrants], then continues to finance public debt with the money with which he exploits Africa". The deputy premier suggested Brussels impose sanctions on Paris and take the matter to the UN. "In order to keep the Africans in Africa, it would be enough for the French to stay home," he concluded.

The broadside triggered a furious response from France, whose foreign ministry summoned Teresa Castaldo, Italian ambassador to Paris.

French Europe minister Nathalie Loiseau's office called the remarks "unacceptable", but "must be read in a context of Italian internal politics". ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
A review will be carried out at Scotland's flagship hospital after it emerged one of the two patients who died there after contracting an infection linked to pigeon droppings was a child.

Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman confirmed a post-mortem examination carried out on the youngster showed the Cryptococcus bacteria was a contributory factor in their death.

An earlier patient at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was also found to have an infection caused by inhaling the fungus Cryptococcus, which is primarily found in soil and pigeon droppings, but Ms Freeman confirmed it did not contribute to their death.

Pigeon droppings appeared in a plant room on the hospital's rooftop via a small break in the wall, which was "invisible to the naked eye", Ms Freeman said.

Adding it was still unclear how the bacteria had entered the ventilation system, she said a review would be carried out in the design, build, handover and maintenance of the flagship hospital.

It was built for the Scottish Government at a cost of some 842 million and opened at the end of April 2015.

Despite the hospital having only recently been constructed, Ms Freeman said there appeared to be a "number of instances" where the fabric of building was "less than satisfactory".

After visiting the hospital on Tuesday morning, the Health Secretary said: "I have agreed a review, with external expert advice, that will look at the design of the building, the commissioning of the work, the construction of the building, the handover of the building and the maintenance of the building, in order to ensure we identify where issues were raised that should have been addressed and where maintenance programmes now should be perhaps more robust or more frequent."

Ms Freeman announced the review after setting out "clear factual points" on the two patient deaths to MSPs at Holyrood.

She said the Cryptococcus bacteria had initially been identified in one patient in November 2018 but was not linked to that person's death the following month.

Ms Freeman added: "In December a post-mortem of a child who has passed away conformed that Cryptococcus was both present and a contributory factor in their death."

She explained the second case triggered the introduction of additional infection control measures by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, including prescribing anti-fungal medication to "vulnerable patients" and the provision of additional air filters.

"I am confident the board have taken all the steps they should to ensure and maintain patient safety," she said.

The UK's Healthcare Environment Inspectorate will review the incident and make any recommendations deemed appropriate.

Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the public would be "shocked" to learn one of those who had died was a child as she claimed there had been a "complete lack of clarity" from the health board about the infection.

Ms Lennon said: "I think the people of Scotland will feel it is absolutely extraordinary that in a modern hospital, Scotland's flagship and apparently super hospital no less, we have a situation where pigeons and infections can kill patients.

"If this unthinkable and deadly infection can happen at the flagship Queen Elizabeth, what is to stop it happening at other hospitals?"

The Labour MSP pressed Ms Freeman on when the Scottish Government had been alerted to the issue, after reports an outpatient had contacted previous health secretary Shona Robison in March 2018 regarding problems with pigeons at the hospital.

Ms Freeman said a thorough search of records by both the Government and staff at Ms Robison's constituency office had found no trace of this letter.

The Health Secretary said: "The Government was first informed of the Cryptococcus infection in two patients on December 21.

"That was the right time for the Government to be informed because it was the post-mortem following the death of the child that identified the second case, and that second case is the trigger then for additional infection control action, therefore we were rightly informed."

Following the hospital visit Ms Freeman said she had been made aware of a further two fungal infections in patients, though neither are connected to the Cryptococcus infection.

Additional control measures have been put in place and the source of the infection is being investigated, she said.
Luxury fashion brand Burberry has warned it could face tens of millions of pounds in extra tariff costs if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal (PA)

Luxury fashion brand Burberry has warned it could face tens of millions of pounds in extra tariff costs if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

Finance chief Julie Brown admitted a no-deal Brexit would be very costly and complex to manage for the FTSE 100 group.

She said it would lead to extra tariffs and disrupt its supply chain, impacting the movement of materials, samples and clothing between the UK and Europe.

If we had a no-deal scenario we would be subject to WTO rules and absent any mitigating actions our duty costs would increase materiallyJulie Brown, Burberry chief financial officer

But she stressed the group would look to take actions to offset any hit.

If we had a no-deal scenario we would be subject to WTO rules and absent any mitigating actions our duty costs would increase materially, in the low tens of millions of pounds, said Ms Brown.

Burberry makes its distinctive trenchcoats in Yorkshire, while it imports other items from Europe.

The comments came as Burberry reported back on its Christmas trading, posting a 1% rise in like-for-like global sales over the 13 weeks to December 29.

Shares lifted nearly 2% as it brushed aside fears of a slowdown in China, with sales in the country enjoying a mid-single digit increase over the firms third quarter.

It comes amid slowing growth in China and fears of a sharp correction as the threat of a trade war between China and the US weighs on consumer sentiment.

In its latest update, Burberry said it saw a consistent performance across all its regions, with the division including Europe also seeing a small improvement in tourist spending quarter on quarter.

But US sales were hit by falling numbers of shoppers hitting the stores in its third quarter.

Marco Gobbetti, chief executive of Burberry, said: I am pleased with our progress in the quarter as we continued to build brand heat around our new creative vision and shift consumer perception of Burberry.

He added that excitement is building ahead of next months runway collection due from new creative director Riccardo Tisci, after a number of his limited editions were well received.

In the Christmas quarter, Burberry said total retail revenues fell 1% on a reported basis and dropped 2% with currency movements stripped out.

It is in the first phase of an overhaul, that is seeing it close some shops and pull out of department stores as it targets high-end shoppers.

The group is also revamping stores, with another 10 due to be completed by the end of its financial year.

Steve Clayton, manager of the Hargreaves Lansdown Select UK Growth Shares fund, said the third quarter figures were not the main event, which comes later this year when Burberry launch the first full range produced by new creative chief Riccardo Tisci.

He said 2019 will be a year of transition for Burberry.

Right now, its all to play for at Burberry, but it will be full-year 2020 before investors can really judge whether CEO Marco Gobbetti and creative chief Riccardo Tiscis bold strategy for the group is winning, said Mr Clayton.
A nightclub in Australia has been widely criticised after telling female employees who do not wear a low-cut and tight-fitting uniform to find a new job.

Amplifier Capitol, a club in the western Australian city of Perth, faced condemnation after screenshots from the clubs personal Facebook group were leaked.

They showed a post from duty manager Artur Rafal reminding employees of the dress code.

To our amazing bar ladies, as we have been busy raising the dress code on our doors, our focus is now shifting to bars  one thing that has slipped for a while is the tolerance of girls wearing the mens uniform shirt while on bar, he wrote.

From next week I will be taking your mens shirt back from you and replacing it with the ladies bar uniform shirt. Lets work together to get the dress code back to how it should be. This is compulsory.

David Heaton, Amplifier owner and Capitol Corp director, followed up the post with his own warning.

As a condition of your employment, the team member is required to wear the uniform. If you dont feel comfortable in the uniform then you are welcome to find employment elsewhere, he wrote.

Employees immediately hit back at being asked to wear a shirt with a much lower neckline  with one taking to the same staff group to raise their concerns.

Forcing our female staff members to wear low cut shirts that expose their cleavage while male staff members are not subject to such objectification is blatant sexism and totally ludicrous, the staff member said.

We receive enough sexual harassment as it is working in the nightclub industry and pushing such a ridiculous dress code puts your female employees in danger.

Surely there are alternatives to a more presentable uniform standard that doesnt involve using our bodies as selling points, the employee added.

The nightclub has now been forced to backtrack and apologise.

Mr Heaton said female staff members would now be given the choice of shirts.

We will in future, ensure that employees can choose to wear two styles of shirts, provided that those shirts cant catch on things, he said.

Mr Heaton, who said nobody had been sacked over the saga, released a public statement on Facebook on behalf of the venue on Tuesday.

I unreservedly apologise for the recent proposed  uniform changes at Amplifier Capitol  for the decision, my comments and the manner in which this has been handled, Mr Heaton said.

The team at Amplifier Capitol and I have been taking stock and reading the various comments and concerns from patrons and staff before publicly responding to the issue."

He described his statement that employees who were not happy with the changes could find employment elsewhere as a throwaway comment that I very much regret.
Robots are being put to good use at a university in America  delivering coffee and pizza to the students.

The machines, made by Starship Technologies, deliver food from a selection of shops to students at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

According to the university, it is the first college campus to use these new technologies.

Youve probably noticed the white, spaceship-looking robots making their way around the Fairfax Campus. Well, good news:... Posted by George Mason University on Tuesday, January 22, 2019

The service, provided jointly by Starship and hospitality company Sodexo, went live on Tuesday and allows students to order from Blaze Pizza, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and convenience store Second Stop.

The orders, placed through to Starship Deliveries app, will then be delivered by one of the Fairfax Campuss 25 service robots  at a fee of 1.99 US dollars (1.53) a time.

The robots are said to move at around 4mph and, upon arrival at their destination, can be unlocked by the customer with their phone via the app to get their food.

The robots appear to have been well received by students.

While doing orientations last week I saw these cute drone robots on campus and I was like "huh wonder if that's a school showing off or something" and actually they're DELIVERING PIZZA AND DONUTShttps://t.co/aZjz69C8Lo  Jeremy Tuohy (@APieceOfWorkAmI) January 22, 2019

Virginia passed legislation to allow robots on pavements back in 2017, making it the first state to effectively legalise robot delivery.

In the UK, Starship robots have been used to trial deliveries by Co-op, Tesco and take-away company JustEat.
THE alleged killer of Irish charity worker John Curran had his bid for temporary freedom thwarted after his interpreter failed to show at a South African court claiming he was sick.

Congolese born Mitspa Onyoka, 24, had already spent seven weeks behind bars after desperately trying in December to get bail after his arrest for the alleged murder.

At Cape Town Magistrates Court his lawyer was ready to proceed in a bid to get the laundry worker bail but magistrate Joe Magele was told that the defendant's French interpreter was ill.

Accused Onyoka was told he would have to return to Pollsmoor Prison and wait another seven weeks for a chance to plead for bail.

Expand Close John Curran had just finished his two years with the charity / Facebook

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Father-of-four Mr Curran, 60, was found dead with multiple stab wounds to the head, face and body at his flat in a secure complex in Cape Town.

The popular Dublin-born charity worker had just completed a highly successful two-year contract in Cape Town as the Director of Education for Mellon Educate.

His task was to oversee the building of thousands of homes for disadvantaged people and the refurbishment and building of schools - many in the Cape Town townships - to educate local children.

Mr Curran's contract had ended in September and he had taken two months off to enjoy a "farewell holiday" in South Africa before heading home.

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The former teacher was stabbed to death in his flat on November 7 and was found by a female friend who let herself into the flat after becoming worried when nobody could reach him.

It is believed there was no sign of forced entry to his apartment.

Onyoka was arrested at his place of work on November 23 and has been in custody since.

The court head earlier heard that he was of no fixed abode as the people he was living with before the alleged murder were not prepared to allow him to stay there and that he was an illegal immigrant.

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Prosecutor Leon Snyman told the hearing in December that he feared Onyoka would abscond if he was given bail.

It is understood on March 12 the court will hear detailed evidence of the police case against Onyoka from the officer in the case.

Onyoka appeared in a grey hoodie and grey slacks and flip flops and appeared frustrated when he was told his interpreter was not in court.

The police contested bail hearing will be heard at Cape Town Magistrates Court on March 12.
A model presents a creation by Celine, during the men's ready to wear fashion shows for the 2019/20 Fall/Winter collection in Paris on January 20, 2019. (Photo by FRANCOIS GUILLOT / AFP)

Jerry Lorenzo from Fear of God is seen, outside Louis Vuitton, during Paris Fashion Week - Menswear F/W 2019-2020, on January 17, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

For as long as we can remember, womenswear has long been the undisputed jewel in the crown of the global fashion industry.

For as long as we can remember, womenswear has long been the jewel in the crown of the global fashion industry. But, after years of hard work by forward-thinking trailblazers, waiting for a change in attitudes of what constitutes masculinity, menswear is no longer just the copycat little brother to its over-achieving big sister in women's fashion. All eyes are now on Paris after an audit of some of the most groundbreaking fashion shows hosted in the City of Light after three weeks of back-to-back men's fashion.

Neutral revolution

Expand Close A model walks the runway during the Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall/Winter 2019-2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 17, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A model walks the runway during the Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall/Winter 2019-2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 17, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Virgil Abloh's second menswear show as creative director was an introspection on basics. Neutrals dominated the runway, whether in the form of military jackets, oversized trenchcoats or loafers. Another added bonus is that many of the accessories - the signature monogram luggage and red leather Speedy bags - would also be just as workable in a woman's wardrobe, which makes it more economically tempting.

Bum bags are back

Expand Close Jerry Lorenzo from Fear of God is seen, outside Louis Vuitton, during Paris Fashion Week - Menswear F/W 2019-2020, on January 17, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Jerry Lorenzo from Fear of God is seen, outside Louis Vuitton, during Paris Fashion Week - Menswear F/W 2019-2020, on January 17, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Yes, you read that right. The humble bum bag has a bad rep: it's associated with elderly male tourists, usually American, with all their cash and travel documents at the ready for security. But, in recent years, it's become an integral element of festival fashion culture and and essential among teenage girls. Or so you thought! The bags arrived with a bang last season, but, if street style pictures in Paris are anything to go by, you'll be hard pressed to find a man under the age of 25 who doesn't have one, but these aren't bum bags as you know it, try wearing them more as a sling for modern effect.

'Silver Swagger'

Expand Close A model presents a creation by Junya Watanabe Man during the men's Fall/Winter 2019/2020 collection fashion show in Paris on January 18, 2019. (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A model presents a creation by Junya Watanabe Man during the men's Fall/Winter 2019/2020 collection fashion show in Paris on January 18, 2019. (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP)

Junya Watanabe sought only grey haired men during its casting for models, all of whom had passed their youthful prime and thus, the industry's target demographic, but were remarkably handome. At 58, Junya is acutely aware of the challenges facing men of a certain age and instead putting them into a neat box of grandad-wear, debuted a collection of sharp and piratical pieces with just the right amount of edge, like a double breasted navy coat with black leather sleeves or cropped khakis.

Hat's off

Headwear, in all it forms, is becoming a key point of expression and like everything in this world - the bigger, the better. Raf Simons' first show since leaving Calvin Klein last year came with many of his signatures, but sending each model down the runway wearing what appears to be a modern take on the riding helmet (which he said was an homage to the pillbox hats of the 1950s) was certainly a look.

Men in black

Expand Close A model presents a creation by Celine, during the men's ready to wear fashion shows for the 2019/20 Fall/Winter collection in Paris on January 20, 2019. (Photo by FRANCOIS GUILLOT / AFP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A model presents a creation by Celine, during the men's ready to wear fashion shows for the 2019/20 Fall/Winter collection in Paris on January 20, 2019. (Photo by FRANCOIS GUILLOT / AFP)

Red carpet dressing and by default, occasion wear, has long been a world of little options, so it's a welcome change to see Celine is introducing a new take on the classic black suit...and leather jacket...and shoes...and sunglasses. Hedi Slimane's first menswear show was representative of his love of simplicity: jackets came in all forms, either solid black or patterned and were put together with the je ne sais quoii was previously thought that only French women possessed.

Comfort is key

Expand Close J Balvin wears a yellow top, green pants, outside Kenzo, during Paris Fashion Week - Menswear F/W 2019-2020, on January 20, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp J Balvin wears a yellow top, green pants, outside Kenzo, during Paris Fashion Week - Menswear F/W 2019-2020, on January 20, 2019 in Paris, France. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)

Good news for those who pride cosiness above all else, trainers are no longer just socially acceptable but have all the makings of a bold style statement. Sneakers (if we're speaking in a more universal language), were the raison d'etre for street style stars in Paris, keen to show off a pair of Kenzo's Sonics. Brands like OAMC also debuted their adidas Originals collection, as did PUMA with their Han Kjobenhavn collaboration and perhaps most excitedly, Raf Simons' line with adidas.

The Greatest Showman

Depending on where your tastes align, Paul Smith's colourful infusion is either a welcome addition of bold statement-making style or a new take on PT Barnum's signature look. The British designer showcased look after look of primary colours, with neat twists like a blue snakeskin jacket or blue faux fur double flap hat. "I suppose, in that, its a collection thats really about self-expression, irreverence in mixing and finding things. Everyone has logos all over the place now, but thats not what it was like for me growing up," Smith told Vogue. The lesson is: be bold, be bright and be yourself.
A hard Border will happen automatically in Ireland if there is a no-deal Brexit.

So, what are our options then, the Taoiseach was asked by five different opposition TDs. In essence, Leo Varadkar said we will be looking for 'a backstop to the backstop'.

The scenario here is brutally simple and the European Commission has finally told us up front what we have known for a long time. Brussels and the other EU capitals have bent over backwards on arrangements to avoid any restoration of a hard and visible Border in Ireland.

But all bets are off if the UK exits without a deal. The commission has studiously avoided the brutal reality up to now.

Over 10 years reporting from Brussels, I learned that EU spokespeople do not do 'off-the-cuff throwaways'. This was a very deliberate statement, frankly replying to a simple and direct question at commission HQ yesterday, as time runs out for Brexit.

Without any changes, that stretch of ground between Dundalk and Derry becomes the only EU-UK international land frontier. It's the EU telling Ireland to do its single market duty if the cards fall like that.

"Ireland is part of the European Union and we will have obligations to protect the single market," the Taoiseach admitted to the Dail. That means a Border with border controls - with the UK governed by World Trade Organisation rules.

But let Mr Varadkar continue this story himself. "What would we have to do in that scenario? We would have to negotiate an agreement on customs and regulations that would mean full alignment so there would be no hard Border," the Taoiseach said.

How do you do that, we hear you ask. Well, it appears we would be back to the Tory Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party, those same people who blocked the compromise deal on the backstop.

This time we would be asking them for that hoary old chestnut 'a backstop on the backstop'. Let's recall the furious row this idea caused in the British parliament in early December, which came after MPs forced publication of the full legal advice of the UK attorney general, Geoffrey Cox. Mr Cox's advice - though he did stress much of the deal was political - was there was a scenario where Northern Ireland could be left inside the EU customs union and large parts of the single market after the rest of the UK had left. That scenario assumed the EU and UK failed in the next few years to do a post-Brexit trade deal - a sort of eventual no-deal.

The Taoiseach has again argued that Ireland and the UK still have obligations to the North under the Good Friday Agreement. He pointed out that the backstop is the only extant arrangement avoiding a hard Border.

But such arguments have cut no ice with the DUP and radical Tory Brexiteers up to now. At kindest assessment, hoping for a belated conversion in these quarters appears a major long shot. No deal automatically means hard Border.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to introduce a bill to end the partial government shutdown today closely mirroring the offer made by U.S. President Donald Trump to Democrats over the weekend, an offer that has already been rejected. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Donald Trump's proposal to reopen the US government, with immigration provisions Democrats have dismissed on the grounds they don't go far enough, is now headed for Senate action, its prospects far from certain.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will try to muscle through the 1,300-page spending measure, which includes $5.7bn (5bn) to fund Mr Trump's proposed wall along the US-Mexico border, the sticking point in the stand-off between Trump and Democrats that has led to a partial government shutdown now in its 32nd day.

Meanwhile, another missed pay cheque looms for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, and Democrats say they won't negotiate border funding while the shutdown continues. Senate Republicans late on Monday unveiled the legislation, dubbed the 'End The Shutdown And Secure The Border Act', but its passage this week is by no means certain.
To truly understand the level of disinterest in England when it comes to Northern Ireland, one only had to glance at the front pages of leading British newspapers on Monday.

Notably, not a single British newspaper carried a front-page picture of the aftermath of the Derry bomb attack - a team of forensic officers examining the grotesque wreckage of the disintegrated van.

In contrast, that picture was carried on the front page of multiple Irish newspapers - the Irish Independent, the 'Irish Times' and the 'Times' Irish edition.

Even the international edition of the 'China Daily' deemed the bomb attack in Derry worthy of front-page coverage. As did the 'Financial Times', whose content is geared towards an international audience of thrusting capitalists.

So, what did the 'Daily Telegraph', the 'Times' and the 'Guardian' opt to put on their front pages instead? The two former opted for a picture of the queen attending a church service in Norfolk, while the latter featured a picture of the Spice Girls.

Apparently, the queen travelling in a car while failing to wear a seatbelt was more newsworthy than a terrorist attack in Northern Ireland that came perilously close to claiming scores of lives.

The front page of the 'Daily Telegraph', which carried a lead article in which it was alleged British Prime Minister Theresa May was planning to rewrite the Good Friday Agreement - and failed to make even a cursory mention of the weekend's assault on the fragile peace process which that agreement enshrines - was perhaps the most glaring example of the bewildering detachment that pervades British media, and the upper echelons of British politics, when it comes to Northern Ireland.

Not only do establishment media and politicians in England not care about Northern Ireland, they fail to perceive anything problematic about their pathetically poor comprehension of politics and culture in the region.

It's an ignorance that takes a degree of effort to maintain - a learned ignorance acquired through decades of indifference and disdain.

You don't have to delve back far in history to find examples of this conscious and deliberate decision to consign tumultuous events in the North to the status of an irritant or an irrelevance.

The fact that the region now holds the dubious distinction of a world record for the longest period without a government, in a period when seismic decisions about its future are being made, barely warrants a mention.

When rioting broke out in Belfast for more than eight weeks in 2012 and 2013, over the decision of Belfast City Council to limit the number of days in which the Union Jack was flown, the coverage rarely led news programmes.

This is despite the fact that petrol bombs were hurled at a church, buildings were set alight, the homes of politicians were attacked and police fired plastic bullets and deployed water cannons to disperse large crowds of rioters.

Writing at the time, 'Guardian' columnist Michael White noted the "robust efforts of the British media to play down the riots" and said reports of the violence were "rarely on page one or at the top of the news bulletins, even during a slow news Christmas period".

Mr White's column was notable as being an exception to the code of omerta from the British media and politicians which is usually attached to events in Northern Ireland.

Belfast may have been burning, but that was happening "over there" in the region of the UK which the current Northern Ireland Secretary, Karen Bradley, recently admitted she was "slightly scared" of.

It is perhaps Ms Bradley who most exemplifies the entrenched policy of gratuitous ignorance concerning Northern Ireland that is embedded in the British establishment so deeply that it adheres to their DNA.

Ms Bradley was promoted to the role of chief minister for Northern Ireland despite the fact she publicly admitted she had no understanding of even rudimentary facts about the sectarian nature of politics in the region.

"I didn't understand things like when elections are fought, for example, in Northern Ireland people who are nationalists don't vote for unionist parties and vice versa. So, the parties fight for election within their own community," she told 'House' magazine, as if it were some kind of revelatory discovery.

Ms Bradley is not the only senior Tory who appears to revel in her idiocy. Last year, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson likened travel over the Border on this island to Londoners moving between boroughs. His colleague Andrew Bridgen thought he had the right "as an English person to go to Ireland and ask for a passport". Ms Bradley may be "slightly scared" of Northern Ireland, but what is really scary is that these people consider themselves qualified to make monumental decisions about the future of a country they know nothing about.

In a 1933 essay entitled 'The Triumph of Stupidity' - concerning the dangerous rise of Nazism - Bertrand Russell wrote "the fundamental cause of trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt" - a fitting epitaph for those politicians cheerleading Brexit.

The existential problem Irish and EU negotiators have to grapple with is that wilful stupidity, concerning Northern Ireland, is the norm in British politics and public life. For many, it's a badge of honour.

Northern Ireland didn't feature in the Brexit debate prior to the referendum, because politicians didn't give it a second thought and the media didn't highlight its significance.

Now, when the Border and the backstop are proving to be intractable obstacles to a deal being reached, the people of Northern Ireland are being offered only glib assurances that things will be alright on the night from a chorus of buffoonish Brexiteers.

Tell that to the people of Derry who saw CCTV footage of a group of young people walking past a huge car bomb in the minutes before it exploded on Saturday. Tell that to those people who lost family members and friends during the long and bloody years of the Troubles.

With a little more than two months to go before the Brexit deadline, the problem is that the depth of ignorance about Northern Ireland, from those framing its uncertain future, is too cavernous to be filled.

Worse, the reality is that, even if there were sufficient time, those people have no interest in learning. They prefer the comfort of their ignorance.
You have to be able to look your loved ones in the eye and tell them what you did that day, he told the crowd. If you cant be honest and open with them, you probably shouldnt have done what you didnt tell them. If youre honest, people will like you and respect you whether they agree with your opinions or not.
British politics is fundamentally broken. Exhibit A: the handling of Brexit by the ruling establishment of the two main parties. Both are split. Where there should have been leadership, there has been a vacuum since the process started in 2016.

And, as one EU27 minister put it to me last week, "London has been negotiating with London and not us", leading to "having your cake and eating it" fantasies on both sides of the House of Commons which the other side of the Brexit negotiating table was never going to accept.

So what next?

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has refused to accept the invitation of Prime Minister Theresa May to enter into cross-party discussions on how to break the gridlock in Westminster by attaching the pre-condition she should rule out leaving the EU with "no deal".

He is right she should rule out a no-deal Brexit and drop her ridiculous, unachievable red lines, which were designed to appeal to one half of the country and ignored the wishes of the other.

But setting pre-conditions at a moment of national crisis is playing party politics, not serious leadership.

It might go down well with a particular niche audience but not with the country at large.

As my Labour colleague Mike Gapes put it: "Corbyn is prepared to hold talks with Hamas, Hezbollah, Assad and Iran without preconditions. But not with the UK prime minister."

It is blindingly obvious the leaders of all parties should sit down together and talk about how we sort out the mess. That this should be so difficult reinforces the sense of a political system in need of fundamental change.

I have been having conversations with ministers on Brexit for months. Labour select committee chairs Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper did so on Friday, and so have others in recent weeks. MPs of all parties must keep conversations in the national interest going, because that is what our constituents and the country expects.

With that in mind, I - along with some other MP supporters of a People's Vote - was invited to meet with Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington and the PM's chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, on Monday.

It was a constructive discussion and we were given the opportunity to press our case. However, the PM still appears incapable of recognising the Commons really meant it when we rejected her deal - which is why she is going to bring what is essentially the same, unacceptable deal back for a vote next week after making only the smallest concession on the so-called settled status fee.

Our group included Conservative MPs Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston, and former Labour shadow cabinet members Luciana Berger and Chris Leslie.

We made it clear that while it is unrealistic to expect anyone to do a volte face and pretend they no longer hold strong views on our EU relations (that would be dishonest), parliament should at least be able to agree on a process to narrow down the options.

From there, we could work out which option commands the most votes and pursue to settle this issue, at least for the medium term. That is where such cross-party talks can make real progress.

Notwithstanding the parliamentary process, we also made it clear what the main decision facing the Commons is: do you wish to facilitate Brexit or give the people the final say with the ability to stop it?

There is no third way. May's speech on Monday has changed nothing. The Labour leadership must make its choice and needs to have a clear position which can be delivered too.

The spirit of Labour's conference motion on Brexit gives the impression the party will now move to back a People's Vote as the way out of this chaos, but the words were more ambiguous.

Following the failure to trigger an election through a vote of no confidence in the government, the wording commits the party "to support all options remaining on the table". Supporting "options" is not a credible or sustainable policy.

Synthetic reasoning for not committing to a People's Vote has emerged on the left of the party. They say the use of the phrase is offensive and we should therefore refer to it as a "public vote". Apparently the wrong people are making the argument. Some suggest it's not the right time, but don't say when is. Either you agree with the principle of referring this back to the people or you don't. If you do, we don't have time to mess around like this.

During the People's Vote march in October last year, Phil Wilson, the MP for Sedgefield, who represents such a community in the North East, highlighted Brexit's likely impact on Leave-voting seats. He said: "I was brought up in a coal mining community, the son of a miner.

"I know what happens when an industry closes - the unemployment, the poverty, the loss of hope, the years it takes to get back on your feet, the grievances that still play out today.

"If Brexit goes ahead, grievances in communities will worsen. We did not get elected to make our constituents poorer and you know that's what Brexit will do." ( Independent News Service)

Chuka Umunna is Labour MP for Streatham, London
The burden of round-the-clock responsibilities of being a mother and the emotional responsibilities of raising children is damaging women's mental health, a new study has found.

The research, which was published in the journal 'Sex Roles', found that while more men do housework and childcare than used to in the past, women are continuing to manage the household - even when they are employed.

Researchers from Arizona State University and Oklahoma State University in the US looked at how so-called "invisible labour" was linked to feelings of being overwhelmed and a sense of emptiness in women's day-to-day lives.

Almost nine in 10 women said they felt solely responsible for organising schedules of the family.

Professor Suniya Luthar, one of the report's authors, said this is an "extremely large" percentage given the fact 65pc of the women were employed.

At least seven in 10 women said they were also responsible for other areas of family routines such as maintaining standards for routines and assigning household chores.

A large proportion of the women also felt it was chiefly them who was responsible for monitoring their children's well-being and emotional states.

Almost eight in 10 said they were the one who knew the children's school teachers, and two-thirds indicated they were the person who was attentive to the children's emotional needs.

The invisible labour of ensuring the well-being of children showed "strong, unique links" with women's distress.

Prof Luthar said the category "clearly predicted" feelings of emptiness in the women.

It was also associated with low satisfaction levels about life overall and with the marriage or partnership.

"Research in developmental science indicates that mothers are first responders to children's distress," she said.

"That is a very weighty job; it can be terrifying that you are making decisions, flying solo, that might actually worsen rather than improve things for your children's happiness."

The researchers surveyed 393 women with children under 18 who were married or in a committed partnership.

The sample included women predominantly from upper middle-class homes who were highly educated.

The women who were in charge of the household reported they felt overwhelmed with their role as parents, had little time for themselves and felt exhausted.

The study's findings suggest women who feel overly responsible for household management and parenting are less satisfied with both their lives and partnerships. ( Independent News Service)
The entrance and exit doors which were damages during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath

The entrance and exit doors which were damaged during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath

The entrance and exit doors which were damaged during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath

The entrance and exit doors which were damaged during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath

Staff at a Lidl store in west Dublin were left shocked when three raiders smashed their way into the building late last night in a robbery attempt.

Three males, described as being in their late teens or early 20s, used a large axe and hammers to smash the doors of the Lidl outlet in Whitestown at 11pm.

They then made their way to the office and broke into that.

But when they found staff still on the premises they fled the shop empty handed.

Expand Close The entrance and exit doors which were damaged during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath / Facebook

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Whatsapp The entrance and exit doors which were damaged during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath

CCTV cameras captured images of a silver Ford Focus parked outside which was used as a getaway car. It had its number plates covered.

"The footage shows three young guys using what looks like a fireman's axe trying to break through the entrance door, but when they failed they smashed through the exit doors and ran to the office," said one staff member today.

Expand Close The entrance and exit doors which were damaged during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath / Facebook

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Whatsapp The entrance and exit doors which were damaged during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath

"But when they get into the office they saw the staff there and ran back out again," they added.

The gang escaped empty handed and there were no reports of injuries but the staff on site were said to be shaken by the incident.

Expand Close The entrance and exit doors which were damages during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath / Facebook

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Whatsapp The entrance and exit doors which were damages during an attempted robbery at the Lidl in Whitestown, West Dublin.Picture Credit:Frank McGrath

A clean-up operation was underway this morning and the broken glass panels could be seen taped-up within the door frames.

Gardai in Blanchardstown are investigating the attempted robbery.
RESIDENTS living in an apartment block in Dublin West have been issued with notices to quit from a receiver just weeks after Christmas.

Young families and couples living in nine properties received letters in the post last week notifying them of the landlords intention to sell the properties.

Tenants living in Riverwood Hall apartments in Castleknock, close to the home of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, say they are shocked, with some fearing homelessness due to the lack of affordable accommodation available in Dublin.

They had been paying 1,100 rent per month for a two-bed apartment and are now facing a likely substantial hike to find similar accommodation.

Tenants were given the option of buying the properties for 250,000 each but only have a week to inform the landlord if they are making an offer.

Emma Byrne and her partner Alan Kiely have been renting in Riverwood for three years and described the timing as ridiculous.

Weve been looking around since we found out and the cheapest quote were getting is 1,700 and 1,800, which is a big jump, Ms Byrne said.

If we had have known this was coming around the corner after Christmas we wouldnt have spent so much and now were looking at an increase in rent and the stress of finding somewhere else, she added.

Another resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: Riverwood feels like home to us and we had already started saving to buy around here.

We were paying 1100 per month and that was helping us save as it was really cheap rent.

Our neighbour just had a new baby and done the place up late last year after asking the landlord. They never said anything about selling up. They put in new carpets, got cleaners in, threw out mountains of stuff. Sick really.

One tenant also slammed how this is happening "literally under the Taoiseach's nose".

"We live directly across from Leo Varadkar and are in the middle of a housing crisis that is showing no sign of improving, so how are we meant to find somewhere or afford to buy?" they asked.

Tenants were given between nine and 12 weeks to hand over vacant possession of the properties.

Fianna Fail TD for Dublin West, Jack Chambers, said this incident is "concerning" for all living in Riverwood Hall.

"One of the properties is vacant which brings the number to 9 even though 10 appear to be in the process of a future sale. It sets a worrying precedent for many families living in blocks of apartments owned by a single owner.

"The move goes against the spirit of the legislation.

"It means these renters, many of whom are families who signed leases in good faith, will struggle to find suitable alternative accommodation because of the huge housing shortage in Dublin West, could now face homelessness if the eviction proceeds".

Tenants received a letter from Hooke & MacDonald estate agents on behalf of the appointed receiver from Grant Thornton, who is the administrator of the estate of Liam Maye, who is deceased.

NAMA, which was owed millions arising from loans to Mr Maye, previously made an application to remove the widow of the late developer as executor of his estate and replace her with an administrator chosen by it or a court.

Mr Maye was an extremely wealthy developer involved in projects including Dundrum Town Centre and Dundrum Village, the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge and in Adamstown, Dublin.

The receiver sent a letter to tenants on January 14, advising them: "Please note that I have succeeded to the interest of the landlord in the tenancy agreement.

"This letter is to advise you that as landlord we intend to sell the dwelling and that as a consequence we require it to be vacated."

A spokesperson for Grant Thornton said the notices are compliant with the Tyrellstown legislation as only 9 apartments have been issued termination notices and "Tyrellstown legislation is applicable to 10 properties and above".

The tenants have been given an additional 28 days notice above statutory obligations to allow for alternative accommodation to be sought, the spokesperson added.

A spokeswoman for the Taoiseach said that he will "respond to any requests for assistance."

She said in a statement: "None of Taoiseachs constituents have been in touch with him or his constituency office about as of yet.

"He will look in to the matter and respond to any requests for assistance made in the normal way.

"Laws to protect tenants have been considerably strengthened by the Government and it is against the law for a landlord to issue more than ten notices to quit in a development at any one time.

"Also, long-standing tenants must be given several months notice so they have time to find an alternative place to rent."
The programme which provide cervical cancer screening tests for women is "in jeopardy", the Dail has heard.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin claimed to have information that CervicalCheck is in "crisis mode" but the Government is trying to prevent the detail becoming public knowledge.

It comes after a number of women have been told that smear tests taken in the second half of 2018 are "null and void" and will have to be redone because the HSE did not process them in time.

Mr Martin has demanded that Health Minister Simon Harris come before the Dail to explain how the situation developed.

"It is now in crisis mode at this very moment," he said, adding that women were facing "unacceptable and enormous backlogs" of up to six months for test results. The normal waiting period used to be just 10 days.

The HSE is struggling to get smears reviewed in a timely fashion since Mr Harris offered all women a free test at the height of the CervicalCheck scandal last May.

The free tests were brought to an end last month.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted the minister alerted him to issues with a backlog in recent weeks.

He said the free tests were offered in a bid to relieve some of the anxiety that was being felt by women when it emerged that Vicky Phelan and others had not been told about misread tests.

"That decision was made by the minister in good faith to answer the considerable anxieties," Mr Varadkar said.

He added in the wake of the controversy the number of women presenting for smear tests grew considerable and "put immense pressure on labs".

The HSE is working with the laboratories to recruit extra staff to review slides and are also looking for new centres to share the workload.

Mr Varadkar said: "It will be possible to reduce that backlog over the next few weeks."

Mr Martin argued it was not good enough to that "significant number of tests rendered null and void" because of the delays.

"This was discovered last year and not revealed," he said.

"It is my understanding and my information that the programme is in jeopardy because of all of this.

"The withholding of info, the secrecy and denial that part of the first phase of this scandal is being repeated again."
A PROPOSED law that could see a boycott of goods originating from the Occupied Palestinian Territories should not be viewed as radical rather it should be seen as the right thing to do.

Thats according to Fianna Fail foreign affairs spokesman Niall Collins, whose party is backing the Bill originally put forward by Independent Senator Frances Black.

It used its private members time this afternoon for a debate on the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 which is due to be voted on tomorrow.

With all of the main opposition parties supporting the Bill, the government - which is opposing it - is likely to be defeated in the Dail vote.

Mr Collins said that if it is passed it will be sending a strong message that we condemn the occupation of territories which are deemed illegal under international law. 

He said the Bill applies to illegal occupations anywhere in the world, not just Israel and Palestine.

He added that it would not ban trade in Israeli goods, only those produced in illegal settlements built beyond its borders.

Mr Collins said Fianna Fail support Israels right to self-determination and to self-defence and has long supported a two-State solution to the dispute in the Middle East.

However, he said his party has become increasingly concerned about the actions of Israel and its continued and blatant disregard for international law.

We are deeply frustrated about the imbalance in power; the lack of progress in achieving a two-state solution, the non-existent peace process, the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

He argued that a two-state solution will soon be unachievable because of the manner in which the settlements are interwoven throughout what is internationally recognised as Palestinian land.

Mr Collins said: If change is to come then we must make the settlement project a less desirable policy for Israel.

This Bill is an example of a different but I believe a moderate approach and one that I hope will be a vehicle for change in some small way.

Tanaiste and foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney set out why the government is opposing the Bill.

He said the government has been involved in keeping up consistent pressure at EU and international level against the expansion of settlements.

He added: No member of this house attaches greater importance than I do to bringing Irelands influence to bear to help end the occupation of Palestinian Territories, to promote a two-State solution that works for Israel and for Palestinians and to deliver a sustainable peace after decades of conflict.

However, he added: speaking on behalf of the government I do not agree this bill is the right way forward now.

He gave three broad reasons  legal, political and practical.

He said the overriding point is the Bill asks the government to do something that is not within its power.

Mr Coveney said Ireland is a member of the EU Single Market and trade is an exclusive competence of the European Union.

We are not in a position to raise a barrier and declare that it is prohibited to bring to Ireland for sale or personal use goods that enter the EU legally and are freely circulating elsewhere in the single market.

He said the Attorney General has confirmed that passing the Bill would put Ireland in breach of EU law.

This could lead to legal action and potentially very significant fines of up to tens of millions of Euro.

Mr Coveney said: No government nor any responsible opposition in my view could support intentionally breaking EU law and exposing the State to such significant penalties.

He suggested the Bill could be challenged by companies or individuals claiming to be adversely affected by it.

He also said it would create new offences that would lead to costs for Customs, the Gardai and potentially the Prison Service.

Mr Coveney argued that this would breach a constitutional provision on the passing of Opposition Bills with cost implications or a so-called money message, though Fianna Fail disputed this.

Mr Coveney said political effects are also an important consideration.

He said: Ireland has a stronger voice and greater influence on Middle East issues generally at UN and EU level than our size would alone would normally justify.

He said thats where Ireland can be most helpful in the goal of achieving lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

He argued that a unilateral move like that proposed in the Bill would weaken Irelands ability to influence overall EU policy.

Mr Coveney also said that a practical effect could see US companies in Ireland and Irish companies in the US placed in an impossible conflict of jurisdictions.

He said legislation was under discussion in the United States Congress last year that would forbid companies based in the US from cooperating with trade bans on Israel and Israeli settlements.

Mr Coveney said: Ultimately despite being well and sincerely intentioned by its original authors this Bill will do serious damage to Ireland and bring only momentary consolation to Palestinian citizens. And we owe them more than that.

Members of Sinn Fein, Labour and Solidarity-People Before Profit spoke I favour of the Bill and it is likely to pass a Dail vote tomorrow.
Ministers will jet to every European capital for St Patrick's Day as part of the Government's Brexit response.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is heading Stateside to visit US President Donald Trump, while his Cabinet and junior ministers will travel across EU, Africa and Asia.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney will meet delegations in Paris, Berlin, Brussels and the Hague, while the difficult diplomatic effort in London has been handed to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe.

Announcing the St Patrick's Day programme for 2019, Mr Coveney said: "St Patrick's Day offers a unique opportunity to promote Ireland around the world, to celebrate our heritage and renew our bonds with the global Irish family.

"The Taoiseach, ministers, Ceann Comhairle, Cathaoirleach and I will undertake an ambitious programme of visits across Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific region over the St Patrick's Day period to promote Ireland as a great place to live, visit, study, work and do business."

He said this year's programme will serve as a platform to underline Ireland's commitment to the EU.

Ministers have been told to use the trips to emphasise key economic messages, underline Ireland's commitment to the restoration of the institutions in Northern Ireland, and advance our campaign for a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations in 2020-21

Ministers will visit Wellington and Vancouver, where Ireland opened new diplomatic missions in 2018. Bogota, Santiago, Mumbai, and Los Angeles will also receive a ministerial visit in advance of the opening of new embassies and consulates later this year.
23/1/2019, Members of the Dublin Fire Brigade outside the National Gallery on Merrion Square west. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM

A LARGE number of Dublin firefighters are currently dealing with a fire at the National Gallery of Ireland.

Up to six fire engines were called to the premises on Merrion Square this afternoon after smoke was seen billowing out of its server room.

3 fire engines from Tara St & Donnybrook stations are attending a fire on Merrion Sq West. Breathing apparatus in use #Dublin #fire @DarraghBerry pic.twitter.com/sR4xJzVFb8  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) January 23, 2019

Staff at the art gallery were immediately evacuated as members of Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) navigated their way through the building using breathing apparatuses.

A spokesperson from DFB told Independent.ie that the fire was confined to one room.

There was a lot of smoke which is why our crew had to use breathing equipment inside the premises. Theyre ventilating the building now using positive pressure fans.

These fans are blowing fresh air into gallery while blowing the smoke out.

Expand Close 23/1/2019, Members of the Dublin Fire Brigade outside the National Gallery on Merrion Square west. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM / Facebook

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Whatsapp 23/1/2019, Members of the Dublin Fire Brigade outside the National Gallery on Merrion Square west. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM

The spokesperson added that no one was injured during the incident.

Although no fire or smoke is visible from the building, a staff member from the art gallery told Independent.ie that the emergency is still underway.

Dublin Fire Brigade also reported about the incident on Twitter.

3 fire engines from Tara St & Donnybrook stations are attending a fire on Merrion Sq West. Breathing apparatus in use #Dublin #fire @DarraghBerry
Pictured at the launch of Cork Chamber of Commerces 200 year anniversary programme are Cork Chamber CEO, Conor Healy, Cork Chamber Vice President, Paula Cogan and Cork Chamber President, Bill OConnell Pictures Gerard McCarthy

CORK Chamber of Commerce aims to mark its 200th anniversary with a drive to raise 200,000 to help budding entrepreneurs through a special social innovation fund.

The fundraising, which will run over six months, aims to raise 100,000 with a matching 100,000 then being provided by the Department of Rural and Community Affairs.

The special fund will operate in conjunction with Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) - and will be open to entrepreneurs and projects that aim to address issues such as health, social inclusion, local economic development and environmental protection.

Not-for-profit enterprises are the target beneficiaries of the funding.

Projects to be supported under the fund will be announced in November.

Cork Chamber President Bill O'Connell said the ambitious project is the cornerstone of their 200th anniversary programme.

"Social innovation projects have a hugely important role to play in local communities and this project gives everyone a chance to become a philanthropist, he said.

Cork Chamber will mark their 200th anniversary with a lavish dinner next week to be attended by President Michael D Higgins.

Those interested in supporting the Cork Chamber 1819 Fund can do so via gofundme.com/cork-chamber-1819-fund or by contacting Cork Chamber directly.
Welcome: Meghan Markle in Trinity College after her visit to the Book of Kells in July 2018. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Meghan Markle's great-great-great grandparents wed on this day in the Church of Ireland parish of Donnybrook, Dublin.

A marriage registry record has unlocked the true origin of the Duchess of Sussex's Irish roots.

On January 23, 1860, her great-great-great grandparents married at the Dublin parish.

The entry for Thomas Bird, a private in the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment, based at Beggars Bush Barracks, Dublin, and Mary McCague, then living at Merrion Strand, is complete with smudges where the registry may have been closed before the ink had time to dry.

The discovery was made by Fiona Fitzsimons and Helen Moss of Eneclann, a genealogical research firm.

"It was known that Thomas Bird was in the army, but no one had thought to examine whether he might have served and married his Irish wife in Ireland. With this as our starting point we were able to follow Meghan Markle's family to Malta and then to New Brunswick, in Canada," they explained.

While the parish registry identifies Meghan's great-great-great grandmother as Mary McCue, she signs herself as Mary McCague. Thomas Bird signed the registry with an 'x' meaning he could not read or write.

Within six months of their marriage, the 22nd Regiment, which Thomas belonged to, was sent to Malta in June 1860, and the couple left Ireland on board the steam ship Olympus.

In 2016, Eneclann launched the Irish Family History Centre, based in CHQ Building and partnered with EPIC, which Prince Harry and Meghan visited during their trip to Ireland.
Blue Lotus Yoga & Barre hosts a yoga and vision board workshop and a yoga class for people who cant touch their toes on Sunday. The 12:30 p.m. class is for those who want to focus on self-love and care in 2019. Participants can tap into their personal power with a detoxifying yoga flow followed by healthy snacks, tea, and vision boarding. Attendees will receive a journal, a vision board, and all the necessary supplies for the $40 class. The 6 p.m. class is for anyone who thinks theyre too inflexible for yoga. Participants will move slowly through common poses and use props like blocks, straps and the wall to help with alignment. Everyone is welcome, including those new to yoga. That class is $25. Register at bluelotusannapolis.com. The studio is at 119 Hillsmere Drive in Annapolis. For more information, call 443-949-7553 or email info@bluelotusannapolis.com.
Ciaran Caldwell (47), who was leaving his daughter and her two friends into the city centre on Saturday night, was one of a number of motorists who drove past the car parked on Bishop Street unaware of its deadly cargo.

A man who drove past the car bomb left outside Derry's courthouse at the weekend said it was only after he saw CCTV footage later that it dawned on him how close he had come to being killed.

Ciaran Caldwell (47), who was leaving his daughter and her two friends into the city centre on Saturday night, was one of a number of motorists who drove past the car parked on Bishop Street unaware of its deadly cargo.

Chilling footage released by the PSNI shows vehicles passing the abandoned car and a group of teenagers walking past minutes before the device inside exploded.

Mr Caldwell, a clerical officer with the Western Health Trust who also works as a part-time taxi driver, said: "I've grown up through the Troubles and there has been many a bomb and many a bomb scare.

"But it wasn't until I saw the CCTV footage and I saw the wee guy running through the gate that I realised I had driven past him and the car bomb.

"I had my daughter, who is 15, in the car with me and her two friends, who are the same age.

Expand Close Shocking footage of the Derry car bomb blast shows a group of young people walking past the vehicle just minutes before it explodes / Facebook

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Whatsapp Shocking footage of the Derry car bomb blast shows a group of young people walking past the vehicle just minutes before it explodes

"We were just coming up to Bishop's Gate when this wee boy - hood up and pulled as tight as can be so there was just a gap for his eyes - ran past.

"He ran through the gate and I actually remarked to my daughter about him looking like a real wee hoodie thug, but we drove on through the gate and then noticed the car parked at the courthouse.

"I know you are not allowed to park there but it didn't dawn on me for one second that there could have been a bomb in it.

"I dropped the girls off and a short while later I got a message on the taxi man's WhatsApp group about Bishop Street being cordoned off because of a suspected car bomb at the courthouse."

Mr Caldwell quickly realised then how close they had come to being caught up in the blast.

"I had my daughter and two other people's children in the car with me and it doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened," he said.

Expand Close Screengrab from CCTV footage dated issued by the PSNI shows a man fleeing the scene after parking the car outside courthouse in Derry. Photo: PSNI/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Screengrab from CCTV footage dated issued by the PSNI shows a man fleeing the scene after parking the car outside courthouse in Derry. Photo: PSNI/PA Wire

"When I saw the footage of the bomb going off, I knew it wasn't a big bomb like some of those we experienced in the Seventies and Eighties, but I knew it was big enough.

"It could easily have killed those children that walked past it and it was big enough to cause serious damage or even death to me, my daughter and her friends.

"All during the Troubles, with all the bombs and the shooting that went on in Derry, this was the closest I have been to anything to the point that I said: 'How lucky was I?'.

"In my head now I have accepted that I was lucky last Saturday night, but it has still affected me.

"I had been watching the coverage of all the hijackings that went on on Monday and when I went to get petrol I was genuinely scared driving last night.

"I kept thinking if I pull up at a set of traffic lights, is someone going to jump out of a hedge and take my car and set it alight? That is the first time ever I sat and worked out a route to the petrol station wondering about places where I would have to sit at traffic lights."

He said it was "scandalous" that such attacks were happening more than 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement.

Expand Close Forensic experts examine the remains of the car that exploded outside Derry courthouse. Photo: Margaret McLaughlin / Facebook

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Whatsapp Forensic experts examine the remains of the car that exploded outside Derry courthouse. Photo: Margaret McLaughlin

"It is also absolutely not acceptable that my 15-year-old daughter - born five years after the Good Friday Agreement - all day on Monday she was sending me texts: 'Daddy, there's another bomb scare', 'Daddy they've hijacked another van', 'Daddy I think I heard a bomb'.

"For the first time in her life she has had to face the reality of what we lived through and that's not acceptable. I am sure the families of all those young ones who walked past that car bomb are thinking the exact same as me."

Mr Caldwell shares the anger expressed by the people of Derry about Saturday's bomb attack and the three security alerts which followed on Monday.

He added: "I do not for one second believe in my heart that these young fellas that are doing these things are following a cause or belief that has been indoctrinated in them.

"I believe they are people who have been handed 50 and told to take that car and drive it wherever and they are doing it in fear of the boys who are ordering them.

"I think the whole thing is orchestrated by a group of bigoted men around a kitchen table planning these things.

"They are cowards because it isn't them that is doing it, they are intimidating youngsters who have grown up being told to hate the police, hate the Brits, and then some guy they think has power orders them to do something.

"I am sure that young fella who got out of that car at the courthouse was terrified driving that car. How close was he to death? Closer than anybody.

"And what good did it do? All those businesses on Bishop Street that depend on passing trade are still there but people won't want to go up there because of the courthouse that those thugs think is a 'legitimate target'.

"The only thing that was achieved last Saturday night was a lot of Derry people, including children, had their lives put in danger - but we can only thank God no one was killed."
Aspirin should not be taken to prevent heart disease unless on doctors' orders, scientists have warned after a major study found the drug "substantially" increases the risk of dangerous bleeds.

A review of 164,225 people in their 50s, 60s and 70s found that regularly taking the inexpensive drug boosts the chances of major bleeding by more than 40pc.

Aspirin has long been recommended for patients already known to suffer from heart conditions and those at high risk of stroke, with evidence indicating its blood-thinning qualities render the risk of side-effects worthwhile.

However, the new research by King's College London suggests that for middle-aged and older people currently in good health, the benefit of regularly taking the drug is not worth the risk of serious bleeding.

Aspirin is not routinely prescribed for "primary prevention" of heart disease or stroke.

Nevertheless, experts in the UK have estimated that tens of thousands of healthy people there take the inexpensive drug anyway.

Published in the 'Journal of the American Medical Association', the study of 53 to 74-year-olds included people taking aspirin, those taking a placebo and those on no treatment.

Regular use of aspirin was associated with an 11pc lower risk of cardiovascular events such as heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

This means that roughly 250 patients would need to be treated with the medication for five years to prevent a single cardiovascular event.

However, those taking aspirin were 43pc more likely to suffer a major bleeding episode than those not using the drug.

Dr Sean Zheng, who led the research, said: "This study demonstrates that there is insufficient evidence to recommend routine aspirin use."
An artist impression issued by Childrens Hospital Group of proposed family accommodation block at the site of the new state-of-the-art childrens hospital in Dublin

THE Government is to pay a private firm 450,000 to find out why the construction cost of the national childrens hospital has spiralled to 1.4bn.

The Oireachtas health committee was told today that the financial consultants company, PCW, was commissioned to carry out the probe and report back by March.

It is the latest twist in the ongoing wrangle over the spiralling cost of the hospital, which was set at 983m in April 2017 when the government gave the go ahead for its construction.

The full cost is expected to be around 1.7bn when the construction bill is added to the 300m needed for areas such as its IT system.

The escalation in the construction cost of the new national children's hospital to 1.4bn is "disturbing", causing delays to other health projects and also affecting more Government departments, the Oireachtas Health Committee was told.

Some 130m will have to be generated through philanthropy sources.

Officials from the Department of Health and the HSE were grilled on what level of oversight was in place as the bill for the hospital mounted.

Colm Desmond, assistant secretary of the Department of Health, said 50m will have to be sliced from the capital budget of all departments.

He warns: "To complete the build of the hospital and outpatients and urgent care centres, an additional 450m will have to be found over the period 2019 to 2022, including an additional 100m in 2019."

This demands 320m net additional Exchequer funding and an extra 130m in philanthropy funding.

Dean Sullivan, deputy director general of the HSE, states that in terms of oversight a Programme Board is chaired by the secretary general of the Department of Health, Jim Breslin. Its responsibility includes funding.

A steering group, of which he has been chairman since May, receives monthly progress reports on the capital project and it updates the Programme Board.

There were indications of financial pressures in August of last year when a 200m overrun was confirmed. But it took until November for the full 450m overrun to become clear.

He said the outcome of the second phase of the new hospital is "considerably in excess of that envisaged following the initial tender process".

"As has been noted, this escalation in costs is of significant concern and will undoubtedly impact on other priority health investments," he said.

The independent PCW review of the escalation in costs is due to report in March. Mr Breslin did not attend today's hearing due to a prior commitment.

The secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure, Robert Watt, also declined to attend. He said it would be "impractical" for his department to do so as they already attend the Budgetary Oversight Committee and most hearings of the Public Accounts Committee.

Committee chairman said the non attendance by officials from the Department of Public Expenditure was disrespectful.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dail that Mr Watt should attend the Dail public expenditure and help explain how estimates had gone from 650m to 1.7bn in just two years.

But Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Mr Watt regularly attends Dail committees to explain many issues  but this was a job for the head of the Health Department. Mr Varadkar also insisted that no other projects would be stopped because of the spiralling costs of the childrens hospital building.

Ms McDonald had demanded that the general secretary in charge of the Public Expenditure and Reform Department should attend the committee or otherwise his position is not sustainable.

What about the commitment for an MRI scanner at the Midlands Regional hospital in Mullingar, the second cath lab in Waterford, or Drimnagh primary care centre, and I could go on?, the Sinn Fein leader asked.

Ms McDonald said the hospital costs were set to blow a hole in capital budget for years to come. But "nobody was willing to take responsibility for it and she also accused Mr Varadkar of dancing on the head of a pin by suggesting projects would be deferred rather than cancelled or delayed.

What projects will be cut because of the scandalous cost overrun? she asked.

The Taoiseach again said no project will be stopped and no projected will be deferred but some projects may have to be deferred.

He said it required a re-profiling of about 100m worth of capital budget out of a total expenditure of 7bn. He said this was about 1pc to 2pc of the total and a list of affected projects would be published when it was available.

On accountability for hospital costs Mr Varadkar said the secretary general of the Health Department was the accounting officer for health expenditure. He also said the project costs were being assessed by external consultants.
The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, close to where Stephen Warde was last seen three weeks ago.

A mother has spoken of her worry and concern for an Irishman living in Malaysia after being unable to contact him for three weeks.

Stephen Warde (31), from Kinvara, Co Galway, was last seen near the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur on January 1.

He is described as having dark brown hair, brown eyes, and is five feet and 11 inches in height and heavy set.

Not having any contact from Mr Warde is "very out of character" for him as he is a "placid and quiet" man, said his family.

It is understood that Mr Warde moved to Kuala Lumpur in November of last year.

They are appealing to the public to share his photo on social media, which can be found on the Facebook page 'Missing Persons in Malaysia'.

His worried mother Mary Morrissey, who is in Malaysia searching for him, said: "We are extremely worried and concerned for his safety and well-being as this is out of character for Stephen."

Mr Warde's family are also liaising with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
College entry requirements can be confusing. I like to try and compartmentalise different requirements and use little rules of thumb to help me remember.

For example, you need to do at least one science subject in the Leaving Cert to be eligible for entry to a science degree; primary school teaching needs higher level Irish; there are no courses where business is a requirement.

When it comes to languages, it is more complex. Taking, or not taking, a language at Leaving Cert level can have implications for college entry, although it is not the case that one must take a language to go to college or even to go to an NUI college.

With the CAO deadline looming, the question of entry requirements and language waivers is coming up again and again in my day-to-day work.

While each course will have its own specific requirements, there are some general requirements and waivers that apply for each institution.

TCD & UL

Both Trinity College Dublin and the University of Limerick require students to pass English and another language, which can cause problems for students who do not take Irish or a modern European language at Leaving Cert level.

It is possible for students who do not take Irish to be exempt from these requirements in certain circumstances.

Students not taking Irish or any other language as a result of a learning difficulty may apply to the admissions office at Trinity or UL to be exempted from this requirement.

Forms are available from tcd.ie and ul.ie/admissions

NUI Colleges

NUI institutions include University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC), NUI Galway, Maynooth University (MU) and the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI).

These colleges all require the same subjects for matriculation and these include Irish, English and a modern European language.

However  and this is where there can be some confusion  the requirement to present a modern European language has been removed from the schools of engineering, science and nursing at these colleges.

Maynooth University has also removed the requirement for business.

In certain circumstances, applicants can apply for a waiver of the language requirement for Irish, the European language, or both.

This may include being born outside of the state, completing a portion of education outside of the state or having a learning difficulty or disability.

Students must apply for these exemptions by printing and completing the relevant forms from nui.ie/college and returning them to the NUI offices in Merrion Square, Dublin.

They must also ensure they have indicated their intention to apply for a language waiver in the relevant section of the CAO form.

One form is sufficient for all NUI institutions.

DCU, TU Dublin, & institutes of technology

Dublin City University, (DCU) TU Dublin and the institutes of technology require entrants to present with maths and English or Irish.

Therefore, there is no need to apply for an exemption for Irish if applying to these colleges.

Students who do not study a modern European language are also free to apply to these institutions.

Aoife Walsh is a guidance counsellor at Malahide Community School, Co Dublin
A Supreme Court judge has voiced hope that a 16 year legal battle between a couple - incurring costs of hundreds of thousands of euro -"will now end".

It followed orders that the woman gets 75 per cent of the balance of her ex-husbands pension fund while he gets 25 per cent.

The pension fund originally had an estimated net value of 800,000 and the High Court ordered in 2013 the woman get 80 per cent, of which half was paid immediately.

The man appealed over the pension orders but some payments out were permitted in the interim.

The remaining pension entitlements were valued in July 2018 at about 550,000 and draw downs permitted to the man had the effect he got the total 20 per cent, about 265,000 including Additional Voluntary Contributions, he was entitled to under the 2013 order.

In his appeal, the Supreme Court had to decide how the remaining 40 per cent of the fund was to be distributed.

In the three judge court's judgment on Tuesday, Mr Justice John MacMenamim noted the circumstances of both have deteriorated since 2013 and both claim to be struggling financially, to have debts and deteriorating health.

The family home had been sold but the man has a home for his lifetime while the woman does not and is living with a "platonic friend", he said.

Of the estimated 222,000 pension monies paid to her so far, most had gone on legal fees, she appeared to have no assets or income and there was a dispute among her family members concerning her inheritance.

The court's duty under the Divorce Act to make "proper provision" meant, in the circumstances, she should get 75 per cent of the balance of the pension fund and the man would get 25 per cent, he held.

The couple are both in their sixties and separated about 20 years ago.

Legal proceedings began about 2002 and involved many disputes including over maintenance and custody of the couples now adult children who have successful careers.

After the High Court made orders in 2013 granting a divorce and financial orders, the man argued a pensions adjustment order where the woman was to get 80 per cent of his pension fund over a reckonable 16 year period was over generous while she maintained it was proper provision.

In his appeal, the man said his financial circumstances and health had deteriorated since 2013, he has substantial debts and is now insolvent. As well as the pension and other funds paid to his wife, he claimed he had paid maintenance totalling about 300,000 and she was due to inherit a property worth about 1m.

He claimed the funds appeared to have resulted in no tangible benefit to her and she had spent 15,000 on cosmetic surgery and bought a new car.

The woman said most of the funds she got went on legal fees, she is struggling to make ends meet, has no home of her own, is in debt.

Both the man and woman also criticised exorbitant costs of some 40,000 sought by the pension scheme administrators and trustees in relation to the pension adjustment orders. Both have paid 20,000 each to meet those costs.

Mr Justice MacMenamin said the courts required assistance of the administrators and trustees in making pension adjustment orders but had no role concerning their costs and it was open to the parties to go to the Pensions Ombudsman.

He noted both the man and woman previously had lawyers but represented themselves in this appeal.

This litigation has lasted 16 years at costs running to hundreds of thousands of Euro which could have been used by the parties had they resolved the issues between them, he said. He hoped it will now end, as all cases ultimately must end.
A 35-year-old man, charged with the manslaughter of a father of three from Co Monaghan, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Vytautas Racys, with an address at The Oak, Loughnaglack, Carrickmacross, had pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of fitness instructor Seamus Bell on the Main Street of Carrickmacross on January 20, 2018.

Judge John Aylmer passed the sentence before the Circuit Criminal Court in Monaghan yesterday, with credit given to Mr Racys for the time he spent in custody.

Mr Bell had been out celebrating with his partner, Edel Tighe, and close family members following the christening of his twin daughters Cara and Ava when he suffered a one-punch assault from Mr Racys.

The incident left the 35-year-old in a coma, but he died five months later on June 2, 2018 at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Mr Racys, a married father of two children from Lithuania, has been in custody at Cloverhill Prison in Dublin since the assault.

His solicitor, Damien Rudden, said at the time Mr Racys made no application for bail, telling him he was "sorry this incident occurred" and was willing to start his sentence immediately.

Last year, Ms Tighe's parents, Cyril and Noella, told the Irish Independent of the sequence of events that led to the attack on Mr Bell.

"We were all out having a great day. It was just perfect," said Noella. "We were in one pub in the town and Seamus was playing pool when this man came in and started creating a bit of trouble."

Cyril said: "He wanted the pool table and we didn't want any hassle so we left.

"Then, later, we were walking along the Main Street and we saw him coming towards us, and he seemed to recognise Seamus.

"He put out his arms as if to hug Seamus, it was as if he was kind of apologising for what happened in the pub earlier. Seamus must have thought that if he went with the hug it would just calm the situation, but as he stretched out his arms, the other man just threw a punch at him."

"Seamus fell backwards and his head hit the footpath, and he was knocked out cold.

"I couldn't believe the sound of it."
Christine Rossiter from Howth, Co. Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts Pic: Collins Courts

A 37-year-old mother of two with terminal cancer has launched a High Court action against a GP claiming alleged negligence over a visit to the doctor after she found a small lump under her arm while in the shower.

Christine Rossiter has only months to live after a tumour was found in her breast in 2016 and she has developed secondary cancer including in her brain, the court heard.

She told the court she feels like a "ticking time bomb" after a new tumour was found in her brain last year.

Ms Rossiter has sued GP Norma Donlon over a consultation she had in 2014.

Dr Donlon contends that Ms Rossiter declined a breast examination when she came for a consultation on September 2014.

Opening the case, John Gordon SC, for Ms Rossiter, said Ms Rossiter contends the doctor did not examine her breasts. However, the doctor's note said 'declined breast exam.'

Counsel said the visit lasted 12 minutes and Ms Rossiter would say she was made feel she was worrying too much and was like a "little bit of a hypochondriac".

She also felt embarrassed and the doctor told her at her age she had nothing to worry about, he said.

Counsel said Ms Rossiter left feeling a little foolish but very relieved after the 2014 visit.

In August 2016, Ms Rossiter felt a little lump on her left breast and went to another doctor who referred her for further investigation.

It turned out she did have a cancerous tumour in her left breast. She was referred to a consultant.

Counsel said the cancer found was Stage 2 and while it was significant it was not life threatening and would require chemotherapy.

Ms Rossiter went for immediate treatment and had a number of scans which showed she had secondary cancer in various parts of her body.

"What was a dreadful situation unfolded as absolutely calamitous", counsel said.

"The secondaries in her lungs she was told lit up like a Christmas tree on the scan. It was Stage 4 breast cancer and it was terminal ," Mr Gordon said.

He said Ms Rossiter was devastated and she began a form of palliative care and treatment. Ms Rossiter was shell shocked and angry and and embarrassed to be a dying person, he said.

Counsel said at that stage it was confirmed she was unlikely to live more than five years and the cancer has since proved to be relentless.

Her prognosis at this stage is now a number of months.

"The tragedy here is the missing of the opportunity to detect the problem in September 2014," counsel said.

Ms Rossiter will say she was not asked by Dr Donlon to examine her breasts and his side will contend it is highly unlikely Ms Rossiter would have refused a breast exam.

"If the examination occurred it would have identified a tumour in the left breast. That sadly did not happen," Counsel said.

"That little lump under arm he said "never went away, it was found to be malignant in September 2016," Counsel said.

Ms Rossiter, Ceanchor Road, Baily, Howth, Co Dublin, has sued Dr Donlon who was a doctor at Hilltop Surgery which is now known at Raheny Medical Centric (Centric) Health at Hilltop Shopping Centre, Station Road, Raheny, Dublin.

It is claimed there was an alleged failure to perform an adequate examination of Ms Rossiter's arm pit and an alleged failure to recommend examination of Ms Rossiters breast.

It is further claimed there was an alleged failure to adhere to the HSE National Breast Cancer GP referral guidelines and that Ms Rossiter was allegedly exposed to a risk of developing serious illness and injury.

The claims are denied.

Ms Rossiter told the court there was no way she declined a breast examination and it would be silly to dot that.

The case before Mr justice Anthony Barr continues.
The fame and esteem of orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass was so pervasive during his life, he became the most photographed individual in the 19th century.

He sat for photographers more than Lincoln or Grant, Harvard University professor and historian John Stauffer said at an event at the Reginald Lewis Museum marking the 200th anniversary of Douglass birth.

More than 500 people attended a series of celebratory events at the East Pratt Street institution to hear historians discuss the life of the man born into slavery on Marylands Eastern Shore who spent his youth in Fells Point. Douglass escaped slavery and later resided in Rochester, N.Y. and in the Anacostia section of Washington, D.C. He became a national leader in the abolitionist movement and became known for his soaring oratory and persuasive and insightful essays against slavery.

Professor Stauffer, a professor of English and of African and African-American studies, described Douglass as the pre-eminent self-made man in American history who starts life as a slave and becomes a household name in the late 1840s. As a public speaker, he was a rock star. People would travel hundreds of miles to hear him.

Stauffer placed Douglass birth and origins in perspective. He said that if Douglass had a privilege, it was that he was born in Maryland and not in the deep South that he characterized as totalitarian and governed by white supremacists.

He quoted Douglass, Going to live at Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity.

The historian said Douglass learned to read while living as a slave in the Hugh Auld household in Fells Point and took cookies from his owners kitchen to get other neighborhood children to help him with his spelling and vocabulary. He would spell words in chalk on the streets of Baltimore, said Stauffer, who also described Baltimore as perhaps the leading black metropolis of the 1830s.

Douglass also became interested in oratory while in Baltimore and memorized pages from the King James Bible to help improve his speaking skills. He also had a copy of The Columbian Orator, a 1797 publication widely studied by students of elocution and public speaking.

Douglass married a Denton woman, Anna Murray, a free black woman who helped him financially to flee slavery and get to New Bedford, Mass. where he became an in-demand speaker.

He was the first former slave to speak for the American Abolitionist Society, said Stauffer, who said his audiences received Douglass as a patriot of the human race. One woman, he said, wrote of Douglass oratory: He was majestic in his wrath.

Frederick Douglass is portrayed by Michael E. Crutcher, Sr., pictured, from Kentucky. The 200th Anniversary Celebration of Frederick Douglass Day at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum includes history, lectures and children' activities to mark the birth of one of the country's first, and greatest, civil rights crusaders. (Algerina Perna / Baltimore Sun) (Algerina Perna / Baltimore Sun)

He described Douglass as a savvy businessman who was immensely shrewd as an innovator and critic, and became a generous philanthropist in his later years in Anacostia.

He realized the power of photography, too, said Stauffer, who noted that Americans of the 1850s believed that photographs did not lie. Photographs helped spread Douglass renown and make him a household name.

Stauffer, author of a 2015 book, Picturing Frederick Douglass, identified Douglass seated in a place of honor in a photograph outside the U.S. Capitol as Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address in March 1865. As he projected an enlarged copy of the photo on a screen at the museum, he pointed out another figure in a gallery overlooking the president. Stauffer identified that figure as Lincolns assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Stauffer ended his remarks by telling a story of a young man who sought Douglass advice on a career choice. He replied in three words, Agitate. Agitate. Agitate.

As part of the museum celebration, living historian Michael Crutcher, dressed as Douglass, did re-enactments of his speeches throughout the afternoon to a standing-room-only crowd.

Lawrence Jackson, a Johns Hopkins University professor, also spoke and traced Douglass early life at Wye House Plantation near Easton in Talbot County, as well as the time he spent in Baltimore as a slave and young companion to Thomas Auld.

He described numerous African-Americans who were free people of color and lived in homes built in alleyways behind the main residences along Broadway, Ann, Caroline and Wolfe streets.

The alleys were the boulevards of black life, said Lawrence. Blacks lived basically out of sight. And it was in those spots where you had black worship and where you would ultimately have black revolt.

jacques.kelly@baltsun.com
A judge has told three men that a car crash in which they claimed to have been injured was so entirely improbable it could not possibly have happened.

Throwing out the personal injury claims being made for damages for 60,000 each by Hakim Rahali, Ismail Boudersaya and Riad Siali, Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groark told them the damage to two cars had not been caused by the accident the court was being asked to consider.

This is a try on which took quite a considerable amount of work to set up and which has failed, Judge Groarke told them when ordering them pay Axa insurance companys legal costs for the work it had put into investigating the alleged collision.

Riad Siali, after having listened to the cross-examination of BMW driver Hakim Rahali by barrister Adrianne Fields, left the court and was not available when called to give evidence on his own behalf.

The court heard that he was vomiting in the mens room and unable to come out to give evidence. Several hours later, when Judge Groarke was giving judgment against Siali and his co-claimants he asked if Siali was still locked in the facilities.

Maybe he has been sick but he is really better off not giving evidence in this case, the judge said.

Ms Fields, who appeared with Delahunty OConnor solicitors, told Judge Groarke at the outset that Axa was disputing that the March 2012 accident near Duleek, Co Meath, had taken place at all or as described in the evidence put before the court.

Hakim Rahali and Ismail Boudersaya, both of Mount Pleasant Avenue, Dublin 6, told the court Rahalis BMW had been crashed into head-on by a Seat Ibiza driven by Ovidiu Luchi, Mount Symon Crescent, Blanchardstown, Dublin, and both, due to whiplash injuries, had to be taken from the car by ambulance attendants. Judgment had already been obtained against Luchi.

Garda Pat Buckley, then of Laytown Garda Station but now attached to Fermoy Station, said when he arrived at the alleged crash he immediately became suspicious as the damage to both cars did not seem to fit. He seized both vehicles and had them forensically examined by a colleague.

Garda Joe Doyle, PSV Inspector for Co Meath, told the court the damage was not consistent with a head-on crash and he could not find any evidence of paint or rubber transfer on either vehicle from one to the other.

I absolutely dont believe these cars crashed into each other, he said.

Judge Groarke said he had been greatly impressed with the honest evidence of hotel worker, Ms Camelia Hutanu, who told him she had been a back seat passenger in the Seat and who, though injured, had not made any claim. I prefer to work to earn my money. I dont look for easy money, she told the court.

The judge said he believed Ms Hutanu, and that being so, he had to conclude she had been injured while a passenger in the Seat in another crash on another occasion.

Dismissing the claims by all three plaintiffs, Judge Groarke said he was awarding costs against all of them and referring them for consideration of the Garda Siochana at Laytown, Co Meath.
Fighting: Diarmuid ODonovan arrives at the Four Courts for his action. PHOTO: COLLINS COURTS

A senior Cork GAA official has secured a temporary High Court injunction preventing the termination of his job.

The action has been brought by Diarmuid O'Donovan.

He has been senior administrator of the Cork GAA County Board since 2013, a 55,000 a year position established to assist the day-to-day work of board, while its county secretary dealt with the completion of Pairc Ui Chaoimh stadium.

The revamped stadium project finished in 2017.

In a sworn statement, Mr O'Donovan says late last year he was initially informed by the board his role was not ending but was told last week he was being made redundant.

He said he was shocked by the decision and believes the attempt to terminate his employment is inseparable from the controversial costs overrun on the reconstruction of Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

He believes the defendants have identified him with Frank Murphy, the former Cork county secretary, who before his retirement had overall responsibility for the Pairc Ui Chaoimh project.

He said the nature of his role involved him working closely with Mr Murphy.

Mr O'Donovan, of Mervue Lawn, Ballyvolane, Cork also told the court he applied for but was not selected for the position of county secretary following Mr Murphy's retirement late last year.

Mr O'Donovan has also claimed that in recent weeks he has been marginalised and excluded from meetings and games he had previously attended, and that he had worked some 55-60 hours a week in the role.

He said the redundancy was a blatant attempt to remove him from a role he had successfully and effectively carried out and expanded for several years.

Prior to taking it up, he had been acting chief executive with the 'Evening Echo' newspaper and believed he would continue in the GAA role until his retirement.

He claimed the decision to discontinue his role must be formalised by the Cork GAA, and he was offered a redundancy payment of approximately 20,000. He also said that on the same day he was told his position was to be made redundant, a wholly inappropriate WhatsApp message was sent to all the members of the county board that the role of senior administrator was to be terminated.

Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds granted Mr O'Donovan an interim injunction preventing Cork GAA County Board, Cumann Luthchleas Gael, from terminating his employment. The injunction was granted on an ex-parte basis.

The case returns next week.
The family of a girl born with profound disabilities is hitting out at the maternity hospital for failing to inform them.

Margaret Hurley (18), Skibbereen, Co Cork, who has cerebral palsy, has settled her High Court action against at Erinville Hospital, Western Road, Cork for 11m, for the circumstances of her 2000 birth.

She has spastic quadriplegia, cannot speak and has to use a wheelchair.

Lyndy Cantillon, partner with Cantillons Solicitors, who advised and led Margarets medical negligence claim, said this failure to inform the parents, added to Margarets suffering.

Expand Close 23/1/2019 (Left) Solicitor Lyndy Cantillon with Claire and Ger Hurley (Parents of Margaret Hurley) after a High Court action on behalf of Margaret Hurley.Pic: Collins Courts / Facebook

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Whatsapp 23/1/2019 (Left) Solicitor Lyndy Cantillon with Claire and Ger Hurley (Parents of Margaret Hurley) after a High Court action on behalf of Margaret Hurley.Pic: Collins Courts

"The severity of Margarets condition could have been alleviated by early intervention and therapies available at the time, she said in a statement on behalf of the family.

"Margaret sadly did not avail of these," she said.

She said Ms Hurleys mother, Claire Hurley, was 32, a public patient at Erinville Hospital, Cork, expecting her first child when problem occurred.

"The young teacher was 14 days overdue and also had high blood pressure, but it was decided not to induce birth. Claire Hurleys daughter, Margaret, was born with profound disabilities on March 1 2000."

Claire had to give up her job teaching, to care for Margaret full time, while her husband, Gerald, continued to farm.

"It was only in 2014, when Margaret was 14 that her mother read about another child we represented with similar devastating disabilities.

"No-one in the HSE had told Claire there might be medical negligence involved in Margaret's birth."

Margarets parents Claire and Gerald (51), called for a mandatory obligation on the HSE to tell parents when their child has been injured as a result of medical negligence.

The couple, from Lisheen in West Cork, have three other children twins - a boy and a girl - and another boy.

Ms Hurley said mandatory reporting obligations had to be backed up by criminal sanctions.

As a newly married young couple we were looking forward with joy and anticipation to the birth of our daughter in the year 2000.

Due to my high blood pressure and the fact that I was 14 days overdue, I should have been induced earlier. Sadly, Margaret was born with profound physical and intellectual disabilities.

The extent of these disabilities became apparent as she grew older. We never thought that her disabilities were as a result of medical negligence nor more importantly, were we told by the hospital.

The HSE clearly knew as is shown by their payment of 11m to Margaret. Thank God for the court system.

Yesterday Mr Justice Kevin Cross was told the settlement against the HSE was without admission of liability.

It was claimed there was an alleged failure to calculate the estimated date of delivery adequately and an alleged failure to monitor Ms Hurley's blood pressue on February 28, 2000, to admit the mother for observation and an alleged failure to induce the labour at an earlier point in time.

The claims were denied.

The Hurleys counsel, Liam Reidy SC, told the court it was their case that there was a significant miscalculation of her estimated due date and the pregnancy allegedly overran.

Mrs Hurley, he said, had attended the hospital on February 28, 2000 and her blood pressure was found to be elevated. She was advised she was term plus eleven days gestation and advised to return on March 2, 2000 for an induction of labour.

Counsel said it was their case she should have been kept in hospital and her blood pressure monitored.

If that was done he said Ms Hurley would have been induced and none of the alleged mishaps would have occurred. When she returned to hospital he said Mrs Hurley's blood pressure was "through the roof" . When born Margaret was in poor condition and remained in hospital for some time.

Counsel said the parents were not informed at the time of any alleged issues in relation to the birth but in 2014 they saw another case reported in the papers and went to a solicitor.

Ms Hurley told the court she had given up her teaching job to care full time for her daughter. She said Margaret was alert and had her own a way of communicating with the family. She said her daughter had not got therapies she required down the years because of lack of funds and the settlement will now help provide all those to her .

"I have to do everything for her. We are happy with the settlement ," she added.

Approving the settlement Mr Justice Kevin Cross wished the family well for the future .
Patients face the threat of ambulance service chaos as paramedics prepare to set new strike dates.

The leader of a union for ambulance staff who staged a walk-out yesterday warned more stoppages are "inevitable" unless health service management agrees to talks.

General Secretary of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, Peter Hughes, was speaking after 500 paramedics mounted pickets at depots around the country .

The strike lasted for 10 hours until 5pm yesterday.

He said the union's National Ambulance Service Representative Association committee will consider stepping up industrial action within days.

The paramedics are demanding the HSE recognise their union by deducting subscriptions from their salaries and engaging in talks.

It is understood a series of strikes may be announced, to take place on successive days.

Mr Hughes said he hopes Health Minister Simon Harris will ask the HSE to take up a Workplace Relations Commission invitation to talks.

"In the event that that doesn't happen, we will be left with no alternative but to announce more strike dates," he said.

He claimed some Siptu members did not pass the pickets.

The union leader also claimed some station managers relied on those on the picket lines in the event of the most serious emergencies.

Mr Hughes said the HSE was previously prepared to deduct union subscriptions, but stopped last year.

In a statement, the HSE said the National Ambulance Service only recognises Siptu, Unite and Forsa.

It said it would not deal with "breakaway" unions as this would have a "destabilising effect" on industrial relations.

HSE Director of the National Ambulance Service, Martin Dunne, said there were no delays in services during yesterday's strike.

He said a service was provided in response to all calls that came in.

"It's been challenging, I have to admit that," he added.

At the National Ambulance Service Dublin South Central station on Davitt Road in Dublin, members of the PNA marched in the bitter cold.

They said they were getting good support from the publicMany motorists passing blew their horns as a show of unity with their cause.

"We're out here because of the HSE's failure to recognise our union within the ambulance service and to deal with it," said Brendan Flynn, PNA organiser in the East Region.

"We haven't taken ambulances off the road.

"We have provided emergency cover, we've covered any call that we've been asked to cover here today.

"We don't want to inconvenience the public. We never wanted to be here in the first place."

He said army ambulances supplied during the strike were used.

"Certainly the one in Bricins [military hospital] has been used and I believe they have been deployed in the Midlands and in Cork city," he said.
A mural of the Derry Girls cast is to be painted in Derry city centre to celebrate the return of the hit comedy series

The main Derry Girls characters - Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and James - will be painted onto a side of the Badgers Bar.

Non-profit social enterprise group from the city, UV Arts, is teaming up with Channel 4's in-house creative agency to produce the mural, which is part of a wider marketing campaign.

Councillor John Boyle, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, said there was great support in the city for Derry Girls and that fans were looking forward to their return.

There is great anticipation here for the next instalment of the Derry Girls series and this artwork is a real tribute to the cast which will no doubt be really well received by fans," he said.

"I am delighted to see the ongoing success of the show, which has shone a spotlight on the city, our culture and our humour."

The first series aired in January 2018 and received an overwhelming positive reaction from viewers from around the UK and particularly from the local community in Derry, making it Channel 4s biggest comedy launch series in 14 years.

"The opportunity to immortalise these iconic figures through an amazing new mural can give the city a little hope for the future and spread a little laughter along the way," said Karl Porter at UV Arts.

Writer and Derry native Lisa McGee previously teased that the new series will see the girls and the wee English fella "up to more mischief and causing more chaos."

The second season of Derry Girls will air later this year.
Probe: Patisserie Holdings recently said it had found thousands of false entries in its accounts. Photo: PA

The UK parent of the Patisserie Valerie cake-shop chain collapsed into insolvency after an accounting scandal left it unable to secure new lending or pay its debts.

Patisserie Holdings said it appointed KPMG as administrators after announcing last week that it had found thousands of false entries in its accounts.

Former Patisserie chief executive officer Paul May stepped down in November after the baking company reported a surprise deficit that led to the arrest of former finance director Chris Marsh.

"As a direct result of the significant fraud referred to in previous announcements, it has been unable to renew its bank facilities, and therefore regrettably the business does not have sufficient funding to meet its liabilities as they fall due," the company said in a statement Tuesday.

Two of the 200 strong chain's outlets are in Ireland - on Dublin's Henry Street and in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin.

Chairman Luke Johnson has extended an unsecured, interest-free loan to help pay January wages, the chain said. The same loan will assist the administrators in keeping open as many profitable stores as possible while sale proceedings get under way.

UK accountancy watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), launched an investigation into Grant Thornton's auditing of Patisserie Valerie back in November.

Meanwhile and separately, FRC yesterday said it had opened a second investigation into KPMG's auditing of collapsed construction firm Carillion. The watchdog said that KPMG "self-reported" additional material related to the UK company's audit for year-end 2016.

The audit was one of 160 company audits in the FRC's routine annual quality review.

KPMG said yesterday it was reviewing its response to the FRC's quality review of Carillion's 2016 audit after concerns were identified in connection with a small number of documents provided to the FRC.

The watchdog said last year that it was investigating KPMG's audits of Carillion for 2014-2017 and the conduct of two former finance directors, Richard Adam and Zafar Khan.
Cathal OLeary says the firm can take over 3,000 homes

Debt-wracked mortgage holders who are in danger of having their homes repossessed are set to get a new lifeline.

A private company is offering to buy their homes, write off their debts, clear their mortgages and rent the homes back to them.

Arizun says the rents will reflect market rates.

The scheme applies to the squeezed middle who do not qualify for State supports, so would not be able to get a mortgage-to-rent deal.

Arizun says the scheme is privately funded, with no State backing.

This is in contrast to mortgage to rent, which is State-backed.

Under the new scheme, for the first six years of renting, the families will have the chance to buy back the homes, and take a 40pc share of any rise in the value of the property to use as a deposit.

Some 28,000 mortgage accounts are in arrears for two years or more, with these people at high risk of having their properties repossessed.

Many of these are not engaging with their lenders, despite solutions on offer from the likes of the Insolvency Service of Ireland which could keep people in their homes.

Arizun boss John McDaniel said the majority of homeowners in arrears do not qualify for State-backed mortgage-to-rent deals.

This meant these people had few options up to now.

"Arizun's 'Stay In Your Home' solution is specifically directed at families with large mortgage arrears and no opportunity to receive Government support," he said.

Mr McDaniel said the number of home repossessions has been low, but he said this will change with the increase in sales of distressed mortgages by banks that are under direction to get their balance sheets cleaned up.

"Anyone earning over 42,000 a year does not qualify for Government assistance, and there are many distressed homeowners in the 50,000 to 100,000 earning bracket who can afford to pay rent but have significant mortgage arrears and are likely in negative equity. They are in danger of losing their homes."

London-based investment house LCM is backing Arizun, which said it has secured 100m in funding, with another 400m committed if the scheme takes off.

Mr McDaniel is an American who has lived here for 20 years and worked in international trade. Also part of the management team is Cathal O'Leary, who worked in treasury operations in NCB Stockbrokers and Investec.

Mr O'Leary said the company was capable of taking over 3,000 homes and renting them back to the former owners.

Homes are bought with the sale price based on current market rates.

Arizun buys the mortgage from the lender if the homeowners agree to hand over the title deeds.

The debt-stricken family will then have their arrears and mortgage debt written off and will enter into a rental lease.

"We are solving a serious problem for a group of families which nobody else has taken on," Mr McDaniel added.

He said the solution will not cost the State anything, unlike mortgage to rent, and it will keep families in their homes and communities.

With a mortgage-to-rent deal, the borrower's mortgage must be deemed unsustainable. The borrower must have an income low enough to qualify for social housing. Rental payments are subsidised by a local authority.

For more information see Stayinyourhome.ie.
There has been a fall in the number of people applying for court-approved debt deals.

Around 1,000 people got an approved insolvency deal to keep them in their homes last year, a rise on the previous year, according to the Insolvency Service of Ireland.

There has been a fall in the numbers being declared bankrupt.

This is despite there being 28,000 in mortgage arrears for two years or more.

Head of the Insolvency Service, Lorcan O'Connor, said that there have been fluctuations in the numbers seeking and getting official debt solutions.

He insisted the overall trend was one where more people were availing of debt deals.

He said there was a one-third increase in the numbers getting a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA). This is court-approved restructuring of mortgage payments, and may include a lender writing down some of the debt.

Figures from the Insolvency Service show there were 3,500 applicants last year for the various debt deals it offers. This is down 24pc on the 2017 figure.

But there was an 18pc rise in the number of debt arrangements that ended up being put in place. Some 959 people had a PIA put in place last year, a rise of 31pc on the previous year.

There were fewer than 400 bankruptcy cases last year, a fall of 16pc on the figure for 2017. A total of 8,000 people have got debt restructuring deals since the Insolvency Service was set up in 2013. Some 2,134 of these were PIAs, with 2,323 bankruptcies.

"While there are some fluctuations within the statistics, the overall trend continues to point towards more people seeking to avail of the solutions available through the Insolvency Service that return insolvent debtors to solvency," Mr O'Connor said.

The Insolvency Service's website is at backontrack.ie.
A single oil find could create up to 1,200 jobs annually and provide revenue of up to 8.5bn in corporation tax. Stock Image

The Irish offshore oil and gas sector could create as many as 1,500 jobs a year.

This is according to a report from consulting firm PwC, commissioned by the Irish Offshore Operators' Association (IOOA).

A single oil find could create up to 1,200 jobs annually and provide revenue of up to 8.5bn in corporation tax.

Meanwhile, a single gas find could create up to 380 jobs a year, providing revenue of 2.4bn in corporation tax over the production periods.

The report claims the development of indigenous oil and gas resources in Ireland would deliver some carbon emissions benefits as well as security of supply.

Gas in electricity generation is 67pc less carbon-intensive than peat and 61pc less intensive than coal. Oil is also 33pc less carbon-intensive than peat and 20pc less than coal.

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As Brexit looms, Ireland's energy security remains vulnerable, with 100pc of all of our oil, and 31pc of all our gas imported, primarily through the UK. In turn, the UK is dependent on increasing imported energy from the EU, Norway and Russia.

The potential cost of a total blackout in Ireland for a day is estimated at 850m, according to the report.

"More than a third of Europe's gas comes from Russia, so there is clearly a vulnerability beyond Europe," said IOOA chairman Professor Pat Shannon.

"It will secure our supply, generate significant amounts of revenue and create high-value jobs, particularly in the south and west."

Oil and gas exploration is by its nature a capital-intensive industry, and many Irish companies operating in the sector rely on international partners for investment.

With regards to the desire from companies to invest in the sector here, Mr Shannon said money is "going into the ground" in 2019.

"Chinese group Nexen Cnooc are drilling, that money is going into the ground this summer, likewise Providence Resources and their partners, the money is going into the ground," said Mr Shannon.

"Those are concrete examples of the appetite among companies to invest in the industry, and behind them quite a number of companies are lining up as a result of the last licensing round held at the end of 2015," he added.

"This round was very significant in that it brought in a number of particularly very big players, some of whom had been here before and had left, and others whom are new entrants."

Hugh Mackay, CEO of Europa Oil, added that as an alternative to importing oil, producing oil here delivers an element of energy security.

"With one decent discovery, Ireland could be self-sufficient in oil and that gives you security and also creates investment.

"One medium-size oil find in the Irish Atlantic, that's $16bn worth of investment and 1,200 jobs," Mr Mackay said.
Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of fashion retailer Karen Millen last year halved to 100,000.

New accounts show that Karen Millen Ireland Ltd recorded the drop in pre-tax profits in spite of revenues increasing by 5pc from 5.9m to 6.2m in the 12 months to the end of February 24 last.

The directors' report states that the year under review has been a period of operational stabilisation for the Karen Millen Group and that digital business grew significantly year-on-year.

The firm's payout under operating leases last year remained at 0.5m. Staff costs last year totalled 1m.

Separate accounts for connected fashion retail firm, Oasis Fashions Ireland Ltd, show that pre-tax profits increased by 63pc from 1.1m to 1.8m in the 12 months to the end of February 28 last.

The increase in profit came in spite of revenues declining by 4pc from 18.8m to 18m against what the directors describe as "a difficult retail environment".

Numbers employed by the Oasis business totalled 230 and staff costs last year amounted to 2.6m. The firm's spend on operating lease rentals totalled 3.1m with non-cash depreciation costs of 300,000.

Another well-known fashion retail brand here, Warehouse Fashion Ireland Ltd, last year broke even after recording losses of 300,000 in the prior year.

It recorded the break even after revenues declined by 9pc from 6.8m to 6.2m. The firm employs 94. All three fashion retail businesses are owned by the Iceland's Kaupthing Bank.
Hearts are heavy in Fort Myers Beach this week as local residents remember a life cut short too soon.

Dr. Leroy Hommerding, 69, was found fatally stabbed on Sunday morning in front of the library where he had served as director since 2000.

According to witnesses, he was opening the library for a weekend book sale when suspect Adam M. Soules, whom some described as homeless, allegedly stabbed him.

Witnesses chased Soules to the nearby Topps building, where police apprehended him.

Soules, who does not have a history of violent crime, remained in custody at press time and was being held without bond.

His only other arrest on record in Lee County was a loitering charge in 2014.

For him to be attacked like this is just unthinkable, it really is. It breaks my heart, said Betty Simpson, Friends of the Library board member.

She was planning to work the sales afternoon shift that day, and she described how Hommerding set an example of dedication for everyone who worked at the library.

You did these things, even on a Sunday, when youve got family and youve got other things to be doing. But you did it, because of love for the library, and because of the devotion that he had. And he just transferred that thought to all of us, she said.

This library, this was his dream.

Resident Tom Babcock remembers how instrumental Hommerding was in creating the library that the community enjoys today.

I had the privilege to be chair of the Local Planning Agency and a member of town council when plans for the new Fort Myers Beach Library were being approved. Dr. Leroy Hommerdings fingerprints were all over that plan. Not only was it customer focused, it was designed to be environmentally friendly. It set the bar for future development on the island. His leadership provided a plan that could be easily approved, but as a taxpayer, it was economically feasible and structured to make all islanders proud. One person can make a difference. Leroy will be remembered for that, he said.

I worked with him when we built the library, said Mark La Fave, who served on the board of the library for the last decade.

He had a vision that went out 50 to 100 years. Even on our basic planning, we are always on a 10- or 20-year timeline, but the long-term vision was out well up to 50 years and beyond. Very few administrators have this acumen and foresight.

Ive lost a friend and a colleague, and certainly this town has lost a citizen that dedicated not only his professional life, but the last time I saw him, he was volunteering at the Kiwanis club on his day off, after working 60 hours a week, he said.

Resident Fran Myers said they were fortunate to have Hommerding as director.

What an extraordinarily intelligent and smart guy. He was a real true southern gentleman and truly loved our library. He always wanted to tour me around (and show me) anything new he had ordered; he was like a little child with a new toy, she said.

Beach Elementary School teachers remember Hommerding for his dedication to educating their students.

Every year he would give the new kindergarten class a tour of the library. He took such care and detail to welcome them and get them excited about books. He was always so excited to see us, said Heather Lodovico, the schools PE teacher.

Kindergarten teacher Tina Cribbs said she learned something new about the library herself every time he took her students on a tour.

He explained everything, he was so knowledgeable about that library, how it was built, and the decisions that were made in choosing the materials, she said.

After a tour, her students could even explain why they chose the particular plants at the library and the function of the pavers in the parking lot.

He took us all throughout that library because it just meant the world to him. And he shared it with our kids, she said.

Cribbs had a personal link with Hommerding, too.

They both shared a love for hand-decorated Ukranian Easter eggs, called pysanky.

He made them himself. And every year he had his collection on display at the library, she said.

For several years, she took her classes to the library to learn about Hommerdings eggs.

The man hours to create these eggs are phenomenal. Theyre very detailed and theyre very intricate, and he would invite us every year, not only to see his display, but he would sit down with us and he would demonstrate how he did it, she said.

Two years ago during one of these presentations, disaster struck.

An egg accidentally rolled off the table and shattered.

And my children didnt breathe. They didnt move It had just rolled off the table. And I know he was devastated. I know that man wanted to cry. But he didnt. He just looked at us and he said, you know, its OK. And he just kept right on going, Cribbs said.

Im going to miss taking my kids to hear him tell how he made those eggs, and how much love he put into those eggs, and what the eggs symbolize, she said.

In 2009, the Observer wrote a story about Hommerding and his eggs.

In it, he explained their significance.

Ukrainian tradition says that you are putting something of yourself into the egg to give a gift to someone. You are not calling attention to yourself. So, whoever makes the egg is not important. Its the story. Every color on the egg stands for something and every symbol on the egg becomes part of the story, he said.

Hommerding painted brown and white eggs after his father passed away.

The purpose of the brown and white is to indicate that life continues to go on, he said. It doesnt end.

Cribbs hopes they continue to display Hommerdings eggs at the library in remembrance of him.

Mayor Tracey Gore described Hommerding as one of the kindest humans shes ever known.

He took the time to reach out to me when he thought I was down to remind me of what really matters, the things that bring us happiness. Id love to have the library renamed in his honor, she said.

So many people have asked what they can do. Heres what Dr. Hommerding would want:

Continue to visit our beautiful library and enjoy the special presentations, displays, and all we have to offer, and support the volunteers and staff in anyway you can, said library board member Jan Fleming.
Over 100 investors and innovators are expected to gather for a global female entrepreneurship event in Dublin next month.

Dell is bringing its Women Funding Women tour her in an effort to highlight the investments made in women-led companies.

Dell Womens Entrepreneurship Network (DWEN) believes the February 6 event will help to encourage more funding to assist female entrepreneurs in Ireland.

DWEN director Ingrid Devlin said that bringing the global tour to Dublin showcases "the vibrant female start-up ecosystem and investment opportunities for growth on this island".

"Despite womens entrepreneurship rates rising globally by 13pc in recent years, access to capital and technology continue to limit the success of our female entrepreneurs in Ireland. By connecting female entrepreneurs and investors, we can accelerate positive change that empowers women-led business growth," she said.

Aisling Keegan, Vice-President and General Manager, Dell EMC Ireland will give the keynote speech at the event.

Founder of Dundalk-headquartered cybersecurity start-up Nova Leah, Anita Finnegan and a leading investor behind the companys recent 2.25m funding round, Partner of Kernel Capital Jayne Brady will also feature on the day.

The DWEN Women Funding Women event takes place in Huckletree D2, The Academy, Dublin 2 from 5pm to 8pm on Wednesday, February 6.
50pc of lambs produced in Northern Ireland go south of the border, but these would face a tariff of 40 per lamb in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Half of Northern Ireland's sheep farmers would be out of business in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to Ivor Ferguson, President of the Ulster Farmer's Union.

Ivor Ferguson told Drivetime this evening that there is a lot of concern about the logistics of customs checks, and where such checks would be located, but his main concern is who will pick up the bill for tariffs.

He said 50pc of lambs produced in Northern Ireland go south of the border, but these would face a tariff of 40 per lamb in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Ferguson said the sheep business is not a lucrative one for farmers and such tariffs would put many farmers out of business.

"I would face a tariff of 40 a lamb... that's the concern. I'm pretty convinced they can find a way to do the checks OK, but who will pay the money?"

He said it is no surprise that the UFU support British Prime Minister Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement, given that between 70pc and 80pc of goods produced in Northern Ireland go elsewhere.

"We have always stated that we want unfettered access to our largest market, which is the UK market, but we also want to be able to trade north-south and also with all other EU Member States".

Mr Ferguson said the UFU was not a political organisation, and as such does not take political positions, but nonetheless he said members are 'very disappointed' at the lack of devolved government at Stormont.

"At a crucial time like this we don't have anyone to represent us... and we find that is unacceptable".
Two free Teagasc national lowland sheep conferences will take place next week. They will be held in the Tullamore Court Hotel, Co Offaly, on Tuesday January 29 and the Clanree Hotel, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, on Thursday January 31.

The Department of Agriculture KT-approved events will showcase four papers presented by four different speakers, highlighting areas of interest to Irish sheep farmers, beginning at 6pm sharp.

It says Dr Nigel Kendall, a lecturer in animal nutrition and reproduction in the University of Nottingham will be speaking at the conference and will be focusing on mineral supplementation in sheep production systems.

Nigels paper will discuss how to determine whether your animals require mineral supplementation, how best to supplement your flock if it is required and how to evaluate whether mineral supplementation was effective on your farm.

Sheep consultant, Lesley Stubbings from the UK, will outline strategies in her paper for feeding the ewe with a particular emphasis on the late pregnancy period. As well as this, she will discuss effects on production performance from recording and monitoring the body condition score of ewes in flocks.

Following this, Declan McEvoy, head of tax IFAC will be discussing the implications of succession and inheritance of the family farm to the next generation. Declan has over 30 years experience advising agribusiness clients on tax-related affairs. He will be advising on how best to approach the specific elements which are required prior to taking over the family farm.

Teagasc Research Officer, Dr Tim Keady, who is leading an international sheep research project, SheepNet (Sharing Expertise and Experience towards sheep Productivity through NETworking) will also be speaking at the conferences.

The aim of the innovative network is to improve flock productivity to in turn improve farmers income and therefore the sustainability and attractiveness of sheep production, according to the programme.

He will discuss the research to date of SheepNET and how it impacts ewe productivity with regards to reproductive efficiency, gestation efficiency and increased lamb survivability.
For the majority of mid-season lambing flocks, the scanning of ewes has already been completed or is fast approaching. Scanning of your ewe flock is one of the most important management tools that a farmer can use to plan for the forthcoming lambing season.

It gives the farmer an idea of whats coming in terms of lambs per ewe, thus allowing for a more tailored feeding regime so as to ensure that the lambing season will be as successful as possible.

At scanning time, we can also body condition score our ewes and this along with the results from scanning allows the farmer to plan their feeding regime to match the ewes requirements for the weeks coming up to lambing.

They then can be grouped and fed according to litter size and body condition. Body condition scoring is a method of evaluating the body fat reserves in animals. It measures the level of subcutaneous fat just below the hide of the animal. Body fat reserves are important because they are the main energy reserves of the body which the animal can use to maintain her production when she is underfed or incorrectly fed.

It is important to handle sheep on a regular basis so as to get your eye in on the condition of the ewes in your flock.

Ewes should be handled at the following points: over and around the backbone, the loin area behind the last rib, above the kidney along the top and sides of the backbone.

Body condition is scored on a scale from 1-5. A score of 1 would indicate an undernourished animal whereas a score of 5 would indicate an over fat animal. Over fat and equally thin ewes at lambing can lead to lambing difficulties and increased mortality.

Why should we condition score ewes at scanning time?

Having the ewe at the correct body condition score coming up to lambing ensures that ewes will lamb down fit, have a good mothering ability and a good supply of colostrum to feed the new born lamb.

In most cases coming up to lambing, silage is the main feed fed to ewes along with concentrate. The quality of the silage fed will determine the amount of concentrate required in the weeks leading up to lambing.

Given that silage plays a large part of the pregnant ewes diet, getting a silage analysis done is good value for money. A silage analysis of the first and second cuts will determine the quality, dry matter and the potential intake of the silage and will allow you to decide how much and for how long concentrates will need to be fed. Excellent quality (75pc + DMD) silage will meet the ewes feed requirements up to lambing but the reality is that most ewes feed requirements must be supplemented as the average silage being produced has a DMD of about 65-67pc DMD.

Where scanning results indicate a litter size of near to 2, it would indicate that a significant percentage of ewes are carrying 3 or more lambs. The ewes bearing triplets or quads should be started on a concentrate feeding regime immediately after scanning or at least 8-10weeks prior to the expected lambing date.

This is to ensure that both lamb birth weights approaching 4kg each is achieved and also to maintain the ewes body condition score so that she produces sufficient milk to feed the lambs.

Smaller weak lambs, particularly in multiples, will lead to higher mortality levels. Depending on ewe body condition and quality of forage available the level should rise to around 1kg per head per day split into two feeds so as not to sicken the ewe in the weeks before lambing.

The general guide to feeding the rest of your ewe flock is as follows:

Twin bearing ewes are fed 30pc less than triplet bearing ewes building up to a maximum of 0.8kg in the week before lambing. Start the concentrate feeding of ewes carrying twins 7 to 8 weeks before the expected lambing date.

Feeding of single bearing ewes can be delayed a further few weeks and should be fed 30pc less than those carrying twins up to a maximum of 0.5kg prior to lambing.

If silage quality is extremely poor, such as with a DMD in the low 60s or worse, higher levels of concentrates will be needed.

Also assess body condition at this stage.

Twin bearing ewes in poor body condition would need to be fed with similar concentrate levels to the triplet bearing ewes. Also single bearing ewes in poor body condition would need to be fed similar concentrate levels to twin bearing ewes.

The overall aim in the last three weeks of pregnancy for all ewes pregnancy is to ensure that the intake of protein is sufficient. Protein intake is most critical. The twin bearing ewe needs to take in 200 grams of protein per day in the last stages of pregnancy.

All feeds that the ewe eats contributes to this daily requirement but in terms of quality, soya is the best available.

Soya is the main protein source food in most good sheep rations or nuts. The listing of ingredients on the feedstuff manufacturers label is in order of inclusion with the first listed being the biggest constituent. Ensure when buying a ration or nut that soya is listed in the top three of the ingredient list. The inclusion of soya which has a high percentage of protein is to ensure that the ewe has enough of top quality colostrum for her newborn lambs.

Other considerations coming up to lambing is the provision of enough water and enough trough space for the ewe. A guide of 600mm per head of trough space should be enough for all ewes to eat together at one time. Split concentrate feeds into two daily feeds (morning and evening) so as to avoid digestive upsets, the little and often approach should maximise the intake. Sheep can consume up to 6litres per day if they are on dry feed so having a fresh supply of water is critical.

Martina Donnelly is a Teagasc Adviser, Teagasc Galway/Clare
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that the Government has got the back of the agriculture and fishing industries as Brexit looms.

Speaking in the Dail yesterday, he said 30pc or 40pc of Government time is now taken up with Brexit.

"Our farmers, fishermen and agrifood industry are at the forefront of my mind and the minds of all in this Government because they and the rural economies associated with them are most likely to be adversely affected by Brexit.

"This is one of the reasons we are putting so much work into this.

"We do so because we want to protect the livelihoods of our farmers and fishermen along with our agrifood industry and everyone who depends on it.

"This is why we are working so hard to secure a deal and a deal that means that no tariffs or quotas will be imposed on our farming exports.

"The entire industry can be assured that the Government has its back in that regard.

"The same thing applies with CAP reform and our efforts to ensure no agreement is made regarding Mercosur that adversely affects our beef industry in particular," he said.

The Taoiseach 's comments come in the wake of stinging criticism of his remarks that hes eating less meat to reduce his carbon footprint.

It prompted a wave of criticism from farmers groups with Irish Cattle and Sheep Association president Patrick Kent saying they were reckless in the extreme.

Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association president Pat McCormack said Mr Varadkars timing couldnt be worse due to Brexit. He defended the environmental record of the Irish beef and dairy industries. On Mr Varadkars subsequent linking of red meat to cancer, Mr McCormack appealed to him to pause for a minute and think about the impact of his remarks on the reputation and standing of the biggest indigenous economic sector in the state.

Irish Farmers Association president Joe Healy the remarks were disappointing arguing that Irish farmers have increased their output without increasing emissions.

He said farmers would seek clarification on Mr Varadkars remarks when he attends their AGM later this month.

Meanwhile, the EU's stance on the necessity for a Border in a no deal Brexit has dramatically hardened.

In a devastating blow to the Government, the EU now appears to be leaning on Dublin for concessions ahead of a final showdown with the UK.

Brussels has indicated there will be an obligation on Ireland to erect a hard Border in a disorderly Brexit.

Officials gave Tanaiste Simon Coveney no warning before publicly declaring the obvious outcome of a hard Brexit will be a hard Border.

The development left ministers struggling to come up with a coherent response. On one hand, the Government claimed to be preparing for all eventualities but at the same time absolutely denied planning for Border checks.

While seeking to shift the onus for a solution back on to Westminster, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said this country will face a real dilemma if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

He insisted the backstop is still alive, saying: We cannot give it up in return for a promise that it will be all right on the night.

Asked what would happen on March 29 if the UK leaves without a deal, Mr Varadkar said a hard Border would not be acceptable.

"We would have to negotiate an agreement on customs and regulations that would mean full alignment so there would be no hard Border," he said.

"We already have that agreement and that is the backstop. Nobody who is opposed to the backstop can credibly state he or she is also against a hard Border unless he or she can come up with something else that aligns customs and regulations and allows a Border to be avoided. Nobody else has done that yet."
A farmer's signature on a will five days before he died of cancer in his hospital bed was "an extraordinary squiggle" made when he was too ill to do so, the High Court has heard.

Bachelor Michael Buckley (76), from Caim near Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, was not of sound mind when he left his entire 54-acre farm and stock, estimated to be worth between 500,000 to 1m, to his nephew Richard Cooper junior, it is claimed by four of the deceased's siblings.

Joseph, William and Elizabeth Buckley and Teresa Doyle want the court to condemn the will.

Mr Cooper junior, who built his family home on a site on the farm sold to him by his uncle, is opposing the action.

He also denies his uncle was acting under undue influence and lacked mental capacity to make the will.

Mr Buckley died on March 20, 2011, from colon cancer. He had been in extremely poor health for a number of months before he was diagnosed, not eating and losing a lot of weight.

He underwent a major operation which did not improve his condition, was suffering from sepsis, and was receiving palliative care, the court heard.

About a week before he died, local solicitor John Mernagh was asked by Sheila Cooper to go to the hospital to take his will. But Mr Mernagh found him unresponsive and not engaging in a way that suggested he was capable of making a will, Michael Counihan SC, for the Buckley siblings said.

Mr Mernagh left and a few days later, on March 15, Mrs Cooper's husband Dick asked another local firm to attend him to take a will urgently.

Solicitor, Jason Dunne, who has written guidebooks for people making wills, told the court when he attended on March 15, he found Mr Buckley was "perfectly clear", alert and coherent. He knew he was making a will and who he wanted his estate to go to, Mr Dunne said.

Mr Dunne recorded the next day in typewritten notes, from his contemporaneous handwritten attendance note taken on the day, that Mr Buckley chatted lucidly during the visit including about the new government and an earthquake in Japan.

Mr Dunne told the court however he was quite weak and he (Dunne) had to hold Mr Buckley's elbow as he signed the will while lying propped up on a pillow in bed.

"He signed it and it is entirely his own signature, not a great one - he could have put an X but he managed his own signature", Mr Dunne said. The solicitor also said he himself could also have signed it on Mr Buckley's behalf but it was not necessary.

He told Mr Cooper junior's counsel, Philip Sheahan, it was not unusual for a farmer to leave everything to one person because they do not want to see the farm broken up.

Cross examined by Mr Counihan, for the Buckley siblings, Mr Dunne said it was not necessary to ask Mr Buckley's doctors about his capacity once he (Dunne) had no doubt himself about it having spoken to the client. He had no suspicion or doubt Mr Buckley was capable of giving clear instructions.

Asked about the view of the other solicitor, Mr Mernagh, a few days earlier that he was "utterly unfit", Mr Dunne said Mr Buckley was in an entirely different condition and capable of giving instructions on the day he saw him.

He did not know whether "someone had been in" with Mr Buckley in the days between when Mr Mernagh attended and when he (Dunne) went to the hospital.

He disagreed it was necessary for him to have known more about who else might want to benefit or that it was necessary for him to know who was taking care of him at home.

He disagreed that because Mr Buckley described his holding as 44 acres rather than 54 acres, this showed he was confused.

He agreed the signature on the will, described by Mr Counihan as an "extraordinary squiggle" showed a "shocking disintegration" with signatures Mr Buckley had written in the months and years before his death.

Mr Dunne said he did not enquire as to what drugs he was on either from medical staff or Mr Buckley himself. He was not aware at the time he was on morphine.

However, he had no doubt about his capacity.

The case continues before Mr Justice Charles Meenan.
Suckler beef sector gloom is deepening further as consumers are encouraged to cut meat consumption. Now farmers at Castlerea Mart hope a new Beef Plan Movement can drive change, writes Storm Powell.

David Creighton, Castlerea, Co Roscommon

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Forty-year-old David runs 40 to 50 suckler cows on his farm.

"For the last 30 to 40 years, suckler farming has been the bedrock of rural Ireland and I don't know what will happen if it dwindles," he says.

"We need political leadership. Nobody seems to care about the suckler trade or the West of Ireland farmer.

"Leo Varadkar's comments on eating less red meat were reckless in the current climate, both damaging and dangerous to a sector which is already struggling. It shows that he doesn't know what's going in the farming sector."

David became involved in the Beef Plan Movement before Christmas.

"I felt it was time for us to stand up and fight for our industry," he explains. "For too long, beef farmers have had no representation."

The Beef Plan Group held an information meeting in Castlerea Mart last Wednesday.

"It allowed farmers to vent their anger and frustration," says David.

"Hopefully, this new movement will drive change and give beef farmers a much needed voice. Unfortunately, very few politicians attended."

Gabriel Sloyan, Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo

Gabriel is a suckler and beef farmer on 90ac in Pattenspark.

"To improve trade, quality must be maintained," he says.

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"In addition, live exports need to increase and red tape needs to be minimised.

"Leo Varadkar's comments won't have an effect on my generation. But younger people may follow his example by changing their eating habits."

Gabriel joined the Beef Plan Group at its first meeting in Roscommon last November.

"We're all looking for better prices as costs are so high," he says. "When the new movement reach their target of 40,000 farmers, we will have a strong voice and, hopefully, there will be safety in numbers.

"Low prices and poor financial returns causes stress for farmers and this causes mental health difficulties."

Brendan Egan, Ballymoe, Co Roscommon

Mart manager Brendan also farms 48ac.

"A lively suckler trade is vital for the local, rural community," he says.

"When calf prices are good and there is a vibrant export market, farmers are in a position to reinvest in their farms.

"The local businesses also benefit. Sucklers are suited to the West of Ireland as many are farming part-time.

"Quality is the key and the good suckler farmer is still making a decent living in this area.

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"Leo Varadkar's comment has drawn a lot of debate in media and social media circles. Unfortunately, there is a lot of negative press at present for the farming community and agricultural sector."

As mart manager, Brendan facilitated the Beef Plan Group last week by providing the venue for their meeting. Brendan reckons there were up to 300 farmers attending.

"It was very informative."

He has not joined the group but says: "They have set themselves a tough task and I wish them well. Membership is growing weekly."

Patrick Duffy, Ballaghaderreen, Co Mayo

Forty-six-year old Patrick is a married man with three young children who farms 45ac at Kilmovee. At present, he has 15 suckler cows and supplements his farm income with farm assist payments.

"No one seems to know the solution to the suckler difficulties," says Patrick who was forced to retire from full-time off-farm work in 2016 due to ill health.

"I took over the home farm then. The dairy man is flooding the market."

Patrick would welcome greater export numbers as a means of improvement.

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"The future is not too bright, young people in this area are not staying in farming. Costs are too high and prices are too low," he says.

"Leo Varadkar is not in touch with the reality of living in rural Ireland. His comments are bound to have an adverse impact for beef producers."

Patrick, who worries about the long-term future in the West, joined the Beef Plan Group at their meeting in Castlerea last week.

"If you sit idly by, you can't complain. The group comprises like-minded people who understand the challenges facing family farms.

"Holdings in the West are small and fragmented. If the group increases beef prices, even a small bit, we will all benefit. Most businesses in small rural areas are connected to farming and they all suffer if farming is not thriving.

"Policy makers don't seem to see outside Dublin."

John Towey, Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon

Fifty-year-old John from Pullboy is a full-time suckler farmer on 40ac.

"It's hard to make a living," says John, who would like to see increased subsidies to ensure the sustainability of the suckler farmer.

"Costs have increased. It's very hard to stay in farming."

John worked as a painter up to 10 years ago and then began farming full-time.

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"I may plant or lease my land in the future. I am considering all my options," he says pessimistically.

"The young people won't farm due to low incomes.

"It's easy to know that Leo Varadkar is not from a farming background.

"His comments will encourage young people to stop eating meat."

Though John is not presently a member of the new Beef Plan group, he says: "Anything to improve prices is good for farmers - they are making sense and it's time for someone to represent us."

John comes to the mart each week.

"It's a good opportunity to chat to neighbours."
Irish beef accounted for 75pc of Britain's beef imports in November, according to the latest trade statistics in the UK.

The UK imported 24,600t of fresh/frozen beef in November, 6pc lower year on year and around 1,000t less than in October.

However, imports from Ireland were 18,600t, 1pc higher than last November and constituted 75pc of total imports, up from 70pc a year ago.

According to AHDB Analyst Duncan Wyatt, this increase in market share was also due to drops in volumes from other markets.

Imports from Poland were 18pc lower year on year at 1,900t. German volumes also fell by 40pc to 500t.

Within the overall total, fresh beef imports were 10pc lower year-on-year while frozen shipments were 5pc higher.

"This continues a trend seen throughout 2018.

"In fact, in the year to date, beef imports are 5pc higher at 264,000 tonnes, due to the marked increase in imports of frozen beef," Mr Wyatt said.

"The growth has particularly come from Irish boneless product.

In total, 20pc more frozen product has arrived in the year to November. "Although imports of frozen beef have generally been rising in recent years, this increase is thought to be in preparation for Brexit. Imports of fresh beef are down 1pc year on year," he said.

Exports of beef to the UK increased by 4pc in 2018 with lower beef supplies in the UK leading to increased demand for imports. Demand from the retail sector was stable.

The foodservice sector was more challenging, as Irish beef under pressure from more competitively priced imports from Eastern Europe.

Irish beef, however, was able to grow its presence in the higher end of the foodservice sector.

Overall, UK beef consumption decreased by 2pc in 2018, as a result of continued price inflation of over 3% and dietary lifestyle decisions.

Manufacturers here are reporting that finished goods are taking up most cold storage space as stockpiles hit a six-month high across the UK in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.

The IHS Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed a reading of 54.2 last month, higher than the 53.6 recorded in November - making it a six-month high.

A figure above 50 indicates growth and economists were expecting a reading of 52.5 in December.

Businesses importing goods from the EU will face severe disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit. According to the IHS, manufacturers are building up safety stocks to mitigate the potential upheaval.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has refused to clarify the Government's plans for a no-deal Brexit as the EU's stance on the necessity for a Border in a no-deal Brexit has dramatically hardened.

Speaking this morning on RTE's Morning Ireland, presenter Audrey Carville said that Minister Creed was treating listeners as "stupid" as he repeatedly refused to answer questions on customs checks in the event of a hard Border.

Yesterday, the EU indicated there will be an obligation on Ireland to erect a hard Border in a disorderly Brexit.

The development left ministers struggling to come up with a coherent response. On one hand, the Government claimed to be preparing for all eventualities but at the same time absolutely denied planning for Border checks.

Speaking this morning, Minister Creed repeated the Government's claims that there will be no hard Border.

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"It is important to remain focused on the reality of where this is at politically now. It is not politically the case that there is any diminution or any fracturing of the consensus of the EU 27. The focus is and rightly should be on what the UK is going to do. If they change their self-imposed red lines, that offers the opportunity to revisit the Withdrawal Agreement and the Commission has clearly stated that."

Presenter Audrey Carville challenged the Minister's response asking him to clarify where border checks will be carried out.

"We are talking this morning about a no-deal Brexit and what will happen on this island on March 30 when a tanker load of milk leaves Tyrone to deliver to Donegal. Who will check that tanker of milk?" asked Ms Carville.

Despite being asked more than five times by the RTE presenter, Minister Creed refused to clarify where customs checks will be held and who will do the checks.

He also refused to answer questions surrounding the practicability of a no-deal Brexit.

"We do not envisage under any circumstances Border infrastructure," Mr Creed replied.

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"What is abundantly clear, and has been from day one, is that this Government is not in any circumstance returning to a situation where we have hard Border infrastructure."

Minister Creed added that the "UK government must be the focus now".

Ms Carville again asked the Minister to clarify the Government's plans.

"Many people listening this morning may think you are treating us all as if we are stupid," she said.

Mr Creed refuted the claims saying that it is "imperative that the Irish Government's position is clearly understood in the context of the debate, which is current and fluid in the UK parliament".

"We have a solution to these issues. We share the same position [that Northern Ireland] shares. There will be no hard Border."

Mr Creed added that the border issue is dealt with in the context of the backstop.

"Minister, please," Ms Carville replied. "With respect, all of us who are invested in this, as is most of the country, understand that this is not the case. The Withdrawal Agreement does not deal with a no-deal Brexit. So I'm asking you, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, who will do the checking on the animals and food products and where will they be checked?"

Mr Creed replied that the Government has made some arrangements in the case of a hard Brexit for border inspection posts on an east-west basis, including at Dublin Port.

"But what about products going from Tyrone to Donegal, Monaghan to Armagh, where will the border be?" Ms Carville asked again.

Mr Creed repeated that the plan is not for hard-Border infrastructure to be implemented.

"The next move is clearly in the court of Westminister."
Judging by the crowds this past weekend at the 60th annual Cracker Day Rodeo, people really missed losing last years event to a rainout caused by Hurricane Irma.

Good crowds came out on Friday and Saturday, and the families came out in full force on Sunday for the youth rodeo, a real sign that everything is back to business as usual at the Lee County Posse Arena.

The rodeo, which celebrates Florida ranchers who have worked the fields and cattle of interior Florida for centuries, serves as the biggest fundraiser for the Lee County Posse Arena, which was founded in 1960 and, for most of its time, has survived as an all-volunteer group.

Kathy Cross, organizer for the rodeo, said it was wonderful to be back  especially for the younger kids who competed Sunday, since its home away from home for many.

Its a lot of work, but were back in full swing and better than before, Cross said. The kids love the junior rodeo because they like to perform and it keeps children off the streets.

Al Curry, who was the announcer for the 24th straight year, said many of the events at the rodeo are basically the same things that ranchers do all the time, such as branding, while serving as a fundraiser.

When people pay their entry fees, or come in through the gate or buy at the concession stand, it helps the youth in the surrounding five counties, said Curry, who was riding Will, one of a set of twin horses born at the Sweet Cypress Ranch a decade ago.

The Friday and Saturday performances were more like traditional rodeos than in the past, where other unusual contests were held. It all started with mutton bustin for the smallest athletes.

Jackson Ballard, age 2, was telling everyone he was going to ride a sheep. When it came time for him to ride, it was a short one.

Meanwhile, Caleb Thomason, 21, of Lake Placid, rode one of the big bulls at the end of Saturdays performance.

A friend wanted me to do it so I gave it a try. Its fun. I wouldnt expect anyone to understand it until they got on one, said Thomason, who rides dozens of rodeos every year. Theyll want to do it again and again. Its an adrenaline rush.

Aubrey St. Pierre, 14, of Cape Coral, has been riding at the arena since she was 4. Her parents have been involved long before that and her grandfather helped found it.

Its family-oriented and everyone is cheering you on. We rarely have problems and if we do, it always gets worked out, St. Pierre said. Its a home away from home.

Nicole Turner, of Arcadia, who was competing in barrel racing, grew up at the arena and looks forward to the event every year, even if she doesnt compete much now because she is now raising a family of her own.

I started when I was 8 and now I only do it for fun. The arena gave me something to work toward. I looked forward to it and it probably kept me out of trouble, Turner said. I hate to admit that.
Ryanair's rating from global agency Standard & Poor's would survive flights being grounded temporarily between the UK and the EU in the event of a hard Brexit.

That's according to the agency's managing director of corporate and government ratings, Philip Baggaley. He also said that an EU cap on the number of flights between the trading bloc and the UK this year, at 2018 levels, could benefit airlines in the short term. The plan has been criticised by the International Air Transport Association.

"We actually undertook a stress test where we stopped UK-EU flying by [IAG, Easyjet and Ryanair], and actually all of their ratings held, mainly because they have so much headroom. They have very strong financial profiles," Mr Baggaley told the 'Airfinance Journal' conference in Dublin.

Ryanair has a long-term BBB+ rating from Standard & Poor's, and the same rating from ratings agency Fitch.

A cap on routes between the UK and the EU would be "inconvenient for passengers, but might not be a bad thing for the airlines," said Mr Baggaley. "As a barrier to entry, it would constrain supply. Long-term, it's not good obviously, but in the short-term it might be."

Mr Baggaley also said that the European airline industry is undergoing "slow motion consolidation".

Jonathan Root, senior vice president at Moody's Investors Services, said that airline bankruptcies in Europe last year should give potential new entrants pause for thought.

"These bankruptcies should be a warning sign to anyone who's looking to start an airline," he said.

"It's really important to have a good network, and as a startup you're not going to have a network, you're going to start with a couple of routes. The cost of entry is very low because you can find an aircraft and lease it, but I just think it's very risky."

Marjan Riggi, a senior managing director with bond rating agency Kroll, said there is an "excess" of LCCs (low-cost carriers) in Europe.
IRISH fisheries groups have welcomed an EU proposal to compensate trawlers in the event of a no-deal Brexit, if European Union boats are barred from UK waters.

A no deal Brexit would automatically mean a ban on British boats fishing in EU waters and EU boats from fishing off Britain.

The European Commission has now proposed two possible measures to reduce the impact. One would allow compensation for European fishermen who currently fish in UK waters if they find themselves cut off after Brexit.

The other proposal would pave the way to grant Britain access to EU fishing waters until the end of 2019, in return for Britain allowing EU fishermen into its waters.

Sean ODonoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermens Organisation, based in Donegal, welcomed the move.

Even a temporary reprieve is an important step to avoid catastrophe on the fishing grounds on March 30, he said.

Irelands two biggest fisheries, mackerel (60%) and nephrops (40%) (or prawns) are hugely dependent on access to UK waters with the overall dependency for all stocks of over 30%. Maintaining reciprocal access to waters and resources need to be at the heart of the post-Brexit relationship in fisheries given the historic ties and inextricable links between our countries and industries, he said.

The Commission said its proposal is limited to 2019, adding it would aim to agree the two proposals with the European Parliament and the European Council, by Brexit day.

Brexits effect on fisheries is particularly important to France.
Brexit presents an opportunity for Ireland to win foreign direct investment (FDI) that would otherwise have gone to the UK, according to IDA boss Martin Shanahan.

However, UBS chairman Axel Weber, formerly the head of Germany's Central Bank, warned the World Economic Forum that a no-deal Brexit would have "real spillovers" for the global economy.

"An unmitigated, uncontrolled Brexit is the worst outcome we could imagine. Nobody wants this kind of tail-risk," he said.

Speaking about the uncertainty surrounding the UK, Mr Shanahan said companies were more likely to look further afield.

"We are the market for mobile investment. So if multinationals decide that they need a footprint within the remaining 27, we are in the business of making sure that Ireland is the beneficiary of that," Mr Shanahan said.

He added that he didn't think this could be characterised as stealing business away from the UK. "All investment that comes into Europe, Ireland is pitching for. We make no apologies for the fact that we are pitching for what is mobile investment."

Mr Shanahan said he'd take part in around 25 meetings and events at Davos as he seeks to win FDI.

"Part of our message is clearly that Ireland is stable, and that they can be confident investing in Ireland. To be honest with you, investors believe Ireland is a very stable environment."

But he added that the atmosphere around Davos was more subdued this year compared to last. "I think there is more caution. There's a raft of geopolitical uncertainty around and companies are looking at that, trying to make sense of it, figure it out and see what impacts it will have on them."

He said there's a possibility global FDI will decrease this year, and if that's the case then the IDA will have to work harder to maintain the current level of investment.

It is also set to host its annual dinner at the event, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and representatives from a host of major companies attending.

The major story at the event yesterday was the state of China's slowing economy.

However, the slowdown won't be a disaster, the vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

Fang Xinghai said that the country's macro-economic policy was "very responsible and very data-dependent".

"On fiscal policy there is room to expand. The government sector can still leverage a lot."
The EU's stance on the necessity for a Border in a no deal Brexit has dramatically hardened.

In a devastating blow to the Government, the EU now appears to be leaning on Dublin for concessions ahead of a final showdown with the UK.

Brussels has indicated there will be an obligation on Ireland to erect a hard Border in a disorderly Brexit.

Officials gave Tanaiste Simon Coveney no warning before publicly declaring the obvious outcome of a hard Brexit will be a hard Border.

The development left ministers struggling to come up with a coherent response. On one hand, the Government claimed to be preparing for all eventualities but at the same time absolutely denied planning for Border checks.

While seeking to shift the onus for a solution back on to Westminster, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said this country will face a real dilemma if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

He insisted the backstop is still alive, saying: We cannot give it up in return for a promise that it will be all right on the night.

Asked what would happen on March 29 if the UK leaves without a deal, Mr Varadkar said a hard Border would not be acceptable.

"We would have to negotiate an agreement on customs and regulations that would mean full alignment so there would be no hard Border," he said.

"We already have that agreement and that is the backstop. Nobody who is opposed to the backstop can credibly state he or she is also against a hard Border unless he or she can come up with something else that aligns customs and regulations and allows a Border to be avoided. Nobody else has done that yet."

Mr Varadkar held a private meeting with Opposition leaders last night where he said Ireland must hold its nerve as the clock ticks down.

He told them the EU has not put pressure on Ireland relating to a border but a hard Brexit was the elephant in the room. There was a suggestion that checks would have to take place if the existing deal is not ratified but there are still questions over where they would occur.

There was surprise in Dublin when European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas gave a blunt assessment of the situation to journalists earlier in the day.

For months, Ireland and the EU have diligently refused to engage in 'what if' questions on the Border.

Mr Schinas very deliberately abandoned that approach in a move that has been interpreted as an effort to prepare Dublin for some difficult discussion in the weeks ahead.

Ministers were in the process of discussing no-deal contingency plans at their weekly Cabinet meeting when the news broke. "If you like to push me on what might happen in a no-deal scenario in Ireland, I think it's pretty obvious, you will have a hard Border," Mr Schinas said.

"Our commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and everything that we have been doing for years with our tools, instruments and programmes will have to take inevitably into account this fact.

"So, of course, we are for peace, of course we stand behind the Good Friday Agreement, but that's what a no-deal scenario would entail."

Shortly afterwards, Tanaiste Simon Coveney and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe called a media opportunity at Government Buildings in a bid to play down the comments.

"We cannot wish away this problem," Mr Coveney said.

He argued people shouldn't "lose focus" from trying to get the Withdrawal Agreement passed by the UK parliament.

Mr Varadkar later accepted Ireland will have obligations to protect the European single market after Brexit.

But he noted the UK will have similar responsibilities to the World Trade Organisation.

The Taoiseach said both countries "must honour the Good Friday Agreement, protect the peace process and honour our commitment to the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland that there will not be a hard Border".

Government sources insisted that while some form of new negotiations would be necessary, they would not take place on a bilateral basis. Instead, Ireland would still expect the EU taskforce under Michel Barnier to argue our corner.

With just over two months to a potential cliff-edge scenario, there is no timeline for when talks on avoiding a hard Border without the Withdrawal Agreement might take place.

Mr Varadkar is likely to turn to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for solidarity when he meets her at the World Trade Forum in Davos later this week. The pair spoke by phone on January 3, leading the Taoiseach to tell the Dail that German politicians "understand borders, hard borders and partitions in a way that perhaps very few other people in the European Union do".
British Cabinet ministers rounded on Amber Rudd and other Remainers over plans to stop a no-deal Brexit as Theresa May said the UK must retain the option of leaving without an agreement.

During a stormy cabinet meeting yesterday, five ministers led by Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, warned of the risk of giving Tory MPs a free vote on plans that would clear the path to extending Article 50.

While ministers did not name Ms Rudd and "no one went for her outright", one source said it was "painfully clear" she was the target of their "ire". Ms Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, has warned that up to 40 members of the Government will resign next week so they can vote to block no-deal.

She wants to be allowed to vote on a backbench amendment tabled by Yvette Cooper, a Labour MP, that would require the government to request Article 50 is extended if no deal can be reached.

It is understood seven other cabinet ministers want a free vote.

However Downing Street yesterday indicated that ministers will be denied a free vote over the Cooper amendment and it is likely to be whipped.

During cabinet, Mr Hunt said that colleagues attempting to take no-deal off the table were being "unhelpful" and weakened Britain's negotiating position.

He said a Commons vote in favour of putting a hard time limit on the customs backstop was the only way of persuading Brussels that it had to give ground.

Meanwhile, British ferry and shipping freight operator P&O will shift the registration of its UK vessels to Cyprus ahead of Britain's departure from the European Union, in part to keep its tax arrangements in the bloc, the company said.

P&O currently has six UK-registered ships operating on the English Channel route to France, although it announced last month it was moving two of those to the Cyprus registry and one has already been transferred.

All commercial ships have to be registered, or flagged, with a country partly to comply with safety and environmental regulations. The move could complicate any attempts by the UK government to secure extra space on ships to help cope with disruption to trade if it fails to secure a negotiated departure from the EU.

And loss-making carmaker Bentley is on track to be profitable this year but a worst-case no-deal Brexit puts that at "fundamental risk", its boss said, adding the chance of Britain leaving the EU on March 29 with a deal now seemed "fairly low."

Also yesterday, James Dyson, the billionaire Brexit supporter who revolutionised vacuum cleaners, announced he is moving his head office to Singapore from Britain to be closer to his company's fastest-growing markets.

Mr Dyson's company said the move to Singapore, where it will build its new electric car, was not driven by Britain's looming departure from the European Union.
Must one talk of Donald Trump? One must and not just because of the power of his position as US president, but because the nature of his foreign policy is misunderstood.

I was answering questions about the future of the Middle East at a meeting of Independent subscribers on Tuesday evening when there was a predictable question about the impact of Trump on the region.

I had the impression, perhaps unfairly, that the person who made this very reasonable and important query was expecting a reply that would be a blend of denunciation and derision.

This is usually the automatic reaction to all Trump foreign policy initiatives by the media across the world as soon as they read his latest tweet. It does not matter if the subject is Canada or Afghanistan, the reaction is one of instant condemnation and often this response is more than justified  but not always.

The exceptions are important but Trump does not get credit for them because of the knee-jerk hostility which rules out any possibility that Trump may be right and his vast array of critics wrong.

Recommended Leaks and Trump tweets leave US Middle East policy in tatters

North Korea, Russia and Syria are good examples of the positive side of Trump foreign policy, however unorthodox its expression.

He may not have got as far as he wanted through talks with Kim Jong-un, but war in the Korean peninsula is certainly less likely than it was in pre-Trump times. Any contact between Trump and Vladimir Putin is portrayed by most news outlets as a hideous act of betrayal of the west. But Russia has a nuclear arsenal capable of blowing up the world several times over, so it is surely unwise to refuse to talk to, and treat as a pariah, the Russian leader who could press the nuclear button?

Trumps sudden decision in December to pull US troops out of Syria was condemned by everybody from the most liberal Democrats to the most belligerent Republicans. They all jumped on to their moral high horses, but none proffered an alternative policy and happily pretended that the status quo was sustainable  though it is not.

The US is a bit player in Syria where the Kurdish-led forces it backs have largely defeated Isis. Oh no they havent, shouts the Washington foreign policy establishment, but Isis used to rule eight million people in a powerful state stretching from the outskirts of Baghdad to the Mediterranean. It now controls only part of a single small town, Hajin, in the depths of eastern Syria. The jihadis are never going to run up the white flag, but if this is not defeat it is something very close to it.

 Trump says Syria is sand and death

Other US objectives in Syria, such as curtailing Iranian influence and weakening Bashar al-Assad, are not attainable and are simply an excuse for continuing a war of extraordinary ferocity and destructiveness. The Washington establishment, which is itself a child of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, seems quite happy to contemplate this and denounces Trump for breaking the logjam.

What is needed is for the US, as it withdraws, to keep Turkey from launching an onslaught against the Syrian Kurds, and this can only be done  if it is to be done at all  by allowing the Kurds to do a deal with Damascus and for Syrian troops to return to the Syrian-Turkish border.

It may not turn out that way, but Trumps approach is more realistic than those who dismiss it as dangerous idiocy. For all his verbal belligerency, Trump is a genuine isolationist who has yet to start a war anywhere. It is an achievement not to be underrated.
Women on the contraceptive pill know how theyre meant to take it: every day for three weeks of the month with a break so we can bleed. Or, we thought we knew.

As it turns out, the reason weve been told to stop taking the pill for a week each month is because one of the men working on the drug when it came out 60 years ago was a Catholic and wanted the Popes approval. He thought hed get the Pope on board with oral contraceptives if it could mimic a womans natural cycle, still making her bleed once a month. The Pope, being the Pope, did not approve and the man renounced Catholicism, but thats another story.

Now, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) has said that there is no medical benefit to having that week off the pill. There is no reason  other than a mans sanctimonious whim  to bleed each month.

In fact, the FSRH has confirmed that its safer to take the pill every day because it increases protection against pregnancy. From now on, NHS doctors will advise women on the pill to take it continuously.

This is a revelation for women whove been diligently putting up with the inconvenience of bleeding every four weeks. Anger and confusion at being lied too for so long are the dominant emotions.

Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Show all 10 1 /10 Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Mary Wollstonecraft, writer and women's rights advocate Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Audre Lorde, writer and civil rights activist Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Bell Hooks, writer and social activist Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Queen Elizabeth I of England Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the suffragette movement Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes, co-founders of Ms. magazine Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Malala Yousafzai, human rights advocate and activist for global female education Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and women's rights activist Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Sophia Duleep Singh, princess, nurse and suffragette Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory Feminist murals in London celebrate 100 years of women's vote Virginia Woolf, writer Feminists Don't Wear Pink / Herstory

Ive been on the pill since I was 16. At some point, my family GP back in Australia told me that I could take it continuously, but I seemed to be the only one in my circle of friends who did this. Feeling guilty or unnatural or unfeminine somehow, Id stop taking the pill every couple of months for a week, thinking perhaps Id remind my body what it was supposed to be doing naturally. I assumed there was a medical reason to do it  and indeed when I came to the UK, an NHS doctor told me I ought to be bleeding once a month. Confused but obedient, I stocked up on tampons.

Of course, I am angry to have been misled by doctors. I am incensed that one mans Catholic wish should dictate the way we advise millions of women on how to take extremely important medication. I am also mildly jubilant at the prospect of being able to skip my period indefinitely. But this isnt alarming in isolation: in fact, it is symptomatic of a much larger issue and that is the wilful neglect of womens reproductive health.

How can we possibly know so little about womens bodies, with a medical research industry as sophisticated as ours? Is all the funding for research being funnelled into erectile dysfunction? Must we really leave women so misinformed about their reproductive organs?

Women are routinely disbelieved by doctors when they describe reproductive pain. Ive had this experience myself: I have told multiple NHS doctors about a mysterious pain around my ovaries and was only sent for a test upon my indignant insistence. It came back clear, and despite my persistent pleas that we look at other options, Ive just been told we dont know what it could be and not to worry too much.

Ive spoken to, and read about, many other women whove gone to doctors with similar pain and been turned away or told theyre being hysterical. We are belittled, ignored and dismissed when we simply request more information about our bodies; information that should be available to us.

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We need to urgently invest in research and innovation for womens reproductive health. We need more contraceptive options, preferably ones that have actually been designed with womens best interests in mind. We need to utterly divorce religion from the conversation about contraception. We need to protect our access to our medication and provide women with the most up to date advice possible. We need more women to be included in the invention of products and pills for women.

Weve just been lied to for 60 years. What else dont we know, or arent we being told, about our own bodies?
The latest statistics on abortion in Northern Ireland were published on Wednesday, showing that in 2016-17, 32 medical abortions and 12 terminations were recorded.

Of course, this does not tell the full story of abortion in Northern Ireland. In fact, its nowhere close.

On average, 28 women a week travel from Northern Ireland to England for an abortion, because UK laws on abortion dont cross the Irish Sea.

In the six counties of Northern Ireland, its legal to get an abortion only if the mothers life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health.

This means that abortion is not legal in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, rape and incest.

Northern Ireland has become increasingly isolated from neighbouring countries over its abortion policy in recent years. England and Wales gave women more control over their own bodies with the Abortion Act in 1967, and the Republic of Ireland voted to repeal draconian abortion laws last year.

Northern Irelands abortion laws also diverge from the will of its own people. A YouGov poll carried out in October 2018 found that 75 per cent of people in Northern Ireland want the abortion law to change, while 65 per cent said abortion should not be a crime.

In a similar vein, what people want with regard to equal marriage has long been ignored  polling shows that more than two-thirds of adults in NI support it.

Meanwhile, the DUP is staunchly opposed to both equal marriage and abortion, and have so far resisted any attempts to change the laws around these issues.

The hypocrisy at play here makes the injustice even harder to stand.

The party pushing for a hard Brexit on the grounds that it wont accept any divergence between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK is happy to maintain the status quo of divergence when it comes to women and the LGBT+ community.

But the blame does not lie solely with the DUP. The rest of the UK has ignored these issues for years too.

The cause of abortion rights in Northern Ireland has been given something of a kickstart in recent months, in the wake of the landslide Repeal victory in Ireland, but theres nothing like the same support. MPs called for reform of the law last June, but thats pretty much all that happened. Downing Street kicked the can over to Stormont, which remains at a standstill  and it doesnt look like its coming to an end any time soon.

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Meanwhile, the groundswell of support from UK celebrities and journalists that sprang up after the Irish referendum has faded away even more quickly than it appeared.

This will come as no surprise to people from Northern Ireland, to be bleak but honest.

Issues and problems that would set the news agenda if they occurred in England go unnoticed when they happen in Northern Ireland.

A bomb, an actual bomb, was set off in the centre of Derry last Saturday, and it didnt make it onto any national newspapers front page on Sunday.

In many ways its not surprising, nor is it difficult to understand why this might be the case. After all, ignorance is bliss  but only for the ignorant, or wilfully ignoring.

As we hurtle towards Brexit, yet another policy that the majority of Northern Irish voters dont agree with, the unfair laws and lack of representation is getting harder to stomach. Depending on what happens on 29 March, it could become even more difficult to bring about any meaningful change to the law in Northern Ireland.

Thats why we need to call out statistics like the ones published today, purporting to inform us about abortion in Northern Ireland, when really they represent a mere fraction of the real situation.

Women in Northern Ireland are being failed on a daily basis by the antique laws that take away their bodily autonomy, and it must be stopped.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 4:40PM

HMD Global has consistently been releasing the latest Android updates for its phones. The company just announced on Twitter which phones will be getting the update. And this batch are promised to receive Android Pie by early Q2 2019, at the latest. Five of the companys Nokia phones already have the update (Nokia 7 Plus, 6.1, 6.1 Plus, 7.1, and 5.1 Plus), while two of them (Nokia 8 Sirocco and 8) are listed as ongoing. The Nokia 5 and 3.1 Plus are expected to get the update this month. The Nokia 6, 5.1, 3.1, and 2.1 are lined up for a Q1 2019 release, while the Nokia 3 and 1 are expected to get the update in early Q2 of this year. Unfortunately, the Nokia 2 doesnt seem like its getting the updateor at least not in the immediate future. And it must be noted that while roadmaps are a good guide, these arent definitive timelines. But things might fare better with HMD as the company has shown its kept to its promise.

Source: The Verge
Britain has been enjoying another day bang on the Tory, a word which now only makes sense not as a political ideology but as a synthetic drug that may yet achieve class A status  but not before its ruined everyones lives.

The Lib Dems thought they could handle it, took one hit and never recovered. By 2015, the country itself hadnt had a go on the pure stuff for almost two decades. Now we walk jagged and dazed about the world like a spice addict in a 24-hour bus garage.

And no one is pushing the stuff harder than Jacob Rees-Mogg, who on Wednesday afternoon addressed a large meeting of the Bruges Group, which describes itself as a Eurosceptic think tank but is in fact a care in the community project for people who last paid to use the bus in the pre-decimalisation era.

First a word on the warm-up men. Prize-winning economist and as yet non-prize-winning historian Roger Bootle was there, to explain how the UK, Ireland, Malta and Sweden are the only four countries in the EU not to have experienced invasion or dictatorship, which might come as much of a surprise to the Irish as the fact that, thanks to Brexit, they now get to dictate terms to Britain.

The nations of Europe, according to Bootle, dont care about sovereignty, because their institutions have failed. Ours have not. Around four minutes later, he would be replaced on the stage by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who would go on to explain how, if he didnt get his own way over Brexit, he would call the Queen down to Westminster to dissolve parliament. Well come on to that in a bit more detail shortly, but suffice to say, at least on the Bootle-ometer, were about three weeks away from the kind of institutional failure that he seems to think the EU is based upon, so itll be straight back in, no need even for a peoples vote.

It is also worth noting that Rees-Mogg was introduced to the stage as being a beacon of hope and a modest man, too modest, almost, for his own good, which is an interesting take on someone whos been dressed up as a baronet for a freshers week party for the past 40 years.

As for the content and the purpose of the speech, it was to tell Theresa May that Rees-Moggs band of hard Brexiteers would not be reneging. The demand for the ditching of the backstop remains, and as Brussels will not be ditching it, the kamikaze mission continues. Mark Francois MP, his deputy in the so-called European Research Group, hovered by the door emitting little supportive barks, like a chihuahua doing an impression of a bulldog on Britains Got Talent. On his lapel he wore a bright red poppy. It is January.

The main talk in Westminster at the moment is whether an amendment, tabled by the Labour backbencher Yvette Cooper, might pass next week that would, in effect, take no deal off the table. Rees-Mogg and co are outraged about this. You may recall that before the referendum, David Davis, Boris Johnson and everybody else toured the country saying how the European Union couldnt possibly fail to do a deal with the UK because German cars, prosecco etc. Now, two and a half years later, the idea of actually doing a deal is rebadged as a Brexit betrayal.

If the Cooper amendment should pass, he warned, well, the monarch had once been called upon to dissolve parliament before, and she could be again. I hope Her Majestys stay at Sandringham wont have to be interrupted, he threatened.

Its progress, in its own way. Once upon a time, Brexit was about the restoration of parliamentary sovereignty. On Tuesday, the pro-Brexit Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, who briefly achieved fame holding a lemon in a Shrewsbury supermarket, announced that if Brexit didnt go his way, he would ask his friends in Poland to get the European Union to veto the extension of Article 50. Yes, you read that right. The will of the UK would be overruled, at Daniel Kawczynskis request, by Poland and the European Union.

At least this time, 24 hours later, it would be the Queen, not Poland, shutting down democracy to make sure the Brexiteers get what they want.

There was, predictably, a standing ovation for this. Within just three or four minutes, the entire room was on its feet.

This, alas, is how things are now. We approach the weird endgame in which no lies are big enough to keep hold of the ultimate prize, which is to take the country back to its imagined past, and away from any chance at all of a brighter, younger, un-zombified, no longer half-crazed future.
Davos is where billionaires tell millionaires about what the middle class feels, jokes Jamie Dimon.

As the billionaire head of Wall Streets largest bank, JP Morgan, and a veteran attendee of the World Economic Forum, he should know.

And theres truth in jest. In the several years in which I covered Davos on the ground for The Independent there would always be panels and lunches at which the issue of economic inequality was earnestly and urgently discussed by smartly dressed men and women with telephone-number travel allowances.

Yet, as many have noted, these many brainstorming sessions dont appear to have had much impact on the world outside the small Swiss mountain resort.

Bloomberg has examined how the fortunes of 12 prominent billionaire attendees at the 2009 Davos conference have evolved over the past decade.

Bill Gates wealth is up $44bn. Mark Zuckerbergs fortune has risen by $56bn. Rupert Murdoch is $15bn better off. And Dimon has himself joined the billionaire class with a $1.1bn uplift to his net worth. The collective wealth of this gilded dozen is estimated to have increased by $175bn in the past 10 years.

But over this same period median incomes in the US have stagnated. And in the UK average real wages have still not recovered to where they were in 2008.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development calls the wage growth slowdown across rich countries since the financial crisis unprecedented. One group, though, has been spared: Real labour incomes of the top 1 per cent of earners have increased much faster than those of median full-time workers in recent years, reinforcing a long-standing trend.

Debates on economic equality have a tendency to degenerate into a rather tedious technical squabble about what statistical measure one is using, the time period under discussion, which groups are being compared, whether the trend relates to income or wealth and so on.

Yet if one takes the fortunes of the global super-rich and compares them to those of the typical citizen of the developed world its pretty clear that the gap has grown. The very rich really have got richer.

The context makes this rise in inequality even more toxic. The financial crisis  where ordinary western taxpayers were forced to bail out billionaire bankers while often losing their own jobs  was supposed to lead to a shakeout.

There were expectations that finances awesome implosion and the catastrophic spillover effect on the rest of the economy would prompt a shift in the way things work  that we would transition from speculation to investment, from gains piling up at the top to broad-based prosperity, from corporate greed to corporate responsibility.

It hasnt happened. And one of the fruits of this failure in many western countries has been a surge of destructive populism and popular disaffection with (often shading into contempt for) mainstream politicians and large corporations.

So is a globalist Davos mentality among our economic and political elites blocking change? Is it some kind of conspiracy?

The trouble with this view, variants of which can be heard both on the right and the left nowadays, is that it ascribes too much importance to the World Economic Forum.

As my colleague Hamish McRae has argued, the best way to think about Davos is primarily as a business conference; an opportunity for CEOs, financiers and consultants to socialise with their peers and feel important. And they (or rather the shareholders in their companies) pay through the nose for the privilege of attending.

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The celebrities are there to entertain the executives. But so too, believe or not, are the Nobel prize-winning economists, the charity bosses and even the political leaders who turn up to drum up inward investment.

Davos is not a cause of global inequality, more a symptom.

Dont look to the World Economic Forum for a diagnosis of the dysfunction in our economies  and certainly dont look to it for any substantive action to reduce inequality.

That corrective will only come, if it does, from the grassroots, not from hot air on a cold Swiss mountaintop.
Q I have booked myself on a flight departing from Gatwick to Budapest with Wizz Air on 6 April  just after Brexit. This is a new route for them and only goes operational at the end of March. Looking at what you have written, it looks to me that flights will be capped at 2018 levels in the event of a no-deal Brexit. So will new flight routes be allowed to fly and, if not, why are airlines openly selling them?

Ive contacted Wizz Air but they just say if the flight gets cancelled Ill be compensated. That wont help me as I have subsequent onwards travel and have booked all my accommodation. To transfer me onto an alternative flight to Budapest would cost me more, too.

Would you have faith booking a new flight route just post-Brexit? Or should I book again on an established route?
A travel company is giving away Donald Trump stress balls to people who book a holiday to Mexico in protest at the US Presidents damaging rhethoric.

Booking platform and smartphon app TRVL has 1,000 squishy balls with the US Presidents face on them to give away to users who book a hotel in Mexico.

The travel company wants to reward travellers that visit Mexico, in spite of the derogatory and frightening language that is being directed towards Americas southern neighbour. According to Mr Trump, Mexico is full of Bad Hombres, said TRVL.

Were running a travel company because we believe that travel makes you more openminded and understanding, and that travel makes the world a better place, said TRVL founder Jochem Wijnands.

Mr Trump is doing the exact opposite, hes polarising the world. We are speaking out for our values and beliefs.

Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures The US Capitol on the first morning of a partial government shutdown in Washington EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Trump speaks with children who called the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa tracker in the State Dining Room of the White House. He earlier in the day, tweeted that he was 'all alone in the White House' waiting for Democrats to make a deal on border security EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers pick up free food at a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Reuters Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures From left, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Dick Durbin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi walk to speak to reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump about border security in the Situation Room of the White House. Trump declared he could keep parts of the government shut down for "months or even years" as he and Democratic leaders failed in a second closed-door meeting to resolve his demand for billions of dollars for a border wall with Mexico Evan Vucci AP Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the National Archives on the fifth day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Visitors read signs announcing the closure of the White House Visitor Center EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Donald Trump speaks during a round-table discussion on border security and safe communities with State, local, and community leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the White House Visitor Center on the first day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers show their IDs for entering a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images

The promotion runs until TRVL has run out of stress balls.

The US government is at an impasse, now into its second month, over funding for Trumps border wall.
Jet2 boss Steve Heapy has warned that flights to Europe may become more expensive after Brexit, and that a no-deal scenario would prove extremely damaging for the UK and EU.

The chief executive of Jet2 and Jet2holidays added that travel could become more heavily regulated for operators after the UK leaves the European Union.

The worst thing that could happen is that were not able to fly to Europe, he told PA. I think the chance of that happening is extremely low.

I think well end up with something in the middle whereby were able to fly into Europe, but I think it might be more expensive and there might be more restrictions.

The airline has planned for various Brexit outcomes, and has mooted adding more flights to countries outside the EU, such as Turkey, in a worst-case scenario.

Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters

However, Heapy said the EU has a lot more to lose than we do from a situation where the UK crashes out without a deal, due to the high number of British holidaymakers who boost European economies through tourism.

This is particularly key for countries like Spain, which welcomed more than 18 million British visitors in 2017; UK travellers make up 23 per cent of all foreign tourists.

Recommended Check whether your passport will be valid after Brexit

Jet2 currently operates the UKs third largest airline and second biggest tour operator, achieved through organic growth, according to Heapy.

We dont go for all-out growth, he said. I think thats very dangerous in a business where you just want growth for the sake of it.

We are growing because customers are finding Jet and Jet2.com holidays and booking them and having a good time and rebooking them. The growth is a result of success in providing a quality product.

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Heapy added: We have a very healthy bank balance and if it comes to a tough time where business perhaps is lower than normal, we have a lot of cash in the bank and will be able to continue operations for significantly longer than a number of our competitors.

Last year saw the failure of several airlines, including Primera, Air Berlin and Cobalt, while Flybe was recently bought by a consortium led by Virgin Atlantic.
Yemens warring factions are set to agree a key prisoner swap within the next 10 days, local officials have said, as the UK government announced 2.5m of funding to bolster the United Nations peace process there.

The prisoner exchange was first tabled in talks in Sweden last month as part of confidence-boosting measures to push forward UN-led talks between the Houthi rebels and the Gulf-backed recognised government which had ground to a halt.

The UN hopes the exchange will pave the way for a concrete ceasefire deal in the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeidah, which should see both sides withdraw from the port and hand over control to local authorities and UN monitors.

On Wednesday Hadi Haig, head of the Yemen government delegation, said that he expected the final signing of the prisoner swap to take place within 10 days after talks last week in Jordan.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), that is set to oversee logistics, added that it hoped to see progress in the coming days and urged the warring parties not to let the opportunity slip away.

In a statement the aid group said that it was planning for the swap by increasing staff numbers, arranging medical support and preparing two planes to carry detainees between rebel-held Sanaa and Sayoun, a town under the control of the government.

The UK, meanwhile, pledged millions of pounds to help shore up the plan, saying the additional funds will bolster the UNs monitoring mission on the ground in Hodeidah and in the ports of Salif and Ras Isa, providing a lifeline for food and supplies.

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said the British government had made the decision as the agreements hammered out in Stockholm were the best chance of securing long term peace.

Yemen is the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Up to 20 million Yemenis lack reliable access to food and over 400,000 children under the age of 5 suffer severe acute malnutrition. This is a man-made humanitarian catastrophe and it will have man-made solutions, he said on Tuesday.

He added: Last weeks Security Council vote and todays announcement of an additional 2.5m UK funding are an instrumental part of that process, and we will continue to bolster the UN special envoys work where possible over the coming months.

The money will also fund landmine removal, the Foreign Office said.

Food aid for Yemenis stolen Show all 21 1 /21 Food aid for Yemenis stolen Food aid for Yemenis stolen People walk in a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen People stand near their rooms inside a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A baby sleeps inside a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A woman sits with her baby inside a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen Sisters play in their room at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen The entrance of the hangar of the United Nations in Aden, Yemen, in this 23 July 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A man sells aid supplies at a market in Aden, Yemen, in this 23 July 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen The entrance to the port where aid is received, in Aden, Yemen, is shown in this 23 July 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen This 24 July 2018 photo shows a gas station on a road in Shabwah, Yemen. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A worn-out list of registered names for aid by Relief International, part of the World Food Program, is posted in Aden, Yemen in this 23 July 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A truck carries aid on a road in Aden, Yemen, in this 23 July 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A man fixes his scarf at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen Children play in a room at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen Children look out of their room at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A woman holds her baby as she leaves her room in a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A family poses for a photograph in their room at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A family sits in their room at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A bucket filled with bread at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, is shown in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A family poses for a photograph in a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A child stands in a room at a shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) Food aid for Yemenis stolen A shelter for displaced persons in Ibb, Yemen, is shown in this 3 Aug 2018 photo. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

The UN has struggled to implement the withdrawal from Hodeidah as the warring parties disagree over who should control the city. A tense truce has largely held in the city but fighting has flared in other parts of the country.

Late on Wednesday Saudi Arabia coalition warplanes targeted a Houthi military training camp south of Sanaa, Saudi media reported. It is the latest airstrike on sites in the rebel-held capital following a Houthi drone attack on a government military parade earlier this month.

Fighting has ripped apart Yemen since 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthis swept control of the country, ousting the recognised president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours launched a bombing campaign to reinstate their ally Mr Hadi, but four years on the fighting has shown little sign of ending.

The conflict has sparked the worlds worst humanitarian crisis in terms of numbers, with over two-thirds of the population relying on aid to survive. The UN warned last year that more than 13 million people could die from starvation.
A German man has attempted to sue a town over "female-only" parking spaces which were installed in a car park after a woman was raped nearby.

The designated spots were put in place in a public car park in the Bavarian town of Eichstatt after the woman was attacked in 2016, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. They are well-lit and close to entrances and exits to make parking there safer.

The area is also reported to be located close to a nursing home, where female workers often begin and finish their shifts early in the morning and late at night.

The towns legal officer Hans Bittl has said the spots are only a suggestion to encourage men to leave them free for women and that any man who parks in one will not be prosecuted.

However Dominik Bayer claims the reserved spots discriminate against both men and women as he believes they suggest women need looking after.

The motorist, who is reported to be from the western Rhineland region, claimed the spaces go against Germanys General Act on Equal Treatment.

However, Germanys federal anti-discrimination agency confirmed female parking spaces do not violate equality laws.

Female-only parking spaces are commonplace in private car parks in Germany, such as in supermarkets.

Female-only parking spaces in Hangzhou, China, sparked a sexism row. (Weibo)

Extra wide parking spaces for women have previously sparked a sexism row in China.

The large bays, which are 50 per cent bigger than an average parking spot and aimed at females who have trouble reversing, were introduced as a trial in Hangzhou in March 2016.

They are outlined in pink paint and feature a pink, skirt-wearing figure in the middle.

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In 2014, the South Korean government also introduced women-only parking spaces which are longer and wider than the countrys standard bays and marked with pink outlines.

Women-only parking spots have long been installed across the world, but typically only as a public safety measure and are not normally bigger than standard spots.
A DNA test has debunked the enduring conspiracy theory that Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess was replaced by an imposter in prison.

An analysis of blood samples showed the man imprisoned in Spandau Prison in Berlin was indeed Adolf Hitlers deputy.

Hess was captured after flying solo from Germany to Scotland in May 1941, in an apparent attempt to negotiate a peace deal between Britain and Nazi Germany. He was sentenced to life in prison at the Nuremberg trials and sent to Spandau.

But rumours saying the man in the Berlin jail was a doppelganger spread, and the conspiracy theory was even believed by his doctor in the prison and US wartime president Franklin D Roosevelt.

Hesss doctor believed the man in Spandau was physically different from Hess and he was suspicious of his refusal to see relatives until 1969 and his apparent amnesia.

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. 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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. 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However, researchers at the University of Salzburg in Austria analysed a blood sample taken from the prisoner known as Spandau #7 in 1982.

By comparing it with a distant male relative of Hess, they found a match of 99.99 per cent.

Hence, the conspiracy theory claiming that prisoner Spandau #7 was an impostor is extremely unlikely and therefore disproved, the researchers wrote in the journal Forensic Science International Genetics.

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Hess was convicted of crimes against peace and conspiracy to commit crimes during the Nuremburg trials and sent to serve a life sentence at Spandau Prison in 1947.

He killed himself in August 1987, at the age of 93.

After his grave became a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis his body was exhumed and cremated in 2011.
The widow of a Polish mayor assassinated on stage at a charity event earlier this month has blamed his death on alleged hate speech against him broadcast on government television.

Magdalena Adamowicz said in an interview published on the Onet news portal that state broadcasting corporation TVP had responsibility for the death of Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz.

Mr Adamowicz, a political independent who had been critical of Polands ruling right-wing populist party, died earlier in January after being stabbed at a public event.

The suspect arrested at the scene publicly voiced a grudge against the opposition centrist Civic Platform party, of which the 53-year-old mayor was a member until 2015.

I have pain in my heart, suffering, regret, Ms Adamowicz told news station TVN24 in a separate interview.

Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert Show all 10 1 /10 Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert Security staff trying to stop a man after he attacked Mayor of Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz, during the 27th finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity in Poland AFP/Getty/East News Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert Gdansk's Mayor Pawel Adamowicz speaking at the concert before he was attacked. He has been the citys mayor for more than 20 years Reuters/Agencja Gazeta Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert The attacker stood on the stage holding a knife just after he stabbed Gdansk's Mayor. He is allegedly an ex-convict who shouted that it was revenge against the politicians previous political party Reuters/KFP Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert Adamowicz was attacked with a sharp instrument by a 27-year-old male during the concert Reuters Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert The assailant shouted his name was Stefan and said: I was jailed but innocent. ... Civic Platform tortured me. Thats why Adamowicz just died. EPA Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert The mayor died in hospital after undergoing five hours of surgery for wounds to his heart and internal organs AFP/Getty/East News Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert He was taken to the university hospital in the Baltic port city, but despite the five-hour operation his life could not be saved EPA/Adam Warzawa Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert A doctor gives an update on the mayor's condition. Police said the suspect, a 27-year-old Gdansk resident who was recently released from prison where he had served a term for bank robberies, has been detained and is awaiting questioning by prosecutors. A police spokesman, Mariusz Ciarka, said the attacker appeared to have mental problems and gained access to the area with a media badge. Police were checking if it was authentic and how he got hold of it. Reuters/Agencja Gazeta Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert Adamowicz was part of the democratic opposition formed in Gdansk under the leadership of Lech Walesa during the 1980s. After leaving Civic Platform, he was re-elected to a sixth term as an independent candidate in autumn. As mayor, he has been a progressive voice, supporting LGBT rights and tolerance for minorities. He showed solidarity with the Jewish community when Gdansk synagogue had its windows broken last year, strongly denouncing the vandalism EPA Polish mayor dies after being stabbed on stage at charity concert People waited to donate blood for Gdansk's mayor at a local blood donation station AFP/Getty/KFP

But I know that [the attack was] the behaviour of a man who was in prison and indoctrinated by regime television, that what is happening, this hate, this hatred, he was the fruit of this hatred.

TVP said it will sue anyone suggesting that its programmes were in part to blame for the politicians death.

However, the killing has sparked controversy in Poland, where some blame the polarising rhetoric Law and Justice employed towards opponents, including Mr Adamowicz, for encouraging his killer to act.

The mayor had forged a reputation as a champion of civil rights, LGBT+ people and immigrants, which made him a target of attacks from the far right.

The fundraiser he had been taking part in on the night of his attack, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, which raises money for healthcare funding, has also been labelled a leftist movement.

Further controversy was caused the day after the mayors death when TVP ran a report on its main evening news selectively showing Civic Platform politicians using harsh language against Law and Order opponents.

However, critics noted the broadcast omitted examples of similarly aggressive rhetoric used by Law and Justice officials.

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A 27-year-old Gdansk man, known only as Stefan W, was detained following the incident, during which he shouted he had been wrongly sentenced to prison time under a previous government led by Civic Platform.

I was jailed but innocent ... Civic Platform tortured me. Thats why Adamowicz just died, he was heard to shout on stage before he was detained by police.

The attacker's mother has begged forgiveness from Mr Adamowiczs family, claiming her son had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Additional reporting by AP
A freelance reporter accused of plagiarising other publications and citing sources who could not be traced, has had his articles pulled by Dutch and Belgian media outlets.

Peter Blasic cited sources in his stories for Nieuwe Revu, that the magazine said it had been unable to track down. The publication said it was withdrawing 27 articles written by the journalist who worked for them as a general news reporter.

Another Dutch magazine, HP/De Tijd, said seven of around 300 articles by Mr Blasic published on its website between 2014 and 2017 were copied in whole or in part from the EUobserver website without crediting the site.

The website Knack.be said it published six articles by Mr Blasic.

Our own investigations show that Blasic never spoke to certain sources he cites in the articles and appears to have invented a number of anonymous witnesses, Knack.be said. Our website made a mistake. We should have seen through this fraudster.

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 Blasic is yet to comment on the allegations made against him.

The statements followed publication this week by Amsterdam weekly De Groene Amsterdammer of a report outlining a string of suspect stories by Mr Blasic in Dutch and Belgian media.

The revelations come a month after German weekly Der Spiegel revealed one of its star reporters, Claas Relotius, had left the publcation after committing journalistic fraud on a grand scale.
Riot police have been deployed in Madrid as taxi drivers lit bonfires and blocked traffic in protest over ride-hailing apps such as Uber.

Drivers, wearing yellow vests akin to those used by demonstrators in neighbouring France, disrupted a major highway in the Spanish capital.

The group threatened to block access to an international tourism show, due to be opened by King Felipe at a conference centre the outskirts of the city on Wednesday.

Taxi drivers in both Madrid and Barcelona have been protesting for several days after calling an indefinite strike over what they consider is unfair competition from ride-hailing apps including Uber and Cabify.

Drivers using the apps are able to work using a regulation known as a VTC licence, which circumvents Spanish laws requiring taxi drivers to have a pre-booked appointment with customers.

Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber Show all 10 1 /10 Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber Demonstrators hold a huge banner reading 'Madrid's taxi demands that the law has to be enforced' as drivers protest outside IFEMA Convention and Congress Center, against the regulation of ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify EPA Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber The taxi strike continues in the capital in a row after regional authorities rejected the sector's proposals to regulate VTC companies (VTC means 'transport vehicle with chauffeur), a day after a taxi driver was seriously injured when he allegedly threw himself in front of a VTC car in a picket set on a highway. FITUR is the most important fair running in Madrid EPA Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber EPA Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber EPA Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber Spanish National riot policemen stand guard EPA Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber EPA Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber EPA Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber Taxi drivers stand near garbage burning during a demonstration AFP/Getty Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber AFP/Getty Taxi drivers strike in Spain against ride-hailing companies like Uber Taxi drivers stand next to a burning barricade during a strike Reuters

One protester was seriously injured in Madrid on Tuesday after being hit by a car while trying to block an access road to the airport.

Drivers in the city remained gathered around bonfires outside the conference centre throughout the evening on Tuesday and into Wednesday, waiting for the protests to resume in the morning.

Recommended The success of yellow vest protesters in France hinges on whiteness

In the Community of Madrid there is a clear political will to side with the VTC platforms, leaving aside the taxi collective, Madrid Federation of Professional Taxi Drivers president Julio Sanz told the crowd according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Do not run out of firewood, because this will last a long time. We will not leave here until we win this battle.

The protests so far appear to have fallen on deaf ears, with the president of the Community of Madrid, Angel Garrido, refusing to consider regulations against ride-sharing apps.

I am willing to legislate on what concerns me, which is attracting customers, but if someone wants to legislate to eliminate a sector, I tell them they have made a mistake, he told El Confidencial.

Mr Garrido has also called on drivers to demonstrate responsibility over the protests, insisting a taxi strike does not benefit anyone, with thousands of international visitors due in Madrid for the tourism conference.

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Meanwhile, the dispute in Barcelona appeared to have been resolved after Catalan authorities offered to introduce rules meaning app users would have to book lift-sharing rides at least an hour in advance.

But Uber and Cabify have now threatened to withdraw their services completely from the city over the possible legislation, while taxi drivers unions will meet on Wednesday to decide if they are even prepared to accept the terms.

Around 5,200 vehicles are thought to be operating across Spain using a VTC licence, while the country is home to more than 67,000 taxis.

Additional reporting by AP
Italys de facto leader Matteo Salvini has caused a diplomatic storm after saying he hoped the French people would oust Emmanuel Macron as their president.

In an interview with Italys public broadcaster RAI, the far-right interior minister wished the liberal president ill in the coming European elections.

Macron may no longer be our interlocutor [in the future], Mr Salvini told the broadcaster  in what amounts to unusual comments for a foreign leader.

His support is less than 20 per cent. I hope the French people can shortly make different choices, he said, referring to Mays European elections.

The French government condemned the remarks as unacceptable and said Mr Salvini should be reminded of diplomatic boundaries.

These unfounded statements should be read in the context of domestic Italian politics. They are unacceptable, Frances foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said.

She added that for Franco-Italian relations to remain friendly and cooperative, certain standards should be adhered to.

Mr Salvinis anti-immigration Northern League party is set to make significant gains in the coming European parliament elections. Other far-right outfits across the bloc are also expected to do well  reflecting results at a national level since the last EU-wide contest in 2014.

Although Mr Macrons insurgent En Marche! party is contesting the elections for the first time, it faces an uphill struggle to dominate the field, with the presidents approval ratings low even by French standards.

Mr Salvini and other far-right groups have talked about creating an anti-immigration axis in the EU to change the blocs policies  provocatively borrowing terminology associate with the Third Reich.

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 Italian government sees its closest allies as Hungary, Poland and Austria, which all have a varying flavour of populist right-wingers in government.

One rival of Mr Macron in France is Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, which has since rebranded as National Rally. The French far-right has done well in the presidential contest in recent decades, but has so far failed to make a breakthrough into first place.

Ms Le Pen would likely be an ally of Mr Salvinis on the European stage, as both have a similar political agenda.
Dozens of wild horses have been found dead in Australia amid an extreme heatwave in the region.

More than 20 decomposing horses were discovered at a dried-up pool, known as Deep Hole, 56 miles east of Alice Springs, a remote town in Australias Northern Territory.

Pictures published on Facebook showed the dead animals strewn on the scorched ground, covered in dust and branches.

In a Facebook post, Alice Springs residents said that the horses are likely to have perished from dehydration accompanied by the overwhelming heat.

The prospect of any living creatures perishing in this way has left many locals devastated. All feral animals need to be managed with effective strategies to minimise their impact on the environment and to alleviate any suffering, the post read.

Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Show all 16 1 /16 Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Farmer Ash Whitney stands atop a tree as he cuts off branches to feed his cattle Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms A cow walks away from a water tank near the town of Tamworth in New South Wales Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Farmer Scott Cooper drops hay for his cattle next to a dried-up creek on South Park farm Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Tyre tracks from farmer Jimmie McKeown's truck can be seen on his drought ravaged land near the town of Walgett in New South Wales Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Dead trees on Scott Cooper's South Park farm Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Farmer Ash Whitney stands on the back of his truck as he feeds his cattle on his land near the town of Gunnedah in New South Wales Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms An irrigated paddock can be seen next to a ploughed paddock on a farm located on the outskirts of the town of Mudgee in New South Wales Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms A windmill and solar panels on Scott Cooper's South Park farm Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms An old bus used for storing farming equipment stands on farmer Ash Whitney's land near the town of Gunnedah in New South Wales Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms A kangaroo casts a shadow as it drinks from a water tank on Ash Whitney's farm Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms An old Sydney tram sits on Jimmie and May McKeown's land near the town of Walgett in New South Wales Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Patterns created by a plough can be seen on Ash Whitney's farm Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Farmer Ash Whitney stands in the middle of a dried-up dam Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms Sheeps eat grain on a farm near Tamworth in New South Wales Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms A road can be seen next to tracks leading to a water tank on Ash Whitney's farm Reuters Australia's drought  the cancer eating away at farms A lone tree stands near a water trough on Jimmie and May McKeown's farm Reuters

Artist Ralph Turner discovered the shocking scene last week when he went to investigate the pools water levels.

He told ABC News that he had never witnessed an animal death of this scale in the region.

Weve been having hot weather, day after day. We found all these poor horses, all perished, Mr Turner said.

Its just terrible to know these beautiful animals died this way, he added.

Flying foxes swoop into lake water to cool off during Australia heatwave

Australia has been in the grip of a searing heatwave for the past fortnight, notching five of its 10 hottest days on record.

More than a million fish have died in a river in New South Wales amid the arid conditions and bat deaths have been reported on a biblical scale.

Temperatures in Alice Springs are forecast to reach 43C this week, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

A town in New South Wales recorded a night-time low temperature of 35.9C  Australias highest minimum temperature on record  and in Adelaide dozens of people were taken to hospital due to heat-related conditions.

The Bureau of Meteorologys State of the Climate 2018 report blamed climate change for the increased intensity in heatwaves and warned of further increases in sea and air temperatures, with more hot days and marine heatwaves.
Thailand is set to hold its first general election since the military seized power in a coup in 2014.

Having not held elections for five years, the countrys royal palace has now issued a decree authorising the vote to be held on 24 March.

Election laws that were drafted by the current military government, which has kept tight control over political activities in the country, have now come into force.

Initial promises of holding elections had been pushed back and the most recent date of 24 February had to be abandoned because the decree giving the go-ahead was not issued in time to allow for the necessary preparations.

Election commission chief Ithiporn Boonpakong said the 24 March date was flexible enough and should be beneficial to everyone concerned.

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

Anti-government protesters have staged sporadic demonstrations on Bangkoks streets in recent months, demanding no further delays in holding elections.

The office of the prime minister, Prayut Chan-ocha, said with the laws in place, the decree should end any further doubts on the holding and timing of general elections.

The military has already overseen the drafting of a new constitution that will limit the power of future elected governments, shifting oversight to unelected bodies.

Any new government will also be required to follow a 20-year national strategy drawn up by the military government.

Several parties seen as serving as proxies for the military have been established and Mr Prayut could run with one or he could become a so-called outsider prime minister under new rules that dont require the premier to be a member of parliament.

Some parties already have announced their support for Mr Prayut to stay in power and for several months he has been active in making public appearances around the country in what resembles a political campaign.

Agencies contributed to this report
South Korea has accused Japan of clear provocation, claiming a Japanese patrol plane made a threatening low-altitude flight over a South Korean warship on Wednesday.

Seouls joint chiefs of staff said the plane flew somewhere between 196ft and 229 ft above the water near a naval ship in seas southwest of the Korean peninsula.

The announcement follows a spat between the two countries militaries over Japanese allegations that a South Korean warship locked its fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol plane in December last year.

South Koreas military denied the allegation and accused the plane of flying low over the warship, which was engaged in rescuing a North Korean fishing boat.

Suh Wook, a spokesman for the joint chiefs, said the latest detected flight was the third time Japanese planes have flown low over South Korean warships since the December incident.

It is considered highly unlikely that such encounters will lead to actual skirmishes, but the tone over the military dispute has grown increasingly hostile.

The threatening low-altitude flight conducted today, despite our firm request to the Japanese government to ensure that [such flights] dont recur, is a clear provocation against the naval vessel of a friendly country and makes it impossible for us not to question Japans intentions, Mr Suh said in a statement.

If such activity repeats again, our military will respond strongly based on our response rules.

Japans chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga responded by stating that it was essential that the Japanese and South Korean defence authorities try to communicate and promote better understanding.

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

Seoul and Tokyo are key US allies and close economic partners, but disputes remain over both current military issues and wartime history.

Relations have sunk to their lowest level in recent years over compensation issues related to the Japanese armys sexual abuse of comfort women and forced labour by Koreans during Japans colonial rule of the Korean peninsula between 1910 and 1945.

The two countries foreign ministers were due to have met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Additional reporting by agencies
Five police officers are facing murder charges and several high-ranking security officials have been removed from their posts after the deaths of a family in Pakistan sparked nationwide outrage.

In a country where extrajudicial killings are worryingly common and euphemistically dubbed encounters, a spotlight has been put on the actions of a group of armed counterterror police by the brave testimony of three young children.

On Saturday, police in Punjab said they had carried out a successful operation to stop the car of a suspected Isis leader, Zeeshan Javed, and that he and his associates  some on motorbikes  were killed after they opened fire on police.

Yet in the days since, that account of events has fallen apart. Officials now admit that Javed was travelling in the car with a grocery store owner named Mohammad Khalil, his wife and their four children.

Pictures of the aftermath showed the bodies of Javed, Khalil, his wife Nabeela and their 12-year-old daughter Areeba slumped over in the car, unarmed and defenceless.

Forgotten Women: The sisters fighting for human rights in Pakistan Show all 5 1 /5 Forgotten Women: The sisters fighting for human rights in Pakistan Forgotten Women: The sisters fighting for human rights in Pakistan Forgotten Women: The sisters fighting for human rights in Pakistan Human rights activist Gulalai Ismail was apprehended by Pakistan officials upon landing in Islamabad after a flight from London Forgotten Women: The sisters fighting for human rights in Pakistan Forgotten Women: The sisters fighting for human rights in Pakistan Forgotten Women: The sisters fighting for human rights in Pakistan

And videos taken by passersby and circulated on social media showed both police firing on the car without reply, and officers discovering the three surviving children and leading them away from the scene of the slaughter.

Authorities in Punjab insist that Javed was a legitimate target for a counterterror operation, and in spite of the outcry have continued to refer to the deaths of the Khalil family members as collateral damage.

Neighbours and friends described Javed as being affiliated with Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, a fundamentalist group, according to BBC Urdu  but the police have produced no evidence to suggest he was linked to Isis.

An initial investigation has found that the Khalil family were innocent, and that high ranking officials in the counter terror police force were responsible, Punjab law minister Raja Basharat said.

Mr Basharat said the provincial government had removed the head of the counter terrorism department (CTD) and three other officials who will all face disciplinary action. The five police officers who shot at the car during the incident in Sahiwal town will be charged with murder and tried in an anti-terrorism court, he told reporters.

That may not be enough to placate either the public anger or the disgust from the central government at what happened, owing particularly to the powerful testimony given by the surviving Khalil children.

Umair Khalil, nine, was wounded in the leg during the shooting but was among the first to question the police account of what happened when he started talking to doctors and reporters at hospital.

Video of Umairs account  which was widely shared online  showed him explaining how he and his family were travelling with a friend of his father to attend a wedding when they were stopped at a toll booth.

My father told them to take our money and not to shoot their guns. But they started firing, he said.

Prime minister Imran Khan said he was shocked at seeing the traumatised children who saw their parents shot before their eyes, and promised the state would care for the survivors.

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The grief and anger ... Is understandable and justified, Mr Khan tweeted on Monday, referring to the public outrage.

He said anyone found guilty would be handed exemplary punishment.

I will review the entire structure of Punjab police and start [the] process of reforming it, he said.
China has launched an app allowing users to identify nearby debtors and report those who appear to be shirking the responsibility of paying back what they owe.

The Higher Peoples Court of Herbei in northern China released the software, called a map of deadbeat debtors, last week as an add-on to the popular WeChat messaging service.

Users are given an on-screen radar, which allows them to discover if there is anyone who owes money within a 500 metre radius, according to the state-owned China Daily newspaper.

Debtors information is available to check through the app and individuals are encouraged to whistle-blow if they believe the person can afford to pay back what they owe but is refusing to do so.

It's a part of our measures to enforce our rulings and create a socially credible environment, a court spokesman said.

China cancels Christmas Show all 7 1 /7 China cancels Christmas China cancels Christmas A man sells Christmas decorations on a street of Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) China cancels Christmas a promoter dressed as a teddy bear rest along a retail street in Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) China cancels Christmas A family walk past images of Santa Claus in Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) China cancels Christmas A worker guards the entrance of a shop decorated with images of Santa Claus in Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) China cancels Christmas Sales staff from an apparel shop dance wearing Christmas themed costumes to promote a year end sales in Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) China cancels Christmas Sales staff from an apparel shop dance wearing Christmas themed costumes to promote a year end sales in Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) China cancels Christmas a sales person waits for customers near a Christmas tree decoration in Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei province. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese society generally frowns upon people in debt, with citizens who live a frugal existence viewed more favourably than those who live beyond their means.

Overall household debt as a percentage of GDP is lower in China than in most Western countries, although this is beginning to change.

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Individual debt has risen rapidly over the last 15 years, partially aided by the governments move in 2003 to allow citizens to take out a private bank loan for the first time.

Some economists have expressed concern rising personal debt could affect levels of consumer spending in China, exacerbating the current economic slowdown the country is experiencing.
Two companies in China are giving single female employees over the age of 30 an extra eight days of annual dating leave.

Hangzhou Songcheng Performance and Hangzhou Songcheng Tourism Management have said unmarried women over 30 in non-frontline roles would be given an additional eight days of leave over the Chinese New Year to go home and date.

Employees at the firms  which are in Hangzhou, a city in eastern China  were said to have welcomed the move.

Female employees mostly work in internal functional departments, and some are show performers, Huang Lei, a human resources manager at one of the firms, told a local publication.

They have less contact with the outside world; thus we hope to give more leave to them to give them more time and opportunities to be in contact with the opposite sex.

The dating leave announcement comes after a secondary school, also in Hangzhou, last week reportedly introduced a new policy to give single, stressed-out teachers an extra two days off every month of love leave to relax and help lift staff morale.

Single women in China in their late 20s and early 30s are deemed to be leftover women, or shengnu, due to engrained traditional beliefs that women who are not married by then are undesirable.

More women in the worlds most populous country are choosing to focus on their careers and are marrying later or simply not marrying at all.

Data from the Ministry for Civil Affairs shows there were more than 200 million single adults in China in 2015 and the marriage rate has fallen every year since 2013.

Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Show all 17 1 /17 Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year The final day, Day 15, of Chinese New Year sees the Lantern Festival, where red Chinese lanterns are released into the sky AFP/Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year A man takes a photo of colorful lights with his smartphone at a lantern fair in Beijing AFP/Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the longest national holiday in China AFP/Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Although China has used the Gregorian calendar since 1912, Chinese New Year is based on the ancient Chinese lunar calendar, falling on the second new moon after winter solstice AFP/Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Roughly a sixth of the world will observe Chinese New Year, with celebrations in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia AFP/Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year A Chinese family visits a lantern show Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year 2017 is the year of the tenth Chinese zodiac, the rooster REUTERS Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year The year's of the rooster include 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993 and 2005 Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Those born in 1957 or 2017 are fire roosters, and are considered trustworthy, with a strong sense of timekeeping and responsibility at work. Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Fire roosters are recommended to avoid the colour red and their unlucky numbers: one, three and nine. Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Fire roosters are also thought to be talkative, popular in a crowd and loyal Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year The rooster will be followed by the dog in 2018 and the pig in 2019 Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year A family visits a lantern show for the Lantern Festival in Zhangjiakou, China Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year People visit a light show celebrating the festival REUTERS Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Beijing is bidding to host the Winter Olympics Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year A general view of signage Beijing's bid for the Winter Olympics logo during the Chinese Lantern Festival Getty Images Lantern festival marks last day of Chinese New Year Performers put on a show to celebrate the Lantern Festival Getty Images

Earlier this month, it was announced that China may have reached a historical turning point after some estimates suggested deaths outstripped births in the Asian country last year for the first time since records began.

In 2018, there were 15.23 million live births in China, a drop of two million from the year prior, according to official data.

According to a recent survey by LinkedIn China and LOreal China, nearly 80 per cent of women born after 1995 choose to describe themselves as economically independent, compared to just over 20 per cent who ticked the traditional loving wife and mother option.

In spite of the abolition of the governments one-child policy in 2015, alarm bells have been raised that an ageing society and dwindling workforce could damage future prospects for economic growth.

 First gene-edited babies reported in China

After decades in which the state aimed to restrict the number of children that parents gave birth to in order to control population, China is now looking at measures it can take to increase fertility.

With life expectancy increasing, almost a quarter of the countrys population is expected to be over the age of 65 by 2040, a statistic that could prove problematic unless there is a large enough workforce to support an ageing society.

But raising the birth rate could be tricky  with the number of Chinese women between the typically child-bearing ages of 20 and 39 expected to drop by more than 39 million over the next decade.
A dog-walking app advertised as the Uber for dogs reportedly tried to keep a couple from speaking negatively about the company after their dog was killed while in the care of a Wag dog walker.

Sara and Nick Moore, from Houston, Texas, whod previously used Wag, used the app to hire a dog walker to take care of their dog Winnie, a Wheaten Terrier, on December 10.

However, because it was a last-minute booking, the couple had to pick the first walker available - a concern from the beginning as Nick explained on Facebook that the walkers name listed on her profile did not match the one in her bio.

The couples concern grew when they never received a message alerting them that Winnie was on her way home after 60 minutes - at which point Sara called to check in.

According to Nick, the walker answered and assured Sara that Winnie was home safe - five minutes before a Wag representative called the couple to explain that Winnie was not home, but had actually been hit and killed by a car.

Doggy maternity shoot Show all 5 1 /5 Doggy maternity shoot Doggy maternity shoot Rients Photography Doggy maternity shoot Rients Photography Doggy maternity shoot Rients Photography Doggy maternity shoot Rients Photography Doggy maternity shoot Rients Photography

Following the heartbreaking incident, the Moores were told that Winnie was at the animal hospital - and that Wag would take care of all expenses, including the cost of Winnies cremation.

We asked Wag for details on what happened and all we got in response was conflicting information or them simply saying they didnt have much information to provide us with, Nick recalled to CBS News.

After saying goodbye to their dog, the couple submitted the receipts to the company - and in return received a settlement and non-disclosure agreement informing them that if they wished to receive compensation, they had to agree not to tell anyone what happened.

We could not leave any negative reviews, we could not make posts on social media, we could not hold Wag or the walker responsible, and only then would Wag reimburse us for Winnies cremation, Nick wrote online.

Rather than keeping the companys mistake a secret, the couple decided not to sign the agreement - so they could warn other pet parents about the services failure to keep Winnie safe.

We wanted to share our experience with Wag because we know that if this had happened to someone we knew, we would think twice about using their services, and would probably rely on people we know personally instead, Nick concluded on Facebook, where his post has been viewed more than 184,000 times.

In an open letter posted on Wags website, the CEO of Wag Hilary Schneider addressed the companys handling of pet-related incidents.

In the rare instance when theres an incident in which we need to work with the pet parents to make sure their needs are addressed, weve required them to sign an agreement - a common practice in the business world, she wrote. It was so routine for us, in fact, that we didnt pause to see if it made sense for every situation.

As a result of your feedback, weve already updated our policy regarding such agreements so that were responding with the highest level of sensitivity to the nature of each individual case.

This is not the first time the celebrity-endorsed app has been accused of mishandling pets in its care.

In addition to losing pet dogs, KTVU reported that the dog-walking company recently faced backlash over the walker vetting process after an incident of alleged animal abuse.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The Independent has contacted Wag for comment.
Blueprints for a luxury Moscow skyscraper and hotel bearing the name of Donald Trump have been published, a day after the presidents lawyer insisted no plans were ever made.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Rudy Giuliani sought to downplay previous comments in which he told the New York Times and other media outlets over the weekend that discussions about a proposed Trump Tower in the Russian capital had continued throughout 2016. The comments were made amid claims Mr Trump had directed his then lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to congress about The Apprentice stars property dealings.

First of all, the Times was absolutely wrong. Probably just as wrong as BuzzFeed was. I never said he had conversations about a skyscraper in Moscow, the New Yorker quoted Mr Giuliani as saying in an interview published on Monday.

The only thing that ever happened was that they submitted a letter of intent about a possible project in Moscow that never went beyond that. No money was ever paid, no plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file. Nothing ever happened to it. Much ado about nothing, because the New York Times wants to crucify the president.

No more than a day later, BuzzFeed News published what it said were indeed the plans for a proposed Moscow Trump Tower. The building would have been the tallest in Europe, the news site reported, beneath a headline that said: Trumps lawyer said there were No Plans for Trump Tower Moscow. Here they are.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

It said its story about the towers was based on hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, obtained by BuzzFeed News over a year of reporting.

It said it had obtained a plan by a New York architect for a building with a glass obelisk that would have been 100 stories high. The project never went ahead, though the plan is now part of the investigation by Robert Mueller into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the nation's alleged attempt to influence the 2016 election.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

It quoted Russian real estate developer Andrey Rozov saying to Cohen in September 2015: The building design you sent over is very interesting and will be an architectural and luxury triumph. I believe the tallest building in Europe should be in Moscow, and I am prepared to build it.

Last week, BuzzFeed News reported that special prosecutor Mr Mueller believed Cohen had been directed by Mr Trump to lie to Congress about his plans for the tower.

Mr Trump and the White House denied the report and Mr Mueller issued a rare statement saying: BuzzFeeds description of specific statements to the special counsels office, and characterisation of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohens Congressional testimony are not accurate.

BuzzFeed has said it stands by its report.

There has been no response to the latest report by Mr Trump or his lawyer.
 Close Mike Pence compares Trumps border wall stance to Martin Luther Kings legacy

As the government shutdown approaches day 34, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has blocked Donald Trump's plans for his State of the Union address.

Ms Pelosi said the president will not be allowed to deliver the address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, in spite of his suggestion he would show regardless of whether he was welcome.

The House will not approve a resolution allowing Mr Trump to come until the government reopens, Ms Pelosi said.

Donald Trump responded by saying well do something in the alternative, while branding Democrats radicalized.

The argument comes shortly after a new poll revealed Donald Trumps disapproval rating has risen to 57 per cent - the highest recorded by the pollster since his presidency began. The Politico / Morning Consult survey found that a majority of Americans blame the president for the government shutdown.

Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures The US Capitol on the first morning of a partial government shutdown in Washington EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Trump speaks with children who called the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa tracker in the State Dining Room of the White House. He earlier in the day, tweeted that he was 'all alone in the White House' waiting for Democrats to make a deal on border security EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers pick up free food at a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Reuters Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures From left, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Dick Durbin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi walk to speak to reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump about border security in the Situation Room of the White House. Trump declared he could keep parts of the government shut down for "months or even years" as he and Democratic leaders failed in a second closed-door meeting to resolve his demand for billions of dollars for a border wall with Mexico Evan Vucci AP Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the National Archives on the fifth day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Visitors read signs announcing the closure of the White House Visitor Center EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Donald Trump speaks during a round-table discussion on border security and safe communities with State, local, and community leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the White House Visitor Center on the first day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers show their IDs for entering a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images

With thousands of furloughed workers still not receiving pay, tensions are running high over the ongoing closure.

Police were called to a protest by a group of federal government workers at a field office for Senator Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.

The Senate Majority Leader blocked legislation on Wednesday that would reopen most of the government.

Some 800,000 federal workers are set to miss a second pay check this Friday.

Follow events as they happened:
A lack of funding due to the partial shutdown of the US government is hindering FBI investigations into drug and terrorism offences, the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) has said.

The bureau has lost several informants who have infiltrated groups under investigation, an anonymous FBI agent was quoted as saying in a report on the impact of the shutdown.

We have lost several sources who have worked for months, and years, to penetrate groups and target subjects. These assets cannot be replaced, the joint terrorism task force coordinator said.

Agents who had been working on an investigation into the MS-13 criminal gang said they were only able to communicate with Spanish-speaking informants through a conference call with a translator.

Since the shutdown, I have not had a Spanish speaker in the division, one agent said. We have several Spanish-speaking informants. We are only able to communicate using a three-way call with a linguist in another division.

Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures The US Capitol on the first morning of a partial government shutdown in Washington EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Trump speaks with children who called the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa tracker in the State Dining Room of the White House. He earlier in the day, tweeted that he was 'all alone in the White House' waiting for Democrats to make a deal on border security EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers pick up free food at a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Reuters Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures From left, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Dick Durbin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi walk to speak to reporters after meeting with President Donald Trump about border security in the Situation Room of the White House. Trump declared he could keep parts of the government shut down for "months or even years" as he and Democratic leaders failed in a second closed-door meeting to resolve his demand for billions of dollars for a border wall with Mexico Evan Vucci AP Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the National Archives on the fifth day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Hundreds of federal workers and contractors rally against the partial federal government shutdown Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Visitors read signs announcing the closure of the White House Visitor Center EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures President Donald Trump speaks during a round-table discussion on border security and safe communities with State, local, and community leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House Getty Images Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures A sign alerts visitors to the closure of the White House Visitor Center on the first day of a partial government shutdown EPA Trump shuts down US government over Mexico border wall  in pictures Furloughed federal workers show their IDs for entering a pop-up store of Kraft Heinz Getty Images

One official said the government shutdown had eliminated any ability to operate. They added: Its bad enough to work without pay, but we can only conduct administrative functions while doing it. The fear is our enemies know they can run freely.

The FBI told The Independent it had no comment.

In a statement, the bureau distanced itself from the report, adding: This report is a product of the FBIAA, a nonprofit professional association, and was not issued by the FBI.

Several FBI officers said the government shutdown meant they risked losing vital informants.

Not being able to pay Confidential Human Sources risks losing them and the information they provide FOREVER. It is not a switch that we can turn on and off, one official said in the report.

FBI Agents Associations Thomas OConnor holds up an FBI report Voices From the Field giving examples of how the government shutdown is undermining its work (Getty) (Jim WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Another agent said they fear losing further informants because they cannot secure safe spaces to meet with our informants and we cannot pay them for their information.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have gone without pay because of the government shutdown, which shows no signs of a swift conclusion.

Donald Trump has refused to sign any bill that would reopen the government unless it includes more than $5bn (3.84bn) in funding for a wall across parts of the US-Mexico border.

 Donald Trump announces plan to 'end government shutdown' involving border wall funding

Democrats consider a wall ineffective in combatting illegal immigration, and want the president to reopen federal agencies before they enter negotiations over border security.

The workers who are furloughed or working without pay are struggling to make ends meet as the shutdown, already the longest in US history, dragged on to its 33rd day on Wednesday.
A gunman killed five people in a bank in central Florida, before calling police himself and eventually surrendering, according to authorities.

The shooting took place at a SunTrust Bank branch in Sebring, Florida, at about 12.30pm local time, Police Chief Karl Hoglund said at a news conference.

The 21-year-old suspect, identified as Zephen Xaver, called police and said he had fired shots inside the bank, according to authorities.

After negotiators failed to convince the suspect to leave the bank, the Highlands County Sheriff's Office SWAT team entered the building and continued to talk to him, police said.

He eventually surrendered and is in custody. Police did not offer any details about a possible motive.

"This is a terrible day for Sebring, Highlands County and for the state of Florida," Governor Ron DeSantis said in a statement following the shooting.

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 front of the bank seems to have been damaged with doors ripped off their hinges, WFTS reported.

After the suspect was taken into custody, police said there was no longer any danger to people in the surrounding area. However, local businesses close to the bank and two nearby schools were instructed to be put on conditional lockdown.

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"We are working closely with officials and seeking to take care of everyone affected," SunTrust's Chief Communications Officer Sue Mallino told CNN. "We will provide more information as soon as we can."

Sebring is in central Florida. It is located about two hours south of Orlando.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have launched an investigation into the White House security clearance process that is likely to bring a focus to how Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was able to get access to highly classified US documents in spite of concerns that he was targeted for manipulation by foreign governments.

The Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching an in-depth investigation of the security clearance process at the White House and Transition Team in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump Administration, Reprsentative Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the committee, said in a letter to the White House on Wednesday.

Last year it was discovered that as many as 130 political appointees were working for the president without permanent security clarances as late as November 2017, including Mr Kushner.

Mr Kushner has been given a wide berth of responsibility in the White House including major issues like negotiating peace in the Middle East and reforms to the US criminal justice system.

Other political appointees with temporary clearances included Mr Trump's adult daughter Ivanka Trump, as well as his top legal counsel.

What senior White House official wrote the New York Time op-ed Show all 5 1 /5 What senior White House official wrote the New York Time op-ed What senior White House official wrote the New York Time op-ed James Mattis Getty What senior White House official wrote the New York Time op-ed Jeff Sessions Getty Images What senior White House official wrote the New York Time op-ed Don McGahn REUTERS What senior White House official wrote the New York Time op-ed Mike Pence AFP/Getty Images What senior White House official wrote the New York Time op-ed Ivanka Trump AFP/Getty Images

Mr Cumming said in his letter that his committee will seek to find out "why the White House and Transition Team appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information" and als the "extent to which the nation's most highly guarded secrets were provided to officials who should not have had access to them".

The White House has previously acknowledged there were issues with the security clearance process, with former Chief of Staff John Kelly announcing a review last year. Since then the White House has not made public any changes to the system.

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Other individuals who Mr Cummings said would be of interest are former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flyn, current National Security Advisor John Bolton, and Mr Flynn's son, Michael Flynn Jr.

Here is the full text from Mr Cummings' letter to the White House:

The Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching an in-depth investigation of the security clearance process at the White House and Transition Team in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump Administration, including by former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and others.

The goals of this investigation are to determine why the White House and Transition Team appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information, evaluate the extent to which the nations most highly guarded secrets were provided to officials who should not have had access to them, and develop reforms to remedy the flaws in current White House systems and practices. The investigation also will seek to determine why the White House is currently defying federal law by failing to provide to Congress information about its security clearance process required by the SECRET Act.

Last year, General John Kelly, President Trumps Chief of Staff at the time, conceded that there are major shortcomings with the White Houses security clearance process. He warned that the White House shouldand in the future, mustdo better, and he stated that now is the time to take a hard look at the way the White House processes clearance requests.

I agree. For the past two years, I have sought information with other Committee Members about a series of extremely troubling incidents regarding the security clearances of some of President Trumps top aides, but the White House has refused to provide the information we requested, often ignoring our requests completely.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to serve in the US House of Representatives, has secured a seat on the most powerful investigatory panel in Congress.

The New York Democrat will serve on the House Oversight Committee, led by Elijah Cummings, along with a slate of progressive newcomers, including Ayanna Presley, Rashida Tlaib and Ro Khanna  each of whom are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The oversight panel serves as one of the legislative branchs most important investigatory arms and has previously provided a crucial check on past White House administrations.

The appointment to the committee represents a significant milestone for Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who was also slated to serve on the House Financial Services Committee.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has drawn frequent national headlines ever since her shocking upset electoral victory last year against a 10-term Democrat incumbent, hitting back against her critics on Fox News in viral tweets while hosting information sessions for her colleagues on how to use social media more efficiently.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

In a statement discussing the new appointments to the committee, Mr Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said he was excited for the latest members of join the panel.

He also said he wasnt concerned about any worries that the progressive newcomers could seek to launch bold or unpopular probes during their tenure.

If I based the choices going on the committee based on what people said or their reputations or whatever, I probably wouldnt have a committee, he said in an interview with Politico.

I am excited, he continued, adding, there were a lot of people that wanted to come on our committee.

With Democrats assuming a majority of power in the House of Representatives, the Oversight Committee can be expected to unleash numerous investigations into Donald Trump and the White House.

The party also now holds subpoena power across the House committees, allowing Democratic lawmakers to advance investigations that may have previously been stymied under Republican leadership.

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Dan Kildee, a Democratic lawmaker involved in the committees selection process, told Politico, I want people to be aggressive, especially on that committee.

Its good to have people who arent afraid, he added. Theyre going to be dealing with some pretty tough stuff.
The most diverse group of politicians to ever run for the White House emerged during the 2020 Democratic primaries, as Donald Trump seeks re-election  and has since winnowed to another all-white race featuring senators, former lawmakers and multiple billionaires.

With the first-in-the-nation caucus and primary both out of the way, a variety of candidates have proven to be fundraising juggernauts, while others have been forced to suspend their presidential campaigns.

As the list of Democrats running for the Oval Office has been rather difficult to keep up with this year, here are each of the 2020 hopefuls who are still in the race.

Meet the candidates

Joe Biden

Former US vice president Joe Biden officially joined the Democratic presidential contest to replace Donald Trump in 2020, immediately becoming an instant frontrunner alongside Bernie Sanders, who then went on to have much stronger performances in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary.

In his campaign video, Mr Biden warned that handing Mr Trump a further four years in the White House would forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation.

He has been forced to address the issue of his age  at 76, Mr Biden is four years older than Mr Trump  suggesting hes the most qualified person to run against the president in 2020.

He also attacked the president for his response to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, accusing Mr Trump of having assigned moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it.

In that moment, I knew that the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime, he added.

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony. She has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord Vice News The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

Bernie Sanders

A favourite among progressive voters during the 2016 election, the lifelong Independent senator from Vermont was bested by Ms Clinton despite some polls at the time indicating he may have been the best bet for the Democratic Party to defeat Mr Trump in the general election.

Now, the 77-year-old has announced a run again in 2020  calling out the president as a pathological liar and offering a robust policy platform. I am asking you to join me today as part of an unprecedented and historic grassroots campaign that will begin with at least a million people from across the country, Mr Sanders wrote in an email to his supporters announcing his candidacy.

Recommended Bernie Sanders and AOC propose credit card interest rate caps

Pete Buttigieg

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana was the first openly gay politician to join the 2020 Democratic race for the White House. He was the youngest mayor elected to a US city with over 100,000 residents by the age of 29 and serves as a lieutenant in the navy reserve.

Mr Buttigieg has climbed in the polls and enjoys fundraising on-par with that of several more nationally-recognised candidates, despite being a little-known mayor from Indiana.

 Pete Buttigieg responds to Donald Trump calling him 'Alfred E. Neuman' after the Mad magazine character

Pete Buttigieg responds to Donald Trump calling him 'Alfred E. Neuman' after the Mad magazine character

Tulsi Gabbard

The US representative from Hawaii and former army medic declared her intention to run on 11 January of last year.

The 37-year-old was quickly beset by controversy, however, after it emerged she had expressed anti-LGBT+ views earlier in her career and met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, whose removal from power she opposes.

Elizabeth Warren

The Massachusetts senator has gained national recognition as a major supporter of regulating Wall Street and tackled head-on some of the biggest potential controversies that threatened to surround her during a 2020 campaign, including questions regarding her Native American heritage.

Ms Warren, who released a video and ancestry report confirming she has distant native ancestry, has become a fierce critic of Mr Trumps anti-regulatory administration.

She suffered weak performances in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, leaving her campaign with less of a viable path towards securing the nomination than several of her competitors, including Mr Buttigieg and Mr Sanders.

Amy Klobuchar

The Minnesota senator announced her candidacy as a moderate from the midwest who was familiar with the plight of middle and working class American communities across the country.

Though she wasn't exactly a frontrunner in the initial months of the race, the senator enjoyed a strong showing in New Hampshire's primary after her debate performance and has broken her campaign's fundraising records after voters began flocking the polls.

 Amy Klobuchar: 'We stand with the innocents in this world and not with dictators'

Tom Steyer

A billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist, Tom Steyer announced his candidacy after leading an effort to get millions of Americans to support Donald Trumps impeachment.

The liberal activist has focused on climate change, economic injustice and creating a large tent party for Democrats by funding nearly $230m to Democratic candidates since 2014.

Though Mr Steyer has made it onto the debate stages in recent months, he failed to garner a strong showing in both the Iowa and New Hampshire votes.

Mike Bloomberg

Another billionaire presidential hopeful, Mike Bloomberg was one of the last Democrats to throw his hat in the ring for the White House.

Still, he has managed to aggravate the president, releasing duelling ads during the SuperBowl that cost both he and Mr Trump $10m separately. Mr Trump has dubbed him "Mini Mike" and claimed he was "part of the fake news" in a tweet.

Mr Bloomberg skipped the initial caucus and primary votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, instead focusing on other key states in the lead up to the general election.

Additional reporting by AP
A pair of Saudi Arabian sisters whose bodies washed up together on a New York waterfront deliberately took their own lives, the citys chief medical examiner has concluded.

Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 23, bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River, Barbara Simpson said in a brief statement.

She added: Today, my office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide.

The siblings bodies were spotted in Manhattan on 24 October last year, two months after they were last seen at their home in Fairfax, Virginia.

Police have previously said a jogger had seen the women praying at a playground near the river hours before their bodies were found tied together with duct tape.

Water was found in the siblings lungs, indicated they were alive when they entered the river.

The women had lived with family in Fairfax after leaving Saudi Arabia several years ago, but ended up in a shelter following alleged abuse at home.

They were reported missing on 12 September and were later found to have visited Washington DC and Philadelphia before arriving in New York on 1 September.

Police said they stayed in expensive hotels in Manhattan until the credit card they were using reached its spending limit.

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

New York City Police Department chief of detectives Dermot Shea said people who knew the Farea sisters in Virginia had told investigators they had indicated they would rather inflict harm on themselves - commit suicide - than return to Saudi Arabia".

Under the kingdoms guardianship system, women must have the approval of a male relative  such as a father, husband, brother, or even a son  to marry, obtain a passport or travel.

For confidential support in the UK, contact the Samaritans on 116 123. In the US, contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline on1-800-273-8255.
Russell Baker, the genial but sharp-witted writer who won Pulitzer Prizes for his humorous columns in The New York Times, has died at the age of 93.

Allen Baker told The Associated Press that his father died on Monday from complications after a fall.

The elder Baker also hosted the show Masterpiece Theatre on PBS and wrote a moving autobiography of his impoverished Baltimore childhood.

In his later years, he lived in Leesburg, Virginia, not far from the rural community of his native Morrisonville.

Amiable and approachable, but also clear-eyed and street smart, Baker enjoyed a decades-long career as reporter, columnist, critic and on-air personality. He won Pulitzers in 1979 for the Observer, the Times column he wrote for 35 years, and in 1983 for his autobiography Growing Up.

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The Great Depression and World War II shaped Bakers early life. He began his career as a reporter in 1947 and rose to become a national New York Times reporter in Washington, DC, in 1954.

He covered Congress, the military and State Department during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations before tiring, he would recall, of waiting for politicians to come out of meeting rooms and lie to him. He drew upon those experiences for his column, writing as a curious and wide-eyed outsider who could leave an adversary buried under the weight of common sense.

On television we see President Reagan in a cave. It is the Mammoth Cave, one of Americas great caves. The TV news reader says the President has come there to create a photo opportunity. Here is President Reagan on television again. He is looking at a bald eagle. The President and the eagle are in the same room enjoying a photo opportunity, according to the TV news voice, Baker wrote in 1984.

His environmental policy has been characterised by a reluctance to do anything that would create difficulty for the business community. It is entirely possible to defend this position with persuasive argument. The President of the cave and the eagle, however, is not defending a sensibly thought-out policy; he is being used to deceive us into thinking that he is what he, in fact, is not.

Baker didnt ask to be called a humorist. During a 1994 speech in Hartford, Connecticut, he said his goal for the Observer was to render the federal government, politics and diplomacy accessible through plain, easy-to-read language. It was to be more widely appealing than the High-Church, polysyllabic writing common in The New York Times.

Well, as I soon discovered, in those days if you wrote short sentences and plain English in the Times, everybody naturally assumed you were being funny, he said in the speech.

Bakers targets included his own profession. Those who expected me to have something to say had obviously never heard the classic definition of a newspaper man: A man with nothing on his mind and the power to express it, he said during the Hartford speech.

He wrote a second autobiography, The Good Times, to follow Growing Up. The first focused on his childhood, the second on his early journalistic career. Baker would eventually write, edit or contribute to more than 15 other books, collections and assorted works  including a musical play and childrens book.

Baker was born in 1925 to stonemason Benjamin Baker and schoolteacher Lucy Elizabeth Baker. He married Miriam Emily Nash in 1950 and had three children: Kathleen, Allen and Michael.

Benjamin Baker died of untreated diabetes when his son was five. Lucy Baker struggled through the Great Depression as a single mother living in Baltimore.

Russell Baker remembered his mother as a key influence driving him to succeed.

She would make me make something of myself whether I wanted to or not, he wrote in Growing Up.

Baker served in the US Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1945 and was trained as a pilot during World War II. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1947 and began his journalism career that year as a police reporter with The Baltimore Sun. He became the newspapers London bureau chief in 1953.

Baker took over as Masterpiece Theatres host in 1993, succeeding Alistair Cooke, and remained until 2004. Bakers on-air commentary for public television focused on providing critical perspectives on featured works along with historical context. He also provided insights into the original authors approaches and detailed liberties taken to adapt the literature for television.

He wrote long-form reviews and other articles for The New York Review of Books during his years following the Times. He told a reporter for the Times Union, located in Albany, New York, in 2002 that the assignments were more rewarding during his retirement than the hyped-up work of column writing, when youre sweating it out worrying if theyll read past the second paragraph.

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His final column ran on Christmas Day, 1998. An Associated Press story at the time described it as a quiet adieu.

He apologized for talking about himself, the story read, remembered warmly a pope, a couple of presidents and his Uncle Allen, and concluded he had said enough for the time being.

AP contributed to this report.
Every terrorist murder in the US last year was linked to right-wing extremism, according to a new report.

At least 50 people were killed by an attacker connected to right-wing extremism in 2018, an increase of 35 per cent from the previous year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found.

The rise means nearly three-quarters of extremist murders in America in the past decade can be linked to right-wing domestic terrorism, more than three times as many as those committed by Islamists.

The figures should serve as a wake-up call to everyone about the deadly consequences of hateful rhetoric, said the ADL, a New York-based organisation with monitors antisemitism and other hate crime.

Its time for our nations leaders to appropriately recognise the severity of the threat and to devote the necessary resources to address the scourge of right-wing extremism, said chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt.

The ADL counted each murder in which the killer or suspect had links to right-wing extremist groups or ideology - including white supremacism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, or misogyny. However, not all of the killings have been established as motivated by extremism.

According to the ADL's calculation, last year was the deadliest for right-wing extremist murders in the US since 1995, when Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing.

When all forms of extremism are taken into account, 2018 was the fourth deadliest for domestic terrorism in America since 1970, the ADL said. The rise can partly be attributed to the high casualty numbers in five mass shootings which accounted for 38 of the 50 deaths last year.

However, the percentage of extremist deaths linked to right-wing ideologies has also surged in the past two years. In 2017, 62 per cent of extremist murders were committed by ring-wing killers. That figure was itself up from 21 per cent in 2016, according to the ADL, which said the increase reflected a long-term trend.

In the past decade, 73.3 per cent of all extremist-related killings in the US were committed by right-wing domestic extremists. Some 23.4 per cent were linked to Islamic extremism.

Jacob Davey, who co-leads research into the extreme right at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London, said the threat of far right violence was growing internationally

He told The Independent: The global atmosphere, particularly in the US but also throughout Europe and the UK, is becoming more polarised. This is empowering and emboldening right-wing voices and its creating an environment which makes it quite easy for individuals and groups to profit off this polarisation and drive division further.

We are also seeing some really concerted international propaganda efforts to stoke this global atmosphere of fear and hatred.

Mr Davey said digital communications had lowered the barrier of entry for involvement in extremist movements, while Donald Trumps presidency had also empowered right-wing activists through dog whistle tactics.

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

White supremacists carried out 39 of the extremist killings in America last year, according to ADL, although it noted one of those had become interested in radical Islam before stabbing a 13-year-old to death in Florida in March.

Eleven of those murdered in 2018 were worshippers shot dead at the Tree of Life synagogue on Pittsburgh in October. The suspected shooter, Robert Bowers, 46, allegedly shouted antisemitic abuse as he carried out the attack.

In February, 17 people were killed in the Parkland school shooting in Florida by Nikolas Cruz, who police said held extremist views. Cruz had posted racist and Islamophobic comments on social media and, according to the ADL also had links to white supremacism.

For the first time, ADLs annual summary of extremist killings also includes violence allegedly inspired by the so-called incel movement, a misogynistic online community in which involuntarily celibate men often express anger over their inability to form relationships with women.

In November, two women were shot dead at a Florida yoga studio by Scott Beierle, who had posted videos online complaining about the collective treachery of women and suggesting they should be punished with crucifixion.

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The ADL urged politicians and law enforcement authorities to speak out against all manifestations of hate and extremism and enact specific laws to tackle domestic terrorism.

For too long, policymakers have focused disproportionate attention on the threat of Islamist extremism, to the detriment of readiness to address many other security issues, it said.

Last year the Washington DC-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies warned far right terror attacks on American soil had quadrupled over two years.

It noted Mr Trumps election had energised some right-wing extremists, but said the increase began before he ran for president.

US federal and local agencies need to shift some of their focus and intelligence resources to penetrating far-right networks and preventing future attacks, said Seth Jones, chair of the centres transnational threats project.
A nurse has been arrested for sexual assault after an incapacitated woman gave birth to a child in Phoenix last month, according to police.

The childs birth sparked a police investigation into the Hacienda Healthcare facility, and it was announced on Tuesday that two doctors who had been in charge of the womans care were no longer with the company. CEO Bill Timmons resigned from the company earlier this month after the sexual assault and birth.

The alleged rapist was identified by Phoenix police as 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland.

He made his first court appearance hours after his arrest on Wednesday. A Maricopa County Superior Court commissioner released Mr Sutherland from jail on a $500,000 bail bond. He has been ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device while out on bail.

From the minute we first became aware of the crime, we have virtually worked non stop seven days a week to resolve this case, Phoenix police chief Jeri Williams said on Wednesday morning, announcing Mr Sutherlands arrest.

The 29-year-old woman has been in a vegetative state since a near-drowning at the age of three. Before giving birth to the child late last month, healthcare workers at the facility reportedly did not know she was pregnant.

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

None of the staff were aware that she was pregnant until she was pretty much giving birth, an individual familiar with the situation told Arizona Family earlier this month. From what Ive been told she was moaning. And they didnt know what was wrong with her.

The childs birth sparked an investigation and review by regulators, and DNA samples were taken from men who work at the facility.

Recommended 911 call reveals moment woman in vegetative state gave birth

The victim has not been identified, and little information about her identity has been released by officials.

San Carlos Apache tribe officials said in a statement on 8 January that the woman was in a coma, and indicated she is a member of the tribe. A subsequent statement from the familys lawyers said she was not in a coma but had significant intellectual disabilities.

The important thing here is that contrary to whats been reported, she is a person, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities. She has feelings and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family, attorney John Michaels told The Arizona Republic.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The womans guardian, her mother, was described last year in an annual report as an incapacitated adult, and that she suffers from several conditions including a form of mental incapacity, paralysis of the limbs, recurring pneumonia, a seizure disorder and other conditions.

A request for comment sent to a spokesperson for Hacienda Healthcare was not immediately returned.

Sarah Harvard contributed to this report
| BY Lynchy |

Created by FCB Kuala Lumpur, the latest edition to RHB Groups Challenger Series campaign celebrated the determined spirit of world-renowned professional gamer, Chai Yee Fung aka Mushi.

Titled Belief, this was a Malaysian first  where a bank actively championed a professional gamer.

The campaign was inspired by Mushi,s true story, who at a young age made the bold decision to pursue gaming as opposed to the more traditional career paths. Training relentlessly and with the constant support of his parents, Mushi became one of the worlds most celebrated pro gamers, and he played an integral role in putting Malaysia on the map with the gaming community, as the country embarks on its quest to be a hub for eSports.

Ong Shi Ping, FCB Kuala Lumpurs Chief Creative Officer expressed excitement over the opportunity to create daring storylines with such unlikely partnerships. Who would have thought that a bank would be so supportive about the life story of a gamer? Belief shatters traditional conventions of banks playing on safe corporate-like narratives to pander to the usual festive sentiments. Were extremely honoured to work on a brand that is brave enough to support ordinary Malaysians who have made their goals a reality, no matter how unconventional their dreams may be.

Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, the Group Chief Marketing Officer of the RHB Group said, RHB is a champion for all and we wanted to show that progress can come in many forms. Mushi embodies the RHB spirithis courage to challenge societys conventions and his parents belief in their sons own nascent ability has made Mushis dream a reality. This story embodies what we at RHB believe in it is what Together We Progress means.

Mushi himself was surprised, stating I never thought a bank like RHB would show interest in my story. I would like to continue elevating Malaysias name in professional gaming globally.

The campaign was just launched on 19th January 2019 across RHBs social media channels and has already racked up close to 1,000 shares. View the video HERE.

Credits 

Co-owner & Chief Creative Officer: Ong Shi Ping

Art Directors: James Voon, Hazwan Selamat

Copywriters: Tjer, Mandy Chock, Felice Puah

Senior Producer: Brandon Chai

General Manager: Natasha Aziz

Senior Account Executive: Zulhilmi Rashid

Production House: Chili Pepper Films

Film Director: Cruba Bannon

RHB Marketing Team: Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, Tunku Hazli Bin Tunku Tolha, Mohd Anwar Bin Mohd. Amin, Elaine Yap
Flights were suspended at one of the US's busiest international airports on Tuesday evening after multiple sightings of drones at an adjacent airstrip.

Two unmanned aircraft were seen at Teterboro Airport, a private facility next to New Jersey's Newark International, with one pilot telling air traffic controllers that a drone passed within 30ft (9m) of his plane.

Authorities suspended flights at both airports from about 5pm local time as a precaution. The airport, which serves New York City, said just after 7pm that it was operating normally again.

And while the disruption was only relatively brief, the incident called to mind similar closures at London Heathrow earlier this month and, a few weeks earlier, the days-long travel chaos caused by drones at Gatwick Airport.

United Airlines spokesman Robert Einhorn said the impact of the Newark incident on its operations "has been minimal so far".

Brett Sosnik was on a United Airlines flight bound for Newark when the pilot told passengers they would be circling in the air because of a drone spotted in Newark airspace.

Mr Sosnik, who was returning from the Bahamas, said his plane circled for about half an hour.

"I was looking around trying to find a drone in the air when we were closer to landing, but I didn't see anything," said Mr Sosnik, a New York City resident who works in marketing.

"There's got to be a way to combat that stuff and not have it affect huge airports with such a little piece of technology."

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 Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said in a statement late on Tuesday that some Newark-bound flights were still being held on the ground in order to limit the knock-on effect of the runway closure.

The agency said the incident was being investigated by the police.
An upmarket New York restaurant which is popular with celebrities has reportedly banned women from sitting alone at the bar.

Clementine Crawford, a regular customer at the Italian restaurant in Manhattan, claimed she was ushered to a table and informed nobody was allowed to eat at the bar anymore.

Ms Crawford, a creative executive of branding firm Finch & Partners, made further inquiries after she noticed a man sat at her favourite spot earing a meal. She claims she then learned the owner had ordered a crackdown on prostitutes.

The customer, who divides her time between London and New York, wrote about the alleged incident in an essay called "The Night I was mistaken for a Call Girl.

"All these years we have been battling for a room of one's own; and, little did we know it, but we are still fighting for a seat at the table (or bar, to be strictly accurate)," the London resident wrote in the piece that was published in media outlet Drugstore Culture.

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

Ms Crawford, who said she had dined at the bar of the Madison Avenue establishment frequently for years, said on this particular occasion she was "perched at my favourite seat at the bar" when a waiter "advised  with evident embarrassment  that I was no longer permitted to eat at my usual spot and that I must now sit down at a table.

She said she went back a few days later and it happened again.

"Nobody was able to eat at the bar. Company policy, staff were said to have told her.

She said she followed the instructions but noticed a man at the bar being served a pasta dinner  completed with a limoncello.

Recommended New York mothers have a discreet new uniform to show off their wealth

"Why, I wondered, was I suddenly being treated so frostily? After further interrogation, it transpired that the owner had ordered a crackdown on hookers: the free-range escorts who roamed the Upper East Side, hunting prey in his establishment," Ms Crawford said.

"But hang on: Did this mean they thought that I was an escort? Or could be mistaken for one? At first, I was incensed. Not because I am judgmental about the world's oldest profession, but because this treatment struck me as outright discrimination. They had classified me, marginalised me, relegated me to the corner by the loos simply because I was an unaccompanied woman."

While Crawford did not identify the restaurant in the essay she told The New York Post it was it was Nello  an expensive Italian restaurant known for being frequented by Beyonce and Sarah Jessica Parker.

A number of reviews on Yelp offered up comments after Ms Crawford's story.

"If you want pasta with a side of sexism, eat here," one reviewer said.

Another called for the restaurant to amend its policy, saying: "I eat alone at NYC bars all the time, and relish the fact that I've earned the right with my hard work to spoil myself. I can't imagine this happening in any of the places I frequent."

The Independent contacted a representative of Nello for comment. The restaurant has refused to comment to other publications.
A group of former Boy Scouts stockpiled firearms and explosive devices as they plotted to bomb a rural Muslim community in upstate New York , police said.

At the time the four were arrested they had access to 23 rifles and shotguns, as well as three home-made bombs, Greece police chief Patrick Phelan said after Brian Colaneri, 20, Andrew Crysel, 18 and Vincent Vetromile, 19, were charged with weapons possession and conspiracy, alongside a 16-year-old high school student who cannot be named.

Three of the suspects had been in Boy Scouts together.

I don't know that there was a specific date. They had a plan in place, he said of the plot to attack Islamberg, a small enclave, close to the Catskill Mountains in northern New York state.

Chief Phelan also refused to rule out further arrests over the alleged plot.

It was a comment by the teenager in the lunchroom during school at the Odyssey Academy in Greece, a suburb of Rochester, that first triggered a police investigation.

Searches of five locations uncovered evidence relating to the plot. Officers found three improvised explosive devices, wrapped in duct tape and filled with ball bearings and nails, hidden inside the teenagers house.

A small rural community in Delaware County Islamberg was formed in the 1980s by Pakistani cleric Mubarak Ali Gilani and his followers, who had moved out of New York City.

The settlement is operated by The Muslims of America, an indigenous organisation which runs 21 such communes across North America.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

However, the hamlet, home to around 200 people, has become a target due to persistent right-wing conspiracy theories it is a terrorist training camp.

Police, analysts and neighbours have routinely debunked rumours for decades, although this has failed to prevent attempts of violence against the community.

In 2017, Tennessee man Robert Doggart was convicted on federal charges for hatching what authorities described as a plan to burn down the Islamberg mosque in 2015.

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The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called for those accused of the latest plot to also face federal charges in addition to the state charges already brought against them.

Anyone accused of plotting an act of violence targeting a religious minority should face state and federal hate crime and civil rights charges commensurate with the seriousness of their alleged actions, said Afaf Nasher, the group's executive director for New York in a statement.

Additional reporting by AP
Law students in the United States have been offered the opportunity to study extreme poverty - through an unpaid internship at New York Universitys School of Law.

Professor and human rights expert Philip Alston announced the 10-week summer internship on Twitter, where he wrote: Law students: I am hiring legal interns to work with me this summer in my capacity as UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

Alston also linked to the application on NYU School of Laws Centre for Human Rights and Global Justices website, where it lists the details of the internship, the range of issues students will be covering, including legal empowerment, and how to apply.

The application page also explains why the interns accepted for the role will not be paid.

Below a description of the work expected of the interns, from legal research and writing to attending educational seminars every two weeks, applicants are informed that due to limited resources, candidates are strongly encouraged to seek other funding sources, such as their law schools public interest law centres, local bar foundations and Equal Justice America.

East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Show all 11 1 /11 East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Wayan Tangkih had to move from shelter to shelter while pregnant. Now, she has health concerns for her baby, who has a fever and infected umbilical stump Danielle Da Silva/ Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Wayan Tangkihs baby has an infected umbilical stump, prompting concerns Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures It is still unclear when, if ever, Indonesians displaced by Mount Agung eruption fears will be able to go back to their homes Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders East Bali Poverty Project relief camps: in pictures Organisations like EBPP have been working to provide people with shelter and food Danielle Da Silva/Photographers Without Borders

The irony of asking law students to study extreme poverty while working as unpaid interns was pointed out on social media, where people criticised Alston and NYU's offer.

Is this a spoof advertisement? one person asked. A 10-week unpaid job reporting on extreme poverty?

Another said: Bit disappointing to see an internship researching poverty and human rights appears to be unpaid. Surely contradictory.

Sorry Professor, but this is not good enough. Very disappointing that you choose to use unpaid interns while holding the SP mandate on extreme poverty. You like many other people in our field I admire must have the courage to say enough, someone else responded.

Others questioned Alstons use of the word hiring to refer to the future interns, considering they wouldnt be paid as employees.

If you dont pay them how can they be hired? one person commented.

After previously toughening laws on unpaid internships in the United States, the US Department of Labour announced in January 2018 that it would be implementing a seven-factor test to determine whether an intern is considered an employee under the Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA).

With the new test, courts may examine the economic reality of the intern-employer relationship to identify a primary beneficiary.

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If the employer is identified as the primary beneficiary, the intern must be compensated as an employee.

But if an intern is receiving significant educational benefits or clearly understands that there is no expectation of compensation, among other factors, they are not required under the FLSA to receive compensation for their work.

A spokesperson from NYU School of Law told The Independent: All current NYU Law students are eligible for summer public interest funding from NYU Law, including for these internships. Other law school interns usually bring summer funding from their universities or intern for academic credit. For any intern who does not have school funding, we would work with them to secure it.
A man is being held in jail in Utah after allegedly posting online about killing as many girls as I see because he was a virgin and had never had a girlfriend.

Police say Christopher Wayne Cleary, 27, wrote on Facebook about how he planned to become the next mass shooter the same weekend womens marches were being held around the US.

Mr Cleary said he wanted to make the fact that so many women had turned him down right by going on a shooting spree, according to jail documents filed by Provo Police.

He is said to have added that there was nothing more dangerous than a man ready to die.

Mr Cleary, from Denver, Colorado, was arrested on Saturday after the states police raised the alarm with officers in Provo, Utah, where he had checked in to an Airbnb rental a day earlier.

Toronto van attack: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Toronto van attack: in pictures Toronto van attack: in pictures The front end damage of the van that a driver used to hit several pedestrians in Toronto. AFP/Getty Toronto van attack: in pictures A lone police officer confronts the man suspected of driving the rented white van. rayy0889/Twitter/Screengrab Toronto van attack: in pictures Alek Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, a suburb north of Toronto, was arrested after he drove the vehicle into pedestrians. LinkedIn Toronto van attack: in pictures 10 people were killed in the city on Monday, 23rd April. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures Farzad Salehi consoles his wife, Mehrsa Marjani, who was at a nearby cafe and witnessed the aftermath. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures Emergency services closed Yonge Street after the van mounted a pavement crashing into a crowd of pedestrians. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures A covered body lies on Yonge Street. EPA Toronto van attack: in pictures Police inspect the van involved with the collision. Getty Toronto van attack: in pictures People sign a memorial for the victims. AP Toronto van attack: in pictures Police officers stand by a covered body. Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press via AP

With help from the FBI officers tracked Cleary down to a restaurant, thought to be McDonalds, and arrested him on suspicion of a felony threat of terrorism charge.

The Facebook posts did not mention the womens marches but investigators were said to be concerned since they were happening that same day in Provo and Salt Lake City, along with dozens of other cities.

According to police, Cleary acknowledged making the posts, but said he deleted them after receiving threats in response.

Cleary pictured during a review of a McDonalds meal uploaded to his YouTube channel on 19 January  the same day he was arrested (Christopher Cleary/YouTube)

He told investigators he had an impulse-control disorder and was suicidal.

Colorado authorities said Mr Cleary was already on probation after stalking and threatening women there, according to Utah police documents.

He is being held without bail in Utah, and authorities are expected to seek his extradition to Colorado.

If the attack had been carried out, it could have become the latest massacre by a man linked to the Incel  involuntary celibacy  community.

A spotlight was shone on the Incel community in May 2014 when Elliot Rodger went on a knife and gun rampage, killing six people in Isla Vista, California, before shooting himself.

The London-born 22 year old, whose filmmaker father Peter Rodger was assistant director on The Hunger Games films, emailed a 137-page manifesto detailing his plans to kill some 30 people including his parents just minutes earlier.

In a video uploaded to YouTube the day before the massacre, Rodger described his plans to shoot women and promised retribution for his loneliness and frustration at never having had a girlfriend and for being a virgin.

In a chilling echo on 23 April 2018, 25-year-old Alek Minassian killed 10 people and injured many more after driving a van into pedestrians in Toronto, Canada.

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He faces 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder at a trial expected to begin in 2020.

Shortly before the 2019=8 attack, a post appeared on the suspects now-deleted Facebook profile praising Rodger.

The Incel Rebellion has already begun, the post said. We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys.

Chads and Stacys are terms used within the Incel community to refer to attractive men and women.

The label Incel is thought to have originated in Canada where a female college student, known only as Alana, set up a website called Alanas Involuntary Celibacy Project to discuss her sexual inactivity in 1993. In 1997 she set up a mailing list on the topic using the abbreviation Incel  and a community of lonely people began.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
Officials in a Chicago suburb say they have reached a deal to pay $1.25m to settle a lawsuit stemming from a 2015 incident in which a police officer tackled a black doctorate student for stealing a car that turned out to be his own.

Wally Bobkiewicz, the city manager for Evanston, said that the suburb had entered into the agreement with Lawrence Crosby, who was a 25-year-old student seeking his PhD in engineering at Northwestern University when he was tackled in 2015.

He has since received his degree.

The $1.25m figure was announced by Dr Crosbys attorney Timothy Touhy, who gave the number to the Chicago Tribune.

Mr Bobkiewicz did not comment on the settlement amount.

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. 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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. 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

Police tacked Dr Crosby in 2015 after arriving in response to a call from a woman who saw him attempting to fix the moulding on his car, but thought he was stealing the vehicle, according to Mr Touhy.

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The woman followed Dr Crosby when he drove away and to the science building on his schools campus, and then relayed his location to police.

Police camera footage shows Dr Crosby exiting his vehicle both hands in the air before being tackled when he did not immediately respond to orders to get on the ground.

The case of Dr Crosby is the latest high profile incident involving aggressive police action and black men in the Chicago area and the United States more broadly.

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Just last week, a Chicago police officer was sentenced to seven years in prison for the murder of black man Laquan McDonald, whose killing was caught on video and sparked outrage in the city that included criticism of Mayor Rahm Emanuel after it was discovered it took over a year for the footage to be released publicly.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
United Nations aid organisations have criticised European countries for closing their ports to migrant vessels after more than 140 people rescued in the Mediterranean were taken to a detention centre in Libya.

An estimated 144 refugees and migrants, including four children and four pregnant women, were taken to a detention centre in Misrata, northwestern Libya, on Sunday after they were rescued by cargo ship Lady Sham, according to the UN's refugee agency.

Wracked with violence and widespread human rights violations, Libya is a dangerous destination for refugees and migrants, UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley said.

Refugees returned to Libya after being rescued in the Mediterranean face automatic detention upon their return. In these detention centres, they face appalling, squalid conditions, Mr Yaxley told The Independent.

Reports from survivors tell us that they suffer torture, forced labour, physical and sexual violence at the hands of the unscrupulous smugglers who seek to profit on the desperation of people fleeing war, violence and persecution."

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

Italy has barred rescue vessels from entering its ports since mid-2018 when a populist government came to power.

Italys interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has said the ports will remain closed to deter human traffickers.

Following Italys refusal, Spain and Malta said they would accept some of the migrants rescued at sea, but not before lengthy negotiations with other EU countries.

The UNHCR called on European countries to stop politicking around sea rescues and focus on a solution to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean.

Politicians must stop using human beings for political pointscoring and to instead address this as a humanitarian issue, with saving lives the priority, the UNHCR said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch said this week that migrants detained in Libya are trapped in a nightmare and that the European Union is perpetuating a cycle of abusive detention rather than protecting vulnerable people.

 Eight migrants die as 86 rescued from sinking boat off Libya

Migrants held in Libyan detention centres, including many children, suffer severe malnutrition, overcrowding and violence, the human rights group said in a 70-page report.

Fig-leaf efforts to improve conditions and get some people out of detention do not absolve the EU of responsibility for enabling the barbaric detention system in the first place, said Human Rights Watchs Europe director Judith Sunderland.

An estimated 170 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean last week after two overloaded dinghies capsized off the coast of Libya.

Survivors told the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) that one of the dinghies was transporting 120 people.

An estimated 200 people have already drowned trying to reach Europe in January and more than 4,000 have attempted the crossing, according to the IOM.
Ex-cabinet minister David Davis will rake in more than 3,000 per hour as an adviser to the manufacturing giant JCB.

The former Brexit secretary declared he will earn 60,000 for 20 hours work each year for the firm, whose billionaire chairman Lord Bamford is a major donor to the Conservative party and the Leave campaign.

The large pay packet - which breaks down to around 50 per minute - would be in addition to his basic MPs salary of 77,379 per year.

Recommended David Davis resigns as Brexit secretary

Critics said it was "disgusting" Mr Davis had been offered the role having "failed to properly plan for Brexit and storming out of the cabinet".

However the Conservative MP said he had consulted the ministerial watchdog about the role, which he added to the parliamentary register of members interests.

His update to the register said: "From 1 January 2019 to 1 January 2020, external advisor to JCB, Rocester ST14 5J. I will receive 60,000 per annum, paid quarterly. Hours: approx. 20 hrs a year. I consulted ACoBA about this appointment."

Mr Davis also registered he had been made a board member of German manufacturing company Mansfelder Kupfer Und Messing GMBH from December to June 2019, for which he will receive 36,085.

JCB's chairman Lord Bamford is a prominent Leave supporter, who was nominated for a peerage by David Cameron, when he was in Downing Street.

Boris Johnson delivered what was seen as a leadership speech from JCB's Staffordshire headquarters last week, where he faced a grilling from journalists.

Ian Murray, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign, criticised Mr Davis, adding: "What an absolute insult to the people of the UK who have been left facing deeper austerity and increased living costs as a result of the calamitous Brexit he campaigned for and still supports.

"There are very real consequences of the decisions he made, and workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors will be among those to pay the price.

"He should be thoroughly ashamed, but the hardcore Brexiteers who lied to the people of Britain have no shame. It's time to take matters out of the hands of people like David Davis and give control to the public through a people's vote."

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Shadow cabinet office minister John Trickett added: What David Davis will get paid in 20 hours takes most people over two years to earn.

"But then again, under the Tories its one set of rules for the few and another for the many.

Most people when reading this will no doubt think snouts in the trough, and this is exactly why Labour has repeatedly warned of the damage to the reputation of parliament caused by arrangements like this and why they need to stop.

Mr Davis and Mr Johnson both resigned from the cabinet last year in protest at Theresa May's Brexit deal.
More than 250 companies are in touch with the Dutch government about moving to the Netherlands because of Brexit, officials have said.

The trade and investment arm of the countrys government has been soliciting moves from companies worried about access to the EU market, with Britain set to leave the single market and customs union.

A number of high-profile companies have already announced a decision to cross the North Sea, most recently Japanese electronics giant Sony specifically citing Brexit. Last year Panasonic also announced it was moving to Amsterdam.

Michiel Bakhuizen, a spokesman for the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), told the AFP news agency that the number of firms in talks was growing.

A final figure would be announced next month cataloguing the relocations, he said, stating that every new arrival of a business, big or small, is a success.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

The number of businesses we are in contact with for a possible arrival is growing. At the start of 2017 it was 80, at the start of 2018 150, and now its more than 250, he said.

This increase will continue and its not strange, because there is great uncertainty at the moment in Britain. And if there is one thing thats bad for business, its uncertainty.

The spokesperson confirmed that that the NFIA was in contact with more than 250 interested in an eventual move to the Netherlands because of Brexit.

The Netherlands has sometimes appeared better prepared for Brexit than the UK, with advanced plans to recruit as many as 1,000 extra border officials to deal with potential disruption and extra bureaucracy caused by the UKs exit.

In addition to private businesses, the UK has also lost a key EU agency to Amsterdam: the European Medicines Agency, which employs around 900 highly skilled workers.

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The Netherlands is not the only country to benefit from the UKs policies. The EY financial services tracker reported earlier this month that 80 out of the 222 finance companies it follows have publicly said they are considering or have confirmed the relocation of UK staff and operations to the continent.

Attractive destinations for finance companies are said to include Dublin, Paris, Luxembourg and Frankfurt.

A survey conducted by the CBI in October found that a majority of businesses intended to start implementing their Brexit contingency plans in December. Around 30 per cent of the businesses contacted by the body were planning to relocate production and services overseas, with 56 per cent making adjustments to their supply chains.

The situation is now urgent. Unless a withdrawal agreement is locked down by December, firms will press the button on their contingency plans. Jobs will be lost and supply chains moved, CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn said at the time.

Theresa May has stuck by her decision to take the UK out of the single market and customs union, despite warnings from businesses. The prime minister says a closer economic arrangement outside the EU would not respect the referendum result. Labour disagrees and says the UK should have a customs union with the EU and follow the blocs industrial standards.
A cross-party bid for parliament to take control to block a no-deal Brexit has received a big boost after Labour said it is highly likely to back it.

Opposition support would all-but guarantee that the plan  to force Theresa May to seek an extension to the Article 50 process until the end of 2019, unless her deal passes by the end of February  will win Commons approval.

John McDonnell described the backbench bill, put forward by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Conservative Nick Boles as sensible, ahead of a crucial vote next Tuesday.

It says to the government you've run down the clock so much, it looks as though if you can't get a deal by February 26  the government will then have to bring forward proposals to extend that, he said.

So, I think it's increasingly likely already that we'll have to take that option because the government has run the clock down.

The boost came as Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, sparked anger by claiming Tory backers of the plan wanted to thwart Brexit altogether.

Dr Fox said there was real danger and huge consequences in such a radical constitutional change, allowing MPs  rather than the government  to initiate legislation.

Claiming the real aim was to stop Brexit altogether, he said: There are many who talk about delaying Brexit, when what they really mean is not having Brexit at all.

Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters

I think the worst outcome would be for parliament, having given a guarantee to the voters that they would honour result of the referendum, to turn around and break that contract.

Mr Boles described the claim as rubbish, tweeting: I am happy to vote for ANY deal that the PM recommends and that will deliver Brexit on time. I will never support revocation of Brexit.

With Labour support, the Cooper-Boles plan is almost certain to win a Commons vote on a motion next Tuesday  but would still face the challenge of passing the legislation itself.

Furthermore, extending Article 50 requires the consent of all other 27 EU countries, which might only be granted if the UK agrees to hold a general election, or a fresh referendum.

Labours likely support comes after the prime minister rebuffed a call by Amber Rudd for ministers to be given a free vote on the motion aimed at delaying Brexit if necessary.

The work and pensions secretary warned dozens of ministers would resign otherwise but Ms May told the cabinet that collective responsibility would be enforced.

However, with Labour support, only about a dozen Tory rebels would be required for the motion to pass. More than that figure have already voted previously against no-deal.

Two other amendments to thwart a no-deal Brexit could also be put to a vote next Tuesday. They would not be binding, but would still pile huge pressure on Downing Street to bend to parliaments will.
| BY Ricki Green |

New York Festivals International Advertising Awards has announced Aussie expat Matt Eastwood, global chief creative officer of McCann Health as the 2019 executive jury president. For the first time in the 9-year history of NYFs executive jury, a President will preside over this elite panel of chief creative officers from around the globe who will assemble in New York City this April for 5 days to select the worlds best advertising.

Says Eastwood: It is an incredible honor to be asked to be the first ever Jury President of the prestigious New York Festivals. As the Jury President I want to encourage the judges to award work that not only actively engages consumers but also achieves results. But my hope is to go even further than that. Bill Bernbach once said, All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level. Well be looking for work that works. But, more importantly, well be looking for work that lifts creativity and, indeed, society to a higher plane.

Eastwood brings creativity, leadership skills as well as bona fide executive jury experience to his role as jury president. Having served 3 terms on NYFs executive jury, Eastwood truly understands the creative demands of judging all finalist entries across all mediums.

A highly awarded creative leader and a founding member of the recently formed New York Festivals Advisory Board, Eastwoods sage advice and industry expertise were influential in piloting the competitions recent transformation.

Says Susan Glass Ruse, executive director of New York Festivals Advertising Awards: We are beyond thrilled to have Matt as our inaugural executive jury president. His reputation as an inspiring leader, ground-breaking creative and all-around good guy makes him the perfect choice to lead the judging sessions. Matt is truly collaborative, and we are lucky to have his ongoing support in our shared goal of evolving and improving New York Festivals. We are excited to have his expertise, working together with his highly-regarded peers, to ensure that great work from around the globe is recognized and awarded.

Formerly the worldwide chief creative officer of J. Walter Thompson, Eastwood was described by Britains Campaign magazine as a unicorn in the communications industry. He has overseen some of the most innovative and recognizable creative projects in advertising today.

Eastwoods career has spanned numerous agencies, specialties and countries, including Australia, the UK and US. He was a founding partner of M&C Saatchi in Australia before joining DDB Australia as national creative director and vice chairman, following that post he moved in 2010 to serve as chief creative officer for DDB New York.

Throughout his impressive career he has racked up unprecedented achievements including being named the 5th most awarded Chief Creative Officer worldwide in AdAges 2013 Awards Report. In 2016, Eastwood led J. Walter Thompson to an historic year at Cannes, winning a total of 80 Lionsmore than the agency had ever won in their 150-year history. Additional accolades and honors include: Campaign Brief Agency of the Year, Clio Health Network of the Year, Australian Creative Hotshop, Adnews Agency of the Year, Creativitys Agency to Watch, B&T Agency of the Year, Spikes Network of the Year, and Campaign magazine Network of the Year.

Matt Eastwood and the entire executive jury will convene this April during the 9th annual executive jury judging sessions taking place in New York City April 29th-May 3rd. This jury of 22+ CCOs creative global minds dedicated to the quality and aesthetics of creative advertising will review all finalist entries selected by NYFs online grand jury.

To view the 2019 grand jury to date, please visit: HERE. The 2019 executive jury will be announced soon.
The EUs chief Brexit negotiator has ruled out ever accepting Theresa Mays Brexit plan B, in a major blow to the prime ministers bid to get MPs to back her plan.

Michel Barnier said repeated requests for a time limit on the controversial backstop had already been discussed and rejected twice by EU leaders.

But he also signalled there could be a way to avoid a hard border in Ireland in the event of a no deal, telling an EU committee on Wednesday: We will have to find an operational way of carrying out checks and controls without putting back in place a border.

In a separate joint interview with continental newspapers Mr Barnier said we cannot tie the backstop to a time limit as suggested by the prime minister.

He said the withdrawal agreement on the table was the only possible option for Britain and also ruled out the possibility of a so-called managed no deal as advocated by some Tory Brexiteers.

In the case of no deal, action will of course be taken to ensure that planes can land but  the no deal cannot be a sum of mini-deals and be a situation of business as usual, he told Le Monde, Rzeczpospolita and Luxemburger Wort.

Even an agreement for an ordered Brexit will cause disruptions and have serious consequences. The no deal even more so.

At the committee the chief negotiator elaborated, warning that the only way to avoid the UK crashing was to endorse another option on the table.

There appears to be a majority in the Commons to oppose a no deal but opposing a no deal will not stop a no deal from happening at the end of March, he told the committee. To stop no deal, a positive majority for another solution will need to emerge.

Following the defeat of her withdrawal agreement by the largest margin in the history of parliament, Ms May said she would try and secure a time limit on the controversial backstop policy.

But Mr Barnier said: The question of limiting the backstop in time has already been discussed twice by the European leaders, in November and in December 2018.

This backstop is the only one possible because an assurance is no longer operational if it is for a limited time. Imagine if it were to be limited in time and the problem arose after expiry: it is useless!

He was backed up later on Wednesday by Frans Timmermans, the first vice president of the European Commission.

We will support Ireland  the backstop is a red line we cannot negotiate with the British government, Mr Timmermans told an event in Krakow, Poland.

In the weeks since the defeat of the withdrawal agreement the EU has focused on encouraging the PM to revisit her red lines, and signalled its willingness to re-work the so-called political declaration that lays out the future trading relationship.

Labour and other opposition parties back a much closer economic relationship with the EU, floating possibilities like common single market standards and a customs union.

Mr Barnier suggested the question of the backstop would become relative if the future relationship was revisited  signalling that it might be a way out of the current impasse.

If the British government wishes to revisit the future relationship and be more ambitious, then it would be possible to agree on the global package and the question of the backstop would become relative, he said.

If I understand the British debates right; there is a desire to find a way. But if the government and the MPs dont move their lines, we are going inevitably into no deal.

The prime minister has repeatedly ruled out shifting her red lines on issues like a customs union and free movement.

Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters

The political backdrop to Mr Barniers comments is increasingly complicated. The Commons is considering a new amendment to rule out a no-deal Brexit  forcing the government to seek an extension or revocation of Article 50 if the UK gets too close to the deadline without an agreement.

But in Ireland, the government is facing a political backlash over suggestions a hard border would return if Britain crashes out. Leo Varadkars cabinet was put in a tight spot earlier in the week after a Commission spokesperson said there would obviously be new infrastructure in the event the withdrawal agreement was not signed. Though Mr Barnier appeared to endorse this suggestion in ensuing interviews, by Wednesday afternoon he had apparently softened his tone by suggesting there could be another way around the problem.

That concession itself, however, is likely to fuel opposition to the withdrawal agreement in Westminster  where Eurosceptic MPs are likely to interepret Mr Barniers latest comments as an admission that the backstop, which they fiercely oppose, is not necessary. They may also be emboldened by a suggestion by the Polish foreign minister earlier in the week that the EU should accept a time limit on the backstop, as the MPs demand.

As a result, the chances of the Commons coming around to passing the withdrawal agreement look slimmer than ever.
Donald Trump handed Isis a propaganda victory that could bolster its efforts to radicalise people in the UK when he announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, Britains counterterror police chief has said.

Although the groups online propaganda operation had been damaged by losses on the battlefield, it was still able to inspire followers to commit attack, Neil Basu warned.

The radicalisation of vulnerable people, particularly lone actors and very suggestible, young, malleable or potentially mentally ill people, is still a great threat, the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner told The Independent.

You hand Isis a propaganda victory if you say were going to withdraw, which they took as a sign they were able to say weve won. That cant be good for us [in Britain. I would hate for anybody to be complacent enough to think that threat has gone.

Counterterror police in the UK are currently running a record 700 investigations, with 14 Islamist and four far-right terror plots foiled since the Westminster attack in March 2017.

While the majority of plots have come from homegrown extremists, rather than returned foreign fighters, police are on the lookout for jihadis trying to re-enter the country.

According to a Home Office estimate, up to 300 British Isis recruits could still be alive in Syria and Iraq.

Several are in the custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces and with the government seeking to strip British citizenship of all dual nationals who joined Isis, Mr Basu said there is no legal pathway to repatriate them for trial.

Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa atop of military vehicles REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces march past destroyed buildings as they celebrate victory REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces gesture the "V" sign in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces evacuate a civilian from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures A civilian prays after she was rescued by fighters of Syrian Democratic Forces from the stadium REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters ride atop of military vehicles as they celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures Syrian Democratic Forces fighters celebrate victory in Raqqa REUTERS Syrian Democratic Forces take Raqqa from Isis  in pictures A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrates in Raqqa Reuters

Weve only seen a trickle of people return  most of these people dont want to come back here, he added.

Im concerned that people will either get back without our knowledge, because thats entirely possible, or that we will not have a case we can prosecute.

Although Isis has lost virtually all of its 2014 caliphate in Iraq and Syria, militants are still battling in isolated pockets and are active in Egypt, Afghanistan and other countries.

We have defeated Isis in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump presidency, Mr Trump tweeted in December.

The announcement sparked a spate of resignations in the Trump administration, and international pressure for the move to be delayed.

Following predictions that Isis would be emboldened to launch counterattacks, the group has carried out a series of bombings including one that killed US soldiers.

Propaganda channels on the encrypted Telegram app continue to post regular updates on Isiss military operations, terror attacks and assassinations to thousands of followers around the world.

Mr Basu said although Isiss influence operation had been tremendously affected by territorial losses, the scale of its propaganda machine meant that the struggle to remove material from the internet continues.

 Terror police appeal for public help to thwart plots

A lot of it still remains out there and accessible, he added. You still have encrypted groups where people can talk to each other.

The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill, which was approved by parliament on Tuesday, will make it illegal to enter designated areas abroad without a reasonable excuse.

Mr Basu said the controversial offence would make it easier to prosecute Isis fighters, whose activities have previously been difficult to prove.

He also gave his backing to a review of the Prevent counter-extremism programme that was announced as part of the bill, and a law against viewing terrorist material online.

Mr Basu said the law, which sparked human rights concerns, would be used with discretion and was necessary to reflect the fact terrorists now rarely download extremist material, an action that can be prosecuted.

Were talking about people who are a serious threat here, he added. I dont think were going to see an explosion in arrests and charges.

He was speaking as terror police launched a new cinema campaign encouraging the public to report concerns about suspicious behaviour, after tip-offs halved in a year.
A repeat of the Grenfell Tower disaster is in the post, ministers have been warned, after a tower block in Manchester was revealed to be covered in combustible cladding.

Labour MP Emma Dent Coad, who represents the London borough where Grenfell Tower is located, issued the warning after it emerged the X1 Eastbank block in Manchester had similar external panels.

Housing minister Kit Malthouse, responding to an urgent Commons question on the issue, said he was satisfied that everybody who is resident of that block at the moment is safe.

Labour branded the revelation a national shame and said that it was shocking that 19 months on from the Grenfell Tower fire, buildings were still clad in the same material involved in the disaster.

Shadow housing secretary John Healey said: Its shocking that the governments own figures show there were 437 high-rise blocks with the same Grenfell-style cladding, and 370 are yet to have this removed.

Its shocking that the minister knows every one of these blocks but wont name the landlords and wont tell the residents.

Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Show all 16 1 /16 Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen PA Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen REUTERS Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen REUTERS Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images

Mr Healey said whatever the minister says hes doing, it isnt working, adding that the government response has simply been too slow, too weak and always under pressure from this House and from Labour.

He said: If the government cant fix problems this serious and this urgent, what on earth is it in office for?

Unveiling Labours six-point plan to tackle cladding issues, the shadow minister said his party would widen the testing programme for building materials, set a deadline for all blocks to be made safe and make clear the legal duty to landlords to get this done and not pass the bill on to leaseholders.

He said his party would set up a loan fund for landlords to pay for remedial work, name the landlords refusing to make the changes and toughen the sanctions on them up to and including taking over blocks.

In response, Mr Malthouse criticised Mr Healey for making this such an antagonistic exchange, saying fixing the issue requires significant amounts of engineering and construction work which will necessarily take time.

Recommended Almost 100 Grenfell families were still without their own homes at Christmas

Defending the governments response to the tragedy in west London which killed 72 people as immediate and wide-ranging, he said significant resource and effort has been injected into removing this cladding.

He said while they continue to make progress, he agreed with Labour that we will get to a small number of owners or contractors where we will need to consider more assertive measures, and they are under active consideration at the moment.

Mr Malthouse had earlier opened the debate by saying: There is nothing more important than making sure people are safe in their homes and we remain determined to ensure that no community suffers again as the community did so tragically and appallingly at Grenfell Tower.

Ms Dent Coad later said that the minister was treating the issue like some sort of theoretical exercise.

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She said: People are genuinely afraid in their bed and just saying that the minister is satisfied is not really enough.

Nothing has yet changed, the government is ignoring warnings, our constituents are going to bed afraid, current measures are not working, as one of the Grenfell survivors said, Grenfell two is in the post. How many more must die before the Government takes positive action to keep people safe in their beds?

Mr Malthouse responded by saying that a significant amount of work has taken place since Grenfell to change building regulations.

PA
Airline passengers have expressed their fury as dozens of flights have been delayed across the UK amid plummeting temperatures.

Dozens of flights were delayed by over an hour at Heathrow airport and 34 British Airways departures and arrivals were cancelled.

A spokesperson at the airport claimed it was "operating normally today, despite the cold weather."

Commuters took to social media to vent their frustrations, with some suggesting they had been waiting on the tarmac for hours.

Temperatures have fallen across the UK as the Met Office issued weather warnings after snow fell across large swathes of the country.

At Heathrow multiple flights short-haul flights were grounded including a Brussels Airlines round-trip from the Belgian capital.

A Lufthansa service to and from Frankfurt was also cancelled.

Beyond the cancellations, passengers claimed they had to wait hours on the tarmac to have their planes de-iced.

Martyn McKenna, who was flying from Heathrow to Nice, said he was stuck on a plane for three hours.

"Three hours later and the plane has been de-iced on one of the two de-icing pads available. Not bad for an airport that supposedly has 1300 flights departing a day," he tweeted.

Problems at other European airports were responsible for the delays to inbound flights with arrivals from Amsterdam and Paris more than four hours late.

Flights to Cape Town, Kuala Lumpur, Boston, Dubai, Kuwait and New York were among the services that were heavily delayed.

There was also disruption in Manchester where six flights in and out of the city's main airport were cancelled.

Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Tynemouth beach, Northumbria PA Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Brecon Beacons PA Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Whitley Bay, Northumbria PA Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Porlethen, Aberdeenshire Daniel Diack Snow falls across the UK: in pictures North Shields, Northumbria PA Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Whitley Bay, Northumbria PA Snow falls across the UK: in pictures High Wearmouth, Sunderland magswonnowt / twitter Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Whitley Bay, Northumbria PA Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Brecon Beacons PA Snow falls across the UK: in pictures Whitley Bay, Northumbria PA

In Scotland, flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow from Stornoway Airport were delayed.

One easyJet arrival to Glasgow airport from Stansted is expected to arrive after 1am, over three hours late.

Thousands of travellers flying to or from Belfast International have encountered delays after the runway was temporarily closed due to snow.

Passengers on easyJets evening flight to Luton is running over two hours late. The airline is telling passengers: We believe Belfast airport is now open, We plan to still operate your flight and are working to minimise the delay.

Showers are forecast to continue to bring rain, sleet and snow, although significant flurries are expected to remain limited to higher ground.

Further wintry showers are expected in the North and West on Tuesday night, bringing more snow to the hills and some low-lying areas.
The Home Office has granted a former child resident of the Calais Jungle the right to join his aunt in the UK  more than two years on from the closure of the camp.

The Eritrean orphans application for a legal route to Britain was unlawfully rejected by the department after the French site was demolished in 2016. He was left languishing in a country where he had no one to care for him. Only when his case got media attention did the UK government act.

His case may now be resolved, but he is not the only one.
Anand Menon, the academic and head of a Brexit research body, is to answer your questions in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) hosted by The Independent.

A leading expert on Brexit, Professor Menon is director of UK in a Changing Europe, an initiative which includes academics from universities across the country who specialise in the EU. It is an authoritative source of independent research on UK-EU relations.

Professor Menon is professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King's College, London, where the project is based.

He said: With Theresa Mays Brexit deal seemingly on its last legs in parliament, please feel free to ask me all your questions on Brexit, Britains future in Europe, and what happens between now and 29 March when we are currently set to leave the EU.

Professor Menon will take questions on Brexit  as well as anything else you want to ask him  for an hour from 5pm BST on Wednesday 23 January. You can post questions from 4pm BST in the r/Europe subreddit.

Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters

After Theresa Mays withdrawal agreement was rejected by the Commons by 230 votes last week, Professor Menon said: The prime minister was humiliated in the Commons last night  yet arguably more significant was the fact that the vote, finally, marked the moment when the House of Commons began what promises to be rather lengthy and ill-tempered process of elimination.

"Her deal is on life support and not looking well at all. But it is still too soon to say, definitively, that it is dead.

His research group has produced a report on how parliament can now take control of the Brexit process.

More than 1.1 million people have signed The Independents petition urging Theresa May to call a referendum on the final Brexit deal. Whether you support leaving or remaining in the EU, you can call for a Final Say by signing our petition.
More than a fifth of the publics reports to terror police help foil plots and catch terrorists, but the number of tips has more than halved in a year.

The head of national counterterror policing warned that public complacency would be a worst-case scenario for security services, who have thwarted 18 attacks in under two years.

Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu said he was incredibly grateful that 2018 was spared the level of carnage of the previous year, when 36 victims were killed in atrocities in Manchester and London.

But with the number of ongoing terror investigations at a record of 700, Mr Basu said the flow of intelligence from members of the public was vital.

I know some people are still reluctant to speak to us, he acknowledged. To them I say, reporting your concerns to us wont ruin lives, but it might save them.

In 2017, more than 31,000 reports were made to counterterror police, but last year the number fell to 13,000.

In both years, more than a fifth of tips were very significant, leading to the identification of a suspect or plot, or aiding prosecutions.

Mr Basu said part of the reason could be the national focus on Brexit, which undoubtedly took up much public attention last year, and the drop in attacks.

He said the terror threat had shifted to young, mentally ill and malleable people who may be affected by terrorist propaganda they view online.

London Bridge Terror Attack Show all 16 1 /16 London Bridge Terror Attack London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police Officers outside the Barrowboy and Banker Public House on Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed Police talk to members of the public outside London Bridge Hospital as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Armed police on Borough High Street as police deal with a 'major incident' at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services near the scene of the incident Screengrab London Bridge Terror Attack People run down Borough High Street as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency services arrive at the scene near Borough market at London Bridge Carl Court/Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Emergency personnel on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police sniffer dogs on London Bridge as police are dealing with a "major incident" at London Bridge PA London Bridge Terror Attack A second helicopter lands on London Bridge as police are responding to three incidents in the capital, amid reports that a vehicle collided with pedestrians on London Bridge, Scotland Yard said. Officers are dealing with reports of stabbings in Borough Market, where armed officers attended and shots were fired. They are also at an incident in the Vauxhall area PA London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London REUTERS London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack A police officer escorts members of the public to safety at London Bridge Getty Images London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident on London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters London Bridge Terror Attack Police attend to an incident near London Bridge in London, Britain Reuters

They are taking that and then using very low-sophistication measures, things that everyone can get access to  a knife or a vehicle  and making an attack, Mr Basu said.

And those are the kind of things that worry us most, they are the hardest to see and they are the hardest to stop.

And thats why we need communities to stand up and report changes in behaviour that they are seeing within their communities which might actually help us stop these things before they happen.

Police say 14 Islamist terror plots and four from far-right extremists have been foiled since the Westminster attack in March 2017. A total of 30 planned attacks were successfully disrupted in the four years before.

The Independent understands that the most recent plot security services classify as thwarted was an alleged Isis-inspired attack. The suspect is to stand trial later this year.

On Tuesday, the chief of MI5 updated cabinet on the current terror threat to the UK and work to deal with the risk from former subjects of interest, like the men who launched the London Bridge and Manchester attacks.

Andrew Parker told Theresa May there were new ways of using data to detect threats emanating from Isis, al-Qaeda and other groups.

Isis has been driven out of most of its caliphate in Iraq and Syria but operates in several countries and continues to call for international attacks

The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains at severe, which means that an attack is considered highly likely.

Mr Basu also raised concerns about the impact of a potential no-deal Brexit, saying it would damage access to data and EU intelligence systems.

He said the UK would be put in a very bad place without continued exchanges or biometrics access, but that a team was working on contingency plans as counterterror liaison officers are embedded in embassies and agencies in Europe.

Whats most concerning me about Brexit is its potential to divide communities and set communities against each other, Mr Basu added, citing the rise in hate crime around the EU referendum and emergency of neo-Nazi group National Action.

Im concerned about the creeping rise of that threat, and if we arent clear that we are combating that threat then thats my concern.

Mr Basu was speaking at the launch of a cinema advert campaign to increase peoples awareness of suspicious activity and encourage them to report it to police.

The 60-second film, to be shown across the UK, shows a series of scenarios based on real-life plots, such as a man stockpiling hazardous material and another buying weapons.

Mr Basu warned: Thankfully, we did not see the horrors of 2017 repeated last year, but we should not be complacent enough to think the terrorist threat has diminished.
A murder probe is underway after a UK prison inmate was stabbed to death.

Stephen ODonnell, 33, was attacked at HMP Risley, in Warrington, Cheshire, on Tuesday evening.

Cheshire Police said he was rushed to Warrington General Hospital, where he later died.

ODonnells family is being supported by specialist officers but he has not yet been formally identified.

A 23-year-old man is in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder.

Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners Show all 11 1 /11 Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Tim Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Will Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Will Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Kyle Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Ali Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By John Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By John Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Jamal Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Jim Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Jim Unlocked: an exhibition of drawings by prisoners By Linton

Officers were called to reports of an assault at the prison at about 7.41pm, police said.

A Prison Service spokesperson told The Independent: HMP Risley prisoner Stephen ODonnell was pronounced dead following an incident on Tuesday evening.

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Our condolences are with the friends and family of Mr ODonnell and it would inappropriate to comment further while there is an ongoing police investigation.

The male category C training and resettlement prison holds men who are serving short sentences or coming to the end of longer terms.

Risley Prison first opened as both a male and female remand centre in 1964, according to the Ministry of Justice official website.

In 1990 it changed to the male category C training prison it is today.

The prison can hold up to about 1,100 inmates.
Many Brexiteers have claimed that one of the reasons we shouldnt fear a no-deal departure is that lots of other countries in the world already trade with each other on basic World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules  the framework the UK would drop into if we left the EU on 29 March with no withdrawal agreement and no transition period.

But is this claim actually true?

Anand Menon, the director of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, pointed out in an article for The Independent last month that its actually misleading.
A group of five gene-edited macaque monkeys has been cloned using skin cells in a move the scientists behind the work say will help understand human diseases.

As clones, all the monkeys have the same DNA altered, resulting in symptoms seen in human conditions including anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.

Undertaken at a laboratory in China, the work used the same technique as that applied to produce Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua  the first two cloned monkeys  last year.

By creating primates with identical genes and symptoms, the researchers hope to test new treatments for diseases ranging from brain disorders to cancers.

In this case, they knocked out the gene responsible for BMAL1, a substance that affects the bodys circadian rhythms.

The scientists then took cells from ones of the donor monkeys that had been gene edited and displayed symptoms including reduced sleep time and those associated with mental health problems.

They used these donor cells to clone a group of monkeys with the same disease-causing mutation.

Disorder of circadian rhythm could lead to many human diseases, including sleep disorders, diabetic mellitus, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, said Dr Hung-Chun Chang, a senior researcher for the project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Upon the announcement of the cloned monkeys early last year, other scientists welcomed it as an impressive technical achievement.

However, they also warned of ethical issues associated with cloning primates. In the attempt to create Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the scientists went through dozens of cloned embryos and monkeys that only survived a few days.

Primate research is tightly controlled, meaning it is unlikely such techniques will be widely applied.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary

But the scientists behind the work said cloning allows the number of monkeys used to be reduced, due to uniform genetic background cutting out unhelpful noise from the resulting data.

This line of research will help to reduce the amount of macaque monkeys currently used in biomedical research around the world, said Professor Mu-ming Poo Without the interference of genetic background, a much smaller number of cloned monkeys carrying disease phenotypes may be sufficient for pre-clinical tests of the efficacy of therapeutics.

 Meet Zhongzhong and Huahua, the first cloned monkeys in the world

The results of their experiments were published in the English language Chinese journal National Science Review.

The advent of cloned monkeys brought fears that the technique would soon be applied to humans, although these were dismissed by scientists.

Gene editing in humans also remains highly controversial, with another Chinese researcher  the disgraced Professor He Jiankui  facing global condemnation after he told the world he had created the first gene-edited babies.
| BY Ricki Green |

Two of Australias leading professional organisations, the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI) and VETASSESS, have partnered to develop a skilled migration assessment criterion to support Australias thriving marketing sector.

The partnership between the AMI and VETASSESS is bringing together industry and education providers to ensure that the current assessment criteria for occupations across advertising, marketing and market research in Australia install confidence and meet expectations for employer groups and organisations Australia-wide.

Says Rob Thomason, executive director, VETASSESS: VETASSESS is proud that the Australian Marketing Institute has endorsed our criteria for skilled migration assessment for the marketing industry. VETASSESS is looking forward to an ongoing engagement with AMI to maintain the integrity and relevance across the marketing profession in Australia.

Says Andrew Thornton, director, AMI: The partnership with VETASSESS aligns with the AMIs primary purpose of advancing progress in the careers of our members and the positioning of the wider marketing profession.

As employers prepare for this exciting growth in the market, thanks to our partnership, they can be confident that marketing or advertising students coming through who have participated in the VETASSESS skills assessment process will make valuable employees.

Thornton added that the growth in demand for marketing professionals in Australia has grown by an impressive 18% over the past 5 years; an annual average compound growth rate of 3 percent. The Department of Employment projects that by 2022, the demand for marketing professionals and managers will grow to around 228,000. Of course, with growth comes greater demand for marketing professionals across all career stages. To meet this growth, marketers need to continue to develop and enhance their skills and experience to remain relevant to the demands and requirements of the evolving employment market.

VETASSESS is Australias leading vocational education and training (VET) skills assessment provider for both migration and national skills recognition. Working actively with industry bodies, VETASSESS aims to ensure that their assessments continue to meet the changing corporate landscape.
Humans on Earth are here thanks to a planet smashing into Earth billions of years ago, scientists say.

The same collision  which happened 4.4 billion years ago  formed the moon, according to a new paper.

As well as shedding light on how life came to form on our own planet, the discovery has important consequences for our search for life elsewhere in the universe, the scientists say.

According to the "giant impact hypothesis", the moon was created from debris left behind when the Earth and a body the size of Mars smashed together.

The new theory proposes that the cosmic crash delivered most of the volatile elements essential for life to the Earth.

The "donor" planet was an embryonic world with a sulphur-rich core.

Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427  more commonly known as WR 124  and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead  sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later  having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. 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

Laboratory experiments and computer simulations suggested that debris from the destroyed planet deposited the life elements on Earth.

They included most of the nitrogen and carbon found in living things, including humans alive today.

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Lead scientist Rajdeep Dasgupta, from Rice University in Texas, said: "From the study of primitive meteorites, scientists have long known that Earth and other rocky planets in the inner solar system are volatile-depleted.

"But the timing and mechanism of volatile delivery has been hotly debated. Ours is the first scenario that can explain the timing and delivery in a way that is consistent with all the geochemical evidence."

Dr Dasgupta said the study could allow humanity to understand more about how the ingredients for life might form on other rocky planets like our own.

"This study suggests that a rocky, Earth-like planet gets more chances to acquire life-essential elements if it forms and grows from giant impacts with planets that have sampled different building blocks, perhaps from different parts of a protoplanetary disk."

The research is published in the journal Science Advances.

Additional reporting by Press Association
A genetic technology that could be used to to eradicate disease-carrying insects has been succesfully used in mammals for the first time.

Scientists think so-called "gene drives" could one day be used to spread harmful DNA that can wipe out pests or invasive alien species.

The United Nations (UN) recently considered a total ban on the technique after many expressed concerns about unintended and uncontrollable knock-on effects.

So the controversial practice is currently confined to the laboratory, but publishing their findings in the journal Nature, a team of scientists from California have successfully used it to change the colour of white mice to grey.

Led by Professor Kimberly Cooper, the team used Crispr gene editing to add a segment of DNA known as CopyCat into a gene controlling fur colour.

This gene drive tilted the scales in favour of the desired gene, meaning when the new mice are born they were more likely to have darker fur.

After two years, around 70 per cent of mice being born had genes for the greyer complexion compared to around half of those in a normal population.

The technique only worked in female mice during the production of eggs and had no effect on the sperm of males.

Excitement about gene drives in the scientific community has largely focused on their potential to tackle deadly diseases like malaria and dengue fever by wiping out biting insects.

This technique has already proven effective in laboratories, where malaria-carrying mosquitoes have been prevented from laying eggs

The scientists behind the new study hoped to lay the groundwork for the creation of mice that could be used in medical research for complicated genetic diseases.

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However, some have proposed similar gene drives could be used to control pests, such as rat infestations.

The technique might be more effective than alternative methods such as dangerous pesticides.

With additional refinements, it should be possible to develop gene-drive technologies to either modify or possibly reduce mammalian populations that are vectors for disease or cause damage to indigenous species, said Professor Ethan Bier, one of the studys co-authors.

The work was welcomed by other scientists as a crucial step that confirms gene drives as an effective technique for use in mammals, but they warned that a lot more work needed to be done.

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Considerable optimisation will be required to develop a gene drive system suitable for proposed field applications such as control of invasive rodent populations on islands for conservation purposes, said Professor Luke Alphey, an expert in genetic pest management at The Pirbright Institute.

While the proposed moratorium by the UN failed to gain support from biotechnology-friendly countries, concerns about mutations and wider environmental impacts still abound.

With the technology still at a fledgling stage, the scientists concluded that both fears and wilder speculation about its applications are likely premature.
An attempt to create gene-edited chickens that are totally resistant to flu has been launched by scientists in a bid to avert the next global pandemic.

Knocking out genes that are vital for the virus as it infects a host could produce birds that act as an effective barrier between dangerous new strains developing in the wild and humans.

A massive outbreak of flu, which can be transmitted from other animals including birds is considered by experts one of the biggest dangers facing humanity.

The most recent major event was the H1N1 swine flu pandemic that struck in 2009. It killed around half a million people worldwide.

But an outbreak of Spanish flu that struck in 1918 and killed around 50 million people.

The first transgenic chicks that could stop a new form of bird flu before it reaches humans will be hatched later this year at the University of Edinburgh.

If we could prevent influenza virus crossing from wild birds into chickens, we would stop the next pandemic at source, said the project's leader Professor Wendy Barclay, a virologist at Imperial College London.

The project is based on previous work that found a gene present in chickens codes for a protein that flu viruses require to infect a host.

Tests conducted in the laboratory found cells without this gene could not be penetrated by the viruses.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary

Gene editing using a tool called Crispr will allow the scientists to change this gene in living chickens.

As if often the case with genetic engineering, the scientists are concerned about public acceptance of livestock that have been altered.

People eat food from farmed animals that have been altered by decades of traditional breeding, said Prof Barclay. But they might be nervous about eating gene edited food.

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Gene editing has led to a revolution in science and hope that it can be used to tackle diseases in both animals and humans.

However, the European Union recently ruled that gene-edited plants and animals must be regulated under the same rules as genetically modified organisms, striking a blow to the biotechnology industry.
A forgery artist and master of disguise for the CIA, Tony Mendez once transformed a black agent and an Asian diplomat into a pair of white business executives, using masks that gave them an uncanny resemblance to the film stars Victor Mature and Rex Harrison. On another occasion, he devised an oversize jack-in-the-box  a spring-loaded mannequin  that enabled a CIA source to sneak out of his car while a dummy popped up in his place.

In his 25 years at the CIA, Mendez, who has died aged 78, was effectively in the business of geopolitical theatre. Pulling techniques from magicians, film makeup artists and even the TV show Mission: Impossible, he changed one person into another, transforming agents into characters with backstories, costumes and documents that helped them evade detection and avoid capture in foreign countries.

Appropriately for a man whose career seemed drawn from a Hollywood thriller, his greatest triumph hinged on a bogus sci-fi film, a sham production office in Los Angeles and a fake location-scouting expedition to Iran. Disguising himself as an Irish filmmaker, Mendez successfully smuggled six State Department employees out of Tehran during the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis, passing them off as a Canadian movie crew in a daring mission that formed the basis of the Oscar-winning movie Argo in 2012.

Mendez, who is survived by his wife and fellow CIA operative Jonna Mendez, was portrayed by Ben Affleck who also directed the film.

Revolutionary Iran as mocked up in the film (Warner Bros)

A painter of impressionistic landscapes and outdoor scenes, Mendez was working as a draftsman when he was recruited by the CIA in 1965, and ran an art studio after he retired. Ive always considered myself to be an artist first, he once said, looking back on his career, and for 25 years I was a pretty good spy.

After stints in Laos, India and the Soviet Union, he was serving as the CIAs chief of disguise when the US embassy in Tehran was seized by a militant Iranian student group on 4 November 1979. The attack came months after the Islamic revolution forced out the countrys leader, the Western-backed Shah, and replaced him with the hard-line cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Ben Affleck as Mendez in Argo (Warner Bros)

Sixty-six Americans, including six CIA officers, were taken hostage, while six other US diplomats managed to evade capture and took shelter in the homes of two Canadians, ambassador Ken Taylor and embassy official John Sheardown.

In the 444 days that followed, the hostage crisis drew unflagging news coverage, crippled Jimmy Carters presidency and resulted in the deaths of eight service members during a failed rescue mission in the Iranian desert. Mendez completed his rescue operation on 28 January 1980, but it took one more year before the last 52 hostages were released on the day of Ronald Reagans inauguration in 1981.

The idea for the Canadian caper, as Mendezs mission came to be known, was born out of desperation. A specialist in exfiltration, the art of whisking people out of harms way, Mendez initially worked on a plan to free the American hostages by exchanging them for a dead body-double of the Shah, who was being treated for cancer in the United States.

That plan was nixed by the White House, according to a 2007 Wired magazine account by Joshuah Bearman, and when Mendez was promoted to chief of the agencys Authentication Branch in December 1979, his efforts shifted to rescuing the six Canadian houseguests, as the American diplomats were euphemistically called. Their very existence was kept hidden from the public in an effort to protect them from the Iranians.

While one Canadian minister suggested the diplomats head for the Turkish border, possibly on bicycles, only a departure through the air seemed viable. Mendez just needed to settle on a story that would enable the escapees to board a plane. Schemes centred on teachers, crop inspectors and oil technicians all seemed flawed. So Mendez decided to reverse the rules and create a distraction.

A cover should be bland, as uninteresting as possible, so the casual observer, or the not-so-casual immigration official, doesnt probe too deeply, he wrote in a 1999 memoir, Master of Disguise. His solution, the film gambit, was the opposite of bland  an idea so bold, he believed, that Iran would never consider that it might be fake.

Mendez called his friend John Chambers, a makeup artist who had won an honourary Oscar for his work on Planet of the Apes (1968), gave Dr Spock his pointy ears and had assisted the CIA on old assignments. With another makeup artist, Bob Sidell, who later worked on ET, they opened a production office in Los Angeles; created business cards for their fictional company, Studio Six Productions; and developed backstories and career histories for the six escapees.

Mendez and Chambers named their purported science-fiction film project Argo, for the raunchy punchline to a knock-knock joke and in a sly nod to the mythological ship that Jason used to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Advertisements in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter promoted the film as a cosmic conflagration.

With a Canadian passport in hand, Mendez flew to Tehran on 25 January, under the name Kevin Costa Harkins. (He chose an Irish identity, he later said, because the Irish are nonthreatening and ubiquitous around the world.) Supported by a second CIA agent known as Julio, he spent a few days preparing the six diplomats, teaching them their new identities  including as a cameraman and set designer  and preparing them for potential interrogations at the airport.

Before dawn on 28 January, they headed to Tehran Mehrabad International Airport for an early Swissair flight to Zurich. After being delayed for an hour because of a mechanical problem, the flight took off and cleared Iranian airspace, leading Mendez to celebrate by ordering a bloody mary and delivering a toast: Were home free.

The diplomats returned to a heroes welcome in the United States, where Canadian flags were flown from town halls, and billboards reading, Thank you, Canada cropped up around the country. Mendez met with Carter in the Oval Office and received the Intelligence Star, one of the CIAs highest honours. But his and the CIAs role in the rescue operation was concealed until 1997, when Mendez was honoured as one of 50 trailblazers who shaped the agencys first 50 years.

Mendez was born in Eureka, Nevada in 1940, to a mixed-heritage family (Italian, Mexican, Welsh) that he later credited with helping him blend in around the world. He was aged three when his father died in a copper-mining accident; his mother worked several jobs.

The family had little money, and Tony contributed by digging up bat guano (dung) in caves, loading it onto a toy wagon and selling it to his Mormon neighbours as fertiliser for a dollar per gunny sack. He sometimes dated his covert operations experience to an incident in which he posed as a girl to gain entrance to a couples-only school dance.

Mendez graduated from high school in Denver and, unable to cover tuition, quit the University of Colorado after one year. He was an illustrator at Martin Marietta, drawing parts for an intercontinental ballistic missile, when he saw a help-wanted ad in a newspaper: Artists to Work Overseas  US Navy Civilians. Consumed by wanderlust, he went to an interview and was handed a CIA recruitment guide.

Mendez retired in 1990 with a rank equivalent to that of a two-star general. The Master of Disguise, his memoir, served, along with Bearmans article in Wired, as source material for Argo, which won the Oscar for best picture in 2013. (It took some liberties with the facts, Mendez said, including adding a chase scene and writing out two of his children.)

Mendezs first wife, Karen, died of lung cancer in 1986. In 1991, he married Jonna Hiestand, an expert on clandestine photography who also served as the CIAs chief of disguise. He is survived their son, his sisters, grandchildren and his son and daughter from his first marriage.

Makeup, Mendez often said, was typically one of the easier parts of developing a disguise. Behavioural tics needed to be adjusted, credible backstories invented.

There are occasions when youre getting ready to put your name on the hotel ledger, he told The Washington Post in 2000. Youve got reservations made for you in [an] alias. Youve just flown 10 hours. Theres that moment when you put the pen down and you think, Oh, jeez, whats my name?

Once you go into the netherworld like that, by yourself, he added, its like going into another dimension. Its like being a time traveller. How do you get back?

Antonio Joseph Mendez, spy, born 15 November 1940, died 19 January 2019

 Washington Post
Pigeon droppings were a contributing factor to an infection which led to a childs death at Scotlands flagship hospital.

The child died at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and a post-mortem found that they had inhaled fungus which is primarily found in pigeon droppings.

Another patient was also infected but it is thought the infection did not contribute to their death.

Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said a review would be carried out in the design, build, handover and maintenance of the flagship hospital.

She told MSPs that traces of pigeon excrement had been found in a top floor room where there was a small crack in the wall which was "invisible to the naked eye".

The hospital was built for the Scottish Government at a cost of 842 million and opened at the end of April 2015.

Despite the hospital having only recently been constructed, Ms Freeman said there appeared to be a "number of instances" where the fabric of building was "less than satisfactory".

After visiting the hospital, the Scottish health secretary said: "I have agreed a review, with external expert advice, that will look at the design of the building, the commissioning of the work, the construction of the building, the handover of the building and the maintenance of the building, in order to ensure we identify where issues were raised that should have been addressed and where maintenance programmes now should be perhaps more robust or more frequent."

Ms Freeman announced the review after setting out "clear factual points" on the two patient deaths to MSPs at Holyrood.

She said the Cryptococcus bacteria had initially been identified in one patient in November 2018 but was not linked to that person's death the following month.

Ms Freeman added: "In December a post-mortem of a child who has passed away conformed that Cryptococcus was both present and a contributory factor in their death."

She explained the second case triggered the introduction of additional infection control measures by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, including prescribing anti-fungal medication to "vulnerable patients" and the provision of additional air filters.

"I am confident the board have taken all the steps they should to ensure and maintain patient safety," she said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. 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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. 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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

Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the public would be "shocked" to learn one of those who had died was a child as she claimed there had been a "complete lack of clarity" from the health board about the infection.

Ms Lennon said: "I think the people of Scotland will feel it is absolutely extraordinary that in a modern hospital, Scotland's flagship and apparently super hospital no less, we have a situation where pigeons and infections can kill patients.

"If this unthinkable and deadly infection can happen at the flagship Queen Elizabeth, what is to stop it happening at other hospitals?"
Tuition fees for some degrees could rise to more than 11,000 per year after MPs passed legislation allowing universities to charge more for shorter, more intensive courses.

As a result students in England could be offered accelerated two-year courses from September, which the government says will save them 20 per cent on tuition fees compared to traditional three-year degrees.

This would allow universities to charge 11,100 a year, compared with the 9.250 a year paid for three year courses.

The proposals allow institutions to charge up to 20 per cent more per year for these shorter, more intensive degrees due to the increased teaching time required.

The Department of Education said this offers students a saving of at least 5,500 in total tuition costs, as well as saving them on maintenance costs for an additional year.

But Matt Waddup, head of policy at the University and College Union, has called on the government to instead fix a system that piled debts on students.

He said: Instead of gimmicks which risk undermining the international reputation of our higher education sector, the government should focus on fixing the underlying problems with our current finance system which piles huge debts on students. This decision is not about increasing real choice for students, it is about allowing for-profit companies access to public money through the student loans system.

Without proper safeguards, accelerated degrees will quickly become devalued, but the government shows no signs that it understands this.

Student news in pictures Show all 34 1 /34 Student news in pictures Student news in pictures South Korean policemen detain a student demonstrator during a protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye EPA Student news in pictures South Korean policemen detain student protestors during a protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. The protesters demanded that the parliament takes steps to impeach President Park Geun-Hye EPA Student news in pictures Filipino demonstrators face off with anti-riot police during a protest near the US Embassy in Manila, Philippine EPA Student news in pictures Hundreds of protesters including Indigenous People, students and militant groups marched towards the US Embassy to protest against the presence of US military troops and condemning the violent dispersal which left at least forty people hurt including twenty police officers and three people who were run over by a police van EPA Student news in pictures A federal judge in Mexico has ordered that a once-fugitive police chief be held on charges of kidnapping in the disappearance of 43 students Student news in pictures A man holds up a photograph of a missing student with a caption reading 'We are missing 43,' during a meeting marking the 25-month anniversary of the disappearances of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero, in Mexico City. A federal judge in Mexico has ordered that a once-fugitive police chief be held on charges of kidnapping in the disappearance of 43 students AP Student news in pictures Miguel Perez, an intern student from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, puts away his cell phone before walking into the operating room at the Dr. Isaac Gonzalez MartInez Oncological Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Once they complete their general surgery training, many residents are moving to the United States in search of better wages, one of the main factors linked to the current shortage of specialists in the Island Student news in pictures Fewer EU students have applied to start university courses in the UK next autumn. There was a 9% fall in the numbers who had applied for courses, according to admissions service UCAS. PA wire Student news in pictures University students protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. Masses of protesters jammed the streets of Venezuela's capital on the heels of a move by congress to open a political trial against Maduro, whose allies have blocked moves for a recall election AP Student news in pictures University students protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela AP Student news in pictures Thousands, most of them high school students, march during a demonstration in Madrid, Spain, on a one day strike to protest about the country's education law that increases the number of annual exams AP Student news in pictures Students gather on the west mall to confront the Young Conservatives of Texas student organization over a controversial bake sale on The University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at the University of Texas-Austin sparked the protest with an affirmative action bake sale. The club encouraged students to buy a cookie and talk about the disastrous policy that is affirmative action Student news in pictures Donald Parish Jr, right, confronts Electrical and Computer Engineering senior Dewayne Perry over a controversial bake sale on The University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at the University of Texas-Austin sparked the protest with an affirmative action bake sale. The club encouraged students to buy a cookie and talk about the disastrous policy that is affirmative action AP Student news in pictures Brigham Young University announced that students who report sexual assault will no longer be investigated for possible violations of the Mormon-owned school's strict honor code that bans such things as alcohol use AP Student news in pictures Students of secondary education march to protest against the final examinations and LOMCE (The Improvement Quality Education Law) law, after a call by trade unions, in Murcia, Spain EPA Student news in pictures South African police have used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters who had marched to the parliament building to call for free university education, where the finance minister was giving a budget speech AP Student news in pictures Police break up student protests outside the parliament in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters Student news in pictures South African Policemen fire rubber bullets at student protestors in Cape Town, South Africa AP Student news in pictures A student protestor is hit by a rubber bullet in Cape Town, South Africa AP Student news in pictures An injured student is helped by colleagues during protest outside the parliament during South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's medium term budget speech in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters Student news in pictures Plaintiffs and bereaved families of elementary school students killed in the tsunami that followed a major earthquake in northeastern Japan in 2011, show banners that say 'victory in a suit filed with the Sendai District Court' in Sendai. A Japanese court ordered municipalities to pay $13.7 million dollars to families of school children who were swept away to their deaths by the 2011 tsunami Getty Student news in pictures A group of student at Ewha Womans University calls for a thorough investigation into those involved in years of engagement with state affairs backstage by Choi Soon-sil, a personal confidante of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, at the school's front gate in Seoul, South Korea EPA Student news in pictures Students raise placards during a strike action called by the student union, in Madrid against university entry exams Getty Student news in pictures Libyans throw a newly graduated student into a fountain as they celebrate during the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Libyans celebrate as they attend the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Libyans celebrate as they attend the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Thousands of Thai Catholic students take part in mourning tributes and in singing the Thai Royal Anthem to honour late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Saint Dominic School in Bangkok, Thailand EPA Student news in pictures Students of Silpakorn University paint portraits of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the university campus in Bangkok Getty Student news in pictures A student of Silpakorn University paints a portrait of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the university campus in Bangkok Getty Student news in pictures St Andrews University students take part in a foam fight known as Raisin Monday in the Lower College Lawn behind St Salvator's Quadrangle following the Raisin Weekend PA wire Student news in pictures St Andrews University students take part in a foam fight known as Raisin Monday in the Lower College Lawn behind St Salvator's Quadrangle following the Raisin Weekend, an annual tradition where student 'parents' inflict tasks on the unfortunate first-years they have adopted as 'children' as part of a mentoring scheme PA wire Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) in Havana, Cuba Reuters Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) take part in a practice in Havana, Cuba Reuters Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) wait in line to enter a classroom in Havana, Cuba Reuters

Gordon Marsden, shadow higher and further education minister also said it was "extremely disappointing" that "the government have pressed ahead with the increase despite the very serious questions about access for disadvantaged students, workload for university staff and guaranteeing the quality of university education."

He added: Increasing annual tuition fees is absolutely the last thing that the government should be doing."

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The legislation will now go to the House of Lords for approval. It is hoped the courses will be on offer from September this year.

Chris Skidmore, universities minister, said: The passing of this legislation is one of the great modern-day milestones for students and breaks the mould of a one-size-fits all system for people wanting to study in higher education. For thousands of future students wanting a faster pace of learning and a faster route into the workplace at a lower overall cost, two-year degrees will transform their choices.
JD Wetherspoon is expecting profits to fall in the first half of this year, despite sales rising so far this financial year.

The company reported like-for-like sales growth of 7.2 per cent for the first 12 weeks of the second quarter, while like-for-like sales in the year to date have risen 6.3 per cent.

However, costs in the first half have been considerably higher than the previous year, particularly for labour, which is up by around 30m.

Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin, an outspoken Brexiteer, used the pub chains trading update to repeat his calls for a no-deal Brexit.

Last year, the company said it would replace champagne with British sparkling wine, and would buy less beer from the EU, swapping to UK brewers where possible.

Lymington: The town that's 'too posh for Argos' turns against JD Wetherspoon's pubs Show all 2 1 /2 Lymington: The town that's 'too posh for Argos' turns against JD Wetherspoon's pubs Lymington: The town that's 'too posh for Argos' turns against JD Wetherspoon's pubs 451785.bin ALAMY Lymington: The town that's 'too posh for Argos' turns against JD Wetherspoon's pubs 451786.bin John Lawrence

The most frequently asked question, regarding the future, relates to the impact of leaving the EU, he said.

I have argued that the UK  and therefore Wetherspoon  will benefit from a free-trade approach, by avoiding a deal which involves the payment of 39bn to the EU, for which the House of Lords has confirmed there is no legal liability.

This approach also means that the UK, without the agreement of the EU, can end some or all of the protectionist tariffs and quotas that apply on non-EU imports, including rice, oranges, bananas, coffee, wine, childrens clothes and over 12,000 other products  many of which are not produced in this country.

Ending tariffs reduces prices for consumers, without loss of government income, since the proceeds are currently remitted to Brussels.

Mr Martin cited tariffs on Cambodian rice as a good example of the EUs protectionism which will inevitably increase prices for businesses and consumers.

The group has opened two pubs and sold six since the beginning of the financial year, with plans to open between five and 10 this year.

Ed Monk, associate director at Fidelity Personal Investing, said: There was more Brexit bluster from J D Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin in the companys trading update today, but investors will be more focused on the warning that pre-tax profit will be lower in the first half of the trading year.

The margins at Spoons are tight so the challenge has been to grow overall sales in order to keep growing profits. Any hint of higher costs, including staff wages, is bad news so the news of another 30m in labour costs since November will hurt. With unemployment low, thanks in part to lower flows of workers from the EU, labour costs will continue to be a focus at Wetherspoon.
Santander is to close 140 branches, putting 1,270 jobs at risk, the bank announced on Wednesday.

The company is in talks with unions to try to find new roles for staff affected where possible and said it expects a third to be redeployed.

Customers will be supported in finding alternative branches among the 614 that will remain open, Santander said.

The bank blamed a 23 per cent fall in the number of transactions in branches over the last three years, during which time digital transactions have almost doubled.

UK banks have closed 3,101 branches since 2015, according to figures from Which?.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

RBS, which owns NatWest, and Ulster Bank shut 476 branches over the course of last year and this month, while Lloyds Banking Group closed 131.

The number of cash machines has also dropped, particularly in rural areas, raising concerns that many consumers are being denied access to financial services.

Santanders branch closures will come as a blow for those who rely on traditional banking services, said Gareth Shaw, head of Which? Money.

While online banking is on the rise, a third of the country still does not use it and, as weve seen from a recent spate of IT failures, such systems are not infallible, he said.

Despite the switch to digital ways of banking and paying, millions of consumers still need access to cash.

Susan Allen, head of retail and business banking, said the way customers use their bank has changed dramatically in recent years.

As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less visited branches, and those where we have other branches in close proximity, Ms Allen said.

Branches still have a vital role to play, she added.

Santanders announcement came as cash machine network operator Link unveiled plans aimed at saving cash machines in remote locations.

Credit and debit card operators will pay a super supplement to cash machine operators for transactions on some ATMs.

The fee will rise to a maximum of 2.75, a move which Link hopes will ensure the viability of free-to-use cash machines in rural areas.

In November, the House of Commons Treasury Committee launched a probe into the effect of bank branch closures amid fears that vulnerable people were being hit hardest.

MPs will scrutinise whether certain groups of people are excluded from obtaining a basic level of service and whether vulnerable consumers pay more for financial services products.
Patisserie Valerie has collapsed into administration putting 2,800 jobs at risk after the cake chain failed to secure a lending lifeline from banks.

The company had been in trouble since uncovering a 20m hole in its books last October resulting from significant, and potentially fraudulent, accounting irregularities.

Last week, the scandal deepened when Patisserie Valerie announced that forensic accountants had discovered "thousands of false entries into the companys ledgers.

In a statement to markets on Tuesday the company said that as a "direct result of the significant fraud" it had been unable to renew its bank facilities and did not have enough money to continue trading.

KPMG has been appointed as administrator.

Recommended Patisserie Valerie in crucial talks with banks over cash lifeline

Investors had hoped banks would renew the company's lending facilities after a standstill that had prevented creditors from recovering debts ended on Friday.

Chairman Luke Johnson has extended an unsecured, interest-free loan to help ensure that the January wages are paid to all staff working in the ongoing business, the company added.

The loan will also assist the administrators in trading as many profitable stores as possible while a sale process is undertaken.

The collapse marks an extraordinarily rapid change in fortunes for a company that had been valued at close to half a billion pounds before problems with the accounts emerged.

A rescue plan was passed by shareholders in November, resulting in the issue of 15m worth of new shares, while Mr Johnson put in 20m of his own money but it was not enough to keep the company afloat.

Yet again serious questions have been raised about the role of an auditor in signing off the accounts of a listed company without spotting huge problems. Patisserie Valerie's auditor Grant Thornton is under investigation by the Financial Reporting Council over its work on the company's accounts from 2015 to 2017.

Last week Patisserie Valerie revealed that KPMG had been hired to review all options for the future of the business after finding that the irregularities in the books were "devastating" and that cashflow and profitability were likely worse than previously thought.

Seventy stores have already closed and the future for the 200 that remain is uncertain. Any potential buyer for the company would have to take a" big leap of faith" that the business can survive because they cannot assume that the figures are a true state of affairs, said Nick Burchett, Head of UK Equities at Cavendish which holds Patisserie Valerie shares.

As the administrators pick through the bones of the business, it's commendable to see that Luke Johnson remained the last man from the original management to sink with his ship as it goes down and make sure that employees are at least remunerated in January post the Christmas festivities," Mr Burchett said.

Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said the announcement was terrible news for Patisserie Valeries staff, shareholders and suppliers.

"The extraordinary black-hole in Patisserie Valeries accounts which has led to this administration raises grave corporate governance concerns and poses serious questions regarding the effectiveness of the auditor and the current arrangements for regulation," said Ms Reeves.

"The BEIS Committee will picking up these issues in the context of our current inquiry on the future of audit.
Brexit supporter Sir James Dyson has been accused of hypocrisy after announcing his firm would move its headquarters to Singapore ahead of the UKs exit from the EU.

The billionaire inventor, who campained for the UK to leave the European Union, had previously said he was enormously optimistic about Britains trading post-Brexit.

His decision to switch Dysons base from Malmesbury, Wiltshire, to Asia, has been met with widespread criticism, with some claiming the decision was a vote of no confidence in the idea of Brexit Britain.

Chief executive of Dyson, Jim Rowan, said the move was not linked to Brexit or lower taxes, but was merely a question of planning for the future.

He also confirmed that Sir James was an important part of the decision to switch the British headquarters to Singapore.

Dyson: The corridors of brain power Show all 3 1 /3 Dyson: The corridors of brain power Dyson: The corridors of brain power 596630.bin JOHN LAWRENCE Dyson: The corridors of brain power 596631.bin JOHN LAWRENCE Dyson: The corridors of brain power 596632.bin JOHN LAWRENCE

Its about making sure we are future-proofed. There are huge revenue opportunities in Singapore, China is the poster child of that, he said.

The tax difference is negligible for us, we are taxed all over the world and we will continue to pay tax in the UK. We will continue to invest in the UK, in Malmesbury, in Bristol and London.

Layla Moran, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, described the decision as being utterly unbelievable and accused Sir James of staggering hypocrisy.

James Dyson can say whatever he wants but he is ditching Britain. This can only be seen as a vote of no confidence in the idea of Brexit Britain, Ms Morgan said.

Rather than fleeing can I suggest he maybe donates to the Final Say campaign to help mop up some of the disaster he created. This is a damning for the government.

In a statement the firm said: An increasing majority of Dysons customers and all of our manufacturing operations are now in Asia; this shift has been occurring for some time and will quicken as Dyson brings its electric vehicle to market.

We are now at a point where Dysons corporate head office will relocate there to reflect the increasing importance of Asia to Dysons business.

The move was announced alongside Dysons full year results for 2018, when profits topped 1bn for the first time.

Turnover rocketed 28 per cent to 4.4bn and profits jumped 33 per cent to 1.1bn.

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Dysons decision to relocate its HQ comes months after the company revealed that it would be building its new electric car at a plant in Singapore, citing better access to markets and more readily available expertise.

At the time, Ian Murray, Labour MP and Best for Britain champion, said: Sir James Dyson was a prominent campaigner for Brexit, unlike most business leaders who recognised the huge risk to Britains economy.

Now his UK-based company has chosen to build its new electric car in Singapore. Its hardly a vote of confidence in global Britain.

When even someone who claims there will be a resurgence in British manufacturing after Brexit isnt prepared to put his money where his mouth is, it raises serious questions about the future of our economy and the impact on jobs and livelihoods as a result of Brexit.

Sir James is not the only prominent Brexiteer to move business away from the UK in the run-up to 29 March.

John Redwood MP campaigned for Brexit, but in the wake of the vote advised investors to withdraw their money from the UK and invest it in the EU instead.

Meanwhile, a City firm co-founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg MP has opened an investment fund in Ireland to avoid being cut off from the EU in the coming months.
The Ob-Irtysh is the sixth largest river in the world by drainage area and sixth longest in the world at 5,410 kilometers. It is a broad and deep river, easily navigable by river barge, and also by sea-going vessels deep into the Eurasian continent. Geographically, this river system connects Kazakhstan to the Arctic Ocean, and if sufficient river maritime infrastructure were present then Kazakhstan could avoid the endogenous trade tariff that comes with being landlocked. This has massive implications for Kazakhstans potential trade, industry, and wider economic development.

BACKGROUND: Halford MacKinders Eurasian heartland theory has had a revival in recent years. Advocates of Eurasian heartland geopolitics usually argue that land-power control of the World Island is the ultimate high-ground. However, an often-overlooked aspect of MacKinders original Eurasian Heartland thesis is that he directly references the Arctic Ocean. His map of the World Island blocks access to Eurasia by an Icy Sea. Yet the 21st Century combination of a thawing Arctic Ocean and new industrial developments in Western Siberia opens up the possibility of sea-power geopolitics to the Eurasian heartland. This presents the possibility of Kazakhstan gaining maritime access to the Arctic.

Development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), connecting East Asia and Europe via the thawing Arctic Ocean adjacent to Russias Eurasian Arctic is already advanced. Industrial and shipping transport architecture from Yamal-Nenets is laying the foundations for a future self-reinforcing future industrial cluster along Myrdalian circular cumulative causation lines. The combination of port development, a viable Arctic Ocean shipping route and the possibility of greater industrial development further upstream into Eurasia offers huge industrial complementarity possibilities to Kazakhstan.

Key to the development is Russias Sabetta Port on the Gulf of Ob, opening to the Kara Sea and the Arctic Ocean and ultimately to East Asian and European markets. Sabetta was built to service the South Tambeyskoye liquefied natural gas (LNG) field, to ship from Yamal to East Asia. While Sabetta has been developed primarily as an LNG liquefaction and outward shipment port, it is also concurrently developing multimodal containerized freight capacity. In 2015 the local Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District legislative assembly approved a rail plan to better connect it to the Russian industrial complex: Construction and Operation of the New Non-Common Use Railway Line Bovanenkovo-Sabetta.

Local government authorities are excited about developing the port for container transshipment. Ural Bureau Customs Chief Vyacheslav Goloskov has said that while Sabetta was initially meant as a dedicated gas offloading port  now it has effectively become Urals gate to the sea. Goloskov argued that if icebreakers lead the way for LNG ships, then ice-class containerized cargo vessels can follow in the wake, making Sabetta a year-round transshipment port. The NSR is already attracting increasingly diverse cargo shipments, for example refrigerated fish from Vladivostok-Arkhangelsk and timber from Arkhangelsk to Shanghai.

An effective transshipment port at Sabetta means that for Kazakh trade to enter the World Ocean it must only reach Sabetta first. Development of the inland waterways from the Yamal-Nenets bridgehead is already being pursued by regional Russian subnational governments in the West Siberian plain. Linking up with this continental river transport system offers Kazakhstan the possibility of a viable maritime route. The Ob-Irtysh River is navigable for the entirety of its 5,410 kilometers from the Kazakh-China border to the Kara Sea. The Ob river portion of the transit  1,200 kilometers from the West Siberian Plain to Sabetta  is navigable by ocean-going vessels. An electronic navigation database for river transport along the Irtysh is slated to be finished by 2020 under Russias 2020 Development Strategy for the Russia Federation Transport System and 2030 Development Strategy for Inland Water Transport, allowing for safer transit of the river by ocean vessels.

IMPLICATIONS: Kazakhstans main transport corridors are currently railways and roads moving mostly east to west. While these east-west and west-east axial corridors remain the key extant and potential economic development zones, the possibility of a south-north axial transport corridor to West Siberia is emerging. In 2016 two major transits were made from South Korea across the Northern Sea Route first to Sabetta and then deep inland up the Ob-Irtysh: one to Tobolsk in the Omsk region of the Russian Federation, the other to Pavlodar in Kazakhstan.

This Northern Sea Route freight to Kazakhstan first transited the Arctic Ocean from Ulsan, a heavy industrial port in South Korea near the heavy shipbuilding center Busan, transiting to Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula. The total journey from Ulsan to Pavlodar, Kazakhstan is about 14,000 kilometers with over 2,000 kilometers on the Ob-Irtysh twin Siberian rivers. The initial delivery of heavy plant equipment to an oil refinery in Pavlodar was a two-stage river barge operation from Sabetta to Omsk and then from Omsk on to Pavlodar. The principal initial attraction of this ocean-river transport artery is for super heavy oversized cargo such as plant machinery and equipment that cannot be transported in TEU-standard containerized freight and does not have specialized ocean freight capacity that super large ore carriers, or liquefied natural gas containers have. For example, the weights of the two petrochemical reactors delivered to Pavlodar were 527 and 550 tons.

Alexander Voronenko at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Research Centre at Khabarovsk State University of Economics and Law has collected materials for what he calls Project Ob-Irtysh. Voronenko argues for the south-north development of the inland waterway for a perpendicular connection with Chinas east-west New Silk Road Economic Belt. Along with Sabetta, the inland river ports of Salekhard, Khanti-Mansyisk and Omsk are developing port capacity. Amazingly this inland river transport system has also recently been used to transport heavy equipment from the Volga to Omsk: from Volgogradneftemash plant via Saint Petersburg and then on to Gazpromneft refinery plant in Omsk  replicating a similar journey undertaken in 1984 under the Soviet system which transported from Volgograd to both Omsk and Pavlodar using the inland waterways.

Russias development of Yamal-Nenets is the infrastructure and global market paradigm shift that Kazakhstan needs to exit Eurasia by sea. Domestically, Russias Federal Ministry of Maritime and River Transport manages the river system through the Ob-Irtysh Basin Inland Waterways Administration while the Arctic NSR has its own federal agency in Russia. But bilateral legal frameworks between Russia and Kazakhstan are already in place to easily increase river transport volumes between Russias Omsk and Kazakhstans Pavlodar and Semey.

CONCLUSIONS: Like much of Kazakh history, its Arctic maritime strategy is largely dependent on Russian economic development, investment, and geopolitics. For Kazakhstan, the real variables are threefold: greater investment in Sabetta port and its development into a containerized transshipment port; capacity and reliability of the river barge system from Sabetta to Omsk; and Chinese and Russian cooperation for increased vessel transits on the NSR. If the NSR-Sabetta-Omsk multimodal ocean-river transport system develops alongside increases in trans-Arctic shipping from East Asian ports to Sabetta, then developing the final leg from Omsk to Pavlodar, and even Semey in Kazakhstan is not a difficult prospect. The possibility of containerized maritime transport along a West Siberian-Arctic Ocean river-ocean corridor has the possibility to transform Kazakhstan into an effective maritime nation with access to the Arctic. By extension, it opens Kazakhstan to the maritime economies in both East Asia and Europe and further into the World Ocean.

AUTHORS BIO: Tristan Kenderdine is Research Director at Future Risk, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Image Source: Tuomas Romu via Wikimedia Commons accessed on 1.23.2019
A former Tesco executive has been cleared over a fraud and false accounting scandal that saw the company overstate its profit forecast by 250m.

Tescos former UK finance director Carl Rogberg was cleared of all charges at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday after the Serious Fraud Office presented no evidence against him.

Mr Rogberg, 52, was accused of knowing that income was being wrongly included in records to meet targets and make the company look financially healthier than it was.

It marks the end of criminal proceedings against three Tesco executives accused over their roles in a 2014 accounting scandal that saw 12 per cent wiped off the companys value.

Mr Rogberg had been too ill too attend court last month when former UK managing director Chris Bush and former UK food commercial director John Scouler were cleared of all charges due to a lack of evidence.

Despite all three men being cleared, Tesco agreed to pay a 129m fine for falsely overstating its income in 2014 by hundreds of millions of pounds in a settlement with the SFO.

Details of the Tescos Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), which was agreed in 2017, could only be reported on Tuesday after the collapse of the criminal case.

It leaves an unprecedented scenario in which Tesco has agreed to pay a fine for a 233m hole in its accounts in an agreement that names the three executives, yet in the parallel criminal case judges have said they have no case to answer due to lack of evidence.

Mr Rogberg said Tesco had failed to properly investigate the alleged fraud from the outset and had entered into a DPA on a completely false basis.

A DPA is a relatively new option for prosecutors in the UK which allows them to reach an agreement with a company without going to a potentially time consuming and expensive trial. But their use is controversial as it means companies are not convicted, even when wrongdoing may have occured.

Mr Rogberg, who suffered a heart attack last year, said of the DPA that it was a worthless and dishonest piece of paper with no credibility.

The trial has had enormous consequences on my health and exemplary career, as well as for my wife, my son, my family and my friends, he added.

Lawyers for the three men said the cased raised serious concerns about the SFOs handling of high-profile fraud investigations and the use of DPAs.

Acting for Mr Rogberg, Neil OMay of Norton Rose Fulbright said: This is more than simply an acquittal by a jury. It is a finding that there was insufficient evidence on which the case could have been brought. This is unprecedented in high-profile serious fraud cases.

The SFO failed to appoint independent forensic accountants to assess whether fraud had actually taken place, Mr OMay said.

Mr Bushs lawyer Ross Dixon, of Hickman & Rose, said the three men have had their names besmirched by the case which exposes a fundamental unfairness with Deferred Prosecution Agreements and sounds an alarm call for anyone concerned with the proper functioning of the criminal justice system.

He added: We now have two contradictory outcomes: that of the criminal trial in which the allegations were dismissed for lack of evidence, and the DPA, based on the same allegations, which tells a different story.

The discrepancy between these outcomes is deeply worrying and should particularly concern senior executives working for a company under investigation by the SFO.

They may find themselves, as in this case, acquitted of wrongdoing yet have their reputation publicly besmirched in an agreement between the SFO and the company under investigation.

The problem stems from the fact that while DPAs are seen as a great outcome for the SFO, there is a risk that in pursuit of this goal, the SFO has little incentive to properly test the assertions on which it is based.
Jeremy Corbyns fears about the potential for European Union state aid rules to thwart Labours manifesto reforms are unfounded, according to an analysis by the IPPR think tank.

The Labour leader said last month that the EU rules on industrial support to certain sectors need to be looked at again and some close to the leadership have argued that Labour should embrace Brexit on the grounds that a total repture with the EU is necessary to achieve the partys economic goals.

But the IPPR, which had close links to Labour in the past, argues in a new report that the UK has more scope to deliver state aid in the EU than is generally understood, including subsidising the railways.

Successive UK governments have said their hands are tied in developing more proactive industrial policy by European Union rules. But it appears that this is not, in fact, true, said Marley Morris, an IPPR researcher.

The report points out that state aid is permissible under EU law when it assists regional rebalancing, small companies, research and development and the environment.

Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Brexit supporters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester adjusts her pro-EU wig AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A message to Jeremy Corbyn in support of a peoples vote Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A mock Titanic captained by Theresa May heads towards an iceberg in a stunt by campaigning group Avaaz AP Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters outside parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides are in close contact outside of parliament PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Paintings of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester in Parliament Square Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Opposing protesters share the space outside parliament Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester holds EU balloons outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters stand on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage speaks to the media at the protests outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament EPA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A pro-Brexit protester sets up outside parliament Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An Avaaz campaigner holds a Peoples Vote life float Reuters Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament A demonstrator holds a sign advocating a no-deal Brexit outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament An anti-Brexit protester waves an EU flag on Westminster Bridge PA Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides demonstrate outside parliament AFP/Getty Brexit deal vote: Opposing groups of protesters gather by parliament Protesters of opposing sides stand near parliament Reuters

Labours manifesto in 2017 promised the re-nationalisation of privatised water companies and train franchises.

The think tank said it was clear that EU law is not incompatible with state ownership.

The law can prevent state monopolies, but there are exemptions for services of general economic interest.

While the UK has 16 state-owned enterprises, this is relatively low compared to other member states, the IPPR notes.

France has 51 state-owned enterprises, Germany has 71 state-owned enterprises, and Poland has 126 state-owned enterprises.

The IPPR also suggests there is actually considerable scope for the UK to increase the value of its state aid in future.

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While the UK currently spends around 0.36 per cent of GDP on state aid, this is below the average of other EU economies.

France spends 0.65 per cent and Germany 1.31 per cent. If the UK matched German spending levels it would imply almost another 20bn a year of industrial support.

Labours commitment to a permanent customs union and acceptance of the Northern Ireland backstop also implies continuing to follow EU state aid guidelines, even if the UK followed through with Brexit, since this would be the required price of both.

Legal analysis backs up the IPPRs conclusion.

George Peretz QC has written that: Though Lexiters [left-wing Brexiteers] complain that the state aid rules could be an obstacle to a Labour government, in my experience they never get beyond abstractions about the neoliberal nature of those rules to actually set out the policies that a Labour government may want to implement that would not be permitted.
Believe in Britain, is what the Brexiteers like to say, at least those that dont wear yellow vests and can string a coherent sentence together without spitting.

But wait, whats this? It seems one of their biggest business heroes, one of the very few leading businesspeople who doesnt think Brexit is an act of collective national insanity, doesnt.

Sir James Dyson, the British billionaire inventor and outspoken Brexiteer, is moving the corporate HQ from Wiltshire to Singapore. Where Dyson also makes electric cars. In preference to Britain.

This is, we are told, absolutely, positively nothing to do with Brexit. No siree. Instead its about future proofing the business. And it was a board decision which Sir James was involved in.

Im not sure that makes it any better. If Britain has such glowing economic prospects, and the bright and shiny future the Brexiteers like to claim for it in the event of the no deal Sir James has advocated, then surely Dyson would be future proofed here?

Of course, there is the small matter of all the available evidence that says that were the government to follow Sir Jamess Brexit advice by walking away and waiting for European firms to come to us itd be a godawful mess. A mess Sir James and his boardroom colleagues will now be able to watch from halfway across the world where the supply chains his factories out there rely upon wont face any disruption from the expected foul ups at customs created by the walls Brexit Britain wants to put up with its biggest trading partner.

You could always have a laugh at David Camerons expense at this point, and thats fun given he bears a great deal of responsibility for the unfolding chaos. The former PM once described Dyson as a Great British success story. Except that Dyson isnt apparently British any more. Instead we are supposed to think of it as a global technology company.

But lets face it, given what we now know, that statement doesnt even come close to being the doziest thing Mr Cameron has said.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Dyson will, it should be said, still have operations in Britain, but the direction of travel is pretty clear. Were now of secondary importance to this global tech champion. Theres a metaphor in there somewhere.

Talking of politicians and dozy statements, its not much of a result for Theresa Mays poor old Global Britain. Although, curiously, she doesnt seem to say that much anymore.

She doesnt say anything much that makes sense on the subject of Brexit. Shes got that in common with Sir James.
Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, has been issuing warnings about the danger of delaying Brexit on the BBC again when hes actually supposed to be in Davos banging the drum for trade deals that have proved something of a challenge to get moving.

Part of the reason for his making a noise is perhaps because the timing of the trip could hardly have been worse. It came a day after arch Brexiteer Sir James Dyson unveiled plans to ship the gizmo makers corporate HQ to Singapore. The company claimed this had nothing to do with Brexit. That was approached with some scepticism.

Meanwhile, P&O replaced the British flag with that of Cyprus for its ships registration bringing an end to nearly two centuries of history, Sony confirmed plans to move its European HQ from London to Amsterdam, Pets at Home and Dixons Carphone outlined stockpiling measures to protect them from the kicking Mr Fox and his chums seem bent on delivering.

The trade generalissimos Davos press notice nonetheless contained some fancy figures about the UKs past attractiveness as a destination for foreign direct investment, from Deloitte and the UN.

Of course, the UK was in the EU when those investments were made. And these sort of figures are very dependent on the methodology used by which organisation is putting them together. A report from the OECD on the same subject revealed FDI fell sharply between 2016 and 2017. The release didnt mention that. But as one Tory MP said of Fox: He has never been very good at detail."

Still, that didnt stop him from stamping his little feet. Parliaments attempt to take control of Brexit, and the possible delay as a result, would be a worse than no deal, he declared.

Corporate Britain has been saying otherwise for some time now, and lately it has started voting with its feet.

As yet, the moves are mostly technical, although its notable that drugs group AstraZeneca has suspended investment and none of our big car makers seem minded to put any new money in given the threat no deal poses to their supply chains.

There have already been some Brexit job losses, and Fox bears a share of the responsibility for them. But they have rather resembled the trailers you see before big Hollywood disaster movies.

When the main feature starts, Fox will presumably bluster some more. That will come as slim comfort for those affected, but expecting anything better from this ministerial code breaker (that should be repeated every time he opens his mouth with the thinly veiled Brexit threats hes been making) is probably a bit too much to ask for.

Lets face it, this is the man who claimed doing a deal with the EU would be the easiest thing in human history during the EU referendum campaign.

He also promised that the government would agree 40 free trade deals with other non-EU countries the minute Britain left the EU too.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

That happening is very much open to question. The Davos jaunt, we are told, is part of the drive to get deals over the line in the run-up to Brexit. The Trade department also droned on about significant progress having been made in finalising continuity trade agreements. But all this is in the absence of any final agreement with the UKs biggest trading partner: Europe. .

Meanwhile Fox unveiled Free Trade is GREAT - look, look capital letters - branding, with Britain due to leave the largest free trading area the world has ever seen. Theres that detail again.

Did someone say charlatan?
Facebook has launched a major new initiative to combat the scourge of scam adverts that dupe vulnerable people into handing over thousands of pounds to criminals.

Facebook executiuve Steve Hatch made a joint announcement at a press conference with Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert, revealing a dedicated new scam-ad reporting tool.

A 3 million donation to Citizens Advice scams action project (CASA) from the social network will fund the new tool, though it won't go live until May.

Mr Lewis launched high court proceedings against the technology giant in April 2018 after his name and image were falsely used to promote scams on the platform.

In a blog post published in 2018, Mr Lewis wrote that his aim was not to go to court over the matter but instead to stop Facebook publishing scam ads.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Show all 9 1 /9 How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Lock your profile down If you havent done this already, do it now. In Settings, hit the Privacy tab. From here, you can control who gets to see your future posts and friends list. Choose from Public, Friends, Only Me and Custom in the dropdown menu. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Limit old posts Annoyingly, changing this has no effect on whos able to see your past Facebook posts. Instead, on the Privacy page, you have to click on Limit Past Posts, then select Limit Old Posts and finally hit Confirm on the pop-up. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Make yourself harder to find You can stop completely random people from adding you by selecting Friends of Friends from the dropdown menu in the Who can send you friend requests? section of the Privacy page. Its also worth limiting who can find your Facebook profile with your number and email address. At the bottom of the page is the option to prevent search engines outside of Facebook from linking to your profile. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Control access to your Timeline You can limit who gets to post things on your Timeline and who gets to see posts on your Timeline too. In Settings, go to Timeline and Tagging and edit the sections you want to lock down. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Block people When you block someone, they wont be able to see things you post on your Timeline, tag you, invite you to events or groups, start conversations with you or add you as a friend. To do it, go to Settings and Blocking. Annoyingly, you have to block people on Messenger separately. You can also add friends to your Restricted list here, which means theyll still be friends with you but will only be able to see your public posts and things you share on a mutual friend's Timeline. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Review tags One of Facebooks handiest privacy features is the ability to review posts youre tagged in before they appear on your Timeline. Theyll still be visible on the News Feed while theyre fresh, but wont be tied to your profile forever. In Timeline and Tagging, enable Timeline review controls. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Clean up your apps You can view a list of all of the apps youve connected to your Facebook account by going to Settings and Apps. The list might be longer than you expected it to be. Its worth tidying this up to ensure things you no longer use lose access to your personal information. If you dont want to log into websites and apps with your facebook account, scroll down and turn Platform off. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Change your ad preferences You can view a list of everything Facebook thinks youre into and tinker with your ad preferences by going to Settings and Adverts. A lot more information is displayed on the desktop site than the app, so wed recommend doing this on a computer. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Download your data Facebook lets you download all of the data it has on you, including the posts youve shared, your messages and photos, ads youve clicked on and even the IP addresses that are logged when you log in or out of the site. Its a hell of a lot of information, which you should download to ensure you never over-share on the social network again.

"For over a year scam ads with my name and image in have been rife on Facebook. I'd counted at least 50, though [Facebook] admitted it's actually thousands," he wrote.

"We'd tried to contact the social media bohemoth, to ask it to stop publishing them, but its response (or lack of it) was, in my view, appallingly negligent and uncaring."

Mr Lewis said he resorted to hiring lawyers to protect his reputation and prevent more vulnerable people from being scammed.

As part of the latest annoucnement, Mr Lewis said he had agreed to drop his lawsuit against Facebook.

While raising awareness to the issue through various media appearances, Mr Lewis said the "most disgusting" instance of the scam ads was one that claimed he had invested half a million pounds into a cloud trading scheme. "It is a con, it is a scam," he said in August, "It is a brilliant way to lose money."

Facebook received money from the scammers, who paid to promote the ads to Facebook users.

Facebook previously relied on users to report suspicious adverts in order to prevent such scams. When Mr Lewis first filed the lawsuit, Facebook responded by saying: "We've explained to Mr Lewis how to report these ads."

Speaking at a joint press conference on Wednesday 23 January, Mr Lewis said: "There is an epidemic of scam activity going on in the UK right now.

"It shouldn't have taken the threat of legal action to get here. Yet once we started talking, Facebook quickly realised the scale of the problem, its impact on real people, and agreed to commit to making a difference both on its own platform, and across the wider sector."
A restaurant owner is refusing to remove an anti-Brexit message from his eaterys receipts after receiving death threats from Leave voters.

Restaurant owner Ibrahim Dogus, who last week added a Remain-supporting message to receipts from his London restaurant, said he and his staff have received abusive phone calls. Negative reviews of his restaurant have also been posted online.

Dogus tells The Independent: We have been targeted by far right groups who are organised on social media and [it seems like they have been] encouraging each other to attack our business by leaving fake reviews on TripAdvisor, Google Business, and Facebook.

The message printed at the bottom of receipts printed at Dogus restaurant, Westminster Kitchen, reads: Brexit is bad. Immigrants make Britain great. They also cooked and served your food today.

The missive also appear on receipts at the restaurateurs other two locations in London.

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However, Dogus says he has no plans to remove the message in light of the death threats and abuse.

The message will stay on the bills until 1 February and then we will replace [it] with a different message, he says.

I believe love will win over hate and those who are trying to disguise their racism as political activism are once again caught out.

The owner describes his restaurant as being very popular with politicians given its proximity to Parliament.

Restaurant owner Ibrahim Dogus took a photograph of the anti-Brexit message printed on a receipt at Westminster Kitchen (Ibrahim Dogus)

However, since the restaurant published the anti-Brexit missive on its bills, he says his employees have been worried about threats of violence and abuse.

It has been a horrible few days and our staff feel worried about whats happening.

Dogus also says that several customers have tried to book a table at Westminster Kitchen under the name of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, adding they used "abusive language.

On Sunday, Robinson posted a photograph of one of the restaurants receipts taken by a customer on Facebook.

Why are they bringing politics into their food business? he wrote.

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I do hope that 52 per cent of their customers decide to no longer give them their business, he added, referring to the percentage of UK voters who voted to leave the European Union.

As a result of the ongoing death threats and abuse, Dogus said he has been forced to contact the Metropolitan Police in order to ensure his premises and staff arent in danger.

Our manager, Maliq Konjuhi, said that he is worried that someone will come and physically attack our premises, he adds.

The Independent has contact the London Metropolitan Police for comment.
A new steakhouse in Los Angeles, California is offering cuts of meat that have been aged for more than a year - but they come with a $150 price tag.

APL Restaurant opened in May but has just now added a new menu item - nearly two-inch thick bone-in New York strips that chef and owner Adam Perry Lang has been dry-ageing.

According to the LA Times, Langs steaks went through the dry-aging process - the storing of beef in refrigerated temperatures to allow the natural enzymatic and biochemical processes that result in improved tenderness and the development of the unique flavor - for 380 days.

The difference between this dry-aged beef and that found in a regular steakhouse, according to the newspaper, is about 230 days - as 150 is typically the longest amount of time steak is dry-aged for.

And the result is steak that reportedly smells like foie gras when raw - and tastes of truffles when cooked.

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Langs technique and length of ageing, according to the chef, is similar to that of a grape turning into a raisin.

Things are concentrating, its becoming more dense, but you may say: It doesnt really taste like a grape, he explained.

According to a report on dry-ageing beef prepared for the National Cattlemens Beef Associations Centre for Research & Knowledge Management by two professors at Texas A&M University, previous studies have found dry-aged beef to be overall more tender, juicy, and flavourful.

And the qualities of the beef are dependent on the length of ageing, with longer time often associated with better overall ratings.

The limited number of $150-cuts of meat are currently available at APL - and part of Langs broader goal of offering LA a wide range of everything that beef can be.

As for what will happen to beef aged beyond 380 days, Lang plans to find out.

In addition to various aged steaks, Lang also lists a $950 "felony knife" on the restaurant's menu - a reminder not to steal his hand-made steak knives.

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The price is $950 because it's "bare minimun for a felony in the State of California," he previously explained.
A new year calls for a new aesthetic.

Whether youve decided its time to bin your bell bottoms or catapult your kitten heels into sartorial Siberia, theres no better time to revamp your wardrobe than in January.

But instead of playing it safe with one of your high-street heroes, why not glide into 2019 with some fresh-fashion flair and try something new?

Instagram is now a hot house of emerging design talents, with hundreds of labels using the platform to engage directly with their consumer and create aesthetically pleasing brand identities. Start there.

And because everyone likes to be the person who knew them before they were famous, here are some of our favourites to note for the year ahead.

La Llama

The Electra coat in mustard cord and orange faux suede, 325 (Michelle Beatty)

This London-based label takes playful dressing to a brave new frontier.

La Llama was founded by University of Bristol graduate Lydia Cooper, 24, and is aimed at millennials who are as dedicated to their eccentric wardrobes as they are to their favourite brunch spots.

Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Show all 21 1 /21 Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Wearing Givenchy at the UK Premiere of "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald" at Cineworld Leicester Square on 13 November 2018. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Clad head-to-toe in Moncler at the premier of the fantasy film 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' on 8 November 2018 in Paris. AFP/Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At the 15th annual CFDA / Vogue Fashion Fund event at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 5 November 2018 in New York. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Playing the piano as he helps celebrate Wizarding World Day at Parkside Middle School on 1 November 2018 in Baileyton, Alabama. Getty Images for Warner Bros. Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At a promotion for "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" on 28 October 2018 in Beijing. REUTERS Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Dressed in a Toadette costume from the Super Mario Bros. video game franchise, with Alison Sudol at the Warner Bros. Theatrical panel for "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" on day three of Comic-Con International on 21 July in San Diego. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At a screening of "Another Happy Day" at Sunshine Landmark on 14 November 2011 in New York City. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At the Warner Bros. Pictures "Justice League" Presentation during Comic-Con International 2017 at San Diego Convention Center on 22 July 2017 in San Diego, California. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Attending the Vivienne Westwood show during London Fashion Week Men's June 2017 collections on 12 June 2017 in London. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Speaking alongside co-star Eddie Redmayne at the Apple Store Soho presentation of Meet the Cast: "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them" at Apple Store Soho on 9 November 2016 in New York City. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At the European Premiere of "Suicide Squad" at the Odeon Leicester Square on 3 August 2016 in London. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At the European Premiere of "Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice" at Odeon Leicester Square on 22 March 2016 in London. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Posing for a portrait at the Village at the Lift Presented by McDonald's McCafe during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on 27 January 2015 in Park City, Utah. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Arriving at the Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominees Brunch on 12 January 2013 in West Hollywood, California. AFP/Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At a screening for "The Amazing Spider-Man" New York Special at Regal Union Square Theatre, Stadium 14 on 28 June 2012 in New York City. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At the "Red Lights" New York Screening at Sunshine Landmark on 25 June 2012 in New York City. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Arriving alongside Emma Watson at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards at Staples Center on 6 September 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At the "Ocean's 8" world premiere at Alice Tully Hall on 5 June 2018 in New York City. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Pictured at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards held at Gibson Amphitheatre on 3 June 2012 in Universal City, California. Getty Images Ezra Miller's best fashion moments Posing at the "We Need To Talk About Kevin" photocall during the 55th BFI London Film Festival at Vue West End on 17 October 2011 in London. Ezra Miller's best fashion moments At the premiere of "Beware The Gonzo" during the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center on 22 April 2010 in New York City.

The clothes are fun, with faux fur cuffs and corduroy flares evoking a nostalgic 70s vibe while hand-painted wrap dresses show off Coopers artistic talents.

Lady Amelia Windsor is a fan, and soon you will be too.

La-llama.com

Retrofete

Every other piece from this New York-based label is soaked in sequins (in a good way). And were not just talking about the odd sparkly mini dress.

Retrofete excels in applying glitzy glamour to the most unsuspecting of garments, like ankle-grazing track pants and cropped co-ords.

One look at its Instagram profile and youll see that the brand subscribes to a more is more aesthetic, with hot pinks, vivid purples and sunflower yellows demanding attention. Its disco dancer-meets-sparkle hoarder. Find Retrofete at a rave near you  you wont miss em.

Retrofete.com

Fruity Booty

Nothing beats the feeling of brand new undies, especially when said undies are comfortable, flattering and feminine.

Fruity Booty is the ultimate nightwear and lingerie label for someone who thinks they dont like nightwear and lingerie.

Rather than conforming to cliche, Fruity Bootys garments put female autonomy front and centre.

Itchy fabrics and straps that pinch are traded for soft-cup bras and cotton briefs that come complete with matching crops (the gingham ones are very Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz) and full-coverage bras.

In an unusual twist for an underwear label, its marketing is pretty empowering too, with women of all shapes and sizes modelling the designs on Instagram.

Radish

If trawling through the rails in your favourite vintage shops for pre-loved treasures is your idea of a perfect Saturday, Radish is your newbie to note.

Think paisley dresses with pussy-bow neck-ties and long-sleeved maxi dresses that billow with bohemian verve.

Radish is, unsurprisingly, inspired by classic 60s and 70s styles, and was founded by scrapbooking fanatic Lisa Piercy, who describes the label as spirited, fun and dreamy.

Thisisradish.com

Ayla

Shopping for swimwear can be a precarious endeavour. Will these bottoms ride up? Will this top ride down? How dodgy will my tan line be?

Thankfully, new beachwear brand Ayla is on hand to provide some much-needed respite to such pressing queries.

It was founded by half-Trinidadian Kirsty Ames and Heidi Sommerau, who grew up in Hong Kong, and the garments combine comfortable, eco-friendly fabrics with eye-catching Eastern prints.

Aylaswim.com

Rotate

Scandinavian style reaches its uber chic, understated climax at Rotate, the label that fashion editors and influencers have been fawning over since its launch in August 2018.

With a focus on dresses, Rotates clothes mix stiff Eighties silhouettes with contemporary colour palettes that will bewitch and beguile even the most unsuspecting of fashion fans.

You mightve already seen the bubblegum pink jacquard dress doing the rounds on Instagram in all its oversized puff sleeve glory, but its the embroidery blazer that will truly enchant you with its delicate but decadent patterns.

Rotatebirgerchristensen.com
The Favourite appears poised to take this years Oscars by storm after securing 10 nominations from Academy voters.

The Restoration black comedy from director Yorgos Lanthimos recounts a bitter rivalry in the court of Queen Anne. Its star, Olivia Colman, has received particular acclaim for her performance as the sickly monarch and a win for Best Actress would be no less than she deserves.

Colman has said she deliberately did not study the history of Annes reign prior to production, preferring to work solely from the screenplay, originally written by Deborah Davis in 1998 and entitled Balance of Power before being revised and updated by Tony McNamara.

One of the pleasures of Lanthimoss resulting film is that it likewise refuses to allow itself to become bogged down by historical fact or academic pedantry, preferring to take liberties with the truth (and the language, fashion and dance moves of the period) for the greater good of its story.

Sometimes a lady likes to have some fun, as Rachel Weiszs Sarah Churchill so succinctly puts it.

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Nevertheless, it is illuminating to return to Annes biography to see where The Favourite deviates and why those choices were made.

Anne was born at St Jamess Palace on 6 February 1665 while her uncle, King Charles II, was on the throne. She and her sister Mary were the only surviving children of the Roman Catholic-convert Duke of York and Anne Hyde, daughter of the Lord Chancellor.

As a child, Anne and Mary were given Anglican baptisms and the former raised in France by her paternal grandmother, Henrietta Maria, and aunt, Henrietta Anne, Duchess of Orleans, while Mary remained in London. This was undoubtedly a lonely upbringing for a child who had already lost six siblings, her beloved governness and her mother by the age of 16.

Anne first encountered Sarah Jennings, the future Duchess of Marlborough, as a child. Sarah would marry John Churchill (played by Mark Gattis) in 1678, the latter to become Annes most important general.

Princess Anne in turn married Prince George of Denmark in 1683 and his complete absence from Lanthimoss film is perhaps its biggest departure, the royal dying in October 1708, the year in which The Favourite takes place. The queen is said to have greatly grieved his passing.

It was with Annes marriage that Sarah Churchill first entered her household, serving as one of her ladies of the bedchamber and beginning a career that would see her hold a range of positions, from groom of the stole to mistress of the robes, keeper of the privy purse and ranger of Windsor Great Park.

Sarah admitted that she cultivated the relationship with great care, and now began to employ all her wit, all her vivacity and almost all her time to divert and entertain and serve the princess, writes biographer Anne Somerset.

The two would become extremely close, refering to one another by the nicknames Mrs Morley and Mrs Freeman, the joke monikers conveying the status of equals.

As addressed in the film, Anne did indeed have 17 miscarriages over the course of her marriage to George, traumas that took a considerable toll on her physical and emotional wellbeing, although the idea she kept a pet rabbit in honour of each lost child is a melancholy invention.

Queen Anne (Hulton Archive/Getty)

She was beset by gout, severe myopia and probably lupus for much of her life and often had to be carted around in a wheelchair by her maids, just as the film suggests.

King Charles died in 1685, leaving no heirs, so Annes father ascended to the throne as King James II of England and Ireland (James VI of Scotland). He proved an unpopular monarch at a time when anti-Catholic sentiment was rife in England and Popish influence from overseas much feared.

James was deposed just three years into his rule by the Glorious Revolution and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange, a Dutchman and first cousin. Anne knew of the invasion, siding with her sister over her father, causing the latter to lament: God help me! Even my children have forsaken me.

(Yorgos Lanthimos/Fox Searchlight Films via AP) (AP)

After 14 years of tension with Princess Anne over her expectations regarding royal privileges and her relationship with the distrusted Churchills, Mary and William likewise passed away childless, circumstances that led to Annes coronation in 1702.

The War of the Spanish Succession had just erupted and John Churchill, now the Duke of Marlborough, pulled off a string of stunning victories, notably at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

Anne moved quickly to distance herself from her Dutch predecessor, securing the publics favour by stressing her love for England, through her military successes and by signing the Acts of Union in 1707, which brought England and Scotland together as Great Britain under one parliament.

 The Favourite Exclusive Interview With Olivia Colman & Yorgos Lanthimos

Other interesting details from her early career as monarch occurring too early for The Favourite's timeline include her knighting the astronomer and physicist Isaac Newton in 1705 and acting as patron to George Frideric Handel, supplying the composer with 200 per annum.

In addition to the rumbling conflict in Europe, Annes rule would be marked by the establishment of the two-party political system, the queen favouring the likeminded Anglicans of the Tories over the rival Whigs, a preference that would set her at odds with Sarah Churchill.

As depicted in The Favourite, the queen did take counsel from a ministry including the likes of the lord treasurer, Sidney Godolphin, and the speaker of the House of Commons, Robert Harley, played by The Thick of It's James Smith and a superbly foppish Nicholas Hoult respectively.

Whether they really raced ducks or pelted naked jesters with oranges is less well-established.

Abigail Hill, Emma Stones ambitious usurper, was related to Harley as well as Sarah Churchill (the film only acknowledges the former tie for the sake of simplicity), which explains how the servant came to operate as the speakers informer on royal leanings. Her kindly presence at Annes side offered a welcome counterpoint to Churchills steelier brand of guidance.

Abigail poisoning Sarahs tea - causing her to fall from her horse, be dragged through the woods, nursed back to health in a brothel and return to court glowering from beneath an eyepatch  is a fiction, albeit a brilliant one.

Emma Stone in The Favourite (Atsushi Nishijima/Fox Searchlight) (Atsushi Nishijima)

To what extent Abigails emergence is responsible for driving a wedge between Anne and Sarah Churchill is open to debate but the latter was sufficiently angered by the new Baroness Masham taking ownership of rooms belonging to her at Kensington Palace that she disseminated a bawdy poem at court in July 1708.

Written by an anonymous Whig satirist, thought to be Arthur Mainwaring, the verse alleged a lesbian relationship (or dark deeds at night) between the queen and Abigail.

The Duchess later wrote to Anne warning her she had damaged her reputation by conceiving a great passion for such a woman... strange and unaccountable.

She also threatened to release compromising letters in which Anne expressed her devotion to Sarah. If I writ whole volumes I could never express how well I love you... Unimaginably, passionately, affectionately yours, the queen had written.

Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough (Hulton Archive/Getty)

While Churchills use of the word passion is certainly suggestive, most historians reject the idea the queen had sexual relationships with either Sarah or Abigail for want of evidence, citing her prudish Christian morality and ill health as two reasons for its unlikelihood.

Queen Anne died in 1714, the last Stuart monarch, her legacy tarnished by the Duchess of Marlboroughs scathing account of her in her memoirs, describing her former employer as a weak, irresolute woman beset by bedchamber quarrels and deciding high policy on the basis of personalities.

This characterisation of Anne  bloated and childlike  has long stood but lately a more sympathetic, revisionist reading of her career has taken hold, emphasising her commitment to political life and probable struggle with depression as a result of her many personal sorrows.

The Favourite breathes fresh life into an eccentric figure whose statue stands before St Pauls, often entirely unnoticed by passersby.
Michael Caine has sparked controversy after reneging on earlier comments that he wouldn't work with Woody Allen again and seemingly referring to the sexual assault allegations against the director as hearsay.

The British actor was asked by Rolling Stone whether hed work with the film director again, despite existing allegations that he assaulted his adopted daughter when she was a child. He said he would unless someone proved he had done something.

If he had a trial and someone proved he had done something, I wouldnt do it, the 85-year-old actor told the publication. But I didnt read of him being on trial and being found guilty or fined or sent to prison or anything.

Addressing the allegations against Allen, he said: This is all things that people say. You cant go on hearsay the whole time.

The 65 best movie insults of all time Show all 65 1 /65 The 65 best movie insults of all time The 65 best movie insults of all time Avengers Assemble (2012) "This is my bargain, you mewling quim." Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) "Hey, where'd you get those clothes, the toilet store?" DreamWorks Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) "How could you sleep with Fat Bastard? No, I mean, literally, how could you do it? He's so fat, the sheer mechanics of it are mind-boggling." New Line Cinema The 65 best movie insults of all time Bad Moms (2016) "Well, you look like a bag of d***s" REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Bad Santa (2003) Youre an emotional f***ing cripple. Your soul is dogs***. Every single f***ing thing about you is ugly. REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Blade: Trinity (2004) "You c*ck-juggling thunderc***!" New Line Cinema The 65 best movie insults of all time The Breakfast Club (1985) "Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?" Universal Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) "If staying here means working within 10 yards of you, frankly, I'd rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse." Universal Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Bull Durham (1988) "From what I hear, you couldn't hit water if you fell out of a f***ing boat." Orion Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Burn After Reading (2008) "I have a drinking problem? F*** you, Peck. Compared to you we all have a drinking problem." Macall Polay The 65 best movie insults of all time The Campaign (2012) "You know what the difference between your momma and a washing machine is? When I dump a load in a machine, the machine doesn't follow me around for three weeks." Warner Bros Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Casino (1995) "You horse manure smelling motherf***er, you." Universal Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time The Cat in the Hat (2003) "Do you know how hard it is telling people were related?" DreamWorks Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Closer (2004) "Go f*** yourself, you WRITER!" Columbia Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Clueless (1995) "Youre a virgin and you cant drive." Paramount Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Con Air (1997) "You're somewhere between a cockroach and that white stuff that accumulates at the corner of your mouth when you're really thirsty." Buena Vista Pictures Distribution The 65 best movie insults of all time The Death of Stalin (2017) "You smell like rendered horse, you burning a**hole." eOne Films The 65 best movie insults of all time Donnie Darko (2001) "You can go suck a f***." Pandora Cinema The 65 best movie insults of all time Duck Soup (1933) "He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you  he really is an idiot." Paramount Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Easy A (2010) "Don't you think it's a little strange that your boyfriend is 22-years-old and still in high school?" Screen Gems The 65 best movie insults of all time Erin Brockovich (2000) "That's all you got, lady - two wrong feet and f***ing ugly shoes." Columbia Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Escape Plan (2013) "You hit like a vegetarian" The 65 best movie insults of all time The Favourite (2018) "You look like a badger." Fox Searchlight Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time A Fish Called Wanda (1988) "To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people." The 65 best movie insults of all time Full Metal Jacket (1987) "You climb like old people f***, Private Pile." ColumbiaCannonWarner The 65 best movie insults of all time Gangs of New York (2002) I dont give a tuppeny f*** about your moral conundrum, you meat-headed s*** sack. Miramax Films The 65 best movie insults of all time Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) "You're in more dire need of a blowjob than any white man in history" Buena Vista Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time The Hangover (2009) "You are literally too stupid to insult." Warner Bros. Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time His Girl Friday (1940) "Listen, you insignificant, square-toed, pimple-headed spy!" Columbia Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Home Alone (1990) "You're what the French call: 'les incompetents'." DON SMETZER/20TH CENTURY FOX/The Kobal Collection/WireImage.com The 65 best movie insults of all time In Bruges (2008) "YOU'RE AN INANIMATE F***ING OBJECT!" Universal Studios/Focus Features The 65 best movie insults of all time In the Loop (2009) "Allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on your purview and ram it up your a*** with a lubricated horse c***." IFC Films The 65 best movie insults of all time Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) "I should have had you wear double condoms. Well, we shouldn't have done it in the first place, but if you ever do it again, which as a favour to women everywhere, you should not, but if you do, you should be wearing condom on condom, and then wrap it in electrical tape. You should just walk around always inside a great big condom because you are s***!" CBS Films The 65 best movie insults of all time Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) Perry: "Look up 'idiot' in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?" : "Look up 'idiot' in the dictionary. You know what you'll find?" Harry: "A picture of me?" Perry: "No! The definition of the word idiot, which you f***ing are." REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Knocked Up "Your face looks like Robin Williams' knuckles. The 65 best movie insults of all time The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) "Were you always this stupid or did you take lessons?" The 65 best movie insults of all time The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) "My great aunt Jennifer ate a whole box of candy every day of her life. She lived to be 102 and when she'd been dead three days, she looked better than you do now." Warner Bros. The 65 best movie insults of all time Matilda (1996) "Your mummy is a TWIT." TriStar Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time The Mist (2007) Ill tell you what. The day I need a friend like you, Ill just have myself a little squat and s*** one out. REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries." EMI Films The 65 best movie insults of all time National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, d***less, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey s*** he is." The 65 best movie insults of all time Parenthood (1989) "I wouldn't live with you if the world were flooded with piss and you lived in a tree." Universal Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Phantom Thread (2018) "Are you a special agent sent here to ruin my evening and possibly my entire life?" REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Point Break (1991) "You're a real blue flame special, aren't you, son? Young, dumb and full of cum. What I don't know is how you got assigned here. Guess we must just have ourselves an asshole shortage, huh?" REX The 65 best movie insults of all time The Princess Bride (1987) "I'll explain and I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand, you warthog faced buffoon." Vestron Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Roxanne (1987) "Is that your nose or did a bus park on your face?" REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Say Anything (1989) "I got a question: if you guys know so much about women, how come you're here on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?" The 65 best movie insults of all time Scarface (1983) "Even if I were blind, desperate, starved and begging for it on a desert island, you'd be the last thing I'd ever f***." Universal Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time School of Rock (2004) "You're tacky and I hate you" The 65 best movie insults of all time Sexy Beast (2000) "You're the f***ing problem you f***ing Dr White honkin' jam-rag f***ing spunk-bubble!" REX The 65 best movie insults of all time She's All That (1999) "To everyone here who matters, you're spam. You're vapour. A waste of perfectly good yearbook space." Miramax Films The 65 best movie insults of all time Short Circuit (1986) "Hey laser-lips, your mother was a snowblower." REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Shrek (2000) "You dense, irritating, miniature beast of a burden." REX The 65 best movie insults of all time The Silence of the Lambs (1991) You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition has given you some length of bone, but youre not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling?" Orion Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) "Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder." 20th Century Fox The 65 best movie insults of all time Step Brothers (2008) "You're not a doctor. You're a big fat curly headed f***." REX The 65 best movie insults of all time There Will Be Blood (2007) "You're just the afterbirth, Eli, slithered out on your mother's filth. They should have put you in glass jar on a mantelpiece." Paramount Vantage/Miramax Films The 65 best movie insults of all time Three Amigos (1986) "You dirt-eating piece of slime. You scum-sucking pig. You son of a motherless goat." Orion Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Toy Story (1995) "You are a sad strange little man, and you have my pity." Buena Vista Pictures Distribution The 65 best movie insults of all time Wayne's World (1992) "Benjamin is nobody's friend. If Benjamin were an ice cream flavour, he'd be pralines and d***." Paramount Pictures The 65 best movie insults of all time Whiplash (2014) "You are a worthless, friendless, piece of shit whose mommy left daddy when she figured out he wasn't Eugene O'Neill, and who is now weeping and slobbering all over my drum set like a f***ing nine-year old girl." REX The 65 best movie insults of all time The Witches of Eastwick (1987) "In the short time we've been together, you have demonstrated every loathsome characteristic of the male personality and even discovered a few new ones. You are physically repulsive, intellectually retarded, you're morally reprehensible, vulgar, insensitive, selfish, stupid, you have no taste, a lousy sense of humour and you smell. You're not even interesting enough to make me sick." REX The 65 best movie insults of all time Withnail & I (1987) "Monty, you terrible c***." HandMade Films The 65 best movie insults of all time The Wizard of Oz (1939) "You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!" Loew's, Inc. The 65 best movie insults of all time The Women (1939) "You wanna see a bad facelift? Helen Danvers, two o'clock. She looks like she's re-entering the Earth's atmosphere." REX

Caine's comments contrast with those he made in 2018. Amid the growing Times Up and #MeToo movements, the actor said he was "stunned" about the accusations against Allen whom he worked with on Hannah and Her Sisters in 1986.

Im a patron of the NSPCC and have very strong views about paedophilia, he told The Guardian. I cant come to terms with it, because I loved Woody and had a wonderful time with him. I even introduced him to Mia [Farrow]. I dont regret working with him, which I did in complete innocence; but I wouldnt work with him again, no.

Other actors to have jumped to Allens defence include Javier Bardem who, in April 2019, said he has doubts over the filmmakers guilt.

The pair worked together on Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008.

Caine maintained his support for Brexit in the new interview, as well as revealing the film he regrets starring in the most.
A rivalry between two fast-growing cities just got a little bit hotter.

Inc.'s first ever Surge Cities package, published in the Winter 2018/2019 issue, ranked the top 50 cities in America based on several factors relevant to entrepreneurs: job creation, wage growth, and early-stage fundraising deals, to name a few. Austin came in first on the list, followed by Salt Lake City.

The list's No. 3 city was Raleigh, which may have gotten somewhat under the skin of another major North Carolina city, located 160 miles away. Charlotte finished at No. 22.

Inc. executive editor Danielle Sacks, who oversaw the Surge Cities package, appeared on Charlotte TV station WBTV last week to discuss the city's ranking. (You can see the clip here.) Watching the segment, it's hard not to notice that host Jamie Boll compares Charlotte's ranking with that of Raleigh several times, pointing out that Raleigh beat Charlotte handily in categories like wage growth and early-stage fundraising deals.

Charlotte is home to 859,000 people and houses financial giants like Bank of America, Lending Tree, and Wells Fargo. Raleigh's population is a smaller 464,000, though the city has the advantage of being located in North Carolina's Research Triangle--an area that is home to Duke, N.C. State, and UNC-Chapel Hill. As Sacks points out, that provides it with a distinct advantage for this startup-centric list, since research universities are often hotbeds for innovation, capital, and talent.

It's not the first time Charlotte has ranked less favorably than its rival to the northeast. A 2017 analysis of the best cities in America to live in, by finance website 24/7 Wall St., ranked it at No. 26; Raleigh came in at No. 10.

Still, both cities have plenty of reasons to brag. And they're part of a rising entrepreneurial tide: Startups in North Carolina raised $1.1 billion in total in 2017, up 36 percent from the previous year.
(The Center Square)  The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is warning residents keen on recreating in the water to look out for cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, in Illinois waters, which can be toxic to humans and pets.
In December 2018, three journalists  Sun Lin, Zhen Jianghua, Ding Lingjie  were each convicted and sentenced for inciting subversion and insulting a state leader. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has raised concerns about the prosecution of the three journalists, and called for their immediate release.

On December 25, 2018, Sun Lin, a citizen reporter and a former contributor to the US-based Chinese news websiteBoxun, was sentenced to four years jail for "inciting subversion of state power by the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court. According to authorities, Sun did not appear in court as he was emotionally unstable. Sun was arrested and detained in November 2016, and sentenced following a trial in February 2018. According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders Sun was originally arrested for picking quarrels as he took photos outside during the trial of another activist. The charges were later upgraded due to social media posts he shared relating to democracy or politics.

On December 28, Zhen Jianghua, executive director of Human Rights Campaign in China, was sentenced to two years in prison by the Zhuhai Court (Guangdong), also under the charge of "inciting subversion of state power. Zhen was arrested in September 2017, and his trial secretly took place in August 2018, when it was unsure if he had legal representation. Zhen had been detained for more than six months in a black jail under the governments residential surveillance in a designated location (RDSL) program. During this time he has been unable to meet his lawyer or have contact with families and friends.

Ding Linjie, editor of the human rights news website Minsheng Guancha (Civic Rights and Livelihood Watch), was also sentenced to 20 months in prison on December 28. The Shijingshan District Court in Beijing sentenced Ding for disturbing social order. The charges are allegedly related to a satirical video she shared of Chinas President, Xi Jinping.

The IFJ said: The sentencing of Sun, Zhen and Ding illustrates the ongoing government-led crackdown on freedom of expression and free speech in China. The lack of transparency in the legal process raises serious questions about the rights of each of them to a fair and free trial. The IFJ reiterates its calls to the Government to end the crackdown on freedom of expression and support free speech across China.
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A crowd gathers Tuesday morning outside of Ridleys supermarket on North Main Street in Pocatello to witness the unveiling of a donation meter, which is a refurbished parking meter that will accept donations to help feed and house the homeless. Donations will be distributed to local organizations affiliated with the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Southeast Idaho.
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Banning trawling for cuttlefish catching triggers the large squid war in Chile

January 21,2019 | Source: MercoPress

Chile is in the midst of what has become to be known as the cuttlefish or large squid war, between industry and artisanal fishermen and the government's intention of protection and conservation of the species.



The Chilean Congress recently passed a bill regulating the catch of the giant squid and specifically banning trawling, with perpetrators facing fines of some US$ 38.000.



However the bill still has to be promulgated by the Executive which has become extremely sensitive to opposition and protests from the artisanal fishermen in support of the bill and the industrial sector that condemns it.



Faced with this situation Chile's Economy Minister, Jose Ramon Valente and the Fisheries Under Secretary Enrique Riquelme, announced that the Executive will appeal to the presidential veto if necessary and will not object to trawling as a method of fishing for the cephalopod.



We will not object to the elimination of trawling as a fishing method for the giant squid, and in the coming days we will present a presidential veto, in addition to the hand line or jigging gear, the purse seine as a fishing gear, to be used by both the artisanal sector as industrial, said the minister.



In this way, the interests of workers in both sectors are safeguarded and we ensure the capture and sustainable production of this resource, they added.



The minister also indicated that during the six months transition period after publication of the bill, the Under-Secretariat of Fisheries will prepare a technical study on the impact of the current fishing gear on the capture of the giant squid, analyzing the quality of the resource in relation to each one of the fishing gears, the incidence of this in the human consumption and in the sustainability of the resource.



In addition, he clarified that once the new regime enters into force, the level of productivity of the process plants supplied by both sectors will be analyzed, as well as the volume of capture of the resource and the defense of the country's interest before the international fishing organisms, in order to maintain the global quotas vis-a-vis the rest of the neighboring countries (...) evaluating an improvement of the regime if necessary .



Finally, Valente urged the artisanal and industrial sectors to put aside violent protests and demonstrations, and stressed that the government has the doors open to carry out a fruitful dialogue.

 1997 - 2016, MercoPress

Theme(s): Fisheries Resources.
Expanded Namibia-South Africa cooperation on fisheries ensured by new MOU

January 22,2019 | Source: Informante Online

Namibia and South Africa will henceforth expand their cooperation on all fisheries and aquaculture related matters to not only benefit both countries through the Blue Economy concept but to increase the production volumes in the factories of Walvis Bay by as much as 40 percent by 2022.



The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau met with his counterpart from South Africa, Senzeni Zokwana, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to expand cooperation between the two countries even further with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding in Windhoek.



The new MoU is aimed at defining a framework through which both countries will not only strengthen existing relationships, but also undertake specific bilateral activities of mutual benefit to both countries.



The new MoU outlines nine key areas of cooperation which will ensure cooperation in research on fisheries and aquaculture; monitoring, control and surveillance of fish resources; capacity building and development; data and information sharing; collaboration on policies; collaboration on economic development of fisheries; collaboration on value addition; collaboration on fisheries aspects in the so-called Blue Economy and promoting the development of common positions of advantage.



It has taken some time to reach this stage, during when our officials deliberated on details pertained in the new Memorandum of Understanding, and our governments ultimately considered and approved the final text through the established protocols, Minister Esau said.



According to Minister Esau Namibia and South Africa are already cooperating in fisheries through several forums, starting from our joint membership in the Benguela Current Commission along with Angola, and in several other international fisheries management organizations such as ICCAT and SEAFO, where the countries are already cooperating on research and resource management.



Indeed, the value chains of several of our fish species are quite intertwined, and several South African fishing companies are integrated in both countries. I am therefore happy to note that this MoU contains provisions on exchange of ideas on policies to maximize sustainable socioeconomic development of previously disadvantaged persons in both countries, Essau said.



Both ministers agreed that the Blue Economy concept is at the core of envisaged secondary socio-economic development in both countries.



The Blue Economy is the foundation on which growth will be realised and true cooperation is done, Minister Senzeni Zokwana said.



Namibia is a key fishing and processing hub in the Southern Atlantic Ocean and the ultimate aim of the newly refreshed cooperation agreement is to increase the volume of fish handled, canned and otherwise processed in Walvis Bay cumulatively by 40 per cent by 2022.

 Trustco Group Holdings

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.
Chile creates marine park to protect the Southern Archipelago

January 22,2019 | Source: Prensa Latina

Chile has from Tuesday the southernmost protected area on the continent, in Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, after the establishment of the Diego Ramirez-Paso Drake Islands Marine Park.



According to the Ecology and Biodiversity Institute (IEB), the Diego Ramirez archipelago is considered one of the last pure regions of the world due to its geographical isolation and its turbulent waters, which make it difficult to access its landscapes, so the low human impact keeps a large part of its ecosystems intact and safe from multiple threats.



Ricardo Rozzi, director of the IEB and University of Magellan (UMAG) researcher, considered this fact a great news for the planet, because the archipelago is relevant for monitoring, mitigation and adaptation to global climate change.



He added that together with the commitment to implement the marine park is the new Cape Horn Subantarctic Center, which will be opened during the next UN Conference of the Parties to be held in Chile in January 2020.



This new protected area covers 144,390 square kilometers and is the result of more than 18 years of scientific research developed by the IEB with the support of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) and UMAG, as well as the close collaboration between the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Chilean Navy and the Ministry of the Environment.



Andres Mansilla, UMAG's Vice Rector for Research and Postgraduate Studies, said this step puts Chile at the vanguard of ocean conservation, since the Diego Ramirez Islands and the Drake Pass mark the southern limit of sub-Antarctic ecosystems and the transition between Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biodiversity, making it a unique place on the planet.



The area is key to science, since it evaluates the impact of climate change on the marine and terrestrial biodiversity of the southern tip of the Americas.



Studies are carried out there on the response of insects to climate change, as they are very susceptible to temperature alterations, in the face of which they experience modifications in their reproduction and in other aspects.



There are also extensive underwater forests of brown algae, which are essential for capturing greenhouse gases and combating global climate change, explained Mansilla.



The islands are also a feeding, breeding and refuge area for a great diversity of species, some of which are endangered, like the gray-headed albatross (in danger of extinction), the yellow-billed penguin and the macaroni penguin.

 2016 Agencia Informativa Latinoamericana Prensa Latina

Theme(s): Others.
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However, the judges ruled in favour of striking her name off due to her unjustifiable conduct. She was also ordered to pay the Law Society $5,000 in costs and disbursements.

Any law student or young law graduate would know that forgery of documents is dishonest and a crime, they said. Her conduct shows a consistent trend of resorting to dishonest means to try to get what she wants as a career.

In January 2018, Jaya was found guilty of falsifying her law degree certificate and transcript to improve her chances of getting a job at the Singapore Legal Service.

When she applied in January 2013, she submitted a genuine cert but submitted an edited transcript to reflect better grades. Her forgery was not detected, and she was granted a panel interview. However, she was not offered a job.

In October 2016, she applied to the same organisation with a fake cert and transcript. The court heard she changed her qualification from second class honours (lower division) to second class honours (upper division).
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Kamala Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds in her bid for the office.
It is no secret that Texas likes to compete and win against California. Former Gov. Rick Perry used to actively recruit California businesses to relocate to Texas, and companies have been relocating from California to Texas for years. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz loves pointing out in public appearances that renting a truck to move from Texas to California costs four to five times as much as moving from Texas to California. These are all good things for Texas, and thats why Gov. Greg Abbott goes out of his way to warn Texas will be California-ized if were not careful. How do we prevent that from happening? A great place to start is by looking at bad policies adopted in The Golden State.

COUNTERPOINT: Texas needs to protect our digital privacy

A recent example of a bad California policy is The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (The Act), which requires businesses, upon consumer request, to immediately disclose all information they collect about that consumer. This includes personal information, information sold to third parties, and a list of those third parties. Personal information is broadly defined as information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. The bill also requires disclosure of basic digital information, such as IP addresses and search history. The Act applies to any business with gross revenues exceeding $25 million, or that annually processes the information of more than 50,000 California residents, or derives at least half of its gross revenue from the sale of personal information.

These purported protections must be weighed against the burdensome nature of the obligations they impose. Additional staff or contract services will likely need to be hired to address consumer data requests. Data professionals will have to be hired or utilized to analyze what data each company holds, and how to organize and present it for consumer requests. And lawyers will likely be needed handle the inevitable lawsuits.

With these burdens comes a choice: Comply or dont participate. Though burdensome for everyone, larger companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have the resources to fully fund entirely new divisions dedicated to complying with these impositions, but a smaller startup may not have that luxury. For that company, its possible that the best choice is simply to not offer an innovative new product, or to limit itself to 49,999 residents processed because the juice isnt worth the squeeze. The real losers in that case are the consumers who miss out on what might have become the next Google, Facebook, or Amazon. Such is the case with heavy handed universal regulations. They stifle innovation and competition.

Spotify is good at creating playlists. Netflix is good at suggesting movies and shows based on our preferences. Facebook reminds me that I was shopping for something on eBay. These services are provided at an increasing rate because they are popular. It is precisely this type of innovation that makes the internet such a great place to do business and to be a consumer. If we dont like these services, we are not obligated to use them, but it would be a mistake for government to make this kind of innovation cost prohibitive. If that becomes the case, well see fewer services in general, but well certainly see fewer free services, more paywalls, higher subscription costs, and a less adaptive online environment.

Once again California has gone too far. Texas should enjoy all of the benefits of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 when more of its companies relocate here in response. But lets leave the bad regulatory choices in California. Any attempt to pass a similar law in Texas next legislative session should be roundly rejected.

Withers is General Counsel and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute, a public policy organization based in Austin, Texas.
From the moment he launched his campaign for president, Donald Trump compared the barrier he wanted to build along the U.S. southern border to Chinas Great Wall. With the U.S. government now shuttered by the standoff over funding Trumps wall, both he and his Democratic opponents might want to take a closer look at the Chinese fortification  and why exactly it failed.

The Great Wall visited by tourists today is the handiwork of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was primarily constructed in the mid-to-late 16th century. The common perception is that the wall was conceived as a single, massive infrastructure project to protect Chinas tumultuous northern border from foreign invaders. It was nothing of the sort. The Great Wall was built to a great degree by default, by a political system too paralyzed by infighting to come up with anything better.

Border security had been a preoccupation of Chinas imperial court from its earliest days. Barbarians from the northern steppe  whether Xiongnu, Turk, Jurchen, Mongol or other  routinely threatened the Middle Kingdom. Some, such as Genghis Khans Mongols in the 13th century, managed to overrun the entire empire.

The long northern boundary ran through inhospitable terrain that made it difficult to defend. Chinese emperors had tried a variety of methods to secure the border, from buying off the barbarians to mounting massive military expeditions against them. The problem would always return when a new batch of tribesmen appeared across the frontier.

The Ming Dynasty compounded the usual difficulties of securing the border with a combination of arrogance, division and indecision. The Ming court was an especially raucous place where hostile factions were almost constantly at each others throats. The border issue often got dragged into these contests for palace power.

Generally, the Ming, having reclaimed the empire from Genghis Khans descendants, leaned toward a tough line against their northern neighbors, often denying them the opportunity to trade with China. The Mongols were dependent on such trade for the grain and other supplies they needed to survive on the inhospitable steppe. So they were left little choice but to launch raids into China to plunder what they needed. The attacks both hardened opinion in China against the Mongol tribes and heightened the urgency for more border security.

The fractured Ming court groped for a solution. Some officials advocated a more diplomatic approach that would restore trade and alleviate the pressure on the Mongols to raid. They were usually shouted down by more hawkish mandarins who thought such policies smacked of appeasement. The latter argued that Mongol requests for trade relations were just a ploy by the untrustworthy barbarians to lull the Chinese into a vulnerable complacency.

These hawks often favored military action to push the raiders away from the border. But, sending troops into the northern wastes to chase nomadic horsemen was costly, difficult to organize and widely unpopular. Proposals often got entangled in the arcane, personal intrigues between palace notables jockeying for imperial favor.

That seemed to leave the court with one option: building defensive barriers to keep the barbarians out. Unwilling to trade with the Mongols, and unable to defeat them militarily, by the middle of the sixteenth century the Ming had no policy choice left but to attempt to exclude the nomads by building walls, historian Arthur Waldron wrote in his exhaustive study The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth.

The strategy proved effective in blunting Mongol raids  where walls were built. The problem was that the mobile horsemen could easily shift their assaults to undefended areas of the border. Thats exactly what a large Mongol force did in 1550 when it penetrated to the Beijing suburbs. The response of the court was to build more walls. The Great Wall was the result of this haphazard defense policy.

The tragedy is that the Mings big, beautiful wall failed to fulfill its sole mission: to protect China from invasion. The Ming were still tinkering with the massive structure when the dynasty collapsed in 1644. Amid the resulting chaos, a new steppe power, the Manchus, descended from the north, snatched Beijing and ruled as the Qing Dynasty.

Maybe the Manchu conquest was beyond repulse. A China divided was bound to fall. But, the Ming clearly contributed to their own catastrophe. A court environment that prioritizing defeating ones internal rivals over cooperating on policy stymied any hope of developing an effective solution to a serious problem. Emperors, coddled in luxurious palaces and lacking any real knowledge of conditions along the border, preferred looking tough on foreigners to compromise. Resistance to mutually beneficial trade deepened the causes of instability along the border. Treating those others across the frontier as bandits to be thwarted rather than poor people in need doomed Ming policy to failure.

Sound familiar? The ultimate lesson of the Great Wall of China is that a physical barrier, no matter how expensive and impressive, will fail if detached from a broader set of policies to alleviate the sources of insecurity along the border. The Ming never figured that out. Hopefully Washingtons mandarins will.

Schuman, who is based in Beijing, is the author of The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia's Quest for Wealth and Confucius and the World He Created.
For the fifth year, Ideal Bathrooms has launched its annual customer incentive, offering bathroom retailers the chance to win a VIP trip.

After four successful races, which have seen over 350 winners travel the world, from Mauritius to Cape Town and Thailand, the ingenious bathroom distributor has announced that to celebrate the fifth anniversary, the winners will return to the first race destination; the vibrant city of Dubai.

Race to Dubai, which is sponsored by a number of bathroom industry leaders including Ideal Standard, Roca, April and Bayswater, offers a luxurious break with towering, ultramodern architecture and a dynamic nightlife scene.

Bathroom retailers and merchants who complete their race will enjoy four days of VIP treatment and unforgettable experiences in what has been dubbed the richest city in the world.

Racers will be given a unique sales target and every order will take them one step closer to the finish line and the exclusive prize.

The race has started and will end on December 20th 2019, by which time customers need to have reached their target in order to secure their place and join the Idealists on a four-day break in the Arabian sunshine.

A previous winner of Ideal Bathrooms 2015 Race to Dubai said: It is a city you have to really see to believe and the places we experienced as part of this amazing trip were definitely Dubais finest.

Ideal Bathrooms Commercial Director Danielle Lillis said: The race is returning to the ever-changing city of Dubai and its going to be a great way to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the incentive.

Everyone who hits their unique sales target will be there to celebrate with us in the famous Ideal style. Make sure you register to avoid missing out!

If you would like to regiater, click here. Registrations close March 31, 2019.
Beto ORourke is an impressive politician in many ways. Eloquent and inclusive, he brought much-needed optimism and idealism to the U.S. Senate race in Texas. He resisted the allure of easy slogans such as Abolish ICE! and declined to sign onto a Green New Deal that no one has really defined. He has the rare ability to disagree with ideological opponents without demonizing them.

Still. He needs to pull off the highway.

The road trip he is currently undertaking is fine in concept. Its heartening in many ways to see a candidate or potential candidate in completely unscripted, informal settings. Politicians should talk to real people, not the ones handpicked for a focus group or with time on their hands to go to political events. After two years of President Donald Trump, voters not unreasonably would like to see someone who can relate to ordinary Americans lives and carry on a conversation that, to be blunt, isnt just about him. The trip itself is not the problem.

The problem is the stream-of-consciousness, verging-on-self-parody narration. The voice sounds more like a college freshman than a contender for leader of the free world. Grousing that hes in a funk and pining to break out of the loops Ive been stuck in seems weirdly tone deaf at a time that hundreds of thousands of Americans have a real reason for complaint, namely a month without a paycheck.

When others are paying tribute to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., hes telling us his cellphone ran out of juice and comparing his Senate campaign unfavorably to his current jaunt. (The schedule had become too intense, too much in a day to spend enough time to hear someones story all the way through. Too may (sic) stops, so many people.)

When Democrats in Congress are dissecting and denouncing Trumps latest proposals poison pills (including a draconian crackdown on asylum seekers), ORourkes commentary seems simultaneously self-indulgent and frivolous. (ORourkes frequent use of short, fragmentary sentences, evocative descriptions of rural America, and insistence on including mundane details about charging his phone or ordering blackberry cobbler at a diner have inspired satirical imitations, my Washington Post colleague Antonia Noori Farzan writes.)

The notion that his travelogue is a superior form of politics, more high-minded and genuine than campaign speeches, is a straw man. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is talking to real people and discussing their problems and her ideas to help them and providing serious diagnosis of what ails the country. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., has been talking about the plight of unpaid government workers while former Vice President Joe Biden is speaking powerfully about the epidemic of hate unleashed under this president. They have some gravitas. They are talking about things that matter.

And many of those college-educated women and suburbanites who fled the GOP in 2018- the ones who have real jobs and serious responsibilities  arent necessarily impressed with a guy who jumps in his car, heads out on his road without his wife and small kids, and pours out his innermost thoughts in a public diary. Among their beefs with Trump was his failure to do his job, perform competently and meet the basic requirements of civility and common sense they must display in their own lives.

President Barack Obama, to whom some would compare ORourke, certainly appealed to young voters and could culturally connect with them in a way older politicians could not. However, Obama didnt act and speak like a 20-something; he didnt curse or overshare. He was a grown-up.

ORourke hasnt decided if he will run. If he does, he will have more than a year before the first votes are cast to establish himself as a serious candidate, give better responses than I dont know on major issues and explain his vision for the future. This road jaunt will all be a distant memory if he quits it soon and learns from it.

One lesson ORourke should take away: He needs a sober and experienced friend or adviser to tell him when something is not a good idea. Every candidate needs such a person. Some need it more than others.

Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post.
Homeless people are scattered across greater Houston, often in inconspicuous settings that arouse only passing attention: A man sleeps on a downtown sidewalk. A woman and child crouch in the shadows of an abandoned suburban strip center.

But when dozens of the homeless crowd into one or two city blocks  a sort of village of the dispossessed, complete with tents, bicycles, wheelchairs and mattresses (these are real examples we witnessed this week)  theyre harder to ignore. This is particularly true when the encampment lies between two urban neighborhoods enjoying a surge of redevelopment.

For more than two years, residents of Midtown and Museum Park have complained about crime, trash, human waste and other problems associated with the homeless people who have settled under U.S. 59 near Wheeler. Last weekend, neighborhood websites lit up with news about the fatal shooting of a man near Wheeler and San Jacinto, the fourth homicide linked to the encampment since mid-2017.

I live next to this crap, one poster wrote, and am tired of seeing all the waste, loss of life, and garbage. I am beyond disgusted.

In April 2017, about a year after the Wheeler site emerged, the Houston City Council passed an ordinance that essentially banned encampments. While it doesnt technically criminalize being homeless or prohibit sleeping on public streets, the measure authorizes police to cite or arrest those who erect tents, use portable heating devices or accumulate more possessions than would fit in a container 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep.

More than a year later, theres little evidence that this law has been an effective part of an otherwise broadly successful campaign to reduce the number of people living on the streets or in emergency shelters. Actually, its been a costly distraction.

A month after the ordinance was passed, the American Civil Liberties Union challenged it in court on behalf of three encampment residents. While the case has wound through the courts, enforcement of the law has been inconsistent. Dozens of tents  many of them vacant, city officials say  and numerous possessions exceeding the limit were visible under the freeway this week.

Meanwhile, the annual count of homeless people in Harris and Fort Bend counties increased this year by 8 percent, to 3,866, after several years of steady declines. Since 2011, homelessness in greater Houston has been reduced by more than half. This years uptick was attributed to the destruction of housing by Hurricane Harveys floods.

The problem is exacerbated by the emergence of synthetic marijuana on the citys illicit drug scene. A large group of vulnerable people in one place is an irresistible target for peddlers of this dangerous drug.

You take 100 people and you spread them around the urban core, thats one thing, says Marc Eichenbaum, an aide to Mayor Sylvester Turner who works on homeless issues. You take 100 people in one city block, its like a neon open sign for people to come and prey on these individuals.

Starting last March, the city and its partners launched an aggressive outreach effort to get all 73 people then living in the Wheeler Street encampment into housing. As of Aug. 31, according to Eichenbaum, 43 people had been housed. With other results and new arrivals, the census stood at 41 people.

The encampment ban is partly a bargaining chip: The threat of citations or arrest, city officials say, can induce homeless people to avail themselves of social services and accept assistance in finding shelter.

This is a questionable tactic, in part because the reasons someone might not be receptive to moving to a shelter are more complicated than, They like living on the streets. And a law that allows people to sleep in public, while denying them the most basic provisions they need to survive, is disingenuous at best.

Despite the excellent work the city and its nonprofit partners are doing to get people into housing, gaps remain in the system. Theres an urgent need, for example, for a transition center where people on the street can be housed immediately without the rules and other barriers to entry that apply in most shelters. Funding such a facility would be a fine project for a philanthropist looking for a creative way to help the community.

Eliminating encampments like the one under U.S. 59 is an essential policy goal in terms of public safety and quality of life, both for the homeless people and the surrounding residents. It can best be achieved not through punitive laws, but by continuing and expanding the kind of outreach work that reduced the population of the site this year. Its a slow, tough process  one that needs time, public support and more investment to work.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a green light for discrimination against American soldiers, sailors and Marines who are transgender  a decision that means the Trump administration can begin enforcing a heartless policy that will expel legions of patriots who have served their country well. Many new recruits will also be turned away.

The policy will upend the lives of potentially thousands of men and women in uniform and bring careers to cruel and premature close. For many other troops, the policy means either having to relinquish their uniforms or once more having to hide their true gender identities.

Congress should demand the Trump administration reverse course on this pointless ban and restore the 2016 directive that permitted transgender troops to serve openly, seek ordinary medical care, and to do so as men or women regardless of the gender they were assigned at birth. The move had signaled progress and long-overdue acceptance into the mainstream not just for troops, but for the transgender community as a whole. Its devastating reversal will be just as broadly felt.

The Trump administrations ban of transgender people in the military has been challenged in at least four federal courts and was put on hold while courts considered whether it was legal. Tuesdays decision by the high court, on a 5-4 vote without any commentary, quashes a series of stays ordered by lower district courts and appellate courts, allowing the policy to take effect while litigation continues.

This course will only lead to instability. Since theres a very real chance the policy will eventually be overturned, the administration should delay implementing it until its legal status is confirmed, as ordered last July by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The district courts preliminary injunction preserves the status quo, allowing transgender service members to serve in the military in their preferred gender and receive transition-related care, the court reasoned. Appellants ask this court to stay the preliminary injunction, pending the outcome of this appeal, in order to implement a new policy. Accordingly, a stay of the preliminary injunction would upend, rather than preserve, the status quo.

Trumps initial announcement, via tweet, that he planned to expel transgender troops and new recruits from the armed services took almost everyone by surprise  including then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It was a blatant effort to pay political favors to the religious right and others in America whove increasingly targeted transgender individuals in recent years.

No short-term political gains from such a sop are worth such callous treatment of our troops.

Thousands of troops who serve our country loyally and effectively identify as transgender. The Obama rule allowed them to stop hiding that fact and, when necessary, seek medical and psychological care needed to remain healthy. Many military leaders told Congress that their presence in the military had not led to concerns about unit cohesion or military readiness. And when Mattis finally did put Trumps order into a new policy, it was a softer, somewhat kinder approach than the presidents bare-boned discriminatory version.

For instance, some transgender troops who do not need sex reassignment  either through surgery or hormone treatments  may be allowed to remain in uniform. Some recruits, particularly those who will not in the future transition from one assigned gender to another, may be allowed to join.

Mattis memorandum argued that paying for medical care for transgender troops is too high, and that troops who are diagnosed with profound unease with their birth gender are too fragile and too troubled to remain in the service. But cost estimates for the care put the average annual cost across all transgender troops at only hundreds of dollars. And as for the idea that troops who transition are inherently unfit for service, the long record of professionalism among the thousands of troops who are already in the services suggests otherwise.

Obviously some cases will present challenges that would put personnel out of fighting form for too long, or could require more than easily available care. In those cases, as in any medical discharge determination, individual facts will lead to case-by-case decisions. But a blanket decision rendering a whole class of personnel unfit to serve is, at its core, discriminatory  and badly mistaken. .

This official marginalization of transgender troops should be rescinded. At the very least, it should be sidelined until the courts can finish their scrutiny.
Just four days after being named chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, state Sen. Kel Seliger had that title taken away by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Tuesday as punishment for comments the Amarillo Republican made on a talk radio show in West Texas.

I met with Sen. Seliger earlier today and gave him an opportunity to apologize for a lewd comment he made on radio about a female staffer that has shocked everyone, Patrick said in a statement. He had 48 hours to apologize, but failed to do so.

Seliger, insulted by a remark made by Patricks senior adviser, Sherry Sylvester, said in the radio broadcast Monday that he had a recommendation for Miss Sylvester and her lips and my back end.

The loss of Seligers committee post is the latest turn in an increasingly tumultuous relationship between Patrick and Seliger, the second-longest serving Republican in the Texas Senate. Seliger was a roadblock against Patricks push for private school vouchers in 2017 and later refused to endorse Patrick for re-election.

Last week, Patrick announced new committee assignments for the Senate which included removing Seliger from the Senate Higher Education Committee  which Seliger chaired last session  and taking him off the influential Senate Finance Committee. Instead, Patrick appointed Seliger chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Seliger said he believes the moves were intended as a slight, and were payback for him not supporting every one of Patricks priorities, including the school voucher legislation.

This is a warning to other Republicans, that if you stray from the lieutenant governors agenda, there will be a price to pay, Seliger told talk show host Jay Leeson in the radio interview on KRFE-AM 580 in Lubbock.

Sylvester had told the Texas Tribune days earlier that if Seliger did not want to be chairman of the Agriculture Committee, they would find someone else to lead it.

If Senator Seliger believes serving as Chair of the Agriculture Committee, a critical committee for West Texas and all of rural Texas, is beneath him, he should let us know and the lieutenant governor will appoint someone else, said Sylvester, a former San Antonio Express-News reporter who was a spokeswoman for a lawsuit reform group and for a pro-private school group before joining Patrick's staff in 2016.

Leeson asked Seliger about the snide comments.

It was extremely snide and really unbecoming for a member of the staff, the lieutenant governors, or my staff, Seliger said. I didnt say anything of the sort, and that assertion is disingenuous and I have a recommendation for Miss Sylvester and her lips and my back end. Thats cleaned up, isnt it?

Patrick, who worked as a conservative radio show host before he ran for office, said in his statement that Seliger refused to take responsibility for his remarks and outrageously, blamed the staffer and said she should be fired. To not be willing to apologize and suggest, somehow, that she had it coming is unimaginable.

Seliger told reporters in a statement late Tuesday afternoon that he does have one misgiving about his comments about Sylvester.

In hindsight, I should have directed my response to the lieutenant governor and not to his messenger, Seliger said. And for that I apologize.

Seliger added that he thinks his comments on the radio had nothing to do with Patrick stripping him of his committee leadership posts.

It has to do with the fact that I have consistently stood up for rural Texas, local control, and public education rather than trumpeting the lieutenant governors pet projects of bathroom regulation and private school vouchers, Seliger said.

Also Tuesday, Patrick physically blocked a door to keep Seliger out of a meeting that Senate Republicans held at the Texas Capitol.

I didnt invite you to this meeting, Patrick said as he pulled the door closed.

Patrick has yet to name the new chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
WASHINGTON -Julian Castros vow to forgo PAC money is fast becoming the norm for Democrats seeking their partys 2020 nomination in the new era of presidential politics that requires candidates to build armies of online donors.

The full-scale shift to internet fundraising, Democratic veterans say, threatens to upset prevailing wisdom about the need to win early in Iowa and New Hampshire by enabling candidates who maintain legions of generous small donors to compete long into the primary season.

The only reason anybody ever gets out of a presidential race is because theyre out of money. Its not because they just got tired, said Joe Trippi, a Democratic consultant who is credited with beginning the partys online fundraising in 2004 on behalf of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Everybody is still thinking about presidential campaigns under the old rules. But we may have a bigger field longer because of all this, he said.

That Democratic 2020 field likely will be a dozen candidates or more, larger than Democrats have picked from since the 1980s. In the early going, candidates are routinely taking aim on a campaign finance system that has relied on the largesse of PACS and wealthy donors.

Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and Obama administration housing chief, disavowed political action committee support when he declared his candidacy this month. His pledge includes PACs of all kinds, including those of labor unions and environmental groups, taking him beyond several others in the race committing only to reject corporate PAC money.

FOR SUBSCRIBERS: How Julian Castro prepared to announce his presidential run

So you know that this is always, and only, about you, I wont be accepting a dime of PAC money in this campaign, he said in San Antonio on Jan. 12.

Denouncing PACs that gather cash, sometimes in unlimited amounts, has become a rallying cry among rank-and-file Democrats and proved to be a popular tactic last year when Democrats regained House control.

But it could be risky, especially in rejecting support from super PACs -- entities that haul in vast sums from wealthy donors on behalf of candidates.

Castro, campaigning in Iowa just before entering the race, had to allay fears of a Democratic activist that no-PAC pledges could be foolish in competing against well-funded Republicans.

I think that in this day and age that every mom, dad, grandmother and uncle who wants change has five or ten dollars to give, Castro said.

Related: Texas candidates who took large sums of money from PACs in 2018 elections

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who announced her intent to run on New Years Eve, said afterward that she would end her own joint fundraising PAC and challenged other contestants to disavow PAC funds.

After Castro, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York, and Kamala Harris, of California, both have declared their intentions to run along with disavowals of support from certain PACs.

Gillibrand, who raised less than one-third of her donations since 2013 in amounts of $200 or less, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, sounded some of the heated rhetoric surrounding money in politics in her first campaign swing.

Money in politics is corrupting and controls everything, she said at an Iowa microbrewery. All that does is give more power to the most powerful people in the world.

On Monday, Harris, the first serious California candidate in more than a quarter-century, said she will not take a dime from corporate PACs. Rivals likely envied Harriss early small donor success: Her campaign trumpeted that within a half-hour of announcing her plans, shed pulled in online donations from all 50 states.

Following Betos lead

Given the likelihood of a big field, analysts expect the money chase to be intense. Theres the prospect, too, of competing against the self-funded campaign of billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican who expects to decide whether to seek the Democratic nomination by next month.

People are going to have to build a national reputation, and thats going to be hard, said Elaine Kamarck, founding director at the Brookings Institutions Center for Effective Public Management and an expert on electoral politics.

I think by the third quarter of this year the candidates will be sorted into different tiers and it will depend on the money theyve raised, she said.

Kamarck observed that a healthy bank balance will be especially important on two occasions, initially at end of this year in the burdensome tasks of getting on ballots around the country and fielding slates of delegate candidates.

Then, after early contests, candidates still standing will need wherewithal for ads and organizing in the March 3 mass voting in Texas, California and as of now seven other states as far east as Virginia and Massachusetts.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Democratic veterans see online fundraising as a continuation of what Dean pioneered in 2004. He built on John McCains initial success with internet appeals in his unsuccessful bid to overtake George W. Bush for the 2000 GOP nomination.

Trippi, who spearheaded Deans effort, observed that donors comfort with online commerce has made fundraising much easier.

It took Amazon and eBay for people to understand that they could buy something on the internet and nobody would steal their credit card, he said.

Beto (ORourke) couldnt have happened back then, Trippi continued. Now you have millions of people donating online in an era when a guy running for Senate can raise $39 million in a quarter.

Related: Beto ORourke obliterates campaign funding records in Texas

ORourkes digital mastery, as much as the candidate himself, is why he remains part of nearly every Democratic 2020 conversation. His $38 million-plus quarterly fundraising haul in three months toward the end of his strong but losing challenge of GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is a beacon for candidates who dream of raking in cash online. The former El Paso congressman has not decided whether to enter the national race.

Simon Rosenberg, blogging in the liberal Washington think tank NDN, which he heads, said ORourke pioneered the new politics of the digital age.

Beto was not a likely candidate to raise all this money. He was unknown, from a small and distant Texas media market, and never led in the polls. But what he created is perpetual and compelling values-driven digital media.

In an interview, Rosenberg argued that the trend of candidates distancing themselves from PACs has brought the Democratic Party closer to its middle-class roots. It is also a far more efficient way of raising money, allowing candidates to spend more time with voters and be less-reliant on special interests. They can be more true to themselves.

Democratic Party leaders, traditionally close to corporations, have heard the grassroots demands to change their ways. The Democratic National Committee voted last year to strip convention voting power from so-called superdelegates - elected officials and party heavyweights seated automatically. But the party, citing labor union complaints, last summer reversed a previously imposed ban on accepting donations from worker-supported PACS in the fossil fuel industry.

Kamarck sees a threat in reliance on the internet for all facets of campaigning - from communicating to organizing and fundraising.

We are in a very, very tricky state right now when we are so vulnerable to manipulation, she said, referring to hacking by Russians and other bad actors. In order to protect us from demagogues and people unfit to be president, there may need to be some kind of smoke-filled room brought back into the system, some sort of peer review.
A former staff member has sued U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's office, alleging she was wrongfully fired because of legal action she planned to pursue against the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which Jackson Lee chaired.

The ex-staffer, identified as Jane Doe in the suit, alleges that a 30-year-old foundation supervisor sexually assaulted her in 2015. The plaintiff, an Alabama native, says she was a 19-year-old student at Howard University at the time, determined to make a career for herself in government relations or politics.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 11 in federal court in Washington, D.C. The defendants are the office of Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is "to advance the global black community by developing leaders, informing policy, and educating the public," according to its website.

Read more: Sheila Jackson Lee steps down from key posts amid ex-aide's retribution claim

Jackson Lee issued a statement Wednesday "adamantly" denying the woman's allegation and recounting her record of advancing civil rights and non-discrimination legislation, including a law that applies to Congress.

The foundation released a statement promising to cooperate with an investigation of the woman's claims.

In stark detail, the lawsuit describes what the young woman said happened to her that night of her alleged assault: she was set up to be the last to leave an intern event, which was followed by an alcohol-fueled dinner, a stop at a liquor store and arrival at the supervisor's home. There, she says, the man forced her to perform oral sex; she woke up naked, and in pain, the next day in his bed.

Among the texts she sent to a friend, according to the suit, was one reading: "Help."

The accused supervisor was placed on leave from the organization, but the accuser decided not to pursue a lawsuit then, according to the suit against Jackson Lee's office.

The lawsuit gives this account of subsequent events:

Two years after the alleged sexual assault, the woman graduated from college. At a networking event, she met Jackson Lee's chief of staff and was offered a job as special assistant and director of public engagement.

On her first day at work she learned that the accused foundation supervisor was also interested in working for Jackson Lee. She told Glenn Rushing, the congresswoman's chief of staff, "that she had a 'prior situation' with (him) and was not comfortable working with him." Rushing said he was not going to hire him.

In 2018, about five months after she first met Rushing, she told him she intended to pursue a legal case against the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the man she said assaulted her. She asked Rushing to set up a meeting with Jackson Lee, but it never happened.

On March 29, 2018, she was fired. She was told, according to the suit, that the reason was "because of budgetary issues" and because "she was the last person hired by the office." She moved back home to live with her mother.

The suit says the woman suffered from anxiety and depression, which worsened after she was fired. She lost 50 pounds. She stopped going on dates.

"Ms. Doe's career was derailed as a result of Representative Jackson Lee firing her," the suit states.

She is seeking damages exceeding $75,000.
For more than a year, hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who came here illegally as children have ricocheted between hope and despair as their fates were debated in Washington and determined by federal courts across the nation.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to buy them at least several more months of relief as justices took no action on President Donald Trumps attempt to shutter a program blocking them from deportation.

In declining to take up the case this far along in their term, the court seemed to signal it would not do so until at least the fall  leaving in place the protections of about 700,000 so-called dreamers, including some 124,000 in Texas. The justices next conference to consider cases is scheduled for Feb. 15, but even were they to agree to hear it, the case would likely not be argued until the following term starts in October.

I think it is very unlikely to be considered this term, which means DACA lives another 10 months, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration law professor at Cornell University Law School. The acronym stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program unveiled by President Barack Obama in 2012 that Trump ended in 2017.

By keeping DACA on life support, the justices delivered a blow to Trumps weekend offer to end the month-long government shutdown, even as 800,000 furloughed workers prepared to miss their second paycheck Friday.

In including 3-year protections for such young immigrants and those from countries damaged by war or natural disasters, Trump characterized his proposal requesting $5.7 billion for a border wall as a compromise. The deal, which Republican Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell is expected to bring up for debate Thursday, was already largely seen as dead-on-arrival by Democrats.

The extra time gained with the high courts inaction further weakens what advocates called a sham negotiation.

This ransom note is no deal; it is cruelty personified, said Sanaa Abrar, advocacy director for United We Dream, the nations largest organization for immigrant youth. We view the Supreme Courts decision today with honestly a breath of relief. We have a few more months.

Houston paramedic Jesus Contreras, who became a national poster child for DACA recipients after helping to rescue dozens of people during Hurricane Harvey, said dreamers are as much hostages in the political battle as are furloughed workers.

These people in power, especially the administration and the president, will use anybody as pawns to get what they want, he said. Im exhausted and tired of seeing the same things come back and come back.

As more details of Trumps proposal emerged Tuesday, advocates said it would in fact weaken current protections held by DACA recipients and about 300,000 immigrants from certain devastated countries with Temporary Protected Status.

According to the filed legislation, immigrants seeking DACA would have to pay double the current fees. The eligibility requirements, including maintaining a certain income level, would be far stricter. The measure also would raise the burden of proof.

These are extremely strict provisions, Abrar said. This strategy is to cut out more people from DACA and deport more individuals.

The proposal would similarly make it much more difficult to qualify for Temporary Protected Status and limit its availability to migrants from four of the 10 nations now included  excluding any in Africa and cutting, among others, Sudan and Somalia.

Only foreigners who are lawfully in the United States would be eligible, which defies the purpose of the bill Congress passed in 1990, said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at the bipartisan Migration Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington D.C.

It would really gut the program, she said. This adds to the lack of enthusiasm advocates already had.

As with DACA, a federal judge last year blocked the administrations attempt to remove TPS protections, making it less urgent for Democrats to immediately compromise on their fate.

The published proposal, in a twist, would also levy a $500 fee for each DACA and TPS applicant to help pay for the border wall. Other details that were characterized as incentives also turned out to be far from that, advocates said.

Trump, for instance, said he would restore an Obama-era initiative known as the Central American Minors program allowing children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to apply in their countries for refugee status in the United States. The president ended the program in 2017, and in reviving it would limit the protection it provides to 15,000 children a year. They would only be eligible if they had a parent or legal guardian in the United States.

More than 50,000 unaccompanied children, mostly from those three countries, sought protection at the southern border last year.

In return, the proposal would make it almost impossible for them to seek asylum at the border, make it far easier to more quickly deport Central American children, and eliminate many of their current protections.

This is a major change to asylum law that would block tens of thousands of children, said Greg Chen, director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. These reflect hard-line restrictionist views and is not what the president promised.

Beyond funding for the wall, the offer would increase the budget for detention and deportation by 20 percent to $4.99 billion, said Heidi Altman, director of policy for the National Immigrant Justice Center, an advocacy group.

It would add 2,000 new officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 750 new Border Patrol agents and allow ICE to keep more immigrants in prison from an average daily funded population of 40,500 to 52,000.

This proposal is substantially worse than what the president described in his speech  and that was already a non-starter, said Lorella Praeli, deputy political director at the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement. It includes (Trump advisor) Stephen Millers wish list of anti-immigrant provisions.

The bill seemed doom to fail even before the legislation was formally filed this week. Immigration hard-liners were as critical as were Democrats.

"100 miles of border wall in exchange for amnestying millions of illegals, wrote conservative pundit Ann Coulter, who is influential among Trumps base, on Twitter. So if we grant citizenship to a BILLION foreigners, maybe we can finally get a full border wall."

Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an influential Washington grassroots group pushing for reduced migration, also lambasted the proposal.

"Trading any form of amnesty for a small down payment on the border wall is not only a bad deal, but a betrayal of the trust of the American people, he said in a statement.

In Washington, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, that chambers top Democrat, said the proposal was made in bad faith as the Senate prepared dueling votes Thursday on the presidents legislation and a House bill to fund the government through Feb. 8 without wall money.

lomi.kriel@chron.com

@lomikriel
For hours on Tuesday, teams of workers and volunteers scoured brushy thickets, crisscrossed the shadows of the tall columns and walls supporting Houston freeways as they searched for people living on the streets.

Tuesday was the second of four days of the annual The Way Home Homeless Count and Survey, a time when the Houston Coalition for the Homeless, comprising 100 local agencies, canvassed not only Houston streets, but those in neighboring Pasadena, and more broadly of the counties of Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery. The results of the 2019 count will be announced in the spring.

The human count is strenuous work that takes place from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon, as teams on foot and in vehicles cover a combined geographic area of over 3,700 square miles, intent on spotting informal encampments and those individuals without a home. When they are found, the surveyors engage them with simple questions such as is this the first time that you have been homeless?

As surveyors spread from the center of town and into the scattered bushy areas surrounding Houstons inner loop, where leaves had turned yellow in the winter weather, more and more tents, and lonely people, began to emerge.

Recently, small changes among the homeless population have become apparent to local experts. Many of the homeless are preferring to retreat to less noticeable locations after Mayor Sylvester Turner began enforcing a city ordinance and closing encampments last year after winning a federal court challenge by the ACLU.

Paradoxically, as Houston enumerates its homeless population this year, it is now facing a situation that speaks both to its success in dealing with this population as well as its most challenging goal.

The city was able to drastically reduce the homeless population since 2012, when it began a program that is now a model for large cities in the country. Now, the city and the Coalition for the Homeless are attempting to arrange shelter for some of the most difficult cases.

We are talking about chronic homelessness, people with mental conditions, addictions and social issues who are, in many cases, hard to convince to take out of the streets or (that) come back to the streets after being housed, said Sarah Brown, a senior manager with the Coalition.

Don, a veteran from the Vietnam war, is a telling example.

Around midmorning Tuesday, staff from The Harmony House, an agency that provides permanent and transitioning housing for the homeless and part of the coalition, walked by Dons place. Its a private space he built with wood tables hanging from the ceiling of an underpass that is not easily seen.

I am six feet above the ground; if youre gonna bother me you gotta come up to me, said Don explaining why he likes his place, much like a quiet war observation post.

Around him, his few possessions were neatly arranged. A bamboo walking cane lay in easy reach, just in case, for potential intruders, along with meticulously aligned shoes and reading books. Don said he spends about three hours each day reading in the small, improvised bunker.

Preston Witt, the CSO of the Harmony House, knows Don from before the count. He has been trying to convince him to initiate the process that will lead to permanent housing.

No way, said Don. A lot of those people you have in those houses belong in mental institutions. I dont like crazy people, he said, with a friendly laugh. To be there, you have to feel compassion (for them), and I dont.

Don said he came to Houston six years ago following a job with a wind power company, but eventually lost it.

The way the economy is, you miss two paychecks, you can be homeless. Who wants to hire a 65-year-old? Don said, and added, I am a bit anti-social. Just leave me here where I am.

Witt said that they have been working with Don for over two years offering services to him, but it has been only recently that he has begun to thrust and speak with him and Meg Pohodich, the CEO of the Harmony House.

Since 2012, the Coalition for the Homeless in Houston began implementing a new model. It transformed the services provided to the homeless from a confusing and difficult-to-navigate system of separate agencies often doing overlapping work, into a coordinated, more customer-oriented effort, advocates say.

Through the program The Way Home, the coalition has provided more than 14,500 permanent housing placements since 2012. The number of homeless people in the Houston area decreased 51 percent overall to 4,143 last year, down from 8,536 in 2011, according to data the group released from the 2018 count.

Mayor Turner said that transitioning homeless individuals off the streets and into emergency and permanent housing is one of his current priorities.

Turner said that the citys exploration of innovative approaches to homelessness includes creating a low-barrier Navigation Center that provides a safe and stable environment with vital bridge beds, where homeless individuals can stay while working with case managers to find permanent housing, 

The Navigation Center would serve as a processing center and temporary shelter with more homeless-friendly conditions to bring them from the streets. One of them would be, for example, allowing pets, a reason why many of them dont go to shelters that often have overly restrictive with prohibitive rules, said Pohodich.

The location and date to open the center have not yet been determined, officials said. The city is evaluating sites, securing funding and identifying potential partners, for the navigation center, the mayor said.

Brown, from the coalition, said she feels confident that their goal to end chronic homelessness in 2020 is attainable. She said the coalition understands the challenge, and the upcoming establishment of the Navigation Center, raising funds for permanent housing and educating landlords about are going to be essential.

What it means, Brown said, is that families may still find themselves facing a housing crisis because of unforeseeing circumstances, but the goal is going to be that we can get them into an apartment within 30 days and get them back on track. Then we can effectively say, we ended homelessness.

livia.tallet@chron.com

Twitter.com/oliviaptallet
Donald Trump paid his first visit to Texas in July 2015 as a candidate for presidentand hes learned little about the state since then.

Trump wasnt seen as the frontrunner for the GOPs 2016 presidential nomination at that point, although he had vaulted to first place in the polls after declaring his candidacy some six weeks earlier.

His concerns about the security of our southern border were strongly felt, though. Thats what spurred him to visit Laredo, a mid-sized city on Texass border with Mexico, some 150 miles south of my adoptive hometown, San Antonio.

Thats when I learned Trumps perspective on the border was  to put it politely  completely uninformed. And it still is, unfortunately.

TRENDING TEXAS HEADLINES: Get the latest updates on Texas politics delivered to you.

San Antonio, the second-largest city in Texas, is historic, lovely and not on the border. Nor does it have a wall, as Trump suggested last week.

And while the gaps in his knowledge may have been understandable when he was a candidate, theyre not anymore.

The presidents ignorance of Texas culture, history, and geography is chronic, pronounced and apparently intractable. No one can deny that if theyve been paying any attention to national politics over the past six weeksas Trump persists with his ham-fisted efforts to bully Congress into providing the funding he desires for his border wall.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texans should be prepared for a tumultuous 2019

Trump, a native New Yorker, had never taken much interest in Texas prior to running for president.

In 2015, he averred that he was putting his life at risk just by visiting Laredo, which is the third-largest city on the U.S.-Mexico border, after San Diego and El Paso.

I may never see you again, but were going to do it, Trump said, on the eve of his trip, during a brief appearance on Fox News.

Laredo is not particularly unsafe, despite being located on the border. The citys violent crime rate is well below the state and national average, according to most recent data available from the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

And yet Trumps confusion was understandable, because in addition to having no personal experience with the Texas border, he is a regular viewer of Fox News.

The network continues to misinform its viewers about facts on the ground.

On Friday, for example, Fox News will devote a full hour to what the network describes as a Battle at the Border.

The town hall will be hosted by Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade. Guests will include a panel of experts and Texas lawmakers, as well as one of Kilmeades colleagues, right-wing pundit Tomi Lahren.

It will be held in San Antonio at the J.W. Marriott Hill Country Resort & Spa.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Border security debates should be grounded in reality

But will they broadcast from the Great Wall of San Antonio? asked U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro on Twitter, in response to the news.

Castro, a Democrat who represents the 20th Congressional District in Bexar County, was being sardonic. Last week, Trump cited San Antonio as a city that illustrates the public-safety benefits of a border wall.

You look at San Antonio, you look at so many different places, they go from one of the most unsafe cities in the country to one of the safest cities, immediately, immediately, Trump said, in comments to a gaggle of reporters on the White House lawn.

He was, perhaps, thinking of San Diego, which is a city in California, on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

There was a wall at Mission San Antonio de Valero, known today as the Alamo. Texans will remember that, probably, because Texans continuously remember the Alamo.

Texans could therefore remind Trump that the wall didnt work, per se. The Alamo fell on March 6, 1836  after the Mexican Army surged over the walls of the mission, using ladders they had built at their leisure after setting up camp in what is now downtown San Antonio.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texans are tired of being insulted

Texans could also show Kilmeade and his cronies a map of the state, or a Texas-shaped gewgaw from the gift shop of the resort where Fox News plans to hold the town hall.

And Texans should definitely remind any lawmakers who participate that the battle Republicans should be worried about is the one that will happen in 2020, over the states electoral votes.

Trumps chronic misrepresentations of this state and its southern border do a disservice to the country as a whole, as those misrepresentations explain why Trump persists in his bid to extort funding for a border wall, which most Texans oppose.

Theyre also an insult to the people of Texas, many of whom are fired up to vote in 2020. And the president, and his supporters, will have only themselves to blame if Texas turns blue.

NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.

erica.grieder@chron.com
DAVOS, Switzerland - When asked Tuesday what he would say to President Donald Trump if he were seated next to him, former U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry hemmed and hawed a bit.

Then Kerry gave a one-word answer: "Resign."

Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, made the remark calling for the president to step down while speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum.

The audience of mostly elite business, academic and government leaders from around the world initially laughed at Kerry's comment and then many clapped and cheered.

Trump was supposed to attend the World Economic Forum to deliver an address Tuesday, but he pulled out because of the partial government shutdown that is now the longest in U.S. history.

"He doesn't take any of this seriously," Kerry said on the panel, adding that he doesn't think Trump has the "ability" to have deep conversations.

The White House did not respond to an immediate request for comment, but Trump bashed the media for not understanding him and his approach to Davos.

"Last time I went to Davos, the Fake News said I should not go there. This year, because of the Shutdown, I decided not to go, and the Fake News said I should be there. The fact is that the people understand the media better than the media understands them!" Trump tweeted Tuesday shortly before Kerry's call to resign.

Last year Trump received a warm welcome from the global elites at the World Economic Forum after legislation slashed business taxes and he scaled back regulations, moves that were heralded as pro-growth by many executives. But this year, the vast majority of executives are frustrated by Trump's tariffs, which they see as a major threat to the global economy. They are calling on Trump to end the trade war as the world economic slowdown appears to be getting worse.

More than a dozen members of Trump's Cabinet were supposed to be in Davos this year to meet with other world leaders and clarify the Trump administration's views on trade and foreign policy, but all of them stayed home because of the partial government shutdown that has left 800,000 workers without pay.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared briefly via teleconference to address to crowd at Davos. Pompeo noted that it's colder in Washington D.C. than in Switzerland and stressed that the Trump administration is not backing down from pushing for 21st Century trade deals and security measures.

"Sometimes leadership and asking hard questions drives others to be a little concerned," Pompeo said. "Perhaps they're not quite ready to stare these problems in the face, but we are, President Trump is."

Pompeo argued that voters around the world want change and this is how progress is made.

"Disruption is a positive development," he said.
Texans know the value of a college degree  many have said it can lead to higher income, a better quality of life and that an educated workforce can lead to a more competitive state economy  yet the cost of college and student debt are still considered an obstacle in obtaining a degree, according to a higher education poll released Wednesday.

The 101: Higher Ed Poll of Texas surveyed 800 Texans over the phone earlier this month about their concerns and attitudes toward higher education in the state. The results of the poll, conducted by Austin-based Strategic Research Associates, were similar to those seen before  most residents believe a degree to be an asset and some are looking for more education and training, but the cost and thought of student debt are seen as deterrents.

PREVIOUS POLL: Most Texans concerned with mounting college debt

Poll results showed that 75 percent of participants considered the cost of a degree an obstacle, while 79 percent  a majority who had acquired no student debt themselves considered student debt a major problem.

Using financial aid survey data, student loan business site LendEDU ranked the average student loan debt across more than 1,000 U.S. universities last year. Researchers discovered the average Texas student borrows $27,001 from lenders and that 55 percent of Texas students graduate with debt.

COLLEGE COSTS: Texas colleges that leave students with the most debt

Its no surprise, pollsters found, that a majority of the participants also said its crucial that Texas continue providing financial aid for college students in need. Fifty-one percent of the polled Texans said they believe the state government spends too little on college education (only 7 percent said the government spends too much), and nearly 50 percent believe the state doesnt provide enough financial aid.

The poll was organized through a collaboration between Western Governors Universitys nonprofit, online university WGU Texas, the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas nonprofit, and the Texas Association of Community Colleges. It comes as the 86th Legislative Session is underway. State lawmakers could have a major effect on funding for higher education, and as the state pushes toward the 60x30TX, an initiative that aims to have 60 percent of adults under the age of 34 armed with a post-secondary degree by 2030.

Despite major concerns about cost, the poll confirmed that Texans recognize the personal and economic value of higher education, and some want more.

Most participants  65 percent of those with associates degrees, 77 percent with college degrees and 72 percent with graduate degrees  were confident that the money that they or family members have invested in their degrees will pay off someday and that the value graduates get back is equal or more than what they paid for while attending college. More than 80 percent of participants believed that post-secondary education would lead to a higher income or better quality life, and more than 90 percent said that degrees, if anything else, can be a source of pride for most people.

A majority of those polled  60 percent who didnt view their job as a career  said they need more education and more training, and nearly 30 percent of the adults, ages 30 and up, said they plan to enroll in an educational or training program with the next five years.
A $300,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase will help more homeless Houstonians get their names on a lease, a roof over their heads and a chance to get back on their feet.

The grant, announced Wednesday, will benefit the Landlord Engagement and Assistance Program, which helps connect local landlords with people who are homeless and need a shot at an affordable rental unit. Known as LEAP, the initiative is a joint effort of the city, the Houston Housing Authority, the Coalition for the Homeless and the housing solutions agency CSH.

Representatives from the agencies explained the process: The clients get to sign a lease and move into a safe home with assistance paying the rent. They also get hands-on support from a caseworker. The ultimate goal is that, in two years, they'll have found their footing and will be able to pay the rent on their own.

The JPMorgan Chase grant will pay for a full-time staffer who can be a liaison between landlords and potential residents, recruiting more property managers to join in.

Hurricane Harvey did a number on Houston's homeless population, said Marilyn L. Brown, Coalition for the Homeless president and CEO.

"Harvey really made it worse as far as access to affordable, acceptable apartment living," she said, causing rents to rise and drastically reducing the number of rental unit vacancies.

But affordable housing was a problem even before Harvey: According to U.S. Census and Housing Department data, Houston is the third worst among major metro areas at making housing available for extremely low-income households.

LEAP "adds another tool to our toolbox" for getting people into housing, Brown said.

It also makes good business sense for landlords, said Jeannie Werthman.

Werthman is the central leasing director for Villa Serena Communities, a management company that operates 23 apartment complexes in and around Houston.

When she first heard about LEAP she was skeptical, Werthman said. In fact, pretty much everyone at the company was hesitant to embrace a program that would move homeless people off the street and into their rental units.

The Villa Serena properties are older complexes not situated in affluent areas, Werthman said. "We already deal with challenges," she said.

But three years later, she said, more than 100 formerly homeless people have moved into Villa Serena apartments  and it's been an unqualified success, both for the residents and for the company's bottom line, she said.

"We have lowered vacancy rates, reduced turnover and reduced marketing costs," Werthman said. "This program has been a success for us."

For each resident, the rent is paid at least in part  by assistance funding. LEAP residents all have case managers, so if there's a problem, the landlord has someone to call.

"This is a true public-private partnership," said Tory Gunsolley, president and CEO of the Houston Housing Authority. As the initial funding from JPMorgan Chase runs out, control of LEAP will be handed over to the housing authority.

JPMorgan Chase has put its philanthropy dollars toward homeless issues before. In 2016, the company gave $1 million to homelessness agencies in Houston.

"We want to make sure the economy works for everyone that lives in the city," said Carolyn Watson, head of philanthropy for JPMorgan Chase.

The company has also invested in job training programs, help for small businesses and programs to help people manage their money, she said. But "before people can even think about getting a better job or saving for the future, they need a secure place that they can call home."

Taking on a LEAP resident might be a risk, but "it's a roulette wheel" with almost any tenant, she said. With LEAP, the management can count on getting a rent check. And some LEAP residents, as they get jobs and build up some savings, have started paying more of the monthly fee on their own. With help, they're becoming self-sufficient.

"With this, we're part of helping the community," Werthman said. "We're part of giving back. We're helping to solve a major problem in the city."

alyson.ward@chron.com

twitter.com/alysonward
Eight years ago British director Joe Cornish made a smart little alien-invasion film called Attack the Block, starring a young, pre-Star Wars John Boyega as the leader of some young toughs defending their neighborhood from certain slaughter.

Cornish has since occupied himself mostly with writing (The Adventures of Tintin and Ant-Man) but now hes back in the directors chair for the charming childrens film The Kid Who Would Be King which has a similar premise to Block  kids saving the world from an inhuman force  but done in a less splatter-ific, more family-friendly style.

Louis Ashbourne Serkis (the son of actor Andy Serkis) is Alex, the bullied son of a single mom whose school day seems to consist of two activities: hanging with his best friend Bedders (Dean Chaumoo) and getting beat up by the schools Batman & Robin of bullying, Lance (Tom Taylor) and Kaye (Rhianna Doris).

But this routine is upended when he discovers a sword embedded in rock at a construction site. He pulls the sword from the stone and that means theres just a little something his dad never told him about his heroic heritage. But the freeing of the sword also summons the evil spirit Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson) from the underworld where she has been vowing to find the sword and take over the world ever since King Arthur sent her to a hellish doom long, long ago.

The Kid Who Would Be King Rated PG: for fantasy action violence, scary images, thematic elements including some bullying, and mild language Running time: 132 minutes *** 1/2 (out of 5) See More Collapse

RELATED: What other films are opening in Houston?

Of course, Alex is unaware of all these supernatural shenanigans  until the magical Merlin (Patrick Stewart as the old Merlin, Angus Imrie as the young Merlin) shows up to warn him. Alex must corral an army to defeat Morgana and, since he doesnt really know anyone else, he has to enlist Bedders as well as his foes Lance and Kaye to be his knights of the round table.

Working from his own script, Cornish possesses a light touch that keeps The Kid Who Would Be King from being too corny or mawkish. Its often quite funny, the effects are satisfying if not out of this world, and its message that we should ally with those with whom we disagree to defeat the larger evils in this world is meant as much for adults as kids but its never too heavy-handed.

The biggest drawback, especially for younger children, is its lengthy 132-minute running time. There are some spots that drag, and Cornish could have used that sword to shave off a few minutes.
Today

Plentiful sunshine. High 84F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight

Generally clear. Low 59F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 87F. E winds shifting to N at 10 to 20 mph.
Sidd Gupta used to lie awake at night wondering how he would get his technology, which he describes as Alexa for the energy sector, into the hands of an oil and gas company. He needed feedback and money to expand his startup.

With us being in Texas, the venture capital market is sort of conservative compared to California or New York, said Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Nesh. They want to see hard numbers rather than just the promise of the technology.

A Houston-based company that launched last week, Eunike Ventures, is helping him with both of his needs. Eunike, pronounced unique, aids startups in testing their technology with exploration and production companies Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Equinor and Hess Corp. It plans to add two more companies this year.

Innovation in health care: Deal boosts medical device innovation in Houston

Eunike says its filling a gap in the tech ecosystem by guaranteeing startups a pilot program. Others provide coworking space, financing or structured curricula, but Eunike saw a need for startups to work directly with potential customers in testing and using their products.

There are a lot of accelerators focused on raising money for startups, but nobody is really helping them to get the pilot, said Abhijeet Inamdar, investment manager for Equinors venture capital arm. And thats the big gap.

Nesh is Eunikes first startup. It allows employees to ask questions out loud  How many rigs did Equinor run in the Eagle Ford last quarter? What is the average depth of wells drilled in Martin County?  and then receive an answer from publicly available sources and that companys internal applications and software.

This would be helpful in morning meetings where employees are often asked questions that require leaving the room and digging through spreadsheets to answer. Gupta said it can also help C-suite executives answer questions without waiting for someone else to dig up the data.

In exchange for equity, Eunike helped Nesh refine its pitch and identify its strengths and weaknesses. It also introduced Nesh to the energy companies and helped frame the scope of its pilot programs. This promise of upcoming pilots has helped Gupta receive venture capital financing.

Changes at Station Houston: In latest reboot, startup hub becomes nonprofit

But this isnt the first Houston organization to focus on energy startups. Energy accelerator Surge was prominent for a while, but it closed partly due to the oil-price bust, the longer time frame required to develop energy technologies and the longer period in which investors wait to see their returns.

Amy Henry, co-founder and CEO of Eunike, said the new organization is poised to overcome such hurdles. Its venture capital arm, separate from launching startups pilot programs, is seeking investors who understand the longer life cycle of energy technologies.

Eunike only accepts startups for which it can guarantee at least one pilot program, and its team members have an extensive network and decades of experience with international oil and gas companies. In other words, Eunike has access to C-suite energy executives.

While some entrepreneurial experts claim startup programs can falter if they rely on corporate experience rather than entrepreneurial know-how, Henry said energy experience is crucial to expedite getting the startups technology inside these big companies. Eunike will have entrepreneurial mentors as well.

You can have people with startup experience, Henry said,  but if they havent worked within an oil and gas company and understand the mindset, the risk, the decision-making, all the things that have to be covered, that just stalls the process.

Henry used to work with Shell Ventures, helping analyze the commercial and financial potential of technologies to see if the venture capital arm of Royal Dutch Shell should make an investment.

To select companies for Eunike, Henry and her team evaluate applicants based on the health of their companies, the strength of their employees, the plausibility of their technologies and how they could improve the energy companies profit margins. Inamdar said this eases some of the energy companies worries about deploying technologies from smaller firms.

And to ensure everyone benefits from the startups, Norway-based Equinor, The Woodlands-based Anadarko and New York-based Hess have agreed to share certain non-proprietary data that measures a pilot programs success or failure. The energy companies can also become startups future customers, with Eunike helping all the way through commercialization.

More on energy and tech: Can Houston's biggest companies foster a startup scene?

Eunike is a for-profit funded by taking equity, between 4 percent and 8 percent, or arranging some other revenue-sharing agreement with startups accepted into the program. Energy companies pay a management fee for participating in Eunike, and the organization will also seek out corporate sponsors. Its venture capital arm will be open to institutional investors.

Ed Egan, the former director for Rice Universitys McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, likes that Eunike is chasing an opportunity to better leverage the energy sector. He also likes that Eunike is taking equity in the companies, meaning its success will be tied to the success of its startups.

Anything we can do to break down the boundaries to make oil and gas firms less of a closed innovation model, more of an open innovation model, is good, he said.

andrea.leinfelder@chron.com

twitter.com/andrearumbaugh
A growing number of businesses in Houston are working to help thousands of federal employees who havent seen a paycheck for 32 days  and counting  as political squabbling in Washington keeps the government partially closed.

With another payless payday set to pass at the end of the week, banks are offering cheap or even zero percent loans. Pharmacies are giving discounts on prescription drugs. Restaurants are providing free pizzas, burgers and barbecue.

There are even special breaks for children.

At Houston Party Playland, kids of affected federal employees can play free this week at the Webster center in Webster near NASA while their parents also get a $20 discount on birthday parties. Amber Fuselier, who owns Houston Party Playland with her husband, Blaine, said they wanted to do something to help out because they know they have several regular customers who work for NASA.

Related: Where furloughed, unpaid federal workers can find help

Discounts for affected federal workers Gringo's has several locations throughout Houston and is offering four free meals or $75 off the whole ticket for federal employees who make a reservation for their family. Killen's Burgers in Pearland is offering a free cheeseburger, fries and a drink this week. Offer ends this weekend. Those who wish to contact Tracee Jordan for notary service can text (281) 509-9241 or email premier@24hournotaryhouston.com. Evolution Pharmacy in Sugar Land is offering deferred billing and payment plans for federal workers. Call 832-532-7961. NASA employees who are customers of Johnson Space Center Credit Union can get financial help at 281-488-7070. Phone and Internet service companies, such as T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and Comcast are offering flexible payment plans. Electricity providers, including: NRG Energy and its brands, which includes Reliant, Green Mountain Energy, Cirro Energy and Pennywise Power; CenterPoint Energy; TXU Energy and 4Change Energy are waiving fees and offering payment plans upon request. Several area banks, including Chase Bank, Amegy Bank and Wells Fargo have offered different types of assistance such as payment extensions on loans and deferrals on mortgage payments. See More Collapse

About 12 families took advantage of the free admission on Monday.

Even though its an adult scenario, we dont want the kids to suffer, Amber Fuselier said. We want to be a place where they can take their kids, where the families have somewhere to go. We dont want them to go without a birthday party.

In Washington, where political leaders have yet to show they can play well together, the government shutdown has stretched for 32 days and counting. Some signs are pointing to a possible compromise somewhere in the future, including the Senates plan to take up competing bills this week aimed at reopening the government, although neither is expected to receive enough votes to advance. There are 204,000 federal workers in Texas and of those 30,000 work in Greater Houston. An unknown number - estimated statewide in the tens of thousands - of those federal workers are furloughed or working without pay.

Since the shutdown began Dec. 22 over President Donald Trumps insistence on $5.7 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, more than 6,400 federal workers in Texas have applied for unemployment benefits.

Many restaurants, including Killens barbecue and burger restaurants and Gringos Mexican Kitchen, which specializes in Tex-Mex, have offered affected federal workers free meals.

I asked if this was a joke, said Christian Schmale, a senior officer specialist at the Federal Detention Center in Houston who has worked for one month without pay and recently ate at Killens Burgers in Pearland, which is offering free cheeseburgers to furloughed employees. My boys love burgers. It was a welcome surprise.

Gringos, a Texas chain with 17 locations, is offering affected federal employees discounts of up to $75 on meals at least through Friday. Lindi Vineyard, community relations coordinator, said Gringos has booked 1,100 reservations from federal employees so far, feeding over 3,600 people. The customers range from TSA employees to NASA engineers to members of the Coast Guard.

This is about the opportunity to give back and just have lunch with their families, Vineyard said. We know its been really hard on them and challenging.

Jayme Sanchez and her husband, who works at NASA, went to Gringos with their two children, ages 8 and 11, for the free meals. She couldnt believe the business would be so generous and reached out in advance to make sure the offer was real.

I just hope that people continue to show grace to each other, Jayme Sanchez said. While there is division in our nation, there is an opportunity for the community to come together. It was this really nice moment of humanity.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Federal workers in Houston squeezed as payday passes without paycheck

Banks and other financial services companies are showing their humanity, too. Area banks are waiving late fees and offering payment plans to help workers protect their credit.

Johnson Space Center Credit Union is going a step further and offering furloughed NASA employees interest-free loans to cover missing paychecks, as well as giving customers the ability to skip loan payments.

Tracee Jordan, owner and operator of 24-Hour Notary Houston, a mobile notary service, decided last week that she would offer free notary services to anyone affected. She said as a former government employee herself, she was disappointed in the way federal employees are being treated.

Im praying for all the members involved, Jordan said. Tough times dont last, but tough people do. It warms my heart to see how Houston is coming together to help.

She said no one has taken her up on the offer yet, but she expects that to change if the shutdown goes on.

Evolution Pharmacy in Sugar Land began offering affected federal workers deferred billing and payment plans for medications, as well as free delivery. So far, a few customers have taken Evolution up on its offer and Lyon expects others will as well when word spreads of their offer.

Evolution has a history of helping local residents in need. During Hurricane Harvey, the small, independent pharmacy provided free medication to some of the thousands who were left homeless by the storm and were staying in shelters.

We just want to make sure people can get their medicine while theyre not getting paid, Lyons said. This shutdown is just really crazy.

Read More: Some Houston businesses hammered by shutdown

erin.douglas@chron.com

john.roper@chron.com
T.I. isn't buying it. As we reported, Chris Brown was arrested and released after he was accused of violently raping a girl in Paris, France. Witnesses are backing Brown's plea of innocence, and that fact that he was released and allowed to leave France with no charges shows that the evidence must be lacking. TMZ caught up with T.I. at LAX Airport on Tuesday (January 22), and asked him about his social media post where he defended Brown.

"It's just peculiar," T.I. begins, referencing the fact Brown was hit with rape allegations after signing a monumental deal. "I know him personally, I don't really know her," he continued. "And there haven't been any facts to, overwhelming facts, to show me that what he's saying is not true. So, I'ma believe him." Then. T.I. gets to the root of his issue with these allegations. "Society right now is empowering victims, which is phenomenal. For women to find they voice and have the strength to speak out against perpetrators that's phenomenal. But, ya'll gotta also realize that it is also arming people who have malicious intent. And vindictive natures to go after people undeserving." T.I.'s statement will be polarizing, but there's truth in his words.
Cardi B has been making headlines for speaking out against president Donald Trump, with her most recent criticism relating to the government shutdown and its impact on various communities. Azealia Banks has commented on her fellow rapper's efforts following the praise they have attracted from democratic figures. From her perspective, Cardi's focus on American issues without paying equal attention to those of the Dominican Republic is slightly disingenuous considering her pride in her Dominican/Trinidadian heritage.

Banks took to social media to express her grievance. "This is a bit performative. I'd love to see Cardi say something to the leaders of the Dominican Republic about its ethnic cleansing and deportation of Haitians," she wrote. "Going after Trump is just an easy way to get press."

The artist then refers to the Carribean nation's decision to strip people of their citizenship due to their Haitian ancestry. "Don't chastise Trump and Tomi Lahren for being racist if you can't be bothered to criticize your own people about the rampant racism in the Dominican Republic."

Venturelli/WireImage

"The Dominican Republic literally does the same thing to Haitians that (America been doing,) Trump is doing with Latin American immigrants and migrant workers," Banks continued. "I think she's influential enough to really make some changes there. Would help a lot of poor Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent have access to jobs, healthcare, housing, etc."

Ernesto Sagas, associate professor in the Ethnic Studies department of Colorado State University and author of Race and Politics in the Dominican Republic, explained this predicament at the height of its media storm ahead of the 2016 DR elections. "Haitians are utilized by the Dominican Republic as cheap labor, and as such, they happen to be the scapegoats of Dominican society," Sagas said, in line with Azealia's current critique. When the economy is doing well, Haitians are tolerated. When the economy is not doing well, they need to be deported.

Amnesty International described the country's political move 2016 when its residuals were still flagrant: "In September 2013, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic ruled that children born in the country to undocumented foreign parents since 1929 had never been entitled to Dominican nationality." Since the stipulated timeframe spanned over 80 years, multiple generations were affected. Someone could have been born to parents whose own parents were DR citizens and still be ousted. Many were left without a home country as a result. The racism Azealia Banks mentions even escalated to lynchings, adding horrific violence to the tenuous relations. Years later, the subjects of this massive deportation still live in a state of institutionalized terror.
Disney's Riviera Resort is now accepting guest reservations for stays beginning in December 2019. This all-new resort coming to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and slated to be the 15th Disney Vacation Club property, will immerse guests in the grandeur and enchantment of the European Riviera.

Disney's Riviera Resort is now accepting guest reservations for stays beginning in December 2019. This all-new resort coming to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and slated to be the 15th Disney Vacation Club property, will immerse guests in the grandeur and enchantment of the European Riviera.



"Disney's Riviera Resort is inspired by Walt and Lillian Disney's travels throughout Europe and the Mediterranean coastline from France to Italy," said Terri Schultz, senior vice president and general manager of Disney Vacation Club. "Walt fell in love with European art, architecture, food and stories, and his extended tours of the region continue to influence Disney storytelling and theming. We look forward to welcoming our members and guests later this year to this new resort inspired by Europe and imagined by Disney."

Disney's Riviera Resort brings the elegance of a modern European retreat blended with a touch of old-world glamour and Disney charm to the Disney Vacation Club portfolio and Walt Disney World Resort. With an elegant early-20th-century design, Disney's Riviera Resort will welcome guests with a palm tree-lined boulevard and a striking facade featuring grand archways, porticos, cascading water features, towers and terraces. In the grand oval lobby that will provide stunning views of the resort lawn and lakefront, guests will encounter a mix of modern and classic furnishings. Throughout the resort and inside the accommodations, a unique art collection will celebrate beloved Disney characters and icons with one-of-a-kind pieces influenced by the works of master artists who also found inspiration along the European Riviera. This eclectic mix of art will blend Disney artistry and European storytelling with a nod to the Riviera region's renowned art heritage.

The deluxe Disney Vacation Club resort is slated to offer approximately 300 family-friendly vacation homes, including deluxe studios, one- and two-bedroom villas, and grand villas that sleep up to 12 guests each. Disney Vacation Club continues to offer the widest range of accommodations found at Walt Disney World, and adding to these unique accommodations will be an all-new room category  tower studios, which sleep two guests each. Each charming, bright tower studio will include a private balcony with scenic views and seating for two, offering a more intimate setting. The deluxe studios, which sleep five, will also feature kitchenettes. One-bedroom, two-bedroom and grand villas will feature large, fully equipped kitchens with dining space open to a living area. Villas will also feature an en-suite luxury bathroom, including a freestanding soaking tub and walk-in shower, as well as a private porch or balcony and a laundry area with a washer and dryer.

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Topolino is the Italian name for Mickey Mouse, and the new, signature table-service restaurant perched on the rooftop of Disney's Riviera Resort will be aptly called Topolino's Terrace  Flavors of the Riviera. The restaurant, featuring authentic dishes infused with French and Italian flavors, is set to become one of the most stunning dining experiences at Walt Disney World, offering picturesque vistas of the nighttime spectaculars of nearby Epcot or Disney's Hollywood Studios. Inside, guests can watch with wonder as their meal is prepared just for them at the exclusive expo kitchen or wood burning grill. Guests looking to pair their meal with a glass of wine can choose from an impressive collection of wines sourced from the Mediterranean coast. Throughout the restaurant, a stunning visual aesthetic is created through modern interpretations of textures, colors, carved details, and stonework found in ancient villages along the Riviera. Plus, families looking to start their morning off with a breakfast experience can visit Topolino's Terrace for exclusive Disney character dining inspired by the Riviera.

Other dining options at the resort include Le Petit Cafe, an inviting lobby locale with fresh-brewed coffee aromas by day and a bustling wine bar by night. The new quick-service location, Primo Piatto, reminiscent of chic dining venues found along Riviera promenades, will be conveniently located near the feature pool, and Bar Riva, an open-air pool bar with a seaside vibe featuring crisp white tiles and cool blue accents, will offer guests a place to relax as they enjoy a cold beverage and poolside views.

Guests at Disney's Riviera Resort will also have a new way to travel to Epcot or on to Disney's Hollywood Studios via Disney Skyliner, a state-of-the-art gondola system that will begin operating this fall. In addition to a dedicated Disney Skyliner station at Disney's Riviera Resort, the system will conveniently connect Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot to Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Disney's Pop Century Resort and Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort.

Offering the flexibility, value and world-class service families expect, Disney's Riviera Resort will be the first all-new, stand-alone Disney Vacation Club property at Walt Disney World since 2004. The grand opening date of the resort will be announced at a later date, as will the start of Disney Vacation Club sales and the date when Disney Vacation Club members can begin booking the resort with vacation points using an exclusive, protected member inventory. Current Disney Vacation Club members will also have an exclusive window to purchase Disney's Riviera Resort.

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Saint Lucia has recorded its best performance ever in visitor arrivals, as it welcomed 1,218,294 visitors in 2018. That number represents a 10.2% increase over 2017, which was also a record-setting year for the island.

Saint Lucia has recorded its best performance ever in visitor arrivals, as it welcomed 1,218,294 visitors in 2018. That number represents a 10.2% increase over 2017, which was also a record-setting year for the island.

Industry figures are up across the board led by the yachting sector with a 25.9% increase over last years numbers. Cruising is up by 13.6%; and stay-over arrivals have increased by 2.2%.

Type of Visitor YTD Dec 2016 YTD Dec 2017 YTD Dec 2018 Actual Change Percent Change Cruise 587,749 669,217 760,306 91,089 13.6% Yacht 56,268 50,197 63,596 13,399 26.7% Stay-Over 347,872 386,127 394,780 8,653 2.2% Total 991,889 1,105,541 1,218,682 113,141 10.2%

At a news conference to announce the latest figures, Tourism Minister, Honourable Dominic Fedee highlighted some of the steps that have been taken to reposition Saint Lucias tourism product to compete among the leading destinations in the world.

We have a very small tourism marketing budget  around US$13 million  so we have to ensure that our efforts are targeted, Hon. Fedee said. We use a scientific approach to select the areas where we can reach the most visitors with the highest net-worth in our marketing campaigns. For us, these areas are, predominantly, in the north-eastern USA (the Tri-state and Boston), the south-east UK region of London and its surrounding suburbs and the Greater Toronto area in Canada.

The island continues to record strong numbers in its major generating markets of the United States and the UK, realizing growths of 4.1% and 4.9% respectively. Stayover arrivals from Canada dipped slightly (5.6%) due, in part, to the absence of service from Transat Tours and a reduction in frequency of WestJet flights.

The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA) also focused on the Martinique market, which is the highest yielding in the Caribbean, and launched Caribcation in the summer of 2018 as a platform for Caribbean travelers, whose numbers grew by 1.6% over 2017.

Type of Visitor YTD Dec 2016 YTD Dec 2017 YTD Dec 2018 Actual Change Percent Change USA 157,576 168,223 175,073 6,850 4.1% UK 64,514 72,580 76,142 3,562 4.9% Canada 37,772 42,578 40,213 (2,365) -5.6% France 4,440 7,012 8,224 1,212 17.3% Germany 2,272 2,848 2,132 (716) -25.1% Martinique 27,654 30,302 28,805 (1,497) -4.9% Trinidad 14,945 16,923 17,124 201 1.2% Barbados 6,504 7,862 8,255 393 5% Other 32,195 37,799 38,812 1,013 3% Total 347,872 386,127 394,780 8,653 2.2%

A record, 760,306 cruise passengers visited the island during the period owing to an expansion of Berth #1 at Pointe Seraphine, which allowed Port Castries to accommodate Vista, Quantum and Freedom Class vessels.

Projections for 2019 look good, with British Airways pacing at 17% and Virgin Holidays at 27.9% over 2018. Condor has started an inter-airline agreement with LIAT on service from Frankfurt, Germany to Antigua and onto Saint Lucia from January 7  March 31, 2019 and a number of other major airlines have expanded their service to the destination.

The SLTA is angling for greater growth in 2019, and will continue with its aggressive, targeted marketing campaigns to attract even more visitors to the destination.

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The first Mandarin Oriental property in the Middle East, Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai, will open its doors in the first quarter of 2019.

The first Mandarin Oriental property in the Middle East, Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai, will open its doors in the first quarter of 2019. Located in the heart of Dubai with pristine views of the beach, urban architecture and chic design, Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai is set to bring a new wave of luxury to the shores of Dubai.

Enhancing Dubai's Jumeirah beachfront, the resort will feature 178 spacious rooms and 78 elegant suites, all just a stone's throw from the water's edge, like no other property in the city. Designed by acclaimed international designer Jeffrey Wilkes, the rooms were conceived as individual retreats on the Arabian Gulf, to evoke a sense of refined and relaxed elegance. Refreshingly contemporary and wonderfully comfortable, the bright blue and earthy colour palettes bring the outdoors in while instilling the rooms with a sense of calm.

A magnificent lobby will welcome guests on arrival with a forest of lights leading to the beach front. Fourteen bronze metal trees standing seven, eight and nine metres high  each with 900 lights  create a canopy of crystal and light that glisten and sparkle, just like the nearby ocean. The expansive space opens up onto an outdoor area comprising water features, walkways, stone bridges and teak decks creating a path to the shoreline.

Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai is also home to six unrivalled restaurants and bars, all of which are noteworthy additions to Dubai's dining scene. Portuguese celebrity chef Jose Avillez  of two Michelin-starred restaurant Belcanto in Lisbon  will take diners on an authentic journey through Portugal with his vibrant menu at Tasca, while at Warayaki-style Japanese steakhouse Netsu, Australian-born chef Ross Shonhan will lead the way with authentic Japanese cuisine in a dramatic setting.

The resort will also be the home to The Bay, a brasserie-style ground-floor restaurant with show-kitchens and family-friendly menus; the relaxing and elegant Noor Lounge, which opens around the clock, will serve guests a delightful assortment of teas, coffees and light refreshments, while The Mandarin Cake Shop is set to become a destination in its own right thanks to its freshly baked bespoke cakes, photogenic patisseries and authentic Arabic sweets. For those who prefer al fresco dining, Sun Vibe is a laidback spot to catch a bite poolside.

Guests of the Club Rooms and Suites will also enjoy access to the light and bright Club Lounge which boasts some of the best city views in town.

With a 2,000-square-metre spa and state-of-the-art gym, Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai is also set to make a splash in the city's wellness and relaxation market. With nine treatment rooms featuring a VIP Royal Suite, heat and water experiences and a fitness centre, The Spa will be a welcoming oasis offering an unrivalled range of holistic rejuvenation and relaxation treatments. Guests will enjoy Mandarin Oriental's legendary signature treatments such as Oriental Harmony, and locally-inspired experiences like the Nomadic Sensory, a rhythmic spa ritual that captures the spirit of Emirati Bedouin life, against the soundtrack of the beat of a Doumbek (Arabic goblet drum).

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Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has signed an agreement with Jay Virk to develop 15 new-construction midscale hotels in the Western region of the U.S. through 2026.

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has signed an agreement with Jay Virk to develop 15 new-construction midscale hotels in the Western region of the U.S. through 2026.

Five Sleep Inn hotels and five dual-brand Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites properties will be built across California and Arizona:



Sleep Inn hotels: Elk Grove, Manteca, Three Rivers, Turlock, and Watsonville, Calif.

Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites dual-brand locations: Phoenix; Merced, Palmdale, Palm Desert, and Porterville, Calif.

"Our decades of midscale expertise and proven brands continue to attract developers coast to coast," said Brian Quinn, vice president, head of development, new construction brands, Choice Hotels. "The Sleep Inn brand's refreshed prototype appeals to owners by having the lowest cost-to-build in the segment. In addition, the Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites dual-brand offers operational efficiencies and a diverse model that serves business, leisure and extended-stay guestswe're proud that this concept now has over 100 hotels open or in the pipeline."

Jay Virk is an award-winning hotel developer based in Clovis, Calif.

"Choice is an innovator, both in the midscale segment and in the resources they provide to franchisees, which is why we sought this agreement," said Jay Virk. "The Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites brands provide guests with flexibility to suit a variety of travel occasions. We're excited to collaborate with Choice for the first time and can't wait to open these hotels for guests traveling to California and Phoenix."

The Sleep Inn hotels will reflect the brand's Designed to Dream prototype, providing a timeless, simply stylish, nature-inspired aesthetic that appeal to guests. The MainStay Suites prototype features an open-concept design with sleek and modern amenities.

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Press Release

23 January 2019

NEW YORK -- Today, American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Marriott International, Inc. announced upcoming changes to the current Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Cobrand Credit Card portfolio following the recent unveiling of Marriott's new loyalty brand, Marriott Bonvoy, which will replace the travel program's three current loyalty brands, Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards on February 13, 2019. On that date, the current Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Cards will be rebranded to Marriott Bonvoy American Express Cards, and will soon offer travelers and businesses additional valuable benefits, rich points offers, and new artistic Card designs.

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Starting February 13, 2019, the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Cards will be rebranded as follows:

"In line with the changes to the Marriott International loyalty program, our rebranded Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card portfolio will maintain the same great benefits and rewards that have enhanced our Card Members' travel journeys over the years, as well as offer compelling new designs, names and benefits," said Eva Reda, Executive Vice President, Global Cobrand Partnerships at American Express. "Building on our successful 50-year relationship with Marriott, we are looking forward to entering this exciting new chapter and continuing to bring incredible value and service to our Card Members wherever life or business takes them."

"Marriott Bonvoy is more than a loyalty program, but rather a holistic travel program built on the idea that travel enriches each of us and connects the world," said David Flueck, Senior Vice President, Global Loyalty, Marriott International. "The incredibly rich benefits and earning opportunities the American Express Cards provide will accelerate our members' ability to pursue their passions when they travel."

New Additional Benefits

In addition to the value introduced to the Marriott American Express cobrand Card portfolio last year, more benefits will be rolled out across the Card portfolio this year to further reward and enhance Card Members' travel experiences.

As of January 1, 2019, all Marriott Bonvoy American Express Cobrand Card Members now have access to a 15 Elite Night Credit each calendar year1.

Additionally, starting March 28, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card Members can get up to $100 in property credit per stay when they use their Card and a special rate code to book stays of two or more nights at The Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis properties2. This builds on this Card's rich existing benefits, which include 6X points on purchases at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties worldwide, 3X points on U.S. restaurants and flights booked directly with airlines, up to $300 in statement credits each year of Card Membership for eligible purchases at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties, complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status, and an annual free night award (redemption level at or under 50,000 points) at participating hotels every year after their Card account anniversary3, Priority Pass membership, no foreign transaction fees4, and more. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card will continue to have an annual fee of $450.4

Additionally, starting March 28, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card Members can get an additional free night award (redemption level at or under 35,000 points) when they spend $60,000 or more on the Card annually 5. This new benefit is in addition to the valuable existing benefits already offered on this Card, which include 6X points at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties and 4X points at U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. shipping purchases, as well as an annual free night award (redemption level at or under 35,000 points), complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status, no foreign transaction fees4, no annual fee employee Cards and more. With the new enhancements, the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card's annual fee will increase from $95 to $125 starting on March 28, 2019.4

American Express will no longer accept new applications for the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card after February 12, 2019. When the Card is rebranded to the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card on February 13, 2019, existing Card Members will continue to get access to the Card's great benefits and offerings, including 6X points on purchases at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties worldwide, the new 15 Elite Night Credit benefit, Automatic Silver Elite status, and an annual free night award (redemption level at or under 35,000 points). The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card will continue to have an annual fee of $95.4

New Rich Offers

In celebration of the refreshed Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card portfolio, American Express and Marriott will be introducing rich new offers to further reward both new and existing Card Members.

From February 13 through April 24, 2019, eligible new Card Members who apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card or Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card can earn 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after they spend $5,000 in purchases on their Card in the first three months of Card Membership.6

In addition, starting February 24, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card Members whose accounts were opened before January 23, 2019 will be eligible to earn up to 100,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points. Once registered, eligible Card Members can earn 25,000 bonus points for every $25,000 in eligible purchases on the Card, for up to 100,000 points through the end of the year. Eligible Card Members will receive more information about this offer, including the relevant terms and how to register their Card soon.

New Card Designs

To further bring to life the new Marriott Bonvoy brand, American Express and Marriott are excited to announce a collaboration with Manhattan-based mural and studio artist, Tony "Rubin" Sjoman to design the new Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card. Rubin's modern artistic Card design is inspired by Marriott's new visual identity and aims to evoke the desire to travel and explore.

"The shapes within the design emulate a cityscape and the color palette is intended to mirror sunrise and sunset reflecting off buildings," said Rubin.

Additionally, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card will be offered in a sleek stainless-steel Card design and the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card will be offered in a sophisticated blue-gray plastic Card design.

The new Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card and Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card designs will be available to new Card Members starting March 2019, and the new Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card design will be available starting May 2019. Existing Card Members will automatically receive the new Card designs over the following months.

More information about the revamped Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card portfolio can be found here. Terms and limitations apply.

About American Express

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express,twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: charge and credit cards, business credit cards, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, InAuth, corporate card, business travel, and corporate responsibility.

About Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy is Marriott International, Inc.'s new travel program built on the belief that travel enriches its members and the world around them. Launching in February 2019, Marriott Bonvoy replaces Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Comprised of a portfolio of extraordinary brands where you can earn and redeem, as well as offering approximately 120,000 destination tours and adventures on Marriott Bonvoy Moments, the travel program enables members to explore the world in pursuit of their passions. Under Marriott Bonvoy's five Elite tiers, status is more achievable than ever. With a single currency, earning and redeeming points is faster and simpler, and members can accelerate the points they earn with co-branded credit cards from Chase and American Express. When members book direct on Marriott.com they receive all the perks that come with Elite status, including, free and enhanced Wi-Fi and exclusive member-only rates, and on the Marriott app they enjoy mobile check-in and checkout, mobile requests and, wherever available, mobile key. In addition to featuring a powerful travel program, Marriott.com also offers 30 extraordinary brands to book, endless experiences and the best available rates. To enroll for free or for more information about Marriott Bonvoy, visit MeetMarriottBonvoy.marriott.com. To download the Marriott [app, go here. Travelers can also connect with Marriott Bonvoy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

1Limit one 15 Elite Night Credit per Marriott Bonvoy member account; benefit is not exclusive to Cards offered by American Express

2 Effective March 28, 2019, when you use your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card to book through www.marriottbonvoy.com or by calling Marriott Bonvoy at 1-800-450-4442, for a two-night minimum stay at The Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis using the Member Rate named "$100 Property Credit, Luxury Credit Card Rate", you will be eligible to receive a property credit of up to $100 per booking to be used on qualifying purchases on property. When booking online, you must be logged into the Marriott Bonvoy account linked to your Card account to be eligible to book this rate. When booking by phone, please reference the "$100 Property Credit, Luxury Credit Card Rate" Member Rate. You must confirm you are booking the correct $100 property credit rate at time of booking. Card Member will receive a credit equal to $1 for each dollar of qualifying charges made at the property under the Card Member's booking, up to $100. The property credit will be applied as a credit on your bill upon checkout (and not on your American Express billing statement). Qualifying charges do NOT include property fees, taxes, gratuities and the cost of the room. Additional exclusions based on specific hotel restrictions may also apply (including, without limitation, purchases within the hotel that are made with a third party merchant). Please see the applicable hotel front desk for details. You must use your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card to pay your bill upon checkout. Stays booked by either the Basic or an Additional Card Member on the eligible Card account are eligible for the $100 property credit benefit.

Each booking is only eligible to receive a property credit of up to $100, regardless of the number of rooms booked. The property credit cannot be carried over to another stay, is not redeemable for cash, and expires at checkout if not used on qualifying purchases on property during the stay. The property credit is non-exchangeable and non-refundable and is applied in USD or equivalent in local currency based on exchange rate at time of checkout. May not be combined with other offers or programs unless indicated. Back-to-back stays within a 24-hour period at the same property are considered one stay.

3 The Card Member is responsible for all incidental charges and, at properties where resort fees are applicable, for payment of additional mandatory resort fees.

4 Rates and Fees - More information can be found at the following links - Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Luxury Card , Starwood Preferred Guest Consumer Card, and Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card

5 Effective March 28, 2019: If, in any calendar year of Card Membership, your total eligible purchases on your Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card reach $60,000, you will receive one Free Night Award from Marriott Bonvoy. Eligible purchases to meet the purchase requirement are for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, cash advances, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents. The Free Night Award can be redeemed for a one-night stay inclusive of room rate and applicable taxes at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels with a redemption level at or under 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. The Card Member may be responsible for payment of additional mandatory resort fees at properties where resort fees are applicable, and is responsible for all incidental charges. This benefit is only available to the Basic Card Member on the Card Account. The Free Night Award will be automatically deposited into your Marriott Bonvoy member account within 8-12 weeks after you meet the purchase requirement. You will receive an email from Marriott Bonvoy to the email address listed on your Marriott Bonvoy member account confirming that the Free Night Award e-certificate has been deposited into your Marriott Bonvoy member account. The email will also provide instructions on how to redeem your Free Night Award e-certificate. To redeem the Free Night Award e-certificate, you must log into your Marriott Bonvoy member account and apply the e-certificate during booking. The Free Night Award e-certificate will expire 1 year from issuance. E-certificates may not be transferred, extended beyond the expiration date, or re-credited for points. To qualify for the Free Night Award, your account must not be cancelled or past due at the time of the Free Night Award e-certificate issuance. Please visit redeem.marriottbonvoy.com/hotels for a list of participating properties. American Express is not responsible for fulfillment of Free Night Award e-certificate redemptions. Redemptions are subject to the terms and conditions of Marriott Bonvoy.

6Restrictions may apply on the awarding of welcome bonuses across Marriott and Starwood Preferred Guest Co-Branded Credit Cards issued by American Express and Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Co-Branded Credit Cards issued by JP Morgan Chase. Terms and limitations apply.
The office of the Johnson County Treasurer is continuing to see year-to-year increases in sales tax collections with the county bringing in 6 percent more sales tax during the first six months of fiscal 2019 as in the same period in fiscal 2018.
Press Release

23 January 2019

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has signed an agreement with Jay Virk to develop 15 new-construction midscale hotels in the Western region of the U.S. through 2026.

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Five Sleep Inn hotels and five dual-brand Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites properties will be built across California and Arizona:

Sleep Inn hotels: Elk Grove, Manteca, Three Rivers, Turlock, and Watsonville, Calif.

Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites dual-brand locations: Phoenix; Merced, Palmdale, Palm Desert, and Porterville, Calif.

"Our decades of midscale expertise and proven brands continue to attract developers coast to coast," said Brian Quinn, vice president, head of development, new construction brands, Choice Hotels. "The Sleep Inn brand's refreshed prototype appeals to owners by having the lowest cost-to-build in the segment. In addition, the Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites dual-brand offers operational efficiencies and a diverse model that serves business, leisure and extended-stay guestswe're proud that this concept now has over 100 hotels open or in the pipeline."

Jay Virk is an award-winning hotel developer based in Clovis, Calif.

"Choice is an innovator, both in the midscale segment and in the resources they provide to franchisees, which is why we sought this agreement," said Jay Virk. "The Sleep Inn and MainStay Suites brands provide guests with flexibility to suit a variety of travel occasions. We're excited to collaborate with Choice for the first time and can't wait to open these hotels for guests traveling to California and Phoenix."

The Sleep Inn hotels will reflect the brand's Designed to Dream prototype, providing a timeless, simply stylish, nature-inspired aesthetic that appeal to guests. The MainStay Suites prototype features an open-concept design with sleek and modern amenities.

For more information on Choice Hotels development opportunities, visit www.choicehotelsdevelopment.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

This communication includes "forward-looking statements" about future events, including hotel openings. Such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including construction delays, availability and cost of financing and the other "Risk Factors" described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could cause actual results to be materially different from our expectations.

Addendum

This is not an offering. No offer or sale of a franchise will be made except by a Franchise Disclosure Document first filed and registered with applicable state authorities. A copy of the Franchise Disclosure Document can be obtained through contacting Choice Hotels International at 1 Choice Hotels Circle, Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20850, [email protected].
Supplier News

22 January 2019

San Francisco,  When you're hailed as a "Top Rated Operations Product of 2019" for employee engagement and the technology is designed by a company ranked among the "Top 10 Best Places to Work in Hotel Tech 2019," then it's logical to be spotlighted during the highly anticipated America's Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS). Next week, Beekeeper will be one of five companies vying for the "Hottest Technology 2019" title during "The New ALIS Tech Challenge: What's Hot in Technology?" Judged by hotel owners and investors, the inaugural award program will define which technology is No. 1 when it comes to helping hotels improve the bottom line for owners and operators. ALIS will be held January 28 to 30 at the JW Marriott & Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Beekeeper is widely recognized for earning hospitality's top technology honors for its operational communication platform that digitizes the non-desk workforce by connecting operational systems and communication channels within one secure, intuitive interface. Last year the platform was named "Most Innovative Technology of 2018" by Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG); voted "People's Choice" at HITEC Houston 2018 as part of the Entrepreneur 20X Competition hosted by Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals (HFTP); and earned the "Most Innovative Hotel Technology" 2018 designation during the Tech Pitch at HX: The Hotel Experience. It was also named the 59th Fastest Growing Company in 2018 by SaaS 1000.

"Any time we have the opportunity to present hospitality's No. 1 employee communications app and operational communications platform to hotel owners, operators and investors, it's a win," said Connie Rheams, Beekeeper VP of Hospitality. "The industry is buzzing about Beekeeper for a reason - it has all the workplace tools a hotel company needs in one intuitive platform . . . and it makes employees happy, thereby reducing turnover and driving revenue to the bottom line.

"We all know how difficult it is to connect with hotel employees because in a 24/7 work environment, cross-team collaboration is near impossible," she said. "Factor in that on average, 83% of a hotel's hourly employee do not have a work email address and don't sit behind a desk, and the challenge to engage with those people responsible for touching and serving your guests heightens. Beekeeper is a fun and easy way for owners and operators to engage employees and connect them digitally to the organization. When colleagues are connected, it makes them feel part of the hotel family, thereby making it difficult to take a job elsewhere due to relationships forged. But this is just a very small part of the Beekeeper success story. We can't wait to tell you even more next week at ALIS."

Joining Beekeeper in its quest for the "Hottest Technology" title at ALIS is 4DPresence/4Dp Live, Intelity, myDigitalOffice, Spaceez, and Travelsify. Each company will have five minutes to present their technology to the judges on Monday, Jan. 28, at 11:30 a.m. At the end of the challenge, a trophy will be presented to winner. All participants will be available throughout the conference at the ALIS Tech Lounge, an area outside the Platinum Ballroom for delegates to meet and network, as well as a place for face-to-face interactions with the new ALIS Tech Challenge companies.
Appointment

23 January 2019

As of January 2019, Hoist Group is proud to announce Helge Solbakken as the new Managing Director for the offices in Norway. Mr. Solbakken is taking over the position from Christin Grevstad, who has worked at Hoist Group for the past 18 years.

Mr. Solbakken has over 25 years of experience working within IT and consulting for international companies. He recently held the position of Managing Director of iStone Norway and prior to that Business Development Director of Avanade Norway. His background extends to key industries such as Manufacturing, Retail, and Distribution.
Bloomington, IN (47401)

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Thunderstorms...some strong, especially early. Damaging winds with some storms. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

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Thunderstorms...some strong, especially early. Damaging winds with some storms. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
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Campus News

UB Law clinic helping asylum seekers in Texas

By CHARLES ANZALONE

Its impossible to leave after a week at the border without understanding how crucial it is that we have an asylum system that works in this country, and that allows people to get the protection that they need.  Nicole Hallett, assistant clinical professor and director U.S.Mexico Border Clinic

A handful of UB law students are on the front lines of the national debate over immigration policy and the U.S. governments treatment of immigrants as they volunteer their legal expertise to immigrants seeking to cross into the United States from Mexico. The six students are in Dilley, Texas, this week at the South Texas Family Residential Center, the largest detention center in the country. They are volunteering their assistance and receiving hands-on experience to help those seeking asylum from Central American countries. The students are part of faculty member Nicole Halletts U.S.Mexico Border Clinic, one of the School of Laws expanding clinical course offerings. Working with the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project, the students are working under a practice order to advance the cases of detainees  most from violence-plagued Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras  who are seeking asylum in the United States. The CARA project relies on volunteers to provide most of the legal representation. The people crossing the border are very different than what you would typically think of as the kinds of people who were historically crossing the border, said Hallett, assistant clinical professor and an immigration law specialist who also directs the Community Justice Clinic. There are fewer and fewer people being caught at the border coming in for economic reasons. Instead, were seeing a rise in families crossing the border, either couples with children or mothers with children. And were also seeing many unaccompanied minors crossing the border, she said. Most of these people are coming from Central America, and theyre coming not because theyre looking for economic opportunity, but because theyre fleeing violence or threats of violence in their home countries. And it continues unabated, despite the various policy measures put into place to try to stop people from coming.

Family-separation policy spurred action

The idea for the January clinic and trip to Texas came about last summer when students began looking for a way to help families caught in the Trump administrations controversial family separation policy. Last summer, when the Trump administration announced the Family Separation Policy  where families were forcibly separated, often without even being able to say goodbye, with children as young as 1 year old placed in foster care facilities and parents kept in detention  I began to get emails from law students who felt very helpless to do anything to help people affected by this policy, Hallett told UBNow before leaving for Texas last weekend with the six second- and third-year students, two Spanish-language translators and a UB social work student. During the first two weeks of the course at UB, students learned about immigration law and took part in simulated interviews with Spanish-speaking people assuming the roles of asylum seekers. After arriving in San Antonio, the students visited the detention center and took part in another training session on Sunday night. On Monday morning, the students began working with asylum seekers, preparing them for asylum interviews or representing them in immigration court so they can be released on bond. Its unlikely that the students will see a single case from beginning to end, Hallett noted, but well see a lot of cases at one step in the process. Theyll get cases that other law students and lawyers will have begun to prepare. Client meetings take place in a trailer on the detention center property set up for that purpose. The Buffalo law school community rallied around Halletts project and she was able to fundraise the costs of the students trips. Weve had a lot of interest from lawyers in the community who also want to help, Hallett said. So even though Buffalo is obviously very far from the border, this is our problem, too. And this is really a good way for our community to show support for those people who have been victims in their home countries, and who are trying to come to the United States for the protection of themselves and their families.

Work is personal for one student

One student in the clinic group, Leighann Ramirez, is a JD/MSW candidate who has already done significant work in immigration and asylum law, including serving in a social work clinic at the federal detention center in Batavia. Ramirez, 25, aspires to become an immigration attorney. After having read so much about the migration of people seeking asylum in the Texas-Mexico border, she recently told UBNow that she was looking forward to seeing the situation for herself. Ever since the family separations, there are so many families in need, so much miscommunication, she said. There are a lot of illegal things going on down there, and conditions arent good at all. I really want to see that firsthand. But what really inspired her interest is her personal history. Ramirezs mother migrated to the U.S. through the southern border. Although she wasnt detained, her experience traveling through Mexico was a rough one, Ramirez said. Growing up, I would always hear my mother talk about her story, her migration story, and I would just be in awe about how she was able to do that because I see her as my mom whos scared of most things, she said. She expects her fluency in Spanish will help her connect with these women and children seeking asylum. If I can offer some decent human interaction with them that maybe they are not getting, that, for me, would be huge, Ramirez said. Id just like to make it as seamless as possible for them. Ramirez said its important to separate herself emotionally from the people she meets, but she knows the stories she has heard and reports she has read cant help but have an impact on her personally. Just hearing about what happened over the summer; for example, how the women and children and their families are being separated, said Ramirez, whose family originally came from Bolivia. Kids were put in boxes and cages. Women and children  before they actually are put in detention  theyre in these hieleras, which are basically ice boxes. Im thinking of women and children waiting in ice boxes for three to four days before they can even be placed in detention and then be put into the process. That alone already just gets me upset, as a human being, because Im thinking about myself in that setting. Especially, I think because I have such a personal connection with my mom, she said. To think she would have to be further detained in an ice box for three or four days, and then maybe  God forbid  she might have had my sister and I with her. Or wed be separated from her, or even people would try to deport her without giving her an actual interview. For Hallett, the U.S.Mexico Border Clinic is an extension of her work in the law schools Community Justice Clinic, where students learn how to practice law both inside and outside the classroom, as well as represent real clients. She said shes passionate about representing low-wage and low-income immigrants in the U.S., and teaching law students how to represent them.

Earlier visit a formative experience

She traveled to the South Texas Family Residential Center in 2016 with students from another university, calling it one of the most formative experiences of her professional life. And I say that as someone who has been an immigration attorney for over 10 years, she said. You are working with people who have just crossed the border days earlier, and youre in a detention center where theyre being held with their children. They are under a lot of stress. And many of them have experienced trauma  not only in their home country, but also on the journey. Its impossible to leave after a week at the border without understanding how crucial it is that we have an asylum system that works in this country, and that allows people to get the protection that they need, she said. Its impossible to talk to these women and children without feeling a moral obligation to help them. But its also impossible not to feel affected yourself because youre hearing these stories. Youre hearing story after story. And it can become very emotional for the volunteers themselves. Hallett called that week in 2016 at the border facility one of the hardest weeks of her life. It was also one of the most rewarding weeks of my life, she said. And Im really excited to share that experience with students here at UB.

Misconceptions about border crossers
Lima, OH (45805)

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L ondon has scooped the top three prizes in the Dezeen MINI Living Future Urban Home competition. And today we exclusively reveal who these London winners are, with more details on the dezeen.com design news website.

Dezeen was set up in 2006 by multi award-winning journalist Marcus Fairs and now has 2.5 million unique visitors each month.

MINI Living, set up in 2016, is an initiative by the Mini car people, hatching city-based ideas for creative use of space. Their motto is big life on a small footprint.

The contest asked for a vision of new city homes in 100 years time. What will be the challenges, and how will our homes cope?

There were more than 400 entries, 50 of which came from the UK.

Marcus Fairs is not surprised: London is home to more world-class architects, top designers and emerging talents than any other city, he asserts. And the winner is...

1. The D*Haus Company

The Kentish Classic by The D*Haus Company, a practice in north London, self-described as a collective of architects, artists, sculptors, web developers and product designers.

Masterminds were David Ben-Grunberg and Daniel Woolfson, both 35, plus architect Carmen Gallano, 32, from Barcelona. They win 5,000.

Their proposal, unexpectedly traditional, resembles homes in Leverton Street in Kentish Town near their new studio in Crouch End, a particularly pretty Georgian terrace.

The D*Haus Company: the winning project references the pretty pastel houses of Leverton Street in Kentish Town

We think period properties will always be desirable, says Ben-Grunberg, so we rejected any concept of a futuristic pod.

Their little houses are surrounded by waterways instead of roads because river levels are inexorably rising, say the designers, adding that London could become like Venice.

Their suggested facade is CNC-cut from stained plywood and raised on a flood-proof 3D-printed platform.

Marcus Fairs, chief judge on a panel of four, says: The Kentish Classic is unexpectedly nostalgic, and avoids apocalyptic visions of the future. It is simple, colourful and optimistic. It assumes period homes will be as popular in the future as they undoubtedly are today.

Adds co-judge, Oke Hauser, creative leader of MINI Living: Rising sea levels will be one of the biggest spatial challenges of our urban future.

2. Studio McLeod

Coming second and winning 3,000, architectural practice Studio McLeod imagined small, sculptural homes that can fly from city to city on heated balloons, docking at will. They called this Hour Glass.

Project leader Duncan McLeod, 44, worked with Olga Baker of Ekkist, 28, a chartered surveyor and a faculty member of the International WELL Building Institute.

Humans, they say, have been nomads for 99 per cent of our known existence, only settling about 10,000 years ago.

Notwithstanding, by 2050, nearly 70 per cent of the worlds population will live in cities, and the project envisages friendly technology harnessed for a utopia of wellbeing and happiness.

We will be virtually present anywhere. With computer-aided thought and AI assistance, we will share mental capacity, performing multiple roles to benefit society. Homes that produce, recycle and store energy and water will be infinitely flexible.

3. Maria Vergopoulou

In third place, winning 2,000 comes Maria Vergopoulou, 27, who grew up in Greece but has lived in London for nine years, finishing her architectural training at Westminster University.

Now she lives in north-west London in a shared Victorian flat and works for a prestigious London firm of architects.

Maria Vergopoulou's visionary plan for a micro home made from bioplastic fibres won third prize / Maria Vergopoulou

Her visionary concept, Cocoon BioFloss, developed while at college, is a micro home made from fine bioplastic fibres, which people could make themselves from four domestic ingredients: starch, glycerine, vinegar and water.

She has used a home candyfloss machine as a 3D printer, replacing sugar with plastic filaments.

When heated and spun, the plastic becomes thin, floss-like fibres. They loop up with each other, forming a cocoon. She stresses that her new material will easily degrade when discarded  you can even compost it.

Vergopoulou says: Designers have a responsibility. We must explore materiality and technology in response to the environmental issues of our age.;
Thank you for reading!

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Two Saudi sisters whose bodies were found taped together on the banks of a New York river committed suicide, the citys medical examiner said on Tuesday.

Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black with fur-trimmed coat collars.

They were tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape.

My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River, Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said.

After their deaths, a police official appeared to confirm that the sisters had applied for asylum, but did not provide further detail.

Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabias US embassy in Washington, tweeted that Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in NY), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false.

They had run away several times from their familys home in Virginia, where they had not lived since the end of 2017.

The sisters had been placed in a shelter but left Virginia in August and set out for New York. There, they stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card, according to an NYPD spokesman quoted by US media.

A witness reportedly saw the two young women early on October 24 on a playground near the Hudson, where they appeared to be praying.

US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is one of the worlds most restrictive countries for women, a situation highlighted this month by the case of Rahaf Mohammed.

The teenager fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse from her family in the kingdom, and received asylum in Canada.
Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has raised $1.5 million within 24 hours of announcing her 2020 White House run in a sign of a strong campaign kick off that pits her against an expanding field of Democrats who plan to take on President Donald Trump and deny him a second term.

The list of Democrats vying for the party nomination has grown by one since Harriss announcement. Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, launched a long-shot bid on Wednesday, becoming the first openly gay candidate for the White House. He joins eight already in the fray including Senators Harris, Elizabeth Warren (an exploratory committee, technically) and Kirsten Gillibrand, and House Representatives Tulsi Gabbard and Joaquin Castro.

Also, a self-described Trump supporter, Jacob Wohl, sought to start a birther controversy about Harris questioning her eligibility to run for the White House citing her immigrant parents and that she stayed in Canada parents for some years. He was immediately slammed by both conservatives and liberals for trying to reboot the baseless and insidious campaign that had dogged President Barack Obama, chiefly by this successor in the White House now, Donald Trump.

Also read | Kamala Harris represents the rise of the Indian Americans

Harris stayed focussed. In the first 24 hours of announcing our campaign I am so proud to tell you we have raised a million dollars with an average contribution of less than $40 and we have received support from all 50 states, said the first Indian American woman and only the second African American woman to run for the White House, in a short video message Tuesday, adding in a Twitter post we surpassed $1.5 million.

That matches the previous 24-hour high posted by Bernie Sanders in 2015. A candidates fund-raising ability is often taken as a measure of their prospects, and Harris is off to a flying start. She will now be eyeing the next funding marker  the first quarter kitty.

President Obama, who pioneered tapping small donors on the Internet in addition to big donors, had raised $26 million in his first quarter in 2007, according to Open Secrets, which tracks the role of money in US politics; Hillary Clinton, the then front-runner raised more, $36 million in the same period. Their 24-hour hauls could not be immediately ascertained. But unlike Harris and Sanders, Obama had two start days  announced a presidential exploratory committee on January 17 and a formal launch on February 10.

Shutdown talks

US senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on two competing bills to reopen the government, with neither expected to be voted through with the support of 60 members. The first proposal, backed by Republicans, encompasses the presidents plan to fund the border wall with $5.7 billion in exchange for temporary reprieve from deportation for those brought to the US illegally as children.The other, backed by Democrats, simply funds the affected departments till February 8.

Also read | 1st Indian-origin senator Kamala Harris announces presidential bid, raises USD 1 mn in 24 hours
In a major development in the Grand Alliance, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) led by former Union minister Sharad Yadav on Tuesday scotched the speculation that his party was in the process of merging with Upendra Kushwahaled Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP).

The official denial comes months after the two leaders allowed conjecture and media reports, suggesting their coming together, to build up.

There is no truth in these reportsThese are concocted storiesand I completely reject them. No discussions are even being held in this direction, the LJD chief said in a written statement.

Sources close to the development privately concede that the sudden U-turn has been prompted by RJD chief Lalu Prasads apparent discomfort with the idea of having a parallel power centre in the Grand Alliance.

The LJD chief, who had defeated Lalu Prasad in Madhepura in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, has now joined the GA after breaking ties with the JD (U) and lately bargaining hard for three Lok Sabha seats of Madhepura, Sitamarhi and Jamui.

RLSP chief Kushwaha, who stepped down as union minister of state in the NDA ministry on the eve of results for five state assembly polls, has been pitching for six seats. He had deserted the NDA, rejecting BJPs offer of only two seats.

As the merged entity would have bolstered the RLSP, the RJD chief is learnt not only to have prevailed on LJD chief to nix the idea but also mounted pressure on him to consider contesting RJDs lantern symbol from Madhepura itself. Besides, Prasad is not keen on parting three seats for LJD in any case.

A senior RJD leader, requesting not to be quoted, said that the party chief wanted to ward off any future challenge to the leadership of Tejawashi Yadav. With overzealous RLSP leaders not willing to tone down their chief ministerial cries for Upendra Kushwaha in 2020, the RJD can ill-afford to allow others to build and flourish on their vote bank and still cast a question mark on the passing of leadership mantle to Prasads younger son, he explained.

The first plan of Kushwaha to share dais with any Opposition leader was with Sharad Yadav in Munger. It did not materialise. He then met him in Delhi, before calling on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

The LJD chief, when he was recently in Ranchi to meet Lalu Prasad, was asked by reporters about his partys possible merger with the RLSP. He has just said he would soon let the media know, giving rise to speculation of merger.

LJD leader and former Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar, however, said he was not aware of the reasons that had led to the developments. "The effort for defeating BJP is what that matters in the end," he said.

I was the first to part ways with JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar due to issued-based differences. I have kept myself aloof from the hard bargaining in terms of seat sharing and its outcomes, Anwar said.
A sessions court on Tuesday denied bail to a 45-year-old woman accused of molesting a 12-year-old boy from Bandra, on the grounds that allowing her to return home would create fear in the mind of the survivor and his siblings.

The court also directed the police to investigate the role of the boys mother who had allegedly sent his nude photographs to the accused.

According to the boys father, who is the complainant in the case, his son was visiting his mother and two other siblings who live in Bandra on January 5 when the incident occurred. The couple is separated and has split custody of their three children.

Since the boys mother was not at home, the accused  who is her neighbour  invited him into her house, according to the complainant, and molested him while he waited for an hour.

The father said his son looked disturbed when he returned home to their Khar residence and later told him about what had happened, following which a police complaint was lodged.

Police arrested the accused woman on January 6. In court, she claimed she had been in a relationship with the boys father earlier but after breaking up with him, she became acquainted with his estranged wife. She argued that the complainants case was false, frivolous and was intended to harass her and his wife.

When her bail application came up for hearing, the father, through senior advocate Dr Sujay Kantawala, objected to it on the grounds that she had nude photographs of his son on her mobile phone (which she admitted were sent by the mother). As the minors statement was not recorded by the magistrate, bailing the accused could possibly influence the boy and his siblings, he argued.

The court accepted the fathers objections and held that the boys nude photographs were enough evidence to keep the accused in custody until the investigation was complete and rejected her bail application.
Amid the uncertainty over the alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, in an attempt to pacify its bickering ally, sanctioned Rs 100 crore for construction of the Bal Thackeray memorial.

The state cabinet on Tuesday decided to execute the project at Shivaji Park in Dadar through the Fadnavis-headed Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

Subhash Desai, state industries minister and general secretary of the Bal Thackeray Memorial Public Trust, said the trust will monitor the project. The trust has finalised the designs. It will be an underground memorial, which will be built without disturbing the structure above. The MMRDA will invite tenders for the construction soon, he said.

The state in December waived stamp duty of Rs14.41 crore and registration fees of Rs 30,000 for the lease agreement to transfer the mayor bungalow plot to the trust. The decision to give the project to MMRDA has raised eyebrows, considering the project has a government-appointed trust and it could have been given to the Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), as the plot is owned by the civic body.

Sena leader and environment minister Ramdas Kadam said, The trust will monitor the project and handle the administration. Being a trust, funds cannot be allotted to it, and a trust cannot invite tenders [for construction].

Fadnavis and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray attend a function on Wednesday, as the trust takes formal possession of the plot. Desai said, The CM will attend the function. It is a ceremonial puja and ceremony to hand over of the plot to the trust.

Thackeray is a lifetime member of the public trust. According to Desai, a full-fledged bhoomipujan will be done after the tenders are invited.

On Tuesday, Thackeray indicated his partys resolve to go solo when a few party MPs met the leader at his residence in Mumbai. According to a Sena MP, Thackeray said those who are scared of contesting alone should leave the party.

The MMRDA is also executing the Babasaheb Ambedkar memorial.
The Congress had decided to go it alone in Andhra Pradesh and wont ally with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls.

Oommen Chandy, the Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra, said on Wednesday that the party will contest all the 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats.

Chandy announced the decision after a two-day interaction with former ministers, MLAs, district Congress committee residents and executive committee members of the Pradesh Congress Committee.

The Congresss decision to fly solo came a day after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Tuesday. Naidu had said a decision on alliance with Congress will be taken in line with the sentiments of party cadre from both sides.

Oommen Chandy said the decision to not ally with the Congress was taken by the party high command.

Naidus TDP had tied up with the Congress in Telangana assembly elections but the alliance did not really work on the ground. The Congress ended up with 19 seats of the 119; TDP with just about 2.

Telangana Congress leaders have been nudging Rahul Gandhi to break up with Chandrababu Naidus party in Telangana and fight the Lok Sabha elections alone, arguing that the marriage just wasnt working in the countrys newest state.

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president N Raghuveera Reddy had on January 9 submitted a feedback report to Rahul Gandhi from partymen in charge of constituencies on an alliance with TDP.

The Congress that ruled undivided Andhra Pradesh for two terms in succession from 2004-14 was edged out in the 2014 elections by settling for less than two percent vote share for presiding over state bifurcation. However, it apparently shored up its base following a commitment expressed by Congress chief Rahul on special category state which manifested in a survey conducted by Centre for the Study of Developmental Societies (CSDS) and Lokniti in August, 2018. The study revealed that the vote share of Congress may go up to 12 per cent.

A senior party leader from a south coastal district told Hindustan Times it will spell a disaster for the Congress if it puts up a lone battle. He accused intra-party coverts of Jaganmohan Reddys YSRCP for the Congresss decision to contest alone.

E Venkatesh, professor in political science in University of Hyderabad, said the lack of unity between the Congress and the TDP will only benefit the Jagan Reddys YSR Congress party. The repetition of Telangana experience in Andhra Pradesh is unlikely. The TRS projected the TDPs Naidu as alien, playing the Delhi-Amaravati dominance dominance card to rouse regional sentiment. This question will not arise in Andhra if Congress and TDP join hands, he said
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has conveyed its displeasure over the possible induction of three leaders into the Congress in Bihar amid tensions between the two parties over seat-sharing in the state ahead of the national polls this summer, according to people aware of the developments.

An RJD leader said his party is anguished over reports that the Congress is likely to admit Pappu Yadav, Lovely Anand, and Anant Singh and field them as Lok Sabha candidates.

We have conveyed our displeasure about these tainted people to [the] Congress, he said.

The RJD has conveyed its displeasure over the possible induction amid demands from state Congress leaders like Shyam Sunder Singh Dheeraj for an equal distribution of Lok Sabha seats among the two alliance partners.

Bihar has the most  40  Lok Sabha seats after Uttar Pradesh (80), Maharashtra (48), West Bengal (42) and is key to the Oppositions attempts to remove the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from to power at the Centre. The BJP had swept to power in 2014 on the back of its performance in its western and northern Indian strongholds like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where it won 22 of the 40 seats.

The Congress is sensing a revival in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after its return to power in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in December. The victories have given the Congress enough confidence to seek more seats from its allies like the RJD.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) left the Congress out of their alliance they announced in Uttar Pradesh this month. In Bihar, the RJD is also unwilling to give in to the Congresss demand for more seats, according to the people aware of the developments.

A Bihar Congress functionary said RJD leader Tejashwi Yadavs meeting with BSP chief Mayawati and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav this month should also be seen in context of the rising tensions between the allies. He endorsed the SP-BSP alliance only to convey the message that the Congress should not expect too many seats in Bihar, he said on condition of anonymity.

The tensions prompted Congresss Bihar in-charge, Shaktisinh Gohil, to meet Tejashwi Yadav Monday to iron out the differences between the two.

Gohil dismissed suggestions of any rift with the RJD and insisted the Congress will take a call on three after consulting RJD. There are certain principles in any alliance. We will discuss with our partner and only then we will take a final call. Whenever and for whoever we have to take a call, we will take the appropriate decision at the appropriate time after consulting and coordinating with our alliance partner, he said.

Gohil insisted there is a very good understanding among all the Grand Alliance constituents. There are no problems in the alliance. We will contest all the 40 seats in the alliance. Our priority is to ensure that mahagathbandhan [Grand Alliance] candidates win maximum Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, he said.

The Grand Alliance constituents are expected to discuss a seat-sharing formula in Bihar after Congress chief Rahul Gandhis February 3 rally in Patna. The rally is being billed as a show of strength.

It is the first such public meeting the Congress is organising in Patnas Gandhi Maidan in decades.
The Branson Board of Aldermen on Thursday (now postponed to July 28) will consider an ordinance that would require face coverings in public spaces. The aldermen might approve it, disapprove it, or approve an amended version. Would you be in favor of some form of mandatory face covering ordinance in the city of Branson?

You voted:
Hong Kong: HK-Mainland boost legal co-operation

The Department of Justice has reached a consensus with the Ministry of Justice on new liberalisation measures in respect of legal services on the Mainland.

Minister of Justice Fu Zhenghua had earlier visited the department and met Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng to discuss enhancing co-operation in legal services between the two places.

They signed a record of meeting on the new measures, including the extension of measures in the State Council's Notice relating to partnership associations set up between Mainland and Hong Kong law firms in the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone to the whole of Guangdong Province.

The minimum capital injection ratio of 30% by Hong Kong partner firms in the partnership associations set up between Mainland and Hong Kong law firms will be removed.

A Hong Kong legal practitioner will also be allowed to be retained as a legal consultant by one to three Mainland law firms at the same time.

The Ministry of Justice will endeavour to implement the measures within this year.

The department will continue to maintain close liaison with the ministry on further development.

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Rajasthan assembly on Tuesday witnessed uproar over 10% reservation to the economically weaker section (EWS) in general category.

The opposition leaders entered the well and raised anti-government slogans, demanding the state government to clear its stand on the reservation for the economically weak. The protesting MLAS returned to their seats after the Speaker asked them to wait for the chief ministers reply on the Governors speech.

During the Zero Hour, senior BJP MLA Kiran Maheshwari asked the government to clear its stand on the reservation to economically weak as the central government has given the reservation, but the state government has not taken any decision. The government should make an announcement for the same, she demanded. In the absence of a reply, BJP members entered the well and raised slogans.

Amid the uproar, energy minister BD Kalla said the Congress in 2003 had brought the proposal of providing 14% quota to economically weaker section; its the BJP which has reduced it by 4%. The government will take a decision when the amended constitutional ordinance is received by the state assembly.

The BJP is mere politicising the issue, he said.

Earlier through adjournment motion, leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria had raised the same issue demanding the state government to clear its stand and bring a bill to support the reservation.

This is not a political issue and the government should take an initiative as all the parties across the country are supporting it  Gujarat, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have accepted it and in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand it is under consideration, he said.

Deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore raised the issue of Gujjar reservation during the Zero Hour.

He said as the Gujjar leader Kirodi Singh Bainsla has given an ultimatum of 20 days; the government should clear its stand.

The government discussed reservation to women in the cabinet, but did not over the reservation to Gujjar and economically weaker section, he said.

Replying to it, deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot said the government is sensitive on issue of giving reservation to five communities including Gujjar, and will redress the issue with dialogue, and not with violence and lathi charge.

The previous government had passed the bill of reservation to these communities, but for five years they had weak advocacy. The Congress government will work to resolve the issue through law, he said.
Protests against the Citizenship Bill continued in Assam and other states in the Northeast on Wednesday with agitators warning the BJP that the opposition will intensify.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to confer citizenship on non-Muslim religious groups from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In Mizoram, many influential NGOs and other organisations have said they will boycott the Republic Day.

If they continue to move forward with the implementation of the Ciitizenship Amendment Bill we warn that the BJP leaders will have problems in moving around freely, said Lurin Jyoti Gogoi, General Secretary of the All Assam Students Union (AASU).

A few thousand protestors in their gamusas (traditional towels) and placards from more than thirty organizations, including representatives of North East Students Organisation, gathered in a public meeting at Latasil Field in Guwahati on Thursday.

We will not spare anybody. This is about our identity, said Samujjal Bhattacharya, the chief advisor to AASU when asked if the passage of the Bill will affect BJPs political fortunes.

The BJP, however, continued its successful run in the state with a victory in the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council. This is the third recent win for the ruling party in the state which won the recently held panchayat polls and emerged victorious in the civic polls in Karbi Anglong where it won all nine town committees.

The BJP leaders claim that a misinformation campaign is leading to the protests and that the proposed Amendment has a cut-off date of December 2014. The protests are taking place because of misinformation is spread that 1.9 crore Hindu Bangladeshis will pour into Assam. Our win shows that people are aware that no such thing will happen, said Rupam Goswami, spokesperson of the BJP.

Bhattacharya, however, said that it is not misinformation that the Bill violates the Assam Accord. Bill says it will grant citizenship to post-71 migrants up to indefinite period. It does not have any cut-off date, he said.

AASU was at the forefront of the agitation against foreigners in Assam which started in 1979 and culminated with the Assam Accord in 1985. As many as 855 people lost their lives in the agitation.

This movement will not fade away till they scrap the Bill, said Madhab Baisya who travelled from Dibrugarh to attend the protest. He was part of the agitation in 1979. That was much bigger of course, he said.

The protests are only going to intensify if they do not scrap the Bill, said Promod Boro, President of the All Bodo Students Union.

Earlier on Monday, Pallab Bhattacharyya, Director General of Assam Police who is in-charge of the intelligence wing, said the law and order machinery is apprehensive after the Ciitizenship Amendment Bill was passed in Lok Sabha.

In this surcharged atmosphere vulnerable groups like Hindi speakers, Bengali Hindus and BJP workers could be the likely target of the ULFA(Independent), the militant outfit, he said.

In Mizoram, Chief Minister Zoramthanga said his government was in talks with the influential Coordination Committee of the NGOs after they announced a boycott of the Republic Day in protests over the Citizenship Bill.

Since it is the Republic Day we would like to have the functions. Our home minister is talking to the NGO leaders for a resolution, Zoramthanga, who has been a vocal opponent of the Bill said.
For years at every party event, Congress workers would raise the pitch for an important organisational role for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. As the chorus grew louder and media abuzz with speculation of her playing an active role in politics, Priyanka Gandhi would issue a statement ruling out any such move.

She had limited her role to managing the election campaigns of her mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli, and brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.

She had even rejected the requests from Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders to step outside the family pocket borough of Rae Bareli and Amethi to campaign in other constituencies of the state.

In August 2014, after the grand old party faced its worst ever drubbing in the countrys electoral history, Priyanka Gandhi issued a statement dismissing as conjecture and baseless rumours the reports suggesting that she would take up general secretarys post in the Congress.

The constant conjecture about my assuming various posts in the Congress party and the manner in which this issue is brought up at opportune moments is incorrect, she had said.

I would be very grateful to all concerned if they desisted from encouraging such baseless rumours, she further said.

But that was 53 months ago. On Wednesday, Priyanka Gandhi, 47, finally took a plunge into active politics with her appointment as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East. The Congress president divided the party organisation in Uttar Pradesh, politically most important state in the country, into two units  East and West.

Read more| Priyanka Gandhi Vadra takes political plunge, Congress says it is fired up, ready to go

He handed over the charge of Uttar Pradesh West to senior leader and partys chief whip in the Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was elevated as the Congress general secretary. Uttar Pradesh  which sends the highest number of 80 lawmakers to the 543-member Lok Sabha  is crucial for government formation at the national level.

Organisational weaknesses had often been blamed for the Congresss poor show in Uttar Pradesh where the party is desperately seeking revival of its political fortunes after being thrown out of power in 1989.

The emergence of divisive Mandal-Mandir politics and rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party or the BSP, which took away its crucial Dalit vote base, pushed the Congress to margins in the countrys most populous state.

Considered as a good orator and crowd puller with a striking resemblance to her grandmother and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi is expected to galvanise the Congress cadre not only in the eastern part but across the state and also give a major boost to its revival efforts. Before Wednesdays announcement, Priyanka Gandhi had to issue rebuttals about her political role from time to time.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Priyanka Gandhi had also denied a media report suggesting that she was keen to contest from Varanasi against Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister and now Prime Minister but was held back by the Congress high command.

Read more| Priyankas persona merited wider role, says BJPs Ravi Shankar Prasad

No one in my family would ever stop me from contesting an election. My brother, mother and husband would wholeheartedly support me if I wanted to contest, she had said.

In the past whenever reporters asked, Congress leaders maintained that a decision on her role in the party would be taken by Priyanka Gandhi along with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Priyanka Gandhi has always taken a keen interest in the organisational affairs in Uttar Pradesh. She attended the partys strategy discussions on Uttar Pradesh for both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Her name also figured on the partys lists of 40 star campaigners for all elections in the state since 2012.

Priyanka Gandhi had been taking interest in the party events as well. She personally supervised the preparations for the partys 84th plenary at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in March last year. When she was upset over the arrangements on the first day of the session, senior Congress leaders ensured that the second day went off well.

In its bid to counter her aggressive campaigning, the BJP has often raked up the issue of the alleged land dealings of her husband Robert Vadra.

Read more| Always by your side: Robert Vadra congratulates wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

In 2012 for several months, she held weekly public darbar in Delhi for the people from Rae Bareli and Amethi. During the 2017 assembly elections, poll strategist Prashant Kishor had suggested that Priyanka Gandhi should lead the partys campaign but the Congress turned down the proposal.

However, she played a key role in stitching the alliance with the Samajwadi Party or the SP and took part in negotiations with the then UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav regarding the tie-up. She had also dismissed speculation about her contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli.

There is no question of me contesting from Rae Barelimy mother will contest from there, she had said on the sidelines of a function held at the party headquarters on December 16, 2017 to formalise Rahul Gandhis takeover as the Congress president.

Senior leader Janardan Dwivedi once spoke about her interest in politics from an early age and that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had told him about her political interests in 1990.

As far as I know, she has keen interest in politics from early age. She wanted to understand political events and political language. I have an evidence of it. But I dont want to discuss it now. I can only indicate that in this context Rajiv Gandhi had told me something in 1990, he had said.

In January 2014, Rahul Gandhi had told Hindi daily, the Dainik Bhaskar, Priyanka is my sister and friend. Besides she is an active member of Congress and that is why she is lending a helping hand to strengthen me and the organisation. I do not think she will have any electoral role.

My decision to not contest is personal. I will only change it when I feel from within that I should, Priyanka Gandhi had once said. Her remarks were interpreted by many in the Congress as keeping open the option of contesting elections in the future. After Wednesdays development, that possibility cannot be ruled out.

Read more| Dawn of new kind of politics, says Rahul Gandhi on Priyankas new role in UP
With the US set to begin a review of the six-month waiver granted to eight countries for sanctions on Iranian oil imports, India plans to act in a manner that will protect its economic and national interests, people familiar with developments said.

The waiver will end in April and India believes two factors  a significant fall in imports by private refineries and a decision to buy more oil and gas from the US  will have a positive impact on the upcoming review by the Trump administration, the people said.

We will have to take action in consonance with what our economic interests are, said a person familiar with decision-making by the government, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Indias oil imports from Iran fell 41% in December to 302,000 barrels per day (bpd) and Tehrans share of New Delhis overall imports declined to 6.2% from 11.7% a year ago. The people cited above said this was largely due to cuts by private refineries.

Indias new envoy to the US, Harsh Shringla, told a reception hosted by the US-India Business Council last week that the country is committed to buying nearly $5 billion of oil and natural gas from the US. This is substantially higher than the purchases of $3.8 billion in 2018, and the people said the increased oil and gas imports from the US will also help address the trade imbalance.

After pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal President Donald Trump introduced tough sanctions aimed at crippling Irans oil-dependent economy in November. Though eight nations were granted waivers, reports suggested that the US will whittle down this list during its review.

We are engaged with all the stakeholders, especially since the imposition of the US sanctions on Iran. We have had several rounds of meetings with Iran, we also had several meetings with other stakeholders. I can tell you that India continues to import oil from Iran, said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, adding matter is related to Indias energy security.
The assembly by-election in Alwars Ramgarh constituency is likely to be a triangular contest between the Congress, BJP and BSP candidates, say political experts.

The three parties have fielded new faces in Ramgarh, where polling in Rajasthan assembly election on December 7 was countermanded after the death of BSP candidate Lakshman Singh Chaudhary. Now, the bypoll is scheduled on January 28.

Experts said the constituency will witness a triangular contest for the first time in 20 years. Jagat Singh, son of former external affairs minister Natwar Singh, is now the BSP candidate who will face Congress Saphia Khan and BJPs Sukhwant Singh.

Jagat Singh was the BJP MLA from Kaman in the 2013-2018 assembly, but the party denied him ticket this time. He is organising corner meetings and his wife, Somaya, is doing door-to-door campaigning for him.

BJP candidate Sukhwant Singh is former pradhan (head of block panchayat body). He is depending on former MLA Gyan Deo Ahuja, who was dropped by the party. Ahuja said the fight in Ramgarh was between BJP and Congress candidates. The BSP candidate, he added, will be third.

Congress candidate Saphia Khan is wife of former MLA Zubair Khan. She said her husbands track record and development work done during her tenure as the Zila Pramukh (head of district panchayat body) will stand her in good stead.

Former union minister and Alwar MP Jitendra Singh started campaigning for her from Thursday. Party leaders from different parts of the state are coming to Ramgarh to work for the Congress candidate because if we win this seat, we will have 100 legislators in the house of 200 members, he said.

Political expert HS Goyal said, If the situation remains like this till the voting day, the Congress candidate will gain. If the election gets polarised and the BJP candidate seems weak, then BJP voters may shift towards BSP, he said.

Ramgarh has a majority of Meo Muslim voters who number around 65,000. The SCs are 35,000 and Rajputs 31,000.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati held a closed-door meeting with her partys zonal coordinators and office bearers from Eastern Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.

The meeting coincided with Priyanka Gandhi Vadras appointment as Congress general secretary in charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. A BSP leader said Mayawati summoned office bearers from the regions Gorakhpur, Basti, Prayagraj, and Mirzapur to Lucknow, where she is camping to finalise her partys candidates for the national polls. The BSP and Samajwadi Party (SP) have left the Congress out of their alliance for Uttar Pradesh polls. The two parties will contest 38 Lok Sabha seats each in the state.

The coordinators were directed to strengthen the booth level committees and complete the membership drive by February end, the BSP leader added on condition of anonymity.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, too, held a meeting with party leaders. An SP leader said the changing political scenario after Priyanka Gandhis appointment was discussed at the meeting.

BSP national general secretary Ramachal Rajbhar said the election machine of the SP-BSP alliance was well entrenched across UP to take on rival parties. Entry of Priyanka Gandhi and [Congresss Western UP in charge] Jyotiraditya Scindia will not make much any impact on the alliance, he said.
Russian authorities on Wednesday resumed search operation for 10 missing sailors after two ships carrying Indian, Turkish and Libyan crew members caught fire in the Kerch Strait, where the blaze was still raging following the accident which killed 14 seafarers.

At least 14 people reported dead after the fire broke out on Monday off Russias territorial waters. A search for 10 others is ongoing in the Kerch Strait which separates Russia from Crimea.

The situation has not changed, an official from the Russian Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transportation was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

The two ships are still burning, the Spasatel Demidov vessel approaches them from time to time in order to throw water on them, but it cannot stay close to the fire all the time, he noted.

Though there was no information from Russia and Crimea about the identities of those killed and missing, but Turkey said four of its nationals were killed, eight were rescued and four went missing after the fire.

Indian authorities earlier said the Indian embassy in Moscow was in constant touch with the concerned Russian agencies to get more information on Indian nationals affected in the incident and to extend necessary assistance.

Both vessels were flying Tanzanian flags. One of them was a liquefied natural gas carrier and another one was a tanker. The fire broke out as the two ships were transferring fuel from one to the other.

The search effort for sailors missing in the accident was resumed on Wednesday.

A local official of the maritime rescue service said that the Merkury tow boat, which brought the sailors to Crimeas Kerch on Tuesday, was also returning to the accident scene. Merkury is heading to the fire scene, it will be involved in searching [for the sailors] and extinguishing the fire, a spokesperson said.

A special vessel, Spasatel Demidov, is continuing the effort to put out the fire, which is still underway. The ships have not sunk because their important parts remain intact. Citing a source in the Azov-Black Sea branch of the Maritime Rescue Service, the TASS said that attempts to extinguish the fire were failing because of burning LNG.

Only LNG is burning at the moment. The fire engulfing parts of the ships has been extinguished but gas is coming out and burning, it is like a gas burner, the source said, adding that according to recent information, the Candy was carrying about 2,500 tonnes of LNG. There is no information about the amount of gas carried by the Maestro but the two ships are similar in size, so it might be the same.

The condition of sailors who were rescued during the ship fire incident in the Kerch Strait causes no concern, head of Crimeas Disaster Medicine and Ambulance Center Sergei Olefirenko was quoted as saying by the TASS.

The rescued sailors are being treated at Kerch City Hospital. Their condition is fair, there are no signs of deterioration. There is no danger to their lives, he said.

Meanwhile, Crimean Human Rights Ombudsperson Lyudmila Lubina said that border guards and consular workers were preparing documents for the rescued sailors.

They are Turkish and Indian nationals. Border guards and consular services are working on documents so that they can return to their home countries, the ombudsperson said.

One of the ships, the Candy, had a 17-member crew, including nine Turkish citizens and eight Indian nationals. The other one, the Maestro, had 15-member crew, including seven Turkish nationals, seven Indian citizens and an intern from Libya, Russian news agency Tass quoted maritime authority as saying. Turkeys Milenyum Denizcilik Gemi company is believed to own both ships.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday welcomed the appointment of his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh (East ) saying that she was capable.

Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia are powerful leaders. We wanted the young leaders to change Uttar Pradesh politics, Rahul Gandhi said. She is capable and I am happy that she will work with me, he added.

The BJP is in a bit of panic, he told reporters in Amethi when the party made the stunning announcement.

(Click here for Live updates on Priyanka Gandi Vardras appointment)

Congress workers started celebrating immediately after the announcement, bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets with partymen calling it a game changer.

The Congress also welcomed the new appointments saying the party was now all fired up and ready to go.

Priyanka Gandhi, 47, will look after the party affairs in the eastern part of the countrys politically important state and senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has been elevated as general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (West).

(Read: Rober Vadra reacts to wife Priyanka taking the political plunge)

This is Priyanka Gandhis first official party work as till now she only looked after the election management in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the two Lok Sabha constituencies represented by her mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi respectively.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadras husband Robert Vadra also congratulated her in a Facebook post: Congratulations P... always by your side in every phase of your life. Give it your best.
Rescuers are struggling to relocate the body of a miner in a rat-hole coal mine in Meghalayas East Jaintia Hills District after it slipped from the grip of the Navys remote operated vehicle (ROV) on Tuesday.

The body disengaged from the ROV after it was pulled from the rat hole to the main shaft of the mine, said an official involved in the rescue operation.

The body is somewhere in the main shaft now. Since around 4:30 pm when the body was pulled out, till about 10 pm it could not be located again, said this official.

He said the body slipped from the jaw of the Navys ROV which has been under water since January 16.

There is lot of debris in the main shaft. And the water is extremely turbid which has made visibility difficult, the official said.

The main shaft has around 170 feet of water which has not receded despite attempts to pump it out.

Since it is now in the main shaft we should be able to locate it again, the official said.

On Tuesday evening, the spokesperson of the East Jaintia Hills district administration said, The Indian Navy divers in collaboration with NDRF started the process to retrieve the remains by the ROV from 11 am today and till filing this report the remains have been pulled near the main shaft. He also said that due to some obstruction the process will take some more time.

The body which was spotted by the ROV in one of the shafts on January 16, was in a highly decomposed state and authorities had sought the help of family members of the missing miners to identify the victim. Parts of the body started disintegrating as the ROV tried to pull it out, officials had said earlier.

At least 15 miners were trapped in the rat-hole mine in Khloo Ryngksan of East Jaintia Hills district, when it was flooded on December 13. A miner Sayeb Ali, who was inside the mine at the time of accident and managed to escape said there are two more workers inside the mine but police are still investigating the claim.

Aminul Uddin who also worked in the same mine till December 7 said his brother Kuti Miya was also among those trapped. He said had submitted documents to the administration for interim compensation but hasnt received anything yet.

The Meghalaya government informed the Supreme Court on Monday that the operations at the rat-hole coal mine to look for survivors will continue. It also indicated that the workers trapped in the mine for more than a month may have died.
On January 30, the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, also celebrated as Martyrs Day, thousands of farmers, ex-servicemen, Dalits, women and young people will start a dharna at Jantar Mantar  a stones throw from Parliament  to highlight their grievances with the National Democratic Alliance government in a protest that comes months ahead of the big electoral battle in the summer.

The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), Young India and the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement have drawn up a nine-day plan to set the agenda for the polls. We have stitched together an alliance of diverse segments of society and will focus on key issues that really matter to all constituents, said Major (retd) Priyadarshi Chowdhury, national coordinator and spokesperson for the dharna.

Each day will focus on a fresh issue and the organisations plan to red-flag pressing issues such as the lack of jobs, the ongoing agrarian crisis, crimes against women and hate crime.

Farmers, jawans and young people have been let down by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. He made several promises in 2014 but sections of society are feeling cheated, said former MP and general secretary, AIKS, Hannan Mollah.

This will be the second big protest march in the city in recent months. In November 2018, thousands of farmers marched in Delhi, seeking loan waivers and better prices for their produce.

The organisations have also contacted political parties to take note of their demands, according to Mollah.

Chowdhury confirmed that Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal have pledged support. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal are likely to join the protesters at Jantar Manta, HT has learnt.

Every section of society is feeling deprived. We decided to collectively raise our voice in a peaceful protest and reclaim the idea of India, said Major General (retd.) Satbir Singh, a member of the ex-servicemen movement who was at the forefront of the one rank one pension agitation.

The nine-day-long dharna will culminate in a march from the Red Fort to Parliament on February 7. Youngsters will march under the Young India National Coordination Committee, an amalgamation of over 50 youth movements, student unions and organisations.

Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Samwidhan reflects the aspirations of the people who have a right to dignified employment, said All India Students Association president Sucheta De, channelling a slogan thats become popular with Left-leaning parties. Her organisation is affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

Over 2.4 million government jobs are vacant and we demand the government immediately fill up the vacancies and spend 10% of GDP on education. The youth, farmers and jawans will march unitedly. We are for the country, not anti-nationals.

The organisations have approached Delhi Police for permission to protest at Jantar Mantar. The protests will start ahead of the Parliament session slated for February 1.
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday protested against Islamabads proposal to allow only Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan, pointing out that Guru Nanak was a universal guru, revered by followers of all religions, especially Hindus.

Amarinder Singh urged the Centre to take up the issue with Islamabad when it sends its draft agreement for regulating pilgrims entry into its territory through the Kartarpur corridor.

In a statement, the chief minister said while Islamabad was well within its rights to set terms and conditions relating to its territorial safety and security, it should also take into consideration the fact that the first Sikh gurus ideology is not confined to Sikhs but emulated by people from all faiths.

The Sikh ethos prescribes non-discrimination, with even the concept of langar (community kitchen) being casteless service for all. A large number of Hindus in India are ardent followers of Guru Nanak, and it was their cherished dream to visit the Kartarpur gurdwara, which is associated with the first Sikh guru. All gurdwaras are open to everyone, without religious bias, the CM said.

Citing media reports of the draft agreement being prepared by the Pakistan government on entry through the Kartarpur corridor, the chief minister also objected to the condition of limiting the number of people to 15 in a group. He added that the restriction of 500 pilgrims per day should be done away with, especially in November 2019, when the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak will be celebrated.

There was for years the tradition of Hindu families converting their eldest sons to Sikhism. The influence of Sikhism in India was so strong that to exclude members of other religions was not something that Pakistan government should even remotely consider. To keep such followers out of Kartarpur Sahib just because they were not Sikh was not logical, he said.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday formally joined active politics in a surprise move that ended years of speculation over her political future and was hailed by Congress leaders as a game changer for the party ahead of the 2019 general elections .

In her first official assignment, Priyanka Gandhi, 47, has been appointed All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary incharge for eastern Uttar Pradesh, a crucial part of the countrys most populous and politically important state that includes Prime Minister Narendra Modis Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi represent the fifth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Their father, Rajiv Gandhi, grandmother, Indira Gandhi, and great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru were all prime ministers who entered politics from Uttar Pradesh.

Also read:Priyanka Gandhi Vadras appointment a game changer

The Congress president also elevated senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia as AICC general secretary and handed him the charge of western Uttar Pradesh, thereby splitting the organisation of the state between Scindia, 48, and Priyanka Gandhi.

Coming months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the appointments of Priyanka Gandhi and Scindia are part of Rahul Gandhis strategy to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh, where it has been struggling to arrest its falling fortunes since being ousted from power in 1989 despite a surprising upturn in fortunes in 2009, when it won 22 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.

In 2014, the only two seats the Congress won were Rae Bareli and Amethi, from where United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi contested.

The Congress decline in the state started with the rise of the Samajwadi Party (SP) of Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The two have stitched up an alliance for the upcoming elections and kept the Congress out of their tie-up. With the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya as one of its principal planks, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also emerged as a key player in the state over the last three decades.

Also read: She is capable: Rahul Gandhi on sister Priyankas political debut

Rahul Gandhis decision to give a key party role to his sister underlines the significance of Uttar Pradesh to forming a government at the Centre.

UP is central to building a new hope filled & compassionate India. The new UP AICC team lead by Priyanka & Jyotiraditya, will herald the dawn of a new kind of politics in the state. We will offer the youth in UP a dynamic new platform to transform the state, Rahul Gandhi later tweeted.

Robert Vadra wrote in a Facebook post: Congratulations P... always by your side in every phase of your life. Give it your best.

BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attacked the Congress over Priyanka Gandhis appointment, saying it highlighted its reliance on the dynastic politics. In the BJP, we dont take decisions on the basis of what a family or a person wants. Un logon ke liye, parivar hi party hai, lekin BJP mein party hi parivar hai [For those people, their family makes the party but for the BJP, the party is like a family], Modi said in Maharashtras Baramati.

Her [Priyanka Gandhi] appointment proves Rahul Gandhi has failed to leave a mark as Congress president, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, adding that he wondered why she was given charge of only east UP.

Janata Dal (United) vice-president and poll strategist Prashant Kishor tweeted: One of the most awaited entries in Indian politics is finally here! While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real news is that she finally decided to take the plunge! Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi.

The move was kept strictly under the wraps and took not only the BJP and other political parties by surprise, but even several senior Congress leaders.

The partys general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was looking after the party affairs in UP till Wednesday, had called a meeting of select office bearers in Lucknow on Thursday. Azad, who has now been given the charge of Haryana, had also pencilled in a brainstorming session for UP at the partys war room at 15, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road in Delhi on Friday.

Upbeat Congress leaders from UP insisted that Priyanka Gandhis entry into active politics will boost the partys confidence and re-energise workers not just in the state but across the country.

A large number of Congress leaders have demanded over the years that Priyanka Gandhi take the plunge into active politics. But she confined herself to campaign management in Rae Bareli and Amethi, and was informally involved in the partys election preparedness in UP in Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the past.

She was seen to have played a key role in stitching up an alliance with SP for the 2017 assembly elections, but the tie-up failed to help the Congress in its revival attempt as it managed to win just seven of the 403 seats.

Her entry will change the nature of politics in the country. This will also shatter the illusions of the BJP and give its leaders sleepless nights henceforth, said Prakash Joshi, AICC secretary in-charge of UP.

Former Union minister and party in-charge of Jharkhand RPN Singh, who contests elections from UPs Kushinagar, echoed the sentiment. She will strengthen the party in its resolve to fight communal and casteist forces. She has brought the Congress back in the narrative straightway, he said.

Another former Union minister from UP, Jitin Prasada, said: She is a game-changer. The politics in the Hindi heartland is about to change. With a new general in command, each UP Congress worker is battle-ready. She has not taken any position in a place where the Congress is doing well but taken a challenge head-on in a state where the party badly needs her.

According to a party statement, Priyanka Gandhi will take charge in the first week of February. Scindia, who represents Madhya Pradeshs Guna in the Lok Sabha, will take over immediately and continue to be the partys chief whip in the Lower House of Parliament.

Professor Badri Narayan of Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute in Allahabad said, I see it as a very positive development for the Congress. I wont call her entry as a game changer but it will certainly change the politics in UP. It will also help the Congress in emerging as a third block and that may affect BJP and also the SP-BSP. But, BJP will be affected more than the alliance.
After Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the party with dynastic politics barb during his interaction with the BJP worker in Maharashtra while praising Nationalist Party or the NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Addressing the BJP workers at Baramati, Sharad Pawars home town, via video-conferencing, PM Modi hit out at the Congress calling it parivarwadi (dynastic) party and referred to an alleged ill treatment offered by it to NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

PM Modis comments came on the day when Priyanka Gandhi was officially given a bigger role in the Congress by the party president. Priyanka Gandhi had till now actively supervised electioneering only in Amethi and Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi respectively. Now, Priyanka Gandhi has been given the responsibility of Uttar Pradesh East, a region in which PM Modis Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi is also situated.

Also Read: Tactical or strategic: Decoding Priyanka Gandhi Vadras big role in UP politics

PM Modi said the Congress has repeatedly insulted Pawar, who worked for people while being in public life. He said, You know how Congress treated the leader of Baramati. Personally, I have high regard for him. He worked for people for many years while in public life.



Watch: Priyanka Gandhi is a mature and knowledgeable woman: Sheila Dikshit

As senior Congress leader, he was insulted by Congress party. His only mistake was to aspire for Congress president post for which he was shown doors. This can happen only in dynasty-based parties, said Modi referring to Pawars expulsion from Congress in 1999 when he opposed Sonia Gandhis candidature as the party president.

PM Modis praise for Pawar has come at a time the NCP president is seen to be proactively working for a possible united front of opposition parties including the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. However, this is not first time PM Modi has praised Pawar. Earlier in November 2016, PM Modi had said that it was Pawar who hand-held him into politics.

Besides workers from Baramati, PM Modi also interacted with booth-level workers from Gadchiroli, Hingoli, Nanded and Nandurbar as a part of the BJPs programme, Mera booth sabse majboot (My booth, most powerful) to galvanise party cadres at the ground level.

Also Read: Most awaited entry in Indian politics: JD(U) no.2 Prashant Kishor on Priyanka Gandhis new role in UP

While distinguishing BJP from other parties, PM Modi said decisions in the party are not taken on the wishes of one person or one family. We take decisions on the basis of what workers feel. While most parties in the country are family ruled, in the case of BJP, party itself is the parivar, Modi said answering a BJP workers question on how party is different from other political outfits.

PM Modi began his interaction by offering tributes to late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. He said the state government has approved Rs 100 crore for Balasahebs memorial in Mumbai so that next generations is inspired by his work.
G Parameshwara, deputy chief minister of Karnataka, took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday for not attending the funeral of Shivakumara Swami, the revered seer of Siddaganga mutt.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends celebrity weddings, meets movie stars but skips the funeral of our NaDedaDuva devaru, who dedicated his life to help the poor and the marginalised. Repeated requests to confer Bharat Ratna on him have gone in vain, Parameshwara tweeted.

While inaugurating the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in Varanasi on Tuesday, Modi had said the country would always remember the seers work for mankind.

Soon after Shivakumara Swamis death on Monday, PM Modi had tweeted that the seer had lived for the people, especially the poor and vulnerable and expressed his prayers and solidarity with the seers devotees around the world.

The 111-year-old seer of the Lingayat community was laid to rest on Tuesday with full state honours at the premises of the seminary he headed for over seven decades.

Lakhs of people bid a tearful adieu to their Walking God on Tuesday. Shivakumara Swamiwas buried as Kriya Samadhi, according to Veerashaiva/Lingayat traditions, amid chanting of hymns.
A Pakistani court has suspended the 26/11 trial to give the prosecution more time to produce 19 witnesses who havent testified so far, with a judge observing that some witnesses were not appearing out of fear.

A division bench of the Islamabad high court, comprising Justices Aamer Farooq and Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, on Tuesday stopped the hearing of the case in an anti-terrorism court till next week following a petition from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which wanted time to produce the witnesses.

During the proceedings, Kiyani remarked several witnesses were not appearing due to fear and whereabouts of some were unknown, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

There was no response from the external affairs ministry to this latest twist in Mumbai attacks trial that has lasted nearly 10 years, though people familiar with developments said India has repeatedly taken up the tardiness and lack of progress in the trial in Pakistan.

It has been more than 10 years and the perpetrators of this dastardly attack have not been brought to justice. India has shared all the evidence with them. We offered to allow another of their judicial committees to visit to examine witnesses [in India], if required, said a person familiar with the matter on condition of anonymity.

Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif admitted in an interview in 2018 that the terrorists responsible for the Mumbai attacks came from Pakistan, the people cited above said. The planning and execution was done from Pakistan and even PM Imran Khan suggested during an interaction with the Indian media in November 2018 that the attacks originated from Pakistan and the perpetrators should be brought to justice, they added. If Pakistan really wanted to make progress in the Mumbai trial, it could have chosen to take [the testimony of] David Headley, who has confessed and given evidence of the attack being planned from Pakistan. He has, in his plea bargain with the US, agreed to appear as a witness ... His deposition was used in [Ajmal] Kasabs trial in India, the first person said.

During the hearing in the Islamabad high court, FIA prosecutor Akram Qureshi told the judges that many witnesses who havent testified so far have been traced by the agency. Justice Kiyani asked if these witnesses would appear in the anti-terrorism court, and Qureshi replied some witnesses were ready to do so. The anti-terrorism court was set to hear the Mumbai attacks case on January 23 but the high court put off the proceedings for a week. The trial in the anti-terrorism court against seven suspects  Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, and six others has made little headway in the past decade. Lakhvi was granted bail in April 2015 and his whereabouts are not known. The other six are being held in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Defence lawyer Raja Rizwan Abbasi sought to blame India for the delay. However, the people cited above said that besides India, the 14 other countries which lost their nationals have repeatedly called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
Former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur on Wednesday said that the collegium system of selecting judges to the top court requires tweaking.

Justice Lokur said he was disappointed that the December 12 decision of the collegium was not uploaded on the Supreme Courts website. Collegium system has to be changed, it requires tweaking, he said.

On the non-elevation of high court judges, Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon to the Supreme Court, he said what happens in the collegium is confidential and trust is an important factor.

Justice Lokur, who retired on December 30, 2018, said he didnt know what additional documents came after his retirement. He rubbished the claim of nepotism in judiciary and said he didnt think that Collegium system has failed.

Justice Lokur said healthy discussions take place at collegium meetings and agreements and disagreements are part of it.
The Supreme Court has granted bail to four convicts in Naroda Patiya case of 2002 when 97 people were killed during riots in Gujarat.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar on Tuesday granted bail to four convicts on the ground that the High Court verdict of conviction was debatable and that they should be released on bail since their appeal hearing would take time. One convict was granted temporary bail for his daughters wedding.

The Gujarat High Court had last year convicted Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and others, but acquitted former BJP minister Maya Kodnani for want of evidence in the case.

Those granted bail by the top court on Tuesday were Umeshbhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Harshad and Prakashbhai Rathod.

The killings in the Ahmedabad locality was one of the worst attacks of the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

On February 28 that year, 97 people from the Muslim community  mostly migrants from Karnataka and Maharashtra  were killed by a mob. The locality with nearly 800 houses was set on fire.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has questioned diamond merchant Mehul Choksis decision to get a passport for Antigua and Barbuda two months before a case was registered to declare him a fugitive economic offender from India, in January 2018.

In a reply filed in a special court last week, the ED also questioned Choksis claim that he could not travel to India on health grounds and said that evidence collected so far suggests Choksi had strategically fled the country to avoid arrest.

Last month, Choksi, 59, had complained of poor health and told the court it prevented him from travelling to India.

He had also said that he had left India before the inquiry was instituted against him and had gone to America for medical treatment.

Choksi has also claimed he could not return to India as his passport had been revoked by Indian authorities.

In its rejoinder to Choksis submission, filed last week, the ED said, The investigation indicates Choksi had anticipated the bank fraud was going to be unearthed very soon and he would be arrested by investigating agencies for fraud and therefore, he tried to dispose off properties and also fled the country on January 2, 2018.

The ED also pointed out that Choksi had obtained citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda on November 16, 2017, while the case against him was registered on January 31, 2018.

It is very surprising why did he get an Antigua and Barbuda passport if he was willing to return to India, said the ED.

On the subject of Choksis medical problems, the agency accused Choksi of misguiding the court while resisting the EDs demand to declare him a fugitive economic offender.

The ED said Choksi was operated upon on February 16, 2018, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and advised to return to work and ordinary activities within three to five days.

Almost a year since, Choksi has not submitted any authenticated details of his medical condition, the agency pointed out.

If due to his medical reasons he has been restrained from travelling, he would not have travelled from the USA to Antigua. It has come to notice that after he fled from India, he has been travelling to places abroad which are UAE, USA, Antigua, ED said in its reply.

The absconding diamantaire is one of the prime accused in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

According to the charge sheet filed by ED, three of Choksis companies  Gitanjali Gems, Gili India Ltd and Nakshatra  fraudulently issued letters of undertaking (LoUs) worth Rs 3,011.39 crore and got the credit limit of foreign letters of credit (FLCs) enhanced to Rs 3,086.24 .

His 47-year-old nephew, Nirav Modi, is also accused in the case.
Retired Supreme Court justice Madan Lokur said on Wednesday he was disappointed that the decision taken by the collegium on December 12 on the appointment of two judges to the top court wasnt followed and put out, stoking a recent row that had all but died out.

Justice Lokur, who retired on December 30, took part in the collegium meeting that approved the names of Delhi HC chief justice Rajender Menon and chief justice of the Rajasthan high court Pardeep Nandrajog for elevation to the apex court.

The December 12 collegium decision was abruptly replaced by a new January 10 decision by the collegium, which recommended two new namesKarnataka HC chief justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Delhi HC judge Sanjiv Khannafor appointment to the Supreme Court. The January 10 resolution took many in the legal fraternity by surprise as it recalled the earlier resolution of December 12 without assigning a reason. Former Delhi HC judge Kailash Gambhir wrote a letter to the President describing the reversal as marking a black day, and former chief justices of the Supreme Court called for greater transparency in the collegiums decision-making process.

Some reports suggest CJI Ranjan Gogoi reconsidered the December 12 resolution because he was angry over the way the details of the minutes were leaked. Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed people, that the decision may have also been prompted, at least in justice Khannas case, by collegiums desire to ensure smooth succession planning. Justice Khanna is likely to become the chief justice in November 2024, after justice YV Chandrachud, by which time he would have had close to five years of experience in the top court. However, it isnt clear why Justice Maheshwari s name was recommended. At an interaction with lawyers in Delhi, Justice Lokur said, I was part of a collegium meeting of December 12 where names of judges were discussed for elevation, but what happened between December 12 and January 10, I do not know. Once a resolution is passed we expect it to be followed but in this case it wasnt. When asked about the press conference held by four judges, including him, last year, during which they aired their grievances over how the then chief justice was running the court, Lokur said, It was worth holding the press conference. I dont know what we achieved, but we did achieve something and openness in the system is one of them. And I believe things have changed after the press conference. Lokur also emphasised the need to refine the collegium system and bring in changes in the way judges are appointed, but defended the process itself.

In 2015, the SC ruled against the NDA governments National Judicial Appointments Commission law, which sought to change the way judges to the top court are appointed. Defending the collegium system of appointing judges, Lokur said, The view taken in NJAC judgment is correct. Collegium system is the best but it also needs tweaking and what needs to be tweaked is something that has to be discussed. The tweaking should not be a small incremental change but more than that.  On delays by the government in appointment of judges by not acting on recommendations from the collegium, Lokur asserted, the new Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) must have a mechanism by which timelines are laid down and moreover adhered or consent must be deemed if the timelines are crossed. Nobody can sit on the file and that includes the government or the judiciary.
A group of students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Madras, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology for predicting crowd behaviour and offered it to the Indian Army for possible use in Jammu and Kashmir to deal with stone pelters who attack security forces, two officials said on condition of anonymity.

Using action recognition algorithms, crowd density maps and analysis of live images coming in from CCTV cameras, it is possible to predict abnormal events including stone pelting. We think it could help the Indian Army that faces such attacks regularly in J&K, said S Raghav Vaidyanathan, student executive head, Centre for Innovation, IIT-Madras.

Stone pelters have interfered in army operations in Kashmir, seeking to distract their attention to help militant gunmen escape.

Four IIT students involved in the crowd analysis project recently travelled to Delhi from Chennai to take part in the Army Technology Seminar-2019, an army initiative that seeks to bring the military, academia and industry on a common platform to find indigenous solutions to the forces requirements.

The Army Design Bureau, inaugurated in August 2016, is the force behind the initiative. It has been tasked with promoting research and development and acting as a bridge between the army and the private sector to meet the armys requirements.

The academia and industry keep coming up with innovations. Some of these have already been adopted and others are being considered or tested. Out of the 130 problem statements identified by us, we have received responses to about 100, said an officials cited above.

The crowd analysis project seems to be interesting but how exactly it can be employed on the ground and how effective it could be needs to be examined, said a colonel who attended the seminar. Raghav said a team of army officers is likely to visit Chennai soon to figure out what solutions the IITs Centre for Innovation had to offer the force.

Former army vice-chief Lieutenant General AS Lamba (retd) said innovative solutions such as AI-assisted prediction of crowd behaviour could be tried out in J&K where the situation is most difficult. Such innovations could lead to a good solution in the long term.

Other IITs have also come up with solutions to the armys problems. For instance, IIT-Delhi has developed hygiene products that will allow soldiers deployed on the Siachen glacier to clean themselves properly.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosas visit to India as the state guest of honour at the Republic Day celebrations is expected to give fresh impetus to bilateral relations in areas as diverse as human resource development and defence.

Ramaphosa, who will be accompanied by nine ministers and a 50-member business delegation, will be making his first visit to India as head of state. He is the second South African president after late Nelson Mandela to be chief guest at the Republic Day parade.

During his two-day visit, Ramaphosa will have a meeting and hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on bilateral, regional and global issues, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday.

Ramaphosa, along with Modi, will address the India-South Africa Business Forum on January 25 to boost trade ties.

He will deliver the Gandhi-Mandela Freedom Lecture organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs as a part of celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) Dialogue Forum.

People familiar with developments said there were several areas of convergence in the priorities of India and South Africa, including human resource development, healthcare access and digitisation of governance. Stronger engagement with South Africa aligns with the NDA governments efforts to build strong links with Africa, they added.

Ramaphosas visit is expected to boost bilateral ties that stagnated towards the end of the tenure of former president Jacob Zuma, who resigned last year after coming under a cloud over allegations of corruption linked to the Gupta brothers of Indian origin, the people said.

In the field of defence, South African major Denel is expected to make fresh forays following its removal from an Indian government blacklist last year.

The firm was barred from defence deals in 2005 following allegations that it had paid kickbacks to secure a deal to supply anti-material or bunker buster rifles.

Denel is currently eyeing deals to supply anti-material and assault rifles to the Indian military. Ramaphosa will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday and President Ram Nath Kovind will host a state banquet for him. He will witness the Day parade and attend the At Home hosted by Kovind on Saturday before departing for South Africa.

The external affairs ministry said India and South Africa have had a close and multifaceted strategic partnership since 1997 and Ramaphosas visit is expected to further strengthen and enhance the close relationship.

About 1.5 million people of Indian origin live in South Africa and more than 150 Indian companies have invested in that country, employing over 20,000 locals.

India is among the top five trading partners of South Africa and bilateral trade increased to $10.65 billion in 2018-19 from $9.38 billion in 2017-18.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has some advice for everyone, especially his young friends.

In an interview with the popular Facebook page The Humans of Bombay, the Prime Minister has said he would go somewhere in a jungle  a place with only clean water and no people for five days during Diwali every year to reflect on his life.

Which is why, I always urge everyone, especially my young friends, in the midst of your fast-paced life and busy schedules, take some time offthink and introspect. It will change your perception  you will understand your inner self better, Modi said in the third part of the interview.

You will start living in the true sense of the word. It will also make you more confident and undeterred by what others say about you. All of these things will help you in times to come. So I just want each and every one of you to remember that you are special and that you dont have to look outside for the light...its already within you.

The Prime Minister had talked about his childhood, inclination towards the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and his two-year-long trip to the Himalayas when he was 17 years old in the earlier interviews.

In Tuesdays post, Modi talks about what he did after he came back.

Also Watch: Saddening to see such type of dynastic politics: Sambit Patra on Priyanka Gandhis appointment

Also read: BJP banks on Sabarimala to be Ayodhya of the South

After coming back from the Himalayas, I knew that I wanted my life to be one that is lived in the service of others. Within a short span of returning, I left for Ahmedabad. It was my first brush with living in a big city - the pace of life was very different. I began my time thereby occasionally helping my uncle at his canteen, he said.

Eventually, I became a full-time Pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. There, I got the opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life and do a wide range of work. We all took turns to clean the RSS office, prepare tea and food for colleagues and clean utensils, he said.

After that, Prime Minister Modi said, he was busy but he did not want let go of the sense of peace that I achieved in the Himalayas. He said he decided to take some days off each year so that he could introspect and maintain a balanced life.

Not many people know this, but I would go away for the 5 days of Diwali. Somewhere in a jungle  a place with only clean water and no people. I would pack enough food to last for those 5 days. There would be no radios or newspapers, and during that time, there was no TV or internet anyway, he said.

I would reflect  and the strength that this alone time gave me still helps me to handle life and its various experiences. People often asked me, Who are you going to meet? And I would say,      
Diaspora connect can be a powerful instrument in the face of increasing challenges of multilateralism and can contribute to transformation of our countries, said Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth Tuesday at the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD).

He said Mauritius would cooperate with India on the promotion of Hindi globally, including in the United Nations. Bhasha gayi, to sanskriti gayi (You lose your culture if you lose your language), he said, adding: I am sure that our professionals would willingly engage in developing a diaspora network that favours collaboration and exchanges.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jugnauth held a bilateral meeting on cooperation in trade and investment on the sidelines of the event . Earlier, Modi inaugurated the event.

The Mauritian premier lauded Indias soft power and said the recognition of the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations was a manifestation of it. If India is unique, Indianness is universal, Jugnauth said.

The world applauds the impressive economic performance of India and the transformation of this country under your leadership Modi ji. Your wish for a modern and prosperous India has inspired many initiatives like Skill India, Digital India, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Smart city, Start Up, India Swachch Bharat, Ayushman Bharat and many others.

Also read: At Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, PM Narendra Modi presents his anti-corruption report card

Also read: PM Narendra Modi targets Congress in poll pitch to overseas Indians
Senior BJP leaders said on Wednesday the Congress does not believe in Rahul Gandhis leadership after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was given her first official role in the opposition party in an election year.

The 47-year-old sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and daughter of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi will look after the Congress affairs in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, the countrys politically important state which sends 80 members to Parliament.

So far, she had been looking after the election campaign of her brother and mother in Amethi and Rae Bareli respectively. (Follow live updates here)

Also read: Priyanka Gandhi Vadras appointment a game changer

Union law minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad reacted to news of Priyanka Gandhi joining active politics and questioned why she had been given the limited role of only Eastern UP.

Watch:

Priyanka ji has become general secretary, my good-luck to her. Since the party is a family concern, these kinds of postings are nothing unusual, except to say with a caveat, why she has been given the limited role of only Eastern UP? Perhaps her persona merited a wider role for her, Prasad said.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union health minister JP Nadda targeted the main opposition party on the appointment by pointing out that the Congress has always kept the member of just one family on the forefront.

Priyanka Gandhi furthered the legacy of Gandhi Congress Pvt Limited and officially becomes the General Secretary of @INCIndia. It is also the first official declaration from congress that they dont have trust in Rahul Gandhis leadership (sic), Nadda tweeted.

Another BJP leader Sambit Patra attacked the Gandhi family on the same line as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is all set to play her role in active politics from February 1.

Also read: She is capable: Rahul Gandhi on sister Priyankas political debut

Expected, to promote dynasty is what Congress is all about. They consider family as the party while BJP considers party as the family. Congress has accepted that Rahul Gandhi Ji has failed, Patra said, according to news agency ANI.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadras husband Robert Vadra, a businessman who is being investigated for alleged corrupt land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan, has been on the BJPs target.

The Congress welcomed Priyanka Gandhi Vadras new role ahead of the Lok Sabha election, saying the party was now all fired up and ready to go. Its president Rahul Gandhi also welcomed her appointment and said Congress needs young leaders.

Personally, I am very happy because she will now work with me. She is very energetic Rahul Gandhi said.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit his constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday for the first time since BSP and SP announced their alliance in the crucial state for the upcoming Lok Sabha election without the grand old party.

This is also the first time Rahul Gandhi is visiting Amethi after his party won the assembly elections in three states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in December last year.

I am coming to Amethi. We will have talks and deliberations in the courtyard of our house. I will keep sharing photographs of the story of happiness, Gandhi posted on Facebook before heading to Amethi. (Follow live updates here)

Bahujan Samaj Partys Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have said their candidates would not contest the Congress only two seats in the northern state - Amethi and Raebareli, the constituency of his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress chief halted briefly in state capital Lucknow, where he was welcomed by Uttar Pradesh unit chief Raj Babbar, and interacted with party workers before he set out for his two-day visit to Amethi.

Rahul Gandhi will pay a floral tribute at martyrs memorial near Nahar Kothi in Amethi, attend a meeting of gram pradhans or village heads in Tiloi and visit Paraiya Namaksar village on Wednesday. Later, he will attend the oath-taking ceremony of Lawyers Association at the Gauriganj collectorate, visit the residence of a former block pramukh at Dharauli village in Musafirkhana area.

Also read: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appointed Cong general secretary in charge of east UP

He will also attend programmes organised in Haliyapur village, Newada village and meet the family members of senior Congress leader Shiv Pratap Singh.

On Thursday, Gandhi will meet people at the Bhuaemau guest house, after which he will attend programmes in various villages. He will also visit the residence of former block pramukh SP Singh located at Dih village. He will then return to New Delhi on Thursday evening.

Rival parties have often accused Rahul Gandhi of neglecting his constituency and not visiting it often enough. His earlier programme to visit Amethi on January 4 was cancelled because of Parliaments Winter Session.

Union minister Smriti Irani, a frequent visitor to Amethi, was there during that time and her visit would have clashed with that of the Congress presidents. She lost Amethi to Rahul Gandhi in the last general election.

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and member of Parliament from Rae Bareli Sonia Gandhis two-day visit to her constituency on January 23 and 24 was cancelled due to unavoidable reasons, its district Congress committee president VK Shukla said on Tuesday.

Also read: Congress to contest all 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 Lok Saha polls
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked former Air India chairman-cum-managing director Arvind Jadhav for allegedly violating procedures while making various promotions and appointments during his tenure, according to a copy of the first information report (FIR) seen by HT.

Senior pilot Arvind Kathpalia, whose flying licence was suspended for three years after failing an alcohol test on November 11, has been named as co-accused in the FIR, CBI officials said.

Besides Jadhav and Kathpalia, three more former and serving officials of Air India  then executive director (personnel) L P Nakhwa (now retired), then additional general managers (operations) Amitabh Singh and Rohit Bhasin  have been named as accused in the FIR.

Besides losing his flying licence, Kathpalia has been demoted to the rank of executive director without portfolio from director (operations). The CBI alleged irregularity in his promotion from the rank of additional general manager to the rank of general manager nine years ago.

Air India refused to comment on the registration of the FIR.

The FIR alleged that Jadhav had constituted a panel in 2010 to promote officers to the rank of general manager (operations) in violation of laid down procedure.

The three-member panel included then chief operating officer Gustav Baldauf, then executive director (operations) A S Soman and former executive director (personnel) LP Nakhwa.

The probe agency said its preliminary enquiry into the matter revealed that Nakhwa, who was general manager (medical service) of the airline, was given the rank of executive director as the post was temporarily upgraded until August 31, 2009. But she continued at this position beyond the stipulated date, which was a violation of the civil aviation ministry directive, the CBI said. Apart from that, from April 1, 2010, Nakhwa was also allegedly regularised in her upgraded post and the ministry had to nullify the alleged irregular appointment. The CBI alleged that despite being reinstated to the rank of the GM , Nakhwa continued to be in the promotion panel for selection of other general manager rank officials even though the promotion policy of Air India clearly states that the members should preferably be two levels above the post for which the selection is to be made. The panel had called 15 additional general manager (operations) ranked officials for the interview for the post of general manager (operations) and selected five candidates  Kathpalia, Amitabh Singh, Rohit Bhasin, A K Gujaral and N K Beri.

Kathpalia, Singh and Bhasin were given vigilance clearance despite a criminal case pending against him, the FIR said.
Refusing to join the bandwagon of the Opposition leaders demanding use of ballot paper in the parliamentary polls following claims that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were tampered with in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar on Wednesday backed the use of EVMs for recording votes.

Nitish Kumar supported the use of EVMs in the Lok Sabha polls, likely to be held in April-May. My stand is very clear on electronic voting machines (EVMs). I dont agree with people who question it. It is perfectly fine, Nitish Kumar was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

The Bihar chief minister further said, And when there will be VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) machines at every polling booth, there will be no problem at all.

Nitish Kumars comment follows claim by Syed Shuja, a US-based person who claimed that the EVMs were tampered to influence election results in 2014 parliamentary polls. The Election Commission subsequently refuted the claim and moved the Delhi Police seeking probe into the allegations of EVM hacking.

Following the claim made by Shuja through video-conference in London, parties like the BSP and the SP demanded that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections should be held through ballot paper.

The JD(U) chief, however, expressed his disagreement with those raising doubts over the reliability of the EVMs in the conduct of free and fair elections. I dont agree with the things that are being said about EVMs. EVMs have strengthened peoples right to vote, Nitish Kumar said.

He also said that reverting to ballot paper in elections would lead to irregularities in the polls. He said that before introduction of the EVMs, elections saw both bogus voting and physical capture of voting stations.

This will not be possible now with EVMs and VVPAT machines at polling booths, Nitish Kumar said.
A day after Bengal witnessed BJP and Trinamool trading charges over permission to land a helicopter carrying BJP president Amit Shah to a rally in Malda district, a chopper carrying Union minister Smriti Irani landed in fresh controversy.

As Shah had to return to Delhi on Tuesday due to illness, Irani came to the partys rescue to address the rally on his behalf. While she addressed a rally in Bengals Jhargram town, she couldnt make it to Siuri in Birbhum district later on Wednesday.

The BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who accompanied Irani, alleged that the state government did not allow the helicopter to land in Jhargram where a permanent helipad already exists and issued permission for the rally late on Wednesday morning although the party applied for it days ago.

The state government did not give us permission till Wednesday morning, resulting in delay in holding the rally. They also did not allow us to land the helicopter in Jhargram. We had to land at Kaliakunda airbase of the Indian air force. The police and district administration are saying that they gave us permission on time. They are lying. This is dirty politics, Vijayvargiya said at the rally.

We are going to Siuri from here, he added. Vijayvargiya had no idea that he and Irani would have to cancel the Birbhum trip.

Kalaikunda is a 40-minute drive from Jhargram. Since Smriti Irani jis meeting got delayed, her helicopter could not leave Kalaikunda till 4 pm. Even if she made it to Siuri, the helicopter could not have taken off after sundown. Trinamool and the administration joined hands to foil the rally in Birbhum, alleged BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha.

Many people are alleging many things. But the public can see what happened on the ground, said Sukumar Hansda, deputy speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and Trinamool MLA from Jhargram constituency.

At 11.30 am, Jhargram district magistrate Ayesha Rani told the media that permission for the rally had been given.

The public meeting in Jhargram was supposed to start at 11 am on Wednesday. But the BJP leaders arrived about 2:30 pm. By the time the meeting was over, it was past 3:30 pm.

In Birbhum, Trinamool district magistrate Anubrata Mondal went on the defensive. All they can do is blame Trinamool. Whether Narendra Modi cancels his trip to Bengal or Smriti Iranis helicopter cannot land somewhere, BJP will blame us, said Mondal.
The BSF Tuesday handed over the 31 Rohingya Muslims, who were stranded on the India-Bangladesh border for four days, to Tripura Police, even as 30 more community members were apprehended in Assam, officials said.

The 31 Rohingyas, who apparently came from Jammu and Kashmir, had been stuck in no-mans land, beyond the barbed wire fence along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura since January 18.

The situation had led to a blame game between the Border Security Force (BSF) and its counterpart -- Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) -- with the two sides accusing each other of pushing them into their territories.

The decision to hand over the Rohingyas to the Tripura Police was taken after the BSF and the BGB failed to reach a decision during talks on the issue.

The 31 Rohingyas underwent a medical check-up and were later produced before a court in West Tripura district which sent them to 14-day judicial custody, the officials said.

Deputy Inspector General of the BSF Brijesh Kumar said, We took the matter up with the BGB and requested them to take the Rohingyas back to Bangladesh. They denied. Several rounds of talks with the BGB had failed. So, we handed them over to police. A battalion commander-level meeting was held at the Zero Line on Sunday, the officials said.

Officials in New Delhi said the BSF informed the Home Ministry about the final result of the talks and gave it the situation report.

After receiving the ministrys nod, the BSF signed the papers and handed over the 31 Rohingyas to the staff of the Amtoli police station in West Tripura district police at 11 am, ending the standoff with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

The officials added that the state police will verify the details of the Rohingyas, and the BSF has been asked to render assistance for the task.

It is suspected that these people had travelled to the border area from Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said, adding that the truth can only be established after an investigation.

Pranab Sengupta, officer-in-charge of the Amtali police station, told PTI that the 31 Rohingyas, including nine women and 16 children, were sent to the Tripura Medical College for a check-up and were found to be alright.

He said the BSF had been providing them food, water and other essentials.

While the BGB claimed they had come from India, the BSF said they had not as there was no tell-tale sign of breach of the barbed wire fence on the Indian side.

Meanwhile, 30 Rohingyas travelling on a Guwahati-bound bus were apprehended during regular checking in Assams Churaibari area on Monday night, Superintendent of Police of North Tripura district Bhanupada Chakraborty told PTI.

Churaibari connects Tripura and Assam via National Highway-8.

Karimganj district police told us that the Rohingyas boarded the Guwahati-bound bus from Agartala, he said.

When produced before a court, all the 30 Rohingyas were sent to jail by a Karimganj court.

The police sought the custody of some of them but Chief Judicial Magistrate Abdul Qadir turned down the plea and asked the authorities to produce them again before him Thursday.

In 2017, 12 Rohingyas were apprehended in Tripura and 62 more were detained in different parts of the state the next year.

In October 2017, the Home Ministry had urged all states to take immediate steps to identify and monitor Rohingya refugees.

It had said that the government viewed infiltration of Rohingyas from Rakhaine state of Myanmar into the Indian territory as a burden on the countrys limited resources and it aggravated security challenges.
The Delhi University (DU) will consider only Class 12 board exam results for undergraduate admissions, at least for the next two years, instead of having an online entrance test as proposed by the administration recently.

The university receives more than 2.5 lakh applications for 56,000 seats every year.

University officials said when and if entrance exams are held, it will be completely online. However, they said the admission committee is not considering implementing it the next two academic years.

It takes a lot of planning before executing a plan like switching to entrance-based admission process for 66 affiliated colleges. The admission committee is not even considering implementing it in the recent future. However, we are not ruling it out at a later stage, a member of the admission committee said.

Currently, DU conducts online entrance-based admissions for nine undergraduate courses, including BA (Honours) business economics, bachelor of management studies and BSc in physical education, health education and sports, among others. It also conducts entrance exams for all postgraduate courses.

DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi had said last December that the university might switch to the entrance-based admission process for undergraduate courses in 2019.

However, Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar ruled it out and said the admission process would be conducted as per the existing norms on cut-off marks based on class 12 results.

Tyagi did not respond to phone calls and texts sent by HT. The university dean of student welfare Rajeev Gupta said the matter is still in the exploratory stage and will take considerable time to be implemented.

The members of the admission committee said DUs entrance exam will be a national-level exercise and it will require planning means and resources.

It will take a lot of resources to conduct the entrance examination. It will be a computer-based exam and centres will have to be set up for it. The university will have to outsource the work to an agency, but, first, the plan has to be approved by the academic council, another committee member said.

Pankaj Garg, a member of last years admission committee that had ruled out the plan to implement entrance exams for undergraduate courses, said, There has been a resistance from teachers as well as students to an online entrance-based admission process as it will reduce the chances of those coming from marginalised sections of society and are not proficient with computers. The committee, last year, recommended a screening process instead. However, the administration rejected it.
California senator and Indian American Kamala Devi Harris announced her plans to seek to be elected to the most powerful political position in the world. While she is not the first person of Indian descent to make such an announcement, her candidacy is the first credible one by an Indian American. Harris is widely seen as a serious contender for the Democratic Party nomination and, therefore, the Oval Office. That the name of another Indian American, Nikki Haley, is always mentioned when cocktail conversation in Washington weighs possible Republican alternatives to Donald Trump is a sign of how far Indian Americans have progressed in the hyper-competitive world of the US politics.

The Indian American immigrant population has often been called the model migrants and earned high points for its level of education, prosperity and integration. But less commented upon is the speed with which Indian Americans have entered the realm of US politics. In the recently concluded US midterm congressional elections, a remarkable 37 Indian Americans ran for office  roughly double the number that ran in the last congressional contest. Kamala Harris was the first Indian American to break through into the Senate, the US Congresss upper house. Notably, in one house seat in Illinois, both the Democratic and Republican candidates were of Indian origin. While only a handful of Indians won seats, the fact that an immigrant population of barely five million, most of whom arrived largely in the past century, is having so much political impact is significant. There are some obvious reasons for the ease with which Indian Americans have entered the US political fray. One is their high levels of education and wealth. Another is there proficiency in English, unusual among non-white immigrant groups. A third is the degree to which they have merged into the larger American population. Indian Americans are widely scattered with minimal ghettoisation. Instead, they are found largely in white middle class suburbs and have taken on the political, cultural and social values of middle class educated Americans  one reason three quarters of Indian Americans are Democrats.

However, none of this explains the speed with which Indian Americans have entered US politics. The likes of Kamala Harris, Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal are all second generation Indian Americans. More striking is how Indian Americans are found sprinkled throughout the US political systems  working as congressional aides, running political action committees, raising party funds and actively participating in local and regional politics. Nothing could cement the argument that India and the US are natural allies as well as the election of the first Indian American president.
A 21-year-old transgender was allegedly shot at for refusing to have sex with two men who offered her a ride in their car from Trilokpuri to the Barapullah road on Sunday morning.

After realising that she was a transgender, the two men allegedly shot her when she resisted the sexual assault. The duo then threw her from the moving car, police said. On Monday, one of the two accused was arrested.

Police said around 12.38am on Sunday they received a distress call at Hazrat Nizamuddin police station reporting that a woman has been shot on the Barapullah flyover in south Delhi.

Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said a team that rushed to the spot found that the injured person was taken to AIIMS by a passersby. When we reached the hospital, we were told that the transgender had sustained a gunshot wound in her abdomen. We registered a case of attempt to murder, Biswal said.

The DCP said preliminary probe revealed that two men, who are suspected to be the members of the Sunder Bhati gang, had opened fire in Trilokpuri on the same day that they shot the 21-year-old. CCTV footage was checked and we obtained details of the car, which was a taxi. The suspects had moved towards Moolchand Hospital. Following a tip-off that the car would arrive near K-Block at Lala Lajpat Rai Marg on Monday, a trap was laid, Biswal said.

Around 9.30pm Monday, a police team spotted the car, the DCP said. When the police signalled the driver to stop, he accelerated and hit a barricade. Our team managed to overpower the driver. He was identified as 24-year-old Sagar Kumar alias Lampak, a resident of Trilokpuri, the officer said. Police said they found another countrymade pistol in the car.

During interrogation, Lampak said he and his associate Chandra Kant offered a lift to the transgender.

He said he drove with Kant and the victim to Barapullah flyover. Lampak said they attempted to have sex with the transgender but she refused. On this, Lampak said he took out a pistol and shot her . The victim has undergone a surgery and is out of danger. We have launched a hunt for Kant, the officer said.
Three people who were allegedly following a woman from her house in Punjabi Bagh to different places she visited on Monday, were arrested for stalking her from Khan Market. But, the twist in the tale came when the trio told the police that they were private detectives hired by her husband, who thought she was cheating on him.

Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said on Tuesday that the three men were arrested on the charges of stalking after the woman filed a case at the Tughlak Road police station. Police identified the three as Hemant Aggarwal, 28, Babar Ali,19 and Amit, 22.

Police said Aggarwal runs a private detective agency in east Delhis Shahdara. The other two men were his associates.

A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said the woman told the police that she had left her home in Punjabi Bagh on Monday morning for shopping and to meet her friends. In the afternoon when she was in Connaught Place area, she realised three men had been following her since she left home, the woman said in her complaint.

The woman claimed that she panicked when she realised the three men were following her. She said they followed her to a hotel in Chanakyapuri, where she had gone to meet a friend over lunch, the officer said.

The woman alleged that she called her family and informed them about the three stalkers after she found that they continued to follow her to Khan Market from the Chanakyapuri hotel. After her family members arrived, the woman raised an alarm and they caught them. When some shopkeepers and shoppers learnt that the three were stalking the women, one of them called the police.

A police team reached there and brought the suspects to the Tughlak Road police station. During questioning, they identified themselves as private detectives and claimed that they were hired by the womans husband to spy on her. The husband was called in and he admitted that he had hired them four days ago, as he suspected that his wife was cheating on him, the officer said.
Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Rambai Singh on Tuesday warned the Congress that there would be a Karnataka-like situation in Madhya Pradesh if she is not made a minister but later insisted that she would continue to support the grand old party.

We demand ministerial berth for two BSP MLAs in Kamal Nath government. Weve seen the situation in Karnataka, we dont want a similar situation here, she told reporters in her constituency Patharia in Damoh district, 254 km north east of Bhopal.

This is not the first time she has warned the Congress, which has 114 MLAs in the 230-member state assembly and is backed by four independent MLAs, two BSP and one SP MLA. The Opposition BJP has 109 MLAs.

Earlier, Singh had said, If chief minister Kamal Nath forgets his promise, I too may forget my promise (to support the Congress).

Her reference to Karnataka came after political turbulence hit the Kumaraswamy government with two independent MLAs withdrawing while the Congress and the Opposition BJP accused each other of poaching lawmakers.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya had claimed earlier this month that the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh was running at the mercy of his party and could be easily brought down.

When contacted Singh said, I said this (Karnataka like situation) in reply to a question. However, I am still supporting the Congress and will continue to do so.

However, she reiterated that she would forget her promise to support the Congress if the chief minister forgot his promise to make her a minister.

When asked how long she would wait to become a minister she said, I will wait for some time.

Earlier, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had expressed his displeasure over the lone SP MLA not being made a minister by chief minister Kamal Nath.

As the Congress continues to walk a political tightrope, its spokesperson in the state , Santosh Gautam said, Our party leaders are aware of the situation.
Actor Sushmita Sen attended her best friend Fatima Dsouzas wedding on Tuesday with boyfriend Rohman Shawl and shared pictures on her Instagram account. While she shared moments from the wedding, the most heartwarming one was when the actors daughter Alisah practiced her flower girl walk with Rohman. She shared a video of the same on Instagram stories.

She also shared one on her feed and captioned it, #this. Alisah practicing her #flowergirl walk with Rooh @rohmanshawl #clintwedsfatima #mountmarychurch #godislove #duggadugga. I love you guys!!! #blessed.

She also shared many pictures with her daughter who looked pretty in her pink dress and a flower crown. Sushmita also took pictures of the flower girl with the bride and groom. Sushmita wrote with a picture with her boyfriend Rohman, #jetaime. @rohmanshawl #Alisah we missed you Renee Shona!!!

Watch:

Sushmita has been sharing pictures and videos from different aspects of her life on Instagram. She shares many pictures and videos of working out with her boyfriend, pictures with her family and friends, and that from work as well. Most recently, she shared pictures from her work trip to Kolkata where she walked the ramp for designer Ashish N Soni.

Sushmita hasnt returned to the silver screen, but has stayed in the spotlight. During one of her earlier interviews, she was asked about how it is for working women today and she said, What I love about the times we are living in now is that women dont need to pull down other women to be better or one up. Now, if somebody asks them to do that they usually dump the person.

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Actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra on Wednesday said she has had no involvement in her late fathers business, amid reports that she, her mother and her sister are being dragged to court over a Rs 21 lakh loan taken by Surendra Shetty.

I have had no involvement in my late fathers business ever and have no knowledge of the financial dealing of the company at all. This gentleman is misleading the media. I knew him in the capacity of our family car mechanic, thats all, Shilpa said in a statement.

Also read: Kangana on Karni Senas threats: Im not here to apologise to anyone

This has come in response to reports that Parhad Amra, proprietor of an automobile agency, has taken Shilpa, her sister Shamita and their mother Sunanda, to court. Amra has claimed that in July 2015, he provided financial help to the actress father for his business.

All payments were made through cheques drawn in favour of Surendras firm Corgifts, Amra said in a media report.

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Actor Kangana Ranaut has fired back at the Karni Sena for threatening her. The outfit had said that they would ruin her career prospects and burn her film sets if she continued to voice dissent against them.

Kangana was at the launch of a jewellery collection where she spoke to the media. When asked if she would apologise to the Karni Sena, she outrightly refused.

No, I will not apologise to anyone. I never apologise for things that I have not done wrong. However, we have reassured them that the film (Manikarnika) doesnt show anything offensive. They should support us and the film. She (Rani Lakshmibai) is Indias daughter and everyone should push that film forward. She is not a relative of mine. She is to me what she is for the entire nation, she said. Ye faltu ka ego issue mere sath karne ki zaroorat nahi hai. Main yahan pe kisi ko sorry-worry kehne ke liye nahi hu (There is no need for useless ego issues with me. I am not here to apologise to anyone), she added.

Kangana earlier issued a statement saying that she will destroy the Karni Sena if they continue to harass her over the release of Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. Four historians have certified Manikarnika, we have got censor certificate as well, Karni Sena has been conveyed this but they are continuing to harass me. If they dont stop then they should know I am also a Rajput and I will destroy each one of them, she had said on Friday.

Also read: Karan Johar responds to Hardik Pandyas Koffee with Karan controversy

Reflecting on Kanganas statement, Ajay Singh Sengar, president of Maharashtra Karni Sena said, If she continues to threaten the members of our outfit, we will not let her walk freely in Maharashtra and will burn her film sets. He also claimed that if the film, in any way, insults the queen of Jhansi, the Hindu society will not forgive her.

Manikarnika is based on the life and struggles of Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi and her war against the British East India Company, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The film is slated to hit the big screens on January 25.

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Actor Prateik Babbar is all set to tie the knot with Sanya Sagar, daughter of BSP leader Pawan Sagar. The first pictures from the couples haldi and mehendi ceremony were shared on social media. The bride and groom are seen having fun at the ceremony. While Sanya looks pretty in a yellow outfit coupled with a crown made of flowers, Prateik was seen in an off-white kurta pyjama paired with a green dupatta.

Pictures of Prateiks haldi saw him in haldi from head to toe, posing with swag. The bride, Sanya, took to Instagram to share pictures and video on Insta stories from the ceremony. From the dhol, the decor to the mehandi, she seemed to be enjoying herself. Prateik had proposed to Sanya in Goa when the two had visited for a music festival.

Prateiks brother Aarya Babbar also shared a picture of the bride in a pretty peach coloured lehenga and captioned it, And today, on his Insta stories. He also added a heart emoticon. The ceremony is set to take place on January 22 and 23.

See pictures from their ceremony:

Prateik and Sanya have been dating for a couple of years now and have even made appearances together. In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Prateik said, Sanya and I, along with our families, decided that something as pure as love should be solemnised on an auspicious day and what better day than Basant Panchami. Shes the best partner I could have asked for. It didnt take me long to figure out that she was the one for me. I know it sounds cliched, but I cant stop counting my blessings and thanking God for all the good that is happening in life.

According to sources, BSP chief Mayawati, SP President Akhilesh Yadav and many other politicians are expected to attend the wedding ceremony.

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Actor Deepika Padukone returned to India after a work trip to Paris, on Wednesday. She looked her stylish best at the Mumbai airport in an all-black ensemble that no one expected to work so perfectly as an airport look. She wore a black jacket over sheer black stockings and a black hoodie dress. She paired her look with dark sunglasses and ruby red lips.

Her husband and actor Ranveer Singh was also ready to rock a mustard yellow outfit on the streets of Mumbai. He paired his co-ordinated yellow outfit with white sneakers and was caught on cam as he twirled his moustache. Ranveer also shared a video on Instagram stories in which he was seen recreating the go back to your gully line from his upcoming film, Gully Boy, albeit with a twist.

Watch | All black everything: Deepika Padukones mood on returning from Paris

Also read: Kangana on Karni Senas threats: Im not here to apologise to anyone

Ranveers co-star from Simmba, Sara Ali Khan was also spotted by the paparazzi after gym session. She was caught on camera crossing the road and smiling for pictures in her neon green gym shirt and black shorts.

Bollywoods young couple, actors Disha Patani and Tiger Shroff were also spotted together in a car, sharing a big laugh. Another couple, actor Akshay Kumar and his author wife Twinkle Khanna were spotted at the airport as they returned from their vacation. Akshay began shooting for his next film, Good News, with Kareena Kapoor Khan on Wednesday.

Check out celebrity pics and videos:

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Actor Deepika Padukone has resumed work post her elaborate wedding with actor Ranveer Singh in November last year. The actor recently flew to Paris for a brand endorsement. A team member recently shared a picture with the actor confirming her presence in the French capital. The actor looks gorgeous in the picture as she poses for the camera with her team.

She had also shared a picture of the Eiffel Tower on her Instagram with the caption, au revoir Paris... with a heart emoji, as she bid goodbye to the city.

The Bajirao Mastani actor will soon begin the shoot of her next Bollywood film Chhapaak in which she will be seen essaying the role of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal. The actor is also expected to feature opposite Vin Diesel in the next instalment of the xXx franchise.

Vin had dropped hints about the film by sharing a still from xXx: Return of Xander Cage featuring him and Deepika while asking his fans who would they like to be cast in the film. He had captioned it, Heading into a xXx meeting this weekend... Who would you like to see added to the xXx League?

Deepika was recently named the most valued Bollywood celebrity in an annual celebrity brand list released by Duff & Phelps, a New York based financial service company. She was succeeded by none other than Virat Kohli who acquired the top slot. The list also specified her brand value in 2018 at Rs 102 million.

Also read: Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh were in Sri Lanka for a friends wedding and the pics are finally here

Also read: Deepika Padukone reacts to being most valued celeb over Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan

The year 2018 had begun on a good note for Deepika and Ranveer with the release of their third film together titled Padmaavat. The actors went on to tie the knot on November 14, 15 at Lake Como in Italy which was followed by three lavish wedding celebrations and a DJ party in Mumbai.

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Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui is one of the most respected and talented actors in Bollywood right now. With a host of movies to his credit over a spectrum of genres, Nawaz has carved a strong place for himself in the industry.

He earned huge critical acclaim for his work in films like Gangs of Wasseypur, Raman Raghav, Haraamkhor, The Lunchbox and Manto and more recently, starred in the hit Netflix original, Sacred Games. He will now by seen essaying the role of late political leader Bal Thackeray in his upcoming film, Thackeray.

Also read: Deepika , Ranveer were in Sri Lanka for a friends wedding and the pics are finally here

However, before you watch him essay yet another powerful character on the big screen, here is a challenge for you. Ask yourself if you were able to spot him any of the following five movies:

1. Sarfarosh (1999)

Nawazuddins first onscreen appearance was in Aamir Khans Sarfarosh in 1999. He played a local criminal who is arrested and interrogated after a raid at Victoria House in the film.

2. Shool (1999)

His next film was in the same year, another great piece of cinema starring Manoj Bajpayee. Nawazuddin was seen as a waiter in the movie.

3. Munnabhai MBBS (2003)

Nawazuddin played a petty criminal who pickpockets Sunil Dutts wallet (Sanjay Dutts dad in the film as well) in the Rajkumar Hirani hit.

4. Black Friday (2004)

Asgar Mukadam, one of the men involved in the blast, was none other than actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui! Kay Kays interrogation with Nawazuddin is an amazing scene youve got to watch.

5. Manorama Six Feet Under (2007)

A local goon who flaunts flashy shades in the desert. Trust Nawazuddin to play the character with perfection.

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Television actor Ankita Lokhande is making her Bollywood debut with Manikarnika and is already being a thorough professional. When asked in a recent interview if she is open to working with her ex-boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput in a movie, Ankita said she is.

Speaking to The Times Of India, Ankita said, As an actor, I have no choice. If the script is good, I will definitely work with him. Ankita and Sushant met and fell for each other on their television soap opera, Pavitra Rishta. It ran from 2009 to 2014. The two split up in 2016 after a six-year relationship.

Bollywood actor Ankita Lokhande poses for photos during promotions of her upcoming film Manikarnika. (PTI)

Ankita is now dating a businessman Vicky Jain. She confirmed her relationship in an interview to Bombay Times. He is a very nice guy. He is a businessman from Bilaspur. Yes, I am in love and you will get to know about it when the time is right, she said. She was also asked about the wedding to which she responded, If it happens, I will let you know and invite you for the wedding. I cant say anything right now, but there are no such plans, yet. I am just focussing on work at the moment.

Also read: Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh were in Sri Lanka for a friends wedding. See pics

Sushant also wished Ankita good luck when she shared her first look from Manikarnika. It looks absolutely great Ankita. Im extremely happy to see this. May God bless with lots of success and happiness, he has posted on Instagram.

He spoke about wishing her in a recent interview, I liked it (Ankitas first look) a lot and whatever I wrote was from my heart. I wanted to congratulate her. He was also asked if he wished Ankita personally, and Sushant said that he did not feel the need to do so. What I write on social media is how I am really, and whatever I wrote on the platform is not for the people but for her (Ankita).

While Ankitas Manikarnikastarring Kangana Ranaut in the lead rolewill release on January 25, Sushants dacoit drama Sonchiriya will be out on March 1.

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In recent years and months, the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has been challenged by sections of the political establishment. It has also become a subject of public discussion. In fact, often, the first question I am asked when I speak about elections is whether EVMs are really tamper-proof. Recently, at the Calicut book fair, I decided to ask my audience whether they believed that EVMs could be manipulated. Most hands went up. After my 45-minute lecture, I asked my audience again, whether they still believed that the machines could be rigged. I am happy to say that this time around, fewer hands were raised.

EVMs are manufactured by two highly reputable public sector undertakings, exclusively for the Election Commission of India (ECI). These are standalone machines. Unlike EVMs used in many other countries, these can neither be networked by wire or by wireless to any other machine or system, nor can they be influenced by signals from computers or mobile phones. The software is burnt into a one-time programmable chip which cannot be altered. The source code of the software is not available even to the Election Commission. Further improvements in the latest generation of machines will cause them to shut down upon the slightest attempt to tamper.

In most of the 20-odd countries where EVMs are employed, I have observed that these are often manned by volunteers drawn from the general public. In India, however, the usage of EVMs is tightly controlled by government officials. From the district magistrate down to presiding officers and poll staff, they are all open to government scrutiny and discipline. Moreover, there are detailed manuals, rules and regulations which have to be strictly followed by them. Prior to any election, officials are posted to their respective stations at random, just 24 hours before polling. EVMs, too, are randomised by computer programmes.

Over the years, several courts of law have endorsed the machines reliability. The first legal challenge arose in February, 2001, when the late J Jayalalithaa moved the Madras High Court. In its judgment the court observed that the ECI had taken every precaution as a prudent normal person might take in this matter and that the margin of error was negligible. The contention of the petitioner about failure of EVMs in Japan and United States was held to be inapplicable to India. Another challenge was raised in the Karnataka High Court in 2004. The issue raised was that the EVMs used were vulnerable to mischief. The court held that the invention of the EVM was not only a great achievement but indeed a matter of national pride. Subsequently, the Bombay High Court (Nagpur bench) dismissed a petition that alleged that machines could be manipulated by remotely operated devices, without actual access to either strong room or to the machines. The Bombay High Court dismissed another petition in 2018, as did the Supreme Court as recently as November, 2018.

Soon after I completed the general elections in 2009, tampering was alleged by some quarters. We assembled 100 machines at random and invited people to demonstrate actual tampering, treating the Commission hall as a polling station. Video cameras were positioned to record the proceedings, as evidence admissible in the case then pending in the Delhi High Court. No one was able to tamper with the machines. What finally resulted was the request to have an inbuilt paper trail. That is how the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was born. Through a small inbuilt window voters can verify their choice of candidate and party. These add-on machines were used in recent state Assembly elections. They will be comprehensively used in the forthcoming general election. (A second challenge was offered by the ECI in June 2017. Only two political parties showed up and were apparently satisfied.)

To go back to the ballot paper system is in my view a retrograde step. It must be recalled that a major challenge with ballot papers is the resultant number of invalid voters. When an election can be won or lost by a single vote, a large number of invalid votes leads to the filing of many election petitions. EVMs make no such mistake.

My experience has shown that when a party or person wins, they accept the verdict unquestioningly. However, should they lose, they often blame the EVMs. My request is that until such time as incontrovertible proof is accepted by a court of law, our faith in the EVMs must remain undiminished.

Navin B Chawla is former chief election commissioner of India. His book Every Vote Counts will be released on January 26, 2019

The views expressed are personal
There has been only one time in U.S. political history that more than one woman was a candidate for the same party's presidential nomination. It was during the 1972 campaign: Rep. Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink, D-Hawaii, the first woman of color elected to Congress, ran against Shirley Chisholm in the Oregon primary as an anti-war candidate. She dropped out after receiving only 2 percent of the vote.
As part of the deferred-prosecution program, Webster agreed to comply with a number of conditions, which included staying off WFUs campus.

If he had complied with everything, Forsyth County prosecutors would have voluntarily dismissed the charge on or around Nov. 21.

Assistant District Attorney Lizmar Bosques said Webster violated the agreement. According to an arrest warrant, Webster is accused of being on the campus on Sept. 20, 2018. Bosques said Wake Forest University police notified her office that Websters car was seen on campus and that police had started an investigation.

During the course of the investigation, Webster told police that he was on campus but he was using the school as a cut-through. Bosques said that the police investigation showed Webster was on campus longer than it would have taken for him to simply drive through the school.

David Freedman, Websters attorney, said Webster made a mistake and he never got out of his car.
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Uniontown, PA (15401)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening followed by thunderstorms late. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening followed by thunderstorms late. A few storms may be severe. Low 67F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
St. Joseph, MI (49085)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
Dave McMillion

davem@herald-mail.com

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va.  A 45-year-old man was charged Monday night after a tractor-trailer driver died earlier in the day after he was struck outside his rig in a hit-and-run incident on U.S. 340 in Jefferson County, W.Va.

Kenneth J. Lee, whose address wasnt available, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death, driving under the influence involving death, and DUI, the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department said.

Lee was taken to Rappahannock Shenandoah Warren Regional Jail in Virginia after he was apprehended in Warren County, Va., police said.

Authorities are working on extraditing Lee to West Virginia.

William P. Snyder Sr., 60, of Parkville, Md., the driver of the truck, died at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va.

Police said Snyder was checking his tractor-trailer Monday afternoon along southbound U.S. 340 near Eackles-Spencer and Norton Funeral Home when he was struck by a black sport utility vehicle. The SUV stopped briefly, then left the scene, police said.

Jefferson County Sheriff Pete Dougherty said his department obtained pictures of the SUV, its license plate and the driver from a nearby convenience store where the vehicle had been before Snyder was struck

Multiple witnesses saw the SUV strike Snyder, police said.

One of the witnesses was behind the SUV before Snyder was struck and saw the vehicle swerving in and out of traffic and driving in the wrong lane, police said.
Matthew Umstead

mumstead@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va.  A trial for a Tennessee man accused of sexually assaulting a young boy multiple times over a period of about five years is set for Feb. 13 in Berkeley County (W.Va.) Circuit Court.

Erik David Kellogg, 24, of Bristol, Tenn., was charged in October 2017 with six counts of first-degree sexual assault, court records said.

Kellogg is accused of assaulting the boy between November 2012 and January 2017, starting when the victim was 5, records said.

In a pre-trial hearing Tuesday, 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Laura Faircloth denied a defense motion for an independent psychological evaluation of the minors in the case, said Berkeley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Barnhart, who is handling the case for the prosecution.

A forensic psychologist who specializes in child-victim testimony and related interview techniques has said that the victims overall development in terms of interests, maturity, verbal abilities and so forth would reflect that of a 6-year-old at the time he was 10, court records said.

Jolie Brams also said that the child, now 11, has difficulty remembering events or the details of his alleged abuse by the defendant.

Police have alleged that the boy was assaulted at a Martinsburg-area home while Kellogg was on breaks from West Virginia University, court records said.

The defendant would travel to Martinsburg instead of returning to his home in Tennessee, records said.

The allegations were reported in June 2017, when the victim told authorities that the unwanted sexual contact occurred multiple times, court records said.

An investigating West Virginia State Police trooper said the victim described these incidents to be terrible, records said.

A guardian has been appointed to represent the interests of the children in the case, which include the victims sister.

Kellogg is being represented in the case by defense attorney B. Craig Manford.
Matthew Umstead

mumstead@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va.  A former Martinsburg Police Department officer was placed on unsupervised probation for five years Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to domestic battery stemming from allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a nonbiological family member while he still was employed by the city.

Glenn Macher, 62, also was ordered by 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge Michael D. Lorensen to register as a sex offender for 10 years as part of a plea agreement.

The probationary period was imposed in place of a one-year jail sentence, which was suspended as part of a binding agreement accepted by the judge.

Macher also was told that a domestic-battery conviction also precludes him from possessing firearms.

Macher was charged with committing the misdemeanor offense on or before March 2015, according to circuit court records. His retirement from the police department was effective April 10, 2015.

Berkeley County (W.Va.) Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joe Kinser said Tuesday that a family member alerted authorities to the defendants alleged relationship and that the allegations subsequently were investigated by West Virginia State Police.

A motion filed in August by the Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorneys office alleges that the offense was sexually motivated, an allegation that allowed for the sex-offender-registration requirement to be imposed.

Macher admitted in court Tuesday to having an inappropriate relationship with a family member and added that he regretted his actions.

Im wanting to put this behind me, said Macher, who noted that he has been trying to salvage his relationship with his family.

In a statement to the judge, defense attorney Paul G. Taylor emphasized his clients inappropriate relationship was with a nonbiological willing adult participant who opposed the prosecution of Macher and the imposition of the registration requirement.

Taylor also told Lorensen that the case has been a deeply embarrassing and humiliating experience for Macher, who dedicated many years of public service to the community in law enforcement.

Macher, who began working for the police department in September 1989, was recognized by city leaders for his service in September 2015.

In accepting the plea agreement as being in the public interest, Lorensen cited the victims preferences in the outcome of the case, and also noted that the terms of agreement afford a measure of protection for the community.
Joyce Nowell

jnowell@herald-mail.com

CHAMBERSBURG, PA.  Pennsylvania State Police are renewing calls for information into the shooting death of a Fannett Township, Pa., man nearly three years ago.

Lee Glenn Johnson, 74, was found April, 14, 2016, at about 7 a.m. in his driveway at 17000 Spring Run Road East with a fatal gunshot wound.

Police called the death a homicide at the time. They believed it to be an isolated incident with no danger to the community.

State police issued a news release again Tuesday to media outlets in hopes of some new information from possible tips from the public.

Police said the case still is an active investigation.

In March, the case was listed with Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers. Information on that website indicated Johnson suffered a gunshot wound to his torso.

It appears the victim encountered someone when he went out in his driveway in the overnight hours for an unknown reason, the release said.

Johnsons obituary indicated that he was a truck driver for many years who enjoyed fishing and animals. He had an extensive family.

Anyone with information on the incident may call state police at 717-264-5161.

 Joyce F. Nowell
Joyce Nowell

jnowell@herald-mail.com

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa.  A social-media post is being investigated as a possible threat against Cumberland Valley Christian School, but authorities dont believe any danger exists for the school or public.

Pennsylvania State Police were called Monday at about 8:30 p.m. to the school at 600 Miller St. in Chambersburg.

Police said they found that a 16-year-old boy sent a Snapchat photo with a firearm and what was perceived as a threatening caption posted under it.

Police said students who received the message notified the school and police of what is being described as terroristic threats.

The teen was identified and interviewed by police.

The Franklin County (Pa.) District Attorneys Office is being consulted about the possibility of criminal charges being filed.

District Attorney Matt Fogal had no comment on the case Tuesday.

 Joyce F. Nowell
Joyce F. Nowell

jnowell@herald-mail.com

OAHU, Hawaii  Mark Mohler had a shark lunch box when he was a child attending Greencastle-Antrim schools. He still wears a fair share of shark imprinted clothing.

Now the young man who calls Hawaii home swims with the sharks. Last week, a dive proved to be a once-in-a lifetime adventure. It has landed Mohler and his photos in the international spotlight.

Mohler and seven friends were off the shore of Oahu on Jan. 13 when they witnessed a visit by Deep Blue, the largest known great white shark ever documented. They celebrated that night that they had been swimming with a very big fish. The next day, authorities identified the shark as Deep Blue, estimated to be 20 feet long and weighing 2.5 tons.

It was really mind-blowing, said Mohler, a 2007 Greencastle-Antrim High School graduate who is a federal employee with the General Services Administration in Hawaii.

We knew it was a huge shark, but it never crossed any of our minds that it might have been Deep Blue.

Mohler dives as a hobby, but is also certified. He has done a dozen or so interviews since the experience. His photos of the encounter have gone viral.

A Shippensburg University graduate, Mohler used to fish when he lived in Pennsylvania, but never considered much more about the water until moving to Hawaii in 2011.

When you live in Hawaii, you have to make the most of it, so I dive and Im on the water pretty much every weekend, said Mohler, who has several boats and is a certified captain.

Mohlers girlfriend, Kimberly Jeffries, works as a diving instructor and underwater photographer. Mohler has picked up the waterproof camera bug. The pair worked on the Emmy Award-winning documentary Chasing Coral and have discussed with Discovery Channel about sharing their Deep Blue adventure.

Another Franklin County native was in the water with the famous fish that day.

Laura Rock, a 2006 graduate of Waynesboro Area Senior High School, is a researcher and dive center coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps in Hawaii.

When Rock was transferred to the Pacific in 2017, family back home made the Franklin County connection. She was with Mohler and other friends on his boat that day.

It was unbelievable, Rock said. It was like a dream come true.

The group had gone about 15 miles off shore in hopes of seeing shark activity feeding off a dead sperm whale. There were tiger sharks, an uncommon find.

Then, a huge shadow appeared on the water. We couldnt believe it, said Mohler. We laughed and put our heads back in the water and enjoyed the time we got to spend with her.

Yes, the group swam with Deep Blue, despite never being underwater uncaged with a great white before. Mohler and Rock agreed that the experience was worth the risk as the shark showed no signs of aggressive behavior.

The close encounter that allowed for this was pretty fantastic, Rock said. She was graceful, slow moving, non-threatening and we all watched in awe as she did her thing. She fed on the carcass and we had a beautiful experience.

The divers knew the shark was female and believed she was pregnant.

The last documented sighting of Deep Blue was around Mexico in 2013. She was first filmed around 1990. Some estimates have put her age at 50.

Deep Blue has been featured on Discoverys Shark Week.

Mohler hopes his photos, video and story can bring a truer picture of sharks to other humans.

We want to show that we do coexist, he said. She was almost playful. She was very curious. She checked us out and went on her way.

I feel absolutely lucky. Its incredible that we got to see her and spend as much time with her as we did,

Rock agreed.

Swimming with a great white has always been a huge dream of mine, she said. Its not an easy thing to do. Theres nowhere where you can really do that commercially in the world. Its pretty much if you happen upon them.

Ive always had a healthy respect for sharks. I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and if I didnt take advantage of doing something Ive always dreamed of, I would live in regret. It was a very calm environment and I didnt feel once that my safety was ever in danger.
Dan Dearth

ddearth@herald-mail.com

A Hagerstown woman died after the car she was driving was struck by a bus early Tuesday at U.S. 40 and Garland Groh Boulevard.

Ingrid Rocio Velasco Collazos, 40, had to be freed from a 2016 Ford Fusion before she was taken to Meritus Medical Center. Collazos was pronounced dead at the hospital at 6:43 a.m., according to a news release from Maryland State Police.

Troopers said the crash happened at about 5:40 a.m., when the Fusion was heading south on Garland Groh Boulevard. Collazos Ford Fusion turned into the path of a Ford E-350 shuttle bus heading west on U.S. 40.

Police said the bus struck the Fusion on the drivers side door. The Fusion failed to yield the right of way on a left-hand turn, police said.

The bus driver, Catherine Ann Baker, 55, of Hagerstown, suffered what appeared to be minor injuries, police said.

No passengers were on the bus.

Troopers said the bus was owned by Washington County Human Development Council, an organization that serves people with developmental disabilities.

The roadway was closed for about 2 1/2 hours while first responders worked at the scene.

The crash marked the second fatal crash in Washington County this year.

Cesar Elias Mejia Jr., 24, of Woodbridge, Va., died Thursday after a crash in Hagerstown. The vehicle in which he was a passenger struck a retaining wall at the Sheetz convenience store at 301 E. Washington St.
Don Aines

daines@herald-mail.com

A Hagerstown teenager charged this month as an adult on gun and drug charges now faces accusations that he was involved in a Dec. 22 shooting on Avalon Avenue.

The latest charges are based in part on a shell casing found almost a month after the incident.

Demond Lynn Williams Jr., 17, of Oak Hill Avenue, has been in the jail since his arrest on Jan. 12. In that case, he was charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana, use of a firearm in a felony, altering the serial number of a firearm and other offenses.

Hagerstown police searched a house in the 600 block of West Church Street, arresting Williams and 17-year-old Nishaya Campher. Both were charged as adults.

The weapon seized in that incident was a .45-caliber handgun found between the mattress and box spring of a bed the two were lying in, according to a charging document.

The search was part of an investigation into shooting incidents in Hagerstown, police said at the time. On Saturday, additional charges were filed against Williams, including three counts each of first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment, along with four firearm offenses.

In the Dec. 22 incident, witnesses told police they heard several shots near where a group of people were gathered. Police later found 12 9-mm shell casings in the neighborhood. At least one residence and a car were hit by gunfire. Witnesses reported seeing a gray sedan speed away.

The bullet that hit the residence went into a bedroom where a baby was sleeping in a cradle, Assistant States Attorney Brock Shriver said at Williams bond review hearing on Tuesday. Washington County District Judge Mark Thomas ordered Williams to remain held without bond.

After the Jan. 12 arrests of Williams and Campher, investigators questioned some of the six other people in the West Church Street residence, the document said. Some were uncooperative, but police eventually learned about the theft of 290 Percocet tablets and a pound of marijuana from a Smithsburg mans home in a burglary committed by two teenagers.

The Smithsburg man learned who stole the drugs, wanted to be paid and threatened the teens relatives, according to the charging document. A witness alleged that the man, who has not been charged, fired shots in the Dec. 22 incident.

After Williams arrest this month, investigators did more interviews about the Dec. 22 shooting. One person reported knowing Williams to carry a .380-caliber handgun, not the .45-caliber found at the time of his arrest. That also did not match the dozen 9-mm shell casings found at the scene.

Twenty-three days after the shooting, a detective went to Avalon Avenue and, on a street just plowed after a snowstorm, he immediately located a .380 shell casing in the roadway, the document said. The casing was damaged, apparently by being run over by vehicles, the document said.
The Herald-Mail

ANNAPOLIS  Del. Mike McKay tried Tuesday to convince the House Judiciary Committee to back a bill to change the requirement that potential state correctional officers undergo lie-detector tests.

McKays bill is an attempt to reduce the number of vacancies among correctional officers, which legislative analysts currently estimate at nearly 20 percent statewide.

It would not eliminate polygraph tests altogether, but would let corrections officials to either require the test or a more extensive background check  or both.

We believe these six words, or extensive background check, or both, will begin to address our staffing shortage, McKay, R-Washington/Allegany, said.

The bill  co-sponsored by Del. William Wivell, R-Washington  got a mixed reaction from committee members, several of whom wondered whether the polygraph requirement could simply be scaled back.

No one testified against the bill.

Wivell told the committee hed learned through meetings with correctional officers last summer that during one two-week pay period, there were 289 instances of mandatory overtime because of staff shortages.

The committee heard repeatedly that the polygraph test was a deterrent to potential applicants.

We have eliminated a lot of good people through the polygraph testing, former Roxbury Correctional Institution Warden Richard Miller said. Miller said a background investigation is a thorough way to vet applicants.

Sue Esty, legislative director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union that represents correctional officers, said the polygraph test is a major cause of the staffing shortage.

The majority of employers are not allowed to use polygraph tests to hire people, she said, because theyre not reliable. They have been a barrier instead of a screen.

Esty said that in 2015, only 38 percent of applicants for correctional officer positions passed the polygraph test.

Maryland is one of only seven states that use the polygraph test, she added.

Several of the witnesses, which included a number of correctional officers, said the staffing shortage created dangerous situations in state prisons because of tired, overworked officers.

We need staff, like, yesterday, said Phyllis Smith, who works in Central Booking in Baltimore. I lost my husband because I lived at the jail.

JoAnne Diggs, a recently retired captain at Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover, Md., said the prison was severely understaffed. I felt a major liability putting those people in danger by scheduling mandatory overtime.

Theyre dead on their feet, she said. Its ridiculous what were doing to them.

The drop in recruits began when the polygraph test was adopted, she said.

The General Assembly approved the polygraph test among other regulations after scandals at the Baltimore City Detention Center resulted in the indictment of dozens of correctional officers.

The polygraph was well-intentioned, said John Baker, a retiree of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. But the people who administer our law sometimes are too intense.

Diggs said several recruits told her the polygraph test took several hours. They were being asked questions over and over again, she said, and they felt intimidated and interrogated.

The department has not taken a position on the bill, McKay said.

Del. Ron Watson, a freshman legislator from Prince Georges County, favored keeping polygraph tests  but perhaps scaling them back.

Its easy to see the challenges you have, he said. I am a proponent of polygraphs, but the right kind of polygraph.
Alexis Fitzpatrick

afitzpatrick@herald-mail.com

Washington County has shown a sharp increase in how well students are prepared when they start kindergarten, according to a new Maryland State Department of Education report.

Released Tuesday, Marylands Kindergarten Readiness Assessment for 2018-19 shows that 43 percent of Washington County Public Schools 1,618 kindergarten students assessed last fall demonstrated readiness, meaning they were fully prepared for learning.

While still below the state average of 47 percent, the number is up 6 percentage points from 2017-18.

WCPS now ranks 14th out of 24 jurisdictions in the state, up from 23rd last year.

To me, this is big news, WCPS Superintendent Boyd Michael said by phone Tuesday. Thats a big change.

Michael said more impressive is the number of students who attended a WCPS pre-kindergarten program and demonstrated improved readiness when they started kindergarten this past fall. Fifty-four percent of those pre-K students reached or exceeded benchmarks.

WCPS is ranked fourth in the state for achieving readiness when tracking students who advanced from public pre-K to public kindergarten. Last year, the district tied for 15th with 43 percent.

Michael attributed the improvement to the districts pre-kindergarten expansion over the past two years and to its increased focus on curriculum, particularly early literacy.

WCPS used a grant to distribute 50 books to each pre-K student prior to this school year.

In a news release, WCPS stated that in the 2016-17 school year, 735 students went to half-day or full-day pre-kindergarten programs. Last school year, the total was 825.

For 2018-19, the district added full-day pre-kindergarten seats and extended half-day program spots to a full day, bringing the total spots to 945.

At least one full-day pre-kindergarten program is now offered at each elementary site.

I greatly appreciate the hard work, determination, and commitment of our PreK staff in making this significant level of progress for our youngest learners, Michael said in the release. These early learning experiences will have powerful long-term effects on the future success of our students. Their lives are being changed forever.

He said in a phone interview that WCPS also has partnered with various area agencies to help prepare its youngest students and has trained its instructors more.

About 44 percent of students WCPS assessed were enrolled in a publicly funded pre-kindergarten program last year.

Almost 9 percent were enrolled in Head Start, 11 percent went to a child-care center, nearly 7 percent were in family child care, 9.6 percent were in a non-public nursery and less than 1 percent repeated kindergarten.

Overall, the statewide results show that 33 percent of Maryland students entering kindergarten were approaching readiness, down from 37 percent the year before. Eighteen percent were emerging, up 2 percentage points from 2017-18.

Approaching readiness means the student demonstrates some foundational skills and behaviors that prepare him or her for curriculum based on Maryland College and Career-Ready kindergarten standards. Emerging readiness means the student shows limited foundational skills and behaviors.

Every step we take in kindergarten readiness leads to a big, important leap in student success, State Schools Superintendent Karen Salmon said in a news release Tuesday. Continued focus on quality early learning in our State may be the greatest investment we can make.

The assessment was administered by kindergarten teachers between the start of the school year and Oct. 10. The assessment measured students on language and literacy, math, social foundations, and physical well-being and motor development.

The full Kindergarten Readiness Assessment report is available at https://bit.ly/2MqOtYc.
Hagerstown, MD (21740)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Mike Lewis

mlewis@herald-mail.com

Referring to The Maryland Theatre expansion and other downtown projects, Don Bowman said progress comes in bits and pieces.

He was addressing dozens of people who gathered at the Bulls & Bears restaurant Tuesday. The celebration, he said, was about another one of those pieces.

In Tuesdays case, it was the merger of Bulls and Bears, 28 South and the Schindel Rohrer Ballroom under the ownership of Bowman Hospitality and the management of E. Jay Zuspan.

Were going to make it, Bowman said of downtown redevelopment. It gets better every year.

The city of Hagerstown hosted Tuesday afternoons ribbon-cutting ceremony for the businesses, which are all on the same block of South Potomac Street.

Don and the late Jone Bowman opened Bulls & Bears in the fall of 2008. It is in the renovated Tristate Electrical Supply building at 38 S. Potomac St.

Zuspan, a chef who trained at Baltimore International College, opened 28 South, at 28 S. Potomac St., in September 2012.

Recently, he teamed up with Bowman Hospitality to also become manager of Bulls and Bears and the Schindel Rohrer Ballroom, which is on the second floor of the 28 South building.

The plan is to produce a consistent product at both spaces and just continue to grow, Zuspan said.

Changes are in the works, too.

For example, a new menu was introduced Monday at Bulls & Bears.

I think it has more of your Southern comfort food, but with our little twist on it, Zuspan said.

If all goes as planned, a new menu will debut at 28 South later this year.

Zuspan has experience working in several restaurants, including Gladchuck Brothers in Frederick, Md.

Jay Zuspans strong reputation as a chef and restaurant manager makes him an ideal choice to move Bulls and Bears, 28 South and the Schindel Rohrer Ballroom to the next level, Samantha Bodnar, the Bowman Groups marketing and social-media coordinator, said in a news release.

Jay will bring fresh ideas and a new menu to Bulls and Bears, featuring old favorites and new smokehouse specials. Hell also bring a new menu to 28 South that will focus on fun dining  shareable meals and other culinary creations.
Alexis Fitzpatrick

afitzpatrick@herald-mail.com

In its continued effort to find the right technology for todays high school students, the Washington County Board of Education voted Tuesday to replace the current iPads at Boonsboro High School with new ones.

The BOE approved the $359,840 purchase 4-0 as part of a consent agenda, in which several items are considered at once. Board Vice President Stan Stouffer and members Jacqueline Fischer and Michael Guessford were not present.

Washington County Public Schools Superintendent Boyd Michael said the purchase of 1,028 iPads and attachable keyboards was part of the districts plan to determine what works best for high schoolers: iPads, Chromebooks or a combination.

He said each has drawbacks.

Boonsboro Highs current iPads will be reused within the school district as part of its balanced five-year replacement plan. The new ones will be distributed as soon as they come in this spring, he said.

According to board documents, the current unit price per iPad with the case is approximately 18 percent less than anticipated costs as outlined in the Digital Learning Plan.

The money will be paid to Apple out of the general fund.

North Hagerstown High School is currently testing a Chromebook pilot program.

The board voted to approve $545,600 from the general fund for Chromebook laptops and accessories for every North High student and staff member in June 2018. The district rolled out the major part of its iPad distribution for students two years earlier.

Principal James Aleshire told the board on Jan. 8 that North High did not entirely get rid of its iPads, keeping several carts of them for teachers to sign out when appropriate. Aleshire said certain tasks are a better fit for one device over another.

Eleventh-grade teacher Beckie Higgins-Arey said at the Jan. 8 meeting that people dont use one device for everything, and iPads are better suited to work on media, photos and video. Chromebooks have helped with preparation for college, careers and the business world, she said.

Michael said at the Jan. 8 meeting that the district plans to purchase Chromebooks for another high school, but did not say which school or when.
Don Aines

daines@herald-mail.com

A Hagerstown woman whose history includes being present at two homicides and two other shootings was arrested on Monday by Hagerstown police. She is accused of threatening a woman with a handgun.

Fantasia Shantal Rivera, 25, was charged with first- and second-degree assault, use of a firearm in a violent crime, possession of a firearm by a felon and other offenses in the Monday afternoon incident. Police said it happened in the building where she lives at 201 E. Washington St.

Rivera was also charged with the use of a magazine of more than 20 rounds capacity in a crime of violence.

A woman living in an apartment below Riveras called 911 at 2:46 p.m. to report that Rivera threatened to shoot her, the charging document said. The woman told police Rivera yelled and banged on her door and, when she opened it, Rivera was holding a handgun.

Get your kids out. Im going to shoot you, Rivera told the woman, the charging document said. The woman told police Rivera ran upstairs when she heard sirens.

Officers detained Rivera and she signed a consent search form. She told officers there was nothing in her apartment except a little weed.

Two women and a man initially refused to open the apartment door for police, the charging document said. A search of the apartment turned up a loaded .40-caliber Glock hidden in a closet.

The gun had a round in the chamber and 14 in the magazine, the document said. The magazine had a capacity of 30 rounds.

A witness told police that Rivera might have believed the victim tried breaking into her apartment, the charging document said.

At a bond hearing on Tuesday, Assistant Public Defender Brian Hutchison asked Washington County District Judge Mark Thomas to consider setting bond, saying Rivera has an infant and is pregnant with another child. Thomas noted that Rivera was on probation for a 2012 robbery conviction when she was arrested, and is prohibited from having a firearm.

Thomas ordered Rivera to remain held without bond.

Rivera was convicted of a strong-arm robbery in 2012 and another crime as a juvenile, which also disqualified her from having a gun.

Rivera was present at a number of shootings and stabbings in the past, some fatal, according to police reports:

 On Sept. 27, 2010, Rivera was present when a then-2-year-old was shot and paralyzed in a bedroom of an apartment on Little Elliott Drive. The child apparently shot himself in the chest with a stolen handgun. Rivera was found delinquent in juvenile court on a charge of obstructing police for hiding the weapon at a nearby playground.

 Rivera was walking with Wesley Colin Williams when he was shot and wounded on Jonathan Street on Oct. 17, 2011, police said.

 On June 24, 2012, Antonio Michael Joyner of Walkersville, Md., died after being shot during a party in a Guilford Avenue house. Charges against Marcus Longus for Joyners killing were later dismissed. Hagerstown police listed Rivera as present.

 Shakur Thornton, 17, was stabbed and killed during a fight on West Franklin Street on March 29, 2013. City police listed Rivera as present at the incident.
Staff reports

The Herald-Mail

A Chambersburg man was arrested after he reportedly assaulted and screamed racial slurs at a Pennsylvania State Police trooper Monday during a domestic-related disturbance in Guilford Township, Pa.

Robert Clinton Brooks, 49, was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and ethnic intimidation, police said.

According to a news release issued by state police, troopers were speaking to Brooks and another person involved in a verbal argument that occurred inside a home in 1900 block of McKenzie Road around 5:35 p.m. when Brooks reportedly became irate. Police said that Brooks began yelling ethnic slurs at an African-American trooper and also threatened to kill him.

Troopers attempted to diffuse the situation when police said that Brooks explosively shoulder struck a trooper in the face. Police said that Brooks then began to hit the trooper with a closed fist multiple times in his rib cage.

According to police, the strikes caused pain and briefly incapacitated the trooper. Both the trooper and Brooks fell to the ground where a physical struggle ensued along with other troopers before a Taser was used to assist in taking Brooks into custody.

Brooks was taken to Franklin County Jail where he was unable to post the $150,000 bail.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Feb. 5.
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Trump is being the adult in the room. He has stopped talking about invoking a national emergency. Hes showing flexibility on the definition of a wall, the number of miles, the amount of money  and adding immigration sweeteners. To demonstrate his support for immigration, he even held a naturalization ceremony in the Oval Office to personally swear in new citizens from Iraq, Bolivia, Jamaica, the United Kingdom and South Korea, telling them our whole nation embraces you with open arms and joyful hearts.

But it seems Democrats objective is not to find a way out of the stalemate; it is to humiliate the president. Since Trump heeded Warners advice, maybe the senator should go to his own leadership and tell them the same thing: The only way this standoff ends is with a win-win solution. Trump is willing to let Democrats claim victory, as long as he can, too.

Indeed, he is offering Democrats what should be a tantalizing possibility  that a small deal on the wall now could pave the way to a big deal on immigration.

The Democrats refusal to negotiate is self-defeating. Just as only Nixon could go to China, only Trump can cut an immigration deal with Democrats. Trump is willing to push back on the immigration hard-liners in his own party to make such a deal. By contrast, Pelosi and Schumer are pandering to their partys hard-liners. It is a pathetic display of political cowardice and opportunism. Their hatred for Trump is so all-consuming that they cannot bring themselves to accept his outstretched hand and make a deal that would give them many of their long-held immigration priorities.

Follow Marc A. Thiessen on Twitter, @marcthiessen.
Senate Bill 1503 would permit referenda in Bristol, Danville and Portsmouth  three cities struggling economically. The modified version would include a casino proposed by the Pamunkey Indian Tribe that could go in Norfolk or on land the tribe owns near Richmond.

The governor said there is much to look at.

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We just want to be responsible and do it the right way. Theyre [lawmakers] vetting through that now, and thats the way the process works. I have daily communication with folks in the House and the Senate, on both sides of the aisle, the governor said. The reason Im open-minded is we have a lot of resources and a lot of people in Virginia that go to other states. If thats something that they enjoy, we would like to keep that revenue here in Virginia. If we do that, we want to do it correctly.

The governor said making improvements to Interstate 81 is a priority for his administration, and he came out two weeks ago in favor of a proposal to impose tolls. But, like the casino legislation, he wants to see what develops in the General Assembly.
ABINGDON, Va.  A federal judge on Tuesday said its disturbing that surveillance camera video believed to show a Taser incident at Bristols Cabelas store  which resulted in a lawsuit  is missing, and he speculated that someone at the company may have deep-sixed it.

A $700,000 federal lawsuit was filed by Chris Blevins Jr. against the Bristol Cabelas store and two officers, Wendy Brewer and Patricia Eller, with the Bristol Virginia Police Department. The officers were off duty and working security at the store on Black Friday 2017, when Blevins was stunned by Brewer after being falsely accused of shoplifting at Cabelas.

The lawsuit contends that he was falsely imprisoned and excessive force was used. It also accuses the officers of defamation and violation of his constitutional rights.

Attorneys for all involved gathered on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Abingdon to argue before Judge James P. Jones on a number of motions, including requests for summary judgment, which would have settled the case without a trial. The lawsuit is set for a jury trial on March 4.

While Jones did not immediately rule on the motions, he did express concern about the missing video from a surveillance camera outside the store. Jones said he suspects that someone at Cabelas deep-sixed the video.
Mayor Kevin Mumpower, who has advocated for strict policies on all the citys financial operations, said Tuesday was like they fell over the goal line.

I think its a big milestone for us, Mumpower said. Im pretty aggressive when it comes to that, and I wanted to be more aggressive than the policies state, but I think what weve got is a very good structure. It addressed all the big concerns. I think having the debt thresholds in there, that you dont apply general obligation debt or moral debt to private enterprise  the things weve made mistakes on in the past  is now pretty well-outlined in that policy.

The policy also includes accountability. If the city exceeds debt thresholds, the auditors have to note it each year, and city leaders are required to develop a plan to correct problems.

However, the council did not approve creating citizen advisory committees to assist the council on developing its operating budget and dealing with its solid waste landfill operations. Mumpower and Vice Mayor Kevin Wingard favored the committees, but a Wingard motion to establish them died due to lack of a second.
ATKINS, Va.  Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced on Tuesday that Smyth County Machine will invest $2.1 million to add equipment, expand its product line and hire 35 new employees, after securing $300,000 in grant funding.

The company, a full-service machining and fabrication facility, was recently acquired by Becker Global-America CEO and Southwest Virginia native Greg Sanders.

Smyth County Machine has been creating jobs and stimulating the economy of Southwest Virginia for more than 40 years, helping make this region a hub for the Commonwealths manufacturing industry, Northam said in a written statement. We are pleased that this homegrown company has decided to expand and add new jobs in Smyth County, which will provide opportunity for our skilled workforce and result in a significant local economic impact.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Smyth Countys Industrial Advancement Alliance and the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission to secure the project. Northam approved a $100,000 grant from the Commonwealths Opportunity Fund and the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission approved $200,000 in Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds for the project.

The company is also eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, as well as sales and use tax exemptions on manufacturing equipment. Funding and services to support the companys employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
Anderson, IN (46016)

Today

Thunderstorms likely - possibly severe, especially this evening. Damaging winds with some storms. Low 68F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely - possibly severe, especially this evening. Damaging winds with some storms. Low 68F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Shane Ragsdale, formerly of Greenville, beloved son of Sheila June Winters and father Sariah Vanderwal-Ragsdale, passed away May 31, 2021 in the ICU of Hilo Hawaii hospital of pneumonia. Hi memorial service was held June 12, in Makapala, Hawaii. His fellowship on Earth will be missed; antici
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David Attenborough warned it is difficult to overstate the environmental crisis facing the planet as he was interviewed live on stage by Britain's Prince William.

The veteran broadcaster urged leaders to care for the natural world as he spoke with the prince at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Blue Planet and Dynas- ties narrator stressed the "frightening" mechanisms humans have for destruction, and warned how a healthy natural world was "absolutely essential" to human life.

"The future of the natural world is in our hands. We have never been more powerful," Attenborough said.

"We can wreck it with ease. We can wreck it without even knowing we are doing it, and if we wreck the natural world, in the end we wreck ourselves.

"It is difficult to overstate it. We are now so numerous, so powerful, so all-pervasive, the mechanisms that we have for destruction are so wholesale and so frightening that we can actually exterminate whole ecosystems without even noticing it."

Unbelievable

Attenborough also discussed his new nature documentary, Our Planet, saying streaming it on Netflix would allow it to be seen by millions around the world.

Describing the modern technology used in his documentary-making, he said: "The facilities we have are un- believable. We can go everywhere. The natural world has never been exposed to this degree before."

Prince William described it as a "personal treat" to be interviewing Attenborough.

He has spoken of his fondness for watching Attenborough's programmes as a child and previously described him as having "the single most important impact in my conservation thinking".
The parents (back left) of Orla Church follow her coffin after the mass

CervicalCheck cancer act-ivist Orla Church would take "huge comfort in knowing that the work she was involved in will make a difference to the lives of many women and their families in future", her funeral mass was told.

Her brother, David, spoke at her requiem mass yesterday in Our Lady of Consolation, Donnycarney, about how Orla had campaigned behind the scenes for the improvement of health services for women.

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Treasured

He said she had worked alongside health professionals creating guidelines for doctors to help identify and diagnose the illness.

Orla lost her battle with cervical cancer last Saturday, and hundreds of people attended her funeral.

Her brother said she was the eldest of six, and "she was a wonderful sister, an amazing aunt to her 12 nieces and nephews, and most importantly she was a treasured daughter to my parents".

From Beaumont in north Dublin, he told how his 54-year-old sister loved to travel.

"She spent some time in France in her late teens. She loved French food and French wine," he said.

Mr Church described his sister as "strong, intelligent, witty and articulate".

"Orla was the boss of the family, the glue that kept us together. Her legendary Sunday dinners were not to be missed," he told mourners.

"She loved seeing all the family and the kids getting together to catch-up every weekend."

He also referred to her fondness of animals, and how she loved all her nieces and nephews like they were her own children, and never missed a birthday, was always prepared with a cake and always ready to celebrate.

She moved to England in 1989 and spent five years in London, where she made some great friendships, and had subsequently worked as an analyst in the Central Bank here.

Her coffin was adorned with lilies, and her nephew Stephen Grealy placed a photo of her on it.

The mass was celebrated by Fr Vasyl Kornitsky.

During the service, prayers were said for "comfort and healing" for all the women and their families who have been affected by the same illness that Orla fought "so bravely with dignity and grace".

Prayers were also said for the medical team who had cared for her over the past weeks.

She had been praised by Health Minister Simon Harris for her contribution to guidelines for doctors on cervical cancer.

Burial took place at Balgriffin Cemetery.
The much anticipated resuscitation of Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) has hit a snag as the decision has been deffered. The resuscitation was to be done in September last year but this could not happen and the government through Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) was tangled in legal battle with public sector unions.

The legal suit by the unions came after the DPSM cancelled their (unions) recognition agreement to negotiate salary increment and Conditions of Service for public workers. This week DPSM Director Goitseone Mosalakatane revealed that the resuscitation process has been deferred until conclusion of salary negotiations. She revealed that this has been agreed with the public sector unions that have recognition with the employer. Mosalakatane stated that President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi had expressed the desire for the council to be functional by September 2018.

The underlying principle was that the PSBC should be functional, to be able to undertake salary negotiations for 2019/2020 before the budget circle closes, said the director. Botswana Federation of Public Private Parastatal Sectors Union (BOFEPUSU) Deputy Secretary General Ketlhalefile Motshegwa expressed concern that government has not shown seriousness in having the council functional. He stated that the president, Dr. Masisi continues to utter statements to the effect that Government is willing to start negotiations and work well with trade unions, while it is clear that his administration is not committed to improving the welfare of workers, not prepared to establish labour institutions such as the PSBC.

The Government must be serious and work well with trade unions, improve the welfare of workers. Trade unions are on the other hand committed to harmonious labour relations in the best interest of workers and industrial peace for political and economic prosperity of this country, he said. In his State of the Nation Address in November last year Masisi reaffirmed Governments commitment to the resuscitation of the PSBC to advance the interests of the public sector employees in a fair and transparent manner. He explained that the PSBC is the most critical element in fostering good employee relations in the Public Service.

According to the president it is therefore, imperative that Government and Unions as partners should ensure a resuscitation of this important platform if we are to have a more effective and constructive engagement. Government started the process of engaging all Public Service Unions in August, 2018. Subsequently, a Technical Committee comprising representatives of the Unions and Government was established to operationalise the Council by collectively agreeing on a new Constitution.

The Technical Committee has been engaged in the process of crafting the Constitution until recently when the process stalled as a result of demands by some unions that one union be excluded from the process alleging non-compliance with the requirements of the Public Service Act, said Dr Masisi. In 2017 BOFEPUSU pulled out of the PSBC arguing that the government of the day at the time under President Ian Khama, was disregarding the council and its functions. The federation informed the PSBC secretariat through a letter dated 2nd May 2017 and copied to then Director of DPSM Ruth Maphorisa.
Thousands of patients face being told their treatments are to be cancelled if nurses go on strike next week.

The Mater Hospital has already begun alerting people that it will only be providing emergency services next Wednesday, with the industrial action delaying surgeries, outpatient appointments and treatments.

As nursing unions and employers meet for crunch talks today at the Workplace Relations Commission, a number of hospitals are already warning patients - some of whom have been on waiting lists for months and years - they are likely to be contacted about cancellations.

The HSE was unable to provide any details yesterday .

But the Mater said apart from emergency services "all other services will be postponed, including but not limited to elective surgery, out-patient clinics, minor injuries unit service and day services".

"If you have an appointment or a procedure scheduled for Wednesday, January 30, please be aware that you may be contacted by the hospital in the coming days as your appointment may be rescheduled," it added.

"The Mater Hospital will endeavour to keep all our patients informed in a timely manner, however we rely on national negotiations for updates and can only plan based on the updates we receive."

Other hospitals across the country are to issue similar warnings, although some critical areas such as cancer care will be exempt.

Rescheduled

Hospitals have already had to scale down surgeries due to winter overcrowding, with 505 patients recorded on trolleys waiting for a bed yesterday.

The restrictions on surgery in particular means that patients whose operations are cancelled may face a long delay before being rescheduled.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Association will meet the HSE at today's hearing on demands for higher pay.

Sources said they are unlikely to agree to call off action until they believe progress is made.

A huge gulf would have to be bridged between the two unions and health sector management to reach agreement. One avenue that could be explored is the possibility of a general review of nurses' pay compared to other healthcare staff with degrees.

The Public Service Pay Commission floated this idea but it also said this should be done at an appropriate time and without compromising the stability of the public service pay bill.

However, it is understood that the Department of Public Expenditure has strongly objected to this exercise being carried out during the timeframe of the current pay deal up to 2020.

The Government is still taking a hard line on the dispute after Health Minister Simon Harris briefed the Cabinet on the dispute and ongoing efforts to find a resolution.

"The minister updated the meeting on talks between management and unions on Monday and the failure to reach agreement," said a spokesperson for the minister last night.

"Management and unions will go to the Workplace Relations Commission. The minister has always said the dispute can be resolved and believes engagement is key."

However, she said the minister was clear that any resolution must be found within the existing public sector pay deal. The deal rules out further cost-increasing claims and industrial action.

If the nurses go ahead with strikes, they face severe financial sanctions, including a nine-month delay in pay rises due under the wage agreement and the loss of a deal for recent recruits worth 3,300 each.

The HSE is continuing to hold talks with the unions on contingency planning for the strike.

Nurses plan to hold a 24-hour stoppage next Wednesday, followed by further strikes on five dates next month.
Residents of the Riverwood Hall apartments in Castleknock were shocked to learn their landlord intended to sell up

Young families living in an apartment block close to the home of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar have been issued with eviction notices just weeks after Christmas.

Residents of nine west Dublin apartments in Riverwood Hall, Castleknock, received letters last week notifying them of the landlord's intention to sell.

The "shocked" citizens fear they could become homeless due to the lack of affordable accommodation in the capital.

They had been paying 1,100 in rent a month for a two-bed apartment and are now facing a likely substantial hike to find similar accommodation.

Renting

Tenants were given the option of buying the properties for 250,000 each, but only have a week to inform the landlord if they are making an offer.

Emma Byrne and her partner Alan Kiely have been renting in Riverwood for three years and described the timing as "ridiculous".

"We've been looking around [for somewhere new] since we found out and the cheapest quote we're getting is 1,700 and 1,800, which is a big jump," Ms Byrne said.

"If we had have known this was coming around the corner after Christmas we wouldn't have spent so much and now we're looking at an increase in rent and the stress of finding somewhere else."

Another resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: "Riverwood feels like home to us and we had already started saving to buy around here."

Tenants were given between nine and 12 weeks to clear out.

Fianna Fail TD for Dublin West Jack Chambers said it was "concerning" for all living in Riverwood Hall.

"One of the properties is vacant, which brings the number to nine even though 10 appear to be in the process of a future sale. It sets a worrying precedent for many families living in blocks of apartments owned by a single owner," he said.

Tenants received a letter from Hooke & MacDonald estate agents, on behalf of the appointed receiver from Grant Thornton, the administrator of the estate of developer Liam Maye, who died in 2008.

A spokesperson for Grant Thornton said the notices are compliant with the Tyrrelstown legislation as only nine apartments have been issued termination notices and "Tyrrelstown legislation is applicable to 10 properties and above".

"The tenants have been given an additional 28 days' notice above statutory obligations to allow for alternative accommodation to be sought," the spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for the Taoiseach said: "None of Taoiseach's constituents have been in touch with him or his constituency office as of yet. He will look in to the matter and respond to any requests for assistance made in the normal way."
Huntington, WV (25705)

Today

Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 68F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Member of Parliament for Selibe-Phikwe West Dithapelo Keorapetse is proposing that child marriages should be abolished.The Marriage Act prescribes that a person between the ages of 18 and 20 requires the consent of their guardian or parent to marry.

According to Keorapetse the Bill prohibits the marriages of persons under the age of 18, consistent with the Interpretation Act (Cap 01:04) and the Childrens Act. The Bill amends Section 15 of the Marriage Act by deleting it to ensure that child marriages are totally prohibited.

As the UDC and other equally concerned Members of Parliament across the political divide, we are deeply concerned that our laws permit children under the age of 18 years to be married in accordance with customary law or any other religion, such as Islam, Christianity or Hinduism, said Keorapetse.He said they are fortified in their view by the fact that the Marriage Act does not apply to such marriages in so far as the essentials of the marriages are concerned. The Marriage Act only deals with the essential elements of a civil marriage.

Keorapetse also explained that civil Marriage Act does in fact recognise such marriages and that the Marriage Act will not deal with the validity of such religions or cultural marriages. The Bill further proposes that the Marriage Act be amended to require the consent of both parents irrespective of their marital status or irrespective of the circumstances of the children.

The issue of child marriages is an issue that has been troubling the SADC region for a while now. In Zimbabwe for instance, the constitutional court, - the highest court in the land - declared marriages of children under 18 years of age unconstitutional and abolished the customary and religious practices allowing for it.

In 2016, the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) adopted a Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage.The Model Law on child marriage requires member states, including Botswana, to harmonise their national laws to prevent child marriages, which is consistent with the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage in a Generation.

The Model Law provides guidance to parliamentarians, ministries of justice, policymakers, and other stakeholders in SADC countries on how best to go about developing the national laws. Its primary aim is to eliminate several inconsistencies and gaps in the current laws that enable girls to be brides. We have consequently drawn heavily from the Model Law in the proposed amendments we have developed accompanying this position paper.
Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
A SPECIAL service was held at St Marys Church in Henley on Sunday to promote Christian unity.

The event was part of an international week of prayer that is held annually to bring Christians from different churches together.

Choral evensong was led by Jeremy Tayler, rector of Henley with Remenham, while the visiting clergy included Rev Roger Cole, pastor at Henley Baptist Church, Fr Paul Fitzpatrick, parish priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Glyn Millington, minister at Christ Church United Reformed Church, and Rev Robert Thewsey, rector of the united benefice of Shiplake, Dunsden and Harpsden.

The congregation of about 90 worshippers said prayers for the unity and mission of the church, for the nation and for the world.

The St Marys Choir were conducted by Sebastian Thomson as they performed Peter Warlocks Bethlehem Down and the whole congregation sang hymns.

Rev Tayler said: It was uplifting to hear the ministers of different churches each praying in a way that both reflected their own traditions but was also complementary and mutually enriching.

The congregation was made up of worshippers from many of the churches in and around Henley and the atmosphere was warm and joyful.

The service reflected the good relationships the churches in Henley enjoy with one another, facilitated by the Churches Together group and regular meetings between the local ministers.

 Choral evensong is held at St Marys on the third Sunday of every month at 4.30pm.
A RACE between military crews will return to this years Henley Royal Regatta after a 100-year absence.

The Kings Cup will involve male and female military athletes from the UK, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, America, Germany and the Netherlands competing in the knock-out competition over the final three days of the event in July.

The first six of those nations took part in the 1919 Royal Henley Peace Regatta, held after the end of the First World War.

An Australian crew won the original Kings Cup, which was presented by George V and is now awarded annually to the fastest state crew in Australia.

This years competition, which is for eights, will be the first time a cross-gender military crew has raced at an elite international event.

Regatta chairman Sir Steve Redgrave said: The regatta is delighted to host such an important commemoration.

The 1919 Royal Henley Peace Regatta was a key milestone in our sport and was staged by the rowing community to help heal wounds and hasten the return to normality of the Allied nations and their troops recovering from the First World War.

Organiser Chris Hartley said: The 2019 Kings Cup campaign has been several years in the making and has strong support from all eight nations.

It demonstrates once again the power of sport to build positive change.

As military forces around the world embrace gender inclusiveness, the prospect of mixed crews racing at the regatta is tremendously exciting. As in 1919, the regatta is breaking new ground and we anticipate highly competitive racing.

This years regatta will take place from July 3 to 7.
Developer proposes 1,224 homes, apartments at Tap Root Dairy

An Asheville developer has submitted plans for a residential subdivision of 1,224 homes, townhomes and apartments on the Tap Root Dairy land on the French Broad River off Butler Bridge Road.

The application was filed by Ken Jackson, a third-generation developer and contractor, and engineer Warren Sugg. Plans show a develoopment of 545 single-family homes, 312 apartments and 361 townhomes on the 286-acre tract, a density of 4 units per acre. Plans submitted to the Henderson County planning department show the project buildout in 10 phases starting with 312 apartments in the first phase.

The county notified surrounding property owners of the application and announced a meeting at 3 p.m. Monday during which neighbors will hear from the developer and have the opportunity to ask questions or raise concerns.

Made up of apartments, the first phase would be accessed from Butler Bridge Road west of Yadkin Road. Later phases would add homes, townhomes and apartments gradually toward the west, with the last three phases going up close to the French Broad River.

The four phases would include 312 apartments, 361 townhomes and 70 single-family homes. The last five phases would be made up of 475 single-family homes, according to the plans. The property is zoned regional commercial but would need a conditional zoning permit because the developer proposes more than 100 units of multifamily housing, Henderson County planner Allen McNeill said.

The property is owned by the Johnston family, fourth generation dairy farmers. The family has had the property on the market for many years. In 2007, the family had a tentative deal with a Charlotte company to sell the land for a development that included a shopping mall anchored by a Bass Pro Shop, a branch of Western Carolina University and a medical clinic.

Mary Louise Johnston Corn, a School Board member, said Wednesday that terms of a sale contract bar her from talking about the transaction.

Sugg, an engineer with Civil Design Concepts in Asheville, said he could not elaborate on the project yet.

"We've got a neighborhood meeting coming up" where more details will be revealed, he said.

The developer, L.B. Jackson & Co., traces its roots to Ken Jackson's great-grandfather, who moved his family to Asheville from Georgia in 1914 and began building homes. His son, L.B. Jackson, built Asheville's first skyscraper, the Jackson building, in 1924, the company says on its website.

After earning a graduate degree in construction management degree from Clemson, Ken Jackson worked in the construction field in Washington, D.C., and later for Asheville-based Beverly Grant Construction. He started L.B. Jackson & Co. in 1985. The company has built a half dozen office buildings, several grocery anchored centers, strip centers, industrial parks, residential subdivisions and residential condo projects.
Attracting, retaining and engaging employees are some of the most difficult challenges for any HR director. HRDTV sat down with Jane Betts, Group Executive HR at Australian Unity, to discuss how the HR team are assisting the transformation agenda.

Attracting, retaining and engaging employees are some of the most difficult challenges for any HR director. HRD TV sat down with Jane Betts, Group Executive HR at Australian Unity, to discuss how the HR team are assisting the transformation agenda.
He actually avoided me for several weeks and then in the final weeks I wasnt getting paid at all, Amy said.

McNamee also allegedly ordered employees to charge Aboriginal patrons for water and to expel them from the pub without a legitimate reason.

I told you no blacks in my f**king bar, McNamee purportedly wrote in a text message seen by ABC News. The message was said to have been sent to a senior staff member.

Brock and Amy, along with other employees, have filed multiple complaints with the Fair Work Ombudsman. Only a few other staff members continue to work for Rorkes, forcing the bar to close for the week.

The Racial Discrimination Act prohibits businesses from refusing goods or services to a person based on their race
Judge Yvonne Laird, left, swears in new 12th Judicial District Kaydee Snipes Ruiz Tuesday at the Hill County Courthouse in Havre. Laird presides over Montana's 17th District.

The new judge for state 12th Judicial District covering Chouteau, Hill and Liberty counties was sworn in Wednesday morning in the district courtroom in the Hill County Courthouse.

Kaydee Snipes Ruiz was sworn in by 17th Judicial District Judge Yvonne Laird of Chinook.

Snipes Ruiz said at the end of the ceremony that being sworn in felt surreal but she also felt hope, hope for the community and hope moving forward.

She added that, moving forward, there are many challenges facing the district but that by working together these challenges can be overcome.

"The change is coming," she said. "We have to be willing to re-evaluate the status quo, we have to be willing to innovate, we have to be willing to employ technology to maximize efficiency without taking out and compromising that human interaction.

"Change takes time, it takes patience and it takes hard work," she added. "... Together we can rise up and beat this challenge."

Snipes Ruiz, who joined the state bar and started practice in Havre in 2011 and has served as the regional deputy public defender for the area since 2014, was appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock to take the place of Judge Dan Boucher.

Boucher retired in November, days after being elected to a third term. He was appointed in 2010 to replace Judge Dave Rice, who retired that year. Boucher was unopposed in his bid for re-election in 2012 and last year.

Snipes Ruiz said her family taught her to work hard at whatever she did, and she added that she will apply that to her position on the bench.

She said she was the second child of a working-class family and she couldn't remember a time that her mother did not work two jobs. The commitment her mother displayed inspired her to do the same, Snipes Ruiz said.

She said her mother pushed both her and her brother to attend college and follow what they wanted to do.

"My mom is the most hard-working woman I've ever met," she said. "... She instilled in me a work ethic that I have carried forward."

Praise for Snipes Ruiz

Great Falls attorney Ben Snipes, Snipes Ruiz' older brother, said he was very proud of what his sister has accomplished and that she is "the type of judge you want to have on the bench."

She is intensely dedicated, which she exhibited at a very young age with her extra-curricular activities, he said. In college, she became dedicated to community service, in particular child advocacy, which she carried on into law school at Gonzaga in Spokane, Snipes said. She received the Gonzaga Student Bar Association Civic Award for public service as the most outstanding public servant at the university for two years.

As regional deputy public defender she earned the Governors Award in 2016, the highest honor that someone in that sector can acquire, he said.

He added that his sister has dedication to her community. He said Snipes Ruiz donates time and effort to veterans and children organizations within the Havre community, as well as offereing pro-bono representation as a public defender.

This provided her with perspective and keen insight into her community, he said, adding that he is very proud of her for that.

Snipes said his sister has a heart for the community, serving in many different organizations and groups in the area, dedicated to being ingrained within the community. He added that she declined taking a job in Helena because she wanted to stay in the Havre area.

"My sister has arrived today to this position that she is very excited and very humbled to be a part of," he said.

Snipes said that his little sister graduated from C.M. Russell High School with distinction, then graduated from Montana State University in Bozeman where she graduated with distinction before finally graduating from Gonzaga University Law School.

She moved back to Montana, he said, because "once it is in your heart, once it is ingrained, that sense of community hits you. It's very difficult to stay away."

He added that Snipes Ruiz had many opportunities to practice law outside of Havre and outside of Montana but wanted to stay in her home state.

She first started out in private practice, he said, but soon moved to public service as a member of the public defender's office, where she became the regional deputy for the area.

Snipes also told a story of when he and Snipes Ruiz were children during family movie night, his sister stuck a popcorn kernel in her ear. He said that he called their mother into the room and they took her to the hospital to have the kernel removed.

This effectively ended movie night for that day, he said, but, "I think that was probably the worst decision Kaydee's ever made," Snipes said. "I feel that her best decisions are still ahead of her."

If the past tells anything about the character of Snipes Ruiz, Snipes said, she will pour her heart out into the job as district judge as well as to the community.

"I am proud from here on after to call my sister, your Honor, but even prouder to just be her big brother," he said.

Blaine County Justice of the Peace Judge Perry Miller said he has known Snipes Ruiz for the eight years she has been in north-central Montana and that she holds the highest standard of judiciary, with a moral character that is unquestionable.

Miller told Snipes Ruiz that after taking his certification test 25 years ago, former Montana Chief Justice Jean A. Turnage made a statement to him and 167 other judges that has stuck with him.

"As jurists, we must always remember that the matters that come before us, no matter how large or how small, criminal or civil, are the most important matters ... at that time, and as judges we must never forget to treat them as such," he said.

Laird said that she has only known Snipes Ruiz for a few years, but she was honored to swear her in.

She said she grew up in Hill County and she remembers the judges who came before Snipes Ruiz, and she never thought that she would be a part of swearing in the first female judge of District 12.

"Our community has changed, and it is evolving for the good," she said. "But don't ever think that Judge Ruiz is the judge simply because she is a woman. ... She is clearly qualified for this job. She will continue to carry our Hi-Line community forward and make a positive change in the community."
The youngest state district judge in Montana history and first female judge in the states 12th Judicial District said she is honored to be selected and excited to start her duties on the bench.

Im ready, Kaydee Snipes Ruiz said before she was sworn in Tuesday in the district courtroom in the Hill County Courthouse. Im ready for the challenge and Im ready to dive in with both feet.

Snipes Ruiz takes the place of Judge Dan Boucher, who retired last November.

As the youngest district judge in Montana history, she said, she is confident in her ability to perform the job well.

Ive been the youngest, you know, in a lot of ways moving forward, she said.

She added that most people dont go from their undergraduate program straight into law school. She was one of the youngest people in her class graduating.

Ruiz said she was born and raised in Great Falls and graduated from C.M. Russell High School. She then obtained her bachelors degree in sociology with justice studies and a minor in political science from Montana State University in Bozeman before graduating from Gonzaga University Law School in 2011 at the age of 24.

She said she moved to Havre in 2011 as a practicing attorney, working originally in Lorang Law, before starting with the Office of the State Public Defender in 2014 as an assistant attorney. She said she worked as a public defender for five years and left as the regional deputy public defender.

Her favorite part about working as a public defender, she said, was working with people, and she thinks that will translate into her job as the district judge.

Snipes Ruiz said she has seen some inefficiencies in the district judge position in her five years of practice, adding that she thinks moving forward there will be some changes.

The court has a backlog, she said, but she is excited to start and to get things going in the office.

She said some things that need to be changed are the utilization of technology that is available in the office. Right now, she said, they can utilize the technology to save the sheriffs office some money and save the taxpayers some time in court proceedings. She added that this is something she wants to start changing right away.

Snipes Ruiz said another item that she would like to change immediately is how the scheduling is drawn up for days the judge hears cases. The judge doesnt sit every day, she said. Snipes Ruiz said setting things up through block scheduling would help assure things are well-organized and running smoothly. She added that, in the past, the court had no rhyme or reason to how the cases were organized, with everything just lumped together during certain times.

With her change, people can use that to work their schedules and it can be more predictable and it can flow a little better, Snipes Ruiz said.

She said the process of her appointment started in October.

In order to apply, she said, candidates had to be in practice more than five years, in good standing with the bar and live in the region. Candidates also had to submit an application and have a public comment period open for people to write in and say what they thought of the candidates.

The other applicants were Havre attorney Randy Randolph, Big Sandy attorney Tom Sheehy and Chouteau County Attorney Steve Gannon.

Out of four candidates, she said, the Judicial Nomination Committee interviewed and selected three candidates  herself, Randolph and Sheehy  to send to the governors office to select as the new judge.

It was nerve-racking, Snipes Ruiz said.  It was all very exciting for me and my family.

She added that she and her husband and daughter were very excited throughout the entire process.

It is pretty surreal, she said, I would say that its pretty surreal, but also I feel as though it was a situation where it was the right place, the right time and the right context to do it.

She said she tells people that she is never the smartest person in the room, although she is always willing to work hard and learn and get things figured out.

Snipes Ruiz said she sees potential in the community through her membership in a variety of clubs and organizations over the years.

She said the majority of her experience is in criminal cases, so she sees more-complicated civil cases as more challenging, although, she added, because of her age she has the energy to spend the time learning and studying the subject.

She said that with no sitting judge in the district since November, various judges from different districts in the state have substituted in District 12 on different cases.

Everything has just been hovering and waiting, she said.

Ive come into a very warm and welcoming situation in the fact that there have been a lot of judges that have been around, willing to help out, she added.

She said that with her history as a public defender she may not be able to preside over some cases initially due to a conflict of interest from previous relationships with the client. She added that some of the cases that have been backlogged are her former cases. In those situations, she said, a judge from another district would have to come in to preside over the case.

Its pretty common, Ruiz said.
Havre Police Department

A 10th Street West caller asked Tuesday at 10:08 a.m. to speak with an officer about someone breaking into her apartment.

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Officers investigated an incident at the request of the Helena Police Department Tuesday at 10:26 a.m.

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Someone found a backpack in a dumpster on Second Street at 10:39 a.m. Tuesday.

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An officer found a flag and dropped id off at the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday at 12:18 p.m.

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A caller on Second Street Northeast reported Tuesday at 12:47 p.m. her Chevrolet Traverse had been backed into.

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A caller at 2:22 p.m. Tuesday reported a vehicle had been struck earlier and the driver left their information on the caller's car.

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Salvador Campos Rivera of Havre, 38, was arrested on a Justice or City court warrant on Second Street Tuesday at 4:13 p.m.

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At 5:31 p.m. Tuesday a caller reported a large black Labrador that was kind of aggressive had been running loose in the Second Street and 14th Avenue area since November. Havre Animal Control reported at 5:40 p.m. the dog had been located and a written or verbal warning was issued to the owner.

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Savannah Sunchild of Havre, 20, was arrested on charges of minor in possession and partner of family member assault and Jared Ray Lamere-MacDonald of Havre, 21, was arrested on two Justice or City court warrants after at caller on First Street Northeast reported a man and woman fighting, Tuesday at 10:03 p.m.

Hill County Sheriff's Office

A caller at a Second Street West business reported Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. locks cut on storage units.

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A County Road 860 Northwest caller reported at 2:39 p.m. Tuesday a credit card had been stolen.

Havre Fire Department

Emergency medical personnel responded to one call Tuesday.

Havre Animal Shelter

The Havre shelter this morning held two medium-hair cats, one long-hair 8-month-old kitten and two long-hair 6-month-old kittens of unknown gender, one medium-hair female cat and four medium-hair male cats, as well as seven cats for its trap-spay/neuter-release program.

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The Havre shelter also held this morning a male American bulldog, two female mixed-breed dogs, a female Labrador retriever dog, a female Weimaraner-dachshund dog, a male shepherd dog, a female Anatolian shepherd-husky 10-month-old puppy and a male pit bull-Labrador 9-month-old puppy.
I love fish  the way they look, the way they fry up, the secret lives they live u
Michigan City, IN (46360)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
Published on 2019/01/22 | Source

On the latest episode of the KBS 2TV drama "Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho 2: Crime and Punishment", the dark past of Lee Ja-kyeong (Go Hyun-jung) flashed back. Ja-kyeong was on the streets with her sister, but a neighborhood policeman handed them to a dark organization instead of to the authorities.

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The orphanage was actually an organization that sold children's innards on the black market.

Ja-kyeong was helpless as a child and she had to listen to and watch all of the horror. She witnessed her sister get disemboweled.

After the flashback, Ja-kyeong kidnapped the doctor who operated on her sister. She put him in an operating room and told him to pay his dues. He later appeared dead.

Ja-kyeong is a character who achieves tremendous revenge on the people who hurt her in her youth. Her cruelty creates an aura of panic and is responsible for most of the plot tension.




Haiti - Environment : 10th workshop on access to the Green Fund





Tuesday in Anse-a-Galet, the Ministry of the Environment through the Climate Change Department and the Departmental Directorate of the West (DDO) launched a two-day workshop on the preparation of Haiti for access to Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (established in 2010) with a mandate to promote low greenhouse gas emissions development.



In front of an audience composed of local authorities and civil society actors, the Deputy Mayor of the Commune of Anse-a-Galet Jacques Henry Filias, who opened the workshop, expects to see some positive benefits for the island of La Gonave which, according to him, is already suffering the adverse effects of climate change.



This consultation and information workshop (the 10th) should enable the Ministry of the Environment to collect the necessaries data for the elaboration of the Country Program aiming at generating interest, national ownership and increasing access to climate finance. It also aims to inform stakeholders about the Green Climate Fund mechanism and its access modalities.



As part of this program, the Ministry of the Environment's Climate Change Directorate, with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), adopts a participatory, inclusive and multi-disciplinary approach that combines community and institutional consultations at the departmental level as well as multi-sectoral consultations at the central level in Port-au-Prince.



In summary, the stakeholder consultation process includes 11 departmental level workshops, including 2 consultation workshops in the West (Port-au-Prince, La Gonave), a multi-sectoral global workshop and a final document validation workshop for the country program.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25595-haiti-environment-towards-the-development-of-the-green-climate-fund-country-program.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25207-haiti-environment-workshop-on-how-to-access-the-green-climate-fund.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24835-haiti-environment-access-to-the-climate-fund-haiti-dream-in-green.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24595-haiti-environment-workshop-on-access-to-the-green-climate-fund.html



HL / HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Petit-Goave : 8 hours of demonstrations and violence, several victims !





Tuesday Faustin Soulouque high school students and college students in solidarity with other institutions demonstrated in the streets of Petit-Goave during nearly 8 hours, a day enamelled of violence which made several victims among the demonstrators and the forces of order. The protesters still demanded the resumption of classes suspended at the Lycee Faustin Soulouque because of a strike since January 14 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26672-haiti-petit-goave-violent-clashes-between-students-at-least-6-wounded.html



The students of Faustin Soulouque High School after being reconciled with Pierre Baptiste students whom they had stoned on January 15th https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26672-haiti-petit-goave-violent-clashes-between-students-at-least-6-wounded.html began demonstrating around 9:00 am



School activities quickly became paralyzed and all the schools returned their students often voluntarily, sometimes under the pressure of the demonstrators, as in the "Le Nouveau Monde" college which was the target of a rain of stones of very motivated students, who broke down the college barrier. Balance 3 injured students including a girl injured in the face by a stone.



Estimated at nearly 2,000, high school and college students have tried repeatedly to block the National Road #2. Public offices and police officers have been repeatedly targeted by stone throwing. Bilan : 3 injured police officers...



The only vehicle in the city police station was damaged and the Peace Court, targeted by stone, was vandalized after protesters broke the two main barriers, forcing judges, lawyers and individuals to leave the premises.



Subsequently, the protesters clashed with the police by throwing stones and other objects at them, police officers who responded by firing tear gas at the Street of Port to regain control of the situation.



High school students attempted to invade the APN but were repelled by the police. The BNC was also the target of offensives by "students", some wearing hoods.



At the end of the afternoon, the police officers had to deal with the stones of the students again .. A student of NS4 Yves R.Lamartine College Christopher Jean Francois (21 years), was arrested and placed in custody at the police station of the city.



Calm returned to the city around 5:00 pm.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26724-haiti-petit-goave-activities-paralyzed-for-lack-of-fuels-and-student-demonstrations.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26672-haiti-petit-goave-violent-clashes-between-students-at-least-6-wounded.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26663-haiti-petit-goave-lycee-faustin-soulouque-closed-angry-students-demand-reopening.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25191-haiti-petit-goave-promise-of-a-school-year-without-strike-at-lycee-faustin-soulouque.html



HL/ HaitiLibre / Guyto Mathieu (Correspondant Petit-Goave)






















Haiti - Social : Already 677 Haitians repatriated by Chile





Tuesday the 4th flight of the Chilean Air Force and the first of the year, took off from a military base near the international airport of Santiago (Chile) to Port-au-Prince, with on board 170 Haitian volunteers, registered in the humanitarian return plan, bringing to date to 677 the number of Haitians repatriated by Chile.



Rodrigo Ubilla, Chilean Under-Secretary of the Interior, said, "We are pursuing the program of voluntary return of Haitian citizens enrolled in a special register and, in accordance with the instructions of the President of the Republic, we are permanently helping to return to Haiti." Stating that 1,887 people were already registered for a voluntary return of which 1,805 Haitians, 46 Colombians, 12 Venezuelans, 9 Dominicans, 7 Ecuadorians, 5 Cubans, 1 Indonesian, 1 Peruvian and a Brazilian.



He confirmed that the next flight (5th) to Haiti is scheduled for January 30 with 173 Haitians on board, bringing to 850 the number of returnees, pointing out that this voluntary return plan was unprecedented "All countries do not consider as part of their migration policies aid for families or people who have entered the country and have not seen their dreams come true."



Recall that Haitians in Chile, who wish to return to Haiti at the expense of the Chilean Government, can register since 17 October 2018 on the website of the Department of Immigration : https://tramites.extranjeria.gob.cl/etapas/ejecutar/2984



To qualify for this program, Haitians must not have a legal situation in progress and they must sign a notarized declaration in which they undertake not to return to Chile in the next 9 years. If migrants have a spouse, partner or children, they must complete the process jointly and travel in groups.



Note that Chile is one of the countries that rejected the UN Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26430-haiti-migration-3-major-host-countries-for-haitians-rejected-the-un-global-compact.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26420-icihaiti-social-3rd-voluntary-return-flight-from-chile-expected-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26212-haiti-social-2nd-voluntary-return-flight-from-chile-170-haitians-expected.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26085-haiti-social-return-from-chile-difficult-for-176-compatriots.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25877-haiti-flash-chile-launches-its-free-voluntary-return-plan-to-haiti.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















A mid-level restaurant, like Chilis, Red Robin or Panera.

Light industry to keep jobs in the area.

More retail so we don't have to go to Tucson.

Better and more mass transit options.

All of the above.

Vote

View Results
PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Resurrection Catholic Elementary School music teacher and school nurse Laura Hudson has been nominated for the 2018-2019 National LifeChanger of the Year award.

Hudson was nominated by her colleague of 11 years, Anna Stewart, for her contagious positivity. When Stewart first began teaching, Hudson took her under her wing and helped her though her first year. Students and staff alike benefit from her compassion and helpfulness every day.

"I am very honored -- I was nominated by a colleague and friend and that makes this very special, Hudson said. I dont consider myself to be special, but God placed me here for a reason and that is to do the best job that I can do.

According to Stewart, Hudson also displays exceptional school leadership. Last year, she acquired grant money to build the music departments costumes and spearheaded a fundraising event to purchase more playground equipment for the campus. She also represents her school at the district level as a religion teacher.

It is my honor to call her my friend and to work beside her daily," Stewart said. I thrive to be more like Laura and Im sure her friends and fellow co-workers feel the same way.

The LifeChanger of the Year recognizes and rewards the very best K-12 educators and school district employees across the United States who are making a difference in the lives of students by exemplifying excellence, positive influence and leadership.

Seventeen individual LifeChanger of the Year awards will be given during the 2018-2019 school year.

 (1) Grand Prize Winner  will receive $10,000 to be shared with their school/district.

 (4) Grand Prize Finalists  will receive $5,000 to be shared with their school/district.

 (10) LifeChanger Award Winners  will receive $3,000 to be shared with their school/district.

 (1) Spirit Award Winner  This award is given to the nominee whose community demonstrates the most support for their nomination. The winner will receive $5,000 to be shared with their school/district.

 (1) Spotlight Award Winner  This award is given to a nominee in a specific discipline each year. For 2018-19, the Spotlight Award will be given to a nominee who works in a counseling role (e.g., guidance counselor, social worker). The winner will receive $5,000 to be shared with their school or district.

Winners are announced via surprise award ceremonies held at their schools. The grand prize finalists will also be honored at a national awards ceremony in April 2019 in Hawaii, where the Grand Prize Winner will be revealed.

Winners are chosen by a selection committee comprised of former winners and education professionals. Nominees must be K-12 teachers or school district employees. To be considered for an award, nominees must:

 Make a positive impact in the lives of students

 Enhance their school or districts atmosphere, culture and pride

 Demonstrate exemplary leadership at the school and/or district level

 Possess a proven record of professional excellence

 Show commitment to building a nurturing environment that supports learning

 Adhere to the highest moral and ethical standards

Hudson said she doesnt feel special, just someone who found their calling and enjoys their work.

I love my job and kids and I cant imagine being in a better place than I am right now, she said. "Being in the position to affect childrens lives is special to me and it is a big part of who I am. I have been doing this job for 21 years and I just love the children. Although I dont do this for any notoriety, it makes you feel good to know that when you do a good job, someone notices.
Motorola has started rolling out Android 9 Pie to two more of its phones. The Moto Z3 is getting the typical Pie features and the January 1 security patch. You can read the full change log for more details. There's a detailed breakdown of the features here.

The most interesting addition is support for the 5G MotoMod, which will make this one of the very first 5G-connected phones (weve only seen hotspots and routers so far). It will work on Verizons network. The mod itself isnt available yet and 5G networks are live in only a few cities.

The Moto G6+ also makes the jump to Pie, the update has already reached users in Brazil. Note that the security patch on this one is older, December 1.



Motorola Moto G6+ getting Android 9 Pie (in Brazil)

The Moto X4, a phone from 2017, got Pie in November last year.

Thanks for the tip, Matt!

Source 1 | Source 2
Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 now available in Europe, M1 gets cheaper

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro (M2) has arrived in European stores while the Zenfone Max Pro (M1) has gotten cheaper. These two are defined by their affordable prices, pure Android and massive 5,000mAh batteries.



Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2  Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1

Weve linked the country stores where we found the M-series for your convenience.

In France, the M1 with 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage goes for 200, the 4/64GB version is 11% off (250). The M2 is 300 and if you buy one over the next 6 months, youll get a 80 voucher to spend on Asus.com (valid for 3 weeks).

In Italy, the M1 is cheaper - 180  but theres no voucher with the M2 (300).

Spain is looking at a steep 300 for the M1. Keep in mind that in some countries (not Spain), you can get a Zenfone 5 for 300.

The M2 is out of stock in the Netherlands, but the listed price is 220. We doubt this number will stick around once the online store gets stock.

In Russia, the M1 starts at RUB 14,000, the M2 at RUB 18,000.

Thanks for sending this in, viano!
On January 1, Netflix released its new series Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, which is based on Kondo's best-selling book and dedicated to cleansing homes (and bodies) of their holiday bloat. The real-life families in this show arent hoarders -- not yet, anyway. But they do have mountains and mountains of clothes (and Christmas decorations and papers and so on) that Kondo believes are weighing down their ability to lead a joyful life.

Related: Organization Guru Marie Kondo's Netflix Show Transforms People's Homes and Their Lives. Learn Her Simple Method to Increase Joy and Decrease Clutter.

Her KonMari method is meant to get you to look at the excess of your life and find room only for the items which, in Kondo's words, "spark joy." When you find the items that dont do that -- and you will -- the method wants you to thank (yes, thank) the item, then gently put it in the trash. The show's release was timed for exactly twhen people typically start feeling that "New Year, New Me" vibe, making it an instant hit both on the internet and in actual homes.

Image Credit: Google Trends report, showing the uptick in Marie Kondo-related internet traffic since her show's release Jan. 1

In fact, Tidying Up became a hit. According to the Washington Post, the nation's capital's consignment and Goodwill stores saw major upticks in their donations in the first week after the show premiered. And online memes and photos of newly organized closets proliferated. Suddenly, this 34-year-old Japanese consultant had become a big name, as well as, predictably, the target of jokes, including the following tweet:

how to tidy up your friendships with the Marie Kondo method:



1. hold your friend up

2. check if your friend sparks joy

3. if no, thank your friend and put them in the trash  Tze Hern (@zhrent) January 7, 2019

All well and good. But, in the show, Kondo misses one area that causes a lot of stress: device bloat. And isnt device bloat an area that many of us truly feel is out of control? So, a suggestion: Lets take the KonMari method to your phone and get this new year really started. Here's how:

Tidy up your phone apps (then put them in the trash).

If youre like me, there are applications on your phone -- from past times or phases in your life -- that you havent opened for a while. Three years ago, I downloaded a yoga app that I use every January for about three weeks because ... well, the reason is obvious. Instead of letting that app take up precious memory on my phone all year round, I could more effectively search for free YouTube yoga videos during those same three weeks when I tend to actually remember that yoga exists.

Look at each app on your phone individually and decide whether or not that app is useful for you to have, because you use its screen-time insights. (With an iPhone, go to Settings > Screen Time)

Related: 4 Trends in Home-Office Design

Next, see which of your apps get the most screen time and are worth keeping. While youre at it, add in controls for time spent and lock yourself out of apps after a certain amount of time elapses. Once you take a full inventory and decide whether to "delete" or "save," move on to the next step in your tidying journey!

Build out app categories.

Not only will applying the KonMari method keep the clutter on your home screen down to a minimum, it will also make it easier to remember exactly where all of your apps are stored, and make them easier to navigate.

Clean out your inbox.

Are you someone who hates those red number notifications on your apps? If so, your next priority should be to clean up those notifications -- starting with your email inbox. Decide whether those emails are unread because they are no longer applicable to you or whether they are something you need to reference later on.

That will help you to: unsubscribe from any spam/irrelevant content; filter out messages to folders that you may need to reference later on; or bucket that curated email into the appropriate folder. If you can get to a place where the only emails in your inbox are items that you are actively working on, you will immediately start saving time and energy!

Turn off notifications.

Turn off notifications for apps that you dont need a daily update on. This can help reduce your screen time by giving updates only on high-priority items.

Delete old photos + text messages + podcast subscriptions + songs.

Marie Kondo recommends tidying by location, so look at each of these areas individually. Each of these buckets uses more memory on your phone than you think it does, so it behooves you to pare down where you can. Delete anything that you havent listened to or looked at for the past three months.

Only follow accounts that spark joy.

Now its time to get into your social media accounts. There are several ways to mute or unfollow the people and accounts on your various platforms that cause you the most stress. Use the "Unfollow" feature on Facebook to finally stop following those people you know only by name from 10 years ago. Instagram also offers a feature to Mute either newsfeed or story posts. You wont offend people by unfollowing them, but you also won't have to see everything they post in your newsfeed. That will spark joy!

Related: How to KonMari Your Way to a Happier Digital Life

Finally: Update your grid.

Your social media is an extension of your personal brand -- how do you want to be viewed? Go through and ensure you are representing your truest self. This doesnt mean showcasing just the most glamorous parts of your life. But you should still use these platforms as a place to represent who you are and what it is that brings you the most joy.

Related:

Want to Do a 'Marie Kondo' on Your Messy Social Media Accounts? Here's How.

Five Strategies That Restaurant Startups Must Adopt To Grow

How Change in Consumer Buying Behaviour Has Revolutionized the Online Gifting Market in India



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Greensburg, IN (47240)

Today

Thunderstorms. Some strong to locally severe early. Heavy rain will accompany some storms especially overnight. Damaging winds with some storms. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 3 to 5 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Some strong to locally severe early. Heavy rain will accompany some storms especially overnight. Damaging winds with some storms. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 3 to 5 inches of rain expected.
Using personal anecdotes and scripture, Dodge shared that in order to gain the respect of others that are different, individuals must become interrupters of the stereotypes by refusing to perpetuate cycles and do things the way theyve always been done.

We need those people that the stereotypes tell us to reject, Dodge said. We need those brothers and sisters across town that the stories tell us to avoid. We need the beauty of each other to be all that humanity can be. It's only when we realize this beautiful truth that you and I will become willing to interrupt the single story narratives and refuse to participate in their wickedness.

Once the single-story narratives that drive our inability to unite are ignored and interrupted, Dodge said the next step is invalidating the stereotypes and lies by not focusing on what is different but on what we all share in common.
Martin Luther King Jr. was not a well-liked man. He was not the cuddly creature we re-invent every King Day to lie to ourselves and our kids about how he only wanted us to get along. His approval rating began to rise only after he was no longer here to demand America live up to its ideals.

King wanted peace, but not at the expense of equality. He wanted little black girls and boys to play with little white girls and boys, but not if it meant pretending racism didnt exist. He respected authority, but challenged those wearing badges and carrying batons and sitting in the Oval Office.

He wanted moral clarity, not cheap comfort. Were he alive today, hed still be hated by those wedded to the status quo. Because hed notice the poor still being vilified as lazy. Hed see large corporations, like Walmart, brag proudly about modest pay increases then quietly announce thousands of layoffs. The GOP would still have enacted a tax law skewed to the rich, then pass work requirements for Medicaid benefits  something they have never required of wealthy Americans receiving government largesse.
One of the greatest hazards to politicians is the temptation to buy into his or her own myth. And in politics as in real life, its always a good idea to take the temperature of a room before opening ones mouth. In 2019, its also prudent to pay homage to the queen, in this case Speaker Nancy Pelosi, before trying to burn down the House. For your further consideration, note that the rise of this new class of young women coincides with the victorious return of the 78-year-old Pelosi to the speakership. Chew on that for a while.

The combustion of exuberance and overnight fame, thanks to the medias excessive coverage of the rookies, could explain the giddy gall of some new members. And, really, who but the witless or numb could fail to appreciate that two women of the Islamic faith will bring strong voices to the floor for Muslim women (and men) around the world to hear? Or, that two Native American women will be among those guiding their country?

As history-making and fun as the past few weeks have been, the reality part is about to hit the rest of America in the face. No matter what the new members say, their governing philosophy by and large is several longitudinal notches to the left of mainstream Democrats, as weve understood them. The reality is that for now, these women, who will be driving a lot of the action and attention, are the mainstream.

Kathleen Parkers email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.
This results from many journalists considering him an excuse for a four-year sabbatical from thinking about anything other than the shiny thing that mesmerizes them by dangling himself in front them.

Dislike of him should be tempered by this consideration: He is an almost inexpressibly sad specimen. It must be misery to awaken to another day of being Donald Trump.

He seems to have as many friends as his pluperfect self-centeredness allows, and as he has earned in an entirely transactional life. His historical ignorance deprives him of the satisfaction of working in a house where much magnificent history has been made. His childlike ignorance  preserved by a lifetime of single-minded self-promotion  concerning governance and economics guarantees that whenever he must interact with experienced and accomplished people he is as bewildered as a kindergartener at a seminar on string theory.

Which is why this fountain of self-refuting boasts (I have a very good brain) lies so much. He does so less to deceive anyone than to reassure himself. And as balm for his base, which remains oblivious to his likely contempt for them as sheep who can be effortlessly gulled by preposterous fictions. The tungsten strength of his supporters loyalty is as impressive as his indifference to expanding their numbers.

Either the electorate, bored with a menu of faintly variant servings of boorishness, or the 22nd Amendment will end this, our shabbiest but not our first shabby presidency. As Mark Twain and fellow novelist William Dean Howells stepped outside together one morning, a downpour began and Howells asked, Do you think it will stop? Twain replied, It always has.

George Wills email address is georgewill@washpost.com.
McMaster welcomed the news, saying it shows the right to practice religion will not be in jeopardy under the Trump administration.

"With young people in need of stable foster homes throughout our state, I am determined to protect each and every one of the child placing agencies that have been called to help us fill those needs," the governor said in a statement.

The issue has attracted interest from a broad swath of lawmakers and interest groups. Several Democrats in Congress had urged HHS to reject the waiver request, and condemned the decision to issue it.

"The decision by HHS to allow for taxpayer-funded discrimination is an affront to American values, jeopardizing the safety and protection of vulnerable children in South Carolina, and potentially across the country," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said.

This decision concerned religion, but conflicts in other states center on whether foster-care agencies can reject parents based on sexual orientation. That is barred by the same HHS regulation at issue in South Carolina.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration said Wednesday it was granting a Christian ministry in South Carolina permission to participate in the federally funded foster-care program, even though the group will work only with Christian families.

The long-standing policy of Miracle Hill Ministries of Greenville violates a regulation, put into place in the closing days of the Obama administration, that bars discrimination on the basis of religion or sexual orientation by groups receiving money from the Department of Health and Human Services.

A year ago, Miracle Hill was notified that it was in violation of the policy after the South Carolina Department of Social Services became aware of the ministry's practices. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster then asked the HHS for a waiver.

On Wednesday, the HHS said it would grant the waiver. The department argued that the Obama regulation was ill-conceived and that some of its requirements "are not reflected" in the underlying statute.

"The government should not be in the business of forcing foster care providers to close their doors because of their faith. Religious freedom is a fundamental human right," Lynn Johnson, assistant secretary at the Administration for Children and Families, which administers the foster-care program, said in a statement.
The website My FED Benefits has created an interactive assistance map to help workers in every state find programs to support them through the shutdown.

On Jan. 13, a few Washingtonians teamed up to launch one of the more creative relief efforts: PayItFurloughed.com is a site that allows anyone to buy furloughed employees a beer at one of three District breweries. It was developed by Mess Hall food incubator founder Al Goldberg, food writer Nevin Martell, web and app developer 3Advance, and publicist Erick Sanchez. To date, more than 3,850 beers have been donated from people far and wide, including those living in Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands and elsewhere, Martell said. Just as important, more than 1,550 of those quaffs have already been enjoyed.

PayItFurloughed is designed not only to express compassion to hard-pressed federal employees but also to help small craft breweries, which cant bottle or can new beers because the government doesnt have the resources to approve labels, Martell said. The Washington breweries currently involved with PayItFurloughed are 3 Stars, DC Brau and Atlas Brew Works.

Buying someone a beer is such an American thing to do, Martell said.  Youre having a bad day? Let me buy you a beer. 
WASHINGTON  On the 33rd day of a partial government shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay, some staged a sit-in outside the offices of the senators they blame for helping to keep the government closed.

The protest, led by union leaders from the National Federation of Federal Employees, is meant to draw attention to the plight of federal workers - many of whom have had to dig into their savings, take on side jobs and seek help from food banks and other charitable programs to stay afloat.

On Friday, hundreds of thousands of workers will face the loss of a second paycheck.

"We want senators to see the faces of the people who are being hurt by this (shutdown), and to tell them it's time to stop holding federal employees hostage," said Brittany Holder, a spokeswoman for the NFFE.

The protest began at noon in the Hart Senate Office Building, where about 50 lawmakers have offices.

Union leaders and a handful of federal workers proceeded to the offices of senators, whom they hope to lobby for a vote on a bill that would reopen the government through September and postpone the stalled debate over border security and funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Bridgestone Corporation announced that its subsidiary Bridgestone Europe NV/SA, has entered into an agreement with TomTom to acquire TomTom Telematics, its digital fleet solutions business, for a cash consideration of 910 million (US$1.034 billion). 750 million will be distributed to TomTom shareholders by means of a capital repayment, combined with a share consolidation.

The transaction is anticipated to be completed latest in the second quarter of 2019, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions such as regulatory approvals.

TomTom is the number one provider of digital fleet solutions in Europe, a marketplace with very diverse in legal, commercial and cultural requirements. Its digital fleet solutions business has successfully demonstrated its ability to operate in complex and demanding market environments and has continued to strengthen its potential to expand globally.

TomToms digital fleet solution offers an industry leading data platform for connected vehicles enabling safer driving, improving productivity and optimizing uptime for personal and commercial mobility.

Combining this digital fleet solution with Bridgestones tire expertise and global service network creates an opportunity that accelerates the its effort to become a key partner in the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) landscape with leading tire products, services and solutions offerings, Bridgestone said.

In addition to reinforcing Bridgestones broad and leading portfolio, this strategic investment will also strengthen its position as an innovative leader in the field of tire design, and tire predictive maintenance service.

Bridgestone will gain unprecedented insights into vehicle and tire operating conditions and be able to leverage a growing installed user base of 860,000 vehicles communicating 200 million data points per day.

With this acquisition, Bridgestone adds core components to its Tire and Diversified Products as a Solution (Bridgestone T&DPaaS) strategy defining the companys evolving business domain.

TomTom said that the transaction allows the Telematics business to accelerate its growth trajectory and TomTom to become a more focused and agile company, shaping the future of driving with highly accurate maps, navigation software and real-time traffic information and services.

After a thorough review of strategic options, we have determined that the sale of Telematics to Bridgestone is in the best interest of both Telematics and our core location technology business. We will continue to invest in our innovative map-making system, enabling faster map updates while lowering operational costs, paving the road towards autonomous driving. Harold Goddijn, CEO, TomTom

Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the worlds largest tire and rubber company. In addition to tires for use in a wide variety of applications, it also manufactures a broad range of diversified products, which include industrial rubber and chemical products and sporting goods. Its products are sold in more than 150 nations and territories around the world.

TomTom is the leading independent location technology specialist, shaping mobility with highly accurate maps, navigation software, real-time traffic information and services.
Gevo has signed on to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a group of eight airlines and certain fuel producers to work cooperatively on expanding the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). (Earlier post.)

The consortium, initially formed in September 2018, is the first of its kind to include fuel suppliers, airlines, and airport agencies in a collaborative effort to accelerate the global transition to SAF.

SFO is working on a study to identify the necessary supply chain and infrastructure required to make this expansion of SAF at the airport a reality, and is preparing an implementation plan to do so. SFO is positioning for increased interest in the California market for SAF producers and suppliers, given the additional incentives likely to be made available, through a California Air Resources Board ruling allowing the opt-in inclusion of SAF in the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). This is the first sub-national government to offer any incentive for the benefits provided by SAF.

The four airlinesUnited Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and Cathay Pacificrepresent nearly 70% of all flights at SFO, while the four fuel producers include SFOs two primary suppliers, Chevron Corporation and Shell Oil Company along with Neste and LanzaTech, Inc.

Together with SFO Fuel Company, LLC, the Airports Fuel Consortium, Gevo and these partners will strive to increase SAF supply globally and at SFO.

Airlines at SFO currently use more than 1 billion gallons of jet fuel annually. If SAF suppliers are able to increase global supply from the current 5 million gallons per year to 500 million gallons per year, the use of SAF could prevent nearly 4.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per yearequivalent to taking more than one million cars off the roads.

We are pleased to be a member of the Consortium to advance the use of sustainable aviation fuel at SFO. We are the only player at the table using low cost, sustainably produced carbohydrates as a feedstock to produce renewable jet fuel. In our production process, not only do we produce renewable jet fuel, we also can produce large quantities of protein for the food chain and even sequester carbon in the soil. In fact, for every barrel of bio jet fuel produced by Gevo, we could produce approximately 420 pounds of protein and sequester up to 60 pounds of carbon back into the soil. We are planning on expanding our plant in Luverne, MN, to make it capable of producing nearly 10 million gallons per year of our sustainable alcohol-to-jet fuel, and we are looking to build additional sustainable alcohol-to-jet fuel production plants that could even use wood as a feedstock. Dr. Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo

Gevo is focused on the development and production of mainstream fuels like gasoline and jet fuel using renewable feedstocks that have the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions at a meaningful scale and enhance agricultural production, including food and other related products.

Gevos sustainable alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) is included in ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons) which makes it eligible to be used as a blending component with standard Jet A-1 fuel for commercial airline use in the United States and in many other countries around the globe. Gevos ATJ is eligible to be used for up to a 50% blend in conventional jet fuel for commercial flights. Gevo currently has the capability to produce up to 80,000 gallons of ATJ with plans to increase production to nearly 10 million gallons.

Gevos ATJ has been used to power commercial flights since 2016. In June 2016, the first two commercial flights using Gevos renewable alcohol to jet fuel (ATJ) took place. Alaska Airlines used Gevos ATJ to fly from Seattle to San Francisco International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, respectively.

In October 2016, Gevo produced the worlds first cellulosic renewable jet fuel meeting ASTM D7566. This cellulosic ATJ was produced in conjunction with the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA). NARA supplied the sugars that were derived from forest residuals in the Pacific Northwest. In November 2016, this cellulosic ATJ powered an Alaska Airlines commercial flight that originated in Seattle and flew to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

In November 2017, Gevos ATJ was used by eight commercial airlines for Fly Green Day, sponsored by the OHare Fuel Committee, at Chicago OHare International Airport. This event marked the first time renewable jet fuel has been supplied at a commercial airport using the existing airport fueling infrastructure, such as pipelines, terminals and tankage. The commercial airlines that participated were: Lufthansa, United Airlines, Etihad, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Korean Air and Atlas Air.

In September 2018, Gevo and Virgin Australia Airlines, with the support of the Queensland Government, accomplished another industry first by being the first to supply renewable jet fuel into a commercial airport infrastructure in Australia. Like the Fly Green Day at Chicago OHare International Airport in 2017, Gevos renewable jet fuel was supplied using the general fuel system at Brisbane Airport.


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Goshen, IN (46526)

Today

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Vancouver, January 23, 2019 - GoviEx Uranium Inc. (TSXV: GXU) (OTCQB: GVXXF) ("GoviEx" or "Company") today provides a Market Update & Letter to Stakeholders from the Executive Chairman, Govind Friedland and the Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Major.

To Our Fellow Stakeholders,

Thank you for placing your trust in our team during a turbulent 2018 and continuing to support our efforts to build GoviEx into a significant uranium company. We wish to reaffirm our belief in the fundamentals of nuclear power and to state clearly our resolve to play a leading role in the development of clean energy solutions for years to come.

We appreciate this opportunity to present our perspective of the sector as we advance into 2019. We do so with increased confidence in the overall uranium and nuclear industries, and our positioning to respond to improving market conditions and underlying sector fundamentals.

As a uranium exploration and development company, GoviEx has one of the largest undeveloped mineral resources in the industry and two mine-permitted projects, which includes our flagship project located in Niger (the "Madaouela Project") that has key infrastructure (road access, skilled mine labor, ground water and grid power) already in place.1 Our team has been operating in Niger for more than 10 years, taking the Madaouela Project from early exploration to mine permitted project in that time frame, and we are grateful for the work completed by our predominately local team, the strong support from the local communities and all levels of government as we focus on the next phase of development.

When we reflect on market dynamics, the spot uranium price2 was US$22.32/lb U3O8 at the beginning of 2018 and had risen to US$29.10/lb U3O8 by the end of the year. Global nuclear energy generation has returned to the levels last seen in 2011. The rate of global reactor construction is now at the highest level in the past 25 years.5 With the announcement recently of six new power reactor construction starts in China and the restart of nuclear reactors in Japan, we should expect the level of nuclear energy generation to continue its rise.

The supply constraint shouldered by the major uranium producers, combined with the increase in uranium inventories shifting to investment funds, has resulted in the supply of the yellow metal being in a deficit with forecasts now indicating that the uranium price will continue to rise through 2019.

From a corporate finance perspective, in 2018 the Company successfully resolved, at a substantial discount, the 6 year old Toshiba B Bond that removed not only a leveraged loan from the balance sheet but also the related loan security, an important steps towards securing project finance for the Madaouela Project.

Responding to an expected improvement in uranium price the Company appointed SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK") and SGS Bateman (Pty) Ltd ("SGS") as the consultants for the completion of a feasibility study for the Madaouela Project. SRK and SGS have considerable experience in uranium and African project development. Together, our teams are focused on options that have the potential to improve the feasibility of the Madaouela Project. Some of these include3:

Negotiations with the Government of Niger to include in the Madaouela Mining Permit the mineral resources associated with the Miriam deposit situated on Agaliouk Exploration Permit. The Miriam deposit on the Agaliouk Permit includes 5.96 million pounds (Mlb) U3O8 in the Measured and Indicated categories. 1

Analysis of contractor mining operations vs owner operator mining (as currently forecast in the current pre-feasibility study 1 ), which has the potential to significantly reduce up front capital costs.

), which has the potential to significantly reduce up front capital costs. The inclusion of membrane separation in the Madaouela Project process design could potentially reduce operating and capital costs.

Potential of stand-alone solar hybrid power supply to reduce power supply risks and reduce power costs.

The funds from the recent C$1m private placement closed at the end of 2018, and the commitment from Linkwood Holdings Pte Ltd. to repay GoviEx US$2.95m (loan plus interest) by the end of June 20194, are planned to be utilized to fund the advancement of key aspects of the Madaouela Project including, continued engineering and project optimization as well as the advancement of primary corporate objectives related to project finance, long-term offtake and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

GoviEx anticipates the uranium price to continue to improve through 2019, and will continue to advance our projects with discretionary spending commensurate with improving market fundamentals.

Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Sincerely,

Govind Friedland, Executive Chairman

Daniel Major, CEO

Notes:

1. See: An independent NI 43-101 technical report was prepared for the Madaouela Project in 2015 to a prefeasibility level of confidence. The report titled "An Updated Integrated Development Plan for the Madaouela Project, Niger" has an effective date of August 11, 2015, and a revision date of August 20, 2015, and is available at GoviEx's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

2. Source: https://www.cameco.com/invest/markets/uranium-price

3. See: News release dated September 19, 2018

4. See: News release dated December 31, 2018

5. Source: World Nuclear Association

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About GoviEx Uranium

GoviEx is a mineral resource company focused on the exploration and development of uranium properties in Africa. GoviEx's principal objective is to become a significant uranium producer through the continued exploration and development of its flagship mine-permitted Madaouela Project in Niger, its mine-permitted Mutanga Project in Zambia, and its other uranium properties in Africa.

Information Contacts

Govind Friedland, Executive Chairman

Daniel Major, Chief Executive Officer

+1-604-681-5529

info@goviex.com

www.goviex.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All information and statements other than statements of current or historical facts contained in this news release are forward-looking information.

Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in GoviEx's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "could", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information.

Forward-looking statements include those with respect to the expected ability for the Company to play a leading role in the development of clean energy solutions and continue to position itself to respond to improving market conditions and underlying sector fundamentals; the expectation that the level of nuclear energy generation to continue its rise; the expectation that the uranium price will continue to rise through 2019; the expectation that that the implementation of certain options may potentially improve the feasibility of the Madaouela Project; and the proposed use of the proceeds of the Linkwood Holdings Pte Ltd. ("Linkwood") loan repayment and C$1m private placement closed at the end of 2018; and that Linkwood is scheduled to repay GoviEx all outstanding loan principal and interest amounts by June 2019.

Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurances that its expectations will be achieved. Such assumptions, which may prove incorrect, include the following: (i) Linkwood will repay the GoviEx loan on the agreed schedule; and (iii) the price of uranium will remain sufficiently high and the costs of advancing the Company's mining projects will remain sufficiently low so as to permit GoviEx to implement its business plans in a profitable manner.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include (i) the failure of the Company's projects, for technical, logistical, labour-relations, or other reasons; (ii) the failure of Linkwood to repay the GoviEx loan on the agreed schedule; (iii) a decrease in the price of uranium below what is necessary to sustain the Company's operations; (iv) an increase in the Company's operating costs above what is necessary to sustain its operations; (v) accidents, labour disputes, or the materialization of similar risks; (vi) a deterioration in capital market conditions that prevents the Company from raising the funds it requires on a timely basis; and (vii) generally, the Company's inability to develop and implement a successful business plan for any reason.

In addition, the factors described or referred to in the section entitled "Financial Risks and Management Objectives" in the MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2017, of GoviEx, which is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com, should be reviewed in conjunction with the information found in this news release.

Although GoviEx 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. 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, no assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information in this news release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that GoviEx will derive therefrom. 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 news release, and GoviEx disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law.
The 'evil,' lying press is at it again

To the editor:

This past week has made one thing clearno matter how low your opinion of the mainstream media, it isnt low enough. You cannot believe a single thing they say or write or post online.

The purpose of a free press, and reason they have such a high position in the Bill of Rights, is to keep the public informed, especially with regards to the government. But today the main purpose is to push a leftist agenda, and no tactic is off-limits to achieve that goal.

Last Thursday, Buzzfeed reported that President Trumps former lawyer swore that the president had instructed him to lie to Congress about something. On Friday, the lapdogs of the mainstream media (MSM) were like puppies, so excited to see the master that they pee all over everything. They finally had him! Impeachable offense if true! Well, it wasnt true, but it fit their own outlook, so nobody bothered to verify it before breathlessly reporting it, over and over. It was up to the Mueller team, of all people, to step in and say the story was wrong.
The truck was traveling north on U.S. 29 when it ran off the left side of the road, through a median, crossed southbound lanes of traffic and rammed into Open Bible Baptist Church, according to a news release from the Virginia State Police.
In a unanimous vote, the Pittsylvania County social services board decided to approve a memorandum of understanding with the county that moves the payroll functions under the wing of its finance department.

Pittsylvania County Department of Social Services Director Chris Spain explained the agency will still require staff to manage payroll and send it over to the county where it will get the final approval.

The board also agreed to proceed with requesting permission from the Virginia Department of Social Services to deviate its human resources policy to follow the countys policies ahead of the projected July 1 transfer date.

Spain said he didnt foresee the requirement presenting any hurdles for the transfer, saying the process was a formality. The state human resources department has to determine that the countys policy and the social services policy are similar enough to protect the employees.

With all the turnover on the board, its members took the time to elect a new chairman, vice chairman, parliamentarian and officially designate Spain as the secretary.

Joey Bray was elected chairman, Nancy Eanes was elected vice chair and Andrea Johnson was elected parliamentarian.

Halle Parker reports for the Danville Register & Bee. Contact her at hparker@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7981.
Since then, hes worked on six campaigns and was hired in 2017 by the Democratic Party of Virginia to help elect now Gov. Ralph Northam and his team to office  his first paid position in politics.

In his volunteering, he canvassed swaths of Danville, including the block where he grew up, and said more state representatives need to be on the ground, knocking on doors, as opposed to posing for photo ops.

Thats where you find out what the community actually needs, said Stamps.

Stamps said some of his main issues are health care, decriminalizing nonviolent behavior, increasing the availability of affordable housing and raising the minimum wage.

To Stamps, the minimum wage, currently set at $7.25 per hour, is more like a poverty wage because people who work minimum-wage jobs are still below the poverty level.

Even though we have a low unemployment rate, a lot of times people have to work two or three jobs, he said.

He said hed also like to see more regulation on payday lenders and get rid of Virginias right to work laws.
Xem them

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Khong con du lieu e load
Danville officials will consider updating its ordinance to make it easier for Airbnbs to open up in the city.

Under current policy, Airbnbs go through the same process as that for regular bed-and-breakfasts. They are allowed in residential districts with a special-use permit and by right in the central business and tobacco warehouse districts.

Its pretty strenuous, Vice Mayor Lee Vogler said of the process for those wanting to open an Airbnb. They get classified as bed-and-breakfasts even though theyre not and dont want to be.

Airbnbs are operated by homeowners who want to make their homes available for rent for a short period of time.

There are more streamlined ways of having them classified, Vogler said.

Councilman James Buckner said the city should not interfere if someone wants to start a business in their home.

I dont think we as a local government should tell somebody how to open a business in their home as long as theyre not breaking any laws, Buckner said. To me, it doesnt make sense to tell someone they cant open an Airbnb in their home. That to me sounds like too much regulation.
From there, Massey was arrested on March 20 and pleaded guilty to the charges on May 2. He was sentenced to 10 years incarceration with all but two-and-a-half years suspended June 26.

According to a news release from the Danville Sheriffs Office, another inmate told a sheriffs deputy at 6:30 a.m. Saturday that Massey  alone in a cell  needed medical attention, so the jails nurse gave him his morning medication. After taking the medicine, he was alert and communicative, but then his condition worsened. By 7:15 a.m., the nurse decided he needed emergency medical attention and called an ambulance, according to the release.

The Danville Life Saving Crew responded about 11 minutes later, but as they loaded Massey into the ambulance, he stopped breathing. CPR did not work, and he was pronounced dead at 7:54 a.m.

Massey had notable health issues when he arrived in the jail and was being treated by the jails medical staff, the release states.

According to the jails medical services policy, all inmates, upon admission to the jail, are queried about their current health and mental condition. If they have any recurring issues, they let sheriffs deputies know and are seen by the jails medical professionals.
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UK says to pull fighter jets from Syria after Trump's withdrawal decision

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 22, 2019 08:26AM

The British Royal Air Force (RAF) is set to call back more than half of its fighter jets from Syria after US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw American forces from the Arab country.

British commanders confirmed on Monday that at least eight RAF Tornado jets would return to their bases in the UK next month, reducing to six the total number of British aircraft committed to the US-led aerial campaign in the country, the Daily Mail reported.

The decision comes after Trump's announcement in December that US military forces were going to evacuate Syria as their mission to "defeat Daesh" had come to an end.

The US and Britain, alongside their other allies, have been pounding alleged Daesh positions in Syria since 2014.

Besides fighter jets, London has also deployed a number of its special forces to parts of Syria to carry out secret missions in coordination with over 2,000 American troops stationed in various bases across the war-torn country.

The ageing Tornados were scheduled to be retired in March but British officials shelved plans to replace them following Trump's decision, the report said.

"Anything [the US] does in the operational theater affects us," an unnamed RAF source told the Mail, confirming that the decision would have "undoubtedly" included air power.

The planned withdrawal leaves the UK with six advanced Eurofighter Typhoon jets and around 10 Reaper drones to carry out future operations.

The report said London would also reduce the number of its special forces in Syria in the coming weeks.

"The UK remains fully committed to the fight against Daesh [IS], and the retirement of the Tornado will be not lead to a reduction in the capability of the RAF's contribution to the global coalition," the Mail quoted a Ministry of Defense spokesman as saying.

1 in 3 UK fighter jets can't fly, including Typhoons

It was revealed on Monday that at least a third of the UK Royal Air Force's large fleet of fighter jets, including some Typhoons, were unable to fly.

Data made available under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws showed that 142 of RAF's 434-aircraft fleet were either under repaired or mothballed  cannibalized for parts or stored for future use.

The jets unable to fly included 55 out of RAF's entire fleet of 156 Typhoons, which the UK has used in its Syria operations.

They are the same jets that RAF uses to intercept Russian or other foreign jets that occasionally fly near British airspace.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Ming Campbell told The Mirror that the number was greater than what was expected for a fleet of this size.

Nia Griffith, the shadow defense secretary, said: "Conservative cuts have had a crippling effect on this country's defences and our ability to respond to the range of threats that the UK faces."

The RAF has shrunk to half its size in the last 25 years.
UK Labour Party leader pushes for parliament vote on second Brexit referendum

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 22, 2019 03:21PM

Britain's opposition Labour Party has proposed an amendment to a parliamentary motion on the country's withdrawal from the European Union which could pave the way for a second Brexit referendum.

UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday allowed his name to be included in the amendment which seeks to force the government to give parliament time to consider and vote on options to prevent a "no deal" Brexit at the end of March.

The amendment, which comes a week after the parliament voted down government's Brexit deal by a large majority, included options like a customs union with the EU, and "a public vote on a deal".

Corbyn had earlier rejected calls for a second Brexit referendum, saying results of the original vote in June 2016, in which Britons voted 52-48 for leaving the EU after four decades, should be respected in all circumstances.

He said on Tuesday that all options should be available to prevent a disorderly Brexit although the Labour reiterated that the amendment did not mean the party supported another referendum.

"It is time for Labour's alternative plan to take center stage, while keeping all options on the table, including the option of a public vote," said Corbyn.

Lawmakers like Corbyn have been desperately seeking to wrest control of the Brexit process from Prime Minister Theresa May's government. However, no one has been able to come out with an option that could garner the support of the majority of the House of Commons.

May has indicated that she will bring Britain out of the EU even without a deal on March 29 unless lawmakers agree to a changed version of her agreement in the next few weeks. The premier told the Commons on Monday that she will try to gain concessions from the EU on the status of the Irish border after Brexit, a thorny issue which many believe was the main reason for her historic defeat in the parliament last week.
Tensions Between Israel and Iran Rise Over Syria

By Linda Gradstein January 22, 2019

Twenty-one people were killed by Israeli airstrikes Monday in Syria. The dead reportedly including 12 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The latest round of attacks between Israel and Iran began with a series of Israeli airstrikes Sunday on Iranian targets in Syria, attacks that have become almost routine. But this time the missile strikes took place during the day and Israeli officials openly took responsibility for them. Israel usually neither confirms nor denies these strikes.

Iran's retaliation came a few hours later with a surface to surface missile fired at the Golan Heights, which includes Israel's only ski resort.

That missile was intercepted and shot down by the Iron Dome system. There were no casualties but Israeli army officials said if it had landed it could have killed dozens of people.

Israel responded to the Iranian missile launch with a widespread attack in Syria that killed 21 people.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will not allow Iran to establish a foothold in Syria.

"Israel will continue to block Iran's efforts to use Syria Lebanon and Gaza as forward bases for attacking Israel for the express purpose which they openly declare  destroying Israel," Netanyahu said.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 12 of the dead in Israel's retaliatory strike were members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which could increase tensions between Israel and Iran even further.

In the past Russia and the United States have acted to calm tensions between Israel and Iran. But now neither side appears willing to intervene, especially after President Donald Trump announced he is pulling all American troops out of Syria.

A senior Iranian official said his country will continue to be involved in Syria as long as the Syrian government asks for its help.

Meanwhile, Israel says it has carried out a successful test of its Arrow 3 Missile Defense System, developed in cooperation with the United States.

A pioneer of the Arrow system, Uzi Rubin, says the Arrow 3 will increase Israel's defense significantly.

"This is meant to work against Iranian missiles than can fly for thousands of miles," said Rubin. "It is the first defense these missiles will meet."

Despite the current tensions, Israeli analysts say they do not believe Israel or Iran wants a war.
Iran Will Remain in Syria as Long as We're Asked to  Top Security Official

Sputnik News

17:42 22.01.2019(updated 17:43 22.01.2019)

The comments by the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council came the same day that Israel carried out a series of strikes on alleged Iranian targets in Syria.

In an extensive interview published by the Mehr news agency, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that Tehran would continue providing assistance to Syria as long as Damascus needs its help in fighting terror.

"We reject interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and of course we do not allow anyone to interfere in our internal affairs. So, at the request of the governments of Iraq and Syria, we went to these countries and fought Daesh* and Nusra Front [Jabhat Fatah al-Sham]", he said.

The senior official noted that instead of "exporting terrorism to Syria", Western nations should let the Syrian people decide their future.

Shamkhani's wide-ranging interview was published the same day that Israel announced it had conducted a second air raid against alleged Iranian targets in Syria in two days.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) tweeted that it had hit purported Iranian military sites, including "facilities of [Iranian elite unit] Quds Force, weapons depots, mainly in the area of the Damascus International Airport, Iranian intelligence centre, Iranian training camp" in Syria, as well as Syrian air defences responding to the Israeli attack.

The airstrikes were carried out in response to a rocket fired from Syria at the disputed Golan Heights. The IDF claimed that the Iron Dome air defence system had intercepted the missile.

The Russian military later stated that Syrian air defences had shot down over 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs while repelling the attack. As a result of the strike, four Syrian servicemen were killed, while 6 others sustained injuries.

Israel has on a multitude of occasions expressed concern over Iran's alleged military presence in Syria, while Tehran has consistently emphasised that it has only been providing military advisers to Syria to help it fight against terrorism.

*Daesh, also known as ISIS/IS/ISIL/Islamic State, is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.

 Sputnik
Mexico Explained, in Plain English, at The Boutique

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - Are you confused about Mexico? Do you have questions about the country, its people or customs? You don't need to learn Spanish to Connect with Mexico, just come to The Boutique Theatre every Thursday at 11:00 am for 'Mexico explained, in plain English.'

Hosted by Carlos Navarro, who recently served as political analyst and policy adviser to the Chief of Staff to the President of Mexico, the 'Connect with Mexico' series will give you a better understanding of your adopted country.

This series of friendly conversations about Mexican culture, geography, history, literature, art, government and its many peoples, will help you think and act in a more bicultural fashion as the many wonders and intricacies of this fascinating country are explained through words, images, and insights that help you better understand 'Mexican ways.'

Each week focuses on a specific topic. Next up:

"The Sad Story of Spiraling Violence in Mexico."

So, is Mexico indeed one of the most violent countries in the world? Yes, it is. But do you feel threatened while living and visiting here? Do you hear firearms going off in your Mexican neighborhood? Do Mexicans go around their business looking over their shoulders?

The story of the rising tide of violence in Mexico begins in December of 2006, it is still being told and, like all violent stories, it is indeed sad. However, it would do us good to understand where all this came from, why it has gone so wrong, whether we are all truly personally threatened and if the country will ever come back to peace and quiet.

Want to find out? Then be sure to come to The Boutique Theatre on Thursday, January 24, at 11:00 am to "Connect with Mexico." There's no doubt we can all learn something, enjoy each other's company, and gain new insights on how to enjoy Mexico even more.

Tickets cost $250 Pesos per person, per session, and can be purchased at The Boutique Theatre or online at btpv.org.

For more info, visit ConnectWithMexico.com, or email connectwithmexico(at)gmail.com.
Turkey says planning intl. probe into murder of Saudi critic Khashoggi

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 22, 2019 09:44AM

Turkey says it is making preparations to launch an international investigation into the gruesome assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, slamming certain Western countries for what it calls attempts to whitewash the murder.

Speaking at a youth meeting in Istanbul on Monday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that Ankara was well aware of difficulties on the path to shed light on Khashoggi's murder case.

"There are Western countries trying to cover this case up. I know the reasons. We know and see what sorts of deals are made. We see how those who spoke of freedom of press are now covering this up after seeing money," he said.

However, he added, Turkey is planning an international inquiry into the case.

"We, however, will go until the end. We made preparations for an international investigation in the coming days and we will take the necessary steps," Cavusoglu said.

Khashoggi -- an outspoken critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- was killed by a Saudi hit squad inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate last October.

After weeks of denials of any involvement in the journalist's disappearance, the Riyadh regime eventually acknowledged the "premeditated" murder, but sought to distance bin Salman from the case.

However, the assassination is widely believed to have been ordered by the heir to the Saudi throne.

The CIA is also said to have concluded that the crown prince had "probably ordered" the murder.

In December 2018, Turkey called for an international investigation into the case. Ankara wants Riyadh to extradite the suspects for them to stand trial in Istanbul, a request rejected by Saudi rulers.

Saudi Arabia held an initial hearing into Khashoggi's murder earlier this month, with the public prosecutor requesting the death penalty for five of the 11 suspects detained.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), however, said it cannot assess the fairness of the trial, and that in any case it was "not sufficient."

It also called for an independent investigation "with international involvement."
Russian Heavy Bomber Crash-Lands In Murmansk Region, Killing Three Crew

January 22, 2019

A Russian long-range bomber has crash-landed in the Arctic, killing three of its crew of four, officials said on January 22.

The Tu-22M3 bomber crashed while landing in a blizzard after a routine training flight in the Murmansk region north of the Arctic Circle, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that two crew members were killed while two others were hospitalized.

A third pilot died from injuries later, a representative of the regional hospital said.

The bomber wasn't carrying weapons, according to the ministry's statement, which was carried by Russian news agencies.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

The Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the crash occurred near the Olenya military base, an airfield of Russia's Long-Range Aviation on the Kola Peninsula.

The Tu-22M3 is a twin-engine supersonic heavy bomber built in the 1980s.

The Russian Air Force has used the Tu-22M3 in its campaign in Syria.

The Defense Ministry said it was investigating all possibilities, including a technical fault.

Based on reporting by AP, Interfax, and TASS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-heavy-bomber-crash-lands- in-murmansk-region-killing-two-crew/29724347.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
India's Crackdown on Rohingyas Has Prompted A Reverse Exodus  Reports

Sputnik News

17:51 22.01.2019(updated 18:51 22.01.2019)

After the Indian government launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants, a reverse exodus of Rohingyas from India to Bangladesh has gathered momentum. In the last few weeks, as many as 1,300 Rohingyas taking shelter in India have reportedly crossed over to Bangladesh, according to the Bangladeshi refugee relief and repatriation commissioner.

30 Rohingyas who were roaming inside Indian territory in search of livelihood have been detained by the authorities in the north-eastern state of Assam. The group, comprising 12 children and a few women, were travelling to Guwahati, the capital of Assam, from the neighbouring state Tripura when the police identified and nabbed them, reports newspaper The Assam Tribune.

"During routine interrogation at the check-post, these Rohingyas were found without valid documents. They have violated the Passport Act hence steps would be taken accordingly. Further investigation is in progress", a senior police official, Inom Saikia, told The Assam Tribune on Tuesday.

Another police official told Sputnik on condition of anonymity that during the interrogation, all of the Rohingyas confessed that they came to Tripura from Jammu via Delhi last week. After spending three days in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, they were unable to find work; therefore they decided to travel to Guwahati. They also revealed that a local named Raju had brought them to northeast India from Jammu by promising to assist them in finding jobs.

The police suspect that the Rohingyas originally planned to cross over to Bangladesh via Tripura, but strict vigil at the border failed their attempts.

A similar attempt by 31 Rohingyas, including nine children and six women, were foiled last week by the border forces after they were stranded between the Indian barbed wire border fencing and the border pillars demarcating India and Bangladesh.

In the last few weeks, hundreds of Rohingyas in India have started fleeing to Bangladesh after the Indian government tightened the noose around them in terms of gathering their biometric data and other such details.

"Massive detentions are under way in different Indian states. The level of the crackdown on the Rohingyas in the Muslim-dominated Jammu-Kashmir, Hyderabad and New Delhi is extreme. Fearing deportation to Myanmar, they are crossing the border into Bangladesh", Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Abul Kalam Azad told a Bangladeshi news portal last week.

In 2018, at least 230 Rohingyas were apprehended by India's Border Security Force guarding the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Rohingya Muslims are originally from Myanmar, which they fled owing to inter-religious conflicts in 2017. Currently, over 1.1 million Rohingya reside in Cox's Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh. An estimated 40,000 Rohingya have taken refugee in states like Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, and Telangana in India. Fewer than 15,000 are registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

 Sputnik
Indonesian President Changes Course on Release of Radical Cleric

By VOA News January 22, 2019

Indonesia is placing conditions on the pending early release of Abu Bakar Bashir, the radical Muslim cleric linked to the 2002 bombings on Bali island.

President Joko Widodo said Tuesday that Bashir must agree to pledge his loyalty to the state and its secular ideology as a condition of his parole. A week ago, Widodo said he would grant Bashir an unconditional release from prison based on the cleric's age and ill health. Bashir is in his early 80s.

Chief Security Minister Wiranto said Monday the president had ordered a review of the decision, which was met with criticism both at home and abroad, including from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Australia lost 88 of the 202 people killed in the bombings of several nightclubs on the tourist island.

Some observers believe Widodo's original decision was made to win support from hardline Islamists for his re-election efforts. General elections are set for April.

Bashir was the spiritual leader of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiah terror group implicated in Bali attacks. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for supporting militant training camps in Aceh province.

Bashir has steadfastly refused to pledge loyalty to Indonesia's secular ideology.
Iraqi Scientist REVEALS How He 'Helped' Daesh Make Chemical Weapons

Sputnik News

11:07 22.01.2019

A 52-year-old Iraqi geologist claims to have spearheaded the manufacture of chemical weapons for Daesh over a period of 15 months, The Washington Post reported.

A few weeks into the seizure of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, by Daesh, Suleiman al-Afari, a scientist with the country's Ministry of Industry and Minerals, was tapped by the terrorist group to help them develop their chemical weapons programme, The Washington Post reported.

Although al-Afari, as a geologist, had little knowledge about the job, he accepted the offer and was in charge of supervising the manufacture of lethal toxins, including sulfur mustard.

During his 45-minute interview with WaPo's Joby Warrick at Irbil's Counterterrorism Department, al-Afari said that he didn't regret his decision, reasoning that he wanted to keep a government job.

"They had become the government, and we now worked for them. We wanted to work so we could get paid. They didn't force anyone. I was afraid that I would lose my job. Government jobs are hard to get, and it was important to hang on to it", he told the newspaper.

Al-Afari is among the few known people participating in Daesh's chemical weapons development programme to be captured alive. He was also charged with organising a supply chain for mustard gas, and outfitting a small cluster of labs.

"It was important [for Daesh] to make something strong so that they could terrify. It was more about creating horror and affecting the psychology and the morale of troops fighting them. I don't believe the quality of the weapons was ever at such a dangerous level".

Speaking of the facility where he used to work, the scientist said it was "very primitive and simple".

"There were uneducated people there who had none of the needed skills. I don't think anything was being done properly", al-Afari said, adding that it was located in a former auto repair shop.

Although the chemical weapons lab was eliminated in Iraq, The Washington Post cited Iraqi officials who assumed that Daesh could have moved some equipment and chemicals to Syria in 2016.

Daesh has on several occasions used chemical weapons against civilians and Iraqi, Syrian and US-led coalition military personnel, presumably using chlorine gas and sulfur mustard.

*Daesh, also known as ISIS/IS/ISIL/Islamic State, is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.

 Sputnik
South African Leader Calls for Lifting of Zimbabwe Sanctions

By Lisa Schlein January 22, 2019

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is calling for sanctions on Zimbabwe to be lifted, saying this action would help the country's shattered economy recover. Ramaphosa, who is to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, made a stopover in Geneva to attend the centennial celebration of the International Labor Organization.

Six months after presidential elections were held in Zimbabwe, that country finds itself in a very difficult, dangerous place. The euphoria that gripped the country after former president Robert Mugabe was ousted from power is gone.

Food shortages and skyrocketing fuel prices have triggered mass protests. These have been met with deadly force by Zimbabwe's security forces, which reportedly have killed at least 12 people and wounded hundreds more.

Ramaphosa says his government is in serious talks with Zimbabwe on how to help it emerge from its economic crisis. He says this will not be easy to resolve. But he believes Zimbabwe's economy could begin to recover if the world would lift the sanctions it has imposed.

"It is no longer necessary to have sanctions against Zimbabwe right now because they have embarked on a path of democracy and on a path of real recovery and we will help them best by lifting those sanctions because that in many ways would relieve the tension that is currently in the country," Ramaphosa said.

During the Mugabe regime, the U.S. and European Union imposed travel and asset restrictions on top ruling party officials, top military figures and some government-owned firms in response to election rigging and human rights abuses. The sanctions do not apply to the country as a whole.

Dodges human rights question

VOA asked if lifting sanctions now would rob countries of the leverage they have to try to persuade Zimbabwe to improve its human rights record and to govern in a more democratic way.

The South African president, who was participating in a news conference on a different subject, told VOA he was unable to respond to the question.

"I have been directed and instructed not to say anything further on Zimbabwe. And, as a law-abiding person and member of this Commission, I shall duly do so. So, my mouth is closed about Zimbabwe."

Ramaphosa is co-chair of the International Labor Organization's Global Commission on the Future of Work. He is in Geneva for the launch of the report.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has decided to skip the World Economic Forum to attend to problems back home. But no such constraints are keeping the South African president away. He says he is bringing assurances to the elite Davos gathering that South Africa is no longer tethered to the unethical practices of the past nine years.

That was an apparent reference to his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, who stepped down last year while mired in corruption scandals.


Supreme Court Upholds Trump Restrictions on Transgender Military Service

By Ken Bredemeier January 22, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can enforce its restrictions on transgender people in the military while lower court cases contesting their exclusion are continuing to be heard.

The high court overturned lower court rulings that had blocked the Defense Department from implementing the restrictions, but for now also declined to consider the legality of keeping transgender people out of the U.S. armed forces.

The Pentagon in years past had banned transgender people from serving in the military, but former President Barack Obama's administration said transgender people already serving could do so openly and set a date when transgender people could enlist.

But President Donald Trump's administration reviewed the policy and sought to limit the service of transgender people to only those who are not seeking to undergo gender transitions. The Trump rules apply to those joining or staying in the military.

The 5-4 conservative court majority overturned the injunctions against the Trump administration policy, while liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have kept them in place blocking the policy.

But the justices refused the administration's request to decide the merits of its ban before a California-based federal appellate court has a chance to rule.

In a statement later, the Pentagon said, "As always, we treat all transgender persons with respect and dignity," adding that its proposed policy "is NOT a ban on service by transgender persons."

The Defense Department said it is critical that it "be permitted to implement personnel policies that it determines are necessary to ensure the most lethal and combat-effective fighting force in the world."

Civil rights and transgender rights groups sued in 2017 to overturn the Trump administration restrictions. The Trump administration says they are necessary because of the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" of having transgender military personnel.

In March 2018, Trump said that rather than a total ban on transgender people in the military he would support a policy to bar the service of those who seek or have undergone steps toward gender transition. Trump also banned those who experience gender dysphoria, a condition the American Psychiatric Association defines as clinically significant distress due to "a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender" and the individual's gender identity.

Until Tuesday, federal courts had blocked the administration's policy, finding that it likely violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
Foreign Secretary announces new UK funding to support UN peace process in Yemen

Today the UK Government has announced 2.5 million in additional funding to the UN peace process in Yemen.

22 January 2019

This uplift in spending, from the UK Government's Conflict, Security and Stability Fund, will help establish the UN Civilian Coordinator's Office, following the agreements made between parties at December's UN peace talks in Stockholm. The UN Civilian Coordinator's Office will play the leading role in coordinating support to the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Isa  Yemen's lifeline. It will also focus on demining work and other civilian aspects of the Hodeidah Agreement. The Civilian Coordinator's Office will be co-funded by Germany.

The announcement follows the UN Security Council's unanimous adoption of UK-drafted resolution 2452 last week, which established a special political mission to support implementation of the ceasefire agreement reached in Stockholm.

The Stockholm Agreements, and the Hodeidah Agreement in particular, are integral steps in the road to long-term peace and stability in Yemen. They will also be pivotal in addressing the acute humanitarian crisis in the country. The funding announced by the UK today will help to the UN to ensure the survival of the ceasefire in its crucial first months.

Announcing the increase in spending today, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said:

"Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Up to 20 million Yemenis lack reliable access to food and over 400,000 children under the age of 5 suffer severe acute malnutrition. This is a man-made humanitarian catastrophe and it will have man-made solutions. The Stockholm Agreements are our best chance of securing long term peace in Yemen. The UK is therefore determined to support the implementation of these agreements. Last week's Security Council vote and today's announcement of an additional 2.5 million UK funding are an instrumental part of that process, and we will continue to bolster the UN Special Envoy's work where possible over the coming months."

"The strides made over recent weeks would not have been thought possible just a short time ago. But there is still a long way to go. I urge the Government of Yemen and the Houthis to work closely with the UN and in good faith to expedite implementation of these agreements. It is imperative that they show restraint and act in the interests of all Yemenis to being an end to this heart-breaking crisis."

Background

The new 2.5 million UK contribution comes from the Conflict, Security and Stability fund and will help fund the UN's Civilian Coordinator's Office to support the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement on the ground in Hodeidah. The Office will play the leading role in the civilian aspects of the Hodeidah Agreement including:

support to the planning and management of the three ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Isa

expansion of the UN Verification and Monitoring Mission within the three ports, managed by the United Nations Office for Project Services

deployment and coordination of demining and explosive ordinance disposal capacity in Hodeidah through the UN Development Programme

support to the re-establishment of a local civilian policing function, including training and mentoring, through UN Development Programme

support to the planning and implementation of customs facilities and revenue collection for the ports, if agreed by the parties

UK funding will also provide armoured vehicles to UN teams if needed as well as providing technical expertise and assistance to support stabilisation, confidence building and governance in Hodeidah.

UK personnel will also be backfilling roles in the UN Verification and Monitoring Mission in Djibouti to enable the UN to quickly expand the mission into Hodeidah, funded by DFID.

In April 2018, the UK announced 170 million in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen for this financial year 2018 to 2019. This funding will meet immediate food needs for 4 million Yemenis and brings the total UK bilateral support to Yemen to over 570 million since 2015.
Norwegian Defence Chief Bemoans 'Tragic' Frigate Loss in NATO War Games

Sputnik News

11:24 22.01.2019(updated 11:31 22.01.2019)

In an annual speech, Norwegian Chief of Defence has lamented the dramatic loss of a frigate following the major NATO drill Trident Juncture and utilised the "Russian threat" as a pretext for a naval beef-up.

Norwegian Chief of Defence Haakon Bruun-Hanssen has called the loss of the prized frigate KNM Helge Ingstad a "tragedy" and warned that Norway must acquire several naval vessels to keep up with its security needs.

"The loss of the frigate is key for our ability to defend. Frigates are the only system we have in the Armed Forces that can wage a war in three dimensions simultaneously. We have therefore lost considerable capacity", Bruun-Hansen said in his annual speech, as quoted by the newspaper Verdens Gang.

While admitting the "errors made", he also praised personnel for the prompt evacuation of the frigate. At the same time, he called for a Navy beef-up. Despite the fact that the Norwegian government is slated to present the next long-term plan for the Armed Forces in 2020, Bruun-Hansen has already made it clear that new operational departments and military vessels are on his wish list.

By 2025, when Norway's coastal corvettes are scheduled for scrapping as the new force of F-35 fighter jets becomes operational, the Navy will be left with only a handful of frigates and submarines.

"The vacuum we leave will undoubtedly be filled by others, and may thus weaken the stability we seek to maintain. In order to maintain a sufficient Norwegian maritime presence in the northern areas, the size of the Navy must therefore be increased", the Chief of Defence said at the Oslo Military Society.

Bruun-Hansen recalled the plan "4 times 30" launched by former US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis. According to the plan, NATO nations must be able to mobilise 30 land battalions, 30 air fighter squadrons and 30 navy ships within 30 days after being alerted. According to Bruun-Hansen, such requirements cannot be met with today's military infrastructure.

"Given today's structure and responsiveness, we'll be neither able to satisfy the increased national needs, nor meet the increased demands from NATO", admiral Haakon Bruun-Hanssen said in his annual speech.

Bruun-Hansen cited Russia as a source of uncertainty in the north, stressing that Moscow has missiles available that can reach targets throughout Norway and the Barents Sea. Bruun-Hansen also claimed that Russia "simulated attacks on Norwegian military infrastructure and allied forces", adding that this "creates uncertainty about Russian intentions".

"Modern missile systems have deployed on land, at sea and on fighter jets to cover the entirety of Norway and the Barents Sea", Haakon Bruun-Hanssen said.

Bruun-Hanssen also claimed that Russia's new fleet of multi-role submarines is of particular concern for Norway. These are silent submarines with missiles that can threaten targets both in Europe and in the US, and can attack an "important, but vulnerable" seaway that the US may use to reinforce Europe's military, he stressed. As a NATO member, Norway has a special responsibility to locate these submarines, most preferably before they sail out into the Atlantic.

The 134-metre-long Helge Ingstad collided with the Maltese-flagged tanker TS Sola when returning from the Trident Juncture NATO drills. Most of its expensive equipment is believed to have suffered considerable damage from saltwater. The preparations to salvage the frigate are still underway.

 Sputnik
At Least 65 Afghan Troops Killed In Taliban Assault, As Peace Talks Resume

By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan January 22, 2019

KABUL -- Afghan officials say a Taliban attack on a military base to the west of Kabul killed at least 65 members of the country's security forces.

Taliban militants carried out the assault in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Maidan Wardak Province, early on January 21.

"We took about 65 bodies out of the rubble yesterday," said Mohammad Sardar Bakhyari, deputy head of the provincial council in Maidan Wardak Province.

A senior security official who spoke on condition of anonymity gave an even higher toll of at least 70 killed.

Khawanin Sultani, a council member of Maidan Wardak Province, said on January 22 that the attack also left more than 70 wounded.

The attack came hours before the Taliban announced they had resumed peace talks with U.S. officials.

The assault began when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden vehicle and three gunmen stormed the compound, igniting a firefight with Afghan security forces, officials said.

All three gunmen were said to have been killed.

An unidentified Defense Ministry official in Kabul was quoted as saying that the base housed a training center of Afghanistan's main intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS).

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Afghan Taliban was behind the attack -- the latest in near-daily assaults by the militants who now hold sway in nearly half of Afghanistan.

The United States strongly condemned the attack.

"In the face of such cowardly acts, the United States stands with the people of Afghanistan, who seek a peaceful future and an end to violence," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.

"The United States will continue to support our Afghan partners to bolster security and achieve an end to the conflict in Afghanistan."

The violence comes amid stepped-up efforts by the United States to find a negotiated end to the country's 17-year war.

Citing a source close to the peace talks, the Reuters news agency said that members of the Taliban's political office in Qatar were meeting with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan.

"Talks between Taliban leaders and U.S. officials started today in Qatar," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.

Khalilzad ended his visit to Pakistan on January 20 after meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Efforts to negotiate a peace deal to end the fighting in Afghanistan have been beset by disagreement, with the Taliban refusing to hold direct talks with Afghan officials.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and nytimes.com

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-assault-on-military- base-kills-45-afghan-troops/29723616.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Starbucks Mexico is 'Perking Up' More Seniors' Lives

Zapopan, Jalisco - Starbucks Mexico has opened another coffee shop that's operated solely by employees ages 52 to 66. Located in Zapopan, Jalisco, it's the second Starbucks store to be staffed by 'senior partners.' Their first senior-staffed coffee shop opened last year in Mexico City.

After having spent her life working in the administration departments of various companies, Dulce Serrano, age 55, retired two years ago. Before long, she realized that working helped give her purpose, and that her work ethic could still serve to inspire others.





She wasn't ready to be done so, last week, she began a new chapter of her life as she, along with 13 other retirees, started working at a new Starbucks coffee shop in Zapopan that's operated entirely by seniors.

"I've always felt proud of being a happy, glass-half-full person," said Starbucks employee Dulce Serrano, 55, who retired two years ago from an administration job. "For me, working sets an example to my daughter."

Five years ago, Starbucks and the National Institute for Elderly People became allies to create job opportunities for senior citizens. The coffee giant aims to provide employment for 120 older citizens in Mexico by the end of 2019, Diana Gonzalez, head of HR at Starbucks Mexico, said in a press release.

"Creating opportunities through our employment programs is part of Starbucks' essence. We believe in senior citizens who seek new work experiences. We are a multi-generation company that embraces diversity and inclusion, and we are thrilled to continue fostering a well-balanced work environment that includes both young partners and senior citizens," she said.

"Bringing together people of all ages in our stores makes them truly unique spaces. We celebrate having all sorts of talents, experiences, and perspectives embodied by each of our partners. They are the ones driving Starbucks' success," Gonzalez added.

Starbucks has more than 29,300 locations around the world with more than 500 in Mexico.
Yemen accuses Saudis of breaching truce 306 times

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 22, IRNA -- Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman has accused the Saudi-led coalition of repeatedly breaching ceasefire agreement in Yemen, saying that it has violated the truce 306 times over the last 48 hours.

According to the Yemeni media 'Al-Masirah', Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Monday that the Saudi forces targeted various areas in Al Hudaydah with missiles and mortar shells.

Meanwhile, Saudi jetfighters bombarded various areas like Taiz, Sana'a, Saada, Al Jawf and Hajjah.

Saree added that Yemeni forces have conducted 15 operations on Saudi forces' positions.

The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2451 to support the Stockholm Agreement on deployment of a team in order to facilitate monitoring and implementing the Agreement and establishing truce in important Yemeni ports.

The resolution mainly focuses on sending essential commodities to the Yemeni people, supporting the Stockholm Agreement, assigning the Secretary-General of the United Nations to implement it and observing the ceasefire.

The fourth round of Yemen peace talks kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden on December 6 with the attendance of the UN special envoy Martin Griffith and the government representatives. It agreed to establish truce in Yemeni ports of al-Hudaydah, al-Salif and Ayn Issa.

Saudi Arabia and its regional allies attacked Yemen in March 2015 to bring back to power the deposed president of Yemen Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Since then, the invaders have committed horrible war crimes against Yemeni civilians.

9376**1771
Taliban rejects news on Mullah Yaghoub killing

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Kabul, Jan 22, IRNA -- Taliban spokesman Zabihollah Mojahed in a Twitter message rejected news on killing of Mullah Yaghoub, son of former leader of Taliban and member of Quetta Shura Mullah Mohammad Omar.

In his message which was released on Tuesday, Mojahed described the news on his killing in Peshawar, Pakistan as false and a media hype.

He added that Afghanistan government started promoting the propaganda campaign after killing of a large number of security forces in Maidan Wardak Province.

This is while, Afghan media released news on killing of Mullah Yaghoub on Monday night, saying he had been killed by unknown armed people.

The suicide attackers broke into a center for training security forces in Maidan Wardak Province on Monday.

According to local sources, five attackers who were wearing security forces' uniforms detonated a car in front of the building and then started shooting.

There are contradictory reports on the number of casualties.

9376**1424
704th Test Group successfully leads Directed Energy Experimentation Campaign

By Deidre Ortiz, Arnold Engineering Development Complex Public Affairs / Published January 22, 2019

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) -- After the success of the first range experiment of the Directed Energy Experimentation Campaign at White Sands Missile Range, in October 2018, the 704th Test Group's Directed Energy Combined Test Force is now planning future experiments in support of the campaign.

The Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, tasked the 704th TG Directed Energy Combined Task Force at Kirtland Air Force Base to execute the DE Experimentation Campaign. The task force is an operating unit of Arnold Engineering Development Complex, which is headquartered at Arnold AFB, Tennessee.

The Directed Energy Combined Task Force was developed after the secretary of the Air Force signed the Air Force Directed Energy Weapons Flight Plan, charting a course to transition DE weapons to operational users. Part of the flight plan, headed by the SDPE office, is to execute the DE Experimentation Campaign.

According to John Cao, director of the DE CTF, the objective of the initial DE experiment was to understand capabilities and limitations offered by existing, off-the-shelf high power microwave and high energy laser systems against group 1 and group 2 unmanned aerial systems.

"The test scenario was air base defense against small unmanned aerial systems," he said. "Two industry systems, one high power microwave and one high energy laser, were evaluated, with more than 220 vertical-lift and fixed-wing UAS sorties flown as threats."

To obtain operator feedback, Air Force security force members from Kirtland AFB, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and Edwards AFB, California, operated the DE systems.

"Valuable data were collected to address the experiment's objective," Cao said. "Now we're in the planning stages of conducting more DE experiments."

The DE experiments are meant to provide further understanding on how DE capabilities can be used and progressed.

"The Department of Defense has demonstrated that DE weapons can negate threats," Cao said. "However, transitioning the DE technology is a different story. We must also understand concept of operations, tactics, techniques and procedures along with the potential implications to doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities and policy. The campaign's primary goal is to understand these areas."

Col. Scott Cain, AEDC commander, recently praised the work being done by the DE CTF team.

"The 704th Test Group's Directed Energy CTF did a phenomenal job representing the Air Force Test Center and demonstrating their leadership in the Directed Energy experimentation at White Sands Missile Range," he said. "Mr. John Cao, the Directed Energy CTF Director, led a live counter-UAS test demonstration to multiple senior executive service and general officers from across the Air Force, and he gave a great talk on the CTF construct the 704th has built that's the engine behind this experiment.

"John and several others in the 704th, and one member of the 96th were singled out by Mr. Thomas Lockhart, SDPE Director, for their contributions to the experiment. I have received many compliments from the office of the Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and the Air Force Research Laboratory, among others, on how the 704th is making another experiment happen for the Air Force."

Brig. Gen. Christopher Azzano, Air Force Test Center commander, said the 704th TG is "synonymous with 'experimentation."

The 704th TG has also supported other SDPE experimentation campaigns, such as the Air Force Light Attack Experiment, a series of trials using light aircraft in attack roles.
Bashir Heads to Qatar as Protests Rock Sudan

By VOA News January 21, 2019

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is set to arrive in Qatar, his first overseas trip since widespread anti-government protests rocked the nation.

Bashir is to meet Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Wednesday to discuss ways of boosting relations, Qatar state news agency QNA reported Monday.

Bashir has tried to downplay the protests, insisting that foreign "agents" and "infiltrators" are responsible for the dissent as well as the violence that has followed.

"There are some people among the protesters who are killing the demonstrators," Bashir said in a speech Sunday.

The country has seen large-scale demonstrations since Dec. 19, when the government raised bread prices. The protests have grown in scope, and many are calling for an end to Bashir's three-decade-long rule.

The government has confirmed that 24 people have died during the protests, but the U.N. says credible reports suggest the death toll may be nearly double that. There also have been numerous injuries and reports that security forces fired tear gas and bullets inside a hospital as they pursued injured protesters.

More than 800 people have been arrested, including journalists, opposition leaders, protesters and civil society members.

"People are hungry, and they see the looting of the country's resources by the ruling clique," Mohammed "Mo" Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British billionaire and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, told VOA by phone Friday. "Just, people had enough."

"If 70 percent of the budget is allocated to the president, at his whims, to spend on the militias, the armies, the security forces  what is left? Thirty percent to support education, health, agriculture, road infrastructure, clean water?" Ibrahim said. "This is not a way to run a country."

Ibrahim called on the international community to help stop the brutal crackdown in Sudan. "It just cannot go on unpunished, and we look for the international community to really stand up and say enough is enough," Ibrahim said.

Salem Solomon of VOA's Africa Division contributed to this report.
Russian Court Denies Bail to Former US Marine Accused of Spying

By VOA News January 22, 2019

A court in Russia has denied bail to an American man being held on spying charges.

Paul Whelan, a dual U.S.-British citizen and former U.S. Marine, was arrested December 28 for what the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said was "carrying out an act of espionage," without specifying exactly what he was accused of doing.

His family has said he is innocent.

The 48-year-old appeared in the Moscow court Tuesday seeking to be released from custody while his case goes forward, but the judge did not approve the request.

There is speculation the Russians might try to use Whelan as leverage for the release of Russia's Maria Butina, who pleaded guilty to infiltrating America's conservative political movement as a Kremlin-directed agent. Butina was convicted of acting as a foreign agent in the United States.

The Kremlin has dismissed the idea of Whelan being held for a possible prisoner swap.
Espionage Suspect Whelan Had Classified Docs at Detention in Russia - Attorney

Sputnik News

11:12 22.01.2019(updated 13:45 22.01.2019)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Vladimir Zherebenkov, attorney for espionage suspect Paul Whelan, told Sputnik on Monday that his client was found to be in possession of classified documents at the time he was detained last month in Moscow.

A Moscow City Court has ruled the detention of espionage suspect Paul Whelan lawful and refused to release him from custody, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene on 22 January.

"To maintain the ruling of the Moscow Lefortovo Court unchanged, to reject the appeal", judge Dmitry Pronyakin said.

The hearing was closed to the media and the public over the classified nature of some of the case files. Whelan's defence plans to appeal the court's ruling to place him in custody over the spying case, according to reports.

"We will appeal it in a court of higher instance", the attorney said after the hearing.

Earlier the attorney had confirmed that Whelan had been found to have classified documents.

"The prosecution is saying that he was in possession of documents. Yes, he was. Are these documents classified? I confirm that they are. I cannot comment on anything else", the attorney said.

The US, UK and Canadian diplomats requested permission to attend the hearing but were not allowed to be present.

Meanwhile, the US has informed Russia via diplomatic channels of concerns over the delay of a consular visit to Whelan, urging Moscow to fulfil commitments, the embassy said in a statement.

The US Embassy in Russia told RIA Novosti that the Russian Foreign Ministry, after initially agreeing, delayed the visit at the request of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

"US Embassy consular officers had planned to visit Mr Paul Whelan on 17 January at Lefortovo Prison. The visit had been approved by the Russian government and scheduled in advance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). On the morning of 17 January  the same day as the scheduled visit  the Russian MFA informed us that the visit would be postponed and rescheduled at the request of the Federal Security Service (FSB)", the embassy's press secretary Andrea Kalan said.

Kalan added that the US diplomats were "strongly concerned about the delay in consular access both to Mr Whelan and, more broadly, to US citizens in Russia and about Russia's lack of adherence to the Bilateral Consular Agreement between our two countries".

"We have expressed our concern through diplomatic channels, and we call on Russia to meet its treaty obligations", the press secretary said.

Vladimir Zherebenkov, the suspect's attorney, has also told Sputnik that diplomats from the US, UK, and Canadian mission in Moscow have come to the Moscow City Court hoping to be admitted to the hearing on the detention of espionage suspect Paul Whelan, adding that it will be up to the court to allow the diplomats to be present.

Whelan, 48, who also has Irish, Canadian and US citizenship, was detained on espionage charges in Moscow in December of last year. He has dismissed the charges and insists he came to Russia only to attend a friend's wedding.

 Sputnik
American Jailed On Spy Charge In Russia Was Set Up, Lawyer Suggests

By RFE/RL January 22, 2019

A lawyer for Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine jailed in Russia on an espionage charge, says his client did not know that a USB stick he was given in his hotel room moments before his arrest contained state secrets.

Speaking to reporters on January 22, after a Moscow court refused to release Whelan on bail, attorney Vladimir Zherbenkov suggested that the foreigner was the victim of a setup.

Whelan believed he was being given a memory stick that contained photos and other material from his own previous trips to Russia, Zherebenkov said.

He thought "these were cultural things, a trip to a cathedral, Paul's holiday...photographs," the lawyer said. "Why it turned out that information containing state secrets was on there is still unknown."

Whelan, who also holds citizenship in Ireland, Canada, and Britain, was arrested in Moscow by Federal Security Service (FSB) agents on December 28.

Russian authorities allege he was caught "red-handed" in an act of espionage, and he faces 10 to 20 years in prison if tried and convicted.

Zherebenkov says he denies guilt, and his family in North America says he is innocent, is not a spy, and was in Moscow to attend a friend's wedding to a Russian woman.

Russian authorities have not released details of the espionage allegations against Whelan. The news agency Rosbalt, citing an unnamed source, has reported that Whelan was detained in his room at the Metropol hotel near the Kremlin after receiving a USB stick containing a classified list of employees of an unspecified Russian security agency.

Zherebenkov's remarks appeared to suggest that he might claim that evidence was planted on Whelan.

A day after Whelan was detained, Moscow's Lefortovo District Court ordered him to be held in pretrial detention until February 28 -- a term that can be extended by court decision.

At the hearing on January 22, the Moscow City Court upheld that ruling, rejecting a request for his release on bail

Whelan, 48, was brought to the courthouse from Moscow's Lefortovo jail, where suspects arrested by the FSB are often held, and was confined to a metal enclosure during the proceedings.

He declined to answer questions about his welfare and the accusations against him, a reporter for The Daily Telegraph said on Twitter.

Zherebenkov said he would appeal the ruling and continue to seek Whelan's release.

Ahead of the hearing, Interfax quoted U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Andrea Kalan as saying that representatives of the embassy would attend.

"We are closely following Paul Whelan's case and continuing to call on Russia to adhere to international law and provide detained U.S. citizens with fast, fair, and transparent judicial processes," she said, according to a Russian-language Interfax report.

Whelan's arrest and prosecution come amid persistent tension between Moscow and Western countries, particularly the United States and Britain, over a range of issues including Russia's interference in Ukraine, its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in March 2018 with a deadly Soviet-designed nerve agent.

On January 20, his brother David announced a public campaign to help fund his legal defense.

With reporting by Interfax, Reuters, AP, RIA Novosti, Ekho Moskvy, The Daily Telegraph, and TASS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/whelan-trial-us -russia-spy-trial/29723565.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
EU sanctions Russians, Syrians over alleged links to chemical attacks

Iran Press TV

Tue Jan 22, 2019 07:05AM

The European Union has imposed sanctions against a number of Russian and Syrian individuals over what it claims to be their links to chemical weapons attacks.

During a Monday meeting in the Belgian capital, Brussels, EU foreign ministers agreed to slap travel bans and asset freezes on four Russians working for the country's military intelligence agency, the GRU, in connection with the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in March 2018.

The punitive measures target the GRU head, deputy head and two officials "for possession, transport and use in Salisbury of a toxic nerve agent," the ministers said in a statement.

The Skripals escaped death, but months later, a Salisbury resident died after coming into contact with the nerve agent, which had been put in a perfume bottle, and her partner had to be given extensive medical treatment.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the fresh bans "deliver on our vow to take tough action against the reckless and irresponsible activities of the Russian military intelligence organization."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the sanctions as "groundless," saying, "We have still not heard any evidence" against those accused in Skripal's case.

"We reserve the right to take retaliatory measures over this unfriendly step," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement read.

"An information campaign unleashed by the British authorities over this case primarily has a domestic agenda. It is telling that its new round coincides with a new crisis in Brexit talks," it added.

Alongside the Russian individuals, the EU slapped sanctions on Syria's state-run Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) as well as five of its staff over what it calls the use of chemical weapons.

The EU foreign ministers said in their statement that the new sanctions contribute "to the EU's efforts to counter the proliferation and use of chemical weapons, which poses a serious threat to international security."

Hunt claimed that the Syrians targeted are responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria, including the one that hit the Damascus suburb town of Douma on April 7, 2018.

Western states blamed the Syrian government for the incident, but Damascus firmly rejected the accusation.

One week after the suspected gas attack, the US, Britain and France launched a coordinated missile strike against sites and research facilities near Damascus and Homs with the purported goal of paralyzing the Syrian government's capability to produce chemicals.

This is while Syria surrendered its entire chemical stockpile in 2013 to a mission led by the OPCW and the UN.

Separately on Tuesday, the EU added 11 Syrian businessmen and companies that support the administration of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to another sanctions list.

They were described as being involved in luxury real estate and other government-backed projects.
We are not alone in seeing the great potential in this part of town. A few minutes' walk from our new building, the Baltimore Food Hub, an incubator for food businesses being developed by Baltimore-based American Communities Trust, is rising on the site of the old Eastern Pumping Station. Just a quarter-mile north of Hoen is the beautifully restored American Brewery, home to the human development nonprofit Humanim. Across Chester Street from American Brewery is the Mary Harvin Apartments, a complex for seniors that burned during the April 2015 uprising but a year later was completely rebuilt through the efforts of Southern Baptist Church, which is also leading an East Baltimore Revitalization Project. Other local assets and stakeholders include Collington Square Park, Collington Square Elementary/Middle School, Collington Commons Apartments, Dayspring Programs and two stalwart congregations, Israel Baptist Church and Southern Baptist Church.
As Ive covered the trade war with China and dove into research on Russia and agriculture for an upcoming interview, Ive learned a lot, mostly about what I dont know. Even though I grew up on a farm, in a farming and ranching community, I...
One of the first pieces of legislation to hit the ground during each legislature is the states budget. Its usually the last piece of the puzzle to get solved, too. Balancing the budget each session is one of the most challenging tasks the le...
Glasgow Store Currently Unaffected

On Jan. 16, Shopko announced they have filed voluntary petitions for a court-supervised financial restructuring under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. As a result, the Plentywood store will be closing March 3, and the Wolf Point st...
Garrett Lloyd took the top spot at this year's Poetry Out Loud competition.

Following the success of last year's Glasgow High School Poetry Slam event, Desiree Johnson had planned to continue hosting one each year. However, as plans do, that intent changed. Having introduced her students to a deeply personal form of expre...
Both the Fort Peck Fine Arts Council (FPFAC) and the city of Glasgow have been awarded grants by the Department of Commerce to help attract visitors to the community. The FPFAC received a grant of $20,000 to upgrade the sound system at the Fort Pe...
These basic principles provide a baseline for anyone seeking the office of the presidency. Each candidate should be asked whether they agree with what, in normal times, would be uncontroversial assertions. Journalists ought to ask candidates who do not sign on why they are unwilling to do so. If any Democrats do not sign on, other Democrats (whether running for president or not) should ask why  and the same ought to be true for Republicans.
Moto Z3 receiving Android Pie update and January 2019 Android Security patch News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The update will also bring an improved Do Not Disturb mode along with other Android Pie features such as Adaptive Brightness, Adaptive Battery and others.

Motorola has dished out the latest Android flavor, i.e, the Android Pie for its last year premium Moro Z3 smartphone. The Moto Z3 was announced back in 2018 and it ships with Android v8.1 Oreo out-of-the-box. Now, almost after four months of its release, the device is already receiving the Android Pie flavor. This is not the only Nokia smartphone which has received the Android Pie update, recently, the company has also released the update for its mid-range Moto G6 Plus smartphone.

Besides, the Moto Z3 latest firmware update also brings along the January 2019 Android Security patch with it. The new update will bring a new UI to the smartphone and as per Motorola, the update will improve "your mobile experience from the new Intuitive Navigation and Recent App."

As for the changelog, the update comes with usual Android Pie goodies and will introduce a revamped split screen and colorful settings menu. The update will also bring an improved Do Not Disturb mode along with other Android Pie features such as Adaptive Brightness, Adaptive Battery and others. The update will also allow the users to activate the 'Battery Saver' feature at 70 percent or below. Notably, Motorola has also specified that once the Moto Z3 smartphones are upgraded to Android Pie, it will not be possible to roll the Android version back to older one.

Just to recall, the flagship Moto Z3 smartphone has a 6.0-inch Super AMOLED display panel that has a Super AMOLED display panel on top of it. The display panel is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 layer on top. At its core, the smartphone is powered by a high-end octa-core Snapdragon 835 chipset that clocks at 2.45GHz. The processor onboard is paired with an Adreno 540 GPU to take care of high-resolution graphics and 4GB of RAM for multitasking. The smartphone offers a storage space of 64GB which can be expanded up to 2TB via microSD card slot.

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Moto G7 mobile series to launch on the 7th of February 2019: Features and expected pricing News oi-Vivek Moto G7, Moto G7 Plus, Moto G7 Power, Moto G7 Play

Motorola, a subsidiary smartphone brand by Lenovo is all set to launch the 7th gen Moto G series of smartphones. According to the press invite, the company will unveil the Moto G7 series of smartphones on the 7th of February 2019 in San Paulo, Brazil.

The launch invite does not reveal anything other than the launch event itself. However, considering the leaks and specifications from the past few days, the company is most likely to launch the Moto G7, Moto G7 Plus, Moto G7 Power and Moto G7 Play.

Moto G7 price leak

According to a report, the entry-level Moto G7 Play will cost 149 Euros (Rs 12,000), whereas the Moto G7 Power with a bigger battery will retail for 209 Euros (Rs 17,000). As of now, there is no information on the pricing of the Moto G7 and the Moto G7 Plus (which will cost more than Moto G7 Play for sure).

Though the Moto G6 series of smartphones offered better design compared to other smartphones, the company failed to compete against the competition from Chinese smartphone OEMs like Honor and Xiaomi, which offered better specs-sheet compared to the Moto G6 series of smartphones at a much lower price tag.

Moto G7 Series design choice

Majority of the 7th Gen Motorola smartphones come with an all-glass design with a dual camera setup and a notch display. Some devices will have a compact water-drop notch, and some smartphones will have a wider Apple iPhone XS like notch.

All four smartphones are expected to come with an IPS LCD screen with HD+ or FHD+ resolution with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. Similarly, the Moto G7 series family of devices will offer Android 9 Pie OS out of the box with stock Android UI.

As of now, there is no official confirmation about the launch of the Motoi G7 series of smartphones in India. Considering the Brazil launch, the company is most likely to launch the Moto G7 series of smartphones in India by the end of March 2019 or in early April 2019.

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Honor V20 Moschino Edition with 8GB RAM announced in China News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Honor V20 Moschino Edition is priced at RMB 3,999 (RS 41,976 approx).

Honor' flagship device, the Honor V20 was announced back in December 2018 in China. Later, the company released this device as Honor View20 in India. The flagship device comes with a punch hole display panel with some other interesting features such as Link Turbo Technology and a 48MP rear camera sensor. Now, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has teamed up with an Italian fashion brand and has introduced a new edition of the Honor V20 in its hometown China.

Honor has released the Honor V20 Moschino Edition in China. The device will be available for purchase in China via Vmall and will be available in two different color options including a Phantom Blue and Phantom Red color options. As for the pricing, the Honor V20 Moschino Edition is priced slightly higher than the standard variant of the smartphone. The Honor V20 standard variant carries a price tag of RMB 2,999 (Rs 31,479 approx), whereas, the latest V20 Moschino Edition is priced at RMB 3,999 (RS 41,976 approx). This is a hike of RMB 1000 over the pricing of the regular variant of the device.

Honor V20 Moschino Edition specifications:

The Honor V20 packs a similar set of hardware and specifications as the standard Honor View20 smartphone. The device flaunts a 6.4-inch full HD+ display panel that has a screen resolution of 1080 x 2310 pixels. In terms of optics, the smartphone uses a 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor primary rear camera with a wide aperture of f/1.8 and a 3D TOF (time-of-flight) sensor. Up front, there is a 25MP camera to capture selfies and for video calls.

The smartphone packs a powerful Kirin 980 chipset which is paired with Mali-G76 MP10 GPU for high-resolution graphics. The smartphone is available in 8GB RAM and 256GB storage option, unlike the standard variant which is also available in 6GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage.

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The New York Times: Bitcoin declines but Georgia still bet on it - GeorgianJournal
Imagine a future in which neither the Baltimore City Council nor the Maryland General Assembly has the ability to bar most people from carrying their firearms on the streets, either openly or so-called concealed carry. This has been the dream of the National Rifle Association and its ardent followers for years. They want a return to Wild West standards where good guys with guns roam the frontier and can have their firearm holstered to their side whether riding public transit or sitting in church or shopping at the mall. No longer will such rights be grounded in home defense. And no longer will local standards prevail when visitors get their handgun permits from another state. In other words, if you think Baltimore has too many guns now, get ready to double-down.
For the last two-plus years I have been reading and watching on TV the "Republican" party support and defend our national disgrace and I have come to two conclusions:

First, it is no longer the Republican Party, it is the party of Donald Trump. Long ago (1971), I joined the Republican Party and this is not it! The true Republican Party would not support a tax overhaul that adds $1.5 billion to the national debt. No way. I would also like to think the true Republican Party would not tear down all that was good in America like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Paris Accord and on and on.

Second, I have to come to the conclusion that the basis for the party of Trump is hate! Just look at Trump! Every time he opens his mouth or tweets he puts people down and calls them stupid, low IQ, idiot and on and on. This denigration of others is certainly not born in love!

Which brings me to those people who call themselves Christian but support Trump. I am sure that everyone in the Christian world knows that Christ would not support a racist, sexist bully. Christ would pray with Trump that he could be a kind, gentle, helpful, understanding person, but as soon as he started his bullying, Christ would walk away!

John Larsen

Corvallis (Jan. 22)

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The first purpose of voting for candidates in elections is to select the individual the majority of voters want. But a secondary purpose, which also contributes to the first, should be to gauge the true level of support of all the candidates. In this, we fail miserably.

Simple plurality voting, which predominates, allows voters to vote for one candidate only.

Approval Voting should be adopted. This simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-understand, voting method allows citizens to vote for all the candidates they "approve." Voters would not be forced to choose between voting for an independent or minority party candidate that they favor, or for voting for the better major party candidate.

As it stands, voting for an independent candidate "splits the vote," effectively becoming a vote for the majority party candidate the voter dislikes. With Approval Voting, the voter could vote for the independent candidate, and the preferred majority party candidate. The true level of support for all candidates would be reflected by the results. The candidate who receives the most votes would still win.
State Rep. Sherrie Sprenger, a Republican from Scio who represents District 17, will be the speaker at the Benton County Republican Womens meeting on Monday, Jan. 28 at Papas Pizza Parlor, 1030 SW Third St., Corvallis.

The meeting starts at 11 a.m. Sprenger will speak at 11:30.

Sprenger was initially appointed to the House in 2008 and in 2018 was elected to her fifth full term. She will serve in the 2019 legislative session as the Republican Caucus whip and as the vice-chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Among the bills Sprenger is pursuing this session is one to allow individual counties to opt into working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue tags that would allow hunters to use hounds based on biological analysis of cougar populations within those counties.

Sprenger will focus on other legislative issues as well in her remarks. There will a short time for questions.

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Much meaning has been attached to young Mr. Sandmanns smirk and Mr. Phillips unbreaking gaze, with different conclusions reached about who instigated whom depending upon the viewers bent and how many other videos theyve watched. One shows a handful of Hebrew Israelites, a confrontational group whose black nationalist beliefs have put them under scrutiny by the Southern Poverty Law Center, taunting dozens of the boys, who seem not a bit cowed (especially not the shirtless one leading a school chant) before Mr. Phillips appears. Some have used that incident to excuse the students behavior, claiming it put them on the defense. Were not convinced. These boys  and make no mistake, they are still children  are hardly innocent. Their own school and Catholic diocese condemned the boys actions and offered their deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips and those who support the pro-life movement, which is what the teens were supposed to be in Washington to promote. (Although we we wonder where the adult chaperones were when all this bad behavior was occurring.)
Medical Discovery News is hosted by professors Norbert Herzog at Quinnipiac University, and David Niesel of the University of Texas Medical Branch. Learn more at www.medicaldiscoverynews.com.
A celebration of life for Barabra Zackery, 79, of Gainesville, will be held at a later date. A full obituary will be published when service times have been scheduled. Barbara passed away on June 15, 2021 in Gainesville. You may sign the online registry at www.geojcarroll.com.
Doris E. Welsh, who had been secretary to two city police commissioners and was an avid Orioles fan, died Friday from complications of kidney failure at Hart Heritage Estates Assisted Living in Forest Hill. The longtime Bel Air resident was 95.




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Both of these votes raise the question: Why in the world is this a partisan issue?

The answer, it has been pointed out, is that requiring seat-belt use is a personal liberty vs. public safety matter. Some people dont like being told what to do, especially by the government, even if it could save their lives. Republicans historically are more apt to favor personal liberty over public safety.

As far as were concerned, choosing not to wear a seat belt is just plain stupid and selfish, and should be a primary offense.

Seat belts have been optional equipment in some American cars since 1949, and they became standard equipment in the mid-1960s. Safety testing agencies have always found a far lesser chance for injury and death in a vehicle accident for those wearing seat belts. A seat belt also help keeps a driver in place during emergency maneuvers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that more than 15,000 lives are saved each year in this country because people in crashes had responsibly chosen to buckle their seat belts.
Before the six-member committee voted, Ransone gave a speech about her reasons for opposing the ERA, saying it had come before her subcommittee many times over the years.

Some ERA supporters in the audience snickered or began talking while she spoke, while other ERA supporters in the audience told them to be quiet.

For a moment I want to talk to the young girls in the audience, Ransone said, prompting some in the audience to groan.

Well thats embarrassing that you would say that to me, Ransone said. Because what I would say to them is that you can do anything that you want.

One young woman stood and turned her back to Ransone before a police officer told her to be seated.

After that, Ransone singled out Davis.

And Eileen you sit back there and you shake your head, Ransone said, saying its my turn to speak when the crowd audibly reacted.

You all have disrespected me year after year and Eileen you have brought young people and young women to my office and told them that theyre not worthy. They are worthy, Ransone said.
The revenue impact is the revenue impact, whether or not its the proposed budget or the existing one, Layne said Monday. I dont think its going to change anything.

The state has not yet scored the costs of a dozen pieces of legislation introduced by both Republicans and Democrats with varying approaches to changing Virginia tax policy in response to the Trump tax law.

Cost of Northams proposal

The estimated costs are not new for the proposal that Northam first made in August and included in the budget revisions he presented to the assembly money committees last month.

Virginia expects about $1.2 billion in additional income tax revenues in the biennium if the state conforms its tax code to the provisions of the Trump tax law. It doubled the standard deduction at the federal level and capped deductions of state and local taxes that are highly prized in affluent suburbs.

Northam wants to give part of the windfall back to lower-income households that qualify for the earned income tax credit by refunding the portion of the credit they dont use to offset their state tax liability. That would cost the state about $216 million of the additional revenue it expects to receive in this biennium.
Robots delivering food are becoming more common on college campuses. This month, students at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, began ordering snacks and beverages for the first time from a bright-colored roving robot on wheels known as the "Snackbot." At the University of California Berkeley, a food delivery company called Kiwi launched its robots on campus last year - before going viral after one notable mishap.

If you live in the District of Columbia or Redwood, California, Starship Technology's small, boxy robots - which bear some resemblance to an Igloo cooler - may look familiar to you. The machines were part of a pilot program last year that delivered meals from local restaurants in both cities, becoming a fixture on local sidewalks in some neighborhoods. In Britain, the company is using its technology to deliver packages as well.

The company's app allows George Mason students to order food from places such as Blaze Pizza, Starbucks and Dunkin', as well as a grocery store, though the list of options is supposed to increase in the coming weeks, according to organizers. Once an order has been placed, users drop a pin where they want their delivery to be sent. The robot's progress can be monitored using an interactive map. Once the machine arrives, users receive an alert, allowing them to unlock the robot using the app.
Efforts to preserve rural land in Stafford County got a double boost this week.

First, the Land Trust of Virginia announced that developer Andy Garrett has given 101 acres along Aquia Creekwhere he planned to build a residential communityto the trust to be placed in a conservation easement. Then, county officials announced that Stafford has received state grants totaling $111,618 to use as matching funds to preserve working farmland under its Purchase of Development Rights programs.

Garretts donation was the second to the trust by the president of the Garrett Cos., which develops residential and commercial sites in several states. Stafford County had approved a preliminary plan for a 27-lot subdivision on the site called River Place. The Land Trust of Virginia plans to place the wooded property into conservation easement then sell it to a landowner committed to preserving it.

The Land Trust of Virginia said Garretts donation will bring its total to 175 easements protecting 19,228 acres in 15 counties across Virginia.
In a court filing, plaintiffs attorneys say Ross communicated with former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other administration officials before issuing the March 2018 directive to further the unconstitutional goal of diluting the political power of non-white immigrant communities. The Census Bureaus own analysis shows the citizenship question would lead to a lower response rate to the 2020 census by households with at least one non-citizen member, the lawyer said.
I think this will be the hottest of hot spots on the tour, she said. At the dock, there will be displays from Friends of the Rappahannock, our partner in this project, where they will be talking about ecology and the role that oysters and oyster reefs plays in it.

She noted that those who purchase the ticketsnow going at $125, but going up to $150 in the days before the eventwont just stay on land.

There will be a Chesapeake Bay deadrise waiting to take folks out onto Carters Creek to dump oyster shell onto the reef FOR is creating there, said Cockrell. Theyll learn why thats done, the role it plays in oyster restoration and how important it is to recycle the shells of all the oysters eaten, said Cockrell.

Want more? How about these stops on the self-driving tour that stretches 20 miles or so from one end to the other:

Beach Roast: An old-fashioned Southern oyster roast on the beach below the Willabys Cafe Restaurant in White Stone by the Rappahannock River Bridge. In addition to beer tastings to compliment a taste of roasted oysters, a working boat from Miss Marys Seafood will arrive and give folks demonstrations on oyster tonging and more.
The attorney for a man accused of trying to abduct a female motorist in Spotsylvania County last summer is seeking mental evaluations for his client, court records show.

A trial for 29-year-old Ruebin C. Fletcher of Spotsylvania had been scheduled for Monday in Spotsylvania Circuit Court. But the trial was postponed to April 2 and there will be a hearing Monday on defense attorney Bill Neelys request to have Fletchers sanity and competency to stand trial evaluated.

Neely wrote that Fletcher has an IQ of 60 and is not fully competent to understand the nature and extent of the major crimes with which he has been charged. Neely added that although Fletcher developed a certain degree of street sense, he appears unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of the crimes he is accused of.

Fletcher is charged with carjacking, abduction with the intent to defile and other offenses in connection with a July 17 incident involving a young woman who lives in Fauquier County.

The woman testified at a preliminary hearing that shed come to Spotsylvania to visit a friend and had stopped at the Wawa in the 4600 block of Harrison Road to get coffee, gas and air in her tires before returning home.
Two Philadelphia men were jailed Monday after being accused of passing counterfeit bills at three Stafford County businesses, police said.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Amanda Vicinanzo said 1st Sgt. Dan Purcell went to Panera Bread in Stafford Marketplace about 5:26 p.m. after receiving a report about a phony $100 bill being passed. Purcell watched a suspect leave the side door of the restaurant and get into Jeep that was parked nearby.

Purcell stopped the vehicle in the area of the Kangaroo Mart on Prosperity Lane. The driver was identified as 24-year-old Frank P. Pilarte and the passenger was Jayden Scott, 19. A restaurant employee identified Scott as the man who passed the counterfeit bill in Panera Bread. The investigation revealed that the men had also passed fake bills at two nearby businesses.

Counterfeit bills and a printer were found inside the Jeep.

During the jail intake process, Vicinanzo said, Scott dropped three counterfeit bills and tried to kick them under a chair. Both men were charged with forgery, passing forged currency and conspiracy.

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Water rates in Baltimore will go up 30 percent over the next three years after a vote by the citys spending board Wednesday. The vote followed a Department of Public Works presentation in support of the increase and public testimony against it.
Little Land Play Gym has announced an agreement to open more than 100 locations across China in the next 3 years. The first location, in Beijing, is slated to be open by mid-2019.

The Austin-based co-founders, Debbie Garcia-Beltz and Ernie Beltz Jr., signed the franchise agreement with Shanghai Zhitian Education and Technology LLC and Cherry Chai of Beijing to open more than 100 locations in China, according to the Austin Business Journal.

In 2018, Little Land was a winner of the IFA's NextGen in Franchising Global Competition, and named Best Place to Work in Austin, and Business of the Year by PeopleFund.

The Beltzes founded the brand in 2014 and opened their first gym in 2015 in North Austin. They still own that unit and have opened 6 franchised locations in Texas (Bee Cave, Buda, Leander, Temple, Waco, and Katy). Four additional Texas locations are opening soon, with 5 more expected to open this summer.

Garcia-Beltz, with nearly 20 years as a pediatric occupational therapist, used her experience as the foundation for creating the gym's therapeutic play model. All play equipment at Little Land is designed by pediatric therapists to enhance physical, sensory, and social development, while also being fun for the children.

"Child development is not something left to chance," said Beltz. "With the use of our specially designed equipment, parents see that play has a specific purpose along with being fun for their children. It's those results that make the Little Land concept a success for children and for the business."

The Beltzes say they will be the first to offer their unique approach to play and pediatric therapy in China, where the number of children is growing quickly and families have identified the need for activities that ensure their children will develop on track. This expansion, they say, demonstrates that the need for purposeful play is gaining momentum around the globe.

"We are thrilled with the company's progress, but when we think about how many young lives will be better because of Little Land, that is how we measure success," said Garcia-Beltz.

For more information about Little Land, visit their website.
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (AP)  The road to this years Westminster Kennel Club dog show passed through a pandemic and a major change of date and venue. The road also proved dangerous for one of the nations best known dog handlers. His wife and fellow star handler said Saturday that Bill McFadden wa
At this time, we have found nothing that would make this threat credible, but we continue to investigate to ensure the safety of our students and staff. All students and parents involved are being contacted, Strothers said in the email.
UNION COUNTY, SC (FOX Carolina)- The Union County Sheriff's Office says that it arrested two suspects that are accused of attempted murder and murder for shooting incidents that occurred in 2015, according to a release.
Serena Williams of the US hits a return against Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 23, 2019. (Photo by William WEST / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE -- (Photo credit should read WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images)
The community is banding together to show support to the men and women in blue. Today, COSTCO donated food and dessert to Mobile Police officers.

And it definitely put a smile on their faces. Some of them were heading home after their shift, others were just arriving, either way it was a pleasant surprise.

There were big smiles from officers finally, after days of tears. Today Costco donated food, water, and dessert to all 4 precincts of the Mobile Police Department.

"Their hearts are heavy today and we wanted to let them know that we're thinking about them. The last thing they need to be doing is thinking about food and water," said Sharon Summerlin, who organized it all.

Summerlin along with her daughter and son-in-law, made the deliveries throughout the city. We went along for the ride.

"We've got them some water, all their paper products, so no hand washing, no dishes for awhile. We've got cakes that's been custom made, done for them with the blue line. We've got cookie trays, we've got pizzas," she said.

She says Officer Sean Tuder was a loyal customer of theirs.

"90% of them eat here daily. We serve them for every day. Those are faces that we see here daily. Sean was in here twice a week and he's going to be missed. He was a friendly face. We knew him as an officer and we knew him as National Guard," Summerlin explained.

She said she can't mend their broken hearts, but she can help to put a little something on their bellies.

"We wanted to make sure they're covered and they know we appreciate them and our hearts are broken as well. This is our city," she said.

After working a long shift or gearing up to work one, the officers were happy to fill up.

"Gonna feed us good for the next few days," said one officer.

Summerlin says they plan to feed MPD all week. She's also working on a fundraiser for the Tuder family.

For more information on the fundraiser, click here.
The event  Thursday at APG Federal Credit Union Arena at Harford Community College  is a partnership between the Harford County government and the United Way of Central Maryland. It is expected to bring available resources and generous donors to help our neighbors in need, according to Cindy Mumby, spokesperson for the county government.
The record-setting federal government shutdown has entered its second month. However, while hundreds of thousands of government employees are going without paychecks, most companies have seen relatively little disruption to their businesses so far.

The airline industry has been a notable exception, due to the government's extensive involvement in everything from security screenings to approving new aircraft models. This week, Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) became the latest victim of the shutdown, as the airline was forced to delay the long-anticipated start of service to Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

The shutdown creates complications for airlines

For many air travelers, the most notable impact of the shutdown has been on security checkpoint lines. A growing absence rate among TSA employees -- who are currently working without pay -- has started to impact wait times at certain airports.

Behind the scenes, furloughs at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are starting to take a bigger toll on the highly regulated industry. For example, Southwest Airlines' plan to start flying to Hawaii is temporarily on hold because the carrier is waiting for FAA inspectors to participate in simulations and test flights to validate its procedures for dealing with in-flight emergencies far from land. Similarly, Delta Air Lines won't be able to start flying its first Airbus A220s later this month as it had planned.

Now, the FAA furloughs are preventing Alaska Airlines from following through with its plan to launch service at a secondary airport near its hometown of Seattle next month.

Paine Field flights are grounded for now

Alaska Airlines operates its main hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). With about 300 daily departures, it is the leading airline in its hometown of Seattle. However, the airport has become overcrowded. Furthermore, heavy traffic often leads to long travel times between the airport and Seattle's northern suburbs.

As a result, Alaska Airlines has been eager to serve Paine Field -- an airport about 25 miles north of Seattle -- ever since a private company decided to build a two-gate terminal there. Back in November, Alaska announced that it had secured three-quarters of the available slots at Paine Field. This will allow it to operate 18 daily round trips to eight destinations.

Alaska Airlines planned to launch its Paine Field flights in stages in early 2019. The first flight was to operate on Feb. 11. By Feb. 15, there were to be seven daily roundtrips; by Feb. 20, there were to be 14 daily roundtrips; and the full schedule of 18 daily roundtrips was set to go into effect by March 12.

However, with the planned launch of service less than three weeks away, the FAA still hasn't completed the environmental assessment, which is required before it can approve the launch of commercial flights at Paine Field.

Initially, Alaska Airlines had held out hope that it could stick to its original schedule. However, on Tuesday, it pushed back the start of service at Paine Field to March 4, with the flight schedule set to spool up gradually between then and March 12. And as the carrier acknowledged, the new scheduled start date is not set in stone, either. Unless the government shutdown ends, Paine Field flights could be postponed indefinitely.

The pain is manageable -- for now

In the short term, Alaska Airlines is adding extra flights at Sea-Tac with the aircraft it had planned to use at Paine Field during February. It is also rebooking customers who bought tickets for its Paine Field service on flights from Sea-Tac with similar departure times. This will limit the financial hit to Alaska and the disruption to its customers. (People who hold tickets for canceled Paine Field flights will also have the option of getting a full refund.)

However, this strategy will only work for so long. During the busier spring and summer travel seasons, there may not be enough gate space at Sea-Tac to accommodate the extra flights that were supposed to operate at Paine Field. Furthermore, customers who book Paine Field flights may feel cheated if Alaska continues to push back the start of service and rebooks them on flights from Sea-Tac.

The opening of Paine Field to commercial service represents a potentially lucrative opportunity for Alaska Airlines to build on its strength in Seattle and take some strain off its operations at Sea-Tac. But in terms of exploiting that opportunity, Alaska is at the mercy of the federal government.

Check out the latest Alaska Air Group earnings call transcript.
Geneva, NY (14456)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
By Matt Spetalnick and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday, announcing U.S.

By Matt Spetalnick and Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday, announcing U.S. recognition of the country's opposition leader as interim president and signalling potential new sanctions against its vital oil sector.

With street protests against Maduro underway across Venezuela, Trump said the United States recognised Juan Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled Congress, as the country's leader and called socialist President Nicolas Maduro's government "illegitimate."

"I will continue to use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy," Trump said in a statement, encouraging other governments in the Western Hemisphere to also recognise Guaido.

The administration had been waiting to issue its announcement after Guaido had been sworn in as the country's temporary president on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Venezuelan opposition sympathizers had been urging Guaido to assume the presidency since Maduro was inaugurated to a second term on Jan. 10 following a widely boycotted election last year that the United States and many other foreign governments described as a fraudulent.

Guaido, a newcomer on the national scene who was elected to head Congress on Jan. 5, had said earlier he was willing to replace Maduro if he had the support of the military, with the aim of then calling for free elections.

U.S. officials in recent days had stated openly that Maduro no longer had a legitimate claim on power.

The sources acknowledged that formal recognition of Guaido would be complicated by questions of how to deal with Venezuela's U.S.-based diplomats. Such a move could also backfire if Maduro took action to prevent Guaido from being sworn in or used it as a pretext to detain him again.

Adding to pressure on Maduro, multiple sources said the Trump administration could impose new U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's vital oil sector as soon as this week if the political situation there deteriorates further.

U.S. officials are considering a range of potential measures, including restricting U.S. imports of Venezuelan oil or even a full ban, to punish Maduro's government but no final decisions have been made as Washington closely watches the street protests unfolding in the country, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Two other sources briefed on the matter said the U.S. administration had privately informed U.S. energy companies of its deliberations.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton and Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Thailand's king Maha Vajiralongkorn has issued the royal decree endorsing the first general election since a 2014 military coup, with the date of the long-delayed poll expected to be announced imminently.

Bangkok: Thailand's king has issued a royal decree endorsing the first general election since a 2014 coup, the palace said Wednesday, with the date of the long-delayed poll expected to be announced imminently.

The decree, published in the Royal Gazette, called for a general "election of members of parliament" and gives the kingdom's Election Commission five days to announce when it will hold the much-anticipated poll.

The election will be the first since the junta toppled the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra nearly five years ago, rewriting the constitution, muzzling dissent and appointing key military allies across the bureaucracy.

The junta had said polls would be held no later than the end of February, but the late signing by 66-year-old King Maha Vajiralongkorn may mean elections are put back for several weeks.

The decree means campaigning can officially start, although an array of new parties, including some aligned to the military, others to the still powerful Shinawatra clan, have already begun meetings and recruitment.

Analysts say the military is positioning itself for a return to government through its proxy party with junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha angling for a role as civilian leader after the election.

The army-linked Phalang Pracharat party led by members of the junta's cabinet held a recruiting drive in the traditional rural base of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, who was toppled by an earlier coup in 2006.

Questions remain about whether Pheu Thai, the Shinawatras' main party, still draws the loyalty of its vote banks in the poor, rural north and northeast without the star power of its brother-sister duo.

Both remain in self-exile to avoid convictions they say are politically motivated. Thaksin has launched a weekly podcast sharing his views on Thai society and economy, while Yingluck has embarked on several rounds of photo ops.

Even if the junta rivals do well in elections, any new civilian government is expected to be hamstrung by the military-scripted constitution.

It allows for an upper house to be fully appointed by the junta rubber-stamp assembly, while embedding 20-year strategies governing everything from the economy to education policy.

"You can call it hybrid democracy," said Somjai Phagaphasvivat, a political analyst and academic at Thammasat University.

The uncertainty over the election date prompted small demonstrations in Bangkok this month, but analysts do not expect an immediate return to the violent, paralysing street protests that defined Thailand's politics since the fall of Thaksin.

The election is expected to be held before the coronation of Thailand's king in early May.
Taiwans rescue teams were trying to retrieve the body of Gigi Wu, dubbed the Bikini Climber by fans, after she fell down a ravine in Yushan national park

Taipei: Taiwan's rescue teams were trying on Tuesday to retrieve the body of a dead hiker who became famous on social media for taking selfies on top of mountain peaks dressed in a bikini.

Gigi Wu - dubbed the "Bikini Climber" by fans - used a satellite phone on Saturday to tell friends she had fallen down a ravine in Taiwan's Yushan national park and badly injured herself.

Rescue helicopters struggled to reach her because of bad weather and officials eventually located her lifeless body on Monday.

"The weather conditions in the mountains are not good, we have asked our rescuers to move the body to a more open space and after the weather clears we will make a request for a helicopter to bring the body down," Lin Cheng-yi, from the Nantou County Fire and Rescue Services, told reporters.

Officials said Wu had told friends she was unable to move the lower half of her body after a fall of some 20-30 metres (65-100 feet) but was able to give her coordinates.

She is the latest in a string of social media adventure seekers who have met an untimely end.

Last October, the bodies of an Indian couple were found at the bottom of a popular overlook in California's Yosemite National Park after hikers alerted officials to their camera equipment at the top of the cliff.

New Taipei City native Wu, 36, built up a sizeable social media following through photos of herself at the top of mountains dressed in bikinis.

She usually wore hiking clothes to scale the mountains, only changing into a bikini once she reached the top.

In an interview with local channel FTV last year, she said she had scaled more than 100 peaks in four years. "I put on a bikini in each one of the 100 mountains. I only have around 97 bikinis so I accidentally repeated some," she said.

When asked why she did it, she replied, "It just looks so beautiful, what's not to like?"

While Taiwan is a largely tropical country, it boasts a spine of towering peaks down its middle that regularly top 3,000 metres.

In the winter, temperatures routinely drop well below freezing on the mountain slopes.

Lin said their top rescue team hiked for 28 hours to reach the body, only sleeping for three hours because they knew temperatures were rapidly plunging.
By Abdirahman Hussein and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) - As the rubbish built up on the rubble of Mogadishu's wrecked streets, Ahmed Abdullah saw a business opportunity. He recruited a team of workers - many of them refugees from Somalia's long conflict - and sent them out to collect plastic bags, bottles and wrappers to turn into roof tiles and other recycled goods. 'They cannot break, you see,' Abdullah said has he threw some of his tiles onto the floor to show their strength

By Abdirahman Hussein and Feisal Omar

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - As the rubbish built up on the rubble of Mogadishu's wrecked streets, Ahmed Abdullah saw a business opportunity.

He recruited a team of workers - many of them refugees from Somalia's long conflict - and sent them out to collect plastic bags, bottles and wrappers to turn into roof tiles and other recycled goods.

"They cannot break, you see," Abdullah said has he threw some of his tiles onto the floor to show their strength. "They are made of the recycled plastics and soil."

Years of fierce fighting in the coastal city have destroyed its infrastructure and left the surviving buildings pocked with bullet holes.

The cash-strapped government is struggling to control a vast, divided country where Islamist militants from the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group still launch regular attacks on the capital.

Regular rubbish collection is way down the state's list of priorities.

"A lot of rubbish like plastics, paper bags ... are thrown outside the city," said Abdullah. When the piles get too big, he added, people start dumping it in the ocean.

So, in June 2018, he and others founded their company, Green Plastic.

Muslimo Aden Ali said he gets paid 3,000 Somali shillings ($0.18) for every kg of waste he brings in.

"We carry the rubbish on our heads and backs. It is a nice job. We survive on this," he said.

Maryan Abdullahi, a 35-year-old mother displaced by fighting, said she walks more than 10 km (7 miles) a day searching for plastic.

"I cannot sleep at night because of back ache but this is the only way I can raise food for my children."

(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Martin said Visit Harford! and the businesses shared the costs of the 34 ice sculptures  provided by Ice Lab of Rosedale  which were placed around downtown. Many were in front of local businesses and were carved with a theme representing that business, such as a sculpture of a bride in front of the wedding venue La Banque de Fleuve, a bunch of grapes in front of The Vineyard Wine Bar or a paint set in front of The Art Rooms Professional Art Supplies.
US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia

New York: Two Saudi sisters whose bodies were found taped together on the banks of a New York river committed suicide, the city's medical examiner said on Tuesday.

Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in October, 2018 with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black with fur-trimmed coat collars.

They were tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape.

"My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River," Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said.

After their deaths, a police official appeared to confirm that the sisters had applied for asylum, but did not provide further detail.

Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabia's US embassy in Washington, tweeted that "Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in New York), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false."

They had run away several times from their family's home in Virginia, where they had not lived since the end of 2017.

The sisters had been placed in a shelter but left Virginia in August and set out for New York.

There, they stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card, according to an NYPD spokesman quoted by US media.

A witness reportedly saw the two young women early on 24 October on a playground near the Hudson, where they appeared to be praying.

US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is one of the world's most restrictive countries for women, a situation highlighted this month by the case of Rahaf Mohammed.

The teenager fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse from her family in the kingdom, and received asylum in Canada.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step aside and urged the country's military to support efforts to restore democracy. In a statement, Pompeo said Washington would support opposition leader Juan Guaido as he establishes a transitional government and prepares the country for elections

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step aside and urged the country's military to support efforts to restore democracy.

In a statement, Pompeo said Washington would support opposition leader Juan Guaido as he establishes a transitional government and prepares the country for elections.

"The Venezuelan people have suffered long enough under Nicolas Maduro's disastrous dictatorship," Pompeo said. "We call on Maduro to step aside in favour of a legitimate leader reflecting the will of the Venezuelan people."

(Reporting by Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Persecuted, killed and gang -raped, Rohingya fled in thousands from Myanmar to neighbouring countries of India, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia

For the Rohingya, considered to be the 'most persecuted community in the world', the comforts of home are elusive. Starting August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to escape a brutal army-led crackdown in its Rakhine state, their erstwhile home. Myanmar had stripped them of citizenship in 1982 and the community is not recognised as one of the country's ethnic groups, thereby restricting their rights to study, work, travel, marry, vote, practice their religion or access health services. Thousands have taken shelter in neighbouring countries of India, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.

Of late, however, both India and Saudi Arabia have deported these migrants back to Myanmar and Bangladesh, respectively. Will Bangladesh then become the Rohingya's new home, if any semblance to it can ever be achieved by a community facing persecution?

India's stand

While Bangladesh looked at India for support to tackle the 'Rohingya issue', New Delhi had in 2018 issued an official statement saying the country wishes a "speedy, safe and sustainable return of displaced persons to Rakhine state".

Not surprising then that seven Rohingya men were deported to Myanmar in October 2018. Several rights groups have slammed India for not sticking to the principle of non-refoulement that prohibits deportation of refugees to places where their lives and freedom seem threatened.

The deportation of these seven men had sparked an exodus. Around 1,300 Rohingya from India have fled to Bangladesh since the start of this year, reports Al Jazeera.

"Some 1,300 individuals from 300 families have arrived from India to Bangladesh until 16 January," Nayana Bose, spokeswoman for the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), which includes United Nations agencies and other foreign humanitarian organisations, was quoted by AFP as saying.

The latest detention of 61 Rohingya refugees in Assam and Tripura , who were on their way to Bangladesh, leaves little room for doubt about India's intention. In 2018, the country had arrested 230 Rohingya  the highest number in years.

"India's approach to the Rohingya situation has been shockingly callous," Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, had told Al Jazeera.

According to various aid agencies, around 40,000 Rohingya live in India, spread in places such as Delhi, Hyderabad, the North East, Jammu and Kanpur. But their precarious existence can be gauged from the fact that none of these refugees have any agency whatsoever anywhere they go.

A report published in Firstpost pinpoints to ways in which many of these refugees have suffered amidst bureaucratic hurdles. On 29 January, 2012, three Rohingya were arrested near the India-Myanmar border in Manipur's Churachandpur district on charges of entering the country without valid documents. Four days later, six more Rohingya men were also arrested in the district. The chief judicial magistrate of Churachandpur convicted all nine of them and sentenced them to six months of simple imprisonment under Section 14 of The Foreigners Act, 1946. They had already served their prison term by the time the verdict was announced. But more than five years have passed and they still remain behind bars.

Fresh deportation from Saudi Arabia

The year has only started but Saudi Arabia has already made two deportations of Rohingya from the country. Early this year, the country deported dozens of Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh in ways that almost made them look like criminals. Some were even put in handcuffs after they resisted the deportation. A poignant video of the deportation saw a man claiming that those who have been locked up in a Saudi detention camp for nearly six years were being sent away.

An activist group told Al Jazeera that the country was planning to deport another batch of 250 Rohingya men to Bangladesh. The country is home to more than 300,000 Rohingya refugees. "Majority of these Rohingya have residency permits and can live in Saudi Arabia legally. But these detainees, who are being kept in the Shumaisi detention centre (in Jeddah), have not been treated like their fellow Rohingya. Instead, they are being treated like criminals," Nay San Lwin, campaign coordinator for the 'Free Rohingya Coalition' was quoted by Al Jazeera.

Faced with forced deportation, many Rohingya held a silent protest on Tuesday inside a Bangladesh refugee camp urging visiting United Nations to help fellow members of their in Saudi Arabia be allowed to live indefinitely.

Can Bangladesh bear the burden?

More and more Rohingya have taken refugee in camps at Bangladesh's Cox Bazar area. But questions have been raised if the overpopulated country can bear the burden of more people, give them security and basic rights of life with its limited resources. Bangladesh has played host to a staggering one million Rohingya since August 2017.

The Bangladesh and Myanmar governments have had talks for the repatriation of refugees. But a bilateral deal to begin the process by 15 November, 2018, fell apart because Bangladesh could not find any Rohingya willing to return.

The question here arises not only if Bangladesh and other neighbouring nations can give the Rohingya a homeland but also whether Myanmar is actuality creating conditions conducive for their return. Till then, it seems, the Rohingya would only feel safe in the cramped camps of Bangladesh  their elusive home.
The UAE in December, 2018 had announced to provide $3 billion financial assistance to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia made a similar commitment to help Islamabad successfully overcome international payment crisis and to avoid a stringent International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.

Islamabad: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday signed a $3 billion bailout package, as part of Abu Dhabi's support to boost the cash-strapped country's dwindling dollar reserves.

The UAE in December, 2018 had announced to provide $3 billion financial assistance to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia made a similar commitment to help Islamabad successfully overcome international payment crisis and to avoid a stringent International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.

Tuesday's agreement was signed between State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) chief Tariq Bajwa and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) director General Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi.

Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted:

#UAE has formalized US$3bn deposit in the State Bank of Pakistan. DG ADFD & The Governor SBP inked the agreement at #ADFD Headquarters in Abu Dhabi. It will help Pakistan achieve financial stability and overcome economic challenges #pakuaebrotherhood pic.twitter.com/sH748xDgwK  Dr Mohammad Faisal (@ForeignOfficePk) January 22, 2019

The UAE had committed the financial assistance during Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Qatar in December, 2018 to seek investment and provision of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on deferred payments.

Pakistan has a 15-year contract with Qatar for supply of LNG.

The Saudi and the UAE governments have played a major role in helping Pakistan to meet around USD 12 billion shortfall in balance of payments in 2018-19 fiscal year, government officials said.
By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, launched an underdog 2020 bid for the White House on Wednesday, aiming to stand out as a problem-solving Midwestern outsider who would be the first openly gay nominee of a major U.S. political party. The relatively unknown Buttigieg, 37, a two-term mayor of the Rust Belt city of about 100,000 people, said he represented a new generation of leadership with fresh approaches to the country's problems.

By John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, launched an underdog 2020 bid for the White House on Wednesday, aiming to stand out as a problem-solving Midwestern outsider who would be the first openly gay nominee of a major U.S. political party.

The relatively unknown Buttigieg, 37, a two-term mayor of the Rust Belt city of about 100,000 people, said he represented a new generation of leadership with fresh approaches to the country's problems.

In an email and video to supporters, he offered a sharp contrast to Republican President Donald Trump's nostalgia-driven message invoking an America of the past.

"My generation is the generation that experienced school shootings beginning when I was in high school, the generation that fought in the post-9/11 wars, the first generation to have to deal with the reality of climate change, and the first generation not to be better off than our parents materially - if nothing changes," Buttigieg said.

"Only a forward focus - untethered from the politics of the past and anchored by our shared values - can change our national politics and our nations future."

Buttigieg enters what is expected to be a crowded Democratic field of candidates vying for the right to challenge Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, in 2020. The mayor formed an exploratory committee to begin raising money and hiring staff to compete for the Democratic nomination.

He will face a tough task raising money and building a coalition of support in a race that will feature many candidates with greater name recognition and bigger donor networks.

Other Democratic rivals for the nomination include U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, as well as U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and former San Antonio mayor and U.S. housing secretary Julian Castro.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, where he was attending a national mayors conference, Buttigieg acknowledged the odds but touted his unique candidacy.

"When it comes to experience right now, nothing could be more relevant than leading one of America's turnaround cities," he said.

"I belong to a party whose characteristic has always been to look for fresh voices, new leadership and big ideas, and I think that's what 2020 is going to be about."

Buttigieg began building a national profile in 2017 with an unsuccessful run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Former President Barack Obama mentioned him in an interview shortly before leaving the White House as a young Democrat with a bright future.

The Harvard graduate and former Rhodes Scholar returned to his hometown of South Bend and was elected mayor in 2012 at the age of 29. He served a seven-month Naval Reserve tour in Afghanistan while mayor and came out as gay in a 2015 column for the local newspaper. He married in June 2018.

As mayor of South Bend, a blue-collar town that is home to the University of Notre Dame, Buttigieg made redevelopment a top priority and was named mayor of the year in 2013 by the website GovFresh.com. He signalled his White House run in December when he announced he would not seek a third term as mayor.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ginger Gibson; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Steve Orlofsky and Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Manipulating elections has been rampant for decades, with some of the world's most influential and well-known leaders such as Donald Trump and Sheikh Hasina being elected through rigged polls.

The political slugfest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over electronic voting machines (EVMs) got a new twist after an Indian "cyber expert" in London claimed that EVMs were hacked during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Indeed, allegations of voter fraud have been made throughout the early 20th century, long before EVMs were in use. Here's a look at some infamous elections where such accusations have been made from across the globe:

2018 Bangladesh general election:

Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina in December swept the country's 2018 general election, while rejecting Opposition complaints of vote rigging. Opposition candidates claimed ballot-stuffing and vote rigging by ruling party activists, who also barred Opposition polling agents from voting centres, reports said.

Opposition leader Kamal Hossain, 82, called the election "farcical" and asked for the commission to order a fresh vote under a neutral administration "as soon as possible."

"The whole election was completely manipulated," Hossain said. "It should be cancelled. Weve had bad elections in the past, but I must say that it is unprecedented how bad this particular election was. The minimum requirements of free and fair election are absent."

Bangladeshs Election Commission said it was investigating allegations of vote rigging but rejected demands for another vote. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch expressed concern over the elections credibility and Amnesty International called for an impartial probe into deeply disturbing election violence.

2013 Pakistani general election:

Controversy erupted in 2013, when former Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif was elected prime minister. Imran Khan, then candidate for the Tehreek-e-Insaf, claimed the elections were rigged. "Police (were) used, and how the  the staff of the Election Commission were used," he said. "And unfortunately it's because the provincial governments were in power right up till 20 days before the elections  so they had plenty of time to place their people."

In addition, the Chief Election Commissioner conceded that the Election Commission failed to conduct free and fair elections in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city of 20 million and its main economic hub. The Election Commission eventually admitted that it had no control of the Returning Officers, the persons responsible for overseeing the election at individual polling stations.

The 2018 elections in Pakistan were also marred by accusations of media censorship, intimidation of candidates, fears of a "creeping coup", alleged interference of intelligence agencies and deadly attacks.

2006 Mexican general election:



The Mexican general election in July 2006 was one of the most hotly-contested elections in history, where it was found that 8.8 percent of the population that was not a beneficiary of a specific social programme was offered compensation for their vote.

In addition, former prime minister and honourary chairman of the Popular Party in Spain Jose Maria Aznar, was alleged to have illegally interfered with the election. Losing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said not only did his opponent Felipe Calderon stuff ballot boxes and dispose of votes for Obrador, but that the countrys highest electoral tribunal, which ruled that evidence of electoral fraud was not found, itself was bribed.

According to reports, in over half of the 130,000 polling places, the poll workers did a poor job of keeping track of ballots. In thousands of cases, they recorded that they had received fewer ballots in the morning than were found deposited in the boxes at the end of the day, suggesting that extra votes were added. In thousands of others, the ballots cast added to those left over did not equal the number of ballots poll workers had received in the morning, suggesting that some ballots were missing.

However, federal election officials said all these discrepancies were the result of human error, even though they surfaced in about 70,000 polling places.

Every election in Equatorial Guinea since 1996:



Equatorial Guinea has a reputation for corruption and human rights abuses, allegations the government denies. Critics say oil money is funneled to a rich elite while much of the country is mired in poverty

In addition, Equatorial Guinea president Teodoro Obiang has managed to maintain power in the island nation for over three decades, while his opponents have maintained that elections in the small West African oil producer have been consistently rigged. Obiang has been accused of electoral fraud in every election, including 2009 when a voting official was reportedly forced to sign off a vote count with a pistol to his skull, and 2016 where many opposition voters were prevented from voting. The most infamous, however, comes from 2002, where Der Spiegel found that some electoral areas gave him a whopping 103 percent of the vote. Opposition leaders who called the poll a farce have been jailed and even killed.

1927 Liberian presidential election:

The 1927 presidential elections in Liberia, termed "the most rigged ever" by members of the nation's election commission, saw victory for Charles DB King of the True Whig Party, who was re-elected for a third term after defeating Thomas J Faulkner of the People's Party.

The controversial election made it into the 1982 Guinness Book of Records as the most fraudulent election ever reported in history. According to sources, suffrage was constitutionally limited to some 15,000 citizens, all American-Liberians, but according to the official election results, some 240,000 votes were cast in King's favour.
A nurse who was looking after an incapacitated woman at long-term health care facility has been charged with raping her, weeks after she stunned her caregivers and family who didn't know she was pregnant by giving birth to a baby boy, Phoenix police said on Wednesday.

Phoenix: A nurse who was looking after an incapacitated woman at long-term health care facility has been charged with raping her, weeks after she stunned her caregivers and family who didn't know she was pregnant by giving birth to a baby boy, Phoenix police said on Wednesday.

Investigators arrested 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland, a licensed practical nurse, on suspicion of one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said. "We owed this arrest to the victim. We owed this arrest to the newest member of our community  that innocent baby," Williams said.

The surprise birth late last month triggered reviews by state agencies and highlighted safety concerns for patients who are severely disabled or incapacitated and prompted authorities to test the DNA of all the men who worked at the Hacienda HealthCare facility. Police spokesman Tommy Thompson said Sutherland was charged after his DNA was found to match the baby's.

Sutherland declined to speak with police and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, Thompson said. A message left at a phone number listed for Sutherland was not immediately returned.

The 29-year-old victim has been in long-term care since the age of 3 and gave birth at the facility on 29 December. Employees said they had no idea she was pregnant. As her guardian, the woman's mother was required to submit an annual report to the court that included results of a medical exam.

The case has prompted the departure or discipline of key figures at Hacienda HealthCare, including the CEO. The provider on Sunday announced that one doctor who had cared for the woman resigned and another had been suspended.

Earlier stories had described the patient as being comatose or in a vegetative state. But her parents released a statement on Tuesday disputing that characterizations. They described her instead as intellectually disabled because of seizures in early childhood. While she doesn't speak, she has some mobility in her limbs, head and neck. She also responds to sound and can make facial gestures.
tech2 News Staff

There's something big and bizarre lurking at the edge of our solar system. Astronomers clearly thought it was a planet when they named it 'Planet Nine', but new findings have indicated that it could, in fact, be something much, much cooler.

Planet Nine is thought to be ten times as big as Earth, and between 10 and 20 times as far from us a Pluto. It also has enough gravitational pull to affect how objects nearby move. A new study suggests that Planet Nine might just be a clump of smaller celestial bodies that together appear to be one, single object.

"I like the paper," Mike Brown, a Caltech astronomer who was not involved with the study but extensively studies Planet Nine, told Popular Science. "It's the first time someone has proposed something other than Planet Nine that actually explains the phenomena that we are seeing. I don't think the explanation is actually correct, but it looks to me like the physics actually works to actually explain what we see."

Looking at an example form our own solar system, beyond Neptune is a belt flooded with tiny icy and rocky objects that have existed since the birth of our solar system. These objects, also called Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) have unusual patterns of movement around the Sun, possibly because of the influence Neptune's gravity has on them. However, other KBOs with strange orbits can't be explained away by Neptune  a different object that isn't easily visible but can disrupt gravity.

Is it Planet Nine?

Since its 'official' discovery in 2016, astronomers have thought of Planet Nine to be as much of a planet as te. But the new study proposed a model for Planet Nine where it isn't spherical, but a cosmic disk of matter that equals 10 times Earth's mass and orbits the Sun.

But this isn't an easy model to go along with for Caltech astronomer Brown, "A ring of objects would be much much easier to find than a singular planet, yet there is no evidence that such a thing exists.

The only way to find out for sure will be observing it, which is no easy task. Observing an object 10 times the distance between Pluto and Earth will need a still atmosphere, as little humidity and wind as possible, and no interruptions from the moon, according to the Popular Science report. And then, there are the thousands of potential objects between Earth and Planet Nine to factor in.

On the bright side, the mystery may only live till 2023, when a next-generation telescope called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope is built and running in Chile. If no one finds Planet Nine by then, the Chilean telescope will most definitely detect it  be it a planet or a disk.
Reuters

Alphabet Incs Waymo self-driving vehicle unit said on Tuesday it plans to build a plant in Michigan to transform vehicles into autonomous cars for Waymos ride services business.

Waymo has proposed private investments of $13.6 million to build a facility in southeast Michigan and create more than 100 jobs, potentially up to 400 jobs, the Michigan Economic Development Corp said separately on Tuesday.

The state agency said it will contribute an $8 million grant to fund the project, it added. That would equate to $20,000 in state aid per job if the project hits the 400 employee target.

Waymo said the new facility would be dedicated to mass production of L4 or level 4 autonomous vehicles which can pilot themselves without a human driver under certain conditions.

Waymo said in a blog post it will work with auto supplier Magna International Inc to install its self-driving system in vehicles manufactured by others.

Waymo is already using Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV minivans and vehicles made by Jaguar Land Rover, a unit of Indias Tata Motors. Waymo develops the hardware and software and combines self-driving systems into its fleet.

Waymo Chief Executive Officer John Krafcik has said the company plans to expand its fleet to as many as 20,000 vehicles by 2022, and he has been assembling an array of partnerships to that end, including agreements with car dealer chain AutoNation Inc to provide maintenance and fleet management services.

However, Waymo and other potential players in the nascent robo-taxi and automated delivery market face significant technical and legal hurdles. For instance, the U.S. Congress and federal regulators have not yet established a regulatory framework to govern large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicles on public roads. Waymo alluded to another challenge in its blog post Tuesday, praising Michigan for its excellent snowy conditions for our cars to test.

Waymo currently employs about 20 people in Novi, Michigan. At its new southeast Michigan facility, for which it is yet to identify a location, the company aims to hire engineers, operations experts, fleet coordinators and other professionals for retrofitting vehicles with its self-driving technology.

The scale of Waymos Michigan investment is small compared to operations run by the Detroit Three. Still, the Silicon Valley companys decision has symbolic impact in the home state of the legacy U.S. auto industry, which is losing thousands of automotive jobs this year as General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co cut staffs.

Both GM and Ford also have said they will build autonomous vehicles at Michigan factories.

In December, Waymo launched self-driving taxis in Arizona for paying customers.

Waymo is considered the leader in developing self-driving technology, due to its decade of testing and millions of miles driven. Volkswagen Chief Executive said last November that Waymo had a one- to two-year head start.

GMs Cruise Automation and Uber Technologies, have yet to launch their paid self-driving services. Cruise has a goal of launching its service this year, but GM and Cruise executives have said that depends on assuring the driving system meets safety criteria.
tech2 News Staff

Samsung's next-generation S Series smartphones as per recent rumours are expected to arrive in the form of three new devices with the Galaxy S10 branding. The devices are expected to launch on 20 February at an event held in San Francisco.

The three models are said to be the Galaxy S10 Lite, the Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10 Plus with 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch and 6.4-inch displays.

As per a new report by TuttoAndroid, the three models will also come in a variety of colour options.

All the three phones are expected to come in black, white and green.

Also the Galaxy S10 Lite is expected to arrive in a Yellow shade and the Galaxy S10 Plus might come in 2 more special versions.

On the camera front, all the three phones are expected to sport the trend of 2019- punch-hole displays. Samsung's Galaxy S10 and S10 Lite might sport a single lens, so we can imagine it to look like a bindi, but the S10 Plus might have a larger hole or two holes, housing two cameras. Now that might be a thing to look out for!

The report also mentions the variants and their respective price tags in Italy. The Galaxy S10 Lite might be made available in a 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage option for  779 (roughly Rs 63,050).

The Galaxy S10 might roll out in two variants with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage option and an 8 GB RAM option with 512 GB of storage. It might be up for sale for  929 (Rs 75,190) and  1,179 (Rs 95,425) respectively.

The Galaxy S10 Plus, being the most expensive one amongst all the three is expected to come in three storage variants. A 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage option at  1,049 (Rs 84,903), the 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage variant for  1,299 (Rs 1,05,137) and a 12 GB RAM and 1 TB storage at  1,599 (Rs 1,29,419).

If the rumours stand true, this might be Samsung's first flagship to sport a 1 TB storage option.

As per previous rumours, the more expensive models are expected to feature a curved display whereas the Lite model would come with a standard flat one. There's also news about one of the Galaxy S10 models featuring an in-display fingerprint reader. Though it is unlikely that the cheapest rumoured model of the Galaxy S10  Galaxy S10 Lite also known as S10 E  will sport that. The cheaper variant is rumoured to come with a side mounted fingerprint scanner instead.
She told city leaders that Beny had been very, very loyal to his handler, Cpl. Brian Daniels, and that the pair had been inseparable. Beny had been part of our police department family since April of 2008  the chief said later that he came to the department when he was about a year old.
The Associated Press

US government regulators are accusing software maker Oracle of engaging in discriminatory practices that resulted in thousands of its women, black and Asian employees being underpaid by more than $400 million.

The allegations emerged Tuesday in a filing made in a two-year-old case that is being pursued by a part of the US Labour Department that examines the pay practices of government contractors. The agency estimates Oracle has government contracts worth about $100 million annually.

The filing cites evidence that Oracle underpaid women and ethnic minorities for similar work done by white men by as much 25 percent. The alleged practices affected more than 5,000 women, more than 11,000 Asians and fewer than 30 blacks from 2013 through 2016.

Oracle declined to comment.
tech2 News Staff

The tiny state of Sikkim could make history very soon for hosting a massive economics experiment in providing each of its 610,000 citizens with a basic income.

This will be the largest basic income experiment ever carried out, the Washington Post reported.

A universal basic income is a routine assurance of a fixed income that the government guarantees to all its citizens, and unconditionally, through cash payments. These cash payments are aimed at replacing the dizzying array of financial assistance offered to citizens by state governments.

If there's one chance of it working somewhere, Sikkim is it, according to P.D. Rai, the only representative from Sikkim in the Indian Parliament. The state has a longer track record of successful initiatives than most other states, be it with the plastic ban, housing for all its citizens, and most recently, the first state to go completely organic and pesticide-free in agriculture.

Sikkim may be a model state for multiple reasons but could be a terrible 'sample' for the nation's population because of its remarkably different social indices. Thirty percent of the country that lives below poverty line (BPL) is not comparable to the 8 percent of Sikkim that lives BPL. The state also has a remarkably high literacy rate of 98 percent, according to reports. The country as a whole is looking at a literacy rate closer to 78 percent.

Economists from around the world have pointed out potential flaws in the plans. While some have questioned the choice of cash instead of a food subsidy, others claim that a basic income would disincentivize work and reduce India's workforce.

While a decisive plan hasn't been shared with the public, Sikkim plans to gather the money needed for the experiment by tapping into its tourism and power sectors.

In developed countries, the main purpose is to restructure or economize the existing welfare schemes, like unemployment benefits, the University of California at Berkeley economist Pranab Bardhan told the Post of the experiment. In low- or mid-income countries, like India, the rationale will be to address the minimum economic insecurity of a larger section of the population, not just the poorest, without touching the existing anti-poverty measures.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are among the big names that have endorsed the concept of a basic income, the Post points out, but as a fix to cushion the economy from manned jobs becoming increasingly automated.

However, actual experiments like the one in Sikkim have been very rare and limited in their scope. Ironic, considering the largest economic experiment of the decade is kicking off in India, a country much less wealthy than America or Britain.
Reuters

Chinas top search engine Baidu Inc said on Wednesday it will improve its media aggregating service after a complaint about the quality of the service and its search results went viral on social media, helping send its shares down sharply.

Baidu was placing low-quality pieces from its Baijiahao service, which selects articles from both legacy and independent media outlets for display on Baidus own webpages, and other Baidu properties toward the top of its search results, journalist Fang Kecheng wrote in an article on Tuesday.

Baidu no longer plans on being a good search engine. It only wants to be a marketing platform, and hopes to turn users searching for content into traffic for itself, he wrote.

The complaint comes after Baidu, often compared to Alphabet Incs Google, underwent a restructuring and rigorous cleanup of illegal medical advertising that emerged in 2016 and led to regulation that slashed the number of eligible advertisers.

Fangs article was read over 100,000 times on the authors public WeChat account and shared by influential domestic media outlets.

Baidu on Wednesday acknowledged the article in a post on its a Twitter-like Weibo account and said that articles account for roughly 10 percent of its search results.

The media attention suggests Baijiahao can be done better, the statement said.

We will continue to court quality media outlets and creators and use positive mechanisms to encourage authors to spread high-quality original content, it said, adding Baijiahao was designed to optimize retrieval speeds for mobile users.

Shares of U.S.-listed Baidu tumbled 6.4 percent on Tuesday, or about $4 billion by value, weighed down by earnings and target price downgrades from Citi and Jefferies, while the widespread sharing of Fangs article sparked concerns over its advertising practices.

For Baidu over time, media exposure has been on the negative side, said Pacific Epoch analyst Raymond Feng, adding Baidu faces competition from other Chinese tech companies, many of which offer a broader range of ad placement styles than Baidu.

These platforms are different in nature but they are competing for the same budget... I think Baidu is still in the basket, but not gaining too much traction for key accounts overall, he said.

Baidu declined to comment on the market fluctuations.
Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to visit Amethi on 4 January, but it was cancelled in view of the Winter Session of Parliament. It would have clashed with Smriti Irani's trip to Amethi.

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi is on a two-day tour of his parliamentary constituency Amethi starting Wednesday.

Rahul said he would meet and discuss issues with people in his home constituency.

"I am coming to Amethi. Will be with my people and discuss issues with them. Will keep sharing the details of my story of happiness with you by way of pictures," Rahul said in a Facebook post.

During his stay, he is scheduled to meet representatives of gram panchayats at Fursatganj. He will also take part in the swearing-in of newly elected bar members in Gauriganj, his representative Chandrakant Dubey had said.

Rahul will address a 'nukkad sabha' at Haliyapur and stay the night at a Bhueymau guest house, where he will meet party workers on the second day of his visit before leaving for Delhi, Dubey had said.

He was scheduled to visit Amethi on 4 January, but it was cancelled in view of the Winter Session of Parliament.

His visit would have clashed with Union minister Smriti Irani's Amethi trip, which was also scheduled for the same day and was being seen as the first major political face-off ahead of the general elections.

The Congress chief will also tour states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the coming days.
Priyanka Gandhi's entry to active politics on the face of BJP's 'anti-dynasty' campaign and Modi's 'naamdar versus kamdar' pitch  shows the Gandhi family has decided to shed all inhibitions about Congress being regarded as a 'family run' enterprise

Marketing mavens can learn from the Gandhi family a trick or two about the power of branding and timing. It's not known whose brainwave was it to make the minor change in the spelling of Feroze Jehangir Gandhy to Feroze Gandhi dropping the Jehangir in the middle somewhere along the way. But, it is one decision that will yield them dividends through generations.

Therefore, it is no surprise that Indira jettisoned her maiden surname, while Priyanka wore it with pride occasionally tagging it with her husband's name as conveniently as her brother puts on and takes off his janeu (sacred thread).

Before feminists jump on me with charges of patriarchy, let me rush to clarify that my remark is purely from a marketing standpoint. Few Indian families understood this well. The Tagores did (thus, you have Sharmila Tagore retaining her surname). But, the Gandis have taken it to another level altogether.

Dynasty apologists compare the Gandhis with the Kennedys in the United States of America. But, we know there is a world of difference between them. First, the Kennedys were several brothers. They did not try to promote succession. Their spouses did not try to step into the shoes of their husbands or in-laws. Above all, they did not control the party, let alone treat it as a private corporation.

The timing is significant. Unlike Rajiv or Sonia who had to step in after a family tragedy  in the case of Rahul and Priyanka it was a time of their own or the family's choice. Rahul made several false starts. But, his elevation to party president was well choreographed and carefully synchronised with the Gujarat Assembly election.

Priyanka's formal entry is more interesting. That she was involved in the family affairs was a given. More recently, her role in decision making and strategy became much more apparent. So, the question of "will she or won't she" (join politics) turned to "when will she"? But, like Priyanka Chopra's marriage, she kept everyone guessing.

So, the new question is  why now? There can be several hypotheses built around it.

This is, without doubt, a very high stake election for the Gandhis as another setback would put the dynasty into serious risk. A washout in their erstwhile bastion of Uttar Pradesh would only compound the damage.

One would recall, Prashant Kishor had recommended her induction during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. But, the family turned down the idea. One reason for that could have been, had she joined then it would have put a serious question mark on Rahul's leadership capability. Considering the demoralised state of the party at that time, leaders and workers might have gravitated en-masse towards Priyanka dumping Rahul.

In hindsight that was probably a good decision as it is doubtful if even Priyanka could have made a positive difference to the Congress' numbers in that election.

That again takes us back to the same poser  the timing of the decision.

Like in the past, Uttar Pradesh will be the make or break state in this Lok Sabha election as well. The rebuff from Mayawati has been a harsh blow to the Congress. Being leaderless in Uttar Pradesh, it is in a tight spot.

Raj Babbar is no star. Salman Khurshid is too sophisticated for a dirty war that is surely in store. The Congress also does not have a dependable "UP expert" to play the role that Gehlot and Nath played in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, respectively.

Rahul will be busy campaigning around the country. Uttar Pradesh is too crucial to be left on auto-pilot, so he needs help in Uttar Pradesh.

But, Uttar Pradesh presents both a challenge and opportunity for Priyanka. If Congress' tally goes up significantly (anything over two seats would be an improvement) party courtesans will, of course, hail her. But, if she fares poorly, she will try to take a share of credit from Mayawati and Akhilesh.

Such an outcome will be a soft launching of Priyanka without stealing the thunder from Rahul.

However, there are a few larger implications of Priyanka coming out of the wings in just over thirteen months after Rahul's anointment as Congress President. To do so, on the face of BJP's "anti-dynasty" campaign and Modi's "naamdar versus kamdar" pitch  shows the family has decided to shed all inhibitions about Congress being regarded as a "family run" enterprise.

This is also a positive reaffirmation of sorts. The traction Congress has gained after Rahul getting on the driver's seat has demonstrated that the "Gandhi" name still sells. Not only voters but all other stakeholders  be it Opposition allies, big business, foreign powers and NRIs  will invest in Congress only for the "Gandhi" brand name.

It is, therefore, a classic marketing situation when the sub-brand becomes more valuable than the mother brand. The Gandhis always knew it. They are now only reclaiming their equity sensing an uptick in the market.
Till now Priyanka has been in the thick of things unofficially, but now as AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East), she will be able to lead from the front

After much delay, Congress finally inducted Priyanka Gandhi as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. Priyanka will be in charge of a key region in the northern state, which has several high-profile seats such as Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Rae Bareli and Amethi.

While BJP has dissed her entry as a proof of the failure of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's leadership, and of Congress' dynastic mindset, her entry to active politics is likely to bring about a smooth transition of power within the party from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to Priyanka. Though it may seem a little far-fetched at this point of time, especially since Priyanka is yet to prove herself, certain other less trending developments on Wednesday seem to prove this hypothesis.

First, even as Priyanka topped the search charts on Wednesday, reports claimed that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is not visiting her home constituency Rae Bareli on Tuesday.

Sonia was expected to arrive at Fursatganj airport today along with her son Rahul. While she was scheduled to head to Rae Bareli, Rahul would visit Amethi. Not that her attending meetings of the district vigilance and monitoring committee were of any less importance, this visit was crucial because the UPA chair hadn't been to Rae Bareli for over nine months now. With Lok Sabha elections just months away, Sonia, who has contested and won the parliamentary constituency continuously since 1999, was needed to energise party workers as well as her supporters ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Secondly, the cancellation of Sonia's Rae Bareli visit and Priyanka's induction comes at a time when Congress workers are eager to know if Priyanka would be contesting from the parliamentary constituency instead of her mother.

There's no doubt that Sonia has already achieved what she set out to when she entered politics. She brought Congress out of 'near extinction' in the 1990s and led the party to power not just once but twice at the Centre under Manmohan Singh. She has always stood her ground in spite of vicious and personal attacks from rivals. As a Congress leader and UPA chairperson, she kept the coalition government of 14 parties together during UPA-I and again in UP-II.

Lately, Sonia seems to have lately settled in the role of a guiding force within the Congress. She has kept away from election rallies and campaigns. In the last Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, Sonia attended rallies only in Telangana. She visited the state for the first time since its formation in 2014.

Though it's not clear whether or not Sonia will be contesting in the 2019 elections, and if from Rae Bareli, her health has been a matter of concern. And if she does contest the Lok Sabha elections, campaigning for the election could come at a heavy toll.

Amidst all this, Priyanka emerges as Congress' "saviour" in Uttar Pradesh. She is not new to Amethi or Rae Bareli or to Uttar Pradesh politics, as she often accompanied Sonia during her campaigns and visits to the parliamentary constituency. In fact, reports claim that, Priyanka, who was always seen as Indira Gandhi's true inheritor, resembling her not just in looks but also in her ability to reach out to people with her easy manner, has played a crucial role in bringing together party workers in both the family bastions Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Priyanka's entry thus paves the way for Sonia to exit from active politics while ensuring a smooth transition of the Rae Bareli constituency from mother to daughter for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Her entry is also likely to ensure the Rae Bareli seat (which had previously been won by both Sonia and Indira and non-Congress MPs have been elected only thrice since 1952) remains within the family.

With the BSP and SP having made it clear that they don't want to ally with Congress, the grand old party needs to not just retain its traditional bastions  Rae Bareli and Amethi  but also improve its presence to arrest BJP. And Congress president Rahul needs a lot of help in Uttar Pradesh where Congress has been out of power for 30 years. Priyanka does not just bring the Gandhi name, but also support.

Till now, Priyanka has been in the thick of things unofficially, but now in an official capacity as AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East), she will be able to lead from the front. She will now hold the fort for the Congress from eastern Uttar Pradesh, covering almost 40 of the total Lok Sabha seats in a region which has sent Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Varanasi) and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur) to the Lok Sabha.
Priyanka has always held the appearance of a more natural leader than her brother, something very few would disagree with. But with a more high-profile role, comes higher public glare.

Priyanka Gandhi's political plunge, at last, will most likely unleash a cacophony of voices. On one hand are the Congress supporters and political pundits who always felt that Priyanka was the right Gandhi to take over the family heirloom and that her entry into active politics was long overdue, there are those who will remind the Congress party the baggage the Congress heiress comes with.

Priyanka has always held the appearance of a more natural leader than her brother, something very few would disagree with. But with a more high-profile role, comes higher public glare.

Trust Bharatiya Janata Party that the many corruption allegations against Priyanka's entrepreneur husband Robert Vadra will precede her reputation as the more articulate, forceful and charismatic politician in the Congress' first family.

Priyanka has been tasked with managing the politically important terrain of eastern Uttar Pradesh. It is the toughest region to crack as Congress has been reduced to just two out of the 80 seats. Once a Congress stronghold, the region is now arguably a BJP bastion with prime constituencies like Varanasi and Gorakhpur that elected top BJP leaders like Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath. Priyanka directly managing affairs in the state will also mean that she is in direct line of fire from the edgiest of BJP speakers.

Prime Minister Modi has already made it a point to attack Vadra in the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha election and later on when in power too. In 2015, Modi made a veiled attack on Vadra in San Jose for corruption; Sonia and Rahul are constant villains featuring in BJP leaders' speeches. However, Priyanka has been largely shielded from personal attacks, barring a few unsavoury comments here and there.

The many allegations on Robert Vadra

Vadra is facing land grab charges and his hospitality firm Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd is accused of money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate. The ED alleges that Vadra is involved in the purchase of 275 bighas of land in Bikaner's Kolayat to embezzle funds. The agency's investigation indicates that the land had been purchased in the name of the driver of the mediator Mahesh Nagre using a cheque given by Vadra. The central probe agency had registered a criminal case in connection with the land deal in 2015, taking cognisance of a clutch of FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Rajasthan Police after the local tehsildar of Bikaner complained about alleged forgery in the allotment of land in the area, considered sensitive due to its proximity to the India-Pakistan border.

Then there is the Manesar land deal, where Vadra minted a nifty profit on the sale of a plot of land he acquired only one year before he sold it in 2009. Selling the land was no crime in itself, but what ruffled feathers was the fact that this particular piece of land saw a 300 percent appreciation in its value within the 12 months Vadra bought and sold it off. BJP leaders allege Vadra used unscrupulous means to sell off the land at an inflated price to DLF, which he bought on undervalued prices in the first place.

In 2012, Arvind Kejriwal, then an anti-corruption crusader, had also alleged that Vadra purchased at least 31 properties mostly in New Delhi worth more than Rs 300 crore for which money has come from unsecured interest-free loans from DLF Ltd".

In 2013, Rao Inderjit Singh, a three-time Congress MP, four-time MLA and a former minister, alleged misappropriation of funds by Vadra and publicly demanded a detailed investigation into the 21,000-acre of land licensed for various uses in Haryana in the past eight years, including three acres that were part of the aforementioned Vadra-DLF deal. Speaking to The Hindu, Singh had said, "An independent all-encompassing inquiry will widen the net, haul in big fish and ensure punishment for the guilty. I will take names when I have the evidence. And will use the evidence at a time of my choosing." Singh claimed that some 500-600 new and unknown builders are involved in cheating both the farmer and the end-user on prices.

Can Priyanka survive politics without disowning Vadra?

Priyanka's entry into politics will inadvertently ensure that the graft charges against her husband become a talking point further fuelled by her political opponents. However, is there a way she can shield her public image against the muck aimed at her husband's business dealings? Political analysts think its unlikely.

"Robert Vadra's alleged land dealings and corruption charges against him will adversely impact Priyanka's political career. There is national anger and disgust over his misdeeds and corruption and protecting him can certainly harm Priyanka's own political ambitions. Certainly, Priyanka will be a loser politically if she defends him as the Congress party itself is enmeshed in this mess," says Asha Sarangi, associate professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi while speaking to Business Standard.

Author Tuhin A Sinha, who has now joined the BJP, opined that it will be impossible for the Gandhi family to target the BJP on corruption while maintaining a steady silence on Vadra's alleged land dealings. In a blog penned in May 2014 for News18, months after joining the political party, Sinha states, "Has Vadra been quietly disowned by the Gandhis? If that is the case, it is good for the Congress because, quite frankly, Priyanka Gandhi simply cannot enter politics without publicly disowning her husband. In as much as the Gandhis might play it down, Robert Vadra is a bigger embarrassment to them than Asif Zardari ever was to Benazir Bhutto or Feroz Gandhi was to Indira. Therefore, the way I see the situation today, Priyanka will have to rid herself of Robert Vadra in order to kickstart her political career. If that happens, one might find greater similarities between her and Indira Gandhi than just their looks."

Moreover, journalist Mathew Samuel noted in his article that at least until 2016  when the piece was written  Sonia herself was against Priyanka's entry into politics except the rare brush with electoral campaigning here and there. Samuel quoted a top Congress source to report that Sonia has requested Congressmen "to allow Rahul to remain as the upcoming face of Congress till the time she is not bed-ridden". He said that Sonia has told her daughter that she can join politics to help revive the Congress party once Sonia is not capable to do it herself. Till then Sonia wants Rahul to be in-charge."

Two years later, the revelations of Samuel's Congress source do not sound completely off the mark. Sonia has, as a matter of fact, restricted her public appearances to a bare minimum and has relinquished all but one responsibility  that of UPA chairperson  to Rahul. At such a time, Priyanka's entry into politics seems only opportune given the massive challenge of countering BJP's election machinery ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

However, this alone would not put to rest the rumours that controversies surrounding Vadra compelled Priyanka to curtail her role in active politics until now. But with Sonia indisposed and a massive challenge ahead of Rahul, the Congress will need its strongest hands and most identifiable leaders to take the baton ahead.
Priyanka is now All India Congress Committee general secretary, a post her father Rajiv and brother Rahul held while entering politics

Last week, a contractor with a contingent of masonry workers turned up at Nehru Bhawan  Uttar Pradesh Congress headquarters  on Mall Avenue in Lucknow. The two-storey building has a magnificent facade, but its interiors had become shopworn: much like the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, which has been out of power for the past 30 years.

The workers were surprised by the extensive renovation plan: new fixtures, fitting and furniture. The sudden interest of party high command and directions to finish the work expeditiously amused them and gave way to heated peculation. Some thought this was preparation for Priyanka Gandhis grand entry into the Congress, and that she'd have an office there and hold meetings. They were proven correct.

The Congress has finally played its trump card. Priyanka is now All India Congress Committee general secretary, a post her father Rajiv and brother Rahul held before taking the reigns of the party. After reaching Amethi, a visibly elated Rahul said, I am very happy that my sister, who is very capable, will work with me. This is a good move, the BJP is nervous. We will now play on the front foot, not on the back foot.

Priyanka has been given the task of reviving the Congress' prospects in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Jyotiraditya Scindia, another dynast, has been given the task of boosting partys prospects in western Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka and Jyotiraditya will be in-charge for 40 seats each.

Thats not an easy task, given the fact that Congress expectations have skyrocketed. Minutes after a formal announcement, some Congress leaders claimed that the party will win 30 seats in Uttar Pradesh. They believe that since Priyanka is a good communicator and looks like her grandmother Indira, she has the potential to change the fortunes of the party. Rahuls statement, that if Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav want to have fresh dialogue with Congress, then he has no problem in talking gives the impression that he thinks the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party would be forced to reconsider their decision of keeping Congress out of their alliance.

The key question: Can Priyanka deliver? Consider the following:

In terms of its electoral prospects, Congress is sandwiched between two powerful combinations: BSP-SP coalition and the BJP. Where does that leave the Congress, which hardly has leaders with fighting spirit and workers on the ground willing to sweat it out? Eastern Uttar Pradesh, where Priyanka is tasked with taking care of 40 seats, has Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as BJP MP from Banaras. The SP-BSP large support base is always going to be there. Rahul's claim that the Uttar Pradesh Congress will now have a new thought process remains to be verified.

While taking a plunge into the Uttar Pradesh political grind, Priyanka will also have to fight two perceptions. First, that she has been formally brought into the Congress organisational fold because Rahul failed to deliver. Congress workers across the country have always been inclined to believe Priyanka was better suited to be a leader than Rahul. A substantive section of voters dont really like to see the perpetuation of dynastic politics. In the Gandhi familys case, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka are officially at the helm of Congress.

Second, the baggage of perception about Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra. Though none of the charges against Vadra have made substantive progress in legal terms, but in terms of popular opinion, Vadra is already a villain. Out of familiar turfs of Amethi and Rae Bareli, Priyanka may have a tough time responding to the perception around her husband.

During the last Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, erstwhile poll strategist Prashant Kishor planned to build a campaign around Priyanka as the chief ministerial face. But she backed out. Then, Priyanka was credited with stitching the alliance with the Samajwadi Party. Ahmed Patel credited Priyanka in his tweet on 22 January, 2018: Wrong to suggest lightweights were dealing on behalf of Congress party. Discussion was at highest level- b/w CM (UP),GS I/C & Priyanka Gandhi

Some other Congress leaders suggested Priyanka would campaign through the state to ensure that the Samajwadi Party-Congress had a thumping victory, but that never materialised. It was said that leadership was wary of consequences if Congress did not do well. Senior Congress leader and then in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad said Priyanka had taken command of all backroom strategy and was holding series of meetings with workers. But after the Congress' eminently forgettable performance in Uttar Pradesh elections, no one talked of Priyankas role.

It seems that Priyanka finally took the plunge out of necessity rather than choice. The Congress has been jilted by BSP and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, in Bihar mahagathbandhan seat negotiations have run into trouble with RJD leader Tejashawi Yadav telling Congress to be pragmatic about their strength and accordingly limit their demand for seats. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is unwilling to yield much space to Congress; in Karnataka the Congress ally JD(S) is demanding a larger number of seats and Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy made it clear in a statement he would prefer Mamata as prime minister over Rahul. Thus, for Priyanka and the Gandhis, it was now or never.

The Congress hope in Uttar Pradesh is limited only to two seats: Amethi and Rae Bareli, which have been left for Rahul and Sonia by Mayawati and Akhilesh. In the rest of 78 seats, the Congress fate has almost certainly been sealed. There is a sense of despondency among Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders. The Congress thinks Priyanka will change that scenario.

In the 2017 Assembly election  where Priyanka didn't campaign much in Amethi and Raebareli  the Congress won two Assembly seats out of five in Rae Bareli and lost all five seats in Amethi. In the last parliamentary elections, Rahul's victory margin in Amethi reduced from 3.70 lakh in 2009 to 1.07 lakh in 2014. In Rae Bareli, Sonias victory margin was also reduced. Priyanka campaigned extensively in both constituencies. In the 2012 Assembly elections, despite Priyanka's nukkad to nukkad campaign, the results were hugely disappointing for the Congress: the party lost every single seat in Rae Bareli.
Congress has appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as party's general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East).

Congress has appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as party's general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East). She will take charge in the first week of February 2019 and is likely to contest from Raebareli, the traditional seat of Gandhi family, currently represented by Sonia Gandhi.

Congress leader Motilal Vohra commented on the development and said, "The responsibility given to Priyankaji is very important. This will not only have an effect on eastern Uttar Pradesh but also other regions." Jyotiraditya Scindia will handle Uttar Pradesh West as the party's general secretary.

Benefits of Priyanka campaigning

This move is likely to motivate the cadre of Congress, which was feeling low after Bua and Bhatija jodi announced a mahagathbandhan excluding Congress. Congress recorded 7.5 percent vote share in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, retaining only the two family stronghold seats. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the partys performance declined further, with its vote share reduced to 6.3 percent.

Priyanka bears resemblance to Indira and is likely to attract the female voters who would connect with her far more easily. The turnout of women voters has been increasing over the years. Women are also making independent decisions on voting due to increase in literacy and awareness levels. Congress generally has received higher support from women compared to men in Lok Sabha elections.

Priyanka in the past has canvassed for party only in Amethi and Raebareli. Her campaign across the state is likely to provide a fillip to fortunes of the party when it is attempting to revive its traditional vote bank of the upper caste (mainly Brahmins and Thakurs), Dalits and Muslims. A section of upper caste, disenchanted with BJP due to its flip-flop on the Ram Mandir issue and not so gung-ho about the 10 percent reservation for economically weaker sections for general class, will be targeted by the party.

The party is likely to attract better candidates for seats as they could now see a higher probability of winning elections on Congress ticket. Even BSP-SP candidates who are likely to be denied tickets due to the mahagathbandhan may flock to Congress for accommodating them.

Big blow to mahagathbandhan

The move is a big setback for the mahagathbandhan, which  despite keeping Congress out  had hoped the party would eventually have a tacit understanding of working with them for the larger cause of defeating BJP. Congress appointing Priyanka and Scindia as general secretaries in-charge of Uttar Pradesh is a clear signal that it will put up a spirited fight and make the contest truly triangular.

The party has not taken well the way Mayawati criticised Congress sharply in the press conference on the day of seat-finalisation of the mahagathbandhan. This is likely to split the anti-BJP vote and help BJP in the state. Congress and the mahagathbandhan share complimentary vote block of Dalits and Muslims and Congress strengthening is likely to be at the expense of the mahagathbandhan.

Over the years, Uttar Pradesh has been witnessing either a regional or national contest. Whenever people have voted on regional considerations, SP and BSP have done well, like in 2004 and 2009 when regional parties won more than half of the seats. Priyankas entry will make the contest national as she will be pitched against Modi.

Strategy of BJP disrupted

Priyankas entry also complicates matters for BJP as party will try to woo the Brahmin voters of the saffron party. The party will need to come up with a renewed strategy to figure out not only how to tackle the mahagathbandhan but also Congress, which has made Priyanka in-charge of Purvanchal which has 30 seats. BJP swept the region in 2014, bagging 29 seats. Modi contested from Varanasi, which created a wave in favour of the party in 2014.

Congress hopes to repeat its 2009 performance

Congress finished runner-up in six seats in 2014, despite Modi wave scoring higher than SP and BSP. It finished second runner-up in five seats, getting more votes than either SP or BSP. Its vote share in 12 urban seats of the state is over 12 percent, 5 percent higher than state average.

In 2009, in a surprise result, the party won 21 seats, bagging 18.3 percent vote share. The partys decision is keeping in mind short-term gains with long-term expansion strategy. It realises that since negotiations with mahagathbandhan was based on past performance, it could never get a good deal.

To sum up, Congress has thrown its hat in Uttar Pradesh by making Priyanka the general secretary. Now, it is all set to give the regional parties a run for their money. The impact of this could also be felt in seat discussions in Bihar.

(Amitabh Tiwari is a political commentator, strategist and consultant who advises leaders and political parties. He was a former corporate and investment banker and tweets @politicalbaaba.)
Reacting to the news of Priyanka Gandhi entering active politics, Prime Minister Modi made an oblique reference to the Congress subscribing to dynastic values while Congress president Rahul Gandhi expressed his happiness to be working with his sister.

Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday made an oblique reference to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra finally taking the plunge into politics with her appointment as in-charge of poll preparations in eastern Uttar Pradesh, according to reports.

"For Congress, the parivar is party," Modi said while on a video conference with BJP workers, reported India Today. He did not directly bring up Priyanka, whose appointment comes as a direct challenge to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

According to reports, Congress workers across India raised the slogan, "Priyanka Gandhi aandhi hai, doosri Indira Gandhi hai."

"I am very happy that my sister, who is extremely capable and hard-working, will work with me," Rahul said.

He further added that Priyanka and Jyotiraditya Scindia will work towards what the youth in Uttar Pradesh wants. "We are not going on the back foot, we do politics for development and people's welfare. I have not sent Priyanka and Jyotiraditya for just two months. Priyanka and Jyotiraditya in Uttar Pradesh will spread the real Congress ideology and change the politics of Uttar Pradesh. That is the agenda," said Rahul.

Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra congratulated her on Facebook:

Senior Congress leader Motilal Vohra said Priyanka now has a "very important" responsibility as her appointment will not only have an effect in eastern Uttar Pradesh, but other regions as well.

Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot also congratulated Priyanka, and said he wishes her a bright future.

Party leader Rajeev Shukla said Priyanka's entry into politics will help in the revival of the Congress not only in Uttar Pradesh, but the entire country.

BJP says move suggests Rahul's failure

Speaking to ANI, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "The Congress is a family party; there is no doubt about it. After being rejected from the 'mahagathbandhan' everywhere, the party has sought a crutch from within their own family." Patra added that the move was "expected," and that Congress is all about dynastic politics. "They consider family as the party while BJP considers party as the family. Congress has accepted that Rahul Gandhi ji has failed," he further told ANI.

Uttar Pradesh BJP leader GVL Narasimhan Rao on Twitter called it the "most uneventful news of 2019". He added: "The Priyanka card was played before every election and flopped each time. Perils of Parivar Politics: FAIL & THRIVE. Pity!"

Speaking to News18, Union minister Babul Supriyo congratulated Priyanka, but added that it was a move made by the Congress to "help support" Rahul. He added that the development proved Congress approach towards dynastic politics.

BJP MP and general secretary for Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje said on Twitter, "When clown prince is failing consistently, princess makes her entry! Congratulations Priyanka Gandhi On your appointment as Gen Secretary of East UP."

Opposition offers support

National Conference (NC) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah told News18, "Thrilled that she is entering electoral politics. Hope she will contribute to politics. We extend our best wishes to her. She is like her mother Sonia and grandmother Indira. The people of India want her to help the party, and help her brother."

"Both Priyanka and Rahul will prove to be a great help to the Opposition," Abdullah added.

JDU vice-president Prashant Kishor, a former poll strategist for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tweeted: "One of the most awaited entries in Indian politics is finally here! While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real news is that she finally decided to take the plunge! Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi."

Follow LIVE updates on Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra entering politics here
The 10-0 opposition vote took place at a meeting Tuesday night at school headquarters on North Avenue after a lively public forum in which students, parents and members of the police union voiced their opinions both in favor and against the bill, each side citing data and other evidence to bolster their arguments.
The Hindu Sena had celebrated the birthday of US President Donald Trump with a cake weighing 7.1 kg in New Delhi in 2017.

New Delhi: The Hindu Sena, a right-wing group, Tuesday paid tributes to Queen Victoria on her 118th death anniversary in Delhi and said she "freed India from the autocratic rule of the Mughals".

The organisers of the event at Jantar Mantar said it was the first time they paid tributes to the Empress and credited her with "uniting the princely states of India in 1857".

Surjeet Yadav, the national spokesperson and vice-president of the Hindu Sena, claimed, "India would have disintegrated into thousands of pieces had it not been the Britishers, who under the Queen, united a large number of princely states into one entity in 1857."

He also claimed that "the Britishers gave what we have today, be it the law, railways, roads, communication networks, schools, buildings, etc."

"The Britishers did not destroy our temples like the others did...They gave us the law which we follow even today," Yadav said.

"Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru could raise their voice because it was not an autocratic government. They gave Indians the first taste of freedom by allowing local self-governance in 1882," he said.

He claimed the imperial army strived for equality among all castes in India.

"They (the Britishers) formed the Mahar regiment. Earlier, in Bengal presidency, only people belonging to upper castes were allowed to enlist in the army," he claimed, adding "if there is a gentlemen race in the world, it's is the British".

The Hindu Sena had celebrated the birthday of US President Donald Trump with a cake weighing 7.1 kg in New Delhi in 2017.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Ramabai Ahirwar has reiterated her demand for a cabinet berth in Madhya Pradesh, stating that the Kamal Nath government should keep its ministers happy to avoid a 'Karnataka-like situation' in the state.

Damoh: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Ramabai Ahirwar has reiterated her demand for a cabinet berth in Madhya Pradesh, stating that the Kamal Nath government should keep its ministers happy to avoid a "Karnataka-like situation" in the state.

Speaking to ANI, Ahirwar, an MLA from Pathariya assembly constituency, said, "The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has been formed with the support of behenji (BSP chief Mayawati). We demand a ministerial berth for two BSP MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh government led by Chief Minister Kamal Nath. We have seen the situation in Karnataka; we don't want a similar situation here."

"If they (the Congress government) don't give us a ministerial berth, then not only I but others will also oppose them. They need to keep everyone happy. If he (Kamal Nath) wants to keep the party strong, then first, he must make us strong. He should give us the ministerial berth," said Ahirwar.

This is not the first time that Ahirwar has raised demands for a ministerial berth.

On 7 January, the Pathariya MLA had demanded a Cabinet post for Sanjeev Singh Kushwaha and the position of a state minister for herself.

Speaking to the media after meeting Nath at his residence on that day, she had said, "We were told by behenji (Mayawati) to skip the Congress MLAs meet, but attend the banquet. I demanded a Cabinet post for Sanjeev Singh Kushwaha and a state minister's post for myself. I was given the assurance that they will take care of it."

Madhya Pradesh saw a nail-biting fight where the Congress managed to bag 114 seats out of a total of 230, while the BJP got 109 seats. The BSP won two, the Samajwadi Party won one and Independents won four in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

Soon after, Kamal Nath was sworn in as the chief minister, ousting three-time chief minister and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Hours after the BJP cancelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah's rally in Jhargram, the West Bengal government gave the green signal for Shah's helicopter to land there.

Kolkata: The West Bengal government gave the green signal for the helicopter of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah to land at a helipad in Jhargram, on the same day when the rally was cancelled by the BJP.

This approval by the Mamata Banerjee-led government has come after many hiccups. However, the BJP did not confirm whether the denial of permission to land a helicopter near the venue was the only reason behind cancelling Shah's rally. Earlier, reports said Shah was heading back to Delhi because of his ill health and was unlikely to attend the Jhargram rally.

The decision from the state authorities came just hours after BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya alleged that Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is trying to obstruct Shah's rally.

The party's Jhargram district observer Tushar K Ghosh had also claimed that BJP sought permission for helicopter landing. However, permission was not granted till the last minute.

"We had sought permission from the District Magistrate for holding a rally and helicopter landing but till last night we had not got the permission. Today, we have got permission only for the rally," he had stated.

The West Bengal government had earlier denied permission for the BJP president's chopper to land in Malda district where he eventually held a rally on Tuesday.

In its defence, the Malda district administration had stated that it was not possible to grant permission to land VVIP helicopters that week, owing to construction work.

While BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that the site at which Shah was to land in Malda was used by Mamata, the West Bengal chief minister said she too had to change her landing location on the request of the state police.
The induction of Priyanka Gandhi into the Congress leadership is a belated but an obvious move by the party.

The induction of Priyanka Gandhi into the Congress leadership is a belated but an obvious move by the party that is willing to move heaven and earth to regain power.

But the BJP's criticism of Priyanka's appointment only reflects the nervousness in the ruling party. The first criticism is on the question of yet another dynast coming to politics. But BJP will have the credibility to mount such a criticism, however valid it is, only if it estranges allies like Akali Dal, Shiva Sena, Apna Dal, which are no different from Congress as far as dynastic politics are concerned.

The NDA had and continues to have in its fold many parties that thrive on dynastic succession. The saffron party shared power with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, and TDP in Andhra Pradesh, which have already put in place the process of political succession. The BJP's possible allies like TRS, YSR Congress, BJD are also part of the same club of dynastic politics. If the party has such a pathological aversion to dynastic politics, it cannot survive in coalition era. Will the BJP preach same lessons to its allies?

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress president has opted for a "family alliance" after facing "rejection" from various parties of the proposed grand alliance.

He was rightly referring to SP and BSP keeping Congress out of the anti-BJP gathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, Patra is right to an extent as Priyanka was appointed the general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh (East), indicating the importance the state plays in national politics. But, it is wrong to decode that these parties are averse to having a post-poll tie up with Congress. It is too simplistic to interpret Priyanka's entry as something to do with Congress' relations with allies. Whether or not the Congress finds its allies or not, the 'family alliance' is bound to stay, something that is obviously unpalatable to BJP.

Besides, BJP is also not totally immune to such a dynastic culture, though Congress is an embodiment of such a political culture. The former chief minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, is only one such example of the children of BJP leaders in active politics. The younger BJP leaders like Pankaja Munde, Poonam Mahajan, B Yeddyurappa Raghavendra, etc are other few examples.

This is not to endorse the lack of internal democracy in Congress and its dynastic politics. It is true that on this count, BJP is far superior to Congress. But the worrying aspect is BJP imbibing such unacceptable aspects of Congress culture.

The other criticism is that the unveiling of Priyanka indicates Congress denunciation of Rahul Gandhi's leadership. This is much more bizarre when seen against the backdrop of Congress wresting power from BJP in three crucial north Indian states  Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the first year of Rahul Gandhi's party presidency.

In fact, even BJP ally Shiv Sena talks gloriously of Rahul's leadership. It is wrong to glorify a leader when a party wins or rebuke him when the party loses. There are many factors that contribute to political mandate. BJP seniors were critical of the Modi-Shah leadership when the party lost in Bihar and Delhi. But the Congress scripting victories, which are significant in view of 2019 polls, is an empirical fact that BJP also cannot rule out. Besides, Priyanka is not replacing Rahul because the current Congress leadership has failed. Priyanka will supplement Rahul rather than supplant him. Priyanka's appointment only indicates the party's intention is to leave no stone unturned.

BJP is also mounting its criticism on Priyanka using Robert Vadra, who is accused in certain suspicious property deals. Even many outside the BJP parivar also believe that Robert Vadra has several skeletons in his cupboard, especially his questionable deals with DLF. But the BJP's inaction on these allegations in the last four-and-a-half years is beyond comprehension. The party whose government fails to unravel the truth in these allegations cannot use them politically. The people of the country do not get anything from the political slugfest between BJP and Congress.

The BJP won over 70 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The formidable electoral arithmetic in SP-BSP alliance is certainly worrying the party, especially after the by-elections in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana. The revitalised Congress under Priyanka leadership has the potential to draw the upper caste vote from BJP, much to the detriment of the saffron alliance. Even the Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav has said that despite his "immense respect" for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the grand old party was kept out of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh to correct "poll arithmetic" in order to defeat the BJP.

Priyanka's entry has certainly enthused the rank and file of the Congress, that has already been in an upbeat mood after the crucial win in three Hindi states, with the BJP snatching defeat from the jaws of victory due to shrewd political maneuvering by the Congress leadership. It is irrefutable that the Modi of 2019 is not the Modi of 2014. Rahul is seen as more energetic. Priyanka would add more glamour to the Congress campaign. She is more articulated and the brand of her grandmother Indira Gandhi is her political asset. Thus, the BJP is certainly worried of the newfound symbolism in Congress with the entry of Priyanka. But, only time will tell what substance she can bring to Congress political engineering.

BJP's criticism on Priyanka's induction nowhere reflects party's frustration. But, it certainly signifies the growing unease in the BJP camp that has several reasons besides Congress gaining ground.
BJP president Amit Shah has cancelled his rally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at Jhargram in West Bengal, reports said. The decision comes amid reports that the Jhargram district magistrate had denied the party permission to land Shah's helicopter near the venue, citing security concerns.

BJP president Amit Shah has cancelled his rally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at Jhargram in West Bengal. The decision comes amid reports that the Jhargram district magistrate had denied the party permission to land Shah's helicopter near the venue, citing security concerns.

BJP leaders strongly criticised this rejection as Shah's rally at Malda on Tuesday, at which he kick-started the saffron party's Lok Sabha poll campaign in West Bengal, had also been at risk of being cancelled over a similar initial denial of permission. Party leader Vinit Goenka claimed the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government was trying every trick in the book to prevent the BJP from campaigning in West Bengal. Goenka told India Today TV, "This shows that the TMC has sunk to a new low. They want to smother democracy."

However, the BJP did not confirm whether the denial of permission to land a helicopter near the venue was the only reason behind cancelling Shah's rally. Earlier, reports said Shah was heading back to Delhi because of his ill health and was unlikely to attend the Jhargram rally.

His other public rally at Suri in Birbhum district on Wednesday has also been cancelled. Union minister Smriti Irani will now address the rally, said district BJP president Ramkrishna Roy. He said the Birbhum BJP unit had received all required permissions from the state government for the campaign, including one for Irani's helicopter to land at the site.

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said: "Amit Shah is very ill. He has high fever, but still attended Tuesday's rally in Malda. He was discharged a few days ago from the hospital after suffering from swine flu."

Ghosh added that Shah's doctors had advised him against attending any other rally, and that he had asked party leaders and workers to ensure that other scheduled rallies take place on time.

A 'chopper controversy' had erupted after the BJP claimed it was denied permission to land Shah's helicopter in Malda, a charged the TMC had denied.

Initially, reports said the district administration had told the BJP that they could not land the helicopter close to the venue of the rally as the airport was being renovated. But the local unit of the BJP had pointed out that the same airport was where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's aircraft lands, and it was constantly used by state government functionaries.

Mamata, however, had countered the BJP's charge, saying, "Permission has been given, but there were security issues. The police had said the chopper should land at some other place. I also change my chopper's landing spot on police request. We have granted permission for the meeting as we believe in democracy. They (BJP) are distorting information and misleading people."

With inputs from PTI
Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav has said that despite his 'immense respect' for Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the grand old party was kept out of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh to correct 'poll arithmetic' in order to defeat the BJP.

Kolkata: Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav has said that despite his "immense respect" for Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the grand old party was kept out of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh to correct "poll arithmetic" in order to defeat the BJP.

Without ruling out the possibility of working with the Congress after polls, Akhilesh said he has good relations with the party and would be "happy" if the next prime minister was from his home state.

Asked if the SP was open to working with Congress after the polls, Akhilesh said, "We can't answer it right now. We will answer it after the elections. But I can say this much that the country wants a new prime minister and it will have one after polls".

Akhilesh was speaking exclusively to PTI during his visit to the city for the 19 January united opposition rally.

"If you take out the number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, you will notice that the BJP government doesn't have the majority. BJP keeps talking about social engineering. So, I also decided to correct my poll arithmetic and did it through this alliance," Akhilesh said.

He said that despite carrying out a lot of developmental works during his tenure as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, he lost the 2017 assembly elections as his poll arithmetic was not right.

"So, I decided to correct the arithmetic by taking along Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal and left two seats for the Congress," he said.

The Samajwadi Party and the Congress had joined hands in the 2017 assembly poll in UP but lost to the BJP.

"In order to correct the arithmetic of UP and defeat BJP it (SP-BSP alliance) has been done. Should we lose seats (to BJP) just to pacify others," he questioned.

Left out of the SP-BSP pre-poll tie-up in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has announced that it would go it alone in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the upcoming general election.

Congress' decision to contest in all the 80 seats came in the backdrop of SP and BSP announcing their alliance in Uttar Pradesh, sharing 38 seats each, and leaving two seats for the smaller parties, besides leaving Rae Bareli and Amethi to United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, respectively.

When asked whether keeping Congress out of the opposition alliance would dampen the prospects of opposition in the politically crucial state, Akhilesh said, "With this seat adjustment, we have further strengthened the opposition unity. We have kept two seats for Congress. Our relationship with Congress has always been good. The issue of relationship is different. The main issue is how to defeat BJP and I have worked towards that arithmetic".

Akhilesh had earlier said that the Samajwadi Party's alliance with BSP and the RLD was "final" and there would be no issues as regards seat-sharing in the Lok Sabha polls, while ruling out any understanding with the Congress.

"We have left two seats for them. Now, they (Congress) have decided to fight in 78 other seats. If they want to fight it is up to them. We have nothing to say about it," he said.

When asked if the alliance would field candidates in the changed scenario as the Congress has decided to contest in all the 80 seats, he said SP-BSP will not do so in Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Akhilesh, however, maintained that keeping Congress out of alliance and giving them just two seats will not have any impact on the opposition vote share in the polls.

When asked to comment on Rahul Gandhi's remarks that he has "tremendous respect" for the leaders of SP and BSP, Akhilesh said that he also has immense respect for Rahul Gandhi.

"Anybody from any part of the country can become the next prime minister. But it would be good if the next PM is from Uttar Pradesh because there is a notion that those who want to become PM fights from UP or increases its tally from this state," he said.

Asked who is his first choice as PM - BSP chief Mayawati or Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee - Akhilesh refused to give a direct reply and said efforts should be made to elect a new prime minister and some issues can be discussed after the polls.

Akhilesh, however, sounded confident that regional parties which have come together at the 19 January Brigade Parade Grounds rally here organized by the Trinamool Congress would stay together even after the polls.
The 63 year old cellist Yo-Yo Ma played on for around 20 minutes, entertaining a group of Marine Drive regulars that included elderly men and women, and a seven-year-old.

On Tuesday evening, world renowned Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma put up an impromptu gig on Mumbai's Marine Drive. A little before sundown, Ma quietly walked onto the promenade with his cello, sat on the wall that separates the sea from the city and started playing Bachs Cello Suite No 1, according to Mumbai Mirror. .

The video shows Ma grinning from ear-to ear while playing notes as his unsuspecting audience stands enchanted.

Ma's audience included an odd a small group of elderly men and women  Marine Drive regulars and a kid, about seven years old. At first, they were surprised at the sight of the 63-year-old cellist. But with the warm rich music of the cello, they gathered around him and stood in silence during the course of his 20-minute performance. After finishing his performance, Ma took a bow, shook hands with everyone, smiled and left.

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Its so nice to hear Bach being played by @yoyoma.official for the passerbys in Bombay on marine drive ! Only if we could do this more often ! How my heart yearns to listen to good music . How I wish we could do more street music !!! Music should be allowed to be played anywhere . It brings people together , it creates feeling love & peace just seeing & hearing this brings happiness to my morning #art #and #music #bach #goodmusic #yoyoma

A post shared by Simple Kaul (@simplekaul) on Jan 22, 2019 at 9:27pm PST

While the audience was unaware of the legend, his performance sure left them captivated. I am not quite sure what he played. But listening to him left me spellbound.I have given him my card and he has promised to write to me soon, Prakash Poddar, who lives at Nariman Point, told Mumbai Mirror.

Ma, who is visiting India as a part of The Bach Project, performed at the National Center for Performing Arts in Mumbai on Monday. He is scheduled to be part of a panel discussion with actor-director Nandita Das, vocalist TM Krishna and Harvard professor Homi K Bhabha at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum on Wednesday, according to Hindustan Times.
Rani Laxmibai is said to have fought the British till the bitter end. After escaping from Jhansi, she succumbed to her injuries while fighting the forces at Gwalior.

In a graphic novel by Campfire, illustrated works describe some of the key moments in the life of the Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, the warrior-queen who led her band of troops against the British forces during the national uprising of 1857. A biographical work on Manikarnika, who later became the queen of Jhansi, it portrays her marriage to Gangadhar, the king of Jhansi, her work as the queen regent following his demise and her fight against the colonial rule.

Lakshmibai:   , a part of the Heroes series, narrates the story of Manikarnika, a skilled warrior who trained with leaders such as Nana Saheb Peshwe and Tatya Tope. History recalls Rani Laxmibai as one of the prominent rulers of a princely state, who led the fight against the British East India Company during the revolt of 1857.

Following the death of the king and the absence of a male heir to the throne, Rani Laxmibai is said to have taken charge of the kingdom. The queen, among the many rulers in India at the time who took up arms against colonial powers, also trained many women of her kingdom in the art of warfare.

Manikarnika joined forces with Nana Saheb, who was proclaimed the Peshwa in his own right during the rebellion, and Tope, who rallied his men to overthrow the soldiers that laid siege to the fort of Jhansi following the queen's proclamation for an independent state.

Rani Laxmibai's struggle to overthrow the colonial powers became a source of inspiration for the freedom fighters who came to the fore after the imperial power took over in India.

Also read: How Lakshmibai became Rani of Jhansi: Read an excerpt from Moupia Basu's book, The Queen's Last Salute

"Her bravery and sacrifice would sow the seeds of further rebellion that would eventually free India from the clutches of colonialism," said the director of Campfire Graphic Novels, Girija Jhunjhunwala.
In Ammi, Sunil Kumar presents two facets of the story of Najeeb Ahmed's disappearance  the emotional, involving his mother Fatima Nafees, and the investigative, which tries to present the events of the case in a transparent manner

"Our words havent reached those who should have heard our voices."

This is one of the lines spoken in the beginning of Ammi, a documentary film by Sunil Kumar, produced by Pedestrian Pictures, which was recently screened at the YMCA, New Delhi and then last week at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The essence of this line echoes throughout the film, prompting the viewer to recognise the gaps overlooked by the JNU administration as well as the law while investigating the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed.

After Najeeb went missing on 15 October 2016, there were many cues left to be explored, from the minutest of forensic details (it is claimed Najeebs slippers were found on the staircase along with his phone and wallet in the room), to the fact that he was thrashed by students from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in his room the other night, or the perplexing events which took place after his last conversation with his mother, Fatima Nafees, who was on her way to meet him.

All these issues are at the center of Sunils film, which is an investigative attempt to outline the emotional and factual aspects of the case, and he does so with the help of Fatima Nafees, who Najeeb and many of JNU's students call 'Ammi' (mother).

Sunil, who comes from a background of student activism, initially wanted to capture the growing saffronisation of university campuses, but decided to shift focus on to Najeebs case. Ammi is a woman who went through a drastic transformation in these two years. Think about this: A woman who comes from a low-middle socio-economic background, who had not been out of the house much, is now standing fearless against these forces. She and Radhika Vemula are the two women who have literally lead these movements, channeling a kind of pain we can only imagine, Sunil said when I asked about Ammi being the storyteller of his film.

Pain is evident from the very start of the film, where Fatima is seen shouting at university personnel, who ask her and the students to clear the area when they are placing and lighting candles in the campus. It is an image that portrays the exhaustion of a mother.

The film can be seen as being composed of two parts or perspectives  one that portrays the emotional side, while the other that probes into the series of events that took place before and after Najeebs disappearance.

The emotional side

Sunil begins by taking us to the narrow streets of Badaun, Najeebs home district in the state of Uttar Pradesh. We are shown an ordinary house, marked by the acknowledgment of a missing child  which is visible in everything shown to the viewer. Listening to stories by his school teachers and neighbours who called Najeeb an innocent, obedient and aspiring child only adds to the painful aftermath of the incident.

But a more intense form of emotion comes from the account of Fatima, whose longing for her son is heartbreaking to watch. Rather than sympathy, Sunils approach is to make the viewers empathise with her situation. No matter what role we play in our families, we can relate to another's frustration of not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones.

We see her poignantly speaking at length about Najeebs aspirations and goals. We also see her raging against the ignorance of the police and the administration. For Sunil, working with Fatima was challenging. I asked for her forgiveness for taking her back to that state of trauma before I began interviewing her. We have to understand that Ammi has two lives  one where she is out in the streets, fighting, and the other which is marked by personal loss. Every person who has experienced such loss is bound to break down in their personal space, which is an important aspect that people need to see. Her crying in the house or in the street is a part of her fight.

But Najeebs family isnt the only group emotionally involved in this crisis. There is an observable sentiment brewing in JNU as well. In one shot we see Sadaf Musharraf, Najeebs sister, who has been very active in the scene, address a gathering at the university, where she talks about the departmental ignorance towards the case. The camera turns to a student in the crowd having a breakdown. Its a strong and a rather pessimistic portrayal of the situation.

At any moment in time, I could spot tears in some students eyes, Sunil added, "These are students who had not been very close to Najeeb, most did not even know him before this.

The investigative side

Sadafs role in this case is quite radical. In the film, there is a conversation between Sadaf, Fatima and the JNU vice chancellor, which she seems to have covertly shot on her phone as no cameras were allowed in the room. She has also been vocal against the loopholes in the investigation, which she points out at various junctures in the film. Ammi puts Sadaf on the political pedestal. Although in one of the gatherings she claims it is not about a Muslim child and can happen to anyone, it would be an error to overlook the communal hatred generated against Najeeb, as witnessed by many of the students in the hostel.

An important objective undertaken by Sunil while making the film was to present a perspective about Najeebs disappearance in a transparent manner, to understand what may have led to it and the events that followed through.

The film wouldnt have been possible without the immense help of JNU students, said Sunil, while talking about the challenges he faced when shooting on campus. At any random point of time, the guards or any person would want to know what it is we were making and what is was about. The interviews we did with the students describe some vivid details of how the incident took place on the night before Najeeb went missing, and they are of utmost importance.

The film carefully presents the story event-by-event with the help of detailed interviews and archival footage. It creates a graspable timeline, making it easier to understand the course of events. Most narratives by Najeebs fellow hostelers or the other students of JNU speak of hate directed towards the Muslims and other marginalised communities.

The motive

Initially I wanted to get opinions from the other side as well, Sunil said, responding to a very basic criticism of the film: that it doesnt include perspectives of the university administration or the ABVP students. Firstly, there is no way I would have gotten interviews from the administration, when they havent even been responsive to the press. Secondly, I did contact some students from the ABVP, but they did not respond to the query.

The importance of making a film like Ammi is not its obvious rebellious response to the rise of Hindutva in campuses, but rather putting forth an unbiased interpretation of so many external factors.

There is an captivating point made by Geeta Thatra, a PhD scholar from the university, in the end of the film where she talks about time becoming a means to produce a neutral conclusion to the case  the longer it takes, the easier it becomes for the authorities to tell us they could not find him.

From a feud between students to a sociopolitical uproar that is now in its third year of continuity and has been contaminated with so much communal hatred (including bizzare fake news linking Najeeb with ISIS), Najeebs disappearance may not really be as complicated as it seems, and this is a hypothesis Ammi sets out to examine.

What really happened to Najeeb, where he is now are the not the questions Ammi is supposed to respond to. A student disappears from a campus overnight and the ways in which it has been pursued both by the authorities as well as the public is what I would really like the viewers to understand, Sunil said.

Ammi has been selected to be screened at the upcoming Kolkata Peoples Film Festival (KPFF) which starts on 17 January.
The 18 AIADMK MLAs had been disqualified on 18 September, 2018 by Speaker P Dhanapal under the anti-defection law after they met the governor and expressed loss of confidence in Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

Madurai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to Tamil Nadu's chief election commissioner and chief electoral officer asking why elections for 18 constituencies, whose representatives were disqualified by the state Assembly Speaker, had not been held.

A bench of Justices KK Sasidharan and PD Audikesavalu in Madurai issued the notice based on a public interest litigation filed by Damodaran stating that about 27 lakh voters in the 18 constituencies were without representatives and unable to air their grievances to their MLAs.

The 18 AIADMK MLAs had been disqualified on 18 September, 2018 by Speaker P Dhanapal under the anti-defection law after they met the governor and expressed loss of confidence in Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

The disqualification of the MLAs was upheld by the Madras High Court in October, 2018. Justice Sathyanarayanan had said the petitioners had failed to substantiate the allegation of malafide against the Speaker.

The judge had also vacated the interim orders passed by the court granting a stay on floor test and a direction to the Election Commission not to declare the seats of disqualified lawmakers vacant.
It was one of the deadliest MLK weekends in recent memory. The start to the year is also one of the most violent since 2012. There have been 61 nonfatal shootings so far, well up from previous years. There were 39 shot and injured by this time last year, 57 in 2017, and 39 in 2016.
Reddy said a detailed investigation should also be conducted by police on Syed Shuja for levelling 'baseless allegations' against him.

Hyderabad (Telangana): Telangana BJP leader G Kishan Reddy on Wednesday filed a complaint against Congress leader Kapil Sibal and "cyber expert" Syed Shuja for falsely accusing him and his party for tampering EVMs.

In his complaint, Reddy also alleged that Shuja has wrongly accused him of killing 11 people during communal clashes reported in May, 2014 in Kishanbagh of Rajendranagar abutting Hyderabad's Old City.

Speaking to ANI over the phone, Kishan Reddy said: "Along with BJP leaders, I met Telangana DGP Mahender Reddy today to lodge a complaint against Sibal. I have asked police to file a case on him for spreading rumours about me that I was involved in the killing of 11 persons and tampering of EVMs."

"A detailed investigation should also be conducted by police on Shuja for levelling baseless allegations against me. DGP has responded positively on the complaint submitted by us and assured us of taking appropriate action in this regard," he added.

Kishan Reddy on Tuesday refuted all charges and claimed that he would have been the chief minister of the state if he knew how to hack the machines.

"I do not have a criminal record and I demand a high-level inquiry. If I could tamper with EVM, I would have been Telangana chief minister. How did Congress win Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan if EVMs were tampered with? Congress leaders committed murders in Telangana and Andhra, I am not like them," said Reddy.

Commenting further on the allegations of being involved in the murder of at least 11 people, he said, "A man named Syed Shuja made allegations against me in London yesterday, in front of Congress leader Kapil Sibal, that my friends and I killed 11 people in Hyderabad. It was your government then. Your officers were working at that time, how could I kill 11 people over the (EVM) tampering issue?"

Demanding an inquiry into the incident, Reddy said, "I demand a CBI inquiry on this individual named Shuja from central government and Telangana. Is Congress so incompetent that I killed 11 people and nobody got to know? They created a fake scam in the name of Rafale. Now they have come up with a (false) story on EVM tampering. Rahul Gandhi's workers gave Shuja a script and he uttered it out. They are using a third party to level allegations on BJP".

Shuja had claimed on Monday that he could demonstrate how EVMs used in elections could be tampered.

The Election Commission, however, clarified that the EVMs cannot be tampered with, asserting that the machines are manufactured following "rigorous standard operating procedures".
A bench of Justice UU Lalit and Justice Indira Banerjee dismissed Centres special leave petition which challenged the Allahabad High Court order.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the 2017 Allahabad High Court ruling that the quota for SC/ST faculty posts in colleges and universities should be calculated department-wise, and not institution-wise, according to media reports.

The Indian Express reported that a bench of Justice UU Lalit and Justice Indira Banerjee dismissed Centres special leave petition which challenged the Allahabad High Court order.

Economic Times quoted the respondent's lawyer as confirming that the Supreme Court said it was "incorrect to club departments and calculate reserved seats". The report claimed that the move may slash SC/ST category recruitment in universities by 50-60 percent.

Expressing unhappiness over the dismissal of Centres plea, Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said he will take up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "We are not happy with the Supreme Court dismissing the Centres plea, but the government will think over it. The Department of Personnel and Training assured representation of the SC/ST/OBC, which the department-wise recruitment does not assure. Just like the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, we can approach the government for the next move," he was quoted as saying by News18.

On 7 April, 2017 Allahabad High Court had allowed a plea which challenged an advertisement brought out by Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and sought to quash the clauses which assured reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs in teaching faculty.

The court directed the university to carry out the exercise of applying reservation to the posts under advertisement treating the department as a unit for all levels of teachers, instead of treating the university as a unit.

Based on the order, the University Grants Commission (UGC) then issued a directive announcing that the number of reserved faculty posts would be calculated department wise. This prompted the Ministry of Human Resource Development to move the Supreme Court.
Despite the two leaders being on opposite sides of the Syria conflict  Russia provides critical support to the Syrian government, while Turkey has backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces  the two have been working to reach a consensus.

Moscow: Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold Syria talks in Moscow on Wednesday, with Turkey saying they will focus on Ankara's so-called "security zone" in northern Syria.

The two leaders are on opposite sides of the conflict: Russia provides critical support to the Syrian government, while Turkey has backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Despite this, they have worked closely to find a political solution to the seven-year conflict.

Russia and Turkey have agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria following US president Donald Trump's shock announcement on pulling 2,000 American troops out of Syria last month. In a speech on Monday, Erdogan said he would discuss with Putin the creation of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, suggested by Trump.

The US-allied Kurds, who control much of northern Syria, have rejected the idea, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control. Moscow, a long time supporter of Assad, is likely to oppose the plan, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week saying Damascus must take control of the country's north.

Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the US pullout has led to another key step in Assad's Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country. Kurdish forces who were left exposed by Trump's pledge to withdraw US troops have asked the Syrian regime for help to face a threatened Turkish offensive.

The Kremlin hailed the entry by Syrian forces into the key northern city of Manbij for the first time in six years after Kurds opened the gates.

Moscow plans to organise a three-way summit with Turkey and Iran at the beginning of this year as part of the Astana peace process, launched by the three countries in 2017. "So far, no date has been set but after negotiations with Erdogan, we will begin preparations for the trilateral summit," Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters last week.

The last meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani took place in Iran in September 2018 with the fate of the rebel-held Idlib province dominating the agenda.

Ties between Russia and Turkey plunged to their lowest level in years in November 2015 when Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane over Syria. But after a reconciliation deal in 2016, relations have recovered with remarkable speed, with Putin and Erdogan cooperating closely over Syria, Turkey buying Russian-made air defence systems, and Russia building Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
As Priyanka Gandhi enters politics, comparisons with her grandmother Indira Gandhi are bound to intensify, as are obvious signs if she has taken after the political path charted by her mother, Sonia.

Whole essays have been written on the visible similarities between Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her grandmother, Indira Gandhi. The hair is the same, the downward tilt of the face while making a point is the same, the blind affection commanded by supporters is almost the same. But Indira and Priyanka are bound by yet another common thread: they are perhaps two of the least reluctant people in the Nehru-Gandhi family to have taken up leadership roles in the Congress.

Priyanka, on Wednesday, became the fourth woman in the Gandhi-Nehru family to have entered active politics.

Unlike her father and her mother, Priyanka arrives to fulfill her first definitive charge in national politics not riding on a wave of collective grief, but to fill a specific political purpose. A natural on the campaign circuit, Priyanka spoke openly of her desire to take up an active role in the Congress in 2012. "If Rahul asks me to campaign, I will," she said, shedding the customary reluctance that has accompanied many scions' foray into politics.

Her father Rajiv entered as the reluctant leader of a party mourning the loss of Indira. In the taut atmosphere of an assassination followed by widespread riots against Sikhs, Rajiv Gandhi played a role lauded by some and criticised by many.

His own assassination in 1991 was followed by an intensely private Sonia taking up the lead role in the Congress in what was natural progression to a party already appreciative of the value of a dynasty.

With time, the Congress's de facto headquarters evolved into Sonia's house at 10, Janpath, in Delhi. A role at the official headquarters at 24, Akbar Road, would be meaningless if a Congress leader did not have ease of passage at the Janpath address.

In Javier Moro's controversial book The Red Sari, the moment when Sonia had discovered that her life was to change is rendered in great detail and portrays emotion that few have seen her show in public.

The book disappeared from India's bookstores in what is considered an unofficial ban in 2008, only to return in 2015, ostensibly after the Congress went out of power. A section quoted in Outlook goes:

"Priyanka ran to her mothers room and searched feverishly for her inhaler and antihistamines. When she came back into the living room, she saw Sonia sitting on an armchair with her eyes almost turned up, her mouth open and her head thrown back, trying to get air. She thought she was dying."

In her everyday task of taking care of her mother upon discovery that her father was dead, Priyanka was also witnessing historical events: the death of a country's head and the creation of a future political leader of India's grand old party. A video which shows Indira Gandhi picking up a stray item from the floor of their house so that Rahul, a child then, can walk through also show a prime minister clearing the way for the chief of a party she once headed.

For Priyanka, in whose life the domestic has been so acutely national, the value of optics has never been lost. She has been seen at the most significant moments: in 1998 with her mother at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu where her father was killed, at the Congress's mainstay in Amethi and Raebareli before every national election and also, in 2008, meeting her father's killer in jail,

"It was a very personal visit and completely on my own individual initiative," she had told PTI about her meeting with Nalini Sriharan in Vellore, asking the media to respect her privacy, like her mother had so many times before.

Perhaps because she has seen her mother navigate the waters of being Italian in a multi-cultural India with a single stoic expression through entire decades, but Priyanka has not been one to follow suit.

An easy affability has always accompanied Priyanka's demeanor, during campaigns with her brother and on stage with her mother. Her conversational attitude while addressing crowds does not allow lengthy comparisons with her mother, who likes her words crisp and her delivery impersonal.

In a campaign speech at Amethi, a younger Priyanka can be seen steadfast in her retort. "This is the workplace of Indira ji. This is our pride. She wasn't just my grandmother but the lady who brought change to India, the lady who wept for India, for all of you. How can you let yourself doubt her?" she asked, with a scowl on her face. Men twice her age stood chastised in the crowd.

A 1978 interview with British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby shows Indira Gandhi at her defiant best as she is asked successive questions on her motives behind calling for the 1975 Emergency. Unflinching, and with words her granddaughter has clearly resonated above, she says, "The people have seen that I brought development. They have seen that I am sympathetic to them. Less than a month after I was defeated in the elections (in 1977), the people were back to me."

Indira says in the interview that she has no intention of being the prime minister ever again. Priyanka, in 2009, said in an interview to NDTV that she was certain she would not enter politics. Interestingly, both reneged on their statements. Indira went on to become prime minister in 1980. And on Wednesday, Priyanka was given charge of Uttar Pradesh East, daring the two big guns of the BJP  Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath.
A fresh row is likely to erupt in the controversy surrounding the Central Bureau of Investigation, as a new petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, questioning the way Alok Verma was sacked as the agency's director. Reports said the plea questions the Selection Committee's order as well as Justice AK Sikri's presence at the panel meeting at which Verma's future in the CBI was decided, News18 reported.

A fresh row is likely to erupt in the controversy surrounding the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as a new petition was filed in the Supreme Court Wednesday questioning the way Alok Verma was sacked as the agency's director. Reports said the plea questions the Selection Committee's order as well as Justice AK Sikri's presence at the panel meeting at which Verma's future in the CBI was decided, News18 reported.

The petition filed by advocate ML Sharma claimed there were procedural violations in Verma's removal from the top CBI post. It also raises the issue of conflict of interest of Sikri  the most senior judge at the Supreme Court after Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi  being on the panel. "Justice AK Sikri should not have sat at the meeting after giving consent to the government for a post-retirement job," the plea said.

This was in reference to Sikri consenting to an offer by the Centre to be nominated to the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT). The government is believed to have offered Sikri the post-retirement job a month before he was appointed to the Selection Committee to decide Verma's fate as the CBI director. Sikri withdrew his consent after a furore over his appointment to the CSAT  a body that acts as the final arbiter of disputes between the 53 Commonwealth countries  after his retirement on 6 March. Furthermore, Sharma filed another petition in the Supreme Court challenging former CBI special director Rakesh Asthana's appointment to the Bureau Of Civil Aviation Security when an FIR levying corruption charges against him is still pending.

The Delhi High Court turned down Asthana's plea to quash this FIR against him. Sharma's plea demands Asthana be suspended till the corruption investigation against him is completed.

Advocate ML Sharma files a petition in the Supreme Court challenging appointment of Rakesh Asthana as Director General,Bureau Of Civil Aviation Security when an FIR is pending against him. Delhi High Court recently refused to quash the FIR. Read the appointment order  pic.twitter.com/Mq7z6oaqea  The Leaflet (@TheLeaflet_in) January 23, 2019

These developments come a day after the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing a plea challenging M Nageswara Rao's appointment as interim CBI director. Gogoi recused himself from the case as he is participating in the meeting of the Selection Committee, which is expected to announce the next CBI chief Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads the panel, which also comprises Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

The post of the CBI director has been vacant since Verma was removed as the CBI director and appointed the director general of fire services at the controversial meeting of the Selection Committee on 10 January, at which Kharge dissented. This was two days after the Supreme Court reinstated Verma to the post.

After his removal from the post, Verma said the allegations against him were "false, unsubstantiated and frivolous". "It (the CBI) must function without external influences. I tried to uphold the integrity of the institution while attempts were being made to destroy it. The same can be seen from the orders of the central government and the CVC dated 23 October, 2018, which were without jurisdiction and were set aside," he had said.
The Supreme Court has granted bail to four convicts  Umeshbhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Harshad and Prakashbhai Rathod  in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riots case.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted bail to four convicts in the Naroda Patiya massacre case in Gujarat, in which 97 people were killed by a mob during the 2002 riots in the state. "The conviction order is debatable," the bench said.

A bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar Tuesday granted bail to the four convicts  Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Padmendrasinh Jaswantsinh Rajput and Harshad alias Mungda Jila Govind Chhara Parmar.

The Gujarat High Court had on 20 April last year upheld the conviction of 12 of the 29 accused who were pronounced guilty on various charges by the trial court and had acquitted 17 others, including former BJP minister Maya Kodnani.

The rioting had taken place on 28 February, 2002, in the Naroda Patiaya area of Ahmedabad where a mob had killed 97 people, most of them from a minority community.

The massacre had taken place a day after the torching of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, which had triggered state-wide riots.
Parameshwara, in his tweet, noted that while Modi was busy attending 'celebrity weddings' and meeting movie stars, the prime minister did not have the time to attend the 'funeral of NaDedaDuva devaru'.

While ministers and politicians from across the spectrum have been demanding Bharat Ratna for Siddaganga Mutt seer Shivakumara Swami, Karnataka deputy chief minister G Parameshwara escalated the matter on Wednesday by slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not attending the seer's funeral.

Parameshwara, in his tweet, noted that while Modi was busy attending "celebrity weddings" (Read: Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas' wedding) and meeting movie stars (Read: the Instagram post of the prime minister with the leading actors, producers and directors from the Hindi film industry), the prime minister did not have the time to attend the "funeral of NaDedaDuva devaru".

View this post on Instagram Congratulations @priyankachopra and @nickjonas. Wishing you a happy married life. A post shared by Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) on Dec 5, 2018 at 1:15am PST

Taunting the recent Philip Kotler Award which was given to Modi by the World Marketing Summit (WMS), Parameshwara said that the prime minister 'truly deserves' the Kotler award for not acting on the "repeated requests" for Bharat Ratna for the 111-year-old seer. The Kotler Award garnered bad press for itself after it emerged that the WMS Group has corporate ties with sponsors including public sector heavyweight, GAIL India, and partners like Baba Ramdevs Patanjali group, and Republic TV (co-owned by BJP MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar), among others. Its origins and nature, shrouded in mystery and confidentiality, quickly launched a row over its legitimacy.

Speaking to CNN-News18, Parameshwara said that this was not an attempt to politicise the seer's death. "I have only expressed my feeling. I am not politicising the death of Swamiji. All I am saying is that Narendra Modi (as the Prime Minister) should have come for the funeral. It would show the country how well Swamiji was respected. It would have raised the stature of PMO."

Warring leaders united after the seer's death on Monday demanding Bharat Ratna for him. Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah, BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, were among the many politicians who vociferously asked the Centre to consider the seer for Bharat Ratna. The Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award in the country.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, said, "I request the government of India to give him Bharat Ratna. He is worthy of getting the title. Such a great man from Karnataka, it is worth to bestow the Bharat Ratna on him." Kumaraswamy said he would write to the prime minister, demanding the same. "I will write and also personally meet Modi and demand that Bharat Ratna be conferred on Shree Shivakumara Swamiji." This is not first time leaders have urged the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on Shivakumara Swami. In 2008, while glowing tributes were paid to the seer to mark his centenary year the then chief minister Yeddyurappa had sought Bharat Ratna for the Siddaganga seer.
The arrests followed searches in Amrut Nagar, Kausa, Moti Baug and Almas Colony areas in Thane's Mumbra township and in Aurangabad's Kaisar Colony, Rahat Colony and Damdi Mahal areas on Monday late night and Tuesday early morning.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested nine people from Thane and Aurangabad for their alleged links with banned terror outfit Islamic State, police said on Wednesday.

The nine terror suspects, all part of a group, were nabbed by ATS teams over the last two days, an ATS official said. The ATS, acting on specific inputs, kept a watch on the nine men for several weeks and gathered relevant information about them, he said. They were arrested when it came to light that they were likely to "swing into action", the official said.

The arrests followed searches in Amrut Nagar, Kausa, Moti Baug and Almas Colony areas in Thane's Mumbra township and in Aurangabad's Kaisar Colony, Rahat Colony and Damdi Mahal areas on Monday late night and Tuesday early morning.

During the searches, the ATS sleuths seized certain chemicals, acid bottles, sharp knives, mobile phones, hard disks and some SIM cards from the group, the official said.

The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code's Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bombay Police Act, the official said
In an affidavit filed before a bench of justices UU Lalit and Indira Banerjee, the Kerala government said the petition needs to be dismissed with costs as it is devoid of merit.

New Delhi: Kerala on Wednesday opposed the plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, seeking to make two Devaswom boards  Travancore and Cochin  independent of government control. In an affidavit filed before a bench of justices UU Lalit and Indira Banerjee, the state government said the petition needs to be dismissed with costs as it is devoid of merit.

"There is no arbitrariness in the process of nominations and election to the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards and the same is done in good faith adhering to the principles and letter and spirit laid out in the Act that has been enacted as per the covenant signed by the Maharaja of Travancore and Cochin with the representative of Indian Union and after weighing scrupulously all the options by the legislatures," the affidavit said.

On 12 October, the apex court had sought response of the Kerala government and two Devaswom boards on the plea by Swamy. Swamy said that he was aggrieved by the Kerala High Court judgment refusing to strike down various sections of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950. He had said that these sections of the Act were in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution and also arbitrary.

In his plea, Swamy said that before the high court it was alleged arbitrariness in the process of nominations and elections of the members to the Travancore Devaswom Board and the Cochin Devaswom Board. "The two Devaswom Boards administer most of the temples situated in the erstwhile Travancore - Cochin part of the present State of Kerala that includes Kollam, Trivandrum, Ernakulam, Idukki and Thrissur Districts in Kerala and part of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu," he said in his plea.

Swamy said that petitioner TG Mohan Das had submitted before the high court that the method of nomination and appointment of the members to the two Devaswom boards are undemocratic and are in derogation of the fundamental religious and administrative rights of the devotees to be part of such process.

Swamy's plea said that the high court erred in rejecting the contention that when a temple is taken over by the state government on the allegation of mismanagement, is it not incumbent on the government to return the management of the temple to its original owners on the evil being remedied. He had said that the entire Act including the provisions ought to have been struck down as the statute takes over the temples for an indefinite period.
To finalise the modalities of the Kartarpur Corridor, the MEA said it has proposed two sets of dates for the visit by the Pakistani delegation in Delhi so that the Indian pilgrims can visit the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor at the 'earliest'.

New Delhi: India on Tuesday shared with Pakistan the coordinates of the crossing point of the proposed Kartarpur Corridor, which will link Baba Nanak village in Punjab to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Narowal in Pakistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs said India has also proposed to Islamabad two set of dates, 26 February and 7 March, for the visit of a Pakistani delegation to Delhi to discuss and finalise the modalities of the corridor.

Pakistan on Monday said it had shared a draft agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor with India and invited New Delhi to urgently send a delegation to Islamabad to negotiate and finalise the proposal.

Both sides have yet to finalise the modalities of travel of the Indian pilgrims to the gurdwara.

The MEA said it has proposed two sets of dates for the visit by the Pakistani delegation in Delhi so that the Indian pilgrims can visit the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor at the "earliest".

"Pursuant to the decision made by the government of India on 22 November, 2018, to expeditiously realise the long-pending proposal to establish the Kartarpur Corridor, India has today shared the coordinates of the zero point (crossing point) of the corridor along the International Border with Pakistan," the MEA said.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, on 26 November last year, laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur Corridor in Gurdaspur district.

Two days later, on 28 November, Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor at Narowal, 125 kilometres from Lahore.

The decision to build the corridor  from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the International Border  was made by the Union Cabinet on 22 November.

The corridor was a long-pending demand of the Sikh community. Pakistan has committed to open the corridor in November on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
A preliminary review has indicated the officer who responded to the earlier reports went in error to the 1500 block of Stonewood Road instead of the 1600 block, and police are trying to determine the reason, Jablow said. But the department is also investigating whether the officer ever got out of his vehicle to look for potential victims, shell casings or other evidence of a shooting once he arrived in the area  as is required when responding to reported gunfire, Jablow said.
The timing of Priyanka Gandhi's political entry is significant. Unlike Rajiv or Sonia who had to step in after a family tragedy  for Rahul and Priyanka it was a time of their own or the family's choice.

Priyanka's entry to Congress shows party not embarrassed of being dynastic, reaffirms value of Gandhi brand

The timing of Priyanka Gandhi's political entry is significant. Unlike Rajiv or Sonia who had to step in after a family tragedy, in the case of Rahul and Priyanka it was a time of their own or the family's choice. Rahul made several false starts. But his elevation to party president was well choreographed and carefully synchronised with the Gujarat Assembly election. However, for Priyanka, Uttar Pradesh is both a challenge and opportunity. If Congress' tally goes up significantly (anything over two seats would be an improvement) the party will, of course, hail her. But if she fares poorly, she will try to take a share of credit from Mayawati and Akhilesh.

Pattern emerges across hate crimes in UP as 'outsiders' communalise disputes, police act against Muslims

Uttar Pradesh has reported the largest number of hate crimes since 2009, as per Hate Crime Watch, a database of religious identity-based hate crimes across India from 2009 to 2018. In our reporting from the site of many of these crimes, witnesses and victims veered towards a consensus: there is a pattern to these incidents, which is nearly formulaic in its reiteration. In Bulandshahrs Soi village, where an elderly Muslim man was lynched, allegedly by a mob of Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) activists, locals said the activists intervened in a dispute between two families over the elopement of an interfaith couple.

Budget 2019: Govt should impose levy on super rich to fund welfare schemes

What we have is a regressive regime: Close to 50 percent tax on petroleum products results in the poor paying tax through their noses and subsidising the rich! The interim budget 2019 by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley can correct this skew with some path-breaking reforms that might appear to be a just reversal of past policies. Today, a company pays DDT of 15 percent plus on dividend and the shareholders are completely exempt from tax, except they have to pay a 10 percent tax on dividend if it exceeds Rs 10 lakh in aggregate. This is not at all satisfactory.

India vs New Zealand: Spin twins underline their wicket-taking credentials in mid overs, deliver victory

It was Yuzvendra Chahal who started the rot. Ross Taylor survived the early onslaught and was looking to attack the leg-spinner. Chahal sensed the moment perfectly. The leggie gave the ball more air and slowed it up a touch. Looking to drive, Taylor's hands pushed in front of his body and it resulted in a simple return catch. Tom Latham fell in a similar manner as New Zealand slumped to 76-4. Chahal had done his job. He had built up the pressure and taken wickets.

Sundance Film Festival 2019: From Velvet Buzzsaw to Photograph, a look at the films set to premiere

The Sundance Institute has unveiled a particularly diverse lineup of films this year. But it is (sadly) physically impossible  unless you can somehow borrow Hermione's Time-Turner  to watch all 112 feature-length films, experimental short films, well-timed documentaries and independently produced TV series. So, we have tried to narrow down the must-see list to the starry and buzzy films: and those that get lost in the hype in such an intimidating lineup.
The political slugfest in the aftermath of the EVM demonstration by Syed Shuja in London has led to the Congress and the BJP forgetting the Rafale and the quota row and instead subscribing to a new issue.

The electronic voting machine (EVM) hacking demonstration took place in London on Monday. By Tuesday, as news emerged that the claims made therein were largely unsubstantiated and that the hackathon was attended by Congress leader Kapil Sibal, a row sparked so brilliant in India that by Wednesday it had effectively replaced the buzzwords of "quota" and "Rafale" as the new controversy in town.

A US-based self-proclaimed cyber expert from India, Syed Shuja, claimed that 2014 Lok Sabha polls were "rigged" and that EVMs can be hacked. Saying that the allegations made by Shuja are "violative of the Indian Penal Code, particularly under section 505(1)(b)", the Election Commission of India requested the police to lodge an FIR and investigate the matter promptly, late on Tuesday.

But even before that, the Congress and other Opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati had demanded that the claims made by Shuja be looked into.

The BJP, in reply, organised a full-fledged onslaught on the Congress, arranging for a press conference in which Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged that not only was Shuja himself a dubious person, but Ashish Ray, the head of the Indian Journalists Association was a dedicated Congressman, in cahoots with Rahul Gandhi and an active contributor to the party mouthpiece National Herald.

Prasad also lashed out at Kapil Sibal, whose presence at the back of the hall seems to have provided the BJP the ammunition it needed to pin the blame of the claims on the Congress. "What was Sibal doing there? In what capacity was he present? My charge is that he was there to monitor the event for the Congress. It was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy designed to defame Indian democracy and the Election Commission," Prasad, who was quoted by India Today, said.

The mystery and the claims surrounding the London event run deep. Through the day, as questions on who Shuja was, why he connected through Skype, why he did not hack into an EVM in an event dedicated to do just that and why he waited till 2019 to reveal grave doubts on the 2014 polls did the rounds, BJP and Congress leaders sparred on the issue. Shuja had also claimed that the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh and the death of BJP leader Gopinath Munde in a car accident were also related to the EVM tampering. Both were as shocking as the drama which unfolded. A Twitter hashtag emerged. The prime time had found a new Rafale.

Sibal, in his part, also demanded a probe into Shuja's claims and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said he had gone to the event in his personal capacity. Congress leader Anand Sharma too repeated Singhvi's assertion. Sibal also slammed Prasad for making very "childish statements as the issue pertained to free and fair elections and the survival of democracy", reported PTI.

Suspicion over EVMs is not new. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal is open in his doubts over their fairness and even in the grand Opposition rally in Kolkata on 19 January, the National Congress leader Farooq Abdullah had likened the EVM to a "chor machine", reported Economic Times. In 2009, senior BJP leader LK Advani, who was the Leader of Opposition at that time, had demanded the reintroduction of ballot papers for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and three other states, reported India Today.

However, the Congress and BJP who had until now traded heavy barbs on the Rafale issue, seem to have found in it new incentive to sharpen their poll time rhetoric.

As more BJP states announce the 10 percent quota for the economically weaker sections of the upper castes, the Congress' claim that the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill is an "election gimmick" of the ruling party has also begun to weaken. The Congress's question to the government's move to provide for quota in private higher educational institutions in the same Bill is, has also fallen silent.

Meanwhile, the potboiler of a row over the Indian government's acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter jets from the French Dassault group has not seen a new development since Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speculated three days ago on whether the parties were becoming pawns in corporate rivalry and whether the procurement of 36 fighter jets was being "sabotaged".
Today's top stories: Political slugfest over EVM hacking is refusing to die down with the BJP claiming that Congress is conspiring against it; Narendra Modi will inaugurate Subhash Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort today.

EVM hacking claim a Congress-sponsored conspiracy to defame Indian democracy: BJP

Political slugfest over EVM rigging and hacking is refusing to die down as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dubbed allegations of rigging in the 2014 parliamentary election, made at a London press conference, a "Congress-sponsored conspiracy" designed to "defame" Indian democracy and the Election Commission.

A day after a self-proclaimed cyber expert alleged at the press event that the BJP had won election by hacking into Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the ruling party launched a stinging attack on the Congress and said it has already started looking for an "alibi" for its imminent loss in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters it was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy and asked if opposition parties wanted to revert to the use of ballot papers in elections, alleging that the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had used them to rig local polls in the state last year as the government did not use EVMs. "This is a part of a well thought-out conspiracy, this is Congress's Cambridge Analytica part-2," Prasad said.

He also expressed his party's "deep pain" at the allegation in the London event that Union minister Gopinath Munde was "murdered" because he was aware of the 2014 poll "rigging" and was set to disclose it. He dismissed it as rubbish.

Narendra Modi to inaugurate Subhash Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Subhash Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort on Wednesday to mark the leader's 122nd birth anniversary. Modi will also visit the Yaad-e-Jallian Museum, (museum on the Jallianwala Bagh and World War I) and the Museum on 1857- India's first war of Independence and Drishyakala-Museum on Indian Art at the same venue, a statement from his office said. The museum on Bose and the Indian National Army showcases various artefacts related to Subhash Chandra Bose and INA. The artefacts include wooden chair and sword used by the leader, medals, badges, uniforms and other artefacts related to the INA.

Johnny Depp, John Travolta, President Donald Trump nominated for 2019 Razzie Awards

Johnny Depp, John Travolta, and President Donald Trump are among the personalities to be nominated for the 2019 Razzie Awards, reports Screen Rant. The Razzies give away such dubious honours as Worst Actor, Worst Director, Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, among others. Awards in previous editions have included 'recognition' for Worst Original Song, Worst Visual Effects, and Worst Screen Ensemble. Trump's surprise nomination is for his "appearances" in the documentary films Fahrenheit 11/9 and Death of a Nation.

New Zealand vs India, 1st ODI

Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson opts to bat in the opening ODI at Napier. India draft both leg-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in their playing XI, while leaving out Dinesh Karthik. For the home side, left-arm spin bowler Mitchell Santner makes a return, batsman Tom Latham and fast bowler Doug Bracewell included in the XI too.

Follow LIVE updates here.

Pakistan, UAE sign $3 billion bailout package

Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday signed a $3 billion bailout package,eboost the cash-strapped country's dwindling dollar reserves.

The UAE in December 2018 had announced to provide $3 billion financial assistance to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia made a similar commitment to help Islamabad successfully overcome international payment crisis and to avoid a stringent International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.

Tuesday's agreement was signed between State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) chief Tariq Bajwa and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) Director General Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi. "UAE has formalized US$3bn deposit in the State Bank of Pakistan. DG ADFD & the Governor SBP inked the agreement at #ADFD Headquarters in Abu Dhabi," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted.

Fuel prices rise

Petrol prices in Delhi on Wednesday morning were recorded at Rs 71.27 per litre, which is an increase of Rs 0.13, and diesel prices at Rs 65.90 per litre, which is an increase of Rs 0.19. Petrol and diesel prices in Mumbai were recorded at Rs. 76.90 and Rs 69.01 per litre respectively, which is an increase of Rs 0.13 and Rs 0.2) respectively.

31 Rohingyas stranded on India-Bangladesh border handed over to Tripura police

The Border Security Force (BSF) handed over the 31 Rohingya Muslims, who were stranded on the India-Bangladesh border for four days, to Tripura Police, even as 30 more community members were apprehended in Assam, officials said.

The 31 Rohingyas, who reportedly came from Jammu and Kashmir, had been stuck in no man's land, beyond the barbed wire fence along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura since 18 January. The situation had led to a blame game between the BSF and its counterpart  Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB)  with the two sides accusing each other of pushing them into their territories.

The decision to hand over the Rohingyas to the Tripura Police was taken after the BSF and the BGB failed to reach a decision during talks on the issue. The 31 Rohingyas underwent a medical check-up and were later produced before a court in West Tripura district which sent them to 14-day judicial custody, the officials said.

President Kovind confers Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar to 26 children

President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar  the revamped award scheme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development  to 26 children, two individuals and three institutions. The award was conferred to them at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Twenty-six children were awarded the Bal Shakti Puraskar (earlier known as National Child Award) under various fields like Innovation, Social Service, Scholastic, Sports, Art and Culture and Bravery.

The bravery award has been the latest addition to the scheme. Each award carries a medal, a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000, book vouchers worth Rs. 10,000, a certificate and a citation. These children will participate in the Republic Day parade on 26 January this year.

Two individuals and three institutions were awarded the of Bal Kalyan Puraskar (earlier known as National Child Welfare Award). The award for individual consists of a cash prize of Rs one lakh, a medal, a citation and a certificate to each awardee. The award for institution consists of a prize of Rs. 5,00,000 each and a medal, a citation and a certificate.

Two-day Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet starts today

The second edition of the Tamil Nadu government's two-day Global Investors Meet, aimed at showcasing the state's potential business opportunities and wooing investment, will begin in Chennai today.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to inaugurate the event which is the first major event for the AIADMK government after the demise of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, under whose stewardship the maiden edition was held.

The objective of the event is to position Tamil Nadu as the investor's choice besides showcasing its potential business opportunities. Over 250 companies from 10 countries would be taking part in the event at the Chennai Trade Centre.

2019 Tata Harrier SUV to launch in India today

The highly-awaited launch of the Tata Harrier is finally taking place and there are a number of reasons why a lot of people are excited. The Harrier is the most premium SUV from Tata Motors stable yet and is also the company's first product to be co-developed with Land Rover. Some of the anticipation for it is also courtesy the innovations, technology and features it comes equipped with, information about which has been fed to us via a steady drip-feed over the past few months.
Naushad Muhammed, a dairy worker, was thrashed by alleged cow vigilantes on the suspicion that he was transporting cows for slaughter, but his employer said he was transporting buffaloes for trade.

Rohtak: It was a routine day for 24-year-old Naushad Muhammad on 19 January. He was heading to sell buffaloes when he was stopped en route allegedly by a cow vigilante.

"It was around 8 pm. We had reached Rohtak's Bhalout village when I was waylaid by one Jashpal Gumana, who had chased me his scooter," Naushad said, adding that Gumana overpowered him as soon as he got off the pick-up jeep he was in and shouted "cow smuggler" to attract the attention of nearby villagers.

Soon after, several youths arrived with sticks, tied him to a pole, stripped him and beat him mercilessly.

"Before I could understand what was going on, I was bleeding from the nose, ear, legs and back. One of the cow activists tortured me by burning a beedi on my skin and branding me a 'cow smuggler'," he said.

Naushad said policemen arrived at the site after he was beaten for two hours and took him to the police station.

"I was handcuffed and made to sit on the floor. I was tied to a bed with a chain while I was in pain. I kept pleading with the police to take me to a doctor," he said.

Naushad's ordeal ended only after civil society members based in Rohtak heard of the assault. They reached the police station the next day and the questioned the officers for the grave injustice meted out to Naushad.

Advocate Rajkumari Dahiya said Naushad was in a half-conscious state when they reached the police station, and the accused, Gumana, was sitting on a chair, having tea with the police.

The activists then took Naushad to a government hospital for treatment, and the police finally registered his complaint, she added.

Naushad worked at a dairy for a decade

Sunil Kumar, who runs a dairy at Charkhi Dadri village in Haryana, said Naushad had worked for him for the part 10 years.

"I had hired him to sell buffaloes at a cattle fair. We run our livelihood through this trade. On 19 January, too, he was ferrying a buffalo and two calves, not cows, as the cow vigilante groups alleged," Sunil said.

He further pointed out that there is video footage from when Naushad's vehicle got scanned at the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border by the police to corroborate that he was ferrying buffaloes in his jeep, not cows.

Station House Officer Inspector Manjeet Mor said the police had registered a case against Gumana and other villagers for attacking Naushad. Based on his complaint, the police lodged a case under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

But the police have also booked Naushad and his two aides under Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and under the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, on Gumana's complaint, Mor said.

Superintendent of Police of Rohtak Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said a Special Investigation Team has been formed under Assistant Superintendent of Police Masood Ahmad to look into the matter and get to the bottom of the case.

Gumana's version of events

The man accused of provoking the assault on Naushad claimed he had tried to intervene when local youths began to thrash Naushad, but he could not stop them.

"I am a devout cow worshipper and regularly make donations at cow shelters anonymously. On 19 January, I was on my way home around 8 pm when I heard cows bellowing from Naushad's jeep. I then chased his vehicle and stopped it. When I saw cows in his jeep and raised an alarm, some local youths started beating him with helmets and bats indiscriminately. I tried to intervene but to no avail. The youths tortured him, and he was saved only after local police took him to the police station in their vehicle, Gumama claimed.

Gumama added that he was not affiliated with any cow vigilante group active in town, but was only a cow worshipper. My only fault was trying to save cows from being slaughtered, he said.

Previous incidents

In August 2018, villagers had thrashed one Yameen Khokkhar of Rohtak's Titoli village on the suspicion that he had slaughtered a calf on Bakr-Eid. Given the threat to his life, he was forced to flee the village with his family. In this case, too, the police had registered a case against the villagers who had thrashed him and Yameen.

In a case of mob lynching, on 2 August, 2018, a man was beaten to death in Haryana's Palwal district on the suspicion of cattle theft.

In July 2018, an agitated mob allegedly lynched 28-year-old Akhbar Khan in Rajasthan on suspicion of cow smuggling.

Political reactions

Senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Inderjit Singh said self-styled "gaurakshaks" were "openly taking law into their hands with the patronage of the ruling BJP", and that this was why the administration was not taking action against vigilante groups. "As a result, cattle trade, a crucial livelihood of farmers, is on the verge of collapse as the traders feared these antisocial elements," he said.

Haryana AAP convener Naveen Jaihind said it was not possible for cow vigilante groups to take law into their hands without support from their political bosses. "It is sad that cattle traders are being harassed at the behest of BJP government leaders," he added.

Congress leader and former home minister Subhash Batra condemned the attack on Naushad and said it had come to this day, when people are taking law into their hands, because of divisive politics. "The police was expected to act as per the rule book, but the chilling details narrated by Naushad points towards a harsh reality, he added.
The BJP spokespersons should have not reacted. Sometimes, silence is an effective weapon.

The BJP ought to scoff at the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh at its own peril. It is all very well to call it an admission of failure on the part of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, dub it a "desperate move" or giggle like schoolgirls and pooh-pooh her presence on the political scene as insignificant, but the BJP's reactions give off a certain fear.

It is all in the optics. At the very outset, the BJP spokespersons should not have reacted. Sometimes, silence is an effective weapon. The more you talk out of line, the more the risk of propelling exactly what you are denying. For one, Rahul is no longer the "political duffer" he was in 2017. He has a following and is displaying maturity. Second, the despair of Rahul being a generally accepted figurehead pretty much evaporated with three victories in state elections, all of which occurred in what should have been a pretty easy cakewalk for champions of Hindutva in the Hindi heartland. But that didn't happen.

For another, Rahul is not being challenged by some outsider. This is his sister, not some hostile challenger. So, it is all in the family and, if anything, the Congress has pulled out its secret weapon at an appropriate juncture. With the BJP now unable to control the spillover from its shrill agenda and the latest cow slaughter victim in Rohtak causing outrage, the difference in priorities is stark. One is still hovering like a vulture over the Indian home and hearth and spreading fear while the other is marshaling its forces.

Priyanka is an enigma. Her uncanny, almost mesmerising likeness to Indira Gandhi creates a visual affirmation in the masses that she is a person who will provide stability and control. Even the flinty accusations against her husband Robert Vadra tend to fade and be blunted and much as the BJP can hope that his reputation will drag her down, dont bet on it. It is the imagery that wins and the snide reaction the return of the dynasty might have received even as late as 2017 will now be seen in enough circles as a strategic move to strengthen the family and, through it, the Congress and provide a consolidated front.

Intellectually, it is depressing that one family can make a comeback again and again. But in this case, much of the impetus has been given by the BJPs inability to bypass the Gandhis and, instead, acknowledge them at every step, thereby adding to their credibility and their political longevity.

Priyanka has always been seen as the mystery woman who eschewed politics for being a private citizen. Even if one were to assume that the reluctant debutante has ridden to the rescue of her brother and mother from the darkness of political oblivion, all it does is indicate she is a power to reckon with. And what's wrong in helping your family if standing by them exerts a positive influence? From the public point of view, her arrival on the scene is a positive.

The BJP would do well to shore itself up and not belittle the wind that she brings to the Congress sails. The more it jeers the appointment, the more it underscores its own nervousness. Besides, attacking this unknown entity who has largely maintained her distance and her dignity from the political muckraking will smack of bad manners if the BJP frontline takes that route. And it will backfire.
Total income of Vijaya Bank also rose to Rs 4,106.42 crore during the period, compared with Rs 3,450.81 crore a year ago, Vijaya Bank said in a regulatory filing.

New Delhi: State-owned Vijaya Bank on Wednesday reported a 80.2 percent jump in its net profit to Rs 143.38 crore for the December 2018 quarter.

The public sector lender had posted a net profit of Rs 79.56 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

The bank's total income also rose to Rs 4,106.42 crore during the period, compared with Rs 3,450.81 crore a year ago, Vijaya Bank said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined marginally to 6.14 percent, against 6.17 percent in the same quarter of last fiscal.

However, net NPAs rose to 4.08 percent during October-December 2018, compared with 3.99 percent in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, the provision for bad loans nearly doubled to Rs 582.22 crore from Rs 333.26 crore a year ago.

This is the second last quarterly result of the bank ahead of its amalgamation with Bank of Baroda beginning April 1,2019.

The bank's shares on Wednesday fell by 85 paise, or 1.87 percent, to close at Rs 44.50 apiece on the BSE.

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Around 6.5 billion rupees ($91 million) have already been infused into Shapoorji Pallonji Group

Following the rating downgrade of at least five companies in Shapoorji Pallonji Group last year, chairman of the firm Pallonji Mistry is now reportedly trying to offload some of the assets and pay down debt, a media report said.

We are in the process of divesting more real estate assets and raising funds. We are hopeful about restoring the ratings, a group spokesman was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

Around Rs 650 crore ($91 million) has already been infused into the company and the firm has divested certain assets including Chennai IT park, the news agency added, citing the spokesman.

In November last year, citing muted sales and weak performance of the group's real estate business, rating agency ICRA had downgraded long-term ratings assigned to diversified firm Shapoorji Pallonji's Rs 18,500-crore fund-based and non-fund based bank facilities.

The agency had downgraded the rating assigned to the Rs 18,500-crore fund-based and non-fund based bank facilities to AA from AA+ and had reaffirmed the short-term rating at A1+. It had also reaffirmed the short-term rating of A1+ on the Rs 2,500 crore commercial paper (CP) programme.

"The rating has been downgraded on account of muted sales and continued cost pressure, which has led to a weak performance of the group's real estate portfolio and slower-than-anticipated progress on asset monetisation," ICRA had said.

This, along with the funding support provided to the group and subsidiary companies, primarily real estate SPVs, has resulted in an increase in the standalone borrowing levels, contrary to the agency's expectations of a reduction.

With a healthy order book of over Rs 1 lakh crore, the group had said it was eyeing Rs 45,000 crore of revenues this fiscal.

The group, which has grown at a CAGR of 22 percent over the past five years, is also planning to enter new geographies and expects to grow at 20-22 percent over the next two years.

With input from PTI

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SBI, which is the largest creditor having total exposure of Rs 15,431.44 crore in Essar Steel, invited EoI from banks, asset reconstruction firms, and financial institutions for the proposed sale of its debt.

New Delhi: State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to sell its loans in Essar Steel as it could see a spurt in provisioning for bad loans and erosion in capital base if the steel maker's insolvency process gets delayed further, sources said.

The SBI's decision, however, will not stall the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process as the new entity will join the committee of creditors, they clarified.

SBI, which is the largest creditor having total exposure of Rs 15,431.44 crore in Essar Steel, has invited expression of interest (EoI) from banks, asset reconstruction companies, and financial institutions for the proposed sale of its debt.

The lender has put the reserve price for the recovery of bad loans from Essar Steel India at Rs 9,587.64 crore, according to the EoI.

Although the matter is before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Ahmedabad bench, the delay in the process of resolution was the main reason for SBI opting for sale of its debt outside the IBC process.

The delay in resolution will hurt the balance sheet of the SBI, sources said, adding if the case is not settled during this quarter the bank will witness erosion in capital base as it will have to fully provide for, sources said.

In September last year, SBI had withdrawn the process of sale of debt of Essar Steel to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) after NCLAT asked lenders of the debt-ridden firm to consider the second round bid of Numetal and mining baron Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta.

Essar Steel, which runs a 10-million-tonne steel mill in Gujarat, owes more than Rs 49,000 crore to over two dozen banks led by SBI and has been under bankruptcy proceedings. As per the resolution plan submitted by ArcelorMittal, Rs 42,000 crore will be paid to the secured lenders, while an additional Rs 8,000 crore will be pumped into the company as working capital.

ArcelorMittal's offer to take over the bankrupt Essar Steel was accepted by the committee of creditors (CoC). Essar Steel Asia Holding, the holding company of Essar Steel that was controlled by the Ruias, had also proposed to the CoC, led by SBI, to pay an upfront Rs 54,389 crore to retake the management of Essar Steel.

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By Collin Eaton HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped about 2 percent on Tuesday over concerns the world's stumbling economy could pinch fuel demand as U.S.

By Collin Eaton

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped about 2 percent on Tuesday over concerns the world's stumbling economy could pinch fuel demand as U.S. shale fields surge and cuts by Russia come in below expectations.

Gloomy new global growth forecasts by the International Monetary Fund and signs of a slowdown spreading from China weighed on crude prices as traders worried about supplies rising in 2019 despite lower prices.

The data "reawakened" concerns about demand, which "come at a time when we have more than enough supply," said Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "The question is, are these fears going to gain even greater importance in the market?"

Brent oil futures settled down $1.24, or 2 percent, at $61.50 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $1.23, or 1.9 percent, to $52.57.

Market concerns over the depth of production cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, helped drive prices lower, analysts said.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak will not fly to Switzerland to attend the Davos World Economic Forum due to changes in his schedule, an Energy Ministry spokeswoman said.

Novak previously said he would meet his Saudi counterpart Khalid al-Falih in Davos, if the minister were to attend.

Falih, who has criticized Russia's output cuts as being slower than expected, was also unlikely to visit, according to a Bloomberg report.

Russia's oil production has fallen by more than 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January from October's level, Novak said this month. Russia had pledged to cut 230,000 bpd in the first three months of 2019.

"The Russians are not cutting with the same enthusiasm that the Saudis are," said Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York. "There's definitely some speculation there may be cracks in the 1.2-million-barrel production cut (global producers) signed up for in December."

Data from Saudi Arabia on Monday showed its crude exports in November rose to 8.2 million barrels per day from 7.7 million in October, as production climbed to 11.1 million bpd.

In the United States, where shale fields have boomed over the past year, government data last week showed the nation's crude production reached a record 11.9 million bpd.

On Tuesday, U.S. data showed oil output from seven major shale formations is expected to rise by 63,000 bpd in February to 8.179 million bpd.

The United States has topped Russia and Saudi Arabia as the largest producer in the world, growing production by almost 2.4 million bpd over the past year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"They weren't expecting that (nearly 12 million bpd production record) for a few months," said Tariq Zahir, managing member at Tyche Capital in New York. "We saw a very large drop in (U.S. oil drilling) rigs on Friday, but it comes down to whether Saudi Arabia is really going to do these cuts."

Seventy percent of the senior energy industry executives plan to boost or maintain capital spending this year, compared with 39 percent in 2017, a survey by adviser DNV GL showed this week.

"Despite greater oil price volatility in recent months, our research shows that the sector appears confident in its ability to better cope with market instability and long-term lower oil and gas prices," said Liv Hovem, who heads DNV's oil and gas division.

DEMAND CONCERNS

The International Monetary Fund on Monday warned the risk of a pronounced global slowdown has risen because of constrained international trade, and it trimmed its 2019 global growth forecast to 3.5 percent, from 3.7 percent in its October outlook.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in Davos that the slowing growth does not signal an impending recession, but said the risk of "a sharper decline" in global growth has increased.

China reported the lowest annual economic growth in nearly 30 years on Monday, and its state planner warned on Tuesday that falling factory orders point to a further drop in activity and more job losses.

Singapore-based tanker brokerage Eastport said China's slowing manufacturing activity is likely weighing on demand.

"There's a lot of concern in the oil market about China's weaker economic data," said Phillip Streible, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.

(Reporting by Collin Eaton; additional reporting by Noah Browning in London, Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Colin Packham in Sydney; editing by Marguerita Choyand Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The panel has been formed by the GST Council to look into revenue shortfall being faced by the states post implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)

New Delhi: A panel of state finance ministers Tuesday decided to scrutinise the GST collection on services by the states to find out if they are taxing them correctly, Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi said.

The panel has been formed by the GST Council to look into revenue shortfall being faced by the states post implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The seven-member Group of Ministers headed by Modi also decided to look into the issues concerning input tax credit (ITC) with a view to finding out if they were contributing to revenue shortfall.

"It has been decided that a committee of officers will study the collection of tax on services by the states. It is apprehended that states may not be collecting the due GST on services as unlike the Centre they do not have expertise in taxing services," Modi said.

He further said that the GoM has decided not to rope in any third party experts to study the reasons for revenue shortfall.

The GoM, which was set up on 1 January, would meet again in February.

As per the terms of reference set by the GST Council, the GoM was given the option to rope in experts from National Institute of Public Finance (NIPFP) and National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to assist them in analysis of states' revenues.

Out of 31 states, only Andhra Pradesh and five north eastern states -- Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim and Nagaland -- have recorded revenue increase post the GST roll out.

Several states including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Goa, Bihar, Gujarat and Delhi are facing revenue shortfall following the implementation of goods and services tax (GST). These states are facing revenue shortfall in the range of 14-37 percent in the April-November period.

Among the union territories, Puducherry is facing a maximum shortfall of 43 percent.

The Committee of officers, Modi said, would try to find out why big states are facing revenue shortfall while their smaller counterparts are doing well in terms of GST collections.

The central government has released Rs 48,202 crore as GST compensation to states during April-November 2018, higher than the Rs 48,178 crore paid in the previous financial year.

GST was rolled out on 1 July, 2017. As per the GST law, the centre compensates states to ensure that their revenue is protected at the level of 14 percent over the base year tax collection in 2015-16.

The GoM was mandated to undertake data analysis using econometric and statistical tools and suggest "suitable measures/policy intervention" for course correction for revenue augmentation, particularly for the states suffering high revenue shortfall.

Among other things, it would also take into account trends of revenue collection before and after GST implementation.

The other members of the GoM include Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Karnataka Rural Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, Odisha Finance Minister Shashi Bhushan Behera, Haryana Taxation Minister Capt Abhimanyu and Goa Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho.

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Police said the man allegedly left when the resident yelled, and was seen with another man running toward a red PT Cruiser. Both men allegedly got into the car and were seen leaving north on Baltimore Avenue toward Campus Drive, police said.
Updated

As teachers in Los Angeles head back to classrooms today , their counterparts in Denver are preparing to head to the picket lines.

On Tuesday night, 93 percent of union members voted to authorize a strike over pay. (The Denver Classroom Teachers Association did not release the number of members who cast a ballot.) This would be the first strike in Colorados biggest district in 25 years.

(Updated 1/24) On Wednesday, Denver district officials asked the state to intervene. The state Department of Labor and Employment has not yet decided whether to get involvedbut the process has delayed the start of the strike, which had been planned for Monday. If the department does get involved and try to intervene, it would put the strike on hold for as much as 180 daysuntil July.

The Denver school district and the teachers union have been unable to reach an agreement over what teachers salary schedules should look like. The districts plan would give teachers a higher starting salary, with fewer opportunities to earn raises (but would give bonuses to teachers working in high-poverty or hard-to-fill positions). The union has proposed a plan that would give teachers more opportunities to earn raises as they complete professional-development courses and continuing-education credits.

Educators have told us that they want an increase in base salaries and a decrease in unpredictable bonus pay, said Rob Gould, the DCTAs lead negotiator, at a press conference. Over the past few years, teachers have seen decreases within their take-home pay and have had to decide on whether they would leave Denvers kids in order to earn $7,000 to $13,000 more in base pay in neighboring districts.

Denver district officials have pledged to keep schools open during a strike. Just like in Los Angeles , the schools would mainly be staffed by substitutes and administrators. Superintendent Susana Cordova told the Denver Post that the district would also try to recruit furloughed federal workers to teach during a strike.

Still, Cordovawho was named an Education Week Leader to Learn From last yearhopes to avert a strike through state intervention. Its illegal for a union to strike while the state is working to resolve issues, the district has said.

Image: A teacher wears a button on a union shirt on Jan. 17. David Zalubowski/AP
Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways has been looking for funds for the past few months to keep it afloat amid rising debt and loan defaults besides non-payment of salary to its employees.

As the debt-laden Jet Airways continues to wait for funds to keep it afloat, middle-east carrier Etihad and banks have reportedly been discussing an emergency funding that the foreign carrier is expected to infuse into troubled India's airline, said media report.

The amount under consideration is about $35 million and Etihad, along with banks, plans to approach Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on the pricing for fresh equity  as laid down in Reserve Bank of Indias 12 February, 2018, circular and the regulators rules on issue of capital and disclosure requirements, said a report in The Economic Times.

Etihad is working on a suitable structure to release the funds, a source familiar with the development was quoted as saying by the daily.

Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways has been looking for funds for the past few months to keep it afloat amid rising debt and loan defaults besides non-payment of salary to its employees.

On 17 January, Goyal had said he was ready to invest up to Rs 700 crore in Jet Airways on the condition that his stake does not fall below 25 percent. Goyals offer came against the backdrop of strategic partner Etihad reportedly putting forward strict conditions, including that Goyal should give up control, for infusing funds into the crisis-hit carrier.

Early this month, State Bank of India (SBI) had said lenders were considering a resolution plan for Jet Airways to ensure the long-term viability of the debt-laden company, said a PTI report.

The SBI statement came a day after the crisis-hit airline said discussions were "progressing well" with stakeholders on a comprehensive resolution plan that also contemplates equity infusion and consequent changes in its board of directors

There are rising concerns over the financial health of Jet Airways, whose shares have taken a beating at stock exchanges.

It said the restructuring plan for the cash-strapped airline would need approval from boards of lenders.

In December 2018, Jet Airways was in discussions with the SBI for raising Rs 1,500 crore short-term loan to meet its working capital requirement and some payment obligations, a source said.

Etihad, which holds 24 percent stake in the Indian full-service carrier, is likely to provide a guarantee for the loan, he said.

Jet Airways, which has posted three consecutive quarterly losses of over Rs 1,000 crore each since March, already has as much as Rs 8,052 of debt on its books as on 30 September, 2018.

Early in December 2018, Jet Airways had sought soft financing of $350 million from Etihad, as it continued to hold discussions with the latter to offload additional stake in the carrier. The Middle-Eastern airline has, however, offered to finance as much as $200 million, the source said.

In November 2018, the government had virtually ruled out possibility of bailout package for cash-strapped Jet Airways, with Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu saying that a private airline's management had to make sure that the carrier functions properly.

 With PTI inputs

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Earlier on 3 January, NCLAT had asked the Ahmedabad bench of NCLT to expeditiously take a final decision in the Essar Steel insolvency case

New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Wednesday directed the Ahmedabad bench of NCLT to pass an order on the insolvency resolution plan submitted by Essar Steel's RP, in which ArcelorMittal emerged as the highest bidder.

A two-member bench of NCLAT, headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya, said that if the Ahmedabad bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) does not pass any order by 31 January, then it would call the matter and pass an order accordingly on the next date of hearing.

The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on 4 February for next hearing.

We allow designated authority (NCLT) to pass appropriate orders by next date, failing which this appellate tribunal will decide, said NCLAT.

The matter is listed before the Ahmedabad bench of NCLT on 31 January for hearing.

The appellate tribunal was hearing an application filed by the CoC seeking an early decision.

Earlier on 3 January, NCLAT had asked the Ahmedabad bench of NCLT to expeditiously take a final decision in the Essar Steel insolvency case, where ArcelorMittal emerged as the highest bidder.

It had asked the NCLT bench to take an early decision in the matter as per the order passed by the Supreme Court in this regard.

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The concept of carryback of loss provides businesses with the choice to carry back tax loss of current tax year to be offset against profit of earlier years.

The government is focused on making Indian companies more competitive in global market, attract investments from outside the country, promote startups, introduce Make in India campaign along with rationalisation of tax without any leakage of revenue to meet fiscal deficit targets.

Thus, there has always been a need to maintain right balance between benefits provided to companies to make it more competitive and effective collection of taxes. The finance minister in his budget speech of 2015 mentioned that basic rate of corporate tax in India at 30 percent is higher than the rates prevalent in the other major Asian economies, making our domestic industry uncompetitive.

Though it has been believed that the budget 2019 being an interim budget may not have major changes, the finance minister recently gave a strong indication that it may not necessarily be a vote-on-account, emphasising that the government could deviate from an election year convention to meet challenges before the economy.

Therefore, considering the same, budget 2019 is expected to rationlise legitimate benefit available to companies in the form of set off of losses and claim of foreign taxes paid to make Indian companies more competitive. It is expected to introduce the concept of carryback of losses and carryforward of foreign tax credit in the current budget proposal.

Currently, the Income Tax Act provides for set off of loss of a particular tax year in subsequent eight years through a mechanism often referred as carryforward of losses. However, the concept of carryback of loss provides businesses with the choice to carry back tax loss of current tax year to be offset against profit of earlier years.

This can result in increased cash flow and provide a competitive advantage to Indian companies in the global market. Also, internationally such provisions relating to carry back of business losses are prevalent in many developed countries like United States of America, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Further, another expectation from the budget 2019 is providing carryforward of foreign tax credit paid on income earned overseas. Currently, the Income Tax Act allows set off of foreign tax credit in respect of foreign taxes paid on overseas income only in case where taxes are payable in a year. However, in case of loss/inadequate profits, no set off may be possible and foreign tax credit in such a scenario shall lapse.

Thus, though foreign income has been offered to tax on which taxes has been paid, no refund is granted or such amount is not allowed to be carried forward. It is expected that the budget 2019 shall provide for carryforward of such unutilised foreign tax credit to be set-off against taxes payable in future years. Many countries such as the US and Germany allow carryforward of Foreign tax credit.

The government has taken radical steps such as implementation of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), General Anti-avoidance Regulation (GAAR) and Place of Effective Management (POEM) to align Indian tax law with internationally adopted tax practices. The above proposed measures to rationalise tax shall be a step forward in that direction along with making India more competitive globally.

(Yogesh Shah is partner with Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP and Kinjesh Thakkar is manager with Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP)

Follow full coverage of Union Budget 2019-20 here

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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.
Hamburg (ots) - At a reception hosted by the German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT and CMS, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook Inc., and Christian Sewing, CEO of Deutsche Bank AG, discussed their recent professional challenges with Uwe Jean Heuser, Head of the Economics Department at DIE ZEIT. Sheryl Sandberg defended Facebook's advertising business model: "We do not sell data. [...] What we do is, we use information to show relevant ads". In retrospective, though, she acknowledged: "We have not done a good job at explaining our business model". She promised: "We are committed to being better in helping people understand how their information is used." Christian Sewing recounted what he first thought when he heard about the Danske Bank money laundering scandal: "It's disappointing, not personally for me - but you have 92.000 people who are working every day to restructure Deutsche Bank. We got the feedback from regulators that our controls have improved. And if you have this kind of incident then, you're disappointed", Sewing said. Asked about his reaction to the accusations, Sewing went on to say that "this is what you have to deal with, what leadership is all about. You collect yourself. You cooperate with the prosecutors. We think that there is no wrongdoing on our side". The ZEIT RECEPTION Davos was held on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT in cooperation with CMS invited leading representatives from the worlds of business and politics to a roundtable discussion and reception. OTS: DIE ZEIT newsroom: http://www.presseportal.de/nr/9377 newsroom via RSS: http://www.presseportal.de/rss/pm_9377.rss2 Pressekontakt: Johanna Schacht ZEIT Corporate Public Relations Tel.: +49 160 - 70 34 60 4 E-mail: Johanna.schacht@zeit.de www.twitter.com/zeitverlag

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Regulatory News:

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005712/en/

THE PERNOD RICARD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Press release Paris, January 23, 2018

Upon the recommendation of the Nominations, Governance, Sustainability Responsibility Committee, Pernod Ricard's (Paris:RI) Board of Directors has created the position of Lead Independent Director. The Board unanimously appointed with immediate effect Mrs. Patricia Barbizet to fulfill the role of Lead Independent Director. The Board of Directors considers that Mrs. Barbizet, who is widely-known for her expertise in the field of governance, possesses all the requisite skills and necessary competencies to actively contribute to further guaranteeing Pernod Ricard's balanced corporate governance. Such evolution of Pernod Ricard's governance reflects the company's willingness to strive for continuous improvement.

Mr. Pierre Pringuet, the former President of the AFEP (the French watchdog on governance matters), who had actively participated in the continuous improvement of Pernod Ricard's governance and shaped the transition towards the creation of the role of Lead Independent Director, is therefore stepping down from his role as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Pierre Pringuet, who has been instrumental in transforming Pernod Ricard into the global group that it is today, will remain as a director on the Board.

In accordance with best practices, the Lead Independent Director will be in charge of the Board's shareholder engagement relationship, in particular on corporate governance matters, and willoversee the efficiency of the company's governance and submit proposals to continue to improve and reinforce Pernod Ricard's governance profile. The Lead Independent Director will also chair the Nominations, Governance Sustainability Responsability Committee, in replacement of Mrs. Nicole Bouton who has decided to step down from this position. The Lead Independent Director's role and responsibilities are detailed in the Board of Directors' internal regulations.

Patricia Barbizet has been an independent director of Pernod Ricard since the Shareholders' Meeting held on November 21, 2018. She began her career in 1977 within the Renault Group. In 1989, she joined the Pinault Group as Chief Financial Officer and served, from 1992 to 2018, as Chief Executive Officer of Artemis, the holding company of the Pinault family. From 2014 to 2016, Mrs. Barbizet also held the position of CEO Chairwoman of Christie's International. In addition, she chaired the Investment Committee of the French Strategic Investment Fund (FSI) from 2008 to 2013. Mrs. Barbizet is currently a director of AXA, Fnac Darty and Total. Mrs. Patricia Barbizet has recently been appointed Chairwoman of the French Haut Comite de Gouvernement d'Entreprise (High Committee on Corporate Governance).

Alexandre Ricard stated: "the decision taken by the Board to create the role of Lead Independent Director is the continuity of a thought-process that started in July 2018, following the triennial external review of the Board and the feedback we've received from our long-term shareholders. I am delighted that Patricia Barbizet, an authority on governance matters, has accepted such nomination by the board. We look forward to leveraging her insights and leadership experience to assist Pernod Ricard with the further reinforcement of our governance."

Patricia Barbizet stated: "the evolution of Pernod Ricard's governance reflects the company's willingness to strive for continuous improvement, and I am honoured to assume the newly-created role of Lead Independent Director, which will further enhance Pernod Ricard's commitment to maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance and oversight. I look forward to working with the Board and management team as Pernod Ricard executes its strategic vision to drive significant long-term value for the Group, its shareholders and employees."

THE PERNOD RICARD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

About Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the world's n2 in wines and spirits with consolidated Sales of 8,987 million in FY18. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricard and Pernod, the Group has undergone sustained development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005) and Vin&Sprit (2008). Pernod Ricard holds one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector: Absolut Vodka, Ricard pastis, Ballantine's, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute and The Glenlivet Scotch whiskies, Jameson Irish whiskey, Martell cognac, Havana Club rum, Beefeater gin, Malibu liqueur, Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes, as well Jacob's Creek, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo and Kenwood wines. Pernod Ricard employs a workforce of approximately 18,900 people and operates through a decentralised organisation, with 6 "Brand Companies" and 86 "Market Companies" established in each key market. Pernod Ricard is strongly committed to a sustainable development policy and encourages responsible consumption. Pernod Ricard's strategy and ambition are based on 3 key values that guide its expansion: entrepreneurial spirit, mutual trust and strong sense of ethics.

Pernod Ricard is listed on Euronext (Ticker: RI; ISIN code: FR0000120693) and is part of the CAC 40 index.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005712/en/

Contacts:

Pernod Ricard

Julia Massies/VP, Financial Communication Investor Relations +33 1 41 00 42 02

Adam Ramjean/Investor Relations Manager +33 1 41 00 41 59

Olivier Cavil/Group Communications Director +33 1 41 00 40 96

Fabien Darrigues/External Communications Director +33 1 41 00 44 86

Emmanuel Vouin/Press Relations Manager +33 1 41 00 44 04
CALGARY, AB AND SAN ANTONIO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC: EMBYF) (the "Corporation", the "Company" or "Emerald Bay") today reported that the Corporation has closed its previously announced private placement. Pursuant to this closing of the private placement, an aggregate 25,000,000 units ("Units") were issued to nine (9) subscribers (of which 2,500,000 Units were acquired by a director and officer of the Corporation and 8,000,000 were acquired by an insider of the Corporation) at a price of $0.02 per Unit, for aggregate consideration of $500,000. Each Unit consisted of one (1) Common Share of the Corporation and one (1) share purchase warrant (the "Warrant") (each full Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to purchase one (1) additional Common Share of the Corporation for a period of 12 months from the issuance of the Units at a price of $0.05) (the "Offering").

The Warrants are subject to an acceleration clause whereby if after four months and one day following the date the Warrants are issued, the closing price of the Common Shares of the Corporation on the principal market on which such shares trade is equal to or exceeds $0.10 for 30 consecutive trading days (with the 30th such trading date hereafter referred to as the "Eligible Acceleration Date"), the Warrant expiry date shall accelerate to the date which is 30 calendar days following the date a press release is issued by the Corporation announcing the reduced warrant term, provided, no more than five business days following the Eligible Acceleration Date: (i) the press release is issued; and (ii) notices are sent to all warrant holders.

The net proceeds will be used on the Corporation's assets in Texas. The Corporation will use the funds from this offering as follows:

land and lease renewals at Wooden Horse, Texas and Gonzales County, Texas at an approximate cost of $65,000;



electrical upgrades to the Kuhn 3, Kuhn 4 and Kuhn A5 wells (Wooden Horse) at an approximate cost of $68,000;



progressive cavity pumping equipment installations at Kuhn 3 and Kuhn A5 (Wooden Horse) at an approximate cost of $70,000;



Kuhn A5 (Wooden Horse) hydraulic fracture stimulation at an approximate cost of $43,000;



drill and test new Kuhn A6 (Wooden Horse) well at an approximate cost of $135,000; and



re-enter and test the upper Edwards formation in the Kuhn 1H (Wooden Horse) horizontal well at an approximate cost of $110,000.

All of the Common Shares and Warrants issued pursuant to the private placement are subject to a 4-month hold period. The terms of the private placement are according to the TSX Venture Exchange Discretionary Waivers of $0.05 Minimum Pricing Requirement Bulletin dated April 7, 2014 and are subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Emerald Bay

Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC: EMBYF) is an energy company with oil producing properties in southwest Texas as well as non-operated oil and natural gas interests in Central Alberta, Canada. EBY is the operator of the Wooden Horse and Nash Creek Projects in Guadeloupe, Texas, where the Company currently now owns a 50.00% working interest those projects. Additionally, the Company owns various working interests in the HugoCellR and MarPat partnerships. The Company also owns 75% of Production Resources Inc., a South Texas oil company.

For all upcoming news releases, articles, comments and questions, to stay updated and speak with management about Emerald Bay Energy. Please JOIN our Investor Information Group at:

http://bit.ly/8020EBY

For further information, please contact:

Emerald Bay President, Shelby D. Beattie, by telephone at (403) 262-6000

Email: info@ebyinc.com

www.ebyinc.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipates", "projects", "potential" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts.

Information inferred from the interpretation of drilling results may also be deemed to be forward looking statements, as it constitutes a prediction of what might be found to be present when and if a well is actually developed. BOE's may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A BOE conversion ratio of 6 Mcf: 1 Bbl is based on energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information, which are considered reasonable by Emerald Bay at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect. Actual results achieved will vary from the information provided and the variations may be material. There is no representation by Emerald Bay that actual results achieved will be the same in whole or part as those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this document include statements regarding the Company's exploration, drilling and development plans, the Company's expectations regarding the timing and success of such programs. In particular, forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: pipeline acquisitions and leasing; pipeline permits, pipeline construction, production estimates, drilling operations, completion operations, funding and development goals. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in the prices of oil and gas, uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of oil and gas reserves and projecting future rates of production and timing of development activities, competition, operating risks, acquisition risks, liquidity and capital requirements, the effects of governmental regulation, adverse changes in the market for the Company's oil and gas production, dependence upon third-party vendors, and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic report filings with the applicable securities regulators.

SOURCE: Emerald Bay Energy Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533422/CORRECTION-Emerald-Bay-Energy-Closes-500000-Private-Placement
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / PowerBand Solutions Inc. (OTCQB: PWWBF) (TSX-V: PBX)(Frankfurt: 1ZVA) ("PowerBand," "PBX" or the "Company"), a leading online automotive auction, remarketing and sales platform in North America, announced today it is negotiating a definitive Unit Purchase Agreement with MUSA Holdings, LLC to acquire 75% of MUSA Holdings, LLC, and its subsidiaries, including MUSA Auto Finance, LLC ("MUSA"), in a transaction valued at US$15 million. The acquisition will transform PBX into an industry leading FinTech company in the areas of vehicle acquisition, leasing, lending, and auction services. The acquisition is subject to financing and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

MUSA Auto Finance

Founded in 2016, MUSA, based in Dallas, Texas, has quickly become the FinTech leader in the auto leasing market in the United States. Its innovative technology platform modernizes the new and pre-owned vehicle leasing experience. As a result of its proprietary technology, MUSA was awarded a contract by Tesla Motors to become its national leasing partner in 2018. With the Tesla contract and 450 dealer partners, MUSA originated over US$24.5 million in 2017 and US$157.5 million in 2018 in vehicle leases with an average FICO Score of 765. MUSA's product offering streamlines the vehicle sales process for dealers across the United States leveraging its innovative technology to navigate underwriting, funding, and the physical delivery process. The platform allows consumers and dealers to complete the entire customer leasing experience in minutes.

PBX's acquisition of MUSA will bring together two leading edge companies with the vision to become a one-stop SaaS platform for the entire vehicle purchase lifecycle. Franchised, independent dealers, and consumers will be able to:

Use MUSA's real-time lease and loan origination platform to buy new and used vehicles from Tesla and over 8,000 dealers through the PBX-DealerSocket partnership

Acquire pre-owned vehicles for MUSA consumers through PBX's online auction platform

Retain customers through new lease options using the PBX-RouteOne partnership

Resell off-lease vehicles to D2D Automotive Auctions ("D2D") through the PBX auction platform. D2D is a joint venture partnership owned equally by PowerBand and Hunt Automotive Group in the U.S. (see PBX news release dated November 19, 2018)

Mike Moen, President/COO of PowerBand, commented, "We are excited to work with MUSA's management team to accelerate MUSA's ability to service its existing lease portfolio and originate new leases in 2019. We will work closely with our partners to raise new equity capital and warehouse facilities to position MUSA to be able write an increased volume of new leases in 2019, targeting over 10,000 leases. The combination of MUSA's lease platform with PBX's financial experience, and automotive partnerships with RouteOne and DealerSocket, will accelerate PBX's growth in the United States."

Jeff Morgan, CEO of MUSA, stated, "We are joining forces with a dynamic company which shares MUSA's passion to disrupt and modernize vehicle lease and auction services. The partnership with PBX will enable the continued growth of our core leasing business, as well as the addition of multiple related auto lease and finance services. With PBX as a partner, we intend to significantly grow our lease originations in 2019 and add over 50,000 pre-owned and trade-in vehicles to the PBX auction platform."

MUSA's lease portfolio consists of new and pre-owned vehicles leased through Tesla and non-Tesla franchised and independent dealers across 33 states. A snapshot of MUSA's auto lease portfolio is outlined below (numbers in US$):

Core Portfolio

Value of lease originations = $94 million

Number of leases originated = 2,071

Average FICO score = 700

Average vehicle lease value = $44,000 Tesla Portfolio

Value of lease originations = $88 million

Number of leases originated = 897

Average FICO score = 806

Average vehicle lease value = $98,000

Total Portfolio

Origination value = $182.5 million

Leases originated = 2,968

Total Portfolio Book Value, as at December 31, 2018, = $161 million

Total Portfolio Warehouse Facility, as at December 31, 2018 = $141 million

Average Portfolio FICO = 765

Average Lease Value = $60,600

Average Delinquency Rate = 0.6%

Effective Portfolio Lease Rate = 7.1%

Total Tesla and non-Tesla Dealers = 450



With total originations of US$182 million, MUSA generated US$21 million in lease and service related revenue in 2018. With its leading position in the auto lease finance space, combined with its Tesla and non-Tesla dealer partnerships, MUSA anticipates lease originations will increase significantly in 2019.

In addition to expanding its lease origination portfolio, PBX and MUSA have plans to pursue:

Direct-to-consumer lending platform

Online consumer-to-consumer marketplace - connecting individual sellers with buyers who use MUSA for loan or lease financing

Aggressive expansion toward nationwide operations by adding at least 15 states, bringing the company's total number of states to 48.

Financial metrics for MUSA include:

2017 Actual 2018 Estimated Revenue $17,286,970 $21,355,109 EBITDA -$1,734,677 $4,315,223 Net Income -$7,094,611 -$10,262,963 Assets $63,930,558 $186,297,940 Liabilities $60,737,675 $184,586,619

To finance the acquisition of MUSA, PBX is negotiating a US$15 million Bridge Loan facility from multiple funding sources to acquire 75% of the equity in MUSA Holdings, LLC, and to fund PBX and its subsidiary Companies. MUSA Holdings, LLC will be a majority controlled subsidiary of PBX. MUSA's leadership team will remain in place and continue to operate under the leadership of PowerBand's management team. PBX and MUSA will work together to restructure and grow the business in 2019. Kelly Jennings and Mike Moen will join the Board of Directors of MUSA Holdings, LLC. Kelly Jennings will assume the role of Chairman, Mike Moen will assume the role of Vice Chairman and Managing Director, and Jeff Morgan will continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer. The acquisition of MUSA Holdings, LLC is an arm's length transaction. There are no finder's fees payable as a result of the transaction.

About MUSA Auto Finance



MUSA Auto Finance is a technology innovator in the new and pre-owned vehicle leasing industry and originates its leases from franchised and select independent dealers. In addition, in 2018 MUSA was chosen by Tesla Motors to be a national finance partner. The company is licensed in 33 states and is planning to be doing business in 48 states within the next two years. MUSA maintains its corporate offices in Dallas, Texas.

About PowerBand Solutions, Inc.



PowerBand Solutions Inc. is a technology provider listed on the TSX Venture Exchange that is developing solutions for automotive and other industries that drive efficiency and transparency in the marketplace. PowerBand has developed and commercialized a leading-edge online auction platform that increases revenues and profit margins for its automotive dealership, Original Equipment Manufacturer, commercial fleet and rental company customers. PowerBand's remarketing platform, the PowerBand Exchange, incorporates the industry's latest auction technologies, inventory management, market intelligence, and appraisal processes. For more information, visit www.powerbandsolutions.com.

For further information, please contact:

Richard Goldman, VP Corporate Development

P: 1-866-768-7653

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the Company and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. As a result, we cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by Canadian securities law.



Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE: PowerBand Solutions Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533403/PowerBand-is-in-Negotiations-to-Acquire-MUSA-Auto-Finance-for-US15-million--A-Leading-FinTech-Auto-Lease-Finance-Company-in-the-United-States
In  million Q4 2017 Q4 2017

restated* Q4 2018** Change Change in

organic growth 2017 2017 restated* 2018** Change Change in

organic growth France 51.9 51.8 56.3 8.7% 8.7% 187.9 187.8 207.1 10.2% 10.2% International 50.5 48.3 52.6 8.9% 8.9% 165.7 160.9 193.5 20.3% 8.2% Total 102.4 100.1 108.9 8.8% 8.8% 353.6 348.7 400.6 14.9% 9.3%

* Restated to reflect the application of IFRS 15, in force since January 1, 2018

** Pre-audit figures

A quality fourth-quarter 2018 performance to sign off a stellar year

Aubay posted an excellent fourth-quarter 2018 performance, with revenues increasing 8.8% to 108.9 million. This growth, substantially outperforming our benchmark market, was fully organic and reflects a sound balance between activities in France and overseas. Operations continued to benefit from a particularly buoyant investment market for our major clients, across all sectors. The combined efficiency of our sales and operations teams allowed us to significantly grow our market share.

There was also a step-up in recruitment during the quarter. Aubay's headcount rose by 133 employees during the last three months to reach a total of 6,166 employees on December 31, 2018, versus 5,848 one year earlier. This performance was the result of major and continued efforts focused on the attractiveness of the Aubay brand, as well as efficient recruitment and talent retention processes.

Annual revenue target slightly exceeded

Revenues for 2018 reached 400.6 million, increasing by 14.9%, of which 9.3% was organic growth, outperforming the top-end of our initial organic growth target range of 7% to 9% and once again demonstrating our control over these targets and their reliability.

Productivity remained strong over the year, coming in at 93.3% versus 93.4% the previous year.

Recurring operating margin for 2018 within the higher end of the target range

The Group is already forecasting a recurring operating margin of between 10.3% and 10.5% within the higher end of the target range of 9.5% to 10.5%.

Outlook

Operations have remained buoyant and robust since the start of 2019, with strong demand from the Group's main clients in line with 2018.

Bolstered by this favorable backdrop, Aubay is targeting revenues of 425 million in 2019, in line with its medium?term organic growth target of between 5% and 7%

The recurring operating margin target for 2019 will be announced on the publication of the Group's annual results on March 20, 2019.

Aubay's full-year 2018 results will be published on March 20, 2019 after the close of trading.

Glossary

Organic growth in revenues: this refers to growth calculated for a constant scope of activity for a given period, excluding revenues from companies that were acquired or sold during the period. As Aubay conducts most of its business in the euro zone, any impact from changes in exchange rates is minimal.

Recurring operating income: this indicator corresponds to operating income before the cost of free shares and other income and expenses that are unusual, significant or infrequent and that are booked separately in order to facilitate understanding of an entity's recurring operating performance.

Recurring operating margin: this indicator, which is expressed as a percentage, is the ratio of recurring operating income to revenue.

Net debt or net cash: this indicator represents the difference between an entity's cash and debt. If the result is negative, it is referred to as net debt. If it is positive, it is referred to as net cash.

About Aubay

Aubay is a digital services company working alongside some of the biggest names in the Banking, Finance, Insurance, Manufacturing, Energy, Transport and Telecoms sectors. With 6,189 employees across 7 countries (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom), Aubay generated revenues of 400.6 million in 2018.

NYSE Euronext, Compartiment C - ISIN FR0000063737-AUB - Reuters AUBT.PA - Bloomberg AUB:FP

Contacts

Alexandra Prisa - Actus Finance - Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 67 35 79 - Email: aprisa@actus.fr

Nadia Morales - Communication Aubay - Tel. 01 46 10 68 60 - Email: nmorales@aubay.com

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Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-56805-ca-annuel-2018-uk.pdf
Marijuana News TodayWe have a lot to cover in the marijuana news today. Between major developments in the pot stock market and the arrival of cannabis as an industry worthy of notice by the elites, it has been a busy day.Let's start with the softer news.The World Economic Forum's annual Davos gathering is often considered the face of elitism in the modern era. Top politicians, prominent industry heads, and a bevy of other notable characters often make the trek to the mountain resort.What makes this year particularly of interest to marijuana bulls, however, is that legal cannabis has finally entered the scene. (Source: ".

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.
When a white Greensboro police officer approached the pair, Black ran away  heading for his familys home nearby. Once he got there, the autopsy states, he got into a car that was parked out front. The officer smashed the window with his baton before deploying his taser, which may not have had an effect. After Black jumped out the other side of the car, that officer and others tried to restrain him, quickly tackling him to the ground in front of his mothers home.
Increase in the installed base, with more than 2,300 products

Further particularly solid growth in China (+36% at constant currency)

Strong growth for Services: +29% at constant currency

Aixplorer MACH 30 accounted for over 60% of products sold in Q4 (excl. China)

SuperSonic Imagine will host a conference call at 6.30 pm CET today.

To participate, please call +33 (0)1 70 71 01 59 followed by participant PIN 13 111 212#.

Regulatory News:

SuperSonic Imagine (Euronext: SSI, FR0010526814, PME-PEA eligible) (Paris:SSI), the highly-innovative ultrasound company, today announces its sales for the 4th quarter and full year to December 31, 2018.

Michele Lesieur, CEO and President of SuperSonic Imagine's Board, comments: "2018 will remain a pivotal year for SuperSonic Imagine, with the marketing of our new Aixplorer Mach 30 system. Its enhanced performances, its refined and functional design and ease of use have already convinced numerous practitioners, and I am convinced that 2019 will enable us to return to a growth level in line with our new product's potential. In addition, I would like to highlight SuperSonic Imagine's remarkable performance in China, where the Group has recorded annual growth of +36%, reflecting our products' substantial added value, and the return to growth in the United States (+4%). The solid increase in Service sales (+29%) is also one of our main sources of satisfaction regarding the past year, and these sales are contributing more to our revenue growth each year. Furthermore, we are realizing our first benefits of our OEM activity made possible by our new platform.

In thousands of euros 2018 2017 Change Products 4,213 3,908 +8% % of total sales 84% 86% Services 817 619 +32% % of total sales 16% 14% 1st quarter sales 5,030 4,527 +11% Products 5,274 5,122 +3% % of total sales 86% 89% Services 877 642 +36% % of total sales 14% 11% 2nd quarter sales 6,150 5,764 +7% Products 4,375 5,680 -23% % of total sales 81% 88% Services 1,003 766 +31% % of total sales 19% 12% 3rd quarter sales 5,378 6,446 -17% Products 6,791 7,117 -5% % of total sales 88% 89% Services 942 841 +12% % of total sales 12% 11% 4th quarter sales 7,732 7,958 -3% Products 20,653 21,827 -5% % of total sales 85% 88% Services 3,637 2,869 +27% % of total sales 15% 12% Total 2018 sales 24,290 24,695 -2% Other revenues 338 Total 2018 revenues 24,628 24,695

Q4 2018 sales

SuperSonic Imagine recorded sales of 7.732 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, slightly down (-3%) on the figure for the same quarter of 2017 (7.958 million).

Product sales, down -5%, totaled 6.791 million (vs. 7.117 million).

Quarter after quarter, Service sales are continuing to grow, reaching 942K in Q4 2018 vs. 841K in Q4 2017 (+12%) and accounting for 12% of quarterly sales.

This Q4 2018 sales figure was the result of contrasting geographical and regulatory situations:

on the one hand, further buoyant growth in China (+21%), unaffected by the Aixplorer MACH 30 delay because, as already announced, for regulatory reasons this platform is only due to be marketed in China after mid-2020,

on the other hand, a significant fall in activity in Asia excluding China (-37%) reflecting the wait-and-see attitude of customers who delayed their purchases in anticipation of the MACH 30 certification expected for the first half of 2019,

and lastly, a contraction in sales (-7%) in Europe and the Americas as a result of the time required to deploy clinical on-site demonstrations of our new product. Demonstrations of Aixplorer MACH 30 only began in mid-October, but results have been extremely encouraging as Aixplorer MACH 30 accounted for 60% of product sales in these regions in Q4, demonstrating strong potential for the future.

FY 2018: stable revenues in a complex international context

SuperSonic Imagine recorded revenues of 24.628 million over 2018 as a whole, stable compared with 2017. At constant currency, revenues increased by +2% to 25.165 million.

Supersonic Imagine signed its first industrial partnership contract in 2018 with an American company, and thus generated the first revenues associated with this new activity (334K).

Product sales were down -5% (-3% at constant currency), at 20.653 million, reflecting the transitional phase between two generations of products. Indeed, and as already announced, the industrial ramping up of Aixplorer MACH 30 took longer than anticipated and had a significant impact on our third quarter. Nevertheless, the momentum observed during the last quarter of the year confirms all the potential of our latest platform.

Service sales continued to increase and reached 3.637 million, giving growth of +27% (+29% at constant currency), accounting for 15% of total sales in 2018 versus 12% in 2017 and 10% in 2016. This growth is the result of a regular increase in the installed base of Aixplorer systems.

At constant currency, China recorded further buoyant annual growth with sales increasing by +36% to 10.157 million, the United States saw a return to growth (+4%) with sales of 3.323 million and France had a very difficult year with sales falling by -41% to 3.013 million. This decline in France was due on the one hand to a contraction of the French ultrasound market on the radiology segment since the start of 2018 and on the other hand to delays in the marketing of Aixplorer MACH 30, which had an impact from the second half of 2018.

From a regional perspective, at constant currency Asia grew by +18%, the Americas were stable (+1%) and the EMEA zone fell by -16%.

At December 31, 2018, the number of SuperSonic Imagine systems deployed worldwide exceeded 2,300, thus representing an increase of more than 20% of its installed base.

Next financial press release: 2018 full-year results, on March 12, 2019.

About SuperSonic Imagine

SuperSonic Imagine is a medical technology company (Medtech) specialized in ultrasound imaging. The company designs, develops and markets an ultrasound platform whose exclusive ultrafast technology (UltraFast) has given rise to new imaging methods, which have now become standards in the non-invasive care path for the characterization of breast, liver or prostate diseases. The first innovative mode UltraFast is ShearWave elastography (SWE), which allows doctors to instantly visualize and analyze tissue hardness, which is critical information for the diagnosis of many pathologies. To date, more than 600 publications have validated the benefits of its technologies. The latest addition to the Aixplorer range, Aixplorer MACH 30 introduces a new generation of imaging UltraFast allowing the optimization of all innovative imaging modes: ShearWave PLUS, UltraFast Doppler, Angio PL.U.S, TriVu. With more than 2,300 ultrasound platforms installed worldwide, SuperSonic Imagine is present in more than 80 countries and its main markets are China, the United States and France. In 2018, the company generated revenues of 24.6 million. SuperSonic Imagine is a company listed on Euronext (symbol: SSI).

For more information, visit www.supersonicimagine.fr.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005435/en/

Contacts:

SuperSonic Imagine

Marketing Communication

Emmanuelle Vella

emmanuelle.vella@supersonicimagine.com

+33 4 86 79 03 27

FP2COM

Relations Medias EU

Florence Portejoie

fportejoie@fp2com.fr

+33 6 07 76 82 83

NewCap

Investor Relations EU

Thomas Grojean Nicolas Merigeau

supersonicimagine@newcap.eu

+33 1 44 71 98 55
BEIJING, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- "Digital technology is lowering the operational cost of industries and is becoming the core way to achieve inclusiveness and equality. This is JD Digits' focus," said JD Digits CEO Chen Shengqiang on Tuesday at the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Chen made the remarks at a live streamed WEF session called "Governing Data in Our Daily Lives." Chen also introduced JD Digits' three major business models of Developing Digital Capitalization, Asset Digitalization, and Industry Digitalization, and shared about the value of applying digital technology to the financial and real economic industries.

In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, data is the key production factor for business. How to use data more efficiently and rationally, and how to use digital technology to drive economic development were the hot topics at this year's meeting.

For the business of Developing Digital Capitalization, JD Digits builds a risk management model by adopting data from e-commerce industry and applying AI technology. This helps more individuals and small enterprises get access to loans, according to Chen.

"Services previously provided by traditional financial institutions were more focused on high-profit large-scale clientele. But using digital technology we can help those individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises with reasonable demands get access to the fair and reasonably priced financial services that they need," remarked Chen.

One example of this is how JD Digits launched the service "Baitiao" based on a risk management evaluation system. This system offers many millennial their very first credit service.

"For the business of Asset Digitalization, JD Digits uses data and technology to build the capacity to identify and rank asset risks. This can help financial institutions reduce transaction costs in capital markets and improve the efficiency of risk identification," Chen added.

JD Digits has built its core capacity via their Developing Digital Capitalization, and Asset Digitalization businesses. To provide better financial services to other industries, JD Digits has expanded its business into their Industry Digitalization.

The Industry Digitalization business uses digital technology to upgrade the entire business process of real industries. Chen believes this helps industries develop by lowering costs and raising efficiency, and creates a better integration between the finances and the rest of the business. He provided JD Digits' Smart Breeding service as an example.

About 700 million pigs are sold on the market every year in China, and the breeding business is valued at 1.1 trillion yuan. But this valuable industry faces many problems, such as the difficulties of price cycle disruptions, the impossibility of tracing food safety, industry turbulence, low efficiency and the high costs in the process of pig breeding.

To solve these challenges, JD Digits developed a Smart Breeding system including Shennong Brain, an AI inspection robot, an IoT feeding robot, and a set of SaaS modules. This system can monitor the temperature and humidity in pig farms, accurately identify and feed the pigs differently based on their individual needs. The system monitors the pigs' physical and health conditions in real time.

The smart system can reduce breeding labor costs by 30% to 50%, cut the amount of feed required by 8% to 10%, and shorten the breeding time by 5-8 days. If the system could be broadly applied across the agricultural industry in China, it could effectively lower the industry costs by over 50 billion yuan.

Chen also emphasized the importance of data security saying, "We definitely should raise consumer awareness of data security. At the same time companies should also follow regulations in obtaining, using, storing and transferring customers' information. Companies must adopt technology to ensure data security."

About JD Digits

JD Digits was formerly known as JD Finance until it was comprehensively upgraded and rebranded in November 2018. Its operational purpose is to connect the finance industry and real economy by using digital technology, boosting the influence of the Internet, enhancing digital and smart industry development, fostering the development of the real economy and creating greater social value.

With its cutting-edge technologies and expertise in big data, AI, IoT and blockchain, JD Digits has been involved in many fields, including finance, urban computing, agriculture, campus services and digital marketing. In the future, JD Digits will enter more real economy sectors and will more deeply explore current business patterns and developing trends.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/812325/JD_Digits_CEO.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.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 23, 2019) -TransCanna Holdings Inc. (CSE: TCAN) (XETR: TH8) ("TransCanna" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has engaged Purple Crown Communications Corp. ("Purple Crown") of Vancouver to act as an investor relations consultant to the Company. Purple Crown will assist TransCanna in broadening its shareholder base and creating effective communication tools for communications with shareholders and potential investors.

Purple Crown has been engaged for a term of twelve months, renewable on a monthly basis thereafter on mutual agreement. Purple Crown will be paid a monthly fee of seven thousand dollars. Except for the investor relations services agreement, Purple Crown does not have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its securities. Purple Crown's appointment as an investor relations consultant to TransCanna is subject to regulatory approval of applicable filings with the Canadian Securities Exchange.

"Our goal was to align ourselves with a firm that puts shareholder communication first and can build a strong shareholder base as management focuses on building the business. We're extremely pleased to have retained Purple Crown, and we look forward to working with them and growing TransCanna together," states Jim Pakulis, CEO of TransCanna.

About Transcanna Holdings Inc.

TransCanna Holdings Inc. is a Canadian based company providing branding, transportation and distribution services, through its wholly-owned California subsidiaries, to a range of industries including the cannabis marketplace.

For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.transcanna.com or email the Company at info@transcanna.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

James Pakulis

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (604) 609-6199

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to the future leasing plans of the company. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Windstorm Renewables (windstormrenewables.com, an Aberdeenshire-based start-up business, has scooped the 6,500 2018-19 UK Innovator Launchpad Award.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005362/en/

John Mailey, Founder and CEO of Windstorm Renewables (Photo: Business Wire)

The company has developed a mini power station using innovative wind turbine technology which generates more power at a lower cost than other systems currently used.

They beat off stiff competition from fellow finalists Alterwaste (alterwaste.com) creator of an alternative to plastic made from eggshells who claimed second place and Designed forLife (sofaforlife.co.uk), developer of an innovative sofa design extending the sofa's lifetime, who claimed third place.

Founder and CEO John Mailey commented: "I and the team at Windstorm are delighted to win the recognition and the funding that this award brings, and we are confident this will help accelerate our efforts to prove our technology and get it to market.

"After investing two years working on the technology development, we now have a superb experienced team with the determination to succeed and a clear plan to get there. Our vision at Windstorm is to responsibly power our world".

As well as the 6,500 cash funding provided by the competition, Mailey claims a PR and advice package provided by the competition sponsors, and a limited-edition space jacket in keeping with the rocket launch theme of the competition!

Sponsors of this year's competition are Murgitroyd, Leyton UK, Clydesdale Yorkshire Banking Group, Dog Digital and Betabrand.

Keith Jones, Director, Patents, from founding sponsor Murgitroyd, the intellectual property attorney specialists, and who was one of the competition judges, said: "Windstorm really shone through as a great business proposition that was well thought through and we were impressed in particular by the strength of their team".

He added that the business propositions of all three finalist companies were of very high quality and that he could see that while Windstorm had edged a win, both Alterwaste and Designed forLife, also had "superb potential".

The top three companies were selected by the public in an online contest where the top ten entrants shared a 90-second video pitch.

All three finalist companies will be presented with their prizes at an award ceremony at the Dome, Edinburgh on Wed. 13th Feb.

The next Innovator Launchpad competition will launch in Autumn 2019.

About

Innovator Launchpad (facebook.com/innovatorlaunchpadis an innovation competition for UK-based pre-profit and non-profit enterprises which was created in 2017 by Murgitroyd.

Murgitroyd (murgitroyd.comis 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.comis Europe's leading R&D tax credit specialist. The firm has 21 offices in 10 countries and UK teams based in London, Manchester and Glasgow. Its expert teams are dedicated to maximising its clients' innovation potential by harnessing the benefits of R&D tax credits, patent box and grant funding and providing employment law services.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (cybg.comoffers a full range of financial products to help people and businesses grow. It has a strong personal customer base and a robust business banking capability through a UK-wide network which supports British SMEs.

Dog Digital (dogdigital.com is a global digital marketing agency which aims to further its clients' marketing advantage through expertise in data, planning, technology and creative craft. It has UK bases in Glasgow and London.

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: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005362/en/

Contacts:

Fiona McKenzie

Bid and Communications Manager, Murgitroyd

T. +44 141 307 8400

E. fiona.mckenzie@murgitroyd.com
CHICAGO, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report "Insulation Coating Materials Market by Type (Acrylic, Epoxy, Polyurethane, YSZ, and Mullite), End-Use Industry (Aerospace, Automotive, Marine, Industrial, Building & Construction), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, The Insulation Coating Materials Market size is estimated at USD 8.7 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 12.5 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.5% between 2018 and 2023. The increasingly stringent policies at workplace and increase in shipbuilding activities are expected to drive the Insulation Coating Materials Market.

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Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=26484290

Browse in-depth TOC on "Insulation Coating Materials Market"

165 -Tables

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View detailed Table of Content here:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/insulation-coatings-market-26484290.html

"The Insulation Coating Materials Market is projected to witness the highest CAGR in the marine end-use industry during the forecast period."

Energy savings and surface protection are the key challenges for the marine industry. The marine environment is prone to corrosion due to high moisture content. Insulation coating materials are used to provide a thermal barrier and anti-condensation capabilities for shipboard construction. APAC is witnessing increasing investments in = shipbuilding and naval marine production. The growth of the APAC marine (shipbuilding) industry is attributed to low-cost labor, strong government support, and developed business environment in the region.

"Increasing usage in turbine and diesel engines is driving the demand for mullite-based insulation coating materials."

The mullite-based insulation coating materials have low density, high thermal stability, and can be used in severe chemical environments. These coatings have a low thermal conductivity, favorable strength, and slithering movement. They can be an alternative to YSZ-based thermal insulation coating materials as they have a lower thermal expansion coefficient and higher thermal conductivity when compared with the YSZ-based coatings. These coatings find applications in gas turbines and environments where temperature variations across coatings are high.

"APAC is expected to account for the largest market share of insulation coating materials during the forecast period."

APAC is one of the most promising markets for insulation coating materials, due to the growth in the developing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, China, and India. The growing demand for insulation coating materials from different industries in APAC such as oil & gas, chemical, and power is driving the market in the region. APAC has also witnessed an increase in investments, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

The leading players in the Insulation Coating Materials Market are AkzoNobel (Netherlands), PPG Industries (US), The Sherwin-Williams Company (US), Kansai Paint CO., LTD. (Japan), Jotun Group (Norway), Nippon Paint (Japan), and Mascoat (US).

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Browse Adjacent Markets:Coatings Adhesives Sealants and Elastomers Market Research Reports & Consulting



Related Reports:

Subsea Thermal Insulation Materials Market by Type (Polyurethane, Polypropylene, Silicone Rubber, Epoxy, Aerogel), Application (Pipe-in-Pipe, Pipe Cover, Equipment, Field Joints), and Region - Global Forecast 2018 to 2023

Microporous Insulation Market by Product Type (Rigid Boards & Panels, Flexible Panels, Machined Parts, Moldable Products), Application (Industrial, Energy & Power, Oil & Gas, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Foundry) - Global Forecast to 2022

Building Thermal Insulation Market by Material (Glass Wool, Stone Wool, Polystyrene), Application (Flat Roof, Pitched Roof, External Wall, Internal Wall, Cavity Wall, Floor), Building Type (Residential, Non-residential) - Global Forecast to 2022

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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 23, 2019) - BeWhere Holdings Inc. (TSXV: BEW) (OTCQB: BEWFF) ("BeWhere" or the "Company"), an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) provider of asset tracking and connected sensors solutions, is pleased to announce its plans for the world largest mobile conference, MWC19. The conference takes place in Barcelona from February 24th to the 28th.

The GSMA's Mobile World Congress is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry, incorporating a thought-leadership conference that features prominent executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world. BeWhere Inc. attended last year's conference with over 100,007 attendees which facilitated the introduction of prospects, discovered new trends and business cases; and increased awareness for the M-IoT industry and the company through a technology demonstration of a "smart punching bag", which was highlighted on CNN International.

BeWhere's M-IoT technology will once again be featured at the GSMA's Innovation City and Ask the Expert via live demonstrations, to provide an interactive, hands-on display which engages conference attendees and simultaneously showcase the power of M-IoT technology and the Company's devices and solutions. The interactive M-IoT demonstrations include the "Rowing Machine Challenge" and the "Shooting Range Challenge"; which test participants strength and accuracy skills while showcasing the benefits of low-power wide-area connected sensors.

In addition, BeWhere's CEO, Owen Moore, will participate in a panel discussion, with representatives from Nokia, Ericsson and T-Systems, to discuss the value proposition of M-IOT for network infrastructure providers, mobile network operators and device / solution providers. This 8th annual M-IOT Summit on February 24th attracts a broad attendance of influential industry experts.

Orange S.A., one of the largest European telecommunication company, will be BeWhere's local operator partner and will be providing the Company with LTE-M connectivity in Barcelona for the demonstrations and challenges of its M-IoT solutions. Orange is also the most advanced carrier in LPWAN deployment in Europe and has already tested BeWhere's M-IoT solution on both its LTE-M and NB-IoT networks.

"BeWhere devices makes the best use of Orange's LTE-M network and Live Objects platform to provide a low cost and low power solution for monitoring and tracking industrial assets. The solution includes a versatile cloud application that enables rapid launching of proofs of concept and trials for many different IoT use cases", said Luc Savage, VP Devices Enterprise IoT at Orange.

"MWC19 Barcelona, the world largest mobile conference, is the single most important conference the company attends and significantly advance our initiatives with Mobile Network Operators and Mobile Network Infrastructure providers globally," says Owen Moore, CEO. "This conference and our relationship with the GSMA has been an invaluable growth tool given the access it provides. We are thankful to be included and we look forward to seeing everyone at MWC19 Barcelona."

AGENDA

IoT Summit - February 24th from 12:00 to 17:00 at the Hesperia Barcelona Tower Hotel, Gran Via 144, 08907 Panel Mobile IoT - Business Opportunity & Maximising Value with Owen Moore from 14:00 to 14:45

MWC19 - February 25th to 28th at the Fira Barcelona Gran Via, Av. Joan Carles I, 64, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat 08908

BeWhere's booth is located Hall 4YFN Montjuic Hall M8 Stand 9 Rowing Machine Challenge: GSMA Innovation City, Hall 4, Fira Barcelona Gran Via Shooting Range Challenge: 4YFN, Hall 8, Fira Barcelona Montjuic, Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, s/n, 08004.



About BeWhere

BeWhere (TSXV: BEW) (OTCQB: BEWFF) is an Industrial Internet of Things ("IIoT") solutions company that designs and sells hardware with sensors and software applications to track real-time information on non-powered fixed and movable assets, as well as monitor environmental conditions. The company develops mobile applications, middle-ware and cloud-based solutions that stand-alone or that can be readily integrated with existing software. BeWhere' solutions are cutting edge, using the latest available cellular technologies (LTE-M and NB-IoT) and offering customers low-cost sophisticated technology to implement a new level of visibility to their businesses.

BeWhere sells its products through a worldwide network of distribution and technology companies. BeWhere has secured distribution agreements and technology partnerships with a large roster of companies, including major telecommunications providers, leading vehicle telematics providers and logistic and supply chain management solution providers.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements".

We caution you that such "forward-looking statements" involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to commercial operations, including technology development, anticipated revenues, projected size of market, and other information that is based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management.

BeWhere Holdings Inc. (the "Company") does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties relating to, among other things, technology development and marketing activities, the Company's historical experience with technology development, uninsured risks. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bewhereinc/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bewhere-inc-

CONTACT INFORMATION

BeWhere Inc.

Margaux Berry, VP Strategy and Growth

1 (844) 229-4373 x 107

mberry@bewhere.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.
Additional $6 million in funding follows a successful Series B round of $13 million raised

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / CrediFi, the leading source for data and analytics for commercial real estate finance, announced today it has raised an additional $6 million in funding. This comes on the heels of the $13 million previously raised in Series B funding. The investment will be used to expand the firm's go-to-market efforts, as well as the recruitment of executive and team talent in New York and Israel.

The round was led by Liberty Technology Venture Capital II, joined by investors Mitsui Fudosan, one of Japan's leading real estate investors, and Maverick Ventures Israel. Existing investors in the company, including Battery Ventures, Viola Ventures and crowdfunding site OurCrowd, also invested in the current financing round. The Company has raised $29 million overall, including the current round.

"CRE investors are very excited about CrediFi, as we are the most advanced FinTech platform for the industry," said CrediFi CEO Ely Razin. "We work with a range of leading financial institutions, who use our data and technology to make more strategic, data-driven investment decisions."

As a direct result of CrediFi's growing success in both the US and Israeli markets, the firm is pleased to announce two key executive hires; Jeff Hendren as President, based in New York, and Amichai Levy as Vice President, Research & Development, based in Tel Aviv. Prior to CrediFi, Hendren was Chief Commercial Officer of Quovo, a data science platform that intelligently aggregates and analyzes financial account data recently acquired by Plaid. Levy previously served as a vice president of research and development at Payoneer, a leading global FinTech company based in New York and Israel.

'CrediFi is leading the charge for transparency and access in the data-rich field of commercial real estate finance,' said Mr. Hendren. 'I am delighted to be joining the firm at this stage in its strategic expansion and bolster the firm's ongoing commitment to recruiting and retaining top talent to serve our client base across target markets.'

CrediFi's advanced platform enables investors to operate more intelligently, transparently and strategically. The data and information collected by CrediFi brings visibility to an industry where data is lacking, transactions are often conducted behind closed doors and are based on personal relationships. Investors are often not fully familiar with the deal environment, including items as important as the lenders competing in the market, the terms they offer within the framework of their loans, and even the owners of commercial properties in the area with whom they have no personal ties.

Among CrediFi's customers are prominent American financial institutions and banks, property companies, hedge fund managers and US government agencies.

CrediFi was created with the goal of providing transparency through Big Data solutions to investors, lenders and borrowers in the US commercial real estate market. Mr. Razin previously served as an executive at Thomson Reuters, the global financial data company. He developed CrediFi with the support of Battery Ventures, which identified the need for comprehensive visibility into the US commercial real estate market not achieved by existing vendors in the space.

About CrediFi

Founded in 2014, CrediFi Corp. is a SaaS (software as a service) big data platform serving the Commercial Real Estate Finance market. CrediFi provides data and analytics driven by a database of over seven million commercial properties, including multi-family, office, retail, hotel and industrial assets. As the commercial real estate finance data leader in the Fintech space, CrediFi tracks $13 trillion in both balance-sheet and securitized loans, focused on greater transparency in understanding borrowers, lenders and transactions, enabling better real estate investment decisions. CrediFi currently has 65 employees and is dual headquartered in New York City and Tel Aviv.

Media contacts:

Scott Paer

Caliber Corporate Advisers

scott@calibercorporateadvisers.com

201-286-2273

SOURCE: CrediFi

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533285/CrediFi-Announces-Total-Capital-Raised-Surpasses-29-million
Model Price: US$ 281 to US$ 792 Per Carat

Model Grade: 4 to 8 cpht

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / Tsodilo Resources Limited (TSX Venture Exchange: TSD) ("Tsodilo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of a second independent Size Frequency Distribution ("SFD") modelled grade and diamond value for the BK16 Large Diameter Drilling ("LDD") aggregate 77.94 carat parcel of 502 commercial size (+1mm) diamonds initially reported on November 7, 2018.

In early December 2018, Dr Paddy Lawless of PJL and Associates discovered that the size frequency model he utilized resulted in an overly optimistic projection of grade values. These results were presented in the Company's press release on November 7, 2018. Given the potential significance of this error, the Company immediately retained the services of Mr. Stephen Coward of Interlaced to review and develop new model grade and valuation figures based on the same raw BK16 data. The approach included in-depth SFD modelling and simulation, and provides direct comparisons with comparable projects, the results of which are reported herein. The results of the prior press release are thus superseded with those contained in this press release. Given Mr. Cowards specific experience in the SFD modelling discipline the Company has accepted the results of Mr. Coward as definitive for the grade and value modelling of the BK16 deposit.

Mr. Coward has over 30 years' experience in the diamond industry, including over 20 years with De Beers, this experience has included work in project estimation, evaluation and value chain modeling across several commodities. Ranging from statistical and geostatistical modeling of diamond content, SFD and diamond value to project risk modelling. Mr. Coward's specific grade and diamond value modelling using SFD data includes work used in the writing up of De Beers assets for privatization and several subsequent empowerment transactions. More recently he has contributed to studies on both fissure and pipe bodies located in southern Africa and Australia. Mr. Coward is an expert in SFD modelling of grade and diamond value and is a "qualified person" as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.

As previously reported by Tsodilo, modelling of drill hole data to 450m indicates a kimberlite tonnage of 18.2 to 20.1 million metric tonnes (Mt), this exploration target is described below. The LDD program produced 2,077 dry metric tonnes of sample from the VK2, VK3, VKxxx and CB lithological domains, which were treated to recover 502 diamonds (stones) weighing 77.94 carats (cts).

The SFD modelling results (Table 1) and other BK16 diamond characteristics can be summarized as follows:

Using a combination of simulation and extrapolation, the SDF grade (cpht) and value (UD$ per carat "$/ct") have been re-modelled to give the following likely in-situ or "run of mine" grade and value (#1 DTC bottom-cut off size):



The diamond value ranges from $/ct 281 to $/ct 792;



The grade ranges from 4 cpht to 8 cpht (carats per hundred tonne);



The Size Frequency Distribution ("SFD") study demonstrates the potential presence of large stones, indicating that ~2% to 5 % of the total carats may be greater than 10.8 carats (specials). This compares favorably to Lucara's Karowe Mine on AK06 of which some ~5 % of the total carats produced are greater than 10.8 carats;

BK16 contains high quality diamonds dominated by highly marketable shapes (makeable and sawable), and no boart has been recovered to date;

3.8% of the diamonds tested were identified as high-quality Type IIa diamonds consisting predominantly of D color stones;

Due to the small size of the LDD sample, stones above 2 carats have not yet been recovered but can be expected based on the SFD analysis;

Diamonds were individually assessed for damage by Mr. Ray Ferraris and Dr. Paddy Lawless. Mr. Ferraris and Dr. Lawless are "qualified persons" as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Coward used these data sets to model the diamond breakage and reconstitution of the diamonds and concluded:



Approximately 60% of the stones did not display any signs of fresh damage;



Around 20% showed minor chipping and the remainder had mixed degrees of severity;



These results are regarded as a low degree of damage and indicate that the LDD and sample treatment used latest best practice methods to avoid undue breakage;



Diamond reconstruction shows that the majority of the movement of stones after reconstitution occurs between classes -1 to +3 sieve sizes resulting in limited and immaterial changes in the SFD;



The SFD model suggests that BK16 has the potential to host a coarse size distribution;

The company believes that the combination of grade, diamond value, and kimberlite value presented in this press release defined by Mr. Coward suggests that BK16 has significant potential to become a minable asset: and

To improve the confidence on both the grade and value a further phase of bulk sampling of BK16 would be required.

Table 1. Summary comparison of Sampled, Published and Current Study Ranges for the BK16 deposit. Variable Unit of Measure BK16 Sample BK16 Published (Lawless 2018) Current BK16 SFD Study Min P20 P80 Max Grade Cpht 3.8 8 to 10 4 5 7 8 Diamond Value US$/carat 177 386 to 710 281 290 600 792 Kimberlite Value US$/tonne 6.6 30 to 78 11 15 38 67

Mr. Coward, stated: "Based on my analysis of the SFD of the diamonds recovered from the LDD samples, it appears that the size distribution of BK16 could be coarser than several producers in southern Africa. There are indications that BK16 could have a broadly similarly coarse shaped size distribution to that of the Lucara's Karowe Mine (Botswana), Petra Diamonds' Premier Mine (South Africa), and Lucapa Diamond's Mothae Mine (Lesotho). However, there is a clear under sampling of coarse stones thus far at BK16 which adds significant uncertainty to the grade and value modelled. This uncertainty is explained by the fact that the current 2,077 dry metric tonne LDD sample represents a distinct under sampling of the true SFD of the BK16 kimberlite (~0.01% of the total kimberlite body). This under sampling explains why the sample grade and diamond value are well below the modelled grade and value, and thus why the value and grade modeling reported by this study are so important and should be considered a more accurate reflection of a likely BK16 run of mine production. It is also important to note that whilst the reported modelled grade and diamond value are given as ranges these have been derived from simulations of the sample parcel, the grade and more importantly diamond value could increase as more sample is taken and potentially larger more valuable stones are recovered beyond that indicated by the model. Examples of upward trends in value include the observed increase in very high value large Type IIa diamond population recovered by Lucara's AK6 mine production vs. the values achieved during exploration LDD sampling. To this end I am very much of the opinion that further work on BK16 is justified, including the execution of an optimized bulk sample campaign to confirm its potential."

Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Form 43-101F1 and Companion Policy 43-101CP requires that the following disclosure be made: All references contained herein with respect to the potential quantity and grade derived by any method is at this stage of development is conceptual in nature. At the present time, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. Further to this modeling of commercial grades is progressively more uncertain with smaller parcels of diamonds. It is important to note that the data presented here are global ranges of grade, diamond value, kimberlite value, and tonnage, and do not constitute a mineral resource estimate as the data have not been spatially modelled in any way. The objective is to derive global deposit scale (as opposed to per lithology or estimation domain) indications of potential value ranges for variables that can be used to inform additional sampling that will be required to evaluate this deposit. These values should be considered as aspirational projections, or targets for future exploration.

BK16 Diamond Valuation by Mr. Ray Ferraris (QTS Kristal Dinamika)

502 diamonds (weighing 77.94 carats) recovered from 3 parcels of commercial size diamonds (+1 mm) were analyzed by Mr. Ferraris at the Diamond Technology Park ("DTP") in Gaborone after deep-cleaning by acid boiling and sized to the +1 DTC sieve classes. Mr. Ferraris determined current market values for the three LDD parcels as set forth in Table 2, utilizing the QTS proprietary Price-Book.

Table 2. Details of the 3 parcels valued by Mr. Ferraris. Parcel # of Diamonds Total Carats US$ / Carat 1 94 17.045 $195.45 2 130 17.700 $196.37 3 278 43.195 $161.03 All 502 77.940 $176.44

The five highest individual diamonds constituting more than 4% of the value of the overall parcel ranged in size from 1.935 carats to 0.965 carats, weighed 7.220 carats in total and had an average market value of US$ 612.85 per carat, see Table 3.

Table 3. The five highest individual diamonds constituting more than 4% of the value of the overall parcel. Parcel Hole ID Size Stones Carats $ Per Carat Total $ 2 LDD_020V 6 Grainer 1 1.535 $ 755.00 $ 1,158.93 3 LDD_032V 6 Grainer 1 1.410 $ 748.00 $ 1,054.68 1 LDD_033V 5 Grainer 1 1.375 $ 705.00 $ 969.38 3 LDD_024V 8 Grainer 1 1.935 $ 350.00 $ 677.25 2 LDD_021V 4 Grainer 1 0.965 $ 585.00 $ 564.53



Totals 5 7.220 $ 612.85 $ 4,424.76

The chain of custody has been maintained to industry standards (see previous press releases describing the systems employed to ensure that industry standards were achieved).

The diamonds were classified using the Diamond Trading Company ("DTC") mass carater/grainer system for the 6, 5, 4 and 3 grainer size classes and the DTC Diamond Sieves ("DS") for the -3gr+11, -11+09, -09+07, -07+05, -05+03, -03+01 and - 1DS size classes. The masses of all recovered stones were recorded and valued in their respective size classes.

The valuation of these LDD diamonds is considerably higher than to those of the historical diamonds recovered in 1999 and 2000 from BK16, which were valued in 2016 at $138 per carat.

More than half of the LDD diamonds were tested using a Yehunda Z-50 colorimeter and 3.8% of these were positively identified as Type IIa stones. Most of these are D color with one DE, one E and one F+ colors.

Type II diamonds are rare diamonds which have no measurable nitrogen levels. Type IIa diamonds are generally devoid of impurities and tend to have a colorless and low to no ultraviolet light fluorescence.

Mr. Ferraris stated that, "The overall parcel is dominated by white, gem-quality diamonds, many of which are G-color or higher. The proportion of low-quality diamonds is very low compared to other Botswana kimberlites. There is a general prevalence towards resorbed dodecahedron shaped diamonds, no boart quality diamonds were seen, and the presence of the high-quality Type IIa diamonds was confirmed."

Diamond Breakage Studies

Diamond breakage occurs both naturally during diamond emplacement or eruption of a kimberlite, and un-naturally during various processes of extraction, drilling and recovery of the diamond, which create "fresh" breakages. Natural breakages of diamond are subject to chemical attack from the molten kimberlite which would have etched or produced resorbed broken surfaces, making them recognizable as "old" or "natural" breakage. As such only "fresh" or un-natural breakage is contemplated during diamond breakage studies of this type.

The diamond breakage data by Mr. Ferraris and Dr. Lawless are show in Table 5.

Table 5. Breakage classification data for both Mr. Ferraris and Dr. Lawless for the BK16 LDD diamonds. Mr. Ferraris Breakage Categories Dr. Lawless Breakage Categories Description Number % Description Number % Unbroken 350 69.7 Unbroken - 0 344 68.5 Chipped 88 17.5 Chipped - Ch 101 20.1 Lightly Broken 39 7.8 Significant - 1 22 4.4 Heavily Broken 16 3.2 Serious - 2 23 4.6 Fragment 9 1.8 Severe - 3 5 1.0 Total 502

Very Severe - 4 7 1.4





Total 502



The diamond breakage studies while not directly equivalent are similar enough to draw the following conclusions about the diamond breakage at BK16. They indicate a low level of un-natural or 'fresh' diamond breakages for the BK16 LDD diamonds. Most diamonds (68.5 to 69.7 %) were unbroken (zero breakage), and only 17.5 to 20.1 % were chipped. Breakage beyond this was limited to 11.4 to 12.7 %. This low level of fresh breakages illustrates the well managed LDD and dense media separation ("DMS") plant treatment programs.

BK16 SFD Modelling of In-Situ "Run of Mine" Grade and Value by Mr. Coward and comparison to Karowe mine (AK6)

The BK16 24-inch large diameter reverse flood air assist drilling (simplified to LDD) campaign is considered to be best practice and an industry standard for diamond project evaluation. The LDD tonnage estimate of 2,077 dry metric tonnes is based on the product of average domain density and the calipered volume of the drill holes from which the samples were extracted. Domain densities are derived from density measurements, made on cores from pilot holes that are twinned with the LDD holes.

Processing diamonds obtained from LDD samples is complex and cannot be considered an 'assay' as would be the case for many types of metal mineral sampling. Material differences are thus common between the raw diluted recovered grade or 'sample grade' from a set of samples and the true in-situ or 'global' grade of the target kimberlite body. The basis for this difference arises from:

Low diamond concentration and high dispersion of diamonds in kimberlites;

Variable degrees of dilution within the kimberlite;

Wide distribution of diamonds resulting in under representation of coarse diamonds especially in small sample sizes;

Diamond breakage during sample recovery such a drilling and sample treatment processes;

Loss of diamonds due to lock up; and

Loss of diamonds to undersize

Diamond sample size is critical when assessing a kimberlite body as under sampling can give a dramatically skewed representation of the diamond distribution in a kimberlite.

The objective of the present studies was to establish the plausible ranges for the recoverable in-situ diamonds size frequency and the resultant average target grade and target diamond value. The belief that diamond SFD of the BK16 kimberlite is predictable is based on previous studies by Davy (1989) and Ferreira (2013). Methods used to assess the potential target values include the following process steps:

Sample analysis:

Assess the range of possible stone concentration in the 243 LDD samples (representing ~3.4m3 on average), through modelling and simulating the stone concentration, using the raw data acquired from treatment of the LDD samples;

Assessment of diamond loss potential attributed to breakage, quantification of the impact this may have had on the diamond size distribution observed and hence the resulting SFD model;

Review the recovered size distribution and simulate samples of 502 stones from this distribution to determine a plausible range for sample grades; and

Review of sample $/ct to assess relationships between size and value.

Global Modelling:

Use of the model size frequency with the recovered size grade distribution to develop plausible ranges for the in-situ grade-size model;

Comparison with producing operations to verify the reliability of the derived rages of the grade size model and $/ct value models; and

Obtain some indication of the plausible global range of recoverable in-situ kimberlite value in $/tonne from the diamond $/ct ranges and grade size distribution models.

The diamonds have been individually valued and classified by assortment. The samples contain several high-quality Type IIa diamonds and the parcels have a substantial proportion of highly marketable shapes in the assortment. This information was used to develop estimates for the revenue that might be achieved for larger diamonds assuming the assortment in larger sizes reflects the quality of the assortment observed in the smaller size fractions. These models were applied to the size distribution models to produce a range of average $/ct values.

Forward modelling of diamond reconstitution for breakage analysis by Mr. Coward using the diamond breakage data supplied by Mr. Ferraris and Dr. Lawless suggests that at most, reconstitution modelling may add ~6% by value to the recovered parcel, but when using a conventional reconstitution method, the difference is less than 2%. The impact of reconstitution was immaterial on the modelling of the SFD.

Analysis of the values for stone concentration suggest good continuity and the associated grade uncertainty is considered low. Analysis of the size distribution of the diamonds recovered at BK16 indicates there may well be a coarse component to the distribution. Figure 1 shows the SFD modelling curves for the BK16 kimberlite (course = blue, and fine = purple). Included in Figure 1 is a direct comparison to the AK6 north lobe LDD (green) and production (gold) SFD curves, this was done as it became apparent that there was a similarity between BK16 and the AK6 north lobe SFD.

Figure 1. A plot of grade vs size for BK16 samples (Red) and AK6 samples at grade of 5 cpht (Green), as well as the BK16 coarse model (Blue), and the BK16 fine model (Purple), and AK6 North production (Orange).

Modelling of the BK16 diamond value in $/ct using the modelled SFD distribution would normally require the fitting of the distribution for diamond value within each size class. In this case however, there are too few stones to do this with any reliability. As such, an extrapolation model of the average within class $/ct was the approach used to derive a range of plausible values for stones that are greater in size than those observed in the sample. It must be noted that this is an aspirational method of arriving at a potential valuation and will have to be treated with due caution until enough stones have been recovered to validate or invalidate any of the projections made.

Figure 2 displays three modelled lines (orange, grey and yellow) that represent three methods for extrapolation diamond value into the larger categories. These diamond values can then be applied to BK16 modelled SFD to determine the average overall diamond value in $/ct that might be possible should these values be observed.

Model 1 (orange line) - Represents a traditional conservative extrapolation of maximum observed values into upper classes in which the value of the highest observed $/ct is kept constant into the higher size fractions. This model returned an average diamond value of 298 $/ct (~70% of the value coming from extrapolation). It should be noted that this conservative method can represent an under extrapolation given that larger diamonds value in $/ct would often increase into larger size categories.

Model 2 (grey line) - Represents an incremental increase in diamond value based on the increment of value across the last few populated size classes, this proportional increment is then extended into the higher classes. This model returned an average diamond value of 453 $/ct (~80% of the value coming from extrapolation).

Model 3 (yellow line) - Represents an optimistic model based on the assortment remaining the same into the upper size classes, this assumes that the relationship between value and size is unaffected in the larger categories. This model returned an average diamond value of 792 $/ct (~84% of the value coming from extrapolation).

Figure 2. Plot of average $/ct per sieve class overlain with the three extrapolated models for value in classes that have no diamonds.

The BK16 modelled grade size distributions, can be used with the modelled diamond value $/ct to compare $/ct diamond value curves with those of AK6 (using production values), see Figure 3. The values from BK16 appear to be higher than those for Karowe in the fine size ranges. Above one carat however the $/ ct increases in slope for Karowe and has a large jump in the value of stones above 10 cts. No exceptionally large high values stones of this size have been recovered from BK16. At this stage, it is not possible to predict the shape of the value curve beyond the application of extrapolations already presented, although given the presence of Type IIa diamonds seen within the BK16 kimberlite there is the potential for a similar upside trend when larger samples are taken.

Figure 3. A plot of diamond value in $/ct per sieve class vs stone size, comparing the models developed for BK16 vs the production $/ct/sieve class data for AK6.

These approaches and BK16 SFD models were used to generate a plausible envelope for the BK16 diamond size distribution. These models were used to forward model accurate run of mine production (in-situ/global) grades and diamond value in $/ct. These extrapolated size distribution outcomes of grade and value were combined to calculate the range of potential kimberlite value in $/tonne for BK16. The results have produced feasible ranges for the variables that are required to design and optimize the ongoing evaluation strategy (Table 4).

Table 4. Summary comparison of Sampled, Published and Current Study Ranges for the BK16 deposit. Variable Unit of Measure Current BK16 SFD Study *Karowe (AK6) Min P20 P80 Max North Centre South Grade Cpht 4 5 7 8 13 14 12 Diamond Value US$/carat 281 290 600 792 222 367 716 Kimberlite Value US$/tonne 11 15 38 67 29.68 53.46 91.22

*The values for Karowe (AK6) are based on the Open pit Mineral Reserve Estimate as at May 2018, Nowicki, 2018. Note - the grade of AK6 has gone down over time, but the $/ct and $/tonne have steadily increased over time as evidence and thus confidence has increased in the large high-quality component of their diamond population.

These modelled values have been derived from a combination of real data and extrapolation and should be considered as aspirational targets. Given the demonstrated spatial continuity in grade, future sampling should focus on acquisition of larger samples to demonstrate both the coarse size distribution and to produce a large enough parcel of diamonds to demonstrate that the diamond quality observed in smaller size fractions continues into the large diamond sizes.

Links to the reports and presentations prepared by Mr. Coward pertaining to this SFD modelling study of BK16 can be found on the following link http://www.tsodiloresources.com/s/Diamond.asp?ReportID=844024.

Exploration Target Tonnage Update

The quoted Exploration Target tonnage range of 18.2 to 20.1million tonnes is an update and an increase on the tonnages quoted in the Exploration Target Tonnage press release of July 15, 2015. The increase in volume of all the kimberlite units is due to new drill-hole information from the 14-pilot drill-holes (NQ drill core, totaling 3,220 meters) of drilled as pilot holes for the LDD program, of which 2,801 meters were drilled in kimberlite, see press release of June 26, 2017. This resulted in a BK16 model update produced in Gocad 3D modelling software, see: http://www.tsodiloresources.com/i/pdf/BK16.pdf

The tonnages produced for the BK16 kimberlite units are based on the volumes from updated modelling and an updated set of density core measurements of these two units down to a level of 450 meters below surface. The lower Exploration Target tonnage of 18.2 Mt presented is based on the modelled volume and converted to tonnage using the lower average weathered kimberlite density of 2.29 g/cm3. The upper Exploration Target tonnage of 20.1 Mt presented here is based on the modelled volume and converted to tonnage using the higher average fresher kimberlite density of 2.53 g/cm3.

This exploration target and the references made to tonnage of the BK16 deposit are conceptual in nature, and at present time there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.

Ongoing work

Crushing and X-ray treatment through the Bourevestnik Polus-M X-ray unit of the +3 mm concentrate fractions in order to liberate any locked-up diamonds is ongoing and auditing of the BV tailings through a simple grease recovering unit has recently commenced.

Future work

A second phase of bulk sampling to increase the sample caratage from BK16 is being investigated. This is necessary to improve the confidence limit of the US$ per carat modeled values for feasibility purposes. Several different scenarios are being investigated to recover a minimum of 500 carats either by extending the existing shaft and tunnels or using 24-inch LDD work either as cluster holes or individual holes on a grid system.

Due to the costs associated with bulk sampling, the Company has entered into confidentiality agreements with several firms and entities which have indicated an interest in entering into a transaction via a purchase of an interest in BK16; a joint venture; or a marketing agreement for BK16 diamonds. Discussions are still at a preliminary stage and there is no certainty a transaction will be concluded.

References

Davy, A.T., 1989. The Size Distributions of Diamonds in Kimberlites and Lamproites. PhD Thesis, Imperial College London.

Ferreira, J.J., 2013. Sampling and estimation of diamond content in kimberlite based on microdiamonds. PhD Thesis, Ecole De Mines Paris p.207.

Nowicki, T. E., Armstrong, J., Fourie, L. J. H., and Garlick, G. 2018. 2018 Technical Report for the Karowe Mine: Updated Mineral Resource Estimate. By Mineral Services on behalf of Lucara Diamond Corp.

Zimnisky, P., 2018. Replenishing Economic Diamond Resources, A Daunting task for Miners. Published by the Northern Miner on August 20, 2018.

About Tsodilo Resources Limited

Tsodilo Resources Limited is an international diamond and metals exploration company engaged in the search for economic diamond and metal deposits at its Bosoto (Pty) Limited ("Bosoto") and Gcwihaba Resources (Pty) Limited ("Gcwihaba") projects in Botswana and its Idada 361 (Pty) Limited ("Idada") project in Barberton, South Africa. The Company has a 100% stake in Bosoto (Pty) Ltd. which holds the BK16 kimberlite project in the Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF) in Botswana and the PL216/2017 diamond prospection license also in the OKF. The Company has a 100% stake in its Gcwihaba project area consisting of seven metal (base, precious, platinum group, and rare earth) prospecting licenses all located in the North-West district of Botswana. Additionally, Tsodilo has a 70% stake in Idada Trading 361 (Pty) Limited which holds the gold and silver exploration license in the Barberton area of South Africa. Tsodilo manages the exploration of the Gcwihaba, Bosoto and Idada projects. Overall supervision of the Company's exploration program is the responsibility of Dr. Mike de Wit, President and COO of the Company and a "qualified person" as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements 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 pertaining to the use of proceeds, the impact of strategic partnerships and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, changes in equity markets, changes in general economic conditions, market volatility, political developments in Botswana and surrounding countries, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, exploration and development risks, the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration results and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration business. 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, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, uncertainties relating to availability and cost of funds, timing and content of work programs, results of exploration activities, interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, risks relating to variations in the diamond grade and kimberlite lithologies; variations in rates of recovery and breakage; estimates of grade and quality of diamonds, variations in diamond valuations and future diamond prices; the state of world diamond markets, reliability of mineral property titles, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required project approvals, operational and infrastructure risk and other risks involved in the diamond exploration and development business. 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, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain assumptions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are subject to factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

James M. Bruchs

Dr. Mike de Wit

Head Office

Website Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

President and Chief Operating Officer

Telephone +1 416 572 2033

http://www.TsodiloResources.com JBruchs@TsodiloResources.com

MdeWit@TsodiloResources.com

Facsimile + 1 416 987 4369



SOURCE: Tsodilo Resources Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533393/Tsodilo-Resources-Limited-Announces-BK16-Second-Independent-Diamond-Value-and-Grade-Modelling-Results
Former CEO, EMEA, of The Leading Edge joins Hotwire to help company deliver powerful insight-led strategies, ideas and communications

Hotwire, the global communications agency, today announced the appointment of Chris Paxton to a newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer, beginning February 4, 2019. He was previously the CEO, EMEA of The Leading Edge, an insight and strategy consultancy. Both Hotwire and The Leading Edge are owned by Enero Group Limited (ASX:EGG).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005188/en/

Chris Paxton, Chief Strategy Officer at Hotwire (Photo: Business Wire)

The appointment signals Hotwire's ambition to maintain and grow its reputation for providing industry leading strategy and counsel to its global client base. In his previous role with The Leading Edge, Paxton led many cross-agency assignments and so joins Hotwire with a unique perspective on both firms. Paxton's new role will serve to accelerate ongoing collaboration not just with The Leading Edge but with other agencies in the Enero network.

Based in London, Paxton joins Hotwire's Global Leadership Team and will be tasked with building even stronger ties across Hotwire and The Leading Edge and on delivering powerful insight-led strategies, ideas and communications across Hotwire clients. Paxton will immediately assume leadership of Hotwire's existing Strategy and Marketing Services Group along with US based executive vice president, Sahana Jayaraman.

"We're focused on challenging the established agency order using our size and skills as a not-so-secret weapon. We're the right size to provide an alternative solution for clients looking for fresh thinking to their business and communications issues," said Barbara Bates, Hotwire's Global CEO. "The appointment of Chris to this newly created role signals our commitment to deliver the right level of strategy and business counsel to our clients. I'm delighted he's joining our leadership team at this exciting time for Hotwire."

Paxton is a proven and experienced business consultant with a core specialism in insight-based strategy and activation. His past experience involves building a team of global strategists to help evolve The Leading Edge from an insights business to a truly global strategy agency. He has worked with notable brands including Nokia, Sony, Nestle, Bayer, McDonalds, Vodafone and AB InBev and has deep experience in leading teams to translate data into opportunities, ideas and strategies for growth. Paxton previously held domestic positions in the UK and Australia and has worked in a global capacity, supporting offices in America, Singapore, Brazil, and India.

Notes to editors

For more information, please email Sharon.kane@hotwireglobal.com

About Hotwire

Hotwire, the global communications agency, helps CMOs better engage and connect with their customers. From Sydney to San Francisco, we operate with a borderless mind-set across 22 locations including the UK, US, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Australia, together with co-branded partners Yellow Communications in the Netherlands and Belgium, Active DMC in the Middle East and VIANEWS in Brazil, as well as other affiliate partners. For more information, please visit www.hotwireglobal.com.

About The Leading Edge

The Leading Edge is an insight, strategy and innovation consultancy that works with brands and businesses to help them unleash their hidden potential and give them an edge. With offices in London and Sydney, The Leading Edge work across the globe to help brands grow. Find out more at www.theleadingedge.com.

About Enero

Hotwire is wholly owned by Enero Group Limited, a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:EGG). The Enero Group is a boutique network of marketing and communications businesses that includes BMF, CPR, Frank PR, Hotwire, Naked Communications, OB Media, Precinct, Orchard Marketing, The Digital Edge and The Leading Edge. For more information, please visit www.enero.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005188/en/

Contacts:

Hotwire

Sharon Kane

Sharon.kane@hotwireglobal.com
It was in middle school. It was hard to watch. I was really young, and I didnt quite grasp the severity of it. But now that I am older, I can appreciate the seriousness of it, she said. Ive had loved ones that have dealt with this issue, so I kind of took inspiration from that.
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) have included three

innovative technologies from Case IH and two technologies from New Holland Agriculture in their annual AE50 Awards. The awards honor the year's most innovative designs in engineering products or systems for the food and agriculture industries.

London, January 23, 2019

Case IH and New Holland Agriculture, the two global agricultural machinery brands of CNH Industrial (NYSE: CNHI /MI: CNHI), have been included in the 2019 edition of the AE50 Awards. Companies from around the world submit entries to the annual competition, of which 50 of the best products are judged by a panel of international engineering experts as having the most impact in advancing engineering for the food and agriculture industries.

Case IH has received recognition for three innovations. The Axial-Flow 250 series combine with new AFS Harvest Command has adjustable rotor cage vanes for tailored crop separation performance and improved feeder house design. The AFS Harvest Command combine automation system proactively senses and automatically optimizes machine performance for maximum efficiency. The AFS Soil Command seedbed sensing and agronomic control technology uses Advanced Farming Systems (AFS) components to allow the operator to precisely coordinate control of every component of their tillage tool to optimize all machine settings as field conditions change. The Precision Disk 500DS Double Shoot Air Drill saves time, work and production costs by allowing operators to seed and fertilize simultaneously in one pass. Its Precision Placement Knife optimally positions fertilizer to increase its accessibility to growing plants.

New Holland Agriculture has two innovations named to the top 50. The IntelliSense pro-active and automatic combine setting system, available on New Holland's CR Revelation combine harvester, takes automation to a new level to address the challenge of maintaining maximum throughput while keeping losses and damaged grain to a minimum. Enabling the combine to react every 20 seconds by selecting the best action out of 280 million possibilities, it relies on cutting edge technology that includes the first ever cleaning shoe load sensor coupled with the next generation Grain Cam and electrically adjustable rotor vanes. An industry first, this ground breaking feature delivers significant advantages to the customers' productivity: increased daily output, reduced grain loss and improved grain quality. It also introduces important benefits for the operator: fewer decisions to take, enhanced comfort and driver confidence, less fatigue and a simple user interface. The Intelligent Trailer Braking System is an innovative feature that automatically controls pneumatic trailer brakes. Developed for New Holland's T7 Auto Command and T6 Auto Command tractors, the system delivers stability under braking with a trailer, particularly on low friction surfaces, resulting in greater safety by reducing the risk of a jack-knife. It ensures the deceleration rate of the tractor and its trailer are aligned when the tractor's speed is reduced using its Continuously Variable Transmission alone.

CNH IndustrialN.V.

Sign up for corporate news alerts from the CNH Industrial Newsroom:

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Media contact:

Laura Overall

Corporate Communications Manager

CNH Industrial

Tel. +44

www.cnhindustrial.com

Attachments
KANAZAWA, Japan, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) that a particular signaling pathway in breast-cancer tumors causes cancer cells to divide symmetrically, expanding the tumor.Inhibiting the pathway by drugs could become a strategy for eliminating the cancer cells.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/812332/Kanazawa_University_Fig_1.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/812333/Kanazawa_University_fig_2.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/812334/Kanazawa_University_fig_3.jpg )



In breast cancer, one of the most common cancers in women, tumors contain a small amount of so-called cancer stem-like cells (CSCs). Being able to eliminate breast-cancer stem-like cells in a targeted way is essential for developing successful therapies - conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy followed by drug intake, do not target CSCs. A better understanding of the processes generating CSCs in breast-cancer tumors is needed. Noriko Gotoh from Kanazawa University and colleagues have now uncovered a signaling pathway directly related to the proliferation of CSCs in breast cancer.

A property of stem cells is that they can self-renew and differentiate. Two types of stem-cell division can occur: symmetric or asymmetric (Fig. 1). In the former, two self-renewing stem cells are generated; in the latter, only one (and a differentiated cell). It is now believed that malignant CSCs have a higher tendency to divide symmetrically, thus increasing the number of CSCs. Gotoh and colleagues looked at how the microenvironment of CSCs, called the CSC niche, causes and sustains an increased rate of symmetric division.

The researchers started from the observation that a particular gene encoding a type of cytokine known as Semaphorin 3 (Sema3) was one of the most-expressed genes in the CSC niche (Fig. 2). (Cytokines are small proteins that, when released, affect the behavior of cells around them.) The production of Sema3 activates another protein, called MICAL3, the expression levels of which were also found to be high in the CSC niche.

Via a series of experiments in vitro, Gotoh and colleagues were able to confirm the critical roles of Sema3 and MICAL3 in breast cancer tumor development. Specifically, MICAL3 was shown to be required for tumor sphere formation (tumorigenicity is associated with spherical cell shapes). The scientists showed that Sema3-stimulated MICAL3 triggered a whole sequence of biomolecular interactions (a signaling pathway), ultimately resulting in induced symmetric division of CSCs, and hence their proliferation, in breast cancer (Fig. 3).

Having established this important pathway is highly relevant for developing treatments for breast cancer, because, quoting Gotoh and colleagues, "by inhibition of MICAL3  or knockdown of each component in the signaling pathway, the symmetric cell division may be inhibited, leading to a reduction of breast-cancer stem-like cells."

Background

Cancer stem cells

A cancer stem (or stem-like) cell (CSC) is a cancerous cell with the property that it can differentiate in various cell types found in a particular cancer sample. CSCs are tumor-forming and resistant to radio- and chemotherapy. New cancer therapies targeting CSCs are being developed, as CSCs are involved in cancer metastasis and tumor relapse.

Noriko Gotoh from Kanazawa University and colleagues have now shown that a particular mechanism causes the CSCs in breast cancer to increasingly divide symmetrically, thereby each time creating two CSCs.

Signaling pathways

A signaling pathway describes the signal transduction process in which a chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a cell as a sequence of molecular events - typically, biochemical reactions involving proteins. In a signaling pathway, groups of molecules work together to control cell functions, like cell division or cell death. The abnormal activation of a signaling pathway can sometimes lead to cancer. A strategy for preventing cancer due to abnormal signaling is to develop drugs that block the pathway.

Gotoh and colleagues have now discovered a signaling pathway that links the release of particular proteins to the stimulation of symmetrical CSC division in breast cancer.

Reference

Kana Tominaga, Hiroshi Minato, Takahiko Murayama, Asako Sasahara, Tatsunori Nishimura, Etsuko Kiyokawa, Hajime Kanauchi, Seiichiro Shimizu, Ayaka Sato, Kotoe Nishioka, Ei-ichi Tsuji, Masao Yano, Toshihisa Ogawa, Hideshi Ishii, Masaki Mori, Koichi Akashi, Koji Okamoto, Masahiko Tanabe, Kei-ichiro Tada, Arinobu Tojo, and Noriko Gotoh. Semaphorin signaling via MICAL3 induces symmetric cell division to expand breast cancer stem-like cells, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. (January 8, 2019)

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1806851116

URL: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1806851116

About Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University is a research center established in 2017 as part of the World Premier International Research Center Initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The objective of this initiative is to form world-tier research centers. NanoLSI combines the foremost knowledge of bio-scanning probe microscopy to establish 'nano-endoscopic techniques' to directly image, analyze, and manipulate biomolecules for insights into mechanisms governing life phenomena such as diseases.

About Kanazawa University

http://www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/e/

As the leading comprehensive university on the Sea of Japan coast, Kanazawa University has contributed greatly to higher education and academic research in Japan since it was founded in 1949. The University has three colleges and 17 schools offering courses in subjects that include medicine, computer engineering, and humanities.

The University is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Kanazawa - a city rich in history and culture. The city of Kanazawa has a highly respected intellectual profile since the time of the fiefdom (1598-1867). Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi for its approximately 10,200 students including 600 from overseas.

Further information

Hiroe Yoneda

Vice Director of Public Affairs

WPI Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

Kanazawa University

Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

Email: nanolsi-office@adm.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

Tel: +81-(76)-234-4550


Leading cloud-based healthcare supply management solution provider shortlisted for its work with both Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX), a leader in cloud-based healthcare supply chain management solutions, which helps empower healthcare organisations to enable better patient care and maximise industry savings, has been shortlisted twice at Health Service Journal's (HSJ) Healthcare Partnership Awards 2019.

Each year, the HSJ Partnership Awards showcase the most trusted partnerships with the NHS through a rigorous and challenging entry and judging programme. Patient experience and outcomes are at the centre of the criteria, but judges also recognise value creation, stakeholder involvement, savings and sharing of best practice.

GHX's two shortlisted projects are within the 'Procurement Support or Service Project of the Year' category:

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: GS1 and Scan4Safety

By partnering with GHX, Leeds was able to deploy technologies and solutions for data and catalogue management, improve supply chain automation and implement GS1 data standards in collaboration with its suppliers. Scan4Safety pushed both Leeds and GHX to build and expand upon these solid foundations. As a result, Leeds has streamlined processes and reduced waste while enhancing patient care.

By partnering with GHX, Leeds was able to deploy technologies and solutions for data and catalogue management, improve supply chain automation and implement GS1 data standards in collaboration with its suppliers. Scan4Safety pushed both Leeds and GHX to build and expand upon these solid foundations. As a result, Leeds has streamlined processes and reduced waste while enhancing patient care. Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: SmartTogether* Procurement Shared Service

A new partnership which will help enable the Trust and hosted Shared Service, SmartTogether, to realise true efficiencies and savings through the application of GHX's market leading healthcare technology. The partnership will help deliver the proven benefits of shared catalogue management through NEXUS, GHX's GS1-compatible, GDSN-fed, cloud-based catalogue system.

GHX has been invited to present both projects for consideration during a live judging day in February, with winners being announced at an awards event in London on the 20th March.

GHX provides a full range of intelligent eCommerce and supply chain solutions specifically designed for the complex world of healthcare. This sector-specific knowledge has been bringing healthcare providers, manufacturers and distributors together for nearly 20 years, with the overarching objective of helping enable better patient care and maximising industry savings. The organisation's technology connects thousands of healthcare suppliers, manufacturers and distributors with hospitals and GPOs as well as to Governments for reporting processes. GHX technology helps enable the right devices, equipment, services and medicines to flow efficiently through the European healthcare supply chain.

For more information about GHX visit: www.ghx.com/europe

Details of all finalists shortlisted for the HSJ Healthcare Partnership Awards 2019 can be viewed here: https://partnership.hsj.co.uk/finalists

*SmartTogether is a procurement shared service hosted by Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and includes Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust. The shared service manages over 0.5b of non-pay spend and includes the largest deployment of automated inventory management systems in Europe at Guy's and St Thomas'.

-ENDS-

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005454/en/

Contacts:

GHX UK:

Sarah Brereton

Limewash

sarah@limewash.co.uk

+44 (0) 1223 813 560
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 23, 2019) - Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: MGM) (OTCQB: MGMLF) (FSE: M3G) ("Maple Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Roscoe Postle Associates ("RPA") has been retained to prepare a new resource estimate update on the Company's Douay Project. RPA provides services to the mining industry at all stages of project development and is one of the top three organizations ranked by number of resource estimation reports completed.[1]

Maple Gold's President and CEO, Matthew Hornor, stated: "We look forward to working with RPA to complete this new resource estimate, as a follow up to the work previously completed by Micon. The new estimate and the commencement of a focused drill campaign are both expected later this quarter. We will continue to share additional results from our 3D modeling work in the coming weeks, including some of our highest priority drill targets."

The updated mineral resource estimate will use the Company's updated databases and models (see press release January 16, 2018), including the results of winter 2018 drilling that did not form part of the prior estimate (Micon 2018). This new mineral resource estimate is anticipated to include both open pit and underground resources. This is consistent with the Company's strategy of optimizing the quality of the existing resources while continuing to add to the quantity of the resource base via discovery drilling, not only within the top 400m, but also below that level as part of the evaluation of the overall (open pit and underground) potential of the project. RPA's work will prove essential as the Company prepares and advances Douay toward its first overall Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA"), which the Company plans to start toward year-end.

2017 resource tax credit claims

The Company has received notices of assessment from Revenu Quebec with respect to the Company's 2017 resource tax credit claims. The Company will receive approximately $1.9 million related to these 2017 claims and the refunds are expected to be received during Q1 2019.

Maple Gold grants incentive stock options

The Company has granted 7,330,000 incentive stock options to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants exercisable at an exercise price of $0.16 (55% above previous day's closing price). The options have a 5-year term and vest one-third immediately, one-third 12 months from the date of grant and one-third 24 months from the date of grant until the options are fully vested. The Company's Stock Option Plan governs these incentive options, as well as the terms and conditions of their exercise, which is in accordance with policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical data contained in this press release was reviewed and prepared under the supervision of Fred Speidel, M. Sc, P. Geo., Vice-President Exploration, of Maple Gold. Mr. Speidel is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Speidel has verified the data related to the exploration information disclosed in this news release through his direct participation in the work.

About Maple Gold

Maple Gold is an advanced gold exploration and development company focused on defining a district-scale gold project in one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions. The Company's ~389 km Douay Gold Project is located along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone (55 km of strike) within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northern Quebec, Canada. The Project benefits from excellent infrastructure and has an established gold resource3 that remains open in multiple directions. For more information please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.

ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD.

"Matthew Hornor"

B. Matthew Hornor, President & CEO

For Further Information Please Contact:



Mr. Joness Lang

VP, Corporate Development

Cell: 778.686.6836

Email: jlang@maplegoldmines.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada, including statements about the prospective mineral potential of the Porphyry Zone, the potential for significant mineralization from other drilling in the referenced drill program and the completion of the drill program. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding timing and completion of the private placement. When used herein, words such as "anticipate", "will", "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are based on certain estimates, expectations, analysis and opinions that management believed reasonable at the time they were made or in certain cases, on third party expert opinions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, and uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual events, results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future events, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.'s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

[1] RSC Mineral Intelligence
AURORA, IL / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / Universal Apparel & Textile Company (OTC PINK: DKGR) is pleased to announce that it has produced both summer and winter clothing for a high-end, urban wholesaler. Three containers of goods have arrived this month in a New York port bound forthe wholesaler which has been especially popular catering to both the African American and Hispanic communities. They primarily supply chain stores, beauty supply stores and other smaller wholesalers all over the USA.

These 3 shipments will generate well over $300,000 USD in revenue for Universal Apparel and allow it to continue with its market penetration strategy.

Mr. Kabir, CEO of Universal Apparel & Textile Company, states, 'We are becoming increasingly popular in the urban apparel industry in that our productsare being sold by many different wholesalers to end users without the average customer knowing the identity of the real manufacturer. This will change as our brand is now being strongly demanded since we are in the beginning stages of gathering a cult-like following.'

Updates will be forthcoming.

This release includes forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and reflects management's current expectations. 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. Some of these factors include: general global economic conditions; general industry and market conditions, sector changes and growth rates; uncertainty as to whether our strategies and business plans will yield the expected benefits; increasing competition; availability and cost of capital; the ability to identify and develop and achieve commercial success; the level of expenditures necessary to maintain and improve the quality of services; changes in the economy; changes in laws and regulations, including codes and standards, intellectual property rights, and tax matters; or other matters not anticipated; our ability to secure and maintain strategic relationships and distribution agreements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACT:

ir@universalapparelusa.com



SOURCE: Universal Apparel & Textile Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533358/Universal-Apparel-Textile-Company-OTC-PINK-DKGR-Receives-Three-Containers-Earmarked-For-A-High-End-Urban-Wholesaler
Elixinol CBD is now available in 41 countries around the globe

DENVER, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Elixinol's cannabidiol (CBD) products will now be available in New Zealand. Elixinol is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian-based Elixinol Global Limited (ASX: EXL; OTCQX: ELLXF).



The announcement comes on the heels of the December 2018 passage of New Zealand's Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Act which classifies CBD, with low levels of THC as prescription medicine and removes CBD as a Class B1 controlled drug.

The Act recognizes CBD as a substance with "therapeutic value with little or no psychoactive properties."

Individual patients may now import up to a 3-month supply of CBD products, provided those products meet prescription medicine guidelines. Medicinal practitioners, pharmacies may also import and sell CBD products as can individuals or companies holding a license to sell medicines in New Zealand. Patients in New Zealand may now enter or leave New Zealand with up to 3 months supply of CBD with evidence of prescription.

Elixinol brand capsules, topicals, and all tinctures including Liposomes meet the required standard for import into New Zealand. Elixinol has already started to receive prescriptions and is happy to announce the first shipment has now been successfully received in New Zealand.

"As a company who meets and exceeds quality and import standards in 40 different countries, we welcome the opportunity to serve the people of New Zealand with premium quality CBD," said Gabriel Ettenson, Elixinol President.

"For years now, we have been receiving inquiries from people in New Zealand who want to utilize CBD for their therapeutic purposes and until now, we've been unable to assist," he continued.

Paul Benhaim, CEO of parent company EXL, commented, "Over the past few weeks, we have seen a groundswell of change in legislation related to cannabidiol. The US Farm Bill was passed in December, and through that process, CBD was descheduled from the Controlled Substances Act. Now, this change in New Zealand enables Elixinol to ship CBD to patients who have been requesting it for years. We are delighted to be one of the first companies to supply New Zealand patients with the range our US customers have been benefiting from for years."

Customers with valid prescriptions in New Zealand should contact Elixinol through the website: elixinol.com

The change in New Zealand's classification for CBD comes only weeks after the U.S. government also removed CBD as a Class 1 Schedule Drug and made hemp extracts, including CBD, federally legal with the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill.

About Elixinol:

Colorado-based Elixinol , co-founded by Paul Benhaim, hemp entrepreneur since 1991, is widely regarded as one of the most influential CBD brands in the world. With a proven track record of growing and extracting premium-quality hemp, Elixinol is one of the few CBD hemp extract brands with complete seed-to-sale control over its products. Elixinol also conducts rigorous third-party laboratory testing and quality control. Elixinol distributes hemp-derived CBD products in 40 countries globally including North and South America, throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Region under its own label as well as bulk CBD and wholesale CBD. Elixinol's parent company EXL) is publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange and on the U.S. OTC.

Media Contact:

Chris Husong

Elixinol

+1 844-804-3504 ext 420

chris@elixinol.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f84ad4db-e2ab-408d-adb7-d82b1525d56c
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY; OTCQB: ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") with a major timberlands owner in the state of Virginia, USA ("the Lessor") which grants Aston Bay, through its wholly owned subsidiary Blue Ridge Mining Inc. ("Blue Ridge"), an exclusive option to lease the mineral rights to certain lands controlled by the Lessor. Aston Bay believes that these lands are highly prospective for base and precious metals mineralization.

Technical Advisor to Blue Ridge Don Taylor commented "signing of this agreement is a key step in the exploration program as the lands in question will allow ready access to several previously identified high priority base and precious metals targets."

"We are excited to partner with such a significant landholder and look to further developing the relationship," stated Aston Bay CEO Thomas Ullrich. "This is the first of several land access agreements currently in advanced stages of negotiation. Together, these will form the core of the Blue Ridge Project, with drilling on base and precious metals targets anticipated in Virginia this winter."

Under the terms of the non-binding LOI, it is intended that Aston Bay will make annual lease payments and commit to minimum annual expenditures for exploring the property over the three-year term of the agreement. The LOI also contains provisions outlining the terms for Aston Bay to enter into mineral lease agreements on lands it intends to develop.

The parties to the LOI intend to finalize the terms of a definitive agreement in the coming weeks.

Aston Bay also announces that it is granting stock options in accordance with the terms and conditions of its rolling Stock Option Plan, entitling the purchase of an aggregate 4,025,000 common shares by certain officers, directors, consultants, employees and advisors to the Company. Each stock option will be exercisable at $0.10 per common share until January 22, 2026.

QUALIFIED PERSON

As per National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Michael Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., a Director of and a consultant to Aston Bay, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on the Storm Project.

ABOUT ASTON BAY HOLDINGS LTD.

Aston Bay is a publicly traded mineral exploration company exploring for large, high-grade, copper, zinc and precious metal deposits in Nunavut, Canada and Virginia, USA. The Company is led by CEO Thomas Ullrich with exploration directed by Chief Geologist Dr. David Broughton, the award-winning co-discoverer of Kamoa-Kakula and Flatreef, in conjunction with the Company's advisor, Don Taylor, the 2018 Thayler Lindsley Award winner for his discovery of the Taylor Pb-Zn-Ag Deposit in Arizona. The Company is 100% owner of the 1,024,345-acres (414,537-hectares) Aston Bay Property located on western Somerset Island, Nunavut, which neighbours Teck's profitable, past-producing Polaris (Pb-Zn) Mine just 200km to the north. The Aston Bay Property hosts the Storm Copper Project and the Seal Zinc Deposit with drill-confirmed presence of sediment-hosted copper and zinc mineralization. The Company has acquired the exclusive rights to an integrated dataset over certain prospective private lands at the Blue Ridge Project, located in central Virginia. These lands are located within a copper-lead-zinc-gold-silver mineralized belt, prospective for sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) and Broken Hill (BHT) type base metal deposits, as well as Carolina slate belt gold deposits. Don Taylor, who led Jack's Fork Exploration and assembled the dataset, has joined the Company's Advisory Board and will be directing the Company's exploration activities for the Blue Ridge Project. The Company's public disclosure documents are available on www.sedar.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements made in this press release, including those regarding the completion of the acquisition, management objectives, forecasts, estimates, expectations, or predictions of the future may constitute "forward-looking statement", which can be identified by the use of conditional or future tenses or by the use of such verbs as "believe", "expect", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "anticipate", "project", "plan", and words of similar import, including variations thereof and negative forms. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect, as of the date of this press release, Aston Bay's expectations, estimates and projections about its operations, the mining industry and the economic environment in which it operates. Statements in this press release that are not supported by historical fact are forward-looking statements, meaning they involve risk, uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Although Aston Bay believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which apply only at the time of writing of this press release. Aston Bay disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by securities legislation. We seek safe harbour.

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 news release.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer

thomas.ullrich@astonbayholdings.com

Telephone: (416) 456-3516

Sofia Harquail, IR and Corporate Development

sofia.harquail@astonbayholdings.com

Telephone: (647) 821-1337

SOURCE: Aston Bay Holdings Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533388/Aston-Bay-Signs-Letter-of-Intent-with-Major-Landowner-in-Virginia-Grants-Options
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / On Wednesday, September 13, 2017, Ms. Sherry Li, Chairman of Board of Thompson Education Center was invited by Steve Stivers, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and attended the National Congressional Committee's Fall Convention Dinner in Washington DC. Many Congressmen and leaders attended the event as well, including Alex Monney, Jack Bergman, Warren Davidson, Lee Zeldin, Mike Gallagher, Tom Emmer, John Moonlenaar, and Paul Mitchell.

Chairmen Steve Stivers, Ms Li, and other Congressmen discussed topics including the national financial policy, infrastructure, budget and education issues. They voiced on supporting the development of the economy, encouraging businesses to invest on infrastructure projects and creating job positions.

On September 18, 2017, Ms. Sherry Li joined a Breakfast which was held in the Harvard Club of New York in support of U.S. Senator of South California State, Lindsey Graham. Ms Li and Senator Graham discussed the needs for stronger policies to promote the approval of U.S. Construction Project, in order to accelerate the creation of job positions for the country.

On the same day, for supporting the chairman New York State's Republican, Ed Cox, and his recommended candidates of New York City's Mayor, Nicole Malliotakis and Comptroller, Michel Faulkner, Sherry Li met with them and conducted talks. Congressman John Katko and State Senator John DeFrancisco also attended the meeting. In discussing how to motivate investment, develop economy and create jobs, Sherry Li had conversation with congressman, the senator and many other politicians.

At noon, the Impacto Business and Economy Symposium invited Thompson Education Center and Sherry Li. It was held at the Union League Club in New York City and started with an opening by the CEO of Impacto Latino, Gail M. Smith. Many small businesses' chairmen, CEOs and commissioners came from various states and attended this event as well. In the meeting, representatives of companies made communication on Economy and Business, expressing on how to accelerate the creation of jobs. In this Symposium, Linda McMahon, the administrator of the Small Business Administration was also invited and had conversation with Sherry Li.

Sherry Li is committed to promote the development of economy and the creation of jobs, and Thompson Education Center puts every effort into connecting the education, culture, communication, and business opportunities between China and United States.

In addition, Thompson Education Center project will help create many jobs and stimulate the local economic development. Numerous jobs will be created throughout each phase of the entire project, such as real estate agents, professors, instructors, and workers, etc. Aside from the jobs directly created from the project and the daily operations on the location, there will be a ripple effect throughout the community. Thompson Education Center is about to be completed in Town of Thompson. The project will build a high-end education community in Sullivan County, New York. According to the economists' employment report, the project can create 2006.4 jobs per phase. The project has received strong support from local governments, institutions, small businesses and residents.

Thompson Education Center - A High-End Education Community in Sullivan County, NY: http://thompsoneducationcenternews.com

Thompson Education Center to Offer Classes and Programs to Alleviate Nursing Shortage: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thompson-education-center-offer-classes-151000942.html

Thompson Education Center Announces Plans for Performing Arts Center: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/thompson-education-center-announces-plans-215500406.html

Contact Information:

ThompsonEducationCenterNews.com

http://thompsoneducationcenternews.com

contact@thompsoneducationcenternews.com

SOURCE: Thompson Education Center

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533220/Chairman-of-Thompson-Education-Center-Meets-with-the-Congressmen-and-Leaders-in-NY-and-DC
KIBBUTZ GIVAT BRENNER, Israel, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Equinom's Non-GMO technology shapes the future of plant protein and creates new ecosystem

Equinom Ltd., a seed tech start-up, is combining natural breeding techniques with proprietary algorithms to produce high-functioning, non-genetically modified organism (non-GMO) seeds that have a superior nutritional profile while also boosting crop yield.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/812296/Equinom_Fields.jpg )



The cutting-edge technology creates a next-step ecosystem directly connecting food companies to the supply chain, in turn bringing greater transparency and paving the way for more responsible sourcing of high-value plant protein.

Equinom helps to produce high-quality protein on less land with less water consumption and reduced crop waste - a crucial issue when it comes to maintaining a sustainable food supply. The firm also helps develop consistent product and affordable pricing to ensure farmers' incomes. Equinom's tech experts used DNA sequencing and algorithms to discover various genomic crop characteristics. Then, through careful selection, breeds for seeds that maximize a plant's natural abilities. This technology enables production of non-GMO grains and pulses, including chickpeas, sesame, and soy, that possess substantially more protein with better functionality than varieties currently on the market. The technology also led to the discovery of rare varieties and traits that existed in nature but had been lost in years of breeding.

"The plant-based protein mega-trend has driven food companies to create more and more tasty, nutritious plant-based products," says Gil Shalev CEO for Equinom. "However, meeting demand has presented challenges due to poor organoleptic properties inherent in many plant protein ingredients. The high investment required to develop new, profitable varieties using conventional breeding, coupled by slow throughput, poses more obstacles."

Equinom successfully implemented a multi- tiered program:

Defining the product - Equinom works with food companies to define their desired target seed attributes, including, protein load, taste, color, and nutritional score. Crossbreeding - The desired qualities are sought in singular seed varieties or developed through crossbreeding. Optimized genetic code -The target product is formulated using a proprietary algorithm that runs millions of genomic combinations in silico (via computer modeling), in order to identify seeds with the highest nutritional potential.

Equinom's new ecosystem brings multiple benefits

Equinom's advances in computational breeding could lead to attractive rewards for all involved along the agri-food chain. Farmers can grow more sustainable crops from seeds tailored to desired specifications, and reap the benefit of better economies-of-scale as crop yield potential is dramatically enhanced.

Likewise consumers and food companies are now able enjoy products of a higher nutritional value at competitive prices. This project has also served to connect farmers with food ingredients companies who in effect have come into closer contact with the entire supply chain through constant tracking and monitoring bringing greater transparency and traceability.

"A food company that depends on legumes of a certain composition may have to wait anywhere between five to ten years under traditional methods," explains Itay Dana, Director of Marketing at Equinom. "Today, working in concert with the food company, we can design a target product with all the desired characteristics of taste, quality, and nutrient composition within two to three years."

Equinom's advanced economical breeding techniques exemplifies how genomics could be instrumental in overcoming some of the tremendous technical challenges that the agri-food industry has been facing in its efforts to supply the market with plant-based protein-rich products and seed oils, particularly in the face of a huge social rejection of GMO crops.

Greater plant-protein diversityin the long term

The company has expressed its long-term goal moving the agri-sector into a new sustainable, more profitable phase, and to engender more plant-protein diversity. Currently, 90% of cultivation of protein crops is concentrated on soy and wheat. The technology also reduces the anti-nutritional factors (ANF) inherent in plant proteins already at seed level. This, in turn, increases the proteins' bioavailability, making them more nutritive and more fully absorbed in the gut.

To date, Equinom has signed a number of contracts with global leaders in the food industry. These include a multi-year contract with Sabra Dipping Company, LLC, US (a joint venture of PepsiCo, Inc., US, and Israel's Strauss Group Ltd.), as well as a commercialization agreement with Mitsui & Co. of Japan.

Recently, Roquette, France, signed a partnership with Equinom for the development and sourcing of new pea varieties with high-protein content. In addition to this new collaboration, Roquette and Equinom's current shareholder Fortissimo Capital, Israel, will jointly invest US$4 million in the company to support its further development, bringing the company a total of US$10.5 million in investments.

Company Contact:

Equinom

Mr. Gil Shalev, CEO & CTO

Tel: +972-8-6580585

marketing@equi-nom.com

www.equi-nom.com



Press Contact

NutriPR

Ms. Liat Simha

Tel: +972-9-9742893

liat@nutripr.com

www.nutripr.com

Twitter: @LiatSimha


Introducing The Nobu Hotel Warsaw

NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nobu Hospitality, a global luxury lifestyle brand founded by Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro and Meir Teper, is delighted to announce its continued global expansion into Warsaw, Poland.

On track for 20 hotels globally by 2020, Nobu Hotels have become synonymous with passionate service, distinctive design and unpretentious luxury. Reflecting these core values within the local culture, Nobu Hotel Warsaw will be situated in the heart of the historic city. With 120-rooms, expansive meeting and event spaces, fitness centre and signature Nobu Restaurant, it will be an integrated mix of luxurious hotel and energised living spaces.

Nobu Hotel's first Polish property will open in the first half of next year and occupy a new building located at Wilcza Street, designed by the Polish architectural firm, Medusa Group, and will also encompass the existing Hotel Rialto. The design refurbishment will be a collaborative effort between Medusa Group and Californian-based, Studio PCH. The new building will see a transformative architectural design for Warsaw, blending with the original Rialto building.

Warsaw is the cultural heart of Poland, and one of the country's most dynamic cities. With a booming business community, Warsaw has been ranked as the 7th greatest emerging market in the world and continues to evolve as a vibrant leisure destination.

Trevor Horwell, Chief Executive Officer of Nobu Hotels said, "As we enter 2019, this is our newest hotel in Europe and the start of an exciting future partnership. We are truly proud to announce Nobu Hotel Warsaw to our growing Nobu Hotel and Restaurant family. This takes our hotel portfolio to 17 hotels underpinning our strategy to carve out our own niche whilst staying true to our brand and loyal Nobu customer."

Karolina Kaim, president of Tacit Investment said, "Nobu is a global brand, recognizable thanks to the passion of its founders, exceptional service and excellent cuisine. In combination with Polish openness and energy, we will create an exciting and unique place that will win the hearts of visiting guests. We are especially pleased that we will be able to offer our clients the most famous dishes of the Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, served in Nobu restaurants around the world and for years well known as the highest quality Asian cuisine."

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811861/NOBU_HOTEL_WARSAW.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811862/NOBU_WARSAW_BAR.jpg
I dont have to talk to anyone, I dont have to tell them where I am, he said. Not so with 911.  If youre not able to tell them where you are, they may not be able to find you. Thats unacceptable to us, and it should be unacceptable to the state of Maryland.
Former Docker, EnterpriseDB, and Red Hat Executive Brings Global Open Source Software Experience to Cloud-Native Security and Monitoring Pioneer

Sysdig, Inc.,the cloud-native intelligence company, today announced that Sandor Klein has been hired to serve as vice president (VP) of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). With his proven ability to build international sales teams and multiply revenue, Klein will use his long-term, trusted relationships to grow Sysdig's global sales teams and continue to build the company's partner network to keep pace with its exponential revenue growth.

In this new role, Klein will be responsible for growing the company's footprint globally, bringing the Sysdig Cloud-Native Intelligence Platform, the only unified platform on the market that provides security, monitoring, and forensics to cloud-native applications, to enterprise-class customers throughout EMEA. Klein joins Sysdig from Docker, where he served as VP of international sales, and he will report directly to Sysdig's recently announced senior VP of worldwide sales, Keegan Riley. Klein will be based out of the Netherlands.

"2018 was an extraordinary year for Sysdig, including the opening of two offices and closing a $68.5 million Series D funding round. Sysdig's rapid growth has been driven by companies broadly deploying cloud-native applications and realizing that silos between security and monitoring slow time to market and increase risk," said Riley. "As we look to accelerate our exponential growth in 2019, we knew we needed someone with Sandor's unique experience and connections to help us continue to scale the company and reach customers across the globe."

Prior to joining Sysdig, Klein was responsible for growing sales in EMEA and Asia Pacific and Japan for Docker. Before that, Klein worked at EnterpriseDB, managing sales and operations as the VP of international sales where he drove strong growth year-over-year. Klein's experience also includes three years as regional manager of Benelux, Eastern Europe, and Russia at Red Hat and more than seven years at CA Technology, where he was responsible for large international financial customers. Sandor holds a Post Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Hogeschool Rotterdam.

"Having worked with containers and the related cloud ecosystem for more than ten years, I deeply understand the need for proper security and monitoring," said Klein. "Most Fortune 1000 companies have a multi-cloud or a container platform strategy at this point. 2019 is going to be the year of containers in production, but there is a massive demand for security and monitoring. This is a fantastic opportunity for me to bring the Sysdig platform to global customers."

About Sysdig

Sysdig (Twitter: @sysdig) is the cloud-native intelligence company. Enterprises depend on Sysdig to deliver reliable, secure containerized applications. We have created the only unified platform to deliver container security, monitoring, and forensics in a microservices-friendly architecture. Our open source technologies have attracted a community of over a million developers, administrators, and other IT professionals looking for deep visibility into applications and containers. Our cloud-native intelligence platform monitors and secures millions of containers across hundreds of enterprises, including Fortune 500 companies and web-scale properties. Learn more at www.sysdig.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005253/en/

Contacts:

Amanda McKinney, 280blue, Inc.

amanda@280blue.com
- Growth Intelligence are pleased to announce the successful close of a 1.7m investment round

- The company received multiple offers with the round being led by 24Haymarket

- Existing investors including MMC Ventures also participated

LONDON, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Growth Intelligence has raised 1.7m to help marketers and sales leaders drive faster growth with AI. Founded in 2013, Growth Intelligence helps high profile brands, including American Express, FedEx, Western Union, iZettle and Vitality Health, target their direct marketing activity to businesses that are most likely to buy. The AI Platform combines records of a client's previous successful and unsuccessful marketing attempts with Growth Intelligence's own proprietary data gathered from the digital footprint of every company in the economy, to train an AI for each client. The AI then serves up recommended future clients and advice on how to approach them. It allows sales and marketing teams know who will buy, who will be most valuable, when should they attempt to contact them and what to say when they do.

Growth Intelligence reached profitability early in 2018 and has tripled recurring revenue year on year. The company will use this funding to invest in its AI Platform - building new AIs to solve additional challenges faced by B2B marketers. The company will be investing heavily in data science, engineering and commercial talent.

With demand for Growth Intelligence's sales and marketing AIs strong and growing, 2019 will see continued triple-digit growth. Growth Intelligence also plans to bring on board leading commercial and technical executives this year.

As part of the investment joining the Board are Andy Robertson, Martin Brown and Stuart Dawson as the Chairman.

Thomas Gatten, CEO of Growth Intelligence, adds: "This is a great opportunity to invest on top of our triple-digit revenue growth. Trade is the human super-power, by applying AI to boost trade we are helping companies and economies grow faster. We're hiring!"

Paul Tselentis, CEO of 24Haymarket, comments: "24Haymarket are thrilled to invest in Growth Intelligence. We have been tracking the company's progress and its unique approach to improving the productivity of B2B sales and marketing processes for two years. There is an exciting market opportunity ahead of them, as businesses embrace functional AI offerings. We look forward to applying our network to support the team on the next phase of their growth journey."

Alan Morgan, Chairman, MMC Ventures, adds: "Growth Intelligence is one of a small number of companies using AI to deliver true predictive marketing. We are happy to announce our continued support for the business and look forward to working with Thomas, Prashant and 24Haymarket in the next phase of their growth."

Growth Intelligence

Growth Intelligence is a pioneering UK AI vendor, aimed at helping businesses maximise their B2B marketing efforts through the power of machine learning. Our technology goes beyond the traditional "black and white" sets of data e.g. firmographics, and mines more subtle and nuanced information - or 'signals' - from all over the open web, on every UK business. These signals are woven into unique AI prediction models which identify high-converting prospects, predict their value and the best time to contact.

Examples of signals available to Growth Intelligence's AI, but from nowhere else are:

How many inbound or outbound telephone lines they maintain

Whether they seem to be open to changing utility suppliers

Whether they ship with DHL, Royal Mail or DPD etc. and how much they charge etc.

Founded in 2013 by an ex-BBC journalist and a military computer scientist, Growth Intelligence has been growing revenues year on year. American Express, Vitality Health Insurance and FedEx are among a successful roster of clients that have driven marketing efficiencies up by 10x and more.

www.growthintelligence.com

24Haymarket24Haymarket is a premium deal-by-deal investment platform focused on high-growth businesses, investing up to 5 million in any particular company. 24Haymarket's Investor Network includes several highly experienced private equity and venture capital investors, seasoned entrepreneurs and senior operators. We invest our own capital in direct alignment with entrepreneurs and typically seek board representation to actively support their growth agenda. Since inception in 2011, 24Haymarket has invested in more than 50 high-growth businesses. www.24haymarket.com



MMC VenturesMMC Ventures is a research-led venture capital firm. Founded in 2000, the firm has backed more than 60 high-growth technology companies from the Seed and Series A stage. MMC Ventures focuses on scaling enterprise software and consumer internet companies with the potential to disrupt huge markets, particularly those employing AI technologies. Based in London, the firm has c. 280 million under management and is investing more than 40 million annually. Companies MMC Ventures has backed include; APEXX, Bloom & Wild, Echo, Elder, Gousto, Interactive Investor, Masabi, Omni:us, Opal, Peak, Signal Media, SafeGuard, Senseye, Sky-Futures and StorageOS.

www.mmcventures.com



For further information, please contact:
Network Security Vendors Can Now Detect and Manage Fast-Growing WireGuard VPN Traffic

ipoque GmbH, a Rohde Schwarz company, today announced the addition of the innovative WireGuard VPN protocol to its R&S PACE 2 deep packet inspection (DPI) library. With this addition, ipoque enables network security vendors to detect the world's fastest-growing VPN protocol and effectively manage VPN traffic built on it.

WireGuard is the future of VPN protocols. Already, ipoque detects 70 of the top VPN services worldwide, and aims to detect 100 by June 2019. Launched in 2015, WireGuard is a next-generation, general purpose VPN tunnel. WireGuard boasts a relatively small attack surface that exploits cutting-edge cryptography at superior ease and speed. Running on embedded interfaces and supercomputers alike, its compact code base makes it faster and easier to use cross-platform compared to alternative solutions including IPSec and OpenVPN.

WireGuard is challenging established solutions and finding fast market acceptance because it:

Operates entirely in kernel space, making it fast

Does not send packets until there's real data to send, so reduces mobile device battery drain

Maintains seamless, persistent connections as mobile devices change network interface for improved roaming

As VPN service providers increasingly include WireGuard, network security vendors need to ensure they are able to manage it.

By adding the WireGuard VPN protocol to R&S PACE 2, firewall and other network security vendors can now effectively detect WireGuard VPN tunneling protocols and better manage the growing WireGuard encrypted traffic load. This ensures that network security vendors are able to create highly secure, high-performing network security products.

"The security provided by firewalls and VPNs is only as strong as the protocol rules and policies you create," said Stephan Klokow, director of ipoque's DPI technology "Although WireGuard is still experimental, it is finding rapid acceptance. By including WireGuard in our R&S PACE 2 DPI software library, network security vendors can create products that detect and manage WireGuard traffic and stand out in the marketplace."

To learn more about how network security equipment vendors use the DPI engine R&S PACE 2 to enhance their network protection products and add value for their customers, read the network security white paper or read the network security case studies.

About ipoque

ipoque, a Rohde Schwarz company, is a leading vendor of deep packet inspection software that adds protocol and application classification capabilities to network analytics, traffic management and cybersecurity solutions. Rohde Schwarz also provides a holistic network traffic analytics system for communication service providers that allows deep insights into network behavior, network performance and trends to optimize both quality of experience and quality of service. For more information, visit www.ipoque.com.

About Rohde Schwarz

The Rohde Schwarz technology group develops, produces and markets innovative communications, information and security products for professional users. The group's test and measurement, broadcast and media, aerospace defense security, networks and cybersecurity business fields address many different industry and government-sector market segments. On June 30, 2018, Rohde Schwarz had approximately 11,500 employees. The independent group achieved a net revenue of approximately EUR 2 billion in the 2017/2018 fiscal year (July to June). The company has its headquarters in Munich, Germany. Internationally, it has subsidiaries in more than 70 countries, with regional hubs in Asia and America.

R&S is a registered trademark of Rohde Schwarz GmbH Co. KG.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190123005355/en/

Contacts:

Rohde Schwarz

Christine Lorenz

Phone: +49 341 5940 3062

E-mail: christine.lorenz@rohde-schwarz.com
FRIBOURG, Switzerland, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Morphean's threat detection platform integrates with existing response system to increase staff safety and protect ATMs over three-year period

An integrated security system that includes new IP cameras and two-way audio technology has seen the rate of injuries as a result of attacks on Post Office staff decline by 36% in just three years. This follows the deployment of a sophisticated monitoring and intelligent threat detection platform from Morphean, a Video Surveillance-as-a-Service (VSaaS) innovator, which has helped keep staff safe and protected ATMs from attack.



(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/692572/Morphean_Logo.jpg )



Post Office is responsible for the safety of 14,500 workers in 11,600 branches. The very nature of its combined service offering, and the fact branches are often located in rural areas, means it is a prime target for thieves. Opportunistic attacks on staff and equipment, and the use of expanding gas to break open ATM machines, is not uncommon.

The Post Office security team wanted to build on its existing threat intelligence and response system, Grapevine, with a network of IP cameras and two-way audio systems. Axis Communications cameras, microphones and speakers, connected to the Morphean Platform and hosted in the cloud, were installed in pilot branches by Kings Secure Technologies. Now that trial implementations have been completed, the team plans to expand coverage rapidly.

The built-in intelligence of the Morphean Platform means staff can monitor footage for suspicious behaviour, such as individuals loitering near an ATM, and issue an alert to security teams who can decide on the appropriate course of action. If it's someone trying to find their wallet, no action is taken; if a crime is in progress, police will be notified along with video footage.

"The safety of our staff is our number one priority," says Physical Security Manager for Post Office, Mark Dinsdale. "Officers value the easy access to help and now report feeling much safer at work thanks to the new technology we are deploying."

Paul Ottley, Account Director at Kings Secure Technologies, states: "Footage goes straight to the Morphean cloud and is fully encrypted end-to-end. This means that even if criminals attempt to destroy on-site technology, recordings of any incidents are secured in a manner that is admissible as evidence. It's a simple solution that is flexible and fully compliant with regulations such as the GDPR."

WATCH - how Post Office successfully increased staff safety:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUI3mVpIeP0
Following the announcement of a new leadership team at the end of 2018, Schibsted today announced the name of the remaining position of CD&TO. Sven Strmer Thaulow comes from the position of Managing Director for Cisco Norway & Iceland.



"Schibsted's executive team is today complete as we can announce that Sven Strmer Thaulow has accepted the role as our Chief Data & Technology Officer," says Kristin Skogen Lund, CEO of Schibsted, who joined the company 1st of December. Thaulow comes from the position of Managing Director for Cisco Norway & Iceland. He is an experienced leader, renowned for building key digital innovation concepts and new ventures for more than 15 years in global communications and technology companies, such as Telenor Group and Cisco.



"We need to better leverage our ability to collect and process data to develop our consumer and advertising offerings. Sven has been instrumental in building data and technology platforms to provide efficient services for millions of customers worldwide. He is an experienced technology leader within mobile, data and digital services and we are proud that he is joining our team," Skogen Lund continues.



Schibsted has a solid and rapidly growing portfolio of digital consumer offerings, that empower people in their daily lives. As a digital front-runner region, the Nordics will be key for Schibsted to further develop existing offerings and technology, testing new exciting solutions and disruptive offerings for our customers.



"Everything we build should be based on a solid foundation across our businesses, that ensures our continuous delivery as a reliable data provider and responsible management of user data. I am looking forward to working with a talented team of data specialists and technology enthusiasts," says Thaulow who starts in his new position mid March, and adds, "Together we will ensure Schibsted remains an exciting workplace for engineers and product developers, for years to come."



The new Schibsted organisation

Kristin Skogen Lund presented her new organization in December, including three business areas and three support functions:

Nordic Marketplaces; led by Anders Skoe, CEO of FINN and asset owner for Blocket (Sweden) and Tori (Finland).

Publishing; led by Siv Juvik Tveitnes, previously Head of Publishing operations in the Media Division.

Schibsted Next (Venture investments, Financial Services, organic growth initiatives incl Distribution); led by Raoul Grunthal, previously CEO Schibsted Media. Grunthal will, in addition, have a functional role with the responsibility of boosting growth and entrepreneurship across the company.

To support the business cluster leaders, Skogen Lund has appointed functional leaders in three areas:

Trond Berger, continues in Skogen Lunds management team as Chief Financial Officer. Berger has been with Schibsted ASA almost 20 years, and thus represents valuable continuity.

Mette Krogsrud, who has previously worked in Schibsted (2005-2010) joins the company from the position as Managing Director of Korn Ferry in Norway. As Chief People & Corporate Affairs Officer, she will take a driving role within HR, Communications and Public Policy, supporting and driving the culture and competence building across business units. Krogsrud will be joining the company early spring 2019.

And today, Sven Strmer Thaulow, has been appointed Chief Data & Technology Officer. The role will be given responsibility for technology strategy and development of shared platforms, with a particular focus on data management.

In addition to the business areas and functions, there will be an informal geographical structure in each of the main markets to ensure revenue synergies and the strengthening of Schibsted's market position in Sweden and Norway, respectively. Kristin Skogen Lund will act as country manager in Norway and Raoul Grunthal will be country manager in Sweden.

"The new organization will reflect both Schibsted's three business areas, and the Group's foundation which serves as an enabler of long-term business growth. Our goal is that our leading marketplaces, growth initiatives and media companies will increasingly realize synergies, which will help us further develop value-creation for society, customers and shareholders," Kristin Skogen Lund said as she announced her new team in December.



Press contact:

Nathalie Kavin, Director of Communications. Schibsted Media Group, Tel: +47 934 01 363, e-mail: nathalie.kavin@schibsted.com



ABOUT SCHIBSTED

Schibsted Media Group is an international media group with 8000 employees in 22 countries. Millions of people around the world interact with Schibsted's popular digital services through our media houses, our digital marketplaces and our growth companies.

This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.

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

Source: Schibsted via Globenewswire


BEIJING, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 16, 2019, the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) and the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (TRC-CASS) jointly released the "Report on World Tourism Economy Trends 2019" ("the Report"). More than 60 delegates from WTCF, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, foreign institutions in China such as the Panama and South African Embassies, Chongqing City and domestic tourism-related agencies participated in the release and forum discussion of the Report.

According to the Report, the total number of global tourists in 2018 reached 12.1 billion people, an increase of 580 million people over the previous year, with a growth rate of 5.0%. Compared with 2017, the growth rate dropped by 0.7 percent, and the total income of global tourism reached 5.34 trillion US dollars, accounting for 6.1% of global GDP, a decrease of 0.4% over the previous year. It is estimated that the total number of global tourists will reach 12.76 billion in 2019, with a growth rate of 5.5%. Compared with 2018, the growth rate will rise by 0.5 percent. The total global tourism revenue will reach 5.54 trillion US dollars, accounting for 6.0% of global GDP.

The Report follows the previous analytical framework, focuses on the perspectives of global, regional, country, industry and city levels and makes a panoramic analysis of the development trends of the world tourism economy from several aspects. The Report summarizes the following characteristics: First, global economic growth will slow down in 2019, but the tourism economy will rise steadily. Second, tourism development in five global regions is becoming more obvious, with growth in Asia and decline in Europe. Third, the scale and growth rate of tourism investment in Asia-Pacific are among the top in all continents. Fourth, the Report innovatively puts forward the concept of "T20" countries, which create 80% of global tourism revenue. Fifth, the reform of payment promotes the upgrade of tourism consumption. Cities are still the main destination for inbound tourists, and 95% of international cities are from Asia-Pacific, Europe and the U.S. Sixth, six major marketing innovations represented by virtual technology and whole industry chain cooperation create new tourism experiences. Seventh, cities are still the main destination for inbound tourists.
New Outstanding Enterprise and Manufacturer of the Year categories added to encourage creativity and wider participation from global jewellery enterprises

HONG KONG, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The JNA Awards unveils its list of categories and judging criteria for its 2019 edition. Now on the eighth year, the JNA Awards is one of the most respected and coveted awards programmes in the global jewellery and gemstone industry.

In light of the changing needs and emerging trends in the jewellery industry, the JNA Awards has also made some adjustments to its categories this year. These changes aim to encourage wider participation from jewellers around the world.

The awards categories for 2019 are as follows:

Brand of the Year -- Retail eSupplier of the Year Industry Innovation of the Year (business model, management process, marketing or branding initiatives, manufacturing process, product development, technology, and gemmological research) Manufacturer of the Year -- Cutting & Polishing -- Creativity and Innovation Manufacturer of the Year -- Jewellery Outstanding Enterprise of the Year -- China Outstanding Enterprise of the Year -- Countries/Regions outside of India and China Outstanding Enterprise of the Year -- India Retailer of the Year Sustainability Initiative of the Year Young Entrepreneur of the Year (age 40 and below) Lifetime Achievement Award (nominated by the organiser)

Letitia Chow, Chairperson of the JNA Awards and Director of Business Development -- Jewellery Group at UBM Asia, remarked, "While China and India are leading countries driving the growth of the global jewellery and gemstone industry, there are many exceptional enterprises in other parts of the world that also deserve recognition. By introducing a new Outstanding Enterprise of the Year category this year, we can cover more enterprises from all over the world."

She continued, "In these changing times, being creative and innovative are key factors for succeeding in the industry, no matter the scale of the business. Therefore, we have also added a new Manufacturer of the Year category, which puts emphasis on creativity and innovation. Through this category, we can pay tribute to individual jewellers, as well as sizeable operations, that strive to adopt innovative and original ways to bring out and maximise the uniqueness and natural qualities of the precious stones."

Organised by UBM Asia, the JNA Awards was founded in 2012 to identify, encourage and honour excellence, leadership, innovation and best business practices in the international jewellery and gemstone business. The JNA Awards remains to be one of the most influential platforms in the trade for celebrating inspiring successful companies and individuals and for promoting industry advancement.

To register or review the full list of categories, awards criteria and rules of entry, visit www.jnaawards.com.

JNA Awards 2019 is supported by Headline Partners Chow Tai Fook, Shanghai Diamond Exchange, and DANAT; together with Honoured Partners the KGK Group, Shanghai Gems & Jade Exchange, and Guangdong Land Holdings Limited.

For more information, visit http://www.JNAawards.com/ or contact:

JNA Awards Marketing

UBM Asia (Hong Kong)

+852 2516-2184

marketing@jnaawards.com

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Data Respons has signed contracts with a leading player in the German banking industry for development of business critical systems.



The contracts comprise development of smart solutions improving efficiency and supporting new digital product and service offerings. The assignment includes application modernisation, provision of B2C processes into multiple channels and integration of software into a private cloud infrastructure.

- The traditional banking industry is challenged by new technology (fintech), payment solutions from new players (Google, Amazon, Apple Pay), and internet banks operating at a significantly lower cost base. In order to address competition, significant investments in automation of core processes are required. In addition, a complete remake and modernisation of existing infrastructure to a modern, cloud based, and platform independent solution and development of new applications and services is needed to meet new customer demands. Our specialist expertise within embedded software and experience with digitalisation projects from other industries make us a relevant partner in this market, says Kenneth Ragnvaldsen, CEO of Data Respons ASA.





For further information:

Kenneth Ragnvaldsen, CEO, Data Respons ASA, tel. +47 913 90 918.

Rune Wahl, CFO, Data Respons ASA, tel. + 47 950 36 046



About Data Respons

Data Respons is a full-service, independent technology company and a leading player in the IoT, Industrial digitalisation and the embedded solutions market. We provide R&D services and smarter solutions to OEM companies, system integrators and vertical product suppliers in a range of market segments such as Transport & Automotive, Industrial Automation, Telecom & Media, Space, Defense & Security, Medtech, Energy & Maritime, and Finance & Public Sector.



Data Respons ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange



This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2019 / Noram Ventures Inc. ("Noram") (TSX - Venture: NRM / Frankfurt: N7R / OTCPINK: NRVTF is pleased to announce that Mr. C. Tucker Barrie, Ph.D. P.Geo. has assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

Mr. Barrie has thirty years of experience as an Economic Geologist on five continents, including detailed studies of lithium brines and clays in North America. He holds a Ph.D. in Economic Geology and Geochemistry from the University of Toronto and a M.Sc. in Economic Geology from the University of Texas. Mr. Barrie has authored numerous publications on metallic mineral deposits and led multi-disciplinary research and development projects in Canada, Europe and Africa. He is currently an Affiliate Professor at the Colorado School of Mines, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Windsor.

For over 20 years, Mr. Barrie has run a successful Ottawa-based, federally-incorporated geological consulting firm. During that time, he has consulted for over fifty natural resource companies, including: Barrick Gold, BHP Billiton, BP Minerals, Cameco, Exxon Minerals, Kinross Gold, Noranda, Placer Dome, Rio Tinto, Teck Resources, as well as for The World Bank.

The primary focus of his work involves the geology and geochemistry of metallic mineral deposits; and mineralogical and metallurgical studies at the scoping study and pre-feasibility study levels. Mr. Barrie's vast experience and expertise includes working as a geological consultant for Nevsun Resources (2004-2008), a TSX-listed company, where he was a part of the discovery team for the high grade Bisha and Harena Cu-Zn-Au mines in western Eritrea. He also worked with Sub-Sahara Minerals (2004-2008), an ASX-listed company, where he was a senior advisor involved with the discovery team for the Koka Gold deposit/mine (0.8+M oz Au) also in Eritrea.

Additionally, Mr. Barrie worked with Majescor Resources a TSX-listed company, from 2008 - 2016, first as an advisor, then as Vice President of Exploration (2.5 years), and lastly as President and Chief Executive Officer (2 years). He provided oversight for the first National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource calculation for a large copper gold deposit in Haiti, as well as for drill campaigns on a vein gold deposit in Haiti and a copper-zinc deposit in Madagascar. Mr. Barrie was instrumental in the successful financing for the projects in Haiti immediately after the Financial Crisis and after the Haitian Earthquake in which over $6,000,000 was raised to further these projects.

"Noram's Zeus lithium clay deposit in Clayton Valley represents a significant resource for the green energy revolution, with Tesla's lithium battery gigafactory nearby. Clayton Valley is well known for North America's first lithium brine producer at Silver Peak next door, and is fertile ground for lithium clay deposits as well as lithium brines. The Zeus lithium clay deposit has clay minerals amenable to leaching. It continues to expand significantly with each drill program. We view this as a premier deposit with high potential to develop into a mine in the near term" commented Mr. Barrie.

"I'm pleased to take on this position with the Noram team in Vancouver and Nevada. I look forward to working with the Noram team to move the Zeus Project forward."

About Noram Ventures Inc.

Noram Ventures Inc. (TSX - Venture: NRM / Frankfurt: N7R / OTCPINK: NRVTF) is a Canadian based junior exploration company, with a goal of developing lithium deposits and becoming a low - cost supplier. The Company's primary business focus since formation has been the exploration of mineral projects. Noram's long term strategy is to build a multi-national lithium minerals company to produce and sell lithium into the markets of Europe, North America and Asia.

Please visit our web site for further information: www.noramventures.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

/s/ "Mark R. Ireton"

Director

Direct: (604) 761-9994

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. This news release may contain forward-looking information which is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements regarding, among other things, the completion transactions completed in the Agreement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, regulatory approval processes. Although Noram believes that the assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, including that all necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained in a timely manner, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Noram disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities.

SOURCE: Noram Ventures Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533344/Noram-Welcomes-World-Class-Economic-Geologist-to-the-Roles-of-President-and-Chief-Executive-Officer
AIM and Media Release

23 January 2019

BASE RESOURCES LIMITED

Updated Ranobe Deposit Mineral Resources

HIGHLIGHTS

Additional drilling and associated mineralogical re-definition completed to advance detailed mine planning and processing design criteria as part of the Toliara Project pre-feasibility study.

Revised mineralogical and geological interpretations, together with a revision of cut-off grade from 3.0% to 1.5% HM, has increased the Ranobe Mineral Resources estimate of contained heavy mineral (HM) tonnes by 25% to 1.3 billion tonnes at 5.1% HM.

Drilling will continue over the course of 2019, aimed at increasing Mineral Resources in the Measured and Indicated categories as well as completing the re-definition of the remaining mineralogy required for the Toliara Project definitive feasibility study.

Base Resources Limited (ASX & AIM: BSE) (Base Resources or the Company) is pleased to announce an update to the Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate at its Toliara Project (the 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources).

The Company completed the acquisition of the Toliara Project on 22 January 2018 and is currently progressing the project through a full study phase. The Toliara Project is founded on the Ranobe deposit, located approximately 40 kilometres north of the regional town of Toliara in south west Madagascar and approximately 15 kilometres inland from the coast.

The 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources estimate is the result of additional drilling completed to date and revised geological interpretations following a comprehensive mineralogical re-definition of drill samples. The 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources estimate was completed as part of the Toliara Project pre-feasibility study (PFS) to advance detailed mine planning and to refine the processing design criteria. The PFS is expected to be completed in March 2019.

The combination of the new drilling, lowering of cut-off grade to 1.5% (on the basis of the likely economics for the Toliara Project) and inclusion for the first time of some material from one of the two lower mineralised units (the intermediate clay sand unit) have resulted in a 25% increase in the contained heavy mineral (HM) tonnes of the Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate.

The drill program will continue over the course of 2019, with the objectives of completing the remaining minerology re-definition, improving the understanding of the lower mineralised units and increasing the volume of Mineral Resources within the measured and indicated categories. A further update to the Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate is expected once this work is complete, which will form the basis for the Ore Reserves estimate required for the project's definitive feasibility study.

Figures (graphics) referenced in this release have been omitted. A full PDF version of this release, including all figures (graphics), is available from the Company's website: www.baseresources.com.au.

The 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources is estimated to be 1,293 million tonnes (Mt) at an average HM grade of 5.1% and contains 66Mt of in-situ heavy mineral, based on a 1.5% HM cut-off grade.

Table 1:The 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources estimate at a 1.5% HM cut-off

2019

as at 23 January 2019 2018

as at 30 June 2018 Category Material In Situ HM HM SL OS HM Assemblage Material In Situ HM HM SL OS HM Assemblage ILM RUT* ZIR ILM RUT ZIR (Mt) (Mt) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (Mt) (Mt) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources Measured 419 28 6.6 4 0 75 2.0 5.9 Data not previously available Indicated 375 18 4.9 8 1 72 2.1 5.7 Inferred 499 20 3.9 7 1 70 2.1 5.4 Total 1,293 66 5.1 6 0 72 2.0 5.7

Table subject to rounding errors, resources estimated at a 1.5% HM cut-off grade.

*RUT reported in the table is rutile + leucoxene mineral species.

For comparison to previously reported Mineral Resources estimates, the 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources at a 3% HM cut-off grade is estimated to be 1,021 million tonnes (Mt) at an average heavy mineral (HM) grade of 5.8% and contains 59Mt of in-situ heavy mineral.

Table 2: The 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources estimates at a 3% HM cut-off compared with the Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate reported at 30 June 2018.

2019

as at 23 January 2019 2018

as at 30 June 2018 Category Material In Situ HM HM SL OS HM Assemblage Material In Situ HM HM SL OS HM Assemblage ILM RUT* ZIR ILM RUT ZIR (Mt) (Mt) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (Mt) (Mt) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources Measured 398 27 6.8 4 0 75 2.0 5.9 282 20 7.2 4 0 72 2 6 Indicated 306 17 5.5 6 0 72 2.2 5.7 330 21 6.2 4 0 72 2 6 Inferred 318 15 4.8 6 1 70 2.1 5.4 245 12 5.0 5 1 71 1 5 Total 1,021 59 5.8 5 0 73 2.0 5.7 857 53 6.2 4 0 72 2 6

Table subject to rounding errors, resources estimated at a 3% HM cut-off grade.

*RUT reported in the table is rutile + leucoxene mineral species.

The Ranobe deposit comprises three mineralised units: the upper sand unit (USU), the intermediate clay sand unit (ICSU) and the lower sandy unit (LSU). Historically, the Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate only included material from the USU due to the limited number of drill holes with sufficient depth to reach the lower mineralised units. Since acquiring the project, Base Resources has broadened the focus to include all mineralised horizons in the Mineral Resources estimate where supported by sufficient data and a reasonable prospect for economic extraction. The current drill program has produced samples from all three mineralised units and allowed material from the ICSU to be included in the Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate for the first time. The LSU has been excluded from this resource estimate on the basis of limited currently available mineralogical data for this unit.

Based on the preliminary PFS economic modelling completed to date, Base Resources has revised the economic cut-off grade for the 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources estimate from 3.0% to 1.5%. Lowering the cut-off grade has resulted in a 12% or 7Mt increase in contained in situ HM in the Mineral Resources estimate.

Mineral Resources are reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012 edition). Accordingly, the information in these sections should be read in conjunction with the respective explanatory Mineral Resources information included in Appendix 1.

Supporting Information Required Under ASX Listing Rules, Chapter 5

The supporting information below is required, under Chapter 5 of the ASX Listing Rules, to be included in market announcements reporting estimates of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.

Section 1, Section 2 and Section 3 of JORC Table 1 can be found in Appendix 1.

Requirements applicable to the Mineral Resources estimate

A summary of the information used to prepare the 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources estimate as presented in this report is as follows.

The Toliara Project is located on the 125.4 km2 Mining Lease (Permis D'Exploitation) 37242 (PDE 37242), approximately 40 kilometres north of the regional town of Toliara in south west of Madagascar and approximately 15 kilometres inland from the coast (refer Figure 1). The Toliara Project comprises a single continuous body of mineralisation, the Ranobe deposit.

Drilling programs were conducted on the Ranobe deposit in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2012 by the previous owners and in 2018 by Base Resources (refer Figure 2).

Mineral Resources estimation work previously carried out on the Ranobe deposit is as follows:

2004 by Ticor Pty Ltd;

2006 by Exxaro Resources Ltd;

2010 by Geocraft Consulting for Madagascar Resources NL;

2012 by McDonald Speijers and Associates for World Titanium Resources Limited;

2016 by World Titanium Resources (WTR) Limited Competent Person, Ian Ransome ; and

; and 2017 by Base Resources Limited Competent Person, Scott Carruthers .

The unconsolidated aeolian Quaternary sediments comprising the deposit overlie Eocene age limestone which in turn overlie Mesozoic limestone, marl and sandstone. The aeolian Holocene Ranobe Formation partially onlaps the deposit from the west. The Ranobe deposit comprises three mineralised units: the upper sand unit (USU), intermediate clay sand unit (ICSU) and the lower sandy unit (LSU), see figure 4 for a stylised cross section.

The USU is a well sorted fine-grained unconsolidated aeolian sediment. It contains approximately 5 per cent slime or clay (SL) and approximately 6 per cent HM, mainly Ilmenite, Zircon and Rutile, and low oversize (OS), which on average is less than 1 per cent. The ICSU is a thin unit primarily consisting of high slime content with a dark red to orange brown sandy clay and clayey sand material. It typically averages 4% HM and 25% SL. It is interpreted to have been deposited in a low energy lagoonal environment. The LSU is orange brown to yellow brown medium grained quartz sand with moderately low slimes content. It averages 4% HM and 6% SL. The LSU onlaps the limestone (LST) basement and, much like the USU unit, its thickness increases to the west with the recent 2018 drilling proving this notion. The base of the LSU unit has the facies indicators of a shallow marine strand facies depositional environment, although this has not been tested extensively.

The geological interpretation for the Ranobe deposit considered the data in the drill logs, HM assay results, and the results of pilot plant-scale test work conducted on trial mining pits. Five geological domains have been identified: the three mineralised units (USU, ICSU, LSU), the Ranobe Formation and the limestone basement (LST). Geostatistical contact analysis shows clear step changes in grade distributions across the interpreted geological contacts, giving confidence in the geological interpretation.

The right to mine the Ranobe deposit was granted to the prior owners under PDE 37242 on 21 March 2012. PDE 37242 has a term of 40 years from 21 March 2012 and provides the right to carry out mining operations for the production of ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene and zircon and is renewable in units of 20 years.

The environment and land use are described as semi-arid and intensive subsistence agriculture/mixed farming/forestry.

A total of 1,249 drill holes were used for the Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate.

Drill hole collars were surveyed using DGPS for 2003, 2005 and 2012 to establish horizontal and vertical control to UTM zone 38S, WGS 84. The 2001 and 2018 drill collars were surveyed by GPS and collars that showed a significant difference in RL relative to local topography were normalised to the LIDAR digital terrain surface. All collar positions were deemed satisfactory and fit for purpose for the geological interpretation and interpolation processes.

Drilling was completed by the reverse circulation, air core (RCAC) method for all four drilling programs conducted to date, all by Wallis Drilling. RCAC drilling was used to obtain 1 to 3 m samples from which, approximately 10 - 30 kg was collected. Samples were dried, riffle split and submitted for assay. Three laboratories were used, and all followed the same assay procedure which conformed to AS4350.2-1999. All labs produced three assays: HM% (via sink float using tetrabromoethane), SL% (screened at 63 m) and OS% (screened at 1 mm). This is described in the relevant section of the JORC 2012 Table 1 in Appendix 1.

Mineral assemblage analyses were conducted by two different methods to characterise the mineralogy of the deposit. Base Resources has developed its own method, Minmod, which is used where samples were available. Where not available, historical mineralogy was used. The ultimate aim will be to use only Minmod mineralogy in future resource updates.

In brief, Minmod is tailored to specific deposits and relies on a development stage where detailed assessment by QEMSCAN, XRF, XRD, wet chemistry and SEM of samples representative of the deposit spatially and of the range of HM grades present so that a database of the deposit's heavy minerals and their chemistry may be developed. Once developed, composite samples from the deposit are fractionated magnetically, the fractions assayed by XRF and mineralogy derived from an error minimisation algorithm that varies the amount of minerals in the database and compares theoretical oxide levels to those from the assays. Composites were generated on roughly a 400 x 400 m square grid, and from 6 m intervals downhole, but skipping every other possible downhole composite. The aim of this was to cover as much of the project as possible within the limited time frame and leave open the possibility to infill in between composites.

The historical mineralogy method is similar to the Minmod but has far more samples per composite. The historical mineralogy method uses samples subjected to magnetic separation to capture magnetic (mag), middling (mid) and non-magnetic (non-mag) fractions. The mid and mag fractions were combined and, with the non-mag fraction, subjected to XRF analysis. Data from the mag and non-mag XRF analyses were processed through an error minimisation algorithm that calculated mineralogy using assumed mineral chemistries. Figure 3 shows the location of the Minmod and historical mineral assemblage samples.

Sampling and assaying were subjected to quality control processes by WTR and further by Base Resources with the submission of blind field duplicates and standards. The Base Resources QA/QC data for drilling undertaken in 2018 was available and the THM, SLIMES and OS duplicates/replicates were all subjected to log scatter plot, cumulative probability plot and general statistical investigation. The rate of submission for field duplicates was 1 in 23, lab duplicates were 1 in 39 and standards at 1 in 20. Analysis of the duplicate assays shows very high reproducibility for HM, giving confidence that the sampling process is producing highly representative samples.

Standard samples were prepared and submitted for the generation of CRM with known mean and standard deviation for internal QA/QC. Unfortunately, the standard deviation generated from the CRM analyses was not considered tight enough to use as a QA/QC control; this will be rectified for subsequent drilling programs.

Analysis of the drill sample variography for HM indicates for the USU a strike direction of 160 degrees with strong grade relationships to 1,500 m along strike and 400 m across strike. The downhole relationship extends beyond 10 m. The dominant drill spacing is 200 m along strike and 100 m across, with a dominant sampling interval of 3 m. All are significantly less than the variography would require.

Drill hole, collar and assay data are captured digitally and managed in a Microsoft Access database. Sufficient quality control has been undertaken to satisfy the Competent Person that the assay data is sound and may be used for resource estimation.

The topographic digital elevation model was captured by South Mapping Corporation in 2007. The LIDAR data points were captured using an aircraft mounted 70 kHz laser which classified the data points into ground and non-ground points. The relative accuracy of this survey method is 15 cm RMS in the vertical and 30 cm RMS horizontal. The drill holes take their level from the LIDAR surface DEM. The coordinate system used is UTM zone 38 south (WGS 84).

Model cell dimensions of 50 m x 100 m x 1.5 m in the XYZ orientations were used, in accordance with standard practice of taking half the distance between holes of the dominant drill hole spacing of 200 m north-south and 100 m east-west.

Interpolation was undertaken using various sized search ellipses to populate the model with primary grade fields (HM, SL and OS). Inverse distance weighting (IDW) to a power of three was used for primary assay fields. Mineralogy was interpolated by nearest neighbour.

The bulk density (BD) applied to the 2019 Ranobe Mineral Resources model was a component-based algorithm: BD = 1.61 + (0.01 x HM). Given the generally low slime levels and based on the experience of the Competent Person this is considered appropriate.

The model was validated visually (by displaying wireframes, drill holes and model cells simultaneously and stepping through the model), statistically (by plotting distributions of model and drill hole grades together) and graphically (by preparing swathe plots or plots of drill hole and model grades by northing). Generally, the grade interpolation has performed well for each of the domains and each of the primary assay grades. Figure 5 shows an oblique view of the mineralisation, coloured by HM grade.

The JORC classification for the Ranobe deposit has taken into consideration the drill hole spacing in plan view, as well the sample support within domains, the size, weighting and distribution of the mineral assemblage composites and the variography.

The deposit has been assigned a JORC Classification of Measured, Indicated and Inferred and is supported by the criteria:

regular drill hole spacing that defines the geology and HM mineralisation distribution and trends;

domain controlled variography for HM that supports the drill spacing for each of the classifications; and

the distribution of mineral assemblage composites having adequately identified the various mineralogical domains as well as the variability within those domains.

The drill pattern is not regular, but in general, Measured category material has a drill spacing of 100 x 200 m and has Minmod mineral assemblage. Only material from the USU met these criteria. Material in the Indicated category typically has hole spacing at 100 x 400 m and may have either Minmod or historical mineralogy. Where line spacing is greater than 400 m, but less than 1600 m, and mineralogical information is available, material is classified as Inferred.

The Ranobe deposit Mineral Resources estimate is reported above a cut-off grade of 1.5% (on the basis of likely economic cut-off grade) and 3% HM (to allow comparison to historical reporting). These tables conform to guidelines set out in the JORC Code (2012) and are formatted for internal or external public reporting.

Given the permeable nature of the sediments, the low water table and Base Resource's dry mining expertise, the most likely mining method would be dry mining by dozer. Processing could be achieved via standard mineral sands methods: spiral concentration, and magnetic and electrostatic separation. The physical properties of the heavy minerals at the Ranobe deposit are, from metallurgical test work, similar to other deposits being mined today.

Competent Persons Statements

The information in this report that relates to Mineral Resources is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr. Greg Jones, who acts as Consultant Geologist for Base Resources and is employed by IHC Robbins. Mr. Jones is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code). Mr. Jones consents to the inclusion in this report of the Mineral Resources estimates and supporting information in the form and context in which it appears.

Forward Looking Statements

Information in this report should be read in conjunction with other announcements made by Base Resources to the ASX. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to the fairness, accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this report (or any associated presentation, information or matters). To the maximum extent permitted by law, Base Resources and its related bodies corporate and affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents and advisers, disclaim any liability (including, without limitation, any liability arising from fault, negligence or negligent misstatement) for any direct or indirect loss or damage arising from any use or reliance on this report or its contents, including any error or omission from, or otherwise in connection with, it.

Certain statements in or in connection with this report contain or comprise forward looking statements. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future and may be outside Base Resources' control. Accordingly, results could differ materially from those set out in the forward-looking statements.

Nothing in this report constitutes investment, legal or other advice. You must not act on the basis of any matter contained in this report but must make your own independent investigation and assessment of Base Resources and obtain any professional advice you require before making any investment decision based on your investment objectives and financial circumstances. This document does not constitute an offer, invitation, solicitation, advice or recommendation with respect to the issue, purchase or sale of any security in any jurisdiction.

Appendix 1

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

Criteria Explanation Comment Sampling techniques Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling.



Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used.



Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report. In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1m samples from which 3kg was pulverised to produce a 30g charge for fire assay'). In other cases more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. All holes were drilled vertically



All holes were sampled over a consistent 1 - 3 m interval



All holes were drilled using a reverse circulation Wallis Drill setup to collect the complete sample with a basic cyclone separation by means of a swivel outlet feeding two alternate sample bags



No sample splitting was performed on the drill site for earlier drill programs, however sample splitting was carried out for the 2018 drilling program. Drilling techniques Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka, sonic, etc) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-sampling bit or other type, whether core is oriented and if so, by what method, etc). All holes were drilled vertically



All drilling was undertaken using an air pressured reverse circulation Wallis Mantis drill



Core diameter is NQ (76 mm external diameter), with 3m rod lengths fitted with a face discharge drill bit Drill sample recovery Method of recording and assessing core and chip sample recoveries and results assessed.



Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples.



Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. Wallis Mantis drill rig uses face discharge bits, at low air pressures (105 - 140kPa) and low rotation speeds (45-65RPM) to maximize recovery



There is no correlation between recovery and grade resulting in no sample bias Logging Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies.



Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc) photography.



The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. All samples were visually checked and logged on site by rig geologist and logged for lithotype, grain size, sorting, colour, competence, moisture content



A small subsample was taken for each drill interval and manually panned for estimation of HM and clay content Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken.



If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc and whether sampled wet or dry.



For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique.



Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples.



Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in-situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling.



Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. The material was split using a 40 mm single tier riffle to produce a sample for submission of approximately 1 kg in a calico sample bag. The calico sample bags were sundried before being shipped



For one sample in every 20, an additional two 1 kg calico bagged samples were taken for checking purposes. These are referred to as the B and C samples, the primary sample being designated as the A sample



2001 drill samples were dispatched to Western Geochem Labs in Perth, Australia. WGL was retained for the analysis of check samples in 2003 and 2005



The A samples were sent to IMP Laboratory in Boksburg, South Africa in 2003, ACT Laboratory in Pretoria, South Africa in 2005 and 2012, and to Bureau Veritas, South Africa in 2018



All laboratories: separation of concentrates was by heavy liquid (tetrabromoethane (TBE) at density 2.95 g/cc)



All samples were: Quality of assay data and laboratory tests The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total.



For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc, the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc.



Nature of quality control procedures adopted (e.g. standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (i.e. lack of bias) and precision have been established. Analytical procedure conforms to AS4350.2-1999; Australian Standards Heavy mineral sand concentrates - Physical testing using TBE.



Quality control procedures: Verification of sampling and assaying The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel.



The use of twinned holes.



Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols.



Discuss any adjustment to assay data. Assay data was compared with geology logs of panned HM grades for out of range assay produced by site geologist



Replicate assaying undertaken 2003 and 2005 drilling and sample assaying undertaken independently by Ticor/Kumba Resources



2012 drilling, logging and sampling undertaken by independent site geologist



2018 drilling, logging and sampling undertaken by Base Resources company geologists



Validation of the drill database was undertaken independently by IHC Robbins Location of data points Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation.



Specification of the grid system used.



Quality and adequacy of topographic control. 2003, 2005, 2012, and 2018 drill hole collars were surveyed using DGPS. 2001 drill collars were surveyed by GPS



Topographic data was derived from ground controlled LIDAR survey undertaken by Southern Surveys



All drill holes are vertical, down hole surveys were deemed inappropriate



Grid system used throughout the program UTM Grid, Zone 38S, WG84



IHC Robbins adjusted the RL of the 2001 collars using CAE software 'Datamine Studio RM' to the LIDAR topographic surface to increase accuracy and precision for mineral resource or ore reserve estimation for the deposit Data spacing and distribution Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results.



Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied.



Whether sample compositing has been applied. Three basic drill patterns used:



Variography demonstrates that drill spacing of 100 mE x 200 mN sufficient to classify as Measured Resource; 100 mE x 400 mN sufficient to classify as Indicated Resource



No sample compositing has been applied Orientation of data in relation to geological structure Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type.



If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. All drill holes were drilled vertically



Drill line were drilled north - south, east - west within 12 degrees of the deposit anisotropy



No bias to drill grid sampling has been introduced Sample security The measures taken to ensure sample security. All samples were placed in calico bags and grouped in rice bags by drill hole



The samples bags were labelled by both marker and aluminium tags for drill hole number and sample depth.



The samples were delivered to the laboratory sealed with cable ties and with a shipment form Audits or reviews The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. Audits and reviews or the sampling data and techniques have been carried out by:



All review and audits considered the sampling and analysis to be of good quality and suitable for resource estimation.

Section 2 Reporting of Exploration Results

Criteria Explanation Comment Mineral tenement and land tenure status Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings.



The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. The Ranobe deposit is 100% owned by Base Resources subsidiary, Base Toliara SARL which is 85% owned by Base Resources and is located wholly within Mining Lease PDE (Permis D'Exploitation) 37242 (Figure 1).



Base Resources will acquire the remaining 15% interest upon payment of deferred consideration on achievement of key milestones as the project advances to mine development. If the key milestones have not been achieved within two years of the acquisition date, the remaining 15% interest automatically transfers to Base Resources.



October 2017 saw Mining Lease PDE 37242 merge with both Mining Lease 39130 and Exploration Lease 3315 which to form one complete footprint of the previous three leases. Exploration done by other parties Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. 1999 - 2002 Deposit first discovered and explored by Madagascar Resources NL:



2003 - 2009 Ticor/Kumba Resources (Exxaro) joint venture:



2012 WTR:



2018 Base Resources: Geology Deposit type, geological setting and style of mineralisation. Project comprises a Heavy Mineral Sand deposit and is located on the southwest coast of Madagascar within the Mesozoic Morondava Basin along a 30 km wide coastal plain juxtaposed to an Eocene limestone scarp. The coastal plain which is floored by faulted limestone is overlain by a succession of progressively shallowing sequence of beach and lagoon type unconsolidated clastic and subaerial dunes which successively overstep and on-lap onto the basement limestone scarp in the east.



The deposit is hosted within a stabilized mega dune system which is arrested along the basement scarp slope and extend for approximately 20 km north northwest south southeast. The entire dune unit is mineralized by an assemblage of ilmenite, zircon, rutile and monazite concentrated with the unit by aeolian winnowing. The unit generally thickens westwards away from the scarp slope from 3 metres to 60 m. The deposit anisotropy parallels the scarp slope, with higher HM grades concentrated along the mega- dune crest line. Drill hole Information A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes:





If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case. Madagascar Resource NL drilled:



Ticor/Kumba Resources (Exxaro) drilled:



WTR has drilled:



Base Resources has drilled:



All holes were drilled vertically



RC holes averaged 24 m long for the project



2018 drilling had an average depth of 46.4 m as the program looked to also targeted a lower mineralisation zone



See drill hole location plan; Figure 2.



Exploration Results are not being reported at this time Data aggregation methods In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (e.g. cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated.



Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high-grade results and longer lengths of low-grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail.



The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated. Exploration results are not being reported at this time



No metal equivalent values were used



No aggregation of short length samples was used as samples were consistently sampled at 1 - 3 m intervals Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results.



If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported.



If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (e.g. 'down hole length, true width not known'). The deposit is flat lying and intersected by vertical holes



The 1.5% HM cut-off zone averages 17.5 m thick and ranges in thickness from 6 to 21 m Diagrams Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views. Plan of Mineral Resources see Figure 2 to 3



Oblique sections see Figure 5 to 6 Balanced reporting Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced to avoid misleading reporting of Exploration Results. Exploration results are not being reported at this time Other substantive exploration data Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples - size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances. Exploration results are not being reported at this time Further work The nature and scale of planned further work (e.g. tests for lateral extensions or depth extensions or large-scale step-out drilling).



Diagrams clearly highlighting the areas of possible extensions, including the main geological interpretations and future drilling areas, provided this information is not commercially sensitive. Future work will consist of extending the drilling to the western extents of the deposit to further determine the extents of the lower mineralisation zone

Section 3 Estimation and Reporting of Mineral Resources

Criteria Explanation Comment Database integrity Measures taken to ensure that data has not been corrupted by, for example, transcription or keying errors, between its initial collection and its use for Mineral Resource estimation purposes.



Data validation procedures used. The original drill data derived by Madagascar Resources, Ticor/Kumba Resources (Exxaro), WTR, and Base Resources drill data have been independently reviewed and validated by IHC Robbins. Data review included:



An Access data base is updated and maintained by Base Resources, which has been reviewed by IHC Robbins.



Validation checks of the drill database include:



Collar coordinate verification including collar elevations normalized to LIDAR digital terrain model Site visits Comment on any site visits undertaken by the Competent Person and the outcome of those visits.



If no site visits have been undertaken indicate why this is the case. A site visit was undertaken in 2018 by Greg Jones, the Competent Person for the IHC Robbins. The 2018 site visit also included training and mentoring for the Malagasy geologists (which was carried out in conjunction with Ian Reudavey - Geological Superintendent)



Review of key geological units was possible by comparing drill hole residual samples from a selected type section with the logging and undertaking a side-by-side re-logging exercise Geological interpretation Confidence in (or conversely, the uncertainty of) the geological interpretation of the mineral deposit.



Nature of the data used and of any assumptions made.



The effect, if any, of alternative interpretations on Mineral Resource estimation.



The use of geology in guiding and controlling Mineral Resource estimation.



The factors affecting continuity both of grade and geology. The previous geological interpretation for the Toliara deposit was undertaken by WTR in 2012 and the data was used by IHC Robbins which was validated using all logging data, sampling data, and observations and modified where appropriate. The geological interpretation undertaken by IHC Robbins was in collaboration with the companies Resource Manager



Current data spacing and quality is sufficient to confirm or indicate geological and grade continuity



Interpretation of modelling domains was restricted to the main mineralised zones using THM sinks, oversize material, slimes, and lithological logging (including colour changes)



There is a high degree of confidence in the geological interpretation of the sand units (aeolian and shallow marine sands)



The extent of the upper mineralized sand unit was determined by a combination of LIDAR and drill hole data, with no assumptions made



A further interpretation of the lower mineralised sand unit was determined primarily along the western boundary of the Toliara deposit with more recent drilling adding to the confidence of its stratigraphic positioning within the Toliara deposit



The lower mineralised sand unit has been excluded from this current resource estimate and report at this point in time on the basis that mineralogical data is available for this unit



Only the aeolian Upper Sand Unit and the Intermediate Clay Sand Unit have been considered for this resource estimate and report



The primary factor controlling grade and geology continuity is mega-dune morphology. The limestone morphology also impacts continuity of grade, primarily along the eastern extents of the Toliara deposit



Dune morphology and grade trends have been used with cross-sectional data to define search ellipsoid orientation in populating the resource model Dimensions The extent and variability of the Mineral Resource expressed as length (along strike or otherwise), plan width, and depth below surface to the upper and lower limits of the Mineral Resource. The resource extends for 20 km north - south and averages 2.2 km wide east-west

The average depth of mineralization from the surface to the 3% HM cut-off is 17.5 m with an average of 6 to 21 m Estimation and modelling techniques The nature and appropriateness of the estimation technique(s) applied and key assumptions, including treatment of extreme grade values, domaining, interpolation parameters and maximum distance of extrapolation from data points. If a computer assisted estimation method was chosen include a description of computer software and parameters used.



The availability of check estimates, previous estimates and/or mine production records and whether the Mineral Resource estimate takes appropriate account of such data.



The assumptions made regarding recovery of by-products.



Estimation of deleterious elements or other non-grade variables of economic significance (e.g. sulphur for acid mine drainage characterisation).



In the case of block model interpolation, the block size in relation to the average sample spacing and the search employed.



Any assumptions behind modelling of selective mining units.



Any assumptions about correlation between variables.



Description of how the geological interpretation was used to control the resource estimates.



Discussion of basis for using or not using grade cutting or capping.



The process of validation, the checking process used, the comparison of model data to drill hole data, and use of reconciliation data if available. CAE mining software Datamine Studio RM was used to estimate the mineral resources



Inverse distance weighting techniques were used to interpolate assay grades from drill hole samples into the block model and nearest neighbour techniques were used to interpolate index values and non-numeric sample identification into the block model



The mostly regular dimensions of the drill grid and the anisotropy of the drilling and sampling grid allowed for the use of inverse distance methodologies as no de-clustering of samples was required



Appropriate and industry standard search ellipses were used to search for data for the interpolation and suitable limitations on the number of samples and the impact of those samples was maintained. An inverse distance weighting of three was used so as not to over smooth the grade interpolations



Hard domain boundaries were used and these were defined by the geological wireframes that were interpreted



Topographic surface was created from LIDAR data



Resource was modelled to key geological boundaries and then reported at cut-off grades of 1.5 and 3.0% THM (no minimum thickness)



The average parent cell size used for the interpolation was approximately half the standard drill hole width and a half of the standard drill hole section line spacing



The average drill hole spacing for the Ranobe deposit was 100 m east-west and 200 m north-south and with a 1.5 m samples and so the selected parent cell size was 50 x 100 x 1.5 m (where the Z or vertical direction of the cell was nominated to be the same distance as the sample length)



Four Mineral Resources estimates have been undertaken previously; Ticor 2004, Exxaro 2006, Milne 2010, MacDonald Speijers and Associates 2012. The current resource model has been reviewed against these previous estimates



No assumptions have been made regarding recovery of by-products



No deleterious elements or non-grade variables are present



All resource blocks are assumed to be mined from the surface with no overburden



Mineral assemblages show little statistical variation over the deposit, and correlate well with HM content



Drill hole declustering was not used during the interpolation because of the regular nature of sample spacing



Sample distributions were reviewed, and no extreme outliers were identified either high or low that necessitated any grade cutting or capping



Validation of grade interpolations were done visually In CAE Studio (Datamine) software by loading model and drill hole files and annotating and colouring and using filtering to check for the appropriateness of interpolations



Statistical distributions were prepared for model zones from drill hole and model files to compare the effectiveness of the interpolation



Along strike distributions of section line averages (swath plots) for drill holes and models were also prepared for comparison purposes Moisture Whether the tonnages are estimated on a dry basis or with natural moisture, and the method of determination of the moisture content. Tonnages were estimated on an assumed dry basis.



The bulk density used for the Ranobe deposit is one that has been utilised by previous workers and is based on a simple linear algorithm originally developed by John Baxter (1977). IHC Robbins from experience of working with these styles of ore bodies considers that this algorithm is a fair approximation of the in situ dry bulk density Cut-off parameters The basis of the adopted cut-off grade(s) or quality parameters applied. Cut-off grades were used for reporting the Mineral Resources estimate. No top or bottom cuts were used for grade interpolation Mining factors or assumptions Assumptions made regarding possible mining methods, minimum mining dimensions and internal (or, if applicable, external) mining dilution. It is always necessary as part of the process of determining reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction to consider potential mining methods, but the assumptions made regarding mining methods and parameters when estimating Mineral Resources may not always be rigorous. Where this is the case, this should be reported with an explanation of the basis of the mining assumptions made. No specific mining method is assumed other than potentially the use of dry mining methods for the deposit using dozer trap and/or front-end loader



Deposit is planned to be mined from surface with no minimum dimensions Metallurgical factors or assumptions The basis for assumptions or predictions regarding metallurgical amenability. It is always necessary as part of the process of determining reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction to consider potential metallurgical methods, but the assumptions regarding metallurgical treatment processes and parameters made when reporting Mineral Resources may not always be rigorous. Where this is the case, this should be reported with an explanation of the basis of the metallurgical assumptions made. Test work completed by Ticor/Kumba Resource 2004 Pre-Feasibility Study



Test work completed Exxaro 2009 Feasibility Study



Test work undertaken by AML 2007 and 2009



Process design TZMI 2012, Definitive Engineering Study



Ongoing test work at Mineral Technologies and IHC Robbins, Brisbane Environmental factors or assumptions Assumptions made regarding possible waste and process residue disposal options. It is always necessary as part of the process of determining reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction to consider the potential environmental impacts of the mining and processing operation. While at this stage the determination of potential environmental impacts, particularly for a greenfield project, may not always be well advanced, the status of early consideration of these potential environmental impacts should be reported. Where these aspects have not been considered this should be reported with an explanation of the environmental assumptions made. EMP (Environmental Management Plan) approved by Government of Madagascar June 2015 Bulk density Whether assumed or determined. If assumed, the basis for the assumptions. If determined, the method used, whether wet or dry, the frequency of the measurements, the nature, size and representativeness of the samples.



The bulk density for bulk material must have been measured by methods that adequately account for void spaces (vugs, porosity, etc), moisture and differences between rock and alteration zones within the deposit.



Discuss assumptions for bulk density estimates used in the evaluation process of the different materials. The bulk density used for the Ranobe deposit is one that has been utilised by previous workers and is based on a simple linear algorithm originally developed by John Baxter (1977).



IHC Robbins from experience of working with these styles of ore bodies considers that this algorithm is a fair approximation of the in situ dry bulk density, where BD = 1.61 + (0.01 x HM) Classification The basis for the classification of the Mineral Resources into varying confidence categories.



Whether appropriate account has been taken of all relevant factors (i.e. relative confidence in tonnage/grade estimations, reliability of input data, confidence in continuity of geology and metal values, quality, quantity and distribution of the data).



Whether the result appropriately reflects the Competent Person's view of the deposit. The resource classification for the Ranobe deposit was based on the following criteria: drill hole spacing and the distribution and influence of bulk samples



The classification of the Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resources was supported by the uncomplicated geology, continuity of mineralisation, confidence in the drill hole data and all the supporting criteria as noted above



As a Competent Person, IHC Robbins Geological Services Manager Greg Jones considers that the result appropriately reflects a reasonable view of the deposit categorisation Audits or reviews. The results of any audits or reviews of Mineral Resource estimates. An audit and review was undertaken on the previous resource estimate carried out by WTR Discussion of relative accuracy/ confidence Where appropriate a statement of the relative accuracy and confidence level in the Mineral Resource estimate using an approach or procedure deemed appropriate by the Competent Person. For example, the application of statistical or geostatistical procedures to quantify the relative accuracy of the resource within stated confidence limits, or, if such an approach is not deemed appropriate, a qualitative discussion of the factors that could affect the relative accuracy and confidence of the estimate.



The statement should specify whether it relates to global or local estimates, and, if local, state the relevant tonnages, which should be relevant to technical and economic evaluation. Documentation should include assumptions made and the procedures used.



These statements of relative accuracy and confidence of the estimate should be compared with production data, where available. No statistical or geo-statistical review of the accuracy of the resource estimate has been undertaken



Variography was undertaken to determine the drill hole support of the selected JORC classification



Validation of the model vs drill hole grades by direct observation and comparison of the results on screen, swathe plot and population distribution analysis were favourable



The resource statement is a global estimate for the entire known extent of the Ranobe deposit within the Exploration Permit



There has been no production to date

Glossary

CRM Certified Reference Material are 'controls' or standards used to check the quality and metrological traceability of products, to validate analytical measurement methods, or for the calibration of instruments. Competent Person The JORC Code requires that a Competent Person must be a Member or Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, or of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, or of a 'Recognised Professional Organisation'.

A Competent Person must have a minimum of five years' experience working with the style of mineralisation or type of deposit under consideration and relevant to the activity which that person is undertaking. DGPS Differential Global Positioning System is a system to provide positional corrections to GPS signals. DGPS uses a fixed, known position to adjust real time GPS signals to eliminate pseudo range errors. DTM Digital Terrain Model. Indicated Resource An Indicated Mineral Resource is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade (or quality), densities, shape and physical characteristics are estimated with sufficient confidence to allow the application of Modifying Factors in sufficient detail to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. Inferred Resource An Inferred Mineral Resource is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity and grade (or quality) are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade (or quality) continuity. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. Inverse distance weighting A statistical interpolation method whereby the influence of data points within a defined neighborhood around an interpolated point decreases as a function of distance. JORC The Joint Ore Reserves Committee: The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves ('the JORC Code'), as published by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia. LIDAR survey LIDAR is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analysing the reflected light. Measured Resource A Measured Mineral Resource is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade (or quality), densities, shape, and physical characteristics are estimated with confidence sufficient to allow the application of Modifying Factors to support detailed mine planning and final evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. Mineral Resources Mineral Resources are a concentration or occurrence of solid material of economic interest in or on the Earth's crust in such form, grade (or quality), and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade (or quality), continuity and other geological characteristics of a Mineral Resource are known, estimated or interpreted from specific geological evidence and knowledge, including sampling. Mineral Resources are sub-divided, in order of increasing geological confidence, into Inferred, Indicated and Measured categories. Ore Reserves Ore Reserves are the economically mineable part of Measured and/or Indicated Mineral Resources. QEMSCAN Is an acronym for Quantitative Evaluation of Materials by Scanning Electron Microscopy, an integrated automated mineralogy and petrography solution providing quantitative analysis of minerals and rocks. RL The term Reduced Level is denoted shortly by 'RL'. National survey departments of each country determine RL's of significantly important locations or points. RL is used to describe the relative vertical position of drill collars. RMS Is the Root Mean Square error used in surveying. SEM A Scanning Electron Microscope is a type of electron microscope that produces images of a sample or minerals by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. UTM The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) conformal projection uses a 2-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system to give locations on the surface of the Earth. Variography A geostatistical method that investigates the spatial variability and dependence of grade within a deposit. This may also include a directional analysis. WGS 84 The World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) is the reference frame used by the Global Positioning System (GPS). XRD X-Ray Diffraction is an analytical technique used to determine mineral species. XRF analysis A spectroscopic method used to determine the chemical composition of a material through analysis of secondary X-ray emissions, generated by excitation of a sample with primary X-rays that are characteristic of a particular element.

ENDS.

For further information contact:

James Fuller, Manager Communications and Investor Relations UK Media Relations Base Resources Tavistock Communications Tel: +61 (8) 9413 7426 Jos Simson and Barnaby Hayward Mobile: +61 (0) 488 093 763 Tel: +44 (0) 207 920 3150 Email: jfuller@baseresources.com.au

About Base Resources

Base Resources is an Australian based, African focused, mineral sands producer and developer with a track record of project delivery and operational performance. The Company operates the established Kwale Operations in Kenya and is developing the Toliara Project in Madagascar. Base Resources is an ASX and AIM listed company. Further details about Base Resources are available at www.baseresources.com.au

PRINCIPAL & REGISTERED OFFICE

Level 1, 50 Kings Park Road

West Perth, Western Australia, 6005

Email: info@baseresources.com.au

Phone: +61 (0)8 9413 7400

Fax: +61 (0)8 9322 8912

NOMINATED ADVISOR

RFC Ambrian Limited

Andrew Thomson / Stephen Allen

Phone: +61 (0)8 9480 2500


Baltimore gives her a base near the natural resource she needs  smart political people  in a city that is the opposite of Washington, D.C., in that that is earthy, with real people, real American problems, and in an East Coast time zone with affordable accommodations and a great nearby airport, said OComartun, a city resident who is a principal at 50 State, a political consulting group. Its a great opportunity for us to have a champion in the White House if she wins and to elevate our issues on a national stage during the campaign and to have 100 young professionals come to the city.
Zaandam, the Netherlands, January 23, 2019 -Ahold Delhaize today announces the appointment of Marit van Egmond as Brand President & CEO of Albert Heijn as of February 1, 2019. She will succeed Wouter Kolk, who will fully focus on his duties as CEO Ahold Delhaize Europe and Indonesia.

Marit van Egmond has more than 20 years of international retail experience, and currently serves as Executive Vice President Commerce at Albert Heijn. She began her career as a management trainee at Ahold and has held several commercial, operational and management roles within the company, including CEO of Gall&Gall. She will continue to report to Wouter Kolk.

"I am happy that Marit will take over leadership of Albert Heijn," said Wouter Kolk. "Her deep knowledge of food retail is impressive, having led winning teams, launched innovations and successfully implemented them in fast-changing environments. Next to that, she has built a sustainable network of partners and suppliers. I look forward to continue working with her and wish her all the best in her new role."

Marit van Egmond said: "It is an honor to lead Albert Heijn moving forward. I strongly believe that food plays a central role in how people live. This is key for the Albert Heijn brand with its strong heritage in food and our highly relevant position in society. Combined with the tech- and digital capabilities of Albert Heijn, we can help customers make informed choices to live a healthier and more enjoyable life. I look forward to working together with our associates, franchisees, partners and other stakeholders to continue the success of Albert Heijn."

Wouter Kolk will fully focus on his duties as CEO Ahold Delhaize Europe and Indonesia, responsible for Ahold Delhaize in all eight countries. In addition, next to own-brand expertise, he will leverage digital, eCommerce and synergy opportunities across the different markets to drive growth and create new business prospects as part of Ahold Delhaize's Leading Together strategy. He will be supported by a small team that is currently being recruited and will be announced shortly.

The press release is attached in Dutch.

190123_AD appoints M van Egmond as Brand President & CEO Albert Heijn (http://hugin.info/130711/R/2232094/877703.pdf)

190123_AD benoemt Marit van Egmond tot CEO van Albert Heijn (http://hugin.info/130711/R/2232094/877704.pdf)



This announcement is distributed by West Corporation on behalf of West Corporation clients.

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

Source: Ahold Delhaize via Globenewswire


TEMECULA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / Temecula, CA International Endeavors Corporation, Inc. (OTC PINK: IDVV) today announced that it has received a purchase order from a client located in British Columbia to sell an OGGL Unit.

Terms of the order state that the client will purchase a unit for their grow operation. International Endeavors will customize the OGGL to allow them to grow a specific strain called Sour Banana Sherbet which is known for being particularly high in caryophyllene, which has shown anti-anxiety and antidepressant benefits.

The client has plans to apply for cultivation and sales licenses from Health Canada in 2019 for Medical and Recreational sales. They expect to add additional OGGL units as needed to scale their operation.

Company Spokesman Barry Smith stated "Demand for the OGGL continues to grow, this client chose the OGGL due to its scalability, and climate versatility in addition to its small footprint. The OGGL will enable them to grow year round without the need for ancillary power making the potential ROI for the client as little as nine months.'

About the OGGL: The OGGL is the first purpose-built, self-contained, off-grid growing laboratory. Built in a low-cost shipping container, the OGGL has integrated solar modules and lithium-phosphate batteries coupled with a generator backup to supply uninterrupted power to the grow room. The OGGL is configurable for the three stages of the growing process, which are: vegetative, flowering, and cloning.

OGGL Unit

https://youtu.be/WRvXqpbA634

About International Endeavors Corporation (OTC stock symbol: IDVV)

International Endeavors Corporation focuses on building intellectual property and making equipment sales in the medical marijuana and legal cannabis industry through the creation of off-grid grow labs, biomedical devices, clean-energy solutions, and patented devices. The company is also engaged in locating and acquiring established companies, brands, and technologies. The company's real estate portfolio includes commercial property, agricultural land, and buildings.

Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our 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 words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. International Endeavors Corporation (IDVV) is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contact:

Nate Engel, CEO

Phone: 1-951-296-1024

Email: nate@internationalendeavorscorp.com

SOURCE: International Endeavors Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533274/IDVV-Receives-Purchase-Order-To-Sell-OGGL-in-Canada
SUDBURY, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / Supreme Metals Corp. (the "Company" or "Supreme") (CSE: ABJ) (FSE: A68) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Joint Exploration Agreement (the "Agreement") with Champion Iron Limited ("Champion") (TSX: CIA) (ASX: CIA) for joint exploration on the Company's Bloom Lake East Property and Champion's Bloom Lake Mine Property.



(To view the full-size image, please click here)

This Agreement provides for a mutually beneficial and efficient regional exploration program for both cobalt and iron occurring on the Bloom Lake East and Bloom Lake Mine Properties. Pursuant to the Agreement, Champion shall undertake exploration for iron at their cost on the licences held by Supreme on the Bloom Lake East Property, and Supreme shall be permitted to undertake exploration for cobalt on the Bloom Lake Mine Property. The Bloom Lake Mine Property includes the area of the Walsh Cobalt Occurrence which has reported historic assays of "running to better than 11.0% cobalt"1. The Agreement also demarcates a budget of at least $100,000 for iron exploration on the Bloom Lake East property and $50,000 for cobalt exploration on the Bloom Lake Iron Mine property. These funds are to be supplied by Champion.

Bob Komarechka, P.Geo, CEO, commented:

"The recent targeting of a large strong magnetic anomaly exhibiting characteristic signatures of an iron formation located in the area of historic grab samples from the Nip West showing assaying from 3.63% to 59.9% soluble iron2 is intriguing. (Note that the value of 59.9% soluble iron should not be considered as representative of the average iron mineralization.) Having this anomaly fortuitously located less than 3 kilometres from Champion's active mill site, is very exciting. Today's signing of an exploration agreement with Champion and their financial commitment acknowledges the significance of this property and its future potential. This agreement will allow Supreme an opportunity to explore the Walsh Cobalt Property with historic assays of 6% Co3 and allow our neighbour, Champion, the right to explore the iron potential of the area using their expertise and existing logistics in the area. I believe this is a win-win situation for both companies and look forward to working with Champion to explore the exciting mineral potential of this area."

"Supreme would also like to acknowledge the Newfoundland Labrador Natural Resources Junior Exploration Assistance (JEA) Program, without whose financial support the exploration program leading to this agreement would not have happened."

About the Bloom Lake Property

The Bloom Lake East Property is located near the Labrador, Newfoundland Quebec border between the Bloom Lake iron mine of Champion Iron Mines in Quebec and the Wabush iron Mines of Iron Ore Company of Canada (managed by Rio Tinto) in Labrador.

When originally acquired, the property consisted of 3 separate blocks of 5 licences composed of 84 claims comprising 2,100 hectares. The property was initially acquired for its cobalt potential with the presence of numerous iron occurrences in the area also being recognized. Since review of Supreme's recent magnetic survey (see press release dated December 19, 2018) Supreme has acquired an additional 4 licences consisting of 21 more claims over areas of potential magnetic anomaly extensions that included 2 additional known iron showings, namely the Sitting Bear #1 and the Sitting Bear #2 containing a discreet manganese bed as a secondary commodity. Additional later claim acquisitions in the area were also undertaken by Champion.

Previous exploration work on the property consisted of rudimentary regional mapping, regional magnetometer surveying and the drilling of several drill holes in the western 2 blocks. The result of the earlier mapping had indicated the presence of the iron ore bearing Sokoman/Wabush Formation on the East Bloom Lake Property. This is the formation from which the iron is mined by the two major mining companies.

About Champion Iron Limited

Champion is a producing iron development and exploration company, focused on developing its significant iron resources in the south end of the Labrador Trough in the province of Quebec. Following the acquisition of its flagship asset, the Bloom Lake iron ore property, the Company implemented upgrades to the mine and processing infrastructure and has partnered in projects associated with improving access to global iron markets, including rail and port infrastructure initiatives with government and other key industry and community stakeholders. Champion's management team includes professionals with mine development and operations expertise, who also have vast experience from geotechnical work to green field development, brown field management including logistics development and financing of all stages in the mining industry.

About Quebec Iron Ore Inc.

Founded in 2016 by the mining development company Champion Iron Limited, Quebec Iron Ore Inc. is a 100% Quebec-based entity managed by experts from Quebec. The company was mandated to direct the relaunch of the Bloom Lake Mine, a Champion Iron flagship project in Fermont, in northern Quebec.

About Champion Iron Mines Limited

Champion Iron Mines Limited is a subsidiary of Champion Iron Limited. Champion Iron Limited is the owner of the exploration licences in Newfoundland Labrador.

About Supreme Metals Corp.

Supreme Metals Corp. (CSE: ABJ) (FSE: A68) is a Canadian based exploration company with a focused approach in the area of green and energy metals in the Western World adjacent to anticipated downstream manufacturing projects that will have a significant need for these metals.

On Behalf of the Board,

Bob Komarechka, CEO

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. There is no assurance the private placement, property option, change of board or reinstatement of trading referred to above will close on the terms as stated, or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements.

1 Quebec Department of Mines Mineral Deposits Branch Report # GM-1689, Report on Walsh Cobalt Group, Mount Wright Area. April 22, 1952.

2 Newfoundland Labrador Mineral Database, National Mineral Inventory Number: O23B14/Fe 016, Record Number: 4133, Deposit Name: Nip Lake West, Metal Mineral Content.

3 Province De Quebec, Canada Ministere Des Mines, Service Dr La Carte Geologique, R.P. No. 413, Rapport Preliminaire Sur La Region De Normanville, District Electoral De Saguenay by P.J. Clarke, 1960. Page 14.

SOURCE: Supreme Metals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533277/Supreme-Metals-Corp-Announces-Signing-of-Joint-Exploration-Agreement-with-Champion-Iron-Limited-on-its-Bloom-Lake-East-Property
JUPITER, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / Dyadic International, Inc. (the 'Company') (OTCQX: DYAI) today announced that its CEO, Mark Emalfarb will present at NobleConXV - Noble Capital Markets' Fifteenth Annual Investor Conference at the W Hotel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida - on Monday, January 28, 12:30 pm Eastern Standard Time.

A high-definition, video webcast of the presentation will be available the following day on the Company's website at www.dyadic.com and as part of a complete catalog of presentations available at Noble Capital Markets' Conference website: www.nobleconference.com and on the new investor portal created by Noble called Channelchek: www.channelchek.com. The webcast will be archived on the company's website, the NobleCon website and on Channelchek.com for 90 days following the event.

About Noble Capital Markets, Inc.

2019 marks Noble Capital Markets' 35th anniversary. The Company is an equity-research driven, full-service, investment & merchant banking boutique focused on emerging growth companies. In addition to NobleCon, Noble hosts numerous 'non-deal' corporate road shows across the United States and Canada. In late 2018, Noble launched Channelchek.com which features advanced market data, institutional-quality research, balanced news, videos and podcasts covering more than 6,000 emerging growth companies. There is no cost for investors to join. Members: FINRA, SIPC, MSRB. www.noblecapitalmarkets.com

About Dyadic International, Inc.

Dyadic International, Inc. is a global biotechnology company which is developing what it believes will be a potentially significant biopharmaceutical gene expression platform based on the fungus Myceliophthora thermophila, named C1. The C1 microorganism, which enables the development and large scale manufacture of low cost proteins, has the potential to be further developed into a safe and efficient expression system that may help speed up the development, lower production costs and improve the performance of biologic vaccines and drugs at flexible commercial scales. Dyadic is using the C1 technology and other technologies to conduct research, development and commercial activities for the development and manufacturing of human and animal vaccines (such as virus like particles (VLPs) and antigens), monoclonal antibodies, Fab antibody fragments, Fc-Fusion proteins, biosimilars and/or biobetters, and other therapeutic proteins. Dyadic pursues research and development collaborations, licensing arrangements and other commercial opportunities with its partners and collaborators to leverage the value and benefits of these technologies in development and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. In particular, as the aging population grows in developed and undeveloped countries, Dyadic believes the C1 technology may help bring biologic drugs to market faster, in greater volumes, at lower cost, and with new properties to drug developers and manufacturers and, hopefully, improve access and cost to patients and the healthcare system, but most importantly save lives.

Please visit Dyadic's website at http://www.dyadic.com for additional information, including details regarding Dyadic's plans for its biopharmaceutical business.

Dyadic trades on the OTCQX tier of the OTC marketplace. Investors can find real-time quotes, market information and financial reports for Dyadic in the Company's annual and quarterly reports which are filed with the OTC markets. Please visit the OTC markets website at www.otcmarkets.com/stock/DYAI/quote.

Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'could,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'goal,' 'intend,' 'look forward to,' 'may,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'predict,' 'project,' 'should,' 'will,' 'would' and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information available to management only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause Dyadic's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Dyadic expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, any changes in expectations or any change in events. Factors that could cause results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: (1) general economic, political and market conditions; (2) our ability to generate C1 cell lines which are able to produce proteins and other biomolecules with the required qualities, productivity, stability, purity, performance, cost, safety and other properties necessary to carry out and implement our biopharmaceutical research and business plans and strategic initiatives; (3) our ability to retain and attract employees, consultants, directors and advisors; (4) our ability to implement and successfully carry out Dyadic's and third parties research and development efforts; (5) our ability to obtain new license and research agreements; (6) our ability to maintain our existing access to, and/or expand access to third party contract research organizations in order to carry out our research projects for ourselves and third parties; (7) competitive pressures and reliance on key customers and collaborators; (8) the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, governmental regulatory and other agencies' willingness to adopt, utilize and approve the use of the C1 gene expression platform; and (9) other factors discussed in Dyadic's publicly available filings, including information set forth under the caption 'Risk Factors' in our December 31, 2017 Annual Report filed with the OTC Markets on March 27, 2018, and our September 30, 2018 Quarterly Report filed with the OTC Markets on November 7, 2018. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us.

Contact:

Dyadic International, Inc.

Mark A. Emalfarb

Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 561-743-8333

Email: memalfarb@dyadic.com

SOURCE: Dyadic International, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533280/Dyadic-to-Present-at-NobleCon-XV
DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / EarthWater, a health and wellness company which produces high-alkaline, mineral infused mineral supplement products, is proud to sponsor Team First Responders, a group of brave men and women from Dallas Fire Departments in the 11th Annual Big D Climb benefitting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org).

The EarthWater sponsored team of 10 Local Fire Fighters/First Responders will climb 70 flights of stairs at the Bank of America Plaza located in Downtown Dallas, TX. This is the tallest building in the city and the 30th tallest in the USA. The climb will take place on Saturday, January 26, 2019 and is part of the annual fund-raising challenge for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, supporting efforts to discover a cure for leukemia.

EarthWater Founder/CEO CJ Comu stated, "We're honored to be participating in the Big D Climb again - and proud to be back with Team First Responders, to support our local first responders for the sacrifices they make every day to keep our community safe. The mission of the LLS is very important to us, we want to see everyone's health improved and lives saved."

EarthWater has a longstanding relationship with the Addison Fire Departments and keeping the stations stocked with EarthWater's mineral infused water for hydration and health.



Members of local Dallas Fire Departments sporting Team EarthWater products and gear in preparation for the 70-story Big D Climb.

To support Team First Responder's fundraising campaign with a donation, click on the following link: http://ow.ly/Otk650kdS3z.

About Big D Climb

The Big D Climb is the biggest stair climb in North Texas. Participants race against time, up 70 stories of stairs at Bank of America Plaza in Downtown Dallas, to raise money for blood cancer research. More than 1,600 climbers race and help to raise more than $255,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, www.bigdclimb.org.

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)

LLS is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: cure leukemia, lymphoma, hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services. Learn more at www.lls.org.

About EarthWater

EarthWater is a health and wellness company and manufacturer of mineral infused high-alkaline beverages and liquid concentrate with proprietary blends of natural organic trace minerals mined from deep within the earth's surface. These minerals are composed of 'Fulvic and Humic' and have rehydrating and detoxifying qualities that can inhibit free radicals and improve absorption of key nutrients. EarthWater products are sold through online Membership Sites and through the Amazon Exclusives Program. To engage with EarthWater online, you are encouraged to "like," "follow," and "share" our social media pages. Please direct inquiries to info@earthwater.com or visit www.EarthWater.com.

Media Contact

For More Information on EarthWater or to book Founder/CEO CJ Comu for press interviews or speaking engagements, please contact Kim Francis - Director Strategic Marketing via email at kf@earthwater.com or you may call or text her directly at 469.713.7616.

SOURCE: EarthWater Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533283/EarthWater-Supports-Big-D-Climb-Benefiting-The-Leukemia-Lymphoma-Society-and-Sponsors-First-Responder-Team
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / Pelangio Exploration Inc. (PX:TSX-V; OTC PINK:PGXPF) ("Pelangio" or the "Company")is pleased to announceit has entered into an option agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Dome West property located in Tisdale Township, Timmins Ontario, from Mr. Francois Desrosiers and 6398651 Canada Inc. The Dome West property comprises 10 mining cells covering 56 hectares and is strategically located adjacent to both Goldcorp's Dome Mine property and the former Paymaster Mine property.

Highlights of the Dome West property

Mineral rights to 10 mining cells covering approximately 56 hectares

Located in the Timmins - Porcupine Gold Camp

800 metres west of the Dome Mine open pit

Adjacent to both the Dome Mine property and the former Paymaster Mine property

"The Dome West property is a major acquisition for Pelangio. It is located in a geologically significant area just 800 metres from the historic Dome Mine, one of the largest and well-known gold producers in Canada",commented Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO of Pelangio. "Planning is underway for a first-phase diamond drill program to be carried out this winter. The Dome West project complements our recently acquired Dalton project, located 1.5 km west of Goldcorp's Hollinger Mine."

Terms of the Option Agreement and Work Commitment:

In order to acquire a 100% interest in the Dome West property, Pelangio must make the following cash payments and share issuances (33 1/3% to Francois Desrosiers and 66 2/3% to 6398651 Canada Inc.) and complete a total of $750,000 in exploration expenditures in accordance with the following schedule:

Share

Issuance Cash

Payments Work

Commitment Year 150,000 shares $15,000

On the date the agreement is accepted by the TSXV



$110,000 Before the first anniversary of the acceptance date. 150,000 shares $30,000

On or before the first anniversary of the acceptance date



$115,000 Before the second anniversary of acceptance date. 100,000 shares $75,000

On or before the second anniversary of the acceptance date



$225,000 Before the third anniversary of acceptance date. 100,000 shares $100,000

On or before the third anniversary of the acceptance date



$300,000 Before the fourth anniversary of acceptance date. 500,000 shares $220,000 $750,000



Pursuant to the terms of the option agreement, Pelangio will be the project operator. Upon exercise of the option, Pelangio will grant Francois Desrosiers and 6398651 Canada Inc. a 3% Net Smelter Return (NSR) Royalty, subject to the right to purchase a 1% NSR royalty for $1,000,000.

The Dome West Property

The Dome West property, formerly controlled by Central Porcupine Mines Ltd., is a strategic land holding that is adjacent to both the former Paymaster Mine property and Goldcorp's Dome Mine (Source: Ont. Dept of Mines Map 449B, Ferguson, 1969). The Dome West property is located approximately 800 metres west of the Dome Mine (See Maps 1 and 2: Location of the Dome West property in reference to the Dome Mine and other strategically located mine properties with historical production, shown below).

Pelangio intends to evaluate a highly prospective porphyritic sill unit interpreted to extend across a substantial portion of the Dome West property at the 1000-foot elevation from the former Paymaster Mine property (Source: Ont. Dept of Mines Map 449B, Ferguson, 1969 and OGS Assessment File T-125). Upon receipt of any necessary surface access permission for exploration work on the property, the first-phase diamond drill program will begin this winter.

Qualified Person

Mr. Kevin Filo, P.Geo. (Ontario), is a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Filo has verified and approved the data disclosed in this release.

Map 1: Location of the Dome West property in reference to the Dome Mine and other strategically located mine properties





Map 2: Regional geology of the Timmins area showing the location of the Dome West and Dalton properties in relation to the Dome and Hollinger Mines





About Pelangio

Pelangio acquires and explores large land packages in world-class gold belts in Canada and Ghana, West Africa. In Canada, the company is focusing on the Dome West property located 800 metres from the Dome Mine in Timmins, the 25 km2 Birch Lake Property located in the Red Lake Mining District and the Dalton Property located 1.5 km from the Hollinger mine in Timmins. In Ghana, the Company is focusing on two 100%- owned camp-sized properties: the 100 km2 Manfo Property, the site of seven recent near-surface gold discoveries, and the 284 km2 Obuasi Property, located 4 km on strike and adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti's prolific high-grade Obuasi Mine. Ghana is an English-speaking, common law jurisdiction that is consistently ranked amongst the most favourable mining jurisdictions in Africa.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.pelangio.com, or contact:

Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO

Tel: 905-336-3828 / Toll-free: 1-877-746-1632 / Email: info@pelangio.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements herein may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements or information appear in a number of places and can be identified by the use of words 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 statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information include statements regarding the Company's potential acquisition of the Dome West property, the Company's strategy of acquiring large land packages in areas of sizable gold mineralization, the Company's plans to follow-up on previous work, the issuance of the number of shares required to complete the exercise of the option to acquire the Dome West property, the obtaining of TSXV acceptance of the proposed acquisition, and the Company's exploration plans. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, we have made numerous assumptions, including assumptions about the state of the equity markets. Such forward-looking statements and information are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Such risks include the changes in equity markets, share price volatility, volatility of global and local economic climate, gold price volatility, increases in costs, exchange rate fluctuations, speculative nature of gold exploration including the risk that favourable results may not be obtained, and other risks involved in the gold exploration industry. See the Company's annual and quarterly financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statement and information. There can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information referenced herein will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Also, many of the factors are beyond the control of the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward- looking statements or information. We undertake no obligation to reissue or update any forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. All forward-looking statements and information herein are qualified by this 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 release.

SOURCE: Pelangio Exploration Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533247/Pelangio-Exploration-Acquires-Dome-West-Property-Adjacent-to-the-Dome-Mine-Property-in-the-Timmins--Porcupine-Gold-Camp
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / Zincore Metals Inc. (NEX: ZNC.H) ("Zincore" or the "Company") reports that that Roman Friedrich has tendered his resignation from the Company's Board of Directors. Concurrently, the Company also announces that it has appointed Allan Williams to its Board.

Zincore President and CEO, Jorge Benavides commented, "Roman has been with Zincore since I joined the Company and he has always been a great resource for me and Zincore. We will miss his counsel and wish him great success in all his future endeavours".

Mr. Benavides concluded, "Although we will miss Roman's input, we are glad to have Allan join us as a Director. He has significant public market and junior resource company board experience, and we look forward to benefiting from his insights".

Allan Williams is a self-employed business consultant, who has been involved with public companies and the capital markets for over 30 years. As both an executive and a board member he has helped run and structure junior companies, including taking companies from their beginning stages to going public. Mr. Williams has experience in mergers and acquisitions, as well as helping raise capital for early stage companies.

About Zincore

Zincore is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company focused on zinc and related base metal opportunities in Peru. The Company's common shares trade on the NEX Board of the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ZNC.H.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For more information please contact:

Zincore Metals Inc.

Adam Ho, CFO, Director

(604) 669-6611

aho@zincoremetals.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains certain 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, using words or phrases such as "expects" or does not expect", "is expected", anticipates" or "does not anticipate" "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results " may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to materially differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Zincore Metals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533323/Zincore-Appoints-Allan-Williams-to-Board-of-Directors
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / Evolution Petroleum Corporation (NYSE American: EPM) today announced that it will release its financial and operational results for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 (its second fiscal quarter of 2019) after the market closes on Wednesday, February 6, 2019. An investor conference call to review the results will be held on Thursday, February 7, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern (9:00 a.m. Central). The call will be hosted by Robert Herlin, Executive Chairman & Interim CEO and David Joe, Chief Financial Officer. Details for the conference call are as follows:

Date: Thursday, February 7, 2019

Time: 10:00 a.m. Eastern (9:00 a.m. Central)

Call: 866-682-6100 (toll-free United States & Canada)

Call: 862-298-0702 (toll International)

To listen live via webcast over the Internet, click the link https://www.investornetwork.com/event/presentation/42412 or go to our website at http://www.evolutionpetroleum.com/. A replay will be available two hours after the end of the conference call through March 7, 2019 and will be accessible by calling 877-481-4010 (toll-free United States & Canada); 919-882-2331 (toll International) with the replay pin number of 42412.

About Evolution Petroleum

Evolution Petroleum Corporation is an oil and gas company focused on delivering a sustainable dividend yield to its shareholders through the ownership, management and development of producing oil and gas properties. The Company's long-term goal is to build a diversified portfolio of oil and gas assets primarily through acquisition, while seeking opportunities to maintain and increase production through selective development, production enhancement and other exploitation efforts on its properties. Our largest current asset is our interest in a CO2 enhanced oil recovery project in Louisiana's Delhi field. Additional information, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, is available on its website at www.EvolutionPetroleum.com.

Cautionary Statement

All forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding potential results and future plans and objectives of the Company involve a wide range of risks and uncertainties. Statements herein using words such as "believe," "expect," "plans," "outlook" and words of similar meaning are forward-looking statements. Although our expectations are based on business, engineering, geological, financial and operating assumptions that we believe to be reasonable, many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and we can give no assurance that our goals will be achieved. These factors and others are detailed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our periodic documents filed with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Company Contact:

David Joe, SVP & CFO

(713) 935-0122

djoe@evolutionpetroleum.com

SOURCE: Evolution Petroleum Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533281/Evolution-Petroleum-Announces-Second-Quarter-Fiscal-2019-Earnings-Release-Conference-Call
SANTA MONICA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / Blockchain Industries, Inc. ("Blockchain Industries") (OTC PINK: BCII) today announced it has signed a binding letter of intent (the "LOI") to merge with Singapore company, BTHMB HOLDINGS Pte. Ltd., to be renamed as Blockchain Exchange Alliance (BXA). The companies anticipate combining into a single entity, becoming a publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange company. BXA has agreed to place $1M USD into an escrow account as consideration for entering into the LOI which is subject to diligence review by both parties mutual agreement on certain terms including, but not limited to, valuation and the entrance into definitive transaction documents.

"We are thrilled to be part of this important initiative that is expected to bring liquidity, accessibility and expansion to the blockchain industry," said Patrick Moynihan, CEO of Blockchain Industries. "By merging with BXA, we expect to bring more advanced technology and better compliance practices into the public marketplace via a consolidated focus."

BXA intends to use Blockchain Industries to market and expand their operations in North America.

"BXA is a global exchange alliance and the United States is a key factor to any global initiative," said Dr. Byung Gun Kim, CEO of BXA. "By unifying our businesses, we benefit from the focused expertise of Blockchain Industries. As a result, we have tremendous growth opportunities in this region, and we expect quality results from this in North America."

The potential merger aims to solve problems with liquidity, accessibility and expansion that have challenged the fast-paced and swiftly growing digital asset market. This potential transaction would result in a unified, more secure global exchange platform with a broad capability to support emerging blockchain e-commerce, payments, and other digital finance functions.

Under the terms of the LOI, the goal is to complete the anticipated merger on or before March 1, 2019. If successful, final terms will be disclosed at that time.

About Blockchain Industries, Inc.

Blockchain Industries, Inc. is a publicly traded merchant bank focused on the international blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors. The company is comprised of a Blockchain Technology Advisory, an Investment Management arm, and a Global Conference Series (Blockchain Unbound) connecting entrepreneurs and investors.

For more information on Blockchain Industries, visit http://www.blockchainind.com .

About Blockchain Exchange Alliance (BXA)

Blockchain Exchange Alliance (BXA) is a global digital financial company based in Singapore. BXA is an alliance of global crypto exchanges providing liquidity to alliance members with fiat-to-crypto function. BXA provides user-friendly payment services including e-commerce, gaming and sharing economy. BXA is working towards launching new digital financial services including security token exchanges, crypto-banking, and custody services.

For more information on BXA, visit www.BXA.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes 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, or the Exchange Act. We caution readers that forward-looking statements are predictions based on our current expectations about future events. Forward looking statements are generally written in the future tense and/or are preceded by words such as "may," "will," "should," "forecast," "could," "expect," "suggest," "believe," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "aim" or similar words, or the negatives of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. These statements are just predictions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual events or results to differ materially. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason.

CONTACT:



info@blockchainind.com

SOURCE: Blockchain Industries, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533365/CORRECTION-Blockchain-Industries-Signs-Binding-LOI-With-BTHMB-HOLDINGS
PlatON engages Professor Jonathan Katz, at the University of Maryland, and Dr. Xiao Wang, who will begin a faculty position at Northwestern University in September, on research specifically related to secure multi-party computation (MPC)

HONG KONG / ACCESSWIRE / January 22, 2019 / PlatON, a pioneering global privacy-preserving computing network, has announced a partnership with top university professors in the US as part of an effort to strengthen its cybersecurity and cryptography research, specifically in the area of designing and building protocols for secure multi-party computation (MPC).

MPC protocols allow a group of parties, each holding their own private input, to compute an arbitrary function of their collective inputs in a distributed fashion, without revealing any additional information about the parties' inputs.

The partnership is led by Professor Jonathan Katz and Dr. Xiao Wang. They will collaborate with the algorithms research group of PlatON.

"We are excited to work with top researchers like Jonathan Katz and Xiao Wang," said Sun Lilin, PlatON CEO. "Their research results will be implemented in PlatON's global computing network to meet the demand for MPC from community developers, corporations and individuals in different scenarios."

Jonathan Katz is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland and the Director of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center. He is a world-renowned leader in cybersecurity and cryptography, with over 15 years of research related to MPC. His academic achievements include a textbook on modern cryptography used by many universities around the world. He served as co-program chair of the annual Crypto conference in 2016 and 2017 and is co-chair of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in 2019. He is currently an editor of the Journal of Cryptology, the premier journal of the field.

Xiao Wang received his PhD from the University of Maryland under the guidance of Prof. Katz. His PhD research led to several remarkable results related to MPC. For example, his paper "Authenticated Garbling and Efficient Maliciously Secure Two-Party Computation," co-authored with Samuel Ranellucci and Jonathan Katz, received a Best Paper award at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in 2017. Wang is now conducting a joint post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Vinod Vaikuntanathan at MIT and Professor Ran Canetti at Boston University, and will join the faculty of Northwestern University starting in the fall semester of 2019.

Please follow us on:

Website: https://www.platon.network

Github: https://github.com/PlatONnetwork

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlatON_Network

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/platonnetwork

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlatONNetwork

Telegram: https://t.me/PlatONHK

Wechat: PlatON

support@platon.network

SOURCE: PlatON

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/533275/PlatON-partners-with-top-university-on-cryptography
Maryland supporters of updating 911 emergency call technology are outlining some proposals today in Annapolis. Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, is holding a noon news conference Wednesday with supporters at the Miller Senate Office Building.

One proposal would enhance Geographic Information Systems capacity, a move advocates say will help first responders locate those in need more quickly and accurately.

Supporters of upgrading the system also are calling for updates in technology so responders could receive texts, photos and video.

A press release from Kagans office says: Twenty-two states are ahead of Maryland in upgrading to Next Generation 911. An update to our 50-year-old technology is overdue and vital to the safety of Maryland's residents and visitors.

Legislation approve last year in Maryland created a commission chaired by Kagan to study 911 concerns.

The commission has issued a 65-page report with 23 recommendations to improve the state's emergency call system.
SHENZHEN, China, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Modular building provider CIMC Modular Building Systems Holding Co Ltd (CIMC MBS) announced that six new blocks of student accommodation at Newcastle University, consisting of containerized modules, has officially come into service last month. The Park View Student Village, as the student accommodation is called, is believed to be the country's largest of its kind.

Modular construction, considered as an environmentally friendly and time-saving alternative to traditional construction model, provided by Chinese companies is seeing growing application. This method of construction is a type of prefabricated building model. Instead of doing all the construction work on-site, it allows more than 90 percent of a building project to be finished in the factory, thereby reducing construction time and construction waste by over 50 percent.

According to the Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based company, the project consists of 789 modules, with a total area of 37,000 square meters. It includes 1,261 standard rooms, 9 rooms for disabled people and 162 kitchens. With an investment of 75 million ($97 million), it is the university's largest investment project.

"It would have taken three years minimum using traditional techniques. But using the modular services provided by CIMC MBS, the construction company was on site for a total of 110 weeks, a significant reduction in the construction period," said Paul Milburn, project manager of Galliford Try, general contractor of the project.

The British project follows another one in the United States several months ago, when the company delivered modularized student accommodation to the University of California, Berkeley.

According to a report by market research firm MarketsandMarkets, modular construction market stood at $106.2 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach $157.2 billion by 2023, representing an average annual growth of 6.9 percent over the period. Asia Pacific dominated the market in 2017 in terms of value, with China contributing a major share of it, the report said.

"Access to high quality accommodation is an important part of student life and a significant factor in defining students," said Chris Day, vice-chancellor and president of the university. "I'm pleased to say that our students already consistently rate the standard of their accommodation very highly, and I feel sure that with the addition of Park View Student Village to our portfolio, our standing can only improve."

Victor Zhu, general manager of CIMC MBS, said modular buildings have won high praise not only due to the economic efficiency and comfort, but also the sustainability. More modules can be added to the current architecture to meet the increasing accommodation demand from students.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811455/CIMC_British_university_housing.jpg
BC Patil Applies Haldi On Srushti

Srushti has always been there for her father. Before her wedding was fixed, she helped him take care of their school and also campaigned for him during the elections. In the above picture, BC Patil is seen applying Haldi on Srushti as a part of the pre-wedding rituals. The smile on their faces is heart-warming!

Patil Was Shuttling Between Wedding & Politics

Well, needless to say, political leaders are always busy. Though Srushti was getting married, BC Patil had to attend a meeting in Vidhana Soudha. Talking to the media he said, "As an MLA I've come to the CLP meeting. I have come here despite my daughter's wedding. My daughter's reception is set to happen in the evening so I'm leaving now."

It Was A Star-lit Evening

However, Patil was seen at his daughter's wedding reception. Wedding and reception both took place at Palaca Grounds, Bangalore. The evening was graced by several actors and politicians such as Sudha Rani, Prajwal Devaraj, Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, Siddaramaiah, HD Kumaraswamy, SM Krishna and more.

Srushti & Sanjay Love Story

Srushti and Sanjay knew each other for years. Apparently, they had been friends for 4 years, before they fell in love. The couple got enagaged last year in the presence of family and friends. Undoubtedly, they make for an adorable jodi. We wish them a happy married life!
Pratiek Babbar and Sanya Sagar Shares their Mehandi-Haldi ceremony photos | FilmiBeat

The season of weddings continue in Bollywood. After Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, Prateik Babbar is all set to get hitched to his girlfriend Sanya Sagar today. The wedding ceremonies have already commenced in Lucknow and we have got our hands on the first pictures from their mehendi and haldi ceremony.

After dating for around two years, the lovebirds have finally decided to take the marital vows. Earlier while speaking to a tabloid, Prateik said, "I've been mentally ready for marriage for a while now as I believe it gives a relationship substance. Nothing will change, life will only get even more beautiful."

Meanwhile, have a look at their dreamy pre-wedding pictures right away here-

The Couple Look Their Happy Best For their mehendi and haldi ceremony, Prateik picked up a yellow kurta with white pyjama. On the other hand, his bride-to-be Sanya looked pretty in a lemon yellow dress and a floral headgear. Say Cheese In this click, Prateik is all smiles for the lens while Sanya is busy with her phone. A High-Profile Wedding As per sources, BSP chief Mayawati, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, chief ministers of Congress-ruled states - Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattishgarh, that of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and other senior leaders of various political parties are likely to attend Prateik-Sanya's wedding ceremony. Prateik & Sanya Got Engaged Last Year The actor was quoted as saying, "Sanya and I, along with our families, decided that something as pure as love should be solemnised on an auspicious day and what better day than Basant Panchami. She's the best partner I could have asked for. It didn't take me long to figure out that she was the one for me. I know it sounds cliched, but I can't stop counting my blessings and thanking God for all the good that is happening in my life."

UNMISSABLE: Deepika Padukone Is A Bridesmaid To A Friend In These Latest Pictures!
John Abraham's next movie, Romeo Akbar Walter's first look is out, and boy does it look intriguing. We see John lost in thought with an intense look on his face. The movie is based on a real life spy from the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, whom John will be playing in the film. His character's name is Romeo. Check out the poster's first look!

Posting the image of the poster on his Instagram, John captioned it, "One man. Many faces. One mission - to protect his country. Presenting Romeo' from #RAW, based on the true story of a patriot. #RAWRomeo @imouniroy @apnabhidu @sikandarkher @romeoakbarwalter @viacom18motionpictures @kytaproductions @vafilmcompany @redice_films @ajay_kapoor_ #DheerajWadhwan #AjitAndhare."

John Abraham will be playing a RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) agent in Romeo Akbar Walter. On the poster, John can be seen in a retro look as he gazes intensely . We can also see him in many different faces on the poster. The film will see him stepping into eight different looks as he plays a spy. He will be playing characters ranging from the age of 26 to 85!

The film also stars Jackie Shroff, Mouni Roy, Sikander Kher and others. The film was shot on a 60 day schedule from start to finish, between June and August last year. Directed by Robbie Grewal, it is slated to hit the theatres on April 12, 2019.

While the shoot of the film was ongoing, John had said in an interview, "I do have eight different looks in the film. The effort that goes into giving me those looks is immense. It's time-consuming but completely worth the effort. There's a cast that they create to give me the desired get-up. I play everything from an 85-year-old man to a 26-year-old, and this is probably the most challenging role of my life. I've realised that today's cinema is about facing challenges. It's not about showing great disco dance moves in a project. I get good nervous energy when I am prepping for a difficult film and RAW is in that space."

Sushant Singh Rajput was initially part of the film, but he had to back out due to unavoidable circumstances. He told IANS, "I wanted to be a part of the project because I love the story and I believe it's a story which must be told. However, due to unavoidable circumstances, I won't be a part of this journey. I wish the producers all the very best for the project."

MOST READ: Deepika Padukone's Rocker-Chic Airport Look; Aamir Khan Carries A Pillow To Snuggle For His Travel
Raising The Glam Factor

Deepika Padukone was snapped at the airport in the early hours of Wednesday. She looked totally cool in a rocker-chic avatar. She sported a long hooded sweater paired with black stockings, and she wore a cool black bomber jacket with zipper details. She finished her look with a pair of black 90's style sunglasses and her signature red lips. Deepika was returning from a work trip to Paris where she shot for a brand endorsement.

Who Doesn't Like To Travel Comfortably?

Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan, was also spotted at the airport today. Aamir sported a casual look in a light blue shirt, black pants, and a hat. He was carrying a huge fluffy pink pillow with him. It looked like he was all ready to snuggle up on his flight, and travel super comfortably. Aamir and his wife Kiran Rao recently hosted a special screening of his film Rubaru Roshni for their industry friends. The film will be screened on Star Plus on Republic Day.

Sara Spotted At A Dance Studio

Sara Ali Khan was snapped at a dance studio on Wednesday afternoon. Sara sported a casual look wearing a lime green graphic tank top, black shorts and baby pink sneakers. Sara, who is often spotted in a no makeup look, carried a fresh face today too as she smiled for the shutterbugs.

Kangana Looks Totally Royal At Amrapali Manikarnika Collection Unveiling

Kangana Ranaut is all set for the release of her film Manikarnika this Friday. Today, she unveiled the first look of jewelry brand Amrapali's Manikarnika collection. Kangana looked totally royal in a sheer golden - beige saree, teamed with a black blouse. She wore two statement neck pieces for the event which gave her a very aristocratic look.
While the #10YearChallenge has taken the internet by storm, Bollywood superstar too joined the bandwagon and shared a picture of himself with Kareena Kapoor Khan. The duo are all set to share screen space in Good News after 10 years, the shooting of which commenced today.

Akshay shared a picture where he and Bebo are posing in the same manner like they did for 'Kambakkht Ishq'. The actor captioned the click as, "2009 to 2019, the #GoodNews is that not much has changed, or so we hope ?? First day of shoot it is, do send in your best wishes #10YearChallenge."

Of course, Akshay's version of 10 Year Challenge left us grinning from ear-to-ear. What do you folks think about it?

Earlier, ace makeup artiste Mickey Contractor had shared a picture of Kareena from the sets of Good News just before she began getting ready for her shot. He captioned the picture as, "Good News!!!! The star and her ENTOURAGE."

Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan had earlier worked together in Aitraaz, Kambakkht Ishq, Bewafaa and Gabbar Is Back. Good News also stars Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani. The duo had already kickstarted the shoot from November.

Earlier in an interview, Kareena had said, "I believe age or life stages should not affect a woman's career. It's important not to limit yourself. Women can do it all. I have always enjoyed playing various roles on reel - a warrior princess, model, mother just the way I do in my real life. All of this has been possible because I focus on being healthy inside to stay beautiful outside."

Talking about Good News, the film helmed by Raj Mehta revolves around the theme of pregnancy. Produced by Karan Johar's Dharma productions, the film is slated to hit the theatrical screens on September 6.

Then & Now: Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Dia Mirza Take The 10 Year Challenge On Instagram!
When Ameesha Patel Took A Dig At Kareena

When Ameesha was asked to comment on her rivalry with Kareena, she took a sharp dig at Kareena and was quoted as saying, "I don't know her at all. There is a lot being written about the rivalry between the two of us.

Frankly, I haven't given Kareena that much thought. Let the audience decide whom they like or don't like."

Kareena Doesnt Have What I Have

She had further added, "It is foolish for us to say that we belong to the top bracket of heroines. I have a seen a little bit of Kareena's work. She doesn't have what I have and vice versa. Besides there is a lot of place for all of us. Why fight for it?"

Ameesha Also Commented On Dirty Politics That Celebs Play Against Each Other

While speaking about the same, she had said, "I definitely believe there is a strong lobby working against me in this industry.

They are trying to get me out of work. However, goodness and hard work pays. Even if they try to sabotage my career, they won't succeed in doing so."

Ameesha On Being Called An Arrogant Actress

"Just because I don't talk to anyone and everyone doesn't mean I am arrogant. I know I have been termed as a person who is not media friendly. That's not true.

Ameesha: Ive Nothing Controversial To Give

"Magazines want controversial quotes. I have nothing controversial to give them. Why should I say things for effect? I am a real person, and if anything real happens in my life, I will let the whole world know about it."

Ameesha Had Also Talked About The Double-Standard Of Industry

"You know, people here can't take things from someone who is straightforward. There are a lot of double standards here. You can't trust anyone here. I keep to myself and my family, so the chances of getting hurt in the bargain are minimal."

We gotta say that unlike now, actresses used to be more bold and outspoken, back in those days!
Amjad Khan Was Not The First Choice To Play Gabbar Singh

Sippy recalled in an interview, "The character of Gabbar was written in a way that it would invariably turn out to be the most colourful.

Danny Denzongpa was signed for the role, but his dates clashed with those he had allotted for Feroz Khan's Dharmatma that was being shot in Afghanistan. We couldn't do anything because all other stars had allotted their dates and so Danny had to opt out.

It was then that Salim and Javed suggested Amjad Khan's name. The rest, as you know, is history. A lot of Amjad went into Gabbar as also a lot of Gabbar into Amjad! Today, we can't imagine anyone else but him in the role."

Ramesh Sippy Reveals Why The Film Was Titled Sholay

"Sholay means ember' and signifies the simmering fire of revenge and anger in the Thakur's heart. The title also finds symbolism in Jai's funeral pyre at the end."

The Sound Of Sholay

The film's sound re-recordist Mangesh Desai actually bought a tonga into the Rajkamal Studios to create a range of sounds for Basanti's vehicle.

All Hard Work

When it comes to friendship, there is no better song than 'Yeh Dosti' from Sholay to define it! But do you folks know that Ramesh Sippy and his team took 21 days to film this iconic track.

When Ramesh Sippy Almost Got Arrested In London Before The Film's Release

A week before the film released on August 15, 1975, during the Emergency, Ramesh Sippy almost got arrested in London. At that time, he was there for its post-production, particularly for the 70mm format.

A senior bureaucrat in Delhi, who Sippy claims wanted to "lay down the rules", had tipped the Indian high commission in London to keep a tab on him.

The filmmaker revealed, "We had arranged for a screening at the Odeon Marble Arch. I had also invited the Indian embassy officials. I was speaking to one of the officials, who had an intuition that it might not be a good idea and we cancelled the show at the last minute. When I turned up at the venue the next morning to apologise, officers were there to arrest me. They couldn't do that because the print wasn't there,"

Sippy recalled how that the late politician VC Shukla, who had come to Bombay for the film's premiere, had personally called up the bureaucrat to enquire why the film was being held up at the airport. "He said if the print is not released in the next one hour, I'll release you from your job."
Aamir Khan

Mr. Perfectonist Aamir Khan personally decided that he would not attend college & confidently conveyed the same to his parents after he finished high school. All hell broke lose when they heard his decision & his parents tried hard to convince him otherwise. However, he believed in his dreams & passionately followed acting. Look where he stands today! One of the biggest star in India, all this while not even climbing the college stairs.

Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif was home schooled most of her life as her parents were travelling from city to city all the time. Right after she attained the age to attend college, she ended up joining modelling & was busy travelling across the globe & gave college a miss. Her focus in modelling brought her laurels & that eventually gave her a big break in Bollywood.

Kajol

Kajol entered Bollywood at the age of 16 with the film Bekhudi. She shot the film during her summer holidays & when the holidays were over, she was all set to attend college. Fate had it otherwise for Kajol, as she didn't go to college after the shoot was completed. She got Baazigar instead and the rest is history.

Alia Bhatt

Alia Bhatt plays the role of a college student in most of her movies, but in real life, she hasn't attended college at all. At the age of 18 she bagged Karan Johar's Student Of The Year and from then on concentrated only on movies, giving her college life a miss!

Deepika Paudkone

Deepika Padukone studied in the prestigious Sophia High School in Bangalore and attended the prestigious Mount Carmel College for her PUC. Right after PUC, she joined modelling & enrolled herself for a correspondence Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology at IGNOU, but later did not pursue studies as it was conflicting with her modelling dates. She quit studies & focused only on modelling & then came Om Shanti Om with Shahrukh Khan.

Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar attended college for a few months & later dropped out and joined martial arts instead. As risky as it sounds, he took life head on & and pursued his dreams. He aced martial arts & also aced in movies. We wonder what would Akshay Kumar be doing if he had attended college! He might have ended up as someone's colleague in an office, maybe?

Kangana Ranaut

Kangana Ranaut was prepared for her medical entrance test as per her parents wish, but at the end, did not turn up for the examination. At the very young age of 16, she moved to Delhi to become a model & as 'fortune favours the brave', she got everything her way, even without attending college.

Arjun Kapoor

Arjun Kapoor flunked his 12th board exams & was upset about the results. He then decided that studies was not his cup of tea and focused only on acting. He joined the Asian Academy of Film & Television and thankfully, his debut film Ishaqzaade was a hit & that made way for his career in Bollywood. He made the right decision by choosing acting as a career here.


After mesmerising the audience with their moves in ABCD 2, Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor have collaborated again for ABCD 3D. The film is being directed by Remo DSouza and is being marketed as the biggest dance film to be ever made in Bollywood. Varun left for Punjab yesterday to shoot for the film sans Shraddha as she will be joining them straight in London for the next schedule. Varun visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar yesterday with the team of the film and today he began shooting for the film.







Pictures from their first day on the sets of the film were released on social media and the entire team seems excited to kick-start this project.







Varun will be shooting for a wedding song from the film in Punjab and a few emotional sequences according to sources close to the film. The film hits the theatres on November 8, 2019. We are eager to watch this man in action again, arent you too?




March is a good month to think about the new Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Eastern Maryland, the first national park site named after an African American woman. Harriet was born in March, made up her mind to flee slavery in March and eventually died in March in 1913 at the age of 91. When we heard about the creation of the new park, we decided we wanted to find "Harriet" and headed down to the Eastern Shore fully aware that the new visitor center had barely broken
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We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.
2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning --

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We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover.

We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come.
New net zero fund opens for Scottish island farmers

Grants of up to 150,000 are available
UK researchers are behind a new smartphone app which aims to become the farmer's newest weapon in crop protection.

The team of researchers from the University of Lincoln are designing the specialist app to help farmers in hot climates identify and record the spread of locusts on their land.

By recognising locusts through the smartphones camera, the app will be able to identify the stage of the insects growth and record its location through the phones IP address.

This information can then be accessed by the farmer so that they can use pesticides more accurately and to target the insects in the early stages of their lifespan, significantly reducing the amount of crop damage.

This targeted approach could also reduce pesticide residue levels, leading to increased food safety while maintaining food security, and reduce environmental pollution, protecting nearby water systems.

Each year, approximately 18 million hectares of land are damaged by locusts and grasshoppers, impacting hugely on farmers and their productivity.

Dr Bashir Al-Diri, from University of Lincoln said: Their monitoring techniques currently rely on field surveys by people through digging insect eggs, but this information only helps farmers to make mid and long term forecasting decisions and can delay effective management measures.

By digitally recording the exact number, age and location of locusts, we hope this new app will put more knowledge and more power into the hands of the farmers. They will be able to predict insect population and spread, and act quickly and accurately to save their crops.

'Huge data'

Dr Al-Diri and his team have gathered more than 10,000 images of locusts in various stages of growth to train the system behind the app.

Researchers travelled to China to gather images and videos on location so that the app can recognise a variety of terrain and plant growth, and they have also built specialist facilities in Lincoln to house locusts from their earliest stages of life through to adulthood.

By observing the locusts 24 hours a day, the team has built a huge data set to inform their app, and this collection of thousands of images and videos  the first of its kind in the world  will also be a valuable resource for the wider scientific community.

With its advanced computer vision technology, the developers hope that the app framework will also be used for a wide range of other applications in the future to capture and document information about the natural world.

For example, it could easily be adapted to help individuals identify plant diseases and access expert advice on how to combat them, or to digitally capture the number and type of birds and wildlife in specific locations as part of national and international surveys.
The most refined utility side-by-side ever built, the Polaris RANGER XP 1000 EPS, raises the bar once again with the addition of an ABS version.

Making its debut in dealerships in early 2019, the introduction of the RANGER ABS will see the ultimate utility workhorse become even more dependable.

In 2018, Polaris Industries celebrated both the 20th anniversary of the RANGER, and the introduction of the GENERAL 1000 EPS Deluxe with ABS. For 2019, Polaris introduces the new RANGER with ABS, designed specifically for the European market.

Rodrigo Lourenco, Vice President and General Manager of Polaris Off-Road Vehicles EMEA, said: Were extremely proud of yet another addition to the Ranger family. The RANGER XP 1000 EPS is our most versatile product on the market and has proven to be a huge success across the globe  we want to continue that momentum into 2019 with the new ABS model.

Adding ABS not only results in uncompromised braking performance, but also builds upon the diverse applications of the RANGER, so our customers can achieve even more.

Developed at the Polaris Opole facility in Poland, it delivers the widespread versatility of the RANGER along with all the benefits of having ABS, including the ability to steer whilst braking whilst minimising the risk of skidding, as well as controlled braking on varied surfaces and improved stopping distances on surfaces like ice.

Mr Lourenco added: In order to stay at the forefront of innovation, our engineers are constantly looking for ways to enhance the capabilities of our off-road vehicles, and to incorporate customer feedback into every development opportunity. The addition of ABS to our RANGER line-up is another step forward for our utility product range.

Redefining the standards for a utility side-by-side, the RANGER XP 1000 produces class-leading power (82hp) thanks to the ProStar 1000 Twin Cylinder engine, as well a 61lb-ft of torque and boasts impressive towing capabilities of over 1100kg.

Offering 13 inches of ground clearance, more precise steering with a tighter turning radius, and large front bumper and full body skid plate that provides 45% more protection.

The RANGER XP 1000 EPS ABS also features all the style refinements found on other RANGER full-size models. The exterior is bold and aggressive, whilst the interior includes a 4 LCD Rider Information Centre and thicker seats for a comfortable ride, plus several storage solutions for ultimate practicality.

With over 200 Polaris Engineered accessories available for the RANGER XP 1000 EPS ABS, owners have a wide variety parts and accessories to suit any task.

 The RANGER line-up for model year 2019 consists of the following models:

 RANGER 570 in Sage Green

 RANGER 570 with EPS in Sage Green

 RANGER EV in Avalanche Grey

 RANGER XP 1000 with EPS in Sage Green and White Pearl

 New RANGER XP 1000 EPS ABS in White Pearl
The Scottish government has been urged to commit to implementing a network of mobile abattoirs across rural Scotland.

The number of abattoirs in Scotland has been decreasing over the last few years, most notably with the closure of the abattoir in Orkney.

This has meant that animals from Orkney must now travel a considerable distance by boat and road to abattoirs on the mainland and beyond.

The lack of rural abattoirs means that many animals face long journeys, but also, many larger abattoirs do not provide a private kill service, meaning that farmers must sell through a supermarket.

This inevitably impacts farm revenues and prevents farmers from selling directly to customers.

Mobile abattoirs that visit individual farms are widely considered to be beneficial for animal welfare, removing the distance animals must travel.

As well as Canada and New Zealand, many EU countries already have mobile abattoirs that enhance animal welfare and biosecurity.

The SNP-led Scottish government has confirmed in a response to a parliamentary question that it has started the process to assess the viability and sustainability of mobile abattoirs in Scotland.

The Scottish Conservatives have stated that given the challenges facing the rural economy and the detrimental effect travelling large distances has on livestock, the government must commit to constructing the mobile abattoir network.

Donald Cameron, Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary on rural economy and connectivity said: The case for a network of mobile abattoirs has been well established and it must be set up now without delay.

Transporting live animals should be minimised where possible but currently farmers have no choice but to drive their animals considerable distances.

The SNPs failure to act has already had an extremely negative effect on the rural economy, and farmers cannot wait any longer.

In a joint call made last year, thirty-four organisations asked the UK government to take urgent action to save the network of small abattoirs, which they say are closing at an 'alarming rate'.

The organisations, reflecting a wide range of food and farming interests, wrote to Defra Secretary Michael Gove for help in protecting this 'huge national asset'.

A third of small abattoirs have closed in the past ten years and closures are continuing. A further 6 (10%) of small abattoirs have closed in the last twelve months.

In August 2018, Bakers of Nailsea, which served farmers and butchers in Somerset for 120 years, closed its door for the final time.
Only one in five sheep farmers rearing surplus lambs artificially are feeding these newborns enough colostrum in the first 24 hours of life.

This uneasy finding is based on a Volac Lamlac survey of 443 sheep producers conducted post lambing in 2018.

Whilst the survey highlighted that the majority (85%) of sheep farmers always make sure they administer colostrum to any fostered lambs before they are a day old, a concerning finding is that a lot (80%) are still not feeding enough to give these surplus lambs the best start in life.

Volac technical officer, Abi Erian said: All foster lambs must be fed good quality colostrum or a high-quality replacement, such as Volac Volostrum, as soon as possible after birth.

Ideally, colostrum needs to be administered within the first two hours of life, with 210ml/kg liveweight being taken on board within the first 24 hours as a minimum.

Unfortunately, in our most recent feedback survey, only 26% of farmers with more than 250 ewes and 21% running smaller flocks (less than 250 ewes) said they managed to feed more than 200ml/kg liveweight during the first day. This is definitely a concern, Ms Erian said.

As the UK sheep industry moves into its peak lambing season, Volac is urging sheep producers to pay particular attention to early life colostrum feeding.

Typically, a newborn lamb needs at least a litre of colostrum in its first 24 hours of life to give it essential levels of natural immunity, she added.

Colostrum is the key to survival for newborn lambs. It is a highly nutritious energy source that not only provides vital antibodies to protect against disease, but also gives the lamb energy to get up onto its feet and get going.

The first few hours are key, as this is when the gut wall is at its most permeable, allowing the large antibody molecules to be absorbed.

Last February, farmers across the UK promoted the 'liquid gold' properties of colostrum in reducing the need for antibiotics in livestock and improving their lifetime performance.
As a thriving urban center, this location provides an ideal opportunity to further expand our service offerings in the state of Maryland, as well as Montgomery County, Erickson CEO Alan Butler said in statement. As a trusted leader in senior housing and health care, we embrace the opportunity to serve communities by meeting the growing demand for senior housing.
The government's newly-announced Clean Air Strategy could force small dairy farms 'out of business', contributing to the already declining number of dairy farmers, a charity has warned.

The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) has expressed 'grave concerns' about Defras Clean Air Strategy, published last week.

The strategy highlights ways for farmers to tackle ammonia emissions through new funding and the introduction of new regulations.

But the dairy charity has highlighted its concerns. And despite submitting 'substantiated, evidence-based comments', almost none of its points have been considered or incorporated into the new strategy.

With dairy cattle responsible for 28% of ammonia emissions in 2016 (31%: 2015), RABDF admits that some changes are required by the industry to allow government reduction targets to be met by 2030.

However, it has emphasised the importance of looking at the proposals in the context of 'unintended consequences or lack of suitability'.

For example, while environmental permits work for the pig and poultry sector, the dairy industry is less intensive and does not fall into defined production systems such as all continuously housed or all continuously grazed.

'Unrealistic'

With no threshold outlined in the proposal, RABDF has expressed hope that the governments final emission limits will not be prohibitive to farms that have smaller herds.

The charity highlights how strict emission limits could force small dairy farms out of business, contributing to the already declining UK dairy producer numbers.

The commitment to contribute towards the costs of measures such as the adoption of low emission spreading equipment and mandatory slurry store coverage has been welcomed by the group.

However, other measures are 'unrealistic' and have not been amended from the draft version of the strategy. For example, mandatory housing designs will be a 'challenge' due to the range of systems and lack of standardisation throughout the sector.

The requirement for solid manure and digestate to be incorporated within 12 hours has been criticised as being 'impractical' by the group given the reliance of many farms on favourable weather or contractors.

RABDF added that the introduction of nitrogen limits doesnt differentiate between bought-in sources, and those produced on-farm where farmers can maximise home-grown nutrients and contribute to the proposed National Good Code of Practice outlined in the strategy.
The livestock sector has highlighted its concerns about the prospect of a 'no deal' Brexit, the lack of preparedness for it, and the damage it would do to UK livestock farming, in particular the sheep sector.

Concerns were highlighted at a UK Livestock Brexit Group (UKLBG) meeting on Friday (18 January), which involved trade associations involved in livestock production.

The group includes representation from trade organisations such as the NFU, the National Pig Association and the National Beef Association.

At the meeting, questions were asked and concerns raised that at this stage the UK is not adequately prepared to avoid serious trade disruption.

The organisations highlighted their concerns that government systems are not fully in place and there is still an absence of practical contingency plans.

The fear is that it could lead to 'massive disruption' in the supply chain. With UK poultry, pork, lamb and beef exports to the EU representing a vital part of producer returns, failure to maintain these export markets could see a collapse in values, increased costs, and possibly result in animal welfare issues on farm.

Crisis plan

The group is now seeking assurances and answers from government, and has requested a meeting with Ministers to highlight concerns. It also plans to bring the industry together to develop a crisis plan.

According to the organisations, the sheep sector is particularly vulnerable because it is highly dependent on the French export market.

The prospects of large tariffs being imposed under WTO rules means that the UK would lose market share or suffer a downturn in farmgate prices, pushing an 'already vulnerable sector into decline'.

Concerns were also raised about the UKs preparedness for maintaining existing and establishing new export markets outside the EU.

It is not known how many third countries will accept British produce from the UK after Brexit. Few third countries have confirmed that they will accept product from UK plants.

Certification for EU trade

At the meeting, concerns were raised regarding how exporters have had no clarity as to what certification will be needed for EU trade and what any transitional timescales might be, or whether any changed health mark will be accepted in approval listings and on labels/products.

There are still questions about the administrative resources being able to cope, and if there will be enough veterinary resource.

In a statement, the UK Livestock Brexit Group said: The deadline for answers is now upon us, with UK meat processors already producing under current EU controls with EU health marks and approvals, including for non-EU countries, based on EU regulations and rules.

This product might be frozen and shipped around the world, taking between 5 and 7 weeks for deliveries to Asia, over the coming days and weeks, arriving at its destination after 29 March 2019.

Chris Dodds, from the Livestock Auctioneers Association and Chair of the Brexit group, said: There are clearly a lot of things that need doing in a short space of time, it is extremely concerning and the industry desperately needs answers.

The meeting follows Defra Secretary Michael Gove admitting at the Oxford Farming Conference that a 'no deal' Brexit would be bad for farming and the livestock sector.
SALEM, Ohio  States are actively applying with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to grow industrial hemp, following changes in the 2018 farm bill that remove the crop from the federal Controlled Substance Act, and that allow growers to access USDA programs such as crop insurance.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture recently submitted their state plan for industrial hemp to the USDA.

Pa. Ag Secretary Russell Redding said industrial hemp presents an exciting new chapter in the states agricultural history and diversity.

Applications approved

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture approved 1,035 applications to cultivate up to 42,086 acres of industrial hemp in 2019, said Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. The KDA also approved 2.9 million square feet of greenhouse space for hemp cultivation.

The numbers tell you what you need to know about the excitement about hemp in Kentucky, Quarles said. The growth in the number of approved acres from 16,000 last year to 42,000 this year shows that Kentucky is rapidly becoming the epicenter of the hemp industry in the United States.

Pa. approved 84 permit applications. Over the past two years, the Pa. ag department has administered the Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program, legitimized by the 2014 farm bill and authorized in Pennsylvania statute by the Industrial Hemp Research Act. Acreage caps  previously set at 100 acres  have been lifted for the 84 approved applicants and acreage will no longer be restricted under the new program.

Additionally, there will not be a cap on the number of applications accepted for 2019. The 84 approved applications will be finalized first; additional applications will be reviewed and processed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Fee structure

The Pa. department has updated the fee structure for the 2019 Industrial Hemp Program, creating savings for the already-approved applicants.

Industrial hemp was grown in Pennsylvania and throughout the U.S. until after World War II, but became regulated along with marijuana and its cultivation was prohibited. Industrial hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the same species of plant.

Unlike marijuana, industrial hemp is grown mainly for fiber and seed and must maintain a much lower concentration of the psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, below the 0.3 percent legal threshold. Pennsylvanias plan will make industrial hemp subject to the Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Committee, created under Act 46 of 2017.

Registration required

With the committees approval, industrial hemp will become a controlled plant, which will require all growers to register and obtain permits through their ag department. The permit will include all information required by federal law for industrial hemp production and will allow enforcement necessary for any violation of permit conditions.

The plan that we have submitted to USDA certifies our commitment to creating the conditions for Pennsylvanians to grow a profitable, sustainable, and in-demand product, added Redding. Over the past two years, through the research pilot program, we have demonstrated that we have the capability to build a hemp production regulatory program with the integrity and oversight that is needed.

States

Kentucky received a total of 1,115 applications  1,074 grower applications and 41 processor/handler applications. Applicants were asked to identify which harvestable component of the plant would be the focus of their research (floral material, grain, or fiber); some applicants selected more than one component.

The Kentucky ag department also approved 40 new applications from processors (in addition to 69 previously approved multi-year processor license holders who are renewing their licenses for 2019). Several universities will also carry out additional research projects in 2019.

In 2018, 210 Kentucky growers were licensed to plant up to 16,100 acres of industrial hemp and planted more than 6,700 acres. Program participants planted more than 3,200 acres in 2017, 2,350 acres in 2016, and 922 acres in 2015.

Licenses

Thirty-three acres were planted in 2014, the first growing year. Individuals and businesses must be licensed by the KDA to grow or process industrial hemp in Kentucky.

Under laws passed by the Kentucky General Assembly and the U.S. Congress, it is unlawful to possess any raw or unprocessed hemp, hemp plants, or hemp seed without a license from the KDA. KDA hemp program license holders must pass background checks and consent to allow program staff and law enforcement officers to inspect any premises where hemp or hemp products are being grown, handled, stored, or processed.

Under state law, KDA provides GPS coordinates of approved hemp planting sites to law enforcement agencies before any hemp is planted. GPS coordinates must be submitted on the application.

In the future, KDA will conduct an analysis to reduce administrative regulations deemed no longer necessary due to the 2018 farm bill. However, there will be no program changes in 2019.

Get the details

To learn more about hemp regulations in Pennsylvania, visit https://www.agriculture.pa.gov/Plants_Land_Water/industrial_hemp/Pages/default.aspx.

To learn more about hemp regulations in Kentucky, visit kyagr.com/hemp.

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SALEM, Ohio  Dont be fooled. Even though Ohios new director of agriculture is a lawyer and former state representative, her rural roots run deep.

Dorothy Pelanda, who was nominated by Gov. Mike DeWine and took office last week, is the Buckeye States first female director of agriculture. She grew up on a farm in Union County, although her father was also an attorney and then judge, and the farm ground was rented to a local farmer.

Still, she grew up knowing the responsibilities of the farm, making sure Debbie, their donkey, and Chief, a Shetland pony, were fed and watered before she got on the school bus. And like most farm kids, she explored the farms ponds and fields and woods, joined 4-H, learned how to be frugal and get dirt beneath her fingernails.

Today, she and her husband Sam Gerhardstein own 18 acres of her familys original farm, and have built a house that overlooks their pond and woods. Gerhardstein retired from Columbia Gas of Ohio as director of governmental affairs and now owns a legislative and regulatory consulting firm.

And while her lawyer father certainly influenced her career path, Pelanda credits her mother, who was a home economics teacher, with building daughters who could stand on their own two feet.

She wanted her three daughters to learn independent living skills, because she would say to us often,  I never want you to be dependent upon a man to support yourself.

To those who question her ag credentials, Pelanda points to the ag people and industry veterans on her staff, who are here because they have a passion for agriculture like I do.

Instead, she sees her role as building and sustaining relationships to move ag issues forward. As a lawyer for 30 years and legislator for eight years, Pelanda says her relationship-building skills enabled me to tackle difficult problems by my ability to negotiate, mediate and compromise for a satisfactory solution.

Pelanda and Gov. DeWine inherit a contentious water quality issue created when former Gov. John Kasich issued an executive order last July declaring eight northwestern Ohio subwatersheds be considered as watersheds in distress. That triggered a series of legislative hearings, heated Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Commission meetings, as well as behind-the-scenes political jockeying to stave off the manure and fertilizer application regulations such a declaration would likely trigger.

The first week of the new administration, the Ohio Department of Agriculture changed the status of the proposed watersheds in distress rules in the Register of Ohio to To Be Refiled.

That means, Pelanda told me, we neither rejected them or support them. It simply pushes the pause button, to allow this new administration to consider the direction it wants to go with those policies.

She said there is no timeline for immediate action. The commissions next meeting is slated for Feb. 26.

If you want to get her talking, ask Pelanda about her love of covered bridges, or the Cathedral in their woods, her she shed (its really a writing shed and grandchildren shed, she says), or her habit of writing short notes to friends or people she reads about in the newspapers.

And she emphasizes the most important job I will ever have is a mother. She has three children: Brian, 35, a lawyer in California; Doug, 33, a nurse at a Columbus stroke center; and Zoe, 24, a hair stylist in Columbus.

***

(Note: Editor Susan Crowell interviewed Ohio Director of Agriculture Dorothy Pelanda in a brief phone call Jan. 17. This article was updated to correct the age of Pelandas oldest son.)
by Geordi Gustafson | Knicks Correspondent | Wed, Jan 23rd 12:26am EST

Derrick Rose finished with six points on 3-of-9 shooting (0-of-3 from deep), and had five assists, one steal and one rebound while logging 23 minutes in Minnesota's 118-91 win over Phoenix on Tuesday.
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Supporters of the measure pointed to holes in the system. Volke and Councilwoman Jessica Haire said that since the program was nixed a month ago 13 potential immigration law violators were not interviewed by ICE officials because they were let out of detention before the feds could get to them.
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GREENWICH  Members of the Greenwich teachers union, including the president, were rooting for Interim Superintendent of Schools Ralph Mayo to get the post permanently in the school district, Greenwich Education Association President Carol Sutton said.

Having Ralph in the interim position has been good for moral, Sutton said. We hoped to have the opportunity to rebuild momentum under his leadership.

But at 4:30 p.m. last Friday, the Board of Education appointed Toni Jones to become the new superintendent of the Greenwich Public Schools. Jones, who is currently the superintendent of Fairfield Public Schools, will start on July 1. Her contract with Fairfield ends on June 30.

But for the first time, the vote of the Board of Education on a new school leader was not unanimous. The outcome was 7-1, with board member Peter Sherr dissenting.

Jones will be the 14th superintendent to lead Greenwich in the last 20 years. She has eight years of experience as a superintendent, two of which she spent in Fairfield.

Between Greenwich teachers who live in Fairfield and Greenwich teachers who left Greenwich for jobs in Fairfield, Sutton is sure there will be a lot of informal research in the coming days, she said.

We will be thrilled if we hear that Dr. Jones is a collaborative leader who values teachers, she said.

Both Mayo and Jones applied for the job as the BOE conducted a national search for a new superintendent. Jones first heard of the opening when former superintendent Jill Gildea emailed the leaders of public school districts in Fairfield County that her position would be opening at the end of the 2018 school year.

The appointment that Jones had been hired, held on a Friday afternoon ahead of a long weekend, prompted people in Greenwich to express their dismay with the choice on various social media platforms.

This was a rare opportunity that was squandered, Suzanne Sullivan posted on Nextdoor Old Greenwich. We feel strongly that with the revolving door of superintendents over the past 20 years, what we need right now is a dedicated leader who is passionate about our district and will stay. Ralph Mayo was the obvious choice.

School Board Chair Peter Bernstein understands why townspeople feel strongly about the appointment, but he asked the community to support Jones going forward.

There is natural disappointment that Ralph wasnt hired as the permanent superintendent based upon his long-standing service to our schools, he said in an email this week. This was an extremely difficult decision as I am personally close with Ralph and look forward to continuing to work with him in a leadership role.

I would ask that the community give Dr. Jones a chance to succeed in Greenwich for the long term. She is an extremely accomplished superintendent who fits well with our efforts to drive forward student growth, achievement and personal and interpersonal skills, he said. Dr. Jones stood out in the pool of 60 candidates that we reviewed as someone that will succeed in Greenwich.

jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com
STAMFORD  The United Jewish Federation is providing resources and services to federal employees who are working without pay during the government shutdown or have been furloughed.

The UJF of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien is offering quick turnaround emergency loans of up to $2,000 specifically for Jewish furloughed federal employees, or those employees of government contractors who are not working or being paid due to the shutdown.
BRIDGEPORT - A nearly 30-year effort to construct a shopping center on the citys border with Trumbull got a major boost Tuesday.

Controversial developer Manuel Moutinho now appears poised to begin construction on a 22,500-square-foot shopping center on Huntington Turnpike, despite neighbors protests.

In a 20-page decision, Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe dismissed an appeal of the citys Planning and Zoning Commissions approval of a change on zone for the 2.9-acre property from residential to office/retail.

The question is not whether those directly impacted, the neighboring property owner, or this court, agree with the decision rendered by six commission members, the only question before this court is whether substantial evidence supports the decision reached, Radcliffe ruled. Substantial evidence supports a finding that the commission acted with the intention of promoting the best interests of the community, therefore, the decision is in harmony with Bridgeports comprehensive plan.

Diane Lord, who represents Moutinhos company, MTM Limited Family Partnership, called the ruling a well-thought-out decision by the judge.

It follows the law and we are absolutely pleased, Lord said.

Jonathan Spodnick, whose Trumbull property abuts the project site, had sued to overturn the planning and zoning commissions decision.

I have a lot of respect for Judge Radcliffe, however, I do take issue with his decision, said Spodnicks lawyer, William Varese.

MTM will still need wetlands approval and the approval of a special permit from the zoning commission before it can begin construction. A hearing before the inland wetlands commission is scheduled for next month.

The application process to build a shopping center on the property began in 1990. The application drew neighborhood protests and was denied by the zoning board but later approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals. In 1992, a judge upheld an appeal of that decision by neighbors.

In 2005, Moutinho, who convinced the administration of former Mayor Bill Finch to pay him $400,000 to build a driveway through airport property to his own waterside mansion, purchased the Huntington Turnpike property. Nothing was done there until June 2011 when city officials, apparently unaware of the 1992 court decision, gave Moutinho the go-ahead to begin construction.

The site was cleared, and preparatory work had begun when Rose Meekins, a property owner near the site walked into the zoning office with a copy of the 1992 court decision. The project was immediately shut down.

In January 2018, MTM filed a petition with the zoning commission to change the zone for the shopping center project. On April 30, 2018, despite neighbor protests, the commission approved the zone change by a vote of six to two.
BRIDGEPORT  Housatonic Community College has announced the pick for its third annual One Book, One College program will be Never Look An American In the Eye by Okey Ndibe.

The program will include a visit to Housatonics downtown campus on March 28.

Leading up to a book signing and lecture by Ndibe, Housatonic will offer a Book A Day Giveaway each day prior to the date of the event. To enter, visit the college library, located at 900 Lafayette Blvd.

We are very happy to welcome Okey Ndibe, said Jennifer Lutris, Housatonics librarian. Were looking forward to incorporating his book into our classrooms, and welcoming members of the local community to our exciting programming.

Ndibe lives in the state and was the 2017 Connecticut Book Award winner for nonfiction. He earned a masters of fine arts and a PhD from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and has since taught at numerous colleges across Massachusetts and Connecticut. His opinion pieces have been published by numerous publications.

Never Look An American In the Eye details Ndibes move from Nigeria to America and chronicles his transition into becoming an African-American.

This book is very fitting for our time, when the topic of immigration is at the forefront of American politics, said Housatonic President Paul Broadie. It also connects deeply to the makeup of Housatonics student body, which has a significant number of first generation students and immigrants themselves. Were thrilled to encourage college-wide conversation, creativity, and community through this program.

The HCC One Book, One College program is supported by a grant from Connecticut Humanities.
BRIDGEPORT  He has only been governor for two weeks, but Democrat Ned Lamont is already being dragged into Bridgeports 2019 mayoral contest.

The two marquee contenders  incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim and state Sen. Marilyn Moore, who announced her candidacy Monday  signaled this week that they will tout their relationships with the states chief executive as they compete for control of City Hall.

Ganim, despite waging a bitter, losing gubernatorial primary against Lamont last year, went so far as to claim he and Connecticuts new chief executive have built one of the strongest bonds  a stronger bond than Ive had with any other governor Ive served under.

Meanwhile Moore, who not only supported Lamont for governor but was on his list of potential lieutenant governor running mates, said her relationships at the Capitol in Hartford would mean more state money for Bridgeport were she mayor.

The (city) leadership has to change for us to get our fair share from Hartford, Moore said.

While Ganim during the primary was mocking the number of bathrooms the millionaire Lamont has in his Greenwich home and portraying his opponent as out-of-touch with urban voters, Moore campaigned for Lamont.

We would have been a great pair, huh? Lamont said to Moore last June when they walked Bridgeports Reservoir Avenue neighborhood together.

This is who Im putting all my energy in, Moore had told Reservoir Avenue residents at the time. I trust him and believe you can trust him, too.

Most recently Moore was co-chair of a Lamont transition committee focused on womens policy.

Despite their primary battle, Ganim following his loss eventually helped garner votes for Lamont in Bridgeport, where the latter won big, outperforming recently retired Gov. Dannel Malloys Bridgeport poll numbers from 2010 and 2014.

Responding Monday to Moores criticism that he spent too much of 2018 running for governor with nothing to show for it, Ganim credited his campaign with helping to focus Lamont on the needs of Connecticuts cities and then talked about their bond.

Ganim then recalled that as a newly elected big city mayor in 1991 he had a good working relationship with then-Governor Lowell Weicker, a Republican turned independent. Ganim ran Bridgeport from 1991 until 2003 and was re-elected in 2015.

Lennie Grimaldi, who was an aide to Ganim in the 1990s and now operates the Only in Bridgeport website, last November speculated on whether Lamont could be another Weicker for the city. Grimaldi wrote that Weicker was Bridgeports godsend who used his power and state funds to do gigantic things to invest in Bridgeport and to help a young Ganim save it from the brink of bankruptcy.

Grimaldi in an interview Wednesday said he believes Ganim and Lamont have established a pretty solid relationship and will be much closer than Ganim was with Malloy.

Lamont shows no signs of being vindictive, Grimaldi said.

He added, Marilyn was an early supporter of Lamont. Thats going to go a long way.

After Weicker, my sense is Lamont will be a strong governor for Bridgeport, Grimaldi said. Whether its Ganim or Moore (occupying the mayors office), Bridgeports poised for some good things happening under this governor.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides protections for nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrantsincluding thousands who work and learn in the nations K-12 schoolsremains in place for now.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday decided not to act on the Trump administrations effort to end DACA, which protects immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation and grants them work permits. The courts inaction means the High Court will not determine the fate of DACA during the current term, which ends in June.

A coalition of states and immigrant rights groups had urged the justices to deny the administrations request and let a series of lower court rulings, all of which blocked President Donald Trump from ending DACA, stand.

More than 16 months have passed since Trump originally proposed canceling DACA in September 2017. At the time, he gave Congress six months to work out a compromise solution; that deadline came and went without an agreement.

The Supreme Courts move comes just a few days after Trump suggested that the Dreamers fate could be linked to his demand for $5.7 billion to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The money would come as part of an agreement to end the month-long partial government shutdown. In exchange for the wall funding, Trump offered three years of protections for Dreamers, as well as for holders of temporary protected status , a program that allows immigrants from countries in crisis to live and work in the United States legally.

But congressional Democrats dismissed Trumps latest offer, in part because the deal didnt offer a path to citizenship for the Dreamers.

A decision on DACA decision holds the potentially to significantly impact schools. The Washington-based Migration Policy Institute estimates that 250,000 students have become DACA-eligible since President Barack Obama began the program in 2012 and that about 9,000 undocumented, DACA-protected teachers work in U.S. schools.

Related Reading

Trumps Latest Immigration Move Could Affect Thousands of Salvadoran Students

Teachers Rally Around Undocumented Students

DACA Continues for Now, As Does Uncertainty for Dreamers

Trump Cancels DACA, Impacting Tens of Thousands of Students and Teachers

Photo Credit: Wearing butterfly wings, supporters of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program hold a tarp with an image of President Donald Trump as they march in support of DACA on March 5, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. --Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Central Connecticut State University President Zulma R. Toro announced Tuesday that she is seeking to fire two longtime theater professors after investigators concluded that each had likely engaged in sexual misconduct with one or more students.

Toro also announced plans to appoint new leadership for the universitys Office of Diversity & Equity and to reorganize the human resources department after evidence showed that administrators for years failed to take proper action on complaints of sexual misconduct.

The two professors are Joshua Perlstein, hired in 1992, who was placed on paid administrative leave in April, and Thomas Delventhal, who was hired in 1998 and was placed on paid leave last week. Both professors continue to draw their salaries, which are in the $100,000 range.

I am disgusted and disheartened by the new findings indicating two of our professors repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior with their students, Toro said in statement. Also disturbing are the apparent failures by administrators who, over the years, did not protect our students. The findings pinpoint vital changes that are needed to ensure past misbehaviors, mistakes and inaction are not repeated at this university.

Toro hired the Hartford law firm Shipman & Goodwin LLP nine months ago to conduct the investigation after an article appeared in CCSUs student newspaper, The Recorder, revealing allegations of sexual misconduct by Perlstein. The same article also detailed a lack of administrative action when complaints were made.

The investigation, which entailed reviewing thousands of documents, emails, and texts and interviews with dozens of faculty, staff and current and former students, found significant evidence that Perlstein was likely involved in sexual misconduct with several students, including a lengthy, manipulative relationship with one student that continued after her graduation.

It also found that he had a history of questionable interactions with female students, was untruthful to investigators and attempted to conceal his problematic conduct because he believed it would put his job in jeopardy.

Following up on students complaints about Delventhal, the investigators said that he admitted, over the years, to kissing five students on the neck and/or forehead, was untruthful during his investigatory interview, and denied attempting to engage in any relationship with current or former students.

Perlstein said Tuesday he had no comment at this time, while Delventhal could not be reached for comment.

Toro said she is taking the steps required by collective bargaining to dismiss both professors. She said the process involves a number of faculty panels and could take as long as a year, but she doesnt expect the professors would continue to be paid that entire time.

Besides appointing new leadership for the Office of Diversity & Equity, Toro said she plans to explore a new model for investigating sexual harassment, bullying and misconduct on campus, and to adopt an institution-wide reporting, monitoring and tracking system to collect and disseminate data, as well as taking other steps.

Toro noted that the most recent chief diversity officer, Rosa Rodriguez, left her post on Friday for personnel reasons that Toro said she could not discuss. She did say that Rodriguez would be going to a new position at Capital Community College for some time.

To those who bravely shared their stories with out investigators, I am immensely grateful, Toro said. This has been a painful process for all of those involved. I am resolved to take the actions necessary to ensure our campus is a safe environment for all and to restore faith and pride in Connecticuts oldest public institution of higher education.

Toro said she realized it may be a sad day for the survivors, but at the same time I think its the beginning of a process that will help them heal and I think that will be positive at the end of the day.

Mark Ojakian, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, said he applauds Toro for taking prompt and decisive action to make CCSU - and the theatre department in particular - a better, more welcoming learning environment.

He said the reports identify important steps needed to ensure that all sexual misconduct complaints are received with the utmost seriousness, thoroughly investigated, and acted upon accordingly. I am beyond confident in the Presidents ability to oversee and implement the necessary cultural and policy changes in a thoughtful and transparent manner.

A troubled theater department

The investigators paint a picture of a theater department that is rife with tension and conflict among professors, while also quite informal. Those interviewed said that students and some faculty frequently socialize at parties or other gatherings where alcohol is consumed.

In addition, those interviewed raised concerns with investigators about the propriety of some theater class exercises, such as massage circles.

It appears as though the informality of the department has led to a climate in which personal space and boundaries are not respected, the report said.

Faculty, administrators and students reported that there were  rumors about relationships between professors and students for years, which they believe have not been properly addressed, the report said.

The report includes concerns that Rodriguez, the most recent chief diversity officer, as well as her predecessors, are not welcoming or friendly, and in some cases intimidating and/or lacking follow through.

The investigators said the office is not fulfilling the crucial function of receiving, investigating and addressing complaints.

In addition, the investigators found that Human Resources officials failed to interview complainants or witnesses about alleged misconduct involving theater faculty members.

Rodriguezs office referred questions about the report to the universitys public relations office.

In at least one case, the report said, a former human resources officer named Anne Alling contacted a relevant potential witness and then later sent the same individual an email indicating that an interview was no longer required, even though the concern still existed and the faculty member remained employed at the university. In two other cases, another former Human Resources officer, Lou Pisano, failed to interview a relevant student witness before making a determination on the matter.

Had the human resource office conducted further inquiry in those cases, the report said, the outcome may have been substantially different and more significant prior discipline issued up to and including termination of the professors employment.

The report also said that it is troubling that other high level administrators did not take action to prevent a recurrence. The report says that a former dean and provost, Susan Pease, in setting goals for the theater department in 2014, said that faculty needed to shape up, adding that shape up means: 1) they have to stop sleeping with students 2) they have to stop yelling at students and each other, and several other goals including putting on shows that people want to see.

Despite the fact that she was aware of these complaints, she did not effectively address them, the report said.

Pease, who retired last February, said in an email Tuesday that the goals were sent in an informal email to the acting chair of Theater I had recommended for appointment and represented my frustration with the department.

Students described Perlstein as creepy

The report says nearly all of the students interviewed used the word creepy to describe Perlstein and reported that he routinely conducted warm-up exercises, improvisations and visualizations in class in which he sometimes asked students to imagine themselves naked or act out words representing various sexual activities such as sex and orgasm.

Several students said they told investigators that at times they caught Perlstein looking at them during these exercises in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.

Current and former students also told investigators that Perlstein would make comments about their weight, body parts and sexuality. He told one student she was not sexual enough to play a certain role. He also told that student, You walk into a room and your tits are like bam.

Some told investigators that Perlstein seemed to deliberately choose plays that included sexual themes or nudity.

The report tells of two instances in which Perlstein was accused of kissing students. The first was in the 1990s, when the student alleged that Perlstein approached her from behind and tried to kiss her on the lips while she stood outside the Black Box Theater at CCSU.

The student managed to turn her head so the kiss landed on her cheek, according to the report, but Perlstein allegedly whispered to her that she should not attempt to pull away when [he is] trying to kiss her.

A few weeks later the student confronted Perlstein and told him that he had made her uncomfortable and he should never attempt to do that again. The student told investigators that Perlstein was most concerned during that exchange about whether she had reported the incident to the university.

The report said that during his interview with the investigators, Perlstein denied engaging in the alleged conduct or said it was the result of a misunderstanding. In the case involving the student outside the Black Box theater, the report said Perlstein claimed he was merely trying to congratulate her after she allegedly told him that she was getting married.'

The investigators said this is not credible given the fact that the student was already married when she enrolled in the university a few years earlier.

Perlstein also disputed the account of a student in which he was found by CCSU to have engaged in inappropriate behavior/sexual harassment. The student accused him of kissing her, hugging her and touching her buttocks. Perlstein said he had been having an emotional not sexual conversation with her and kissed her on the cheek, but he denied touching her buttocks.

According to Perlstein, the CCSU staff member at the time told him that if we call it sexual harassment, it will go away. Perlstein claimed that he was told that otherwise, there was a high likelihood that the matter would be pursued with authorities by the students crazy father, the report said. Perlstein therefore accepted the findings of the CCSU report because he thought it would end the inquiry, according to the Shipman & Goodwin report.

Anna Kelly, who was the student in this incident and is now in her mid-30s living in Hartford, said she is encouraged to know the report will be a catalyst to move the school forward  that its going to bring about actual change and actual consequences for these people who have gone unchecked and unpunished for a long time.

In his interview, the report said, Perlstein admitted that he engaged in a consensual relationship with a student he was teaching and advising in 2013, but claimed it was limited to a one or two weeks while he was advising her.

But the report said that substantial electronic communications between the professor and the student demonstrate that their inappropriate relationship lasted for an extended period of time from 2013 until the summer of 2014 when the student graduated, with some breaks along the way.

In August 2013, Perlstein was disciplined by the university for having a relationship with a student he was teaching and advising but the report says it is clear that both before and after that, Perlstein continued to advise, assist and direct activities involving the student.

Perlstein said the relationship with the student, whether before or after she graduated, was consensual and not coercive, the report said. But the student told the investigators that she did not believe the relationship was fully consensual on her part.

Because Perlstein was her adviser for her honors thesis, the student told investigators she believed she needed his assistance to successfully complete her project and graduate.

She claims that she felt as though she had no choice but to capitulate to his demands, the report said.

Evidence of their ongoing relationship can be found in multiple texts included in the report including one from early 2014, the report said, in which Perlstein says, Sorry about attacking your butt  it was aggressive and wrong have a swell day. Love yoi [sic] 

The texts included in the report depict a controlling and manipulative relationship in which Perlstein tried to keep the relationship going while the student tried to break it off, but feared that doing so might harm her academic and theater career.

The extensive communications demonstrate that he engaged in a long-term sexual relationship significantly beyond what any reasonable person would view as appropriate between a professor and student, the report said. The report said further that the text messages demonstrate that Perlstein was aware his actions were wrong.

Ashley Malloy, who has identified herself as the young woman who had the long relationship with Perlstein and who is now in a graduate school theater program in San Francisco said the reports offers some relief that the truth is finally coming out but the fact that its this long overdue definitely doesnt take the sting out of what has happened.

To just read in no uncertain terms the extent to which the administration was aware of what was going on, Malloy said, is so disheartening and destroyed whatever little bit of faith I had left in the institution.

But she said she does applaud Toros actions.

Delventhal admits kissing at least five students

During his interview, Delventhal admitted that he probably kissed at least five students on the neck and forehead.

Delventhal told investigator that this was a way of expressing his endearment for a student and explained that this was the manner in which he was kissed by female members of his family. He said he did not see it as inappropriate or sexual in nature.

However, at least one student told investigator that his kisses made her uncomfortable.

The investigators found that Delventhal knew or should have known that such contact was inappropriate and not in compliance with university policies.
Because of unforeseen scheduling conflicts, Patti Stangers Feb. 6 show at The Ridgefield Playhouse has been postponed until further notice. Additional information is available via the box office at 203-438-5795.

Stanger, the relationship guru known for Bravo TVs Millionaire Matchmaker, had planned to share advice on relationships and the world of dating, in an interactive format. During a recent phone interview she said theres nothing going on that she hasnt heard before, and love is for everyone.
It took a lawsuit, a stunning appeals court ruling and then a wave election to arrive at this moment, but bail reform has come to Harris County. Bexar County should pay attention.

In an extraordinary order, Harris Countys court-at-law judges effectively wiped out cash bail for the vast majority of people charged with misdemeanor offenses. Rather than being locked up simply because they could not make cash bond, most defendants will be released on their own recognizance. Rather than languish in jail on misdemeanor charges, defendants can return to their families and jobs as their cases move through the system.

There are carve outs that follow best practices to assure public safety. Defendants in custody for bond violations, repeat drunk driving and domestic violence, will be detained for as long as 48 hours as they await hearings. Their risk to the public will be weighed. But here is an important point to remember, cash bail has nothing to do with a persons risk to the public. It only reflects a persons ability to pay for a bond.

This new reality does not change the offense, or the possible punishment. Defendants still have to make court appearances, and there are consequences for missing those or being charged with other crimes while released. But it helps ensure equality in the justice system. It means no one will be locked up pretrial simply because they are poor. That is a huge deal. Pretrial detention or release can make all the difference between guilt and innocence as well as recidivism and change, experts have said.

We all have a right to the presumption of innocence, but cash bail and pretrial detention undercut this right. Those who cant make bond for minor offenses often face an uncomfortable choice: Languish in jail while awaiting trial or plead guilty to be released.

Its a system that treats the wealthy and the poor differently. Again, we return to the words of Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement, who portrayed two defendants charged with the same crime, but of different means. One can make bond, but the other cannot.

As a result, the wealthy arrestee is less likely to plead guilty, more likely to receive a shorter sentence or be acquitted, and less likely to bear the social costs of incarceration, she wrote. The poor arrestee, by contrast, must bear the brunt of all of these, simply because he has less money than his wealthy counterpart.

And so it goes. But it need not. Harris County has proved that.

Change did not come easy. Harris County had to be sued by Civil Rights Corps, and the county then spent millions of dollars fighting that lawsuit. And this monumental change only followed a wave election that resulted in a Democratic Party sweep. But bail reform is neither a Republican nor a Democratic issue. It is a constitutional one.

Harris County judges held numerous meetings with the sheriff and district attorney to develop this plan, which will be submitted to federal court.

Local officials should view this as a template to follow. But will they? We have a new reform-minded district attorney in Joe Gonzales, a sheriff in Javier Salazar who has said he embraces bail reform, a slate of new judges, and a powerful county judge in Nelson Wolff who has been hollering for reform. We have a presiding Municipal Court judge in John Bull who has welcomed the public defender representation at bail hearings.

It should not take a lawsuit to do the right thing, but as Harris County has shown, sometimes it does.
I am a pastor in downtown and I have witnessed the growth of scooters. I believe they serve a purpose.

Lately, however, thousands more scooters were placed downtown and have blocked sidewalks and been dumped in piles near intersections. This limits walkability  especially for those with special needs. Pedestrians are unsafe when riders dont follow rules. They disturb our businesses and make the city less presentable to tourists.

You might be asking, Why do you care about scooters? Well, it has to do with my job. Most of my ministry centers on those who are homeless. Many of my friends hang around our church because of our hospitality. Churches are places of sanctuary. Places of worship, including our historic missions, were founded on such principles. And the same argument is made against the homeless: They disturb our businesses and make the city less presentable to tourists.

A few years ago, Travis Park was redeveloped and made accessible for all. Despite the changes, there are still those who are homeless around the area. It is often uncomfortable for people walking near the church when the homeless line up outside for meals, showers, clinics and prayer sessions. (The line was not a problem when our church could be used as a day center, but it was closed after Haven for Hope opened and grant money redireted.)

However, most problems arise when the homeless loiter on church property and leave belongings visible from the sidewalk. Dont get me wrong  activity such as drugs, abuse and urinating like Ozzy Osbourne is unacceptable and citations should be implemented. This applies to everyone regardless of social status.

A few days ago, leaders from the city met with the church and Corazon Ministries. They informed us that items people store near sidewalks would be swept and the owner would be cited and given a court date. Most of the time the citation results in a fine or community service. This is true even if the items are on church property but in plain view from the sidewalk. My issue is not the code (although some should be adapted) but how it is applied and harms the homeless.

After the meeting, our church agreed to honor all codes and informed our street friends. We also offered to try to find storage space and keep the campus clean of items left by the homeless and partygoers. We want to love all our neighbors and be neighbors to our street friends, local businesses and tourists.

I found it ironic that at the same place of the meeting  at the same street corner of dispute  a dozen scooters were in the road and blocking the sidewalks, making the area disrespectful. Later, I took pictures of scooters owned by JUMP and others blocking the intersection on Houston Street. I guess thats why they are called JUMP because you have to JUMP over the scooters to keep walking on the sidewalk!

Citing the homeless does little to solve the problem of homelessness. Yes, we have Haven for Hope, but it is not the only solution. We have great San Antonio Police Department HOPE officers to care for the homeless, but the program has only a few officers. Citations might clean sacred streets, but all it does is create more poverty for the homeless. Sure, many fear the homeless (usually for wrong reasons) more than a scooter. But my point is about being a good neighbor.

I appreciate Councilman Roberto Trevinos insightful op-ed about scooter solutions (Scooter solutions the city can test now, Jan. 6, Opinion), but city leaders need to hold scooter companies to the same standard they hold the homeless. Maybe these companies can contribute to programs like Housing First and waste less money on sometimes ineffective social services. If we can be fair to all concerned then maybe we can be the compassionate city we so boldly proclaim.

Until we begin to cite rich scooter companies more often for disruptive scooters and until we fine riders for breaking rules and riding dangerously, we should stop citing the homeless.

And heres another controversial idea: Lets provide the homeless with valuable resources that can change their life and make our streets more open and hospitable.

The Rev. Gavin Rogers is associate pastor at Travis Park United Methodist Church and founder of the interfaith community group Pub Theology San Antonio. He is a native Texan and a graduate of The Divinity School at Duke University. His writings can be found at www.40daysofhaven.com and www.facebook.com/PubTheologySA Twitter @gavinrogers
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is driving President Trump nuts  a very short drive indeed  by doing something he simply cannot abide: Shes stealing the spotlight.

She is also seizing the initiative in the trench warfare over Trumps government shutdown and his imaginary border wall, audaciously telling the president that the State of the Union address should be postponed, or perhaps forgone altogether, for reasons of security. It would be both unfair and unwise to ask Secret Service agents and other officers to protect the VIP-packed event, she contends, while they are not being paid their salaries. Trump retaliated Thursday by denying Pelosi military aircraft for her planned trip to Brussels and Afghanistan.

Pelosis play was a stiletto-sharp reminder of how much power she wields  and an illustration of how deftly she is wielding it. Democrats who demanded new leadership in the House should be thankful that they didnt get their wish. It is hard to imagine anyone better matched to the moment and the task.

Pelosi will go down in history as the first woman to hold the office that ranks behind only president and vice president. But this second tour of duty as speaker may prove even more consequential than the first, given the vandalism Trump is committing against our government institutions. Voters gave Democrats the power to constrain a corrupt, egomaniacal, incompetent, erratic and potentially compromised president. Pelosi has to figure out how.

So far, it is hard to fault a step shes taken. Her shutdown position is eminently simple and reasonable: Reopen the government, and then we can debate how best to protect the border.

After all, Congress already decided last month to give the Trump administration every penny it had initially asked for  $1.6 billion  for border security. But right-wing carnival barkers Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter goaded Trump into demanding more than $5 billion for a concrete wall or steel slats (or perhaps, as Pelosi has joked, a beaded curtain or something)  any tangible barrier he can point to as fulfillment of the ridiculous promise he made to his base.

So Trump waded into this fight having no idea how to win. Theres a reason why no previous president has deliberately forced a shutdown: The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. Trump cant tell Pelosi what to do; and, given strong public opposition to the wall, he has no real leverage to pressure her. But he doesnt want to accept reality, so he keeps playing to his base  and watching his approval numbers as they slide from low to abysmal.

Meanwhile, his own shutdown has put Trump on the defensive. He has had to stretch precedent, rules and probably laws to designate increasing numbers of furloughed workers as essential and force them to work without pay. The latest pressed into uncompensated service are thousands of Internal Revenue Service employees who are needed to process income-tax refunds, which many families depend on to pay bills racked up during the Christmas season.

Trumps attempt at using his bully pulpit  last weeks Oval Office address  was desultory and ineffective. He could be expected to have another go during the State of the Union, with its setting of pomp and majesty. But only if Pelosi invites him.

Im not denying him a platform at all, she said Thursday at her weekly news conference, in a tone of voice suggesting she was shocked that anyone would think such a thing. Im saying lets get a date when government is open. And she was reminding Trump that the Capitol is her house, not his.

Pelosi is still not a natural at performing for the television cameras. But were seeing a bit more these days of Nancy DAlesandro  legendary Baltimore Mayor Tommy DAlesandros daughter, who grew up learning old-school politics at the feet of a master. Shes a great storyteller, a precise tabulator of yeas and nays, and a leader who doesnt believe in giving any of her members a free pass on important votes.

She will need all her skills in the coming weeks and months. Trumps efforts to weaken the unity of Pelosis caucus have thus far been pathetic, but he will surely keep trying. Ending the shutdown will require Trump to face reality, so it is impossible to know when that might happen. Meanwhile, Pelosis committee chairmen are beginning to do their duty of holding the president accountable, and Trump will undoubtedly fight like a cornered banshee.

A rookie speaker would make rookie mistakes. Trump is being knocked around by Pelosi and, even more hurtful, the attention for now is on her.

eugenerobinson@washpost.com
Those who want to understand how Democrats manage to scare the hell out of vast sections of the country need look no further than the story of Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and the Knights of Columbus.

In considering the confirmation of Brian Buescher to a federal judgeship last month, Harris and Hirono submitted written questions that raised alarms about his membership in an all-male society comprised primarily of Catholic men. Were you aware, Harris asked, that the Knights of Columbus opposed a womans right to choose when you joined the organization? And: Have you ever, in any way, assisted with or contributed to advocacy against womens reproductive rights? And: Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the organization?

For those who know the Knights of Columbus, this is a bit like accusing your Aunt Harriets knitting circle of being a Mexican drug cartel. In most of the country, the Knights are a respected fraternal organization consisting of men who hand out coats to needy children, promote devotion to the Virgin Mary, support crisis pregnancy shelters and protest doggedly each year in the March for Life.

Hirono regards the traditional moral views of the Knights as extreme positions. The difficulty with this line of reasoning is that they are exactly the same positions of the Catholic Church itself. So why wouldnt a judges membership in the Catholic Church  with its all-male clergy, opposition to abortion and belief in traditional marriage  be problematic as well?

The difficulty with a reductio ad absurdum comes when people no longer find it absurdum. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has made the argument bluntly. In raising concerns in 2017 about appeals court nominee Amy Coney Barretts Catholic faith, Feinstein said, When you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you.

So is it fair to say that Harris, Hirono and Feinstein would want judicial nominees to quit religious organizations that hold extreme positions or recuse themselves from all matters of morality that the senators regard as tainted by religious dogma? That sounds like an exaggeration. But here is a question that Hirono asked to both Buescher and Paul Matey, another appeals court nominee: If confirmed, will you recuse yourself from all cases in which the Knights of Columbus has taken a position?

This is not just a liberal excess, it is a liberal argument. Religious liberty, in this view, reaches to the limits of your cranium. You can believe any retrograde thing you want. But you cant act on that belief in the public square. And you cant be a member of organizations that hold backward views and still be trusted with government jobs upholding the secular, liberal political order.

The comparison of this view to Americas long history of anti-Catholic bigotry has been disputed. Actually, it is exactly the same as this history in every important respect. A 19th-century bigot would have regarded Catholicism as fundamentally illiberal  a backward faith characterized by clerical despotism  and thus inconsistent with Americas democratic rules. The same attitude seems currently present in the United States Senate.

And there is a strange twist to this argument in American evangelicalism. Evangelicals have largely gotten over their anti-Catholic bias. But many believe that Islam is fundamentally illiberal  a backward faith characterized by clerical despotism  and thus inconsistent with Americas democratic rules. Little do they realize that an evangelical institution in Massachusetts is increasingly viewed like an Islamic institution in Mississippi. With suspicion.

The answer to all of this is a great American value called pluralism. The views and values of Americans are shaped in a variety of institutions, religious and non-religious. No one is disqualified from self-government by a religious test. So people who are members of the Knights of Columbus and members of the ACLU can participate on an equal footing.

There are limits, of course. Membership in a terrorist group or the KKK is disqualifying, because they are motivated by hate and seek the violent subjugation of their neighbors. But if liberal Democrats want to compare the Catholic Church to a hate group, good luck with that. They will offend the last religious traditionalists they havent already, and alienate a good many others besides.

michaelgerson@washpost.com
Day 32 of the federal government shutdown came crashing into Ted Cruzs San Antonio office.

SATX Indivisible, the local chapter of a grassroots progressive group that helped produce a Democratic wave election in 2018, organized a protest Tuesday at the Colonnade headquarters of this states junior U.S. senator.

Protesters objected to Cruzs adamant support for President Donald Trumps proposed border wall  the wedge issue that has pushed this country into its longest-ever government shutdown.

The most dramatic moment came when six of the activists made their way up to the buildings ninth floor and met with Javier Salinas, the senators South-Central Texas deputy regional director.

Salinas, whose khaki pants and snakeskin boots looked like they could have come out of his boss closet, didnt say much. He politely and patiently took notes while the activists shared their stories and aired their grievances.

Truthfully, there wasnt much he could say.

In the face of human suffering, how do you justify political posturing? How do you explain the necessity for $5.7 billion in taxpayer money for a wall that the president promised more than 200 times on the campaign trail would be paid for by Mexico?

How do you make sense of the fact that Senate Republicans unanimously voted last month to pass a continuing resolution that did not include money for a wall, but now find that prospect unacceptable?

Marcelo Barron told Salinas about the toll the shutdown is taking on low-income residents dependent on federal housing vouchers. Barron has worked for the Department of Housing and Urban Development for nearly 30 years and currently serves as a financial analyst in HUDs San Antonio field office.

The shutdown has hit Barron hard. Hes been on furlough for a month and next week hell miss his second paycheck since the shutdown began.

He told me he and his wife have been surviving on a little bit of savings, but added: Those are quickly getting depleted. I do have a car loan payment to make. I might have to turn (the car) in and ride the bus.

During the meeting with Salinas, however, Barron made it clear he didnt want to talk about his own troubles. He wanted the legislative aide to understand that without people like him processing federal housing subsidies, some families could face the threat of eviction.

Kelly Trout, a medical researcher focused on pediatric cancer, told Salinas that her projects rely on post-doctoral students to do the laboratory work. Those students derive their funding from National Science Foundation grants, which dried up when the shutdown hit in December.

The people working in these labs are just as affected by the shutdown as furloughed federal workers, Trout told me. They are doing the same kinds of things: selling their belongings and becoming desperate for some kind of job.

Ive spent my whole life working on this research and Im finally seeing great progress and real hope for our children. And that progress is directly threatened. And I feel like were all being held hostage for what is essentially a vanity project.

Olga Sharer and her husband, Richard, told Salinas about their son, a young widower who is serving in the Coast Guard and going without pay.

Salinas heard these stories and expressed sympathy. But he could offer no hope that relief was on its way.

When his office visitors complained about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells refusal to let the Senate vote on House bills that would reopen the government  but not include funding for a border wall  Salinas conceded the point.

Its definitely an obstacle, Salinas said. He controls the calendar.

Cruz, who battled with Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, has been a steadfast supporter of the presidents stance on border issues. Cruz joined Trump for a Jan. 10 visit to McAllen, where the senator chided congressional Democrats for opposing the wall.

When we see politicians go on TV and say the borders secure and there is no crisis, they are ignoring reality, Cruz said.

This shutdown carries eerie echoes of a 16-day federal shutdown in 2013 in which Cruz  then a first-year senator  played an outsized role.

At that time, Cruz pushed tea party Republicans in the GOP-controlled House to pass an appropriations bill that defunded then-President Barack Obamas signature program, the Affordable Care Act.

That measure had no chance to pass the Senate, but Cruz saw the chance for a star-making moment and delivered a 21-hour pseudo-filibuster that included a reading from Green Eggs and Ham.

This pointless bit of political theater irked Cruzs fellow Republicans, including then-House Speaker John Boehner, who branded him a jackass.

Cruz in 2013, like Trump in 2019, had no endgame in sight, no real hope of legislative victory. Then, as now, it was about saving face and placating the base. And thats a hard thing to explain to people like Barron, Trout and the Sharers.

Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
Nearly two weeks after a mother and her two children were found shot dead in a luxury home near Leon Springs, the Bexar County sheriff is calling in the FBI to help solve the mystery of what happened.

The feds will provide technical and investigative assistance as sheriffs investigators keep pressing for answers on what led to the deaths of hairstylist Nichol Leila Olsen, 37, and her daughters, 16-year-old Alexa Denice Montez and 10-year-old London Sophia Bribiescas, Sheriff Javier Salazar said.

We are more than capable of handling the case, for sure, Salazar told the San Antonio Express-News on Tuesday. But its probably going to get handled a little quicker if we have some help. ... It just gives us more options.

RELATED: Sheriff says boyfriend of woman in San Antonio triple shooting is 'person of interest,' but not a suspect

The FBI also has access to resources the sheriffs office lacks, such as profilers, Salazar said.

He expects the feds will become entrenched in the case in the next couple of days.

Special Agent Michelle Lee, a spokesperson for the FBIs San Antonio office, confirmed the bureau will assist.

Despite the government shutdown, all of the FBIs San Antonio employees are continuing to work without pay because they are considered essential federal employees, Lee said.

However, a significant number of personnel at the FBIs national headquarters in the Washington, D.C. area who normally assist with such investigations have been furloughed, she said.

Despite the government shutdown, we stand prepared to assist our law enforcement partners, particularly in heartbreaking cases like this involving the loss of life, Lee said in an email to the Express-News.

Olsen and her daughters were found shot to death on the morning of Jan. 10 at a luxury home in the 11300 block of Anaqua Springs Road in a gated neighborhood in far northwest Bexar County. They lived at the residence with Olsens boyfriend, Charlie Wheeler, 31.

RELATED: Mourners reject suicide ruling in triple shooting at gated San Antonio-area community

Wheeler, who owns the home valued at nearly $1 million, called 911 to report the deaths. He reported he came home and discovered the shootings around 9 a.m. after departing the house the night before due to a conflict with Olsen.

He told investigators he had stayed the night at a relatives house in another city. Sheriffs officials are still waiting on cellular tower records and vehicles GPS data to verify his story.

Olsen was shot once in the head and her death was ruled a suicide by the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office. But her friends and family have emphatically rejected that finding, saying Olsen would never harm herself or her children.

Olsens teen daughter, a cheerleader at Clark High School, also was shot once in the head, while the younger child, a fifth grader at Leon Springs Elementary School, suffered a gunshot wound to her head and neck. Both childrens deaths were ruled homicides.

A handgun was found close to Olsens body, Salazar has said. No suicide note was found.

Investigators also havent found anyone who reported Olsen was depressed or had expressed thoughts of suicide, Salazar said Tuesday.

But the sheriff appeared reluctant to accept the medical examiners ruling that Olsen died by her own hand without further investigation. He said his agency owes it to the victims, their families and the public to dig deeper for answers.

Salazar has described Wheeler as a person of interest, but not a suspect. The sheriff did not waver from that description Tuesday.

Wheeler has not been charged with any wrongdoing. He has cooperated fully with the investigation since the day of the shootings.

One of Wheelers attorneys, Therese Huntzinger, welcomed news of the FBI joining the case.

I dont think that anyone would want anything but a quick resolution to this investigation, including our client, Huntzinger said late Tuesday. We welcome bringing it to a close as quickly as possible. If it takes the FBI getting involved to help the sheriff get that done, then were for it.

Mark Stevens, another attorney representing Wheeler, previously asked the public to avoid jumping to conclusions and to let the authorities complete their investigation.

We think it is regrettable that this young man is being demonized. ... He is a young man with no criminal record for violence whatsoever, Stevens said of Wheeler late last week.

Wheeler has not responded to requests for comment.

He is not the only person of interest, Salazar confirmed.

Investigators also are considering the possibility that Olsen and her daughters were killed by a stranger  someone who hasnt come to their attention yet, Salazar said Tuesday.

That is just one of several theories, he said.

Sheriffs officials are still waiting on the victims autopsy and toxicology reports, cell phone records and other information key to the case.

Both Olsens and Wheelers hands were tested for any traces of gunshot residue. Those test results are pending.

Salazar requested the FBIs help during a routine meeting several days ago with Christopher Combs, the special agent in charge of the FBIs San Antonio office.

Weve known from the beginning that this case is going to rely heavily on forensic evidence, the sheriff said. Its always better to have more than enough resources.

Two of Olsens close friends expressed elation that the FBI will join the case.

I think its amazing news, Nicole Baptiste, 35, of San Antonio, said in a text message to the Express-News. I am overwhelmed with emotions right now. We have been hoping that the FBI would join the investigation since day one. Hopefully now we will get the answers we have been searching for.

Baptiste, a friend of Olsens for eight years, organized a candlelight vigil for Olsen and her slain daughters last week. At least 300 people attended that event.

Another friend, Kelly Myrick, 38, of San Antonio, said she is thanking God for the FBIs help.

We could not be more thrilled, Myrick said in a text message. This is an answer to our prayers. We have been praying for their assistance from the start in hopes they can help BCSO and all of us find the answers weve been searching for.

Olsen had been living with Wheeler for about a year, friends at last weeks vigil said. She is survived by a 22-year-old son, a 30-year-old brother and other relatives. Her parents died years ago, public records show.

Wheelers family is well-known in the South Texas oil and gas industry and on the rodeo circuit, according to a 2014 article published in Shale Oil & Gas Business Magazine. Wheeler competed as a team roper for three years in rodeos and has owned several successful businesses, the article stated. His family owns a ranch in Tilden, a small community about 70 miles south of San Antonio.

Staff writer Fares Sabawi contributed to this report.

Peggy OHare is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: @Peggy_OHare
Aaron Longa has spent years trying to fulfill his dream of joining the Air Force and serving as his grandfather did in World War II, but faces one big obstacle  hed be a transgender airman.

The Supreme Courts decision Tuesday allowing the Pentagon to limit transgender recruits in the armed forces left him badly rattled, unsure if he would continue a quest that already has required a small mountain of paperwork, he said.

But Longa took comfort in a defense officials statement that the Pentagon would not immediately implement the policy, pending the outcome of a key court challenge to it.

That gives me hope, said Longa, 26, an accountant who lives in San Francisco. Its been a long, albeit interesting, process and these little positive buts of news are good for us.

The court, in a 5-4 ruling, affirmed that the Pentagon could implement a restrictive policy the Trump administration imposed on transgender people wanting to serve in the military while a court challenge to it is still pending. But the Pentagon said it would wait, adding in a prepared statement, that it would continue to treat all transgender persons with respect and dignity.

A defense official, Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, said the decision to not implement Tuesdays ruling was due to a federal court in Baltimore that has not yet ruled on the governments request to dissolve a temporary injunction forbidding the Pentagon from acting. Federal courts in Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Riverside, Calif., had also issued injunctions.

The Supreme Court did two things, said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and an attorney for plaintiffs in the Washington D.C. and Riverside cases. It denied the governments request to review the cases now, this term, so the court will not be ruling on the constitutionality of the transgender military ban this term.

On ExpressNews.com: Life in Transition https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/Life-in-Transition-Transgender-people-fight-for-11161519.php?utm_content=bufferb3723&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

In addition, however, the court did grant the governments request to lift the lower court injunctions preventing the Pentagon from enforcing the ban.

Critics like Minter have called the policy a ban, but Gleason said it would leave transgender troops free to state their sexual orientation.

The Pentagon in 2016 allowed transgender troops to serve openly, part of a series of policy changes under President Obama starting in 2010 that protected servicemen and women from being kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

On ExpressNews.com: Transgender airman reenlists despite scrutiny, uncertainty

The number of transgender troops isnt clear, but its a fraction of the total armed forces. A RAND study found that then-Defense Secretary Ash Carters action affected up to 7,000 active-duty and 4,000 Reserve troops, while UCLA's Williams Institute put the number of transgender personnel at 15,500.

Carter said the decision to let transgender troops serve openly was made in part to allow them to obtain medical care through the military, including surgeries, and that it would allow talented Americans who are serving with distinction or who want the opportunity to serve. Previously, transgender troops had to go to private care providers at their own expense. A RAND estimate put the increased cost at between $2.4 million and $8.4 million a year.

The policy changed when then-Defense Secretary James Mattis in 2018 cited substantial risks associated with allowing the accession and retention of individuals with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria and require, or have already undertaken, a course of treatment to change their gender.

Gender dysphoria, the medical diagnosis associated with being transgender, is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify" that can lead to discomfort with the person's body or assigned gender roles.

Under the new policy, transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria cannot join the military unless they have taken no steps to transition for 36 consecutive months prior to joining. Those diagnosed with gender dysphoria after joining the military can remain, as long as they do not take steps to medically transition and are physically and mentally able to do their jobs.

Those in the service who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria since the Obama administrations policy took effect, and prior to the start of the new policy, had been allowed to receive medical services related to transition. The Trump administration policy would disqualify transgender persons who require or have undergone gender transition.

On ExpressNews.com: Seventy miles of razor wire later, some GIs pulling back

Advocates on Tuesday said the courts decision would harm transgender troops. Ashley Smith, president of the San Antonio Gender Association, said she was not surprised by the high courts ruling.

Not all trans individuals take steps to physically transition but many do, and the Pentagon policy would fail to recognize them for who they are - in many ways more cruel than Dont Ask, Dont Tell,  Smith said.

From the very outset of this current administration, they have made every effort to attack transgender people and to roll back the life that we have and to stigmatize and demonize us for their own political purposes, she said.

Access to transition services improves a trans person's mental health and ability to be open with those around them, and the administration has zero evidence to support the need for a policy that would force people into a closet to be able to serve, said Emmett Schelling, executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas.

They feel an innate need and duty to serve their country and to give back, Schelling said of trans service members.

The National Center for Transgender Equalitys executive director, Mara Keisling, said the courts ruling puts the honorable service of thousands of troops and military readiness on the line.

The Trump administrations cruel obsession with ridding our military of dedicated and capable service members because they happen to be transgender defies reason and cannot survive legal review, said Jennifer Levi, transgender rights project director for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders.

Longa, who holds a bachelors degree in business management economics, has wanted to be one of those service members  and still does. If he were to pass a military physical, he might be cleared to join one other transgender recruit that has entered the Air Forces delayed entry program.

This dream is about four years old  and it comes from the fact that I had heard stories as a kid of my grandfather serving in World War II, and I heard all of the glory stories but I also heard about the hardships and how he formed a community and a bond you just couldnt break, and I wanted to experience that, Longa said.

The policy would exempt individuals like Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jamie Hash, who was among the first active duty service members to openly transition. Hash would be allowed to continue serving and to get medical treatment associated with her transition.

In November, Hash held her reenlistment ceremony in San Antonio, committing to another six years of service. At the time, she said staying in the Air Force was important despite added scrutiny, to serve for those who cannot if the new policy were implemented.

While those of us who are currently serving openly are not directly impacted by the decision, we are now a finite group until there is any change or development, she said by email Tuesday.

Hash has called her time being stationed in San Antonio a rebirth that allowed her to remain in the job she loved without compromising her identity.

The policy's exceptions, including trans service members who have not begun to physically transition, mean there will be individuals in jeopardy of having to serve the rest of their commitment living inauthentically, Hash said.

Sig Christenson covers the military and its impact in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe
Bottoms up, folks. Another San Antonio Cocktail Conference has come and gone. And as it does every year, the weeklong devotional to mixed drinks has left a mark on the Taste Team.

We each took away something unique from the various seminars and tasting events we attended, and here are eight highlights wed like to share.

A Homer Simpson dream: Its not just a name, its a lifestyle. One of the more spectacular food displays at Jan. 17s Come & Taste It event at the Shops at Rivercenter was created by The Art of Donut, an upstart local shop located near Brackenridge Park. They created a nine-doughnut by 14-doughnut wall of the good stuff that turned into the most Instagram-worthy attractions of the event. They brought about 300 to the event, but the wall was so pretty, guests were reluctant to break up the display to snack.

Grapefruit goodness: San Antonios Seersucker Distillery had the debut of its newest gin, this time with an infusion of grapefruit. Founder and head distiller Trey Azar said that the idea behind the newer gin products  Seersucker launched a line of lemon- and lime-infused gins last year  is to be able to create cocktails with the addition of simple products, such as sparkling water or a dash of additional fruit juice.

The Seersucker Sands Cocktail, made with 2 ounces of the new grapefruit gin,  ounce of lemon juice,  ounce of grapefruit juice and  ounce of maraschino liqueur was definitely the most summery and refreshing drink of Jan. 17s Come & Taste It event.

Chuck Blount

Spritz and glitz: And speaking of refreshing, in a fascinating seminar on spritz cocktails and other bubbly drinks, Meaghan Dorman, the bar director of New York Citys two Raines Law Rooms, Dear Irving and the Bennett, and Lynnette Marrero, who designs cocktail programs in New York through her company Drinksat6, sang the praises of these less boozy cocktails. Both sparkling wine aficionados, they talked about the growing popularity of cocktails with sparkling wine and sparkling water, so its only a matter of time before that trend trickles down and theres big boom here in San Antonio.

Already, several bars around town have offerings topped off with Topo Chico, Texas favorite mineral water. Such drinks are perfect for our climate. They lighten up otherwise high-alcohol-by-volume quaffs, making them sippable from spring and summer and beyond.

The duo also strongly recommended the book Spritz: Italys Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail, with Recipes by Talia Baiocchi and Leslie Pariseau, which was a 2017 James Beard Foundation Book Award Nominee, for anyone wanting to learn more about how these cocktails came into being and how to make them at home. I have a copy on the way.

Less mezcal: Previous conferences have seen a preponderance of bourbon and mezcal. And while bourbon doesnt seem to be going away, mezcal took a blessed break this year, showing up in just a few cocktails.

Its not that I dont appreciate mezcal, its just that I dont like it. And yes, I have tried good ones, and still, its a no-go. So it was nice to see tequila and rum get to shine brighter this year, and boy did they.

But one of brightest stars was gin, which was featured best at the Cocktails in the Enchanted Forest event Jan. 19 at La Villita with The Spring Stroll in Drumshanbo cocktail, which also got my vote for best name. Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin met lavender-infused egg white and strained watermelon juice for a seriously good drink.

Emily Spicer

Dutch treat: If you havent heard of genever  most folks in America pronounce it in a way that rhymes with believer  dont feel bad. The distilled spirit, sometimes called Holland or Dutch gin, has a 400-year history, but has largely been forgotten in American bars, although forces are hard at work to change that.

One of the seminars I attended poured out samples of six different genevers, and I was stunned at the range of flavors. Ive long been a gin fan, and all of these had at least some juniper notes, but thats about where the comparison ended.

Bobbys Schiedam Jenever told the story of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia with the flavors of lemongrass, clove and cubeb pepper dominating. Another, Notaris Genever, was all malt, caramel and oak for a near whiskeylike sip. All of it was truly fascinating stuff and a category of spirits I look forward to getting better acquainted with.

Drink the weeds: Going back to my love of gin, a session hosted by Treaty Oak Distilling hit all my pleasure sensors. I am an enthusiastic forager of wild foods, but rarely thought of those ingredients outside the confines of a plate. The Treaty Oak team  they also make Waterloo Gin  changed that.

We tasted a trio of gin and tonics that contained a literal forest of flavors, all paired with a sushi course. Astringent yaupon holly, resinous cedar, sultry lavender  these and other botanicals collected from the Texas wilds were distilled or infused into intensely concentrated flavors we then added by the drop to our drinks to customize the experience.

My big takeaway? Its time to rethink that next walk through the woods and include a few cocktails on my foraged menu.

Paul Stephen

Whiskey by any other name: Call it whiskey, whisky, Scotch, bourbon or rye, the beloved amber waves washed over this years conference with distilled vengeance.

Whiskey flowed as simply as the tastings of Devils River Whiskey poured by San Antonio expat bartender Jesse Torres at the Jan. 17 Come and Taste It event and an old-school highball  just The Balvenie 12-Year DoubleWood Scotch whisky and Topo Chico  at Jan. 18s Waldorf on the Prairie.

But whiskey held its own even in more elaborate forums like the Passion Fruit Monkey Mai Tai with Monkey Shoulder Scotch whisky and passion fruit syrup and the Cannon at Gonzales cocktail using Republic Whiskey, honeysuckle liqueur, egg white and bitters.

The spirits complicated history in Japan was examined fully at a Jan. 18 seminar covering five shades of Suntory Whisky, ranging from the cherry blast of Akadama to razor-sharp Yamazaki. Suntory brand ambassador Rashidi Hodari kept the current mania for Japanese whisky in perspective: Whisky is for drinking, not fetishizing.

Not far from the tree: The whiskey wave brought with it a welcome traveling companion: the apple. For example, High West Whiskeys Horse of a Different Color cocktail was all apple and ginger, but the whiskey kept its chin up nicely at the Jan. 19 Cocktails in the Enchanted Forest event.

Apples got along with everybody, from tequila to rum to vodka. Patron Tequila paired soothingly with hot apple cider, and mulled cider lent a sweet spark to Plantations Xaymaca Special Day Rum Punch. Ravo Vodka picked a few apples of its own with an Apple Bonnet cocktail that glowed with cinnamon syrup and apple cider.

Mike Sutter

Paul Stephen is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen
Noted architect Sir David Adjayes design for Ruby City, the sparkling exhibition space near San Pedro Creek slated to open in October, is literally a dream come true.

The idea for the building came to the late philanthropist and artist Linda Pace in a dream. She chose Adjaye for the project, which will house contemporary art from her collection, meeting with him to discuss it shortly before her death in 2007.

In an email interview, Adjaye said he was inspired by Paces vision.

The idea for a ruby red ideal city came to her in a dream, and she wanted to create a place that would also inspire the dreams of others, he wrote. I am drawn to projects that allow people to understand cultures and experiences that are different from their own, and my values very much aligned with Lindas mission to provide public access to contemporary art.

Adjaye will discuss Ruby City in a free lecture during a one-day visit to San Antonio Tuesday to celebrate the completion of construction on the building.

On ExpressNews.com: Foundation dubs campus Ruby City

At a glance What: "A Conversation with Sir David Adjaye" When: 6 p.m. Tuesday Where: Laurie Auditorium, Trinity University, One Trinity Place. Admission is free and first come, first served. On the web: lindapacefoundation.org See More Collapse

The distinctive structure is the first building he has designed in Texas, and it already has generated a lot of buzz. Architectural Digest named it one of the most anticipated buildings of the year, and Artsy.net included it alongside an expansion of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Grand Egyptian Museum on a list of the buzziest and most beautiful museums opening in 2019.

Adjaye may be best-known for creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Other high-profile designs for Adjaye  whose eponymous firm has offices in London, New York and Accra, Ghana  include the Moscow School of Management and the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway.

Having an architect of Adjayes stature design Ruby City is in line with what Pace wanted from the project, said Rick Moore, president of the Linda Pace Foundation.

She wanted the collection to be housed in a building that was itself iconic, Moore said. What better way to achieve that than with an architect like David Adjaye?

The $16 million building, which was designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Alamo Architects, is part of a compound that includes Chris Park, a 1-acre public green space; and Studio, a gallery run by the Linda Pace Foundation.

On ExpressNews.com: Michael Nye exhibit explores blindness

The new addition to the campus is designed to suggest a ruby, both in its shape and its color.

I wanted to retain the dreamlike spirit of Lindas vision by developing a concrete skin that sparkles in the sun, Adjaye wrote. Infused with a rich red color, the precast concrete is encrusted with two hues of crushed red glass, giving the building the appearance of a rough-cut gemstone.

When it opens, patrons will move through the galleries on an ambulatory loop.

The building is designed as a cluster of gallery volumes that present a narrative journey about the collection and Lindas life, Adjaye wrote. Visitors embark on a journey that begins in the lobby and slowly steps upwards and culminates at a window overlooking Chris Park, named after Lindas son who passed away when he was 24.

As you continue the journey through the galleries, skylights flood the space with natural light, and widows frame views of the San Pedro Creek. Linda was very passionate about her community, and I wanted the building to connect and engage with the San Antonio landscape as much as possible.

Deborah Martin is an arts writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
San Antonio-based iHeartMedia Inc., the nations largest owner of radio stations, said Tuesday it will emerge from bankruptcy a leaner company after its reorganization plan was approved by a Houston court Tuesday.

iHearts debt holders will become the companys owners, it said in a statement. It expects to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the first half of this year.

Under the terms of the plan, the radio giant said a balance-sheet restructuring will allow it to shed almost $10.4 billion in debt, leaving it with about $5.8 billion in liabilities on its books.

In addition, San Antonio billboard company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. will spin off from iHeart and become its own independent publicly traded company.

The company is now going to exit bankruptcy with a much more streamlined and better balance sheet and (will be) better positioned to continue it market-leading position in the radio space, said Josh Friedman, global head of restructuring data for Debtwire, a distressed-debt research firm.

iHeart Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman and President, COO and CFO Rich Bressler will stay on. In fact, they have had their contracts extended by four years.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection in March following two years of litigation and financial gamesmanship as it tried to keep its crushing debt under control and creditors at bay.

It listed about $12.3 billion in assets and $20.3 billion in debt in its Chapter 11 petition, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. More than 35 other iHeart-affiliated companies also filed for bankruptcy.

We are delighted to reach this significant milestone in our restructuring process, which will give us a new capital structure that matches the strong operating performance of our business, Pittman said.

iHeartMedias unique place in the advertising world perfectly positions us to take advantage of the renaissance under way in audio, he added.

The company owned about 850 radio stations in more than 160 U.S. markets at the time of the bankruptcy filing. It also has owned 90 percent of Clear Channel Outdoor.

iHeart owns seven local stations, including WOAI-AM and FM stations 96.1 KXXM and 101.9 KQXT. The company syndicates Rush Limbaugh, Ryan Seacrest and Steve Harvey radio shows across the U.S.

The company was founded in 1972 in San Antonio by Lowry Mays and B.J. Red McCombs, but bought by two Boston-based private equity firms in 2008. The company was then known as Clear Channel Communications.

Those private equity firms, Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, which acquired 70 percent of the company in a $24 billion leveraged buyout, essentially are handing over the keys to certain lenders and debt holders. The new owners include various mutual and hedge fund companies, including Franklin Advisers Inc. and Benefit Street Partners.

iHearts problems were similar to those of other companies that have gone through leveraged buyouts by private equity firms, Debtwires Friedman said.

The debt levels are too high, the interest payments are too high to sustain the business going forward, (and) they were unable to continue making all those payments while investing in the company and growing the company, he said.

Last June, Cumulus Media, the radio industrys second biggest company, emerged from Chapter 11. It also was overwhelmed by debt when seeking bankruptcy protection in 2017.

It will be interesting to see how the radio business can contend when its leaders are in a better financial condition, Friedman said.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD
My husband and I are riding our motorcycle through Mexico and are looking for someone to take our guitar back to Seattle. The guitar belongs to my dad, so we dont want to sell it or leave it here. We will be going to Central America soon and dont want to travel with it anymore. Is anyone heading to Seattle or near Seattle anytime soon?
Pound Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate Slips as Brexit Momentum Fades

UPDATE: The Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate pulled back from a four-week high on Thursday as Sterling faced a corrective slide after a bullish run through the first half of the week. This helped to offset some weakness in the Loonie on Thursday which came as a result of a drop in oil prices

Canadian Retail Sales Slump Boosts Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) Exchange Rate

Novembers Canadian retail sales data helped to extend the bullish run of the Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate on Wednesday.

Investors were disappointed to find that sales had contracted further than forecast on the month, falling -0.9% as consumers continued to rein in their spending.

This weaker showing does not paint the most encouraging picture of the current health of the Canadian economy, prompting CAD exchange rates to slump sharply in the wake of the data.

With the global economy looking set to lose further momentum in 2019 hopes of a resurgence in Canadian growth appear rather limited.

Even though oil prices staged a modest rebound on Wednesday afternoon this was not enough to shore up the Canadian Dollar in the face of the weak domestic data.

Lower Odds of No-Deal Brexit Encourage Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rate Gains

Demand for the Pound, meanwhile, picked up in response to reports that the Labour Party is willing to back action to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

This news helped to mitigate the impact of a weaker-than-expected CBI business optimism index, which dropped from -16 to -23 in January.

While businesses maintain a cautious outlook on the future of the UK economy the lower odds of a no-deal Brexit gave GBP exchange rates encouragement.

Although it remains to be seen whether Parliament can resolve its deadlock over Brexit or exert greater control over the process this renewed sense of market optimism still saw the Pound trending higher.

Weaker Reported Retail Sales to Knock Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates

The GBP/CAD exchange rate could come under renewed pressure ahead of the weekend, however, if the CBI reported retail sales data fails to impress.

Unless retail sales show a solid rebound from the previous months decline the data would give investors fresh incentive to sell out of the volatile Pound.

On the other hand, evidence that consumer spending remains resilient in the face of Brexit-based uncertainty may see GBP exchange rates extending their recent gains.

Speculation over a potential extension of the March Brexit deadline could also provoke volatility for the Pound in the near future, especially if there are no signs of material progress towards a deal.

Canadian Dollar (CAD) Exchange Rate Volatility Forecast on US Oil Production Data

US crude oil inventories data may put additional pressure on the Canadian Dollar on Thursday as oversupply worries continue to dominate the market outlook.

An increase in production would encourage another oil selloff, leaving the commodity-correlated Canadian Dollar on the back foot.

With Chinese growth slowing the global demand for oil looks set to diminish in 2019, something which is likely to keep prices under pressure for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, a drawdown in US stockpiles may offer the Canadian Dollar a temporary rallying point, driving down the GBP/CAD exchange rate.
UPDATE 15:10 23/01: The British Pound (Currency:GBP) continued to appreciate against peers during Wednesdays session amid hopes of a Brexit delay and heightened expectations that MPs intend to retake control of the Brexit proceedings in an attempt to block a no-deal outcome.

At the time of writing, the Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) exchange rate was last seen trading at $1.30564, extending two-month highs. Meanwhile the Pound-to-Euro (GBPEUR) x-rate was trading at 1.1485, just below the recently set two-month high of 1.1488

Amid a a heated session in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May continued to reject cross-party pleas to seek an extension to the Artcile 50 deadline, claiming an extension would not solve the situation. If unchanged, the current terms of Article 50 would see the UK exit the EU on March 29th with or without an overarching deal.

For the Pound, the impact of a delay remains uncertain. On the one hand, a delay would be seen as raising the chances of a soft deal being reached between the UK and EU or even for a second referendum to open the door to the UK remaining in the EU. On the other hand, delays mean continued uncertainty.

FX strategist at Commerzbank (Frankfurt) Thu Lan Nguyen commented that their base case would see the current GBP rally broken if Brexit is delayed. She added, Delaying is far from finding a solution... hard-line Brexiteers would never tolerate an indefinite delay of the EU exit.

The Prime Minister has also continued to reject calls to rule out a no deal outcome, prompting amendments from MPs aimed at securing parliamentary powers in a bid to reduce the chances of such a scenario.

During the session, the PM told MPs that the right way to rule out a no-deal Brexit would be to back her withdrawal agreement.

The Prime Minister is expected to continue to seek legal assurances over the sticky issue of the Irish backstop provision from EU officials ahead of January 29th debates and votes on proposed amendments to the PMs Plan B, which to all intents and purposes is the same deal which was massively rejected by MPs at the earlier meaningful vote.

UPDATE: Extending recent session gains, the Pound Sterling (GBP) surged to multi-week highs against both the US Dollar (USD) and Euro (EUR) during Wednesdays session as financial markets re-priced for pared no deal Brexit expectations as lawmakers look set to back a bill to give parliament the power to block such a scenario.

Wednesdays session saw the Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) retake the $1.3 level for the first time this year, rising to a fresh two-month high. At the time of writing the GBPUSD exchange rate was trading at $1.30353, pushing the boundary of the session high.

A similar surge in the Pound-to-Euro (GBPEUR) exchange rate saw the cross confidently breach resistance at 1.14 to hit a session, and two-month, high of 1.1473.

Reiterating their opposition to a devastating no deal outcome, a Labour Party statement said it was highly likely that Labour MPs would back an amendment which would see parliamentary powers over the Brexit route increased, essentially diminishing the chances of a no deal exit

Commenting on the takeaway message for financial markets, fund manager at Legal & General Investment Management, Justin Onuekwusi, said Overall the view is parliament doesnt want a hard Brexit and nor does the EU... and if thats the case I dont see how it can happen, adding We are neutral on sterling as you have to be quite nimble.

Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates Extend Gains Amid Hope of Avoiding No-Deal Brexit

Pound Sterling (GBP) foreign exchange crosses surged into Wednesdays session amid depressed expectations of an economically devastating no deal Brexit. Against the Euro, the GBPEUR x-rate was pushing the frontier of fresh 2019 highs and was last seen trading at 1.1435. Pound-to-dollar (GBPUSD) exchange rates saw an upside break of the overnight range early in the European session and was last seen trading at $1.29904.

Commenting on the GBPs recent gains, INGs head of FX strategy, Chris Turner commented The overall probability of a market-friendly Brexit outcome is currently helping sterling.

With PM Mays Plan B on the table - essentially a reaffirmation of the PMs commitment to her Plan A withdrawal agreement which was overwhelmingly rejected by British lawmakers by a margin of 230 (432 against, 202 for) - the government is now casting around for input over what changes would be needed to see the deal backed by a majority of MPs.

The Prime Minister is due to meet with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during Wednesdays session following the PMs statement that devolved administrations would see an enhanced role in Brexit talks.

Speaking to the BBC beforehand, Sturgeon said It seems to me that the prime minister's approach is that she will listen to other voices in other parties - as long as we're prepared to agree with her, adding Her approach doesn't seem to have changed one iota since that historic defeat she suffered in the House of Commons last week, and it needs to change if any progress is to be made.

Balls in the UKs Court Says EU Commission

One would be forgiven for experiencing a little deja vu under the current circumstances. Reminiscent of the politicking that occurred in the run up to the meaningful vote which saw the EU reject vague pleas from PM May over legal assurances aimed at allaying concerns over the Irish backstop, EU officials have again deigned to provide input in lieu of clear requests from the UK.

Speaking at a press conference, EU Commission spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas said We expect the United Kingdom to tell us what they want, what they really, really want, adding We urge the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. At this stage we have nothing new to say from Brussels because there is nothing new from London.

PM May is expected to continue to pressure her European counterparts to provide legal assurances that the Irish backstop would be, if it came into effect, a temporary solution in a bid to win over 118 wayward Tory MPs and the co-aligned Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which props up the minority government.

How the EU responds to PM Mays request for legally binding assurances will have significant bearing on the likelihood of the deal being pushed through parliament. Currency specialist Tyler Griffin of OFX wrote Investors are focused on how PM Theresa May will negotiate with the EU over the next few days.

UK Firms Ramp Up Brexit Preparations

Hammered by uncertainty over future trade relations between the UK and EU, British businesses have ramped up their preparations for an ugly Brexit. Addressing business lobby groups on Tuesday, PM May persisted in refusing to rule out a no deal Brexit.

As it stands, P&O  the 182 year old British maritime operator - have announced they intend to re-register their entire fleet under the Cypriot flag. Tech giant Sony has also confirmed their intention to relocate their headquarters from London to Amsterdam.

Speaking to Reuters, Bentley chief executive, Adrian Hallmark, said Its Brexit thats the killer. If we ended up with a hard Brexit ... that would hit us this year because we do have a potential to get beyond break-even to do the turnaround. It would put at fundamental risk our chance of becoming profitable.

See how Brexit affected the pound sterling using our handy free Brexit tracker chart.
The British Pound (GBP) was once again a BEST performer on exchange rate markets in the G10 basket of currencies, as the GBP/USD rose and the EUR/GBP fell in the wake of some positive economic data and signs that Brexiteers might be softening their stance, diminishing the chance of a cliff-edge no-deal exit for the United Kingdom.

Foreign exchange analysts at ING believe Mays Plan B is likely to be rejected by Parliament, and that a second referendum probability now sits as high as 30%.

Pound Sterling Today: Unemployment and Wage Growth impress, Public Borrowing Rises

Tuesday was a particularly good day for the Pound, as another 0.5% of gains helped to lift the UK currency up towards the crucial psychological level of 1.30. There was plenty to digest for traders as some top tier UK data was also thrown into the mix with the usual slew of Brexit headlines. First of all, there was UK Unemployment and Wage Growth, with the former dipping to 4.0% against expectations for a steady reading of 4.1% and the latter including bonus rising to 3.4%, against expectations of 3.3%. Both of these are important indicators for the health of the British economy and will do much to bolster the belief that the Bank of England would be able to raise rates with a good deal more speed than the current Brexit addled pricing implies.

This should (and appears to be) bolstering speculative appetite for Sterling as the likelihood of a hard Brexit decreases. With the Pound to Dollar exchange rate (GBP/USD) trading in the mid 1.29 handle, Brexit developments are also particularly important if Cable is going to return to the sunlit uplands above 1.30. Tuesday saw the EU draw a line in the sand over the Northern Irish border with the Republic of Ireland, as they confirmed that a no deal would result in a hard border crossing. This is particularly undesirable for both Ireland and N.I. and would probably cause significant disruption along an already sensitive political zone with trade also being harmed. The DUP is the only thing between Theresa May and losing power, so whatever they want tends to be the direction in which decisions are made. They want Northern Ireland to be treated no differently from the rest of the UK after Brexit, the fact that the Republic of Ireland will not accept a hard border and Brexiteers want a clean break from the EU demonstrates why this position might be totally irreconcilable (no matter how much technology you throw at it Mr. Rees-Mogg. It is a square peg in a round hole situation, and it is no surprise we are still stuck on this issue as we have been calling it the major sticking point for Brexit for over a year.

ING skeptical that Plan B is no Plan A at all

After UK Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled her Brexit Plan B on the withdrawal bill to citizens earlier in the week, many traders could be forgiven for rolling their eyes. It was not a groundbreaking change of pace, and in fact was barely anything at all. In their weekly view analysts at ING are now already forecasting that the new plan is also likely to fail and there is now an almost 1/3 chance of another vote being put to the British people,

Although Prime Minister Theresa Mays attempt to push through with Plan B (which appears to be a mere facelift to Plan A) doesnt appear to have high odds of succeeding, the likely next steps (after the likely rejection of such a plan) are shielding sterling. These are non-negligible odds of a second referendum (30% probability in our view

The fact that the leader of the opposition party has so far taken an agnostic view on Brexit has been a thorn in the side of Remainers looking for a united front on the liberal side of things. However, the fact that Corbyn has so far failed to rule out another vote is good news for the Pound positive event risk of another vote, or at the very least a customs union, which in INGs view is putting a floor under the British Pound,

Labour leader Jeremy Corbin yesterday indirectly did not rule out another peoples vote) or a vastly different plan including a customs union (also around 30% probability). Of course, both would be preceded by the extension of Article 50. The subsequent 60% overall probability of two market-friendly results is currently helping sterling, preventing it from reversing its recent gains.

EUR/GBP pricing suggests limited gains for the Pound Sterling in near term

The value of the Euro-to-Pound exchange rate is extremely important to gauging the overall performance of the British Pound. ING actually believe that the current performance of the pair is broadly in line with their expectations based on both fair value and the most likely outcome for Brexit,

We note that with the no-deal option still on the table, the probability-weighted outcome for EUR/GBP is 0.89 based on our estimate (not far from current levels). This is also in line with our latest estimate of EUR/GBP short-term financial fair value (also at 0.89). This suggests limited scope for further imminent GBP gains unless more progress to market-friendly options is made."

Things are really taking off for the Pound it would seem, but the UK currency clearly remains extremely vulnerable to any pullbacks or negative headlines. It would seem that a re-emergence of no-deal risks could happen but at this stage, headlines would suggest that Brexiteers are more likely to consider Mays deal at this point than do anything that would risk a second referendum. Firming economic fundamentals and a more optimistic view on the outcome of trade talks is a great combination for GBP/EUR, and while the US Dollar remains steady there are clearly opportunities for further gains in Cable too. Pound strength in the face of some extremely fragile stock markets is a good character trait to consider at this stage, as it suggests some of the nervousness coming out of the market.
Dentsu Aegis Network has announced that it is restructuring its Singapore operations, according to media reports. The reports mention that the restructuring will lead to layoff of around 2 per cent of its workforce.



The announcement was reportedly made in a media call on Monday. Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific and Phil Teeman, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore and South East Asia announced that Singapore office will be broken into three components.



The first component will be called Brand Solutions, the second will be named One Singapore Media Grouphe and the third one will be internal virtual team.



The reports said that the officials did reveal the exact number of staff that will lose jobs. Waters is said to have said that these staff will get appropriate exit packages.



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SIENA, Italy, January 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Philogen S.p.A. (a privately-owned company) today announced that they have entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Novartis to discover and develop a new class of immunomodulatory therapeutics.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811555/Philogen_Logo.jpg )

"We are extremely pleased to establish a new collaboration with Novartis, a leader in the discovery and development of therapies for cancer patients," commented Dr. Duccio Neri, Philogen's CEO.

No financial details of the agreement were released.

About Philogen Philogen is a clinical-stage biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of novel biopharmaceutical products. Philogen's strategy is to deliver bioactive agents, for example cytokines or drugs to the site of disease using antibodies and ligands that specifically and efficiently target stromal antigens. This technology has generated a strong proprietary pipeline of clinical-stage products and also pre-clinical compounds in an array of disease indications. Philogen is headquartered in Siena, Italy, and has research activities at its subsidiary company Philochem in Zurich, Switzerland. Philogen is independently owned, and has signed agreements with several major pharmaceutical companies. For more information, please visithttp://www.philogen.com.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/811555/Philogen_Logo.jpg

CONTACT: Christian Lizak, PhD, Senior Scientist - Business Development,+41-43-544-88-05, christian.lizak@philogen.com
(San Antonio, Jan. 23, 2019) -- According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, over one-third of U.S. adults are obese. At the same time, obesity is the second leading cause of premature death in the North America and Europe.

A recent study by public policy professors Alexander Testa and Dylan Jackson at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) assesses the link between food-related hardships and obesity. Using the data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI)--a national sample that measures food deserts, their study is the first of its kind to assess the relationship between experiencing food insecurity and living in a food desert on obesity.

Food insecurity, by definition, is the inability to acquire adequate food due to a lack of resources. In 2016, an estimated 15.6 million households (12.3 percent) were food insecure. Food deserts are geographic areas where residents do not have access to supermarkets or grocery stores.

Using a national sample of adults across the United States, the UTSA researchers learned that individuals who are food insecure are at an increased risk of obesity. Study results also showed that the individuals who live in food desert are at an elevated risk for obesity. Together, these findings suggest that Americans who either do not have enough to eat or live in areas without access to stores that sell affordable nutritious foods are at greater risk for obesity.

Regarding the study results, Professor Testa stated, "Our study highlights the importance of adequate nutrition for health. Millions of Americans do not have enough food to eat and live in communities where affordable healthy food options are not available. To combat obesity, it is important to ensure that people have consistent access to nutritious food."

When taking gender and race into account, the researchers observed that women are more likely to exhibit obesity as a result of food insecurity, compared to men. This may be because women are more likely to shield their children from food insecurity by reducing their own nutritional intake. Overall, Black and Hispanic households are at a higher risk for food insecurity in the United States.

"The lack of access to food can be a major stressor on individuals, and our study finds that experiencing food hardships is particularly consequential for the health of women" said Professor Jackson.

In the future, the authors plan to continue to research how difficulties obtaining nutritious food are related to health problems and explore which types of programs may be effective in improving nutrition and health in the United States.

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A new drug shows potential to halt cancer cells' growth by stunting the cells' biological clock.

The findings from scientists at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience and Nagoya University's Institute of Transformative BioMolecules (ITbM) advance a burgeoning area of research: turning the body's circadian rhythms against cancer.

Their study, conducted on human kidney cancer cells and on acute myeloid leukemia in mice, was published Jan. 23 in the journal Science Advances

Scientists know that disrupting sleep and other elements of humans' circadian rhythm can harm health. The same is true for the circadian clock of cells themselves. If researchers could disturb the circadian clock of cancer cells, they theorize, they could potentially hurt or kill those cells.

The scientists found that a molecule named GO289 targets an enzyme that controls the cell's circadian rhythm. This drug-protein interaction then disrupts the functions of four other proteins that are important for cell growth and survival.

In effect, GO289 can jam the cogs of the cell's circadian clock, slowing its cycles. And it can do so with little impact to healthy cells.

"In some cancers, the disease takes over the circadian clock mechanism and uses it for the evil purpose of helping itself grow," said Steve Kay, director of convergent biosciences at the USC Michelson Center and USC Provost Professor of Neurology, Biomedical Engineering and Biological Sciences. "With GO289, we can interfere with those processes and stop the cancer from growing."

Kay is among several scientists from USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Keck School of Medicine at USC who are collaborating across multiple disciplines to find new solutions for treating cancer, neurological disease and cardiovascular disease.

Finding the right candidate

On its initial interactions with human bone cancer cells, GO289 appeared to slow the tumors' circadian clock as it targeted an enzyme, named CK2.

To see if GO289 consistently hindered other cancers in the same way, the scientists then tested it on human kidney cancer cells and on mice with acute myeloid leukemia. They found that GO289 specifically affected cancer cell metabolism and other circadian-related functions that normally would enable the cancer to grow and spread.

Kay is optimistic about the findings. "This could become an effective new weapon that kills cancer," he said.

###

In addition to Kay and Tsuyoshi Hirota of ITbM at Nagoya University, other study co-authors were ITBM researchers Tsuyoshi Oshima, Yoshimi Niwa, Keiko Kuwata, Ashutosh Srivastava, Tomoko Hyoda, as well as Yoshiki Tsuchiya of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine , Megumi Kumagai of Seitama Medical University, Masato Tsuyuguchi of Osaka Prefecture University, and Teruya Tamaru of Toho University School of Medicine, Akiko Sugiyama of ITBM, Natsuko Ono, Norjin Zolboot, Yoshiki Aikawa, Shunsuke Oishi as well as Atushi Nonami of Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fumio Aria of Kyushu University, Shinya Hagihara of ITBM, Junichiro Yamaguchi of Waseda University, Florence Tama of ITBM, Yuya Kunisaki of Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kazuhiro Yagita of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Masaaki Ikeda of Saitama Medical University, Takayoshi Kinoshita of Osaka Prefecture University, and Kenichiro Itami of ITBM.

Funding sources for the work include PRESTO Grant JPMJPR14LA from JST AQ49AQ50 (to T.Hi.); Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity start-up 26891011, Young Scientists (A) 15H05590, and Scientific Research (B) 18H02402 from JSPS (to T.Hi.); the Naito Foundation (to T.Hi.); the Inamori Foundation (to T.Hi.); the Takeda Science Foundation (to T.Hi.); Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows 16J04435 (to T.O.) and 15J05509 (to Y.N.) from JSPS; Grant-in-Aid for Scientific AQ51 Research (B) 18H02841 from JSPS (to Y.K.); and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 26119006 and 15K21711 from JSPS (to F.T.). Preliminary experiments and diffraction data collection werecarried out at the beamline BL17A of the Photon Factory (proposal no. 2016G665) and at the Osaka University beamline BL44XU of SPring-8 (proposal no. 2015A6518).
PHILADELPHIA - If a patient has private insurance, doctors can get prior approval to prescribe a drug "off-label" to make sure the medication will be covered, but when it comes to Medicare part D, coverage decisions are dictated by two compendia - lists of medications and what they're indicated for. Physicians have no way of checking for approval in advance, and if the compendia indicate coverage should be denied, there is no appeals process. Researchers from several institutions, including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, examined these lists and found they are incomplete, outdated, and frequently in conflict with each other. They published their findings, as well as their call for new policy surrounding off-label coverage decisions, today in JAMA Dermatology.

Dermatologists often have good reason to prescribe a drug off-label, since the specialty deals with many rare and unique diseases, meaning evaluating treatments in randomized clinical trials may not always be feasible. Approximately a quarter of prescriptions for the ten most common dermatologic diagnoses are used off-label, and this percentage is likely higher for rare diseases. The compendia are meant to serve as a reference for which uses are medically accepted. If a medication is in the compendia, it's approved. If it's not, it's rejected.

"There's no real appeal process, so that rejection is the end of the story, and the rejection does not come with a suggestion of an alternative of what therapy might be approved instead," said the study's lead author John Barbieri, MD, a Dermatology Research Fellow at Penn. "This makes it incredibly challenging as a clinician, since we can find ourselves playing a guessing game while our patients wait for treatment."

As a result, researcher set out to get a better understanding of what the compendia do include and whether they are sufficient for current clinical realities. They made a list of accepted treatments for 22 chronic, non-infectious diseases for which off-label prescribing is an important part of treatment. They then analyzed both compendia, the American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Drug Information and the DRUGDEX Information System for inclusion of these therapies.

Overall, they found just 73 of the 238 treatments they evaluated (31 percent) were included in either compendium. Among diseases, 10 of 22 (45 percent) had one or fewer treatments included in the DRUGDEX compendium, and 15 of 22 (68 percent) had one or fewer treatments included in the AHFS. For 53 out of 238 treatments (22 percent), the medication was included in one but not the other.

"The compendia don't even agree with each other, and the literature they used as a basis for inclusion did not follow any discernable patter and was often based on decades old sources," Barbieri said.

Just 56 percent (18 out of 32) of treatments with Grade A evidence (a double-blind study) were included in either compendium. The number dropped all the way down to 10 percent (3 of 30) for Grade B evidence (a clinical trial ? 20 Subjects), but went up to 12 percent (5 of 43) for Grade C evidence and 13 percent (8 of 61) for Grade D evidence. Results from randomized controlled trials were ignored while citations from single patient case-reports and even personal communication with pharmaceutical companies were included.

"It was not uncommon for first line therapies with a Grade A or B evidence to be missing from the compendia, while second or third line therapies with a lower evidence grade were included," Barbieri said.

Researchers point out that the compendia are likely the most convenient way to make coverage decisions, but the inconsistencies that already exist combined with the rapid pace of new research and the more than 3,000 conditions managed by dermatologists means keeping them updated is logistically difficult. They propose two other potential solutions. One approach would require Medicare part D to consider evidence from literature that clinicians present during the authorization process. A second would be to develop an expert panel to review appeals for therapies not included in the compendia.

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Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided more than $500 million to benefit our community.
Scientists know the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Amundsen Sea could play a pivotal role in future sea level rise, but many questions remain unanswered. An international drilling expedition, led by researchers from the University of Houston and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, will provide important clues through a detailed analysis of the ice sheet's history.

The International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 379 will leave Punta Arenas, Chile, for a two-month trip to Antarctica on Jan. 24. It is funded by the National Science Foundation and its international partners.

Julia Wellner, assistant professor of sedimentology at UH and co-chief scientist for the voyage, said this will be the first time the JOIDES Resolution, a scientific drill ship, has been to the Amundsen Sea off the west coast of Antarctica. Karsten Gohl, senior scientist at the Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany, is the other co-chief scientist.

Delaney Robinson, a PhD student in the UH Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, will serve as a shipboard sedimentologist. In all, about 30 researchers will make the trip, representing 25 universities from the United States, Europe, Japan, China, Korea, India and New Zealand.

"The West Antarctic ice sheet is extremely sensitive to changes in climate," said James Allan, a program officer in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "It has the potential to disintegrate, raising global sea level by 11 to 14 feet or more. This expedition will study the history of the ice sheet over millions of years to document the past interplay between seawater and air temperature and how that led to ice gain or loss, offering insights into possible future behavior."

It will be Wellner's 10th trip to the southernmost continent but only her second trip to the Amundsen Sea, which is among the most isolated spots on earth. She said the marine-based ice in West Antarctica is critical to understanding how a warming planet will affect sea level rise because it is less stable than terrestrial ice, melting from below as the seawater warms.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet currently represents the largest ice loss in Antarctica, and scientists say if it were to completely melt, global sea levels could rise as much as 4.3 meters, or about 14 feet.

Wellner and other sedimentary geologists don't make projections about future sea level rise but instead collect and study sedimentary cores that allow them to determine how the ice sheet has behaved in the past. This expedition will reconstruct the glacial history of the ice sheet over the last tens of millions of years.

"We don't make projections, but the people who do make them need to understand what happened in the past," Wellner said.

The ship will drill deep into the sea floor, retrieving cores that are hundreds of meters long, a record of geologic change over millions of years.

Sedimentologists, including Robinson, will study the cores to determine how the various layers were deposited. Other scientists on board will establish dates and physical properties for the deposits. It will be Robinson's first trip to Antarctica.

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Wellner is also principal investigator on a second international project in early 2019, this one to study the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, funded by the NSF and the Natural Environment Research Council in the United Kingdom. UH PhD student Rachel Clark will make that voyage, as Wellner oversees the work while on the IODP project.
Research involving a University of East Anglia (UEA) academic has established a link between climate change, conflict, and migration for the first time.

In recent decades climatic conditions have been blamed for creating political unrest, civil war, and subsequently, waves of migration, but scientific evidence for this is limited.

One major example is the ongoing conflict in Syria, which began in 2011. Many coastal Mediterranean countries in Europe have also seen the arrival of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict in Africa.

Researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, including Dr Raya Muttarak, also of UEA's School of International Development, sought to find out whether there is a causal link between climate change and migration, and the nature of it. They found that in specific circumstances, the climate conditions do lead to increased migration, but indirectly, through causing conflict.

The findings, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, suggest that climate change played a significant role in migration and asylum seeking in the period 2011-2015, with more severe droughts linked to exacerbating conflict.

Dr Muttarak, a senior lecturer in geography and international development at UEA, said: "The question of how climatic conditions can contribute to political unrest and civil war has drawn attention from both the scientific community and the media. We contribute to the debate on climate-induced migration by providing new scientific evidence.

"The effect of climate on conflict occurrence is particularly relevant for countries in Western Asia in the period 2010-2012, when many were undergoing political transformation during the so-called Arab Spring uprisings. This suggests that the impact of climate on conflict and asylum seeking flows is limited to specific time periods and contexts."

The political uprisings of the Arab Spring occurred in countries including Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, and Syria, where the conflict led to an ongoing civil war.

In Syria particularly, long-running droughts and water shortages caused by climate change resulted in repeated crop failures, with rural families eventually moving to urban areas. This in turn led to overcrowding, unemployment and political unrest, and then civil war. Similar patterns were also found in sub-Saharan Africa in the same time period.

Co-author Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, of IIASA and Vienna University of Economics and Business, said: "Climate change will not cause conflict and subsequent asylum-seeking flows everywhere. But in a context of poor governance and a medium level of democracy, severe climate conditions can create conflict over scarce resources."

The researchers, who also include Guy Abel (IIASA and Shanghai University) and Michael Brottrager (Johannes Kepler University Linz), say that concerns relating to climate change-induced conflict leading to migration should be considered in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At present the link between climate change and migration is not explicit, and they are not treated as interrelated. Further research is needed to more fully understand migration flows.

Asylum seekers are more likely to be influenced by conflict than usual migrants, so the researchers used data from asylum applications from 157 countries from 2006-15 to study the patterns. This data was obtained from the United Nations High Commissions for Human Rights (UNHCR).

As a measure of climate conditions in the asylum seekers' original countries, the team used the Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which measures droughts, compared to normal conditions, through identifying the onset and end of droughts, and their intensity, based on precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, and climatic conditions such as temperature. To assess conflict, the team used data on battle-related deaths from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP).

These datasets were fed into the researchers' modelling framework, along with various socioeconomic and geographic datasets. These included the distance between country of origin and destination, population sizes, migrant networks, the political status of the countries, and ethnic and religious groups.

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'Climate, conflict and forced migration', Abel GJ, Brottrager M, Crespo Cuaresma J, Muttarak R (2019), is published in Global Environmental Change. DOI:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.12.003
PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Jan. 22, 2019 -- The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, has identified a polio-like virus as a potential cause of an outbreak of a disease known as Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM), a crippling condition that causes muscle weakness and paralysis usually among children.

At the request of Arizona and Maricopa County health officials, TGen was tasked with trying to identify the microbial cause of the outbreak of AFM among as many as 11 patients at a Phoenix-area hospital in September 2016.

Using multiple genomic sequencing tests, TGen identified a specific non-polio enterovirus -- EV-D68 -- among at least four of the children, according to a study published today in the scientific journal mBio. The finding is significant because AFM cases are continuing to increase and there has been no official recognition that this disease is being caused by EV-D68, which limits the research community's ability to develop preventative measures, such as new vaccines.

"We clearly identified the presence of EV-D68 virus in the confirmed AFM patients," said Dr. David Engelthaler, Co-Director of TGen's Flagstaff-based Pathogen and Microbiome Division, TGen North, and the study's senior author.

Since there are no available tests for diagnosing EV-D68, TGen needed to apply numerous cutting-edge genomic analyses to different samples to help unravel the mystery.

"The results of this investigation significantly add to the growing body of evidence that AFM is associated with EV-D68 infection," Dr. Engelthaler said.

AFM is a neuromuscular disorder that involves the spinal cord and messaging signals between the brain and muscle nerve cells. Symptoms include loss of muscle reflexes in arms and legs, resulting in a polio-like paralysis, but also include face drooping and respiratory failure.

Outbreaks of AFM in the U.S. since 2014 have come as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO), are on the verge of eradicating poliovirus. In the early 1950s, polio afflicted as many as 15,000 children a year in the U.S.

Since the first polio vaccines were developed in 1955, the number of polio cases in the U.S. has dropped to zero. And, once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the number of cases worldwide has dropped dramatically to the point that the disease has nearly been wiped out. Only 22 cases were reported worldwide in 2017, and the virus is now only found in two countries.

"The impending eradication of polio is one of the great achievements of human history," Dr. Engelthaler said. "The current AFM outbreaks are a stark reminder, however, of the need for ongoing excellence in public health, medicine and research."

For AFM, there is no confirmed cause, no vaccine and limited ways to diagnose or treat the disease. According to the CDC, it is unknown why most children recover from entroviruses, yet a small number develop AFM. The CDC has definitively ruled out the poliovirus as the cause of AFM. And, AFM remains rare, annually affecting fewer than 1 in 1 million children in the U.S.

"As a result of this study, we developed novel EV-D68 tests that now can be used for other investigations, and for larger-scale surveillance to better understand the spread of EV-D68 and its linkage to AFM," said Dr. Jolene Bowers, a Research Assistant Professor at TGen North, and the study's lead author.

Also contributing to this study were: Northern Arizona University, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, and the Arizona Department of Health Services.

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Authors of the study acknowledged Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health and Dr. Sally Ann Iverson of the Arizona Department of Health Services "for their steadfast leadership in this outbreak response," and Dr. Bonnie LaFleur of the University of Arizona for technical assistance and data analysis.

This study -- Genomic Analyses of Acute Flaccid Myelitis Cases Among a Cluster in Arizona Provide Further Evidence of Enterovirus D68 Role -- was funded in part by contract 200-2016-92313 from the CDC under its Advanced Molecular Detection Initiative.

About TGen, an affiliate of City of Hope

Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting groundbreaking research with life changing results. TGen is affiliated with City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and cancer and diabetes treatment center: http://www. cityofhope. org . This precision medicine affiliation enables both institutes to complement each other in research and patient care, with City of Hope providing a significant clinical setting to advance scientific discoveries made by TGen. TGen is focused on helping patients with neurological disorders, cancer, diabetes, and infectious diseases, through cutting edge translational research (the process of rapidly moving research towards patient benefit). TGen physicians and scientists work to unravel the genetic components of both common and rare complex diseases in adults and children. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities literally worldwide, TGen makes a substantial contribution to help our patients through efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. For more information, visit: http://www. tgen. org . Follow TGen on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @TGen.

Media Contact:

Steve Yozwiak

TGen Senior Science Writer

602-343-8704

syozwiak@tgen.org
LA JOLLA, CALIF. - Jan. 23, 2019 - Chemotherapy and radiation are effective cancer treatments because they kill rapidly dividing cells, including tumor cells. But for children--whose tiny bodies are still growing--these treatments can cause lifelong damage. This is particularly true for children with brain cancer, and researchers are working hard to find treatments that reduce side effects while remaining effective.

Now, scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have reported that a targeted therapy that blocks a protein called LSD1 was able to shrink tumors in mice with a form of pediatric brain cancer known as medulloblastoma. LSD1 inhibitors are currently under evaluation in clinical trials for other cancers, which could speed their potential path to children with medulloblastoma. The study was published in Nature Communications on January 18, 2019.

"Subjecting a developing child to chemotherapy and radiation of the head and spine can leave devastating long-term effects. Some children even become intellectually disabled as a result of the treatment, and aren't able to go to college, live on their own or achieve other important milestones," says Robert Wechsler-Reya, Ph.D., senior author of the paper, professor and director of the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program at SBP and program director of the Joseph Clayes III Research Center for Neuro-Oncology and Genomics at the Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine. "Our lab is working to understand the genetic pathways that drive medulloblastoma so we can find better ways to intervene and treat tumors. This study shows that a personalized treatment based upon a patient's specific tumor type might be within our reach."

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. More than 350 children are diagnosed with the cancer each year in the U.S. Standard treatment involves surgery to remove the tumor followed by chemotherapy and radiation. One-third of children succumb to the cancer. For the two-thirds of children who do survive, many have severe, lifelong side effects from the treatment, including cognitive impairment and increased risk of other cancers due to the DNA damage caused.

In recent years, scientists have learned that medulloblastoma is not one disease, but four distinct subtypes that differ in the mutations that cause them, in the cells from which the cancer arises and in the likelihood of long-term survival. A subtype called Group 3 medulloblastoma is the deadliest form of the disease.

This paper builds upon the scientists' previous work studying Group 3 medulloblastoma, in which they demonstrated that a transcription factor (a protein that binds to DNA and activates genes) called GFI1 is turned on in about one-third of Group 3 tumors. In the previous study, the scientists used genetic analysis approaches and SBP's unique method for creating mouse models of medulloblastoma to confirm that GFI1 is critical for these tumors--a key indicator that a drug target is worth pursuing.

However, transcription factors are inherently difficult to target therapeutically, earning them the nickname "undruggable." So, the scientists searched for an accomplice of GFI1--a protein that interacts with it and that can be more easily targeted. Their quest uncovered an epigenetic modifier called lysine demethylase 1 (LSD1).

"LSD1 appears to be the Achilles' heel for this cancer," says Wechsler-Reya. "And we got even luckier--an inhibitor of LSD1 already existed and was being tested in clinical trials for other cancers."

The scientists obtained an LSD1 inhibitor and tested it in their mouse model of GFI1-activated Group 3 medulloblastoma. Their studies showed that the drug dramatically decreased the size of tumors grown under the mouse's skin--shrinking the cancer by more than 80 percent. This suggested that it could also be effective against patients' tumors if it could be delivered to the brain.

"Now, our lab is working on drug delivery technologies that could carry this drug across the blood-brain barrier to the tumor. This might be a 'Trojan horse' nanoparticle that sneaks the drug into the brain, or it could involve pumping the drug directly into the tumor," says Wechsler-Reya. "If these approaches are successful, an LSD1 inhibitor could be a promising targeted therapy for children with GFI1-driven Group 3 medulloblastoma."

Adds Wechsler-Reya, "These studies would not have been possible without the extraordinary efforts of Catherine Lee, a former postdoctoral researcher in my lab and the study's first author. This project was extremely ambitious, and Catherine worked tirelessly through many roadblocks to make these discoveries. We were also fortunate to be able to work with Paul Northcott at St. Jude and Stefan Pfister at the German Cancer Research Center, whose generosity and dedication enabled this important advance."

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The first author of the study is Catherine Lee, Ph.D., former postdoctoral researcher in the Weschler-Reya lab and current senior scientist at Pfizer.

Additional study authors include Vasilisa A. Rudneva, Ph.D., and Paul A. Northcott, Ph.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; Serap Erkek of NCT Heidelberg, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and German Cancer Research Center; Marc Zapatka of German Cancer Research Center; Lianne Q. Chau, Silvia K. Tacheva-Grigorova, Alexandra Garancher and Jessica M. Rusert, Ph.D., of SBP; Ozlem Aksoy, Ph.D., Robin Lea and William A. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., of University of California, San Francisco; Helai P. Mohammad, Ph.D., of GlaxoSmithKline; Jianxun Wang, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine; and H. Leighton Grimes, Ph.D., Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The study's DOI is 10.1038/s41467-018-08269-5.

Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01CA159859, F31NS086367), NINDS, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, CureSearch for Children's Cancer, Human Frontiers Science Program (LT00432/2014), California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (LA1-01747), American Association for Cancer Research, The Brain Tumor Charity, American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, German Cancer Research Center and the BMBF (#01KU1505G). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

About Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) is an independent nonprofit medical research organization that conducts world-class, collaborative, biological research and translates its discoveries for the benefit of patients. SBP focuses its research on cancer, immunity, neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders and rare children's diseases. The Institute invests in talent, technology and partnerships to accelerate the translation of laboratory discoveries that will have the greatest impact on patients. Recognized for its NCI-designated Cancer Center and the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics, SBP employs nearly 900 scientists and staff in San Diego (La Jolla), Calif. For more information, visit us at SBPdiscovery.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/SBPdiscovery and on Twitter @SBPdiscovery.
HOUSTON -- (Jan. 23, 2019) -- Most of Earth's essential elements for life -- including most of the carbon and nitrogen in you -- probably came from another planet.

Earth most likely received the bulk of its carbon, nitrogen and other life-essential volatile elements from the planetary collision that created the moon more than 4.4 billion years ago, according to a new study by Rice University petrologists in the journal Science Advances.

"From the study of primitive meteorites, scientists have long known that Earth and other rocky planets in the inner solar system are volatile-depleted," said study co-author Rajdeep Dasgupta. "But the timing and mechanism of volatile delivery has been hotly debated. Ours is the first scenario that can explain the timing and delivery in a way that is consistent with all of the geochemical evidence."

The evidence was compiled from a combination of high-temperature, high-pressure experiments in Dasgupta's lab, which specializes in studying geochemical reactions that take place deep within a planet under intense heat and pressure.

In a series of experiments, study lead author and graduate student Damanveer Grewal gathered evidence to test a long-standing theory that Earth's volatiles arrived from a collision with an embryonic planet that had a sulfur-rich core.

The sulfur content of the donor planet's core matters because of the puzzling array of experimental evidence about the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur that exist in all parts of the Earth other than the core.

"The core doesn't interact with the rest of Earth, but everything above it, the mantle, the crust, the hydrosphere and the atmosphere, are all connected," Grewal said. "Material cycles between them."

One long-standing idea about how Earth received its volatiles was the "late veneer" theory that volatile-rich meteorites, leftover chunks of primordial matter from the outer solar system, arrived after Earth's core formed. And while the isotopic signatures of Earth's volatiles match these primordial objects, known as carbonaceous chondrites, the elemental ratio of carbon to nitrogen is off. Earth's non-core material, which geologists call the bulk silicate Earth, has about 40 parts carbon to each part nitrogen, approximately twice the 20-1 ratio seen in carbonaceous chondrites.

Grewal's experiments, which simulated the high pressures and temperatures during core formation, tested the idea that a sulfur-rich planetary core might exclude carbon or nitrogen, or both, leaving much larger fractions of those elements in the bulk silicate as compared to Earth. In a series of tests at a range of temperatures and pressure, Grewal examined how much carbon and nitrogen made it into the core in three scenarios: no sulfur, 10 percent sulfur and 25 percent sulfur.

"Nitrogen was largely unaffected," he said. "It remained soluble in the alloys relative to silicates, and only began to be excluded from the core under the highest sulfur concentration."

Carbon, by contrast, was considerably less soluble in alloys with intermediate sulfur concentrations, and sulfur-rich alloys took up about 10 times less carbon by weight than sulfur-free alloys.

Using this information, along with the known ratios and concentrations of elements both on Earth and in non-terrestrial bodies, Dasgupta, Grewal and Rice postdoctoral researcher Chenguang Sun designed a computer simulation to find the most likely scenario that produced Earth's volatiles. Finding the answer involved varying the starting conditions, running approximately 1 billion scenarios and comparing them against the known conditions in the solar system today.

"What we found is that all the evidence -- isotopic signatures, the carbon-nitrogen ratio and the overall amounts of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur in the bulk silicate Earth -- are consistent with a moon-forming impact involving a volatile-bearing, Mars-sized planet with a sulfur-rich core," Grewal said.

Dasgupta, the principal investigator on a NASA-funded effort called CLEVER Planets that is exploring how life-essential elements might come together on distant rocky planets, said better understanding the origin of Earth's life-essential elements has implications beyond our solar system.

"This study suggests that a rocky, Earth-like planet gets more chances to acquire life-essential elements if it forms and grows from giant impacts with planets that have sampled different building blocks, perhaps from different parts of a protoplanetary disk," Dasgupta said.

"This removes some boundary conditions," he said. "It shows that life-essential volatiles can arrive at the surface layers of a planet, even if they were produced on planetary bodies that underwent core formation under very different conditions."

Dasgupta said it does not appear that Earth's bulk silicate, on its own, could have attained the life-essential volatile budgets that produced our biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere.

"That means we can broaden our search for pathways that lead to volatile elements coming together on a planet to support life as we know it."

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Additional co-authors on the Science Advances study are Kyusei Tsuno and Gelu Costin, both of Rice. The research was supported by NASA, the Deep Carbon Observatory and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

CLEVER Planets is part of the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, or NExSS, a NASA astrobiology research coordination network that is dedicated to the study of planetary habitability. CLEVER Planets involves more than a dozen research groups from Rice, NASA's Johnson Space Center, UCLA, the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, Davis. More information is available at cleverplanets.org.

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

https:/ / news. rice. edu/ files/ 2019/ 01/ 0123_IMPACT-grp6-lg-29bu2kh. jpg

CAPTION: A study by Rice University scientists (from left) Gelu Costin, Chenguang Sun, Damanveer Grewal, Rajdeep Dasgupta and Kyusei Tsuno found Earth most likely received the bulk of its carbon, nitrogen and other life-essential elements from the planetary collision that created the moon more than 4.4 billion years ago. The findings appear in the journal Science Advances. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news. rice. edu/ files/ 2019/ 01/ 0123_IMPACT-illus-lg-r0v36s. jpg

CAPTION: A schematic depicting the formation of a Mars-sized planet (left) and its differentiation into a body with a metallic core and an overlying silicate reservoir. The sulfur-rich core expels carbon, producing silicate with a high carbon to nitrogen ratio. The moon-forming collision of such a planet with the growing Earth (right) can explain Earth's abundance of both water and major life-essential elements like carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, as well as the geochemical similarity between Earth and the moon. (Image courtesy of Rajdeep Dasgupta)

The DOI of the Science Advances paper is: 10.1126/sciadv.aau3669

Related research from Rice:

What recipes produce a habitable planet? -- Sept. 17, 2018

Life beyond Earth: No plate tectonics, no problem -- March 28, 2018

Study: Earth's carbon points to planetary smashup -- Sept. 5, 2016

Oxygen atmosphere recipe = tectonics + continents + life -- May 16, 2016

Going deep to study long-term climate evolution -- Oct. 31, 2013

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.
An organic molecule detected in the material from which a star forms could shed light on how life emerged on Earth, according to new research led by Queen Mary University of London.

The researchers report the first ever detection of glycolonitrile (HOCH2CN), a pre-biotic molecule which existed before the emergence of life, in a solar-type protostar known as IRAS16293-2422 B.

This warm and dense region contains young stars at the earliest stage of their evolution surrounded by a cocoon of dust and gas - similar conditions to those when our Solar System formed.

Detecting pre-biotic molecules in solar-type protostars enhances our understanding of how the solar system formed as it indicates that planets created around the star could begin their existence with a supply of the chemical ingredients needed to make some form of life.

This finding, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, is a significant step forward for pre-biotic astrochemistry since glycolonitrile is recognised as a key precursor towards the formation of adenine, one of the nucleobases that form both DNA and RNA in living organisms.

IRAS16293-2422 B is a well-studied protostar in the constellation of Ophiuchus, in a region of star formation known as rho Ophiuchi, about 450 light-years from Earth.

The research was also carried out with the Centro de Astrobiologia in Spain, INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri in Italy, the European Southern Observatory, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the USA.

Lead author Shaoshan Zeng, from Queen Mary University of London, said: "We have shown that this important pre-biotic molecule can be formed in the material from which stars and planets emerge, taking us a step closer to identifying the processes that may have led to the origin of life on Earth."

The researchers used data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimetre Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile to uncover evidence for the presence of glycolonitrile in the material from which the star is forming - known as the interstellar medium.

With the ALMA data, they were able to identify the chemical signatures of glycolonitrile and determine the conditions in which the molecule was found. They also followed this up by using chemical modelling to reproduce the observed data which allowed them to investigate the chemical processes that could help to understand the origin of this molecule.

This follows the earlier detection of methyl isocyanate in the same object by researchers from Queen Mary. Methyl isocyanate is what is known as an isomer of glycolonitrile - it is made up of the same atoms but in a slightly different arrangement, meaning it has different chemical properties.

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The research was partially funded by Queen Mary University of London and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.
Doctors in intensive care units face a continual dilemma: Every blood test they order could yield critical information, but also adds costs and risks for patients. To address this challenge, researchers from Princeton University are developing a computational approach to help clinicians more effectively monitor patients' conditions and make decisions about the best opportunities to order lab tests for specific patients.

Using data from more than 6,000 patients, graduate students Li-Fang Cheng and Niranjani Prasad worked with Associate Professor of Computer Science Barbara Engelhardt to design a system that could both reduce the frequency of tests and improve the timing of critical treatments. The team presented their results on Jan. 6 at the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing in Hawaii.

The analysis focused on four blood tests measuring lactate, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen and white blood cells. These indicators are used to diagnose two dangerous problems for ICU patients: kidney failure or a systemic infection called sepsis.

"Since one of our goals was to think about whether we could reduce the number of lab tests, we started looking at the [blood test] panels that are most ordered," said Cheng, co-lead author of the study along with Prasad.

The researchers worked with the MIMIC III database, which includes detailed records of 58,000 critical care admissions at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. For the study, the researchers selected a subset of 6,060 records of adults who stayed in the ICU for between one and 20 days and had measurements for common vital signs and lab tests.

"These medical data, at the scale we're talking about, basically became available in the last year or two in a way that we can analyze them with machine learning methods," said Engelhardt, the senior author of the study. "That's super exciting, and a great opportunity."

The team's algorithm uses a "reward function" that encourages a test order based on how informative the test is at a given time. That is, there is greater reward in administering a test if there is a higher probability that a patient's state is significantly different from the last measurement, and if the test result is likely to suggest a clinical intervention such as initiating antibiotics or assisting breathing through mechanical ventilation. At the same time, the function adds a penalty for the test's monetary cost and risk to the patient. Prasad noted that, depending on the situation, a clinician could decide to prioritize one of these components over others.

This approach, known as reinforcement learning, aims to recommend decisions that maximize the reward function. This treats the issue of medical testing "like the sequential decision-making problem it is, where you account for all decisions and all the states you've seen in the past time period and decide what you should do at a current time to maximize long-term rewards for the patient," explained Prasad, a graduate student in computer science.

Sorting through this information in a timely manner for a clinical setting requires considerable computing power, said Engelhardt, an associated faculty member of the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering (PICSciE). Cheng, an electrical engineering graduate student, worked with her co-adviser Kai Li, the Paul M. and Marcia R. Wythes Professor in Computer Science, to run the team's computations using PICSciE resources.

To test the utility of the lab testing policy they developed, the researchers compared the reward function values that would have resulted from applying their policy to the testing regimens that were actually used for the 6,060 patients in the training data set, who were admitted to the ICU between 2001 and 2012. They also compared these values to those that would have resulted from randomized lab testing policies.

For each test and reward component, the policy generated by the machine learning algorithm would have led to improved reward values compared to the actual policies used in the hospital. In most cases the algorithm also outperformed random policies. Lactate testing was a notable exception; this could be explained by the relatively low frequency of lactate test orders, leading to a high degree of variance in the informativeness of the test.

Overall, the researchers' analysis showed that their optimized policy would have yielded more information than did the actual testing regimen that clinicians followed. Using the algorithm could have reduced the number of lab test orders by as much as 44 percent in the case of white blood cell tests. They also showed that this approach would have helped inform clinicians to intervene sometimes hours sooner when a patient's condition began to deteriorate.

"With the lab test ordering policy that this method developed, we were able to order labs to determine that the patient's health had degraded enough to need treatment, on average, four hours before the clinician actually initiated treatment based on clinician ordered labs," said Engelhardt.

"There is a scarcity of evidence-based guidelines in critical care regarding the appropriate frequency of laboratory measurements," said Shamim Nemati, an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Emory University who was not involved in the study. "Data-driven approaches such as the one proposed by Cheng and co-authors, when combined with a deeper insight into clinical workflow, have the potential to reduce charting burden and cost of excessive testing, and improve situational awareness and outcomes."

Engelhardt's group is collaborating with data scientists on Penn Medicine's Predictive Healthcare Team to introduce this policy in the clinic within the next few years. Such efforts aim to "give clinicians the superpowers that other people in other domains are being given," said Penn Senior Data Scientist Corey Chivers. "Having access to machine learning, artificial intelligence and statistical modeling with large amounts of data" will help clinicians "make better decisions, and ultimately improve patient outcomes," he added.

"This is one of the first times we'll be able to take this machine learning approach and actually put it in the ICU, or in an inpatient hospital setting, and advise caregivers in a way that patients aren't going to be at risk," said Engelhardt. "That's really something novel."

This work was supported by the Helen Shipley Hunt Fund, which supports research aimed at improving human health; and the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation, which supports research in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

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Early research on a new approach to protecting against malaria is offering promising, potentially long-lasting results against the persistent parasite that sickens hundreds of millions people each year.

The approach uses a cytomegalovirus-based platform that's already being used in vaccines being developed to battle HIV and tuberculosis. This new vaccine reduced the malaria-causing parasite's release from the liver and into the blood of infected rhesus macaques by 75 to 80 percent, reports a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"The problem with most vaccines is that their effectiveness is often short-lived," said the study's lead author, Klaus Fruh, Ph.D., of OHSU's Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute and a professor of molecular and cellular biosciences at the OHSU School of Medicine. "Our cytomegalovirus-based vaccine platform can create and keep immunity for life. With further research and development, it could offer a lifetime of protection against malaria."

Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread to humans through mosquito bites. It can cause high fevers, shaking chills, flu-like illness and, in the worst cases, death. Worldwide, 216 million people were infected with malaria in 2016, leading to 445,000 deaths. The vast majority of infections occur in Africa.

The decades-long search for an effective malaria vaccine has been challenging. The World Health Organization is using one vaccine - known as RTS,S/AS01 or by its brand name, Mosquirix - as part of new, routine vaccination programs in three African countries. But RTS,S has been shown to only reduce malaria transmission in children - in whom malaria is most often fatal - by 39 percent four years after it was administered. Its efficacy was further reduced to 4.4 percent seven years afterward. Vaccines against viruses and bacteria typically have protection rates of more than 90 percent.

Vaccine makeover

Most vaccines are designed to encourage the human body to respond to invading, disease-causing pathogens by creating antibodies that disable those pathogens. OHSU's new vaccine takes a different approach by using a weakened form of a common herpes virus - cytomegalovirus, or CMV - that infects most people without causing disease.

Fruh and his colleagues weave tiny bits of their target pathogen into CMV. Those who receive the resulting, re-engineered CMV vaccine produce memory T-cells that can search for and destroy pathogen-infected cells. Studies have shown this approach enables vaccinated nonhuman primates to develop and maintain a high state of immunity years later.

The CMV vaccine platform has been licensed by Vir Biotechnology, Inc., of San Francisco, which plans to lead a human clinical trial for a CMV-based HIV vaccine in the next 12-18 months. The same basic platform is also being used in a new TB vaccine, and is now the basis for this malaria vaccine.

Nuts & bolts

Fruh and colleagues pursued a malaria vaccine because they noticed the memory T-cells their CMV-based vaccine produce exist in high concentrations in the liver, where the malaria parasite hides out shortly after infecting a human.

They developed two different versions of their CMV-based malaria vaccine while using four different proteins made by the Plasmodium parasite. The resulting vaccines delayed the parasite's appearance in the blood of 16 infected and vaccinated rhesus macaques by eliminating between 75 and 80 percent of parasites from the liver. A year later, the vaccinated nonhuman primates still had immunity against malaria, while eight control animals that weren't vaccinated did not.

In an effort to make their vaccine 100 percent protective against malaria, the research team will evaluate 15 different Plasmodium-made proteins for the vaccine. They will also examine combining their CMV-based vaccine with other experimental vaccines or the existing RTS,S vaccine.

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The study was a collaboration between OHSU, the Naval Medical Research Center, National Institutes of Health and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

This research was supported by the Military Infectious Diseases Research Program (grant F0351_12_NM) and the National Institutes of Health (grants R21AI103498, RO1AI059457, P511OD011092, R24 RR016001, HHSN 2722000900037C).

In our interest of ensuring the integrity of our research and as part of our commitment to public transparency, OHSU actively regulates, tracks and manages relationships that our researchers may hold with entities outside of OHSU. In regards to this research, OHSU and Drs. Fruh, Picker and Hansen have a significant financial interest in VIR Biotechnology Inc., a company that may have a commercial interest in the results of this research and technology.

REFERENCE: Scott G. Hansen, Jennie Womack, Isabel Scholz, Andrea Renner, Kimberly A. Edge, Guangwu Xu, Julia C. Ford, Mikayla Grey, Brandyce St. Laurent, John M. Turner, Shannon Planer, Al W. Legasse, Thomas L. Richie, Joao C. Aguiar, Michael K. Axthelm, Eileen D. Villasante, Walter Weiss, Paul T. Edlefsen, Louis J. Picker, Klaus Fruh, "Cytomegalovirus vectors expressing Plasmodium knowlesi antigens induce immune responses that delay parasitemia upon sporozoite challenge," PLOS One, https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1371/ journal. pone. 0210252 , Jan. 23, 2019, http://journals. plos. org/ plosone/ article?id= 10. 1371/ journal. pone. 0210252 .

Related OHSU news stories:
The National Academy of Sciences will honor 18 individuals with awards in recognition of their extraordinary scientific achievements in a wide range of fields spanning the physical, biological, and medical sciences

WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Sciences will honor 18 individuals with awards in recognition of their extraordinary scientific achievements in a wide range of fields spanning the physical, biological, and medical sciences.

Jane S. Richardson, Duke University, will receive the Alexander Hollaender Award in Biophysics for her pioneering work into the understanding of protein structures. The award is presented with $20,000 prize.

Michelle F. Thomsen, Planetary Science Institute and Los Alamos National Laboratory, will receive the Arctowski Medal for her discoveries related to planetary and solar physics. The medal is presented with a $100,000 prize, and $100,000 to support research in solar physics and solar terrestrial relationships.

Michal Lipson, Columbia University, will receive the Comstock Prize in Physics for her pioneering work in the field of silicon photonics. The prize is presented with a $50,000 prize, and $50,000 to support the recipient's research.

Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Smithsonian Institution, will receive the G.K. Warren Prize for contributing to our understanding of how environmental factors drive evolution. The award is presented with a $20,000 prize.

Ola Svensson, School of Computer and Communication Sciences at EPFL, will receive the Michael and Sheila Held Prize for his elegant work on algorithms for discrete optimization problems. The award is presented with a $100,000 prize.

John C. Martin, Gilead Sciences Inc., will receive the NAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society for his tireless contributions to human health, including treatments for HIV/AIDS.

Xiaowei Zhuang, Harvard University, will receive the NAS Award for Scientific Discovery for her pioneering contributions to super-resolution imaging and genomic-scale imaging methods. The award is presented with a $50,000 prize, and $50,000 to support the recipient's research.

Robert C. Kennicutt Jr., University of Arizona and Texas A&M University, will receive the NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing for field-defining work in the field of astrophysics. The award is presented with a $20,000 prize.

Jacqueline K. Barton, California Institute of Technology, will receive the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences for pioneering research on the chemistry of DNA. The award is presented with a $15,000 prize.

Norman R. Pace, University of Colorado, will receive the NAS Award in Early Earth and Life Sciences - Stanley Miller Medal for pioneering work into the diversity of life on Earth. The award is presented with a $10,000 prize.

David Reich, Harvard Medical School, will receive the NAS Award in Molecular Biology for his studies into ancient DNA and human migration. The award is presented with a $25,000 prize.

Eve Marder, Brandeis University, will receive the NAS Award in the Neurosciences for research that provides insight into the human and animal brain. The award is presented with a $25,000 prize.

Elizabeth Ainsworth, USDA Agricultural Research Service, will receive the NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences for researching how climate change will affect crops. The award is presented with a $100,000 prize.

Liqun Luo, Stanford University, will receive the Pradel Research Award for pioneering research into neural circuits of invertebrates and vertebrates. The award is presented with a $50,000 research award to support neuroscience research.

Jay Shendure, University of Washington, will receive the Richard Lounsbery Award for his pioneering work in the second wave of genomics. The award is presented with a $50,000 prize.

Sharon R. Long, Stanford University, will receive the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology for molecular biology insights that explain how to make agriculture more sustainable. The award is presented with a $20,000 prize.

Adriana Galvan, University of California, Los Angeles, and Tom Griffiths, Princeton University, will each receive a Troland Research Award. Galvan is honored for her pioneering work studying adolescent brain development and behavior. Griffiths is recognized for his research into how people and machines make decisions. Each recipient is presented with a $75,000 prize to support their research.

The winners will be honored in a ceremony on Sunday, April 28, during the National Academy of Sciences' 156th annual meeting.

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The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and -- with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine -- provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

Contact:
Screening all hospitalized patients with HIV for tuberculosis (TB) using urine tests would improve life expectancy and be cost-effective in Malawi and South Africa. These findings from an international team of investigators have been published in The Lancet Global Health and could influence international guidelines on TB testing.

"Urine testing for TB saves lives and is an efficient use of resources," says lead author Krishna Reddy, MD, MS, of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Medical Practice Evaluation Center. "This has huge implications for increasing the survival of people with HIV in Africa and in other places where TB is common."

TB is the leading killer of people with HIV worldwide. Many cases are missed by standard testing strategies that rely on sputum, as some patients cannot provide a sputum specimen. A urine specimen, on the other hand, can be obtained from nearly all patients. Urine testing using the lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and Xpert tests had been shown to improve TB detection in selected patients with HIV, but it has not been clear whether urine testing of all hospitalized patients with HIV would be useful and offer good value.

The current study was done in conjunction with the STAMP (Rapid Urine-based Screening for Tuberculosis to Reduce AIDS-related Mortality in Hospitalised Patients in Africa) trial, a large clinical trial of urine-based TB screening among hospitalized patients with HIV in Malawi and South Africa, the results of which were published in The Lancet in July 2018. In the current study, the researchers used a computer simulation model of HIV and TB to match short-term clinical outcomes reported by the STAMP trial and project longer-term clinical and economic outcomes.

The researchers found that screening all hospitalized patients with HIV for TB using the urine LAM and Xpert tests would increase life expectancy by 0.5 to 1.2 years and would be cost-effective compared to sputum testing alone in both countries. As observed in the STAMP trial, in which both tests were used to screen each participant, urine LAM was particularly attractive for increasing TB diagnoses and reducing deaths, with a cost of only $3 per test.

"Compared to other diagnostic strategies, urine testing is relatively easy and inexpensive and can detect cases of TB that would have otherwise been missed," says co-author Ankur Gupta-Wright, MRCP, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, who led the STAMP clinical trial. He added, "Urine LAM gives a result in under 30 minutes and can be done at the patient's bedside."

Since the results showed such good value for the urine tests, the investigators took the next step of examining the financial implications of implementing urine TB screening countrywide among all hospitalized patients with HIV in the two countries. The evaluation included both the costs of urine tests and costs of finding and treating more TB cases. They found that over five years the urine screening strategy would increase health care costs for these patients by $37 million (10.8 percent) in Malawi and $261 million (2.8 percent) in South Africa.

"Because patients live longer, health care costs increase, but the impact is modest. It's a wise investment," says Reddy, who is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The World Health Organization currently recommends the use of urine LAM in selected patients only. The study authors say that the results of the STAMP trial and this cost-effectiveness analysis provide evidence for expanding the use of urine LAM to all hospitalized patients with HIV, regardless of symptoms or suspicion of TB, in areas where HIV and TB are common.

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Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, of the MGH Medical Practice Evaluation Center and Division of Infectious Diseases is senior author of The Lancet Global Health report. Additional co-authors are Sydney Costantini, Amy Zheng, Liyang Yu, MS, and Kenneth Freedberg, MD, MSc, MGH Medical Practice Evaluation Center; Katherine Fielding, PhD, Elizabeth Corbett, PhD, Jurgens Peters, MSc, and Stephen Lawn, MD, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Joep van Oosterhout, PhD, and Melanie Alufandika-Moyo, MSc, Dignitas International; Stephen Resch, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Douglas Wilson, FCP(SA), University of KwaZulu-Natal; C. Robert Horsburgh, MD, Boston University School of Public Health; and Robin Wood, University of Cape Town.

The study was supported by grant MR/M007375/1 from the Medical Research Council/Department for International Development/Wellcome Trust Joint Global Health Trials scheme for the STAMP trial; National Institutes of Health grants K01 DA042687, R37 AI093269, R01 AI058736, P30 AI042853, and U19 AI111276; the James Maxwell Grant Prophit Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians; Wellcome Trust Fellowship WT200901/Z/16/Z, and the Steve and Deborah Gorlin MGH Research Scholars Award.

Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with an annual research budget of more than $900 million and major research centers in HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, genomic medicine, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, photomedicine and transplantation biology. The MGH topped the 2015 Nature Index list of health care organizations publishing in leading scientific journals and earned the prestigious 2015 Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service. In August 2018 the MGH was once again named to the Honor Roll in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10 to 24 years, and it accounts for more than 17 percent of all deaths in this age group. In 2016, an estimated 6,150 youths died by suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The overall rate of deaths by suicide in this age group is 9.6 per 100,000.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice survey, from 2000 to 2014, suicide rates were two to three times higher for youth in custody than those in the general population.

In a new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), researchers from Nationwide Children's Hospital looked at circumstances preceding suicide to understand better why this disparity in suicide rate exists.

"We had some ideas going in about what might be associated with the difference in suicide rates," says Donna Ruch, PhD, post-doctoral scientist in the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's. "But by using the available data, we were able to uncover some surprising similarities and differences."

The study used a nationally representative sample to examine characteristics and circumstances leading to suicide deaths among incarcerated youth. By mining the National Violent Death Reporting System data from 2003 to 2012, researchers compared data from youth aged 10 to 24 who died by suicide during incarceration to those who died by suicide in the general population.

The results show that key risk factors for suicide - history of suicide attempts, history of mental health conditions, and alcohol/drug use - were not significantly different between the two groups.

"Youth who were incarcerated and died by suicide were no more likely to have mental health conditions than those who died by suicide in the community," Dr. Ruch says. "That surprised us. And that led us to question whether there may be something about the environment that contributed to the increase in suicides." A key difference between the groups is that incarcerated youth were less likely to disclose suicide intent (19.2 compared to 30.5 percent) or leave a suicide note (23.5 compared to 31.0 percent).

"The immediate shock of confinement and disruption to a youth's regular life can be traumatic and increase the risk for suicidal behavior," says Dr. Ruch. "This might be especially true for incarcerated youth with existing risk factors." According to the study, the prominence of hanging/suffocation as a means of suicide for incarcerated youth highlights the potential impact of greater innovation and attention to restricting access to ligatures and ligature points in correctional facilities.

Timely and ongoing suicide risk assessments and implementation of targeted suicide prevention programs for incarcerated youth are some practical recommendations from the study authors. According to the study, 93 percent of juvenile correctional facilities screen for suicide risk at intake only, with rescreening performed only when "deemed necessary." Additionally, adequately addressing the mental health needs of juveniles detained in adult facilities is even more challenging, Dr. Ruch says. The authors note that the study was not designed to address this issue.

"Our results support the need for improved safety planning, early suicide risk detection, and developmentally relevant suicide prevention interventions for the setting," says Dr. Ruch. "Our future work will include evaluation studies to support the development of effective programs for youth in correctional settings and research that further elucidates the risk, protective and precipitating factors of suicide among these youth."

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Responsible reporting on suicide and the inclusion of stories of hope and resilience can prevent more suicides. You can find more information on safe messaging about suicide here. If you're feeling suicidal, please talk to somebody. You can reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text "START" to Crisis Text Line at 741-741.
Bottom Line: Millions of adults now entering middle age were exposed to high levels of lead as children, with childhood lead exposure linked to lower IQ, greater rates of child behavior problems, hyperactivity and antisocial behavior. This study included nearly 600 children in New Zealand who had their blood lead levels measured at age 11 and their mental health assessed periodically through age 38. Researchers found higher childhood blood lead levels were associated with more mental health problems throughout life and difficult adult personality traits such as being more neurotic, less agreeable and less conscientious. This was an observational study and it doesn't allow for a cause-and-effect interpretation of the association between lead and the tested outcomes.

Authors: Aaron Reuben, M.E.M., Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and coauthors

(doi:10.1001/ jamapsychiatry.2018.4192)

Editor's Note: The article includes funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

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IIASA-led research has established a causal link between climate, conflict, and migration for the first time, something which has been widely suggested in the media but for which scientific evidence is scarce.

There are numerous examples in recent decades in which climatic conditions have been blamed for creating political unrest, civil war, and subsequently, waves of migration. One major example is the ongoing conflict in Syria, which began in 2011. Many coastal Mediterranean countries in Europe are also inundated with refugees arriving by sea fleeing conflict in Africa.

IIASA researchers Guy Abel (also affiliated to Shanghai University), Jesus Crespo Cuaresma (also Vienna University of Economics and Business), Raya Muttarak (also University of East Anglia), and Michael Brottrager (Johannes Kepler University Linz) sought to find out whether there is a causal link between climate change and migration, and the nature of it. They found that in specific circumstances, the climate conditions do lead to increased migration, but indirectly, through causing conflict.

"This research touches upon the topic widely covered in the media. We contribute to the debate on climate-induced migration by providing new scientific evidence," says Muttarak.

Asylum seekers are more likely to be influenced by conflict than usual migrants, so the researchers chose to use data from asylum applications from 157 countries from 2006-15 to study the patterns. These data were obtained from the United Nations High Commissions for Human Rights (UNHCR). As a measure of climate conditions in the asylum seekers' original countries, the team used the Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which measures droughts, compared to normal conditions, through identifying the onset and end of droughts, and their intensity, based on precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, and climatic conditions such as temperature. To assess conflict, Abel and the team used data on battle-related deaths from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP).

These datasets were fed into the researchers' modelling framework, along with various socioeconomic and geographic datasets. These included the distance between country of origin and destination, population sizes, migrant networks, the political status of the countries, and ethnic and religious groups.

The researchers found that climate change played a significant role in migration, with more severe droughts linked to exacerbating conflict.

The effect of climate on conflicts is particularly relevant to countries in western Asia from 2010-12, such as the so-called Arab Spring, political uprisings which occurred in countries including Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, and Syria, where the conflict led to an ongoing civil war. In Syria particularly, long-running droughts and water shortages caused by climate change resulted in repeated crop failures, with rural families eventually moving to urban areas. This in turn led to overcrowding, unemployment and political unrest, and then civil war. Similar patterns were also found in sub-Saharan Africa in the same time period.

"Climate change will not cause conflict and subsequent asylum-seeking flows everywhere. But in a context of poor governance and a medium level of democracy, severe climate conditions can create conflict over scarce resources," says Crespo Cuaresma.

The researchers say that concerns relating to climate change-induced conflict leading to migration should be considered in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At present the link between climate change and migration is not explicit, and they are not treated as interrelated. Further research is needed to more fully understand migration flows.

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Reference

Abel GJ, Brottrager M, Crespo Cuaresma J, Muttarak R (2019). Climate, conflict and forced migration. Global Environmental Change DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.12.003 [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15684]

More information:

Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) - http://spei. csic. es/ home. html

Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) - http://ucdp. uu. se/

Contacts:

Raya Muttarak

Research Scholar

World Population

Tel: +43 2236 807 329

muttarak@iiasa.ac.at

Helen Tunnicliffe

IIASA Press Office

Tel: +43 2236 807 316

Mob: +43 676 83 807 316

tunnicli@iiasa.ac.at

About IIASA:
Almost 20 years ago, the DAMA/LIBRA experiment operated at Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory - LNGS began publishing data showing that it had detected a signal modulation produced by an interaction with the Milky Way's dark matter halo.

Dark matter is believed to constitute approximately 27% of the known universe, with ordinary matter accounting for only 4%. The remaining 69% is thought to be made up of dark energy. Because dark matter hardly interacts with normal matter, its presence has thus far only been inferred from gravitational effects on visible bodies such as stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters.

According to the most widely accepted model, the combined motion of the Earth, the Sun and the galaxy itself result in a dark matter wind for an observer on the Earth - more specifically, a wind of weakly interacting massive particles or WIMPs, hypothetical particles that are thought to constitute dark matter.

During the Earth's annual translation around the Sun, signals coming from the detector's interaction with WIMPs increase when the planet moves in the opposite direction to the wind and decrease when they are both moving in the same direction. The fluctuation has a cosine shape.

DAMA/LIBRA states that it has detected signals at rates that vary according to a cosine wave during the year and that they correspond to a dark matter signature. The problem is that no such signature has been confirmed by any other experiments since this was first announced. It should be stressed that other experiments use different materials and analytical techniques.

To check the discrepancy between DAMA/LIBRA's data and the data from other experiments and to look for robust evidence of dark matter, COSINE-100 was built 700 meters underground at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory - Y2L in South Korea.

An article presenting the results of the first 59.5 days of data from COSINE-100 was published in December 2018 in the journal Nature.

Nelson Carlin Filho (https:/ / bv. fapesp. br/ en/ pesquisador/ 368/ nelson-carlin-filho ), Professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Physics Institute (IF-USP) and two supervisees constitute the Brazilian participation in the COSINE-100 international collaboration. The research is supported by FAPESP via the project "Search for dark matter: WIMPs and dark photons ".

"The results of the first 59.5 days of COSINE-100 failed to confirm the data from DAMA/LIBRA. The results obtained don't correspond to a signature of WIMPs," Carlin told. Carlin stressed that this negative finding is particularly important because both DAMA/LIBRA and COSINE-100 use detectors made of sodium iodide (Nal) crystals. "It's the first published finding for a detector comprising this material with sufficient size and sensitivity to investigate the DAMA/LIBRA signal region," he said.

"We're not saying the researchers at DAMA/LIBRA were wrong. They may have captured a periodic modulation in actual signals. However, unless the dark matter model is significantly modified, the signals are highly unlikely to be attributed to interactions with WIMPs. In any event, our work is only just beginning. Several years of data will be needed before the annual modulation claimed by DAMA/LIBRA can be totally confirmed or refuted."

The COSINE-100 detector is made up of eight thallium-doped sodium iodide crystals with a total mass of 106 kg. Each crystal is coupled to two photomultiplier tubes to measure the amount of energy deposited in the crystal. The entire array is immersed in 2,200 liters of liquid scintillator and surrounded by copper, lead and plastic scintillator panels.

The point of all this shielding - as well as the decision to install the detector 700 meters underground - is to reduce disturbances caused by cosmic rays (muons), cosmic background radiation (photons remaining from the primordial universe, detected in the microwave band), and particles emitted by the materials of which the detector is made.

"The probability of observing interactions between dark matter particles and the detector material is tiny. Apart from shielding, it's important to analyze the shape of the signals in order to rule out background contributions," Carlin said.

Based on a highly sophisticated statistical treatment using the standard model for the dark matter halo, with Monte Carlo simulations and other resources, COSINE-100 defined a curve considered the "exclusion limit" for interactions between WIMPs and the nuclei in the detector material.

This limit corroborated and fine-tuned the limits established by previous experiments. The curve was plotted using a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. The WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-sections are shown on the Y-axis, simplistically representing the probability of interactions, while the WIMP mass is shown on the X-axis.

Any event whose coordinates can be plotted below the exclusion limit is a candidate WIMP-nucleon interaction. Any event situated above it fails to meet the necessary conditions for an interaction in accordance with the model.

"The DAMA/LIBRA signals are above the exclusion limit. Note that in addition to using detectors made of the same material as DAMA/LIBRA [sodium iodide crystals], COSINE-100 also used similar event selection techniques. This minimized discrepancies in results due to differences in the experiments. We didn't find dark matter and we discovered that the DAMA/LIBRA measurements aren't consistent with the standard model for the dark matter halo," Carlin said.

Theories about dark matter

There is now a broad consensus in the scientific community that dark matter exists. The first evidence was found in 1933 in studies of galactic rotation speeds by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky (1898-1974).

Zwicky realized that galactic rotation speeds were faster than they should have been according to the observed luminous mass and proposed that the gravitational contribution of another kind of matter, which he called dunkle Materie ("dark matter" in German), must be affecting these speeds.

In the 1970s, American astronomer Vera Rubin (1928-2016) confirmed Zwicky's hypothesis in a systematic study of galactic rotation speeds. Rubin's rigorous calculations, confirmed by subsequent research, showed that the galaxies concerned must contain at least five to ten times more dark matter than normal matter.

Today, based on galactic rotation speeds and other evidence, such as gravitational lensing proposed by Einstein and the background microwave radiation, the accepted proportions for the composition of the universe are approximately 4% normal matter, 27% dark matter, and 69% dark energy.

If the existence of dark matter has become practically unquestionable, the point now is to find out what it is made of. The WIMP-based model is still the most widely accepted model. These particles are believed to interact with normal matter only through gravity and the weak nuclear force. This is presumably why they have not been consistently detected. The failure to detect WIMPs has led scientists to propose alternatives, such as axions and dark photons.

"There's nothing to prevent dark matter from being made up of several different elements," Carlin said. "A great deal of work remains to be done. In our case, COSINE-100 is still taking its first steps. The next step, which is very important, is to try to reproduce the annual modulation or prove it can't be reproduced. This is actually in progress right now. We're also preparing phase two of the experiment, COSINE-200, with 200 kg of crystals, to be installed at a different site in South Korea."

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About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
Participants were unable to predict fighters' MMA score based on 360 degree headshots -- but their face-based favorites tended to have higher anaerobic performance

With the UFC set to appear in Prague for the first time this February 23rd, Czech researchers at Charles University have been getting into the fighting spirit.

"Recent research shows that humans are capable of inferring fighting ability from facial and body cues," says Dr Vit Trebicky, lead author of a new study in Frontiers in Psychology. "But our latest findings suggest that when it comes to predicting the performance of Czech MMA fighters, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

Fighters with the highest anaerobic capacity tend to look the toughest

Trebicky and colleagues created standardized 360 degree photographs of 44 Czech MMA fighters, which were assessed on their perceived fighting ability by 94 university students (46 males).

"We compared these assessments with the fighters' actual performance - MMA score, isometric strength, anaerobic performance and lung capacity - as well as physical characteristics like age, height and body composition."

The MMA score consists of a fighter's wins-to-all-fights ratio.

"In contrast to previous studies, we did not find any significant links between the actual and the perceived fighting ability," Trebicky reports.

However, based on the headshots raters were to some extent able to predict physical performance-related characteristics.

"In general, heavier fighters and those with higher anaerobic performance were judged as more successful based on their facial features."

A good big'un beats a good little'un

Trebicky suggests one reason why these results differed from previous studies might be the use of 360 degree standardized photographs, with neutral expressions and head positions.

"This is an important point because several earlier studies used downloaded static photographs of professional fighters, which varied in lighting conditions, head tilts and expressions that might bias inferences about fighting performance."

Nevertheless, the researchers acknowledge the limitations of their approach.

"The popularity of MMA in the Czech Republic is increasing relatively slowly, so the fighters who participated in our study ranged from beginner amateurs to seasoned professionals. MMA score may provide a less accurate estimation of success rate in amateurs as they have generally had fewer fights.

"Reliability of the MMA score could also be affected by the way in which fighters are paired for matches, which is not a random process," Trebicky concedes.

"Moreover, psychological characteristics such as personality, ability to cope with stress, or successful execution of techniques and other skills probably affect fighting ability and success. These factors, however, exceed the scope of the current study and remain to be investigated in future."

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Please link to the original research article in your reporting: https:/ / www. frontiersin. org/ articles/ 10. 3389/ fpsyg. 2018. 02740/ full
New evolutionary research could help explain color differences in other species, predict some animal survival and reproduction in warming climate

CLEVELAND--New research from Case Western Reserve University in how dragonflies may adapt their wing color to temperature differences might explain color variation in other animals, from lions to birds.

Further, the findings could also provide evolutionary biologists clues about whether rising global temperatures might adversely affect some species.

Michael Moore, a graduate biology student, and Ryan Martin, an assistant professor of biology, recently published their findings in the journal Ecology Letters.

"People have long been aware of variation in dragonfly wing color, but what we are showing in this new work is an overlooked environmental factor--how temperature affects coloration," Martin said. "This could turn out to also determine some of the really cool extravagant traits we like to look at, such as coloration in birds."

Their findings follow a two-year study that began with a hunch about how the wing color on male Blue Dasher dragonflies in the western United States was different from their counterparts in Northeast Ohio.

They reviewed vast amounts of dragonfly photographs compiled by citizen scientists on the website iNaturalist.org and then, with the help of graduate student Iulian Gherghel, cross-referenced that information with weather data.

"I went through 600 pictures from the couch to begin this research," said Moore with a laugh. "After that, it was just mapping it with the corresponding environmental and weather data. It turns out that males in the hottest parts of North America have way less colorful wings, and we wanted to know why. "

Dragonfly weightlifting and other experiments

But the research really took off in the summer of 2017 at the Case Western Reserve farm in Hunting Valley, Ohio, as Moore and Hathaway Brown high-school student Cassandra Lis chased down male dragonflies as they fought to defend their respective territories surrounding a pond.

Across a series of experiments, they then marked each male's body with a series of colors for individual identification at the pond, colored some of their wings with a dark marker, and put the different groups through a weightlifting test to measure their strength.

The conclusion: The dragonflies with darker wings absorbed more heat from the sun, much like we do when wearing a dark shirt on a sunny day. That simple act caused the muscles of those cold-blooded dragonflies to warm more quickly, grow stronger and more successfully defend their territory or win females.

Findings may extend to other species

"Further tests, however, showed that, when temperatures were too hot, darker wings caused the dragonflies to overheat and fly poorly," Moore said.

"These findings suggest that this poor flight would then cause those overheated males to lose the territorial battles and their mates, which in turn could be why males in the warmest parts of North America have adapted to produce less colorful wings."

The study's three main conclusions:

1, The dragonfly observations could help scientists explain how similar traits have evolved across the animal kingdom globally.

"We know, for example, that male lions with dark manes tend to overheat more, which translated into how mane size and darkness have evolved across Africa and Asia," Moore said, citing previous scientific research.

"And if it's happening in dragonflies and lions, two species separated by hundreds of millions years of evolution, it's seems possible that it could be a pretty common pattern."

2. Dragonflies with dark coloring--and other animals--could begin to overheat as global temperatures continue to rise if they can't adapt quickly enough, or if they do adapt, might do so by losing their distinctive colors.

3. Because different dragonfly species, like many animal species, mate based on appearance, adaptation to rising global temperatures could lead to more interbreeding because of the confusion over color.

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For more information, contact Mike Scott at mike.scott@case.edu
CLEMSON, South Carolina -- The Trump administration's proposal to require pharmaceutical companies to publish drug prices in TV ads is unlikely to help control drug prices, according to a study publishing Jan. 22, 2019, in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The research found that consumer demand for high-priced drugs declined unless the drug ads included language explaining that the medication would be low-cost or no-cost because of insurance coverage or other discounts.

"In a world where coupon programs exist, consumers are unlikely to be influenced by price disclosures," said Jace Garrett, an assistant professor of accounting in Clemson University's College of Business and lead author of the study.

Coupon programs are a common marketing practice aimed at building market share. While they decrease a consumer's out-of-pocket expense, they do not decrease the overall cost of the drug. The costs are passed along to insurance companies and, ultimately, find their way back to consumers in other channels.

Therefore, Garrett said, price disclosures are "unlikely to create competition necessary to drive down prices. Drug companies will still make money and the status quo would remain the same."

"Will price disclosure work at all? The answer is yes: price disclosure works, absent anything else," said co-author Bill Tayler, professor of accounting at Brigham Young University. "But in a world where pharmaceutical companies behave logically, they will surely use a modifier of sorts that would unwind the entire benefit of this legislation."

For the study, Garrett, Tayler and researchers at Johns Hopkins University showed 580 participants one of five ads for a fictional diabetes prescription drug, Mayzerium. (The study participants were not patients; they had been told to assume they had recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.) The ad in the control condition made no mention of the drug's price while the other four disclosed either a low ($50 a month) or a high ($15,500 a month) price. In two "modified" ads, language was included indicating that eligible patients may be able to get the drug for as little as $0 a month because of insurance coverage or coupon availability.

For the high-priced drug ad, price disclosure significantly reduced the likelihood of participants asking their doctor about the drug, asking their insurance provider about the drug or researching the drug online, or taking the drug. The participants who saw ads with modifying language were still interested in the drugs.

"Price disclosure in drug ads works only under the 'tell the price, only the price, nothing but the price' scenario," said co-author Ge Bai, associate professor of accounting at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

For the Trump proposal to be effective, the administration must do something about pharmaceutical companies' use of copay assistance programs.

"If we really want to bring drug prices down, consumers have to vote with their wallets, and consumers are most likely to do that when they feel the pinch of high drug costs," Garrett said.

Tayler agrees: "Legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to provide equivalent discounts to all payers would do the trick. If the drug is marked down 90 percent for the patient, mark it down 90 percent for their insurer as well. That would keep pharmaceutical companies from gaming the system via handouts to consumers while forcing the insurers to carry the full cost of overpriced drugs."

The Trump administration is not the first to try to combat skyrocketing pharmaceutical prices; previous administrations have done their best to address the issue, as have others in the medical and health care industries. Exactly how Trump's Health and Human Services proposal will look is still unclear, and Big Pharma is already pushing back -- and showing signs of doing exactly what researchers in this JAMA Internal Medicine article predict.

A recent op-ed in USA Today by the president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said the proposal would be confusing to patients and might deter them from seeking needed care. "List prices are not a good indicator of what patients will pay, because their insurers determine what they pay out of pocket," wrote Stephen J. Ubl.

"The suggested policy is unlikely to do harm, but it is also unlikely to help much to control pharmaceutical prices," Tayler said. "This is not the most effective route and it could be very costly in terms of the lawsuits that are going to result. Why fight the legal battle if it's not going to work?"

The research was intended to help inform policymakers, but there's also a message for consumers, Garrett said.

"For all we say about wanting transparency about prices, if our own decisions are always motivated by our financial self-interest, having price information might not make a difference," Garret said.

"I'm getting the drug for zero, but who's paying the full cost?"

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Todd Hollingshead with BYU News contributed to this story.
Planets orbit stars and moons orbit planets, so it was natural to ask if smaller moons could orbit larger ones

Pasadena, CA-- "Can moons have moons?"

This simple question--asked by the four-year old son of Carnegie's Juna Kollmeier--started it all. Not long after this initial bedtime query, Kollmeier was coordinating a program at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) on the Milky Way while her one-time college classmate Sean Raymond of Universite de Bordeaux was attending a parallel KITP program on the dynamics of Earth-like planets. After discussing this very simple question at a seminar, the two joined forces to solve it. Their findings are the basis of a paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The duo kicked off an internet firestorm late last year when they posted a draft of their article examining the possibility of moons that orbit other moons on a preprint server for physics and astronomy manuscripts.

The online conversation obsessed over the best term to describe such phenomena with options like moonmoons and mini-moons being thrown into the mix. But nomenclature was not the point of Kollmeier and Raymond's investigation (although they do have a preference for submoons). Rather, they set out to define the physical parameters for moons that would be capable of being stably orbited by other, smaller moons.

"Planets orbit stars and moons orbit planets, so it was natural to ask if smaller moons could orbit larger ones," Raymond explained.

Their calculations show that only large moons on wide orbits from their host planets could host submoons. Tidal forces from both the planet and moon act to destabilize the orbits of submoons orbiting smaller moons or moons that are closer to their host planet.

They found that four moons in our own Solar System are theoretically capable of hosting their own satellite submoons. Jupiter's moon Callisto, Saturn's moons Titan and Iapetus, and Earth's own Moon all fit the bill of a satellite that could host its own satellite, although none have been found so far. However, they add that further calculations are needed to address possible sources of submoon instability, such as the non-uniform concentration of mass in our Moon's crust.

"The lack of known submoons in our Solar System, even orbiting around moons that could theoretically support such objects, can offer us clues about how our own and neighboring planets formed, about which there are still many outstanding questions," Kollmeier explained.

The moons orbiting Saturn and Jupiter are thought to have been born from the disk of gas and dust that encircle gas giant planets in the later stages of their formation. Our own Moon, on the other hand, is thought to have originated in the aftermath of a giant impact between the young Earth and a Mars-sized body. The lack of stable submoons could help scientists better understand the different forces that shaped the satellites we do see.

Kollmeier added: "and, of course, this could inform ongoing efforts to understand how planetary systems evolve elsewhere and how our own Solar System fits into the thousands of others discovered by planet-hunting missions."

For example, the newly discovered possible exomoon orbiting the Jupiter-sized Kepler 1625b is the right mass and distance from its host to support a submoon, Kollmeier and Raymond found. Although, the inferred tilt of its orbit might make it difficult for such an object to remain stable. However, detecting a submoon around an exomoon would be very difficult.

Given the excitement surrounding searches for potentially habitable exoplanets, Kollmeier and Raymond calculated that the best case scenario for life on large submoons is around massive stars. Although extremely common, small red dwarf stars are so faint and their habitable zones so close that tidal forces are very strong and submoons (and often even moons themselves) are unstable.

Finally, the authors point out that an artificial submoon may be stable and thereby serve as a time capsule or outpost. On a stable orbit around the Moon--such as the one for NASA's proposed Lunar Gateway--a submoon would keep humanity's treasures safe for posterity long after Earth became unsuitable for life. Kollmeier and Raymond agree that there is much more work to be done (and fun to be had) to understand submoons (or the lack thereof) as a rocky record of the history of planet-moon systems.

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Sean Raymond maintains a science blog where more details and illustrations (including a poem he wrote about the article) can be found.

This research was supported by a grant from the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche, the NASA Astrobiology Institute's Virtual Planetary Laboratory Lead Team, and the National Science Foundation.

The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegiescience.edu) is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Water splitting, the process of harvesting solar energy to generate energy-dense fuels, could be simplified thanks to new research including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

"The key idea is to generate a solar fuel: hydrogen gas, which can be burnt to release energy on demand without releasing carbon dioxide," said Binghamton University Associate Professor of Physics Louis Piper. "For water splitting, we use visible light to generate photo-excited negative electrons and positive holes that are then separated in order to catalyze water into oxygen and hydrogen gases. Storing gases is more straightforward (and cheaper) than employing battery set-ups, so this approach has the benefit of clean energy harvesting and storage."

A research team including Piper figured out how "doping" (or adding metal ions) into vanadium pentoxide (M-V2O5) nanowires raises the highest filled energy levels for more efficient hole transfer from the quantum dots to nanowires i.e. separation of the photo-excited electrons and holes.

"If you don't dope, then there is a buildup of positive holes that corrode the quantum dots (referred to as photo-corrosion)," said Piper. "Using computation and chemical intuition, we predicted doping with Sn2+ ions would result in excellent energy alignment and efficient charge separation. We saw a ten-fold increase in the amount of solar-harvested hydrogen we obtained."

The researchers are now working with their collaborators at University of Buffalo and Texas A&M University to enhance the hydrogen gas evolution by decorating the quantum dots with platinum.

"We expect platinum to improve things by acting as a catalytic site for the electrons, but our ultimate goal is to find less costly alternatives to decorate with," said Piper.

Researchers at Diamond Light Source and Brookhaven National Laboratory also contributed to this paper.

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The paper, "Hole Extraction by Design in Photocatalytic Architectures Interfacing CdSe Quantum Dots with Topochemically Stabilized Tin Vanadium Oxide," was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society.
More than 750 million people don't get enough nutrients from their food. More than two-thirds of those people live in places that consume a lot of rice. Can rice bred for extra protein be the answer?

"There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who depend on rice and eat it three times a day, but their access to protein is very limited by availability and cost," explains Herry Utomo, a professor at Louisiana State University. "High-protein rice can be used to help solve the worldwide problem across social, cultural, and economic issues."

Utomo and his team developed a high-protein line of rice cultivar, 'Frontiere,' which was released in 2017. The rice was developed through a traditional breeding process. It's the first long grain high-protein rice developed for use anywhere in the world, he says. On average, it has a protein content of 10.6%, a 53% increase from its original protein content. It also needs less heat, time, and usually less water to cook. This high-protein cultivar is currently marketed as "Cahokia" rice. It is grown commercially in Illinois.

However, breeding a crop for more nutrients like protein can cause yield to go down. The researchers are trying to combat this. They tested a total of 20 new lines of high-protein rice to see if any would have a higher yield. Their data showed the new high-protein lines improved yield by 11-17% compared to the yield of the first high-protein line. Grain quality characteristics differed.

Utomo says this new advanced line, with higher yield, is ready for final field testing prior to release.

Utomo adds researchers developed high-protein rice because of the growing market for new products that can offer more nutritional value from major food crops, including rice. In addition to being eaten plain, the high-protein rice can be processed into specialty food for higher nutrition. Many products--from rice flour used in baked goods to rice milk, baby foods, cereals, and crackers--contain rice, and could benefit from more protein.

"We are now studying exactly how flours from this rice bakes differently than other rice flour," Utomo says. "The interest in gluten-free baked products continues to grow. This will present another opportunity for rice growers to give people what they are looking for."

The next steps go in two directions, Utomo says. "Because the original line is new to the market, marketing channels have to be put in place. In parallel, research for the next generation of high-protein rice lines is being carried out." Researchers hope these newer lines can ultimately be bought and grown by more farmers.

"Farmers don't have to change much to grow the high-protein line now on the market," Utomo says. "The higher protein is an incredible added value they can get without any additional cost or changed practices."

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Utomo presented this research Nov. 7 at the Annual Meeting of American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America in Baltimore, MD. The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) and Louisiana Rice Research Board (LRRB) funded this project.
Children's Respiratory Symptoms Can Last Up to Three Weeks

Symptoms of children's respiratory tract infections, including runny nose, dry cough, and sore throat, can seem never-ending. According to new research, it takes 23 days for 90 percent of children to recover from respiratory tract infection symptoms. Researchers used a novel online study design to follow 485 children in 331 families in Bristol, England as they fell ill with respiratory tract infections (n=197 respiratory tract infections) without requiring them to visit their family physician. Overall, median duration of symptoms was 9 days. For children three years of age or younger, median symptom duration was 11 days compared to seven days for older children. Children whose parents reported lower respiratory tract symptoms (such as wet cough and wheeze) had median symptom duration of 12 days compared to eight days for those who had only upper respiratory tract symptoms (such as runny nose and sore throat). Among children with only upper respiratory tract symptoms, the most persistent symptom was runny nose, while the fastest symptom to resolve was earache. For children with at least one lower respiratory tract symptom, all symptoms persisted for three weeks; runny nose and wet cough were the most severe symptoms. One in 12 parents sought help from their family physician. These findings, the authors suggest, could inform primary care practice, public health interventions, and, ultimately, parents regarding the concerning symptoms for which they should consult their primary care physician.

Respiratory Tract Infections in Children in the Community: Prospective Online Inception Cohort Study

Professor Alastair D. Hay, et al

University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Repeated Inactive Flu Vaccine Does Not Have Negative Effects

Repeated inactivated influenza vaccine immunization in children with pre-existing medical conditions has no negative impact on, and may even enhance, long-term protection against respiratory illness. A study from the Netherlands examined data for 4,183 children aged 6 months to 18 years with pre-existing conditions who received inactivated influenza vaccine at least once from 2004-2015. Adjusted estimates showed lower odds for respiratory illness in immunized children with prior inactivated influenza vaccine compared to children immunized for the first time. These findings suggest that there is residual protection from earlier inactivated influenza vaccinations. This is particularly relevant for children with pre-existing medical conditions who receive inactivated influenza vaccines repeatedly during childhood.

Impact of Repeated Influenza Immunization on Respiratory Illness in Children With Preexisting Medical Conditions

Marieke L.A. de Hoog, PhD, et al

University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Burnout Predicts Turnover in Clinicians, not Staff

Burnout is alarmingly high among primary care clinicians and staff, but is it related to turnover of personnel? New research finds that burnout contributes to turnover among primary care clinicians, but not staff. A study of 740 primary care clinicians and staff in two health systems compared 2013-14 survey data on burnout and employee engagement (the likelihood of recommending their clinic as a place to work) with 2016 employment roster data. Fifty-three percent of both clinicians and staff reported burnout, while only one-third (32 percent of clinicians and 35 percent of staff) reported feeling highly engaged in their work. By 2016, 30 percent of clinicians and 41 percent of staff no longer worked in primary care in the same healthcare system. Clinicians who reported burnout in 2013-14 were more likely to leave the health system by 2016, taking into account their clinical time and length of time they had worked in the system. In regression models, neither burnout nor employee engagement predicted turnover for staff. The high rates of turnover, the authors suggest, have important implications for patient care. Continuity of care, which is a fundamental principle of primary care, is difficult to maintain in environments with frequent clinician and staff turnover. Furthermore, turnover is expensive for health care organizations. Although reducing burnout may help decrease rates of turnover among clinicians, the authors urge health care organizations and policymakers concerned about primary care employee turnover to understand its multifactorial causes and develop effective retention strategies for clinicians and staff.

Burnout and Health Care Workforce Turnover

Rachel Willard-Grace, MPH, et al

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Physicians More Satisfied When They Can Address Patients' Social Needs

When primary care practices try to help patients address social and economic needs, their efforts might have an unexpected benefit. According to a new study, primary care physicians who practice in a setting prepared to manage patients with social needs have significantly higher job satisfaction than other physicians. Among 890 US physicians responding to the Commonwealth Fund's 2015 International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Doctors, those who reported working in a practice able to manage patients' social needs had significantly higher job satisfaction, were more satisfied with amount of time spent with patients, and thought that the quality of medical care patients receive had improved. Feeling that it was easy to coordinate patients' care with social services or other community resources was also significantly associated with higher job satisfaction, personal and relative income satisfaction, satisfaction with amount of time spent with patients, and outlook on patients' quality of medical care. The authors call on health systems to include clinician satisfaction, which is closely tied to issues of burnout and retention, in their calculations of the costs and benefits of responding to patients' social needs.

Practice Capacity to Address Patients' Social Needs and Physician Satisfaction and Perceived Quality of Care

Matthew S. Pantell, MD, MS, et al

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Psychological Therapies and Gradual Tapering Aid in Discontinuing Antidepressants

When discontinuing antidepressants, the risk of relapse or recurrence is significantly reduced by combining cognitive behavior therapy with gradual tapering of the medication. An analysis of existing research found that, at 2 years, risk of relapse or recurrence was lower with cognitive behavior therapy plus tapering (15-25 percent) compared to clinical management plus tapering (35-80 percent). Relapse/recurrence rates were similar for mindfulness-based cognitive therapy with tapering and maintenance antidepressants. In two studies prompting primary care clinician discontinuation with antidepressant tapering guidance, six percent and seven percent of patients discontinued, compared to eight percent for usual care. Six studies of psychological or psychiatric treatment plus tapering reported cessation rates of between 40 percent and 95 percent. Two studies reported a higher risk of discontinuation symptoms with abrupt termination of medication. The authors note that cognitive behavior therapy seems to improve discontinuation rates compared to primary care clinician management of tapering with brief guidance; however, patient access to such therapy may be limited. They call for exploration of psychologically informed digital support for discontinuing antidepressants to complement care provided by primary care clinicians.

Managing Antidepressant Discontinuation: A Systematic Review

Professor Tony Kendrick, et al

University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom

Computerized Adaptive Testing Can Screen for Depression and Anxiety in Primary Care

Computerized adaptive testing is a valid tool for screening for major depressive disorder in primary care and offers a format that is well received by patients. New research compared computerized adaptive tests, which personalize assessments by adaptively varying questions based on previous responses, with widely used paper screening tools (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-2, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), and semi-structured interview, which is generally considered the gold standard in psychiatric assessment. The diagnostic accuracy of the Computerized Adaptive Diagnostic Test for Major Depressive Disorder was similar to the PHQ-9 and higher than the PHQ-2. Compared to interview, the accuracy of the Computerized Adaptive Test-Anxiety Inventory was similar to the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 for assessing anxiety severity. Participants preferred using tablet computers (53 percent), compared to interview (33 percent) and paper-and-pencil questionnaires (14 percent). The majority of participants (64 percent) rated paper-and-pencil questionnaire as their least preferred screening method. The widespread use of electronic health records in primary care presents new opportunities to leverage electronic tools for screening, the authors suggest, while multidimensional item response theory, used in computerized adaptive testing, can increase the efficiency of assessing mental and physical health.

Validation of the Computerized Adaptive Test for Mental Health in Primary Care

Neda Laiteerapong, MD, et al

The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

New Family Physicians Feel Better Prepared but Report a Narrower Scope of Practice

Recent family medicine residency graduates feel better prepared to provide a variety of procedures and clinical services than their predecessors but report a narrower scope of practice. These findings are the result of a University of Washington survey of family medicine graduates in affiliated programs in five states, with a focus on two cohorts: those who graduated residency between 2010 and 2013 (n=408) and an earlier cohort who graduated between 1996 and 1999 (n=293). The survey addressed 26 services and procedures that graduates might provide in their practice and how prepared they feel to provide those services. Researchers found that the earlier cohort had a similar or significantly higher proportion of graduates practicing almost all listed procedures and services compared to the later cohort; only OB ultrasound and end-of-life care were more common among more recent graduates. The pattern of findings was reversed when comparing graduates who felt more than adequately prepared for practice; a greater proportion of those in the later cohort reported feeling prepared in most areas compared to earlier graduates. For example, 52 percent of the earlier cohort reported providing nursing home care, compared to 33 percent of the later cohort, but 59 percent of the later cohort felt more than adequately prepared to provide such care, compared to 27 percent of earlier graduates. According to the authors, these findings suggest that training has improved over the last decade, but that scope of practice is declining for reasons unrelated to training. Changes are likely due to a variety of factors, including the evolution of clinical practice and differences in practice size and type, including a trend toward larger, multispecialty groups in which family physicians may not be required (or allowed) to practice a wide array of procedures. The decline in scope of practice, the authors state, has negative implications for the breadth and richness of physician practice and for patients' access to and quality of care. According to the authors, family medicine educators may need to adapt their training to a new generation of practice realities and physician preferences.

Changes in Preparation and Practice Patterns Among New Family Physicians

Amanda K.H. Weidner, MPH, et al

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Ultrasound Is an Increasingly Important Tool in Family Medicine/General Practice

Family physicians and general practitioners perform ultrasonography for a variety of conditions and with satisfactory levels of accuracy. This is according to an analysis of existing research, the first comprehensive systematic review of the use of ultrasonography by family physicians and general practitioners. Ultrasonography has been used for a variety of different conditions, most often focused on abdominal and obstetric ultrasound scans. The extent of training programs varied from 2-320 hours. Competence in some types of focused ultrasound scans could be attained with only few hours of training. Focused point-of-care ultrasound scans were reported to have a higher diagnostic accuracy and cause less harm than more comprehensive ultrasound scans or screening examinations. In studies assessing quality, participants generally scanned with a satisfactory level of accuracy, with quality depending on the extent of the examination and the anatomical area being scanned. Some focused scans had higher levels of diagnostic accuracy, required less training and were associated with less harm, whereas more extensive examinations were associated with lower quality scans and potential harms. The authors anticipate that point-of-care ultrasound will be increasingly important for family physicians/general practitioners in diagnosis, choice of treatment, and referral. These study results, they note, can help inform curricula and future exploration of the use of point of care ultrasound in family medicine/general practice.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound in General Practice: A Systematic Review

Camilla Aakjr Andersen, MD, et al

Aalborg University, Aalborg East, Denmark

Could Integration of Social and Medical Care Worsen Health and Increase Health Inequity?

At a time when health care is increasingly focused on the relationship between patients' social and medical needs, a provocative new essay proposes that this focus may have unintended consequences. In fact, the authors state, there is a risk that some of these efforts could worsen health and widen health inequities. Examples include attempts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to encourage states to explore work requirements as a condition for Medicaid eligibility, with a rationale based on the health benefits of work and work promotion. According to the authors, such efforts could reduce access to health care by serving as a disincentive to Medicaid enrollment. Other examples include the growing use of social data for commercial health care purposes, which could augment insurance coverage bias and exclusion; and new research on how social deprivation affects biological susceptibility to mental and physical illness, which could shift issues like poverty from the social to the medical realm. To address these issues, the authors call for, "A new dialogue...about both the opportunities and potential consequences of bringing information about patients' social circumstances into a market-based health care system."

Integrating Social and Medical Care: Could it Worsen Health and Increase Inequity?

Laura M. Gottlieb, MD, MPH, et al

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Incorporating Community Organizing Into Clinical Practice

A family physician reflects on her journey from community organizer to primary care clinician. As a clinician, she remains inspired by community organizing--a model for driving social change and improving public health--but has found it challenging to incorporate into clinical practice. She proposes a model for how clinicians and practices can proactively partner with community organizing groups and facilitate referrals to help patients directly engage in transforming the root causes of their health challenges. This model shifts the focus from the patient as an individual agent of change to the community and offers important lessons to clinicians interested in community health equity.

When "Patient-Centered" is Not Enough: A Call for Community-Centered Medicine

Juliana E. Morris, MD, EdM

University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California

The Past, Present and Future of Research in Primary Care

Two articles in the this issue of Annals of Family Medicine explore the history of research in family medicine and primary care, while a third considers its future.

Low- and Middle-Income Countries Establish Primary Care Research Priorities

In low- and middle-income countries, primary care research priorities include integration of care at the public/private interface, secondary care, community services, and models of care and finance to promote equitable access to care. These priorities were developed by a three-round modified Delphi expert panel of primary care practitioners and academics in low- and middle-income countries sampled from global networks using web-based surveys. They generated an initial list of more than 1,000 research ideas, which researchers synthesized into 36 organizational and 31 finance questions. The final four prioritized questions on organization address primary/secondary care transitions, horizontal integration within a multidisciplinary team, integration of private and public sectors, and ways to support successfully functioning primary health care teams. Corresponding finance questions address payment systems to increase access and availability of primary care, mechanisms to encourage governments to invest in primary care, the ideal proportion of a health care budget devoted to primary care, and factors to improve workforce distribution. Panelists have developed country-specific research implementation plans for prioritized questions, which will be presented to potential research funders.

Primary Care Research Priorities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Professor Felicity Goodyear-Smith, et al

University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Research Publications About Primary Care Have Increased But Remain a Small Proportion of Total

Since 1974, the number of research publications addressing primary care has increased, but still represents a small proportion of publications in the MEDLINE database. According to a bibliometric analysis of research output in 21 countries between 1974 and 2017, the United States and the United Kingdom had the highest volume of research publications about primary care, followed by Canada and Australia. There was significant growth in publications from countries in Southern, Eastern and Western Europe. During the same time period, the United Kingdom and Australia had the largest share of publications in primary care among all publications that appeared in MEDLINE. When compared to the total number of MEDLINE publications in 2017, however, primary care publications still represented only a small proportion of the total. The authors suggest that examining factors associated with increased research output may help define priorities in primary care research.

Development of Primary Care Research in North America, Europe, and Australia From 1974 to 2017

Gladys Ibanez, MD, PhD, et al INSERM, Institut Pierre Louis d'epidemiologie et de Sante Publique, Paris, France

Early Attitudes Toward Research in Family Medicine Reflected the Specialty's Countercultural Roots

While family medicine research has experienced tremendous growth in the past five decades, research was not a priority when the specialty was established in 1969. An examination of archival and secondary sources suggests that the priority placed on research in family medicine's early years was due to internal and external factors, including family physicians' desire to differentiate themselves from the prevailing specialty environment; lack of a clear identity for the new specialty; the non-laboratory nature of family medicine research; reliance on information from other specialties; and a focus on establishing an academic presence. A strong culture of generalist knowledge is crucial in assuring family medicine's future and strengthening its ability to improve the health of individuals, families, and communities, the author suggests.

Unfinished Business: The Role of Research in Family Medicine

Robin S. Gotler, MA

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

Innovations in Primary Care

Innovations in Primary Care are brief one-page articles that describe novel innovations from health care's front lines. In this issue:

Expanding the Use of Botulinum Toxin in Primary Care for Chronic Migraine - Primary care and neurology departments partnered to train and credential primary care clinicians to provide patients with botulinum toxin injections for chronic migraine headaches.

Partnering Research Fellows and Clinicians in Practice Settings - A family medicine postdoctoral research fellowship places researchers alongside clinicians in clinical settings, providing on-site research expertise for clinicians wanting to transform clinical questions into research and quality improvement projects.

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Annals of Family Medicine is a peer-reviewed, indexed research journal that provides a cross-disciplinary forum for new, evidence-based information affecting the primary care disciplines. Launched in May 2003, Annals is sponsored by seven family medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Board of Family Medicine, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, the North American Primary Care Research Group, and The College of Family Physicians of Canada. Annals is published six times each year and contains original research from the clinical, biomedical, social and health services areas, as well as contributions on methodology and theory, selected reviews, essays and editorials. Complete editorial content and interactive discussion groups for each published article can be accessed free of charge on the journal's website, http://www. AnnFamMed. org .

Media Contact:

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Annals of Family Medicine

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2019-01-23

Maeci

With regard to EU statements today on Operation Sophia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, said that Italy never requested the closure of Sophia. It asked for the rules on the disembarkation of persons saved at sea to be changed, in strict accordance with the conclusions reached by the European Council in June 2018. The April 2015 agreement provided that persons saved at sea should always disembark in Italy. However, last June, the European Council asked EU States to fully share all the duties relating to migrants.
UK prepares for Brexit

The companies in UK and around the world is preparing for Brexit. Even some Airline caterers are stocking meals.

British Prime Minister Theresa May tries to negotiate a deal with the EU. Last week Mays Brexit deal suffered a humiliating and dramatic defeat in Parliament. But she came up with an idea called plan B.

COMPANIES ARE PREPARING FOR A NO DEAL AGREEMENT

But companies around the world are preparing for the eventuality of a no deal Brexit and its implications.

AIRLINE CATERERS HAVE BEGUN STOCKPILING

Especially airline caterers have begun stockpiling items for in-flight meals, including snacks, peanuts, pizzas and even ice cream.
Turkish Forces strike YPG positions in Tell Rifaat

The Turkish troops, deployed in Syrias Afrin, have opened fire at the YPG several times in response to the latters fire from the city of Tell Rifaat, according to the Turkish Defence Ministry.

The members of the Turkish Armed Forces, deployed in the Euphrates Shield Operation, have shot 5 howitzers in the districts of Tell Rifaat to the southeast of Afrin, according to media reports.

YPG POSITIONS GET SHOOTED

Earlier today, local media reported about a car explosion in the Syrian city of Afrin, though the number of casualties has not been clarified.

The YPG/PKK reportedly organised two attacks targeting civilians on Afrin's city centre on 20 January. As a result of the attacks, 10 civilians lost their lives, 18 people were injured.
BBCs fake news in Istanbul

BBCs documentary serial, which created a different profile for a Syrian woman, came out to be a lie.

Documentary series called Sex in strange places aired on BBCThree. In that documentary doubtful scenarios portrayed about Syrian woman named Fatma.

SHE WAS FORCED TO PROSTITUTE HERSELF

In documentary, she is described as a 35 year old Syrian and forced to work as a sex worker in Turkey. BBC presenter Stacey Dooley, claimed Fatma was forced to prostitute herself, because she couldnt get any support from anyone, especially from the Turkish goverment.

THE TRUTH REVEALED AFTERWARDS

Dooley also claimed that Turkey hasnt given Syrian any support and she said this is a racist behavior. But the truth revealed afterwards, when a journalist went and searched for the woman.

"BBC GAVE HER MONEY"

Journalist talked to a local shopkeeper Veysel Gul and learned the truth. Her husband served in Assad's army. They have shops in Aleppo. Because they entered Turkey illegally, they have no official documents. She is beggar. in Turkey. Her husband was sick, her eldest daughter was kidnapped by Daesh terror group. She spoke Arabic, her Turkish was quite bad. BBC gave her money. BBC is trying to show Turkey as a bad country. said Gul in an interview.

BBC REMOVED THE DOCUMENTARY

When the truth revealed, BBC removed the documentary episode from its site and from its YouTube account.
Turkish, Russian leaders set for Moscow meet Wednesday

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin will meet on Wednesday in Russian capital Moscow

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to have their first face-to-face meeting of 2019 on Wednesday.

During Erdogan's one-day working visit to the Russian capital Moscow, the two leaders will exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria, as well as bilateral relations between Turkey and Russia.

Prior to his visit, an article penned by Erdogan titled "Turkey-Russia cooperation, critical for resolving the crisis in Syria" was published on Russian daily Kommersant last week.

"We will not seek advice on how to deal with a terrorist group from anyone whose activities have been directed against our citizens for more than 30 years, or ask for permission to fight terrorism.

"We reserve the right, when the appropriate conditions will arise, to pursue terrorists who threaten our country from Syrian territory," Erdogan said in the article.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey had no problem with Syrian Kurds nor any other groups living inside the borders of the neighboring country.

Stating that the U.S. pullout from Syria was "a step in right direction," Erdogan said: "The Syrian crisis can be resolved only by those countries that benefit from the healing of Syria's wounds and be harmed by their festering."

In late December, U.S President Donald Trump announced that the U.S.-led coalition succeeded in militarily defeating the Daesh terrorist group, his "only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency, in Syria.

Emphasizing that it is time for American forces to return home, Trump later signaled a slow and highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from Syria following the suggestions of U.S. national security bureaucracy.

When Trump proposed the idea of a terror-free safe zone in northern Syria last week, U.S. officials demanded Turkey to guarantee that it will not conduct an operation against terrorist group YPG/PKK.

Turkey backed the idea of a safe zone in Syria, while it opposed the U.S. request for protection of the terrorists.

25 CONTACT WITH PUTIN 2018

Erdogan and Putin had seven one-on-one meetings in 2018 and 18 phone calls to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, especially Syria.

The leaders first met in the Turkish capital Ankara, where they chaired the Turkey-Russia High Level Cooperation Council meeting on April 3, a day before a trilateral summit on Syria between the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran.

During the trilateral summit on April 4, Erdogan, Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed their joint resolve to oppose separatism as well as the use of terrorism as an excuse for changing Syria.

Erdogan, Putin and Rouhani are expected to meet in the upcoming months to discuss the situation in Syria.

ERDOGAN, PUTIN MEET AT 6 SUMMITS

A total of six summits saw the meeting of Erdogan and Putin in 2018.

Erdogan, Putin and Rouhani first met on April 4 in Ankara and on Sept. 7 in the Iranian capital Tehran for the trilateral meetings on Syria.

On July 26, Erdogan had a one-on-one meeting with Putin in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the annual summit of BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

On Sept. 17, the leaders met in the Russian coastal city of Sochi, where they agreed to turn Syria's northwestern Idlib province into a demilitarized zone.

On Oct. 27, Erdogan and Putin also met on the four-nation summit on Syria between Turkey, Russia, Germany and France in Istanbul, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron were also present.

On Dec. 1, Erdogan had talks with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina.

TURKISH-RUSSIAN CO-OPERATION ON ENERGY

On April 3, Erdogan and Putin attended the groundbreaking ceremony of Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant via a video conference call from the Presidential Complex in Ankara.

Akkuyu is set for construction by Russia in the Turkish southern province of Mersin.

The plant, comprising of four units, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, will meet about 10 percent of Turkey's electricity needs.

S-400 MISSILE DEAL WITH RUSSIA

Turkeys decision to make a $2.5-million purchase of two S-400 air defense systems with four batteries from Russia culminated in an agreement signed by both sides on Dec. 29, 2017.

This led to strong opposition from the U.S. which stipulated that Turkey scrap the deal as a precondition to its own sale of Patriot defense systems to Ankara.

Turkey has vehemently rejected Washingtons calls, with Erdogan saying on April 3 that the purchase was a decision for Turkey to make.

The S-400 is Russias most advanced long-range anti-aircraft missile system and can carry three types of missiles capable of destroying targets including ballistic and cruise missiles.

The system can track and engage up to 300 targets at a time and has an altitude ceiling of 27 kilometers (17 miles).
'Mr Brexit' to Visit IOM - An Evening with Nigel Farage



Nigel Farage

The man synonymous with Brexit is to host an evening in the Isle of Man next week.

Nigel Farage MEP will appear at the Palace Hotel on Friday 1st February.

The politician and broadcaster co-founded UKIP in 1993 and was leader of the party from 2006 to 2016 when the UK made the historic vote to leave the European Union.

Still a Member of the European Parliament, Farage hosts a phone-in show on LBC radio, pens regular newspaper columns and had written several books.

He is known in the USA as Mr Brexit and famously appeared on stage at an election rally in Mississippi with Donald Trump.

Whatever your politics, this will be a fascinating opportunity to hear from the man who lead the charge on the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.

------------

Tickets are available HERE
Jersey scraps EU settlement charge

Jersey has scrapped the charge for EU citizens to stay on the Island after Brexit.

The settlement scheme was set at 25 for adults and 12.50 for children - but will now be free.

The issue was raised in yesterday's House of Keys sitting by Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper.

He tabled a question asking when the Isle of Man's scheme will be laid before Tynwald and when registration would begin. His question was deferred to next week's sitting.
Elkhart, IN (46516)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
New York, Jan 23 (epa-efe).- American actor Alec Baldwin appeared Wednesday in a New York court to plead guilty to second-degree harassment in a dispute he had with another man over a parking space last year.

Baldwin agreed to take anger management classes and pay a $120 fine.

The incident took place last November in Greenwich Village, where the 60-year-old actor lives, and he was arrested after allegedly punching a driver who took a parking space his relative was holding for him.

The well-known impersonator of President Donald Trump on "Saturday Night Live" scolded the driver, identified as Wojciech Cieszkowski, 49, and struck him when he got out of his vehicle, witnesses told The Daily News.

Baldwin was initially accused of misdemeanor assault and harassment but denied having assaulted Cieszkowski. His lawyers emphasized that he pleaded guilty to a violation, not a crime.

Other more serious charges against him, such attempted assault in the third degree, were dropped.

According to court documents cited by local television channel ABC 7, Baldwin admitted to pushing Cieszkowski, and his lawyers said the video evidence refutes Cieszkowski's claim that the actor hit him.

The driver told police that the actor had beaten him up and he was taken to a hospital, suffering from pain in his jaw and redness on the skin of his neck, media reports said.

"The press reported that I punched someone. That is untrue, and that is a serious charge. A man was punched in NY recently and died," the actor wrote on Twitter.

Baldwin appeared in court early Wednesday morning with a serious demeanor and wearing a black jacket and scarf, as well as thick-rimmed glasses.

The film and TV star is to complete the anger management program by March 22, when his next court date occurs.

This is not the actor's first public behavioral issue.

In 2011 he was thrown off an American Airlines flight for refusing to turn off his cellphone, he had a dispute with a photographer for obtaining a picture of his marriage license in 2012 and he was taken into custody by New York police in 2014 for riding his bike the wrong way on Fifth Avenue.
Effingham, IL (62401)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early. Thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early. Thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
The registration is now open on Russia Study website https://russia.study/en and students can just fill in the application form (Pic: Wikipedia)

Indian students aspiring to be nuclear scientists and engineers are being offered scholarships by Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, technical consultant and main equipment supplier for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.

The deadline for the first round of applications for the scholarships, which fully take care of tuition fees and partly - living expenses, closes on 15 February 2019. The registration is now open on Russia Study website https://russia.study/en and students can just fill in the application form.

The goal of the scholarship is to support interest in nuclear research and capabilities among young Indian scientists and engineers, and contribute to solving some of the world's most critical issues in the nearest future, allowing for the continent to be self-sufficient," says Rosatom South Asia CEO Andrey Shevlyakov.

Scholarships are available for students interested in studying nuclear energy-related fields in Russia and include tuition fees and free preparatory courses of Russian language (depends on university program). Students have access to subsidized accommodation, library funds and practical experience at Russian nuclear enterprises.

Several study options are available at Russian universities specialising in nuclear engineering such as the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Moscow and Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in Siberia.

MEPhI is the leading Russian university in the field with more than 75 years expertise in nuclear engineering. It is the key partner of Rosatom in the field of educating young high-qualified nuclear specialists and today hosts more than 1500 foreign students from 57 countries.

Bachelors degree involves programmes in Nuclear Power Engineering and Thermal Physics; Nuclear Reactors and Materials; Nuclear Power Plants: Design, Operation, and Engineering. Masters degree programmes in Nuclear Physics and Engineering; Nuclear Power Engineering and Thermo Physics, are also available as well as Postgraduate Degree in Nuclear Power Engineering and Technologies.

TPU is the only Russian university equipped with a nuclear research reactor available for foreign students. The IRT-T research reactor has been commissioned in July 1967 and is now used for research in peaceful atom technologies such as nuclear medicine, transmutation neutron alloying, isotope engineering, thorium power engineering. In over 60 years, more than 12,000 specialists graduated from TPU, including 8000 trained in nuclear engineering and research.

TPU offers Bachelors degrees in Nuclear Physics and Technology; a Masters degree in Nuclear Power Installations Operation, Nuclear Medicine; and a Postgraduate degree in Nuclear, Thermal and Renewable Energy and Related Technologies.

A supplementary guide to the application process is available at Rosatom's regional Facebook page: FB.com/RosatomAsia.
About two dozen wild horses were found dead in central Australia last week, Australia's national broadcaster ABC News reported.

The decomposing horses were strewn along a 100-meter stretch by a dried-up waterhole called the "Deep Hole" near the remote community of Santa Teresa in Australia's Northern Territory.

It's not yet clear why the animals died, but locals have tied the grisly incident to the region's sweltering heat wave.

"The family of wild horses, including Orreea (Stallions), Marla (Mares), and Ambaa-Agooga (Foals) are likely to have perished from dehydration accompanied by the overwhelming heat," according to a Facebook post from the neighboring town of Alice Springs.

The area has baked from nearly two weeks of temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit), ABC noted.



"The prospect of any living creatures perishing in this way has left many locals devastated. All feral animals need to be managed with effective strategies to minimize their impact on the environment and to alleviate any suffering," the post continued.

Artist Ralph Turner, whose photos are published on the Facebook post, came across the shocking scene last week while investigating how the pool's water levels were affected by the heat.



"We found all these poor horses, all perished," Turner told ABC. "We've been having hot weather, day after day."

"I just couldn't believe something like that happened out here, first time it happened like that," he added.

Australia is currently melting in a record-breaking heat wave. In South Australia, large colonies of heat-stressed bats and pups are literally falling out of trees. In New South Wales, more than a a million fish have died this month alone. The cause of the fish deaths is not yet known, but experts have pointed fingers at drought, climate change and mismanagement.

"This event, along with other recent instances of mass animal deaths, including recent fish deaths in the Riverina calls the community to wonder what steps are our leaders taking to tackle the effects of climate change in the future and what steps call we all take to prevent the suffering of innocent animals across our country," the Alice Springs Facebook post concluded.
By David Kanter

Nitrogen pollution is produced by a number of interlinked compounds, from ammonia to nitrous oxide. While they have both natural and human sources, the latter increased dramatically over the past century as farmers scaled up food production in response to population growth. Once these chemicals are released into the air and water, they contribute to problems that include climate change and "dead zones" in rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

Reducing nitrogen pollution around the globe is an urgent environmental goal, but extremely challengingin part because the main human source is agriculture. Environmental policies are especially hard to enforce on farms because there are many of them over broad areas, which makes it difficult to confirm that farmers are complying. And powerful agricultural interest groups often push back against them.

Even for farmers who want to do a better job, managing nitrogen use is challenging. Nitrogen is a key nutrient that helps plants and livestock grow, but it escapes readily into the environment.

My research focuses on nitrogen and its many environmental impacts. In a recent study, Princeton University research scholar Tim Searchinger and I lay out a new strategy that targets fertilizer companies as well as farmers. It draws from the example of U.S. fuel efficiency standards, which reduce fuel consumption by regulating a relatively small group of large car manufacturers instead of more than 200 million drivers.

Nutrient pollution affects waterways across the United States. USEPA

The Limits of Farmer-Focused Policies

Nitrogen is essential for producing food, but about half of the nitrogen used in the global agricultural sectorfrom fertilizer applied on fields to manure stored in lagoonsis either emitted to the atmosphere or washed off into local waterways.

These losses stem from how farmers apply nitrogen and in what forms. Consequently, most nitrogen management policies are designed to give farmers incentives to change their behaviorfor example, by developing nutrient management plans or using more environmentally friendly fertilizers that delay the release of nitrogen into soil.

However, this approach has had little effect. At the national level, adoption of best practices and technologies has remained stagnant since the mid-1990s, while nitrogen pollution levels have increased.

Fertilizer is the single largest source of nitrogen pollution delivered downriver to the Gulf of Mexico. USGS

To get past this impasse, we looked for approaches that go beyond the farmer. Analyzing past environmental policies, we identified two conditions that increased the chances of success. First, policies tend to be more successful when they target sectors in which a small number of actors control a majority of the market, which makes monitoring and enforcement easier. The U.S. has 2.1 million farms spread over 900 million acres, so regulating nitrogen use at the farm level is not an efficient approach.



Second, we found that the likelihood of success increases dramatically if the regulated actors can profit from being regulatedfor example, because they produce patent-protected alternatives to the product that is being controlled.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol, which phased out chlofluorocarbons (CFCs) because they depleted Earth's stratospheric ozone layer, is a good example. Chemical manufacturer DuPont controlled a quarter of global CFC production when the treaty was negotiated, but supported the agreement because it also had patents on at least two generations of CFC alternatives.

In other words, the policy created a global market for a new set of products. We believe a similar dynamic exists for the North American fertilizer industry.

Project SENSE youtu.be

Profiting From Better Management



Five companies currently control over 80 percent of North American production capacity for urea, an inexpensive form of nitrogen fertilizer, and ammonia, the main ingredient for all types of nitrogen fertilizers. Four of these companies either produce a more environmentally friendly fertilizer or provide a service to help farmers use nitrogen more efficiently.

But these greener offerings occupy a very small niche in the fertilizer market. For example, Nutrien, which makes the most popular environmentally friendly fertilizer, Environmentally Smart Nitrogen, devotes less than 5 percent of its nitrogen production capacity to this product. Nor are these options widely used by farmers.

Effective nitrogen management policies could boost demand for these products and services. They also could stimulate development of new technologies better suited to specific crops and climates, which would represent important economic opportunities for the fertilizer industry.

Regulate the Few, Not the Many



To understand what an industry-focused approach might look like, we turned to U.S. corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards. CAFE regulations, which were introduced in response to high gas prices during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, require motor vehicle manufacturers to meet rising fuel efficiency targets over time, measured in miles per gallon for new vehicles.

Instead of forcing more than 200 million drivers to limit their mileage, this approach targets car manufacturers and ensures that the U.S. vehicle fleet becomes more fuel-efficient over time. The Trump administration is currently seeking to freeze CAFE standards instead of implementing an increase negotiated under President Obama, but it is not contesting the basic idea of making manufacturers responsible for vehicle fuel economy.

This approach could be applied to fertilizer in at least two ways. First, suppliers could be required to increase sales of more environmentally friendly fertilizers as a percentage of total sales. Second, their products could be required to achieve a specific performance level where more nitrogen is available to crops rather than lost to the environment.

Both approaches would share the burden of improving nitrogen management across farmers and the fertilizer industry. They also would give manufacturers incentive to develop more effective options.

Nitrogen is the most widely used agricultural fertilizer worldwide. FAO, CC BY-SA

Benefits for Farmers, Industry and the Environment



We evaluated how such an approach could work on 25 million acres of U.S. corn farmlands where nitrogen application rates are especially excessive. To estimate potential impacts, we compared three policy scenarios that required farmers to use environmentally friendly forms of nitrogen for either 12, 30 or 50 percent of their total applications by 2030.

In our most ambitious scenario, we calculated that farmers' fertilizer costs would rise. However, this increase would be more than offset by higher revenue from increased corn yields, leading to total nationwide gains of $300 million by 2030. Industry profits would increase by over $150 million during the same period due to increased sales of more environmentally friendly fertilizers, which generate higher profit margins than traditional fertilizers. And the policy would produce $8 billion in environmental benefits by 2030 due to avoided damage costs from nitrogen pollution, dwarfing the impacts on farmers and industry.

It would make sense to test a CAFE-style approach at the local or state level. California, which has already adopted ambitious climate change goalsincluding mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from agriculturecould be a potential test bed.

There is no easy solution for curbing nitrogen pollution, given the diversity of agricultural, climatic and political systems across the world. Nevertheless, as the challenge worsens and world population grows, it is urgent to explore all policy options, especially approaches that could stimulate technological change and address a variety of environmental threats more quickly.

David Kanter is an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University.

Disclosure statement: David Kanter is the vice-chair of the International Nitrogen Initiative.

Reposted with permission from our media associate The Conversation.
A record number of Americans now say that global warming is "personally important" to them, according to the latest Climate Change and the American Mind survey released Tuesday by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC) and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. That number has jumped to 72 percent, up nine percentage points since the survey was last conducted in March of 2018.

"People are beginning to understand that climate change is here in the United States, here in my state, in my community, affecting the people and places I care about, and now," YPCCC Director Dr. Leiserowitz told The New York Times. "This isn't happening in 50 years, 100 years from now."

The survey, which was conducted between November 28 and December 11 of 2018 to 1,114 adults, also found that the highest number of Americans yet accept that global warming is happening. At 73 percent, that number has risen three points since last March and 10 points since 2015.



Other key results indicate a shift in awareness:

Sixty-two percent of Americans think global warming is caused by humans.

Only 23 percent, a record low, say it is due to natural causes.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans are worried about global warming, a seven point jump since last March.

Forty-nine percent think they will be personally harmed by global warming, seven percent more than last March.

Forty-eight percent say people are being harmed by global warming in the U.S. right now, a nine percent increase since last March.

Fifty-four percent say they have personally experienced the impacts of global warming, five percent more than last March.

"I've never seen jumps in some of the key indicators like this," Leiserowitz told The New York Times.



Leiserowitz told The New York Times he thought the spike in climate awareness was due to several factors.
In his first major international speech, Brazil's new president Jair Bolsonaro told the politicians and business leaders gathered in Davos this week that he's opening up his country and its natural resources to foreign investment, all whilesomehowpreserving the nation's environment and biodiversity.

"It is now our mission to make progress in harmonizing environmental preservation and biodiversity on the one hand, with much-needed economic development, while bearing in mind that these are interdependent, inseparable pillars of our society," he said Tuesday at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.

"Those who criticize us have actually a great deal to learn with us. We wish to govern by example," he added.

While campaigning for president, the far-right Congressman promised to loosen protections for the Amazon rainforest and open it up to development, causing many indigenous communities and environmentalists to worry about the forest's future.

The world's largest rainforest hosts the richest biodiversity of any ecosystem and is an important carbon sink, making it vital for preventing worse climate change. Bolsonaro initially pledged to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement before recanting.

"We are the one country that most preserves the environment," he also claimed. "No other country in the world has as many forests as we do."

That's not exactly true. As EcoWatch previously mentioned, although deforestation in the Amazon decreased by 70 percent from around 2005 to 2011 due to rainforest protection movements, from 2011 to 2017, as the country entered a more chaotic political period, the decrease in deforestation stopped, but it did not reverse.

Additionally, according to Climate Home News, "in 2018, under the previous administration, deforestation reached a ten-year high. During the election period, with a Bolsonaro victory anticipated, forest loss jumped by 50 percent, year-on-year."

What's more, just hours after taking office, he issued an executive order that transferred responsibility for recognizing indigenous lands to the ministry of agriculture, which has ties to the agribusiness lobby and other industries.

During his short speech, Bolsonaro told the Davos audience to "get to know our Amazonian region, our coastlines, our beaches and our cities and our wetlands," but also called for even more exploitation of the country's precious resources.



"Brazil is home to the world's greatest biodiversity and we have abundant mineral resources," he said. "We want to engage with partners who master technology so that this marriage translates into progress and development for all. Our actions, make no mistake whatsoever, will certainly attract you to seize great business opportunities, not only for the good for Brazil but also for the good of the whole world at large."

Bolsonaro promised to "reduce the tax burden, simplify tax rules and make life easier for those who want to produce, do business, invest and create jobs."

Jose Gregorio Mirabal, general coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin, urged Davos attendees to reject the Brazilian leader's remarks.

"[Do] not to be distracted by president Bolsonaro's efforts to calm investors interested in investing in Brazil," Mirabal said, as quoted by Climate Home News.

"You cannot imagine what will happen if the government of Brazil implements its intention to roll back the rights of indigenous peoples to their forests, in favor of implementing projects for mining, transportation, communication and energy on indigenous territories," Mirabal continued. "The outcome of implementing president Bolsonaro's development plans will visit upon the entire Amazon a genocide and an environmental disaster on a scale that the world has not seen before."

Watch Bolsonaro's speech here:


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Americans are used to hearing the refrain, "We pay the sales tax," from mattress sellers and car dealerships during big sales weekends. The phrase, "You pay the sales tax," however, is something we're all going to become a lot more familiar with in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair.

That's because the Wayfair decision reverses precedent set by 1967's National Bellas Hess v. Illinois and upheld in 1992's Quill v. North Dakota, in which the court ruled that states could require companies to collect sales tax only if they had "sufficient physical presence" in the state.

In South Dakota v.Wayfair, however, the court ruled that making physical presence the minimum standard is "unsound and incorrect." The result is that states now can require businesses to collect sales taxes if they meet the lower standard of "economic nexus" in the state -- a condition state legislatures get to define on their own.

Collateral Damage

This is a big win for state governments, whose desire to overturn Quill has intensified in recent years due to the rise of e-commerce and the billions of dollars in taxes that go uncollected every year. (Residents in states with sales tax are supposed to file a use tax return with items purchased outside the state, but most do not). By requiring remote sellers to collect sales tax, states are expecting to see a huge increase in the sales tax revenue, especially this holiday season.

Unfortunately, the battle to recover this tax base also is likely to result in significant collateral damage in the form of the burden it places on e-commerce businesses. Many small and medium-sized e-commerce companies run on thin margins and have few resources to devote to ensuring they collect the appropriate amount of sales tax on each order. Indeed, the reason the court decided in the past not to require businesses to collect sales taxes on orders sent across state lines was that they acknowledged the serious administrative burden associated with this task.

Economists can debate the macro effects of the decision: Will this lead to residents of states with complex sates tax structures being underserved? Will it lead to lower competition because of the additional administrative costs needed to start or operate an e-commerce business? However, what business owners want to know is how this will affect their operations and profitability.

Triggering Nexus

The first thing companies should know is that you don't need to conduct a lot of business in a state to trigger economic nexus there. In South Dakota, the physical presence condition remains, but it is compounded by an economic nexus rule that says if you have US$100,000 worth of sales, or more than 200 transactions involving customers in the state during the current or previous calendar year, then you must collect sales tax on all transactions with customers in that state.

This type of safe harbor threshold quickly is becoming the norm, given that South Dakota's definition is serving as a model for the dozens of other states that have passed or are in the process of passing similar laws.

Worse, companies have been given extremely short timetables to comply. The decision came in June, but many economic nexus laws are already in effect, and more will go into effect early next year. Many businesses, having other, more immediate worries, still aren't sure even where to start. While there are technology solutions out there, they take time and expertise to implement, which many small and medium-sized businesses just don't have.

Impact on SaaS

The impact of Wayfair largely has been on e-commerce, but that doesn't mean e-commerce businesses are the only ones that need to evaluate the effect of the new economic nexus laws. Some states require companies that sell intangible goods over the Internet, such as Software as a Service (SaaS), to collect sales tax where they have an economic nexus.

Now that states are making it easier for taxpayers to trigger sales tax nexus in their state, SaaS, cloud computing and other service-based businesses that never have had to worry about sales tax in the past (because the state in which they physically are located doesn't tax their products) may already be in noncompliance, without even knowing it.

The aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's Wayfair decision certainly creates a unique situation calling for today's businesses to immediately address sales/use tax issues created by hastily drafted reactionary legislation and interpretations establishing economic nexus thresholds with effective dates in the second half of 2018 and early 2019.

Reasoned analysis and decisions are needed, as it does not appear that the economic nexus standards for sales/use tax collection responsibilities are going away any time soon. The proper decision for each business may vary widely, from not doing anything at the moment to registering in all sales/use jurisdictions as soon as possible, or somewhere in between.

No matter the final decision, businesses should be resigned to devoting in-house resources or hiring outside resources to address the impact of the current evolution in the world of sales and use taxes.

On the positive side, the need for additional resources may be temporary if an efficient sales/use tax collection and remittance system can be put into place effectively. For today's current situation, businesses may be well suited to hire a third-party to notify them when new obligations are created, and to explain what actions are needed. It may be unrealistic for small to medium sized businesses with limited resources to track changes on their own.

Pursuing Compliance

Once a business accepts the fact that sales tax collection is a business obligation that is not going away soon, and that missteps have the potential to bankrupt an otherwise successful business down the road, an easily overlooked factor in the cost/benefit analysis is who will likely pay the tax due if sellers do not collect tax at the time of sale from the buyer.

Many sellers may not fully realize that their future audit assessments might have to come out of operating funds of the business -- or more dramatically, out of the pocket of the individual owners or officers of the business.

Instead of looking at sales tax as a payment between a business and the state imposing the tax, sales and use taxes in today's context are more properly viewed as a decision between the seller and the buyer. Either the buyer pays the tax at the time of sale, where allowed, or the business likely has to pay the tax at the conclusion of an audit, which may take place up to three years later when the original purchaser cannot be contacted to pay the tax due.

However, the daunting task of complying with state and local sales/use tax obligations in 45 states and the District of Columbia may not be as intimidating as a business owner might think, with today's technology.

Sales/use tax compliance is certainly not as simple as downloading an app to your smartphone, but, by the same token, businesses with a repetitive, uncomplicated business process and product line may be able to automate the preparation of sales tax returns and the remittance of tax almost to a point where returns can be produced with a "push of the button" for every filing period.

Electronic filing and electronic payments also may be reduced to a data input process that can be accomplished in a low-cost manner.

With additional registration requirements created by new economic nexus standards for sales/use taxes on the horizon, business also must take the next step, and determine what other registrations are triggered automatically when registering for sale/use tax purposes. Some states make registration with the Secretary of State a prerequisite to get a valid sales/use tax permit.

Secretary of State registration usually requires the presence of an in-state registered agent and additional registration fees for the business, on top of any costs to collect sales/use taxes due.

Sales tax registration does not automatically require the filing of income tax returns, as income tax nexus standards are independent of sales/use tax standards. It is possible that sales/use tax filings are required under economic nexus laws, but that state income tax filings are not.

States may however, make inquiries of the new businesses registering for sales/use taxes purposes to make an accurate determination of the new businesses' income tax filing obligation. Businesses need to fully understand the specifics of their nexus-generating activities, and the questions they are being asked that will determine whether income tax return filings are also due.

Even though Wayfair is a sales/use tax case, states also are closely examining the Supreme Court's analysis to determine if new interpretations of law are possible under the Wayfair rationale that could increase income tax payments or other revenue streams into the state.

Although economic nexus has been the focal point for many businesses since the Wayfair decision in June, businesses cannot overlook the other laws recently passed by states to collect the sales/use tax on sales by remote sellers that otherwise do not have nexus with the state.

Marketplace Nexus, Reporting Obligation

Marketplace Nexus laws establish registration and collection obligations on third-parties that provide the virtual e-commerce marketplace and key services for remote sellers to execute sales.

Amazon and eBay are popular marketplace sellers, and they both have started or will start collecting and remitting sales/use tax on some states' transactions executed in their marketplaces established for their sellers. Businesses may have to distinguish sales executed through their marketplaces from their direct online sales, so they can collect and remit applicable sales properly, and use taxes themselves on their direct online sales.

When physical presence was still the standard, Reporting Obligation laws were passed requiring non-nexus remote sellers to notify buyers on their invoices of their use tax obligations for non-taxable purchases they made.

Remote sellers also may be required to send all in-state purchaser information to states, so states can contact in-state purchasers directly to collect the use tax due. Colorado was the first state to pass Reporting Obligation laws, and approximately 13 other states have such laws on their books. These requirements may take as much effort for compliance as the actual collection and remittance of sales and use taxes due.

Even in states without economic nexus legislation, like California, businesses with no substantial physical presence are not necessarily free from sales/use tax collection obligations, because many states have broad "doing business" statutes that could be interpreted as creating sales/use tax nexus for a remote seller.

Such laws state that when "doing business" in a state, the requisite nexus is established to enforce the obligation to collect sales and use taxes. The requisite level of "doing business" is very subjective and difficult to anticipate in some situations.

Thus, a new, aggressive interpretation that a remote seller is "doing business" in a state may be preferred by states to establish sales tax nexus in lieu of trying to pass economic nexus laws in tax-adverse legislatures now that "substantial physical presence" is no longer the overriding standard.

Much remains to be seen in the near future for the post-Wayfair sale tax world, but one thing is certain, businesses should educate themselves about all of the possible scenarios, so they can decide what actions to take and when they should be taken. What used to be a relatively easy decision to make is now anything but.

John E. Hayashi is a Managing Director, Tax at BPM and a leader of the firm's SALT Group. With more than 26 years of SALT experience, John specializes in multistate sales and use taxes.



Carolyn Cotter is a Corporate Tax Manager at BPM, and co-lead of the firms SALT group. She has eight years of experience in public accounting, providing income tax compliance and consulting services to corporations of all sizes, primarily in the high technology and life science industries.




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The cable TV industry has been changing over the last decade and lately has been penetrating the wireless space. Brands like Xfinity Mobile, Spectrum Mobile and Altice Mobile have emerged. Cable One, a smaller cable television company, has announced its new brand, Sparklight. Could this be its first step toward offering a wireless service?

When Cable One introduced the new brand name, it said nothing about wireless. However, that's the direction I think it could be heading -- perhaps planning a new service called "Sparklight Mobile."

The entire cable TV industry seems to be spawning new brands and veering toward wireless. I expect more providers will enter the wireless space by reselling mobile services.

Xfinity Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, Altice Mobile

It started with Xfinity Mobile, which resells Verizon Wireless. Then Charter Mobile also began reselling Verizon Wireless. Altice Mobile will enter the wireless space next year as a reseller of Sprint services.

This new wireless strategy seems successful at Comcast so far. It's different from the way the regular wireless industry operates, however.

The cable television industry has a wireless growth strategy that differs from that of AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint. Cable companies are not trying to market and compete on the same level.

Sticky Service Bundles

Cable TV companies have been using wireless to create a sticky bundle of services in order to expand their customer base and fuel growth.

I have long predicted that as the pay TV industry continued to be challenged by new competitors and new technologies, it would move into wireless to stabilize its hold on the marketplace.

The cable television marketplace has changed dramatically over the last decade. Cable TV once was the main service, and things like Internet access and VoIP phone service were simply additional.

Internet access currently is the main service cable television companies offer. It is the center of their universe. They also offer cable TV or pay TV, VoIP telephone and now wireless -- but they are Internet service providers, or ISPs, at heart.

I believe wireless will be an increasingly important slice of their pie going forward. I also believe that wireless will spread from the big three -- Comcast, Charter and Altice -- to the rest of the cable television industry.

That's where we are with Cable One. Just as Comcast introduced the Xfinity brand and Charter introduced the Spectrum brand, Cable One has introduced the Sparklight brand.

Cable One wants to create a favorable opinion of itself in the changing marketplace. In the past, cable television companies had no competition. In that world, they focused on the investor, not the customer. That was because the customer had nowhere else to go. There was no competition in cable TV. So, the companies had nothing to lose.

Things are different now. New competition and new technologies have created a shifting marketplace. In this marketplace, every cable TV company needs to have a strong and positive relationship with its customer base. That's the reason for Cable One's new brand.

Pay TV Market Evolution

AT&T, DirecTV Now and Comcast Xfinity are the current leaders in the pay TV marketplace, which has seen a lot of change over the last decade.

The disruption started with AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS. Next, AT&T acquired DirecTV and created DirecTV Now, changing the pay TV industry with its innovations. It even has started to offer wireless pay TV.

AT&T DirecTV Now is the leading pay TV service in America at present. Add to that its acquisition of Time Warner, renamed "WarnerMedia," and you can see how well positioned the company is to continue transforming the market and winning.

This is similar to Comcast's strategy when it acquired NBC Universal several years ago. Today, both AT&T and Comcast are the leaders in the pay TV space.

Cable One's new Sparklight brand is a fresh take on the changing industry the company competes in. It will help Cable One compete better against an onslaught of new competitors and technologies.

Competing is something cable television companies never had to think about before. Some have been doing a good job transforming their thinking in the last several years. Others have not. In the new world of competition, staying on the cutting edge of marketing will be key to the survival and success of every player in the space.

I firmly believe this Sparklight shift is an indication that Cable One soon will enter the wireless space. We can expect to see the company do just that, perhaps with a new service called "Sparklight Mobile."

It looks as though Cable One intends to be one of the companies that gets it and that will make an effective transition in this new world. It wants to compete successfully with new companies and new technologies.

That means it understands the new three-legged stool that represents the state of the cable television industry. The top of the stool is the Internet, and the three legs are pay TV, VoIP telephone, and now wireless. Keep your eyes on this changing industry. Things are starting to get very interesting.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

Jeff Kagan has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2010. His focus is on the wireless and telecom industries. He is an independent analyst, consultant and speaker. Email Jeff.


If carbon emissions had a market value reflecting how much they cost society, it might completely change the way people priced their businesses.

This is the idea behind the shadow carbon pricing methodology that the EBRD introduces this month - a new way to assess big power and heavy industry plants that the Bank might finance. Its ambition is to make environmental costs part of a broad economic analysis of whether to invest in a project of this type, identifying the price of pollution in a transparent way.

Until now, it was never that complicated to analyse the benefits and costs of (say) your gas plant. You just needed to know how much money youd make from selling the gas you produce, then subtract the costs of building and running it through its life cycle. That financial analysis would tell you enough to know where you stood and to get finance.

But what if you also had to factor in the extra cost of the greenhouse gas emissions your plant was putting into the air, and figure out the relationship between them and the tsunami that had just ravaged your nearest coastline? What if you paid for your pollution?

If we were looking at that gas plant with just a financial analysis, it might look financially viable. But if we take into account the broader costs to society it might no longer look so good, explained EBRD economist Russell Bishop, who has been working on developing the mechanism for the past year.

The big thing here is to measure the costs of the pollution. Although it sounds esoteric, it has the potential to change the shape of our investments - because when we use this analysis it could change our whole view of the project, he added.

The market does not yet fully capture the cost of pollution, especially in the many countries where the EBRD works where fossil fuel use is subsidised. Even measuring the cost of pollution is complex. But finding a more complete way to assess the broad economic effects of emissions and correlate them with environmental alteration is becoming a top priority for business as concerns grow over the impact of climate change.

In 2015, the world came together in Paris and agreed to limit global warming to less than 2C, and make best efforts to limit warming to 1.5C. Last years widely heeded report by a UN scientific body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, painted a stark picture of the environmental damage we faced if we fail to limit warming to the more ambitious 1.5C figure.

Soon afterwards, at last Decembers international climate gathering, COP24, in Poland, multilateral development banks pledged to align their own work with the Paris Agreements principles.

The EBRDs new shadow carbon pricing methodology brings us in line with other multilateral development banks  notably the World Bank and IFC  which have also recently adopted a similar approach. Inside the European Union, the European Investment Bank has been pricing pollution in its economic analysis since the 1990s.

Introducing shadow carbon pricing is a natural next step forward for the EBRD, following the launch of the Banks updated Energy Sector Strategy last December in which, the EBRD formally turned away from financing investments in coal and upstream oil. The Strategy committed the Bank to publish its methodology and put into practice shadow carbon pricing as part of an economic assessment of projects which significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Designed to assess potential investments in the power and heavy industry sectors, and ensure that the EBRD only invests in the most economically and environmentally viable options, the methodology was fine-tuned for a year before it went live on 1 January 2019. From now on, it is to be applied to projects being considered for investment.

The methodology is adapted from one used several years ago within the Bank to test potential investments in coal  a way of investigating whether there was a cleaner alternative available. Although the EBRD only formally swore off coal, considered the most polluting fossil fuel, with the 2018 Energy Sector Strategy, the Bank had not made any investments in the coal sector for at least seven years before that.

In setting the shadow price, the EBRD follows recommendations by the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices, which was set up in 2016 as part of international climate change talks to benchmark pollution costs. Led by economists Joseph Stiglitz and Lord Nicholas Stern (the latter a former EBRD Chief Economist), the Commission recommends that carbon should be priced at US$ 40-80 in 2020, rising over time and reaching US$ 50-100 by 2030.

The EBRD economic analysis is sensitive to multiple factors, says Bishop: it has about 10 questions baked into every stage.

After running the analysis, it might turn out that it would be more economically viable to invest in, say, a renewables project than our hypothetical gas plant. But the sophistication of the model allows for nuanced responses appropriate to the complex needs of some of the more coal-reliant countries where the EBRD works, where, sometimes, other fossil fuels, notably gas, can be a helpful answer in transition towards greater use of renewable energy sources.

This analysis makes it very transparent what the costs, benefits and trade-offs are of a project, says Bishop. The EBRDs years of investing in one of the most polluted parts of the world, and supporting governments as they update obsolete infrastructure and move towards cleaner air and lifestyles, has given it unparalleled expertise in negotiating these trade-offs.

We must also continue to support countries in our region moving from shadow to real carbon prices, and here there is growing momentum. There are already carbon pricing schemes under development in Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other places.

Its too straightforward to see any fossil fuel project and say it shouldnt be done because of the Paris Agreement, but we need to take into account all the factors before deciding. If a fossil fuel project still looks economically viable when you apply the shadow price, then it gives us comfort.

Shadow carbon pricing methodology
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As the Brexit deadline looms, we urgently need to send a very clear, very loud and unequivocal message to the British and Irish Governments and indeed the European Union, that the people who live along the border are not going back to the past.

- Declan Fearon, Border Communities Against Brexit, January 17, 2019

From my own young and innocent memory, the drive "down to Newry" in the late 1980s and early 1990s never seemed like a particularly fraught occasion.

Sure you had to navigate through the British army checkpoint, but for a young lad - who was heavily interested in all things military - it was a chance to inspect the cool weaponry and vehicles on display up close and personal.

The soldiers never appeared overtly threatening from memory either - bar the bristling assault rifles and armoured Land Rovers, of course. In fact, most, if not all of the time, they simply waved my dad's car through the checkpoint. It never seemed like a 'Midnight Express running for the plane-type' sweat-fest.

It was normal. It was wrong.

Say this to someone from down the country and they'll look at you like you're a Vietnam vet with a thousand yard stare. It was a part of our childhood. Despite our close proximity to the border and the enormity of the violence which permeated through Northern Ireland then, we were sheltered from the worst of it, but also witnessed its far-reaching impact from just outside those border walls.

Partition of any sort is never a favourable or preferred outcome in any territorial impasse. And now 25 years later, the possibility of a return to such border constraints appears increasingly more likely, should a deal not be agreed regarding Britain's exit from the EU.

What is it with this subconscious hurtling towards such a return of a hard border and the very real potential for renewed political/sectarian violence?

The political figures involved in Brexit in the UK and Northern Ireland should have a keen understanding and vivid memories of the Troubles a generation ago.

The copper-fastening of a continued peace on this island should be the primary concern in any Brexit talks.

There is a growing, and very real fear, that the return of a hard border could ignite violence around the border and into the heart of Northern Ireland. This simply cannot be allowed to happen. The UK voted for Brexit in 2016. We're nearly three years down the line now. Things have changed. Opinions have changed. People have changed. This rapidly unfolding nightmare, which started as a laughable political sideshow, has grown into an unpredictable beast capable of destroying lives if allowed to propagate unchecked.

That may seem OTT, but surely it should be the right mindset to use in approaching anything that comes next in this debacle.

While the growing possibility of a second referendum has been flung about for a number of months now, Northern Ireland will be the only region on the frontline of any possible border with the EU.

Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union in 2016. But it is Northern Ireland that will assume most of the known and unknown future risks should Brexit actually occur.

That doesn't seem right and it certainly doesn't sound just, but that's the situation as it stands; right now anyway.
High Profile Vulture Fund opponent David Hall has announced that his new housing group i-Care has rescued 23 families in Mortgage Arrears in Louth over the last year.

I-CARE, which is funded by AIB was set up a year ago to rescue families in Mortgage Arrears trouble. At the time the housing body pledged that it would resolve five hundred cases. Instead, it is poised to rescue up to six hundred Mortgage Holders which is significantly ahead of target.

The not for profit housing company is dedicated specifically to the resolution of Mortgages Arrears involving those who are in long-term distress and qualify for Social Housing Support.

Under a unique new process, a house in Mortgage Arrears is sold to i-Care at a substantial discount and i-Care then rent the house back to qualifying owners.

The home-owner agrees a thirty-year lease with i-Care where they lose their home. However, those who are renting their former home can at any point re-purchase at the cost i-Care has paid.

They cannot sell the property on, though, or borrow irresponsibly to re-purchase. The deal will be negotiated with the Irish Mortgage Holders Association (IMHO) who are experts in dealing with distressed mortgages.

Commenting on the Louth figures David Hall the CEO of i-Care said: It is vital to note that i-Care is an All-Ireland

based organization.

We are very aware of the extent of the Mortgage Arrears problem and the deep concern about vulture funds invading our countryside.

Mr Hall said: We are an Irish solution which will chase the vulture funds out of rural Ireland. We are very much open-for business, but people need to contact us at 1800-233-244 or info@icarehousing.ie.

Todays figures show there is a real alternative to vultures. We can deal with our problems on our own. They also show that whilst others talk, we do. We are acutely aware Mortgage Arrears is as much a rural as an urban crisis. This is why working with groups like MABs, i-Care operates across the countryside.

He added: In Louth, we intend to help a lot more families that are in trouble. But you must contact us. A silent priest never got a parish. We welcome difficult cases, because we know how to sort them out.

David and i-Care can be contacted at 1800-233-244 or info@icarehousing.ie. i-Care was established by the Irish Mortgage Holders Association in 2017 to buy suitable homes from banks where the mortgage holder cannot pay the mortgage and is eligible for social housing. They have negotiated deals with banks on behalf of just under 600 distressed mortgage holders.
Louth Enterprise Office are calling for applications from local people to participate in search for Irelands best young entrepreneurs. The programme is run by 31 Local Enterprise Offices with the support of the Department of Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland. The competition aims to find the best new business ideas from young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35.

Up to 450 young entrepreneurs will be invited by the LEOs to attend free regional Entrepreneur Bootcamps later in the year to help them develop their business and new venture ideas.

The competition is broken up into three categories, Best Business Idea, Best Start  Up and Best Established Business. The local winners in the Best Start-Up and Best Established Business categories at county level will receive investments of up to 15,000 each and the two runners-up will each receive up to 5,000.

Young entrepreneurs who wish to apply for the programme can fill in an online application form on the competitions website: https://www.ibye.ie/ or contact the Louth Enterprise Office for more details. The closing date for entries is the 15th of March 2019.
On Thanksgiving night at Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, shoppers hoping to get an early jump on Black Friday had their shopping disrupted by the sound of gunfire. An argument turned violent and shots were fired, leaving one man dead and injuring a young female bystander shopping with her family nearby.

Responding police met a young man with a gun in his hand. A police officer fired, killing him.

Police thought theyd encountered the shooter. Within hours, it was clear they had not, and that the man killed by police gunfire, E.J. Bradford, was not who had fired the shots inside the mall. The community reaction was swift and strong, and protests went on for days, disrupting commerce in the busiest time of the year, yet it will likely remain unclear how E.J. Bradford came to be in the mall with a gun in his hand during the melee. What is clear is that responding police officers had seconds to assess the scene and threats to innocent bystanders and themselves.

Many officers can spend their entire careers without drawing their weapons in the line of duty. Those are the fortunate ones. The nature of their work is to stand ready to put themselves between the public and the threat of danger. While many days are filled with speeding tickets and court appearances, any situation can quickly degrade.
The weevils are made and will be custom-decorated much like the Dothan Peanuts Around Town project in Dothan, and the Pelicans in Paradise in Pensacola, Fla.

Like the customized peanuts, pelicans and other symbols popular across the country these days, the boll weevils are expected to not only pay tribute to the message of the Boll Weevil Monument, but spark interest in the community, promote the businesses, organizations or causes they represent, fill public spaces with imaginative images and support the arts. The project in Dothan, for example, features about 62 peanut statues decorated as, among many others, a doctor, cowboy, postman, superhero, an angel, Uncle Sam and Elvis. A pink peanut reminds visitors of the ongoing fight against breast cancer.

Hendrix said she has four more peanut statues in the making now and another 10 have been ordered. The consistent growth of the public arts projects in Dothan and other cities gives Doerer high hopes for the Enterprise effort.
The client doesnt have to do anything else. Once the IRS gives it the go, then we do it, Evans said. Its all done here from the time they bring the W2s in; we prepare the return, set it up for e-filing, then I e-file it as soon as I can. The deadline isnt extended yet this year -- that may change because of the furlough and things, but right now, April 15 the deadline. If they extend it, we will extend. But we advise people to go ahead and get it all ready for e-filing. They wont start e-filing until the 28th of January. Right now Ive been told itll be at least 2 weeks until they get checks into their accounts.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) are holding a series of regional and national meetings to kickstart a campaign for the distribution of funding in the next programming period of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

A meeting is scheduled to take place this Friday, January 25, at 8pm in the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny.

Public Representatives

The national President of INHFA, Colm O'Donnell, said that it is of the utmost importance that public representatives, which should include members of the European Parliament and Dail deputies should be present.

Its important that the MEPs hear the issues that are important, to highlight areas in the Commission's CAP legislative document that would need to be amended by the European Parliament to ensure a fairer CAP going forward, Mr O'Donnell said.

He said that it is important that all farmers will be in attendance as the INHFA will be making a presentation on the night to inform all farmers of the current proposals in Commissioner Phil Hogans CAP legislative proposal.

Concern

Areas of particular concern to the INHFA are; the redistribution of Pillar 1 funding through the new basic income support for sustainability (BISS) and the ecoscheme, a new mandatory element in Pillar 1, to introduce climate adaption and measures.

Peatlands and Wetlands

The next round CAP was proposed and additional conditionality attached to the BISS which if implemented will leave it almost impossible to build a payment on certain land types, particularly carbon rich soil, such as, peatlands and wetlands, and all lands adjacent to water courses which are now required to adequately adapt and protect against pollution and run-offs which in the current programme were incentified measures in Pillar 2.

The INHFA are currently formulating a policy position to look at sustainability of our national suckler herd.

Options available in the CAP legislative document include the option of coupled support, sustainable grazing measures and welfare measures.

Retirement

The INHFA have also proposed to include in the CAP proposals a measure to assist generational renewal in the form of an early farm retirement scheme to incentivise the passing on of the family farm to the next generation.

While there are incentives in the proposals for young farmers, without this option, the retiring farmer have been unable to pass on the farm because of existing financial commitments, Mr O'Donnell said.

He said that The INHFA's position is that the internal convergence model continues so that by the end of the next programming period, 2027, that Ireland has reached full convergence: ,

What this means is that all farmers by 2027 will be on the same level of payment for each eligible hectare, he said.

Burden

He added that the next round of CAP must address the lack of support or lands affected by the nature directives (designated Natura 2000, lands or network) that have not acknowledged the burden attached to the designation and the state enforced costs associated with the 39 notifiable actions.

The INHFA propose further targeting of money/funding in the next round of CAP towards the areas with the highest level of natural constraint.

It would be advisable for all farmers to come in order for them to learn of how this may affect the viability of the family farm.

Speakers

Guest speakers at the event are MEPs Marian Harkin, Matt Carthy and Luke Ming Flanagan.

Deputy guest speakers include, Charlie McConalogue FF, Martin Kenny SF and Independent Thomas Pringle.

For further information and guidance go to www. inhfa.ie.
The leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy Pat the cope Gallagher has called for a marine and fishing forum to be established as part of the Irish Governments Brexit preparations.

The Fianna Fail spokesperson for marine said: I am calling on the minister to call all stakeholders within the sector together, for all political parties to be included and all those with a vested interest in the marine sector in order to best prepare for Brexit.

Brexit

Deputy Gallagher said that it is essential that as a country we have a clear and well defined plan for the entire marine sector.

Deputy Gallagher believes that Ireland is ill prepared for every eventuality in terms of the ongoing Brexit negotiations and the marine sector is particularly vulnerable should a UK crash out occur.

Regardless of the eventual outcome of Brexit the Dungloe-based public representative is going to be the greatest upheaval to ever face the Irish fishing sector according to Pat the cope Gallagher.
A new study says programs with strong organizational structures hold the key to effective early-childhood education, and lists exceptional administrators and collaborative teachers as the two most important components of those structures.

The study was conducted by researchers with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research (UChicago Consortium) and the Ounce of Prevention Fund , or Ounce, a Chicago-based nonprofit that advocates for and provides high-quality early-childhood education.

They wanted to find out what strong organizational settings looked like in early-childhood education. A research paper based on their findings was recently published in the journal Early Education and Development.



But the researchers work began several years prior when researchers from UChicago Consortium and Ounce developed a new measuring system that used surveys of teachers, staff members, and parents to determine the level of organizational supports in early-childhood education settings. This system became known as the Early Education Essentials.

Through these surveys, the researchers identified early-childhood education centers with strong and weak essential support scores. They then went into two centers with strong scores and two with weak scores to observe. Each pairing featured one school-based center and one community-based center. All of the centers were located in Chicago and in low- and working-class income neighborhoods. Their research validated what they had found in the surveys as the team was able to see how these elements worked in practice.

They found that effective instructional leaders who are strategically focused on childrens development and early achievement are the most important element to having a strongly organized program.

Debra Pacchiano is the vice president of translational research for Ounce and served as the co-principal investigator on this study.

She says the strongest early-childhood education leaders differentiate themselves from weaker leaders in one key way.

Its so easy for leaders to fall into a compliance mindset where they are consumed by a myriad of program standards, said Pacchiano. In contrast, the leaders who are very successful in creating the strongest climate and conditions for positive practice and change, these leaders have a vision that is purpose driven. Its rooted in developmental science and very importantly developmentally appropriate practice.

Pacchiano notes that these leaders tend to have just a few goals that they constantly focus on achieving through collaboration.

The researchers found that the presence of collaborative teachers to be the second most important element in a strong early-childhood education setting.

We must understand that improvement is achieved at the local level through collective responsibility and action of the people closest to the work, said Pacchiano. Its the school leader who is responsible for establishing the climate and a set of routines focused on excellence and program improvement, she said.

The other essential elements in order of importance include, involved families, a supportive environment, ambitious instruction, and parent voice, or the idea that parents feel respected by all staff and have influence over programming.

Economic Component?

The elements the study associates with weaker programssuch as a concentration on meeting requirements for compliance and teaching children letters and numbers in preparation for kindergartenstand in sharp contrast to the stronger programs that focus on students social and emotional learning first and let the more academic work fall into place behind that.

Children from low-income families tend to be concentrated in programs that focus on drilling letter and number recognition.

What we see is this heavy additional inequity emerging because of that focus, that reaction back to compliance and back to getting kids ready for kindergarten, said Pacchiano.

Future Implications

Pacchiano calls the studys findings innovative and transformative as they represent a shift away from early-childhood education improvement efforts that have focused on classroom teaching practice and classroom materials, which come with costly and time-consuming assessments.

She argues that the study shows a 20-minute survey can be just as effective as those efforts in pointing out where early learning programs are strong and where they need improvement.

Pacchiano also finds it problematic that, while the Every Student Succeeds Act requires that K-12 schools pay attention to school climate and conditions, that required focus is largely absent in early-childhood education.

What we have to grapple with in early childhood is that without a simultaneous focus on strengthening classroom practice and the organizational contexts that enable that effective practice, it is unlikely that schools and centers will ever realize meaningful and sustained improvements in the quality of ECE teaching and learning, said Pacchiano. We must focus on both.

Image by Getty

Related story:

for the latest news on policies, practices, and trends in early childhood education.


UAE extends $3 bn loan to Pakistan

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has extended a $3 billion bailout package for cash-strapped Pakistan, as part of Abu Dhabi's support to shore up dollar reserves and avert a debt payment crisis.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) chief Tariq Bajwa and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) director general Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi signed the aid package on Tuesday.

The UAE had, in December last year, announced a $ 3 billion financial assistance package to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia made a similar commitment to help Islamabad successfully overcome international payment crisis and to avoid a stringent International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.

"UAE has formalised US $3bn deposit in the State Bank of Pakistan. DG ADFD & the Governor SBP inked the agreement at #ADFD Headquarters in Abu Dhabi," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted.

He said the agreement will help Pakistan achieve financial stability and overcome economic challenges. He also noted ADFD's support over the years to stimulate Pakistan's economic growth and sustainable development.

Speaking on the occasion, Suwaidi said, "The directive to deposit $3 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan aligns with the UAE leadership's keenness to bolster Pakistan's economy, help its government achieve financial stability and overcome economic challenges, and drive comprehensive development in the country."

He added, "ADFD and the Government of Pakistan have enjoyed strong and long-standing ties dating back to 1981. The Fund's efforts have significantly contributed to improving socio-economic conditions in the country, boosting strategic growth and achieving the development priorities of the Pakistani government.

To date, ADFD has provided AED1.5 billion to fund sustainable development projects in Pakistan spanning diverse sectors, including transport, water and agriculture, healthcare, and education, according to a press release.

The UAE had committed the financial assistance during Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Qatar last month to seek investment and provision of LNG on deferred payments.

Pakistan has a 15-year contract with Qatar for supply of LNG.

The Saudi and the UAE governments have played a major role in helping Pakistan to meet around $12 billion shortfall in balance of payments in 2018-19 fiscal year, government officials said.
Fifteenth edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas opens in Varanasi

The 15th edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas got under way at the Deendayal Hastkala Sankul in Varanasi today, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating its plenary session.

Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth was the chief guest at the inaugural function of PBD 2019, which was attended by governor of Uttar Pradesh Ram Naik, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj along with UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat, union minister of state for overseas Indian affairs Retd General V K Singh and several other dignitaries graced the occasion.

In his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it is the love and affection of the diaspora for the land of their forefathers which has brought them to India. He called upon the NRI community to join hands for building a new India.

PM lauded the role of Indian diaspora in keeping alive the tradition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. He said the NRIs are not only the brand ambassadors of India but also represent its strength, capabilities and characteristics. He urged the diaspora to participate in building a New India specially in research and innovation.

PM said that with its rapid progress, India is being seen on a high pedestal across the world and is in a position to lead the global community. International Solar Alliance is one such example. Modi added that local solution and global application is our mantra. He termed International Solar Alliance as a step in the direction of One World, One Sun, One Grid.

He said India has one of the largest start-up ecosystems and the world's largest healthcare scheme to its credit. The country has moved on with great strides in `Make in India and is on course to become a global economic powerhouse

PM lamented that due to lack of will power and proper policies of the previous government, a large chunk of funds earmarked for the poor was not available for the beneficiaries. However, he said his government has plugged the loopholes in the system with the help of technology. The loot of public money has been stopped and 85 per cent of the lost money has been made available and transferred directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

PM said that now Rs5,80000 crore has been transferred directly into people's accounts over the past four and a half years.PM explained how 70 million fake names have been struck off the list of beneficiaries, which is almost equal to the population of Britain, France and, Italy.

PM said these are some of the glimpses of changes ushered in by his Government which reflect the New Confidence of a New India.

PM said the diaspora is equally important in our resolve for a New India. He added that their safety is also our concern and cited how the government took upon the challenge of evacuating more than 2 lakh Indians stranded in conflict zones.

Speaking about the welfare of Indians overseas, Modi said passport and visa rules have been simplified and e-visa had made it much easier for them to travel. All Pravasi Bharatiyas are now being linked to Passport Sewa and efforts are in to issue chip based E passport.

PM said that a Pravasi Teerth DarshanYojana is being taken up. He urged overseas Indian to invite 5 non Indian families to visit India.

Chief guest of PBD-2019, Mauritius PM, Pravind Jugnauth invoked the memories of Indian diaspora and their connect with the land of their forefathers. Speaking in Hindi and English, he said such gatherings reinforce the identity of overseas Indians as the members of one family with shared history and culture. He said, if India is unique, Indianness is universal. The Mauritian PM told that an educated and self reliant diaspora can play a major role in nation building and the Diaspora connect can help multilateralism.

He enthralled the crowd with his Bhojpuri dialect and announced that Mauritius will organise the first International Bhojpuri festival.

In her welcome address, External Affairs Minister said India today feels proud under the dynamic leadership of PM Modi. She thanked Indian diaspora for their linkages with the motherland.
World Bank steps in to defuse IL&FS Ethiopia crisis

The World Bank has asked the Ethiopian Roads Authority to look for a resolution of the IL&FS hostage crisis, to end the woes of the companys employees in Ethiopia. The project, being executed by an IL&FS joint venture in Ethiopia, is funded by the World Bank.

The Ethiopian authorities have resorted to imprisonment and salary blocking of Indian employees in Ethiopia as the companys financial troubles heightened.

We would comment that the safety and fair treatment of all those working on World Bank-financed projects is of utmost importance to us. We are closely monitoring the situation and have requested the Ethiopian Roads Authority to work to resolve the issue as soon as possible, James Robert Markland, senior transport specialist and the World Banks Task Team Leader for the project, said.

ITNL-Elsamex is a joint venture between IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd and Elsamex SA. This Indo-Spanish joint venture is engaged in road projects for the Ethiopian Roads Authority.

Of the 44 Indians working for the joint venture, 36 were called back to India and none of them has been paid for the last 6-8 months, according to Rajesh Davuluri, an IL&FS employee in Ethiopia.

Four of the remaining eight Indian employees in Ethiopia are being held hostage by the local employees since 24 November in the Bure-Lot 3 camp. The other four employees are in Addis, around 500 km away from Bure. None of them has been paid since July.

The external affairs ministry and the India embassy in Addis Ababa have accorded highest priority to resolution of the IL&FS hostage crisis and are actively pursuing the matter with the Ethiopian authorities.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA has downgraded one scheme of Aditya Birla Mutual Fund and put five other schemes of HDFC Mutual Fund and UTI Mutual Fund under rating watch due to their exposure to the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) of the troubled IL&FS.

The rating action takes into account the deterioration in the credit quality of the underlying investments of these schemes driven by their exposure to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) of IL&FS Ltd, ICRA said in a statement.

ICRA noted that the schemes have exposure to Hazaribagh Ranchi Expressway Ltd or Jharkhand Road Projects Implementation Company Ltd or Jorabat Shillong Expressway Ltd. The default risks of the various SPVs have increased given the recent communication by their management to the trustees of these schemes, seeking stoppage of future repayments based on an order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) dated 15 October 2018, the rating agency said. The NCLAT had passed an interim order on 15 October, granting a moratorium on all creditor actions against IL&FS and its group companies.

Further, in January 2019, two SPVs of IL&FS demanded a refund of the debt payment executed by them after 15 October 2018, from their trustees. Despite a ring-fenced structure and adequate cash flows to service the debt obligations, the SPVs have asked the trustees to stop debiting the escrow account towards future obligations.
Subscriber content preview

The House Affordable Care Act package has little chance as a stand-alone bill, but parts could become bargaining chips.



By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

Associated Press

WASHINGTON  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is laying out her strategy on health care and first up is improvements to Obamacare and legislation to lower prescription drug costs. Medicare for all will get hearings.

Pelosi and President Donald Trump have been sounding similar themes about the need to address the high drug costs. But her plans to broaden financial help for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are unlikely to find takers among Republicans.





. . .
Highlights:

According to tweets and reports, WhatsApp was down last night for a brief period

The messaging app is now working as usual

As if denied of all the air and water on the planet, netizens around the globe raised the roof on Twitter last night when they believed WhatsApp had stopped working on their smartphones. Though the Facebook-owned company has released no official statement about a temporary breakdown in its messaging service, reports and tweets by users suggest WhatsApp had had a brief downtime at around 11:30 PM IST last night. WhatsApp appears to be working just fine on our smartphones at the time of writing this.

Searching for the term #WhatsAppDown on Twitter yields a long list of tweets related to the temporary disruption in service. While some tweets are genuine reports of WhatsApps failure, others are witty remarks about peoples reaction to the news of its failure. Some tweets suggest WhatsApp broke down in numerous countries but continued to work in Nigeria. Tweets from India and Pakistan suggest WhatsApp never broke down at all.

Outages on messaging services and social media sites occur from time to time but dont last for very long. If anything, they give users online an opportunity to make jokes about them publicly. In fact, WhatsApp suffered an unexpected three-hour downtime just three days after it was acquired by Facebook in early 2014. In May last year WhatsApp suffered from a minor bug that made the app crash every time the user inserted a specific special character in the textbox.

WhatsApp was recently in the news for receiving an update that limits forwarding of messages. Rolled out first to Indian users in July 2018 in an attempt to curb the spread of fake news, the update is now rolling out to users globally. The latest version of WhatsApp restricts forwarding of messages and media to a maximum of five contacts. The limit was previously twenty users for global users.

Related Read: WhatsApp is globally implementing message forwarding limit of five users
Highlights:

You can now set departure or arrival time on Google Maps

The options can be found in the overflow menu



Google is working hard to make Maps a very powerful navigation tool, and with each update being rolled out to it, the app is getting better. Now, the company has started to roll out a feature to Android users that will assist in improving the planning of their trip. First spotted by Android Police, the new feature allows Maps users to schedule both arrival and departure times. The feature is available in Google Maps version 10.8.0, which is currently available in beta on the Play Store.

How does the feature work and how will it help users

To use the feature, a user needs to type the address where he/she wants to navigate to. Once done, the user should tap the overflow menu (the three dots on the top-right corner). There the user can see the Set depart & arrive time option. Tap this option and then you will get an option to set either the departure time from a location or the arrival time to a certain location. In both the cases, the Maps will tell you the time taken to travel from starting point to the destination.

There is a minute different between these two. If you set the departure time, Maps will show you an estimate of how long your route will take if you leave the originating location at the particular set time. If you set the arrival time, Maps will tell you the time when you should leave the originating location to reach the destination on the set time. Contrary to a few reports that claimed that the feature is only available for cars, Digit found out that the feature is available on two-wheelers as well. This could be an India-specific feature.

The feature sounds very interesting, though it lacks reminder or notification support, which means that if you are get too busy in your work and miss the departure time, you may end up reaching late to the destination. It is also very difficult to keep monitoring the traffic situation, so if there is an unexpected jam on the route that has been suggested by Maps, the departure time may change drastically.

Last week, a report said that Google enabled a new feature in Maps that could help commuters get to their destinations faster, safer and without getting into trouble with the law. Google Maps was seen displaying two new options, called speed limit and speed trap, to some users in the US. As the names suggest, the features show the speed limit for a particular road, at the lower left side of the map. The speed trap feature is supposed to help commuters know if there are any speed cameras along the route with the help of a small camera icon.

Related Read:

Google Maps' new Messages feature enables users to chat with businesses in app

Google Maps on Android now supports auto rickshaws for public transport users in Delhi
MoS Cannon's address at the consultative workshop on Ireland' 3rd National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325

Speech

I am delighted to welcome you all to Iveagh House today and to thank you for your attendance and participation in what I am sure will be a very productive day ahead on a very important issue for all.

The Government of Irelands policy on Women, Peace and Security has been enshrined in its two National Action Plans - the first which ran from 2011 to 2014 and the second which was launched in 2015. I am delighted to note that both National Action Plans have gone from strength to strength. As we now develop the third National Action Plan, it is important that civil society and the general public is engaged in the process and we continue that legacy now through your participation and contribution in this workshop today and through the public submission process which has taken place.

Ireland is a strong supporter of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. The agenda recognises both the particularly adverse effect of conflict on women and girls, as well as their critical role in conflict prevention, peace negotiations, peacebuilding, and governance. We know equitable, durable and sustainable peace and reconciliation cannot be built without women at the table. We believe that womens meaningful participation is key to peacebuilding, because we have lived it. Indeed, last year marked both the centenary of womens suffrage in Ireland and the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the hallmark of the peace process in Northern Ireland and one in which women played a key role in bringing about sustainable peace.

Ireland believes we have a duty to support womens participation, leadership and empowerment across the development and peacebuilding spheres. We take that commitment seriously. Our work on Women, Peace and Security involves a whole of government approach across different departments and activities, including advocacy, training, mediation, research, funding, targeted WPS policies, and sharing of experience and expertise.

The Women, Peace and Security agenda has been actively promoted within the Departments lesson-sharing on Northern Ireland, and Northern Irish womens groups continue to be funded by the Reconciliation Fund. I welcome the representatives here from Northern Ireland today and those from border counties.

From its inception the development of Irelands National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 has engaged in an inclusive whole-of-Island consultation approach which will continue into the future.

Key features of Irelands Second National Action Plan included a focus on migrants and refugees in Ireland, understanding the Ireland/Northern Ireland context and a focus on strengthening the EUs work on Women, Peace and Security. In addition, during this period the Defence Forces also created their own independent National Action Plan.

The Final Review of the second National Action Plan is currently being finalised by external consultants and early indications from the consultants are that the second National Action Plan is performing well. In fact the biggest concern emerging is that we need to do more to capture all the initiatives and work that the Government is doing both domestically and internationally in this important area.

The built-in monitoring mechanisms and the unique dual focus of including the domestic as well as the international and regional in Irelands National Action Plans have been highlighted by both the United Nations and the European Union as examples of best practice. Ireland is assisting other EU Member states in the development of their National Action Plans and in particular with enhancing the Monitoring and Evaluation mechanisms for Members States who have current plans.

I welcome participants from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Liberia and the United Nations who have joined us here today.

Across Irelands new International Development Policy, A Better World, gender will be key, as a stand-alone priority and as a cross-cutting issue. This policy commits us to prioritising the strengthening of women and girls voices in decision-making at all levels.

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda must include a focus on the structural barriers which currently limit womens political and economic empowerment and we must challenge the stereotypical behaviours and the role they play in the perpetuation of conflict and violence. If Women, Peace and Security is understood as a transformative agenda then we need to engage men as much as women.

It is essential that Ireland practices domestically what we advocate and work for abroad. In the second National Action Plan, under the pillar of Protection, Relief and Recovery, the Department of Justice and Equality, An Garda Siochana and the HSE committed to actions that relate to people living in Ireland from conflict and post conflict affected countries. It is important that women living in Irish society are protected and made aware of the applicability of the agenda to them and are brought into the drafting process. The notion of having women at the table should be enshrined at every level of the plan.

This event could not have come together without your participation and the hard work of many individuals. I would like to highlight the work of the Chair of the Oversight Group, Ms Nora Owen who will be the moderator for todays discussions, the members of the Working Group on the 3rd National Action Plan and the staff of the Conflict Resolution Unit here in the Department.

I would also like to thanks our panellists Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Dr Aisling Swaine from the London School of Economics, Dr Catriona Dowd from Concern and Bronagh Hinds for her work on the Final Review of the Second National Action Plan.

In conclusion, while the progress made in relation to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 is positive and welcome, the reality is there is much more for us all to do to ensure this National Action Plan achieves its transformative potential. As we prepare for the 20th Anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in 2020 and campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, today we should consider how to make the best possible plan on gender and conflict that Ireland can achieve.

I am delighted to have been able to join you here this morning and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you every success with your deliberations today.

Thank You.

 Previous Item | Next Item 
Oscars 2019 - Just Nominated Black Panther For The Best Picture And Twitter Is JUST NOT HAPPY About It

It is that time of the year when the world community of film lovers unite to celebrate the best in Hollywood. The Oscars 2019 is upon us and the nominations for the same has already been announced. Every year, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the Oscar nominations and especially film lovers across the world wait to see Best Picture nominations.

However, this year, things have gone a little crazy with the announcement of the Best Picture nominations. Black Panther has created history by being the first ever superhero film to be nominated for the Best Picture. While superhero lovers could have rejoiced in this victory, this decision has mostly sparked outrage as most people think despite being an amazing film, Black Panther surely does not deserve an Oscar nomination.

Read This: Oscars 2019 Predictions For The Nominees Of The Academy Awards This Year

Read This: Oscar 2019 Shortlist Categories - It Is Going To Be Marvels Year At The Oscars

Expectedly, the decision has been facing severe backlash on Twitter and Oscars have been accused of pandering. Take a look at a few angry tweets.

Honestly, Hard To Argue With That

Dark Knight Comparisons Were Bound To Happen

OK, That's Probably A Little Too Harsh

That's Quite Some Reaction

Woah...That's A Big Statement

That's A Lot Of Rage Right There
Jews represent Myanmars smallest religious group. The first were mainly merchants who came to the then Burma after the British conquest. At the end of the twentieth century, the community had less than 50 people.

Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies)  In central Yangon, on the corner of MahaBandoola and 26th Street, stands Myanmars last Synagogue.

For about 50 years, religious services have been held occasionally in the Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue (pictured) but over that same period the building has become an important tourist attraction.

Sammy Samuels, leader of Myanmars Jewish community, takes care of it, helped by his sister Khana and U Myint Lwin, a local Muslim who is responsible for the buildings upkeep.

Jews represent the smallest religious group in a country where Buddhists account for about 90 per cent of the population.

Nine members of the community live in the nation's economic capital, to which must be added about 80 foreign Jews. Another 10 Jews are thought to live Mandalay and Pathein.

The Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue was built in 1854 by an Iraqi architect to meet the religious needs of the Jews who had come to what was then called Burma following the British conquest.

It was originally built out of wood but that structure burned in a fire in the 1890s. It reopened shortly after as the grand neo-classical facaded building that can be seen today.

The first Jews in Myanmar were Baghdadi Jewish merchants from India and Iraq. Cochin Jews and the Bene Israel also came from India.

Encouraged by British authorities, they settled mainly in Rangoon (Yangon) and Mandalay, where they started a thriving trade in rice and cotton.

Success in business contributed to the growth of the Burmese Jewish population, which reached its peak in 1940 with about 3,000.

In the early twentieth century, Jewish mayors governed both Pathein and Rangoon, where Yawmingyi Street, Yoaut Street and Boyarnyut Street once made up the city's "Jewish Town".

With Burmas occupation by Japan, the Jewish population began to decline. During the Second World War, over 75 per cent of the community left the country.

The exodus continued with independence in 1948, as many Burmese Jews could no longer benefit from the British rule.

The coup de grace came with the military coup of 1962 and the subsequent economic crisis. By the end of the century, there were fewer than 50 Jews left in the whole of Myanmar.
LOGAN  A Hyrum man has admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend, who police say was delivering marijuana to him with her young daughter in tow when she died.

Stacy Robert Willis, 41, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a reduced charge of murder in the death of Merrilee Cox-Lafferty, 37, telling a judge her beating death "was an accident," the Logan Herald-Joural reported.

He originally was charged in Logan's 1st District Court with capital murder, which carries a possible death sentence if convicted.

Cox-Lafferty's body was found Sept. 14 in a shallow grave in Left Hand Fork Canyon, police said. She drove to Utah on Aug. 17 from California with her daughter and was reported missing on Aug. 21, according to detectives.

Willis told officers he had gotten into a heated argument with Cox-Lafferty, police said. He allegedly told a friend that she backed his SUV into a tree and he beat her to death after pulling her from the car.

Willis' defense attorney, Shannon Demler, said outside the courtroom Wednesday the two had previously dated and he didnt take her to the canyon intending to kill her. He took responsibility Wednesday, Demler said.

As part of an agreement with prosecutors and in exchange for his guilty plea, the state agreed not to file more charges, court documents state. Several felony charges against him were dismissed, including obstructing justice and possessing a dangerous weapon, in addition to other misdemeanor drug charges.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 11.
BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON  The parking lot at Brighton Ski Resort has been packed on a nearly daily basis this winter, particularly on weekends.

One man apparently fed up with the parking situation took his anger too far, police say, when he allegedly tried to grab an officer's gun.

The incident occurred Saturday while a Unified police officer was working a second job at Brighton Ski Resort.

"The ski resort was very busy and the parking lot was completely full. Parking lot attendants had closed the parking lot and were turning the vehicles around because the lot was full," the officer wrote in a Salt Lake County Jail report.

As Nathan Sheffield Harrison, 21, of American Fork, approached in his car he repeatedly honked his horn, according to the report.

"I approached (Harrison's) car and asked him why he was honking his horn. (Harrison) began yelling and screaming that he had a season pass to ski and that I needed to let him through," the report states.

The officer told Harrison he would have to turn around like everyone else. Instead, he "rolled up his window and drove straight toward the signs and cones blocking the road. A parking attendant stepped in front of his vehicle yelling at him to stop. (Harrison) continued to drive forward," according to the report.

The officer said he started banging on Harrison's window telling him to stop, and the parking lot attendant slapped the hood of his car.

"(Harrison) sat in his car yelling, screaming and waving his arms around," the report says.

The officer said he then opened the passenger door and yelled at the man to keep driving down the mountain.

"(He) immediately grabbed my coat and began pulling me into his vehicle. I yelled for him to exit the vehicle at which time he began pulling and swinging his arms around, hitting me multiple times," the officer wrote in the report. "(Harrison) began swinging closed fists at me and screaming something unintelligible."

The officer said he fought back in an attempt to subdue Harrison but it seemed to have no effect.

"I then felt (Harrison) reaching and grabbing the holster to my gun. I believed he was attempting to disarm me," the officer wrote.

Harrison was able to get the police officer on the ground and push his head into a snowbank, according to the report. "The snow was very deep and I was completely unable to breathe as he pushed my head into the snow.

"I could not see or breathe at this time. I covered my firearm with one hand and was able to kick (him) off of me."

The officer said he pulled his gun on Harrison at one point as he waited for backup to arrive. The man was eventually taken into custody and transported to jail in a police vehicle with a cage.

Harrison was convicted of disorderly conduct in 2016 and 2017. After his 2017 conviction, he was ordered by the court to undergo mental health treatment and anger management, according to court records.
SALT LAKE CITY  University of Utah Health and Intermountain Healthcare are donating $250,000 each over the coming year to Mountain West Mothers Milk Bank.

The nonprofit bank collects donated milk in Utah and Idaho and then sends it to Mothers Milk Bank  a program of Rocky Mountain Childrens Health Foundation  in Denver for processing and distribution.

The donations will allow Mountain West Mothers Milk Bank to move into a new, larger facility, as well as provide equipment and operational support to conduct human milk pasteurization and milk distribution in the Utah region. The organizations target is to be moved in and have pasteurization up and running by midsummer.

According to the Mountain West Mothers Milk Bank, only 30 percent of mothers with premature newborns in ICU can supply enough milk for their infant. Milk banks are there to support the other 70 percent who either cannot express any milk or express quantities too low for infant sustainability.

Milk banks screen high producing donors, collect, pasteurize and then test the milk to assure quality and safety for newborns in ICU. They then send the pasteurized milk to newborn intensive care units and special care nurseries for infants in need.

Milk banks also work to increase breastfeeding rates, advocate for nursing mothers, to increase the supply of donor milk, and as nonprofit businesses, keep costs as low as possible.
SALT LAKE CITY  The week after the news spread that the Road Home's downtown homeless shelter won't be able to meet its state-mandated deadline to close in June, state leaders issued more details about their plans to smoothly transition to a new homeless system.

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox and other homelessness leaders held a news conference Wednesday to detail the planned timeline for the systematic transformation and how they plan to carry out the transition once the three new homeless resource centers open.

"(We) will ensure this is a smooth transition, and most importantly that it's a smooth transition for those impacted the most  our homeless friends," Cox said, "and making sure that they understand the transition and they have access to the services they so desperately need."

Cox said leaders are "preparing for all scenarios and we feel like we will be ready."

With five months to go before the June 30 target date to open the three new homeless resource centers now under construction in Salt Lake City and South Salt Lake, leaders have formed five task groups responsible for specific aspects of the move, Cochrane said. They include:

Client transition  reduce the number of people both sheltered and living on the streets before June 30, as well as develop a plan to assess homeless clients and prepare them to move from the downtown shelter or into housing.

Public safety  implement a security plan for clients and recommend safety measures in and around the new resource centers.

Funders  hash out contracts and budgets with the new resource centers' three operators.

Infrastructure and technology  ensure the "safe space" fences currently blocking off a segment of Rio Grande Street downtown are removed, as well as identify how to continue using a coordinated services ID card to check clients in and out of services.

Communication  ensure those impacted by the transition and the general public are aware of the transition plan.

"Really, at the end of the day, the important thing is how do we make sure we get those clients receiving services at the downtown shelter now to the right resource centers when those doors open at each one," Preston Cochrane, executive director of Shelter the Homeless, told the Deseret News in an editorial board meeting the day before Wednesday's news conference.

People staying at the downtown shelter will relocate to either the 200-bed women's shelter at 131 E. 700 South, the 200-bed men and women's shelter at 275 Paramount Ave., or the 300-bed men's shelter at 3380 S. 1000 West in South Salt Lake. The Road Home's 300-bed Midvale family shelter will also play a role in the new system.

Although many have expressed skepticism the three new resource centers' beds will be enough to accommodate the closure of the downtown shelter, Jonathan Hardy, director of the Housing and Community Development Division for the Department of Workforce Services, said leaders expect the combined beds will be enough to house those needing shelter, since the Road Home's downtown site has averaged about 750 people a night.

They anticipate the beds, combined with at least 200 permanent supportive housing units in Salt Lake City's planning pipeline will be enough. However, if overflow is needed, Hardy said the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall across the street from the Road Home will still be an option, as well as motel vouchers if need be.

Cox acknowledged there is still "some public debate" about whether the new system will have enough beds, but said homeless leaders are confident there will be enough capacity.

"The purpose of these resource centers is to get people out of homelessness so that homelessness is brief and they're able to get into permanent supportive housing, transitional housing or just back with family and friends  that we get them the treatment they need so they can be where they need to be and out of homelessness," he said.

The transition begins as soon as next month, when the 4th Street Clinic's mobile medical clinic is slated to get up and running, according to state leaders' timeline. Next, in the spring and summer, security and food contracts are scheduled to be completed and service providers are slated to hire staff.

The women's and mixed gender homeless centers are scheduled to finish construction by May, as well as be furnished and receive occupancy permits in June, when clients are slated to be moved from the downtown shelter.

The largest shelter, the 300-bed men's shelter, is behind schedule and isn't slated to be completed until late summer  perhaps in August or early September. The move of clients won't happen until perhaps the fall, although construction crews are working overtime and weekends to make up lost ground, Cochrane said.

Meanwhile, the downtown shelter's closure will slowly phase in, Cochrane said, as the South Salt Lake center's delay won't stop clients from being able to move into the other resource centers once they open.

Still, the closure of the downtown shelter won't happen until everyone is relocated and sheltered, Cochrane said, meaning that date is currently scheduled for fall.

In the meantime, homelessness leaders will continue lobbying for more affordable-housing options, an issue that must be tackled at greater lengths if Utah is serious about preventing homelessness, Cochrane said.

Homelessness advocate Pamela Atkinson said she continues to work with stakeholders to help those experiencing homelessness who are reluctant to stay in the shelter and would rather live on the street due to a variety of reasons, whether it be because of mental illness or feeling unable to follow the rules.

"There's always been and will continue to be individuals experiencing homeless who just don't want to engage with the shelter system," she said. "And we have to respect those reasons."

Atkinson has been working to establish alternative housing options, such as single-room occupancy housing, which consists of dorm-style rooms.

Between 2019 and 2020, more permanent supportive housing units are scheduled to be completed in Salt Lake City, Hardy said.

For more details about the transition timeline, visit homelessutah.org.
SALT LAKE CITY  Heres a look at the news for Jan. 23.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney held his first town hall meeting in Utah. Heres what happened.

Utah Attorney General says human trafficking remains a major problem in the state. Read more.

An immigrant from Argentina and local entrepreneur was picked to fill Salt Lake Citys vacant council seat. Read more.

Real Salt Lake is back for the 2019 season. Read more.

Utah boy in critical condition after falling from Scheels Ferris wheel. Read more.

These three restaurants in Utah want to help you celebrate National Pie Day. Read more.

A look at our political coverage:

A look at our most-read stories:

News from the U.S. and world:
PROVO  Matt Frank Hoover had no intention of going back to prison, and every intention of having a shootout with police, according to charging documents.

"It has become clear from the evidence that the defendant was not going, did not intend to go, back to prison or to jail. His intention was to die by suicide by killing a police officer, Utah County Attorney David Leavitt said on Wednesday.

Even Hoover's ex-wife told investigators that he "talked daily about not going back to prison and getting into a shootout with the police and that they would 'go out' like the characters in (his) favorite movie, 'Natural Born Killers,'" according to charging documents.

The last post on Hoover's Facebook page was made on Jan. 5 at 11 a.m. The post, which has since been removed, was a derogatory message toward police in all capital letters, the charges state.

Less than 12 hours later, police say, Hoover exchanged gunfire with Provo police officer Joseph Shinners and killed him.

Wednesday, Hoover, 40, who was last known to reside in Fillmore but was homeless at the time of his alleged crime, was charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense. If convicted he could face the death penalty.

Hoover is also charged in 4th District Court with assault on a police officer, theft by receiving stolen property and possession of a firearm by a restricted person, all second-degree felonies; plus failing to stop for at an officer's commands and two counts of drug possession, third-degree felonies.

Prosecutors have requested Hoover be held in the Utah County Jail without bail.

On Jan. 5, officers from the Provo and Orem police departments were attempting to arrest Hoover, who was spotted in a pickup truck in the parking lot of Bed Bath and Beyond, 50 W. University Parkway in Orem.

Hoover had two warrants out for his arrest and had allegedly made threatening comments toward police that he did not want to go back to jail.

"We had heard from other people that Hoover had made threats and wanted to basically shoot it out with police officers, Orem Police Chief Gary Giles said Wednesday.

Officers surrounded Hoover's truck, approaching from both the driver's side and passenger side. Police gave Hoover commands to surrender, but he disobeyed them, according to a police affidavit filed in court.

Another officer reached into the truck through the passenger door to try and pull Hoover out. Hoover, however, "put the vehicle in reverse, and backed into a police vehicle. Hoover then put the vehicle in drive, drove forward sideswiping a storefront, then drove the vehicle (west) through a parking lot before coming to a stop," the report says.

When the vehicle stopped, Shinners, 29, tried to help the officer on the passenger side get Hoover out of the vehicle. That's when Hoover shot Shinners once on the left side of his chest, and Shinners returned fire, striking Hoover once in the abdomen, the affidavit states.

Shinners was wearing a bullet-proof vest, but the bullet hit him in an area that was not covered. At first, other officers didn't realize Shinners had been shot. But after he stumbled away from the truck and kneeled on the pavement on one knee, other officers quickly recognized something was wrong. Shinners was rushed in a police car to a local hospital where he later died from his injury.

Hoover was in a hospital for nearly two weeks before he was released and booked into the Utah County Jail.

The gun Hoover used was reported stolen in December 2017, according to the affidavit. One of Hoover's associates later told police that Hoover referred to the .380 pistol as the "Purple People Eater" and the "Purple Monster."

"They said Hoover kept the firearm in his back pocket and would not go anywhere without it. They also stated Hoover routinely made comments about not going back to prison and stated he would 'shoot it out' with police," the affidavit states. "Hoover made the comment that the next time he was pulled over by police, he was going to shoot to kill and hoped he was killed."

Orem police also engaged in a chase with Hoover on Nov. 1 but called off the pursuit due to safety concerns. It was during that incident that investigators learned from Hoover's ex-wife that "Hoover had made statements to her indicating he would rather 'suicide by cop' than go back to prison," according to the report.

Giles said Wednesday that he was pleased that Hoover would be spending time incarcerated.

"It at least gives me some satisfaction to know that while he did survive his injuries, he wont get his first choice, at least yet. He will have to suffer through the prison or the jail that he so desperately did not want to return to. We can only hope through the legal system he will get the justice that is deserved, he said.

Leavitt also had strong words concerning Hoover. However, he declined on Wednesday to say whether he would seek the death penalty, noting that his office has until 60 days after Hoover is arraigned to make that decision.

"The question of the death penalty is premature at this time, he said. "It is our intention to follow a process that is professional, that is dignified, but is very deliberate in sending a message the defendant will indeed pay for this crime, No. 1. And No. 2, our society will no longer be endangered by him.

"There are many, many, many considerations to make when deciding whether to seek the death penalty. And all of those, well take all of those in account, he continued.

In announcing formal charges, Leavitt also said that as a small way of honoring Shinners, the case would be given a number of FO-3310, which stands for Fallen Officer followed by Shinners' badge number. Furthermore, Leavitt said the case would be referred to in his office as "The officer Joseph Shinners murder case" rather than a title that made reference to Hoover.

"In the climate in which we live, in which we have criminals who take pleasure and delight in killing and injuring police officers, who gain notoriety by harming those who protect us, we have chose as a county attorneys office to give no platform to this defendant to be honored by those who would honor him, to have notoriety as this process moves forward, he said.

During his comments, Leavitt asked the community to keep Shinners' widow and child in their prayers. He also praised both Orem and Provo police for their professionalism on the night of Shinners' death, noting that the officer and Hoover were being treated in adjacent rooms at the hospital.

"I cannot say enough as the Utah County attorney of the professionalism and the dignity of law enforcement in this community. And I salute them, he said.

Hoover's initial appearance in court is scheduled for Monday.

Hoover has an extensive criminal history of mostly drug-related crimes.

In 2017, he was convicted of drug distribution. In January 2018 he was sentenced to 120 days in jail for violating his probation. During a progress report in drug court in April, Hoover was found to be noncompliant, according to state court records.

Another warrant was issued for his arrest on Oct. 5 for failing to comply with the terms of his probation on a conviction of felony joyriding.

Hoovers criminal record dates back to at least 1997. Over the past 20 years, he has been convicted of felony drug possession, attempted forgery, retail theft, failing to respond to an officers commands, theft and burglary, court records indicate.

Both Orem and Provo police said Wednesday that their focus remained on healing now that the funeral is over and charges have been filed.

"(We're) just now starting to feel the full effects of what happened to Joe a couple of weeks ago, Provo Police Capt. John Geyerman said Wednesday.

Giles said that in addition to Shinners receiving the Medal of Honor posthumously, additional awards would be handed out to other officers soon.
Editor's note: This is the 11th of a weekly series featuring highlights from a KSL investigative podcast series titled "Cold" that reports new information about the case of missing Utah woman Susan Powell.

WEST VALLEY CITY  Police investigating the 2009 disappearance of Susan Cox Powell had exhausted nearly all conventional tactics, with no success. So during 2011, they began considering more arcane approaches.

Their brainstorming sessions eventually blossomed into a coordinated, multistate operation codenamed Tsunami. Police executed elements of that plan in August of 2011.

The linchpin of Tsunami was a court-authorized wiretap on the phones of Susan Powells husband, Josh Powell, and his father, Steve Powell. Police hoped Josh Powell would inadvertently incriminate himself or provide information leading to the discovery of his wifes body.

Details of Operation Tsunami are coming to light for the first time in episode 11 of the investigative podcast series "Cold" by way of secret police planning documents and warrant affidavits.

West Valley police had previously obtained a judges permission to use what are known as pen register and trap-and-trace devices to capture information about incoming and outgoing calls on the Powells' phone lines. However, the wiretap allowed detectives to listen in on and record calls in real time, with some limitations.

Third District Judge Judith Atherton signed a warrant authorizing the wiretap on Aug. 11, 2011. Police began actively monitoring three lines on Aug. 16. The phones under monitoring were Josh Powells mobile, Steve Powells mobile and the landline at Steve Powells Washington home.

Two days later, police announced they would be holding a press conference in Ely, Nevada, on Aug. 19 regarding a new possible lead in the nearly 2-year-old investigation.

Ely, Nevada

West Valley police had recovered cached internet files referencing Ely from computers seized with a search warrant at Josh and Susan Powells West Valley home on Dec. 8, 2009. Timestamps on the files showed they had last been accessed as late as 5:27 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009, the day Susan was last seen alive.

Intelligence analysts also discovered someone, presumably Josh Powell, had viewed motel listings and online maps of the area.

Police had already conducted a secret search of hundreds of abandoned mines in Utahs western desert. They decided to take their search of abandoned mines around Ely on Aug. 19 and 20, 2011, public, in the hopes of drawing Josh Powells attention.

Yes, we wanted Josh to see this on the news and see what he had to say about it and see if it would give us some direction, retired detective Ellis Maxwell said.

Maxwell, who acted as lead investigator on the Powell case, declined to discuss specifics of the strategy, citing a concern that doing so might compromise law enforcement tactics.

Affidavits reviewed by "Cold" showed that Josh Powell did not seem concerned by the search. One reported that in a captured call, Josh Powell said law enforcement was wasting its time in Ely.

Only somebody familiar with the location of a missing individual would make such a definitive statement, a West Valley police detective wrote.

Remember me

Even as the mine search in Nevada was unfolding, police were also conducting surveillance on Josh and Steve Powell in Washington.

Susan Powells father, Chuck Cox, and the Susan Cox Powell Foundation held a honk-and-wave event for the missing woman that same weekend. The timing was no coincidence.

I was assisted in the best place to put that honk-and-wave and I didnt understand exactly why, Cox said. (Police) gave me a kind of getting warmer, getting colder approach to where I should set up.

Cox and others stood outside a Fred Meyer grocery store near the Powell family home holding banners with Susan Powells picture and the words "Remember me." Steve Powell spotted them there and stopped to confront Cox.

Then to see Steve pull up to the drive-thru and I went, Ah, I get it, Cox recalled. So, Im the bait. Thats fine with me.

The elder Powell was irate. He called to let his son know what was happening. According to one affidavit, Josh Powell then made multiple phone calls of his own.

He also solicited help from family members and a media consultant about how to look and sound more sympathetic when questioned about Susan Marie Powells disappearance, a detective wrote.

Fox 13

Police had anticipated media coverage of events surrounding Tsunami, but took additional steps to ensure any interviews granted by the Powells would prove substantial.

A draft of the wiretap warrant shows that West Valley police intended to provide "inflammatory" information about the case to a trusted member of the media. The final version of the affidavit filed with Utah's 3rd District Court does not include that line, but instead says the media would ask questions "related to information obtained by police as a result of forensic testing, without disclosing the contents of the evidence."

Planning documents show West Valley police reached an agreement with a Salt Lake television station, Fox 13. The police offered the station advance notice of the operation. In exchange, an unnamed Fox 13 editor agreed to send a reporter to Washington to confront Josh Powell. The documents indicate Fox 13 promised to publish the complete, unedited video of any interviews with Josh or Steve Powell online, allowing police access to them.

A Fox 13 reporter and videographer attended the honk-and-wave event on Aug. 20, 2011. Afterward, the station published a story on its website with the headline Raw videos: Josh Powell interviews, confrontation between Cox, Powell families. That story has since been removed.

When asked to comment on the station's apparent collaboration with police, Tim Ermish, president and general manager of KSTU, said in a statement: "In August of 2011, Fox 13 News sent a reporter to Washington state to interview Josh Powell and also cover a 'honk and wave' organized by Chuck Cox. We made the editorial decision to share the unedited video of both newsworthy events with our audience online."

Business meeting

One of the most significant pieces of the Tsunami plan involved the service of a search warrant at Steve Powells home.

The well-publicized raid on Aug. 25, 2011, had as its primary goal the seizure of Susan Powells childhood journals. Josh and Steve Powell had already published small segments online and publicly announced plans to continue doing so.

However, police also wanted to stimulate further phone conversations between Josh and Steve Powell. They believed those calls were unlikely to happen if both men were present at the house when they served the warrant.

In the days ahead of the raid, Steve Powell received an invitation to discuss a business opportunity over lunch at the Red Lobster restaurant in Kennewick, Washington. Making the drive to the Tri-Cities area would take him hours away from home.

The stratagem proved effective. Steve Powell was not at home when detectives from West Valley City and Pierce County, Washington, served the warrant. Josh Powell left the house as police conducted their search. He and his father were repeatedly in contact by phone during the hours that followed.

In one of the intercepted telephone calls, Steve Craig Powell specifically stated that he did not want to place a laptop computer he possessed into a vehicle listed in the search warrant because he did not want the computer seized, a detective later wrote in an affidavit.

Police located a cache of voyeuristic photos and videos during their search of the house. Those included many still images taken from videos of two prepubescent neighbor girls, who were filmed while undressed. Police determined Steve Powell had surreptitiously filmed the girls from his own bedroom using the zoom lens on a Hi-8 camcorder to peer through the open second floor bathroom window of the house next door.

Those images led to Steve Powells arrest on voyeurism and child pornography charges less than a month later.

Even at that time I didnt feel that Steve was involved and obviously my primary focus is Josh and trying to locate some sort of evidence to give us direction as to where Susan was, Maxwell said.

However, Operation Tsunami did not prove successful in that goal.

Subscribe for free to the KSL podcast at thecoldpodcast.com. Engage with "Cold" on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @thecoldpodcast.
BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK  Park rangers at Bryce Canyon National Park helped rescue two California hikers who got lost in the park Monday night.

When they learned of the stranded visitors, park rangers rushed to help "in spite of the federal government shutdown," and notified Garfield County Dispatch, according to a post on the Garfield County Sheriff's Office Facebook page.

A search and rescue team of 24 people was assembled and the hikers were found.

"Because of the valiant efforts of the Bryce Canyon Park Rangers and the Garfield County Search and Rescue, these two lost and stranded individuals were assisted back to safety and their lives were saved," the post said.

The California hikers were unprepared for Utah's snowstorm and became stranded, according to the post, until they were located by more prepared hikers who then called for help.

The sheriff's office urged that everyone "always be prepared for all weather conditions no matter what season."
FARMINGTON  As shutdown woes and border wall debates dominated his first town hall meeting Tuesday, Sen. Mitt Romney emphasized the need to breach political divides and for Republicans and Democrats to listen to each other.

"We've become so divided  we don't even get the same news or the same facts," Romney told a packed house at the Davis County building in Farmington.

As the government shutdown crept into its 32nd day, residents showed up to share their thoughts and concerns with Romney, R-Utah, during an oftentimes emotional meeting. Nearly 300 people filled the County Commission chambers and two overflow rooms.

Romney opened the meeting by telling the crowd he was there to listen to what they had to say.

He then asked the residents if they think he's "too tough" on President Donald Trump or "not tough enough." The majority of residents in the room raised their hands for the second option.

While topics including education and Russia were brought up, the majority of comments and questions focused on the federal government shutdown that has now topped 31 days and the contested border wall.

One woman's voice rose as she said that she worked for the state for many years and "they managed never to use the state workers as hostages."

"How is that OK now, and why over a wall that most of the people do not believe in, and what are you going to do?" the woman asked the senator.

Another woman said she and other members of her family work for the government and have been affected by the shutdown, urging Romney to help end the impasse.

Romney said his perspective has been "illuminated" over the past few weeks, agreeing "this is not the way to get things done."

Throughout the meeting, he said though he agrees with building a stronger southern border, he disagrees with the shutdown and will do what he can to help end it.

He said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has set up two votes that could potentially end the shutdown. The votes will take place on Thursday.

Of people required to work without pay during shutdown, Romney said, "Some people can't afford the gas to show up." In his opinion, "it is wrong for people to be told you have to show up to work, but we're not paying you," he said.

The senator said he will support legislation proposed by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., that would require the government to pay those who have to work during the shutdown. But he said he believes Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won't agree with the measure because "they want pressure to build."

While many commenters said they oppose the wall and the shutdown, a few emphasized the need for it and asked Romney to help get it built.

One woman expressed frustration about representatives and senators who vote to give "so much money  to these other countries in the world."

"But they won't give us money to protect our country, and I feel like if you don't have a wall, if you don't have some kind of a border, you don't have a country," the woman said, pointing to what she called an "invasion" from Honduras and drawing boos from the crowd.

Romney responded, "Sometimes we send money to countries to save the cost of having to be there ourselves.  In other places, there are humanitarian needs."

"Most people that have come here illegally came here legally in the first place. They got here legally and stayed. So either as tourists, or with a student visa, or other kinds of visas, and they stayed. And who can blame them? This is the greatest country on Earth," the senator explained.

However, he said the country needs a system that can track those who stay illegally and penalize employers if they hire them. "A fence is going to be helpful, but it doesn't begin to solve the problem of illegal immigration."

"We want them coming in (legally), and that is something I want to be able to protect," Romney said.

While the meeting focused on serious issues, there were some lighter moments. Even before the meeting began, enthusiasm was high among those waiting to hear Romney speak. Nearly an hour early, a long line of residents began forming down the hall. Most said they wanted to talk to the senator about the shutdown and wall.

"I wanted to see what Mitt Romney had to say about trying to get the country back on the right track," Greg Luker, waiting in line for the doors to the conference room to open, told the Deseret News.

"I think the direction it's going now is not good for the country at all and I want to see if he thinks the Republicans are ever going to do anything about the deficit, and whether he thinks he can reform Trump or whether he should kick him out," Luker added.

Reed Bitter said he "just wanted to hear Romney" speak. But he said the main issue concerning him during Tuesday's meeting is that the government should "build the wall, mainly," Bitter said.

At the end of the hour-long meeting, Romney was met with applause as he thanked the crowd for their questions and comments.

When asked if he was surprised by the turnout, Romney's chief of staff and campaign manager Matt Waldrip, said, "We would've loved to have had that kind of turnout during the campaign."

He said Romney's staff was pleased and excited by the crowd and its engagement.

After the meeting, one woman told the Deseret News, "I felt heard by him." She asked that she not be identified because she works for the federal government and was concerned about losing her job.

"Do I think he's on my side? No. But I think he picked up pieces of what I said and will use them, I hope," said the Ogden woman.

Contributing: Matthew Brown
Msgr. Zhuang, an elderly underground bishop, had resisted the idea of stepping aside for formerly excommunicated Msgr. Huang Bingzhang. The vice-president of the Council of Chinese bishops participated in the ceremony. Beijing's attention to handovers. "Health" reasons given as grounds for not participating in mass.

Shantou (AsiaNews) - A ceremony was held yesterday in Jieyang (Guangdong) for the withdrawal of Msgr. Peter Zhuang Jianjian (photo 1) as bishop of the diocese of Shantou - recognized by the Vatican, but not by the government - who will be replaced by Msgr. Giuseppe Huang Bingzhang (photo 2), one of the seven bishops from whom Pope Francis lifted the decree of excommunication on the occasion of the signing of the interim agreement between China and the Holy See. Msgr. Zhuang attended the ceremony, but did not concelebrate with the other bishops at the Mass that followed.

At the end of 2017, Archbishop Carlo Maria Celli had asked Msgr. Zhuang to step aside for Msgr. Huang. The elderly 88-year-old bishop appeared not to accept and had written a letter to Card. Joseph Zen of Hong Kong. Card. Zen immediately went to Rome to present a letter to Pope Francis warning him against selling out the Shantou underground Church. According to Card. Zen, the Pope did not want "another Mindszenty case", in memory of the Hungarian cardinal, unpopular with the government of Budapest, whom Pope Paul VI raised from the office of Archbishop of Esztergom.

After the signing of the agreement, Msgr. Celli returned to China last December to ensure the handover of governance.

The ceremony was presided over by Msgr. Su Yong of Zhanjiang, in the presence of other bishops of Guangdong: Msgr. Guangzhou Gan Junqiu; Msgr. Liao Hongqing of Meizhou; Msgr. Liang Jiansen of Jiangmen. But the presence that caused the greatest stir was that of Msgr. Shen Bin, who is vice-president of the Council of Chinese bishops (a body not recognized by the Holy See because it does not include underground bishops, who are not recognized by Beijing). The shock is due to the fact Msgr. Zhuang is a bishop who is not recognized by the government and does not belong to the Council of Chinese bishops. According to some observers, the presence of Msgr. Shen Bin - along with other personalities from Beijing - means that the withdrawal of the elderly prelate is considered very important by the government.

Msgr. Shen Bin gave a speech in which he explained the reasons for the withdrawal of the old pastor, then leaving the floor to Msgr. Zhuang and to Msgr. Huang.

Immediately afterwards a "thanksgiving Mass" took place, at which the newly retired bishop of Shantou did not participate. According to some faithful, the reason for his non-participation is that "the bishop said he did not feel well".

The Diocese of Shantou has more than 130,000 faithful.
SALT LAKE CITY  Although it is often thought of as a foreign issue, there is still a large problem with human trafficking in Utah, the state's top law enforcer says.

"Human trafficking, modern-day slavery, has never been in greater number than it is today," Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said during a panel discussion Tuesday. Yet "more than ever, we have new and emerging assets in the fight, new technologies, new techniques, new partnerships that give me a lot of hope."

The discussion held at the state Capitol included a police officer who is a survivor of human trafficking, Suzie Skirvin.

When she was 19 she was planning to join the Air Force and moved to California, where she met someone on Tinder and eventually agreed to move in with him. Before she moved in he took her out to a nice dinner, placed her purse with her phone, keys and wallet on his chair and asked her how she was going to pay for what he was providing.

"He said OK now youre going to be a stripper and an escort and the only thing I could say was OK," Skirvin said.

She said knowing what she does now there were things she should have spotted. His stories didn't add up, she didn't hear about his friends or family and he said he had a job but she didn't know what it was and didn't see him going to work. She also did not look at his social media pages or ask about his family.

Andrea Sherman works with victims of human trafficking at the Refugee and Immigrant Center with the Asian Association of Utah. She cited a report from Polaris that said the average age someone is led into a sex exploitation situation is 19 and labor trafficking is 23.

"If we can get the information to these people who can then be vulnerable to enter into a trafficking situation, then that is a huge way that we can also combat this," Sherman said.

Josh Caless, a supervisory special agent in the attorney general's office who works on human trafficking cases, said here in Utah human traffickers are not what we would normally think of, they are often family members of the victims.

"There is no single way that (human trafficking) looks, and I think that can sometimes be hard for people when were trying to talk about it because theres not one victim profile, theres not one trafficker profile," Sherman said.

Human trafficking, modern-day slavery, has never been in greater number than it is today.  Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes at a panel discussing human trafficking

Assistant attorney general Dan Strong said criminals turn to human trafficking because it looks different every time, it hasn't been prioritized by law enforcement and there is a huge demand.

That demand is fed by the little attention given to the issue by law enforcement, Reyes said.

"One of the reasons human trafficking has escalated exponentially is that there is so much reward and theres very little risk  there is very little chance theyll get caught, and if they do a lot of times theyre not getting prosecuted," Reyes said.

Utah has many factors that bring increased rates of trafficking, according to Sherman. These include the location at the crossroads of two major highways, many remote areas and the resort businesses.

Skirvin talked about signs and warnings she displayed that no one recognized: She wasn't free to come and leave; she was fearful and anxious; she didn't have control; and she had scripted stories she shared with her family and friends.

A law enforcement officer saw her at one point bailing her pimp out of jail and talked to fellow officers about the age difference, but did not act. He apologized to her later.

Strong advocated for a victim-centered approach when looking into situations where human trafficking could be involved. He said they have found more success building trafficking cases when victims are treated as victims.

Skirvin agreed.

"Please when you come in contact, please do not treat these people like theyre trash  give them hope, and speak to them like you would any other person even though theyre not mentally there," she said.

Doctors also see sex trafficking victims and often don't notice.

According to Dr. Kathy Franchek-Roa, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, 80 percent of survivors of sex trafficking accessed health care during their captivity. Doctors should ask about tattoos, poor dental hygiene and multiple spontaneous abortions.

"We need to be attuned to these things and letting patients know we are a safe place for them to come to tell their story and to get help," Franchek-Roa said. This is referred to as being trauma-informed.

Caless said most of the good cases he encounters come from tips. He encourages people to notice what is going on in the community and report anything suspicious.

That advice is supported by the attorney general.

"We would rather go through 10 cases and have all 10 of them not turn out to be human trafficking than miss one case, Reyes said.

Skirvin said as a police officer, even on normal calls, she asks questions and gets to know people. She noted that if people had asked her questions she may have gotten out sooner, or if not it would have brought her hope.
PARK CITY  A man who told police he was paid to sneak people across the border into the United States has been charged in Utah with human smuggling.

Rolando Gomez-Gomez, 33, was charged in Summit County's 3rd District Court on Tuesday with the third-degree felony. In addition, he was charged with giving false information to a police officer, a class C misdemeanor, and speeding, an infraction.

On Saturday, Gomez-Gomez was pulled over on I-80 for speeding, according to charging documents.

A Summit County Jail report states an officer with Homeland Security stopped Gomez-Gomez's vehicle for going eight miles over the speed limit.

The officer who made the stop noticed eight additional men inside the vehicle "attempting to hide," the charges state.

Gomez-Gomez initially gave investigators an identification card with a false name, according to charging documents. But police later learned his real name and that he "had been arrested on numerous occasions for alien smuggling," the charges state.

When asked if he knew the other people in the car with him, Gomez-Gomez said he did not, according to charging documents.

"The individuals in the vehicle were questioned and they disclosed that they had paid (Gomez-Gomez) to drive them to other states," the charges state.

Some of those other states included Nebraska and New Jersey, according to the jail report.

"Rolando also advised investigators that he has done multiple trips driving illegal aliens throughout the United States," the report states.
SALT LAKE CITY  Theres a reason Sarah Sanders doesnt appear at press briefings that much anymore.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he told Sanders not to bother with press briefings any more, blaming inaccurate media coverage as the reason why.

The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the podium much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News! Trump tweeted.

The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the podium much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press. I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019

Record: The White House has been criticized recently for not holding enough press briefings, according to Fox News. The last one occurred on Dec. 18, which was 35 days ago.

This actually marks Sanders longest stretch of not appearing at the briefings. The stretch has occurred during the government shutdown, too.

The previous record was 29 days, according to ABC News.

Not alone: Trump isnt the only one defending Sanders time away from the podium. White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said there should be fewer press briefings.

She will come back when she finds a reason to do that, because so often, so funny, because the media often tell us when Sarah Sanders stands  at this podium, Why cant we hear from the president? We need to hear more from the president, Gidley said on Americas Newsroom."

Sarah Sanders will absolutely be back to the podium  delivering the message to the American people, he said.

Not entirely gone: According to The Washington Post, Sanders and other White House officials have spoken to reporters in more-informal gaggles on the White House driveway several times since then. Most often, those sessions occur after television interviews conducted from the White House grounds.
SALT LAKE CITY  Thanks to our favorite national council  that's the American Pie Council  we've been officially celebrating the beloved baked dessert for more than 30 years.

The glorious occasion that is National Pie Day falls on Jan. 23, but honoring pie doesn't have to stop there  fortunately, there are several food holidays like National Pizza Pie Day on Feb. 9 and Pi Day on March 14 to ensure it doesn't.

So this is really just the beginning of the pie celebration for 2019. To get started, here are three places in Utah offering discounted pies on Wednesday, Jan. 23.

Marie Callender's: Marie Callenders is extending the celebration of National Pie Day to an entire month, offering whole pies to-go starting at $7.99 through Feb. 28, according to a news release. Although this sale excludes cheesecakes, seasonal fresh fruit pies and promotional pies, dessert enthusiasts still get to choose from a variety of more than 20 pies, ranging from apple to banana cream to chocolate satin. For a full list of available pies, visit mariecallenders.com.

The pie eating doesn't have to be limited to just Wednesdays. Marie Callender's also does Free Pie Mondays, where customers can get a slice of free pie with the purchase of an entree.

Village Inn: For Village Inn, celebrating pie happens on a weekly basis with free pie Wednesdays. The deal is available all day long, so head over and claim your slice, ranging from cherry to chocolate peanut butter cup to lemon.

Penny Anns Cafe: Penny Anns Cafe is celebrating National Pie Day by offering pie lovers a slice of pie for $2  discounted from the regular price of $3.79. Pie options include chocolate mousse, key lime, strawberry cream and coconut cream. For a list of additional flavors, visit pennyannscafe.com. While the deal should apply to all three Utah locations  we spoke with the one in Salt Lake City  call ahead and double-check with your specific location.

And for those willing to go the extra mile, you can get a free slice of pie for signing up and joining the Penny Anns Cafe Club, which can be done through the restaurants website.
SALT LAKE CITY  Police departments across Salt Lake County responded to numerous threats Tuesday against day cares and preschools.

But Salt Lake City police said there was no evidence the threats are credible.

Numerous threatening calls were placed Tuesday starting about noon.

"A male is calling schools stating he is in the parking lot and threatening violence on the school," according to Salt Lake police.

The threats had officers from Salt Lake City, Unified and Cottonwood Heights police departments scrambling to different locations. But all the threats have turned out not to be real, according to police.

"SLCPD does not have any information at this time that would make us think that these threats are credible," Salt Lake police said in a prepared statement Tuesday afternoon.

Students at several schools were ordered to shelter in place as officers responded to the threats. William Penn Elementary, Evergreen Junior High, Roosevelt Elementary, Churchill Junior High and Millcreek Elementary were all ordered to shelter in place, according to Granite School District.

In the Salt Lake School District, the Open Classroom, Liberty Elementary, Wasatch Elementary, and Ensign Elementary were all placed on lockdown, according to a letter sent to parents and employees of the school district.

In the letter, Superintendent Lexi Cunningham said school district employees "helped ensure the safety of our students. All of our schools regularly conduct emergency drills so they are prepared for situations just like this."

Unified police also issued a brief statement, saying that officers were "actively checking schools in the Millcreek area to ensure children's safety. We do not have any information at this time that would make us think that these threats are credible."

As of Tuesday, no arrests had been made.

This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.
The global news media continue to devote rapt attention to the at times acrimonious, occasionally friendly, interchange between two flamboyant leaders, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. Center stage right now is the announcement that they will meet again in February.

Meanwhile, the effective disciplined leadership of low-key President Moon Jae-in of South Korea often is overlooked. The associated sustained positive contributions of South Korea to Asian and broader international relations likewise are not the stuff of blaring headlines or intense overwrought TV personalities.

However, at the start of 2019 that situation is changing, at least to a degree. The influential Asia News Network has named President Moon Person of the Year.

South Koreas chief executive quite rightly is praised for serving as initiator, broker and mediator between the U.S. and North Korea, which last year brought the two national leaders together. This accomplishment is too easily oversimplified and minimized.

At the end of 2017, Trump and Kim were trading crude and at times personal insults via the global media. Moons work behind the scenes not only restrained but also reversed that sad situation.

Moon insisted on meeting with the North Korea delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics, held last February in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The group included Kims sister, an influential figure in the regime.

New President Moon Jae-in was sworn in on May 10, 2017, right after the voters ballots were counted following a special presidential election. He received approximately 41 percent of the vote, putting him 17 percent ahead of the nearest rival. From the very start, he emphasized relations with North Korea

President Moon took office in a time of tension and uncertainty on both sides of the 38th Parallel, the border that divides Korea into north and south. South Korea had just experienced the ordeal of impeachment and removal from office of a sitting president, Park Geun-hye.

During Moons youth, he was arrested and imprisoned because of activism against the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee. Reflecting that experience, he decided to pursue a career as a human rights lawyer. He also served in the Republic of Korea army special forces, and saw action in the Demilitarized Zone along the 38th Parallel.

Moon was chief of staff to President Roh Moo-hyun. He finished a close second to Park Geun-hye in the 2012 presidential election.

North Korea greeted the inauguration of a new president in South Korea by launching yet another long-range missile four days later. The new Hwasong-12 missile reached a greater height than any of the other six tested that year. The missile reportedly could reach as far as Guam, where the U.S. maintains military facilities, according to aerospace engineer John Schilling of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies.

Yet North Korea remains in desperate economic condition. The willingness of the population of that nation to endure destitution over the long term, while apparently still supporting the ruling regime, is remarkable. Current United Nations economic sanctions, however, are clearly hurting those at the top. There are tangible reasons to pursue rapprochement with the South  and the U.S.

Leaders in Washington, Beijing and elsewhere should encourage and reinforce Moons skillful initiatives. Seoul has the high ground not only in moral terms, but also in hard realities of economic and military strength. Above all, here the United States should let South Korea lead.
SOUTH SALT LAKE  The South Salt Lake Arts Council and Utah Arts Alliance are looking for mural artists to participate in the second annual Mural Fest.

Artists will be selected to receive one of nine commissions to paint an original mural on an exterior wall of properties located within the designated 2019 Mural Fest area. The Arts Council will award a stipend of up to $3,000 to each artist or team of artists depending on location and size of wall.

Assigned locations of murals will be shared with selected artists once submissions are juried and artists are paired with property owners.

The call is open to all artists, both professional or student, and artist teams are acceptable. Artists who have experience creating works of art for local businesses are encouraged to apply.

Artists will agree to begin their project by April 29 and be ready for the Mural Fest celebration on May 11.

Applications, which can be found at sslarts.org, are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25.
Francis himself made the announcement on the plane taking him to Panama for the 34th World Youth Day. Visiting Iraq is too dangerous at present.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis will travel to Japan in November. Francis himself made the announcement in an answer to a Japanese reporter on the plane taking him to Panama for the 34th World Youth Day.

Responding to questions by several journalist, acting Vatican Press Office director Alessandro Gisotti said that The Apostolic Journey to Japan is under study. As the Holy Father already said on other occasions, he really wishes to visit that country.

Regarding a possible visit to Iraq, as the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin already said on his return from that country last December, the conditions do not exist at present for a visit by the Holy Father.

Francis has expressed a desire to visit Iraq, but local bishops told him that the country is not safe.

Another reporter gave the Pope the drawing of a young migrant who died at sea with his report card sewn in his clothes. The Pope was moved, adding that he was going to talk about it upon his return.

Answering a question about the walls built to stop migrants in Tijuana, on the border between Mexico and the United States, the pontiff said to read the editorial in the Osservatore Romano titled I Muri della Paura (The walls of fear).

When the journalist told the Holy Father that in Tijuana, he saw a wall that reaches all the way to the ocean, Francis responded calling it madness, adding that "fear makes us crazy."

The Pope left Rome this morning at 9.30 am (local time) and is scheduled to arrive in Panama at 4.30 pm (local time), 9.30 pm GMT.
Letter to the Editor: Disappointed in coverage of March for Life
Chris Freind is an independent columnist and commentator. His print column appears every Wednesday. He can be reached at CF@FFZMedia.com
Courts

Philly woman gets 2 years probation for threatening to stab cop
by Purushottam Nayak

Four priests were ordained yesterday in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, the same that was torched on Christmas Eve of 2007, a prelude to the wave of anti-Christian persecution of August 2008. The ordination ceremony was marred by a serious car accident in which 18 relatives and friends of the new priests died.

Bamunigam (AsiaNews)  Four priests have been ordained in the Indian state of Odisha (Orissa): Fr Dibyaranjan Digal, Fr Deepak Uthansingh, Fr Ananta Uthansingh and Fr Akhya Senapati; deacons since 2017.

The ceremony took place yesterday in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Bamunigam, which was set on fire by Hindu radicals on Christmas Eve in 2007. The burning of the church set the stage for the pogroms carried out by extremists in August 2008.

At least 3,000 Catholics attended the service, concelebrated by 50 priests. The church is part of the archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhunaneswar, in the district of Kandhamal, one of the most affected by sectarian violence against Christians.

The joy of the celebration was marred however by a serious car accident involving several relatives of the priests on their way to the ordination.

The driver of the bus carrying friends and family lost control of the vehicle, which then ended up in a ravine. Some 18 people were killed and more than 40 wounded, but the number of deaths is destined to rise given the severity of the injuries sustained by some.

The news of the incident spread just before the start of the celebration and shocked everyone present. Mgr John Barwa, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, turned his thoughts to the victims: Life is like two sides of the same coin. It is both of sadness and happiness. We all depend on God for everything."

Speaking after his ordination, Fr Dibyaranjan Digal said My first mass will be for the dear and near ones who lost their lives. It is God who called me to offer Mass for my beloved people who could not witness my ordination ceremony.

The priest is one of more than 56,000 Christians forced to flee in 2008. To save himself, he spent several weeks in the jungle.

The persecution towards my people did not shake my call to the priesthood but rather strengthened me, he said.

Lastly, his mother Agnes noted: Today I thank God who called my son to be an instrument of His Kingdom. It is God who saved my son from anti-Christian violence.
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The Delhi High Court made it clear to the AAP government on Tuesday that the risks of administering measles and rubella vaccine have to be indicated in its advertisements on the vaccination drive to be held in schools, and said express consent of the parent is necessary to vaccinate a child.

"Contra indications are necessary for consent, whether positive or negative. You have to tell people about the risks," Justice Vibhu Bakhru said, adding that the "consent has to be express" and not opt-out.

The observations by the court came after the Delhi government, represented by standing counsel Ramesh Singh, said there was no need to indicate contra-indications or risks of the vaccine as it could discourage people and added that it would be administered to children unless parents state in writing that they are opting out.

The Delhi government's submissions were made in a proposed draft order placed before the court which was hearing pleas on behalf of parents challenging the Directorate of Education's December 12, 2018 notification which said that express consent was not required to administer the vaccine.

The notification had stated that "measles and rubella (MR) vaccination campaign would be held, and all children...will be provided an additional dose of MR vaccine, regardless of previous vaccination status or history of measles/rubella like illness".

The court on January 15 this year had deferred the vaccination drive till further orders.

On Monday it had asked the DoE and the parents to come with an agreed upon draft order which can be incorporated by the court in its final decision.

However, during the arguments on Tuesday, Delhi government differed with the parents on the issue of indicating the risks in the advertisements and on the manner of consent.

The parents, represented by advocates Raj Shekhar Rao, Diya Kapur and Shyel Trehan, told the court that "there can be nothing like opt-out consent. There has to be express consent. It is a matter of bodily integrity. You cannot touch someone's body without their consent."

They have also said there was no clarity whether the vaccine to be used as a new one, as stated in the advertised policy or an older version as mentioned in the handbook given to teachers.

"If it is an older one, then children may not need it as they may have been already vaccinated," Rao said.

In response to this, DoE told the court that the vaccine to be used has been there for 40 years.

It also said that opt-out consent was necessary as a target of 95 per cent coverage is necessary under the policy or the campaign will go and added that the Union government has launched the vaccination drive across the country to eliminate the measles and rubella disease from India.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, the court said the idea behind the campaign was to educate people about the problems associated with the disease and not to tell them when the vaccination would commence.

The court also said that instead of tentative dates, the DoE will have to give fixed dates as to when the vaccination would be carried out in each school and forms can be circulated for obtaining the consent of parents.

With the observations, the court said it will pass a detailed order in the matter.
The government on Wednesday approved a pact, which New Delhi is likely to ink with Kuwait to set a framework for recruitment of people, particularly women, from India to work as domestic workers in Kuwait.

The proposed India-Kuwait Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was approved in a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The MoU will provide a structured framework for cooperation between India and Kuwait on matters related to domestic workers. It will also strengthen the safeguards for domestic workers, including female workers, from India employed in Kuwait. The MoU is initially valid for a period of five years and incorporates provision for automatic renewal, official sources said.

Nearly 3,00,000 Indian domestic workers are employed in Kuwait. They include around 90,000 women.

The proposed pact also provides for establishment of a joint committee with representatives from both India and Kuwait for its implementation.
Islamabad: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs health was at risk and he should be immediately hospitalised, his doctor said on Wednesday.

Nawaz Sharifs personal physician, Dr Adnan Khan, said the deposed premiers health could be at risk if he was not hospitalised.

The former premiers doctor said the recommendations of the medical board comprising doctors from Allama Iqbal Medical College and Jinnah Hospital were received on Tuesday, in which the medical board had recommended hospitalising him due to his condition. Not hospitalising the former premier has posed a risk to his health, he said.

A day after reports emerged that Sharif is unwell, the former prime minister was shifted to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) in Lahore on Tuesday amid strict security.

In a tweet on Monday, Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of the former premier, said her father, who remains incarcerated at Lahores Kot Lakhpat prison, was unwell but the family was being kept in the dark about his medical condition. Her statement came two days after she criticised the authorities for not releasing medical reports of her father.

The ousted premier has been behind the bars since December 24, 2018.
Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black with fur-trimmed coat collars.(@NYPDDetectives/Twitter)

New York: Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black with fur-trimmed coat collars.

They were tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape.

My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River, Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said.

After their deaths, a police official appeared to confirm that the sisters had applied for asylum, but did not provide further detail.

Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabias US embassy in Washington, tweeted that Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in NY), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false.

They had run away several times from their familys home in Virginia, where they had not lived since the end of 2017.

The sisters had been placed in a shelter but left Virginia in August and set out for New York. There, they stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card, according to an NYPD spokesman quoted by US media.

A witness reportedly saw the two young women early on October 24 on a playground near the Hudson, where they appeared to be praying.

US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is one of the worlds most restrictive countries for women, a situation highlighted this month by the case of Rahaf Mohammed.

The teenager fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse from her family in the kingdom, and received asylum in Canada.
The two leaders are on opposite sides of the conflict.

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold Syria talks in Moscow on Wednesday, with Turkey saying they will focus on Ankara's so-called "security zone" in northern Syria.

The two leaders are on opposite sides of the conflict: Russia provides critical support to the Syrian government, while Turkey has backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Despite this, they have worked closely to find a political solution to the seven-year conflict. Russia and Turkey have agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria following US President Donald Trump's shock announcement on pulling 2,000 American troops out of Syria last month.

In a speech on Monday, Erdogan said he would discuss with Putin the creation of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, suggested by Trump. The US-allied Kurds, who control much of northern Syria, have rejected the idea, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control.

Moscow, a long time supporter of Assad, is likely to oppose the plan, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week saying Damascus must take control of the country's north. Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the US pullout has led to another key step in Assad's Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.

Kurdish forces who were left exposed by Trump's pledge to withdraw US troops have asked the Syrian regime for help to face a threatened Turkish offensive. The Kremlin hailed the entry by Syrian forces into the key northern city of Manbij for the first time in six years after Kurds opened the gates.

Moscow plans to organise a three-way summit with Turkey and Iran at the beginning of this year as part of the Astana peace process, launched by the three countries in 2017. "So far, no date has been set but after negotiations with Erdogan, we will begin preparations for the trilateral summit," Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters last week.

The last meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani took place in Iran in September last year with the fate of the rebel-held Idlib province dominating the agenda.

Ties between Russia and Turkey plunged to their lowest level in years in November 2015 when Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane over Syria.

But after a reconciliation deal in 2016, relations have recovered with remarkable speed with Putin and Erdogan cooperating closely over Syria, Turkey buying Russian-made air defence systems and Russia building Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
A video grab by the Kerch.fm web portal shows the two vessels, the Maestro and the Candiy, on fire near the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, in Kerch, Crimea, on Monday. (Photo: AP)

Moscow: Two ships carrying Indian, Turkish and Libyan crew members caught fire in the Kerch Strait separating Crimea from Russia, killing at least 14 sailors, according to media reports.

The fire broke out on Monday off Russias territorial waters. Both vessels were flying Tanzanian flags. One of them was a liquefied natural gas carrier and another one was a tanker. The fire broke out as the two ships were transferring fuel from one to the other.

One of the ships, the Candiy, had a 17-member crew, including nine Turkish citizens and eight Indian nationals.

The other one, the Maestro, had 15-member crew, including seven Turkish nationals, seven Indian citizens and an intern from Libya, Russian news agency Tass quoted maritime authority as saying.

Fourteen people were killed in the accident, Crimeas head Sergei Aksyonov told reporters on Tuesday.

I cannot say anything about the cause of the fire. We currently have information about 14 dead sailors. Other sailors have not reached hospitals yet. Kerch hospitals are expecting to receive them, they will get medical assistance, he said.

The minister did not specify the nationalities of persons killed in the accident.

As many as 12 people have been rescued, while six are still missing. Search and rescue efforts are underway.

Presumably, an explosion occurred (on one of the vessels). Then the fire spread to another vessel. A rescue tug is en route, said a spokesman for the Russian Maritime Agency.

Some three dozen sailors managed to escape the burning ships by jumping off the vessels.
Hence the government will need to provide cash support in the range of Rs 10,000-12,000 per annum to make it completely cash neutral, the report noted.

New Delhi: The government should opt for the unconditional cash transfer to farmers to alleviate agrarian distress rather than Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme, the SBI said in a report on Tuesday.

At present, it may not be feasible to initiate Rythu Bandhu Scheme on national level as land data in several states, including Jharkhand, Bihar, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu are yet to be digitised, the SBI said in its Ecowrap report. Hence, it is best to initiate unconditional cash transfer scheme as it will be more equitable (on a per farmer basis) with a meaningful impact and once the problems are ironed out in terms of proper tenancy laws, then make it conditional, it said.

The study said that there have been reports saying that government is planning to provide direct cash support to the farmers in lieu of various farm level subsidies/support. In Budget, the government had estimated agriculture subsidy (plus support) at Rs 98,100 crore (crop insurance: Rs 13,000 crore, interest subsidy: Rs 15,000 crore and fertiliser subsidy: Rs 70,100 crore), it said.

Against this background, it estimated an approximate amount that farmers are getting presently and how much would they benefit on a net basis from such cash transfer scheme.

Our calculation suggests that if a farmer is availing one or all the three modes of subsidy/supports from the government, then he/she will receive minimum of Rs 5,335 to maximum Rs 10,162 per annum as cash support, it said.

Hence the government will need to provide cash support in the range of Rs 10,000-12,000 per annum to make it completely cash neutral, the report noted.

Tenant farmers, who constitute a significant proportion of total farmers in India, will possibly be excluded under the proposed scheme, the report noted.
The military overthrew the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014. The decree establishes the official start of the election campaign. Challenging parties linked to the junta or the still influential Shinawatra family.

Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The king of Thailand has issued a royal decree that establishes the first general elections after the 2014 coup d'etat. The Royal Palace issued the provision, published in the Royal Gazette, granting the electoral Commission five days to announce the date of the vote.

The elections will be the first since the military overthrew the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra in May five years ago. Since then, the junta has rewritten the constitution and exerted strict control over dissent, conferring government mandates to main allies.

The military government had previously stated that the elections would be held no later than the end of February. According to the observers, the late signature of the 66 year old sovereign Maha Vajiralongkorn can mean that they will be postponed for several weeks. The decree establishes the official start of the election campaign, although a number of new parties - including some aligned to the military, others to the still influential Shinawatra family - are already engaged in meetings and recruitment activities.

Analysts claim that the army is planning a return to the government through the Phalang Pracharat party and that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha aims at the role of civil leader after the elections. The political party is already conducting a recruitment campaign in the traditional rural base of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, also overthrown by a previous coup in 2006.

Many wonder whether Pheu Thai, a Shinawatra-related party, can still count on the loyalty of its electoral strongholds even without the guidance of the two siblings. Both remain in exile to avoid trails that they say are politically motivated.
Washington: Kamala Harris, the first Indian-origin Senator, has raised a whopping more than $1 million funds within 24 hours after announcing her presidential bid for 2020, according to a media report.

Harris, 54, officially launched her campaign for the US presidential election in 2020 to take on President Donald Trump on Monday, saying she was honoured to announce her bid on a day when Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr who sought inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi.

In the 24 hours after Harris made the announcement on ABC's Good Morning America, 38,000 donors gave $1.5 million to her campaign, the Fox News reported.

Thanks to you, we surpassed $1.5 million in grassroots contributions in under 24 hours, Harris tweeted.

In fact, within the first 12 hours alone, Harris' campaign registered $1 million in funding, and the average donation was around $37,the report said mentioning the Wall Street Journal.

Harris also raised more than $110,000 from merchandise, which includes a tote bag, a T-shirt featuring her Kamala Harris for the people slogan and a hat, according to the Journal. A vocal critic of President Donald Trump, Harris is the fourth Democrat to join the battle for the party's nomination in the 2020 election.

The Indian-American community leaders said Harris  who is of mixed parental heritage from India and the Caribbean  has a fair and clear shot at the White House.  PTI
US and Beijing imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion worth of goods in two-way trade last year. (File Photo)

Washington: The White House on Tuesday said high-level trade talks with Beijing were proceeding uninterrupted, quickly rebutting media reports that progress toward resolving their trade war had faltered.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is to meet his US counterparts in Washington next week as the two sides work to resolve their trade disagreements by March 1, when a 90-day truce is due to expire, allowing US import duties on Chinese goods to increase sharply.

Washington and Beijing imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on more than $360 billion worth of goods in two-way trade last year.

Trump initiated the trade war because of complaints over unfair Chinese trade practices -- concerns shared by the European Union, Japan and others.

The Financial Times and CNBC both reported Tuesday afternoon that Washington had canceled a preliminary meeting set for this week ahead of Liu's visit.

American officials had reportedly cited a lack of progress on the most difficult issues in the trade dispute -- including allegedly forced technology transfers and far-reaching structural reforms to China's economy.

The reports sent Wall Street even further into the red. US stocks had already opened lower on downgraded forecasts for global economic growth.

But, shortly before the close of trading in New York, top White House economic aide Larry Kudlow flatly denied the reports during an appearance on CNBC.

"With respect, the story is not true," Kudlow said.

"There was never a planned meeting that was canceled."

Stock prices recovered some of their losses following his remarks but still finished substantially lower for the day.

Kudlow said the United States continued to press the Chinese on the subject of intellectual property and state intervention in markets, among other matters.

He also said American officials were insisting that any agreement have teeth to ensure Beijing's compliance.

"Enforcement is absolutely crucial to the success of these talks," Kudlow said.

"Will it be solved at the end of the month? I don't know. I wouldn't dare predict and want to make sure people understand how important that is to put it on the table."

If both sides fail to reach a resolution to the trade war, US duty rates on $200 billion in Chinese goods are due to rise to 25 percent from their current 10 percent, a prospect that has shaken markets in recent months.

Last year, the Chinese economy posted its slowest annual growth in nearly three decades, according to official figures published Monday in Beijing, underscoring concerns the trade conflict with the United States could sap the strength of the world's second-largest economy and harm global growth in the process.
Caracas: Venezuela's vice president accused her US counterpart of 'openly calling for a coup d'etat' ahead of a mass street protest announced by the opposition for Wednesday.

''Yankee go home! We won't let them interfere in the affairs of the homeland," Delcy Rodriguez said in televised remarks.

Her comments came in reaction to American Vice President Mike Pence, who had earlier posted a video on Twitter in which he branded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro "a dictator with no legitimate claim to power."

"As the good people of Venezuela make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf of the American people, we say: estamos con ustedes. We are with you," Pence tweeted.

Venezuela's Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez accused Pence of having ordered "terrorists" to carry out acts of violence during Wednesday's protest.

The row came 24 hours after a group of soldiers rose up against Maduro at a command post in the north of Caracas and published a video on social media calling for the public to come out and support them.

They surrendered after the command post was surrounded by police and military units, with 27 people arrested. But their voices were heard, according to the non-governmental Social Conflict Observatory, which said on Tuesday that anti-Maduro protests were recorded in at least 30 different locations around the capital.

Jorge Rodriguez said the mutinous soldiers had confessed to handing out some of the weapons they stole on Monday from a command depot to opposition activists "so they can carry out acts of violence, (cause) injuries and deaths during the protest."

And he said they did so as they were following Pence's orders. Most of the protests took place in socially disadvantaged areas and some involved the blocking of streets and burning of garbage. Police used tear gas to disperse some of the crowds, including in the northern Cotiza neighborhood where the group of soldiers made their stand.

The unrest, which lasted in some places until Tuesday morning, was a small taste of what may come on Wednesday when protesters are set to mobilize behind National Assembly president Juan Guaido. The opposition deputy has branded Maduro a "usurper" and wants to establish a transitional government leading to elections.
Once a request has been submitted, the Canadian justice ministry has 30 days to begin official extradition proceedings. (File Photo)

Washington: The United States confirmed on Wednesday that it plans to seek the extradition of Chinese telecom giant Huawei's finance director, who was detained in Canada on a US request, before a January 30 deadline.

"We will continue to pursue the extradition of defendant Ms. Meng Wanzhou, and will meet all deadlines set by the US/Canada Extradition Treaty," said Justice Department spokesperson Marc Raimondi.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested at Vancouver airport on December 1 at the request of the United States, which says she violated American sanctions on Iran.

She has since been freed on Can 10 million dollars (USD 7.5 million) bail and is awaiting a hearing on her extradition. According to the agreement between the two countries, the United States has 60 days after an arrest made at its request in Canada to formalize an extradition request.

Once a request has been submitted, the Canadian justice ministry has 30 days to begin official extradition proceedings, though the process can take months or years. Meng's arrest has sparked an escalating diplomatic crisis between Ottawa and Beijing.

Two Canadians have since been detained in China on national security grounds, in what is thought to be retaliation for the arrest. A Chinese court also this month sentenced a Canadian man to death for drug trafficking following a retrial, a drastic increase of his previous 15-year prison sentence.
Among the commissions recommendations was the establishment of an international governance system for digital labor platforms to ensure technology supports, rather than supplants, decent work.

Governments must ensure the global economy keeps providing decent jobs - and not just for robots, a global commission set up by the International Labour Organization said on Tuesday.

The Global Commission on the Future of Work, co-chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, said in a report that governments, employers and unions needed to adapt to revolutionary changes in the world of work.

In short, the future of our societies depends on how we deal with the challenges and opportunities related to the world of work, we need to reorient policies as well as actions to deliver a human-centred agenda, which is what this report basically focuses on, Ramaphosa told a news conference.

Among the commissions recommendations was the establishment of an international governance system for digital labor platforms to ensure technology supports, rather than supplants, decent work.

To illustrate that such an international labor code was workable, Ramaphosa and ILO Director-General Guy Ryder cited the ILOs 2006 Maritime Labour Convention, which set minimum working and living standards for all seafarers working on ships flying the flags of ratifying countries.

The commission, which deliberated for 18 months, proposed other far-reaching reforms to promote decent work, including ending the corporate focus on quarterly financial reporting, investment in lifelong learning and using broader metrics than simple GDP to measure success.

Ryder said the commission had also vigorously discussed the merits of governments providing a universal basic income, but decided against recommending such a step directly.

He said one of the questions raised most often about the future of work is: Will my job be lost to a robot? but the commission preferred not to take a binary view of technology in which its us or them.

The future of employment is not going to be determined alone by the autonomous forward march of technology and technologies. It depends on policy, Ryder said.

Depending on policy choices, technology could create positive outcomes for jobs and societies, or lead to what Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel had called 19th century-style digital day laborers, he said.

We have to make the right policy choices to put humans in control of the forward application of technology.

Ramaphosa said robots had cut worker numbers in South Africas car industry, but he wanted to see jobs in associated industries mushrooming, which he said could be a win-win situation.

We are now involved in a real, serious conversation with the automakers about how best we can limit the loss of jobs that continues to ensue as a result of robots being deployed.

More than three million industrial robots will be in use in factories around the world by 2020, according to the International Federation of Robotics.

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The worlds biggest producer of telecommunications equipment faces scrutiny over its relationship with Beijing and US-led allegations that its devices could be used for spying.

Chinas Huawei Technologies wants a quick resolution of the case of its former finance chief Meng Wanzhou, who is accused of violating US sanctions on Iran and has been detained in Canada, its chairman said on Tuesday.

The United States has told Canada it will request Mengs extradition, but has not said when it will do so, David MacNaughton, Canadas ambassador to the US, said in a Globe and Mail interview on Monday.

We are following this issue closely but havent had direct contact with the authorities. We will call for a quick conclusion for Ms. Meng so that Ms. Meng can have her personal freedom, Chairman Liang Hua told media on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

Weng, who is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Canada on Dec. 1 and released on bail last month. The deadline for filing an extradition request is Jan. 30 and Meng is due to appear in court in Vancouver on Feb. 6.

The worlds biggest producer of telecommunications equipment faces scrutiny over its relationship with Beijing and US-led allegations that its devices could be used for spying.

Huawei, which has repeatedly rejected such allegations, will allow foreign officials to visit its labs, Liang, who was appointed acting chief financial officer in December, said.

We operate our business globally, and in every country we fully comply with local laws and regulations, Liang said, adding the company welcomed requests to see the tech giants product development business as well as other units.

Mengs arrest soured relations between China and Canada, with Beijing detaining two Canadians and sentencing to death another who was previously found guilty of drug smuggling.

The detention has also damaged already tense Chinese relations with the United States, with President Donald Trump telling Reuters in December he would intervene in the US Justice Department case if it would serve national security interests or help close a trade deal with China.

MEDIA BLITZ

Liangs appearance in Davos is part of a public relations blitz by the Chinese tech giant as it seeks to ease concern among Western nations.

We dont see any evidence ... to say that Huawei is not safe. Cybersecurity is a common challenge. It is not an issue about any single company, he said.

Polish authorities arrested a Huawei executive on spying allegations this month. While the Chinese national, who was sacked, denied the allegations, Huawei is preparing for potential fallout from its biggest Western markets.

It been shut out of Australia and New Zealands markets for fifth-generation (5G) mobile telecoms equipment, while Trump may ban all Huawei equipment with an executive order.

Its customers choice if they dont choose Huawei, and for the customers who choose us, we will focus on providing better services, Liang said.

Liang said cybersecurity and privacy protection are a top priority, adding that Huawei will invest $2 billion in the next five years on its software engineering capability and product reliability.

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The campaign has already garnered USD 87,680 of its USD 125,000 goal.

Amidst the US government shutdown, federal employees and their supporters have been setting up GoFundMe campaigns to get help with expenses. Now, the crowdfunding site has decided to launch its own campaign to help the workers.

GoFundMe has launched Government Shutdown Direct Relief Fund to help the government employees affected by the partial shutdown, Cnet reported.

The campaign has already garnered USD 87,680 of its USD 125,000 goal. Author and speaker Deepak Chopra has collaborated with GoFundMe for the campaign.

Donations to the campaign will go to several non-profits that offer direct assistance to the government workers who have been forced to work without pay.

The shutdown started in December because the House and Senate couldnt come to an agreement over funding President Donald Trumps USD 5 billion border wall. This has led to over 4,20,000 government staff reportedly working without pay.

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Boring Company is hiring for over a dozen roles and is planning to grow this year. (Photo: AP)

Elon Musks Boring Company terminated five employees just a month after unveiling its first test tunnel for decongesting aboveground traffic.

According to Recode who first reported about the termination, some of the fired employees helped construct the first underground passageway. The employees were fired over performance reasons.

A company spokesperson told the publication that Boring Company is hiring for over a dozen roles and is planning to grow this year.

Meanwhile, Musks other ventures, Tesla, announced layoffs of 3 per cent (3,000 people) of its workforce and SpaceX announced laying off 10 per cent of its workforce, as a part of cost-cutting measures.

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Some good news for India has been pouring in from the Himalayan front since the beginning of the year; and bad news too. The landing of an Antonov-32 AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the new Pakyong airport in Sikkim could be a game changer for the Indian Army. Pakyong airport is located nearby the strategic Chumbi Valley in Tibet, the Siliguri Corridor and Doklam.

A few days earlier, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman complimented the Border Road Organisation (BRO) for constructing an important portion of the Kailash Manasarovar route near Indias Nepal border in Uttarakhand: A very crucial milestone has been achieved on January 15, 2019, by connecting Lakhanpur to Najang by BRO. This connectivity is very important being the chicken neck corridor with Indias Nepal border in Dharchula Sub-Division of Uttarakhand, where the only alternative route was a mule track, the minister tweeted.

A massive infrastructure build-up is also taking place in Arunachal Pradesh. Apart from new border roads, a 426 m strategic bridge over the river Diffo, 25 km from Roing in Lower Dibang valley district, has been opened. The bridge connects the Lower Dibang valley with the Lohit districts and will greatly facilitate faster induction of force multipliers, long range vectors and troops into Dibang valley.

But at the same time, China is not sleeping. In fact, it remains far ahead of India in terms of infrastructure development.

According to Xinhua news agency, the Tibet Autonomous Regions (TAR) objective is to build and upgrade 4,500 km of rural roads to link all its townships and villages by the end of 2019. The move is expected to contribute to the ongoing poverty reduction campaign, especially in Tibets one township and 12 villages that still lack access to roads, affirmed Xinhua. And, since all infrastructure is now legally-bound to be dual-use, it means that the Peoples Liberation Army will greatly benefit of the 37 billion yuan (about $5.5 billion) invested in 2018, which included building and upgrading 13,000 km of rural roads. By the end of 2018, the TAR already had a total of 68,863 km of rural roads giving access of asphalt or concrete roads to 34 townships and 533 villages.

But more worrying information is coming from the plateau, a new axis or corridor is being built between Tibet and Nepal, the closest ever from the Indian border in Sikkim.

Kimathanka is one of the smallest and most remote hamlets in the northeastern district of Sankhuwasabha of Eastern Nepal. The village is strategically located as it lies at the border with Tibet (China). The Kathmandu Post affirmed that it is a crucial strategic location for Nepal as the country strives to increase its connectivity with the northern neighbour.

It is a fact that connectivity and border trade between Nepal and Tibet has greatly increased in recent years.

According to Tibet Business Daily, the total value of Tibets foreign trade exceeded 5.8 billion yuan in 2017. The domestic economy has been steadily improving, and the demand for the international market has generally recovered, noted the daily. Lhasa customs data showed that the total import and export value of Tibets foreign trade was 5.885 billion yuan in 2017, adding 13.9 per cent from the same period in 2016.

In April 2018, Nepal foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali visited Beijing, where he met the vice-president of China Wang Qishan and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and spoke of expediting past agreements, developing a trans-Himalayan multi-dimensional transport network and building a China-Nepal-India economic corridor.

Has India been informed? Probably not!

Mr Gyawali said that China is Nepals genuine friend and a trusted ally: We should build on the excellent roots of civilisational, geographical and cultural affinities to further connect our countries and societies in order to achieve common prosperity in the trans-Himalayan region.

The main investment has been the land port of Kyirong at Indias Nepal border. Though the railway line between Shigatse and Kyirong has been delayed by at least three years due to the 2015 earthquake, it is now the main channel for land trade between China and Nepal, after the Zangmu Port was closed following the earthquake.

On June 9, 2018, the civil aviation administration of China announced that Tibet will soon have three new airports. A look at the location of these airports shows their strategic importance  one will be located in Lhuntse in Lhoka area, north of the Upper Subansiri and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh; the second in Purang, near the trijunction of Nepal-Tibet-India, north of Pittoragarh district of Uttarakhand (on the yatris route to Mt Kailash); and the last one between Tingri and Lhatse counties of Shigatse City.

The importance of the Lhatse/Tingri airport will get a boost with the opening of the new Kimathanka landport (the sixth one between Nepal and Tibet). The Kathmandu Post mentioned a problem caused by the custom facilities being constructed: Until recently, the Arun river, which originates in Tibet, used to run through the valley below Kimathanka. But soon, the river could pose a serious risk to the village  all because of the construction of an embankment, about 1 km long, along the river on the Chinese side. Since the construction began, the river has started flowing through the settlement and local residents fear the entire hamlet could submerge during the rainy season.

Local villagers are worried. Ganesh Adhikari, the chief district officer of Sankhuwasabha, told the Post, The Arun river has already changed its course. But this area seems to be the only piece of flat land available on the Nepali side where Kathmandu plans to build new customs offices, an immigration point, a border outpost and quarantine and banking facilities.

Kimathanka will be the landport of the north-south corridor linking Kimathanka with Biratnagar via Khandbari; Biratnagar is the second largest town in Nepal and a key communication centre, already served by an airfield located not far from the West-East Mahendra Highway.

Once the new corridor is opened, it will have serious implications for India as it will open via Birarnagar, a new strategic and unwanted gate to India, to Kishanganj and Siliguri.

In case of a Chinese offensive via the Chumbi Valley and Sikkim, it could facilitate the PLAs movements and allow an outflanking of the Siliguri corridor. China may also one day attempt to open up a corridor to Bangladesh probably via Kishanganj, to support a Bangladeshi regime inimical to India, but it is trickier.

The Kathmandu Post admitted, The 362-km road section will be the shortest route linking India, Nepal and China in the eastern part of the country. Of the total length, construction of 200 km Biratnagar-Khandbari section has already been completed. The 92 km-long track has already been opened along the 162 km Khandbari-Kimathanka section.

In March 2018, the same newspaper mentioned the construction of Olangchung Gola Highway, which will link the far eastern part of Indias Nepal border to the border point with TAR; it could become a branch of the Kimathanka corridor. The Nepali government has allocated Rs 600 million for the project.

Delhi needs to vigilantly watch and start asking questions to Kathmandu. India cannot afford another Doklam situation.
Hyderabad: February is likely to be a politically active month in Andhra Pradesh. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to visit AP in February, ahead of the Lok Sabha and AP assembly elections.

AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has announced plans to conduct a huge meeting in Amaravati of anti-BJP parties on the lines of the recent Kolkata rally, also in February, all of this likely to generate a great deal of political heat in AP next month.

Moreover, YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has constructed a new house in Tadepally and is holding a housewarming function on February 14.

YSRC sources said that Mr Reddy will invite Mr Rao for the function and he is likely to attend. On the same day these two leaders will hold discussions on the Federal Front. On the directions of Mr Rao, TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and other party leaders met Mr Jagan recently at his Lotus Pond residence and held preliminary discussions about the Federal Front. It was after the meeting that Mr K.T. Rao said the chief minster will go to Amaravati to discuss matters further with the YSRC chief, whose stand is also anti-Congress and anti-BJP like the TRS.

The most likely time for the big anti-BJP, anti-Congress rally Mr Chandrababu Naidu is planning is the last week of February.
Msgr. Nassar confirms that there will be no Syrian delegation at the Panamanian event. In these years of conflict many young boys and girls have left the country. The desire to escape and the feeling of abandonment remain strong. In March there will be a Syrian "mini WYD". The words of Pope Francis as a source of support for young people.

Damascus (AsiaNews) - "For different reasons" "there will be no group from Syria" at the World Youth Day (WYD) in Panama, scheduled from today until January 27, says Maronite archbishop of Damascus Samir Nassar. The prelate tells AsiaNews - not without displeasure - that it was not possible "to join" the event "for bureaucratic reasons, too high costs and the widespread poverty resulting from over seven years of war ".

Pending the arrival of Pope Francis, scheduled for today, hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world gathered in the small Central American state, to participate in the most important event that the Church dedicates to young people. No delegation from Syria will be presented for the occasion, confirming a situation which is still critical, because of the conflict.

"Most young Syrians - says Msgr. Nassar, who survived a rocket that hit the Greek-Melkite cathedral last year, fled from the country or hid in order to escape military service ". This compulsory service, he adds, "lasts too long and is often tantamount to death in a war that has been going on for more than seven years".

"The young people available, active - the prelate confesses - in most cases only want to leave".

Added to this are also bureaucratic obstacles: "All the consulates - underlines the Maronite archbishop of Damascus - left the country in 2012. Moreover, the Church itself struggles to organize group departures, also because there is the risk that someone would take the opportunity to flee and do not return to Syria. "

Among the young people who live every day a reality that remains difficult, for family losses, the lack of immediate resources and perspectives - above all work -, there is "a widespread feeling of abandonment, of being forgotten, relegated to the margins ". "At least 85 nations in the world - he continues - have participated in various ways in the destruction of their country.

55% of the Syrians no longer have anything, the situation is catastrophic and this is why for many, especially among the youngest, there is a strong desire to leave ". "There are many broken dreams - adds the prelate - and a visa to a country in which the situation is more tranquil appears as an anchor of salvation, the only source of hope".

However, Syria does not want to be just a tale of war and destruction and the local Church itself tries, by every means available, to remain an active member of society and work in a perspective of reconstruction and economic, social and pastoral development. "To compensate for the absence in Panama - says Msgr. Nassar - the Episcopal Commission for the laity and the family invites young people to join a Syrian 'mini WYD' scheduled for Friday, March 8th. The hope is to make Damascus an echo of the Panamanian event ". An opportunity to "re-launch the goal of peace" in the context of events for the "Week of Unity of Syria".

The prelate concludes by recalling that young people "find consolation in the words of Pope Francis", when he already underlined in 2014 that "the Syrian conflict is a piecemeal third world war " and on more than one occasion showed them "closeness" and that he shares their suffering. "That is why I ask you all to continue to pray for peace and reconciliation".
In the neighbouring Tamil Nadu, it's 18.3. The national capital reported 2,043 cases last year, a slight decrease from the previous year's 2,059.

Alappuzha: Despite stringent laws and widespread awareness campaigns, women remain increasingly unsafe in the state.

According to the data on the Kerala Police website, rape cases increased from 500 in 2007 to 2015 in 2018, the highest in a decade. At least five women get raped in the state every day, while the national average is 56.3.

In the neighbouring Tamil Nadu, it's 18.3. The national capital reported 2,043 cases last year, a slight decrease from the previous year's 2,059.

The second most-populated Thiruvananthapuram tops among districts with 721 cases followed by Ernakulam (216) and the most populated Malappuram (187).

The number of molestation cases is also dismal, with 4589 cases registered last year. Most molestation cases were in Thiruvananthapuram (721), followed by Ernakulam (568) and Malappuram (404).

The women's rights activists see the rising complaints as a positive sign, as most cases used to get swept under the rug.

"The women earlier were reluctant to complain. But now the time has changed, and they are more empowered. However, many cases still go unreported," says J. Devika, academician and rights activist.

Registration of cases is just the initial step. A speedy and professional investigation will help ensure the conviction of the guilty. We need to register complaints immediately after the occurrence of the crime.
New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, considered for long the Congress trump card, made her formal entry into politics on Wednesday from Uttar Pradesh, indicating that the party will leave no stone unturned in its fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for 2019 general elections.

Ms Vadras appointment as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh east, along with that of Jyotiradiya Scindia as general secretary UP west, is being seen as a political masterstroke and a message that Congress president Rahul Gandhi means business. Uttar Pradesh sends the largest members (80) to Lok Sabha and is considered crucial to coming to power at the Centre.

On the back foot after the SP-BSP formed a pre-poll alliance in UP excluding his party, the Congress president had promised a surprise in UP, and with the formal appointment of Ms Vadra, Mr Gandhi has shot the last Brahmastra from the partys quiver.

It was, however, unclear whether the latest Gandhi family scion to enter politics will contest the Lok Sabha polls.

Speculation is rife that she might take the plunge from her mother Sonia Gandhis Rae Bareli constituency.

Commenting on her appointment, Mr Gandhi, who is in Amethi, said, I am very happy that my sister Priyanka will assist me in UP in the Lok Sabha polls. She is very capable.

Ms Vadra is in New York and is expected to return to India on February 1.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala being arrested by the police after the UDF laid siege to the Secretariat on Wednesday in protest against the LDF Government's apathy to flood victims. Also seen are V. S. Sivakumar, MLA, and KPCC general secretary T. Saratchandra Prasad. (A.V. MUZAFAR)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged that little has improved on the ground even after 100 days of the devastating floods.

Inaugurating the opposition United Democratic Front's (UDF) siege of Secretariat started at 6:30 am, he said the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government that promised a million jobs could not even employ 1000 people in 1000 days.

Mr Chennithala and other UDF leaders courted arrest after the siege. The UDF staged similar protests at collectorates.

"Governance has come to a standstill in the State where the Left Government has not bothered to start a new scheme. It relaunched UDF government schemes, and I wish to know whether the chief minister could launch at least a single new project," he said.

He also took a dig at ministers citing there's none with a spine.

He mocked Pinarayi Vijayan for carrying an escort of 28 police vehicles and an ambulance along during his road trips.

Attacking CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, he said his job is to defame other leaders.

The UDF leaders arrived before the Azad gate and became a part of the siege. They didn't block the Cantonment gate.
New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, considered for long the Congress trump card, made her formal entry into politics on Wednesday from Uttar Pradesh, indicating that the party will leave no stone unturned in its fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party for 2019 general elections.

The bold organisational shake-up also saw Mr Gandhi anointing Mr Scindia as the general secretary in-charge for UP west and the partys Karnataka in-charge K.C. Venugopal as the general secretary in-charge of organisation, replacing Ashok Gehlot.

The other bold message in Ms Vadras appointment as in-charge of UP east is that not only is Prime Minister Narendra Modi an MP from Varanasi, but UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath is also an ex-MP from Gorakhpur.

Mr Gandhi indicated as much when he said the Congress wont play on the back foot anywhere. We didnt do it in Gujarat or anywhere else and we wont do it here in UP, he said. I am not sending Priyanka and Jyotiraditya for just two months, but have given a mission to take ahead the true ideology of the Congress to take the poor and deprived sections of society along, he said.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday inaugurated the Subhash Chandra Bose museum at the iconic Red Fort to mark the leaders 122nd birth anniversary.

He also inaugurated the Yaad-e-Jallian Museum, (museum on the Jallianwala Bagh and World War I), the Museum on 1857- Indias first war of Independence, and Drishyakala-Museum on Indian Art within the Red Fort complex.

The entire complex of museums will be known as Kranti Mandir (temple of revolution) as a tribute to the revolutionary zeal and courage of our great freedom fighters, he said in a tweet after the inauguration. The museum on Bose and the Indian National Army showcases various artefacts related to Netaji and the INA.



The artefacts include wooden chair and sword used by the leader, medals, badges, uniforms and other items related to the INA. A documentary on Bose and the INA will help visitors understand the vision of the freedom fighter. Actor Abhishek Bachchan has lent his voice for the documentary.

The Yaad-e-Jallian Muse-um provides an authentic account of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place on April 13, 1919. A replica of the memorial erected at the Jallianwala Bagh has also been placed at the museum.

The museum will further showcase the heroism, valour and sacrifices made by Indian soldiers during the World War-I.

A poem penned by Sarojini Naidu on the plight of Indian soldiers who fought the World War I for the British Empire is part of the artefacts at the museum. The poem, titled The Gift, describes sacrifices made by 1.5 million Indian soldiers in the First World War.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: K.C. Venugopals political skills and acumen will be on acid test in the coming days with his appointment as AICC general secretary in charge of organisational and training matters on Wednesday.

Party president Rahul Gandhi has entrusted him with higher responsibilities following his excellent performance as AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka and as CWC member.

Mr Venugopal, 55, Alappuzha MP, has now filled the post which was vacated by Mr Ashok Gehlot who has become the Rajasthan Chief Minister.

Mr Venugopal is also in the nine-member core committee of the CWC which meets three a week. He has the task of chalking out strategic and policy matters, alliances, campaign etc. along with Mr Rahul Gandhi. During the Karnataka turmoil recently, Mr Venugopal proved his mettle by tackling it effortlessly. He was also sent to Telangana to settle the imbroglio over the appointment of the PCC president there, said a source close to him.

The next morning, Venugopal was back in Karnataka to chalk out the issues there.

The Unique Selling Point (USP) of Venugopal is that he is ready to take up any assignment given by Rahul Gandhi. The more complex the issue is, Venugopal handles it with a sure touch, the source said.

Mr Venugopal is adept in making friends with people in rival camps. He was loyal to former chief minister and founder of the I group, K. Karunakaran, and also close to his bete noire A.K. Antony.

Mr Venugopals ability was noticed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi first. When she has issues to be raised in the Lok Sabha, she would rely on Mr Venugopal, who is also the party whip.

Ms Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been appointed as AICC general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh east, is Mr Venugopals neighbour in New Delhi. She also holds him in high esteem due to his track record of managing complex issues. The training division is one of the dream projects of Mr Rahul Gandhi to train youths across the country.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said, 'Priyanka Ji has become the General Secretary, my good-luck to her.' (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday raised doubts over the formal entry of Priyanka Gandhi in active politics, saying why she was not given a bigger role with greater responsibility to commensurate with her persona.

While addressing the media here after Priyanka's appointment as General Secretary, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Priyanka Ji has become the General Secretary, my good-luck to her. Since the party is a family concern, these kinds of postings are nothing unusual, except to say with a caveat, why has she been given a limited role of only Eastern UP? Perhaps her persona merited a wider role for her".

Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal too hit out at the Rahul Gandhi led Congress alleging that the move is a confirmation that the party has failed and no political party is willing to join hands with them in any state.

She told ANI, "It is a stamp by Congress and Rahul Gandhi on their utter failure. No gathbandhan wants to shake hands with Congress in any state. They were becoming irrelevant; they had to play this Eastern UP card to ensure Rahul and Sonia Jis seats".

Accusing the party of being involved in dynasty politics, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, "In the Congress party there is reservation only for one family, nobody gets anything beyond them".

Earlier today, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra downplayed the development, terming it as "expected".

Patra accused the Congress of promoting dynastic politics, saying that they consider the Gandhi family as the party."This was expected. To promote dynasty is what Congress is all about. They consider family as the party while BJP considers party as the family. Congress has accepted that Rahul Gandhi Ji has failed," Patra told ANI.

Echoing similar views, Union Minister and BJP's Uttar Pradesh in-charge JP Nadda, took a jibe at the Congress, claiming that by this move the Congress has in a way officially declared that its president Rahul Gandhi has "failed".

Nadda suggested that Rahul should express his views on dynastic politics. "Priyanka Gandhi officially becomes General Secretary of Congress, but everyone knows how this household company works. It is also the first official declaration from Congress that Rahul Ji has failed, he should tell what his view of 'Parivarwadi soch' is (dynastic thought)?" he said.

With Priyankas formal entry into active politics, the Congress informed that she will be taking charge of her responsibility with effect from February first week. During earlier elections, Priyanka had kept herself limited to campaigning for Rahul and Sonia in only Amethi and Raebareli parliamentary constituencies. Incidentally, both Amethi and Raebareli are also part of Uttar Pradesh East, the region of which Priyanka has been given charge as General Secretary.

Apart from Priyanka, Congress has also appointed KC Venugopal as AICC General Secretary (Organisation), Jyotiraditya Scindia as AICC General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh West and Ghulam Nabi Azad as AICC General Secretary for Haryana.
'The conviction order is debatable,' the Supreme Court said while granting them bail on Tuesday. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Four convicts in the Naroda Patiya case, which describes one of the worst massacres in the 2002 Gujarat riots, have been granted bail by the Supreme Court, which has doubted their conviction.

"The conviction order is debatable," the Supreme Court said while granting them bail on Tuesday.

A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar Tuesday granted bail to the four convicts -- Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Padmendrasinh Jaswantsinh Rajput and Harshad alias Mungda Jila Govind Chhara Parmar.

They are serving a 10-year jail term for arson and rioting. The Gujarat High Court had on April 20 last year upheld the conviction of 12 out of the 29 accused who were pronounced guilty on various charges by the trial court and had acquitted 17 others, including former BJP minister Maya Kodnani.

The rioting had taken place on February 28, 2002, in the Naroda Patiaya area of Ahmedabad where a mob had killed 97 people, most of them from a minority community. The massacre had taken place a day after the torching of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, which had triggered state-wide riots.

(With PTI inputs)
Announcing Priyankas formal entry into active politics, Congress informed that she will be taking charge of her responsibility with effect from February first week. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi congratulated her in a Facebook post on being appointed as Congress General Secretary for Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

"Congratulations, always by your side in every phase of your life. Give it your best," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's husband Robert Vadra wrote on Facebook.

Photo: ANI | Twitter

Announcing Priyankas formal entry into active politics, Congress informed that she will be taking charge of her responsibility with effect from February first week.

Priyanka Gandhi, 47, has always confined her role in politics to the constituencies of her brother Rahul and mother Sonia Gandhi, Amethi and Raebareli, till now.
'If AIADMK joins hands with the NDA it would benefit the State and the AIADMK as well,' he told reporters after reviewing welfare schemes implemented by the Puducherry government. (Photo: File)

Puducherry: Union Minister Ramadas Athawale on Tuesday appealed to the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu to join hands with the NDA in the coming parliamentary elections.

"If AIADMK joins hands with the NDA it would benefit the State and the AIADMK as well," he told reporters after reviewing welfare schemes implemented by the Puducherry government.

Athawale, who is national president of the Republican Party of India (A), a constituent of the NDA, has made the appeal, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said during an interaction with BJP workers in Tamil Nadu that the BJP cherished its old friends.

PM Modi had said the BJP was open to alliances following the path of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had successfully built coalitions respecting regional aspirations.

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who holds the top party post of 'coordinator' in the AIADMK, recently said "at the time of election, anything can happen."

Athawale on Tuesday also made a specific appeal to rebel AIADMK leader and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder TTV Dhinakaran to join hands with the AIADMK.

Athawale said TTV Dhinakaran was originally with the AIADMK.

"Dhinakaran is my good friend.... I would like to suggest to him that to fulfill the dreams of former chief minister and AIADMK general secretary late Jayalalithaa the two groups should come together so that they would win good number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls," he said.

The union minister also appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami to ensure installation of a "big statue of the leader of the downtrodden Dr Ambedkar at Kanyakumari which is a place of confluence of the three seas."

He said he would write to Palaniswami in this connection and also hold talks with him during his visit to Chennai.

Athawale was happy to see that the Union Territory of Puducherry had registered only 23 cases of atrocities against the Scheduled castes between 2013 and 2019.

"This is a good example for Tamil Nadu and other States (to emulate)," he said.

The MUDRA scheme operated in Puducherry was also of great help and ever since the scheme was launched 36,000 people had been benefited with disbursement of Rs 500 crore through banks to facilitate launching of self-employment projects, he added.
Two Saudi sisters whose bodies were found taped together committed suicide.

Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black with fur-trimmed coat collars.(@NYPDDetectives/Twitter)

New York: Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black with fur-trimmed coat collars.

They were tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape.

My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River, Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said.

After their deaths, a police official appeared to confirm that the sisters had applied for asylum, but did not provide further detail.

Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabias US embassy in Washington, tweeted that Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in NY), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false.

They had run away several times from their familys home in Virginia, where they had not lived since the end of 2017.

The sisters had been placed in a shelter but left Virginia in August and set out for New York. There, they stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card, according to an NYPD spokesman quoted by US media.

A witness reportedly saw the two young women early on October 24 on a playground near the Hudson, where they appeared to be praying.

US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is one of the worlds most restrictive countries for women, a situation highlighted this month by the case of Rahaf Mohammed.

The teenager fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse from her family in the kingdom, and received asylum in Canada.
The Maharashtra ATS was investigating the presence of sleeper cell ahead of Republic Day. (Representational Image)

Mumbai: Nine men including a teenager have been arrested for terror links from Maharashtras Mumbra, Thane and Aurangabad on Wednesday.

Maharashtras Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) alleged that all of them are linked to the ISIS terror group.

The Maharashtra ATS was investigating the presence of sleeper cell ahead of Republic Day. They were arrested when it came to light that they were likely to "swing into action", the official said.

Based on reliable information, total 9 youths have been brought for questioning. Inquiries are in progress. Further details will be informed in due course, said ATS.

ATS also said that certain chemicals, powder, mobile phones, hard drives SIM cards, acid bottle, sharp knives etc were seized during searches.

The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code's Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bombay Police Act, the official said.

(With PTI inputs)
In a market full of international sizes, finding the right fit is most challenging for the average Indian consumer. However, Smriti Irani seems to have found a solution to this dilemma. Launching the Size India project during the Textile Conclave at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the Union textiles minister announced that the Indian garment industry would soon get a country-specific apparel size.

The announcement has been welcomed by the Indian design fraternity. In addition to feeling that the indigenisation of sizes would bolster the growth the Indian fashion market, the general sentiment was that it was high time we officially got our measurements in place.

Smriti Irani pointed out that in the apparel export segment, one of the biggest challenges was that the prevailing UK, US, and European size charts didnt match Indian sizes. It is another matter that India being a huge country, with different body sizes, would require an extensive size-chart to cater to different regions.

In concurrence, veteran designer, Ritu Kumar says, The project may be a good idea for the India fashion fraternity. Yes, Indian specifications and measurements are certainly different and we need charts which may even have to give different specifications for different parts of the country.

Most designers feel this is a good move because this conversion of sizes created a lot of confusion, but they also wished for the existing standards of measurements in looms should be changed.

Senior designer Rina Dhaka explains, We usually take clients measurements according to the US or UK size charts and covert them to the Indian scale before creating garments. For online buyers and NRI audience, a well-developed system for measurement in Indian wear would be a great move because it will reduce the alterations and returns due to ill-fitted sizes.

Pointing out that most Indian women have narrow shoulders and bigger hips, making for a pear body type, she explains, Then there is the apple body type and the ruler category for straight bodies. Sometimes altering the garment is as costly as creating a new one, so I hope they consider all these factors while charting out a new size system. I also feel the standard sari size in looms should also be changed because right now its made as a free size that is worn by all sizes of women. Ideally, smaller women do not need 6 yards of fabric because they can easily fit into a lesser size.

Designer Jenjum Gadis concern on the other hand, is that while the size charts are being created for Indian buyers, the North East sizes shouldnt be left out of the exercise.

He says, Its a good move by the textile ministry to finally introduce Indian sizes for measurements, but in India, different regions have different body types so it will be a big task. While North Indian and South Indian body types are very different, one has to keep in mind that the people from North Eastern states wouldnt fit either of the two. They would need an entirely different scale, and I feel the project shouldnt ignore them.

Given the recent e-commerce boom in the apparel segment, an official Indian size system is the need of the hour. Designer Charu Parashar reasons, For designers who wish to expand their business overseas as well as in domestic market via online channels, this would make things easy to reach out to a consumer who cannot meet the designer face-to-face. From the UK, US, Europe to China, Korea and Japan, there are very many countries that follow their own size system. It will not only help Indian customers make an informed choice but will also lead to more awareness about dressing up in the right size. In US sizes there are a number of variations  from zero to 16 which includes extra small to extra large; similarly, for India, we will need an elaborate chart system so that every region can be a part of it.

Not just local designers, but even the Indian retail industry feel that the recent announcement by the Union textiles minister is a step in the right direction, believes Poornima Vardhan, founder of luxury brand 335TH.

She points out, With Indias domestic apparel market size expected to grow at 11-12 per cent CAGR and reach about USD160 billion by 2025, the Indian standard size will help designers especially in the digital economy to create better fitted off-the-shelf clothing, thereby reducing returns and also additional tailoring/altering costs. Currently, India follows the UK body measurements. However, the Indian body type is vastly different from the UK standard. Indians are petite and shorter than our UK counterparts. Thus, the Indian standard size, if implemented accurately, will not only help designers across the world to customise better fits for Indians but also help local designers to access Indians globally.

Peush Sikka, founder of fashion brand Nubella agrees and adds, We sell online and our customers have to choose from size in inches/centimetres and also in US and UK size but now there will be more clarity and will help our audience to choose. For the plus-size audience, the size issues are more frequent due to distinct bust-waist-hip ratio  so that will be taken care of.

"We sell online and our customers have to choose from size in inches/centimetres and also in US and UK size but now there will be more clarity and will help our audience to choose."

 Peush Sikka, Apparel designer.

"The project may be a good idea for the India fashion fraternity."

 Ritu Kumar, Apparel designer.
Anne Hathaway announced she is going to stay sober for 18 years during her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show recently, after welcoming her now two-year-old son, Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman. According to reports on USWeekly.com, the new mom explained to host Ellen DeGeneres that her son is getting to an age where he really does need me all the time in the morning, and recounted an unpleasant memory where she dropped her son off at school and explained, I wasnt driving, but I was hungover and that was enough for me. I didnt love that one.

The Oscar winner, whos been married to businessman Adam Schulman since 2012, has had other bad experiences with booze, she cant remember Matthew McConaughey and wife Camila Alves giving her a tour of the best rums of the island after she arrived in Mauritius to shoot the new film Serenity with the actor.
The Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday morning, and the awards season favorites (mostly) emerged triumphant, though there were a few snubs and surprises, too.

Roma (Alfonso Cuarons black-and-white Netflix film from Mexico) and The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos caustic costume drama) were the leaders, each scoring 10 nominations, including best picture and best director.

They were followed by fellow best picture nominees A Star Is Born and Vice, which got eight nominations apiece. Black Panther, also up for best picture (a first for a comic book movie), scored seven nominations.

The three additional best picture nominees are BlacKkKlansman (six nominations), Bohemian Rhapsody (five nominations) and Green Book (five).

Despite its relative want of nominations, Green Book appears to be our new best-picture frontrunner, over earlier favorites Roma and A Star Is Born.

For two reasons:

1. Green Book just won the Producers Guild award, which has correctly predicted the best picture eight out of the last 10 years.

2. The Academy nominated Green Book for best editing but overlooked Roma and Star Is Born in the category, and its pretty rare for a film to win best picture without getting a best editing nomination. Since 1934, only 10 films have won the best picture without at least getting a nomination for editing.

Green Book rising to the top of the heap, especially amidst the recent controversy surrounding it, is a late-season surprise. Though a lot can happen between now and the Feb. 24 ceremony.

There were a handful of other surprises big and small throughout the nominations. The biggest has to be Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) getting passed over for best director, as he at one point appeared to be a frontrunner in the category. (Though he still earned best actor nomination.) His presumed director spot went to a surprise nominee: Pawel Pawlikowski, director of the Polish film Cold War, which also scored nominations for best foreign language film and best cinematography.

Besides Cooper, the most shocking snub was the Fred Rogers doc Wont You Be My Neighbor? not getting nominated for best documentary.

Other snubs/surprises:

 Timothee Chalamet got no recognition for his Beautiful Boy performance, despite getting a SAG and Golden Globe nomination

 First Man got screwed out of the above-the-line categories. It got some much-deserved recognition for its technical merits, but Ryan Gosling and Claire Foys performances were ignored. Marina de Tavira (Roma) getting nominated over Foy for best supporting actress was unexpected.

 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs got nominated for three awards: best adapted screenplay, best costumes, best song. Thats a much better run than anyone was anticipating for the Coens Western.

 And in the most egregious (but not most surprising) snub of the day, Ethan Hawke was passed over for his role in First Reformed, easily the best male performance of last year. But whadayagonnado?

Stray observations

 The Oscars have both a more populist and international flavor than usual this year. For starters, Roma still stands a good shot at winning best picture and an even better one at winning best director. Its rare for a foreign-language film to get a best picture nomination, let alone be among the most-nominated films. Polands Cold War and Germanys Never Look Away likewise got attention outside of the best foreign language film category.

 In terms of populism, the Oscars have at long last nominated a comic book movie for best picture: Black Panther. But their populist streak didnt stop there. The category also includes a trio of crowd-pleasing hits produced by a major studio: Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book and A Star Is Born.

 Win or lose, Roma is a triumph for Netflix. The streaming giant has been trying to break into the Oscar race for years, finally winning an award last year: for the doping documentary Icarus. But a movie getting 10 nominations sets a new precedent for streaming services. Look for Netflix to expand its already ambitious program of feature films in the future. Netflix also did well with its Coen brothers Western, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Elsewhere in streaming, Hulu got a best-doc nomination for its superb coming-of-age film Minding the Gap.

 The main takeaway, I suppose, is that the Academy has actually done a better-than-usual job at recognizing diversity this year  in race and nationality, sure, but also in the many ways in which people are now watching good movies: be it at the mall multiplex, the arthouse theater or from the comfort of the living room sofa.
If all existing welfare schemes such as MGNREGA, disability/old-age pension, scholarship schemes, are be subsumed into Quasi UBI, the net outgo would be around Rs 4.5 lakh crore, 2.25 per cent of Indias GDP..

New Delhi: The roll-out of a pure Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme in the interim Budget next week would be prohibitively expensive costing Rs 22 lakh crore or 11 per cent of the GDP, said a report by brokerage firm Anand Rathi.

However, its impact could be softened and yet target poorest segments by bringing it into the DBT (direct benefit transfer) scheme with the use of JAM (Jandhan, Aadhaar and mobile), said the report. This and consolidation of existing subsidies and welfare schemes would reduce the fiscal impact to `4-4.5 trillion, said the report.

It said that putting Quasi-Universal Basic Income (QUBI) on DBT would resolve the issues and can be launched immediately without large upfront spending.

In its most extensive form, UBI entails unconditional (no quid pro quo), universal (no targeting), periodic (not one-time), cash (not in kind or coupons) payments to individuals (not per family).

If the aim of UBI is to provide enough income to all Indians to cross the poverty line, the costwould be around Rs 22 lakh crore (133 crore population, Rs 1,400 per month to each individual). This is equivalent to 11 per cent of Indias GDP and 100 per cent of the gross tax receipt of the Central government. Obviously, such huge spending is well beyond the scope of government finances in India, it said.

It said that if the scheme was modified to target the poorest (the bottom 40 per cent of the population) and simultaneously discontinue existing major subsidies (food, fertiliser and petroleum), the net outgo on the quasi-universal basic income scheme would shrink to Rs 6 lakh crore or 3 per cent of the GDP.

Besides,if many of the extant welfare schemes such as MGNREGA, disability/old-age pension, scholarship schemes, etc. are be subsumed into QUBI, the net outgo would be around Rs 4.5 lakh crore, 2.25 per cent of Indias GDP, it said.

The report said that rural distress has marked economic-social-political implications. It said that in view of the recent electoral backlash, the NDA government is likely to roll out a Quasi-Universal Basic Income scheme in the interim budget to address the issue of farm distress. The alternatives like Rythu Bandhu (Telangana), KALIA (Odisha), farmers loan waiver or aggressive MSP hikes - do not fit the bill due to either implementation issues or lack of focus on the poorest, it said.
In the third quarter of this fiscal, the industry saw a degrowth of seven per cent.

Kolkata: Automotive makers Nissan India and Tata Motors are expecting a near-flat growth during the current financial year, company officials said on Wednesday.

"In the current fiscal, the automotive industry is expected to witness flat growth," president of Nissan Motor India, Thomas Kuehl, said.

In India, the company would follow the two-brand strategy of Datsun and Nissan, he said.

"While Datsun will focus on the volume segment, Nissan on the premium end of the market," he said at the launch of the SUV 'Kicks' here.

The company would launch its electric car 'Leaf' in the next six months, Kuehl said, adding, all the models would conform to the BS-VI emission standards.

He said that Nissan India, which has seven models across the Datsun and Nissan brands, has stopped the manufacture of SUV 'Terrano'. The company, he said, has invested nearly USD one billion in India.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors VP (sales, marketing and support) S N Barman said the industry is likely to grow by two to three per cent in the 2018-19 fiscal as against the initial prediction of seven per cent.

In the third quarter of this fiscal, the industry saw a degrowth of seven per cent. "The last quarter is expected to grow by one to 1.5 per cent," he said on the sidelines of Tata Motors' launch of premium SUV 'Harrier' here.
At launch, the Tata Harrier will be offered in four variants.

Single powertrain on offer - a 2.0-litre diesel engine with a 6-speed manual gearbox

A Hyundai-sourced 6-speed automatic transmission will be available from mid-2019.

Tata Motors hasnt confirmed a Petrol-powered Harrier as of yet.

Harrier could take over the role of Tatas flagship passenger vehicle from the Hexa.

Tata Motors is set to launch the much-awaited Harrier SUV in India today. Theres been a lot of excitement surrounding the launch of what many consider as Tatas very own Land Rover and were sure many of you want to get your hands on one as soon as possible.

Some of you might already know that Tata Motors had opened bookings for the Harrier back in October 2018. It has also been showcasing the SUV in various cities across the country for some time now. So if youre amongst the ones who booked the car initially, expect deliveries to start in a few days. However, if youve booked one just now, expect a months time before your car arrives (the wait would depend on the variant and colour you pick).

And if you havent made a booking till now, it really would not be that bad an idea to hold off for some time. Why? Take your time to analyse which variant of the Harrier is the most value-for-money and fits your budget as well. Well be coming up with the Harriers variants explained story later in the day today and that might help you in your research.

Also Read: All you need to know about the Tata Harrier

Weve also driven the Harrier and heres our first drive review of the SUV. The Harrier we drove wowed us with its sophisticated design and even had plush materials across the cabin. However, for Apple enthusiasts, the lack of Apple CarPlay might be a turn-off. More crucially, the absence of an automatic transmission will give urban dwellers a reason to hold back.

For now, the Harrier will pack five seats and will be available with a diesel engine paired with a manual transmission. A six-speed automatic gearbox sourced from Hyundai will be introduced on the Harrier sometime around mid-2019. While were not sure when Tata will offer a petrol engine in the Harrier, we now know that the carmaker plans to launch a 7-seat variant of the Harrier before the end of 2019. It will be powered by the same 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine that will power the 5-seat Harrier. However, this engine to put out a lot more power on the 7-seat version. The wait for the 7-seat Harrier might be long, but it should be worth it. Until then, stay tuned for a more in-depth review of the Harrier, including its real-world performance as well.

And if you are one those who have actually put their money down on the Harrier, stick around as we reveal the actual prices of the Harrier as soon as Tata Motors announces them.

Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: CarDekho.
Twelfth-gen Corolla sedan was revealed in 2018.

Toyota offers different-looking versions of new Corolla in China and the US.

India is likely to get the China-spec Corolla.

Toyota might not offer a diesel engine on the new Corolla.

Likely to be rebadged as a Maruti Suzuki as well.

The new, twelfth-gen Toyota Corolla sedan is coming to India in 2020 to replace the current Corolla Altis. The new Corolla sedan was revealed in 2018 in China, and it draws heavily from the Corolla hatchback for its frontal appearance. Like before, there are different versions of the Corolla that will be on sale in US and China. India is likely to get the Corolla sedan that China gets. To know how these cars differ, click here .

Compared to the existing Corolla Altis in India, the new Corolla in China is longer (by 20mm) and wider (by 5mm), but the wheelbase (2700mm) is the same. It is based on the TNGA platform and hybrid tech is on offer as well. Want to know the difference between the existing India-spec Corolla Altis and Chinese Corolla? Here's the in-depth analysis.

Expect the new Corolla to come to India sans the diesel engine. Toyota is not likely to offer a diesel engine on the Corolla. Instead, we expect Toyota to offer hybrid tech on the Corolla this time around, making it one of the first cars in its segment to attain hybrid status. The current Corolla is available with a 1.8-litre petrol engine and a 1.4-litre diesel engine. We expect the new Corolla to come to India with BSVI engines from launch.

It remains to be seen whether Toyota opts to offer the new Corolla with just a petrol engine or both petrol and hybrid. If it's just the petrol Corolla at launch (which might be powered by a 2.0-litre engine), we dont expect the prices to go up significantly, unless Toyota opts to offer the new Corolla in some fully-loaded variant only. On the other hand, if Toyota opts to offer just the Corolla Hybrid in India, then prices are likely to start over the Rs 20 lakh mark.

At present, prices of the Corolla start from Rs 16.45 lakh in India and go up to Rs 20.19 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). It competes with the likes of the Skoda Octavia and Hyundai Elantra in India and will soon be joined by the new Honda Civic.

Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: CarDekho.
The challenge has begun on January 22, 2019 and will run through February 7, 2019.

Smartphone photography is the new trend. With technology improving each year and artificial intelligence pitching in to make them even better, smartphone photography has risen to a higher level. Today, smartphones can pull off professional-like shots that are many-a-times better than shots taken with DSLR cameras. While sensors from Sony can capture some serious pixels of your frame, background software, tweaks and post processing on the phone itself can make those images stand out.

Every flagship smartphone has one of the best cameras the brand can offer and they are soon taking the opportunity of reducing prices to offer the same experience on mainstream phones. Soon, we shall see budget smartphones sporting camera performance that will give DSLR cameras a run for their money. And that time is not too far away. However, for now, flagships are the only ones that can capture and produce you DSLR-like photos with either single or multiple sensors and intelligent software working in tandem.

To help promote their flagships, brands go out in full swing to create awareness and competitions. And Apple has been doing it since a while. They have begun their Shot on iPhone challenge for 2019, and are inviting iPhone users to send in their shots taken from their handsets and will need to mention details of the user and the handset model. The challenge has begun on January 22, 2019 and will run through February 7, 2019. During this period users have an opportunity to send in their best photos, with unlimited submissions allowed. A panel of judges will review the submissions from users around the world and select 10 winning photos. This winner will be announced in February itself. The winner gets the glory of his photos being showcased around the world. These images will be put out on billboards in select cities, on Apple retail stores and online.

Meet the Judges

Pete Souza (US)

Pete was the chief official White House photographer for President Obama. His book, Obama: An Intimate Portrait, debuted as the #1 New York Times bestseller and is one of the best-selling photography books of all time.

Austin Mann (US)

Austin is an iPhone photographer, filmmaker and creative whos traveled around the world and has worked with numerous non-profit organizations to help better cast their vision worldwide. Austin has published iPhone photography reviews in outlets including National Geographic and CNN over the years.

Annet de Graaf (Netherlands)

Graaf is a travel photographer who uses iPhone exclusively for her craft. Shes the author of two iPhone photography books: Morning Amsterdam and the upcoming GO dAzur, the latter of which was shot entirely on iPhone 8 Plus. Shes taken portraits of Syrian ballet dancer Ahmad Joudeh as well as the late mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan.

Luisa Dorr (Brazil)

Luisa is a photographer based in Brazil who rose to fame after she photographed TIMEs Firsts issue exclusively on iPhone. TIME won Documentary Project of the Year for the story in the prestigious Pictures of the Year International.

Chen Man (China)

Chen is a Chinese contemporary visual artist and entrepreneur who created a unique visual language that revolutionized fashion photography in China. Her work has been permanently collected at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. She also co-founded an Internet company called Vnision that developed photography-based social apps including Bigshot.

Phil Schiller

Phil has helped Apple reinvent mobile phones with iPhone. A keen photographer, Phil helps with efforts in developing breakthrough camera technology as senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Kaiann Drance

Kaiann works with talented teams at Apple to deliver products that put great photographic tools in the hands of many, including the first iPod touch with a camera and multiple generations of iPhone, in her role as senior director in Worldwide Product Marketing.

Brooks Kraft

Brooks is a professional photographer and worked in editorial and commercial photography prior to joining Apple. He was a contributing photographer at TIME magazine, where he covered the White House during the Bush and Obama administrations, as well as seven presidential campaigns.

Sebastien Marineau-Mes

Sebastien brings over 20 years of software development knowledge to iPhone in his role as vice president of Software at Apple. His focus on advanced photography features includes innovations like Smart HDR and Portrait mode with Depth Control.

Jon McCormack

Jon is an accomplished photographer who currently leads Apples camera software team. Jons images have been published by international organizations including TIME, The New York Times, UNESCO, The Nature Conservancy, Africa Geographic and others.

Arem Duplessis

Arem works closely with some of the most accomplished photographers in the world in his role as the director of photography in Apples marketing team. He previously served as design director of The New York Times Magazine for nearly a decade.

How to send in your submissions

Post your best photo taken on iPhone to Instagram or Twitter with the #ShotOniPhone hashtag to participate in the the Shot on iPhone Challenge. Weibo users can participate as well using #ShotOniPhone#. In the image caption, note which model was used. Alternatively, you can also submit the photo in its highest resolution to shotoniphone@apple.com with the file format firstname_lastname_iphonemodel. Photos can be straight from the camera, edited through Apples editing tools in the Photos app or with third-party software. Submissions for photos begins at 12:01 a.m. PST on January 22 and ends at 11:59 p.m. PST on February 7. Participants must be 18 years of age or older to participate, and this challenge is not open to Apple employees or their immediate families.

If youre submitting your photo on social media, you must make your photos public. Ineligible submissions include photos that violate or infringe upon another persons rights, including but not limited to copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or any other intellectual property rights or civil rights; contain sexually explicit, nude, obscene, violent or other objectionable or inappropriate content; or in any way disparage Apple or any other person or party.

Users will retain their rights to their photograph; however, by submitting the photo, users grant Apple a royalty-free, world-wide, irrevocable, non-exclusive license for one year to use, modify, publish, display, distribute, create derivative works from and reproduce the photo on Apple Newsroom, apple.com, Apple Twitter accounts, Apple Instagram (@Apple), in Apple retail stores, Apple Weibo, Apple WeChat, on billboards and any Apple internal exhibitions. Any photograph reproduced will include a photographer credit. If the photo is selected to be featured on a billboard, the user will further agree to grant Apple exclusive commercial use of the photo for the life of the license.

Ten winning photos will be featured on Apple Newsroom, Apples Instagram channels, apple.com, in Apple retail stores, Apple WeChat, Apple Twitter accounts, Apple Weibo accounts and billboards around the world. Winners will be notified on or about February 26, 2019.
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DARIEN  As budget meetings continue, Middlesex Middle School officials presented their case for what they see as an invaluable asset  one more guidance counselor.

Interim Superintendent Elliott Landon recently called for another counselor position in the 2019-20 schools budget, and Middlesex Principal Shelley Sommers told the Board of Education at its Tuesday meeting the addition would be beneficial for students.

I have a vision of a program in which we can expand the meetings that we have with our teams about students concerns, so we can provide early intervention for our students as the needs arise, Sommers said.

Adding a counselor would enable the school to assign two counselors for each grade level. Three of the six Middlesex counselors split their time between two grade levels, she said,

meaning they have double the meetings and amount

of students. There are

currently 1,136 students between sixth and eighth grades at Middlesex.

Landon said an additional counselor would enable a closer connection between counselors and students.

It will enable us to have counselors stay with students throughout three years in Middlesex, he said.

Anthony Pavia, a seventh- and eighth-grade counselor, said while he and his fellow counselors get the job done, its not as effective and efficient as it could be.

Pavia recalled last week he had several meetings with students and parents to attend at once.

If have a parent who was concerned with their kid, it might take me an extra day to get back with them, he said. Its not for lack of want.

Rachel Sandler, an eighth-grade counselor, said she couldnt imagine how her co-workers split grades. Counselors split between grades have to prioritize between student and parent meetings in different grade levels, and then have to circle back to meetings they missed, she said.

As a grade-decicated counselor, I feel it is manageable, Sandler said. For our split counselors, Im not quite sure.

No formal decision was made as the board continues to work through the budget process. Board Vice-Chair Mike Dineen said it is important the school continues to be proactive and also asked that schools think three to four years into the future.

It seems to me that we will be talking more about counselors, social workers and psychologists than we may be talking about the addition of teachers over the next couple of years, Dineen said.

dj.simmons

@hearstmediact.com, 203-842-2568
DARIEN  A 20-year-old man from New Jersey was recently arrested and charged in connection to a car theft on Sunswyck Road.

On Jan. 9 at 4:26 p.m., officers were dispatched to Sunswyck Road on the report of a stolen vehicle.
2018 was a challenging year for cybersecurity and business leaders.

The imposition of new regulations like Australias Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and the Indian governments push to be GDPR compliant due to recent global breaches, have been influential on cybersecurity investment and strategy.

2018 has been another transformative time for security teams in APAC regions. The imposition of new regulations like Australias Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and the Indian governments push to be GDPR compliant due to recent global breaches, have been influential on cybersecurity investment and strategy. Along with a rise in the number of incidents of data theft and cyberattacks in India and a workforce bogged down compliance management, 2018 has been another challenging year for cybersecurity and business leaders. But does 2019 face the same fate? Sivan Nir, Senior Analyst, Skybox Research Lab, makes her predictions for the year ahead.

Crypto-jacking keeps going: 2018 saw unauthorised cryptomining replace ransomware as the most popular malware, and this will not abate. Monero has been identified as the cryptocurrency which is most associated with this activity. This type of malware can often go around undetected, and its a good way for hackers to stay active for the maximum amount of time and make quick money. Why would they turn to an alternative?

Mobile vulnerabilities keep rising: A continuing trend which emerged at the end of 2017 is the exponentially growing number of mobile vulnerabilities. This is only going to continue as mobile further blurs the line between personal and business device. Furthermore, third-party applications used on smart phones are a good way for malware to enter an organisation, as well as open applications, particularly Android.

Cloud misconfigurations cause chaos: As more and more companies migrate to the cloud, the biggest risk will be seen in the misconfiguration of the cloud environment, showing that humans continue to be one of the weakest links in security. In addition, the incorporation of third-party software in the cloud means organisations wont have full control over their attack surface. Cloud technology is still relatively new, with no set best practices, so its not as clear to IT people how to secure a cloud environment as opposed to on-prem networks. Next year, hackers will take more advantage of these weaknesses.

Ransomware wont fade away: 2017 will always be remembered as the year of ransomware. While cryptomining is overshadowing ransomware, its important that CISOs dont let their guard drop on this older threat. Although illicit cryptomining is easier to undertake, ransomware has the potential to reap bigger immediate awards when precisely targeted at an organisation that cannot afford to kiss their encrypted files goodbye. So, ransomware will continue to wreak havoc, using a variety of new techniques to enter the network.

AI arms race: AI will be increasingly used to identify and protect against attacks, but 2019 will see a surge in the number of vulnerabilities in AI and chatbots as threat actors realise the value in this activity. Hackers will begin to use AI to make more efficient and persistent malware attacks. At some level this may even culminate in an AI cyber-arms race. There will be more investment being ploughed into cyber-AI on both sides of the battlefield.
If Mr Upasanes words sound like they are stigmatising the everyday egg, which many of us have for breakfast, it is meant to be so.

Each society picks its battles. India chooses to be mired in battles over the egg. Astoundingly, in a country with one of the worst cases of child malnutrition, whether the government should provide free eggs, a cheap source of protein, to poor, malnourished children or not remains a politically prickly question.

With the change of government in Chhattisgarh, the egg has staged a comeback in the countrys political discourse. Sachidananda Upasane, a senior BJP leader in the state, has said publicly that he does not want the egg to be in public spaces.

There are so many people, such as Brahmins and others from the majority community, that do not eat non-vegetarian food, and dont want to be near it. If giving eggs is such a priority, the government should deliver them to homes, not in public spaces. This, in a way, is disturbing traditions, Mr Upasane reportedly said, soon after the egg became a part of the mid-day meal menu in the state, where 30.62 per cent of the population is made up of Scheduled Tribes. The last Assembly elections witnessed a BJP rout in the state, paving the way for a Congress government

If Mr Upasanes words sound like they are stigmatising the everyday egg, which many of us have for breakfast, it is meant to be so.

This is perhaps the only country where local Right to Food (RTF) activists have had to wage a sustained campaign pivoting around the egg, or the Anda Abhiyan, for quite some time now.

The egg is a polarising issue, but not along neat, predictable, party-political lines. A telling example: in 2015, the Right to Food Campaign in Karnataka organised a mass gathering of children, teachers and elders on October 2 in state capital Bengaluru, to demand that the Siddaramaiah government, then in power, supply an egg a day in anganwadis and government schools in view of the rising child malnutrition in the state.

The vegetarianism-obsessed Hindutva party was not in power in Karnataka then but still, there were misgivings; the police denied permission to the activists to either exhibit or eat eggs as part of the protest on Gandhi Jayanti. However, the RTF campaign members were a determined lot and decided to exhibit as well as eat eggs to make a point, defying their writ. Subsequently, a team from the RTF met Dinesh Gundu Rao, then minister for food and civil supplies in Karnataka, and submitted a memorandum with their demand.

In Chhattisgarh, children are not being forced to eat eggs. Nor are children who dont wish to eat eggs being denied other alternatives. Nor is there any evidence to suggest that most people in Chhattisgarh are passionately opposed to the egg. According to the sample registration system (SRS) baseline survey of 2014, released by the registrar-general of India, 82.7 per cent of men and 81.4 per cent of women in the state are non-vegetarians. Vegetarians comprise less than 20 per cent of the population of Chhattisgarh.

Food security activists across the country want eggs in the mid-day meal menu for those children who wish to eat them because the egg is a simple source of much-needed protein that children need, especially in their early years, for their physical growth and cognitive development.

Despite improvements in child nutrition in Chhattisgarh in recent years, there is still a very large number of malnourished children. The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) shows that in the state, the percentage of children under five years who are stunted has dipped from 53 in 2005-06 to 38 in 2015-16; the number of underweight under-five children has also gone down from 47 per cent in 2005-06 to 38 per cent in 2015-16. But it remains worse than the national average. In fact, the figures for wasting (low weight for height), are becoming worse with the percentage of wasted under-five children in the state up from 19 per cent in 2005-06 to 23 per cent in 2015-16  again higher than the national average. So though things have improved, Chhattisgarh, like many other states in the country, is still battling child malnutrition.

The politics of sentiment swirling around the egg has to be seen in the context of the broader politics of food. ArguabIy, the egg doesnt ignite the same kind of passions as beef. But resistance to the egg has become a metaphor of entitlement and caste politics, cutting across the ideological spectrum. The BJPs Mr Upasane was perhaps reflecting a certain hue of upper-class sentiment when he sneered at the idea of eggs in public spaces. Official data shows that 71.6 per cent of men and 70.7 per cent of women in India are non-vegetarians, but the myth of India being a predominantly vegetarian country continues to be sustained.

The charged slugfest over the egg is yet another reminder that this is not a classic BJP vs the rest issue. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, where a BJP government has given way to a government led by the Congress, there is great hesitation in introducing the egg in mid-day meals.

Why? Do vegetarians and those who wish to keep a safe distance from the everyday egg make up the majority? Again, according to the 2014 SRS baseline survey, 51.1 per cent of men and 47.7 per cent of women in MP are non-vegetarians.

Madhya Pradesh also has a very large number of malnourished children. But the egg was a prickly political issue when the BJP was in power. It continues to be so. In an election year, the Congress too wishes to play safe, not antagonise the upper castes and the Jain community.

Sachin Jain, a Bhopal-based food security activist, who leads Vikas Sambad Samiti, an NGO which has carried out a successful intervention on community-based management of malnutrition in 100 villages in Rewa, Satna, Panna and Umaria districts of Madhya Pradesh, points out that Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have no cultural barriers in eating eggs.

Why then deny the nutritious egg to the children of those families who have no problems with it? The short answer  the battle against the egg is not about diet at all. The politics of food in India, whether it be centred around the egg or meat, is about power and control and making clear who calls the shots and whose traditions count.

If child malnutrition doesnt figure as an electoral issue, it is because children dont vote; and families of malnourished children dont call the shots.

The writer focuses on development issues in India and emerging economies. She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com
ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- A Paul Harris Fellowship has been presented to Mary Fancher, a choral music teacher at Rocky River Middle School, by the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River. The award is in recognition of her leadership as adviser of the Be-the-Change Interact Club at the middle school.

Paul Harris Fellowships recognize exceptional contributions made by individuals who further Rotary's mission of encouraging the ideals of service as a basis of worthy enterprise, high ethical standards, community service and the advancement of international understanding and good will.

The fellowship, named for Paul Harris, who founded Rotary in 1905, was established in his honor in 1957 and is usually reserved for those who contribute $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.

Rotary members said Fancher's enthusiasm, planning and organizational skills enabled the students in the Interact Club to broaden themselves and serve their school and community.

The club members follow Rotary's principles of service and fellowship while advancing worthy causes at the school. They have participated in the Rocky River Homecoming parade, hosted welcoming parties for new students at the school and represented their club at district events.

Fancher received the award Dec. 6 at the Rotary District 6630 Foundation Celebration at Windows on the River. The award was made possible due to the local Rotary club's achievement of having every member donate to Rotary International's Annual Fund during the 2017-18 Rotary year.

Kindergarten info: Bay Village parents and guardians of children who will be 5 on or before Aug. 1 are invited to attend a kindergarten information meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 at Normandy Elementary School, 26920 Normandy Road, Bay Village. The meeting is for adults only.

Packets of forms and information required for kindergarten registration -- which takes place Feb. 5-7 -- will be distributed. In addition, an overview of Normandy's kindergarten program and on kindergarten readiness in general will be presented.

Information tables for those with questions regarding daycare, speech therapy, early entrance, transportation and volunteer opportunities also will be available.

More information about Normandy Elementary's kindergarten program is available on the district's website at bayvillageschools.com.

Students at St. Paul Westlake School will celebrate National Lutheran Schools Week Jan. 27 to Feb. 2.

Lutheran Schools Week: Students at St. Paul Westlake School will celebrate National Lutheran Schools Week Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, with a different daily theme and activity.

The students also are collecting donations to cover the cost of a field trip for an orphanage in Haiti as a service project.

Here is a rundown of activities:

Jan. 27 -- Students will sing at both the 8:30 and 11 a.m. traditional and contemporary church services at St. Paul Westlake Church, 27993 Detroit Road, followed by an all-school open house from 1 to 3 p.m. Tours of the school will be given, and St. Paul Westlake staff and teachers will be on hand to answer questions.

Jan. 28 -- The daily theme is "Called to Grow." Students will learn the Bible story "Calling of Moses to lead the Israelites" and the dress theme for the day will be beach/nautical attire. An opening ceremony with a special message, trivia and devotions will be at 9:15 a.m. each school day in the Activity Center. Magician Christian Augustine will present "The Magic of Learning," followed by family group time and the first trivia questions of the week.

Jan. 29 -- The daily theme is "Growing in Strength." Students will learn the Bible story "Samson calling on God for help" and the dress theme for the day will be best workout clothes. At 2:40 p.m., there will be an all-school assembly for "push-up Popsicles and all-school strength competitions."

Jan. 30 -- The daily theme is "Growing in Service." Students will learn the Bible story "Joseph Serving in All Situations" and the dress theme will be to dress in as many colors as possible. Students will work on a beautification project for the school and also will make fleece bears for children in Haiti. A spaghetti dinner will take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the St. Paul Westlake Cafeteria, with proceeds supporting the seventh- and eighth-grade Ohio field trip in the spring. Tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Students will present a talent show at 6:30 p.m. in the Activity Center.

Jan. 31 -- The daily theme is "Growing in Spirit." Students will learn the Bible story of "Pentecost and the Gift of the Holy Spirit." Students will dress in their favorite team uniforms (Cavs/Indians/Browns) or make a team of friends and create their own team uniform. There will be all-school team-building activities, including a scavenger hunt at 2 p.m. in the Activity Center, with devotions to follow.

Feb. 1 -- The daily theme is "Growing in Unity." Students will learn the Bible story of "Disciples sent out two by two" and they will dress in school spirit wear. A pancake breakfast will be offered for all students at 9 a.m. in the cafeteria. A faculty/eighth-grade volleyball game will take place at 2:15 p.m. in the Activity Center.

"National Lutheran Schools Week allows us to celebrate the excellence in Christian education that Lutheran schools provide our families. Here at St. Paul Westlake, we go all out for this celebration with daily themes, guest speakers, devotions, activities and community builders that enhance the already exemplary education students receive on a daily basis. It is truly a week of celebration," said Jeremy Louden, St. Paul principal.

Community Police Academy: Westlake residents and employees of companies in the city can learn how a police department runs and find out more about the jobs of patrol officers, detectives and civilian staff members during the Westlake Police Department's annual Community Police Academy.

Nominations are being accepted by the Westlake Police Department for the academy through Feb. 15.

Participants will get hands-on experience in crime-scene processing, self defense and firearms instruction. Additional topics include patrol and traffic operations, S.W.A.T. and advancements in law enforcement technology.

Classes will be from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays, beginning March 6. The graduation ceremony will be at the final session on May 22.

Prospective participants must be at least 21 years old, with no criminal record, and they must pass a background check. Preference will be given to applicants who live or work in Westlake. Class size is limited to 20 students.

Applications can be picked up at the Westlake Police Department, 27300 Hilliard Blvd., or they are available online at the cityofwestlake.org/Police-Academy. For more information, call Lt. Mark Krumheuer or Capt. Jerry Vogel at 440-871-3311.

Farmers market: North Union Farmers Market at Crocker Park will be open 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday through March 30 inside the shop at 228 Market St., behind Gap.

Market vendors will offer fresh fruit and produce, homemade salsa, vegan sweets and more. All vendors are local, providing Ohio-grown and -sourced items.

Planning for the future: "Legal and Financial Issues -- Planning for the Future" will be offered from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital Wellness Center, 3035 Wooster Road, Rocky River.

For information or to register, call 800-272-3900 or visit alz.org/events/event_search.

The program is designed for individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and their family members who want to learn what legal documents are essential to manage family affairs and learn how to prepare to finance long-term care. An attorney who specializes in elder law will be available to answer questions.

The Alzheimer's Association Cleveland Area Chapter adds new free education programs regularly. Visit alz.org/events/event_search?etid=6&cid=139 to see the complete list or call 800-272-3900.

Lending a hand: The Lakewood Community Services Center is offering free food to furloughed government workers throughout the duration of the shutdown. Impacted federal employees should bring proof of their employment to participate. The program is open to Lakewood, Rocky River and Westlake residents.

The Lakewood Community Services Center is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays. The center is at 14230 Madison Ave., Lakewood.

Similar programs to assist furloughed federal workers are popping up across Northeast Ohio and the nation.

Information, please: Readers are invited to share information about themselves, their families and friends, organizations, church events, etc. from Bay Village, Rocky River and Westlake for the West Shore Chatter column, which I write on a freelance basis. Awards, honors, milestone birthdays or anniversaries and other items are welcome. Submit information at least 10 days before the requested publication date to carolkovach@hotmail.com.
The most worried segments of the public have lately been stockpiling food and medicines, just in case.

Obliged by Parliament to fetch up with a plan B after her deal with the European Union (EU) was voted down last week by a majority of 230, the largest defeat for a sitting government in the House of Commons, Theresa May did just that on Monday.

Her plan B barely differed from her roundly rejected plan A, though. The solitary concession was that EU citizens applying for settlement in Britain would not be charged 65 for their effort. The Opposition accurately noted that the Brexit crisis remains unresolved.

There are less than 10 weeks to go before the March 29 deadline, and the prospect of crashing out without a ratified deal remains the likeliest outcome. Some members of Parliament, mostly on the Conservative side, and a sizeable proportion of the public have few qualms about a no-deal Brexit, notwithstanding considerable alarm among bureaucrats and businessmen in particular about the chaos that could immediately ensue. The most worried segments of the public have lately been stockpiling food and medicines, just in case.

It is possible that next week the Commons will vote to block a no-deal scenario, necessitating an extension of the Article 50 deadline unless a coherent deal is ratified by the end of February. May says the EU will reject that option, even though indications from Brussels suggest preparations are already being made for a postponement.

Her claim that a second referendum, another of the mooted options, would be deeply divisive is more credible. But deep divisions are already in place. Opinion polls suggest that a re-vote would reverse the popular verdict, not because all that many Britons have changed their minds but for the simple reason that the electorate now includes many teenagers who were unable to vote in 2016, and the young are broadly inclined towards continued membership of the EU.

Opinion polls can, of course, be way off the mark. Its nonetheless intriguing, though, that a recent one suggested that were the vote in a general election restricted to 18 to 24-year-olds, not a single seat would go to the Tories. That may be an exaggeration, but its an interesting result even with a substantial margin of error.

Corbyn has thus far resisted calls from the party membership as well as a large segment of Labour MPs to unequivocally back a second referendum. He prefers the idea of a general election.

Meanwhile, the Tories who clearly have no confidence in May voted to keep her prime ministership alive, as did the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, which cannot bring itself to back her deal because of the so-called Northern Ireland backstop, which effectively keeps the United Kingdom, including Britain, within an EU trade framework.

The obvious alternative would be a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and the colonised North  which, like Scotland, voted to remain in the EU. There have even been suggestions that both Scotland and Northern Ireland could continue to be members of the EU even as England and Wales opt out. But thats far-fetched in the absence of Scottish independence and Northern Irelands long overdue reunification with the Republic, neither of which is a short-term prospect.

Another option that has lately been aired, most recently by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is peoples assemblies whereby representatives of both camps would gather together to thrash out a way forward. But, like Mays consultations with other parties, which should have been initiated in 2016, the idea comes a bit late.

The Brexit disarray increasingly tends to be described as Britains worst crisis since World War II. There is, of course, no risk of German bombers suddenly appearing in the skies over London. Its worth recalling, though, that when the conflagration broke out, Britain opted for a government of national unity. And when it ended, the electorate overwhelmingly rejected Winston Churchill in favour of his less flamboyant Labour deputy, Clement Atlee, whose government instituted the welfare state that survived pretty much intact until the Thatcher-Blair years. In that respect, an action replay holds out considerable promise.

By arrangement with Dawn
There is ambiguity over an alliance between the BJP and the Sena in the run-up to the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls.

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray jointly carried out the Ganesh poojan of the memorial for Sena supremo Bal Thackeray Wednesday.

Just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls that are barely two months away, the land earmarked in Dadar for the memorial was officially transferred by the civic body to the trust set up for construction of the memorial. There is ambiguity over an alliance between the BJP and the Sena in the run-up to the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls.

The possession letter of the premises and the agreement of the mayors bungalow for the national monument premises of late Bal Thackeray was handed over to the chairman of the memorial trust Uddhav Thackeray by the Brihan-mumbai Municipal Corpor-ation chief at a function held at the mayors bungalow in Dadar in the presence of the CM. Senior party leaders from both saffron parties were present at the event Wednesday, which coincided with the 93rd birth anniversary of the veteran leader.

Aware of media scrutiny, the Sena chief and CM were seen shaking hands and sharing a cordial relationship before the press.
The Supreme Court of the United States. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Ricky Carioti.
Punjab CM protests against proposal, says Guru is universal.

Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday protested against Pakistans proposal to allow only Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurd-wara, pointing out that Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji was a universal Guru, revered by followers of all religions, especially Hindus.

The chief minister has urged the Indian government to take up the issue with Islamabad when the latter sends its draft agreement for regulating entry into its territory through the Kartarpur corridor.

In a statement issued here, Captain Singh said while Islamabad was well within its rights to set terms and conditions relating to its territorial safety and security, it should take into consideration the fact that the first Sikh Gurus ideology is not confined to Sikhs but is emulated by people of all faiths.

The Sikh ethos prescribes non-discrimination, with even the concept of langar being casteless service for all, said the chief minister, adding that all gurdwaras are open to all, without religious bias.

A large number of Hindus in India were ardent followers of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, and it was their cherished dream to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, which was closely associated with the first Sikh Guru, he pointed out.

There was for years the tradition of Hindu families converting their eldest sons to Sikhism, the chief minister further noted, adding that the influence of Sikhism in India was so strong that to exclude members of other religions was not something that Pakistan government should even remotely consider. To keep such followers out of Kartarpur Sahib just because they were not Sikhs was not logical, he said, urging the Indian government to take up the matter with the Pakistan government on priority.

Citing media reports of the draft agreement being prepared by the Pak government on entry through Kartarpur Corridor, the CM also objected to the condition of number of pilgrims proposed by them. It was not correct to limit the number of people to 15 a group, he said.

The Chief Minister also expressed concern at the reported clause making passport imperative for travel by pilgrims. With Punjabs large rural population having no passports, such a move would deprive them of making the historic pilgrimage, he observed.

The Chief Minister urged the governments of India and Pakistan to sit across the table and thrash out all issues to facilitate smooth and hassle-free travel by pilgrims through Corridor before coming to a formal agreement in this regard.

Such regressive steps as were reportedly being considered by the Pakistan government to control entry through the Corridor would negate the positive initiative taken by their government and it was up to the Indian government to resolve all such issues amicably so that the pilgrims get the maximum benefit from the historic decision of the two nations, said Captain Amarinder Singh.
Berkley is conducting a town hall meeting Feb. 19 to gauge residents' views on whether to allow marijuana businesses to operate in the city. A guest speaker will be an attorney from the Michigan Municipal League with updates from Lansing who will also take questions.
The foundation already had provided money to UVa to start a Data Science Institute, which now will be expanded to become a fully fledged school.

Another promising comment comes from Phil Bourne, director of the institute and interim dean of the new school.

Were trying to do things a bit differently; we dont want to get siloed, he said.

The institute already operates satellites in other schools, and expects to use faculty from other schools to encourage an interdisciplinary approach.

We see our role as an enabler of activities across other schools, Mr. Bourne said.

Thats important if data science is to help solve the big problems facing the country and world today. Students can learn about data acquisition, engineering, analysis, visualization and, yes, ethics, but the information has to be put to work if it is to be useful. And collaboration across disciplines is necessary for data experts to understand not just how, but where to apply their skills.

Resisting silos and promoting collaboration also helps prevent critical information from being hoarded and misused to amass unwarranted political or economic power.
Development of the 13-acre site will be in three phases with phase one scheduled to begin soon with phase two estimated to be completed in mid-2022.
The legislation also drew support from the local election officials who run polling places.

It helps give them more opportunities for different spaces within the schools and less problems with traffic and parking and all that stuff, said Del. Steve Landes, R-Augusta, the chairman of the House Education Committee.

The Virginia School Boards Association raised concerns that the bill might be too broad. The bill shuts down every school in the commonwealth. And not every school in the commonwealth is used as a polling place, said Stacy Haney, a lobbyist for the School Boards Association. So you might be going a little farther than you need to go.

Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, the chairman of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, was the only delegate who voted against the bill. In an interview, he said it needed more fine-tuning to cover more types of elections. I dont object to the intent of the bill, Cole said. I just thought that it wasnt ready for prime time yet.

The bill that passed Tuesday only applied to general elections in November, which attract the most voters.
Before the six-member committee voted, Ransone gave a speech about her reasons for opposing the ERA, saying it had come before her subcommittee many times over the years.

Some ERA supporters in the audience snickered or began talking while she spoke, while other ERA supporters in the audience told them to be quiet.

For a moment I want to talk to the young girls in the audience," Ransone said, prompting some in the audience to groan.

Well thats embarrassing that you would say that to me," Ransone said. "Because what I would say to them is that you can do anything that you want.

One young woman stood and turned her back to Ransone before a police officer told her to be seated.

After that, Ransone singled out Davis.

And Eileen, you sit back there and you shake your head," Ransone said, saying that "it's my turn to speak" when the crowd audibly reacted.

You all have disrespected me year after year and Eileen, you have brought young people and young women to my office and told them that theyre not worthy. They are worthy," Ransone said.
University of Virginia adjunct professor and former public defender Jim Hingeley announced his campaign for Albemarle County commonwealths attorney Wednesday.

Hingeley, who is running as a Democrat, said his experience as the founder and former chief defender for the Albemarle-Charlottesville Public Defender Office and as a trial lawyer makes him well equipped to serve as countys top prosecutor.

At the end of the day, Im not a politician, he said. I never planned on running for office, and I will not run for any other office; this is my last stop.

If elected, Hingeley said he would seek to lower the number of incarcerated individuals by bringing fewer general district court cases to circuit court and better utilizing alternative programs such as drug court and mental health court.

High incarceration rates do not make a community safer, Hingeley said, and can make it difficult for those who serve time to fold back into the community.

Why is Albemarle incarcerating community members at a high rate even though we know it doesnt make us safer? he said.
In a quest to avoid getting an A certificate, Milap is sticking with a love story narrative for Marjaavaan.

When Milap Zaveris upcoming action-thriller Marjaavaan was being planned, producer Bhushan Kumar told the writer-director that he should not show people being burned anymore.

Bhushanji was upset that there was a Muharram scene in Satyamev Jayate as well as the burning and bloodshed, which resulted in the film getting an A certificate and losing some audiences in the under-18 category. As a result, the film missed the 100-crore mark by a whisker. So, Milap navigated Marjaavaan more towards a love story. Bhushanji had specifically asked him that the film should not get an A certificate but there are some action scenes in the film, says a source close to the development of the film.

It seems that the suggestion from the producer was put on the back burner as actor Sidharth Malhotra had a back-burning scene the other day when he was shooting for the film in Mumbai.

There was a scene in the middle of the night when Sidharth was fighting off some hoodlums in the movie. His back and shoulder were to be on fire and he was asked to use a stunt double, which he politely refused and shot the scene himself, says a source.

Thankfully, the scene culminated without any mishaps.

Scheduled for an October release, Marjaavaan also features Tara Sutaria in the lead and will see Riteish Deshmukh playing a dwarf.

 Sanskriti Media
The contract wasnt ratified until Tuesdays meeting, but the employment agreement is dated Jan. 10. A story published by Lynchburgs WSET on Jan. 11 also said Thomas was taking the job in Charlottesville.

Thomas will receive a $5,000 payment on her first day, according to the employment agreement. She is subject to a performance review by July 28.

Rice was paid $72,842 a year as clerk of council and was paid $98,328 as chief of staff, a position she took in July. The circumstances of her departure are unclear.

The position serves as a liaison between council and city staff. The city is seeking applications for an assistant clerk of council to replace Sarah Brazelton, who took a job in the citys procurement department earlier this month.

The job posting indicated the annual salary range for clerk of council was between $70,532 and $137,538.

Thomas will be able to help hire her assistant and a policy analyst for an Office of Council, and she will assist City Council with the hiring process for its next city manager. Applications for city manager were due Monday, but it's unclear how many were received.
Out-of-state students generally pay the full cost of their education, while taxpayers subsidize the cost of in-state students. This issue as it relates to the College at Wises proposal gave Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, pause.

I always have concerns about granting in-state tuition to folks who arent Virginia taxpayers, said Suetterlein, a member of the Senate Health and Education Committee.

Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, was apprehensive about the precedent this would set, saying this would be going down the wrong road.

Would we do that when we get up into Northern Virginia? Howell said. Will those from D.C. and Maryland be able to get in-state tuition?

Enrollment has been declining at the College at Wise for the past several years. In the fall, 1,187 students enrolled seeking degrees, and another 879 students not seeking degrees attended.

The school hopes that a reduced tuition rate for those in the Appalachian region will add another 100 students to the campus.
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Thales S.A. provides various solutions for civilian and military customers in the aeronautics, space, defense, security, and ground transportation markets worldwide. It operates through Aerospace, Transport, Defence & Security, and Digital Identity & Security segments. The company offers communications, command, and control systems; mission services and support; protection and mission/combat systems; surveillance, detection, and intelligence systems; training and simulation solutions for air, land, naval, and joint forces; and digital identity and security solutions. It also provides air traffic management solutions; flight decks and avionics equipment and functions; in-flight entertainment and connectivity systems and services; electrical systems; aerospace training solutions; navigation solutions; support and services for avionics equipment; and vision systems. In addition, the company designs, operates, and delivers satellite-based systems for telecommunications, navigation, earth observation, environmental management, exploration, and science and orbital infrastructures; signaling, communications and supervision, and fare collection management systems and related services; cybersecurity and railway digitalization systems; and main line rail, and urban and intermodal mobility solutions. Further, it provides solutions for various markets and applications, including radiology, radio frequency, microwave sources, training and simulation solutions, lasers, and microelectronics solutions for science, industry, space, defense, automotive, railways, and energy conversion platforms. The company was formerly known as Thomson-CSF and changed its name to Thales S.A. in 2000. Thales S.A. was founded in 1893 and is based in Courbevoie, France.

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The setting up of a centralised AAAR would require amendments to the GST Acts.

The centralised authority as an appellate body will only take up cases wherein the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) of two states have passed divergent orders.

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved setting up of a centralised Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) under the goods and services tax that would decide on cases where there are divergent orders at the state level.

The setting up of a centralised AAAR would require amendments to the GST Acts. The centralised authority as an appellate body will only take up cases wherein the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) of two states have passed divergent orders.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and comprising state counterparts, in December decided to establish the centralised AAAR.

"The Cabinet has cleared the GST appellate authority," a source said after the meeting of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In view of the confusion created by contradictory rulings given by different AARs on the same or similar issues, the industry had been demanding a centralised appellate authority that could reconcile the contradictory verdicts of different AARs.
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Any one of these could have made you a millionaire many times over. Today, the Wall Street legend who picked the last investment of the decade

The answer will surprise you.
EnerSys provides various stored energy solutions for industrial applications worldwide. It operates in three segments: Energy Systems, Motive Power, and Specialty. The company offers uninterruptible power systems applications for computer and computer-controlled systems, as well as telecommunications systems; switchgear and electrical control systems used in industrial facilities and electric utilities, large-scale energy storage, and energy pipelines; integrated power solutions and services to broadband, telecom, renewable, and industrial customers; and thermally managed cabinets and enclosures for electronic equipment and batteries. It also provides motive power products that are used to provide power for electric industrial forklifts used in manufacturing, warehousing, and other material handling applications, as well as mining equipment, diesel locomotive starting, and other rail equipment. In addition, the company offers specialty batteries for starting, lighting, and ignition applications in transportation; and energy solutions for satellites, military aircraft, submarines, ships, and other tactical vehicles, as well as medical and security systems. Further, it provides battery chargers, power equipment, battery accessories, and outdoor cabinet enclosures, as well as related after-market and customer-support services for industrial batteries. The company sells its products through a network of distributors, independent representatives, and internal sales forces. The company was formerly known as Yuasa, Inc. and changed its name to EnerSys in January 2001. EnerSys was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania.

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The following companies are subsidiares of TE Connectivity: 999 Arques Corp., ABB ENTRELEC terminal block business, ACC Telecommunications, ADC Chile Limitada, ADC Communications (SEA) Pte. Ltd., ADC Communications (UK) Holding Ltd., ADC Communications (UK) Ltd., ADC Communications Hong Kong Limited, ADC Telecommunications Equipment (Shanghai) Co., AMP Amermex, AMP Products Pacific Limited, AMP Taiwan B.V., AMP Trading B.V., AMP de Venezuela, Acalon Holdings Limited, Advanced Fiber Products LLC, Advanced Fiber Products Limited, Advanced Tube Technologies, AdvancedCath, AdvancedCath Technologies, Alpha Technics, American Sensor Technologies, Betatherm (R&D) Limited, Brantner Holding Company, Brantner and Associates, Butterfly Management SAS, C.S. Tyco Decisive Inc., C.S. Tyco Dependable Inc., C.S. Tyco Durable Inc., C.S. Tyco Reliance Inc., C.S. Tyco Resolute Inc., C.S. Tyco Responder Inc., CII Guardian International Limited, Cablotec GmbH, Carrier Kheops Bac SAS, Catheter and Disposable Technology, Celis Eletrocomponentes Ltda., Cima de Acuna S.A. de C.V., Clarebury Pty. Ltd., Codenoll Technology Corporation, Communication Expert International Investments Limited, Compagnie Deutsch Distribution SAS, Compagnie Deutsch SAS, Comtec Systeme GmbH, Connecteurs Electriques Deutsch SAS, Corcom, Corcom West Indies Limited, Cotsworks LLC, Creganna, Creganna Captial Holding Ireland Unlimited Company, Creganna Finance (US) LLC, Creganna Finance Ireland Limited, Creganna Luxembourg SARL, Creganna Medical Devices, Creganna Medical Pte. Limited, Creganna Medical Technology Unlimited, Creganna Medical s.r.l., Creganna Regulatory, Creganna Solutions Limited, Creganna Solutions Unlimited Company, Creganna Tactx Singapore Limited, Creganna Unlimited Company, Cregstar Bidco Limited, Critchley Group Limited, Crompton Instruments (South-East Asia) Pte. Ltd., Deutsch, Deutsch Connectors Hong Kong Limited, Deutsch Connectors Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co., Deutsch Connectors Trading (Shanghai) Co., Deutsch Finance SAS, Deutsch GB Limited, Deutsch Group SAS, Deutsch India Power Connectors (Pvt) Ltd, Deutsch Israel Ltd., Deutsch SAS, Deutsch Servicios S. de R.L. De C.V., Deutsch Subco Limited, Deutsch UK, F.A.I. Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, First Sensor, Grangehurst Enterprises Pty. Ltd., Hirschmann Car Communication, Hong Kong Sensors Technologies Limited, Howard A. Schaevitz Technologies, Intercontec Connector System (Shanghai) Co., Intercontec Produkt GmbH, Intercontect Pfeiffer Industrie-Steckverbindungen GmbH, Jaquet North America, Jaquet Technology Group AG, Kemex Holding Company, Kenabell Holding Limited, LADD Distribution LLC, LADD Distribution Limited, LSA, MEAS Asia Limited, MEAS Europe SAS, MEAS France SAS, MEAS Ireland (Betatherm) Limited, MEAS Norway AS, MEAS Shenzhen Limited, MEAS Switzerland S.a r.l., MEAS US Holding, MP&E, Measurement Specialties, Measurement Specialties (Chengdu) Ltd., Measurement Specialties (China) Ltd., Measurement Specialties (China) Ltd. Production Branch, Measurement Specialties Foreign Holdings LLC, Measurement Technology (Chengdu) Ltd., Medical Engineering & Design, MicroGroup, Morlynn Ceramics Pty. Ltd., Nikkiso-Therm Co., PT KRONE Indonesia, PT. Tyco Electronics Indonesia, Pfeiffer GmbH & Co KG, Pfeiffer Verwaltungs GmbH, Polamco, Polamco Limited, Potter & Brumfield de Mexico, Precision Interconnect LLC, Precision Subsea AS, Precision Wire Components, Precision Wire Holding Company, Produxx, RAYCHEM-RPG Private Limited, Raychem (HK) Limited, Raychem (Shanghai) Trading Ltd, Raychem China Limited, Raychem Dominicana S.A., Raychem Industries BVBA, Raychem International LLC, Raychem International Manufacturing LLC, Raychem Juarez, Raychem Limited, Raychem Ltd., Raychem Pacific Corporation, Raychem Saudi Arabia Limited, Raychem Shanghai Cable Accessories Ltd, Raychem Technologies Limited, Rochester Wire and Cable LLC, SEACON Advanced Products LLC, Seacon (Europe) Limited, Seacon Global Production, Seacon Produtos e Servicos Opticos e Eletricos Ltda., Sensitive Object, Servo Interconnect Limited, Shanghai CII Electronics Co., Shenzhen Century Man Communication Equipment Co., Sibas Electronics (Xiamen) Co., TCN Holding (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., TE Connectivity (Barbados) SRL, TE Connectivity (Denmark) ApS, TE Connectivity (HKZ) Holding Limited, TE Connectivity (Kunshan) Company Limited, TE Connectivity (Netherlands) Holding S.a r.l. - Irish Branch, TE Connectivity (Schweiz) Management AG, TE Connectivity (Suzhou) Co., TE Connectivity Argentina S.R.L., TE Connectivity Australia Pty Ltd, TE Connectivity Colombia S.A.S., TE Connectivity Connectors (Suzhou) Co., TE Connectivity Distribution (Thailand) Limited, TE Connectivity EMEA Holding GmbH, TE Connectivity Germany GmbH, TE Connectivity HK Limited, TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l., TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l. Luxembourg (LU) Schaffhausen E-Finance branch, TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l. Luxembourg (LU) Schaffhausen branch, TE Connectivity Holding International II S.a r.l. (Ireland Branch), TE Connectivity Holding International S.A., TE Connectivity Inc., TE Connectivity India Private Limited, TE Connectivity Investments Holding S.A., TE Connectivity Investments Holding S.A. Luxembourg (LU) Schaffhausen branch, TE Connectivity Ireland Limited, TE Connectivity LATAM Holding S.a r.l., TE Connectivity LATAM I S.a r.l., TE Connectivity LATAM II S.a r.l., TE Connectivity Limited, TE Connectivity MOG Europe S.a r.l., TE Connectivity MOG Holding S.a r.l., TE Connectivity MOG Inc., TE Connectivity MOG Sales GmbH, TE Connectivity Manufacturing (Thailand) Company Limited, TE Connectivity Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., TE Connectivity Morocco SARL, TE Connectivity Nederland B.V., TE Connectivity Netherlands (Poland II) Cooperatief U.A., TE Connectivity Netherlands (Turkey) B.V., TE Connectivity Netherlands Cooperatief U.A., TE Connectivity Phoenix Optix Inc., TE Connectivity Seacon Phoenix Inc., TE Connectivity Sensors Germany GmbH, TE Connectivity Services India Private Limited, TE Connectivity Solutions GmbH, TE Connectivity South Africa Proprietary Limited, TE Connectivity Spain, TE Connectivity SubCom S.L.U., TE Connectivity SubCom Spain Holding S.L.U., TE Connectivity Technology Solutions Limited, TE Connectivity Tunisia Sarl, TE Connectivity ULC, TE Connectivity US Group Holding Inc., TE Connectivity Vietnam Holding Company Limited, TYCO Electronics Polska Sp.z.o.o., TYCO SUBMARINE SYSTEMS INC., TacPro, Tactx Medical, Taicang Speed & Spin Sensors Co., Taliq Taiwan Limited, Tappat Engineering Pty Ltd, TechDevice Costa Rica Limitada, TechDevice Holdings, TechDevice LLC, The Whitaker LLC, Transoceanic Cable Ship Company LLC, TyCom Holdings II SA, TyCom Networks (Peru) S.A., Tyco Electronics (AMP Korea) Malta Limited, Tyco Electronics (Dongguan) Ltd, Tyco Electronics (Gibraltar) Holding Limited, Tyco Electronics (Gibraltar) Limited, Tyco Electronics (Korea) Malta Limited, Tyco Electronics (Kunshan) Ltd, Tyco Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Tyco Electronics (Qingdao) Ltd., Tyco Electronics (Schweiz) Holding II GmbH, Tyco Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Tyco Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Tyco Electronics (Suzhou) Ltd., Tyco Electronics (Zhuhai) Ltd, Tyco Electronics AMP Guangdong Ltd, Tyco Electronics AMP Italia Products S.R.L., Tyco Electronics AMP Italia S.R.L., Tyco Electronics AMP Korea Co., Tyco Electronics AMP Manufacturing (S) Pte Ltd, Tyco Electronics AMP Qingdao Ltd., Tyco Electronics AMP Shanghai Ltd., Tyco Electronics Austria GmbH, Tyco Electronics Belgium EC BVBA, Tyco Electronics Brasil Ltda., Tyco Electronics Canada ULC, Tyco Electronics China (Gibraltar) Limited, Tyco Electronics Componentes Electromecanicos Lda., Tyco Electronics Corby Limited, Tyco Electronics Corporation, Tyco Electronics Czech s.r.o., Tyco Electronics Del Peru S.A.C., Tyco Electronics EC Trutnov s.r.o., Tyco Electronics EC Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Tyco Electronics Eta Limited, Tyco Electronics Finance Alpha GmbH, Tyco Electronics Finance S.a r.l., Tyco Electronics Finland Oy, Tyco Electronics France SAS, Tyco Electronics Germany Holdings GmbH, Tyco Electronics Group S.A., Tyco Electronics Group S.A. (French Branch), Tyco Electronics Group S.A. (Ireland Branch), Tyco Electronics H.K. Limited, Tyco Electronics Hellas MEPE, Tyco Electronics Holding Corp., Tyco Electronics Holding France, Tyco Electronics Holding S.a r.l., Tyco Electronics Holdings (Bermuda) No. 7 Limited, Tyco Electronics Holdings (Bermuda) No. 7 Limited Taiwan Branch, Tyco Electronics Hong Kong Holdings No. 1 Limited, Tyco Electronics Hong Kong Holdings No. 2 Limited, Tyco Electronics Hong Kong Holdings No. 3 Limited, Tyco Electronics Hungary Termelo Kft, Tyco Electronics Idento, Tyco Electronics India (Gibraltar) Limited, Tyco Electronics Industrial Y Comercial Chile Limitada, Tyco Electronics Integrated Cable Systems LLC, Tyco Electronics Ireland Limited, Tyco Electronics Israel Ltd., Tyco Electronics Italia Holding S.r.l., Tyco Electronics Japan G.K., Tyco Electronics Lambda, Tyco Electronics Latin America Holding LLC, Tyco Electronics Manufacturing Singapore Pte Ltd, Tyco Electronics Mexico, Tyco Electronics Middle East FZE, Tyco Electronics Motors Ltd, Tyco Electronics NZ Limited, Tyco Electronics Netherlands (Germany Holding) S.a r.l., Tyco Electronics Netherlands (Gibraltar China) Cooperatief U.A., Tyco Electronics Netherlands (Gibraltar India) Cooperatief U.A., Tyco Electronics Netherlands (India) Cooperatief U.A., Tyco Electronics Netherlands Holding B.V., Tyco Electronics Norge AS, Tyco Electronics Philippines, Tyco Electronics Precision Engineering Ltd., Tyco Electronics Printed Circuit Group LP, Tyco Electronics RIMC Holding LLC, Tyco Electronics RUS OOO, Tyco Electronics Raychem GmbH, Tyco Electronics Raychem Korea Limited, Tyco Electronics SIMEL SAS, Tyco Electronics Saudi Arabia Limited, Tyco Electronics Services GmbH, Tyco Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd, Tyco Electronics Subsea Communications LLC, Tyco Electronics Svenska AB, Tyco Electronics Svenska Holdings AB, Tyco Electronics Technology (SIP) Co., Tyco Electronics Technology (SIP) Ltd., Tyco Electronics Tecnologias S. de R.L. de C.V., Tyco Electronics UK Holdings Ltd, Tyco Electronics UK Ltd., Tyco Electronics UK Ltd. (Kenya Branch), Tyco Electronics Ukraine Limited, Tyco Electronics Uruguay S.A., Tyco Electronics Verwaltungs GmbH, Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems B.V., Tyco Electronics de Venezuela, Tyco Elektronik AMP Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Tyco Global Networks Ltd., Tyco Iberia, Tyco International Services GmbH, Tyco Networks (Argentina) S.R.L., Tyco Networks (Italy) Srl, Tyco Networks (Netherlands) B.V., Tyco Networks Iberica, Tyco Submarine Systems, Tyco Submarine Systems C.A., Tyco Submarine Systems de Argentina S.A., Tyco Telecommunications Ltd., Wema Americas LLC, Wema Automotive System Private Limited, Wema Environmental Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Wema Environmental Technologies (Shenzhen) Co., Wema Environmental Technologies Ltd., Wema System AG, Wema System AS, Wema System Hong Kong Limited, Wema System Production and Distribution HK Limited, Xiamen Delixing Electric Equipment Businesss, and motec Montage GmbH.
Chubb Limited provides insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company's North America Commercial P&C Insurance segment offers commercial property, casualty, workers' compensation, package policies, risk management, financial lines, marine, construction, environmental, medical, cyber risk, surety, and excess casualty; and group accident and health insurance to large, middle market, and small commercial businesses. Its North America Personal P&C Insurance segment provides affluent and high net worth individuals and families with homeowners, automobile and collector cars, valuable articles, personal and excess liability, travel insurance, and recreational marine insurance and services. The company's North America Agricultural Insurance segment offers multiple peril crop and crop-hail insurance; and coverage for farm and ranch property, and commercial agriculture products. Its Overseas General Insurance segment provides coverage for traditional commercial property and casualty; specialty categories, such as financial lines, marine, energy, aviation, political risk, and construction risk; and group accident and health, and traditional and specialty personal lines for corporations, middle markets, and small customers through retail brokers, agents, and other channels. The company's Global Reinsurance segment offers traditional and specialty reinsurance under the Chubb Tempest Re brand to property and casualty companies. Its Life Insurance segment provides protection and savings products comprising whole life, endowment plans, individual term life, group term life, medical and health, personal accident, credit life, universal life, and unit linked contracts. Chubb has collaboration with Marsh to secure insurance coverage for the COVAX no-fault compensation program. The company was formerly known as ACE Limited and changed its name to Chubb Limited in January 2016. Chubb Limited was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

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BNP Paribas SA provides a range of banking and financial services in France and internationally. It operates through two divisions, Retail Banking and Services, and Corporate and Institutional Banking. The company offers long-term corporate vehicle leasing, and rental and other financing solutions; and digital banking and investment services, cash management, and factoring services to corporate clients, as well as wealth management services. It also provides credit solutions for individuals under the Cetelem, Cofinoga, Findomestic, AlphaCredit, and Opel Vauxhall brands; savings and protection solutions, including insuring individuals, and their personal projects and assets; and asset management, private banking, and real estate services. In addition, the company offers global market services, including investment, hedging, financing, research, and market intellingence across asset classes; security services comprising clearing, custody, and asset and fund services, as well as corporate trust, and market and financing services; and corporate trade and treasury, debt financing, specialized financing, strategic advisory, mergers and acquisition, and equity capital market services for institutional and corporate clients. The company was formerly known as Banque Nationale de Paris and changed its name to BNP Paribas SA in May 2000. BNP Paribas SA was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. provides various banking products and services to individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Commercial Banking and Global Wholesale Banking. It offers deposits and other bank funding instruments; debit and credit cards; digital pre-paid solutions; payment platform; loyalty programs; employee benefit vouchers; payroll loans; digital lending and online debt renegotiation services; mortgages; home equity financing products; consumer credit; and local loans, commercial and trade finance, guarantees, structured loans, and cash management and funding solutions, as well as on-lending transfer services. It also provides funding and financial advisory services related to projects, origination and distribution of fixed-income securities in the debt capital markets, financing of acquisitions and syndicated loans, other structured financing arrangements, and subordinated debt and energy efficiency transactions; advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, and equity capital markets transactions; and stock brokerage and advisory, equity, and equity research services. In addition, the company structures and offers foreign exchange, derivative, and investment products for institutional investors, and corporate and retail customers; and provides market making services. Further, it offers instant payment services; range of products and services focused on the agribusiness sector; microfinance services; and online automotive listing and digital car insurance solutions, as well as digital trading platform. The company provides its financial services and products to its customers through multichannel distribution network comprising branches, mini-branches, ATMs, call centers, Internet banking, and mobile banking. Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in SAo Paulo, Brazil.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, 2nd Road Pty Ltd., ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Ltd, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Innovation Singapore Holdings Pte, ?What If! Limited, ?What If! Shanghai Co. Ltd, ?What If! USA LLC, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD Dialeto Agencia de Publicidade SA, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Beijing) Mobile Technology Co Ltd, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co Ltd, Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (South Africa) Pty Limited, Accenture (UK) Ltd, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Azerbaijan Ltd, Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BV, Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A, Accenture CAS GmbH, Accenture Canada Holdings Inc., Accenture Capital DAC, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd., Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SAS, Accenture Customer Services Limited, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Delivery Poland sp. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital France Holdings SA, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance (Gibraltar) III Ltd, Accenture Finance GmbH, Accenture Finance GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II GmbH, Accenture Finance II GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II Ltd, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services Srl, Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Ghana Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Ltd., Accenture Global Services Ltd, Accenture Global Solutions Ltd, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services Ltd, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc., Accenture Holding GmbH, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holding GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SAS, Accenture Holdings plc, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazylym Cozumleri Limited irketi), Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company (Accenture Endustriyel Yazlm Cozumleri Limited Sirketi), Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture Insurance Services SAS, Accenture Insurance Services SpA, Accenture International BV, Accenture International Capital SCA, Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture International Sarl, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea BV, Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Managed Services SpA, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Middle East B.V, Accenture Middle East BV, Accenture Minority I BV, Accenture Minority III Ltd, Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi (Pty) Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Newco LLC, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations Sp. z o.o., Accenture Outsourcing SRL, Accenture Outsourcing Services, Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations BV, Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru S.R.L, Accenture Peru S.R.L., Accenture Post Trade Processing SAS, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process Ltd, Accenture Product Lifecycle Services, Accenture Properties, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture S.A., Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture SAS, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sendirian Berhad, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Ltd, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.r.l., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services Sp. z o.o., Accenture Services Sp. z.o.o., Accenture Services and Technology Srl, Accenture Services fur Kreditinstitute GmbH, Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Servicos Administrativos Ltda, Accenture Servicos de Suporte de Negocios Ltda, Accenture Solutions Co Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Sp. z o.o., Accenture Sp. z.o.o., Accenture SpA, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc., Accenture Sub Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag KFT, Accenture Technologia, Accenture Technologia Consultoria e Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Technology Infrastructure Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas S.A., Accenture Technology Solutions GmbH, Accenture Technology Solutions Oy, Accenture Technology Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions S.A. de C.V., Accenture Technology Solutions SAS, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn. Bhd., Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures BV, Accenture Technology Ventures S.P.R.L., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co., Accenture Vietnam Co. LTD, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Limitada, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Customer Insight Limited, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Agave Consultants Limited, Agilex Technologies Inc., Allen International, Allen International Consulting Group Ltd, Alnova Technologies Corporation S.L., AlphaBeta Advisors, Altima, Altima Asia Ltd., Altima SAS, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Appaloosa Technology SAS, Arca, Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Avanade, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade (Thailand) Co Ltd, Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Denmark ApS, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Ltd, Avanade Europe Services Ltd, Avanade Federal Services LLC, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SAS, Avanade GZ Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd. (SH), Avanade Guangzhou, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy SRL, Avanade KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Netherlands BV, Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland Sp. z o.o., Avanade Poland Sp. z.o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain SL, Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Ltd, Avanade do Brasil Limitada, Avanade Osterreich GmbH, AvantBiz Consulting Limited, Avenai, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Boomerang Pharmaceuticals Communications Ireland Limited, Bow & Arrow, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brand Learning LLC, Brand Learning Ltd, Brand Learning Partners Limited, Brand Learning Pte Limited, Bridge Energy Group LLC, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CadenceQuest Inc., Capable Marketer Limited, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc., Certus Solutions Consulting Services Ltd, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cimation UK Limited, Cirruseo, Cirruseo SAS, Clarity Insights, Clearhead, Clearhead Group, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas (SN) (PTE.) Limited, Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Ltd., Cloud Talent Limited, Cloudsherpas, Cloudsherpas Inc., Codagenic Pty. Ltd., Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda., Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda., Context Information Security, Coritel S.A., Corliant Inc., CreativeDrive, CustomerWorks Europe SL, Cutting Edge Solutions Ltd, D5 Global Holdings LLC, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd., DMA Solutions Limited, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (Australia) PTY LTD, DayNine Consulting (Deutschland) GmbH, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting France SAS, DayNine Consulting Japan K.K., DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings, Declarative Holdings LLC, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digiplug SAS, Digital Consulting & Software Services LLC, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Ltd., Duck Creek Technologies, Duck Creek Technologies LLC, Deja Vu Security LLC, ESR Labs, Elcurator SAS, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting L.P., End-to-End Analytics, Energuia Web, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Ltd., Energy Quote Private Ltd., EnergyQuote JHA, EnergyQuote JHA Ltd., EnergyQuote Trading Ltd., Enimbos, Enkitec, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V. , Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enterprise System Partners PR LLC, Enterprise System Partners S.A.S., Epylon, Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Fairway Technologies Inc, Fairway Technologies LLC, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, First Annapolis International, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Focus Group Europe Limited, Formicary, Formicary Holdings Limited, Formicary Limited, FusionX, FutureMove Automotive, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, Genfour Limited, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gestion Altima Canada Inc., Global Public Firm S.L., GlobalView SAS, GoodFilm GmbH Filmproduktion Stuttgart, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., Hagberg Consulting Group, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Hytracc Consulting UK Limited, Hytracc Holding AS, I-Faber S.p.A., IBB Consulting, IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INCAD, INSITUM, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Imagine Broadband (USA) Ltd, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Industrie&Co, Infoman AG, Infoman Schweiz AG, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Infusion Development Inc., Infusion Development UK Limited, InfusionDev LLC, Innoveer Solutions India Pvt Ltd, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria Brasil LTDA, Insitum Consultoria Colombia SAS, Insitum Consultoria Europa SL, Insitum Consultoria Peru SAC, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., Intrepid, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Advertisement (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inventor Technology Limited, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, Javelin Group (Bulgaria) EOOD, Javelin Group Limited (UK), Javelin Group SASU, K Comms Group Limited, KCS.net AG, KCS.net AG West, KCS.net Deutschland GmbH, KCS.net Holding AG, KCS.net Osterreich GmbH, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Ltd, Kogentix Singapore Pte. Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kunstmaan NV, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon UKI, Kurt Salmon UKI Ltd., Kurt Salmon US LLC, LINKBYNET, LabAnswer, LabAnswer Government, LemonXL Limited, Logistics Market Place Limited (UK), Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Corporation, Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte. Ltd., Mackevision UK Ltd, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd., Maihiro, Matter, Matter Llc, Maud Corp Pty Limited, Maxamine International, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing Corporation, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mindtribe Product Engineering LLC, MobGen, MobGen Technology S.L, Moonrise NV, Mortgage Cadence, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, N3 LLC, NBS Marketing Inc., NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile, Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Chile SpA, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda., New Energy Aborda, New Energy Associates Ltd, New Energy Group, New Energy S.r.l., NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage China Ltd., NewsPage Pte Ltd, Nice Agency Limited, Northstream, Northstream AB, Northstream Holding AB, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology LTDA, Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Octo Technology SPRL, Octoman SAS, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium Consulting Ltd, Orbium GmbH, Orbium Holding AG, Orbium Inc., Orbium International AG, Orbium International sp. z o.o., Orbium Licences AG, Orbium Limited, Orbium Pte. Ltd., Orbium Pty Ltd, Orbium Services sp. z o.o., Orbium Sarl, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PCO Innovation Canada Inc., PCO Innovation EURL, PIXO PUNCH Limited, PLM Systems S.r.l, POC Holdings, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, Pach Invest SARL, Pach Invest SAS, PacificLink Group, PacificLink iMedia Ltd., Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald Inc., Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Partners Technology Mexico Holdings BV, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production K/S, Perseroan Terbatas. Accenture, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Ltd, Pragsis Technologies S.L, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Ltd, Procurian Germany GmbH, Procurian Inc., Procurian International I LLC, Procurian International II LLC, Procurian LLC, Procurian Singapore Pte. Ltd., Procurian Switzerland GmbH, Procurian USA LLC, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co Ltd, Radiant Services, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Limited, Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (Asia) Pte Ltd, Redcore (India) Private Limited (India), Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Renacentis IT Services, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Rothco, Rothco Holdings Designated Activity Company, Rothco Unlimited Company, S.C. EnergyQuote S.r.l., S3 TV Technology Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SEC Servizi S.p.A., SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Sagacious Consultants LLC, Sanchez Capital Services Pvt Ltd, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Airline Planning Group, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace Asia (Hong Kong) Limited, Seabury Aviation Consulting LLC, Seabury Cargo Advisory B.V., Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Human Capital LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Seabury Structured Finance LLC, Search Technologies BPO, Search Technologies BPO Inc., Search Technologies GmbH, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LATAM, Search Technologies LATAM S.A., Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Sente Partners LLC, Sentelis, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Shackleton, Shackleton Barcelona S.L., Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton Madrid S.L., Shackleton S.A., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., Silveo, Simian Pty Limited, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Commerce GmbH, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., SinnerSchrader Swipe GmbH, Sinnerschrader, Sistemes Consulting S.L., Solutions IQ, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Storm Digital, Storm Digital B.V., Structure Consulting Group, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Systor AG, TQuila Limited (UK), Tadata Creative Unlimited Company, Tara Insurance DAC, Tara Risk DAC, TargetST8, TargetST8 Consulting LLC, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica Ltd., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Limited, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Total Logistics Supply Chain Consultants Limited, Tquila, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Verax Solutions, Verax Solutions Corporation, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong, Vertical Retail Consulting Hong Kong Ltd., Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd., Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Weblinc Pty Ltd, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wire Stone Sarl, Wolox, Yesler, Zag, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines, Zenta Global Philippines Inc., Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc., Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, and solid-serVision.com GmbH.
General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company worldwide. The company's Power segment offers heavy-duty and aeroderivative gas turbines for utilities, independent power producers, and industrial applications; maintenance, service, and upgrade solutions to plant assets and their operational lifecycle; steam power technology for fossil and nuclear applications, including boilers, generators, steam turbines, and air quality control systems; and advanced reactor technologies solutions comprising reactors, fuels, and support services for boiling water reactors. This segment also applies the science and systems of power conversion to provide motors, generators, automation, and control equipment; and drives for energy intensive industries, such as marine, oil and gas, mining, rail, metals, test systems, and water. Its Renewable Energy segment provides various solutions for its customers through combining onshore and offshore wind, blades, hydro, storage, solar, and grid solutions, as well as hybrid renewables and digital services offerings. The company's Aviation segment designs and produces commercial and military aircraft engines, integrated engine components, electric power, and mechanical aircraft systems; and provides aftermarket services. Its Healthcare segment develops, manufactures, markets, and services magnetic resonance, computed tomography, molecular imaging, x-ray and high-frequency soundwave systems, clinical monitoring and acute care systems, enterprise digital, artificial intelligence applications, consulting and command center, and complementary software and services; and researches, manufactures, and markets imaging agents. The company's Capital segment offers aviation leasing and financing, and working capital services; financial solutions and underwriting capabilities; and insurance and reinsurance for life and health risks, as well as annuity products. The company was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

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The following companies are subsidiares of The Kroger: 84.51 HQ Building Company, 84.51 LLC, Agri-Products, Alpha Beta, Alpha Beta Company, Ansonborough Square Investors I, Ansonborough Square Retail, Ardrey Kell Investments, Bay Area Warehouse Stores, Beech Tree Holdings, Bell Markets, Bleecker Ventures LLC, Bluefield Beverage, Bluefield Beverage Company, Box Cutter, Brier Creek Arbors Drive Retail, CB&S Advertising Agency, Cala Co., Cala Foods, Cheeses of All Nations, Country Oven, Crawford Stores, Creedmoor Retail, Dillon Companies, Dillon Real Estate Co, Dillon Real Estate Co., Dillons, Distribution Trucking Company, Dotto, Edgewood Plaza Holdings, Embassy International, FM, FMJ, Farmacia Doral, Food 4 Less GM, Food 4 Less Holdings, Food 4 Less Merchandising, Food 4 Less of California, Food 4 Less of Southern California, Fred Meyer, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Fred Meyer Stores, Gerbes Supermarkets, Glasswing Labs, Glendale/Goodwin Realty I, Grubstake Investments, HT Fuel DE, HT Fuel MD, HT Fuel NC, HT Fuel SC, HT Fuel VA, HTGBD, HTP Bluffton, HTP Plaza, HTP Plaza LLC, HTP Relo, HTPS, HTTAH, Harris Teeter, Harris Teeter LLC, Harris Teeter Properties, Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Harris-Teeter Services, Healthy Options, Healthy Options Inc., Henpil, Home Chef, Hood-Clayton Logistics, Hood-Clayton Logistics LLC, Hughes Markets, Hughes Realty, I.T.A., IRP, ITAC 119, ITAC 265, Infusion Solutions of Puerto Rico, Inter-American Foods, Inter-American Products, J.V. Distributing, Jondex Corp, Jondex Corp., Jubilee Carolina, Junior Food Stores of West Florida, KCDE, KCDE  2012, KCDE  2013, KCDE-2 LLC, KCDE-3 LLC, KCDE-4 LLC, KCDE-5 LLC, KGO, KGO LLC, KP Sourcing, KPF, KPF Insurance Services, KPF Insurance Services LLC, KPS, KPS AG, KRGP, KRGP Inc., KRLP, KRLP Inc., Kee Trans, Kessel FP, Kessel Pharmacies, Kessel RCD, Kessel Saginaw, King Soopers, Kiosk Medicine Kentucky, Kirkpatrick West Retail, Kroger, Kroger Community Development Entity, Kroger Dedicated Logistics Co, Kroger Dedicated Logistics Co., Kroger Fresh Fare, Kroger G.O., Kroger G.O. LLC, Kroger Limited Partnership I, Kroger Limited Partnership II, Kroger MC Holdings, Kroger MTL Management, Kroger Management Co, Kroger Management Co., Kroger Management  Corryville, Kroger Management  NMTC Athens I, Kroger Management  NMTC Champaign I, Kroger Management  NMTC Champaign II, Kroger Management  NMTC Cincinnati I, Kroger Management  NMTC Dallas I, Kroger Management  NMTC Danville I, Kroger Management  NMTC Griffin I, Kroger Management  NMTC Logansport I, Kroger Management  NMTC Missouri I, Kroger Management  NMTC Oak Ridge I, Kroger Management  NMTC Olney I, Kroger Management  NMTC Omaha I, Kroger Management  NMTC Portsmouth I, Kroger Management  NMTC Starkville I, Kroger Management  NMTC Topeka I, Kroger Management  NMTC Warrenton I, Kroger NMTC Fremont I, Kroger OZ1 Inc., Kroger OZ1 LLC, Kroger OZ2 Inc., Kroger OZ2 LLC, Kroger OZ3 Inc., Kroger OZ3 LLC, Kroger Opportunity Fund I, Kroger Prescription Plans, Kroger Specialty Infusion, Kroger Specialty Infusion AL, Kroger Specialty Infusion CA, Kroger Specialty Infusion Holdings, Kroger Specialty Infusion TX, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy CA, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy CA 2 LLC, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy FL 2 LLC, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings 2, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings 3, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy Holdings I, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy LA, Kroger Specialty Pharmacy TN, Kroger Texas L.P., LCGP3 Home Cooking, Local Mkt LLC, Main & Vine LLC, Matthews Property 1, Mega Marts, Michigan Dairy, ModernHealth LTC, Murrays Cheese LLC, Murrays LIC LLC, Murrays Table LLC, Pace Dairy Foods Company, Paramount Logistics, Pay Less Super Markets, Peytons Fountain, Peytons-Southeastern, Plum Labs LLC, Pontiac Foods, Queen City Assurance, RBF, Ralphs Grocery Company, Relish Labs LLC, Rocket Newco, Roundy's, Roundys, Roundys Acquisition Corp., Roundys Illinois, Roundys Supermarkets, Second Story, Shop-Rite, Smiths Beverage of Wyoming, Smiths Food & Drug Centers, Southern Ice Cream Specialties, Stallings Investors I, Sunrise R&D Holdings, Sunrise Technology LLC, THGP Co., THLP Co., TLC Corporate Services LLC, TLC Immunization Clinic LLC, TLC of Georgia LLC, The Kroger Co. of Michigan, The Little Clinic LLC, The Little Clinic Management Services LLC, The Little Clinic of Arizona LLC, The Little Clinic of Colorado LLC, The Little Clinic of IN LLC, The Little Clinic of Kansas LLC, The Little Clinic of Mississippi LLC, The Little Clinic of Ohio LLC, The Little Clinic of TX LLC, The Little Clinic of Tennessee LLC, The Little Clinic of VA LLC, Topvalco, Turkey Hill, Ultimate Mart, Ultra Mart Foods, Vine Court Assurance Incorporated, Vitacost, Vitacost.com, Woodmont Holdings, and YOU Technology.
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United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals; and Trench, Power and Fluid Solutions. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment, including backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom lifts and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools. It serves construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities. The Trench, Power and Fluid Solutions segment rents specialty construction products that include trench safety equipment, which comprise trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; and power, as well as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment, including portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment. It is also involved in the rental of fluid solutions equipment primarily used for fluid containment, transfer, and treatment. This segment serves construction companies involved in infrastructure projects, and municipalities and industrial companies. The company also sells aerial lifts, reach forklifts, telehandlers, compressors, and generators; construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; and parts for equipment that is owned by its customers, as well as provides repair and maintenance services. United Rentals, Inc. sells its used equipment through its sales force, brokers, and Website, as well as at auctions and directly to manufacturers. As of January 1, 2021, the company operated a network of 1,165 rental locations, including 1,018 of these locations are in the United States, 136 are in Canada, and 11 are in Europe. United Rentals, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

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Wall Street analysts have given Invesco BulletShares 2024 Corporate Bond ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Invesco BulletShares 2024 Corporate Bond ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

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The Pioneer, one of Indias oldest English daily newspapers, has a glorious history of which three extremely famous persons were associated. These were Rudyard Kipling, Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Winston Churchill!

Of them, Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Kipling, renowned writers and poets , passed away on January 18  Kipling in 1936 and Bachchan in 2003.

Both of them had worked as reporters for The Pioneer. They belonged to two different eras. And this says a lot for the stability and evolution of The Pioneer down the decades. Kipling passed away in 1936, the year after Madhushala Bachchans magnum opus, was published. This was also the year when Bachchans first wife, the young Shyama, passed away (1936).

January 18, 2019 was the sixteenth death anniversary of the legendary Hindi poet, Harivansh Rai Bachchan. His father, Pratap Narayan, worked at the Pioneer Press for more than thirty years and later, the young Harivansh Rai was a correspondent for The Pioneer and toured many districts of Uttar Pradesh to write reports.

Kipling, a correspondent for The Pioneer in Allahabad, was one of the two Nobel laureates who worked for "The Pioneer," the other being Winston Churchill. Rudyard Kipling was a correspondent for The Pioneer in Allahabad. Describing his work in The Pioneer, Kipling wrote , I made my own experiments in the weight, colours, perfumes and attributes of words either as read aloud so that they may hold the ear or scattered over the page ,draw the eye.

As a tip to reporters, Kipling says , Take well ground Indian ink as much as suffices and a camel hairbrush proportionate to the intersperses of your lines. In an auspicious hour, read your final draft and consider faithfully every paragraph, sentence and word, blacking out where requisite. Let it lie by to drain as long as possible. At the end of that time ,re-read and you should find that it will bear a second shortening. Finally, read it aloud alone and at leisure. May be a shade more brushwork will then indicate or impose itself. If not, praise Allah, and let it go and when thou hast done, repent not.

He wrote to a friend in 1896, I love the fun and riot of writing. And there are times when it is just a comfort and delight to let out with the pen and ink as long as it doesnt do anyone any moral harm. When he left India in March, 1890, he obtained a commission from "The Pioneer" to write a series of letters from America. These letters were published and they were vigorous, uninhibited and said a lot about America which Americans did not like.

Kipling received the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year 1907. It was in 1907 that Harivansh Rai Bachchan was born on November 27.

Another important similarity between the lives of the two poets was their summer visit to the popular hill station of Mussoorie in the Himalayas while they were in their twenties. However, Kipling visited Mussoorie much before the creator of the immortal  Madhushala was born.

The old bridle path from Rajpur in the Doon valley up to Mussoorie was once popularly known as the Kipling Road. In "Kim", Kipling's famous work, Kim and the lama are described as crossing over "the Siwaliks and the half-Tropical Doon,leaving Mussoorie behind them ".

Among Kipling's unpublished papers and other effects in the Library of Congress, there exists an album of photographs, which includes two of the Charleville Hotel, Mussoorie, where he had spent the summer of 1888. This famous hotel is now the premises of the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.

Bachchan visited Mussoorie in 1937, a year after Kiplings death. He was 29 years old and his first wife, Shyama, had succumbed to tuberculosis in the winter before this summer of 1937. Bachchan went up to Mussoorie with Brij Mohan, his friend from Dehra Dun, to pay a visit to the well-known Professor Amar Nath Jha who had bought Lynwood Cottage (near Charleville where Kipling had stayed) where he spent his summers. He had taught Bachchan when he was an undergraduate and was annoyed with him for leaving the university after the first year of MA (English). Now that I was thinking of enrolling at university again, I thought I should seek his blessing, especially as he was now head of the English department, writes Bachchan in his autobiography.

Both the poet-correspondents will always be remembered by the worlds of journalism and literature. And always admired. The Pioneer is indeed proud to have had such stalwarts of literature and journalism on its rolls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party expects about 17,500 of its booth level workers from Tehri and Haridwar Lok Sabha constituencies to attend the Trishakti Sammelan to be addressed by its national president Amit Shah in Dehradun on February 2.

Meetings were held in the BJP State office here on Wednesday to chalk out arrangements for this event and preparations for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing the media, BJP State president Ajay Bhatt said that more than 17,000 active party workers from 28 Assembly constituencies falling in the Tehri and Haridwar Lok Sabha constituencies will be addressed by Shah at the Trishakti Sammelan in Dehradun on February 2. Later in the future, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, UP deputy CM Dinesh Sharma and former Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda are also slated to address Trishakti Sammelans of other parliamentary constituencies, though the dates are yet to be finalised.

Apart from top party leaders addressing Trishakti Sammelans, meets of intelligentsia and youth will also be organised for each parliamentary constituency. The party is aiming to hold these events for all the parliamentary constituencies by February 10.

Regarding preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, Bhatt said that one election office of the party will be opened soon in each of the parliamentary constituencies. Further, on the occasion of Samarpan Diwas observed on February 11 as a tribute to Deen Dayal Upadhyay on his death anniversary, each active party worker will have to contribute minimum Rs 1,000 by cheque.

The MPs and MLAs of the party may also contribute their salary for a month or two though this is yet to be finalised. Further, responsibilities were accorded to various party leaders to head 17 committees formed to handle various aspects of the partys activities related to the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP national vice president and state in charge Shyam Jaju, national joint general secretary (Organisation) Shiv Prakash, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, national secretary Tirath Singh Rawat, ministers Prakash Pant, Dhan Singh Rawat, Tehri MP Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal and other office bearers of the party were also present in the meetings held here on Wednesday.
Attending a gathering of Imams of mosques in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday warned against division of votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Delhi and claimed that the Congress would not win a single seat in the national capital.

At the event hosted by the Delhi Waqf Board, its chairman and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan said the hike in the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins (mosque staff who give the prayer call) of the 200-odd mosques under the board will be implemented from February.

He added that the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins of 1,500 other mosques in the city would also be increased.

Urging the Imams to support the AAP, Khan said, "People are saying they will vote for the Congress because the next prime minister will be from that party. If that is indeed so, we will also extend support to the Congress, but in Delhi, only the AAP can defeat the BJP, not the Congress."

Echoing the same sentiment, Kejriwal said, "If I felt the Congress could win, the AAP would give them all the seven seats (in Delhi) and leave the contest in their favour. The Congress cannot win even a single seat in Delhi."

Asking the gathering to be wary of division of votes, he said it would help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win all the seven seats in Delhi.

"If your votes are divided, the country will suffer immensely," the chief minister said.

Explaining the "vote mathematics" to the Imams, Kejriwal pointed out that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all the seven seats in Delhi by polling 46 per cent votes, whereas the AAP had got 33 per cent and the Congress 15 per cent votes.

"It is being said that the BJP is going to lose 10 per cent votes. If these votes go to the Congress, the BJP will win again. But if the AAP gets these votes, we will bag the seven seats," he said.

The AAP supremo also told the gathering that there was no need to bother about who would become the next prime minister.

"The TV channels are showing the polls as a contest between (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. Do not get confused by it because it is a misconception.

"Neither Modi nor Rahul will become the prime minister. We will support anyone else who becomes the prime minister," he said, hinting at a "mahagathbandhan" or grand alliance of non-Congress parties.

Just as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and K Chandrashekar Rao in Telangana could defeat the BJP in their respective states, the AAP could also defeat the Modi-Shah duo in the national capital, Kejriwal said.

"If Modi and (BJP chief Amit) Shah return in 2019, the country and the Constitution will be endangered. They will break the country like Hitler," he added.

The AAP national convener also accused the BJP and the RSS of meeting the locals at the parks of the city and attempting to shift the "anti-Modi" votes to the Congress.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Wednesday visited Gurugram on a surprise inspection of various development works including Dwarka Expressway.

The Chief Minister along with administrative officers inspected the construction work of Dwarka Expressway, another alternative for connectivity between Delhi and Gurugram. He also reviewed the progress various development works in Gurugram.

During the inspection, the Chief Minister was informed and shown the complete design of Dwarka Expressway project by the project in-charge of L & T Infrastructure Engineering Limited, Sarfaraz.

He was informed that the expressway would be elevated and clover leaf would be made on national highway-48, with which it get connected to the road going towards Sohna near Kherki Daula toll plaza. It would reduce the traffic pressure on NH-48.

The Chief Minister was also apprized that the total length of the expressway is 26 km, out of which 17 km falls in Gurugram district. The part of expressway falling in the district would be signal free and elevated. The present six-lane road of the expressway would be made 10-lane on ground level, by adding two service roads on both the sides. On this, 8-lane elevated highway would be constructed. The expressway would also be connected with Indira Gandhi International Airport.

It was also informed that the construction work of this expressway has been initiated one month before by L & T Infrastructure Engineering Limited and the project would be completed in about two years.

During inspection, the Chief Minister also visited IFFCO Chowk and directed the officers to remove the high tension and low tension wires of electricity.

Deputy Commissioner, Vinay Pratap Singh informed the Chief Minister that the work of shifting underground all kinds electricity wires, is in progress. For this, tunnel has been constructed and wires are being laid. After the activation of underground lines, the over head lines would be removed within one and a half month, the Deputy Commissioner said.
Family of Santosh Mahto, a 25-year-youth from Giridih district of Jharkhand, who died in an accident while working on a high-rise transmission line in Malaysia on January 19 this year are still waiting for his body to be brought back home.

The family has been in touch with authorities to get the body home but his body is still lying at the mortuary of a hospital in Dubai due to bureaucratic hurdles.

"We received the news of his death the same day through a friend working with him. But unfortunately, we cannot conduct his last rites as we are still waiting for the body, said Ghanshyam Mahto, father of the deceased.

The family approached Bagodar MLA Nagendra Mahto regarding this issue and the legislator said he brought the matter into the notice of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday.

"I spoke to the union minister soon after I received information about the case. On her directive, I have mailed her all the details provided by the family, the MLA told the Pioneer.

Santosh is survived by wife, one son, two daughters, father and mother. His family said that he got a job as a labour in Malaysia through a registered contract firm in November 2018.

According to sources, there are around six million Indian migrants in the Gulf States of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Male, United Arab Emirates and Oman that have long been best destinations for millions of poor labourers, most of whom work in transmission line construction, transport and other low-paying sectors.

The government and non-governmental groups have received hundreds of complaints from migrant workers, ranging from non-payment of wages to torture and abuse over the years.

Bagodar MLA said that the family is in distress and that Santoshs was not the sole incident of an unwanted delay in bringing back the bodies of citizens working abroad.

In another case, the body of Nunchand Mahto, a resident of Tirla village under Bagodar police station, was brought home after six months in January this year, he said.
A day after splinter groups of the main political parties of Punjab united to put up a fourth front to give them a tough fight in 2019 parliamentary elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday declared that it was open to alliance with any party sharing common ideology in Punjab.

There is no issue in joining hands with any political outfit to oust the erstwhile SAD-BJP alliance government or the ruling Congress government under the leadership of Capt Amarinder Singh from the corridor of power, said AAPs senior leader and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Singh Mann.

Mann said that all possibilities of an alliance were being explored so that the alliance could put up a bold united face on the issues and concerns surrounding Punjab and the Punjabis, thereby showing these traditional political parties, knee-deep in corruption muck, were shown the doors.

He declared that all-out efforts were afoot to possible alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were underway.

His statement came a day after the leaders of SAD (Taksali) including Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Sewa Singh Sekhwan, Ratan Singh Ajnala, Punjabi Ekta Partys (PEP) president and AAP rebel leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Lok Insaaf Partys Simarjeet Singh Bains, BSPs state unit president Rashpal Raju held a closed door meeting at Ludhiana to work out the modalities of the front, named as Punjab Democratic Alliance (PDA).

The discussion was held on the sharing of seats, besides others issues, during the meeting, which would be followed by another in a weeks time to decide on the seat share and the candidates.

SAD (Taksali) Brahmpura had maintained that he had also invited AAP and its senior leader Bhagwant Mann for the meeting, but the Sangrur MP had categorically denied to be a part of an alliance of which Khaira and Bains brothers would be a part.

Initially, the Punjab Democratic Alliance was announced by AAPs rebel leaders, comprising suspended MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, former AAP leader Khaira, along with Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) MLAs Simarjeet Bains and Balwinder Bains, and BSPs Rashpal Raju, while inviting all the like-minded parties to come along.

Later, SAD (Taksali) too joined hands with the PDA, which had already announced to contest the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police has seized a big consignment of counterfeit Indian currency notes in the denomination of Rs 2,000 sent from across the border. The face value of notes is around Rs 10 lakh.

Police have arrested key member of the syndicate identified as Khalik Sheikh (32) resident of Joyenpur, district Malda,

West Bengal, who used to pump fake currency notes into Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal via the porous Bangladesh border.

According to Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Special Cell, a specific information was received about a key member of the said syndicate. The information was that member would come near Anand Vihar Railway Station in East Delhi to deliver big consignment of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) to one of his Delhi based contact following which a trap was laid and the accused was apprehended with Rs 10 lakh FICN in his possession on the spot.

During interrogation the accused disclosed that to earn easy money he was lured by Ashfaq a resident of Bangladesh and presently living in Malda, West Bengal, to join his illegal trade of FICN trafficking. He has been indulged in transporting and circulating of FICN to various parties in Delhi, UP and other adjoining areas for last about three years, said the DCP.

Explaining the modus operandi of the accused persons, the DCP said that Sheikh used to buy FICNs from one Ashfaq by paying Rs 40 per Rs 100 FICN and further used to supply it to his contacts for Rs 50-60 per Rs 100 of FICN. So far he accepted to have delivered about 4 to 5 consignments of FICN amounting to more than Rs 20 lakh in Delhi and UP. They used to smuggle FICN into Malda in West Bengal through Bangladesh, said the DCP.

Further investigation of case is in progress. Efforts to nab remaining members of this syndicate are afoot, the DCP added.
The citizens of Gwalior celebrated the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose with colourful processions and patriotic joviality at various places in the city on Wednesday.

Union Minister, Narendra Singh garlanded the statue of Bose at the Trimurti Junction and exhorted the audience to spread the message of Swatcha Bharath through words and actions.

He added that there canot be a greater tribute than this to the great leader.

During the function organized by the Gwalior Youth Hostel at the Trimurti Junction, former MLA Ramesh Agarwal garlanded the statue of Netaji and spoke about the various contributions of Netaji Bose during Indias freedom struggle.

He urged the youths who were present in large numbers to follow his footsteps.

Hundreds of NCC cadets took out a procession from the NCC Officers Training College to the Trimurti Junction to commemorate the birth anniversary of Netaji.

The cadets, travelling by bicycles spread the message of environmental protection. They were seen shouting slogans about the process of protecting the environment for the benefit of the nature and humans.

Students of the Gorkhi School too celebrated the birth anniversary of Netaji.

The speakers highlighted the roles of Netaji and other freedom fighters during Indias freedom struggle.

The students also gave performances based on Indias cultural diversity and unity, conservation of water and Swatcha Bharath. DCC President, Devendra Sharma was the chief guest of the program.
At least four persons were reported dead and around half a dozen injured as the roof of a mine partially collapsed at Kaparasa mines under Nirsa police station of Dhanbad district200 km west of State capital.

Sources said that the incident occurred when some persons had entered the mine for carrying out illegal mining activities. The place where the incident occurred is fifty metres away from the mines which the Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, has outsourced to private company, Kanta Transport.

Sources claim that four deaths have been reported, including three men and one woman, of which Dinesh Paswan and Kanto Rawani were identified while two remain unidentified. However, officials claim only one death.

Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kishore Kaushal said, The incident occurred at the mines where illegal mining was being carried out. We have reports of death of one person. However, the exact number of deaths can be ascertained once the rescue operation is completed.

The SSP also said that as illegal mining was carried out in the area, FIR will be lodged against the ECL and the outsourced company (Kanta Transport).

Kaushal said, There has been negligence on part of the company as they fail to follow necessary safety mining guidelines. Neither there was fencing in the area nor red flag installed.

As per mining guidelines, the company carrying out mining activates must fenced the protected area along with installing signboards and flags, also regular patrolling should be carried out in the area.

The ECL too claimed that incident occurred where illegal mining was being carried out. Niladri Rai, technical secretary to ECL, CMD said, The incident occurred at the mines where some people were carrying out illegal mining.

As the news of mines mishap spread, officials from district administration including Dhanbad DC Anjaneyulu Dodde, SSP Kishore Kaushal, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Aman Kumar, Sub Divisional Officer Raj Maheshwaram and other officials rushed to the spot.

Sources said that the incident occurred in the morning when around fifty to sixty persons illegally entered the mines for carrying out mining activities. More than dozen people were trapped when a portion of the mine suddenly caved in following which the local residents carried out rescue operations. As the mining was being done illegally, the local residents were afraid of revealing the names of the deceased and injured persons.

Coal capital Dhanbad has witnessed many mining accidents in past and in majority of them the incident occurs due to illegal mining activities. Sources said that despite district administration and ECLs claims to check illegal mining many persons are engaged in unlawful activities.

Many people are in coal smuggling business selling the black stone to Jamtara and other adjoining districts crossing river Barakar. Coal is also smuggled to some factories operating in Dhanbad and Nirsa area.
The Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) has given in-principal approval for diverting nearly 215 hectares of forestland for Prime Minister Narendra Modis Rs 1.1 lakh crore worth Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. However, the approval for the high-speed rail project which has drawn flak from the conservationists has come with certain conditions.

The patches of forest land will be carved out from the eco-sensitive zone of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Tungareshwar wildlife sanctuary and Thane creek flamingo sanctuary for the 500 km long rail corridor.

The NBWL in its meeting on January 10, 2019, allowed diversion of 3.2756 hactares of forestland from Creek Flamingo Wildlife Sanctuary and 97.5189 hactares from deemed ESZ. In-principle approval was also given for diversion of 32.75 hectares of forestland and 77.30 hectares of non-forestland from Sanjay Gandhi National Park and 0.6902 ha of forestland and 4.7567 ha of non-forestland from Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary.

The NBWL, under the Union Environment Ministry, is responsible for framing Indias policy and strategy for wildlife conservation and one of its key tasks is to regulate development projects to safeguard wildlife.

To ensure that the bullet train project does not have adverse impact on the adjoining biodiversity, the NBWL has enlisted several conditions on the project proponent before initiating the construction, implementation of animal passage plans on the basis of the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) guidelines Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts on Linear Infrastructures on Wildlife being the major one.

The train will run at a speed of 320-350 km per hour and will have 12 stations between Mumbai and Ahmedabad across its 500 km stretch. The project is being implemented by National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited and financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which is lending Rs 88,000 crore at the 0.1 per cent interest which is required to be repaid in 50 years.

The NBWL approval lists out a number of measures like underpasses for wildlife, restriction on the movement of vehicles to existing roads and tracks. It has also suggested that the project agency will provide funds for compensatory plantation of trees.

Sources in the Ministry said that after intense discussions, the Standing Committee decided to recommend the project subject to the conditions that permission for construction of the project shall be granted by the State Government only when animal passage plan is prepared by the project proponent in consultation with the State Chief Wildlife Warden on the basis of WII guidelines named eco-friendly measures to mitigate impacts on linear infrastructures on wildlife.

The project proponent (NHSRCL) will comply with all the conditions imposed by the State Chief Wildlife Warden and mitigative measures suggested by committee constituted by the State Board for Wildlife, said the sources.

Also, the project proponent has been asked to submit the annual compliance certificate on the stipulated conditions to the State Chief Wildlife Warden who will forward it to the Centre.

As the said project is being in the areas classified in Coastal Regulation Zone-I, wide variety of avifaunal diversity is observed. Hence adoption of measures for conservation of habitat of the avfauna found in the region will be desirable, noted the Board members chaired by Union Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

As per the sources, the NHSCRL has been asked to ensure construction of a combined overpass (over the existing Diva - Vasai railway line and proposed DFC line) and underpass (under MAHSR, MMC and an elevated PWD road).

A joint wildlife corridor expert team comprising SGNP and TWLS Wildlife department, BNHS, Wildlife Institute (WII), Satpuda Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) will design and implement the technical requirements (re-wilding, guide fencing and ground preparation) related to the creation of effective wildlife corridors, said the sources.

However conservationists are not happy. They said that the mitigation measures remain only on paper and once the project is completed, neither the government nor the project agency is bothered about fulfilling them.
Rahul makes her Gen Secy incharge of East UP for polls

Ending years of speculation, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday finally plunged into active politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to take on the might of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the crucial Hindi heartland that has 80 Lok Sabha seats.

Dubbed as the brahmastra of the Congress, Priyanka will debut as the partys general secretary incharge of the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh having Modis constituency in Varanasi and also UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath bastion in Gorakhpur.

Congress leaders said Priyankas entry into active party politics will galvanise the workers, helping them take on the dual challenge posed in the State by the BJP and the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance.

The Congress hopes that Priyanka will be able to turn the projected direct fight between the BJP and SP-BSP alliance into triangular contest where the Congress could benefit on a number of seats due to division of votes.

Congress leaders also feel that while it is too early to assess the impact of a possible Congress revival under Priyanka stewardship on the prospect of the BJP and the SP-BSP alliance, but care may be taken in the selection of candidates to ensure that the BJP suffers most.

Congress list of candidates, sources said, may be dominated by upper castes, since the BJP hopes to capitalise on 10 per cent reservation to general category candidates in educational institutions and employment to woo the upper caste voters. Priyanka can play vital role there in bringing back the traditional upper caste voters to the Congress fold.

Soon after her appointment as an office-bearer in AICC, speculation is rife that she may be fielded as the party candidate from Rae Bareli, the constituency currently being represented by her mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who is not keeping well of late.

Though no reactions came till late evening from Priyanka as she is reportedly in New York and scheduled to return on February 1, Rahul said he is happy that Priyanka will assist him in the Lok Sabha polls.

I am very happy that my sister Priyanka will assist me in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, she is very capable, Rahul said at Amethi after making some of the crucial appointments in the party system. The brother-sister duo will formally announce the beginning of Lok Sabha poll campaign in UP on February 4 at a Press conference.

Senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia will be on par with Priyanka as AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh West region. Rahul added Scindia is a dynamic youth leader. Both Priyanka and Scindia replace Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has been appointed AICC general secretary for Haryana, where the party is facing factionism.

UP is central to building a new hope fulfilled. The new UP AICC team led by Priyanka and Scindia will herald the dawn of a new kind of politics in the State. We will offer the youth in UP a dynamic new platform to transform the State, said Rahul.

Husban Robert Vadra congratulated Priyanka on a Facebook post, Congratulations P... always by your side in every phase of your life. The BJP has been repeatedly targeting Vadra, a businessman being investigated for allegedly corrupt land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan and is facing probes by the Enforcement Directorate.

The party is not immediately clear on the division of the 80 parliamentary seats between the two new incharges but sources said it could be 40 each. Both Amethi and Rae Bareli, the two Gandhi family bastions, fall in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Priyanka has been extensively campaigning since 2004 in all national and State level elections.

Though the announcement came as a booster for the State unit party workers and reactions poured in from across the country, Priyanka has been always active in decision-making and also played a key role in the alliance with Akhilesh SP in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

She also participated in crucial party meetings, including the recent appointments of Chief Ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where the BJP was dethroned. She was also instrumental in initiating the entry of Manpreet Badal and Navjot Singh Sidhu in the Punjab Congress.

This is an opportunity for the Congress to strike back in the most crucial state of the country where the organisation had all through been wanting her to plunge into active politics, said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi.

We welcome both Priyankaji and Jyotiraditya Scindia to lead all of us, and look forward for a 40 plus tally for the party in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Bakshi said adding that Priyanka belongs to Uttar Pradesh and the party needed her and reminded that 47 year old Priyanka is often compared with her grandmother, former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi.

The Congress also appointed KC Venugopal as general secretary, organisation. He replaces Ashok Gehlot, who has since become Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Venugopal will continue to be AICC general secretary for Karnataka, where the party is in power with the Janata Dal Secular.
Just as #MeToo, fuelled by the extraordinary courage and conviction of women, became a global force to reckon with, there is a need for a movement against domestic violence and abuse

There can hardly be a more opportune time than now, in the midst of a culturally, politically and economically powerful MeToo movement across the world, to revisit the larger cause of domestic violence and abuse. There is an urgent need for an equally powerful social media-driven movement against it like #NeverAgain. As an Attorney with long years of passionate advocacy of this important socio-cultural and legal issue, this writer has been particularly focussed on issues of domestic violence and abuse in the diasporic Indian/South Asian families in the US. Anecdotal experience suggests that the problem exists in a significant way among the large expatriate Indian population around the world as well but does not often get the attention it so urgently demands.

Just as #MeToo, fuelled by extraordinary courage and conviction of women, who were silenced and oppressed for decades, as well as aided by the power and reach of social media, has become a global force to reckon with, there is a need for a scaleable movement on this issue. One is conscious that South Asian women, trapped in violent and abusive domestic situations, may find it hard to make their case on social media but it is a tool that ought to be employed to network, put abusive spouses and families on immediate notice and end it once and for all.

The case of Indian and South Asian women, who marry Indian/South Asian men living in the US and end up in violent or abusive domestic situations, is unique for several reasons. Perhaps the most important one is that many of them are either completely unprepared or ill-prepared to deal with it because they find themselves in a wholly new socio-cultural milieu in a country some 10,000 miles away from India and other South Asian nations. Many fall into such relationships even before they have had the time to familiarise themselves with their immediate surroundings, let alone social and legal services being available to them.

Overarching their rather harrowing lives is the fear of social stigma. More often than not, they are told stories of how a wonderful life awaits them in America, the worlds richest country, which would be a dramatic improvement for them, compared to what they experience in India. With this as the backdrop, to find oneself in an abusive relationship so far away from familiar surroundings, makes things much harder for them. The consequence is that many of them choose to endure abuse rather than upset the rhythm of their lives.

This writers extensive engagement with the women trapped in abusive relationships reveals that one common feeling among them is one of utter helplessness, exacerbated by what society back home might say about their failure to make their marriages work. The writer also found that a majority of these women would not only muster enough courage to speak out but even take legal action if they had a helping hand either from individual attorneys like the writer herself or legal aid groups.

Although there have been no national or state-wide studies of Indian/South Asian women and domestic violence in the US, there is reason to believe that this is a growing problem. Indian Americans are a reasonably large group of people. According to the US Census Bureaus 2015 American Community Survey, there are 3,982,398 multi-race, multi-ethnic and single-race Asian Indians, of which 3,699,957 are single race. While Indian Americans barely constitute about one per cent of the US population, because of their broad economic success, they are a force to reckon with far beyond their numbers. In terms of domestic and sexual violence among South Asian communities, a fact sheet released by the Asian Pacific Institute on gender-based violence is quite instructive. Here are some of their findings:

Domestic violence:

 In a study of 208 South Asian women recruited through community outreach in the Greater Boston area, 21 per cent reported having experienced physical and/or sexual abuse at the hands of their intimate partner; 15 per cent reported such experience during the previous year. (Intimate partner violence associated with poor health outcomes in US South Asian women).

 In a face-to-face interview study of 1,577 Asians recruited from Asian organisations and gathering places in the greater Houston area in Texas, 20 per cent of the Indian respondents (154 male and female) reported experiencing at least one form of intimate partner violence based on the eight-item Conflict Tactics Scale, ranging from thrown objects at the respondent to used a knife or gun on the respondent during the previous year. (A prevalence study on partner abuse in six Asian American ethnic groups in the USA)

 A study on life course experiences of intimate partner violence and help-seeking (lifecourse IPV and help-seeking study), which assessed experiences of IPV among 56 Indian and Pakistani abused women (and 87 Filipina women) aged 18-60 recruited via various community outreach methods in the San Francisco Bay Area, found that 96 per cent of Indian and Pakistani victims reported having experienced physical violence by an intimate partner. About 50 per cent of Indian and Pakistani victims reported having experienced stalking by an intimate partner. And 64 per cent of Indian and Pakistani victims reported having experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner. Indian and Pakistani victims born in the US, or those who had immigrated to America pre-adolescence (1.5+ generations), were more likely to experience all three forms of IPV  physical violence, sexual assault and stalking, compared to those born outside the US and those who immigrated post-adolescence. Younger Indian and Pakistani victims were more likely to experience stalking by intimate partners compared to their older counterparts. (Lifecourse Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking among Filipina, Indian, and Pakistani Women: Implications for Justice System Responses).

 A study of 160 South Asian women (who were married or in a heterosexual relationship), recruited through community outreach methods such as flyers, snowball sampling and referrals in Greater Boston (Raj and Silverman Study), found that 42 per cent of the participants reported that they had been physically and/or sexually abused in some way by their current male partners in their lifetime; 36.9 per cent reported having been victimised in the past year. Around 30 per cent reported having experienced partners physical abuse and 18.8 per cent reported having experienced partners sexual abuse. About 65.2 per cent of the women reporting physical abuse also reported sexual abuse. Sixteen per cent reported injury or the need for medical services as a result of a partners violence. Women, who reported intimate partner violence, were more likely than those who did not report violence to indicate that they had experienced poor physical health in seven or more of the last 30 days (20 per cent vs seven per cent), depression [in] seven or more of the last 30 days (32 per cent vs 10 per cent), anxiety [in] seven or more of the last 30 days (34 per cent vs 20 per cent) and suicidal ideation during the last year (16 per cent vs three per cent). No significant difference was found in the prevalence of domestic violence between arranged marriages and non-arranged marriages. (Intimate partner violence against South Asian women in greater Boston)

Abuse by in-laws

 Of a convenience sample of 169 South Asian women, who were married at the time of the survey, six per cent reported having experienced emotional abuse by in-laws. The proportion of women, who reported emotional abuse by in-laws, was higher among those reporting partners violence in their current relationship (15 per cent) than those who did not report such violence (three per cent). (Victims of intimate partner violence more likely to report abuse from in-laws).

 In a telephonic interview survey of a random sample of Gujarati adults aged between 18 and 64 years, seven per cent of the female respondents reported that in-laws had called them names. (The Shanti Project, Baseline Community-Wide Survey. Unpublished raw data).

Domestic violence-related homicide

 A report on 160 US domestic violence related homicides in Asian families based on newspaper clippings and information from advocates for a six-year period from 20002005 found that 30 of 158 (19 per cent) victims with known ethnicities were South Asian. And 32 of 122 (26 per cent) perpetrators with known ethnicities were South Asian. (Shattered Lives: Homicides, Domestic Violence and Asian Families).

Seeking help

 The Raj and Silverman Study found that 11 per cent of South Asian women reporting intimate partner violence indicated receiving counseling support services for domestic abuse. Only three per cent of the abused South Asian women in the study ever obtained a restraining order against an abusive partner. This rate is substantially lower than that reported in a study of women in Massachusetts, in which over 33 per cent of the women, who reported intimate partner violence in the past five years, obtained a restraining order.

Seeking help from family members

 In a study of 62 battered women (20 African American, 22 Hispanic, and 20 South Asian), South Asian women were more likely to seek help from family members. South Asian women were significantly more likely to be advised by family members to stay in the marriage than other groups of women. (Social support and disclosure of abuse: Comparing South Asian, African American, and Hispanic battered women).

According to estimates, two out of five South Asian women report domestic violence, which is much higher than the general US population (28 per cent according to UNICEF, 2000). These statistics tell only a fraction of the story. They tell you how many women had the courage to report abuse or call for help. How many more are silent, terrorised, obedient to the abuser and isolated in an abusive situation we do not know. The numbers of those, who do not call for help, too are not known because they do not recognise the situation is abusive or they do not know their legal rights. All we know is that domestic violence in South Asian community is seriously under-reported because we have seen many women who never get as far as the formal institutions. (Preisser, 1999).

However, because of the state of the current law, both in terms of immigration policy and in terms of where we are with international agreements between the US and India, in too many cases this writers hands are tied. Much more should be done than simply answering their calls and do what can be done to counsel, educate and help them negotiate laws that too often keep them in unhealthy situations or separate them from their own children. Ultimately, the laws need to accommodate these special cases. The awareness must spread to citizens of the US so that we can all make a concerted effort to relieve the suffering of some of our most vulnerable residents.

(The writer is Attorney at law, Supreme Court of the United States of America)
'University' is a word derived from an ancient Latin phrase that means a 'community of teachers and scholars'.

Dr Kenneth Holland, president of the American University in Afghanistan (AUAF), has long lamented the fact that he has, up until now, presided over an institution that could educate only members of the indigenous population and was thus unable to afford them the chance to meet with students from other countries.

That's deprived the students of a real learning opportunity because ordinarily, one of the great benefits of going to university is you get to meet students from all over the world and you get to learn from them and to develop friendships that might lead to opportunities in the future, Dr Holland explains.

He is therefore delighted that is about to change this year after his university signed a memorandum of understanding with the prestigious OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana, India. Students from India will for the first time be coming here to study and a group of Afghan students will, in turn, be going there, so there will be a true exchange of students. It is a tremendously exciting step forward for us.

AUAF will soon be sending Afghan students to learn in India and experience life abroad. (Photo: AUAF)

Heroes in Afghanistan are as likely to wear suits, surgical scrubs or academic gowns as army uniforms, and Dr Holland  whose impressive academic career began with a PhD from the University of Chicago  is undoubtedly one of them.

A man of great charm and quiet determination, Dr Holland has worked in great centers of learning around the world, but the particular challenge of offering the best possible education to the young of Afghanistan proved irresistible to him.

He took up the post as president of the American University in Kabul in June 2017, but his work in the country began 13 years ago, assisting at 11 public universities, including Balkh University, Kandahar University and Shaikh Zayed (Khost) University. He has worked at Kabuls National Institute for Management and Administration too. At the AUAF, he is helped by his indefatigable wife, Julie, who is the university's Registrar.

What impressed me from the start about the young of Afghanistan is how eager they are for education and how much they value the opportunity to get an American-style education and to improve themselves and also to build their country as they share a great sense of patriotism, he says. They are a breath of fresh air for me because I have, of course, spent most of my life teaching in my own country where students all too often dont realise how lucky they are.

When I travel around Afghanistan, I see many children who are not in school, and this makes me sad, because, when they are as young as six years old and they are already having to work to support their families and not going to school, that means they are probably going to be poor for their whole lives and they wont realise their potential.

Donald Trumps recent announcement that he was considering pulling half of US' troops out of Afghanistan surprised Dr Holland as much as anyone, and of course, it puts a question mark over a lot of the work of the AUAF and its initiative with India.

Dr Holland is not, however, a man who panics easily.

Lets put this into perspective and go back to President Trumps speech in August of 2017 in which he announced the South Asia Policy and said he would leave decisions about troop levels to the generals on the ground.

Dr Kenneth Holland, president of the American University in Afghanistan, says the international community must maintain a presence in Afghanistan. (Photo: Mohammad Anil Qasemi)

In terms of Afghanistan, he said he would be asking India to play a much bigger role in the development of the country. As for his more recent comments, I am reassured that his generals here have said that they have received no order to cut down numbers. So that tells me that the final decision has not been made and I am hopeful that the President will be consistent and will continue to follow his South Asia Policy.

Dr Holland was working in higher education in Iraq when America began to pull its troops out from there after ending its combat mission. He saw how that resulted in an end to so many of the international initiatives he had been involved with.

He is under no illusions that a significant American military withdrawal from Afghanistan would make the position of NATO countries involved in helping the country pretty much untenable and set the country back many years.

The future of Afghanistan depends on assistance from the international community. More than 40 countries are currently involved in this endeavour and India is, of course, one of the most important ones. At Geneva in Switzerland, a lot of their representatives met recently and pledged additional assistance which now runs into billions of dollars so there is no doubt about the international will to help the Afghan people achieve their goals.

One country that Dr Holland hopes will play a key role in the current peace negotiations that America has initiated is Afghanistans immediate neighbour, Pakistan. If Pakistan provides safe heavens to the insurgents, it will be impossible to defeat them, so my hope is that Pakistan will play a leading role in the peace negotiations and will provide incentives to the Taliban to come to the negotiating table.

Friends forever: India has proved to be a key player in the mission to rebuild Afghanistan. (Photo: Reuters)

I ask Dr Holland what his best hope for Afghanistan is  and his worst fear.

"My worst fear is that the insurgency will continue and the security situation will deteriorate even further and that it will make it impossible for civilians like myself to work here and to assist the Afghan people. That, I think, would be a tragedy for a generation coming up that yearns only for peace and it would snuff out so many hopes and dreams."

As for my best hope, it is that there will be a successful outcome to the current peace and reconciliation process and that the members of the Taliban will lay down their arms. More than that, I would love to see the Taliban assisting the Afghan National Security Forces in defeating the anti-state actors such as ISIS and that they will recognise, too, the legitimacy of the Afghan government and that peace will come to Afghanistan.

The country has seen enough bloodshed now and it deserves peace. Only then can it focus on improving the lives of its people with better health care, greater opportunities in particular for its women and of course a better education for all, which is the key to making Afghanistan a leading player in the community of nations once again."

He adds, "I see India as a great role model for Afghanistan  it shows what can be done when people live together peacefully.

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People in Northern Ireland who identify as Irish could become second-class citizens post-Brexit, human rights groups have claimed.

The chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) said the Withdrawal Agreement reached between the UK and the EU left significant gaps in the protection of human rights in areas like citizens rights and puts people on both sides of the border at risk.

Oireachtas Committee told of Significant Gaps in Human Rights and Equality Protections under Withdrawal Agreementhttps://t.co/OihESRAiFQ  Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission (@_IHREC) January 23, 2019

Emily Logan said: I dont think the public understand that the implications people might find themselves in a situation of being forced to assume an identify they wouldnt choose.

Ms Logan said the offer of continued EU citizenship should be extended to all the people of Northern Ireland as defined by the Good Friday Agreement, given recognition of the birthright of people in Northern Ireland to identify as Irish or British, or both.

The last situation we wish to see is one where the people of Northern Ireland feel forced to choose their identity based on what they think their post-Brexit entitlements might be, she said.

Ms Logan appeared before the Justice and Equality Committee on Wednesday alongside representatives from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) and Queens University to discuss the potential implications of Brexit on human rights and equality.

A border crossing between Co Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and Co Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland (Naill Carson/PA Wire)

Thank You to the Oireachtas committee on Justice and Equality for the invitation to discuss the human rights and equality implications of #Brexit https://t.co/yt7RN1vE81  Emily Logan (@ylimelogan) January 23, 2019

Brian Gormally, director of the NIHRC Committee on the Administration of Justice said that if Brexit goes ahead, it would make the status of Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland insecure and they would become EU citizens living in a non-member state.

He said the first possibility is that the Home Office would regard Irish citizens as really British, the second possibility is that the Common Travel Area would sort the issue out, and thirdly that EU citizens living in the UK could apply for settled status.

None of these options is appealing as they all involve the implication that those who choose Irish identity are in some way second-class citizens, Mr Gormally said.

Their rights as full participants in NI life would depend on either a denial of their Irish nationality, as yet unknown bilateral agreements between the UK and Ireland about the Common Travel Area, or paying to ask the Home Office to graciously allow them leave to live in the land of their birth.

The reality is that Irish citizens, born and living in Northern Ireland, have no legal connection to the jurisdiction in which they were born.

Mr Gormally told the committee the Belfast Agreement had not been effectively implemented in UK law.

He said legislation was needed in the UK and Ireland to recognise the particular status of Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland and their unequivocal right to participate fully in that region and in Irish society.

Committee member Clare Daly, an Independents 4 Change TD, described the comments as shocking and sobering, adding that they had highlighted scarily a legal deficit regarding citizenship rights which needs to be addressed.

Ms Logan and her Northern Ireland counterpart Les Allamby, chief commissioner of the NIHRC, warned the committee that the withdrawal of the UK from the EU threatened to undermine the human rights of the Good Friday Agreement.

Ms Logan said that since 1998, there had been substantial progress towards a lasting resolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland, but it assumed that the UK and Ireland would continue to be members of the EU.

Although the Joint Report of December 2017 committed to protecting the Agreement in all its parts, Brexit negotiations currently depart from that common framework creating risks for both rights and remedies, she said.

Mr Gormally said Brexit had already damaged and destabilised the peace settlement and relations across the island.

Questions of identity and citizenship have been opened up in a way not seen since well before the Agreement  those genies cannot be put back in the bottle, he said.

We therefore need a set of measures, across the island and, where possible, on the basis of formal treaties between the two sovereign states involved.
Proposals to build a rail link between Glasgow Airport and Glasgow city centre must be progressed as a matter of urgency, according to opposition parties at Holyrood.

A plan to connect the airport to the city directly from Glasgow Central Station, also stopping at Paisley Gilmour Street station, was put forward as part of the 1.13bn Glasgow City Region deal agreed in 2014.

The project has not yet started amid concerns over capacity issues outlined in a 2017 report.

It had been expected the link would be constructed from 2022 and would be operational by 2025.

Speaking at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, Scottish Labour MSP Colin Smyth urged the Scottish Government to move forward to introduce a link to Glasgow Airport.

Mr Smyth said: To our shame, its the largest UK airport that isnt served by rail, a rail link is badly needed.

An artists impression photograph of the Glasgow Airport Access Project (PA/Renfewshire Council)

Once again, its the SNP who are seeking to put barriers in the way to a proposal that everyone can support.

Failure to tackle capacity at Central Station does not justify the lack of action, the lack of commitment from the Scottish Government to the Glasgow Airport rail link.

The Scottish Government and Transport Scotland need to work with the Glasgow city region partners to find solutions, not more excuses.

They need to get on with building a rail link that will benefit not just Glasgow but all of Scotland.

#TramTrain to boost economy by providing direct rail link between Glasgow Airport, Paisley and the city centre: https://t.co/7aM9Kj7owZ pic.twitter.com/8aI9qWf9ml  Glasgow City Council #StaySafe (@GlasgowCC) November 24, 2016

Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Greene said his party was in agreement a rail link to the airport should be built.

Mr Greene said: We agree that this Glasgow Airport rail link needs to be progressed as a matter of urgency.

There are clear and vital reasons why this project should go ahead.

There are major connectivity issues in connecting Glasgow Airport to the west region.

The congestion on the M8 is at unbearable levels and I appreciate there are impasses, and I know the Cabinet secretary has committed in the past to working with stakeholders to overcome some of these problems, but we think they are not major barriers to progressing this project.

Scottish Green Party MSP Andy Wightman also indicated his party would join the calls to progress the plans.

Mr Wightman said: Were not great fans of airports but as long as they exist they should be accessible by public transport.

Transport Secretary Michael Matheson responded to the cross-party calls by indicating that the proposals would be under discussion.

Mr Matheson said: Ive got a meeting next week with the key parties on that particular issue and will look to make progress with it at that particular meeting.
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said it was very concerning that Theresa May had not removed the option of a no-deal from the table.

Ms McDonald also said it was absolutely essential that cool heads prevailed and the Irish Government did not bow to pressure from its British counterpart.

I do think its concerning that the clock is ticking and although theres a parliamentary majority [in Westminster] that says we dont want a hard border, we dont want a crash, that the Prime Minister still is not willing to officially take that option off the table, she said.

I think thats extremely unhelpful, I think that raises tensions. It raises concerns.

Ms McDonald made the comments outside Leinster House on Tuesday.

Speaking outside Leinster House Sinn Fein leader @MaryLouMcDonald said it was concerning that British PM Theresa May had not taken the option of a no-deal off the table. She said it was extremely unhelpful and was only adding to tensions @PA pic.twitter.com/zFKf0rdqBq  Michelle Devane (@michelledevane) January 22, 2019

She added that there was no room for negotiation on the existing deal.

Mary Lou McDonald said there was no room for negotiation on the existing deal (Brian Lawless/PA)

The negotiation on the Withdrawal Agreement and the backstop is over, she said.

That passage of play is finished and theres no room to go back and unpick those matters.

Ms McDonald said that Irish Government needed to stand firm when it came to protecting the backstop.

It is absolutely essential that cool heads prevail, that the Government here doesnt blink, irrespective of what pressure tactics or what overtures are made from London, she said.

But she said it was still important that there was sufficient contingency planning for a no-deal scenario.

Ms McDonald said she had been briefed by Irelands foreign affairs minister in respect of proposed legislation when it came to east-west contingency planning, but she said the Governments response was still pretty threadbare when it came to north-south contingency planning.

Asked whether the resumption of powersharing at Stormont could be a solution to the issue, she said: That actually wouldnt be the answer to the Brexit dilemma.

This Brexit negotiation is between European Union institutions and British government.

She added: I think its a disgrace that we dont have operational government in the North, but I dont want you to imagine for a second that that would be the silver bullet in this scenario. It frankly wouldnt be.

She said British parliamentarians were already aware that the majority of politicians in Northern Ireland did not support Brexit.

It is two years this month since the Assembly collapsed.

Ms McDonald said her party had done everything it could to get the powersharing institutions back up and running and that the DUP had walked away.

Both governments, not just the British government, have acquiesced with the DUP to keep the institutions down, she said.

They have given way to that DUP agenda.

Fianna Fail Brexit spokeswoman Lisa Chambers said she was disappointed that Mrs May had not provided a clear roadmap outlining how they want to proceed.

At this point Ms Chambers described the backstop as the only show in town.

Were dangerously close to a cliff edge and I am concerned about our own governments preparations in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Ms Chambers said.

She said France, Germany and the Netherlands had already passed its emergency legislation and that it was unacceptable that the Irish Government had not yet provided an outline of the legislation.

She said Fianna Fail could not understand the secrecy by the Government.
The Prince of Wales has spoken of his delight at opening a health and well-being centre in East Ayrshire  something he said he had wanted to do for 35 years.

Charles opened the centre, which will operate as the base for The Princes Foundations integrated health and well-being programme, at Dumfries House in Cumnock.

More than 100 guests including local GPs and those who have already benefited from activities at the estate attended a special event on Tuesday.

Charles watches as Kenneth Dunsmuir, executive director at the Princes Foundation, demonstrates tai chi (Andrew Milligan/PA)

When Charles, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, was receiving a tour of the new facility he joked the gathered press and photographers could do some tai chi  one of the sessions available at the centre along with yoga, cookery, reiki and mindfulness.

Unveiling the plaque, he said: Im so glad that all of you have been able to get here today, particularly because I could not be more proud to see the opening of this new integrated health centre at Dumfries House.

Its something Ive been wanting to do for the last 35 years. Im also so proud of all the team at Dumfries House who built it, an all in-house team.

To reach this point where we can now offer a range of social prescribing opportunities is enormously encouraging and I hope it will be able to make some difference to a lot of the health issues that exist in this area.

He added: When I first came here 12 years ago now I had a long list of things I wanted to try and do.

One of them was to try and see if we could assist in dealing with some of the health issues.

Having seen and having interrupted a large number of ladies trying to do their meditation already  and I hope benefiting from it, and the yoga  nothing could give me greater pleasure than to congratulate all involved in producing this wonderful centre.

Dumfries House health and well-being centre (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Carolyn Paton, health and well-being coordinator at Dumfries House, said: This fantastic new facility will allow us to grow the provision we have offered free of charge to hundreds of people across Ayrshire.

Its a really exciting time for the health and well-being team here and it was so special to have His Royal Highness present to open our new home.

Angelina Panico, a local GP from the Valley Medical Practice in New Cumnock, refers patients to Dumfries House.

She attended the special event along with some of her patients and spoke of the importance of having longevity in the programme and patients being given something to continue after their visit to the centre.

The GP said: From my practice and patients perspective Prince Charles has been hugely involved in our community and trying to improve services for them.

His presence and the work hes done is greatly appreciated by the people of New Cumnock and the wider community.

He was asking about the patients wed referred and if we still have plenty of number of patients to refer in the future  which of course we do.

And he was asking about the activities on at the time, in particularly the yoga.

I asked if he was keen to join in but he kind of laughed that off.
The honeymoon suite of a hotel, an antique dealers in Edinburgh, and the set of Poirot all played a part in the mysterious history of Henry VIIs bed, experts have said.

The 15th century four poster was found dumped in the car park of the Redland Hotel in Chester in 2010, after standing in the hotels wood-panelled honeymoon suite for around 15 years.

Guests have unknowingly slept on the royal bed for the bargain price of 95 per night and its history has been investigated for the last eight years by its owner, antique bed specialist Ian Coulson, with the help of TV historian Jonathan Foyle and a team of experts.

Bed owner Ian Coulson with Dr Jonathan Foyle, TV historian (right) at a symposium at the V&A Museum (Ian Coulson)

Its been lost in plain sight, really, Mr Foyle said. Its survival is so improbable that I dont blame people for being sceptical.

Mr Coulson and Mr Foyle believe it is the marital bed belonging to Henry VII, head of the house of Lancaster, and Elizabeth of York. The couple married in 1486 following Henrys victory at the Battle of Bosworth, which signalled the end of the War of the Roses.

In 2010 the bed was collected by Byrnes Auctioneers who listed it for sale as a Victorian bed. Mr Coulson spotted the unusual piece of furniture online and said: I could see it was a spectacular bed, even from the one image. He purchased it for 2,200.

When he collected it a few weeks later he said he had an inkling it was a lot older than they thought.

Mr Coulson and Mr Foyle came together to discuss their findings at a one-day symposium at the V&A museum, London, on Monday.

By looking at the deep oxidisation of the wood, which takes centuries to produce, and the ancient tool marks on the timber, Mr Coulson realised it was an ancient relic.

Voicing this opinion that youve possibly got a bed here that is a Tudor relic and it has royal arms on was met with quite a lot of scepticism, which I completely understand, he said.

Detail from the bed (Ian Coulson)

He enlisted the help of Mr Foyle who immediately thought it must be fake because it had royal arms, but when he saw it he began to change his mind.

Whats Adam and Eve doing there? Whys it got an English script? I was intrigued, the material looked much older than I took it to be, he said.

Mr Coulson introduced him to the work of George Shaw, an architect from the 19th century who specialised in Gothic revival. He believed Mr Shaw had copied the bed in the 1840s and sold replicas to English gentry under the guise of being true antiquities.

I could see that the copy was much cruder, Mr Foyle said. I could see that the copy was inferior in many ways, and much fresher looking and typically Victorian looking.

When he visited Mr Shaws house, St Chads, in Uppermill, Saddleworth, a missing piece of the bed  a panel containing the royal crest  was found hanging above a doorway. In 2015, Uppermill Parish councillors voted to keep the panel at St Chads rather than reuniting it with the bed.

Mr Coulson and Mr Foyle have traced the Tudor relics history, starting from the 15 years it spent at the Redlands Hotel. It was brought there by the owners daughter, a curator from Holyrood, who bought it from an antique dealer in Edinburgh.

The dealer, Eric Davidson, was doing antiques on an industrial scale, he had two or three warehouses, Mr Coulson said after he tracked down Mr Davidson, who is now dead, three years ago.

He can recall the bed, but he couldnt recall where he got it from, Mr Coulson said. Mr Davidson did not mention the beds on-screen history which the duo believe took place during the 1960s and 1990s.

Tim Garland, an antique restorer and historian, spotted it being used as a prop in a Carry On film.

There was Sid James, lying in a bed very much like this one in Carry On Dick  1974, Mr Foyle said.

Having looked at a couple more period dramas, Poirot from the early 1990s had just such a bed, he said.

Every time the headboard was obscured, there were cloths hanging over the foot boards so we couldnt be sure it was this one.

Using a blown-up still image from the 1995 TV series Pride And Prejudice, Mr Foyle demonstrated that the prop on screen perfectly matched the carvings on Henry VIIs bed.

You can see it absolutely clear, you can trace the carving round, Mr Coulson said. 100% it is this bed.

There has been some scientific conflict over the beds origins, with one report dating the wood to be post-1756 and from the US, while another determined it was European and could not be dated due to beetle damage.

Id love to reconcile that, Mr Foyle said. What youd like to think is that people are keen to learn about conflicting results from the same discipline and identify where that came from.

Mr Coulson said he would like the bed to end up in a national collection in the UK so the public can view it.

What has to be done is that, frankly, we ought to take it seriously and determine the right place that it should be displayed for the nation, its amongst national treasures, Mr Foyle added.
The Duchess of Cambridge has spoken about the pressures of motherhood as she launched a new national family helpline aimed at supporting parents and their children.

Kate, a mother of three, sympathised with the parenting problems of others when she chatted to volunteers manning the FamilyLine service run by the charity Family Action, telling them: Everybody experiences the same struggle.

With three children under the age of six  Prince George, five, Princess Charlotte, three, and Princess Louis, who is nine months old on Wednesday  Kate is focused on improving early years support for children and their parents.

The Duchess of Cambridge has been talking with YoungCarers, discussing their experiences. With the right support, #YoungCarers can have the opportunity to think about & focus on their own wellbeing, childhood & future as well as the members of their family they help care for pic.twitter.com/kUGbVvNTZd  Family Action (@family_action) January 22, 2019

She has established a steering group of experts which meets monthly, and her visit was hosted by David Holmes, chief executive of Family Action, who is a member of the project.

As Kate chatted to the volunteers she joked about the help available to mothers: You get a lot of support with the baby years particularly in the early days up to the age of about one, but after that there isnt a huge amount  lots of books to read.

At the charitys offices in Forest Hill, south London, the duchess listened to a role-playing training session where volunteer Sagari Sarkar answered a mock call from a mother struggling to cope with looking after her baby alone.

Kate meets families, young carers and volunteers at FamilyLine (Adrian Dennis/PA)

Ms Sarkar, a mother-of-three, said about Kates parenting comment: I think it makes her human, it makes her in touch. Shes a parent, a very active parent, and I think thats what people like about her.

Why shes a great supporter of our service is that she does recognise that families have the same pressures and struggles and shes no exception. She may have slightly different circumstances to the rest of us but, you know, being a parent is being a parent.

FamilyLine has had a soft launch, running for around a year, and provides a telephone line, email and text service for anyone struggling with family life, from parenting and relationship difficulties to mental health and wellbeing.

Kate receives a bouquet of flowers as she leaves (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The service aims to provide immediate and long-term support, practical information and guidance, and help with accessing relevant services.

Family Action is celebrating 150 years of working to help families looking for support, and today it helps about 45,000 families every year in Britain through 150 specialist services.

Kate met a number of families being supported by Family Action, which was established in 1869 as the Charity Organisation Society, by a group of social reformers including the then prime minister William Gladstone and critic John Ruskin.

You can read more about The Duchess of Cambridge's visit to @family_action in Lewisham, South London today here: https://t.co/SPg5er1Obn pic.twitter.com/t2ynSy2Don  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) January 22, 2019

She chatted to Dawn Daley, 46, from Islington, north London, who is supporting her niece Deidre Greenaway, who is trying to cope with bringing up her young son and daughter.

The women, originally from Montserrat, a British overseas territory, contacted Family Action last autumn after Ms Greenway discovered her children have the condition neurofibromatosis, which causes tumours to grow along nerves.

Ms Daley said about Kate: She was really interested in what we had to say, asking us questions. She was really, really interested in everything, how they support us, where they support us.

The group watched Family Monsters, the charitys new campaign film produced to mark its 150th anniversary.

Every family has its monsters, watch & share our film so we can all talk about & face our monsters together #MyFamilyMonsters https://t.co/h9AKVfWpKf pic.twitter.com/1rkAqi6RMP  Family Action (@family_action) January 10, 2019

The campaign highlights the hidden monsters many families face, such as debt, addiction, lack of time together, relationship problems and mental health issues.

Before leaving, Kate also met a group of young carers, some not yet teenagers, who were supporting a family member, and praised their efforts.
Mohammed Hassan Mohamud, who has been a refugee in Kenya for two decades, gave an impassioned plea to the political and business elites gathered in the Swiss ski resort of Davos to do more than pay lip-service to the plight of millions of displaced people.

Mr Mohamud, who is one of the seven co-chairs at this years World Economic Forum, explained how 185,000 people from 10 different nationalities are confined in Kenyas Kakuma camp with very little chance of getting out and making a life for themselves.

Refugee camps, he said, are not ethical and not conducive to human growth.

Mr Mohamud, 28, said he wants to use his position as a WEF co-chair to demystify the refugee experience.

Were not criminals, he said. Its not a crime to flee your country  I dont know what youre all afraid of.
An MP who was wheeled into the Commons to vote on Theresas Mays Brexit deal after postponing a Caesarean section has welcomed plans to allow new parents to nominate other members to vote on their behalf.

Labour MP and new mother Tulip Siddiq said a one-year trial of proxy voting for new mothers and fathers in the House of Commons was a momentous and overdue change.

Mrs Siddiq was pushed into Parliament in a wheelchair two days before she gave birth so she could vote on the Brexit deal earlier this month.

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq is wheeled through the chamber while MPs vote on the Prime Ministers Brexit deal (House of Commons/PA)

Responding to an urgent question, Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom told MPs they will have the chance to approve the pilot on Monday January 28.

She said: I profoundly believe that all new parents should be able to spend uninterrupted time with their new baby.

This is vital for both the physical and mental well-being of parents and babies.

So I absolutely assure the House, I am absolutely committed to making progress on the issue of proxy voting and I am truly delighted to be able to confirm to the House today that a substantive motion on proxy leave in the case of maternity, paternity and adoption has been tabled today for the Houses agreement on Monday 28 January.

Watching the Urgent Question with Raphael who, at just six days old, is delighted to have been mentioned in Hansard, due to the historic introduction of #ProxyVoting in the House of Commons. A really momentous (and overdue) change that I welcome. pic.twitter.com/61WJnTSarY  Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) January 22, 2019

Ms Siddiq tweeted as she nursed newborn Raphael on Tuesday: Watching the Urgent Question with Raphael who, at just six days old, is delighted to have been mentioned in Hansard, due to the historic introduction of #ProxyVoting in the House of Commons.

A really momentous (and overdue) change that I welcome.

I first raised #ProxyVoting after my election in 2015 (see EDM) and was told: dont try and change rules in the Commons, nothing will change.

Well today the rules have changed and new parents will soon be able to cast votes for their constituents.

Tulip Siddiq, MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, with her husband Chris and their newborn son Raphael Mujib StJohn Percy at their home in north London (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

In the Commons, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire), who tabled the urgent question, welcomed the pilot scheme but said it was overdue.

She said: I thought things were pretty bad when, back in June, in the heatwave, I was 10 days past my due date  but the Governments response to the Houses instruction to introduce proxy voting gives a whole new meaning to the word overdue.

Its shameful that last week (Tulip Siddiq) was put in the invidious position of having to try to make a choice between potential health risks to her baby and whether or not her constituents could have their voice heard on the biggest issue of our time. Nobody should be put in that position.

Objecting to the accusation from Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch (Saffron Walden) that Ms Siddiq had delayed her Caesarean unnecessarily to make a point on Brexit, Ms Swinson added: Some have suggested she was just trying to make a point and I think that is disgusting.

She was put in an impossible position and she made a choice and the judgment that comes from all corners to parents making choices like this and all sorts of others is out of order and I think we should respect the choice she made.

Ms Swinson pointed out that she herself had been the victim of outdated Commons rules to deal with MPs who cannot be physically present to vote, with only a pairing system relying on trusting opposition MPs to abstain on votes.

Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson, with her baby Gabriel, listens to the closing remarks of a Commons discussion about proxy voting (PA)

She said: It is the Governments own fault that were in a situation where pairing is entirely discredited as a mechanism for pregnant MPs and new parents to discharge their responsibilities.

I was nursing my two-week-old baby in July when I found out that the person I was paired with had voted anyway, and not voted all day  no, no  he had voted in just the two divisions that happened to be very close.

So, forgive me if Im a bit sceptical over the assurances we were given that this was a genuine mistake, because, frankly, the Chief Whips behaviour  the result of that was cheating my constituents out of their voice on one of the biggest issues of our time  Brexit.

Mother of the House, Labours Harriet Harman said: It is 31 years too late for me, but I can say today I am absolutely delighted about this, its really important. There are many babieson all sides of the House who are in the offing at the moment.

They are blissfully unaware of the Brexit debate but these Brexit babies cant wait, so Im delighted we are going to get on with it.

She added: I too was Leader of the House and failed to get this through, so whoever succeeds in these long decades of progress, these baby steps into the 21st century, all power to your elbow.
The European Union and African Union have committed to work closely with the Democratic Republic of Congos president-elect Felix Tshisekedi, backing off reservations about the disputed vote.

They urge him to heal divisions in the turbulent central African country.

Speaking after a meeting of EU-AU ministers, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said: The task facing the new president contains major challenges.

Danish foreign minister Anders Samuelsen waits for the start of an EU-African Union meeting with Democratic Republic of Congos Debre Boyoko, centre, in Brussels (Virginia Mayo/AP)

She said: All of this requires  that he engage in a dialogue inside the country as well as abroad.

Rwandan foreign minister Richard Sezibera said the AU committed to work with DR Congos people to continue to surmount the challenges that may remain.

DR Congos Constitutional Court refused runner-up Martin Fayulus request for a recount and reaffirmed Mr Tshisekedis win, despite leaked data from the electoral commission showing Mr Fayulu won.
Alfonso Cuarons intimate family drama Roma  hailed as a masterpiece by critics  has been nominated for a haul of gongs at the 91st Academy Awards.

It is the 11th foreign language film to receive a best picture nomination and would be the first to win.

Filmed in black-and-white, with all the dialogue in Spanish, the movie is set in 1970s Mexico City and paints a portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amid political turmoil.

The semi-autobiographical story is based on the directors childhood memories, and focuses on a housekeeper and nanny named Cleo, played by indigenous Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio.

In Cuarons native country it has started a national conversation about inequality and the treatment of domestic workers and in December, Aparicio appeared on the cover of Vogue Mexico, a milestone for a woman of indigenous descent in the magazines 20-year history.

The film is named after the upscale district of Mexico City where Curaon grew up and stars mostly non-professionals, including Aparicio, who had just completed her teaching degree when she auditioned for the film on a whim.

Alfonso Cuaron (Ian West/PA)

Throughout the film Cleos personal life unravels, as does the relationship between the parents of the children she cares for, and the film juxtaposes her struggles with those of their mother Sofia.

The Gravity director, the first Mexican film-maker to win an Oscar  for Gravity  also served as cinematographer for the film, which crosses paths with the Corpus Christi massacre, when around 120 people were killed by the military during a student demonstration.

It has made history as the first Netflix film to score a best picture nomination but has provoked controversy with traditionalists concerned that streaming services will sound the death knell for cinema.

Roma is streaming on Netflix now.
Authorities looking into concerns about childrens well-being provided a less consistently robust response in cases where youngsters were suffering from chronic poor parenting, inspectors have said.

The Care Inspectorate conducted a review of services for children and young people over 2012 to 2017 and found for the majority the various organisations involved responded well to ensure their safety.

It said for some children, however, including those living in families where there were repeated low-level incidents of domestic abuse and for children already known to the authorities and those in care, there could be a poorer response.

In a major new report, published days after the parents of a malnourished toddler who died were jailed, the Care Inspectorate said it had consistently came across a small number of children and young people who had been exposed to risk and neglect for too long.

Today we have published an overview report on a five year programme of inspections of services for children and young people in Scotland. Inspections considered how well services met the needs of children and young people. Read the full report here https://t.co/7XiLw9rkX8. pic.twitter.com/1FIlCBu1BR  Care Inspectorate (@CareInspect) January 22, 2019

It stated: The signs of risk and neglect were not being recognised consistently.

Consequently, interventions were not happening early enough or effectively to protect children and young people from harm.

The Care Inspectorate looked at services fro children and young people over the period 2012 to 2017. (Ian West/PA)

Some children and young people were, therefore, subject to delays in being assessed for, or in receiving, services and were left in situations of risk for too long.

On Friday, Margaret Wade, 38, and Marie Sweeney, 37, were each jailed for more than six years after admitting neglect of Lauren Wade, who died in hospital in 2015 from complications arising from malnutrition aged two years and five months.

The youngster was extremely thin and infested with head lice when she was taken to Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Yorkhill in March that year.

When it came to responding to concerns about the safety and well-being of children, the Inspectorate found this was good or better in around seven out of 10 cases it looked.

It added: In approximately 30% of records we reviewed, we evaluated the initial response of services as adequate or less.

Where concerns were less evident  such as those relating to general well-being, or where youngsters were already known to the authorities  it added the response was good or better in about six out of 10 cases.

It found one in 10 was was considered to be less than adequate, that is weak or unsatisfactory.

The report said: On occasion, we came across significant delay in responding to concerns about well-being, including where concerns related to allegations of neglect.

While the inspectors accepted the complexities of when to intervene, the inspectors revealed: Many of the records we reviewed included instances where well-being issues were indicative of neglect, however, signs or patterns were not recognised early enough by professionals to enable them to intervene early to protect children and young people

For these children and young people, the corresponding delays in assessments led to delays in the correct actions being taken to keep the child or young person safe.

The report stated: For the majority of children and young people, services responded well to ensure their safety.

Responses were less consistently robust where concerns were cumulative, for example, where children and young people were experiencing chronic poor parenting or repeated exposure to lower level incidents of domestic abuse, where children were already involved with services, including children or young people who were looked after.

As part of the review inspectors met with with 1,502 parents and carers, as well as 2,744 children and young people across Scotland to discuss their experience of services.

They also reviewed more than 3,000 case records relating to children and young people.

Peter Macleod, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: This overview of the past five years of inspection work is significant because it helps identify areas of achievement and areas where more can, and must, be done.

Community planning partnerships, which bring together a range of organisations , were unable to consistently or effectively demonstrate improvement in closing the educational outcomes gap between youngsters who are in care and those who are not, the report found.

It also noted that continued waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in most of the areas that were inspected meant that some children and young people were experiencing delays in receiving the help they needed.

Minister for Children and Young People Maree Todd said: I welcome this comprehensive report, which shows continuous improvement in the quality and provision of services for our children, young people and their families.

The Getting It Right For Every Child approach has strengthened working relationships for those on the frontline, and the majority of staff report that they better understood their lead professional role and responsibilities.

All of our children and young people have the right to be loved and cared for and to grow up in a safe environment where they can achieve their full potential.

The report highlights areas where improvement can still be made and we will work with community planning partnerships and others to consider those findings.
Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish are on the verge of settling a High Court claim over phone-hacking, a judge has been told.

The couples lawyer informed Mr Justice Mann at a hearing in London on Tuesday that their action against News Group Newspapers (NGN)  publishers of the now-defunct News of the World and The Sun  was on the point of settling.

He told the judge of the development during a preliminary hearing ahead of a trial of what are described as three big ticket claims due to start on February 4.

The two other claims expected to be heard next month have been brought by actress Elizabeth Hurley and by Heather Mills, former wife of Sir Paul McCartney, and her sister Fiona.

Elizabeth Hurleys High Court phone-hacking case is due to be heard next month (Matt Crossick/PA)

At the start of a pre-trial review, David Sherborne, representing the claimants, told Mr Justice Mann that one of the three claims has practically settled  on the point of settling.

He added: That was the position late last night. That is the claim of Sir Elton John and David Furnish. It has not actually settled yet.

Mr Sherborne described it as a significant development since the last preliminary hearing in the case in November.

He told Mr Justice Mann that although there were still three live claims, it was only right and fair to inform him of the development as he would be considering not only the nature, structure and mechanics of the trial, but also various applications for disclosure.

The damages action brought by Sir Elton and film producer and director Mr Furnish relates to a claim for misuse of private information.

A large number of people from all walks of life have previously settled similar claims, receiving damages and an apology from NGN over phone-hacking.

In September last year, Mr Justice Mann heard details of settlements in the cases of a number of soap stars and TV personalities, including Kym Marsh, Lucy-Jo Hudson and Leslie Heseltine (known as Les Dennis).

Mr Sherborne told the judge on that occasion that NGN had agreed to pay damages and apologised for the distress caused by individuals working for or on behalf of the News of the World.

The settlements were on the basis that NGN makes no admission of liability in relation to their allegations of voicemail interception or other unlawful information-gathering at The Sun.

During Tuesdays proceedings, Mr Sherborne told the judge that one of the generic issues to be aired at the forthcoming trial centred on allegations that such activities were widespread at The Sun.

He said that allegation had been vigorously not admitted to date by NGN.
Four people have been arrested in Dublin as part of an investigation into international terrorist financing.

They include a man in his forties and three women in their thirties, forties and sixties, Irish police said.

Documents, electronic equipment and 4,500 euros in cash were seized during six searches in the Irish capital.

The suspects were arrested for suspected terrorist financing contrary to Section 13 of the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act, 2005 and are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at Dublin Garda stations.

The searches took place on Tuesday morning as part of an ongoing investigation by the Special Detective Unit, the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and security and intelligence units into international terrorist financing, the force confirmed.

The investigation is ongoing.
Democrats battling to win the partys nomination to duel with President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election are unveiling radical liberal proposals in a bid to win early support.

One Democratic presidential contender Julian Castro launched his campaign by pledging support for Medicare For All, free universal pre-school, a large public investment in renewable energy and two years of free college for all Americans.

President Donald Trump at the White House (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

That was not enough for some of his partys most liberal members.

Critics on social media quickly knocked Mr Castros plan to provide only two years of free higher education, instead of four, as half measures, scraps and corporate Dem doublespeak.

Aware of the backlash, the former Obama administration Cabinet member clarified his position in an interview days later.

At least the first two years of college or university or apprenticeship program should be tuition free  and preferably four years, Mr Castro said.

Julian Castro is among the Democrat hopefuls (Mary Schwalm/AP)

Were going to work toward that.

Almost no policy is too liberal for Democrats fighting to win over their partys base in the primary campaign, which is demanding a presidential nominee dedicated to pursuing bold action on Americas most pressing challenges.

Mr Trump won the presidency by winning the backing of traditional Democrat supporters, notably in the Rust Belt, leaving the party wrestling with how to win them back in 2020.

Among two dozen possible candidates, virtually all have embraced universal health care in one form or another.

Some have rallied behind free college, job guarantee programmes, a 15 US dollar minimum hourly wage and abolishing, or at least reconstituting, the federal agency that enforces immigration laws.

While few have outlined detailed proposals to fund their priorities, most would generate new revenue by taxing the rich.

The leftward lurch on top policies carries risks.

Mr Trump and his Republican allies are betting that voters will ultimately reject the Democratic proposals as extreme.

Some Republican leaders cast lesser plans as socialism during the Obama era.

Republican critics are joined by a handful of moderate Democrats, who fear that promises by well-intentioned presidential prospects may create unrealistic expectations with their partys most passionate voters.

We must repeal the Trump tax breaks for the top 1% and large, profitable corporations. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create a sustainable economy, not make the very rich even richer.  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 18, 2019

Billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican mayor of New York now considering a Democratic presidential bid, recently opined that primary voters might be receptive to a more moderate approach.

Most Democrats want a middle-of-the-road strategy, Mr Bloomberg said on ABCs The View.

He added: If you go off on trying to push for something that has no chance of getting done, that we couldnt possibly pay for, that just takes away from where you can really make progress in helping people that need help today.

Senator Kamala Harris (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

So far, at least, very few presidential prospects are heeding such warnings.

In the 2016 campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, was the only presidential contender to support Medicare For All, a proposal that would essentially provide free health care coverage to all Americans.

This year, it is hard to find anyone in opposition.

That was even after one recent study predicted the plan would cost taxpayers more than 32 trillion US dollars.

Proponents argue that those same taxpayers would save the trillions they currently spend out-of-pocket for their health care.

This campaign is a fight for the soul of our country. Its a fight of and for the people. Together, we will fight for a country with strong public schools. A country where one job is enough to pay the bills. A country with health care for every single American.  Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 21, 2019

Lesser-known policies have emerged heading into 2020 as well.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who is expected to launch his presidential campaign soon, has sponsored legislation to create a federal jobs guarantee programme in several communities across America.

The pilot programme, which is co-sponsored by fellow 2020ers like New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, California Senator Kamala Harris and Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, could ultimately transform the US labour market by providing well-paid government employment with benefits for anyone who wants it.

Critics decry the plan as a step toward socialism.

Big challenges demand big solutions, Mr Booker said.

Air Force One, the presidential aircraft (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Both Martin Luther King Jr and President Franklin Roosevelt believed that every American had the right to a job, and that right has only become more important in this age of increasing income inequality, labour market concentration and continued employment discrimination.

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer supports much of the liberal movements new priorities, including Mr Trumps impeachment, but says the federal jobs guarantee doesnt make sense given the nations low employment rate.

I want the private sector to produce jobs people can live on, he said in an interview.

Health care is a human right. Grateful that two of my health care bills were signed into law in 2018 but theres more work to do. In 2019 one thing I'm fighting for is passing my MOMMIES Actto fix Americas outrageously high maternal mortality rate. 4/https://t.co/DAtQV7uc22  Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) January 21, 2019

A guarantee of government jobs doesnt make sense.

Yet Mr Steyer insists that most of his partys policy priorities, universal health care and free college, among them, are anything but radical.

The Republicans are an extremist far-right, radical party.

Elizabeth Warren is seeking the presidency (Michael Dwyer/AP)

When you say we need to moderate to their position, theres nothing moderate or pragmatic about their position, said Mr Steyer, who recently backed away from a presidential run, although he is expected to spend tens of millions of dollars to shape the 2020 debate.

Free college is quickly emerging as a litmus test for Democratic contenders.

Those already on the record backing free tuition at public colleges and universities include former Vice President Joe Biden, Mr Sanders, Ms Gillibrand, Ms Harris and Ms Warren.

It is unlikely the Democratic Partys energised base would tolerate any significant shifts to the centre on free college or any of the partys top issues.

We have seen a dramatic shift in the Democratic Partys political centre, said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Those who deny that are hurting their chances in 2020.
Police failed to record a report of concern for a vulnerable man who went missing and was later found dead, an investigation has indicated.

A Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) report into the incident was published on Tuesday.

It had been commissioned to examine the events around the discovery of a 25-year-old mans body on a beach near Musselburgh Harbour in East Lothian on October 13 2017.

The report established the man had been arrested on October 10 having caused a disturbance in the grounds of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

He was taken to St Leonards Police Station in Edinburgh, where he told police staff he was suicidal and a Vulnerability Assessment Form was filled out.

The man had caused a disturbance in the grounds of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (David Cheskin/PA)

Having appeared in court on October 11 and being released on bail, the man then returned to his partners flat the following day and was last seen at around 7pm when he left.

His partner phoned police at around 11.16pm when he failed to return and asked if he was in custody.

She was told he had not been arrested and she did not report him missing.

The following morning, she phoned police again and told them he had gone missing the previous day, believing he might be in custody.

A National Custody Database check confirmed the man had been in custody earlier in the week and the custody sergeant advised the call handler he may have been remanded in prison.

The call handler relayed the information to the mans partner and advised her to contact his solicitor.

The report stated the handler incorrectly told her the man was safe and well.

On Friday October 13, the mans body was discovered by a member of the public near Musselburgh Harbour before he was taken to Edinburgh City Mortuary.

Although a distinctive tattoo was noted on his right abdomen, the inquiries made by Police Scotland failed to identify the man at the time.

At around 11am on Saturday October 14, the mans partner called Police Scotland again to say he had been missing for 48 hours.

The woman said she had contacted the mans solicitor who confirmed he had not been remanded to prison.

She then said she wanted to report her partner as a vulnerable missing person.

The mans brother also contacted the police to report his concern and provided a description of the man, which included a distinctive ninja tattoo on his stomach.

A concern for person incident was raised and transferred to the area control room, which resulted in the body found near Musselburgh Harbour being identified as that of the man.

A post-mortem examination determined he had died from drowning.

Police Scotland has said it has reviewed its process for dealing with calls about people in custody and has circulated a revised process to service centre staff nationally.

The Pirc report indicates Police Scotland custody staff did not correctly complete the G4S Personal Escort Record form to highlight the man was suicidal or at risk of self-harm before his transfer into the care of G4S Court Custody and Prisoner Escort Services.

It submitted a report to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on June 11 last year with a summary of the findings published on Tuesday, with no recommendations made.

Chief Superintendent Mark Hargreaves, of the Professional Standards Department, said: Police Scotland recognises the findings of the Pircs report and can confirm the service has reviewed its process for dealing with calls about people in custody and has circulated a revised process to address this matter.

Our thoughts remain with the family of the man who tragically died.
The level of goods traded across the Irish border is at an all-time high, officials said.

It stands at 6.1 billion for 2017, an all-island organisation established after the Good Friday Agreement added.

Northern Ireland makes up between 10-12% of total exports from Ireland to the UK and accounts for 7-8% of imports.

Aidan Gough, director of strategy at InterTradeIreland, said total cross-border trade in goods was at an all-time high.

For a population size of just 2.9% of the UK total these trade figures with our nearest neighbour are substantial and highlight growing cross-border co-operation and the associated dividends for Northern Ireland businesses.

Total cross-border trade in goods has been growing at an average rate of 4% a year over the past 20 years, the north/south body said.

The level of goods traded across the Irish border is at an all-time high, officials said (Niall Carson/PA)

It has assisted more than 39,000 businesses, created/protected 14,800 jobs and generated more than 1 billion in business development value through its programmes and initiatives since it was established 20 years ago.

Based in Newry in Co Down, it provides SMEs across the island of Ireland with sales growth, innovation, business funding and business insight support.

Mr Gough added: The micro-economic impact that InterTradeIreland has had through its programmes and initiatives over the last 20 years is significant.

It has provided assistance and guidance to over 39,000 companies, with 9,000 companies benefiting through trade and innovation projects, generating over 1 billion of additional business development value and 14,800 jobs.

At a more macroeconomic level, total cross-border trade in goods has been growing since 1997 at an average rate of 4% per annum and currently stands at 6.11 billion for 2017.

The benefits to firms involved in this trade are more pervasive than you may think.

Full house this morning as Professor @JoeHas delivers his 'Start-up to Scale-up masterclass in @QUB_CEC as part of the All Island Innovation Programme. @QUBEngagement #AllIslandInnovationProgramme pic.twitter.com/HrttVSm1xx  InterTradeIreland (@Inter_Trade) January 22, 2019

Northern Ireland exports to Ireland were worth some 3.9bn to the local economy in 2017, with 758,000 cross-border deliveries.

In addition, there were approximately 410,000 import deliveries in 2015 from Ireland to Northern Ireland businesses worth nearly 2bn, not including financial and farm sectors.

Mr Gough added: These figures represent important components of Northern Irelands private sector economic activity and for Northern Ireland goods trade represent a 115% increase in sales value since 1997.

For over half (51%) of Irish exporters, Northern Ireland is the destination for more than 50% of their exports, while for 26% of Irish firms, Northern Ireland is their only export market.
A pensioner who has spent much of his life looking after a war memorial to 10 airmen broke down in tears as he was told there will be a flypast to honour their memory  after a social media campaign by BBC Breakfasts Dan Walker.

The broadcaster was walking his dog in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield, earlier this month, when he bumped into 82-year-old Tony Foulds.

Mr Foulds was just eight when he witnessed the B-17 Flying Fortress, the American plane which was carrying the men, crash in the park on February 22 1944, killing all 10 of them.

Just met an amazing man in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield. Tony Foulds was an 8-yr-old playing in the park when a US plane crashed in Feb 1944. He has diligently maintained the memorial ever since. He was planting new flowers. Almost 75 yrs of service. What a man. Im in bits  pic.twitter.com/DpdDmSZ0F3  Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) January 2, 2019

The aircraft, nicknamed Mi Amigo, was returning from a bombing raid, and the then-schoolboy believes it deliberately steered out of the way of him and his friends.

Ever since a memorial to the men was erected in the park in the 1970s, Mr Foulds, who suffers from a severe tremor that makes his hands shake uncontrollably, has devoted much of his time to keeping the area clean and planting flowers.

He told Mr Walker the touching story, and explained how it would be his dream to see a military flypast at the park to pay tribute to the men.

Dan Walker hugs Tony Foulds, 82, after the surprise (BBC Breakfast)

The presenter then started a Twitter campaign to pay tribute to the men, telling users about Mr Fouldss story and saying: He doesnt want a medal. All he wants is a fly-past on the 75th anniversary on the 22nd Feb 2019. Can anyone help?

An exciting announcement from RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall for the 75th anniversary of the U.S. B-17 crash in Sheffield that claimed 10 American lives.

Look to the skies on 22 February for a very special flyby - Col. Will Marshall#GetTonyAFlypast pic.twitter.com/3WbkV8akGV  RAF Lakenheath (@48FighterWing) January 22, 2019

On Tuesday, Mr Foulds broke down in tears as Colonel Will Marshall of RAF Lakenheath, which houses a US Air Force unit and personnel, told him live on BBC Breakfast: It gives me great pleasure to say: Look to the skies on February 22 for a very special flyby.

The pensioner, who was visibly emotional, said: Thats everything to me. Thats everything I wanted.

The special tribute will take place on the 75th anniversary of the crash, and Mr Foulds said on BBC Breakfast: Theyre my family, my family.

Right... Ive been back to talk to Tony. He doesnt want a medal. All he wants is a fly-past on the 75th anniversary on the 22nd Feb 2019. Can anyone help? Who has contacts in the Royal Air Force or Red Arrows?  Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) January 2, 2019

Its not a memorial, to me. The actual memorial is mine, apart from one day a year when its the 22nd [of February]. Every other time, its mine.

He added: Its the tribute they deserve.

It was only when I was in my teens that I really understood what a terrible thing had happened, and what an enormous sacrifice the young Americans made.

I could have not been here, if the lads hadnt given their lives.

Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the United Kingdom, appeared alongside Mr Foulds on the show, and said: It is an amazing moment, and, Tony, it takes amazing people to have an amazing moment.

Now, millions of people will know about these 10 men, and all the other men that died on that day too.

 We challenge you not to cry!

Hear Tony's full reaction to the moment we told him that #BBCBreakfastGotTonyAFlypast 



Thanks to @USAmbUK, @48FighterWing and EVERYONE who's been involved and backed this. pic.twitter.com/7zZD7A7qKk  BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) January 22, 2019

Mr Walker said: I was so moved by Tonys story that we had to help.

We were inundated with messages of support and the video has been seen three quarters of a million times.

Within 48 hours I had spoken to the US embassy and top-ranking officials at both the US Air Force and the RAF.

He added that the story has struck a chord with many people, and said the Breakfast team had been working flat out to make the flypast happen.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned against rising nationalism in Europe and called for a revival of cross-border cooperation as she and her French counterpart signed a pact renewing their countries decades-long friendship.

The new accord was inked in the ancient western German city of Aachen exactly 56 years after the 1963 Elysee Treaty, which set the tone for the two countries close relationship following centuries of conflict that ended with the Second World War.

Populism and nationalism are strengthening in all of our countries, Mrs Merkel told French, German and European officials gathered in Aachens town hall.

Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron stand with the foreign ministers of Germany Heiko Maas and of France Jean-Yves Le Drian (Martin Meissner/AP)

Citing Britains departure from the European Union and the growing protectionist tendencies around the world, Mrs Merkel noted that international cooperation is going through a rocky period.

Seventy-four years, a single human lifetime, after the end of World War II, what seems self-evident is being called into question again, she said.

Thats why, first of all, there needs to be a new commitment toward our responsibility within the European Union, a responsibility held by Germany and France.

Then German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, centre left, hugs then France President Charles de Gaulle after signing the Elysee friendship treaty in Paris (AP)

Her words were echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who noted the growing anger within European societies and pressure from without.

The Treaty of Aachen aims to boost cross-border cooperation along the countries 290-mile frontier, but also improve coordination between the two nations when it comes to tackling international problems such as climate change and terrorism.

Those who forget the value of peace and spread lies are accomplices in the crimes of the past. I would rather look our Europe in the face and strengthen it to protect our peoples. That is what we are doing with the Treaty of Aachen. https://t.co/LYwGp09cMF  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 22, 2019

Germany and France are often described as the engine of the European Union, to the occasional annoyance of other members, who feel sidelined by the cozy relationship between Paris and Berlin.

Mr Macron later tweeted: Those who forget the value of peace and spread lies are accomplices in the crimes of the past.

I would rather look our Europe in the face and strengthen it to protect our peoples.

That is what we are doing with the Treaty of Aachen.
Unemployment in Scotland has fallen below 100,000 for the first time, new figures have revealed.

Data for the period September to November 2018 showed the number of Scots aged 16 and above without a job had fallen 6.4% from the previous quarter to stand at 99,000.

That total is 11.6% lower than it was in the same period of 2017, the Office for National Statistics said.

Scotlands overall unemployment rate fell again to 3.6%  below the UK rate of 4%  which is the lowest it has been since 1975.

At the same time, 2,561,000 people aged between 16 and 64 were in work  a rise of 10,000 on the figures for June to August 2018.

Unemployment in Scotland is below 100,000 for the first time on record - read our response from Business Minister @jamiehepburn to today's Labour Market Stats https://t.co/xo219l5r79 #LMS @statisticsONS pic.twitter.com/MLH3pTYCBD  Scot Gov Economy (@scotgoveconomy) January 22, 2019

This put the employment rate for this age group up to 75.3%

The jobless total in Scotland has fallen below 100,000 for the first time (Philip Toscano/PA)

Across the UK as a whole the number of people in work increased by 141,00 over September to November to stand at 32.5 million  the highest since records began in 1971.

Business minister Jamie Hepburn welcomed the record low in unemployment but also warned of the threat the UKs decision to leave the European Union could have on the economy.

A no-deal Brexit could cost Scotland 14 billion a year, new analysis by business organisation the CBI has indicated.

The number of people unemployed in Scotland has now fallen below 100,000 for the first time on record. Scotlands unemployment rate reached a record low again this month, down to 3.6%, lower than the UK rate of 4.0%.  Gordon Macdonald MSP (@GMacdonaldMSP) January 22, 2019

Mr Hepburn said: Despite the huge and continued challenges of Brexit, the Scottish economy remains resilient and our jobs market is strengthening.

Scotlands unemployment rate reached a record low again this month, down to 3.6%, lower than the UK rate of 4.0%.

The number of people unemployed in Scotland has now fallen below 100,000 for the first time on record.

Employment for women and young people in particular continues to be impressive in Scotland as we outperform the UK with a rate of 71.5% for women, higher than the UK rate of 71.2%, and 60.7% for young people, higher than the UK rate of 56.0%.

Compared to the UK we have significantly lower rates of unemployment for both women and young people.

He added: We remain committed to creating the right economic environment for jobs growth however Brexit remains the biggest threat to Scotlands economic success.

The UK Government must now take urgent steps to rule out a no-deal Brexit, which threatens to have devastating consequences for jobs, businesses and communities, extend the Article 50 process and hold a second referendum on EU membership.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: It is great news that unemployment has fallen to a new record low.

I do remain concerned that in some measures there are less people active in the labour market.

The UK Government is working hard to boost Scotlands economy including through our City Region Deals, in which we have committed more than 1.1 billion right across Scotland.

I urge the Scottish Government to work closely with us and use the significant tools at its disposal to grow Scotlands economy.

Dr Stuart McIntyre, of the Fraser of Allander Institute, said: These latest data for Scotland show that despite weak economic growth and heightened economic uncertainty, headline measure of labour market continue to perform well  with the unemployment rate hitting 3.6%, its lowest rate since records began in 1992.

That being said, measure of wage growth remain relatively weak, productivity growth is sluggish, and the outlook for the economy through the next few months remains highly uncertain.

Liz Cameron, director and chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: The record level employment rate is a strong indicator of the resilience of the UK and Scottish labour market.

With the unemployment rate at its lowest rate on record, these are positive statistics for Scotland.
Dippy the dinosaur has gone on display to the public in Scotland for the first time.

The Natural History Museums famous diplodocus is on show at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow for the next four months.

Scotlands largest city is the most northerly stop for the giant model dinosaur skeleton as it nears the halfway point of its three-year tour of the UK.

Here's finally here and ready to meet you...it's Dippy Day! pic.twitter.com/2vcKmeH1DA  Kelvingrove (@KelvingroveArt) January 22, 2019

Lorraine Cornish, head of conservation at the National History Museum (NHM) in London, said: Dippy, I think, is the peoples dinosaur  a true rock star.

Were so delighted and privileged to be able to tour Dippy around the UK.

The replica cast, made from plaster of Paris and resin, is an example of the Diplodocus carnegii species that lived between 145 and 156 million years ago and roamed North America.

The species is named after Andrew Carnegie, the industrialist and philanthropist who financed its excavation in Wyoming, US, in 1899 and donated the cast to the NHM.

Unveiled in London in 1905, it caused a huge stir as the first large dinosaur to go on display anywhere in the world.

It was on show in Hintze Hall of the NHM from 1979 until January 2017 and, before the tour, the dinosaur had never been on public display outside of the UK capital.

The 70ft skeleton cast arrived at the centre hall of the Kelvingrove earlier this month after sailing across the Irish Sea.

The model travelled to Scotland by ferry in more than a dozen specially-made crates after being on display in Belfast.

Experts worked to unpack the 292-bone structure and undertake the giant jigsaw of putting the dinosaur back together, ready for exhibition opening on Tuesday.

Oliver Cudden, six, and his father Andrew, were among first people to see Dippy at Kelvingrove (Jane Barlow/PA)

Ms Cornish explained the effort involved in putting the display together.

She said: Dippy goes into 13 packing crates and there are four more crates which have the base in. It takes two and a half lorries to transport Dippy.

When he comes in theres a team of six from the NHM, plus weve had amazing technicians here to help take all of Dippy out of the crates.

Although hes 292 bones he comes parcelled together in 86 parts. It takes five or six days to actually check Dippys condition and then put Dippy together. Its been quite a team effort.

Some sections are very heavy and very fragile. Its a bit of an art to actually put Dippy together and take Dippy apart.

Emillie McQuade helps head of conservation Lorraine Cornish (left) insert the final toe bone of Dippy before it was unveiled at Kelvingrove (Jane Barlow/PA)

On Tuesday, schoolgirl Emillie McQuade got the chance to add the last bone to the model before it went on public display.

The 11-year-old, from Sunnyside School of Conservation, in Craigend, Glasgow, said she was excited to have the honour.

She said of the structure: Its massive, its so big. Its a really good opportunity for everyone to come here and see Dippy.

Glasgow is the fourth venue in the eight-city UK tour.

Councillor David McDonald, chairman of Glasgow Life, said: I think Dippy will be feeling quite at home here at the Kelvingrove.

I think this is a really fitting location, its the prime area of the Kelvingrove and were delighted to give it over to such a famous dinosaur.

Kelvingrove gets 1.3 million visitors a year. We think that having an attraction like Dippy can only help boost those numbers.

The hope is this will spark people into seeing the rest of the collection. There are over half a million items in Glasgows natural history collection on display here but also on display at Nitshill, our museums resource centre, so theres so much to see here at the Kelvingrove and across the rest of the city.

Members of the public will be able to view the Jurassic giant on the only Scottish stop of the until early May.
Labour has distanced itself from backing a second referendum after tabling an amendment allowing MPs to vote on ways to end the Brexit deadlock.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said the amendment had been carefully written and did not tie the party into backing a new vote in any way.

It came as Theresa May was due to hold her weekly Cabinet meeting to discuss her next moves, with backbenchers also planning various amendments designed to make various changes on Tuesday.

Labours amendment calls for a vote on Labours plan for a customs union with the EU, and whether to legislate to hold a public vote on a deal or a proposition that is supported by a Commons majority.

But Mrs Long Bailey reiterated to BBC Radio 4s Today programme that the party was prioritising its own Brexit deal.

She said: The amendment is very specifically worded to allow for the debate of the options.

It is not stating that the party supports a second referendum in any way and indeed if it was passed, the amendment, and it went to a vote on the specific issues, then that would be a decision for the party to take at the time.

However, Mrs Long Bailey also described a backbench amendment tabled by Yvette Cooper designed to stop a no-deal Brexit as fantastic, suggesting Labour could support it.

The move came as it was understood that Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd had urged Downing Street to allow Tory MPs a free vote on moves aimed at preventing a no deal, amid fears that dozens of ministers could otherwise resign.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported that Tory HQ has been effectively put on a snap general election war footing due to the Brexit situation in Parliament.

Despite Mrs Mays claim that a second referendum could damage social cohesion, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the option should be considered.

He said: Our amendment will allow MPs to vote on options to end this Brexit deadlock and prevent the chaos of a no deal.

It is time for Labours alternative plan to take centre stage, while keeping all options on the table, including the option of a public vote.

In a break from usual parliamentary rules, MPs will be able to amend the so-called neutral motion tabled by the Prime Minister on Brexit, with votes due to take place on amendments chosen by Speaker John Bercow on January 29.

A cross-party group of MPs, including Ms Cooper and Tory former minister Nick Boles, is seeking to give time for a Bill to suspend the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

Labours Hilary Benn has tabled an amendment to the Government motion calling for a range of indicative votes on various Brexit options.

Labour MPs Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

He tweeted: Just tabled an amendment for next weeks Brexit debate calling for the House of Commons to hold a series of indicative votes on a way forward.

Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve tabled an amendment allowing MPs to take control of Parliamentary business a day every fortnight in February and then a day a week in March until Brexit day.

Backed by MPs from across Parliament, including Tory ex-ministers Justine Greening and Sam Gyimah and Labours Chris Bryant and Chuka Umunna, it would allow debate of up to six-and-a-half hours and the motion, like that due to be laid on Tuesday, would be amendable.

He removed a controversial passage that would allow a motion by a minority of 300 MPs  from at least five parties and including 10 Tories  to be debated in order to allow for indicative votes on where to go next.

In a sign of Labour divisions on the issue of a second Brexit referendum, shadow housing minister Melanie Onn said she could not support such a move.

However, Chuka Umunna, a prominent supporter of a Peoples Vote, called for a firmer stance.

Meanwhile, Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl poured cold water on a suggestion by her Polish counterpart that the Irish border backstop, a key stumbling block in the Brexit deal process, could be time-limited.

Jacek Czaputowicz said on Monday that it could be set at five years to allow a deal to pass the UK Parliament.

(PA Graphics)

But Ms Kneissl told Today her Irish counterpart Simon Coveney had made it clear Ireland belongs to the 27 at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday and anything that was negotiated by commissioner Michel Barnier was part of the position that Ireland was part of.

She added: We were all taken by surprise when the Polish minister made his statement.

We have had cohesion and we wish to continue having cohesion on the EU27 position, so the statement by our Polish colleague came as a surprise, but I dont believe that it will cause some sort of breakthrough, certainly not because if we start having all kinds of bilateral suggestions it doesnt lead us anywhere.

She also dampened hopes of an extension to Article 50 to give the UK more time to negotiate, saying: Where is the added value of the new British suggestion?

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay also suggested that European politicians might not all support an extension to Article 50 if the UK asked for one.

He told Today there were practical issues over the European Parliament elections in May, adding: From the EU point of view, they have been very clear that they dont want an extension with no purpose and so we come back to the issue as to what it is MPs are for and just what they are against.
Government borrowing missed expectations last month as spending exceeded tax receipts.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing, excluding state-owed banks, rose by 300 million in December to 3 billion.

This was far more than the 1.9 billion economists had expected.

But except for the 2.7 billion borrowed in December 2017, last months reading was the lowest December borrowing since 2000.

(PA Graphics)

The ONS said tax receipts in December increased by 4.3% compared to the same month in 2017, to 59.8 billion.

Government expenditure grew 5.3% to 61.2 billion, with more money spent on goods and services, as well as social benefits.

Britains net contribution to the European Union was 1.5 billion higher than in December 2017, when the country had received a 1.2 billion credit after a surplus was returned to member states.

The ONS said government borrowing was higher last month after it received less money from the bloc.

In December 2018, there have been some amendments to member states contributions to the 2018 EU budget. However, the amount returned to the UK is much smaller than in December 2017, the ONS said.

(PA Graphics)

Borrowing in the current financial year-to-date was 35.9 billion, 13.1 billion less than in the same period in 2017. This is the lowest year-to-date figure for 16 years.

Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said the 35.9 billion is well above the forecast of 25.5 billion made by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in October, and that even allowing for lower borrowing in the coming months in line with past years, the total borrowing figure would still be 5 billion higher than expected.

Todays data will do nothing to lift the mood after Blue Monday as any deterioration in the public finances ahead of the Brexit deadline in March will eat into the headroom available for the Chancellor if things do not go to plan.

Howard Archer, chief economic adviser at EY ITEM Club, said Chancellor Philip Hammond may struggle to hit his downwardly revised target for 2018/19.

He said: Much will depend on whether an expected marked pick-up in corporation tax receipts materialises and how well the economy holds up over the first quarter of 2019, particularly given current heightened uncertainties over whether there will be a Brexit deal.
People from Scotlands most deprived areas are less likely to have visited their NHS dentist in the past two years than their more affluent peers, new figures indicate.

The gap for both adults and children has trebled in the past decade and is now is the largest on record, according to NHS Scotland Information Service Division data.

Almost four-fifths (79.8%) in Scotlands most deprived areas had seen their NHS dentist in the past two years, as of September 30 2018, compared to 89.2% in the most affluent areas.

For adults, 62.2% of those in the poorest areas had seen their dentist in the same period, compared to 72.7% of those in the most well-off neighbourhoods.

Gaps of nine and 10 percentage points for children and adults respectively have risen from from three percentage points in 2008.

This is despite adults living in the most deprived areas being more likely to be registered with an NHS dentist than those in more affluent areas, at 97.5% compared to 88.6%.

People in Scotlands poorest areas are less likely to have seen a dentist in the past two years than their more affluent peers (Rui Viera/PA)

The registration figures for children were similar across all areas, at more than 90%.

Overall, 94.2% of people in Scotland (5.1 million) were registered with an NHS dentist as of September 30, 2018, almost double the number of patients since registrations started to rise in March 2007.

Robert Donald, the British Dental Associations Scottish Council chairman, said: Year-on-year, the Scottish Government has attempted to hide behind positive sounding registration numbers.

But these figures are based on lifetime registration and nothing can conceal the gap thats now opened between rich and poor when it comes to attendance.

The people missing out on appointments are precisely those we most need to see.

Residents in Scotlands most deprived communities are more than twice as likely to develop and die from oral cancer, and early detection is key.

Weve had enough of official press releases boasting about how many patients are getting onto our books.

The priority has to be a plan to get hard to reach patients people into our chairs.

The association states three times as many Scots die from oral cancer yearly as those who are killed in car crashes, and the estimated cost of the disease to NHS Scotland is 65 million.
Tributes have been paid to Andrew Fairlie, one of Scotlands most celebrated chefs, who has died following a long illness.

He stepped down from his Gleneagles restaurant in November after announcing his terminal diagnosis.

The renowned chef, who was 55, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2005 and had received chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

He had also undergone surgery but was told last June no further treatment was available.

Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at the luxury Perthshire hotel was established in 2001 and is the only one in Scotland with two Michelin stars.

His wife, Kate Fairlie, and his daughters, Ilona and Leah, issued a statement on behalf of the family.

They said: We are utterly heartbroken that Andrew has gone but are so thankful we had this extraordinary man in our lives.

He was a beautifully kind, generous loving son, father, husband, brother and friend, and enriched the lives of anybody lucky enough to meet him.

He has taught us so many lessons in life, not least to be kind.

He worked incredibly hard and his favourite thing to do was to create magic for us in the kitchen at home.

We will miss his calm, wonderful spirit, his cheeky sense of humour and his loving nature.

His father Jim revealed the news on Twitter, saying: It is with enormous sadness and grief that Kay and I announce the death of our beloved son Andrew.

His wife Kate and his family have kept vigil with him for some weeks. He slipped away quietly this morning but his many achievements & memory will live on.

Im so sorry to hear that Andrew Fairlie has died. My deepest condolences to his family. Andrew is gone far too soon, but his achievements will always be remembered and his legacy will inspire the next generation of world class chefs. It was a privilege to know him. https://t.co/9pslZYukKl  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 22, 2019

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also paid tribute to the chef saying it was a privilege to know him.

She added: Im so sorry to hear that Andrew Fairlie has died. My deepest condolences to his family.

Andrew is gone far too soon, but his achievements will always be remembered and his legacy will inspire the next generation of world class chefs.

A memorial service will be held at the Gleneagles Hotel later this year (David Cheskin/PA)

Fairlie won the first Roux Scholarship in 1984 and was crowned chef of the year at the 2018 Food and Travel Magazine Reader Awards.

Stephen McLaughlin, current head chef of the restaurant, and general manager Dale Dewsbury said: We are heartbroken that Andrew has gone and our thoughts go out to Andrews wife, Kate, and his family.

Our sadness is matched only by our tremendous pride in all his achievements and our thankfulness that we had the opportunity to share in his life and career.

We have lost our colleague, mentor and friend who was always on hand with great judgment, humour and inspiration.

We will miss him terribly but will take strength and huge pride in continuing to burn the flame of outstanding cuisine, service and culture that he established.

A private funeral will take place and later this year a memorial service will be held at the Gleneagles Hotel.
An American man being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying was given a flash drive containing Russian state secrets before he was arrested, but did not know he had them and had not looked at them, his lawyer has said.

Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, was detained in Moscow at the end of December.

The arrest raised speculation that he could be swapped for one of the Russians held in the US, such as gun rights activist Maria Butina, who has pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent in the US.

Whelan made his first public appearance in court on Tuesday to hear the appeal of his arrest.

Paul Whelan (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

The judge upheld the previous ruling that ordered him to be kept behind bars at least until the end of February.

Whelan, who is also a citizen of the UK, Ireland and Canada, was kept in a glass cage and did not speak to reporters.

Spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Russia.

Whelans lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, told Russian news agencies that when his client was detained at a Moscow hotel at the end of December he had something with him that contained state secrets.

The lawyer said that Whelan was a frequent visitor to Russia and that he asked an unnamed person to email him something about travel around the country.

Paul Whelan in a Moscow court (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

Whelan reportedly was not able to download it and then asked that person to put it on a flash-drive.

He was expecting to see on the flash drive some personal information like pictures or videos, something like that, about that persons previous trips around Russia, Mr Zherebenkov told reporters.

We dont know how the materials that contain state secrets ended up there.

The lawyer said the American was detained before he could open the files.

Mr Zherebenkov also said it was not clear what has happened to the person who reportedly gave the flash drive to Whelan.

Mr Zherebenkov said that the investigators have not yet disclosed which country he is accused of spying for.

Whelan, 48, was discharged from the Marines for bad conduct.

He works as the global security director for a US automobile parts manufacturer and lives in Michigan.

His family has said he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.
Cardiffs record signing Emiliano Sala was on board a plane that went missing over the English Channel on Monday night, French media have reported.

The 28-year-old Argentinian striker completed a move to the Premier League club over the weekend but had returned to France, where he had been playing for Ligue 1 side Nantes.

French media, quoting police sources, said Sala was on the light aircraft that disappeared from radar on Monday night while apparently flying from Nantes to Cardiff.

(PA Graphics)

Frances civil aviation authority said Sala was aboard the plane, according to reports.

Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman told the Mirror: We are very concerned by the latest news that a light aircraft lost contact over the Channel last night.

We are awaiting confirmation before we can say anything further. We are very concerned for the safety of Emiliano Sala.

Sala had signed a three-and-a-half year deal with the Welsh club after scoring 12 Ligue 1 goals in 19 appearances this season.

Guernsey Police posted on Twitter on Tuesday morning that the search had resumed at 8am but that there was still no trace of the plane.

It read: Searching for the light aircraft PA 46 Malibu resumed at 8am this morning. No trace has currently been found.

It was en route from Nantes, France to Cardiff, Wales with 2 people. More info when available.

Aircraft Search: 10.20am update.



There are currently two helicopters, two planes and one lifeboat searching



Further information as it is available  Guernsey Police (@GuernseyPolice) January 22, 2019

A further update of the search read: Aircraft Search: 10.20am update. There are currently two helicopters, two planes and one lifeboat searching. Further information as it is available.

11.45am update



So far over 1,000sq miles have been searched by a total of five aircraft and two lifeboats. It is being co-ordinated by the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre.



There has been no trace of the aircraft.



The search is continuing.  Guernsey Police (@GuernseyPolice) January 22, 2019

Another update before midday revealed that over 1,000 square miles had been searched by five planes but no trace of the missing plane had been found and the search was continuing.

Nantes were due to travel to Entente Sannois for their Coupe de France clash on Wednesday evening, but the third-tier outfit have agreed to postpone the match until Sunday, January 27.

A statement from Sannois official website read: The round-of-32 Coupe de France match between Entente Sannois and Nantes initially scheduled for Wednesday, January 23 has been rearranged for Sunday, January 27 following the disappearance of the plane of the former (Nantes) player Emiliano Sala.

 Le match est reporte au dimanche 27 janvier

Plus d'infos : https://t.co/QCtGHHHfLT#ESSGFCN  Entente Sannois Saint Gratien (@Entente_SSG) January 22, 2019

Sannois wish all the best to Nantes and to the family of Emiliano Sala at this challenging time.

The club is also thinking of all the people on board the plane.

Sala, a native of Santa Fe in Argentina, played at youth level for Club Proyecto Crecer in his home country before being snapped up by French club Bordeaux in 2010.

He was then sent out on a series of loans to Orleans, Niort and Caen and after failing to make more than a handful of appearances for Bordeaux, Sala joined Nantes in 2015.

It was in Brittany that his career began to flourish.

Salas hat-trick against Toulouse in October 2018 was the first by any Nantes player in Ligue 1 since 2006.

Cardiff signed the forward in a deal reportedly worth in the region of 15million, breaking the previous record of 11million paid for Gary Medel in 2013.
The Natural History Museums famous dinosaur, Dippy the diplodocus, is going on display to the public in Scotland for the first time on Tuesday.

The giant model dinosaur skeleton is going on show at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow as it approaches the halfway point of its three-year tour of the UK.

Members of the public will be able to view the Jurassic giant on the only Scottish stop of the eight-city tour until early May.

Councillor David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life, said: Dippy has arrived. There is a wonderful sense of excitement surrounding the biggest thing to arrive at Kelvingrove Museum  quite literally  this year.

Like thousands of other visitors, I cant wait to see this impressive creature up close. I believe that seeing Dippy first-hand is certain to inspire the next generation of conservationists and to encourage families to explore nature on their doorstep.

The replica cast, which is made from plaster of Paris and resin, is an example of the Diplodocus carnegii species that lived between 145 and 156 million years ago and roamed North America.

Dippy is getting ready to meet his public in Glasgow (Jane Barlow/PA)

The species is named after Andrew Carnegie, the industrialist and philanthropist who financed its excavation in Wyoming, US in 1899, and donated the cast to the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London.

It was on display in Hintze Hall of the NHM from 1979 until January 2017 and, before the tour, the dinosaur had never been on public display outside of London.

The 21.3-metre skeleton cast arrived at the centre hall of the Kelvingrove earlier this month after sailing across the Irish Sea.

The model travelled to Scotland by ferry in 16 bespoke crates after being on display in Belfast.

In recent days, experts have been working to unpack the 292-bone structure and undertake the giant jigsaw of putting the dinosaur back together, ready for display.

NHM director Sir Michael Dixon said: We are thrilled that Dippy has once again made it safely across the Irish sea and has now arrived at Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.

This marks the fourth stop of Dippy on tour  a journey that has so far seen record visitor numbers at the three previous venues.

Dippy has acted as an ambassador for the natural world inspiring thousands of children to explore nature on their doorstep. We are sure his impact will be just as powerful in Scotland and hope visitors are as excited to see him as we are for him to be here.

Dippy is on display at the Kelvingrove until the first week of May.

Admission is free and unticketed, although visitors are being asked to leave extra time to see Dippy during weekends and school holidays.

Once he leaves Glasgow, he will visit Newcastle, Cardiff, Rochdale and Norwich on the tour which finishes in October next year.
Theresa May is facing fresh challenges in her battle to get Commons approval for a Brexit deal.

A neutral motion tabled by the Prime Minister on Monday was slapped with a series of amendments, including one from Labour that keeps open the option of a second referendum.

Here is a look at the amendments which are due to be voted on by MPs on January 29.

 Labours amendment: A second referendum on the cards?

It is possible, but not guaranteed. Labour wants Parliament to be given the option to back a national poll when MPs vote on Mrs Mays Plan B next week. The partys amendment calls for a vote on Labours plan for a customs union with the EU, and whether to legislate to hold a public vote on a deal or a proposition that is supported by a Commons majority.

This is a big step forward. I hope this amendment can be the beginning of the end of years of argument and division over Brexit in this country. Parliament has failed to coalesce around a signal Brexit option, so let's now hand back control to the public in a #PeoplesVote. https://t.co/RyRM7WtSmh  David Lammy (@DavidLammy) January 21, 2019

Jeremy Corbyn said the amendment will allow MPs to vote on options to end the Brexit deadlock and prevent the chaos of a no deal while keeping all options on the table. Labour MP Chris Leslie called it a prevarication, while his fellow Peoples Vote advocate David Lammy said it was a big step forward.

 Benn amendment: A way through the morass?

Labours Hilary Benn, chairman of the Brexit Select Committee, tabled an amendment calling for a range of indicative votes on various Brexit options. MPs would hold another vote on Mrs Mays deal  even though the outcome could be the same as the historic rejection last Tuesday; vote on whether the Government should seek to renegotiate the deal on specified terms; vote on whether to leave the EU without a deal on March 29; and vote on whether to have another referendum.

Just tabled an amendment for next weeks Brexit debate calling for the House of Commons to hold a series of indicative votes on a way forward. These should cover the four options identified in the @CommonsEUexit report published last Wednesday (attached). pic.twitter.com/i5zUFU7a8x  Hilary Benn (@hilarybennmp) January 21, 2019

 Withdrawal Bill No 3

Labour former minister Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, published a Bill that would give MPs a vote to prevent a no-deal Brexit scenario. The European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 3) Bill, which has cross-party backing, gives the PM until February 26 to get parliamentary approval for a withdrawal agreement. If the Government fails, then Parliament would be given a vote on whether to extend Article 50 by nine months to avoid no deal.

(Yvette Cooper/Twitter)

 Are backbenchers trying to seize control of Brexit?

Mr Benn has dismissed reports that MPs and Commons clerks were plotting to block Brexit. He said backbenchers are trying to sort out the mess the Prime Minister has created. On the other hand, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox accused some MPs of trying to steal the result of the referendum from the people. Downing Street said it was extremely concerned by the backbenchers moves.

Liam Fox told The Andrew Marr Show MPs should not try to `hijack Brexit (Jeff Overs/BBC)

 What does the Government think of another referendum?

The PM said she has deep concerns about a second referendum and warned it could damage social cohesion. She also said it would require extending Article 50, which would mean scrapping March 29 as the day Britain leaves the EU.

 Cabinet exodus threat

It is understood that Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has urged Downing Street to allow Tory MPs a free vote on moves aimed at preventing a no deal. On Tuesday it was reported that dozens of ministers could otherwise resign.
American Danielle Collins continued her remarkable grand slam breakthrough by defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach her first semi-final at the Australian Open.

The 25-year-old arrived at Melbourne Park having never won a match in the main draw of a slam but recovered from a set down to win 2-6 7-5 6-1 in two hours and 16 minutes.

This was a meeting between two players looking to make the last four at a slam for the first time but it was Collins who swept through the third set, clinching her third match point when Pavlyuchenkova missed a forehand.

Collins relatively late breakthrough can be mostly attributed to her taking the unusual path for a top female singles player of going to college in the United States.

Ranked outside the top 100 at the start of 2018, she finished it at 36 after a string of impressive performances, particularly in the spring, when she reached the fourth round in Indian Wells and then the semi-finals in Miami, beating Venus Williams.

Her scalps here have included Julia Goerges, Caroline Garcia and second seed Angelique Kerber, who she allowed just two games in the fourth round.

Danielle Collins shows her delight after beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

A proudly abrasive presence on court, Collins struggled in the first set, with Pavlyuchenkova able to dictate much of the play and feasting on her opponents second serve.

Prior to the 2018 season, Collins had yet to notch a tour-level main draw win. Earned her 1st Slam MD acceptance at 2018 Roland Garros.



Came into #AusOpen without a main draw win at a Slam. Playing in her 4th main draw at a Slam, the American is into her 1st major semifinal.  WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) January 22, 2019

Pavlyuchenkova, 27, was formerly the world number one junior and reached her first slam quarter-final way back in 2011, but injuries and fluctuations in form have taken their toll since and she won just two matches at the slams last season.

The powerful Russian found herself given much more of a challenge in the second set as Collins began to find her range, and the American moved into a 5-2 lead.

Pavlyuchenkova battled back to level at 5-5 but Collins converted her third break point at 6-5, letting out a scream of determination.

And from that point there was no looking back for the world number 35, who saw a match point come and go at 5-0 before taking her third opportunity in the next game.
Aldi said it has strengthened its position as the UKs best-paying supermarket after announcing increases in hourly pay rates for store workers.

Store assistants will be paid minimum hourly rates of 9.10 nationally and 10.55 inside the M25 from February  rising to 10.41 after three years nationally and 10.89 in London. They previously earned 8.85 and 10.20 respectively.

The new rates are above the voluntary real living wage rate of 9 an hour nationally and match the 10.55 rate recommended for workers in London.

They are well above the statutory national living wage of 7.83 an hour for adults, which increases to 8.21 in April.

Aldi said its store assistants will also receive an enhanced employer pension contribution.

Aldi UK chief executive Giles Hurley (Aldi/PA)

Aldi UK chief executive Giles Hurley said: Our store colleagues do a fantastic job every day and the excellent service they provide to customers is a key reason why we are the UKs fastest-growing supermarket.

Were committed to being the best supermarket employer in Britain and this means rewarding our colleagues for the excellent job they do with market-leading rates of pay and opportunities to progress their career at Aldi.

Aldi has more than 800 stores across the UK and plans to open a further 65 this year, creating around 2,500 jobs.

It said it remains on course to achieve its long-term target of operating 1,200 UK stores by the end of 2025.
Low-cost airline easyJet has revealed a 15 million hit from the drone chaos at Gatwick Airport last month which affected 82,000 customers.

The group said it booked 10 million in extra costs and 5 million in lost revenues after more than 400 of its flights were cancelled when the drone sightings brought Gatwick to a standstill just before Christmas.

Chief executive Johan Lundgren said the group did everything we could to help our customers affected by the incident.

He added: There has been a one-off cost impact from this incident, but underlying cost progress is in line with expectations.

I am proud of the way our teams worked around the clock to mitigate the impact of the incident and looked after affected customers.

But Mr Lundgren said the incident was a wake-up call for airports.

Low-cost airline easyJet has revealed a 15m hit from the drone chaos at Gatwick Airport in December (Gareth Fuller/PA)

He said: We were disappointed that it took a long time to resolve.

But he said it was a criminal act and illegal activity.

You cant always protect yourself from that, but its a wake-up call and airports will be better prepared going forward.

In its first-quarter update, the group said it was well prepared for Brexit and had not seen an impact on passenger bookings ahead of March 29.

It added: Both the EU and the UK have committed to ensure that flights between the UK and EU will continue in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Lundgren said: For the first half of 2019, booking levels currently remain encouraging despite the lack of certainty around Brexit for our customers.

But the first quarter saw a lower-than-expected rise in passenger capacity to 24.1 million seats due in part to the drone disruption.

Overall the group said full-year expectations are broadly in line with market forecasts.
A Tokyo court has rejected former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosns latest request for bail, more than two months after his arrest.

The decision by the Tokyo District Court came a day after Ghosn promised to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, give up his passport and pay for security guards approved by prosecutors to gain release from a Tokyo detention centre.

The court announced its decision in a statement and his family have said they will appeal.

Ghosn, who led Nissan for two decades, has been in custody since November 19 and had a bail hearing on Monday.

A Tokyo court rejected an earlier request for bail last week.

Ghosn has been charged with falsifying financial reports in under-reporting his compensation from Nissan over eight years, and with breach of trust, centring on allegations he had Nissan temporarily shoulder his personal investment losses and pay a Saudi businessman.

The 64-year-old has said he is innocent, explaining that the alleged compensation was never decided, Nissan did not suffer losses and the payment was for legitimate services.

A courtroom sketch of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo (Nobutoshi Katsuyama/Kyodo News via AP)

His wife Carole Ghosn appealed for his release through Human Rights Watch earlier this month, saying Ghosns treatment has been harsh and unfair.

Her views echo widespread criticism of Japans criminal justice system both inside and outside Japan.

Suspects who insist they are innocent get held longer.

They are held in a cell and routinely grilled daily by investigators without a lawyer present, although lawyers are allowed to visit.

Ghosns lawyer Motonari Ohtsuru has acknowledged his release may not come until the trial, which may be six months away.

A date for the trial has not been set.

Nissan officials say an internal investigation has found that Ghosn had schemes to hide his income and that he used company money and assets for personal gain.

A special committee Nissan set up after Ghosns arrest to strengthen governance held its first meeting on Sunday.

Seiichiro Nishioka, a former judge and co-chair, told reporters after the meeting that Ghosn had shown questionable ethics, and too much power within the company had been focused on one person.

The committees findings are due by late March.

Ghosns pay was long a sticking point in Japan, where executives generally get paid far less than their American and other Western counterparts.

He insisted he deserved his higher pay because of his achievements, saying he could have left for another job.

Nissan was on the verge of bankruptcy when alliance partner Renault SA of France sent in Ghosn to help revive it in 1999.

Under Ghosns leadership, Nissan turned itself around and became one of the most successful car groups in the world.

Ghosn also helped Nissan pioneer ecological car technology and the Nissan Leaf is the top-selling electric car.
Zimbabwes President Emmerson Mnangagwa has arrived in Harare after cutting short a fund-raising trip to address the countrys economic crisis and crackdown.

He was welcomed at Harare International Airport by vice president Constantino Chiwenga, a former army commander who was in charge during the presidents week-long absence when the government launched a widespread clampdown in which 12 people were killed, more shot by troops and others dragged from their homes and beaten, according to human rights groups.

Mr Mnangagwa hugged Mr Chiwenga and chatted with him on the runway for 15 minutes. The president then told state broadcasters his trip to Russia and Kazakhstan was fruitful and will benefit Zimbabwe in the long run.

During his trip he met Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked for a loan.

Earlier on Monday the government intensified its crackdown on dissent by charging the leader of the countrys largest labour organisation with subversion, as the courts ruled that the shutdown of the internet was illegal.

Police arrested Japhet Moyo, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, and charged him with subversion for his role in organising last weeks national strike.

The arrest and Mr Mnangagwas return come after a week of turmoil. During the strike, some people went on to the streets to protest against the governments drastic increase in fuel prices.

The government said the demonstrations degenerated into riots, prompting a sweeping wave of repression.

Mnangagwa met Vladimir Putin (Alexei Druzhinin/AP)

Security forces opened fire on crowds, wounding many bystanders, and went house to house in some neighbourhoods, beating up many men, according to witnesses.

The government also imposed an internet blackout across the country. On Monday Zimbabwes High Court ordered the government to restore full internet.

The shutdown was illegal because the minister of state for security, who ordered the internet closure, does not have powers to issue such a directive, said the court ruling. Only Mr Mnangagwa has the authority to make such an order, said the court.

Over the weekend the government restored partial internet access, but kept a blackout on social media apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. The government alleges the internet has been used to organise violent demonstrations.

Zimbabwes capital gingerly recovered from the week of unrest on Monday. Most shops and businesses reopened, although many people are stocking up on food items in case of further unrest.

Activist and pastor Evan Mawarire has been jailed since Wednesday and has been charged with subversion against the government for which he faces 20 years in jail if convicted.

Mr Mawarire had used social media to support peaceful protests against fuel price increases. The case against him is a travesty of justice said his lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa. His application to be released on bail will be heard on Wednesday.

In the widespread crackdown, about two-thirds of the more than 600 people who were arrested have been denied bail, said Ms Mtetwa.
The Chinese government has granted Ivanka Trumps company preliminary approval for another five trademarks this month, as her father Donald Trumps administration pushes ahead on trade negotiations with Beijing.

Four trademarks, including child care centres, sunglasses and wedding dresses, were approved on Sunday.

A fifth, covering brokerage, charitable fundraising and art valuation services, was approved on January 6, according to online trademark office records.

The applications were filed in China in 2016 and 2017 (Andy Wong/AP)

The applications were filed in 2016 and 2017 and if there are no objections, they will be finalised after 90 days.

Ivanka Trumps expanding intellectual property holdings have long raised ethical concerns, particularly in China, where the courts and bureaucracy tend to reflect the will of the ruling Communist Party.

Ivanka Trumps lawyers in China did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Critics argue that by asking a foreign government for valuable intellectual property rights, White House officials could open themselves to pressure in government negotiations.

There is also concern that the familys global trademark portfolio would open the way for lucrative business opportunities once Donald Trump leaves office.

The sheer number of foreign trademarks Ivanka Trump has gotten while working in the White House would be troubling enough.

But the fact that she just got one for charitable fundraising when her fathers namesake foundation  which she served as a board member for and is closing in scandal following a New York Attorney General investigation outlining numerous legal violations  is especially troubling, Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said.

Ivanka Trump closed her fashion brand in July. Her representatives assert that trademark filings are a normal business practice and are needed to protect her name from copycats seeking to capitalise on her fame.

Companies apply for trademarks for a range of reasons and can be signs of corporate ambition, but many also are filed defensively, particularly in China, where trademark squatting is rampant.

China has said it treats all trademark applications equally under the law.
Stefanos Tsitsipas followed up his landmark victory over Roger Federer by beating Roberto Bautista Agut to reach his first grand slam semi-final at the Australian Open.

Backing up breakthrough moments is notoriously difficult but Tsitsipas bucked the trend by battling to a 7-5 4-6 6-4 7-6 (2) win in three hours and 15 minutes.

The 20-year-old Greek had to dig deep on Rod Laver Arena, coming from a break down in the first and third sets before proving stronger in the fourth.

One of @StefTsitsipas' 2019 goals was to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.



Just 22 days into the year, he already achieved it #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Dx2fZmHEaC  #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2019

He fell to the court when Bautista Aguts final return landed in the net and can look forward to a clash against either Rafael Nadal or Frances Tiafoe on Thursday.

Tsitsipas achievement makes him the youngest man to reach the last four at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2003 and the youngest at any slam since Novak Djokovic at the US Open in 2007.

He said: It all feels like a fairytale almost. Im just living the dream, living what Ive been working for. I feel a bit emotional but not too much because I know I really worked hard to get here.

Stefanos Tsitsipas lies on the court after beating Roberto Bautista Agut (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

The Greek said he had told his team in the off-season that one of his goals for the year was to reach a slam semi-final.

When I was answering this question I thought I was crazy but it is real and it just happened, he said.

With the match taking place at lunchtime rather than in the evening, the atmosphere was rather more muted than it had been for the Federer clash and the danger of a hangover was immediately apparent.

Federer did not manage to break the Tsitsipas serve at all despite 12 chances but Bautista Agut needed only one game.

However, Tsitsipas responded well, recovering the break to make it 4-4 and then continuing his momentum to win the set.

Clutch hold from @BautistaAgut.



Saves match point to go to a tiebreak in the fourth.#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/K8UYekTVtn  #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2019

One break proved enough for Bautista Agut to win the second and it appeared his relentless baseline game may have worn down Tsitsipas when the Spaniard broke for 3-2 in the third.

But Tsitsipas continued to fight and believe, and he got his reward.

As in the first set, he broke back for 4-4 and then made it four games in a row to clinch it, putting behind him a bad forehand miss on his first set point to take it on the third with a backhand slice guided onto the line.

Bautista Agut was finally starting to look weary, which was no surprise given his run through to the last eight.

The 30-year-old needed five sets to beat Andy Murray, John Millman and Marin Cilic, with only a third-round victory over Karen Khachanov being in any way straightforward.

He won a long rally with a forehand onto the line to save a match point at 5-6 in the fourth set, Tsitsipas paying the price for playing a little too conservatively.

The Greek did not make the same mistake in the tie-break, stepping forward and going for his shots, and clinched the win on his second match point.
Children may be afraid to go to school following the Londonderry security alerts, a principal said.

On Monday a van was abandoned at one of the entrances to St Marys College girls school on an arterial route into the city.

Nearby elderly residents and young families were forced from their homes by the false warnings while police have been tackling vehicle hijackings.

Marie Lindsay, principal of St Marys College, said: It was an anxious few hours from when we heard that a van or lorry was abandoned at one of the school entrances.

We are worried the children may be coming into school this morning feeling anxious and feeling that it is not safe, we are going to work extra hard to make sure that they feel okay.

We were also very worried when we heard that many residents were evacuated from the local area because we know that many of them are elderly and other young families and so on, to think of them being evacuated from their homes, it was a cold, cold night and it was really a big worry.

DUP Policing Board members, councillor George Dorrian and MLAs Mervyn Storey and Gary Middleton met PSNI chief constable George Hamilton at Police hq in east Belfast following the car bomb in Londonderry and security alerts (Rebecca Black/PA)

We are very relieved and thankful this morning that we are able to have the school open and for the children to be in school as normal.

Three hoaxes created disruption after a car bombing in the city on Saturday which was blamed on dissident republicans the New IRA.

Four out of five men held over the bombing have been released.

A 50-year-old man arrested on Monday remains in police custody.

Residents were forced to leave their homes in the vicinity of the security alerts on Monday, two of which involved masked men hijacking vehicles, while bomb disposal experts carried out checks.

Police Service of Northern Ireland District Commander Superintendent Gordon McCalmont said the impact on the communities from the scares could not be under-estimated and the force shared their anger and frustration.

We are grateful to those in the community who worked with us to find temporary shelter for those evacuated and for the patience of the people of this city as we worked as quickly as possible to make sure it was safe for normal life to resume.

We share your anger and frustration when incidents like this happen but our overriding priority will always be the safety of everyone in this city.

These people have no respect for the city or its people.



Forcing pensioners from their homes, disrupting families, hurting businesses and undermining years or work to promote Derry at home and abroad: what a despicable bunch of thugs.



Shame on them.https://t.co/xkKOzhuXp8  Naomi Long MLA (@naomi_long) January 22, 2019

In the first scare on Monday three men reportedly hijacked a white Transit van in the Circular Road area at around 11.30am before throwing an object in the back and abandoning the vehicle.

Army bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on the van.

Police in Derry/Londonderry dealing with 2nd security alert; Southway. Approx 1:45pm delivery drivers vehicle was hijacked by 4 masked men, 1 of them reported to have had a gun. 2 occupants in the van ordered to drive it to Lonemoor Rd & leave it there.Cordons being put in place  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) January 21, 2019

Just over two hours later, at 1.45pm, police received a report that four masked men  one allegedly armed with a gun  had hijacked a postal delivery van on Southway.

Police said the two occupants were ordered to drive to Lonemoor Road and leave it there.

The third incident saw another abandoned vehicle in the city cause panic on Monday night.

Police attended Northland Road after an Asda delivery van was left parked across the road, stopping traffic in front of St Marys secondary school.

Four men, aged 42,34 and two aged 21, arrested by detectives investigating the explosion at Bishop Street in Derry/Londonderry on Saturday 19 January, have been released unconditionally. A 50 year old man arrested earlier today remains in police custody  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) January 21, 2019

Elderly residents were evacuated from their homes in pyjamas as police attempted to secure the area.

Meanwhile, a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspicious object discovered in Belfast on Monday night.

PSNI Inspector Natalie McNally said Springfield Road and Lanark Way in north Belfast have reopened.
A replica of Captain James Cooks HMS Endeavour will circumnavigate Australia as part of commemorations of the navigators arrival Down Under 250 years ago, prime minister Scott Morrison has announced.

The government is giving 6.7 million Australian dollars (3.72 million) to the Australian National Maritime Museum for the voyage, which is due to embark from Sydney in March 2020 and end in May the following year.

The circumnavigation will be paid for as part of a 48.7 million Australian dollar (27 million) fund set aside to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cooks voyage.

Mr Morrison said the famed explorers expedition is the reason Australia is what it is today and its important we take the opportunity to reflect on it.

As the 250th anniversary nears we want to help Australians better understand Captain Cooks historic voyage and its legacy for exploration, science and reconciliation, he said.

Royal Mail issued new stamps to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook setting sail (Royal Mail/PA)

The announcement has raised a few eyebrows to say the least, however, due to the cost of the circumnavigation, the fact Captain Cook did not sail all the way around Australia and the long-running debate over the legacy of British involvement Down Under.

Commentator Greg Jericho tweeted: They do realise Cook didnt circumnavigate Australia, right?

Journalist Karen Sweeney pointed out that indigenous Australians arrived in Australia give or take, 65,000 years ago and other European sailors had visited the continent before Captain Cook.

Endeavour and her Royal Navy crew set off from England in August 1768 in search of the hypothesised continent of Terra Australis Incognita.

She first reached New Zealand in October 1769 and arrived in what is now known as Botany Bay in New South Wales in April the following year.

From there, Captain Cook and the Endeavour sailed along Australias east coast, coming close to oblivion when she ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

The ship arrived back in Dover in July 1771 and Captain Cook, a farmers son from Marton in North Yorkshire, earned his place in history as one of the great explorers.

The Australian National Maritime Museums replica of Endeavour made its maiden voyage in 1994 and has a regular programme of trips to Antipodean destinations including New Zealand and southern Pacific Islands.
An air and sea search has been launched after a plane disappeared from radar in the English Channel.

Rescue teams were scrambled to waters north of Alderney after the light aircraft vanished on Monday evening, Guernsey Police said.

A search and rescue operation is currently underway off the north of Alderney after a light aircraft disappeared from radar several hours ago, the force said.

Two helicopters alongside the Guernsey and Alderney lifeboats are searching for it.

The Alderney lifeboat said it launched at 8.50pm on Monday night.

According to the BBC, the Piper Malibu with two people on board lost contact near the Casquets lighthouse around eight miles north-west of Alderney at 8.30pm.

The plane is thought to have been travelling from Nantes in Brittany to Cardiff.

Search for Missing Light Aircraft https://t.co/fqgO8naID2 pic.twitter.com/2Jummz7svi  Maritime and Coastguard Agency (@MCA_media) January 22, 2019

HM Coastguard said the incident was not in the UK search and rescue area, although it had sent two helicopters to help.

HM Coastguard are currently assisting Guernsey Coastguard with a search for a light aircraft off Alderney in the Channel Islands, a spokeswoman said.

HM Coastguard helicopters from Solent and Newquay have been helping to search overnight with nothing found.

The search and rescue operation had to deal with worsening conditions as they scoured the area on Monday night.

(PA Graphics)

At that time there were some showers around, but nothing too intense. Wind speeds were not too bad  average speeds were around 15 to 20mph, Met Office meteorologist Mark Wilson said.

But it has got pretty wet, weve seen a band of rain push down from the north-west. That rain set in around 11.30pm to midnight and its still raining now.

Its also a bit windier, with gusts around 35mph.
Fresh Commons clashes over launching a second Brexit referendum and blocking a no-deal EU withdrawal loom as Theresa May faces new challenges to her authority.

Labour wants Parliament to be given the option to back a national poll on Brexit when MPs vote on the Governments EU exit stance next week.

An amendment to the Prime Ministers Brexit motion calls for a vote on backing Labours plan for a customs union with the EU, and whether to legislate to hold a public vote on a deal or a proposition supported by a Commons majority.

The move came as it was understood that Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd had urged Downing Street to allow Tory MPs a free vote on moves aimed at preventing a no deal, amid fears that dozens of ministers could otherwise resign.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported that Tory HQ has been effectively put on a snap general election war footing due to the Brexit situation in Parliament.

Despite Mrs Mays claim that a second referendum could damage social cohesion, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the option should be considered.

He said: Our amendment will allow MPs to vote on options to end this Brexit deadlock and prevent the chaos of a no deal.

It is time for Labours alternative plan to take centre stage, while keeping all options on the table, including the option of a public vote.

However, Labours amendment was carefully worded and did not explicitly say the party would officially support a second referendum.

In a break from usual parliamentary rules, MPs will be able to amend the so-called neutral motion tabled by the Prime Minister on Brexit, with votes due to take place on amendments chosen by Speaker John Bercow on January 29.

(PA Graphics)

A cross-party group of MPs, including Labours Yvette Cooper and Tory former minister Nick Boles, is seeking to give time for a Bill to suspend the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

Labours Hilary Benn has tabled an amendment to the Government motion calling for a range of indicative votes on various Brexit options.

He tweeted: Just tabled an amendment for next weeks Brexit debate calling for the House of Commons to hold a series of indicative votes on a way forward.

And Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve is looking to allow a motion by a minority of 300 MPs  from at least five parties and including 10 Tories  to be debated in order to allow for indicative votes on where to go next.

In a sign of Labour divisions on the issue of a second Brexit referendum, shadow housing minister Melanie Onn said she could not support such a move.

The Great Grimsby MP tweeted: This may mean that I am required to step down from my front bench housing role if it is a whipped vote.

However, Chuka Umunna, a prominent supporter of a Peoples Vote, called for a firmer stance.

Labour MPs Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

He tweeted: There is always a flurry of excitement when the frontbench acknowledges the obvious  that a Peoples Vote may be the only way forward (it is)  but that is not the position adopted by those running the show. Supporting options is not a credible or sustainable policy.

Presenting her Plan B to the Commons on Monday, Mrs May said she would conduct further talks on the controversial Irish border backstop proposals, and promised to give Parliament a proper say in negotiations on the future relationship between the UK and EU.

But the PM refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit, and insisted there was no majority in the House of Commons for a so-called Peoples Vote.

Mrs May announced she was scrapping a 65 fee for EU nationals wanting to remain in the UK after Brexit, promised to guarantee workers rights and environmental safeguards.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier had assured him the EU remains firmly supportive of the Withdrawal Agreement in full, including its guarantees of no hard border in Ireland.
Northern Irelands economy could be almost 5 billion less productive by 2034 following a no-deal Brexit, the CBI said.

The country would be among the most exposed parts of the UK to the fallout, the business group reiterated.

The predicted drop in output represents more than the annual public spending on hospitals, GP surgeries and other health services in Northern Ireland.

Angela McGowan, Northern Ireland director for the CBI, said: CBI members across Northern Ireland are clear: if the new approach to finding a Brexit deal continues to be a game of who blinks first, the Northern Irish economy will pay the price.

If the UK fails to secure a deal with the EU, by 2034 real Gross Value Added (GVA)  the measure of value of goods and services produced in Northern Ireland  could be 9.1% lower than under the UKs current arrangements with the EU, according to government analysis.

The CBI used that analysis to calculate the 5 billion annual lost output.

Northern Irelands economy could be almost 5 billion less productive by 2034 following a no-deal Brexit, the CBI said (Niall Carson/PA).

It said the predicted shortfall would hit peoples jobs, livelihoods and living standards, and added: Manufacturing activity is particularly important in Northern Ireland, and the agri-food sector, which employs thousands, is likely to be severely impacted as it is particularly exposed to the risk of higher tariffs and trade costs.

With 57% of Northern Irish goods exports going to the EU, any increased trade friction, added costs or delays would hit the region particularly hard.

Ms McGowan said the deadlock will only be broken by a genuine attempt by all MPs to find consensus and compromise, not stick to rusting red lines and political conditions.

The economic consequences of a no-deal would be profound, widespread and lasting. GDP would decline by up to 8%, meaning less money for our public services and those who rely on them. #Brexit https://t.co/Q8FNEM5Ifh pic.twitter.com/I4RUrY3evp  CBI (@CBItweets) January 11, 2019

She added: Like the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland is not  and cannot be  ready for no deal.

The projected impact on our economy would be devastating, and while business will do all it can to reduce some of the worst aspects, a no-deal scenario is unmanageable.

The message from the CBI to our politicians is clear  we must see compromise or the whole country faces the unforgivable prospect of a disorderly Brexit which will affect jobs and livelihoods in Northern Ireland for decades to come. Its time to put prosperity before party politics and dogma.
Funding for music tuition in schools should be re-examined following the controversial introduction of fees by most councils across Scotland, MSPs have said.

The number of children learning to play instruments plummeted after some local authorities started charging for lessons, the Education and Skills Committee heard.

Last year, 25 of Scotlands 32 councils introduced fees of up to 524 for instrumental lessons but MSPs are now calling for changes to funding for the tuition.

An inquiry into music tuition was launched by the committee and the findings are being published on Tuesday, with a recommendation to re-examine charges.

Scotland faces a tipping point for music tuition, committee convener Clare Adamson warned.

Ms Adamson said: There is little doubt about the positive benefits that music can have on us as individuals, as communities and indeed to the wider Scottish culture and economy.

However, for too many young people, these opportunities are being lost because of increasingly unaffordable fees. This is why our committee believes in the principle that music tuition should be free.

However, we recognise that in many local authorities, charging for music tuition is a reality and a decision which will not have been made lightly. This does not mean there is nothing to be done.

Local authorities must work harder to make sure that those who can afford it the least do not lose out the most.

This is why we have recommended that the funding for these services is re-examined and that more is done to extend concessions and discounts where possible.

Clare Adamson has said that music tuition should be free (Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament/PA)

Time and again we have heard this issue discussed in the Scottish Parliament. But whilst we talk, there are young people losing out. Changes must be made.

Cosla and the Scottish Government have to do all they can to ensure that tuition is affordable and something that can be accessed by all.

Otherwise we are in danger of reaching a tipping point for music tuition in Scotland.

During the inquiry, the committee heard evidence from West Lothian Council where almost 70% of pupils receiving music tuition dropped out after the charges  of 354 per pupil in the region  were introduced.

Of the councils who have brought in fees, the costs in 2018-19 for each pupil range from 117 in Inverclyde to 524 in Clackmannanshire.

When questioned about musical tuition by MSPs, Education Secretary John Swinney suggested some councils do not recognise the value of teaching children to play musical instruments but said he was not considering direct funding grants from central government for the service.

Mr Swinney said: Some local authorities, despite all the issues that are raised generally about local authority finance, attach the priority to this that they make the eligibility for access to instrumental music tuition free.

Education Secretary John Swinney (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Some local authorities recognise the value of instrumental music tuition and want to put in place no barriers to the access of instrumental music tuition as a consequence of the decisions that theyve made.

The EIS teaching union welcomed the report and said it believes music tuition should be made free to all children.

A spokeswoman added: It has been alarming to hear of children dropping out of music lessons in great numbers because they simply cannot afford to participate.

The benefits to be reaped from learning a musical instrument are lifelong and we support arts and culture as a means of enriching the lives of Scotlands children.

The young people who engage with instrumental music now will be Scotlands musicians of the future and failure to invest in them will do damage to Scotlands musical heritage.

Councillor Stephen McCabe, Coslas children and young people spokesman, said: The report from the Education and Skills Committee in relation to instrumental music tuition is welcome. We will consider the recommendations in the report carefully before responding to the committee.

We note that the report recognises the financial pressures on local authorities. These pressures are not insignificant. This years draft budget sees local authorities budgets cut by a further 237 million which, with the cumulative impact of successive cuts since 2011-12, puts councils in an extremely difficult situation.

No local authority makes the decision to introduce or increase charges for any service lightly. However, the financial situation for local authorities continues to be difficult and as a consequence councils have faced difficult decisions about funding for essential services.

All local authorities have committed to ensuring that that those on the lowest incomes or those who are studying for a music qualification are not subjected to charges.
Parts of Scotland receive the worst broadband connection in the UK, according to new research.

A study by consumer group Which? evaluated the broadband speed in local authority areas across Scotland, England and Wales.

Four areas were listed bottom of a list of 32 Scottish local authorities for the standard of broadband connection.

Orkney (at 3Mbps), Shetland (6.7Mbps), Argyll and Bute (7Mbps) and Moray (7.1Mbps) were also recorded as having the slowest internet connections in the UK.

The research by Which? suggests internet users in some of these areas could struggle to carry out online banking or to use streaming services due to slow internet.

Also lagging behind were the Highlands (8.9Mbps), Borders (9.3Mbps), Aberdeenshire (10.1Mbps), Perth and Kinross (10.1Mbps) and Na h-Eilean Siar (11.5Mbps).

Broadband connection in Scotland is the worst in the UK, according to a study (Rui Vieira/PA)

The analysis indicated the fastest local authority in Scotland, and the third fastest in the UK, for broadband speed was West Dunbartonshire, with an average 29.6Mpbs.

The findings suggest that downloading a film in Orkney would take around seven times longer than it would in West Dunbartonshire.

Other areas in Scotland which receive a faster connection include Inverclyde (26.9Mbps), Dundee City (23.1Mbps), North Lanarkshire (22Mbps) and East Renfrewshire (21.4Mbps).

The UK Government pledged to ensure a bare minimum connection speed of 10 megabits per second across the country by 2020.

The consumer groups data also suggests that six of the 15 UK local authority areas that are currently failing to reach 10 megabits per second are in Scotland.

A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: The vast majority of Scottish homes and businesses in the places listed by Which? are able to upgrade to a faster connection if they choose to as a result of the UK Government and Digital Scotlands rollout of superfast broadband.

More than 93% of Scotland can now get superfast speeds and this year we are making fast broadband a legal right so that no-one is left behind.

The Scottish Government has said it will ensure that all of Scotland has access to superfast broadband (speeds greater than 30Mbps) by 2021  the Reaching 100% (R100) commitment.

Alex Neill, Which? managing director, said: Its incredibly frustrating that so many Scots are still struggling to get a good broadband connection when so many of us rely heavily on the internet to carry out important everyday tasks.

The Scottish Government must now press ahead with plans to provide 100% of the homes in Scotland with a decent broadband connection and make sure that no-one is at a disadvantage because of where they live.

Scottish Labours infrastructure, connectivity and transport spokesman Colin Smyth said: Scotland faces a digital divide with swathes of rural areas unable to access decent broadband.

As this report exposes, the SNPs roll-out of fibre broadband has failed to deliver, with many rural areas receiving super-slow broadband rather than super-fast.

Its time we had a clear strategy to properly connect Scotlands rural communities or they risk continuing to be left behind by the failure of both the Scottish and UK governments.

Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland Alistair Carmichael said: These figures will make difficult reading for both of Scotlands governments as they show the digital divide between the Northern Isles and the central belt is getting wider, not narrower.

The Scottish Government are about to launch their procurement for the next phase of broadband roll-out and anything other than a focus on Scotlands rural and islands communities would be a betrayal of their commitments to deliver reliable superfast broadband across the country.

Paul Wheelhouse, minister for energy, connectivity and the islands, said: This report highlights what we already know  that it is more challenging to deliver and upgrade broadband infrastructure in rural areas.

Our R100 programme is a plan to extend superfast broadband access to every home and business in the country in Scotland, and we have focused procurement for R100 in rural areas, where it is needed most.

A total of 93% of homes and businesses across Scotland already have access to superfast broadband and we are investing 600 million to go further.

R100 is the only programme of its kind in the UK and will deliver a future-proofed, national fibre network that will make rural Scotland one of the best-connected places anywhere in Europe, underpinning future economic growth.
Scotland wants to retain EU membership, the Scottish Brexit minister is set to tell European leaders and business chiefs on a visit to Brussels.

Mike Russell MSP is to have discussions about Brexit and assert the Scottish Governments desire to remain in the European Union.

The Constitutional Relations Secretary embarked on a trip to Belgium on Monday, starting with a visit to Zebrugge port to learn more about the impact of a no-deal Brexit.

Cab Sec @Feorlean visited the Port of Zeebrugge earlier today to find out what measures they are putting in place to mitigate against different Brexit scenarios and to discuss future links. pic.twitter.com/mTJie9WD8B  ScotGovEurope (@ScotGovEurope) January 21, 2019

He is due to to meet MEPs in Brussels on Tuesday as well as Herman van Rompuy and Fabian Zuleeg of the European Policy Centre.

Ahead of the discussions, Mr Russell said: Amid the Brexit chaos unfolding at Westminster it must be remembered that a decisive majority of people in Scotland voted to remain within the European Union and the Scottish Government is determined to do all we can to ensure their wishes are respected.

It is unacceptable for the views of people in Scotland to be continually ignored by the UK Government and I will be setting out today that the Scottish Government believes the best outcome for both Scotland and the UK is to retain EU membership.

Brexit minister Mike Russell will tell Brussels that Scotland wants to remain a member of the EU (Jane Barlow/PA)

The Prime Ministers deal has suffered a crushing defeat in the House of Commons but her statement yesterday failed to set out a realistic way forward and she seems intent on running down the clock, bringing the prospect of a no deal  and the threat it would pose to jobs, business and living standards  ever closer.

The Scottish Government will now step up our efforts to secure an extension to Article 50 and for a second referendum on EU membership.

Scotland Cabinet Secretary Michael Russell @Feorlean paying working visit @Port_Zeebrugge. Focus on strengthening economic and commercial ties. pic.twitter.com/SVtJoQneV2  Port of Zeebrugge (@Port_Zeebrugge) January 21, 2019

Mr Russell is also calling on the UK Government to ask the EU for an extension to the Article 50 process and for a second EU referendum with the option of remain on the ballot paper.

The Scottish Government will now step up our efforts to secure an extension to Article 50 and for a second referendum on EU membership, he added.
A no-deal Brexit could cost Scotland 14 billion a year, new analysis by business organisation the CBI has indicated.

The study of the UK Government figures points to Scotland being among the areas of the UK significantly exposed to the economic effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

The CBI estimates the UK Governments predicted 8.1% drop in real gross value added (GVA) in Scotland by 2034 following a no-deal Brexit could amount to an annual loss of output worth 14 billion by that date.

A drop of this magnitude would hit jobs and living standards, the CBI warns, and is more than the annual amount spent on hospitals, GP surgeries and other health services in Scotland.

Farming and food production is singled out as being at risk of being severely impacted in the event of a no-deal Brexit, as it is said to be particularly exposed to the risk of higher tariffs and trade costs.

Ed Monaghan, chief executive officer of CBI Scotland member luxury home builder Mactaggart and Mickel, said: Like most businesses, the prospect of leaving the EU with no-deal is unimaginable.

The CBI predicts a 14 billion a year loss to Scotland following a no-deal Brexit (Jane Barlow/PA)

Not because we are able to predict the likely impact better than anyone else. Put simply; a wait-and-see strategy will most likely engulf decisions, from business investment to individual purchases, invoking a national pause on activity and making the resulting impact on our economy easy to predict.

CBI Scotland director Tracy Black said: CBI Scotland members are clear: if the new approach to finding a Brexit deal continues to be a game of who blinks first, the whole economy will pay the price.

The deadlock will only be broken by a genuine attempt by all politicians to find consensus and compromise, not stick to rusting red lines and political conditions. Scotland is not  and cannot be  ready for no deal.

The projected impact on our economy would be devastating and while business will do all it can to reduce some of the worst aspects, a no-deal scenario is unmanageable.

She said without compromise the whole country faces the unforgivable prospect of a disorderly Brexit which will affect jobs and livelihoods in Scotland for decades to come and urged politicians to put prosperity before party politics in their Brexit decisions.

Labour MP Martin Whitfield, who backs the Best for Britain campaign to keep the UK an EU member, said: This study highlights the catastrophic economic impact of a no deal Brexit, with Scotland among the worst affected parts of the UK.

It poses a clear and present danger to places like Edinburgh and East Lothian, where many jobs are dependent on the EU.

The Prime Minister should rule out a no deal Brexit and the best way to do that is to offer the public a peoples vote with the choice of accepting her withdrawal deal or keeping the best deal we have by remaining in the EU.

A UK Government spokeswoman said: The best way to avoid no deal is for Parliament to agree a deal.

Our analysis shows that the deal agreed with the EU delivers for the whole of the UK. The Scottish economy is expected to be bigger and real wages higher than in a no deal scenario.

No matter what approach we take, the UK economy will continue to be strong and grow into the future.
Four men arrested on suspicion of a car bombing in Londonderry have been released.

The men, aged 42, 34 and two aged 21, were arrested on Sunday by detectives investigating the explosion in Bishop Street, Derry, on Saturday. They have been released unconditionally.

A 50-year-old man arrested on Monday remains in police custody.

Officers probing the dissident republican bombing arrested the 50-year-old for questioning about an armed robbery in the city last Tuesday.

Four men, aged 42,34 and two aged 21, arrested by detectives investigating the explosion at Bishop Street in Derry/Londonderry on Saturday 19 January, have been released unconditionally. A 50 year old man arrested earlier today remains in police custody  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) January 21, 2019

Monday also saw three significant security alerts in the city, triggered by the hijacking of two vehicles by masked men.

In the first incident, three men reportedly hijacked a white Transit van in the Circular Road area at around 11.30am before throwing an object in the back and abandoning the vehicle.

Army bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on the van.

Just over two hours later, at 1.45pm, police received a report that four masked men  one allegedly armed with a gun  had hijacked a postal delivery van on Southway.

Police said the two occupants of the van were ordered to drive to Lonemoor Road and leave it there.

Both incidents prompted sizeable security alerts, with nearby residents evacuated.

The third incident saw another abandoned vehicle in the city cause panic on Monday night.

Police attended Northland Road after an Asda delivery van was left parked across the road, stopping traffic in front of St Marys secondary school.

Elderly residents were evacuated from their homes in pyjamas as police attempted to secure the area.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Superintendent Gordon McCalmont warned of widespread disruption.

We understand the effect this will have on the local community, but we will not take any chances when it comes to keeping people safe, he said.

On Monday afternoon, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley told MPs the weekend bomb blast, which caused no injuries, had absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.

Read today's oral statement to Parliament by SofS Karen Bradley on the Security situation in Northern Ireland here: https://t.co/a2h8NKXQEz  Northern Ireland Office (@NIOgov) January 21, 2019

She said: Nobody should try and draw any connection between what happened on Saturday night and any of the discussions we are having in this place or with our friends in Europe.

The attack that happened on Saturday night is a result of a threat level that has been in place since before the Brexit vote.

These are plots and activities that these people have been working on and trying to carry out for many, many years and we need to be clear with them that those activities are not welcome, the people of Northern Ireland do not want to see this kind of activity on their streets.

A dissident republican group styling itself as the New IRA has been blamed for the bombing outside Bishop Street court.

(PA Graphics)

Dramatic CCTV footage of the incident released by police showed a group of people walking past the car containing the bomb minutes before the explosion.

The Brexit debate has prompted claim and counter-claim about whether the imposition of a hard border in Ireland will lead to an upsurge in dissident republican attacks.

The Irish Government has warned of the prospect of an increase in violence if physical infrastructure is installed on the border, but the DUP has dismissed it as scaremongering.

Some believe the timing of Saturdays bombing may have had more to do with a symbolic anniversary in the history of militant republicanism, as it came ahead of the centenary of the outbreak of Irelands War of Independence in 1919.

Ms Bradley told the Commons a crude, unsophisticated explosive device was used in Saturdays bomb attack and CCTV had showed teenagers and others passing by only minutes before the device detonated.

She said: It is sobering to think that a truly sickening outcome by those responsible was only narrowly averted.

Those who planned this attack and who placed this crude device in a busy city centre have absolutely no regard for the people who live and work there.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds welcomed Ms Bradleys assertion that the bomb was unrelated to the Brexit debate, adding it is also somewhat unrelated to Stormonts collapse.

He said: Let us not legitimise in any way what these people are about by ascribing to them a cause  these are people who want to destroy communities on both sides, who want to disrupt, who want to bring nothing positive and who have no agenda whatsoever, and therefore I totally support what the Secretary of State has said in that regard.

Ms Bradley later denied she had brought up border polls in the region in talks about Brexit, calling claims on the subject rumours and supposition.
Sir David Attenborough has called for a plan to tackle environmental problems with our actions now affecting the next few thousand years.

The veteran broadcaster, 92, used an award acceptance speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday to urge business leaders and governments to come up with practical solutions.

The Blue Planet and Dynasties narrator said: We can create a world with clean air and water, unlimited energy and fish stocks that will sustain us well into the future. But to do that, we need a plan.

Sir David, who was given a Crystal Award for his leadership in environmental stewardship, outlined how UN decisions on climate change, sustainable development and a new deal for nature would shape the future.

What we do now and in the next few years will profoundly affect the next few thousand years, he added.

Sir David will take to the WEF stage again on Tuesday to be interviewed by the Duke of Cambridge.

Embargoed to 2000 Thursday December 06 File photo dated 14/07/18 of broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, who will delve back to one of his first natural history programmes, Zoo Quest, as he takes to the airwaves.

William will discuss the urgent challenges facing the next generation of environmental leaders with Sir David, who he has described as having the single most important impact in my conservation thinking.
Scotland is a hugely valued part of the United Kingdom, Theresa May told guests gathered at Downing Street for a Burns Supper.

Scots from the world of sport, business and politics were invited to Number 10 for the traditional celebration of the works of poet Robert Burns ahead of Burns Night on Friday.

Olympic rower Katherine Grainger recited the Address To A Haggis, while other guests included teacake king Boyd Tunnock and Bertie Armstrong of the Scottish Fishermens Federation.

They were welcomed to pipe music and offered a whisky before sitting down to the traditional supper in the State Dining Rooms.

Mrs May welcomes guests (Joel Rouse/10 Downing Street)

Mrs May told guests: The work of Robert Burns, one of our finest poets, continues to be enjoyed by millions of people and tonight is not only a celebration of him but the proud culture of the whole of Scotland.

Scotland is a hugely valued part of our United Kingdom and I am delighted to have this opportunity to celebrate the great poet, this great nation and our precious Union.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington attended the function, Downing Street said.

A piper plays outside 10 Downing Street (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The Prime Minister said to those invited: It is important to me in everything we do here, and indeed in everything we do as a government, that we reflect the fact that the United Kingdom is a union of four nations.

Our country has great diversity within it and we rightly celebrate that diversity. What we actually do in coming together is combine to make something greater than the sum of its parts and it is something that is unique and inspiring.

Of course, Scotland is an absolutely integral part of our United Kingdom  economically, socially and culturally.

Tonight of course in Robert Burns, we are celebrating a Scottish and British cultural icon, one of the finest poets in any language. It is a chance to celebrate a great poet, a great nation and an enduring union.
The family of Charlotte Brown, who died after a speedboat crash, will demand to know what is being done to catch her fugitive killer in a meeting with the Home Secretary.

Jack Shepherd, 31, is still on the run after he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for manslaughter by gross negligence in his absence last summer, after vanishing before his Old Bailey trial.

Ms Brown, 24, was killed after the boat he had bought to pull women flipped into the icy waters of the River Thames during her champagne-fuelled first date with Shepherd in December 2015.

Her father, Graham Brown, mother Roz Wickens and sister Katie, will meet Sajid Javid on Tuesday to seek assurances that everything possible is being done to bring on-the-run Shepherd to justice.

The speedboat owned by Jack Shepherd (Met Police/PA)

Mr Brown said: Jack Shepherd has stolen a beautiful life and needs to atone for his crass and reckless actions.

If it wasnt for this our lovely Charlotte would still be here.

We want to hear from the Home Secretary on what action is being taken to bring Shepherd to justice.

We also want to know that this operation will be fully resourced until he is found and put behind bars.

The family will ask Mr Javid what action has been taken so far, what current lines of inquiry are open and about the resources available to police, including through the National Crime Agency (NCA).

They also want to know what can be done to obtain digital forensic evidence from web designer Shepherds contact with his lawyer, which could help to pinpoint his location.

Shepherds solicitor Richard Egan has previously denied protecting a fugitive despite helping him to appeal against his conviction while on the run from the law.

In December, he was given permission to challenge his conviction, sparking an outpouring of public anger, with Ms Browns family accusing Shepherd of making a mockery of justice.

Since then, uncorroborated theories about Shepherds whereabouts have included Turkey, Thailand and Georgia.

Ms Browns familys meeting with the Home Secretary in the House of Commons was arranged by Communities Secretary James Brokenshire, their local MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup

In seeking this meeting for the family I want to ensure that the full efforts of our law enforcement agencies are being used to arrest Shepherd, he said.

It is unacceptable that Charlottes family still have not seen the justice they rightly deserve.

There can be no hiding place for this man and we must be utterly resolute in seeing that Shepherd pays for his crime.
The strategic opportunity to end Irish partition that Brexit has presented must be seized, Sinn Feins Michelle ONeill has said.

The party vice-president called for the transition to unification to begin during an address in Londonderry to mark the centenary of the first sitting of the Dail parliament at the outbreak of Irelands War of Independence.

She told the Sinn Fein event in Derrys Guildhall that Brexit had created a new dynamic in the campaign for a border poll.

Sinn Fein President Marylou McDonald has called for the Irish Government to convene an all-Ireland forum to build for unity and to plan for unity. https://t.co/OS9DeZxAqF  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) January 21, 2019

Brexit challenges all of the old assumptions about the previous constitutional, political and economic status quo in the north and south of Ireland, said Ms ONeill.

It has exposed the undemocratic nature and failure of partition in Ireland which created an artificial future which has and will remain contested.

The fulcrum of the Brexit crisis is the border in Ireland.

Michelle ONeill (David Young/PA)

There is a growing sense that circumstances are rapidly changing which will inevitably lead to the final break-up of the constitutional structures of the United Kingdom which Theresa May and the DUP say they are committed to preserving.

Ms ONeill said the Prime Minister and Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley had to call a unity referendum in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

We have made it clear that in the case of a Brexit crash-out and no-deal scenario that it is absolutely incumbent on them to put the constitutional future to the people here through a unity referendum, she said.

Their planned imposition of Brexit in Ireland once again demonstrates the failure of partition, and exposes further the gaping democratic deficit inherent in a partitioned Ireland.

People from across this society, and even those of a British identity, are questioning what will be the merits, benefits of staying within the union after Brexit.

The EU has said in the event of reunification the whole of Ireland will automatically be subsumed back into the EU.

So the debate on our constitutional future is as much about our relationship with Europe as it is about Ireland itself.
A car bombing outside a court in Londonderry had nothing to do with Brexit, the Northern Ireland Secretary has insisted.

Karen Bradley said no one should try to draw a link with Saturdays dissident republican terror attack in Derry, just a few miles from the border, with the impasse over the UKs exit from the European Union and the wrangle over how to deal with the frontier between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Ms Bradleys statement to the Commons came hours after detectives investigating the bombing detained a fifth suspect.

N Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley (Brian Lawless/PA)

On Monday night a solicitor said the first two suspects, detained in the early hours of Sunday morning, had been released unconditionally.

Monday also saw two significant security alerts in Derry, triggered by the hijacking of two vehicles by masked men.

Police erected a cordon around another abandoned vehicle in the city on Monday night.

Ms Bradley told MPs that the weekend bomb blast on Bishop Street, which caused no injuries, had absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.

Nobody should try and draw any connection between what happened on Saturday night and any of the discussions we are having in this place or with our friends in Europe, the attack that happened on Saturday night is a result of a threat level that has been in place since before the Brexit vote, she said.

These are plots and activities that these people have been working on and trying to carry out for many, many years and we need to be clear with them that those activities are not welcome, the people of Northern Ireland do not want to see this kind of activity on their streets.

Screengrab from CCTV footage of the blast (PSNI/PA)

A dissident republican grouping that styles itself as the New IRA has been blamed for the bombing outside Bishop Street court.

Dramatic CCTV footage of the incident released by police showed a group of people walking past the car containing the bomb just minutes before the explosion.

The Brexit debate has prompted claim and counter claim about whether the imposition of a hard border in Ireland will lead to an upsurge in dissident republican attacks.

The Irish Government has warned of the prospect of an increase in violence if physical infrastructure is installed on the border  but the DUP has dismissed this as scaremongering.

Some believe the timing of Saturdays bombing may have had more to do with a symbolic anniversary in history of militant republicanism, as it came ahead of the centenary of the outbreak of Irelands War of Independence in 1919.

The 50-year-old man arrested on Monday was detained under the Terrorism Act and remained in police custody.

Four other men, two aged 21 and others aged 34 and 42, arrested on Sunday in connection with the bomb were released without charge, police said.

Officers probing the dissident republican bombing on Saturday night arrested the latest suspect for questioning about an armed robbery in the city last Tuesday.

The arrest came as police investigated two vehicle hijackings in the Creggan area of Derry on Monday.

ATO have carried out a controlled explosion on the hijacked vehicle in the Circular Road area of Derry/Londonderry.

A number of homes remain evacuated and cordons remain.

We continue to ask the public for their patience, and thank them for their co-operation.  Police Derry City and Strabane (@PSNIDCSDistrict) January 21, 2019

In the first incident, three masked men reportedly hijacked a white Transit van in the Circular Road area at around 11.30am before throwing an object in the back and abandoning the vehicle. Army bomb disposal experts later carried out a controlled explosion on the van.

Just over two hours later, at 1.45pm, police received a report that four masked men  one allegedly armed with a gun  hijacked a postal delivery van on Southway.

Police said the two occupants of the van were ordered to drive the vehicle to the Lonemoor Road and leave it there.

Both incidents prompted sizeable security alerts, with nearby residents evacuated.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Superintendent Gordon McCalmont warned of widespread disruption.

We understand the effect this will have on the local community, but we will not take any chances when it comes to keeping people safe, he said.

On Monday evening, police attended on Northland Road in the city after an Asda van was left parked across the road in front of St Marys secondary school.

Ms Bradley told the Commons that a crude, unsophisticated explosive device was used in Saturdays bomb attack and said CCTV had showed teenagers and others passing by only minutes before the device detonated.

She said: It is sobering to think that a truly sickening outcome by those responsible was only narrowly averted.

The Conservative MP added: Those who planned this attack and who placed this crude device in a busy city centre have absolutely no regard for the people who live and work there.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds welcomed Ms Bradleys assertion that the bomb was unrelated to the Brexit debate, adding it is also somewhat unrelated to Stormonts collapse.

He said: Let us not legitimise in any way what these people are about by ascribing to them a cause  these are people who want to destroy communities on both sides, who want to disrupt, who want to bring nothing positive and who have no agenda whatsoever, and therefore I totally support what the Secretary of State has said in that regard.

Ms Bradley later denied that she had brought up border polls in the region in talks about Brexit, calling claims on the subject rumours and supposition.
Nicola Sturgeon has voiced scepticism over Theresa Mays promise of an enhanced role for the devolved governments in Brexit negotiations.

Scotlands First Minister questioned what would be different in the next phase of talks, aimed at breaking the deadlock.

The Prime Minister told the Commons on Monday she hoped to meet Ms Sturgeon and her Welsh counterpart, Mark Drakeford, this week.

Mrs May said: While it will always be for her majestys Government to negotiate for the whole of the UK, we are also committed to giving the devolved administrations an enhanced role in the next phase, respecting their competence and vital interest in these negotiations.

Fair to say weve had empty and undelivered promises like this for two and half years now - will be interested to hear whats going to be different now, but experience tells me to be very sceptical. https://t.co/nd5fOc15MG  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 21, 2019

Ms Sturgeon tweeted: Fair to say weve had empty and undelivered promises like this for two and half years now  will be interested to hear whats going to be different now, but experience tells me to be very sceptical.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford suggested there was no genuine commitment by the UK Government to a meaningful dialogue with the devolved governments.

Theresa May said she hopes to meet Nicola Sturgeon this week (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

He called on the Prime Minister to extend Article 50, rule out a no-deal and agree to a second EU referendum.

Mr Blackford said: The Prime Ministers strategy to run down the clock, and blackmail MPs into a false choice between her bad deal and no deal at all, will not work  its time to end the charade.

The PM's not listening, she is simply running down the clock. We will not be dragged out of Europe by a Tory Government we did not vote for. We might not be able to save the UK but we can save Scotland. We have an escape route from the chaos of Brexit- an Independent Scotland. pic.twitter.com/z98IirqxXP  Ian Blackford (@Ianblackford_MP) January 21, 2019

After facing the biggest defeat for any UK government in history, it is unacceptable for the Prime Minister to come back to Parliament with no fundamental changes to her failed deal, and no genuine commitment to a meaningful dialogue with the opposition parties and devolved governments.

In Scotland we have another choice.

We did not vote for Brexit and the people of Scotland should not be dragged out of Europe by a Tory government we did not vote for.

We might not be able to save the UK but we can save Scotland. We have an escape route from the chaos of Brexit  an independent Scotland.
British Airways is to paint four of its aircraft in retro livery to celebrate its centenary.

The first to be given the makeover will be a Boeing 747, which will get a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) design.

This livery was originally used between 1964 and 1974.

It will arrive at Heathrow airport on February 18 and will enter service the following day.

The details of three more planes to be painted in retro liveries have yet to be disclosed.

British Airways is to paint four of its aircraft in retro livery to celebrate its centenary (British Airways)

British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz said: So many British Airways customers and colleagues have fond memories of our previous liveries, regularly sharing their photos from across the globe, so its incredibly exciting to be re-introducing this classic BOAC design.

Our history has shaped who we are today, so our centenary is the perfect moment to revisit our heritage and the UKs aviation landscape through this iconic livery.

The BOAC livery will remain on the Boeing 747 until the aircraft is taken out of service in 2023.

BA is celebrating its centenary this year as its forerunner company, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, launched the worlds first daily international scheduled flight between London and Paris.

The firm was incorporated into several airlines  including BOAC  until it became British Airways in 1974.
Clevelands police and crime commissioner has said that he will not step down, despite the sudden resignation of the areas chief constable.

Barry Coppinger also said that a re-structure of Cleveland Police would be expensive and divisive, and not in the interests of the public.

He was speaking hours after announcing the resignation of the forces chief constable, Mike Veale, after serious allegations about his behaviour surfaced.

Speaking to the Press Association, Mr Coppinger said he was made aware of the allegations against Mr Veale before Christmas, and referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) last week.

Read my statement following the resignation of Chief Constable Mike Veale: pic.twitter.com/jbZExTgKy3  Cleveland PCC (@Cleveland_PCC) January 21, 2019

Discussing the allegations, he said: I became aware of them immediately before Christmas and obviously everyone had a two-week break at Christmas, and when I came back we looked into them further and took advice, and then the referral was made last week.

Mr Coppinger added that he was disappointed by the way the situation had played out, but said that referring the matters to the IOPC was the appropriate thing to do.

Mike Veale has resigned (Rod Minchin/PA)

When asked if he was able to elaborate on the nature of the allegations against Mr Veale, he simply said: Sorry, I cant comment on any details.

He also refused to say whether the chief constables position had become untenable prior to the resignation on Friday, saying: Its entirely a matter for Mike.

Mr Veale started in the role last March after working for Wiltshire Police, where he oversaw the controversial investigation into alleged abuse by Sir Edward Heath.

He was investigated by the IOPC over claims that he had deliberately damaged a phone belonging to the Wiltshire force in order to conceal evidence relevant to the probe into the former prime minister.

But it was ruled in September that there was no evidence that he had damaged the phone deliberately or with the intention of hiding information.

But the police watchdog also said that Mr Veale had a case to answer after giving differing versions of the events that led to the phone being damaged.

The investigation into Sir Edward eventually concluded that, if he had been alive, he would have been interviewed about seven disclosures under criminal caution.

But officers stressed no inference of guilt should be drawn from the findings.

Following the announcement of the chief constables resignation, the Conservative mayor of the Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, said in a statement that the appointment of Mr Veale was reckless and incompetent.

This is why I refused to get involved in the circus that was Mike Veales appointment when approached. This joke has gone on long enough. We deserve better!! Time to go Barry. Youve failed.  Ben Houchen (@BenHouchen) January 21, 2019

The mayor said: To appoint someone under investigation and under such a dark cloud nationally was more than a mistake  it was reckless and incompetent.

I said this at the time but was shouted down by the police commissioner.

Responding to this, Mr Coppinger explained how Mr Veale was put through a rigorous, transparent appointment process, after which three separate panels selected him as the best person for the job.

Mr Houchen also said he had requested a meeting with the Home Secretary to discuss the future of Cleveland Police, and called on Mr Coppinger to step down, saying: If he had any respect for his officers or the public, he would do the right thing by resigning and calling a by-election.

When asked to comment on this, Mr Coppinger said that he had no intention of resigning, adding that a restructure of Cleveland Police would not improve things.

Today I have met with Chief Constable Lee Freeman, who will be taking up the role as Interim Chief Constable at Cleveland Police.



Lee has an extensive track record in policing and comes highly recommended by the College of Policing.



Read more: https://t.co/A6nYzjTo6t pic.twitter.com/EzuQGupHBD  Cleveland PCC (@Cleveland_PCC) January 21, 2019

On Monday afternoon, it was announced that Lee Freeman, the chief constable for Humberside Police, had been seconded to Cleveland Police in order to fill Mr Veales position on an interim basis.

Mr Coppinger said that the force was working hard in order to make a long-term appointment as soon as possible.
Theresa May has warned that a second EU referendum could damage social cohesion, as she set out plans to find a Brexit deal which could win parliamentary support.

The Prime Minister said she would conduct further talks on the controversial Brexit backstop, and promised to give Parliament a proper say in negotiations on the future relationship between the UK and EU.

But she refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit, and insisted that there was no majority in the House of Commons for a so-called Peoples Vote.

In a statement to the Commons, Mrs May acknowledged that last weeks emphatic rejection of her Withdrawal Agreement by MPs meant that the Governments approach to Brexit had to change. And she insisted that it had.

She announced she was scrapping a 65 fee for EU nationals wanting to remain in the UK after Brexit, promised to guarantee workers rights and environmental safeguards and said she would continue talks to find the broadest possible consensus on the way forward.

Labour put down an amendment to the Governments Brexit motion which party leader Jeremy Corbyn said was aimed at preventing a no-deal withdrawal from the EU.

The Labour amendment states that options to prevent a no-deal exit should include negotiating changes to secure a permanent customs union with the EU and legislating to hold a public vote on a deal or a proposition that has commanded the support of the majority of the House of Commons.

Mr Corbyn said: Our amendment will allow MPs to vote on options to end this Brexit deadlock and prevent the chaos of a no deal.

It is time for Labours alternative plan to take centre stage, while keeping all options on the table, including the option of a public vote.

Mrs May said that the Government had conducted cross-party talks since her Commons defeat in a constructive spirit, and regretted Jeremy Corbyns decision to boycott them.

The PM's invitations to talks have been exposed as a PR sham. Every opposition party politician came out of those meetings with the same response: there was no flexibility, there were no negotiations, nothing had changed - @jeremycorbyn responds to Brexit statement in the House.  Labour Press (@labourpress) January 21, 2019

But Mr Corbyn dismissed the talks as a PR sham, telling MPs: The Prime Minister must change her red lines, because her current deal is undeliverable.

And the Labour chairman of the Commons Exiting the EU Committee, Hilary Benn  who has been pushing for a series of indicative votes on Brexit options, said: I am sorry to say while her door may have been open, her mind has remained closed.

Mrs May set her face firmly against a Peoples Vote, warning MPs: There has not yet been enough recognition of the way that a Second Referendum could damage social cohesion by undermining faith in our democracy.

She said she did not believe there was a majority in the Commons for a fresh poll, and insisted it was the duty of MPs to deliver on the result of the 2016 vote.

And she said that a no-deal outcome could be secured only by revoking the UKs declaration of its intention to quit the EU under Article 50 of its treaties, something she was not prepared to do.

Mrs May addressed MPs six days after their overwhelming rejection of her Brexit plans (House of Commons/PA)

Aides later said that Mrs May was concerned over the possibility of bad feeling or rancour and harm to trust in democracy if the majority who voted Leave in 2016 felt their voice was being ignored.

Mrs May made no specific proposals on the backstop, which is designed to ensure an open border in Ireland after Brexit, but has raised concerns about the possibility of the UK being trapped in a customs union with the EU for an indefinite period.

She told MPs: I will be talking further this week to colleagues  including in the DUP  to consider how we might meet our obligations to the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland in a way that can command the greatest possible support in the House.

And I will then take the conclusions of those discussions back to the EU.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney held talks with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels (European Commission Audiovisual Services/PA Images)

Mrs Mays statement came as Poland broke ranks with the rest of the European Union by suggesting that the Brexit deadlock could be ended by putting a five-year time limit on the backstop.

Following talks in Brussels, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier had assured him the EU remains firmly supportive of the Withdrawal Agreement in full, including its guarantees of no hard border in Ireland.

While the EU was prepared to be flexible on the Political Declaration on future relations, it was not willing to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement to secure a deal, said Mr Coveney.

Mr Barnier himself said: We are working 27 as a team, a single team and we negotiate as one.

Polands foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz signalled a different approach from Warsaw, telling the Rzeczpospolita newspaper: If Ireland asked the EU to amend the agreement with the British on the backstop so that it would apply temporarily  lets say five years  the matter would be solved.

It would obviously be less favourable for Ireland than an indefinite backstop, but much more advantageous than no-deal Brexit.

#Brexit - Foreign Minister @HeikoMaas underlines solidarity with #Ireland on the question of putting a 5-year limit to the #backstop: "I am completely with my Irish colleague. He has already said what he thinks of it, which is nothing." pic.twitter.com/m7CMT9lZ4Z  EU2020DE (@EU2020DE) January 21, 2019

Mr Czaputowicz said that London and Dublin were playing chicken over the border and risked a head-on collision in which Ireland stood to lose the most.

But Mr Coveney said: Putting a time limit on an insurance mechanism  which is what the backstop is  effectively means it is not a backstop at all.

And Germanys foreign minister Heiko Maas played down the Polish initiative, telling reporters: I am completely with my Irish colleague. He has already said what he thinks of it, which is nothing.

Mrs May sought to reassure MPs that they will be given a proper say and fuller involvement in establishing the UKs position in negotiations on future relations with the EU.

The Government will consult the Commons on its negotiating mandate and will regularly update the House during talks, she promised.

And she said that the Government would offer private and confidential briefings to backbench select committees to ensure MPs are kept up-to-date on the progress of talks without undermining the UKs position.

(PA Graphics)

A senior member of Angela Merkels Government, industry minister Peter Altmaier, warned against trying the EUs patience for political reasons.

Sympathy, patience and readiness to wait until the UKs position will be clarified are of utmost important to avoid the worst, warned Mr Altmaier.

They should not be misused for party politics. Large majority wants to exclude hard Brexit  in the interest of the UK and beyond.

Sympathy, patience & readiness to wait until the UKs position will be clarified are of utmost important to avoid the worst. They should not be misused for party politics. Large majority wants to exclude hard #Brexit - in the interest of the UK & beyond.  Peter Altmaier (@peteraltmaier) January 21, 2019

Unusually, MPs are able to amend the so-called neutral motion tabled by the Prime Minister, with votes due to take place on January 29.

One group, including senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory former minister Nick Boles, is seeking to give time for a Bill to suspend the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

Another more radical amendment drawn up by former attorney general Dominic Grieve would allow a motion by a minority of 300 MPs  from at least five parties and including 10 Tories  to be debated as the first item of Commons business the next day.
The President of Ireland has said the world is witnessing the return of an ugly xenophobic corruption of nationalism.

Michael D Higgins also said that climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing Ireland.

Mr Higgins made the remarks during a keynote address to mark the centenary of the first sitting of Dail Eireann.

Mr Higgins said: Across the world, we are witnessing the return of an ugly, xenophobic corruption of nationalism, long since thought vanquished from our political life.

The duty to welcome and shelter those fleeing war, persecution and famine  so often relied upon by Irish men and women throughout the ages  is now being openly disdained, even discarded, by elements in our European Union.

A special commemorative event was held on Monday at Dublins Mansion House to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of the first public sitting  which took place on January 21, 1919.

Parliamentarians from both the lower and upper houses of the Irish parliament held a joint sitting in the round room of the Mansion House to commemorate the occasion.

TDs and senators, direct descendants of the members of the first Dail, MLAs, ambassadors and representatives from parliaments across the EU were among the invited guests.

Mr Higgins warned attendees of the dangers of climate change.

He added: In this century, our planet and our people face new dangers undreamed of by our forebears: the disastrous loss of natural habitats and species both here and across our shared and vulnerable planet, and the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change present the Ireland of today with stark challenges.

Challenges that cannot wait to be addressed.

He also told those gathered that the establishment of Dail Eireann was not only a revolutionary act of national self-determination, but an act of defiance against an empire that ruled over vast territories and diverse peoples, an assertion that sovereignty belonged not to the Crown, but to the Irish people alone.

Given the great forces ranged against that claim, the first Dail represented an act of extraordinary imagination and courage, a courage that would be called upon to be matched and surpassed by the Irish people time and time again in the turbulent and difficult years that followed, Mr Higgins said.

Mr Higgins added that it offered the people of Ireland hope.

Our forebears were not merely opening a legislative assembly, they were founding a new nation, one capable of articulating and vindicating the rights and aspirations of the Irish people, he said.

President of Ireland Michael D Higgins addresses the audience (Maxwells/PA)

Although there were only 27 elected members in attendance for the first session of the Dail  some 34 others were in prison and some refused to take their seats  it marked a crucial step in the countrys struggle for independence.

Members claimed the right of Ireland to self-government and adopted a provisional constitution.

The meeting took place within weeks of the 1918 elections, in which 69 Sinn Fein candidates were elected.

But the Sinn Fein elected representatives rejected the Westminster parliament and declared independence.

Mr Higgins told those gathered that those who had assembled in 1919 did so to realise a dream, but he said it must be remembered that the first Dail did not represent the aspirations of all the people on the island.

Many Irish citizens in Northern Ireland will join us today in celebrating the events of 100 years ago as a momentous step towards our independence, he said.

Let us also acknowledge, however, that the legitimacy of Dail Eireann and its institutions was not accepted by a significant number of people, particularly by a majority in the counties that were later to be incorporated into the entity that came to be Northern Ireland.

Mr Higgins added that it was important to reflect on both the successes and failures of the countrys collective past.

In his speech, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar paid tribute to the countrys forebearers but he acknowledged that some of the ideals outlined 100 years ago had not yet been fulfilled.

Mr Varadkar said: Industrial schools, illegal adoptions, and mother and baby homes were a betrayal of those ideals.

Although today the rate of child poverty in Ireland is only a fraction of what it was 100 years ago, and is falling, we must do better.

The inaugural meeting occurred on the same day as the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence.

The war raged for two years until 1921, after which 26 of the 32 counties on the island of Ireland became independent of the United Kingdom.

The Irish Free State was established in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Ireland went on to become a Republic in 1949.
Topshop owner Sir Philip Green is seeking damages over being named in Parliament as the businessman behind an injunction against the Daily Telegraph.

Court of Appeal judges temporarily barred the newspaper from identifying the tycoon or revealing confidential information relating to allegations of misconduct made against him by five employees.

But former Cabinet minister Lord Hain named Sir Philip in the House of Lords two days after the courts ruling in October.

The Labour peer said he had been contacted by someone intimately involved in the case and felt it was his duty to use parliamentary privilege to identify the retail mogul.

Despite Lord Hains revelation, Sir Philip and two of his companies are continuing legal action against the newspapers publisher Telegraph Media Group Ltd in a bid to stop further details being made public.

During a preliminary hearing at the High Court on Monday, lawyers representing Sir Philip, Arcadia and Topshop/Topman said Lord Hains intervention had frustrated the original injunction.

James Price QC said the case had attracted a storm of publicity, much of which was ill-informed and extremely unfair.

The barrister told the court: The fact is that the injunction has, to a considerable degree, been set at naught.

The ability of the claimants to enforce their rights has been very substantially reduced.

Mr Price said the matter of whether the Telegraph was in some way involved in Lord Hain being given the information should be investigated further, with a view to a potential damages claim against the newspaper.

He added: We accept that Lord Hain has, for better or worse, complete immunity.

Nobody is seeking damages from Lord Hain.

Mr Justice Warby, hearing the case, told the court the injunction was first sought after Sir Philip and an executive at his Arcadia firm were contacted by a Telegraph journalist in July last year.

The newspaper intended to publish allegations of misconduct made against Sir Philip by five employees  who all received substantial payments after settling their claims.

In all five cases, the employees had agreed to keep the details of their complaints confidential under non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

The injunction was initially refused by a High Court judge, but was later granted by the Court of Appeal in October pending a full trial of the issues  which is due to take place next month.

The judge said he was anxious as much of the case as possible should be in public, but heard several applications in private to avoid revealing details which remain confidential at this stage.

After Lord Hains statement was made in the chamber and broadcast on parliamentlive.tv, the peer confirmed it referred to the Topshop boss.

Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to hasten measures to improve regulation around so-called gagging clauses in response to questions about the case.

In August last year, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave refused to gag the newspaper, but a challenge was mounted by Sir Philip  then identified in court papers as ABC  and the two companies.

Outlining their decision for granting the injunction, Master of the Rolls Sir Terence Etherton, Lord Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Henderson said there was a real prospect that publication would cause substantial and possibly irreversible harm to the claimants.
Britains last surviving Dambuster has slammed the mindless vandalism which saw white paint thrown over the Bomber Command Memorial.

The RAF Benevolent Fund said it was the fourth time in six years that the statue in Londons Green Park had been sabotaged, with the paint still wet at daybreak on Monday.

As a Dambuster, Squadron Leader George Johnny Johnson conducted a night of raids on German dams in 1943, in an effort to disable Hitlers industrial heartland.

Damage to the Bomber Command Memorial (RAF Benevolent Fund/PA)

Reacting to the damage, the 97-year-old Bomber Command veteran said: What a disgrace, such mindless vandalism.

How disrespectful to the nearly 58,000 people who gave their lives so that these thugs have the freedom to carry out such acts? I hope they are caught soon, and suitably punished.

Bomber Command veteran Air Commodore Charles Clarke, who flew in Lancasters as a bomb aimer and was captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III after he had to parachute from his burning plane, called the act disgraceful and mindless, adding it did not achieve anything.

A statue of Second World War prime minister Sir Winston Churchill in the capitals New Bond Street was also targeted with white paint, and images on social media also showed damage to the Royal Marines Graspan Memorial on The Mall.

CCTV footage from nearby the Bomber Command Memorial  which commemorates more than 55,500 members of the Bomber Command who died in the Second World War  has been passed to police.

Scotland Yard said officers are investigating reports of criminal damage to a number of statues in west London.

Alongside the vandalism to the Bomber Command Memorial and the Churchill statue, the force said it has also received reports of damage to the Canada Memorial in Green Park, with white paint also sprayed onto a shop front in New Bond Street.

The Met said no arrests have been made, inquiries are ongoing, and that officers are working to establish whether the incidents are linked.

The RAF Benevolent Fund said it estimates that repairs could run into thousands of pounds.

Air Vice-Marshal David Murray, the charitys chief executive, said: This is the worst example of vandalism we have seen at the memorial and it is utterly heartbreaking to see the memory of all those brave airmen disrespected in this way.

The figures of Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill on the Allies sculpture in New Bond Street, London, which has been vandalised with white paint (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

This despicable act took just moments but will take considerable time and resources to put right.

But like the remarkable men who the memorial commemorates, we will not rest until we have finished the job.

Former British Army officer Johnny Mercer, now a Conservative MP, also decried the vandalism.

He said: The courage and aspiration these memorials commemorate is sorely lacking in some corners of Britain  and in fact her politics  at the moment.

The Bomber Command statue was vandalised in 2013 when a man daubed the word Islam on it shortly after the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks.

A week later, a second man wrote Lee Rigbys killers should hang, EDL and F*** the police on the memorial. He was jailed for 12 weeks.
Theresa May has scrapped a 65 fee for EU citizens wanting to stay in Britain after Brexit on the same day as its registration policy was rolled out.

The Prime Minister announced on Monday that the controversial settlement scheme payment was being waived as she sought to win fresh concessions from the rebel MPs she needs to get a deal though Parliament.

She said that she had listened to concerns about the fee and moved to remove the financial barrier facing an estimated 3.5 million EU nationals living in the UK.

It came after rights groups had earlier warned that the Home Office risked creating a new Windrush scandal if it got the scheme wrong.

(PA Graphics)

Mrs May told MPs The next phase of testing of the scheme for EU nationals to confirm their status has launched today.

And having listened to concerns from members and organisations like the3million group, I can confirm today that when we roll out the scheme in full on the 30th March the Government will waive the application fee, so that there is no financial barrier for any EU nationals who wish to stay and anyone who has or will apply during the pilot fee will have their fee reimbursed.

EU nationals and their family members who wish to remain in the country beyond June 2021 must apply to the settlement scheme, which enters its first public testing phase on Monday.

The website and app opens to EU nationals living in the UK with passports and their non-EU family members with biometric residence cards, ahead of a full launch by April.

Critics had warned that thousands could be left without legal status if applications were not processed quickly and efficiently.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: This was the right thing to do. But its an idea that should never have seen the light of day in the first place. Its a pity it took the Government so long to see sense.

With all the talk of a no-deal Brexit, EU nationals have more than enough on their minds, without having to worry about coming up with the cash just so they can carry on living here.

Welcome the announcement by @theresa_may that the UK will waive settled status fees for EU citizens, a key demand of @Europarl_EN. I hope cross-party co-operation & consultations will really start now, leading to the closest possible EU-UK future relationship. #Brexit  Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) January 21, 2019

The European Parliaments chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, welcomed the U-turn, tweeting: I hope cross-party co-operation and consultations will really start now, leading to the closest possible EU-UK future relationship.

People have complained of difficulties since the settled status application scheme launched on Monday morning.

The mobile app is currently only available on Android phones enabled with NFC contactless technology, so will not work on iPhones or iPads, although there other ways to apply.

French citizen Laurence Bascle, 45, who moved to the UK from France more than 20 years ago and works for a tech NGO in London, said that although she has an NFC-enabled Android phone, when she tried to download the Governments app she was met with a message saying her device isnt compatible with this version.

She said she would try to use a friends phone to register, but said: How many people can actually use this app? I have no idea and people dont have any idea until they download it.

Pressure group the3million, which campaigned for the fees to be scrapped, surveyed its EU members to find their biggest concern was losing their rights in the future, with founder Maike Bohn warning trust in ministers is low.

Officials expect they can process about 6,000 applications a day, with about 1,500 caseworkers on the scheme and a further 400 in a resolution centre to deal with issues.

A trial of nearly 30,000 applicants was restricted to people in specific professions, with only a small number of vulnerable people participating.

More than two thirds were approved in three working days and 81% within a week.

While improvements to the process have been made, nearly a quarter of people told the Government they found it difficult during previous testing.

BREAKING: Prime Minister confirming that following our lobbying the 65 Settled Status fee for EU citizens will be scrapped. Any paid fees will be reimbursed! pic.twitter.com/hE9XtUGBEO  the3million (@the3million) January 21, 2019

The price of applying for settled status had been set at 65 for adults and 32.50 for children, although people already granted permanent residence face no extra charge.

Those who have lived continuously in the UK for five years can apply for settled status, meaning they are free to go on living and working in the UK indefinitely.

(PA Graphics)

People who do not have five years residence can seek to stay until they have, at which point they can seek settled status.

Applicants are asked to prove their identity, declare any criminal convictions and upload a facial photograph.

Officials check employment and benefits data to confirm proof of residence, while all applications are run through UK criminality and security databases.

A Home Office spokesman said: We are pleased with how the app has performed in the pilot phase and we are monitoring applicant feedback very closely, including reviews on the Google play store.

We also continue to engage with Apple regarding the app functionality on iOS devices.

Once the scheme is fully open by 30 March, alternatives to the ID Document Check app will include the applicant posting their identity document to the Home Office to be checked and returned to them quickly, or visiting a local chip check service run by a Local Authority or other provider.
(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JANUARY 23 - Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi has declared January 23 an annual day of national memory to honour the abolition of slavery and human trafficking in Tunisia.



This year marks the 173rd anniversary of the decision made on January 23, 1846 by the Husainid Bey of Tunis, Ahmad I ibn Mustafa, who abolished slavery in Tunisia.



The president's proclamation was announced in a statement from his office that also spoke of a meeting between Essebsi and the chairperson of the government's anti-trafficking commission, Raoudha Laabidi.



Tunisia was among the first Arab countries to abolish slavery, a full 11 years ahead of the Ottoman Empire's decision to do so.(ANSAmed).


Frances data privacy watchdog has fined Google 50 million euros (44 million), the first penalty for a US tech giant under new European data privacy rules that took effect last year.

The National Data Protection Commission said it fined the US internet giant for lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding ad personalisation for users.

It is one of the biggest regulatory enforcement actions since the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in May.

The rules are aimed at clarifying individual rights to personal data collected by companies, which are required to use plain language to explain what they are doing with it.

Even though many tech multinationals such as Google have their headquarters in the US, they still have to comply with the new rules because they have millions of users in Europe.

This is it.

Today, our EU #DataProtection rules enter into application, putting the Europeans back in control of their data.

Europe asserts its digital sovereignty and gets ready for the digital age.

Read our statement  https://t.co/P19IRPWfqv #GDPR pic.twitter.com/hwCKSj2TjE  European Commission  (@EU_Commission) May 24, 2018

The commission said Google users were not sufficiently informed about what they were agreeing to as the company collected data for targeted advertisements.

The Google logo at the companys headquarters in Mountain View, California (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

Users have to take too many steps, sometimes up to five or six actions, to find out how and why their data is being used, the commission said.

Googles description of why it is processing their data is described in a too generic and vague manner, it added.

The companys infringements deprive the users of essential guarantees regarding processing operations that can reveal important parts of their private life, the commission said.

The commission acted on complaints by two data protection advocacy groups, NOYB.EU and La Quadrature du Net, filed immediately after GDPR took effect.

Google said in a statement it is deeply committed to transparency and user control as well as GDPR consent requirements.

Were studying the decision to determine our next steps, it said.
Theresa May has promised to take a more flexible, open and inclusive approach to involving Parliament in negotiating a future relationship with the EU as she seeks to revive her Withdrawal Agreement.

And she said she would conduct further talks this week on the controversial Brexit backstop to find an arrangement to take back to Brussels that meets obligations to the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland in a way that can command the greatest possible support in the House.

In a statement to the House of Commons, the PM also offered a guarantee that workers rights and environmental safeguards would not be eroded as a result of Brexit.

And she scrapped the 65 fee for EU nationals wishing to remaining in the UK with settled status.

Mrs May again voiced her opposition to delaying or halting the UKs planned departure from the EU on March 29, telling MPs she did not believe there was a majority in the Commons for a second referendum.

And she refused to take a no deal Brexit off the table, saying the only way to do this was either to agree a deal or to revoke the Article 50 withdrawal process, which she was not willing to do.

Mrs May was addressing MPs after holding cross-party talks in the wake of the overwhelming rejection of her Withdrawal Agreement by the Commons last week.

Insisting the Government approached the talks in a constructive spirit, Mrs May said she regretted Jeremy Corbyns decision to boycott them.

Extraordinary the tories are now boasting they are scrapping pay to stay for EU citizens. It was their idea in the first place! Its like the burglar who ransacks your house and then wants a reward for returning something of sentimental value . #brexithaos https://t.co/Z8Q0KHOz9W  stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) January 21, 2019

But Mr Corbyn dismissed the talks as phoney, telling MPs: The Prime Minister must change her red lines, because her current deal is undeliverable.

Mrs Mays statement came as Poland broke ranks with the rest of the European Union by suggesting that the Brexit deadlock could be ended by putting a five-year time limit on the controversial backstop.

The Prime Minister emphatically dismissed reports that she was considering rewriting the Good Friday Agreement to neutralise the issue.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney met chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels on Monday and said he received assurances that the EU remains firmly supportive of the Withdrawal Agreement in full, including its guarantees of no hard border in Ireland.

Mr Barnier himself said: We are working 27 as a team, a single team and we negotiate as one.

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney held talks with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels (European Commission Audiovisual Services/PA Images)

But Polands foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz signalled a different approach from Warsaw, telling the Rzeczpospolita newspaper: If Ireland asked the EU to amend the agreement with the British on the backstop so that it would apply temporarily  lets say five years  the matter would be solved.

It would obviously be less favourable for Ireland than an indefinite backstop, but much more advantageous than no-deal Brexit.

Mr Czaputowicz said that London and Dublin were playing chicken over the border and risked a head-on collision in which Ireland stood to lose the most.

In her statement, Mrs May said: I will be talking further this week to colleagues  including in the DUP  to consider how we might meet our obligations to the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland in a way that can command the greatest possible support in the House.

And I will then take the conclusions of those discussion back to the EU.

Spelling out the approach she plans to take to negotiations on post-Brexit relations between the UK and EU, Mrs May said: It is my responsibility to listen to the legitimate concerns of colleagues, both those who voted Leave and who voted Remain, in shaping our negotiating mandate for our future partnership with the EU.

So the Government will consult this House on its negotiating mandate, to ensure that Members have the chance to make their views known, and that we harness the knowledge of all select committees, across the full range of expertise needed for this next phase negotiations  from security to trade.

This will also strengthen the Governments hand in the negotiations, giving the EU confidence about our position and avoiding leaving the bulk of Parliamentary debate to a point when we are under huge time pressure to ratify. 

Louise Hummerstone and Hugh Riddle of the SODEMAction group campaign against Brexit on a motorway bridge above the M20 near Ashford in Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA)

And she added: I will ensure that we provide Parliament with a guarantee that not only will we not erode protections for workers rights and the environment but we will ensure this country leads the way.

A senior member of Angela Merkels Government, industry minister Peter Altmaier, warned against trying the EUs patience for political reasons.

Sympathy, patience and readiness to wait until the UKs position will be clarified are of utmost important to avoid the worst, warned Mr Altmaier.

They should not be misused for party politics. Large majority wants to exclude hard Brexit  in the interest of the UK and beyond.

(PA Graphics)

Unusually, MPs will be able to amend the so-called neutral motion being tabled by the Prime Minister, with votes due to take place on January 29.

One group, including senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory former minister Nick Boles, is seeking to give time for a Bill to suspend the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

Another more radical amendment drawn up by former attorney general Dominic Grieve would allow a motion by a minority of 300 MPs  from at least five parties and including 10 Tories  to be debated as the first item of Commons business the next day.

Business Minister Richard Harrington warned that crashing out of the EU without a deal would be an `absolute disaster (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA)

Business minister Richard Harrington warned that crashing out of the EU without a deal would be an absolute disaster, telling Today he was afraid of car-makers Jaguar and Mini closing as a result.

Its not a road to a free trade agreement, its not a road to anything, said Mr Harrington. Its an absolute disaster for the country and its supported by a minority of a minority of people.

Cross-party talks were continuing in Whitehall, with Mrs Mays effective deputy David Lidington speaking to MPs who support a second referendum.

Labour MPs Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker and Luciana Berger defied Jeremy Corbyns plea for the partys MPs to boycott the talks.
DENVER (AP) - Blowing snow and icy roads in suburban Denver and other parts of eastern Colorado have closed schools and shut down highways.

Stretches of Interstate 70 were closed Tuesday, preventing travelers headed from near the Kansas border from reaching the Denver area.

Winds in some places were gusting up to 45 mph (72 kilometers per hour) and creating blizzard conditions.

The snow has been fairly light but the wind is pushing it across roadways, hurting visibility.

The storm has also shut down schools and military installations in and around Colorado Springs, including Fort Carson and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The avalanche danger was also elevated in Colorado's mountains.

On Monday, a backcountry skier died in a slide near Aspen.
The Arthurian legend gets a modern and more youthful spin in "The Kid Who Would Be King ," a surprisingly delightful film full of action, heart, a crazy-haired Patrick Stewart (as "old" Merlin) and a few genuinely good gags, and it really couldn't have come at a better time.

It's an Amblin-esque movie about fantasy, geek culture and outcasts that's actually been made for modern kids - not nostalgic adults who crave both the cozy comfort of the things they grew up with, but, like, with way more violence, gore and nudity. "The Kid Who Would Be King" reclaims the fantasy genre for actual kids of today. And it's not even set in the 1980s.

You can thank writer and director Joe Cornish for the restraint (although the score is pretty heavy on the synths). The film is his follow-up to "Attack the Block," the cult sci-fi hit that helped put "Star Wars'" John Boyega on the map. Here he introduces audiences to some other young talents to watch, including Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Andy Serkis' son, as the would-be-king, Alex.

Alex is a normal and slightly dorky lower-middle class British schoolkid, living with his mom (Denise Gough). He struggles with everyday stuff - waking up on time, completing his school assignments and protecting his buddy, Bedders (a truly wonderful Dean Chaumoo), from schoolyard bullies named Lance and Kaye, but he's trying his best.

Then one night, running from Lance (Tom Taylor) and Kaye (Rihanna Dorris), Alex spots a sword in the middle of a construction site and removes it from the stone with ease. He and Bedders plug the inscription into Google translate and try to keep their imaginations in check when they realize that it might be real, but, both the audience and the boys will fail at this.

From here, the film just gets grander and weirder, with the introduction of Young Merlin (featuring a brilliant comedic performance from Angus Imrie), and the enemy, Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson). Morgana, we're told, is Arthur's power-crazy half-sister who has been waiting for centuries for the perfect moment to rise. Although Brexit isn't explicitly mentioned, it is the not-so-subtle context for all of this.

This image released by 20th Century Fox shows, from left, Rhianna Dorris, Tom Taylor, Dean Chaumoo, and Louis Ashbourne Serkis in a scene from "The Kid Who Would Be King." (Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox via AP)

When creatures start attacking at night, Bedders and Alex decide to enlist Lance and Kaye to help. They might be bullies, but they're also the strongest, and Alex figures it's worth the risk. And what follows is a big, classic quest as the four kids journey through the countryside and learn about sword fighting, the chivalric code, teamwork, trust, and the Lady of the Lake (who can be conjured in any body of water). Although basically unknowns, all the young actors have charm to spare and carry the film admirably.

"The Kid Who Would Be King" really is quite a sweet and well-told reimagining of this story that's fit for the whole family. And it is refreshing that it's not trying to be too dark or edgy, although it definitely overstays its welcome, clocking in at over two hours. But it's a small price to pay for something so enjoyable on its own that might also just get some kids to start reading about Arthur and Lancelot as well.

"The Kid Who Would Be King," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "fantasy action violence, scary images, thematic elements including some bullying, and language." Running time: 132 minutes. Three stars out of four.

___

MPAA Definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

This image released by 20th Century Fox shows Patrick Stewart and Louis Ashbourne Serkis in a scene from "The Kid Who Would Be King." (Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Fox shows Louis Ashbourne Serkis in a scene from "The Kid Who Would Be King." (Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Fox shows Louis Ashbourne Serkis in a scene from "The Kid Who Would Be King." (Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Fox shows, from left, Rhianna Dorris, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Angus Imrie, Dean Chaumoo, and Tom Taylor in a scene from "The Kid Who Would Be King." (Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox via AP)
"The Nowhere Child: a Novel" (Minotaur), by Christian White

A young woman's fond memories of her happy childhood and loving parents are turned upside down when she learns she may have been kidnapped more than 28 years ago in "The Nowhere Child," a stunning debut by Christian White.

The perceptive plot of "The Nowhere Child" works well as a story about the extremes that one will go to protect loved ones as well as a tale about what makes a family. White skillfully creates a credible story filled with surprises and realistic characters worth caring about.

Kim Leamy has a quiet life teaching photography at a school in Melbourne, Australia. Her loving mother, Carol, recently died but she has a solid relationship with her supportive stepfather, Dean. While she isn't as close to her half-sister Amy, she knows she can always count on her.

Kim's life changes when she is approached by an American, James Finn, who tells her that she may be Sammy Went, who was kidnapped from her home in Kentucky when she was 2. Kim doesn't believe him. She has her birth certificate and her family has always lived in Australia.

Not only does James have reams of paperwork, he also has a DNA sample that he surreptitiously took from her that definitely proves that Kim is Sammy, and that he is her brother. Kim finds it hard to believe that the warm, happy home in which she was raised was the result of a crime. She agrees to go to Kentucky with James to find out what could have happened.

This cover image released by Minotaur shows "The Nowhere Child," a novel by Christian White. (Minotaur via AP)

White seamlessly moves "The Nowhere Child" from the present, as Kim tries to piece together a lifetime of lies, back to the incidents 28 years ago that may have led to an abduction.

White shows life in a small Kentucky town, the Went family divided by religious fanaticism and a spiritual leader who encourages snake handling without deriding small towns or religion. Despite the evidence that James presents, suspense mounts as the plot explores the decades-old secrets that the Went family held close.

The appealing Kim's confusion over whether to doubt her childhood or accept this new dysfunctional family adds to the tension in "The Nowhere Child."
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Talks between American, South Korean and North Korean diplomats in Sweden - considered a preparation for an upcoming U.S.-Korea summit, have ended, an official with the independent think tank that co-hosted the meeting said Tuesday.

Stephanie Blenckner of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, that focuses on research on conflicts, armaments and arms control, said the talks ended Monday evening. She gave no details.

Blenckner said Tuesday SIPRI "found the meeting constructive."

Talks focused on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and "confidence-building" relations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Erik Karlsson said, declining to elaborate.

Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said Monday experts in nuclear disarmament, economic development and regional security attended the diplomats' meeting in Sweden.

The "small format" talks, as described by the Swedish Foreign Ministry, included North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, Lee Do-hoon of South Korea and Steve Biegun, U.S. special envoy for North Korea negotiations, plus diplomats from Sweden.

Authorities haven't disclosed the venue or schedule for the talks taking place before a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, expected in late February.

The first meeting ever to bring the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. face-to-face took place in June when Kim and Trump met in Singapore.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union and African Union on Tuesday committed to work closely with Congo's president-elect Felix Tshisekedi, backing off reservations about the disputed vote.

Speaking after a meeting of EU-AU government ministers, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged Tshisekedi, the son of the late opposition leader Etienne, to help heal divisions in the turbulent central African country. He faces inauguration on Thursday.

"The task facing the new president contains major challenges, in several sectors, on the security, social, economic and governance levels," Mogherini told reporters in Brussels. "All of this requires that the president be a unifier; that he engages in a dialogue inside the country as well as abroad."

Rwandan Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera, who co-chaired the talks, said the AU commits to work with Congo's people "to continue to surmount the challenges that may remain as they enter into a new political dispensation."

Congo's Constitutional Court on Sunday refused runner-up Martin Fayulu's request for a recount and reaffirmed Tshisekedi's win, despite leaked data attributed to the electoral commission that showed Fayulu won.

Previously, the AU had noted "serious doubts" about the vote and made an unprecedented request for Congo to delay the final results. Congo did not.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, third right, chairs an EU-African Union meeting at the Europa building in Brussels, Tuesday, Jan. 22. 2019. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Both blocs said only that they take note of the court's decision, preferring to focus on the fact that the elections were held at all. The mineral-rich country is on the brink of its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960 from Belgium.

Mogherini said that fact "in itself is a major achievement and the Congolese people have clearly expressed their will for change."

She urged Tshisekedi to "build a shared agenda to respond to the political and economic hopes of the population."

Sudan's Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira Al-Fadil, center, poses with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, second right, and other attendees at the start of an EU-African Union meeting at the Europa building in Brussels, Tuesday, Jan. 22. 2019. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

A cameraman films as EU foreign ministers and representatives pose for a group photo with African Union counterparts during an EU-African Union summit at the Europa building in Brussels, Tuesday, Jan. 22. 2019. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is heading to Washington to take a new post with a leading lobbying firm.

Ballard Partners announced Tuesday the well-known Republican politician will head the firm's new regulatory compliance office. The firm is headed by Brian Ballard, who has close ties to President Donald Trump.

The news was first reported by Politico.

Bondi left office earlier this month after serving two terms as attorney general.

Last November, President Trump said he wanted Bondi to join his administration. During her time as office Bondi was a frequent guest on Fox News, which stoked speculation she may start a television career.

Ballard Partners says Bondi will assist large companies implement policies dealing with various issues such as data privacy and opioid abuse.
MILAN (AP) - Italian police have arrested seven suspected members of the Mafia, as part of an ongoing operation to prevent the Sicilian Mafia from re-establishing a new hierarchy following the prison death 14 months ago of the last boss of bosses.

The arrests Tuesday in Palermo came a month after authorities announced they detained 47 people and dismantled the reassembled upper echelons of the Mafia.

Authorities said two new turncoats among those arrested in December provided information leading to the new arrests. They included a close relative of a boss of the Ciaculli faction and the son of the jailed San Lorenzo boss.

Both are accused of taking part in a May 29 meeting of clan leaders in Palermo, the first such meeting after Salvatore "Toto" Riina's death in November 2017.
GAUHATI,India (AP) - Police in northeastern India have arrested 61 Rohingya Muslims this week for illegal entry, officials said Tuesday, amid reports that more than 1,300 have recently crossed the border from India into Bangladesh.

In Assam state, police said they arrested 30 Rohingya, including 12 children, who were found traveling on a bus Monday night to Gauhati, the state capital.

In neighboring Tripura state, police said they arrested 31 Rohingya on Tuesday after they spent two days in the open in a no man's land along the border with Bangladesh. The Rohingya had been stranded there after both Bangladeshi and Indian border guards refused to let them enter their territories.

Ajoy Das, a local police official, said members of India's Border Security Force provided them with food and blankets and later detained them before handing them over to police.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar, chiefly to Bangladesh, since August 2017 to escape army-led violence against them. Most Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar are denied citizenship and face widespread discrimination.

An estimated 40,000 other Rohingya have taken refuge in parts of India. Less than 15,000 are registered with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The Indian government, led by a Hindu nationalist party, says it has evidence there are extremists who pose a threat to the country's security among the Rohingya. It has deported more than a dozen in the past two months for illegal entry.

A Rohingya Muslim woman cries as she holds a child after they were arrested, outside a police station in Agartala, India, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Police in northeastern India say they have arrested 61 Rohingya Muslims this week amid reports that more than 1,300 have recently crossed the border into Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Abhisek Saha)

Indian border guards have denied Bangladeshi media reports that India is pushing Rohingya across the border.

"In recent weeks more than 1,300 Rohingya people have entered Bangladesh from India and they are now staying in different camps in Cox's Bazar," said Saikat Biswas, a spokesman for the Inter-Sector Coordination Group for U.N. agencies working in Bangladesh to deal with the Rohingya crisis.

The huge exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar began after security forces there launched a brutal crackdown following attacks by an insurgent group on guard posts.

Despite assurances from Myanmar, human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say conditions are not yet safe for Rohingya refugees to go back.

Many people in Myanmar do not accept Rohingya as a native ethnic group, viewing them as "Bengalis" who entered illegally from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

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Alam contributed from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Migrants: Italy can close Sophia if it wants, Avramopoulos EU Commissioner says mission a success

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, JANUARY 23 - The EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos, on Wednesday said that, ''if Italy, the country that hosts and has the command of the mission, wants to stop operation Sophia, it can take this decision''. Avramopoulos was speaking after Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that the EU's naval mission in the Mediterranean to fight human trafficking must be scrapped unless the rules are changed.



The commissioner added that ''Sophia is a successful operation and should continue''.



''The fate of operation Sophia has not been decided yet'', Avramopoulos also said. ''Contacts with member states are still ongoing'', he noted, stressing that the operation is ''successful''.



Talking about Germany, the EU commissioner said: ''I want to be very clear, there is no question of Germany's suspension in the Sophia mission, the withdrawal of the ship had been planned as a routine for February this year. It is up to Germany to decide how to deploy its means''. Berlin will continue to participate, the commissioner assured, and there are not indications that it will not be participating in future.



(ANSAmed).




BERLIN (AP) - American tech giant Google has opened a new office in Berlin that it says will give it the space to expand in the German capital.

CEO Sundar Pichai said Tuesday the space means Google could more than double the number of Berlin employees to 300. Google currently has 1,400 employees in Germany.

Pichai says "the city has long been a capital of culture and media. Now it's also home to a fast-growing startup scene and an engine for innovation."

Google has faced regulatory headwinds in Europe, and was fined 50 million euros ($57 million) Monday in France for alleged violations of European data privacy rules.

Google Central Europe vice president Philipp Justus didn't directly address the fine, but said Google's committed to transparency and clarity on what data is collected and how it's used.
GARFIELD, N.J. (AP) - Authorities say a man was found bludgeoned to death inside a northern New Jersey apartment that he shared with another man who had killed himself by jumping in front of a train.

But investigators are still trying to determine what happened in both cases.

Bergen County prosecutors say 25-year-old Manuel Buri, of Garfield, was found dead Saturday. Authorities say his body was found while they were searching for possible relatives of 55-year-old Manuel Ortega-Pimentel.

Prosecutors say Buri died of multiple blunt force trauma to the head. His death was ruled a homicide.

Ortega-Pimentel was struck by the train around 3:50 p.m. Saturday and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities say the area where Ortega-Pimentel was struck is not far from the apartment where he and Buri lived.
CAIRO (AP) - Sudan's embattled president flew Tuesday to Qatar, the tiny but wealthy Gulf state that has offered him help as he faces protests initially sparked by the country's economic woes but which soon shifted to calling on him to step down.

Qatar's official news agency said President Omar al-Bashir, in power since 1989, will meet Wednesday with the emirate's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss "brotherly relations and ways to bolster them."

Sudan's official news agency reported his departure from the capital Khartoum, saying he and Sheikh Tamim will discuss bilateral relations and efforts to cement peace in Darfur, the western Sudanese region where security forces brutally crushed a rebellion.

Al-Bashir was indicted in 2010 by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur, where an insurgency erupted in 2003. To avoid arrest and repatriation to The Hague, the court's seat, he has restricted his travel to African and Arab nations.

The dispatches by the two agencies gave no other details on the Sudanese leader's visit, but in a Dec. 22 telephone call to al-Bashir, Qatar's ruler stated his country's readiness to "provide all that is needed" to help Sudan get through its crisis, according to a report by the official Sudanese news agency.

There has been no word since on whether the emir made good on his pledge, but the Sudanese leader's visit is widely interpreted as a bid to secure urgent financial aid to Sudan, which lost three quarters of its oil wealth when the south of the country seceded in 2011, plunging the country into its worst economic crisis in decades.

FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2011 file photo, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir attends the funeral of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sudan's embattled president has flown to Qatar, the tiny but wealthy Gulf state that has offered him help as he faces protests initially sparked by the country's economic woes but which soon shifted to calling on him to step down. Qatar's official news agency said al-Bashir, in power since 1989, will meet Wednesday with the emirate's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

A devaluation of the currency in October pushed up prices, but lifting state subsidies on bread last month proved to be the final stroke, sparking the latest bout of unrest. A cash crunch also led to long lines at ATMs and limits on cash withdrawals. Similarly, a fuel shortage meant hours-long wait at gas stations.

Al-Bashir, in an apparent bid to placate growing discontent, has promised to raise salaries, restructure the banking sector and continue to subsidize basic food items, but he did not say how he intended to fund these measures.

Significantly, al-Bashir's key Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have made no official pronouncements explicitly supporting him. Egypt, Sudan's powerful neighbor to the north, has publicly announced its support for stability and security in Sudan but, again, made no mention of al-Bashir.

The three countries - Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates - are at sharp odds with Qatar, accusing the energy-rich nation of supporting radical Islamic groups in the region and forging close ties with Iran, archrival of the Saudis and the Emiratis.

An Islamist, al-Bashir has often in the past appeared to be playing one ally against another for his own gain. Beside Qatar, for example, he has forged close ties with Turkey, another rival of his Arab allies. He has sought to win the goodwill of the Saudis by dispatching Sudanese troops to Yemen to fight alongside a Saudi-led coalition against Shiite rebels aligned with Iran.

More recently, he has blamed the unrest, now in its fifth week, on saboteurs and what he repeatedly calls foreign schemes against Sudan. Already among the longest serving leaders in the region, he has said any change of leadership could only come through the ballot box, a reference to next year's presidential elections in which he is expected to run for another term in office.

Al-Bashir's security chief, Salah Qoush, has given rare insight into the government's views on the unrest in a leaked audiotape purporting to contain remarks he made at a closed meeting Sunday. The authenticity of the tape could not be independently verified, but Sudanese activists said the voice matched Qoush's.

He blamed the unrest on secularists and communists and vowed that Islamic rule in Sudan would "never ever" be brought down by demonstrations. "We must revise (our policies) and improve our performance, but we must also defend our (Islamic) experiment," said Qoush, himself an Islamist.

"The government will not fall, not even after six months of protests," he added.
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, one of Ukraine's most popular and resilient politicians, has announced her presidential bid.

Opinion polls have consistently placed the 58-year-old, who was the country's prime minister between 2007 and 2010, as a front-runner in the presidential election set for March 31, ahead of incumbent Petro Poroshenko.

Tymoshenko announced her bid to a rapturous audience at her party congress in Kiev on Tuesday, promising to regain control of the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula and the separatist-held areas in the east. She assailed Poroshenko and top officials for profiting from the ongoing separatist conflict in the east.

"I can promise you I will not be treating the war as a profitable business," she said.

Tymoshenko was first elected to parliament in 1996 and spearheaded massive protests in 2004 together with then-presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. Following Yushchenko's victory, Tymoshenko was appointed prime minister. She was dismissed less than nine months later amid disputes with Yushchenko. She served as prime minister again between 2007 and 2010.

Tymoshenko spent two-and-a-half years in prison for signing a gas deal with Russia, which was largely viewed as retribution by her political rival, then-President Viktor Yanukovych. Tymoshenko narrowly lost to Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential vote and to Poroshenko in 2014. Poroshenko has not formally announced his bid for re-election yet.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko addresses supporters during campaign rally in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Tymoshenko has announced her presidential bid. Opinion polls have placed the 58-year-old, who was the country's prime minister between 2007 and 2010, as a front-runner in the presidential election set for March 31. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Tymoshenko, originally from the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine, has been positioning herself as a pro-NATO, pro-European Union candidate and a supporter of the troops who are fighting Russia-backed separatist in the industrial Donbass region. At the start of her two-hour speech she invited on stage several dozen veterans of the conflict in the east, some of whom served in the grueling battle for the Donetsk airport.

Among other prominent figures who have endorsed Tymoshenko are Patriarch Filaret, leader of one of the split Ukrainian churches, and former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who served as governor for the Black Sea region of Odessa.
BERLIN (AP) - Prosecutors say they've pressed charges against a 29-year-old Syrian man who allegedly was a member of a foreign terror group and violated the war weapons control law.

The man, whose name was not given, allegedly joined the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham insurgent group in Syria from 2013 to 2014.

Frankfurt prosecutors said Tuesday he allegedly volunteered as a fighter and donated 50,000 Syrian lira, then worth about 250 euros (284 dollars) to the group.

He was also in possession of a Kalashnikov and posed for photos for recruiting purposes showing him on pickup trucks using an anti-aircraft gun and a machine cannon.

The man was detained last February when he entered Germany for the second time. He first came to Germany as an asylum-seeker in 2015 but left again in 2017.
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) - Observers say a number of Ugandan forces briefly entered South Sudan's Central Equatoria region last week in a possible violation of a United Nations arms embargo.

Ugandan military spokesman Richard Karemire told The Associated Press that Ugandan forces entered under "a bilateral understanding" to protect a team of engineers fixing the Kaya-Yei road. He said Uganda enters on a case-by-case basis without seeking U.N Security Council permission and that South Sudan's government is aware of their presence.

But South Sudan deputy army spokesman Santo Domic Chol denied any knowledge of Ugandan troops in the country recovering from a five-year civil war that has killed nearly 400,000 people. Uganda has openly provided support for South Sudan's government.

It was not clear how many Ugandan troops entered South Sudan. Six cars with Ugandan soldiers in uniform were seen Wednesday at the Yei River bridge, an aid worker in Yei town said. The worker spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation.

The troops have since left.

Alan Boswell, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, has noted signs of an "imminent" government offensive in Central Equatoria against groups that remain outside the peace deal signed in September by the warring sides led by President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar.

On Monday the National Salvation Front, which did not sign the deal, accused South Sudan's government of attacking its forces in multiple clashes outside Yei over the weekend. "They want the peace to be negotiated and resolved on their terms," spokesman Suba Samuel Manase told the AP.

This month the cease-fire monitoring body charged with overseeing the peace deal's implementation was barred entry to parts of Central Equatoria by the government's national security arm, according to an internal report by the group seen by the AP.

The peace deal has been rife with delays, missed deadlines, continued fighting and denials of access for badly needed humanitarian aid.

Civilians continue to suffer amid the fighting.

Sitting on the floor in the military hospital in the capital, Juba, Manwan Wol held his son's head in his lap as the 8-year-old writhed in pain. He said his son was hit in the head with the butt of a gun when armed men attacked his village in Central Equatoria this month.

"Tribes are attacking other tribes and beating each other," Wol said. "The way I see it, there's no peace."

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CAIRO (AP) - Sudanese authorities have cracked down on Arabic-language foreign media working inside the country, news channels said, as major protests against President Omar al-Bashir enter their second month.

Qatari satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera said that its correspondents in Sudan had their work permits withdrawn by security officials, while its Saudi competitor Al Arabiya said its correspondent had his permit revoked as well.

Both channels have been reporting on the unrest despite a media blackout by authorities, who firmly control the press. The tumult began in earnest on Dec. 19 over skyrocketing prices and a failing economy, but has led to calls for the autocratic ruler's removal.

In a statement late Monday on the Arabic-language Facebook page of its Sudanese channel, Al Jazeera said its Khartoum office was told the decision was made after a review of the work of Osama Ahmed and Ahmed Alrehaid, as well as cameraman Badawi Bashir.

It later denounced the move in a statement from its main press office, calling the decision "arbitrary" and saying it "lacks any credible justification and contradicts the basic norms of press freedom."

"Al Jazeera Media Network expresses its demand to the Sudanese authorities to reinstate the accreditation of our colleagues at the earliest to enable them to carry out their duties safely and without intimidation, as we believe that Journalism is not a Crime," it said, adding that its work in Sudan would continue.

FILE - In this Dec. 21, 2018 file handout photo provided a Sudanese activist, a protester stands in tear gas during clashes with security forces in Khartoum, Sudan. The anti-government protests rocking Sudan for the past month are reminiscent of the Arab Spring uprisings of nearly a decade ago. Demonstrators, many in their 20s and 30s, are trying to remove President Omar al-Bashir, an authoritarian leader, and win freedoms and human rights. (Sudanese Activist via AP, File)

The channel says that the men had previously had their permits approved for 2019 by the government Press Council.

Al Arabiya announced its sanctioning in a tweet also on Monday, saying authorities had stopped correspondent Saad Eddin Hassan from working and withdrawn his permit.

Both Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have broadcast footage from the protests, which have arisen in cities across the country and especially in and around the capital Khartoum, sometimes live.

Al Jazeera in particular is feared by autocrats in the region for the role it played in the 2011 Arab Spring revolts, when it covered protests and pro-democracy movements up close, introducing notions of freedom of speech and assembly to Arab-speaking publics long cowed by authoritarian rulers.

It is now banned, with varying degrees of success, in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other areas.
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt said Tuesday at least seven troops, including an officer, have been killed in clashes with militants in recent operations in restive northern Sinai Peninsula, where its security forces have been battling a long-running insurgency led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

The military said in a statement that forces have killed at least 59 suspected militants and arrested another 142 suspected militants and criminals.

It says airstrikes destroyed 56 vehicles containing weapons and ammunition in the Western Desert, south and northeastern border areas. Forces also destroyed six smuggling tunnels leading into the Gaza Strip, the statement said.

It said border guards across the country arrested at least 2,189 illegal migrants from different countries. The statement did not elaborate.

The military statement gave no timeframe for these recent operations. It wasn't possible to independently confirm any details as access to northern Sinai is heavily restricted.

The statement came less than a week after Islamic militants kidnapped a Christian man traveling in a communal taxi in north of Sinai Peninsula.

The man, who is a police forensic expert, is still held by militants.

The attack, which took place about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of el-Arish, northern Sinai's largest city, raises the specter of renewed attacks on minority Christians in the region after a two-year lull.

Since 2016, IS militants have killed more than 100 Christians in attacks targeting churches and buses carrying pilgrims to remote desert monasteries.

Also on Tuesday, Egyptian officials said security forces killed five suspected militants armed with assault rifles in a firefight that began during a dawn raid on their hideout just north of Cairo.

A statement by the Interior Ministry, which oversees police forces, said the five militants belonged to "Hasm," which it says is an armed faction of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group removed from power in 2013. It said the militants were preparing for attacks on government facilities and army and police personnel.

The ministry statement said forces seized explosives, weapons and ammunition during the raid, which took place in the town of Obour in Qalyubia province but did not say when.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster of an elected but divisive Islamist president by President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi, then minister of defense.

The country's security forces launched an all-out offensive against militants in February last year, deploying tens of thousands of troops and police backed by fighter-jets, helicopter gunships, navy vessels and tanks in Sinai and in the Western Desert, along the border with Libya.

The operation has significantly reduced the number of attacks and restored a semblance of normalcy in el-Arish, on the Mediterranean coast.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Turkey is preparing to take steps to launch an international investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In comments carried by state-run Anadolu Agency late Monday, Cavusoglu said Turkey had prepared the groundwork and would soon take the "necessary steps." He did not elaborate.

The Washington Post columnist, who wrote critically about the Saudi crown prince, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October.

The kingdom has indicted 11 people, including some from the prince's entourage, over the killing and is seeking the death penalty against five of them.

Turkey has complained of a lack of cooperation by Riyadh to ensure that all those responsible are held to account and has said it could seek an international probe.

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2014 file photo, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in Manama, Bahrain. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said late Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 that Turkey is preparing to take steps to launch an international investigation into the killing of Khashoggi. The Washington Post columnist, who wrote critically about the Saudi crown prince, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)
BEIJING (AP) - China on Tuesday demanded the U.S. drop a request that Canada extradite a top executive of the tech giant Huawei, shifting blame to Washington in a case that has severely damaged Beijing's relations with Ottawa.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Meng Wanzhou's case was out of the ordinary and Canada's extradition treaty with the U.S. infringed on the "safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens."

Hua said China demands that the U.S. withdraw the arrest warrant against Meng and "not make a formal extradition request to the Canadian side." She is wanted for allegedly lying to banks as part of an effort to evade sanctions on Iran.

Hua's remarks came after more than 100 academics and former diplomats signed a letter calling on China to release two Canadians detained in apparent retaliation for Meng's arrest.

They also follow a report by the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail that the U.S. plans to formally request Meng's extradition to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei's business dealings in Iran.

The U.S. Justice Department said it is continuing to pursue Meng's extradition and would meet any deadlines set under the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Canada. In a statement, the Justice Department thanked Canadian authorities for their "support in our mutual efforts to enforce the rule of law."

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2018, file photo, Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou arrives at a parole office with a security guard in Vancouver, British Columbia. China on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, demanded the U.S. drop a request that Canada extradite the top executive of the tech giant Huawei, shifting blame to Washington in a case that has severely damaged Beijing's relations with Ottawa. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng, who was arrested Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.

Meng is Huawei's chief financial officer and the daughter of its founder, Ren Zhengfei. Huawei has close ties to China's military and is considered one of the country's most successful international enterprises, operating in the high-tech sphere where China hopes to establish dominance.

The letter signed by academics and former diplomats said the arrests of the two will lead to "less dialogue and greater distrust, and undermine efforts to manage disagreements and identify common ground. Both China and the rest of the world will be worse off as a result."

More than 20 diplomats from seven countries and more than 100 scholars and academics from 19 countries signed.

Meng is living under house arrest in her Vancouver mansion while her case is under deliberation. Kovrig and Spavor are being held in Chinese jails and have yet to be granted access to lawyers, according to those who have contact with them.

The United States and other Western countries have broader fears that Huawei technology - particularly its hardware for mobile networks - could let the Chinese government listen in. Several countries, including the United States, have restricted purchases of Huawei equipment.

Huawei Chairman Liang Hua said critics need to back up their allegations.

"If they believe there's a backdoor, they should offer evidence to prove it," he told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

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AP journalist Paul Wiseman in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.
ROME - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that the EU's Sophia naval mission in the Mediterranean to combat human trafficking must be scrapped unless the rules are changed, as it places too much of the burden on Italy. ''The point of the Sophia naval mission is that all the rescued immigrants disembark exclusively in Italy after an ingenious agreement signed by the government of (ex-premier Matteo) Renzi'', Salvini told Radio Anch'io. ''I don't know what he got in exchange. Either the rules change or the mission ends''. He added that European High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini ''has forgotten that she is Italian''.



Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio said that ''the Sophia mission must continue - but if other Mediterranean countries open their ports''.



''Let's start taking migrants to Marseille'', Di Maio said.



Premier Giuseppe Conte said that Italy will go it alone on migrants unless there is a ''relaunch'' from the EU, speaking at the World Economic Forum.



''Without a really European mechanism'' for burden sharing ''we will do it by ourselves,'' the premier said.



''We have been fighting for months, nobody wants to truly achieve common efforts for a real European Mechanism'', Conte said, adding that ''at this point, everyone is pursuing national interests, we in Italy are working on our own and our policy, as you see with landings, is giving results''.



The EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said that, ''if Italy, the country that hosts and has the command of the mission, wants to stop operation Sophia, it can take this decision''. The commissioner added that ''Sophia is a successful operation and should continue''.



Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said that Italy wants to change the migrant landing rules of the mission.



A European summit last June urged member States to fully share all burdens, the foreign ministry said.



April 2015 accords on the other hand, it said, had envisaged that migrants should be always disembarked in Italy.



''Italy has never asked for the closure of Sophia,'' Moavero said.



''It asked for the rules relating to the disembarkation of persons saved at sea to be changed in rigorous and dutiful coherence with the conclusions of the European Council of June 2018''. Meanwhile Berlin said it was still taking part in the EU's anti migrant trafficking operation, which it continued to support, after reports Tuesday it had backed out due to Italy's hard line.



The defense ministry said the country will be deploying vessels provided the mission carries out the tasks ''laid out by the original mandate'', that is, combating people traffickers.
BERLIN (AP) - The leaders of France and Germany signed a treaty Tuesday renewing their friendship and pledging greater cooperation between their two nations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron signed the Aachen accord exactly 56 years after their predecessors inked the Elysee Treaty that set the tone for the two countries' relations after centuries of fierce rivalry and bloody conflict.

In the 16-page accord, Berlin and Paris declare it's time to raise their bilateral relations "to a new level and prepare for the challenges that both states and Europe face in the 21st century."

It comes at a time when the Europe Union, including its two founding members Germany and France, are struggling with rising nationalism that threatens to tear the bloc apart.

Here's a brief guide to the Aachen accord:

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German chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and French President Emmanuel Macron, left, change documents during the signing of the new Germany-France friendship treaty at the historic Town Hall in Aachen, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. The new Treaty of Aachen is the succession of the 1963 Elysee Treaty signed by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the then French President Charles de Gaulle. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

WHY AACHEN?

The location of the signing is heavy with symbolism: Aachen, located on Germany's western borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, was founded by the Romans, making it part of the first pan-European state.

By the Middle Ages it had become the favored residence of Charlemagne, whose Frankish empire spanned much of what is now France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and the Benelux nations. A thousand years later, many of those countries would come together again to form the predecessor of the present-day European Union.

The city was also repeatedly occupied by France and is known there by the name Aix-la-Chapelle.

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WHY ANOTHER TREATY?

The Elysee Treaty of 1963 - signed 18 years after the end of World War II by French President Charles de Gaulle and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer - helped forge a partnership that's become the engine of European integration, though one that hasn't always run smoothly.

The new treaty was first announced by Macron in September 2017 in a sweeping speech detailing his ambitions to revive Europe - still grappling with the shock of Britain's referendum to leave the EU, and U.S. President Donald Trump's persistent attacks on America's long-time allies across the Atlantic.

In her weekly address Saturday, Merkel said she and Macron believe that "the world has changed dramatically and we want to draw on what Germany and France have already achieved together."

Macron's office said the treaty is a "major symbol" aimed at showing the Franco-German motor is still going strong despite the difficult terrain in the EU, with Britain leaving the bloc and nationalism on the rise in several member states.

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WHAT'S IN THE TREATY?

While parts of the treaty deal with mundane issues along the two countries' 450-kilometer (280-mile) border, Merkel said it's also intended to help tackle global challenges such as climate change and international security.

To this end, France and Germany pledge to increase cooperation in the areas of foreign and defense policy, fighting crime and terrorism, international development and research.

The accord is vague on many of the practical details, but one point that has raised eyebrows elsewhere in Europe is the call for France to support Germany's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, rejected the idea that such bilateral arrangements between two countries - home to just 30 percent of the EU's population - could irritate other member states.

"Germany and France also and explicitly want the intensification of their relations in this treaty to service the project of European unification," he told reporters Monday.

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WHY ARE SOME DISAPPOINTED?

The careful wording of the treaty reflects different attitudes in Paris and Berlin.

A top French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the French presidency's customary practice, acknowledged that France would prefer to "accelerate" changes in Europe and see the treaty as one more step toward broader reforms.

Merkel, famous for her "step-by-step" approach to politics, is wary of the impact that a perceived surrender of German sovereignty might have on European and state elections later this year.

For decades a bastion of political stability, Germany has seen the rise of a populist, far-right party in recent years that's hostile to the idea of European integration.

Macron, meanwhile, faces discontent at home in the form of the yellow vest protesters - some of whom have circulated misleading claims about the Aachen treaty on social media.

"Germany is being held up as the old enemy again by some," said Daniela Schwarzer, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations.

She added that one of the big challenges will be selling the Aachen accord to other European countries.

"If you want to move Europe forward, then (Germany and France) need each other more than ever, but at the same time bilateral ties on their own won't be enough."

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ANY CHEERS?

The treaty is likely to have the biggest impact on people living in the border regions of France and Germany, where cross-border public transport and support for bilingual schools will be boosted.

Businesses, too, are welcoming the accord.

Eric Schweitzer, head of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, said both countries' economies could benefit.

Germany is France's biggest trading partner. And France is Germany's second biggest export market.

Strengthening the EU, with its common market, is important to German companies at a time of growing protectionist sentiment, said Schweitzer.

He also noted plans to increase cooperation on training and education, which could improve cross-border labor mobility.

About 4,000 German companies employ more than 300,000 people in France, with a turnover of more than 150 billion euros ($170 billion) a year.

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Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 1963 file photo, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, centre left, hugs France President Charles de Gaulle after signing the Elysee friendship treaty in the Elysee palace in Paris, France. The leaders of France and Germany are poised to sign the Aachen accord Tuesday Jan. 22, 2019, renewing their friendship and pledging greater cooperation, exactly 56-years after their predecessors inked the Elysee Treaty that set the tone for the two countries' future relations. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this April 9, 1963 file photo, French President Charles De Gaulle, center, holds a reception at the Elysee Palace for foreign ministers attending the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization meeting in Paris, with U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, 5th from right, and U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Bohlen 6th from right. The leaders of France and Germany are poised to sign the Aachen accord Tuesday Jan. 22, 2019, renewing their friendship and pledging greater cooperation, exactly 56-years after their predecessors inked the Elysee Treaty that set the tone for the two countries' future relations. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 11, 2019 file photo, German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks to students during her visit at a German school in Athens, Greece. The leaders of France and Germany are poised to sign the Aachen accord Tuesday Jan. 22, 2019, renewing their friendship and pledging greater cooperation, exactly 56-years after their predecessors inked the Elysee Treaty that set the tone for the two countries' future relations. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)
MOSCOW (AP) - The lawyer for an American man being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying said on Tuesday that his client was given a flash drive containing Russian "state secrets" before he was arrested, but did not know he had them and had not looked at them.

His family insisted that he was entrapped and denied that he is guilty of espionage.

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was detained in Moscow at the end of December. The arrest raised speculation that he could be swapped for one of the Russians held in the U.S., such as gun rights activist Maria Butina, who has pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent in the U.S.

Whelan made his first public appearance in court on Tuesday to hear the appeal of his arrest. The judge upheld the previous ruling that ordered him to be kept behind bars at least until the end of February.

Whelan was kept in a glass cage and did not speak to reporters.

Spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Russia.

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow at the end of last year, right, looks through a cage's glass as his lawyers talk to each other in a court room in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. The lawyer for Paul Whelan who is being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying, said Tuesday that classified Russian materials were found on him when he was arrested. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Whelan's lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said Tuesday that when his client was detained at a Moscow hotel at the end of December he had something with him that contained "state secrets."

The lawyer said that Whelan was a frequent visitor to Russia and that he asked an unnamed person to email him something about travel around the country. Whelan reportedly was not able to download it and then asked that person to put it on a flash-drive.

"He was expecting to see on the flash drive some personal information like pictures or videos, something like that, about that person's previous trips around Russia," Zherebenkov told reporters. "We don't know how the materials that contain state secrets ended up there."

The lawyer said the American was detained before he could open the files. He added that it was not clear what has happened to the person who reportedly gave the flash drive to Whelan.

Zherebenkov said the investigators have not yet disclosed which country he is accused of spying for.

Paul Whelan's twin brother, David, said in a statement that the family was disappointed but hardly surprised by the denial of bail.

"While we still lack any details from the Russian government about why Paul is thought to be a spy, and who provided him with the alleged state secrets, we are certain that he was entrapped and is not guilty of espionage," he said in a statement. "We have not had any information about a USB drive, what was on it, or how it might have materialized in Paul's possession."

"Unfortunately, today's ruling merely confirms that Paul will remain wrongfully detained for many more months," Whelan's brother said, adding that "Paul was able to let us know that he is worried about some health conditions and his ability to communicate with prison medical staff."

He added that his brother is "also concerned about translator support and his ability to present his defense in English."

David Whelan noted that the Russian authorities' refusal to allow British diplomats to visit his brother in prison and the cancellation of a U.S. consular visit last week raised additional concerns, but said that Canadian diplomats were scheduled to visit Thursday.

Whelan holds U.S., Canadian, British and Irish citizenships.

Whelan, 48, was discharged from the Marines for bad conduct. He works as the global security director for a U.S. automobile parts manufacturer and lives in Michigan. His family has said he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.

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Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow at the end of last year looks through a cage's glass in a court room in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. The lawyer for Paul Whelan who is being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying, said Tuesday that classified Russian materials were found on him when he was arrested. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow at the end of last year looks through a cage's glass as he speaks to his lawyers in a court room in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. The lawyer for Paul Whelan who is being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying, said Tuesday that classified Russian materials were found on him when he was arrested. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who was arrested in Moscow at the end of last year looks through a cage's glass in a court room in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. The lawyer for Paul Whelan who is being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying, said Tuesday that classified Russian materials were found on him when he was arrested. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Hiding from gunmen in an office building, a group of people heard gunshots getting louder and the clatter of a weapon being run along the metal banister of a staircase, according to a survivor of an Islamic extremist attack in Kenya last week. Then a gunman opened the door of the room where the workers huddled, said he was with al-Shabab and began shooting.

In a higher floor of the Nairobi building, witnesses said, a gunman pushed against the door of a bathroom where women were hiding and said: "We know you're in there. Open."

New details of the Jan. 15 assault on the dusitD2 hotel and office complex in Kenya's capital emerged on Tuesday during a church memorial for six employees of digital payments company Cellulant who were killed. The tribute touched on the terrifying last moments of the young men, as well as the anguish of colleagues in safety, who were receiving phone messages from trapped friends.

"Our teams would tell us, 'Help us, help us. This is where we are. The gunshots are coming closer and closer,'" said Ken Njoroge, CEO and co-founder of Cellulant, which operates in several African countries.

Workers in the Cellulant offices on the fifth and sixth floors of the Cavendish building, beside the hotel, thought a blast at around 3 p.m. on the day of the attack was a "gas explosion" and weren't particularly alarmed, Njoroge said. A few minutes later, they heard another explosion followed by gunfire. They headed for the exits.

"The teams began to mobilize," Njoroge told hundreds of mourners. "I think it became very clear that all was not well."

Staff lay flowers in honor of the dead outside the gate of the dusitD2 hotel complex which was attacked last week, at a wreath-laying event organized by the hotel complex management in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. The ceremony took place at 3:05pm on Tuesday, exactly a week after the attack by gunmen and a suicide bomber on the hotel and office complex in Kenya's capital. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Some 83 out of 100 workers in the Cellulant offices at the time escaped, but the rest didn't make it out and split into two groups, he said. Six hid in a small room under the stairs on the first floor, and the other 11 returned to the fifth floor, where they also split: The men into the men's bathroom, and the women into the women's bathroom.

Njoroge, who was on a business trip to Zambia at the time and quickly returned to Kenya, compiled the account from colleagues. He said people couldn't tell where the shooting was coming from and that one colleague said: "'When you hear the gunshots, all of your other senses go away. You can't see, you can't hear. Nothing.'"

Kenyan security forces have been praised for their quick response to the attack, in contrast to their fumbling response to the 2013 attack on the nearby Westgate mall that killed 67 people. The attack last week killed a total of 21 people, including a police officer, and was declared over nearly 20 hours after it started. More than 700 people were evacuated. All five attackers, among them a suicide bomber, died. A number of suspected accomplices are under arrest.

Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility. The group says it attacks Kenya for joining an African Union force fighting against it in its home base of neighboring Somalia. The extremists have been heavily targeted by U.S. air strikes.

Continuing with his account, Njoroge said one or two gunmen flung open the door to the men's bathroom on the fifth floor, grabbed 36-year-old Ashford Kuria Maina, pulled him out and killed him.

"'They've taken Ashford and we've heard some gunshots,'" a colleague texted to friends who were safe, providing a nearly instantaneous report on the horror.

Attackers pushed the door to the women's bathroom but were unable to enter because the women pushed back, according to the account. The gunmen left.

For the six Cellulant employees hiding on the first floor, it was "as if this guy was actually walking on their heads" as they listened to a gunman descend the stairs, according to Njoroge.

The gunman "opened the door and had a conversation with them, introduced himself as al-Shabab" and killed five people, the company CEO said. The sixth employee survived because her male colleagues protected her by tucking her at the back of the room. She smeared blood on herself to pretend that she was also a casualty, Njoroge said.

The five men who died there were Denis Munene Mwaniki, 29; Jeremiah Mathai Mbaria, 31; John Wanyaga Ndiritu, 29; Kelvin Kariuki Gitonga, 28; and 23-year-old Wilfred Kareithi Waihura, who was supposed to be at a first aid training with colleagues elsewhere but came into the office for a 3 p.m. conference call with a customer.

A week before the al-Shabab assault, victim Ashford Kura Maina talked with a colleague about what they would do if they were under attack, said associate Alex Kimani. He said his longtime friend "kept giving options."

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Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris

Staff lay flowers in honor of the dead outside the gate of the dusitD2 hotel complex which was attacked last week, at a wreath-laying event organized by the hotel complex management in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. The ceremony took place at 3:05pm on Tuesday, exactly a week after the attack by gunmen and a suicide bomber on the hotel and office complex in Kenya's capital. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel said Tuesday that it has successfully tested the country's advanced missile defense system capable of defending against long-range ballistic missile threats.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured an Israeli aerospace facility following the test and leveled a thinly veiled warning at Iran, just days after Israel struck Iranian military targets in neighboring Syria.

"Our enemies who seek to destroy us should know that Israel's clenched fist will reach all those who wish ill upon us and we will settle accounts with them," Netanyahu said.

The Defense Ministry said the successful test of the Arrow-3 interceptor is "a major milestone" in Israel's ability to defend itself "against current and future threats in the region." It comes a couple of days after Israel thwarted an Iranian missile attack.

The test came amid mounting tensions between Israel and Iran along its northern border with Syria. Israel is concerned about Iran establishing military bases in neighboring Syria as the eight-year civil war winds down.

On Monday, Israel claimed responsibility for a series of air raids against Iranian military targets near the Syrian capital Damascus, hours after Israel intercepted a missile launched by Iranian forces at the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The missile launch followed a rare Israeli daytime attack on Syria on Sunday near the Damascus airport.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) MLM Division plant in Be'er Ya'akov, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Israel said Tuesday that it has successfully tested the Arrow-3 interceptor, the country's advanced missile defense system capable of defending against ballistic missile threats outside the atmosphere. (Tomer Appelbaum/Pool Photo via AP)

Arrow-3, which intercepts missiles outside the atmosphere, is part of the multi-layered system Israel is developing to defend against both short- and mid-range rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran's long-range missiles. It includes Iron Dome, David's Sling, and the Arrow-2 systems.

It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and U.S. aviation giant Boeing and became operational in January 2017.

Israel has already deployed Arrow to counter Syrian missiles.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a visit to the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) MLM Division plant in Be'er Ya'akov, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Israel said Tuesday that it has successfully tested the Arrow-3 interceptor, the country's advanced missile defense system capable of defending against ballistic missile threats outside the atmosphere. (Tomer Appelbaum/Pool Photo via AP)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe's president on Tuesday said "unacceptable" violence by security forces will be investigated after a days-long crackdown on economic unrest, while a doctor said the 12 documented deaths and more than 300 people wounded are likely "are just a fraction of the actual victims."

President Emmerson Mnangagwa called for a national dialogue among political parties and civic leaders, even as arrests continued. He spoke after skipping a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland under pressure to return home.

Zimbabwe's military is in the streets for the first time since post-election violence in August killed six people. This time, people report being hunted down in their homes. More than 600 people have been arrested, most denied bail.

The "army is on the forefront of orchestrating the violence," backed by ruling ZANU-PF youth gangs and police, Dr Norman Matara with the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights told reporters in Johannesburg.

The pattern of injuries seen in the more than 300 people wounded and 12 dead suggested premeditation and training in torture, Matara said, and "we think these numbers are just a fraction of the actual victims" as some were too scared to seek treatment.

Several people were dragged from their hospital beds and arrested. Some were shot in the head at close range and died. About half of those wounded were bystanders hit by stray bullets when the military opened fire on crowds. The group documented abuse of people as young as 9.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, left, arrives at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late Monday after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country's economic crisis and crackdown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Some medical professionals, accused of "trying to subvert the government" by publicizing the toll, are now afraid to help victims, Matara said.

Zimbabwe's president said insubordination will not be tolerated and "if required, heads will roll."

He defended, however, the dramatic fuel price increase that began the unrest by making gasoline in Zimbabwe the most world's expensive. Authorities said it was aimed at easing the demand that created miles-long lines as gas stations.

But Zimbabweans who had seen no improvement in the collapsed economy under Mnangagwa, who took office in 2017 after the ouster of longtime leader Robert Mugabe, lost their patience. Activists and labor leaders called for people to stay at home in protest. Others took to the streets, some looting in anger or desperation.

Mnangagwa's government has blamed the opposition, despite witness accounts of security forces killing or wounding bystanders, including a 17-year-old .

"Everyone has the right to protest, but this was not a peaceful protest," Mnangagwa said.

The government-backed Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission said eight people were killed and criticized the use of the military and live ammunition. It said the government had not learned from the August crackdown, and should compensate "victims of military and police brutality."

Mnangagwa has previously said he is open to dialogue with the main opposition MDC party, which narrowly lost both the July election and a court challenge alleging fraud. He has dismissed a government of national unity.

The opposition called Mnangagwa's new call for dialogue a "gimmick to buy time."

"Mnangagwa's overtures are always on Twitter. He knows where we are, yet he has chosen not to talk to us directly," MDC spokesman Jacob Mafume said.

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said his attempts at dialogue had been "spurned and mocked" and that people must be free to talk without fear.

Arrests continued. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said police detained labor federation leader Japhet Moyo overnight, just hours after releasing him. He is charged with subversion for his role in organizing the national strike along with pastor and activist Evan Mawarire.

Police also detained 28 people being treated at a hospital in the capital, Harare, the lawyers' group said, calling it "very inhumane."

Zimbabwe's government ordered an internet blackout in recent days as reports of abuses emerged, but the High Court on Monday ordered that full service be restored, saying only the president has the authority to order it.

At Davos, Mnangagwa had planned to appeal for foreign investment and loans but faced a more difficult reception than a year ago, when optimism was relatively high about a "new Zimbabwe." Neighboring South Africa recently turned down Mnangagwa's request for a $1.2 billion loan.

South Africa is now considering a bailout for Zimbabwe "as long as it is affordable for our side," Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said. Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa again suggested that U.S. and other sanctions on Zimbabwe be lifted or relaxed.

Zimbabwe Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube told The Associated Press in Davos that "we don't need to be told by anyone that we need to do better on human rights or open up democratic space ... we need to do it for ourselves." He hopes to gain access to some $500 million in lines of credit at Davos.

Zimbabwe's turmoil again brought questions about tensions between Mnangagwa and the man he had left in charge, hard-line Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who had led the military effort to oust Mugabe.

Mnangagwa and Chiwenga have dismissed reports of a rift, and they hugged upon the president's return late Monday.

"This is state-sponsored violence," Dewa Mavhinga, the southern African director for Human Rights Watch, told reporters. He called Mnangagwa's government the same as that of Mugabe but with "an even more brazen system in charge."

As night fell, two trucks of soldiers were seen driving around and assaulting people in Harare.

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Associated Press writers Krista Mahr in Johannesburg and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, left, arrives at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late Monday after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country's economic crisis and crackdown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

People walk past a bill board showing Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagawa, in Harare Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late Monday after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country's economic crisis and crackdown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

People walk past a bill board showing Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagawa, in Harare Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late Monday after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country's economic crisis and crackdown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, left, arrives at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late Monday after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country's economic crisis and crackdown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Mthuli Ncube, Finance Minister of Zimbabwe, smiles during an interview with the Associated Press at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Dozens of people killed in a brazen Taliban attack on a military base were members of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, officials said Tuesday, in a severe blow to the government that already has lost control of nearly half of the country to the insurgents.

At least 45 people were killed and as many as 70 were wounded by a suicide bomber who drove an armored Humvee packed with explosives at the base in eastern Maidan Wardak province on Monday, the officials said.

There were fears the death toll from the daytime assault could increase. The base, which also serves as a training center for pro-government militias, is run by Afghanistan's intelligence service known as the National Directorate for Security, or NDS.

The NDS said its reports show 36 military personnel were killed and 58 were wounded. Though the agency's figures were lower than what provincial officials had reported, it was still an unprecedented casualty toll for the agency, among the best equipped and trained in Afghanistan.

The agency said the suicide bomber had managed to penetrate the gate of the base on the outskirts of Maidan Shar, the provincial capital located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Kabul, even though guards fired at the vehicle.

Khawanin Sultani, a council member in the province, said a main building collapsed from the explosion, which likely contributed to the high casualty toll.

In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, photo, Afghan security forces inspect the site of a Taliban attack in Maidan Shar, capital of Maidan Wardak province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan official said Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, scores of people mostly military personals were killed in the Taliban assault on a military base and a pro-government militia training center a day earlier in the province. (AP Photo)

"Most of the bodies were under the destroyed building," he said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility in a statement to the media just hours after the attack and later said its representatives met Monday with U.S. representatives to discuss "ending the invasion of Afghanistan" in talks that were to continue Tuesday. They are meeting in Qatar, where the Taliban have a political office.

The timing of the attack, one of the worst Taliban assaults on Afghan forces in recent years, and the Qatar meeting that was meant to pave way for talks aimed at resolving Afghanistan's 17-year war, underscored the audacity of the insurgents in the face of stepped-up peace efforts.

The Taliban now hold sway in almost half of Afghanistan and carry out attacks on a daily basis, mainly targeting the country's beleaguered security forces.

After the suicide bomber struck, four other attackers engaged in a shootout with Afghan troops, according to Sultani, the provincial council member. All the attackers were killed, he said.

About 150 military personnel and others were at the base at the time, he said. The pro-government militia that was hit had been highly effective in securing the province, especially two key highways linking Kabul with the provinces of Kandahar, Maidan Wardak and Bamyan.

"They had participated in so many operations alongside other security forces and had fought against insurgents," Sultani added.

A provincial security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said he counted as many as 75 bodies at the base. There was no official confirmation of this higher toll.

Dozens of ambulances took the wounded to the main provincial hospital or to Kabul, the official said. The blast was so strong that windows of civilian homes outside the base also were shattered, he said.

President Ashraf Ghani's office said the "enemy had carried out a terrorist attack against the intelligence agency's personnel, killed and wounded a number of honest sons of this homeland who were defending their country and protecting their people." An investigation was ordered, the statement added.

There was no official breakdown on how many of the victims were military, intelligence personnel or militia trainees.

The attack was a "tragedy and a big loss to the Afghan security forces," said Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, a former deputy interior minister and a military analyst.

He said it was difficult to believe that the vaunted NSD could have lost such a high number of personnel in a single attack and that there must have been serious negligence on someone's part. He also said there were no other checkpoints along the highway leading up to the base to prevent the attack.

The Taliban statement said they had met with U.S. representatives to discuss "ending the invasion of Afghanistan" in talks that would continue on Tuesday in Qatar.

"Peace talks and negotiations are important and essential for Afghanistan, but not under these unacceptable circumstances," Yarmand said. "If such attacks continue, there must be a cease-fire agreement first."

Last week, the Taliban threatened to walk away from the talks, accusing Washington of seeking to "expand the agenda" - presumably a reference to U.S. demands that the insurgents hold direct talks with the Kabul government.

The Taliban view the Afghan government as a U.S. puppet and have long insisted they will only negotiate directly with Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Monday walked back comments he made about discussions Trump had with his former personal attorney about a real estate project in Moscow during the presidential election campaign.

Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress in 2017 by saying he had abandoned the Trump Tower project in January 2016 even though prosecutors say he actually pursued it into June.

Giuliani suggested in a TV interview Sunday that Trump remembers conversations with Cohen about the project "up to as far as October, November," or right up until the election. That extends the timeline for the Russian business deal well beyond what the president has publicly acknowledged.

Giuliani said Monday in a three-sentence statement that his comments "did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any discussions." He said his comments were "hypothetical" and "not based on conversations" he had with the president.

He concluded by saying the Moscow project "was in the earliest stage and did not advance beyond a free non-binding letter of intent."

The changing timeline is relevant in light of the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the election and ties to the Trump campaign.

FILE - In this Aug. 1, 2018, file photo, Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, speaks in Portsmouth, N.H. On Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, Giuliani walked back comments he made about discussions Trump had with his former personal attorney about a real estate project in Moscow during the presidential election campaign. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

For Trump, Giuliani plays the role more of spokesman than attorney, unleashing public attacks on investigators while throwing out wild accusations designed to muddle the narrative of the probe. But at times, he has gone too far or has flat-out misspoken, leading to a series of clarifications while triggering more legal questions for his client.

This was the second time within the past week that Giuliani has walked back comments from the previous day.

On Thursday, he issued a statement aimed at clarifying a TV interview from the night before in which he appeared to leave open the possibility of collusion between Russia and members of Trump's presidential campaign.

In the statement, he said "there was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form" and that he had "no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign."

That was an apparent reversal from Wednesday's television appearance in which he said, "I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign." He had previously denied any collusion.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - One of Nicaragua's most prominent journalists says President Daniel Ortega is working to close any spaces of freedom in the Central American country.

Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who had the offices of his media outlets Confidencial and the television programs "Tonight" and "This Week" seized in December by Ortega's police, said Monday night that he fled to Costa Rica after receiving information that a plan was afoot to jail him on phony charges.

"They are trying to end the freedom of the press, freedom of expression," Chamorro said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And if not close, impose censorship and self-censorship. Everything is threatened."

Chamorro announced his relocation Sunday along with the airing of a much-anticipated interview with former Nicaragua Supreme Court Justice Rafael Solis, who publicly resigned from the court and Ortega's party earlier this month.

Chamorro said the information about the government's imminent move against him created a dilemma: He could continue his resistance in Nicaragua knowing he would be dragged into a legal battle against false charges that he couldn't defend against or he could leave the country and continue doing journalism at a safe distance.

In addition to the confiscation of his offices, the government's closure of the news channel 100% Noticias later in December weighed on his decision.

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2008 file photo, journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who runs the Communication Research Center, Cinco, is surrounded by the police as a search warrant is carried out at Cinco's facilities in Managua, Nicaragua. The prominent Nicaraguan journalist announced in a video posted Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 to his Confidencial Facebook page that he had taken "the painful decision to go into exile to ensure my freedom and physical safety, and above all to carry on independent journalism from Costa Rica." (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

"I have evaluated the two circumstances as a much more dangerous trend," Chamorro said.

At least 325 people have been killed in the suppression of anti-government protests that began throughout Nicaragua last April. Hundreds of people have been jailed, many on terrorism charges that are bringing lengthy prison sentences in what Solis called "political" trials that should be annulled.

Ortega maintains the public demonstrations were part of a coup attempt orchestrated by conservative interests in Nicaragua and foreign powers.

Among those recently arrested and accused of inciting terrorism were journalists Miguel Mora and Lucia Pineda Ubau of 100% Noticias.

"Nicaragua's independent press is threatened," Chamorro said. "It is increasingly difficult to access sources. Sources, too, are being threatened. This isn't only a threat against freedom of the press, but also a process that threatens freedom of expression."

After the Sandinistas overthrew the dictator Anastasio Somoza, Chamorro ran their newspaper, La Barricada, for years. His mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, was with the Sandinistas when they took power in 1979, but she ran against Ortega for the presidency and won in 1990.

Most of Chamorro's journalists continue working in Nicaragua and are being provided security, but they also face harassment and persecution, he said.

Thousands of Nicaraguans have fled the country to self-imposed exile, including more than 50 journalists, Chamorro said. In April, journalist Angel Gahona was killed while reporting live via Facebook on protests in the southeastern city of Bluefields.

Last Friday, the newspaper La Prensa ran a blank front page bearing only the question: "Have you imagined living without information?" The government has been holding up its supplies of newsprint and ink, forcing the paper to reduce its page count and take other steps to save resources.

Solis, in his interview with Chamorro, said he finally decided to resign publicly after thinking about it for months, saying he saw no indication that Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, were willing resume dialogue to end the crisis. He had spoken personally to Ortega and Murillo and presented them with several ideas that could lead to a peaceful resolution, but he was ignored, he said.

Members of Ortega's government have called Solis a traitor since his resignation. He is also living in self-imposed exile in Costa Rica. He said there was tremendous fear within the government and more specifically the judiciary to speak out against Ortega and Murillo.

At one point, Chamorro asked Solis if others in the government shared his view that there was never a coup attempt. "It is not a topic that we ever discussed in these nine months," he said.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A memorial of candles, flowers and teddy bears was set upside outside a house where authorities say a man killed four members of his family - including his infant daughter - at the Oregon home they shared.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said 42-year-old Mark Leo Gregory Gago killed his parents, his girlfriend and their daughter Saturday night before deputies fatally shot him.

Authorities have not yet released the victims' causes of death and were continuing to investigate Monday.

The sheriff's office identified the victims as Olivia Gago, 9 months, Shaina Sweitzer, 31, Jerry Bremer, 66, and Pamela Bremer, 64.

The home is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Portland and northeast of the city of Woodburn.

Well-wishers left messages such "Forever Loved" at the memorial.

Crime scene tape marks off an area, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, near a memorial of candles, flowers and teddy bears outside a house where authorities say a man killed four members of his family, including his infant daughter, at the Canby, Oregon, home they shared, over the weekend. (Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP)

This Aug. 2018, booking photo of Mark Leo Gregory Gago, 42, was provided by the Clackamas, Ore., County Sheriff's Department. Gago killed four members of his family Saturday night, Jan. 19, 2019 at the rural home they shared and was shot by sheriff's deputies as he tried to kill a girl, authorities said. Gago killed his parents, his girlfriend and their infant daughter Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, night before deputies shot him, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said. The sheriff's office identified the victims as Olivia Gago, 9 months, Shaina Sweitzer, 31, Jerry Bremer, 66, and Pamela Bremer, 64. (Clackamas County Sheriff's Department via AP)
TOKYO (AP) - A Tokyo court has rejected former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn's latest request for bail, more than two months after his arrest, prolonging a detention that has drawn international scrutiny of Japan's justice system.

The decision by the Tokyo District Court came a day after Ghosn promised to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, give up his passport and pay for security guards approved by prosecutors to gain release from a Tokyo detention center.

The court announced its decision in a statement. His family said they will appeal.

Ghosn, 64, has been in custody since Nov. 19. He had a bail hearing Monday. A Tokyo court rejected an earlier request for bail last week.

Ghosn, who led Nissan Motor Co. for two decades, has been charged with falsifying financial reports in underreporting his compensation from Nissan over eight years, and with breach of trust, centering on allegations Ghosn had Nissan temporarily shoulder his personal investment losses and pay a Saudi businessman.

Ghosn has said he is innocent, explaining that the alleged compensation was never decided, Nissan didn't suffer losses and the payment was for legitimate services.

FILE - In this April 25, 2016, file photo, then Renault-Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn speaks during a press conference held at Auto China 2016 in Beijing, China. A court in Tokyo on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019 rejected former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn's latest request for bail, made more than two months after his arrest, prolonging a detention that has brought Japan's harsh justice system under international scrutiny. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

His wife Carole Ghosn appealed for his release through Human Rights Watch earlier this month, saying Ghosn's treatment has been harsh and unfair.

Her views echo widespread criticism of Japan's criminal justice system both inside and outside Japan. Suspects who insist they are innocent get held longer. Suspects are held in a cell and routinely grilled daily by investigators without a lawyer present, although lawyers are allowed to visit.

Ghosn's lawyer Motonari Ohtsuru has acknowledged Ghosn's release may not come until the trial, which may be six months away. A date for the trial has not been set.

Nissan officials say an internal investigation has found that Ghosn had schemes to hide his income and that he used company money and assets for personal gain.

A special committee Nissan set up after Ghosn's arrest to strengthen governance held its first meeting Sunday. Seiichiro Nishioka, a former judge and co-chair, told reporters after the meeting that Ghosn had shown questionable ethics, and too much power within the company had been focused in one person. The committee's findings are due by late March.

Ghosn's pay was long a sticking point in Japan, where executives generally get paid far less than their American and other Western counterparts. Ghosn insisted he deserved his higher pay because of his achievements, saying he could have left for another job.

Nissan was on the verge of bankruptcy when alliance partner Renault SA of France sent in Ghosn to help revive it in 1999. Under Ghosn's leadership, Nissan turned itself around and became one of the most successful auto groups in the world. Ghosn also helped Nissan pioneer ecological auto technology. The Nissan Leaf is the top-selling electric car.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/yurikageyama/?hl=en
ROME - A reported 19 million people in Yemen, roughly two-thirds of the overall population, lack access to clean water, according to the United Nations, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.



Yemen is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world due to a conflict that started in 2015 between government forces, supported by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, and Iran-backed Houthi militia.
SHANGHAI (AP) - The Chinese government has granted Ivanka Trump's company preliminary approval for another five trademarks this month, as her father's administration pushes ahead on trade negotiations with China.

Four trademarks, including child care centers, sunglasses and wedding dresses, were approved on Sunday. A fifth, covering brokerage, charitable fundraising and art valuation services, was approved on Jan.6, according to online trademark office records. The applications were filed in 2016 and 2017. If no one objects, they will be finalized after 90 days.

Ivanka Trump's expanding intellectual property holdings have long raised ethical concerns, particularly in China, where the courts and bureaucracy tend to reflect the will of the ruling Communist Party.

Ivanka Trump's lawyers in China did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Critics argue that by asking a foreign government for valuable intellectual property rights, White House officials could open themselves to pressure in government negotiations. There is also concern that the family's global trademark portfolio would open the way for lucrative business opportunities once Donald Trump leaves office.

"The sheer number of foreign trademarks Ivanka Trump has gotten while working in the White House would be troubling enough, but the fact that she just got one for charitable fundraising when her father's namesake foundation - which she served as a board member for and is closing in scandal following a New York Attorney General investigation outlining numerous legal violations - is especially troubling," Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in an email.

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2018, file photo, a document from the website of China's Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce showing provisional approval of a trademark for Ivanka Trump Marks LLC is seen on a computer screen in Beijing. China has greenlighted five more Ivanka Trump trademarks as trade talks with her father's administration intensify. They cover a range from wedding dresses to insurance and art valuation services. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Ivanka Trump closed her fashion brand in July. Her representatives assert that trademark filings are a normal business practice and are needed to protect her name from copycats seeking to capitalize on her fame.

Companies apply for trademarks for a range of reasons. They can be signs of corporate ambition, but many also are filed defensively, particularly in China, where trademark squatting is rampant.

China has said it treats all trademark applications equally under the law.

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Associated Press researcher Chen Si contributed to this report.
ORLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) - Authorities say a man was shot and killed at a suburban Chicago mall and the suspect remains at large.

Orland Park police say the 19-year-old was shot in the center of Orland Square Mall and ran away before collapsing outside a clothing store Monday evening. The man later died at the hospital.

Deputy Police Chief Joseph Mitchell says a bystander suffered a graze wound to the leg and was being treated at another hospital.

Mitchell says security video showed a male shooter fleeing the mall but it's unclear if he continued on foot or got into a vehicle. Mitchell calls the shooting an "isolated incident," saying video shows the two people involved knew each other and that the victim was "targeted."

Police departments from several neighboring towns, as well as the FBI and ATF responded to the mall about 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) southwest of Chicago

Police and fire departments respond to the scene at Orland Square Mall where a shooting occurred Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, in Orland Park, Ill. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

People leave the scene where a gunman shot and killed a man near the food court inside the Orland Square Mall, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, in Orland Park, Ill. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Authorities work the scene where a gunman shot and killed a man near the food court inside the Orland Square Mall, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, in Orland Park, Ill. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via AP)
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Police in a Phoenix suburb say they'll re-interview witnesses and victims in the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by an officer investigating a vehicle break-in.

The statement Monday comes after the truck owner told the Arizona Republic that the police description of what happened Jan. 15 isn't accurate.

Tempe Police Chief Sylvia Moir has said Antonio Arce, 14, was carrying a replica handgun he stole from the truck when he was shot running through an alley. She said two independent witnesses reporting seeing him with a firearm in his hand.

But the truck's owner, Lou Silvas, said neither of the two replica guns in his truck had been disturbed when he checked after he heard two gunshots in the alley nearby. Silvas told the Arizona Republic the only thing missing from his truck was his large, black cellphone.

"If they're announcing on the airwaves that (the airsoft gun) was taken from my vehicle, that's not true," Silvas told the newspaper. "Because I had my two still there, and that's all I'm saying."

Police spokesman Ronald Elcock said Monday that some statements in the newspaper are in direct conflict with body camera footage, evidence and statements given to detectives the day of the shooting.

FILE - This file photo provided by Jason Gonzalez shows a selfie of Antonio Arce. A suburban Phoenix police chief on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, offered her condolences to the family of 14-year-old burglary suspect Arce, who was shot and killed by an officer, calling the boy's death "tragic" but asking that the public withhold judgment until an investigation is completed. (Courtesy of Jason Gonzalez via AP, File)

Police said the newspaper's article leaves open the question about how a replica handgun was found beneath Arce, as shown in body camera videos, which have no gaps in footage.

"To remedy discrepancies reported to media surrounding this incident, we anticipate that we will re-interview witnesses and victims to ensure that the most accurate information is included in the investigation," Elcock wrote in a news release.

The officer who shot Arce has been identified only by last name, Jaen, and authorities say the officer has been in law enforcement for 17 years but is now on administrative leave.

Arce was shot in the rear shoulder blade and later died at a hospital. His family members have called for justice.
PHOENIX (AP) - Two doctors who cared for an incapacitated woman who gave birth as a result of a sexual assault are no longer providing medical services at the long-term care center in Phoenix.

Hacienda HealthCare says Sunday that one has resigned. The other has been suspended.

The victim in her 20s had been in Hacienda's care since she became incapacitated at age 3 after suffering a near-drowning.

She gave birth Dec. 29.

The sexual assault triggered a police investigation and reviews by regulators.

Hacienda CEO Bill Timmons resigned after news surfaced of the assault.

FILE - This Friday, Jan. 4, 2019, file photo shows Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix. Two doctors who cared for an incapacitated woman who gave birth as a result of a sexual assault are no longer providing medical services at the long-term care center in Phoenix, Hacienda HealthCare said Sunday, Jan. 20. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Investigators gathered DNA from men who worked there.

Authorities examined an unrelated allegation that two workers there had yelled at and hit another patient, but police spokesman Tommy Thompson said investigators were unable to corroborate the allegation.
TORONTO (AP) - More than 100 academics and former diplomats are calling on China to release two Canadians who have been detained in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a top Chinese tech executive in Canada.

The letter by a wide array of China experts from around the world is addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping. It says the arrests of the two Canadians sends a worrisome signal to those who work in policy and research in China.

China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.

Meng is the chief financial officer of the Chinese tech giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder. The U.S. wants her extradited to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei's business dealings in Iran.

The letter, released Monday, notes Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank. It notes that Spavor devoted his time to building relationships between North Korea and China, Canada and United States.

It praises Kovrig and Spavor as bridge-builders between China and the world and said their arrests make writers "more cautious" about travelling to China.

FILE - In this file image made from a March 28, 2018, video, Michael Kovrig, an adviser with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based non-governmental organization, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong. More than 100 academics and former diplomats are calling on China to release two Canadians, Kovrig and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur, who have been detained in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a top Chinese tech executive in Canada. (AP Photo, File)

"Meetings and exchanges are the foundation of serious research and diplomacy around the world, including for Chinese scholars and diplomats," the letter says. "Kovrig and Spavor's detentions send a message that this kind of constructive work is unwelcome and even risky in China."

The letter said the arrests will lead to "less dialogue and greater distrust, and undermine efforts to manage disagreements and identify common ground. Both China and the rest of the world will be worse off as a result."

More than 20 diplomats from seven countries and more than 100 scholars and academics from 19 countries signed.

Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, signed the letter and noted it comes as Canada is working to rally international support for the case.

"It will be noticed in Beijing and I hope that it will make clear for them that the arrests of Kovrig and Spavor are not only a China-Canada problem but it's also having an impact on the image of and reputation of China," Saint-Jacques said. "It's an impressive list."

The signatories include former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and Chris Patten, former British governor of Hong Kong. Two former U.S. ambassadors to China, Gary Locke and Winston Lord, also signed.

David Mulroney, another former Canadian ambassador to China, said the letter is significant because it shows the international breadth of support for the two men.

"This isn't simply a Canada-China dispute," Mulroney said. "A lot of serious people, including many who have spent years working in China, are worried about how it is closing itself off, and punishing those who seek to understand and interpret it for others."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he encourages friends and allies around the world to point out that all countries should stand up for the rule of law.
As Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launches his second term challenged by a re-energized opposition movement, experts say his hold on power relies more than ever on military backing.

Maduro has granted bonuses to rank-and-file soldiers and placed generals in key government posts, including at the helm of the state-run oil company, seeking to cement their support.

But with Venezuela sliding into economic collapse, there have been signs in recent years of fraying in military support:

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On Monday, authorities reported detaining a small group of National Guard soldiers who stormed a police station in the capital of Caracas before dawn. The soldiers captured a captain and used two vehicles to steal a cache of weapons from another outpost, officials said.

The heavily armed national guardsmen posted videos on social media saying they no longer recognized Maduro's legitimacy as president.

A loyal National Guard soldier looks out to the street from behind his base's wall after an apparent mutiny by some of his fellow guards in the Cotiza neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. The disturbance started after a group of men dressed in military fatigues and carrying assault weapons published a series of videos on social media saying they won't recognize President Nicolas Maduro's government. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Officials said they quickly made 27 arrests and recovered the weapons. They blamed "dark interests of the extreme right" in buying the soldiers' loyalty.

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On Aug. 4, Maduro was the target of an apparent assassination attempt when two drones armed with explosives detonated near him as he spoke at an outdoor military event in Caracas.

Authorities said the drones were headed to the stage where Maduro stood with his wife and other high-ranking officials. Presidential security electronically deflected one drone, while the second crashed into a nearby building.

Officials jailed dozens of suspects. They include an opposition lawmaker and three high-ranking military personnel, one a general in the National Guard.

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On May 20-21, at least 11 officers in Venezuela's naval and air forces were detained in the central state of Aragua, home to some of the country's main military units.

They were accused of engaging in a plot against Maduro, but officials have never given any details. Government critics called it a "witch hunt," unleashed after Maduro's controversial re-election.

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On Aug. 6, 2017, a group of armed men attacked the Paramacay military base in Carabobo state, killing two soldiers and wounding three others. Officials said the attackers made off with weapons.

Among the detainees were military deserters and a former member of the political police, authorities said, adding that dozens more remained fugitives.

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On June 27, 2017, rogue police officer Oscar Perez mounted a dramatic attack in a stolen helicopter, flying over Caracas to launch grenades at the Supreme Court building.

The incident played out as Venezuela was gripped by deadly street demonstrations every day for four months as protesters demanded Maduro step down.

Perez and several comrades died in a gunbattle with police after months on the run. Videos posted on social media showed Perez shouting to officials while under fire that the group wanted to surrender.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - As Americans commemorated Martin Luther King Jr., Democratic presidential hopefuls fanned out across the country to honor the civil rights leader and make themselves heard on the national stage.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., used the holiday to launch a presidential campaign that, if successful, would make her the first woman and the second black candidate to become president. Former Vice President Joe Biden accepted responsibility for his part in the passage of 1980s legislation that toughened sentences for crack cocaine possession, "a big mistake" because of its damage to the black community.

In a fiery speech in Harlem, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand lashed out at President Donald Trump for inspiring "hate and darkness." South Carolina, a critical early-voting state in the Democratic primary, hosted two senators expected to seek the White House in 2020: Cory Booker of New Jersey and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg assailed gun violence in remarks at a Washington breakfast celebrating King's life. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren denounced what she called the systematic suppression of black voters.

While the Democratic field for 2020 is only beginning to take shape, the year that would have marked King's 90th birthday gives the party's prominent members a valuable opportunity to address race and draw a contrast between their own views and those of Trump, whose approach to questions of racial justice has sparked criticism from multiple minority groups since he took office.

What Democratic contenders, both those officially in the race and those still mulling campaigns, said Monday while celebrating the King holiday:

Following a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., left, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right walk with NAACP President Brenda Murphy during a march to the Statehouse. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

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JOE BIDEN

Biden atoned for his role in the passage of a crime bill that imposed stiffer sentences on those convicted of crack cocaine possession - a law that has disproportionately affected the black community.

Biden said he hasn't "always gotten things right," but has "always tried." He also spoke about his support for efforts by former President Barack Obama's administration to reduce crack possession sentences.

Biden was the head of the Senate's Judiciary Committee when the 1994 crime bill - which is now criticized as having helped create an era of mass incarceration - was passed and signed into law.

"It was a big mistake that was made," he said. He added: "It's trapped an entire generation."

Biden says the crack sentencing guidelines are one example of broader racial injustice in America.

"White America has to admit there's still a systematic racism," he said. "And it goes almost unnoticed by so many of us."

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MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

Bloomberg said far too many U.S. politicians don't "seem to give a damn" about the victims of gun violence.

Speaking at the same event as Biden, he said many politicians care more about "getting re-elected than saving lives." He spoke of his own efforts to reduce gun violence, including spending millions of his own fortune to support gun control initiatives.

His speech focused on policies he championed while New York City's mayor, such as his efforts to improve schools and reduce neighborhood pollution. And he highlighted how he apologized to the fiancee of Sean Bell, a black man who was shot to death by New York police in 2006. At the time Bloomberg was critical of officers who he said used excessive force.

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ELIZABETH WARREN

In Boston, Warren called for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to vote for every American.

Warren made the comment after saying "people of color have been systematically denied the most basic of human rights: the right to vote."

"It would guarantee the right to vote to every American citizen and make sure that that vote is counted. Right now there is no constitutional right," Warren said. "It would help protect and give us grounds for pushing back when localities undercut the right of people to vote."

Warren said King's fight was not just about civil rights, but also about economic rights. She said the road to prosperity is steep and rocky for millions of working people, but is "steeper and rockier for black and brown Americans."

Warren also criticized the president for the partial government shutdown and responded to Trump's offer to Democrats on Saturday to open the government.

"If the president wants to negotiate over immigration reform I'm all for it," she said after the speech. "But open the government and open it now."

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KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND

Gillibrand addressed hundreds of African-Americans at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration hosted by civil rights activist Al Sharpton.

"We have to have an honest conversation about systemic, institutional and daily individual acts of racism in our country that hold people and families back for generations," Gillibrand said, citing ongoing disparities for black Americans related to heath care, criminal justice and the economy.

She continued: "White women like me must bear part of this burden and commit to amplifying your voices. We have to join you on the battlefield for justice ... If I really care about your family as much as my own, it really is my fight."

Gillibrand also condemned Trump at length. The president, she said, "has inspired a hate and darkness" that's tearing the country apart along racial and religious lines.

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BERNIE SANDERS

Speaking in South Carolina, Sanders cited King's "courage" in opposing U.S. military involvement in Vietnam as well as in fighting to end racial inequity.

"Racial equality must be central to combatting economic inequality, if we are going to create a government that works for all of us, and not just the 1 percent," Sanders said.

Sanders lost South Carolina's 2016 Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton by more than 40 percentage points. His events in the state signaled that he plans to redouble efforts in South Carolina should he launch a second White House run.

Sanders also spoke of King's efforts to help workers organize and "change the national priorities," leaning into what sounded like a campaign message-in-waiting. Among the specific proposals he cited were a federal jobs guarantee, free tuition at public colleges and universities, and universal access to child care.

He also attacked the president, calling him "a racist" and saying he has purposely tried "to divide us up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by the country we came from, by our religion."

Sanders avoided answering definitively Monday when asked if he would formally enter the 2020 race. Sanders, one of two independents in the Senate, said he's still "assessing" his plans and that several already-declared candidates are "friends of mine."

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CORY BOOKER

Booker implored those gathered at South Carolina's Statehouse to channel their dissatisfaction with the country's direction into action.

Recalling King's words on needing to work toward change rather than waiting for it, Booker urged those in the crowd to build on their ancestors' successes and struggles.

"We are dissatisfied that we live in a society that's being seduced by celebrity and forgets that substance is more important than celebrity," Booker said.

Booker and Sanders participated in a morning prayer service before leading a march to the Statehouse.

"We don't just celebrate King's holiday," said Booker, who is African-American. "We recommit ourselves to be agents of change."

Booker applauded Trump's decision to visit the King memorial in Washington. "May everyone study his work," Booker said of King. "This is not a day to criticize other Americans."

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence laid a wreath at the memorial and held a moment of silence in a brief visit.

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KAMALA HARRIS

Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of Trump's nominees, opened the holiday by declaring her bid on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"I love my country," she said when asked what qualifies her for the presidency. "And this is a moment in time that I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are."

Harris grew up in Oakland, California, a daughter of parents from Jamaica and India who were active in the civil rights movement.

King, she said, "was aspirational, like our country is aspirational. We know that we've not yet reached those ideals, but our strength is that we fight to reach those ideals."

Harris also cited her years as a prosecutor in asserting: "My entire career has been focused on keeping people safe. It is probably one of the things that motivates me more than anything else."

The senator plans a formal campaign launch in Oakland in a week.

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JAY INSLEE

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who attended a King event last week at a Seattle church, was scheduled to appear in overwhelmingly white New Hampshire to address a private fundraiser for the League of Conservation Voters but was delayed. The event aligns with his intention to put climate change at the center of a presidential campaign if he runs.

The juxtaposition highlights the challenges involved in building the diverse coalition necessary to win Democrats' nomination.

Highly diverse South Carolina and Nevada are getting heavy early attention, but the process still starts with Iowa, which is 91 percent white, and New Hampshire, which is 94 percent white. That all adds up to a balancing act: No one can emerge from a crowded Democratic field without winning a considerable number of non-white voters; but candidates, particularly those who are lesser known, must show some strength in Iowa and New Hampshire or risk not even being around by the time the nominating calendar turns to more diverse states.

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Associated Press reporters Brian Slodysko and Juana Summers in Washington, Steve Peoples in New York, and Steve LeBlanc in Boston contributed to this report.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to members of the media at her alma mater, Howard University, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 in Washington, following her announcement earlier in the morning that she will run for president. Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, entered the Democratic presidential race on Monday. Vowing to "bring our voices together," Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Former Vice President Joe Biden, speaks during a breakfast gathering commemorating the Martin Luther King Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Before a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Monday, January 21, 2019, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., stops for a photo with an attendee. Booker and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited the state as they mull 2020 challenges to President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

From left, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rev. Al Sharpton, former Vice President Joe Biden and Martin Luther King Jr III, are gathered during a commemoration of Martin Luther King Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaks during a breakfast gathering commemorating the Martin Luther King Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., greet people before a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, during visits the state as they mull 2020 challenges to President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia lawmakers appear unlikely to pass any notable new gun laws this legislative session, but are almost certain to campaign heavily on failed gun legislation later this year.

Republicans who control the General Assembly have dispatched gun-control bills backed by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who is all but certain to veto any gun-rights bills that pass out of the legislature.

Guns are a perennial issue both at the legislature and on the campaign trail in this swing state that's home to the National Rifle Association's headquarters and site of one of the country's deadliest mass shootings, at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Compromise on guns is rare in Virginia, but not unheard of. Democrats and Republicans backed a package of gun bills three years ago to strengthen some gun control measures while expanding concealed carry rights.

This year though, with an important election looming, there's little common ground. The Northam administration and GOP officials have discussed a potential deal on a so-called "red flag" measure to take away guns temporarily from people who are considered dangerous, but those talks have gone nowhere.

"Unfortunately, there hasn't been the receptivity you'd expect," said Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran, who noted that President Donald Trump and Republicans in other states have supported the measure.

Gun-rights advocates said the proposed legislation would infringe on the Second Amendment and does nothing to improve public safety.

"It's one of the more stupid bills out there," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League.

All 140 legislative seats will be up for election later this year and Democrats are emboldened by the success they've had in two straight elections cycles, driven in large part by an anti-Trump wave. Republicans hold a slim majority in both chambers of the General Assembly.

On Monday, top Democrats headlined a gun-control rally at the Capitol where they urged supporters to make guns a key issue in this year's elections.

"If we can't change people's minds, we need to change their seats," Northam said. "We will see you out here next year and we will have the majority in the House and the Senate and we will finally get things done."

Gun-rights advocates held a rally a few hours earlier where they also spoke about the upcoming elections.

"We're going to try and make sure that gun owners are as motivated as possible," Van Cleave said.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota's Republican-led Legislature reopened the abortion debate Monday following a six-year pause despite critics saying the state is setting itself up for another round of expensive legal fights over legislation they describe as misleading and unconstitutional.

In back-to-back, standing-room-only hearings, a House committee took testimony on legislation that would ban a commonly used second-trimester abortion procedure. Another bill would require abortion providers to inform women undergoing drug-induced abortions that if they changed their minds, they could still have a live birth - a claim critics argue isn't supported by medical evidence.

Similar fights are expected in several states over abortion rights this year. But in North Dakota, home to only one abortion clinic, the legislation marks a return to the debate for the oil-rich state, which had the money to defend some of the nation's strictest abortion laws in 2013 when other conservative states didn't. One of those laws sought to ban abortions when a fetal heartbeat could be detected, but it was later ruled unconstitutional.

Republican Rep. Daniel Johnston, sponsor of the so-called abortion "reversal" bill, told the committee the measure does not hamper access to abortion services and ensures that abortion providers make "all information available" on the procedure. He said: "Women have a right to know that they can choose to change their mind."

"There is no credible, medically accepted evidence that a medication abortion can be reversed," said Tammi Kromenaker, director of the state's lone abortion clinic, the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo. "A vote for (the bill) is a vote to lie to North Dakota woman."

Kromenaker has said up to 40 percent of the 1,150 abortions the clinic performs each year are medicine abortions, which are done by using a combination of two drugs. Similar legislation has been approved in Idaho , Utah, South Dakota and Arkansas.

The second North Dakota measure considered Monday would ban the dilation and evacuation method of abortion, which opponents call "human dismemberment abortion." The bill would make it a felony to perform such a procedure, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Abortion-rights groups argue that banning the procedure is unconstitutional because it interferes with private medical decisions.

Republican Rep. Luke Simons called the abortion method "barbaric" and got graphic in describing the procedure, which can involve a doctor using instruments like clamps, scissors and forceps.

Laws banning the procedure are on the books in Mississippi and West Virginia, while Ohio's new law will take effect in March, said Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager at the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organization.

Similar laws are on hold because of legal challenges in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, Nash said.

Last month, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes North Dakota, heard oral arguments over a judge's decision to block Arkansas from enforcing its law. Kromenaker said her clinic's lawyers would wait for a decision in that case before deciding on possible legal challenges to North Dakota's legislation.

The House Human Services Committee took no action on the measures Monday. The committee will make recommendations on the bills before they move to the full House.

Only two abortion-restricting measures have gone into effect in North Dakota since 2011. One requires a doctor who performs abortions to be a physician with hospital-admitting privileges, and doctors at the Fargo clinic obtained such privileges at a local hospital.

The other law prohibits women from having an abortion if they're seeking the procedure because the fetus has a genetic defect, such as Down syndrome; Kromenaker's clinic said it didn't challenge the measure because such procedures are never performed.
CAIRO (AP) - Mohamed Ben Khalifa's work as a photographer and video journalist captured the tragedy of refugee corpses washing ashore on Libya's coastline. In urban centers, he documented ferocious militia warfare.

In one photo, a wave rolls gently over the arm of a dead refugee. In another, a love letter written on pink paper is seen next to the body of a Syrian refugee found on the beach of Ben Khalifa's hometown of Zuwara, west of the Libyan capital. In others, gunfire rages, lighting up the night sky.

The work of Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.

He was killed on Saturday while accompanying a militia on patrol in southern Tripoli. The group came under fire and attack by a missile, according to a fellow freelance journalist. Ben Khalifa was killed by shrapnel.

His body of work since 2014 for the AP included more than 260 photos and scores of videos. A freelancer, he also contributed to other news organizations.

"The Associated Press is distraught by the death of freelance photographer Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who had contributed important, impactful photos from Libya to AP since 2014. Our thoughts are with his family, especially his wife and young daughter, and we offer our deepest condolences," said AP's Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Sally Buzbee and Ian Phillips, the news agency's vice president for international news.

FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 9, 2015 file photo, a Libyan honor guard stands at attention during the arrival of U.N. Special Envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon in Tripoli. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

"It is heartbreaking any time a journalist is killed on the job. AP works closely with its freelance and staff journalists to try to ensure their safety. The safety of journalists everywhere is paramount, especially those who are working in the most dangerous of places," they said in a statement.

Ben Khalifa, 35, also covered routine stories, such as visits by diplomats trying to negotiate a peace deal for Libya. The country splintered in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising and civil war that led to the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

With his sharp eye for detail, Ben Khalifa captured the attempts by ordinary Libyans to carve out normal lives amid the turmoil of the past decade. In one photo, a little boy in a traditional embroidered jacket looks at Ben Khalifa's camera, facing away from rows of male worshippers sitting in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square for Muslim holiday prayers. Another shows a wedding ceremony.

But violence was a constant theme in Ben Khalifa's work, A 2018 photo showed the damage caused by a suicide bombing at Libya's election commission. A photo taken in late December showed the aftermath of a suicide attack on Libya's Foreign Ministry.

Ben Khalifa is survived by his wife, Lamya, and their 7-month-old daughter, Rayan.

Here is a selection of some of his best work for the AP since 2014.

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2014, file, photo, a love letter found along with the dead body of a Syrian woman who washed on the beach of Zwara, Libya along with other migrants on a dangerous journey for a better life in Europe. The handwritten Arabic letter reads,"yesterday it was, and today it's happening. My only love that filled my heart and feelings, will it go on Inshallah? I love you, Ammar." The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 file photo, Libyan soldiers try to fix a weapon that jammed during clashes with militants on the frontline in Al Ajaylat, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 photo, a Libyan soldier wakes his comrade in Al Ajaylat, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015 file photo, the body of a drowned migrant is lies on a dock in Zuwara, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015, file, photo, Red Crescent workers carry the lifeless body of a migrant, in the port city of Khoms, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

In this Sept. 21, 2018 file photo, fighters under the UN backed government on the front lines during clashes in southern Tripoli. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 25, 2018, file, photo, smoke rises shortly after an attack on the foreign ministry building, in Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2018, file photo, fighter under the UN backed government shooting with Anti-aircraft gun during the clashes in Wadi Alrabie south Tripoli. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this March 2, 2014 file photo, protesters stand atop a vehicle as others burn in front of the National Conference Hall, in Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2016, file photo, a member of the Libyan security forces displays part of a document in Arabic describing weaponry, that was found at the site of U.S. airstrikes on an Islamic State camp that killed dozens, near the western city of Sabratha, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2018 file photo, a man stands outside the damaged headquarters of the national oil company after an attack by gunmen in Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2015, file photo, an African Christian mother and her child attend mass at Anglican church in Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this June 25, 2018, file photo, a member of the Italian naval forces, right, stands with a Libyan diplomatic policeman during a visit to an Italian naval forces ship at the Tripoli naval base, in Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2015, file photo, members of the Libyan Red Crescent wash their hands at the shore after they placed bodies of migrants found on the eastern shore of Tripoli, Libya into bags. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this May 10, 2017, file photo, migrants wait for medical attention on Wednesday, May 10, 2017 at Abosetta base in Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, file photo, the arm of a dead migrant is seen at the waterfront of Zuwara, about 105 kilometers (65 miles) west of Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this April 11, 2016, file photo, African migrants wait to receive medical assistance after being rescued by coastal guards on a port in Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015 file photo, a Libyan Red Crescent worker holds a picture that was found in a bag of belongings that washed up on a beach near the Tunisian Libyan border, not far from Zuwarah, 102 km (63 mi) west of Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 file photo, members of the Libyan Red Crescent carry a body bag as they retrieve bodies found washed up in the eastern shore of Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this May 2, 2018, file photo, a soldier points to bloodstains from one of the slain employees of Libya's high national election commission after a suicide bomb. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this March 3, 2017, file photo, migrants rest on the sidewalk port of Tripoli they were rescued by the Coast Guard off the coast of Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 file photo, a Libyan military soldier stands guard at the entrance of a town, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Sirte, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 file photo, Libyan soldiers aim their weapons during clashes with militants on the frontline in Al Ajaylat, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this May 2, 2018 file photo, a soldier stands outside Libya's high national election commission after a suicide bomb in Tripoli. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2015 file photo, worshipers attend a sermon during Eid al-Adha at the Martyrs Square in central Tripoli, Libya. The work of photographer and video journalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa, who was killed in Libya on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, reflected Libya's post-2011 chaos of rival militias fighting for control as well as the humanitarian tragedy of waves of people fleeing North Africa, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Mohamed Ben Khalifa, File)
PARIS - Police officers who use 'flash-ball' weapons will be equipped with portable cameras, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Wednesday. The announcement was made after protests sparked by the use of the non-lethal weapon - the new generation of the old 'flash-ball' - which was used by police during 'yellow vest' protests. Castaner said that, starting next Saturday, when nationwide protests are organized, officers who will use this anti-riot weapon - which fires 40 mm rubber bullets - will be equipped with special portable cameras. The electronic device will need to be activated in a systematic way in ''normal conditions'' but not ''in case of an aggression'' against security forces.



According to newspaper Liberation, at least 15 people lost an eye during protests organized by the 'yellow vest' movement. The association 'Desarmons-les' placed the toll at 17, including 14 people who were hit with this type of weapon. Rights advocate Jacques Toubonhas asked the government to stop using this type of weapon.


SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - The University of Notre Dame will cover murals in a campus building that depict Christopher Columbus in America, the school's president said, following criticism that the images depict Native Americans in stereotypical submissive poses before white European explorers.

The 12 murals created in the 1880s by Luis Gregori were intended to encourage immigrants who had come to the U.S. during a period of anti-Catholic sentiment. But they conceal another side of Columbus: the exploitation and repression of Native Americans , said the Rev. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame.

It is a "darker side of this story, a side we must acknowledge," Jenkins said in a letter Sunday.

The murals in the Catholic university's Main Building are painted directly on walls. Jenkins said they will be covered, although they still could be occasionally displayed. A permanent display of photos of the paintings will be created elsewhere with an explanation of their context.

"We wish to preserve artistic works originally intended to celebrate immigrant Catholics who were marginalized at the time in society, but do so in a way that avoids unintentionally marginalizing others," Jenkins said.

In 2017, more than 300 students, employees and Notre Dame alumni signed a letter in the campus newspaper that called for the removal of the murals.

In this Nov. 29, 2017, photo Kristin Fabian walks by a mural of Christopher Columbus at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The University of Notre Dame will cover murals in a campus building that depict Christopher Columbus in America, the school's president said, following criticism that the images depict Native Americans in stereotypical submissive poses before white European explorers. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP)

The president of the Native American Student Association praised Jenkins' decision.

"This is a good step towards acknowledging the full humanity of those native people who have come before us," said Marcus Winchester-Jones of Dowagiac, Michigan.

But Notre Dame law student Grant Strobl said the decision was disappointing.

"If we adopt the standard of judging previous generations by current standards, we may reach a point where there are no longer accomplishments to celebrate," Strobl said.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Authorities say three gunmen have shot to death seven people at a house in the Mexican resort of Cancun, in an apparent dispute between street-level drug dealers.

Cancun is located in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo. The city has been hit by rising violence.

The head of the state police says killers fled after the Sunday attack at a home located relatively far from the city's beach and hotel zone.

Alberto Capella said "the investigations we have so far ... point to a supposed dispute between gangs involved in street-level drug dealing."

Capella said a suspected gang leader who has been linked to the Jalisco cartel was behind the killings.

In a single day in August, police found eight bodies strewn on the streets of Cancun.
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Venezuelans who want to enter Ecuador will now have to present an official document showing any brushes with the law, the government announced Monday, two days after the killing of a 22-year-old woman sparked a wave of unrest against migrants.

The pregnant woman was slain by her Venezuelan boyfriend in an incident witnessed by dozens of people and captured on video that was shared on social media.

"We should distinguish between those Venezuelans fleeing the government of Nicolas Maduro and others who are taking advantage of the situation to commit crimes," Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner said in announcing the new regulation.

It was unclear how the estimated 2,700 Venezuelan migrants who enter Ecuador through the Colombia border each day would obtain the document, as even basic records like a passport have become increasingly difficult to obtain in their home country.

Sonnenholzer said the criminal record requirement is needed because of the lack of cooperation from Venezuelan authorities in providing information on migrants.

The United Nations estimates at least 221,000 Venezuelans are now residing in this small South American nation, which has also become a point of transit for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants who are trying to reach Peru.

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2018 file photo, Venezuelan migrants arrive to a street corner to beg for money in Quito, Ecuador. Ecuador's government announced on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 that it will require Venezuelan migrants who want to enter Ecuador to show their judicial record. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their nation's economic and humanitarian crisis since 2015 in one of the world's largest mass migrations on the planet today. They are arriving predominantly in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, where tensions have risen over the sudden influx of a high-needs population.

The killing Saturday night took place in the northern Ecuadorian city of Ibarra, where a Venezuelan man held his pregnant girlfriend at knifepoint on a street for more than an hour as police officers with shields and onlookers watched in horror. The man then stabbed the woman several times in the chest.

Outraged residents began hunting for Venezuelan migrants in the community the following day, forcing them out of hostels and homes where they rent rooms, throwing rocks at them and setting their belongings on fire.

"Get out Venezuelans!" crowds of people chanted.

The violent response stirred fears that xenophobia could be mounting and drew condemnation from rights groups and Venezuelan officials.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza accused Ecuador's government of making an "absurd correlation" between Saturday's slaying and the larger Venezuelan population. He said the government would hold Ecuador responsible for any harm to its citizens.

"Nationality isn't a criteria for criminalization," Arreaza said.

Amnesty International condemned the new entry requirement. It urged Ecuador's government to implement policies to prevent femicides, saying that "violence against women and girls is not a matter of nationality or migratory flows."

The "government has the responsibility to protect people's rights to seek asylum and international protection," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, the group's Americas director.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Democratic leaders in the New Hampshire Legislature are considering emergency legislation to help furloughed federal workers.

Senate President Donna Soucy and House Speaker Steve Shurtleff said Monday they are exploring legislation to allow the state Department of Employment Security to issue unemployment benefits to furloughed workers during the partial government shutdown. They also are looking at using surplus state funds to supplement the lost funding for federal programs.

In a statement, the Democrats said they will not let New Hampshire residents suffer because of what they called President Donald Trump's "ill-advised and uncompromising position on the border wall."

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history entered its 31st day Monday.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Authorities say police in Tennessee fatally shot a motorist who was driving toward officers.

The Knoxville News Sentinel cited a statement from the Knox County Sheriff's Office that says a Knoxville police officer shot 30-year-old Jason C. Minnick of Clinton in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

The statement says Knoxville officers were called to the scene Saturday night due to a man "possibly dealing drugs in the parking lot of Tanglewood Apartments." When officers arrived, they began walking toward the man, who was in a vehicle. The statement says the man began driving in the direction of the officers and one of them fired, hitting and killing the driver. No officers were injured.

The sheriff's office is investigating the shooting. Authorities haven't released any further details.

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Information from: Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com
MEXICO CITY (AP) - More than a month after Nicaraguan police raided and occupied his news outlets' offices, prominent journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro has fled to Costa Rica.

Chamorro announced in a video posted Monday on Facebook that he made "the painful decision to go into exile to ensure my freedom and physical safety, and above all to carry on independent journalism from Costa Rica."

Chamorro runs the online news site Confidencial as well as the television programs "Tonight" and "This Week." In mid-December, police swept into their offices and carried away documents, computers and other equipment.

When Chamorro and members of his staff went to the police to demand documentation justifying the raid they were violently pushed away by riot police.

President Daniel Ortega's government has moved in recent weeks against remaining independent voices of dissent in the media and non-governmental organizations.

At least 325 people have been killed in the suppression of anti-government protests that began last April.

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2008 file photo, journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, who runs the Communication Research Center, Cinco, is surrounded by the police as a search warrant is carried out at Cinco's facilities in Managua, Nicaragua. The prominent Nicaraguan journalist announced in a video posted Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 to his Confidencial Facebook page that he had taken "the painful decision to go into exile to ensure my freedom and physical safety, and above all to carry on independent journalism from Costa Rica." (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

Thousands have fled the country in self-imposed exile, including more than 50 journalists, Chamorro says. In April, journalist Angel Gahona was killed while reporting live via Facebook on protests in the southeastern city of Bluefields.

Last Friday, the newspaper La Prensa ran a blank front page bearing only the question: "Have you imagined living without information?" The government has been holding up its supplies of newsprint and ink, forcing the paper to reduce its page count and take other steps to save resources.

In a column published on Confidencial's website Sunday, Chamorro said he had exhausted his legal options in Nicaragua and now would have to continue doing journalism from Costa Rica. He said threats and criminalization of his work had only intensified.

Chamorro demanded the release of political prisoners, including fellow journalists Miguel Mora and Lucia Pineda Ubau of 100% Noticias, who were arrested in December.

After the Sandinistas overthrew the dictator Anastasio Somoza, Chamorro ran their newspaper, La Barricada, for years. His mother, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, was with the Sandinistas when they took power in 1979, but she ran against Ortega for the presidency and won in 1990.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Members of a congregation from a Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 died in a mass shooting by an anti-Semitic gunman last fall have traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, to worship with members of the church where nine black worshippers died in 2015 at the hands of a white supremacist.

The Post and Courier reports that members of the New Light Congregation of the Tree of Life synagogue and members of the Emanuel AME Church worshipped together Friday and Sunday in Charleston.

The Pittsburgh group came to Charleston for the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend for a show of unity and celebration.

Rabbi Jonathan Perlman leads New Light Congregation.

On Friday, he stood at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, a local Reform congregation, with Emanuel shooting survivor Polly Sheppard.

On Sunday, he stood in a mass of sorrow at Emanuel's altar rail hugging its senior pastor, the Rev. Eric S.C. Manning. Church members came forward from their pews to wrap him and his group in a sea of hugs, tears.

Manning, who flew to Pittsburgh to comfort synagogue members shortly after the mass shooting there, used his sermon on Sunday to implore people to love one another during divisive times. To do so, he referenced a line from one of King's sermons: "Let no man pull you so low as to hate him."

Along with Perlman stood Carol Black, a fellow survivor of the synagogue shooting. She hid in a closet while a gunman killed her brother, 65-year-old Richard Gottfried, a beloved dentist. Gottfried's wife, who organized the trip to Charleston, joined them. So did Gottfried's twin sister, Debi Salvin, who celebrated her first birthday without him precisely one week earlier.

Three of the 11 people who died inside Tree of Hope were members of New Light.

"I'm sad in 2019 that Jews and African Americans are united by having been slaughtered in their houses of worship in the United States of America," said Beth Kissileff Perlman, the rabbi's wife. "We share many bonds and, unfortunately, this is one of them."

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com
DUBLIN (AP) - Locks Iain Henderson and Tadhg Beirne will miss the start of Ireland's defense of the Six Nations rugby title.

Henderson returned on Saturday from a five-week layoff because of a thumb injury only to hurt a finger playing for Ulster in the European Champions Cup.

Ulster said the British and Irish Lions star will be sidelined for several weeks, but didn't say which finger was injured or its nature in a statement on Monday. It was unrelated to his recent thumb problem.

Beirne injured a knee, also on Saturday, playing for Munster in the European Champions Cup.

Ireland said on Monday he will miss the first two Six Nations games against England and Scotland.

Quinn Roux was called in as cover, to compete for a start at lock with James Ryan, Devon Toner, and Ultan Dillane.

Ireland opens against England next week in Dublin.

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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
BERLIN (AP) - The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local):

8:30 p.m.

Italian Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio has brushed off tensions with France over remarks about Europe's migrant crisis.

Di Maio said Sunday that France is leading colonial-style policies in Africa that are "impoverishing" Africans and driving them to Europe's shores.

France's Foreign Ministry then summoned the Italian ambassador over the comments.

Di Maio told journalists Monday that "I don't think it's a diplomatic case." But he insisted that "it's true, France is one of those countries" whose actions in Africa contribute to migrants leaving their homelands on dangerous journeys.

In this photo taken on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, rescued migrants are assisted by Sea-Watch rescue ship's personnel in the Mediterranean Sea. A private rescue boat with dozens of migrants aboard sought permission for a second day to enter a safe port Sunday, but said so far its queries to several nations haven't succeeded. Another vessel crowded with panicking migrants and taking on water, meanwhile, put out an urgent, separate appeal for help in the southern Mediterranean. Sea-Watch 3, run by a German NGO, said Sunday it has contacted Italy, Malta, Libya as well as the Netherlands, since the boat is Dutch-flagged, asking where it can bring the 47 migrants it had taken aboard. Sea-Watch tweeted that Libyan officials had hung up when it asked for a port assignment. (Doug Kuntz/Sea-Watch via AP)

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7:05 p.m.

France's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Italian ambassador over sharp anti-French comments from Italy about Europe's migrant crisis.

With Italy's government on the defensive over recent deaths at sea of migrants, Italian Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio sought to shift the blame onto France. Speaking Sunday, Di Maio said France is leading colonial-style policies in Africa that are "impoverishing" Africans and driving them to Europe's shores.

A French diplomatic official said Ambassador Teresa Castaldo was questioned Monday about the "unfriendly and baseless" comments. The official said they run counter to "Franco-Italian partnership" and the sense of "European community." The diplomat wasn't authorized to be publicly named.

De Maio's populist 5-Star Movement is courting France's yellow vest anti-government movement and has repeatedly criticized French President Emmanuel Macron. The two governments have notably clashed over migration.

--By Angela Charlton in Paris.

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2:10 p.m.

The German government says that in a first, more asylum-seekers were transferred to other European Union countries than Germany took in last year.

Interior Ministry spokesman Steve Alter said Germany relocated 9,209 people in 2018 under the EU regulation that requires asylum applications to be handled in the first country a person seeking protection reached in Europe.

Germany took in 7,580 people from other EU countries under the same rule last year.

The sending-receiving was disproportionately reversed in 2016, when Germany assigned 3,968 asylum-seekers elsewhere in the EU but accepted 12,091 from other countries.

More than 1 million migrants have applied for asylum in Germany since 2015, but the country has toughened its asylum laws and tried to deport more people than it did previously.
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) - Greek authorities have brought espionage charges against a British national working for a charity assisting migrants and a Greek soldier, who were arrested together in a military area on the border with Turkey.

Police had originally sought that the two men aged 25 and 29, who were arrested Sunday, should face lesser charges of entering a restricted military area without permission.

But on Monday, a prosecutor in the northeastern town of Orestiada charged them with espionage, because a photograph of military facilities was allegedly found in the men's possession, together with other pictures of the border area.

The 29-year-old Greek army sergeant served in a border unit and was off-duty at the time of his arrest.

The Evros area is a key crossing-point for migrants entering Greece illegally from Turkey.
(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, JANUARY 23 - Cairo is hosting a week of Italian and Chinese cuisine in a reflection of the trade strategy of the "New Silk Road" initiative, with ravioli playing a starring role as a common culinary denominator that crosses the two cultures.



The University of Salerno is sponsoring the event, which begins on Saturday and runs through next Wednesday and is titled "Yin and Yang: A Week of Italian and Chinese Cuisine, Both in Harmony". Five Italian chefs will work alongside Chinese chefs in the scenic restaurant of the Flamenco Hotel along the Nile River.



On January 27 and 28 the restaurant will offer an Italian menu with a Chinese "island" dedicated to jiao tzi, Chinese ravioli.



On Tuesday, January 29, a gala dinner with a half-Italian and half-Chinese menu will be held, with a Chinese dinner the following day including an Italian island dedicated to ravioli.



Young chefs and Egyptian students will be invited to learn culinary techniques and tips from the Italian and Chinese chefs.



An official presentation of the event to the media is scheduled for Saturday, January 26.



Yin and yang are two hemispheres in perennial transformation and mutual sharing that leave traces of each within the other, reflecting the spirit of this Chinese-Italian culinary week.



The "New Silk Road", also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is a Chinese strategic initiative to improve connections and cooperation between countries in Eurasia.



In addition to six land corridors, the BRI also has a sea route that passes through the Suez Canal in Egypt and ends in Italy.(ANSAmed).


DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - A survey of hundreds of corporate leaders shows "a record jump in pessimism" about the world economy, with sentiment doused by trade spats, a global downturn and fading benefits from U.S. President Donald Trump's tax cuts.

Consulting firm PwC says the latest edition of its annual survey of CEOs found 30 percent feel growth will decline this year, a six-fold increase from a year earlier - when 57 percent were optimistic.

The survey, released Monday on the eve of the World Economic Forum opening in Davos, Switzerland, tallies responses from more than 1,300 CEOs worldwide and is billed as a good predictor of economic results.

In an interview, PwC Chairman Bob Moritz said: "There's a not-surprising increase in the amount of pessimism from the CEOs and the global economy as they look at the next 12 months."

He said "confidence is waning" amid rising trade tensions and protectionism.

Thirty-five percent of CEOs cited the perennial concern about over-regulation as the top threat to their businesses. But "policy uncertainty" - a new metric introduced this year - came a close second, the survey found.

An armed Swiss police officer stands guard on the roof of a hotel near the congress center where the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, take place in in Davos, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The survey of CEOs in 91 territories was conducted online, in person and by phone in September and October.

The souring mood was perhaps most pronounced about the United States: The survey found a 41-percentage point drop in CEOs choosing the U.S. as a top market for growth, and optimism among North American executives dropped the most sharply - from 63 percent to 37 percent.

Moritz suggested that the U.S. dominance in world affairs isn't what it once was, noting how the center of gravity of capital markets had been the U.S. over nearly the last half-century. "Now you've got it shifting a little bit more east" to China and other parts of Asia, he said.

The Trump administration's salvos over trade with China and other key trading partners have taken a bite: PwC found that 98 percent of U.S. CEOs and nine in ten Chinese counterparts voiced concerns about the U.S.-China trade issues.

Moritz also pointed to uncertainty's about Brexit, saying simply: "You never know where these things are going to go."

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Follow the AP's coverage of Davos here: https://www.apnews.com/Davos
CAIRO (AP) - An Egyptian court has sentenced a TV presenter to a year in prison for interviewing a gay sex worker on his show.

Mohammed el-Gheiti was found guilty of encouraging immorality over an August 2018 segment in which the guest described his profession. El-Gheiti, who can appeal the ruling, was fined around $170 and is free pending a final verdict. The charges stem from a complaint filed by a private lawyer.

Egypt has waged a crackdown on perceived homosexuality in recent years, imprisoning people on vague charges of "debauchery." Homosexuality is not a crime in Egypt, but is widely seen as taboo in the conservative, Muslim-majority country. Prostitution is illegal.

In September 2017, authorities arrested dozens of people after several waved an LGBT rainbow flag at a Cairo concert.
MOSCOW (AP) - Two Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessels caught fire in the Black Sea, leaving at least 14 sailors dead, Russian officials said Monday. Five other sailors were missing.

The Federal Agency for the Sea and River Transport said the fire erupted while fuel was being pumped from one tanker to another. The blaze spread from one ship to the other, prompting the crews to jump overboard, according to Russian news agencies.

The news agencies quoted the federal maritime agency as saying the two vessels had 31 crew members combined who are citizens of Turkey and India.

The maritime agency said that salvage teams have saved 12 crewmembers, correcting its earlier report that 14 sailors have been rescued. It said that 11 bodies were taken from the sea, adding that rescuers saw another three dead but failed to recover them. The search for five missing seamen was continuing.

The Russian navy has joined the rescue operation, deploying two of its ships.

The fire erupted while the two vessels, the Maestro and the Candy, were anchored near the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - The son of new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is fending off suspicions of financial irregularities that are starting to cast a shadow over the administration just four weeks in power.

The newspaper O Globo reported Sunday that the Council for Financial Activities Control is looking into $1.8 million in payments that have flowed in and out of the account of a former driver for the president's son, Sen.-elect Flavio Bolsonaro, from 2014 to 2017. At the time, Flavio Bolsonaro was a state deputy.

The news report comes on the heels of a December investigation by the daily O Estado de S. Paulo, which reported that money to the account of driver Fabricio Quieroz came from the younger Bolsonaro's employees and one payment went to Bolsonaro's wife.

Other irregular payments flagged by the financial regulators for being "suspected of hiding the money's origin" are 48 cash deposits of $530 to the senator-elect over the course a month in 2017, according to Globo's Jornal Nacional on Friday.

Flavio Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing. He told a television interviewer Sunday that the deposits came from a real estate sale, but didn't explain why they were in cash.

Jair Bolsonaro and his son, far-right politicians who ran on anti-corruption platforms, deny wrongdoing and say that Queiroz should explain the other payments.

FILE - In this Oct. 7, 2018 file photo, then-presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro, left, accompanied by his son Flavio Bolsonaro, arrives to vote in the general election in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Flavio, the son of current President Jair Bolsonaro, is fending off suspicions of financial irregularities that are starting to cast a shadow over the new administration. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File)

Queiroz has dodged two deposition requests from Rio de Janeiro's public prosecutors, citing health problems. He gave a television interview earlier this month denying wrongdoing, but provided few details other than that he is a "businessman" and has taken personal loans from the Bolsonaros.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao tried to diminish the case's importance, telling the news portal G1 on Monday that the probe doesn't affect the administration and that it is Flavio Bolsonaro's own problem.

Questions about the probe are escalating as Jair Bolsonaro makes his first international trip as president to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.

Bolsonaro is expected to pitch the international community on his commitment to reforming Brazil's endemic corruption and volatile economy. Upon arriving Monday, he told reporters, "We will give the most ample message possible that ever since we took power: There is a new Brazil."

Bolsonaro has three sons who are elected politicians. All were active participants in his campaign and in spreading Bolsonaro's anti-corruption message.

Flavio Bolsonaro says that he is being persecuted and that his privacy has been violated by prosecutors.

The Rio district attorney, Eduardo Gussem, said at a news conference Monday that prosecutors had not broken privacy laws, citing 20-year-old legislation. He said a total of 27 state deputies have been flagged by the financial regulator over possible irregular payments.

The case got more scrutiny when Flavio Bolsonaro's lawyers last week called on the Supreme Court to suspend the Rio state case because the president's son is a senator-elect. Federal politicians in Brazil can only be judged by the Supreme Court, a legal immunity that the Bolsonaros condemned during their campaigns.

Judge Luiz Fux granted Flavio Bolsonaro's request, causing uproar among Bolsonaro critics and supporters alike.

There has been no conclusive evidence about the possibly irregular payments involving the son's driver. But such payments have often been part of a common corruption scheme in lower levels of Brazilian government in which employees kick back a portion of their salaries to the politician.

The probe is dominating national headlines less than two weeks before the start of the next Congress, where Bolsonaro faces the arduous task of forming alliances in a government body infamous for deal making and political patronage. The case could hurt the president's public support, making promised reforms more difficult to pass.
CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian security officials say police have arrested 24 people who tried to prevent authorities from demolishing illegal buildings near the Giza pyramids.

They say police used tear gas to disperse residents and shopkeepers in the Nazlet el-Samman village on Monday after they scuffled with police escorting the demolition workers.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Monday's violence follows a recent announcement that a private Egyptian company will take charge of running the historical site that includes the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, which are visited by millions every year.

Many of the village's residents make a living off visitors, hawking souvenirs and offering horse rides. Tourists have long complained of being harassed or overcharged.
PARIS (AP) - The leaders of France and Germany are preparing to sign a treaty Tuesday that will deepen the alliance between their countries in Europe and internationally. One provision says the governments in both nations will work to get Germany accepted as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, where it now is one of 10 non-permanent members.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who opposes the pact as promoting globalization and European unity, claimed the treaty would allow Germany to share France's permanent seat at the Security Council.

"Emmanuel Macron now wants to share this seat with the Germans," Le Pen said.

In a video posted on Twitter last week, the National Rally party head also said the treaty German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are signing would place France's bordering region of Alsace "partially under Germany's authority."

The allegation spread quickly on French social media.

THE FACTS: The cooperation treaty is an extension of a World War II reconciliation treaty France and Germany approved in 1963. The terms were negotiated for more than a year. Macron and Merkel plan to sign it in in the German border city of Aachen.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends the weekly cabinet meeting of the German government at the chancellery in Berlin, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

It says both countries will push for Germany to be accepted as a permanent member of the Security Council - a position France already has supported.

The French presidency says France doesn't want to share its seat, one of only five with permanent status at the U.N. body. The other permanent members are the United States, Russia, China and the United Kingdom.

The treaty doesn't specifically mention the Alsace region specifically, but lists target areas for improving cross-border cooperation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters Monday that Le Pen's claims "are completely unfounded and have nothing whatsoever to do with the text or the contents or the intention of the treaty."

"We want to facilitate the relationships between people in the border region, improve exchanges between them and enable better mobility in the border region," Seibert said. "We want better cooperation in the areas of economy, social affairs, environment, transportation and health."

The treaty's introduction says Germany and France will act in accordance with their respective constitutions and national laws, as well as within the European Union's legal framework.

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Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed reporting.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks about the decision by British lawmakers to oppose the agreement negotiated by British Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU, during a statement at a parliament building in Berlin, Jan. 16, 2019. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron greets Quebec Premier Francois Legault, left, prior to their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh Pool)
PARIS (AP) - France's data privacy watchdog fined Google 50 million euros ($57 million) on Monday, the first penalty for a U.S. tech giant under new European data privacy rules that took effect last year.

The National Data Protection Commission said it fined the U.S. internet giant for "lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent" regarding ad personalization for users.

It's one of the biggest regulatory enforcement actions since the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, came into force in May. The rules are aimed at clarifying individual rights to personal data collected by companies, which are required to use plain language to explain what they're doing with it.

Even though many tech multinationals like Google are headquartered in the U.S., they still have to comply with the new rules because they have millions of users in Europe.

The commission said Google users were "not sufficiently informed" about what they were agreeing to as the company collected data for targeted advertisements.

Users have to take too many steps, "sometimes up to 5 or 6 actions," to find out how and why their data is being used, the commission said. Google's description of why it's processing their data is "described in a too generic and vague manner," it added.

FILE - This Tuesday, July 19, 2016, file photo shows the Google logo at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. France's data privacy watchdog has slapped Google with a 50 million euro ($57 million) fine, in the first penalty for a U.S. tech giant under new European data privacy rules that took effect last year. The National Data Protection Commission said Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 it fined the U.S. internet giant for "lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent" regarding ad personalization for users. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

The company's infringements "deprive the users of essential guarantees regarding processing operations that can reveal important parts of their private life," the commission said .

The commission acted on complaints by two data protection advocacy groups, NOYB.EU and La Quadrature du Net, filed immediately after GDPR took effect.

Google said in a statement it is "deeply committed" to transparency and user control as well as GDPR consent requirements.

"We're studying the decision to determine our next steps," it said.
LONDON (AP) - Army bomb-disposal experts in Northern Ireland carried out a controlled explosion on a hijacked vehicle Monday amid heightened tensions in Londonderry following a weekend explosion outside a courthouse.

Police suspect Irish Republican Army dissidents were behind the explosion Saturday in the city - also known as Derry - that took place after attackers hijacked a pizza delivery vehicle. No one was injured in the blast, which shook the center of Northern Ireland's second-largest city.

Five men have been arrested.

Even as that investigation continued, police investigated two vehicle hijackings. Both incidents prompted security alerts, with nearby residents evacuated and army bomb disposal experts deployed.

One of the two vehicles was later blown up Monday.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Superintendent Gordon McCalmont warned of widespread disruption.

Forensic investigators at the scene of a car bomb blast on Bishop Street in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. Northern Ireland police and politicians have condemned a "reckless" car bombing outside a courthouse in the city of Londonderry. The device was placed inside a hijacked delivery vehicle and exploded Saturday night as police, who had received a warning, were evacuating the area. There were no reports of injuries. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

"We understand the effect this will have on the local community, but we will not take any chances when it comes to keeping people safe," he said.

More than 3,700 people died during decades of violence before Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord. Most militants have renounced violence, but small groups of IRA dissidents have carried out occasional bombings and shootings.

U.K. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley said the dissidents' "campaign of hatred and violence is unfortunately nothing new," but wouldn't succeed.

She said there was no plan to change the official terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland, which stands at "severe," the second-highest level on a five-rung scale.

Northern Ireland's power-sharing government has been suspended for two years because of a dispute between the main Protestant and Catholic political parties. Uncertainty about the future of the Irish border after Brexit is adding to tensions.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Falling temperatures replaced the weekend's falling snow Monday as bitter cold and gusty winds swept across the eastern United States.

The National Weather Service had forecast that temperatures would be more than 20 degrees below normal across the Northeast, with wind gusts up to 30 mph (48 kph) and wind chills approaching minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) in northern New York and Vermont.

Those wind gusts caused flight disruptions at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Monday and FlightAware reported hundreds of delayed flights. And after a few weather-related delays Sunday, Amtrak restored all scheduled service Monday.

Atop the Northeast's highest mountain, the temperature fell to minus 23 degrees (minus 31 Celsius) Monday morning and dropped to minus 31 (minus 35 Celsius) later in the afternoon, according to the Facebook page for Mount Washington Observatory, in New Hampshire. Wind chills were hovering around minus 80 (minus 62 Celsius).

In New York, Coast Guard crews moved quickly to rescue a 21-year-old man left stranded on an island in the Navensink River after his small boat broke down. The Coast Guard said two members waded through 34-degree (1 Celsius) water to bring the man to safety. The air temperature was 7 degrees (minus 14 Celsius) with 30 mph wind.

The weather contributed to multiple deaths over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Marvin Hooks wears a face mask to protect him from the cold as he walks on North Street in Pittsfield, Mass., Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Bitter cold and gusty winds swept across the eastern U.S. Monday with falling temperatures replacing the weekend's falling snow. (Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle via AP)

In suburban Chicago, the temperature was about 14 degrees (minus 10 Celsius) Sunday when a 12-year-old girl died after a snow fort collapsed on her. Police in Arlington Heights, Illinois, said Esther Jung had been playing with another girl outside Rothem Church. Their families began looking for them about an hour later and found them under the snow. The younger girl survived.

In Connecticut, a utility company subcontractor died Sunday after being struck by a falling tree while working on a power line in Middletown. Thousands of homes and businesses in Connecticut remained without power Monday afternoon as temperatures dropped below zero in some locations.

"This is a reminder of the danger these men and women face on our behalf," Gov. Ned Lamont said in a tweet. "While many are still out there working today, please join me in acknowledging them and sending our thoughts to this person's family."

In Kansas, a snowplow driver was killed when the plow drove onto the shoulder of a road and rolled over, throwing him under the vehicle. It wasn't clear why the driver had moved to the shoulder from the roadway.

At least four people have died after shoveling snow.

In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office said a 59-year-old man and a 91-year-old man collapsed and died Sunday in separate incidents after removing snow. In upstate New York, 70-year-old Frank Demasi died Monday after collapsing with a heart attack while shoveling snow. And in southwest Michigan, a man in charge of transportation at a school district also died while shoveling snow. Portage district officials said Mike Westbrook died Saturday from a heart attack.

Another storm system is already developing over the Rockies that could blanket the same region with more snow by the end of the week.

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This story has been corrected to show the Connecticut town is Middletown, not Middleton.

A temperature of -7 degrees Fahrenheit was shown at the Bank of America Financial Center on Sate Street, against a backdrop of the New York State Capitol on Monday morning, Jan. 21, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/The Albany Times Union via AP)

Steam comes off the Mississippi River in Carleton Place, Ontario on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Jeff Maguire digs out his driveway in Carleton Place, Ontario on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - An Albanian court has convicted the main opposition Democratic Party leader of defamation over drug-related allegations he made against a senior governing lawmaker.

Democratic leader Lulzim Basha was fined 50,000 lek ($455) in a ruling by a Tirana district court judge on Monday.

Taulant Balla, head of the Socialist party parliamentary group, had opened a case after Basha accused him in parliament of being linked to 3.4 million euros ($3.8 million) in cash allegedly belonged to drug traffickers that was found in two cars imported from Germany.

Basha's lawyer said he would appeal the verdict.

Four people linked to the cash are still under investigation.

Fighting drug trafficking, organized crime and corruption remain top priorities for Albania, which is seeking to launch European Union membership negotiations later this year.
(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 23 - Pope Francis left Rome's Fiumicino airport Wednesday morning on his first international trip of 2019 and the 26th of his pontificate, heading to Panama where he will participate in the 34th World Youth Day.

He is scheduled to arrive at Tocumen airport in Panama City at 16:30 local time on Wednesday, where he will be greeted by President Juan Carlos Varela.

The pontiff will remain in Panama through Sunday, January 27.

"I am leaving for the World Youth Day in Panama. I ask you to pray for this very beautiful and important event on the path of the Church," Pope Francis tweeted on Wednesday.


KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Congo's police dispersed a gathering Monday of supporters waiting to hear a speech by presidential runner-up Martin Fayulu, his spokeswoman said.

Dozens of people gathered outside his coalition's headquarters in Kinshasa before police arrived and canceled the event, said Eve Bazaiba.

"Our headquarters (HQ) was besieged, our activists began to gather, we began to climb the podium on which our leader should speak, and the police came and took the podium and the speakers," she said, adding that police had also blocked the entrance and exit gates at the headquarters.

She dismissed calls by declared president-elect Felix Tshisekedi to work together for reconstruction of Congo.

"We cannot work together in irregularities," she said. "We cannot build on falsehoods ... we want to know the truth of the ballot box first."

The Constitutional Court on early Sunday refused Fayulu's request for a vote recount and reaffirmed the victory of Tshisekedi in the presidential race, saying he received 38 percent of the vote, while Fayulu received 34 percent.

FILE - This Nov. 23, 2018, file photo shows Felix Tshisekedi of Congo's Union for Democracy and Social Progress opposition party, at a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Congo's Constitutional Court early Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019, declared the election of Tshisekedi as president, rejecting challenges to the vote by runner-up Martin Fayulu, who had alleged fraud. Tshisekedi, son of the late, charismatic opposition leader Etienne, is now set to be inaugurated on Tuesday.(AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

In his legal challenge, Fayulu said he won 60 percent of the vote according to leaked commission results. The 40,000-member Catholic Church observation mission also affirmed that results from polling stations showed that Fayulu was the clear winner. But the court said that Fayulu didn't provide evidence proving his claim.

Rejecting the court's decision, Fayulu declared that he is Congo's "only legitimate president" and called for the Congolese people to peacefully protest what he called a "constitutional coup d'etat."

Congo's government has called Fayulu's statements "a shame," and irresponsible.

"We want the truth of the polls, they stole Fayulu's victory," said Jacques Nzita, a Fayulu supporter who was outside his headquarters to hear him speak.

Fayulu on Monday called on African presidents to listen to the voice of Congo people.

"To African presidents who demand the Congolese to respect the Constitutional Court decision, I ask you to respect the sovereign decision of the Congolese people who elected me president with more than 60 percent," he tweeted. "Don't encourage fraud, lies and forgery."

The African Union, which had noted "serious doubts" about the vote and made an unprecedented request for Congo to delay the final results, postponed its urgent mission to Congo planned for Monday.

Congo is on the brink of its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960.

Tshisekedi's inauguration, which was planned for Tuesday, is now postponed, government spokesman Lambert Mende told The Associated Press. He didn't give reasons for the delay, but said it will likely take place Thursday.

France's Foreign Ministry on Monday said it took note of the victory of Tshisekedi, as proclaimed Jan. 19 by the court, and said it would be represented by its ambassador at the inauguration.

"This election permitted Congolese people to express with force and calm their desire for alteration. We hope that the new president will respond to it and call on him to continue the dialogue with all the actors in the country to achieve this," the statement said.

Also Monday, RFI, CCTV and the television station for opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba came back on the air after being cut two days after December elections. Internet, also cut before the election, had slowly returned in recent days.

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AP writer Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Five foreign demining specialists were killed in an accidental explosion in Yemen while transporting mines and explosives to be destroyed, their employer said Monday.

The MASAM Demining Project said the two South Africans, a Croatian, a Bosnian and a Kosovar were killed Sunday while transporting the material in the central Marib province to a remote location where it could be safely detonated. It said a British national was wounded.

The project, part of the Saudi King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, began last year and seeks to remove unexploded ordnance from Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been at war with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels since 2015.

MASAM says the experts "lost their lives while attempting to bring safety and security to the Yemeni people, and their service to mankind will not be forgotten."

U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths meanwhile arrived in the capital, Sanaa, on an unannounced visit on Monday to discuss the situation in and around the coastal city of Hodeida, where Yemen's warring parties agreed to a cease-fire last month. The two sides also agreed to a prisoner exchange last month that has yet to take place.

Also under discussion will be disagreements between Yemen's Houthi rebels, who hold Hodeida, and Retired Dutch Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, who is heading a U.N. mission charged with monitoring the cease-fire. The mission plans to send additional observers into Yemen and wants to secure their safety, especially after a U.N.-marked armored vehicle in Cammaert's convoy was hit with a round of small arms fire last week.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that the mediators are trying to arrange the first face-to-face meeting between government representatives and the rebels. Cammaert has had to shuttle between government and rebel representatives in different rooms. Dujarric gave no timetable of when a face-to-face meeting might be held.

The refusal of the government and the Houthis to sit in the same room is another indication of the lack of trust between the warring parties and the difficulty in implementing the full cease-fire agreement they reached in Sweden.

Dujarric said Griffiths will also visit Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, in the coming days.

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Wielding control of the House and a new set of investigative powers, Democrats are preparing to bring Education Secretary Betsy DeVos under the sharpest scrutiny she has seen since taking office.

DeVos has emerged as a common target for Democrats as they take charge of the House and its committees, which carry the authority to issue subpoenas and call hearings. At least four panels are expected to challenge DeVos on her most polarizing policies, among them her overhaul of campus sexual assault rules and her rollback of for-profit college regulations.

"We are going to hold Secretary DeVos accountable for, in so many ways, failing to uphold federal protections for our students," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat leading an appropriations subcommittee that oversees the education budget. "It has to do with hurting student borrowers, protecting predatory for-profit schools and, above all, moving toward privatizing public education."

House Democrats are increasing scrutiny of several top federal officials, but few have drawn as much attention as DeVos. Along with the appropriations committee, DeVos is likely to see pushback from panels that oversee education, veterans' affairs and government oversight.

Without control of the Senate, Democrats will have a tough time forcing DeVos' hand through legislation, but they can press her through subpoenas, hearings and the budgeting process. In contrast, DeVos was called before the House's education committee just once over the last two years of Republican control.

Much of the new scrutiny will come from Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the education committee, who said he will call DeVos to testify "as often as necessary."

FILE - In this May 24, 2017 file photo, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., center, ranking member on the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee, greets Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Democrats are preparing to bring Education Secretary Betsy DeVos under the sharpest scrutiny she has seen since taking office. DeVos has emerged as a common target for Democrats as they take charge of House committees that wield oversight powers including the authority to issue subpoenas and call hearings. At least four Democrat-led committees are expected to push DeVos on a range of topics. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

"We have not been getting answers to most of our questions," Scott said in an interview, recalling when Democrats were in a minority. "It's kind of hard to do oversight when they're not answering our questions."

Scott is particularly interested in exploring whether the Education Department is allowing states to skirt federal rules requiring them to address achievement gaps between students of different races.

Education Department spokeswoman Liz Hill countered that DeVos has been responsive to requests for information from Congress and will continue to be.

"She's ready to work with any member of Congress who wants to rethink education and do better for America's students," Hill said.

President Donald Trump has dismissed Democrats' scrutiny of his administration as nothing more than "harassment." But Scott said he plans to work with Republicans on his own initiatives, including a push for federal money to update the nation's aging school buildings.

"The majority has certain powers, but hopefully we would have an ongoing dialogue," Scott said. "Some of the hearings become spectacles that really don't add to solving problems."

Part of the problem for Democrats will be picking their battles. They have opposed DeVos on nearly all of her major initiatives, including her proposed rules on the handling of campus sexual assaults, her support for arming school staff members and her revocation of federal guidance on school discipline.

But DeVos' greatest opposition could stem from her rollback of rules targeting for-profit colleges. As Trump pursues a broader effort to scale back regulation, she has sought to undo policies that the previous administration crafted to rein in for-profit colleges accused of deceiving students. Among them are the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute chains.

A federal judge blocked DeVos from scrapping a policy that makes it easier for defrauded students to get loans erased. But her department has not enforced a separate rule meant to weed out shoddy for-profit colleges. Most recently, DeVos drew criticism in November when she reinstated an industry accrediting group that federal officials shut down in 2016 over lax oversight.

Scott has already vowed to dig into DeVos' decision on the accreditor, and he's joined by several other lawmakers concerned about for-profit college regulation.

Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat chairing the veterans' affairs committee, plans to hold hearings on the impact of DeVos' policies on military veterans. Takano said looser oversight has allowed predatory schools to recruit veterans and collect their GI Bill funding while ultimately leaving them with poor job prospects.

He also aims to investigate how for-profit colleges recruit on military bases.

"Where Secretary DeVos has been insidiously effective is in undermining rules and undermining protections for students," he said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said he, too, will conduct rigorous oversight of the Education Department and for-profit colleges, and explore whether DeVos "exposed student borrowers to predatory practices and jeopardized their educational goals."

There's also debate among Democrats about how closely to examine potential conflicts of interest within the Education Department. DeVos has hired several former executives from the for-profit college industry, which some Democrats say is ripe for investigation. But Scott said he would rather focus on policies than the people behind them.

"We've found a lot of confusion between potential bias and conflict of interest," Scott said. "So long as they have no financial ties now with the industry, it would be hard to find a conflict of interest."

Beyond oversight, some House Democrats are optimistic they can reach a deal on the Higher Education Act, a sweeping federal law that governs student financial aid and could be revised to address topics like campus sexual assault and student debt forgiveness.

The law has remained unchanged for a decade, but there's new interest in renewing the bill in the Senate before the chairman of the education committee, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, retires after 2020.

Democrats also aim to boost money for public schools that serve low-income students and those with disabilities. They're bracing for a fight if DeVos renews her push to fund vouchers for private schools.

"Ninety percent of our students are in public schools, and they need more resources to succeed," said Rep. DeLauro, the Connecticut Democrat on the appropriations committee. "We should not be siphoning off taxpayer dollars, which are in demand, to pay for vouchers."

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Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley

FILE - In this May 22, 2018, file photo, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies at a House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Democrats are preparing to bring Education Secretary Betsy DeVos under the sharpest scrutiny she has seen since taking office. DeVos has emerged as a common target for Democrats as they take charge of House committees that wield oversight powers including the authority to issue subpoenas and call hearings. At least four Democrat-led committees are expected to push DeVos on a range of topics. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The latest on a reported national guard uprising in Venezuela (all times local):

10:25 p.m.

A group of unidentified men saying they are friends of the Venezuelan military appears in a video saying they are preparing an advance into Venezuela to help unseat embattled President Nicolas Maduro and restore democracy.

The video was released in Colombia hours after Venezuela's socialist government announced it had arrested 27 National Guard soldiers for allegedly launching an uprising against Maduro.

The video was played late Monday on NTN-TV in Colombia's capital and shows roughly two dozen men wearing combat fatigues, but unarmed. The Associated Press could not independently verify where the soldiers were located or their identities.

A leader of the group says they are responding to Juan Guaido, the new head of Venezuelan's opposition-controlled congress who has been urging Venezuelans and theirs armed forces to remove Maduro from power.

Bolivarian National Police stand behind a burning roadblock set up by anti-government protesters who are showing support for a mutiny by some National Guard soldiers in the Cotiza neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Venezuela's government said Monday it put down the mutiny. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Guaido is calling for nationwide demonstrations to be held Wednesday - which is when the soldiers say they will be taking action.

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2:50 p.m.

Officials in Venezuela say they've arrested 27 members of the National Guard accused of launching an uprising against the government.

Socialist party chief Diosdado Cabello says more arrests could come.

Tensions are thick in Venezuela, where the political opposition leaders have called for nationwide protests on Wednesday aimed at driving President Nicolas Maduro from office.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido is urging the armed forces to abandon Maduro and return Venezuela to constitutional rule.

Officials say that national guardsmen in the capital of Caracas took captive a captain in charge of a police station and stole a cache of weapons from another outpost on Monday.

The disturbance sparked street protest in the neighborhood of the police station, which other security forces subdued by shooting tear gas.

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11 a.m.

Venezuela's supreme court says it's throwing out recent congressional measures that found Nicolas Maduro's presidency illegitimate - with the pro-government justices ruling that leadership of the opposition-dominated congress itself is invalid.

The high court magistrates say in a statement issued Monday that Venezuela's chief prosecutor should determine whether to bring criminal charges against congressional leaders.

Opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido was sworn in as the National Assembly's president on Jan. 5 and immediately preceded to oversee legislation accusing Maduro of usurping power and calling on countries from around the world to freeze his government's assets.

Maduro was sworn in for a second, six-year term on Jan. 10 despite widespread condemnation that he was taking Venezuela down the path of dictatorship after his main opponents were banned from running in last year's vote.

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9:25 a.m.

Venezuela's military says it has detained several national guardsmen who stole a cache of weapons and kidnapped two officers.

The statement appears to confirm reports of an uprising by a national guard unit that triggered disturbances in a poor neighborhood a few kilometers (miles) from the presidential palace in Caracas on Monday.

The military says the guardsmen were motivated by far-right groups to betray their oath. It says all of the weapons had been recovered.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez sent a message on Twitter promising that the rebellious guardsmen would be punished with the full weight of the law.

Bolivarian National Guard soldiers fire rubber bullets at anti-government protesters showing support for a mutiny by other National Guardsmen in the Cotiza neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Venezuela's government said Monday it put down the mutiny. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - As Americans commemorated Martin Luther King Jr., Democratic presidential hopefuls fanned out across the country to honor the civil rights leader and make themselves heard on the national stage.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., used the holiday to launch a presidential campaign that, if successful, would make her the first woman and the second black candidate to become president. Former Vice President Joe Biden accepted responsibility for his part in the passage of 1980s legislation that toughened sentences for crack cocaine possession, "a big mistake" because of its damage to the black community.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand lashed out at President Donald Trump for inspiring "hate and darkness" in a fiery speech in Harlem. South Carolina, a critical early-voting state in the Democratic primary, hosted two senators expected to seek the White House in 2020: Cory Booker of New Jersey and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg assailed gun violence in remarks at a Washington breakfast celebrating King's life. Massachusetts Sent. Elizabeth Warren denounced what she called the systematic suppression of black voters.

While the Democratic field for 2020 is only beginning to take shape, the year that would have marked King's 90th birthday gives the party's prominent members a valuable opportunity to address race and draw a contrast between their own views and those of Trump, whose approach to questions of racial justice has sparked criticism from multiple minority groups since he took office.

What Democratic contenders, both those officially in the race and those still mulling campaigns, said Monday while celebrating the King holiday:

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to members of the media at her alma mater, Howard University, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 in Washington, following her announcement earlier in the morning that she will run for president. Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, entered the Democratic presidential race on Monday. Vowing to "bring our voices together," Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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JOE BIDEN

Biden atoned for his role in the passage of a crime bill that imposed stiffer sentences for those convicted of crack cocaine possession - a law that has disproportionately affected the black community.

Biden said he hasn't "always gotten things right," but has "always tried." He also spoke about his support for efforts by former President Barack Obama's administration to reduce crack possession sentences.

Biden was the head of the Senate's Judiciary Committee when the 1994 crime bill - which is now criticized as having helped create an era of mass incarceration - was passed and signed into law.

"It was a big mistake that was made," he told the Washington breakfast also attended by Bloomberg. ."We were told by the experts that 'With crack you can never go back.'" He said: "It's trapped an entire generation."

Biden says the crack sentencing guidelines are one example of broader racial injustice in America.

"White America has to admit there's still a systematic racism," he said. "And it goes almost unnoticed by so many of us."

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MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

Bloomberg said far too many U.S. politicians don't "seem to give a damn" about the victims of gun violence.

He said many politicians care more about "getting re-elected than saving lives." He spoke of his own efforts to reduce gun violence, including millions of his own fortune that he's spent supporting gun control initiatives.

His speech focused on policies he championed while New York's mayor, such as his efforts to improve schools and reduce neighborhood pollution. And he highlighted how he apologized to the fiancee of Sean Bell, a black man who was shot to death by New York police in 2006, just hours before the man's wedding. At the time Bloomberg was critical of officers, who he said used excessive force.

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ELIZABETH WARREN

In Boston, Warren called for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to vote for every American.

Warren made the comment after saying "people of color have been systematically denied the most basic of human rights: the right to vote."

"It would guarantee the right to vote to every American citizen and make sure that that vote is counted. Right now there is no constitutional right," Warren said. "It would help protect and give us grounds for pushing back when localities undercut the right of people to vote."

Warren said King's fight was not just about civil rights, but also about economic rights. She said the road to prosperity is steep and rocky for millions of working people, but is "steeper and rockier for black and brown Americans."

Warren also criticized the president for the partial federal government shutdown and responded to Trump's offer to Democrats on Saturday to open the government.

"If the president wants to negotiate over immigration reform I'm all for it," she said after the speech. "But open the government and open it now."

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KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND

Gillibrand addressed hundreds of African-Americans at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration hosted by civil rights activist Al Sharpton. "We have to have an honest conversation about systemic, institutional and daily individual acts of racism in our country that hold people and families back for generations," Gillibrand said, citing ongoing disparities for black Americans related to heath care, criminal justice and the economy.

She continued: "White women like me must bear part of this burden and commit to amplifying your voices. We have to join you on the battlefield for justice... If I really care about your family as much as my own, it really is my fight."

Like some of the other ambitious Democrats who spoke out Monday, Gillibrand condemned Trump at length. The president, she said, "has inspired a hate and darkness" that's tearing the country apart along both racial and religious lines.

She ended her remarks on a more positive note: "Only what's right can defeat what's wrong. And I feel very called at this moment to do what is right and to fight. Please join me."

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BERNIE SANDERS

Speaking in South Carolina, Sanders cited King's "courage" in opposing U.S. military involvement in Vietnam as well as in fighting to end racial inequity.

"Racial equality must be central to combatting economic inequality, if we are going to create a government that works for all of us, and not just the one percent," Sanders said.

Sanders lost South Carolina's 2016 Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton by more than 40 percentage points. His presence at a Columbia church service Monday and a rally after, as well as several other events in the state, signaled that he plans to redouble efforts in South Carolina should he launch a second White House run.

Sanders also spoke of King's efforts to help workers organize and "change the national priorities," leaning into what sounded like a campaign message-in-waiting on Monday. Among the specific proposals he cited were a federal jobs guarantee, free tuition at public colleges and universities, and universal access to child care.

He also attacked the president, calling him "a racist" and saying he has purposely tried "to divide us up by the color of our skin, by our gender, by the country we came from, by our religion."

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CORY BOOKER

Booker implored those gathered at South Carolina's Statehouse to channel their dissatisfaction with the country's direction into action.

Recalling King's words on needing to work toward change rather than waiting for it, Booker urged those in the crowd to build on their ancestors' successes and struggles.

"We are dissatisfied that we live in a society that's being seduced by celebrity and forgets that substance is more important than celebrity," Booker said.

The New Jersey senator and Sanders participated in a morning prayer service before leading a march to the Statehouse.

"We don't just celebrate King's holiday," said Booker, who is African-American. "We recommit ourselves to be agents of change."

Booker applauded Trump's decision to visit the King memorial in Washington. "May everyone study his work," Booker said of King. "This is not a day to criticize other Americans."

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence laid a wreath at the memorial and held a moment of silence in a brief visit that had not been on their public schedule.

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KAMALA HARRIS

Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of Trump's nominees, opened the holiday by declaring her bid on ABC's "Good Morning America." She abandoned the formality of launching an exploratory committee, instead going all in on a presidential campaign.

"I love my country," she said when asked what qualifies her for the presidency. "And this is a moment in time that I feel a sense of responsibility to stand up and fight for the best of who we are. And that fight will always include, as one of the highest priorities, our national security."

Harris, 54, grew up in Oakland, California, a daughter of parents from Jamaica and India who were active in the civil rights movement.

King, she said, "was aspirational, like our country is aspirational. We know that we've not yet reached those ideals, but our strength is that we fight to reach those ideals. And that inspires me because it is true that we are a country that, yes, we are flawed, we are not perfect, but we are a great country when we think about the principles upon which we are founded."

Harris also cited her years as a prosecutor in asserting: "My entire career has been focused on keeping people safe. It is probably one of the things that motivates me more than anything else."

The senator plans a formal campaign launch in Oakland in a week and will have her headquarters in Baltimore. She's already planning her first trip to an early primary state as a declared candidate.

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JAY INSLEE

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who attended a King event last week at a Seattle church, is in overwhelmingly white New Hampshire to address a private fundraiser for the League of Conservation Voters. The event aligns with his intention to put climate change at the center of a presidential campaign if he runs.

The juxtaposition highlights the challenges involved in building the diverse coalition necessary to win Democrats' nomination.

Highly diverse South Carolina and Nevada are getting heavy early attention but the process still starts with Iowa, which is 91 percent white, and New Hampshire, which is 94 percent white. That all adds up to a balancing act: No one can emerge from a crowded Democratic field without winning a considerable number of non-white voters; but candidates, particularly those who are lesser known, must show some strength in Iowa and New Hampshire or risk not even being around by the time the nominating calendar turns to more diverse states.

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Associated Press reporters Brian Slodysko and Juana Summers in Washington, Steve Peoples in New York, and Steve LeBlanc in Boston contributed to this report.

Following a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., left, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right walk with NAACP President Brenda Murphy during a march to the Statehouse. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

Former Vice President Joe Biden, speaks during a breakfast gathering commemorating the Martin Luther King Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Before a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., Monday, January 21, 2019, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., stops for a photo with an attendee. Booker and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited the state as they mull 2020 challenges to President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

From left, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rev. Al Sharpton, former Vice President Joe Biden and Martin Luther King Jr III, are gathered during a commemoration of Martin Luther King Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaks during a breakfast gathering commemorating the Martin Luther King Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., greet people before a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer service at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, during visits the state as they mull 2020 challenges to President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
PARIS (AP) - France's Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador Monday over sharp anti-French comments from an Italian official about Europe's migrant crisis.

With Italy's government on the defensive over recent deaths at sea of migrants, Italian Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio sought to shift the blame onto France. Speaking Sunday, Di Maio said France is leading colonial-style policies in Africa that are "impoverishing" Africans and driving them to Europe's shores.

A French diplomatic official said Italian Ambassador Teresa Castaldo was questioned Monday about the "unfriendly and baseless" comments. The official said they run counter to "Franco-Italian partnership" and the sense of "European community." The diplomat wasn't authorized to be publicly named.

De Maio's populist 5-Star Movement is courting France's yellow vest anti-government movement and has repeatedly criticized French President Emmanuel Macron. The two governments have notably clashed over migration.

Di Maio downplayed the tensions on Monday, telling journalists "I don't think it's a diplomatic case." But he insisted that "it's true, France is one of those countries" whose actions in Africa contribute to migrants leaving their homelands on dangerous journeys.

Separately, the German government said that in a first, more asylum-seekers were transferred to other European Union countries than Germany took in last year.

In this photo taken on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, a Sea-Watch ship approaches a dinghy boat to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. A private rescue boat with dozens of migrants aboard sought permission for a second day to enter a safe port Sunday, but said so far its queries to several nations haven't succeeded. Another vessel crowded with panicking migrants and taking on water, meanwhile, put out an urgent, separate appeal for help in the southern Mediterranean. Sea-Watch 3, run by a German NGO, said Sunday it has contacted Italy, Malta, Libya as well as the Netherlands, since the boat is Dutch-flagged, asking where it can bring the 47 migrants it had taken aboard. Sea-Watch tweeted that Libyan officials had hung up when it asked for a port assignment. (Jon Stone/Sea-Watch via AP)

Interior Ministry spokesman Steve Alter said Germany relocated 9,209 people in 2018 under the EU regulation that requires asylum applications to be handled in the first country a person seeking protection reached in Europe.

Germany took in 7,580 people from other EU countries under the same rule last year.

The sending-receiving was disproportionately reversed in 2016, when Germany assigned 3,968 asylum-seekers elsewhere in the EU, but accepted 12,091 from other countries.

More than 1 million migrants have applied for asylum in Germany since 2015, but the country has toughened its asylum laws and tried to deport more people than it did previously.

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Frances D'Emilio in Rome, and Kirsten Grieshaber and David Rising in Berlin, contributed to this report.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - The Latest on Zimbabwe's ongoing protests and turmoil. (all times local):

11:57 p.m.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Harare late Monday after cutting short his fund-raising trip in order to address the country's economic crisis and crackdown.

Mnangagwa was welcomed at Harare International Airport by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, former army commander who was in charge during the president's week-long absence and when the government launched a widespread clampdown in which 12 people were killed, more shot by troops and others dragged from their homes and beaten, according to human rights groups.

Mnangagwa hugged Chiwenga and chatted with him on the runway for 15 minutes. The president then told state broadcasting that his trip to Russia and Kazakhstan was fruitful and will benefit Zimbabwe in the long run. During his trip Mnangagwa met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him for a loan.

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FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019 file photo, protestors gather near a burning tire during a demonstration over the hike in fuel prices in Harare, Zimbabwe. 2019 is already a busy year for internet shutdowns in Africa, with governments ordering cutoffs as soon as a crisis appears. Zimbabwe ordered a "total internet shutdown" in recent days during protests over a dramatic fuel price increase and a resulting deadly crackdown. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)

5:28 p.m.

Zimbabwe police have charged the leader of the country's largest labor union with subverting the constitutional government. The lawyer for Japhet Moyo, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said he has been charged with subversion for his role in organizing last week's national strike that the government said degenerated into riots. The protests prompted the government to launch a sweeping clampdown in which 12 people were killed, according to human rights organizations. More than 600 people were arrested.

5:00 p.m.

Zimbabwe's High Court has ordered Zimbabwe's government to restore full internet to the country. The court ruled that the government's shutdown of the internet was illegal because the Minister of State for Security, who ordered the internet closure, does not have powers to issue such a directive. The court said only President Emmerson Mnangagwa has the authority to make such an order. Zimbabwe's government closed the internet for much of last week. Over the weekend it restored partial internet, but kept a blackout on social media apps like Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter.

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3:00 p.m.

A spokesman for Zimbabwe's largest trade union said police have arrested the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Japhet Moyo.

He was arrested at the airport in Harare on Monday and lawyers are checking with police to see why. His organization had called for last week's nationwide strike to protest the government's action to more than double the price of fuel. The strike and protests sparked off a government crackdown in which 12 people were killed, according to human rights groups. More than 600 people, including opposition members of parliament, have been arrested in connection with last week's protests. The labor federation called for last week's job stay away.

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Zimbabwe's capital is returning to normal Monday, after a week of turmoil in which Zimbabweans protested dramatic fuel price hikes and government security forces launched a crackdown in which 12 people were killed.

Most shops and businesses have reopened, although many people are stocking up on food items in case the country faces further unrest.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to return to the country late Monday, after announcing Sunday that he will skip attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He is in Kazakhstan, after visiting Russia last week.

Mnangagwa had been under growing pressure to return from a two-week overseas visit as accounts emerged of abuses by security forces, including dozens of people wounded by gunfire and others hunted down in their homes and severely beaten. Zimbabwe has seen days of unrest since Mnangagwa made an announcement more than doubling fuel prices that made the struggling country's gasoline the most expensive in the world.

Indicating the severity of Zimbabwe's economic problems, South Africa confirmed that it turned down Mnangagwa's request for a loan of $1.2 billion recently. "We just don't have that kind of money," South African treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane told the broadcaster, eNCA.

Zimbabwe's courts are on Monday to hear two cases related to the government's ongoing clampdown on dissent. The High Court will hear a challenge to the government's suspension of internet services. Although internet service has been restored after a nearly week-long blackout, social media outlets such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Facebook are still jammed. The government has said its action is to prevent Zimbabweans from organizing violent protests.

The blockade "has caused serious inconveniences, loss of business and income, threats to life and the right to health care as people are not able to access vital communication relating to their medication," said the court application by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Media Institute of Southern Africa, which urged the court to rule that the government should lift its restrictions.

In a separate court case, the lawyer for activist and pastor Evan Mawarire is trying to get him released on bail. In jail since Wednesday, he has been charged with subversion against the government for which he faces 20 years in jail if convicted. Mawarire had used social media to support peaceful protests against the fuel price increases. The case against Mawarire is a "travesty of justice" said his lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa.

In the widespread crackdown, more than 600 people have been arrested of which more than 400 have been denied bail, said Mtetwa.

When Mnangagwa tweeted Sunday that he would cut short his European trip and to come back to Zimbabwe he didn't mention the violence, saying only that he is returning "in light of the economic situation." He said his first priority "is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again."

At Davos, he planned to appeal for foreign investment and loans, but the visit had been expected to be a challenge. His Davos visit a year ago came shortly after he took over from longtime, repressive leader Robert Mugabe, a move cheered by Zimbabweans and the international community.

But Mnangagwa has faced a year of troubles in which his administration failed to improve the collapsed economy, narrowly won a disputed election and violently put down anti-government protests.

The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference last week lamented the government's "intolerant handling of dissent" and its failure to halt economic collapse, concluding that "our country is going through one of the most trying periods in its history."

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
WASHINGTON (AP) - Kamala Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, entered the Democratic presidential race on Monday. Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American.

Harris, 54, who grew up in Oakland, California, is one of the earliest high-profile Democrats to join what is expected to be a crowded field. She made her long anticipated announcement on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"I am running for president of the United States," she said. "And I'm very excited about it."

She portrayed herself as a fighter for justice, decency and equality in a video distributed by her campaign as she announced her bid. "They're the values we as Americans cherish, and they're all on the line now," Harris says in the video . "The future of our country depends on you and millions of others lifting our voices to fight for our American values."

On ABC, she cited her years as a prosecutor in asserting: "My entire career has been focused on keeping people safe. It is probably one of the things that motivates me more than anything else."

Harris launched her presidential bid as the nation observes what would have been the 90th birthday of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The timing was a clear signal that the California senator- who has joked that she had a "stroller's-eye view" of the civil rights movement because her parents wheeled her and her sister Maya to protests - sees herself as another leader in that fight.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to members of the media at her alma mater, Howard University, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 in Washington, following her announcement earlier in the morning that she will run for president. Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, entered the Democratic presidential race on Monday. Vowing to "bring our voices together," Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The opening hours of Harris' campaign included a number of cultural touchstones aside from her decision to announce her bid on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Staffers said her timing, and the design and color of her campaign logo, were a nod to Shirley Chisholm, the New York congresswoman who sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination 47 years ago this week. Upon returning to Washington, Harris spoke to reporters at Howard University, the historically black college that she attended as an undergraduate and on Monday described as "one of the most important aspects of my life."

Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, faced at least one question about her heritage on Monday. When a reporter, who noted she is both African-American and Indian-American, asked how she would describe herself, Harris replied: "How do I describe myself? I describe myself as a proud American. That's how I describe myself."

She skipped the formality of forming an exploratory committee, instead going all in on a presidential bid.

She plans a formal campaign launch in Oakland on Jan. 27. The campaign will be based in Baltimore, with a second office in Oakland.

Harris joins what is expected to be a wide-open race for the Democratic presidential nomination. There's no apparent front-runner at this early stage, and Harris will face off against several Senate colleagues.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York have both formed exploratory committees. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota are also looking at the race.

If Booker enters the race, he and Harris could face fierce competition for support from black voters.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who unsuccessfully sought the 2016 Democratic nomination, is also considering a campaign. Several other Democrats have already declared their intentions, including former Maryland Rep. John Delaney and former Obama administration housing chief Julian Castro.

Harris launches her campaign fresh off of a tour to promote her latest memoir, "The Truths We Hold," which was widely seen as a stage-setter for a presidential bid.

She is already planning her first trip to an early primary state as a declared candidate. On Friday, Harris will travel to South Carolina to attend the Pink Ice Gala in Columbia, which is hosted by a South Carolina chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, which Harris pledged as an undergraduate student at Howard University. The sorority, founded more than 100 years ago, is a stronghold in the African-American community.

South Carolina, where black voters make up a large share of the Democratic electorate, is likely to figure heavily into Harris's prospects. And early voting in Harris's home state of California will now overlap with the traditional early nominating contests, which could give Harris a boost.

She also has planned a trip to Iowa, where she campaigned on behalf of Democrats during the 2018 midterm elections.

Asked Monday about her path to the nomination, Harris said it would go "through all of the states that are the 50 states of the United States."

"It is going to be about speaking truth, especially when there has been so much that is contrary to truth," she said.

Harris's campaign team is already taking shape and includes several veterans of Democratic politics.

Juan Rodriguez, who ran her 2016 Senate campaign, will manage her presidential bid. Her sister, Maya Harris, a former top adviser to Hillary Clinton, will be the campaign chair. The veteran campaign finance lawyer Marc Elias will serve as the campaign's general counsel, and Angelique Cannon, who worked for Clinton's 2016 campaign, will serve as national finance director. David Huynh, who was Clinton's director of delegate operations in 2016, will serve as a senior adviser. Lily Adams, a Clinton campaign alum who has worked as Harris's spokeswoman, will be communications director.

Her staff says she plans to reject the assistance of a super PAC, as well as corporate PAC money. She's invested heavily in cultivating a digital, small-dollar donor network.

Before her 2016 victory in the Senate race, Harris made her career in law enforcement. She served as the district attorney in San Francisco before she was elected attorney general.

Harris is likely to face questions about her law enforcement record, particularly after the Black Lives Matter movement and activists across the country pushed for a criminal justice overhaul. Her prosecutorial record has recently come under new scrutiny after a blistering opinion piece in The New York Times criticized her repeated claim that she was a "progressive prosecutor," focused on changing a broken criminal justice system from within.

Harris addressed her law enforcement background in her book. She argued it was a "false choice" to decide between supporting the police and advocating for greater scrutiny of law enforcement.

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Campaign video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls7OSwHMoBc

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to members of the media at her alma mater, Howard University, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 in Washington, following her announcement earlier in the morning that she will run for president. Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, entered the Democratic presidential race on Monday. Vowing to "bring our voices together," Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., arrives to speak to the members of the media at her alma mater, Howard University, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 in Washington, following her announcement earlier in the morning that she will run for president. Harris, a first-term senator and former California attorney general known for her rigorous questioning of President Donald Trump's nominees, entered the Democratic presidential race on Monday. Vowing to "bring our voices together," Harris would be the first woman to hold the presidency and the second African-American if she succeeds. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
NEW DELHI (AP) - Police in southern India are investigating a suspected attempt to illegally transport scores of Indians on an overcrowded boat to New Zealand.

The additional superintendent of police in Kerala state said police were questioning people who failed to board the fishing boat, who said it left nine days ago for New Zealand.

Sojan, who uses one name, said police began investigating when they found dozens of abandoned bags containing dried fruit and "everything needed for a sea journey" near the harbor in Kochi in Kerala state.

"The boat is gone, that's for sure," he said by telephone Monday.

Police believe the fishing boat was so overcrowded that people had to leave their luggage behind. Sojan said it was unclear where the boat might be.

"We have not been able to trace the boat so far, no radio connection, no radar, nothing is coming out," Sojan said. "It was a fishing boat, not a passenger boat. The boat had been purchased just for this purpose."

He said no arrests had been made.

The Indian Express newspaper said police recovered more than 50 abandoned bags near Kodungallur temple in Thrissur district and later found more bags at Munambam harbor in Kochi.

The newspaper said the bags - containing clothes, IDs and other documents - belonged to about 230 people. Sojan said it was unclear how many might be on board, but "more than 100."

There has never been a large boat arrival of asylum seekers in New Zealand, due in part to country's isolation in the South Pacific and the often treacherous ocean conditions. But the country is seen as more welcoming than neighboring Australia, which refuses to resettle asylum seekers arriving by boat in a policy intended to deter such journeys.

"Although there has never been a mass arrival in this country, there's no doubt that New Zealand is a target for people smugglers and a mass arrival at some stage is a very real possibility that we need to be fully prepared for," said Stephen Vaughan, an assistant general manager at Immigration New Zealand, in a statement.

Vaughan said the agency did not comment on specific cases but it remained vigilant.

"The message to anyone contemplating such a journey is simple: Any attempt to reach New Zealand will put your life, and the lives of your family members, at great risk," he said. "There is every chance you will drown at sea."

New Zealand law allows for large numbers of asylum seekers arriving by boat to be detained for up to six months while authorities assess whether they pose a security risk.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's parliament on Monday started debating a historic agreement aimed at normalizing relations with Macedonia, a day after violent demonstrations against the deal erupted in Athens.

The agreement would see Macedonia change its name to North Macedonia, while in exchange Greece would lift its objections to its northern neighbor joining NATO and, potentially, the European Union.

The deal was being debated Monday in the Greek parliament's committee on defense and foreign policy, coming under strong criticism from opposition parties that say it concedes too much to Macedonia.

The house's plenary session will take up the debate on Wednesday, before a vote tentatively set for late Thursday.

Left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government is struggling to secure the majority needed to back the deal and may need the support of as many as six opposition lawmakers.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people gathered outside Parliament to protest the deal, and at least 25 police officers were injured during extensive clashes.

Protestors wave Greek flags outside parliament in Athens, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. Greece's Parliament is to vote this coming week on whether to ratify the agreement that will rename its northern neighbor North Macedonia. Macedonia has already ratified the deal, which, polls show, is opposed by a majority of Greeks. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

More protests are expected this week, including plans by farmers' associations to use tractors to block roads on the Greek-Bulgarian border on the final day of the parliamentary debate.

The deal is aimed at ending decades of hostility between the two Balkan countries. Greece wants its small landlocked neighbor to change or modify its name, arguing that it currently poses a potential threat to the territory and ancient heritage of Greece's own region of Macedonia.

While the proposed compromise has been ratified by Macedonia, it remains deeply unpopular in Greece - with more than two-thirds of the public opposed to it, according to recent opinion polls.

The government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote last week after its right-wing coalition partner quit in protest at the proposed deal, leaving Tsipras' reliant on opposition support.

On Monday, a potential ally, the centrist Potami, lost its party status in parliament, falling below the minimum representation requirement after a lawmaker declared himself an independent.

The government spokesman, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, blamed Sunday's violence on "extreme right elements," but added that opponents of the agreement should be respected.

"Many of the objections are reasonable, but the government has its policy ... and a patriotic duty to secure the national interest," Tzanakopoulos told private 24/7 Radio.

Strongly backed by the U.S. and Western European leaders, the Greek government argues that the deal would boost Balkan stability and improve regional trade.

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Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki contributed to this report.

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Follow Gatopoulos at http://www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos

An Orthodox monk holds a representation of the Virgin Mary and child during a clashes in Athens, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. Greece's Parliament is to vote this coming week on whether to ratify the agreement that will rename its northern neighbor North Macedonia. Macedonia has already ratified the deal, which, polls show, is opposed by a majority of Greeks. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Demonstrators hold Greek flags in a cloud of tear gas during clashes after a rally in Athens, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. Greece's Parliament is to vote this coming week on whether to ratify the agreement that will rename its northern neighbor North Macedonia. Macedonia has already ratified the deal, which, polls show, is opposed by a majority of Greeks. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A Greek riot police fends off a demonstrator with a stick during clashes in Athens, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. Greece's Parliament is to vote this coming week on whether to ratify the agreement that will rename its northern neighbor North Macedonia. Macedonia has already ratified the deal, which, polls show, is opposed by a majority of Greeks. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A demonstrator holds a banner demanding Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to step down during clashes after a rally in Athens, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. Greece's Parliament is to vote this coming week on whether to ratify the agreement that will rename its northern neighbor North Macedonia. Macedonia has already ratified the deal, which, polls show, is opposed by a majority of Greeks. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)
(ANSA) - Rome, January 23 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that the EU's Sophia naval mission in the Mediterranean to combat human trafficking must be scrapped unless the rules are changed, as it places too much of the burden on Italy. "The point of the Sophia naval mission is that all the rescued immigrants disembark exclusively in Italy after an ingenious agreement signed by the government of (ex-premier Matteo) Renzi," Salvini told Radio Anch'io.

"I don't know what he got in exchange.

"Either the rules change or the mission ends".

Sources close to European High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini said Wednesday that the EU may indeed close Sophia.

"Operation Sophia... combatted the trafficking of human beings in the Mediterranean up to the point of almost stopping it completely, it trained the Libyan coast guard and it saved human lives," the sources said.

"Sophia brought the whole EU into the Mediterranean, while Italy was alone there before 2015.

"If today Italy, which has the command and headquarters of the operation, no longer wants Sophia, we are ready to close it".

Germany has decided to interrupt its participation in Sophia, citing Italy's hard line on stopping NGO ships landing in Italian ports and sending migrants back to Libya, German news agency DPA reported on Tuesday.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia is pressuring Cuba to turn over leaders of the South American nation's last remaining rebel group who had been on the island for peace talks that have been stifled by the bombing of a police academy that left 21 dead.

The National Liberation Army claimed responsibility Monday for the car bombing, stating the attack against a military installation was a legitimate response to the armed forces' bombing of a guerrilla camp during a recent unilateral ceasefire.

"It is permissible within the laws of war," the guerrilla army said in a statement. "There were no non-combatant victims."

High Commissioner for Peace Miguel Ceballos responded hours later by urging Cuba, the host of peace talks that began under the previous president, to capture the group's leaders, warning that failing to do so would violate international accords.

"The ELN had a great opportunity to show its will for peace," Ceballos said at a press conference, referring to the group by its Spanish initials. "And it didn't do that."

Authorities say a one-armed explosives expert belonging to the rebel group carried out the bombing Thursday morning, driving in through a side gate with 80 kilograms (175 pounds) of pentolite.

People rally to repudiate terrorism at Bolivar Square in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019. A car bombing at a Bogota police academy that authorities have attributed to rebels of the National Liberation Army killed 21 people and left dozens more wounded on Jan. 17. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

President Ivan Duque asked Cuba to arrest 10 rebel commanders who have been living on the communist-governed island with his permission in hopes of jumpstarting stalled peace talks. Cuba, which condemned the attack, has pushed back, saying it is obliged to follow the protocol used by Duque's predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, allowing the negotiators to leave the island in the event of a rupture in talks.

"Cuba has never allowed, nor it will ever allow, its territory to be used for the perpetration of terrorist actions against any state," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote in a tweet. "Cuba has strictly complied with its role as guarantor and alternative venue of the peace dialogue between the Colombian government and the ELN."

Ceballos said Monday that the peace talk protocol was established by Colombia's previous presidential administration and therefore holds no weight. He said that rather than treat the incident as a rupture in dialogue, officials on the island should cooperate in ensuring all those responsible for a terrorist attack are held accountable.

According to the protocol, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, Colombia's military should cease all activity in certain hotspots over a 72-hour period to facilitate the safe return of the ELN leaders. The document also leaves open the possibility of the rebels transiting through Venezuela.

"We can't allow those responsible for this terrorist attack to return to the ranks of the ELN and hide from justice in the jungle," Ceballos said.

Last week's attack against the General Santander police academy was the deadliest in Colombia in 15 years and reminded many of the bloodiest chapters of the nation's war between leftist rebels, paramilitaries and the state.

Santos began peace talks with the ELN in hope of reaching an agreement like that achieved with the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. But from the start, the talks were fraught with difficulty, with Santos temporarily suspending the talks a year ago after a series of bombings that killed seven police officers.

Since his election last year, Duque has vowed to continue peace talks only if the ELN rebels hand over all kidnapping victims and cease violence.

In their statement, the ELN said it wants talks to continue.

"President Duque, we want to reiterate that the path of war is not the future of Colombia," they wrote. "The best thing for the country is to send your delegation to the peace talks to continue the process."
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - SITE Intelligence Group says Mali's al-Qaida branch claimed responsibility for an attack on a United Nations peacekeeping mission that killed at least 10 peacekeepers and wounded at least 25 others Sunday in northern Mali's Kidal region.

Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam Muslimeen, known as JNIM and formed in 2017, said it carried out the attack in response to Chad renewing diplomatic ties with Israel, according to the U.S.-based monitoring group. SITE said JNIM suggested the attack was the first of its many "responses" to Chad's relations with Israel.

The renewed ties were announced after a recent visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Chad.

The attack targeted the base in Aguelhoc, which houses Chadian peacekeepers. Peacekeepers from Chad, a strong contributor to regional security efforts, have suffered repeated assaults in Mali.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said U.N. forces "responded robustly" to the attack and three assailants were killed while a fourth was captured. A U.N. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the attackers arrived in about 20 vehicles.

The wounded peacekeepers were receiving medical attention and seven have been transferred to Dakar, Senegal's capital, for further treatment, Dujarric said Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack and spoke Sunday with Chadian President Idriss Deby "to personally convey his condolences," Dujarric said.

Guterres called on Malian authorities and signatories to a 2015 peace agreement "to spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of this attack so that they can be brought to justice as swiftly as possible," according to the U.N. spokesman.

Dujarric said the secretary-general stressed that such attacks "will not diminish the resolve of the United Nations to continue supporting the people and government of Mali in their efforts to build peace and stability in the country,"

Mali is the most dangerous of the U.N.'s far-flung peacekeeping missions. Half of the mission's 22 deaths last year were due to "malicious acts," according to the United Nations.
PARIS (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron hosted 150 international business leaders at the Palace of Versailles on Monday in hopes of producing support for his agenda as yellow vest protesters keep up their demonstrations to his government's economic policies.

The CEOs or top executives of Microsoft, Uber, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and IBM were among those attending at the evening event, where Macron wants to promote tax changes and other measures intended to attract foreign investors.

The foreign executives arranged to stop in France while en route to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Several companies used the Versailles event Monday to announce planned investments in France worth a total of 600 million euros ($682 million), Macron's office said.

Chinese group Microport, which specializes in medical devices, plans to put 350 million euros ($398 million) over the next five years toward developing pacemakers and defibrillators in France.

U.S. food manufacturer Mars said it would invest 120 million euros ($136 million) on work at eight locations in France.

CEO of the US multinational technology and social media company Snap Inc Evan Spiegel, left, reads a document with French President Emmanuel Macron prior to a meeting as part of the second edition of the "Choose France" summit, in Versailles, outside Paris, France , Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/Pool Photo via AP)

Microsoft and IBM announced the development of centers focusing on artificial intelligence.

American technology group Cisco has a 60-million euro plan ($68 million) to further develop its Paris innovation and research lab by 2022.

State statistics agency Insee last month lowered its 2018 growth estimate for France to 1.5 percent, down from 2.2 percent in 2017.

Macron was elected in 2017 on a pro-European, pro-business platform, arguing that economic policies would make France stronger for globalization. He has started cutting taxes on business revenue and is planning other similar cuts by 2022.

Citizens wearing the yellow vests French motorists are required to carry in their vehicles started weekly protests of a fuel tax increase in mid-November. Anger over the president's policies that were seen as favoring the wealthy swelled the demonstrations into a broader anti-government movement.

Macron launched a "national debate" last week to solicit ideas from citizens and to help assuage the anger. Thousands of people nevertheless turned out in Paris and several other cities Saturday, the 10th consecutive weekend of demonstrations.

Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal Lakshmi Mittal, left, speaks with French President Emmanuel Macron prior to a meeting as part of the second edition of the "Choose France" summit, in Versailles, outside Paris, France , Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. (Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/Pool Photo via AP)
LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled her Brexit Plan B on Monday - and it looks a lot like Plan A.

May launched a mission to resuscitate her rejected European Union divorce deal, setting out plans to get it approved by Parliament after securing changes from the EU to a contentious Irish border measure.

May's opponents expressed incredulity: British lawmakers last week dealt the deal a resounding defeat, and EU leaders insist they won't renegotiate it.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party accused May of being in "deep denial" about her doomed deal.

"This really does feel a bit like 'Groundhog Day,'" he said, referring to the 1993 film starring Bill Murray, in which a weatherman is fated to live out the same day over and over again.

Outlining what she plans to do after her EU divorce deal was rejected by Parliament last week, May said that she had heeded lawmakers' concerns over an insurance policy known as the "backstop" that is intended to guarantee there are no customs checks along the border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland after Brexit.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May has rejected calls to delay Britain's departure from the European Union, and says she will press on with efforts to get an EU divorce bill approved by Parliament. May says she will hold more talks with government and opposition lawmakers about their concerns over the deal, before going back to EU leaders. (House of Commons via AP)

May told the House of Commons that she would be "talking further this week to colleagues ... to consider how we might meet our obligations to the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland in a way that can command the greatest possible support in the House.

"And I will then take the conclusions of those discussions back to the EU."

The bloc insists that it won't renegotiate the withdrawal agreement.

"She is wasting time calling for a revision or clarification over the backstop," said German politician Udo Bullmann, head of the socialist group in the European Parliament.

While May stuck doggedly to her deal, she also acknowledged that control over Brexit wasn't entirely in her hands. She noted that lawmakers will be able to amend her plan when it comes to a vote in the House of Commons on Jan. 29, exactly two months before Britain is due to leave the EU.

Groups of "soft Brexit"-backing lawmakers - who want to keep close economic ties to the bloc - are planning to use amendments to try to rule out a "no-deal" Brexit and make May ease her insistence that leaving the EU means quitting its single market and customs union.

Britain and the EU sealed a divorce deal in November after months of tense negotiations. But the agreement has been rejected by both sides of Britain's divide over Europe. Brexit-backing lawmakers say it will leave the U.K. tethered to the bloc's rules and unable to forge an independent trade policy. Pro-Europeans argue it is inferior to the frictionless economic relationship Britain currently enjoys as an EU member.

After her deal was thrown out last week by a crushing 432-202 vote in Parliament, May said she would consult with lawmakers from all parties to find a new way forward.

But Corbyn called the cross-party meetings a "stunt," and other opposition leaders said the prime minister didn't seem to be listening.

On Monday, May rejected calls from pro-EU lawmakers to delay Britain's departure from the bloc or to hold a second referendum on whether to leave.

In a nod to opposition parties' concerns, she promised to consult lawmakers, trade unionists, business groups and civil society organizations "to try to find the broadest possible consensus" on future ties between Britain and the EU, and said the government wouldn't water down protections for the environment and workers' rights after Brexit.

May also said the government had decided to waive a 65 pound ($84) fee for EU citizens in Britain who want to stay permanently after Brexit.

Guy Verhofstadt, the head of the EU Parliament Brexit steering group, welcomed news that the fee was being dropped for 3 million EU nationals, saying it had been a "key demand" for the EU legislature.

May's immediate goal is to win over pro-Brexit Conservatives and her party's Northern Irish ally, the Democratic Unionist Party. Both groups say they won't back the deal unless the border backstop is removed.

The backstop proposes to keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU in order to avoid checks on the Irish border. It is meant as a temporary measure that would last until a permanent solution is found. But pro-Brexit U.K. lawmakers fear Britain could become trapped in it, indefinitely bound by EU trade rules.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz broke ranks with EU colleagues Monday by suggesting the problem could be solved by setting a five-year time limit on the backstop.

The idea got a cool reception. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that "putting a time-limit on an insurance mechanism, which is what the backstop is, effectively means that it's not a backstop at all."

Britain's political impasse over Brexit is fueling concerns that the country may crash out of the EU on March 29 with no agreement in place to cushion the shock. That could see tariffs imposed on goods moving between Britain and the EU, sparking logjams at ports and shortages of essential supplies.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said Monday was "another bleak day for business."

"Parliament remains in deadlock while the slope to a cliff edge steepens," she said.

Several groups of lawmakers are trying to use parliamentary rules and amendments to May's plan to block the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal.

One of those legislators, Labour's Yvette Cooper, said May was shirking her responsibility to the country by refusing to take "no deal" off the table.

"I think she knows that she should rule out 'no deal' in the national interest because it would be so damaging," Cooper told the BBC. "She's refusing to do so, and I think she's hoping that Parliament will do this for her. That is not leadership."

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Raf Casert reported from Brussels. Lorne Cook in Brussels and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this story.

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Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn listens as Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May has rejected calls to delay Britain's departure from the European Union, and says she will press on with efforts to get an EU divorce bill approved by Parliament. May says she will hold more talks with government and opposition lawmakers about their concerns over the deal, before going back to EU leaders. (House of Commons via AP)

Anti-Brexit remain in the European Union supporter Steve Bray, left, holds placards as he demonstrates with others opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain is scrapping a fee it was due to charge European Union citizens applying to settle permanently in the U.K. after Brexit. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A pro-Brexit leave the European Union supporter demonstrates with placards outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain is scrapping a fee it was due to charge European Union citizens applying to settle permanently in the U.K. after Brexit. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Anti-Brexit remain in the European Union supporters hold placards as they demonstrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday rejected calls to delay Britain's departure from the European Union. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, David Wright, left, and Dan During, right, pack bars of soap at the Clarity-The Soap Co. premises in London. Amid the rancor and political bickering that this week sent Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal down to the biggest defeat in history, people across the U.K. are worried about what the impasse in Parliament means for them and their families. Nowhere more than at Clarity-The Soap Co. which employs visually impaired adults who understand that jobs can be precious - and hard to come by. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A lone demonstrator stands by an entrance to Britain's parliament in London, Friday, Jan. 18, 2019. Talks to end Britain's Brexit stalemate appeared deadlocked Friday, with neither Prime Minister Theresa May nor the main opposition leader shifting from their entrenched positions. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street to attend parliament in London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May is set to unveil her new plan to break Britain's Brexit deadlock - and it's expected to look a lot like the old plan decisively rejected by Parliament last week. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Downing Street to attend parliament in London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May is set to unveil her new plan to break Britain's Brexit deadlock - and it's expected to look a lot like the old plan decisively rejected by Parliament last week. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Larry, the Downing Street cat sits and looks at the media in London, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May is set to unveil her new plan to break Britain's Brexit deadlock - and it's expected to look a lot like the old plan decisively rejected by Parliament last week. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
BERLIN (AP) - When Hilde Schramm inherited several paintings collected by her father, Hitler's chief architect and Armaments Minister Albert Speer, she was only sure of one thing: she didn't want them.

Despite determining they probably hadn't been looted from Jews during World War II, she wanted their legacy to somehow benefit others. So she huddled with friends around a rickety green table at her home-office in Berlin and came up with a plan to sell them and use the proceeds to support Jewish women's creative projects in Germany.

In 1994, that became the Zurueckgeben foundation, a project for which Schramm received an Obermayer German Jewish History Award on Monday. The honor was established by an American Jewish philanthropist to recognize the efforts of non-Jewish Germans to keep alive their nation's Jewish cultural past.

The foundation's name translates as "return" or "give back" but also can mean "restitution," and Schramm said it was intentionally chosen to emphasize its goal of raising awareness at a time when looted Jewish property and art was a little talked-about issue.

"It was very much our point with this word 'Zurueckgeben,' which in a way is a provocation, because in a way nobody really can give back, to raise consciousness about the injury that had been done very broadly in Germany," she told The Associated Press.

Today, there's a wider understanding that the Nazis plundered precious artworks and other property from Europe's Jews, partially because of recent stepped-up German government efforts to identify heirs and organize restitution, and the popular 2014 Hollywood film "The Monuments Men."

Hilde Schramm attends a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Schramm, daughter of Hitler's architect Albert Speer, receives the Jewish history award for a foundation she founded to support Jewish women's cultural projects. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

But most of the focus has been on the big-ticket items like precious paintings and sculptures. Schramm's foundation encourages Germans to take stock of the more mundane items in their households and question where they came from.

In part it's to fight the cliche perpetrated by the Nazis that all Jews were rich and powerful, and also to dispel the notion that only the Nazi elite profited at the expense of the Jews.

"Let it come close to your families and look at what other ways the German population did profit. When Jews were expelled from their jobs, of course non-Jewish Germans could take their job," Schramm said. "It's not only the question of real objects being robbed but their whole existence ... this is to raise awareness that it did reach almost every family, a kind of involvement or profiting."

Because it's almost impossible to determine the original owners of smaller items like cutlery and furniture, donors to the foundation often give a symbolic amount to Zurueckgeben, or sell the items and give the proceeds.

Since it began, hundreds of Germans have donated and the foundation has been able to pay out some 500,000 euros ($570,000) in grants to support more than 130 Jewish women's projects. Those include a children's theater, exhibitions, dance shows, books and films.

The 82-year-old Schramm, a former Greens party state lawmaker as well as an educator and author, has been involved in several other projects related to Nazi-era commemoration and atonement. She was previously honored by Berlin with the Moses Mendelssohn Prize, named after the Jewish philosopher and given to honor people for fostering tolerance.

She has also helped organize a nonprofit association to support projects in Greece after the Greek financial crisis, and has hosted seven refugees from Afghanistan and Syria in her own home. That followed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open the country's borders to more than 1 million migrants in 2015-16.

"Wherever I went, whatever I did, I saw something which was a blind spot and I took it up," she said.

Schramm was only 9 when the war ended. Even though she was there at times with her father as he rubbed elbows with Hitler and other top Nazis, she said the persecution of the Jews was not something she was aware of.

"I had no idea," she said, pausing contemplatively before adding: "But perhaps I didn't want to have an idea. I don't know."

Unlike many other top Nazis, who committed suicide or were executed after the war, Albert Speer served 20 years in a Berlin prison for war crimes after being convicted in the Nuremberg trials. At his trial, Speer, who died in 1981 in London, accepted moral responsibility but insisted he had not known of the Holocaust - a contention that many have questioned.

Schramm was able to talk with him and confront him with her questions, which was an opportunity she said a lot of the donors to her foundation never had with their families.

"In a way, I always felt in a good situation, as I knew what my father had been and what he had done very soon," she said. "Many men and women of my generation, they had no answer what their family had done."

Schramm's award was one of six presented by the organization philanthropist Arthur Obermayer established in 2000. Obermayer was inspired by the help Germans gave him in researching his German roots. He died in 2016.

Hilde Schramm attends a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Schramm, daughter of Hitler's architect Albert Speer, receives the Jewish history award for a foundation she founded to support Jewish women's cultural projects. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel on Monday claimed responsibility for a series of airstrikes on Iranian military targets in Syria, drifting further away from its longstanding policy of playing down or covering up its military activities in the war-torn country.

For years, Israel has remained largely silent about its attacks against Iran and its Shiite proxies operating in neighboring Syria. But in recent weeks, military and political leaders have become increasingly outspoken about these activities.

This policy appears to be aimed at sending a message to key players in Syria, including President Bashar Assad and Russia, that Iran's continued presence there risks triggering even tougher and potentially destabilizing Israeli action.

"Whoever tries to harm us, we will harm them. Whoever threatens to destroy us will bear the full responsibility," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.

But it also risks heating up the atmosphere between the bitter enemies. Iran's air force chief, for instance, said his forces are "ready for a fight."

Israel considers Iran to be its greatest enemy, and as Syria's civil war winds down, it has repeatedly warned that it will not allow Iranian troops - who have been fighting alongside Assad's forces - to maintain a permanent presence in postwar Syria.

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows missiles flying into the sky near international airport, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. In a very unusual move, the Israeli military has issued a statement saying it is attacking Iranian military targets in Syria. It is also warning Syrian authorities not to retaliate against Israel. (SANA via AP)

While Israel has largely stayed out of the fighting in Syria, it has carried out scores of airstrikes on suspected Iranian arms shipments to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is also fighting alongside Assad's troops. With few exceptions, Israel has maintained a policy of ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying the airstrikes.

That changed earlier this month when Israel's outgoing military chief, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, told the New York Times that Israel had struck "thousands of targets without claiming responsibility or asking for credit" as part of his showdown with Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force. Days later, Netanyahu acknowledged striking "hundreds" of Iranian and Hezbollah targets.

In the latest violence, the Israeli military announced Monday that it had struck a series of Iranian targets, including munition storage facilities, an intelligence site and a military training camp, in response to an Iranian missile attack a day earlier.

Israel said the missile, fired by Iranian forces in Syria, was intercepted over a ski resort on the Golan Heights and that there were no injuries. The Iranian launch followed a rare Israeli daylight air raid near the Damascus International Airport.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday's pre-dawn strikes lasted for nearly an hour and were the most intense Israeli attacks since May. It said 11 were killed. The Russian military said four Syrian troops were among those killed. There were no further details on the casualties or their nationalities.

Speaking to reporters, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the Israeli use of ambiguity hadn't changed. He said that the Iranian missile strike, aimed at Israeli civilian areas, was a special case that required a public and powerful response, and that Israel had reacted similarly to previous Iranian provocations in February and May.

He also said that Israel had sent warnings to Syria ahead of the attack to refrain from attacking Israeli warplanes, but that Syria ignored those warnings and fired anti-aircraft missiles. He said Israel responded by destroying Syrian anti-aircraft batteries.

Others, however, said the shift in Israeli policy is clear.

Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief and defense minister, said the military had no choice but to comment after Netanyahu took credit publicly for the strikes. He accused Netanyahu, who is running for re-election while facing the threat of indictment in a series of corruption scandals, of playing politics with the country's security.

"Unfortunately ... everything is connected to his political survival," Yaalon told Israel's Army Radio. "What does the publication give us? Can someone tell me what the benefit is, besides politics?"

But military analyst Yoel Guzansky said Israel has bigger concerns.

He said Israel hopes to "stir a debate" in Iran and perhaps turn public opinion against the leadership's "adventures" in Syria at a time of economic hardship. He said Israel also wants its foes to know that the promised withdrawal from Syria by American forces will have no effect on its policies.

"The Iranians are persistent. We have to be persistent too," said Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank.

Israel also may be sending a message to Russia, which has supported Assad and is poised to take a prominent role in postwar Syria, that its tolerance of Iran could threaten those interests. Israel's relations with Russia have been tense since Syrian anti-aircraft fire aimed at Israeli warplanes accidentally shot down a Russian plane in September.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close ally of Netanyahu, warned that Assad himself could be at risk if he continues to allow the Iranians to attack.

"Sir, if you allow the Iranians to attack Israel from Syria, if there is a war or the outbreak of conflict one way or the other on the border with Israel, you, too, will be targeted," he told Israel Radio.

In New York, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission on the Golan Heights spoke to the Israeli military and Syrian authorities "to de-escalate the situation."

But the Israeli threats and attacks drew angry responses from Iran and its allies.

The chief of Iran's air force, Gen. Aziz Nassirzadeh, said his forces are "impatient and ready for a fight against the Zionist regime to wipe it off the Earth," according to a news website affiliated with Iran's state television.

"The conditions are getting closer to war every day and a war might break out on several fronts," added an official from the Iranian-led "Axis of Resistance" - made up of Syria, Lebanon's Hezbollah and other armed groups in the region. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

In Syria, lawmaker Najdat Anzour said the Israeli airstrikes were meant to keep up the pressure on Syria and to save the Israeli leader from his domestic troubles.

"Netanyahu is under pressure at home and trying to find himself an outlet," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Albert Aji in Damascus contributed.

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows missiles flying into the sky near international airport, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. In a very unusual move, the Israeli military has issued a statement saying it is attacking Iranian military targets in Syria. It is also warning Syrian authorities not to retaliate against Israel. (SANA via AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A Taliban assault on a military base and police training center in a province just outside the Afghan capital on Monday killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 30, officials said.

Salem Asgherkhail, head of the area's public health department, said most of those killed in the attack in Maidan Wardak province were military personnel. Some of the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment while the more serious cases were sent to the capital, Kabul.

Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the interior minister, said a suicide car bomber struck the base before insurgents opened fire. Sharifullah Hotak, a provincial council member, said four attackers took part in the assault after the bombing, all of whom were killed in the ensuing gunbattle. Hotak said it was a training base for new recruits from the area.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to the media.

The Taliban, who now hold sway in almost half of Afghanistan, carry out attacks on a daily basis, mainly targeting the beleaguered security forces. The violence comes amid stepped-up efforts by the United States to find a negotiated end to the 17-year war.

In a separate statement, the insurgents said they met again with U.S. representatives to discuss "ending the invasion of Afghanistan" in talks that would continue on Tuesday. They are meeting in Qatar, where the Taliban have a political office.

The Taliban threatened to walk away from the talks last week, accusing Washington of seeking to expand the agenda, presumably a reference to American demands that the insurgents hold direct talks with the Kabul government. The Taliban view the Afghan government as a U.S. puppet and have long insisted they will only negotiate directly with Washington.
The South African was arrested in Palma, a town on the northern shores of Mozambique where he has been living for 30 years

A South African businessman held in Mozambique on suspicion of being a jihadist leader has died in hospital under mysterious circumstances, his wife and a medical source told AFP on Wednesday.

Andre Mayer Hanekom, 61, was admitted to a hospital in the northern town of Palma on Saturday after having convulsions and bleeding under the skin, his wife Francis said.

She said she had been informed of his death early on Wednesday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a medical source confirmed Hanekom had died late on Tuesday, saying he had "been in a coma since the weekend".

But he did not specify the cause of death, and there was no immediate word from South Africa's foreign ministry.

Hanekom, who ran a maritime business in Palma, was arrested in August alongside two locals and two Tanzanians, with prosecutors accusing them of being part of a jihadist group.

All five were faced with a string of charges, including murder, crimes against the state and inciting civil disobedience.

His wife saw him on Sunday but said he was unable to speak. She said prison staff told her he had suffered a fall.

On the same day, the South African foreign ministry confirmed it had received word from Mozambique's high commissioner that Hanekom was "well".

Visiting him again on Tuesday, Francis Hanekom said he had shown signs of improvement.

"He was actually better, he was awake. He was able to move in his bed -- and this morning he is dead," she told AFP, saying she suspected foul play.

Hanekom was named by prosecutors as one of the leaders of a jihadist group operating in Mozambique's gas-rich north, alongside two Tanzanian nationals and two locals.

They accused him of managing the group's logistics among other charges rubbished by his wife as "nonsense".

Jihadist fighters have terrorised remote communities in the gas-rich and Muslim-majority Cabo Delgado region for more than a year, staging brazen gun and knife attacks on civilians leaving over 100 killed and thousands fleeing their homes.

According to the charge sheet, all of the suspects, except Hanekom, had confessed to their involvement in the armed group "to create instability and prevent the exploitation of natural gas in Palma".

During a search of his home in November, investigators had found machetes, arrows and gunpowder, court documents said.
Iran says Germany's decision to ban Mahan Air from its airports is 'unjustifiable'

Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday deplored Germany's decision to ban Iranian airline Mahan air from its airports describing the move as "hasty and unjustifiable".

"The rescinding of Mahan Air's flight permits to Germany is a hasty, unjustifiable act," the ministry said in a statement.

"This action is in conflict with the spirit governing the long-standing relations between the Iranian and German nations," and "contrary to the interests of bilateral relations, it said.

Iran said it hope Germany will reconsider its decision.

Germany said on Monday it had banned Mahan Air from its airports.

Germany foreign ministry spokesman Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin the move was necessary to protect Germany's "foreign and security policy interests".

A spokeswoman at Germany's transport ministry said Iran had been informed that the ban would take effect from Monday and involve Mahan Air flights from and to Germany.

Mahan Air, Iran's second-largest carrier after Iran Air, flies four services a week between Tehran and the German cities of Dusseldorf and Munich.

The ban caused confusion and chaos for Mahan Air passengers as the airline rushed to secure replacement flights for them.

"I've been in the aviation industry for decades, and I've never seen such a thing" a Mahan Air employee from the company's Dusseldorf office told AFP in Tehran on Tuesday.

"It borders on cruelty for all of these passengers," he said on condition of anonymity, adding that staff had been fielding calls from distraught passengers all day long.

Mahan air was blacklisted by the US in 2011, as Washington said the carrier was providing technical and material support to an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards known as the Quds Force.

Iran's ageing air fleet has had a string of crashes in recent years mostly due to tough decades-long US sanctions hindering the purchase of new aeroplanes and critical spare parts for its civilian fleet.

Hopes for a change in the situation were dashed last May when Washington pulled out of a landmark 2015 deal over Iran's nuclear programme, reimposing sanctions that had been lifted as part of the multilateral accord.
The Lebanese army says it has arrested an Israeli agent in connection with a January 2018 car bombing in the southern port of Sidon that wounded a Hamas official

Lebanon's army said Tuesday it has arrested a suspected agent of Israel's spy agency Mossad over a failed bid to assassinate a Hamas official in the south of the country.

In January 2018, Mohammed Hamdan, a security official with the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, was wounded in the leg in a car bomb blast in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon.

Lebanon and Hamas blamed Israel for the attack, and days after the January 14 blast Beirut authorities said they had arrested a man suspected of involvement in the car bombing.

A statement at the time said he was "one of the main perpetrators of the crime, who confessed to being tasked by Israeli intelligence".

On Tuesday the Lebanese army said in a statement a second male suspect "who carried out surveillance" before last year's bombing had also been arrested.

The second suspect "has admitted to being a Mossad agent since 2014", it said, without specifying his nationality.

Hamas has fought three wars with Israel in the past decade and is based in Gaza, but it operates a branch in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region.

Lebanon is also home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees, many of whom live 12 camps across the country, the largest being Ain al-Hilweh near the port city of Sidon.
(ANSA) - Rome, January 22 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that asylum seekers who are rescued at sea while trying to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa should be sent back to the country they embarked from - usually Libya.

"You save them, as the Libyan coast guard did (at the weekend), and take them back," League leader Salvini told Mediaset television. "In that way people will stop paying human traffickers for a trip that has no future, because it ends in death or with an existence on Italy's streets".

Salvini reiterated that the government's stance of refusing access to Italian ports to NGO-run migrant rescue ships will continue.

This stance has come under renewed fire from from critics after 117 were reported missing, feared dead, when a migrant-boat sank in the Mediterranean last week. "The more people embark, the more people die," Salvini said.

"Those who love Africa should do everything to prevent them embarking".


US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland by video

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the United States and Russia were not destined to enter a new Cold War but urged Moscow to change course on issues including Ukraine.

"It is not the case that we are doomed to a Cold War rivalry," Pompeo told the world's business elite in Davos, Switzerland, speaking by video after the ongoing US government shutdown triggered his trip's cancellation.

While saying that Washington saw the importance of mitigating risks between the world's two biggest nuclear powers, Pompeo added: "I must say it has been a struggle."

He pointed to Russia's actions in Ukraine, where it has supported separatist rebels and annexed the Crimean peninsula, as well as Moscow's attempts, as alleged by US intelligence, to interfere in elections in the United States and elsewhere.

"These aren't the behaviors of nations that want to be part of the international community," Pompeo said.

"And we hope that they'll return to the right course of actions, a set of course of actions, that lead them down the path of the rule of law and order and liberty," he said.

"If they do those things, I am confident that our two nations can prosper and grow alongside of each other. We are not destined to be antagonists," he said.

President Donald Trump, whose 2016 presidential campaign is the subject of a probe over its relationship to Russia, has drawn controversy at home with his calls for a better US relationship with his counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The State Department and other key actors including the US Congress have largely stayed the course in keeping pressure and expanding sanctions on Russia, angering Putin.
Belarusian model Anastasia Vashukevich, also known as Nastya Rybka, was detained in Russia after being deported from Thailand

A Belarusian escort who claimed she had proof of Russian collusion with Donald Trump's election campaign was freed from a Russian jail on Tuesday following her arrest last week, lawyers said.

Anastasia Vashukevich, also known as Nastya Rybka, was arrested alongside Alexander Kirillov, a self-styled sex guru, when the two arrived at Moscow's main airport following their deportation from Thailand last Thursday.

Vashukevich had been planning to travel on to the Belarusian capital Minsk.

"The investigation made a decision to free them from jail with the obligation to appear" for further proceedings, Kirillov's lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina told AFP.

Vashukevich was under arrest in Russia as a suspect in a probe into "coercion into prostitution" though the details of the case and her specific involvement have not been made clear.

She was deported from Thailand after pleading guilty to participating in a "sex training course".

Vashukevich became famous after posting videos allegedly showing tycoon Oleg Deripaska and an influential Russian deputy prime minister on a yacht.

While in Thai prison, she said she had information about Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections.

Her lawyer Dmitry Zatsarinsky posted a video on Instagram Tuesday apparently showing him and Vashukevich in a car following her release.

"Nastya Rybka is free. We're going home," he says, as Vashukevich flashes a peace sign and laughs.

The decision to free her was unexpected following a court ruling on Saturday to extend her detention.

Belarusian officials on Tuesday issued their first comments about her detention, with Natalia Eismont, a spokeswoman for President Alexander Lukashenko, telling media that the Belarusian leader "has given orders to immediately work on the release of the citizen of Belarus."

Belarus' Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey said Vashukevich is free to come home but must turn up for her next court hearing in Moscow, according to Belarusian media.

Sitting in a glass cage during the Saturday hearing, Vashukevich told journalists she wanted to apologise to Deripaska and no longer wants to "compromise him" or publish a book on seducing oligarchs.

"I've had enough," she said.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny on Monday alleged that Deripaska was behind the prosecution of Vashukevich, who calls herself "Deripaska's mistress" on her Instagram account.

The tycoon, who was sanctioned by the United States last year, has previously sued Vashukevich for invasion of privacy.

Navalny's team, whose blog initially drew the public's attention to the yacht videos published by Vashukevich, said Tuesday they have filed a police report against Deripaska, asking to launch probes into organising prostitution, taking bribes, and other offences related to Vashukevich.
As many as 1,300 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh from India in recent weeks in an exodus sparked by recent deportations to neighbouring Myanmar, where the stateless group have been subject to violence and persecution

Thirty-one Rohingya Muslims have been detained in India after a standoff at the country's border with Bangladesh when both sides refused to accept the group, police said Tuesday.

As many as 1,300 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh from India in recent weeks in an exodus sparked by recent deportations to neighbouring Myanmar, where the stateless group have been subject to violence and persecution that the UN has called ethnic cleansing.

The latest group, which included 17 children, were stuck in limbo for three days after crossing barbed wire fences on the Indian side of the border, before Bangladeshi border guards handed them over to Indian authorities.

The group were then detained in northeastern Tripura state and charged with "entering the country illegally", according to an Indian police spokesman.

"They are in police custody and will be presented to a local court tomorrow for further orders," he told AFP.

New Delhi had been notified that the Rohingya were in Indian custody and the UN refugee agency would also be alerted, the spokesman added.

Some 40,000 Rohingya live in India but in recent weeks New Delhi has arrested members of the persecuted minority and turned them over to Myanmar, prompting sharp criticism from the UN and rights groups.

Bangladesh already hosts around a million Rohingya refugees in giant camps in the country's southeast -- three-quarters of whom fled a brutal Myanmar military crackdown in August 2017 bringing testimony of murder, rape and arson. Efforts to repatriate them have stalled over fears of continuing human rights abuses.

UN investigators have said senior Myanmar military officials who participated in the crackdown should be prosecuted for genocide, but the country insists it was defending itself against militants.

Rohingya have for decades faced systematic discrimination and violence in Myanmar, which refuses to recognise them as citizens and falsely labels them as "Bengali" illegal immigrants.
Violence between militias has been a major problem in Central African Republic

If history is a guide, the chances of a breakthrough are poor when Central African Republic's government meets in Khartoum on Thursday with militia groups that control most of the country.

The meeting, brokered by the African Union after 18 months of exploratory work, will be the eighth bid in almost six years to forge peace in a country that has become a byword for turmoil and poverty.

The talks will bring together a large government delegation and many of the armed groups which have turned swathes of the CAR into brutal battlefields.

Since 2013, thousands have been killed and a quarter of the population of 4.5 million have fled their homes.

The UN says unrest has driven so many people from their farms that hundreds of thousands are at risk of famine.

"Peace is needed and it's needed now. Violence against civilians is increasing, driving even more people from their homes," said Anicet Nemeyimana, director in the CAR for the charity Catholic Relief Services. "At the same time, humanitarian access in certain areas has become completely cut off."

"We have to join in a dialogue and save what can still be saved," said former prime minister Martin Ziguele, head of a pro-government party, the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (MLPC).

According to Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dierdiry Ahmed, the parley may last up to three weeks.

- Troubling signs -

But the mood ahead of the talks has been clouded by suspicion and a fresh round of bloodletting.

Thirteen people were killed on Sunday in a village called Zaoro Sangou, in the west of the country, in violence suspected to involve a group called 3R, which claims to represent the Fulani herding people.

The meeting "does not inspire trust", a member of the Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central Africa (FPRC) told AFP.

The FPRC is one of the biggest militia groups that emerged from a mainly Muslim rebel movement called the Seleka.

In 2013, the Seleka overthrew President Francois Bozize, a Christian -- a move that triggered the rise of a predominantly Christian militia called the anti-Balaka.

Fearing a Rwandan-style genocide, the former colonial ruler France intervened militarily under a UN mandate.

The Seleka were forced from power and in February 2016 and former prime minister Faustin-Archange Touadera was elected president.

But Touadera only controls a fraction of the state, despite the support of more than 13,000 troops and police in the UN's MINUSCA mission.

The rest is held by militias, who typically portray themselves as defenders of a community or religious group but often fight over mineral wealth -- a hoard that ranges from gold to uranium and diamonds.

Over the years, seven peace agreements between the government and armed groups have been signed.

None has lasted.

The last attempt, in 2017, was forged with the help of the Catholic church, but fighting resumed within a day, leaving a hundred people killed in the central town of Bria.

- Amnesty issue -

A perpetual sticking point is whether militia chiefs should be amnestied -- a precondition set by all groups for laying down their arms.

This has always been ruled out by the government, whose position is that major abuses should be punished.

A Special Criminal Court opened in November, tasked with judging violations of human rights or international humanitarian law committed in the country since 2003, including war crimes and genocide.

The CAR government "will have a hard time getting concessions" on amnesties, said the FPRC source, whose organisation has been repeatedly cited by the UN for human-rights violations.

The Central African Republic gained independence from France in 1960. The country ranks a dismal 188th out of 189 countries in the UN Development Programme's Human Development Index

A Special Criminal Court opened in November, tasked with judging violations of human rights or international humanitarian law committed in the country since 2003, including war crimes and genocide.

The talks are further complicated over establishing a mechanism to follow up any peace agreement, given the government's weakness.

In contrast with repeated failures to bring peace at national level, local mediation efforts, typically brokered by the church, often bear more fruit, says the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, seen here during a trip to Paris last October, has won high praise for his reform programme

Ethiopia on Tuesday said it had granted more than 13,000 people amnesty as part of a broad reform agenda pushed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, state media said.

Parliament in July passed a law allowing people convicted or facing charges of "treason, crime against the constitutional order and armed struggle" to apply for pardons.

"More than [13,200] individuals took advantage of the law in the past six months," state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate said, citing Ethiopia's attorney general.

Abiy took office in April following more than two years of anti-government unrest that had prompted the government to twice declare a nationwide state of emergency and led to hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of arrests.

He has since won over many Ethiopians by releasing jailed dissidents and welcoming home banned groups, all while promising to make elections expected in 2020 free and fair.

But violence has also surged since his inauguration, with ethnic clashes breaking out throughout the countryside and in the capital Addis Ababa.

The fighting drove at least 1.4 million people from their homes last year, among the highest tallies in the world.

Earlier this week, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Ethiopia said more aid was needed for 250,000 people displaced in the Benishangul-Gumuz and Oromia regions in western Ethiopia, where ethnic violence surged late last year.
This handout picture made available by Syria's official news agency SANA on January 22, 2019, shows a burning vehicle in the Syrian regime's coastal stronghold of Latakia

A car bomb shook the Syrian regime's coastal stronghold of Latakia on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding more than a dozen others, state news agency SANA reported.

Authorities found a second explosive device in the same place and defused it just before it was due to blow up, it said.

The other bomb exploded in the city's Al-Hammam square, according to SANA, which published video footage showing a burnt-out car surrounded by firefighters and soldiers.

"The terrorist explosion caused the death of one civilian and wounded 14 others," it said, citing a top health official in the province.

Earlier it had reported that the person killed was the driver of the vehicle.

Most of those wounded were hit by shrapnel, the director of the city's Tishrin hospital, Louay Naddaf, told state television.

Latakia is the fiefdom of President Bashar al-Assad's family.

People gather around a burning vehicle in the Syrian regime's coastal stronghold of Latakia on January 22, 2019

The city, the capital of Latakia province located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, has largely escaped the violence that has devastated other regions of Syria since the conflict began in 2011.

But the province has been targeted by "sporadic strikes" by rebels or jihadists, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

The region abuts the last major area outside of the regime's control and which includes much of Idlib province as well as adjacent parts of Hama and Aleppo provinces.

Earlier this month an alliance led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate took administrative control of the whole of the opposition bastion under a deal with rival rebels.

According to the Observatory, Tuesday's blast in Latakia was caused by an explosive device hidden inside the car or near it.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the driver was not a suicide attacker.

In September 2015 a car bomb had exploded in the same square, killing dozens of people.

The latest explosion comes days after a blast -- the first in more than a year -- hit Damascus which has also been largely insulated from the war.

According to SANA the bomb blast hit southern Damascus without causing any victims, but the Observatory reported it left a number of people dead and wounded.

Syria is locked in a civil war that has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011 spiralled into full conflict.

With key military backing from Russia, Assad's forces have retaken large parts of Syria from rebels and jihadists, and now control almost two-thirds of the country.

The regime in May reclaimed a final scrap of territory held by the Islamic State group in southern Damascus, cementing total control over the capital for the first time in six years.
Protestors blocked roads on January 14 after the government doubled the price of fuel

A human rights commission appointed by Zimbabwe's government said Tuesday that at least eight people were killed, mostly by gunfire, in a crackdown on protests last week.

In a blunt statement, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission also accused the security forces of "systematic torture" and slapped the authorities for using troops to curb civilian disturbances.

"At least 8 deaths have been reported to the commission and mostly attributed to use of live ammunition," it said.

Investigations revealed that "armed and uniformed members of the Zimbabwe National Army and the Zimbabwe Republic Police instigated systematic torture," the statement said.

"The torture was organised in that they targeted men who stay near areas where barricades had been placed and near areas that were torched by protestors or looted," it said.

The report is one of the most outspoken in the eight-year history of the commission, say observers.

The constitutionally-mandated panel, first appointed by former autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe during a power-sharing government in 2010, often adopts a lower profile and has lacked funding for its work.

- Use of army criticised -

The commission also expressed concern at the continued use of the military to maintain law and order.

The government unleashed the army onto the streets of the capital on August 1 last year during post-election violence, leading to the killing of six people.

After those events, "it was to be expected that the country would have learnt something and would in future do things differently," the commission said.

But more deaths had occurred during the latest repression than in August, it noted.

"The deployment of the army in quelling civilian disturbances leads to loss of life and serious bodily injuries and other human rights violations, yet the government continues to make such deployments," it said.

The commission detailed repeated accounts from interviews of security forces targeting men, and even boys as young as 11, at their houses at night, making them lie on the ground and beating them.

Those targeted were in areas close to where roads were blocked by protesters or looting occurred. The security forces "modus operandi was the same" in all the areas visited by the human rights commission investigators, the report said.

Lawmakers from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and civil society leaders have either been abducted or arrested from their homes, it said.

"At one (municipal) councillors house, children who included a three year old girl narrated what had happened to their father.

"The three-year-old girl gave a vivid and moving account of the beatings and arrest of her father during the late hours of the night," said the commission.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa cut short his foreign working trip, returning home late Monday to address the aftermath of the crackdown.

He vowed to investigate security forces over any misconduct, saying "if required, heads will roll," but also condemned the protests as "wanton violence and cynical destruction."
Former US marine Paul Whelan appeared in a glass cage at the court hearing as is usual for suspects in Russia

A US former Marine charged with espionage in Russia was handed a USB drive containing state secrets without knowing what it contained, his lawyer told journalists on Tuesday after a hearing extending his client's custody.

Paul Whelan, 48, was taken into custody on December 28 by the Russian FSB security service, which said he was caught "while carrying out an act of espionage".

His lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov said Whelan was handed a USB drive containing state secrets but he had thought it was information about Russian culture.

"On a USB drive, Paul received information that... I confirm is a state secret," Zherebenkov told journalists, insisting that Whelan did not know what it contained.

"In reality, Paul was supposed to receive from the person information that is not a state secret," he said, indicating he was expecting to be given cultural material and photographs.

"He couldn't look at it because he was detained. He was waiting for information that was cultural, nothing more."

The lawyer did not identify the individual who gave Whelan the USB drive.

Wearing a neat blue shirt and dark trousers, Whelan appeared in a glass cage at a hearing at Moscow City Court, as is usual for suspects in custody in Russia. Judge Dmitry Pronyakin threw out his appeal against being detained in custody.

Whelan, who followed the proceedings through an interpreter, did not respond to questions shouted by journalists about his prison conditions. A man wearing plain clothes and a balaclava stood next to the cage in a case led by the FSB.

Zherebenkov said the defence would appeal Tuesday's decision.

"Paul behaved with great dignity today. He spoke well. He explained in detail what happened and in principle contradicted the position of the prosecution," the lawyer said after the hearing, most of which was closed to the press and consular officials.

Analysts have speculated Whelan was arrested to pave the way for a possible spy swap with a Russian agent arrested abroad, but Zherebenkov refused to comment on the possibility.

- 'A friend of Russia' -

Next to the glass cage where Paul Whelan attended the Moscow hearing stood a man in plain clothes and a balaclava

Some believe he may have been detained in retaliation for the US arrest of a Russian woman called Maria Butina, a gun rights campaigner who was convicted in December of being a "foreign agent" and likely faces six months in jail.

Moscow has rejected the idea Whelan could be exchanged for any US prisoner, saying it does not treat people as "pawns" in diplomatic games.

Zherebenkov said he expected any trial to last for at least half a year and that there could be no talk of any exchange until it was completed.

Whelan "was clear-headed and sure of himself" at the hearing, the lawyer added. "He says he's a friend of Russia, he has been coming to Russia for 10 years... All these meetings, all these contacts were ordinary, related to the country's culture."

Speaking to the Russian media, the US embassy in Moscow said it was "closely following" the case, with spokeswoman Andrea Kalan calling for "a quick, fair and transparent trial".

US Ambassador Jon Huntsman has visited Whelan at Moscow's Lefortovo prison.

Consular officials from the US, Canada and Britain came to the court and questioned Whelan's lawyer about the conditions of his imprisonment and asked how they could help.

The lawyer said Whelan had a minor health issue and that an interpreter would help him during a doctor's visit.

Whelan's family said he was in Moscow for a friend's wedding and US security experts have raised doubts over whether he was a spy.

He also holds British, Irish and Canadian passports but his family said that the UK and Canadian governments had been denied consular access.

According to The New York Times, the Marine Corps court-martialed Whelan in 2008 on charges of larceny and passing bad cheques, an offence that in most cases disqualifies candidates from foreign intelligence work.

Espionage is punishable in Russia by up to 20 years in jail.
Hun Sen (L) and China's Premier Li Keqiang witnessed the signing of a series of agreements on Tuesday

China has promised four billion yuan ($588 million) in aid to Cambodia, the Southeast Asian country's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday on a visit to Beijing.

The largest investor in Cambodia, China has pumped billions of yuan into the economy and has written off debt while sweeping aside questions over Phnom Penh's abysmal rights record.

The four billion yuan grant will run from 2019 to 2021, Hun Sen said in a post on his official Facebook page, accompanied by pictures of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the day before.

Xi has also pledged to import 400,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia this year, increase bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2023 and encourage more Chinese investment into the country, the prime minister's post said.

The pledge comes just days after the European Union resumed tariffs on rice imports from Cambodia, following intensive lobbying by Italy, who said cheap imports were damaging its farmers.

"I am grateful to China for its long-standing support and valuable help to Cambodia, and for China's friendship... especially with the royal family," Hun Sen said at the meeting, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Hun Sen was welcomed at the ornate Great Hall of The People by Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday as part of his three-day visit.

After closed-door talks, the two men witnessed the signing of six agreements, including for increased cooperation on Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

"The major points of our discussions are in the political, economic and security spheres," head of the Chinese foreign ministry's Asia department Wu Jianghao told reporters.

Bilateral trade reached $4.69 billion from January to August 2018, up 23.8 percent year-on-year, China's Ministry of Commerce said in November.

- Long, volatile relationship -

Hun Sen's visit comes amid speculation Beijing is seeking support to build a naval base off the Cambodian coast, claims the premier has vehemently denied.

Three Chinese warships stopped at Sihanoukville port earlier this month for a four-day visit, Cambodian defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat told AFP.

"The issue of national defence is sensitive," said Shi Yinhong, a researcher at Renmin University's School of International Relations.

"If the relationship is too deep, it may complicate the relationship between China and some of Cambodia's neighbours," he said, adding that Beijing has chosen to be cautious.

China has had a long and volatile history with its Southeast Asian neighbour. After backing the Khmer Rouge, it fell out of favour when the Pol Pot regime was deposed.

Ties have been revived in the past decade under the government of Hun Sen, who marked 34 years in power just over a week ago.

Cambodia has proved a reliable ally among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc regarding disputes with China over its activities in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims virtually the entire waterway, reclaiming reefs and building military installations, moves which have angered rival claimants including Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

China has also backed Cambodia on sensitive issues, including a controversial election held in July after Hun Sen's government banned the main opposition party from taking part.

The mutual support comes as US influence declines -- Phnom Penh has accused Washington of conspiring with an opposition leader to overthrow the government and suspended military exchanges with the country.
Central Africa has been blighted by sectarian violence since 2013, despite the presence of UN peacekeepers and multiple attempts to broker a peace deal

Thirteen people were killed in a weekend attack in the west of Central African Republic, just days before the opening of peace talks, local and UN sources said on Tuesday.

"There were 13 deaths, including a pastor and a gendarme. We went to the site to confirm the facts," said a UN source, confirming a report from a source close to the Fulani herder community.

"The violence was started by armed Fulanis," said Vladimir Monteiro, spokesman for MINUSCA, the UN's mission in CAR, referring to an ethnic group widespread across West Africa, who traditionally breed livestock.

A joint patrol of UN troops and Internal Security Forces (FSI) had gone to Zaoro Sangou, the village where the violence took place on Sunday, he said.

The UN source said the perpetrators were believed to be Fulani from the so-called 3R group ("return, reclamation, reconciliation").

3R emerged in western CAR in late 2015 and is led by a man known as Sidiki who claims to be protecting the Peul community -- the French term for the Fulani.

"It's Sidiki's forces who shot the people," a local resident told the Ndeke Luka radio station on Tuesday.

The violence occurred just days before a new round of peace talks which begin on Thursday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, involving a government delegation and the heads of CAR's main armed groups.

Sidiki and members of his 3R group left the capital Bangui on Tuesday to attend the long-planned talks in Sudan.

Armed groups control large tracts of territory in the landlocked, often arid nation, where they fight each other for control over land and the country's immense natural resources.

CAR is rich in uranium, gold, diamonds and cattle.

The aim of the Khartoum talks, which are expected to take several weeks, is to bring stability to a nation that collapsed into warfare following a 2013 coup.

The latest conflict in a troubled country has pitted mainly Muslim militias against those drawn largely from Christian communities.

Seven peace deals have been signed in the past five years, but none have had any success.
(ANSA) - On board the papal plane, January 23 - Pope Francis en route to Panama paid tribute to late Russian journalist Alexej Bukalov, who died last December.

Francis said he was "a man of great humanity" able to provide a synthesis with the style of Dostoevsky.

The pope was visibly moved when speaking these words after greeting journalists on the plane to Panama for World Youth Day.

Bukalov was the Rome correspondent of the TASS news agency and veteran journalist of papal flights. Bukalov, who followed papal journeys right up until the most recent one, passed away on 28 December last, aged 78.


A member of the Palestinian security forces stands in front of a poster of President Mahmud Abbas, during a protest in Bethlehem on September 26, 2018 against Washington's decision to cut aid

The Palestinian government will refuse all US government aid for fear of lawsuits, officials said Tuesday, throwing the future of security coordination and projects already under way into doubt.

Senior official Saeb Erekat confirmed US media reports that the Palestinians had demanded all funding stop at the end of the January for fear they would expose themselves to costly law suits under the US Anti Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA) which is about to come into force.

"The government sent an official letter to the US administration requesting it stop all aid to the Palestinian Authority, including assistance to the Palestinian security services," Erekat told AFP.

He said the main reason for the move was the ATCA legislation, under which the financial aid provided by the US could be used as a means "for various groups to file lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority."

US President Donald Trump had already pledged to cut almost all humanitarian aid to the Palestinians amid a dispute with president Mahmud Abbas, but projects were being phased out gradually.

The planned expansion of a school near Bethlehem will now not be completed, while infrastructure projects in Jericho and other towns will also stop.

The US also provides roughly $50 million in annual support for Palestinian security services, including to support security coordination with Israel that Israeli officials say is crucial for maintaining calm in the West Bank.

This funding was not cut off by the US government despite humanitarian aid cuts but will now be stopped.

The ATCA legislation passed by Congress last year provides for any government that receives funding to be subject to US counterterrorism laws.

The Palestinian Authority faces potential lawsuits from families of American victims of past Palestinian attacks.

The US consulate in Jerusalem confirmed Tuesday it was "working through" the potential impact of ATCA and had "taken steps to wind down certain projects and programmes in the West Bank and Gaza."

Erekat played down the ending of US funding saying it would "not impact on the role of the security services."

However, a senior Palestinian security official told AFP the impact could be significant.

The search is on for new sources of funding in Europe and elsewhere, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A handful of US contractors working to support the security services have already left the Palestinian territories ahead of the end of the month, he added.
Twelve Iranian military personnel were among 21 people killed in a series of Israeli strikes on positions held by Tehran and its allies in and around the Syrian capital late on January 20 and early on January 21, 2019, a war monitor says

The death toll from Israel's latest bombardment of military targets in Syria rose from 11 to 21, a war monitor said Tuesday, adding that most of those killed were Iranian.

The strikes carried out late Sunday and early Monday hit several positions and assets held by Iran and its allies in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

An initial toll of 11 has now risen to 21, the head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

"There are 15 foreigners among the dead, including 12 from the Iranian forces," he said. "Six Syrians from the regime were also killed."

Israel has warned it will continue to target positions in Syria held by Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
Militants detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the training facility before gunmen arrived in a car and opened fire

At least 65 people were killed in a Taliban-claimed attack on an Afghan intelligence base, sources said Tuesday, contradicting an official toll in the latest high-casualty assault on beleaguered Afghan forces.

Monday's attack in central Wardak province targeted an intelligence training facility, officials have said, meaning information remains difficult to independently verify.

The assault, in which militants detonated a Humvee packed with explosives before gunmen opened fire, was followed by a day of confusion, with authorities giving conflicting casualty numbers to media.

"We took about 65 bodies out of the rubble yesterday," Mohammad Sardar Bakhyari, deputy head of the Wardak provincial council, told AFP Tuesday.

A senior security official who spoke on condition of anonymity gave an even higher figure of at least 70 killed.

Later on Tuesday the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) -- the intelligence agency -- announced the toll had been 36 dead and 58 wounded.

Afghan authorities are known to downplay casualty figures as their forces continue suffering what experts describe as "unsustainable" losses since NATO pulled its combat forces from the country in 2014.

Map locating the attack in Wardak province in Afghanistan on Monday

Monday's attack was set to hit already shaky morale.

Earlier, provincial officials told AFP just 12 people had been killed, while other media reported tolls topping 100 deaths.

The Humvee blast at the NDS base in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak province and some 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Kabul, caused the roof of the compound to partially collapse, images from the scene show.

"Then at least three other attackers in a Toyota car who were following the Humvee entered the compound," Wardak provincial council member Abdul Wahid Akbarzai told AFP Tuesday.

The attackers were killed quickly, he said, but most of the casualties were caused by the roof collapse.

"It is a big loss," council head Akhtar Mohammad Tahiri said. "The NDS forces are better trained and equipped than the Afghan police and army soldiers who have been dying in record numbers."

He added the militants were dressed in uniforms used by Afghan special forces.

Nearby residents described hearing a "heavy explosion".

"I saw black smoke," Sediqullah, a Maidan Shahr resident who goes by one name, told AFP.

The blast shattered glass inside his house, he said, adding that some of his family members had been injured.

- Push for peace -

The attackers struck a day after a Taliban suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Logar province's governor, killing at least seven security guards.

The recent skirmishes follow a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent months by US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad aimed at bringing the Taliban to the table for talks seeking an end to the more than 17-year war.

Afghanistan's de facto prime minister, Abdullah Abdullah, told a roundtable at the World Economic Forum in Davos Tuesday that the "fundamental obstacle" to talks remained the Taliban's refusal to speak directly to the government in Kabul, whom they have long dismissed as "puppets" of the West.

He said Kabul is ready to start talks without preconditions.

The insurgents -- who are maintaining the upper hand in the conflict -- threatened to suspend the fledgling negotiations last week.

However on Monday they announced a resumption of talks with US officials in Qatar as the two sides discuss a possible peace deal that could pave the way for the insurgents to participate in the next government.

Washington has not confirmed their claim that the talks are continuing.

Since the start of 2015, when local forces took over from US-led NATO combat troops to secure the country, nearly 30,000 Afghan soldiers and police have been killed, President Ashraf Ghani revealed last year -- an average of around 20 per day.

The shocking mortality rate has sent morale to new lows, with a US watchdog noting troop levels falling by thousands in 2018.

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Whelan appeared in a glass cage at the hearing, as is usual for suspects in custody in Russia

A Moscow court on Tuesday denied bail to a US former Marine who was arrested in Russia on espionage charges last month.

Paul Whelan, 48, was taken into custody on December 28 by the Russian FSB security service, who said he was caught "while carrying out an act of espionage".

"The appeal of the defence (for bail) is not approved," Judge Dmitry Pronyakin of Lefortovo court told Whelan, who was following proceedings through an interpreter.

Whelan was arrested on December 28 by the Russian FSB security service, who said he was caught "while carrying out an act of espionage"

Wearing a blue shirt and dark trousers, Whelan appeared in a glass cage at the hearing, as is usual for suspects in custody in Russia.

Ahead of the hearing, lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov said he did not expect his client to be released.

"In Russia as a rule people are kept in custody," Zherebenkov told reporters outside the court building.

Analysts have speculated that Whelan was arrested to pave the way for a possible spy swap with a Russian agent arrested abroad, possibly Maria Butina.

- 'Sense of dignity' -

Butina is a gun rights campaigner who was convicted of being a "foreign agent" in the United States last month and likely faces six months in jail.

Moscow has rejected the idea Whelan could be exchanged for any US prisoner, saying it does not treat people as "pawns" in diplomatic games.

Zherebenkov said he expected any trial to last for at least half a year and that there could be no talk of any exchange until it was completed.

"I saw him last week... he feels well, he has a sense of dignity," the lawyer added.

Zherebenkov said he expected any trial to last for at least half a year

A spokeswoman for the US embassy in Moscow told Russian media it was "closely following" the case.

We "continue to urge Russia to follow international law and provide a quick, fair and transparent trial," Andrea Kalan said.

The US ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, has visited Whelan at Moscow's Lefortovo prison.

Whelan's family said he was in Moscow for a friend's wedding and US security experts have raised doubts over whether he was a spy.

Whelan also holds British, Irish and Canadian passports but his family said in a statement Monday that the UK and Canadian governments had been denied consular access.

The New York Times has reported that the Marine Corps court-martialed Whelan in 2008 on charges of larceny and passing bad checques, an offence that in most cases disqualifies candidates from foreign intelligence work.

Espionage is punishable in Russia by up to 20 years in jail.
Kiev said the ships ablaze in the Black Sea were used to transport gas from Ukraine and other countries

Up to 20 people were presumed dead off Russian-annexed Crimea after a fire engulfed two fuel ships, authorities said on Tuesday.

The blaze broke out when one vessel was transferring fuel to the other on Monday, driving both crews to jump into the icy waters of the Black Sea.

Russian authorities rescued 12 people and recovered 10 bodies, Alexei Kravchenko, spokesman for Russia's Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, told AFP.

The other 10 people were missing and most likely dead, he said.

Map locating the Kerch Strait where 20 people died after a fire engulfed gas tankers

"There is no hope of finding them alive," Kravchenko said. "It is no longer a rescue operation."

Three of those missing sank into the water "before rescue workers' eyes" without life jackets, he said.

Kravchenko added that as of Tuesday morning the fire was continuing. "There's an endless amount of fuel there," he said.

The ships, the Candy -- also known as the Venice -- and the Maestro, had crews from India and Turkey and were both sailing under the Tanzanian flag.

The Candy had a 17-strong crew, while the Maestro carried 15.

- Flashpoint area -

Both vessels appear on a list of ships that are at risk of being targeted by US sanctions over petroleum shipments to Syria between 2016 and 2018.

Ukraine's government said that at the time of the accident AIS tracking devices had been turned off on both vessels.

It claimed that Russia encourages vessels to turn off tracking devices in order to hide from Ukrainian authorities and blamed Moscow for the accident.

"This time, an accident led to horrible consequences -- people's deaths," said Ukraine's ministry for temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons.

It said it was hard to establish the origin of the gas transported by the vessels but that the ships were used to transport gas from Ukraine and other countries.

India said it was in touch with the Russian authorities.

"Our embassy in Moscow is in constant touch with the concerned Russian agencies to get more information on Indian nationals affected in the incident and to extend necessary assistance," the foreign ministry said.

The accident occurred outside Russia's territorial waters and close to the Kerch Strait, a flashpoint in tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

In November, Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian navy vessels in the Kerch Strait as they tried to pass from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea.

The confrontation was the first open military clash between Kiev and Moscow since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and a pro-Russian insurgency erupted in eastern Ukraine.
Map locating Nablus. The Israeli army said a knife-wielding assailant had arrived in a car from Nablus and tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint south of the city, before being shot and "neutralised"

A Palestinian attacked Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank late Monday before being shot and "neutralised," the army said, with Palestinian officials reporting the man had died.

The Israeli army said the knife-wielding assailant had arrived in a car from Nablus and tried to stab a soldier manning a checkpoint south of the city.

"Another soldier responded by firing at the terrorist and neutralising him," it said in a statement, adding that no soldiers were injured in the attack.

On Tuesday the army was not able to provide AFP with details on the condition of the alleged attacker.

The Palestinian health ministry and security sources said the 36-year-old, Mohammed Adwe, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers at the site.

"A Palestinian was killed after the (Israeli) occupation forces opened fire on him," the ministry said late Monday, without elaborating on the circumstances.

The West Bank was hit by a bout of unrest in December as tensions eased in the Gaza Strip. They later also eased in the West Bank.
Militants detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the training facility before gunmen arrived in a car and opened fire

At least 65 people were killed in a Taliban-claimed attack on an Afghan intelligence base, security sources said Tuesday, raising the toll substantially from 12 announced previously.

Militants detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at the training facility before gunmen arrived in a car and opened fire.

"We took about 65 bodies out of the rubble yesterday," Mohammad Sardar Bakhyari, deputy head of the provincial council in Wardak province, where the attack occurred on Monday in the latest blow to beleaguered security forces.

A senior security official who spoke on condition of anonymity gave an even higher toll of at least 70 killed.

On Monday provincial officials told AFP just 12 people had been killed in the attack. Figures given by officials to other media ranged from 12 dead to more than 100 killed.

Bakhyari's announcement came after nearly a day of confusion surrounding the toll.

On Monday provincial officials told AFP just 12 people had been killed in the attack. Figures given by officials to other media ranged from 12 dead to more than 100 killed.

The attack was on a training facility for the NDS, the Afghan intelligence agency, meaning that any toll will likely be difficult to confirm.

It saw militants ram a Humvee filled with explosives into the National Directorate of Security (NDS) base in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak, which lies about 50 kilometres south of Kabul.

The attack caused the roof to partially collape, images from the scene show.

"Then at least three other attackers in a Toyota car who were following the Humvee entered the compound," Wardak provincial council member Abdul Wahid Akbarzai told AFP Tuesday.

The attackers were killed quickly, he said, but most of the casualties were caused by the roof collapse.

Map locating the attack in Wardak province in Afghanistan on Monday

"It is a big loss," council head Akhtar Mohammad Tahiri said. "The NDS forces are better trained and equipped than the Afghan police and army soldiers who have been dying in record numbers."

He added the militants were dressed in uniforms used by Afghan special forces.

The attack comes days after a Taliban suicide bomber targeted the convoy of Logar province's governor, killing at least seven security guards.

Fights between security forces and Taliban fighters have continued to intensify across the country during the freezing Afghan winter, which traditionally experiences a reduction in combat.

The recent skirmishes come as the Taliban announced a resumption of talks with US officials in Qatar as the two sides discuss a possible peace deal that could pave the way for the insurgents participation in the next government.

Washington has not confirmed their claim that the talks are continuing.

US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has headed a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent months seeking to bring the Taliban to the table for talks.

However the insurgents threatened to suspend the fledgling process last week.

The Taliban -- who have been waging a 17-year war against the Western-backed Afghan government -- later claimed responsibility for the assault.

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A Vietnam family rides past a poster appealing to people to be vigilant against human trafficking in Ho Chi Minh City

Seven suspected members of a human trafficking ring have been arrested in Taiwan over the disappearance of a group of 152 Vietnamese who came to the island to work illegally, authorities said on Tuesday.

Taiwan authorities have been searching for the missing Vietnamese since last month after they landed on tourist visas under an initiative to attract more visitors from south and southeast Asia at a time arrivals from mainland China have declined.

Some 88 of the Vietnamese had been located by Tuesday, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement, while three others were believed to have already left the island.

Prosecutors were investigating those arrested -- including three Taiwan-based Vietnamese suspected of being the ring masterminds -- for violating immigration, human trafficking and other laws.

"The ring collaborated with Vietnamese human trafficking groups to operate in both Taiwan and Vietnam ... and recruited Vietnamese to come to Taiwan to work under the pretext of sightseeing," the statement said.

The agency said the ring used a messaging app to recruit Vietnamese women to work as prostitutes for up to Tw$3,500 ($113) per service.

"Some people have fallen victim to sexual exploitation due to rising debt," it said, referring to the ring's charge of $1,000 - $3,000 per person to arrange a Taiwan visa.

They face deportation and a three- to five-year ban from the island, it said.

Around 400 tourists have previously gone missing under the programme, according to the tourism bureau, although it is not clear how many have since been found.

The tourism initiative is part of Taiwan's "southbound policy", which targets 16 south and southeast Asian countries -- as well as Australia and New Zealand -- in a bid to boost tourism as arrivals from China decline.

The number of tourists from the mainland has slid dramatically as relations with China deteriorate, with speculation authorities are turning off the taps to pressure the government of the Beijing-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen, who came to office in 2016.
It looked like "students were treated unfairly with early judgements proving out to be false - smeared by media," US President Donald Trump tweeted

Boys from a Catholic school in Kentucky were treated unfairly in a rush to judgment, President Donald Trump said on Monday after allegations the students had mocked a Native American elder.

"Looking like Nick Sandman & Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgements proving out to be false - smeared by media," Trump tweeted.

As in many cases, Trump's tweet appeared to be triggered by Fox News, as he cited the network's Tucker Carlson saying new footage showed "media" were wrong about the encounter.

Footage captured on multiple phone camera videos that swept social media on Saturday showed a white Covington student standing silently with his lips taught, extremely close to Nathan Phillips, a Native American Vietnam war veteran, who beats a traditional drum while chanting.

The student wears a red cap bearing Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again."

Other students are jumping up and down, chanting.

The incident occurred on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday when the annual anti-abortion March for Life coincided with a rally by indigenous communities calling for their rights to be respected.

The Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School issued a statement rebuking the students after their displays drew widespread derision.

One of the first two Native American women elected to Congress in November, Deb Haaland, linked the students' behavior to what she called rising levels of racial intolerance under the Trump administration.

Kaya Taitano, a witness to the incident, was quoted by CNN as saying Phillips had decided to intervene with a "healing prayer" when the school teens got into a verbal altercation with a group of African American youths who had been preaching about the Bible.

Phillips gave his reaction in a separate video. "I heard them saying, 'Build that wall, build that wall.' We're not supposed to have walls here, we never did."

But US media including The New York Times and The Washington Post later reported that the encounter was more complicated than it first appeared.

The African American youths were Hebrew Israelites, who reportedly insulted both Native activists and the students.

Both the Times and the Post quoted Phillips as clarifying that he had moved towards the students.

CNN quoted the student at the center of the initial video, Nick Sandmann -- the spelling used by major news media -- as saying that his group only used "school spirit" chants, and did not express support for a border wall or say anything racist.
Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was convicted for 15 years in 2011 for helping fund a paramilitary group

Plans to free a radical cleric linked to the deadly Bali bombings are under review, Indonesia has said, after the surprise decision drew sharp criticism.

Abu Bakar Bashir, once synonymous with militant Islam in Indonesia, was tied to a terror network behind the 2002 attacks that killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Last week, Indonesian president Joko Widodo said he had given the green light for the early release of Bashir -- believed to have been a key figure in militant group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Widodo said the 80-year-old preacher was "old and sick".

The plan was slammed both at home and abroad, with objections across Indonesian social media and from Australian leader Scott Morrison, who warned that Bashir was still a threat.

Dozens of Australians were killed in the Bali attacks.

In an apparent backtrack on Monday, Indonesia's Chief Security Minister Wiranto said the president had ordered a "thorough and comprehensive study" of Bashir's release from prison.

"We can't act hastily or spontaneously," the minister told reporters.

He did not say when a final decision would be made.

On Tuesday, Widodo said Bashir must agree to pledge his loyalty to the state in order to win parole -- something the cleric has previously said he would not do.

"This is parole -- not an absolute release. These conditions must be fulfilled," the president told reporters.

Bashir was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2011 for helping fund a paramilitary group training in the conservative Islamic province of Aceh.

The firebrand preacher was previously jailed over the Bali bombings but that conviction was quashed on appeal. He has repeatedly denied involvement in terror attacks.

Bashir's lawyer Achmad Michdan questioned the apparent official change of heart.

"We have no problem with (the review) but people might wonder why would they announce it in the first place," Michdan told AFP.

Widodo had cited "humanitarian reasons" for agreeing to the release of the elderly preacher, sparking a torrent of criticism on Indonesian social media.

"This whole story is stupid beyond belief," one Twitter user wrote.

Bashir "murdered hundreds of people. They don't get to be with their families, but he does?"

- 'Politically deaf' -

Analysts questioned the timing of the original announcement, just months before Widodo -- better known by his nickname Jokowi -- seeks re-election to lead the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation.

Indonesian forces patrol the perimeter of Gunung Sindur prison in Bogor where radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashiris jailed.

While Indonesia has long been praised for its moderate practice of religion, the political influence of Islamist hardliners has grown in recent years with some viewing Bashir as a hero.

"Why did Jokowi choose to act now, when it was inevitable that he would be accused of trying to score political points?" said Sidney Jones at the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

"It makes the president seem either Machiavellian enough to do anything in exchange for a few votes, or so politically deaf and blind that he had no idea of the consequences."

The 2002 bombings prompted Jakarta to beef up counter-terror co-operation with the US and Australia.

"We have been very clear about the need to ensure that, as part of our joint counter-terrorism efforts... that Abu Bakar Bashir would not be in any position... to influence or incite anything," Australia's Morrison was quoted as saying.

Al-Qaeda-linked JI was founded by a handful of exiled Indonesian militants in Malaysia in the 1980s, and grew to include cells across Southeast Asia.

As well as the 2002 Bali bombings, the radical group was blamed for a 2003 car bomb at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta and a suicide car bomb the following year outside the Australian embassy.

Several militants convicted over their involvement in the Bali bombings have been executed while two others, including Malaysian Noordin Mohammed Top, were killed in police raids in 2009 and 2010.
(ANSA) - Rome, January 23 - Italy wants to change the migrant landing rules of the EU's anti-migrant trafficking Sophia mission, not close it, Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said Wednesday.

A European summit last June urged member States to fully share all burdens, the foreign ministry said.

April 2015 accords on the other hand, it said, had envisaged that migrants should be always disembarked in Italy.

"Italy has never asked for the closure of Sophia," Moavero said.

It asked for the rules relating to the disembarkation of persons saved at sea should be changed in rigorous and dutiful coherence with the conclusions of the European Council of June 2018".


Foreigners are among the ascetics, saints, sadhus and spectators thronging the Kumbh Mela

At the Kumbh Mela, the world's biggest religious event, millions of Indian Hindus are not the only people bathing in the sacred waters to wash away their sins.

Foreigners too are among the ascetics, saints, sadhus and spectators thronging the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in northern India for what is billed as humanity's biggest gathering.

Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati (C) is among the worshippers taking a dip at the Kumbh

Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati grew up in a Jewish family in California but moved in 1996 to an ashram in Rishikesh -- the town made famous internationally when the Beatles visited in 1968 -- and changed her life and her name.

"I was on holiday with a backpack and when I got to Rishikesh, on the banks of the sacred Ganges, I had a very very deep, very very powerful spiritual awakening experience which made me realise where I need to be, where I need to spend my life," she told AFP.

Many of the foreigners at the Kumbh are tourists, while others are westerners who have immersed themselves in Hindu spirituality

The 47-year-old is among the worshippers taking a dip at the Kumbh, which is expected to attract well over 100 million people over the next seven weeks.

"The reason we take a bath in the sacred waters is to achieve immortality... immortality of the soul," she said.

"It felt amazing, it always feels amazing... Normally only the body gets wet but here you actually feel like your inner self is getting wet, your heart, your soul is getting wet, your spirit... The depth of my being is being touched."

The festival is expected to attract well over 100 million people over the next seven weeks

A record 22.5 million people plunged into the waters on the first day of the Kumbh last Tuesday, according to local officials.

Nearly 30,000 police helped by drones buzzing overhead have been deployed to oversee crowds and prevent stampedes.

A vast tent city with restaurants, roads and marketplaces has sprung up along the river, with pilgrims camped out across a sprawling 45-square-kilometre (17-square-mile) zone.

A vast tent city with restaurants, roads and marketplaces has sprung up along the river

Westerners who have immersed themselves in Hindu spirituality include Baba Rampuri, who claims to be the first foreigner to be initiated into India's largest and most ancient order of yogis, the Naga Sannyasis of Juna Akhara.

The surgeon's son -- reportedly born William A. Gans -- grew up in Beverly Hills and moved to India in 1970, and like Saraswati is active on Facebook and Twitter.

"I am not a great believer in modern technology, or the consumerist messages being sent out through the medium, but we have to make people aware that we exist," he told the Indian Express.

Another is Sir James Mallinson, the dreadlocked fifth baronet of Walthamstow and British academic ordained as a mahant, or Hindu priest, in 2013. He also runs a paragliding firm in the Himalayas.

Many of the foreigners at the Kumbh are simple tourists though, keen to see the ash-smeared, pipe-smoking Naga sadhus, naked except for beads and flower garlands.

One ascetic has had his right arm raised for seven years. Another has been standing for eight months and aims to do so for another 43 months.
A partial view of the Iraqi capital is reflected in the visor of a US army helicopter crew member as he looks out of a Chinook helicopter over Baghdad on January 9, 2019

From the halls of parliament to the lightning-fast rumour mills of social media, pro-Iran factions are demanding US troops withdraw from Iraq in a challenge to the country's fragile government.

The political wrangling is another indication of Iraq's precarious position as it tries to balance ties between two key allies -- the United States and the Islamic republic of Iran.

Calls for a US pullout have intensified since President Donald Trump's shock decision last month to pull troops from neighbouring Syria, while keeping American forces in Iraq.

In recent weeks, pro-Iran parties have organised protests to demand an accelerated US troop withdrawal while affiliated media outlets published footage of alleged US reinforcements in Iraq's restive west and north.

The debate is heating up in parliament as well.

Last week a lawmaker demanded Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi provide a written explanation for the ongoing US military presence in Iraq and a timeframe for their stay.

MPs are also drafting a law that would set a deadline for a US withdrawal, according to Mahmud al-Rubaie of the Sadiqun bloc, one of the political groups working on the text.

"We categorically reject the presence of foreign troops in Iraq," Rubaie told AFP.

But rather than a genuine, popularly-driven desire for a US withdrawal, the draft is part of the wider race for influence between Washington and Tehran, analysts said.

"This talk is part of the power struggle between the US and Iran," said Iraqi security expert Hashem al-Hashemi.

Tensions between the two countries have intensified since the US pulled out of the landmark 2015 nuclear accord negotiated with Iran in May last year, and observers fear they could destabilise Iraq.

- Between Iraq and a hard place -

American troop numbers in Iraq peaked at some 170,000 during the battle against Al-Qaeda and other insurgents that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.

Trump's predecessor Barack Obama ordered a withdrawal that was completed in 2011, but troops were redeployed in 2014 under a US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group.

Members of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force flash the victory gesture as they wave flags of the group while parading in the city of Karbala on December 10, 2018 to mark the first anniversary of the victory over the Islamic State group

In December 2017, Iraq announced it had defeated IS.

Since then the number of foreign coalition troops has dropped from nearly 11,000 in January 2018 to 8,000 by December last year, according to the prime minister.

Coalition spokesman Sean Ryan says there are 5,200 US soldiers now stationed alongside Iraqi forces in various bases across the country.

Their presence angers the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary force that is dominated by pro-Iran factions which played a key role alongside government forces in the fight against IS.

"The US has banned the Hashed from coming near the military bases where its troops are stationed," said Hashemi.

"So the Hashed is now adopting a reciprocal policy," he said, by pushing for a US withdrawal.

- Weakening Iraq's PM -

US President Donald Trump's surprise visit to American troops in Iraq was criticised by some Iraqis because he did not meet with any government officials

Trump's surprise Christmas visit to troops stationed in western Iraq has added fuel to the fire.

Pro-Iran parties seized on the fact that he did not meet with Iraqi officials to slam the visit as insulting and a violation of Iraq's sovereignty.

Renad Mansour, a researcher at the London-based Chatham House, told AFP the revived debate over US troops was likely a swipe at Abdel Mahdi by hardline pro-Iran factions.

"If Adel Abdel Mahdi fails in removing the US troops, his opponents will of course use it to make him seem weak, just as they used the fact that Trump didn't meet with him when he came," he said.

Iraqis, meanwhile, are more concerned with staggering unemployment, power cuts, and a political crisis that has left key ministries unmanned for months.

Very few showed up Friday at protests in Baghdad demanding an American pull-out, while hundreds turned out for demonstrations in the south of the country to protest a lack of public services.

"If Abdel Mahdi is unable to deliver services or jobs or water, or pick a defence or interior minister, then he has way bigger problems," said Mansour.

"If he succeeds in delivering in services, no one will care about US forces."
Security is tight in Davos, where Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro is giving the keynote speech

Skirting the first political scandal of his new presidency, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro will tout a "new Brazil" when he addresses the world's business elite in Davos on Tuesday.

The president of Latin America's biggest economy is giving the keynote address at this year's World Economic Forum, where warnings are mounting of the dangers of a growth slowdown and yawning inequality.

US President Donald Trump along with the leaders of France, Britain and Zimbabwe have had to stay away from the posh Swiss ski resort as they fight political fires back home.

"This year Davos is defined by those who do not attend," IHS Markit chief economist Nariman Behravesh told AFP.

Davos may be reverting to its roots as a purely business forum, "which is not necessarily a bad thing", he said.

But while the gathering high in the Swiss Alps is dedicated to networking and schmoozing, the International Monetary Fund started the week with a downbeat downgrade of its forecasts for global growth.

The IMF notably cited a US-China trade war, and Brexit clouds surrounding Britain's divorce from the European Union.

Jair Bolsonaro rode a wave of populism to become Brazil's leader

But while growth is slowing, aid charity Oxfam warned the Davos elite that inequality around the world most certainly is not.

The wealth of the world's 26 richest people is now equivalent to that of the poorest half of humanity, Oxfam said, warning that such an imbalance was stoking popular anger and undermining democracies around the world.

Three of those billionaires are attending Davos -- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, China's richest man Jack Ma and Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani.

- Safe for business -

The "Mr Clean" Bolsonaro surfed his own populist wave to ride to power in Brazil, vowing an end to rampant corruption and a restoration of law and order.

But staging his first foreign trip as president, Bolsonaro has left behind a scandal about suspicious payments involving his politician son Flavio Bolsonaro, who denies any wrongdoing.

Davos Economic Forum

Focussing on his message at the WEF, Bolsonaro told reporters in Davos that he would "give the broadest message possible of the new Brazil that is presenting itself with our arrival in power".

He said "Brazil is taking measures so that the world re-establishes confidence in us, that our business returns to flourishing between Brazil and the world, without being guided by ideology".

"We will show that we are a country that is safe for investments, especially in the area of agribusiness which is very important for us."

But while Bolsonaro's promises on investment and deregulation have wowed the Brazilian stock market, he has also taken a page from the Trump playbook in routinely bashing China.

Trump pulled out of Davos because of the US budget shutdown and then yanked his entire delegation, removing any prospect of trade peacemaking in the Alps with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan.

The WEF week features an eclectic lineup of discussions devoted to issues such as mindful parenting in the digital age, chronic loneliness, and harnessing artificial intelligence without destroying jobs.

It is expected to draw some 3,000 political and business figures, including 65 government leaders from Germany, Israel and elsewhere.
A school for training komians, or traditional priestesses, opened in 1992 in eastern Ivory Coast but most of its buildings are in disrepair and the school is looking for a benefactor

A dozen women, their bodies coated with clay, sway to beating drums as if in a trance, ankle bells jingling as they stamp their feet, in the eastern Ivorian town of Aniansue.

They are training to become certified "komians", or priestesses, steeped in traditional lore, the properties of medicinal plants and the techniques of conflict resolution.

They are credited with the power to cast spells and predict the future -- at a time when the komians fear for their own future as modern society increasingly leaves tradition behind.

The women belong to the 25 million-strong Akan ethnic group predominant in eastern Ivory Coast and across the border in Ghana, in the bosom of the traditional Ashanti kingdom.

Certified komians, or priestesses, are steeped in traditional lore, the properties of medicinal plants and the techniques of conflict resolution

No local king or tribal chief can be enthroned without the intervention of these priestesses, whose school, set up in 1992, gained national recognition in 2014.

"The komian has a sanctifying role," Pascal Abinan Kouakou, the Ivorian employment minister, told AFP. "She participates in the cohesion and stability of our regions."

- Disrepair -

Even so, the school is slowly deteriorating. Its ochre walls have not been painted for years, and most of its buildings are in disrepair.

"Help us! We sleep rough -- we have no dormitories while we take in dozens of patients each month," said Adjoua Messouma, who founded the Adjoua Messouma Centre for the Initiation of Komians of Aniansue (CIKAMA).

The course lasts at least three years, with around 20 graduates each year.

No local king or tribal chief can be enthroned without the intervention of the komians, or priestesses

They can then take official positions in their local villages or set up private practices.

The school, bordered on one side by a teak plantation, features a large central courtyard with a giant mango tree in the middle, surrounded by houses.

People come to the school seeking cures or treatments from the komians for conditions such as cancers, infertility, epilepsy and mental illnesses.

Others come for counselling over personal problems.

"I was diagnosed with appendicitis which I want to treat with plants," said businesswoman Dame Yvonne Ezan after a consultation.

- Under fire -

"If we don't watch out, the komians, this culture that is intrinsic to our society, could disappear," said the employment minister, who was recently elected president of the regional council.

People come to the komians school seeking cures or treatments for complaints such as cancers and infertility, or for counselling for personal problems

He complained of a "lack of national policy to promote this cultural heritage".

Criticism of komians, notably from evangelical churches, is becoming increasingly insistent and acerbic.

"Today we are seen as the devil incarnate," said 22-year-old Leonie Kouame, who put her university studies on hold in order to "study and commune with the spirits" -- and become a komian.

In the town of Amelekia, between the big city of Abengourou and Aniansue, around 20 priestesses are sounding the alarm, saying they lost a great defender in the person of Jean-Marie Adiaffi, who died in 1999.

The author, who was awarded France's Grand Prix Litteraire d'Afrique Noire in 1981, advocated the modernisation of African religions.

But criticism of komians, notably from evangelical churches, is increasing

He coined the word "bossonism" to capture the religion purveyed by the komians -- "bosson" meaning the spirits believed to inhabit rivers, mountains and forests as well as figurines, such as those taking pride of place in two sanctuaries at the school.

As in most African animist religions, these are revered in villages across the continent.

- 'We're not afraid' -

Pascal Abinan Kouakou, the Ivorian employment minister, has promised to place the school on the tourist map as a means of promotion and fundraising

"We're not afraid, despite the threats from the churches and we are not about to give up," said the komian Eba Kouakou, aged in her 60s whose body is covered with dozens of talismans.

"The komian will never disappear."

Nevertheless the komians are looking for a benefactor to save the school or even allow it to expand to other regions.

In the meantime, Pascal Abinan Kouakou has promised to place the school on the tourist map as a means of promotion and fundraising.

"I have a duty to ensure that it does not disappear," said the minister, himself the grandson of a celebrated komian named Akua Mandjouadja, who ruled the region for many years.
As China's population ages rapidly and the one-child policy left parents with only a single child to help them in their old age, the upper crust of Chinese society are spending the last years of their lives in luxury

At a gated community for Chinese senior citizens, retired military personnel, film-makers and top university professors settle into a new routine: ballet lessons, weightlifting and catered dining.

As China's population ages rapidly and the one-child policy left parents with only a single child to help them in their old age, the upper crust of Chinese society are spending the last years of their lives in luxury.

A grand piano backlit by floor-to-ceiling windows stands in the Yanyuan community's clubhouse living room. Brightly coloured artworks commissioned from Israeli artist David Gerstein adorn public spaces.

"This is our home now," said Li Ying, a 71-year-old resident who spent more than 30 years in the military. "Special circumstances notwithstanding, we are prepared to live here until the end."

Though high-end institutions like Yanyuan, which boasts an on-site hospital and on-call staff, are still few in China, they are part of a growing industry as the country races to develop enough elderly care support for its exploding population of senior citizens.

By 2050, one in three people in China, or 487 million people, will be over the age of 60 -- more than the population of the United States -- according to the official Xinhua news agency.

In the past, parents could count on their children for care in their twilight years under Chinese traditions of filial piety.

- Ageing crisis -

But as China reckons with its one-child policy, which was aimed at curbing population growth, Chinese couples are now burdened with raising their own children while supporting both sets of parents -- without the help of siblings.

"The idea that children should take care of their ageing parents is an old logic spanning thousands of years," explained Li. "As society develops, this is changing."

To tackle the country's looming ageing crisis, the Chinese government is trialing a number of policies, including preferential tax policies for elderly care service providers.

The push to grow China's elderly care capacity has encouraged more private companies, from real estate developers to insurance firms, to seize on business opportunities in the industry, such as nursing homes where residents enjoy five-star accommodations and professional medical support.

To tackle the country's looming ageing crisis, the Chinese government is trialing a number of policies, including preferential tax policies for elderly care service providers

At Yanyuan, which is run by insurance giant Taikang, residents can either buy into the company's two million yuan ($290,000) pension plan or make a down payment of one to two million yuan ($145,000 to $290,000) on top of monthly living expenses of at least 6,000 yuan ($870), not including the food budget.

Publicly-run nursing homes, on the other hand, can cost less than $1,000 a month or offer subsidies to residents but are often viewed as a last resort for China's more destitute senior citizens.

"Whether or not China's elderly care industry can satisfy the needs of (China's) rapidly ageing populace depends on who is paying for it," says Chen Youhua, a professor at Nanjing University who has studied China's elderly care industry.

If it's paid for privately, there could be an overabundance of facilities and beds, but "if it's the government or society who pays... then the current elderly care services industry cannot satisfy such needs", he added.

- Not alone -

Some industry experts are wary that private firms will focus on providing lavish retirement villages for long-term residency, rather than creating last-mile nursing homes for those who cannot take care of themselves

Vivian Lou, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong, who studies long-term care suggested healthy 60-year olds could enter such villages for seniors, and remain there for 20 years, during which time no one else could take their spot.

"This then becomes a housing solution," she explained.

Still, for residents at Yanyuan, socialising with peers -- and simply not being alone -- is one of the greatest benefits of staying in the retirement community.

In the past, the entire family lived together, "joyous and harmonious," said Ge Ming, who heads operations at Yanyuan. "But over the course of urbanisation, the (family) structure has changed".

China's push to grow its elderly care capacity has encouraged more private companies, from real estate developers to insurance firms, to seize on business opportunities in the industry

Young workers from all over China migrate from rural areas in search of higher wages and work opportunities -- they are no longer home to care for their parents or grandparents.

For China's ageing elite, many of whom already live in the major cities, their children may be living overseas or simply too busy building their own high-powered careers to look after relatives.

"I can't rely on them," said Zhu Mingyi, an 82-year-old retired professor, who used to teach languages.

His daughter lives in Beijing working for an international broadcaster, while his son is in Japan.

He added: "They have their own careers and family. They don't have the time, money, or energy to take care of you."
Demonstrators in Los Angeles on January 19, 2018 called for the reopening of government services paralyzed by the budget standoff

The United States on Tuesday enters the second month of a partial government shutdown over a lack of congressional funding, with no quick end in sight to the historic crisis weighing on the nation's economy and morale.

Since December 22, a quarter of the government has been paralyzed because of an impasse between opposition Democrats in Congress and the White House over funding for a wall to block illegal immigration at the border with Mexico.

President Donald Trump refuses to endorse a budget that does not contain $5.7 billion to build the barrier, the foundational promise of his 2016 election campaign.

Democrats oppose the wall, calling it "immoral," costly and ineffective. They want the government reopened before any discussion of the matter.

On Saturday, the Republican president made a new proposal which he said aimed to break the logjam. It offered to extend temporary protection to about a million immigrants facing expulsion, in return for the $5.7 billion he wants.

Although it was rejected by Democrats -- and even by some anti-immigrant voices -- the offer could serve as a basis for new discussions.

- Visible impact -

US President Donald Trump addressed the nation on January 19, 2018, presenting a new proposal that would extend temporary protection against deportation for about one million migrants, but Democrats rejected it

The shutdown directly affects 0.5 percent of the labor force but has started to indirectly hit the morale of more than half of consumers, according to a survey by the University of Michigan.

Experts say it is also pressuring the world's largest economy, against the backdrop of already slowing global growth.

In the most sensitive government agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transport and the State Department, the number of affected employees has been kept to a minimum.

Elsewhere, the impact is clear.

National Parks no longer have security guards, numerous museums are shut, and some airport security checkpoints have been closed.

About 800,000 federal workers, from FBI agents to scientists and some food inspectors, are furloughed or working without pay while trying to meet their routine financial obligations.

US Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Karl Schultz wrote in a Twitter post on Monday that "Our #USCG members sail across the world to protect U.S. national interests while their loved ones cope w/ financial challenges & no pay at home."

- The longest ever -

A sign at the entrance to the National Zoo in Washington tells of its closure because of the government shutdown

An economist for the Internal Revenue Service in New York, Carol Lopilato, 59, has been effectively unemployed since December 23.

With the IRS since 1987, she was lived through other shutdowns and said: "I never thought it would go on this long -- never."

Lopilato told AFP that she is "lucky in a sense" because so far she has not faced financial difficulty.

But "the longer it lasts, the more anxiety there is."

She and others will eventually get backpay but more than one million contractors for the government don't even have that to hope for.

"I'm about to lose my Medicaid, my car insurance" and driver's license, said Yvette Hicks, 40, a contractor with the Smithsonian museum complex.

The single mother of two added: "Right now, this shutdown is really destroying me and my family."

Hotels and bars have stepped in to offer free rooms and complementary snacks. There have been fund collections, and food banks -- which normally serve the most down-and-out -- have opened up their services.

- 'Unacceptable' -

The longest shutdown in US history is also beginning to have a political price.

A majority of Americans hold the Republicans and the White House responsible, according to several polls.

The political cost would have been even greater if Trump had followed through on threats to declare a national emergency in order to build his wall. Faced with likely court challenges, he backed off.

US government shutdowns since 1976

With his offer on Saturday, Trump held out protection from deportation for two categories of immigrants: 700,000 so-called "Dreamers," children of people who settled illegally in the United States, and who have become a favorite cause of the Democrats, as well as 300,000 other immigrants whose protected status is expiring.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, refused this "compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people's lives."

Trump, at the same time, alienated the fringe of his electorate opposed to what they saw as tantamount to an amnesty for the undocumented migrants.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to submit Trump's proposal for a vote this week. He will have to convince several Democrats of its merit in order to pass the text which, in any case, has little chance of being endorsed by the House.

For the Republicans, the Senate vote should at least allow a resumption of discussions, and the text can be amended.

But according to a senior House Democrat, James Clyburn, it is essential to first reopen the government because "these negotiations could take three or four weeks."
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe both seemed determined to try to settle the Kuril Islands dispute personally

Russia and Japan's leaders meet for talks in Moscow Tuesday over the disputed island chain that has long prevented a peace treaty to end World War II. But recent rhetoric has dampened hopes of a breakthrough.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit marks the 25th time he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met since 2013, a reflection of their efforts to build cooperation despite their disagreement over the Kuril islands.

The Soviet Army seized the four islands, between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, in the last days of World War II.

Tokyo's refusal to recognise Moscow's sovereignty there has been a barrier to peace for over seven decades.

Despite a flurry of diplomacy since November, when the two leaders agreed to step up peace talks, recent statements from both capitals suggest a compromise is still far off.

Moscow responded furiously to Abe's New Year's message, in which he said Russians living on the islands should be helped to accept that the "sovereignty of their homes will change".

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Japan needed to stop referring to the islands as its "Northern Territories" in legislation. He also described Tokyo's military alliance with Washington as problematic.

To get the talks moving, Tokyo needed to recognise Russia's sovereignty over the Kurils, said Lavrov.

"Why is Japan the only country in the world that cannot accept the results of World War II in their entirety?" he asked.

Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov has maintained a tough line on the Kuril Islands dispute

And on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the peace negotiations were "in their initial stage" and would likely be a "drawn out" process -- further cooling hopes for a quick resolution.

Abe's Moscow visit is the first leg of a trip to Europe, which will also include a speech at the Davos forum in Switzerland on Wednesday.

Before his departure he acknowledged that "negotiations with Russia have been a challenge for more than 70 years" and hoped for "candid talks" with Putin.

The two leaders have demonstrated a good personal relationship since Abe's historic first visit to Moscow in 2013.

Abe said in an interview published Monday by Kommersant daily that he and Putin have fully agreed to resolve the dispute "with our own hands and not pass the problem on to future generations".

- 'Powerful public opinion' -

Kremlin spokesman Peskov on Monday said that Japan had not so far made any official proposals based on claiming just two of the islands in the chain. This possibility was mooted by the Soviet Union in the 1950s, prior to Tokyo's alliance with the United States.

Map showing the Kuril islands disputed by Japan and Russia.

Japan's Kyodo news agency, citing government sources, said Abe was leaning toward accepting this framework for a peace deal.

But it is not clear whether the Kremlin would be keen to transfer sovereignty even for the two smaller islands, Shikotan and Habomai, which is actually a group of uninhabited islets.

The chain ensures Russia's strategic control of the Sea of Okhotsk, and some southern islands in the chain are less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from Japan's island of Hokkaido.

Giving away even uninhabited islands would be hugely symbolic and poorly received in Russia.

Several protests were held in recent weeks against ceding any territory to Japan, and Putin's sliding ratings would further suffer from such a move.

A poll by independent Russian pollster Levada Centre last month suggested that 74 percent of Russians would not support exchanging some of the islands for a peace deal, while only 17 percent said they would.

Russian pollsters and recent protests suggest that even a partial cession of the two smaller, uninhabited island in the Kuril chain, would be unpopular with Russians

State television has been unenthusiastic about the summit.

Top news presenter Dmitry Kiselyov disputed the very notion that Japan could be a "friend" of Russia as long as it opposed Moscow's policies and had US military "occupying" its territory.

As for the Kuril islands, Kiselyov said on his popular "News of the Week" show that 90 percent of Russians were against giving any of them back to Tokyo.

"Would Putin want to ignore this powerful public opinion?" he asked.

"Impossible," he said.
Aya Maasarwe's murder sparked a huge outpouring of grief that saw thousands attend gatherings in her memory

Australians have farewelled Arab-Israeli student Aya Maasarwe in emotional vigils and ceremonies as her heartbroken father prepared to return home with her body on Tuesday, a week after her rape and murder.

The 21-year-old's body was found by passers-by near a tram stop in Australia's second-largest city Melbourne early Wednesday, hours after she was attacked on her way home.

Aya Maasarwe's murder shocked Australians and sparked a huge outpouring of grief that saw thousands attend gatherings in her memory, and raised questions about the safety of women on public streets.

A 20-year-old, Codey Herrmann, was charged with her rape and murder and remanded in custody pending another hearing on June 7.

Her father Saeed Maasarwe, who flew to Melbourne after news of his daughter's death, said he was "very surprised" and comforted by the outpouring of support, and called for more forgiveness.

"This is the message we want to send, we want to make the world more peace and more safety, and more beautiful, and more smile; and more forgive each other," a tearful Maasarwe told reporters late Monday.

"It's not from me, this is Aya. I talk in my voice, but this is Aya's mind," he said, adding that he wished people would "see the light in the dark... and not be in the dark".

Maasarwe -- who has asked local media to spell his daughter's name as "Aya" instead of "Aiia" as stated in her passport to reflect that she is a Palestinian of Israeli citizenship -- is set to return to Israel with her body.

Her family invited the public to a Muslim ceremony for Aya Maasarwe at a Melbourne mosque late Monday to thank them for their support and love.

Details of the attack have been withheld from the public by the court at the request of prosecutors as Maasarwe's family have yet to be told, amid reports of the graphic nature of the information.

The court was told it was Herrmann's first time in custody and he could be vulnerable due to his Aboriginal heritage and age, The Age newspaper said.
Air pollution is a long-standing gripe of China's burgeoning middle class

Eye-watering, throat-scratching air pollution is a major driver of big city blues in China, according to a study published Monday that matched social network chatter with fine-particle pollution levels.

"The take-away is simple," lead author Siqi Zheng, an associate professor at MIT and director of the University's China Future City Lab, told AFP.

"Higher levels of air pollution lower people's happiness in the world's most populous country."

Dirty air is not the only blight on life in urban China, which is also plagued by soaring housing prices, worries over food safety, and poor public services.

But health-wreaking pollution -- especially microscopic bits from coal-fired power plants and factories that settle in the lungs -- is a long-standing gripe of the country's burgeoning middle class.

More than a million premature deaths every year in China can be chalked up to air pollution, the World Health Organization and other research groups have concluded.

A toxic cocktail of small and larger particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) is likewise linked to poor cognitive performance, labour productivity and educational outcomes.

On polluted days, people are also more likely to engage in impulsive and risky behaviour they may later regret, observational studies have shown.

Awareness of the problem and its consequences is very high among China's city dwellers, a fact not lost on the government.

After an embarrassing episode in 2012 when daily pollution levels published on Twitter by the US embassy in Beijing were consistently higher than official figures for the city, China's leaders declared war on smog-clogged air.

- Happiness index -

They set up hundreds of monitoring stations throughout the country, and introduced more stringent standards, especially for small particles less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in diameter.

The average human hair is 60-to-90 microns in width.

According to the new rules, the density of these dangerous microscopic particles should not exceed 35 microgrammes per cubic metre (35 mcg/m3) for any 24-hour period.

WHO Air Quality Guidelines are even stricter, setting the limit at 25 mcg/m3.

In China's most heavily polluted cities -- including Beijing and Tianjin, home to more than 35 million -- particle density is often two, three and even four times higher than either standard.

To gauge how urban air pollution affected day-to-day mood, Zheng and colleagues used machine-learning algorithms to comb through more than 200 million messages from 144 cities posted in 2014 on Weibo, China's largest microblogging site.

As of mid-2018, Weibo, similar to Twitter, had 455 million active users.

The researchers devised an "expressed happiness index" based on key words and context, and then stacked it up against fluctuating PM2.5 pollution levels.

"We found a significant negative correlation" -- when one went up, the other went down -- "between pollution and happiness levels," Zheng said.

"Women were more sensitive to higher pollution levels than men."

Average daily PM2.5 concentration was 55 mcg/m3 across all 144 cities -- more than double the WHO limit -- and several times higher in many.

More than half of China's population -- nearly 700 million people -- now lives in urban areas.

Intriguingly, the link was strongest in the cleanest and dirtiest cities examined.

People very worried about health and air quality tend to move to cleaner cities, the study suggested, while those in the dirtiest urban areas were more aware of damage to their health.

"Our index has the potential to become a tool for government to understand common citizens' daily concerns," Zheng said.

The Chinese government, in fact, has long monitored posts and conversations on social networks to track public opinion.

Since 2013, PM2.5 particle pollution has dropped on average about 40 percent, according to one recent study, but ground-level ozone pollution continues to climb.

A Chinese environment ministry official said Monday that PM2.5 density rose 9.2 percent year-on-year between October 1 and January 19 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

China wants to slash PM2.5 density by three percent year-on-year between October 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019 in the region, said the official, Liu Bingjiang.

Cities that miss air quality targets will be penalised with "accountability measures", which have yet to be determined, he said.
Polish Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Maciej Lang speaks during an interview with AFP at the Polish Embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran on January 21, 2019

Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Maciej Lang met in Tehran on Monday with his Iranian counterpart in an effort to solve a dispute over a conference his country is to host.

Lang described as "constructive" his talks with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi over the jointly organised conference with the United States on peace and security in the Middle East.

"We spoke about a wide range of issues, including misunderstandings about the Warsaw conference, and I presented our point of view on this issue. We had a long discussion and I hope that I did it in a clear way," Lang told AFP in an interview.

"For Poland this conference is not against any country," he said.

The summit had first been announced on January 11 by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said that it "includes an important element of making sure that Iran is not a destabilising influence" in the region.

The Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement the reasons provided by the Polish government for co-organising the summit were unacceptable and that the Poles "must be mindful of the consequences".

The Islamic republic would not allow any country in or outside the region "to build coalitions against its interests", the statement said.

Lang expressed hopes that the conference would have a positive impact on relations with Iran.

"We intend to organise an event to discuss problems. Basically the outcome of this conference is to find a process serving stability in the region," he said.

"We believe the outcome will be positive. Why should we suppose that relations with Iran would suffer?"

Iran had reacted angrily to the conference when news of it first broke.

Poland's charge d'affaires was summoned by the Iranian foreign ministry to "protest the anti-Iranian so-called peace and security conference" on January 13.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif poured scorn on the Warsaw summit and pointed out that the country welcomed more than 100,000 Polish refugees during World War II.

"Polish Govt can't wash the shame: while Iran saved Poles in WWII, it now hosts a desperate anti-Iran circus," Zarif tweeted on January 11.
(ANSA) - Rome, January 23 - Italian growth could reach 1.5% this year, Premier Giuseppe Conte told Bloomberg in Davos Wednesday.

The Bank of Italy and the IMF this week lowered their Italy 2019 growth forecast to 0.6%.

The government has lowered its forecast to 1%.

Conte added that there would be no supplementary budget and any slowdown was part of a global trend.


Hong Kong: FS attends forum on AI in Davos

Financial Secretary Paul Chan today discussed the application of artificial intelligence and highlighted the opportunities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area at two events while attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Mr Chan attended a breakfast panel discussion organised by a global consultancy firm, focusing on the impact of AI on a city's development.

As one of the panelists at the session, he said that a major direction of Hong Kong's technological development would be AI, which could help promote the development of smart city and various industries.

Ahead of this event, Mr Chan met its senior management to discuss views on the development of Hong Kong's finance, accounting and insurance industries.

In the evening, he spoke at an event on starting businesses in the bay area and said that it offers limitless opportunities for new ideas and inventions.

Hong Kong has the know-how, experience and connections to help the next generation of entrepreneurs in exploring opportunities in the bay area.

Mr Chan then met the senior management of a Swiss reinsurance company with a business history of more than a century.

Apart from updating them on the latest measures launched by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in enhancing the competitiveness of the insurance industry and strengthening Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre, he encouraged them to leverage the city's unique advantages to tap into opportunities brought about by the bay area.

In the next two days in Davos, Mr Chan will meet finance officials from other countries and regions.

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A member of the Tripoli Protection Force, an alliance of militias from Libya's capital city, takes position during clashes with the Seventh Brigade group from the town of Tarhuna

Rival Libyan militias agreed to a new ceasefire Monday aimed at halting nearly a week of deadly clashes south of the capital Tripoli, officials said.

Fighting has pitched armed groups from the capital against the Seventh Brigade, a militia from the town of Tarhuna southeast of Tripoli.

The clashes since Wednesday have left 16 people dead and 65 others wounded, according to the health ministry.

Under the truce, signed in the capital by officials from Tripoli and Tarhuna, fighters from the Tripoli Protection Force and the Seventh Brigade are to withdraw to their respective cities.

The deal also envisions a prisoner swap and an exchange of bodies of fighters killed in the clashes.

It was agreed after mediation by officials from the town of Bani Walid, 170 southeast (105 miles) of the capital.

UN mission in Libya head Ghassan Salame called tribal leaders in Bani Walid to thank them for their efforts and said he hoped for "the success and sincere application of the agreement", the mission said on Twitter.

The latest fighting follows clashes in and around Tripoli that killed at least 117 people and wounded more than 400 between late August and late September.

Libya has been torn between rival administrations and a myriad of militias since the overthrow and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

The main armed groups in Tripoli say they are loyal to the internationally backed Government of National Accord, but officials have struggled to exert real control over the fighters.

The GNA announced security reforms in the wake of the bloodshed last year, aimed at curbing the power of militias in the capital.

A rival administration in the east of Libya is backed by strongman Khalifa Haftar and his self-proclaimed Libyan National Army.\
Marzieh Hashemi was detained on arrival at St Louis Lambert International Airport on January 13, 2019

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Monday accused the United States of violating the civil rights of black people over its arrest of a journalist working for Iranian state television.

Marzieh Hashemi, a US-born black Muslim convert, was detained on arrival at St Louis Lambert International Airport on January 13, according to family and friends cited by her employer, Press TV.

"The US govt needs to explain how Marzieh Hasehmi -- a journalist and grandmother -- is such a flight risk that she must be incarcerated until she finished her testimony to a grand jury," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Zarif added that "50 years after MLK assassination, the US still violates the civil rights of black men and women," in reference to the murder in the United States of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

A US court said on Friday that Hashemi's testimony was required over an unspecified case but that she was not accused of any crimes.

It said Hashemi had been detained on "a material arrest warrant" and would be freed after she gave testimony to a grand jury investigating unspecified "violations of US criminal law".

Hashemi, who changed her name from Melanie Franklin after converting to Islam, had reportedly been visiting her ill brother and other family members in the United States.

Zarif had previously described Hashemi's arrest as a "political" move by the US that "tramples on freedom of speech."

He also said Hashemi was considered an Iranian national through marriage.
Journalist Amade Abubacar was arrested on January 5 in Macomia, a small town in northern Mozambique as he was interviewing people who had fled a wave of jihadist attacks in the area

A Mozambican journalist who was arrested while interviewing people displaced by jihadist attacks in the country's north has been formally charged with espionage, a media rights group told AFP on Monday.

A respected radio journalist, Amade Abubacar was arrested on January 5 in Macomia, a small town in one of the areas worst hit by the Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique.

Lazaro Mabunda of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), which is providing him with legal representation, said Abubacar had been formally charged with espionage and various other offences on Friday.

The prosecution said the "names and contacts of jihadists wanted by the police" had been found in Abubacar's possession, Mabunda told AFP.

But he said the charge was unfounded as Abubacar was known for his investigative work, which involved contact with people wanted by the police without implying collaboration.

"The prosecution alleges that Amade Abubacar was gathering information to send to jihadists because he was found with contacts of some people suspected of carrying out attacks but that is not enough to reach such a conclusion," he said.

His lawyer has made an application for bail but the court has not yet answered the request.

The charges were formalised a day after Abubacar was moved from a military facility to a civilian prison where he was to await trial.

His arrest has been denounced by Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and American Bar Association.

Abubacar works for state-owned Radio e Televisao Comunitaria Nacedje de Macomia in the northern Cabo Delgado province, a gas-rich area which has been hit by a wave of jihadist attacks which began in October 2017.

Since then, more than 100 people have died in the violence which has forced thousands to flee their homes.

Numerous journalists have also been arrested while covering militant attacks in the region.

In December, troops arrested the acclaimed investigative reporter Estacio Valoi, who was freed two days later without charge.

And six months earlier, they arrested Pindai Dube, a Zimbabwean correspondent for South African private broadcaster eNCA.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, seen here with North Korean Vice-Chairman Kim Yong Chol in Washington, DC January 18, 2019, has since conferred by phone with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held talks on North Korea with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts ahead of a summit between Pyongyang's leader and the US president, the State Department said Monday.

The phone calls, which took place on January 20, come after President Donald Trump announced that a location for his summit with Kim Jong Un -- which is to take place near the end of February -- has been decided.

Pompeo discussed the "next steps" on North Korean engagement with Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono, while he and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha "updated each other" on engagements with Pyongyang, the State Department said.

Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol, a right-hand man to the North Korean strongman, met Trump at the White House on Friday for an unusually long 90 minutes as the countries seek a denuclearization accord that could ease decades of hostility.

On Saturday, Trump said a "lot of progress" has been made on the issue.

Kim Jong Un and Trump first met in June in Singapore, where they signed a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work toward the "denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."
The announcement comes after US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad left Pakistan, having held a flurry of meetings around the region to garner support for the dialogue

The Taliban said it met with US officials in Qatar on Monday, in the latest round of talks between the insurgents and Washington aimed at bringing an end to the 17-year war.

The US has not officially commented on the reported meeting, which follows the last confirmed talks between the two parties in the UAE in December.

"Following American acceptance of the agenda of ending the occupation of Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from being used against other countries in the future, talks with American representatives took place today in Doha, the capital of Qatar," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

The announcement comes a day after US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad left Pakistan where he had met with Prime Minister Imran Khan, who arrived in Doha for an official visit Monday.

Khalilzad has held a flurry of meetings around the region, including in Kabul last week, to garner support for the burgeoning dialogue.

Taliban representatives have met several times with US officials in recent months, but last week threatened to suspend the fledgling process, lambasting Washington for changing the agenda of the talks and "unilaterally" adding new subjects.

The insurgents have long refused to hold direct talks with the Kabul government -- despite US pleas -- which the Taliban dismisses as a puppet of Washington.

US officials said in December that President Donald Trump intends to withdraw as many as half of the 14,000 US troops deployed in Afghanistan.
Atiku Abubakar of the PDP is the main opposition candidate running against Buhari for the Nigerian presidency

Nigeria's government on Monday warned about an increase in violence before next month's elections, accusing the main opposition of trying to foment unrest to jeopardise the vote.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the government had "credible intelligence" that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was orchestrating "widespread violence".

The party was trying to whip up unrest with a view to cutting short the elections, thereby triggering "a constitutional crisis that could snowball into the establishment of an interim government", he told a news conference in Abuja.

The PDP dismissed the claims as "irresponsible and ludicrous".

Africa's most populous nation goes to the polls to elect a new president and parliament on February 16, with a close race expected between the two main parties.

Nigerian elections are often turbulent affairs, frequently marked by allegations of fraud or backroom dealings.

President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is seeking a second term in office with PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar his closest rival.

The PDP was in power for 16 years from 1999, when democracy was restored after decades of military rule.

Buhari's victory in 2015 was the first for an opposition candidate.

- War of words -

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is running for a second term in office

As it was in the 2015 campaign, security remains a major issue with Boko Haram Islamists still active in the remote northeast despite Buhari's vow to end the insurgency.

This weekend, troops fought off Boko Haram jihadists in three separate incidents -- the latest in an increasing number of attacks on military positions in recent months.

On Monday, Buhari, 76, held a campaign rally attended by thousands in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram and capital of Borno state which has been hit hardest by the violence of the past decade.

Several people at the rally were injured when a large pavilion came crashing down on some party supporters.

"I am shocked to hear about the many who suffered injury following the tragic incident at the stadium this afternoon in Maiduguri," Buhari said in a statement.

The president also paid tribute to "the souls of the deceased", but that part of the statement was retracted when it was revealed no one was killed.

Nigeria has also been struggling with an escalation of violence between nomadic cattle herders and farmers in central states where they have fought a long-running battle for land and water.

At the same time, there has been a rise in kidnappings and cattle rustling by armed bandits in some northern states.

The country has a long history of deadly political unrest, particularly around elections.

In 2011, around 1,000 people were killed in a wave of violence which erupted after the results of the presidential poll were announced.

In December, all presidential candidates signed a pledge to ensure peaceful elections. But that has not stopped an increasingly bitter war of words between the APC and the PDP.

On Sunday, former president Olusegun Obasanjo said he had "serious doubts" about the credibility of the election and cast doubt on the impartiality of the electoral commission.

He accused Buhari of using the security services to target political opponents, comparing his actions to those of Nigeria's military dictator Sani Abacha, who was in power between 1993 and 1998.

Abubakar served as vice-president under Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007.

- Set up -

But the PDP also raised questions about whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be an unbiased referee, alleging that staff there had been compromised.

There has been a flurry of rumours surrounding the appointment of Buhari's niece by marriage, Amina Zakari, to the election commission.

PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said "more than half" of the handheld electronic voter card readers were "obsolete and non-functional", which would force the use paper ballots.

The PDP has previously accused Buhari of refusing to push through amendments to the electoral act which would have made the use of card readers compulsory.

Electronic voting was introduced to reduce incidences of ballot-stuffing that have marred previous elections.

The minister warned that bandits, criminal gangs and even Boko Haram fighters had been mobilised to carry out attacks and "provoke massive chaos before, during and after the elections".

But Ologbondiyan said such claims were an attempt to prepare the ground for the "framing and arrest of leading members of the opposition".
The government shut down the internet amid a wave of violent anti-government demonstrations ignited by fuel price increases

The Zimbabwe High Court ruled Monday that government had no powers to order a shutdown of the internet which was imposed as protests swept across the country last week.

State Security Minister Owen Ncube ordered service providers to switch off the internet as security forces cracked down on protesters following the wave of violent anti-government demonstrations ignited by fuel price increases.

Handing down judgement in a case brought by human rights lawyers and journalists, Judge Owen Tagu said "it has become very clear that the minister had no authority to make that directive,"

David Halimana, the lawyer representing the complainants, said the ruling meant "mobile network operators are with immediate effect required to give full and unrestricted access of internet to all their subscribers".

Halimana said that, in terms of the law, only the state president has powers to order an internet shutdown.

Authorities have launched a large scale crackdown on suspected protestors and organisers of the nationwide strike.

A union leader who backed the strike was arrested on Monday as the opposition reported five lawmakers had been detained in recent days.

"ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions) Secretary General Japhet Moyo has been arrested at Robert Mugabe International Airport," Kumbirai Mafunda, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights group, told AFP.

He stands accused of plotting to overthrow the government in the wake of protests that rocked the country last week.

Police told him they will be "charging him with subverting a constitutionally elected government," the lawyers said in a statement.

- 'Full and unrestricted access' -

Moyo appeared on a video clip posted on the ZCTU's Twitter account last week urging workers to stay away from their jobs in protest at the more than doubling of fuel prices.

He is the latest of high-profile activist arrested after the strike turned into nationwide protests with some rioting and looting.

Leading Zimbabwean activist Evan Mawarire was arrested last week.

He is in custody on charges of subverting the government and inciting violence, apparently after backing the national strike on social media.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party said five of its lawmakers have been arrested so far.

A member of parliament Rusty Markham "has been arrested this morning," MDC spokesman Nkululeko Sibanda, told AFP, adding "there are several unaccounted for leaders and MPs".

President Emmerson Mnangagwa was on his way back home after cutting short a foreign tour on Sunday saying he wanted his country "calm, stable and working again" as criticism grew over a brutal crackdown in response to protests.

At least 12 people were killed and 78 treated for gunshot injuries over the last week, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, which recorded more than 240 incidents of assault and torture.

Government last week ordered service providers to shut down the internet.

The High Court in Harare is expected on Monday to make a ruling on the legality of the shutdown.

The opposition MDC party has accused the government of trying to suppress information about the security operation, in which the authorities are said have arrested more than 600.

The situation was calm in the country on Monday, according to various witnesses, but roadblocks manned by both the military and police were mounted along several roads.

Business partially re-opened in cities and towns, with some banks, shops and fuel stations operating.

Public and privately-run commuter buses plied their routes freely but some schools, especially in the working class suburbs, remained shut.

In the small town on Chinhoyi, north of Harare, witnesses said one primary school opened and when soldiers arrived during morning assembly, teachers fled, some jumping over the perimeter wall.

Parents went to fetch their children.
A passenger plane prepares to take off from Israel's new international airport on January 21, 2019

Israel inaugurated a new international airport Monday in its desert south meant to boost tourism to the nearby Red Sea and serve as an emergency alternative to Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the inauguration ceremony at the sleek terminal, arriving on the ceremonial first flight to the airport, whose location has upset neighbouring Jordan.

"Ramon airport, this is Arkia 683, we're very excited," Netanyahu said from the cockpit on arrival in an exchange with the tower relayed over loudspeakers.

Initially Ramon Airport will handle only domestic flights, operated by Israeli carriers Arkia and Israir.

A date has not yet been given for the start of international flights.

The new airport, named after Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut who died in the crash of the space shuttle Columbia, will in the future host jumbo jets from around the globe.

Its website says that it will be able to initially handle up to two million passengers annually, but will be able to expand to a capacity of 4.2 million by 2030.

It says that it has a 3,600-metre-long runway and apron parking space for nine "large and wide-body aircraft".

It also has freight-handling facilities.

Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat and the Jordanian city of Aqaba in the background

Ramon is about 18 kilometres (11 miles) from the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat and the adjacent Jordanian port of Aqaba.

Jordan, one of only two Arab countries with a peace treaty with Israel, criticised the new airport, saying it would threaten the kingdom's airspace.

"Jordan rejects the establishment of the Israeli airport in its current location," head of Jordan's Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission Haitham Misto said, according to state media.

Misto said the airport violated "international standards regarding respect for the sovereignty of airspace and territory of other countries".

- Anti-missile fence -

Low-cost and charter airlines currently flying to Ovda airport, about 60 kilometres from Eilat, will move to Ramon, the airport's website says.

They include Ryanair, Wizz Air, EasyJet, SAS, Finnair and Ural Airlines.

It will also replace Eilat's small municipal airfield, where for decades arriving aircraft have swooped past hotel towers.

Construction costs for the new airport have been put at 1.7 billion shekels ($455 million, 395 million euros).

Work began in 2013 but original specifications for the project were revised to allow for upgrades.

The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) has said that the plans for the Ramon project were revised in light of lessons learned during the 2014 Gaza war.

"In an emergency, not only will Israel's entire passenger air fleet be able to land and park there, but also additional aircraft," the IAA says.

After a rocket fired by Hamas militants in Gaza hit near the perimeter of Ben Gurion airport in 2014, international carriers suspended flights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the inauguration ceremony of Israel's new international airport on January 21, 2019

Israeli media have said that a 26-metre (85 foot) high, 4.5-kilometre (2.8 mile) long "smart" anti-missile fence has been installed to help protect Ramon, which is adjacent to the border with Jordan.

The IAA refused to comment on those reports.

Tourism brings in significant revenue for Israel, accounting for $5.8 billion in 2017, and a similar figure was forecast for 2018, according to the tourism ministry.

In 2018, a record 4.12 million tourists visited Israel, the ministry said.

The United States, Russia, France, Germany and Britain accounted for most of the visitors.
Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, arrives at Sanaa international airport on November 21, 2018

The UN envoy for Yemen landed in rebel-held Sanaa Monday for talks aimed at shoring up a truce between rebels and a government alliance in the port city of Hodeida.

Diplomat Martin Griffiths landed in the capital at around 10:30 am local time (1330 GMT), an official at Sanaa airport told AFP on condition of anonymity.

A UN source confirmed the news, saying Griffiths was in Yemen to "work on the rapid implementation of the Hodeida agreement".

Griffiths hosted hard-won peace talks between Yemen's government, allied with a powerful Saudi-led regional military coalition, and Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Sweden last month.

Monday's visit marks Griffiths' second trip to Yemen this month.

Yemen's government coalition and rebels agreed to a ceasefire in Hodeida, the Red Sea city seized by the Huthis in 2014 and home to impoverished Yemen's most valuable port.

The Hodeida agreement stipulates the withdrawal and redeployment of rival forces from the city, two clauses that have yet to be fulfilled.

Griffiths was working to convene a "face-to-face" meeting in Hodeida of the committee tasked with overseeing the deal, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The UN envoy is expected to travel to Riyadh in the coming days.

Rebel-held Hodeida was for months the main front line in the Yemen war after government forces supported by Saudi Arabia and its allies launched an offensive to capture it in June.

But a precarious calm has largely held in the city since a ceasefire agreement came into force on December 18.

The UN said a team tasked with monitoring the truce, led by chief monitor Patrick Cammaert, came under fire in Hodeida on Friday but was unharmed.

The UN did not identify who was behind the shooting.

Separately on Monday, two armed men believed to be members of Al-Qaeda were killed in a drone strike while driving a car in the central province of Maarib, according to a local security official who said the aircraft was American.

That strike came hours after a civilian was killed in a similar attack in Al-Baida province to the south.

A different local security official said the man was the father of an Al-Qaeda member and had been driving his son's car alone.

The Yemen conflict has killed some 10,000 people since a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in support of the beleaguered government in March 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

Human rights groups say the real death toll could be five times as high.

The war has pushed 14 million Yemenis to the brink of famine in what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
As murdered exchange student Aiia Maasarwe makes her final journey to Israel, thousands are expected to gather to welcome her home.

Relatives boarded a flight out of Melbourne on Tuesday and say they left Australia with more than just bad memories.

A companion of her father Saeed Maasarwe told reporters that a selection of items left in tribute to Aiia will be taken to the family's home at Baka al-Gharbiyye, an hour north of Tel Aviv, with plans to use them as part of a shrine.

He told reporters up to 20,000 people were expected to gather in her home town upon her arrival.

The body of Ms Maasarwe, a Palestinian Arab of Israeli citizenship, will be buried in line with her Muslim faith after a funeral in Israel on Wednesday.

Mr Maasarwe visited the spot at the northern suburb of Bundoora where his daughter was found last Wednesday morning.

The night before Ms Maasarwe had alighted a tram and was walking home after visiting a city comedy club.

Codey Herrmann, 20, has been charged with Ms Maasarwe's rape and murder.

As she made her final journey, a small vigil was held on Tuesday night near where Ms Maasarwe was murdered, with plans to plant a memorial tree and unveil a plaque at the site.
(ANSA) - Rome, January 23 - Humanoid robots are set to make their debut in Italian hospitals, medical sources said on Wednesday.

A two-to-three-year pilot scheme is set to start at the hospital in san Giovanni Rotondo near Foggia, which was originally built thanks to St Padre Pio.

It will then be extended to other Italian hospitals, as well as French ones, the sources said.

One robot, Pepper, will control wards, alerting doctors to emergencies.

Another, R1, will 'dialogue' with patients to gauge their emotions and make the first diagnoses.

"We decided to trial both robots because they have different characteristics: R1 is a research robot, while Pepper is already a commercial robot," said Francesco Puja from Konica Minolta's Rome lab. R1 was created thanks to collaboration between the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) with Japan's Konica Minolta, which is specialised in artificial intelligence.

Pepper is produced by another Japanese company, Softbank.


Labor leader Bill Shorten has accused Scott Morrison of getting his historical facts wrong, saying he won't engage with the prime minister's "bizarre Captain Cook fetish".

Mr Morrison has announced $6.7 million in funding for a replica of Captain Cook's famous ship the Endeavour to circumnavigate Australia over 14 months, stopping at 39 locations along the coast.

Mr Shorten said none of the tens of thousands of Queenslanders he had spoken had asked for a replica boat to cruise around Australia.

"I'm not going to get caught in some sort of bizarre Captain Cook fetish which Mr Morrison wants me to engage in," Mr Shorten told reporters in Rockhampton.

Mr Morrison initially described the Endeavour's circumnavigation as a "re-enactment" of the voyage of Captain Cook.

However, while Captain Cook charted the east coast, he did not circumnavigate Australia.

Matthew Flinders was the first to sail around the country between 1801 and 1803.

Mr Morrison later sought to clarify his remarks, explaining the trip would be a re-enactment and a circumnavigation.

"It's important the lessons and the stories that came out of that experience along the east coast of Australia is shared with the rest of the country," he told reporters in Cooktown.

Captain Cook circumnavigated New Zealand, but not Australia.

"Mr Morrison has come to Queensland to get his historical facts wrong," Mr Shorten said.

The opposition leader said the prime minister had prioritised a boat trip around Australia over health funding.

"I'm not obsessed about our history. I'm obsessed about our future," Mr Shorten said.

Mr Morrison has promised to spend more than $12 million on projects marking the 250th anniversary of the British explorer's first voyage to Australia.

"The thing about Cook is I think we need to rediscover him a bit because he gets a bit of a bad show from some of those who like to sort of talk down our history," he said.

"This guy was an enlightened man for his generation and his time."

The Endeavour replica will sail from Sydney in March 2020, heading south to Hobart before turning north and sailing around the country's coastline.
A national review of road safety governance will look at how to drive the road toll to zero by 2050, as the federal government hits back at claims of inaction on road deaths.

Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack will reveal the review's terms of reference in regional NSW on Wednesday.

Mr McCormack said the review would assess what changes are needed to improve Australia's road safety governance structure.

That will including mapping specific roles, responsibilities and accountabilities held across agencies and jurisdictions.

The review will also consider the steps required for governments and stakeholders to achieved the goal of reducing road fatalities to zero by 2050.

Mr McCormack said the process would be the first step forward in advancing the 12 recommendations made by last year's inquiry into National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020.

"Co-ordination across state, territory and local governments will be the cornerstone of improving the governance arrangements around road safety," the Nationals said.

The Australian Automobile Association has criticised the government for not acting quicker in responding to the inquiry, released in September.

Chief executive Michael Bradley last week said Australia's National Road Safety Strategy continued as an unmitigated disaster and was not on track to meet its objective of a 30 per cent reduction by 2020.

He said the government was right to commission an independent report into the strategy's failings, but wrong to stall responding to and implementing the recommendations.

A report from the governance review is due to be tabled at a meeting of the Transport and Infrastructure Council during the first half of 2019.

Last week, Mr McCormack warned against complacency after figures showed Australia's road toll was at its lowest level since August 2014.
Detectives have charged a man over the murder of Wayne John Thackrah in Queensland's Hervey Bay.

The 58-year-old man was allegedly assaulted near the carport of a unit complex in Pialba in the early hours of January 6.

Police were called and Mr Thackrah was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital but he died on January 14.

A 63-year-old man was arrested in Maryborough on Tuesday and charged with murder, Queensland Police say.

He is expected to appear before Hervey Bay Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Australia's batting jigsaw puzzle for Thursday's first Test against Sri Lanka is no closer to being solved, with five players still fighting it out for three spots in the side.

Players have an evening session under lights for the day-night Test, with Marnus Labuschagne, Joe Burns, Matt Renshaw and potential debutants Kurtis Patterson and Will Pucovski unsure if they will be picked.

"There is some good competition around and that is always good to have in a team when it is competitive for spot because it means that you have to keep performing to stay in the team," Labuschagne said.
Queensland's Rockhampton Ring Road is set for an $800 million federal funding boost regardless of which party wins the next election.

Federal Labor has pledged $800 million to build the road, matching Prime Minister Scott Morrison's commitment in November.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's government will tip $200 million into the project, meeting a condition of the coalition's promise.

Mr Shorten said Labor's plan would result in 780 direct jobs for locals and give the central Queensland city an economic boost through easing congestion.

"We want jobs, jobs, jobs for Queenslanders. We want secure, good jobs for local businesses, small businesses in Rockhampton," the Labor leader told reporters on Tuesday.

Ms Palaszczuk said work was expected to start in 2020/21.

"This will be what the Rockhampton residents have been asking for," she said.

Labor has attacked the coalition over road spending in Queensland, seizing on figures released to the Senate's transport committee which showed $2.8 billion would be invested in the Bruce Highway between 2018/19 and 2020/21.

The 2017 budget pledged to spend $3.5 billion - a difference of 20 per cent.
Homicide detectives are still in the dark as to how Nicole Cartwright died, some four months after her beaten and bound body was found in a Sydney park.

The 32-year-old's body was discovered at Buffalo Creek Reserve in Hunters Hill in early October sparking a police investigation into her possible murder.

Police said she was bound and suffered injuries "consistent with assault".

After an inconclusive autopsy, investigators ordered additional forensic tests in late 2018, which also failed to reveal a clear cause of death, a police spokeswoman told AAP on Tuesday.

They are now conducting further detailed tests in a bid to determine exactly how Ms Cartwright died.

She was last seen alive at Museum train station at 9.30pm on September 30. Three days later her body was found in the park dressed in the same clothes.

A small candlelight vigil was held at Buffalo Creek Reserve in the days after Ms Cartwright's body was found.

She was described by her family as "kind and sweet but also bold and fun" with an infectious smile.

Homicide squad commander Scott Cook told reporters in October 2018 the amount of time taken to determine her cause of death was "troubling" but "not the end of the world".
If globe-trotting wheelchair racer and passionate disability advocate Kurt Fearnley wins Australian of the Year then the award won't be his alone.

The Newcastle local is NSW's nominee for the 2019 Australian of the Year, an honour which he is fully aware carries a significance for many others in the community.

"The amount of people that are writing me at the moment saying that they're on the podium with me or they've just found their little kid has cerebral palsy and they're just so grateful that they'll able to see that progression of integration and inclusion for people with disabilities," Fearnley told AAP.

"I'm surprised by how many people are a part of the thing with me and it just reminds me of the need of speaking about real stuff," he said.

Though his near-two-decade-long sporting career put him on the map, Fearnley has a long history of using that platform to advocate for people with disabilities.

Fearnley, 37, will head to Canberra for the naming of this year's Australian of the Year on Friday.

The Paralympian said he was surprised and a little overwhelmed by his nomination in November, which followed gold and silver medal wins at the Commonwealth Games and the announcement that he was retiring from his 20-year career in sport.

His fellow nominees are "pretty special, impressive, amazing people," he said.

"There will be on the 26th an Australian of the Year who will progress this country in a way that suits their passion and their life and their skill set," Fearnley said.

Regardless of the outcome, Fearnley will return to the GIO Oz Day 10K course in Sydney on January 26, where he got his start in racing at the age of 14.

Despite it being a "strange period of time" for the Paralympian, it's important to think of the bigger picture in play, Fearnley said.

"At the end of the day if you can create one moment that is better, one moment that is more heartfelt or more genuine or one moment of progress in one kid's life then you handle it because you've got to," he said.
A Queensland detective who has saved thousands of children from around the world from sexual predators and horrific abuse is in the running to become Australian of the Year.

Detective Inspector Jon Rouse is a career cop who started investigating crimes against children in 1996.

He's a driving force behind the highly successful Taskforce Argos, but is reluctant to step into the spotlight.

"I am a bit uncomfortable, but I guess it is recognition for the whole unit. I'm just a cog in the wheel," he said.

Despite his modesty, the detective has saved thousands of children from harm, possibly tens of thousands.

He counts busting a South Australian paedophile ring with 45,000 members around the world as a career highlight.

Another is saving a Russian boy adopted by a depraved gay North Queensland couple who shared him with paedophiles around the world.

Back in 1996, before Argos, Insp Rouse was in charge of the child abuse squad dealing predominantly with historic sex crimes.

Then came the internet and in a heartbeat, everything changed.

"That was the year the internet was starting to grow and I was given a team of two people to look at the what was a potentially burgeoning threat and we developed online capabilities," he said.

"It progressed from a team of two to a team of 40 dedicated detectives."

Technology, new apps and the dark web remain an enormous challenge.

He described the lifelong damage done to abuse victims as "horrendous" and said police were determined to stop abuse at as young an age as possible.

"We are stopping abuse at 18 months, or even 12 months of age - these kids have a chance to never remember what happened to them. That's the goal."

While the primary mission of Argos is to protect Queensland children, they work closely with international counterparts under the mantra "any child, anywhere".

Once a victim is identified, anywhere in the world, a search warrant can be executed within 24 hours.
Forget about waiting until late February for the NBL finals because they have already begun, according to star Wildcats import Bryce Cotton.

Just one win separates the top five teams, making for a thrilling finish to the NBL regular season.

Sydney (13-8) sit on top of the table.

But the tightness of the competition means they are still in danger of missing the finals altogether.

Melbourne United (12-8), Perth (13-9), Brisbane (12-9) and Adelaide (12-10) are all scrapping for top-four berths, with sixth-placed Illawarra (10-11) an outside chance.

The finals hopes of New Zealand (8-12) are over barring a late miracle while Cairns (4-17) have been out of the play-offs picture since December.

The Wildcats are aiming to notch a world record 33rd straight finals appearance and their hopes were boosted by Sunday's 84-79 win over Melbourne.

Perth face a tough run home with two matches each against Adelaide and Sydney, as well as one-off fixtures against Melbourne and Illawarra.

Four of those six matches are at home and Cotton said it was crucial for Perth to treat every game as a make-or-break fixture.

"There are six regular-season games left, but it's play-off time," Cotton said.

"Just seeing how close the records are ...every game is going to matter.

"So, as far as I'm concerned the playoffs have started and I'm pretty sure the other teams feel the same.

"You get a sneak peek for what you're competing for and hopefully you'll be a part of it in March."

Melbourne face Illawarra on Wednesday night with Brisbane to host Sydney on Friday.

The Wildcats play Adelaide in Perth on Friday before they take on the Kings in Sydney on Sunday.

Perth had lost eight of their previous 10 matches before their win over defending champions Melbourne.

Cotton said that victory had given the Wildcats vital confidence heading into the defining period of the regular season.
A woman has died and her partner remains under police guard in hospital after a siege at a semi-rural home in Perth that lasted several hours.

Police were called to a property on Douglas Road in Martin on Monday morning to assist a locksmith and Sheriff's Office representative, who was reportedly there to repossess the home.

But the couple, aged in their 60s, allegedly made threats, so the surrounding area was cordoned off for public safety, with the tactical response group, paramedics and firefighters sent to the scene.

The siege ended about five hours later when police fired a non-lethal "beanbag" round at the man and the couple was arrested.

Paramedics rushed the woman to Royal Perth Hospital, where she died later that night.

Police have not confirmed media reports that she suffered cardiac arrest, but say her death is not being treated as suspicious and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

The man could still face charges.
(ANSA) - Berlin, January 23 - The German defence ministry said Wednesday Berlin was still taking part in the EU's Sophia anti migrant trafficking operation, which it continued to support, after reports Tuesday it had backed out due to Italy's hard line.

"Germany is still participating in the mission and we will continue to support it," said a defence ministry spokesperson at a press conference in the German capital.

He said Berlin was asking what the mission's tasks should now be in the run-up to its mandate ending in March.

In the last few months, he said, the mission had no longer carried out "the tasks laid out by the original mandate", that is, combating people traffickers.


Federal Deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie has ruled out a switch to the lower house, fizzling speculation the senator would run for the Victorian seat of Indi.

The Nationals will run a candidate in the north-east Victorian seat but, despite moving her electorate office in the heart of Indi, Senator McKenzie says she wants to see out her term in the Senate until 2022.

"It's a role I cherish and adore, and want to continue in," the senator told the Bendigo Advertiser on Monday.
A Scoot flight from Queensland to Singapore was forced to turn back to Australia after a fight broke out between two passengers when a man became "unruly".

The incident happened an hour and 20 minutes into the eight-hour low-cost airline journey from the Gold Coast on Monday.

"During boarding and take-off the passenger appeared normal," a Scoot spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"After take-off, he began to disturb surrounding passengers. Operating crew quickly moved them to other seats ... Crew were also instructed not to sell alcohol to him."

Soon after this, it's alleged the passenger punched another and a fight broke out.

"The unruly passenger was eventually subdued with two restraining kits with the help of five passengers," Scoot said.

Flight TR7 was diverted to Sydney, where the man was handed over to Australian Federal Police. No charges have been laid so far.

The Scoot passengers were transferred to other flights to Singapore.

The passenger who was assaulted did not need medical attention.
New Zealand has joined Australia in signing up to a deal with Britain aimed at softening the impact of Brexit on trade.

As British Prime Minister Theresa May took time out from the Brexit turmoil on Monday local time to meet with her Kiwi counterpart Jacinda Ardern at 10 Downing Street, officials from their two countries signed a "mutual recognition agreement".

Australia and the United Kingdom signed a similar deal over the weekend, intended to serve as a stopgap to give exporters the assurance regulatory requirements won't change post-Brexit while free trade deals are hammered out.

Britain had only signed one of the 36 similar deals it was working on by last week but International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said he was confident about getting the most significant agreements over the line before the UK separates from the EU in late March.

Mrs May's meeting with Ms Ardern in London ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos came as the British PM sought to break a parliamentary deadlock over the terms of Brexit after her original plan was overwhelmingly voted down last week.
A man has been charged with holding a woman against her will and threatening her at a home near Wollongong, south of Sydney.

Police were called to the Warrawong property on Sunday evening after the woman escaped and called for help. The 25-year-old woman, who said she was also threatened with a gun, suffered minor injuries to her arms in the domestic incident.

A 29-year-old man was arrested at the home on Monday morning and is facing a number of charges, including kidnap, breaching an AVO and possessing a prohibited weapon. He was refused bail to appear at Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday.
Up to 50 blazes driven by soaring temperatures and windy conditions are expected to break containment lines across Tasmania by the end of the week.

An emergency warning has been issued for the central Miena township where the fire rages out of containment lines.

Residents were warned falling embers could threaten homes before the main fire, and smoke and ash will make it hard to see and breathe.

Between 20 and 40 people have been moved to evacuation centres set up at Bothwell Town Hall and Miena Community Hall for those in the Miena area.

An earlier emergency warning for Tahune, southwest of Hobart, has been downgraded to a watch and act.

A major fire is still burning near Gell River, northwest of Hobart, scorching more than 20,000 hectares of wilderness since it started on December 28 with another blaze near Lake Fergus in the state's centre.

The latest warning comes as a run of hot and dry days sets the stage for a week of damning fire weather conditions in Tasmania.

TFS Chief Officer Chris Arnol says the situation was "quite dynamic".

"The end of the week is not looking good for us."

There are plans for a total fire ban across the entire state on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Specialist fire personnel from interstate and New Zealand are helping tackle the scores of blazes.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts warm conditions across Tasmania this week, with rain bringing a hint of relief in the south on Wednesday, before temperatures soar again.
Ferne McCann was spoken to by police for hurling a boozy beverage in Adam Collard's face at the NTAs hosted at London's O2 on Tuesday.

The Love Island hunk, 23, branded the TOWIE beauty, 28, a pathetic little s**g after he reportedly overheard her bad mouthing his girlfriend Zara McDermott, 21.

Their war of words escalated when Ferne tossed her drink and later her plastic cup in Adam's face at the climax of the explosive showdown.

Fight: Ferne McCann was spoken to by police for throwing a drink at Adam Collard after Love Island star branded her a 'pathetic little sl*g' in nasty spat at the NTAs

An eyewitness at the event shared with MailOnline that Ferne was not being 'investigated' by police as they added: 'However, she did throw a drink because Adam didn't just call her a "sl*g", he went on a full tirade.

'Ferne was desperately upset by it.

'All the reality stars were watching. There were three people from Love Island, two ex TOWIE personalities and two Made In Chelsea stars on the scene.'

It's war: The Love Island hunk, 23, branded the TOWIE beauty, 28, a pathetic little s**g after he reportedly overheard her bad mouthing his girlfriend Zara McDermott, 21

Zara and Ferne's bad blood stems back to last year; Zara had publicly slammed Ferne for slipping into Charlie Brake's DMs while he was dating her friend Ellie Brown.

While Ferne has coyly discussed her passing flirtation with the millionaire, she has vehemently denied getting in touch with the hunk while he was romancing Ellie.

Their catty spat grabbed the attention of headlines late last year and now it has resurfaced as the pair suffered an awkward run-in at the bash.

Defence: Their war of words escalated when Ferne was said to have tossed her drink and later her plastic cup in Adam's face at the climax of the explosive showdown

Another source told MailOnline: Theres a bit of history with Zara because Zara previously stuck up for her BFF Ellie when she was feuding with Ferne McCann over her now-ex boyfriend Charlie.

It stems back to that. Ferne has given Zara a bit of mouth at the NTAs. Adam doesnt deny he called her a "pathetic little sl*g".

'He was sticking up for his girlfriend, they had a heated exchange.'

It is claimed Adam does regret what was said, although the personal trainer wasn't expecting to have a drink thrown in his face for his scathing comments.

An insider told The Sun: 'It all kicked off massively outside the official after party.

'There has been bad blood between the girls because Ferne got together with Charlie Brake just weeks after splitting with Zaras mate Ellie Brown.

Risking a run-in: The reality beauties have bad blood because Zara publicly slammed Ferne for slipping into Charlie Brake's DMs while he was still with BFF Ellie Brown (pictured)

'But things really escalated last night when Adam heard Ferne slagging off Zara. He said some things he regrets but did not expect under any circumstances to have a drink thrown in his face then have it smashed against him.'

MET police said in a statement: 'An allegation of common assault was made to police by a man, aged in his 20s, following an incident with a woman, also aged in her 20s, at the O2 Arena on Tuesday, 22 January.

'No one was injured during the incident. There has been no arrest. Enquiries continue.'

MailOnline has reached out to Ferne McCann and Adam Collard's respective representatives for comment.

Cheeky: While Ferne has coyly discussed her passing flirtation with the millionaire, she has vehemently denied getting in touch with Charlie while he was romancing Ellie

Ferne previously declared war on Zara as the mum-of-one hit out at claims she was making a move on Charlie while he was still Ellie's man.

She told OK! magazine: 'I was really taken aback by that because I would never message someone elses boyfriend, that is not my style. I dont know where she got it from, all I can think is that shes referring to the picture he sent us together back in 2015, but that was completely harmless and not flirtatious at all.

'It was a really careless thing of Zara to say. Im too busy being a good mum to message someone whos in a relationship.

'We certainly arent in a relationship, which is what was reported. We went on a night out with some mutual friends and it was really fun. There was definitely some flirting going on but I dont know whats going to happen in the future, or if well go on a date.'

Zara previously told The Sun: 'I think that there may have been some DM sliding before when Ellie and Charlie were still together, she knew from like, months ago.'
Tori Spelling is coming under fire as angry customers are labelling her daughter's slime business a 'scam'.

Tori's daughter Stella, 10, launched Stylish Slimes by Stella about a year ago, but now the company is facing backlash from customers who haven't received their orders.

Angry shoppers have left comments on both Tori 's Instagram account as well as the slime company's account, claiming they have been waiting for months for their product to be delivered.

Hot water: Tori Spelling, 45, is being slammed by customer's of her daughter's slime company who claim they have been waiting months for their orders

One upset mother wrote her daughter saved up $20 all by herself to order Stella's slime and slammed the Beverly Hills 90210 star for continuing the company amid complaints.

'I'm hearing that people have been waiting 3-4 months?!?! WTF?! @torispelling why would you let her continue this business if shes that far in over her head? Why not shut it down, apologize & let her catch up? We would all understand if there was at least a little acknowledgement. Again, were both so disappointed.'

One angry shopper wrote: 'Send me my slime it has been 4 months this is absurd. You are running a scam.'

Another fan said that she placed an order on October 31 and she's still waiting for it and accused Tori of ignoring the problem.

Tori's daughter Stella, 10, launched Stylish Slimes by Stella about a year ago, but now the company is facing backlash from customers who haven't received their orders

'Frustrated': Angry shoppers have left comments on both Tori 's Instagram account as well as the slime company's account

Business: Stella was showcasing her slimes at the Slime Con 2 convention over the weekend which also angered customers

'Im tired of emailing her. Im tired of sending DMs (sic) and its not right if shes a kid or not to take peoples (sic) money.' another frustrated customer commented.

Stella was pictured over the weekend at the Slime Con convention showcasing her pots of colorful goo which angered her customers even more.

'It's doubly frustrating to see that you obviously have time to make slime for SlimeCon2 yet don't have the time time to fulfill your orders?'

Stella's business came about amid continuing financial woes for Tori and husband Dean McDermott.

Back in November Tori was ordered to pay a credit card debt that was originally owed to Citibank.

'Company is a fraud': Dozens of people are claiming that they have been waiting 3 or 4 months for their order and labeled the company a scam

Stella, 10, is Tori's oldest daughter. She is pictured in a snap posted to the Stylish Slimes By Stella Instagram page in March when it launched

According to documents obtained by The Blast, Calvary SPV, a company that buys debt, obtained a default judgement against Torie. She owes the company $5,043.32.

As The Blast first reported, the Franchise Tax Board in California claimed Tori still owed them $338,595.78 in unpaid taxes from 2014-2015.

Plus, she and husband Dean McDermott were slapped with a $220,000 default judgement in November 2017, in a battle with City national Bank over an unpaid $400,000 loan.

The pair also reportedly owed almost $1million in taxes in 2017, and sources told Radar Online that the IRS drained their bank accounts to pay off the debt.

In January 2016, Tori was sued by American Express for failure to pay a $37,981.97 balance that had been piling up, including interest and fees, since the previous summer.

The two now have five children: Liam, 11, Stella, 10, Hattie, six, Finn, five, and Beau, one.
Ajay Rochester made headlines on Wednesday when an interview from 2015 resurfaced in which she brazenly declared that 'every girl' enjoys anal sex.

And on Thursday, KIIS FM host Jackie 'O' Henderson disputed Ajay's shocking claim, but refused to confirm if she's ever done it herself.

Speaking on the Kyle & Jackie O Show, the 43-year-old single mother said she believes a lot of women aren't actually 'fans' of anal sex - but kept quiet about her own sexual proclivities.

Do 'all women' really enjoy it, Ajay? Jackie 'O' Henderson (left) has disputed Ajay Rochester's (right) shocking claim that that 'every girl' enjoys anal sex

'I'd say that she's wrong about that!' Jackie said, after her co-host Kyle Sandilands asked for her opinion on Ajay's bold claim.

'I know a lot of girls who are not fans of that and have never done it,' she added.

When Kyle pressed for her to confirm if she's ever had anal sex herself, Jackie awkwardly began to answer before trailing off.

Awkward! When Kyle Sandilands (pictured) asked his co-host to confirm if she's ever had anal sex herself, Jackie awkwardly began to answer before trailing off

'Well yeah, it doesn't really... I don't, er...' Jackie said, sounding a little uncomfortable.

'You've done it? But you're not a fan of it?' Kyle asked again, but his colleague refused to provide a definite answer.

Jackie then diverted attention away from herself by asking the show's executive producer, Sonia 'Palestine' Jahshan, for her thoughts on the topic.

Later, the KIIS FM office came to the consensus that Ajay's statement that 'all women' enjoy anal sex is probably incorrect.

Shocking: It comes after Daily Mail Australia discovered a forgotten interview from 2015 in which Ajay, 49, discussed her sex life with surprising candour

It comes after Daily Mail Australia discovered a forgotten interview from 2015 in which Ajay, 49, discussed her sex life with surprising candour.

'Every girl likes [anal sex]! They just won't tell you,' she told British actor Andy Newton-Lee during a podcast chat.

'It not like I make a habit of it, but I do know that there's that thing up there,' she explained with a wry smile.
They've been the subject of engagement rumours for years, but it looks like Bindi Irwin and boyfriend Chandler Powell won't be walking down the aisle anytime soon.

Chandler's grandparents John and Patricia Dicenzo say the 22-year-old former U.S. wakeboarding champion is in 'no rush' to get married.

Sources close to the Irwin family fear this revelation may leave Bindi, 20, 'heartbroken' as she was apparently hoping her boyfriend-of-five-years was planning to propose.

Oh, no! They've been the subject of engagement rumours for years, but it looks like Bindi Irwin and boyfriend Chandler Powell won't be walking down the aisle anytime soon. Pictured in Orlando, Florida on March 4, 2018

Speaking from their hometown of Orange City in Florida, Patricia, 73, told Daily Mail Australia: 'His brother got married [last year] and Chandler's not in any rush to get married.'

John, 75, added: 'You'll probably know as soon as we do if they're engaged.'

An insider with knowledge of the situation later admitted 'those words might cut Bindi a bit'.

They said: 'She knows Chandler is "The One", and he feels the same way, so shes been waiting on tenterhooks for a diamond ring.

'Her Australian friends kind of thought it would be any day now, especially going by the way Bindi talks about it.'

No rush! Chandler's grandparents John and Patricia Dicenzo say the former U.S. wakeboarding champion, 22, is in 'no rush' to get married. Pictured in Orlando, Florida on November 29, 2018

Bindi and Chandlers romance first began when she gave him a tour of Australia Zoo in November 2013.

It was revealed in January last year that Chandler, who is an American citizen, had relocated to the Irwins' 100-acre property in Queensland.

The animal lover is responsible for various tasks at the zoo, including feeding the freshwater crocodiles and gators.

After the move, Bindi spoke warmly about 'the challenge of our wonderful, busy life', but there has also been speculation the couple may move to America so they can both study at a U.S. college.

No secret engagement? Speaking from their hometown of Orange City in Florida, Patricia, 73, told Daily Mail Australia: 'His brother got married [last year] and Chandler's not in any rush to get married'. John, 75, added: 'You'll probably know as soon as we do if they're engaged'

However John and Patricia denied rumours the lovebirds are leaving Australia.

'They're doing fine. No way are they moving from Australia to America,' Patricia said. 'They are happy, things are going well.'

When Asked if they worried Chandler and Bindi might forget about them living so far away, Patricia insisted: 'They would never forget about us.'

John, who worked in electrical engineering before his retirement, added: 'Chandler and Bindi write to us quite often. They are two sweet people, they don't forget about hardly anyone.'

Love story: Bindi and Chandler's romance first began when she gave him a tour of Australia Zoo in November 2013. It was revealed in January last year that Chandler, who is an American citizen, had relocated to the Irwins' 100-acre property in Queensland. Pictured with Terri Irwin

Bindi - who is the daughter of late Australian conservationist and TV star Steve Irwin - has previously fuelled engagement rumours by describing Chandler as 'The One'.

The Animal Planet star recently shared a photo to Instagram of Chandler carrying her over his shoulder while advertising a 'wife-carrying competition' at Australia Zoo.

Many fans believed she was also hinting at marriage when she wrote on social media last year: 'We're having a great time together on these wonderful adventures and we'll see what happens next.'

The loved-up couple also had marriage on their mind when they attended the wedding of Chandler's brother Cameron in Orlando, Florida in March 2018.

How romantic! Bindi - who is the daughter of late Australian conservationist and TV star Steve Irwin - has previously fuelled engagement rumours by describing Chandler as 'The One'
It was almost a celebrity run-in.

Actor Ben Affleck crossed paths with talk show host James Corden while the stars were both out and about in Los Angeles on Wednesday but neither seemed to notice the other's star power.

The 40-year-old Brit was heading out for a morning walk with his son Max when he nearly ran into the 46-year-old actor.

Star spotting: Ben Affleck (back right) and James Corden were spotted practically brushing elbows while they were both out in Los Angeles on Wednesday

Dressed in a bold patterned Gucci sweater with horses on it, The Late Late Show host cut a bold figure.

He paired the busy print with blue jeans, striped slides and a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses.

The Carpool Karaoke creator didn't seem to notice the tall drink of water walking behind him to be none other than the Oscar winner.

Ben, meanwhile, also paid no mind to the comedian and his loud look as he stepped out of his SUV to meet a friend, crossing right behind Corden as he walked.

Styling: Dressed in a bold patterned Gucci sweater with horses on it the Brit cut a bold figure but couldn't capture Affleck's attention

Unaware: The Late Late Show host was seen cruising in the opposite direction as the Oscar winner who chatted with a pal

Ben has been a guest on Corden's CBS late night show in the past.

The former husband of Jennifer Garner was dressed down in grey sweat pants and muted green sneakers.

On top the star layered a zip up over his clay toned T-shirt and a black puffer coat.

Casual: Ben was dressed down in sweats and a puffer coat and met up with a pal

Hometown pride: The star donned a knit cap with a pom-pom on top to support his beloved New England Patriots

Day off: These days the actor spends most of his time either at work, working out or with his children

Rocking a thick beard and a New England Patriots beanie with a pom-pom on top, Affleck carried a to-go coffee cup.

The Boston native was also spotted on Tuesday with cup 'o Joe while he was out for a walk in Los Angeles.

Ben was solo when he was spotted in a debonair double breasted navy blue jacket and a pair of dark blue jeans.

Laying low: Ben has kept things simple in life, mostly spending time with his three children after his most recent stint in rehab

The actor has been keeping a relatively low profile recently after completing his most recent stint in rehab in 2018.

In October Ben finalized his divorce from ex-wife Jen but the pair have remained close co-parents.

On Sunday they were spotted together at church with their three children.
Jennifer Garner was all smiles as she took a phone call on the go on Wednesday.

The 46-year-old actress donned a grey beanie and winter coat as she made an early morning outing with a cup of coffee in hand.

Spotted in her local neighborhood of Brentwood in Los Angeles the Camping star chatted away before heading to her car.

On the go: Jennifer Garner looked cheerful as she stepped out in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on Wednesday chatting on her phone as she clutched a coffee

Her casual outfit consisted of some ankle length jeans with a white sweater and black loafers.

Perhaps she was speaking to her new beau as it's being reported that Jennifer is happier than she's been in years thanks to new boyfriend John Miller, 40.

A source told Life & Style this week that Miller 'is the man of her dreams - stable, intelligent, successful, funny and he treats her like a princess.'

Apparently the star is so into her new man that she is even talking marriage.

Talking to her beau? Jennifer was beaming a she talked while bundled up in a beanie and dark coat

Happier than ever! Jennifer is currently loved up with new boyfriend John Miller as pals say she's

'Shes already given pals the heads-up that she wants to tie the knot,' the source continued.

Jennifer has been dating John, who is the CEO of Cali Group, for around eight months and the romance took the Pearl Harbor star by surprise.

'Shed said she never thought shed find love again,' the insider dished.

In an 2017 interview Jennifer said she wasn't interested in a new relationship.

Coffee run: Ben, 46, was also spotted out in Los Angeles the same day and covered his head with a beanie

'I havent been on a date and I am not interested in dating. People want to set me up and I am just like, "No thank you!"

Jennifer's ex-husband Ben Affleck was also pictured out on Wednesday sporting a sporty beanie as he ran into comedian James Corden.

Jen and Ben share three children together; Violet, 13 Seraphina, 10, and Samuel, six.
Justin Bieber posting an admiring comment on Chris Brown's Instagram page, after the rapper denied an accusation of rape.

After Brown posted a video of himself dancing, captioned 'we working', Bieber wrote: 'No one can touch you ur the GOAT.'

The two are longtime friends. Another of Brown's friends, Nick Cannon, wrote: 'Stay Focused King!' with a picture of praying hands.

Praise: Justin Bieber tells Chris Brown 'no one can touch you' as rapper posts dance video after denying rape accusation

Comments: Nick Cannon also posted a supportive message

The comments come after Brown angrily denied that he raped a model during a drug-fueled party in his five star hotel in Paris.

The 29-year-old has said he plans to sue the model for defamation, after he was released from prison on Tuesday without charge after being held for questioning overnight in Paris following the rape accusations

'For my daughter and my family this is so disrespectful and is against my character and morals,' Brown wrote in an all-caps caption to an Instagram post on Tuesday following his Monday detention in Paris.

'This is false,' he wrote. The image on the post simply read: 'This b***h lyin'.

Brown's pal: Justin Bieber is seen in Beverly Hills on January 16

Prosecutors have said the investigation is ongoing.

The woman at the center of allegations said ordeal occurred at the Mandarin Oriental in the center of the French capital, where suites can cost more than $24,000 per night.

It was in the exclusive hotel that the 24-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says she was attacked by Brown, his bodyguard and a family friend.

In an interview with French Closer magazine, the woman said she met Brown through a friend who arranged the introduction.

At 11.30pm on January 15 she arrived at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, joining a group of other girls, Brown, and his friends who all headed to a nightclub called The Quay.

Longterm friends: Brown with Bieber back in 2015

Music industry: The two are also seen together in 2010

At around 4am the large group went back to Brown's rooms at the Mandarin Oriental.

The woman told Closer they were all asked to hand over their cell phones before entering the room.

She said: 'At one point, I went to the bathroom. Chris Brown followed me and took me by the right arm. He made me enter a sort of dressing room. He closed the door.'

Saying the rape followed, the woman explained: 'It lasted 25 to 30 minutes. It's still too difficult for me to explain in detail what he did, but it was brutal and violent.

'He was threatening and aggressive. I was very afraid. Once it was over, he opened the door. I told him that I wanted to pick up my cell phone and go home.'

She claims she was then raped by both Brown's friend and a bodyguard.

Following the attack in the early hours of January 16, the woman waited two days, until Friday January 18 to go to the police in Paris.

The three men, including Brown, were arrested at the hotel on Monday.

Brown's French lawyer, Raphael Chiche, said Brown vigorously denied the allegations and he is preparing to file the defamation lawsuit on behalf of his client.

'Chris Brown is free. No lawsuits were filed against him. He vigorously challenges the charges against him,' Chiche said.

'A complaint for slanderous denunciation will be filed tomorrow with the public prosecutor of Paris.'
They're known for flaunting their love.

So it comes as no surprise that Mark Consuelos is boasting about his bride Kelly Ripa nearly 23 years after the pair said 'I do.'

The 47-year-old actor revealed a few secrets to keeping their loved-up union in tact, according to US Weekly.

Love: It comes as no surprise that Mark Consuelos is boasting about his bride Kelly Ripa nearly 23 years after the pair said 'I do'; seen in March

'I'm crazy about her,' he told the publication. 'She's an extremely patient and a tolerant woman, and I think that's the true secret to our marriage.'

Mark and Kelly met on the set of popular soap All My Children in 1995 and eloped one year later on May 1 in Las Vegas.

And while they both have challenging schedules, Mark makes sure to find even just a little bit of time for their relationship.

Hubby: The 47-year-old actor revealed a few secrets to keeping their loved-up union in tact, according to US Weekly

Amore! Kelly shared a throwback photo of the couple on their Italian honeymoon in 1996

'Because she has to go to work early, I get up with her, I make her a cup of coffee and we talk,' Consuelos said.

The Riverdale star also revealed that they keep in touch through out the day, whether by text, phone call or email.

'I like to hear from her, she likes to hear from me,' he said. 'We send each other little articles; we're always kind of poking each other from afar.'

'I'm crazy about her,' he told the publication. 'She's an extremely patient and a tolerant woman, and I think that's the true secret to our marriage'; seen on Instagram

He admitted that relationships aren't always easy, but there's always room to improve.

'I'm learning on the job,' he said, adding, there aren't any set rules they live by. 'They're more or less unsaid or unwritten.'

Mark and Kelly have three children; Michael, 21, Lola, 17, and Joaquin, 15.
Azealia Banks begged Conor McGregor to 'help her' after she unleashed another vile social media rant aimed at Irish people, days after she branded them 'f***ing ugly' on Instagram.

The 27-year-old rapper made her initial comments on her Instagram account, after storming off an aircraft scheduled to fly from London's Gatwick Airport to Dublin, following a row with an Aer Lingus air stewardess.

A day later she then branded Irish people 'inbred', 'leprechauns' and asked if they 'had a famine to go die in' in a series of social media comments.

Before the sickening outburst Conor McGregor had watched the rapper's Instagram story and messaged her saying, 'hahaha. See you soon.'

She then replied, pleading with the Irish MMA star to help her. She wrote: 'Conor they are bullying me. Help me :('

Outrage: Azealia Banks has unleashed another vile social media rant aimed at Irish people, just days after she branded them 'f***ing ugly' on Instagram (pictured in Dublin on Tuesday)

Azealia Banks begged Conor McGregor to 'help her' after she unleashed a rant at Irish people

Rant: The 27-year-old rapper made her initial comments on her Instagram account, after storming off an aircraft scheduled to fly from London's Gatwick Airport to Dublin, following a row with an Aer Lingus air stewardess

Referencing the Great Famine of Ireland, from 1845-49, which saw one million Irish people die from starvation and disease, she wrote to one follower: 'Don't you have a famine to go die in?'

Responding to another follower in another offensive comment, she wrote: 'Because most of you can't talk or write lol.

'You lot are a bunch of prideful inbred leprechauns who have ZERO global influence and ZERO white privilege. The rest of the world's white folk don't want to associate with you lot at all and it's because you are barbarians.

Continuing her rant, she wrote: 'I'm happiest knowing the Irish are quarantined on an isle so they can continue to inbreed and keep their defective genes away from humanity.

The controversial rapper begged Irish MMA star Conor McGregor for help

Vile: And a day after offering a proverbial olive branch by dedicating her Dublin show to 'beautiful Irish women' on Tuesday, the musician branded Irish people 'inbred', 'leprechauns' and mocked the potato famine in a series of social media comments

In response to one comment saying: 'I'm still waiting to see a pretty Irish woman' she responded 'LOL'.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Azealia for comment.

The vile rant comes after Azealia Banks dedicated her Dublin show to 'beautiful Irish women' on Tuesday  one day after branding them 'f***ing ugly' during an extraordinary social media rant.

Taking the stage at The Academy  after completing her journey to Ireland by road and ferry  the New Yorker told the crowd: 'I want to dedicate this to all the beautiful Irish women that are here.'

Banks told one woman: 'I would love to see you animals put in cages where you belong'

Irish Fine Gael politician Alan Farrell was left outraged at Banks' comments

Writer Stefanie Preissner, DJ Tess O'Reilly, comedian Sir Stevo Timothy and DJ Louise DaCosta are among those who have slammed Banks on Twitter

The sold-out show appeared to be pleasing to her fans, many of whom shared gushing posts on Instagram about the star and her performance  before having their clips and snaps shared by the American musician herself.

On Wednesday morning, the 212 rapper took to Instagram to play down her teary display during her rant on Monday in which she made the inflammatory comments.

Next to a screenshot of Aer Lingus' statement confirming she had left the flight, Azealia wrote: 'People are so addicted to Azealia Banks trauma porn that they hop on ANY opportunity to try and make it seem like my life is all sad and horrible.

'Im FINE GUYS! I didnt get kicked off the plane. I got off the plane on my own. When I got off the plane they kept chastising me and saying they were gonna call the police (for no reason) and it made me cry.

'My Dublin show at the Academy is part of a series of joints to rebuild my profile in Ireland and the UK. I'm honestly so grateful the show went well!!!!

'Ive been really really missing all my friends across the pond and if I have to drive ten hours to a four hour ferry to preserve my peace of mind and be in the highest spirits to re-connect with my people then A b**ch has to do what she has to do!!!!!!!'

On Monday, an air passenger told how an Aer Lingus air hostess asked Banks Are you going to be trouble? when the star tried to put her bags in the overhead locker.

Branch: Taking the stage at The Academy in Dublin, she extended an olive branch as she told the capacity crowd, 'I want to dedicate this to all the beautiful Irish women that are here'

The passenger told MailOnline: Azealia was sitting in front of me. It was a busy flight and there was not a lot of space.

She was right at the front. A male friend was putting her things in the overhead locker, but Azealia needed to get something from her bag. She was stood in the aisle and preventing other passengers from boarding.

Then she turned to the hostess and said, Are you staring at me? Why are you staring at me? I didnt fill out an Air Lingus form to be stared at.

The hostess was being quite confrontational. She said to her, I need to know if you are going to cause more trouble on this flight?

If someones rude to a stewardess, it is something we have to ask. Its protocol. Azealia said something to her friend about it being a power play. She said, "I am on this flight and I am famous."

Rant: On Monday, Azealia broke down after claiming she had been banned from Aer Lingus flights, following a row with the airline's staff. In the midst of her rant, she made the slur

Boycott: Ahead of her performance, Azealia wrote 'boycott Aer Lingus' next to a snap of herself

'The hostess said, "I dont care if youre famous." Azealia was debating whether to leave. I remember her saying, "I dont want them to spit in my coffee."

The stewardess then said, "Are you going to leave or not?" Azealia replied, "Fine, we are leaving." And she and her entourage got off the plane.

The flight was due to leave Gatwick for Dublin at 10.55am, but was delayed for over an hour while the stars bags were unloaded.

The passenger, who asked not to be named added: To be honest with you I think the airline staff were a bit aggressive and confrontational with her.

They were asking Azealia if she was going to be trouble before we had even taken off, which only escalated the situation. Azealia was at the front of the plane and the stewardess was trying to hurry her along.

She said the attendants were harassing her and I think they were a bit heavy handed.

Views: Amid being branded 'racist' for her comment about Irish women, Azealia shared her view on racism, before cracking a joke about her onstage appearance after the show

She claimed she had been 'banned' from the airline after leaving the flight, saying she had been 'treated like a wild animal' on what she called her 'travel day from hell'.

The airline has confirmed she left the 10.55am flight from Gatwick but declined to comment on her specific allegations.

Banks famously launched a foul-mouthed tirade at a flight attendant calling him a 'f***ing f***ot' when she was unable to get off a Delta plane in 2005.

Taking to social media today, she said a stewardess had accused her of threatening to 'sort you out'.

The musician denied she had used those words, saying she was from New York and would not have used that turn of phrase.

Before it all went wrong: Ahead of her flight, the musician had shared pictures on Instagram as she prepared to board the trip from London Gatwick to the Irish capital

Calm before the storm: Azealia shared pictures of herself walking through duty free before boarding her flight

The passenger who witnessed the row also denied Banks said 'I will sort you out' to an air hostess.

In a series of Instagram stories she said: 'Every time I come to the UK, they always make some s**t with these airline people.

'They are always starting s*** with me. I had my bags deep in the plane and the lady was asking me some questions.

'I was trying to find my passport as I didn't have the answers and she was staring at me. I said. "Don't stare at me".

'She goes to the Captain of the plane and said that I said, "Don't stare at me or I'll sort you out". I'm from NYC, I don't use that slang.'

Concert: Azealia, pictured in Finland in September 2017, is due to perform a sold-out gig at the Academy in Dublin on Tuesday

She continued: 'They crowded round me like I'm some sort of animal saying, "we're going to have a problem".'

'I get off the plane. I've worked too hard in my life to be cornered by some ugly Irish b***h. They are ugly Irish women here.

'Then all these security n***** come over treating me like a wild animal. They tried their hardest to get me to do something or freak out.'

She said: 'B**** you're not going to play me over no f***ing Aer Lingus flight. You're not going to disrespect me and make a f***ing spectacle out of me'.

Azealia then said her manager had managed to book her on a flight with a different airline, so she could still make her gig.

Upset: During her rant, Azealia branded Irish women 'ugly' and made a series of racial slurs

She claimed she was banned from the airline, adding: 'Now they're like, "you can never fly Aer Lingus because you got off the plane". At first, they were trying to get me to stay.

She went on: 'They kept saying, "Call the police, call the police",' before the artist made a racial slur.

An airline spokesperson said: 'Aer Lingus can confirm that two guests scheduled to fly on 10:55am flight from London Gatwick to Dublin (EI233) this morning disembarked themselves prior to departure.

'The guests in question got off the plane safely of their own accord, while all other guests remained on board. As they had luggage in the hold, the flight was delayed while that luggage was sourced.

'The flight departed Gatwick at 12:07 and landed in Dublin at 13:22. Aer Lingus has a strict no-tolerance policy towards disruptive guest behaviour.

Anger: In 2015, Azealia launched a foul mouthed tirade on a flight attendant and tried to physically attack a man after she was unable to get off of a Delta plane in LA (pictured)

'The safety and security of our guests and crew remains our first priority.'

The firm declined to comment on the specific claims the musician made in her Instagram videos.

Azealia has said she plans to lodge a complaint against the airline.

She said: 'I've been touring too long to be singled out by the haggard old white ladies... it's always me on the plane with the long weave and the Louboutins and they're like, "who is that black girl in business class?"'

Later she added to her Instagram story again, saying: 'This is literally the travel day from hell', adding she was 'over it' and would drink the rest of a bottle of Chardonnay.

'I am so over it. This is not what I signed up for when I was a little girl and I wanted to be a superstar,' she said.
Meghan Markle's former TV series Suits has been axed.

The 37-year-old - who is expecting her first child with husband Prince Harry - played lawyer Rachel Zane in Aaron Korsh's hit US legal drama from the first episode in 2011, until her last appearance in 2018, during season 7.

SYFY revealed on Wednesday the show will come to an end after the ninth 10 episodes long instalment, after losing a significant amount of viewers.

Coming to an end: Meghan Markle's former TV series Suits has been axed... a year after her departure to marry Prince Harry - she played Rachel Zane for seven years

A fairytale: Meghan married Prince Harry at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle last May and they are expecting their first child, due in April

Meghan and her co-star Patrick J. Adams, (Mike Ross) both left the show at the end of season seven.

The final episode of that season saw Rachel and Mike finally tie the knot , before leaving for Seattle.

The official line is on why the show is being axed is unclear, but the series has lost viewers since Meghan quit the show.

According to FOX News, the return of season 8, (which excluded Meghan and Patrick), averaged with 1.2 million viewers, 100,000 less than its seventh season.

Ratings have been consistently dipping since the start, even with Meghan in the show. Season one began with an average of 4.6 million viewers in 2011.

Co-stars: Patrick J. Adams, who played Mike Ross and Meghan posing for a promotional shot for the series back in 2011 - he attended her wedding last year

Cast of characters: The smart series about a group of corporate lawyers premiered in 2011 and currently stars Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Wendell Pierce, Sarah Rafferty, Katherine Heigl, and Amanda Schull

Chris McCumber, president of USA Network and SYFY, said: 'Suits has played an instrumental role in our network's DNA for nearly a decade.

'I and everyone at USA Network sincerely thank Aaron Korsh, our partners at UCP and the entire Suits family for their tremendous creativity, devotion and support over a truly amazing run.'

Despite Meghan leaving the show ahead of her engagement to the Duke of Sussex, 34, most of the Suits cast, including Gabriel Macht, Sarah Rafferty, Rick Hoffman and her on-screen love interest Patrick J. Adams attended the couple's wedding at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in May.

Previous job: Meghan loved playing her stylish lawyer alter-ego, and felt like 'a kid in a candy store' when it came to picking out her outfits

Meghan will no doubt be saddened by the news that the show is coming to an end, as she loved playing her stylish lawyer alter-ego, and felt like 'a kid in a candy store' when it came to picking out her outfits.

Celebrity costume designer Jolie Andreatta explained previously: 'Meghan and I loved Rachel's clothes. We'd always say that, if we could, we would live in Rachel's clothes. Designing Rachel's look was like being a kid in a candy store.'

When she stepped down from acting to join the Royal Family, Meghan insisted that rather than dwelling on the end of her career, she would commit herself to making a change in the world with her humanitarian work.

All star line-up: (L-R) Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman, Meghan Markle, Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. AdamsSuits - pictured together in 2011

Happy news: Prince Harry and Meghan are now expecting their first child together, (pictured on January 16 at the Cirque Du Soleil: Totem launch night at the Royal Albert Hall

She said: 'I see it as new change, a new chapter. I've been working on my show [for] seven years, we were so fortunate to have that longevity, and I feel like I checked that box and am very proud of the work I've done there.'

Aaron Korsh previously said he took a gamble that Meghan's romance with Prince Harry was going to work out and decided to write her out of the show.

He told the BBC in November 2017: 'I knew from a year ago that this relationship was burgeoning.

'And I had a decision to make because I didn't want to intrude and ask her, "hey what's going on and what are you going to do?".

'So collectively with the writers, we decided to take a gamble that these two people were in love and it was going to work out.'

So the writers decided to find a way to write her out.

Meghan has previously spoken about how hard it was to break into the TV industry.

She said: 'Before Suits, I did a pilot every single year. I even did a pilot for ABC with Patrick J. Adams, who plays Mike Ross on the show.

'TV has always seen us in the same way. He's the rough-around-the-edges guy, I'm the polished girl, and there's that, "Will they ever be together?" tension.

'It's crazy to finally have a pilot that has more than the longevity of one seasonthis is like my cup runneth over.'

She also once told Dave that she's very much like her character, Rachel.

Newest recruit: Katherine Heigl joined the Suits cast in 2018

Meghan previously said: 'I'm a huge foody - Rachel becomes a foody, there's an overlap.

'But I like to think I'm way more relaxed than Rachel, who is an uptight, polished Upper East Side Manhattan girl. I'm from LA, I like to be in jean shorts and flip flops.

'And I don't think you can be an actor without being ambitious, so I guess I'm like Rachel in that way.'

Prince Harry and Meghan are expecting their first child together, due in April.

Though the show will be be ending this coming season, it won't be the last fans have seen of the Suits universe.

Gina's character Jessica Pearson will be the focus of the upcoming Suits spin-off, Pearson, which follows her new life in Chicago.

The show is set to premiere this year.

She's back: Gina's character Jessica Pearson will be the focus of the upcoming Suits spin-off, Pearson, which follows her new life in Chicago

Series creator Aaron Korsh thanked all those involved for giving him a chance to share his story.

'Though I know it isnt true, it seems like only yesterday USA Network took a chance on an unestablished writer's very first hour long script. These days thats a common thing, but forty seven years ago when I first wrote the Untitled Korsh Project, nobody did it. Nobody except the people at USA and UCP,' he said.

From the Suits team to his family, Aaron had glowing praise for everyone who held make the show a success.

'Last but never least, to the fans who have stuck with the SUITS family through thick and thin, through can-openers and flashbacks  thank you for always speaking your mind. Without you, I might start to think Im getting the hang of this writing thing.'

Suited and booted: Long-time star Gabriel Macht in character as Harvey Specter
Caitlyn Jenner and partner Sophia Hutchins just enjoyed a trip to Jakarta, Indonesia.

The inseparable pair were spotted arriving back to LAX airport in Los Angeles on Wednesday after their week-long trip.

Sophia, 22, walked a little ahead of the former Olympic athlete as they exited the terminal to head back to their home in Malibu.

Home turf: Caitlyn Jenner is pictured arriving into LAX in Los Angeles on Wednesday after flying in from Indonesia

Caitlyn, 69, wore a v-neck red sweater with blue skinny jeans and white sneakers.

She shaded her eyes with some oversize sunglasses with metallic trim, leaving her hazelnut locks loose around her shoulders.

Sophia opted for a comfortable athleisure look with cropped leggings and a flowing colorblock T-shirt.

She layered on a green suede coat and despite the long haul flight, wore her hair up in an immaculate updo.

Casual: The 69-year-old reality star wore a bright red v-neck sweater with skinny blue jeans

Getaway: Caitlyn's partner Sophia Hutchins opted for cropped leggings and a flowing colorblock t-shirt with green suede coat

The duo didn't share much from the trip but posted pictures of the stunning view from the balcony of their accommodations.

'Good morning! Can any of you guess where I am?' Caitlyn captioned one of the snaps Monday.

Back in October Sophia dished on her relationship with the former Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, revealing that they simply share a life together.

'I wouldnt describe it as a romantic relationship,' she explained on Hidden Truth with Jim Breslo.

'I would describe our relationship as were partners, were business partners.' she added.

Sophia works as the executive director of the Caitlyn Jenner Foundation.

'The only way to get through Jakarta': The duo got VIP treatment as they were helped through traffic in Jakarta

'We have so much in common; we see the world so similarly and we both are such a good match for each because we challenge each other,' she added.

'She challenges me in so many ways, has allowed me to grow in so many ways and I hope I challenge her to grow and I think because we share so many of the same passions and views, its just a great match, a great partnership.'

While the duo do live together, Sophia insists that they don't need a label.

'I dont think we need to talk about, "Is it romantic or not?"' she said. 'Were partners in everything we do, were inseparable, were business partners, we live together, we share a dog, we share family, we share a life together.'

Stunning view: Sophia shared this snap of herself standing on a large balcony at the accommodations the pair were enjoying
He has won critical acclaim for his part in comedy drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?

And Richard E Grant has revealed the news of his first Oscar nomination in his three-decade career brought him to tears in a candid interview on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday.

The actor, 61, said it was a 'surreal' moment when he learned he had been recognised in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance as Jack Hock in the forgery drama.

Scroll down for list of nominees...

Emotional: Richard E Grant has revealed the news of his first Oscar nomination in his three-decade career brought him to tears in a candid interview on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday

Widespread acclaim: The actor, 61, said it was a 'surreal' moment when he learned he had been recognised in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance as Jack Hock in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

The Swaziland born star said: 'It feels completely surreal; I was sitting with my daughter in a restaurant in Notting Hill Gate just round the corner from where this happened.

'It was where I lived in this bedsit in 1982 when I first came to England and it was when I got the news, she was watching this live feed on her phone and we had earpieces in, we both just burst into tears and people around us thought we had some terrible news. '

The Withnail and I actor took to his Twitter account to express his joy after receiving the happy news on Tuesday, and shared a video shot in front of the first bedsit he ever lived at in London.

He said: 'I'm absolutely overwhelmed, 36 years ago I rented this bedsit here which was one room in Notting Hill Gate which was 30 pounds a week, about 50 dollars, and I cannot believe that 36 years later I'm standing here as nearly a 62-year-old man having an Oscar nomination. '

Tears; The Swaziland born star said: 'It feels completely surreal; I was sitting with my daughter in a restaurant in Notting Hill Gate just round the corner from where this happened'

The Jack and Sarah star went on to thank the Academy, as well as co-star Melissa McCarthy and the film's director Marielle Heller.

Richard will go up against Adam Driver for Blackkklansmen, Mahershala Ali for Green Book, Sam Elliott for A Star Is Born and Sam Rockwell for Vice.

His co-star Melissa has been nominated in the Best Actress category while the film has also been given a nod in the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

Also on the red carpet, Richard discussed the close bond he forged with Melissa as he revealed the pair got on 'extraordinary well' on the movie set.

He told MailOnline: 'Its astonishing because we made this film in January last year for 28 days over 6 weeks and for such an intimate story, Melissa and I got along so extraordinarily well.

Acclaimed: The Withnail and I actor took to his Twitter account to express his joy after receiving the happy news on Tuesday, and shared a video shot in front of the first bedsit he ever lived at in London

'It was a true story as well. It was shot in the Julius bar, the oldest gay bar in Manhattan and in the bookshops where they did all these literary scams - you were authentically walking where these people live.

'Youre honouring them in some proper way. It was an amazing experience I loved it.'

Can You Ever Forgive Me? sees Melissa step into the stilettos of celebrity biographer Lee Israel who makes her living profiling A-listers in the dramatic thriller film.

The writer chronicles the lives of stars including Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen.

Yet in a shocking twist, Lee turns her art form into deception when she falls on hard times and her work is no longer able to get published.
She's currently in Big Sur with Khloe Kardashian and ex partner Scott Disick.

And on Wednesday, Kourtney Kardashian shared a stunning clip of the scenic spot located between the Carmel Highlands and San Simeon by the central coast of California.

The 39-year-old reality star did not appear in her Instagram stories but shared clips of the beautiful area with the Big Little Lies theme song - Cold Little Heart by Michael Kiwanuka - playing in the background.

Scroll down for video

Wow: Kourtney Kardashian shared a stunning clip of the scenic spot located between the Carmel Highlands and San Simeon by the central coast of California on Wednesday

The HBO hit series Big little Lies is set in Monterey, California, which is near Big Sur.

The mother of three showed the beautiful ocean as well as the rugged mountains and a bridge in the clip.

Kourtney also shared videos to her Instagram stories of sister Khloe posing up a storm in their private jet just hours earlier.

Khloe donned black leggings with a matching furry coat, adding a pink fur Fendi belt bag and dark hued Louis Vuitton combat boots.

Enjoying the day: The 39-year-old reality star did not appear in her Instagram stories but shared clips of the beautiful area with the Big Little Lies theme song - Cold Little Heart by Michael Kiwanuka - playing in the background; pictured last week heading to WWHL

Incredible: The mother of three showed the beautiful ocean as well as the rugged mountains

So pretty: Kourtney also showed off a bridge in her Wednesday Instagram stories

Kourtney also shared videos to her Instagram stories of sister Khloe posing up a storm in their private jet just hours earlier

Khloe was posing in a variety of ways on their private jet, as seen on Kourtney's stories; Scott Disick could be heard commenting in the clip.

The mother of one wore large framed sunglasses with her platinum blonde hair in loose waves around her.

Khloe, who welcomed daughter True Thompson on April 12, 2018, painted her pout a pink hue to round out her look.

Fancy: Khloe was posing in a variety of ways on their private jet, as seen on Kourtney's stories; Scott Disick could be heard commenting in the clip

All dressed up: The mother of one wore large framed sunglasses with her platinum blonde hair in loose waves around her

Khloe posted a snap of her luxury shoes while on their private plane to Big Sur; the Louis Vuitton black boots featured their logo near the laces.

She also posted a scenic shot of the beautiful area on Wednesday morning; the day before she shared snaps of homeware items from various stores.

Both Kourtney and Khloe posted a photo of a window display at a store that said there were 337 days left until Christmas and a sign that read 'Families Belong Together.'

Mood: The mother of one wore large framed sunglasses with her platinum blonde hair in loose waves around her

Lucky: Khloe posted a snap of her luxury shoes while on their private plane to Big Sur; the Louis Vuitton black boots featured their logo near the laces

So beautiful: She also posted a scenic shot of the beautiful area on Wednesday morning

Unique: the day before she shared snaps of homeware items from various stores

Lovely: Another item Khloe showed off was a gold engraved piece with incredible detailing

So neat: The star showcased dolls and shoes she found at another store in the area

Until the holidays: Both Kourtney and Khloe posted a photo of a window display at a store that said there were 337 days left until Christmas and a sign that read 'Families Belong Together'
She has been actively promoting her upcoming dramatic thriller, Serenity.

And on Wednesday, Anne Hathaway continued on her film's campaign trail when she stopped by The Today Show in New York.

The actress, 36, sported two different ensembles for both her arrival and exit.

Promotional trail: On Wednesday, Anne Hathaway, 36, stopped by The Today Show in New York

Anne first stepped out in a bold, pink dress layered underneath a plaid, yellow coat.

The Oscar winner paired her vintage-inspired outfit with a set of brown strap heels and a fan-inspired purse.

For her post-show look, the Princess Diaries star tucked in a white sweater into a long, brown skirt.

She topped off her look with an emerald green coat, large earrings, rings, dark-rimmed glasses and animal print pumps.

Bright: Anne first stepped out in a bold, pink dress layered underneath a plaid, yellow coat

Nod to the past: The Oscar winner paired her vintage-inspired outfit with a set of brown strap heels and a fan-inspired purse

Classy: For her post-show look, the Princess Diaries star tucked in a white sweater into a long, brown skirt

Her new film: The Oscar winner stars in Serenity with Matthew McConaughey. The film is about an abused woman who asks her ex (Matthew) to help kill her husband

Anne's appearance on Today was certainly to promote her new dramatic thriller, Serenity.

The film, which co-stars Matthew McConaughey, tells the story of a fishing boat captain who's ex-wife appears to ask him to murder her new husband.

Serenity hits theaters on Friday.

Work-related visit: Anne's appearance on Today was certainly to promote her new dramatic thriller, Serenity

Backstory: The film, which co-stars Matthew McConaughey, tells the story of a fishing boat captain who's ex-wife appears to ask him to murder her new husband

Anne is a busy mom of a two-year-old.

The star shares son Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman with husband Adam, 37, whom she married in 2012.

The actress has seven film and TV projects in the works, up until at least 2024. These include movies such as The Hustle, The Lifeboat and an untitled Sesame Street project, among others.
Her Burlesque routines are known to send temperatures soaring.

Yet Dita Von Teese swapped her nipple tassels and Champagne coupe for haute couture on Wednesday as she led the glamour at the the Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Spring Summer 2019 showcase during Paris Fashion Week.

The 46-year-old artist showed off her famous curves in a sheer gown with a tight corset middle and billowing sheer skirt which displayed her suspenders underneath - nailing the high-fashion burlesque look.

Hot stuff: Dita Von Teese swapped her nipple tassels and Champagne coupe for haute couture on Wednesday as she led the glamour at the the Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Spring Summer 2019 showcase during Paris Fashion Week

Dita made the most of her hard-worked curves in the sizzling ensemble which comprised of a boned corset and floor-sweeping skirt.

The sheer material helped highlight her saucy lingerie beneath while she went braless on top - leaving nothing to the imagination.

She slicked her raven tresses into a sky-high beehive which added a further vintage feel to the overall look and highlighted her alabaster complexion.

Her porcelain skin looked totally flawless with her trademark make-up wowing the crowd complete with a slick of cat-eye liquid eyeliner and bold lip.

Ahem! The 46-year-old stunner showed off her famous curves in a sheer gown with a tight corset middle and billowing sheer skirt which displayed her suspenders underneath - nailing the high-fashion burlesque look

Last month, Dita returned to her Burlesque roots as she performed an intimate show at central London venue The Box Soho.

The show was part of her The Art of the Teese tour, which took place in city across Europe in October and November.

Speaking about her new tour after the full roster of dates were announced last year, the dancer admitted she was delighted to be returning to the stage.

'Its always a thrill to create new acts, exploring new ideas that capture the spirit of vintage burlesque that we love, but in ways that havent ever been seen before,' she said in an official statement.

Hot stuff: Last month, Dita returned to her Burlesque roots as she performed an intimate show at central London venue The Box Soho

'It was especially enjoyable to infuse elements of Absolut Elyxs fabulous style with the ideas for the new acts. People know me for my cocktail glass acts, so it was fun to create one around the glamorous and whimsical copper imagery that is instantly recognizable with their brand.'

She added: I cant wait for fans to see the new costumes, which are blinding sparkly, thanks to my favorite designers and Swarovski. Im especially fired up to be bringing my show to cities Ive never performed before!'

The Michigan-born beauty wrapped up the tour earlier this week with a show in Prague. She also said she be hitting the road again in 2019.

Woah! The Michigan-born beauty wrapped up the tour earlier this week with a show in Prague. She also said she be hitting the road again in 2019

A vision: She slicked her raven tresses into a sky-high beehive which added a further vintage feel to the overall look and highlighted her alabaster complexion




She caused a stir on Tuesday night after it was claimed she was spotted passionately kissing Strictly dancer AJ Pritchard at the National Television Awards after-party.

But Caroline Flack, 39, appeared to put the encounter with the handsome chap, 24, behind her as she stepped out in North London today.

The Love Island presenter put her best foot forward as she headed back to work to film scenes with fellow TV personality Rylan Clark-Neal, 30.

Having a giggle: Caroline Flack, 39, smiled as she headed to filming the morning after it was claimed she shared a kiss with Strictly's AJ Pritchard, 24, at Tuesday's NTAs after-party

Shocker: Caroline was pictured looking extremely cosy with Strictly star AJ during the NTAs after-party amid claims they locked lips

Keeping things casual, Caroline donned a black and white Givenchy sweater with semi-sheer black leggings.

She teamed her outfit with a black quilted handbag and white and pink trainers.

And the star didn't let the cold weather stop her from rocking a pair of black, Ray-Ban sunglasses.

All smiles: The presenter looked in high spirits as she rocked a black and white Givenchy sweater following the star-studded bash

High spirits: Caroline spent the day filming with Rylan Clark-Neal, for a currently unknown project

She kept her highlighted tresses flowing over her shoulders in loose waves, modelling Hair Rehab London extensions, styled by Christian Vermaak.

Caroline, who recently enjoyed a trip to Thailand following her stint in West End musical Chicago, looked delighted as she threw herself into her work while filming scenes with Rylan.

The Big Brother host wrapped up against the cold in a pink, black and white bomber jacket, blue jeans and black trainers.

Back to work: Caroline was joined by a casually dressed Rylan as they filmed scenes in the capital on Wednesday

Caroline's outing comes just hours after she was pictured looking extremely cosy with Strictly star AJ.

The duo had appeared to be getting extremely close before insiders claimed they were embracing one another later on.

Following her split from fiance Andrew Brady last year, the Love Island host who won Strictly in 2014, has remained relatively guarded over her relationship status, while AJ's love life remains a mystery.

Strutting her stuff: Caroline looked stunning as she headed out while shirking her rumours

Insiders at the bash claim the duo moved around for some privacy before they were spotted in the alleged clinch behind the scenes.

With a 15-year age gap between the pair, it is not the first time Caroline has enjoyed an age gap romance after dating Harry Styles when he was 17 and she 32.

Defending the relationship, she previously said: 'I keep thinking, what have I done wrong? But I havent done anything wrong. Whats hard for me to get my head around is people saying its disgusting. I dont think it is...

Sheepish: AJ was pictured leaving a South London dance studio where he has been holding auditions for his stage show Get On The Floor on Wednesday

Happy: AJ had a huge smile on his face as he ventured out into the cold

'I feel like I shouldnt have to worry about what I do. But its a social thing that people arent accepting of big age gaps. I know its human nature to gossip. But why say its bad? No ones being hurt.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Caroline and AJ for comment.

Speaking on Lorraine, Dan Wooton revealed: 'It wasn't just girls, there was a bit of hanky panky, Caroline and AJ... a little bit of fun.'

She has been soaking up sunshine in solitude in Thailand after her ex Andrew Brady flew out to Australia on a one-way ticket.

Proving she's officially moved on from her former fiance, the Love Island host revealed she's removed her wrist tattoo dedicated to the Apprentice star.

Shocker: The duo appeared to be getting extremely close before insiders claimed they were embracing one another later on

Happy days: Following her split from fiance Andrew Brady last year, the Love Island host, 39, who won Strictly in 2014, has remained relatively guarded over her relationship status, while 24-year-old AJ's love life remains a mystery

He's gone! Proving she's officially moved on from her former fiance, the Love Island host revealed she's removed her wrist tattoo dedicated to the Apprentice star

Shocker: Speaking on Lorraine, Dan Wooton then revealed: 'It wasn't just girls, there was a bit of hanky panky, Caroline and AJ... a little bit of fun'

The presenter displayed her inking-free arm as she played with her hair in the sizzling snap, just months after officially calling it quits from the 28-year-old.

Caroline first debuted her 'AB' tattoo on her wrist in April last year, two months after first embarking on a romance.

Meanwhile, the TV personality shunned a ballgown on the red carpet as she was impossible to miss in a bright orange playsuit which had a minuscule hem to show off her legs.
They surprised viewers when they shared a cheeky snog in the pool during the Love Island Christmas special.

But Eyal Booker has now confirmed he's definitely not dating Kendall Rae Knight, insisting a kiss 'was all it was' when quizzed about the incident at the National Television Awards on Tuesday night.

The self-confessed 'deep and spiritual' reality star put their steamy smooch down to alcohol, brushing it off as just a bit of 'fun'.

Not dating: Eyal Booker (left) has now confirmed he's definitely seeing Kendall Rae Knight (right), insisting a kiss 'was all it was' when quizzed about the incident at the National Television Awards on Tuesday night

Eyal told The Sun Online: 'We had a little kiss at one point, we had seen each other out and got a little closer and I think just there was so much drama on the Love Island reunion, and it was just a little nice Christmas kiss.'

The curly-haired model and yoga enthusiast explained that they were hoping to stay in touch, but nothing really progressed over the festive period.

'We enjoyed each other's company and we were going to see where it went, and that was all it was,' he added.

'It wasn't to do anything more than just have a kiss, we were just joking around, we'd had a drink or two and yeah, we were just having fun.'

Just a kiss: The curly-haired model and yoga enthusiast explained that they were hoping to stay in touch, but nothing really progressed over the festive period

Still mates: The pair were seen partying with the rest of the Love Island stars after the main awards show, proving it was all water under the bridge

The pair avoided each other on the red carpet, but were seen partying with the rest of the Love Island gang at the hotel after-party, proving it was all water under the bridge.

Halfway through the Christmas edition of the reality show, Kendall had revealed to Laura Anderson that she and Eyal enjoyed a moment of passion in a nightclub a few weeks ago.

So when Eyal - who, like Kendall, was unsuccessful in finding romance in the villa last summer - rocked up to the mansion they were all reuniting in, viewers were anticipating some kind of drama.

Skinny (jeans) dipping: When Eyal and Kendall hooked up in the pool on the Christmas reunion, viewers cared more that he jumped in with his jeans on

As it turned out, nothing too surprising took place; Eyal did his slurry flirting voice, which we all came to know and find irritating over the summer, while Kendall giggled at his advances.

The culminated in the pair heading to the indoor swimming pool for a dip and a kiss.

But fans weren't convinced that the romance wasn't a set up - nor could they get past that Eyal dangled his legs in the pool with his jeans still on on.

When the pair decided to jump in, he removed his shirt but kept continued to wear his jeans.

Still with the flirting: Eyal did his slurry flirting voice, which we all came to know and find irritating over the summer, while Kendall giggled at his advances

Wet wet wet! Fans weren't convinced that the romance wasn't a set up - nor could they get past that Eyal dangled his legs in the pool with his jeans still on on

'Eyal is so weird putting his whole leg in the hot tub with jeans on what the hell,' one person posted on Twitter.

Another agreed: 'Oh my god Eyal just slapping his feet into the hot tub and not taking his jeans off. Absolute savage.'

'Eyal wearing jeans in a hot tub is the worst thing thats happened in 2018,' came a third post.

'I watched #LoveIslandReunion and need to know why Eyal dipped his legs into the pool with skinny? jeans? on????' another demanded.

'Everything ok at home hun?' One person posted, 'Eyal wearing jeans in a hot tub is the worst thing thats happened in 2018'

Weird: 'I watched #LoveIslandReunion and need to know why Eyal dipped his legs into the pool with skinny? jeans? on????' another demanded

'Can we just assess that Eyal got into the hot tub w/ his jeans on, what an absolute nonce!' someone else typed.

Someone else typed: 'Sorry why did Eyal just get into a hot tub with his jeans on... is everything ok at home hun?'

Followed by: 'Really confused why Eyal didnt even roll his jeans up to put them in the pool!'

And: 'Sorry I really can't get over Eyal getting in the hot tub in jeans - just another level!'

Confused: Fans couldn't quite get past Eyal's jeans/pool situation

Nonce? 'Can we just assess that Eyal got into the hot tub w/ his jeans on, what an absolute nonce!' someone else typed

Showmance? When Eyal - who, like Kendall, was unsuccessful in finding romance in the villa last summer - rocked up to the mansion they were all reuniting in, viewers were anticipating some kind of drama

Love is in the air: However others appeared to be thoroughly delighted with the fledgling romance

'Theres been so much cringe in tonights #LoveIslandReunion but nothing has disturbed me more than Eyal just casually dipping his legs in the hot tub with his jeans still on!' came someone else's reaction.

'Right Im basically the only person who noticed how naturally eyal put his legs in the hot tub with his jeans on? I just found it a bit weird how natural it came to him?' questioned another.

Meanwhile, many a-viewer couldn't bear watching Eyal attempt to seduce Kendall.

'Forgot how cringe love Island is can't even watch Kendall and Eyal!' someone posted.

Fake? Meanwhile, many a-viewer couldn't bear watching Eyal attempt to seduce Kendall

Tepid: 'Forgot how cringe love Island is can't even watch Kendall and Eyal!' someone posted

Another agreed: 'Eyal and Kendall are so desperate for a bit of a story!'

A third posted: 'Oh Eyal and Kendall are boring as f**k stop begging air time!'

'NO ONE CARES ABOUT EYAL AND KENDALL PLS STOP!' screeched someone else.

Perhaps the more gullible out there weren't so against it: 'Im sorry but Eyal and Kendall in that pool was EVERYTHING. I want a cute Christmas relationship like that!'

However others appeared to be thoroughly delighted with the fledgling romance. One fan wrote: 'So happy!!! love kendall and eyal, hope it works for them!!', while another added: 'I love Eyal so much man. He seems like hes just a genuinely nice person, I dont understand the hate he got when he was on Love Island!'

Another viewer chimed: 'I missed love island so much and not going to lie I love Kendall and Eyal.'
She dared to take on one of the most beloved roles in fiction.

But Mary Poppins Returns actress Emily Blunt failed to land an Oscar nomination for her turn as the magical nanny in this week's Acadamy Awards shortlist announcement.

Despite this, the British star was on duty at the film's Tokyo premiere on Tuesday, smiling and waving for the crowds as the movie opened in Asia, weeks after its UK and US release.

Saving face: Mary Poppins Returns actress Emily Blunt failed to land an Oscar nomination for her turn as the magical nanny in this week's Acadamy Awards shortlist announcement - yet smiled through her appearance at the film's Tokyo premiere on Tuesday night

Emily, 35, looked lovely in an intricately-embellished dress in a metallic hue.

The top of the dress featured a pattern of jewels, teasing her creamy complex on beneath, with a tulle black design to the shoulders.

The bejeweled bow detailing continued along the body of the gown, with the floor-length skirt falling crisply around her.

The black skirt featured lines of silver sequins, which she highlighted with diamond earrings.

Steely: Emily addressed the crowds as the movie opened in Asia, weeks after its UK and US release

Grin and bear it: Emily smiled and waved at the fans in attendance

It's a jolly holiday...: Emily, 35, looked lovely in an intricately-embellished dress in a metallic hue

Glistening: The top of the dress featured a pattern of jewels, teasing her creamy complex on beneath, with a tulle black design to the shoulders

The A Quiet Place starlet swept her blonde locks back from her face and polished her features with a hint of pale eye-shadow and a slick of clay gloss to her pout.

The Oscars nominations this week saw Emily, who has been lauded for taking on the role of Mary Poppins, filling the iconic shoes of Dame Julie Andrews, snubbed for a Best Actress nod just weeks after losing out on a nomination in the Leading Actress category at the BAFTAs.

She was, however, up for a Golden Globe - but lost out to Olivia Colman, who has both an Oscar and BAFTA nomination for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite.

The Best Actress Oscar nominees are Olivia Colman (The Favourite), Glenn Close (The Wife), Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born), Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and Yalitza Aparicio (Roma).



Trilogy potential? Director Rob Marshall admitted discussions about another movie were in the 'early stages', with Emily expected to return as the titular star if the film gets the green light

All smiles: The bejeweled bow detailing continued along the body of the gown, with the floor-length skirt falling crisply around her

Meet and greet: The black skirt featured lines of silver sequins, which she highlighted with diamond earrings

Meanwhile, Lin-Manuel Miranda - Emily's Mary Poppins co-star - hinted that a follow-up film is in the pipeline.

Director Rob Marshall admitted discussions about another movie were in the 'early stages', with Emily expected to return as the titular star if the film gets the green light.

He said: 'It is early stages, but I will say right now that there were eight books, so there's a lot of great material still to mine.

Pretty: The A Quiet Place starlet swept her blonde locks back from her face

Arrival: She polished her features with a hint of pale eye-shadow and a slick of clay gloss to her pout

More to come? Director Marhsall said, 'It is early stages, but I will say right now that there were eight books, so there's a lot of great material still to mine'

Supernanny: 'That's what we worked from, those incredible eight books of P.L. Travers. So, you know...' the director added

'That's what we worked from, those incredible eight books of P.L. Travers. So, you know...'

Due to there being so many novels in the series, Marshall hinted that the franchise could go on for as long as the Star Wars and James Bond series.

He added: 'Listen, how many Star Wars films have there been, you know what I mean? Or James Bond films.

Mary Poppins Returns... Again? Due to there being so many novels in the series, Marshall hinted that the franchise could go on for as long as the Star Wars and James Bond series

: 'If there's a great character and story to tell, why not?' the director reasoned

In the most delightful way: Producer John DeLuca said, 'Emily does light up when she speaks to me about it. And if the people want it, I think it will happen'

'If there's a great character and story to tell, why not?'

Producer John DeLuca said: 'Emily does light up when she speaks to me about it. And if the people want it, I think it will happen.'

Lin-Manuel played the significant part of cockney lamplighter Jack in the movie - so it's likely he would be brought back for another movie with Emily.
He scooped the Best Drama Performance gong at Tuesday's NTAs.

And Richard Madden was sure to celebrate in serious style as he departed the bash while clutching a bottle of Lanson Champagne in one hand and his National Television Award in the other and appearing extremely bleary-eyed.

The 32-year-old Scot, who recently split from his actress girlfriend Ellie Bamber, looked to have had a fantastic evening as he departed with a blonde companion while still looking slick in his tuxedo despite his boozy state.

Wahey: Richard Madden was sure to celebrate in serious style as he departed the bash while clutching a bottle of Lanson Champagne in one hand and his National Television Award in the other and appearing extremely bleary-eyed

Richard looked to be having the time of his life in the back of his cab as he clutched the 30 bottle of pink Lanson Champagne while strutting out.

The bleary-eyed departure saw the star fall victim to the bubbles in his drink as he swigged from the bottle but suffered a momentary spillage.

Living it up in style, Richard certainly looked as though he had made the most of his night out among his fellow esteemed peers in television.

His blonde companion looked stunning in an all-black ensemble with minimal make-up. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Richard for comment.

Chic: His blonde companion looked stunning in an all-black ensemble with minimal make-up. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Richard for comment

Happy days: The 32-year-old Scot looked to have had a fantastic evening as he departed with a blonde companion while still looking slick in his tuxedo despite his boozy state

Happy days: The Scottish actor branded his job a privilege after left speechless by the prize, which came after the record-breaking BBC miniseries also scooped the award for Best New Drama

It was reported earlier this month that Richard split from long-term girlfriend Ellie following an 18 month relationship.

The couple are believed to have gone through a rocky patch where they 'argued every day' but split after deciding that their problems weren't fixable.

The couple, who were once rarely seen without one another, apparently became 'worlds apart' following Richard's acting success, an insider told the Sun.

During his speech on Tuesday night, Richard paid a touching tribute to co-star Keeley Hawes, as he scooped the coveted prize for Best Drama Performance.

Lost love: It was reported earlier this month that Richard split from long-term girlfriend Ellie following an 18 month relationship

The Scottish actor branded his job a privilege after left speechless by the prize, which came after the record-breaking BBC miniseries also scooped the award for Best New Drama.

This also came as Richard teased that a second series of Bodyguard was in the works, as he told Digital Spy showrunner Jed Mercurio was 'in talks' for a follow-up.

Winning the award, Richard beat out Jodie Whittaker, Jodie Comer, Michelle Keegan and Cillian Murphy for the prize and was greeted by a deafening reception from the crowd.

Delighted: This also came as Richard teased that a second series of Bodyguard was in the works, as he told Digital Spy showrunner Jed Mercurio was 'in talks' for a follow-up

Eek! Living it up in style, Richard certainly looked as though he had made the most of his night out among his fellow esteemed peers in television

Happy days! Finally beginning his speech he said: 'Thank you very very much, what an honour I didn't expect thank you to every single person that voted'

Amazing: The Scottish TV star was given the coveted prize for his role as Sgt David Budd in the acclaimed drama, which aired to record-breaking viewers in August

Paying a touching tribute to the show's cast and crew, Richard gushed that it had been a 'privilege' to work as an actor, while also paying tribute to co-star Keeley, who played Home Secretary Julia Montague.

Finally beginning his speech he said: 'Thank you very very much, what an honour I didn't expect thank you to every single person that voted.'

'Big huge thank you to my team, it's a privilege everyday, Jed Mercurio for writing this incredible character. And the biggest thank you to Keeley Hawes I couldn't ask for a better more talented actress.'

Wahey! Bodyguard of course ended with many viewers hoping it would return for a second series, but so far little has been confirmed

Bodyguard of course ended with many viewers hoping it would return for a second series, but so far little has been confirmed.

However once backstage, Richard told Digital Spy that there had been discussions for him to reprise his role as Sergeant David Budd.

He said: 'I don't know... we're talking about it. [It's] all in Jed Mercurio's brilliant mind. So it's up to him what happens next. I can't wait to read it. Nothing's confirmed yet. We're just in talks.'

This wasn't the only win for Bodyguard as its cast attended the lavish awards event, as the show also scooped Best New Drama.

Off we go: This wasn't the only win for Bodyguard as its cast attended the lavish awards event, as the show also scooped Best New Drama
She's one of Coronation Street's best-loved residents, with her engagement to Kate Connor stealing the hearts of soap viewers.

But Rana Habeeb is set to be killed off in a harrowing storyline, as confirmed by the actress Bhavna Limbachia.

Bhavna, 34, who has played the nurse since 2016, took to Twitter to post a video, in which she firmed up the news to fans and insisted it was her own decision.

Exit, stage left: Rana Habeeb is set to be killed off in a harrowing Coronation Street storyline, as confirmed by the actress Bhavna Limbachia

This comes after rumours had circulated that Rana was due to meet a sticky demise - with Bhavna taking it upon herself to clarify the matter.

In the video, the actress said: 'I just want to say thank you so so much for following Rana's journey, and for the continued support for the story-line.

'I have some news: my time at Coronation Street is coming to an end.

'Don't worry guys, I have extended my contract, there's still a lot more to film. Ive had a wonderful time here but theres still lots more to film and Im really grateful to Iain, our producer, for respecting my decision to leave and we have collaborated to come up with an amazing exit storyline so thank you so much.

Fan fave: She's one of Coronation Street 's best-loved residents, with her engagement to Kate Connor stealing the hearts of soap viewers

Juliet and Juliet: The Citizen Khan is said to have championed the idea that Rana will be killed off, rather than simply splitting with her future wife, after going through such a tumultuous story to be with her

'I really should get going now as these scenes wont film themselves!

A Corrie spokesperson confirmed: 'Bhavna Limbachia will be leaving Coronation Street later this year, she made the decision last year and spoke to Producer Iain MacLeod when he joined the show about her plans to leave.

'She has been fully involved in the discussions about Rana's leaving story, the details of which we are hoping to keep under wraps for the viewers. Bhavna is a talented actress and we wish her every success for the future.'

The Citizen Khan is said to have championed the idea that Rana will be killed off, rather than simply splitting with her future wife, after going through such a tumultuous story to be with her.

Confirming the news: In the video, the actress said 'I just want to say thank you so so much for following Rana's journey, and for the continued support for the story-line'

An insider has also teased that Rana would 'die in Kate's arms'.

Rana and Kate overcame issues of religion and infidelity to be together, with Rana married to husband Zeedan when she and Kate started their romance.

Rumours have suggested Rana is set to die on their wedding day, but this is yet to be discovered.

Many fans haven't taken well to the news, branding the idea of killing her off 'disgusting' - immediately assuming it is a crime against the fact she is a lesbian.

How will it end? Rumours have suggested Rana is set to die on their wedding day, but this is yet to be discovered

'Coronation Street is about to add to the dead lesbian trope (again) but this time with fan favourite Muslim, lesbian Rana so I just wanted to pre warn anyone who may be considering getting into the #Kana storylin,' one person raged on Twitter.

'Im sorry but killing Rana is f**king disgusting after everything shes been through and all the praise Corrie accept for having a muslim lesbian, they do this. Just to remind us that they never ever cared!' penned another.

'To anyone who is in Rana's situation, who looked to her for hope, please know that this doesn't mean there's no happy future for you, it is out there,' another typed.

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm and 8.30pm on ITV.
Earlier this month, HBO released the first image of Jude Law and John Malkovich in The New Pope, the follow up series to 2016's The Young Pope.

And the actor, 65, was seen taking a break on the set of the papal drama as he filmed new scenes in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, on Tuesday.

Dressed in a Cossack hat, a white puffy jacket and a yellow scarf to keep warm as he stood on a balcony looking out at the views as crew members prepared around him.

Cosy: John Malkovich kept off the winter chill in a white Cossack hat and a puffy jacket as he took a break from the set of HBO drama The New Pope on Tuesday

The acclaimed actor, who has a yet unknown role on the show, wore full papal robes underneath his jacket, and kept warm in UGG boots while off set.

John sported his trademark bearded look, and the Birdbox star looked relaxed as he headed out for a quick breather.

During his break, John stepped out with a black zip-up bag which was slung over his chest as he carried an annotated script in one hand.

Wrapped up: The acclaimed actor, who has a yet unknown role on the show, wore full papal robes underneath his jacket, and kept warm in UGG boots while off set

Getting ready: John could be seen stood on a balcony looking out at the views as crew members prepared around him

The New Pope currently lacks a premiere date, but Jude Law will reprise his role of Lenny Belardo, the former Archbishop of New York.

His youth and novel status as an American resulted in his election as the first American pope, and is renamed Pope Pius XIII.

Rather than being a force for rejuvenation, the new Pope Pius XIII doubles down on the Vatican's gamesmanship and intrigue, threatening to upend the organisation's top chain of command.

The 10-episode one-off series was created and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, who also helms each episode of its follow-up, The New Pope.

Returning: The New Pope currently lacks a premiere date, but Jude Law will reprise his role of Lenny Belardo, the former Archbishop of New York and now Pope Pius XIII

The Italian auteur is best known for his 2013 film The Great Beauty, which captured the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

The series takes up after The Young Pope's cliffhanger ending, which saw Pope Pius XIII confronted with a moment of weakness that threatened to destroy his papacy.

Little has been revealed about the plot of this follow-up series, and Malkovich's character has yet to be confirmed.

However, the stage and screen veteran was seen filming from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, where he appeared to be giving an Urbi et Orbi papal address to the crowds in November.

The series is expected to return in 2019.
She's been known to date the younger man in the past.

And Caroline Flack, 39, was pictured looking extremely cosy with Strictly star AJ Pritchard, 24, during Tuesday evening's NTAs after-party at London's The O2 amid claims they locked lips.

Following her split from fiance Andrew Brady last year, the Love Island host, who won Strictly in 2014, has remained relatively guarded over her relationship status, while AJ's love life remains a mystery.

Shocker: Caroline Flack was pictured looking extremely cosy with Strictly star AJ Pritchard during Tuesday evening's NTAs after-party amid claims they locked lips

Insiders at the bash claim the duo moved around for some privacy before they were spotted in the alleged clinch behind the scenes.

With a 15 year age gap between the pair, it is not the first time Caroline has enjoyed an age gap romance after dating Harry Styles when he was 17 and she 32.

Defending the relationship, she previously said: 'I keep thinking, what have I done wrong? But I havent done anything wrong. Whats hard for me to get my head around is people saying its disgusting. I dont think it is...

'I feel like I shouldnt have to worry about what I do. But its a social thing that people arent accepting of big age gaps. I know its human nature to gossip. But why say its bad? No ones being hurt.'

Up close and personal: The duo enjoyed a drink at the bar before their alleged tryst

Happy days: The duo looked very cosy as they hit the after party in style

Having a giggle: The presenter emerged the following day looking fresh-faced and glam

Strutting her stuff: Caroline looked stunning as she headed out while shirking her rumours

Ahem! The duo chatted away on a sofa in a seemingly close clinch

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Caroline and AJ for comment.

Speaking on Lorraine, Dan Wootton revealed: 'It wasn't just girls, there was a bit of hanky panky, Caroline and AJ... a little bit of fun.'

She has been soaking up sunshine in solitude in Thailand after her ex Andrew Brady flew out to Australia on a one-way ticket.

Proving she's officially moved on from her former fiance, the Love Island host revealed she's removed her wrist tattoo dedicated to the Apprentice star.

Shocker: The duo appeared to be getting extremely close before insiders claimed they were embracing one another later on

He's gone! Proving she's officially moved on from her former fiance, the Love Island host revealed she's removed her wrist tattoo dedicated to the Apprentice star

The presenter displayed her inking-free arm as she played with her hair in the sizzling snap, just months after officially calling it quits from the 28-year-old.

Caroline first debuted her 'AB' tattoo on her wrist in April last year, two months after first embarking on a romance.

Meanwhile, the TV personality shunned a ballgown on the red carpet as she was impossible to miss in a bright orange playsuit which had a minuscule hem to show off her legs.

Caroline has a penchant for younger men as she has a catalogue of younger exes including Olly Murs, Harry Styles, Jack Street and her latest ex Andrew Brady.

The Love Island host also boasted she was dubbed 'Prince Harry's bit of rough' more than a decade ago after they met on a night out in 2009.
She launched her own variety of health elixirs through her company, WelleCo, last year.

And Elle Macpherson showed off the results of her clean-living lifestyle as she stunned on the red carpet for Ocean Drive's January issue, which she is the cover of, at The Sacred Space, Miami, Florida on Tuesday.

The 54-year-old model looked sensational as she showcased her age-defying figure in a plunging black lace mini dress.

Gorgeous: Elle Macpherson showed off the results of her clean-living lifestyle as she stunned on the red carpet for her cover of Ocean Drive's January issue, in Miami, Florida on Tuesday

She completed her look with a pair of black tights, a purple pendant necklace, some gold jewellery and a pair of black heeled boots.

Later on, Elle layered her ensemble with a cropped black leather jacket and a zebra print clutch bag.

The age-defying model styled her honey-coloured locks into a sleek curly blow-dried hairdo, she added a slick of make-up.

Elle knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm at the event, with her hair even blowing in the wind.

Gorgeous: The 54-year-old model looked sensational as she showcased her age-defying figure in a plunging black lace mini dress

Age-defying: She completed her look with a pair of black tights, a purple pendant necklace, some gold jewellery and a pair of black heeled boots

Work it: The age-defying model styled her honey-coloured locks into a sleek curly blow-dried hairdo, she added a slick of make-up

Earlier this month, the supermodel admitted that her health elixirs and juicing are not without its pitfalls.

Taking to Instagram Stories, Elle shared a photo of herself getting her teeth checked at the dentist.

She told her fans: 'Because I juice a lot my teeth need cleaning more often to get juice stains off. Good to start the year fresh.'

Strike a pose: Elle knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm at the event, with her hair even blowing in the wind

Keeping warm: Later on, Elle layered her ensemble with a cropped black leather jacket and a zebra print clutch bag

In a blog on her company's website, Elle revealed she begins every day with a nutritious juice.

'January promise to self: Floss!!!!' she completed the caption.

'Filtered water and 2 heaped teaspoons of a lemon juice or a green juice packed with vegetables and lemon juice,' she told WelleCo of her drink of choice.

Elle also follows it up in the afternoon with a protein smoothie.
They confirmed their engagement in July last year and Katharine McPhee and David Foster appeared in high spirits on date night on Tuesday.

The couple had headed to upmarket celeb spot Craig's in West Hollywood, where they slipped out the back door following a romantic meal.

Actress Katharine, 34, looked incredible wearing a cream ensemble, consisting of a cream polo neck mini, a beige jacket and sexy over-the-knee boots.

A dream in cream: Katharine McPhee, 34, appeared in high spirits following a romantic dinner date at Craig's with fiance David Foster, 69, in West Hollywood on Tuesday night

Happy: One-time Real Housewives star David got behind the wheel to drive the couple home at the end of the night and they had big smiles on their faces

David, 69, chose a jumper and jeans, wearing a navy jacket and matching scarf in a bid to keep out the chill.

One-time Real Housewives star David got behind the wheel to drive the couple home at the end of the night and they had big smiles on their faces.

Katharine was doing her bit to make her husband-to-be laugh as she chatted to him ahead of their journey home.

Stunning: Actress Katharine, 34, looked incredible wearing a cream ensemble, consisting of a cream polo neck mini, a beige jacket and sexy over-the-knee boots

Great time: Katharine was doing her bit to make her husband-to-be laugh as she chatted to him ahead of their journey home

Last week, she took to social media to say she was having wedding dress fittings, sharing a snap of herself on social media.

She wrote: 'Wedding dress fittings today with @jordiefos! It was such a happy day.

'(Its not the dress, but just wanted to share),' McPhee wrote in the caption for her roughly 550,000 followers along with a heart emoji.

Meant to be: The couple appear very much in love after getting engaged last summer

Is that a yawn? Katharine had her hand over her mouth as she made her way to the car

It was her first Instagram posting in a few weeks since her Hawaiian vacation with David came to an end in early January.

Katharine and David got engaged in June 2018 while on vacation together in Italy.

It will be the fifth marriage for David and second for Katharine.

Katharine was previously married to Nick Cokas from 2008 to 2014 when she filed for a divorce that was finalized in 2016.

Dress options: Katharine took to Twitter on Tuesday to share a photo as she tried on wedding dresses and also posted the snap on Instagram

She also dated her Scorpion co-star Elyes Gabel from 2014 to 2016 before they split.

Katharine and David made their red carpet debut in September 2017 at the Grammy Museum Gala in Los Angeles.

David's ex-wives include BJ Cook, Rebecca Dyer, Linda Thompson, and Yolanda Hadid of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills fame. David's children are daughters Allison, 48, Amy, 45, Sara, 37, Erin, 36, and Jordan, 32.
Azealia Banks dedicated her Dublin show to 'beautiful Irish women' on Tuesday  one day after branding them 'f***ing ugly' during an extraordinary social media rant.

The 27-year-old rapper made her initial comments on her Instagram account, after storming off an aircraft scheduled to fly from London's Gatwick Airport to Dublin, following a row with an Aer Lingus air stewardess.

And taking the stage at The Academy  after completing her journey to Ireland by road and ferry  the New Yorker extended a proverbial olive branch as she told the capacity crowd: 'I want to dedicate this to all the beautiful Irish women that are here.'

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Dedication: Azealia Banks dedicated her Dublin show to 'beautiful Irish women' on Tuesday  one day after branding them 'f***ing ugly' during an extraordinary social media rant

The sold-out show appeared to be pleasing to her fans, many of whom shared gushing posts on Instagram about the star and her performance  before having their clips and snaps shared by the American musician herself.

On Wednesday morning, the 212 rapper took to Instagram to play down her teary display during her rant on Monday in which she made the inflammatory comments.

Next to a screenshot of Aer Lingus' statement confirming she had left the flight, Azealia wrote: 'People are so addicted to Azealia Banks trauma porn that they hop on ANY opportunity to try and make it seem like my life is all sad and horrible.

Rant: On Monday, Azealia Banks broke down after claiming she had been banned from Aer Lingus flights, following a row with the airline's staff. In the midst of her rant, she made the slur

'Im FINE GUYS! I didnt get kicked off the plane. I got off the plane on my own. When I got off the plane they kept chastising me and saying they were gonna call the police (for no reason) and it made me cry.

'My Dublin show at the Academy is part of a series of joints to rebuild my profile in Ireland and the UK. I'm honestly so grateful the show went well!!!!

'Ive been really really missing all my friends across the pond and if I have to drive ten hours to a four hour ferry to preserve my peace of mind and be in the highest spirits to re-connect with my people then A b**ch has to do what she has to do!!!!!!!'

On Monday, an air passenger told how an Aer Lingus air hostess asked Banks Are you going to be trouble? when the star tried to put her bags in the overhead locker.

The passenger told MailOnline: Azealia was sitting in front of me. It was a busy flight and there was not a lot of space.

Branch: Taking the stage at The Academy in Dublin, she extended an olive branch as she told the capacity crowd, 'I want to dedicate this to all the beautiful Irish women that are here'

Journey: Azealia completed her journey from London to Ireland by road and ferry after the incident that saw her suddenly disembark from her scheduled flight

Good spirits: The 212 hitmaker, 27, appeared to be in good spirits as she performed in Dublin

She was right at the front. A male friend was putting her things in the overhead locker, but Azealia needed to get something from her bag. She was stood in the aisle and preventing other passengers from boarding.

Then she turned to the hostess and said, Are you staring at me? Why are you staring at me? I didnt fill out an Air Lingus form to be stared at.

The hostess was being quite confrontational. She said to her, I need to know if you are going to cause more trouble on this flight?

If someones rude to a stewardess, it is something we have to ask. Its protocol. Azealia said something to her friend about it being a power play. She said, "I am on this flight and I am famous."

'The hostess said, "I dont care if youre famous." Azealia was debating whether to leave. I remember her saying, "I dont want them to spit in my coffee."

Crowd pleaser: The sold-out show appeared to be pleasing to her fans, many of whom shared gushing posts on Instagram about the star and her performance

Rebuilding profile: Taking to Instagram on Monday, Azealia wrote, 'My Dublin show at the Academy is part of a series of joints to rebuild my profile in Ireland and the UK'

Denim and leather: The US star performed onstage in an eye-catching denim and leather outfit

The stewardess then said, "Are you going to leave or not?" Azealia replied, "Fine, we are leaving." And she and her entourage got off the plane.

The flight was due to leave Gatwick for Dublin at 10.55am, but was delayed for over an hour while the stars bags were unloaded.

The passenger, who asked not to be named added: To be honest with you I think the airline staff were a bit aggressive and confrontational with her.

They were asking Azealia if she was going to be trouble before we had even taken off, which only escalated the situation. Azealia was at the front of the plane and the stewardess was trying to hurry her along.

She said the attendants were harassing her and I think they were a bit heavy handed.

Boycott: Ahead of her performance, Azealia wrote 'boycott Aer Lingus' next to a snap of herself

Views: Amid being branded 'racist' for her comment about Irish women, Azealia shared her view on racism, before cracking a joke about her onstage appearance after the show

She claimed she had been 'banned' from the airline after leaving the flight, saying she had been 'treated like a wild animal' on what she called her 'travel day from hell'.

The airline has confirmed she left the 10.55am flight from Gatwick but declined to comment on her specific allegations.

Banks famously launched a foul-mouthed tirade at a flight attendant calling him a 'f***ing f***ot' when she was unable to get off a Delta plane in 2005.

Taking to social media today, she said a stewardess had accused her of threatening to 'sort you out'.

The musician denied she had used those words, saying she was from New York and would not have used that turn of phrase.

Before it all went wrong: Ahead of her flight, the musician had shared pictures on Instagram as she prepared to board the trip from London Gatwick to the Irish capital

Calm before the storm: Azealia shared pictures of herself walking through duty free before boarding her flight

The passenger who witnessed the row also denied Banks said 'I will sort you out' to an air hostess.

In a series of Instagram stories she said: 'Every time I come to the UK, they always make some s**t with these airline people.

'They are always starting s*** with me. I had my bags deep in the plane and the lady was asking me some questions.

'I was trying to find my passport as I didn't have the answers and she was staring at me. I said. "Don't stare at me".

'She goes to the Captain of the plane and said that I said, "Don't stare at me or I'll sort you out". I'm from NYC, I don't use that slang.'

Concert: Azealia, pictured in Finland in September 2017, is due to perform a sold-out gig at the Academy in Dublin on Tuesday

She continued: 'They crowded round me like I'm some sort of animal saying, "we're going to have a problem".'

'I get off the plane. I've worked too hard in my life to be cornered by some ugly Irish b***h. They are ugly Irish women here.

'Then all these security n***** come over treating me like a wild animal. They tried their hardest to get me to do something or freak out.'

She said: 'B**** you're not going to play me over no f***ing Aer Lingus flight. You're not going to disrespect me and make a f***ing spectacle out of me'.

Azealia then said her manager had managed to book her on a flight with a different airline, so she could still make her gig.

Upset: During her rant, Azealia branded Irish women 'ugly' and made a series of racial slurs

She claimed she was banned from the airline, adding: 'Now they're like, "you can never fly Aer Lingus because you got off the plane". At first, they were trying to get me to stay.

She went on: 'They kept saying, "Call the police, call the police",' before the artist made a racial slur.

An airline spokesperson said: 'Aer Lingus can confirm that two guests scheduled to fly on 10:55am flight from London Gatwick to Dublin (EI233) this morning disembarked themselves prior to departure.

'The guests in question got off the plane safely of their own accord, while all other guests remained on board. As they had luggage in the hold, the flight was delayed while that luggage was sourced.

'The flight departed Gatwick at 12:07 and landed in Dublin at 13:22. Aer Lingus has a strict no-tolerance policy towards disruptive guest behaviour.

Anger: In 2015, Azealia launched a foul mouthed tirade on a flight attendant and tried to physically attack a man after she was unable to get off of a Delta plane in LA (pictured)

'The safety and security of our guests and crew remains our first priority.'

The firm declined to comment on the specific claims the musician made in her Instagram videos.

Azealia has said she plans to lodge a complaint against the airline.

She said: 'I've been touring too long to be singled out by the haggard old white ladies... it's always me on the plane with the long weave and the Louboutins and they're like, "who is that black girl in business class?"'

Later she added to her Instagram story again, saying: 'This is literally the travel day from hell', adding she was 'over it' and would drink the rest of a bottle of Chardonnay.

'I am so over it. This is not what I signed up for when I was a little girl and I wanted to be a superstar,' she said.
She announced she was pregnant last week.

And Courtney Sixx showed off her growing baby bump in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old wife of Motley Crue co-founder Nikki Sixx, 60, flaunted her cleavage as she did some shopping.

Pretty in pink: Courtney Sixx showed off her growing baby bump in Los Angeles on Tuesday

Courtney donned a silk pink dress with a low neckline the fell to just below her knees.

A pair of light brown knee-high boots added an extra bit of flair to her outfit.

Her dirty blonde tresses were parted down the middle and left unencumbered as they flowed freely across her shoulders in elegant waves.

She carried a medium-sized pursue in one hand and kept the accessories simple as she grabbed some ice cream.

All smiles: The 33-year-old wife of Motley Crue co-founder Nikki Sixx, 60, flaunted her cleavage as she did some shopping

Silky: Courtney donned a silk pink dress with a low neckline the fell to just below her knees

Roar: She also looked to be searching for gifts for the coming child as she picked up a cute stuffed lion in another store

Glowing: Her dirty blonde tresses were parted down the middle and left unencumbered as they flowed freely across her shoulders in elegant waves

It was a full day out for the soon-to-be mother as she was spotted at sweets spot in Calabasas.

She also looked to be searching for gifts for the coming child as she picked up a cute stuffed lion in another store.

Radar.com first reported the news that Courtney was pregnant.

Yum: She carried a medium-sized pursue in one hand and kept the accessories simple as she grabbed some ice cream

Delicious: It was a full day out for the soon-to-be mother as she was spotted at sweets spot in Calabasas

Coming soon: Accodring to the outlet's source, 'Courtney is several months along, and Nikki is ecstatic!'

Motherly: 'He is such a great father already, and she is going to be the best mom. She is so caring.'

According to the outlet's source, 'Courtney is several months along, and Nikki is ecstatic!'

'He is such a great father already, and she is going to be the best mom. She is so caring.'

The Legendary rocker Nikki first appeared in public with Courtney at a Call of Duty: Black Ops launch party in Santa Monica, California, back in 2010.

Two-years later he proposed to her while on vacation on the Caribbean island of St Bart's. They tied the knot in March 2014 in Beverly Hills.

Renowned for his hard-partying with his band, Nikki has been married three times and has four children.

Boots: The Legendary rocker Nikki first appeared in public with Courtney at a Call of Duty: Black Ops launch party in Santa Monica, California, back in 2010

Out and about: Two-years later he proposed to her while on vacation on the Caribbean island of St Bart's. They tied the knot in March 2014 in Beverly Hills
They're sisters and two of the world most famous and sought after models.

But Gigi and Bella Hadid, 23 and 22 respectively, attempted to keep a low-profile as they got dinner together at Ruby's in New York City.

The catwalk sensations both opted to dress casually, almost matching as they met up for their meal.

Covering up: Gigi and Bella Hadid, 23 and 22 respectively, attempted to keep a low-profile as they got dinner together at Ruby's in New York City

Gigi covered her face after stepping out of the restaurant wearing ripped, faded blue jeans.

She wore a black shirt underneath a black jacket and let her dirt blonde tresses fall freely across her shoulders.

The IMG Model donned black boots with a metal toe a had a white-and-black purse hanging from her shoulder.

Head down: Gigi covered her face after stepping out of the restaurant wearing ripped, faded blue jeans

Bella also opted for a black-and-blue look.

She, however, decided on darker denim that was rip-free and also happened to cling tighter to her long, slender stems.

The IMG Model also donned a black jacket with a black coat over top, but pulled her locks into a ponytail.

She attempted to cover up her appearance with a long grey scarf.

Mask on: Bella also opted for a black-and-blue look, but decided on darker denim that was rip-free and also happened to cling tighter to her long, slender stems

Earlier this month, it was reported that Gigi had once again called it quits with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Zayn Malik.

Us Weekly reported that she split for the second time with Zayn a few weeks ago.

The magazine's insider said that the lovebirds are 'done;' The source said that 'they could get back together' but 'it's over for now.'

The magazine claimed that Gigi 'tried hard to make' their relationship work but Zayn, 25, has 'a lot of his own issues that she couldn't help him get through.'

US Weekly's other source says that the catwalk model focused 'all of her time and energy on him' however it 'just got to be too much.'

The model and the former One Direction member first began dating in November 2015; they split for the first time in March 2018.
Lindsay Lohan brought in new host Alex Moffitt to shake up her staff on Tuesday's episode of her MTV reality series.

The 32-year-old actress conferred with business partner Panos Spentzos before deciding to bring aboard the newcomer to her Lohan Beach House Mykonos.

The Mean Girls star during a staff meeting told her crew of hosts that VIP guest Alesso was coming to her beach club along with is manager and agent.

New ambassador: Lindsay Lohan brought in a new host on Tuesday's episode of Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club on MTV

Panos warned everyone that he and Lindsay would be keeping an eye on them while assigning Brent Marks and Jonitta Wallace to the Swedish DJ and his entourage.

Brent also was trying to patch things up with Sara Tariq after insulting her during last week's episode of Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club.

Natasha returned to the beach club as a VIP guest and asked for Brent after making out with him last time.

Brent tried to avoid her to prove himself to Sara and Lindsay noticed.

New guy: Alex Moffitt was brought in from The Abbey in West Hollywood to join the staff

VIP guest: Swedish DJ Alesso was welcomed to the club by Lindsay

Special request: Natasha was back and asked Panos to bring her Brent

'It's too personal and it's starting to bother me and this is why I'm bringing in a new ambassador,' Lindsay said.

The actress got on the microphone as a man danced away and encouraged Panos to give him a 'champagne shower'.

'This is the Lindsay that I love,' Panos said. 'Today she wants to party. This is the Lindsay that I want people to see.'

Dancing man: A man who was dancing wildly was encouraged by Lindsay

Lindsay grabbed a 'champagne gun' and started roaming the beach club firing the drink at people.

'I feel like Putin,' she said while holding the rifle-like contraption.

She assembled her staffers in a firing line, but Lindsay spent her champagne ammunition.

Champagne gun: The Mean Girls star pulled out a champagne gun

Liquid ammo: The actress joked that she felt like Vladimir Putin

Panos however shook up the gun and squirted them while Lindsay danced away.

Juliana Wilson took a stream in the eyeball.

'Champagne in the eye is not fun,' Jules said.

Firing line: The hosts lined up as Lindsay prepared to shoot them with her champagne gun

Head shot: Panos got the gun working and sprayed Juliana Wilson in the face

Not fun: Jules noted that champagne in the face was not fun

Jules later kissed bisexual Michael Mulderrig while they were partying on their night off.

Brent meanwhile brought Sara and Jonitta to an Alesso concert.

Panos was at the concert also and noticed Jonitta promoting the club while Brent and Sara were kissing.

Couple alert: Mike and Juliana kissed while out together

Back on: Brent and Sara also were back on and were caught kissing

'We're not here to make couples, we're here to work. I don't like what I'm seeing right now,' Panos said.

Mike was told by Panos beforehand that his friend Alex was being hired.

They both worked together at The Abbey gay bar in West Hollywood and Mike admitted they once hooked up at a Christmas party.

Work only: Panos was not happy about Brent and Sara getting back together

Mike said they were both 'drunk' and 'horny' and revealed that Alex has a boyfriend back home.

Panos during day seven with the new hosts said a group of Italian models was coming and assigned Alex, Brent and Aristotle Polites to take care of them.

Alex massaged, drank, and kissed the clients as his boss looked on approvingly.

'I like Alex. It's good to change things up,' Lindsay said.

Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club premiered earlier this month on MTV and will return next week.

Good times: Alex had fun with the Italian models

Dance party: The Italian models danced in the cabana with the guys
Her mother was a jet setter during her days when she helped put the 'super' in supermodel in the 1970s and 80s.

Now, Sailor Brinkley-Cook is taking a cue from her famous mom, Christie Brinkley, with a three-month stint of work and play in Sydney, Australia.

And on Tuesday, the 20-year old look-a-like put her lean model curves on full display when she hit Bondi Beach for some surfing.

Looking good: Sailor Brinkley-Cook put her lean model curves on full display when she hit Bondi Beach, Sydney for some surfing

Looking for a change of pace from her life in chilly New York, Sailor has quickly made surfing part of her regular routine since arriving Down Under about two weeks ago.

And on this day, she hit the gorgeous beach in a dayglo green bikini, that showcased her amazingly fit figure.

She wore her her blonde tresses long, but for the most part it was wet and slicked back off of her face.

Fit and ready: The 20-year old daughter of Christie Brinkley hit the gorgeous beach in a dayglo green bikini, that showcased her amazingly fit figure.

Beach babe: The 5ft 8.5in model wore her her blonde tresses long, but for the most part it was wet and slicked back off of her face

Cheeky: Sailor took time out to admire the waves of the day

Loving it: She couldn't hold back her excitement every time she headed out to surf

The IMG model couldn't hold back her joy every time she grabbed her surf board and started heading towards the crashing waves.

Once in the water, she pushed forward and paddled out with the hope of being able to ride one of the better waves of the day.

Keeping patient, Sailor managed to catch a number of good ones during her afternoon of fun in the sun.

Working it: Once in the water, she pushed forward and paddled out with the hope of being able to ride one of the better waves of the day

Catch it: Sailor has quickly made surfing part of her regular routine since arriving Down Under about two weeks ago

Almost there: The model got to one knee as she navigated the wave

Nice try: Sailor took a spill into the water before she could get upright

Sailor is in Australia for the first time for a modeling shoot and to do some other projects.

She has taken to her new life fast, posting: 'I am so Happy,' on her Instagram four days ago.

The Hamptons, New York native gushed about the move to Sydney, days after arriving just after the new year.

'Greetings from Aus! where i can work in a bustling city then take a 10 min uber to the most beautiful beach for a dip. 3 days into living here and I f*****g love it.'

Time out: After surfing she also got a little rest and relaxation as she soaked in the sun

All in the family: Salior is Christie's youngest child with ex-husband architect Peter Cook

Salior is Christie's youngest child with ex-husband architect Peter Cook.

She also has an older brother Jack, who's father is Richard Taubman, and an older sister Akexa, who was born when her mom was married to musician Billy Joel.

Needing a change of pace, Sailor has taken the year off from pursuing a degree in photography at New York's Parsons Art and Design School to focus on modelling.
Golden Globe nominee Eva Longoria Baston and Daytime Emmy winner Laverne Cox headed up Oscar nominee Ava DuVernay's third annual National Day of Racial Healing event in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old filmmaker enlisted her famous friends to 'examine efforts to end discrimination and injustice' at the Filipinotown campus of her year-old collective ARRAY.

43-year-old Eva looked sophisticated in an off-white silk blouse tucked into beige pleated pants and matching stilettos selected by stylist Charlene E. Roxborough Konsker.

Day of learning: Eva Longoria Baston (L) and Laverne Cox (R) headed up Ava DuVernay's (2-R) third annual National Day of Racial Healing event in Los Angeles on Tuesday

HBIC: The 46-year-old filmmaker enlisted her famous friends to 'examine efforts to end discrimination and injustice' at the Filipinotown campus of her year-old collective ARRAY

The 'Texican' beauty normally relies on her BFF Ken Paves to style her brunette locks, but he was in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Make-up artist Elan Bongiorno made sure Longoria was ready for her close-up with a fully-contoured complexion, kohl-rimmed eyes, and a red pout.

The Time's Up fundraiser was there to speak on a panel specifically about race and representation.

Eva was joined on the panel by Crashing producer Judd Apatow, Deadline Senior Editor Dominic Patten, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women director Angela Robinson, and Gringo actor David Oyelowo.

Neutrals: The 43-year-old Golden Globe nominee looked sophisticated in an off-white silk blouse tucked into beige pleated pants and matching stilettos

Blow out: The 'Texican' beauty normally relies on her BFF Ken Paves to style her brunette locks, but he was in Manhattan on Tuesday

Former model: Make-up artist Elan Bongiorno made sure Longoria was ready for her close-up with a fully-contoured complexion, kohl-rimmed eyes, and a red pout

In the hot seat: The Time's Up fundraiser was there to speak on a panel specifically about race and representation

Panelists: Eva was joined on the panel by (from L-R) Judd Apatow, Dominic Patten, Angela Robinson, and David Oyelowo

The Dog Days actress - who boasts 18.8M social media followers - kicked off her Tuesday morning with a strenuous work-out at ultra-exclusive Granite Gym in Beverly Hills.

In her Instagram video, Longoria's biceps bulged as she squatted while tugging on a battle rope with her arms, legs, and back.

It's hard to believe the Target spokesmodel welcomed her first child - son Santiago Enrique - only seven months ago with third husband, Televisa president Jose 'Pepe' Baston.

Career-wise, Eva will next produce, direct, and guest star as Beatriz in the Miami Beach-set drama series Grand Hotel premiering June 17 on ABC.

'Long weekend over, back at it!' The Dog Days actress kicked off her Tuesday morning with a strenuous work-out at ultra-exclusive Granite Gym in Beverly Hills

Werk! In her Instagram video, Longoria's biceps bulged as she squatted while tugging on a battle rope with her arms, legs, and back

First-time mother: It's hard to believe the Target spokesmodel welcomed son Santiago Enrique only seven months ago with third husband, Jose 'Pepe' Baston (posted Monday)

Meanwhile, 46-year-old Laverne showed a hint of cleavage in a black cut-out top, cobalt-blue blazer, skinny jeans, and black boots selected by stylist Christina Joy Pacelli.

The transgender trailblazer wore a wavy ombre weave and her make-up artist Deja Smith brought out her brown eyes with winged liner.

The Orange Is the New Black actress was there to speak on an identity and inclusion panel alongside Miracle's Boys author Jacqueline Woodson and Democracy Now host Amy Goodman.

'Trans people, particularly Black women, are still finding themselves in harm's way because their communities don't really value them,' Cox said onstage.

LGBTQAI icon: 46-year-old Laverne showed a hint of cleavage in a black cut-out top, cobalt-blue blazer, skinny jeans, and black boots selected by stylist Christina Joy Pacelli

Addressed military ban: The transgender trailblazer wore a wavy ombre weave and her make-up artist Deja Smith brought out her brown eyes with winged liner

Talented trio: The Orange Is the New Black actress was there to speak on an identity and inclusion panel alongside Jacqueline Woodson (L) and Amy Goodman (R)

Cox said onstage: 'Trans people, particularly Black women, are still finding themselves in harm's way because their communities don't really value them. How do we change that is really the million dollar question'

Hey girl! The Glam Masters host - who attempted suicide at age 11 due to bullying - was proud to be apart of Duvernay's curated woke convention

'How do we change that is really the million dollar question.'

The Glam Masters host - who attempted suicide at age 11 due to bullying - was proud to be apart of Duvernay's curated woke convention.

As for the woman of the hour, the A Wrinkle in Time director wore a ribbed midi-dress beneath a beige blazer fastened with a brown belt and heels selected by stylist Jason Bolden.

'The responsibility of fighting inequality and injustice is all of ours,' Ava told Deadline on Tuesday.

Woman of the hour: The A Wrinkle in Time director wore a ribbed midi-dress beneath a beige blazer fastened with a brown belt and heels selected by stylist Jason Bolden

Ava told Deadline on Tuesday: 'The responsibility of fighting inequality and injustice is all of ours. But it's particularly important that those of us with certain visibility and influence'

Nearly governor: The UCLA grad discussed diversity and democracy with Stacey Abrams (R), the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives

The 45-year-old voter suppression activist (R) said onstage: 'There is nothing American about letting our democracy fall because we're too weak or too scared to fight for it'

'But it's particularly important that those of us with certain visibility and influence use our platforms to urge bold conversations. We can never give up on pushing this nation to live up to its promise.'

The UCLA grad discussed diversity and democracy with Stacey Abrams, the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives (2011-2017).

The 45-year-old voter suppression activist said onstage: 'There is nothing American about letting our democracy fall because we're too weak or too scared to fight for it.'

Her muse: Duvernay personally greeted many of her featured guests with a warm hug including David Oyelowo (R), who starred in her films A Wrinkle in Time and Selma

Brit in LA: The 42-year-old Englishman was by far the most dapper gentleman there in his chambray shirt beneath a dark blazer, and plum pants

Bring it in! The two-time Emmy winner also hugged it out with Mr. Mercedes star Holland Taylor (L) and America's Next Top Model 22 champ, Nyle DiMarco (R)

Belting a ballad: Oscar and Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge (pictured) was among the day's performers

Stomp! The tap-dancing Syncopated Ladies brought the house down with their blended mixed media performance

Duvernay personally greeted many of her featured guests with a warm hug including David Oyelowo, who starred in her films A Wrinkle in Time and Selma.

The 42-year-old Englishman was by far the most dapper gentleman there in his chambray shirt beneath a dark blazer, and plum pants.

The two-time Emmy winner also hugged it out with Mr. Mercedes star Holland Taylor and America's Next Top Model 22 champ, Nyle DiMarco.

Oscar and Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge as well as the tap-dancing Syncopated Ladies were among the day's performers.

Different generation: At the tender age of 15, Storm Reid was definitely the youngest speaker at the National Day of Racial Healing

Top-bunning: The A Wrinkle in Time ingenue looked fresh in her white turtleneck blouse, yellow plaid pants, and black sneakers selected by stylist Jason Bolden

Storm said on Tuesday: 'I think it's a really cool day to be celebrating especially in its close proximity to MLK Day. So I feel like the two go hand in hand and I'm proud to be apart of it'

At the tender age of 15, Storm Reid was definitely the youngest speaker at the National Day of Racial Healing.

The A Wrinkle in Time ingenue looked fresh in her white turtleneck blouse, yellow plaid pants, and black sneakers selected by stylist Jason Bolden.

'I think it's a really cool day to be celebrating especially in its close proximity to [Martin Luther King Jr.] Day,' Storm said on Tuesday.

Desperately seeking: Billionaire Boys Club actress Rosanna Arquette (R) also turned up to the inclusive festivities

Pulp Fiction alum: The 59-year-old Golden Globe nominee turned up in a long white blouse beneath a black blazer, matching pants, and sneakers

Dapper dudes: Omar Dorsey (L) and Shaka Senghor (R) also got suited and booted for the event

'So I feel like the two go hand in hand and I'm proud to be apart of it.'

Billionaire Boys Club actress Rosanna Arquette also turned up to the inclusive festivities.

The 59-year-old Golden Globe nominee turned up in a long white blouse beneath a black blazer, matching pants, and sneakers.
Rumor has it that he set up Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron.

But Sean Penn kept to himself on Tuesday as he was spotted heading out on a walk in Malibu.

The 58-year-old actor-turned-possible-matchmaker kept his outfit casual while out in the beach town.

Solo: Sean Penn kept to himself on Tuesday as he was spotted heading out on a walk in Malibu

It was a windy, chill day in the City of Angels, but Penn didn't bundle up much in spite of the weather.

He pulled an army green windbreaker over a white t-shirt and donned simple black jeans.

A pair of worn flip flops added to the Fast Times at Ridgemont High star's relaxed appearance.

Out for a stroll: The 58-year-old actor-turned-possible-matchmaker kept his outfit casual while out in the beach town

According to The Sun, Brad Pitt, 55, and Charlize Theron, 43, are now an item, and, according to a source, they were introduced by her ex-fiance Sean Penn.

'The new lovebirds were all over each over at a showbiz function last week,' a source claimed.

That function was a showing of the movie Roma at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood on January 12.

Theron was at the party and Pitt came later after a screening of his movie If Beale Street Could Talk.

'Brad came over to Chateau afterwards, changed his outfit and joined Charlize in a corner of the bar,' said the insider.

Introductions: According to The Sun , Brad Pitt, 55, and Charlize Theron, 43, are now an item, and, according to a source, they were introduced by her ex-fiance Sean Penn

New love? 'The new lovebirds were all over each over at a showbiz function last week,' a source claimed

The power couple started dating around Christmas, it was claimed, and they spend a lot of time at his Los Feliz, California mansion, though it was noted she has has yet to meet his kids Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, 10-year-olds Vivienne and Knox, Maddox, 16, and Pax, 14.

Theron has two adopted children: August and Jackson.

'They have been casually seeing each other for nearly a month now.

Theyve been friends for some time  ironically through Sean  but things have developed,' said the insider.

Romance? The power couple started dating around Christmas, it was claimed, and they spend a lot of time at his Los Feliz, California mansion, though it was noted she has has yet to meet his kids Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, 10-year-olds Vivienne and Knox, Maddox, 16, and Pax, 14

Working together: However, People has reported that the Hollywood A-listers might have met while shooting an ad campaign last year

However, People has reported that the Hollywood A-listers might have met while shooting an ad campaign last year.

Six months ago, Brad and Charlize worked together on a photoshoot with actor Adam Driver for Breitling watches.

'About six months ago, they did a shoot together. So they have spent time together,' a source told People. 'But anything that may have happened beyond that remains to be seen.'

In September, Breitling released a sneak peek video of the black and white ad.

Is there more? 'About six months ago, they did a shoot together. So they have spent time together,' a source told People. 'But anything that may have happened beyond that remains to be seen'

It hasn't been an easy past couple of days for Penn as Hulu announced it had canceled his new show The First after just one season.

The series, which launched in September, marked the Mystic River star's first regular television role.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of the show's cancellation on Friday.
Chris Zylka is 'still in love with ex Paris Hilton'.

Two months after their fairy tale engagement fell apart, the actor wants nothing more than to rekindle the relationship, sources told DailyMail.com on Tuesday.

'He is still deeply in love with Paris and really would love nothing more than to have her back,' the insider revealed.

Not over her: Chris Zylka is 'still in love with ex Paris Hilton', sources have revealed to DailyMail.com (pictured October 11)

They added: 'He tells friends she is the love of his life.'

The 33-year-old Leftovers star was spotted with a 'mystery woman' on Tuesday, prompting reports he was back on the dating scene.

However the source revealed that the girl is just a friend who has been dating Chris's best friend for a long time.

'He was not on a date,' the insider disclosed. 'He was having lunch with one of his guy friends and his girlfriend, but the photographer only got those two in the picture.'

Single: The 33-year-old Leftovers star was spotted with a 'mystery woman' on Tuesday, prompting reports he was back on the dating scene; however the source revealed that the girl is just a friend who has been dating Chris's best friend for a long time

Platonic: 'He was not on a date,' the insider disclosed. 'He was having lunch with one of his guy friends and his girlfriend, but the photographer only got those two in the picture'

Zylka had a well-chronicled breakup with ex-fiancee Paris in November of 2018. She quoted Marilyn Monroe on Instagram when she addressed the split for the first time.

'I believe that everything happens for a reason,' she wrote. 'People change so that you can learn to let go. Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right.'

The Ohio native got his first taste of mainstream success with recurring roles on the series Everybody Hates Chris in 2008, and 10 Things I Hate About You in 2009-2010.

Among his biggest breaks was his three seasons on the hit HBO supernatural drama series The Leftovers, which starred Justin Theroux.

Most recently he starred in the drama The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan, alongside Kit Harrington, Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates and Thandie Newton.
Adut Akech's star is definitely on the rise, with the Sudanese-Australian model taking to the catwalk in multiple shows during Paris Fashion Week (Haute Couture SS19).

In what has already been an undoubtedly busy week for the 19-year-old, Adut has so far walked for fashion powerhouses Christian Dior, Chanel and Givenchy.

Her appearance at Paris Fashion Week comes less than a month after she was crowned Model of the Year by the fashion industry on Models.com.

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Role model: Adut Akech's star is definitely on the rise, with the Sudanese-Australian model taking to the catwalk for multiple shows during Paris Fashion Week (Haute Couture). Seen here modeling for Christian Dior on Monday

Adut's first show was for Christian Dior on Monday, with the stunning model stepping out in a strapless grey and taupe gown.

A glittery headpiece adorned her hair, and she wore a birdcage veil over her face.

'Walking @dior this morning as my first show of haute couture 2019,' Adut wrote on Instagram.

Flower power: For her second show on Tuesday, Adut stepped out in a floral creation for Chanel. The structured white gown was strapless and featured different patterned flowers

Tailor made: Her Givenchy look, also on Tuesday, was decidedly more tailored. Adut took to the catwalk in skintight patent leather pants, and a structured black and white blazer

'Thank you @mariagraziachiuri @elinsvahn_ and the entire team at Dior for having me again. Congratulations on a beautiful show.'

For her second show on Tuesday, Adut stepped out in a floral creation for Chanel.

The structured white gown was strapless and featured different patterned flowers all over.

Opening act: 'Walking @dior this morning as my first show of haute couture 2019,' Adut wrote on Instagram

Dream girl: 'Today @chanelofficial haute couture show was truly magical and my dress was a dream,' she wrote on Instagram

She also donned black boots and wore her hair teased up high above her head in a dramatic look.

'Today @chanelofficial haute couture show was truly magical and my dress was a dream,' she wrote on Instagram.

'Thank you so much @karllagerfeld @amandaharlech @aurelieduclos and the rest of the Chanel family for having me be apart [sic] of such a beautiful show that Ill never forget.

One to watch: Earlier this month, Adut was crowned Model of the Year by the fashion industry on Models.com. Seen here on the cover of Vogue's December issue

'Thank you for always making me feel so special, I love each and one of you endlessly.'

Her Givenchy look, also on Tuesday, was decidedly more tailored.

Adut took to the catwalk in skintight patent leather pants, which she wore with a structured black and white blazer.

Friends in high places: Adut appears to be making the most of her time in Paris, pictured here alongside fellow model Adesuwa Aighewi (left) following the Dior fashion show on Monday

'Opening @givenchyofficial haute couture 2019 show in this fire look,' she began on Instagram.

'@clarewaightkeller where do I even begin you never fail to amaze me. It was in my great honour to have opened your beautiful show, I could not thank you enough for this special moment and making my dream of opening Givenchy a reality.

'I admire you as a person and your work just as much. Massive congratulations to you and your entire team on a breathtaking collection and show.'
Two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill revealed he was branching out into professional photography by posting a 35mm b&w picture of Kim Kardashian West on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old native New Yorker took the candid snap of the 38-year-old reality star while attending her third husband Kanye West's listening party for his album Ye in Wyoming back on May 31.

'It was really an epic, legendary thing,' the Mid90s director recalled of the Jackson Hole event on the July 17 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Skittles fan: Two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill revealed he was branching out into professional photography by posting a 35mm b&w picture of Kim Kardashian West on Tuesday

'It was really an epic, legendary thing': The 35-year-old native New Yorker took the candid snap of the 38-year-old reality star while attending her third husband Kanye West's listening party for his album Ye in Wyoming back on May 31

'And I didn't realize it was controversial to go support Kanye at that time. Like my sister [Beanie] didn't speak to me for a week because he wore a MAGA hat. To me, it just felt like a bad Andy Kaufman swing and a miss.'

Jonah added: 'I don't bail on people right away. People f*** up and do stupid stuff. You shouldn't bail on everybody right away. This guy has given me so much. He's my guy.'

Turns out Hill (born Feldstein) loves being behind the lens and he's been privately practicing the art form 'for years.'

'I am starting to work professionally,' the Maniac actor - who boasts 8.3M social media followers - announced on Instagram.

The Mid90s director recalled on the July 17 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live: 'I didn't realize it was controversial to go support Kanye at that time. Like my sister [Beanie] didn't speak to me for a week because he wore a MAGA hat'

Jonah added: 'To me, it just felt like a bad Andy Kaufman swing and a miss. I don't bail on people right away. People f*** up and do stupid stuff. You shouldn't bail on everybody right away. This guy has given me so much. He's my guy' (pictured May 31)

'I have decided to start sharing some photos with you all. Hope you enjoy, if not, that's cool too.'

The five-time SNL host shared a picture he took of his Mid90s actor Lucas Hedges and Superbad castmate Michael Cera in a Manhattan stairwell last year.

And Jonah also captured rappers Q-Tip and 2 Chainz, as well as First Reformed screenwriter Paul Schrader 'in honor of his Oscar nomination today.'

'I am starting to work professionally': Turns out Hill loves being behind the lens and he's been privately practicing the art form 'for years' (pictured Friday)

Mustache alert! The Maniac actor shared a picture he took of his Mid90s actor Lucas Hedges (L) and Superbad castmate Michael Cera (R) in a Manhattan stairwell last year

'Hope you enjoy!' The five-time SNL host also captured rapper 2 Chainz (L) and First Reformed screenwriter Paul Schrader (R) 'in honor of his Oscar nomination today'

Jonah told W Magazine on Monday: 'I've picked up so much from all these amazing people I've worked with, whether Gus Van Sant, the Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Bennett Miller, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Jonze, Seth Nevin, or Judd Apatow'

'I think all of your human experiences add up to the person you are now, and all your film experiences add up to the actor, writer, director, whatever else it is that you are,' Hill told W Magazine on Monday.

'So, yeah: I've picked up so much from all these amazing people I've worked with, whether Gus Van Sant, the Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Bennett Miller, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Jonze, Seth Nevin, or Judd Apatow.'

Fans can next catch the two-time Golden Globe nominee reprising his voiceover role as Green Lantern in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which hits US/UK theaters on February 8.
She's getting ready to star in the latest Ryan Murphy series Ratched.

And on Tuesday, Sharon Stone was in great spirits as she ran errands in Beverly Hills.

The actress, 60, looked stylish in a black sweater and very wide-legged black sequinned pants on a trip to the store.

Star: Sharon Stone was in great spirits as she ran errands in Beverly Hills Tuesday, looking stylish in a black sweater and very wide-legged black sequinned pants

Sharon stepped out in a pair of black trainers and had a small black purse slung on a long strap across her body.

The blonde bombshell wore her short hair with a center parting and was made-up with dark blush and bright red lip color.

The Basic Instinct star completed her look with a pair of black-framed tinted glasses.

Errands: The actress, 60, who has just joined the cast of Ryan Murphy's upcoming Netflix series Ratched, completed her look with a pair of black-framed tinted glasses and red lipstick

A week ago, it was revealed that Sharon will join a host of big names in showrunner Murphy's Netflix drama that fleshes out a backstory to infamous One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest character, Nurse Ratched.

Played in the 1975 Oscar-winning movie by Louise Fletcher, Ratched terrorized the patients of a psychiatric hospital and met her match in Jack Nicholson's RP McMurphy, a criminal faking mental illness to get what he thinks will be an easier ride than prison.

In the new show, a younger Ratched will be played by Murphy's muse Sarah Paulson and the cast also includes Judy Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Amander Plummer, Corey Stoll and Finn Wittrock.

Announcing the cast via Instagram on January 15, Murphy called his stars 'a true murderers row of talent'.

'Sarah, Cynthia, Judy, Amanda and Sharon, all doing scenes together? I cannot WAIT,' he added.

Fearsome: Ratched will flesh out a backstory to infamous One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest character, Nurse Ratched, played in the 1975 Oscar-winning movie by Louise Fletcher
She has one of the most famous figures in the world.

And on Wednesday, Alessandra Ambrosio showed off a lot of it as she did a photo shoot in Miami.

The former Victoria's Secret Angel flashed her bare bosom as she wore an unbuttoned blue denim shirt during the fashion photo session.

Stunner: She has one of the most famous figures in the world. And on Wednesday, Alessandra Ambrosio showed off a lot of it as she did a photo shoot in Miami

The model, 37, was bra-less as she went through several costume changes .

For one set of snaps, she paired the denim shirt with black underpants worn with a black leather belt and a pair of stripy socks and lace-up boots.

The Brazilian beauty had a striped headband around her long hair for a hippie look.

Skin: The former Victoria's Secret Angel flashed her bare bosom as she wore an unbuttoned blue denim shirt and no bra during the fashion photo session

Working: The photo shoot took place in a city neighborhood and Alessandra had to make do with changing outfits on the public street

The photo shoot took place in a city neighborhood and Alessandra had to make do with changing outfits on the public street.

She had a team of assistants who made sure that every ensemble was coordinated and kept the model coiffed and made-up for the camera.

For a different - but equally sexy look - she changed into a black shirt left open at the front and tucked into a tiny black leather mini skirt.

She added a blue jean vest and a pair of strappy black boots with metal studs.

As she posed against the trunk of a blue vintage car, her hair was brushed high across her forehead and cascaded down one side of her face.

Street cred: For a different - but equally sexy look - the model, 37, changed into a black shirt left open at the front and tucked into a tiny black leather mini skirt with a blue jean jacket

Natural beauty: As she posed against the trunk of a blue vintage car, her hair was brushed high across her forehead and cascaded down one side of her face

Famous figure: Skin was the theme of the day, as Alessandra changed again into a pair of black Romperall by Smash + Tess with nothing underneath. She added flip flops and wore her hair in a chignon

Skin was the theme of the day, as Alessandra changed again into a pair of black overalls by Smash + Tess with nothing underneath.

She added flip flops and wore her hair in a chignon, maximizing the exposure of her toned shoulders.

She was also seen wearing a loose-fitting green tank top paired with black leather trousers and the studded black ankle boots.

She revealed sideboob as she posed for pictures sitting on a bench and running her hand through her long hair.

Quick change: She was also seen wearing a loose-fitting green tank top paired with black leather trousers and the studded black ankle boots

Posed: She revealed sideboob as she posed for pictures sitting on a bench and running her hand through her long hair

The runway star has officially been a single mom since March, when she broke up with her former fiance Jamie Mazur after ten years together.

The former couple share daughter Anja, ten, and Noah, six.

During her hugely successful career she modeled for high-profile brands such as Armani Exchange, Next, Christian Dior and Ralph Lauren.

But she is still best known for her work as a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2000 to 2017.

Split: The runway star has officially been a single mom since March, when she broke up with her former fiance Jamie Mazur after ten years together

New romance: Alessandra has been dating Italian fashion designer Nicolo Oddi since July 2018, during which time the two have been seen on a number of tropical holidays together

To put Alessandra's career in perspective: in 2012 she was ranked number six on Forbes' list of highest-paid models, estimated to have earned $6.6 million in one year.

Alessandra has been dating Italian fashion designer Nicolo Oddi since July 2018, during which time the two have been seen on a number of tropical holidays together.

He is the founder and CEO of Alanui, a knitwear fashion label based in Milan which he created with his sister Carlotta in 2016.

Hands up: During her hugely successful career she has modeled for high-profile brands such as Armani Exchange, Next, Christian Dior and Ralph Lauren

Angelic: But she is still best known for her work as a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2000 to 2017

Raise the roof: To put Alessandra's career in perspective: in 2012 she was ranked number six on Forbes' list of highest-paid models, estimated to have earned $6.6 million in one year

Wardrobe change: Alessandra changed up later modeling a pair of low-rise black and red jeans and a zipped up black designer jacket
She failed to win Best Daytime Show with Good Morning Britain.

Yet Susanna Reid certainly did enough to scoop best dressed at The National Television Awards on Tuesday night.

The 48-year-old journalist looked phenomenal as she hit the red carpet outside London's O2 Arena clad in a glittering emerald gown with a busty key hole cut out.

Stunning: She failed to win Best Daytime Show with Good Morning Britain. Yet Susanna Reid certainly did enough to scoop best dressed at The National Television Awards on Tuesday

Showing off her hourglass curves, the sequinned dress clung to her youthful frame, flaring out into a full length skirt.

The garment also featured a keyhole cut out across the bodice that showed off her ample cleavage.

Susanna finished off the look by styling her glossy chestnut locks into loose waves that framed her stunning features.

Youthful: The 48-year-old journalist looked phenomenal as she hit the red carpet outside London's O2 Arena clad in a glittering emerald gown with a busty key hole cut out

The National Television Awards marked one of the most exciting nights in British TV, with faces from reality, scripted drama and comedy, soaps and quiz shows hoping to scoop a gong.

Held at London's O2, 2019's shortlist saw the likes of Killing Eve, Bodyguard and The Cry battle it out as some of the most talked-about new shows of the past 12 months.

The awards, which were the most exciting and closely-fought yet, handed over power to the viewers, who have been voting since October.

Gorgeous in green: Showing off her hourglass curves, the sequinned dress clung to her youthful frame, flaring out into a full length skirt

Chest a glimpse: The garment also featured a keyhole cut out across the bodice that showed off her ample cleavage

Missed out: Whilst the Susanna and Piers Morgan led-Good Morning Britian failed to pick up an award, ITV still stole the show in the Daytime category

Whilst the Susanna and Piers Morgan led-Good Morning Britian failed to pick up an award, ITV still stole the show in the Daytime category.

This Morning won for the ninth time after beating network companions GMB, Loose Women, and The Jeremy Kyle Show to the accolade, as well as Channel 4 show Sunday Brunch.

Susanna quipped there was an upside to her show losing, however, as she tweeted 'At least I stay sober!' in reference to her promise that she would break her teetotal streak if the news show won an award.
Georgia May Jagger confirms her romance with dashing restaurant owner Louis Levy by sharing her first picture of him on social media as he plants a kiss on her cheek.

Beaming Georgia May, the model daughter of Sir Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, who turned 27 this month, gushes: The best birthday present I got this year.

Parisian-born Louis, 29, who lives in New York, where he part-owns the popular Mimi eaterie in Greenwich Village, was visiting Georgia May in London.

Her dad will be pleased she is turning over a new leaf.

The Rolling Stone was said to be worried when it emerged last year that she was enjoying a whirlwind romance with an ex-convict-turned-rapper.

Georgia May Jagger confirms her romance with dashing restaurant owner Louis Levy by sharing her first picture of him on social media as he plants a kiss on her cheek

Actress Sharon Maughan, star of the Nescafe coffee adverts in the Eighties and Nineties, is now singing the praises of a different kind of pick-me-up: yoga.

The 68-year-old  who is married to Waking The Dead star Trevor Eve, with whom she has three children, including Star Trek actress Alice Eve  reveals that she finds the practice helpful for her scoliosis.

The condition is an abnormal curvature of the spine, which varies in severity. Extreme cases can interfere with breathing. Im into health and yoga, says Sharon. I actually have no choice. About five years ago, I discovered I had scoliosis. Yoga saves my life. I have to do it.

'Anyway, they say yoga is great for beauty  all that upside-down stuff!

Len Goodman, 74, may have waltzed away from Strictly Come Dancing, but the money keeps on rolling in.

Newly published accounts for the former head judges company, Pleasurable Pastimes, report that he has 4.6 million in equity  300,000 up on the previous year.

The 4.6 million in the business, through which he channels his earnings, includes 1.5 million in investment properties, 628,000 in stocks and 2.5 million in cash.

Its a ten out of ten for investment skills!

Battling Becker's sunnier outlook

Boris Beckers estranged wife Lilly, who is still battling the three-time Wimbledon champion in the divorce court, shared online a racy picture from her holiday in the Maldives, in which she appears to show the 51-year-old what hes missing.

Strutting down the deck in a white and red kimono, she declares: New Year, new outlook. Looking at what might come my way.

Lilly, 42, recently admitted that 2018 was the worst year of my life.

Boris Beckers estranged wife Lilly, who is still battling the three-time Wimbledon champion in the divorce court, shared online a racy picture from her holiday in the Maldives, in which she appears to show the 51-year-old what hes missing

Prince's Palace moneyspinner

Prince Andrew, who stepped down as overseas trade envoy in 2011 after a string of controversies, is keen to sing the praises of his latest business venture.

He set up Pitch@Palace, in which budding entrepreneurs bid for support from potential backers, and now claims it has been a huge success.

Yesterday, his official Twitter account boasted: Did you know that since The Duke of York founded Pitch at Palace in 2014, the initiative has helped create 3,669 jobs and generate more than 885 million of economic activity?

Give that man another medal.
She revels in her eco credentials while jetting around the world. Now, Livia Firth, the wife of actor Colin, has become involved in a spat with Emma Freud, the partner of filmmaker Richard Curtis, over Comic Relief T-shirts.

Livia, 49, who has two sons with the Oscar-winning actor, is livid that the charity Curtis co-founded has been buying the shirts from a sweatshop in Bangladesh, and has shamed the charity on Instagram.

'Had this conversation with Comic Relief for years,' she fumes. 'The time for not joining the dots has come to an end.'

She posted her message alongside a photograph of pop group the Spice Girls wearing the T-shirts emblazoned with the words 'I wannabe a Spice Girl'.

Freud felt compelled to answer back: 'It's BECAUSE we've had the conversation with you for years that we double-checked where the T-shirts were being made.

Colin Firth's wife Livia, pictured together in September, has become involved in a spat with Emma Freud, the partner of filmmaker Richard Curtis, over Comic Relief T-shirts

Posting on Instagram, she shared a pictured of Guardian article about the Spice Girls T-shirts being made by staff being paid just 35p an hour with the caption: 'the time for not joining the dots has come to an end'

'And it was ethical and all good. And then the T-shirt company 'Represent' changed the factory without telling us or the Spice Girls. And it is HORRIFIC.'

Firth has long extolled the many benefits of sustainability and eco-friendly fashion.

The Spice Girls T-shirts were being sold to raise money for Comic Relief's 'gender justice' campaign, but it transpired they were made at a factory in Bangladesh where women earn the equivalent of 35p an hour during shifts in which they also claim to be verbally abused and harassed.

Freud, 56, who has four children with the Love Actually and Bridget Jones filmmaker, added: 'EVERYONE needs to be responsible on this subject.

'These workers are being treated appallingly. My sadness is we did as many checks as you'd have hoped but had no idea the company would change suppliers without informing us. There are scoundrels here. But it's not Comic Relief.'

Pam Ayres has composed a rhyme in honour of Prince Philip and his car crash. 'Two angels at the gates of Heaven: 'Not yet! He's only ninety-seven!' '

Even glamourpuss Dame Joan Collins likes to rough it once in a while.

The evergreen Dynasty actress says: 'I like to look as good as I can. I really don't like looking sloppy and scruffy  I don't enjoy it.

'But that doesn't mean when I'm around the house I'm not in trackies. They're the most comfortable things you can wear.' Whatever would Alexis say?

Gwynnie's carrying a lot of baggage. . .

There's no danger of Gwyneth Paltrow losing her bag. The Oscar-winning star returned home from Mexico on a private jet clutching a holdall with her first name on the side in large letters.

Paltrow, 46, had been on holiday with her second husband, Brad Falchuk, and her two children by her ex, Chris Martin  daughter Apple, 14, and son Moses, 12.

The lifestyle guru once suggested suitable attire for flying on her Goop website totalling thousands of pounds in designer goods.

She wrote: 'The key is to opt for an outfit with function and thought behind each piece.'
Three-time Emmy nominee Elizabeth Banks donned black leather thigh-high boots for lunch in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.

The Happytime Murders stunner - turning 45 next month - also wore a black sweater, a frilly b&w-dotted skirt, Sunday Somewhere sunglasses and she toted a backpack for her meal out.

The Pitch Perfect 2 helmer just wrapped her latest directorial effort, Sony Pictures' reboot of Charlie's Angels, on December 11 in Germany.

Winter in Los Angeles: Three-time Emmy nominee Elizabeth Banks donned black leather thigh-high boots for lunch in Beverly Hills on Tuesday

Turning 45 next month! The Happytime Murders stunner also wore a black sweater, a frilly b&w-dotted skirt, and she toted a backpack for her meal out

Elizabeth plays Bosley in the 'big, fancy' feminist action flick - hitting US theaters November 1 - with Ella Balinska, Naomi Scott, Kristen Stewart, Patrick Stewart, and Djimon Hounsou.

Banks (born Mitchell) has also been busy promoting The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part with her castmates Chris Pratt and Will Arnett on The Late Late Show and elsewhere.

The Massachusetts-born blonde reprises her role as master builder and warrior Wyldstyle/Lucy in Warner Bros. Pictures' star-studded animated sequel, which hits US/UK theaters on February 8.

Both of the Hunger Games alum's sons - Felix, 7; and Magnus, 6; - 'love Legos' but they prefer Batman (Arnett) to her character Wyldstyle in the movies.

'Time to go to work': The Pitch Perfect 2 helmer just wrapped her latest directorial effort, Sony Pictures' reboot of Charlie's Angels, on December 11 in Germany (posted Monday)

'#TBT': Elizabeth plays Bosley in the feminist action flick - hitting US theaters November 1 - with (from L-R) Ella Balinska, Naomi Scott, and Kristen Stewart

Jet setters: Banks has also been promoting The Lego Movie 2 with her castmates Chris Pratt (L) and Will Arnett (R) on The Late Late Show and elsewhere (posted Monday)

Hitting US/UK theaters on February 8! The Massachusetts-born blonde reprises her role as master builder Wyldstyle/Lucy in Warner Bros. Pictures' star-studded animated sequel

'We were actually just went to Germany for a while I shot the next Charlies Angels movie,' Elizabeth told GMA last Friday.

'We were living there. We came home, and seven of the 10 boxes we shipped are just filled with Legos. It was all they wanted to do while we were in Germany.'

Banks has been happily married to producer Max Handelman since 2003, and they first met at the University of Pennsylvania way back in 1992.

Her boys: Both of the Hunger Games alum's sons - Felix, 7; and Magnus, 6; - 'love Legos' but they prefer Batman (Arnett) to her character Wyldstyle in the movies (pictured June 30)

Elizabeth told GMA last Friday: 'We were actually just went to Germany for a while I shot the next Charlies Angels movie. We were living there. We came home, and seven of the 10 boxes we shipped are just filled with Legos. It was all they wanted to do while we were in Germany'
They dated for six years following the end of his first marriage.

And Jimmy Kimmel revealed in a TV interview Monday night that he and Sarah Silverman had to work to maintain a friendship following the end of their relationship in 2009.

'I would say that it took some time, definitely,' Kimmel, 51, explained on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. 'It was never like where we didn't like each other, hated each other or anything like that. But it definitely took some time to be comfortable enough to be friends again.'

Pals: Jimmy Kimmel revealed in a TV interview Monday that it' definitely took some time' to be friends again with ex-girlfriend Sarah Silverman. They're pictured at her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in November

The two comedians started dating in 2002, broke up in 2008, briefly got back together and then decisively called it quits in 2009.

In October, 2009, Kimmel started a romance with Molly McNearney, one of the head writers for his ABC late night show Kimmy Kimmel Live!

They married in July 2013 and have two children.

The late night host also has two children with first wife Gina Maddy whom he wed in 1988 and divorced in 2002.

Silverman, 48, went on to date actor Michael Sheen from 2014 to early 2018.

Long romance: The two comedians, pictured in 2005, started dating in 2002, broke up in 2008, briefly got back together and then decisively called it quits in 2009

Rebuilt relationship: 'It was never like where we didn't like each other, hated each other or anything like that. But it definitely took some time to be comfortable enough to be friends again,'Kimmel, 51, explained on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen

Wives: Kimmel was married to Gina Maddy from 1988 to 2002, left, and went on to tie the knot with Molly McNearney in 2013 after dating for four years, right

Also during his chat with Cohen, Kimmel revealed the famous figures whom he would not invite onto his late night talk show.

Top of his 'not invited' list was Donald Trump, he said during the segment Pass the Mic.

Others included Trump's son Eric and Sean Hannity of Fox News.
Dermot OLeary took a playful dig at fellow presenter Holly Willoughby on a night littered with on-air blunders at the 2019 National Television Awards.

The host, who could frequently be heard talking to guests off-mic during awards announcements at the annual event, referenced Willoughbys increasing popularity as the live show commenced at Londons O2 Arena on Tuesday evening.

Taking to the stage after a short Bodyguard inspired skit with actor Richard Madden, OLeary, 45, quipped the event was one of the few shows on ITV not hosted by Holly Willoughby.'

Awkward: Dermot OLeary took a playful dig at fellow presenter Holly Willoughby on a night littered with on-air blunders at the 2019 National Television Awards

Cutting to the audience, the This Morning presenter  whose portfolio also includes Surprise Surprise, Dancing On Ice and a recent successful stint on Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!  looked mildly surprised, but quickly regained her composure.

The gag pre-empted a catalogue of live gaffes, blunders and foul mouthed faux pas on the night, amongst them OLearys clumsy introduction of backstage correspondents Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham.

The usually assured host appeared to be unaware that they were sitting in the audience as he welcomed the Love Island winners from 'somewhere backstage,' not realising that he was introducing pre-recorded footage.

Seeing the funny side: the This Morning presenter looked mildly surprised, but quickly regained her composure as the camera cut to her in the audience

Banter: Taking to the stage after a short Bodyguard inspired skit with actor Richard Madden, OLeary, 45, quipped the event was one of the few shows on ITV not hosted by Holly Willoughby'

The viewing public appeared to as bemused as those in attendance, with one tweeting: 'When dermot tells us jack and dani are backstage but we see them in the audience #NTAs.'

While another added: 'Somewhere backstage? Theyre.. seating..down..like theyve just shown. #NTAs.'

Commenting on the gaffe, a third wrote: 'Dani & Jack are in the audience, Dermot. They aren't doing anything backstage.'

Recurring theme: The gag pre-empted a catalogue of live gaffes, blunders and foul mouthed faux pas on the night, amongst them OLearys clumsy introduction of backstage correspondents Dani Dyer and Jack Fincham

We're over here! The usually assured appeared to be unaware that they were sitting in the audience as he welcomed the Love Island winners from 'somewhere backstage,' not realising that he was introducing pre-recorded footage

Confusing: The viewing public appeared to as bemused as those in attendance while watching the ceremony on Tuesday evening

The blunders continued as Danny Dyer picked up the award for Best Serial Drama Performance, and the actor struggled to hold back tears during his emotional speech, while also dropping an awkward f-bomb.

He raved: 'I can't believe that wow! Thank you! I want to thank all my EastEnders mob over there you're like my brothers and sisters, I just want to say to all you young kids living out there in poverty who don't think they've got a right to dream or hope, do not let that define where you're going in life, you can whoever you want to be.

'I want to dedicate this award to Harold Pinter, he believed in me when no one else did.'

Here we go: The blunders continued as Danny Dyer picked up the award for Best Serial Drama Performance, and the actor struggled to hold back tears during his emotional speech, while also dropping an awkward f-bomb

Moved: Struggling to hold back tears the soap star added: 'I'm getting f****** emotional now,' to the shock of the crowd, and then walked off-stage

Struggling to hold back tears the soap star added: 'I'm getting f****** emotional now,' to the shock of the crowd, and then walked off-stage.

There was further confusion as This Morning won Best Daytime, with O'Leary heard talking off-camera before Willoughby accepted the award with co-host Phillip Schofield.

Viewers could still hear the presenter as he chatted to Old Peoples Home for 4 Year Olds star Lily, four - onstage to hand over the award with co-star Ken, 87 - as the nominations were announced.

Gaffe: Danny DeVito, on-hand to present the award for Drama Performance to Richard Madden, wasn't spared the curse of the errant mic as he took to the stage

Baffled: His perplexed voice could be heard as the nominations VT aired, with the Hollywood legend sounding confused as he asked a producer, 'Oh you want me to say the names? They asked me not to say the names'

'We've got to show clips of all the shows,' he could be heard telling her. 'And then when we come back you can go "right, let's do it now!"'

Danny DeVito, on-hand to present the award for Drama Performance to Richard Madden, was also not spared the curse of the errant mic as he took to the stage.

His perplexed voice could be heard as the nominations VT aired, with the Hollywood legend sounding confused as he asked a producer: 'Oh you want me to say the names? They asked me not to say the names.'

The National Television Awards marked one of the most exciting nights in British TV, with faces from reality, scripted drama and comedy, soaps and quiz shows hoping to scoop a gong.

The 2019's shortlist saw the likes of Killing Eve, Bodyguard and The Cry battle it out as some of the most talked-about new shows of the past 12 months.

Other nominated newbies included Robbie Williams for his maiden turn as an X Factor judge, and Jodie Whittaker for her incarnation of Doctor Who - the first time a woman has ever played the role.

Jodie battled it out against the likes of Killing Eve leading ladies Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer, as well as Bodyguard stars Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes in the New Drama category, freshly launched this year.

However it was Madden who claimed the award on the night for his portrayal Sgt David Budd in writer Jed Mercurio's hit show.

Elsewhere Britain's Got Talent star David Walliams beat Louis Tomlinson, Judge Rinder, Robbie Williams and Simon Cowell for the Best TV Judge award.

As is the case every year, the UK's favourite soaps - Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks - were pitted against one another in the Serial Drama category.

National Television Awards 2019 - The Winners Quiz Show 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown A League Of Their Own Catchphrase Pointless The Chase - WINNER New Drama A Discovery Of Witches Bodyguard - WINNER Girlfriends Killing Eve The Cry Talent Show Britain's Got Talent Dancing On Ice Strictly Come Dancing - WINNER The Voice UK The X Factor Drama Call The Midwife Casualty Doctor Who Our Girl Peaky Blinders - WINNER Ant and Dec beat off all competition in the TV presenter category TV Presenter Ant & Dec - WINNER Bradley Walsh Graham Norton Holly Willoughby Phillip Schofield Factual Entertainment Ambulance DIY SOS: The Big Build Gogglebox Paul O'Grady: For The Love Of Dogs - WINNER The Great British Bake Off Drama Performance Cillian Murphy, Thomas Shelby, Peaky Blinders Jodie Comer, Villanelle, Killing Eve Jodie Whittaker, The Doctor, Doctor Who Michelle Keegan, L. Cpl Georgie Lane, Our Girl Richard Madden, Sgt David Budd, Bodyguard - WINNER Doctor Who lead Jodie Whittaker also missed out on Best Drama Performance The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award All Round To Mrs Brown's Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! - WINNER Love Island The Graham Norton Show Serial Drama Coronation Street EastEnders Emmerdale - WINNER Hollyoaks EastEnders' Danny Dyer won in the Serial Drama Performance category Serial Drama Performance Bonnie Langford, Carmel Kazemi, EastEnders Danny Dyer, Mick Carter, EastEnders - WINNER Emma Atkins, Charity Dingle, Emmerdale Jack P Shepherd, David Platt, Coronation Street Lucy Pargeter, Chas Dingle, Emmerdale Comedy Benidorm Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father Mrs Brown's Boys Peter Kay's Car Share - WINNER The Big Bang Theory Newcomer Aedan Duckworth, Oliver Morgan, Hollyoaks Alexandra Mardell, Emma Brooker, Coronation Street James Moore, Ryan Stocks, Emmerdale - WINNER Neet Mohan, Dr Rashid Rash Masum, Casualty Ricky Champ, Stuart Highway, EastEnders Good Morning Britain lost out in the Daytime category Daytime Good Morning Britain Loose Women Sunday Brunch The Jeremy Kyle Show This Morning - WINNER TV Judge David Walliams - WINNER Louis Tomlinson Robbie Williams Robert Rinder Simon Cowell Advertisement

And it was the turn of Yorkshire based ITV soap Emmerdale to enjoy a rare victory at the annual ceremony.

EastEnders did however enjory its own victory courtesy of Danny Dyer, who beat Emma Atkins, Jack P Shepherd and Lucy Pargeter to the Serial Drama Performance gong.

In what was perhaps a shock to some, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly won the Best Presenters category - a prize they have taken home every year since 2001.

The pair, however, have spent the majority of the past 12 months apart professionally, thanks to Ant's recovery from alcohol and substance abuse issues.

Dec continued his work on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain's Got Talent and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! without Ant - yet they are up for an award as a twosome.

Ant will return to these shows in 2019 however.

Popular: Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield picked up the Daytime award at the event on Tuesday evening

The annual Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award, perhaps the most prestigious accolade of the evening, saw Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, All Round To Mrs Brown's, Love Island and The Graham Norton Show lose to reality TV juggernaut I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

The Comedy category featured several shows that have either aired or are currently airing their last ever seasons this year, among them Benidorm, Peter Kay's Car Share and The Big Bang Theory.

They were up against Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father and Mrs Brown's Boys, but it was comedy veteran Peter Kay who walked away with the award on the night.

Meanwhile Paul O'Grady: For The Love Of Dogs beat The Great British Bake Off, Gogglebox, Ambulance and DIY SOS: The Big Build to the Factual Entertainment accolade.

The Chase trumped Catchphrase, Pointless,8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown and A League Of Their Own to the Quiz show gong.

Elsewhere the Talent Show award was claimed by Strictly Come Dancing in a tight category that also featured Britain's Got Talent, Dancing On Ice , The Voice UK and The X Factor.

The awards, which were the most exciting and closely-fought yet, handed over power to the viewers, who have been voting since October
She often makes a statement with her bold and brave fashion choices.

And Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki once again turned heads as she attended the Giorgio Armani Prive show during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday evening.

The 28-year-old star took the plunge and went braless in a chic blush-coloured tuxedo by the famed Italian designer.

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Suits you miss! Elizabeth Debicki takes the plunge and goes braless in a chic blush tuxedo as she attends the Giorgio Armani Fashion Show during Paris Fashion Week

The blonde beauty wore her cropped locks in a polished style and her flawless complexion was glowing through minimal makeup.

For accessories, Elizabeth kept it simple - wearing a pair of black stilettos on her feet while she carried a simple black clutch.

She also added a pair of unique perspex earrings to her look.

While Elizabeth may be famous, she doesn't live like a typical celebrity.

The thespian, who hails from Melbourne, is staunchly protective of her privacy, and has even said in the past that fame does not 'suit' her.

She insists that her privacy is paramount to her, recently telling Vogue Australia: 'I've always been a private person.'

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. actress added that she keeps her work and her life very much apart.

Flawless: The blonde beauty glowed with minimal makeup on her complexion

'I feel like the thing I want out in the world is my work and I've always believed, and it's the way I approach my work, that me and the work are separate,' she told the fashion magazine.

Elizabeth added: 'I think that people with social media can blur it so beautifully, and I respect that, but it's not really how I am and I just want the work to speak and people to receive it the way they will without anything influencing it.'

In the past, the Peter Rabbit star has revealed that she does not use social media.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, she said: 'I also don't have social media or anything like that, which was a choice.

'At first, it wasn't a choice as I am technologically incompetent, so I was sort of like, "what is Instagram?" Then it was too late, everybody had it. I remember thinking, "I'm really not that interesting. What am I going to post?"

'Then it became a choice, because I think you just have to keep some things for yourself too in this business. Also, I am really daggy and boring' she joked.

Elizabeth first garnered international attention after starring in Baz Lurhmann's 2013 adaption of The Great Gatsby.

Her next project is new crime thriller, Widows, directed by Steve McQueen and co-starring Colin Farrell and Michelle Rodriguez.

She is also currently promoting the new British biopic Vita and Virginia, in which Elizabeth plays Virginia Woolf.
She may have spent the last nine years celibate, but Ajay Rochester hasn't forgotten the finer details of love-making.

In a newly-resurfaced interview from 2015, the 49-year-old single mother discussed her sexual proclivities with surprising candour.

'Every girl likes [anal sex]! They just won't tell you,' she told British actor Andy Newton-Lee during a podcast chat.

'It not like I make a habit of it, but I do know that there's that thing up there,' she explained with a wry smile.

Turning her attention to Andy, Ajay added: 'It's the same with the boys, you do like it [too]!'

Andy Newton-Lee is best known for playing Robbie Flynn in English soap Hollyoaks. He also runs a successful relocation company called Next Stop LAX.

'Every girl likes it, they just won't tell you!' In a newly-resurfaced interview from 2015, Ajay Rochester (right) discussed her sexual proclivities with surprising candour. Pictured with British actor Andy Newton-Lee (left)

Thanks for sharing! 'Every girl likes [anal sex]! They just won't tell you,' Ajay said

Ajay made headlines earlier this month when she revealed to her I'm A Celebrity campmates that she hadn't had sex in almost a decade.

'I've reclaimed my virginity. You have to after nine years', she said.

Ajay was once engaged to British-born telecommunications manager Martin Gleave, but called off the wedding in 2007.

'I've reclaimed my virginity!' Ajay made headlines earlier this month when she revealed to her I'm A Celebrity campmates that she hadn't had sex in almost a decade

In 2012, she came out as bisexual after being photographed kissing a woman at the beach in Malibu.

'I'm proud of being part of the gay community - by definition I would consider myself "bi" as, of course, I am attracted to men also,' she told Woman's Day at the time.

'I have been with men and women, and you love who you love. I've never said I'm straight,' she added.

In October 2014, Ajay host revealed on Facebook that she had been asked on a date by a mystery man.

'I don't even remember the last time I went on a date! Not sure I would know what to do,' she wrote.

She's out! Ajay became the first contestant to be booted off I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! on Tuesday night
Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra Judge has had a change of heart, and is now condemning the transphobic comments her eldest son, Ryan Vieth, made in a since-deleted Instagram post.

After initially 'liking' his post, the reality star shared a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on her Instagram Monday along with one of his famous quotes: 'The time is right to do what is right.'

She also shared a lengthy comment in the caption that began: 'I have been extremely upset my son would post such a thing. A post that I did NOT see because he took it down immediately knowing it was WRONG.'

Reversal: Tamra Judge had a change of heart regarding her son's (Ryan Vieth) transphobic Instagram comment; the two are pictured together

The reversal: After initially 'liking' her son's post, Judge condemned his comment along with a picture and quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Judge then went on to say that she had 'a concerned mom moment' when she commented on her son's post and said: 'Wow thats sad. 5-year-old can not make a decision like that,' according to allaboutthetea.com.

'My comment did not come from a place of hate.' she explained.

She said she has since encouraged her son Ryan to make amends.

She concluded with: 'I'm extremely sorry, His words were harsh & unacceptable. I have nothing but love & respect for the LGBTQ community....always have always will. I will continue 2019 with a renewal of peace, wellness & love for all.

The rant: Vieth shared a screenshot of an article about a British transgender family whose five-year-old son who is also transitioning from male to female. In the since deleted Instagram , Vieth said: 'LETS BE F***ING REAL, THE WORLD IS F***ED. COMPLETELY F***ED'

The reasoning: Judge said she had 'a concerned mom moment' when she initially commented on her son's post and said: 'Wow thats sad. 5-year-old can not make a decision like that': mother and son are pictured in May 2013

Last week Vieth, 33, shared a screenshot of an article about a British transgender family whose five-year-old son who is also transitioning from male to female.

It included a comment, which stated, 'The only thing that kid should be transitioning into is being a 6 year old. Anything else is abusive brainwashing.'

In response Vieth commented: 'LETS BE F***ING REAL, THE WORLD IS F***ED. COMPLETELY F***ED.

Going strong: The reality star has been married to third husband Eddie Judge since 2013

Vieth, Judge's son from her first marriage, has been seen on RHOC after his mom joined the cast in 2007.

Judge also has three other children whom she shares with her second ex-husband Simon Barney.

She married current and third husband Eddie Judge in 2013.






She's one of Australia's most loved Bachelorette who boasts many talents.

And on Monday, Georgia Love shared her knack for performing arts after posting a video of herself on-stage as she put on Disney-themed performance.

Gushing over the experience, the 30-year-old former reality TV star warmly shared how proud her late mother would have been.

'Mum would be so proud': The Bachelorette's Georgia Love (pictured) put her theatre skills to the test on stage during Disney-themed performance and shared footage to Instagram

'The moment my friendship with @abirahmed peaked,' she began the lengthy caption on social media.

'15 years leading us to this moment: called up onto stage at a Disney singalong brunch to lip sync battle to Bohemian Rhapsody,' she added.

'Unplanned, unspoken, on-the-spot but somehow perfectly choreographed because it would seem we have now officially morphed into the one person.

'15 years leading us to this moment: called up onto stage at a Disney singalong brunch to lip sync battle to Bohemian Rhapsody,' she wrote beside the Instagram post

'Mum would be so proud,' Georgia concluded.

Clad in a Mary Poppins ensemble, Georgia wore a Victorian-style white dress complete with a wide brim hat and boots.

She accessorised the theatrical attire with a bright red corset belt.

In the video, Georgia is seen leaping in the air and landing in the arms of her friend, who appeared to be dressed as Aladdin.

Theatrical: Clad in a Mary Poppins costume, Georgia wore this Victorian-style white dress complete with a wide brim hat and boots

Georgia tragically lost her mother Belinda in November 2016 to pancreatic cancer just days after the finale of her season of the reality show aired.

Loving tributes shared with the Herald Sun described Belinda as an outgoing mother and friend whose life was 'cut way too short'.

At the time, Georgia spoke to TV Week magazine and gushed about the moment she was able to introduce her Bachelorette winner boyfriend Lee Elliott to her mother.

'It was amazing to see how much he perked her up,' she said, adding: 'She was sitting up talking and laughing with him, which she hadn't been able to do all day.

Tragic: Georgia tragically lost her mother in November 2016 to pancreatic cancer just days after the finale of her season of The Bachelorette aired. Pictured: Georgia as a youngster with her late mother

A mother's approval: Lee Elliot also revealed in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that he met Georgia's mother for the first time in hospital straight after the finale aired and received the seal of approval from her

'It was obviously an awful place and reason to be meeting.'

Winner of the show Lee Elliot also revealed in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that he met Georgia's mother for the first time in hospital straight after the finale aired and received the seal of approval from her.

Georgia, unlike other contestants, had been given permission to speak to her mother while she filmed the show due to Belinda's ill health.
Charismatic TV and radio presenter Rove McManus is known for keeping his family life private.

But on Monday, his actress wife Tasma Walton shares a public birthday message to her husband of nine years via Twitter.

'Happy Birthday to an incredible man. Your talent is inspiring, you are an amazing father and beautiful husband,' the proud woman began with love-heart emojis.

'Your spirit makes the world a better place!' Rove McManus' (left) wife Tasma Walton (right) shares loving tribute to her husband on his birthday

'Your empathy, generosity and spirit make the world a better place. I love and adore you. Happy Birthday,' she added.

Although the former Blue Heelers star did not reveal her husband's age, Rove is celebrating his 45th birthday.

Rove and Tasma tied the knot back in 2009, and the couple share one daughter, Ruby, aged 5.

The media personality is best known for his weekly evening talk show Rove Live on Network Ten.

The popular segment ran from 1999-2009 before he relocated to the US to host Rove LA on Fox8 from 2011 to 2012.

Solid couple: Rove (right) and Tasma (left) tied the knot back in 2009, and the couple share one daughter, Ruby, aged 5

He recently made his return to Network Ten hosting the new panel show Show Me The Movie! with team captains, actress Jane Harber and comedian Joel Creasey.

His TV star wife grew-up in Western Australia's Geraldtown and recently spoke out spoken about discovering her indigenous heritage,

The 44-year-old said she received an 'unknown' result on a DNA test after coincidentally playing indigenous characters on screen.

The veteran actress has also spoken in the past about her struggles with identity, after a childhood which saw her brought-up by a single mother.

Loved-up: Rove's wife Tasma (left) wrote over Twitter: 'Your empathy, generosity and spirit make the world a better place. I love and adore you. Happy Birthday'
She's yet to set a date for her wedding after her fiance James Stewart popped the question before Christmas.

But it seems Home and Away star Sarah Roberts is already shredding for the wedding as she hit the gym for a gruelling session on Tuesday.

In photos posted on Instagram, the 34-year-old actress flaunted her incredible physique as she performed a series of exhausting exercises.

Shredding for the wedding! Home and Away star Sarah Roberts showcases super-toned physique while hitting the gym...weeks after engagement to fiance co-star James Stewart

Clad in form-fitting activewear, Sarah showcased her super-toned limbs.

Fresh-faced, she framed her stunning natural features by wearing her raven locks in a low bun.

Sarah wrote in the caption: 'U can do it put your back into it', while tagging celebrity trainer Chief Brabon, his nutritionist wife, Emilie and Home and Away co-star Sophie Dillman.

Looking good: Clad in form-fitting activewear, Sarah showcased super-toned limbs

Sarah and James' engagement news was revealed in a December issue of New Idea.

James, 43, explained that he popped the question on November 30, surprising Sarah with a ring at the restaurant where they had their first date.

'My whole face was paralysed and I was so overwhelmed. There were tears and I haven't stopped smiling,' Sarah said of the proposal.

Putting her back into it: Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the 34 year-old actress flaunted her incredible physique as she performed a series of exhausting exercises

James was previously engaged to his Packed to the Rafters co-star, Jessica Marais, and the former couple share custody of a six-year-old daughter, Scout.

The actor told the publication that his daughter was keen for him to propose to Sarah.

'Scout is watching movies with princesses marrying princes so it was a gag for a long time where she'd say, "When are you going to do that? You better do it quick, dad! You're going to lose her!"' he said.
Just this month she gushed about her 'lovely' Christmas break with her family.

And on Tuesday, former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie, 40, bemoaned having to return back to work.

Taking to Instagram, the actress, author and radio star shared a sweet snap of daughter Mae, four, gazing out the window and wrote: 'Wondering where the holidays went.'

'Wondering where the holidays went': Kate Ritchie bemoans returning to work after her 'happy' Christmas with her family... and after split rumours with husband Stuart Webb

The full post red: 'Staring out the window wondering where the holidays went...'

She added the hashtags 'current mood,' 'holiday soul food' and 'Mae.'

Earlier this month, at the premiere of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Musical, Kate told Daily Mail Australia that she loved her Christmas holidays with her family.

Family first: Taking to Instagram, the actress, author and radio star (pictured) shared a sweet snap of daughter Mae, four, gazing out the window

Quality time: Earlier this month, at the premiere of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Musical, Kate told Daily Mail Australia that she loved her Christmas holidays with her family (pictured with her daughter and husband Stuart Webb)

'I had six weeks over Christmas with family. That always helps. We've had a lovely holiday,' she said, attending the event with NRL star husband Stuart Webb and daughter Mae.

'Having six weeks off from working at Nova has been really lovely, back to work on the 21st,' she added.

Looking like the picture perfect family, Kate was all smiles as her husband kissed her on the head at the event.

Rumours of trouble in the couple's relationship were sparked when New Idea claimed they were living apart back in 2016.

Rumours: Rumours of trouble in the couple's relationship were sparked when New Idea claimed they were living apart back in 2016

At the time, the magazine alleged that the retired St. George player moved into a newly-purchased home in the NSW Southern Highlands, while Kate stayed with Mae in Randwick.

'It's rare for Kate and Stu not to wear their wedding rings, and they have been spending a bit of time apart as well,' an insider said at the time.

'So we're all naturally worried.'

The couple also inadvertently fuelled split speculation when they were pictured without their wedding rings that same year.

And then in 2017, Kate and Stuart looked strained while engaging in awkward PDA in a Sydney park.

Last year in October, Kate told The Australian's Women's Weekly that although at times she is 'not sure' what is going on in her life, she and Stuart are happy and committed to their marriage.
Last week Triple M breakfast host Lawrence Mooney declared he could take down 'King Kyle' in the breakfast radio ratings and reach No. 1 in Sydney.

Now, KIIS FM shock jock Kyle Sandilands has issued an inadvertent put-down to his radio rival during his Kyle & Jackie 'O' show on Tuesday.

Kyle, 47, claimed sacked Today show host, Karl Stefanovic, 44, sent him a text message, saying: 'I bet youre scared of that Lawrence Mooney.'

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'Who is he?' KIIS FM shock jock Kyle Sandilands (left) said he's 'never heard' of Triple M's Lawrence Mooney (right) after he declared he can take down 'King Kyle' in the breakfast radio ratings

To which the Sydney radio star replied: 'Who is he? Never heard of him.'

Just days ago, Lawrence, 53, said he's determined to take on Kyle and Jackie 'O' Henderson in the Sydney breakfast radio ratings.

The comedian said he felt optimistic about helping Triple M grow its audience after joining revamped breakfast show, Moonman in the Morning.

'When I joined the Brisbane breakfast team it was 9.2 per cent [market share] and I left Brisbane on 14.1 per cent,' Lawrence told The Daily Telegraph, reflecting on his past success in Queensland.

Game on, Sandilands! Lawrence (pictured in May 2017) has insisted he can take down 'King Kyle' in the breakfast radio ratings and reach No. 1 in Sydney

'I love the numbers, I get very involved in ratings I want to go to No. 1 [in Sydney] and I think there's room for this show to grow,' he added.

'We [Lawrence and his wife] are absolutely looking to move here [to Sydney] but it's all dependent on how the show goes in the first placeIf we tank, I'm gone and that's radio.'

Last year, KIIS 106.5's The Kyle and Jackie O Show ended 2018 on a ratings high.

New kid on the block: Last week the comedian said he felt optimistic about helping Triple M grow its audience after joining revamped breakfast show, Moonman in the Morning

According to the eighth and final ratings survey for 2018, Kyle and Jackie finished as the No. 1 rated FM breakfast show in Sydney with a 10.5 per cent audience share.

Despite Lawrence feeling confident he can turn the ratings around, some listeners have already expressed concerns about Moonman in the Morning.

Triple M's new breakfast show - which replaces The Grill Team and is hosted by Lawrence, Jess Eva, Chris Page and Gus Worland - launched last week to a mixed reception.

Dominant: Last year, KIIS 106.5's The Kyle and Jackie O Show ended 2018 on a ratings high. Pictured: Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson

Some listeners were less than impressed by the new lineup, and took to social media to voice their opinions.

'Well that's it, Triple M. Count me out. "Moonman" is possibly the least funny person on the planet. I pity Gus [Worland],' wrote one listener.

'Tried the breakfast show yesterday. Sorry to say it's awful,' another added.

'Not a patch on the last few years. I love Triple M and have for a long time, however not the new crew at breakfast. [This] now has me trying elsewhere until 9am.'
Jessica Marais celebrated her first anniversary with boyfriend Jake Holly last month.

And on Monday, The Wrong Girl star shared an Instagram photo of a different celebration, which involved a bouquet and white dresses.

The 33-year-old looked elated while hugging her six-year-old daughter Scout, who appeared to be dressed as a flower girl.

Something to tell us? Jessica Marais wears a white dress and holds a 'wedding bouquet' with daughter Scout as 'flower girl' after celebrating her anniversary with Jake Holly

Jessica wore a white gown with professional makeup and had her luscious locks professionally styled.

It's unclear what the occasion was, however, she alluded to having an incredible start to the year with Scout and Jake, after a challenging 2018.

'Nature, art, family, beauty, strength, healing, self love.. God is everywhere! Bring on 2019,' she captioned.

Smitten: Jake shared this photo to Instagram on New Year's Eve. He captioned the photo, 'Happy NYE friends.. bring on 2019.. Jan 1st, just another day!'

Jessica and Sydney-based photographer Jake first went public in January last year at a Sam Smith concert at Nova's Red Room in Sydney.

An insider previously told Woman's Day last year that Jake introduced Jessica to Hillsong Church and he has brought great happiness to her life.

'Jess seems to be in a happy place,' a source said.

'And if Jake's a positive influence on her, bringing out her strong, healthy values, then that's fantastic.'

Her rock: Jessica and Sydney-based photographer Jake first went public in January last year at a Sam Smith concert at Nova's Red Room in Sydney. An insider previously told Woman's Day last year that Jake introduced Jessica to Hillsong Church and he has brought great happiness to her life

The happy photos come months after Jessica checked into a Sydney mental health facility in July.

At the time, her reps told News Corp that she was focusing on 'urgent health issues'.

'It is with much disappointment that we advise Jessica Marais is unable to attend the TV Week Logie Awards due to her health,' the statement read.

'Jess is naturally disappointed, is grateful to TV Week and all the viewers who have nominated her for the awards this year and wishes all the nominees and her friends a great celebration on Sunday night.'

Co-parenting: Jessica shares daughter Scout with ex-fiance, James Stewart (left)

In 2014, Jessica spoke about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

'I was diagnosed at one point with bipolar. I have developed ways to talk myself down from any ledges I find myself on,' she told The Australian Women's Weekly.

'There's probably one day a month when I am an absolute mess. In my case it's hard to separate what is due to trauma or stress and what is due to a simple chemical imbalance.'

Jessica shares daughter Scout with ex-fiance, James Stewart, 43.

Last month she celebrated her one year anniversary with boyfriend Jake.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14
Former Dancing With the Stars judge Mark Wilson made an emotional appearance on Studio 10 on Tuesday.

The five-time Australian DanceSport champion broke down in tears as he recounted being terrorised by an unknown stalker for the past 14 years.

Promoting new book, Stalked: The Human Target by Rachel Cassidy, in which he recalls his own experience, the 56-year-old spoke about turning to alcohol to cope.

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'I haven't drunk in five years': Dancing With The Stars judge Mark Wilson breaks down as he recalls turning to alcohol to cope with the fact his stalker has never been caught

The stalker has made threats on Mark and his family's lives, and has yet to be apprehended by police.

It all began in 2005, when Mark's dance studio in Victoria burnt down.

Thinking nothing of it, he reopened the Melbourne studio in November 2008, but just 12 weeks later it also burnt down.

Shortly after the second fire, a man phoned his home and threatened to burn down his family's house if they rebuilt the dance studio for a third time.

Two fires and a horrifying threat! Mark broke down in tears as he recounted being terrorised by the unknown stalker since 2005. Seen here on Dancing With The Stars

The man informed Mark that he knew where his family (Mark, his wife Annemarie and their three young children) lived, and even mentioned the suburb in the chilling call.

Clearly rattled, Mark tried to figure out who was behind the threats, but the police advised him to move, saying there was a chance they would never catch the person.

Worried about the safety of his family, the protective father enrolled his family in self-defence classes and tightened the security on their proprieties.

In a bid to return to some form of normality, Mark also persevered with his career in the dancing industry, and moved to Queensland's Gold Coast in 2013.

Living in fear! Mark was forced to tighten his security and learn self-defence after the stalker threatened to burn down his family home if he rebuilt his dance studio for a third time

'I had so much going on and I was so stressed. We were running a social dance to try and keep things going, and I couldn't go in. I couldn't speak to one other person,' he recounted.

'I just went to a bottle shop, and I bought six cans of Johnnie Walker & Coke, and I just drank those.'

He said he finally came to the realisation that he had to do what was right for his family, deciding to move them interstate in 2013, which he described as 'tough' and costly.

Making a move: Mark ultimately decided to move his family interstate in 2013 to Queensland's Gold Coast, which he described as 'tough' and costly. Seen here with his Dancing With The Stars co-stars [L-R] Mark, Todd McKenney, Helen Richie and Paul Mercurio in September 2016

Chilling! Police advised Mark to move on, saying there was a chance they would never catch his stalker

And even though they left Victoria, Mark admitted he still worries the person who stalked him is still out there.

He said he's still trying to wrap his head around what happened, admitting none of it made sense to him.

It still takes a toll on him now, with Mark admitting he still finds it hard to talk about his horrifying ordeal.

Numbing the pain: Mark said his lowest moment came while he was writing his chapter of the book Stalked: The Human Target by Rachel Cassidy, admitting he would drink until 2am

He later said his lowest moment came while he was writing his chapter in the book, admitting he would stay up and drink until 2am.

Recalling his experience, Mark broke down and needed to be consoled by the show's panel.

'There was a pathway through this. Going through that was important for me to deal with and then to be able to get on board, because I haven't had a drink in five years,' he recounted, before once again breaking down in tears.

If you or someone you know have a problem with alcohol, you can seek advice from a professional at drinkwise.org.au or Lifeline on 131114
She's said to be masterminding a relocation to LA with her entire family in an attempt to emulate the Kardashian's success.

But Tammy Hembrow made time to flaunt her incredible figure in a white bikinin on Monday.

Taking to Instagram, the mum-of-two wowed her 9.1million followers as she showed off her tiny waist and bountiful derriere in the two-piece.

White hot! Tammy Hembrow flaunts tiny waist and dangerous curves in two-piece bikini amid plans to move her family to Los Angeles 'full-time'

Wearing her locks in a low bun, Tammy, 24, complimented her stunning features with a natural make-up palette while hanging poolside.

Captioning the brief clip, she wrote 'Love u like Ill never see u again', a lyric from 2017 smash hit 'Arms Around You' by Lil Pump, which also played in the background.

Her post comes as the Australian fitness influencer recent;y discussed her plans to move to Los Angeles with her entire family.

Bathing beauty: Wearing her locks in a low bun, Tammy, 24, complimented her stunning features with a natural make-up palette while hanging poolside

According to sister Emilee, Tammy has already floated the idea with her entire clan in an attempt to rival the phenomenal rise of the Kardashians.

But discussing the move with pal Skye Wheatley on the Emilee Hembrow's YouTube channel earlier this month, she revealed her reservations.

'I'm happy here for now, but Tammy's trying to make us all move to LA or America,' Emilee admitted.

Will they become the next Kardashians? The post comes after the Australian fitness influencer discussed plans to move to Los Angeles with her entire family (Pictured L to R: Amy, Tammy, Starlette, and Emilee)

The beauty, who has two children under the age of four, was concerned about the move, telling Skye: 'I just have mixed feelings, because I hear raising kids in America is not the best.'

Tammy's star skyrocketed after making global headlines at Kylie Jenner's 21st party last August in Los Angeles, leaving on a stretcher after collapsing during the celebrations.

'I just have mixed feelings, because I hear raising kids in America is not the best': Emilee (left) revealed she wasn't entirely on board with the idea of moving her young family overseas while speaking to her blogger pal, Skye Wheatley

She is the mother to two-year-old daughter Saskia and three-year-old son Wolf, who she shares with ex-fiance Reece Hawkins.

The daughter of Australian director, screenwriter and musician Mark Hembrow, 64, Tammy has four model sisters - Amy, 28, Emilee, 26, Starlette, 18, and Ava, 13.

Her siblings have benefited from her success over the years, with sisters Starlette and Amy's social media accounts boasting more than 160,000 followers.
She did not attend her colleague Karl Stefanovic's wedding in Los Cabos, Mexico last month.

And on Tuesday, Georgie Gardner explained the reason for her absence.

The 48-year-old journalist revealed she couldn't attend the nuptials because she was on a pre-arranged family holiday, but she nonetheless bought Karl and his wife Jasmine Yarbrough a thoughtful gift.

Mystery solved! Georgie Gardner (pictured) has explained why she missed Karl Stefanovic's nuptials to Jasmine Yarbrough in Mexico, but reveals she still bought the couple a wedding gift

Georgie told KIIS 101.1's Jase & PJ on Tuesday that although she couldn't attend the wedding on December 8, she gifted the newlyweds a cheese knife.

'I already had arrangements to take my kids on holiday,' Georgie said, explaining her absence. 'You can't be in two places at once.'

She hastily added: 'I bought him a wedding present actually. I bought him a very nice cheese knife.'

Newlyweds: Karl and Jasmine are pictured on their wedding day (December 8) at the One&Only Palmilla Resort in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico

It's the thought that counts! Although she couldn't attend Karl's wedding, Georgie nonetheless bought the newlyweds a cheese knife as a gift

In early December, just days before the ceremony, Georgie confirmed she wouldn't be attending Karl's wedding, which was held the One&Only Palmilla Resort in San Jose del Cabo.

A Channel Nine representative said at the time that Georgie already had 'family commitments and holidays as previously planned'.

It came after The Daily Telegraph reported that Karl - who was caught badmouthing his colleague in a leaked phone call in March - did not invite her to his big day.

Snubbed! In early December, just days before the ceremony, Georgie confirmed she wouldn't be attending Karl's wedding, which was held the One&Only Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos

While on his honeymoon in Aspen, Colorado on December 19, Karl was sacked as co-host of the Today show.

He was later replaced on Today by Deborah Knight, who debuted with Georgie on the panel last week.

The Today show airs weekdays from 5:30am on Channel Nine.
Chrissie Swan took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a disturbing photo of a children's doll she found abandoned on a public bench.

The famed radio and television host captioned the image: 'I just saw something terrifying and inexplicable'.

The bizarre image showed a plastic doll in a white lace dress sitting upright on a bench in Melbourne.

'I just saw something inexplicable': Chrissie Swan has been left terrified after being faced with a gruesome doll etched with bizarre symbols on a park bench in Melbourne

Smudged white and pink foundation was smeared all over the doll's face, while the initials 'L' and 'S' could be seen drawn onto the doll's foot.

It was also clothed in the style of a centuries-old dress.

Fans were quick to take to the comments section offering their thoughts, with one writing: 'This is hideous! Did you burn it??'

Another replied: 'That is truly terrifying!'

Creepy! The bizarre image showed a plastic doll in a white lace dress sitting upright on a bench in Melbourne

Adding to the peculiar encounter, the 45-year-old asked her 184,000 followers: 'Why the symbols WHY?!?'.

Some suggested the letters may be a 'Scientology mark', while others thought it could be a more sinister 'satanic marking'.

'Wednesday Adams has left her doll behind,' one woman joked while another suggested 'she desperately needs makeup lessons'.

Usually known for her comedy routines, the mother-of-three was less than impressed with the haunted encounter - telling fans she quickly sped off down the street.

The former Big Brother star shares three children with partner Chris Saville.
They've been in the radio industry for years and have copped their fair share of criticism in their time.

And in a hilarious segment on Tuesday, KIIS FM stars Kyle and Jackie O read out some mean tweets they had recently received from listeners.

While Kyle was repeatedly branded 'fat', others slammed Jackie for 'using Photoshop' and said she looked barely recognisable without makeup.

'I barely recognised her without Photoshop!' on Tuesday, Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) and Kyle Sandilands read the VERY mean tweets sent by angry listeners

'Wow, I barely recognised Jackie without Photoshop,' one mean tweet read.

Kyle agreed, however, saying: 'That's true!'

Another cruel tweet that Jackie read about herself compared her to former Biggest Loser host Ajay Rochester, 49.

Ouch! 'Wow, I barely recognised Jackie without Photoshop,' one person wrote. Pictured: Jackie in Fiji recently with her daughter Kitty, eight

'She should never go without makeup': Another Twitter user told Jackie to always wear cosmetics. Pictured in a rare makeup-free photo

That's not very nice! One mean tweet said Jackie 'looks like a washed-out version of Ajay Rochester' (pictured)

'Jackie should never go without makeup. She looks like a washed-out version of Ajay Rochester,' the tweet read.

Meanwhile, Kyle laughed off the countless tweets describing him as 'fat' and a 'fatty'.

'What happened to the fat-shaming? Apparently that is alive and well!' he said.

How unkind! Meanwhile, Kyle laughed off the tweets describing him as 'fat' and a 'fatty'

In August 2015, Kyle made headlines when he stripped off live on Channel Seven's The Morning Show, leaving Jackie in stitches.

On the show, Kyle revealed he had become aware something needed to be done to improve his health after struggling with his weight for years.

'I think I am going to have to do something about the weight,' he said. 'I am a mess and would like to live a bit longer.'
They travel from the Land of the Dragon to the legendary home of the Loch Ness Monster in their droves, but an enterprise association is urging Scottish hoteliers to do more to make Chinese visitors feel at home.

Supplying in-room noodles, throwaway chopsticks and picture menus are among the recommendations that the Highland and Islands Enterprise development agency is making.

The agency developed the advice, which it rolls out in its China Ready workshops, in a bid to prepare businesses for a steady stream of Chinese tourists.

A wee dram: A group of young Chinese men and women enjoy a glass of Scotch but perhaps they need more of their creature comforts if they're to feel at home on a trip to Scotland

The Highlands has become a real draw for Chinas middle and upper classes - a trend that Chinese-Scot Monica Lee-Macpherson of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and Moray Chinese Association said Scotland could capitalise on.

She told The Times that the Chinese like to spend money and want to buy Scottish souvenirs to commemorate their visit.

However, on examining merchandise in the shops, the Chinese visitors are often disappointed to find the dreaded three words: 'Made in China.'

Ms Lee-MacPherson, who has led tours for Chinese visitors to Scotland, says that opening hours for shops selling authentic Scottish goods could be more accommodating: closing times of 5 pm or 6 pm are too early for the tourists, and staff - some of whom speak Polish, Italian, Spanish or even Japanese - don't know even the basics of Mandarin.

Of the 337,000 Chinese people who visited the UK in 2017, 62,000 went to Scotland and significantly more Chinese visited Scotland for pleasure than for work (79 per cent), than did the UK, as a whole, where it was more of an even split (51 per cent).

The Chinese are also a more important source of visitors to Scotland than the UK, as a whole, according to a report from VisitScotland: China ranks 18th in terms of tourism footfall to Scotland, but 23rd for the UK, as whole.

Adapting to the latest visitors has become a priority since the introduction of the first direct flights between China and Scotland last year.

Of the 337,000 Chinese people who visited the UK in 2017, 62,000 went to Scotland and significantly more Chinese visited Scotland for pleasure than for work (79 per cent), than did the UK, as a whole. Pictured is Kilchurn Castle, on Loch Awe

Hainan Airlines introduced four flights a week between Beijing and Edinburgh Airport in June.

Scotland has already made some moves to make its culture more accessible to its Chinese visitors.

On Burns Night on Friday, natives might be enjoying haggis, which was re-branded 'baa baa pudding' for the benefit of Scotland's Chinese guests, a few years ago.

It joined a list of translations including 'strong-man skirt party' - otherwise known as the Highland Games - in a 2015 initiative, led by VisitScotland, to get the Chinese to rename Scottish places and pastimes.
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Meet the man with the world's most dangerous holiday rep job - he shows people around Afghanistan and gets death threats from the Taliban and ISIS.

Hafizullah 'Akbar' Kohistani, 29, ferries European thrill-seekers across the Middle Eastern country and acts as their bodyguard if they get into trouble.

But the former Afghan National Army soldier from Kabul has come under threat from Islamist extremists as well as his neighbours for his controversial company.

Hafizullah 'Akbar' Kohistani, pictured, who runs a tour company showing visitors around Afghanistan - despite being threatened by the Taliban and ISIS

The former Afghan National Army soldier from Kabul has come under threat for his job. Pictured right is Akbar during one of his tours in November 2018

Akbar was part of Afghan Logistics and Tours for 10 years but founded his own company, Afghanistan Tour Services, last year

Akbar, pictured, has had to unfriend and block his family from social media in a bid to keep them safe due to his contentious job

He has had to unfriend or block his family from his social media pages in a bid to protect them from the contentious pictures he posts with tourists.

And he was also forced to create a new Facebook account as he no longer accepts friend requests from Afghans.

Akbar said: 'My family's lives are at risk.

'Sometimes I receive some threats from unknown people, mostly they are unhappy that I am working with foreigners and I try to explain to them that I am not working with military forces, I am working with tourists.

'But I think I should continue up to the end because I am already inside and I cannot go back and lots of people know what I am doing.

'I am a little afraid of the Taliban coming back into power.'

Some of the threats have come from individuals but others have claimed to be members of the Taliban and ISIS and said they will kill him for his work.

He added: 'I tell them about the tourists and why the tourists are visiting our country but unfortunately for them there is no difference between foreigners, military and tourists. For them being a foreigner is enough.'

One of the tourists who has used Akbar's services is Brit Andy McGinlay from Glasgow, who travelled to Afghanistan in 2015. He is pictured in the mountains overlooking Kabul

Andy and Akbar chat during one of their excursions on their tour of Afghanistan. Andy used Akbar's services in 2015 during the height of ISIS's reign of terror

Andy poses in front of the ruins of the Darul Aman Palace in the Afghan capital Kabul, which dates back to the 1920s

On Akbar's tours, visitors get to see sights dotted around the country including this MIG fighter jet, which is near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul

A picture captured by Andy of an armoured vehicle parked up in the street. Andy said: 'Regarding the threats, I was only aware of them specifically aimed at Akbar after I posted my YouTube vlog on Afghanistan'

In one incident he was attacked by five people as he tried to show a tourist around a mosque in Afghanistan's third largest city, Herat.

'Normally when I take tourists to the mosques I am really uncomfortable because you will feel that people are unhappy,' he said.

'One time in Herat five people gathered around me and with very bad language asked why you brought this non-Muslim here.

'They tried to slap me but I knew what I should do with these kinds of people - first I try to calm them with speaking, then leave the area ASAP.'

Akbar was part of Afghan Logistics and Tours for 10 years but founded his own company, Afghanistan Tour Services, last year.

One of Akbar's guests, German traveller Andreas Schoeps, who toured around Afghanistan in November. He is pictured snapping images in the mountains

Tourist Andreas surveys the Afghan landscape. Tourism to Afghanistan has plummeted since war broke out in 2001

He wanted to grow his business but the number of tourists to visit Afghanistan has declined in recent years.

Four customers used him as a guide up until the end of September and a further five in the final months of 2018.

So far, he has had tourists from Britain, Germany, America, Russia, Italy, Austria, Bulgaria, Holland and Ukraine.

Tourism to Afghanistan has plummeted since war broke out in 2001.

The United Nations do not receive information on the number of tourists to visit the country but do hold information on the money spent by the tourists.

Figures from the UN World Tourism Organization show spending dropped from 128million in 2012 to 71million in 2014.

The fall in visitors came as violence gripped the country and the number of dead increased.

Figures from the UN World Tourism Organization show spending in Afghanistan dropped from 128million in 2012 to 71million in 2014. Pictured is German tourist Andreas watching a pottery maker at work

One of the sites Akbar took Andreas to is the stunning Blue Mosque, which is an important Islamic shrine in Afghanistan

While on his travels in Afghanistan, Andy snapped a selfie with journalist Sahzeb Jillani in Kabul

The British Foreign Office advises against travel in all parts of Afghanistan due to the threat of terrorism and kidnappings.

Akbar understands this and does not blame people for being weary of holidaying to his homeland.

'I do not blame them because they judge us based on what they hear from their media,' he said.

'As long as the security situation is like it is now, there is no hope for tourism - everything is dependent on the security situations.'

But he is quick to add that most people in Afghanistan are friendly to tourists and none of his guests have ever come to harm.

'We know where we should visit, we have a limit in every province up to which part of the province we should go or which areas we can stop and which areas we cannot stop, which places we can stop for long time and which places we should stop for a short time.

'We have our rules and we ask our tourists to follow our rules for their safety.'

He added: 'I think it is my responsibility to show to the world the real face of our country and show them our people also want peace, prosperity and a good life.

'We are tired of this situation, we are tired of these wars and I want to deliver these messages to the world via tourists.'

Andy McGinlay, a 37-year-old Glaswegian, used Akbar's service at the height of ISIS's power in 2015.

Speaking from his latest adventure in Doha, Qatar, the University of Glasgow graduate said: 'I felt safe with him (Akbar) at all times even though he was much younger than me, he knew the roads, he knew the people and when I felt anxious or nervous, he would explain what was going on.

'He was excellent, good English, very patient and trustworthy.'

Mr McGinlay, an English lecturer in the Middle East who has been dubbed Emirates' airlines biggest fan as he had their logo tattooed on his arm and featured on their 'celebrity customer wall' next to Cristiano Ronaldo, was on a mission to visit 100 countries - since completed - and Afghanistan was number 82.

Italian tourist Massimo Piras, pictured, is another traveller that has explored Afghanistan with the help of Akbar

Massimo snaps pictures of tanks kept behind a wire fence during his trip to Afghanistan in October 2018

While walking around a busy market in Afghanistan, Massimo was able to snap pictures of the fabrics on sale to customers

The British Foreign Office advises against travel in all parts of Afghanistan due to the threat of terrorism and kidnappings. Pictured is Massimo at a market

He added: 'To be honest, it's always extremely exciting to visit dangerous countries. I had just come from North Korea before I travelled to Kabul.

'When I land in hot-zones, dangerous countries, I become hyper-alert. It's like a state of full awareness, sight sharpened, sounds pin-pointed quickly.

'It's thrilling, scary, exciting all at once. When you finally get through airport customs and on to the flight out, you finally can breathe out and relax. Only then.'

He continued: 'Regarding the threats, I was only aware of them specifically aimed at Akbar after I posted my YouTube vlog on Afghanistan.

'The Taliban watched it on my channel and managed to contact and threaten him directly.

'I think he's very brave to continue his job in this dangerous country.

'His life is in danger but he feels it's a worthwhile endeavour to show the real Afghanistan, the softer side, the friendly people and tasty food - like the kebabs - to the wider world.'
Naomi Osaka reached her second Grand Slam semi-final by dispatching No 6 seed Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Japanese star, who won last year's US Open, beat her Ukrainian opponent 6-4, 6-1 to book a meeting with Karolina Pliskova in the last four.

Osaka hit 25 unforced errors, compared to just 16 by Svitolina. But Osaka served with much more conviction and also hit 31 winners  20 more than Svitolina.

Naomi Osaka reached the Australian Open semi-finals with a comfortable win on Wednesday

Ukrainian No 6 seed Elina Svitolina was outplayed in Melbourne as she exited in the last eight

Osaka raised her racket to the crowd after securing a 6-4 6-1 victory on Rod Laver Arena

The first five games of the match went with serve, before the next five were all won by the receiver with Osaka converting her fourth set point to take the opener in 38 minutes.





Osaka had won her last 57 matches in which she won the first set and she never looked back.

After Osaka sealed the opening game of the second set with an ace, Svitolina kicked off with back-to-back double faults and was broken to 15.

Osaka then held again to move 3-0 ahead before Svitolina called a medical timeout, seemingly for a back complaint.

Svitolina opted to battle on but it was in vain as Osaka won three of the next four games to take the match.

Speaking on court afterwards, Osaka said: 'I tried to be consistent, or as consistent as I can. She's a really great player.

'It's kind of unfortunate that she got injured. Playing against her even if she was injured was still really tough.

'I just had one goal, which was to try as hard as I can and not get angry, I think I did it really well so I'm very happy.'

Osaka screamed in frustration after squandering three consecutive set points in the opener

But Osaka was celebrating moments later after converting set point No 1 inside 38 minutes
Paul Pogba is ready to commit his future to Manchester United by signing a new long-term contract worth more than 290,000 a week.

The Frenchman pushed for a move to Barcelona last summer after falling out with Jose Mourinho, but he now wants to stay at Old Trafford after the Portuguese was sacked and replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

And according to The Sun, Pogba wants to sit down with United chiefs and agree improved terms despite having two and a half years left on his current deal.

Paul Pogba is ready to sit down with Manchester United and discuss a new contract

Pogba scored from the penalty spot during United's 2-1 victory over Brighton over Saturday

POGBA THIS SEASON Appearances: 16 Goals: 10 Assists: 8 Advertisement

The 25-year-old has been in excellent form since Solskjaer took charge on an interim basis, scoring five goals to help the former United striker to seven straight wins.

Pogba had become disillusioned with life at the club after a series of disagreements with Mourinho over the last year. He also had the vice captaincy taken off him by the former Chelsea boss in late September.

But following Mourinho's sacking in December, Pogba has turned his form around and now sees a future for himself at United.

Pogba and Jose Mourinho (centre) had an awkward exchange during training after falling out

The Frenchman has been in superb form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, scoring five goals so far

The former Juventus star is currently the Red Devils' second-highest earner behind Alexis Sanchez, who earns up to 500,000 a week at Old Trafford.

However, Pogba would expect a sizeable increase on his 290,000-a-week pay packet in order to put him closer to the Chilean's incredible contract.

A source told The Sun: 'Pogba's agent is ready to end the problems he has had with the club over the last few months.

'He wasn't over much towards the end of last year. There was a big breakdown of relationships while Mourinho was in charge.'
Elon Musk's Mars 'Starship' prototype has been brought crashing down to Earth after strong winds knocked the metal shell to the ground.

The prototype, known as a 'hopper', was set to be used to test the propulsion systems in the rocket before a full scale prototype was built.

Photographs from the Texas spaceport where it is being built show the metal prototype lying on its side after it had crashed to the ground.

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Whoops. Starship Hopper nosecone has been blown over in high winds.



NSF's BocaChicaGal https://t.co/liIk970sm5 pic.twitter.com/6rgGtZmAE2  Chris B - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) January 23, 2019

The crushed nosecone of the Starship 'hopper' prototype in a picture posted to Twitter

WHAT IS THE 'HOPPER' PROTOTYPE? The prototype, known as a 'hopper', is set to be used to test the propulsion systems in the rocket before a full scale prototype was built. It will be used for suborbital vertical takeoff and landing test flights, reaching around 16,400 feet, known as hops. SpaceX used a similar hopper to develop its Falcon rockets. Advertisement

The upper section of the rocket was already detached from the booster when it blew it over, it is believed.

However, Musk said the damage is easy to repair - as the nose-cone was simply a hollow structure welded together to give the craft the appearance of a real rocket.

'I just heard. 50 mph winds broke the mooring blocks late last night & fairing was blown over. Will take a few weeks to repair,' Musk said in a tweet.

'Actual tanks are fine,' he later added.

One space enthusiast for Spadre.com who saw the damage wrote on a YouTube video showing the damage: 'Starship upper fairing was completely destroyed in an overnight windstorm at SpaceX South Texas launch site at Boca Chica.

'Winds gusting in excess of 50mph toppled the nose cone, crushing it upon impact.

'The lower portion including fuel tanks were undamaged.

'The nose cone fairing contained no critical components and should be re-constructed quickly, little if any delay in launch tests are expected.'

Last month Elon Musk revealed images of the 120-foot tall Starship hopper test rocket prototype.

The maverick billionaire entrepreneur unveiled his retro-styled spacecraft which has drawn comparisons to sci-fi films from the 20th century.

'I just heard. 50 mph winds broke the mooring blocks late last night & fairing was blown over. Will take a few weeks to repair,' Musk said in a tweet.

Twitter users pointed out the similarities of Musk's creation with the contraption Tintin used in the 1954 adventure 'Explorers on the Moon'.

Others said the sleek design and prominent fins closely resemble spaceships depicted in 1950s/60s films, Wallace and Gromit and even Toy Story.

SpaceX founder Musk shared the first real images of the prototype from its Texas launch site and reassured his followers it is 'not a rendering'.

The SpaceX prototype Starship hopper stands at the Boca Chica Beach site in Texas on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, seen from Texas Highway 4.

Twitter users pointed out the similarities of Musk's creation with the contraption Tintin used in the 1954 adventure 'Explorers on the Moon' (pictured)

'This is for suborbital VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) tests,' Mr Musk explained.

'Orbital version is taller, has thicker skins (won't wrinkle) & a smoothly curving nose section.'

This particular model will be used to test short launches and landings.

The undamaged nosecone on Jan 2nd at the Boca Chica Beach site, near Brownsville, Texas

Earlier this month, the billionaire said SpaceX was aiming to carry out test flights within four weeks, but admitted it could be as long as eight weeks when unforeseen issues are factored in.

Responding to questions from space enthusiasts, Mr Musk said that the first orbital prototype should be ready by June.

The SpaceX founder also added that the real, finished version would '[obviously] have windows, etc.'

Musk also later retweeted this video filmed by a passer by showing the prototype rocket

Elon Musk has revealed images of his fully-assembled 120-foot tall Starship hopper test rocket (pictured)

This work is taking place at both SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and the company's test site in South Texas, near the border city of Brownsville, where the first flights will take place.

After its unveiling on social media the tech tycoon's Starship drew immediate comparisons to fictional rockets.

One user, known as John Drury, pointed out the similarities to the Toy Story rocket which is hope to 'the claw' and, briefly, Buzz and Woody.

He tweeted: 'Lol wow. Reminds me of the rocket ship in Toy Story'

One twitter user also said: 'I love SpaceX and their people are amazing but it does look like a Wallace and Gromit rocket but I'm sure it will be immense'

After its unveiling on social media the tech tycoon's Starship drew immediate comparisons to fictional rockets. One twitter user said: 'I love SpaceX and their people are amazing but it does look like a Wallace and Gromit rocket but I'm sure it will be immense' (pictured)

Atomic illustration of a man and woman riding a rocket in space from the 1940s bears a striking similarity to Musk's 2019 rocket which he says will reach space later this year

Musk may have been inspired by the 1950 film 'Destination Moon', where a group of actors discuss a model space rocket (pictured). The films surprisingly accurate prediction of space travel won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects

The latest images provide a clearer view of the two components previewed by Musk at the end of last month, showing engineers in cherry-pickers at work on the nose cone and another large piece of the system.

A large American flag can be seen plastered on the side of one of the huge metal cylinders.

The progress comes as SpaceX ramps up work on the test hopper ahead of planned flights later this year

Musk says this spacecraft will perform suborbital flights and a taller version with 'thicker skins' will take passengers to Mars

The maverick billionaire entrepreneur continues to explore ways of one day sending people to places as far as Mars. he previously posted this mock-up image

SpaceX's prototype starship that is being called 'test hopper' stands at the Boca Chica Beach site, near Brownsville, Texas on January 2

The svelte 120-foot-tall Starship design is similar to that of 1950s sci-fi favourite Destination Moon

Starship  previously known as BFR, Big Falcon Rocket, or the Big F***ing Rocket  is key to Musk's plans to send humans to Mars.

Musk tweeted out the first photo at the end of December, captioning it simply, 'Stainless Steel Starship.'

In a series of tweets that followed, however, the CEO elaborated on the plans for the test vehicle.

The first crewed Red Planet mission for the rocket and 100-passenger Starship could come as early as the mid-2020s if development and testing go well, Musk has said

WHAT IS ELON MUSK'S 'BFR'? The BFR (Big F***ing Rocket), now known as Starship, will complete all missions and is smaller than the ones Musk announced in 2016. The SpaceX CEO said the rocket would take its first trip to the red planet in 2022, carrying only cargo, followed by a manned mission in 2024 and claimed other SpaceX's products would be 'cannibalised' to pay for it. The rocket would be partially reusable and capable of flight directly from Earth to Mars. Once built, Musk believes the rocket could be used for travel on Earth - saying that passengers would be able to get anywhere in under an hour. Advertisement

This particular model will be used to test short launches and landings. Earlier this month, the billionaire said SpaceX was aiming to carry out test flights within four weeks

Elon Musk revealed his 'hopper' spaceship that could one day take man to the moon earlier this week and claims it could eventually take people to Mars

Just last month, the SpaceX boss doubled down on his earlier claims that he would likely be among the interplanetary travellers who make the trip to Mars, despite there being a 'good chance' that he'll die there.

Tickets on Elon Musk's spaceship to Mars will cost around $200,000 per person.

SpaceX shared new details about the 387ft rocket in September, saying it hopes to begin unmanned launch tests of the spacecraft in late 2019.

In the future, Starship will be able to carry out lunar missions as well as long-distance flights to Mars and beyond.

The firm hopes to stage an uncrewed flight to Mars in 2022, then a manned flight in 2024.

In between those missions, SpaceX has planned for a private mission with a passenger on board in 2023.

'We would like to put large cargo on the surface of the moon by 2022,' SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said recently.

'And we have our eyes on the prize to send people to Mars in 2024.'
Amazon is rolling out self-driving delivery robots.

The internet giant announced Wednesday that six 'Scout' robots will deliver packages to customers in a neighborhood in Snohomish County, Washington.

Each Scout robot is a squat, bright blue device that gets around on six wheels.

The battery-powered devices about the size of a small cooler and can deliver packages autonomously.

And city or suburban dwellers don't have to worry about Scout running them over on the street, as Amazon says the robots 'roll along sidewalks at a walking pace.'

It appears that there's a door on the top of each device that users can lift open to remove their package.

It's unclear how the robots verify the user's identity, but other autonomous delivery robots, such as Postmates' food delivery robot, requires users to enter a code on the device's touchscreen first before they can retrieve their order.

For now, Scout devices will deliver packages Monday through Friday during the daytime, Sean Scott, vice president of Amazon Scout, wrote in a blog spot.

'The devices will autonomously follow their delivery route but will initially be accompanied by an Amazon employee,' Scott explained.

Each Scout robot is a squat, bright blue device that gets around on six wheels. The all-electric devices are about the size of a small cooler and can deliver packages autonomously

'We developed Amazon Scout at our research and development lab in Seattle, ensuring the devices can safely and efficiently navigate around pets, pedestrians and anything else in their path.'

Scott added that the company will use what it learns from the first Scout trial to 'provide even more sustainability and convenience to customer deliveries.'

Aside from Scout, Amazon is also said to be developing delivery drones, which could also revolutionize the last-mile portion of the delivery process.

It's also using robots in its warehouses to handle menial tasks.

Last-mile delivery includes the process of getting a package from the warehouse or a delivery truck to your door.

WHAT ARE AMAZON'S ANTI-ROBOT TECH VESTS? Amazon is increasingly relying on robots for some menial tasks in its warehouses, from transporting goods across short distances to stocking shelves. Now, the internet giant has devised a system to protect employees from getting run over by any roving robots. Employees are being fitted with 'robotic tech vests' that notify the machines of their whereabouts so that any potential accidents are avoided. Employees are being fitted with 'robotic tech vests' that notify robots of their whereabouts. They're designed by Amazon Robotics and worn like a pair of suspenders attached to a belt Over the course of the past year, workers in more than 25 fulfillment centers have been able to use the vests. The vests were designed by Amazon Robotics and are worn like a pair of suspenders that are attached to a belt. The device is packed with sensors that communicate with nearby robots, alerting them to an employee's location so that they don't crash into them. Advertisement

Amazon isn't the only tech giant developing delivery drones, however.

Postmates unveiled its 'Serve' robot last December, which is meant for food deliveries, can carry a payload of up to 50lbs and can travel up to 30 miles on a single charge.

Starship Technologies' slow-moving delivery bots have already been trialed across the world, including in Hamburg, Washington and California, delivering everything from groceries to takeout pizza.

They have travelled more than 100,000 miles in testing mode in more than 100 cities in 20 different countries.

This week, the company announced that the robots would begin delivering food to students and staff at George Mason University.
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The Tomb of Tutankhamen has fully reopened following a decade long restoration project.

One of the best known archaeological sites in the world, the Getty Conservation Institute, which carried out the conservation project, today revealed their work for the first time.

Researchers painstakingly cleaned the huge wall art in the tomb - but decided to leave a series of strange mysterious 'dark spots' that were there in 1922 when archaeologist Howard Carter first opened the tomb.

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The fully restored north wall of the burial chamber depicts three separate scenes, ordered from right to left. In the first, Ay, Tutankhamen's successor, performs the 'opening of the mouth' ceremony on Tutankhamen, who is depicted as Osiris, lord of the underworld. In the middle scene, Tutankhamen, dressed in the costume of the living king, is welcomed into the realm of the gods by the goddess Nut. On the left, Tutankhamen, followed by his ka (spirit twin), is embraced by Osiris.

WHAT DOES THE TOMB STILL CONTAIN? The tomb still houses a handful of original objects, including the mummy of Tutankhamen himself (on display in an oxygen-free case), the quartzite sarcophagus with its granite lid on the floor beside it, the gilded wooden outermost coffin in the sarcophagus, and the wall paintings of the burial chamber. Advertisement

It was thought that brown spotsmicrobiological growths on the burial chamber's painted wallsmight be growing.

However, researchers analyzed historic photographs from the mid-1920s and found they showed no new growth of the spots.

To confirm this finding, DNA and chemical analysis were undertaken and confirmed the spots to be microbiological in origin but dead and thus no longer a threat.

Because the spots have penetrated into the paint layer, they have not been removed since this would harm the wall paintings.

When the tomb was discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter, under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon, the media frenzy that followed was unprecedented.

Carter and his team took 10 years to clear the tomb of its treasure because of the multitude of objects found within it.

The latest project was put in place over fears the tomb was being damaged by the sheer number of tourists visiting.

Wall paintings conservation work being conducted in the burial chamber of the tomb in the spring 2016.

Left, researchers undertaking a visual examination of the wall painting in the burial chamber, and right, Wall paintings conservation work being conducted

While the objects Carter's team catalogued and stabilized were housed and secured, the tomb itself became a 'must-see' attraction, open to the public and heavily visited by tourists from around the world.

The tomb still houses a handful of original objects, including the mummy of Tutankhamen himself (on display in an oxygen-free case), the quartzite sarcophagus with its granite lid on the floor beside it, the gilded wooden outermost coffin, and the wall paintings of the burial chamber that depict Tut's life and death.

'Conservation and preservation is important for the future and for this heritage and this great civilization to live forever,' said Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist and former minister of State for Antiquities in Egypt, who also initiated the project with the GCI.

One of the biggest worries were the giant paintings on the tomb walls.

The East wall of the tomb's burial chamber. Tutankhamen's mummy isshown, lying in a shrine mounted on a sledge, being drawn bytwelve men in five groups. The men wear white mourning bandsover their brows. The last pair, distinguished by their shaven headsand different dress, are the two viziers of Upper and Lower Egypt

Before (left) and after (right), a wall painting on the burial chamber's west wall depicts an extractfrom the Book of Amduat or 'What is in the Underworld'. The upper register depicts the solar barque preceded byfive deities. In compartments below are twelve baboondeities,representing the twelve hours of the night through which the sun travels before its rebirth at dawn.

Humidity and carbon dioxide generated by visitors promoted microbiological growth and can physically stress the wall paintings when the amount of water vapor in the air fluctuates.

Another problem in the tomb was physical damage to the wall paintings.

This included scratches and abrasion in areas close to where visitors have access, and inadvertent damage likely caused by film crews with equipment operating in the chamber's tight spaces.

Wall paintings conservation work being conducted in the burial chamber of the tomb in 2016

Left, Environmental monitoring in the burialchamber of the Tomb of Tutankhamen, and right, conservators using a portable microscope linked to a tablet to monitor the paintings on the west wall

Dust carried by the shoes and clothing of the tomb's many visitors had also settled throughout, creating a gray veil on the uneven surfaces of the walls.

This obscured the brightness of the paintings and increased the need for cleaning and the subsequent risk of additional paint loss.

In addition, high levels of humidity, excessive carbon dioxide, crowding, poor lighting and ventilation, lack of signage, and other factors combined to create a poor experience for visitors to the tomb.

The project team found the wall paintings to be in relatively stable condition, apart from localized flaking and loss of paint that was caused by both inconsistencies in the materials used and their application, as well as damage caused by visitors.

Wall paintings conservation work being conducted in the burial chamber of the tomb, and a new viewing platform in the tomb

Environmental monitoring outside the Tomb of Tutankhamen

The paintings were stabilized through dust removal and reduction of coatings from previous treatments, and condition monitoring was also established to better evaluate future changes.

'This project has greatly expanded our understanding of one of antiquity's most storied places,' says Tim Whalen, John E. and Louise Bryson Director of the Getty Conservation Institute.

The GCI already had considerable experience working in Egypt at the Tomb of Queen Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens and on a plan for the overall conservation and management of the Valley of the Queens.

The GCI-Egyptian project went on to carry out the most thorough study of the tomb's condition since Carter's time.

A Wall painting in Tut's tomb on the east wall of the tomb's burial chamber. Tutankhamen's mummy is shown, lying in a shrine mountedon a sledge, being drawn by twelve men in five groups. Themen wear white mourning bands over their brows. The last pair, distinguished by their shaven heads and different dress,are the two viziers of Upper and Lower Egypt.

A section of the south wall in the burial chamber ofTutankhamen. Mirroring the theme of the north wall, the painting here shows Tutankhamen with various deities. He stands before Hathor, goddess of the West, while behind the king stands Anubis, the embalmer god. Behind him originally stood the goddess Isis with three other minor deities

The team of experts included an Egyptologist to conduct background research; environmental engineers to investigate the tomb's microclimatic conditions; microbiologists to study the brown spots; documentation specialists, architects, and designers to upgrade the tomb's infrastructure; scientists to study the original materials of the wall paintings; and conservators to carry out condition recording and treatment.

In addition to the wall paintings conservation, the GCI also facilitated upgrades to the protection and presentation of the site

The tomb was open for most of the project, and visitors were able to observe and ask questions as the conservators worked.
Facebook's operations chief Sheryl Sandberg said on Wednesday that the world's largest social network needed to win back public trust after facing scandals for violating its users' privacy.

The social media platform is investing billions of dollars a year to improve the security of its network, Sandberg said in an interview hosted by German newspaper Die Zeit and UK law firm CMS at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

'We did not anticipate all of the risks from connecting so many people,' Sandberg said, adding that the site had added features that give users greater control over their personal information.

Sandberg in an interview hosted by German newspaper Die Zeit and UK law firm CMS at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Asked if she was considering a run for U.S. president in the 2020 election, she replied : 'It's not on my agenda.'

The 15-year-old technology company has been a darling of California's Silicon Valley, making stars out of its founder, chief executive and chairman Mark Zuckerberg, and Sandberg, known for her feminist manifesto 'Lean In'.

But its shares have fallen roughly 33 percent since July to $144 due to concerns about user privacy.

Last year, the company was buffeted by revelations that UK consultancy Cambridge Analytica had improperly acquired data on millions of its U.S. users to target election advertising.

'We need to earn back trust,' Sandberg said.

Some of Facebook's major shareholders have pushed for Zuckerberg, who has majority control of the company, to step down as chairman.

Sandberg said he should remain both chair and CEO. She said that she also plans to remain at Facebook, where she has worked since 2008.

'I think I have a job to do,' she said. 'It's a job I really want to do.'

Sandberg said that if Facebook had to change its business model and charge users a subscription fee instead of collecting advertising revenue, far fewer people would be able to use it.

'Fundamentally disallowing our business model would harm a lot of people all over the world.'

She said her grassroots women's movement, spurred by the publication of 'Lean In', was still going strong.
The climate change threat may be even graver than scientists have anticipated.

In 2018, global carbon emissions hit the highest levels yet and researchers now warn Earths tipping point may be fast approaching.

If emissions continue at the current rates, a new study found that the planets vegetation may not be able to keep up  and, once plants and soil hit the maximum carbon uptake they can handle, warming could rapidly accelerate.

The climate change threat may be even graver than scientists have anticipated. In 2018, global carbon emissions hit the highest levels yet and researchers now warn Earths tipping point may be fast approaching. File photo

The new study from Columbia Universitys School of Engineering and Applied Science investigates how the hydrological cycle ties into Earths ability to sequester carbon dioxide.

As warming occurs, rainfall patterns around the world are expected change  and with that, the ability of vegetation to uptake carbon.

It is unclear, however, whether the land can continue to uptake anthropogenic emissions at the current rates, says lead researcher Pierre Gentine.

Should the land reach a maximum carbon uptake rate, global warming could accelerate, with important consequences for people and the environment.

This means that we all really need to act now to avoid greater consequences of climate change.

The researchers analyzed a factor known as net biome productivity (NBP) using data from the Global Land Atmosphere Coupling Experiment--Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (GLACE-CMIP5).

This allowed them to define how much carbon is tored in vegetation and soil, and isolate the effects of changes in soil moisture.

We saw that the value of NBP, in this instance a net gain of carbon on the land surface, would actually be almost twice as high if it werent for these changes (variability and trend) in soil moisture, said lead author PhD student Julia Green.

If emissions continue at the current rates, a new study found that the planets vegetation may not be able to keep up  and, once plants and soil hit the maximum carbon uptake they can handle, warming could rapidly accelerate. File photo

This is a big deal. If soil moisture continues to reduce NBP at the current rate, and the rate of carbon uptake by the land starts to decrease by the middle of the century  as we found in the models  we could potentially see a large increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 and a corresponding rise in the effects of global warming and climate change,' Green said.

THE PARIS AGREEMENT: A GLOBAL ACCORD TO LIMIT TEMPERATURE RISES THROUGH CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION TARGETS The Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015, is an international agreement to control and limit climate change. It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to below 2C (3.6F) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C (2.7F)'. It seems the more ambitious goal of restricting global warming to 1.5C (2.7F) may be more important than ever, according to previous research which claims 25 per cent of the world could see a significant increase in drier conditions. In June 2017, President Trump announced his intention for the US, the second largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, to withdraw from the agreement. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change has four main goals with regards to reducing emissions: 1) A long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels 2) To aim to limit the increase to 1.5C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change 3) Goverments agreed on the need for global emissions to peak as soon as possible, recognising that this will take longer for developing countries 4) To undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available science Source: European Commission Advertisement

According to the researchers, the soil-moisture variability reduces lands ability to soak up carbon.

And, as climate change drives more extreme weather events  including droughts and heat waves  the problem could soon get much worse.

Essentially, if there were no droughts and heat waves, if there were not going to be any long-term drying over the next century, then the continents would be able to store almost twice as much carbon as they do now, Gentine said.

Because soil moisture plays such a large role in the carbon cycle, in the ability of the land to uptake carbon, its essential that processes related to its representation in models become a top research priority.
Apple's AirPod wireless headphones have been one of the firm's most successful products - and a much anticipated new version will also monitor your health, it has been claimed.

According to Digitimes, 'Apple is set to release AirPods 2 sometime in the first half of 2019'.

Apple had been expected to launch an upgraded case giving the headphones wireless charging capabilities alongside its AirPower charging mat last year.

However, both products failed to materialize.

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Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple will release an 'upgraded model with wireless charging support' in the first quarter of 2019.

THE WIRELESS HEADPHONE WAR Apple's AirPod wireless headphones have been one of the firm's most successful products - and others have taken notice. Both Google and Amazon are set to launch similar headphones next year, it has been claimed. Many were taken by surprise by the huge success of the $159 Airpods - and they are about to spark a headphone war, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Advertisement

'The new wireless earbuds with discrete designs to carry health monitoring functions are expected to receive enthusiastic market responses,' Digitimes said.

'Other brand vendors have all planned to launch wireless headsets in the year, with market competition seen to heat up soon.'

Late last year, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple will release an 'upgraded model with wireless charging support' in the first quarter of 2019, according to 9to5mac.

Kuo also said an all-new design AirPods is currently on track to launch in early 2020.

He forecasts dramatic unit growth for AirPods with units rising from 16 million units in 2017 to over 100 million by 2021.

The well respected analyst calls them Apple's most popular accessory ever, and said existing iPhone users are more likely to buy AirPods than upgrade their phone itself.

The new AirPods are also expected to have upgrades to their bluetooth capabilities.

Apple originally said it will sell the AirPods wireless charging case as a separate add-on accessory for existing AirPods owners, and release a minor revision to the whole product at the same time  which includes the wireless charging case.

Kuo does not go into detail about what the 'all-new design' 2020 AirPods will feature.

Previous rumors have suggested features like sweat resistance, Hey Siri integration and noise cancelling.

It also raises hopes Apple's much delayed AirPower wireless charging mat may be released next year.

It had been suggested Apple had abandoned the gadget, after the firm failed to mention it at all during the unveiling of its latest range of handsets last month.

Apple also scrubbed a number of prominent references to the device from its online retail store during the iPhone XS launch event.

HOW WOULD AIRPOWER WORK? AirPower is based on the Qi charging standard, which powers wireless chargers for Android and iOS smartphones alike. However, Apple claimed to have added a number of software features to improve the wireless charging experience when used with its iPhone and Watch products. Rumours of the death of the AirPower charger may have been greatly exaggerated according to owners of the new iPhone XS. It had been suggested Apple had abandoned plans for its wireless mat but packaging material suggests this is not the case (pictured) AirPower is expected to include a custom Apple chip that runs a stripped-down version of the iOS operating system to conduct on-device power management and pairing with devices that are placed on the charging mat. Advertisement

Twitter user Gavin Stevens shared an image from the 'Getting Started Guide' that comes with the iPhone XS.

It reads: 'Place iPhone with screen facing up on AirPower or a Qi-certified wireless charger.

'You can also use the Lightning connector to charge iPhone and connect accessories.'

This suggests that Apple is still actively working on the device.

However, not everyone is convinced.

Eagle-eyed recipients have spotted references to the wireless charging mat inside the packaging for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max

'What I've heard, third-hand but from multiple little birdies, is that AirPower well and truly f*****,' wrote John Gruber on his Daring Fireball blog last week.

'Something about the multi-coil design getting too hot  way too hot.

'There are engineers who looked at AirPower's design and said it could never work, thermally, and now those same engineers have that 'told you so' smug look on their faces.'

AirPower was originally announced during the September 2017 launch event for the iPhone X in Cupertino.

It promised to provide wireless charging for future handsets, Apple Watch and AirPods.

Unlike conventional QI wireless chargers, which can power one device at a time, the AirPower is designed to power all three at once.

Apple hasn't discussed AirPower publicly since it was first announced last September. At the time, Apple said it expected the device to be available for purchase in 2018

At the time of the iPhone X launch last year, the company said it expected the device to be available for purchase in 2018, but it didn't specify a date.

Despite the latest range of iPhone Xs unveiled being equipped with wireless charging capabilities, the Californian firm remained tight-lipped about its own charging solution.

Apple also removed all prominent references from its online retail store, bar a trademark for the name buried in the legal section of its site.

It appeared that anyone who buys the latest Apple hardware would have to purchase a third-party solution that is compatible with the Qi standard of wireless charging.

Since then, AirPower hasn't been publicly discussed by Apple and the release date has been quietly dropped from the official website amid a flurry of rumours the company is struggling with the wireless technology.

In a rare move for Apple, it has suggested iPhone customers buy charging hubs from Mophie, Belkin and Logitech  which are also listed on its online retail store.

Speaking on-stage during the 2017 iPhone event, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller said: 'We hope people love it, and that it encourages others to create more advanced solutions based on technology like this.

'We're going to be working with the Qi standards team to incorporate these benefits into the future of the standards to make wireless charging better for everyone. So look for the AirPower charger next year.'

One of the biggest issues believed to be causing the delays with Apple AirPower is the mechanism to charge three separate devices, including an iPhone, Apple Watch and wireless AirPods headphones, simultaneously on the same surface.

The amount of power required to charge all of the devices is causing some issues with overheating, according to rumours from inside Apple.

A multi-device charging mechanism likely requires differently sized charging components for the three types of devices, which would all overlap across the mat  something that could generate dangerous levels of heat.

Apple also hoped to allow people to place their device anywhere on the AirPower pad to charge, however, this purportedly requires incredibly complex circuitry.

Most wireless chargers highlight a designated area where the phone needs to be placed in order to draw power.

With no sight of the device yet, many are noting that it highlights Apple's growing supply chain woes.

Apple faced similar issues with the HomePod smart speaker, which was released this year, about six months after the device was first announced.

But many are calling Apple's slow release of AirPower out of character for the company.

'Hopefully, Apple learns a lesson to only announce products that are for sure shipping soon or immediately after announcing,' Ben Bajarin, analyst at Creative Strategies, told Bloomberg in June.
A 1,000-year-old shoe has been found intact in the muddy river bed of the River Thames.

Steve Tomlinson, 47, was exploring the estuary when he stumbled across the unassuming object protruding from the mud flats.

The amateur archaeologist was unaware of its historical significance and was urged by his peers to send it off for expert analysis.

A Scottish institute carefully carbon dated the shoe and found it be be from between 1017 and 1059AD, during the era Anglo-Saxons and Vikings inhabited the British Isles before William the conqueror toppled King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

The finding may be one of the last surviving relics from the Viking occupation of Britain before the successful invasion of the French.

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A Scottish institute carefully carbon dated the shoe (pictured) and found it be be from between 1017 and 1059AD, during the era Anglo-Saxons and Vikings inhabited the British Isles before William the conqueror toppled King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066

Results of the laboratory tests found there was a 95.4 per cent probability that the shoe is from between 1017-1059AD.

Mr Tomlinson, from Birchington, Kent, made the discovery of the leather moccasin in October last year while searching in the estuary and the results have just been returned.

He said: 'I was out and about just up that area and it was sticking out of a bit of clay mud so I pulled it out.

'I first thought it was a bit of tat but the history of the Thames goes through all the ages so I put the call out to archaeologist and groups and they said 'oh my God preserve it straight away.'

Mr Tomlinson says he 'can't quite believe' the outcome.

Mr Tomlinson, from Birchington, Kent, made the discovery of the leather moccasin in October last year while searching in the estuary and the results have just been returned. Heel and toe marks are so well preserved they can be seen on the shoe

Steve Tomlinson, 47, (pictured) was exploring the estuary when he stumbled across the unassuming object protruding from the mud flats. The amateur archaeologist was unaware of its historical significance and was urged by his peers to send it off for expert analysis

He added: 'It is a rare find and amazingly it is still in superb preserved condition, probably due to the fact it was very well preserved in clay along with the sea, keeping it constantly waterlogged.

'It is so well preserved that the original toe and heel marks can be seen.

'It just goes to show you never know what lies beneath.

'I am over the moon with the result.'

The shoes may soon be on display in a museum from a 'well known museum'.
Boeing's flying car prototype, dubbed PAV, has successfully completed its first test flight of its autonomous passenger air vehicle in Virginia.

Boeing NeXt, which leads the company's urban air mobility efforts designed and developed the electric car craft to fly passengers above congested city streets.

Powered by electricity, the prototype completed a controlled takeoff, hover and landing during the flight, which can carry people up to 50 miles (80km).

The company, which produces both military and commercial jets, will continue testing to advance the safety of on-demand autonomous air transportation.

Boeing's flying car prototype has successfully completed its first test flight of its autonomous passenger air vehicle in Virginia. Boeing NeXt, which leads the company's urban air mobility efforts designed and developed the electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

WHAT ARE THE STATS OF THE PAV? Powered by an electric propulsion system, the passenger air vehicle (PAV) prototype is designed for fully autonomous flight from takeoff to landing, with a range of up to 50 miles (80.47 kilometres). Measuring 30 feet (9.14 meters) long and 28 feet (8.53 meters) wide, its advanced airframe integrates the propulsion and wing systems to achieve efficient hover and forward flight. Advertisement

Future test flights of the passenger air vehicle (PAV) will test forward, wing-borne flight, as well as the transition phase between vertical and forward-flight modes.

This transition phase between vertical and forward is the most engineering challenge for any high-speed Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.

Many companies are working on their own versions of flying cars and taxis like Airbus SE and Textron.

In 2017, Boeing acquired aviation and aeronautics research company Aurora Flight Sciences, who has partnered with Uber to develop a network of flying taxis.

Aurora has flown over 30 unpiloted flights since its founding in 1989.

At the time, Boeing said that the acquisition would be key in the further development of flying autonomous cars.

'In one year, we have progressed from a conceptual design to a flying prototype,' said Boeing Chief Technology Officer Greg Hyslop.

'Boeing's expertise and innovation have been critical in developing aviation as the world's safest and most efficient form of transportation, and we will continue to lead with a safe, innovative and responsible approach to new mobility solutions.'

The PAV prototype completed a controlled takeoff, hover and landing during the flight, which tested the vehicle's autonomous functions and ground control systems. The company will continue to test the vehicle to advance the safety and reliability of on-demand autonomous air transportation

It is not clear when the flying cars will be available for passengers to travel in because they would need extremely stringent testing and signing off and approval could take years.

Powered by an electric propulsion system, the PAV prototype is designed for fully autonomous flight from takeoff to landing, with a range of up to 50 miles (80.47 kilometres).

Measuring 30 feet (9.14 metres) long and 28 feet (8.53 metres) wide, its advanced airframe integrates the propulsion and wing systems to achieve efficient hover and forward flight.

In addition to the PAV, the Boeing NeXt portfolio includes an unmanned fully electric cargo air vehicle (CAV) designed to transport up to 500 pounds (226.80 kilograms) and other urban, regional and global mobility platforms.

The CAV completed its first indoor flight last year and will transition to outdoor flight testing in 2019.
China is taking its Big Brother approach to government one step further with plans to use CCTV cameras and artificial intelligence to follow people across the country.

The plan from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) would use the nation's network of surveillance to find wanted civilians.

Known as EnsembleNet, the programme was trained using 2,000 clips from CCTV footage and is 90 per cent accurate, the firm claims.

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Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is hoping to use the nation's network of surveillance to find wanted civilians. EnsembleNet is claimed to be 90 per cent accurate (stock)

Body shapes and discernible features are spotted, remembered and scanned for in other footage in the database.

The programme is sophisticated enough to spot a person in disguise 'regardless of the pose or gait' - and even if some of the features appear different.

The system was used to identify a man with a card attached to his front even when the only other footage of him was when his back was turned to the camera.

'The seemingly state-of-the-art nature of this particular project is another indication that Chinese military has the capability to achieve notable progress,' Elsa Kania at the Center for New American Security told New Scientist.

China has already developed various similar techniques to keep track of its more than one billion civilians.

The Asian superpower is hoping to roll out 'social credit score' scheme which rates citizens based on their behaviour, and those who do not play by the rules are added to a list that prohibits them from certain luxuries.

The programme is sophisticated enough to spot a person in disguise 'regardless of the pose or gait' even if some of the features appear different. One example of its prowess was when the system was used to identify a man wit a card attached to his front even when the only other footage of him was when his back was turned to the camera (stock)

Fears are growing regarding the ethical implications of scheme, with some questioning the morality of the big-brother culture.

The government is likely to use its rapidly growing surveillance network to enforce the system, with some academics growing concerned that it may be manipulated to enforce the ideology of the ruling Communist party.

Completing community service and buying Chinese products is thought to improve it whereas fraud, tax evasion and smoking in non-smoking areas can drop it.

Benefits of cooperating with the state include priority public housing, travel visas and job promotions.

One journalist says he is banned from sending his children to private school or buying property after a court ordered him to apologise for an unfavourable tweet about the regime.
Chinese tech firm Xiaomi has unveiled a foldable smartphone with three screen sections.

Footage appears to show the device fully extended in a landscape orientation before the edges are bent and folded backwards, creating a smaller central display.

The radical design is currently a mere engineering concept but the firm, dubbed 'Chinese Apple', says it may go into production in the future, if demand is sufficient.

Xiaomi co-founder and president Lin Bin said the device remains unnamed and revealed the tech giant is open to suggestions from the public.

Two existing potential names include the Xiaomi Dual Flex and Xiaomi MIX Flex.

Chinese tech firm Xiaomi has unveiled a foldable smartphone with three screen sections. Two folds appear down the screen when held in a landscape orientation and these slabs of screen then nestle behind the remaining operational screen

Lin Bin said in his Weibo post: 'After conquering a series of technical problems such as flexible folding screen technology, flexible cover technology, and MIUI adaptation, we have produced the first folding screen mobile phone.

'It should be the world's first double folding mobile phone.

'This symmetrical double-folded form perfectly combines the user experience of the tablet and mobile phone, making it both practical and attractive.

'Although this phone is an engineering model, Id like to show it to everyone.

'Welcoming everyone to forward / comment / like. If everyone likes it, we will consider mass producing the phone in the future.

'Also, wed like to name this engineering model. What should we name it? I thought of two: Xiaomi Dual Flex, Xiaomi MIX Flex. Welcome suggestions!'

The radical design is currently a mere engineering concept but the firm, dubbed 'Chinese Apple', says it may later go into production if demand is sufficient. Xiaomi co-founder and president Lin Bin said the device remains unnamed and revealed the tech giant is open to suggestions from the public

Footage appears to show the device fully extended in a landscape orientation before the edges are bent and folded backwards, creating a smaller central display. The handset converts flawlessly from a tablet-sized device with an approximate 4:3 ratio to a more traditional and compact phone-like device when the screen is folded (pictured)

The device, which may be called the Dual Flex or MIX Flex, becomes more of a traditional and compact mobile phone device and the folded back pieces of screen deactivate and go black (pictured)

The handset converts flawlessly from a tablet-sized device with an approximate 4:3 ratio to a more traditional and compact phone-like device when the screen is folded.

Details about the handset besides its revolutionary screen are sparse as the firm says it is an early-stage engineering model.

There is no sign of a camera but the firm appears to have altered the MIUI software for the foldable phone as the screen automatically adjusts when moved and folded.

The transition is far from flawless with the software grappling briefly with the folding but the demonstration is a stunning proof of concept.

If the device makes it to the production line it will likely face stiff competition from Samsung, Lenovo and Huawei in the emerging and rapidly surging folding phone market.
Declassified papers have emerged which reveal the US government spent tax-payers money researching science fiction concepts such as traversable wormholes, invisibility cloaking and 'state of art and evolution of high energy laser weapons'.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released the list in response to a freedom of information request.

Declassified documents have now been made public and they divulge the remarkable details of 38 secret government funded projects.

A New York Times articles from 2017 exposed the 'Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program' as a secret $22 million 'black money' research venture into UFOs and other sci-fi lunacies.

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Declassified papers have emerged which reveal the US government spent tax-payers money researching science fiction concepts such as traversable wormholes, invisibility cloaking and 'state of art and evolution of high energy laser weapons' (stock)

Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, made the request for information.

The projects were originally classified and sent to congress last year.

Research endeavour number eight, titled 'Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and Negative Energy,' was led by Eric Davis of EarthTech International Inc,

It describes itself as a facility 'exploring the forefront reaches of science and engineering'.

'I think anyone who looks at these titles will scratch their heads and wonder what on earth the Defense Intelligence Agency was thinking,' Mr Aftergood told Motherboard.

Declassified documents have now been made public and they divulge the remarkable details of 38 top secret government funded projects

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) release the list in response to a freedom of information request. The projects were originally classified and sent to congress last year

A New York Times articles from 2017 exposed the Advanced Aerospace Threat program as a secret $22 million 'black money' research venture into UFOs and other sci-fi lunacies

'These are the kinds of topics you pursue when you have more money than you know what to do with.'

'I loved science fiction when I was younger. Today I love good government. So I was not especially amused.'

A New York Times articles from 2017 exposed the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program which, it was claimed, was bankrolled by 'black money' research into UFOs to make it untraceable.

This money, it was discovered, went through the Senate majority Democrat leader Harry Reid to his friend and conspiracy theorist Robert Bigelow.
Swedish researchers have recreated how birds see the world using a special camera.

The 'birds eye view' reveals just how different a bird's view of the world is.

While human colour vision is based on three primary colours: red, green and blue, birds can also see ultraviolet.

Spot the difference: The image to the right was taken with the specially designed camera that replicates what a bird sees

HOW DO BIRDS SEE DIFFERENTLY? Human colour vision is based on three primary colours: red, green and blue. The colour vision of birds is based on the same three colours - but also ultraviolet. Among other things, birds see contrasts in dense forest foliage, whereas people only see a wall of green. Advertisement

This, the images reveal, allows them to see foliage in stunning detail, for example.

'What appears to be a green mess to humans are clearly distinguishable leaves for birds,' said Dan-Eric Nilsson, professor at the Department of Biology at Lund University.

'No one knew about this until this study',

For birds, the upper sides of leaves appear much lighter in ultraviolet.

From below, the leaves are very dark.

In this way the three-dimensional structure of dense foliage is obvious to birds.

This in turn makes it easy for them to move, find food and navigate.

People, on the other hand, do not perceive ultraviolet, and see the foliage in green; the primary color where contrast is the worst.

The project is the first time that researchers have succeeded in imitating bird colour vision with a high degree of precision.

to create the images, they built a special camera equipped with rotating filter wheels and specially manufactured filters, which make it possible to show what different animals see clearly.

Example images showing the difference in leaf-contrast seen by birds. For each of the three views, the top two images show the same scene as viewed by the UV and green photoreceptor channels.

In this case, the camera imitates with a high degree of accuracy the colour sensitivity of the four different types of cones in bird retinas.

'We have discovered something that is probably very important for birds, and we continue to reveal how reality appears also to other animals', says Dan-Eric Nilsson, continuing:

'We may have the notion that what we see is the reality, but it's a highly human reality.

'Other animals live in other realities, and we can now see through their eyes and reveal many secrets.

'Reality is in the eye of the beholder'.
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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin commercial rocket company has launched its tenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket today.

The Amazon CEO is competing in a race with Elon Musk's Space X and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic to take the first tourists into space.

The liftoff, the first in six months, took place at 15:08 GMT (10:08 EST) with touchdown of the rocket section of the New Sheperd craft around seven and a half minutes later.

It is carrying eight science experiments for NASA including microgravity tests and studying Earth's magnetic field.

The small rocket crossed the frontier of space last year, which is internationally agreed to be 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, known as the Karman Line.

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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin commercial rocket company has launched its tenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket today. The liftoff, the first from the company in six months, took place at 15:08 GMT (10:08 EST)

Although the spacecraft is uncrewed, it is designed to one day carry up to six passengers for a journey lasting a total of 11 minutes.

Virgin Galactic, headed by British billionaire Richard Branson, is also working on a vessel of its own to carry tourists to space.

Although todays flight was uncrewed, the rocket has several NASA-sponsored science payloads onboard.

Blue Origin has a deal with NASA through the space agencys Flight Opportunities program to help institutions conduct research in microgravity.

The New Shepard experiences a few minutes of weightlessness during each flight, Blue Origin can offer a unique testing environment for experiments.

This lets the researches to measure the electromagnetic field surrounding it, as well as an experiment to test out how to keep tightly packed electronics cool during a spaceflight.

Although the spacecraft is uncrewed, it is designed to one day carry up to six passengers for a journey lasting a total of 11 minutes. This image shows the rocket firing moments before liftoff

It is carrying eight science experiments for NASA including microgravity tests and studying Earth's magnetic field. This image shows the rocket moments before liftoff

The New Shepard experiences a few minutes of weightlessness during each flight, Blue Origin can offer a unique testing environment for experiments. Touchdown (pictured) of the rocket section of the New Shepard craft around seven and a half minutes after liftoff

WHAT ARE THE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS CARRIED ABOARD BLUE ORIGINS' ROCKET? Carthage College Space Sciences Program The Modal Propellant Gauging experiment led by Dr. Kevin Crosby is a joint effort with the NASA Kennedy Space Center Cryogenics Laboratory. It demonstrates a way to measure fuel levels in microgravity by using sound waves. Controlled Dynamics Inc The Vibration Isolation Platform (VIP) aims to separate payloads from the normally occurring vibrations experienced during spaceflight. The payload led by Dr. Scott Green allows researchers to have a clear understanding of microgravitys effects on their research results. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab On its second flight with Blue, the EM Field experiment will observe and collect data on the naturally occurring electromagnetic fields both inside and outside New Shepard during the launch. Principal Investigator Dr. Todd Smith will use success of this experiment to determine how global measurements of the Earths electromagnetic field can be conducted in the future. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Cooling tightly-packed electronics onboard a spacecraft can be challenging, and many solutions have not been able to undergo robust testing. Principal Investigator Franklin Robinson will test one of these solutions in his Flow Boiling in Microgap Coolers experiment. Purdue University Dr. Steven Collicotts payload looks at Zero-Gravity Green Propellant Management Technology, which aims to help advance the use of a safer and more environmentally friendly rocket propellant by better understanding the fuels behaviour in microgravity. University of Central Florida Two teams led by Dr. Josh Colwell and Dr. Addie Dove both have planetary science payloads on NS-10. The Collisions Into Dust Experiment (COLLIDE) aims to understand how dust particles react after surface contact during exploration missions to places such as the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The Collection of Regolith Experiment (CORE) addresses the unique challenge of collecting and analyzing material samples in microgravity. University of Florida Dr. Rob Ferl and Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul are adapting technology designed for the ISS to suborbital uses with their experiment, Validating Telemetric Imaging Hardware for Crew-Assisted and Crew-Autonomous Biological Imaging in Suborbital Applications. By recalibrating the way data is collected, the experiment will enable more biological research on suborbital missions. Advertisement

Last year, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, flew higher than it ever had before, surpassing what the US Air Force considers the boundary of space, and marking the first manned flight to space from US soil since 2011.

The spaceship made it to a peak height of 51.4 miles (82.7 km). The US Air Force considers the space boundary to be at 50 miles.

The brief, suborbital flight - with two pilots on board - was a key milestone for the company which is striving to send tourists to space at a cost of $250,000 (191,000) per seat.

Neither Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic is ready to board their first paying passengers, but both are targeting the first such flights this year.

Blue Origin has not yet announced the ticket price to ride on its New Shepard spaceflights.

Blue Origin has a deal with NASA through the space agencys Flight Opportunities program to help institutions conduct research in microgravity. This image shows the rocket on the launchpad awaiting liftoff

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is competing in a space race with Elon Musk's Space X and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic to take the first tourists into space (file photo)
Researchers has discovered an outbreak of human viruses killing chimpanzees in Uganda.

Less than two years after the first report of wild chimpanzees in Uganda dying as a result of a human 'common cold' virus, a new study has identified two other respiratory viruses of human origin in chimpanzee groups in the same forest.

Researchers say the new outbreaks were simultaneous, with one lethal.

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This 2-year-old chimp named Betty succumbed to a human common cold virus in Uganda. The opportunity to retrieve Betty's body before it decomposed or scavengers set in was critical to making the discovery.

WHAT KILLED THE CHIMPS? Viral genetic material from the Ngogo chimps revealed infection by metapneumovirus, which is known to cause deadly disease in chimps across Africa. Surprisingly, the Kanyawara chimps contained the genetic material of a different virus, parainfluenza virus 3. Parainfluenza virus 3 is a common cause of croup in preschool children. 'This was really shocking,' says Goldberg. 'At the time, we were convinced that the same virus must have been causing both outbreaks, especially considering that the outbreaks were happening at exactly the same time.' Advertisement

The outbreaks affected different chimp communities in the same forest at the same time, between December 2016 and February 2017.

One group, consisting of 205 chimpanzees known as the Ngogo community in Uganda's Kibale National Park, was especially hard hit, with almost 44 percent of the animals in the group suffering from respiratory illness.

Twenty-five chimps in the Ngogo group died during the outbreak.

The other group of chimpanzees, knows as the Kanyawara community and consisting of 55 animals, experienced an outbreak where a little more than 69 percent of animals were affected by respiratory illness.

In contrast to the Ngogo group, no animals from the Kanyawara community died of the disease.

'These are very common human viruses that circulate worldwide and cause 'the sniffles' in kids,' Tony Goldberg, a University of WisconsinMadison professor, said.

'In people, they are no big deal unless the patient has asthma or another underlying condition.'

In chimpanzees, however, the viruses were much more virulent.

'The chimps cough and sneeze and lie on the forest floor looking miserable. And they lose a lot of weight.'

UWMadison epidemiologist Tony Goldberg investigating primate disease in Africa. He was dismayed to discover that a human common cold virus was killing healthy chimps

'It's heartbreaking to watch these animals suffer, not only from the disease but also from grief over the loss of members of their society.'

One infant chimp at Ngogo cried for hours after her mother died from the illness, Goldberg says.

The baby clung to her mother's body before finally wandering off to find the rest of the group.

According to Goldberg, a human origin for both viruses can be inferred because the viruses in the chimps were nearly identical genetically to common strains found in people.

Writing in the journal Emerging Microbes and Infections, the team said they believe the viruses must have been introduced by humans in the area.

'It is remarkable that the majority of the chimp population was affected, suggesting that there was no preexisting immunity and that this virus was newly introduced, perhaps from a human source.'

'It could happen in any number of ways,' says Goldberg.

'Local villagers, researchers, tourists, and many other people visit forests where apes live. All it takes is one person unwittingly carrying a 'common cold' virus to spark a deadly outbreak in apes.'
Sheep showed they were not as silly as people think after managing to pick Barack Obama out of a line-up.

But when it comes to recognising faces, they may still only have a woolly sense of what people look like.

Sadly for those excited by sheep being able to recognise former president Obama, actress Emma Watson and newsreader Fiona Bruce, the animals' intelligence may not have been quite what it seemed.

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Sheep were able to identify Barack Obama, Emma Watson (pictured) and Fiona Bruce from a line-up. Psychologists now say sheep are not as good as humans at recognising people, and the evidence is that they don't seem to know their own handlers

Psychologists now say sheep are not as good as humans at recognising people, and the evidence is that they don't seem to know their own handlers.

Experts from the universities of Newcastle and York have written about sheep's facial recognition skills following a study from the University of Cambridge in 2017.

That found Welsh mountain sheep shown pictures of celebrities could pick them out in different photographs with an accuracy of 68 per cent.

What got less attention was that the sheep could only identify their own handlers in pictures with 72 per cent accuracy.

That means, according to the psychologists, that sheep have a long way to go to match humans. Their facial recognition skills appear after days of training, using only a few faces.

Professor Mike Burton, a co-author of the comment piece from the University of York, said: 'The study went a lot further than others in showing sheep can recognise people from different angles in different photographs, rather than just one image.

'That is real progress, but it doesn't mean they can do this like humans. We can recognise people we know very well and sheep cannot.

'While they may be able to pick up on elements which different photographs of the same person have in common, they cannot recognise their handlers very well.

Humans are still better at this, although that may just be because we see a lot more different people than sheep do in their field.'

Sheep showed they were not as silly as people think after managing to pick Barack Obama (pictured) out of a line-up. But when it comes to recognising faces, they may still only have a woolly sense of what people look like

The Cambridge study built on evidence that sheep can recognise their flockmates.

Researchers showed the farmyard animals pictures of Barack Obama, Emma Watson, actor Jake Gyllenhaal and newsreader Fiona Bruce.

The sheep guessed them with an accuracy above 50/50, which have been expected if they were guessing, showing they could recognise facial features.

Shown celebrity photographs at different angles, they pressed a button under the right person to get food pellets as a reward.

But the comment piece points out that the sheep were trained for days while humans in similar studies have been shown pictures for only eight seconds.

The four faces was also a smaller selection, with people usually asked to memorise dozens of people before seeing them again.

The comment, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, concludes: 'The fact that sheep did not show better recognition of the familiar handler suggests that human-face recognition in sheep is not reliant on human-like processing mechanisms.'
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Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza's childhood musings have been revealed

Newly released childhood documents kept by Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza have emerged and reveal his misery at school and anorexia.

Lanza killed himself after slaughtering 20 school children, six staff members and his mother in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in December 2012.

For years, many files from his case have been kept secret by local police but NBC has obtained some of what they found inside Lanza's home during their search.

They include childhood letters to Santa, complaints about his 'crowded' school and disturbing remarks which lay bare Lanza's eating disorder.

'You will be FAT if you eat today. Just put it off one more DAY. You don't NEED FOOD,' was one of his mantras.

'Fat people can't fit everywhere,' was another, as was 'people will remember you as the "beautiful thin one".

Lanza wrote stories, letters to Santa Clause and drew cartoons as a child. They tell a story of a frustrated and lonely boy but there is no indication of the extreme violence and evil he would reach in later years

In one list found by detectives, he documented all the reasons why he should starve himself

He also told himself that 'only thin people are graceful', it was 'disgusting' that 'fat people' got 'shockwave ripples' on their skin when they were slapped and that 'if you eat, you'll look like one of those disgusting, fat, ghetto and trailer trash hookers on Jerry Springer.'

It is unclear when those were written.

Earlier documents reveal a happier boy.

In a letter to Santa Clause one year, he expressed gratitude for the set of Pokemon cards and asked for more that year.

He also complained that his school was 'unsanitary', he didn't like the people,

the teaches were 'disappointed' hin him.

'Lunch is too short to be enjoyable', 'I have to wake early for just disappointment,' and

The spreadsheet was among more than 1,000 documents recovered from Lanza's home in Newtown (pictured following the 2012 mass shooting)

'I can't learn the way the school teaches,' were other complaints.

In later years, his focus turned to mass murder.

Lanza began researching his extremely detailed list in 2006, six years before he committed one of the most horrific mass shootings in American history.

The list had 17 categories, including the number of people killed, the weapons used, the date, time, and place of the murders, and what happened to the killer.

It went all the way back to 1786 and ended in 2010. The final entry is Derrick Bird, who killed 12 people in Cumbria, England.

The spreadsheet was among more than 1,000 documents recovered from Lanza's home in Newtown and obtained by the Hartford Courant.

Lanza was so obsessive about his spreadsheet and the details it contained that he would even make corrects to mass shooters' Wikipedia pages.

One such Wikipedia entry was for George Sodini, who killed three people in a Pittsburgh gym before shooting himself dead in 2009.

Michael McLendon (left) who killed 10 people in Alabama in 2009 was on Lanza's list, as was South Korean Woo Bum-kon (right), who killed 56 people in 1982

Derrick Bird (left), who killed 12 people in England in 2010, was the last entry on Lanza's list. Friedrich Leibacher (right), who killed 14 people in Switzerland in 2001, was also on the list

Lanza spoke of his spreadsheet in one chatroom.

'Compared to the legions of people who focus solely on serial killers, it's almost impossible to find anyone who's interested in mass murderers so I thought that I might as well introduce myself,' he wrote.

'I've been researching this topic since 2006 and I started compiling a formal list at the beginning of 2010.'

It remains unclear why Lanza stopped adding to his spreadsheet, although one June 2012 online post illuminates his state of mind.

'The enthusiasm I had back when Virginia Tech happened feels like it's been gone for a hundred billion years,' he wrote, referencing the 2007 massacre that left 32 dead.

'I don't care about anything,' he added. 'I'm just done with it all.'

Six months later, Lanza killed 26 people at Sandy Hook - shocking the nation and bringing President Barack Obama to tears.

The list had 17 categories, including the number of people killed, the weapons used, the date, time, and place of the murders, and what happened to the killer. Pictured are the firearms and ammunition found next to Lanza's body at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Documents obtained from Lanza's home (pictured), where he shot and killed his mother, show the evolution of a boy excited about his hamster to a man obsessed with murder

Documents obtained from Lanza's home, where he shot and killed his mother, show the evolution of a boy excited about his hamster to a man obsessed with murder.

When he was in the third grade, Lanza wrote in his journal about the day his parents brought home Skippy the hamster.

A young Lanza dreamed of becoming a farmer and once wrote a paper about a family vacation to New Hampshire.

But by fifth grade his work had turned exceedingly dark, as seen in a 52-page story he wrote with another boy called Big Book of Granny.

The book includes a scene in which 'Granny' goes to a daycare center with her son and a character named 'Dora the Beserker'.

At one point in the story, Dora tells Granny 'Let's hurt the children'. At another point, Dora admits she likes hurting people - especially children.

In one chapter of the book, Granny kills people on the set of 'Granny's Clubhouse of Happy Children'. One part of the book references a game called 'Hide and Go Die'.

Lanza taped garbage bags over the windows of his bedroom to keep out any light (pictured)

Ammunition found in a gun safe inside Lanza's bedroom. Documents show that Lanza was obsessed with firearms

While he was a seventh grade student at St Rose of Lima School, Lanza wrote essays that were so disturbing his teacher showed them to the principal.

The teacher said the 'level of violence' in the essays was 'disturbing' and that Lanza's 'creative writing was so graphic that it could not be shared'.

An Office of Child Advocate report found that the essays showed Lanza was 'deeply troubled by feelings of rage, hate and (at least unconscious) murderous impulses'.

Investigators also found a four-page, preliminary screenplay written by Lanza called 'Lovebound'.

The story described itself as being about 'the beauty in the romantic relationship between a 10-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man'.

It was just one document that showed Lanza's obsession with pedophilia, and also included scenes of familicide and goths committing suicide.

There was also an eight-page document simply titled 'Me', in which Lanza reveals he has 'nothing but scorn for humanity'.

While he was a seventh grade student at St Rose of Lima School, Lanza wrote essays that were so disturbing his teacher showed them to the principal. He is pictured here in 2005

'I have been desperate to feel anything positive for someone my entire life,' he added.

In the same document, Lanza ponders why it's 'okay to kill an animal, but it's not okay to kill a human'.

'Killing yourself would intuitively be moral because you would not have the capacity to commit immoral deeds, which you innately do through being alive; and yet many would somehow forbid suicide as being immoral,' he writes at one point.

Investigators also found a list Lanza created that included 35 reasons to hate food and fat people.

'Starve off the parts you don't need. They're ugly and they drag you down. Food is mean and sneaky,' he wrote.

27 wooden angels stand in a yard down the street from the Sandy Hook Elementary School

'It tricks you into eating it and it works on you from the inside out making you fat, bloated, ugly and unhappy.'

Harold Schwartz, who was on the Sandy Hook Commission, believes Lanza's extreme anorexic condition - he was 6ft and 112lb - resulted in brain damage.

'I made the argument in the report for both the commission and the [report put together by the state Child Advocates office] that his extreme anorexia may have produced an organic brain syndrome  brain damage from starvation,' Schwartz said.

'While still a theory, these documents support that conclusion.'

Schwartz believes the documents obtained from Lanza's home are also 'further evidence of the very dark place that was Adam Lanza's world'.

The documents also show one of Lanza's victims, Mary Sherlach, was the chairperson of his Planning and Placement Team in the late 1990s and early 200s.

Sherlach communicated with Lanza's mother and coordinated his speech and occupational therapists.

In one document, Nancy Lanza praises Sherlach as being 'very helpful in keeping Adam's stress level at a minimum'.

Sherlach was the second person killed when Lanza stormed into Sandy Hook on December 14, 2012.
A White House economic adviser said Wednesday that the first quarter economy could see zero growth if the shutdown continues to the end of March while it was revealed the administration is preparing for just that possibility.

White House Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett said there could be zero economic growth if the government shutdown 'extended for whole quarter and given the fact that the first quarter tends to be low because of residual season.'

'You could end up with a number close to zero but the second quarter would be humongous if the government reopens. It would be like 4 percent or 5 percent,' he told CNN.

White House Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett said there could be zero economic growth if the government shutdown continues through March

Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has asked agency chiefs for a list of programs that will be the most impacted if the shutdown goes through Spring

President Donald Trump has touted a strong economy as one of his administration's accomplishments and it's expected he will use it as a talking point in his re-election campaign.

But Trump has also argued any short-term economic pain will be worth the long-term benefit that border security would bring.

Meanwhile, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has asked agency chiefs for a list of programs that will be the most impacted if the shutdown continues into March and April, The Washington Post reported, in a sign the administration fears exactly that will happen.

His request is believed to be the first from a senior White House official asking for information about the shutdown's impact.

The shutdown has hit Day 33 with no end in sight. It is the longest government closure in American history.

The Senate is set to vote Thursday on a pair of competing bills to end the crisis but neither is expected to garner the 60 votes needed to move forward in the legislative process.

And relations between Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi hit a downward turn Wednesday after he told her he wanted to come to Capitol Hill next week to give the State of the Union address and she told him not while the shutdown was going on.

She did tell reporters on Capitol Hill she would be open to inviting him once the government is reopened.

'I still make the offer of a mutually agreeable date - as the original date was mutually agreeable,' Pelosi said.

TSA workers who are on the job without pay and possible delays in tax refunds because of IRS staff being furloughed have been the two topics dominating the news.

But 800,000 federal workers will mark their second pay period with no check on Friday.
Theresa May is privately resigned to having to delay Brexit if MPs vote for it next week, allies said last night.

In public yesterday the Prime Minister hit out at Remainer MPs seeking to extend Article 50, saying postponement does not solve the issue and would simply put off vital decisions on Brexit.

Downing Street has refused to say whether the Government would be duty bound to accept a cross-party bid led by Yvette Cooper to delay Brexit for up to nine months  while International Development Secretary Liam Fox said the backbenchers plot was impossible.

Labour's Yvette Cooper, pictured outside the Cabinet Office, has been working on a plan to force PM Theresa May to defer Brexit by at least nine months to avert a cliff-edge departure in March as Parliament is yet to agree a deal to leave the European Union

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, pictured here in Davos, Switzerland, claims the plot was 'impossible' and suggested overturning the Brexit result would be 'calamitous'

David Daviss 3,000-an-hour job with JCB David Davis has taken on a lucrative new job as an adviser to JCB, a major Tory donor. The former Brexit Secretary will be an external adviser to the digger company, for which he will be paid 60,000 for 20 hours a year. The huge sum works out at 3,000 for every hour worked, or 50 a minute. Mr Davis, pictured, said he had complied with the rules concerning former ministers employment. JCB billionaire Lord Bamford is a strong supporter of Brexit, saying there is nothing to fear from No Deal. He and his family topped the list of Tory donors in 2017 by giving 2.5 million to the party personally and through their firms. Labour MP Ian Murray said: Having failed to properly plan for Brexit and storming out of the Cabinet, its frankly disgusting that David Davis is now picking up around 3,000 per hour in his second job with JCB. What an absolute insult to the people of the UK who have been left facing deeper austerity and increased living costs as a result of the calamitous Brexit he campaigned for. Workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors will be among those to pay the price. Advertisement

But sources last night said Mrs May is privately resigned to having to delay the UKs departure date beyond March 29 if Parliament votes for Home Affairs select committee chairman Miss Coopers plan.

One ally said that there would be nothing we can do to prevent a delay if the plan is passed.

The proposal would allow backbenchers to bring forward legislation on February 5 to extend Article 50. If passed, Mrs May would have three weeks to win a vote on her Brexit deal in Parliament before being required to seek an extension of Article 50.

With Labour hinting it will back Miss Coopers bid, and a number of Tory Remainers also indicating support, the move has a realistic chance of success.

Allies of the Prime Minister fear the move would release the pressure on the EU to compromise  and believe that it would leave ministers until only February 5 to come forward with a new plan.

One said: Yvette Coopers amendment is of a different order to the others. The rest are expressions of parliamentary will  in theory, she could ignore them.

But Cooper is proposing legislation. If that passes there is nothing we can do.

Its massively unhelpful. Wed have a week to try to persuade the Commons not to back the bill or Brexit would be delayed and the pressure would come off the EU.

Miss Coopers bid to seize control of the Brexit process will be debated and voted on by MPs on Tuesday.

Her proposal, drawn up in conjunction with former Tory minister Nick Boles, would tear up Britains constitutional conventions and allow backbench MPs to push through legislation in the face of Government opposition.

Theresa May has to return to Parliament later this month with her new Brexit deal

Irish fear EU checks on its goods in France under a no deal Brexit THE IRISH prime minister fears the EU could impose border checks in Europe on goods to and from the Republic if the UK crashes out without a deal. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the EU could treat the UK and Ireland as one block under a No Deal scenario. This would avoid a hard border and could mean customs checks in Calais and other continental ports on goods to the British Isles. In effect, Ireland would be treated as if it were a non-EU country outside the single market and customs union. His comments are further signs of concerns in Dublin over a No Deal Brexit. Throughout the negotiations, Dublin and the EU have stuck rigidly to the line that a backstop was needed to prevent a hard border. But recently there have been signs their alliance is fracturing with Brexit day looming and no sign of MPs in the UK backing the withdrawal agreement. It is thought Mr Varadkar is coming under pressure from other EU states to give way on the backstop to get a workable deal through. Yesterday EU negotiator Michel Barnier said technology might be used to avoid the hard border  something Brussels has always ruled out. Just 24 hours after a commission spokesman insisted a hard border would be imposed in the event of a No Deal Brexit, the EUs chief negotiator told a committee meeting: We will have to find an operational way of carrying out checks and controls without putting back in place a border. Advertisement

Labour yesterday signalled it would back the controversial bid to delay Brexit.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said it was highly likely that Labour would support the move, although he suggested it might push for the Brexit delay to be limited to three months.

He added: Yvette Cooper has put an amendment down, which I think is sensible... so I think its increasingly likely already that well have to take that option because the Government has run the clock down.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett argued that the plan would help stop a No Deal Brexit, adding: If a resolution comes forward, in principle yes we can back it.

A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn, who held private talks with Miss Cooper about the issue last night, suggested the Labour leader might even be prepared to open talks with Mrs May if the prospect of a No Deal Brexit is pushed back.

Eight pro-Remain Tory MPs have also backed the plan, with more expected to follow suit in the coming days. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has urged Mrs May to allow a free vote  and warned that a string of ministers could resign to back the proposal if she does not.

But some Labour MPs in Brexit supporting areas are opposed to the move, meaning Tuesday nights vote could be tight.

Former minister Caroline Flint yesterday indicated she would oppose the plan and said those pushing it dont want to leave the EU and are using Parliament to frustrate the process.

Dr Fox also questioned the motives of those behind the plan, saying: There are many who talk about delaying Brexit when what they really mean is not having Brexit at all. He warned that overturning the referendum result would lead to calamitous political consequences.

Extending Article 50 would also require the unanimous consent of the other 27 EU countries.

Pierre Moscovici, EU commissioner for economic affairs, said this would be granted only if it was clear that the UK had an alternative plan it needed time to implement.

He told Bloomberg News: An extension is a possible scenario, but for that there are two things required. First, we have to have unanimity on that.

I am not so worried about that, because until now the 27 have been united, and I dont see why that would change. Second, you need to have a reasoned request (from the UK), meaning we are not going to extend just because we are not there. We need to know why we extend. What for? What is the plan?

The development came as Downing Street confirmed Theresa May and her husband Philip hosted a private dinner at Chequers for DUP leader Arlene Foster, her deputy Nigel Dodds and their partners as part of a Brexit charm offensive.

The EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier has warned British MPs that opposing a No Deal will not stop a No Deal from happening unless they agree to support an alternative.

Mrs May invited Nicola Sturgeon and Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford to join a Cabinet committee preparing the UK for Brexit, with or without a deal.

George Osborne warned that a hardcore of Tory Remainers would side with Labour to force a general election if Mrs May tries to take Britain out of the EU without a deal.
Bringing Jack Shepherd back from Georgia could take an age unless he deliberately signs away his rights, experts said last night.

One London-based barrister said it was very unlikely Georgia will give him back if the killer does not consent  raising the prospect of a drawn-out extradition battle.

While Shepherds lawyer in Tbilisi last night said he was reluctant to return to the UK because he did not feel safe there.

Barrister Laura Herbert, of Charter Chambers, said: It is very unlikely Georgia will give him back. I think it might be quite tricky. There is the possibility hes acting very cynically here.

Jack Shepherd , the speedboat killer who has been on the run, hands himself over to police in Tbilisi, Georgia

He has travelled far away, quite close to somewhere we dont have a good relationship with and a political and judicial system probably not quite as upstanding as our own.

'If he had really wanted to come back, he would have selected a country where we have firm extradition arrangements.

A spokesman for the Extradition Lawyers Association said: I would imagine it will take an age. Unless he consents to extradition, it will largely depend on political will.

There is very little extradition to or from Georgia. It happens very, very seldom and I cant think of a single case.

Jack Shepherd looks a different man after his time on the run. Pictured left: at the Old Bailey in 2016. Right: speaking in Georgia after his re-arrest today

'In terms of how long it would take, I would say it would be a very lengthy process unless the defendant consents to be extradited or he is deported as a result of his visa being revoked.

Shepherds lawyer in Georgia told the BBC that he had expressed concerns about coming to Britain.

He told us Jack contacted him asking for legal aid and they both came to this police station to turn himself in, its reporter said. He also told his lawyer that he doesnt feel safe going back to the UK.

Britain does not have a specific extradition treaty with Georgia. Instead, the process will rely on the 1957 European Convention on Extradition, amended to include Georgia in 2002.

Why did it take police six months to act? Scotland Yard detectives last night faced questions about why they failed to act when Jack Shepherds wife told them at least six months ago that he was in Georgia. When he did not appear for his Old Bailey trial, officers told Charlotte Browns family they questioned Shepherds wife about his whereabouts and were told he had travelled to the former Soviet republic. Officials in Georgias interior ministry insisted the first they knew of the fugitive was last Monday, when the Metropolitan Police made an official request for help. While Shepherds lawyer in Tbilisi last night said Shepherd (pictured) was reluctant to return to the UK because he did not feel safe there It is now known that Shepherd, pictured, had been hiding in Georgia since March 21 last year after arriving in the capital Tbilisi at 3.31am. But it emerged last night that Scotland Yard did not ask for an international arrest warrant until January 11. On that date the force contacted the National Crime Agency for the first time about the case and asked it to place a red letter with Interpol. This means the earliest that Georgia or any other country would have been officially notified about the fugitive would have been that day. Sources say it is highly unlikely that the Scotland Yard officers in the case would have been allowed to go to Georgia to catch Shepherd. Forces in the UK have to seek permission from the appropriate authorities in other countries before they are allowed to travel for investigative purposes. This can be a lengthy and complicated bureaucratic process, taking many months before the relevant permission is granted. Even relatively simple requests such as getting criminal records, fingerprints or intelligence from foreign judicial authorities can take a long time with countries outside the European Union. Although Scotland Yard was the investigating force in the case, the task of tracking down Britains most wanted fugitives falls to the National Crime Agency. It remains unclear what action the NCA was asked to take on the case before this week, when pressure on Scotland Yard detectives mounted. Advertisement

The Home Offices international criminality unit will forward a request to Georgia through UK diplomats in the capital Tbilisi. If local authorities agree, British police will travel to collect Shepherd and bring him back.

Charlotte Brown, who died aged 24, on a date on a speedboat with Jack Shepherd on the Thames in 2015

A Home Office source suggested Shepherd could be back in the UK in weeks but admitted it could take longer. It all depends on whether he agrees to extradition or not, in terms of how quickly it takes, the source said.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: We await formal confirmation that Jack Shepherd has handed himself into the authorities in Georgia, but if this is confirmed it is welcome news that he has finally done what he should have done a long time ago and taken responsibility for his actions.

I hope that he does nothing to frustrate or delay his return to the UK and that he faces the justice he deserves as quickly as possible.

Shepherd is likely to face a further criminal charge for fleeing the country while on bail.

Sentencing guidelines say that, in crown court cases where failure to surrender represents a deliberate attempt to evade or delay justice, the heaviest penalties can be handed down when breaching bail results in substantial delay and/or interference with the administration of justice.

Judges are given a starting point of imposing a six-week imprisonment rising to a maximum term of six months.
Wonder mare Winx has been crowned the world's best racehorse at the Longines International Federation of Horse Racing Association awards in London.

The seven-year-old tied for the honour with English superstar Cracksman - the pair each holding an official handicap rating of 130 - emulating the feat of Black Caviar who jointly-held the title with French filly Treve in 2013.

Winx won seven Group One races in 2018, including a record fourth Cox Plate, and after finishing second and third in this award behind American star Arrogate for the past two years, finally took out the top gong.

Wonder mare Winx has been crowned the world's best racehorse at the Longines International Federation of Horse Racing Association awards in London

Breeders Cup Classic winner Accelerate was third, surprisingly edging out the brilliant two-time Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Enable.

The French showpiece was named the world's best race for the third year running.

Despite Winx's 29 successive race wins, the award only takes into account the official ratings of the races and the quality of the opposition in elite races over the designated period.

Trainer Chris Waller said finishing in the top three once again demonstrated the incredible consistency of a horse that is lauded by many as the greatest to ever come out of Australia.

'It's what separates Winx from a lot of great horses,' Waller told AAP.

'She is doing it for a long time and it's not easy to get to this level and then to sustain it.

The seven-year-old (pictured) shared the honour with English superstar Cracksman

'To be recognised here three years in a row shows what Winx is; a horse of longevity and a horse that can perform at the highest level.'

Waller said training Winx brings a unique type of pressure as she is usually an odds-on favourite to win.

'Each times she runs ... there is pressure,' Waller said.

'Whether it be the first preparation of the year, knowing she has come back well or the sigh of relief when she gets through the last one undefeated, which was the Cox Plate.

'Before each race you always question yourself and whether you are making the right decision to keep her racing.'

While there has long been a temptation to take Winx to Europe to prove her class against the northern hemisphere's best, Waller said the chance has probably gone.

'We think about it (Ascot) every day,' he said.

'But the right thing would have been to bring her when she was a five-year-old.

'She is seven now, getting towards eight, and the expectation of her fanbase is for her to finish her career in Australia.

'For her to go through a change of season twice and then go back and perform over here is very difficult and very taxing.

'You then have to ask the question; why would she have to go to England? Why not go to America? To Dubai? To France? Or on a plane to New Zealand?

'Who deserves the right to have her when every horse can come to Australia to race her?'

'We're just putting the horse first and we have great racing in Australia.'
Jess, 29, from Swindon, Wiltshire, first noticed something was wrong with Pippa when she started to limp one day in December 2015. The vet examined her and found nothing  we thought shed probably just overdone it on a walk, she says

Carefully parting her dogs fur to find out why the cocker spaniel kept licking the same spot, Jess Worthington felt a stab of fear.

There, on Pippas leg, was a small ulcer-like scratch that had only appeared in the past few hours. And there wasnt just one  searching further, Jess found five more similar marks on the two-year-old dog.

The veterinary nurse immediately guessed what it was: Alabama Rot  the fatal flesheating virus terrifying dog owners across the country.

The reason its so feared is that experts know very little about it, apart from the fact that it attacks a dogs blood vessels and causes its kidneys to fail.

Scientists dont know how its caught  let alone how to prevent or cure it. There arent even official statistics about fatalities, because vets have no way of testing for Alabama Rot when a dog is alive. It can only be confirmed during a post mortem.

What is known is that the disease was first spotted in greyhounds in the U.S. state of Alabama  hence the name  in the Eighties. For decades, Britains dogs were safe. But in 2012, Alabama Rot took its first UK victim. Since then, increasing numbers of dogs have been killed. Most cases have been on the south coast of England, but plenty have been confirmed in the North-West.

Jess, 29, from Swindon, Wiltshire, first noticed something was wrong with Pippa when she started to limp one day in December 2015. The vet examined her and found nothing  we thought shed probably just overdone it on a walk, she says.

But at home the next morning I noticed she was licking her leg, so I had a look and thats when I found a nasty-looking lesion.

Alarm bells immediately rang because I knew it was a sign of Alabama Rot.

I felt absolute dread  my heart was beating so fast  and I was panicking as I quickly got into the car with her to go back to work. Pippa was put on fluids to support her kidneys, given blood and urine tests and monitored overnight.

Jesss other cocker spaniel, Molly, started licking her paw. She, too, had lesions  and the virus. Both dogs were taken to Anderson Moores vets in Winchester, which specialises in the treatment of Alabama Rot. Devastated, Jess and husband Ian spent as much time as they could with the dogs. On the third day, Pippas kidneys began to deteriorate

But the next day there was more bad news. Jesss other cocker spaniel, Molly, started licking her paw. She, too, had lesions  and the virus.

Both dogs were taken to Anderson Moores vets in Winchester, which specialises in the treatment of Alabama Rot. Devastated, Jess and husband Ian spent as much time as they could with the dogs. On the third day, Pippas kidneys began to deteriorate.

The vet said we needed to quickly take her to the Royal Veterinary College in London. That night, my dad drove us there  I was too upset. The team was amazing but the prognosis wasnt good  they said 95 per cent of dogs dont make it. Over the next few days, Pippa had an operation to replace her damaged plasma, a yellow liquid in the blood that carries nutrients to damaged cells.

Jess and Ian were told it was the only treatment that could help Pippa. But it didnt, and her condition worsened.

A week after shed first fallen ill, her skin was yellow, she couldnt lift her head. There was a nasty lesion on her back leg and she was in such a bad way we had to make the call to put her to sleep.

Even worse, Jess and Ian knew Molly still wasnt out of the woods.

We went home to an empty house, she remembers. I took all the Christmas decorations down  the dogs had their own stockings  as I couldnt face it.

But six days later, Molly got the all clear. She was lucky. For the number of dogs being killed by Alabama Rot is on the rise. In 2012, just six succumbed to the disease. By 2015, it was 21 and last year one died every week.

And we still dont know if the disease is contagious.

Farmer Gabrielle Williams, of Magor, Monmouthshire, had five dogs who were walked together, yet just one  her beloved whippet Fleur  developed the Rot.

Farmer Gabrielle Williams, of Magor, Monmouthshire, had five dogs who were walked together, yet just one  her beloved whippet Fleur  developed the Rot. It began one day in March 2017 when the five-year-old dog lost her appetite. The next day, Gabrielle found a small sore on her foot but presumed it was an injury. But three days later it was no better. I took her to the local vet who put her on antibiotics and painkillers, says Gabrielle, who has a son Harrison, three, with partner Paul

It began one day in March 2017 when the five-year-old dog lost her appetite. The next day, Gabrielle found a small sore on her foot but presumed it was an injury. But three days later it was no better. I took her to the local vet who put her on antibiotics and painkillers, says Gabrielle, who has a son Harrison, three, with partner Paul.

But the next morning, I noticed sores in her mouth so took her back to the vet to have some blood tests.

The next day the vet rang.

They told me they suspected Alabama Rot. I just went cold. It had come up when I was looking up Fleurs symptoms online and I knew the outcome often wasnt good.

The once playful dog was transferred to Anderson Moores but the next day Fleurs condition drastically deteriorated. Gabrielle had to take the decision to put her to sleep.

It was absolutely devastating. And I was very worried that my other four dogs would go down with it. I was so vigilant  for months afterwards if they even got a little nick, Id panic.

Ive no idea why they didnt all get it. They all eat the same food, walk the same routes.

Experts are determined to uncover the truth about how Alabama Rot is caught.

Research suggests vulnerable dogs have a genetic predisposition to the illness, which is triggered by unknown environmental factors. But the evidence is far from conclusive and we still dont know how to prevent it.

We do know most cases are diagnosed in winter. A distinct seasonal pattern is suggested, with the vast majority of cases occurring between November and March, and a limited number of cases over the summer months, says vet David Walker, one of the UKs experts. Just 6.5 per cent of cases have been confirmed from June to October.

Owners are advised to wash mud off their pets, just in case it can be transferred that way. And anyone who suspects Alabama Rot should seek vet treatment urgently.

Quick action helped save Michael Barlows beautiful Labrador Lulu.

The contractor was in Dubai when the woman looking after Lulu near his home in Lymington, Hampshire, called to say the six-year-old was ill.

Michael, 52, told her to take Lulu to the vet and flew home the next day.

Id known her since birth  she was a puppy from my sisters dog  and Id hand-reared her. It was an awful flight back, he recalls.

I went as fast as I could to the Royal Veterinary College but when we got there she couldnt walk and was very, very weak.

After two plasma exchanges, it was touch-and-go.

But after a week or two, I bounced a ball in front of her and she looked up. That was the first time I thought she might be getting better.

After almost three weeks, and a 15,000 bill, Lulu was ready to go home. Nearly four years on, shes still well.

But Michaels experience is another alarming example of why Alabama Rot is described as Britains most frightening canine disease.
United Airlines is being sued for failing to protect a teenage girl who was groped on a flight from Seattle to Newark in July 2017.

The lawsuit, which was filed last week in King County Superior Court in Washington State, blames the airline for not taking adequate action against a 30-year-old physician who acknowledged assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

Last year, the doctor, Vijaykumar Krishnappa, admitted to assaulting a sleeping girl on a flight from Seattle to New Jerseys Newark Liberty International Airport.

Krishnappa received a 90-day sentence after pleading guilty.

Prosecutors say Krishnappa intentionally touched the girl near her groin over her leggings without her consent.

The girl, who he did not know, was sleeping in the seat next to him on the July 2017 flight.

In July 2017, a then-16-year-old girl (pictured) was flying from Seattle to New Jersey to attend a leadership academy at Princeton when she was allegedly groped by Vijakumar Krishnappa, 30, on a United Airlines flight

The Indian national was studying medicine in the U.S. at the time under a fellowship for doctors from foreign countries.

According to the lawsuit, United personnel failed to call the police after the girl reported Krishnappa to flight attendants.

Instead, Krishnappa was allowed to walk off the plane scot-free, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

It was left to the girls mother to notify the police the next day, when Krishnappa was arrested.

The conduct of United in this case is unconscionable from start to finish, said Samuel Daheim, the attorney representing the victim and her mother.

United issued a statement saying it cooperated with the criminal investigation and allowed the victim to change seats after she reported the incident to staff.

According to the lawsuit, the incident took place on a flight from Seattle to Newark on July 23, 2017.

The victim, who was 16 years old at the time, was flying alone for the first time in her life.

She was flying to the East Coast to attend a young womens leadership conference at Princeton University, the lawsuit states.

When she boarded the flight, she was assigned a seat toward the back of the plane, according to the lawsuit.

Once the aircraft was preparing for takeoff, the cabin lights were shut off.

The girl anticipated sleeping throughout most of the flight.

According to the lawsuit, the girl then felt fingertips touching her knee.

Initially, she assumed that the passenger sitting next to her had fallen asleep and the contact was accidental, the lawsuit states.

But the touching continued from her knee to her upper thigh and eventually toward her genitalia.

The passenger next to her was later identified as a doctor from India who was in the United States as part of a fellowship.

According to the lawsuit, the girl felt trapped and afraid in the dark cabin.

She thought Krishnappa would do something worse if she drew attention, the lawsuit states.

Krishnappa then slid his hand underneath the waistband of her pants. The girl then confronted him and called for a flight attendant.

When the flight attendant came over and was told what took place, the lawsuit says the flight attendant told Krishnappa: Not cool, dude.

The flight attendant then moved the girl to another seat a few rows ahead, where Krishnappa could still see her.

The lawsuit, filed last week in King County Superior Court in Washington State, blames the airline for not taking adequate action against a 30-year-old physician who acknowledged assaulting a 16-year-old girl. A United flight takes off from Newark in September

The lawsuit alleges that the flight crew did nothing to investigate or document the incident.

Instead, staff gave the girl a bag of peanuts even though she was crying hysterically and visibly upset.

By failing to notify authorities and have Krishnappa arrested, the victim is alleging that United employees violated federal law, which requires that assault be reported to law enforcement.

The girl then called her mother in tears to tell her what happened on the flight.

The mother then booked a flight to the East Coast to see her daughter. She also contacted police.

Krishnappa was arrested the next day, according to the Post-Intelligencer.

The lawsuit says that since the incident, the girl, who was unable to participate in the conference, has been suffering from social isolation.

United issued a statement which read: The safety and well-being of our customers is our top priority.

Our customer was immediately moved to a different seat when the flight attendant was made aware of the issue.

We fully cooperated with law enforcement's investigation and the perpetrator has been permanently banned from flying United.
One thing was immediately apparent from Jack Shepherd's demeanour at Tbilisi police station: His breathtaking arrogance.

He didn't walk from the black limousine which dropped him outside. He swaggered; even managing a wave as if he was some kind of celebrity.

When a TV microphone was thrust in front of him for an impromptu interview, he embraced the moment and his lip curled, ever so slightly, into a smirk.

'I hope the truth will be discovered,' he said defiantly. 'My appeal will end successfully and everyone can move on.'

No remorse, then. No apology to Charlotte Brown's parents for prolonging their agony. Nothing.

Doesn't this confirm everything we knew about Jack Shepherd?

Shepherd was convicted of killing Charlotte Brown when he drunkenly flipped his speedboat on the Thames while trying to impress her on a first date in 2015

He might have changed his appearance, sporting shorn hair and a longer straggly beard, but his fleeting moment before the cameras in the Georgian capital was entirely in keeping with the young man who was too cowardly to take his place in the dock at the Old Bailey to face manslaughter charges over the death of 24-year-old Charlotte in a speedboat accident on the Thames just over three years ago.

He has remained too cowardly to face her heartbroken parents and sisters, and too cowardly to give himself up after taking out roughly 50,000 in loans to go on the run in March.

He was spotted by a local journalist who recognised him  following press reports in the former Soviet republic that he might be in hiding in the country  and tipped off the police.

So Shepherd, 31, does not even deserve a shred of credit for finally doing the right thing; he didn't.

Indeed his capture, in its own way, shames our own justice system as well as him.

He was convicted in his absence (of manslaughter by gross negligence) and received a six-year sentence but  scandalously in the eyes of many  he was still granted Legal Aid to mount an appeal after absconding.

Shepherd smiled for the camera today. Ignoring the jury's verdict that he was responsible for the safety of the boat and those on board, he said: 'It's very upsetting to read these lies in the newspaper'

His lawyers at Tuckers Solicitors, which has offices around the country, were in communication with their client all along.

Under client confidentiality rules, they were not in a position to help Scotland Yard find him and repeatedly stressed they didn't know where he was in any case.

Not that the Metropolitan Police covered themselves in glory either. Officers, it emerged, were tipped off that Shepherd had fled to Georgia more than six months ago yet did nothing.

The Georgian authorities invited their British counterparts to belatedly join the hunt for the killer, who is believed to have entered the country after disappearing nearly a year ago, but the offer wasn't taken up.

Charlotte's family met Home Secretary Sajid Javid this week and he vowed to 'strain every sinew' to catch him.

That meeting followed a campaign by the Daily Mail which put up a 25,000 reward to bring Shepherd to justice.

Shepherd zigzagged across the water at almost twice the speed limit of 12 knots. Sometime before midnight, the speedboat (pictured) hit a submerged log near Wandsworth Bridge and capsized

Let us remind you of the circumstances surrounding Charlotte's death on December 9, 2015, to explain why we took that decision.

It was Shepherd's first date with Charlotte, who must have been more than a little impressed by the dashing, well-spoken man wining and dining her at the glamourous Oblix restaurant on the 32nd floor of the The Shard skyscraper at London Bridge.

What Charlotte could not have known was that womanising Shepherd wasn't interested in romance, or even having a relationship with her or anyone else. He was a predator who had wined and dined up to ten other young women shortly before they met.

Charlotte, an English literature graduate and business consultant, agreed to his suggestion that, after leaving the Oblix, they should take taxi back to his place  a houseboat on the Thames at Hammersmith, West London.

Jack Shepherd looks a different man after his time on the run. Pictured left: at the Old Bailey in 2016. Right: speaking in Georgia after his re-arrest today

Moored outside was a 14ft Fletcher Arrowflyte speedboat with a supply of champagne, for a late night, drink-fuelled spin along the river  purchased, he would later admit to detectives, to 'pull women'.

The boat was a death trap. The craft's kill cord (which is used to cut the engine if the driver becomes incapacitated) had been disconnected, the life jackets were tucked away out of reach, and the steering was faulty. Shepherd knew all this; he knew that his boat was an accident waiting to happen.

Still, he zigzagged across the water at almost twice the speed limit of 12 knots (14mph). And let us not forget that he had already been warned twice before by the river police about speeding. But, as we have already stated, arrogance was one of Shepherd's defining characteristics.

Sometime before midnight, the speedboat hit a submerged log near Wandsworth Bridge and capsized. What happened next, you might think, also revealed another aspect of his character.

Shepherd called out from the water for someone to 'help me'  not 'help us'.

Apparently Shepherd, a web designer, was still slurring his words for hours afterwards.

Charlotte herself was eventually pulled from the water and died in hospital. She never regained consciousness after the accident.

Due to the complexities of the case, the investigation was passed from Wandsworth CID to Scotland Yard's Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

It wasn't until September 2017 that Shepherd, who had met Charlotte online, was charged with her death. He denied manslaughter and was granted unconditional bail. Then, after attending three preliminary hearings, he absconded.

Charlotte's devastated family knew nothing of this until the eve of the trial, which went ahead without him in July 2018. Her mother Roz Wickens, 43, a council careline operator, expressed what everything else was thinking: 'There has got to be someone harbouring him, either financially or otherwise. He has got support.

'I don't think he's able to do this on his own.'

The public might now find out if that was indeed the case. He took out loans of at least 50,000 before he fled and has failed to pay back a single penny.

Perhaps it is no surprise to learn that Shepherd is also facing trial for grievous bodily harm after being accused of glassing a barman, which makes the decision to grant him Legal Aid all the more astonishing.

Typical of his heartless behaviour was the fact that he also married his wife  who lives in Wales with their baby son  only two months after the speedboat tragedy.

Shepherd grew up in Paignton, Devon, with two younger sisters and a brother.

His divorced father, who worked as a product control administrator, was 40 at the time of his birth and had already fathered five children from previous relationships. His mother, 26 at the time, was a sales assistant.

Charlotte Brown, who died aged 24, on a date on a speedboat with Jack Shepherd on the Thames in 2015

The couple ran a health food shop in nearby Totnes and kept what is said to have been a chaotic household ('the parents were hippy-dippy types who never properly punished their kids', says one acquaintance).

They split up when Shepherd was a teenager.

Extremely 'arrogant' (that word again) is how his old teacher Richard Pennell remembers him. 'He thought he was better than everyone else,' he said. 'Despite our best efforts we weren't able to help him behave better.'

Since then much more has come to light about Shepherd.

After leaving school in 2005, he did not go to university but went instead to London to pursue a career in IT.

In 2013 he incorporated a web development company (named JSS Web after his initials). But it was struck off the register six months later without ever having filed accounts.

He created a second software business, JS Digital, in 2014, again as the sole director. But Shepherd also had another, less respectable, business. He was behind a website called Dating In Kent which claimed to have more than 7,000 members and offered its users advice on 'how to impress on the first date'. One section read: 'First dates should supply a window into the excitement and joy you can offer your partner, so never be afraid to think outside the box to ensure that your name is the first on your lover's lips.'

Another website linked to Shepherd, allegedly with 1,000 members, included a 'newbie's guide to no-strings sex'.

This is surely what he was trying to accomplish on his first  and only date  with Charlotte.

This will be why he took her to the swish Oblix restaurant, an establishment which combines 'sophisticated, urban dining' with spectacular views over the capital. Sadly for Charlotte, it was all part of his cynical seduction routine.

She had met Shepherd on an unconnected dating website. The pair had been exchanging messages for about four weeks before their fateful date.

Haunting video footage retrieved from Charlotte's smartphone from that night shows the flickering lights of the capital reflected in the water as they speed along the river. Charlotte can be heard exclaiming: 'Oh my god, you're going so fast.'

Four months before the speedboat tragedy (at a time when Shepherd must have been dating his future wife), a young woman called Clare Hyam posted an image of herself 'drinking champers' on his boat near the Houses of Parliament.

Meanwhile, several mysteriously anonymous Twitter accounts have sprung up on social media to defend Shepherd. One recently claimed that he 'loves' his son and is 'missing his family, too'.

Of course nothing can match the anguish and anger of poor Charlotte's family, who spoke yesterday to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show.

Her father Graham Brown, a civil servant, told the programme: 'Our family do feel let down by the criminal justice system because Jack Shepherd was able to flout the law and unfortunately our daughter lost her life.

'His absence from trial while on unconditional bail, and just how easy it was to abscond, has surely got to be a concern.

'I don't know whether it's the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the clunky justice system  but something is not right.'
The fugitive dubbed the 'speedboat killer' was in handcuffs last night having been detained by police in Georgia after nearly ten months on the run.

Jack Shepherd, 31, was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison over the death of his date Charlotte Brown, 24, on a drunken boat ride on the Thames in December 2015.

He was convicted in his absence having fled the UK in March last year before his trial.

The Mail has been campaigning for months for British authorities to do more to help bring him to justice, and offered a 25,000 reward for information leading to his capture.

Sporting a thick beard in the Georgian capital of Tblisi last night Shepherd looked almost unrecognisable compared with pictures of the then-fresh-faced web designer taken before his appearance at the Old Bailey prior to his escape.

Last night Charlotte Brown's family condemned her killer after he blamed her for the tragedy  and then accused her grieving father of waging a vendetta against him.

Shepherd complained of feeling 'upset' at reading about himself in the Daily Mail and suggested it was his victim's own fault that she died because she was driving the speedboat.

Ignoring the jury's verdict that he  as master of the defective boat  was responsible for its safety, Shepherd declared: 'It's very upsetting to read these lies in the newspaper.'

Last night Miss Brown's father, Graham, 55, said: 'I've always thought Jack Shepherd has acted in very crass, reckless manner  and seeing him on screen now has just confirmed it.

'He's a man who can't accept responsibility for anything. He certainly shows no remorse.'

Shepherd smiled for the camera today. Ignoring the jury's verdict that he was responsible for the safety of the boat and those on board, he said: 'It's very upsetting to read these lies in the newspaper'

Jack Shepherd looks a different man having grown a thick beard during his time on the run. Pictured left: at the Old Bailey in 2016. Right: speaking in Georgia after his re-arrest today

Miss Brown's sister Katie told the BBC: 'I feel very surprised at how smug he looks to be honest. It just shows a very arrogant man.

'I don't understand how someone can go on the run for two crimes and be found guilty and still then just walk straight in with a very smug look on his face and claim innocence. It's unbelievable.

'Someone who's run away from this doesn't scream an innocent man's actions to me. Why did he run away if he's claiming innocence?'

Shepherd said he said he had chosen 'wonderful' Georgia to flee to because 'it was affordable, had generous visa regime and mountains, sea, and it was a country I'd always wanted to visit and I think the culture is very wonderful'.

Jack Shepherd the speedboat killer is led away in handcuffs by Georgian police in Tiblisi

Shepherd grinned as he told reporters he hoped his arrest would help everyone 'move on', and confirmed that he plans to appeal his six-year sentence once he arrives in the UK

Shepherd's lawyer, Marianne Kublashvili, spoke to the press after his arrest in Tbilisi, Georgia

'He has shown no compassion to us' Katie Brown, Charlotte's sister, said: 'Based on Shepherd's TV interview I've seen so far I cannot believe that he continues to be so arrogant and in complete denial about the responsibility of his actions in December 2015. 'He has shown no compassion towards our family and his TV interview is full of contradictions to what was heard in court. 'We want to see Shepherd extradited to the UK to serve his sentence as soon as possible. 'We would like to thank the police and public in their continued support.' Advertisement

Glossing over the fact he went on the run hours after allegedly glassing a hotel barman, he said: 'It was quite a rushed decision but there was a lot going for Georgia.'

In an interview with Georgian TV station Rustavi-2 before he handed himself in to police, Shepherd said: 'Just to clarify something which has been printed in a lot of newspapers such as the Daily Mail, it's an established fact that Charlotte was driving at the time of the accident.

'Unfortunately some journalists in the UK have forgotten this and printed that I was driving.

'Something else they've printed which is very hurtful is that I let her drown, and I was just crying 'help me, help me' and didn't tell anyone she was there.

It couldn't be further from the truth. My main concern was her. I was clinging to the boat saying, 'leave me in the water and help her, please' as soon as rescuers arrived.

Charlotte Brown, who died aged 24, on a date on a speedboat with Jack Shepherd on the Thames in 2015

Jack Shepherd smiled and waved to to the camera upon being arrested in Georgia

'It's very upsetting to read these lies in the newspaper.'

Speaking about the December speedboat tragedy, Shepherd said: 'I was involved in a tragic accident in 2015 in which a lady called Charlotte Brown tragically died.

'After a long period where the police rightly treated it as an accident, after significant pressure from her father, the police decided to prosecute me for manslaughter.

'The court accepted she was driving at the time of the accident. The thing they say I did wrong was to let her drive my boat. They say that was negligent and that I owed her a duty of care.

'Although I had had something to drink, I was not tested or anything. Charlotte was tested and was just above the drink-drive limit.

'It was unwise to go out on the water but not mad.'

Charlotte Brown's father Graham said of Shepherd: 'He's a man who can't accept responsibility for anything. He certainly shows no remorse'

The family of Charlotte Brown thanked the public for their support

Despite being found guilty by a jury of killing Miss Brown, Shepherd insisted that her father, a civil servant, was to blame for him being convicted. He said: 'Charlotte Brown's father works in the prison system of the UK, he's a civil servant of some influence.

The CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] decided not to prosecute me but he appealed this. He was able to leverage his power in the system to get a QC appointed to oversee the case, which was very unusual.'

Revealing how closely he has been following the Mail's campaign, he said: 'The father met with the Home Secretary in the UK and this is testament to the fact he has some kind of leverage within the system.

'It's also why there has been so much press coverage in the UK. I've only spoken to him once but he took the opportunity to tell me I would have a very bad time in prison.

'I said, 'I'm so sorry Graham' but he didn't want to hear it and hung up. I feel at risk from him and his power in the prison system, and that's the reason I ran away. I blamed myself at the time and said I was very drunk and driving too fast, but an assessment of the facts shows we were actually going below the speed limit. I'm very, very frightened about what might happen, but it seemed like this is the right thing to do. I hope justice will prevail and my appeal will be successful.'

Father of Charlotte Brown, Graham, gives a statement to the media outside Portcullis House following a meeting with Home Secretary Sajid Javid on January 22

The speedboat owned by Jack Shepherd who was found guilty of killing his date, Charlotte Brown, in an accident on the Thames

At his home in Sidcup, Kent, Mr Brown thanked the Daily Mail for its help in offering a 25,000 reward to catch his daughter's killer. He said: 'It made me cry. That was my emotion. It's been a long journey. Relieved is a better word  it's difficult to say I'm delighted when I've lost a daughter.

'Hopefully Shepherd will come back voluntarily and won't put any legal obstacles in the way. If he does, more fool him.

'Shepherd is acting the victim  he certainly claims he's an innocent man. But the jury didn't find him so. If he was so sure of his innocence he should have stayed and faced his trial.' Mr Brown added: 'Not one member of his family has sent any condolences or any expression of remorse.'

Additional reporting: Neil Sears

GOT HIM: Newly-bearded speedboat killer SMILES as he is arrested in former Soviet republic of Georgia after 10 months on the run from six year manslaughter sentence

Speedboat killer Jack Shepherd was finally in handcuffs last night after ten months on the run.

Following the Mail's fight for justice, the 31-year-old was run to ground in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Forced to hand himself in, the smirking fugitive was escorted by police to a detention centre in Tbilisi.

He fled Britain last March before his trial over the death of Charlotte Brown in a reckless and drunken speedboat trip up the Thames.

Yesterday he told reporters his victim caused her own death, saying: 'Justice will prevail  Charlotte was driving.' And he claimed her father Graham used his 'influence' as a civil servant to raise the profile of the case.

Shepherd is expected to fight attempts to extradite him back to Britain to serve his six-year prison sentence. Legal experts warned he might be able to string out proceedings for months.

The Mail has campaigned for justice for Charlotte Brown's family and for British authorities to step up pressure to track down fugitive Shepherd

His Georgian lawyer, Tariel Kupatadze, said his client was 'confident he will be able to prove his innocence and will be acquitted'.

Politicians praised the Mail's role in bringing the killer to justice. This newspaper highlighted his repeated mockery of the justice system and offered 25,000 for information leading to his capture.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: 'I fully welcome the news Jack Shepherd is in police custody and would like to thank the Daily Mail for their efforts in publicising this harrowing case.'

Cabinet minister James Brokenshire praised the 'concerted pressure' brought about by the Mail.

As Scotland Yard announced the launch of extradition proceedings:

Miss Brown's grieving family declared: 'Justice for Charlotte is close';

Met detectives faced ridicule after it emerged they were tipped off six months ago that Shepherd was in Georgia  but only asked for help there last week;

Shepherd admitted he handed himself in because of the Mail;

He said he chose Georgia for its 'beautiful mountains and the sea';

The web designer has hired two top local lawyers who boasted their client could stay a free man for months;

Shepherd claimed 24-year-old Miss Brown's death was a 'tragic accident' and it had been 'very hurtful' to read about himself in the Mail.

Last night Miss Brown's father broke down in tears as he said: 'Thank goodness he has handed himself in.'

Shepherd was arrested after the speedboat crash but freed on bail by a judge, when he fled to Georgia and never returned

But British lawyers cautioned that the UK's extradition treaty with Georgia meant Shepherd could stay free for months. Miss Brown died in December 2015 when drunken Shepherd took her for a spin in his defective speedboat on their first date.

Trying to impress her, he tore up the Thames in the dark and when the boat flipped, he cried for rescuers to 'help me', not 'help us'. Miss Brown, a business consultant from Clacton in Essex, was pulled from the water unconscious and was declared dead in hospital.

Shepherd bolted the UK as his manslaughter trial approached. It went ahead in his absence last July and he was convicted and sentenced to six years.

He sparked public outrage by appealing against his conviction from his hideaway  via his London lawyers  and in a further insult obtained legal aid to pay for it.

If he is sent back to Britain, he will face his original sentence, plus extra time for going on the run. He allegedly glassed a barman in a Devon hotel shortly before fleeing the UK and prosecutors have vowed to pursue him with a GBH charge for that too.

Shepherd arrived in Georgia at 3.31am on March 21 last year  arriving from Turkey which he had flown to hours after the glassing incident.

Last night he explained he chose Georgia because it 'was affordable, had a generous visa regime and mountains, sea, and it was a country I'd always wanted to visit and I think the culture is very wonderful'.

He has been renting a flat in a high-rise in the Bagebi district of the capital Tbilisi.

A known womaniser, he has 'made many friends', frequently visited the city's nightclubs and started to learn Georgian.

Shepherd in Tblisi today. His lawyer said 'He is prepared to engage in the court process and clear his name.'

Mr Javid, who met Miss Brown's family on Tuesday, said: 'I would like to thank the Georgian authorities for their efforts and we will now put all our resources into bringing Jack Shepherd back to the UK as swiftly as possible.'

Mr Brokenshire, who is the family's MP, said: 'Shepherd should have handed himself in a long time ago. The important thing now is to ensure the processes are in place to ensure he is speedily returned to the UK and put behind bars for his crime. The family and I are hugely appreciative of the support the Daily Mail has given. The concerted pressure has made the difference and ensured that no one can stick two fingers up at justice and get away with it.'

One of his newly-hired Tbilisi lawyers, Mariam Kublashvili, declared Shepherd was in the 'mood to fight'.

She said he came here as a tourist, adding: 'He is prepared to engage in the court process and clear his name.'

Tariel Kakabadze, who is the director of Georgia's lawyers' union, added: 'He called me and explained his situation. He told me about this accident and told me that there is a case against him in the UK.

'I know he's been in Tbilisi but he hasn't been doing anything special. I think he googled Georgia, found out it's a safe country.

'He believes that he is innocent and that this was an accident, and it wasn't his fault. And he's saying he will do his best to protest his innocence.'

In an interview with TV station Rustavi-2, Shepherd moaned about the Daily Mail's campaign to find him, saying: 'Just to clarify something which has been printed in a lot of newspapers such as the Daily Mail, it's an established fact that Charlotte was driving at the time of the accident.'

After Rustavi-2 carried a report on the manhunt yesterday lunchtime, a friend contacted the station saying Shepherd wanted to hand himself in.

It sent a journalist to interview him. The friend told how Shepherd had been socialising and travelling around the country under his own name.
The Met Police have released horrific bodycam footage showing one of their female officers being fly-kicked into the path of a moving bus.

PC Lorraine McGinty was sent hurtling into the middle of the road during the violent attack in Merton, south west London, on November 17 last year.

The shaky footage shows attackers Kersan Euell, 20, and Martin Payne, 19, battering the uniformed officers and stomping on them as they lay on the ground - after the officers pulled over their BMW in a routine check.

PC Lorraine McGinty was attacked after stopping Kersan Euell, 20, and Martin Payne, 19, last November

Shaky footage captured on McGinty's bodcam showed the moment the attackers launched the violent assault

After PC McGinty was fly-kicked she lay moaning on the ground unable to get up for a minute.

The mother did not return to work for more than a month after being attacked by Euell and says she is now considering early retirement.

Her victim statement, read out in court, read: 'In the following days I had a severe headache, I was unsteady on my feet and I kept throwing up.

Kursan Euell, left, and Martin Payne, right, launched the violent assault in Wimbledon last month when the officers pulled over their BMW on a routine stop

The officer was kicked into the path of a moving bus. She holds her head as the vehicle comes close to her body

The moment the officer was kicked in the head was caught on CCTV and went viral, last year

'My memory was not reliable. My daughter who is in her third year of university had to look after me because I couldn't be left on my own.

'I have returned to work but I am still not fully healed. I have been seen a chiropractor for my back and treatment for this is still ongoing.

'This incident has shocked me to the core. I have suffered many sleepless nights wondering whether I did enough to help my colleague.

'My daughter is begging me to retire, she is worried every time I leave for work... she said seeing that video will haunt her forever.

'I had no idea how close I had come to to being killed or seriously injured having been kicked under a bus until I saw it on the news.

'I might well take early retirement, which saddens me deeply.'

A man in a crash helmet ran over to the scene to help the officers as two of their attackers ran away in Merton, London

She added: 'I have a lasting image of watching my colleague being assaulted while someone threatened to shank him and not knowing if he was being stabbed.'

The officers were stomped on and beaten senseless on the ground during the brutal attack.

Both men were jailed for a total of five years. Euell claimed he was acting in self defence as the brave officers had 'exceeded their authority' in trying to detain his friend.

Both men initially denied the assault, while Euell denied even being there, claiming he was at his grandmother's birthday party.

Members of the public ran over to help the officers who were being brutally attacked during a routine stop

PC Collins suffered a fractured rib while he tried to detain Payne, which led to three hospital visits and a chest infection.

The driver Payne, of New Malden, south west London, admitted ABH against PC Collins as well as driving without insurance and a licence during the incident.

He was jailed for two years and nine months while Euell was jailed for three years and six months.

Euell, of Catford, south east London, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH).

Mr Apted also read a victim statement from PC McGinty, who said she was considering early retirement because of the assault.
(Image source from: Telugu360.com)

Minority Woman Offered TDP's First MLA Ticket:- The leading TDP in AP is keen on cashing all the castes and cater to all the people across the state in the upcoming Assembly and Parliament polls. TDP decided to bank on muslim minorities in the Assembly polls in aP. The first MLA ticket from TDP has been declared to Shabana, a woman NRI TDP leader and a minority. She is said to contest from Vijayawada West constituency. Jaleel Khan is the sitting MLA from the segment and he decided to step aside citing health issues. Jaleel Khan recommended Shabana's name and Chandra Babu gave his immediate nod for the request.

TDP in the future is said to allot several seats to minorities and the backward castes. As per the update, Guntur 1 seat too will be assigned to a muslim minority. There are strong speculations that actor Ali will contest from this constituency. TDP is currently finalizing the candidates and Chandra Babu is in plans to announce the seats one by one. TDP has special plans to announce the list of candidates at the earliest and make them campaign all over in their respective constituencies.
President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman on Wednesday denied allegations he lied to investigators after he began cooperating with them.

Lawyers for Paul Manafort submitted a heavily redacted 10-page filing aimed at knocking down claims by special counsel Robert Mueller's office that he intentionally lied and breached his plea agreement.

Anticipating a Friday hearing, the jailed former jet-setting lobbyist asked federal judge Amy Berman Jackson for permission to stay in his jail cell.

Hearing that she had refused, he filed a second request: an 'order permitting him to wear a suit for the hearing ... and at all subsequent court appearances.' Similar requests have been met with denials in the past.

Manafort made a dramatic transformation from $5,000 suits to green, canvas jail coveralls last year, after a Virginia judge revoked his bail during the final stages of a trial in which a jury convicted him of eight federal crimes.

Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort insisted in a legal filing on Wednesday that he never lied to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators, pushing back against arguments that he violated a plea agreement that it his most likely chance to ever see the outside of a prison cell

Manafort was once a dapper defendant, but one of his booking photos from a Virginia jail showed him without hair dye, unshaven, and looking comparatively gaunt; he's asking permission to come to court Friday in a business suit, not a prison jumpsuit

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has accused Manafort of breaching his plea agreement

Investigators accused him of witness-tampering while he was on home confinement, wearing an ankle bracelet instead of prison shower-shoes.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson holds Manafort's immediate fate, and his wardrobe options, in her hands

Separately, he entered guilty pleas to conspiracy charges in a Washington, D.C. federal courtroom in September. That deal required him to cooperate with prosecutors and tell the truth about what he knew.

Months later, prosecutors accused him of repeatedly lying to them.

His lawyers said Wednesday that he never 'intentionally provided false information,' and that any misstatements reflected 'a lack of consistency in Mr. Manaforts recollection of certain facts and events,' and not an intentional effort to mislead prosecutors.

'Indeed, many of these events occurred years ago, or during a high-pressure U.S. presidential campaign he managed when his time was extraordinarily limited,' the defense lawyers wrote, 'or during the difficult time that followed his departure from the 2016 presidential campaign because of the allegations leveled at him and the investigations that followed.'

Among the allegations is that Manafort lied when he denied having shared polling data from the 2016 campaign with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate who the U.S. has said has ties to Russian intelligence.

Wednesday's filing was a swiss-cheese mashup of redacted pages that left observers with little real information about the nature of manafort's arguments

Manafort wants to show up in court on Friday wearing a business suit, not common coveralls

Judge Jackson decided Wednesday that Manafort has to show in up person to answer Mueller's allegations that he liedto investigators.

She cited 'the number of court appearances defendant has been permitted to waive' and 'the significance of the issues at stake.'

Jackson also concluded that Manafort's lawyers might give her answers that he would ask them to change later if he weren't in the courtroom.

Manafort has yet to be sentenced for the eight financial crimes he was convicted of last year in Virginia. That is scheduled to take place in February.
Liberal freshman lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims President Donald Trump hasn't attacked her on Twitter yet because 'maybe he thinks that he's met his match.'

The Democratic lawmaker and Republican president are social media fire houses in their respective corners of the political world but Trump, who is not shy about blasting his rivals on Twitter, has yet to send any shots Ocasio-Cortez's way.

'I'm not sure,' she told The Hollywood Reporter of not being a Trump target. 'I think as nuts as this guy is, one thing he does have an expertise in is media and branding and marketing. And I think, I don't know, maybe he thinks that he's met his match.'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims President Donald Trump hasn't attacked her on Twitter yet because 'maybe he thinks that he's met his match'

President Trump often uses his twitter account to lash out at his political rivals

Ocasio-Cortez has generated more interactions - retweets plus likes - on the social media site than party leaders Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

In fact she came in second only to the president when Axios measured the Twitter star power of several politicians.

And she trails Trump by millions - Ocasio-Cortez came in with 11.8 million interactions while the president easily outdistanced her at 39.8 million interactions.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has 2.4 million twitter followers

Trump has 57.3 million twitter followers

Ocasio-Cortez gets more bang for her buck though. She only has 2.3 million twitter followers to the president's 57.3 million.

The freshman lawmaker, who took office in January, stunned Democrats in June when she beat sitting Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley in their primary.

She's become a force in the Democratic party since her win and has made her mark on Capitol Hill in the three weeks she's been a member of Congress.

She's taught a seminar to her fellow House Democrats on how to utilize social media, she led a march of freshman lawmakers to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell's office to demand an end to the government shutdown and appeared on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' to talk about her meteoric rise.
The father of schoolgirl Molly Russell demanded last night that web giants take more responsibility for eradicating harmful material from the internet.

Ian Russell accused the companies of deliberately bombarding vulnerable youngsters with disturbing material.

Molly, 14, killed herself after viewing online images glorifying self-harm and suicide.

Molly Russell, pictured, took her own life in November 2017 having viewed 'suicide porn' online

TV director Mr Russell, 55, had accused Instagram of helping to kill his daughter and is demanding that social media companies clean up their act.

Molly died in November 2017 after being sucked in to what he described as a digital club on the photo-sharing app.

In it, users shared material focusing on depression, self-harm and suicide.

Mr Russell said that algorithms  rules followed by computer programs  on sites such as Instagram fuel the problem by pointing youngsters looking at harmful material to troves of additional images with a click of a mouse.

We are very keen to raise awareness of the harmful and disturbing content that is freely available to young people online, he said.

Not only that, but the social media companies, through their algorithms, expose young people to more and more harmful content, just from one click on one post.

In the same way that someone who has shown an interest in a particular sport may be shown more and more posts about that sport, the same can be true of topics such as self-harm or suicide.

Molly, pictured in 2009, showed no sign of mental illness before she took her own life

Anyone hosting disturbing content should do more to ensure that those viewing it are also provided with prominent information about accessing help and support, he said.

His intervention comes after warnings by experts that Instagram and its owner Facebook have done too little to remove posts that can incite self-harm and suicide.

Mr Russell said he was encouraged by a recent Government suicide prevention plan calling on social media firms to take more responsibility for online content.

Molly, who had two sisters, was found dead in her bedroom at breakfast time at the Russell familys home in Harrow, north west London.

The previous afternoon she had returned from Hatch End High School and had packed her bag ready for classes the next day.

She was forward-looking, enthusiastic and had no shown signs of mental illness but had begun looking at troubling content online without their knowledge, her parents said.

It was only after Mollys death that Mr Russell and his wife Janet, 55, a teaching assistant, began to investigate her online activity and found she was looking at material concerning mental illness.

I have no doubt that Instagram helped kill my daughter, he said this week. She had so much to offer and thats gone. In a note to her family, Molly wrote: Im sorry. I did this because of me. An inquest into Mollys death will be held following a pre-inquest review at North London Coroners Court this week.

Her father Ian Russell, pictured, claimed internet giants such as Instagram were responsible for his daughter's death by allowing such material to be posted on their services

Molly, pictured, had packed her bag ready for school the following day on the night she took her own life at the family's home in Harrow, north west London

Leigh Day, the firm of lawyers which is representing the Russells, expressed hope that the familys warnings would lead to greater protection and harm reduction measures for young people online.

Ged Flynn, from suicide prevention charity Papyrus, said: All too often we hear from families bereaved by the suicide of a young person where pro-suicide sites have been too easily accessed.

Automatic signposting that alerts and encourages vulnerable young people to suicide is totally irresponsible.

Suicide is everyones business. It is imperative that those who profit from it must be made to be more accountable. Suicide is the main cause of death of young people under 35.

For confidential support, log on to samaritans.org or call the Samaritans on 116123.
Homeowners have been dealt another hard blow in an increasingly shaky housing market during one of the steepest property downturns in decades.

The latest Domain House Price Report said values had plunged up to 15 per cent in some Australian suburbs with Melbourne and Sydney among the hardest hit.

House prices in Sydney dropped 9.9 per cent over the year to December - a third of which came in the last quarter alone - to represent the biggest market correction since March 2005.

Average property values in Sydney plunged by almost $120,000 after unsustainable sharp rises over the past decade.

Homeowners have been dealt another hard blow in an increasingly-strained housing market with one of the steepest property downturns recorded in decades (stock picture)

The latest Domain House Price Report indicated a plunge of up to 15 per cent in some Australian suburbs with Melbourne and Sydney cities among the hardest hit (stock picture)

Domain reported its senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the price fall of 11.4 per cent from the mid-2017 peak was the 'sharpest downturn in more than two decades'

Suburbs in the city's south lost a dramatic 14.8 per cent, Canterbury and Bankstown buckled under a 12.4 per cent blow while the city and east copped a 10.4 per cent drop.

Domain reported its senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the price fall of 11.4 per cent from the mid-2017 peak was the 'sharpest downturn in more than two decades'.

Melbourne suffered an 8.4 per cent slump for the year.

The inner east copped a staggering 16.2 per cent plunge, the inner south a 15.6 per cent decline and the CBD a 15.3 per cent deficit.

Overall, Brisbane managed to keep its head above water and plateaued with no growth or loss.

Greater Brisbane held steady, with a marginal downturn of 0.1 per cent across Brisbane, Ipswich, Redland, Moreton Bay and Logan.

The capital of the Sunshine State proved to be the fourth-best performing city behind Hobart, Adelaide and reigning front runner Canberra.

Experts say the more affordable regions were propped up on returning first-home buyers and tighter lending restrictions on house hunters (stock picture)

As the news comes as a blow for many homeowners, skeptics say the downturn hasn't even reached midway (stock picture)

'Queensland remains a magnet for interstate migrants, which is currently at a 12-year high, and more residents are moving from overseas,' Ms Powell said.

While the downturn had come as a blow to Sydney and Melbourne homeowners, there is a strong risk that the worst is yet to come.

'We've got more downside to go,' AMP capital chief economist Shane Oliver said.

He said reduced demand from foreign buyers and shrinking clearance rates were partly to blame for the downslide in the harder hit areas.

'This is all happening at a time when credit conditions are quite tight and there is uncertainty around tax changes,' he said.

He predicted the market should improve next year, and the downturn could bottom out even earlier than that.

AMP capital chief economist Shane Oliver pointed out the reduced demand from foreign buyers and shrinking clearance rates were partly to blame for the downslide in the harder hit areas (stock picture)

Even so Mr Oliver predicted the market could turn around next year, though said if price falls kept pace it could bottom out earlier (stock picture)

Average property prices in Sydney Region Blue Mountains Canterbury Bankstown Central Coast City and East Inner West Lower North Shore North West Northern Beaches South South West Upper North Shore West Median Price (YoY change) $670,000 (-1.80%) $850,000 (-12.40%) $625,000 (-3.10%) $2,200,000 (-10.40%) $1,450,000 (-10.30%) $2,240,000 (-8.90%) $1,185,000 (-12.20%) $1,650,000 (-7.00%) $1,100,000 (-14.80%) $688,890 (-6.30%) $1,634,000 (-9.20%) $705,000 (-6.10%) Advertisement




A strong majority of Americans blame President Donald Trump for the record-long government shutdown and reject his primary rationale for a border wall, according to a new poll that shows the turmoil in Washington is dragging his approval rating to its lowest level in more than a year.

Overall, 34 percent of Americans approve of Trump's job performance in a survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That's down from 42 percent a month earlier and nears the lowest mark of his two-year presidency.

The president's approval among Republicans remains close to 80 percent, but his standing with independents is among its lowest points of his time in office.

'Trump is responsible for this,' said poll respondent Lloyd Rabalais, a federal contractor from Slidell, Louisiana, who's not affiliated with either political party.

The 47-year-old has been furloughed for more than a month. He said he'd need to start drawing on his retirement savings next week to pay his bills if the shutdown continues.

'I do support a wall, but not the way he's handling it,' Rabalais added. 'Trump guaranteed everybody that Mexico would pay for the wall. Now he's holding American workers like me hostage.'

Doldrums: At 34 per cent, the AP-NORC monthly poll puts Trump at the second-lowest point of his presidency and down from 42 per cent in December

Not getting the blame: Congressional Democrats - who are led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi - are only said by 31 per cent to be a 'great deal' responsible for shutdown by 60 per cent say that of Trump

The drop in approval comes as Trump begins the third year of his presidency under the weight of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, an international trade war that's straining the global economy and new revelations about his push for a real estate deal in Russia during his 2016 campaign.

Compared with earlier presidents, Trump's approval rating has been relatively stable over the course of his presidency, ranging from the mid-30s to the mid-40s.

By contrast, President Barack Obama never fell below 40 percent in polling by Gallup.

Still, five presidents since Gallup began measuring presidential approval have had their rating fall into the 20s at least once, including Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Trump has never fallen into that range of historic lows, but he's also the only president never to have reached 50 percent in Gallup's polling.

The new AP-NORC poll shows most Americans see the shutdown as a major problem, and they blame Trump far more than congressional Democrats for the mess that has ensnared the lives of roughly 800,000 government workers who are going without pay.

Sixty percent of Americans say Trump bears a great deal of responsibility for the shutdown.

About a third place say congressional Democrats are a great deal to blame at 31 percent, and a similar figure say congressional Republicans are a great deal to blame at 36 percent.

Sixty-five percent of Americans, including 86 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 33 percent of Republicans, call the shutdown a major problem.

Trump may be popular overall with Republicans, but a sizable share holds him responsible for the current situation. Almost 3 in 10 Republicans think Trump bears a great deal of responsibility, while 73 percent of his party says he's at least partly responsible.

'The large part of the responsibility belongs to the president because he made the decision,' said poll respondent Sandra Olson, of Northwood, Iowa. The 76-year-old registered Republican said she voted for Trump once and likely will again.

'We have never in my lifetime seen a president who has been so maligned and attacked and vilified,' Olson said.

Trump's demand for a $5.7 billion border wall is also unpopular.

Overall, 49 percent of Americans oppose the plan to build a massive wall along the Mexican border; 36 percent of the nation is in favor. Opinions fall largely along ideological lines, with 8 in 10 Democrats opposing the wall and nearly 8 in 10 Republicans supporting it.

About 7 in 10 supporters of the wall prefer to extend the shutdown than to reach a deal without funding it, while a nearly identical number on the other side would rather the shutdown continue than provide that funding.

Day 33: In Baltimore TSA employee Princess Young was at a food pantry set up specifically for federal workers who are about to miss their second paycheck because of the shutdown

Not cutting through: Trump's determination to build a wall is based on claims that it will cut drugs and crime, but 57 per cent of people say it will make no difference to safety in the U.S.

The poll shows significant skepticism of the president's argument that a wall would significantly reduce crime, stem the flow of illegal drugs or help the U.S. economy. The poll was conducted the week after Trump used such factors to justify his demand for the wall during a primetime address from the Oval Office.

In the nationally televised speech, he highlighted the case of one immigrant in the country illegally accused of beheading and dismembering an American citizen.

About 6 in 10 Americans do say the wall would at least slightly decrease the number of people entering the U.S. illegally, though only 3 in 10 think the number would significantly decrease.

Yet just 35 percent of Americans believe the wall would make the country safer, while a majority of Americans - 57 percent- believe it would make no difference to safety in the U.S.

Only 21 percent believe the wall would significantly reduce the availability of illegal drugs in the nation, though 28 percent say access to illegal drugs would be slightly reduced; 49 percent say the wall would have no effect.

On the economy, about as many Americans say the border wall would do more to help - almost 3 in 10 - as say it would do more to hurt; 43 percent say the wall would not make much difference to the U.S. economy.

Poll respondent Kelley Thorson, of St. Robert, Missouri, who backed Trump in the 2016 election, says she supports the wall but largely disagrees with the president's rationale.

'I can't say it would make us safer,' the 57-year-old said. 'Criminals are going to get here no matter what.'

While partisan opinions of Trump have remained relatively constant throughout his presidency, the poll shows that disapproval has grown particularly among independents who do not lean toward either party.

Just 28 percent of independents say they approve, compared with 71 percent who disapprove. In December, 37 percent of independents approved of Trump's job performance, while 58 percent disapproved.

Women also are more likely to disapprove today compared with a month ago - 71 percent to 58 percent. And 76 percent of college graduates disapprove today, compared with 65 percent who disapproved in December.

The president isn't doing anything well right now, said poll respondent J. Edwin Hixson, a 71-year-old retired truck driver from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who didn't vote for Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

'This isn't a reality show. We're in serious trouble,' he said.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,062 adults was conducted Jan. 16 to 20 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.
A homeless man who was charged with fatally beating a musician in Maine mistakenly broadcast the attack on Facebook Live, according to an unsealed court affidavit.

Donald Galleck, 29, was detained for the November beating and charged with depraved indifference murder and intentional or knowing murder.

The homeless man pleaded not guilty for the death of 40-year-old Jason Moody on Tuesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.

Donald Galleck, 29, was detained for the November beating and charged with depraved indifference murder and intentional or knowing murder

The homeless man pleaded not guilty for the death of 40-year-old Jason Moody on Tuesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor

Moody, bassist for metal band Seize the Vatican based in Bangor, was found unconscious in the street on November 11 at approximately 10.40pm. He died from his injuries on November 13 at the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center.

Galleck was detained on November 16, the Bangor Daily News reports. He had been hiding in a nearby apartment that belonged to 33-year-old Mary Molnar, who was charged with hindering apprehension.

Moody, bassist for metal band Seize the Vatican based in Bangor, was found unconscious in the street on November 11 at approximately 10.40pm

The man had been asked to leave the musicians Willow Street apartment after getting into a fight with Moody's girlfriend, the affidavit explained.

The two men left the apartment and went to one on Curve Street where Galleck was hoping to stay for the evening.

As the two began leaving that apartment, Galleck called a friend using the Facebook Messenger app on his phone. Moody walked behind him.

The friend - an unidentified woman - then received a video chat request from Galleck, who would later assert that he had switched it over while putting the phone in his pocket.

The woman said that before the call switched to video mode, she had heard 'what sounded like someone hitting Galleck and heard him say something to the effect of 'What the f-? You just hit me!'

A friend told police that Galleck called her on Facebook and then the call switched to video, where she saw the man beating Moody

She continued that once the call switched to video, 'she saw Galleck turn and face the male and punch him once in the face,' according to the affidavit.

'At that point, the other male put his hands up and said he was sorry and he was drunk.'

Galleck had been hiding in a nearby apartment that belonged to 33-year-old Mary Molnar, who was charged with hindering apprehension

But Galleck is said to have 'hit the male twice more, knocking him to the ground. Onc on the ground, Galleck grabbed the victim by the throat and bashed his head off the ground seven times.'

The woman said that Galleck continued bashing the victim's head until 'the victim appeared to be unconscious. Galleck then fled the scene and appeared to jump a fence.'

After that, the woman ended the call. It is unknown whether that call was saved to either phones.

Moody was found to have died from 'massive inflicted trauma' to his brain, according to a coroner.

A judge ordered for Galleck's trial to be set for March 2020. He is to be held without bail at the Penobscot County Jail.

He could face a maximum of life in prison.
The man behind the wheel of a white Audi has broken a simple driving rule resulting in a nasty prang.

Footage uploaded to the Dashcam Owners of Australia Facebook page on Wednesday shows the incident on Richmond Road in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown.

The vehicle with the dashcam approaches two cars at an intersection before engaging its blinker to indicate changing lanes - which the other driver takes to mean he is turning left off the main road.

The vehicle with the dashcam approaches two cars at an intersection before engaging it's blinker to indicate changing lanes - which the other driver takes to mean he is turning left

As the car gets closer, the driver indicates to the left to change to the left lane

Poll Who do you think was in the wrong? Audi Dashcam owner Unsure Who do you think was in the wrong? Audi 985 votes

Dashcam owner 144 votes

Unsure 37 votes Now share your opinion





Thinking they're right to cross the intersection the Audi driver pulls onto the main road before the dashcam vehicle slams into the side of it in a crunch of metal.

The incident has divided online users, some of whom have warned against trusting the indicating ability of other drivers.

'I never change lanes in front of an intersection like this due to the fear of this exact scenario happening,' one person commented.

'I dont go till the person commits to the turn. It pisses people off behind me but its not worth the risk,' another wrote.

The Audi driver took their foot off the break and proceeds into the intersection as both cars collide

'Probably saw the indicator from the D/C car moving left and assumed they were turning. Even when someone's indicates I wait till they've actually turned because indicators seem meaningless on our roads,' an educated person wrote.

'Dash cam driver should have waited until after the intersection to change lanes - its called defensive driving,' one suggested.

'This is why you always wait until someone is committed to the turn before pulling out,' another commented.

Mick Humphries, General Manager of the Australian Driver Trainers Association said both cars were responsible for the crash, but mainly the Audi

Mick Humphries, General Manager of the Australian Driver Trainers Association told Seven News that both cars were responsible for the crash, but mainly the Audi.

When youre in a give way situation you should ensure traffic has been given away to before making your next move, he said.

Mr Humphries said the dashcam driver was contributing negligence despite indicating to change lanes.

You should always indicate when required to unless confusing circumstances prevail.
A horrific heatwave settling over parts of Australia is expected to see temperatures soar to a scorching 45C and could plunge cities into darkness.

Extreme heatwave emergency warnings were issued for both Victoria and South Australia on Thursday for what meteorologists have described as a 'horror' day.

Adelaide is forecast to reach a high of 45C - and could potentially break the temperature record of 46.1C which has stood since 1939 - while power blackouts could send Melbourne spiralling into chaos.

The warmth will linger in most places into Saturday, making for a sizzling Australia Day holiday weekend.

Thousands of people were without power on Thursday morning and will have to wait for hours until the problem can be fixed.

A heatwave settling over parts of Australia is expected to see temperatures soar to a scorching 45C and send cities plunging into darkness

Extreme heatwave emergency warnings have been issued for both Victoria and South Australia on Thursday

Adelaide is expected to reach a roasting high of 45C - potentially breaking a temperature record which has stood for nearly a century. Pictured: Extreme heat shown on the map in black

Bureau of Meteorology emergency services meteorologist Jonathan Fischer said the South Australian heatwave was 'severe'.

'Nowhere is going to escape the heat [on Thursday],' he said.

'It's fair to say we will see records broken . . . with many locations forecast to be near their maximum all-time record.'

Firefighters were on high alert in both Victoria and South Australia, with total fire bans across much of both states.

Yvette Dowling of the Country Fire Service said if a blaze was to ignite during this week's heatwave it would be impossible to manage.

'If a fire does start with these forecast weather conditions we're not going to be able to control that fire,' he said.

South Australia and Victoria are set to experience sweltering temperatures on Thursday. Pictured: Glenelg Beach, Adelaide

Beachgoers are seen at Glenelg Beach in Adelaide on Thursday. Adelaide could exceed its highest recorded temperature of 46.1C, toppling an 80-year-old heat record this week

Doctors are delaying surgeries and paramedics are on standby as the heat becomes extreme

'The community is at risk, our firefighters are at risk, all emergency services are at risk.'

Doctors will delay non-emergency surgeries at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide in order to prioritise patients affected by the severe heat.

Victoria's two biggest power stations were running at reduced capacity, Nine News reported.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has issued a level three 'lack of reserve' notice - the highest possible - while there could be cuts to households and businesses in order to preserve energy.

Bureau of Meteorology emergency services meteorologist Jonathan Fischer said the South Australian heatwave was 'severe'

Firefighters are on high alert in both Victoria and South Australia, with total fire bans in place across much of both states

Victoria's two biggest power stations are running at reduced capacity due to the heat

Back-up supplies including diesel generators could also be employed as part of desperate measures to maintain the power supply.

Paramedics were expecting a busy day in both Victoria and South Australia, and the State Emergency Service issued warnings for people to take care and avoid harm during the heat.

'Babies and young children, the elderly, pregnant women and those who are already unwell are especially at risk, but in an extreme heatwave, even healthy people who do not take action to keep cool can become very ill,' advice from the South Australia SES reads.

Paramedics are on standby in both Victoria and South Australia, and the State Emergency Service has issued warnings for people to take care and avoid harm

Beachgoers are seen jumping off a jetty at Glenelg Beach in Adelaide on Thursday

Thousands of properties are without power in north central Victoria where temperatures are expected to exceed 40C.

More than 2700 AusNet customers have been hit with a power outage near Nagambie on Thursday morning.

The underground cable fault might not be fixed until 5pm.

The outage comes as Victorians are being warned to prepare for hot conditions and an 'oppressive' night as the mercury begins its climb into the 40s across much of the state.

The city is forecast to reach 36C on Thursday and the maximum might not be reached until 6pm, depending on how strong a sea breeze forms during the day, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Flipping into the water proved to be an effective way to combat the heat at Glenelg Beach, Adelaide (pictured)

Walking along the sand or taking a dip in the water both proved to be popular options at Glenelg Beach in Adelaide

South Australia will sweat through intense heat and extreme conditions during a heatwave on Thursday

Maximums in the low 40s are forecast for other parts of the state.

The Australian Energy Market Operator is also trying to allay fears the state might suffer a power shortage over the next few days.

Chief executive Audrey Zibelman said there were enough reserves to see through the heat.

'We first go to the generators that are in the market, then we go into our reserves and we carry enough reserves to lose two units and then, only then, we would ask for people to reduce their usage, but that's the last point and we're not even close to that yet,' she told ABC Radio.

Back-up supplies including diesel generators could also be employed as part of desperate measures to maintain the power supply

The warmth will linger in most places into Saturday, making for a sizzling Australia Day holiday weekend

Melbourne will swelter through its hottest night in a year with the temperature dropping to just 29C, before hitting a top of 43C on Friday.

Authorities are asking people not to take risks during the hot weather, including leaving children in cars or swimming at unpatrolled beaches.

Twenty people have drowned in Victoria since December 1.

A cool change is expected late on Friday, but it will bring gusts of up to 80km/h, thunderstorms and increased fire risk.

Meanwhile, about 50 fires continued to burn in Tasmania, destroying 55,000 hectares of bush.

In NSW, 70 fires - 20 of them uncontained - were active, while Victoria had issued a total fire ban across the state.
Iowa senator Joni Ernst has revealed she was raped in college by someone she knew after denying that she cheated on her husband with one of her own soldiers while deployed in the Middle East.

The Republican politician broke down in tears while fielding questions about her bitter divorce from her husband Gail Ernst, 65, while speaking at a town hall meeting in Cedar Falls on Wednesday.

In an interview with Bloomberg News published Wednesday evening she said she had been raped while at Iowa State University by a man she was a relationship with.

He is said to have told her he would kill himself if she broke up with him and she did not report the matter to the police.

Ernst said she did call the campus sexual assault counseling center over the incident and later volunteered there without disclosing she was a victim.

She said: 'I was embarrassed. I didn't know how to explain it. I was so humiliated. And I'm a private person, when it comes to those things.

Ernst, who did not name her attacker, said she also told Gail about the rape.

She added: 'I didn't want to share it with anybody, and in the era of hashtag-MeToo survivors, I always believed that every person is different and they will confront their demons when they're ready.'

The 48-year-old had earlier said she didn't cheat on her husband and wouldn't because she took her job serving as a company commander for the National Guard in Kuwait in 2003 'very, very seriously', reported the Des Moines Register.

She added: 'I care about all of my soldiers. Many of them refer to me as ''Mom.'' So no, the allegation is not true.'

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst denied claims on Wednesday made by her husband Gail Ernst in divorce papers that she cheated on him with one of her soldiers while she served in Kuwait in 2003

In uniform: Jodi Ernst (center) is seen during training at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. She left the Iowa National Guard with the rank of lieutenant colonel

Happier Times: The 48-year-old said she didn't cheat on Gail and wouldn't because she took her job serving as a company commander for the National Guard in Kuwait in 2003 'very, very seriously'

Gail filed for divorce last summer and in unsealed court papers that were filed in October 2018, Gail claims Joni admitted to having a sexual affair with one of her soldiers after discovering emails between the two.

At the town hall meeting, Joni described herself as a 'survivor', claiming in her own affidavit submitted to court that Gail had become physically violent with her after confronting him about his 'special relationship' with their daughter's babysitter.

The politician said: 'I am a survivor and I fully believe that our survivors have the right to keep their stories to themselves if they don't want to share those stories or are not ready to share those stories and unfortunately I have been forced to share my story.'

She voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexual assault.

But Trump ally Joni told Bloomberg: 'I do believe she experienced trauma, but the evidence and witnesses presented by her contradicted her story. I don't believe Justice Kavanaugh was the source of her trauma.

'It's outrageous to suggest that anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault should therefore be a Hillary Clinton supporter.'

Joni said the reporting on the unsealed court papers caught her off guard. A judge has since resealed them at the Ernsts' request.

In court papers, both Joni and Gail list allegations against the other as they fight over access to property, temporary alimony and attorney fees.

Gail blasted his estranged wife in attempt to remove her from their family home in Red Oak, Iowa, citing 'bizarre behavior' where the politician 'walked around the house nude, laid out nude on the back patio, and attempted to crawl into bed naked with him at night'.

Joni hit back at Gail in her own affidavit, claiming he was physically violent with her and that he had at least three affairs during their 25-year marriage, including a bank teller, their daughter's babysitter and his 'long-term girlfriend' Carla Rickert.



Ernst has submitted an emergency motion to the divorce court to have the case sealed.

In court papers filed to Iowa District Court for Montgomery County on October 17, 2018, Gail requested temporary alimony and lawyer fees from Joni, citing his gross income of $5,785.99 per month versus Joni's income of $14,500 per month.

He also requested that the court prohibit Joni from entering their Red Oak, IA, home where he lives, unless she had been given notice and permission from him.

Military career: Joni Ernst spent a career in the Iowa National Guard and was deployed to Kuwait in 2003 and 2004 for 12 months. Her husband accuses her of cheating with a soldier while she was in the Middle East

At the town hall meeting, Joni described herself as a 'survivor', claiming in her own affidavit that Gail had become physically violent with her after confronting him about his 'special relationship' with their daughter's babysitter

Gail claims that he originally attended to allow Joni to stay in the house after he filed for divorce because he believed they 'could be civil to each other'.

The agreement was for Joni to stay in 'a guest bedroom and use the guest bathroom when she came to Red Oak. That didn't work out very well because she began to exhibit very bizarre behavior,' court papers from Gail state.

Gail then lists the alleged behavior, claiming Joni 'has walked around the house nude; laid out nude on the back patio; has attempted to crawl into bed naked with me at night. She insists on using my bathroom to shower.'

The former military man denies Joni's claims of cheating, which were made in her own affidavit filed on October 16, writing he 'never even danced with any other woman before I filed for divorce.'

He then claims Joni had her own affair while she was deployed in Kuwait and Iraq as a company commander with the National Guard.

Gail writes: 'Joni had a sexual affair with one of her own soldiers while deployed from 2003-2004. I caught her secretly emailing him from our home after the deployment. She admitted to the affair, said she was sorry and begged me not to say anything.'

In his petition, Gail claims he essentially has been a single parent to their daughter Libby because Joni has been too busy pursuing her career.

In her own filing, Joni claims that Gail had cheated on her multiple times and once became violent with her after she confronted him about his 'special friendship' with their daughter Libby's (pictured with her parents left) babysitter

Joni claims that on her 25th wedding anniversary she discovered Gail's emails to Carla Rickert, who she claims was his 'long-term girlfriend', and they were planning their respective divorces. Rickert, from Sioux Falls in South Dakota, made news in 2017 with her St. Bernard Mochi after the pooch was crowned the Guinness World Records holder for the longest tongue on a dog

He writes: 'I gave up all my aspirations and goals to be a good dad and husband so Joni could pursue her dreams. I have sacrificed my dreams for the past 17 years taking care of our daughter like a single parent and supporting Joni's career. '

Gail also claims Joni has been dating while working in Washington D.C., claiming drinks and dinners she attended without her staff served as proof.

In her own affidavit, Joni claims that Gail had cheated on her multiple times and once became psychical with her after she confronted him about his 'special friendship' with their daughter's babysitter.

Joni writes in her affidavit that was submitted to court: 'During the time I was the county auditor, Gail had a special friendship with Libby's new babysitter. He began hanging out at the babysitter's house, even when Libby wasn't there.

'I confronted him about the situation and we went through a very dark and troubling time in our marriage. I very nearly filed for a divorce after a night that we argued, and it became physical. I fled the house with Libby, and went to my mother's house in the middle of the night.

'He followed shortly after, crying and apologizing. I sent him away.

'After I dropped Libby off at school the next morning, I went to work and met with our Victim's Advocate Wilma Rodgers at her office in the courthouse. She did a quick exam of my throat and head, and wanted to take me to the hospital. I declined because I was embarrassed and humiliated, and I didn't want anyone to know about the assault.

'Gail freed to go to counseling at Offutt AFB [Air Force Base] to repair our marriage, but he told me not to bring up the assault in our counseling sessions. I stupidly agreed. We moved on, although things have never really been the same.'

Joni claims after her husband told her that he wanted a divorce in July of 2018, she decided to go through their accounts and affairs.

The politician (pictured with Gail in 2014) writes: 'This has been an extremely painful journey. Although Gail seems to think he can live off my salary for the rest of his life, he is doing everything he can to destroy me and ruin my chances for reelection, which would end the gravy train he apparently plans to ride'

She writes in her affidavit: 'On July 24th, our 25th wedding anniversary, I pulled out the list of important passwords, social security numbers, account numbers for the family, etc, and opened his Hotmail account. What I found devastated me.

'There were e-mails in his account from a long-time girlfriend, Carla Rickert, and they were planning their respective divorces. There were disgusting sexual discussions, sharing of financials, scheming, demeaning talk about me and Carla's husband, discussions about where they would live, house floor plans, etc.

'I started a downward spiral of not sleeping and eating and I rapidly lost 17 pounds about 13 percent of my body weight. My staff had to cancel two days of my appointments because I couldn't function.'

Carla Rickert, from Sioux Falls in South Dakota, made news in 2017 with her St. Bernard Mochi 'Mo' Rickert after the pooch was crowned the Guinness World Records holder for the longest tongue on a dog.

Joni claims that after filing for divorce, Gail vacationed with Rickert for multiple weeks in Florida, taking her on dinner cruises, playing on the beach and enjoying romantic dinners.

The politician says in her affidavit that Gail has taken out a new credit card and has 'paid $1,300 off from our joint account without providing information on where the charges came from.'

Joni also claims Gail might have had a third affair with a co-worker while he was working for US Bank, writing: 'Soon after I went to work as the Auditor, Gail left US Bank. He had moved up to the Commercial lending side of the branch, and spent time between Red Oak and Council Bluffs working on accounts.

'He told me he quit US Bank because he tired of the extra work and the driving 40 miles a couple times a week to the Council Bluffs branch. Now I'm not sure if he left because it was too much work for him, or because he was seeing someone at the Red Oak branch.

'I recently learned that there were rumors about Gail having an affair with the head teller at the Red Oak branch. I thought it was off that he left a good-paying day-job, and took a third-shift job as a supervisor at a window factory 25 miles way. '

Alliance: Joni Ernst says that she turned down Trump when they met to discuss the vice-presidency. She plans to run for her Senate seat again in 2020

Joni's claims in her affidavit that 'Gail has been very cruel. He is the one that filed for divorce and is the one that was cheating.

'Yet, he expects me to move out of our house in Red Oak and pay alimony, footing the bill for all of his trips with his girlfriend.

'This has been an extremely painful journey. Although Gail seems to think he can live off my salary for the rest of his life, he is doing everything he can to destroy me and ruin my chances for reelection, which would end the gravy train he apparently plans to ride.'

As part of her affidavit, Joni revealed she told then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016 that she didn't want to be his vice presidential running mate, blaming the decision on her controlling husband who resisted her political success.

Joni said that Gail 'hated any successes I have,' which influenced her decision to tell Trump she didn't want to run for the job now held by Mike Pence.

'[I]n the summer of 2016, I was interviewed by Candidate Trump to be vice president of the United States. I turned Candidate Trump down, knowing it wasn't the right thing for me or my family,' she wrote.

'I continued to make sacrifices and not soar higher out of concern for Gail and our family.'

Ernst, 48, didn't say Trump had offered her the job.

Ernst has indicated she'll run for a second six-year Senate term in 2020.

The White House and Trump campaign didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Police have identified the 21-year-old gunman suspected of killing five people when he opened fire inside a Florida bank on Wednesday afternoon.

Zephen Xaver allegedly called 911 to report that he'd fired shots within the SunTrust Bank branch in Sebring just after 12.30pm, killing everyone inside.

After a standoff with officers, Xaver eventually surrendered to SWAT members and was placed under arrest. Video shows him being perp-walked in handcuffs through the parking lot to a police vehicle.

Police have not yet determined a motive in the 'senseless murders', but Florida Governor Ron DeSantis promised swift justice for the victims, whose names are being withheld pending family notification.

Authorities say Xaver was a correctional officer trainee hired by the Avon Park Correctional Institution in November, but he resigned on January 9 without an explanation.

A friend of Xaver's family described the 21-year-old as 'very normal'.

'He's definitely a normal person. I would have never in a million years thought anything like this would have ever happened,' Sharon Spillane told WFLA.

The Xavers' house was surrounded by crime scene tape for most of the day on Wednesday, according to local media.

'I am friends with his parents,' Spillane said. 'We've had barbeques together. My nine-year-old goes down with me. We've cooked together. We've watched movies. They are a very normal family.'

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Zephen Xaver has been identified by police as the 21-year-old gunman who allegedly opened fire inside a Florida bank on Wednesday afternoon, killing five people. In the photo above taken by police after his arrest, Xaver is wearing a shirt depicting four Grim Reapers on horseback

Officers responded to the SunTrust Bank branch in Sebring around 12.36pm after the suspected gunman allegedly called 911 and reported that he had fired shots inside the bank, according to the Sebring Police Department

Blurry video showed Xaver being perp-walked through the parking lot after he surrendered

SunTrust Bank suspect walked out in handcuffs SUSPECT WALKED OUT | Video shows Zephen Xaver, 21, being walked out in handcuffs following a standoff at a SunTrust Bank in Sebring that left at least five dead. What we know >> http://bit.ly/2Duitj7 Posted by ABC Action News - WFTS - Tampa Bay on Wednesday, 23 January 2019

'We are sorry to learn that we have at least five victims, people who were senselessly murdered as a result of his act in this bank,' Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said at a press conference Wednesday evening.

'This has been a tragic day for our community. Weve suffered a significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime.

'We ask that you please keep them in your prayers, keep them in your thoughts,' he said if the victims' loved ones.

'Help Sebring and our community stay strong.'

The sheriff's office asked co-workers and family members of anyone who was inside the bank during the shooting should gather at the Inn on the Lakes on Gulfview Road.

Hoglund declined to answer questions from reporters but promised to brief the media on emerging details Thursday morning. An FBI mobile unit has joined the investigation.

Xaver's motive has not yet been determined. He is seen above in a Facebook photo

Gov Ron DeSantis also spoke during the press conference, saying: 'The people of Florida stand with the community here in light of this tragic circumstance.

'Ive asked [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] to provide whatever resources we can at the state level to assist with the investigation.

'Obviously this is an individual that needs to face very swift and exacting justice,' he said of Xaver.

This was Florida's seventh mass shooting in less than three years.

Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman said: 'I am heartbroken that this horrendous incident has occurred in our county. I pray for the victims, their families and our community. This tragedy will have a lasting impact on Highlands County and likely this community will never be the same.

'I have been in law enforcement all of my adult life and this horrific incident shocks and angers me more than anything I have encountered in my career.

'While we still dont know what drove the suspect to commit this heinous act, there is no excuse that can justify the cold-blooded murder of multiple victims.'

SunTrust CEO and Chairman Bill Rogers said in a statement: 'We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at our Sebring, Florida branch this afternoon. We are working with law enforcement officials and dedicating ourselves to supporting the people and families impacted by this horrible and senseless tragedy. Our entire team mourns this terrible loss.'

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis (center) spoke alongside Sebring law enforcement at a press conference on Wednesday night. He said of Xaver: 'Obviously this is an individual that needs to face very swift and exacting justice'

Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund hangs his head with sadness during the news conference. 'We ask that you please keep them in your prayers, keep them in your thoughts,' Chief Hoglund said of the victims' families. 'Help Sebring and our community stay strong'

WHO IS FLORIDA SHOOTING SUSPECT ZEPHEN XAVER? Zephen Xaver, originally of Plymouth, Indiana, is suspected of opening fire at the SunTrust Bank in Florida, Wednesday, killing five people. Friends were stunned by the news that the 'normal' 21-year-old was capable of such a horrific crime. But his former employers paint a more complex picture, of an undisciplined young man who quit his stable job without explanation. Xaver's social media pages, removed shortly after the shooting, reveal something of a macabre fascination with death. Sprinkled among his few sparse selfies, appeared photos of the Grim Reaper, a symbol of death. One Reaper meme read: God is busy right nowmay I help you? Even his booking photo shows obsession with death, and appears to show the four horsemen of the apocalypse. His social media also reveals an admiration of the alt-right, and Xaver had 'liked' far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos, and memes about rightwing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Yet a friend of Xaver's family described the 21-year-old as 'very normal'. Zephen Xaver, 21, originally of Bremen, Indiana, is suspected of opening fire at the SunTrust Bank in Florida, Wednesday, killing five people 'He's definitely a normal person. I would have never in a million years thought anything like this would have ever happened,' Sharon Spillane told WFLA. Originally of Plymouth, Indiana, he also lived with his father in Bremen, Indiana, according to his social media pages. He later moved in with his mother and stepfather in Sebring, Florida, according to WESH. He also has two younger brothers. Neighbors described them as a 'sweet family' and Xaver as 'quiet, responsible, and polite.' Xavers ex-girlfriend confirmed on Facebook page that her ex was the suspect. Xaver wrote that he had attended Bremen Senior High School and Plymouth High School in Indiana, where he was on the wrestling team. After his move to Florida, he started work as a correctional officer trainee at the Avon Park Correctional Institution, near the Avon Park Air Force Range, in November. But officials say he resigned on January 9 without an explanation. Agency spokesperson Patrick Manderfield said the 21-year-old had no discipline during the six weeks he was employed by the department. Avon Park Correctional is a state-run institution and thus its workers would not have been affected by the government shutdown. Advertisement

Dozens of law enforcement and media vehicles flocked to the scene as a standoff unfolded during lunchtime on Wednesday.

'After negotiations to try to get the barricaded subject to exit the bank were not successful, the HCSO SWAT team entered the bank and continued the negotiations,' the Sebring police said.

'The suspect eventually surrendered to the HCSO SWAT team.'

A witness on the scene, Stefan Roehrig, told WFLA: 'At first [SWAT] hooked some cables up to it [bank door], tried to rip the doors off. The door handles came right off. Then they just drove the SWAT machine right through the door.'

Roehrig, who said police 'slammed [the suspect] pretty good' before escorting him outside the bank, recorded cellphone video of Xaver being taken into custody.

'He was young, very young,' Roehrig said.

According to state officials, Xaver began working at Avon Park Correctional Institution near the Avon Park Air Force Range on November 28.

Agency spokesperson Patrick Manderfield said the 21-year-old had no discipline during the six weeks he was employed by the department. Manderfield said no explanation was given for his resignation.

Avon Park Correctional is a state-run institution and thus its workers would not have been affected by the government shutdown.

Social media pages believed to belong to the suspect are sparse bearing only a couple photos of Xaver himself along with a few of the Grim Reaper, a symbol of death.

According to one of his pages, Xaver had recently moved to Sebring from Bremen, Indiana.

His ex-girlfriend from Indiana wrote on Facebook: 'If anyone has seen the news about my ex killing 5 people. Please do not ask me to talk to you about it. I am devastated. Ive been crying so much.'

Xaver's LinkedIn page indicates that he is a student at Stevens-Henager College, which is based in Utah but offers online classes.

Officials confirmed that there were multiple injuries, but it's unclear how man people were shot in the incident. Police didn't release information regarding the conditions of those injured

Authorities said the suspect had called dispatch to report that he had fired shots inside the bank
Gov. Doug Ducey rolled out his agenda for 2019 last Monday in his fifth State of the State address to the State Legislature, signaling the beginning of a new legislative session.
The FBI is joining the investigation into the deaths of two Texas sisters who were found fatally shot alongside their mother in an upscale San Antonio home.

Alexa Montez, 16, and London Bribiescas, 10, were found dead with their mother Nichol Olsen, 37, on January 10.

Their bodies were discovered by Olsen's 31-year-old boyfriend Charles Edward Wheeler in the gated-community home that he owned.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar revealed on Tuesday that he had requested the San Antonio FBI to join forces with his office.

Salazar said the FBI will provide technical and investigative assistance to the investigation as evidence and forensic test results 'continue to develop'.

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The FBI is joining the investigation into the deaths of Texas sisters Alexa Denice Montez (right) and London Bribiescas (left), who were found shot dead in a home alongside their mother

Charles Edward Wheeler told police he discovered the bodies of his girlfriend Nichol Olsen, 37, (pictured together) and her daughters at his home on the morning of January 10

'We are proud of the exceptional investigative work done by the BCSO Criminal Investigations Division and we are excited to count on the FBI's expertise and resources moving forward,' he said in a statement.

'We owe it to Nichol, Alexa, London, and their families to find the truth through meticulous investigation.'

'It's always better to have more tools at our disposal and more eyes on any case.'

Salazar also pledged to leave 'no stone unturned' in his continued 'quest for the truth'.

'It's always better to have more than enough resources,' Salazar told the San Antonio Express-News.

Olsen and her daughters were found dead by Wheeler in the $1million property. Wheeler told police he had stayed with a relative the night before after an argument with Olsen

'We are more than capable of handling the case, for sure. But it's probably going to get handled a little quicker if we have some help.'

'We've known from the beginning that this case is going to rely heavily on forensic evidence. To me, it just gives us more options.'

Olsen and her daughters were found dead in the $1million property around 9.07am on January 10.

Wheeler told police he returned to the residence after spending the night at a relative's home following a fight with Olsen.

Salazar said on Tuesday that Wheeler, who owns an oil drilling and maintenance company, continues to be a 'person of interest' in the case but is not a suspect.

Authorities said that Olsen and Alexa had been shot in the head, while London was shot in the head and neck. Alexa and London's deaths were both ruled as homicides.

Wheeler, who owns an oil drilling and maintenance company, continues to be a 'person of interest' in the case but is not a suspect

Wheeler told police he returned to the residence after spending the night at a relative's home following an argument with Olsen

Olsen's death was ruled a suicide by the Bexar County Medical Examiner, but Salazar said the department would continue their investigation.

Special Agent Michelle Lee said the entire FBI San Antonio office is continuing to work through the ongoing government shutdown without pay because they are considered 'essential' employees.

'Despite the government shutdown, we stand prepared to assist our law enforcement partners, particularly in heartbreaking cases like this involving the loss of life,' Lee said on Tuesday.

But a 'significant number' of employees at FBI's national headquarters, who often assist with these investigations, are currently furloughed, she added.

The sisters also have a 22-year-old half-brother, Skylar Noble, who was not thought to be in the home at the time

Authorities said that Olsen and Alexa had been shot in the head, while London was shot in the head and neck. Alexa and London's deaths were both ruled as homicides

Olsen's death was ruled a suicide by the Bexar County Medical Examiner, but Salazar said the department would continue their investigation

As for Wheeler, his attorney said he is happy that the FBI is joining the investigation.

'I don't think that anyone would want anything but a quick resolution to this investigation,' Therese Huntzinger said.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar (pictured) revealed that he had requested the San Antonio FBI to join forces with his office

'We welcome bringing it to a close as quickly as possible. If it takes the FBI getting involved to help the sheriff get that done, then we're for it.'

Salazar said Wheeler is not the only person of interest.

Authorities have also not ruled out that Olsen and her daughters were killed by a stranger or someone who was linked to the family that investigators are not even aware of yet.

'We're not ruling anything out,' he added.

Court records obtained by DailyMail.com show that Nichol divorced James Noble, the father of her son Skylar, in 1998 when she was only 17 and Skylar was two.

Records from 2006 detail her divorce from Alexa's father, Carlos. At the time, she was just 25.

Nichol never married London's father, 37-year-old Hector Jose Bribiesca, but she sued him for child support in 2013.
Stockbroker turned backgammon pro Rod Covlin terrorized his wife Shele for nearly the entire year before her death, his sister-in-law testified Wednesday in Covlin's murder trial.

This included Covlin, now 45, calling Shele a 'b**** 'and a 'c***' in front of their children and his parents on Mothers Day 2009.

Eve Karstaedt, Shele Covlin's sister, told the jury at Manhattan Supreme Court that Shele's voice was shaking and quivering when she said that Covlin 'flew into a rage' during a family outing with their two children and Covlin's parents.

'She said he flew into a rage,' Karstaedt said. 'She said he called her a b**** and a c*** in front of the children, in front of his parents, saying she wasn't showing his mother respect on Mothers Day.'

Rod Covlin, a backgammon-obsessed former stockbroker, is pictured in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday accused of murdering his wife

'[Shele said], 'I've got to get away, I've got to get out,' Karstaedt said.

On Jan. 5, 2009, nearly 12 months before 36-year-old Shele was found dead in her Upper West Side apartment on New Years Eve of the same year, Shele told her sister Covlin had become a 'nightmare to live with,' according to an email from Shele that Karstaedt read aloud during the first day of testimony.

Shele Danishefsky's sister Eve Karstaedt read out an email from Shele revealing Rod Covlin screamed and swore at her in front of her children and parents on Mother's Day 2009

'He [Covlin] constantly picks fights and flies off the handle very easily and when he does his anger is out of control,' Karstaedt quoted from Shele's email.

Later that day, Shele confided to her sister that she had confronted Covlin about her suspicions of his infidelity  which he confirmed  and that she had spoken to a lawyer, Karstaedt read from another email.

The next day, the sisters met in the shoe department of Lord & Taylor where a crying Shele told her sister she had written a letter to Covlin saying it it was time to end the marriage, Karstaedt testified through tears.

Shele Danishefsky's sister Eve Karstaedt shows Manahattan Supreme Court jury the layout of the New York's Upper West Side apartment where Shele was found dead on Dec 31, 2009

'She said he was terrified to send it and she was terrified not to send it,' Karstaedt said.

Shele died on Dec 31, 2009, having apparently drowned in her bathtub.

Her daughter Anna, then 9, discovered the body and called Covlin, who lived in an apartment across the hall, separate from her family.

Covlin told police Shele had been face down in the tub and he had dragged her body out onto the floor.

At the time of her death, Rod was 36 and Shele, a UBS executive from a wealthy background, was 47. She was the sole breadwinner and he was pursuing his backgammon passion

Shele was buried without an autopsy based on the wished of her Orthodox Jewish family.

Karstaedt said the family initially wanted an autopsy  'We ere concerned there was foul play,' she said  but that a rabbi had talked them out of it.

Karstaedt also detailed her sister's travails at Covlin's hands over visitation with their children.

In July 2009, Covlin didn't not return the children for many hours after his time with them was up, sending Shele into a panic.

After the children were finally returned, Shele and the children joined Karstaedt for Shabbos, Karstaedt testified.

The couple were in the midst of a bitter divorce battle and Shele was trying to write her husband out of her will. They were living in separate apartments on the same floor of this Upper West Side apartment building

As the sisters lit the Shabbos candles, 'She said to me, 'I think Rod's hatred for me is stronger than his love for our children,' Karstaedt said.

In the afternoon, defense attorney Robert Gottlieb grilled Karstaedt about the familys decision to forgo an autopsy of Sheles body.

Karstaedt said one rabbi told the family to go ahead with an autopsy on Shele, telling them her soul is crying out for it.

But a second rabbi told the family the police said her death was an accident and that that they should bury Shele without a post mortem examination.

But Karstaedt said she wasnt comfortable with the decision.

No one forced you to waive an autopsy? Gottlieb asked.

Correct, Karstaedt replied.

Shele's nine-year-old daughter Anna found her face down in the bathtub of their apartment (shown) on New Year's Eve at 7am. By the time police arrived, Rod was in dry clothes

 If you thought this was suspicious or a crime you wouldnt have waived an autopsy? Gottlieb queried.

No, Karstaedt responded.

Why did she and her family reverse course and change their outlook on the autopsy?

When you ask an opinion, you go with what you receive, Karstaedt explained. You cant go shopping.

Karstaedt also swore in a verified petition from her attempt to gain custody of the two Covlin children that the family thought the death was an accident  a bizarre slip and fall in the bathtub.

She attempted to dodge the signed petition, telling Gottlieb, Thats not what we were saying.

But after some back and forth, Judge Ruth Pickholz intervened and asked Karstaedt, Is that what you swore to?

I guess so, Karstaedt said. Yes.

Karstaedt's cross examination is scheduled to resume tomorrow.

On Tuesday, the court had heard successful UBS executive Shele was in the midst of divorcing her much younger husband Covlin when she was killed.

Prosecutors claimed the backgammon player killed his wife out of 'pure unadulterated greed'

Shele had planned to write her estranged husband out of her will and $5million fortune, one day before her death.




A woman who survived an abduction by Ted Bundy when she was a teenager has spoken of the chilling moment she realized he was going to kill her.

Carol DaRonch was just 18 when she was approached by the notorious serial killer in a Utah parking lot in 1974.

DaRonch had been shopping at a mall when Bundy, dressed in police uniform, told her that there was an attempted theft of her car and she needed to file a police report.

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Carol DaRonch survived an attempted abduction by notorious serial killer Ted Bundy in 1974

Ted Bundy (left) told Carol DaRonch (right) he was going to kill her but she managed to escape

She reluctantly followed him to his Volkswagen and got inside where he quickly handcuffed her and tried to strike her with a crowbar.

However, DaRonch fought back and jumped out of the car to safety. Her story and others are recounted in Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy tapes, a four-part docuseries premiering on Netflix on Thursday.

In an new clip, she recalls the moment she knew she was in danger in Bundy's car.

'He headed down a side street and then he suddenly pulled over up on the side of a curb up by an elementary school and thats when I just started freaking out: What are we doing?

DaRonch (pictured) claimed her who life flashed before her eyes when Bundy told her he would shoot her in the head

Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, which incorporates over 100 hours of unheard audio interviews with the serial killer will premiere on Netflix on Thursday

'And he grabbed my arm and he got one handcuff on one wrist and he didnt get the other one on and the one was just dangling. I had never been so frightened in my entire life.

DaRonch, without knowing who had targeted her, described her fear as she realized she may die.

She says in the clip: 'I thought, my god my parents are never going to know what happened to me.

'My whole life went before my eyes. The next thing I knew he had pulled out a gun and said "I'll blow your head off."

She would later go on to testify against him at trial, leading to his first conviction for aggravated kidnapping while detectives tried to connect him to many unsolved murders.

Over 100 hours of never before heard audio recorded of Bundy during death row will be incorporated into the series, giving true crime enthusiasts unbelievable access to the inner workings of the killer's mind.

The series is based off of a book by the same name, written by Stephen G. Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth, who interviewed the notoriously handsome and charismatic murderer who is believed to have killed dozens of women.

Season one of the series drops on January 24, which is the 30th anniversary of Bundy's execution.

Ted Bundy is believed to have killed dozens of women, including (top row, left to right) Kimberly Leach, Caryn Campbell , Margaret Bowman , Debbie Kent, (second row, left to right) Laura Aime, Roberta Parks, Georgann Hawkins , Donna Manson, (third row, left to right) Lynda Healy, Janice Ott, Denise Naslund, Susan Rancourt, (fourth row, left to right) Katherine Devine, Melissa Smith, Brenda Ball, and Lisa Levy

As the chilling words infiltrate the viewer's ears, evidence from Bundy's crime scenes flash across the screen, including ski masks, gloves, rope, hand cuffs, a sharp object and a flashlight

He escaped custody twice, eventually fleeing to Florida where he murdered Levy and Bowman, the two Chi Omega sorority sisters on January 15, 1978, and Leach, one month later, before being brought back in. The bloody scene of a Bundy murder is shown

Bundy's voice can also be heard for the first time in the clip. 'My name is Ted Bundy,' he says. 'I've never spoken to anybody about this, but I am looking for an opportunity to tell this story as best I can.'

As the chilling words infiltrate the viewer's ears, evidence from Bundy's crime scenes flash across the screen.

Bundy confessed to killing 30 women in seven states, including Washington state, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, before he was executed by electric chair on January 24, 1989 in Florida for the murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach (pictured

Beautiful women, ski masks, gloves, rope, hand cuffs, a sharp object, a flashlight... and then a badly decomposed skull lying in a wooded area were shown.

'Murder, leaving a person of this type hungry... unfulfilled... would also leave him with the obviously irrational belief that the next time he did it, he would be fulfilled,' a man's voice says.

'And the next time he did it, he would be fulfilled. Or the next time he did it, he would be fulfilled.'

Traveling across state lines, he was known to prefer female victims with long, dark hair, parted down the middle.

Bundy confessed to killing 30 women in seven states, including Washington state, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, before he was executed by electric chair on January 24, 1989 in Florida for the murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach, who he killed one month after slaying Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman at Florida State University.

Some say he made the admissions in an effort to stall his death.

He was known as a charming man, who earned the trust of his victims before luring them to a secluded place to murder them.

He would also enter the rooms of sleeping college students and bludgeon them to death. At the height of his murder spree, female college students disappeared at a rate of one per month.

The book was co-written by Stephen G. Michaud (right) and Hugh Aynesworth (left)

He was first arrested in Utah, and imprisoned there for kidnapping and assault, before being transferred to custody in Colorado to face murder charges.

'Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes' is based on a book by the same name

He escaped custody twice, eventually fleeing to Florida where he murdered Levy and Bowman, the two Chi Omega sorority sisters on January 15, 1978, and Leach, one month later, before being brought back in.

The trailer features audio from news coverage of the Florida trials, which was the first ever to be televised in the United States.

'Bundy is acting as his own lawyer,' a reporter says, over video of Bundy carrying a box of papers and giving a thumbs up to cameras in the courtroom.

'What is unusual to see is that many of the onlookers are women,' the reporter says, panning across faces of ladies filling the benches of the gallery during Bundy's trial.

One of his attorneys, John Henry Browne from Seattle, who wrote a memoir in 2012 based on his interactions with Bundy, said, '[Bundy] told me he killed more than 100 people, and not only women.'
A tiny Colorado home was obliterated by blizzard force winds on Tuesday.

The Cripple Creek Fire Department said the woman and two cats inside the home were rescued by first responders after the strong winds sent the house tumbling about 200 feet down a hillside.

'Tiny homes and blizzard force winds do not like each other!' the department said in a Facebook post.

First responders said the home was 'blown over and blown down the road'.

A tiny Colorado home (pictured) was obliterated by blizzard force winds on Tuesday

The Cripple Creek Fire Department said the woman and two cats inside the home were rescued by first responders after the strong winds sent the house tumbling about 200 feet down a hillside

Photos shared by the department showed the home lying on its side after it was picked up off its foundation by the winds

Photos shared by the department showed the home lying on its side after it was picked up off its foundation by the winds. Several of the woman's personal belongings were strewn across the snow.

According to Fox 31, the woman was taken to the hospital to be evaluated for injuries. She has since been released.

Cripple Creek Fire Chief Dean O'Nale told the station that the woman 'was laying on the bed when it happened and the mattress rolled over on top of her and it protected her a little bit'.

At the time of the incident, the National Weather Service's Pueblo office tweeted that a 'strong cold front across Pueblo County will continue to move south across the Raton Mesa through 3am'.

'Strong northerly winds gusting to 60mph and poor visibility of a 1/4 mile or less in snow and blowing snow can be expected behind the front through the early morning,' the tweet added.

On Tuesday, transportation officials reopened a 185-mile stretch of Interstate 70 between Denver and the Kansas border that was closed because of ice and blowing snow.

Several of the woman's personal belongings were strewn across the snow

At the time of the incident, the National Weather Service's Pueblo office tweeted that a 'strong cold front across Pueblo County will continue to move south across the Raton Mesa through 3am'

Amy Ford, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, said I-70 reopened Tuesday afternoon as the weather started to clear.

A nearly 100-mile section of Interstate 25 from Pueblo to the New Mexico border remains closed because of blowing snow.

Wind gusts in some places reached 45mph and created blizzard conditions.

The storm also shut down schools and military installations in and around Colorado Springs, including Fort Carson and the US Air Force Academy.

The avalanche danger was also elevated in Colorado's mountains.

Amy Ford, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, said I-70 (pictured) reopened Tuesday afternoon as the weather started to clear
Princess Diana forgot the date of her wedding anniversary in touching personal letters to the editor of British Vogue which are now up for auction.

Six handwritten letters, sent to Elizabeth Tilberis between 1989 and 1992, which detail the 'growing warmth' of their friendship, are going up for sale in New York.

Diana and Ms Tilberis spent time together on photoshoots, with Diana writing to Liza to say the Vogue team had made her feel 'relaxed'.

'I feel very relaxed being with the ladies so thank you for always thinking of me,' Diana wrote in one letter dated January 23, 1992.

In a letter from March 5, 1991, Diana gets the date of her 10-year wedding anniversary wrong when discussing the media build-up to the July event.

Letters exchanged between Princess Diana and British Vogue editor Elizabeth Tilberis (pictured together at a gala ball in 1995) are going up for auction

One letter reveals Diana forgot the date of her wedding anniversary. Pictured: a letter from January 23, 1992, where Diana congratulates Liz on a new job at the Harper's Bazaar

She wrote: 'Alas, I fear that there aren't going to be any photographs released for my birthday in July - there is too much of a build-up towards the 30th & 10 years of marriage ... I do feel terribly that there is far too much of this lady in the media!'

Her wedding anniversary with Prince Charles was actually on July 29.

Referring to the 1991 December issue front cover, shot by French photographer Patrick Demarchelier, Diana said: 'Patrick ... was a dream & I hope he will be happy with the results!'

Ms Tilberis sent Diana a framed copy of the cover, much to her delight.

'Well what can I say?!' she wrote in a letter on December 18, 1991.

'Thank you very much for framing the front cover addition of your December issue! It will always be a reminder of a very special day with Patrick & the team!'

The letters will be auctioned by Swann Galleries' Autographs Auction in New York on March 21. They are estimated to sell for around 3,800 ($5,000) to 5,700 ($7,000).

A spokesman for the auctioneers said: 'The correspondence sheds light on the growing warmth and friendship between the two as they collaborate on various Vogue shoots, detailing how much Diana clearly valued time spent with Tilberis and others.'

Princess Diana and Liz, pictured in 1996, spent time together on photoshoots. Diana featured on the cover of British Vogue's December 1991 edition, shot by Patrick Demarchelier

The letters will be auctioned by Swann Galleries' Autographs Auction in New York on March 21. They are estimated to sell for around 3,800 ($5,000) to 5,700 ($7,000)

The tone in Diana's correspondence was extremely polite and in one letter she thanked Ms Tilberis for 'trekking halfway across London to K.P. (Kensington Palace) on Friday!'

Ms Tilberis was appointed editor of Harper's Bazaar in February 1992 and subsequently moved to the US.

Congratulating her on her new role, Diana wrote: 'I felt a lot of excitement in you as you start your new life in America.

'It's thrilling to be asked to fill such a post as "they" obviously think an enormous amount of you across the waters & I know you'll make a huge success of your new role.'

Ms Tilberis won many accolades during her time as an editor, including two National Magazine Awards for the first four issues of the magazine's relaunch during September to December 1993.

She did not outlive Diana long, dying in 1999 aged 51 after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993.

In this letter, Diana thanked Liz for sending over a framed copy of her December 1991 cover
A temporary restraining order against Stormy Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti has been extended for two months while the Los Angeles District Attorney decides whether or not to proceed with misdemeanor domestic abuse charge.

Avenatti, who has clashed with President Donald Trump while acting for the porn star, allegedly hit his then girlfriend in the face with a pillow and dragged her across the floor in his Los Angeles apartment in November.

Avenatti's lawyer, Richard Beada appeared in court in Santa Monica on Wednesday before Judge Susan Lopez-Giss, who extended a temporary restraining order taken out by Avenatti's ex-girlfriend, Mareli Miniutti, until March 13.

Avenatti told DailyMail.com that this was an 'agreed upon continuance' and said he is not aware of any continuing police investigation.

'My understanding is that the city attorney is making a determination as to whether to proceed with charges or not.'

Avenatti, 47, was arrested in November after a fight with his then girlfriend, 24, at his luxury apartment in Beverly Hills.

Mareli Miniutti's temporary restraining order against ex Michael Avenatti (pictured in September 2018) has been extended for two months, as police continue to investigate domestic abuse allegations. Avenatti was arrested in November

Miniuitti, an actress who recently had a small role in Oceans 8, moved back to New York after the incident, and her New York-based attorney, Michael Bachner, took part in Wednesday's hearing via telephone.

Avenatti's case has been referred to the City Attorney to consider misdemeanor charges, after the District Attorney declined to prosecute him for felony domestic violence.

Speaking after he was released from a Los Angeles Police station, Avenatti called the claims 'bogus' and said he would be 'fully exonerated'.

'I look forward to a full clearing of my name and disclosure of all of the facts. I have never abused a woman or committed domestic violence against anyone,' the attorney later tweeted.

'Any claim to the contrary is completely bogus and fabricated. I am a target. And I will be exonerated.'

In court documents, Miniutti alleged Avenatti dragged her across his apartment floor, called her an 'Ungrateful f**king bitch,' and hit her in the face with pillows from the bed during an argument about money.

She claimed Avenatti told her 'Do not disrespect me. You don't get to sleep in my house tonight,' grabbed her right wrist and 'attempted to pull me out of bed.'

The actress, who had been living with Avenatti since January, said she tried texting a friend for help but the attorney grabbed her phone. Miniutti claims Avenatti dragged her into the apartment block hallway while she was in her underwear, but pulled her back into the apartment when she began ringing a neighbor's doorbell.

Miniutti, an Estonian-born actress, 24, alleged Avenatti dragged her across his apartment and called her an 'Ungrateful f**king b**ch' during a physical altercation at his LA home

Miniutti submitted photos of her alleged injuries as evidence. She claims she suffered injuries after Avenatti yanked her by the wrist to pull her out of bed before dragging her across the floor

According to the actress, this is not the first time her boyfriend had been violent.

She claimed that in February, Avenatti 'had been drinking, and became angry at me', then shoved her out of his apartment causing her to hit her head, and threw her shoes at her.

Miniutti claimed Avenatti was financially controlling, and had 'made promises to 'take care of me' while being 'vehemently opposed to my desire to earn a living outside of Hollywood.'

The actress says she is afraid of her ex, and was granted a temporary restraining order against him in November.

Although Miniutti said she had been dating Avenatti since January last year, the Estonian-born actress is still married to her estranged husband, Michael Miniutti.

When asked in November about Miniutti's claims that she was assaulted by Avenatti, her husband, a Programme Director at Mansion House Consulting based in New York City, told DailyMail.com: 'No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman. Period.'

Although Miniutti said she had been dating Avenatti since January last year, the Estonian-born actress is still married to her estranged husband, Michael Miniutti

Miniutti's allegations are widely thought to have killed any hopes of a 2020 presidential bid by the lawyer, who had been canvassing support and heavily hinting at a run against Trump next year.

Miniutti's New York based attorney, Michael Bachner, said that he was not surprised that the LA DA declined felony charges, but said he expected Avenatti to face a misdemeanor charge.

'Given the nature of Ms. Miniutti's injuries, we are not surprised by the decision not to bring felony charges,' Bachner told CNN. 'However, we are confident that misdemeanor charges are warranted.'
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Three specially-painted RAF Tornado jets flew together for the first time in what is the aircraft's retirement year.

The final Tornados will leave service before the end of March after almost 40 years with the RAF.

More than 100 plane enthusiasts gathered at the fence line of RAF Marham in Norfolk to see the three jets in flight on Wednesday.

Three RAF Panavia Tornado GR4s have been painted in special livery ahead of the fleet's retirement later this year

The first generation of the Tornado entered RAF service in 1979 but had to wait until the first Gulf War for combat action

The multi-role bomber has been the backbone of the RAF's strike capability especially during the war on terror

Hundreds of plane spotters queued up at RAF Marham this morning to catch sight of the three jets flying in formation

One of the jets is painted in camouflage colours while one of the others had bat wings which is the badge of Nine Squadron while the third jet has the gold star of 31 Squadron. Nine squadron was the first operational Tornado squadron

One of the jets is painted in camouflage colours and the other two have artwork on the tail, one with the gold star of 31 Squadron, and the other with a bat with wings extended which is the badge of Nine Squadron.

31 Squadron operates the Tornado GR4 from RAF Marham and is known as the Goldstars, and Nine Squadron was the world's first operational Tornado squadron.

The three aircraft flew in formation around the airbase, and enthusiasts also saw a pair of F-35 Lightning stealth fighter jets and two Typhoons take off from the runway.

The Tornado has been in service since 1979 and was first used in combat during the first Gulf War.

Its capabilities will be transferred to the Typhoon.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has paid tribute to the Tornado as an 'amazing aircraft that has inspired so many'.

The Tornado GR4's role will be taken over by the Eurofighter Typhoon, which has already seen action in the Middle East as well as conducting regular Quick Reaction Alerts to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching UK airspace

Two of the three Tornado GR4 aircraft pictured on the runway at RAF Marham on a training sortie

Two RAF F-35 Lightning II stealth jets were also on display at RAF Marham earlier today

The Mach 1.3 bomber carries the RAF's latest Brimstone air-to-ground missiles, as well as Storm Shadow cruise missiles

The jets could carry a weapons load of a maximum of 9,000kg including Paveway GPS / laser guided bombs
Michael Cohen will not appear before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on February 7, his attorney said on Wednesday  at least not voluntarily  citing 'ongoing threats against his family' from the president and the president's lawyer.

Donald Trump fired back during a photo-op with reporters that Cohen has 'always been threatened by the truth,' and claimed that his former lawyer 'doesnt want to tell the truth for me or other of his clients.'

Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis said last week that his client, a former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, was 'not 100% there yet,' despite the committee's Democratic chairman, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, announcing the hearing. That changed Wednesday.

Cohen has been ordered to report to prison on March 6 to start serving a three-year sentence for bank and tax fraud and campaign finance violations.

'Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date,' Davis said in a statement.

The decision is creating new uncertainties about whether Democrats will be able to grill Cohen at all before he becomes a federal inmate. They're responding with talk about a subpoena.

Michael Cohen says he will not testify before a congressional committee on February 7, claiming that President Trump and the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have made unspecified 'threats' against his family

Trump said Wednesday during a photo-op that Cohen has 'only been threatened by the truth'; he previously suggested Cohen's father-in-law could have organized crime connections that prosecutors should investigate

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani (right) went to bat for the president on Sunday in a CNN interview, saying that he's only protecting himsef by throwing hardballs at Cohen

Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly told reporters that 'we are under a time crunch,' and 'I would support a subpoena' to compel Cohen to appear.

Cummings and California Dem. Rep, Adam Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said in a joint statement that '[n]ot appearing before Congress was never an option.'

'We will not let the president's tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities. This will not stop us from getting the truth. We expected Mr. Cohen to appear before both Committees and we remain engaged with his counsel about upcoming appearances.'

Cummings told reporters later: 'I have not decided what Im going to do.'

Davis had played cat-and-mouse with Cummings, saying that Cohen 'wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time.'

'This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first,' Davis added.

Trump suggested in a Fox News Channel interview via telephone on January 12 that investigators have ignored a rich vein of criminal activity in Cohen's father-in-law, whom he didn't name.

'He should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that's the one that people want to look at,' Trump told host Jeanine Pirro. 'Because where does that money? That's the money in the family. And I guess he didn't want to talk about his father [-in-law]. He's trying to get his sentence reduced.'

Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland (left) chairs the House Oversight Committee and California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff (right) leads the House Intelligence Committee; they are both mulling subpoenas for Cohen's testimony

Trump's jab about Cohen protecting his 'other clients' is curious: Cohen's only other known clients are Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity and former Republican National Committee fundraiser Elliott Broidy

Cohen was not expected to be able to testify about his election-year hush money payoff to porn actress Stormy Daniels (pictured) on Trump's behalf

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union' program that focusing attention on Cohen's family is just Trump 'defending yourself,' especially 'if the father-in-law is a criminal in the Southern District of New York. He may have ties to something called organized crime.'

Cohen's father-in-law Fima Shusterman pleaded guilty to federal income tax fraud in 1993. The charge stemmed from his taxicab business in New York.

Shusterman's more recent business ventures are linked to taxi companies in Chicago. The New York Times has reported that Shusterman introduced Cohen to the industry.

Cohen had already limited the scope of what he would be willing to discuss with members of Congress, ruling out anything currently 'under investigation.'

That would preclude him from talking about the Trump Tower Moscow project, his payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels, or his business dealings with the president.

Cohen has been cooperating with the special counsel's probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York was the lead federal prosecutor earlier this year when Cohen pled guilty to eight counts, including tax fraud and campaign finance violations.

He also has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timeline of conversations he had with Russian officials about building a Trump Tower Moscow as part of separate investigation by Mueller's team.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and is free on bail until that time.

Cohen's attorney had already said he would not talk about his cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller (above) during any congressional hearing

Cohen's guilty pleas included a charge of lying to Congress about a Trump Organization real estate project that was slated for Moscow, Russia and discussed through the fall of 2016 while the president was running for office.

He testified in a closed congressional interview that the project he pursued on Trump's behalf was abandoned by the time of the Iowa Caucuses in January 2016; that would be consistent with Trump's 'political messaging.'

Mueller later filed documents revealing Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president's family, later in the year  even after Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

Cohen said he lied out of loyalty to Trump.

'I made these misstatements to be consistent with Individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual 1,' Cohen said at his plea hearing late last year.

'Individual 1' is Mueller's name for Trump in the investigation.

Discussions about a planned construction project were ultimately abandoned and no contract was signed.

Cohen was also the central figure in a plot to buy the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006.

Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 from Cohen, a transaction that he admitted was a violation of campaign finance laws since it amounted to an illegally large contribution benefiting Trump's White House hopes.

He said in court that Trump directed him to make the payment, suggesting the president was guilty of a crime.

In August he pleaded guilty to eight separate charges related to tax dodges, falsifying bank documents and the campaign finance violations involving Daniels and another woman, former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal.

Cohen claims that at Trump's request, he arranged for the publisher of The National Enquirer to pay McDougal  another self-described past Trump paramour  for the exclusive rights to her life story. The magazine never published anything, engaging in a practice known as 'catch and kill' in order to help Trump avoid new scandals in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.

Trump has denied ever having a sexual relationship with either Daniels or McDougal.
Former To Catch A Predator host Chris Hansen has been let off the hook for bad checks - though his legal and personal troubles are far from over.

Prosecutors decided to drop the larceny charge against Hansen, 59, on Wednesday after his lawyer proved he had paid the $13,000 debt back in full.

Hansen was arrested in Stamford, Connecticut last week and was charged with issuing two bad check to Summer Street Promotions Company.

He had been charged $12,998 after ordering 355 ceramic mugs, 288 T-shirts and 650 vinyl decals from the local business in 2017.

Former To Catch A Predator host Chris Hansen has been let off the hook for bad checks after prosecutors decided to drop the larceny charge against him on Wednesday

But Hansen delayed payment for the order and in April wrote two checks, both of which ultimately did not clear, to the company.

Philip Russell, Hansen's attorney, told TMZ that the former TV host did not have to plead to any charges after paying off his debt in full.

Hansen's case will be automatically dismissed if no other action is taken within 13 months.

It's a brief bit of good news for Hansen, who is facing plenty of other debts.

Hansen owes $57,931.72 to American Express, $126,356.35 to TD Bank, over $15,000 to Ally Financial, and $1,078,164.73 to US Bank Trust, according to Connecticut court records obtained by DailyMail.com.

The charges were dropped after Hansen's lawyer proved he had paid the $13,000 debt back to a local business

American Express sued Hansen for the money in 2015, claiming he 'refused to make payment on the balance' of a Platinum card, according to the Stamford Advocate.

Ally Financial filed its own lawsuit against Hansen last year, claiming he still owed thousands of dollars for a $65,000 2014 Corvette.

A judge allowed the company to reposes the car.

US Bank Trust took ownership of Hansen's million-dollar home in Shippan last July.

On top of all this, Hansen owes more than $250,000 in back taxes and is now being evicted from his New York City apartment, according to TMZ.

This is all happening while the former Dateline host is in the process of divorcing his wife Mary Jo.

But legal problems continue for the former TV host, who owes owes $57,931.72 to American Express (pictured). The company sued Hansen for the money in 2015

Hansen also owes $126,356.35 to TD Bank and over $15,000 to Ally Financial. Ally Financial sued Hansen last year, claiming he still owed thousands of dollars for a $65,000 Corvette

On top of all this, Hansen owes over $250,000 in back taxes and is currently divorcing his wife

It has been more than a decade since To Catch A Predator went off the air after a three-year run that turned it into a pop culture icon.

The series was canceled when a assistant district attorney in Texas committed suicide after exchanging photos with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old boy.

When Bill Conradt did not show up to meet the boy, the show's camera crew chose to travel to his home.

Conradt killed himself as the crew entered his residence. NBC later settled a lawsuit filed against the network by the attorney's sister.

After To Catch A Predator was canceled, Hansen became the host of Crime Watch Daily. The show was canceled in 2018.
A pensioner has died after he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police.

Officers went to a home in Gibraltar Walk, Bethnal Green, east London, at around 11am on Monday and detained the man, who was in his 70s, on suspicion of malicious communications.

After being handcuffed he fell ill and was taken to hospital where he died just after 1pm, the Independent Office for Police Conduct said.

Police arrested a man in Gibraltar Walk, Bethnal Green at 11am today. The man, who is in his 70s, collapsed while handcuffed and died later in hospital

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating the death of a man in Bethnal Green today who was arrested at his home on suspicion of malicious communications

The watchdog is examining body-worn video and initial statements from the officers involved.

IOPC regional director for London Jonathan Green said: Our thoughts go out to the mans family and friends at this difficult time as well as those affected by the incident.

Our investigation is at a very early stage and as part of our thorough and independent investigation, we will be carefully reviewing all body-worn video footage and speaking to witnesses to establish exactly what happened.
A billionaire from Dubai has enraged his neighbours by asking for permission to erect a 6ft high security fence around his 75 million estate after putting it up.

Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum put up the 'prison boundary' metal fence at his Surrey home last year, without planning permission.

He has now submitted a retrospective application for the towering gate and fence but furious neighbours say it is full of lies, including a declaration that work has yet to begin.

Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum put up the 'prison boundary' metal fence at his Surrey home last year, without planning permission

The billionaire has enraged his neighbours by asking for permission to erect the 6ft high security fence (pictured) around his 75 million estate after putting it up

Aerial view of the 75 million Longcross Estate in Surrey

He has now submitted a retrospective application for the towering gate and fence but furious neighbours say it is full of lies, including a declaration that work has yet to begin

Photographs from the site show the fence is already in place and has been since December last year, neighbours claim.

One critic claimed the 'illegal' construction involved 'extensive' tree cutting and was built despite bordering a site of special scientific interest.

Billionaire racecourse owner Sheikh Mohammed - who has more than 30 children - is ruler of Dubai and uses his Longcross Estate in Surrey to escape the summer heat.

His application will now be considered by Runnymede Council, which could approve the plans - or rule the huge fence must be torn down.

In an objection, neighbour Tom Barr said: 'Regarding the application for planning permission, many false claims are made.

'Firstly, the applicant claims a 1.8m fence height - yet it is in fact 2.2315 m high by the

applicant's own dimensioned drawing.

'Section 5 [of the application] has been falsely completed. The work / change of use is completed, yet the applicant claims it has not started.

Photographs from the site show the fence is already in place and has been since December last year, neighbours claim

One critic claimed the 'illegal' construction involved 'extensive' tree cutting and was built despite bordering a site of special scientific interest

'No wildlife surveys were carried out prior to the illegal development, despite parts of the developed area bordering a SSSI, involving the extensive clear cutting of trees and being close (well within 500 metres) to waterbodies highly likely to contain great crested newts.

'The applicant has shown a cynical disregard and contempt for planning procedures.

'The new security fencing is entirely inappropriate on the border of the common.

'The applicant has shown contempt for the planning process by continuing to build in the absence of permission and knowing it needs it, bringing RBC's planning enforcement capability into disrepute.

Billionaire racecourse owner Sheikh Mohammed - who has more than 30 children - is ruler of Dubai and uses his Longcross Estate in Surrey (pictured) to escape the summer heat

His application will now be considered by Runnymede Council, which could approve the plans - or rule the huge fence must be torn down

'It is visually intrusive and, aside from mostly being powder coated green, more suited to a prison or a factory boundary, rather than the boundary of a SSSI.

'If permission is given - or if it is refused and removal of the fences not robustly enforced - that dereliction [...] would undoubtedly be seen by the public as 'one rule for the rich another for the poor' with our local natural and historical environment ultimately paying the price.'

In a further objection posted on the application, local J.R.A Fleming claims the fence will affect access for deer.

He wrote: 'The proposed apertures are totally inadequate for them, and the height in total is far above their ability to leap.'

Security notices warn neighbours that guard dogs and CCTV watch over the sheikh's estate

Another resident described the development as a 'concentration camp' which wasn't 'in keeping with the landscape'

Another resident described the development as a 'concentration camp' which wasn't 'in keeping with the landscape'.

Before the fence was erected, locals claim the estate was mostly bordered by a lower wooden fence, but in some places there was no boundary at all.

But a neighbour made a claim last month a fence had been erected without planning permission.

It is understood he did not respond to the claims - but his development company, Smech Property Management Limited, submitted a planning application, on January 4.

It is understood he did not respond to the claims - but his development company, Smech Property Management Limited, submitted a planning application, on January 4

The sheikh succeeded his brother in 2006 to become the ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates

The application form asked 'Has the work or change of use already started?' and the 'no' box was ticked.

But on the front cover of the application, it states it the plea is 'retrospective' - and this is a 'revised description as fencing has been erected'.

The sheikh succeeded his brother in 2006 to become the ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.

He is the owner of the Godolphin stables and has an estimated personal fortune of 15bn.

He is the owner of the Godolphin stables and has an estimated personal fortune of 15bn

A spokesperson for Runnymede Council confirmed it had received a planning application which would be considered in the normal way

A spokesperson for Runnymede Council confirmed it had received a planning application which would be considered in the normal way.

They added: 'They are currently subject to consultation and the decisions will be in due course, taking into account consultation responses and representations from members of the public.

'Until the applications have been decided, no further action is being taken in respect of any investigations.'

Smech Property Management Limited has not responded to a request for comment.

MailOnline has contacted Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum's representatives for comment.
Army Special Operations Command has identified the soldier shot and killed in Afghanistan this week as a decorated Green Beret from Virginia.

Sgt. 1st Class Joshua 'Zach' Beale, 32, was killed Tuesday while conducting combat operations in Uruzgan Province. He was assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Beale was from Carrollton and had served in the Army for more than seven years. He did three combat tours in Afghanistan, and has received three Bronze Stars.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medal, and posthumously promoted to Sgt. 1st Class, according to WSET News.

This photo provided by Fort Bragg Public Affairs in North Carolina shows Army Special Forces Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Beale who shot and killed in Afghanistan this week

Beale is survived by a wife and two children.

'Joshua was a smart, talented and dedicated member of 3rd SFG (A) and the special operations community,' said his commander, Col. Nathan Prussian of the 3rd Special Forces Group, said in a statement. 'He will be greatly missed by everyone who had the fortunate opportunity to know him.'

The Virginia native graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Old Dominion University in 2008 and enlisted in the military in 2011.

He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course in 2013 before he was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group.

Beale was the second US service member killed in Afghanistan this month, his death coming just less than a week after an Army Ranger, Sgt. Cameron Maddock died after combat operations in Badghis province, according to the Army Times.
President Donald Trump accused Nancy Pelosi of 'canceling' his State of the Union address, because 'she afraid of the truth,' after a fiery exchange on Wednesday between the two leaders in letters.

She said the president would only be welcome in Congress when the government shutdown is over. He admitted shortly after that he would not be delivering the speech as planned on Jan. 29 to a Joint Session of Congress.

'The State of the Union speech has been canceled by Nancy Pelosi, because she doesn't want to hear the truth. She doesn't want the American public to hear what's going on. And she's afraid of the truth,' he stated. 'The American people want to hear the truth. They have to hear the truth.'

He exploded on her in Cabinet Room remarks in which he said it's a 'disgrace' that she's interfering in the speech that has been an annual tradition since 1913.

'It's a sad thing for our country. We'll do something in the alternative,' Trump proclaimed.

He told reporters that the details of his new event would come at a later date.

President Donald Trump accused Nancy Pelosi of 'canceling' his State of the Union address on Wednesday after a fiery exchange of letters in which she told the president he would only be welcome in Congress when the government shutdown is over

The president told Pelosi that it would be 'so very sad' if his speech weren't 'delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!' She told Trump that he is welcome to address Congress after the government shutdown has ended

Pelosi slapped down an assertion from Trump that he would be delivering his State of the Union address in the House of Representatives next Tuesday in a letter on Wednesday afternoon.

President Trump prompted the rebuff from Pelosi, the House speaker, with a letter telling her he'd be making remarks to a Joint Session of Congress, in spite of her request that he delay his speech until the end of the partial government shutdown that is nearing the end of its fifth week.

Pelosi told him in a response letter that he would not be giving the remarks in the House  he does not have the necessary permission from Congress.

Congress must first pass a concurrent resolution granting him the authority to address a Joint Session, and she says she will not be bringing one to the floor.

'I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the Presidents State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened,' she said. 'Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.'

Trump had conveniently hauled reporters into the Oval Office immediately before Pelosi published the letter.

Asked about her rebuff as it was breaking, he said: 'I'm not surprised. It's really a shame what's happening with the Democrats. They've become radicalized. They don't want to see crime stopped....And it really is a shame what's happening with the Democrats.

'This will go on for a while. Ultimately the American people will have their way because they want to see no crime,' he said. 'We're all working very hard. We'll have to respond to it. We'll respond to it in a timely manner.'

Trump soon conceded that his address was being 'canceled,' and he pinned the blame on Pelosi personally in a second, unscheduled appearance before the press.

'So Nancy Pelosi, knowing these facts and knowing it's something that she can't win, that she just went out and said, "Let's cancel, for the first time in the history of our country, let's cancel the State of the Union address." And it's a disgrace,' he said.

Trump noted that Pelosi invited him to make the address while the shutdown was underway.

'So the shutdown was going on. Now she's blaming the shutdown. So if it was because of the shutdown, why do you ask that the address be made?' he said. 'She also knew, because she went to our people and she asked, "Would it be a security problem?" She knew it wasn't a security problem. She blamed security, but she knew it wasn't a security problem. And she knew that loud and clear.'

The president said that he went to Iraq during the shutdown and 'felt very safe,' because he had adequate security.

'If we can handle Iraq, we can handle the middle of Washington and a very, very spectacular building and a beautiful room that we should be in, and that's where it's been for a very long time,' he contended.

He went on to call the Democratic Party not just 'radicalized' but a 'dangerous' political movement that's ran by Pelosi and not 'puppet' Sen. Chuck Schumer.

'I think they've become a very dangerous, a very, very dangerous party for this country. I think that Chuck Schumer, sadly, is dominated by the radical left and he's dominated by Nancy Pelosi. Very strongly dominated. He can't move. He's a puppet,' Trump claimed.

Pelosi maintained after she sent her letter to Trump that he is welcome to address Congress after the government shutdown has ended.

'We have said very clearly from the start when I wrote to him the second time lets work together on a mutual agreeable date we can welcome you to the Capitol to give the State of the Union address,' she told reporters. 'The government is still shutdown. I still make the offer of a mutually agreeable date  as the original date was mutually agreeable.'

Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ally of Trump's, clobbered Pelosi in tweets.

'Speaker Pelosis decision to ignore this long-standing American tradition is absurd, petty, and shameful. The judgement of history will NOT be kind,' he said.

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill contended that the address is not being canceled, because Trump is being invited to give it when the shutdown is over.

'January 29th is not set by statute. It is not a sacred date. It is not the President's birthday. President Trump can easily give a SOTU address when government has re-opened,' he said in an online response to Graham.

The House speaker invited Trump January 3 to deliver the address to Congress on January 29.

But she later backtracked, claiming security in the House chamber would be subpar during a government shutdown  a claim that the Department of Homeland Security disputed.

Trump insisted Wednesday that Pelosi's objections were misplaced, writing that 'there are no security concerns,' according to both DHS and the Secret Service.

'It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union weren't delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!' he wrote in the letter informing her he'd be taking the floor on Jan. 29 based on her initial invitation.

Pelosi had signaled to members during a Wednesday caucus meeting that she did not expect the speech to take place, CNN reported  only to have the president publicly defy her in a letter the White House released publicly.

Pelosi raised the stakes hours later in the letter telling Trump that he is not welcome in the House.

South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman said in an interview on CNN that 'the address will go on' and that 'it will be in another venue' that the president will select. Perhaps, he said, in the U.S. Senate.

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway had ruled out a rally earlier in the day, in response to a question from DailyMail.com.

'Why does the president need a rally, when he can, this is the State of the Union, why have a rally when he can go and address the entire country,' she said.

She asked what Democrats are 'afraid' of the president saying in the address 'that you would deny the country the ability to hear its president.'

'I think Nancy Pelosi is worried that some of her chamber won't show up. That's not an embarrassment to the president, that's an embarrassment to her. They should be there,' she said on the White House driveway after a TV appearance. 'If they don't want to applaud, they don't want to stand, they don't want to smile, they want to wear a certain color, yay, but show the dignity, and serve the people who elected you in your state, in your district and show up.'

She told a Fox News Channel audience that it would be 'remarkably petty of the speaker to disinvite the President of the United States.'

She added that Pelosi is 'going to have some explaining to do' if she disinvites first lady Melania Trump and her guests.

'The president intends to go to the chamber on Tuesday night to address our great nation and give them an update on the state of our union. It would be, I think, remarkably petty of the speaker to disinvite the President of the United States to address the nation that they both serve at the highest level,' she said.

Trump had been thought to be considering a rally on Tuesday in Texas but swatted back at Pelosi with his letter saying he will give the address in the House, as scheduled.

The president has the right to enter the House of Representatives at any time, but authority to speak is granted by lawmakers. And they have not passed a resolution granting it to him.

It comes in the form of a concurrent resolution that's normally a formality.

Why President Trump can't address Congress President Trump could come to Congress on Jan. 29, if he wants. But it's up to lawmakers, namely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to determine whether or not he gets to speak. The House and Senate must pass a concurrent resolution giving him the authority to address a Joint Session of Congress. Usually, permission to deliver the State of the Union address is a formality. But this year, as the battle intensifies between the president and Democrats in Congress, it became complicated. Neither chamber passed a resolution that Pelosi holds the power to bring to the floor giving the president permission to speak to the legislative body. Pelosi said Wednesday that she won't do it, and Trump must wait until the shutdown is over to deliver remarks. Even if the resolution were passed, it would have been up to Pelosi to determine whether the House would be in session at the time of Trump's remarks. Advertisement

At the White House, speaking to reporters after her Fox appearance, Conway directed reporters to the president's letter informing Pelosi that he would be delivering remarks to Joint Session of Congress on Jan. 29.

'Why did she do that? Why did she issue an invitation, why did she lie about security concerns,' Conway asked. 'I mean honestly the secret service has referred to the president, even before he asked, that there are no security concerns.'

It remained the White House's hope that the government would be reopened by next week anyhow, as the Senate will vote Thursday on two separate bills that would immediately end the government shutdown: one of which would fully fund Trump's border wall and another that will fund the closed agencies through February 8.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and top Senate Democrat Schumer announced the votes on the floor on Tuesday.

But neither bill is seen as having a strong chance of passing, increasing the odds that the government shutdown will continue into next week.

Trump's proposal may not making it over a 60-vote hump in the Senate, and the White House said Wednesday afternoon that the president would veto the Senate Democrats' resolution to reopen the government.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News that she 'certainly hopes' that Trump's plan will pass on Thursday.

President Trump gave Senate Republicans a slogan on Wednesday in an attempt to boil his argument for a border barrier down to its essence as they prepare for the showdown votes.

'BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!' the president tweeted. 'This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished (under construction now), of the Republican Party. Use it and pray!'

Trump's framing of his new project-branding campaign as a two-year effort suggests he intends it to be a 2020 slogan, which suggests he expects the battle over his signature campaign promise to be a long one.

He has been relentless in pushin his long-promised U.S.-Mexico wall as a tool for stopping drug trafficking and a string of high-profile murders linked to illegal immigrants.

He tweeted Wednesday that there is '[g]reat unity in the Republican Party,' and declared that GOp senators '[w]ant to, once and for all, put an end to stoppable crime and drugs! Border Security and Wall. No doubt!'

'Build the wall & crime will fall,' Trump tweeted on Wednesday as the U.S. Senate gears up for a pair of test votes Thursday on reopening the government

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell announced a plan to vote on bills to end the shutdown

He and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made a joint appearance on the Senate floor to announce Thursday's vote on a pair of competing bills

The offer to hold votes on competing bills shows the pressure lawmakers are feeling the heat to reopen the federal government.

As it stands, the Senate will vote at 2:30 p.m. Thursday on back-to-back measures: the first vote will be on Trump's proposal that includes temporary protection to DACA recipients and gives him the $5.7 billion he needs to build his border wall.

A second vote on House Democrats' bill to temporarily re-open the government until February 8 to allow paychecks to go out while legislators negotiate a resolution on border security funding. It does not include the funding for the president's wall.

Each leader praised his respective party's plan in floor remarks.

'To reject this proposal, Democrats would have to prioritize political combat with the president ahead of federal workers, ahead of DACA recipients, ahead of border security, and ahead of stable and predictable government funding. Is that really a price that Democrats want to pay to prolong this episode, which they say they want to be over and done with?' McConnell said of the president's proposal.

Schumer said his party's plan will allow the debate to continue 'without hostage taking, without temper tantrum, without anything' for two weeks of negotiations.

'So if you're looking for a way to open up the government, this is the way,' Schumer said of the second vote on the Democratic proposal,' he argued.

Both measures will need 60 votes to advance in the legislative process  an uphill battle that will be hard for the bills to beat.

If Democrats withhold their support from the motion to proceed to Trump's plan, which comes to the floor first, and Republicans do not lend their support to the second measure, the shutdown will continue with no conceivable way forward.

Trump outlined his plan to end the government shutdown in a Saturday address, offering congressional Democrats three years of legislative relief for 700,000 DACA recipients  including protection from deportation  and an extension of legal residence for people living in the country under 'Temporary Protective Status' designations.

DACA refers to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offered a no-deportation guarantee to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants whose parents brought them into the U.S. as minors.

TPS is a Justice Department program that grants residency and work permits to people from 10 countries affected by natural disasters or brutal armed conflicts. They include El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen.

When the measure was formally unveiled Monday night it also included several changes to asylum law that would make it more difficult for people to seek refuge from persecution in their home countries, though.

Democratic congressional leaders, who had already rejected the president's offer, were outraged. Schumer called the changes to asylum law a 'poison pen' that will keep the bill that would fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year from being passed.

One measure would fully fund President Trump's border wall

For 33 days, the partial government shutdown has put federal agencies on shoestring operations, as most federal workers in the Departments of Transportation, State, Justice and even the White House endure severe furloughs.

Friday is pay day for federal workers whose agencies were funded through a separate agreement last year. For workers and shuttered departments, however, it will second pay cycle in which they are not paid.

After an appearance on CBNC, which he did from the White House press briefing room on Tuesday , the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said the administration understands the 'hardship' that federal workers are facing and has been working diligently to reopen the government.

'I dont want to belittle it. No one likes the hardship that people are having to shoulder. I understand that, including myself. I have young people on my staff who are concerned, I get that,' he said.

The senior White House official who is also working without pay said, 'The president made a very strong statement on Saturday, and were waiting, for Democrats to come to the table, and show their share of the negotiations. Ok? Were waiting for them,' he said. 'We have to solve this. Literally, the fate of the nation hinges on this.'
The convicted killer son of notorious child molester and murderer, Curtis Dean Anderson Sr. hanged himself in prison Monday.

A local county coroner's office revealed how Curtis Dean Anderson Jr. died aged 32 after reporting on Tuesday that they were investigating the cause of death.

He was incarcerated at California State Prison-Sacramento after being sentenced to 16 years for shooting dead Vance Fisher, 31, in 2005.

Curtis Dean Anderson Jr. died by hanging on Monday. He killed Vance Fisher in 2005 when he was 19 years old (left) and had two years and eight months added to his 16-year sentence last November (right)

The county coroner's office revealed his cause of death at the California State Prison-Sacramento on Wednesday

After being locked up in 2006 on a guilty plea of voluntary manslaughter, Anderson Jr. would have been eligible for parole in 2023.

He had an additional two years and eight months added to his sentence last November due to resisting a corrections officer with violence or threats.

When he was accused in the slaying of Fisher, Anderson Jr. was 19 years old and could not escape connection to his father with whom he shared the same name.

Two other suspects in the killing were not charged.

He was the son of child molester Curtis Dean Anderson Sr., who in 2005 pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering young girls (left in 1999 and right in 1983)

Anderson Sr. the same year pleaded guilty to murdering children and received a 301-year sentence.

The father  who kidnapped and killed Xiana Fairchild, seven, as she walked to school in 1999  was caught out after in 2000 he kidnapped Midsi Sanchez, eight, who escaped two days later.

Fairchild's skull was found in the hills above Los Gatos.

He kidnapped and killed Xiana Fairchild (pictured no.8), seven, as she walked to school in 1999 and is believed to have kidnapped Amber Swartz-Garcia, seven (pictured no.5)

Anderson Sr.  who claimed to be behind other killings under the media spotlight  was later believed to have kidnapped Amber Swartz-Garcia, seven, but some other crimes he bragged about were questionable to do conflicting details.

He told the San Francisco Chronicle he had killed 'many girls, and you'll never find them all'.

The child molester died in prison, aged 47 in 2007 due to liver and kidney failure.

Anderson would later claim to have killed 13 other girls, including seven-year-olds Xiana Fairchild (pictured) and Amber Schwartz

Midsi Sanchez was headed to her eighth birthday party when she was taken by Curtis Dean Anderson, who killed 13 other girls, in August 2000.

Anderson asked Sanchez for help reaching something in his car. Sanchez said in a 2016 interview with KTVU that Anderson leaned behind her and put his hand over her mouth so no one could hear her scream.

He grabbed her and held her captive for two days, sexually abusing her.

The serial killer chained her to a padlock, but one day left the keys. Sanchez managed to free herself and escape, and was returned home. She's now 26 years old.

Midsi Sanchez (pictured here just days after her escape with her mother) said Anderson leaned behind her and put his hand over her mouth so no one could hear her scream

Midsi Sanchez was headed to her eighth birthday party when she was taken by Curtis Dean Anderson, who killed 13 other girls, in August 2000. She is pictured as an adult
A drunken Maine man took the wrong Lyft and tried to enter a stranger's house police say he mistakenly thought was his home.

According to the Cape Elizabeth Police Department, the unnamed Falmouth resident, described only as a man in his early 20s, had been drinking in the Old Port on Friday night and got into a Lyft summoned by a man who lived next door.

Police say the man was dropped off at the other customer's destination early Saturday and staggered toward a nearby home in the Stonegate neighborhood, believing it to be his.

An inebriated man in his 20s on Saturday took the wrong Lyft in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and tried to enter a house he mistakenly thought was his

According to police, the inebriated passenger caused a commotion trying to enter the residence, first through the front door and then through the garage, leading the homeowner to call 911 and report a burglary in progress.

Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Paul Fenton says the intruder was so intoxicated he thought he was in his hometown of Falmouth, reported the Press Herald.

After recounting the events of the night for the officers, the man was handcuffed and taken to the police station to sober up.

The mishap happened after a night of heavy drinking in Portland's Old Port neighborhood

Police later ordered another ride-sharing car to transport the man to his home in Falmouth.

Fenton says the homeowner didn't want to press charges against the drunken intruder, who he says was 'very apologetic' about the entire ordeal.
Foo Fighters rocker Dave Grohl wrote to Cornwall Council asking them to lift a ban on a local band playing at home, only for the authority to reply with a 'mocking' tweet.

The superstar, who was the drummer in Nirvana, initially wrote to the council on behalf of the Black Leaves of Envy, from Helston, Cornwall, two years ago.

Grohl intervened, stressing to the council how important music is, in a letter that resurfaced after being shared by a popular social media account to mark the rock star's 50th birthday.

Cornwall Council responded to the latest publicity with a tweet about the letter, littered with Foo Fighter puns, which has left Black Leaves of Envy furious.

The spokesman wrote: 'We knew it was only A Matter of Time until Dave Grohl's letter resurfaced.

A letter Dave Grohl, pictured performing at Glastonbury in 2017, wrote to Cornwall Council concerning a band who have been banned from performing in their house went viral earlier this month

Cornwall Council responded to the resurfaced letter with a series of tweets filled with Foo Fighters references

'We didn't want throw a Monkey Wrench into a local band's practice plans, but we'd heard from neighbours that the noise was making them pretty Low.'

It prompted an angry response from the band which comprises of Adam Jones, Lewis Cunningham, Harriet Tyler, Adam Fairful and Dylan Plenty.

They said: 'Posting a mocking reply with misleading information, to a group of young people that are trying to make up for a local government's shortcomings, is disgraceful. We will not stand for it.

'We were given a Statutory Nuisance complaint from the council, indicating a four-figure penalty should our noise levels continue.

'Cornwall Council removed the local Youth Centre that used to provide a practice room in 2012, giving the workers one week's notice to leave the property and reneging on a 25-year lease.

'No real explanation or apology has ever been given, and the promise of another alternative centre never surfaced.

'We were told that an alternative rehearsal space would have to be funded ourselves, costing several thousands of pounds.'

The original letter from Dave Grohl, which was first published in 2017, wrote: 'For the sake of your local band Black Leaves of Envy, and for the generations of young musicians that they may eventually inspire, I ask that you reconsider the restrictions put upon the volume of their private rehearsal space.

But the band, Black Leaves of Envy, have slammed the council for their response, noting that they closed a local Youth Centre with a performance space in 2012

The original letter, pictured, argued that 'like many musicians, I started in a garage in my neighborhood'. It went viral after it was shared on the Letters of Note Twitter page ahead of his 50th birthday

'I believe that in doing so, you will be sending a message that Cornwall is not only a home to music and the arts, but a place that encourages children to follow their dreams in a world where anything is possible.'

Cornwall Council said: 'We wrote to the band in 2016 after receiving a number of complaints from neighbours about the noise levels.

'The law regarding statutory noise nuisance means the council is legally required to investigate once a complaint is received.

'No formal action was ever taken against the group - we never told the band to stop playing, or set a prescribed limit for the noise levels.'

'We offered to work with the band and spoke to the owner of the property on several occasions to look at ways of reducing the noise levels and suggested they consider installing some soundproofing in the garage to address the problem or possibly compromise by looking at playing only at certain times of the day.

'In the end, the owner did not get back in touch with us to seek further advice and we have not received any further complaints about the noise levels.'
An Iowa father tragically died while trying to save his children from a frozen lake after their car plummeted through the ice over the weekend.

Zackary Newlon, 40, was pronounced dead alongside his eight-year-old son, Blair, at Buena Vista Regional Medical Center on Sunday evening.

Witnesses said the father struggled to save his son and two daughters, nine-year-old Sidney and five-year-old Sophie, after their family car smashed through the ice of Storm Lake around 5.40pm.

First responders rushed to the scene and worked to pull the family from the lake.

Zackary Newlon, 40, died Sunday evening while trying to save his three children from a frozen Iowa lake after their car plummeted through the ice over the weekend. Newlon's son, Blair (left), died alongside his father, but Sidney (center), 9, and Sophie (right), five, survived

According to Buena Vista County Sheriff Kory Elston, rescue crews (pictured on the ice) pulled the family from the ice by 6.23pm

According to Buena Vista County Sheriff Kory Elston, rescue crews pulled the family from the ice by 6.23pm.

'By then, it's dark with freezing conditions, so every second matters,' Elston told the Des Moines Register.

'We were fortunate we had someone see the car be submerged, which allowed us to get to them as fast as we could.'

But it was too late.

Newlon had been able to push the three children out of the water and onto the ice, but he remained halfway submerged.

He was unable to lift himself out of the water and hypothermia quickly set in.

Newlon's daughters (pictured) were airlifted to a burn unit at an Iowa hospital for severe frostbite on their hands and feet

Newlon's daughters were airlifted to a burn unit at an Iowa hospital for severe frostbite on their hands and feet.

April Brown, who lives near Storm Lake, told the Register that the children's 'arms looked like they were frozen in the air. They were bent frozen'.

Newlon's aunt, Eve Freeman, created a fundraiser to assist the Newlon family with medical expenses.

'Zack was very funny,' Freeman said. 'He was a really good dad.' Freeman also remembered Newlon's son as being a 'precocious little boy' who was very close to his sister, Sidney.

According to Freeman, the girls will be in the hospital for quite some time as doctors continue to treat their hands and feet from the severe frost bite.

Storm Lake spans more than 3,000 acres and can go as deep as 20 feet in certain areas.
The daughter of a British woman who was allegedly gang-raped by five hotel workers at an Italian resort has spoken of her 50-year-old mother's ordeal in court.

The 26-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described the lead-up and aftermath of the brutal attack as the trial of the men opened in Italy.

Her 50-year-old mother claims her drink was spiked on the last night of their holiday in the Italian seaside resort of Meta di Sorrento, south of Naples, and that a group of men who worked at the hotel brutally raped her.

Defendants Antonino Miniero, Gennaro Davide Gargiulo, Raffaele Regio, Francesco Ciro D'Antonio and Fabio De Virgilio, all deny rape, claiming the sex was consensual.

The court heard today how the workers, aged between 18 and 21, were caught by cops after sharing sick videos of the attack on an online chat group called 'bad habits'.

A British tourist has described how she was gang-raped after her drink was spiked during a break in Sorrento (pictured) Italy

Mother and daughter had travelled from Kent, southern England, to Sorrento in Italy in October 2016, in the wake of the recent death of the former's husband.

Speaking in court today, the victim's daughter broke down in tears as she revealed she believed her drink too was spiked.

The 26-year-old says she felt unwell after being given a drink by the accused, and went to the toilet to throw up, but upon her return, her mother had vanished.

She said: 'My mum seemed distant and far away. She broke down in tears at the airport as we were leaving and told me everything that happened.

'[The night of the attack] We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and shared a bottle of wine. We were with another couple of holidaymakers.

'The staff at the restaurant were very polite. Then one of the barmen offered my mother and I drink in some shot glasses.

'One of them had a tattoo on his neck. They invited us to the bar for a drink after we finished our dinner.

'I remember having a drink and then almost immediately feeling sick. I went to the toilet and threw up. I was there for a while and when I came back my mum had disappeared.'

The 50-year-old, from Kent, was on holiday at a seaside hotel in Sorrento, southwestern Italy in October 2016 when she was subjected to the sex attack

Prosecutors say the victim was taken to a room close to the swimming pool where she was raped several times by the men before stumbling back to her room at the Hotel Alimuri.

The alleged victim said was so shocked she did not tell police what happened until she returned home to Kent.

The woman reported the attack, and DNA samples and drug tests were sent to Italian investigators.

They revealed a high level of the sedative benzodiazepines but lawyers for the five defendants claim the victim was on tranquillisers following the death of her husband.

But her daughter told the court: 'My mum has never taken any medicine like that.'

Police were led to the suspects using a photograph of the bartenders taken by the woman and the crown tattoo which she remembered seeing on one of their necks.

Sorrento is a popular tourist destination in the south of Italy for its views of the Bay of Naples and access to the Amalfi Coast and island of Capri.

The trial continues.
A man will appear in court on Thursday after a PCSO was killed by a car being chased by police.

Holly Burke, 28, was killed when a Renault Scenic smashed into her Ford Fiesta in Birmingham, West Mids, at 11.30pm on Tuesday night.

The speeding car was being chased by police after it failed to stop in the Erdington area of the city.

The crash happened in Lordswood Road, Harborne, after officers had deployed a stinger device.

Holly Burke (pictured) died after a car chased by police for 15 minutes ploughed into her in Birmingham

Darren Ogom, of Longdales Road, Kings Norton, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, driving without a licence, driving with no insurance and failing to stop for a police officer.

The unemployed 42-year-old has been remanded into custody and is due to appear at Birmingham magistrates' court tomorrow morning (Thurs).

Ms Burke had been a PCSO with West Midlands Police for 14 months.

Chief Superintendent Kenny Bell, commander at Birmingham East neighbourhood policing unit, said: 'This is a desperately sad time for everyone who knew Holly and our thoughts and condolences are with Holly's mum and dad, family, friends and colleagues.

'There is no doubt that this tragic event will have an impact on those officers who responded and those who worked alongside her. Holly has been taken from us too soon and as a police family we are feeling this.'

Pictured: The scene in Birmingham, West Midlands, last night where Ms Burke was killed in a car crash

The incident is being investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: 'The loss of PCSO Holly Burke is truly tragic. She was greatly valued by West Midlands Police and the communities which she served.

'My thoughts are with Holly's family, friends and colleagues at this very difficult time.'

Ms Burke died after a car chased by police for 15 minutes ploughed into her Fiesta in Birmingham at 11.30pm last night, West Midlands Police said.

Ms Burke, who was based at Nechells as part of the Washwood Heath neighbourhood team, had been a PCSO for 14 months, the force said.

The 42-year-old driver of the Renault was arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving and driving under the influence of drugs. He remains in police custody.
New York City police officers charged a transgender woman with 'false personation' and used pink handcuffs to mock her after they arrested her for walking through a park after hours, a lawsuit charges.

Linda Dominguez says in her lawsuit filed Tuesday that she was hit with the 'bogus' charge of false personation --or knowingly misrepresenting her identity -- even though she explained that she was transgender.

Dominguez also says she gave the officers both her current name and the traditionally masculine first name she used before she legally changed her name to Linda.

The lawsuit says the 43-year-old Dominguez 'had no intent to deceive the police or prevent them from learning her name or her identity' when she was arrested April 18.

Linda Dominguez, 43, says in her lawsuit gave her current name as well as her previously used name once she was able to talk to a Spanish-speaking officer, but she was charged regardless

A police spokeswoman said the department could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit. The department said in a statement that it 'is committed to serving and meeting the needs of the LGBTQ community with sensitivity, equity and effectiveness.'

According to the lawsuit, which names New York City and three police officers as defendants, Dominguez was walking through a Bronx park to her apartment when officers stopped her for being in the park after it was closed.

The lawsuit filed by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union says that Dominguez speaks limited English and had difficulty understanding the officers, but that she first gave them her original name along with her birth date and address.

The officers took her to the stationhouse, where she explained to a Spanish-speaking officer that she was transgender and her legal name was now Linda, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit contends she was locked into pink handcuffs in her cell and repeatedly mocked by NYPD officers

Dominguez was charged with trespassing for being in the park after hours, as well as false impersonation, but the charges were dismissed last August

The lawsuit says the officers placed Dominguez in a cell, handcuffed to a bar or pipe using pink handcuffs, and left her in the handcuffs all night.

The officers referred to Dominguez by her masculine first name throughout her detention, laughed at her and referred to her as 'he' and 'him,' the lawsuit says.

Dominguez was arraigned the next day on charges of trespassing for being in the park after hours, as well as false impersonation. The charges were dismissed in August.

Dominguez, a licensed cosmetologist and an activist for the rights of transgender immigrants, says that the arrest caused her 'mental anguish, ongoing humiliation and embarrassment' and that she remains afraid of the police.

The lawsuit charges that Dominguez's treatment violated the police department's patrol guide, which since 2012 has directed officers to refer to people by names and pronouns consistent with their gender identities.

'This highlights the way the NYPD continues to criminalize transgender people just for existing,' Bobby Hodgson, an NYCLU attorney representing Dominguez, said Wednesday.

'It's one thing to change a rule on the books, but it's another thing to change the culture of an institution like the NYPD. Here they failed to do that.'
Presidential adviser and daughter Ivanka Trump threw her support behind Venezuelan protesters on Wednesday in a tweet that said they have the full support of her father's administration.

She said: '@POTUS, @VP and the whole Administration stand with the people of Venezuela as they seek freedom from the oppression of dictator Maduro.'

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence issued a video message of support to Venezuelans on Tuesday to encourage those who are protesting against President Nicolas Maduro and underline U.S. backing for opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Presidential adviser and daughter Ivanka Trump threw her support behind Venezuelan protesters on Wednesday in a tweet that said they have the full support of her father's administration

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence issued a video message of support to Venezuelans on Tuesday to encourage those who are protesting against President Nicolas Maduro and underline U.S. backing for opposition leader Juan Guaido (pictured)

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech after being sworn-in for his second mandate, at the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) in Caracas on January 10, 2019

Reuters is reporting that President Trump could recognize Guaido as the country's legitimate president as soon as Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter, amid the street protests.

Trump is said to be waiting to see whether Guaido will declare himself interim president - something he has so far refrained from doing.

Venezuelan opposition sympathizers have been urging Guaido to assume the presidency since Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated to a second term earlier this month.

Guaido, a newcomer on the national scene who was elected to head Congress on Jan. 5, has said he is willing to replace Maduro if he has the support of the military, with the aim of then calling for free elections.

U.S. officials have stated that Maduro's claim on power is illegitimate and have openly declared support for Guaido.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that any formal recognition of Guaido would be complicated by questions of how to deal with Venezuela's U.S.-based diplomats.

Such a move by the Trump administration could also backfire if Maduro took action to prevent Guaido from being sworn in or used it as a pretext to detain him again.

Maduro has ordered a close review of the country's relationship with the United States in answer to stinging condemnation from the Trump administration.

Vice President Mike Pence sent a videotaped message to Venezuelans calling Maduro a dictator who maintains power by jailing dissident voices. The video was released Tuesday, a day before the opposition holds nationwide demonstrations calling for the removal of Maduro.

Maduro spoke hours later on state TV, saying Pence hit a 200-year low in relations between the two countries by authorizing a coup.

The U.S. maintains an embassy in Caracas, but the two countries haven't exchanged ambassadors in nearly a decade.

A once-wealthy oil nation, Venezuela is in a deepening crisis after two decades of socialist rule that has led to shortages of food and medicine.

Some of the Republican members of Florida's congressional delegation are urging President Donald Trump to recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela's new interim president.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that 'I think now is the moment and leadership can really, really make a difference for the people of Venezuela.'

DeSantis was joined at the White House on Tuesday by Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart. They exited their meeting with Trump urging him to apply pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Scott says socialism in Venezuela has left it without food, gas and medicine and notes that millions of people have left the country.

Venezuelan opposition leaders are calling for nationwide protests Wednesday. The once-wealthy oil nation is sliding into a deepening political and economic crisis.

Pence says Venezuelans have the 'unwavering support' of the United States in their effort to restore democracy to their country.

In a video message released Tuesday, Pence called Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro a 'dictator with no legitimate claim to power.'

The vice president says the U.S. joins other 'freedom-loving' nations in recognizing the popularly elected National Assembly as the 'last vestige of democracy' in Venezuela. He says he supports the decision by National Assembly president and opposition leader Juan Guaido to declare Maduro a 'usurper' and call for the creation of a transitional government.

Anti-Maduro demonstrations are expected nationwide on Wednesday.

Pence says the American people will be with Venezuelans until democracy is restored.
The father of the Speedboat Killer's victim said the news of Jack Shepherd's arrest 'made him cry'.

Charlotte Brown's father Graham revealed that he shed a tear as he celebrated the news, posting on Facebook that 'justice is so close'.

Speaking to ITV News on Wednesday night, Graham said: 'Just so many emotions. We've been on such a journey to get here.

'Absolute relief that he's been found and that we're close to getting justice for Charlotte.

Charlotte Brown's father said on Wednesday night it was an 'absolute relief that Shepherd had been found'

Jack Shepherd, 31, sported a new beard as he handed himself over to police in Georgia on Wednesday, ten months after he fled the UK to avoid justice for killing Charlotte Brown

'Yeah it made me cry. That was my emotion. It's just overwhelming that out of the blue Jack Shepherd's been arrested.

'It's fantastic news that it looks like he's going to come back to the UK to serve his sentence.'

Shepherd vowed to prove himself innocent as he finally handed himself over to police in Georgia today, ten months after he fled justice back in Britain.

Shepherd, 31, sported a new beard and shaven head as he walked into a police station, telling reporters that he hoped to overturn his conviction for manslaughter - allowing 'everyone to move on'.

Astonishingly, Shepherd's Georgian lawyer Tariel Kupatadze told Rustavi-2 that his client was 'confident that he will be able to prove his innocence and will be acquitted'.

Shepherd was convicted of killing Charlotte Brown when he drunkenly flipped his speedboat on the Thames while trying to impress her on a first date in 2015.

It is unclear if Shepherd will face extra prison time for fleeing, though most offenders who abscond from prison are given heftier sentences after being recaptured.

Shepherd grinned as he told reporters he hoped his arrest would help everyone 'move on', and confirmed that he plans to appeal his six-year sentence once he arrives in the UK

He was reportedly tracked down in Georgia by the country's TV channel Rustavi-2, who he spoke to prior to his arrest.

Speaking to journalists, he said: 'Yes my name is Jack Shepherd, I was involved in a tragic accident... in which a lady called Charlotte Brown tragically died.'

'I hope the truth will be discovered, my appeal will end successfully and everyone can move on.'

He called her death in the Thames a 'tragic accident', but said that he had been demonized in the British press despite the fact that Charlotte had been driving the boat.

'Charlotte was driving the boat when the accident happened but unfortunately this fact was forgotten and the media did not mention it either,' he claimed.

Charlotte died after Shepherd flipped a speedboat the pair were riding along the Thames while he drunkenly showed off on their first date

'Quite the opposite they wrote that I was driving'.

He added: 'This is not true and the court too has recognised this but the press wrote that allegedly it was I who caused the death.'

Shepherd made a mockery of justice by taking public money to fund an appeal against his six-year prison sentence while on the run.

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail offered a 25,000 reward to bring Shepherd to justice.

The channel claimed it had found the fugitive ahead of Georgian police who have been hunting him after a request from Britain via Interpol.

Shepherd, from Exeter, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence in his absence in July 2018 over the death of Miss Brown in December 2015, who he took on a date while engaged to his now-wife.

He has yet to serve a single day of his six-year term, but has received almost 100,000 in legal aid and was communicating with his legal team from his hideaway as they prepare his appeal.

The Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday evening that once his identity was secured extradition proceedings 'will begin immediately' against Shepherd, who was wanted on an international arrest warrant.

Georgian law states that extradition is granted over convicted individuals if they have been sentenced to at least four months' imprisonment.

While Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: 'I welcome the news that Jack Shepherd is in police custody in Georgia. We will seek to swiftly extradite him to Britain.

'It is vital Charlotte Brown's family see justice done.'

Graham Brown, Charlotte's father (pictured), wrote that 'justice is so close' on Facebook as news of Shepherd's arrest spread

Shepherd was arrested after the speedboat crash (mugshot pictured) but freed on bail by a judge, when he fled to Georgia and never returned

A Mail investigation has pieced together how he fled the UK in March after being arrested for an alleged hotel assault while on bail awaiting the speedboat trial.

He flew to Turkey and from there to Georgia, arriving in Tblisi on March 21. Shepherd's wife told detectives he had gone to Georgia, but blunders meant British police only made the request for help there on Monday last week.

Records show his UK passport has not been used since.

Ms Brown's family met with Home Secretary Sajid Javid to discuss the case on Tuesday in light of the new evidence, and were assured that police would 'strain every sinew' in order to catch him.

Mr Javid got involved after it was revealed that the Met were tipped off six months ago that Shepherd was in Georgia, but apparently did not act on the information.

Police in the former Soviet republic said they had invited their British counterparts to belatedly join the hunt for Shepherd, who is believed to have entered the country last March.

Authorities said they had not even been asked to look for Shepherd until last week, when the Metropolitan Police made a request through Interpol.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said on Wednesday: 'We have received information from the National Crime Agency that Jack Shepherd, who is wanted on an international arrest warrant, is in the custody of police in Georgia.

Shepherd was driving his boat past the Houses of Parliament when he handed the controls to Ms Brown, who hit a submerged log and capsized, throwing the pair into the water

Shepherd's arrest comes after Ms Brown's family (right) met Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday, who assured them police would 'strain every sinew' to find him

'His identity has yet to be officially confirmed. However, if the man is confirmed as Shepherd, extradition proceedings will begin immediately.

'Shepherd was sentenced in his absence to six years' imprisonment in July after he was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence following the death of Charlotte Brown in the River Thames in 2015.'

Shepherd met Ms Brown on dating website OKCupid before the pair agreed to go on a date to the Shard on December 8, 2015.

At the end of the date, and having drunk champagne, Shepherd tried to impress Ms Brown by taking her for a ride on his speedboat.

As the pair passed the Houses of Parliament, Shepherd handed Ms Brown the controls and she hit a submerged log, causing the boat to capsize.

The pair were thrown into the frigid water, and Shepherd was rescued after being found clinging to the boat's hull.

Ms Brown's body was pulled unconscious from the water and she later died.

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail offered a 25,000 reward to bring Shepherd to justice

Local TV images of Jack Shepherd as he arrives at a TV station before going to the police on Wednesday

Prosecutors described it as 'sheer madness' to take a boat out that night, while describing a litany of safety failings - including life jackets being tucked away and faulty steering.

'I confirm that Jack Shepherd handed himself to Georgian police today,' interior ministry spokeswoman Sopho Mdinaradze said Wednesday.

Shepherd 'will be detained and afterwards legal procedures will be launched into his extradition to the UK,' she said.

In another interview following Shepherd's arrest, Ms Brown's father told BBC Radio 5 Live he felt 'an overwhelming sense of emotion' at the news.

'My opinions towards Jack Shepherd is that he's a very crass, reckless man, who managed to abscond and stick two fingers up at the judiciary,' Mr Brown added.

'He's got to come back to atone for all that and I think that he's done the right thing and thank goodness he's realised that now and handed himself in.'

Shepherd gave an exclusive interview to Georgian news channel Rustavi 2 in which he said he plans to appeal his conviction for manslaughter
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A Turkish dentist is on a mission to keep stray animals warm in the winter by wrapping them in blankets as they sleep on the streets of Istanbul.

Huseyin Yurtseven, who lives in Turkey's largest city, has been scouring the neighbourhood for cats and dogs and keeping them warm with the blankets.

The medic spends his evenings looking for animals to help after he was affected by a video on social media and saw street dogs living in his area.

He has also distributed the blankets to local tradesmen and other animal lovers to extend the network of helpers trying to stop the cats and dogs from freezing, Yeni Safak reported.

The dentist and his friends have also left contact details so helpful Istanbul residents can return the blankets if they become dirty.

Turkey has already been hit by snow this year in a cold snap across Europe, while the lowest temperature ever recorded in the country in January was -25C (-13F) in early 1942.

Dentist to the rescue: Huseyin Yurtseven lays a blanket over a sleeping dog outside a shop in Istanbul, as he goes on a mission to keep stray animals warm in the freezing winter

Not such a cold cat: A stray animal is covered with a blanket in Istanbul after dentist Huseyin Yurtseven's campaign to keep them warm this winter. He has also distributed the blankets to local tradesmen and other animal lovers

Safely in their bed: Dogs covered with blankets are seen in the doorway of a building in Istanbul after the dentist and his friends gave them something warm to sleep under

Man on a mission: Huseyin Yurtseven covers wraps a dog in a blanket on a patch of grass in Turkey's largest city on Monday. The medic spends his evenings looking for animals to help after he was affected by a video on social media

Something to sleep under: A stray cat lies on a bench under one of the blankets provided by Yurtseven and his friends

Preparations: Yurtseven, right, and a friend fold up the blue blankets as they prepare for another night of helping animals. He saw street dogs living in his neighbourhood and decided to help

Sleep Dentist Yurtseven, wearing a coat and carrying a rucksack, helps a black dog keep warm on a patch of grass in Istanbul

Covered up: The sleeping dog makes the most of the blanket as it tries to bury its head and legs under the material

Indoors: One of the dogs lies under a blanket in an Istanbul shop as dentist Yurtseven and a friend ensure its wellbeing

Safe and sound: The dentist pats a cat on the head after delivering a blanket to it as it lies on a wooden bench in Istanbul

Wrapped up: A dog turns its head as Huseyin Yurtseven keeps it warm in a freezing winter by placing a blanket over its body

Battle against the weather: The dogs snuggle up in Istanbul, with Turkey having already experienced snow in 2019
Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange has launched a legal challenge against the Trump administration, it has emerged.

Lawyers for the Australian activist, 47, have filed an urgent application to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) to try and force US prosecutors to reveal any secret charges against him.

The 1,172-page submission aims to prevent Mr Assange from being extradited to the US as his sanctuary at the Ecuadorian embassy in London becomes increasingly uncertain.

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange has launching a legal challenge against the Trump administration, it has emerged

He has been holed up under asylum inside the Knightsbridge flat since 2012 when he was accused of sexual assault by two women in Sweden.

Mr Assange denied their claims but refused to travel to the nation to face them, saying it was part of a ruse to extradite him to the US due to his involvement in the leaking of a huge amount of classified documents in 2010.

If he were to leave the embassy, it is likely Assange would be arrested for fleeing extradition proceedings at the UKs supreme court.

However, his biggest fear, reports The Guardian, is that once imprisoned, the US would start new extradition proceedings against him over alleged security offences.

The IACHR, which hears appeals on individual human rights cases, has been recently boycotted by the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, not only has Mr Assanges lawyers urged the US to unseal any secret charges against him, they have also called for Ecuador to help protect the activist if he leaves their sanctuary.

Baltasar Garzon, the international coordinator of Assanges legal team, said the case involves the right to access and impart information freely which has been put in jeopardy.

The Trump administration is accused of refusing to reveal details of charges against Assange despite sources in the Department of Justice confirming he has been charged under seal, his lawyers claim.

The Trump administration is accused of refusing to reveal details of charges against Assange despite sources in the Department of Justice confirming he has been charged under seal, his lawyers claim

The revelation that the US has initiated a prosecution against Mr Assange has shocked the international community, the legal submission stated.

The US government is required to provide information as to the criminal charges that are imputed to Mr Assange in full, it added.

The application also suggests US prosecutors have secretly started to approach people in US, Germany and Iceland and urged them to testify against the activist in return for immunity from prosecution.

The lawyers have also insisted that the Trump administration has been attempting to pressure Ecuador to hand over Assange, making increasingly overt threats.

In December, it was reported by The New York Times that Ecuadors new president Lenin Moreno tried to give Mr Assange to the US in exchange for 'debt relief'.
An accused child molester, whose mugshot has drawn comparisons with the sketch of the suspect in the 2017 murder of two teenage girls is a 'weirdo who liked to hang out in the woods' and is 'very violent', according to relatives.

Charles Andrew Eldridge, 46, was arrested in Randolph County, Indiana on January 8 after a sex crimes sting operation.

Eldridge had a sexual conversation on social media with a detective who was posing as a 13-year-old girl, Randolph County Sheriff's Office said.

When his mugshot was released after his arrest members of the public inundated Indiana authorities with calls pointing out a comparison between an FBI composite sketch and the suspected pedophile's mugshot.

Now the grandparents of Eldridge's ex-wife, Erin, have exclusively told DailyMail.com that they have long seen a comparison between Eldridge, who is known as Andy, and the FBI sketch from the Delphi murders.

Donna Clack, 76, said: 'When we saw that picture on the news, we said that looks like Andy. We placed [the sketch] with Andy before this.'

Her husband Robert, 77, described Eldridge as 'weird'. 'He was totally different, he was always talking about guns,' he said.

Charles Andrew Eldridge, 46, of Union City, Indiana, has been charged with one felony count of attempted child molestation and one count of child solicitation and is being held at the Randolph County Jail

After his arrest, Eldridge's mugshot (left) drew comparisons with the sketch (right) of the suspect in the 2017 murders of Libby German and Abigail Williams in Delphi

Randolph County Sheriff's Department have raised a note of caution over suggestions that Eldridge is the Delphi killer, saying: 'Although we understand that people are trying to help the investigation, by doing this with zero evidence other than a mere appearance, it can also hurt or hinder an investigation.'

However Indiana State Police, the lead agency in the Delphi investigation, said that they were aware of Eldridge's arrest and will investigate to see if it is connected to the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German in February 2017.

Eldridge was arrested when he asked to meet up with the 'girl' at a location in Union City to engage to in sexual acts. When Eldridge arrived, he was met by law enforcement.

When he was arrested Eldridge admitted to officers that he had engaged in multiple sexual encounters with another child under the age of 13.

Eldridge has been charged with one felony count of attempted child molestation and one count of child solicitation and is being held at the Randolph County Jail.

The Clarks told DailyMail.com disturbing details of Eldridge's past.

The couple, who have been married for 60 years, are the guardians for Eldridge's 18-year-old son. They also care for their granddaughter's 13-year-old girl.

The great-grandmother said that Eldridge had shown little care for his son since he was a baby and has not financially supported him. Erin and Eldridge divorced when their son was young.

Friends Abigail Williams (left) 13, and Liberty 'Libby' German (right) 14, were found dead on the Delphi Historic Trail on February 14, 2017

Libby had posted a series of photos from the bridge on her Snapchat on February 13. The two girls were found 24 hours after they went missing

'Why our granddaughter ever married him is beyond me,' Mrs Clack said. 'When they were married, he would take the baby and put him in a room by himself, shut the door, turn off all the lights. He was only about seven months. He would cry and cry until he would throw up.

'I found out about this and I said, you're not keeping him anymore. I took care of him.'

Mrs Clack recalled a disturbing story about Eldridge exposing himself to a group of friends.

'[Our granddaughter] had some friends at their apartment and she said, "Do you want to see something funny?" and she opened up the door and he was masturbating all over the floor.'

Mr Clack said that Eldridge was fond of spending time in the woods. 'He was always out there, dressed in Army clothes.'

Mrs Clack said: 'He would always go out and he wasn't hunting. He would go in the woods and what he'd do, we don't know. I never let any of the kids go with him. I never trusted Andy.'

The children's mother is a drug addict, Mrs Clack said. Their daughter, Brenda Clarkson, 55, died from drugs in July 2017, they said.

The Clacks have taken care of their great-grandchildren for the past five years and are not entitled to state financial support.

Mr Clack, who retired last year after 40 years as a maintenance man, said that he had never known Eldridge to work.

Eldridge's former brother-in-law, Richard Jones, 63, also told DailyMail.com that he knew Charles Eldridge. 'Unfortunately,' he added.

Mr Jones' ex-wife, Patricia, whom he divorced from in 2013, is Charles Eldridge's sister.

His ex-wife's grandparents, who refer to him as 'Andy', described him as a 'weird' and said he was fond of spending time in the woods and always dressed in Army clothes

Eldridge had also shared several stories about the murder of Abby and Libby. In one post, he posted public appeals and a story about potential DNA evidence

He also shared this story with the an image of the suspect believed to have killed the two teens

'He has a hell of a temper. I got in a fight with him about 15 years ago at his apartment.'

Mr Jones said that he had gone to Eldridge's home because 'at the time I was married to his sister. He threw her against the wall and knocked her out. Knocked her across the floor'.

He added: 'He beat me down. I've got heart problems and he was beating me in the chest. I can't say if he would kill someone or not but he's very violent.'

Mr Jones said he was initially arrested over the fight but the charges were later dropped.

He described Eldridge as a short and stocky, 'GI Joe wannabe' who was always dressing up in army clothes. He said that Eldridge was 'too darn lazy to work' but that he was a 'good artist'.

Randolph County Sheriff's Office has shared their casework with the multi-agency team investigating the murders of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14.

The teens' bodies were found on the Delphi Historic Trail half a mile upstream from the abandoned Monon High Bridge on February 14, 2017 - 24 hours after they went missing.

Mike Patty, Liberty's grandfather, was cautiously optimistic.

'Once we get that phone call that, "Hey, we've made an arrest and we're confirmed," then I guess, maybe a celebration ain't the right word, but a sense of relief that this guy's been taken off of our streets,' Patty told NBC.

Eldridge's social media revealed him to be an outspoken Trump supporter who loves guns.

Donna, 76, and Robert Clack, 77, are the grandparents of Eldridge's ex-wife Erin and are the guardians for his 18-year-old son. Donna told DailyMailTV she believed the sketch of the suspect looked like Eldridge

Eldridge was arrested in Union City, Indiana about 116 miles from where Libby and Abby were found dead almost two years ago

The suspected pedophile also has a second Facebook page with the Predator creature from 'Alien V Predator' as his profile picture.

Across the two social media accounts, he has shared hundreds of posts relating to murder, sex crimes, missing children and evasive killers.

Eldridge had also shared several stories about the murder of Abby and Libby.

He posted public appeals and a story about potential DNA evidence, as well as the sketch of the suspect the public believes he looks like, bearing the tagline 'Pass it around. [He] Could be anywhere.'

He has also regularly shared gruesome images of a body being feasted on by vultures and bloody knives, tools and bone saws on a metal work-top.

Last April, he shared a post warning parents to be wary of flyers used by sex traffickers to lure in children.

The former security guard was arrested in Union City, Indiana around 116 miles from where Libby and Abby were found dead almost two years ago.

Their cause of death hasn't been revealed by authorities.

In an FBI composite sketch of the murderer released in July the same year, the assailant is described as a white male between 5'6' and 5'10', weighing between 180lbs-220lbs, with reddish-brown hair.

Libby had posted a series of photos from the bridge on her Snapchat on February 13.

The teenager also managed to capture an audio recording of a man's voice saying 'down the hill' shortly before her death.

Eldridge, a keen hiker, shared the recording along with a photo of a suspect walking along the bridge, which was captured on the same day the girls disappeared.

Eldridge was described as a short and stocky, 'GI Joe wannabe' who was always dressing up in army clothes. Pictured right is his work ID

The man depicted in the photograph seems to match the description given alongside the FBI's sketch of the believed killer. After a number tips from the public likening Eldridge to the man in both the sketch and photograph, a statement was released by Indiana State Police.

'It is important for the public and media to know that many similar tips and arrests of other persons alleged to be connected to the Delphi murders occur with some frequency in and outside of Indiana.'

'Each tip - whether it receives media attention or not - is investigated for any connection to the Delphi case,' said Capt. David R. Bursten of the Indiana State Police.

It continued: 'The Delphi multi-agency investigative team, and participating agencies continue to receive media and public inquiries asking about the person arrested January 8, 2019, in Union City, Randolph County Indiana for allegations of sexually related crimes against children and if he is connected to the Delphi investigation.

'The team is aware of this arrest and will investigate to see if there could be any connection to the murders that occurred in Delphi, Indiana on February 14th of 2017.'

Capt. David R. Bursten of the Indiana State Police insisted the police force do not speak specifically about ongoing cases, but he did disclose that there are no updates in the investigation just yet.

'When an arrest is made of a suspect identified by the multi-agency investigative team as the alleged perpetrator of the Delphi Murders, rest assured, we will let everyone know,' Bursten added.

Eldridge's former brother-in-law, Richard Jones, 63, also told DailyMail.com the 46-year-old had a 'temper.' Pictured above is Jones' home in Union City

Police say in the year following the murders they received 11,000 individual tips from the public, with that number now said to have more than tripled.

Libby and Abby were eighth graders at Delphi Community Middle School when they were killed. Both girls played softball and were gearing up for spring practice before they died.

The murders shook Delphi, a small town of 2,877 people set amid farm fields of the Hoosier heartland, around an hour from Indianapolis.

Anyone with information about this case, no matter how insignificant, is encouraged to call the Delphi Homicide Investigation Tip Line at (844) 459-5786. Information can also be reported by calling the Indiana State Police at (800) 382-7537, or the Carroll County Sheriff's Department at (765) 564-2413. Information can also be emailed to Abbyandlibbytip@cacoshrf.com.

Information can be reported anonymously; however, the Indiana State Police, the FBI, and the Carroll County Sheriff's Department have announced a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the homicides of Liberty German and Abigail Williams. The amount of the reward may be up to $216,165 depending upon the value of the information provided.
Residents in a Chinese city were stunned to see a tricycle moving on its own through busy traffic recently.

The vehicle had been parked by the side of a street in eastern Zhejiang Province before it suddenly began to 'ride itself' for about 15 seconds, according to police.

Traffic police explained that the three-wheeled cargo bike, a popular form of transport in China, were blown to the middle of the road by a gust of wind before carrying on the short journey due to the momentum.

The tricycle is blown to the middle of the road in Zhoushan, China, by a gust of wind

Residents in a Chinese city were stunned to see a tricycle moving on its own for 15 seconds

The bizarre incident occurred on December 16 in the city of Zhoushan, according to reports by Chinese media.

Apparently, police became aware of the unusual scene after the owner of the tricycle contacted them, claiming her vehicle had been stolen.

After reviewing surveillance footage, officers found out that trike had left the parking lot by itself.

The video shows two motorbikes parked next to the tricycle being overturned by the wind before the tricycle departed the parking bay.

Tricycles, like the one pictured above, a popular form of transport in China to carry goods

Web users have been amused by the 'self-riding' and 'free-spirited' tricycle.

One China's Twitter-like platform Weibo, one user praised the vehicle for obeying traffic regulations: 'It should know to ride on the right (China has right-hand traffic). It is an excellent tricycle.'

Another commentator joked: 'It must have got bored being ridden everyday, so it escaped.'

A third person connected the scene with ghost stories: 'Wonder how the passersby would feel (after watching this). Would they lose sleep at night?'
Top Democrat leaders contradicted each other over whether the President could hold his State of the Union address next week amid the government shutdown.

The White House is moving forward with plans for President Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union speech next week in front of a joint session of Congress - despite a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting he delay it.

House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, was asked whether Trump should visit today, to which he replied, 'Sure.'

In an interview with Neil Cavuto, Hoyer also broke ranks over Pelosi's claim that walls were fundamentally 'immoral.'

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had said President Donald Trump should delay his State of the Union address to Congress

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer broke ranks with his senior colleague by saying 'Sure,' Trump could visit the House next week

He told Fox News: 'Look, if it's protecting people it's moral, if it's imprisoning people, it may well be immoral.'

The White House sent an email to the House sergeant-at-arms asking to schedule a walk-through in anticipation of a January 29 address, according to a White House official.

'Nancy Pelosi made the invitation to the president on the State of the Union. He accepted,' said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 'At this point, we're moving forward.'

His visit to the House is the latest in a battle between Trump and Pelosi who are locked in an increasingly personal standoff over funding for the border wall.

The maneuvering began last week when Pelosi sent a letter to Trump suggesting that he either deliver the speech in writing or postpone it until after the partial government shutdown is resolved, citing security concerns.

But the White House maintains Pelosi never formally rescinded her invitation, and is, in essence, calling her bluff.

'She has not canceled it. She asked us to postpone it,' White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in an interview Tuesday with Fox News.

President Trump gestures at the podium in front of Vice President Mike Pence and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan during his first State of the Union address last year

Federal employees line up outside the World Central Kitchen in Washington to receive handouts amid the lack of pay

'We have no announcement at this time,' he said, 'but Nancy Pelosi does not dictate to the president when he will or will not have a conversation with the American people.'

At the same time, the White House is continuing to work on contingency plans to give Trump a backup in case the joint-session plans fall through.

The president cannot speak in front of a joint session without both chambers' explicit permission.

A resolution needs to be agreed to by both chambers specifying the date and time for receiving an address from the president.

Officials have been considering a list of potential alternative venues, including a rally-style event, an Oval office address - as Pelosi previously suggested - a speech before the Senate chamber, and even a return visit to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Constitution states only that the president 'shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union,' meaning the president can speak anywhere he chooses or give his update in writing.

But a joint address in the House chamber, in front of lawmakers from both parties, the Supreme Court justices and invited guests, provides the kind of grand backdrop that is hard to mimic and that Trump relishes.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that Trump was working to make the country safe and demanding a wall to keep drugs out

Pelosi in her letter had cited the impact of the ongoing shutdown on the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service, questioning whether they could secure the speech given that they have been operating without funding.

Asked about the letter by reporters Tuesday, Pelosi did not address the White House's decision, saying only: 'We just want people to get paid for their work.'

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives for work at the Senate in the US Capitol in Washington

Senior White House staff had been in a morning huddle discussing the upcoming speech when news of Pelosi's letter first broke on TV.

The power play - which Trump countered by revoking Pelosi's use of a military aircraft, thereby canceling a congressional delegation visit to Afghanistan - had put the status of the marquee speech in limbo, leaving staff scrambling to figure out how to proceed.

'We'll keep you posted,' Sanders had told reporters when asked for a status update Friday.

In their standoff, Trump has also accused Pelosi of behaving 'irrationally,' while Pelosi has refused to negotiate with Trump on border funding until he agrees to reopen the government.

In a tweet Sunday, Trump wrote that he was 'still thinking about the State of the Union speech' and that there were 'so many options - including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance.'

'While a contract is a contract,' he wrote, 'I'll get back to you soon!'
A woman has been arrested for making her five-year-old son steal a skirt for her at a shopping mall in east China.

Shocking CCTV footage shows the little boy yanking the 4,200 yuan (473) skirt off the rack and running to pass it to his mother, who was standing a distance away from the 'crime scene'.

The woman then stuffed the stolen item into a small backpack before swiftly leaving the mall in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on January 13, Chinese media reported.

The woman, identified by her surname Shi, later told police that she 'really liked the skirt but couldn't afford it,' according to Qianjiang Evening News.

Shocking CCTV footage shows the little boy yanking the 4,200 yuan (473) skirt off the rack at the mall in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province and running to pass it to his mother

The woman (pictured), identified by her surname Shi, later told police that she 'really liked the skirt but couldn't afford it.' She has been arrested for forcing her son to steal for her

She reportedly ordered her son to 'just take it' as she walks away in an attempt to avoid suspicion.

An employee at the shop alerted police after noticing the item missing from the racks and an empty hanger on the floor, according to the report.

The employee, surnamed Tang, told officers that the stolen piece of clothing was a new pleated skirt worth 4,200 yuan (473).

After checking surveillance footage, police officers finally located Shi at a hotel at about 9pm. She had travelled to Zhejiang province from Shanxi for work.

The woman reportedly ordered her son to 'just take' the skirt as she walks away in an attempt to avoid suspicion. The piece of stolen clothing was a new pleated skirt worth 4,200 yuan

An employee at the shop alerted police after noticing the item missing from the racks

The woman then stuffed the stolen item into a small backpack before swiftly leaving the mall

'She has a regular job and no prior convictions. It's a shame. The suspect has expressed remorse,' an officer told reporters.

The woman has been detained by police for theft amid investigations.

Net users slammed the mother's behaviour, calling her a 'ridiculous parent'.

'What was she thinking? This is the worst mother ever!' read one comment on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

'Poor child, having a mother like that. I am worried for his future,' another user said.

'Is the 4,200 yuan skirt worth more than your son's conduct?' one user questioned.
A British man has had his right foot sliced off after he fell asleep next to a railway line in northern France.

The 53-year-old tourist from Jersey, in the Channel Islands, is thought to have been drinking before the horrifying accident in Rennes, Brittany, in the early hours of Wednesday.

'He'd fallen asleep after a night out and a freight train careered over his body at around 3am,' said an investigating source.

A British man had his foot amputated and suffered serious head and stomach injuries after falling asleep in a restricted part of Rennes station and getting run over by a freight train

'He was rushed to hospital where he had to have his right foot amputated. He was also suffering serious injuries to the head and stomach.'

A spokesman for SNCF, France's national railway, said the man, who has not been named, had got into a restricted part of Rennes station which was patrolled by security guards at night.

They confirmed the victim was a British national from the Channel Islands, and that he remains in hospital.
A former GOP strategist turned Never-Trumper has made a sharp personal attack on White House advisor Stephen Miller, suggesting that he has never had a sexual experience with a 'live' woman.

Rick Wilson, who worked on Rudy Giuliani's campaigns in the 1990s but is now a cable news commentator, made the startling remark on Tuesday while discussing immigration with MSNBC host Chris Hayes.

Hayes had just speculated about immigration hawk Miller's involvement in President Donald Trump's latest offer to end the government shutdown, according to footage from Mediaite.

Wilson responded in part: 'There's something deeply wrong with Stephen Miller, I think we can all acknowledge that. And maybe someday, he'll have a relationship with a live human woman.'

MSNBC host Chris Hayes (left) was discussing the government shutdown with Rick Wilson (right) when Wilson made the sharp personal attack on Stephen Miller

Little is known about the personal life of 33-year-old Miller (above in file photo), a noted immigration hawk who has been behind some of the administrations most controversial moves

Hayes, sounding uncomfortable, weakly interjected: 'Well, I dont know if that has anything to do with it.'

Little is known about the personal life of 33-year-old Miller, a Santa Monica native who previously worked as an aide to then-Senator Jeff Sessions.

On MSNBC, Wilson went on to call Miller a 'dark and weird figure' who harbors 'bizarre hostility to anybody who - who wants to come to this country.'

'He wrecks Trump's idea that Trump is like this master negotiator, instead we have the 'Shart of the Deal' here every day,' Wilson added, making a vulgar pun on Trump's business advice book.

Miller (center rear) attends a border security round table earlier this month. Wilson's remarks are not the first instance of the advisor being targeted for ridicule

Miller is believed to be the architect of several controversial administration moves, including the 'zero-tolerance' policy of arresting parents who cross the border illegally with children, and the entry ban on nationals of several Muslim-majority countries.

It is not the first time that critics of the Trump administration have singled out Miller for ridicule.

Last month, Beltway observers couldn't help but notice when Miller appeared on CBS with what appeared to be spray-on hair, which had disappeared several days later when he was interviewed on CNN.

Miller's former third grade teacher and a classmate have also mocked his behavior in childhood, claiming that he ate glue and was a loner in elementary school.
White House adviser Jared Kushner is mulling a plan that would give green cards to the so-called Dreamers as part of a deal that would include funding for President Donald Trump's his border wall and end the shutdown.

But such a proposal would risk incurring the wrath of conservatives, who would see the deal as amnesty for illegals.

The plan would offer a pathway to green cards for 700,000 DACA recipients - illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children by their parents.

White House adviser Jared Kushner is mulling a plan that would give green cards to Dreamers to end the government shutdown

There are worries such a plan would incur the wrath of conservatives, like Sean Hannity, who would see the deal as amnesty for illegals

It's been percolating in the talks between the White House and Capitol Hill to reopen the government, Axios reported, as the shutdown hits Day 33.

A Republican senator involved in the talks told the news website that Kushner 'wants to go big.' But the senator cautioned: 'Now's not the time to go big.'

'If you throw green cards onto the table, this whole coalition will fall over on the right,' the senator said. 'If you start putting citizenship on the table in any meaningful way, Democrats will have to give more, and they're not ready to give more.'

Democrats have pushed for a path for citizenship for the Dreamers but have been firm in their refusal to give the president the $5.7 billion he wants to fully fund his border wall.

But it's not just the left that would cause problems should the idea come to fruition.

Conservatives would likely rally against plan, which they would see as 'amnesty' for illegals.

Ann Coulter already blasted the president's original idea of offering protections for Dreamers as 'amnesty.'

It was the criticism of conservatives like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity that resulted in the president's ultimatum: no funding for his wall, no signing legislation that would fund the government.

'Trump can withstand Ann Coulter. He can't lose Hannity and the rest,' the senator said.

But a source told Axios that Kushner hasn't been pushing green cards for Dreamers but merely listening to lawmakers' suggestions.

The president's son-in-law has been front and center in the conversations to try and end the longest shutdown in American history. Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence have journeyed to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and others to try and come to a deal.

The source said Kushner has been trying to 'figure out what bigger immigration reform looks like.'

'You need to have some idea of where you're going ... That doesn't mean in this current context you can go bigger ... because it's not well defined what people want.'

The green card offer would be a step above what Trump originally offered Congressional Democrats in his pitch on Saturday, which was three years of protection from deportation for Dreamers.

Democrats rejected his plan, which the Senate will bring up for a vote on Thursday afternoon. It's not expected to get the 60 votes it needs to advance through the legislative process as Republicans would need seven Democrats to cross over and support it.

Jared Kushner and Vice President Pence have been front and center in the talks to reopen the government

Conservatives have already complained President Trump's original plan, which offered a three-year protection from deportation for Dreamers, is amnesty

The president also took fire from his right flank for his plan, which they argued offered amnesty for illegals.

'Trump proposes amnesty. We voted for Trump and got Jeb!,' Coulter complained on Twitter Saturday.

'100 miles of border wall in exchange for amnestying millions of illegals. So if we grant citizenship to a BILLION foreigners, maybe we can finally get a full border wall,' she added.

But Trump pushed back against those who say his deal gave illegal immigrants a get-out-of-jail free card.

'No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer. It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy!,' he tweeted on Sunday.

The vice president also pushed back and argued it wasn't amnesty since there was no path to citizenship.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell announced a plan to vote on bills to end the shutdown

He and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made a joint appearance on the Senate floor to announce Thursday's vote on a pair of competing bills

'It's not amnesty,' he said on 'Fox News Sunday.'

'There's no pathway to citizenship. There's no permanent status here at all, which is what amnesty contemplates. What is this is, is a good faith effort to address the issue, bring relief to DACA recipients,' he added.

The Senate will vote Thursday on two separate bills that would immediately end the government shutdown: one of which would fully fund Trump's border wall and another that will fund the closed agencies through February 8.

The deal was announced on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon in a joint appearance by McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

But neither bill is seen as having a strong chance of passing, increasing the odds that the government shut down will continue into next week.

The offer to hold votes on the competing bills, however, shows the pressure lawmakers are feeling to reopen the federal government.

The Senate will vote at 2:30 p.m. Thursday on back-to-back measures: the first vote will be on Trump's proposal that includes the temporary protection to DACA recipients and gives him the $5.7 billion he needs to build his border wall.

The second vote would be on the House Democrats' plan to temporarily re-open the government until February 8 to allow time to negotiate a resolution on border security funding. It does not include the funding for the president's wall.

Both measures will need 60 votes to advance in the legislative process - an uphill battle that will be hard for the bills to beat.

If Democrats don't support the first vote and Republicans don't support the second vote, then each measure fails and the shutdown continues.

The vote would come before Friday's pay day for the federal government, which would mark the second pay cycle in which workers would receive blank checks.

The measures would offer back pay to 800,000 federal workers going without paychecks since the government closed on Dec. 22.
Government workers have missed another pay check as the longest government shutdown in US history entered its fourth week.

There has been no let up for the 800,000 federal workers without pay and no signs of a negotiation being reached imminently over the disputed southern border wall.

President Donald Trump has continued to double-down, tweeting a new slogan today for his $5.7 billion structure: 'BUILD A WALL AND CRIME WILL FALL.'

Airports have been impacted with longer wait times in security at security and TSA employees relying on donations of McDonald's meals for their lunch.

A woman receives a carton of milk at a food distribution center for federal workers impacted by the government shutdown in Brooklyn

Donald Trump (pictured outside the White House last week) has continued to back his $5.7 billion proposal of a southern border wall

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi checks her watch while leaving a meeting of the House Democratic caucus in Washington today

TSA workers were given free McDonald's meals at Pittsburgh International Airport as the shutdown ripples across many federal sectors

Government agencies have been paralyzed by the shutdown, meaning welfare benefits are in jeopardy and more people are on food stamps.

Centers have been set-up with volunteers - many of them federal employees themselves - handing out food to colleagues.

As well as the 800,000 employees without their pay checks, NBC estimates another 1.2 million on short-term government contracts to be without pay.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said today she would not 'get into hypotheticals' over a bill to reopen government.

Trump says a border wall is non-negotiable.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he planned to hold a vote on Thursday on a Democratic proposal that would fund the government for three weeks but does not include the $5.7 billion in U.S.-Mexico border wall funding that Trump wants.

Its prospects appeared grim. The House of Representatives has passed several similar bills but Trump has rejected legislation that does not include border wall funding.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi helps give out food to assist those struggling amid the shutdown, she has called for Trump to delay his State of the Union speech next week because of the uncertianty

Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks to reporters today outside the White House, she told them Trump sees his wall proposal as non-negotiable

TSA officers are under strain with mounting line ups at Miami International Airport amid the longest government shutdown in US history

McConnell previously said he would not consider a bill that Trump did not support.

McConnell also planned to hold a vote on legislation that would include border wall funding and temporary relief for 'Dreamers,' people brought illegally to the United States as children, a compromise Trump proposed on Saturday.

Democrats have dismissed the deal, saying they would not negotiate on border security before reopening the government, and that they would not trade a temporary restoration of the immigrants' protections from deportation in return for a permanent border wall they view as ineffective.

Trump's plan is 'wrapping paper on the same partisan package,' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.

Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown on Wednesday said it was up to Congress to resolve the impasse. 'President Trump is not going to end this,' he told MSNBC.

Republican Senator Mike Rounds said he hopes lawmakers will find some common ground on the legislation.

'The president's taken the first steps, he's proposed his deal,' Rounds said on CNN on Wednesday. 'It may not be acceptable in its current form to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, but it was a step forward from where he was.'

Trump, in a series of morning tweets, pushed fellow Republicans to stand by his promised border wall.

He is scheduled to discuss his immigration plan conservative leaders at the White House today.

Federal employee Marcus Walker joined others at Sacramento Airport calling for an end to the shutdown

Volunteers, many of them government workers themselves, hand out food and supplies to furloughed government workers affected by the shutdown in Washington

A man heading into check-in at Sacremento Airport passes a protester holding a sign opposed to the shutdown

The hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are furloughed or working without pay are struggling to make ends meet as the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, entered its 33rd day.

Many have turned to unemployment assistance, food banks and other support, or have sought new jobs.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found more than half of Americans blame Trump for the shutdown even as he has sought to shift blame to Democrats after initially saying he would be 'proud' to shutter the government.
A South African man has been beaten to death by vigilantes after a seven-year-old girl claimed she had been raped  only for tests to show she had not been sexually abused.

The innocent 52-year-old, named as Mava Fundakubi, was dragged into the street and killed by a mob in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth, amid erroneous allegations that he had attacked the child.

Investigators later said an examination had established that the youngster had not been raped or sexually assaulted.

A man was beaten to death by vigilantes in Motherwell (file picture), Port Elizabeth after a seven-year-old girl claimed she had been raped  only for tests to show she had not been sexually abused

Officers launched a manhunt for the vigilantes and say the girl's father has been arrested and charged over the murder, according to Times Live.

The 36-year-old is said to have handed himself in to police claiming he had gone to Fundakubis house and attacked him after others had joined him.

Motherwell Cluster Commander Major General Dawie Rabie warned that vigilantism would not be tolerated.

'An innocent man was killed by [the] community based on a rumour and did not even wait to verify the truth of it,' he said, according to The Citizen.

'We are urging our communities to give information of suspected crimes to the police and not to take the law into their own hands.

'The persons involved were killers and the police and the law will treat them as killers. I am urging our community to identify these killers in order for the law to be enforced and these murderers to be brought before court.'
British supermarket giant Tesco has received criticism from the leader of Scottish butchers as the retail giant is set to stock vegan haggis, just in time for Burns Night.

Douglas Scott, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders said Robert Burns would 'scoff' at a vegan-friendly haggis, which is available on supermarket shelves in Tesco and other UK supermarkets.

Mr Scott said Burns would have expected to get 'power and strength' from eating the dish but that the MacSween's vegetarian haggis, made only from nuts and vegetables and therefore suitable for vegans  did not give that 'impression'.

Burns Night falls on Friday 25 January and it is thought to be the first time Tesco has offered a vegan-friendly haggis to customers.

The Macsween vegetarian haggis (pictured above) which is set to go on sale in Tesco stores

Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Co-op are also selling the haggis, which costs around 2.80.

The traditional dish packs a punch, mixing up sheep offal, oats and other ingredients in a case made from intestines.

But the MacSween veggie haggis includes black kidney beans, carrots, swede, mushrooms, red split lentils, rehydrated onions, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, salt, ground spices and vegetable margarine.

An unimpressed Mr Scott said: 'Robert Burns enjoyed haggis so much that he stood up and completed an address to it.

Douglas Scott (pictured above), chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders, has slammed the meat free version of traditional Scottish dish, haggis

'If you listen to this, he gives the impression that it's going to give you power and strength.

'That is not the impression you get from the vegan haggis and, I think he would be scoffing at it.'

He added: 'It was the first time Burns actually tried the haggis in Edinburgh and enjoyed it so much he made an address to it.

'It was inspired by a meat based haggis and it is a meat- based haggis that is supposed to be celebrated at this time of year.'

Mr Scott claims as his evidence the following lines from 'Address to a Haggis': 'But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed, the trembling earth resounds his tread'.

Tesco Scottish food buyer, James Lamont, defended the product, which the retailer stocks all year round in some branches across Scotland.

He said: 'Veggie haggis is a delicious meal in its own right not too dissimilar to a nut roast and we think vegetarians and vegans are buying them as centrepieces for roast dinners.'

'The current clamour for vegan and vegetarian food has really helped send sales soaring for the non-meat version of the haggis.'

Burns Night is an annual event in Scotland where Scots around the world celebrate thelife of poet Robert Burns

Asda have announced that they will be selling haggis across all UK stores in time for Burns Night.

The supermarket will be using Scottish butcher Simon Howie to stock their shelves with traditional and vegetarian haggis, that is fully vegan-certified.

The Perthshire-based butcher's contract is valued at 291,000.
Lego has sued a German toy shop owner and YouTube vlogger after he posted a critical review of one of the Danish firm's expensive products.

Thomas Panke, 38, who boasts a YouTube channel with over 160,000 followers, gave up his day job to run his toy shop and post videos of himself building and reviewing Lego models.

Following a recent review of a 323 Bugatti Chiron model car, Mr Panke suddenly found himself facing legal action from Lego.

Thomas Panke posted a critical review of a 323 Bugatti Chiron Lego model (pictured). He believes his criticisms led to a lawsuit from the Danish toy giant

Mr Panke also owns a toy shop in Frankfurt called 'Held der Steine' - 'Hero of the Stones' in English - which reportedly has over two million Lego bricks and a wide range of similar toys.

The official reason given by Lego for the legal action was due to Panke's logo, which features his shop's name over a blue Lego brick, but the toy enthusiast says he believes some of his videos may be behind the lawsuit.

In his Bugatti Chiron car model review, viewed by over 150,000 people, Mr Panke blasted the Danish company for selling what he calls 'a bad product' for a whopping 370 (323).

Mr Panke said: 'Through a law firm, Lego has demanded that my brand logo is withdrawn at the Patent Office within a week.'

Lego claims the reason for taking legal action against Mr Panke was for his logo (pictured), which depicts a blue Lego brick with the name of his Frankfurt store, 'Held der Steine'

Toy shop: The Lego shop owned by Mr Panke called 'Held der Steine', which is German for 'Hero of the Stones'

In the legal letter, Lego claimed that consumers might confuse the store's activities with those of the Danish toy giants.

He told local media that schoolchildren designed his store logo and that they considered Lego's official guidelines before creating it.

As a Lego enthusiast who quit his office job five years ago to open his own toy store, Mr Panke said that he always reviews products honestly even if it means highlighting negative aspects.

He added: 'I don't let them send complimentary test sets to me, I am not obliged to Lego in any way. I simply review the products.'

Panke's store reportedly has over two million Lego bricks and a wide range of similar toys

A Lego spokesperson said that the company 'makes sure that third parties do not use anything that could dilute the Lego trademark, which we believe is the case with logos similar to ours'.

Mr Panke has since created a new logo showing a caped weasel in superhero style.

He said: 'After the action, I would like to distance myself (from Lego) and not even buy directly from them anymore.

'Building bricks from other manufacturers will now be featured in my shop and video uploads.'
A California man used Instagram to 'harass and intimidate' the families of students killed in the Parkland school shooting last year, according to a 12 report filed Friday.

Brandon Fleury is due in a Fort Lauderdale court Monday, accused of posing as the real shooter Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on February 14, 2018.

The criminal complaint says Fleury began the taunts December 22 using different accounts which were traced to an IP address in Santa Ana, where he lives with his father and brother.

A California man used Instagram to 'harass and intimidate' the families of those killed in the Parkland school shooting last year, by impersonating Nikolas Cruz (pictured January 16)

The family and best friend of victim Jaime Guttenberg, 14, were some of those he used to 'gain popularity'. He is believed to have tried to contact father, Fred Guttenberg, an anti-gun-violence activist with approximately 152k Twitter followers, but mentioned the wrong handle

Jaime's brother Jesse Guttenberg received messages from @nikolas.killed.your.sister

@nik.taunts_ wrote about the weapon Cruz used, 'I stole your sister's future, buddy, with the power of my AR-15'

On Christmas Eve, @bullseyetauntsyou._ wrote: 'You'll never see Jaime again, little orphan. Nikolas took her from you'

Courtesy: KTLA

Special Agent Cameron McDowell wrote that Fleury showed no remorse when questioned January 16 and admitted to fascination with the tragic event leading to his decision to 'troll' those affected.

From an account with the handle @nikolas.killed.your.sister, he targeted loved ones of victims with messages such as 'I killed your loved ones hahaha', 'Your grief is my joy', and 'They had their whole lives ahead of them and I . . . stole it from them'.

Investigators said he 'admitted to targeting family members who were "activists" who had a large social media presence,' in his vulgar messages sent over a several weeks.

The family and best friend of victim Jaime Guttenberg, 14, were some of those he used to 'gain popularity'.

Fleury is said to have used Instagram's tagging feature to mention the handles of the victim's brother and friend to alert them of his sick comments.

Father of victim Alex Schachter (right), school safety advocate Max Schachter (left), was also targeted by the troll

Schachter who had expressed interest in running for governor in December, received messages too

From @nikolasthemurderer on New Year's Eve, Schachter was targeted with cruel words about how his son 'will never play music again'

'I took a s**t on your sister's grave,' a message to Guttenberg's brother written alongside the crying of laughter emoji, applause emoji and three poop emoji, allegedly read.

The affidavit also claims the suspect wrote: 'Did you like my Valentines gift? I killed your friends' about the February shooting, and tagged the victim's best friend. .'

Two days after the Broward County Sheriff's Office received complaints and launched an investigation, on Christmas Eve the person, believed to be Fleury wrote on social media: 'You'll never see Jaime again, little orphan. Nikolas took her from you.'

It came from an account with the handle @bullseyetauntsyou._.

The @angie.and.lola account posted: 'How's Jamie, hun? Dead huh?' and @nik.taunts_ wrote about the weapon Cruz used, 'I stole your sister's future, buddy, with the power of my AR-15.'

He is believed to have tried to contact Jaime's father, Fred Guttenberg, an anti-gun-violence activist who has approximately 152,000 Twitter followers, but mentioned the wrong handle.

Fleury wasn't just accused of pretending to be Cruz, now 20, who faces the death penalty if convicted. A trial date has not yet been set but he is due for another hearing in February.

The affidavit states that the troll claimed to have murdered teacher Scott Beigel last February

On Christmas Day Fleury took on the persona of Ted Bundy, claiming to have killed Janice Ott and Denise Naslund in 1974 from the @teddykillspeople account where he wrote: 'I'm your abductor. I'm kidnapping you fool.'

The father of victim Alex Schachter, Max Schachter, was also targeted. The school safety advocate who had expressed interest in running for governor in December, received a message from @nikolasthemurderer on New Year's Eve about how his son 'will never play music again'.

The affidavit, identifying those targeted by their initials, states that the troll claimed to have murdered teacher Scott Beigel last February.

A January 11 message from @the.douglas.shooter read: 'With the power of my AR-15, I take your loved ones away from you PERMANENTLY. Hahaha! I'm the Douglas shooter! SCREAM!!'

It was enough to be deemed a threat and local law enforcement teamed up with the FBI to trace the @the.douglas.shooter, @teddykillspeople, @nikolas.killed.your.sister, @angie.and.lola and @nik.taunts_ accounts back to an IP address in connection with WiFi registered in Fleury's father's name.

'One post threatened to kidnap the message recipients, while others sought to harass the recipients by repeatedly taunting the relatives and friends of the MSD victims, cheering the deaths of their loved ones and, among other things, asking them to cry,' the police report reads.

On Christmas Day Fleury took on the persona of killer Theodore 'Ted' Bundy

from the @teddykillspeople account he wrote: 'I'm your abductor. I'm kidnapping you fool'

Fleury claimed to have killed Denise Naslund (left) and Janice Ott (right) in 1974

When he was tracked down on January 16, he showed no remorse and claimed he was taunting but not threatening the Parkland victim's loved ones.

The affidavit states: 'Fleury made spontaneous statements to the effect that the agents were there because of 'some stupid s..t' he had done on the internet.'

He made the comments to his father, Patrick Fleury, who reportedly declined to tell the SunSentinel whether his son - charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to kidnap a person - had a lawyer.

He's also charged for using an interactive computer service with intent to harass and intimidate another person.

'Sorry, better luck next time,' the publication quotes him as responding. 'Bunch of nonsense.'

FBI Special Agent McDowell wrote in the document that the accused replied, 'I guess so' when asked if his words on January 11 sounded like threats.

Fleury could ace as little as a fine for each charge or up to five years in prison for them respectively.
Angela Merkel has taken a dig at Brexit as she praised the founders of global institutions such as the EU as people 'who knew what they were doing'.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos today, the German chancellor said she feared the 'knowledge and insight' of politicians who set up international bodies after World War II would be forgotten.

In her speech - which could be her last appearance at the annual event - Merkel made a vigorous defence of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations.

She said Germany and the EU were 'dependent' on a good relationship with Britain but said it was partly 'up to Britain' to ensure one.

Angela Merkel, pictured speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos today, praised the 'knowledge and insight' of leaders who set up international institutions after World War II

Speaking today she said: 'When you look at human history, the key decisions for our current international order are about 74 years ago, that's a human lifespan.

'After the horrors of World War II the people who were then in power had certain insights and they knew what they were doing.

'We shouldn't cast their decisions aside and the system they set up and treat it lightly, because they did so against a wealth of experience.

'I think the right conclusions were drawn back then.'

She said European leaders have to 'live with the shock' that Britain voted to leave the EU, bringing 44 years of membership to an end.

'All my thoughts and energy are directed at ensuring an orderly Brexit, in which we can have a good partnership that benefits everyone,' she said.

'In security and defence we are urgently dependent on an agreement.

'The less complicated our relations are, the better, but of course that's also up to Britain'.

She said Germany and the EU were 'dependent' on a good relationship with Britain but said it was partly 'up to Britain' to ensure one

Merkel also took a thinly-veiled dig at Donald Trump, whose 'America First' agenda has shaken Europe's alliance with Washington.

She took aim at politicians who 'think the world is best when everyone looks out for themselves'.

'I doubt that. I think we should interpret our national interests in such a way that we think about the interests of others and achieve win-win situations,' she said.

Organisations such as the IMF and World Bank set up after World War II had helped to make the world a better place, she said.

Merkel has faced severe pressure in Germany amid a series of poor election performances by her ruling CDU party.

She has stood down as party leader and was replaced last month by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, one of her possible successors.

At the end of her Davos appearance she hinted world leaders would miss her when she was gone.

Asked if she would return to Davos she said: 'Well you've got me today - you should be happy with what you've got.
Julian Alberto Jimenez Monsalve is seen in his mugshot. He had been using the name David Jose Mateo and passed off as a wealthy Venezuelan cattle owner

A Colombian gang leader 'who ordered 43 assassinations in 18 months' has been captured in the Dominican Republic.

Julian Alberto Jimenez Monsalve, 32, was arrested on Friday during an operation headed by Interpol agents in the Dominican Republic and Colombian law enforcement officials.

Officers swooped on the luxury mansion Monsalve had been living in at Punta Cana, a top tourist attraction in the eastern coast of the island.

Medellin mayor Federico Gutierrez said, according to Colombian news outlet Diario del Cauca: 'This criminal lived like a king in the Dominican Republic.

'He gave orders while there so that thousands of young people, who are part of his network, kill each other and kill other people.'

The leader of the Robledo gang, who was known as 'Machete', had fled Colombia in 2015.

Authorities said Jimenez Monsalve coordinated drug trafficking routes with Mexican cartel to ship the illicit goods between the Caribbean coast off Colombia and Central America.

He allegedly gave the green light for at least 43 assassinations that took place in Comuna 13, one of Medellin's most dangerous neighborhoods. Seen above as he was detained at the luxury property

He allegedly gave the green light from afar for at least 43 assassinations that took place in Comuna 13, one of Medellin's most dangerous neighborhoods, between the later part of 2017 through 2018.

It is not known exactly how long he had been living on the Caribbean island under a fake identity for.

He had been using the name David Jose Mateo and passed off as a wealthy Venezuelan cattle owner.

He had managed to able to obtain a Dominican residency card, a driver's license and a passport under the false identity.

The fugitive hit squad and drug trafficking leader was living at a mansion (pictured) for an unknown time in the Dominican Republic

Monsalve managed to able to obtain a Dominican residency card, a driver's license and a passport under a false identity

He was extradited to Bogota, Colombia, on Saturday morning.

Monsalve is set to face charges for aggravated murder, extortion, forced displacement and drug trafficking in Medellin.

During his arrest and raid on the home a number of vehicles were also seized.
'Roma' has been causing a stir with its 10 Oscar nominations but one of its main actors will perhaps miss out on the historical night.

Jorge Antonio Guerrero, who played the role of 'Fermin' as the boyfriend of breakout star Yalitza Aparicio, has had each of his three visa applications rejected last year by the United States Embassy in Mexico.

On Tuesday, the Academy Awards nominated 'Roma' for 10 awards, including Best Picture. Aparicio is in the running for Best Actress at the February 24 awards in LA.

According to El Sol de Acapulco, Guerrero, 31, first applied for a tourist visa at the beginning of 2018 and was immediately denied.

Jorge Antonio Guerrero played the role of 'Fermin' as the boyfriend of breakout star Yalitza Aparicio in 'Roma' but he has had three petitions for a United States visa rejected three times since 2018

The Academy Awards nominated 'Roma' for 10 awards, including Best Picture. Aparicio (pictured left with Guerrero) is in the running for Best Actress

Guerrero also revealed that during his second meeting with U.S. immigration officials in Mexico City, he was asked if he was seeking a visa for employment north of the border.

He said he was looking forward to attend one of the many events that have honored the hit movie.

The 'Roma' star also presented an official document from one of the film's Netflix producers.

'What I want to interpret is that it is a matter of procedure,' Guerrero said.

'... If we could find a way for a consular officer or someone in the embassy to read those letters of invitation, one could understand the artistic figure that I have and the cultural exchange that is taking place between two nations.'

Guerrero, who didn't have any acting experience until last year when he debuted in three series, including the Netflix hit, 'Narcos: Mexico', also saw another petition go down the drains towards the end of the year when he received an invitation from Netflix to appear in a gala.

The Mexican actor also missed out on the Golden Globes, where 'Roma' received three nominations and won the awards for Best Foreign Film and Director of a Motion Picture.

United States officials at the embassy in Mexico City asked Guerrero if he was looking to apply for a work visa

He hopes a fourth meeting with officials will pave his way to film's big night in Los Angeles.

If not, he will still be cheering Aparicio, director Alfonso Cuaron and the rest of the team from afar.

'I'm super happy. Hopefully, I hope, and I say it with all my heart, Yalitza takes the Oscar,' Guerrero said.

'Imagine, I'm thinking more about that. And eventually, if they can process (the visa), even better.'
A male nurse arrested in Arizona on suspicion of raping a quadriplegic woman who suddenly gave birth despite being in a vegetative state for 26 years, appeared in court on Wednesday.

Nathan Sutherland, 36, is facing one charge of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse after a DNA test identified him as the baby's father.

The father-of-four did not enter a plea to the charges against him.

A Maricopa County Superior Court commissioner placed the recently divorced defendant on a $500,000 cash-only bail bond. He is being held in the Maricopa County Jail and his next court appearance will be January 30. If released, he would be placed on house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.

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Nathan Sutherland, 36, has been arrested after DNA evidence linked him to the rape of a quadriplegic patient who has been in a vegetative state for 26 years at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona

The defendant (left) appeared in court on Wednesday, just hours after his arrest was made public

The 36-year-old is a devout Christian who tours local churches in Phoenix with his sister (right) under the group name, 'SLEEPLESSSOLJAZ'

Wearing a T-shirt, athletic pants and a jacket, Sutherland was accompanied by defense attorney David Gregan, who said his client has no prior criminal record.

Gregan told the court there was 'no direct evidence' to suggest his client had committed the crime, but he acknowledged the DNA evidence obtained by police.

Sutherland - a Haitian orphan - has been a licensed practical nurse since 2011 and was directly responsible for caring for the victim at the Hacienda HealthCare Facility, according to police.

He divorced from his wife, Bridget Sutherland, last year. The motion was ordered on December 28, 24 hours before the birth of the victim's child.

The defendant refused to answer investigator's questions after his arrest.

Hacienda officials say Sutherland went through an 'extensive background check' before he was hired.

They added that he was terminated 'the moment our leadership team learned of his arrest'.

'Every member of the Hacienda organization is troubled beyond words to think that a licensed practical nurse could be capable of seriously harming a patient,' the statement continued.

'Once again, we offer an apology and send our deepest sympathies to the client and her family, to the community and to our agency partners at every level.'

Male staff working at the medical facility were ordered by police to submit DNA tests as part of their investigation into the sexual assault.

However, Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson say Sutherland's DNA wasn't volunteered and they had to file a court order which passed on Tuesday.

Sutherland was arrested the same day after the results came back as a match.

Sutherland divorced from his wife last Bridgett last year (left). The pair lived with their four-children in their Phoenix home, a neighbor revealed. Bridgett owns a catering company which Sutherland has worked for (seen right)

According to court documents, the motion of divorce was ordered on December 28, 24 hours before the birth of the victim's child (pictured: Sutherland sings at Bridgett's birthday in October, 2016)

The defendant has worked at Hacienda for eight years.

State records show he was first became a clinical nursing assistant in 2005, before becoming an licensed practitioner nurse.

The 36-year-old is a Haitian orphan and devout christian who regularly tours local churches to perform Christian rap songs in the group 'SLEEPLESSOULJAZ', alongside his sister.

'My parent's split up in Haiti and I remember my mom couldn't take care of us, so she took us to an orphanage', Sutherland said in 2011.

'Even though it was an orphanage you were blessed if you had one cup or bowl of rice or something a day,' he added.

Sutherland (left) is a Haitian orphan who was adopted to the United States when he was a child

Sutherland (right) has worked at Hacienda since 2011. He has been a nurse since 2005, according to state documents

A former neighbor of the nurse has described him as a 'quiet family man'.

Esella Burr said on Wednesday that Sutherland was her neighbor for more than five years until he sold his Phoenix-area home in October.

Burr says he shared the home with his wife and four children, and she saw the couple leave for church every Sunday.

She says Sutherland would sometimes wave or start a conversation with her and had mentioned that he enjoyed his job as a nurse.

Sutherland will next appear at the Arizona Downtown Superior Court on January 30.

Hacienda HealthCare in Phoenix where a 29-year-old woman gave birth despite being incapacitated for more than a decade

The woman gave birth to a baby boy on December 29 as staff at Hacienda HealthCare frantically called 911 for assistance, telling an operator that they had not known the 112-pound patient was pregnant.

The baby has since been released from the hospital and the victim's family have said they will take care of the boy.

'We owed this arrest to the victim. We owed this arrest to the newest member of our community - that innocent baby,' Phoenix police Sergeant Tommy Thomson said.

'The baby I am told is doing good,' he added.

'We can't always choose how we come into this life, but we can choose as a community how we will love this child  and that's what we need to do.'

A lawyer for the woman's family has said the infant 'has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for,' according to The New York Times.

According to the victim's family, their daughter's condition includes severe brain damage, seizure disorder, and psycho-motor retardation.

She's been in a vegetative state for 26 years and is quadriplegic.

'She does not speak but has some ability to move her limbs, head and neck,' The family's attorney said in a statement.

'The important thing here is that contrary to what's been reported, she is a person, albeit with significant intellectual disabilities.

'She has feelings, likes to be read to, enjoys soft music and is capable of responding to people she is familiar with, especially family.'

Sgt. Tommy Thompson said investigators are working to determine whether other patients at the facility have been abused.

Officials of the non-profit health care company say they will review and improve 'what is already an in-depth vetting process' for caregivers at the hospice.

They also added that extra security measures have been implemented over the past few weeks to ensure the safety of their patients.

Hacienda HealthCare CEO Bill Timmons stepped down last month in light of the scandal

Hacienda HealthCare's CEO William Timmons resigned on December 31 as the provider announced new safety measures, including more than one staff member being present during patient interactions and more scrutiny of visitors.

A former worker at the healthcare center previously said staff were financial incentives to encourage them not to officially report problems and that there was a climate of fear among her colleagues.

Marla Kica also claimed Timmons would get the final sign off on every final report and recommendation as he was her direct supervisor, that staff were afraid of him.

Regulators wanted to remove developmentally disabled patients from the long-term care facility years before the woman gave birth.

On Friday, Hacienda announced that another female patient had alleged physical abuse at the hands of staff members.

Hacienda officials said in a news release that the patient accused a registered nurse and a certified caregiver, both women, of yelling at her and hitting her head and arm.

Hacienda officials said the patient showed no signs of injury or abuse and that the two workers had no history of complaints and denied the allegations. They were placed on administrative leave during an investigation.

Police say they were informed about the complaint but weren't able to corroborate anything.

Phoenix police officers are pictured here visiting residents of the home around the time of the holidays in 2014

Members of the Phoenix police department would regularly visit the home during the holidays

The two doctors responsible for overseeing the care of victim been identified, just days after the hospital announced the pair would no longer be treating patients there.

On Monday, the Hacienda HealthCare Facility revealed one doctor overseeing the unnamed woman's care had been suspended, and another doctor had resigned.

Dr. Thanh Nguyen has been revealed as the victim's primary care doctor in a suspension letter obtained by CBS News.

Issued on January 15 - 10 days after the story first broke - the letter, addressed to Nguyen, states he placed 'one or more' of his patients' heath and welfare 'in danger'.

Nguyen has been suspended without pay until a full internal investigation is carried out by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS).

The second physician is believed to be Dr. Phillip Gear, a veteran pediatrician in Phoenix who has previously been reprimanded by the Arizona Medical board, after the death of an infant under his care.

On Monday, the hospital confirmed that two doctors responsible for overseeing the victim's care would no longer be practicing at the facility. Dr. Nguyen (left) was suspended on January 15. Dr. Gear (right) has resigned, a statement said

Practicing for more than 30 years, court records show Dr. Gear last checked the victim in April 2018 and noted no major changes in her health or condition.

However, eight months later on December 29, the woman unexpectedly gave birth to a baby boy.

Both of the woman's caregivers have reportedly claimed to be unaware she was pregnant, but the time of Dr. Gear's last interaction with the victim would suggest she had been a few weeks pregnant at the time of the examination.

This isn't the first time Dr. Gear has been involved in an instance of negligence in relation to his care of a patient.

In 2001, Gear was reproached by the Arizona Medical Board for failing to perform a rectal exam on a toddler under his care, who later died.

Gear (above) was previously embroiled in a negligence dispute in 2001, when an infant patient died in his care

The board concluded Gear's actions constituted negligence resulting in the child's death, according to FOX News 10.

'The two physicians who were responsible for the care of the sexual assault victim are no longer providing medical services to Hacienda patients. One has resigned. The other one has been suspended,' the hospital said in a statement on Monday.

'Once again, we offer an apology and send our deepest sympathy to the client and her family. Hacienda intends to do everything possible to restore its credibility in the eyes of our patients, families, the community and our agency partners at every level.'
Theresa May's Brexit deal is the most acceptable Brexit outcome for voters - with nearly half saying they could live with it.

A poll has underlined the depth of public splits over how to handle the UK's future relations with the EU.

Research by Number Cruncher Politics asked what the preferred path was, and found staying in the bloc was the most commonly favoured with 37 per cent.

Some 29 per cent wanted to leave with no deal, while 23 per cent supported the PM's package and 10 per cent did not know.

However, the picture became clearer when people were asked which of the options they found unacceptable or acceptable.

Remaining was acceptable to 48 per cent, but unacceptable to 41 per cent.

Research by Number Cruncher Politics found Theresa May's prosed Brexit deal was the least divisive for voters

Meanwhile, no-deal Brexit was backed by 45 per cent and unacceptable to 39 per cent.

But by contrast. Mrs May's was the least divisive. Some 49 per cent found it acceptable, with 30 per cent implacably opposed and a fifth - 21 per cent - saying they were not sure.

In an article on the Bloomberg website, Matt Singh of Number Cruncher Politics said: 'As far as the public is concerned Theresa Mays deal is unloved, but its the closest thing to a compromise that most could live with.'

The findings emerged as Mrs May fights to win over Tory Brexiteers and the DUP to her deal with the EU.

The premier is trying to get more concessions from Brussels on the Irish border backstop, which is the major sticking point to getting it through the Commons.

But Mrs May is facing another devastating blow to her strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said his party is 'highly likely' to support an attempt by pro-EU MPs to seize control of Parliamentary business from the government, so legislation can be passed extending the Article 50 process.

The endorsement could put Mrs May on track for another humiliating defeat when the plan comes before the Commons next week, as more than a dozen Tories have vowed to rebel.

Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned this morning that the scheme would have a 'calamitous' effect on public faith in politics - suggesting no deal was preferable to postponing Brexit.

Meanwhile, George Osborne has joined the attack on the government by warning that crashing out of the EU would be like playing 'Russian roulette' with the UK economy.

:: Number Cruncher Politics surveyed 1,030 eligible voters
A former Barclays chief executive and three senior bank executives avoided a taxpayer bailout at the height of the financial crisis by getting billions of pounds of secret funding from Qatar, a court heard.

Ex-CEO John Varley, 62, and former colleagues - Roger Jenkins, 63, Tom Kalaris, 63, and 60-year-old Richard Boath - allegedly raised 11.8bn in emergency fundraising in 2008.

The deal was the subject of a five-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

John Varley (left) and Roger Jenkins arrived at Southwark Crown Court before their trial today

Prosecutors allege that the defendants knowingly hid the eye-watering fees in order avoid looking weak and triggering a loss of confidence in the bank.

The four all deny conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to the emergency fundraising which allowed Barclays to avoid direct governmental intervention.

Investors who contributed include Qatar Holdings, an arm of the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund.



Opening the prosecution case at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, Edward Brown QC said: 'The backdrop of this case is the global financial crisis of 2008.

'The first obvious and outward sign of it, at least to the UK public, was the closing of the doors of the bank Northern Rock in 2007.

'However, the crisis in the United Kingdom and across the world worsened and deepened as time went on and into 2008.'

'Barclays - as you know, a major United Kingdom-based bank - was unavoidably caught up in that crisis.

'And we will be examining how those at the very top of the bank responded to the pressure that it created.'

Mr Brown told jurors that by the spring and early summer of 2008, Barclays and many other banks were 'under sometimes extreme pressure to raise further capital - that is to say, to raise further investment in the bank itself to secure its financial position'.

He said: 'The foundation of any bank of course is its capital base. And without a secure and confident capital base, a bank cannot conduct its business with any confidence.

'It was this confidence that had evaporated in the banking sector in 2007 and 2008.

'In June 2008 - so, getting to the early summer of that year - there was a significant need to increase the capital base at Barclays.'

Thomas Kalaris and Richard Boath are also facing fraud charges and are seen arriving at Southwark Crown Court today

By autumn of 2008, the need to increase capital was being imposed by the Government, Mr Brown told the court.

'Some United Kingdom banks had been forced into Government hands, as a Government bailout was all that they could turn to,' he said.

'Those at the top of Barclays were very anxious to avoid accepting Government money, thereby placing itself under greater Government control and scrutiny.

'It is no exaggeration to say that Barclays' future as an independent bank was in jeopardy in September and October of 2008.'

He said the board, which included Varley, was 'determined to avoid taking Government funds, convinced that doing so would render Barclays restricted in its flexibility and constrained by Government policy'.

Mr Brown said the further investment in the bank was to be achieved through 'capital raisings', a process which involved shares and other financial instruments in the bank being sold to an investor or investors at a particular price per share.

He added: 'As is normal in such capital raisings, the investors were to be paid a fee for making their investments.

'In the capital raisings we are concerned with in this case, all investors are paid at the same percentage commission fee for their investment.

'The overall figures involved are very considerable indeed as you might expect.

'In June 2008, the capital raising undertaken by Barclays secured 4.4 billion.

Varley (right) leaving Southwark Crown Court on January 14

'In October 2008, when further shoring up of Barclays' capital ratios was imposed upon it, it raised a total of 6.8 billion.

'As we shall see, during these capital raisings, the Qataris in particular - through the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Qatar Holding - the Qataris made what were very substantial investments in Barclays to shore up their capital base: approximately 1.9 billion in June 2008 and 2.05 billion in November 2008 when the Qatari money was essential.

'Those within the bank at that time commented that without it the consequences would be dire - for the bank and personally.'

Mr Brown told the jury that when a capital raising of this type takes place, there is an obligation on a bank to tell the shareholders, the investors and the wider market what has taken place.

'As all those involved in transactions of this nature know, there is a legal requirement that the information published by Barclays in this case is honest and accurate. That will be no surprise to you of course.

'It ensures that there is transparency and that existing investors, prospective investors and the wider market are properly informed about what has happened.

'All experienced bankers know about the fundamental principles attaching to the contents of such public-facing documents, not least that they must contain the truth and must not mislead.

'In this case, in addition to the amounts which Barclays revealed that it was paying to the investors in the public-facing documents, additional commission fees for investing were paid to the Qataris ... that were not paid to other investors and were not revealed.

'It is the hiding of these additional commission fees which lies at the heart of this case and the conspiracies alleged against the defendants, disguising and hiding extra fees to the tune, ultimately, of a total of nearly a third of a billion pounds, 322 million.'

Mr Brown said the commission fees were hidden in two agreements described as Advisory Service Agreements (ASAs).

He said: 'The evidence demonstrates that the Qataris drove a hard bargain.'

Mr Brown explained that they received more than double the commission fee of other investors in the bank.

The court heard that when a capital raising takes place the bank is obliged to tell shareholders, investors and the wider market.

He explained this process of 'disclosure' is made through public documents, the key one being a Prospectus.

He said: 'The Prospectuses contained statements as to the amounts of fees and commissions being paid to investors, and the overall costs of the capital raisings, which took no account of the fees payable under the ASAs. Public announcements made by Barclays were to the same effect.

'Likewise, Subscription Agreements made between Barclays, and the Qataris and other key investors in both capital raisings referred only to the disclosed fees and commissions and contained warranties to the effect that there were no other fees or commissions payable by Barclays in connection with the investments being made.

'Say the prosecution, in respect of the Qatari investment, that was plainly a lie.'

Mr Brown said the Prosecution claims that each of the defendants entered into the agreements alleged against them with the intention that one or more of their number would make the false representation that the only fees payable to the Qataris for their investments were the fees disclosed in the Prospectuses and Subscription Agreements.

The accusations of wrongdoing at Barclays date to around the time of the financial crisis

'What matters is whether that each of the individuals entered into the criminal agreement with the intent that the offence of fraud by false representations would be committed by one or more of their number.

'As a matter of law, once they had entered into that agreement, that criminal agreement, the offence is complete. Nothing in fact need be done in pursuit of that agreement,' he said.

Mr Brown added that in this case the agreement was brought into effect because the false representations were made to the other investors.

'The evidence demonstrates that each of the individuals joined in the conspiracies alleged against them and when they did, they intended that the offences of fraud by false representations would be made by one or more of the conspirators,' he said.

Mr Brown told the jury: 'The conspiracies to make false representations were entered into with the intention that by making the false representations, the conspirators would make gain for themselves or another, cause loss to another or at the very least, expose another to the risk of loss.

'What that means on the facts of this case is that the conspirators intended, principally, that Barclays would gain by the making of the false representations.

'Barclays would gain because it would secure the Qatari investment, on the terms demanded by the Qataris, without revealing the true position to other investors and the wider market.'

He said this meant that Barclays would gain by avoiding paying others at the same rate.

'By depriving the other investors of knowing the truth, at the very least it exposed those other investors to a risk of loss.

'Had they known about the true position, contrary to the intention of the conspirators, the other investors may not have chosen to invest at all, or, more likely, would have demanded the same terms as the Qataris.

'By making the false representations, hiding the true position, they denied the other investors the opportunity to make that decision for themselves.

'That, at the very least, say the Crown, exposed them to the risk of loss.

'The loss being that they invested in Barclays when they may not have chosen to do so, or not on the terms that they did, had they known the true position,' he said.

Mr Brown said the bank also stood to gain by 'avoiding looking weak to the market by for example having to pay all investors at the higher rate, and it would gain by securing the capital raisings as a whole'.

The defendants themselves also had personal motivations, namely their jobs and potentially 'very large bonuses', the court heard.

The jury was told: 'The security of their jobs and the very large bonuses that they might receive in addition to their salaries were in jeopardy if the future and the security of the bank was in doubt, or placed in the hands of the UK Government.'

Varley, 62, of west London, Jenkins, 63, of Malibu, California, Boath, 60, of Henley-on-Thames, and Kalaris, 63, of south-west London, are charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to Barclays' June 2008 capital raising.

Varley and Jenkins are charged with a second count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to Barclays' October 2008 capital raising.

Jenkins is a former executive chairman of investment banking and investment management in the Middle East and North Africa, Barclays Capital.

Boath is former Barclays Capital head of European Financial Institutions Group.

Kalaris is former chief executive of Barclays wealth management. The four men deny the charges against them.
Andy Reid (left) and Alex Kemp (right), at Mr Kemp's new house in Buckshaw, Lancashire

A soldier whose life was saved by a teenage comrade has returned the favour by helping the younger man back on his feet after finding him homeless almost a decade later.

Andy Reid, 42, from St Helens, Merseyside, was an Army corporal when he lost an arm and both legs after stepping on a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan, in October 2009.

Alex Kemp, then 18 and a member of Mr Reid's section in the Yorkshire Regiment's Third Battalion, rushed to his aid with tourniquets and dressings to stem catastrophic bleeding.

The blast happened while the men were on patrol in Sangin, one of the most dangerous districts of Helmand Province, where one third of all British troops killed in Afghanistan lost their lives.

The eight-man section had forged close friendships with each other after a number of previous bombs claimed the lives of colleagues.

Mr Kemp (second left, back row) and Andy Reid (second right, back row) in Afghanistan

Mr Reid was airlifted to hospital at the main military base at Camp Bastion in Helmand, then flown back to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Birmingham, and the pair only met again briefly a few months later.

Last year, however, Mr Reid became concerned after spotting a Facebook post from Mr Kemp and got back in touch with him.

He found out Mr Kemp was homeless as a result of crippling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and had even attempted to take his own life.

He has since helped him get back on his feet and battle his mental health issues, and Mr Kemp is now living in Buckshaw Village, Lancashire.

Mr Reid was concerned after spotting a Facebook post from Mr Kemp and got back in touch

Mr Reid said: 'The hard work has come from Alex and with the help of others we have just put things in place for him.

'I saw that Alex had put a post on Facebook and that it didn't sound right, that he might be struggling, so I got in touch.

'He told me he wasn't in a good place, his relationship had broken down, he was homeless.

'I felt guilty to start with because I thought that I should have checked in on the guys from our section a long time ago, that I should have been able to help him before that. I told him that he need to get his life back on track.'

Mr Reid paid for Mr Kemp to catch a train to Manchester and collected him from the station

Mr Reid paid for young father Mr Kemp, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, to catch a train to Manchester and collected him from the station.

'He arrived with two carrier bags of belongings. From there we got a plan in place to help him get back on his feet and become self-sufficient,' he said.

Mr Reid, from St Helens, went on to become an ambassador for Step Forward Homes

Mr Kemp, now 28, said: 'I came out of the Army in late 2010 after being admitted to the Army hospital due to my mental health.

'I wanted to be a dad and not a dead hero, I choose to come out so I could be with my child.'

But Mr Kemp said his mental state left him 'dripping with sweat' whenever he went out and he 'didn't want to speak to people or work'.

He recalled: 'We had lost a few men in our section and it had been hard to cope with the things I had seen, I lost my grandmother and lost my home, had no job and was struggling to see my daughter.

'I would get a job and get back on my feet for it to fall apart again and it was just a cycle. I even made an attempt to take my own life and was admitted to hospital.

'So many people have helped me since, I was able to get a job, I now have a place to stay so that I can have my daughter to visit. I can't thank them all enough.'

After being medically discharged, Mr Reid went on to become an ex-forces ambassador for recruitment company, Morson International, to help raise mental health awareness and help veterans transition into civilian jobs.

Mr Reid, who has a six-year-old son, William, with his wife Claire, 37, said: 'I remember seeing the dust around me and that I couldn't see my legs but it never occurred to me how bad the injuries were. I never even felt any pain.

'When I was bought out of the coma in hospital I knew straight away that I was a survivor and not a victim, that this would not stop me from living.'

The blast happened while the men were on patrol in Sangin in 2009. Pictured: 3 Troop, W Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines conduct a patrol from Sangin in October 2008

He also went on to become an ambassador for Step Forward Homes, set up by former child actor Chris Perry-Metcalf, 30, and his father, Gary, 55, three years ago and made up of ex-military servicemen. It helps find homes for veterans.

Through Step Forward Homes, Mr Reid was also able to find Mr Kemp a home, which he moved into last August.

He has also now passed his driving test, bought a car and started a new job in railway maintenance.

Mr Kemp is also now able to see his daughter, Millie, 10, and makes weekly visits to a counsellor to help cope with his PTSD.

He said: 'Everyone has really looked after me. I have everyone's numbers so that whenever I need them, I'm never alone.'

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details
A Sydney council has banned running on bridge because it causes vibration - but insists it is safe.

A picture of a sign erected by Sutherland Shire Council, south of the Sydney CBD, was posted online last week advising locals and visitors to walk across the Prince Edward Park footbridge in Woronora, as running in groups would cause 'excessive vibration.'

The sign also advises that further signs prohibiting the activity would be installed in the future, however, there is no mention if the issue would be fixed or even investigated.

A Sydney council has banned running on bridge because it causes vibration - but insists it is safe (pictured)

'This bridge currently has no structural issues, however, running in groups will cause excessive vibration which may damage the structure. Council will be placing signs prohibiting this activity in the near future,' the sign reads.

Comments on social media were sceptical about the effectiveness of the signs.

'And people are going to pay attention to that?' wrote one person.

'Seems like for a bridge with no structural issues it seems a bit suspect,' another person wrote.

'Always was a bouncy bridge,' commented a third.

A Council spokesperson told The St George Shire Standard a structural engineer had already inspected the bridge and confirmed it is 'structurally sound.'

'However, as an added precaution for the structure we will be installing advisory signage asking the community to not run in large groups across the bridge and for safety reasons to not jump from the bridge,' the spokesperson said.
An Australian author has been detained by China's secret police minutes after stepping off a plane with his wife and stepdaughter.

Ten security agents pounced on Yang Hengjun, a former Chinese diplomat, after he cleared customs at Guangzhou Airport on January 19, witnesses claimed.

Mr Yang, an Australian citizen, had been living in the U.S. but flew back to China from New York, despite friends telling him it was not safe.

Australian author Yang Hengjun (pictured) has been detained by China's secret police minutes after stepping off a plane with his wife and stepdaughter

He and his wife Yuan Rui Juan were stopped from boarding their connecting flight to Shanghai and interrogated at the airport for 12 hours, friends said.

The novelist and commentator was then taken to Beijing, and nothing has been heard from him since as friends fear the worst.

Mr Yang's friend, University of Technology Sydney associate professor Feng Chongyi, said his wife was allowed to drop off their daughter with family in Shanghai before following him to Beijing.

Ms Yuan has since been released and returned to Shaghai, but has not been allowed to speak with her husband.

Professor Feng said he believed Mr Yang was being held by the Ministry of State Security on espionage charges.

Mr Yang (pictured), an Australian citizen, had been living in the U.S. but flew back to China from New York despite friends telling him it was not safe

He and his wife Yuan Rui Juan were stopped from boarding their connecting flight to Shanghai and interrogated at the airport for 12 hours, friends said

However, China has not confirmed this and foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she had no information on his whereabouts.

'I am not aware of the situation about this Mr Yang and I can't tell you whether it will be a topic of discussion between the two sides,' she said in reference to talks involving Defence Minister Christopher Pyne in Beijing on Thursday.

China and Australia are obligated to notify each other within three days if one has detained the others citizens, under a consular agreement.

That deadline has long since passed, but it was not uncommon for the MSS to delay informing the foreign ministry it had detained a foreign national.

Mr Yang was reported missing and DFAT was seeking information on his whereabouts from Chinese authorities.

'Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment,' it said.

Along with writing spy novels, Mr Yang (pictured) has been a vocal critic of Chinese policy and proponent of democracy, and gained Australian citizenship in 2002

Along with writing spy novels, Mr Yang has been a vocal critic of Chinese policy and proponent of democracy, and gained Australian citizenship in 2002.

However, he was not considered to feature much on China's radar and had not said anything to raise the ruling party's ire in a few years.

Qiao Mu, a Chinese academic who now lives in the U.S., said Mr Yang likely would not be held prisoner for very long.

'Yang is a soft critic accepted by both Chinese authorities and netizens. The detention may be a short period like Feng Chongyi encountered,' he told The Australian.

Professor Feng was detained in China in 2017 near the end of a three-week trip during which he was researching human rights lawyers.

He was questioned by security services for several days before he was allowed to return to Australia, where he said he couldn't talk about what happened.

Professor Feng was concerned Mr Yang may be caught up in a diplomatic stoush after Canada's arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou (pictured) at the request of the U.S

China a month ago detained two Canadians, entrepreneur Michael Spavor (left) and former diplomat Michael Kovrig (right), in what was widely seen as retaliation

Professor Feng was concerned Mr Yang may be caught up in a diplomatic stoush between China and Canada.

China a month ago detained two Canadians, entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, in what was widely seen as retaliation for Canada's arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the U.S.

Australian has been supportive of Canada's arrest, which Professor Feng worried was being taken out on his friend.

'I see his arrest as the extension of Chinese hostage diplomacy to take him as a hostage to press the Australian government and the Canadian government, American government,' he told the ABC.

Mr Pyne said the Australia-China defense relationship was a key component of the broader bilateral relationship.

'The government is committed to maintaining a long-term constructive relationship with China, founded on shared interests and mutual respect  China and Australia's success will go hand-in-hand,' he said.
Pope Francis has said fear of migration is 'making us crazy' while speaking about US President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico, as he began a trip to Central America today.

Francis, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina who has made the plight of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his papacy, told reporters on his way to Panama: 'It is the fear that makes us crazy'.

The pope is set to speak during World Youth Day, the church's once-every-three-year rally that aims to invigorate the next generation of Catholics in their faith, held in Panama this week.

While in Panama, The 82-year-old pontiff will look to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind.

Pope Francis has said fear of migration is 'making us crazy' as he began a trip to Central America. He is pictured today boarding a plane in Rome ahead of his flight to Panama

Francis, the Roman Catholic Church's first Latin American pope and the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, told reporters on his way to Panama: 'It is the fear that makes us crazy'. Pictured: Crowds gather in Panama City last night, on the eve of the Pope's visit

Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa Mendieta said Francis's message is likely to resonate with young Central Americans who see their only future free of violence and poverty in migrating to the US.

Archbishop Ulloa Mendieta said these 'young people often fall into the hands of drug traffickers'.

The pope is expected to urge young people to create their own opportunities, while calling on governments to do their share as well.

The visit is taking place as the US government remains partly shut down in a standoff between the Trump administration and Democrats over funding for Mr Trump's promised border wall.

Francis has famously called for 'bridges, not walls'.

After celebrating Mass in 2016 on the Mexican side of the US border, he denounced anyone who wants to build a wall to keep out migrants as 'not Christian'.

Crowds are expected to be smaller than usual for this World Youth Day - only about 150,000 people had registered as of last week - but thousands more will certainly throng Francis's main events, which include a vigil and a final Mass on Sunday.

The 82-year-old pontiff (pictured this morning), who is beginning a trip to Central America, made the comment when asked about US President Donald Trump's promised wall along the Mexico border

Francis has made the plight of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his papacy. Pilgrims are pictured in the historic centre of Panama ahead of the Pope's arrival

The Vatican conceded that the January date does not suit school holidays in Europe or North America, both of which typically send huge numbers of pilgrims to World Youth Day gatherings.

Francis's trip, the first in a year packed with foreign travel, comes at a critical moment in the papacy as the Catholic hierarchy globally is facing a crisis in credibility for covering up decades of cases of priests molesting young people.

The pope is expected to soon rule on the fate of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the high-powered US archbishop accused of molesting minors and adults.

And he is hosting church leaders at the Vatican next month to try to chart a way forward for the global church.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said there were no plans for Francis to meet with abuse survivors in Panama.

Central America has not yet seen the explosion of sex abuse cases that have shattered trust in the Catholic hierarchy in Chile, the US and other parts of the world.

This is the first papal visit to Panama since St John Paul II was there during a 1983 regional tour that famously included an unscheduled stop at the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador.

Francis is also expected to offer words of encouragement to young people gathered in Panama for World Youth Day

Archbishop Romero had been gunned down by right-wing death squads three years earlier, at the start of El Salvador's civil war, for having spoken out on behalf of the poor.

Salvadoran bishops had hoped Francis would follow suit and make a stop in El Salvador this time to pay his respects at Archbishop Romero's tomb since Francis canonised him in October.

But the Vatican said a Salvador leg was never really on the cards.

Nevertheless, Mr Gisotti said Archbishop Romero was likely to loom large at the Panama gathering, given he is such a point of reference for young Central American Catholics who grew up learning about his defence of the poor.

The Panama visit is also the first by a pope since the Vatican embassy played a crucial role during the 1989 US invasion of Panama, when dictator Manuel Noriega took refuge there and requested asylum on Christmas Eve after four days on the run trying to escape US troops.

Noriega eventually surrendered, bringing to an end one of the more unusual US military operations: it involved US troops blasting heavy metal and rock music - including Van Halen's Panama - at the embassy to try to force Noriega out.

Noriega, a onetime US ally, eventually served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States.

He died in 2017 after his final years were spent in a Panamanian prison for the murder of political opponents during his 1983-89 regime.

Pope Francis confirmed to reporters aboard the papal plane that he plans to go to Japan in November.

The pope also said he wants to visit Iraq, but that local church leaders have told him that the security situation is not yet right.

This year, the pontiff has already scheduled trips to the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bulgaria and Macedonia, and a trip to Madagascar is rumoured.
Owen Jay Petttit, 45, was arrested for stabbing his nephew's dog in retaliation for it killing his chicken last year

A Texas man is accused of taking a knife to his nephew's dog in a revenge attack for the canine killing his chicken last year.

Owen Jay Pettit, 45, of Leander, Texas, was arrested Saturday and charged with cruelty to animals after admitting to stabbing the dog, according to the Austin American Statesman.

According to the arrest affidavit, Pettit's nephew, 28, Pettit's said he heard his dog, Jessica, or 'Jess,' barking and yelping after he had left his uncle for the evening. The nephew also lives on the same Leander property, but in a separate residence.

When he went to investigate, he found his uncle holding Jess down on the ground, and he yelled for him to stop.

Owen then stabbed a three-and-a-half inch steak knife into the shoulder of the dog, before the nephew managed to pull his uncle off. The dog then limped away with the knife still stuck in the shoulder.

The nephew was removed the knife from the shoulder before police came on the scene.

The uncle said he stabbed the dog because she had killed his chicken last year. Court documents noted he 'openly admitted' to the stabbing 'and showed no remorse.'

The steak knife was embedded by Owen Pettit in the shoulder of Jessica the dog and it remained stuck there even after she limped away (file photo)

Pettit has since posted bond and was released from Travis County jail, NBCDFW reports.

The dog was given stitches and is now doing well, according to Kristen Dark, Travis County sheriff's office spokesperson.

Sheriff's deputies reportedly recovered the knife from the scene covered in blood and dog fur.
A social media and marketing officer has pleaded guilty to smuggling $50,000 worth of MDMA pills into a festival in her 'big bra'.

Grace Poo faced Burwood Local Court, in the inner west of Sydney, on Wednesday, and pleaded guilty to commercial drug supply, in an incident that took place on May 5 last year.

She is alleged to have hidden almost 1,600 drug capsules in her cleavage and inside her body, in a bid to smuggle them into Sydney's Midnight Mafia Music Festival undetected.

Grace Poo, 22, (pictured) pleaded guilty to smuggling $50,000 worth of MDMA pills into a festival

Court documents revealed how the pair allegedly wrote to each other planning how to smuggle the drugs into the event

It's alleged the 22-year-old had pre-planned the attempt to sneak the vast quantity of the party drug into the venue by buying herself a 'huge bra' to conceal the pills.

However, Poo was stopped from entering the festival, held at Sydney Olympic Park, after New South Wales police sniffer dogs found the MDMA on her person, police facts say.

It's thought the drugs Poo was caught with what could've been worth up to $50,000, had they been sold for $30 a pop.

Julian Martusciello also pleaded guilty to drug supply after cops alleged he'd given at least 400 of the pills to Poo.

Grace Poo had attempted to smuggle the drugs into Sydney's Midnight Mafia Music Festival (pictured)

Poo,(pictured) allegedly shoved the party drug caps down a 'big bra' she'd purchased previously

Court documents revealed how the pair allegedly wrote to each other planning how to smuggle the drugs into the event.

Martusciello wrote: 'Hey grace keep this Saturday free please. For MM  split some downstairs and some each boob.'

In response to his message Poo wrote: 'Okay I'll wear an actual bra this time'.

While Martusciello insisted: 'You have to for sure. Big bra,' to which Poo concurred: 'Just bought myself a huge bra so I'm all set.'

As payment for trying to take the drugs inside the festival, Martusciello is believed to have offered Poo $400 cash, 40 'freebies' [of the drug] and a ticket.

When confronted by cops about the drugs Poo initially denied possession before she allegedly changed her story and admitted: 'Okay, I have a lot. In my top and some inside me'.

According to the police facts, Poo was carrying 181 grams of MDMA inside seven packages.

While the facts in Poo's case were yet to be agreed, both Poo and Martusciello are due to attend Parramatta District Court on March 8 for sentencing.
Mark Leo Gregory Gago, 42, killed his parents, his girlfriend and their nine-month-old daughter in Woodburn, Oregon on Saturday night before deputies shot him

A father butchered four family members to death with an ax and an arsenal of knives in a rural Oregon home, the State Medical Examiner has revealed.

Mark Leo Gregory Gago, 42, massacred his girlfriend, their nine-month-old daughter and his parents before police shot him dead on Saturday night.

Officers were able to fatally shoot Gago before he murdered another of his children, an 8-year-old girl.

On Tuesday, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office revealed that 9-month-old Olivia Gago, 31-year-old Shania Sweitzer, and Pamela Bremer, 61, were all killed by sharp-force trauma.

Gago's father, Jerry Bremer, 66, died from a murderous combination of sharp-force and blunt-force trauma.

Deputies arrived at the home in Woodburn, Oregon and found a 'horrific' scene, according to Clackamas County Sheriff's office.

Gago (pictured left) killed his nine-month-old daughter Olivia Lynn Rose Gago (left and right). Gago was attempting to kill his girlfriend's eight-year-old girl when police arrived

He also killed his 31-year-old girlfriend Shaina E. Sweitzer (pictured with Gago) and his parents Jerry William Bremer, 66 and Pamela Denise Bremer, 64

Neighbors said one of the weapons used was an ax, which authorities have now confirmed.

'It was like an ax with a hammer head on it, a long-handled type hatchet hammer,' Neighbor Alice Burch told KOIN-TV said.

'He stared whaling on her with whatever he was using.'

An arsenal of knives and swords are also said to have been present in the residence.

Two people managed to survive the frenzied slaying and were taken to nearby hospital with injuries that do not appear to be life threatening.

They are believed to be the eight-year-old girl and a roommate who was also living at the home.

No deputies were injured.

The home where the horrific murders occurred is in the 32000 block of South Barlow Road. It is about 20 miles south of Portland and northeast of the city of Woodburn

Authorities said they were investigating the incident as one of 'extreme domestic violence'.

The home is about 20 miles south of Portland and northeast of the city of Woodburn.

The sheriff's office took an emergency call from a resident of a home at about 10.15pm on Saturday. The caller described a violent and hectic scene.

'It was described as violent and a pretty hectic scene was being described to our call takers deputies found deceased adult female outside the residence,' Jensen said.

A neighbor told KOIN 6 News she did not hear anything Saturday night.

However, she got email from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office telling her about the homicides.

She said she's lived in her house for more than 30 years, adding: 'They've been there equally as long.'

Mark Leo Gregory Gago, 42, killed four family members at the house before being shot dead by police as he tried to kill a little girl

Authorities said they were investigating the incident as one of 'extreme domestic violence'

Authorities said they were investigating the incident as one of 'extreme domestic violence.'

The neighbor said she knows of the family who lives at that house, but 'hasn't had many interactions with them over the years.'

She was 'shocked' when she heard the news. A neighbor who did not want to be identified said one of the two survivors of the quadruple homicide ran to his house, bleeding.

He claimed that she told him Gago attacked her in her sleep with a weapon. She said she fought him off and escaped, saying that she believed he was high on something.

He told KGW News: 'She was yelling that she had been attacked and we needed to call 911.

'My daughter was walking across the yard and she ran into the house and called me.

'I went and talked to her and let her into the property and called 911.

'She had some injuries on her arms, injuries to her torso. She said I didn't see them but she was bleeding a little bit.'

Asked did she know what happened, the neighbor responded: 'She said she was asleep in her bed and Mark woke her up by attacking her.

'She wrestled with him, got the weapon away from him. She said it was like an axe- type thing, described as a splitting ball for firewood.'
Donald Trump gave Senate Republicans a slogan on Wednesday in an attempt to boil his argument for a border barrier down to its essence as they prepare for a pair of showdown votes Thursday.

'BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!' the president tweeted. 'This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished (under construction now), of the Republican Party. Use it and pray!'

Trump's framing of his new project-branding campaign as a two-year effort suggests he intends it to be a 2020 slogan, which suggests he expects the battle over his signature campaign promise to be a long one.

He has been relentless in framing his long-promised U.S.-Mexico wall as a tool for stopping drug trafficking and a string of high-profile murders linked to illegal immigrants.

He tweeted Wednesday that there is '[g]reat unity in the Republican Party,' and declared that GOp senators '[w]ant to, once and for all, put an end to stoppable crime and drugs! Border Security and Wall. No doubt!'

President Donald Trump has unveiled a new slogan that he hopes Republicans will latch onto

'Build the wall & crime will fall,' Trump tweeted on Wednesday as the U.S. Senate gears up for a pair of test votes Thursday on reopening the government

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell announced a plan to vote on bills to end the shutdown; He and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made a joint appearance on the Senate floor to announce Thursday's vote on a pair of competing bills

Trump has promised a border barrier since 2015, saying he'll complete a patchwork wall that dots portions of the 1,900-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico

The Senate will vote Thursday on two separate bills that would immediately end the government shutdown: one would fully fund the wall and another would fund the closed agencies through February 8.

The deal was announced on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon in a joint appearance by GOP leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

Neither bill is seen as having a strong chance of passing, increasing the odds that the government shut down will continue into next week.

But the offer to hold votes on the competing bills shows the pressure lawmakers are feeling to reopen the federal government.

The Senate will vote at 2:30 p.m. Thursday on back-to-back measures: the first vote will be on Trump's proposal that includes temporary protection to DACA recipients and gives him the $5.7 billion he needs to build his border wall.

The second vote would be on the House Democrats' plan to temporarily re-open the government until February 8 to allow time to negotiate a resolution on border security funding. It does not include the funding for the president's wall.

Each leader praised their respective party's plan.

'To reject this proposal, Democrats would have to prioritize political combat with the president ahead of federal workers, ahead of DACA recipients, ahead of border security, and ahead of stable and predictable government funding. Is that really a price that Democrats want to pay to prolong this episode, which they say they want to be over and done with?' McConnell said of the president's plan.

'It will allow us to then debate without hostage taking, without temper tantrum, without anything, how we can best debate border security, get that done, hopefully, by February 8 and keep the government open. So if you're looking for a way to open up the government, this is the way,' Schumer said of the second vote on the Democratic proposal.

Both measures will need 60 votes to advance in the legislative process - an uphill battle that will be hard for the bills to beat.

If Democrats don't support the first vote and Republicans don't support the second vote, then each measure fails and the shutdown continues.

The announcement of a path forward comes on Day 32 of the longest government shutdown in American history.

The vote would come before Friday's pay day for the federal government, which would mark the second pay cycle in which workers would receive blank checks.

The measures would offer back pay to 800,000 federal workers going without paychecks since the government closed on Dec. 22.

One measure would fully fund President Trump's border wall

Trump outlined a plan to end the government shutdown on Saturday, offering congressional Democrats three years of legislative relief for 700,000 DACA recipients  including protection from deportation  and an extension of legal residence for people living in the country under 'Temporary Protective Status' designations.

DACA refers to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offered a no-deportation guarantee to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants whose parents brought them into the U.S. as minors.

TPS is a Justice Department program that grants residency and work permits to people from 10 countries affected by natural disasters or brutal armed conflicts. They include El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen.

But when the measure was formally unveiled Monday night it also included several changes to asylum law that would make it more difficult for people to seek refuge from persecution in their home countries.

Democratic congressional leaders, who had already rejected the president's offer, were outraged.

Schumer called the changes to asylum law a 'poison pen.'

Last week, House Democrats passed an emergency disaster relief bill that also funded the federal government through February 8.

That is the second measure the Senate will vote on Thursday.
The family of a 16-year-old girl, who has been missing for 10 days, has not given up hope as their desperate search continues.

Aranda Briones disappeared in Moreno Valley, California, on January 13 after hanging out with friends.

The teen's friends said they dropped Briones off at Moreno Valley Community Park around 6pm.

Her uncle, Matthew Horstkotte, said on Tuesday: 'I just want her home safe.'

Aranda Briones disappeared in Moreno Valley, California, on January 13 after hanging out with friends

The teen's friends said they dropped Briones off at Moreno Valley Community Park around 6pm

Horstkotte told ABC 7 that he hopes the teen's friends come forward if they have any information.

'Nowadays, you know teenagers want to cover up for a friend or someone says, "I don't want to tell because I'm scared." But just come forward,' Horskotte said.

Family members and friends have spent the past few days passing out flyers in grocery stores and parking lots.

'We just want her home,' her brother, Daniel Briones, told the station. 'That's honestly all we really care about.'

Briones' grandfather, Carl Horstkotte, said 'it's been a living hell' since his granddaughter has been missing.

According to a Facebook page asking the public for help finding Briones, the family last saw the teen when she left her home on January 13 around 2pm.

She then went to meet up with friends before they dropped her off around 6pm that day.

Her uncle, Matthew Horstkotte (pictured), said on Tuesday: 'I just want her home safe'

Briones' grandfather, Carl Horstkotte (left), said 'it's been a living hell' since his granddaughter has been missing

From there an unidentified person claimed to have seen the teen at the 99 cent across the street from the park.

But investigators who reviewed the surveillance video said they didn't see Briones on any surveillance footage.

The family said Briones' last known location was in Rubidoux, according to her phone's location.

Now, the device is no longer active.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department said on Facebook that investigators from the Moreno Valley Police Department have utilized every available resource, to include the anti-human trafficking team and the FBI in an effort to locate Briones.

Sheriff's officials would not confirm whether they suspect foul play.

A tip line has also been established for anyone with information regarding Briones location or information regarding her disappearance (951) 247-8700. Callers can remain anonymous when reporting information.
The Native American man who said he was left 'shaken and overwhelmed' by Kentucky Catholic high school students on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial turned out again the next day to lead 60 protesters up the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, allegedly to disrupt a mass.

Nathan Phillips, 63, joined dozens of supporters in Washington DC on Saturday night outside the shrine while hundreds were inside worshiping.

The group wanted to 'hold the Catholic church accountable' for the actions of students from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky, who were filmed the day before taunting Phillips as he beat his drum.

Videos show them gathering outside the church and waiting for Phillips to arrive before walking en masse up the steps, singing and playing their drums.

Scroll down for videos

Nathan Phillips is seen protesting outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on January 19, a day after his viral clash with Kentucky Catholic high school students

According to security guards who work for the Basilica and spoke anonymously to the Catholic News Agency, the group tried to enter the building while the 5.15pm mass was going on and had to be stopped.

'It was really upsetting. There were about twenty people trying to get in, we had to lock the doors and everything.

'We had hundreds and hundreds of people from all over the country come here to celebrate life, to celebrate each other together. That a protest tried to come inside during Mass was really the worst.

'I'm just really grateful that nothing too bad happened, they were really angry,' the guard said.

DailyMail.com asked members of the Native American protest if they tried to enter the church as claimed but they insisted they did not.

Before Phillips arrived, they had been told by security guards to leave the church as congregants were arriving for the mass.

The group went across the street and waited until Phillips arrived.

Then, they marched back towards it, up the steps and carried on singing.

Michelle Brass, one of the people there, told DailyMail.com that it was unclear whether there was an intention to go inside the church or not.

'There was no discussion of trying to enter the church. I wasn't sure how I felt about walking back up towards it because we had already been asked to leave but it felt really peaceful.

'We walked up the steps and then we stopped. There were guards standing there,' she said.

Brass was not close enough to know if the guards stopped the group or if they stopped on their own accord but, she said, the protesters were singing peaceful prayer songs and were not in any way menacing or behaving aggressively.

Shortly after, two police cars arrived. The officers got out and stood in between the protesters and the church doors.

Brass said that the group were not being aggressive, violent or threatening in their protest.

I was just to stand up and support Nathan Phillips.

Philips joined a group of around 60 people who were gathered at the foot of the Basilica on Saturday night in a show of support for him. Security guards in the church say they tried to enter while mass was being conducted but were stopped

'I've seen the extended video and the students were still displaying gestures [that were offensive].

'They were extremely peaceful,' she said of Saturday's protest, adding: 'Never was there an attempt to rush the church.'

Videos of the group gathering outside before Phillips' arrival lay bare their goal.

In one that was uploaded to Facebook, a man told the group after finishing a song: 'This land here was stolen... by one of the oldest institutions - the Catholic Church.

'Today, we saw that historic colonial violence play out by the treatment of our elder, Nathan Phillips, who was treated by members of the Catholic community after the Indigenous People's March, when he was surrounded, harassed, mistreated by members of this faith.

'We are calling for accountability from the Catholic church... we're calling for accountability from the adults who taught these children to act this way.

'We're just waiting on Uncle Nathan Phillips to arrive and tell us a bit about his experience and how we can address this issue,' the man said.

Phillips arrived shortly afterwards and spoke to the crowd but no videos of his remarks have surfaced.

Footage taken afterwards shows him walking with the group up the steps to the Basilica.

No footage or photographs of the group trying to enter the church and being stopped have emerged so it remains unclear if they in fact tried to get in, as the security guards claim, or if the church doors were locked before they could try.

Since his confrontation with students at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, the day before the basilica protest, Phillips has said he was left 'shaken', 'scared' and 'overwhelmed'

The 64-year-old received an outpouring of support and sympathy after this video of him went viral. It showed him beating his drum while Nick Sandmann (left) stared at him and smiled and other kids mocked him in the background

Nick Sandmann, the MAGA hat-wearing Catholic high school student who stared down a Native American war veteran during a demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, has said he does not believe he was disrespectful but that he wishes he would have walked away

Phillips has given multiple interviews since the Friday clash with the Covington students.

He has said in them that he felt scared, threatened and unsure of what to do in the moment so he played his drum, sang in prayer and tried to connect with the 16-year-old Nick Sandmann.

He also said he heard them chant 'build the wall!' but that was not captured in either of the videos that have emerged of the incident.

Before he approached the students, they were being insulted and harassed by a group of Hebrew Israelites who labeled them 'child molesting f****ts' among other things.

On Wednesday morning, Sandmann gave an interview to NBC in which he said he respected the older man and did not believe he was being offensive when he stood in front of him and smiled in his face.

Covington reopened on Wednesday after staying closed the previous day amid security fears.
Husseini (pictured) had been evading police ever since footage of him emerged that showed a startling resemblance to Friends actor David Schwimmer

A crook who found fame when he was caught on CCTV bearing a startling resemblance to Friends actor David Schwimmer has been jailed today for 18 weeks.

Abdulah Husseini appeared via video link from prison and admitted stealing 156 of Lynx deodorant from a Wilko store.

The 36-year-old first became notorious last October after Lancashire Police released CCTV stills of a suspect accused of theft and fraud in Blackpool.

The internet went into meltdown because of the similarity of the man in the footage to Schwimmer.

The actor  who played Ross Geller in the US sitcom  then released a video of him imitating the man carrying beer cans, tweeting: 'Officers, I swear it wasn't me. As you can see, I was in New York. To the hardworking Blackpool Police, good luck with the investigation #itwasntme.'

Today the now shaven-headed defendant also pleaded guilty to being in possession of a craft knife.

The court also heard how he had been convicted for handling stolen goods and failing to turn up for a previous court hearing.

On September 11 last year he was caught on CCTV leaving the Wilko in Hounslow, west London with the tray of men's deodorant and police began investigating the theft.

Abdulah Husseni was arrested after police in Blackpool released this image (left) during a theft investigation. The picture was viewed around the world after social media wags compared the person pictured to Friends star David Schwimmer, who then made a mock-up of the scene

Then on October 21 he was stopped coming out of a Marks and Spencer store in Southall. Police found he had three bottles of Jameson's whiskey on him.

He was arrested and treated positive for cocaine and opiates. He was charged with handling stolen goods, but then failed to turn up for his court hearing last month.

On January 14, Husseini was stopped in Southall by a police officer who identified him after the Wilko theft. He was found to be in possession of a bladed article - the orange craft knife.

Iranian Husseini, of Slough, appeared via video link at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court from Wormwood Scrubs prison today.

Wearing a grey prison jumper he spoke to confirm his name, date of birth, nationality and address.

He pleaded guilty to being in possession of the knife. Husseini also admitted to the theft of the deodorant cans, then caused confusion in court by changing his mind and pleading not guilty. He told the court: 'What do you want to do? I don't have a choice.'

But he then confirmed to the court he would plead guilty to that offence as well. Prosecutor Rav Chodha told the court: 'This is the theft at the Treaty Centre in Hounslow on September 11. The defendant is seen on CCTV to steal a large quantity of Lynx deodorant and leave, making no attempt to pay.'

Schwimmer is seen out in LA in October 2018

The deferent is identified by a police officer and is arrested by a police officer on January 14 in Southall.

'He is found to be in possession of a craft knife which is in his pocket. The defendant was interviewed and made no comment to questions put to him in his interview.'

In relation to the handling stolen goods on October 21, the prosecutor added: 'The defendant is seen by officers on that day in at 11am .

'He is seen coming from a M&S store. The bottles (of whiskey) were wrapped in foil and the security tags were still attached. He tested positive for cocaine and opiates at the police station.'

Magistrate Rupert Holderness jailed Husseini for a total of 18 weeks due to the 'seriousness' of the offences. He was jailed for 10 weeks for the possession of knife, four weeks each for the theft and the handling stolen goods.

He got a further two weeks  to run concurrently  for the failure to turn up to court. Husseini was arrested on November 18 on suspicion of those offences, which have not be dealt with.

He is next due to appear at Preston Crown Court on February 15 to face charges of theft and fraud by false representation.
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These intriguing photographs have captured real-life crime scenes as taken by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the early to mid twentieth century.

The collection of images showcase both the amusing times had by the police force since 1925, as well as the more disturbing instances that have had to be dealt with.

One chilling image shows two men slain over their spaghetti at an Italian restaurant in an alleged mafia hit, while another captures a murder victim who had his throat slashed in his car in 1929.

Meanwhile, a 1955 photo shows Hollywood actress Maila Nurmi comically posing in a jail cell - after surviving a murder attempt when a man broke into her apartment.

Another humorous photo from the police force's archives, estimated to hold one million photographs, shows an LAPD officer administrating a field sobriety test to a woman in 1958.

The fascinating series also includes a later photograph from 1970 - which shows a member of the Manson Family arriving for their arraignment. As members of Charles Manson's cult, several of the so-called Family committed murders at his request.

Working it! A 1955 photo shows Hollywood actress Maila Nurmi comically posing in a Los Angeles prison cell in her iconic Vampira ensemble - the character she was made famous for. The actress, aged just 32 at the time, was at the police station following a break in at her apartment where a man forced his way in and terrorized the star for up to close to four hours. Thankfully, the beloved actress managed to escape and rushed to call officers with help from a neighboring shop owner. Maila was often targeted by those who believed she actually practiced the Dark Arts. Her character's gothic and sexy style was all many Americans needed to link her to witchcraft as she was so opposing to the perfect housewife which was thought to be the ideal role for women in that time frame. Maila made her name as Vampira in Plan 9 From Outer Space, which some critics brand the 'worst film of all time' and had fame as a horror TV host. She was living modestly when she died from a heart attack aged 85 in 2008

Not all the photographs within the police department's collection are amusing as some hint at the more chilling times throughout history. One grisly image, above, showcases a lifeless body found lying underneath an eerie-looking bridge over the Los Angeles River on February 17 in 1955. Numerous police officers can be spotted standing next to the body as they assess the horrific crime scene

Gunned down at dinner: One chilling picture shows two well-dressed men slain over their spaghetti at an Italian restaurant in August 1933. Police officers at the time believed the hit had been organised by the mafia. Organised crime at the time still had a large hold over the city with the LA family of the American mafia reaching its peak strength in the 1940s and early 1950s under the reign of Jack Dragna. Dragna was an early influential Los Angeles figure who rose to prominence through bootlegging, political, and gambling endeavors

This photograph captures the chilling scene after a middle-aged man had his throat slashed while he was in his vehicle. The incident took place on March 11, 1929, in Los Angeles. During that time, crime was at a high as the backwater town transformed itself into a gleaming city following the First World War. But as thousands flocked to the area to enjoy their dreams and desires, it meant more crime for the officers to investigate

Also appearing in the police department's collection was a selection of crime scene photos (pictured, his office) from the Hollywood Hills home of legendary comedian Lenny Bruce following his overdose in 1966 - aged 40. The comic was found on the floor of his bathroom in his Los Angeles home. Bruce was an icon of the counter-culture and heralded a new kind of comedy - the Rolling Stone magazine credit him as the third best stand-up comedian of all the time. He poked fun at war, religion, sex and politicians. He was often busted for his obscenity, and in 1962, he was arrested twice in Los Angeles but beat the charges. Still his sets were seen as too taboo for public airing at that time which meant the star soon faced financial struggle as clubs refused to book him - especially after the comic's 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial in New York. To ease the pain of his hard times, the talent turned to drugs (particularly heroin). Thirty-seven years after his death, the New York State gave the comic a posthumous pardon for his obscenity charge, the first in the history of the state

Family affair: The fascinating series also includes a later photograph from 1970 - which shows members of the Manson Family arriving for their arraignment. As members of Charles Manson's cult, several of the so-called Family committed murders at his request. In August 1969, Manson orchestrated a killing spree that saw members of Manson's hippie cult - Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten - invade homes in Los Angeles' upmarket Benedict Canyon and Los Feliz neighborhoods, brutally killing all inside. Among the nine victims was actress Sharon Tate, just 26 years old and eight months pregnant. At trial it emerged she had begged for the life of her unborn baby only to be stabbed and hung from a rafter. Other victims who died in Tate's Benedict Canyon home on the night of August 9, 1969, included hairdresser Jay Sebring, screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski, and coffee heiress Abigail Folger. Ahead of the horrific events, Manson was described as becoming increasingly paranoid, and devised a plan for what he believed would be a race war, named after the Beatles song Helter Skelter. Meanwhile, Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkle and Van Houten were all sentenced to death in April 1971. The sentences were later reduced to life in prison. Manson died in prison in 2017 aged 83.

Girl power! This image taken in 1968 is thought to show a group of women being trained with revolvers, as on the far left wall reads a sign saying: 'Night Combat'. The selection of females appear well dressed as they point their weapons towards the ground, seemingly waiting for an instruction from their superior. Los Angeles Police Department was the first to swear in a female officer, hiring Alice Wells in 1910. In the late 60s and earlier 70s, when this photo was taken, women were much more involved with the police as they were needed to serve undercover when dealing with prostitution and illegal drug sales. The public accepting the female presence was evident in the popularity of TV shows such as Policewoman and Get Christie Love

On her merry way! An LAPD officer can be seen in this photograph administrating a Standardized Field Sobriety Test to an seemingly tipsy woman on July 6, 1958. However it appears to not end well for the woman as she begins to stumble after being asked to walk in a straight line. Field sobriety tests, commonly referred to by officers as FSTs, are a series of exercises designed to test balance, coordination and the ability to do two things at once. They aim, in theory, to discover whether a person is sober enough to continue driving. Such tests can involve a one-leg-stand, a walk-and-turn, and alphabet recitation.

Robbery? At the time of this picture being taken on July 23, 1932, police believed this death to be a result of a jewellery store heist gone very wrong. The image illustrates the work of the officers as they stand away from the body and try to decipher what occurred. With blood trickling away from the lifeless body towards where the police appear to stand, the photograph shows the bloody horrors experienced by some of the people in Los Angeles during the early 20th century

A truck full: In this photograph, a vehicle is captured carrying a huge load of seized marijuana on October 11, 1935. Showing how times have changed, recreational use for the drug became legal for the city in January last year. The change in law began in 2016 when voters approved Proposition 64, which not only legalized recreational marijuana, but also made it easier for people with previous convictions for the drug to expunge their records. Los Angeles has also started giving those people with prior convictions and those from neighborhoods that were previously heavily targeted for marijuana-related arrests priority for licenses to start new marijuana businesses

In this eerie photograph, a victim can be seen discarded in a yard, lying face down. A Los Angeles police officer crouches down some distance away as he evaluates the situation. The man's body was discovered on July 13, 1930. In police records, the victim was recorded as John Doe - their real name was unfortunately unknown. John Doe is often used as a placeholder in legal documents when no information about the person is known. The usage can be traced as far back as the 14th century, although it is unclear why that name was picked or when

This sinister-looking photograph of a dead body illustrates a sparce room, with a single chair in shot, while the man lies next to it. It was taken on January 11, 1932. Many of these images come from Special Investigations Division - America's oldest crime lab, which was established in the 1920s. The collection includes everything from forensic shots of bank robbery notes through to morgue portraits, crime scene images and crime re-enactment stills.
Michel Barnier today warned that the EU will not sign off any Brexit delays unless MPs can agree on a way forward.

The bloc's chief negotiator insisted an extension to Article 50 will only be approved if there is a 'stable majority' in Parliament for how to proceed.

He also delivered a tough message on the 39billion divorce bill - saying the UK will still have to pay up even if there is no deal.

The intervention from Mr Barnier could throw an obstacle in the way of Remainer MPs who have been plotting to force the government to push back the Brexit date.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted an extension to Article 50 will only be approved if there is a 'stable majority' in Parliament for how to proceed

A cross-party scheme headed by Labour's Yvette Cooper would seize control of Parliamentary business from the government in a bid to pass laws ordering an extension of Article 50.

However, Mr Barnier pointed out that any such delay would need to be unanimously by the 27 ongoing member states.

'If Britain asks for an extension, it has to be approved by EU leaders,' he said in a round of interviews with European newspapers.

'They will only agree if three questions are answered: first and second, why and how long?

''And third, will not that be a problem for holding the EU elections in May? I have no clear legal answer to the third question yet. It is important that the EU's democratic processes are not disturbed by this, however.

Theresa May is facing another devastating blow to her Brexit strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal

'The first two questions are complex and interconnected: it needs a stable majority in London for all laws related to Brexit that need to be adopted. This will need time.'

Mr Barnier also dismissed claims from Brexiteers that the UK could withhold the 39billion divorce settlement if it leaves with no deal.

'For the EU budget, we've always said one simple thing: the totality of the commitments made by the United Kingdom while still an EU member will be respected,' the senior EU official said, according to Le Monde.

'It will be more difficult to make them respect them in the case of a 'no deal', but we will continue to insist: These commitments are legally binding under international law and I can not imagine that Britain would not respect its commitments.'
A German man has sued a town for discrimination over 'female-only' parking spots which were set up after a woman was raped nearby.

Dominik Bayer said the car parks in the town of Eichstatt in Bavaria discriminated against men.

The signs indicating the parking spots were also prejudiced against women because they suggested females could not look after themselves, he said.

A German man has sued a town for discrimination over female parking spots (file photo) which were set up after a woman was raped nearby. The sign reads: 'Only for women'

But town officials said the signs were only a suggestion and that men would not be punished for parking there, N-TV reported.

The parking spaces were set up in well-lit areas after a woman was raped in the town in 2016.

The town's legal officer Hans Bittl said the female parking spots were there 'on safety grounds'.

The signs were 'purely a suggestion' and a male driver could not be prosecuted for parking there, Mr Bittl said.

'It is statistically proven that more women are the victims of violent crime than men,' he said.

Dominik Bayer said the car parks in the town of Eichstatt (file photo) discriminated against men but officials said the signs were only advisory

The car park is near an old people's home, and younger women who work there often have to arrive early or leave late in the dark.

Germany's federal anti-discrimination agency has said that female parking spaces do not violate equality laws.

The ADAC, Germany's leading motorists' association, said on its website that the female spots are not a formal part of the highway code, having the same status as parent-and-child spaces.

Police could not intervene if a man parked there but the owner of the car park could ban a motorist from the site, they said.

Women-only parking spaces in car parks were usually well-lit, watched by CCTV cameras and near the exits, they said.
Natalie Morris (pictured above) may have been dancing near to the pool before the accident

A bride-to-be may have been dancing next to a swimming pool' when she slipped, banged her head and drowned in Bali after her boyfriend flew her to the paradise island to propose.

Natalie Morris, 29, was on a 10-day break with boyfriend Andrew Samuel, 30, when she was found face down in the pool at a luxury resort.

Andrew was planning to ask company executive Natalie to marry him on the holiday, and said they had the 'most perfect evening' before her tragic death.

An inquest heard she may have been dancing alone at the poolside when she slipped and hit her head causing her to fall unconscious into the pool.

The devoted couple had been out for the evening and returned to their private villa on the island of Lembongan where they had gin and tonics at the poolside.

Andrew went to bed leaving Natalie alone to have a cigarette on the decking of the private villa.

The inquest heard he woke at 5.30am the next morning to find Natalie face down in the pool wearing just a T-shirt.

He told the hearing: 'We were due to go to an island but there was a typhoon so we got a ferry across to Lembongan.

'We checked into the villa, it had a private pool. we were excited and jumped into the pool, having a chill out and relaxing.

'In the evening we went to watch the sunset and drove back to the villa on a moped and went out to eat.

'We returned to the villa and we were watching a DVD by the pool, having a few drinks. The fridge was stocked.'

Andrew said Natalie had a few Shandy-type drinks earlier in the day and a beer when they had their evening meal.

He said: 'We had some gin in the villa with some tonic. I don't know how many, it wasn't loads, it was a relaxed night in, not an excessive amount.

Natalie Morris (right) and partner Andrew Samuel (left) were set to go on holiday to Australia this year

'I wouldn't say she as drunk, we both had a few drinks, we were both sort of tipsy.

'It was really nice, we were in a picturesque villa looking over a white sandy beach - we were making plans for Natalie's 30th birthday.

'It was literally one of the most perfect evenings you could've had.'

The couple drank Bombay Sapphire gin which was a gift from another holidaymaker staying at the Secret Outlook resort.

Andrew said it was normal for him to go to bed first and he left Natalie sitting down on the decking by the pool having a cigarette.

Andrew (left) and Natalie (right) had been drinking together in the private villa before the accident

He said Natalie was 'not a great swimmer' but the 5ft-deep pool would not have caused her any issues.

A partly-smoked cigarette was found by the pool.

Cardiff Coroner Andrew Barkley asked Mr Samuel for his view about what happened.

He said: 'I think she was having a cigarette and got up from the chair, possibly having a dance.

The couple (pictured together left) were on the trip in Bali and Andrew had planned to propose to Natalie (right)

'I assume she must have been at the side of the pool when she slipped and hit her head.

'If she was conscious she would have been able to stand up in the pool.'

The inquest, in Pontypridd, heard Andrew jumped into the water to drag Natalie's lifeless body to the poolside where he gave CPR.

Emergency services were called but Natalie was pronounced dead on September 3 last year.

The inquest heard the couple had been sitting on decking that was about six foot from the pool.

There was outdoor lighting and the private pool and garden were securely locked with a ten foot wall surrounding it.

A post mortem examination carried out by the Indonesian authorities discovered she had an minor blunt injury to the left side of her head.

It also revealed Natalie was 'marginally' over the drink-drive limit.

Natalie and Andrew (pictured above) spent many months planning the dream trip to Bali and were hoping to visit Australia together this year

Natalie's body was flown home but a full autopsy could not be carried out because she had been embalmed.

Pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbetter said: 'Death was due to immersion but I am not able to determine the precise reason for Miss Morris entering the pool or her inability to remove herself from the water.'

Natalie and Andrew spent many months planning the dream trip to Bali and were hoping to visit Australia together this year.

Her older sister Janine Lloyd told the hearing in a written statement: 'Natalie had a sparking personality, she was a lovely, special girl.

'She met Andrew in 2014 and he was the love of her life. They brought out the best in each other.

'She was at her peak before her death. She was a light that shone so brightly, it seemed impossible it would go out. She will never be forgotten.'

Coroner Mr Barkley recorded a narrative verdict that Natalie drowned in circumstances that were unclear on September 3 last year.

He said: 'The evidence does not reveal how she entered the water.

'Natalie was well-loved and in the prime of her life and was enjoying an exciting holiday Bali.

'She and her boyfriend were staying at a private villa, some drink had been consumed, both were a bit tipsy.

'Mr Samuel went to bed leaving Natalie watching TV. He woke to make the awful discovery of her face down in the pool.

'The evidence does not tell us how she got into the pool, the post mortem did show she had a slight head injury, but nothing like a fractured skull.

'That injury may be consistent with the hypothesis Mr Samuel has given to the court today.

'There was alcohol on board, there is no criticism of that, she would have been marginally above the limit for driving..

'There is nothing else that could explain what happened and no involvement of a third party.'
McDonald's has apologised to China after net users in the nation accused the fast-food company of supporting Taiwan independence in its latest advertisement.

The television commercial for its Egg McMuffin, first aired in Taiwan on January 6, shows a two-second clip of a student's identity card that showed Taiwan as a country.

Comments on Chinese social media on Monday accused McDonald's of violating Chinese law by supporting independence for Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

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McDonald's has apologised to China after net users accused the fast-food company of supporting Taiwan independence in its latest advertisement (above)

McDonald's television commercial for its Egg McMuffin, first aired in Taiwan on January 6, shows a two-second clip of a student's identity card that showed Taiwan as a country

Some called for a boycott of the restaurant chain. Others said McDonald's, whose mainland franchises are owned by a group that includes the Chinese Cabinet's investment arm, should be expelled from China.

'McDonald's this is what you want to do? Help Taiwan independence?' said a posting on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

'What is Taiwan? It's a province! The girl's nationality should be China,' another comment read.

McDonald's China apologised on Weibo on Saturday, saying the ad was directed by a Taiwanese agency and the commercial had been removed.

McDonald's China apologised on Weibo on Saturday, saying the ad was directed by a Taiwanese agency and the commercial has been removed

'The advertising agency failed to carry out strict background checks on the video and caused a misunderstanding. We deeply regret this,' read the comment under a Global Times report on the incident.

'We have always supported the one-China policy and we are determined to continue to uphold China's sovereignty and territorial integrity,' the statement added.

Taiwan is a self-governing democratic island that Beijing considers to be a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Beijing has adopted a multi-pronged approach to diminish Taiwan's presence on the international stage in recent years, including blocking it from global forums and poaching its dwindling number of official diplomatic allies.

A McDonald's in Yichang, Hubei province. The fast-food company has apologised for the ad

Taiwan's independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen has made national defense a priority while refusing China's demand that she recognise Taiwan as a part of China.

That has led to Beijing ratcheting up economic, military and diplomatic pressure on the island of 23 million. China has also pressured international corporations such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and the Marriott hotel chain to remove all references to Taiwan as a non-Chinese territory on their websites.

Last October, tens of thousands of Taiwan independence campaigners took to the streets in the first large-scale protest calling for an outright independence vote since the island first became a democracy more than 20 years ago.
The company, best known for its vacuum cleaners , is moving its headquarters out of the UK and to Singapore (file pic of James Dyson)

Business Minister Claire Perry today lashed 'Brexit poster child' James Dyson for shifting his HQ to Singapore - saying the move looks 'terrible'.

She accused the vacuum cleaner tycoon of transferring his operations to take advantage of Singapore's trade deal with the EU.

Fury is growing over the shock move with critics accusing Sir James - who was one of Brexit's most vocal backers - of 'rank hypocrisy'.

There are signs of a business exodus over Brexit as Sony announced it is moving its HQ out of the UK and P&O ferries re-registering ships under the Cyprus fag.

Ms Perry told the BBC's Politics Live: 'I think the optics are terrible. This was one of the great poster children the Brexiteers trot out...

'The problem I have with it is.. when HQs move you generally move the intellectual property, the R&D focus of the company.

'And it's quite clear they are moving to Singapore because they are taking advantage of the trade deal Singapore has with the EU, and also one of the fastest growing markets is of course electric vehicles in the Far East.

'It's not a disaster, it's not great. I'm disappointed to see them go.'

Ferry giant P&O has been based in Britain since the 1820s, but company bosses said it will be re-flagged so it can still benefit from EU tax arrangements.

While Sony announced it is shifting its European headquarters from Britain to the Netherlands to avoid Brexit-related customs issues.

It comes after billionaire Brexit-backing vacuum tycoon Sir James Dyson sparked fury by announcing he is relocating his HQ to Singapore.

A P&O spokesman said: 'In advance of Britain leaving the European Union on March 29 2019, we undertook a review of the flag status of our ships on the English Channel.

Business Minister Claire Perry (pictured today on the BBC) lashed 'Brexit poster child' James Dyson for shifting his HQ to Singapore - saying the move looks 'terrible'

'For operational and accounting reasons, we have concluded that the best course of action is to reflag all ships to be under the Cyprus flag.'

He said the Cyprus flag is on the 'white list' of both the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding.

This means it will result in fewer inspections and delays and 'significantly more favourable' tax arrangements

He added: 'We have no plans to make any other changes, including the terms and conditions of any of our seafarers, as a result of the new arrangements.'

The company had already re-registered two of its ships to Cyprus last month

The RMT trade union has previously described P&O's reflagging of UK ships as 'pure opportunism'.

The union claims the firm's 'long-term aim has always been to switch the UK fleet to a tax haven register'.

British ferry giant P&O will re-register its ships under the Cyprus flag to avoid extra checks after Brexit (pictured, a P&O ship)

P&O has six UK-registered ships operating on the busy English Channel route to France.

All commercial ships have to be registered, or flagged, with a country partly to comply with safety and environmental regulations.

It could be a blow to the Government's attempts to buy up ship space to ensure vital goods - like drugs and medical equipment - can get to Britain if there is a no deal Brexit.

The announcement came just hours after Dyson declared that it is moving its headquarters to Singapore.

The vacuum cleaner firm insisted the decision has nothing to do with Brexit or trying to take advantage of lower taxes.

Instead they said that the electronics firm wants to be nearer the expanding Asian markets.

But the decision was blasted by campaigners and MPs, who accused Sir James of 'staggering hypocrisy'.

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran blasted the move, saying: 'James Dyson can say whatever he wants but he is ditching Britain.

'This can only be seen is a vote of no confidence in the idea of Brexit Britain.'
This is the adorable moment a newborn polar bear takes itsfirst steps under the watchful eye of its loving mother.

The eight-week-old cub was born in Tierpark Berlin zoo, much to the delight of zookeepers and visitors in the German capital.

The zoo has shared footage of the polar bear cub lying next to his mother, nine-year-old Tonja.

Tonja, the nine-year-old polar bear mother, can be seen snuggling with her eight-week-old cub

As Tonja looked on, the cub is seen trying to stand on all fours and take its first few steps.

Zoo director Dr Andreas Knieriem said: 'The first walking attempts are still visibly difficult but the polar bear cub takes its time. In spring, it should be strong enough to follow his mother around the grounds.

'The cub needs rest and zero stress in order for Tonja to nurse it to full strength as the infant mortality rate with polar bears is high. The first veterinary check is planned for February, when the cub's gender will also be known.'

The young cub manages to get to its feet and walks over to his mother, who lovingly tries to give her offspring a hub

Zookeepers in Berlin are all too aware of the potential risks facing the young cub as Tonja has lost her two previous babies

Zookeepers in Berlin are all too aware of the potential risks facing the young cub as Tonja has lost her two previous babies. The zoo has been hopeful for some positive news for the polar bear cubs since the world-famous polar bear Knut passed away.

Knut, who lived at the city's other animal park Zoologischer Garten, was rejected by his mother at birth and raised by zookeeper Thomas Doerflein. Doerflein took care for him in his flat, feeding him from a bottle and playing with him.

Pictures of the cute polar bear cub and his caring keeper were a hit across the globe. At the age of four, Knut suffered a seizure, collapsed and died on 19th March 2011 in his enclosure.
















Get the book on John Summers HERE. This is a story of evil and profound injustice in the legal community. Explore demonic minds in the legal community that include judges.

My fellow human beings, lets talk about this so-called Mandela Effect.

The Mandela Effect has not only been linked to all kinds of divergent experiences of pop culture like logos, but nowadays to changes in geography, histories like the JFK assassination and even to apparent changes in family members.

But, what if you were able to notice that one of your family members seemed to be in the process of being replaced by a different person as it began to happen in some kind of transition to a new alternative reality? In this new alternative reality the Statute of Liberty is on Liberty Island instead Ellis Island where it ought to be situated for having had an historical role the welcoming new of immigrants to the shores of America. In this reality instead of simply Starbucks there is Starbucks Coffee among many other well-documented discrepancies.

Have you been wondering what the Mandela Effect is all about, and who might be able to provide some critical insights on it?

If so, you might wish to consider asking one particular Ottawa lawyer. This very bright and clever lawyer is John Summers and he represents Bell Baker LLP.

You see, when Horace Carby-Samuels and his wife Dezrin began to experience what we now appreciate as the Mandela Effect, his son worked to countervail its efforts to change through various naturopathic treatments -- And it was working!

This somehow caught the attention of a Group who hired John Summers to pose as Horaces lawyer to fabricate court documents that Raymond suffered from mental illness in order to instigate the severing of contact with his parents.

Mr Summers paymasters apparently wanted the experiments against the Ottawa couple to continue without Raymonds interference as part of Mandela Effect testing before expediting the Effect to the much wider population that we observe today regarding documented experiences of changes to family members.

Mr. Summers used his apparent connections with operatives to prevent Dezrin from seeing her son since 12 June 2015 in order to enable the Mandela Effect to continue. Dezrin essentially became a Mandela Effect guinea pig.

This would have not occurred if Dezrin was able to talk, walk and write. However, it became apparent that the paymasters for John Summers did not see it in their interest Raymonds effort to protect the well-being of his parents.

After the paymasters of John Summers orchestrated an eviction against Dezrins son, this poor woman lost her ability to talk, walk and write under apparent medical experiments associated with Mandela Effect intelligent design.

It is apparent that the Mandela Effect is the product of apparent intelligent design which began to be expedited in January 2013 with the help of the data from this couple associated with the work of the late Dr. Jerry Tenenbaum against Dezrin.

When Dezrin began to experience apparent symptoms of the Mandela Effect, she had been pushed to Dr. Tenenbaum who for years collected data but sought to provide no kind of treatment which would improve Dezrins condition.

Dr. Tenenbaums operatives got furious when Dezrins condition began to substantively improve as a result of Raymonds intervention.

Since that time, Mr. Summers with the apparent support of a rich Third Party has sought to use lies to continue to prevent Raymond from rescuing his parents from an apparent effort exploit an elderly Ottawa couple.

When Raymond asked Mr. Summers who is paying his Retainer that he actually works for because his father in no way could afford to pay for years a more than $300/hr lawyer, Mr Summers refused to disclose his paymaster.

Mr Summers and his paymasters without any written endorsement by this Ottawa couple was even able to simply reply on an Affidavit supplied by Gorette Cleroux, his very own secretary, to pursue a new claim against Raymond as being a Vexatious Litigant simply because Raymond sought to verify the well-being of his own Mother. Dezrin had suffered profound abuse thanks to the efforts of Ottawa Police Detective Robert Griffin Jr who conspired in Raymonds illegal eviction that was then enforced by the court presented lies of Mr. Summers.

It is apparent that finding out who is actually paying Mr Summers retainer bills as part of an apparent extensive collusion may be key to appreciating the involvement of apparent Archons in prevailing Mandela Effects.

It was the ancient Pagan Gnostics who sought to warn humanity about the Archons as the humanized face of a demonic alien artificial intelligence. The Pagan Gnostics simply referred to this threat as artificial man in texts that Christian elites under the influence by these demons would seek to cover-up.

It is therefore no apparent coincidence that when Horace sought to warn everyone during his apparent Mandela Effect experience that his apparent warnings were related to the Fallen Angels which the Pagan Gnostics link to artificial man.

However, it is notable that the clever activities of Mr. John Summers to manipulate the Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa designed to perpetuate a Mandela Effect against an Ottawa couple who needed assistance from their son wouldnt have been successful if it was not reinforced by the corrupt activities of an apparent clandestine University of Ottawa alumni network which apparently includes Ottawa Judges and the Office of the Chief of Police.

Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau shares a past University of Ottawa affiliation to an apparent clique that has brutally victimized Dezrin in order to apparently reinforce Mandela Effect related experiments against her.

Judges who were not graduates of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa at the Superior Court if Ottawa all supported Raymonds efforts to get the support that Dezrin has sought from her Raymond. In contrast, Justices McNamara, Corthorn and Roger who are all University of Ottawa Faculty of Law alumni, all sought to play their apparent roles in a Mandela Effect against Dezrin.

Horace had begun to experience a rather violent alien presence seeking to override his human matrix with an alternative persona starting from January 2013. At the end January 2013, the apparent alien presence of Horace took out a kitchen knife and held it to Raymonds stomach after Raymond expressed concern to Horace for having witnessed his Mother being abused by him. As a result of trying to prevent himself from being stabbed, Raymond was sent to the Emergency Room as a result of his finger nearly being severed-off as a result of this violent act.

The alternative persona of Horace was violent and fixated on making humanity members of a Bio-Electrical Union as Horace began to rant about in his writings.

A spiritual medium in Ottawa alleged that Horace was taken over by reptilian entity that sought to experience a human body. This spiritual medium also alleged that Marcella Carby-Samuels (who conspired with John Summers in perpetuating Raymond eviction against the explicit demands of Dezrin to see her son) was also taken over by the same entities. Marcella also began to betray extremely violent tendencies in efforts to enforce apparent medical experiments against Dezrin.

Indeed, more and more families have reported loved ones being replaced by characters with a different recalling of family memories.

Horace who had previously described his encounters with aliens through out of body experiences began to warn his son and anyone who he thought would listen about an imminent Extraterrestrial threat against Earth and humanity.

As Horace began to be taken over more and more, his true human identity could no longer make the same warnings against Archons.

Its becoming more and more apparent that Ottawa lawyer John Summers may be a key link into appreciating organized elite complicity in the Mandela Effect.

There seems to be more and more representations these days coming out about how an alleged Mandela Effect is creating rifts among family members. That is to say, it seems that family members from the real Earth are being foisted on identically appearing family members in this new or simulated Earth, and who have a different recalling of past associations. The Mandela Effect traces its name from divergent experiences of when Nelson Mandela had actually died among people and ensuing discrepancies in experiences among people of material reality as suggesting evidence of human experiences of alternative realities.

More and more people are noticing that some family members seem to be changing into different people right before their eyes which naturally is causing alarm among those people who are referring to this phenomenon as a Mandela Effect.

The role and relationship of Mr. Summers with well-financed paymasters suggests that the Mandela Effect supports an orchestrated elite agenda.

Horaces hysterical fears against aliens and the Fallen Angels in his spiritual struggles against the Mandela Effect suggest that it is part of an agenda that is alien and that is linked to a lower and cross-dimensional artificial intelligence referred to by the ancient Pagan Gnostics as the Archons.

Whether or not damage caused by the Mandela Effect can be reversed to enable the reuniting of family members may very well depend of humanity discovering the role John Summers and his paymasters against the activities of an Ottawa couple.
A German man has been arrested after he was caught on camera stealing a British holidaymaker's suitcase from an airport baggage carousel in Thailand.

Michael Joerg, 39, was seen on CCTV lifting the woman's black medium-sized case onto his trolley before wheeling it away at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

The victim told airport staff that her case was missing and they identified the thief from surveillance cameras. He left the airport in a taxi and an arrest warrant was issued.

Joerg was finally detained after he tried to leave the country through a border checkpoint in Trat, southern Thailand on Saturday afternoon more than a month after the original crime, which took place on December 13.

German tourist Michael Joerg has been arrested after he was caught on camera (in the blue shirt) stealing a British holidaymaker's suitcase from an airport baggage carousel

Michael Joerg (in the blue shirt), 39, was seen on CCTV lifting the woman's black medium-sized case onto his trolley before wheeling it away at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand

Officials detained the German and he was driven back to the airport where he confessed to making off with the British woman's suitcase.

He told police that he had performed the same theft several times before and would 'sell the valuables and keep the money'.

He said: 'This is the first time that I have been caught. I have stolen suitcases before and then left and re-entered the country to do it again.'

Joerg told police he had always targeted dark suitcases that were hard to identify.

Police believe that is how he had evaded capture in the past, as victims watching back CCTV had been unable to pin-point their luggage being taken.

The German now faces charges of 'stealing from an airport' which is punishable with a prison term of between one year and five years and/or a fine of between 20,000 baht (485) and 100,000 baht (2,420).

The victim told airport staff that her case was missing and they identified the thief from surveillance cameras. He left the airport in a taxi and an arrest warrant was issued

After being arrested, Joerg told police he had always targeted dark suitcases that were hard to identify. He is pictured wheeling the British tourist's suitcase out of Bangkok airport

Joerg was finally detained after he tried to leave the country through a border checkpoint in Trat, southern Thailand on Saturday afternoon more than a month after the original crime, which took place on December 13. Thai video shows him (right) speaking to officials

Airport boss Kittipong Kittikachorn said: 'The victim had informed the inquiry officer Suvarnabhumi Airport Police Station that she arrived on a Qatar Airways flight but it turned out that no luggage was found at the luggage belt.

'The special operations centre together with the security department and the police inspected the CCTV cameras and detected the suspect as a foreigner who was seen picking up the bag.

'The suspect admitted the theft and revealed he had done the same crime in the past but had not been caught.'
A teenage girl has been left seriously injured after she was run over by a bus while trying to escape being harassed by a drunk Afghan refugee in Germany.

The girl, 17, was waiting at a bus terminal in Minden, 45 miles from Hanover, with her 14-year-old friend around 9pm on Saturday when the 22-year-old man approached.

The man repeatedly harassed the 17-year-old so she and her friend fled towards a nearby bus, and the 41-year-old driver opened the doors to let them on.

The 17-year-old and her friend were waiting at this bus terminal in Minden, Germany, when they were repeatedly harassed by a 22-year-old Afghan refugee

But the refugee and his companion, 21, jumped on board the bus - which had started moving - and dragged the girl off by her hair, Junge Freiheit reports.

The girl slipped and fell into the road as she was dragged off the bus, causing it to roll over her legs, leaving her with serious injuries according to Behoerdenstress.

Passersby rushed to help the girl while the bus driver chased after the two men, hoping to take a picture of them.

But as he ran after the pair, the 21-year-old slapped him in the face.

The girl ran to get on a bus to escape the man, who then pulled her off by her hair, causing her to fall under the wheels and seriously hurt her legs (pictured, the town of Minden)

Police and ambulance crews arrived a short time later, and the 17-year-old was taken to hospital where she is recovering.

Officers arrested the 22-year-old at the scene and found the 21-year-old a short time later. Both men were found to be drunk.

The 22-year-old was charged with assault and brought before a district court the following day, while his companion was allowed to go after sobering up.

Junge Freiheit describes the second man as being of 'non-German origin', though it is not clear where he is from.
A man charged with kidnapping a 23-year-old woman in Boston was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation after sobbing and muttering to himself during his arraignment this afternoon.

Victor Pena had a not guilty plea entered on his behalf and was ordered held without bail. The 38-year-old was arrested Tuesday after police found Olivia Ambrose alive inside his apartment in the Charlestown neighborhood.

Court documents say that when police entered Penas home Tuesday, Ambrose was crying and had a 'horrified look on her face.'

Ambrose told a detective 'she was being held against her will,' and that Pena took her phone and 'refused to let her leave the apartment for the entire time she was held there,' according to the filings.

Boston Police Commissioner William Gross says Pena could face additional charges, based on Ambrose's interview with detectives.

He is due back in court on February 11.

Victor Pena, left, is arraigned on kidnapping charges at the Charlestown Division of the Boston Municipal Court in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Wednesday

Pena was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles, and wearing a white jumpsuit

Wearing a white jumpsuit, and with his wrists cuffed and ankles shackled, Pena was overheated crying and talking quietly to himself at the Charlestown Division of the Boston Municipal Court in Charlestown, reported The Boston Globe.

Court psychologist Jodie Shapiro, who examined Pena after his arrest, told the judge the suspect acted in a 'bizarre' manner during their interview, including sucking his thumb and praying for forgiveness.

Shapiro said Pena told her he was having paranoid thoughts and hearing voices, and purported to have no understanding of what was happening.

The psychologist said that while Pena appeared to show signs of mental illness, she suggested it was possible he was playing up some of the symptoms.

He was heard sobbing and muttering to himself before a judge ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation

A court psychologist who examined Pena said he acted in a 'bizarre' manner during their conversation, including sucking his thumb and praying for forgiveness

Boston police on Tuesday charged Pena (left) with kidnapping in the Saturday abduction of 23-year-old Olivia Ambrose (right)

Pena's older brother, Jose, told the Globe his sibling is mentally challenged as a result of a medical procedure performed on him aged seven, during which his brain was deprived of oxygen.

Jose said that based on his brother's version of events, which he relayed to him in a phone call from jail, Victor did not kidnap Ambrose.

According to the paper, Victor told his older brother that he met the 23-year-old woman Saturday, and that she went with him willingly and spent the night at his home.

The next morning, Ambrose allegedly told Victor she was afraid her father would be angry with her and decided to stay in his apartment.

Jose said Victor told him Ambrose busied herself by cleaning his cluttered apartment.

The paper also revealed that Victor does not have a job and lives off Social Security payments because he is mentally disabled.

He has a son from a previous relationship, but he has played no role in the child's upbringing, according to the boy's mother, who told the Globe Pena had never been violent.

Ambrose was found on Tuesday inside Pena's apartment. He is the same man seen in photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com who led an intoxicated Ambrose out of a subway station

Video courtesy of Boston Globe.

Ambrose's mother, Heather Ambrose, was relieved to have her daughter home.

'We are beyond happy to have Liviy home,' she said on Good Morning America. 'We're grateful and we know that many times the outcome isn't this.'

Pena is pictured in a booking photo taken in Rhode Island last year when he was arrested for allegedly cheating in a casino

The woman's mother told NBC10 Boston that her daughter is 'very strong,' before adding: 'it's going to be a process, but she's OK.'

Several friends and neighbors said they feared the worst after Olivia's disappearance and were overjoyed that she beat the odds and came home alive.

'The Ambrose family is so grateful for the monumental efforts of the Boston Police Department and the MBTA and Transit police who have worked tirelessly over the last three days to bring Olivia home,' a spokesperson for the family said in a statement. 'The Ambrose family is also so appreciative of all the efforts, prayers and good wishes of their friends, family and complete strangers who have helped in the efforts to find Olivia.'

Ambrose was last seen near Hennessy's around 11pm on Saturday, where she had been with her twin sister, Francesca, and friends.

Police say surveillance footage captured Pena holding Ambrose later that night, and they say it was clear 'she did not go along willingly.'

According to Gross, Ambrose appeared to be in good health on Tuesday. She was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for a medical evaluation before her family took her home.

Olivia's mother Heather Ambrose (left) was overjoyed and relieved to her her home safe. Her twin sister, Francesca (right) was also frantic with worry

Ambrose is a college graduate who had just moved to Boston's Jamaica Plain area after taking a job with a software company

Police said they still do not have a motive for the woman's kidnapping.

Pena is scheduled to be arraigned sometime Wednesday.

Olivia had last been seen at Hennessy's bar (pictured) on Saturday night

Ambrose is a college graduate who moved to the Jamaica Plain neighborhood only a week ago after taking a job with a software company, according to her family.

Police located Ambrose and Pena in the city's Charlestown neighborhood on Tuesday, after spotted her in the surveillance footage at the subway. When they visited his home, he willingly opened his door and police found Ambrose standing there in good health.

Pena is the same man seen in photos obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com who led an intoxicated Ambrose out a subway station after she was approached by him and another man outside of the bar on Saturday night.

Pena and the other man were observed asking Ambrose to walk with them in the area of Congress and State Streets near Boston's City Hall.

One of the men appears to walk ahead while Pena 'places his arm around Ambrose and directs her toward the State Street MBTA station.'

Pena has a history of run-ins with the law going back 15 years, according to reports

In 2009, a woman filed a complaint with police alleging that Pena was stalking her on the T, which is Boston's subway and light rail system

Twenty minutes later Pena still has his arm wrapped around the petite, 5-foot-2 blue-eyed brunette as they exit at the Bunker Hill Community MBTA station, Boston police officials said.

At that time the second man is no longer seen.

Then at 12:13am, Ambrose and Pena are picked up by surveillance video walking toward Bartlett Street in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.

Ambrose's cell phone then pinged in the notorious Bunker Hill Housing Development.

Charlestown is over a mile away from the Irish pub where Ambrose was last seen on Saturday night.

Her mother said Ambrose (second from left) is 'strong' and will be OK after the harrowing ordeal

Police said Olivia had left the bar with another man but they determined that he was not connected with her disappearance after he was put in a cab by his friends.

Pena has a history of run-ins with the law, according to WCVB-TV.

In 2009, a woman filed a complaint with police alleging that Pena was stalking her on the T, which is Boston's subway and light rail system.

Two other women also complained about Pena's behavior, WCVB-TV reported, but no charges were ever filed.

Pena has also been found to have violated restraining orders in 2008 and 2014, the television station reported.

Those charges, however, were eventually dismissed.

WPRI reported that he was arrested last summer at Twin River Casino in Lincoln on charges of cheating and obtaining money under false pretenses. That case is still pending.

In 2004, Pena was arrested and charged with assault, but that charge was dropped after he successfully met pre-trial probation requirements.
The Spanish government has been slammed by experts for letting Cristiano Ronaldo off with a better sentencing deal for tax fraud than fellow offending footballer Lionel Messi.

Juventus star Ronaldo admitted tax fraud at a court in Madrid yesterday and was fined 18.8million (16.5million) after an agreement with prosecutors.

His suspended jail sentence was converted to a further fine - unlike Messi's - and experts at Spain's Treasury department believe his fine could have been up to six times greater.

Members of the Syndicate of Technicians of the Treasury Department (GESTHA) said Ronaldo's fraud was 'much more serious' than that of his former La Liga rival Messi.

Cristiano Ronaldo, pictured arriving at court in Madrid yesterday with his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, was handed a huge fine for tax fraud

Ronaldo's prison sentence was reduced to a fine - although he was never expected to serve it - while Messi was left with a suspended 21-month jail term on his record.

However the Portugal forward had cheated Spanish tax authorities out of three times more money than Messi, the experts claimed.

They are unhappy that the deal with the Treasury saw him avoid paying an extra 5.7million (5million), Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported.

'The cooperators in the Portuguese's crimes have not not been condemned, when the father of the Argentinian was convicted,' they argued.

They also pointed out that after reforms to the penal code in 2013, Ronaldo's offences were 'aggravated crimes' whilst Messi's were 'fiscal offences'.

Barcelona forward Messi was found guilty in 2016, together with his father Jorge, of cheating tax authorities out of 4.1million (3.6million).

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, pictured in action last month, was found guilty together with his father of cheating the Spanish taxman out of 4.1million (3.6million)

Both men were fined and made a 'corrective payment' to return the unpaid taxes but a 21-month prison sentence for the player was upheld by the supreme court.

Neither Messi nor Ronaldo was ever expected to serve any time behind bars as sentences of less than two years are rarely enforced for first-time offenders.

Ronaldo was accused of having used shell companies outside Spain to hide income made from image rights.

The taxman initially alleged he had defrauded 14.7million euros (12.8million) - triple what Messi was convicted of - but confirmed on Friday that the charge was just over 5.7million (5.0million).

He made the deal to plead guilty with Spains state prosecutor and tax authorities last year.

Yesterday he attended court with his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez as the plea deal was confirmed.
The Home Office is refusing to let an elderly couple stay in the UK and is forcing the pair to 'live the rest of their days' away from their family and return to Iran, despite a petition for the pair having raised 90,000 signatures.

Mozaffar Saberi, 83, and Rezvan Habibimarand, 73, could be separated from their four British children, 11 grandchildren and a great grandchild if the Home Office refuses a human rights application to stay in the country.

The couple have made repeated applications to remain in the UK since 2013, however the Home Office has refused all of them and their final appeal to stay in their home in Edinburgh, which they purchased in 1978, is due to be heard in the coming weeks.

Tanya Kinnear, who started the petition and is one of the grandchildren of the couple said: 'The Home Office is trying to deport my 83-year-old great-grandfather and 73-year-old grandmother to Iran - despite their children, grandchildren and great grandchild being in the UK.

Rezvan Habibimarand (left) and Mozaffar Saberi (right) have sent many applications to the Home Office since 2013

'Our close-knit family family is distraught at the prospect that they may live the rest of their days away from us.

'When they applied for the right to remain in the UK on human rights grounds, to watch their grandchildren and great grandchild grow up, as well as to be an emotional support for my cousin, the Home Office declined and said that they must return to Iran.'

The great grandfather and great grandmother live close to their family and depend heavily on their support.

Navid Saberi, the couple's son, said: 'With no exaggeration, sending them back to Iran would be a death sentence. The day-to-day help and support my siblings and I give our parents isn't available to be purchased in Iran, even if we could somehow get the necessary money into the country  which is not at all guaranteed because of the sanctions.

'The distress of having to live alone would mean my parents' end would come very soon.'

The couple also act as co-parents to one of their grandchildren who suffers from severe autism and requires constant supervision. Without their assistant his mother, a single parent, would not be able to continue in her role as a nurse within the NHS.

If the autistic teenager is separated from his grandparents it would be detrimental to both him and his mother, according to a chartered psychologist who has written a report provided to the Home Office.

Mozaffar Saberi and Rezvan Habibimarand (7th and 8th from right) and son Navid Saberi (second left) posing for a wedding photo of one of their grandchildren

On the petition page 73-year-old Habibimarand says: 'Going back to Iran would be the end for us. We have so many illnesses that it would not just be physically the end for us, because there is not the level of healthcare we need in Iran, but emotionally the end too: there's no one in Iran for us to go back to.'

Despite the couple having raised their children in the UK, they never sought British citizenship.

However when they first entered the UK they came as visitors and made a human rights claim to remain, due to this it is likely that they would be denied a visa for future visits.

John Vassiliou, a partner at McGill & Co Solicitors, said: 'The Home Office does not give any weight to the relationships with their adult children and contrary to the conclusions of the independent expert, and without so much as an interview with any member of the family, took the view that their autistic grandson could adapt to their absence.

'They also said that the child's mother 'can seek assistance from social services who can provide specialist care for her son'. It seems that the Home Office would prefer that someone quit their job and resort to burdening the public purse rather than allowing the child's grandparents to stay and help out.

MP Ian Murray has raised the case of the couple at the Council of Europe and tweeted his support

'The consequence is that they would be unable to see their family again unless the family all travelled to Iran to see them. 'That comes with its own problems, especially for their autistic grandson.'

Before Prime Minister Theresa May made sweeping changes to immigration policy in 2012, an adult relative's acute need of emotional, physical or even financial support from their UK children would have warranted them being granted a visa.

However the new rules to reduce net migration included a tightening of the 'adult dependent relative' rule, which now makes it more difficult for a British citizen or settled person to bring their adult parents to the UK with them.

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured above) made changes to the immigration policy in 2012 tightening the 'adult independent relative rule'

'The criteria that has to be satisfied are so severe that I have yet to meet anyone who has been able to meet them', Mr Vassiliou said.

The latest appeal is based on the claim that the Home Office has not taken into consideration the best interests of the autistic child and that it has not conversed with the family.

Despite not having spoken to the family, the Home Office has found grounds for refusal by equating the couple's ill health due to old age with an inability to act as co-parent to the child. This has spurred on the petition and MPs from across the country have signaled their support to the family.

MSP Alex Neil said that the case of Mozaffar Saberi and Rezvan Habibimarand was another 'Home Office injustice'

Labour member of parliament for Edinburgh South, Ian Murray said: I have raised the case of my constituents - (83) and Rezvan Habibimarand (73) - at the Council of Europe. The couple have lived in Edinburgh for 40 years and now face deportation thanks to the callous hostile environment policy of this Government.'

This is while the wife of one of the couple's grandchildren tweeted: '@NicolaSturgeon please support us in our plight with the home office to prevent my wifes grand parents being sent back to Iran.'

Alex Neil, MSP for Airdrie & Shotts said: 'This is another Home Office injustice that must be overturned.'

The wives of one of the grandchildren of the couple tweeted out the petition and urged MPs to sign it

The refusal letter issued by the Home Office, Vassiliou said, makes 'bewildering statements', such as: 'It is noted that you own the house you reside in Edinburgh, therefore you could choose to allow your daughter and grandson to live there on your return to Iran, which then would not impact on your grandson as you claim he visits you there every day.'

Vassiliou added: 'In all of this, the government seems to have completely lost sight of the fact that these are two very elderly people with nobody in Iran, and with an entire family spanning three generations in the UK. It seems inhumane to us that such a matter is even up for debate.'

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: 'All UK visa applications are considered on their individual merits, on the basis of the evidence available and in line with UK immigration rules.'
Adam Crapser lives in limbo, a stranger in South Korea, the country of his birth.

Forcibly separated from his wife, children and friends in America, he is isolated by language and culture, left alone to navigate this sprawling city he's been expelled to four decades after being sent to adoptive parents in Michigan at age 3.

Crapser was abused and abandoned by two different sets of adoptive parents in the United States then deported after run-ins with the law because none of his guardians filed citizenship papers for him.

He told The Associated Press in an interview that he has struggled in South Korea with intense anxiety and depression, even as he searches for answers about why his life has become defined by displacement.

South Korean adoptee Adam Crapser was deported from the US four decades after his adoption by American parents

That search has led him to file a landmark lawsuit against South Korea's government and a private adoption agency, the Seoul-based Holt Children's Services, over what Crapser calls gross negligence regarding the way he and thousands of other Korean children were sent to the United States and other Western nations without accounting for their future citizenship.

The 200 million won ($177,000) civil suit, which was described exclusively to the AP ahead of its expected filing Thursday by Crapser's lawyers in a Seoul court, exposes a dark side of South Korean adoptions, which exploded as a business during the 1970s and '80s when many children were carelessly and unnecessarily removed from their families.

The country was then at the height of a so-called 'child export' frenzy pushed by military dictatorships that focused on economic growth and reducing the number of mouths to feed.

There was no stringent oversight of adoption agencies, which were infamous for aggressive child-gathering activities and fraudulent paperwork as they competed to send more children abroad at faster speeds.

Crapser's case also highlights the shaky legal status of possibly thousands of South Korean adoptees in the United States whose parents may have failed to get them citizenship.

Adam Crapser poses with daughter, Christal, 1, in the family's living room in Vancouver, Washington, on October 26, 2016

Crapser is suing the South Korean government and a private adoption agency over what he calls gross negligence

This potentially leaves them vulnerable to deportation if they acquire a criminal record in a country that's becoming increasingly aggressive about going after undocumented immigrants.

Crapser, who was named Shin Seong-hyeok by his Korean mother, is one of five adoptees who the Seoul government confirms now live in South Korea after being deported from the United States.

Several of the deportees have reportedly dealt with mental health issues and served jail time in South Korea for assault and other crimes.

Activists say the South Korean government has done a poor job tracking deported adoptees and that the real number is almost certainly larger. Officials wouldn't provide details about the other deportees.

In South Korea, human rights lawsuits against the government can drag on for years and are rarely successful because the burden of proof in non-criminal cases is entirely on the plaintiffs, who often lack information and resources.

Crapser, who was named Shin Seong-hyeok by his Korean mother, is one of five US adoptees who the Seoul government confirms now live in South Korea after deportation

Even if Crapser wins, the payout will likely be significantly smaller than what was demanded, considering past cases, according to Soh Rami, one of his lawyers.

Crapser said the amount of money is less important than forcing officials from Holt and the government into a courtroom to face questions of accountability. He said the government and Holt are responsible for failing to follow through on his adoption and ensuring that his American parents naturalized him.

Because he wasn't a citizen, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ordered him deported in November 2016 over criminal convictions, including unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.

His lawsuit will also attempt to hold Holt and the government accountable for supposedly fraudulent paperwork over his adoption status. Most South Korean adoptees, including Crapser, were documented as abandoned, even in cases where they had known parents or were simply lost, which made them easily adoptable under US laws.

He also seeks to hold the government responsible for allowing foreigners to adopt babies without actually visiting South Korea, which Crapser blames for screening failures that led to his adoption by abusive parents.

'It's a daily struggle to survive and to continue to want to push forward and want some justice and want some accountability and want some answers,' Crapser, now 43, told AP. 'For everything to fall apart and for everything to happen the way it has, most people wouldn't be alive here to talk.'

Kim Ho Hyun, Holt's president, said the agency followed the laws and procedures of the time and that it was mainly the responsibility of US parents and institutions to ensure that adoptees obtained citizenship.

Seong Chang-hyeon, an official from South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare, said the government is trying to improve welfare services for deported adoptees while also consulting with Washington over possible US legal changes that could prevent adoptee deportations.

Currently living in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Seoul, Crapser said the deportation has seriously strained his marriage and he often sinks into dark moods over his inability to be actively involved in the lives of his children.

He described the difficulties of being stuck in a country where he doesn't speak the language, including dismissive treatment at public offices and monthly visits to a psychiatrist who can't really speak English.

While he talked fondly about meeting with his Korean mother every few months, he also expressed frustration over what he sees as a social stigma against adoptees here. He has eight more years before he's eligible to return to the United States.

About 200,000 South Koreans were adopted overseas during the past six decades, the majority to American couples. More than 4,000 Korean children were sent abroad in 1979, the year Crapser arrived in the United States.

Agency board members with ties to the military dictators of the day were less worried about child welfare than maintaining a business that brought in as much as $20 million a year by some estimates, critics say.

Reached on the telephone, Crapser's birthmother, Kwon Pil-ju, sobbed and said she felt like she had 'horribly sinned' against her son. She said she was single, disabled and desperately poor, and that she finally decided to give her children away because of fears that they'd starve.

They also have problems communicating - he can't speak Korean, she can't speak English, and they don't always have someone who could interpret.

Crapser said he 'definitely didn't win the lottery' when it came to his American parents. He and a sister were sent to what he says was an abusive couple in Michigan in 1979.

Seven years later, the couple abandoned Crapser, then 10, and his sister, and he ended up with Thomas and Dolly Crapser, who he said would sometimes slam their children's heads against walls, strike them with kitchen utensils and burn them with heated objects. Repeated calls to the Crapser home went unanswered.

In 1991, the couple was arrested on charges of physical child abuse, sexual abuse and rape. They were reportedly convicted in 1992 on multiple counts of criminal mistreatment and assault.

Kicked out of his parents' house after an argument, Crapser pleaded guilty to burglary after he said he later broke into the home to retrieve a Korean-language Bible and a stuffed dog that came with him from a Korean orphanage. He was later convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.

Crapser thought he had turned a corner, opening a barber shop and an upholstery business and starting a family, when he was served his deportation paperwork in 2015 after a green card application triggered a background check.

'It's heartbreaking. A lot of the depression that I deal with, a lot of the hopelessness that I feel at times is attributed to the separation from my family that I created and not being able to be actually involved in their life every day like I was,' he said.
Two traffickers were compared to 'Laurel and Hardy' by their own defence barrister after their failed attempts to smuggle six immigrants into Britain.

Mohammed Yousaf, 45, and Naweed Ahmed, 36, both from Luton, Bedfordshire, have been jailed for a total of ten years at Portsmouth Crown Court after they were caught by police because of an incredible series of blunders.

They put their real names on ferry tickets, made a series of traceable phone calls and forgot to fill their van with fuel - which then had to be rescued by the Highways Agency.

Representing Yousaf, barrister Paul Webb said the failed smuggling trip was 'akin to a Laurel and Hardy farce rather than a highly sophisticated operation'.

Mohammed Yousaf, 45 (right), and Naweed Ahmed (left), 36, both from Luton, Bedfordshire, have been jailed for a total of ten years after the series of blunders

Judge William Ashworth jailed the pair after they were convicted of six charges of conspiring to facilitate the entry of non-EU citizens into the UK.

Yousaf and Ahmed 'duped' mother-of-two Wioletta Kossakowska into travelling to France with them and then driving the removals van where the six illegal immigrants were hiding in furniture.

They didn't want to be linked to the smuggling attempt but did not trust Ms Kossakowska and decided to follow the van in a Volkswagen Passat.

When Ms Kossakowska arrived back in the UK, border officials searched the removals van she was driving - where they discovered the immigrants hiding inside furniture.

After detaining the immigrants they released her and the van, but as she drove away from Portsmouth - with Yousaf and Ahmed following - the van broke down because of a lack of fuel.

It was eventually rescued by Highways England officers.

Prosecutor Timothy Moores revealed Ms Kossakowska's former partner Prezmyslaw Golimowski, 30, was supposed to be the driver of the van, but pulled out.

Yousaf and Ahmed 'duped' mother-of-two Wioletta Kossakowska into travelling to France with them

Golimowski was charged with conspiring with the group but was murdered in Bedford in September before he could stand trial.

Prosecutor Moores added that Yousaf and Ahmed made a series of farcical blunders in what was their first attempt to bring immigrants into the UK, which they claimed was just a shopping trip.

After travelling from Dover to Calais, France, the pair made a series of calls to a shady figure in Switzerland, referred to as 'The Boss', arranging the pick up of five Afghani and one Iraqi immigrant.

But they failed to properly hide the calls, which were easily traced by officials.

Mr Moores added Yousaf actually booked the ferry tickets back to Portsmouth, from Caen, in his own name.

Mitigating, Mr Webb told the court the the pair, both of Luton, Bedfordshire, had been caught on their first attempt at smuggling illegal immigrants into the country.

Jailing Yousaf for six years and Ahmed for three and a half years, Judge Ashworth said: 'Ms Kossakowska was duped with a false story by you. She was not trusted, she was watched.

'When you were stopped she was left on her own to carry the can whilst you attempted to escape and persuade her not to reveal your location.'

Immigration enforcement officer Jo Howorth said: 'Thorough investigation from my officers, they established that Yousaf and Ahmed were the driving force behind this smuggling attempt.

'It also exposed the cover story of an innocent shopping trip for the tissue of lies that it was.'

Ms Kossakowska was cleared of all charges after denying she was involved in the conspiracy
Bono has praised capitalism for rescuing people from poverty - but warned those it has 'chewed up' are driving politics 'towards populism'.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the U2 frontman described capitalism as a 'wild beast' that is 'amoral' rather than immoral.

The 58-year-old, a prominent campaigner on development issues for decades, said it had succeeded in taking more people out of poverty than 'any other -ism' but that 'if not tamed it can chew up a lot of people on the way.'

Those who have not benefited from capitalism are, he said, driving 'the politics in our home towards populism.'

Bono (pictured in Davos, Switzerland, today) has praised capitalism for rescuing people from poverty - but warned those it has 'chewed up' are driving politics 'towards populism'

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the U2 frontman (pictured today) described capitalism as a 'wild beast' that is 'amoral' rather than immoral

He said: 'Capitalism is not immoral, it is amoral and it requires our instruction. It has taken more people out of poverty than any other 'ism' but it is a wild beast and if not tamed it can chew up a lot of people along the way.

'Those peoples' lives that it has chewed up are pushing the politics in our homes towards populism.'

Bono also said that he's had a change of heart with regard to the International Monetary Fund, an institution he once considered to be the 'Great Satan' for its 'bullying of junior economies.'

Heaping praise on IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde, Bono said the IMF has changed.

The development community, he said, values Lagarde's 'tough mindedness' but he added he would still be on her 'case.'

He was among several high-profile leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and German Chancellor Angela Merkel due to address the World Economic Forum today amid a wider debate on the merits of populist nationalism versus global co-operation.

The 58-year-old (pictured today), a prominent campaigner on development issues for decades, said it had succeeded in taking more people out of poverty than 'any other ism' but that 'if not tamed it can chew up a lot of people on the way'

Mr Abe and Mrs Merkel, who lead the third and fourth largest economies in the world, represent internationally minded governments keen on supporting free trade and co-operation.

Their speeches to the global elite in the Swiss ski resort of Davos will come a day after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo extolled their governments' renewed focus on national self-interest.

Mrs Merkel is also addressing the gathering amid growing uncertainty in Europe over Brexit after British MPs last week voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union.

Since then, there has been growing talk that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a deal or that it will end up extending its date of departure from the current March 29.

The trade conflict between the United States and China will also be in focus when China's vice president Wang Qishan addresses the conference.

On Tuesday, Mr Pompeo said he was 'optimistic' that there will be a 'good outcome' in upcoming trade discussions with China in Washington.
A Chinese woman born with no womb and no vagina has finally realised her life-long dream of becoming a mother.

The 26-year-old, named by Chinese media as Yang Hua, gave birth to a healthy son via a Caesarean section on Sunday after her mother donated her uterus to her in a pioneering transplant in 2015.

The boy, weighing four pounds and 6.5 ounces (two kilograms), is the first baby in China - and the 14th in the world - to be born from a transplanted uterus.

Doctors say the baby's birth has brought hope to some one million women in China who suffer from infertility due to disorders in their reproductive organs.

Yang Hua, 26, who was born with no womb and no vagina has become the first woman in China - and the 14th in the world - to give birth to a baby (pictured) after having a uterus transplanted

The boy was born at 6.19pm on Sunday at Xijing Hospital in Xi'an, north-west China. Doctors say he was healthy and weighed four pounds and 6.5 ounces (two kilograms). The hospital released a picture of the baby (face purposefully obscured) today to announce the good news

As soon as the baby was born, doctors brought him next to the mother and for her to kiss

The boy was born at 6.19pm on Sunday at Xijing Hospital in Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi in north-west China, the hospital announced in an online statement.

Ms Yang was 33 weeks and six days pregnant at the time, and doctors decided to carry out the operation to reduce the pressure a full-term baby would have brought to the mother's transplanted womb, according to China News.

The C-section lasted one hour and six minutes and as soon as the baby was born, doctors brought him next to Ms Yang and to allow her to give her long-awaited child a loving kiss.

Doctors say the baby boy was born healthy.

The C-section lasted just over an hour and the woman was 33 weeks and six days pregnant

Yang's journey to motherhood has been a long and difficult one.

The new mother was born without a womb and a vagina because of a condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH).

She had never menstruated in her life and doctors at Xijing Hospital discovered her condition during a checkup in 2015.

Footage released by Pear shows the newborn boy resting in an incubator at the hospital

Ms Yang's mother (pictured) said after the birth of her grandson that she wanted her daughter to enjoy her new life. She donated her uterus in 2015 to help Ms Yang realise her life dream

All her life, Ms Yang had wanted to have children, and doctors said the only way she could do this would be to go for a womb transplant.

Surrogacy was never an option for her, as it is illegal in China.

Ms Yang agreed, even though it had never been successfully done in China.

Ms Yang's mother, who was 43 years old at the time, said she would do anything to give her daughter a happy life. Therefore, she offered her own uterus for the transplant.

Ms Yang became pregnant in June last year on the fifth attempt at implanting an embryo fertilised through IVF. A doctor is pictured looking at the ultrasound scan of the unborn boy

A team of nearly 40 doctors from a dozen departments at the Xijing Hospital participated in the womb transplant for Ms Yang in 2015. The operation was assisted by a robot. Pictured, doctors look at the scan of the unborn boy during an antenatal appointment of Ms Yang

Speaking to reporters in 2015, a medical branch assistant at the hospital, Liu Liang, said: 'There were no conflicting interests between a mother and daughter and it was entirely voluntary.

HOW DID THE WOMB TRANSPLANT WORK? The womb and blood vessels supplying it were removed from a 45-year-old woman  herself a mother  who had died of a stroke. They were then implanted into the new mother, who was born without a womb of her own, in an almost 11-hour operation, and the blood vessels connected to her own. She began to menstruate 37 days after the operation and then had regular periods until she became pregnant seven months later. An embryo was implanted using eggs which had been taken from her ovaries before the womb transplant procedure and fertilised using IVF. The baby grew healthily and was born after 35 weeks and three days by caesarean section. During the caesarean section the woman's implanted womb was also removed and both mother and baby recovered normally. Advertisement

'The donor only delivered a platform to sustain life, and the receptor of the pregnancy is with a husband who will provide his own genetic material.'

For these reasons, the hospital committee allowed the surgery to go ahead.

The transplant was performed on November 20 in 2015.

A team of nearly 40 doctors from a dozen departments at the hospital participated in the challenging operation, which lasted for 14 hours. A robot was used to assist the surgeons to precisely cut the uterus from Ms Yang's mother.

Ms Yang became pregnant in June last year on the fifth attempt at implanting an embryo fertilised through IVF.

A total of 14 fertlised embryos were prepared in 2015 using the frozen eggs harvested from Ms Yang prior to her uterus transplant.

After hearing about the birth of her grandson, Ms Yang's mother told reporters: 'At the time, I thought even if it meant to lose my life, I wanted to give my daughter a complete body.

'I hope her to have a new life.'

Around one million women in China suffer from infertility because of various disorders in their uterus, and around 30,000 to 50,000 baby girls are born without a womb or a vagina in China each year.

Dr Chen Biliang, the director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Xijing Hospital, regards the birth of Ms Yang's baby 'a breakthrough' in the Chinese medical history.

Dr Chen told reporters: '[The operation] has brought hope to women in China who are infertile because of uterus dysfunction.'

Malin Stenberg from Sweden is the world's first woman to give birth to a baby from a transplanted uterus donated by a 61-year-old family friend. The mother delivered a boy named Vincent (left, pictured when one year old) in 2014 at Gothenburg University (right)

The world's first baby to be born from a transplanted womb was delivered in Sweden in 2014.

Malin Stenberg, then 36, gave birth to a baby in Gothenburg following a womb transplant after a 61-year-old family friend donated her organ.

Since then, 13 other babies have been born from transplanted wombs in the world, including the latest birth in China.

Eight of these 14 babies have been born in Sweden, with others in the United States, Brazil, Serbia and India.

A woman in Sweden last month became pregnant after scientists at Gothenburg University used a robot (pictured) to remove a donor's womb before transplanting it into the patient

The robot can remove a donor's womb using keyhole surgery through five holes which are just 1cm wide, reducing how much blood they lose and speeding up their recovery afterwards

Earlier this month, a Swedish woman became pregnant after having a uterus transplant performed with a robot.

Using surgical robots allows the procedure to be done through five 1cm-wide holes in the donor's body - unlike much bigger cuts needed by human surgeons.

This leads to the patients losing less blood and spending less time in hospital after donating their womb, experts say.
A former right-hand man to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has told his trial in New York that the don had his own cousin assassinated for lying about being unable to work.

El Chapo's cousin Juancho Guzman made a fatal error in telling the mob boss he was out of town when he was actually strolling around in the park in Culican, Mexico.

Sinaloa cartel lieutenant Damaso Lopez told the federal court in Brooklyn how the 61-year-old was infuriated by Juancho's lying.

He recounted how El Chapo ordered his hitman to take out Juancho and his secretary - just because he happened to be there at the time.

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is escorted by soldiers during a presentation in Mexico City on January 8 2016

The US Attorney's Office circulated images of a weapons cache seized by authorities from El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel

Emma Coronel Aispuro, El Chapo's wife (grey jacket) poses outside court with a friend on Tuesday

The assassin, known as 'Virgo', picked up the pair and interrogated them in December 2011, the New York Post reported.

'They both have to suffer the same fate,' was El Chapo's alleged order.

Lopez also walked jurors through a BlackBerry message exchange in September 2013 in which he told Guzman that the mayor of La Paz, a city in the Baja California Sur, wanted them to 'remove' a 'cop that has been bothering her.'

Guzman, Lopez said, responded that they should do the mayor the 'favor,' because she was a favorite for a state-level office in an upcoming election.

He said they should make the hit look like 'revenge from some gangbanger.'

Lopez did not say whether the murder took place.

The mayor of La Paz in 2013 was Esthela Ponce Beltran, who could not immediately be reached for comment.

Guzman, 61, who was extradited to the United States in 2017, has been on trial since November on charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin and other drugs into the country as leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the world's largest drug trafficking organizations.

His lawyers have argued that he has been framed by the cartel's real leader, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada.

Lopez, 52, was arrested in Mexico City on US drug charges in 2017 and extradited to the United States in July, where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

He said Tuesday he is hoping to have his sentence reduced by cooperating with prosecutors.

Senior lieutenant Damaso Lopez on his arrest in Mexico City in May 2017, he is hoping to have his jail time reduced by testifying against El Chapo

The don's wife (right) has been attending the trial - now in its third month - at the federal court in Brooklyn

At the time of Lopez's arrest in May 2017, Mexican officials said he was believed to have been seeking an alliance with Guzman's rival, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Lopez spent much of his time on the stand corroborating testimony from the dozen or so other cartel members who have appeared at the trial, now in its third month.

Lopez said he began working for Guzman around 2001, helping to arrange drug shipments and bribe government officials, and eventually becoming godfather to one of Guzman's twin daughters.

El Chapo denies 17 counts of charges including drug trafficking and conspiracy.
Tesco's former UK finance director has slammed the supermarket giant and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) after he was cleared over a 250 million fraud and false accounting scandal.

Carl Rogberg, 52, was accused of knowing that income was being wrongly included in records to meet targets and make the company look financially healthier than it was.

His trial was abandoned last year after he suffered a heart attack and he was too ill to face a retrial alongside ex-managing director Chris Bush, 53, and John Scouler, 50, the former UK food commercial director.

In a statement outside Southwark Crown Court, Rogberg criticised Tesco and the Serious Fraud (SFO) office saying they refused to see the truth and the cases were a dreadful waste of taxpayers money.

Carl Rogberg (centre, with his partner Amanda Rogberg on the right) arrives at Southwark Crown Court for a hearing today

The 52-year-old said: This decision is so much more than simply an acquittal. The trial judge ruled that the prosecution had no case and stopped the trial. The SFO tried to appeal that decision.

'Three appeal court judges refused permission for the SFO to appeal and confirmed the trial judge's decision. In short, there was never any evidence of my wrongdoing and I should never have been charged.

'I have serious questions for Tesco and the SFO about the way this case has been handled throughout.

'The circumstances were never properly investigated by Tesco from the outset. They rushed to the wrong judgment and then entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the SFO on a completely false basis. Truth and justice were abandoned for their commercial imperatives.

'Tesco needlessly paid over 129m in fines, not to mention the value that was lost in the company as a result of this fiasco. Their drastic action has been extremely damaging for Tesco's employees, shareholders and pension funds.

'For their part, the SFO uncritically adopted Tesco's approach. They failed to carry out a professional investigation and made fundamental errors. They refused to see the truth, preferring instead to drive on blindly with the prosecution.

'Indeed, they pressed the case through two long trials and even mounted a hopeless appeal against the judge's decision to stop the case. This was all a dreadful waste of tax payers' money.

Rogberg's acquittal means the SFO has failed to secure any prosecutions despite Tesco having admitted to overstating its profits in September 2014. Its probe is now closed and no further charges will be brought, MailOnline understands.

How Tesco BLAMED the three directors before they were cleared of all charges against them Tesco blamed three directors who have since been cleared of all charges for the false accounting scandal in a document which can be reported for the first time after restrictions automatically elapsed at the end of the criminal trial. The claims are made in a 'statement of facts' prepared as part of the company's deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Serious Fraud Office. It says: 'Members of TSL's (Tesco Stores Limited) senior leadership team who were aware of and dishonestly perpetuated the misstatement leading up to the trading update on August 29, 2014 and up until the correction on September 22, 2014, thereby falsifying or concurring in the falsification of accounts or records made for an accounting purpose, were a. UK financial director Carl Rogberg; b.UK managing director Chris Bush; and c. UK food commercial director John Scouler.' The document also states that 'certain employees at various levels of seniority in TSL's finance and commercial teams', acting under the guidance of the three directors, 'were aware of improper recognition of commercial income'. Advertisement

Bush and Scouler were cleared of one count of fraud and another of false accounting last month after a judge at Southwark Crown Court dismissed the case because it was too 'weak'.

Rogberg appeared at the same court today, where not guilty verdicts were formally entered on the same two charges after the SFO announced it would offer no evidence against him.

He said today: 'It is a huge relief that this day has finally come. While I always had faith that it would, the journey here has not been an easy one.

'The trial has had enormous consequences on my health and exemplary career, as well as for my wife, my son, my family and my friends.

'This decision is so much more than simply an acquittal. The trial judge ruled that the prosecution had no case and stopped the trial.'

Tesco's shares plummeted by nearly 12%, wiping 2 billion off the share value, when the company announced in September 2014 that a statement the previous month had overstated profits by about a quarter of a billion pounds.

Rogberg's acquittal means neither Tesco nor any of its executives have been successfully prosecuted over one of the biggest corporate scandals in recent history.

Acting for Mr Rogberg, Neil O'May of Norton Rose Fulbright said: 'This is more than simply an acquittal by a jury. It is a finding that there was insufficient evidence on which the case could have been brought. This is unprecedented in high-profile serious fraud cases.

'There must be real concern that a serious fraud case is brought without the SFO having expert accounting evidence in which to understand the nature of the case.

'There was also no real investigation undertaken to show whether or not there was indeed fraudulent activity as alleged at the level of buyers and suppliers.'

Details of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) between Tesco and the SFO can now be reported after restrictions lapsed automatically following the end of the criminal proceedings.

As part of the agreement, which is expected to be published by the SFO on Wednesday, Tesco agreed to pay a fine of 129 million but avoided a trial.

Cleared earlier: Former Tesco UK managing director Chris Bush (left) leaves Southwark Crown Court on December 6 after being cleared of fraud charges

Cleared earlier: John Scouler, 50, (pictured on December 6) also faced similar charges but was cleared

Carl Rogberg's full statement after being acquitted It is a huge relief that this day has finally come. While I always had faith that it would, the journey here has not been an easy one. The trial has had enormous consequences on my health and exemplary career, as well as for my wife, my son, my family and my friends. This decision is so much more than simply an acquittal. The trial judge ruled that the prosecution had no case and stopped the trial. The SFO tried to appeal that decision. Three appeal court judges refused permission for the SFO to appeal and confirmed the trial judge's decision. In short, there was never any evidence of my wrongdoing and I should never have been charged. I have serious questions for Tesco and the SFO about the way this case has been handled throughout. Mr Rogberg makes a statement, as he speaks next to his partner Amanda, outside Southwark Crown Court today The circumstances were never properly investigated by Tesco from the outset. They rushed to the wrong judgment and then entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the SFO on a completely false basis. Truth and justice were abandoned for their commercial imperatives. Tesco needlessly paid over 129m in fines, not to mention the value that was lost in the company as a result of this fiasco. Their drastic action has been extremely damaging for Tesco's employees, shareholders and pension funds. For their part, the SFO uncritically adopted Tesco's approach. They failed to carry out a professional investigation and made fundamental errors. They refused to see the truth, preferring instead to drive on blindly with the prosecution. Indeed, they pressed the case through two long trials and even mounted a hopeless appeal against the judge's decision to stop the case. This was all a dreadful waste of tax payers' money. The Deferred Prosecution Agreement, also published today, has been proven to be a fundamentally flawed document. A High Court Judge, who actually heard the evidence, supported by Three Appeal Court Judges, found no evidence of guilt on behalf of those named in it. It is a worthless and dishonest piece of paper with no credibility. And yet it is still vigorously defended by Tesco and the SFO who stand alone in refusing to accept the truth  even to the extent that Tesco threatened me with costs for daring to challenge what was proven in court to be false. As I have always said, I acted honestly at all times. I am relieved and happy to be standing here with my name cleared of all the false allegations that have been made against me. I would like to say a huge thank you to my family, to our many amazing friends for their phenomenal support and to my fantastically dedicated legal team of Nick Purnell QC, Jonathan Barnard of counsel and Neil O'May at Norton Rose Fulbright for working tirelessly to reveal the truth. Thank you and I will not be taking questions at the moment. Advertisement

Lawyers for the acquitted defendants had argued it was unfair to publish the 'statement of facts' contained in the agreement, which 'ascribes wrongdoing to them', according to a High Court ruling made last week by Sir Brian Leveson.

Timeline: How the scandal unfolded September 2014: Tesco admits issues in UK food business means it is likely to have overstated profits by 250million April 2015: Tesco reports a 6.4billion loss, one of largest in corporate history September 2016: Christopher Bush, 52, managing director of Tesco UK, and John Scouler, 50, UK food commercial director, are charged with one count of fraud by abuse of position and one count of false accounting. This was after they were accused of being aware of income being wrongly included in Tesco's financial records to meet targets and make it look financially healthier than it was. March 2017: Tesco reaches agreement with authorities over scandal as it pays investors 85million in compensation and 129million in fines and costs February 2018: First trial is abandoned, shortly before the jury is due to retire to consider its verdict October 8: Fresh trial begins and is expected to last three months. Jury told case was a retrial and that Rogberg was charged with identical offences but was not currently well enough to stand trial. November 25: Trial judge Sir John Royce concludes there is no case against either Bush or Scouler December 5: SFO goes to the Court of Appeal regarding the trial's dismissal, but its appeal is then dismissed December 6: Jury at Southwark Crown Court are told of the Bush and Scouler's acquittal January 1: Rogberg is acquitted as SFO says it has no evidence against him. Advertisement

Speaking after the end of the criminal case, Bush's solicitor Ross Dixon, of Hickman & Rose, said the case 'sounds an alarm call' for the criminal justice system with 'contradictory outcomes' between the criminal trial and the DPA.

'The trial of my client Chris Bush and of John Scouler exposed the SFO's failure to investigate with proper rigour the case against these men,' he said.

'As a consequence, they were rightly acquitted by a judge who concluded that the case against them was too weak to put to a jury.

'Today the SFO correctly offered no evidence against the third defendant Carl Rogberg.

'But despite being acquitted of all wrongdoing - and as a direct result of the DPA - the SFO now publishes a statement that in effect contradicts these not guilty verdicts.'

'This is an unfair and extraordinary outcome and one that calls for urgent reform of the DPA process.'

Mr O'May echoed the sentiment, adding that the DPA 'has been shown to be false' and is 'deeply prejudicial and distressing' to his client Mr Rogberg.

'Mr Rogberg feels the law has let him down.

'He believes the DPA was agreed for commercial purposes and throws justice and the truth to the wind, and him with it,' he said.

Scouler, of St Albans, Bush, of High Wycombe, and Rogberg, of Chiselhampton, Oxfordshire, all denied one count of fraud and another of false accounting.

Tesco said it would not comment on legal cases against individuals.

Tesco said in a statement: 'Since 2014, we have fundamentally transformed our business and Tesco today is a very different company.

'We have introduced a new model for the way we buy and sell products; we have made wide-ranging changes to our leadership; we have improved accountability and we have developed stronger partnerships with our suppliers.

'Our business is stronger as a result of these changes.'
A Sydney care worker who admitted to assaulting an 82-year-old dementia sufferer has been jailed for just four months.

Prakash Paudyal faced Manly Local Court, in Sydney, on Wednesday, and pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault.

The horrific attacks are thought to have occurred in August and September last year, and were captured on CCTV after a concerned relative placed a hidden camera inside the Bupa Seaforth facility.

In the first brutal incident, the 36-year-old is filmed hitting the victim, David Nabulsi, multiple times with a shoe and aggressively pulling him by the shirt.

In another awful encounter, Mr Nabulsi, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2015 and placed into care in 2017, falls to the floor where he's left to cower in fear from Paudyal.

Paudyal has been sentenced to eight months behind bars, but could be eligible for parole in as little as four.

The victim's daughter, Ayda Celine, expressed her joy at getting justice once the court proceedings had concluded.

Prakash Paudyal (left) has been jailed for attacking an 82-year-old dementia sufferer David Nabulsi (right)

Prakash Paudyal (left) was sacked by Bupa Seaforth after shocking footage of him allegedly assaulting an elderly patient emerged

'We're finally standing up for the elderly,' Ms Celine told reporters outside the court.

'Australia isn't going to put up with any violence or abuse and this just proves ... we've set, sort of, a mark now, that you can't get away with it,' she added.

According to the agreed facts, Ms Celine had become increasingly worried about her father's welfare and resorted to hiding a camera in his room, disguised as a picture frame.

Prakash Paudyal (pictured centre) faced Manly Local Court where he was sentenced to eight months in jail

Ayda Celine (pictured) expressed her joy at getting justice once the court proceedings came to a close

The court also heard Mr Nabulsi's condition had continued to deteriorate and he had lost the ability to speak and understand English, meaning he struggled to communicate with facility staff.

The company confirmed Paudyal had been subsequently sacked, and also banned from working in the aged care industry.

The operator of the care facility issued a statement in September after Paudyal was initially charged.

'Bupa takes the safety and well-being of its residents seriously and we are shocked and saddened by what has occurred at our Seaforth care home,' it read.

However, sanctions have since been placed on the facility, which is situated on Sydney's northern beaches, by the Federal Department of Health.

'We know there have been serious failings at Bupa Seaforth (pictured) and we apologise to residents and their family members for this,' a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia

The facility failed to meet the majority of basic care standards in a recent audit, which revealed an 'immediate and severe risk to the health, safety or wellbeing' of patients.

A Bupa spokesman told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday the facility is working with the department to address issues in the report.

'Our residents are always at the heart of what we do, and in the vast majority of cases the care we provide reflects this,' the spokesman said.

'We sometimes fail to live up to the high standards we set, and we are committed to addressing this. Prior to receiving notice of the sanctions, we had already taken the step to voluntarily focus on our existing residents and not make any new admissions.'

The two attacks on David Nabulsi (pictured right) are thought to have taken place in August and September last year

The facility is taking 'concerning' allegations publicly made by patients' families this week seriously.

'Where allegations of criminal conduct are made, we actively support police involvement,' the spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

'The safety and wellbeing of our residents is our priority. We know there have been serious failings at Bupa Seaforth and we apologise to residents and their family members for this.'

The facility is conducting its own internal review and recently appointed former Health Services Commissioner of Victoria Beth Wilson, who has already started consulting with residents and their families at the facility.
Democrat Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says he's forming an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential bid.

'The reality is there's no going back, and there's no such thing as 'again' in the real world. We can't look for greatness in the past,' Buttigieg says in a video that includes before-and-after footage of South Bend, a Rust Belt city once described as 'dying.'

'Right now our country needs a fresh start,' he says.

Buttigieg has touted his work to improve his city of 100,000 residents as he's prepared for an improbable jump from local politics to a presidential campaign. He's also said Democrats could benefit from a new generation of leaders as they try to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020.

He's expected to travel to Iowa next week to meet with voters in the nation's first caucus state, followed by stops in New Hampshire.

He's in: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg says he is forming an exploratory committee - the step before officially announcing a run for the White House

Outside shot: Buttigieg is a 37-year-old mayor of a small city who has never held national office but who raised his profile with a 2017 run for Democratic National Committee chairman, saying the party needed a new start

Service: Pete Buttigieg served as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer in Afghanistan

Buttigieg is a Rhodes scholar who was first elected mayor of his hometown in 2011 at age 29, making him the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents. A lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, he served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014.

Buttigieg raised his national profile with an unsuccessful 2017 run for Democratic National Committee chairman, saying the party needed a new start. He withdrew from the race before a vote when it became clear he didn't have the support to win.

Buttigieg has spent time in Iowa and other battleground states in recent years as he tried to build financial support and name recognition. He cracks that those who do know his name still aren't sure how to pronounce it. (It's BOO'-tah-juhj.) Most of the time he goes by 'Mayor Pete.'

Amid his campaign for a second term, Buttigieg came out as gay in a column in the local newspaper. He went on to win re-election with 80 percent of the vote. In 2018, three years to the day after the column ran, he married his husband, middle school teacher Chasten Glezman.

If he were to win the Democratic nomination, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party.

Back from Afghanistan: Pete Buttigieg with his parents Joseph and Jennifer, both former University of Notre Dame academics, when he returned from combat service during his first term as mayor

Buttigieg announced in December that he wouldn't seek a third term as mayor, stoking speculation he would join a field of roughly two dozen candidates who may seek the Democratic nomination for president - most of them better known and with experience in higher office, and all of them older.

'I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now,' he says in the video released Wednesday.

'We're the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in the wars after 9/11, and we're the generation that stands to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different. We can't just polish off a system so broken. It is a season for boldness and a focus on the future.'

Buttigieg is releasing in February a book about his life and his tenure leading South Bend.
Relatives of the British travellers wreaking havoc across New Zealand say the family's name has been unfairly 'trashed'.

An alleged brother of Larry Doran, the oldest member of the group that has been touring New Zealand, said his family adhered to the law and claimed their reputation had been 'dragged through the mud' by locals.

Speaking from a caravan site in the East Midlands, UK, the man who claimed to be Larry Doran's brother - and asked not to be named - told The Times: 'They are very nice working-class people and their name's been trashed and there were only eight or nine of them not dozens as people are making out.'

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A close family member of the 'unruly' British travellers (pictured) wreaking havoc across New Zealand said their names have been unfairly 'trashed

The brother to the oldest member of the Doran family defended his relatives following their well-documented tour of New Zealand

He added: 'They are feeling awful, they feel unsafe. Every time they go to the shops someone takes a picture of them.'

The brother went on to say the Doran family name had been 'dragged through the mud'.

'They are law abiding and go to church, we all do,' he told the publication.

According to Larry's brother, the family had spent $19,000 in total on their holiday.

His 16-year-old son - who also asked not to be named - said the entire incident had been humiliating for the family and claimed the Dorans had been targeted because they are travellers.

The British 'gypsy' tourists were last seen fleeing from media at Auckland's International Airport.

The controversial clan had luggage in hand and were expected to board an international flight on Tuesday afternoon.

Their roughed-up Honda Odyssey was seen carrying four members of the family in the vehicle bay outside the international terminal, but quickly took off when approached by media.

The car was later seen parked on Shortland St in Auckland's inner-city, with a parking ticket displayed on the car's windshield.

The street has a five-minute limit.

Earlier, the controversial family, who have been accused of trashing motel rooms, leaving rubbish on the beach and swearing at locals, stopped at a BP service station about two hours north of Wellington on Monday.

Staff member Linus Merchant told Daily Mail Australia he believes he foiled the family's plot to 'bamboozle' him and leave the store with a free can of Red Bull.

CCTV obtained by Daily Mail Australia showed the unruly British family arriving at a BP service station north of Wellington on Monday

Family spokesman Joe Doran appears to have bleached his hair in the past fortnight. On left, he is seen after a commotion at Takapuna Beach, near Auckland; right, on Monday

Linus said when he encountered the family, they appeared to be heading towards Auckland, and were looking for a fast food restaurant.

CCTV footage showed family spokesman, Joe Doran, clambering out of the family's green Honda Odyssey about 2.30pm, wearing just a pair of blue board shorts.

He appeared to have bleached his hair in recent days as media attention on the clan's activities ramped up.

Mr Doran was joined by his mother, the clan matriarch, Barbara Doran; his wife, Miley and the family's patriarch, who has not been named.

'They came in the shop as a crowd, drifted in and out,' Mr Merchant said.

The family members approached the counter swearing at each other and clutching three cans of the energy drink in their hands, he alleged.

Barbara was heard telling Joe and Miley: 'What, do you think I'm made of f***ing money?'

The group paid for the three cans.

Barbara Doran (above) is matriarch of the family of British travellers accused of running amok in New Zealand while on holiday from the caravan park where they live in the East Midlands

Clan matriarch Barbara Doran is seen carrying a can of Red Bull out of the service station

But after Miley walked away with her can, Barbara and Joe claimed they had only ever brought two cans to the counter.

'They paid for three Red Bulls (and) told me: 'We got three'.

'I asked: 'Where's the other - you walked off with it, it's wherever you put it'.

'(I think) they were expecting me to say they could take another one from the fridge.

'They had tried to distract me, but I recognised them as soon as they showed up and watched them carefully.'

Linus said he believed the group were trying to play a 'classic divert and confuse con'.

The service station where the British travellers were encountered earlier this week

The service station attendant believes the family were trying to bamboozle him out of an extra can of Red Bull

'I think they realised I knew who they were and wasn't going to play their games, so they left quickly,' said BP worker Linus Merchant

Joe Doran (left), his wife Miley (middle), his father - whose name unknown - and clan matriarch Barbara Doran (right) were caught on video

The family were looking for a fast food restaurant after grabbing their energy drink cans

Pictured for the first time is the patriarch of the clan, who has not given his name

In a bizarre coincidence, he said the power went out at the service station the second they walked in.

'It was a brief encounter,' he said.

'I think they realised I knew who they were and wasn't going to play their games, so they left quickly.'

The family, thought to number about 15, has made headlines around the world for their alleged behaviour on holiday.

In the past fortnight the family's alleged antics have caught the attention of the world's media and the clan sought refuge in mountains north of Wellington.

Original sin: This mess left behind at Takapuna Beach near Auckland sparked a social media firestorm. Family spokesman Joe Doran, on right, was there

Joe is married to Miley Doran and pictures of their wedding on Facebook from November 2017 show the couple dancing with relatives. Miley is with the family in New Zealand

Miley and Joe (pictured) have been together for several years. They have moved around and lived at caravan parks in the East Midlands where neighbours say they are a good family

But their every move has been closely tracked by a keen group of online vigilantes.

On Sunday, Daily Mail Australia discovered the clan left their rooms in a small hotel in Levin in complete disarray.

Pictures sighted by the publication showed spaghetti and Red Bull cans strewn around the room. Meantime, staff said the smell of 'kid's poo' permeated the space.

Four members of the family were issued with deportation notices early last week after causing a commotion at Burger King.

But the family have some 28 days to file an appeal.
A traumatised woman plans to sue road authorities in Victoria for negligence after her car was crushed by a falling sign.

Nella Lettieri claims she is suffering from injuries and horrific flashbacks after a large metal sign fell onto her car while she was driving on the Tullamarine Freeway, in Melbourne, on January 8.

She says her emotional trauma and physical injuries, following the near-fatal incident, have prevented her from returning to work.

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Nella Lettieri (pictured) is suffering from injuries and horrific flashbacks as a result of the incident

The 53-year-old, who suffered neck and hand injuries in the collision, is considering suing both VicRoads, the road and traffic authority in the state, as well as Transurban, the organisation responsible for the sign installation.

Officials discovered the overhead sign was missing a steel plate that wasn't installed during construction during a preliminary audit.

Transurban's audit focused on 17 gantries installed during the CityLink Tulla widening project, which was also extended to others of a similar size and structure on Melbourne's freeways.

Officials discovered the overhead sign (pictured) was missing a steel plate and that's why it fell into the car (pictured)

Guidelines for overhead gantries constructed during the project state signs must be installed with a steel plate inside.

But none of the gantries were built with this vital part inside, which wouldn't have been detected during drive-by inspections by VicRoads.

In a statement, Transurban's David Clements said the company is 'working around the clock' to complete the investigation and was dedicated to uncovering what exactly caused the incident to occur.

Ms Lettieri's (pictured) lawyer, Tony Carbone, has said she was an unable to accept a recent job offer due to her injuries

According to ABC News, Ms Lettieri's lawyer, Tony Carbone, said was unable to accept a recent job offer due to her physical injuries and sleep issues.

He also noted it would take at least eight to 10 months for Ms Lettieri to be able to file a claim with Transport Accident Commission.

If the body were to grant a serious injury certificate, she would then be able to proceed with a legal case.

'With the significance of what happened to her, where she's got ongoing headaches and neck problems and psychologically the trauma from this, I would have thought there's an even-money chance or better than even-money chance that down the track we'll have something to pursue,' he said.

But his clients main concern is the safety of the infrastructure of the freeway, he added.
An undocumented immigrant has been sentenced to 401 years-to-life in prison after being found guilty of multiple violent sex crimes against a family.

Macario Cerda, 39, was convicted in California, of three counts of forcible rape against two victims between 2009 and 2013, the Tulare County District Attorney's Office reports.

He was also sentenced on one count of kidnapping to commit rape, seven counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, and one count of criminal threats, on January 17.

Macario Cerda, 39, was convicted in California, of three counts of forcible rape against two victims between 2009 and 2013, the Tulare County District Attorney's Office reports

Prosecutors said Cerda was in a relationship with the victims mother when on February 26, 2013, he forced one of the victims into his van and drove her to a remote location.

The Tulare County District Attorney said Cerda then raped her while threatening to harm members of her family.

Court reports said the victim's mother called the police after ringing the victim's mobile phone and overhearing yelling.

As Cerda temporarily exited the van, the victim seized her opportunity to escape and jumped into the driver's seat before driving away.

Cerda was later arrested by Tulare County Sheriffs deputies. During the investigation, it was discovered that the victim had been raped by Cerda when she was a minor in 2010.

The victim became pregnant and gave birth to a baby as a result of the attack, prosecutors say.

The District Attorney Tim Ward (pictured) said: [The victim] cautioned the judge to never grant him any possibility at being deported because he has crawled his way back into the States illegally way too many times.

The victims youngest sister also accused Cerda of rape and abuse beginning in 2009 when she was just a child.

He was also found to have prior convictions for felony domestic violence and criminal threats against the victims' mother.

Cerda was deported but returned five months later to commit these crimes, according to the Tulare County District Attorneys Office.

The youngest victim bravely spoke out at Cerda's sentencing and pleaded with the judge to not deport him as she feared he would return once again.

The Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said in a statement: [The victim] cautioned the judge to never grant him any possibility at being deported because he has crawled his way back into the States illegally way too many times.

He added: This family will never have to live in fear of Cerda returning to terrorize them again. He will be serving his remaining days in a California prison.

The District Attorney continued: Criminals can, and will, find their way back to hurt the vulnerable. The courage of these women to stand up and rally back against this heartless predator is what gives all of us strength to battle for justice. This time, he is not coming back.

This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Erica Gonzalez and investigated by Detective Esmeralda Ramos of the Tulare County Sheriffs Office.
Prostitutes in France have launched a court bid to fight a law banning their clients from buying sex.

Legislation introduced in France in 2016 makes it a crime to pay for sex but not to sell it with clients facing fines of up to around 1,300 for a first offence.

But a number of groups, including the sex workers' union, Strass, has called for France's highest court, the Constitutional Council, to strike out the regulations.

Prostitutes in France have launched a court bid to fight a law banning their clients from paying for sex (file picture)

According to the Times, they argue that current laws infringe on their right to free enterprise.

There are also claims from the group, as well as the charity Medecins du Monde that prostitutes have been placed at increasing risk of assault with clients choosing hidden locations to avoid being caught by police.

Strass says the legislation is unconstitutional and infringes 'the right to personal autonomy and sexual freedom, the right to privacy... and the freedom of enterprise'.

A spokesman told the Times: 'Clients think they can negotiate the tariffs and the practices, which means we take more and more risks with unprotected sex and we have to accept things that we didn't do before.'

The 2016 measures did away with a 2003 law that banned passive soliciting by sex workers on the street and thus put the legal onus on prostitutes.

Instead, it aimed to focus the punishment on the client, introducing a 1,500-euro fine that would rise to 3,750 euros for a sex buyer's second offence.

The convicted client is obliged to attend classes highlighting the dangers associated with prostitution. The measure was also aimed at making it easier for foreign prostitutes - many currently illegally in France - to acquire a temporary residence permit if they enter a process to get out of the sex industry.

Supporters of the bill argued that it will help fight trafficking networks.

'The most important aspect of this law is to accompany prostitutes, give them identity papers because we know that 85 percent of prostitutes here are victims of trafficking,' Maud Olivier, a lawmaker with the governing Socialists and a sponsor of the legislation, told The Associated Press at the time the law was passed.

Olivier said that many of the sex workers who arrive in France have their passports confiscated by pimps.

'We will provide them with documents on the condition they commit to leave prostitution behind,' she added.

But opponents raised fears that cracking down will push prostitutes to hide, leaving them even more at the mercy of pimps and violent clients.

France's parliament started debating the bill in 2013, but the final vote was delayed due to sharp divisions between the lower parliamentary chamber and the Senate.

Written by a group of lawmakers from both right and left and backed by the Socialist government, the legislation was inspired by Sweden, which passed a similar measure in 1999. Norway and Iceland also followed the Swedish model.

Other countries such as Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where brothels are legal, are interested in the French experience.
Angela Merkel sparked anger last night by branding Britain's relationship with the EU 'patchy'.

The German Chancellor accused the UK of not joining in with Brussels' pet projects and seeing ties with other EU member states mainly in terms of trade.

She made the claims as she and Emmanuel Macron took the first steps to creating a European army by signing a new defence treaty yesterday.

They signed The Treaty of Aachen to show the way forward for EU integration in the face of Brexit.

Quizzed on Brexit last night, Mrs Merkel accused the UK of never having its heart in the EU project.

Angela Merkel (pictured in Aachen yesterday) sparked anger last night by branding Britain's relationship with the EU 'patchy'

Angela Merkel made the claims as she and Emmanuel Macron (pictured together yesterday) took the first steps to creating a European army by signing a new defence treaty

She said: 'The relationship of Great Britain with Europe was always very patchy. They abstained from many of the policies.

'They are not in the euro zone, they are not part of the free travel area, they don't take part in domestic policies.

'They have always said, "we are an island, we want more independence".

'For them Europe was always about, or mainly about, the free trade of goods. And they didn't really value us deepening our relationship.'

Tory MP Johnny Mercer took a swipe at Mrs Merkel over the remarks, tweeting a link to it with the words: 'Jeez. Bye.'

With just 65 days until Brexit, MPs remain locked in a bitter war over what the UK's relationship with Brussels should look like.

Theresa May has vowed to make 'one last heave' and return to Brussels to try to win fresh concessions on the hated Irish backstop after her deal was voted down by MPs.

But she dealt a devastating blow today as it emerged that Jeremy Corbyn looks set to order his MPs to back a Remainer plot to force a no deal off the table.

John McDonnell said his party is 'highly likely' to support a bid by pro-EU MPs to seize control of Parliamentary business so legislation can be passed extending Article 50.

He described the cross-party Bill - backed by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles among others - as 'sensible'.

Their proposal would see the constitution effectively turned on its head to secure Parliamentary time for a Bill ordering the extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

Mr McDonnell told BBC Two's Newsnight: 'Yvette Cooper has put an amendment down, which I think is sensible.

'It says to the Government you've run down the clock so much, it looks as though if you can't get a deal by February 26... the Government will then have to bring forward proposals to extend that.

'So I think it's increasingly likely already that we'll have to take that option because the Government has run the clock down.'

Theresa May is facing another devastating blow to her Brexit strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal

The endorsement puts Mrs May on track for another humiliating defeat when the plan comes before the Commons next week, as more than a dozen Tories have vowed to rebel.

Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned this morning that the scheme could cause constitutional chaos, and would have a 'calamitous' effect on public faith in politics.

And Tory infighting escalated again today amid claims hardline Brexiteers are 'running down the clock' by pretending they might back the PM's deal.

Mrs May has been given a glimmer of hope by an apparent softening of the line from Eurosceptics and the DUP.

A series of high-profile critics, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nadine Dorries, suggested they could support the plan with tweaks to the Irish border backstop.

However, senior government figures are said to be anxious that the Brexiteers are just trying to waste time so no deal becomes more likely.

Under current law, Britain will leave the EU on March 29 unless MPs vote for another course of action.
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A design firm has unveiled radical plans to solve Britain's housing crisis by turning Buckingham Palace into affordable flats for 50,000 residents.

Architecture company Opposite Office, based in Germany, wants to transform the 775 rooms inside the Queen's London residence and build a huge multi-story extension that would be placed on top of historic landmark.

In order to squeeze so many inhabitants into one place, the designs include no corridors while folding screens and walls would allow for certain spaces to be repurposed as needed.

Private single and double bedrooms would work in unity with shared living rooms and dining areas.

rchitecture company Opposite Office, based in Germany, wants to transform the 775 rooms inside the Queen's London residence and build a huge multi-story extension (pictured) that would be placed on top of historic landmark.

In order to squeeze so many inhabitants into one place, the designs include no corridors and barely any circulation areas, while folding screens and walls would allow for certain spaces to be repurposed as needed. Pictured left and right: Artist's drawing showing the inside of the building after construction

Apartments within the palace would be connected by eight staircases, and part of Opposite Office's plans would involve a multi-story extension that would be placed on top of the structure.

Founder of the Munich-based company Benedikt Hartl, who also wrote an open letter to the Queen about the proposals for the building, which was first constructed in 1703.

He writes: 'In addition to the self made Brexit hullabaloo, there is the largest shortage in history!

'Large part of population 'generation rent' are locked out of the housing market. Affordable housing is missing.

'This is why I thought we can develop a strategy to fix both problems!'

Apartments within the palace (pictured left) would be connected by eight staircases (pictured in the diagram, right) and part of Opposite Office's plans would involve a multi-story extension that would be placed on top of the structure

An architect's drawing showing the layout of the rooms alongside the eight staircases. There are no corridors in the design

He calls on the Queen to use her 'royal power and money' to create affordable housing, telling Her Majesty that they would be 'delighted' to present their plans.

He signs off: P.S sorry for any mistakes. I am German.'

Speaking about the plans, Mr Hartl said: 'For us, it is important that you live together with people, not next to each other.

'The Affordable Palace should be a collective space for living, meeting people, cooking together, and drinking tea with the Royal Family - a democratic house.

Founder of the firm, Benedict Hartl, wrote an open letter (right) to the Queen about the plans (left) calling on her to use her 'royal power and money' to create affordable housing

Buckingham Palace as it is today. The architects believe the proposals for the palace, which was first built in 1703, could solve Britain's housing crisis

'All men are created equal - that's why all rooms are the same size. A normal earner can no longer afford to live in many large cities.

'Rent explodes and people live in precarious conditions. We live in a time of madness, a time when everything seems to be possible.

'Why shouldn't it then be possible to transform Buckingham Palace, a symbol of royal power and wealth, into social housing?'
An Argos customer service worker has been showered with praise after his sassy response to a customer's online complaint about items being out of stock.

Helen Orme, from a village near Keighley, West Yorkshire, took to Facebook to ask Argos why they were advertising items that are 'clearly out of stock' online.

Initially, worker Richard pointed out that the items would still be in stock at other branches across the country, making removing them from the website unfair to other customers.

An unimpressed customer then suggested that Helen should have a custom website designed for her and also be sent someone to 'feed her grapes and massage her feet'.

In response, Richard described it as a 'sterling idea' and even added that he would 'see what our IT wizards can knock up' - drawing praise on social media.

Helen Orme, from a village near Keighley, West Yorkshire, slammed Argos for showing out-of-stock products, but soon attracted several sarcastic responses

Commenters piled praise on Richard lamenting that he had to deal with 'time wasters'.

One even joked that he could help Prime Minister Theresa May with Brexit.

Argos confirmed that Richard made the offending comment, though it was subsequently deleted.

Helen wrote in her original complaint: 'Why are you advertising products on your website that are clearly out of stock?

'There is no clear message that they're out of stock until you add them to basket, by which point (after choosing several different options) I am very unhappy with!'

Sarcastic comments soon racked up on the post berating the mother for complaining and suggested she use the 'stock check' option on the site.

Helen wrote in her original complaint that she was frustrated with the Argos website for showing items that were out-of-stock

Jints Callahan wrote: 'You could try checking the stock before you attempt to order.'

And Richard's intervention attracted several more responses.

Colin McCormack wrote: 'Richard, as the Argos Facebook minion working Sunday nights you win the Internet for this evening.

Craig Huggins-Wyllie wrote: 'Richard once you have solved that. I think Theresa May could do with your assistance too'

Jennie Yandle posted: 'Richard for PM.'

While another user added : 'Sorry that you have to deal with people like this woman, Richard - it really does waste your time when you could be helping people with real problems.'

Sarah Joanna Smith posted: 'Argos wow if this is what you have to deal with on a daily basis I feel for you.'

Richard's sassy comment appears to have been deleted at some point on Sunday evening, leaving a less tongue-in-cheek reply to Helen's complaint.

It reads: 'Hello Helen. Whilst an item may be out of stock currently or unavailable in your area we do have a number of branches and warehouse throughout the country.

Richard's cheeky response was eventually deleted although his initial response remained

'This means that an item could well be available to other customers if not yourself, so removing it from the website and denying them the opportunity to order would be wrong and unfair to them. ~ Richard'

Helen has since lodged a complaint with Argos over Richard's comment.

An Argos spokesperson said: 'We have apologised to Helen for her experience.'
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Lynk & Co, a Chinese-Swedish automotive brand owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, will launch the Lynk & Co 04 and 05 in 2019, said An Conghui, President and CEO of Geely Auto Group. Besides, the Lynk & Co 02 PHEV and the 03 PHEV will also hit the market this year, according to local media.

The brand has so far rolled out four models, namely, the Lynk & Co 01, 02, 03 and the Lynk & Co 01 PHEV. As the product planning reveals, all outgoing models will have their PHEV version.

It is reported that the exterior and interior of the Lynk & Co 02's and 03's PHEV are rarely changed compared to their fuel-burning versions. Both PHEV models will be powered by a hybrid powertrain that is comprised of a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine and an electric motor, mated to a hybrid 7-speed wet clutch transmission. The engine can pump out 132kW and peak torque of 256 Nm, while the electric motor generates 60kW and 160 Nm. Fuel consumption for two models may reach only 1.7 litres per 100km.

The Lynk & Co 04 is expected to be a hatchback based on the Lynk & Co 01. With a wheelbase spanning over 2.7 meters, the 04 retains the family design language at the front face, yet its rear end and interior will be largely different from the existing Lynk & Co-branded models. In addition, The Lynk & Co 05 is likely to be a mid/full-sized sedan.

According to sales data released by Geely Auto, Lynk & Co sold 120,414 vehicles throughout 2018 with a marvelous year-on-year surge of 1902.9% thanks to the expanding product lineup. The carmaker aims to roll out a total of 10 models in China by 2020 to form a more complete vehicle matrix.
This is the shocking moment a buffalo charged into a Chinese restaurant, sending a man and a woman flying across the room as it knocked over tables and chairs.

The animal had escaped from a nearby slaughterhouse in Jiangsu Province, and targeted a woman walking down the street in a red dress.

She desperately tried to escape by running into a small restaurant, but the animal followed and attacked her and a waiter working in the eatery.

Dramatic CCTV footage captured the rampaging buffalo's bid for freedom and it launched itself into the tiny room and pinned the woman to the floor.

The rampaging buffalo chased the woman in red into the small restaurant in Jiangsu Province, which borders Shanghai, China

Footage from the restaurant in the city of Yancheng in East China's Jiangsu Province, which borders Shanghai, showed a man standing inside when he suddenly heard screams coming from the street.

The woman dressed in red bolted into the restaurant, with the large buffalo in hot pursuit.

Both she and the man were bowled over by the charging animal, which knocked over tables and chairs as it careered through the little eatery.

The woman was left weeping during the terrifying experience and did not get up from the floor as the animal turned and left the restaurant.

A man, thought to be the buffalo's owner, can be seen following the animal into the restaurant before running after it as it leaves.

A man clearing tables was also sent flying by the charging animal as it pushed the fleeing woman to the back of the room

After smashing through the restaurant the buffalo then calmly walked out of the tiny room, closely followed by a slaughterhouse worker

Reports suggested the animal had escaped from the nearby slaughterhouse after becoming frightened - presumably by the prospect of its impending slaughter.

It then ran uncontrollably onto the street before following the woman into the shop.

The buffalo was slaughtered in the end, reports said.

Local authorities say the woman received three stitches on her mouth as a result of the incident. The owner of the bull is expected to pay for her treatment.
Zara has sparked outrage for selling photo frames made from animal horn on its website.

The frames have angered animal rights campaigners who say they 'come from animals who died in terror at the abattoir or whose brains were blasted out by a hunter.'

Available at Zara Home, the homeware arm of the fashion retailer, the 12.99 frames are made from 70 per cent 'natural horn pieces' and are likely to have been produced from imported cow horn.

The 12.99 frames from Zara Home are made from 70 per cent 'natural horn pieces'

Last night, the high street giant defended its decision to sell the product.

A spokeswoman for parent company Inditex said they had a 'commitment to environmental responsibility.'

The frames are likely to have been produced from imported cow horn

Zara has previously tried to improve its animal welfare standards after a series of PR gaffes.

Bosses recently announced they are to stop stocking mohair from goats after an investigation in South Africa - a major producer of the wool - uncovered animal cruelty.

And in 2013 the company vowed to stop selling angora rabbit fur after a similar outcry.

Elisa Allen, director of PETA UK, said society was 'moving away from using animals as fabric and decorations' and urged the fashion chain to follow suit.

She said: 'Zara has shown leadership in many areas of animal protection - including by banning the sale of angora, fur, exotic skins, and mohair - and may be unaware, as are many shoppers, that animals with horns don't shed them naturally in the way that those with antlers do.

'Cows, deer, and buffaloes grow a single set of horns to last their entire life, meaning that the horns used to produce bowls, cups, or picture frames come from animals who died in terror at the abattoir or whose brains were blasted out by a hunter.

'Animals are not fabric or decorations, and society is moving away from using their bones, skin, fur, wool, and feathers for these purposes.

'The environmental impact of animal-derived materials, along with the cruelty inherent in all industries that treat animals as commodities, is why PETA advocates the use of animal-free materials for clothing, accessories, and home furnishings.'

The frames have angered animal rights campaigners who say they 'come from animals who died in terror at the abattoir or whose brains were blasted out by a hunter'

Inditex is the biggest fashion retailer in the world with 7,200 stores in 93 countries. It also owns Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka and Stradivarius.

A Zara spokeswoman said: 'Our animal welfare policy states that animal products must come from animals that have been treated ethically and responsibly, based on the internationally accepted Five Freedoms for animal welfare.

'Animal products from slaughtered animals must come from species reared in farms to obtain meat.

'We will never use products from animals slaughtered exclusively for their skin, shell, horn, bone, feather or down.

'We will never sell cosmetic products that have been tested on animals at any stage of production, or that contain ingredients of animal origin.'

MailOnline has contacted Zara for comment.
Jacob Rees-Mogg today urged Theresa May to take the nuclear option of shutting down Parliament to stop Remainers delaying Brexit - as he insisted there is still 'hope' her deal can be passed.

The Tory Eurosceptic made the extraordinary suggestion - which would spark a constitutional crisis - amid frantic manoeuvring ahead of the next crunch Commons votes on Tuesday, when the House will deliver its verdict on an array of different options.

Mrs May is pinning her political future on winning fresh concessions from the EU that can bring Tory rebels and the DUP back on side after her deal was humiliatingly rejected by a record margin last week.

But the faint signs of movement from hardliners including Mr Rees-Mogg could prove too late for No10 as Remainers from across parties plot to force a delay in the Brexit date.

An amendment tabled by Yvette Cooper would effectively turn the constitution on its head by seizing control of Parliamentary business from the government - allowing backbench MPs to put forward legislation demanding an extension to the Article 50 process.

Labour has signalled it will back the controversial plan along with more than a dozen Tory rebels, giving it a real chance of success.

Mrs May has also vowed to try and fend off amendments calling for a second referendum, a permanent customs union, and a further series of indicative votes on what should happen next.

If she succeeds the House will give tacit approval to her strategy of tweaking her Brexit deal and bringing it back for another dramatic vote.

However, the Government also appears to be encouraging MPs to back an amendment from Tory MP Andrew Murrison that would effectively set a time limit on the backstop of December 31, 2021.

Some ministers hope that if the Murrison amendment is passed it will pile pressure on the EU to agree an end date to the backstop.

Jacob Rees-Mogg (pictured giving his speech in London today) launched a fresh demand for the hated Irish backstop to be torn up for any Brexit deal to pass

As the high-stakes horse-trading continued today, Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Tory Brexit-backing European Research Group, said: 'I think there is hope that there could be reformation of this deal to make it more acceptable.

'But we are not there yet. But we will not abandon our friends in the DUP.'

He added: 'As long as the backstop is there, I will not vote for this deal.'

May's Brexit deal is the most acceptable option to voters, poll finds Research by Number Cruncher Politics found Theresa May's prosed Brexit deal was the least divisive for voters Theresa May's Brexit deal is the most acceptable Brexit outcome for voters - with nearly half saying they could live with it. A poll has underlined the depth of public splits over how to handle the UK's future relations with the EU. Research by Number Cruncher Politics asked what the preferred path was, and found staying in the bloc was the most commonly favoured with 37 per cent. Some 29 per cent wanted to leave with no deal, while 23 per cent supported the PM's package and 10 per cent did not know. However, the picture became clearer when people were asked which of the options they found unacceptable or acceptable. Remaining was acceptable to 48 per cent, but unacceptable to 41 per cent. Advertisement

He told a meeting of the hardline eurosceptic Bruges Group that an amendment tabled by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles was a 'constitutional outrage' supported by MPs who wanted to prevent Brexit from happening at all.

He said that no-deal could only be taken off the table if the Government 'connived in doing it'.

He added: 'If the House of Commons undermines our basic constitutional conventions then the executive is entitled to use other vestigial constitutional means to stop it.

'By which I basically mean prorogation. And prorogation normally lasts for three days but any law that is in the process before prorogation falls.'

The government asks the Queen to 'prorogue' the Houses in order to end a Parliamentary session.

That effectively wipes the legislative slate clean - starting again with the Monarch making a speech setting out the government's new programme.

Mr Rees-Mogg went on: 'I think that would be the Government's answer, that is the Government's backstop, to use a choice phrase.'

Asked about the North-East Somerset MP's suggestion, Theresa May's official spokesman told reporters: 'It is not something that I am aware has ever been discussed in Number 10.'

According to the parliamentary website prorogation is usually done by the Queen on behalf of the Privy Council and 'brings to an end nearly all parliamentary business'.

However it noted that some bills can be carried over to the next session 'subject to agreement'.

Mrs May has been holding more meetings with Tory MPs as she desperately tries to drum up support for her Brexit Plan B after her original deal was overwhelmingly defeated.

She is also due to meet with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford, leader of the Welsh Assembly, in Downing Street today.

And tomorrow she will hold trade union leaders - including the hard-left boss of Unite Len McCluskey - in No10 for talks.

Theresa May (pictured in the Commons today) is facing another devastating blow to her Brexit strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal

Boris Johnson was in Downing Street today for talks with the Chief Whip - but although sources said the meeting was 'amicable' there was no change in either's position on Brexit

Mrs May is scrambling to try to charm her critics after her Brexit plan was overwhelmingly rejected by MPs last week - by 432 votes to 202 - the biggest ever defeat inflicted on a British PM.

She has held cross-party talks with Labour, SNP and Lib Dem MPs - but Jeremy Corbyn snubbed her invite to sit down and discuss Brexit.

And the PM has repeatedly indicated that she will not budge on her key 'principles' - of leaving the EU customs union and Brexit taking place as planned on March 29.

How can a snap general election be called under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act Britain last went to the polls less than two years ago - in June 2017 - but both the Tories and Labour have now been placed on an election footing amid fevered speculation a snap vote could be held. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act the UK is only meant to hold general election every five years. This would mean that Britain would not have another election until the spring of 2020. However, Theresa May - as the PM - can call an election if she tables a motion to the House of Commons and two thirds of MPs vote for it. If she did table such a motion, it is almost certain that it would be passed because Labour has repeatedly called for a new election. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, Parliament must be dissolved at least 25 working days before election day. This means Britain could be sent back to the polls in just over a month if Mrs May decides to call a vote. Jeremy Corbyn can also trigger a general election by calling a vote of no confidence in the Government. If Mrs May loses the vote and a leader cannot form a majority in the Commons within a fortnight, then an election will be called. Mr Corbyn has already called, and lost, one confidence vote in Mrs May and her Government, and has threatened to call more. Advertisement

Instead she has vowed to return to Brussels and demand fresh concessions on the Irish backstop as she pins her hopes on winning back the support of Tory and DUP MPs.

But she faces the prospect of MPs effectively seizing control of the Brexit talks from her as MPs across the Commons have tabled a string of amendments to push their own Brexit plans.

Remainer MPs have tabled changes which would pave the way for the delay of Brexit, to keep the UK in a customs union and a second referendum.

But Michel Barnier appeared to throw an obstacle in the way of the idea today, warning that the EU will not sign off any Brexit delays unless MPs can agree on a way forward.

The bloc's chief negotiator insisted an extension to Article 50 will only be approved if there is a 'stable majority' in Parliament for how to proceed.

He also delivered a tough message on the 39billion divorce bill - saying the UK will still have to pay up even if there is no deal.

In the Commons this afternoon, Mr Corbyn called on Mrs May to rule out no-deal Brexit and open the door to a permanent customs union with the EU.

But Mrs May said that while the Labour leader was willing in the past to meet with Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA, he had refused to meet her to discuss Brexit.

Mr Corbyn said: 'The Chancellor and Business Secretary agree - and I quote - there is a large majority in the Commons opposed to no-deal.

'So will the Prime Minister listen to her own Cabinet ministers and take no-deal off the table?'

Brits with under 15 months left on passports may not be allowed to travel to EU under a no-deal Brexit Brits with less than 15 months left on their passports might not be able to travel to Europe under a no-deal Brexit. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has issued travel advice saying passport validity rules may change from March 29 if Britain crashes out of the EU. And it could mean some tourists travelling to popular holiday hotspots such as France, Spain, Portugal and Italy could be banned from entering if their passport is due to expire before June 2020. The FCO travel advice said: 'If the UK leaves the European Union with no deal, the passport validity rules for travel to most countries in Europe will change from 29 March 2019. 'Some passports with up to 15 months validity remaining may not be valid for travel. 'Before booking travel, you should check that your passport will meet meet these new rules and find out whether you need to renew it.' Advertisement

Mrs May said the whole Government was 'working to ensure that we leave the EU with a deal - and that is the way to avoid no-deal'.

She added: 'The Right Honourable Gentleman has been willing to sit down with Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA without preconditions, yet he won't meet me to talk about Brexit.'

In a swipe at Mr Corbyn's explanation of photos showing him holding a wreath at a cemetery holding the graves of Palestinian fighters, Mrs May said: 'In this case, he's neither present nor involved.'

Mrs May said extending Article 50 would not resolve any issues as MPs would reach a point when they had to decide if they want no deal, a deal or no Brexit.

She said the exit date of March 29 was not 'arbitrary' and told MPs: 'Extending Article 50, I don't believe, resolves any issues because at some point members of this House have to decide whether they want to have a no-deal situation, agree a deal or have no Brexit.'

Amid rising speculation that the political crisis could topple the government, Tory chiefs have warned Mrs May that Mr Corbyn is on track to end up as PM if she calls a snap general election.

Some Cabinet ministers are understood to be braced for an election 'sooner rather than later'.

But internal Conservative polling suggests the party could lose its grip on power if there was a national vote now - with Labour instead best placed to head up a 'rainbow coalition' with the SNP and Lib Dems.

Senior figures have also reportedly voiced alarm that the Tories are totally unprepared for a contest, with no up-to-date voting register, activists badly demoralised, and a backlash from middle-class Remainers putting heartlands at risk.

Meanwhile a leading Tory Brexiteer today called for Britain's chief negotiator Olly Robbins to be sent to the Tower of London for colluding with the EU.

Tory MP Mark Francois (pictured, second on the right) accused the senior civil servant Ollie Robbins of 'colluding' with Brussels to try to keep Britain in the EU

Tory MP Mark Francois accused the senior civil servant of 'colluding' with Brussels to try to keep Britain in the EU.

In an interview with the ConHome website, Mr Francois accused 'the establishment' of trying to thwart the Brexit referendum result.

He said: 'And we have civil servants like Ollie Robbins who are very pro-EU, who have never wanted us to leave, and have done everything in their power, including colluding with the European Union, to try and keep us in.

What is Tuesday's Plan B vote and what will it mean? What is happening? Because Theresa May's Brexit deal was defeated, the law says she must tell Parliament what her Plan B is. This has to be done in a motion to the Commons, which will be voted on by MPs next Tuesday night. That motion can be re-written by MPs if they table amendments and win a vote in favour of them. Some amendments have already been tabled and MPs can keep producing them until Monday night. What does May's plan say? It promises more cross-party working, renews commitments to protecting workers' rights after Brexit and says the PM will ask Brussels for more concessions on the backstop. It it based on the current deal that was crushed by 230 votes last week. What do the main amendments say? Jeremy Corbyn's amendment says Parliament should vote on 'options' including a renegotiation of the deal to get a permanent customs union and for a second referendum. A cross party amendment from Yvette Cooper and Nicky Morgan seeks to block no deal by giving time to a draft law that would require the Government to delay Brexit if a deal has not been agreed by February 26. It upturns normal convention by putting a backbench MP's Bill ahead of Government plans. An amendment from Tory rebel Dominic Grieve seeks to set up weekly debates that would mean regular votes on what to do in the absence a deal. His amendments sets aside six named days for the debates - including as late as March 26. What would the vote do? Legally nothing - but if the Commons votes in favour of a clear way forward by a majority it will be a major political signal of what might happen. Is it a new 'meaningful vote' that can approve May's deal? No. At some point, the PM will have to stage a repeat of last week's vote to get explicit approval from MPs to go ahead with her deal if she wants it to survive. Advertisement

'That's why they helped to negotiate a Withdrawal Agreement that effectively does that.

'Now at the end of all this, in my personal opinion, this is not necessarily the opinion of the ERG, Mr Robbins should go to the Tower, in which case he should arrive by river. Is that pugnacious enough for you?'

Mr Francois, the deputy chairman of the Brexit-backing European Research Group,, also demanded that the Irish backstop is ditched altogether.

There had been signs that Tory Brexiteers were softening their stance on the P's proposed Brexit deal - hinting they could back it if the backstop is time limited or the UK can get a way to exit it unilaterally.

But he poured cold water on the assertions by saying that tweaks to the deal are not enough.

He said: 'The Prime Minister would have to ask the European Union to ditch the entire backstop. Not tweak it, but ditch it. And then in turn the EU would have to agree.

It comes as Mr Rees-Mogg will also try to turn the screw on the PM by using a speech ths afternoon to demand the backstop is ditched.

He will say: 'The backstop doesn't work for unionists in the Tory party, or the DUP.

'The pretence that we might ever swallow it is now over,' he will tell a meeting of the Bruges Group.

'The tough stance comes despite mounting signs that Remainers will take the first step towards delaying Brexit next week.'

Tory infighting escalated again today amid claims hardline Brexiteers are 'running down the clock' by pretending they might back Mrs May's deal.

There are also fears the tactics were intended to toughen Mrs May's resolve to face down a Remainer plot to block the UK from crashing out of the EU in March, according to The Times.

In the wake of her deal's humiliating defeat in the Commons last week, the PM has pledged to go back to Brussels and secure more concessions on the Irish border backstop.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said his party is 'highly likely' to support an attempt by pro-EU MPs to seize control of Parliamentary business from the government, so legislation can be passed extending the Article 50 process.

The endorsement puts Mrs May on track for another humiliating defeat when the plan comes before the Commons next week, as more than a dozen Tories have vowed to rebel.

Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned this morning that the scheme could cause constitutional chaos, and would have a 'calamitous' effect on public faith in politics.

How would the 'nuclear option' proposed by Rees-Mogg work? The government asks the Queen to 'prorogue' the Houses in order to end a Parliamentary session. That effectively wipes the legislative slate clean - starting again with the Monarch making a speech setting out the government's new programme. Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested the mechanism could be used to kill off the Bill proposed by Remainer rebels ordering the Brexit date to be delayed. Mr Rees-Mogg denied the move would be flouting the constitution - arguing that the session has already lasted the normal length of around a year. He pointed out that the Labour government used early prorogations in the 1940s to overcome House of Lords objections to reforms. According to the parliamentary website prorogation is usually done by the Queen on behalf of the Privy Council and 'brings to an end nearly all parliamentary business'. However it noted that some bills can be carried over to the next session 'subject to agreement'. Advertisement

An extension would need to be approved by the EU - and the bloc would likely refuse unless cancelling Brexit altogether, a referendum, or a general election is on the cards.

Meanwhile, George Osborne has joined the attack on the government by warning that crashing out of the EU would be like playing 'Russian roulette' with the UK economy.

The former chancellor, who now edits the Evening Standard, insisted the prospect of crashing out of the EU is so bad that delaying the Brexit date is now the 'most likely option'.

Speaking to the BBC in Davos, Mr Osborne compared no deal to a game of Russian roulette where the 'gun is held to the British economy's head'.

He added: 'I think at the moment delay looks like the most likely option because at least that gives some space to explore whether there's an alternative deal on the table.

'I doubt there is, but that's worth exploring, or whether we need to resolve this through a referendum.'

Mr McDonnell gave a major boost to the Remainer revolt last night when he described the cross-party Bill - backed by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles among others - as 'sensible' and said it was 'increasingly likely' that his party would back it.

Their proposal would see the constitution effectively turned on its head to secure Parliamentary time for the legislation - which would order the extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.
Michael Walsh, pictured outside Perth Sheriff Court, denies two counts of sexual assault

An aristocrat came round from a hypnosis session to discover the therapists hand up her skirt at the top of her thigh, a court heard.

The woman, 52, said she was shocked and embarrassed and at once pushed away Michael Walsh at the end of their meeting at her home in Edinburgh.

She told a trial at Perth Sheriff Court that it was her second session with Walsh, 70, and that the first had ended with him making an off-colour remark about her looking as if she had had an orgasm.

I was hypnotised, she said. I dont know how to describe being hypnotised. They bring you out of it gradually. There was counting down and you gradually wake up.

He was right next to me with his hand up my skirt, on my inner thigh, and I dont know how long it had been there. I have no idea. It was right at the top.

I was so shocked. I cant remember the exact position he was in. I was so shocked I slapped him away. I was wearing a black Hobbs skirt, which was knee length.

He didnt apologise or give an explanation. It was extraordinary. He acted like nothing had happened. I was shocked and embarrassed. I didnt know what to say.

I was so taken aback. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. I felt he was in a position of trust.

She said she told her friend and husband but did not know at the time if she should report it. She said the police approached her several years later to question her about the incident.

When it was put to her by Walshs solicitor, Rosemary Scott, that she had fabricated the incident, she replied: Do you think in my professional and personal life I would jeopardise my reputation by lying to the court?

The trial at Perth Sheriff Court (pictured) has heard from two women who claim they were assaulted by Walsh

She explained that she had first had hypnotherapy to conquer her fear of flying in a session on a big leather sofa at Walshs home and office in Perthshire.

She said: I think I went under very, very quickly. It was my understanding he would say certain things and that would cure me of my fear of flying. He spoke in a hypnotic manner. I did go to sleep or fell into a hypnotic trance. When I was brought round he was slightly odd, but said Id need another session to make sure the fear of flying went.

I was very flushed and he made some comment that it looked like Id had an orgasm. It felt very odd but I laughed it off. I found the whole thing very embarrassing.

The trial had previously heard from an international property agent that the powerful and charismatic hypnotist sexually assaulted her while she was a 14-year-old pupil at a Scottish private school.

The woman, now 28, flew in from the Middle East to give evidence in the trial of alternative medicine practitioner Walsh.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had been groped by Walsh at his practice in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, more than a decade ago.

She said she regularly attended married Walshs home-based clinic and had been allowed to stay overnight on several occasions as she continued to receive hypnotherapy.

On the day in question, she said Walsh had given her alcohol earlier and told her that later that night they were likely to have sex.

She said it had made her feel guilty and ashamed and it had taken her a while to realise what had been happening.

Walsh, of Blairgowrie, denies sexually assaulting a woman in Edinburgh between November 1, 2001 and November 30, 2003.

That charge alleges that whilst in the course of administering hypnotherapy he sexually assaulted her by placing his hand up her skirt and touching her inner thigh.

The second charge alleges Walsh indecently assaulted the schoolgirl during hypnotherapy sessions on several occasions between September 1, 2005 and September 30, 2006, when he asked her to sit on his knee, cuddled and kissed her, and made sexualised remarks.

The trial continues.
An innocent woman was forced to give DNA samples, had her car impounded, and was summoned to court after a licencing database bungle.

Rachel Martins, 31, was on her way to work on Tuesday morning when police pulled her over in Cockburn in southern Perth, for a random breath test.

The disability support worker blew a zero reading but police checked her licence and told her it was suspended on medical grounds.

Rachel Martins, 31, was forced to give DNA samples, had her car impounded, and was summoned to court after a licencing database bungle

Ms Martins was told her car would be impounded and she would be issued a court summons on a charged of driving with a suspended licence

'I was very confused and in tears as they took a DNA test, fingerprints and mugshot. I felt so humiliated as I knew I did nothing wrong,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

Ms Martins was then told her car would be impounded and she would be issued a court summons on a charge of driving with a suspended licence.

'I explained I had a medical assessment done every two years because I take medication for anxiety and depression,' she said.

The disability support worker blew a zero reading but police checked her licence and told her it was suspended on medical grounds

'But I had done that and filled out he forms and was issued a driver's licence that was valid until July. Why would I be issued a valid drivers license if it was suspended?'

Ms Martins said her protests fell on deaf ears as the database police looked up her licence on showed it was suspended.

'The only explanation I received was that they did not know and that I would have to contact the Department of Transportation,' she said.

'All they had to do was call the Department and they would have verified my licence validity. It would have taken 10 minutes.'

Instead, Ms Martins was stranded by the side of the road with no way to make it to work, where a disabled client was waiting for her.

'I walked away in tears figuring out who to call to pick me up and having to call work and my client who is waiting for me to care for him why I can't come in,' she said.

'The whole ordeal emotionally distressed me, and it also affected my disabled client, who didn't have anyone to look after him.'

Ms Martins complained to police and the WA Transport Department and police realised their mistake on Wednesday morning.

'I received a call from a police sergeant in charge that day for the bus apologising and saying he would drop my car off,' she said.

'The least they could have done is filled it up with petrol for me!'

Ms Martins complained to police and the WA Transport Department and police realised their mistake on Wednesday morning

WA Police said it requested clarification of Ms Martins' licence validity with the Transport Department, which 'confirmed there was an anomaly in the system'.

'In recognition of the error, an officer attended at the residence of Ms Martins to offer an apology and returned her vehicle,' it said.

'Ms Martin will not be charged and all her identifying particulars will be destroyed.'

The Transport Department blamed the misunderstanding on not every part of its system being automatically updated, which caused delays.

'A subsequent review by DoT revealed that incorrect information regarding her licence status had been provided to police. This was immediately corrected,' it said.

'A persons licence can be affected for range of matters including but not limited to failure to renew, fine suspension, court imposed disqualification and excessive demerit point suspension.

'DoT has responsibility to ensure that all sanctions are applied accordingly to law. This was an isolated incident where there were errors in the persons record which have now been rectified.'

Ms Martins said she didn't hold any malice towards the officers involved, but was considering making a formal complaint before it happened to someone else.
Trica Niculescu (pictured) told police that a 'thief has to steal' when they arrested him

A Romanian who flew to the UK to pickpocket shoppers has been jailed after brazenly telling police: 'A worker has to work, a thief has to steal.'

Trica Niculescu travelled to Birmingham to target customers at the city's German Christmas market.

The 58-year-old had only been in the UK for six days when he was spotted unzipping an 11-year-old girl's rucksack on December 17 in the city.

A stallholder also saw him slip his hand into a woman's pocket after she withdrew money from a cash point.

Two West Midlands Police officers patrolling the German market collared Niculescu and arrested him on suspicion of attempted theft.

In police interview he admitted following dozens of people on the day, before telling stunned officers: 'A worker has to work, a thief has to steal.'

He admitted unzipping the girl's rucksack, looking inside but withdrew his hand because there was 'nothing worth stealing.'

Pictured: Shoppers at the German Christmas Markets in Birmingham, West Midlands, last year, where the pickpocket chose his targets

Niculescu, from Craiova in southern Romania, was jailed for eight months after he admitted two counts of attempted theft at Birmingham Crown Court last Thursday.

PC Mat Evans, from Birmingham Police's City Centre Prevent Team, said: 'In sentencing, the judge described Niculescu as a "professional, international pickpocket who came to the UK to target the German market and ply his trade".

'In interview he almost came across as being proud of being a pickpocket and didn't seem to express any remorse for targeting innocent people and even children.

'I'd like to thank the vigilant stallholder who spotted Niculescu at "work" in the crowd and raised the alarm with us; had he not done so Niculescu may well have gone on to spoil many people's night at the market. Niculescu will be deported from the UK upon completing his sentence.'
A severe thunderstorm warning, bringing with it hailstones and damaging winds, has been issued for a large part of New South Wales by the Bureau of Meteorology.

The warning was issued at about 8pm on Wednesday evening and covers an area of the state's east from Tenterfield in the north to west of Canberra at it's south edge.

'Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce large hailstones, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and damaging winds in the warning area over the next several hours,' the warning states.

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A severe thunderstorm warning, bringing with it hailstones and damaging winds, has been issued for a large part of New South Wales by the Bureau of Meteorology

The warning was issued at about 8pm on Wednesday evening and covers an area of the state's east from Tenterfield in the north to west of Canberra at it's south edge (stock image)

While Sydney hit 30C on Wednesday, South Australians living in Ceduna, a town in the state's south-west, sweltered through a 48.5C day - the town's hottest recorded.

The temperature was hot enough to cause asphalt roads to melt on the outskirts on town.

The blistering heat could also shatter an 80-year-record in Adelaide, with the city likely to see temps continue to reach 40 degrees and above

The Bureau of Meteorology and SA Country Fire Service issued a joint warning saying the heat is expected to continue on Friday and a total fire ban is in force across much of the state.

The heat is set to test the state's power grid, which has struggled in the past to meet demand.

While Sydney hit 30C on Wednesday (pictured; Bondi Beach), South Australians living in Ceduna, a town in the state's south-west, sweltered through a 48.5C

For the rest of this week in NSW, thunderstorms are set to put a dampener on the build up to Australia Day - but any relief from the extreme heat will be brief.

Weatherzone meteorologist Craig McIntosh said the humidity will make temperatures feel hotter than the expected 30C in the city around mid-week.

'The southerly change will bring cooler temperatures over Thursday and Friday, although it should still get to over 30C in western Sydney,' he said.

Thunderstorms and heavy rain are set to put a dampener on the build up to Australia Day - but any relief from the extreme heat will be brief (pictured; a storm off Bondi on Wednesday)

Weatherzone meteorologist Craig McIntosh said temperatures in Sydney will reach 30C mid week in Sydney, although the humidity will make it feel hotter than that

A southerly change will bring cooler temperatures to Sydney on Thursday and Friday

The mercury will soar again on Friday, when the 'heat kicks in'.

'The temperature will be in the low to mid 30s over the city, and into the low 40s in the west,' Mr McIntosh said.

'It will feel hotter than that because of the humidity.'

'There's a chance of thunderstorms over the western ranges for Saturday and Sunday, possibly encroaching parts of the western suburbs and Blue Mountains.'

The relief from the heat will be brief, as temperatures and humidity are set to soar over the weekend (pictured; Bondi Beach)

A blistering heatwave is expected to strike South Australia in the coming days, pushing for new records

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Phil Perkins told Daily Mail Australia the heat is only going to 'build and build' in South Australia.

'We broke some heat records last week, so that's a really big sign into exactly how prolonged the heat has been,' he said.

Port Augusta and Tarcoola, two regional towns in South Australia, had their heat records broken only a week ago.

Beaches are expected to fill (pictured is Adelaide's Glenelg Beach) with temps over 40C forecast

An 80-year-long heat record in Adelaide is at risk of being broken, according to meteorologists

Tarcoola, in the state's north-west, peaked at 49C last Tuesday, the hottest it has ever been since temperatures were first recorded in 1903.

Port Augusta minutely missed out on also topping 49C the same day, reaching 48.9C just after midday.

Both blistering heats came close to besting the top temperature on record in Australia - being 50.7C in Oodnadatta in January 1960.

Temperatures in the city are unprecedented and up to 16C higher than average, experts say

Mr Perkins says that the upcoming heatwave is unprecedented, with much of the state sweltering through temperatures 16C above average.

'People don't recover or replenish fluids overnight either,' he says.

Respite is expected to come on Friday for most of South Australia, with a cool change dropping temperatures in some areas by as much as 15C in only a few hours.

Respite is on the way, however, with a 15C turnaround expected by the end of the week

Parts of the country will swelter close to 50C in the coming days, with the pink spots on this map indicating temperatures beyond 45C

Adelaide won't be the only city pushing past 40C, with Melbourne topping out at 41C on Friday before dropping 12C and expecting showers on Australia Day.

Sydney will be mostly sunny, topping out at 33C on Saturday after days of high humidity.

Brisbane will be much of the same, consistently clocking in in the low-30s before peaking at 33C on Saturday.

Perth will see showers in the lead-up to the weekend before the skies clear, reaching a high of 29C and sunny on the day itself.

Darwin will see a week of heavy storms and high heats, reaching 32C on Saturday.
David Dimbleby was branded the 'ultimate troll' by amused viewers last night after he repeatedly praised BBC while receiving an award on ITV.

The broadcaster said the corporation was 'one of the great national institutions' as he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement gong at the National Television Awards.

During his heartfelt speech, that was broadcast on ITV last night, he said that the BBC 'still holds a heart in the place of the British people' adding it is 'absolutely vital for our life.'

But viewers were quick to mock the 80-year-old TV legend, taking to Twitter to poke fun at the former Question Time host's tribute.

David Dimbleby fiving his speech on stage as he praised the BBC for their decades of work

The veteran broadcaster was branded the 'ultimate troll' after he repeatedly praised the rival channel as he accepted the award

One joked: 'Can't decide if David Dimbleby has genuinely forgot that the NTA awards are on ITV whilst he's been bigging up the BBC for 10 minutes or he's the ultimate troll.

'Either way, an absolute legend.'

Another said: 'David Dimbleby saying how much he loves the BBC and how it's the best network live on ITV... How much is the BBC paying him?'

One user added: Did he really feel the need to make his whole speech about the BBC? Yes that's where he works etc but he's at an award ceremony broadcast on the ITV!'

After Dimbleby's speech amused viewers took to Twitter to mock the former Question Time host's speech

Dimbleby took to the stage at the O2 arena after a show reel of his career was played.

He said: 'All the things you saw there were on the BBC. I've been a fan all my life.

'I began with the BBC, I think it's one of the great national institutions.

'I know many of the people we are seeing tonight are from other channels but I think the existence of the BBC is absolutely vital for our life. However it's threatened by Netflix or other competition.

David Dimbleby, pictured on the red carpet last night, called the BBC 'one of the great national institutions'

'The BBC still holds a heart in the place of the British people.'

Dimbleby stood down from Question Time at the end of last year after 25 years at the helm.

BBC newsreader and Antiques Roadshow host Fiona Bruce become the first female presenter of the current affairs panel show when she took over this month.

Dimbleby first presented Question Time on January 14 1994, and was the longest serving presenter of the show.

During his career he has presented Panorama, chaired the leadership debates in 2010, and has anchored general election coverage since 1979.
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Family and friends of murdered Israeli student Aiia Maasarwe remain mired in grief ahead of the 21-year-old's funeral.

Ms Maasarwe's body was returned to her hometown of Baqa Al-Gharbiyye, northern Israel, ahead of the ceremony on Wednesday afternoon local time.

Mourners and well-wishers were seen gathering near the sandstone walls of Aiia's old school as relatives cried in solidarity in the family's home.

The student was killed in Melbourne's northern suburb of Bundoora last week while walking back to her student accommodation. She had only been living in the city for six months following a move from Shanghai.

Ms Maasarwe's sudden and tragic death shocked her tight-knit community, a densely populated area of about 30,000 people, who have hung black banners across the town reading: 'God have mercy on Aiia.'

Her coffin, which arrived in a blue and white ambulance, will be carried to the local mosque where prayers will be held for her and her family. As many as 20,000 people are expected to attend.

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Family and friends of murdered Israeli student Aiia Maasarwe remain mired in grief ahead of the 21-year-old's funeral

Ms Maasarewe's body was returned to her hometown of Baqa Al-Gharbiyye, northern Israel, ahead of the ceremony on Wednesday afternoon local time

The student was killed in Melbourne's northern suburb of Bundoora last week as she walked home from a comedy show, leaving her hometown distraught

An ornate blanket covers the light wood casket carrying Aiia, as mourners make their way towards their local mosque

Mourners and well-wishers were seen gathering near the sandstone walls of Aiia's old school as relatives cried in solidarity in the family's home

Ms Maasarwe's sudden and tragic death shocked her tight-knit community, a densely populated area of about 30,000 people

Near the family's front gate, relatives and neighbours had hung signs in Arabic saying 'Stop picking our flowers'

Teenagers from the community were seen following the light wood casket through the town, displaying banners with heartfelt messages.

One of the banners thanked the Australian Arabic Community for their solidarity.

In front of her family home, a message reading 'stop cutting our flowers' was displayed. The family said the message is a plea for violence against young women to stop.

Another, written in Arabic, simply read 'grief'.

Aiia's father Saeed accompanied the mahogany coffin that carried his daughter from Melbourne, before following her down the street.

Two relatives stood with him as authorities and security officers followed.

Mr Maasarwe said: 'I just want to thank everyone for coming and supporting us.'

Aiia's grandmother added: 'Everyone protect your children.'

Aiia (pictured) was killed on her way back to her student accommodation from a comedy club in Melbourne's north last week

The man charged with her murder, 20-year-old Codey Herrman (pictured), will reappear in court in June this year

Aiia's funeral is planned for Wednesday afternoon local time in Israel. Pictured is a woman waiting in front of the family home

Teenagers carry a banner through streets of Baqa al-Gharbiya thanking the Australian Arabic Community for their solidarity

Thousands of mourners took to the streets of Baqa al-Gharbiya ahead of Aiia's funeral, which is being held on Wednesday

Mourners cry as the coffin carrying Arab-Israeli student Aiia Maasarwe is marched through the streets of northern Israel

Aiia arrived at her home in a dark mahogany coffin after being flown in from Tel Aviv Airport. Inside the home, she was moved to a simple casket made of light wood and draped in a carpet.

The crowd made a slow march of solidarity to Al-Tzarat Mosque where prayers were to be held. A slow procession planned though the streets to the cemetery where Aiia will be buried will follow.

Students at Aiia's school were seen wearing shirts that read her name in Arabic. A billboard with Aiia's smiling face was also erected in her honour. It reads: 'To the gardens of God.'

Aiia was killed on her way home from a comedy club last Tuesday night in Melbourne's north. She had been on the phone to her sister at the time, who says she heard her scream.

Her body was found by a passer-by the next morning in the suburb of Bundoora, a short distance from where she studied language at La Trobe University.

Codey Herrman, 20, was arrested and charged in relation to the murder on Friday. He is being remanded in custody and due to reappear in court in June this year.

Teenagers hold banners with Arabic writing. The banner on the right reads: 'Killing the dream, killing education, killing ambition, killing humanity'

A billboard along the streets of Baqa al-Gharbiya, erected in Aiia's honour, reading: 'To the gardens of God'

The young woman's death has devastated the tight-knit community of about 30,000 people

Municipal offices were closed on Wednesday in Baqa El Gharbiye to allow locals to attend the funeral and pay their respects

Women cry as Aiia's body is carried through the streets to the local mosque, where prayers are due to be held
A romantic knight in shining armour rode on horseback to his girlfriend's front door to propose to her.

Christopher Broderick, from Boston, Massachusetts, donned the armour and shield emblazoned with his family's coat of arms after researching his own Irish heritage online.

After joking with his partner Cindy MacDonald, he claimed he was her very own knight in shining armour and decided to bring the character to life.

Christopher Broderick, 57, arrived at his partner's home on horseback to propose to her

Mr Broderick, 57, said: 'The idea started as I was researching my Irish heritage and came across the family coat of arms.

'That was the first item that drew me to a shield and then a sword. I was falling deeply in love with Cindy and was joking telling her I was her knight in shining armor.

'Then I started the plan to become a real life knight and asked a friend to help find a white horse, had the shield made up by a specialist company.

'Amazingly I was able to rent the suit of armor from a rental company so that I had the full outfit.

'The only thing left was to arrange the place. I discreetly contacted Cindy's sister and we planned a luncheon date at Cindy's to make sure she would be there when I arrived on horseback.

'The rest is history!'

Footage shows Mr Broderick sat on top of a white stallion in a car park just a few houses away from Ms MacDonald's home.

Mr Broderick got down on one knee to propose to his partner, who said yes to him before breaking out in tears of joys

As he crosses his partner's lawn, a visibly shocked Ms MacDonald opens her door with her mouth agape.

Mr Broderick shouts 'I want you to be my wife' before jumping down from his horse and dropping onto one knee.

As a sobbing Ms MacDonald nods her approval, onlookers whoop and holler in appreciation.

Ms MacDonald, 53, said: 'I heard my sister say, "Hey, what's that?" And as I turned around I saw a horse and a knight in shining armor sat on my lawn!

'I thought it was so romantic.'

The soon-to-be newlyweds have been dating for four years and bonded over their shared love of Ireland, where they have each traced their ancestry.

The couple - who have been dating for four years - bonded over their shared love of Ireland, where they've each traced their ancestry.

Mr Broderick, a building inspector, added: 'We had an incredible day - it couldn't have gone more to plan.'

Although no date has been set for the wedding, they have already decided to put the shield up on display in their new marital home.
This is the shocking moment a toddler is saved from drowning in a swimming pool by a passing security guard in Brazil.

The three-year-old jumped into the main adult pool in a leisure area in a condominium and was underwater for nearly 20 seconds with only his flailing hands visible above the surface.

Alex Sandro, a porter at the gated apartment block in Serra, in the south east state of Espirito Santos, was on his rounds on Saturday at 7.50pm when he caught sight of the distressed child.

Security cameras showed the moment he flung open the door to the leisure area and ran to the poolside.

Throwing himself to the ground he leant in and stretched deep into the water to grab hold of the child's arm.

The little boy went under the surface of the water as soon as he jumped into the pool, until a passing security guard leant in and pulled him from the water

Alex Sandro hauled the three-year-old from the water of the condominium pool in a gated block in Espirito Santos state, Brazil

Hauling the little boy out of the deep end, Mr Sandro hugged the frightened child to himself and there was a palpable sense of relief.

The patrolman said: 'It was a miracle that I was there at the time. I could have been somewhere else.

'I was doing my rounds when I approached the entrance to the large swimming pool and I suddenly saw the child under the water with his hands flapping about.

'I knew immediately that he was drowning but no one else in or near the pool had noticed his plight.

'I ran to the edge and took him out straight away. I was scared that he would be unconscious because I didn't know how long he had been under as I hadn't seen him enter.

'But when I pulled him out he was fully aware, very frightened and shaking all over. I held him close to me to comfort him and said a quiet prayer of thanks to God that I had saved his life.'

Before jumping into the five-foot deep adult pool the boy paddled in the nearby smaller shallow pool

CCTV footage captured the moment the youngster sat on the edge of the adult pool at the deep end

The near fatal incident started with the child climbing over fencing which separates the swimming pool from a children's playground.

The recordings which captured the entire incident, showed the toddler first entering the smaller shallow pool.

After a few minutes of paddling on his own he climbed out and wandered over to the adult pool which is about five feet deep.

Sitting on the edge, he slipped himself into the water at the deep end, but immediately sank beneath the surface.

Distressing images show the small boy totally immersed and floundering under the water as two people swimming nearby failed to notice his battle to stay afloat.

Others in the poolside appear distracted and were also unaware of the lone child's desperate fight for survival.

Mr Sandro, who has been working at the complex for two years, explained that the boy does not live in the private block but was visiting a family friend with his mother when the accident happened.

He said: 'The boy's mother was breastfeeding her younger child in the friend's flat and unaware of the what was going on.

'An aunt was apparently watching over her son, who was in the children's playground, when he asked her for some water.

He then slid himself into the water and immediately went below the surface. Many other swimmers did not notice he was in distress

Once he was hauled to safety, Mr Sandro hugged the youngster after the near fatal incident

'While she went to fetch some, the boy climbed over the railings to the pool area, which are about a meter high, and it seems he entered unnoticed.'

Manager of the condominium, Flavio Santos, said: 'The area patrolled by Alex is quite big so it was a miracle he happened to be in the vicinity at the right time.

'The pool also has a number of plants around it making it difficult to see into the recreation area from certain visual points. We have addressed these blind spots and now the cameras to the pool are constantly being monitored.'

Parents have also been alerted to the near fatal outcome and warned to be more vigilant of not only their own children but other youngsters.

Mr Santos said: 'We've stressed that it is imperative that no child should ever be left unattended for one second in the swimming pool area.

'Something like this has never happened before in the condominium and thanks to Alex we had a narrow escape on this occasion.'

The little boy did not need medical attention and the family refused to comment.
This is the shocking moment a cruel poacher pinned a tiger down and appeared to punch it after the animal was hunted down for its body parts.

The trophy picture from a hunting gang shows a man with his fist above his head as he sits astride the bloodied big cat in northern Thailand.

A poaching gang operating across South East Asia has been targeting animals in the country's forests before using their remains to make 'lucky' amulets, sex medicines and decorations, activists say.

A poacher pinned a tiger down and appeared to punch it after the animal was hunted down for its body parts

They even documented their kills with mobile phone pictures - with the images eventually leading to their downfall.

Results of a three-month long investigation were revealed yesterday, with officials claiming to have stopped the poaching cells which operated on Thailand's borders.

Wildlife workers said the jungle-savvy hunters would be dispatched across border forests to track the animals, before killing them and smuggling the carcasses to Vietnam to be used in aphrodisiac medicines and as jewellery.

Petcharat Sangchai, director of the NGO Freeland which carried out the probe, said: 'We do not think this was the poachers' first time in Thailand, and we believe that they were planning to strike again.'

Officials said they first arrested two Vietnamese members of the group last October in Nakhon Sawan Province, northern Thailand.

Police received a tip-off from a hired driver who was suspicious about the cargo.

They stopped the vehicle, inspected the bag, and discovered fresh tiger skeleton and thousands of bear claws inside.

The picture of the poacher attacking a tiger was found on the phone of one member of the gang. It sparked a three-month-long investigation to uncover the poaching network.

Thai police and wildlife officers inspect a tiger skeleton in Nakhon Sawan province, Thailand. The photo emerged after two Vietnamese nationals were arrested in possession of tiger remains

Police contacted the Freeland organisation for analytical assistance using digital forensics technology.

The investigation revealed that the foreign poachers were part of a wildlife trafficking organisation in Vietnam which supports hunting and smuggling in the forests of Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar.

The recording of their killing of wild tigers shows that the poachers were experienced and well-planned. Police also believed that they had been operating in the border regions for a significant amount of time before they were caught.

Petcharat Sangchai said that tiger skeletons and bear claws are in high demand in many countries Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam.

He said: 'Tiger skeleton is the crucial ingredient for making a tiger bone liquor which is believed to be a health and sex medicine for elders. Bear claws are used to be a lucky amulet for virtue and fame.

'This gang has been removed as a threat, but we should be aware that whoever employed them may dispatch more hunters to kill our country's tigers. Police, rangers and the public must remain vigilant.'
Angela Rose-Gorrell (pictured above) leaving Manchester Magistrates Court, where she was facing a drink driving charge after drinking wine to help her cope with going through the menopause

A drink-driving businesswoman who 'drank wine to cope with the menopause' has been banned from the road after being found nearly three times over the legal limit.

Angela Rose-Gorrell was pulled over by police in her luxury Lexus car, which has a personalised number plate, after officers were alerted to the vehicle as it travelled along the M61 motorway.

A breathalyser test showed the 50-year-old who runs a recruitment firm in Lancashire was almost three times the alcohol legal limit.

She later claimed she had been going through the menopause for 18 months and would drink alcohol to 'calm down.'

The mother-of-one who lives in Buckshaw village near Chorley, has since given up drinking.

At Manchester Magistrates' Court Rose-Gorrell admitted driving with excess alcohol and was fined 1153, plus 200 costs and surcharges. She was also disqualified from driving for 23 months.

She said her Preston-based business and marriage would suffer due to a driving ban and said she would not be able to drive her 10-year-old son to school four miles away.

The incident occurred on December 11 last year after Rose-Gorrell whose husband works as a quantity surveyor who specialises in the recruitment of construction staff across the North West of England had cancelled a business meeting following what she described as a 'stressful morning.'

Angela Rose-Gorrell (left and right) was given a fine and has been disqualified from driving for 23 months

Rose-Gorrell (pictured above leaving Manchester Magistrates' Court) had 99 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg

Whilst working from home she drank some wine and was later arrested as she pulled into Rivington Services off the Northbound carriageway.

Prosecutor Martin Brogan said: 'A police officer was on duty and received messages regarding a motor vehicle on M61.

'The officer pulled the car over and asked them to stop in a service station. The officer spoke to the defendant and could smell intoxicant on her breath.

Angela-Rose-Gorrell (pictured above) has now said she has stopped drinking after the incident

'They asked her to perform a breathalyser test, which they had some issues with but the officer felt there was sufficient alcohol on her breath. She was taken to the police station. She has no previous convictions.'

Tests showed Rose-Gorrell had 99 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

In mitigation defence lawyer Sarah Gruffydd said: 'She is utterly mortified and ashamed to be here. She is 50 and has been in no trouble whatsoever.

The 50-year-old (pictured above) has said the business she runs with her husband will suffer from the driving ban

'18 months ago she began finding it difficult to manage her stress and was having panic attacks - she soon found out these were symptoms of the menopause.

'She did not speak to people but started drinking wine to calm down. On 11th December she had had a stressful morning and suffering with anxiety.'

Ms Gruffydd said Rose-Gorrell then cancelled a meeting she was due to have for work and worked from home whilst having some wine, before getting in her car and driving.

At Manchester Magistrates' Court, it was said that Rose-Gorrell (pictured above) was ashamed of her behavior

'As a result of that decision, she has caused consequences to her family.

'She has a 10-year-old son who attends school four miles away and drives him there. She is struggling to work out how to get him there with no buses in the area.

'For 14 years she has run a business with her husband building up a reputation for the company. Her role is to meet clients and secure projects for her husband in the North West.

Rose-Gorrell has visited a doctor about her menopause and stress symptoms

'She is now limited in the role and her husband is in turn limited in his role, meaning the business is going to suffer. This has caused huge problems within their marriage.

'She in no way underestimates the seriousness of what she has done. She feels very ashamed and it has been a scare for her.

'She has said she will not drink ever again and has been to the doctor about her menopause and stress symptoms. She is now on medication and feeling much better for it.'

Sentencing JP Jane Whittington chair of the bench rejected prosecutions suggestions for a community penalty and said: 'We are going to give you a fine as we believe you have tried to help yourself. Keep payments up and do not drive.'

According to health experts drinking alcohol during the menopause can cause symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats to increase in severity and suggest affected woman meditate or exercise instead.
A celebrity endorsed smartphone app hailed as the 'Uber for dogs' tried to buy a couple's silence after their beloved pooch died in the care of one the app's walkers.

Sara and Nick Moore, from Houston, Texas, used the Wag app for someone to take care of their Wheaten Terrier Winnie at the last minute on December 10.

But when Sara did not receive the 60-minute notification saying Winnie was on her way home, she became concerned.

The app - accused of losing seven dogs in New York City alone - has been endorsed by Kendall Jenner, Mariah Carey and Chloe Grace-Moretz.

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Winnie the Weaten Terrier with her owner Sara Moore, she was hit by a car on December 10 while being walked by a Wag walker

Kendall Jenner posted a picture on her Instagram saying 'Thanks @wag for the gift of free doggy walks for life!'

Soul singer Mariah Carey endorsed the app saying: 'Cha Cha's got her own app for ordering dog walkers on demand! Thanks @wag'

Actress and model Chloe Grace-Moretz also endorsed the app saying, 'Pearl has dog walkers on lock while I'm on the set filming my new movie'

According to posts on social media all of these dogs, Duckie (left), Teddy (centre) and Norman (right) were lost in New York City after owners used the 'Wag' app

Nick said on Facebook: 'When Sara called the walker, the walker answered and assured Sara that Winnie was home safe.

'Five minutes later Sara received a call from a Wag representative saying that Winnie was not home safe, but had been hit and did not survive.'

Nick said he was told Winnie was at the animal hospital.

The couple had used the app many times before - they used it when they were out at work and needed someone to take Winnie for a walk.

However, since the accident Nick said 'Wag has been cold, unhelpful, and we believe less than truthful to us.'

When they got in contact with the Los Angeles based company they said they would cover the expenses, such as Winnie's cremation.

The stunning purebred Wheaten Terrier owned by the Moores had an Instagram account dedicated to her good looks before she was fatally struck in the mysterious accident

The Wag app boasts GPS tracking of your dogs walk and insurance for peace of mind, but Nick Moore says they were asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement if Wag were to provide compensation for Winnie's cremation

But, Nick says they were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements which stated if they wanted to be compensated they could not tell anyone what happened.

They refused and shared their story online, Nick said if this had happened to another couple he would want to know about it.

The Wag app has a similar user interface to the cab hailing app Uber, whereby you can use a map to select a walker nearby, in the same way you can select a car using Uber.

The average price of a half-hour dog walk is $20.

The company - valued at $650 million - has been accused of losing dogs before, seven lost dogs had been reported on social media in New York City.

A mut called Duckie was hit by a car like Winnie in Brooklyn in 2015, while a chihuahua from the Upper East side, called Norman, remains missing.

Wag's website states that all of their walkers are vetted with a 'rigorous screening process' which includes a background test.

They have recruited Mariah Carey, Kendall Jenner and Chloe Grace-Moretz to post snaps on Instagram endorsing the app.

Winnie with her 'Aunt Jordan' in an adorable snap posted by the Moore's in October 2018

Winnie as a puppy with Nick Moore who grew tearful when he described the loss of their gorgeous dog

Winnie as an adorable puppy, the Moores say they plan to get another pup of the same breed in February

Indeed, the app claims to have a further safety net through the app's GPS tracking feature and insurance cover.

Hilary Schneider, Wag's CEO, said: 'We have some work to do on our end, and we're committed to doing it.'

The couple are planning to welcome a new puppy of the same breed as Winnie in February.

Pedigree pups of the Wheaten Terrier variety are highly sought after, setting buyers back around $2,000.
Jeremy Corbyn met with Yvette Cooper for Brexit talks this afternoon amid mounting speculation he will back her plot to extend Article 50 and delay the UK's exit.

Labour sources said the meeting in Mr Corbyn's parliamentary office this afternoon was 'positive' ahead of the crucial vote on a so-called Brexit Plan B on Tuesday.

Ms Cooper has teamed up with Tory Remainers to table an amendment to seize control of parliamentary business so legislation can be passed extending Article 50 until the end of the year.

Her plan will stop the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal and delay Brexit until 2020.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said his party is 'highly likely' to support the plan, which is expected to be voted on in next Tuesday's Brexit showdown.

The endorsement puts Mrs May on track for another humiliating defeat when the plan comes before the Commons next week, as more than a dozen Tories have vowed to rebel.

Mrs May is pinning her political future on winning fresh concessions from the EU that can bring Tory rebels and the DUP back on side after her deal was humiliatingly rejected by a record margin last week.

But faint signs of movement from hardliners including Jacob Rees-Mogg could prove too late for No10 as Remainers from across parties plot to force a delay in the Brexit date.

The amendment tabled by Yvette Cooper would effectively turn the constitution on its head by seizing control of Parliamentary business from the government - allowing backbench MPs to put forward legislation demanding an extension to the Article 50 process.

Now that Labour has signalled it will back the controversial plan along with more than a dozen Tory rebels, it has a real chance of success.

Jeremy Corbyn met with Yvette Cooper for Brexit talks this afternoon amid mounting speculation he will back her plot to extend Article 50 and delay the UK's exit.

Theresa May (pictured outside No10 today) is facing another devastating blow to her Brexit strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal

Mrs May has also vowed to try and fend off amendments calling for a second referendum, a permanent customs union, and a further series of indicative votes on what should happen next.

If she succeeds the House will give tacit approval to her strategy of tweaking her Brexit deal and bringing it back for another dramatic vote.

However, the Government also appears to be encouraging MPs to back an amendment from Tory MP Andrew Murrison that would effectively set a time limit on the backstop of December 31, 2021.

Some ministers hope that if the Murrison amendment is passed it will pile pressure on the EU to agree an end date to the backstop.

And Jacob Rees-Mogg also suggested that the Prime Minister should ask The Queen to close Parliament to sabotage Mrs Cooper's plan.

As the high-stakes horse-trading continued today, Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Tory Brexit-backing European Research Group, said: 'I think there is hope that there could be reformation of this deal to make it more acceptable.

'But we are not there yet. But we will not abandon our friends in the DUP.'

He added: 'As long as the backstop is there, I will not vote for this deal.'

He told a meeting of the hardline eurosceptic Bruges Group that an amendment tabled by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles was a 'constitutional outrage' supported by MPs who wanted to prevent Brexit from happening at all.

He said that no-deal could only be taken off the table if the Government 'connived in doing it'.

Jacob Rees-Mogg urges the PM to shut down Parliament to stop Remainers delaying Brexit Jacob Rees-Mogg urged Theresa May to take the nuclear option of shutting down Parliament to stop Remainers delaying Brexit. The Tory Eurosceptic made the extraordinary suggestion amid frantic manoeuvring ahead of the next crunch Commons votes on Tuesday, when the House will deliver its verdict on an array of different options. Mrs May is pinning her political future on winning fresh concessions from the EU that can bring Tory rebels and the DUP back on side after her deal was humiliatingly rejected by a record margin last week. Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the Tory Brexit-backing European Research Group, said: 'I think there is hope that there could be reformation of this deal to make it more acceptable. 'But we are not there yet. But we will not abandon our friends in the DUP.' He added: 'As long as the backstop is there, I will not vote for this deal.' He told a meeting an amendment tabled by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles was a 'constitutional outrage' supported by MPs who wanted to prevent Brexit. He said that no-deal could only be taken off the table if the Government 'connived in doing it'. He added: 'If the House of Commons undermines our basic constitutional conventions then the executive is entitled to use other vestigial constitutional means to stop it. 'By which I basically mean prorogation. And prorogation normally lasts for three days but any law that is in the process before prorogation falls.' The government asks the Queen to 'prorogue' the Houses in order to end a Parliamentary session. That effectively wipes the legislative slate clean - starting again with the Monarch making a speech setting out the government's new programme. Advertisement

He added: 'If the House of Commons undermines our basic constitutional conventions then the executive is entitled to use other vestigial constitutional means to stop it.

'By which I basically mean prorogation. And prorogation normally lasts for three days but any law that is in the process before prorogation falls.'

The government asks the Queen to 'prorogue' the Houses in order to end a Parliamentary session.

That effectively wipes the legislative slate clean - starting again with the Monarch making a speech setting out the government's new programme.

Mr Rees-Mogg went on: 'I think that would be the Government's answer, that is the Government's backstop, to use a choice phrase.'

Asked about the North-East Somerset MP's suggestion, Theresa May's official spokesman told reporters: 'It is not something that I am aware has ever been discussed in Number 10.'

According to the parliamentary website prorogation is usually done by the Queen on behalf of the Privy Council and 'brings to an end nearly all parliamentary business'.

However it noted that some bills can be carried over to the next session 'subject to agreement'.

It came after Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned this morning that the scheme to delay Brexit would have a 'calamitous' effect on public faith in politics - suggesting no deal was preferable to postponing Brexit.

Meanwhile, George Osborne has joined the attack on the government by warning that crashing out of the EU would be like playing 'Russian roulette' with the UK economy.

The former chancellor, who now edits the Evening Standard, insisted the prospect of crashing out of the EU is so bad that delaying the Brexit date is now the 'most likely option'.

Speaking to the BBC in Davos, Mr Osborne compared no deal to a game of Russian roulette where the 'gun is held to the British economy's head'.

What is Tuesday's Plan B vote and what will it mean? What is happening? Because Theresa May's Brexit deal was defeated, the law says she must tell Parliament what her Plan B is. This has to be done in a motion to the Commons, which will be voted on by MPs next Tuesday night. That motion can be re-written by MPs if they table amendments and win a vote in favour of them. Some amendments have already been tabled and MPs can keep producing them until Monday night. What does May's plan say? It promises more cross-party working, renews commitments to protecting workers' rights after Brexit and says the PM will ask Brussels for more concessions on the backstop. It it based on the current deal that was crushed by 230 votes last week. What do the main amendments say? Jeremy Corbyn's amendment says Parliament should vote on 'options' including a renegotiation of the deal to get a permanent customs union and for a second referendum. A cross party amendment from Yvette Cooper and Nicky Morgan seeks to block no deal by giving time to a draft law that would require the Government to delay Brexit if a deal has not been agreed by February 26. It upturns normal convention by putting a backbench MP's Bill ahead of Government plans. An amendment from Tory rebel Dominic Grieve seeks to set up weekly debates that would mean regular votes on what to do in the absence a deal. His amendments sets aside six named days for the debates - including as late as March 26. What would the vote do? Legally nothing - but if the Commons votes in favour of a clear way forward by a majority it will be a major political signal of what might happen. Is it a new 'meaningful vote' that can approve May's deal? No. At some point, the PM will have to stage a repeat of last week's vote to get explicit approval from MPs to go ahead with her deal if she wants it to survive. Advertisement

He added: 'I think at the moment delay looks like the most likely option because at least that gives some space to explore whether there's an alternative deal on the table.

'I doubt there is, but that's worth exploring, or whether we need to resolve this through a referendum.'

Mr McDonnell gave a major boost to the Remainer revolt last night when he described the cross-party Bill - backed by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles among others - as 'sensible' and said it was 'increasingly likely' that his party would back it.

Their proposal would see the constitution effectively turned on its head to secure Parliamentary time for the legislation - which would order the extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

Mr McDonnell told BBC Two's Newsnight: 'Yvette Cooper has put an amendment down, which I think is sensible.

'It says to the Government you've run down the clock so much, it looks as though if you can't get a deal by February 26... the Government will then have to bring forward proposals to extend that.

'So I think it's increasingly likely already that we'll have to take that option because the Government has run the clock down.'

Mr McDonnell said Labour had to go through its own party processes to determine whether they would back it, but added: 'It's highly likely but we'll go through our normal process of consultation with our members.'

But Dr Fox, who is in Davos for the World Economic Forum, said that some amendments tabled by backbenchers presented a 'real danger' constitutionally.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that 'there are many who talk about delaying Brexit when what they really mean is not having Brexit at all', saying that would be the 'worst outcome'.

Asked if he believed that a delayed Brexit - via an extended Article 50 period - was worse than a no-deal Brexit, he said: 'You need to think about the political consequences as well as the short-term economic consequences.

'There is no doubt that leaving with a deal and minimising disruption both to the UK and our EU trading partners is in our best interest.

'But I think the most calamitous outcome would be for Parliament, havin promised to respect the result of the referendum, to turn around and say it wouldn't.'

It comes after businessman Sir James Dyson delivered a blow to Brexit Britain after announcing he is to relocate the Dyson head office from the UK to Singapore.

He was heavily criticised for the move, which Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said smacked of 'staggering hypocrisy', while Solicitor General Robert Buckland said he was 'disappointed' by the announcement.

The bombshell move will mean Dyson is no longer a British registered company and Singapore will become its main tax base.

And in a further blow, ferry giant P&O announced it is to re-register its UK fleet under the Cyprus flag ahead of Brexit.

Elsewhere, a report leaked to Sky News suggested Border Force planning for a no-deal Brexit warns of 'significant outbound queues' at the Eurostar and a potential 'degradation' of border security.

The presentation by the Home Office agency, seen by Sky, also predicted there could be a 'loss of data' and a potential surge in non-EU passenger traffic if there is a reduction in the value of the pound.

Ms Cooper's amendment is one of several tabled by MPs to the Prime Minister's deal, the rejection of which by an overwhelming 230 votes last week has thrown into doubt proposals for a backstop to keep the Irish border open.

George Osborne has joined the attack on the government by warning that crashing out of the EU would be like playing 'Russian roulette' with the UK economy

Labour's Hilary Benn (left) and Yvette Cooper are among the senior MPs trying to curb the government's Brexit policy

In a break from usual procedures, the amendments will be voted on by MPs on January 29 in another day of high Brexit drama in the Commons which could put Mrs May under intense political pressure to change course.

One plan, tabled by Tory Dame Caroline Spelman and Labour's Jack Dromey, would effectively rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Another, from Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve, would give MPs powers to take control of the parliamentary agenda on a series of days in the run-up to the official date of EU withdrawal on March 29 to pass resolutions on the way ahead.

Labour's Hilary Benn is hoping to secure a range of indicative votes on various Brexit options.

And the chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, Conservative Andrew Murrison, put forward proposals - which he said were designed to appeal to 'moderate MPs who just want Brexit sorted' - for a time limit on the backstop.

Labour's frontbench tabled its own amendment calling for a vote on the party's plan for a customs union with the EU and on whether to legislate for a public vote.
Security guard Tudor Simionov was stabbed to death in the early hours of New Year's Day

A man accused of throwing a vase at door staff on the night a bouncer was murdered outside an exclusive Mayfair party appeared in court today.

Security guard Tudor Simionov, 33, was stabbed to death in the early hours of New Year's Day on Park Lane in London trying to stop gatecrashers forcing their way inside.

Romanian national Mr Simionov, who lived in Ilford, was pronounced dead at 6.05am despite the efforts of police and paramedics to save him.

Today, Ahmed Munajed, 25, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court accused of using or threatening violence towards the door staff at 80 Park Lane where the party was being held.

The court heard that the doorman was stabbed following an altercation at the unlicensed venue where he was working, and had gone to the aid of colleagues where he received the blow to his chest.

Two of his colleagues, aged 29 and 37, were also stabbed during an altercation, as was a 29-year-old woman. All have since been released from hospital.

Trevor Green, prosecuting, said: 'This case is related to the fatal stabbing of Tudor Simionov, where a doorman lost his life. He received a single stab wound to his chest outside 80 Park Lane.'

Police outside the property in Mayfair on New Year's Day after the security guard was stabbed

Flowers left on the pavement outside Fountain House on Park Lane in Mayfair after the death

Munajed, of Hammersmith, West London, spoke only to confirm his name, address and nationality as members of his family looked on from the public gallery.

He was remanded in custody until his next appearance at the Old Bailey on February 15.

Wearing a grey tracksuit, Munajed, who was born in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, saluted his mother in the public gallery as he was led out of court.

The Metropolitan Police said the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Simionov is continuing.
A police officer has been knocked off his motorbike and run over by a man during a routine traffic stop in Melbourne's inner-city.

Police said the officer was attempted to pull over a driver on Collins Street at about 3.30pm on Wednesday before he was rammed and his bike ran over.

The offender, who witnesses say was bald, was arrested soon after the hit and run near the corner of Russell and LaTrobe streets.

A police officer has been knocked off his motorbike and run over in Melbounrne's CBD

The officer was knocked down as the driver attempted to flee, leaving him with minor injuries to his lower-body.

The officer was taken to hospital via ambulance where he remains in a stable condition.

Senior Sergeant Adam Tanner addressed the media shortly after the incident, saying the officer was only asking to see the driver's license, 9News reported.

'The (officer) asked a simple question, starting with introducing himself and asking to see the driver's license,' he said.

'That's as simple as it got before the driver took the action.'

The man is now in custody after a brief chase saw him in handcuffs.

Following an investigation, a string of charges including conduct endangering life could be laid, Sgt. Tanner said.

Dozens of officers pursued the man, who witnesses described as bald, after he fled the scene

Witness Leigh Davison told The Herald Sun there were as many as 12 police cars on the scene within two minutes of the arrest.

'I have never seen such a quick police response,' he said.

Another witness said he heard two loud bangs before seeing a silver car with its front bumper missing mount the curb.

That car's bumper could be seen lying dormant on the front steps of the Gucci store on Collins Street behind police tape.

Both Collins and Russell streets were closed for more than two hours, with trams also halted in the area.

Both roads were re-opened shortly before 6pm.

One witness took to social media to say at least three cars, including the offender's silver Toyota, were left damaged.
President Trump offered NASA unlimited funding in 2017 if they could go to Mars before the end of his first term, according to a former White House staffer.

Trump had asked then acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot Jr. back in April 2017 about the agency's plans for Mars during an Oval Office meeting.

He asked the question right before a scheduled phone call with astronaut Peggy Whitson from the Oval Office to congratulate her on breaking the U.S. record for most time in space.

The details of Trump's conversation with Lightfoot are outlined in former White House staffer Cliff Sim's new book 'Team of Vipers' of which New York Magazine obtained an advanced copy.

President Trump offered NASA unlimited funding in 2017 if they could go to Mars before the end of his first term before he spoke to astronaut Peggy Whitson from the Oval Office

'What's our plan for Mars?' Trump is said to have asked Lightfoot.

Just a month earlier, the President had signed new legislation for NASA to prepare for human expeditions to Mars in the 2030s.

When he was reminded of this Mars plan, Trump is said to have responded: 'But is there any way we could do it by the end of my first term?'

Lightfoot went on to explain the logistical challenges in going to Mars before 2030.

'But what if I gave you all the money you could ever need to do it?' Trump asked.

'What if we sent NASA's budget through the roof, but focused entirely on that instead of whatever else you're doing now. Could it work then?'

Sims, a former communications staffer, wrote that Trump looked 'visibly disappointed' when Lightfoot told him he didn't think it would be possible.

The details of Trump's conversation with Lightfoot are outlined in former White House staffer Cliff Sim's (left) new book 'Team of Vipers' (right)

When the phone called with Whitson went ahead moments later, Trump raised the Mars question again.

Whitson told the president that spaceflight takes a lot of time and money, so getting to Mars will require collaboration from other countries to succeed.

NASA is building the hardware right now to test a new rocket that will carry astronauts farther from Earth than ever before, she said.

'I think, as your bill directed, it will be in the 2030s,' Whitson said of the time frame.

Trump replied that was simply too far away.

'Well, we want to try and do it during my first term or, at worst, during my second term, so we'll have to speed that up a little bit, OK?' Trump replied.

'We'll do our best,' Whitson replied.

Later, Trump said: 'I think we'll do that a lot sooner than we're even thinking. Who's ready to go to Mars up there?'

'We are absolutely ready to go to Mars,' Whitson replied.
Flight arrivals at Newark Airport in New Jersey were suspended for about two hours due to a drone sighting at a nearby airport.

Around 5pm the Federal Aviation Administration received two reports from flights headed to Newark of a drone sighting about 3,500 feet above Teterboro Airport, about 17 miles north of Newark.

Pilots reported seeing what 'looks like a drone' within 30 feet of a plane during its final approach, according to Air Traffic Control audio obtained from LiveATC.

'Theres something flying here, we thought it might be a drone. There is definitely something there,' one person is heard saying.

'Missed the drone by about 30 feet off our right wing,' a pilot reported.

As a result of the drone the incoming flights to Newark, one of the busiest airports in the world, were held briefly and delayed thousands of passengers. Arrivals resumed after two hours when no further drone sightings were reported.

Flights arriving to Newark Airport Tuesday evening were suspended for two hours after two flights reported a drone sighting 3,500 feet above Teterboro Airport (file image of a drone above)

The FAA received the drone sighting reports at 5pm and all arrival flights at Newark Airport were suspended, leaving many flights circling the air. Operations resumed after two hours

The airport starting operating as normal just after 7pm EST. The FAA had no reports of delays at the airport on its website.

Both Newark and Teterboro serve the greater New York City Area.

Passenger Brett Sosnik was on a United Airlines flight from the Bahamas bound for Newark when the pilot announced the flight would have to circle in the air due to the drone sighting in Newark airspace.

Sosnik said the plane circled for about half an hour.

'I was looking around trying to find a drone in the air when we were closer to landing, but I didnt see anything. Theres got to be a way to combat that stuff and not have it affect huge airports with such a little piece of technology,' Sosnik, a New York City resident, said.

Flights grounded at the Newark Airport tarmac for two hours on Tuesday evening pictured above

File image of flight cancellations at Newark airport above

Newark airport, one of the busiest in the world, pictured above

Another United passenger flying to Newark had his flight diverted to Philadelphia due to the drone interference.

'Inbound JAX to @EWR and pilot just announced we are holding due to "possible drone activity" at the airport. Lovely,' Michael T. Rose said.

Atlanta man Marcus Owens tweeted his frustration Tuesday evening saying: 'If youre flying a drone near EWR right now, could you ground it and have a sandwich or something? You just shut down all arrivals.'

Marissa Nardi of Manhattan said her flight from Iceland took an extra 45 minutes, according to NBC. Another passenger Greg Nichols of Philadelphia said his plane circled for about a half-hour.

United Airlines spokesman Robert Einhorn said the impact on its operations 'has been minimal so far.'

'We are monitoring reports of drone activity, which the FAA is investigating. The impact to our operations has been minimal so far. We are working closely with the airport and the FAA to return our operations to normal as quickly as possible,' the airline said in a statement to NJ.com.

Newark Liberty Airport updated travelers that operations had returned to normal via Twitter.

'Normal #EWR operations have resumed after arrivals were briefly held by the FAA due to reports of drone activity north of the airport earlier this evening. Were coordinating with the FAA & fully supporting all federal law enforcement authorities as they investigate this incident,' the statement said.

Passenger Brett Sosnik was on a United Airlines flight from the Bahamas bound for Newark when the pilot announced the flight would have to circle in the air due to the drone sighting

Another United passenger flying to Newark had his flight diverted to Philadelphia due to the drone interference

This father vented his fury on Twitter about his delayed flight due to the drone sighting

'You just shut down all arrivals': This Twitter user pleaded for the drone flyer to stop their antics

After operations resumed, Newark announced arrivals were averaging 55 minute delays.

A ground stop was in place at other airports on flights headed for Newark until the backlog of arrivals finally landed.

FAA prohibits drones from flying within five miles of airports or above 400 feet because of the danger they pose to the other air traffic.

The drone sighting led to a police helicopter search however the FAA was unable to find those drones and do not immediately know who flew them.

The eerie drone sighting could have led to an airport disaster similar to the chaos that unfolded at Gatwick Airport in London England where hundreds of flights were cancelled due to a number of drone sightings between December 19 and 21 2018.

The sporadic drone sightings ruined the Christmas travels of 120,000 people.

Earlier this month London's bustling Heathrow Airport was also briefly halted departing flights after a reported drone sighting.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates both Newark Liberty International and Teterboro airports, did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The incident follows the drone chaos that unfolded at Gatwick Airport in London, England when several UAV sightings were reported from December 19 to 21, grounding hundreds of flights
An American artist has slammed the decision to remove her controversial $2.1 million light installation - and doing so will cost taxpayers $255,000.

Gold Coast councillors voted to remove the sign in the middle of the M1 in Yatala, north east of the city on Tuesday in the hopes New York based designer Ada Tolla will buy it back.

'This is a real insult. The installation is completely site-specific ... the sculpture follows and adapts to the highway constraints and regulations,' Ms Tolla told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Councillors argued during a transport committee meeting the sign named 'HI-LIGHTS' could not be clearly read in all angles.

Gold Coast councillors have voted to remove a light installation in the middle of the M1 in Yatalla

The sculpture (pictured) named 'HI-LIGHTS' was installed before the Commonwealth Games in 2018

'The sculpture was meant to be experienced in motion, in one direction and then reverse, depending on the direction of traffic.

'It was never envisioned as a ''sign'' to be seen straight on,' she said.

Ada Tolla (pictured) has slammed the council for their decision

The piece is comprised of 97 light poles that spell out 'Gold Coast' when lit up at night and was installed before the Commonwealth Games in April 2018.

Councillor Dawn Crichlow said relocating the installation would cost $1million while the removal would cost $255,000.

Ms Tolla was saddened to realise authorities had plans to dismantle the piece and place it in a council depot before the poles and lights were placed in parks.

The pieces will be redistributed if Ms Tolla declines to take back the piece within a ten-day period.

The artist was initially invited to submit a proposal for a 'large piece of public art' after a council email wrote the city was 'searching for an artist to deliver iconic gateways to Gold Coast'.
Singaporean actor Aloysius Pang is in critical condition after being injured in New Zealand during military training.

The 28-year-old actor suffered injuries to his chest and abdomen on Saturday while he was repairing the insides of a Singapore self-propelled howitzer, which is a piece of artillery that looks similar to a small tank.

In a statement, the ministry revealed that the actor, also known as Pang Wei Chong, was participating in Exercise Thunder Warrior at the Waiouru training area, south of Taupo.

The 28-year-old actor received injuries to his chest and abdomen on Saturday while he was repairing the insides of a Singapore self-propelled howitzer

Pang was rushed to Waikato Hospital and underwent several hours of abdominal surgery the same evening. Pictured is a stock image of a tank similar to the one Pang was cleaning

Pang was rushed to Waikato Hospital and underwent several hours of abdominal surgery the same evening.

On Monday, he underwent a follow-up surgery but since then his condition has worsened, the ministry said.

The Ministry has made arrangements for Pang's parents and brother to fly to New Zealand to be by his side, who arrived on Monday.

On Wednesday, the medical team at Waikato Hospital announced that Pang's condition worsened and once again required additional surgery.

He remains in a critical condition and is in the intensive care unit.

The ministry described Pang as an 'Operationally Ready National Serviceman' indicating that he had completed his full-time service.

He is described as an armament technician and his rank is corporal first class.

Singapore's defence ministry said it was investigating the incident to determine the cause.
The White House says they're not listening to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 'on much of anything' after the freshman Congresswoman's prediction that the world will end in 12 years due to climate change.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News on Tuesday that the Trump administration wasn't interested in Ocasio-Cortez's climate change thoughts.

'Look, I don't think we're going to listen to her on much of anything,' Sanders told host Sean Hannity when questioned about the Congresswoman's recent statement.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News on Tuesday that the Trump administration wasn't interested in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's climate change thoughts

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'Particularly not on matters we're gonna leave in the hands of a much, much higher authority, and certainly not listen to the freshman Congresswoman on when the world may end.

'We're focused on what's happening in the world right now.'

The New York Congresswoman made the statement on Monday at event commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.

'The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?' she said.

Ocasio-Cortez went on to say that she and other millennials viewed climate change as a war.

'This is the war  this is our World War II,' she said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Monday: 'The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change'

The 29-year-old also went on to say that it was 'immoral' for billionaires to exist in the same country where people struggled to make ends meet.

'I don't think that necessarily means that all billionaires are immoral. It is not to say that someone like Bill Gates, for example, or Warren Buffett are immoral people.

'I do not believe that... but I do think a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don't have access to public health is wrong.

'I think that it's wrong that a vast majority of the country does not make a living great wage. I think it's wrong that you can work 100 hours and not feed your kids.

'I think it's wrong that corporations like Walmart and Amazon can get paid, they can get paid by the government essentially, experience a wealth transfer from the public for paying people less than a minimum wage.'
An NRL star accused of touching a young woman at a trendy pub during a night out has had his bail conditions relaxed so he can go to the beach.

Liam Coleman and Zane Musgrove both pleaded not guilty at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday to indecently assaulting a 22-year-old woman at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

Penrith Panthers halfback Coleman and Wests Tigers prop Musgrove both allegedly touched the woman's breasts and groin on the dance floor at the pub about 12.30am on November 24.

NRL star Liam Coleman is accused of touching a young woman at a trendy pub during a night out and had his bail conditions relaxed so he can go to the beach

Coleman and Zane Musgrove (pictured) both pleaded not guilty at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday to indecently assaulting a 22-year-old woman at the Coogee Bay Hotel

Coleman asked to be allowed to visit the area surrounding the pub, including the beach (pictured), as he regularly goes swimming there with his father

Coleman allegedly touched the woman on the hips and buttocks, while Musgrove is accused of forcing his tongue into the woman's mouth before leaving her with cuts to her shoulder, leg and feet, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Coleman asked to be allowed to visit the area surrounding the pub, including the beach, as he regularly goes swimming there with his father.

The player's exclusion only applies to the Coogee Bay Hotel itself under his bail conditions after defence solicitor Greg Goold's successful application.

Coleman is also banned from being drunk in public places.

CCTV footage reportedly showing the woman approaching the men first will be used as part of the defence.

Coleman allegedly touched the woman on the hips and buttocks, while Musgrove (pictured) is accused of forcing his tongue into the woman's mouth before leaving her with cuts

Coleman's exclusion only applies to the Coogee Bay Hotel itself under his bail conditions after defence solicitor Greg Goold's successful application

Musgrove's lawyer Michael Bowe indicated his client will be entering not guilty pleas on all three charges, including aggravated indecent assault and common assault. Pictured: The Coogee Bay Hotel

The woman met Musgrove three weeks before the alleged incident and reported it to the hotel's security before notifying police.

Musgrove's lawyer Michael Bowe indicated his client will be entering not guilty pleas on all of his three charges.

Musgrove's bail - which includes a condition he not approach the pub or go within 50m of it - was continued.

Coleman has been charged with indecent assault and aggravated indecent assault (offender in company)

He also must not threaten or stalk the woman or contact any witnesses.

Coleman has been charged with indecent assault and aggravated indecent assault (offender in company), while Musgrove faces the same charges as well as common assault.

Coleman is the son of South Sydney legend Craig Coleman.
Scorching temperatures have been blamed for triggering the mass death of dozens of brumbies that were found by a dry waterhole.

Arrernte artist and activity engagement officer Ralph Turner last week found the horses at Deep Hole, about 20km northeast of Santa Teresa in the Northern Territory.

Shocking photos that were posted to Facebook show about two dozen partially decomposed horses strewn across the now dry swimming spot, ABC News reported.

Scorching temperatures have been blamed for triggering the mass death of dozens of dead brumbies (pictured) that were found by a dry waterhole

Mr Turner made the grim discovery during a trip to the remote location to assess how the Red Centre heatwave had affected water levels.

'I just couldn't believe something like that happened out here, first time it happened like that,' Mr Turner said.

The Red Centre has been experiencing some of its hottest weather of late, with a record 12-day run of searing temperatures above 42C.

About 80km from Santa Teresa, Alice Spring's airport on Tuesday recorded its longest stretch of days above 42C since the weather station first opened in 1940.

Santa Teresa media mentor Rohan Smyth told the publication the remote community ordinarily experiences weather that is about 5C warmer than Alice Springs.

He said the brumbies may have died as a result of severe dehydration given the extreme weather the community had recently experienced.

The dead horses (pictured) were last week at Deep Hole, about 20km northeast of Santa Teresa in the Northern Territory

'The wild horses have gone down there looking for their water which is normally there, and it's not been there, so essentially they've just had nowhere to go,' Mr Smyth said.

The media mentor said the residents of Santa Teresa were 'deeply concerned' about the welfare of the horses given their long, rich connection with the animals.

Mr Smyth said some of the horses live around the town centre and had previously been used for activities, but the really wild ones wouldn't have had access to water.

'They are feral animals, so essentially they do have an impact on the environment, and they do use up the resources that other animals might use, ' he said.

But despite being wild animals, Mr Smyth said it's still pretty horrible to know the brumbies had to suffer in such an extreme way.
Rudy Giuliani's latest media blitz, which was filled with a dizzying array of misstatements and hurried clarifications, agitated President Donald Trump and some of his allies, who have raised the possibility that the outspoken presidential lawyer should be sidelined from televised interviews  at least temporarily.

'Every time he opens his mouth on TV it's like "Cleanup on aisle Giuliani!"' a White House official told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.

Politico reported that a White House official acknowledged the severity of the West Wing's all-hands approach to putting out Giuliani-related fires.

'Handling Rudys f*** ups takes more than one man,' that official said.

Trump was frustrated with Giuliani, according to three White House officials and Republicans close to the White House who were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

Yet the president is in no mood to cut him loose, according to CNN. 'Rudy's not getting fired,' one of the network's sources said.

Some of Trump's allies have suggested that Giuliani should at least be barred from evening interviews because of concerns that he was going on TV after drinking, according to three Republicans close to the White House.

Rudy Giuliani's scattershot media blitzes, filled with a dizzying array of wild misstatements, hurried clarifications and eyebrow-raising assertions, have agitated President Donald Trump and some of his allies

President Trump's ides say it takes more than one person at the White House to manage the fallout from Giuliain's 'f*** ups' and that 'every time he opens his mouth on TV it's like "Cleanup on aisle Giuliani!"'

Giuliani has previously insisted he does not have an issue with alcohol, denying to Politico last May that it affected his interviews. He added: 'I may have a drink for dinner. I like to drink with cigars.'

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders walked away from reporters on Wednesday morning outside the West Wing when she was asked about Giuliani.

The president told advisers that he felt his lawyer had obscured what he believed was a public relations victory: the special counsel's rare public statement disputing portions of a BuzzFeed News story that Trump instructed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie before Congress.

The president told confidants that Giuliani had 'changed the headlines' for the worse and raised the possibility that Giuliani do fewer cable hits, at least for a while, according to the officials and Republicans.

Several of Trump's influential outside allies also have begun expressing reservations about Giuliani. Some members of this informal network of advisers, whom the president frequently calls from the White House residence, urged Trump in recent days to bench Giuliani  but most stopped short of suggesting he fire his trusted attorney.

Not going there: White House Press Secretary walked away from reporters on Wednesday when they asked her about Giuliani

Rarely reluctant to appear before TV cameras or answer a reporter's call, Giuliani has spent nearly a year acting as a sort of human smokescreen for Trump. He has long played the role more of presidential spokesman than attorney, often unleashing public attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into possible contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

But a recent set of interviews, which were quickly pilloried across cable news, prompted increased concerns about both Trump's legal exposure and the effectiveness of his vocal attorney.

Frustration about Giuliani in the West Wing has long run rampant. The former New York City mayor, who frequently speaks directly to the president, is Trump's outside counsel and works in a different orbit than White House officials, who are still left to play damage control after some of Giuliani's wilder interviews.

The latest furor began Sunday as Giuliani, wearing a suit, tie and New York Yankees World Series ring, appeared on NBC's 'Meet the Press' and dramatically altered the timeline regarding discussions about a Trump Tower in Moscow, now asserting they stretched until November 2016.

That statement, which suggested that the Trump Organization was engaged in business dealings with Russia up to and beyond the election, ignited a firestorm and then an abrupt walk-back from Giuliani.

Hard to handle: Some Trump allies fear that Giuliani creates problems by shooting from the hip on TV because he drinks before he goes on the air; Giuliani insists there's no problem

He issued a statement the next day saying his comments about the project 'were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the President. My comments did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions.'

Then, hours later in an interview with The New Yorker, Giuliani raised eyebrows again when he seemed to suggest he had listened to tapes of Trump and Cohen that had not previously been discussed.

'I shouldn't have said tapes,' Giuliani said as he tried to backtrack. He then added that there were 'No tapes. Well, I have listened to tapes, but none of them concern this.' He did not elaborate further.

The muddled interviews were a failed victory lap over the BuzzFeed story, which prompted a number of House Democrats to raise the possibility of impeaching Trump. But the special counsel, which rarely issues public responses, said that at least portions of the story were not accurate, leading both Giuliani and Trump to crow about media bias against the Republican president.

BuzzFeed has issued statements standing by its reporting. No other media outlet has confirmed the story. Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

This is far from the first time Giuliani has been forced to issue a clarification, as he has frequently offered contradictory accounts of developments in the Russia investigation.

Earlier this month, he was forced to clean up a remark in which he asserted that he only could vouch that the president had not colluded with Russia, rather than the whole campaign, a dramatic change of story.

'Rudy had done a very good job going on TV and fighting back and laying down a defense of the president,' said Sam Nunberg, a former low-level Trump campaign aide who left on bad terms in 2015.

'But now it's time to get precise, you can't be so loose anymore. He had a major slip.'

Trump has no plan to fire Giuliani, according to people in his inner circle

At times, Giuliani's seemingly out-of-nowhere admissions in interviews have, in fact, been part of a strategy to get ahead of damaging news stories.

Last May, Giuliani went on Sean Hannity's Fox News show and acknowledged that Trump repaid Cohen for hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, the porn star alleging an affair with Trump, a statement viewed then as a misstep but later perceived as an effort to minimize revelations about possible campaign finance violations.

After struggling to find a cable-ready defender, Trump has been mostly appreciative of Giuliani's attack-dog style - and, for a time, his broadsides against Mueller appeared to play a role in driving down the special counsel's poll ratings. But at other times the president has expressed dismay at Giuliani's scattershot style.

Part of his confusion is that while Giuliani frequently speaks to his client, the president's legal team has had a difficult time corralling Trump for a lengthy debriefing about the facts of the case, particularly from events stemming before the presidency, according to one official and a Republican close to the White House.

Still, Giuliani is regarded as an important member of the legal team. A former federal prosecutor, he has also been the team's public face and, even if not the primary author of letters and other documents to the Mueller team, he has nonetheless helped develop strategy.

TV networks have not shown any reluctance to book Giuliani, despite his unreliability, because of his rock-solid resume and the lack of other Trump surrogates willing to appear on a cable network other than the Fox News Channel.

'I am afraid it will be on my gravestone. "Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump." Somehow, I don't think that will be it,' Giuliani told The New Yorker. 'But, if it is, so what do I care? I'll be dead. I figure I can explain it to St. Peter.'

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not respond to questions Tuesday about whether Trump still had confidence in Giuliani.
Porn star Stormy Daniels lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his former personal lawyer, disgraced felon Michael Cohen, over a much disputed non-disclosure agreement, may be thrown out if attorneys for Trump and Cohen get their way. Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is pictured at the XBIZ Awards in Los Angeles on January 17

Adult entertainer Stormy Daniels lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his former personal lawyer, disgraced felon Michael Cohen, over a much disputed non-disclosure agreement, may be thrown out if attorneys for Trump and Cohen get their way.

Los Angeles federal court Judge S James Ortero heard arguments from all sides over whether Daniels' case should be allowed to proceed, to declare invalid the now infamous NDA written to stop Daniels from talking about her alleged 2006 affair with Trump.

Trump's attorney, Chris Harder, and Cohen's attorney, Brent Blakely argued that because they have said they will give Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, what she has asked for by tearing up the NDA, there is now no contract to argue over, and so the case should be dismissed.

Blakely added Cohen would not seek repayment of $130,000 in hush money given to Daniels to keep quiet about the alleged affair she had with Trump in 2006 while he was married to Melania Trump, even though Daniels has already spoken out and written a book about the supposed encounter.

The judge didn't rule on the motion to dismiss the case, but seemed inclined to agree with Harder and Blakely, noting to Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, 'It seems you've achieved ... what you sought to achieve.'

But Avenatti disagreed, saying that he needs an agreement signed by Trump himself stating that he will not sue Daniels for breaking the NDA, that he wants Trump and Cohen to pay for the costs of the lawsuit, and admitting he wanted the case to proceed to force Trump to answer questions under oath.

President Donald Trump's attorney, Chris Harder, and Michael Cohen's attorney, Brent Blakely argued that because they have said they will give Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, what she has asked for by tearing up the NDA, there is now no contract to argue over, and so the case should be dismissed. Trump (left) is pictured leaving the White House in Washington, DC on January 19. Cohen (right) is pictured at his sentencing hearing for various federal crimes related to the Trump presidential campaign in New York on December 12

Harder specifically said that Daniels had already got what she wanted, and promised on behalf of Trump to tear up the NDA.

Blakely, agreed, adding that Cohen would not ask Daniels to repay $130,000 in hush money she was given to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump, before he was president.

Taking a stab at Daniels, Blakely quipped to Judge Ortero that my grandfather told me a long time ago you cant squeeze blood from a turnip.

But Daniels lawyer, Avenatti, told the judge that Trump and Cohens request was 'improper' and 'outrageous.'

Avenatti accused the pair of 'lying' and making a legal u-turn, saying they had threatened the adult entertainer with millions of dollars in damages if she broke the NDA and spoke out about the alleged affair, only to declare in court on Tuesday that the contract was in fact 'unenforceable.'

Speaking outside the courthouse after the hearing, Avenatti said the about-face by the president was a win for Daniels .

'By any stretch of the imagination, this was a victory for Stormy Daniels,' he said. 'Witnessing Michael Cohens attorney, Mr Blakely, and Donald Trumps attorney, Mr Harder, admit that there never was a valid agreement, which is exactly what we have maintained for almost a year now, was truly remarkable.'

Avenatti added: 'For months Michael Cohen and Donald Tump lied to the American people about whether there was an agreement with my client.

'Cohen, on behalf of Trump, repeatedly threatened my client with millions and millions of dollars in damages if she violated the agreement.

'She had the courage to come forward and to challenge both of them, and to now have Mr Harder and Mr Blakely appear on their behalf and admit my client was right all along, is truly shocking and gratifying.

Trump's attorney Charles Harder (left) specifically said that Daniels had already got what she wanted, and promised on behalf of Trump to tear up the NDA. Harder is pictured walking away from the Los Angeles federal courthouse after the hearing on Tuesday

Avenatti said although Trumps attorneys offered to release Daniels from being gagged by the NDA, he wouldnt trust any agreement until Trump himself signed it. Avenatti revealed he is also pursuing the case to force Trump to answer questions under oath in a deposition.

To the dismay of Daniels cash-strapped lawyer, lawyers for both Cohen and Trump said they would refuse to pay her legal costs at the hearing on Tuesday.

Avenatti has been ordered to pay a former partner in his old law firm millions in unpaid wages, and is currently amid an expensive divorce, with a judge awarding his estranged wife hundreds of thousands of dollars in child and spousal support.

The embattled attorney is also due in court tomorrow to face allegations of domestic violence against his then-girlfriend, actress Mareli Minuitti. Minuitti claims Avenatti dragged her across the floor and out of his apartment during a fight in November, and filed a restraining order against him. Avenatti has denied any violence.

Cohen, Trumps longtime personal attorney and fixer, pleaded guilty in August to eight counts of tax and bank fraud and campaign finance violations. The campaign finance violations were directly related to the $130,000 payment made to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

Trumps alleged 2006 affair with Daniels and the hush money were first exposed by the Wall Street Journal.

In March of 2018, Daniels sued Trump and Essential Consultants, Cohens shell company, claiming the agreement to be void because Trump never signed it, and Cohen had said Trump was never a party to any agreement related to the payment.

Trump has continuously denied ever having an affair with Daniels.
KFC has been accused of serving food that looks nothing like how it is shown in adverts.

The global fast food giant recently introduced flatbread sliders in New Zealand, and the feedback has been anything from positive.

Some disappointed customers have even claimed the product is 'nothing like' how it was advertised, with others labelling the snack a 'sloppy mess.'

Another believes the sliders are 'smaller than the size of an index finger'.

KFC customers in New Zealand are not happy with the new sliders range, with some labelling it 'false advertising'

The flatbread slider is set to contain a chicken tender mixed with lettuce, carrots and cabbage

The flatbread sliders are served with a mixed salad including lettuce, carrots and cabbage on a piece of flatbread, with a chicken tender.

A handful of images in the New Zealand Herald tell a different story, with the bite sized sliders missing salad ingredients.

They are also poorly packaged and sloppily covered in sauce.

Geraldine Oldham, General Manager of Marketing for Restaurant Brands, confirmed to the Herald KFC has received complaints about the slider range, which comes with either aioli, BBQ sauce or pepper mayonnaise.

'In some cases, the quality and presentation has not been to our usual high standards, and we apologise to those KFC fans,' she said.

'All our staff have been reminded of our high standards of food preparation and presentation and asked to raise any quality issues through our normal process.'

Flatbread sliders retail for $2.95 in Australia and are often served as meal options for small children with a coleslaw and apple juice.
A regional town by the Murray River with a population of 30,000 is on track to sweat through its hottest January on record.

Mildura, on the border of Victoria and New South Wales, has already endured ten days above 40C this year - including three where the mercury tipped 45.

The scorching weather is causing chaos for some businesses in the region, and the Bureau of Meteorology is tipping the heatwave to continue through the weekend.

A regional town by the Murray River with a population of 30,000 is on track to sweat through its hottest January on record

Mildura (pictured), on the border of Victoria and New South Wales, has already endured ten days above 40C this year - including three where the mercury tipped 45

Mildura resident Naomi Cocks told Daily Mail Australia that while residents in the region were used to high temperatures, things had changed over the years.

'To what it was like years ago it is drier and hotter now,' she said.

'I work in a 100 year old building and it can get very hot but we always stay open.

'We actually find we can do better business the hotter it is, whether its because people don't want to cook in the heat or whatever.'

Cafes and smaller businesses were shutting up shop early with the streets being all but bare after 2pm on the hottest days, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Temperatures approaching 50C were recorded using a car's in-built thermometer (top right)

Operators of the Mildura Dockside Cafe took to social media to show how the extreme heat was capable of cooking a steak inside of a car.

'At 11am I put a porterhouse steak in my car which was parked in the shade and left it until 4 pm.. It was very well done upon my return,' Dockside Cafe manager Lacey Hateley wrote.

Ms Hateley also shared a caution along with the images.

'With this heatwave please remember never to leave children, elderly or animals in the car,' she wrote.

'Always check on elderly neighbours, ensure your pets have a way to keep cool and cool drinking water.'

The temperature in Mildura has not dropped below 28C for the entirety of the month

So far in the 23 days of January the town has recorded ten days of 40C or more.

The temperature in Mildura has not dropped below 28C for the entirety of the month.

There will be little respite for the residents of the border town with the rest of January forecast to remain between the high 30s and low 40s.
Tonga has been plunged into virtual cyber darkness after an undersea cable broke, cutting off the Pacific island kingdom from almost all cell phone and Internet services.

While life without the Internet may be considered a paradise for many, Tonga relies heavily on links with the outside world for daily supplies and vital tourist earnings, and faced 'an absolute disaster' as officials struggled to fix the problem.

As the authorities look into the cause and struggle to find a solution, they have turned to a small, locally operated satellite connection as back-up.

In the meantime non-essential social media sites like Facebook have been blocked to preserve much-needed bandwidth.

Tonga Cable said in a statement the fault occurred at 8.45pm local time on Sunday and cites a 'magnetic storm' and 'lightening' as causes for the outage.

Tonga has been plunged into virtual cyber darkness after an undersea cable broke due to 'magnetic storm' and 'lightening'

Residents in Tonga could face several weeks without Facebook, YouTube and even some basic services like credit card transactions due to the fault in the undersea cable.

A small internet company that uses satellites has stepped in and helped restore international calls and some other services the government considers vital.

But the island nation of about 100,000 people remains unable to access social media sites such as Facebook and some businesses cannot process credit or debit cards.

The restricted access also meant serious problems getting money transfers through for families who rely on income from relatives working overseas.

Mary Fonua, editor of the online news service Matangi Tonga, said today: 'It's an absolute disaster for Tonga, a national crisis.

'We are all heavily tied to the Internet for doing business and for the government.

A small internet company that uses satellites has stepped in and helped restore international calls and some other services the government considers vital but some access is till restricted

'There's no Facebook, which is how the Tongan diaspora communicate with each other, businesses can't get orders out, airlines can't take bookings for passengers or freight.'

Katie Silcock, general manager of Scenic Hotel Tonga, said it is unable to process card transactions in Tonga and is having to inform customers they need to pay in cash. She added they've had to take credit details from some customers for later payment, which she says is risky.

Tonga Cable, which administers the 514mile cable between Tonga and Fiji, said Internet traffic had to be prioritised until repairs were completed, and in the meantime social media websites may be blocked while the country of 110,000 relies on makeshift connectivity.

The restricted Internet access also meant serious problems getting money transfers through for families in Tonga who rely on income from relatives working overseas

'Eighty per cent of our international traffic is from social media,' Tonga Cable director Paula Piukala told Radio New Zealand.

'We may block Facebook, YouTube and stuff like that in the meantime so that we can maximise the small bandwidth that we have from satellite on what is important to the country.'

At the Bank of South Pacific Tonga, acting operations manager Salesi Fineangano said telex transfers could be completed via satellite connection to the bank headquarters in Papua New Guinea, 'but we need the regular internet connection for Moneygram, internet banking and emails'.

Officials said it could take up to two weeks to fix the cable.

Christian Patouraux, chief executive of Singapore-based internet company Kacific, said it remains unclear exactly what caused the outage and that damage to the cable needs to be repaired by a ship sent out to sea.
An air traffic control company says it can't fill jobs which don't require a qualification, offer four-day working weeks and start at $95,000 a year.

Candidates only need to be at least 20-and-a-half years old and to have passed final high school exams to be eligible for the role, which could eventually reap nearly $200,000 a year.

'We are currently recruiting and would love to hear from anyone who think they might have what it takes,' New Zealand's Airways traffic services general manager Tim Boyle told Stuff.

'A lot of different people will have the capabilities, we just don't see enough of them.'

An air traffic control company says it can't fill jobs which don't require a qualification, offer four-day working weeks and start at $95,000 a year (stock image)

The lack of applicants has forced some airports to ask staff to work on scheduled days off, sparking flight delays and the fatigue of controllers, the New Zealand Air Line Pilots' Association said.

Once applicants are found to meet the basic criteria, they need to pass an aptitude test.

If successful, they will undertake an air traffic control training course before 12 months of on-the-job training.

A similar process is followed by Airservices Australia, which will soon be hiring its next crop of air traffic controllers.

Once applicants are found to meet the basic criteria, they need to pass an aptitude test. A similar process is followed by Airservices Australia, which will soon be hiring its next crop of air traffic controllers (stock)

Like in New Zealand, there is no degree or experience required to apply.

The government-owned corporation also starts the recruitment process with an online test - but there's a catch.

You can't study for the exam and less than three in one hundred people manage to pass.

Applicants are shown a logical sequence of five symbols and are tasked with deciding which symbol completes the sequence.

In the Australian process, applicants are shown a logical sequence of five symbols and are tasked with deciding which symbol completes the sequence. See answers below

'People who perform well on these tests tend to have a greater capacity to think conceptually as well as analytically,' the website reads.

Data released by the Australian Taxation Office showed air traffic controllers are among Australia's top earners, with $141,795 average yearly salaries.

But Charles Robinson, services training manager for Airservices Australia, previously warned the job isn't for everyone.

Like in New Zealand, there is no degree or experience required to apply for air traffic control jobs in Australia (stock image)

'If you like doing the same thing repetitively, this is not for you,' he told The Sydney Morning Herald last year.

During the 2017 recruitment process, 1,180 people took the Airservices Australia test.

Just 30 passed.
Over the 12 months to 30 June 2018, FTSE 100 schemes allocation to bonds rose to 66%, up from 63% a year earlier. In just a decade, schemes investment strategies have shifted from equity-dominant to bond-dominant portfolios; ten years ago, schemes average fixed income allocation was 35%. 68 FTSE 100 companies now have more than 50% of portfolio assets allocated to bonds. While 10 FTSE 100 schemes have more than 90% of assets invested in bonds, investment mismatching persists among a minority of FTSE 100 constituents, which continue to run large equity positions in their pension schemes. Five companies have less than 25% of assets allocated to bonds. Schemes committed significant capital to further improve scheme funding, with four UK blue chips paying more into their pension scheme than declared in dividends to shareholders over the year. More than half (51) of FTSE 100 sponsors reported major deficit funding contributions in their most recent annual report and accounts, as companies continued to offset balance sheet risks with cash injections. A total 14.3bn was paid into schemes during the year, down from 17.3bn in the previous accounting period. This figure was 6.4bn more than the cost of benefits accrued during the year, therefore representing 7.9bn of funding towards reducing pension schemes deficits. The total disclosed pension liabilities of FTSE 100 companies fell 27bn to 683bn, down from 710bn 12 months prior. Despite this reduction, pension schemes continue to represent a material risk to several of the UKs largest companies. A total of 18 FTSE 100 companies have disclosed pension liabilities of more than 10bn, the largest of which is Royal Dutch Shell at 74bn; 22 companies have disclosed pension liabilities of under 100m, of which 13 companies have no defined benefit liabilities. Charles Cowling, Chief Actuary, JLT Employee Benefits, said: Pension schemes made good progress in 2018 and it is encouraging to see a significant improvement in funding levels and schemes proactive efforts to lock in gains. By moving into bonds, schemes are more closely mirroring the profile of liabilities arising, thereby reducing volatility in funding levels. Limiting volatility in pension schemes may prove crucial to UK companies over the next few months, a period which could bring untold challenges to even the largest, most resilient businesses. While constituents with a significant proportion of revenues derived overseas will be relatively sheltered from the potentially negative currency implications of a no-deal Brexit, domestically-focused companies have a tough road ahead of them. In the coming weeks and months, it will be important for trustees and their sponsors to batten down the hatches and ensure their scheme is positioned appropriately. For some, this may constitute a decision to take some risk off the table, while for others it may be case of building effective hedging strategies. Either way, in order protect the good progress of 2018, it is crucial that schemes remain alert to the situation as it evolves.


An alleged sex pest accused of terrorising residents in a quiet neighbourhood by masturbating in the street has been arrested after a lengthy investigation.

The 43-year-old man was charged on Tuesday afternoon with 27 counts of indecent acts, four years after a woman first filed an official complaint about his behaviour.

The alleged serial masturbator frequented one street in Windsor, Brisbane, so often that he was photographed by the Google Street View Car in 2017.

It's understood detectives were able to use that Google Maps image, which showed him standing near a house, to uncover his identity after a string of complaints.

Detectives will allege the 43-year-old was reported multiple times by women who saw him perform the indecent acts in public, and he has been caught on Google Maps

Due to the length of the investigation, police are appealing to the public for further information citing there could be more victims

Police allege the man was reported multiple times by women who saw him perform the indecent acts in public.

Due to the length of the investigation, police are appealing to public for further information and believe there may be more alleged victims.

Police allege the man was spotted masturbating in the vicinity of Truro Street in Windsor a number of times, as well as streets in Fairfield, West End and Highgate Hill.



The alleged offender, who is due to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on February 11, is described as Caucasian with brown hair, blue eyes and 180cm tall.

Police are also liking to hear from anyone who may have spotted a white 2013 Hyundai iLoad van with a Brisbane Lions 2018 sticker parked in any of those areas.
The sister of slain Israeli exchange student Aiia Maasarwe has shared a heartbreaking social media post as the woman's body returns to Israel.

Noor Maasarwe made a series of emotional posts to Instagram after her sister Aiia, 21, was allegedly raped and murdered in Melbourne.

Aiia's half-naked body was found dumped near a shopping centre in the suburb of Bundoora on January 16. Homeless rapper Codey Herrmann, 20, was later arrested and charged with her brutal rape and murder.

Noor Maasarwe (pictured) made a series of emotional posts to Instagram after her sister Aiia, 21, was allegedly raped and murdered in Melbourne

Aiia's (pictured) half-naked body was found dumped near a shopping centre in the suburb of Bundoora on January 16

In an Instagram post, Noor shared paintings created by Aiia (pictured) in 2014

Noor Maasarwe posted photos of signs calling for Aiia's body to be returned to her family, alongside a pair of white canvas shoes

Noor said she and Aiia bought the white canvas shoes at the same time, sharing similar pairs

Noor Maasarwe posted photos of signs calling for Aiia's body to be returned to her family, alongside a pair of white canvas shoes.

'This is not just a pair of shoes, this is a pair of shoes with a meaning, this is the same shoes Aiia was wearing when she got murdered, and her sister Noor has the same shoes, they bought them together,' Noor wrote on Monday.

Aiia Maasarwe's body will arrive in Israel for her Islamic funeral at 10am on Wednesday local time.

In another Instagram post, Noor shared paintings created by Aiia in 2014.

'A little girl with big dreams, that['s] how Aiia was,' Noor wrote.

'She was living a dream in Melbourne, a dream that ended up being worst (sic) than a nightmare.

Aiia Maasarwe's body will arrive in Israel for her Islamic funeral at 10am on Wednesday local time

Noor thanked all those who had supported her family in Australia and their home town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye in Israel. Pictured: Aiia Maasarwe

'Violence against women is not a women issue, it is a men issue.

'We tell women if they feel unsafe to make a call so that they can feel safe. But Aiia was on the phone with my sister Ruba when all that happen[ed].

'But what do we tell me to do? Do we tell the[m] how to behave? We tell them nothing! That's what we tell them. But [we] need to tell them something from now on!'

Noor thanked all those who had supported her family in Australia and their home town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye in Israel, reminding her 'there are still good people in the world'.

Ms Maasarwe, a Palestinian Arab of Israeli citizenship, will be buried in line with her Muslim faith after a funeral in Israel on Wednesday

Relatives boarded a flight out of Melbourne on Tuesday to head back to Israel

'Let's make the world a better place for us to survive in and for the next generation. I pray and hope that this won't happen again. No one deserve[s] to be treated like that,' she said.

'No matter where they come from, where they are, what they believe in. We are all humans at the end and that's what matter[s].'

Ms Maasarwe, a Palestinian Arab of Israeli citizenship, will be buried in line with her Muslim faith after a funeral in Israel on Wednesday.

Relatives boarded a flight out of Melbourne on Tuesday and a companion of her father Saeed Maasarwe told reporters a selection of items left in tribute to Aiia will be taken to the family's home at Baka al-Gharbiyye, an hour north of Tel Aviv, with plans to use them as part of a shrine.

Her father Saeed Maasarwe (pictured) told reporters a selection of items left in tribute to Aiia will be taken to the family's home

He told reporters up to 20,000 people were expected to gather in her home town upon her arrival.

Ms Maasarwe had caught a tram and was walking home after visiting a city comedy club on the night she died.

A small vigil was held on Tuesday night near where Ms Maasarwe was allegedly murdered, with plans for a memorial tree and plaque at the site.
Peter Seppelt, 54, pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court

A prominent South Australian winemaker has been ordered to stand trial over child sexual abuse charges dating back to the 1990s.

Peter Seppelt, 54, pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to charges of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child and unlawful sexual intercourse.

The incidents are alleged to have taken place between 1994 and 1996 at Springton, near the Barossa Valley wine region.

Magistrate Elizabeth Sheppard continued Seppelt's bail to appear in the District Court in April.

Seppelt is a fifth-generation winemaker from one of the region's oldest and most well-known winemaking families.

He made no comment as he left court accompanied by another man.

'He'll be pleading not guilty and anything he's got to say he'll be saying in court, not elsewhere,' the associate said.
San Francisco tech giant Marc Benioff is slamming his city as a 'train wreck' for its homelessness crisis and says tech companies like his own are to blame.

Benoiff, the 54-year-old founder of cloud-based software company Salesforce, is calling out tech firms for creating the massive wealth disparity in Silicon Valley.

San Francisco has been plagued with a homelessness crisis with more than 7,500 people living on the streets, as last counted in 2017 according to numbers released in June.

Tech company Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, 54, slammed San Francisco as a 'train wreck' for its massive homelessness crisis

Overall in California there were 134,000 homeless people statewide in 2017, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

'San Francisco is kind of a train wreck, we have a real inequality problem. It's because of the tech sector,' Benoiff said in an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.

'I mean we have an incredible technology industry, one that every city in the world craves. But housing prices have increased. There has been broad gentrification. And at the same time we have a horrible homeless problem. We're not taking care of the people who need us most,' he added.

'In some ways, San Francisco is the canary in the coal mine. We have to look at San Francisco and say here's the best technology example in the world and yet the worst homelessness,' he said.

'San Francisco is kind of a train wreck, we have a real inequality problem. It's because of the tech sector,' Benoiff said on Tuesday

In 2017 more than 7,500 people were living in the streets in San Francisco. Homeless people sleeping on the streets pictured in August 23, 2018

He was an advocate for Proposition C, a ballot measure that passed in November 2018 and taxes big businesses like his own to fund programs for the homeless

Benoiff has been a outspoken advocate for increasing city spending to house the homeless.

He pushed for Proposition C, a November 2018 ballot measure that passed and will generate up to $300million for homeless programs by raising the taxes on big businesses.

However, not all tech giants followed his philanthropic example. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, software company Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and game developer Zynga founder Mark Pincus were all opposed to the measure.

Benoiff lashed out at Dorsey after he said Proposition C wasn't the best way to solve the city's rising homelessness issue.

'Which homeless programs in our city are you supporting? Can you tell me what Twitter and Square & you are in for & at what financial levels? How much have you given to heading home our $37M initiative to get every homeless child off the streets?' Benoiff said to the Twitter CEO.

Benioff and his company Salesforce have donated $250 million to support San Francisco hospitals, $11 million to help the homeless, and $50 million to public schools, according to SFGate.
The White House has reached out to the Kentucky high school students at the heart of Lincoln Memorial clash and says any future visits they might have with President Trump will take place after the government shutdown concludes.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday that the White House had voiced their support for the students at Covington Catholic High School and reached out to them in the wake of the controversy.

The students were embroiled in an encounter with a Native American activist and a black religious sect that was captured on video at Washington's Lincoln Memorial last Friday.

'We have reached out and voiced our support,' the press secretary said.

Nick Sandmann, a Covington Catholic High School student, was filmed wearing a MAGA hat while staring down 64-year-old Nathan Phillips during an altercation at the memorial in Washington D.C. on Friday

'Certainly no one understands better than this president when the media jumps to conclusions and attacks you for something you may or may not have done.'

She said if President Trump does invite the students to the White House, it will be sometime after the government shutdown as concluded.

Nick Sandmann, a Covington student, was filmed wearing a MAGA hat while staring down 64-year-old Nathan Phillips during an altercation at the memorial in Washington D.C. on Friday.

The short video that went viral over the weekend showed Sandmann appearing to smirk while a crowd of other teens laughed derisively behind him as the Native American man played a traditional chant on a drum.

A longer video has since emerged showing the teens in a standoff against members of a group, calling itself the Black Hebrew Israelites, in the lead up to the altercation with the Native American.

Trump has been a strong supporter of the students, tweeting early Tuesday that they 'have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be'.

Covington Catholic High School (pictured on Sunday) was closed on Tuesday for the safety of its students, according to its principal. A police car blocked its entrance on Tuesday

He added that he hoped the teens will use the attention for good, and 'maybe even to bring people together'.

Trump also tweeted on Monday night as some reports questioned whether the early criticism of the students was warranted.

'Looking like Nick Sandman & Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgments proving out to be false - smeared by media. Not good, but making big comeback!' Trump tweeted, in part.

The school shut down its campus on Tuesday as a safety precaution as the fallout out over the encounter continued and longer videos emerged showing wider perspectives.

All three groups were in D.C. for various protests - the students attended a rally to end abortion, the Israelites were protesting centuries of oppression and Native Americans marching to end injustice for indigenous peoples across the globe.

Protesters from the black Hebrew Israelites first engaged the students from Covington Catholic High School at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial on Friday by calling them out for their MAGA gear

The three sides had been pointing fingers and giving their own accounts about feeling victimized and misunderstood.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington said in a statement late Tuesday that local police alerted them a protest was planned outside their offices.

It said officials were advised to close the school 'due to threats of violence and the possibility of large crowds' adding they would reopen school when police 'say it is safe to do so.'

The diocese, which previously criticized the students' behavior, promised to begin its investigation of events this week.

'This is a very serious matter that has already permanently altered the lives of many people. It is important for us to gather the facts that will allow us to determine what corrective actions, if any, are appropriate.'

The school and the diocese websites were taken offline.
A nationwide meltdown of the IT system used by courts in England and Wales has delayed trials at hundreds of courts, including at the Old Bailey.

The Ministry of Justice said the network had faced 'major issues' in the past week, with the computer system down at hundreds of courts and the email system used by barristers and judges also impacted.

The Criminal Bar Association has estimated that approximately 30 trials have already been halted by the IT meltdown.

Trials all over the country have been impacted by the IT meltdown, including at the Old Bailey (pictured)

A number of courts, such as the Old Bailey, have reported not being able to access WiFi.

While others struggled to send emails, had difficulty enrolling jurors or were left unsure when defendants were due to appear in court.

Chris Henley, QC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, which represents 4,000 barristers in England and Wales, told The Times, that trials could collapse.

He said: 'Trials are being adjourned, the IT infrastructure is inaccessible in many places, electronic recording systems aren't working and barristers can't access vital documents because court WiFi and secure emails aren't working.'

'The system is on its knees.'

Chris Henley, QC, has warned trials could potentially collapse if barristers are not able to access vital documents

Other lawyers have warned defendants could even be released early so they were not detained beyond the legal time limit.

It comes at an awkward time for the Ministry of Justice who are in the midst of a 1 billion modernisation of the court system.

But the MoJ has denied the IT woes are related to the improvements, but that the problems are to do with the existing network.

Twitter user @BarristerSecret, a regular blogger on legal issues, said the system had been 'broken for days.'

The anonymous legal expert said: 'The entire digital infrastructure of the courts has been broken for days.

'Phones aren't working, court computers are offline, email is down.

'Imagine the headlines if it were the NHS.

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said the job of probation officers is being made 'impossible' by the IT problems

'But it's only justice, so no one cares.'

Problems in the system for the probation system started approximately eight weeks ago and have been impacting the work of officers in the court system.

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: 'The bottom line for our members is that it is making their job next to impossible in terms of being able to provide relevant information for the courts, including reports which help inform sentence decisions.'

A Ministry of Justice spokesman told the BBC: 'We apologise to those who have been affected by the network issues that we have been experiencing over recent days.

'The urgent work we have been carrying out with our suppliers has led to significant improvements today, but this work is ongoing and we have contingency plans in place.

'While services have continued to operate and alternative network access is now in place for most, we know how frustrating this is for anyone affected and we are disappointed that our suppliers haven't yet been able to resolve the network problems in full.

We continue to work with them to return services to normal.'
Sydney has been ranked the third most expensive city in the world followed by Melbourne.

The harbour city was ousted by Vancouver, Canada, after it held second spot for seven years on a global list of more than 300 cities.

A property price slump is behind the slip down to third place, according to a housing affordability survey by urban consultancy firm Demographia.

Sydney (pictured) has slipped from the second most expensive city in the world to third place

Melbourne (pictured) took out the fourth place followed by Californian cities San Jose and Los Angeles

Australia's five major housing markets are severely unaffordable, the Demographia report revealed.

Major Australian capitals Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth also made it in the top 20 least affordable cities, taking the 13th, 17th and 20th spots respectively.

The report referenced an OECD publication that states housing prices in Australia have doubled since the early 2000s and that household debt has surged.

Prices fell notably in in Melbourne in Sydney in 2017, the OECD publication stated.

'Even so, housing affordability remains severely unaffordable in all of the major markets,' the report wrote.

'Despite what has been called the largest Sydney price reduction in 35 years, house prices relative to incomes are more than double the rate of the early 1980s.'

Sydney is Australia's least affordable market, with a Median Multiple of 11.7.

This means the buyer must earn nearly 12 times the average Australian's income to afford the average price of an Australian home.

Hong Kong, which has been ranked first for nine years, and Vancouver both have major land supply problems making them the least affordable cities.

Melbourne took out the fourth place followed by Californian cities San Jose and Los Angeles.

Major Australian capitals Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth also made it in the top 20 least affordable cities, taking the 13th, 17th and 20th spots respectively.

Hong Kong, China (pictured) has been ranked the most expensive city for the past nine years

Vancouver, Canada has been ranked the second least affordable city after Sydney held the spot for seven years

Housing in Australia's major cities were considered unaffordable due to the gap between prices and incomes.

The Sunshine Coast in Queensland was less affordable than every other Australian capital apart from Sydney and Melbourne, according to a separate ranking for towns and cities with a population under one million.

The separate ranking put the Sunshine Coast in 11th place, Gold Coast in the 14th and Geelong in 22nd place.

Regional areas such as Ballarat, Cairns and the Fraser Coast were revealed to have more expensive housing than New York.
A suicidal 26-year-old Missouri woman who deliberately drove her car into the Kansas River with her two young children inside has been sentenced to life in prison.

Scharron Dingledine, of Columbia, Missouri, learned her fate Tuesday, a month after she pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.

Prosecutors said she drove her car into the river near Lawrence in August 2018. She and her one-year-old son, Elijah, were rescued. The body of her five-year-old daughter, Amiyah Bradley, was recovered the next day.

Scharron Dingledine, 26 (left), was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the drowning death of her 5-year-old Amiyah Bradley (right)

Dingledine's car is seen being lifted out of the Kansas River in Missouri in August after the deadly incident

Dingledine told police she drove into the river in an attempt to kill herself and her children. She said she knew neither child could swim and would likely die.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Dingledine was released from a psychiatric facility, where she had admitted herself following a domestic dispute with her boyfriend.

A probable cause affidavit revealed that after Dingledine was released, her boyfriend agreed to take her to a shelter. But as he stopped at a store, the woman drove off in his car, with the children inside.

She later stole another car after running out of gas, and spent the night in the vehicle.

The next day, feeling 'depressed and worried about the consequences of her actions', Dingledine drove to the Kansas river, and let her children out to play around and dip their feet in the water.

Divers removed Amiyah's body out of the water a day after the August 3 incident

The 26-year-old said she decided the river was a good way to kill herself, and she decided to kill her children because she 'didn't want anyone else to have them'.

She told detectives she accelerated into the river while the children were unrestrained in the front seat, according to the affidavit.

Elijah was pronounced dead at the scene before being revived by paramedics.

He has been critically injured by the encounter, and according to Amiyah's dad, Clint Bradley, the toddler will likely 'never be the same kid mentally or physically'.

'I don't even hurt at this point for me, I hurt for her,' Bradley said to KOMU News last month.

Bradley said the woman who killed his daughter isn't the same mother who 'would have done anything for her.'

Dingledine told police she drove into the river in an attempt to kill herself and her children (Amiyah is pictured left and right)

He said Dingledine had a history of mental health issues and depression.

The first officer on the scene later recounted how Dingledine screamed 'let me die!' as she was being rescued from the river.

The woman was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years for the first-degree murder charge, and nearly 13 years for the attempted murder charge.

According to the Douglas County District Attorney's Office, any post-release for Dingledine will be determined by the Kansas Department of Corrections Prisoner Review Board.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has won a spot on the prestigious House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which has the power to investigate President Donald Trump.

And she'll start off by questioning Michael Cohen at his highly anticipated testimony before Congress scheduled for February 7.

She will also play a major role in questioning any Trump administration officials that are investigated by the powerful panel.

The 29-year-old Democratic-Socialist of New York joined the committee on Tuesday and is joined by fellow liberal Congress freshmen Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Ro Khanna of California.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, (center) has joined the House Oversight Committee, which has the power to launch investigations into President Donald Trump and his administration

On the panel she will question Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen (above) when he publicly testifies before Congress on February 7

Her spot on the prestigious committee was announced on Tuesday evening. She retweeted this post announcing her new committee membership

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the new appointments to House committees on Tuesday saying: 'We are thrilled that these outstanding Members will join these critical committees, where their fresh vision and powerful voices will be critical as Democrats deliver our ambitious agenda For The People'.

Ocasio-Cortez also confirmed her new position by retweeting posts about her membership Tuesday evening.

'Confirmed: @AOC wins a spot on the high-profile House Oversight committee, giving her a potentially huge platform to interrogate Trump administration officials in next two years,' White House New York Times correspondent Shane Goldman wrote in a post she retweeted.

There are 15 people on the Oversight Committee for the 116th Congress including Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Pressley, Khanna, Mark DeSaulnier of California, Jimmy Gomez of California, Katie Hill of California, Robin Kelly of Illinois, Brenda Lawrence of Michigan, Stacey Plaskett of U.S. Virgin Islands, Harley Rouda of California, John Sarbanes of Maryland, Jackie Speier of California, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Peter Welch of Vermont.

The House Oversight committee is currently led by Democrat Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland and Ranking Member Republican Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Cummings said he's excited about the new class joining the committee.

'If I based the choices going on the committee based on what people said or their reputations or whatever, I probably wouldnt have a committee,' he said to Politico.

'I am excited  there were a lot of people that wanted to come on our committee,' he said to Politico.

She will join the committee along with Rep Rashida Tlaib of Michigan who has vowed to 'impeach the motherf***er' in reference to Trump. Once on the committee, she'll have the power to launch an investigation into his administration

Liberal Congress freshmen Democrat Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts (left) and Democrat Ro Khanna of California (right) will also reportedly join the committee

The House Oversight Committee is currently led by Democrat Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland who has previously said he'll subpoena documents and testimony from the Trump administration on a wide range of issues

The Oversight Committee, established in 1816, is the main investigative committee in the House and will have the power to investigate Donald Trump and his administration, something Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow freshman peers have sworn to do.

New appointments to the House Oversight Committee  Dem. Mark DeSaulnier of California  Dem. Jimmy Gomez of California  Dem. Katie Hill of California  Dem. Robin Kelly of Illinois  Dem. Ro Khanna of California  Dem. Brenda Lawrence of Michigan  Dem. -Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York  Dem. Stacey Plaskett of U.S. Virgin Islands  Dem. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts  Dem. Harley Rouda of California  Dem. John Sarbanes of Maryland  Dem. Jackie Speier of California  Dem. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan  Dem. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida  Dem. Peter Welch of Vermont Advertisement

The four freshmen joining the committee are fierce critics of the president and have pledged to launch investigations into Trump and his administration.

Tlaib even promised to 'impeach the motherf***er' in an impassioned speech.

Chairman Cummings said to 60 Minutes earlier this month he plans to exercise his subpoena power by demanding documents and testimony from the Trump administration on a wide range of issues, according to CBS.

'The American people and the Congress [are] insisting that [President Trump] allows us to do our job. Basically what the president has done and the Republicans have done, they've joined hands. And the Republicans have been, basically, not only blocking, but [have] become the defense counsel for the president,' he said.

The Oversight Committee's first major hearing is scheduled on February 7, when Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen is scheduled to testify before the public.

Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, is also set to join the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees banks and the financial sector under Representative Maxine Waters.

'Financial Services is one of just four exclusive committees in the House. It oversees big banks, lending, & the financial sector. I am very grateful for the opportunity to sit on this committee as a freshman, and look forward to working under the leadership of @RepMaxine Waters,' she tweeted on January 15.

She said once on the committee she'd like to address today's student loan crisis. She's also been a outspoken critic of big banks, demanding they be broken up.

'Personally, Im looking forward to digging into the student loan crisis, examining for-profit prisons/ICE detention, and exploring the development of public & postal banking. To start,' she tweeted with a smiley face.
A Chicago suburb has tentatively agreed to pay a former doctoral student $1.25million to settle a lawsuit alleging police officers tackled him to the ground and arrested him for stealing a car that turned out to be his own, his attorney said.

Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz confirmed a settlement was reached with Lawrence Crosby, who was 25 and an engineering doctoral student at Northwestern University in 2015 when the incident occurred.

Bobkiewicz declined to provide the amount of the settlement pending final approval by the City Council next week.

Police dashboard video from 2015 shows Lawrence Crosby, then 25, tackled to the ground in Evanston, Illinois after officers refused to believe he owned the car he was driving

A number of officers shouted at Crosby as they approached him with their guns drawn, before wrestling him to the ground after pulling him over in Evanston

Crosby was an engineering doctoral student at Northwestern University in 2015 when the incident occurred

Crosby's attorney, Timothy Touhy, told the Chicago Tribune that the amount was $1.25million.

The incident was one of several high-profile cases in the Chicago area in recent years involving violent, sometimes deadly encounters between police officers and black men.

Last week, a judge sentenced a former Chicago police officer to nearly seven years in prison for the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, whose death was seen on a graphic dashcam video.

Touhy said Crosby was trying to repair loose molding on his car when a woman called police to report a black man trying to steal a car.

When he drove off, the woman followed Crosby in her car as he drove from his apartment to Northwestern's science building, giving police his location.

Crosby's attorney, Timothy Touhy, told the Chicago Tribune that the amount was $1.25million. Crosby is seen above

Crosby got out the car with his hands raised after being stopped by police but was tackled when he failed to immediately obey orders to get on the ground.

Police later determined the car belonged to Crosby but charged him anyhow with disobeying officers and resisting arrest.

At the time of Crosby's arrest, an Evanston Police Department spokesman said the use of force by police was justified as officers were responding to what they thought was an auto theft.

The spokesman said officers delivered knee strikes and open-handed strikes.

A judge later threw out the charges, Touhy said.

The lawsuit asked the city of Evanston and the arresting police officers to pay at least $50,000 for compensatory and punitive damages and other relief.

'It's his hope that as a result of this case, that all of us begin a discussion on implicit bias and begin to recognize it and begin to discuss it between yourselves and your friends,' said Steven Yonover, who represented Crosby in the case.
One in five (20%) received information about the benefits available to them when they first joined but never again, while one in ten (9%) have no idea which benefits, if any, are available to them. The lack of communication represents a real problem for employers because when implemented properly, workplace benefits improve employee wellbeing and create a happier, healthier workplace environment. Table 1: Lack of communication of workplace benefits to employees Employers can improve their standing with employees by offering benefits Despite the distinct absence of clear communication, most employees believe that their employer adopts a positive approach towards their wellbeing. Three quarters (75%) of employees think that their wellbeing is important to their employer, rising to 83% for employees aged 18-34. However, employers can do more to improve the perception that they take employee wellbeing seriously. Two fifths (40%) of employees feel more positive about their employer if they offer an annual bonus, or would if they dont already offer one, and a third (33%) said the same for private medical insurance. In terms of protection products, across all age groups employees would feel more positive about their employer if they offered them income protection (31%), life insurance (26%) or critical illness cover (25%) over a gym membership (20%). Only 18-34-year-olds would feel more positive about their employer if they were offered a gym membership over critical illness cover (23% vs. 17%) and would still prefer to be offered life insurance (24%) or income protection (29%). Overall, the proportion of employees who would feel more positive about their employer if they were offered protection products increases with age. Table 2: Workplace benefits that would make employees feel more positive about their employer In an effort to communicate workplace benefits clearly to employees, or advertise perks already in place, employers should regularly re-evaluate their communication channels. Over half (56%) of employees would prefer to receive information on workplace benefits via email, followed by face-to-face interactions (29%) and an intranet hub (26%). Commenting on the research, Paul Avis, Marketing Director at Canada Life Group Insurance, said: Workplace benefits should be a top priority for employers. Not only do they improve employee wellbeing, they are useful tools to attract and retain top talent which will become increasingly important as the war for talent intensifies. Worryingly, many employers who have made the positive step of putting an effective benefits package in place are not reaping the rewards because they are failing to communicate their availability properly. Although this is a significant problem, there is a simple solution. Employers should re-evaluate their communication methods and learn what works for their employees. Our research suggests a renewed focus on email updates, face-to-face communication or an internal intranet system is a good place to start to fully articulate the availability of workplace benefits and give regular updates. This will ensure that all staff members understand which perks are available to them and will ultimately improve their perception of their employer. Advisers also have a role to play in arming employers with the information and tools necessary to effectively promote benefits within the workplace, ideally working in close partnership with the insurance provider.
A gang of African youths have terrorised shoppers during an early morning rampage at a Coles supermarket.

Up to 20 young people stormed the supermarket in Taylors Hill, Melbourne about 6.40am on Wednesday.

The gang stole products off the shelves and shoved customers to the ground before fleeing the scene.

A gang of African youths have terrorised shoppers during an early morning rampage at a Coles supermarket (stock image)

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the supermarket was not damaged and police are continuing to search for the youths.

'Police believe there has been theft of items, but no reports of injuries,' the police spokeswoman told news.com.au.

Witnesses reported seeing as many as 20 youths in the supermarket.

In August, two rival African gangs who bragged 'police can't touch us' were involved in a massive brawl in the same suburb.

Locals were told to 'stay inside and lock their doors' after about 100 youths gathered in Taylors Hill on August 8.

Heavily-armed riot police wearing bullet-proof vests were pelted with rocks when they attempted to move the crowd on, while roads were closed and traffic was diverted.

Up to 20 young people stormed the supermarket (pictured) in Taylors Hill, Melbourne about 6.40am on Wednesday

Residents were told rival gangs had arranged to meet 'for war' at Lonzo Park.

Despite the warnings, Victoria Police insisted there was 'no threat to community safety'.

The fracas spread from a quiet suburban street to a shopping complex where the Coles supermarket is located.
A desperate hunt is underway for a young woman accused of stabbing a teenager repeatedly in the stomach and back after asking to use her phone.

The 19-year-old was walking home after midnight on Wednesday along Cornelia Road, Toongabbie in Sydney's west when she was approached.

The stranger, who intercepted her at the intersection of Cecilia Street, asked the woman if she could use her phone before things took a violent turn.

A desperate hunt is underway for a young woman accused of stabbing a teenager. Police have released CCTV footage of a woman (pictured) wanted for questioning over the incident

Police were told the woman threatened the teenager, demanding she hand over all of her personal belongings before she was stabbed multiple times in the stomach, back and arms.

The attacker fled the scene on foot, while the victim was able to walk to her house nearby and call an ambulance.

She was taken to Westmead Hospital where she is awaiting surgery and remains in a serious but stable condition.

Police from the Blacktown Police Area Command have released CCTV footage of a woman wanted for questioning over the stabbing (pictured)

Police from the Blacktown Police Area Command have released CCTV footage of a woman they want to speak to in relation to the stabbing.

The woman is described as being of Pacific Islander or Asian appearance, with black hair parted down the middle, and wearing dark-coloured clothing.

Police believe the incident is related to a similar stabbing which occurred on January 6, when a 32-year-old woman was approached by a female on Union Street.

The woman was threatened before being stabbed in the arm.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Two Saudi Arabian sisters whose bodies were bound together when they mysteriously washed up in New York City had killed themselves, a medical examiner has ruled.

The bodies of Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 23, were discovered in October in the Hudson River on Manhattan's Upper West Side - two months after they were last seen in Virginia where they had been living in a shelter amid allegations they were abused at home.

They were found fully clothed and facing each other with their feet and waists taped together.

Authorities at the time said there were no obvious signs of trauma and they were alive when they went into the water.

The medical examiner's official ruling brings an end to months of rampant speculation about the mysterious deaths of the sisters in the wake of the October 2 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi embassy in Turkey.

The bodies of Tala Farea, 16, (left) and Rotana Farea, 23, (right) were discovered in October in the Hudson River on Manhattan's Upper West Side

The New York medical examiner said on Tuesday that the sisters had committed suicide.

'My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River,' the examiner ruled.

The cause of death was drowning.

Tala and Rotana moved to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia with their mother in 2015, settling in Fairfax, a suburb of Washington D.C.

The sisters were last seen in Virginia on August 24 and were reported missing on September 12. They had been living in a shelter in Virginia at the time of their disappearance following allegations that they were abused at home.

Police, citing credit card records, an Uber receipt and other evidence, said the sisters arrived in New York City on September 1 after making stops in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.

The New York medical examiner said on Tuesday that the sisters had committed suicide. They were found fully clothed and facing each other with their feet and waists taped together

A jogger said he saw the two women praying near the Hudson River on Manhattan's Upper West Side (above) just hours before their bodies were found

They had been staying at expensive hotels and ordering meals until a credit card they were using maxed out.

The two women appeared to be in good health on security video police located from about a week before their bodies were found.

A jogger said he saw the two women praying at a playground near the river, sitting about 30 feet apart with their heads in their hands, just hours before their bodies were found.

People who knew the Farea sisters in Virginia told investigators that they made statements within the last year indicating 'that they would rather inflict harm on themselves - commit suicide - than return to Saudi Arabia.'

Officials at the time stopped short of saying that the sisters had killed themselves.

Police released sketches of the sister's faces and posted repeated calls for the public's help in identifying them on social media in the weeks before they were identified

The mother of the two sisters told detectives that the day before the bodies were discovered, she received a call from an official at the Saudi Arabian Embassy, ordering the family to leave the U.S. because her daughters had applied for asylum.

The Saudi Arabian Embassy has denied talking to the family about any asylum request.

Rotana was enrolled at George Mason University, in Fairfax, but left in the spring.

Police initially struggled to identify the bodies as much of the city and the country was transfixed by other news, such as the package bombs sent to a dozen prominent Democrats and CNN's New York City bureau.

Police released sketches of the sister's faces and posted repeated calls for the public's help in identifying them on social media.

Once they were identified, police sent detectives to Virginia to piece together the last months of their lives.
Hollywood celebrities are rushing to delete their tweets about the Catholic high school students who stared down a Native American during protests near the Lincoln Memorial after new footage suggested the confrontation was more complicated that it first appeared.

Covington Catholic High School shut down its campus Tuesday as a precaution and a small protest was held outside their diocese as fallout continued over an encounter involving white teenagers, Native American marchers and a black religious sect outside the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.

Many liberal celebrities had been quick to join the angry fray, tweeting out condemnation of the teens.

Comedian Kathy Griffin deleted a tweet on Tuesday showing a photograph of Covington Catholic High School basketball players who were 'throwing up the new Nazi sign'.

Hollywood celebrities have called for publicly humiliating the Catholic high school students who were seen in viral video staring down a Native American elderly man near the Lincoln Memorial - even though new footage shows there was more to the confrontation

In reality, the players were just holding up three fingers. In all likelihood, they were celebrating a three-point jump shot.

Jack Morrissey, the film producer whose credits include Beauty and the Beast and movies from the Twilight franchise, deleted a tweet about 'MAGA kids going screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper'.

The tweet included a gruesome cartoon showing what looks like blood spraying out of a woodchipper.

Morrissey later tweeted an apology, writing: 'Yesterday I tweeted an image based on Fargo that was meant to be satirical - as always - but I see now that it was in bad taste.

'I offended many people - my sincerest apologies.

'I would never sincerely suggest violence against others, especially kids.

'Lesson learned.'

Ron Perlman, the Sons of Anarchy star, tweeted: 'This morning I did something I very rarely do; I deleted one of my tweets.

'Its the last one I posted in reference to the skirmish between the minors and the elders.

'What we need less of in this country are the deep divisions that rip apart our emotions.

Comedian Kathy Griffin deleted a tweet on Tuesday showing a photograph of Covington Catholic High School basketball players who were 'throwing up the new Nazi sign'

Jack Morrissey, the film producer whose credits include Beauty and the Beast and movies from the Twilight franchise, deleted this tweet about 'MAGA kids going screaming, hats first, into the woodchipper'

Morrissey later tweeted an apology, writing: 'Yesterday I tweeted an image based on Fargo that was meant to be satirical - as always - but I see now that it was in bad taste. I offended many people - my sincerest apologies. I would never sincerely suggest violence against others, especially kids. Lesson learned'

Ron Perlman, the Sons of Anarchy star, tweeted: 'This morning I did something I very rarely do; I deleted one of my tweets'

Perlman called for more 'decency, compassion, tolerance, and an essential regard for the values that young men and women died for in defense of this nation'

It should be noted that Perlman did not delete a tweet in which he referred to Covington student Nicholas Sandmann, who is seen smirking in the face of Nathan Phillips, as 'the little b***h in this soul crushing image' whose 'punishment will be an entire lifetime of regret.'

Stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt also deleted a tweet promoting a thread about the Covington teens

'But we need more of is to start rowing in the same boat.

'But let me be clear, and this is what was behind my initial vitriol, that that boat needs to represent decency, compassion, tolerance, and an essential regard for the values that young men and women died for in defense of this nation!!!'

It should be noted that Perlman did not delete a tweet in which he referred to Covington student Nicholas Sandmann, who is seen smirking in the face of Nathan Phillips, as 'the little b***h in this soul crushing image' whose 'punishment will be an entire lifetime of regret.'

Stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt also deleted a tweet promoting a thread about the Covington teens.

Griffin, Morrisey, Perlman, Oswalt, and others reacted to the initial viral video, which appeared to show Covington students harassing the Native American man.

But since that video, more footage has been released which suggests it was not all one-sided and that there had been several different protest groups that day.

It also revealed that the Native American man had approached the teens.

Now some of those appear to regret their hasty tweets attacking the high schoolers. But not all.

President Donald Trump tweeted early Tuesday that the students at Covington Catholic High School have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be but says he hopes the teens will use the attention for good, and maybe even to bring people together.

The recorded images that initially generated outrage on social media were tightly focused on the students wearing Make America Great Again hats, who seemed to laugh derisively as they surrounded an elderly Native American beating a drum.

Longer videos from wider perspectives emerged later over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.

They revealed the drummer - Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips - had intervened between the boys and the religious sect.

That came after the teens seemed to grow rowdier and the black street preacher who had been shouting racist statements against both groups escalated his rhetoric.

Soon, all sides were pointing fingers , giving their own accounts about feeling victimized and misunderstood.

In the wake of new video evidence showing more context to Sunday's events, actor Jamie Lee Curtis tweeted: 'There are two sides to every story. I made a snap judgment based on a photograph & I know better than to judge a book by its cover. I wasnt there. I shouldnt have commented. Im glad there wasnt violence. I hope theses two men can meet and find common ground as can WE ALL!'

But Curtis appeared to be the exception among Hollywood celebrities who took to Twitter and demanded that the high school students be publicly shamed.

Griffin, the comedian known for her liberal views, tweeted on Sunday: 'Ps. The reply from the school was pathetic and impotent. Name these kids.'

Debra Messing, the star of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, called the high school student seen in the original video smirking at Phillips an 'a*****e.'

TV host John Fugelsang said the teens are 'a model for modern U.S. Christian fundamentalism'

John Cusack tweeted on Sunday: 'This Covington School thing is beyond beliefthe lack of basic Respect for an elder (any elder) is the number one symptom of a SICK society.MAGA CATHOLICS paving the road of ignoranceyou are a DISGRACE'

Michael Green, the writer known for his work on Bladerunner 2049, tweeted about Sandmann, writing: 'A face like that never changes. This image will define his life. No one need ever forgive him.'

Michael Ian Black, the comedian, also tweeted two juxtaposed pictures - one of the Covington students and Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial, and the other of a white man throwing what appears to be milk on a group of black patrons at a diner as other whites look on approvingly

Chris Evans, the Avengers actor, tweeted: 'This is appalling. The ignorance. The gall. The disrespect. Its shameful. And sadly on brand.'

Ed Asner, the legendary actor, tweeted: 'This is a disgrace. This is not America'

Rosie O'Donnell, who has always been an outspoken advocate of liberal causes, tweeted two photos: one of Sandmann smirking on Saturday, and the other of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with a similar facial expression

Kathy Griffin, the comedian known for her liberal views, tweeted on Sunday: 'Ps. The reply from the school was pathetic and impotent. Name these kids.'

In another tweet, she wrote: 'I want NAMES. Shame them. If you think these f---ers wouldnt dox you in a heartbeat, think again.'

In 2017, Griffin was fired by CNN and dropped by numerous comedy clubs after she released a photo on social media showing her holding a prop that was meant to depict the decapitated head of Trump.

John Cusack, the High Fidelity actor who is also very vocal about his liberal political views, tweeted on Sunday: 'This Covington School thing is beyond beliefthe lack of basic Respect for an elder (any elder) is the number one symptom of a SICK society.MAGA CATHOLICS paving the road of ignoranceyou are a DISGRACElook that word up, it means something.learn your History, Catholics.

Jamie Lee Curtis called for moderation, tweeting: 'There are two sides to every story. I made a snap judgment based on a photograph & I know better than to judge a book by its cover. I wasnt there. I shouldnt have commented. Im glad there wasnt violence.'

'Grow some spine Clergylead by example and stop embarrassing the rest of us who know better. There is NO supporting MAGA that can be rationalized.'

Debra Messing, the star of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, called the high school student seen in the original video smirking at Phillips an 'a*****e.'

'Mocking, condescending, disrespecting, A*****E,' Messing wrote on Twitter.

The student, Nicholas Sandmann, a junior at Covington Catholic, sat down for an interview with Savannah Guthrie of NBC's TODAY show.

Guthrie on Tuesday posted a photo on her Twitter feed showing her sitting next to Sandmann during the taping of the interview.

'Sitting down with Nicholas Sandmann - the student at the center of the protest controversy at the Lincoln Memorial. Airs tomorrow,' the TODAY anchor tweeted.

But the post generated tens of thousands of comments, most of them negative and critical of Guthrie and TODAY who are being accused of 'normalizing hate' and 'giving racism a platform.'

In a brief clip of the interview posted to social media, Guthrie asked Sandmann if he feels he owes an apology.

'As far as standing there, I had every right to do so,' Sandmann told Guthrie.

'My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips,' he said.

'I respect him, I would like to talk to him.

Nick Sandmann, the MAGA hat-wearing Catholic high school student who stared down a Native American war veteran during a demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday has said he does not believe he was disrespectful but that he wishes he would have walked away

Sandmann sat down with NBC News' Savannah Guthrie in an interview airing Wednesday morning. When asked whether he thinks he owes anyone an apology, Sandmann said: 'As far as standing there, I had every right to do so.' The students were attending an anti-abortion rally

"Do you feel from this experience that you owe anybody an apology? Do you see your own fault in any way?



Tune in to @NBCNightlyNews for a preview of @SavannahGuthrie's interview with Nick Sandmann. Full interview tomorrow on TODAY. pic.twitter.com/7Croh0Toyj  TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 22, 2019

'I mean, in hindsight, I wish we couldve walked away and avoided the whole thing.'

Sandmann has maintained that Phillips approached him, not the other way around.

The Sandmann family has retained a public relations firm to help the teen navigate the media firestorm, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

Michael Green, the writer known for his work on Bladerunner 2049, tweeted about Sandmann, writing: 'A face like that never changes. This image will define his life. No one need ever forgive him.'

Ed Asner, the legendary actor, tweeted: 'This is a disgrace. This is not America.'

Chris Evans, the Avengers actor, tweeted: 'This is appalling. The ignorance. The gall.

'The disrespect. Its shameful. And sadly on brand.

'When something like this isn't even surprising, its evidence to our place in the cycle of recreating our darker chapters.

'That Native American man showed incredible strength and dignity.'

Rosie O'Donnell, who has always been an outspoken advocate of liberal causes, tweeted two photos: one of Sandmann smirking on Saturday, and the other of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with a similar facial expression.

Kavanaugh was confirmed to the highest court in the land after a bruising process which included allegations by at least two women of sexual misconduct decades ago.

Patricia Heaton, the star of Everybody Loves Raymond, denounced celebrities and public figures who want the students to be 'doxxed'.

'These apologies are welcome and necessary, but they don't address the damage that cannot be undone which was inflicted upon young people who are about to embark on adulthood - applying to colleges, looking for employment, etc,' she tweeted

'These young people will forever have these smears follow them through their life every time they proffer their resume with the word "Covington" on it,' she tweeted

'And yet those who perpetrated this destruction, no matter how unintended, are still at their jobs, with nary a consequence for their reckless behavior,' she tweeted

'It seems to me that an apology without some kind of accompanying action which speaks to the seriousness of their transgression - a suspension from work, some loss of pay - renders any apology empty,' she tweeted

'Some kind of compensatory action would go a long way in signaling their recognition of the seriousness of their transgression and help to restore what's left of the public's very fragile trust in their reputations as trustworthy journalists,' Heaton tweeted

. 'However, I don't believe this will happen.'

Michael Ian Black, the comedian, also tweeted two juxtaposed pictures - one of the Covington students and Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial, and the other of a white man throwing what appears to be milk on a group of black patrons at a diner as other whites look on approvingly.

Patricia Heaton, the star of Everybody Loves Raymond, denounced celebrities and public figures who want the students to be 'doxxed'.

She tweeted: 'I'm seeing what I believe to be sincere apologies from some journalists and verified media persons regarding their lack of professionalism in rushing to judgement' about the Covington students.

'These apologies are welcome and necessary, but they don't address the damage that cannot be undone which was inflicted upon young people who are about to embark on adulthood - applying to colleges, looking for employment, etc.

'These young people will forever have these smears follow them through their life every time they proffer their resume with the word "Covington" on it.

'It will also affect anyone who ever has or ever will attend that school. The damage is incalculable.

'And yet those who perpetrated this destruction, no matter how unintended, are still at their jobs, with nary a consequence for their reckless behavior.

'It seems to me that an apology without some kind of accompanying action which speaks to the seriousness of their transgression - a suspension from work, some loss of pay - renders any apology empty.

'Some kind of compensatory action would go a long way in signaling their recognition of the seriousness of their transgression and help to restore what's left of the public's very fragile trust in their reputations as trustworthy journalists.

'However, I don't believe this will happen.'
Scotland Yard has been accused of belittling rank-and-file officers after posting a job advert promising new recruits will not have to start at the bottom.

Recruitment chiefs faced a backlash yesterday from senior officers and the Police Federation over the advert for direct entry to inspector and superintendent level.

The ad, posted on the Metropolitan Polices Instagram feed, promoted a national police direct entry scheme run by the College of Policing.

Scotland Yard has been accused of belittling rank-and-file officers after posting a job advert promising new recruits will not have to start at the bottom. Recruitment chiefs faced a backlash yesterday from senior officers and the Police Federation over the advert for direct entry to inspector and superintendent level (file image)

It asked: Are you looking for a career change? Searching for a varied and exciting career where you dont have to start at the bottom?

But the wording has provoked fury from senior police officers.

Metropolitan Police Superintendent Roy Smith said the advert shows a real lack of empathy and understanding of the frontline.

He wrote on Twitter: Im not sure where you dont start at the bottom is the way I would describe the frontline PCs and DCs who are the bedrock of the Met.

Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation, called the ad disgusting. He said: One of the unique things about the police is that everyone starts at the same level. When you have elite departments like this that claim theyre better than the frontline it causes problems. That ad tells you how little they think of my colleagues who are already there.

Mike Cunningham, of the College of Policing, apologised for any offence caused by the advert and said he would be making inquiries to understand how it was posted.

The row follows a brutal police recruitment video which showed officers getting assaulted, battering down doors and cutting bloodied clothes off victims.

The unconventional clip was produced by Durham Chief Constable Mike Barton, who turned to shock tactics after several new constables left the force saying the job was tougher than they expected.

Mr Barton, whose no-nonsense attitude has transformed Durham into Britains best-rated police force, said: What we are saying to people is this is what policing is really all about.
A senior member of the Hells Angels has been charged over the brutal assault of a patron at a Gold Coast pub.

Gregory Pearce, 45, president of the notorious bikie gang's Gold Coast chapter, is set to front Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday over the January 19 incident.

CCTV at the Palm Beach Hotel, released by police on Saturday, captured the alleged attack on what police said was a 'defenceless' 42-year-old victim.

Gregory Pearce (left), a senior member of the Hells Angels, has been charged over the brutal assault of a patron at a Gold Coast pub

CCTV at the Palm Beach Hotel, released by police on Saturday, captured the alleged attack on the 42-year-old victim

Pearce, 45, president of the notorious bikie gang's Gold Coast chapter, is set to front Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday over the January 19 incident

'Police were called to the scene following a confrontation between a patron of the hotel and three men around 12pm,' Queensland Police said in a statement.

'It is alleged the victim was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked and punched until he lost consciousness. It will be alleged the victim and offender were known to each other.

'It will be further alleged the 45-year-old man arrested today is the President of the Gold Coast Chapter of the Hells Angels Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.'

Pearce was charged with affray on Monday and spent the night at the Southport Watchhouse after his bail application was refused.

'Police were called to the scene following a confrontation between a patron of the hotel and three men around 12pm,' Queensland Police said in a statement

Detective Inspector Glen Donaldson of the Gold Coast Major and Organised Crime Squad described the alleged attack as a 'cowardly assault' on a 'defenceless victim'.

'This level of violence has no place in our community and strengthens the unwavering commitment of Taskforce Maxima to continue our pursuit of members of outlaw motorcycle gangs involved in criminal activities,' he said.

'The QPS will continue to use every legal mechanism available to dismantle and disrupt organised crime gangs operating in this State.'
The plans for Trump Tower Moscow included an architect's drawing of a glass obelisk 100 stories high that would be the tallest building in Europe and branded multiple times with Donald Trump's logo, it was revealed on Tuesday.

The drawing shows a fuller version of the project than Trump's team indicated. Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, claimed the project hadn't gone beyond a letter of intent and 'no plans were ever made.'

But architectural plans and business documents obtained by Buzzfeed News show an architect's drawing of a gleaming glass tower along side the Moscow River topped by a diamondlike shape emblazoned on multiple sides with the Trump logo.

The architect's drawing of Trump Tower Moscow, obtained by Buzzfeed, showed a glass obelisk 100 stories high and branded multiple times with Donald Trump's logo

The proposed tower would be the tallest building in Europe

The plans were attached to the developers proposal and did not come from the Trump Organization, a source tells DailyMail.com.

"The building design you sent over is very interesting," Russian real estate developer Andrey Rozov wrote to then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen in September 2015, according to Buzzfeed, "and will be an architectural and luxury triumph. I believe the tallest building in Europe should be in Moscow, and I am prepared to build it."

Cohen was spearheading the project for the Trump Organization. He was in contact with Russian businessman interested in working on the project, which was looking to bring in profits of $300 million or more.

A final letter of intent signed by Trump on Oct. 28, 2015, noted Trump Tower Moscow would have approximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums," 15 floors of 150 hotel rooms, a luxury spa by Ivanka Trump and fitness center, and a commercial area for businesses to rent.

The project never came to fruition but it has become a focal point in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election and whether Trump or any of his campaign team colluded with Moscow.

The president has repeatedly denied any collusion.

And Giuliani said Sunday of the project: 'The thing had petered out quite a bit. They sent a letter of intent in. They didn't even know where to send it, they knew so little about it. They finally got it straightened out and then they abandoned the project,' he told NBC's "Meet the Press."

And he told The New Yorker on Monday: 'No plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.

The plans, Buzzfeed reported, included detailed financial arrangements: the Trump Organization would get a $4 million up-front payment. It would also receive a cut of all the condo sales and a cut for the commercial and office spaces along with 3 percent of sales on food and beverages, spa and fitness center use, and conference fees.

The plan was to build Trump Tower Moscow along the Moscow River

The drawing shows a glass building with a view of the river

In November, Buzzfeed reported the Trump Organization at one time planned to give Russian President Vladimir Putin a penthouse worth $50 million in the never-built tower.

Felix Sater, a real estate developer and former mobster turned FBI informant who advised the Trump Organization on the deal, said the idea was a marketing ploy.

'In Russia, the oligarchs would bend over backwards to live in the same building as Vladimir Putin,' Sater told Buzzfeed. 'My idea was to give a $50 million penthouse to Putin and charge $250 million more for the rest of the units. All the oligarchs would line up to live in the same building as Putin.'

Trump insisted repeatedly throughout the presidential campaign that he had no business dealings in Russia.

Cohen entered a guilty plea in November to a charge of lying to Congress about timing surrounding conversations about the Trump Tower Moscow project and admitted it was discussed through the fall of 2016 while the president was running for office.

He testified before Congress that the project he pursued on Trump's behalf was abandoned by the time of the Iowa Caucuses in January 2016; that would be consistent with Trump's 'political messaging.'

Rudy Giuliani told NBC News the plan never went beyond a letter of intent

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, pled guilty to lying to Congress last year about the timeline involving talks of a Trump Tower Moscow

President Donald Trump insisted repeatedly throughout the presidential campaign that he had no business dealings in Russia

Mueller later filed documents revealing Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president's family, later in the year  even after Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

Cohen said he lied out of loyalty to Trump.

'I made these misstatements to be consistent with Individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual 1,' Cohen said at his plea hearing late last year.

'Individual 1' is Mueller's name for Trump in the investigation.

Discussions about a planned construction project were ultimately abandoned and no contract was signed.
A woman who spent seven years on a waiting list for a new pancreas and kidney is recovering well after finally receiving the life-saving organ transplant.

Kate Hansen, known as Kitty to friends, received the long-awaited call on Tuesday and travelled to hospital to undergo surgery.

Posting to Facebook Ms Hansen, 32, from Melbourne, wrote: 'I hope Im strong enough to make it Im so scared hopefully Ill see you on the other side.'

After a long night of worry Ms Hansen's mother, Lisa, called 3AW on Wednesday to say her daughter 'was doing fantastically'.

'Everything is working as normal, shes in a lot of pain, but the surgeons are just so happy, it went so well and didnt take as long as expected,' she told the show.

'She is in a lot of pain, a lot of pain, she's confused and keeps forgetting that she's had the transplant but the surgeons are just so happy, it went so well.'

A woman who spent seven years on a waiting list for a new pancreas and kidney is recovering well after finally receiving the life-saving organ transplant

Kate Hansen was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was only four, and has spent the last seven years of her life hoping for the transplant

Ms Hansen was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of four and experienced health issues throughout her 20s.

When she was 25 a mystery virus attacked her kidneys leaving them functioning at just 25 per cent.

Plagued by ill-health Ms Hansen has spent the last seven years hoping for the transplant that would save her life.

Doctors warned that if she did not get a transplant soon, she would not make it to see another Christmas.

Ms Hansen gets taken off the waiting list every time she gets sick, which is frequent.

She also needed a kidney and pancreas to be donated at the same time, making the process more complicated and unlikely.

On her 32nd birthday in August 2018, Ms Hansen's heart stopped beating for 15 minutes, earlier in the year she battled with sepsis and developed clots on her lungs.

On her 32nd birthday in August 2018, her heart stopped beating for 15 minutes, earlier in the year she battled with sepsis and developed clots on her lungs

Ms Hansen's case was particularly unique due to the necessity to perform the kidney and pancreas transplants at the same time

She was previously told by her medical team at Monash University that if she didn't get the transplant this year, she wouldn't make it to Christmas

Ms Hansen features in an SBS documentary titled 'Dying To Live' which tracks the journey of people waiting for organ donations in Australia

Earlier in 2018, Ms Hansen got the same call to say they had found a match, but was devastated to learn shortly after the pancreas was riddled with cancer and her transplant could not go ahead.

Ms Hansen was, up until the surgery, one of 1,400 people on a waiting list in Australia for organ transplants.

The list also includes 150 children.

Currently, only one in three Australians are registered for organ donation, despite nearly 70% of people saying they'd be willing to donate.

Ms Hansen features in an SBS documentary titled 'Dying To Live' which tracks the journey of people waiting for organ donations in Australia.
A record 700 live investigations into terror plots are being carried out at present, Britains most senior counter terrorism officer said last night.

Neil Basu also revealed that a total of 18 potentially deadly plots had been thwarted since March 2017  almost one a month.

Mr Basu, the head of UK counter-terrorism policing, said he was incredibly concerned that a no-deal Brexit could weaken efforts to tackle terrorism and leave the country in a very bad place.

A record 700 live investigations into terror plots are being carried out at present, Britains most senior counter terrorism officer said last night. Neil Basu (pictured) also revealed that a total of 18 potentially deadly plots had been thwarted since March 2017  almost one a month

It came as MI5 director general Andrew Parker yesterday warned Theresa May and her Cabinet that the threat was being driven by Islamic State, including lone-wolfs inspired by the terror group.

He also said that a resurgent Al Qaeda remains a prominent threat to the UK and its Western allies.

Mr Basu revealed that police and the security services are now investigating a record 700 live terror investigations, up from around 500 in 2017.

He said that in the past two years four far-Right extremist plots and 14 Islamist terror plots had been foiled. This compares with 30 planned attacks that were successfully disrupted in the four years before March 2017.

More than 31,000 pieces of information were passed to police in 2017, but worryingly this more than halved to 13,093 last year.

In both years, just over a fifth of the tips led to the identification of a suspect, a plot being disrupted or enabled a criminal to be prosecuted.

Mr Basu, the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, said he was incredibly grateful that last year Britain was spared the level of carnage of 2017, when dozens of people were killed in terror attacks in London and Manchester.

But police are concerned about the dramatic fall in the amount of information they are receiving.

More than 31,000 pieces of information were passed to police in 2017, but worryingly this more than halved to 13,093 last year

It came as a leaked Border Force document warned that leaving the EU without a deal could lead to a degradation of border security because of the UK not having access to Brussels databases, Sky News reported.

The Home Office agency said it may not be able to distinguish between EU residents and new EU arrivals, leading to an additional clandestine threat.

Referring to the risks a no-deal Brexit could pose to sharing of information between European security agencies, Mr Basu added: To leave [Europe] without... being able to exchange data or biometrics on people who might be criminals or terrorists would be a very bad place for this country, and for Europe, to be.

Mr Basu was speaking at the launch of a cinema advert campaign to increase public awareness of suspicious activity and encourage people to report it to police. The 60-second film shows a series of scenarios, such as a man stockpiling hazardous material and another buying weapons.

Police say the spread of extremist propaganda online as well as the potential of radicalised fighters returning from abroad remain among the biggest threats to Britain.

Mr Basu added: Its not so much the volume of threat, but a shift in the threat to the young and the malleable, even the mentally ill who are being affected by what they are seeing, and they are taking that and then using very low-sophistication measures  a knife or a vehicle  and making an attack.

MI5 chief Mr Parker briefed the Cabinet yesterday about efforts to deal with the risk from individuals known as closed subjects of interest (SOIs), who have been investigated in the past but are considered still to pose a threat.

Westminster Bridge attacker Khalid Masood and Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi were both classed as closed SOIs when they carried out their atrocities in 2017.
More than 100,000 web pages featuring child sex abuse were shut down last year  a rise of a third in just twelve months.

The Internet Watch Foundation  Britains online child abuse watchdog  last night revealed that between them the pages hosted more than a million images and videos.

And it warned that predatory paedophiles are increasingly manipulating middle-class children  usually girls aged 11 to 13  into posting highly sexualised selfies, with one in four of those it removed over the past six months self-generated by victims.

More than 100,000 web pages featuring child sex abuse were shut down last year  a rise of a third in just twelve months

In the vast majority of cases they were physically alone but had been duped into filming themselves on smartphones or web cams on their laptops. Many show victims toys in the background, and in some videos family members can be heard calling them down to dinner, oblivious to the fact the child is being violated.

Susie Hargreaves, who leads the IWF charity, warned that parents are wrong to assume their children are safe in their rooms. Its children in nice bedrooms. It is a middle-class problem, she said. Lots of middle-class children have laptops.

Not every poor kid has. Parents need to know what their children are doing in their bedrooms. They think, Oh, it wont happen to us  that notion of well, there is no point really having parental controls on and actually its too much hassle. The internet is potentially a very scary, dangerous place if people dont protect themselves online.

The Mails Block Online Porn campaign has called for broadband providers to switch on web filters by default, meaning parents have to choose to have restrictions lifted. Around 1,300 of the web pages removed by the IWF last year featured babies and children under two. Nearly half (44 per cent) of the content featured category A and category B sexual abuse  which includes rape and sexual torture.

The IWF said more than three-quarters of the self- generated images feature children aged between 11 and 13. The vast majority  80 per cent  are girls.

Miss Hargreaves said she is extremely worried about this age group. She added: Theyre very vulnerable. Lots of stuffs going on with them and they are very open to coercion and being groomed.

Predatory paedophiles are increasingly manipulating middle-class children  usually girls aged 11 to 13  into posting highly sexualised selfies and videos (file image)

The IWF would not name sites where the abuse was taking place but warned it could happen on any platform which allowed video to be live-streamed  including web giants such as Facebook, Instagram and Live.me.

Less than 1 per cent of the child sex abuse material that IWF removed last year was hosted on servers in Britain. Nearly half was based in Amsterdam, some 13 per cent in the US and 12 per cent in Russia.

Responding to the figures, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he wanted internet companies to do more to improve online safety.

The horrifying amount of online child sexual abuse material removed by the IWF shows the true scale of the vile threat we are facing, he said. I want the web giants to do more to make their platforms safe.


Quarterly Activities Report

Adelaide, Jan 24, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Mithril Resources Limited ( ASX:MTH ) provides the Company's Quarterly Report for the period ending 31 December, 2018.Key PointsBilly Hills (Zinc)- Targeting large scale zinc + lead + silver deposits within soil-covered portions of fault zones immediately along strike from existing surface and bedrock mineralisation- Multiple targets characterised by elevated rock chip results up to 14.24% zinc + lead, an untested IP geophysical anomaly and / or broad zones of bedrock drill hole anomalism- Historic data review and drill hole planning underway- Heritage Protection and Exploration Agreement executed with Traditional Owners to enable commencement of exploration activities following conclusion of current Wet SeasonDuffy Well (Gold)- Project covers the southern extension of the Gnaweeda Greenstone Belt which hosts the Turnberry Gold Deposit (Indicated and Inferred Resources of 5.5Mt @ 1.8g/t for 322,000 contained ounces)- Multiple targets identified that are characterised by zones of structural complexity with coincident bedrock gold and arsenic anomalism within wide-spaced historic aircore drill holes- Field inspection of targets to be undertaken during the March 2019 QuarterBangemall (Copper, Lead, Zinc)- Multiple targets identified along strike from the Abra Deposit- Target generation continuing ahead of anticipated tenement grant in June 2019 QuarterLimestone Well (Vanadium)- Auteco Minerals (earning up to 80% of the project) to drill test a new vanadium target during the 1st Half of 2019- Limestone Well lies directly north along strike from the Barrambie Titanium Vanadium Deposit (2012 JORC Inferred + Indicated Resource of 280.1Mt @ 9.18%TiO2 and 0.44%V2O5)Cash- Cash reserves of $1.25M at 31 December 2018.To view the full report with tables and figures, please visit:About Mithril Resources Limited

Mithril Resources Limited (ASX:MTH) is an Australian resources company whose objective is the creation of shareholder wealth through the discovery of mineral deposits.

The Company and its exploration partners are actively exploring throughout the Kalgoorlie, West Kimberley and Murchison Districts of Western Australia for economic nickel, copper, zinc, and vanadium deposits.

In the Kalgoorlie District, Mithril is exploring for nickel on the Kurnalpi, Lignum Dam and North Scotia Projects which lie along strike from, or adjacent to previously mined high-grade nickel at the Silver Swan and Scotia Nickel Deposits.

In the West Kimberley, Mithril is exploring for zinc on the Billy Hills Project which lies adjacent to the previously mined Pillara Zinc Deposit.

In the Murchison, Mithril is exploring for copper, nickel and zinc mineralisation on the Nanadie Well Project and for copper, silver, zinc and lead on the Bangemall Base Metal Project. Mithril's exploration partner  Monax Mining Ltd is also exploring for vanadium on the Limestone Well tenements.
Education secretary Damian Hinds, pictured, said he is concerned by the number of parents contacting teachers after hours on social media and by email

Schools should tell teachers to ignore their emails when they leave work to avoid being pestered by parents, the education secretary says.

Damian Hinds believes the internet has revolutionised communication between parents and teachers, but warns that at many schools it has gone too far.

He is concerned too many teachers are replying to complaints or concerns late at night on top of marking and lesson preparation.

Teaching unions have highlighted how teachers lives are being made hell by pushy parents contacting them at all hours of the day.

In some cases, teachers are even being bullied on social media by parents.

In a speech today at the Bett Show in London, Mr Hinds will say schools must help ease the workload by allowing parental contact only during the working day.

He suggests parents should only use only official channels and that teachers should spend a set amount of time per day answering queries.

He will say: Email has revolutionised parent-teacher communication. Im sure none of us now could imagine a life without email, but do we ever stop to think how much of our day is actually spent reading or replying to them?

MPs have seen a step change in contact through email. For many teachers the situation is even more intense, with a huge volume of emails from parents and their senior leadership team that they need to respond to outside of lesson time.

Mr Hinds still wants parents to have easy access to teachers to discuss their childs progress, but believes this line of communication needs to be better managed.

He also wants internal communications to be overhauled, so that teachers do not have to deal with constant daily updates from senior leaders.

Teacher unions have said that some parents are incredibly pushy and contact teachers at night and some have even been bullied over social media (picture posed by models)

Mr Hinds will add that the heavy workload of non-teaching tasks, such as planning and marking, is one of the most common reasons for teachers leaving the profession.

He will urge schools to shift away from an email culture in, and into, school to free teachers up to spend more time in the classroom.

It comes as the Government bids to reduce teacher workload to make the profession more attractive.

Schools are being given an extra 10million to help cut workload through technology.
A horrified mother has issued a warning to other parents about sunscreen after her two-year-old son suffered blistering burns despite being lathered in cream.

Young Australian mother Natasha Henwood told 7 News she applied Banana Boats Simply Protect Kids SPF 50 sunscreen to her two-year-old son Lucca before he went outside to play for two hours.

'It says that it meets all the standards for Australia and theyre very high standards, but its not the first case,' she said.

A horrified mother has issued a warning to other parents about sunscreen after her two-year-old son suffered blistering burns from two hours in the sun (pictured)

Ms Henwood reluctantly posted about the incident on her social media page and reiterated that she had used the product correctly.

'Yes I used it correctly, used extra as he loves to have his shirt off when playing in water,' she wrote.

'In the end my son has ended up with burns and blisters to his shoulders, face and body.'

Six days after he was first burned Lucca still had visible blisters on his shoulders.

'As I said I already feel like a really bad mother for allowing this to happen to my son. I wish I looked at reviews as I've heard stories before but just didn't think it was BANANA BOAT!!,' she wrote.

Ms Henwood told Daily Mail Australia she fears Lucca will be left visibly scarred from the blisters.

Ms Henwood told Daily Mail Australia she fears Lucca (pictured together) will be left visibly scarred from the blisters

'Lucca is doing much better now. We have another few weeks of his shoulders healing but they are no longer cover in blisters and scabs,' she said.

'I'm certain that there is going to be slight scarring on his shoulder.'

Ms Henwood said Banana Boat reached out to her on Sunday before sending a PM to her Facebook page apologising for what happened to her son.

'We take incidents like this very seriously,' the response read.

Ms Henwood said they then contacted her by phone before offering a refund.

'I then got a phone call obviously, they asked me a bunch of questions like how much I used how often I applied it, how long he was in the sun and so on,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'They then offered me a refund on the product and said they will be in further contact Wednesday or Thursday this week, after they have spoken to the TGA.'

Banana Boat released a statement after the news of Lucca's burns surfaced and said no sunscreen was ever 100% effective in protection

An industry study into the effectiveness of sunscreen have revealed that in most cases serious burns are the result of cream not being applied properly.

For sunscreen to be most effective, it should be applied 20 minutes before going into the sun and then reapplied regularly throughout the day.

The study also stated that sunscreen which was stored incorrectly or past the use by date would be almost completely ineffective for sun protection.

'Typically, sunscreen should be out of the sun and at temperatures below 30C, so not left in the car while you take a dip in the sea,' it said.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration tested 94 different brands of sunscreen and found no issues for either safety or quality of the product.
Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has continued her war of words with President Donald Trump in Puerto Rico, calling his wall 'dumb.'

The senator slammed Trump for denying the hurricane's death toll and for suggesting he could use disaster funds to build his 'dumb' border wall, provoking laughter from a crowd gathered in San Juan on Tuesday.

Warren told the audience in the US territory that she would help them rebuild after Hurricane Maria and back laws to give them equal treatment and debt relief.

A trip to the island has become an obligatory pit-stop for presidential hopefuls.

Elizabeth Warren, the US senator from Massachusetts and one of the many Democrats running for president in 2020, speaks in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Tuesday

Warren has been the subject of continual mocking by Trump, prompting a humiliating DNA test video to be uploaded by her in October 2018 to combat his 'Pocahontas' jibes

San Juan Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria which struck the island in September 2017

'Puerto Rico has not been treated with respect,' she said. 'It is insulting. It is disrespectful. This ugliness has gone far enough.

'Puerto Rico has suffered enough. We will not allow anyone to sabotage your recovery, not even the president of the United States.'

The Senator has been engaged in a war of words with the President, who humiliated her last year over claims she had Native American heritage - dubbing her 'Pocahontas.'

She told the crowd that Trump's administration has used its power to inflict cruelty on immigrants and people of color.

'With Trump, cruelty is not an accident, it is part of the plan,' she said.

Democrats are using official trips to Puerto Rico as an opportunity to criticize the Trump administration for how it responded to the hurricane and its aftermath.

Last week, former housing secretary Julian Castro, who has declared himself a candidate, visited the island and toured communities still struggling more than a year after the storm.

The visits have perplexed some and annoyed others in Puerto Rico, whose people are U.S. citizens who can vote in primaries but are barred from voting in presidential elections.

Janina Cabret, a 28-year-old San Juan resident who attended Warren's event, said she hopes whoever wins isn't delivering empty promises about helping the island.

'Even though they use it for marketing, at least it puts Puerto Rico on the map,' she said.

Warren said too many homes still lack a proper roof and too many insurance claims have gone unpaid, among other problems that persist more than a year after Hurricane Maria. She also said many people who fled Puerto Rico after the storm have not been able to find a job, housing or health care.

Trump is currently locked in a struggle to get funding from Congress for his border wall, which Warren called 'dumb'

Warren told the couple hundred people at the theater that 'Puerto Rico has not been treated with respect'

Warren reminded the crowd that she voted against a 2016 financial aid package that created a federal control board to oversee the debt-burdened island government's finances, a body that some complain has imposed an excessive amount of austerity.

She also referred to White House comments on Puerto Rico, including a recent one opposing $600 million in nutritional assistance as 'excessive and unnecessary,' which angered Governer Ricardo Rossello's administration.

The senator also talked about the island's political status, long a key issue for many Puerto Ricans, though five referendums over the years have shown no clear consensus for statehood, the current territorial status or independence.

'Puerto Rico deserves self-determination on this question, and I will support the decision of the people of Puerto Rico,' she said.

Warren also called for auditing Puerto Rico's huge public debt, strengthening unions, protecting the island from climate change, and supporting full child tax credits, Medicaid funding and nutritional assistance for islanders, all things that many Puerto Ricans have long demanded.

Warren enters the stage arm-in-arm with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz Soto

Warren is one of a number of presidential hopefuls who will visit the island in the run up to the next election

'Puerto Rico's experience in recent years reflects the worst of what Washington has become, a government that works great for the rich and powerful, and not for anyone else,' she said as she mentioned drug companies, student loan outfits, fossil fuel companies and Wall Street bankers.

'We need to take back our federal government from the wealthy and well-connected and return it to the people.' She said.

Warren said she would demand that anyone running for federal office post their tax returns online as she has and touted her anti-corruption legislation, which in part calls for ending lobbying and stopping federal lobbyists from giving money to elected officials.

The audience gave Warren a standing ovation at the end of her speech, many of them tourists thrilled that their visit coincided with hers.

Vandy Young, a tourist from Maryland, said she is hopeful about a presidential bid by Warren.

'I've been waiting for her to run,' she said. 'She's one of the few candidates who can stand up to Trump. She's not afraid of him.'
A state judge on Tuesday struck down Iowa's 'fetal heartbeat' abortion law, which would have been the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation.

Judge Michael Huppert found the law unconstitutional, based on earlier decisions from the Iowa Supreme Court that affirm a woman's fundamental right to an abortion.

He also cited several cases in federal court, including decisions in 2015 and 2016 in the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals that indicated such abortion laws were unconstitutional.

The now defunct law had been passed in the state legislature last year and signed by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, but it never took effect due to immediate legal challenges by abortion providers Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the Emma Goldman Clinic last July.

State Judge Michael Huppert on Tuesday struck down Iowa's 'fetal heartbeat' abortion law, which would have been the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation, as it sought to ban the procedure once a fetal heartbeat could be heard, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. An ultrasound of the uterus of a woman who is six weeks pregnant is shown

Huppert's ruling which invalidated the law was entered on the 46th anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion nationwide on January 22, 1973. NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue (pictured) elaborated on the holding in Roe v. Wade in a statement on Tuesday, noting it 'established the constitutional right to an abortion, that restrictions on pre-viability abortion violate a womans right to privacy'

The providers argued in court in December that the law is 'blatantly unconstitutional under clear Iowa law.'

Huppert agreed, saying that prohibiting abortions at the detection of a fetal heartbeat violates 'both the due process and equal protection provisions of the Iowa Constitution as not being narrowly tailored to serve the compelling state interest of promoting potential life.'

The law would have banned an abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

Huppert's ruling which invalidated the law was entered on the 46th anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion nationwide on January 22, 1973.

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue elaborated on the holding in Roe v. Wade in a statement released on Tuesday.

'The Supreme Court made very clear in Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to an abortion, that restrictions on pre-viability abortion violate a womans right to privacy,' Hogue said.

Over the past five decades, that landmark decision has been met with determined opposition.

Hogue said: 'The anti-choice GOP has made it clear that these bills are purposely meant to spark challenges in the courts and overturn Roe v. Wade.

'For decades, a multi-million-dollar, extreme, anti-choice movement has quietly and aggressively chipped away at that right in state legislatures, in lower courts, and now from within the Trump administration.'

Gov. Reynolds, who signed the 'fetal heartbelt' bill into law in May of 2018, said in a statement: 'I am incredibly disappointed in [Tuesday's] court ruling, because I believe that if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then a beating heart indicates life.'

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (right), who signed the 'fetal heartbelt' bill into law in May of 2018, said in a statement: 'I am incredibly disappointed in [Tuesday's] court ruling, because I believe that if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then a beating heart indicates life.' Planned Parenthood's State Executive Director of Iowa Erin Davison-Rippey (left) said the law was Reynolds' 'egregious attempt to ban safe, legal abortions in Iowa'

Planned Parenthood's State Executive Director of Iowa Erin Davison-Rippey said the law was Reynolds' 'egregious attempt to ban safe, legal abortions in Iowa.'

Hogue noted in her statement on Tuesday, 'While the anti-choice GOP continues to control womens bodies and roll back our reproductive freedom, we know that when abortion is banned the number of abortions doesnt go down, but rather that the number of deaths and injuries to women goes up.'

Davison-Rippey added: 'Planned Parenthood will continue to stand up for Iowa women and fight back against the Legislature's attacks on reproductive health. We will do all we can to make sure abortion continues to be safe and legal in our state - no matter what.'

Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen (pictured) said the decision sends a strong message to Iowa women that their constitutional rights are important and their health care decisions should be made by them, not politicians

Republican Iowa State Rep, Sandy Salmon (pictured), the main sponsor of the 'fetal heartbeat' bill in the House, was disappointed the judge ended the case before it could be tried in front of a jury, but Planned Parenthood attorney Alice Clapman said courts in several states that recognize abortion as a fundamental right - like North Dakota, Arkansas and Mississippi - have dismissed similar abortion bans before trial

Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen said the decision sends a strong message to Iowa women that their constitutional rights are important and their health care decisions should be made by them, not politicians.

'The extreme law should have been overturned because it restricted the freedom of Iowa women and girls to care for their bodies and it forced motherhood on them,' Petersen said.

Republican Iowa State Representative Sandy Salmon, the main sponsor of the bill in the House, was disappointed the judge ended the case before it could be tried in front of a jury.

'He didn't even let it go to trial so that an unborn baby could be defended in court,' Salmon said.

Planned Parenthood attorney Alice Clapman said courts in several states that recognize abortion as a fundamental right - North Dakota, Arkansas and Mississippi included - have dismissed similar abortion bans before trial.

Salmon also said she hopes the state appeals the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.

The Iowa state lawmaker added that she suspects Republicans will work on further legislation 'to make corrections to what the courts have done.'

In June, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down an earlier law that required a 72-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion, ruling that the restriction was unconstitutional and that 'autonomy and dominion over one's body go to the very heart of what it means to be free.'

Attorney Martin Cannon, who is affiliated with the Thomas Moore Society, a pro-life organization based in Chicago that provides pro-bono legal services, argued in favor of upholding the 'fetal heartbeat' abortion law on behalf of the state.

Cannon tried to make the case that the bill is extremely narrow in focus by saying a beating heart signifies life in a fetus and that human life must be protected once an abdominal ultrasound identifies a beating heart.

Cannon said the bill does not prevent an abortion, but rather pushes women to do it sooner in the pregnancy.

He also argued there were too many disputed issues to be heard at trial and the judge should not end the lawsuit before arguments could be heard by a jury.

Hogue, however, applauded Judge Huppert's decision, saying he 'struck a blow for freedom.'

She added: 'In striking down the blatantly unconstitutional Iowa abortion ban, he sent a message that womens rights will not be used as political pawns in anti-choice extremists attempts to impose their ideology on others.

'Still, we know that Gov. Kim Reynolds and the anti-choice organizations that support her will stop at nothing until they eviscerate our basic human rights.

'Today, we applaud this win for women and families everywhere, but tomorrow, we get up and fight harder than before. NARAL will always be on the frontlines fighting to protect our freedom to control our own lives.'

Cannon did not immediately reply to a message seeking additional comment.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain are set to put a dampener on the build up to Australia Day - but any relief from the extreme heat will be brief.

A storm rolled into Sydney on Wednesday morning, fuelled by a localised trough moving through the city.

Strong downpours and uncomfortable humidity are set to linger right up until the weekend.

Thunderstorms and heavy rain are set to put a dampener on the build up to Australia Day - but any relief from the extreme heat will be brief

A storm rolled into Sydney on Wednesday morning, fuelled by a localised trough moving through the city

Strong downpours and uncomfortable humidity are set to linger right up until the weekend

Weatherzone meteorologist Craig McIntosh said temperatures in Sydney will reach 30C in Sydney, although the humidity will make it feel hotter than that

Weatherzone meteorologist Craig McIntosh said temperatures in Sydney will reach 30C in Sydney on Wednesday, although the humidity will make it feel hotter than that.

'It will be a sticky day. The west will be four to five degrees hotter than the coast, with temperatures in Penrith reaching about 34C,' he said.

'A southerly change will sweep up the coast and should be in Sydney by midday.

'This afternoon there is a thunderstorm risk over the western parts of the Sydney basin, and the heaviest rainfall is expected to be over the western ranges, going over the Blue Mountains.'

Mr McIntosh said there was a 'lower' chance of that rainfall reaching Sydney but it could be scattered over the northern suburbs.

'The southerly change will bring cooler temperatures over Thursday and Friday, although it should still get to over 30C in western Sydney,' he said.

Mr McIntosh said there was a 'lower' chance of that rainfall reaching Sydney but it could be scattered over the northern suburbs. Pictured: Bondi Beach

A southerly change will bring cooler temperatures over Thursday and Friday to Sydney

The mercury will soar again on Friday, when the 'heat kicks in'.

'The temperature will be in the low to mid 30s over the city, and into the low 40s in the west,' Mr McIntosh said.

'It will feel hotter than that because of the humidity.

'There's a chance of thunderstorms over the western ranges for Saturday and Sunday, possibly encroaching parts of the western suburbs and Blue Mountains.'

Temperatures in Sydney will feel warmer due to uncomfortable humidity in the city

The relief from the heat will be brief, as temperatures are set to soar over the weekend. Pictured: Bondi Beach

Meanwhile, other parts of Australia will experience blistering heat, with South Australia faring the worst.

Sweat-inducing humidity and winds are expected to torch most of the state for days starting on Wednesday.

The hottest day in the state's city has been in place for almost exactly 80 years - recorded at 46.1C on 12 January, 1939.

But that long-standing record is in danger of being topped, with forecasters predicting mid-to-high 40C temperatures for the entirety of the week.

A blistering heatwave is expected to strike South Australia in the coming days, pushing for new records

Beaches are expected to fill (pictured is Adelaide's Glenelg Beach) with 46C forecast

An 80-year-long heat record in Adelaide is at risk of being broken, according to meteorologists

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Phil Perkins told Daily Mail Australia the heat is only going to 'build and build'.

'We broke some heat records last week, so that's a really big sign into exactly how prolonged the heat has been,' he said.

Port Augusta and Tarcoola, two regional towns in South Australia, had their heat records broken only a week ago.

Tarcoola, in the state's north-west, peaked at 49C last Tuesday, the hottest it has ever been since temperatures were first recorded in 1903.

Port Augusta minutely missed out on also topping 49C the same day, reaching 48.9C just after midday.

Both blistering heats came close to besting the top temperature on record in Australia - being 50.7C in Oodnadatta in January 1960.

Temperatures in the central part of the state (pictured) are expected to cop it the worst

Temperatures in the city are unprecedented and up to 16C higher than average, experts say

Mr Perkins says that the upcoming heatwave is unprecedented, with much of the state sweltering through temperatures 16C above average.

'People don't recover or replenish fluids overnight either,' he says.

'The heat is only going to build and build and build as the winds and the heat combine.'

The combination of the extreme heatwave and strong winds has resulted in a total fire ban being issued on Wednesday to ward off the danger of bushfires.

He says the Bureau has been receiving calls of distressed animals suffering in the heats for much of the last week, including fruit bats falling from tress in droves.

Respite is expected to come on Friday for most of South Australia, with an overnight cool change dropping temperatures in some areas by as much as 15C in only a few hours.

But for other areas, like the central South Australian mining town of Moomba, temperatures in the high-40s are forecast to continue well into next week and straight through Australia Day weekend.

Respite is on the way, however, with a 15C turnaround expected by the end of the week

Parts of the country will swelter close to 50C in the coming days, with the pink spots on this map indicating temperatures beyond 45C

Adelaide won't be the only city pushing past 40C, with Melbourne topping out at 41C on Friday before dropping 12C and expecting showers on Australia Day.

Sydney will be mostly sunny, topping out at 33C on Saturday after days of high humidity.

Brisbane will be much of the same, consistently clocking in in the low-30s before peaking at 33C on Saturday.

Perth will see showers in the lead-up to the weekend before the skies clear, reaching a high of 29C and sunny on the day itself.

Darwin will see a week of heavy storms and high heats, reaching 32C on Saturday.
A former second-tier Donald Trump campaign aide said Tuesday that when Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team interviewed him nearly a year ago, the National Rifle Association came up.

'When I was interviewed by the special counsel's office, I was asked about the Trump campaign and our dealings with the NRA,' Sam Nunberg told CNN.

Nunberg was a minor character in the 2016 campaign, aligned with longtime political trickster Roger Stone, who was his mentor, and constantly feuding with then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

He made waves in March 2018 with a series of TV interviews in which he appeared to be intoxicated, threatening to defy a Mueller subpoena, before ultimately agreeing to a formal grilling.

Nunberg's confirmation that the special counsel was curious about the NRA tracks with other reports, some of them stretching as far as December.

Sam Nunberg, a former low-level Trump campaign aide, says that when Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team grilled him early in 2018, he was asked about the campaign's ties to the National Rifle Association

Presidnt Trump was the NRA's favored presidential candidate in 2016, and Mueller (right) is said to be investigating whether Russian agents connected the two

Nunberg spoke to CNN on Tuesday

Russia agent Maria Butina is jailed following a guilty plea for helping Russia gain influence with Republicans by infiltrating the NRA

Trump, through his sons Don Jr. and Eric, formed a bond with the gun lobby group's leaders early in 2015, even before officially announcing his White House bid.

The NRA spent at least $30 million to help him beat Democrat Hillary Clinton the following hear. He addressed its annual conventions and spoke at the SHOT Show in Law Vegas  an industry-only trade show for manufacturers of guns and other outdoorsmen's products.

He won the NRA's formal endorsement in May 2016, before the Republican Party formally nominated him.

Nunberg famously filled a day in 2018 with TV interviews in which he seemed intoxicated, insisting that he would defy a Mueller subpoena: CNN's Erin Burnett asked him on-air whether he was drunk or 'off his meds,' saying she said she could smell alcohol on his breath

It was 'a fantastic honor,' he told its members at a Kentucky convention. 'I will not let you down.'

Mueller's focus at the time of Nunberg's closed-door grilling was reportedly on how those speeches were arranged  and whether foreign influencers helped set them up. No one at the Justice Department has accused the NRA of any wrongdoing.

But proof has emerged that at least one Russian national tried to ingratiate herself with the NRA and infiltrate the organization in order to give Kremlin agents some level of influence inside the Trump administration.

Maria Butina, a Russian national, pleaded guilty last month in federal court to a charge of conspiring against the United States. She acknowledged building bridges with the NRA in order to influence the GOP.

the Butina episode has become an embarrassment for the NRA

Nunberg is a protege of noted Republican trickster Roger Stone, who also advised Trump early in his White House run

Alexander Torshin, a prominent former Russian banker with Kremlin ties, gave Butina her instructions. The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned him personally for his ties to Russian oligarchs. He also holds a lifetime NRA membership, which can be bought for $1,500.

CNN reported that Donald Trump Jr., an avid hunter, briefly met Torshin on the sidelines of the NRA's 2016 convention.

Torshin was there to try to build a had hoped to use the NRA meeting to initiate back-channel lines of communication between then-candidate Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. While he failed to land a meeting with Trump, he and his associate, Butina, encountered Trump Jr. at a dinner with NRA officials.

Trump Jr. testified to the House Intelligence Committee in December 2017 that he and Torshin "exchanged casual hellos" but did not discuss the upcoming presidential election.
Prince William interviewed Sir David Attenborough at the World Economic Forum today as the naturalist warned of a creeping environmental disaster facing the planet.

William described Sir David as having the single most important impact on my conservation thinking. During their talk in Davos, Switzerland, the duke, 36, said: People of my generation are now beginning to step into positions of leadership around the world.

The work to save the planet is largely going to be on our watch. What advice do you have for my generation?

Sir David replied: We have to recognise that every breath of air we take and mouthful of food we take comes from the natural world. Its not just a question of beauty or interest or wonder, its the essential ingredient. The central part of human life is a healthy planet. We are destroying the natural world.

Warning of a creeping environmental disaster, Sir David, 92, chastised countries such as America, which he said see nature as something to be conquered.

He added: The natural world is incredibly complex. If you break the connections then suddenly the whole fabric collapses and you get eco disaster.

The environment is a whiffy topic among the worlds privileged. Out here in Davos, its pongier than a week-old hunk of oozing Vacherin.

After all, this chocolate box Alpine resort each January welcomes 3,000-odd business leaders and political busybodies who think nothing of dropping 20,000 on a gas-gargling limo during their stay, or 10,000 for the short helicopter ride from Zurich airport, where some 1,500 private jets are due this week.

But an interview with Sir David Attenborough, the natural worlds most respected figure, conducted by the heir to the worlds most famous monarchy?

As the crowd cheers for the pair Sir David waved his arms towards Prince William in his own personal tribute

Well, that might at least cut some ice on the Magic Mountain.

It was certainly a more intriguing engagement than that indecipherable never-was David Milibands discussion on Investing in Fragile Contexts  an event no one was talking about yesterday.

One point of interest for Britons here was a large billboard hoisted in front of the Belvedere hotel shouting the words Free trade is great, with a union flag down the side.

This less-than-inspiring message was apparently paid for by Britain plc, though the Government yesterday couldnt say what it had cost.

William paid tribute to Sir David's career in broadcasting and the shows he said had been seen by billions around the world

The only show in town, however, was a man born in the same year as the Queen. And on this occasion, his interlocutor was none other than her grandson.

For Sir David, this royal platform was an opportunity to send a bleak message to the world. We, the human race, he surmised, have inflicted untold damage on the planet, to an extent we dont even realise. Strains of Beethovens fifth. Na-na-na-naaaa.

For the Duke of Cambridge, keen to be seen as a passionate environmentalist but as comfortable in public as a toddler in fresh Guernsey knits, there was a chance to carve an identity lacking amid the constitutional log-jam his grannys merciful longevity has created.

Understandable interest in this meeting of minds meant the location had to be moved to a bigger venue inside the towns Kongresszentrum. Dramatic images of endangered beasties  dolphins, polar bears, elephants  flashed up on huge screens behind the stage.

It felt like one of those exploitative WWF ads on loop.

At one point a giant picture of an open-mouthed bat loomed behind the prince, giving the distinct impression he was about to become a regal amuse bouche.

Entering the auditorium, Wills cheeks had been flushed like spring peonies. Hardly surprising. Its mighty chilly up here in Europes highest town. Minus 14C last time I checked. His appearance has at least improved in recent years. Hes adopted his fathers preference for proper tailoring, and at long last faced reality and embraced the royal baldness. We may have her Kateness to thank for that.

Sir David was endearingly shambolic, his tie wonky, his silver tresses in need of the barbers attention.

The interview lasted just over half an hour. I say interview, this was more of a cosy fireside chat, Sir David the fusty Oxford don, William the eager eco pupil, keen to learn at the masters knee.

Prince William said it was his generation who would have to 'work to save the planet'

The royal would-be cross-examiner opened with an underarm lob. So, whats changed since the 1950s, David? he asked, his voice like two gobstoppers nestling on his hard palate.

Sir David: Well, back then it was just me, a cameraman and a wind-up camera 

As he began speaking, necks craned like curious waterfowl. That throaty, much-imitated voice, like a loud whisper being fed through a railway station Tannoy, commands such a reaction.

The Duke listened intently, cross-legged throughout, clutching a ballpoint pen. Good idea. Like his old man, William never knows what to do with his hands.

Any message for the worlds leaders? asked Wills politely, adopting the role of waistcoated Jose taking a drinks order.

Sir David: Care for the natural world. We can wreck it without even knowing we are doing it. And if we wreck the natural world, in the end, we wreck ourselves.

Sir David urged the billionaires and business and world leaders to care for the planet, warning it is being killed off

The idea of the prince-turned-journalist caused a fair amount of snarking among the Press contingent. William, you will know, aint too fond of us lot. But he was poised, confident, and kept the chat moving along at a decent lick.

It didnt hurt that he was dealing with an old pro.

Sir David, of course, is televisions last remaining colossus. It is a medium he tamed and mastered long before many of us were even born, and he didnt hold back when William turned the discussion to the havoc unleashed upon our oceans wildlife by plastic refuse. It is hard to overstate how serious the situation is, Attenborough intoned. The problem in the seas is wreaking appalling damage upon marine life, the extent of which we dont fully know.

The Duke of Cambridge has described the Blue Planet and Dynasties narrator (pictured together today) as having 'the single most important impact in my conservation thinking'.

As the chat moved on to global warming, some dramatic footage followed (plug alert) from Attenboroughs new Netflix programme, showing a skyscraper-sized tower of ice collapsing, shot from a helicopter above.

It takes great skill to fly a helicopter like that, gasped Sir David. David, interrupted Wills the qualified rescue pilot. I think youll find all helicopter pilots are skilful. A pre-arranged gag? Oh dear, they never work, do they?

In truth, the whole event felt a little scripted, possibly rehearsed. Should we judge the prince harshly for that? It would hardly have been sensible to have sent our future monarch in front of a global audience underprepared.

After the customary thank-yous and handshakes, the pair quickly departed stage left.

Attention-seeking illusionist David Blaine was due on soon to discuss his search for magic in real life.

So it was that after this novel, enlightening discussion between a prince and a true king of the jungle, the deluge of bilge resumed  and the environment-trashing jets of the super-rich kept roaring in.
The mistress of Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman was back on the stand at his trial at a New York court on Tuesday but she was upstaged by the drug kingpin and his wife's choice of clothing as the couple wore matching jackets.

Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, 39, was there to continue the testimony she started last week describing both her personal and professional relationship with El Chapo.

However, moments before she began, El Chapo appeared in court wearing a velvet burgundy blazer which was almost identical to the one being worn by his wife Emma Coronel Aispuro.

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel, wore matching burgundy-colored velvet jackets in court while his mistress, seen left in blue, continued her testimony

El Chapo Guzman's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro apparently brings her husband suits to wear for each day of his court appearance. Tuesday's outfit saw them both compliment one another

It's believed El Chapo's outfirst are brought to court by his wife who is not allowed to visit, or speak to her husband.

To onlookers, it appeared as though the couple were displaying a show of solidarity squarely aimed at Sanchez who went into further detail about the years she was El Chapo's top mistress.

Sanchez told how the Mexican drug lord Guzman managed to escape authorities as he ran naked through a secret underground tunnel in 2014.

But once El Chapo had come out the other end of his escape route, he then planned to steal a car - all while in the buff.

'He was desperate and he was telling the guy we should steal a car so we could leave,' his mistress Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez told jurors in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday.

Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, right, was arrested in 2017 on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering leading her to turn witness against Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman (left in his December 2016 mugshot)

Among the most-discussed details Sanchez, left, revealed in court was her account of how she and Guzman who was totally naked once escaped capture through a tunnel

'He was desperate and he was telling the guy we should steal a car so we could leave,' El Chapos's mistress Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez told jurors in Brooklyn court on Tuesday

Sanchez described how she, a maid and a secretary named Condor along with El Chapo who was butt naked all throughout fled through a tunnel hidden under his bathtub at his home in Culiacan on the night of February 16, 2014.

it took the group an hour wading through dark and muddy tunnels before they emerged through the sewers.

Chapo was anxious to get away as quickly as he could as they felt the buzz of activity with search helicopters hovering above.

Sanchez, 29, told how the drug lord ran through his escape tunnel butt naked at he fled U.S. and Mexican authorities on Tuesday

Eventually, the trio were picked up by another associate where El Chapo was able to get dressed.

The group headed to Mazatlan where he was arrested just a few days later while at a hotel in bed with his wife.

Sanchez had been elsewhere at the time and only learned of his capture after hearing about it on the news.

Sanchez was a former state legislator who claimed her affair with Guzman ruined her political career.

She testified that she was tossed out of office in 2016 following press reports that she had visited 'El Senor' in prison.

Sanchez said she had publicly denied being involved with him out of fear for her life.

'I started receiving death threats from El Senor's enemies,' she said.

Also on Tuesday it was revealed how after escaping a Mexican prison in 2001, El Chapo recruited a former security chief from the same lockup as a fixer for his Sinaloa cartel.

The former official, Damaso Lopez Nunez, described how he first met El Chapo when the kingpin asked for contraband in exchange for cash bribes at the prison in the state of Jalisco, Lopez testified, adding that the drug lord also gave him a house.

Lopez quit his job before El Chapo famously escaped in 2001 by hiding in a laundry bin, he said.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, far right, the wife of El Chapo walks out of Brooklyn Federal court with a group of friends onTuesday

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's wife even stopped to pose for a photograph with a fan

The defendant's wife listened to the testimony while wearing a burgundy-colored, velvet blazer that matched one sported by her husband, leading to speculation that it was a show of solidarity.

The testimony from Lopez came with the government winding down a case that began in mid-November and has featured a parade of cooperators who described El Chapo's exploits as the boss of the Sinaloa cartel.

His lawyers say he's being made a scapegoat by unsavory cooperators trying to get breaks in their own drug cases.

Lopez described a meeting where El Chapo told him that he decided to flee prison after learning through a government source that there was an order for his extradition. 'The plan for his escape was spontaneous,' he said.

El Chapo was upset because some prison guards were being falsely accused of helping him breakout when it was only the work of one guard nicknamed El Chito. 'He told me they had been unjustly detained,' Lopez said.

Lopez, 52, went on to become a fixer for the Sinaloa cartel.

He described paying various 'government contacts' to provide confidential information about law enforcement operations against the cartel and helping coordinate hitmen to protect turf and kill informants, sometimes in gun battles.

Lopez is expected to continue testifying Wednesday.

After court concluded for the day, El Chapo's wife was seen leaving the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse where she beamed for the cameras.

At one point she even stopped to take pictures with a supposed fan who asked for a photograph from the alleged drug kingpin's wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro.

After jurors had left for the day, one of the prosecutors, Gina Parlovecchio, told U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan the prosecution expected to wrap up its case either Thursday afternoon or Monday morning.

After that, El Chapo's lawyers will have a chance to call their own witnesses. It is not yet known whether El Chapo will testify himself.
A ten-year-old boy committed suicide on Saturday after his fifth grade classmates teased him for needing a colostomy bag, authorities in Kentucky say.

Seven Bridges, 10, hanged himself in the closet of his home.

His body was discovered by his mother, Tami Charles, who had just returned home from the grocery store at around 10:30am.

I saw my son dead, she told WHAS-TV. Thats something in my head.

Donnie Bridges, the boys father, was at church choir practice when Seven killed himself.

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Seven's parents, Tami Charles and Donnie Bridges, said Seven (pictured) was a victim of repeated bullying by students at Kerrick Elementary School. He took his own life on Saturday

For the few minutes that we left, he didn't want us to see that, Donnie Bridges said.

The parents said they absolutely plan to take legal action against Jefferson County Public Schools, WDRB-TV reported.

They said Seven was a victim of repeated bullying by students at Kerrick Elementary School.

JCPS: You all failed my baby, an emotional Charles said.

Renee Murphy, a spokesperson for the school district, said it plans to launch a full investigation into how administrators handled complaints by the family.

We are devastated by this, Murphy said.

Our hearts are breaking for this family. The school community is hurting right now.

His body was discovered by his mother, Tami Charles, who had just returned home from the grocery store at around 10:30am

We just wanted to raise a happy kid, live our lives and be OK, Charles told WLKY-TV. Seven was born with a colon condition that required him to undergo 26 different surgeries until the day he died

Murphy said a crisis team will be at the school to counsel students and faculty on Tuesday - the first day back from the three-day Martin Luther King Jr holiday weekend.

We just wanted to raise a happy kid, live our lives and be OK, Charles told WLKY-TV.

Seven was born with a colon condition that required him to undergo 26 different surgeries until the day he died.

At birth, he was fitted with a colostomy bag. A colostomy is a surgical procedure where doctors create an opening in the large intestine and connect it to the abdominal wall.

This is the opening through which bowel movements leave the body.

Sevens parents said the boy was mocked in school because of his condition, which at times caused an unpleasant odor.

The mocking got so bad that his parents were set to transfer Seven to a new school beginning next year.

We would talk to him about having new friends and a new start, Charles said.

Seven (seen left dressed as Wolverine) is seen above with Deadpool at Comic Con in Louisville last month

Seven Bridges, 10, hanged himself in the closet of his home in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday

He just had to get to the end of the year.

In August, Charles said Seven was choked and called a racial slur while riding the bus to school.

Seven almost lost consciousness as a result of the incident. After complaining of dizziness, he was taken to the hospital, where doctors performed a CT scan.

Charles said she raised the issue with school officials, who opened an investigation into the incident.

We found that the school system had a lot of holes and a lot of inconsistencies with their policies about bullying, Bridges told WLKY-TV.

They stood on the verbal message, the lip service of zero tolerance, but they did not deliver.

The results of that investigation are not known, and the school district wont comment.

We cant get into student discipline at this time, and again, were going to be reviewing everything to see how we handled things on our end, Murphy said.

When complaints were made, I can tell you they were addressed.

But again, we will have a full investigation, a full review to see exactly what happened and if all the policies and procedures were followed.

Renee Murphy, a spokesperson for the school district, said it plans to launch a full investigation into how administrators handled complaints by the family. We are devastated by this, Murphy said. Kerrick Elementary School is seen in the above stock image

Charles and Bridges said Seven never fought back physically or verbally against the kids who were taunting him.

Seven knew the lord, Bridges said.

He knew right from wrong. We instilled that in him at a young age. He went to church.

Charles said her son would pray for his tormentors.

Forgive yourself, she said when asked what message she had for the children who teased him.

Seven did. He forgave you already. He found his peace; it's time for you to find yours.

Friends and family will hold a special gathering remembering Seven at Shively Park in Louisville on Saturday at 3pm, where balloons will be released in his memory.

The wake will take place February 1 at Bates Memorial Chapel from 6-9pm.

The funeral is scheduled for the same chapel on February 2 at 2pm.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with funeral and burial expenses.

For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255
If you've been waiting for the perfect moment to book your holiday, now is the perfect time, with Jetstar launching a series of ultra-cheap deals.

To celebrate Australia Day, Jetstar has announced bargain-priced flights around Australia, with trips to Byron Bay starting from just $47.

The low-budget airline's Celebrate Australia Sale also includes several favourite holiday destinations, available until January 31, unless sold out prior.

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To celebrate Australia Day, Jetstar has announced ridiculously cheap flights around Australia, with flights to Byron Bay (pictured) from just $47

Dates and affordable prices will also vary depending where you're flying from and your destination

Dates and affordable prices will also vary depending on your destination.

Sydney-based travellers wanting to head to the Sunshine Coast only have to pay a sweet $61 between March 5 to April 3.

Holidaymakers keen to explore the Whitsunday Coast can book flights from just $67 from Sydney between March 5 and April 11.

Flights to Ayers Rock are on sale for an affordable $109 between May and June.

Flyers should note the prices are one-way and checked baggage is not included.

Sydney-based travellers wanting to head to the Sunshine Coast only have to pay a sweet $61, between March 5 to April 3


Continued Exploration Success at Officer Hill Gold Project

Melbourne, Jan 24, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The directors of Nova Minerals Limited (Nova or Company) ( ASX:NVA ) ( FRA:QM3 ) are pleased to announce further encouraging drill results at the Officer Hill Gold Project in joint venture with Newmont Tanami Pty Ltd (Newmont) (a wholly owned subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation). The Officer Hill Project within EL23150 covers 206km2 and is located 34km south west of the Callie deposit that is part of Newmont's Tanami Gold mine operation. The exploration program is targeting Callie-style mineralisation within EL23150.Assay results were received from diamond drill holes OHD0004-OHD0006 and included anomalous gold values; 1.0m @ 8.31g/t Au (OHD0004), 7.0m @ 0.48g/t Au (OHD0005) and 1.0m @ 1.25g/t Au (OHD0006). (see Table 1 and Figure 1 in link below).Mineralisation within OHD0004-OHD0006 consist of quartz-chlorite-pyrite veins. These veins are present within variably bedded sandstone and laminated siltstones. Alteration is dominated by the regional green schist facies metamorphic assemblage.NVA Managing Director, Mr. Avi Kimelman said:"We are encouraged by the latest results from the diamond drilling program on the Officer Hill Gold Project.""The exploration effort was designed to test a wide area and map out the larger foot print of the system. Follow up drilling is aimed at vectoring towards economic mineralistion. The continued results provide encouragement to Nova and is a testament to Newmont's ability to effectively and efficiently evaluate the tenement."To view tables and figures, please visit:About Nova Minerals Ltd

Nova Minerals Limited (ASX:NVA) (FRA:QM3) (OTCMKTS:NVAAF) is a dynamic explorer and developer of its flagship Estelle Gold district in the Tintina gold belt. Nova's strategy is to substantially increase the current 4.7Moz resource on the Korbel prospect. Subsequently to continue to lock in value through moving Korbel towards production whilst increasing the resource base across the pipeline of targets within the Estelle gold district. Nova Minerals also holds strategic investments in Snow Lake Resources Ltd (Thompson Brothers Lithium Project), Torian Resources Ltd (ASX:TNR) and RotorX Aircraft Manufacturing Co.
Heather Locklear was out and about fueling up on gas with her boyfriend on Sunday, seen for the first time in these exclusive DailyMailTV photos since entering her last stint in rehab in November.

The 57-year-old was seen looking disheveled in a beanie, loose sweatshirt, ripped jeans and Converses as she filled up her Porsche at a gas station in Beverly Hills on Sunday night.

The former Melrose Place star was accompanied by her on-off boyfriend Chris Heisser. The two were on the outing to view the Super Blood Wolf Moon solar eclipse, according to a source.

The couple had reportedly split earlier this month in order to give Locklear a 'reset button' with her sobriety after she went to rehab for an indefinite period following a November incident in which she was put on psychiatric hold.

But an insider told DailyMailTV, Locklear checked herself out of rehab at Christmas for three days  and never went back, although she is continuing her rehab and mental health treatment as an out-patient.

Heather Locklear was seen for the first time on Sunday since she left rehab over the holidays to spend time with her family

The 57-year-old was seen looking disheveled in a beanie, loose sweatshirt, ripped jeans and Converses as she filled up her Porsche at a gas station in Beverly Hills on Sunday night

The sighting comes as the troubled star has decided to continue her rehab and mental health treatment as an out-patient instead of returning to a facility after spending Christmas at home

According to a friend, her parents Bill, 89, and Diane, 85, 'were staying with her for the holidays and it was her best chance of staying straight. But now they've left and her triggers to go off the wagon are still a problem.'

They added: 'She's a great actress  she's got everyone fooledthe courts, psychologists and her family.'

Locklear was admitted to be treated at an inpatient treatment facility for an indefinite period following a November 18 incident.

DailyMail.com broke the news that Locklear was placed on 5150 psychiatric hold after she allegedly beat up Heisser and threw him out of her house.

The troubled actress was arrested most recently in June of 2018, after downing a bottle of tequila and crashing her car into a pylon on the grounds of her California home.

She then attacked the cops when they arrived to calm her down and was arrested and booked into Ventura County Jail on police battery charges.

The former Melrose Place actress was accompanied by her on-off boyfriend Chris Heisser as the two were on the outing to view the Super Blood Wolf Moon solar eclipse

The friend added: 'She's a great actress  she's got everyone fooledthe courts, psychologists and her family'

According to a friend, her parents Bill, 89, and Diane, 85, 'were staying with her for the holidays and it was her best chance of staying straight. But now they've left and her triggers to go off the wagon are still a problem'

Heisser was also dressed down in a dark sweater, blue jeans and boots as he pumped gas

It was reported earlier this month the couple had split in order to give Locklear a 'reset button' with her sobriety

She was released the following day but was rushed to hospital a little over six hours later after allegedly taking an overdose.

Locklear was then placed on a 5250 psychiatric hold, which lasts for up to 14 days and includes a five-day detox as well as mental evaluation.

That arrest came exactly a week after Locklear was cuffed and taken to hospital after choking her mother Diane, 85, and threatening to shoot herself.

After being released from hospital on June 19, 2018, Locklear allegedly checked into a detox center but checked herself out again after completing just two days of a five-day program.

It was on her way home from the detox center on Sunday morning June 24, 2018, that she purchased a bottle of tequila which she drank before later attempting to drive off in her Porsche.

When police responded to a disturbance call at the residence at midnight, an angry Locklear allegedly punched a police officer who attempted to separate her from her family and kicked an EMT who was attempting to strap her to a gurney.

The troubled actress was arrested most recently in June of 2018 (left in mugshot and right last February), after downing a bottle of tequila and crashing her car into a pylon on the grounds of her California home

Last September, she acknowledged her battles with substance abuse and her hopes of bouncing back, writing: 'Addiction is ferocious and will try to take you down. Recovery is the best revenge'

In February, she was arrested for felony domestic violence and battery on a police officer after police were called to her home for a disturbance

In August, the actress returned to social media following a brief break with a post of her dog, amid reports that she was 'climbing the walls' in rehab and bombarding Heisser with emotional phone calls

She was taken to the hospital before being booked into the Ventura County Jail at 2am over two misdemeanor charges of battery on a peace officer.

The paramedic later filed a lawsuit against the Spin City star over the incident.

Heather's mom Diane, who was reportedly attacked by Locklear, had made a 911 call for help after her daughter threatened to 'shoot' herself.

According to documents, the panicked call was placed at 3.56pm with accompanying note reading: 'Suicidal who is violent'.

Two days before she was hospitalized for being suicidal, Locklear got into a public fight in a parking lot with Heisser.

Locklear's multi-million dollar mansion was designated a 'hazard' by the Ventura County Fire Department due to altercations at the property.

In February, she was arrested for felony domestic violence and battery on a police officer after police were called to her home for a disturbance.

A source in the Ventura police department told DailyMail.com that Locklear 'was wasted' when she and Heisser 'got into a physical fight.'

When the police arrived, they attempted to arrest Heather after she'd clearly bitten her fiance.

The actress, 57, was released from rehab in December so she could spend the holidays with her family, that also includes daughter Ava Sambora, 21, (pictured) whom she shares with ex-husband Richie Sambora

In February 2018, Locklear was arrested at her six-bedroom home in Thousand Oaks, California (pictured) following an altercation with boyfriend Chris Heisser. An incident report shows the fire department has listed her address as a 'hazard'

According to The Blast, cops said Heather had allegedly 'kicked and hit three deputies' as they were putting her into a police car 'and she remained 'agitated and extremely uncooperative.''

'She punched the lady cop and called her a 'c**t', kicked one of the male cops in the balls and punched the third male cop and called them all 'f****** a**holes' ranting at them,' the source told DailyMail.com.

The whole horrifying incident went down in front of her 'mortified' adult daughter Ava, 21, who is currently in her senior year in college.

Ava's father, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, told DailyMail.com exclusively that he was sticking by his ex-wife and daughter.

'I will of course always be there for Heather and especially Ava. I am very proud of my daughter for her composure and strength during this difficult time.'

Richie and Heather married in 1994 and had daughter Ava in 1997. Their divorce was finalized in 2007.

Richie helped put together the team of medical professionals who would care for Locklear at a long-term residence where she was scheduled to stay until September.

In August, the actress returned to social media following a brief break with a post of her dog, amid reports that she was 'climbing the walls' in rehab and bombarding Heisser with emotional phone calls.

Last September, she acknowledged her battles with substance abuse and her hopes of bouncing back.

'Addiction is ferocious and will try to take you down. Recovery is the best revenge,' she wrote on social media, advising her followers to 'be kind to everyone you meet, your light just might change their path.'
Crippling debts and legal troubles may have sparked the dramatic five-hour siege which left a grandmother dead and her husband in hospital.

Perth couple Rodney, 64, and Janice Croft, 65, were approached by sheriff's officers who had arrived to repossess their home of 20 years on Monday.

Police allege the grandparents threatened to harm officers and themselves after a sheriff and locksmith arrived at the home in Martin in the city's outer suburbs.

Mrs Croft took her own life within seconds of a non-lethal round, a beanbag, being fired at her husband, police allege.

More details are emerging into an incident which left Janice Croft (right) dead and her husband Rodney Croft (left) in hospital after a five hour siege at their property.

The siege ended at 3pm on Monday when police fired a non-lethal round. Mrs Croft went into cardiac arrest and was rushed to the nearby Royal Perth Hospital where she later died

The spokeswoman said police were treating her death as non-suspicious.

Mr Croft, who suffers from an auto-immune disease, only learned his wife had taken her life later in the day while recovering in hospital, 7 News reported.

According to the publication, things turned deadly after the couple saw the locksmith arrive.

Tragically Mr Croft, who suffers from an auto-immune disease, wasn't made aware of his wife's death until later in the day while he was in hospital

Tactical police were called to the scene and as they approached it's alleged Mrs Croft climbed onto a nearby tractor brandishing a firearm.

The repossession was allegedly a result of years of bitter legal disputes and a series of debts reportedly worth upwards of $1 million.

Police arrived at the home at about 9am on Monday before the five-hour siege began.

Mr Croft, a former deputy mayor of Gosnells, remains under police guard at hospital.

Rodney Croft (pictured), a former deputy mayor of Gosnells, remains in police custody following the siege
Newly released photos show Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez looking loved up during dinner together in Los Angeles last year.

The photos, which were taken on October 30, show Bezos and Sanchez staring intently to each other's eyes and laughing together.

A source said the couple were snapped while dining with a male and female companion at the Capo Restaurant in Santa Monica.

The party of four took a 'discreet corner table' near the kitchen of the pricey Italian restaurant, staying for three hours.

Newly released photos show Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez looking loved up at a dinner in Los Angeles last year - three months before the Amazon CEO announced his divorce

A source said the couple were snapped while at a restaurant with a male and female companion at the Capo Restaurant in Santa Monica

But their table selection was as subtle as Sanchez and Bezos got as they took seats next to each other and reportedly paid little attention to their companions.

'They seemed to be in their own world,' the source told the National Enquirer.

'Bezos and Sanchez barely spoke to their two companions all night.'

The source said Bezos was close to Sanchez 'from the beginning, laughing and joking and whispering to her'.

'She was gazing into his eyes throughout the first part of the evening as they sat next to each other,' they added.

'It did not look like a business dinner, and he barely spoke to the male companion all evening.'

The source said Bezos was close to Sanchez 'from the beginning, laughing and joking and whispering to her'

At one point Sanchez appeared to be laughing animatedly at something Bezos said at the table

The party of four took a 'discreet corner table' near the kitchen of the pricey Italian restaurant (pictured), staying for three hours

The pair reportedly spent the night gazing into each other's eyes and 'tenderly touched each other'.

They were seen stroking and brushing each other's shoulders and Sanchez even rested her hand on Bezos' knee under the table, the source claimed.

When Sanchez swapped seats with the female companion, who had been sitting across from her, Bezos 'moved his chair to be even closer to Lauren', they added.

'He began whispering in her ear, and she was listening and gazing at him. Then she began whispering in his ear, fully leaning their bodies into each other, with his arm draped over her chair as he was speaking.'

The foursome left the restaurant at 10pm, but the party apparently wasn't over for Bezos and Sanchez.

Sanchez was seen leaving Bezos' Los Angeles mansion at 10am the next morning, according to the source.

The cople were seen stroking and brushing each other's shoulders and Sanchez even rested her hand on Bezos' knee under the table, the source claimed

Bezos left 15 minutes later, catching a car to the airport for meetings on the East Coast.

The photos were taken three months before Bezos publicly announced he was splitting from wife Mackenzie.

It was previously reported that the pair have been dating since June, months before Sanchez separated from her Hollywood agent husband Patrick Whitesell in the fall and nine months before Bezos announced his own divorce.

Bezos, 54, and Sanchez, 49, have both denied cheating on their spouses since details of their romance emerged earlier this month.

According to the Enquirer, the pair met several times for illicit trysts at both of their houses as often as six times in two weeks.

It was previously reported that the pair have been dating since June, months before Sanchez separated from her Hollywood agent husband Patrick Whitesell (pictured all together in December 2016)

Bezos reportedly took Sanchez on vacations on his $65million private jet and sent her erotic texts and selfies that were 'too explicit' even for the magazine to print.

Whatever the case, the couple now have no problem making their romance as public as possible.

The pair were inseparable during the Golden Globes ceremony, just days before their alleged affair made headlines.

And it has since been revealed that the couple are expected to attend this year's Academy Awards ceremony together next month.
Teachers overwhelmingly approved a new contract Tuesday and planned to return to the classroom after a six-day strike over funding and staffing in the nation's second-largest school district.

Although all votes hadn't been counted, preliminary figures showed that a 'vast supermajority' of some 30,000 educators voted in favor of the tentative deal, 'therefore ending the strike and heading back to schools tomorrow,' said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, accompanied by leaders of the union and the Los Angeles Unified School District, announced the agreement at City Hall a few hours after a 21-hour bargaining session ended before dawn.

Marianne O'Brien, second from right, and her fellow teachers pose in downtown Los Angeles after rallying at City Hall on Tuesday. O'Brien said she was ready to support the contract but would consider voting 'No' if schools don't get additional support staff like nurses and counselors

A parent arrives bringing her child to school while striking Los Angeles Unified District teachers rally in front of Evelyn Thurman Gratts Elementary School in Los Angeles

Striking Los Angeles Unified District teachers are joined by parents and students. A tentative deal was reached Tuesday between Los Angeles school officials and the teachers union

Many educators and local leaders have called the strike a watershed moment for California public schools

Teachers gather at Grand Park in Los Angeles for a rally after their union reached a deal with school district officials on a new proposed contract in Los Angeles, California

'This is a good agreement. It is a historic agreement,' Garcetti said.

The deal was broadly described by officials at the news conference as including a 6 percent pay hike and a commitment to reduce class sizes over four years.

Specifics provided later by the district and the union included the addition of more than 600 nursing positions over the next three school years. Additional counselors and librarians were also part of the increase in support staff.

Marianne O'Brien said the need for additional support staff was one of the main reasons she walked picket lines.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, center flanked by Austin Beutner, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, right, and United Teachers Los Angeles, Union President Alex Caputo-Pearl, left, during a news conference at City Hall

United Teachers Los Angeles, Union President Alex Caputo-Pearl, right, talks to the media . The new deal will allow educators to return to classrooms after a six-day strike against the nation's second-largest district, officials said

Austin Beutner, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, talks to the media

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, center at podium, listens to a question during a news conference in Los Angeles after a tentative deal was reached

'This is not just for teachers. It's also for counselors, nurses, psychologists and social workers,' said O'Brien, who teaches 10th grade English.

The new contract also eliminates a longstanding clause that gave the district authority over class sizes, officials said. Grades 4 through 12 would be reduced by one student during each of the next two school years and two pupils in 2021-22.

Clashes over pay, class sizes and support-staff levels in the district with 640,000 students led to its first strike in 30 years and prompted the staffing of classrooms with substitute teachers and administrators.

The district maintained that the union's demands could bankrupt the school system, which is projecting a half-billion-dollar deficit this budget year and has billions obligated for pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers.

District Superintendent Austin Beutner said he was delighted the deal was reached. But he hinted that financial challenges remained.

:United Teachers of Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl speaks to a crowd of striking teachers in Grand Park

Thousands of striking Los Angeles Unified teachers gather in front of Los Angeles City Hall

Educators, parents, students, and supporters of the Los Angeles teachers strike wave and cheer in Grand Park

Striking teachers embrace in Grand Park after it was announced that a tentative deal between the United Teachers of Los Angeles union and the Los Angeles Unified School District

'The issue has always been: How do we pay for it?' Beutner said. 'That issue does not go away now that we have a contract. We can't solve 40 years of underinvestment in public education in just one week or just one contract.'

Under the tentative agreement, the district, the union and the mayor's office will work jointly to 'advocate for increased county and state funding' for Los Angeles schools, according to the UTLA summary.

The Board of Education was expected to move quickly to ratify the deal, which would expire at the end of June 2022.

The deal came as teachers in Denver voted to go on strike as soon as next Monday. More than 5,000 educators would be affected. The main sticking point is increasing base pay and lessening teachers' reliance on one-time bonuses for having students with high test scores or working in a high-poverty school.

In Oakland, California, some teachers called in sick last week as part of an unofficial rally over their contract negotiations, which also hinge partly on a demand for smaller class sizes.

Educators, parents, students, and supporters of the Los Angeles teachers strike wave

Teachers and parents rally in support of Los Angeles school teachers Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, in Los Angeles. A tentative deal was reached Tuesday between Los Angeles school officials and the teachers union that will allow educators to return to classrooms after a six-day strike against the nation's second-largest district, officials said. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

The shadow of Los Angeles City Hall is cast on a building while striking Los Angeles Unified teachers gather in Grand Park in LAo on Tuesday

Thousands of boisterous educators, many wearing red, and their supporters gathered on the steps outside City Hall where the tentative agreement was announced.

The crowd began cheering, blowing horns and chanting the initials of Caputo-Pearl as the smiling union leader emerged from the building and walked through the throng.

Joaquin Flores, a special education teacher, said he believed he would support the deal unless it weakened health care or didn't go far enough to reduce class size.

'It's almost like metaphoric,' Flores said. 'The sun's out. When we started, it was all rainy and cold. I feel like it's a new day.'

Before teachers voted on the contract, Sharon Maloney said she was reluctant to support it without seeing details. She was skeptical that the district had made enough concessions on class size, health care benefits for new teachers or that the superintendent would spend enough of about $2 billion in reserves.

'I suspect the motives of Beutner,' Maloney said.

Teachers hoped to build on the 'Red4Ed' movement that began last year in West Virginia and moved to Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona, Colorado and Washington state. It spread from conservative states with 'right to work' laws that limit the ability to strike to the more liberal West Coast with strong unions.- Union members have to vote on the agreement to end the strike which started on January 14. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Union members have to vote on the agreement to end the strike which started on January 14

Tens of thousands of teachers marched in downtown Los Angeles and picketed outside schools for six school days
Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts will no longer be able to dodge taxes on their earnings under a controversial new rule set to see a huge jump in prices for consumers.

The federal government will enforce a compulsory reporting system to ensure the 11 million Australians signed up with sharing-economy platforms have no choice but to pay their taxes.

Treasury will release a discussion paper on Wednesday outlining the rules for the estimated $15billion industry, which could have drastic flow-on effects for millions of consumers across Australia.

Finance experts say the new rule could see Airbnb rental fees skyrocket and Uber fares increase as casual workers quit and supply for their services increase.

Major industry players including Uber, Airbnb, Airtasker, Deliveroo and Uber Eats - who mainly have their headquarters overseas - will all be affected by the new law.

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The federal government treasury will release a discussion paper on Wednesday outlining the rules for the estimated $15billion industry (stock)

Senior Industry Analyst at IBISWorld Tom Youl revealed why a crackdown on tax evasion could result in consumers spending more money for the same services.

'The extra burden of reporting tax would make these side-ventures no longer worthwhile (for some Uber drivers or Airbnb hosts),' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Therefore, forcing tax-compliance among individuals and companies operating on platforms like Airbnb and Uber is likely to constrain supply.'

He explained that the loss of drivers for a company like Uber would result in more instances of surge pricing, where fees are increased due to demand outweighing supply.

'In the case of Airbnb, less properties in a given area would lead to remaining players being able to raise their rates,' Mr Youl added.

Mr Youl pointed out that consumers could also expect to see booking fees and other surcharges hiked up as companies spend more money reporting the 'identity and income' of their workers.

Major industry players include Uber, Airbnb, Airtasker and delivery services such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats, who mainly have their headquarters overseas (stock)

Assistant Minister for Treasury Zed Seselja said the sharing economy had seen significant growth in Australia.

'But as it grows, there is a risk that some individuals are not reporting their full income and avoiding the right amount of tax,' Senator Seselja said in a statement.

'We are committed to making sure people pay their fair share of tax.'

Under the new rules, the millions of Australians working in the sharing economy would have their tax forms pre-filled rather than being made to enter information themselves.

According to The Australian, Uber and Airbnb are already working with the Australian Taxation Office to provide income earnings of their drivers, as well as hosts who provide private rental accommodation.

Senator Seselja said the government is committed to fix the tax payment issue to ensure everyone pays their fair share (stock)

The ATO believes a number of businesses and individuals are not reporting their tax which is leading to a loss in revenue.

'This potential underpayment of tax undermines the benefits of the sharing economy to consumers and businesses, and creates an unfair playing field for those doing the right thing,' the report reads.

Senator Seselja said the government is committed to fix the tax payment issue to ensure everyone pays their fair share.

'When everyone pays the right amount, it levels the playing field for businesses and people working in the sharing economy, creating competition and bringing benefits to consumers,' he said.

An Uber spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia said they are looking forward to supporting their driver-partners to make it easier for them at tax time.

'We want to help driver partners at tax time, so we are also making it easy for them to download their tax information to submit relevant taxable earnings and expenses to the Australian Tax Office,' they said.
A black undercover St Louis police officer claims his colleagues beat him 'like Rodney King' when they mistook him for a protester at a 2017 rally against racial profiling, newly released court documents have revealed.

Detective Luther Hall, who is black, called the attack a 'free for all' in an affidavit that the FBI used to justify their search of four officers' cellphones.

Officers Dustin Boone, Randy Hays, Christopher Myers and Bailey Colletta were charged in November after the FBI investigated Hall's attack and the detention of other protesters at a demonstration on September 15, 2017.

The rally was in response to the acquittal of St Louis officer Jason Stockley, who had been charged in the fatal shooting of a black man.

Hall and his partner were undercover 'documenting protest activity and property destruction', FBI Special Agent Darren Boehlje wrote in an affidavit supporting the search warrant applications, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

He reportedly told someone at headquarters that officers 'beat the [expletive] out of him like Rodney King', referring to the black construction worker who was beaten by four Los Angeles police officers in 1991, sparking massive riots.

St Louis police Detective Luther Hall has accused four fellow officers of beating him 'like Rodney King' after they mistook him for a protester at a 2017 rally where he was working undercover (file photo)

Hall, who was carrying a Nikon camera and a cellphone, was separated from his partner while fleeing officers who were firing pepper-spray pellets and bean bag rounds into the crowd, the affidavit says.

The document also notes that Hall didn't hear an order to disperse before police began using chemical agents and bean bag rounds.

Hall said that after a police SUV pulled up, he was getting on he knees when officers picked him up twice and slammed him to the ground face first.

He was allegedly told to put his hands behind his back but couldn't because officers were standing on his arms, Boehlje wrote in the FBI affidavit.

Hall's cellphone screen was shattered in the melee, and he watched as an officer took out the battery out of his camera and threw the camera to the ground, breaking it.

The affidavit suggested that there may be video from the incident, because Hall's cellphone was 'actively recording' as he surrendered.

Not wanting to reveal his identity and blow his cover, Hall made eye contact with someone he knew, and that person got two SWAT officers to take him away.

The undercover officer received medical treatment in an armored vehicle before being taken to a hospital.

The affadavit states that it took three layers of stitches to close the hole in Hall's lip, and that he suffered multiple herniated discs. A jaw injury has made it hard to eat, and Hall has lost about 15 pounds, it said.

Hall reportedly told someone at headquarters that officers 'beat the [expletive] out of him like Rodney King', referring to the black construction worker (above) who was beaten by four Los Angeles police officers in 1991, sparking massive riots

Boone, Hays and Myers were accused of the physical assault and charged with depriving Hall of his constitutional rights and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Myers is also accused of destroying Hall's cellphone, while Colletta is charged for allegedly lying to the federal grand jury investigating the attack.

The indictment says the three thought Hall was a protester and assaulted him while he was compliant and not posing a physical threat to anyone.

All four officers were on duty at the protests as part of the 'Civil Disobedience Team'.

Several had allegedly exchanged electronic messages before and after the arrest expressing 'disdain' for protesters and 'excitement about using unjustified force against them and going undetected while doing so', the indictment stated.

It said that Hall was assaulted 'while he was compliant and not posing a physical threat to anyone'.

The affidavit obtained by the Post-Dispatch also details text messages allegedly exchanged between Hays and Boone after the attack.

The day following day, Hays wrote that hed told someone 'the ass whooping can be explained. The camera thing cant and we werent a part of that'.

Boone replied that he was 'WAY more alright with what u and I did than what the others did! I dont like that we put our hands on another cop, but the situation was a little [expletive] up, too, wasnt JUST us', the affidavit states.

Hays agreed, writing that Hall 'couldve announced himself any time. And he wasnt complying. The camera thing is just ignorant, nothing we all havent done and if it was a protester it wouldnt be a problem at all'.

A week later, Boone wrote that someone was trying to call Hall to arrange an apology.

Hays replied that he wanted to apologize 'before someone gets in his ear and true (sic) to turn this into something more than it was'.

Boone responded: 'EXACTLY! Thats my biggest fear now that its getting around. Somebody puts money or race in his ear and he listens for some reason and its over before we get to say a word.'

Boone contacted Hall via text on September 25, offering an apology and to extend another in person.
This is the shocking moment police officers try and restrain a 30-year-old man in the Netherlands.

Footage, captured in the southern city of Waalwijk, shows the rampaging man kick and punch police officers as they try and arrest him.

The man had been spotted by two police officers hitting parked cars with a stick before the alarm was raised.

The video, which was filmed by a bystander at the scene, was later posted on social media.

Footage, captured in the city of Waalwijk, Netherlands, shows the rampaging man kick and punch police officers as they try and arrest him

The man dressed in black had been spotted by two police officers and they immediately raised the alarm

After the two police officers called for assistance from a third officer, the 30-year-old man began to attack them.

In the clip, the man dressed in black runs through a public street and teases officers as he runs away from them.

According to the NL Times, two of the officers were left with injuries to their face and the other was sent to hospital after hurting his ankle.

A police spokesman told the Dutch newspaper Brabants Dagblad: 'When these agents stopped a bit past the man and wanted to speak to him, he immediately hit one of them in his face.

'That agent fell and suffered injury to his ankle.'

The 30-year-old man had been filmed by a bystander hitting parked cars with a stick

According to reports, the man then ran onto neighbouring Julianastraat, where he was finally caught and arrested

Police officers then used their truncheon and pepper spray to try and take the man down after multiple attempts at trying to restrain him.

According to reports, the man then ran onto neighbouring Julianastraat, where he was finally caught and arrested.

It is still unclear why the man decided to attack the police officers.
A U.S. service member has been killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan, marking the second American death there in 2019, officials say.

The service member died in 'enemy small-arms fire' and their identity will be withheld pending a 24-hour next-of-kin notification.

'One U.S. service member was killed in Afghanistan today as a result of enemy small arms fire,' Resolute Support, the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

The death was announced by Army Col. Dave Butler, the top American spokesman in Afghanistan on January 22, according to Stars and Stripes.

The death is under investigation.

An unidentified U.S. service member has been killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan, marking the second American death there in 2019, officials say. U.S. troops pictured above in a base in Logar, Afghanistan in August 2018

Military officials declined to specify which enemy was responsible for the death, where the casualty took place, or which branch of the military the victim belonged to.

The death was announced just days after Sgt. Cameron A. Meddock, of Texas, passed away on Thursday in Germany suffering wounds from enemy fire in Afghanistan on January 13.

The 26-year-old sergeant was wounded while fighting in the Jawad district of Badghis.

He was an Army Ranger that hailed from Spearman, Texas and was a member of the elite 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

He passed away during his second deployment to Afghanistan, according to the Army.

The death was announced just days after Sgt. Cameron A. Meddock, of Texas, passed away on Thursday in Germany suffering wounds from enemy fire in Afghanistan on January 13

On Monday the Taliban launched a devastating suicide bomb attack on an Afghan military base in Maidan Wardak, killing 45 people. The site of the attack pictured above

There are currently some 14,000 U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan. The U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission there in 2014.

American forces are working on counterterror operations against al-Qaida and Islamic State fighters and advising Afghan security forces.

The war rages on and on Monday, the Taliban launched a devastating suicide bombing attack on an Afghan military base in Maidan Wardak, which killed 45 people and wounded 70 others.

Afterwards the Taliban announced it was in peace talks with American diplomats in Qatar.

'Following American acceptance of the agenda of ending invasion of Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from being used against other countries in the future, talks with American representatives took place today in Doha,' a Taliban spokesman said in a statement, according to the New York Times.

Still the Taliban and American Special Operation troops and Afghan forces continue to clash over territory as negotiations drag on to end war now in its 17th year.

The Taliban controls almost half of the land in Afghanistan and carries out attacks daily, according to AP.

President Donald Trump is seeking to half the number of U.S. troops in the Afghanistan sometime this year.
Indonesia has remarkably back-flipping on a decision to release the elderly Islamic cleric who inspired the Bali bombings.

President Joko Widodo said Abu Bakar Bashir - who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011 - must now renounce radicalism if he hopes to be freed from jail.

The drastic change in approach comes less than a week after Mr Widodo said Bashir, 80, would be unconditionally freed, citing his age and poor health.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was among those to support the change of heart, saying it's important to be mindful of the victims of the Bali bombings.

Elderly Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who inspired the 2002 Bali bombings, will now have to renounce radicalism and pledge allegiance to Indonesia should he hope to be freed from jail

Among conditions of his release, Mr Widodo says Bashir must formally renounce radicalism and sign an official document of his allegiance to Indonesia.

Bashir, meanwhile, has insisted he only answers to God and that Indonesia should be governed by Islamic law.

'Abu Bakar Bashir is already old and his health is also deteriorating. You can imagine if we as children see our parents sick,' Widodo told reporters.

'However, we also have a legal system here. There are legal mechanisms that we must go through. This is parole, not pure release, but conditional release, so the conditions must be fulfilled first,' he said.

Bashir inspired the 2002 Bali bombings (pictured) which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Indonesia's government to show respect to the Bali bombing victims, which included numerous Indonesians.

'We don't want this character able to go out there and incite the killing of Australians and Indonesians, preaching a doctrine of hate,' he said.

Mr Morrison said he had personally delivered the Australian government's 'strong views' about the matter to Jakarta.

'It's their justice system and they run it so there are calls they have to make there,' he said.

'Respect must be shown for the lives that were lost. And it's important that this character doesn't get the opportunity to spread and incite hatred.'

The 2002 Bali bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
NASA legend Buzz Aldrin has called for Donald Trump to rename Space Force something less aggressive.

The President announced a new branch of the armed forces in June last year to handle military operations in space, with a name straight out of a science fiction action movie.

But former astronaut Aldrin  the second man to step on the moon - isn't impressed.

'I have thought for some while that a better name would be Space Guard, because it is more deterrent,' Aldrin told DailyMail.com.

'It is not strike. We have a strike force that is aggressive.

'Space Guard is more defensive and I think that is pretty much what people had in mind with the space force.'

Buzz Aldrin (pictured earlier this month with a friend in Beverly Hills) has called for Trump to rename Space Force something less aggressive, suggesting the name of Space Guard

Trump (pictured with Buzz right in June of 2017) announced a new branch of the armed forces in June last year to handle military operations in space, with a name straight out of a sci-fi action movie

Despite his reservations over the name Aldrin, who turned 89 on Sunday, tweeted in August that he thought the plan was 'one giant leap in the right direction', referencing his co-pilot Neil Armstrong's immortal words when he first set foot on the moon.

Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first men on the moon after piloting the Apollo 11 mission and safely landing on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.

Although some are excited by Trump's new Hollywood-sounding military branch, others have ridiculed the name.

This month Netflix announced a new comedy series called Space Force, made by the creator of The Office and starring Steve Carell.

The push for more military focus on space was prompted when the Chinese armed forces dramatically tested a new anti-spacecraft missile in 2007 by launching it and blowing up one of their own satellites in orbit.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force is the only independent military wing that deals solely with war fighting in space.

Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first men on the moon after piloting the Apollo 11 mission and safely landing on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969

Russia previously had an independent wing, Russian Space Forces, from 1992 to 1997 and again from 2001 to 2011, but in 2015 brought the department under the command of the country's air force.

In the US military, responsibility for space-related warfare is currently shared between the Air Force and other branches.

But when Trump signed Space Policy Directive-3 in June, a new law that governs space traffic, he also ordered the Department of Defense and the Pentagon 'to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces'.

Trump said the new agency would be 'separate but equal' from the other branches, and tasked General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to take on the project.

Despite his reservations over the name Aldrin, who turned 89 on Sunday, tweeted in August that he thought the plan was 'one giant leap in the right direction', referencing his co-pilot Neil Armstrong's immortal words when he first set foot on the moon

'The Air Force is going to focus on the Air Force. We need a separate branch, and we're working on that. It's called the Space Force, which is very exciting. People love it, they get it,' Trump said.

In a speech at the Pentagon last week the president revealed his new budget will include 'a space-based missile defense layer,' adding that the plan is 'ultimately going to be a very, very big part of our defense  and, obviously, of our offense.'

'We will recognize that space is a new war fighting domain with the Space Force leading the way,' he said.

Since 1982 the US military has had an agency called Air Force Space Command, with an $8.5 billion budget and 36,000 workers founded in 1982, as well as the clandestine National Reconnaissance Office, an extremely secretive branch of the intelligence services, with a budget thought to be around $15 billion.


Welcomes Expansion of Payne's Find Area

Perth, Jan 23, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cervantes Corporation Ltd ( ASX:CVS ) (Cervantes, the Company) is extremely pleased to welcome Oakajee Corporation Limited ( ASX:OKJ ) to the Payne's Find area.Oakajee recently announced the potential to earn into 80% of a number of tenements including Mining Leases and Exploration and Prospecting Licenses covering some 112 sq km, effectively surrounding Cervantes's "Primrose Project" in Payne's Find.Full details of Oakajee's acquisition, proposed exploration plans and geological assessment of the area can be viewed on Cervantes website http://www.cervantescorp.com.au/links.php The Murchison Province hosts many significant gold deposits, including the million-ounce gold camps at Big Bell, Mount Magnet (Hill 50), and Meekatharra, as well as numerous smaller gold camps at Cue, Kirkalocka, Mt Gibson, and locally Rothsay, Fields Find and Pinyalling.The Cervantes "Primrose Project" contains some 37 historical workings that produced high-grade gold that resulted in a battery being built by the State Government for the old miners, which stands today as a tourist attraction.The geological potential of the Payne's Find area as previously discussed in ASX releases and reports, as well as in reports from our consulting and in-house geologists, outlines that, in addition to gold, the felsic volcanic area has potential for volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation (VMS) similar to the Golden Grove deposits located to the west in the Yalgoo Greenstone Belt. Elevated nickel and cobalt results have also been identified in the Payne's Find area, as previously outlined in ASX releases.Cervantes supports the view and comments in various reports that the historical mineralisation in the area could be an indicator of a bigger gold system associated with sheared mafic amphibolites intruded by a porphyry.Cervantes completed an aircore drilling program in 2018 along the 8km of the Primrose Shear running through its project area with similar beliefs of Oakajee, to identify deeper gold targets and nickel-prospective areas. The resultant targeted areas are as a result of elevated gold and nickel assays above normally expected results for a first-pass drilling program. Cervantes has received Mines Department POW approvals to proceed with that drilling, but is waiting on its Albury Heath (Meekatharra) second round of drilling assays results before committing to that program. The Albury Heath project delivered exceptional drill results in its first program in 2018 of 2m @ 67.2 g/t (2oz) from 27m in AHP116, including 1m @ 129.3 g/t (4oz) from 27m, and 5m @ 63.1 g/t (2oz) from 32m in AHP134, incl 1m @ 202.8 g/t ( 6.5oz) from 33m (as released on the 28th June 2018).The Company is, in the meantime, pursuing discussions with two international fund providers, and is seeking discussions with private investors and stockbrokers interested in participating by way of capital injection in these exciting programs and developments.Cervantes will also be seeking discussions with the directors of Oakajee in due course to develop the combined area, and share geological data for the benefit of the shareholders of each Company.If Oakajee is successful in its relisting, the market will enjoy a news flow from both groups as they work on their individual projects to develop a comprehensive geological model for the area to support future target generation.A map of the enlarged exploration area showing each company's tenements is shown in Figure 1 below(see link below).About the Albury Heath ProjectThe Albury Heath Project is centred on the historic Albury Heath gold mine. Gold production from underground workings during the period 1948 to 1957 totalled 2,204 oz at an average head grade of 47.8g/t or 1.54oz/t.Gold mineralisation is associated with quartz veining, quartz stringers, quartz stockworks, and wall rock alteration located in a major regional fault zone that trends north-northeasterly across the eastern side of the Meekatharra Greenstone Belt. The mineralisation occurs primarily in quartzsulphide veins that are up to 4m in width. The main vein strikes north-northeasterly and dips steeply at 75deg - 80deg to the east-southeast.Cervantes wholly owns six Prospecting Licences covering the Albury Heath mine and its surrounds (P51/2937 and P51/2997 to 3001). These comprise an area totalling 10.8km2 that cover the northerly and southerly extent of the main controlling structure.About the Primrose ProjectThe Primrose Project covers in excess of 8km of the highly gold mineralised Primrose Shear in the Murchison District of the Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia. Over 37 gold mines, of various sizes, operated in this field from 1911 till 1982. Some 63,000 ounces of gold was mined at an average grade of 25g/t during this period. It is generally accepted that significantly more gold than this was won from alluvial and unreported production.Cervantes now controls 20 mining leases, prospecting licences, and an exploration licence that cover the majority of this historic gold field. A large database of drilling, surface geochemistry, geological, and geophysical data has been assembled to allow the field to be better understood than at any time in its history.To view figures, please visit:About Cervantes Corporation Limited

Cervantes Corporation Limited (ASX:CVS) is an emerging gold explorer and aspiring gold miner. It has built up a portfolio of gold properties in well-known and historically producing gold districts with a strategy to apply novel exploration and development thinking. Cervantes has identified opportunities in those districts that were overlooked by previous explorers. The company is committed to maximizing shareholder value through the development of those opportunities.
Hulk Hogan's ex-wife has spoken of her agony at being dragged through the courts in a protracted nine-year legal battle with the famed wrestler who she claims has 'hidden' millions of dollars from her and drowned her in litigation so he can duck out of payments.

Linda Bollea, 59, divorced the pro wrestler, real name Terry Gene Bollea, after 23 years of marriage when an alleged mistress went public in 2008.

The divorcee says she's had to fight Hogan, 65, to get what was agreed upon ever since, as Hogan is taking Bollea back to court on Thursday in his sixth attempt to block his ex from seeing the books on Intellectual Property that she half owns,

'It has been nine years since our divorce and I have received nothing but frivolous legal battles meant to harass and drain any monies I received upfront from our original divorce agreement,' Bollea told DailyMailTV in an exclusive statement.

'He's hidden money, transferred and diverted money, switched trademarks, cooked the books, everything he could to make sure I get as little as possible from the brand I helped him build and turn into a global success.'

Hulk Hogan is taking his former wife Linda Bollea (pictured) back to court for the sixth time as she claims the former pro wrestler has 'hidden' millions of dollars from her and drowned her in litigation so he can duck out of divorce settlement payments

Bollea, 59, divorced the pro wrestler, real name Terry Gene Bollea (pictured together in 2006), after 23 years of marriage when an alleged mistress went public in 2008

The couple split when Hogan's daughter's friend, Christiane Plante, gave an interview to the National Enquirer claiming she had an affair with the retired pro wrestler while his family were shooting VH1 reality show Hogan Knows Best.

In a bitter divorce settlement hashed out over a year, Hogan agreed to give Bollea 70 percent of the couple's liquid assets plus properties worth $3 million, but only 40 percent of any future revenues in his businesses.

Bollea claims that from the moment the agreement was signed, the wrestling champion has tried to duck out of paying his dues.

'I gave up certain rights at the time we divorced in exchange for what was agreed in the settlement agreement, and my ex has done everything possible to even wriggle out of that,' she said.

'The fight I brought to grow our brand is the same fight I am bringing to get what is rightfully mine. He may have bought some time, but he can't buy justice.'

One of the divorcee's biggest claims is to a slice of Hogan's payout from his court case against Gawker, which was bankrupted by the suit and is now being reconstructed by Bustle Media Group.

In 2012 the site published a sex tape of Hogan and Heather Clem, the estranged wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge.

In the video, Bubba tells Hogan and his wife they can 'do their thing' while he is in his office. After the tryst, the radio presenter can be heard telling Clem: 'If we ever need to retire, here is our ticket'.

One of the divorcee's biggest claims is to a slice of Hogan's $115 million payout from his court case against news site Gawker. Hogan sued the site for invading his privacy when it published his sex tape. Pictured: Hogan in court during his trial against Gawker in 2016

Hogan sued the site for invading his privacy and was awarded $115 million by the court, forcing Gawker to shut down.

Boella and her lawyer, Miami-based attorney Raymond Rafool, claim that because Hogan won his compensation over the damage to his celebrity image which she helped create, the wrestler's ex is entitled to a chunk of the massive payout.

'He's actually started collecting money from the Gawker lawsuit, which we say is ours as well, because we own what we developed during the marriage,' Rafool told DailyMailTV. 'He doesn't own his own image. He owns 60 percent of the income of the image.

'It's always a shell game. He's always trying to hide and take money from Linda and he never gives her any credit for anything that she ever did.'

Rafool says he is unperturbed by Hogan's attempts to overpower his ex in the courtroom, claiming Hogan often pits four or five lawyers against Boella's attorney, and has tied up cash in legal appeals and 'frivolous' lawsuits.

'Hogan's tactic is to try to outspend, out-litigate. He should know better. I'm not going anywhere. Linda's not going anywhere,' the attorney said. 'We were successful before, during the divorce, after the divorce. And we'll be successful again. These tactics are absolutely old as dirt, but not effective. Not with us.'

Boella and her lawyer, Miami-based attorney Raymond Rafool, claim that because Hogan won his compensation over the damage to his celebrity image which she helped create, the wrestler's ex is entitled to a chunk of the massive payout

'It has been nine years since our divorce and I have received nothing but frivolous legal battles meant to harass and drain any monies I received upfront from our original divorce agreement,' Bollea (pictured with Hogan in 1994) told DailyMailTV in an exclusive statement

The attorney is currently collecting documents from Hogan's legal team to prepare for a legal bid for a portion of the multi-million Gawker payout.

Boella, though resolute, says the decade-long legal war of attrition has taken a toll on her family.

'His serial legal game playing is worse than his serial cheating. Trying to keep what we had left of a family that he destroyed has been impossible,' she said.

'In his attempt to humiliate and control this ex-wife and children, he has only made us stronger.

'I should have known his integrity and commitment in our Marriage Settlement Agreement would have been no different than our wedding vows. Thank God for the wheels of justice. Let them roll.'

Despite past scandals, the former heavyweight wrestling champion has seen an upturn in his fortunes this year after being reinstated to the WWE Hall of Fame in July.

Despite past scandals, the former heavyweight wrestling champion has seen an upturn in his fortunes this year after being reinstated to the WWE Hall of Fame in July

Boella says the legal war has taken a toll on her family (pictured with Hogan and their children Brooke and Nick in 2005). 'His serial legal game playing is worse than his serial cheating. Trying to keep what we had left of a family that he destroyed has been impossible,' she said

Hogan was dropped from the wrestling federation and had all ties cut in 2015 when it emerged that his sex tapes also included a racist rant.

In the tirade caught on camera, Hogan repeatedly used the n-word and expressed disgust at the idea of his daughter being with a black man.

The wrestler admitted to being a 'racist, to a point'.

More racist slurs were revealed from a 2008 recorded telephone conversation with his then-imprisoned son, Nick, who had pleaded no contest to felony reckless driving charges.

Hogan later apologized, saying he used 'language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs'.

Three years after the revelations, Hogan has been welcomed back into the WWE fold, and appeared again on wrestling TV for the first time in November last year.
A vegan woman was left writhing in agony after she accidentally ate glass she claims was embedded in her quinoa ravioli.

Sarah Crawley, 21, from Adelaide, was eating dinner with her boyfriend on December 30 when she bit down on something oddly crunchy.

Ms Crawley had purchased the I Pastai vegan ravioli from her local Woolworths and had prepared bowls for her and her boyfriend, Ryan Abblitt.

A vegan woman was left writhing in agony after she accidentally ate glass she claims was embedded in her quinoa ravioli (pictured: Sarah Crawley)

Ms Crawley, 21, from Adelaide, was eating dinner with her boyfriend on December 30 when she bit down on something oddly crunchy

She initially assumed the odd crunchy texture was a natural product within the pasta, such as a seed or pepper grain.

But when she felt the sharp object cut her mouth, she immediately reached up to remove it and claims she found a tiny shard of glass.

Two days later, the 21-year-old's condition rapidly deteriorated.

Ms Crawley started feeling huge stabs of pain in her abdomen on New Year's Day and knew there was something terribly wrong.

At 9.30pm her worried boyfriend Ryan rushed her to Flinders Hospital, where doctors discovered she had abdominal bleeding.

When she felt the sharp object cut her mouth, she immediately reached up to remove it and allegedly found a tiny shard of glass

Ms Crawley started feeling huge stabs of pain in her abdomen on New Year's Day and knew there was something terribly wrong (pictured)

'The pain was so intense, they put me on oxycodone,' she said.

'My stools were black, which the nurses said was because of internal bleeding. It was pretty sh*t. It definitely isn't how I wanted to start my New Year.'

Mr Abblitt took to Facebook to warn others of his girlfriend's New Year's Day nightmare.

'Attention vegans of Facebook, avoid the iPastai ravioli. My girlfriend ate some and it had glass in it and now we're in hospital,' he wrote.

Mr Abblitt added the couple had attempted to contact the company to complain but were frustrated they didn't hear back.

'We rang the company and were told that the owner would ring back in ten minutes and that was two days ago, so f**k that company basically,' he said.

The Facebook post prompted a response from I Pastai owner Luca Galaverna, who denied that the sharp object could have been glass.

'We don't have and don't use any glass on premises at I Pastai. Due to policy at foods standards we are not allowed to use any glass equipment or have any glass on premises,' he said.

'What Ryan might found in the packet of pasta is a small thin shred of the actual tray where we pack our products.'

Another man has since come forward with a similar experience after buying I Pastai products.

A spokesperson from Woolworths told Daily Mail Australia: 'At Woolworths, we take food safety and quality very seriously'

Eamonn Parsons, 24, purchased the same vegan ravioli on December 20 in New South Wales and claimed he noticed a few glass shards.

'I thought it was pepper at first, but it didn't take long to realise it wasn't. It was much too hard, like chewing gravel or sand,' he told News Corp.

'It was only a couple of shards, but definitely noticeable.'

A spokesperson from Woolworths told Daily Mail Australia: 'At Woolworths, we take food safety and quality very seriously.

'While this matter appears to be an isolated incident, we have commenced an investigation with our supplier in line with established procedures. '

'We continually work hard with all suppliers to ensure the products supplied meet the food safety and quality standards Woolworths and our customers expect.'

In a statement provided to Daily Mail Australia, I Pastai said: 'I Pastai has always maintained a 'no glass' policy in the production of its pasta.

'I Pastai sympathises and is concerned for the welfare of consumers who experience a potential or real injury as a result of food preparation.

'Once I Pastai was advised by a customer and her partner that they believed a fragment of glass in their meal came from a vegan Ravioli (pumpkin, kale and roasted hazelnut), the relevant batch with expiry date 8th February 2019 was withdrawn from sale.

'Any remaining product is being returned by retailers and should also be returned by customers.'
If you're looking to escape Australia and treat yourself to a lavish holiday for a cheap price, then look no further than Scoot's cheap flights to Europe!

The discount airline is offering Australian's to 'escape from the ordinary' and enjoy the fun of the German capital, Berlin.

Flyers will enjoy the historically rich country and absorb the culture the country has to offer.

Scoot is offering Australian's to 'escape from the ordinary' and enjoy the fun of the German capital, Berlin

The sunset in Berlin near Berlin Cathedral, St. Nicholas' Church, Berlin Town Hall and TV Tower

There are things to do all year round in Germany, with summer roof terraces and beach bars, winter Christmas markets and shopping  and sightseeing and museums.

Scoot is the perfect opportunity for you to enjoy that time off for a ridiculously cheap price between October and November 2018, and between late January and March 2019.

Sydney-based travellers can pick flights between February and March next year for $785.

Those flying out from Melbourne can experience similar deals for $777.

Perth-based travellers get lucky with a cheaper option for as little as $712.

All flights have a layover in Singapore, and with cheap prices like this, it's a no brainer that you should be booking your ticket right now.

Flyers should note these prices are before taxes and levies and passengers are required to pay extra for food and checked baggage.

Head over to Scoot and book your ticket for the holiday you deserve.

Evening view above Berlin, taken in Charlottenburg. Flyers will enjoy the historically rich country and absorb the culture the country has to offer
A court heard that the girl's shouts for him to stop could be heard from inside the next door room

A student at a prestigious music college violently raped a young woman in his hall of residence, a court has heard.

Adam Jordan, 24, allegedly sent the 21-year-old a message on Facebook afterwards saying: I have done something beyond terrible and I dont expect you to forgive me whatsoever.

Jordan, a student at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, is accused of raping her after being in a bad mood because another woman he liked now had a boyfriend, and the alleged victim had turned down his offer to go out with him.

Her shouts for him to stop could be heard in the next room but although she was crying her protests did not seem to register with him, the court heard.

The pair had earlier been drinking together in the bar at the college and then went back to his room where he had two cans of lager and she had a bottle of Peroni, Manchester Crown Court was told.

They had had sex on previous occasions, and after watching a YouTube video undressed each other and had consensual sex, Rachel Shenton, prosecuting, said.

However, he continued to have sex with her against her wishes, changing the situation from what was a consensual episode to something that wasnt, she told the court.

Adam Jordan, 24, allegedly sent the 21-year-old victim a message straight after the incident

The alleged victim told police Jordan had had a bad day and seemed agitated, p***** off.

After they got to his room on the evening of January 31 last year he downed the two cans of lager which seemed to get him quickly drunk, she said. I was tipsy but I remember everything, she added.

The woman said they started kissing and began having sex which was OK, but it then started to get rough.

She told police his grip was quite strong and he felt quite heavy and I couldnt move much, adding: I asked him pretty quickly to stop.

Asked what he did she replied: He did not say anything, it was a bit like he couldnt hear me. I was quite scared.

Jordan then suddenly stopped and went for a shower. She pretended to be asleep when he returned and they remained in his room until they left in the morning.

The pair had earlier been drinking together in the bar at the college and then went back to his room

The court heard that a few days later he invited the woman to his room to talk and asked how many people she had told.

She said Jordan seemed upset that she had told a friend and he asked if she had any marks and she told him she did not. She went on: He said he did not remember and apologised. Miss Shenton told the court that when the womans friend spoke to Jordan she called him a disgrace and he allegedly replied: I know.

The prosecutor said the day after the incident Jordan admitted to the rape, saying: I feel f****** terrible about it.

Miss Shenton said there were subsequent Facebook messages. In one to the alleged victim, Jordan said: I have done something beyond terrible and I dont expect you to forgive me whatsoever. She later went to the police.

Jordan, of Atherton, Greater Manchester, denies rape.

The trial continues.
A man has died after cleaning a very hot vat of ink at a western Sydney factory.

He was one of three workers who became trapped at the Auburn site shortly before 9am on Thursday.

The deceased man's two other colleagues, aged in their twenties, were rescued from the Chisholm Road premises owned by DIC Australia, with one of them trapped for several hours.

However, the worker who died remained in the vat. A stretcher was seen being carried to the accident scene shortly after 1.20pm.

It is believed the workers were trapped in a mixing arm of the ink vat.

Scroll down for video

A heavy-duty hazardous materials Fire and Rescue NSW truck at the scene of the tragedy

Rescue crews arrived at the scene where a worker died after falling into an ink vat in Auburn

Dic Australia's Chisholm Road site at Auburn has suffered from the loss of a worker in an ink vat

New South Ambulance superintendent Paul Turner said the deceased man, aged in his thirties, had been trapped by his legs, describing the area as 'a very difficult scene'.

'There was still ink on the floor of the vat, which hampered rescue efforts and treatment,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's extremely hot inside the vat,' he said.

'Very limited personnel have been able to get inside.'

Special operations paramedics have been dispatched to the six-metre high vat 'shaped like a large battery'.

The front area of the Auburn factory in western Sydney where a worker died on Thursday

Ambulance, NSW Fire and Rescue and police are on the scene at the Auburn ink factory

Ambulance paramedics were sent to the scene of the industrial accident on Thursday afternoon

A police rescue specialist is on the scene at Auburn in Sydney's west where the men are trapped

Three men were initially all conscious and talking when they were trapped about 8.45am on Thursday.

However, Mr Turner said the deceased men 'deteriorated rapidly towards the end'.

Ten ambulances are on hand, along with police and Fire and Rescue trucks.

The two rescued men were taken to Westmead Hospital, with one man suffering suspected leg injuries and the other leg fractures.

Ambulance parademics at the scene told Daily Mail Australia the injuries were likely to have been caused by falling into the vat instead of the chemicals inside.

'This is a terrible tragedy,' Mr Turner said later in a statement.

Police Rescue and firefighters arrived on the scene after three men were initially trapped

'We did absolutely everything we could.

'It was a complex operation. We worked as quickly as we could to access these patients.'

The man is yet to be formally identified and his body remains in the tank, a NSW Police spokesman said.

Detectives have established a crime scene and are investigating.

SafeWork NSW has also sent inspectors to the site to investigate, a spokesman told Australian Associated Press.
Former defense attorney claims serial killer Ted Bundy confessed to 'murdering more than 100 people and his first victim was a MAN'



The one-time attorney of the notorious murderer Ted Bundy has penned a memoir detailing the disturbing conversations he had with the killer before he was executed in 1989.



Seattle attorney John Henry Browne represented Bundy in the 1970s, a time when he had unparallelled access to one of the darkest minds of the 20th century.



'Ted told me things that hes never told anybody,' Mr Browne told Q13Fox . 'He told me he killed more than 100 people, and not only women.'



History: The one-time attorney of the notorious murderer Ted Bundy, pictured, has penned a memoir detailing the disturbing conversations he had with the killer before he was executed in 1989

Up Close: Seattle attorney John Henry Browne represented Bundy in the 1970s, a time when he had unparallelled access to one of the darkest minds of the 20th century

Killer: Ted Bundy confessed to killing 30 women in seven states before he was executed by electric chair on January 24, 1989

Ted Bundy confessed to killing 30 women in seven states before he was executed by electric chair on January 24, 1989.



He was known as a charming man, who earned the trust of his victims before luring them to a secluded place to murder them. He would also enter the rooms of sleeping college students and bludgeon them to death.



Traveling across state lines, he was known to prefer female victims with long, dark hair, parted down the middle.

At the height of his murder spree, female college students disappeared at a rate of one per month.



But in a shocking claim, Mr Browne said that Bundy told him his first victim was a man. 'Thats never been known,' Mr Browne said to Fox.



The attorney said he found it very difficult to return to the Bundy case, as his conversations with the brutal rapist and murderer haunted him.

Victims: A so-called charming man, he earned the trust of his victims before luring them to a secluded place to murder them. He preferred female victims with long, dark hair, parted down the middle.

'Its too creepy,' he said. 'I didnt want to visit those dark places again.'



Before Bundy's death, he signed a release saying Mr Browne could publish the information he shared with him.



'I actually kind of got more scared of him after putting things together the last couple of years of writing about it,' he said.



The bombshell book claims that Bundy 'chose' Mr Browne to represent him after he researched the attorney's life.



Jailed: At the height of his killing spree, female college students disappeared at a rate of one per month

'He knew where I lived, he knew what kind of clothes I had, he knew what kind of cars I had,' Mr Browne said.



Mr Browne said that a chilling coincidence led Bundy to find him: Mr Browne's girlfriend, who looked similar to Bundy's victims, was murdered and her killer never found.



'My girlfriend when I was in law school was murdered in Berkeley,' said Mr Browne to Fox.



Bundy was in a different part of California at the time, but the startling similarities and unanswered questions still concern Mr Browne.

Going Back: However, Mr Browne said that Mr Bundy's first victim was a man

Mr Browne has since made a living working on challenging cases; he is currently defending Staff Sgt Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan citizens (mostly women and children) in an incident known as the Kandahar massacre.

However, it is important to understand that Mr Bundy confessed and denied he committed different murders to different people, making it difficult to trust his testimony.



Since he killed before DNA analysis was readily available, it was difficult to match the murderer with his victims.



His thirst for blood as well as his ability to fool officials resulted in two escapes from official custody.



Mr Browne recalled one time, after Bundy escaped from a Colorado prison, the murderer called him while on the lam.



Horror: Mr Browne also said Bundy confessed to killing more than 100 people

Pretending he was 'Mr Rosebud,' Bundy phoned Mr Browne from a Florida jail, where police officers had placed him under arrest for stealing a vehicle, unaware they had arrested one of the FBI's most wanted men.



As his attorney, Mr Browne would not have been able to reveal Bundy's identity.



'Most sociopaths never admit theyre evil at all. Ted really knew he was evil. Evil, evil, evil. And, believe me, really evil.' Attorney, John Henry Browne

'As a lawyer, Im not allowed to do that,' he said, and grappled with one of the worst ethical dilemmas of his career, afraid that if police did not recognize their inmate, 'he would probably kill other people.'



Luckily, officials did identify Bundy and he was tried and convicted for his crimes.



The most horrifying thing to Mr Browne, however, was that unlike other sociopaths who do not understand right and wrong, Bundy knew what he was doing.



'Most sociopaths never admit theyre evil at all,' said Mr Browne. 'Ted really knew he was evil. Evil, evil, evil. And, believe me, really evil.'

Details about the book, such as its title and when it will be published, were not available by deadline.


The Great British Entrepreneur Challenge has returned for its second year.

This is Money has once again teamed up with Andy Yates, a successful entrepreneur and angel investor, to launch a unique competition for British start-ups.

We are inviting early stage firms and those with a great business idea to enter the Great British Entrepreneur Challenge and win expert advice, mentoring and support from Andy and his network - and the chance to bid for up to 50,000 of seed funding.

We want you: Enter This is Money's The Great British Entrepreneurial Challenge for business advice, mentoring and the chance to pitch for up to 50k of seed funding

Have you started a business, got some sales, but now need help to build and scale? If so, the Great British Entrepreneur Challenge is for you.

The right help could completely revolutionise your start-up.

Last year's winner, Lee Flavin, the founder of mortgage switching service, RateSwitch (rateswitch.uk), won an investment of 50,000 plus mentoring and support from Andy.

The Cardiff based start-up has now revamped its whole business, doubled in size, forged key strategic partnerships with major business partners and is set to grow rapidly in 2019.

About Andy Yates Andy Yates is a successful entrepreneur and angel investor. He co-founded, grew and exited his own major fintech business, Digital Look, before going on to invest in, advise, support, mentor and grow a portfolio of exciting start-ups. He has backed entrepreneurs across a whole range of sectors. These start-ups have already seen their value grow by more than 150million. Now he is passionate about helping more entrepreneurs to grow and flourish.

This is Money editor Simon Lambert and the site's small business journalists will also be involved and we will follow your businesss progress and write about it for our readers.

So, if you have a great idea, a start-up or a young, growing business, read on for Andys explanation of how you could benefit from this once in a lifetime chance.

What we're looking for

It is no secret that start-ups need a lot of hard work and help to succeed.

So we are looking for entrepreneurs who can show they are willing to go that extra mile on their business journey.

What we want to see:

A passionate entrepreneur or team of co-founders.

Full time commitment.

Some early sales and business traction.

A big and exciting market to go for.

A real desire to grow and scale your start-up.

A British based business  in any sector, anywhere.

If you have got what it takes  we want to take your business to the next level.

How to enter the Great British Entrepreneur Challenge

To enter your start-up or early stage company in the Great British Entrepreneur Challenge, please email entrepreneurs@thisismoney.co.uk.

Your application should include:

Your name and contact details (including email, mobile phone, relevant social media links). A summary of your business idea, why its different from competitors and how big your market is (up to 150 words). A summary of what you have achieved so far, including sales and progress you have made (up to 150 words). Tell us why you are the right person or team to benefit from the Great Entrepreneur Challenge (up to 150 words). A link to any websites, videos or other useful information to help with your application.

Deadline for the first round of the Great British Entrepreneur Challenge: 15 February, 2019.

Between 25 February and 1 March, applicants may be contacted for information and feedback.

Selected applicants will be invited for interviews to be held at This is Moneys offices in London from 5 March. We can only reply to selected applicants and the judges decision will be final.

We can only reply to selected applicants and the judges decision will be final.

Good luck!
High Street stalwart the John Lewis Partnership is closing a store in Britain for the first time since 2006.

Knight & Lee & Partners in Southsea, which at 35,000 sq ft is the smallest full line shop in its estate, will be closing in July this year.

The closure means all of the store's 127 staff are at 'risk of redundancy', John Lewis admitted in a statement.

Closure: High Street stalwart John Lewis Partnership is closing a store in the UK for the first time since 2006

'Every effort will be made to find them roles in John Lewis and Waitrose shops in the surrounding area', the group said.

The retailer said the size and condition of the building 'restricts the customer offer.'

The site in Southsea has been run as a shop since at least 1887 and was purchased by John Lewis in 1934.

The store in Southsea is not opening today 'to allow for discussions with Partners and will reopen tomorrow.'

The retailer said it was not planning any further closures at present.

Dino Rocos, Partner & Operations Director said: 'We have not taken this decision lightly and we considered every implication for our Partners, customers and the community.

'However, a unique combination of factors, including the significant investment required and the opportunity to sell the property freehold, makes this the right decision for the financial sustainability of our business.'

The decision to close Southsea's store comes as John Lewis ploughs ahead with its 'strategy update', which includes 'maintaining the existing estate, with some resizing, repurposing or relocating over time.'

The retailer said that Southsea customers will be able to shop online or visit the group's stores in Southampton and Chichester.

Job losses: The closure in Southsea means 127 people are at risk of being made redundant

Earlier this year, Sir Charlie Mayfield, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, outlined the challenges facing reatilers.

He said: 'Two main factors are affecting the retail sector - oversupply of physical space and relatively weak consumer demand.'

Last September, the group admitted its profits for the year would be substantially lower than 2017-18's profit of 289million.

For the six months to 28 July, the group's profits sank by 99 per cent, against a 1.2million profit reported at the same point a year earlier.

Earlier this month, John Lewis dropped a bombshell warning that its annual staff bonus could be quashed for the first time since 1953, amid another hard fought Christmas.

Its 83,000 employees are usually awarded the payout in March, but they may be disappointed this year following slower sales growth and an expectation that profits will be 'substantially lower'.

Outgoing chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield said: 'The board will need to consider carefully in March, following the usual process, whether payment of a bonus is prudent in the light of business and economic prospects at that time.'

In a recent trading update, John Lewis revealed a 1 per cent uplift in sales at the department store chain and a 0.3 per cent rise at Waitrose over the festive period.
Santander UK has announced that it is set to close 140 of its 754 branches (see list below), putting 1,270 jobs at risk.

A number of city centre branches have been slated for closure, including the Birmingham New Street, Coventry High Street and Marylebone High Street branches.

The Spanish-owned banking giant said it had been force to reduce its branch network as customers had increasingly moved to digital banking.

Santander entered the UK market with the purchase of the Abbey National building society in 2004 for 9bn but the building society branches were not rebranded.

Santander said the number of in branch transactions has decreased by 23% in the last 3 years

The bank then bought Alliance & Leicester BS in 2008, followed by the Bradford & Bingley, which had been nationalised during the financial crisis.

These were all rebranded as Santander UK and by 2011 Santander had 1,200 branches across the UK - with multiple branches in most towns and cities.

It immediately embarked on a programme of branch closures that, as of last year, saw its branch network reduced to 754. After these closures it will stand at 614.

Santander today said that the number of transactions that have been carried out via Santander branches has fallen by 23 per cent over the past three years alone, while digital transactions have grown by 99 per cent over the same period.

Santander confirmed that it has consulted its trade unions on the proposed changes and is looking to find alternative roles for the colleagues affected, where possible.

Santander is closing 140 of its branches across the UK - putting 1,270 jobs at risk

It expects to be able to redistribute around a third of these colleagues and said it will closely be supporting them over the coming weeks as the consultation process takes place.

It is also looking to support customers of the closing branches to help find them other ways to bank, that will best suit their needs, including offering to help find them alternative branches.

Furthermore, it will provide individual support to assist customers who may not have tried digital or telephone banking previously and will also work closely with the local Post Office to raise awareness of the services available.

The branches involved in the closures include those that are not visited frequently and those that are in close proximity to another branch.

Susan Allen, Head of Retail and Business Banking, said: 'The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years, with more and more customers using online and mobile channels.

'As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less visited branches, and those where we have other branches in close proximity.

'We will support customers of closing branches to find alternative ways to bank with us that best suit their individual needs.

'We are also working alongside our unions to support colleagues through these changes and to find alternative roles for those impacted wherever possible.

'We continue to believe that branches have a vital role to play and we will be refurbishing 100 of our branches over the next two years.

'We are confident that following these changes we will have the right branch network to serve our customers' changing needs, and we expect the size of our network to remain stable for the foreseeable future.'

According to Which?, almost two thirds of the UK's bank branch network has been closed over the past 30 years.

There were 20,583 banks and building society branches in 1988, according to parliamentary records, but the consumer group's analysis of current account providers suggests the figure has fallen to 7,586 branches.

Big high street lenders, such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, are also closing branches to reduce costs and deal with customers' changing banking habits, as well as deal with increasing competition from digital only banks, such as Starling and Monzo.

However, the branch closures mean people are having to travel long distances in order to access both financial services and cash.

Below is a list of all the branch closures set to take place later this year and the date on which they are due to shut.

SANTANDER BRANCES CLOSURES WITH DATE OF CLOSURES Branch Date of closure Branch Date of closure Aberdeen George Street 07-Nov-19 Kirkcaldy High Street 13-Jun-19 Acton 27-Jun-19 Knutsford 06-Jun-19 Aldershot 16-May-19 Lanark 04-Jul-19 Alloa 06-Jun-19 Leather Lane 12-Dec-19 Amersham 20-Jun-19 Leeds Street Lane 04-Jul-19 Ammanford 30-May-19 Leicester Evington Road 13-Jun-19 Antrim 30-May-19 Leicester Uppingham Road 09-May-19 Axminster 02-May-19 Liverpool Church Street 07-Nov-19 Aylsham 04-Jul-19 Llangefni 04-Jul-19 Ballymoney 16-May-19 Ludgate Circus 27-Jun-19 Bathgate George Street 25-Apr-19 Lymington 25-Jul-19 Belfast Newtownards Road 20-Jun-19 Manchester Cross Street 05-Dec-19 Berkhamsted 20-Jun-19 Marylebone High Street 16-May-19 Bideford 25-Apr-19 Middleton 25-Jul-19 Birmingham New Street 25-Jul-19 Monmouth 30-May-19 Birmingham Acocks Green 02-May-19 Morden 09-May-19 Birstall 27-Jun-19 Newmarket 30-May-19 Boscombe Christchurch Road 13-Jun-19 North Shields 09-May-19 Brechin 09-May-19 Northwood 16-May-19 Brixham 30-May-19 Norwich St Stephens Street 12-Dec-19 Broadstone 09-May-19 Nottingham 2 Clumber Street 12-Dec-19 Burnley Briercliffe Road 27-Jun-19 Oakham 25-Apr-19 Buxton 27-Jun-19 Otley 16-May-19 Chandlers Ford 11-Jul-19 Oxted 16-May-19 Cheam 06-Jun-19 Parkstone 18-Jul-19 Clapham High Street 02-May-19 Pembroke 09-May-19 Cleethorpes 04-Jul-19 Penarth 02-May-19 Clitheroe 25-Apr-19 Plymouth New George Street 05-Dec-19 Coalville 11-Jul-19 Portobello Road 25-Jul-19 Cockermouth 02-May-19 Portslade 23-May-19 Cockfosters 16-May-19 Purley 20-Jun-19 Colchester Culver Street West 07-Nov-19 Queensway 25-Apr-19 Corby 25-Apr-19 Ramsbottom 20-Jun-19 Coventry High Street 07-Nov-19 Rayners Lane 04-Jul-19 Crosby 13-Jun-19 Reigate 13-Jun-19 Crouch End 04-Jul-19 Renfrew 18-Jul-19 Devizes 16-May-19 Ripon 06-Jun-19 Didcot 04-Jul-19 Romsey 18-Jul-19 Dorchester 27-Jun-19 Ryde 06-Jun-19 Dorking 18-Jul-19 Selby Market Cross 16-May-19 Driffield 30-May-19 Selsdon 25-Jul-19 East Sheen 25-Jul-19 Shoreham 02-May-19 Eastcote 25-Apr-19 Shrewsbury High Street 05-Dec-19 Edinburgh Leith Walk 09-May-19 Sidmouth 20-Jun-19 Edinburgh 194-196 Morningside Road 12-Dec-19 Skipton High Street 18-Jul-19 Egham 30-May-19 South Woodham Ferrers 02-May-19 Epping 06-Jun-19 Southend High Street 07-Nov-19 Esher 27-Jun-19 St Andrews 02-May-19 Feltham 11-Jul-19 Stanmore 02-May-19 Fleetwood 27-Jun-19 Stowmarket 25-Jul-19 Forfar 25-Jul-19 Swiss Cottage 09-May-19 Four Oaks 09-May-19 Tavistock 23-May-19 Gainsborough 13-Jun-19 Tonypandy 11-Jul-19 Gerrards Cross 23-May-19 Totnes 27-Jun-19 Glasgow Forge Shopping Centre 27-Jun-19 Troon 18-Jul-19 Glasgow Springburn Shopping Centre 20-Jun-19 Ulverston 30-May-19 Godalming 06-Jun-19 Upminster 13-Jun-19 Goole 13-Jun-19 Wandsworth 30-May-19 Gracechurch Street 25-Apr-19 Ware 11-Jul-19 Guildford High Street 12-Dec-19 Watford Harlequin Centre 07-Nov-19 Hadleigh 23-May-19 Wealdstone 20-Jun-19 Haslemere 25-Apr-19 West Ealing 09-May-19 Havant 25-Jul-19 West Kirby 20-Jun-19 Heathfield 13-Jun-19 Wetherby 16-May-19 Helensburgh 25-Apr-19 Windermere 23-May-19 Henley-On-Thames 30-May-19 Wisbech 02-May-19 Holt 13-Jun-19 Woodley 04-Jul-19 Hythe 06-Jun-19 Worcester Park 20-Jun-19 Keynsham 04-Jul-19 Workington 06-Jun-19 Kingswinford 06-Jun-19 Yeadon 25-Jul-19




The Ombudsman's head Caroline Wayman sought to defend the service in front of MPs

Three times as many cases are waiting to be heard by the UKs Financial Ombudsman Service than there had been in 2016 despite the organisation's restructuring, it has been revealed.

MPs on the Treasury Select Committee were told by a whistleblower that 30,000 people were still waiting to have their cases assigned to an investigator, while its chief executive admitted to politicians that as many as 8,000 consumers were still waiting for a decision on their cases.

The committee has launched an inquiry into the ombudsman, partly in response to a Channel 4 Dispatches programme in March 2018.

FOS employees admitted in the documentary to rushing through cases to meet targets, and to ruling in favour of banks as it was easier than persuading them to pay compensation.

This is Money also revealed in 2017 that employees of the organisation  the final stop for consumer complaints about financial firms  were leaving negative reviews about the service.

On job website Glassdoor, the FOS received 34 one star ratings between January and April 2017 and eight two star ratings, while no employee past or present rated it five stars. Three in five of those who reviewed the watchdog since the start of 2017 were current employees at the time they left those reviews.

One wrote that the service is blindly chasing productivity gains while treating employees badly, and has well and truly lost its way.

Caroline Wayman, the ombudsmans chief executive, did not deny the whistleblowers claims when questioned by MPs, but sought to defend the FOSs record.

She said the organisation typically deals with about 100,000 core disputes each year, but it had recorded 50,000 more complaints about payday lenders from consumers in the past year, partly driven by the collapse of Wonga.

It also expects to hear 10,000 claims following TSBs IT meltdown last year.

Last year, according to the ombudsmans official figures, it received almost 340,000 complaints and resolved more than 400,000.

Had we had stable demand we would not have any wait times, Wayman told MPs. She added that the backlog is a straightforward function of getting a lot more cases.

Rushanara Ali, the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow who sits on the committee, said: Something has got to give. Potentially, therell be more technology failures and it just does not inspire confidence unless you address where the issues are, recognising that demand is not necessarily going to go down.
Justice Chris Garrett, Willamette Law adjunct professor and former Oregon Court of Appeals judge, is the newest member of the Oregon Supreme Court. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced his appointment Dec. 24, and Garrett began his new job Jan. 1.

Garrett replaced retiring Justice Rives Kistler. In a press release about the appointment, Gov. Brown praised Garrett for being talented, thoughtful and even-keeled, and bringing a brilliant mind and collegial style to the court.

In addition to his work at the Supreme Court, Garrett will continue to teach at Willamette Law, where Dean Curtis Bridgeman says he has been a wonderful contributor as both a mentor and a teacher.

His Legislation and Regulation course is one of the more popular upper-level courses, Bridgeman says. The students praise his teaching both in class and outside of class, and he is known for his caring and approachable manner.

A lifelong Oregonian, Garrett earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Reed College in 1996. He attended the University of Chicago Law School, graduating in 2000. Before his appointment to the Oregon Court of Appeals in 2013, Garrett practiced civil litigation privately with Portland firm Perkins Coie and served as a state representative for Lake Oswego and Southwest Portland.

While on the Appeals Court, Garrett wrote the decision in Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, which upheld a $135,000 fine given to Aaron and Melissa Klein, bakery owners who declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

With his new position, Garrett doesnt come into the job with any specific goals. Rather, he hopes to learn and listen to his colleagues.

Over time, I hope to make the best contribution I can make to the development of law and administration of justice in the state.
Tesco and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) suffered an embarrassing defeat after the supermarket's former finance boss was cleared over a 250million accounting scandal.

Carl Rogberg had been accused of manipulating Tesco's figures to meet targets and make the firm look more financially robust than it was.

But the SFO dropped their case yesterday.

Charges dropped: Carl Rogberg had been accused of manipulating Tesco's figures to meet financial targets and make the company look more financially robust than it was

In a searing attack on the steps of Southwark Crown Court, Rogberg, 52, said: 'The trial has had enormous consequences on my health and exemplary career, as well as for my wife, my son, my family and my friends.

I have serious questions for Tesco and the SFO about the way this case has been handled. The circumstances were never properly investigated by Tesco from the outset.

'The SFO uncritically adopted Tesco's approach. They failed to carry out a professional investigation and made fundamental errors. Truth and justice were abandoned for their commercial imperatives.'

Rogberg is the final director to be cleared after ex-colleagues Chris Bush and John Scouler were acquitted in December.

But Tesco has forked out 129million to the SFO as part of a so-called deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), a type of punishment without conviction.

It has also agreed to pay 3million for investigation costs.

The scandal emerged in 2014 when new chief executive Dave Lewis discovered a 250million black hole in Tesco's accounts.

The acquittal is a major blow for the SFO which has suffered a string of failures in recent years.

Lisa Osofsky, its director said: 'Tesco Stores Limited dishonestly created a false account of its financial position by overstating its profits.

'The DPA clearly outlines the extent of this criminal conduct for which the company has accepted full responsibility.'
The bright lights of Metro Bank may be pulling in customers, but they failed to entice investors as the High Street lender reported disappointing results and admitted an accounting slip-up.

The nine-year-old firm, whose 66 branches more closely resemble swanky hotel lobbies than traditional banks, disclosed that the accounting error meant it did not have enough capital backing some of its commercial loans.

It miscalculated the weighting for riskiness given to some of its commercial property and other specialist loans, meaning more money must be set aside to fund them, though Metro emphasised it still had enough money to cover its back in the event of another financial crisis.

Shareholders were also disappointed with Metro Bank's full-year profit guidance for 2018, which at 50million was 15 per cent lower than analysts' forecasts.

Metro miscalculated the weighting for riskiness given to some of its commercial property and other specialist loans, meaning more money must be set aside to fund them

Even though loans to customers climbed by 48 per cent to 14.2billion, deposits rose by 34 per cent to 15.7billion and customer numbers were still on the rise, shares plummeted 38.9 per cent, or 857p, to 1345p.

Competition in the mortgage market was particularly intense, the bank said, echoing several of its peers.

Analysts speculated that Metro may now have to run to shareholders for more cash, after completing a 300million share placing only last July.

Metro declined to comment on that, but said more details on its financial state would follow in full-year results in February.

By contrast, FTSE 250 technology firm Computacenter climbed 10.6 per cent, or 108p, to 1126p.

Stock Watch - Learning Technologies A sparkling update from digital education business Learning Technologies has done little for its share price. It said on Tuesday that revenue would be up from 52.1million to 94million in 2018, while profit would be significantly ahead of expectations at 26.5million. There was some weakness in the content and services branch, where revenue slid 8 per cent, but it noted prior year results had been particularly strong. Investors seemed to hope for more, as shares fell 11.1 per cent, or 9.6p, to 76.8p.

The IT consulting company, whose customers have included the NHS and Heathrow Airport, exceeded the slow-and-steady expectations it guided towards a year ago.

Profits for 2018, set to be reported in March, would be 'marginally ahead' of predictions.

It has been a bright spot on London's tech scene, as cybersecurity firm Sophos warned of subdued performance last week and numbers from Micro Focus next month are expected to be lacklustre.

Sanne Group was another big loser, as it said it would wave goodbye to 'exceptional' boss Dean Godwin.

The business, which helps investment firms with their administration, said he would step down after seven years at the helm to retire from the sector.

Under his tenure, both Sanne's revenue and profit grew by over 600 per cent. But yesterday shares plummeted by 17.7 per cent, or 97p, to 450p.

A melee of pub groups also rushed to update investors. Young & Co's climbed 0.3 per cent, or 5p, to 1480p as it bought Redcomb Pubs for 34million. After adding on the 15 new sites in London and the South West, it will now operate a 270-strong estate.

Wetherspoon reminded shareholders that profit for the six months to January 27, was set to be lower than a year earlier. Even so, like-for-like sales in the 25 weeks to January 20 rose 6.3 per cent.

Chairman Tim Martin said: 'Costs, as previously indicated, are considerably higher than the previous year, especially labour, which has increased about 30million in the period, but also in other areas including interest, utilities, repairs and depreciation.' Its shares dipped 0.3 per cent, or 3p, to 1193p.

Marston's fortunes took a turn for the worse. The pub group, which brews Pedigree and Hobgoblin, sank 4.8 per cent, or 4.9p, to 97.9p on announcing its like-for-like sales grew by just 1.4 per cent in the 16 weeks to January 19.

To reduce its debt by 200million to 1.2billion by 2023, it is slashing its investment and selling 80million to 90million of non-essential assets.

The FTSE 100 had a smoother day, but still ended down 0.9 per cent, or 58.51 points, at 6842.88.
Shares in Burberry have slipped this morning, despite the group posting a rise in sales in the three months to 29 December.

The luxury fashion retailer said it had successfully 'built brand heat' over its campaigns and attracted endorsements from 'key influencers' for its clothing lines.

The group said like-for-like global sales rose by 1 per cent over the period, with mainland China seeing a 'mid-single' digit increase.

Sales update: Shares in Burberry have slipped this morning, despite the group posting a rise in sales

The welcome sales boost from the Chinese market comes amid slowing growth in China and fears of a sharp correction as the threat of a trade war with the US weighs on consumer and market sentiment.

Shares in FTSE 100 listed Burberry are down 2.20 per cent or 39.00p to 1,737.00p this morning.

Chief executive Marco Gobbetti said: 'I am pleased with our progress in the quarter as we continued to build brand heat around our new creative vision and shift consumer perception of Burberry.

'Excitement is growing ahead of next month's launch of Riccardo's debut collection. We will continue to manage the business dynamically as we reposition the brand. We confirm our outlook for the full year.'

Growth: Burberry said like-for-like global sales rose by 1 per cent in the third quarter

In its latest update, Burberry said it saw a consistent performance across all its regions, with the division including Europe also seeing a 'small' improvement in tourist spending quarter on quarter.

But US sales were hit by falling numbers of shoppers hitting the stores in its third quarter.

The group has maintained its full-year forecasts, including 100million worth of annual cost savings.

In the Christmas quarter, Burberry said total retail revenues fell 1 per cent on a reported basis and dropped 2 per cent with currency movements stripped out.

The retailer is in the midst of a major overhaul which is seeing it close some shops and pull out of department stores as it targets high-end shoppers.

The group is also revamping stores, with 10 due to be completed by the end of its financial year.

Summing up how it boosted sales over the last quarter, Burberry said in today's update: '[We] built brand heat through Festive campaign, Vivienne Westwood collaboration and B-Series product drops.'

The group added: '[We] continued to shift consumer perceptions of the brand, driving increases in digital engagement and endorsement from key influencers.'

At the end of last year, globally Burberry had 237 retail stores, 151 concessions, 52 outlets and 46 franchise stores, excluding pop up stores.

Preliminary results for the year will be published on 16 May.

Global reach: At the end of last year, globally Burberry had 237 retail stores

Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said: 'Management have kept their full year guidance and still expect to deliver cumulative cost savings of 100mn.

'Evident from the update were details on how the organisation is utilising digital channels through its heavy presence on social media platforms and the use of social influencers both in the Western World but also their largest and most important Chinese market.'

'While the management point to hopes on the new collections and its digital marketing success, the current macro environment should sound a note of caution for investors,' he continued.

'Its key Chinese market is slowing and many analysts still highlight the fact it is still overvalued based of forward P/E ratios. We continue with our 'Hold' recommendation for investors seeking growth and willing to accept a medium level of risk.'
The acquittal of the third former Tesco executive Carl Rogberg over involvement in an alleged 250million accounting scandal is bound to be seen as another damaging setback for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Rogberg and his expensive City law firm Norton Rose Fulbright lost no time in firing both barrels at the SFO and Tesco.

He described the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), under which Tesco agreed to pay a 129million penalty, as a 'worthless and dishonest piece of paper' and suggested the fine was 'needlessly paid'.

former Tesco executive Carl Rogberg over involvement in an alleged 250m accounting scandal is bound to be seen as another damaging setback for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The executive, who has had serious health issues, has the right to feel aggrieved as his whole world has been turned upside down.

But there is no escaping the facts that forensic accountants uncovered a black hole in Tesco accounts and, as Rogberg acknowledges in his statement, the fiasco has been extremely damaging for employees, shareholders and pension funds.

Much of the opprobrium will now fall on the SFO and its new, US battle-hardened legal warrior Lisa Osofsky who inherited a case file dating back to 2014.

The acquittal of the three executives, including Rogberg's colleagues Christopher Bush and John Scouler, will certainly raise questions as to whether evidence collected for the DPAs can be effectively used against individuals.

The SFO and many big companies support DPAs because they allow the decks to be cleared much more speedily.

Osofsky is known to have reservations about the present conduct of financial justice in the UK. In the American judicial system white collar prosecutors are required to bring cases within 30 months, which injects more urgency into the pursuit of alleged offenders.

She is also concerned about the backlog of cases at Southwark Crown Court and the knowledge base of some judges.

Sir Brian Leveson, the scourge of press freedom, is regarded as the exemplar of well-conducted cases and brilliantly argued judgments when it comes to financial fraud.

Finally, and most critically, legislation needs to catch up with financial wrongdoing. In recent times the law has been updated and made fit for purpose in tracking down and prosecuting corporate bribery and dealing with money laundering.

But faulty, false or fraudulent accounting, of the kind that allegedly may have occurred at Patisserie Valerie, Carillion and in many other firms is fiendishly difficult to prosecute because of outdated laws.

A Government less preoccupied with Brexit would be well advised to put better laws on its to-do list if the reputation of free market capitalism is to be protected.

Growing pains

The increasing presence of Metro Bank on Britain's high streets, at a time when the dominant players are ruthlessly slashing branches, is much appreciated.

Long opening hours, weekend trading and advanced technology, which allows customers to print off lost credit/debit cards on the spot, are terrific.

When I recently paid a courtesy visit to chief executive Craig Donaldson, at the Kensington branch in London, I was reassured that Metro's lending practices were scrupulously conservative.

So it is shocking to discover that the bank which describes customers as 'fans' and its managers as 'growth retailers' has managed to get the risk rating on commercial loans wrong.

All those who lived through the financial crisis of a decade ago will know how quickly banks which pump out loans carelessly end up in the sin bin or worse.

At Metro, the lending errors mean a sharp decline in its capital cushion, stunting future expansion. The obvious answer for a growing enterprise might be to boost capital through fundraising.

But having raised 300million last July there is unlikely to be much appetite. A 39 per cent drop yesterday in the share price of a bank, where confidence is everything, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be a good thing.

Speaking up

Jolly good that David Cumming of Aviva Investors has gone public with disappointment that plastic packaging group RPC is selling itself to private equity outfit Apollo too cheaply.

He thinks the premium of 15.6 per cent doesn't recognise the growth value of the stock.

Perhaps he could now publicly distance long-term investor Aviva from the efforts of its favourite corporate raider, Ed Bramson, to wreak havoc at Barclays.
The daily pill Donald Trump takes to combat baldness cuts the risk of developing prostate cancer by a quarter, a major study has found.

Results of a 20-year study published today revealed the drug Finasteride has a major preventative impact on prostate cancer.

The pills are already widely taken in the UK and the US to combat male pattern baldness.

But the new study suggests they could also become the first medication to prevent prostate cancer before it strikes, in the same way as statins are used to prevent heart attacks.

Donald Trump is one of millions of men who take the drug for hair loss. But Finasteride is also used to decrease prostate size and possibly help to prevent prostate cancer. There was some controversy over whether the drug increased the risk. But a new study by Texas researchers found it to be safe and effective

The Daily Mail is campaigning for an urgent improvement of prostate cancer treatments and diagnosis, which are lagging years behind other diseases such as breast cancer.

Researchers at the University of Texas today said that men at high risk of prostate cancer - such as those who elevated levels of 'PSA' proteins in blood test - should be prescribed the drugs to lower their chances of developing the disease.

Study leader Dr Ian Thompson, whose team have tracked nearly 19,000 men since 1997, said: 'Finasteride is safe, inexpensive, and effective as a preventive strategy for prostate cancer.

'Doctors should share these results with men who get regular prostate-specific antigen [PSA] tests that screen for the presence of prostate cancer.

'The drug will have its greatest effect in this group of men.'

More than 3million prescriptions of Finasteride are already issued every year by the NHS in England  and many more are bought privately to tackle hair loss. In the US, about 8million a year take it for prostate issues, and 1.2million for hair loss.

As well as being used to prevent baldness the drug is also prescribed for enlarged prostate, a benign but very common problem which causes repetitive night-time visits to the bathroom.

The drug works by blocking the action of hormones such as testosterone.

FINASTERIDE'S LINKS TO MENTAL ILLNESS 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. Researchers at Western University examined finasteride and dutasteride, another 5ARI, in 2017. '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. Advertisement

But it has never been licensed to prevent prostate cancer because the US team's early results, published in 2003, suggested it increased the number of high-grade prostate cancers - a finding that resulted in a drug label warning posted by the Food and Drug Administration.

The new results, however, shows those fears were premature.

A paper summarising 20 years of data, published in the respected New England Journal of Medicine, found there was no statistically significant risk of aggressive prostate cancer - and the chance of developing all prostate cancer went down 25 per cent.

British experts last night greeted the findings with caution - stressing that the drug appeared to mainly stop the low-grade tumours that probably would not actually kill someone.

They pointed out that while the chance of getting prostate cancer at all fell significantly - the chance of dying was not cut at all.

But Dr Thompson argued that sparing men from low-grade prostate cancer is also hugely beneficial, because it means they do not have to go through gruelling surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

'There are significant negative consequences to patients' health and quality of life that can result from prostate cancer treatment, as well as to their finances and their peace of mind,' he said.

'If we can save people from surgeries, and scores of examinations and tests, and spare them from living for years with fear, we should.

'The best-case scenario for patients is prevention, and this trial has found an inexpensive medication that gets us there.'

Dr Matthew Hobbs, acting director of research at Prostate Cancer UK stressed the drug still comes with side effects - including depression and sexual dysfunction.

'Research into how to prevent prostate cancer is absolutely crucial if we are to reduce deaths from the disease, and forms a key part of Prostate Cancer UK's own research strategy,' he said.

'However, it is unlikely that the drug finasteride will be the magic bullet that many will be hoping for.'

He added: 'Although these findings appear to indicate that taking finasteride gave men a reduced chance of developing prostate cancer, it did not have an impact on the chance of developing the aggressive prostate cancers that go on to cause harm, and it also didn't reduce the number of deaths from the disease.

'Without evidence of these meaningful benefits, and knowing that finasteride also comes with side effects, we wouldn't advocate its use as a preventative for prostate cancer on the basis of this research.

'Finasteride is however an effective treatment for men with a non-cancerous enlarged prostate and its use in this setting should not change as a result of this research.'
Patients readmitted to the hospital from firearm injuries are costing the US $86million a year, a new study had found.

More than 32,000 people die and more than 67,000 people are injured by firearms each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Examining six years of national data, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine in California found that 15.6 percent of patients with gun injuries are readmitted within six months of their initial discharge.

The average bill for an inpatient hospital stay was $32,700, with readmission accounting for nearly 10 percent of the cost.

The team says its findings shed a light on how costly firearm injuries are and says that implementing policy changes - such as strengthening background checks - could help drive down both injuries and costs.

A new study has found that the average bill for an inpatient hospital stay was $32,700 with readmission accounting for nearly 10 percent of the cost (file image)

'We end up as a society paying a huge amount for these injuries,' said lead author Sarabeth Spitzer, a fourth-year medical student at Stanford.

'These numbers draw attention to the fact there are consequences we all face when people are injured by guns.'

When a bullet enters the body it can rip tissue, splinter bones and dislocate limbs.

Additionally, a bullet can fragment after impact and spread throughout the body.

If bullets have exit wounds, they typically contain less damage than bullets that stay inside the body and continue to damage and destroy tissue.

For this new study, published in PLOS ONE, the team wanted to look deeper at how much these injuries cost healthcare systems.

Researchers looked at data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's Nationwide Readmissions Database.

They studied more than 155,000 patients between 2010 and 2015 and found that 15.6 percent were readmitted at least once within six months of their original discharge.

Half of these readmissions were within 30 days from when they were first released.

Researchers found a few factors that raised the risk of readmission including: patients who are older, had severe injuries or had longer hospitals stays.

When it came to insurance, patients under Medicare were the most likely to be readmitted, followed by those under Medicaid.

A 2017 study also from Stanford found that patients under Medicaid, which covers people with low incomes, were most likely to end up in a hospital with a gun injury due to assault.

That wasn't the case for patients under Medicare, mostly covering seniors and people with disabilities: one-fourth of them were victims of assault. Another fourth suffered self-inflicted injuries.

Researchers suspect Medicaid patients are poorer and more likely to be victims of attempted homicides while Medicare patients are more likely to commit self-inflicted injuries, such as suicide.

Patients who paid for their hospital costs out-of-pocket were the least likely to be readmitted for a gun injury, which Spitzer suggests may be because patients' medical bills are so high that they either don't have the funds or can't face another hefty bill.

The average readmission charge for a patient paying out-of-pocket was more than $49,000, the study found.

'Most live in zip codes where the population has incomes lower than average,' Spitzer said. 'We do not necessarily think their injuries are less severe. It could be that they don't seek care in circumstances where other patients, who are covered by insurance, would take advantage of that health insurance.'

During the six-year period that the study covered, of the total $5.47 billion in hospitalization costs, Medicaid paid for $2.1 billion and Medicare contributed $89 billion.

Both private insurance companies and patients paying out-of-pocket each paid $1.1 billion.

The average bill for a patient with a gun injury amounted to $32,700 with readmission accounting for nearly 10 percent of the cost.

Spitzer said the findings don't even cover costs patients face when they leave the hospital such as prescription medications and rehabilitation.
In August 2014, 37-year-old Tiffany Tate suffered a stroke while she was at work.

She was just 0.2 miles away from one of the top-ranked stroke centers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - a three-minute drive - but her ambulance didn't take her there.

Instead, the mother-of-two was taken to a hospital three miles away - an eight-minute drive - that provided limited stroke care.

Doctors were unable to treat her stoke and she was eventually placed in a nursing home. Four months after her stroke, Tate died.

Her death is now shining a light on a controversial practice in which patients in ambulances are turned away from ERs that deem themselves too busy.

An investigation from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that so-called ambulance diversion still occurs in some of the nation's largest cities, often leading to fatal consequences.

Tiffany Tate, 37 (pictured, right, with her daughter Octayvia Fountain), from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, suffered a stroke in August 2014 while at work at the Medical College of Wisconsin

The cafeteria was 0.2 miles away from Froedtert Hospital, one of the best-ranked stroke care centers in the state. But Froedtert was on ambulance diversion, so Tate (left and right) was taken to a hospital with more limited care that was three miles away

On the morning of her stroke, Tate was at work at the cafeteria at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, reported the Journal Sentinel.

Around 8.15 am, she began showing the first signs, including slurred speech and left-sided facial droopiness. Paramedics didn't arrive until nearly 45 minutes later.

The cafeteria was on the grounds of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center and 0.2 miles away from Froedtert Hospital, one of the best-ranked stroke care centers in the state

Froedtert was just a seven-minute walk and a three-minute drive away. But she wasn't taken there.

The ambulance took her to Aurora West Allis Medical Center, which was about three miles away - an eight-minute drive and an hour-and-nine minute walk.

She arrived at 9.23am, more than an hour after she showed her first signs of the stroke.

Tate was victim to a practice first introduced in the 1980s known as ambulance diversion.

When hospitals determine they are too busy to see any additional patients, they temporarily close their emergency departments to incoming ambulances.

That means an ambulance may not always take a patient to the nearest available hospital.

In the US, under federal law, patients who arrive in the emergency room are required to be treated - but the law does not apply should you arrive in an ambulance.

HOW CAN F.A.S.T. SAVE YOU DURING A STROKE? The main symptoms of stroke can be remembered with the word F.A.S.T. This will help you more quickly identify someone having a stroke. Face: Ask the person to smile and see if their mouth or eye droops

Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. They may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness

Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase and see if their speech is slurred or garbled

Time: If you observe any of these signs or symptoms, it's time to call 911 immediately Source: National Stroke Association Advertisement

Doctors at West Allis tried to administer a drug that breaks up clots via an IV but stopped when bleeding was detected in her brain.

The Journal Sentinel reported that the hospital's policy was to transfer patients suffering a serious stroke to a hospital with more advanced care: Froedtert, Aurora St Luke's Medical Center or St Mary's Hospital.

Because Froedtert was on diversion, hospital staff determined St Luke's - which was five miles away - was the closest.

By the time a private ambulance arrived to transfer her, she was unconscious.

She didn't arrive until 11.55am, nearly four hours after her stroke occurred.

There, doctors tried to use a small catheter to remove the clot, but they were unsuccessful.

They also tried to remove part of her skull to relieve the pressure from the bleeding in her brain.

Nothing worked. The effects of the stroke couldn't be reversed.

Tate was first transferred to a long-term care facility and then a nursing home in Glendale - about 12 miles away from Milwaukee.

She died on December 9, nearly four months after she first suffered her stroke.

Dr Maria Raven, an emergency medicine physician University of California San Francisco, told the Journal Sentinel that the ambulance should have been allowed to take Tate to Froedtert.

'To my mind, they shouldn't be a Comprehensive Stroke Center if they can close,' she said. 'Either you can be one or can't be. People can't control when they have their stroke.'

Froedtert began its diversion at around 2am, only allowing exception for women in labor and trauma victims. It didn't lift until after 7pm, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Doctors later sent Tate (pictured) to a more advanced center, but the stroke caused irreversible damage. Tate was transferred to long-term care facility and then a nursing home, where she died in December 2014

Ambulance diversion occurs when hospitals determine they are too busy and temporarily close their emergency departments to incoming ambulances. On the day of Tate's stroke, Froedtert (pictured) was on diversion from 2am to 7pm

The newspaper found that six other hospitals in Milwaukee went on diversion for at least part of the day - even though the practice ended in Milwaukee County in 2016.

Additionally, its investigation found that 16 of the 25 largest cities in the US allow some form of ambulance diversion.

This can lead to devastating consequences.

A 2017 study from the University of California at San Francisco found that black patients were more likely to die than white patients from a heart attacks because hospitals in minority neighborhoods were more likely to be in diversion.

It can never be known if Tate would have survived if she had gone to Froedtert, but both her family and doctors believed her chance of survival would have increased.

'Why are they turning away ambulance patients when people like my sister are having a stroke?' her brother, David Tate, told the Journal Sentinel.

'It didn't make any sense to me. Damn, she was at Froedtert. She works there. She was right there.'
A painful lump on the forehead may, for most of us, be a sign we've banged our head on the kitchen cupboard.

But for one woman who recently returned from a holiday in Uganda, a red swelling on her hairline turned out to be a pair of maggots living under her skin.

The 55-year-old went to hospital with swelling on her head, which doctors thought was an infected insect bite, so they sent her home with antibiotics.

But three days later she returned with 'shooting pains' in her face. The swelling had also spread down to her eyes.

Medics conducted tests and found a maggot burrowed inside her forehead. Further scans then revealed another was still there.

The unnamed woman, who went to hospital in York because of pain and swelling spreading across her forehead, was found to have two maggots buried into the skin on her face

They removed both maggots and the woman made a full recovery from her 'rare' ordeal, which begun after she wrapped a towel with fly eggs on it round her head.

The patient went to hospital while suffering concerning symptoms after a trek through a rainforest in Kibale National Park, Uganda.

The swelling continued to get worse after her first visit to a hospital in York, and she was kept as an inpatient for four days when she returned.

The woman, whose name is not known, had the first insect removed after it was smothered with petroleum jelly.

But an ultrasound scan afterwards revealed one maggot remaining under her forehead skin near the hairline, doctors said in the British Medical Journal Case Reports.

In this instance, medics cut open the skin to remove the creature and clean out the wound.

'I returned to hospital after phoning up to say my symptoms had got worse/my face more swollen and I was in great pain,' the patient said.

'I was seen quickly and admitted to the maxillofacial ward where they were just greatextremely helpful.

'I have previously been used to having lots of things running through my mind  ideas, particularly, would often pop out [but] maggots were a first!'

Once the larvae had been removed they were sent to the London School of Tropical Medicine, where experts identified them as Lund's fly offspring.

Myiasis  infection with maggots  from Lund's flies is rare, they said, with only one other case being recorded since 2015.

Doctors covered the site where the first maggot was living under her skin  a condition known as myiasis  with petroleum jelly, then removed the creature

The maggot was sent to the London School of Tropical Medicine, where experts confirmed it was the larva of a Lund's fly, which do not commonly make it under the skin of people

And it was also rare for the larvae to burrow into the forehead because fly eggs are usually transferred to the skin of the legs or abdomen on clothing.

The woman revealed she had wrapped her head in a damp towel which had been left outside, on which doctors believe a fly had laid its eggs.

In myiasis cases fly eggs usually get under someone's skin through a small surface wound like a scratch or graze, then develop into maggots before dropping off on their own.

'Also, a friend of my son who joined us in Uganda had the same infestation on his back when he left to come home to UK.

'But the walk-in centre in London where he lives did not believe the lump on his back was anything more than an infected bite. He also had a maggot which came out when he took the Elastoplast off!'

The doctors said the lesson in this patient's case was to always take into account a patient's recent travelling history.

Although the woman's case was unlikely, delayed diagnosis could cause extra pain and inconvenience, they said.
A man who went to hospital after seeing desktop icons jump out at him from his computer screen turned out to be harbouring a deadly brain tumour.

The unnamed 54-year-old was diagnosed with the rare Alice in Wonderland syndrome when he explained his visual disturbances to doctors.

Named after the hallucinogenic world of Lewis Carroll's novel, Alice in Wonderland syndrome alters how people see their own body or space and objects around them.

In this case, a potentially fatal cancer in the patient's brain was pressing on the area which controls vision and producing his peculiar symptoms.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome is so named because patients reportedly have a distorted view of their own body and their surroundings, as Alice does when her body both shrinks and grows larger in the Lewis Carroll novel and Disney film (pictured)

The man, believed to have gone to a hospital in Rome, told doctors he saw icons on his computer screen moving slowly out of the screen towards him.

They would hover there, between his face and the computer, for around 10 minutes before disappearing off to his right side, according to medical journal Neurocase.

He also noticed his senses were not working as well as usual, and he had a 'pulsating, intense headache', felt sick and experienced pain in bright light.

After being transferred to the neurology department the man had an MRI which revealed he had a high-grade glioma  a fast spreading and deadly brain tumour.

Doctors believe this is the first case of Alice in Wonderland syndrome being caused by a tumour in this way.

The condition is usually associated with epilepsy, drug use, migraines, psychiatric diseases or brain infections, according to the authors of the report.

But cancer causing damage to, and putting pressure on, parts of the brain 'can present any kind of neurological symptom, depending on where the tumour is located,' New York University's Dr Sylvia Kurz told LiveScience.

The man's MRI revealed he had an inch-long (2.5cm) tumour in the left temporal-occipital region of his brain.

This was revealed to be a glioblastoma, which are known to be aggressive and difficult to treat  the average survival after diagnosis is 12 to 18 months.

The left temporal-occipital part of the brain is at the back of the head and is involved in visual processing, explaining why a tumour there affected the man's vision.

He received laser therapy to destroy the tumour, as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

He needed a second operation approximately a year later when the tumour grew back in the same place, but has since recovered without a trace of the cancer 20 months after the Alice in Wonderland incident.

Dr Kurz, who was not involved in treating the patient, added: 'Even if a patient has a long-standing history of headaches, if there's something new about a headache or something that has never occurred with this headache, it always warrants a very thorough evaluation.

'And the most detailed evaluation of the brain from an imaging perspective is really a brain MRI scan.'
Her parents, Brogan Thomas and Connor Merritt, are warning other parents

She was diagnosed with eczema herpeticum, caused by the herpes virus

Kaylah Merritt, one years old, was covered in a painful rash all over her body

A baby spent four days fighting for her life in hospital with herpes after a family member with a cold sore kissed her.

Kaylah Merritt, one years old, was covered in a painful purple rash all over her body before being diagnosed with eczema herpeticum, caused by the herpes simplex virus.

Her terrified parents, Brogan Thomas and Connor Merritt, from Darlington, County Durham, rushed Kaylah, who was crying in pain, to A&E.

Kaylah needed two rounds of antibiotics and several different creams to soothe her skin, but it could have progressed to become 'fatal', doctors said.

After the unnamed person's cold sore almost cost the life of Kaylah, who is still recovering now, her parents, both 22, are issuing a warning to others.

Kaylah Merritt, one years old, was covered in a painful rash all over her body before being diagnosed with eczema herpeticum

Parents, Brogan Thomas and Connor Merritt, from Darlington, County Durham, rushed their baby to A&E after seeing the rash develop when a family member with a cold sore kissed her

Stay-at-home mother Miss Thomas said: 'When the doctors told me how dangerous it was I cried and cried thinking how I could have lost her due to a silly kiss.

'Connor was shocked and couldn't believe all this was down to a kiss too.

'If we hadn't gone to the hospital quickly, it could have been very dangerous, we could have lost her.'

When Kaylah developed the rash, Miss Thomas and her fiance recognised that their baby's cries were different.

They were also concerned because Kaylah previously had contracted meningitis and needed a lumbar puncture to survive.

Miss Thomas said: 'Kaylah was crying so hard, I knew it could only mean she was in pain.

'We were at home and I was about to put her in the bath when I suddenly saw all the marks on her legs.

'It was an awful nightmare, there were purple rashes everywhere and Kaylah was sobbing her heart out.

'I was terrified, my first thought was it had something to do with meningitis because she had it before.'

She added: 'My fiance was petrified, but he kept me calm and made sure Kaylah was calm too. I instantly knew we had to take her to the hospital.

'The doctors told us that someone with a cold sore must have kissed her on the lips and because babies' immune systems are not strong enough, she developed the rash.'

Miss Thomas and Mr Merritt, both 22 years old and engaged, are issuing a warning to others after a cold sore almost cost Kaylah's life

Symptoms of eczema herpeticum include painful, itchy skin eruptions, as well as high temperatures and shivering

Miss Thomas and Mr Merritt said Kaylah still hasn't recovered, but are glad to have her at home

WHAT IS ECZEMA HERPETICUM? Eczema herpeticum is a potentially dangerous viral infection that can spread to large areas of the skin. It most commonly affects those with eczema. Eczema herpeticum is usually caused by the herpes virus that causes cold sores but also be brought on by hand, foot and mouth disease. It develops when the virus infects large areas of skin rather than being confined to a small area. Symptoms include painful, itchy skin eruptions, as well as high temperatures and shivering. Blisters can spread, contain pus and weep, as well as sometimes leaving scars. Treatment involves antiviral medication via tablets or syrup. In severe cases, IV delivery may be needed. Source: British Association of Dermatologists Advertisement

Symptoms of eczema herpeticum, which is transferred by cold sores or foot and mouth disease, include painful, itchy skin eruptions, as well as high temperatures and shivering.

At Darlington Memorial Hospital A&E, doctors said Kaylah was lucky to have been brought in when she was.

Kaylah was able to go back home after four days in hospital.

But her parents said she still hasn't fully recovered.

A month later, she still needs to take daily medication until the virus is gone and must attend doctor's appointments on a weekly basis.

Miss Thomas said: 'I was so relieved when Kaylah was out of danger.

'I am over the moon Kaylah's home now and enjoying herself with her toys and extra cuddles.

'I just want other parents to know, you don't have to be a physically ill to harm a baby - you can just be a carrier of the virus and still affect them.'

According to The Herpes Viruses Association, many people will be unaware that they carry the herpes simplex virus, with only one in three exhibiting symptoms that lead to a diagnosis.

In babies, the virus can be passed on either by a kiss, or in newborns, by the mother if she has had genital herpes for the first time within the last six weeks of pregnancy.

The risk is significantly reduced if she has had it prior to pregnancy, as she will have passed on the antibodies needed to fight it.

It's not the first time parents, many of whom have lost their babies, have issued the warning of allowing strangers to kiss youngsters.

Marian Nicholson, director of the Herpes Viruses Association says: 'Please don't kiss other people's babies.

'You might be one of the people who has cold sores that are so mild you haven't noticed them - yet your mild infection could be transferred to a new baby.

'Catching cold sores before the baby is six to nine months old can be serious, as their immune systems aren't well developed.

'Mothers with cold sores should not worry about kissing their own babies, because during the last months of pregnancy, a mother who has had cold sores passes protective antibodies for this virus to her baby through the placenta.

'And if mum has not had cold sores herself, then a dad with a cold sore should not kiss his baby.

'Also, dads need to be careful not to pass on cold sore virus to mums in the last stages of pregnancy because by then it may be too late for her to develop the antibodies her baby needs. Then the new baby will have no protection when it is born.'
According to New Martinsville Police Department, officers were dispatched around 2 a.m., Jan. 23 to Litmans Campground in the Steelton area due to reports of a shooting.

Chief Tim Cecil reported that he, along with Officer Miranda Haynes, Sergeant Don Larsen, and Wetzel County Sheriffs Office Deputy Roger Spragg responded.

Chief Cecil said witness reports indicate that two males were involved. One man had allegedly come out of a camper, screaming and yelling at a woman who was not present. This man then allegedly began shooting and shot another male individual. Cecil said it was not indicated whether the victim was a target or was just randomly shot. Law enforcement speculate the suspect might have been on controlled substances.

Chief Cecil said NMPD and the West Virginia State Police obtained a search warrant to search the camper. The search yielded the discovery of a .380 handgun. Cecil reported that the WVSP conducted a residue test on the gun.

Upon arrival to the scene, police arrested a suspect  later identified as 29-year-old Eric Lawrence Jachiemic. Jachiemic was charged with attempted murder and was transported to the Northern Regional Jail.

The male victim, who had been shot in the thigh, was rushed to Wetzel County Hospital and is currently being treated. The victim is reportedly in stable condition.

According to Chief Cecil, the male victim is from the local area. Jachiemic is from Illinois.

The name of the victim was not provided. Chief Cecil said the investigation is ongoing, and further information will be provided as it becomes available.
Toxic and potentially cancer-causing chemicals have been found in babies' nappies in France, an investigation has revealed.

Among the concerning findings was glyphosate, a chemical used in weedkiller which was last year deemed to have caused an American man's cancer.

Experts said they found 'dangerously high levels' of substances which could cause harm to children and urged companies to stop using them.

The country's Government has said it will give manufacturers 15 days to take steps towards phasing out the chemicals.

The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety discovered what it called 'dangerously high levels' of chemicals in babies' nappies (stock image)

The chemicals' presence in nappies sold in supermarkets was discovered by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES).

The Government department published its report today and called for tougher regulations.

'Following studies carried out on nappies and how they are used, the watchdog has found evidence of several chemical substances at dangerously high levels,' ANSES said.

According to the study, glyphosate  a weedkiller  is among the chemicals discovered in popular nappies.

The World Health Organization says glyphosate is 'probably carcinogenic' (cancer-causing), although there is debate over whether it causes cancer in reality.

It hit headlines last year when Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old groundskeeper in California, was awarded $289million (222m) after a jury agreed glyphosate in the weedkiller, made by Monsanto, had contributed to his lymphoma.

Other substances found in nappies included butylphenyl methylpropional, which is used in beauty products, and certain aromatic hydrocarbons.

The French government said manufacturers and retailers should ensure the substances are removed from nappies.

'We call on manufacturers and retailers to take measures within the next 15 days to eliminate these substances from babies' nappies,' said a statement from the health, environment and finance ministries.

Glyphosate, which is off-patent and marketed worldwide by dozens of chemical groups, is due to be phased out in France within three years.

Although farmers will be exempt from the ban where there is no credible alternative to the pesticide.
Millennials are more likely to have an asthma attack than any other sufferers, research suggests.

A survey by Asthma UK of more than 10,000 people with the inflammatory lung condition found two thirds (67 per cent) of those aged 18-to-29 are missing out on basic asthma care.

This has led to 88 per cent of millennial sufferers having uncontrolled asthma - defined as symptoms that affect sleep or daily activities.

Asthma attacks can be deadly, however, the authors of the report claim young patients do not take the condition seriously.

They blame unaffordable housing and financial worries for stopping millennials prioritising their health.

Millennials are more likely to have an asthma attack than any other sufferers (stock)

'Millennials are getting a raw deal, with the worst asthma care of any age group,' Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said.

'As a result, thousands needed emergency care for their asthma last year and were at risk of dying from an asthma attack.

'This could be avoided if they received the basic care they should be getting and if they were better engaged to manage their own health.'

Asthma affects one in 11 - or 5.4million - people in the UK, Asthma UK statistics reveal. And in the US, one in 13 have the condition, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Three people die from an asthma attack every day in the UK but one in six are unaware the condition is serious, the authors of the report wrote.

The survey - The reality of asthma care in the UK - asked 10,064 asthmatics whether they received 'basic care' over the past year. This is defined as an annual review, written action plan and inhaler technique check with a healthcare professional.

A 'no' to any of these three criteria means a patient's basic care is not being met.

WHAT IS ASTHMA? Asthma is a common but incurable condition which affects the small tubes inside the lungs. It can cause them to become inflamed, or swollen, which restricts the airways and makes it harder to breathe. The condition affects people of all ages and often starts in childhood. Symptoms may improve or even go away as children grow older, but can return in adulthood. Symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, a tight chest and coughing, and these may get worse during an asthma attack. Treatment usually involves medication which is inhaled to calm down the lungs. Triggers for the condition include allergies, dust, air pollution, exercise and infections such as cold or flu. If you think you or your child has asthma you should visit a doctor, because it can develop into more serious complications like fatigue or lung infections. Source: NHS Advertisement

Results revealed only 44 per cent of the millennial participants have a written asthma plan, while 72 per cent attended an annual review and 75 per cent had their inhaler technique checked.

GPs being too busy for a review was blamed in 12 per cent of cases, while 57 per cent claimed they did not receive a reminder a check-up was due.

Some 34 per cent of those aged 18-to-29 reported requiring emergency care in the past year - twice as many as the participants over 60.

Since the survey started specifically looking at millennials in 2016, the authors have 'consistently seen the worst basic care, asthma control and highest reporting of emergency care,' they wrote.

And the National Review of Asthma Deaths found two-thirds of related fatalities would be prevented if patients had basic asthma care.

The authors blame 'less access to secure and affordable housing, greater financial uncertainty and less secure employment opportunities' for millennials having a 'raw deal'.

They add these pressures affect a young patient's ability to 'prioritise and self manage their health', which may lead to inadherence to medication.

Poor-quality housing with mould or damp can also trigger an asthma attack.

To combat this, the authors believe asthma management should move from 'face-to-face care to digital channels'.

'The NHS needs to embrace technology as a mainstay of asthma management to engage this young generation, such as piloting smart inhalers as promised in its long-term plan,' Dr Walker said.

Smart inhalers track how often and well a patient takes their medication, with the information then being logged on their smartphone.

This could help those most at risk of an asthma attack to be treated before they require hospital care.

'[The NHS] also needs to ensure patients data and records are linked to ensure asthma attacks are recorded, managed and prevented so people who have had an asthma attack in hospital get follow-up care from their GP,' Dr Walker added.
Ben & Jerry's knows: The best thing about their ice creams are the generously-swirled-in toppings.

So the frozen treat giant decided to be even more generous with their latest release: three brand new flavors with cookie dough cores.

The brand announced today that the latest ice creams to hit shelves are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core, Sweet Like Sugar Cookie Dough Core and Wake & 'No Bake' Cookie Dough Core.

Yas! Ben & Jerry's just released three new flavors with cookie dough cores

Yum! Sweet Like Sugar Cookie Dough Core's made with sweet cream ice cream and shortbread cookies on one side, and cherry ice cream on the other, and a sugar cookie dough core

Mixing it up: Wake & 'No Bake' Cookie Dough Core has a core made of 'no bake' chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookies

It's certainly no surprise their 'core' flavors  which have a thick core of topping right down the middle of the pint  have been such a big hit, since they virtually guarantee a huge helping of topping in every bite.

In the past, their cores have included caramel, fudge, brownie batter, cheesecake, chocolate cookie, and peanut butter cookie.

But now they've introduced three pints with cookie dough right up the middle.

'We wanted to give our fans a chance to expand their love of our cookie dough flavors and offer both classic and entirely new combinations' flavor guru Craig Koskiniemi said in a press release. 'In trials, our fans clamored for the new Cookie Dough Core flavors.'

The first in the new line-up is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core, which is made with cookie milk ice cream, fudge chips, and a chocolate chip cookie dough core.

So much cookie dough! The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Core is made with cookie milk ice cream, fudge chips, and a chocolate chip cookie dough core

Twice the flavors: The Wake & 'No Bake' flavor has vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cookies on one side and peanut butter ice cream with fudge chips on the other

Classic: The brand first debuted cookie dough ice cream in the '80s and it remains one of their most popular flavors

Then there's Sweet Like Sugar Cookie Dough Core, which is made with sweet cream ice cream with a hint of almond flavor and shortbread cookies on one side, and cherry ice cream with cherries on the other, and a sugar cookie dough core.

Finally, there's the Wake & 'No Bake' Cookie Dough Core, which is made with half vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cookies, half peanut butter ice cream with fudge chips, and a 'No Bake' cookie (chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal) dough core.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before Ben & Jerry's introduced cookie dough cores, since the brand is one of two credited for inventing cookie dough ice cream in the first place.

Back in the '80s, Ben and Jerry added chunks of raw cookie dough to vanilla ice cream at the suggestion of a customer of their Burlington, Vermont scoop shop.

It's remained one of their most popular offerings ever since.
As sleep patterns go, it sounds ludicrous. Asleep by 11pm, then awake at 2.43am to do the ironing and online banking. Working at 3am, back to bed at 5.20pm.

Working in the night? Cooking family meals in the early hours? Who does this? And yet these are entries taken from the sleep diaries of women who claim theyve never felt so rested. They get their six to eight hours sleep a night  only it comes in two halves, with an interval of impressive achievement sandwiched in between.

Anne-Marie Senior, 40, who lives in Huddersfield with husband Nigel, 42, a sales manager, and their children aged 12, ten and seven, admits her husband often rolls his eyes in the morning when he finds out how much shes done during the night.

Its an asset to sleep like this, says the former lecturer, whos a stay-at-home mum. Its what my body naturally wants to do. And dealing with mundane stuff during the night means I do so much more with my children and husband during the day. Nigel, who sleeps soundly, often jokes its like the fairies have been when he wakes up.

Sadie Nicholas explored the growing trend for biphasic sleep, Lianne Young, 44,(pictured) from Surrey revealed she takes intervals during her night's sleep to contact her clients abroad

In fact, a growing school of thought suggests she  and others  have naturally gravitated towards a sleep pattern more in tune with the way our forebears rested, before electric lights made us believe a good nights sleep has to come in an eight-hour block. These women are embracing the trend for biphasic (meaning two phase) sleep, by resting in two shifts with a period of wakefulness in the middle.

The theory evolved in the Nineties, after U.S. psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of subjects were deprived of artificial light for a month, with no lightbulbs, TVs or computers. By week four, his guinea pigs had settled into a pattern. They slept for four hours, woke around midnight for two hours, then dropped off again for four.

At the same time a historian named Roger Ekirch was busy collecting references to what seemed like a strange literary quirk: repeated mentions of our first and second sleep in historical works from Homer via Chaucer to Dickens.

In 2001, he published a paper proposing humans were wont to sleep in two distinct chunks. Later he charted 500 references to biphasic sleep from fiction, diaries, medical tomes, legal records and anthropological accounts, claiming during their wakeful phase people read, smoked, prayed, had sex and paid social visits.

Since then, the idea of adopting a twice-a-night sleep pattern has gradually acquired a certain fashionability. Ever more complex sleep rhythms have developed  with Nigella Lawson remarking she often heads to bed at 7.30pm, then sleeps in two-hour chunks interspersed with periods of wakefulness and cups of tea.

Devotees claim such a regime removes the pressure to sleep through the night, meaning they are no longer distressed by their middle-of-the-night insomnia. Rather than worrying about it, they use the night to get things done, before lying down for their second sleep when they are tired.

Laura Blacklaws, 35, (pictured) from Hertfordshire began having an unusual sleeping pattern while planning her wedding

Laura's sleep diary 8pm: After dinner I change into pyjamas and start the wind-down process by watching TV or reading. 10.45pm: I go to bed and sleep almost immediately. 2.33am: Wake up naturally. Make a cup of tea and tackle some jobs. I got married four weeks ago, so I started choosing photos for our wedding album. Im also writing thank you notes. 3.15am: I go through project plans for a client meeting snacking on crisps, a bad habit Ive got into. 4am: Still not tired so watch some TV. Doze a little but then wake and get some ironing done. 6am: My husband heads to work  I go back to sleep. 9.17am: Wide awake. I never set an alarm and always wake between 9am and 10am feeling refreshed. Advertisement

Biphasic sleep was the most common pre-modern style of sleeping, says Professor Kevin Morgan, an expert in sleep and health at Loughborough University. But we have to put this into context because they also slept on mud floors, lived very short lives and were diseased most of the time. By and large, we have designed modern society to suit our circadian rhythm  the internal clock that controls our sleep and wake cycles, which dictates that we sleep more at night and are awake during the day.

However, we retain the capacity to sleep in shorter bouts if that suits us. Everyone whos had a baby knows thats exactly what newborns do and force us to do. So, with an epidemic of insomnia making headlines, should we all try sleeping in shifts?

Professor Morgan explains: The question of whether longer term biphasic sleep is good or bad for us presumes a one-size-fits-all answer. Peoples needs and circadian rhythms differ enormously.

If you were to ask colleagues how much sleep they need to perform really well, youre going to get a huge variation in answers  and theyre probably all correct.

Still, if youre unhappy with your sleep, embracing biphasic sleep could help you relax, rest  and even increase your productivity. For Lianne Young, 44, trying to sleep properly meant she would lie awake for hours, berating herself for not being able to doze off and worrying how shed cope with a busy day on so little sleep. But now she feels liberated from the eight-hour straitjacket.

Anne-Marie Senior, 40, (pictured) from Huddersfield who is a stay-at-home mum uses an interval during her night's rest to complete mundane tasks

Anne-Marie's sleep diary 9pm: Bath and relax with chamomile tea in my PJs. 11pm: I try to stick to the same bedtime and rarely struggle to sleep. 2.43am: Wide awake. I go downstairs to make the kids packed lunches and do half an hours ironing. 3.10am: Still alert, I look at family holidays online. 4am: Do online banking and load the washer to put on once everyone is awake  its too noisy at night. 5.15am: Feeling sleepy I go back to bed. Its a similar time every day. 7.30am: Everybody up for work and school. I have an afternoon nap if I need it. Advertisement

She says: I sleep better now I have a more relaxed attitude, and cumulatively I clock up eight hours of sleep in every 24.

It works perfectly. My odd hours allow me to speak to my son in New Zealand, and to work with my clients in Los Angeles. I go to bed around 11pm, wake at 3am, go back to bed at 5am for four hours, then take a couple of short naps. I sleep when Im tired and eat when Im hungry. Im fortunate I work for myself and can nap during the day.

The relationships expert has been a biphasic sleeper since going into early menopause aged 37, which disrupted her sleep. But being awake at night also means she can function smoothly across various time zones for her international clients and her 24-year-old son.

Ive never been a normal sleeper, but once the menopause started my sleep changed, says Lianne, who is single, lives in Surrey and also has a daughter aged 22.

It used to drive me nuts. Id lie awake trying to get back to sleep but all it did was make sleep more elusive. I tried every remedy going from warm baths to melatonin tablets and sleep apps. I even went to a sleep clinic to have my sleep patterns monitored and bloods taken, but they concluded I was perfectly healthy.

Anne-Marie (pictured) says her husband Nigel, jokes it's like the fairies have been when he wakes up and sees all the tasks that she's managed to complete

I realised there was no point trying to fight what my body wanted to do. For the past four years Ive slept in shifts  two at night and a two-hour afternoon siesta.

Lianne is fortunate that sleeping this way fits in to her job and family life  she has no children who have to be got up for school  although she admits she doesnt know what shed do if she started a new relationship with a man who slept through the night.

Thats a sleep dilemma that Laura Blacklaws, 35, and her husband of four weeks Hayden, 36, are negotiating.

Once an eight hours girl like her partner, Laura found herself moving towards a twice a night pattern during the run up to her wedding.

Endless nights Two thirds of UK adults suffer from disrupted sleep and nearly a quarter manage no more than five hours a night Advertisement

I started experiencing weird sleep patterns where some nights Id sleep normally, others Id wake up every couple of hours, and then the following night Id sleep for up to 12 hours and wake feeling dreadful, says Laura, who owns a PR company and lives in Hertfordshire.

I put it down to the fact I was busy with work and planning my wedding. I didnt feel stressed but if I woke I couldnt get back to sleep.

Rather than fighting against it Ive tried to make it work, and it worked so well that since the wedding Ive kept up my new sleep routine. I go to bed around 11pm and wake between 1.30am-3.30am to do some life admin  such as planning a holiday.

I dont go back to bed until 6am, when Hayden gets up for work, so that I avoid disturbing him twice. Then I go back to bed and sleep for three hours. Im lucky I run my own business. If I was still in an office in London it would be impossible to manage.

Laura admits shes fortunate even a bulldozer tearing through our two-bed terrace wouldnt disturb her husband, which means she can potter downstairs during the early hours, ironing or working while sipping tea.

Recently I ordered our costumes for a fancy dress party at 3am, she says. Still, there are side-effects to biphasic sleep that remain tricky to control.

Lianne (pictured) claims she sleeps better now her attitude towards sleep is more relaxed

Lianne's sleep diary 6pm: Feel sleepy so go to bed for an hour. 7.15pm: Refreshed, I head to the gym. 11pm: I get under the covers after half an hour winding down, listening to gentle music. Fall asleep straight away. 3am: It used to drive me nuts to be wide awake in the early hours. Now, instead of fighting it I go downstairs and call my son in Auckland, a client in Los Angeles, where its afternoon, and cook a batch of chilli. 5.20am: Head back to bed. I never set an alarm  my body has settled into a routine. 9am: Get up, speak to some British clients and sort through paperwork. I often have an afternoon nap at 5pm to up my sleep quota. Advertisement

Laura admits she ends up eating more than she used to during the day as she feels hungry much earlier  and theres the problem of dark circles under her eyes.

I do worry my body isnt getting the rest it needs to repair, she adds. Ill have the odd week when my sleep patterns return to normal, but then its back to biphasic again.

Professor Morgan says although not getting enough sleep has been linked to problems, from heart disease and obesity to certain cancers, so long as you rack up enough hours there is nothing unhealthy in biphasic sleep. In terms of sleeping in short bursts, the bodys biological rhythm is incredibly robust and can deal with this, he adds.

So, with the benefits including the chance to crack on with your chores , get ahead at work and spend more time with your family, should we all be embracing biphasic sleep?

Anne-Marie and Lianne are converted, but Laura isnt so sure. Given the choice, Id still prefer to sleep through the night  although I would have so much more on my to-do list in the day.

Trying the two sleeps trick left me a wreck

By Hannah Betts

A lifelong insomniac, I have deployed everything over the years to try to sleep better. But from acupuncture to antidepressants, hypnosis to giving up booze and caffeine, it was all to no avail.

Suffice to say I am ready to try anything to get some rest  even going to bed when six-year-olds have to. Perhaps knowing I can get up to stuff in the middle of the night will remove the FOMO (fear of missing out) that keeps me counting sheep, desperate to fit more fun into the day.

That said, my insomnia feels more deep-rooted than this  something chemical, fundamental to my personality.

Still, Im willing to try biphasic sleeping, taking as my model, Nigellas routine which involves getting your first chunk of sleep in before midnight.

Hannah Betts went to sleep at 8.20pm and set her alarm for midnight to give her verdict on Nigellas biphasic sleeping routine (file image)

Alas, it turns out there is no greater means of missing out than hitting the sack at 8pm; not least as this means eating dinner at 5pm, then embarking upon a pyjama-clad wind-down.

I am forced to cancel a party, and barely cross paths with my partner given we have both spent long days at work. I go to bed as he arrives home. Then I get up as he crawls between the sheets near midnight. Its like being shift-workers, he sighs.

The first surprise is I am asleep by 8.20pm, although is this because I am so unslept from the night before? I wake at 10.10pm, immediately drifting off again. Still, my disgruntlement when my midnight alarm sounds is colossal.

I drag myself downstairs, blundering into a table and bruising my thigh. A typical sleep cycle lasts 90 minutes. From experience mine are a tad longer. This means Ive scored two, and am thus in need of another three for a full nights five.

Come on, youre a night owl. You wrote all your undergraduate essays in the small hours, I attempt to spur myself.

Alas, this is a strategy that worked better in my teens than 30 years on.

Hannah began her second sleep shift at 2am, she says a few nights of biphasic sleep left her feeling permanently brain-fogged (file image)

Generations of writers have used this period of the night to think great thoughts. My father used to pass out for a few hours then write books from 3am. Alas, I find myself brain dead, fit only for internet shopping and badly-spelt tweets.

Time flies in a slightly hallucinogenic fashion, until Im back shivering between the sheets at 2am, the dog so confused by all the to-ing and fro-ing she leaps onto my head once I finally conk out an hour later.

I wake depressed with a savage headache, unable to string a sentence together, with a desire only for sugar. And over the next few nights, the situation worsens. I try writing, to find that thoughts that appeared profound at 1.45am are revealed to be nonsense come morning.

I watch Netflix shows, but find the exercise strangely joyless. I read, but nothing goes in. By the end of the week, I am poorer, plumper and permanently brain-fogged. It may have worked for my forebears, but Id like my sleep solid rather than segmented.
They say you should never meet your heroes  but luckily for some people, not every chance meeting with a celebrity goes poorly.

In fact, some go rather well, and create memories that people treasure for the rest of their lives.

On Monday, No-Budget Nightmares podcast host Dough Tilley fired off a mission for other Twitter users, writing, 'Tell me a story of when meeting your hero(es) lived up to expectations.'

Hundreds of people replied, sharing sweet, heartwarming, and adorable tales of meeting the stars they look up to.

Below are some of the highlights from fans who got the chance to meet Carrie Fisher, George Takei, Bryan Cranston, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anthony Bourdain, Donatella Versace, and more.

Story time! No-Budget Nightmares podcast host Dough Tilley asked Twitter users to share a time they met a hero who lived up to expectations

Swoon! This man said he 'died' when, upon meeting his longtime crush Carrie Fisher, she kissed him on the cheek

Squee! A few other people shared their own wonderful tales of Carrie, including these two who were delighted by quick interactions with the star

Charming: A couple of men had nice encounters with Guillermo del Toro, including one who got this advice about choosing passion projects: 'You cannot screw without a boner'

That's different: This man doesn't necessarily consider Leonardo DiCaprio a 'hero,' but was surprised by how nice he was when they ran into each other in a club

Breaking not so bad: Bryan Cranston was 'so sweet and kind and friendly' to this fan

Good eats: Before his passing, Anthony Bourdain was known for being a stand-up guy

Sweetie! This parent was thrilled by how kind comedian Patton Oswalt was to her daughter

A gem! The look on actress Helen Hong's face says it all about her time with Sir Patrick Stewart

Not breathing - together! Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson made this asthmatic kid feel better

Darling! Donatella Versace may have a reputation as a diva, but she was quite 'genuine' according to this fan who met her

Tim Carvell, who has written for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, said Sarah Silverman 'saved' him and some other writers

Take a walk! George Stephanopoulos was quite patient and generous with this guy who stopped him on the street

Well, that's Cedric for you! Robert Pattinson turned up to a kids' screenwriting workshop and was 'super nice/patient' with the kids

Double dose! Conan O'Brien was nice enough to hang with a Make-A-Wish kid  and even invited her to a second show to meet Norm Macdonald

Quick-witted: Harrison Ford had a great one-liner when a fan called out to him on set

Throwback: This woman was thrilled to meet Jane Goodall when she was teenager

Lights up a room: A few people also shared stories about how lovely Robin Williams was

Legendary wit: Dolly Parton never misses a beat  and still didn't when this fan told her he's loved her for decades

Time and attention: Courteney Cox went the extra mile for this fan during a Q&A

Where she leads: Carole King stopped to have a long chat with this admirer

Good guy: Ever the professional, Pierce Brosnan recognized a camera crew a few days after an interview and stopped to say hello

No surprise here: It wouldn't be a 'good guy celebrity' thread without a Tom Hanks mention or two

Crushin'! Adam West, who played Batman in the '60s, totally charmed this guy's mom

Sense of humor: Star Trek's George Takei was even game to hold a Star Wars toy for the sake of irony
The Duke of Cambridge today claimed today's mental health epidemic directly stems from his grandmother's generation and the stiff upper lip mentality maintained during World War II.

Prince William made the comments as he joined New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the Mental Health Matters meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier today.

William, 37, appearing for the first time at Davos, claimed that today's generation learned to bottle up problems from their parents and grandparents who lived through World War II.

His own grandmother, the Queen, was a driver and mechanic with the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service while Prince Philip was a first lieutenant in the Royal Navy.

And King George VI and the Queen Mother famously posed for photographs in the rubble of Buckingham Palace following a Luftwaffe attack on the royal family in September 1940, encapsulating the Blitz spirit.

Speaking in Davos today, William, said: 'I take it as far back as the war. It was very very difficult for everybody, losing so many loved ones and dealing with such horrendous circumstances that no matter how much you can talk you were never going to fix the issue.'

The Duke of Cambridge says that Brits struggle with speaking about their mental health due to the stiff-upper lip attitude they inherited from generation who lived through the war

Princess Elizabeth training as an ATS mechanic at a training centre in southern England, April 1945, while she was a Second Subaltern of the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service)

Blitz spirit: King George VI and the Queen Mother famously posed for photographs in the rubble of Buckingham Palace following a Luftwaffe attack on the royal family in 1940

He added: 'Completely by accident they passed that on to the next generation, we all learn from our parents we all learn from how they deal with things.

'So this whole generation inherited that this is how we deal with problems we don't talk about them.

'I think that now there's a generation here that's realising this is not normal and we should talk about them. We should get over it.'

The prince, who was invited to talk by the organisers of the World Economic Forum, went on to speak of his own experiences while working in the air ambulance, before he quit back in 2017.

He explained: 'I was dealing with a lot of trauma on a day in, day out basis, stuff that your body is not programmed to deal with.

'I might have gone into my shell a bit and thought 'I can deal with this myself' and then potentially down the line it manifests itself in a much worse situation.

'As a team you draw it out and you debrief about it, and I know that if I hadn't taken the action that I did then I would have gone down a slippery slope and I would have been dealing with mental illness on a different level.

The second in line to the throne acknowledged the fact that there are still negative connotations surrounding mental health.

The royal family's war A 16-year-old Princess Elizabeth registering for war service under the Ministry of Labour's Youth Registration Scheme The Queen She may be head of Britain's armed forces in little more than name, but her role in the military has not always been purely ceremonial. Princess Elizabeth's adolescence took place in the shadow of World War II and, with the country in crisis, she did not shy away from her royal duties. Her first solo public appearance came at the age of 16, with a visit to the Grenadier Guards. By then she had already been named Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment - effectively the link between the infantrymen and the Royal Family. And by 18, changes to the law meant she could act as a Counsellor of State, meaning she would be one of five royals holding the fort in the event of her father going abroad or becoming incapacitated. Shortly after that, in February 1945, she signed up with the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service and was given the service number 230873. She joined as an honorary Second Subaltern but must have impressed in her duties as a driver and mechanic, as she rose to the rank of honorary Junior Commander within five months. The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip was a first lieutenant in the Royal Navy and joined the battleship HMS Ramillies in 1940 in Colombo as a midshipman and spent six months in the Indian Ocean. He joined the HMS Valiant in Alexandria in January 1941 and two months later he was mentioned in despatches for his actions during the Battle of Matapan after spotting an unexpected enemy vessel with the search lights. He was later awarded the Greek War Cross of Valour. In 1943, he foiled a Luftwaffe bomber that almost destroyed his ship during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. He came up with a plan to throw a wooden raft with smoke floats overboard, to fool bombers into attacking the float rather than the ship. Advertisement

King George VI and the Queen Mother survey the aftermath of a German bombing raid on 11 September 1940 which destroyed Buckingham Palace chapel. After the event the Queen famously said: 'I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the East End in the face'

The Queen Mother and King George VI inspecting air-raid damage in central London during the Blitz, 23rd September 1940. Buckingham Palace was also bombed on several occasions

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) inspect the damage to a cinema building in Baker Street after it was destroyed by Nazi bombing in an air raid over the capital

The Queen Mother talking to a young evacuee whilst he works in the garden of an evacuation school at Horsted Keynes in Sussex in November 1939. The royal family were personally targeted by bomb raids on several occasions throughout the war

Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II), King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) with Lieutenant General James Doolittle the 8th Air Force Commander after the official naming of a Flying Fortress 'Rose of York' at an aerodrome in July 1944

When he, his brother Prince Harry and his wife Kate set up their charity Heads Together back in 2016, William claims they struggled to find support because of the stigma surrounding mental health.

He added: When we set up the campaign not one celebrity wanted to join us, not one person wanted to help with the campaign because it was mental health

The Duke of Cambridge ended by saying he's going to 'use sport as a vehicle to smash mental health' and work with male suicide more 'because it's one of the biggest killers of young men in the UK'.

He said: 'Real progress is being made and we all need to keep the momentum going.'

Prince William joined New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the Mental Health Matters meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier today

On Tuesday William was joined by Sir David Attenborough in Davos where the royal interviewed the broadcaster about his work as an environmentalist

William said today that when he Kate and Harry set up Heads Together in 2016 they struggled to find celebrities to be involved because of the stigma surrounding the condition

Wednesday was the prince's final day in Davos, having touched down yesterday in order to interview veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

The Duke of Cambridge has described the Blue Planet and Dynasties narrator as having 'the single most important impact in my conservation thinking'.

William today asked Sir David about his decades of work - and his message for the leaders watching them on stage.

Sir David, 92, warned of a climate 'crisis' and said: 'Care for the Natural World - not only that - treat it with respect and reverence. We can wreck it all without even noticing and in the end we will wreck ourselves'.

William hailed the impact of Sir David's programmes and said they had been 'seen be literally billions of people world-wide' and trailed his new show Our Planet, released on Netflix in April.
He and his girlfriend Alizee Thevenet were virtually inseparable during their recent holiday to St Barts, packing on the PDA throughout their vacation.

However, James Middleton was spotted spending time with the other loves in his life as he headed out for a bike ride with two of his dogs.

The Duchess of Cambridge's younger brother hopped on his bike with one of his black spaniels and a sandy coloured spaniel believed to be called Mabel in tow.

The two pooches took the front seat in a wooden bike trailer attached to the front of the 31-year-old's bicycle as they braved the London drizzle on Wednesday.

James Middleton was spotted heading out for a bike ride with two of his beloved spaniels on Wednesday afternoon

James was last seen flaunting his new romance with French girlfriend Alizee Thevenet while on holiday in St Barts

James, who also counts Pippa Middleton as his sister, looked trendy in a leather outback style hat.

Layering up against the January chill, James wore a yellow fleece as well as a blue gilet, paired with indigo jeans as well as an Aztec print belt.

The marshmallow business man appeared to be in good spirits, as did his dogs, as they took in the air this afternoon.

This is the first time that James has been spotted out in public since his return from St Barts two weeks ago.

The Duchess of Cambridge's younger brother hopped on his bike with one of his black spaniels and a sandy coloured spaniel believed to be Mabel in tow

This is the first time that James has been spotted out in public since his return from St Barts two weeks ago

It was during this holiday, which he enjoyed with his family as well as his in-laws the Matthews, that James debuted his relationship with Alizee, a glamorous French multi-lingual financial expert.

The couple are said to have been together for six months and are deliriously happy, her father told MailOnline earlier this month.

Friends say James and Alizee, who has lived and worked in London for six years, are serious about each other.

The striking blonde, who is fluent in three languages and has lived in six countries around the world, was won over by James British charm, her father Jean-Gabriel Thevenet has revealed.

Layering up against the January chill, James wore a yellow fleece as well as a blue gilet, paired with indigo jeans as well as an Aztec print belt

Both James and his beloved animals appeared to be thoroughly enjoying the ride

'My daughter Alizee is very happy with James, they are very much in love, Mr Thevenet told MailOnline.

Speaking from his rustic bed-and-breakfast hotel in the mountains of rural France, Mr Thevenet could not keep the smile off his face as he spoke of his happiness that his daughter had found love with James Middleton.

Alizee has been settled in the UK for several years, graduating with a masters degree in investment and finance from Queen Mary, University of London.

Before then she did her undergraduate degree in accounting and finance in Brussels. On her Linkedin profile, she descries herself as having a 'high work ethic and dedication to success' as well as 'always being open to new ideas'.

James, who also counts Pippa Middleton as his sister, looked trendy in a leather outback hat

The couple have yet to be seen together since their return to the UK.

The Matthews family owns the Eden Rock resort on St Barts, one of the region's most exclusive hotels.

Stars including Elton John, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio have stayed at the resort, where suites can cost up to 25,000 a night.

The hotel needed extensive repairs after it was wrecked by the devastating Hurricane Irma in September 2017.

James and Spencer's parents, David and Jane Matthews, moved to St Barts in September 1995 after purchasing Eden Rock from local adventurer Remy de Haenen.

St Barts has long attracted wealthy Europeans including Roman Abramovich, who bought a 49million mansion there and has moored his yacht on its shores.
A woman whose teenage years were plagued by thoughts so x-rated she contemplated taking her own life has seen her story turned into a Channel 4 drama.

Rose Cartwright, 32, suffers with pure O, a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that causes constant intrusive sexual and violent thoughts about people including children, friends, teachers and family members.

After enduring years of anxiety and isolation about the condition after her first panic attack at the age of 15, Cartwright finally sought treatment and her book, Pure, published in 2015, was the inspiration behind a new Channel 4 drama of the same name.

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Channel 4's latest drama Pure starts on January 30th and is based on the 2015 book of the same name by Rose Cartwright which documents her battle with Pure O, a form of OCD that manifests in sexual and violent intrusive thoughts (Pictured centre: Charly Clive as Marnie, the main protagonist in Pure )

Rose Cartwright has seen her book which details the trauma and isolation of living with Pure O written into the television drama by Kirstie Swain. Right: Cartwright said the process of watching her story transformed for the screen was 'healing'

The series, written by writer Kirstie Swain, doesn't hold back - there's a scene where central character Marine (Charly Clive) endures a dream-like thought that sees her performing oral sex on her own mother.

As the six-part drama, which took two-and-a-half years to make opens, central protagonist Marnie shares that she can spend a whole day with rational thoughts hijacked by shocking sexual experiences that range from bestiality to incest.

Convinced that she must be addicted to sex, Marnie uproots from her native Scotland and tries to find a new life in London.

Along with a new circle of friends, she also discovers she isn't obsessed with the X-rated, more that she has a rare form of OCD known as Pure O.

Rose is now the co-founder of mental health foundation @madeofmillions; she says intrusive thoughts are still part of her life

Newcomer Charly Clive admits that such controversial subject matter made her initially hesitant about accepting the role.

She said: 'I got an email to audition and I didnt have representation at the time.

'I didnt think it was a scam, but I was pretty cautious. I was just really excited for the opportunity to audition for something legit on television, paid. So cut to now and its kind of a crazy "journey".'

English actress Clive was spotted after her comedy show Britney, about her own battle with a brain tumour diagnosed in 2016, caught the eye of producers.

The content in Pure may make for compelling viewing but for Cartwright, enduring Pure O from the age of 15 felt like a death sentence.

Charly Clive plays Marnie, who escapes her native Scotland fearing that she's a sex addict...and discovers when she arrives in the capital that OCD is the real reason she's been suffering from x-rated thoughts

A 2013 article for the Guardian by Cartwright inspired the book that followed, which Channel 4 has spent two-and-a-half years making

Rising star Joe Cole, of Peaky Blinders fame, appears in the show as a recovering sex addict

What is Pure O OCD? The Pure O stands for 'purely obsessional' and while sufferers often also have the better-known symptoms of OCD, such as compulsive checking, this strand of the illness often focuses on intrusive and distressing thoughts rather than actions. Those who live with Pure O may not even realise that they have it. Treatments range from exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), with the latter more likely to be offered ahead of medication. Advertisement

In a new interview with the Guardian, she reveals that she was so derailed by the constant intrusive thoughts, she thought about suicide.

'When I was younger, I had no idea what was happening to me. My thoughts were so obscene and the anxiety I experienced so intense, that it seemed there was no way out.'

However, seeing her own mental health illness manifest on screen has been a 'healing' process for Cartwright.

Explaining how she experienced certain thoughts to writer Swain was 'almost like another kind of exposure therapy', she says.

After years of trying different treatments that failed miserably, Cartwright's condition finally eased when she saw an OCD specialist in New York.

Sessions that would expose her to increasingly explicit imagery, known as exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, began to help although Pure O sufferers are unlikely to be cured completely.

Six-part drama Pure airs on Channel 4 at 10pm on January 30th
She is one of Europe's busiest royals, but it seems that Letizia had holidays on the brain during her engagement on Wednesday.

She and husband King Felipe VI visited the tourism fair together in the Spanish capital of Madrid.

The 46-year-old royal looked typically elegant in a check skirt with handkerchief hem for the event this morning.

The Queen of Spain paired her standout piece with a simple white blouse and opted for tan accessories in the form of criss-cross stiletto and roomy clutch bag.

Queen Letizia and King Felipe VI of Spain today visited the International Tourism Fair in Madrid

The mother-of-two wore her brunette locks loose in a straight style and added a touch of bling with a pair of beaded amber earrings.

King Felipe, meanwhile, looked suitably dapper in a navy blue suit paired with a sky blue tie as he joined his wife at the event.

Now in its 39th year the event offers members of Spain's tourism industry to showcase new innovations in the country and beyond.

Asturias regional Government President Javier Fernandez joined the royal guests for a tour of the fair.

The 46-year-old royal looked typically elegant in a check skirt with handkerchief hem for the event this morning

The mother-of-two wore her brunette locks loose in a straight style and added a touch of bling with a pair of beaded amber earrings

It is the Spanish couple's second engagement of the week, with the King and Queen hosting a diplomatic reception at their home of Zarzuela palace in Madrid.

The royal couple were joined at the reception by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Minister of Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.

In a speech to his guests, Felipe stressed the importance of 'democracy and coexistence' and Spain's need to 'count on the support of our allies, partners and friends'.

He also spoke of his 'regret' at the UK's imminent departure from the EU, adding: 'Spaniards cannot conceive of a Europe that renounces the goal of an ever closer union.

The royal couple toured the exhibit, which is now in its 39th year, displaying innovations in the tourism industry

They were joined by Asturias regional Government President Javier Fernandez on Wednesday

Queen Letizia and husband King Felipe VI hosted a diplomatic reception at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid on Tuesday, where the monarch expressed his 'regret' over Brexit

'We will continue contributing to a project that makes us stronger and offers us assurances in a world full of uncertainties.

'In this framework, the deepening of bilateral relations with our EU partners is also essential.

'We are aware that 2019 will be a year with important changes for the way in which we have conceived this common project for years.'

He added: 'The announced departure from the United Kingdom of the Union will have consequences that are still difficult to assess today.

'We regret the progress of a country that we have felt, and will feel, is a key ally in the management of many of the great challenges we face in common.'
A woman who left her laptop, passport and handbag in a London black cab has praised the power of Twitter, after social media saw them returned to her in less than four hours.

Writer and social media star Sasha Wilkins called Twitter the 'dog's b*******' after she was reunited with her valuables after she described her cab driver from details he'd told her during the journey - and his friend recognised him.

Wilkins, who has 103,000 followers on her Twitter account @LibertyLndnGirl, initially made the plea last night, saying: 'Oh god. I took a black cab from King's X this evening around 1730. I've left my navy blue leather Cambridge Satchel Company bag in the back. Laptop etc.'

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Sasha Wilkins, who has 103,000 followers on Twitter, tweeted her distress last night after she realised she'd left a laptop and her handbag in the back of a London black cab

Alongside her laptop, Sasha also lost her passport, handbag and headphones

After it was spotted and shared, one user advised Wilkins to use the @BlkCab_Lost property handle, which lets people who've left items in black cabs alert Twitter.

And remarkably, after Wilkins posted details she remembered about her cab driver, including that he lived in Sidcup and had just a had a baby with his partner, the 'Twitter miracle' happened.

A fellow cabbie recognised the details and got in touch, offering her his number.

Less than four hours after she made the plea, she had the expensive items back in her possession.

She posted: 'TWITTER YOU ARE THE DOGS B*******. A cabbie on here recognised my pen portrait of his cabbie mate (who doesnt use social), called him, and HE HAD FOUND MY BAG & LAPTOP IN HIS CAB.'

She added: 'Its on its way to me now. It took just under four hours to find it. Its a true Twitter miracle.'

Later, she wrote: 'A HUGE thank you to the amazing and extraordinary black cab community for spreading the word about my lost bag. We are truly properly blessed to have cabbies in our city @TheLTDA @BC_Lostproperty @The_LCDC'

Others then shared their own feel-good stories about positive experiences with black cab drivers.

Black cab fans: Plenty of people then shared their own feel-good stories about positive experiences they've had with drivers of the historic london Hackney carriages

@foreverwinona wrote: 'I'm so pleased for you Sasha. I dropped my camera in a taxi in Helsinki and the hotel front desk tracked it down and the driver delivered it safely back to me.'

@bluebean76 shared: 'They're great. Once needed to take family member with medical emergency to A&E + black cabbie refused payment saying "we don't have time for all that".'

@curlywurlyfi added: 'Yes Sasha! And not just this: every single time I take a black cab home, the driver waits to see I've got in the front door before driving away. It's such a small thing, but it's HUGE.'
The Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce simultaneously held its Annual Business Meeting with a Business After Hours event on Jan. 17. Starting at 5:30 p.m., food and refreshments were made available to all who were present. Soon thereafter, Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce President Don Riggenbach called the meeting to order, explaining that attendees would first hold the board of directors meeting.

Riggenbach gave all chamber members a chance to vote for the board of directors. Following this, the board approved the minutes regarding the previous meeting, which they had received through email before the meeting commenced. Riggenbach also presented the 2019 budgets and recommended approval. A motion to adopt these was made by the executive committee and was quickly passed.

In other business, Riggenbach explained the chambers plan to support an upcoming electrician vocational training program. This program is following the success of a previous program involving welding classes. It was said that welding classes are currently being taken by a small group of juniors at Magnolia High School, and evening classes are offered for adults through West Virginia Northern Community College (WVNCC). After completion of this program and following an exam, certification is given, and these high schoolers have the opportunity to start work directly after graduation. Although it reportedly required a lot of hard work to open this program, they are now wanting to expand it beyond welding classes. It is their desire to begin an electrician, as well as a nursing training program.

The Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce supported the start-up of the welding program by donating $50,000. The chamber was able to do this as a result of the sale of property in southeast New Martinsville, and the chamber believes it was instrumental in the process of opening these classes. It is the chambers desire to once again form a partnership to open an electrician vocational training program as data shows that welders, electricians, and truck drivers are in high demand. The chamber believes these jobs are not replaceable and will not fade away, and as a result these programs secure a permanent job for students.

Riggenbach was hoping to reserve up to $10,000 for this program from the chambers economic development funds. Discussion was made on this subject, and one board member suggested that money is given, contingent on the program being open and running by September. It was also suggested that a percentage be chosen to determine of how much money the chamber will give. It was then decided that the Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce will pledge up to 50 percent  not to exceed $10,000  to start the program, payable when the program is running. A motion was made to accept this plan, and it was carried.

Following this, Riggenbach announced that four businesses were seeking approval to join the Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce. These businesses were Jacksons Auto Repair and Towing, Nature By Choice LLC, Uncle Bunks LLC, and Haught Heads Barbershop. All four businesses were accepted into the chamber after a vote was taken.

Riggenbach also announced that the chamber is active at 208 strong, which he said is phenomenal for a small area. He also took the time to thank those who visit chamber members and businesses and invited others to join in future visits. Information was then offered to the group in regards to the loans the chamber offers for small businesses that are more ideal for startup companies.

At that time, Riggenbach asked everyone to introduce themselves and what company they represent. There were many businesses in attendance including Grandmas House of Quilting, Community Bank, The Lighthouse Child Advocacy Center, Paden City Development Authority, Mark West Energy, Wetzel County Commission, Genesis Healthcare, WesBanco, Peoples Bank, WVNCC, Trademark Solutions, Cam Safety, Nature By Choice, and many more.

Following the introductions, Riggenbach welcomed everyone before presenting a slideshow made to review 2018 in regards to the chamber. It was reported that the chamber took in an average of four to five new members each month in 2018. Riggenbach explained that the chamber hosted many events, such as a Lunch and Learn Series  which taught various subjects, a Tyler and Wetzel County Breakfast, a Pay It Forward  in which money was given to a non-profit organization, and a Wetzel-Tyler Entrepreneur Pitch. The chamber also had six ribbon cutting ceremonies, eight business after hour functions, and held various community events like the Shortline Ramp Fest 5K. The biggest events held were those involving Christmas such as the Christmas Activities  in which 120 kids participated, the Christmas parade, and the Christmas decorating contest.

In the slideshow was also a financial report, and Riggenbach reminded members to pay their dues.

Those in attendance were then informed of the chambers goals for the upcoming year. Riggenbach said the chamber is to continue with the aforementioned events and is going to continue to support the vocational programs previously discussed.

President Riggenbach thanked all the sponsors and those who have given grants for the continued support of events. He then told members that many businesses have already signed up to sponsor and informed that there is still time to join in sponsorship. He also told all present that the chamber is accepting volunteers who have a passion for their community and who are team-players. For more information, Riggenbach invited individuals to call 304-455-3825.

Immediately following the conclusion of the slideshow was a drawing for all members of the Wetzel County Chamber of Commerce. Then a silent auction took place, and prizes such as tickets to a Wheeling Nailers game were given.

All present seemed to enjoy the community atmosphere and the support presented by the chamber and its members. The next board of directors meeting will be held on Feb. 20 at 8 a.m.
For Rouhani all political parties should have their own media. The Internets success is due to the fact that it ensures a plurality of voices. Internet literacy is needed; cyberspace should not be abandoned to extremists. Four journalists have been arrested for expressing critical opinions in recent weeks.

Tehran (AsiaNews)  In a surprising move, Irans President Hassan Rouhani has launched a harsh attack on censorship, state media monopoly, and, more generally, against the countrys clerical hardliners.

In a warning against his political adversaries, he said that "Standing against public demands is against the law and religion.

Press freedom and civil rights are becoming an increasingly important issue in the Islamic Republic after the arrest in recent months of four journalists for crimes of opinion. The latest is Ali (Amir) Amirgholi, a contributor to an online news site, and a former political prisoner.

According to Rouhani, political parties  left, right and centre  must be able to own media  newspapers, radio, TV  to carry their message. They must be "independent" of the state and acquire their own credibility in the eyes of the public.

Questioning the state monopoly over broadcasting, the president suggested that TV should be open to privates and other voices.

The success of the Internet and new media, Rouhani warns, is due precisely to the fact that they allow a plurality of voices and guarantee room even for those who are shut out of traditional media.

As he has done in the past, yesterday Rouhani challenged again the principles underpinning the regime.

Speaking at a meeting with the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Rouhani said in an apparent allusion to Supreme Leader Ai Khamenei and other hardliners, "Some of us think we have divine authorities and can issue any command to rule those who dwell on the Earth. In his view, "This shouldn't be the case."

Rouhani admitted that filtering and censorship of social media have not been effective. Noting that new communications technology has many benefits and pose limited threats, Rouhani explained that "We cannot cut off the impact of modern technology on people's life," adding that "resistance against new technology and new developments is an outdated approach."

Still, whilst appreciating the role and importance of social media, Rouhani urged Iranian users to watch their language on social media. "I have read that Iranians use a really bad tone on social media," he said.

Yet, The solution is neither filtering, nor in leaving the cyberspace to the mercy of radicals. Instead, "We need to introduce the people to media literacy."

Acknowledging that "We do not have media freedom in Iran, [. . .] only a state-owned radio-television, Rouhani noted that as a result, everyone has rushed to social media" for information. "This would not have been the case if we had a variety of 500 media outlets. People want to say everything on social media because we do not have any other media outlets."

For the president, cyberspace and social media can empower the country's economy, create social and economic justice and bring about transparency by revealing corruption.

Likewise, he insists on a more active role for women in the society, in sharp contrast to the ideas of hardliner clerics who want women bound to their homes. For him, "in some areas women can even work better than men," like in financial affairs.
The man hailed the 'world's most popular sperm donor' has dismissed fears that his children might unknowingly meet and form incestuous relationships.

Kyle Gordy, 27, of Los Angeles, California, has fathered 18 children across the US over the last four years - and has five more on the way.

The donor admitted there has been concern that his children might unwittingly 'bump into' their half-siblings and form potentially problematic relationships.

But he explained he has tried to preempt any issues by offering to introduce the parents of his children online.

'World's most popular sperm donor' Kyle Gordy, 27, of Los Angeles, California, has fathered 18 children across the US over the last four years - and has five more on the way. He explained he is not concerned that his children might unknowingly form incestuous relationships

Kyle, whose Facebook page (pictured) promoting his services appears to have been removed, previously told how he receives some 100 requests every month

Speaking to New! magazine, Kyle told the story of one woman who had given birth to his child and was concerned that an acquaintance might soon enlist his services.

'"I don't want you to do it",' Kyle recalled her saying. '"She lives nearby and our kids could bump into each other".'

He continued: 'I explained that as my donations increased, I'd set up a private Facebook group so women I'd helped could share photos or concerns about their children accidentally meeting.

'I said that due to this I wasn't too concerned about any of my offspring inadvertently meeting and potentially forming incestuous relationships.'

Kyle, whose Facebook page promoting his services appears to have been removed, previously told how he receives some 100 requests every month.

The majority of Kyle's sperm is artificially inseminated, however he does also offer 'natural' insemination, which requires him to have sex with women. Pictured, Kyle Gordy

But he usually selects between two to five people to help a month, after speaking to them and listening to their individual stories.

The majority of his sperm is artificially inseminated, however he does also offer 'natural' insemination, which requires him to have sex with women.

The service is not illegal as no money is offered in exchange for his sperm.

Kyle first decided to donate his sperm in his early 20s when he realized that he simply got too bored in relationships.

His first clients, a couple, now have a four-year-old and a 14-month-old  both through Kyle's donations.

Since then, he's donated sperm in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Colorado, and Texas  and he wouldn't mind taking his swimmers overseas next.

'If anyone in the UK wants my services I am happy to travel. I'd go anywhere to help women out, apart from North Korea or any war zone,' he said.

Kyle shared photos of positive pregnancy tests online, pictured, but the page has been removed. He set up a private Facebook page where parents of his children could meet

His clients have ranged from 18 to 42, and he gets 'lots of repeat business'. Though he doesn't discriminate based on age, he does make sure that the child will be supported financially.

Kyle also insisted that there are several good reasons for choosing him over going the sperm bank route.

He says he comes from a good family, with two educated parents  a lawyer father and programmer mother  and will be passing down those genes.

He also argued that sperm banks may have trouble tracking the offspring of repeat donors  so those offspring may not know when they encounter a brother or sister  but there's no such risk with him, since he has a Facebook group for the families he donates to.

Kyle shared this image of a positive pregnancy test on Facebook in November last year. There are understood to be at least five women expecting his children this year

Though he's not taking on a traditional parenting role, he does feel a 'satisfaction' in having children and hopes to have a giant Father's Day party with all of his biological offspring in 20 years.

His own parents have mixed feelings about his donation habits. He said they are supportive, though his mother often reminds him that they are not really his kids.

'Overall, they've been fine about it though. My brother makes a lot of money and I make a lot of children,' he said.

Kyle first made headlines in 2014 when he first started donating his sperm and was working towards his master's degree in accounting.

Speaking to 20/20, he helpfully listed the traits that he thought made him a desirable sperm donor.

'I don't do any drugs. I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't drink caffeine. I eat only sperm-friendly food: wheat, brown rice ... fruit and vegetables,' he said.

'Right now I'm attending university. Both siblings are engineers. The nuclear engineer is my twin. My grandpa was a scientist.'

He also offered photos of himself as a child and bragged about his IQ.

Gordy told ABC News that he was not just looking to have sex with women, but to genuinely help them to have a child.

'I'm passing on my legacy and giving these people kids,' he said.

By that point in his career of donating, he'd father just one child and was working on another insemination.
While tradition dictates men pop the question, it is becoming increasingly common for women to get down on one knee - and not just on February 25.

But in an era of marriage equality, many are still divided on whether women should put a ring on it.

When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was recently grilled on British TV about proposing to partner Clarke Gayford, a whole new debate kicked off.

Victoria Derbyshire, from BBC Two, asked Ms Arden if she would ever propose to Mr Gayford.

'I would not ask,' Ms Arden said after laughing, saying while she is a feminist she 'wants to put him through the pain and torture'.

'That is letting him off.'

And Australian quickly weighed in with their answers mixed - and revealed that while some think it's perfectly natural, others remain 'old fashioned' and unconvinced.

TODAY show hosts Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight asked whether the question was relevant at all in 2019.

Neither of the women said they had thought about proposing to their husbands themselves.

However, they did ask their viewers what they thought about women asking men for their hand in marriage.

Poll Should women ask their boyfriends to marry them? Yes No Don't mind Should women ask their boyfriends to marry them? Yes 11 votes

No 18 votes

Don't mind 19 votes Now share your opinion





'I have no issue with women proposing however, I kind of like the idea of chivalry, the romantic notion of a man asking for a woman's hand,' one user said, adding everyone was entitled to their own opinion.

Another said it was a definite no: 'I'm old fashioned,' she said.

'You have to keep some things traditional in this day and age. I raised my sons (now 31, 18) to be gentlemen, to respect women, open doors for them, allowing them through a door first etc etc... There is nothing wrong with raising boys with old fashioned values.'

Another said this was 'another thing being taken away from men'.

'I would be horrified and outraged [if my partner proposed],' one man added.

Women can propose to men on February 29 according to an Irish tradition which has been passed down from the 5th Century.

Australians have revealed what they think of women proposing outside of that time after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked if she would propose to her partner Clarke Gayford (pictured together)

A nun called St Bridget bemoaned to St Patrick that women were waiting too long for their significant other to get his act together so he decreed that on a Leap Day they were allowed to propose.

While one woman said she did propose to her husband in a leap year because she was 'sick of waiting', another revealed she did it and never looked back:

'I did. Nothing wrong with it. Ive been married 22 years now,' she wrote.

A mother wrote: 'One of my sons was proposed to last year. It felt more reassuring in a way. His fiance was so sure of their relationship and confident they both wanted the same thing.'
The trendiest way to host a celebration for your child in 2019 is to throw a 'fiver party'.

The concept, which is gaining popularity among Australian parents, comes with a request that those attending a birthday party bring cash (usually $5) in lieu of gifts.

The alternative to buying presents is a 'win-win' for parents and children alike, according to Australian parenting expert Sharon Witt.

However, some parents believe it's rude to give $5 - as parents would normally spend up to $30 on a gift.

'A fiver is cheap! I usually spend around $30 on a gift (or cash) for parties,' one woman complained.

Expectations of a great gift tend to run high among most kids celebrating a birthday (stock image)

Sharon argued otherwise, saying the party concept meant less hassle for parents.

'It takes the pressure off parents in terms of finding a gift and spending money and there are no issues with comparing what they've spent to others,' she told FEMAIL.

'It's not a lot of money and most people have a five dollar note.'

Sharon said the concept also put an end to the problem of parents ending up with a glut of unwanted toys.

'Let's face it, these days kids have more than they need,' she said.

'With a five dollar note, I know I am going to be giving the child something that's not going to be thrown out.'

Australian parenting expert Sharon Witt (pictured) says she thinks fiver parties are a great alternative to traditional gift giving parties and are a win-win for both parents and kids

As well as keeping cost and stress levels down, the idea also ensured a celebration wasn't just about the gifts being exchanged.

Sharon explained because money is given to a child in an envelope, and this is understood in advance, the attention shifts to the celebration.

Poll Would you host a fiver party for your child? Yes! It's a great way to save No. I would rather my child receive gifts. Unsure. Would you host a fiver party for your child? Yes! It's a great way to save 131 votes

No. I would rather my child receive gifts. 13 votes

Unsure. 14 votes Now share your opinion





'Children are free to enjoy their birthday without the focus being on what they've been given,' she said.

If parents want to extend this concept a little further, Sharon said there was always the option encouraging children to save or to donate their funds.

'Doing this can teach children really valuable lessons, especially as their lives are often overrun with stuff,' she said.

Sharon said last Christmas her daughters opted to donate their Christmas money to families in Uganda.

Their money went towards Christmas lunch for six families, sanitary pads for girls in need and livestock.

'They can see how their donation is making a difference to others lives,' she said.

The idea has also been discussed by parents on social media, with some saying they think 'fiver parties' were a good idea.

One woman, Jesse, said she recently held a fiver party for her child's birthday. She told attending guests not to buy gifts or clothing but to put $5 in an envelope.

'Of course family gave him more my now 18-month-old loves taking his money to the bank and I don't have a house full of unwanted toys!,' she wrote.

While buying gifts is an expectation, children can end up with a glut of unwanted toys that may make their way to charity shops (stock image)

Another woman, Auri, added she bypasses the envelope system and asks people to put $5 directly into their child's account for their birthday gifts.

'With three children, our house is so overrun with toys it's crazy, they definitely don't need any more nor do we have room to store toys,' she said.

'Quality over quantity,' wrote Ka. 'I love this idea. I don't think the kids attending will mind if the party is fun and the bday boy/girl gets something they really want.'

While parents seemed generally in favour of 'fiver parties', there were also some who said they weren't sure they felt entirely comfortable with asking for money.

'Love the idea if I was invited but I would feel incredibly rude asking for it,' shared Rebecca.

Another, Katrina, added while she embraced the notion, she hated the term 'fiver party'.

'I will always write something along the lines of "Jamie already has more toys/books than he can play with and your attendance is the biggest gift he could receive so has requested that you do not bring any gifts but instead just come and help him celebrate this momentous occasion.'
Burns survivor Dana Vulin has shared harrowing details about how she was taunted by a relentless stalker for five years.

The 32-year-old was left fearing for her life once again after a social media follower started sending her threatening messages and contacting her family and friends.

Appearing on Channel Seven's breakfast program The Morning Show on Wednesday, the Perth woman said things escalated when they sent her flowers with love letters to her mother's home after finding her address.

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Burns survivor Dana Vulin has shared harrowing details about how she was taunted by a relentless social media stalker for five years

Her latest TV interview comes seven years after she was set on fire in an unprovoked attack after she was wrongly accused of being involved with another woman's estranged husband

'Initially it was just a troll on my social media and I was like whatever, and I remember sending the screenshot to my sister and having a laugh about it,' she recalled.

'But it was someone I didn't even know who was contacting me for five years. At first I didn't care because it was just on social media but then they started contacting everyone I knew.

'Then they sent flowers to my mum's house with an obsessive love letter and that was when I started getting really worried, the fact that they had my address and I guess they went through all that effort to find my mum's house.

'I didn't know the person but everything that life had taught me previously, taught me to just be cautious. It just went on for so long, it was really annoying.'

Ms Vulin said the issue has since been resolved.

Ms Vulin (pictured with a compression mask) was burned alive in February 2012 after she was wrongly accused of being involved with another woman's estranged husband

Appearing on Channel 7's breakfast program The Morning Show on Wednesday, Ms Vulin said things escalated when they sent her bouquets of flowers with love letters to her mum's home

Her remarks on being cautious comes nearly seven years after she was doused in methylated spirits before being set alight during a jealous rage.

She suffered horrific burns to 65 per cent of her body following the sickening, unprovoked attack at her home.

In the early hours of February 16, 2012, Natalie Dimitrovska broke into Ms Vulin's apartment where she demanded to know where her estranged husband was.

Dimitrovska wrongly accused Ms Vulin of being romantically involved with him - before she dosed her with methylated spirits and set her on fire.

The 32-year-old was left fearing for her life once again after a social media follower started sending her threatening messages and contacting her family and friends

'Waving her hand in a zigzagging motion, she doused me with the chemical, hitting my face, arms, chest, everything from the waist up,' Ms Vulin recalled in her book Worth Fighting For.

'The methylated spirits caught the naked flame in my hand and suddenly the whole world was on fire.

'The flames were everywhere: my shoulders, my naked stomach  only my boobs were protected by my tiny boob tube.

'The flames spread to my head, my hair went up in seconds, and when I reached up to wipe the burning chemicals off my face, my hands were already on fire.'

Ms Vulin has made a remarkable recovery after she was attacked at her home in early 2012

She suffered horrific burns to 65 per cent of her body following the sickening, unprovoked attack at her home

Ms Vulin said her instinct was to drop and roll - but by doing so spread the fire further around her body.

'The pain was excruciating, but through my screaming I could hear Natalie making her escape through the sliding door,' she continued.

'She was laughing at me while I burnt alive. When I stood up the flames were getting worse, and I could barely think through the pain.

'Panicked, I turned to the sink, trying to put the flames out by pouring a bucket of water over myself.'

The motivational speaker has since made a remarkable recovery but revealed she's still undergoing surgeries.
Makeup artist and children's party entertainer Rhylee Passfield has an uncanny knack of transforming into some of the world's top celebrities.

And she's able to do it mostly through the power of a few brushes and beauty products.

Whether it be the pouted expression of American President Donald Trump or the gaze of a wizard like Harry Potter, Ms Passfield has trialled them all.

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Makeup artist and children's party entertainer Rhylee Passfield has an uncanny knack of transforming into some of the world's top celebrities

Ms Passfield has taken on looks similar to that of Ed Sheeran (left) and Donald Trump (right)

The 23-year-old from Brisbane gained almost 22,000 fans on Instagram just by sharing her ingenious conversions.

She dressed as Taylor Swift on her recent Reputation tour - no doubt getting a few double takes from fans - and practised an Ed Sheeran impression for the camera, complete with dorky glasses and ginger hair.

Her high cheekbone-flaunting Cher look was a huge win - one person even commented they were 'shook to my core' - and donning a Joker costume made her strikingly similar to a late Heath Ledger who played the part.

She dressed as Taylor Swift to the recent Reformation tour - no doubt getting a few double takes from fans - and wizarding genius Harry Potter (right)

Taking on the Joker for Ms Passfield was all in a day's work (right)

One of her most daring creations was that of Johnny Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean character, Captain Jack Sparrow, which catapulted her fame online.

'I decided to do it as the first make up transformation back in 2015 for my Instagram where I had very limited products at the time - I even had to use a dress to wrap around my head as a bandana,' Ms Passfield told FEMAIL previously.

'I decided I wanted to make the whole costume and challenge myself further.'

Turning back time! Cher was another transformation Ms Passfield mastered

Rhylee Passfield (left before and right after), 23, transformed herself into Johnny Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean character, Captain Jack Sparrow

'I decided to do it as the first make up transformation I did was Jack Sparrow back in 2015 for my Instagram where I had very limited products at the time,' she said

Although it took her three weeks to put the look together, the final costume was surprisingly budget-friendly.

'I made the wig by cutting up a cheap brown wig and rolling up hair from various other wigs mixed with PVA glue to form dreadlocks I then painted it with acrylic paint,' she said.

'I then sewed in all the separate pieces and which took nine hours straight one day. This left me with sciatica for the whole of the next week and I could hardly get out of bed.

Pictured is Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow (left) and Ms Passfield's creation (right)

'I found different beads from discount shops which I threaded together and added to the wig and sculpted the bone and teeth out of air drying clay.'

Ms Passfield used a $3 men's dress shirt from a thrift shop to make the top which she stained with coffee and tea.

'I ripped up a bit and even rolled around in the dirt outside which was actually really fun,' she said.

'The pants were also from a thrift shop for $2 as was the vest which was originally a women's blouse that I cut up and sewed to make into the vest.

Ms Passfield used a $3 men's dress shirt from a thrift shop to make the top which she stained with coffee and tea

'The boots were passed down from a friend which I spray painted to make the correct colour.'

To do her make up, Ms Passfield looked at various photo references to get her face as accurate as possible and the beard was supplied by Girlee Cosmetics.

'All up the materials cost me about $20 and it took me 3 weeks,' Ms Passfield said.

'I absolutely love Johnny Depp. He inspires me so much and I love the vast amount of characters he can portray so he is my favourite to transform into.'

The talented freelance make up artist also previously transformed herself into Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman.

'I have been painting and drawing since I was three years old and I am always wanting to branch out into more areas with my artistic abilities,' she said.

'I spend literally all of my free time doing art, makeup and now costume making.'
A Tennessee lawmaker has announced he is drafting a statewide bill that would introduce a school dress code for parents and visitors.

State Representative Antonio Parkinson said his bill being introduced is about the message parents and visitors are sending children when they attend their schools.

'We want to protect our students,' Rep. Parkinson told FOX13. 'We want to protect the staff and we want to protect the integrity of the institution.'

Time for change: A bill has been introduced in Tennessee that would enforce a dress code for parents and visitors when attending schools across the state (stock photo)

The decision to enforce a dress code for parents and guests at schools across Tennessee was reportedly asked for by the parents themselves, along with educators and teachers who work at the schools.

'I had one elementary school principal tell me about a parent coming to pick up their child with lingerie on and body parts hanging out,' Parkinson told Yahoo Lifestyle.

He also described how one parent came to school smelling like marijuana.

Enforcing a dress code statewide could prevent incidents like the ones Parkinson described from happening in the future.

'We hold our children accountable. We hold educators accountable with appropriated conduct and anyone else should be held to the same standards,' Parkinson told FOX13.

The bill is not designed, though, to dictate the dress code for every school in the state.

Priority: State Representative Antonio Parkinson (pictured) introduced the bill this week and hopes it will prevent situations of parents looking or acting inappropriately when picking up their children

Instead, Parkinson wants to give each district the freedom to form a dress code it believes will be appropriate for that area if the bill passes in the state legislature.

'We're not trying to tell anyone how they should dress in their lives,' he said.

'But what we are saying is, "Here's our minimum of what your appearance should be," just like you'd expect in a job interview.'

He went on to say he imagined the dress code would restrict sexually suggestive clothing and items related to 'gang behavior'.

The response to the potential statewide dress code for parents has been mixed after the plan was revealed on Parkinson's own Facebook page.

Some parents responded saying they were excited the legislature was finally doing something to address the issue, while others thought schools should focus on higher-priority items instead of what a parent wears.

Parkinson said he wants the bill to prevent on-site bullying and parents showing up to schools intoxicated.

'When these incidents happen, it creates a situation for children to be bullied,' he said. The bill is expected to be introduced to the first committee in two to four weeks.


A former postman has told how he found himself behind bars in a violent Thai jail after becoming embroiled in the seedy underworld of drugs and prostitution.

Jimmy Kelly was in his late forties and living with his parents in Watford, London when a surprise redundancy payout offered him the chance to escape his 'mundane' existence and the job he 'loathed' to pursue his lifelong dream of opening his own bar.

He jetted out to party hot spot Koh Samui intending to invest the 33,000 in his business venture, but squandered much of the cash partying in the island's notorious red light district, the 51-year-old explained in Banged Up Abroad, which airs on Thursday.

While the bar - named Jimmy Chang's - became incredibly popular, the Brit soon got caught up in island's hedonistic party circuit and was soon taking crystal meth on a regular basis, triggering a downward spiral that would ultimately see him jailed for more than three years.

Jimmy Kelly, pictured in Banged Up Abroad, was in his late forties and living with his parents in Watford, London when a redundancy payout offered him the chance to move to Thailand

The notorious Koh Samui District Prison, where Jimmy Kelly was jailed. After becoming embroiled in the party scene of the red light district he ended up behind bars (file photo)

He was sent to the notorious Koh Samui District Prison, and was shocked by the living conditions and daily violence he experienced - even losing three teeth in a bloody prison fight between two rival gangs.

Jimmy was living at home in London when a surprise windfall changed his life forever.

'I was a postman,' he recalled. 'I absolutely loathed it, I hated the job, I hated everything about it. I wanted to make something of myself, to own my own business.'

When Jimmy was offered redundancy, the downtrodden postman jumped at the chance to 'go and live my dream'.

'When I first got to Thailand I went into partying mode and it was the first time I'd felt happy for a really long time,' he said. 'I felt special; not normal Jimmy the postman.'

He opened a bar on Koh Samui's red light district, raking in cash from 'selling drinks and hiring out loads of girls' on the advice of his friend John* who had lived on the island for a number of years.

Despite the seedy nature of his enterprise, John 'felt really proud of what he'd done' and admitted: 'Finally I loved my life'.

Jimmy was caught in a dramatic take-down which involved a police informer posing as a romantic interest in a honeytrap. They found cash and drugs hidden in the ceiling of his apartment (file photo)

Jimmy Kelly was living at home in London when a surprise windfall changed his life, enabling him to move to Thailand - where he ended up serving time in a violent prison (reenactment)

From there, Jimmy became a low-level dealer - selling just 'bits and pieces' at first - and began pimping out local prostitutes on a regular basis to bolster his income by up to 26,000 in just five days.

'It was only low-key but I wanted more and I became a bit greedy,' he admitted. 'In hindsight it was a terrible idea.'

Soon, his operation was selling 200 grams of crystal meth on a regular basis, a rate that Jimmy couldn't sustain forever.

But he soon realised he was undercutting the local drug dealers on the island: 'I was the only westerner along the strip,' he said. 'I was playing a dangerous game.'

Eventually, Jimmy was caught in a dramatic take-down which involved a police informer posing as a romantic interest in a honeytrap.

Jimmy opened a bar on Koh Samui's red light district, raking in cash from 'selling drinks and hiring out loads of girls', but ended up in prison after being caught in a honey trap

Jimmy was released in 2014 after serving a total of three years and four months, but not a day goes by when he doesn't regret his stint in Thailand, he explains on Banged Up Abroad

'I'd read horror stories about Thai but prisons I never thought in my right mind I'd end up in one,' Jimmy said.

'I couldn't believe what I was walking into. The first time I saw my cell I couldn't believe the size of it. It was like 20 ft by 20ft and there was 30 of us.

'[It was] bad enough trying to stand up, let alone lying down to sleep. There was a squat toilet in the corner of the room, [it stank] as well.'

Two years into his sentence, Jimmy was offered a lifeline from the British Embassy who arranged for him to serve the rest of his sentence at a prison Wandsworth, London.

Jimmy was released in 2014 after serving a total of three years and four months, but still deeply regrets his stint in Thailand and the pain he caused his loved ones.

'I've paid for it, and it's not just me who's paid for it, [it's] family,' he said. 'It's selfish what I've done. People have said to me, would you do it again? Nope.'

Banged Up Abroad airs Thursday at 9pm on National Geographic
Domestic violence survivor turned campaigner Rachael Natoli has one piece of advice for women entering a relationship: 'Don't ignore the warning signs'.

It was a lesson the founder and CEO of the domestic violence group Lokhai Foundation unfortunately learned the hard way after fleeing an abusive relationship herself.

As thousands of people prepare to take part in the Sydney Women's march on Sunday, Ms Natoli opened up about her own personal experience as a survivor.

Founder and CEO of the domestic violence group Lokhai Foundation Rachael Natoli (pictured) unfortunately learned the hard way after fleeing an abusive relationship herself

The 37-year-old told FEMAIL that she met her ex-husband while he was working as a concierge at a hotel she stayed at in Sydney while on holiday from the United Kingdom.

She said it was easy to say goodbye to England and move to Sydney because she loved the city.

But Ms Natoli said there were several warning signs that she ignored early on.

'While I was still living in England he cut off all contact with me because a guy I knew was pursuing me and I wasn't interested but apparently that was my fault as I hadn't made it obvious enough that I wasn't,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'Obviously, the contact restarted quite quickly, as I still moved here, but within a few months of living with him - which happened as soon as I moved to Australia - there had been many signs of control, aggression, financial abuse and physical abuse such as grabbing and pushing.'

She said that she also experienced emotional and financial abuse which ranged from being told she was weak and inadequate to taking her money.

The 37-year-old told FEMAIL that she met her ex-husband while he was working as a concierge at a hotel she stayed at in Sydney while on holiday from the United Kingdom

'I had many items destroyed and smashed up from watches and hair straighteners to phones and iPads; and I was pushed, kicked, grabbed and had things thrown at me more times than I could ever count,' Ms Natoli said.

'I was told I was so weak and unattractive that there was no way he could have sex with me, and so sex was withheld as a form of punishment and control.'

She had no idea how she how she dealt with things during the relationship but tried to survive each day as best as she could.

Ms Natoli said she knew she needed to do something within the first few months, however after only just moving to Australia she only knew one other person and they were in Melbourne.

But Ms Natoli said there were several warning signs that she ignored early on

'I confided in her - to a degree - but, eventually, he made sure she was cut off from my life. It's extremely common in abusive relationships to isolate the victim,' she said.

Ms Natoli left three years into the relationship after secretly setting up an apartment and leaving when she knew he would not be home for a while.

'Within weeks he had wormed his way back in, and I eventually went back to him,' she said.

But Ms Natoli left for good three-and-a-half years ago and her ex-husband was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and had a final AVO taken out against him.

Ms Natoli said she knew she needed to do something within the first few months, however after only just moving to Australia she only knew one other person and they were in Melbourne

'I had already spoken to the DV Line a few months previously, and had been assigned a caseworker from a local organisation,' she said, adding the woman was ready to support her when she was ready to leave.

Now, she is happier than she has been in a long time but still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

'But nothing can take away that feeling of freedom, emotionally and physically, and I will never be controlled again,' she said.

While she knows it is easier said than done Ms Natoli said her advice to other victims was to leave the relationship and not be too harsh on themselves.

Ms Natoli said she believes that the Sydney Women's March on Sunday is a fantastic initiative.

In the past year alone, close to 70 women have been killed due to partner violence.

This year's Sydney Women's March is dedicated to the crisis of violence against women and girls

'It is so inspiring and empowering to see so many people come together to want to change the culture of violence against women for the next generation,' she said.

'We are at crisis point with the current culture and to see this being recognised by the Women's March is just amazing. We all want to work together to make a difference and make a change.'

Women's March Sydney lead organiser Megan Date said they are trying to continue the momentum of the first two years.

'We're focusing this year on the crisis of violence against women and girls. We'll be supporting the Safe State initiative, which is a list of 49 policy recommendations to address and end family and domestic violence in New South Wales, developed by front line workers and experts,' Ms Date said.

She said that the group feel the number - 69 - of women who died at the hands of their male partner in 2018 is unacceptable.

'We want more attention on this issue from our community and political leaders. One death is one too many,' she said.

Women's March Sydney lead organiser Megan Date said they are trying to continue the momentum of the first two year. Women's March 2017 pictured

Ms Date added while the main focus is violence against women they will acknowledge and discuss all genders impacted.

The CEO of Domestic Violence New South Wales Moo Baulch said that one in six Australian women have experienced at least one instance of domestic violence since turning 15.

'Each time we speak up and talk about the issue we could be saving a life by helping someone to find support and to establish safety,' Ms Baulch told Daily Mail Australia.

In 2017, NSW Police issued almost 30,000 protection orders due to domestic violence.

'In the 12 months to September 2018, there were 29,124 Domestic Violence related assaults in NSW,' Ms Baulch said.

'We also know that this is only the tip of the iceberg, with the majority of women not involving the police.'

The CEO of Domestic Violence New South Wales Moo Baulch said that one in six Australian women have experienced at least one instance of domestic violence since turning 15

She said domestic violence is a crime and everyone deserves to live a safe and fulfilled life.

Ms Baulch said: 'Policy makers should endorse the 49 recommendations of the Safe State campaign, a policy platform developed by the NSW Womens Alliance to End Sexual, Domestic Violence in NSW.

'Gendered Violence is preventable and requires an thorough investment in the community and the justice, health and community service sectors to achieve this.'

She said it is everyone's responsibility to combat domestic violence and everyone has a role to play.

This year's Women's March Sydney will begin in Hyde Park at 11.30am and finish at Belmore Park.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence please contact NSW Domestic Violence line on 1800 65 64 63, Lifeline on 13 11 14 and 1800 RESPECT.
Seldom has a British entrepreneur gone from hero to zero as quickly as Sir James Dyson.

As the proprietor of a privately-owned company, the Brexit-cheerleading tycoon clearly believes he has the right to do what is best for himself  and hang everyone else.

Unlike those who run publicly-quoted companies, Dyson does not have to worry about angering shareholders.

But, nevertheless, his departure from Britain will have a profound effect on employees, suppliers, customers and, above all, his own reputation.

Dysons decision can be compared to the solar plexus-hitting news that a great British company has been bought by a foreign predator.

Dyson has previously been a vocal supporter of Brexit as one of the loudest business supporters of Brexit at the 2016 referendum

There is no denying the fact that it is a devastating blow to UK plc, just as Brexit means that we are about to shake up all our trading relationships with other countries.

It is even more hurtful given Dysons full-throated backing of Britain going it alone outside the stultifying embrace of the EU.

Even for a man with such self-confidence and wealth, he will undoubtedly have been shocked that many people see his decision as a betrayal and they will boycott his products.

Newspaper headlines across the world  from the Financial Times in Britain to the Straits Times in Singapore  with the words traitor and hypocrisy will be ringing in Dysons ears like a loud, persistent vacuum cleaner hum.

James Dyson is to relocate the Dyson head office from the UK to Singapore

Slyly, the revelation that his firms domicile is to be moved from Malmesbury in Wiltshire to Singapore was buried deep in a lengthy announcement of the companys results.

The most obvious explanation for Dysons decision is that he has been advised by accountants that he and his staff could save millions of pounds in taxes. Although corporation tax is currently just two points lower in Singapore than here (17 per cent as compared to 19 per cent), personal taxation rates are very low.

Ex-pats on the island state are taxed at just 15 per cent and company directors, such as Dysons Singapore chief executive Jim Rowan, pay just 20 per cent. It is no secret that billionaire Dyson has, over the years, used entirely legal tax avoidance schemes to conserve his income and his vast wealth.

Hes deployed three different film investment plans, since challenged by Her Majestys Revenue and Customs, to keep down his tax bills.

Similarly, his decision to buy 25,000 acres (a bigger estate than possessed by the Queen) was a smart way of guarantee-ing that he can pass his

wealth to future generations without having to pay onerous death taxes.

Dysons supporters argue that although a small number of top executives will move to Singapore, an estimated 4,000 researchers and developers the brains of the enterprise  will stay in Britain.

Theresa May faces a crunch Brexit vote in the House of Commons next week over her Plan B

But this is misleading. For the truth is that Dyson has already moved production of his range of air-blown electrical products (from vacuum cleaners to hand-driers) to Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines some time ago.

Any move abroad of a companys corporate HQ sends a very powerful message.

That is why so many  backed by the Mail  campaigned passionately (and successfully) to stop Unilever, maker of a host of products from Dove soap to Ben & Jerrys ice cream, fleeing London for Rotterdam last year.

The tragic truth is that this country has seen too many great British companies fall prey to foreign predators.

There was, for example, US-based Krafts take-over of Cadbury. This led to the Treasury missing out on huge sums as Cadburys tax domicile switched to low-rate Switzerland.

The numbers are, indeed, big. Last year, Dysons holding company, Weybourne Group, paid 185million of taxes worldwide, 95million of which went to Britain.

When a top executive team moves  as in the case of Dyson  so, normally, do all the support staff and professional services. Uprooting them will inevitably deal a blow to the whole infrastructure.

Eventually, accounting, legal, IT, secretarial and communications experts (plenty of whom will be needed, surely, to explain away Dysons betrayal!) will shift from South West England to the Pacific.

Money apart, my greatest fear is for the future of Dysons intellectual property, patents and engineering in the UK.

There have been reassurances that Dysons intellectual power will remain in the UK. But as management seeks to future-proof the company, it will surely decide that it makes sense to have its research and development, as well as its innovation brains, working alongside the top brass in Singapore.

No wonder that Singapores Economic Development Council is cock-a-hoop. It said the skills that Dyson will bring to the country shall enable Singapores workforce to embrace advanced technologies such as robotics and automation.

These skills are just what Britain needs as it confronts its new global role in the world.

We will have to do so without the disgraceful Dyson, who despite years of pride after being feted as a Great Briton, has snubbed this country by choosing Asia over his native Wiltshire.
Through the dark sky over Germany, the thundering Lancaster bomber sped towards the Bavarian city of Schweinfurt.

Then, having released its deadly load on target and turned back home, the plane came under savage attack from the cannon of a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf fighter.

Immediately, its starboard wing was engulfed by fire. The spreading conflagration led to an extraordinary act of bravery by one of the RAF airmen on that night of April 26, 1944.

Despite shrapnel wounds to his right leg and shoulders, 25-year-old flight engineer Norman Jackson climbed on to the wing of the bomber  flying at 22,000 feet and nearly 200 mph  to tackle the blaze with a small extinguisher.

Parachute

Just as he started to douse the flames, the Lancaster came under renewed assault. Jackson was badly burnt, and he lost his grip and fell off the wing. His parachute, which he had used as a makeshift tether to the plane, was in flames and his leg was broken on landing.

The thugs who threw white paint over the RAF bomber aircrew memorial in Green Park, London (pictured), had no respect for British history and either shamefully disregarded or were woefully ignorant of the horrors those airmen endured, says Leo McKinstry

He ended up a prisoner-of-war and, at the end of the conflict, a holder of the Victoria Cross. 'To venture outside, travelling at almost 200 mph, at a great height and in intense cold, was an almost incredible feat,' read his citation.

Jackson's heroism over Schweinfurt  where there was a vital ball-bearing factory  may have been remarkable, but his valour was typical of Bomber Command during World War II.

Infused by astonishing courage, this force took the fight directly to Nazi Germany night after night, pulverising the Reich's war machine.

The crews paid a heavy price for their dauntless offensive. Of 125,000 who were in action, 55,573 lost their lives, a rate of lethal attrition that exceeded even that of infantry on the Western Front during World War I. Without the sacrifices of Bomber Command, Nazism might well have triumphed.

Yet none of this was of any concern to the vandals who threw white paint over war memorials this week, among them the magnificent statue of an RAF bomber aircrew that stands in Green Park, London as a tribute to the Command.

These thugs had no respect for British history and either shamefully disregarded or were woefully ignorant of the horrors those airmen endured.

Bomber crews flew through the jaws of hell on their country's behalf; I imagine the greatest anguish faced by some of these sanctimonious, paint-chucking ignoramuses is whether their vegan sausage rolls contain traces of meat.

What compounded their antics was the fact that a posturing intellectual on the Left then referred to these memorials as 'justifying terrorism'.

On ITV's Good Morning Britain, Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, described Bomber Command's offensive as 'a war crime'.

Let us ignore, for a moment, that tens of thousands of men in Bomber Command gave their lives so that subsequent generations  people such as Professor Andrews  would have the right to freedom of expression and the opportunity to make offensive comments about British heroes.

Whatever the politics of the matter, the Green Park memorial, with its superb central sculpture by Philip Jackson, is a fitting commemoration to aviators who showed courage that defies description

The fact is that this academic  who seems to delight in controversy and has described the English flag as a 'symbol of racism'  is plain wrong.

Certainly there is controversy over the raids made by Bomber Command. The decision to target German cities and their civilian populations, after the failure of precision bombing in 1940 and 1941, filled the Allies with misgivings after victory.

Churchill sought to distance himself from the destruction of Dresden. In his victory broadcast, he did not even mention the bombers, nor was any campaign medal struck for them.

Officialdom prevaricated for years over the Green Park memorial because of the RAF's contentious campaign against Germany. It was only unveiled in June 2012.

But what cannot be forgotten  even in this age of political correctness  is that we were at war, fighting for freedom in the face of tyranny. When the Allies began bombing Germany in earnest, some 40,000 British civilians had already perished under the Luftwaffe's Blitz.

Whatever the politics of the matter, the Green Park memorial, with its superb central sculpture by Philip Jackson, is a fitting commemoration to aviators who showed courage that defies description. They were simply fulfilling their patriotic duty without an ounce of self-pity or melodrama.

It is an outrage for Professor Andrews to pretend that these men, combating the worst tyranny ever known to mankind, were engaged in war crimes or terrorism. On the contrary, the aircrews were upholding democracy and liberty. If they had not acted so heroically, then Britain would have fallen under the rule of a truly racist dictatorship.

At the bottom of the plinth of the Bomber Command memorial is an inscription with the inspiring words of Pericles, the ancient Greek statesman: 'Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.' With his lurid accusations, Professor Andrews makes a mockery of that truism.

Vociferous

Bomber Command's valour should be celebrated, not denigrated. Despite all their noisily paraded moral virtue, the likes of Professor Andrews  along with all those tedious and increasingly vociferous 'snowflake generation' activists  cannot begin to compare in integrity to the courageous men of Bomber Command.

What would Wing Commander Guy Gibson  who led 617 squadron through ferocious anti-aircraft fire on the Dambusters raid of May 1943  have made of their demands for 'safe spaces' in universities where no one is allowed to say anything that offends them?

They helped to make victory over Nazi totalitarianism possible. They deserve better than to have their memories besmirched by an unholy alliance of self-righteous vandals and a race-fixated, anti-British academic

What would Leonard Cheshire, who won the VC after flying more than 100 combat missions, many of them under heavy fire, have thought of them?

The demands for 'trigger warnings' to protect students from sensitive course material would have been anathema to Bill Reid, who won his VC during a raid on Dusseldorf on the night of 3-4 November 1943. His Lancaster came under assault from German fighters which left him severely injured, two of his comrades dead and his plane crippled.

Far from being a 'war crime', the bombing campaign was a key factor in the defeat of Hitler's Reich. At the height of the Blitz in the winter of 1940, Sir Arthur Harris  a senior figure on the Air Staff who became the bullish head of Bomber Command in 1942  declared of the Germans: 'They are sowing the wind, but they will reap the whirlwind'.

Devastation

He lived up to that edict. Under his leadership of Bomber Command, the RAF carried the war to the Nazi heartland in spectacular fashion. German morale was undermined. Their armed forces were put on the defensive.

Because of the bombing, 2 million Germans were engaged in anti-aircraft duties, while 20 per cent of the non-agricultural workforce had to clear up the devastation.

It was not just urban and industrial targets that were hit. Bomber Command played a crucial rule in destroying the sites of the lethal V-1 and V-2 rockets, hitting the German navy, and paralysing the Reich's transport system in occupied France during the run-up to D-Day.

George Orwell wrote during the war that 'we sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm'.

The men of Bomber Command were not rough, but they were certainly tough. They helped to make victory over Nazi totalitarianism possible. They deserve better than to have their memories besmirched by an unholy alliance of self-righteous vandals and a race-fixated, anti-British academic.

Leo McKinstry is the author of Lancaster, The Second World War's Greatest Bomber.
A police car sits at the entrance to Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky., Saturday, Jan 19, 2019. A diocese in Kentucky apologized Saturday after videos emerged showing students from the Catholic boys' high school reputedly mocking Native Americans outside the Lincoln Memorial on Friday after a rally in Washington. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) PHOTO:AP Photo/Bryan Woolston

Protest Fears Close Covington Catholic High School

By The Associated Press

COVINGTON - A Kentucky boys' school shut down its campus on Tuesday as a precaution and a small protest was held outside their diocese as fallout continued over an encounter between white teenagers, Native American marchers and a black religious sect outside the Lincoln Memorial last week.

President Donald Trump tweeted early Tuesday that the students at Covington Catholic High School "have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be" but says he hopes the teens will use the attention for good, and "maybe even to bring people together."

The recorded images that initially generated outrage on social media were tightly focused on the students wearing "Make America Great Again" hats who seemed to laugh derisively as they surrounded an elderly Native American beating a drum.

Longer videos from wider perspectives emerged later over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. They revealed that the drummer had intervened between the boys and the religious sect, at a moment when the teens seemed to be getting rowdier and the black street preacher with a megaphone who had been making racist statements against both groups was escalating his rhetoric.

Soon, all sides were pointing fingers , speaking their own truths about feeling victimized and misunderstood. And even after a fuller picture emerged, many people didn't seem ready Tuesday to let it go.

"We just don't know what the volatility of the situation is with these people that react and they don't know the full story. And it's very scary," Jill Hamlin of Cincinatti, who was there to chaperone as the boys attended an anti-abortion rally, told FOX News Tuesday morning.

The American Indian Movement Chapter of Indiana and Kentucky held a small protest outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, with activists outnumbered by the media. Meanwhile, the school's principal, Robert Rowe, said that "after meeting with local authorities," they decided to close the campus "to ensure the safety of our students, faculty and staff."

The diocese, which initially issued a statement criticizing the boys' behavior, was unavailable for comment Tuesday morning. Both the school and the diocese websites were taken offline.

Kentucky's governor also weighed in, saying he was saddened by what happened.

"It was amazing how quick those who preach tolerance and non-judgment of others were to judge and label some high school students based on partial information," Gov. Matt Bevin tweeted. "In a world where we have a wealth of information at our fingertips, we have increasingly little discernment and wisdom... Facts matter...The truth matters...Context matters... A little more genuine caring for one another and a little less digital vitriol would be good for all."
WEST CHESTER  Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, who has already announced a criminal investigation into construction of the Mariner
@ChescoCourtNews on Twitter

Michael P. Rellahan has been a staff reporter and editor at the Daily Local News since 1982. He has covered all kinds of news over the years but is now assigned to report on court and legal news, as well as Chester County government news and politics.
Ashland, KY (41101)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Diane Pineiro-Zucker has been a reporter at the Daily Freeman since April 2013. Pineiro-Zucker worked as a reporter in the Freemans Rhinebeck bureau in the early 1980s, left to become executive editor at Taconic Newspapers in Dutchess County.
SAUGERTIES, N.Y.  Village officials believe they have identified two leaks in the village water system that can account for the loss of nearl
ROCHESTER, N.Y.  The last of four young men who authorities say planned to use homemade explosives against a Muslim community in Delaware Cou
RHINEBECK, N.Y.  The Town Board on Friday will interview at least five people, including one of its own members, who are interested in being 
TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y.  Foreclosure proceedings have been initiated by a bank against six of the 25 parcels that make up TechCity, as well as n
Charles Elsberry, beloved father and grandfather, age 80, of Dalton, passed away Thursday, June 17, 2021 in the company of his family at his residence. He was preceded in death by his wife; Phyllis Elsberry, parents, William Henry Elsberry, Sr. and Stella Gladstone, brother and sister-in-law
We've launched a new site for events and entertainment all along the Flight 93 Memorial Highway. Read the latest articles and buzz around town.

Keep up to date on upcoming events and submit your own.

Visit What's NXT 219 
Kankakee, IL (60901)

Today

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early with scattered thunderstorms developing late. A few storms may be severe. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
In 2016, ISU Credit Union in Pocatello, Idaho, launched an initiative aimed at increasing employees community involvement.

Teal Team VI, inspired by the U.S. Navys SEAL Team Six, encourages and gives staff the opportunity to volunteer for community-based efforts.

Teal refer to ISUs primary branding color. The programs slogan: Fighting for a better community.

The credit union tracks volunteal hours and honors active participants as stars. Employees can earn rewards for participation.

They receive detailed emails about volunteer opportunities about a week in advance.
Holly Hoffman

Holly Hoffman will keynote this years CUNA Regulatory Compliance Certification School. She will share how compliance professionals can face their challenges in intuitive, honest and adaptable ways.

CUNA Regulatory Compliance Certification Schools will be held March 31-April 5, 2019 in Louisville, KY and September 8-13, 2019 in Dallas, TX.

Additional sessions that have been added to this school, intended for experienced compliance professionals include:
A great number of the governance challenges that we come across in the work that our firm, Quantum Governance, L3C, undertakes with credit unions can be boiled down to matters of communications.

Are your board members crossing over into day-to-day operations? Well  have their roles and responsibilities been clearly defined, updated and effectively communicated to them?

Are there two or three members of your board who are coming to meetings ill-prepared each and every month (or even just one)? Its probably time for your board or governance committee chair to have a heart-to-heart, one-on-one conversation with those directors.

Is the relationship between your board and CEO riddled with micromanagement, executive sessions and a lack of trust? Its possible that you stopped having authentic, open dialogue far too long ago.
I once heard an interesting story. Two goats came face to face while attempting to cross a narrow bridge. One of them forcefully stated, Let me pass! Refusing to budge, the other responded, Neveryou get out of my way! As tempers flared, the two goats began a mighty quarrel, eventually losing their balance and plunging to their deaths in the ravine below. A few days later, two other goats found themselves in the same dilemma. Wise and patient, each goat made room for the other, allowing each to cross and return home safely.

Of course the message is clear; its better to compromise and live, than to be unbending and meet your demise. And if youve been following the recent developments in our nations capital, you know that the consequences of non-compromise can be far more reaching than just two individuals. Here are three reasons why compromise is a must, regardless of whether youre negotiating for a nation or simply a leader within your organization.

Compromise creates Win-Win situations

C.S. Lewis once said, True humility in not thinking less of yourself, but is thinking of yourself less. Some erroneously feel that negotiating with the opposition is compromising to their personal worth and leads them to think, well thats just who I am, deal with it. But attempting to beat the opposition out of others is self-destructive and leads to chaos within all parties involved. Victory may be yours, but the moment is fleeting and youll risk destroying fruitful relationships youll need for future success. The best negotiators create win-win situations, bending where necessary to draw out the best in others, in order to walk away from the table with a victory for all. If you prove yourself to be this type of negotiator, your value to the organization dramatically increases.

Compromise instills and maintains respect

Your reputation at the negotiating table can leave lasting impressions, which can in turn have lasting effects on your reputation in your industry and your ability to negotiate future deals. Being willing to compromise indicates your respect for the position of others, which increases their willingness to work with you in tearing down roadblocks that hinder progress. Once you lose the respect of peers, subordinates, vendors, clients, or any other interested party, that narrow bridge narrows even more and demise is imminent. Trust deteriorates, communication ceases, and animosity abounds. By consequence, your team will become incapable of responding to the needs of those who use your products and services and you certainly dont want to lose your organizations balance and plunge into the ravine.

Compromise builds confidence

Business author Robert Kiyosaki once said, The better you are at communicating, negotiating, and handling your fear of rejection, the easier life is. Contrary to todays popular belief, attaining everything you want is not what builds confidence. Confidence is found within rejection and failure as it forces you to become a better communicator and negotiator. As that experience builds, you can sit at any table, content in the knowledge that you have what it takes to land a stellar deal. Confidence at the negotiating table has been proven to result in better deals as your focus is on creating value for all, not on worrying about being outmaneuvered by the other party. After all, the goal of any negotiation is to get the best deal for all involved, including those whom your decisions will affect, who may not have the privilege of being present at the table.

Negotiation skills take time, practice, and patience to acquire, but theyre indispensable for success in business and in life. As Dr. Chester Karass said, You dont get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. Ensure youre wise and patient to avoid the treacherous ravine.
Four Stamford youngsters will be among the dozens from Fairfield and Westchester, N.Y., counties participating in the Norwalk Symphony Orchestras 7th annual Young Artists Festival on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Norwalk Concert Hall.

Participating Stamford residents are Eva Bodek, Tejes Prabhu and Cecilia Sepulveda. Prabhu and Sepulveda are performing the Festival portion of the event, where they will be adjudicated by Brooklyn-based judge, violinist Eva Gerard, according to a news release. This level is for younger students, and is comments only and non-competitive. Bodek will be competing in the Junior Level, performing for judges Benjamin Steinhardt (Greenwich) and Jessica McNamara (Ridgefield).

Nicole Wang, also a Stamford resident, is a concert pianist and will be a judge for the competitive Live Round Finals of the Concerto Competition.

This festival is open to music students of all levels and instruments who have at least two years of study and have not yet graduated high school. The festival offers different levels which serve to encourage and recognize the talented young musicians in Fairfield County. Additionally, the festival includes a Concerto Competition that is open to all instrumentalists through high school. Eight students who successfully completed a video round will participate in the Live Final Round beginning at 4:15pm.

The primary purpose of this festival is to give young musicians the opportunity to perform in the context of the greater Fairfield County musical community, festival chair and Norwalk Symphony Orchestra Vice President Becki Christopherson was quoted as saying. Opportunities like this did not exist in Fairfield County prior to our festival, but are common throughout the country. It is rare to win the opportunity to perform a concerto movement with a professional orchestra in a subscription concert as a young artist.

The winner of the Junior Festival Level will receive a cash prize of $150 and will be announced at 4 p.m. on Saturday on the concert hall stage.

The Concerto Competition Finals are open to the public for $10 a ticket (student, $5) and run from 4:15 to 6 p.m. The winner will be announced at 6:15 p.m. in the lobby. The winner of the Concerto Competition will perform their concerto movement with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra in its Music for All Ages family concert on Sunday, March 17, at 3 p.m. at the concert hall.
Since 2010, Google has dedicated resources to Moonshot projects, forward thinking endeavors designed to solve the worlds biggest problems. So what has the Alphabet-owned company been cooking up?

To start, its not entirely a surprise that a division with an emphasis on science fiction is intent on making robots a reality. Not much is available to the public on this particular area, but according to the X website, teams are investigating how machine learning can be used to teach robots new skills that will enable them to reliably perform useful tasks in unstructured environments. (Alphabet formerly owned Boston Robotics.)

So all in good time, we suppose.

Read on for some of the most intriguing projects being worked on in X, the Moonshot Factory.

Related: These Are the 10 Highest Paying Jobs at Google

Makani

Makani energy kites, which look like model airplanes tricked out with a bunch of propellers and have the wingspan of a smaller jet plane, are X's attempt to better harness wind energy. They can generate up to 600 kilowatts of energy, which is enough to power roughly 300 homes. So how does it work? The M600 kite is attached to a ground station, and as the kite is flown, the wind moves through the propellers and the spinning action generates power, which is then sent down to the grid via a tether.

Glass Enterprise Edition

Though the companys first stab at Google Glass proved that we werent quite ready to wear computers on our faces in casual social settings, the Moonshot factory is currently working on Glass Enterprise Edition, designed with manufacturing and outdoor workers in mind. The idea is that Glass can be clipped onto safety goggles or shields, so if something needs to be repaired, for example, workers can use the display to read directions.

Free Space Optics

This project is working to bring high-speed internet to areas that do not have access without requiring extensive digging and the laying of lines. Essentially, free space optics is the utilization of beams of light to transmit high speed data between point A and point B. It is currently being implemented in Andhra Pradesh, a state in India.

Waymo

As of the end of the 2016, with more than 2 million miles in the books -- roughly 300 years of human driving, including the first ride on public roads -- Google's self-driving car project graduated from X. Now named Waymo, its first public trial is currently happening in Phoenix, Ariz.

Related: Three Things To Learn From Google's Workplace Culture

Wing

Developed in an effort to increase access to goods and reduce traffic and pollution, this effort to create delivery drones made its first real-world deliveries in 2014, bringing first-aid supplies, candy, dog treats and water to farmers in Queensland, Australia. In 2016, it completed what was at the time the largest and longest drone delivery in the U.S., when students at Virginia Tech got air dropped some delicious burritos. The project officially graduated in July 2018.

Loon

Project Loon was developed to try a different way of connecting people to the internet -- instead of wires in the ground, a network of stratospheric balloons. In 2017, Loon worked with Spanish telecom firm Telefonica to provide internet connectivity to people in Peru who had to leave their homes due to flooding. After Hurricane Maria in 2018, Loon worked with AT&T and T-Mobile to get more than 200,000 people in Puerto Rico back online.

Verily

This team is focused on improving medical tech, developing prototypes for smart contact lenses that could accurately measure biological markers in our eyes, nanotech that could potentially identify and latch onto cancer cells and wearables that could tell when those nanoparticles found the cells and eating utensils that could help users with hand tremors or limited mobility.

Malta

One way you probably didnt realize you could store energy was in giant tanks of molten salt and chilled liquid. But Malta does just that, sending electricity back to the grid when it's needed the most. The team is currently at work developing a pilot plant to show whether the tech can be used at a broad commercial scale.

Related:

8 of the Coolest Projects to Come Out of X, Google's Moonshot Factory

Por que Google le 'dono' 2 millones de dolares a Wikipedia

No tienes pagina web? Esta empresa te ayuda a llegar a Google de todas formas



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
EAST HAVEN  Police Officer Vincent Ferrara, who seven years ago helped federal investigators uncover corruption and harassment that send four cops to prison, was fired Tuesday night for disciplinary infractions including lying to a detective investigating his personal use of a police computer.

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It took the Board of Police Commissioners half an hour to complete the termination process a week after a hearing on the issues, which included using his city email to send nude and semi-nude photos of women to his private email in 2015 and 2017.

Under the rules and regulations of the EHPD, were going to go through with the termination of Officer Ferrara, said William Illingworth, commission chairman, after a brief deliberation. After the meeting, he said in an interview that commissioners went through evidence over the past week before reaching their unanimous decision.

The commission took all the facts into consideration and took ample time in order to deliberate, he said.

Ferrara, an 11-year department veteran, said he will appeal the firing and continue his federal civil rights action against the town and police department, claiming that he was the victim of retaliation after he helped the FBI and a grand jury. This is only going to make my lawsuit better, he said after the meeting.

Daniel Healy, an associate of Norman Pattis, one of Ferraras two main lawyers, said that the legal team will discuss potential avenues for appeal.

We need to discuss what your plans are, he said to Ferrara and his family outside headquarters. If there are appeal rights we will exercise them, if there is a basis to do so.

Ferrara, while suffering from brain cancer, had been cleared by his doctor to return to work after more than a year. In December 2017, he allegedly lied to an investigating detective, Robert Brockett, who investigated the identities of the women whose images Ferrara forwarded from his town email to his personal account.

Ferrara made untruthful and/or misleading responses to Brockett about the identities of the women, the commissioners found. He also forwarded 10 notices from the departments intelligence center to his personal email, and made misleading responses about an incident involving a women at whose residence his police cruiser was found to be parked for an hour.

Healy requested a transcript of last weeks hearing, then asked for copies of Ferrars pay stubs. Town Attorney Joseph H. Zullo said a transcript was not yet ready, and he could request the pay stubs through the Freedom of Information Act process. When Healy tried to get Ferraras personnel file introduced as evidence, Zullo said that it was too late because the fact-finding phase of the case was completed at the earlier hearing.

The only thing you have before you was what was presented last week, Zullo said. It would be improper for the board to receive more evidence or testimony.

According to recent sworn depositions in Ferraras civil rights case, back in 2015, before Brockett became a detective in the departments Internal Affairs unit, he allegedly termed Ferrara a rat for helping in the federal probe into the harassment of Latinos.
BRIDGEPORT  A young woman who was sexually assaulted by a Trumbull police officer who supervised her in a program for teenagers has filed suit against the town of Trumbull.

The woman was 15 when police said Officer William Ruscoe, a 20-year veteran and supervisor of the Trumbull Police Departments Explorer Scout program, repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Bridgeport, also names as defendants Ruscoe, the Boy Scouts of America and Learning for Life Inc, which at the time sponsored the departments explorer program, and then-Police Chief Thomas Kiely.

The plaintiff was a teenage girl who was interested in law enforcement and excited to join the Trumbull police explorer program, said her attorney, Cindy Robinson. Tragically, she was sexually assaulted by a supervisor of the program, William Ruscoe. He was her role model, which just heightened the betrayal and humiliation that she has experienced.

Robinson said the Trumbull explorer program was fatally flawed because it allowed police officers like Ruscoe to have unchaperoned contact with minors. Disturbingly, well before our clients abuse, it was known that underage explorers like the plaintiff were at risk for sexual molestation by the police officers who were supposed to be teaching them about police work.

She said the young woman continues to suffer emotional trauma, including ongoing nightmares, from the assaults.

Trumbull Town Attorney Dan Schopick said he has no comment on pending litigation. Ruscoes lawyer, Michael Fitzpatrick, declined comment because he had not seen the lawsuit.

The Trumbull Police Departments police explorer program is now known as the Trumbull Police Cadet Post and is no longer associated with the Boy Scouts.

In January 2015, Ruscoe, who resigned following his arrest, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault in the case and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

During the sentencing hearing the victim told the judge, I was completely betrayed by someone I looked up to as a role model, I still wake up in a pool of sweat after having a nightmare where I yell stop and no  the two words I yelled that night at him.

That teen told State Police that Ruscoe expressed his desire to have a sexual relationship with her after she had taken her physical assessment exam with the scouts in March 2013.

She said Ruscoe began texting her that he loved her and described in detail things he wanted to do with her sexually, according to the affidavit.

In mid-June 2013, Ruscoe picked the teen up at her home and drove her to a scenic overlook near Marnicks restaurant in Stratford, where he gave her a silver bracelet that read, Made with Love, and then tried to kiss her, the affidavit states.

On another occasion, the teen said, Ruscoe showed up drunk at her home and groped her.

The affidavit states that in the fall of 2013 after she and Ruscoe had worked as security at the Battle of the Bands event at Trumbull High School, Ruscoe had driven her to his Trumbull home. When she balked at having sex with him, the affidavit states Ruscoe plunked his service weapon down on the kitchen counter in front of her and then ordered her upstairs to his bedroom, grabbing his handcuffs on the way up the stairs.

Once in the bedroom he pulled off the teens cadet uniform and, over her many protests, sexually assaulted her, the affidavit states.

Police said Ruscoe later told the teen he was concerned about getting arrested for what he did to her, but would kill himself rather than go to jail.

The affidavit states detectives found at least two dozen photos of the teen in various stages of undress on Ruscoes cellphone, as well as nude photos he had taken of himself.
BRIDGEPORT  Jose Tiago, the citys deputy director of public facilities, is one of the previously unnamed employees being punished for their involvement in off-the-municipal-books sales of scrap metal for cash, according to multiple sources.

On Tuesday night, Mayor Joe Ganim announced that his close ally, John Ricci, the director of public facilities, would lose two weeks of pay and two weeks of vacation over the ongoing scrap metal controversy, and that three other unidentified staffers under Ricci faced discipline.

But the mayors office declined to provide names other than Riccis, because the other workers had yet to be notified of the accusations of misconduct against them and face a hearing process.

Tiago could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. His tenure at the Department of Public Facilities began in 2014, when then-Mayor Bill Finch made him a $91,304 project manager in that department. The politically connected Tiago was one of the very few Finch hires who not only survived but thrived in City Hall after Ganim defeated the incumbent in the 2015 Democratic primary and won that Novembers general election.

Tiago, who has also been a contractor and a zoning commission member, may be best known as a restaurateur. He opened Tiagos, a bar and grill on State Street, across from the downtown government center, in 2010. For years it was a popular spot amid the fragile downtown dining scene, but earlier this month Tiago decided to close.

The scrap metal scandal, which is being probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, first unfolded last fall. An anonymous letter to the City Council alleged that public facilities employees under Ricci and Tiago had sold over $25,000 worth of scrap metal over two years and placed the proceeds in a scam account for special events.

Ricci told Hearst Connecticut Media in November that he was aware of some scrap metal being sold for cash, with around $5,500 placed in a department sunshine fund or petty account to pay for meals, cakes, event tickets and other morale-boosting activities.

Ricci, whom Ganim put in charge of public facilities in 2016, also said in November that the sunshine fund predated him.

Documents obtained by Hearst in December showed more than $35,500 worth of cash-for-scrap transactions between municipal workers and Bridgeport-based P.C. Metals.

Ganim on Tuesday announced that four public facilities employees, including Ricci, were being disciplined for mismanagement and for breaking city rules following an internal review separate from the FBIs criminal probe.

The mayor also said some of the scrap metal proceeds appear to be missing.

Ricci said in an interview Tuesday night, I did, in fact, continue an ongoing process that was in place which was in violation of an existing city ordinance. ... I did not take any money for any personal use. It was used for morale purposes.
Bridgeport  Thomas Hooker School will be closed through Monday because of a busted sprinkler.

Schools Superintendent Aresta Johnson made the announcement after students were dismissed early on Wednesday. The sprinkler pipe in the schools attic busted causing water damage to nine classrooms.

City officials said its department of Public Facilities responded to assess the source of the pipeline burst and damages. The cold weather was to blame.

Hooker School, serves 343 students in grades K-8 and was built in 1927 with a renovation in 2001.

lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck
BRIDGEPORT  There are still some local residents who could need a helping hand to push through the rest of this winter.

For the 10th consecutive year, the Connecticut Post partnered with United Way, a nonprofit organization focused on charitable fundraising and support, to provide stories of people in the community who need financial help to help them get through the holidays and the winter months.

Donations are made to The Giving Fund, a philanthropic partnership between United Way, LifeBridge of Bridgeport and the Post. Online donations can be made at https://bit.ly/2UWVaFx.

As of 1 p.m. Jan. 9, 127 Connecticut Post readers donated $23,799 to the cases shared from Thanksgiving 2018 through Jan. 3. The needs were fully met for the following cases: 001, 010, 017, 019, 021, 024, 027, 030, 034, 037, 043, 045, 051, 055 and 060.

All cases for this season can be found at www.ctpost.com/ givingfund. Names have been changed to protect the privacy of those asking for help.

Over seven weeks, a total of $29,220 was asked for in the Connecticut Post cases. The following cases are from week five and were initially published in the paper on Jan. 3.

WEEK SEVEN

Eunice  Case 061

Eunice needs to change her housing situation. Her and her son live in Bridgeport but have to find new housing. Eunice works full-time and saved enough for a security deposit on an apartment, but is struggling to come up with her first months rent. A gift of $500 would help Eunice and her son get moved into their new home.

Melba  Case 062

Melbas car needs repairs. She lives in Stratford with her mother and is starting college, while searching for a job to help cover college fees and tuition. Her car was recently hit and needs repairs so she can continue to commute to her college campus. A gift of $500 would cover the repairs.

Luz  Case 063

Luz needs to cover her rent payments. The single mother of two children has been working part-time while looking for full-time employment. A gift of $500 would relieve some of the financial burden.

Denita  Case 064

Denita needs to pay for food and supplies. The mother of three children survived years of abuse and labor trafficking. Her three children all have physical, mental and developmental challenges and require frequent doctor visits. A gift of $500 would help her pay for some food and daily needs for her family.

Pam  Case 065

Pams struggling to come up with money. The Bridgeport resident has been homeless and living with family for more than a year. She has no source of income and medical problems keep her from working. She is living with her daughters family but feels like a burden. A gift of $300 would help her give her contribute to household costs.

Kate  Case 066

Kates car needs repairs. The single mom in her mid-20s works full-time and has been saving money to cover repairs on her car that totaled $650. She has paid $300 toward the bill. A gift of $350 would cover the rest of the repair costs.

Tina  Case 067

Tinas family needs heat. She is a married mother with three kids. Her and her husband are struggling to cover the cost of day care for their children. A gift of $400 would help them cover heat through the winter so they could put other funds toward their childrens day care costs.

Tanya  Case 068

Tanya needs to relocate. She is a victim of incest and emotional and physical abuse. She recently found out one of her former abusers moved to Connecticut and decided to leave the state for her safety, but is struggling to come up with the money. A gift of $500 would help her afford to relocate.

Candy  Case 069

Candys children need new beds. The mother has two teenagers and they had to get rid of all their furniture recently because of a bed bug problem. Candys main priority is getting new beds for her children before replacing the other furniture. A gift of $500 would help her afford the new beds.

George  Case 070

George needs a new bed and box spring. The 64-year-old Stratford resident and U.S. Army veteran. He has mild depression, post-traumatic stress and AIDS. Hes been sleeping on the same bed for more than 10 years. A gift of $500 would help him afford a replacement bed and box spring.
HARTFORD  The 2019 General Assembly is just two weeks old but already one of the signature battles expected to dominate this session  legalizing recreational marijuana  is heating up.

Marijuana legalization proponents wasted no time, as they held a mini-rally in favor of legalization the same day Gov. Ned Lamont was inaugurated on Jan. 9.

On Wednesday, those opposed to legalization fired back.

The Connecticut Chapter of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and the Connecticut Association of Prevention Professionals held a Legislative Office Building press conference to inform legislators and the public regarding the health risks of legalizing retail marijuana and recent findings, such as how states that have legalized marijuana now lead the U.S. in teen use.

Those speaking out against legalization ranged from police chiefs, to medical experts, to legislators, to high school students. Their message was that the legislature should tread carefully before legalizing it and to not fall in love with the potential financial windfall it could bring. They warned of other costs, such as increased drug use, that could outweigh the benefits.

Local law enforcement does not have the resources to deal with the legalization of recreational marijuana, said Wethersfield Police Chief James Cetran, who is also president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association.

Cetran said Connecticut police are already overwhelmed by the opioid crisis in the state of Connecticut and would be unable to handle marijuana legalization.

He said that if the legislature and governor insist on pushing forward with it then perhaps the Consumer Protection should set up a marijuana policing department. Consumer Protection already oversees the medical marijuana program.

Cetran and other opponents said another objection to legalization is the lack of an industry standard for drivers under the influence of marijuana.

Three of the marijuana bills introduced in the General Assembly so far this year seek to study or implement a DUI standard-type test for police to use to test for marijuana.

Dr. Deepak Cyril DSouza, a research scientist and professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, said his research shows that the highest rates of cannabis use among young people are in states where marijuana is legal. He said that, in his opinion, that is particularly dangerous because there is accumulating evidence that the brain of adolescents and young adults (mid-20s) is more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis.

Lawmakers in favor of legalization are seeking to only give access to residents over the age of 21.

Regardless, as has been the case in previous years debates, proponents and opponents trot out their own statistics and arguments when making their case.

Brian Essenter, public outreach director for Connecticut NORML, a state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said NORMLs research shows fewer young people smoke pot in Colorado now than before it was legalized.

He also said that NORML believes marijuana is not a gateway to harder drugs. He said when cannabis is sold in an unregulated marketplace the dealers are more concerned about keeping customers or hooking them on more profitable drugs. He said thats not the case in a regulated marketplace. He said children would have less access to cannabis in a regulated marketplace.

He added that if adults keep telling kids lies, theyre going to research it themselves.

One of the most adamant opponents is Bo Huhn, a spokesman for the Connecticuts Smart Approaches for Marijuana (SAM), has made repeated trips to the state capitol over the past few years to speak against legalization.

Huhn, from Guilford, said his own research shows him that marijuana can be a gateway to harder drugs. He said its personal for him because my youngest daughter got addicted to crack as a sophomore in high school.

We went through a nightmare, Huhn said. The impact was devastating.

Also speaking against legalization was Julia Rubbo, a Guilford High School student.

She said shes concerned that the mindset of my peers is so dangerously casual about pot. I am deeply concerned about all the people who have tried marijuana that are my age.

While legalization seems to still be a toss-up issue in this years General Assembly it is not with the general population.

The most recent poll was conducted in October 2017 by Sacred Heart University. Results suggested that 71 percent of Connecticut residents strongly supported or somewhat supported legalizing and taxing marijuana at that time, in the context of the states budget crisis.

The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated last year that Connecticut could bring in $45.4 million to $104.6 million a year if it legalizes marijuana in the same way its been done in Massachusetts or Colorado.

Connecticut is still facing a substantial two-year, multi-billion budget deficit.

Massachusetts recently became the seventh state in the nation to establish a regulated cannabis market for adults. A total of nine states have enacted laws to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for adult use. Lawmakers in Vermont and voters in Washington, D.C. adopted laws making marijuana possession and cultivation legal for adults, but not commercial production or sales. In Maine, sales are expected to begin in the fall.

Christine Stuart contributed to this story
P&O Cruises has announced a number of new guest chefs on the Britannia this year.

Host of BBCs Saturday Kitchen, Matt Tebbutt; chef and author Sabrina Ghayour; award-winning chocolatier Paul A Young and Michelin-starred chef Robert Thompson will travel with P&O Cruises in 2019.

Each chef will offer interactive masterclasses in Britannias state-of-the-art Marco Pierre White Cookery Club where they will cook a range of seasonal and speciality dishes; hosted dinners where guests can enjoy three courses at the chef's table with paired wines as well as Q&A sessions and book signings.

P&O Cruises president, Paul Ludlow, said: Each of these vibrant, contemporary chefs have very different styles of cooking, they are all hugely successful and incredibly passionate about what they do. As the holiday company for anyone with an interest in food, Im delighted that our guests will have the opportunity to meet with, and learn from, some of the most exciting chefs around while cooking up some truly extraordinary gourmet experiences. Holidays are made of memories such as these.

Among the chefs is Matt Tebbutt, who is said to be passionate about Modern British cooking, making the most of local, seasonal produce and getting back to nature by using wild and foraged foods.

After university, he attended the prestigious Leiths School of Food and Wine in London.

He then landed a traineeship with Marco Pierre White, followed by a stint of classic French cooking at Chez Bruce. Moving on to work for his hero Alistair Little, he picked up tips on high-quality, rustic cooking and seasonal ingredients.

Matt and his wife Lisa ran The Foxhunter in Nantyderry, for fourteen years, turning it into an award-winning restaurant with a daily-changing menu featuring local Welsh ingredients and Matt's foraging finds. Since he left the kitchen to focus on TV work, Matt has presented Market Kitchen on uktv Good Food, filmed eight series of Food Unwrapped on Channel 4 and now presents Saturday Kitchen for the BBC. He also presents Best Bites on BBC2 and recently filmed two series of Save Money: Good Food with Susanna Reid.

Matt will be joining Britannias B907 seven-night The Netherlands, Belgium & Guernsey sailing departing 29 March, 2019. Select prices from 549 per person.
Carnival Cruise Lines new LNG-powered vessel, the Mardi Gras, will call a new terminal home at Port Canaveral come 2020.

Before then, Port CEO Captain John Murray is welcoming back the Norwegian Sun, sailing to Cuba, as well as the Mariner of the Seas, which will replace the smaller Enchantment of the Seas in the short cruise market.

The Harmony is also replacing the Oasis, which is a big upgrade, said Murray, noting the ship was nine years newer.

The demand is there and what really drives it for us is that we are a drive-to market, he said. We have Orlando, and that is a big draw. You get a lot of families.

After booking a record 4.6 million multi-day cruise passengers, this season looks like it will be up again, in the 4.7 or 4.8 million range.

Port Canaverals Terminal 3 will be turned into a state-of-the-art 190,000-square-foot terminal for Carnivals 2020 newbuild.

In addition will be a massive new 1,700-space parking garage as part of an unprecedented long-term 25-year agreement between the port and Carnival.

Were going to be breaking ground on the terminal early in the year, and its the largest project we have ever done, said Murray. Its also one of the longer-term cruise line agreements, and it could go out (with options) to 45 years. It demonstrates our partnership with Carnival and what we can do filling their ships in the future.

The first port in North America to supply LNG, the Carnival ship will bunker by barge. Murray said planning had been underway for two years, and the port seized the opportunity around the fuel.

We see it as the key to the future, he added.

Business is poised to keep growing for Murray and his team.

We have the space, and we have other terminals we want to develop and we will do that when we have a tenant that makes sense, he continued.

Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2018-2019
Independentreview

City to contribute $83K to sheriff dept. software upgrade

cbonelli / Staff photo by Cam Bonelli Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze presents a proposal for an update to the sheriffs offices database and records software. Litchfield approved the request for a portion of the software cost at $83,627.

The Litchfield City Council unanimously approved a request by the Meeker County Sheriffs Office for a contribution of $83,627 to upgrade the sheriffs office and Litchfield Police Departments public safety data management and records software. Eden Valley Police Department will also contribute to the purchase of the software.

Cruze said that at the end of the day, Zuercher, a fully-integrated public safety software, was the best option.

The total cost of the software is $383,283, Cruze said. The [Meeker County Board] has already approved based on Litchfields partnership.

Litchfields contribution to the software will most likely come from the citys equipment revolving fund and be paid over several years, according to a staff report. The city will determine the funds source and payment period in September or October 2019.

Zuercher manages the software as well and provides updates and maintenance. Litchfields current share of the cost for the sheriffs office software maintenance is around $40,000. With the upgrade to Zuerchers software, the yearly maintenance will increase by about $15,000.

The Meeker County Sheriffs Office leases space to the Litchfield Police Department, and the software upgrade would benefit both offices. The lease lapses in 2019, and the city will make a decision regarding the renewal of the lease in the coming months. Cruze said the partnership between the two agencies has been ongoing for nearly 20 years and works well from his perspective.

Sometimes, we realize we are working on the same cases, and it makes it easier for collaboration, Cruze said. I think everyone internally wants to maintain that relationship.

The software switch to Zuercher was implemented Jan. 8 and will be built to suit the departments needs over the next year, according to Cruze.

They will come in and figure out what our department needs and build it from the ground up, Cruze said. Within one year it should be implemented.

The price of the software switch includes the cost to convert the departments current files over to Zuerchers files.

The decision to make the switch was based on research conducted by the sheriffs office after looking into a newer and more accessible software. The sheriffs office contacted other agencies in the state that use Zuercher and got recommendations. Cruze said the departments current software was purchased in 2000 and is antiquated compared to todays technological advancements.

We didnt realize how out of date the software was until we started looking at other options, Cruze said.

Another advantage to the software switch, Cruze said, was the ability to collaborate with other departments statewide that have implemented Zuercher.

Before, with our old software, you couldnt share files with other agencies, Cruze said. With Zuercher, we will be able to share files and request files more easily with other departments.

An issue with the old software was that it was not a fully-integrated software  a software that connects similar programs and shares data between programs in a suite, such as Microsoft office  and data, such as when booking someone in jail or creating a record when filing a police report, would be put into the system multiple times. Cruze said the data sharing with Zuerchers integrated software will allow for the department to use less time managing data.

[The old softwares data input function] was really a driving force to start looking at different companies, Cruze said.
 Thomas J. Scott is a Twin Cities writer who analyzes international affairs, globalization, and education issues. He is a frequent contributor to Truthout, a nonprofit news organization, and an adjunct professor of world politics at Metro State University; his views are his own and do not reflect the position of the university.
Some people only walk this earth for a short time. Their departure reminds us that angels are watching over us. Last week, Aggie Reed rejoined her heavenly family and gained her wings. Agnes Lee "Aggie" Wilson-Reed passed away unexpectedly in Cookeville on June 11, 2021, at the age of 83. Ag
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In sum, the committee argues that GO bonds issued in 2012 and 2014 violated two provisions of Puerto Rico's constitution, and thus the bonds should be deemed void. The Board joins in the objection with regard to the first constitutional provision, but not the second. If successful, this objection would eliminate $6 billion of the $13 billion in GO bonds currently outstanding.

The objection was jointly filed by the creditors' committee and the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, but the Board only joined in one of the two main arguments that are put forth. (There is a third argument in the objection  about OID and unmatured interest under section 502 fo the Code  that I'm not going to talk about because its rather pedestrian by comparison).

While there has been some press coverage of the recent attempts to annul some $6 billion of Puerto Rican general obligation bonds  essentially all such debt issued starting in 2012 onward  the move has not received much deep coverage. Yesterday I took some time to read the claims objection filed in the Commonwealth's article III case, and in this post I'm going to consider the arguments against the bonds' validity. In a further post, I will consider what is going on here from a strategic perspective.

The Commonwealth's constitution contains two provisions of relevance. First, there is a limit on the amount of debt Puerto Rico can issue  essentially, anticipated debt service may not exceed 15% of average tax revenue over the prior two years. Second, there is a provision mandating balanced budgets. The committee argues that the 2012 and 2014 GOs put Puerto Rico in violation of both provisions, while the Board only joins in the argument with regard to the first provision.

Much turns on whether debt issued by the Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority counts as debt issued by the Commonwealth itself. The objectors say "yes." They note that the PBA's debt was payable only with rents received from the various Puerto Rican government entities that used its buildings, and that the Commonwealth had backed up those rent payments with its own credit. Moreover, the Commonwealth also directly guaranteed the PBA's bonds.

In short, we have a basic substance over form argument, with the objectors arguing that once you take account of the PBA's outstanding debt, any GOs issued after March 2012 could not satisfy the constitutional requirements. There is a lot of caselaw in favor of the objectors, and the few cases going the other way (including cases from New Jersey) are distinguished on their facts. Namely, the objectors argue that Puerto Rico has backstopped the PBA's debt much more extensively than in those cases.

Now the obvious question is what do the bond documents say about all this  because it's hard to imagine anyone buying Puerto Rican debt if the disclosure document said "by the way, there is a chance your bonds might be unenforceable. Best of luck." At least, nobody would buy it without a pretty hearty coupon, and even then I would have to think that the '40 Act funds might have hesitated.

I took a look at the disclosures regarding the 2014 GOs, figuring that the issue would have been most salient with regard to the later debt. One identified risk factor is that the Commonwealth might run up against the debt cap in the future. There is also an oblique reference to the PBA issue in that the 2014 disclosure statement argues that the Commonwealth's guarantees do not count against the debt cap unless payment under the guarantees are actually trigged. That is, so long as the guarantees are contingent, we are good. And the 2014 statement expressly notes that Puerto Rico had backstopped some $6 billion in debt, about 2/3rds of which was PBA debt. It seems that this loose interpretation of the debt limit comes from an opinion issued by the Secretary of Justice of the Commonwealth, but the disclosure statement is a bit vague on that (see pages 10 and 11 in particular).

Let's assume that this argument is accepted by the court  that still leaves the question of Puerto Rico's direct obligation for the lease payments which are the primary source of payment of the PBA's debt. Here the references are quite opaque. For example, the 2014 disclosure statement notes that

General Fund total expenses for fiscal year 2012 amounted to $11.158 billion, consisting of $9.911 billion of operating expenditures, $331 million in rent payments to the PBA, and $915.9 million of other financing uses (mostly debt service).

As the objectors make clear, there is really no functional difference between the PBA rent payments and debt service, especially since the PBA rent payments were made to match the PBA debt service payments, and the Commonwealth had to make these payments one way or another. Is there any sense in saying that the constitutional cap can be evaded by running debt service payments through a conduit?

In short, the objectors' argument has legs. In my next post, I'll engage in some speculation about what might be going on here. And I hope that my more sovereignly inclined Slips colleagues will weigh in on this issue too.
How can Puerto Ricos penalty for illegally borrowing above its means be that it is allowed to declare the debts void and keep the money for itself? Despite the manifest unfairness of such a result, the applicable law indicates that this is likely the proper legal result.

There is some precedent for the objectors arguments in similar contexts, although not a lot of it. Some of the important cases, such as Litchfield v. Ballou (1885), are also very old. However, at least one law review articlea student note in the North Carolina Banking Institute journal ( here )squarely addresses Puerto Ricos argument, ultimately concluding:

Last week, the Government of Puerto Rico, acting through the Financial Oversight and Management Board (and in conjunction with the creditors committee), filed a claims objection seeking to invalidate roughly $6 billion of its General Obligation debt. The reason is that the government allegedly borrowed in violation of the Debt Service Limit and the Balanced Budget Clause of the Puerto Rican constitution. Stephens recent post on this subject discusses the merits of this argument in some detail. In this post, we are especially interested in the question of restitution. The Commonwealth doesnt get much benefit from invalidating loans unless it also avoids the obligation to pay restitution (i.e., return the purchase price). So the objectors make the additional argument that bondholders have no equitable right to restitution under a theory of unjust enrichment.

It might seem unfair for bondholders to get nothing. But as a matter of basic contract law, there is a plausible argument against restitution. Heres section 197 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts: [A] party has no claim in restitution for performance that he has rendered under or in return for a promise that is unenforceable on grounds of public policy unless denial of restitution would cause disproportionate forfeiture. (The fact that bondholders will lose their expected payments does not make forfeiture disproportionate.) And heres the most relevant exception, in section 198: A party has a claim in restitution  if (a) he was excusably ignorant of the facts or of legislation of a minor character in the absence of which the promise would be enforceable, or (b) he was not equally in the wrong with the promisor. Readers interested in this topic, which we think quite fascinating, should check out Juliet Kostritskys Illegal Contracts and Efficient Deterrence. To be clear, the Control Board bases its argument on the Commonwealths lawfor example, on the proposition that the Constitution invalidates other provisions of law (including the UCC) that might provide bondholders a remedy. We reference elementary principles of contract law only to show that readers should not view the objectors arguments as demanding radical changes to well-established law. Its quite clear that the law permits (if not requires) exactly the result the objectors seek to achieve.

Thus, while the objection has no doubt made some market participants apoplectic, it is not especially radical as a legal matter. Nor is it novel factually. Other governments have raised, or might plausibly raise, similar arguments. In its bond litigation against Russia, Ukraine argued (and lost) that the $3 billion Russian bond issue violated Ukrainian law. Likewise, at least some portion of Venezuelas outstanding debtespecially loans incurred by the Maduro governmentmight plausibly be challenged by a successor government as illegal under Venezuelan law (see here and here).

One argument for allowing governments to avoid loans without paying restitution is that investors in these types of instruments are sufficiently informed to evaluate a loans legality. Put differently, and in terms that echo the Restatement (Second) of Contracts: investors are neither excusably ignorant of the debt limit violation nor less culpable than the government. Of course, the lawyers for the underwriters will issue an opinion letter affirming the legality of the deal, but investors are capable of conducting their own evaluation. Or perhaps investors should focus their ire on bond counsel instead (as the previously-linked note in the NC Banking Institution discusses at pp. 214-15).

To be sure, sovereign debt practice (and maybe law) generally does not let a government avoid debts incurred by a predecessor, even when the debt is odious or illegitimate. A case that comes to mind is Republic of Iraq v. ABB et al., 768 F.3d 145 (2d Cir. 2014). Oversimplifying, the post-Saddam government of Iraq was trying to disclaim responsibility for the previous governments involvement in corrupt transactions. The Second Circuit, however, refused to draw a distinction: where a plaintiff in Iraqs position bears fault, it does not escape the consequence of its wrongdoing on the basis of a change in leadership. The objectors argument, however, is not predicated on a distinction between the government that incurred the debt and the government that now wants to avoid it. It argues that the loan was, and remains, illegal. That argument also heads off any claim that the Puerto Rican government subsequently ratified the loan by continuing to make coupon payments. An illegal contract cant be ratified unless the circumstances making it illegal have been removed.

If the Control Board wins, it is an interesting question how the market will react. Needless to say, there has been much discussion in the financial press (see here, here, here and here). Unsurprisingly, some market participants are outraged and predict that the sky will fall and that Puerto Ricos borrowing costs will increase dramatically.

Maybe; maybe not. Lets assume part of Puerto Ricos debt was illegally issued. Will the market penalize Puerto Rico for retroactively policing this illegality? This strikes us as an empirical question without an obvious answer. The economic logic behind constitutional debt limits and balanced budget rules is that such commitments help ensure fiscal prudence, which should reassure investors and protect the borrowers citizens and residents from the costs of excessive debt. But these benefits require that the commitment to fiscal prudence be credible, and that requires institutions capable of enforcing discipline. (There is of course an important literature on this subject, including foundational work like Douglas North and Barry Weingasts Constitutions and Commitments.) Allowing the government to avoid illegal loans ex post might create positive incentives. Perhaps the bankers who engineer these deals, and the lawyers who write comfort letters, will police transactions more carefully in the future. If so, investors may view the Commonwealths commitment to fiscal prudence as more credible, and borrowing costs might go down. Ultimately its an empirical question. For example, one might ask whether yields on Puerto Ricos other, legally issued, debt are increasing thanks to this case (correcting, of course, for the effect of the reduction to the debt stock).

Bottom line: This is going to be a fascinating case with big implications in the future.
David Langham Horace, 44, passed away June 9, 2021 in Lufkin. Viewing will be held on Friday, June 18, 2021 at Emanuel Funeral Home of Crockett from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Funeral will be held on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at Antioch Baptist Church in Pennington at 12 p.m. with burial to follow in A
by Sumon Corraya

The ethnic group lives in the Bandarban hills, where Baptist missionary Edwin Rowlands carried out his work of evangelisation. Members of the 15,000-strong community now go to university and work abroad.

Bandarban (AsiaNews) - In the past they worshipped trees, rain, sun, rocks; now the Bawm pray to Christ and preach the Gospel. The Bawm are one Bangladeshs smallest ethnic groups, settled in the hilly area of Bandarban, in the countrys extreme south-east.

They began converting about 100 years ago thanks to Edwin Rowlands, a Christian Baptist missionary from Wales. Today they number around 15,000, and practically the entire tribal group is Christian.

To mark the first centennial of their conversion to Christianity, they threw a big party that lasted from Saturday to Monday.

Those present said that their existence changed radically after conversion. Joyamlian Amlay, former president of the Bawm Social Council, is one of them.

If we hadnt received the Christian faith, we might still be uneducated, he believes. Now our life style has developed.

Most Bawm lived off the forests. Now Bawm children are students in university, and many Bawm live in developed countries. The Christian religion has helped make a difference for us. We are thankful to missionaries.

In 1910, when the Welsh Baptist preacher arrived, the community has about 5,000 members. The first conversions took place after ten years thanks to his intense evangelising work. Today the whole tribal group is Christian and the community has about 150 preachers.

One of them is Rev Georgy Loncheu. "For the community, welcoming Christ was fundamental. Today we live in step with the times; we are educated and modern. Once we were far from Christ; now we are working to bring Christ to people of different faiths."

According to the pastor, many Bawms believe this gathering made them purer Christian. I think the 100-year celebration was an opportunity to know each other better and to renew our belief in God."

During the gathering, a Bawm language dictionary was released. Books and other features of traditional culture were put on display.
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Heading further east from our previous stop in India, we arrive in Singapore, one of the worlds smallest yet most prosperous countries, writes Nikolas Papageorgiou of overseas contracting advisory Access Financial. But is it prosperous for UK contractors?

Singapore: in a nutshell

Singapore is a major international hub for trade and finance, and is a magnet for highly skilled foreign workers who can command globally competitive levels of pay. The economy is forecast to grow at a steady rate -- by 2.6% in 2019 and 2.4% in 2020 -- at a time of increasing global economic uncertainty.

Its this economic strength that explains why its long-been known as an Asian Tiger -- which by the way, is unrelated to Singapores nickname (and Sanskrit translation), Lion City.



And while Singapores economic momentum is expected to slow down in 2019, mainly as the contribution from the countrys manufacturing sector weakens, growth should be buoyed by strong domestic demand. The one caveat being that a prolonged dispute between the US and China could negatively affect the outlook, and this dispute remains a potential threat to economic growth. But this hasn't put off either entrepreneur James Dyson, who is moving his engineering firm's HQ out of Britain's leafy Wiltshire to Singapore, or the EU -- which has just struck a very juicy free trade deal with Singapore.



Lastly in this brief introduction to Singapore, bear in mind that although the nation regularly makes the top of the list of expatriates relocation destinations due to the high salaries offered for skilled migrants, the equally high living costs mitigate the financial outcome. And thats despite the low level of personal income tax, as we outline below. On the plus side, Singapore offers a high standard of living, pleasant climate and low crime rate.

What are the benefits of working in Singapore?

There are many, but three are regularly cited:

Career opportunities

The huge diversity of industries in Singapore means opportunities for millions of job candidates across a wide variety of sectors -- and levels of seniority.

Multicultural environment

Since more than a third (36%) of Singapores population is from overseas, foreign workers can often find people from their home countries to socialise with.

Personal safety

Moving to an unfamiliar environment always raises some concerns, but Singapore consistently ranks among the safest places to live and work in the world.

What about typical take-home pay in Singapore?

The net retention of an employed person is high -- approximately 85%.

What are the levels of taxation in Singapore?

Singapore's tax year is the calendar year. An individual who is physically present in Singapore for at least 183 days in a year (or a continuous period of 183 days over two years) is a tax resident in Singapore. Even if a person is not physically present in Singapore for 183 days in each of the first and the third year, he or she is treated as a tax resident for all three years, if they are employed in Singapore.



A tax resident is taxed on their worldwide income in addition to the Singapore-sourced income.



The tax rates for resident individuals in Singapore are progressive. Income up to SGD 20,000 (11,508) is tax free. Income thereafter is taxed between 2% and 20% for income up to SGD 320,000 (187,168). Income in excess of SGD 320,00 (187,168) is taxed at 22%, which is the highest rate of tax in the country.



Employment income of non-residents is taxed at 15% without personal allowances, or at resident rates with personal allowances, whichever gives rise to a higher tax. However, the income from employment that does not exceed 60 days is exempt from tax.



For the tax assessment of 2018, the total amount of personal income tax relief (e.g. for pension contributions), that an individual can claim will be capped at SGD 80,000 (46,075).



Deductions and Allowances



In general, deductions are allowed for expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the production of income. Expenses fully reimbursed by the employer are not taxable and not deductible by the employee.



All contractors who earn income, whether from regular employment or self-employment will get an allowance of SGD 1,000 (under age 55). There are increased thresholds for handicapped individuals.



Withholding Taxes



Singapore does not have a pay-as-you-earn system like the UK. However, an employer is required to withhold enough funds from an employee who is about to cease employment in Singapore, until a tax clearance is issued.

Generally, payments to resident individuals do not attract withholding tax.

For payments of technical assistance (e.g. for a service provided which is technical in nature, which would include most IT-related services), service fees and management fees to non-resident individuals are subject to non-final withholding tax at 22%. Withholding tax is not imposed where the service is provided wholly outside Singapore.

What are Singapores Social Security requirements?

Foreigners are not required to contribute to social security in Singapore. However, they are required to contribute to the Skills Development Agency by paying a Skills Development Levy, at the rate of 0.25% of their remuneration. The SDL contribution is subject to a minimum of SGD 2 ((1.16p) for worker earning up to SGD 800 (464) a month and a maximum of SGD 11.25 (6.51) for workers earning more than SGD 4,500 (2,605) a month.

For Singaporean nationals, social security contributions are made to the following two different components:

Central Provident Fund (CPF) - For Singaporeans & Singapore Permanent Residents

Skill Development Levy (SDL) Contribution - All employees (including foreigners)

Employers are required to contribute 17% of an employee's wages as a contribution towards Central Provident Fund (CPF). This contribution is in addition to the employees gross pay. An employee is required to contribute at the rate 20%, lower rates are applicable for an employee who is aged above 55 years.



The monthly ceiling for maximum CPF contribution is SGD 6,000 (3,475) for both the employer and employee. The social security contributions start from minimum earning of SGD 500 (289).



In addition to the above contribution, Singaporean employees are required to contribute between SGD 1 (57p) to 10 (5.70) per month in some government funds like SINDA, MBMF and CDAC. The employer must deduct the prescribed amount from the wages of the employee and must deposit together with CPF every month.

How do I enter Singapore legally and register locally?

Foreigners holding ordinary passports of some Middle-Eastern and Asian countries will require a visit visa or business visa (for a business visit) to enter Singapore. If thats you, please check the high commission of Singapore's official website for the entry visa requirement. The majority of European, American and Australian nationals do not require a visa to visit Singapore.

Employment in Singapore

Professionals can work in Singapore on three major types of work passes: Employment Pass, EntrePass and Personalised Employment Pass.

Skilled and Semi-skilled workers can work on S pass (mid-level skilled staff) and Work Permit for foreign workers (semi-skilled). Most workers in sectors such as IT, financial services and engineering will be considered professionals and therefore eligible for the Employment Pass, EntrePass or Personalised Employment Pass.



i) Employment Pass



Foreign professionals with a job offer in Singapore can have their employer or authorised third-party to apply for an employment pass on their behalf subject to meeting the eligibility criteria. The foreigner must have a fixed monthly salary of at least SGD 3,600 (2,062) and work in a managerial, executive or specialised job. Application for an Employment Pass is open to all nationalities. The Employment Pass is valid up to two years and can be renewed up to three years.



ii) EntrePass

Foreign entrepreneurs who wish to start and operate a new business in Singapore can apply for an EntrePass subject to meeting the eligibility criteria as an entrepreneur, innovator or an investor. There are certain businesses that are not eligible for an EntrePass. It is therefore advisable to check the eligibility of the business from the official website.



iii) Personalised Employment Pass

High-earning foreign professionals can apply for a Personalised Employment Pass (PEP). PEP holders have greater job flexibility than with other work passes. However, the last drawn fixed monthly salary of a PEP applicant must be at least SGD18,000 (within six months before applying). An Employment Pass holder earning a fixed monthly salary of at least SGD 12,000 (10,317) can also apply for a PEP.

Contractors, you should note that a freelancer or foreigner who intends to work on a freelance basis is not eligible for the PEP. Any kind of entrepreneurial activity or starting a business is not allowed on a PEP. If one intends to do so then he/she must apply for an EntrePass instead .



The outline benefits of a PEP over an Employment Pass is that the PEP-holder need not re-apply for a new pass in the event of switching jobs and when changing the contact details, as only a notification to the immigration authority is required.



There are certain requirements to keep holding a Personalised Employment Pass. A PEP holder must earn a fixed salary of at least SGD 144,000 (82,564) per calendar year, regardless of the number of months in employment. They can stay in Singapore for a continuous period of six months without a job to search for a new job in any sector after complying with the registration requirements to practise in Singapore (for professions like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, architecture, law), but not more than six months of unemployment at any time -- otherwise the PEP will be cancelled.

Self-employment and Limited Companies

Investment requirements, expertise and eligibility criteria make it very difficult for non-locals in Singapore to become self-employed professionals.

The employment pass cannot be used for self-employment. The process of acquiring an EntrePass and the difficulties involved outweigh the benefits. The low rate of income tax in Singapore for employees also makes operating via your own limited company far less attractive in Singapore than it is in many other countries where the tax difference is far greater.

Final thought

Singapore has much to recommend it. If you are looking for an exciting, yet organised and regulated place on your overseas contracting journey, with high living standards and interesting career opportunities, Singapore is the right choice to make.

It is one of the most important business hubs in the world and a magnet for international talent. Bear in mind, however, that high living costs will erode your buying power and that Singapore is home to some of the strictest laws worldwide regarding smoking, littering and use of chewing gum!
01/23/2019

Photo (c) JasonDoiy - Getty Images Waymo, Googles self-driving car division, announced Tuesday that it has received approval to build a factory in which to manufacture its driverless vehicle technology.

The facility will be built in southeastern Michigan. Over the next five years, Waymo may hire up to 400 employees to work at the new plant. The company said it would look to hire engineers, operations experts, and fleet coordinators.

Today, Waymo is excited to announce that well grow our business in Michigan, as the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) voted to approve our effort to establish our manufacturing presence to build our self-driving vehicles in the state, creating hundreds of jobs along the way, Waymo said in a blog post on Medium.

This will be the worlds first factory 100%-dedicated to the mass production of [Level 4] autonomous vehicles, the company said.

Waymo is scouting potential locations in Michigan for a factory that will be 200,000 square feet; however, the company hasnt yet signed a lease. The MEDC approved an $8 million incentive to allow Waymo to build its manufacturing plant in the state, The Detroit News reported.

The upcoming factory must be in operation by the end of 2021 with at least 100 new employees. Waymo could create up to 400 jobs in the region by 2025, the publication added.

Waymo is currently testing its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans in Detroit and has a few hundred additional driverless vehicles operating in several US cities. In December, the company launched a fleet of self-driving taxis in Phoenix.
Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster. His most recent book is What Next: How to Get the Best from Brexit.

You want a one-sentence explanation for the chaos in our politics, the breakdown of our party system, the shenanigans at Westminster? OK, here it is. Its important, so Ill put it in the original French first.

Jaurais reussi ma mission si, a la fin, le deal est tellement dur pour les Britanniques quils preferont rester dans lUnion.

In English: Ill have done my job if, in the end, the deal is so tough on the British that theyd prefer to stay in the EU.

The speaker, as you have probably guessed, is Michel Barnier, the EUs chief Brexit negotiator. He is reported in the French current affairs weekly Le Point as having spoken those words to EU leaders in 2016. The article adds that most of the leaders shared his view, as well as that of Jean-Claude Juncker, who said that Brexit must be a form of punishment for deserters.

There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the quotation. It accords with everything the EU has said and done since the referendum result was announced. Brussels negotiators have dragged their feet over the smallest things, while all the time publicly telling us that the clock is ticking. They have made a series of demands that they know to be outrageous, and that they would never dream of making of any other country, including a period of non-voting membership, the regulatory annexation of Northern Ireland and EU control of our trade policy after we leave. As Donald Tusk put it, quite overtly, in the aftermath of Parliaments rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement last week, If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is? Got that? The British people may have voted to leave, but we have made all the alternatives so unappealing that theyll simply have to back down.

The normal British reaction to such blackmail would be to bridle at the threat and dig in in defence of democracy. In a healthy polity, even those who had voted Remain would be appalled by the bullying tone, and would rally around a policy that honoured the referendum result.

But our polity is far from healthy at present. In the debilitating culture war that followed the referendum, plenty of British politicians and commentators were determined to side with Brussels, however unreasonable its demands. Although many Remainers accepted the referendum result in good faith, some Europhile peers, MPs and businessmen were determined to overturn it. They therefore lined up behind even the most preposterous EU positions, because they shared the goal of making Brexit so painful that Britain would drop the whole idea.

They didnt put it that way, of course, at least not in public. Instead, they would typically say things like, The EU has to follow its own rules, you cant enjoy the privileges of the club without being a member, what else did you Eurosceptics expect?

The notion that the EU is simply following its own rules is almost too silly to merit refutation. The EU rarely fusses about its rules (qv deficits, bailouts etc) and it certainly isnt doing so here. It refused to offer either the close relationship that it has with Norway or Switzerland (the EU never asked them to join the customs union), or the simple trade deal that it has with Canada (it did not demand regulatory control of New Brunswick). Had any other country made the offer that Britain made at Salzburg last summer, namely to match EU environmental and labour laws, unilaterally adopt its standards on physical goods and pay for the privilege  Brussels officials would have snapped it up incredulously. But, of course, the aim was not to get the best deal for the 27. It was to come up with something tellement dur pour les Britanniques quils preferont rester dans lUnion.

If you have any doubts, look at the deal that the UK struck with Switzerland last month. Known by officials as mind the gap, it ensures that relations between the two countries will not be prejudiced, even in a no-deal Brexit. Five sectoral accords, covering aviation, ground transport, free trade, financial services and citizens rights, will ensure continuity in all circumstances. Thats how straightforward things can be with goodwill on both sides.

Sadly, our negotiators never faced up to the fact that Brussels did not want a mutually beneficial deal. Eurocrats could hardly have been clearer. Theresa May kept saying she wanted the EU to succeed; her EU counterparts kept responding that they wanted Brexit to fail. And yet, absurdly, we pursued a strategy of being nice in the hope that our goodwill might be reciprocated. We agreed to the EUs sequencing, we wrote a cheque with no trade deal in return, we accepted non-voting membership (the implementation period, though no one now pretends there will be anything to implement), we swallowed the backstop. In each case, the EU pocketed the concession without softening.

So what now? We have stupidly weakened our position over the past 30 months, but our least bad option is clear enough. We should scrap the backstop, propose an alternative legal guarantee against physical infrastructure at the Irish border, and ratify the rest of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The EU might refuse to reciprocate, of course. It would be an odd decision  if the backstop is off the table, youd think that agreeing the other bits, such as reciprocal citizens rights, would be uncontentious  but the Barnier doctrine may well require Brussels to inflict needless disruption on all sides rather than allow a cordial Brexit. If so, it would be final, irrefutable proof that the EU is uninterested in the welfare of its peoples, having elevated closer union to the status of a religious dogma. Could anyone, in those circumstances, doubt that we were right to leave?
Nick Boles is a former Planning Minister and Education Minister, and is MP for Grantham and Stamford.

Lets play a game. Where are they talking about, and why do they like it?

The first clue comes from Nigel:

Theyre rich, they top the worlds happiness index, theyre allowed to catch their own fish They dont pay their money to Brussels Were told (they) have to accept all the rules. Oh no they dont.. They retain the right to veto

Boris is up next:

If we got it right, we could negotiate a generous exit, securing EFTA style access to the Common Market.

The final clue is offered by Owen:

This brings us to the only realist option, which is to stay within the EEA Agreement. The EEA is tailor made for this purpose and can be adopted by joining EFTA first.

What country were Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Owen Paterson talking about? The sovereign kingdom of Norway, of course. And what were they so envious of? Norways position outside the European Union but inside the common market of the European Economic Area and the European Free Trade Association.

So when did it become apostasy for Brexiteers to argue that on leaving the EU we should move to a relationship a bit like Norways? Why do Brexiteers feel they have to attack Common Market 2.0, when for so long they saw it as a promised land, flowing with milk and honey? (Or maybe aquavit and herring.)

The answer is to be found in the pages of A Place of Greater Safety, a novel about the French Revolution by Hilary Mantel. As the revolution unfolds, the ambitions of its original architects no longer satisfy the younger firebrands. They demand ever greater radicalism and condemn those who advocate compromise to the tumbrils and the tricoteuses.

Yesterday Norway Plus was denounced on these pages by my friend Henry Newman, an eager Brexiteer keen to burnish his revolutionary credentials. It is tantamount to non-voting membership of the EU, he claimed. The reality is quite different. Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein exist entirely outside the EUs common policies on agriculture, fisheries, justice, home affairs, foreign policy and defence. If we joined them in the EEA, EU law would no longer have direct effect and new rules would only apply once Parliament had agreed to incorporate them into British law.

Both Norway and Iceland have refused to implement a whole raft of new Single Market rules over the years: by 2011 Norway had obtained derogations from 55 legal acts and Iceland from 349. The basic rule in the EEA is this: if you really dont like it, just say Nei!

Our contemporary Saint-Just then argued that a Norway Plus relationship isnt really off the shelf  and might be quite tricky to negotiate. But he ignored the fact that the UK is already a signatory of the EEA treaty and has a clear right under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to retain the benefits of our membership even after we leave the EU. The UK was also a founder member of EFTA and there is no reason to believe that we could not negotiate our accession to this fine organisation (including a temporary derogation from its free trade agreements) by the end of the transition in December 2020. At that point, our future relationship would commence, governed by tried and tested institutions like the EFTA Court, the Surveillance Authority and the EEA Joint Committee, and the Irish backstop would fall away without ever having needed to be activated.

Finally, he warned that renegotiating the Political Declaration to specify a future relationship based on Common Market 2.0 would make us vulnerable to further demands from Brussels. I have news for our young Jacobin. In any version of Brexit we will be subject to further demands from Brussels. Nowhere more so than in the Prime Ministers current deal, where our desire to escape from the backstop before the 2022 election will turn us into a sitting duck for every EU President and Prime Minister who wants to score an easy win for voters back home.

Membership of Common Market 2.0 is a compromise. Like all compromises, it has upsides and downsides. On free movement and an independent trade policy, it will give us less control than many hoped for, and more slowly than I would ideally like. But, as Nigel, Boris, and Owen once recognised, it also offers us a comfortable halfway house  outside the EUs political empire-building and inside the common market that the British people voted to join in 1972 and that a previous Conservative government entrenched through the Single Market in 1992. If the Common Market was good enough for Margaret Thatcher, its modern equivalent is good enough for me  and should be good enough for all who call themselves Conservative.
Jonathan Clark was a Fellow of Peterhouse; at Oxford, he was a Fellow of All Souls College; latterly he has been Visiting Professor at the Committee on Social Thought at Chicago, and Hall Distinguished Professor of British History at the University of Kansas. His latest book is a study of Thomas Paine.

The UK constitution is about to be hijacked. A coup will subvert the long-accepted constitution of the most successful democracy in the world. Parliamentary procedure will be distorted to block the decision of the electorate.

On the contrary, MPs will act properly to save the UK from a disastrous accident. Parliament is just doing what it is meant to do. Belatedly, it is reasserting itself against an over-mighty executive.

Which of these options is correct?

Historically, both of them are. The only thing we can say with certainty about the UK constitution is that it is always changing. Like human life itself, it never continueth in one stay. What is the constitution one day is not the constitution the next. Lawyers, who insist that there is just one right answer to constitutional problems (their own), are regularly overtaken by events. Such states as the USA and the EU, that appeal to founding documents depicted in their myths of origin as unchanging definitions of consensual wisdom, are deluding themselves even more than the UK does.

But MPs are equally upstaged by lawyers. The long term of UK parliamentary history has been a repeated story of members of the Lords and the Commons equally failing to see it coming, and staging futile rearguard actions against developments whose very existence they deny. Catholic Emancipation, a logical consequence of Irelands population explosion; the repeal of the Corn Laws, a necessary response to the rise of manufacturing; female emancipation, a corollary of a falling birthrate; the list could go on and on. What, then, have todays legislators failed to get?

One element has been material: the steady tilt of UK trade away from the EU and towards the world. A second has been the effects of mass immigration and of globalisation. A third has been the appreciable loss of sovereignty in the face of an expansionist multi-national organisation. Another has been technological, the rise of the internet and of the individual choice that it facilitates. The manifestation of all these has been accidental: the unplanned, unappreciated rise of the referendum as a constitutional practice. Once, representative democracy was the only democratic option for a large state. Now, direct democracy is far more feasible. It will become more feasible still.

Many MPs just fail to see it. Far from entering into a corrupt conspiracy to block a policy that conflicts with their self-interest, they express the high-minded constitutional orthodoxy of their youth. They insist that they owe their constituents their best judgement, not their blind obedience. This was, in its day, a theoretically noble and logistically inevitable practice. But all that has changed. A few MPs now implicitly and untheoretically accept the change, grasping at referenda as a way of solving their party-political fixes. Most do not.

Referenda would not solve party problems, since the tide is running the other way. The future lies less with representatives, more with direct voting, and, soon enough, with electronic voting. Many groups in society have found their roles increasingly taken over by electronic means, even expert and highly skilled groups; it may be that, over time, fewer and fewer elected politicians will be needed. How will representative democracy accommodate direct democracy? We hardly know. But it will have to do so.

MPs who demand a second referendum on the EU should learn a little history: we have had two already, in 1975 and 2016. Before pinning their hopes of reversing the verdict of the second on a third, it would be wise for the UK to debate, and legislate, on just what referenda are, and what they can do.

The key questions are four in number. First, who can call a referendum? It would be pointless to leave this decision subject to prime ministerial fiat. Rather, they should be triggered (as debates in Parliament now are, in response to online petitions) when a certain number of signatures have been recorded.

Second, who sets the terms of the motion? This will be harder, and may demand the wisdom of an electoral commission. But how to reform the existing body to secure balance and prudence is a riddle indeed.

Third, how often can a referendum be called on the same issue? Parliament allows itself to change its mind week by week. The electorate can think again in general elections every five years. Should the decision of referenda stand unchallenged for a generation (for example, from 1975 to 2016) and, if so, exactly how many years should that be?

Fourth, and hardest, how will the result of a referendum be translated into statute? Little good will be done if a clear verdict is undone by Orwellian doublespeak, and if Parliament declares that it respects the verdict of a referendum only to do the opposite. That way revolution lies. The object of the exercise is, as with a mass electorate and womens suffrage, to absorb within a moderate, stable democratic practice a new element which, if unabsorbed, may have fatal effects. If the Swiss manage it, so can the British.

There will be, and is, resistance. It is one of the ironies of history that, after a distinguished career of public service, the diplomat Lord Kerr will go down in history for just one fatal sentence: we will huff and puff, but in the end we will have to come to heel at the command of the EU. But the world has changed from that of his youth. It is not the UK that will be the subject of irresistible pressure but Parliament itself. MPs will have to learn to come to heel to the electorate, and in new and steadily changing ways.

What form, exactly, will these changes take? No-one can predict. But changes there will be, and it will not be the electorate that will be the defeated party if it considers that its clear verdict has been blocked.
With half a dozen amendments flying around the House of Commons at the moment, we thought it would be useful to produce a concise guide to what they all mean.

Benns amendment: Calls for indicative votes to give the Commonss view on four possible next steps: another vote on Mays deal; a No Deal Brexit; renegotiate the deal; or hold a second referendum.

Cooper and Boless amendment: The amendment essentially provides for the possibility of extending Article 50 to avoid No Deal. The technicalities of doing so mean it involves creating time for a Private Members Bill that would make such a provision, in the circumstance that the Prime Ministers revised or renegotiated deal is voted down  and the timings would require that Bill to proceed before those negotiations end or the vote on the deal takes place. If the Bill goes through, and Mays deal is defeated, only at that stage would MPs get the chance to vote on whether the UK should request an extension.

Creasys amendment: The Walthamstow MP proposes an extension to Article 50 and the creation of a citizens assembly to consider the issues and advise Parliament.

Grieves amendment: This would change the rules of the House to allow MPs to seize control of the Commons business agenda from the Government, circumventing the issue that at present various tactics the Opposition and some Tory rebels would like to pursue would require the consent of the executive. It could be used to force Commons votes on a variety of different approaches to Brexit. Previously it made provision for a minority of MPs to take control, but Grieve has removed this very controversial element.

Labours amendment: The Oppositions proposal requires that MPs get votes expressing their opinion on possible approaches to prevent the UK leaving the EU without a ratified withdrawal agreement and political declaration, ie to avoid No Deal. It specifies that the options would include permanent customs union (Labours current policy) and a public vote, ie a second referendum.

Reevess amendment: This would call on the Government to request an extension to Article 50 if a deal has not secured Parliaments support by 26th February.
Michael Chessum, who leads the Another Europe Is Possible campaign for a public vote, tweeted: Oh great. I hear Tony Blair has been put up on the Today programme again as the voice of Peoples Vote. Why dont we all just give up and go home?

Thats perhaps the most glorious quote from Buzzfeeds piece on the splits and rifts within the Peoples Vote campaign. The former Prime Minister was at it again yesterday, making his pitch from the Leave voter-friendly location of Davos. (For it is those voters who must be persuaded to change their minds.)

But why is Blair so keen to pop up so often? Devotion to the cause of remaining in the EU is doubtless part of the explanation. But ConservativeHome is told that there is more.

A first-time voter in 2022 will have been born in 2004, a year after the start of the Iraq conflict. He or she will have no memory of it: weapons of mass destruction, dodgy dossiers, Robin Cook, yellow cake uranium, Chilcot  and all the rest of it.

A source who has worked with the former Prime Minister claimed that Blair has seen polling which suggests that Brexit offers him the elusive prospect of redemption. Since these voters-to-be know nothing much about Iraq, they clock him, if at all, simply as an ageing politician differing from others only in skin tone.

In short, then, Brexit offers Blair, at long last, a chance to change the subject  at least among younger voters who dont really know him. Never underestimate a former Prime Ministers belief that, one day, he can return to the front-line of politics.
Interview: Francois insists that the ERG wants the backstop ditched altogether  not tweaked

The Leave versus Remain battle is morphing into a struggle between the British people and the Establishment. So says Mark Francois, the pugnacious Eurosceptic who is Vice Chairman of the European Reform Group and MP for Rayleigh and Wickford.

In this interview, he expresses confidence that the people will get the Brexit they voted for, despite the best efforts of senior politicians and civil servants to thwart the process. Francois would like Ollie Robbins, the senior official conducting negotiations for Theresa May, to be conducted by river to the Tower of London.

Asked what concessions the ERG wants in order for its members to vote for Mays deal, Francois replied: The Prime Minister would have to ask the European Union to ditch the entire backstop. Not tweak it, but ditch it.

But Francois, who was wearing the tie of the Army Benevolent Fund, recognises that after Brexit, the two sides within the Conservative Party will have to come back together again: And thats partly why, after we had the No Confidence vote, I delivered a small case of fairly decent Margaux to the Whips Office, and put it on the Deputy Chief Whips desk with a little note that said To the Office, with the compliments of Dads Army.

ConHome: Why do you feel so strongly about Brexit?

Francois: When I was the Shadow Europe Minister, and I did the Lisbon Treaty for us [in 2008], William Hague was the Shadow Foreign Secretary

ConHome: Up until then, what were your views?

Francois: I was quite sceptical about the EU and the direction it was taking. I made my maiden speech on 4th July 2001 against the Treaty of Nice.

William made that fantastic speech [on Lisbon] at Second Reading. I remember when he delivered it. Everybody was nearly crying [with laughter]. I think he got the Speccy Speech of the Year, quite rightly.

We then came down to debating the hard detail of the treaty, all 300 pages, and that kind of was my job. And we spent 14 nights, its seared on my memory, debating the hard detail of the Lisbon Treaty.

And it soon became apparent that we couldnt change so much as a punctuation mark. Parliament had been completely neutered. And for me that was the epiphany.

And after that whole process I thought, We are no longer running our own country here. We have got to get out of this. Really, that was when, to mix metaphors, I crossed the Rubicon.

ConHome: How are you adjusting to fame?

Francois: I dont think famous is the word. Ive done more media in the last couple of months than in the rest of my 18 years put together.

But if you had told me when I walked through Carriage Gates 18 years ago as a wide-eyed, fresh-faced newbie, delighted to have been elected as an MP, that I would one day be involved in a No Confidence motion against a Conservative Prime Minister, I would never have believed it.

ConHome: Will you always back the Prime Minister in a Vote of Confidence in the House, as everyone did the other day, regardless of what she does?

Francois: Well some people saw the intervention that I made on the Prime Minister, and Simon Hoares very funny quip. He is quick, Simon.

And I said, you know, Im a Conservative first and last, and I and my colleagues in the ERG were not going to do Jeremy Corbyn any favours.

ConHome: Even if she extended Article 50 or something like that?

Francois: Well we had said, all along, that if Labour tried a snap Vote of Confidence we would vote with the Prime Minister, and we kept our word.

And I cant see Corbyn doing this again in a hurry after getting the drubbing he got last time.

ConHome: Now what in fact is going to satisfy the ERG?

Francois: We have said consistently that because the Withdrawal Agreement is a draft international treaty, which if the House were to approve it and then ratify it in Parliament, would bind us forever in international law, the only thing that would satisfy us is amendments to the treaty text itself.

The Prime Minister would have to ask the European Union to ditch the entire backstop. Not tweak it, but ditch it. And then in turn the EU would have to agree.

Now even if they did that, there are other issues of concern, like the 39 billion for nothing, like the continuing role of the ECJ in some areas, like whats called the Joint Committee, which is a very powerful committee that the Withdrawal Agreement establishes.

But our principal ask is that the backstop must go and must be replaced by alternative language in favour of a comprehensive free trade agreement.

ConHome: You reckon thats gettable if gone for in the right way?

Francois: Well what were asking for is a big ask. We recognise that

ConHome: But is it an achievable ask in your judgment?

Francois: The EU saw the majority  the largest defeat of a government in history. So if theyre not prepared to bend, this Withdrawal Agreement is not going through the House of Commons.

I think they now realise that. Im told that result sent shock-waves through the Commission, because theyd been told by people like Olly Robbins it was only going to be 40 or 50.

It was a bell that rang across Europe.

ConHome: But is there a danger of the ERG overplaying its hand?

Francois: Well The Times and The Daily Telegraph described the treaty as a surrender document, as its currently configured. The House of Commons has never surrendered in its history and it never will.

ConHome: So why do some Tory MPs think we should go along with this?

Francois: Well every colleague must look into their heart and decide what to do. But 118 Tories  even Diane Abbott knows thats a big number  voted against it, because a lot of them have actually read it, and they know whats in it.

ConHome: How united is the ERG? Because there are presumably some who are more pugnacious  you give an impression of tremendous pugnacity  and there are some who are more conciliatory, and who think, well, the Tory Partys got to be a broad church, weve got to stick together, half a loaf is better than no bread, and theres a danger of losing Brexit if we hold out for a perfect deal.

Francois: Well the ERG is not a Stalinist organisation. And were not in the business of waterboarding our colleagues. But I think that result showed you that people feel very strongly on this.

After all, this is the destiny of our country, and if you dont feel strongly about that, what are you going to feel strongly about? All logic suggests that if they ask pretty much the same question theyll get pretty much the same answer.

And Im sure that the Government realise that.

ConHome: The Remainers are making some sort of a fight-back against you. How do you deal with that?

Francois: Well my own impression is this thing is morphing from just Leave versus Remain to the People versus the Establishment.

Because there are some Members of Parliament, there are certainly a number of senior civil servants, who have never accepted the result of the referendum, and maybe never will.

And they have done whatever they can to undermine Brexit, and to try to stop it from happening.

Now I dont think the rest of the party will stand idly by and allow this to continue ad infinitum. And its not a secret that a number of MPs are in trouble with their constituency associations.

And thats nothing to do with me or the ERG. Thats their own troops basically beginning to hold them to account.

And more fundamentally than that, I think the British people wont put up with it. We saw the reaction on Question Time to Isabel Oakeshotts comment.

I think the British people, if they see MPs using parliamentary trickery to try and overturn the peoples decision in the referendum, I think therell be serious protests.

Were British, so I dont think well have people in yellow jackets trying to burn Oxford Street, although if you remember the poll tax riots in the 1980s they were quite violent.

But I think youll get more British protests. Youll get people inundating their MPs with letters and emails, youll get protests, I hope peaceful, outside peoples surgeries.

Youll basically get the British people saying Up with this we will not put. And I think in that climate itll be more and more difficult for ultra-Remain MPs to push forward this agenda, with Laura Kuennsberg explaining to the British people night after night whats really going on.

ConHome: You said a number of MPs are in trouble with their constituency associations. Whats your own view about deselection?

Francois: Well for obvious reasons Members of Parliament as a breed dont like to talk about deselection. The relationship between an MP and their association is a matter for those people.

But every Tory was elected  I think with one or two exceptions, in fairness, Ken Clarke and Anna Soubry did qualify I think their election addresses

ConHome: Grieve did point out that Tory MPs had absolutely no say in the manifesto.

Francois: The overwhelming bulk of Tory MPs were elected on a manifesto to honour Brexit. And if they then do exactly the opposite, I think theyve got to explain to their local troops why theyre doing that.

ConHome: So you think youre going to win?

Francois: At the end of the day

ConHome: It could all go catastrophically wrong. The Establishment  the Establishment in your terms  could win.

Francois: Well the Establishment were going to win the referendum, werent they, and they didnt.

I trust at the end of the day the canny intuition of the British people. I dont believe that at the end of the day, they will allow politicians to do them out of their decision to leave.

And that is my sheet anchor.

And we have civil servants like Ollie Robbins who are very pro-EU, who have never wanted us to leave, and have done everything in their power, including colluding with the European Union, to try and keep us in.

Thats why they helped to negotiate a Withdrawal Agreement that effectively does that.

Now at the end of all this, in my personal opinion, this is not necessarily the opinion of the ERG, Mr Robbins should go to the Tower, in which case he should arrive by river. Is that pugnacious enough for you?

ConHome [pointing to a picture of an aeroplane over the fireplace in Francois office]: Are those the Dambusters?

Francois: Thats a picture called Hopgoods Courageous Run. He was the second Lancaster in and they were badly shot-up even when they began their attack run, but they pressed home the attack. Hopgood was Gibsons best friend.

The other thing I might mention is I was given the job by David Cameron when I was Shadow Europe Minister of leading us out of the EPP.

We did it. That was two years of my life, and quite a bit of travel, finding new allies. The EPP tried very hard to stop us.

But coming back to Lisbon, I think it was the way Lisbon was handled by the then Labour Government, and the fact that we didnt have a referendum, which began to set the conditions

ConHome: Almost everyone can see in retrospect that it would have been a much better issue, I mean from the point of view of the Remainers, to have a referendum on.

Francois: One of the reasons why we ended up in a situation where people voted to leave was because they had seen one treaty after another effectively imposed upon us without their consent.

And Europe was something that was being done to us rather than done with us. And all those people who thought they were being frightfully clever getting away without a referendum, in the end they got their comeuppance, because within eight years of that being ratified, we voted to leave the EU.

ConHome: Jolly difficult job for Theresa May, keeping the Tory Party together. People like Matthew Parris want the party to split.

Francois: I dont by any means always agree with Ken Clarke, and he called me a gilet jaune in the Chamber last week.

ConHome: He told you to go out and join the protesters.

Francois: Yes. But Ken has been utterly consistent for 40 years about his views on Europe.

ConHome: And would have become leader if hed been prepared to temporise.

Francois: He utterly refused to compromise when he stood for the leadership, even though it might have been to his advantage to do so. At the other end of the spectrum, Bill Cash has been equally utterly consistent for just about as long.

And yet these two men, for the best part of four decades, have managed to remain in the same political party. So if they can do it, the rest of us can do it.

And at some point, when all of this is over, the party has to heal. And actually, I think the Whips Office are very conscious of that. I think a lot of us in the ERG are very conscious of that.

And somehow, when weve resolved this issue, and when weve left and honoured the instruction the British people gave us, we then need to heal.

And thats partly why, after we had the No Confidence vote, I delivered a small case of fairly decent Margaux to the Whips Office, and put it on the Deputy Chief Whips desk with a little note that said To the Office, with the compliments of Dads Army.

ConHome: Has this been published?

Francois: I dont think it has. I got some very nice texts back, and Im told theyre saving it for some special occasion. Now what that will be I dont know. Thats a decision for the Chief.

But I just thought as a gesture, its trying to acknowledge that ultimately were all in the same party, and while we might have very strong and principled differences on this one issue, if you cut us all down the middle, you find that none of us wants a Marxist anti-Semite running the Government of this country.

And Ken and Bill would both agree with that. So there is hope yet.
Singapore releases model AI governance framework, a first in Asia

Singapore released its Model Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Framework on Wednesday, 23 January, for public consultation, pilot adoption and feedback.

A first in Asia, the framework provides detailed and readily implementable guidance to help private sector organisations to address key ethical and governance issues when deploying AI solutions.

In a press statement, the Info-Communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) stressed that the framework is a living document. It is intended to be agile, to keep up with the fast-paced changes in a digital economy and will continue to develop alongside adoptees use.

Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information, announced the release of the framework at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos from January 22 to 25, 2019.

The Model Framework is underpinned by two high-level guiding principles to help organisations ensure that:

1) Decisions made by or with the assistance of AI are explainable, transparent and fair to consumers; and

2) Their AI solutions are human-centric.

This will enhance trust in and understanding of AI, IMDA said.

Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information, announced the release of Model Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Framework at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos from January 22 to 25, 2019. Photo courtesy: World Economic Forum

The Model Framework provides practical guidance to organisations deploying AI at scale to do so with good internal governance and in an ethical manner," said Mr. V K Rajah S C, Chairman of the Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data. "The Advisory Council encourages businesses to pilot the Model Framework and provide feedback from their implementation experience.

Singapore also announced a collaboration with the World Economic Forums (WEF) Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) to further drive AI and data innovation. The agreement was signed by IMDA, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office, and the World Economic Forum.

IMDA and the WEF will be engaging organisations to discuss the Model Framework in greater detail and facilitate its adoption. Work has already commenced, with closed-door discussions led by the C4IR and IMDA to seek feedback on the Model Framework.

The C4IR and IMDA are also developing a measurement matrix for the Model Framework which regulators and certification bodies globally can adopt and adapt for their use. IMDA and the C4IR will develop a discussion paper outlining policy options on the facilitation of cross-border data flows under the collaboration.

Mr Murat Sonmez, Managing Director, Head of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network, said, Singapore is focused on innovation and technology. As the country develops forward-looking technology policies, we welcome them as a partner of the Centre Network. We are looking forward to their contribution to our network for global technology governance.
Indian-origin man jailed for bomb hoax call to former Singapores PM house

A 61-year Indian-origin man has been jailed for four months in Singapore over a 2004 hoax call about a bomb threat to the house of first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The accused, Ganesan Singaravel, pled guilty to an offence under the Telecommunications Act.

Though he was charged on November 16, 2004, but while out on bail, he fled Singapore about two months later.

The accused Ganesan Singaravel made the call from a public phone located next to the Thai embassy. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia

The prosecution told the court that Singaravel went to a popular spot in Orchard Tower around midnight on November 13 and drank alcohol until 4 am. Later, the police said they received a call from Singaravel, who made references to a bomb at Lees house.

The call was made by the accused from a public phone located next to the Thai embassy. The call's message was clearly false and the accused knew that the text of the call was false, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Samynathan.

A patrol car was sent to Orchard Towers to interview and arrest the accused. The accused was coherent during his interactions with the officers at the scene. Meanwhile, the officers who were already stationed at Oxley Road were told to step up patrols and be alert and vigilant, he added.

The accused Singaravel was charged in the year 2004 itself but he fled from Singapore two months later when he was released on bail.

He was caught overstaying in the US last year and told the authorities there that he wanted to return to Singapore. He was detained when he returned back to Singapore on July 15, 2018.

Defence lawyers of the case mentioned in their mitigation plea that Singaravel was drunk when he committed the offence.

The accused realises how alcohol has utterly destroyed his life and family, leading to his wife to divorce him, leaving him with nothing and his children to give up on him. The accused's family no longer wants anything to do with him. The offence has taken a terrible toll on the accused, stated the plea.
Dyson headquarter moves to Singapore, highlighting importance of region

Dyson has decided to relocate its head office to Singapore, driven by a growing customer base in Asia.

The brand was known for vacuum cleaners and hairdryers, and has in recent years expanded into other products such as air purifiers and hair-care. The company has also embarked on a costly project to build an electric car by 2021, said a report by Bloomberg.

The announcement came as a blow to the U.K. government, which has been scrambling to reassure businesses as uncertainty over Brexit continues.

Dysons chief executive officer Jim Rowan explained that the move to Singapore was "not due to tax or fears of Brexit, but to the shift in the importance of the region to the company".

James Dyson, founder of Dyson company. Photo courtesy: Wiki

Singapore doesnt have a single car-manufacturing plant and is one of the costliest places in the world to buy an automobile. However, the island state is home to the planets second-largest container port, as well as a manufacturing hub for high-technology products such as Rolls Royce aircraft engines, said Bloomberg.

Dyson's revenue has increased 68 percent over the past two years, with over 50 percent of the profits stemming from Asia. Last November, Alibaba Group said some of its top-selling products during its annual Singles Day event came from Dyson.

The company's plans for Research and Development (R&D) includes doubling the size of its Singapore Technology Center, and investing hundreds of millions of pounds in robotics. Dyson is also looking to tap demand from pollution-choked cities in Asia, by developing a wearable air purifier that could double as a pair of headphones.
Columbia, MO (65201)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 75F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 75F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
As the two year anniversary of Timothy Piazza's death approaches, Penn State continued its trend of self-preservation and string of good press by announcing that the Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research will move from the campus of Indiana to Penn State  and will be renamed to honor Piazza.

Along with the name change, Penn State has pledged up to $5 million out of a possible $8 million for the creation of this center which will be "a dedicated center for the study of best practices and assessment in fraternity and sorority life across the country."

There it is again  one of Penn State's favorite words.

Study.

Penn State loves to study things, whether it's how to lower tuition, how to best increase diversity or now, what the best practices are for greek life across the country.

But, the problem with all of these studies is we rarely seem to see them manifest into anything solid. So, while this is a good step in that they're taking a concrete measure to erect this building, it's what will go on inside the building that leaves quite a bit of questions.

How does one study greek life?

The center from Indiana has been there for nearly 40 years, yet even with a couple years of terrible news surrounding greek life, it seems as though no monumental reports or findings or recommendations came out of there... so why would it be any different going forward?

There were a few specific goals set out like the creation of a Greek-life Scorecard and the desire to sponsor relevant research, but even within these specifics, there are still more questions than answers.

And with this research that will be conducted, it's likely the findings won't be released in their totality, or if they are, it'll be either inconclusive or just reaffirm what everyone thought  greek life is problematic.

Therein lies another problem with this center.

Greek life at its core is a problematic system with clear issues that need to be resolved, and nowhere did it say how the incoming center aims to address those systemic problems.

Its not clear if this center, which has an unknown operator and overseer as of now, will absorb any of the greek life compliance measures Penn State has adopted, such as monitors, or anything else hands-on  begging the question of whether the Piazza Center will a stock-full of empty gestures.

There's also the issue of the name.

Jim Piazza, Tim's father, issued a statement strongly supporting the creation of the center and has been one of Penn State's most vocal opponents in terms of lackluster showings on greek life reform.

Now, his son is at the forefront of the greek life conversation once again  but this time with a positive light on University Park.

Once again Penn State gets to utilize the media, seemingly a slam dunk for Barron and the university, with little downside.

But they need to deliver actual results.

Opinions Editor Jake Aferiat can be reached by email at jxa5415@psu.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Aferiat51.
A group of 30 to 40 students, faculty and State College community members gathered in the State College Municipal Building to "light up" the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday night.

Barbara Farmer, a community member and the chair of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza sub-committee, started the event by asking everyone to introduce themselves to a stranger that is different from them in a way they cant change.

After Farmers challenge, multiple speakers addressed the group, including State College Mayor Don Hahn, who spoke about the personal impact that King's work had on his life. Hahn said his own marriage would be illegal in many states without King's achievements.

Dr. Martin Luther King has always been an inspiration to me, Hahn said. Part of me is angry that we lost 50 years of this great mans life. But what he has done in 39 years  we should be thankful for that.

Varsha Balasubramanian, the public relations director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Commemoration Committee, shared the importance of this year's theme for Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration week, which is Where Do We Go From Here: A Tradition of Resistance."

What's the next step, where are we heading, that's what we're trying to have a conversation about with people in the community, Balasubramanian (senior-public relations) said.

Gary Abdullah, the father of the assistant dean for diversity and inclusion in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, introduced each of the speakers and gave closing statements of his own on the impact of King.

I think that the importance of this event is that it's a continuation of what Dr. King espoused and sacrificed for and gave his life for in many ways, Abdullah said. But also a continuation of the commitment the community has made to live in those aesthetics and those ideals.

Abdullah said that he was positively shocked to see how many students came to the event, despite the cold weather and distance from campus.

I understand that it was not easy for students to make the effort to get here, Abdullah said. But, what I saw was people who were willing to inconvenience themselves to celebrate King and make connections, and thats inspiring.

Nyla Holland, the secretary of Black Caucus, also addressed the audience particularly students in the audience about how they can continue to make changes and help to lead changes.

Dr. King's legacy is on us," Holland (sophomore-political science) said. "So I ask you to ask yourselves: What will you do to carry it on?

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An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Gary Abdullah. The above article reflects the correct information. The Daily Collegian apologizes for this error.
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The director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) told CNBC that disapproval of his organization is fair and the trade body could do better.

Earlier on Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a Davos audience that the trade body was struggling to catch up with the pace of global events and needed to be made more credible.

In August last year, President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the WTO, claiming it treated his country unfairly.

Speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Roberto Azevedo, the director-general of the WTO, said what Abe said is "absolutely right."

"That is exactly what we are looking for, ideas about how the WTO can reform and modernize so it is not so far behind the curve," he added.

On the criticism from the U.S., Azevedo conceded that Washington obviously wanted to see the system delivering more, but argued that the U.S. had been "very supportive of reform."

Azevedo then likened the WTO to the U.S. constitution, noting it needed to adapt to modern life but had not become irrelevant.
China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation Corporation Ltd. Vice President Sun Yongcai speaks during a ground-breaking ceremony for a railcar assembly plant in Chicago, the United States, March 16, 2017.

A senior executive at Chinese state-owned company CRRC Group said he was optimistic about Beijing and Washington finding a way to permanently resolve their ongoing trade dispute.

For its part, the U.S. has already put tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods while China retaliated with levies on $110 billion in American products targeting politically important industries such as agriculture. The ongoing trade spat has battered financial markets in recent months, sparking concerns that a prolonged dispute could destabilize the world economy.

But Sun Yongcai, general manager and deputy party secretary at CRRC Group, is not too worried.

"I think the problems are only temporary," Sun told CNBC's Nancy Hungerford at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.

"The two countries are in the middle of discussions and negotiations. With the wisdom from both nations, I believe that we can reach an agreement that's acceptable to both sides," he said, according to a CNBC translation of his interview.

CRRC Group is the parent company of the publicly-traded CRRC Corporation, which is one of the world's largest suppliers of rail transit equipment.

The Chinese company has manufacturing bases in Massachusetts and Chicago, and in recent years, notched up contracts to build subway rail cars for major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago.

"Whether it's our Springfield or our Chicago base ... we produce, procure, manage and service locally," Sun said. "Our two production bases hire locally as well  we employ over 300 people over there, which has contributed to local employment and the local community."

However, the impact of the trade war has clearly been felt by the company.

State-owned media China Daily reported in March that the company was "concerned" that U.S. tariffs on Chinese rail equipment could impact the firm, and "bring about a whole market change."

Reports said the levies affected a number of essential imported rail car parts that could potentially increase the cost of production. The Boston Globe also reported that CRRC wrote to the U.S. Trade Representative asking for exemptions on components imported from China, such as car frames, air ducts and boxes to hold batteries.

The U.S. has long accused China of technology theft and espionage, key sticking points in the current trade negotiations between the two economic powerhouses. China has consistently denied those allegations.

Earlier this month, reports said experts were concerned that rail cars built by the company in the U.S. could potentially be used to spy on American interests, but Sun tried to allay those fears.

"We have heard such claims that CRRC trains can spy on passengers or obtain information," Sun said. "This is not true. The key for a company or a product is whether or not they in the trust of the consumers."
PayPal's CEO president and CEO, Dan Schulman, has a message for CEOs in America: Doing good should be part of every company's mission. That's why he decided to set up a $25 million fund to provide interest-free cash advances to federal workers last week.

"These folks are really hurting right now," Schulman told Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. "Many of these workers are living paycheck to paycheck. They really need our help."

Employees who use PayPal Credit will be able to get an advance of up to $500 each, without having to pay interest, and the program will last until the government reopens and employees receive their first paycheck.

The partial shutdown, now in its 33rd day, is the longest in history. The shutdown means 800,000 federal workers nationwide are going unpaid and some government functions remain impaired.

It also clouds the outlook for spending and the economy at large, since it can hurt business and consumer confidence.
The global investment community took notice on Tuesday when billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman issued a stern warning that increasing debt and global tensions could potentially bring on the next worldwide financial crisis.

As CNBC reported, the warning in Klarman's annual letter to investors (which CNBC "Squawk Box" co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote about in The New York Times) caused a stir at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, told CNBC that Klarman is correct that global tensions are creating increased market uncertainty, while Bridgewater Associates hedge fund manager Ray Dalio also agreed, telling CNBC that "the implications of the political conflict, for markets, are very profound."

So who exactly is Klarman, a relatively unknown figure to the general public but considered one of the world's smartest financiers? As The New York Times once put it: "He is the most successful and influential investor you have probably never heard of."

The 61-year-old Klarman, who co-founded Boston-based hedge fund the Baupost Group, where he manages roughly $32 billion in total assets, is known for his "sober and meticulous analysis," according to the Times. He has been dubbed "the next Warren Buffett" due to similarities in the two men's investing styles and strong track records. He is even sometimes called "the Oracle of Boston " in a nod to Buffett's famous nickname.

Much like Buffett, Klarman (who is worth of $1.5 billion according to Forbes) is a value investor, which means his investment philosophy revolves around putting money behind stocks that he believes to be undervalued by the rest of the market. In 2015, Klarman wrote a list of the top lessons he learned from following Warren Buffett's career, and he placed the advice to "buy bargains" at the top of that list.
Kevin Hassett, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 10, 2018.

The chairman of President Donald Trump's Council of Economic Advisers said Wednesday the United States could post no economic growth in the first quarter if the federal government does not reopen.

"If [the shutdown] extended for the whole quarter, and given the fact that the first quarter tends to be low because of residual seasonality, then you could end up with a number very close to zero in the first quarter," Kevin Hassett told CNN.

Asked whether GDP growth could hit zero in the quarter, Hassett said "Yes, we could."

"But then again, the second-quarter number would be humongous if the government reopened. It would be like 4 or 5 percent," Hassett said.

In recent decades, GDP growth in the first quarter has been notably weaker than growth in other quarters.

The federal government shutdown was in its 33rd day Wednesday, with little sign of relief for the roughly 800,000 federal workers going without pay. The Senate on Thursday is holding votes on competing GOP and Democratic proposals that would fund the government through Feb. 8. Neither measure is expected to pass because of the parties' standoff over President Donald Trump's demand for $5.7 billion for a wall along the Mexican border.

Hassett added later in the CNN interview that he believes the United States and China could reach a trade deal by the March 2 deadline.

Trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing have stretched for months amid their tit-for-tat trade war. The countries reached a truce following Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina on Dec. 1.
Portugal's economy minister believes that spreading the benefits among a population is the best way to quash the anti-establishment or populist sentiment that has been evident in Europe in recent years.

The euro zone nation exited a bailout program in 2014 after three years of intensive austerity measures. But by contrast to what happened in other economically-troubled countries, such as Spain and Italy, there has not been a significant increase for right-wing populist or anti-establishment parties.

"It is true we had a very strong economic recovery over the last three years," Pedro Siza Vieira, minister of the economy for Portugal, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum, in Davos Wednesday.

"The secret there is to make sure that the population understands, whilst we have suffered together during the crisis, the fruits of the recovery are widely spread and fairly distributed," Siza Vieira said.

Portuguese economic growth has gone from -3.2 percent in 2012 to 2.8 percent in 2017. According to the European Commission, it is set to grow 1.8 percent this year.

Even if the population is not totally happy about the current economic situation, most of them recognize an improvement. The latest surveys suggest that only 33 percent of the population believe the Portuguese economy is "good or very good." But that's compared to 3 percent in the spring of 2012.

Furthermore, ahead of a general election due in October, the latest European surveys suggest that sentiment toward Europe is still above 65 percent. "Europe has been a promise of peace, democracy and prosperity and it is when populations feel that this is failing that discontent will arise," Siza Vieira said.

"I think politically we are very concerned that everyone gets their fair share of the recovery," he added.

Since coming to power in 2015, the current socialist-led government in Portugal has reversed some of the previous austerity measures. The incumbent government has increased the minimum wage and restored some of the salaries in the public sector that were frozen during the bailout program.
The European Central Bank should wait before announcing any new policy changes given that there are so many geopolitical uncertainties in the world, the CEO of the Dutch lender ING told CNBC Wednesday.

The central bank is due to meet Thursday in Frankfurt after announcing in December the end of its massive bond-buying program. Analysts do not expect any changes but believe ECB President Mario Draghi will recognize there are growing economic risks  without sounding any alarm bells.

"They should just continue on (the) current path of keeping the policy where it is, just see how things pan out," Ralph Hamers told CNBC in Davos.
The German government believes that the embattled lender, Deustche Bank, is in a sound and healthy state despite recent setbacks, the country's economy minister told CNBC Wednesday.

Deutsche Bank has been struggling for about a decade, plagued by fines, several failed plans to reduce costs and losses in market share. On Wednesday, the bank's stock price once again came under pressure due to reports that the U.S. Federal Reserve is investigating the German bank's potential involvement in a money laundering scheme.

Peter Altmaier, minister for economic affairs and energy, told CNBC that the bank has suffered some setbacks but it is still sound.

"Deutsche Bank ... suffered some setbacks in the past, but it is basically sound and it can recover and so the question is what are the details of such strategy. And as we discussed with the CEO and the board and all the people concerned, I trust in Deutsche Bank and I will lend my political support to Deutsche Bank," Altmaier said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Given the continuing problems, there have been growing reports of a potential merger between the German lender and its national rival, Commerzbank. Speaking to CNBC, the economy minister did not want to comment on such a possibility, but said that the government has a keen interest in seeing a solid Deutsche Bank.

"(A merger) is something that has to be considered first of all by the banks and the companies concerned. We are a market economy and we respect the decisions that are taken by banks or companies whatsoever," he said.

"We have, however, as the German state and government, a warm interest in a good and strong position of our national champions, and European championsI am fully convinced that a country like Germany has a warm interest in seeing a good and stable and well-performing bank."

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Germany will take a new approach to its economic policy amid "struggles" and "headwinds," the country's health minister told CNBC Wednesday in Davos.

There are growing concerns about the state of the German economy after some recent disappointing data prompted fears of a recession. Earlier this month, the Federal Statistics Office said that Germany grew 1.5 percent in 2018. In 2017, it grew 2.2 percent. The recent numbers showed the weakest growth rate in five years.

"We are still in a very, very good shape economically," Jens Spahn, minister of health for Germany told CNBC at the World Economic Forum.

"As always after very good years there might be some struggles, some headwinds ahead. And that is what we see right now," Spahn, who previously worked in the German finance ministry said.

"Now actually we need to support growthwe want to cut taxes, for example, we want to invest more in infrastructure, into the digitization of the society, broadband, 5G, and the health sector," he added.

Over the last couple of years, Germany has been criticized for its budget surplus at a time when the rest of Europe was struggling. There were repeated calls, including from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), arguing that Berlin should spend more.

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People look at fireworks above Saint Basil's Cathedral during the 'Spasskaya Tower' international military and music festival on the Red Square in Moscow on August 26, 2017. AFP Contributor | AFP | Getty Images

U.S. sanctions on Moscow are starting to hurt America more than Russia, the chief executive of Russia's sovereign wealth fund told CNBC Wednesday. "Of course, we believe sanctions are wrong, and particularly U.S. sanctions, because they really undermine (the) U.S. long term," Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund said, speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. "Basically, we see lots of people moving away from (the) dollar, because lots of dollar transactions are getting restricted, and I think the U.S., by focusing so much on short-term pressure, and short-term competitive pressure, on Russian gas and other things, it is really undermining its own long-term fundamentals, you know, things that held the world together, such as (the) dollar, fair trade practices, and fairness," he said.

In Europe, and despite criticism from nations such as Greece and Italy, the EU extended its current set of economic sanctions on Russia in December until July 2019. The EU and U.S. sanctions target Russia's financial, energy and defense sectors in the main. Latter sanctions were also imposed on government officials, entities and institutions deemed to be close to President Vladimir Putin. Russia retaliated against sanctions with tit-for-tat measures and embarked on a policy of import substitution although it experienced recession amid an oil price slump in 2014. While a recovery in oil prices has been seen since a trough in early 2016, they remain volatile, hurting the outlook for the major oil exporter. As such, Russia's economic outlook is lackluster with 1.6 percent growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund in 2019 and 1.7 percent in 2020. Dmitriev said that Russia had adjusted to the sanctions regime. "Russia really adjusted to sanctions, the economy is growing at 2 percent and oil prices are stable. So frankly it's a way of doing business now and people are used to it," he noted.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev during a meeting with Russian Direct Investment Fund experts and representatives of international investment community at Konstantin Palace. Mikhail Klimentyev | TASS via Getty Images
British Trade Secretary Liam Fox told CNBC on Wednesday that he believed there was a "good chance" of securing an exit deal with the European Union.

UK lawmakers are proposing alternative plans to the current agreed deal with the EU after it was soundly rejected in Parliament. Options include seeking an extension to the U.K.'s current exit date of March 29.

Sterling has risen above $1.30 hitting a 10-week high after suggestions that a procedure in the House of Commons to delay Brexit has been gaining support among lawmakers.

The U.K. international trade secretary said he didn't think any extension was likely but he had seen some movement towards compromise over May's original deal among U.K. MPs.

"There's a good chance that we'll get it because there is a growing awareness both in Europe and and the U.K, perhaps more importantly inside Westminster, that under the law European treaties will no longer apply after March 29, so unless we get a deal, then no deal that everyone wants to avoid will happen," Fox told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"Since the defeat of the government in its original proposals there has been a very strong impetus to work for a deal from those who are remain and those who are leave in the referendum," he added.

Fox said extending Britain's exit process would also disrupt European democracy.

"If you extend the Article 50 process to give Britain more time in negotiation, it is likely to trigger Britain's participation in the next European elections and I can't see that that it is to the advantage to have 70 European MPs who don't really want to be there, and I don't think it would go down well with U.K. voters to have the expense of such an election," he said.
President Donald Trump's outside advisor on China said on Wednesday that he didn't expect a breakthrough in trade talks in the "near term."

Michael Pillsbury, director of the Center for Chinese Strategy at the Hudson Institute and a noted China hawk with the ear of the president, suggested that he expected a planned meeting between U.S. and Chinese negotiators scheduled for the end of the month to conclude without a trade deal.

"Over the last 45 years, a lot of American presidents have negotiated with China," Pillsbury said in response to a question about the meeting. "And there are some patterns to what has gone on. One of them is that the Chinese prefer to make a last-minute deal, to get the best deal they can. So I am not among those who think there is going to be a breakthrough in the next few days."

Pillsbury's comments came during a segment on CNBC's "The Exchange," anchored by Kelly Evans.

The meeting between U.S. negotiators and two Chinese vice ministers was canceled, CNBC has reported, though the White House has said "the teams remain in touch in preparation for high level talks" at the end of the month.

Pillsbury remained optimistic about the U.S. and China reaching a deal in the longer term.

"I don't expect this to be a smooth deal. But I do expect success, because President Trump cares so much about the issue," he said.

The U.S. has set a March 2 deadline for negotiators to reach a deal; if no deal is reached, tariffs are set to increase on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
Pelosi had said earlier Wednesday that Democrats would block Trump from giving the address in the House chamber until the partial government shutdown ends.

Trump made the announcement in a pair of Twitter posts, and added that he would not seek an alternative venue at which he could deliver his speech.

President Donald Trump said late Wednesday evening that he would comply with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's request that he not hold a State of the Union address until the ongoing U.S. government shutdown comes to a close.

Responding to Pelosi on Wednesday afternoon, Trump called her decision a "very, very negative part of history." He said he would identify his next moves "in due course."

"Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened," Pelosi wrote. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he introduced a resolution Wednesday to allow Trump to deliver the address, but it is unlikely to pass without Pelosi's support.

Pelosi wrote that the Democratic-held House would not pass the resolution needed to approve the joint session of Congress where he would deliver the address. She said lawmakers "will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President's State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened."

In a letter to Trump Wednesday, Pelosi escalated a standoff over the annual address hours after the president said he would give the speech in the House chamber next week. Earlier this month, Pelosi urged him to reschedule the remarks or deliver them elsewhere during a partial government shutdown .

After Pelosi's announcement, the president appeared to give up on his earlier promise to go on with his speech as planned. He quickly said he would hold an unspecified "alternative" event and contended that the California Democrat is "afraid of the truth." He called Pelosi's move "a great blotch on the incredible country that we all love."

In an earlier letter to Pelosi dated Wednesday, Trump wrote that he will be "honoring your invitation" to speak on Jan. 29. The president said that "it would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule and very importantly, on location!"

Sanders tweet

In a letter to Trump dated Jan. 16, Pelosi requested that the president move the date or location of his address. She cited "security concerns" related to the Secret Service's ability to protect the president during the lapse in funding. The longest shutdown ever is now in its 33rd day.

In his response Wednesday, Trump said the Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service contacted him and said "there would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event."

A day after Pelosi's letter, Trump grounded the speaker's planned government flight to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Pelosi's office then said she would not use commercial travel for the trip and accused the Trump administration of leaking details of the trip that could endanger the Democrat's delegation or the troops she was visiting.

The White House denied leaking Pelosi's plans.

The partial government shutdown, caused by an impasse over Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to build his proposed border wall, is the longest U.S. funding lapse ever. On Friday, about 800,000 federal workers will start missing their second paychecks since the closure began Dec. 22.

The GOP-held Senate will hold procedural votes Thursday on dueling Republican and Democratic plans to end the shutdown. The first proposal it will take up reflects Trump's offer to put $5.7 billion toward the wall in exchange for three-year extensions of legal protections for more than 700,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and migrants fleeing humanitarian crises. Democrats have called that plan inadequate, and it likely will not get through the Senate.

If the GOP plan fails Thursday, the Senate will take up a Democratic-backed proposal to reopen the government into February while lawmakers negotiate a broader deal. It is similar to bills already passed by the Democratic-controlled House. The measure will likely fail, as well.

Democrats are preparing a counteroffer to give to Trump that would "meet or exceed" $5.7 billion in spending on border security. The measures would not include funding for a border wall.

As the shutdown continues, it is affecting government services from food inspection to airport security and housing and food assistance programs. The closure is also expected to take a chunk out of U.S. economic growth.

Read the full text of Pelosi's response to Trump:

Dear Mr. President: When I extended an invitation on January 3rd for you to deliver the State of the Union address, it was on the mutually agreed upon date, January 29th. At that time, there was no thought that the government would still be shut down. In my further correspondence of January 16th, I said we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has re-opened and I hope that we can still do that. I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President's State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened. Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened. Sincerely, NANCY PELOSI

Read the full text of Trump's Wednesday letter to Pelosi:

Dear Madam Speaker: Thank you for your letter of January 3, 2019, sent to me long after the Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation, however, I then received another letter from you dated January 16, 2019, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the State of the Union Address due to the Shutdown. Even prior to asking, I was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service to explain that there would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event. They have since confirmed this publicly. Accordingly, there are no security concerns regarding the State of the Union Address. Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union. I look forward to seeing you on the evening on January 29th in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location! Sincerely, Donald J. Trump

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John Hess David Orrell | CNBC

President Donald Trump has blasted OPEC several times over the past year, but Hess CEO John Hess says the 14-nation producer group plays an important role in the oil market and deserves praise for stabilizing prices in recent years. OPEC forged an alliance with Russia and other oil producers in 2016 to end a punishing oil price downturn that bankrupted more than 100 U.S. drillers. The alliance, often called OPEC+, has capped production for much of the last two years in order to shrink a global crude glut and put a floor under oil prices. "The secretary general of OPEC as well as OPEC members play a very important role in stabilizing markets for oil, so those efforts are to be recognized," Hess said during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, speaking at the same panel, said what OPEC+ has done is "commendable" and helped save U.S. producers. "We have to continue to collaborate. It's one industry. It's a global industry, and I think our colleagues in the U.S. are on the same page with us and we will work together to exchange views," he said.

Trump does not hold the same view. Beginning last April, he began publicly criticizing OPEC's production caps, accusing the group of keeping oil prices artificially high. Concerned about rising prices at U.S. gas stations, he called on OPEC to pump more oil and slash the cost of crude. However, Hess cautions that low oil prices have a hidden cost. He says the biggest casualty of the 2014-2016 price slump was investment in future energy supplies. "The world needs to invest $580 billion a year to keep global oil and gas supply growing with demand" and to offset declining production from existing wells, Hess said. "Three years ago that number was $350 billion. Two years ago it was $370 billion. Last year, $410 billion, and this year maybe it's 440  way under what it needs to be to sustain the growth in oil and gas production."

Trump dealt the oil market a 'wild card'

Hess also said OPEC deserves credit for stabilizing the oil market after prices spiked to nearly four-year highs at the start of October, before plunging to 18-month lows in December. Last month, OPEC+ agreed to a fresh round of production cuts in order to put a floor under prices, a move that Trump opposed. The oil executive said the Trump administration's Iran policy and messaging played a role in the volatility that gripped the oil market at the end of last year. Trump announced last May that he would restore wide-ranging sanctions on Iran, OPEC's third biggest oil producer at the time. In the following months, his administration repeatedly threatened to cut Iran's exports to zero through strict sanctions.

Concerned about supply shortages, the OPEC+ alliance reversed course in June and started pumping more oil. However, when the sanctions snapped back in November, Washington granted waivers to some of Iran's biggest customers, exacerbating a drop in oil prices that was already under way. "The Iranian sanctions were the wild card this year," Hess said. "Going into their implementation on Nov. 4 the market was fearful because that's what the U.S. government signaled  that 2.5 million barrels per day of Iranian exports would go to zero. I think a number of producers prepared for that, and then at the last second, the amount of exports cut was actually closer to a million barrels a day." "So the market before Nov. 4 was panicking to the upside. With the over-correction in supply being put out there, [the market] actually panicked to the downside," Hess said. "And thanks to the efforts of OPEC+, the market is getting re-stabilized now."

'Shale is not the next Saudi Arabia'

With U.S. oil production hitting all-time highs, the United States is now the world's biggest crude producer. However, the nature of U.S. production means American drillers still need OPEC, Hess says. The surge in U.S. supply is built on shale oil production, which involves using advanced methods to free oil and natural gas from rock formations. Those wells produce a burst of oil at first, but that output soon enters a sharp decline, requiring shale drillers to constantly reinvest in new production.
The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China has opened up new opportunities for Indonesia, the Southeast Asian nation's minister of industry said Tuesday.

Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia, the region tipped by many to be one of the beneficiaries of a tariff fight that has threatened global growth. Experts have said the conflict between the world's two largest economies would push companies to speed up plans to move parts of their supply chains from China to countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

And Indonesia has seen that shift happening, Minister Airlangga Hartarto told CNBC's Nancy Hungerford at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The official said a number of companies that produce textiles and footwear have explored the opportunity to move from China to Indonesia. The Southeast Asian country has also been exporting more steel to the U.S., he added. That's despite U.S. President Donald Trump imposing additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March last year.

Indonesia exports of iron and steel to the U.S. jumped 87.7 percent year-over-year in the January through November period of 2018, according to data from the country's trade ministry. During the same period, total exports to the U.S. grew 3 percent, the data showed.

Those opportunities aside, Airlangga said the trade war could end up hurting the global economy and that's not good for all countries.

"I think the new norm of slow growth is not good for everybody ... It's not good enough for Indonesia to create jobs for the people," the minister said.
New details are emerging about Tesla's second round of layoffs in just seven months. Deep cuts occurred in its sales, delivery and Model S and Model X production teams, according to current and newly laid off workers. These people also said that Tesla has suspended night time production of its Model S sedans and Model X SUVs at its Fremont, California car plant. According to a separation agreement obtained by CNBC, salaried Tesla employees whose roles were terminated will receive a minimum of 60 days of pay and benefits, regardless of whether or not they sign the agreement. Those who sign can also get some of their COBRA healthcare paid for by Tesla after their coverage ends in March, with additional severance pay depending on the amount of time they worked for the electric vehicle maker.

Laid off employees must accept or reject their severance package from Tesla within seven days of receiving it, with many getting their "pink slip" on Saturday. Two dismissed employees said layoffs resulted in their losing stock options they were promised but had not vested yet. They scored the options as part of seemingly lucrative bonuses during their tenure at Tesla, but were disappointed the shares were worth hundreds instead of thousands of dollars due to the layoffs and vesting schedules. Two other former employees, dismissed in a prior round of layoffs, described the same impact to their income from bonuses, too. These people noted that full-time equivalent hourly workers let go by Tesla received different packages, and in the recent layoff, some were only granted two weeks' pay.

Which groups were affected

According to an ex-employee who was involved in Tesla's delivery operations, and a current employee who works for Tesla in Fremont, the layoffs appear to have impacted workers across every department and region from factory workers to recruiters and receptionists. But deep cuts apparently hit Tesla's delivery, sales and Model S and X production teams. Laid off workers from the company's battery plant near Reno, Nevada, and car plant in Fremont, California, as well as one of its delivery centers, say they were walked out by security or by their managers on Friday, some after working a full shift. At least a half-dozen security professionals were let go from "GF1," in a continued re-configuration of that department following the departure of Jeff Jones last year. A current Tesla employee in Fremont said that Model 3 production staff and software engineers seemed least likely to be cut. This person also said that in recent weeks, Tesla moved a handful of workers from the group that makes Model S sedans and Model X SUVs in Fremont into new shifts, or new positions involved in Model 3 production or logistics. As part of its restructuring and cost-cutting measures, Tesla eliminated nighttime production of Model S and X vehicles, according to a laid off employee familiar with the matter. The company let go of at least a half-dozen maintenance techs on the night shift there, and moved others into a day shift, this person said. A Deutsche Bank analyst, Emmanuel Rosner, wrote in a note to investors on Friday: "We think the job cuts are mostly driven by efficiency gains in manufacturing and continued opex discipline to ultimately enable profitability on the entry level Model 3." A former Tesla engineer agreed that the company made significant improvements to its Model 3 production process in recent months. But Tesla has long debated whether or not it should "sunset" either the Model S or X, or move production of these vehicles out of the crowded Fremont factory, this person added, noting there is no "upgrade" team in place to refresh either the S or X yet. A Tesla spokesperson said: "We recently announced that we are no longer taking orders for the 75 kWh version of Model S and X in order to streamline production and provide even more differentiation with Model 3. As a result of this change and because of improving efficiencies in our production lines, we have reduced Model S and X production hours accordingly. At the same time, these changes, along with continuing improvements, give us the flexibility to increase our production capacity in the future as needed. We'll be providing more details on our earnings call next week."

A current employee said that Fremont factory workers were in the dark about the company's broader strategy, but felt it was clear Tesla wouldn't be able to cut costs massively, or cram a new Model Y line inside of that plant while also making the same volume of S, X and Model 3's there. Tesla said it has no plans to sunset the S or X lines.

Separation agreement details
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Comcast  The NBCUniversal and CNBC parent reported adjusted quarterly profit of 64 cents per share, beating consensus estimates by 2 cents a share. Revenue also beat Street forecasts and the company increased its dividend by 10 percent.

United Technologies  The maker of Carrier air conditioners, Otis elevators, and a wide variety of other industrial products reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.95 per share, well above the consensus estimate of $1.53 a share. Revenue also came in above analysts' forecasts, boosted by the company's November acquisition of defense contractor Rockwell Collins.

Procter & Gamble  The consumer products company beat estimates by 4 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.25 per share. Revenue topped analysts' forecasts, as well, helped in part by strong demand for P&G's beauty products. Organic sales were up 4 percent, stronger than the 2.6 percent consensus estimate.

Restaurant Brands International  The parent of Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes named current Burger King head Jose Cil as its new chief executive officer. He replaces Daniel Schwartz, who will become executive chairman.

Synchrony Financial  The financial services company earned $1.09 per share for its latest quarter, 16 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also beat forecasts. Synchrony also announced it had reached an agreement to extend its partnership with Walmart's Sam's Club, continuing to manage and service the Sam's credit-card portfolio. It also settled a lawsuit with Walmart over the sale of the Walmart loan portfolio.

Walmart  Morgan Stanley upgraded the retailer's stock to "overweight" from "equal-weight," saying Walmart will be one of the few retailers to grow earnings this year.

Merck  The drugmaker's stock was downgraded to "market perform" from "outperform" at BMO Capital, which is concerned about Merck's overdependence on its cancer treatment Keytruda.

Pfizer  UBS was downgraded Pfizer to "neutral" from "buy," noting Pfizer's valuation and a long-term "patent cliff."

IBM  IBM reported adjusted quarterly profit of $4.87 per share, 5 cents a share above consensus. Revenue also beat forecasts and IBM gave strong 2019 guidance on continued strength in its services business.

TD Ameritrade  TD Ameritrade beat estimates by 10 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.11 per share. The online brokerage's revenue also came in above forecasts. Profit more than doubled from a year earlier thanks in large part to the acquisition of Scottrade.

Capital One  Capital One reported adjusted quarterly profit of $2 per share, missing the consensus estimate of $2.37 a share. The bank's revenue also fell shy of forecasts, and an 81 percent increase in marketing costs had a significant bottom line impact.

Johnson & Johnson  J&J is pursuing an acquisition of surgical robotics firm Auris Health, according to a Bloomberg report. J&J is said to be willing to pay a premium to the $2 billion valuation that emerged from the latest Auris funding round.

ASML Holding  ASML warned of weak first-quarter sales, with a number of the chipmaker's customers delaying their orders into the second half of this year.

Aphria  Aphria is the target of a hostile takeover bid from U.S. cannabis rival Green Growth Brands. Green Growth said it plans to make a second all-stock bid for the Canadian company worth about $1.76 billion. Aphria said the bid is substantially identical to the prior bid, and urged its shareholders to take no action while a board committee considers the offer.

Viacom  Viacom announced the acquisition of live-TV streaming service Pluto TV for $340 million in cash.

Walgreens Boots Alliance  Walgreens will pay more than $269 million to settle a number of federal and state lawsuits that had accused it of overbilling federal health-care programs.

Apollo Global  The private-equity firm agreed to buy European packaging company RPC for $4.28 billion in cash. It had been reported yesterday that the two sides were close to a deal.
With increasing talk of the U.S. and China's trade war becoming a war over technology, the boss of one software firm thinks it's now time to start thinking about putting the safety of consumers over global internet standards.

The so-called "splinternet" is probably not a phrase you've heard of, but it increasingly has experts worried in an age of geopolitical divides.

The term refers to a literal splitting of the internet into disparate parts as other countries become increasingly suspicious of foreign technology. Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, for example, recently warned the internet would split in two, with one internet led by the U.S. and the other led by China.

"I think there is a dual concern  standardization across the globe and higher protection, whether its data or infrastructure protection," Dassault Systemes Chief Executive Bernard Charles told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.

"We all know that infrastructure should be well-protected, otherwise it's going to put everything at risk at the same time."
Singapore, a country with a population of just about 5.6 million, is one of Asia' top financial centers and a global trading hub.

It has for decades been one of the world's most impressive growth stories. The Southeast Asian nation is among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest GDP per capita, according to World Bank statistics.

However, the country's central bank warned late last year that its export-driven economy would likely be hurt in the coming months by the ongoing U.S.-China tariff fight.

Singapore is currently the biggest foreign investor in China. Asia's largest economy, meanwhile, is also Singapore's biggest export market. But, as Beijing braces for a continuation of its current slowdown, the Southeast Asian city-state may have to prepare for more challenges.

In January, Singapore reported that its economy grew 3.3 percent in 2018  slower than the 3.6 percent recorded the year before. It also emerged last week that the country's exports fell by 8.5 percent from last year, making it the worst decline in more than two years.

That export figure was unexpected, and widely missing the 1.5 percent increase predicted by economists in a Reuters poll.
The German multinational Siemens is remaining hopeful the EU will approve its merger with France's Alstom, despite competition concerns from Brussels.

Media reports suggest the European Commission will block the rail deal between the French and the German companies. Both firms have a large presence in Europe and the regulator may see that as limiting competition in the market place. The deal was first announced in September which would create a European rail champion with revenues of about 15 billion euros ($17.05 billion).

"You need competitiveness and innovation. It's not the biggest who are going to win, it's the smartest who are going to outpace the others. So, we provide industrial solutions, we provide long-term solutions, which are based on competitiveness, and not on regulations, and I think it's important that the European Union understands which way it wants to go," Joe Kaeser, the CEO of Siemens, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.
The investors on ABC's "Shark Tank" are known for their sharp bite. But on Sunday's episode, one founder's story was so powerful, it even rattled one of the toughest Sharks, Kevin O'Leary, bringing tears to his eyes.

Entrepreneur Whitney Lundeen from Palo Alto, California walked into the tank seeking $350,000 for a 25 percent stake in her clothing company, Sonnet James. During her pitch, Lundeen explains that as the mom of two young boys, she had a hard time finding fashionable dresses that were comfortable and easy to clean. Tired of yoga pants, she created dresses that look nice, feel good and are washable.

Prompted by O'Leary to explain her $1.4 million valuation, Lundeen hammers out her sales. She explains that she's been in business for five years, selling her dresses direct to consumer online, and in her first year, did $84,000, but last year, raked in $1.2 million in sales. However, Lundeen admits she does need help bumping up her net profit, which ends up being around eight to 10 percent.

Lundeen also told more of her story: She had her first child at 22 and shortly thereafter, became a single mother.

"I was going through a difficult time in my life, and so I had this idea of making a dress that my mom could have worn that could have reminded her to play with me when I was little," Lundeen says. "And I said, 'Alright, this year, I'm going to take the idea, and I'm going to teach myself how to sew, and I'm going to pattern draft.' And every night, I would pretty much sit on the kitchen floor crying, trying to teach myself how to do two things I didn't know how to do."

But after creating her website, a mom blogger picked it up, resulting in Lundeen receiving over 150 orders in 48 hours. She freaked out, calling her brother and telling him she was going to shut down the site and refund everyone's order because she did not know how to meet that kind of demand.

"He said, 'do not shut it down, this is what start-ups dream of," Lundeen says, adding that the next day she got to work.

Greiner then asks Lundeen to expand on something she had said earlier in her pitch  that she had wanted to create a dress that would remind her mother to play with her. Lundeen begins to choke up, explaining she had a difficult childhood that included some abuse and addiction.

"My parents did the best they could with what they had," she says. "I found when I became a mom, I couldn't engage with my kids as much as I wanted to. And I wanted something that could help me be the mother that I had always wanted to be, and something that could remind me every day when I put it on what my priorities were."

She explains that nobody's childhood is perfect and everyone comes from some dysfunction, adding that her mission and life goal is to support mothers do their very best.

At this point, several of the sharks  including O'Leary  are teary eyed.

"How fantastic that you took adversity, and you said, 'That's not going to pull me down, it's only going to rise me up,'" Greiner says.

O'Leary proceeds to wipe a few tears from his eyes, saying that it was a very moving story but now it's time to get back to the numbers. O'Leary has some issues with her valuation of the company, although the other sharks disagree. Guest judge and Spanx founder Sara Blakely offers Lundeen a deal; $350,000 for 25 percent; exactly what she had asked for. The entrepreneur accepts the deal on the spot.

"After 10 years of 'Shark Tank,' you've won the No. 1 presentation for fashion." O'Leary says. "It was such a crazy story...I mean it really, really hit me."

Don't miss: 'Shark Tank': Hero 9/11 firefighter created a genius cooking product  after his death, his kids turned it into a business

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Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."
Shares of Deutsche Bank slid more than 1 percent in early trading on reports that the U.S. Federal Reserve is investigating the German lender's role in a money laundering scheme.

A report published in Bloomberg, citing sources, said the Fed probe is in very early stages as it examines whether Deutsche Bank's U.S. arm was involved in moving funds out of the Estonian branch of Danske Bank.

Deutsche Bank has been cooperating with the Fed, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The German lender, however told CNBC that there were no investigations taking place.

"There are no probes but we have received several requests for information from regulators and law enforcement agencies around the world. It is not surprising at all that the investigating authorities and banks themselves have an interest in the Danske case and the lessons to be learned from it. Deutsche Bank continues to provide information to and cooperate with the investigating agencies," Deutsche Bank told CNBC in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Danske Bank is being investigated in Denmark, Estonia, Britain and the United States over 200 billion euros ($227 billion) of suspicious payments through its Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015.

In November, Deutsche Bank confirmed its involvement in processing payments worth $150 billion for scandal-ridden Danske Bank.

Deutsche Bank spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Reuters in November that the lender acted as a correspondent bank for Danske in Estonia. "Our role was to process payments for Danske Bank. We terminated the relationship in 2015 after identifying suspicious activity," the spokesperson said at the time.

Deutsche Bank's Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing told German policymakers and clients last week that the bank was investigating the Danske scandal internally and that it had seen no indications of any misconduct on their part.

- Reuters contributed to this report.
Procter & Gamble's bet on raising prices amid higher commodity and transportation costs is paying off for the consumer products giant.

Shares surged more than 4.7 percent in premarket trading Wednesday after P&G's fiscal second-quarter earnings and sales report outpaced Wall Street estimates, prompting the company to raise its organic sales forecast.

Its beauty products, health care and fabric and home care businesses all contributed to the gains. The company said about 1 percent of its organic sales growth in the quarter came from higher pricing.

Here's what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $1.25, adjusted vs. $1.21 estimated

Revenue: $17.44 billion vs. $17.15 billion estimated

"We delivered strong organic sales in the second quarter, building on our first quarter momentum, which enables us to increase our outlook for the year," David Taylor, chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. "Our focus on superiority, productivity and improving P&G's organization and culture is delivering improved results despite a challenging competitive and macroeconomic environment."

P&G reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $3.19 billion, or $1.22 per share, up from $2.5 billion, or 93 cents per share a year earlier.

Excluding restructuring costs and other items, the company earned $1.25 per share, higher than $1.21 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv

Net sales rose slightly to $17.44 billion, beating expectations of $17.15 billion. On an organic basis, which excludes the impact of foreign exchange and acquisitions and divestitures, sales were up 4 percent.

Organic sales at its beauty care business rose 8 percent year over year during the latest period, driven by strong demand for its super-premium SK-II brand and its Olay skin care products as well as higher prices.

At its health care division, which includes its Crest toothpaste brand, organic sales rose 5 percent. The company said product innovation was helping its performance in oral care and personal health care.

Shoppers are trading up to more premium products at its fabric and home care business, the company said. Organic sales at this division rose 6 percent during the quarter.

However, P&G's grooming business, which includes its Gillette brand, continues to struggle, and organic sales fell 3 percent. Its shave care business continued to show volume declines during the quarter.

P&G raised the high-end of its organic sales growth forecast by 1 percent. The company now expects organic sales to rise in the range of 2 to 4 percent for fiscal 2019. Total sales are expected to be within the range of down 1 percent to up 1 percent.

Foreign exchange and higher commodity and transportation costs are expected to be a $1.4 billion headwind in fiscal 2019.

The company backed its prior earnings forecast, which calls for core earnings per shares to rise 3 to 8 percent from fiscal 2018 core earnings of $4.22 per share.

P&G said it plans to buy back as much as $5 billion in stock this fiscal year.

The company announced in November it is reorganizing its operational structure, a move activist investor Nelson Peltz lobbied for before he joined the board in March. As part of P&G's new business structure, the company will now have six sector business units organized by industry. Each business will have a unit CEO responsible for running all major decisions, like marketing, costs and supply chain.

P&G, which has a market value of $225.3 billion, has seen its shares drop nearly 2 percent over the past year.

Tune into CNBC Thursday at 10 a.m. ET to see Sara Eisen's interview with Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor at Davos.
The 33-day-old government shutdown is damaging to the American brand, Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp told CNBC on Wednesday.

"As an American citizen and someone who is running a company who sells their product abroad, I'd prefer if we'd figure out a way to have a better situation," Karp told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin on "Squawk Box" from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"You feel the pain" for federal workers who have been furloughed or are working without pay as the shutdown persists, he said. "It's damaging for the American brand to have something from the outside that doesn't seem to make sense."

President Donald Trump and Democrats who now control the House are in stalemate over funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The president has demanded that any deal to end the shutdown must include funds toward the construction of a barrier. Democrats have refused to allocate any money for a wall.

The shutdown has sidelined a majority of the workers at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and some on Wall Street are concerned that initial public offerings could be disrupted this year. Palantir is reportedly considering an IPO as soon as 2019.

When asked whether he expected the shutdown to impact Palantir's IPO plans, Karp responded with, "No."

Karp also ripped his Silicon Valley peers for refusing to work with the government to keep Americans safe.

"That is a loser position. It is not intelligible," he said, referring to some big tech companies that won't take government contracts.

Founded in 2004 by a group of ex-Stanford students including Karp, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale, Palantir provides software that customers use to import volumes of disparate data, such as spreadsheets and images, into a central database where it can be analyzed and interpreted with maps and charts.

The company is best known for providing services to government agencies including the CIA, FBI and Defense Department.

 CNBC's Josh Lipton contributed to this report.
Alex Karp, co-founder and CEO of secretive Silicon Valley data miner Palantir, is slamming the tech community for what he considers a breach of its social contract with America.

Big Tech is no longer delivering on its value proposition, he said.

"The reason why people put up with crazy looking people that are doing their thing in a different way is because we have historically delivered either jobs or national security," Karp told CNBC on Wednesday. "People understood the value of what we're doing."

However, Karp said that's all changed. "Now Silicon Valley is creating micro communities that break the consensus of larger society while simultaneously telling the average American, 'I will not support your defense needs,' and then selling their products that are adversarial to America."

Karp, whose Palo Alto, California-based company provides services to the Defense Department, CIA and FBI, blasted tech companies that refuse work with the federal government to keep the country safe.

"That is a loser position. It is not intelligible. It is not intelligible to the average person. It's academically not sustainable. And I am very happy we're not on that side of the debate," Karp said in the interview with "Squawk Box" co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Last year, for example, Alphabet's Google unit decided not to renew its contact for a Defense Department program known as Project Maven after an employee firestorm erupted with a petition urging CEO Sundar Pichai to keep Google out of the "business of war."

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has defended such public-private contracts, saying last year his company will continue to do business with government agencies and warned that other tech companies about turning their backs. "If big tech companies are going to turn their back on the U.S. Department of Defense, this country is going to be in trouble," Bezos said in October.

Karp also went off on the government shutdown, which entered Day 33 on Wednesday. "It's damaging for the American brand to have something from the outside that doesn't seem to make sense."

Palantir, which has reportedly been considering an initial public offering as soon as this year, was founded in 2004 by Karp and other ex-Stanford students including PayPal co-founder and outspoken venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

The company provides software that customers use to import volumes of disparate data, such as spreadsheets and images, into a central database where it can be analyzed and interpreted with maps and charts.

WATCH: Here's the full CNBC interview with Palantir CEO Alex Karp
"He's only been threatened by the truth, and he doesn't want to do that probably for me or other of his clients," Trump said. "He has other clients also, I assume, and he doesn't want to tell the truth for me or other of his clients."

Trump later told reporters, when asked about Cohen: "I would say he's been threatened by the truth."

"Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time. This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first."

Davis, in his statement Wednesday, said, "Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date.

It is now not clear when  or even if  Cohen would be willing or able to testify anytime soon, given that looming sentence.

That voluntary Feb. 7 appearance is a month before Cohen is due to begin serving a three-year prison sentence for multiple crimes, some of which relate to Trump.

Davis cited "ongoing threats" to Cohen's family from Trump and the president's current personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in the decision to delay his appearance before the House Oversight and Reform Committee , where he was expected to talk at length about the president.

President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, on Wednesday postponed his plan to testify before Congress in February because of concerns about his family's safety, Cohen's adviser Lanny Davis said.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, arrives with his family at federal court for his sentencing hearing on December 12, 2018 in New York City.

Giuliani had no immediate comment.

Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Cohen's concern for safety was "legitimate" given the "attacks" by Trump and Giuliani.

But they also said they expected Cohen to appear before their committee at some point.

Trump last week urged people to "watch" Cohen's father-in-law, Fima Shusterman, who was placed on probation in the mid-1990s after pleading guilty in a case in which he was charged with conspiring to defraud the IRS.

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And Trump's other comments about Cohen days before that spurred Cummings, Schiff and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., to warn the president against trying to "discourage intimidate or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress."

Giuliani, in an appearance on CNN last Sunday, had said Cohen is lying about Trump, and also said that Shusterman may have ties to organized crime.

A former New York City mayor and federal prosecutor, Giuliani, further said that Shusterman was involved in criminal activity with Cohen, and that Cohen is withholding information about that activity because testifying about it would be dangerous for his father-in-law.

A source close to Cohen told NBC News that Cohen's wife and father-in-law were particularly afraid about Cohen's upcoming scheduled appearance in Congress, and that they feel directly targeted by Trump.

Cohen's wife, Laura, was afraid of going to the hearing in person because she believed she was at risk of being attacked.

"The threats are real," the source says, "Trump knows what he's doing."

Cohen had served for years as Trump's personal lawyer, and once bragged of being willing to take "a bullet" for the president.

But he fell out with Trump in early 2018, after FBI agents raided his office and several residences in New York as part of a criminal investigation.

Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty later in the year to financial crimes, campaign finance violations and to lying to Congress.

Cohen admitted facilitating hush money payments to two women, porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, shortly before the 2016 presidential election to keep them quiet about their alleged affairs with Trump. The president has denied having the affairs.

Cohen also confessed to misleading Congress in 2017 about when an aborted plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow actually ended, and about the extent of Trump's involvement in that project.

For months before he was sentenced in December, Cohen had cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller, prosecutors in New York and other authorities who are investigating Trump.

His continued cooperation with Mueller after his sentencing was expected to lead to limitations on the information he could share during his testimony before Congress.

On Jan. 12, Trump, during an interview with Jeanine Pirro on Fox News, blasted Cohen, as he has done on prior occasions.

"Look, I was a client of his," Trump said. "You're supposed to have lawyer-client privilege, but it doesn't matter because if I'm a very honest person, frankly."

"But he's on trouble on some loans and fraud and taxi cabs and stuff that I know nothing about. And in order to get his sentence reduced, he says, 'I have an idea, I'll give you some information on the president.'"

Trump then told Pirro that Cohen "should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that's the one that people want to look at. Because where does that money  that's the money in the family."

"And I guess he didn't want to talk about his father-in-law  he's trying to get his sentence reduced. So it's pretty sad. It's weak and it's very sad to watch a thing like that," the president said.

On Wednesday, Cummings and Schiff, the chairmen of the House committees, reiterated a warning to Trump that they made on this heels of his comments to Pirro.

"As we stated previously with our colleague, Chairman Jerry Nadler of the Judiciary Committee, efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms," Cummings and Schiff said.

"Our nation's laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress. The President should make no statement or take any action to obstruct Congress' independent oversight and investigative efforts, including by seeking to discourage any witness from testifying in response to a duly authorized request from Congress."

"We understand that Mr. Cohen's wife and other family members fear for their safety after these attacks, and we have repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family," Cummings and Schiff said in a joint statement.

However, the chairmen, in their joint statement, also said that when their committees began talking to Cohen about appearing before them, "not appearing before Congress was never an option."

"We will not let the President's tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities. This will not stop us from getting to the truth," Cummings and Schiff said.

"We expect Mr. Cohen to appear before both Committees, and we remain engaged with his counsel about his upcoming appearances."
Blue Origin launched its 10th flight of the New Shepard rocket on Wednesday, in a mission which sent eight NASA research and development experiments into space.

Lifting off from the company's facility in the desert of West Texas, the New Shepard rocket launched the capsule on top past an altitude of 350,000 feet  more than 100 kilometers up.

Blue Origin, which Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos founded nearly two decades ago, is developing the New Shepard rocket system for the company's space tourism business. Six passengers would ride past the edge of space, where they would spend about 10 minutes floating in zero gravity before returning back to Earth. The capsule features massive windows, providing expansive views of the Earth once in space.

NASA pays commercial rocket companies under the agency's Flight Opportunities program to test and demonstrate technologies. Blue Origin has eight payloads on board for NASA programs and academic institutions. The payloads are a variety of experiments, from gathering data on vibration experience during spaceflight to testing a possible solution for cooling electronics on a spacecraft.
Acclaimed Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour has a message for Western audiences: stop seeing Arab women as victims. Portraying the women of her region as strong and resilient is one of the missions of her highly-awarded films, al-Mansour  who is one of Saudi Arabia's most famous, as well as most controversial directors  told CNBC's Hadley Gamble during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. "Whether it's coming from the region, or internationally, I really enjoy portraying strong female protagonists, women who don't see themselves as victims," al-Mansour said.

Saudi Arabian independent filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour delivers a speech during a ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2019 meeting, on January 21, 2019 in Davos, eastern Switzerland. FABRICE COFFRINI | AFP | Getty Images

"In all the scripts I get, Muslim and Arab women are all victims and sad, and things are happening to them  and it's like no, we're very sassy. We're very strong. Don't take us for granted." She opposed the stereotype that "Arab women are not in control of their destiny," while adding that "sometimes they are not, because of family ... but that does not take their soul, and that does not take who they are as people, as fighters, with a strong will to survive and to succeed. So that is a huge misconception, we are way more than who they think we are as women." Al-Mansour is Saudi Arabia's first female filmmaker and the country's most well-known. Coming from a country known for its highly conservative interpretation of Islam and austere rules surrounding women's lives, her work, which shines a light on the lives of women in the Gulf, was hailed as groundbreaking. Her feature debut, Wadjda, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2012, was the first to be fully shot in Saudi Arabia as a feature-length film and the only one filmed in the country by a female Saudi national. Al-Mansour this week was honored with the WEF's Crystal Award, along with conductor Marin Alsop and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, as an "exceptional cultural leader" and a force for positive change.

Marin Alsop (L), Haifaa Al Mansour (2nd L), Hilde Schwab (C), Klaus Schwab (2nd R) and David Attenborough (R) pose during a ceremony ahead of WEF 2019 meeting, on January 21, 2019 in Davos. FABRICE COFFRINI | AFP | Getty Images
As the longest federal government shutdown in history stretches on, U.S. leaders remain stuck in the appropriations-bill stalemate that caused it. Despite hundreds of thousands of federal workers being furloughed or working without pay  and the economic turmoil it could cause  there's likely no end in sight. A proposal by President Donald Trump to reopen the government is headed for a vote this week in the Senate, "where it will probably fail," CNBC reports.

It's an unprecedented situation, and Kevin O'Leary, star of ABC's "Shark Tank" and a serial entrepreneur known for his tough negotiating skills, agrees it's bad for the country.

"We've got two very stubborn people that are trying to bring forward some very aggressive negotiating skills: Pelosi versus Trump," O'Leary tells CNBC Make It, referring to Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Trump is demanding an appropriations bill that includes $5.7 billion in funding to build a wall on the United States' southern border, and the Democratic House, lead by Pelosi, will only pass a bill without such funding.

"Nobody wants to make a deal. That's not good for the country, and you know, you have to respect both sides of the equation."

So what's it going to take to end the shutdown? What it always takes  compromise, says O'Leary.

"In negotiating, both sides have to feel they left something on the table; that's the definition of a great deal, and that's what's going to happen here," he says.

"Trump's not going to get exactly what he wants, but enough to save face, Pelosi is definitely not getting what she wants, but enough to save face, and then it's back to work for all of us. That's the right thing to do in the country," says O'Leary, who was born in Canada, but lives in Boston and Miami.

The shutdown is taking a major financial toll on many families who are no longer pulling in money, and if the standoff continues to drag on, Friday will mark the second paycheck missed by affected federal workers. While O'Leary notes that Trump has signed legislation that guarantees all furloughed workers back pay once the government re-opens, it's still a dire situation for many.

Indeed, a recent CBS poll found that 60 percent of U.S. respondents think the shutdown is "causing serious problems," CNBC reports, and only 28 percent of Americans believe the border wall is worth the shutdown.

"It's not really fair to put them in a situation where they have no control and they have to provide for their families," O'Leary says. "I don't like the situation very much, and I don't care if you're on the Democratic or the Republican side; it's bad for the country. It's got to get resolved."

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Don't miss: Kevin O'Leary shares his best advice about paying off your mortgage

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday that it was time to "rebuild trust" in international trade.

His speech comes at a time when the United States is pulling back from free trade and its ongoing trade dispute with China has policymakers and markets concerned.

"I call on all of us to rebuild trust toward the system for international trade. That should be a system that is fair, transparent, and effective in protecting IP (intellectual property) and also in such areas as e-commerce and government procurement," Abe said.

The Japanese leader also told delegates that Japan was "determined to preserve and continue the free, open, and rules-based international order."

In 2018, Japan signed off on its commitment to a revised Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with Mexico, Singapore, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. A previous version had to be scrapped after a sudden withdrawal by the United States.

A further Japaneses trade deal, this time with the European Union, is set to take force from February 2019.

Japan is also set to host the next meeting of G20 in Osaka in June this year.

Abe said the meeting would be used to put trade, climate and data governance at the heart of talks between leaders from the world's 20 most industrialized nations.

The Japanese prime minister added that the world needed to realize that fighting the effects of pollution and climate change could be an economic benefit.

"There is no need to reduce our economic activities, innovation is what counts," he said.

At the upcoming G20 meeting in Osaka, Prime Minister Abe will also launch a new process for looking at data governance under the auspices of of the WTO.

Abe told the Davos audience that personal and security data must be placed under strong privacy protection, while at the same time allowing a free flow of medical, industrial, traffic and other data.

"I'd like Osaka G20 to be remembered as a summit that started worldwide data governance."

Abe is one of only three G7 leaders to attend the annual leaders forum in Switzerland with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, the other two.

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J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon renewed his criticism of health care in the U.S. on Wednesday, saying Americans have some of the "worst outcomes" despite having the best system in the world, he told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

"With health care, we have the best in the world  doctors, hospitals, pharma, you name it  but we also have some of the worst outcomes," he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Obesity, wellness programs that could work better, the opioid problem, 40 million uninsured. So you know, to me, you look at the whole issue and what should we do about it."

Dimon has been a vocal critic of how much the nation, and especially employers, pay for health care. He teamed up last year with Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to form a joint venture aimed at tackling costs and hopefully providing better services for their employees.

In June, the trio named a prominent surgeon and health-care thought leader Dr. Atul Gawande to lead the still unnamed initiative. The group also hired Dana Gelb Safran, formerly a chief performance measurement and improvement officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts as "head of measurement."

For now, the group is focused on building out its team and "looking at how to attack this problem," Dimon said Wednesday.

"It's a long-term view. We don't expect any announcement anytime soon," he said. "We will share if we come up with anything good, but we want to start small. Test a bunch of different things."

Health-care spending represents nearly 18 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, far more than other developed nations, a statistic that Dimon pointed to as one that's unsustainable and that leaves American business at a disadvantage to foreign competitors.

"If you look at it as a competitive issue, that is a huge impediment to American business over the next 50 years," he said.
The U.S. economy is like a ship trying to navigate its way through difficult waters, JP Morgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon said Wednesday.

If policymakers get things right, the economy should be able to grow at close to a 2.5 percent rate, the head of the largest U.S. bank by assets told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"The U.S. economy is kind of like a ship that's going it's going, ex- the shutdown 2 to 2.5 percent and that's going to keep going for a while," Dimon said. "Then you have all this other noise, geopolitical noise, Brexit noise, what's the Fed going to do, ... shutdown, trade. They're kind of buoys in the water in front of that ship. Eventually that may very well cause a slowdown or a recession.

"I don't know 2020 or 2021, but the range of possibilities is broader and the range of bad outcomes is increasing."

To make sure that ship doesn't find danger, Dimon called on Washington officials to end the government shutdown and devise policies that work.
Greenlight Capital is still betting against electric car maker Tesla, and the hedge fund's manager isn't mincing words about his opinion of Elon Musk.

In a quarterly letter to investors on Tuesday, Greenlight's David Einhorn called Tesla a "bizarre situation" and called out CEO Musk on his recent run-in with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk reached a $20 million settlement last year with the agency over allegations he committed securities fraud when he announced on Twitter that he wanted to take Tesla private and suggested he had "funding secured" for such a transaction. A copy of Einhorn's letter was obtained by CNBC's Scott Wapner.

In addition to the fine, Musk had to step down as Tesla chairman for at least three years and agree to have his public statements about the company monitored. But he was allowed to remain as CEO, and he told a CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent in December that he didn't respect the SEC.

Einhorn, who founded Greenlight Capital in 1996, seized on the comment to lash out at Musk, and the SEC, in his investor letter. "Why should he?," Einhorn wrote of Musk's respect comment. "After all, he committed blatant market manipulation and was rewarded with a fine, which he said was 'worth it.'"

The fact that he wasn't forced to resign from Tesla showed "if you are as important as Elon Musk, removal is not a serious option. He is above the law," Einhorn wrote.

The hedge fund manager and car CEO have locked horns in recent months. Einhorn has called Tesla's business model another Lehman Brothers in waiting, a reference to the investment bank that collapsed in 2008. Einhorn had raised questions about Lehman's accounting just months before that event, and last year he said "Like Lehman, we think the deception is about to catch up to TSLA."

Einhorn told his investors last year that he was glad his Tesla Model S lease had expired, a quip that drew a Twitter taunt from Musk.

Shares of Tesla rose 4 percent last year but are down 12 percent this year.
Transportation Security Administration officers are bracing for a second missed paycheck, as the partial government shutdown drags on into its second month.

"The rent is not going to happen," one TSA officer at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Wednesday told CNBC. The officer, a father of two and the sole breadwinner in his house, said he plans to ask his landlord in upper Manhattan for an extension on rent that's due on Feb. 1. He asked not to be named because he's not authorized to speak to the press.

The more than 50,000 TSA officers are among the some 420,000 "essential" federal employees who've been ordered to work without pay during the shutdown, which began Dec. 22 because of a standoff between President Donald Trump and lawmakers over funding for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The group also includes air traffic controllers. The Federal Aviation Administration said earlier this month that it also was calling back about 3,000 safety inspectors who had been furloughed.

There is a chance officers' pay could be processed in time for Friday payday, if the shutdown ends on Wednesday, a TSA spokesman said.

The officers have been calling out in greater numbers in recent weeks, some due to financial strain, the TSA said. The staffing shortages prompted officials to consolidate security checkpoints, creating long lines at some of the country's busiest airports in Miami, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Atlanta, which is the world's busiest airport, is expecting big crowds when the city hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 3.

On Tuesday, unscheduled absences of TSA officers reached 7.4 percent of the force, more than double the rate from a year ago, the agency said Wednesday. Most passengers were screened within the agency's standard of 30 minutes or less, but long lines materialized in Boston and Atlanta.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, meanwhile, issued a strong warning.

"This is already the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States and there is no end in sight. In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break," NATCA President Paul Rinaldi said in a statement. "It is unprecedented."

Another officer, a father of three, said he plans to contact his bank because he likely won't be able to make a mortgage payment on his house in northern Queens and that he'll stay there "until we get evicted."

The officer, who declined to give his name because he wasn't authorized to speak with reporters, said he continues to show up because he's worried about getting fired if he doesn't.

One TSA officer said he had a "lot of money saved up" and is hopeful "we'll get paid eventually."

The TSA has been calling in officers who usually help with staffing shortages during natural disasters or during surges in travel to compensate for a rise in the absences of airport screeners.

Airlines are starting to assess the impact from the shutdown. Delta Air Lines' CEO Ed Bastian last week said the shutdown will cost the Atlanta-based carrier $25 million in January as fewer government employees and contractors are traveling. Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Airlines, which has a large presence at Washington Dulles International Airport, said the airline is concerned but has not seen an impact yet.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has "grave doubts" about a changing approach to global affairs in which compromise and multilateralism seem to be lacking. "There is a new approach that we see in the world today, an approach that harbors doubts as to the validity of the international system, they say 'shouldn't we look after our own interests first' and then out of that develop an order that is good for all," she told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. "I have my grave doubts that this is the right way to go about it," she said via a translation. "I think (that when it comes to) our national interests  I think we should always understand them in such a way that we always remember that others also have their own vested interests, factor them in, and then shape a win-win situation that will guide us in international politics."

German chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, on January 23, 2019 in Davos, eastern Switzerland. Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

Nonetheless, Merkel said there was room to reform international institutions. "I think we ought to say we are ready to look at established institutions but reform them so that the balance of power is actually realistically reflected in the way that they are built up." Merkel's speech to the WEF comes at a time of political upheaval in Europe. Merkel announced in October that she would not seek re-election as either party leader or chancellor and that this term, her fourth in office which ends in 2021, will be her last.
European stock markets rose then fell on Wednesday, as investors took cues from the whipsaw in U.S. market action. The pan European Stoxx 600 Index closed provisionally down 0.06 percent on the day. Most individual bourses in Europe were traded lower, after a strong start on Wall Street faded. Before giving up gains, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped over 250 points in morning trade, on the back of strong earnings reports.

Looking at the corporate space, stocks showed a mixed to positive picture with the retail sector leading the pack, up over 1.5 percent as a whole. France's Carrefour topped Europe's benchmarks after an upbeat earnings report, which saw the retailer express optimism for its strategy plan going forward. Shares jumped nearly 7 percent. Sticking with the sector, Ahold Delhaize popped over 3 percent after it reported fourth-quarter sales in line with analyst expectations. Elsewhere, Logitech jumped almost 6 percent on Wednesday, after JP Morgan upgraded its rating and price target on the stock. On the opposite end of the STOXX 600, British lender Metro Bank tanked nearly 39 percent after it cautioned that its growth had softened in the final quarter. The weakness from Metro Bank added pressure to the FTSE 100, which under-performed fellow markets, falling almost 1 percent. Meanwhile, shares of Deutsche Bank pared losses to trade higher in later trade, despite a report from Bloomberg stating that the U.S. Federal Reserve is investigating the German lender's role in a Danske Bank money laundering scheme. The bank has since responded to this, saying in a statement to Reuters that it's received requests for information from regulators and law enforcement agencies.

Trade talks in focus
The Charles H. Babb Company of Glendale, California acquired our subject aircraft from the War Assets Corporation on February 6th, 1946 alongside 21 additional brand new Invaders for the princely sum of $2,000 each. Babb had 44-34778, by now civil-registered as NX67943, ferried to the companys facility at the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale, California by April, 1946. They planned to resell the fleet for profit. Quite where 778 ended up afterwards is unknown at present, but she was next listed on the civil registry as N67493 in 1954 with the Raytheon Manufacturing Company in Bedford, Massachusetts. Here she took on the role of a test airframe, helping the company develop various avionics and radar systems. She flew with Raytheon for the next two decades, before they exported her to Canada to join Air Spray (1967) Ltd. in Red Deer, Alberta. Air Spray registered the Invader as C-GWLT, and had the aircraft converted in Chico, California for fire-fighting duties during 1974. The company became famous for their extensive fleet of Invaders, having 22 of the type on their books during 30 seasons fighting forest fires. Naturally there were losses during this time, but sixteen of the roughly 130 currently extant Douglas Invaders owe their survival to Air Spray Ltd.

The company retired their Invader fleet in 2004, and have gradually sold on most of the aircraft in the succeeding 15 years. Ross Robinson bought 44-34778 in 2007, and based her with the Western Canada Aviation Museum (since renamed as the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She has occasionally participated on the air show circuit in the years since. Robinson had the aircraft painted with a retro Royal Canadian Air Force scheme strongly reminiscent of those worn by RCAF CF-86 Sabres of 439 Sabretooth Tiger Squadron during the 1950s. While the RCAF never operated Invaders, and some may not approve of this scheme, it would be hard to dispute that she looks magnificent in this livery an RCAF what-if, as it were. The aircraft number 098 painted on her fuselage is in deference to the last Tanker Number she wore with Air Spray Ltd.; Tanker #98. For a more comprehensive review of this aircraft, complete with a plethora of fascinating images, please do take a look at Dave OMalleys marvelous article titled Badass Invader From the Republic of Manitoba for Vintage Wings of Canada.

After more than a decade of ownership, the owner has decided to part with this magnificent A-26. She is currently offered for sale at US$350,000 with Platinum Fighter Sales. Additional details for the aircraft are as follows

Airframe:

4438.2 Total Time Since New

Engine #1: Pratt & Whitney R-2800  0 hours Since Major Overhaul (SMOH)

Engine #2: Pratt & Whitney R-2800  1059.5 hours SMOH

Propeller #1: Hamilton Standard  40 SMOH

Propeller #2: Hamilton Standard  40 SMOH

Avionics:

Garmin 430 Nav/Com/GPS

Garmin Transponder

Other: Dual Controls
Egypt would like to see a more direct physical presence from tech giant Apple even as the two are caught up in conflict over local iPhone sales, the country's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said Wednesday. "I think Egypt is a big market and attractive for Apple to exist in directly. Apple has been in Egypt but through indirect agents, suppliers ... But really, we discussed yesterday (with Apple), the idea really (is) to have Apple be in Egypt to be one of its industrial hubs and a destination to serve the whole region," the prime minister told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The smartphone maker has angered Egyptian authorities over its selling practices in the country, which the government says is causing iPhone prices to skyrocket. Egypt's Competition Authority on December 11 gave Apple a deadline of 60 days to resolve "unfair restrictions" over marked-up phones, whose price tags put them at as much as 50 percent higher than iPhones in other Middle Eastern countries. The Competition Authority says this is because Apple is breaking the law by preventing its Middle East distributor from selling to local Egyptian distributors, deterring "intra-brand competition" and isolating the country from the broader regional market. While their threat doesn't include a permanent ban on sales, they have promised legal action if nothing is fixed by the 60-day deadline. Apple has reportedly not publicly responded to the claims.

Madbouli, who was named as prime minister by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in June of last year, said that while talking to Apple representatives at the Forum he floated the idea of collaboration toward reforming Egypt's education system. He hoped Apple's engagement with the country of 97 million would manifest itself "specifically with our very ambitious program in reforming education, and how we are introducing now the technology for our students and children, and I believe here Apple can play a substantial role in that respect." Education in Egypt is an area in desperate need of reform, regional analysts say. The Spectator Index and World Economic Forum ranked Egypt 129th out of 137 states in overall education quality, up one notch from its rank of 130th in 2017. In math and science, the country ranked 122.

"Egypt is enjoying the privilege of having a very good-skilled, educated youth people, they are very cheap in terms of labor forces comparing with any other destination ... So this could present a very attractive market for any supplier to consider Egypt as a hub," Madbouli said.

Engaging the private sector

Sahar Nasr, Egypt's minister of Investment and International Cooperation and a professor of Economics at the American University in Cairo, sees promising signs for foreign investment into Egypt. "We're now in the phase of investing in human capital, education, healthcare, but also bringing more private sector participation into this sphere," Nasr told CNBC on Tuesday. "We did the reforms when the global economy was in a better situation and when things were really flourishing, so we took these bold reforms on fiscal consolidation, monetary policies, but also improving the business environment, and the effective targeting in terms of subsidies on energy," she said. "And that helped us a lot to bring in the private sector and achieve growth."

Egypt has seen significant macroeconomic improvement since the Arab Spring revolution and successive coups and terrorist attacks that rocked the country from 2011 onward. Structural reforms and subsidy cuts recommended by the International Monetary Fund have brought the Middle East's most populous country its highest economic growth in a decade, and it's now targeting 5.8 percent growth for 2019, up from 5.3 percent last year. But the cost of these austerity measures has been steep. Basic costs for Egyptians have skyrocketed while wages have stagnated. Private sector engagement will be crucial to support Egypt's burgeoning population, currently facing unemployment of around 10 percent. Some investors remain wary of a still-tense political situation, a fragile banking sector, regional insecurity and insufficient infrastructure. Egypt nonetheless remains the top recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa, with its FDI stock between 2016 and 2017 increasing from 102 to 109 billion dollars, according to Santander Trade. Egypt's 2017 Investment Law is expected to aid FDI inflows by adding investor incentives, facilitating registration procedures, improving infrastructure and reducing the heavy red tape for which the country has long been known. Nasr described Egypt as a strategic location and a "gateway to Africa," adding that thanks to the free trade agreements Egypt has signed with other African blocs, investors are seeing the country as a portal not simply to its domestic market of 100 million, but to a broader market of 500 million.

Street vendors sell shoes at the Al-Attaba market in the centre of Cairo, Egypt, on February 21, 2018. Khaled Desouki | AFP | Getty Images
After spending half a decade as a private company, Dell Technologies is back in the hands of the public, and Chairman and CEO Michael Dell says he's "very much ready to be so," claiming that over the last five years, he has transformed the company.

In 2013 Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners closed a $25 billion deal to acquire Dell Technologies and take it out of the limelight  and away from the pressure of its investors. The bold move gave the PC maker time to rethink and reposition the struggling company.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Dell told Squawk Box's Becky Quick, "During the period we were private, we really transformed the company. Now almost 90 percent of our engineers are software engineers. The company grew 17 percent in GAAP revenues in the last nine months, our data center business grew 22 percent, and we are the world leader of infrastructure hardware and software and outgrowing the industry."

Dell Technologies' market cap is currently around $32 billion, with seven brands, including Dell, Dell EMC, VMWare, Pivotal, SecureWorks, RSA and Virtustream. VMware's new offerings around cloud-native now position Dell to handle multicloud enterprise operations.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is not worried about China's rising dominance in the technology sector, according to the country's artificial intelligence minister.

It comes at a time of widespread concern over Chinese tech giant Huawei. The world's largest telecom equipment maker is facing restrictions from several national governments, amid heightened fears its products could be used for spying.

Huawei has always insisted it follows regulations wherever it operates.

"We are a very collaborative country, we have worked with everyone from everywhere on earth," the UAE's Omar bin Sultan Al Olama told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the Word Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Wednesday.

"I believe that every country has something for us to learn from, every country has an angle that we can work with them on. I also believe that there needs to be a continuous global dialogue on how we can leverage technology (and) how we can work together," he added.

China has openly declared its intent to become a world tech leader over the next decade, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in technologies like AI and autonomous vehicles.

Several western governments have expressed concerned about ties between tech giant Huawei and the Chinese government.

"We need to ensure that the playground globally for every citizen anywhere on earth is a fair playing field," Al Olama said.
Wang Qishan, China's vice president, speaks during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Justin Chin | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan addressed international heads of state at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday, saying confrontation between Washington and Beijing "harms the interest of both sides." His eagerly-anticipated speech in snow-clad Davos comes ahead of a March 2 deadline for the U.S. and China to strike a new trade deal. Washington and Beijing have been locked in a tit-for-tat trade battle for several months, as the world's two largest economies wrangle for global influence. "For the Chinese and U.S. economies, I believe they are in state of (being) mutually indispensable," Wang said, according to a WEF translation. "This is a reality, either side can't do without the other side. So, the conclusion is that there has to be a mutual benefit and win-win (relationship)," he added.

Temporary truce

The annual gathering of the world's top political leaders was initially expected to provide a platform for both sides to hold talks on trade. But, the White House abruptly canceled its delegation to the January get-together last week, citing the ongoing government shutdown. The next round of negotiations is scheduled to take place at the end of the month, when Vice-Premier Liu He travels to meet U.S. officials in Washington. The U.S. has already put tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods  and has threatened duties on double that value of products. Beijing has responded with tariffs on $110 billion in U.S. goods targeting politically important industries such as agriculture. After a December meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders of the world's two largest economies agreed to a temporary truce while they sought an agreement within three months. Trump said he would not carry out a planned increase in the tariff rate on $200 billion in goods to 25 percent from 10 percent. The March deadline is based on the meeting between the two leaders and could easily slip.

'Counter wave against globalization will phase out'
A report by real estate platform PropertyFinder published last November predicted a continued slide for the sector in 2019, as supply is expected to double or even triple while demand remains subdued.

The UAE's commercial hub has suffered a bruising year, with Dubai's stock market the worst-performing in the Middle East and record drops in property sales. Property sector analysts say the city has been overbuilding, and with weak demand for all the newly built homes and apartments, property prices have been tanking. Residential prices in the emirate of 3 million have fallen by some 15 percent since 2014.

"2018 has been a difficult year, prices have come down, sales have come down, and I think '19 and '20 are going to be also not easy years," Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Dubai real estate heavyweight DAMAC Properties told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Wednesday. "I think we are at the bottom, from a price point of view, but it will take at least two years to absorb the supply."

A major Emirati property developer believes Dubai's property market has bottomed out  but says there remain at least two more tough years ahead before a full rebound.

Sajwani described a "beautiful five years of growth" at the start of the decade that saw prices going up, and emphasized his belief that the city would stage a comeback.

"Dubai is very resilient, from the long-term growth. It's always going to go through the cycle," he said. "As a free capital economy, you know, people are going to overbuild, and then going to catch up. And the leader is very open-minded," Sajwani added, referencing the leader of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.

"He doesn't want to restrict the supply or the demand. He says, 'Let the supply-demand naturally take its place. No point of control(ling) the supply  let everybody manage as a normal economy'."

DAMAC, with an annual turnover of some $2 billion, was the first Middle Eastern real estate company to list on the London Stock Exchange. The company reported its worst quarter of booked sales last April-June with a 46 percent fall in profits. Still, the company's leadership predicts a cyclical recovery and has plans to continue expansion in the Middle East, Africa, the U.S. and in Europe in particular.

Sajwani predicted similar levels for profits in 2019 and 2020, but stressed that the company's focus now is on streamlining costs and finding opportunities to grow in overseas markets. London is a bright spot on the chairman's radar  and not in spite of Brexit, but because of it, thanks to a dramatic drop in the value of the pound.

"We like London, we have experience in London," he said, describing a 50-storey tower slated to be completed at the end of next year. "We see, in Brexit issues, a great opportunity, as (the) price is going to correct, the pound has come down really drastically, and we're waiting for an opportunity to invest in London, and we want to go in a big way in London."

And Sajwani described interest in a number of real estate sub-sectors, pointing to mixed-use property, luxury apartments, office buildings, and retail. "So we're looking at property from all the angles, and we're willing to write a big check and go in a big way in London. We believe in London," he added.

Correction: this article has been amended to remove a reference to Dubai's tourism rate, which has risen between 2017 and 2018.
As international business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum weigh slowing economic growth, Coca-Cola CEO and incoming Chairman James Quincey has another concern  uncertainty.

"I think that in a way, the biggest issue is not so much that we see a little less growth, but there's more uncertainty," Quincey said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange" in Davos, Switzerland.

Quincey does agrees with other business titans in Davos, including Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, that economic growth will slow this year, but he doesn't see that as a headwind just yet.
Following are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Zurich Insurance CEO, Mario Greco, and CNBC's Geoff Cutmore and Steve Sedgwick.

GC: Well, let's bring in Mario Greco, then, the CEO of Zurich Insurance, and Mario, let-, let's just pick up from our conversation about the trade spat between the United States and China here. One of the big hopes, I think, for the insurance sector, globally, has been China, and the take-up of insurance product has been phenomenal, and the margin has been terrific. To what extent should you be concerned that this trade war, if it escalates, may lead to western companies getting squeezed out of this market?

MG: Uh, the trade war is actually driven by the technology changes, which are underlying all that's happening in the economy today, so I think this is something that is-, is going to continue over time, there is a division between the technology developments in US and in China, and this-, although China and the US are talking, and we are hopeful that there will be a getting together, or a-, a closing the gap, over the next weeks, we do think that the technology issue will remain for a longer time.

GC: You and George, though, have said on many occasions, to me, that China is a strategic priority for the group. Does it remain so, and does the fallout from this row mean that you have to change the way you think about operating in that marketplace?

MG: You definitely have to work in China, China is such a big market, for a global corporation that we are, that you have to be there, and you have to grow your presence in China, there is no doubt about it. But China is also spreading influence, all through Asia, and all through the world. We recently made an important acquisition in Indonesia, which is a huge country there in Asia, and we expect that to be extremely beneficial for us over the next years.

SS: Let me move on to talk about more domestic European issues, as well, and the-, in your November update, the P&C showing signs of life, a 2% increase, I think it was, in premiums, as well. Now, those that have come in to the insurance sector, because of QE, because of the flood of liquidity around, as well, any sign that that's abating? Or is it still as tough on pricing as ever?

MG: Uh, 2018 was a tough year for catastrophes, natural catastrophes, especially in Q4, which is quite new, I mean, usually Q4 was a very calm and quiet quarter, actually, last year, it turned out to be a devastating quarter for catastrophes, especially in the US, with the wildfires in California. So catastrophes have hit the market, we expect that this will produce a positive impact on pricing in 2019. And yes, I mean, we have been growing, and the signs we have, about the beginning of this year, are quite positive, we continue growing the Property & Casualty.

SS: And-, and-, and we-, we've looked-, we've learnt to understand the model catastrophe, year one is a problem, years two, three, four, you can make money back out of the market. But in terms of my point about the flood of extra money, because of what your counterpart-, your-, your countryman has been doing at the ECB, and-,

MG: Yeah.

SS: He'll-, he'll never get to raise rates, over at the ECB, as well, which is quite extraordinary. How much are the ramifications from that still affecting the insurance industry?

MG: It is-, it is-, it is affecting, I mean, last year, rates have been, um, you know, too low, because of this flow of capital and liquidity in to the market. You know, after the catastrophes in '17, we expected much stronger price increases, and they were calmed down by the liquidity provided to the market. Let's see what happens this year, we think that this year the prices will move up, the fact that capital is flowing out of many markets, we see that as a positive, as a sign that markets are re-establishing their balance.

SS: Good.

GC: Mario, real pleasure catching up, thanks so much for joining us here. Mario Greco, the CEO of Zurich Insurance.

ENDS
Following are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Dr Liam Fox MP, U.K. International Trade Secretary, and CNBC's Nancy Hungerford.

NH: And I'm pleased to say that I am joined now by Liam Fox, the UK's International Trade Secretary, sir, it is a pleasure to have you on the show, last time-,

LF: Nice to-,

NH: We spoke, a few months ago, in Singapore-,

LF: [Laughs]. Yeah.

NH: A very different setting, I have to admit, though, still the same uncertainty hanging over Brexit, pretty much since the last time we spoke, and a lot of business leaders, policymakers here, are very concerned, still, about the ultimate outcome of Brexit, yet if you look at the UK market reaction, a lot of investors seem to be making a bet here that a no deal is off the table. Is that a safe bet?

LF: Well, there was an interesting report, this morning, from Deloitte, looking at inward investment to the UK-,

NH: Mm.

LF: And the question, not unreasonably, in the report, was why was FDI been so resilient-,

NH: Mm.

LF: In the UK, since the referendum? And the conclusions they came to are the ones that we, ourselves, come to, that the UK legal system, our flexible workforce, our labour laws, our regulatory and tax environments, the fact we speak English, our IP protection, our good universities, access to tech, are all reasons why investors, who are looking long-term-,

NH: Mm.

LF: Not at the next 18 months, are still investing in the UK. In terms of Brexit, I mean, I've been making the point, to my opposite numbers here, that we want there to be a deal, we hope there'll be a deal, we expect there'll be a deal, but there is always a chance that there won't be, and they need to make preparations for that no deal, including making bilateral arrangements with the UK, where we are a party to a trade agreement, by the virtue of our membership of the European Union.

NH: When they ask you what the odds of a deal are, what do you say?

LF: I said I'll-, I would have a better chance of predicting the lottery [laughs].

NH: [Laughs]. That's not very reassuring.

LF: I-, I think that-, I think it is a good chance that we'll get it, because I think there's a growing awareness-,

NH: Mm.

LF: Both in Europe and the UK, but perhaps, more importantly, inside Westminster, that, under the law, we-, the European treaties will not apply to Britain-,

NH: Mm.

LF: After the 29th of March-,

NH: Right.

LF: The chance of changing that law is very limited-,

NH: Mm.

LF: Therefore, unless we get a deal, then the no deal that everyone seems to want to avoid will happen. So, I think there's been-, since the-, the defeat of the government, over the previous proposals-,

NH: Yes.

LF: There's been a-, a very strong impetus to work for a deal, from both those who are remain, and those who are leave, in the referendum.

NH: And when you speak to your counterparts, European counterparts, here in Davos, do you sense a willingness, that their governments are willing to budge, especially on the key issue, which continues to be the Irish border, and the backstop?

LF: Well, of course, I don't get to speak to my trade counterparts, because they're all represented by the European Union, but I think that there is, and-, and talking to politicians-,

NH: Mm.

LF: Across Europe, and-, and in the Commission, I think there's a growing understanding that, if we were to set the framework for a good trade agreement with the European Union, which, of course, we can only enter in to-,

NH: Mmm

LF: Once we've left the EU itself, it's in everybody's interest to have agreed that withdrawal package, to set the scene for what should be a very effective FTA between the UK and the EU.

NH: Before we get there, there's been talk of the amendments on the table for the next vote, including an extension of Article 50 process. Do you think that's inevitable, at this stage?

LF: Well, of course, if you extend the Article 50 process, to give Britain time more-, to give Britain more time, in any negotiation, it's likely to trigger Britain's participation in the next European elections. And-,

NH: Right.

LF: I can't see that it's to the advantage of our European partners to have 70 UK MPs who don't really want to be there, or do I think it would go down very well with British voters, who would have to go to the expense of such an election, knowing that we're just going to be leaving, a few months later.

NH: But you could extend, with the hard line, saying before the May vote.

LF: Well, which gives us what? April?

NH: Yeah. Not much.

LF: It's-, it's not a-, there's not a huge amount in that. So, I think that, you know, we have promised we would leave, and-, and it-, a lot of this is not about the economics, it's about-,

NH: Mm.

LF: The-, the politics, and the credibility of the political process. Parliament in Britain gave the voters-,

NH: Right.

LF: The choice, on the EU, and they said, 'We will honour that referendum result.' We passed the Article 50, the legislation that enables it to happen, and we said, way back then-,

NH: Mm.

LF: Two and a half years ago, 'The end date will be March 29th.'

NH: Sure.

LF: One of the biggest problems there would be, would be to tell the British people that they had voted for something two and a half years ago, and Parliament, which promised to give it to them, was still denying it. I think there, you would get a-, a dislocation of the political process, of parliament from the voters, in a way that you've seen the, sort of, fragmentation of continental European politics. I don't want to see that in Britain.

NH: In some ways, I wonder, too, if it just fuels the populist anger out there. I mean, so much of the discussion here about populist politics, how to quell it, if you will, and we're talking about something, where those in parliament would be saying, 'Oh, the voters didn't really know what they wanted here.' I mean, do you think that only exacerbates the problem, how we got here in the first place?

LF: Well, I-, I-, I think it's-, it's wonderful insight, that you say that, because I think, if you look at the last election in Britain, 80% of the voters voted for one of the two main parties-,

NH: Mm.

LF: Totally different from what's happening in Europe, where there's fragmentation, and in France, the-, the main parties have just fizzled away. I don't want to see that fragmentation in British politics, and the best way to avoid that is for Parliament to keep its side of the bargain. It made a contract with the people. It must fulfil that contract.

NH: In order to do that, though, you have to get the EU back on board, and going back to the issue of the backstop, I mean, do you think this 'sunset clause', that has been touted, do you think EU will get on board that?

LF: Well, I think we should-, we need to explore all the possible ways. I mean, if you take it down to its most basic, we do not want there to be a hard border with Ireland-,

NH: Mm.

LF: A Northern Ireland/Ireland border, the Irish government don't want there to be a hard border-,

NH: Right.

LF: We both signed up to it in the Good Friday agreement. The problem, at the moment, is the mechanism that would guarantee that would potentially keep the UK locked in to a customs union, against its will, that's why we lost heavily in the House of Commons. It's surely possible for us to find a mechanism, given that we both want the-,

NH: Yes,

LP: The same end point, to get there, that's what we have to explore.

NH: And you've talked about the fact that you don't want to stay in the customs union, because that wouldn't deliver on the result of the vote initially, but isn't it still a less bad outcome, if you will, than a no deal? Would you still prefer staying in the customs union, over crashing out completely?

LF: I don't think a customs union delivers what the people voted for, and ultimately, I go back to the instruction we were given by the voters, they want to leave the European Union.

NH: But do they know-,

LF: If we're-,

NH: The details, of what-,

LF: Well, if they're unable to-, if we're unable to have an independent trade policy, and if we're unable to determine the countries that we make agreements with in the future-,

NH: Mm.

LF: If we have to apply European common external tariff, it's hugely restricting on what we can do, I can't see how you would get in to, for example, a free trade agreement with the US, or how we could get global liberalisation of services-,

NH: Yes.

LF: Through FTAs, if we were unable to do that. So the price would be very high, and I think that the democratic pushback in the UK would also be very high.

NH: Can you give us an idea of the progress you're making, in trying to replicate the 40 agreements, once the deadline hits here? Because I know you have been meeting with counterparts here in Davos. Have you been frustrated by the progress on this front?

LF: Not really. I mean, we've been making good progress, and to understand that, among the 37 or so agreements that we have, five of them make up three quarters of that-,

NH: Mm.

LF: So we're talking about 11.1% of total UK trade, the top five of those agreements make up 8 of that 11. Some countries are still saying to us, they don't want to put the work in to making these preparations, because they believe there will be a deal. My advice is-,

NH: Yeah [laughs].

LF: That your businesses will never criticise you for being over prepared, but they will certainly criticise you for being underprepared-,

NH: And-,

LF: Therefore, put in the extra work.

NH: And if they are underprepared, can you give us a better idea of what the no deal scenario looks like? Because it's often talked about, but when it comes to the actual tariffs you'll face, on day one, after the deadline, falling back in to WTO rules, what does that actually mean?

LF: Well, at the moment, all these agreements give us preferential access, and they deal not just with tariffs, but, of course, non-tariff barriers, which are the biggest impediments, potentially, to trade. And-, and-, and some countries say to us, 'Well, we assume that there will be an agreement, and we can look to our future trading relationship.' My argument is, any short-term disruption-,

NH: Mm.

LF: In some sectors, in particular, could be quite disruptive, so don't take the risk.

NH: Had you known what you know today, about the complications around the Irish border issue, would you still have backed the leave campaign?

LF: Yes. I backed it because I am a constitutional leaver. To explain it to American voters, it's like having a court, that has a higher authority than the Supreme Court, that sits in Ottawa, and tells-,

NH: [Laughs].

LF: The Supreme Court what to do. I don't imagine that going down very well with Americans, and as a UK citizen, I want to control the politicians, and the judicial system, under which I am governed-,

NH: Mm.

LF: I do not want it to belong to a foreign power, which I view has happened in the European Union. When I make it-, that analogy-,

NH: Mm.

LF: To my American political counterparts, they say, 'Yeah, absolutely-,'

NH: [Laughs].

LF: 'We would never accept that.'

NH: Well, we haven't had such a referendum, so who knows.

LF: [Laughs].

NH: It's been an absolute pleasure, sir, thank you-,

LF: As ever.

NH: So much for your time. That is Liam Fox, UK's International Trade Secretary with me.

ENDS
Following are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia and CNBC's Hadley Gamble and Karen Tso.

KT: Well, very important conversations being held here in Davos, and who better than our Middle East expert-,

HG: [Laughs].

KT: To draw the links for us, and make sense of some of the conversations.

HG: Absolutely, Karen, and it's fantastic to be here, we've been speaking to so many interesting folks already today, but I want to get a quick check on where oil prices are trading, sharply lower, amid growing concerns that the economic slowdown in China could temper demand. Fresh data also shows that Saudi Arabia's November crude exports hit their highest level in two years. Well, I'm very excited to say that we have the country's Finance Minister, Mr Mohammed Al-Jadaan, joining us, first on CNBC, sir, it's so wonderful to see you, yet again, this year. I want to kick off by asking you about the bonds. Describe for us what you see, going forward. Are you going to be issuing bonds in euro denominations? Are you going to be in US dollar bonds? We've already had a very, very successful bond raising 7.5 billion, I believe. Give us what the plan is, for bond issuances this year.

MA: Thank you very much. The plan is to move with our strategy, we have a debt strategy, that spans until 2023. We issued, in January, very successfully, we wanted 7 billion, we had a book of over 27 billion, so investor confidence is there, and-, and it is actually very widely subscribed, from Asia, to the US, to Europe. The plan is to look in to, potentially, another currency, euro is a possibility-,

HG: Is the yuan a possibility?

MA: Later this year, and we are continuing with our local issuances, on a monthly basis.

HG: Are you thinking about the yuan, as well?

MA: We are thinking about various currencies, but euro is our forecast now, and then we will think about yuan, and others.

KT: Since Hadley's brought up China, let me ask you about the slowdown. We've just had a glimpse of what it looks like, what the trade impact is for China, with the spat with the United States, growth at the lowest level, annually, since 1990. Does that concern you, that China is slowing down, one of the key consumers of your product, oil?

MA: Well, I think there are some slow, uh, growth, in China. I think we also see that they are consuming more oil in '18 than ever, so we believe there will be a demand, we don't think the possible slowdown in China is going to-, to have a severe impact, we have a strategy on our oil, also, in terms of diversification, in terms of oil to chemicals, and-, and some of my colleagues will be talking about that, in terms of the Aramco strategy on diversifying their demand.

KT: But that doesn't protect you in 2019, does it?

MA: Well, indeed it does, I think we are very comfortable with our forecasts, in terms of production and price, after all, we are a-, a very important player in the oil market, and-, and we believe what we forecasted is likely to happen.

HG: In terms of what's going to happen next, we've just announced, in Saudi Arabia, the-, the biggest budget in the country's history, and that does include substantial hand-outs, as well, which is something that you've seen growing, from 2018 now to 2019. My question would be, then, so many analysts are saying that you need $80 a barrel to break even. Is that right?

MA: Well, as a-, a very important player in the oil market, we don't speculate on price, we don't talk about what we expect, and what we budgeted for, but we are very comfortable, we-, we consult our house expert, the Minister of Energy, before we decide on the budget, and we are very comfortable, actually, with our forecasts. That said, we are also diversifying the economy, we are diversifying our income, our non-oil revenue have grown significantly in the last four years, three times, 300%, we intend to continue our fiscal reform, and control our deficit, and, so far, we have been very successful.

KT: Can we talk about the diversification? Because the Kingdom went on a fantastic image remake, pitching about technology, and how you were ready for the future, and then the news broke of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That seemed to change perceptions, that were very welcome to the message from Saudi Arabia. How damaging do you think the affair has been for your country?

MA: It is very unfortunate, really, what happened to Jamal, an innocent human being, that we lost, and-, and the government made it clear that we will bring those who are responsible to justice. Actually, we held the first open court hearing, a couple of weeks back, and-, and-, and we'll leave that to the court, but the government is also determined to make sure that the system-, the fallout in the system is fixed, and-, and there is a lot of work in that direction. However-,

KT: But are you worried that investors don't believe the line they're getting from the Saudis, that there's been separation, and it doesn't really go all the way back to the Crown Prince? Are you happy that investors are confident that-, that the links are not there?

MA: I-, I believe the investors believe what we said. When we went to the market in January, the investors gave us a vote of confidence, in the economy, but also in our commitment to making sure that the reform continues, at all levels, legal, economic, fiscal, and, obviously, social, we have significant social reform taking place in Saudi Arabia, that is embraced by the people, and we are responding to the people's needs of Saudi Arabia.

HG: I have to ask you, you've just been in Lebanon, over the last couple of days, and we've just seen Qatar deciding to help Lebanon out, to the tune of some 500 million dollar bonds. I have to ask you, is Saudi Arabia prepared to make the same kind of commitment? Because obviously, there are a lot of questions, I know, in the mind of your government, about Qatar and its influence.

MA: I was there, in Lebanon, I headed the Saudi delegation to the summit, I had a very constructive discussion with Saad Hariri, the-, the Prime Minister. We are looking forward to him finalising the-, the government formation. Saudi have been, and continue to be, a very important catalyst of stability in Lebanon, we are interested to see stability in Lebanon, and we will support Lebanon all-, all the way.

HG: And in terms of that economic diplomacy, I mean, at the end of the day, what we all understand, particularly in the region, is that economic diplomacy speaks, nothing is for free, there are strings attached. Does it worry you, when you sit back and look at the growth forecast for the region, does it worry you, that the tensions in the region are going to impact the future of Saudi Arabia?

MA: We embarked on a significant reform, and the reform also deals with challenges, both internally, that we will need to deal with, and correct, along the way, it is not going to be a free ride, but also geopolitically, and-, and we are dealing with that, but we are also determined to making sure we play our role, as a catalyst of stability in the region. We are supporting the region, we are talking to our allies in the region, we are helping countries that need support, we are talking to Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Tunis, and other countries in the region, so we wanted to make sure that Saudi provides the stability that the region, and the hope that the region needs.

HG: So not-, you're not taking your foot off the gas.

MA: Definitely not.

KT: We've almost run out of time, I believe, but I want to ask you very quickly, because we're talking about some of the big issues around trade, here at Davos, and one of the biggest concerns in the room is that the US and China may not resolve their dispute. What would you say to both countries?

MA: I am very optimistic that a deal will be made in the next few months, I think it is in the interest of both countries, and the world, to avoid that kind of issue. We are determined to making sure that our country is open, and-, and Saudi Arabia is really open for investment, and we are welcoming international investors all the way, we have just signed a couple of deals with the private sector, two weeks ago, a third one, last week, and three-, three deals, in the next couple of weeks.

KT: Well, we wish you the best of luck for 2019-,

MA: Thank you very much.

KT: Thank you so much for joining us today, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, who is the Finance Minister of Saudi Arabia, and thank you very much to Hadley, for joining me here live on set today.

ENDS
Following are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Siemens CEO, Joe Kaeser, and CNBC'sKaren Tso.

KT: And we have another heavyweight with us this afternoon, Joe Kaeser's joined us, CEO of Siemens, nice to see you here on the mountain.

JK: Hi Karen, how are you?

KT: Well, thank you.

JK: Good.

KT: A lot to talk to you about. We've heard enormous concerns about growth, some of it triggered by trade, and the macroeconomic environment, Germany, we know, has seen somewhat of a slowdown, and the DAX has been impacted, as well, what conditions are you seeing on the ground, as we go in to 2019?

JK: By the way, first of all, it's interesting, because last year, when we were here, same-, same topic, the sky was the limit-,

KT: Right.

JK: Everybody was enthusiastic, and Europe was growing, everybody was growing, and people wondered, well, this is now the breakthrough to unlimited growth. Now, back-, back, uh, in one year, and everybody now believes, uh, the world comes to an end. I think we just need to look at what are the factual evidences, what do we see. I think the companies are still competitive, they are innovative. We truly have been impacted by geopolitics, because geopolitics drives sentiment, sentiment drives investment decisions, and, obviously, the lack thereof, there's going to be a slowdown. So, I really do hope that the leaders come together and find a meaningful way on how to straighten out trade issues, and not confuse them between unfair trade, and lack of competitiveness-,

KT: Right.

JK: Which is sometimes a lot.

KT: One of the concerns I have is that, again, we have, sort of, grand optimism around a US trade deal, if it gets done, then suddenly investors are saying, 'Well, we've cleared all the clear and present danger signals,' but what we've got in the backdrop, if we look at some of the news flow, German industry is now fighting for Brussels to tackle some of the same issues that the US has taken on with China. Do you think we're just going to be seeing 2019 unfold, where fresh trade issues then crop up, whether it's the US or Europe taking the charge?

JK: Well, I believe we have a responsibility, as company leaders, to help the governments of the whole world understand, if we want to move in to the Internet of Things, if we want to move in to free flow of data, this is an extraterritorial industry, so the industrial-, the next industrial revolution, which is, you know, we are basically in the middle of, this is about, you know, free trade, by definition. So, when the-, when the whole world moves to Industry 4.0, we cannot move in to global governance 0.4. It doesn't work.

KT: German-, German industry has certainly been one of the leaders worldwide, when you talk about technology, efficiency, and even profits. The future could look very different, if China gets there first on 5G, and automated factories produce goods at a much cheaper rate, and highly technological goods, as well, in the mix. Doesn't that leave German industry on the back foot? Are you concerned about what that means for you?

JK: I mean, first of all, most German companies are global companies. I mean, we, in Siemens, do business in 203 countries in the world, uh, less than 10% of our revenues is in Germany. So, you can truly see, I mean, we are home in Germany, but, at the end of the day, we are active in the whole world, so I am not really worried about-, about that, you know, China will conquer us, or something like that. We just need to be smart. We need to be innovative, come up with new ideas, think about, and I'm sure you're going to ask me the next question about, think about what we are trying to do with Siemens also on mobility.

KT: I was about to say, shall we tackle some of that.

JK: See, the whole-, the whole world now thinks about, what tariffs can we impose? How can we make, you know, the companies a miserable life, who have been, you know, in a very excellent way, been optimising the value chain, back and forth, you know, global value chain-,

KT: Mm.

JK: You know, for the greater good of the customers, because the products are cheaper, and-, and more innovative. Now we come up, Siemens and Alstom comes up, and says, 'We are going to form a-, a global champion, we are going to help our customers to get the best and the greatest, and give them options to market leading industries,' and they are saying, 'Oh well, we don't know, we need to go see-, China is not here yet,' and we drag it.

KT: But they are here, aren't they? Raking back over what the figures would mean, if you team up on this rail business, with Alstom, 15.3 billion euros in turnover is what your company, combined company, would have, 9% of the market, versus China, 30 billion dollars in revenue, 12% of the market. You need scale to compete, don't you?

JK: Well, first of all, you need competitiveness and innovation. It's not the biggest who are going to win, it's the smartest who are going to out-, outpace the-, the others. So, we provide industrial solutions, we provide long-term solutions, which are based on competitiveness, and not on regulations, and I think it's important that-, that the European Union understands which way it wants to go-,

KT: Is this discussion-,

JK: Just leave it-, just leave-, yeah, it is. It is. The Siemens-Alstom matter will be a historical proof point-,

KT: Mm.

JK: Whether or not the European Union has understood on how to look in to, let's say, global socioeconomic factors, and not on a rule-based system-,

KT: Mm.

JK: Which goes in to 28 countries, and look at 28 single markets. And so we'll see how it goes, I'm very curious on how it turns out, and still, sort of, optimistic, because we have smart people, the Commissioner is very well aware that this is important-,

KT: That's right. But what about the messages? Because what you've got is a message from Angela Merkel, and a message from Emmanuel Macron, about trying to get this deal done, to create a rail champion, yet the regulator, Vestager does not seem to be listening, is concerned about other issues. So do you think that pressure from the top, well and truly above the pay grade that we're talking about at your company, could get this deal done?

JK: Well, we-, look, I mean, we-, I mean, the Commissioner is right, when she says we must not confuse industrial policies with anti-trust policies, so it's got to be for the greater good of the customers. Customers need to continue to have options. However, in trying to assess what's good for the customer, in the long-term, it takes a long-term view, and it's got to have a global view, and not look backwards, and say, you know, 'Ten years-, ten years back, we had-, you know, everybody had a national champion.' Those days are over. And if you want to embrace Industry 4.0, then-, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, you need to look forward, we need to create the world, and not basically hold it back from developing.

KT: We were talking, off-camera, I'll share with the audience, about some of the big meetings everyone's having this week, and you have a big meeting with the Brazilian President. We just heard from Jair Bolsonaro about his vision or his country, how he intends to fight corruption, money laundering, making it a good country for business to operate in. What did you make of some of his messages, and do you think one man, if he's the right man for the job, can turn the country around?

JK: Well, it is about leadership, and he is an elected President, from his people, so, you know, one leader and a good team can make a huge difference. But one leader and a good team. One leader, alone, sometimes goes to the wrong direction, especially if they don't listen. But I'm-, I'm-, honestly, I'm optimistic. If he really is up to, you know, developing his country, in terms of infrastructure, reliable, affordable, sustainable energy, transporting people and goods in a-, in a-, in an effective way, people will come and invest. I mean, there's 240, or 230 million people there, the middle class has been growing, now it's decelerating again, so I think there is a lot of opportunities, so if he is a strong leader, with a very clear view on what is good for his country and his people, and provides a level playing field, for international companies to help him get this done, and create jobs in the region, in the country, I think that could actually be the revival of the-, of let's say the BRC.

KT: Before I let you go, let's just tackle the perception that you have around Brazil. Have you been  I know you've been operating in the country  but have you been a slightly more reluctant investor, given what's played out on the corruption side, change of government, protest on the ground, deep recession. Has that held you back, on some of the Brazilian investments, which could set you up for a-,

JK: No, we've been-,

KT: A better investment moment?

JK: We've been-, Siemens has been in Brazil for 130 years, so-,

KT: Just a while.

JK: Just-, just quite some time. And then you look-, I mean, the commitment you make is not a commitment to a

single person-,

KT: Mm.

JK: Or a single regime, it's a commitment to people. And that's why we stayed, in the good times, and in the-, and in the not so good times-times-,

KT: Right.

JK: And the last few years have been not so good-,

KT: Right.

JK: Because there was lack of leadership, giving direction, infrastructure, and if you don't have that, you can't invest.

KT: I think we've got a problem with your microphone, so we might leave it there, but thank you so much for joining us-,

JK: Thank you.

KT: Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens, joining us for our programme here in Davos.

ENDS
As a number of readers will already know, the Royal Air Forces legendary aerobatic display team, The Red Arrows, will be touring North America this year for the first time in more than a decade. Although the team has yet to publicly announce any display dates or locations yet, the team just announced that they will be flying across the Atlantic to begin their Western Hawk 19 tour soon after their final performances at the Royal International Air Tatoo (or RIAT), which will take place between July 19th and 21st at RAF Fairford in the Cotswold Hills of Gloucestershire, England.

This tour will mark the first time the Reds have traveled to North America since their brief trip in 2008. It will also be their most extensive visit to the continent as well, and is expected to last nine weeks, with display stops in both the United States and Canada.
Following are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Hussain Sajwani, Chairman of DAMAC and CNBC's Hadley Gamble..

HG: Hussain Sajwani, thank you so much for joining CNBC. I want to kick off by asking you about what you see as the challenges to growth in the coming year, because a lot of people are talking about China, there's still a lot of unrest in the region, and certainly, with what's happening in Washington, it's anybody's guess. What are your fears?

HS: I think the majority of the analysts, kind of, worry and concern that the beautiful ten years of the growth we had is, kind of, over. A lot of them don't see, and I agree with them, a recession, but I see definitely a slowdown, and, you know, less growth, and less opportunities, but that's the world, that's the life, you're gonna-, if you have ten years of good years, you're gonna see a few years of slowdown, and things will come back. I think company owners, executives, CEOs, if they manage their cashflow, manage their, you know, overheads, manage their-, you know, the-, the growth, you-, you go through those cycles. That's natural.

HG: Walk me through what's happening with DAMAC in particular, because a lot of folks are telling me, in the region, that they're worried that Dubai is overbuilding again. Do you agree with that narrative?

HS: See, we had a beautiful five years of high growth, prices were, you know, going up, and we all enjoyed a very good five years. '18 has been a difficult year, prices have come down, sales have come down, I think '19 and '20 are gonna be also not easy years. I think we are at the bottom, from a price point of view, but it will take at least two years to absorb the supply. Okay? We've got a great leader, who-, who believes in his city, who believes in his country, and we've got a beautiful infrastructure. Dubai is very resilient, from the long-term growth. It's always going to go through the cycle. As a free capital economy, you know, people are gonna overbuild, and then gonna catch up, and the leader is very openminded, very capitalism ideas, he doesn't want to restrict the supply or the demand. He says, 'Let the supply demand naturally take its place. No point of, you know, you control the supply, let-, let everybody manage, as a normal economy.'

HG: Talk to me a little bit about where you see opportunities for investment and growth, particularly in London.

HS: Well, we, as a company today-, we've done very well, in the last five, six years. Uh. Now our profit is gonna be-, is down last year, gonna continue to be similar levels, this year and next year. Uh. Where our focus is today, to streamline our cost, more importantly, and, very, very important, to grow outside. Outside, we surveyed a lot of markets, and we like London, we have experience in London, we're putting a 50-storey tower, which will be finished by next year, end of next year. We see, in Brexit issues, a great opportunity, as price is gonna correct, the pound has come down really drastically, and we're waiting for an opportunity to invest in London, and we want to go in a big way in London.

HG: And that would be in terms of home sales, apartments? What would that look like for you?

HS: We would love to take mixed use, luxury apartments, which is our speciality, we don't mind to go in to office buildings, retail, so we're looking at property from all the angles, and we're willing to write a big cheque, and go in a big way in London, we believe in London.

HG: What other markets? Are we talking about the United States?

HS: We're looking at the States, uh, we have been doing a lot of homework and surveys, yes, especially on the east coast, stretching from Miami to [14.16.33]-, those are the five cities we're focusing on, Miami, Boston, New York, Toronto, and I am not sure if we're gonna strike a deal next week, you know, and-, and we're really quite interested in those-, in those four, five cities.

HG: One of the things that has been on the minds of many investors, over the last several months, in particular, has been this US/China trade dispute, a lot of people are saying that President Trump is getting it wrong. What is your take?

HS: See, I am very much in favour of free trade, but, as you appreciate, each country is going to look at its own interests, also. If we are a group of people, 20 people, it's important we work together, but also, we can't ignore each person's interests, and I think the very large trade deficit, between China and America, which has been going on for very long, it, I think, has been not fair, and I think, as he is head of the state, it's his right to protect his country's, you know, interests. Now, the way it's done, the style it's done-, I think they'll arrive to a solution very soon. Me knowing Mr Trump closely, I think he's a dealmaker, uh, he's a strong negotiator, but he'll arrive to a deal, and, of course, China is not an easy negotiator, so here we've got two very strong [14.17.50-14.18.10] I've seen about 20 top developers, property developers. We don't see where we fit there. You know, language, culture, and that market-, those markets are very closed, and especially the property market in China is very much politically controlled, so the land is controlled by the government, even the permission is controlled by the government, and you need a very big Chinese political connected investors. You know. If we ever think of China, we'd probably buy some stocks in the public market. That's all.

HG: And final question. Biggest challenge, in 2019, for the property market globally.

HS: I can't tell you globally, every city is different, you know. London is going to face the challenge of Brexit [14.18.50-14.18.55] over a large number of years, but I'm sure there are cities which, you know, are gonna be much better. For example, Toronto is going to continue to do well. From my-, our study, our forecast, I visited them twice, my management have been there, we're looking to do something. We're a little bit nervous, because prices are high, but we think it's going to continue for a while, because their immigration policy is very welcoming, the city's growing, adding a few thousand immigrants every-, every-, I think 300,000, or 400,000, I don't know the number, about 300,000 or 400,000 immigrants a year, Toronto takes about one third of that at least, so it's a city which is going up. So every city's different. Germany's doing well, I've been in Berlin, Frankfurt, and both cities-, and Munich, and all-, all German three major cities are doing well, and prices keep going up, and that's the reason we could not strike a deal, because we see-, every time we say it's expensive, it goes higher.

HG: Hussain Sajwani, thanks so much for joining CNBC.

HS: Thank you. It was a pleasure.

ENDS
The Chinese flag floats before the skyscrapers of multinational corporations on February 23, 2018 in Shanghai, China.

China will step up fiscal spending this year to support its economy, focusing on further cuts in taxes and fees for small firms, finance ministry officials said on Wednesday.

Mounting pressure on the world's second-biggest economy pushed growth last year to its lowest since 1990 even as Beijing stepped up stimulus measures and spurred banks to lend more.

The government may unveil more fiscal stimulus during the annual parliamentary meeting in March, including bigger tax cuts and more spending on infrastructure projects, economists say.

China's fiscal spending rose 8.7 percent to 22.1 trillion yuan ($3.3 trillion) in 2018, while revenue increased 6.2 percent to 18.3 trillion yuan, said Li Dawei, an official at the finance ministry.

China achieved its 2018 fiscal revenue target despite extensive tax cuts last year, Li added.

Beijing delivered about 1.3 trillion yuan of cuts in taxes and fees in 2018.

Finance Minister Liu Kun said this month that China will further lower taxes and fees this year. The government is also studying a plan to reduce social security fees to lighten the burden on small companies, Liu said.

Policy insiders also expect Beijing to cut the value-added tax, which ranges from 6 percent for the services sector to 16 percent for manufacturers.

Policymakers' pledge of more aggressive tax reductions in 2019 has fanned expectations that the annual budget deficit ratio could be lifted to 3 percent of gross domestic product.

The government had lowered the 2018 deficit target to 2.6 percent of GDP from 3 percent the previous year  the first cut since 2012.

The finance officials, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, did not report the size of the 2018 budget deficit.

China will "appropriately" step up fiscal spending in 2019, said ministry official Hao Lei.

Fiscal revenue growth is expected to slow this year, Li said.

Earlier, sources told Reuters the deficit target could rise from 2.6 percent of GDP but is likely to be kept below 3 percent.
The global economy may be slowing down, but sales of energy and industrial products do not indicate that growth will come to a halt, according to Chevron Chairman and CEO Michael Wirth.

Financial markets are under pressure this week following fresh signs of a slowing economy. On Tuesday, the IMF knocked down its forecast for global economic growth. A day earlier, China reported its weakest annual economic expansion in nearly three decades.

Wirth says the slowdown concerns him because small changes to oil demand can tip the oil market into oversupply or deficit, resulting in volatile oil prices. However, he doesn't see major problems yet.

"We're not seeing signs that we're hitting any kind of a wall. Things may have slowed down a little bit in certain parts of the world," he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.

"We sell our products into a number of sectors that have historically been pretty good indicators of economic activity  so construction, mining, transports  we sell lubricants and lubricant additives into industrial applications," Wirth told CNBC's "Squawk Box."
An attendant sits at a closed Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) gas station in Caracas, Venezuela, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. Wil Riera | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A sudden escalation in long-burning tensions between the United States and Venezuela could have far-reaching ramifications in the oil market, where the Bolivarian Republic remains a significant player despite its plunging output. On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced it would back Venezuelan National Assembly leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself the country's interim president earlier in the day. Shortly after President Donald Trump recognized Guaido, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro severed relations with the United States and gave U.S. diplomatic personnel 72 hours to leave the country. The latest development raises the prospect that the United States will expand sanctions to U.S.-Venezuelan energy trade, a move that would be potentially devastating to Venezuela. The nation has seen its oil production crater in recent years, depriving the socialist republic of its lifeblood energy revenue and exacerbating a devastating economic crisis. But the consequences could also ripple throughout the broader oil market and complicate OPEC's relationship with the United States. RBC Capital Markets is already forecasting an additional drop of 300,000 to 500,00 barrels a day from Venezuela in 2019. If the Trump administration pulls the trigger on energy sanctions, those declines could balloon to several hundred thousand more barrels, says Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC.

The Trump administration has already slapped sanctions on Venezuela but has so far declined to block imports of Venezuelan crude to the United States. It has also held off on blocking exports of U.S.-origin diluents, which Venezuela needs to dilute its heavy oil. Those sanctions faced opposition from Republican lawmakers representing Gulf Coast states, where refineries process heavy crude into fuels. The sanctions could put additional strain on global supplies of certain crude grades. In November, the Trump administration restored sanctions on Iran, a significant source of medium sour crude. Sanctions against Venezuelan crude would mean the U.S. is restricting flows from "two OPEC countries with barrels that are not easy to replace," says Croft. "This lower oil price environment may give Trump more cushion to implement these sanctions," Croft said. "If this were back in October when oil prices were much higher, he may have punted on such a move." Trump's recognition of Guaido as Venezuela's leader appears to be a starting point, says Risa Grais-Targow, director for Latin America at risk consultancy Eurasia Group. She says Washington may be holding out the threat of sanctions to see how Maduro responds. If the Venezuelan strongman's regime arrests Guaido, Washington would likely respond with sanctions, though Grais-Targow thinks the White House may take a phased approach. "They have a lot of tools in their toolkit. I don't think they'll go straight to an oil import ban," she said. "The first move, if they go in that direction, would be a ban on the sale of diluents to Venezuela."
Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin closed a deal to buy the most expensive home ever sold in the U.S., paying around $238 million for a New York penthouse overlooking Central Park.

The deal is the largest in Griffin's recent $700 million global real estate shopping spree, believed to be the largest ever for a U.S. billionaire. Over the past few years, the founder and CEO of Citadel has purchased the most expensive homes in Chicago, Miami and New York. He has spent more than $200 million to buy land in Palm Beach, Florida, for a home he plans to build there. And this week, news broke that he purchased a $122 million property in London, which was the most expensive sale in that city in a decade.

A spokeswoman for Citadel couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Vice President Joe Biden talks with Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., center, and her aunt, Dr. Sarala Gopalan, during swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol's Old Senate Chamber, January 03, 2016.

A huge question of the 2020 campaign is who former President Barack Obama will endorse.

A primary field including both Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and former Vice President Joe Biden could make the choice especially tricky since they would likely be the top contenders for his backing.

Harris, a first-term senator who also served as California's attorney general, declared her candidacy for president Monday, while Biden, himself a longtime former senator, has yet to decide whether to launch a campaign.

Harris and Biden have had long and fruitful relationships with Obama. The former two-term president would arguably end up the biggest supporter of a Biden 2020 run, but Obama also counts Harris as a loyal ally. Harris was San Francisco district attorney when she threw her support behind Obama's presidential run in early 2007  a time when many other elected politicians in the nation's most populous state backed then-front-runner Hillary Clinton.

With other Obama political allies likely to enter the 2020 presidential race, though, many Democratic strategists believe the former president won't rush into endorsing anyone.

"Smart people and smart money  donors  are going to let this thing play out a little bit to see who is real and then decide where they want to push all their eggs or their chips into that candidate," said Andrew Acosta, a California-based Democratic political strategist.

Other veteran Democrats, including some who worked on Obama campaigns, believe the former president won't endorse a particular 2020 contender until the primary process is further along. Obama held secret meetings with Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and at least seven other presidential hopefuls last year, Politico reported in June.

An Obama spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment for this story. CNBC also reached out to the Harris campaign.

Harris has been considering the presidential run for some time and has joined a growing field that already includes fellow Sens. Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

Democrat Julian Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio who served as Obama's secretary of Housing and Urban Development, also announced he's running. Among other declared Democratic candidates are Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and John Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland. Pete Buttigieg, Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is officially exploring a run, too.

In all, there could be 20 or more Democratic presidential hopefuls entering the 2020 campaign, according to political strategists interviewed for this story.

Former 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. is said to be considering another run. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., over the weekend visited the South and also is said to be close to announcing a decision. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made a swing through Iowa last year and is said to be considering a run, too, as is billionaire former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Democratic rising star Beto O'Rourke of Texas, who narrowly lost to Republican Ted Cruz in last year's Senate race, is also weighing whether he should jump into the campaign.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella were seen at the same dinner table as Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in a picture that surfaced on Twitter.

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The unlikely group convened at an event on Tuesday for politicians and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, according to Business Insider. The dinner was reportedly meant to honor Bolsonaro, who officially took office this month, BI wrote. The photo of the dinner table was widely shared after Axios reporter Felix Salmon posted it to Twitter, likely due to the seemingly conflicting views Bolsonaro holds to those of Cook and Nadella.

Apple and Microsoft did not immediately return requests for comment on the image.

As he rose to become the county's new leader, Bolsonaro made a number of derogatory statements about women, minorities and the LGBTQ community. According to The New York Times, which compiled several of Bolsonaro's most inflammatory statements, the Brazilian president said in 2013 he would "rather have a son who is an addict than a son who is gay," and was "proud to be homophobic." Hours after his inauguration, Bolsonaro issued an executive order that would not allow the concerns of the LGBTQ community to be considered by the new human rights ministry, according to The Associated Press.

Cook, who came out as gay in 2014 in an essay published by Bloomberg, has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights and equity in the workplace.

"As I look at the world, many of the problems of the world come down to the lack of equality," Cook said in a June interview on Bloomberg's "David Rubenstein Show." "It's the fact that the kid that's born in one ZIP code who doesn't have a good education because they happen to be born in that ZIP code. It's someone that is maybe an LGBT community that is fired because of that. It's someone that has a different religion than the majority and therefore they're ostracized in some way."

Nadella has also taken a stance for workplace equity, saying at an event hosted by the Times in 2017 that progress toward gender equity in tech was "good, but not sufficient." "We always had equal pay for equal work, but it's more about equal opportunity for equal work," he said at the event.

Bolsonaro, by contrast, has said he would not employ or pay women equally to men in the workplace, although "there are a lot of competent women out there," according to the Times. He also reportedly said that having a female child is a "weakness."

In 2017, Bolsonaro used a word historically used to describe the weight of cattle and agricultural products when describing the weight of Afro-Brazilian residents. According to the Times, he said: "They don't do anything. They are not even good for procreation."

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Watch: Bolsonaro's case for investing in Brazil is compelling, expert says
Beer sales in the U.S. have been declining, and some have pointed to the legalization of cannabis as a possible explanation. But Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito said that the company still doesn't have any data to prove that.

AB InBev is world's largest beer company, but its North America beer volume dropped by 3 percent during the first nine months of 2018.

"We still don't have enough data points because there's noise to prove that beer  alcoholic beverages  suffers," Brito said Wednesday on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Marijuana laws have been relaxed in more than two dozen states, but the drug remains illegal federally. That means that states that have legalized cannabis can see a jump in tourism as enthusiasts travel to partake legally. For example, Colorado began selling marijuana to the public in 2014. The state's tourism board said that 15 percent of the 82 million people who visited Colorado in 2016 participated in marijuana-related activities.

The tourism driven by cannabis is good for the states, but it makes it difficult for the AB InBev to collect data. A large number of tourists makes it difficult for the company to analyze any correlation between alcohol and cannabis sales, Brito said.

Meanwhile, the alcoholic beverage company is getting into cannabis itself. Anheuser-Busch announced last month that it was partnering with Canadian cannabis producer Tilray. The $100 million joint venture will focus on beverages infused with CBD, a non-psychoactive marijuana compound.
When asked about what was discussed, Prince William's communications secretary Jason Knauf said in a brief interview that it was "about the environment, the themes the vice president was talking about on stage last night." The spokesman also noted that Gore is close friends with Charles, Prince of Wales.

The closed door gathering between the two world leaders came after Gore led a panel on Tuesday at the annual confab titled "Safeguarding Our Planet," which focused on climate change. The gathering is one of many that have taken place at a conference that's known to bring together leaders in politics and business to discuss political, social and environmental matters.

DAVOS, Switzerland  Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, privately met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday to discuss environmental issues, CNBC has learned.

The former vice president, who's been involved with the fight against global climate change since at least the early 2000's, told the Davos audience in the buildup to his panel yesterday that scientific research showing environmental degradation proves changes need to be made.

"All of these findings add up to a very simple message: We have to change. We are putting 110 million tons of man-made, heat-trapping, global-warming pollution, into the very thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if its an open sewer," Gore said at the time.

The meeting with Prince William comes at a time when President Donald Trump regularly expresses skepticism toward, and at times mocks, the science behind the theory of climate change.

"Large parts of the Country are suffering from tremendous amounts of snow and near record setting cold. Amazing how big this system is," the president said in a tweet on Sunday. "Wouldn't be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!"

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In November, Trump refuted a report by numerous federal agencies showing Americans will likely see their health and finances impacted by climate change.

"I don't believe it," Trump told reporters when he was asked about the research.
uBiome co-founder and co-CEO Jessica Richman, who was placed on administrative leave in May 2019 pending an board investigation into the start-ups billing practices.

UBiome, a start-up that provides a test for people to monitor the health of the bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the body, has eliminated about than 10 percent of its staff in the US and additional positions overseas.

The company, which has raised more than $109 million in venture funding, recently laid off over 50 of its 300 employees. 30 were let go in the U.S., and a further 25 people from international offices, the company said.

The cuts were confirmed by Joel Jung, uBiome's chief financial officer, and CEO Jessica Richman. Jung told CNBC that the company is shifting to more of a focus on drugs and partnerships with pharmaceutical developers.

The company made the decision "to realign operations to set us up, and even add staff, as we expand our focus in therapeutics," Jung said.

To date, uBiome has developed a direct-to-consumer test to analyze the human microbiome, meaning it provides information to people about their gut health. The company began with an $89 test, called Explorer, which offers some insights into things like the amount of a specific type of bacteria in the gut and in other sites in exchange for a stool sample.

In recent years, it has unveiled new products that can be billed to insurers, including tests for sexually transmitted infections, flu pathogens and disease-carrying microbes in the gut.

Initial funding came through a $350,000 crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo more than five years ago, which was particularly popular with the so-called "quantified self" community. The company has since raised money from 8VC, a firm started by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, as well as Y Combinator.
Reports of drone sightings in northern New Jersey temporarily halted arrivals at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday, but normal operations had since been resumed, officials said.

A spokesman from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier said flights into Newark  the 11th busiest U.S. airport  were briefly suspended after two drones were seen flying at 3,500 feet over nearby Teterboro Airport, a small regional airport about 17 miles away that mostly handles corporate jets and private planes.

The federal agency said information about the drone sightings was turned over to law enforcement.

Just landed at Newark. Our united flight had to circle because of stopped takeoffs and landings due to nearby drone activity. Time to come up with technology to remotely shut down these drones

The FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center briefly issued a ground stop at Newark citing "drone activity," according to a document posted on its website.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates both the Newark and Teterboro airports, later said on Twitter that normal operations had resumed and that it was coordinating with the FAA and law enforcement authorities as they investigate the incident.

United Airlines, the largest carrier at Newark, said it was aware of the reports of drone activity and was working with the airport and the FAA. It said the impact on its operations had been minimal.

If you're flying a drone near EWR right now, could you ground it and have a sandwich or something? You just shut down all arrivals.

The issue of drones impacting commercial air traffic has taken on new urgency after reports of drone sightings in the United Kingdom impacted air travel.

Earlier this month, flights from London's Heathrow airport were halted for about an hour after a drone was sighted near Europe's busiest air hub.

Gatwick Airport, London's second busiest airport, was severely disrupted in December when drones were sighted on three consecutive days, resulting in about 1,000 flights being canceled or diverted and affecting 140,000 passengers.

Both airports responded to the Gatwick incident by ordering military-grade anti-drone technology.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Transportation Department proposed rules that would allow drones to operate over populated areas and end a requirement for special permits for night use, long-awaited actions that are expected to help speed commercial use.

The Trump administration noted there are nearly 1.3 million registered drones in the United States and more than 116,000 registered drone operators.

But officials say there are hundreds of thousands of additional drones that are not registered.

The U.S. Congress last year gave the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security new powers to disable or destroy threatening drones after officials raised concerns about the use of drones as potential weapons.

In September 2017, a small civilian drone struck a U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter near Staten Island, New York. The helicopter landed safely but there was some damage.
The U.S. Labor Department accused Oracle of wage discrimination practices that cost female and minority employees $400 million, according to a new federal filing Tuesday.

The new complaint builds upon a 2017 lawsuit the DoL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance filed in 2017 alleging Oracle systematically paid white male workers more than their peers who were women or people of color. The suit was stayed later that year to allow the Department of Labor and Oracle to mediate the dispute. The Department of Labor is now renewing its claims that Oracle discriminates in its compensation and hiring practices and even alleges the company destroyed evidence.

Oracle Executive Vice President and General Counsel Dorian Daley said in a statement Wednesday, "This meritless lawsuit is based on false allegations and a seriously flawed process within the OFCCP that relies on cherry picked statistics rather than reality. We fiercely disagree with the spurious claims and will continue in the process to prove them false. We are in compliance with our regulatory obligations, committed to equality, and proud of our employees."

The Department of Labor alleges that Oracle used two methods to discriminate against women and people of color at the company. The first involved allegedly setting initial pay based on prior salary and the second allegedly involved "channeling" these groups into career tracks that would have lower pay.
Nvidia Corp.: "I think Nvidia's trying to bottom here. Remember, 40 percent of it is gaming-related, but wow, that stock's almost been cut in half. I am willing to say [that] if you want to start a small position in Nvidia, I bless it."

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.: "You're a bit of a risk-taker there, my friend. That's a risky stock. I don't know. It makes a little money, but I have to tell you, I don't like the trend. I think the stock can go still lower. I'd be very careful there."

Edison Intl.: "I don't want to invest in anything California when it comes to utility. I don't need it. I don't need the aggravation. If I do utilities, I want to sleep at night. American Electric Power and ConEd  they let me sleep at night. By the way, Dominion downgraded today  I thought that was an opportunity."

ArcBest Corp.: "I like motor carrier transport, but I do prefer J.B. Hunt, which had a very good quarter, by the way. J.B. Hunt's doing very, very well. I wish we could own shares in Uber Freight, but J.B. Hunt may be the way."

Investors Bancorp Inc.: "I've done a lot of business with them. I actually owned shares in a bank that got acquired by them many, many years ago. You know, when Brian Moynihan was talking about  he's the CEO of Bank of America  many more banks combining, I immediately thought about Investors. That said, New Jersey, tough state, not a great state for business, and the banks have already had a big move. I'm going to hold off on that one."

Albemarle Corp.: "We got a big downgrade last week. I read the downgrade over and I agree with it. I think that the cycle is a little over for this one. Let's avoid this stock."

Microsoft Corp.: "Don't sell any more. [CEO] Satya Nadella's doing a great job. We did the same thing [and trimmed a little too much] for the ActionAlertsPlus.com club. We told people to sell some, but we're done selling. I think Satya should deliver a great number. It's actually one of the best in show."

Kimberly Clark Corp.: "They report Jan. 23, which looks to me like tomorrow, and we'll see the number. [With a] 3.4 percent yield, you'll be protected."
by Mathias Hariyadi

Jemaah Islamiahs ideologue was the mind behind the Bali attack. Out of 202 dead, 88 were from Australia. For the latter, Baasyir must serve his entire sentence. President Joko Widodo orders an in-depth review of the decision.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  The release of radical Islamic leader Abu Bakar Baasyir (pictured), convicted in connection with the 2002 Bali attacks, is dividing Indonesians and drawn international criticism, especially from the Australia.

For his part, Baasyir continues to reject Pancasila, Indonesias state pluralist philosophy , and refuses to sign any commitment of loyalty to the Indonesian state. The 80-year-old spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), an Islamist armed group, also refused to sign any statement renouncing the crimes that landed him in prison.

Baasyir received a 15-year sentence in 2011, for funding an extremist training camp in the province of Aceh. Although involved in the Bali attacks, the Islamist leader was never convicted for the terrorist attack in which 202 people were killed.

Some 88 Australians were among the dead. For this reason, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday reiterated his countrys position that Baasyir should serve his entire sentence.

Following Baasyirs release, Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered an in-depth review of the decision, said General Wiranto, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs

On Friday, the president said that Abu Bakar Bashir would be granted an early release on humanitarian grounds, citing his old age and poor health.

However, Baasyir remains a hot issue among the Indonesians, who will go to the polls next April to elect a new president. The election will pit the incumbent, Widodo, a moderate, against political parties that promote conservative Islam.

Those in favour of Baasyirs release include people who fear violent protests by the preachers supporters should he die in prison. Widodos rivals would probably exploit the resulting tensions.

Those who opposed Baasyirs release believe he does not deserve to be free because of his hostility towards Indonesias secular state.

Some see his liberation as an "exchange" for the early release of Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, the former governor of Jakarta, who is ethnic Chinese and a Christian. For the authorities, this would be a way to placate radical movements.

Ace Hasan Syadzily, responsible for Widodo's election campaign, rejected such a claim. Baasyirs release is based on humanitarian grounds, not political considerations."
Beachwood, OH (44122)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
COLUMBUS, OhioA former state senator who recently left the Ohio Parole Board is now speaking out against it, painting it as a secret society whose members make decisions on inmates futures using inconsistent, biased or racist reasoning, often after missing hearings or being distracted by food or other work.

Cleveland Democrat Shirley Smith, in an op-ed submitted to Ohio media outlets and in a follow-up interview with cleveland.com, called for an independent investigation of the nine-member board, claiming she witnessed strongly biased opinions regarding cases, unprofessional behavior, unethical decisions, and a frighteningly unfair practice of tribal morality.

Parole Board spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said in a statement that the states prisons agency has a very open policy review process that encourages and solicits input and suggestions from all employees of the agency. She added that Annette Chambers-Smith, Gov. Mike DeWines nominee to head the states prisons agency, intends to conduct a comprehensive review of board policies and procedures.

Here's more on the concerns laid out by Smith, who was appointed by Republican Gov. John Kasich to the board in 2015.

Claim: Parole Board members are regularly distracted during parolees hearings

Shirley Smith said board members conduct five to 10 hearings in a day via videoconference, giving themselves no time for lunch and little time to prepare for an individuals case. A parolee, who often has been waiting years for a hearing, sees a board that is often eating during a hearing not paying attention because they are reviewing documents from an upcoming case, said Smith, admitting she, too, was guilty of the practice while on the board.

You have to face parole board members that seemingly are rude, because theyre eating, theyre not paying attention, they dont look up, and sometimes they dont ask questions, Smith said. Smith said, though, that this usually didnt occur during death-penalty clemency hearings, as (unlike parole hearings) they are open to the public.

Response: JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, didnt address this specific claim in her response.

Claim: Parole Board members often miss hearings but still vote

Shirley Smith said when an inmate comes before the Parole Board, often only a fraction of board members are there to hear their argument for parole  sometimes because theyre attending self-defense training classes required for all parole board members. However, absent board members are still allowed to vote on whether to grant parole to inmates whose hearings they did not attend  ghost votes, as Smith dubbed them. You cant make an assessment of a person if youre not there, Smith said. So how are you basing your decision on whether hes eligible or whether hes not?

Response: JoEllen Smith didnt address this specific claim in her response.

Claim: Parole Board members are harsher against minorities

Shirley Smith said the board frequently emasculated black men who came before them and were harsher and stricter with people of color. During questioning, Smith said, I think they treat them like theyre dogs sometimes. She also said that a couple months ago, a Spanish-speaking inmate with little understanding of English came before the board. Smith said she proposed rescheduling his hearing so an interpreter could be brought in, but that board member Mark Houk argued against it. Well, why should we do that? she quoted Houk as saying. Thats costing the state money. I can just give him five years based on what hes in for.

Response: JoEllen Smith didnt address this specific claim, and she declined to make Houk available for comment (Houk could not independently be reached for comment. Parole Board members contact information could not be found online).

Claim: Board members and staff lack racial or professional diversity

Shirley Smith said its a problem that most of the Parole Board and almost all their staff members are white. If youre dealing with people who are not a person of color, then that makes that person who comes up for parole very reluctant to talk about their issues, to trust anybody, Smith said. Smith also said that the Parole Board shouldnt be composed of mostly former parole officers, but should include others such as mental-health professionals and current or former lawmakers who can communicate with the legislature about the need for law changes.

Response: JoEllen Smith said in a statement that Annette Chambers-Smith, Gov. Mike DeWines nominee to head the states prisons agency, will be looking to add members who will create an inclusive and diverse Board.

Claim: Board members are often unfairly swayed by prosecutors and victims

Shirley Smith said the Parole Board will sometimes recommend someone for parole, but then change their mind once they hear from victims or prosecutors  particularly Franklin County Prosecutor Ron OBrien. Hell come in, and hes very disparaging to the family, and he talks about the offender so badly that it brings them [board members] pause whether that person should be released, she said. Smith suggested that prosecutors should be barred altogether from parole hearings.

Response: OBrien stated in an email that barring prosecutors from parole hearings would violate the Marsys Law provision of the Ohio Constitution and a related statute known as Robertas Law. He added that Ohio law suggests that prosecutors get involved in parole hearings, as state law requires county prosecutors to be notified when inmates from their county are eligible for parole. I do not appear very often at a Parole board hearing unless the case justifies it, OBrien stated, and if I do I hope that I make an effective presentation as Ms. Smith apparently seems to suggest.

Claim: Board members have "a tribal relationship

Shirley Smith said most of the board members are current or former parole officers, so they are biased against prospective parolees who were convicted of violence against a police officer or a corrections officer. She also said the board is dominated by DRC Court and Community director Cynthia Mausser, who she claimed is close friends with Parole Board Chair Trayce Thalheimer. You had no way of going outside of at least the two of them  the chair and the boss above the chair  and getting anything done, Smith said.

Response: JoEllen Smith didnt address this claim, and she declined to make Mausser available for comment.

Smith said she retired from the board in December out of frustration with how the Parole Board was operating. In February 2018, she said raised her voice during a Parole Board meeting because of the way some board members were treating an inmate during a hearing. Smith said three board members subsequently filed complaints about her outburst, but no action ended up being taken against her.

Thats one of the ways that they shut people down, is they threaten them with these investigations, then theyll find them not guilty, Smith said.

Smith said she hoped lawmakers would take up Parole Board reforms. And indeed, state Rep. Bill Seitz said he and two Republican state senators  Peggy Lehner and John Eklund  have talked about introducing legislation to do just that.

However, Seitz -- a Cincinnati Republican who has worked for years on criminal-justice issues -- said their discussions have so far focused on the Parole Boards frequent habit of denying parole to inmates because of the nature of their offense. Seitz said he wants to require the board to give additional reasons when denying a parole.

When told of Smiths claims that Parole Board members are constantly distracted during hearings, Seitz said, It sounds to me like some of these people are not taking their job as seriously as they need to.

However, Seitz added, I dont know how we could legislate around that problem.
Preliminary data for 2018 drug-overdose deaths in Cuyahoga County and a number of other counties in Ohio appear to confirm a trend first seen more than a year ago: The tidal wave of opiate-related overdose deaths that washed over the state, sweeping more than 700 to their early deaths just in Cuyahoga County in 2017, is abating.

But drug deaths remain high and other threats loom, including a trend to different drug cocktails. In Cuyahoga County, according to U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman, that includes a trend toward a lethal mixture of cocaine and fentanyl.

Herdman told a meeting of cleveland.com editors and reporters Tuesday that this shift could help explain why Cuyahoga County's 23 percent falloff in drug overdose deaths last year significantly lags steeper drops in other nearby counties, including Lorain, Summit, Trumbull and Lucas. The drug-death numbers are preliminary but Herdman said he expects final numbers to confirm the dramatic reduction.

The numbers have policy implications. With the next two-year Ohio budget to be written this spring, new Gov. Mike DeWine and those leading his RecoveryOhio effort should pay particular attention to preserving and expanding initiatives that appear to have helped reduce opioid deaths, while also addressing the rapidly shifting trends in drug use.

What's worked in tackling the opioid epidemic in Ohio? The data suggest: a wider availability of recovery resources made possible by Medicaid expansion in Ohio; broadened access to the naloxone antidote; a law enforcement focus on interdicting synthetic opiates like carfentanil and fentanyl; and public-private partnerships that have enabled more hospitalization follow-ups and drug court interventions, creating greater continuity of care.

In other words, there's no magic bullet against the opioid crisis, but money, including for wrap-around addiction services, is critical, as are public education, data collection and law enforcement efforts. And there still aren't enough affordable, effective addiction treatment options.

In Cuyahoga County, the preliminary total for drug-overdose deaths in 2018 is a still-too-high 560 deaths -- a number that could change as additional drug-death tests come in (Ohio counties still have some time to finalize figures). Also notable in Cuyahoga County was a huge drop-off in carfentanil-related mortality, down 91 percent year-over-year, possibly because of interdiction and prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland.

Around Ohio, the wide availability of naloxone -- saving from death many who overdose on opiates -- is also credited with reducing mortality rates.

And in Dayton, Mayor Nan Whaley, in a recent op-ed for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com, credited the state's Medicaid expansion and the added resources it brought to the opioid fight for playing a big role in the dramatic drop in drug deaths in her city and Montgomery County as a whole. Preliminary data from the Montgomery County Coroner's Office on accidental drug-overdose deaths suggest they were nearly halved last year.

That still means thousands continue to die from accidental drug overdoses in Ohio. Efforts to combat this scourge cannot abate. But a change in the trend lines is worth celebrating -- and building upon, so more of our fellow citizens, neighbors and loved ones can beat their addiction devil, or avoid becoming ensnared in the first place.

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HUNTING VALLEY, Ohio -- I was one of several hundred business and philanthropic leaders brought together by Charles and David Koch last year to discuss what we can do to break down the barriers that impede people as they seek to improve their lives in a climate of economic freedom.

That is the climate the Founders envisioned when they designed a government that assured its citizens of the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And it is these rights, responsibly pursued, that enabled out fledgling nation to rapidly achieve the highest standard of living ever known to man.

Bill O'Neill is a retired executive and the former chief operating officer of Leaseway Transportation Corp.

Today, the average American earns about $130 a day, more than six times what the average Chinese earns, according to Dierdre N. McCloskey, distinguished professor emerita of economics, history, English and communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Thats a 40-fold increase over the average real global income at the time of Americas founding.

But in recent decades, more and more barriers have arisen that impede our people -- particularly the most disadvantaged -- from leading fulfilling and productive lives and achieving their true potential in their individual pursuit of happiness.

These are the barriers to economic freedom, the only environment in which true and lasting happiness can be obtained because it is the only environment in which people can hope to reach their full potential. Removing these barriers empowers people to transform their lives, which can in turn lead to a transformation of our society.

Among the barriers identified by participants at the seminar were: joblessness; financial insecurity; welfare dependency; drug addiction; dysfunctional families; educational failure (from grade school through college); failed public policy; broken communities; government cronyism; excessive government regulation; and the failure of our judicial systems incarceration programs.

Why are these barriers so serious? Because when people are not free, they rarely accomplish the amazing things that free people are far more likely to accomplish.

But there is one more barrier that must also be addressed.

It is not an external barrier, like those mentioned above, but an internal barrier.

It exists in the mind and will of an individual. It is the barrier that defeats the will to try, that overwhelms the energy to persevere, that convinces one he or she cannot succeed, that takes away any hope for a better future. It is a significant barrier, and is greatly magnified by the many outside barriers that exist today.

In many instances, it is through no fault of the individual that he or she faces these internal barriers, and is instead the product of the circumstances into which he or she was born. If both of your parents were in and out of prison and you had no positive role model in your life, for example, its less likely you would see yourself as someone who can achieve anything you put your mind to than someone who was born to loving parents with successful careers.

But such internal barriers are not insurmountable.

Witness the recent stories of J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, and Liz Murray, author of Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, each describing how they overcame their own internal barriers.

I dont claim to know how to teach people to overcome their internal barriers. But I have a suspicion that the key ingredient is a mentor, someone who is available, will listen, will hold out hope, will gradually instill a sense of personal responsibility, and who will show that success can be achieved with persistence, notwithstanding failures along the way.

Friends of the Children is an Oregon-based group that partners with our network and is planning to expand into my home state of Ohio. They take on some of the toughest cases  half of the kids in the program have at least one parent who is incarcerated; 85 percent were born to a teen parent  and help them overcome the barriers they face. Eighty-three percent of their kids graduate from high school; 93 percent stay out of the juvenile justice system; only 2 percent become teen parents.

Thats just one example of how mentors can make a difference. But mentors such as these prove over and over that they can help all of us pursue happiness in a way that enables us to be the best we can be.

If we hope to restore our country to the path of greatness on which it was conceived, we must find a way to address these inside barriers, along with the many outside barriers that surround us.

If we are successful, we will individually and collectively reap the many blessings bestowed on a free society inhabited by responsible people.

Bill ONeill is a retired executive and the former chief operating officer of Leaseway Transportation Corp. He lives in Hunting Valley.

*************

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Rotunda Rumblings

Safety not guaranteed: A new report ranks Ohio at the bottom for enacting highway safety laws that research shows reduce serious and fatal collisions, cleveland.coms Laura Hancock writes. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety found Ohio laws were lacking in rules for seat belts, teen driving and motorcycle helmets, among other areas.

Householders House: Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder named lawmakers to key panels Tuesday. He also appears to be building bridges with folks who voted for his opponent in the speakers race, Rep. Ryan Smith. For instance, he made Rep. Mark Romanchuk, who supported Smith, chair of an influential Medicaid committee.

Joint Legislative Ethics Committee: Householder (chair,) Reps. Jim Butler, Robert Cupp, Emilia Sykes, Kristin Boggs and Kent Smith.

Legislative Task Force on Redistricting, Reapportionment, and Demographic Research: Householder, Sykes and public member Jonathon McGee, who is Householder's chief of staff and legal counsel.

Joint Education Oversight Committee: Reps. Cupp (chair), Jamie Callender, Don Jones, Phillip Robinson and Lisa Sobecki.

Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee: Romanchuk (chair), Niraj Antani, Gary Scherer, Thomas West and Allison Russo.

Sunset Review Committee: Reps. Nino Vitale (chair), Scott Wiggam, and Brigid Kelly

Controlling Board: Reps. Scott Oelslager, Shane Wilkin and Jack Cera.

Officials call: CBS just said no when a medical marijuana company wanted to air a Super Bowl ad calling for the legalization of the drug for medicinal purposes. Acreage Holdings is valued at $2.4 billion and has John Boehner, the former U.S. House speaker and Cincinnati-area resident, on its board.

Dettelbach is back: Steve Dettelbach, a Democrat who lost the race for Ohio attorney general, is back. Not directly in politics, but reportedly in representing Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish as the feds investigate inhumane jail conditions. Budish hasnt been accused of criminal wrongdoing at this time, cleveland.coms Eric Heisig writes.

Hip, hip hooray: Ohio will get $4.4 million of a $120 million settlement 20 state attorneys general reached with Johnson and Johnson and its affiliates, which were accused of deceptive advertising of metal-on-metal hip implant devices, according to a Tuesday Ohio Attorney General offices statement. Some patients experienced persistent groin pain, allergic reactions, tissue necrosis as well as the build-up of metal ions in the blood from the devices.

Concerns about Cohen: U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Champaign County, and Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican, sent a five-page letter Tuesday to the attorney representing Michael Cohen, President Donald Trumps former fixer who is scheduled to testify before a House committee next month. Jordan and Meadows wrote that theyre concerned about the limited scope of Cohens remarks, that the public relations professional helping Cohen has ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, and that they wont get answers about legal matters in which hes been named a defendant, according to the letter, obtained by Politico.

Vape tax proposal: With polling showing more than half of Ohioans support tax increases on e-cigarettes, the American Cancer Society is hoping the state will increase tobacco taxes on vaping products, the Dayton Daily News Laura Bischoff and Kaitlin Schroeder report. The revenue could be used on prevention and cessation programs.

Not a bad gig: John Kasich, Ohios former governor, will be paid $60,000 to speak about his life and leadership at the University of Florida on Wednesday, Bischoff reports. Students will not be charged to see Kasich. The speaking money comes from student fees.

Code red: A change in how the federal government defines a hospital may cause a physician-owned medical center in Dayton to close its doors, Schroeder writes. U.S Rep. Mike Turner and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown have written a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, asking to give the facility more time to meet the new requirement.

Charter cash: There is a $4,000 funding gap between what traditional school districts get to educate a student and what charter schools get in the states large urban areas. The Columbus Dispatchs Jim Siegel reports some are calling for a funding increase for charter schools, while others think the money will end up in the pockets of charter school management companies through expensive lease agreements.

25-to-1: Those are Sen. Sherrod Browns odds of winning the presidency, per BetOnline. That puts him behind candidates like Vice President Mike Pence (20-to-1) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (22-to-1). President Donald Trump has the best odds at 2-to-1, followed by Sen. Kamala Harris at 6-to-1 and former Rep. Beto ORourke at 8-to-1.

Full Disclosure

Five things we learned from Rep. Doug Greens April 9 financial disclosure statement. Green is a Republican from Brown County.

1. His first name is Mark.

2. He earned $66,943.93 in the Ohio House in 2017. He reported receiving $25,000 to $49,999 from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the state employees pension.

3. He has a business called Doug Green Ministries, of which he is the president.

4. He owns real estate in Clermont and Brown counties.

5. He received $419.01 in travel, food, beverages and gifts last year, including $276.02 in lodging for attending the Ohio Chamber of Commerces Policy Conference at Salt Fork and a $50 ticket to the 180 Degree Impact Luncheon.

On the move

Matthew McAuliffe, who was ex-Gov. John Kasichs director of cabinet affairs, has been hired as Ohio House Speaker Larry Householders deputy chief of staff for policy.

Kendra Wecker became the first female chief of the Division of Wildlife, under the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, on Sunday. She has worked for the division for 25 years.

Birthdays

Andy Chow, Ohio Public Radio reporter

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley

Straight From The Source

The reality is we can talk about the legitimate suffering going on now by 800,000 employees. But there is a counter balance to it. And that is, if we dont get this right in terms of our national security, there is a whole lot more human misery and suffering and death that takes place as a consequence of irresponsible federal bureaucracy being indifferent to the safety of people and our families and in our neighborhoods. This is a principled fight. This is not some silly fight.

- Ken Blackwell, former Ohio Secretary of State and President Donald Trump transition leader, on Fox Business Cavuto Coast to Coast, defending Trumps border security position to end the partial government shutdown.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. If you do not already subscribe, you can sign up here to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- United States freighters carried 83.7 million tons of cargo throughout the Great Lakes in 2018, a decrease of 2.3 percent compared to 2017.

Iron ore cargos totaled 45.8 million tons, a decrease of 0.4 percent. The total is noteworthy, said Glen Nekvasil of the Lake Carriers' Association, because of heavy ice in March and April. The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards continued to break ice in Whitefish Bay at the eastern end of Lake Superior and the St. Marys River into May.

Coal cargos totaled 11.8 million tons, a decrease of 11.4 percent. Limestone loadings approached 22 million tons, an increase of 1.9 percent.

In 2017, shipping on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway supported $35 billion in economic activity last year, $3.8 billion of that in Ohio.

Most freighters are now docked for the winter.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  As the partial government shutdown drags on, more than 800,000 federal workers nationwide are on involuntary furlough, now going without pay for more than a month. If you are in that situation, I want to know how youre coping amid the ongoing uncertainty.

Are you taking advantage of the offers of free food, meals and other services? Are you taking out loans or tapping into your credit cards or retirement accounts? Are you leaning on the generosity of family and friends?

Karen Pozna, director of communications for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, said that among the 1,200 people who showed up at the Food Banks monthly distribution this past Thursday, there were definitely folks coming through who said they were affected by the government shutdown."

In talking to some of the federal workers, many said they had never thought they would need to come to a food bank distribution, she said. (Although the next food distribution wont be until the third Thursday of February, people who need help can call the Cleveland Food Bank help center at 216-738-2067 to find out about the nearest food pantry or hot meal program.)

Travelers at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport have been praising TSA agents for showing up for work while lamenting that the agents arent allowed to accept tips, gift cards or food.

How are you and your family dealing with the lack of a paycheck during the government shutdown? Email or call me (leave your name, city and contact information) to share your story at jcho@plaind.com, or 216-999-5069.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  A federal magistrate has ruled that Ohios lethal-injection cocktail is likely an unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment akin to waterboarding, but he is allowing an execution next month to proceed because the condemned didnt present a viable alternative way to die.

Magistrate Michael Merz ruled last week that Ohio can move ahead with the execution of Columbus murderer Warren Keith Henness on Feb. 13 using a combination of three drugs: midazolam (as a sedative), a paralytic drug, and potassium chloride to stop his heart.

In his decision Jan. 15, Merz singled out problems with using midazolam in executions, noting that he ruled in 2017 that the three-drug cocktail was unconstitutional (his decision was later overturned on appeal).

If Ohio executes Warren Henness under its present protocol, it will almost certainly subject him to severe pain and needless suffering, Merz wrote. Reading the plain language of the Eighth Amendment, that should be enough to constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

He cited testimony from medical witnesses that high doses of midazolam and other drugs cause pulmonary edema, which he described as painful, both physically and emotionally, inducing a sense of drowning and the attendant panic and terror, much as would occur with the torture tactic known as waterboarding.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that Death Row inmates challenging how they will be put to death must show that an alternative means of execution is available, feasible, and can be readily implemented.

Henness proposed two alternatives: drinking secobarbital in a sweet liquid such as apple juice, or an oral injection of four drugs  midazolam, digoxin, morphine sulfate, and propranolol.

Merz rejected both ideas, noting that neither method has ever been used to carry out an execution. He also cited testimony that it could take more than an hour for Henness to die using either of the options he suggested and that Henness failed to show that there is a readily available source of the drugs.

Merz concluded that he was not comfortable with his ruling but had to abide by the Supreme Courts ruling.

Henness was convicted of murdering his drug-abuse counselor, Richard Myers, in 1992. Prosecutors said Henness kidnapped Myers, shot him five times at an abandoned water-treatment plant, severed Myers finger to get his wedding ring, then drove around in Myers car for several days forging his checks and using his credit cards to get cash and buy crack cocaine.

Henness has maintained his innocence.

Ohio, like many other states with the death penalty, has struggled to obtain lethal-injection drugs since European pharmaceutical companies cut off further sales on moral and legal grounds.

After the controversial execution of killer Dennis McGuire in January 2014, Ohio imposed a three-year moratorium on executions as it worked to find a new lethal-injection protocol  and suppliers willing to sell them the drugs.

Since the moratorium was lifted in 2017, Ohio has executed three people using the current three-drug cocktail  all without complications or unexpected problems.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As the government shutdown debacle entered day 28, dozens of legal immigrants excitedly streamed into the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse in downtown Cleveland this past Friday morning. A swearing-in ceremony was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Most of the courthouse visitors arrived with ample time to spare. By 7:30, many could be seen descending the stairs to a spacious jury room where District Court Judge Christopher A. Boyko would administer the Oath of Allegiance. They were preparing to turn in their Green Cards for a Certificate of Naturalization. They were ready to become Americans.

Courtrooms are seldom this joyful. The smiles between strangers were genuine and contagious. The ornate room felt united, welcoming, and indivisible.

At that specific moment in time, the basement floor of the Northern District of Ohio Federal Courthouse had to be one of the happiest public places in America. Outside that space, most of American government felt hopelessly divided, dangerously polarized, and unforgiving. But inside that courthouse, American government felt warm and welcoming to its newest citizens.

Every American should find the opportunity to attend a naturalization ceremony. They offer useful insights into the meaning and majesty of democracy. The ceremonies provide clear and valuable perspective on exactly what it means to be a citizen of a nation and not a subject of a government.

When an immigrant raises their right hand and takes the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America, a powerful form of rebirth occurs. At that moment, the faces of freshly minted Americans brim with the promise, hope, and dreams that America inspires. Its a sight to behold.

I watched as Judge Boyko swore in 68 new Americans hailing from 33 different nations. For a moment, I forgot about the debate over the wall, the so-called coming caravans, and the challenges posed by illegal immigration. I saw a diverse group of people who chose to play by the rules, follow the laws, and now were rewarded with citizenship.

With a mercifully short and upbeat speech, Boyko talked about the relative newness of America as a nation and its gift of an unsurpassed model of federal democracy to the world. He then read an even shorter poetic statement that he shares at each naturalization ceremony over which he presides. The poem is a tradition that he inherited from the late Judge John Manos.

Heres an excerpt of the poem entitled My Creed said to be written by Dean Alfange:

I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon  if I can. I seek opportunity  not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.

It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, this I have done. All this is what it means to be an American.

At first blush, some might view the poem as politically incorrect or subtly paternalistic or sexist. I hear none of those undertones. I hear an ode to responsibility and a celebration of freedom unhampered by the heavy hand of oppressive government. I hear a celebration of the freedom of the individual American to hew his or her own singular path.

When the citizenship ceremony ended in less than an hour, the new Americans streamed out into their new lives. Some stopped to register to vote at a station that had been set up for that purpose. Others took advantage of an opportunity to start the application for their U.S. passport. Most simply smiled and confidently headed out into a Cleveland winter and into the start of their lives as United States citizens.

The majesty of American democracy was once again renewed and refreshed one new citizen at a time.
PICKERINGTON, Ohio  A police chief under investigation after he was accused of making racist, sexist and homophobic comments will retire next month, reports say.

Police Chief Michael Taylors retirement will become official on Feb. 19, but he will be off on personal time until then, 10tv.com reports.

Taylor had been police chief since 2003 and had been with the police department for more than 35 years.

WCMH Channel 4 reports anonymous letters were sent to city officials earlier this month accusing Taylor of making inappropriate comments to the staff with the police department.

A special counsel had been hired to investigate but that will not continue since Taylor has decided to retire, according to ABC 6.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
AKRON, Ohio  A man was taken to the hospital in serious condition after he was shot in the stomach in the basement of a home in the East Akron neighborhood, police say.

Police say the 27-year-old victim and his brother went to the home on the 900 block of Hunt Street on Monday morning to smoke marijuana.

While there, the victim became involved in a verbal argument and was shot in the shot in the stomach by an unidentified suspect. Police did not say what the argument was about.

The victim was taken to Akron City Hospital after police were called to the home at about noon.

The shooting remains under investigation. Police say anyone with information can contact investigators at 330-375-2552.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
A state lawmaker plans to again propose legislation that would add oversight of amusement parks in Utah, one of only six states where an agency isnt assigned to keep tabs on the parks.

Republican state Rep. Val Potter sponsored a bill last year that would have created an oversight commission, required mandatory inspections and created an avenue for the public to report dangerous situations, KUTV-TV reported Wednesday.

We just need to know that theyre meeting the basic standard, Potter said. Thats what the bill requires.

Potter, who has worked in the amusement ride industry for 14 years, said his bill failed last year in part because of pushback from some parks, including Lagoon amusement park in Farmington.

In a statement, Lagoon said its not opposed to oversight, and it has previously supported Potters effort.

It is our understanding that Rep. Potter proposes that these regulations be under the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor, the park said. However, Lagoon and Utahs ski resorts already have amusement rides, which are currently regulated by the Department of Transportation, Utah Passenger Ropeway Safety Committee. We feel that the Department of Transportation is the best place for the bill to reside and this is where our only disagreement lies.

Potter said he is working on a new version of the bill for this year.

The revised legislation could potentially change oversight of the inspections. It will still require safety inspections, operators to carry liability insurance and to report serious injuries to authorities, Potter said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The skies around Nevadas largest cities are about to see more drone aircraft, after federal agencies picked the state for testing remote-controlled vehicles in urban airspace.

The Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation announced Jan. 15 that the Nevada UAS Test Site Smart Silver State program will oversee testing in Reno, with additional testing in suburban Henderson near Las Vegas and the Colorado River resort city of Laughlin.

Other sites picked were Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems in North Dakota and the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the nine-month Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management System Pilot Project is separate from the traditional FAA air traffic management system. It aims to integrate drone flights within the nations airspace system, create a shared information network and gather for FAA rulemaking.

Chris Walach, executive director of the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems, said will involve flying unmanned vehicles in urban areas beyond line-of-sight for deliveries, surveillance and remote-sensing operations.

The center is a nonprofit that works under the Governors Office of Economic Development to promote the states drone industry.

This is going from the little league of within-visual-line-of-sight for drone operations to advanced protocols and concepts, Walach said. This will certainly contribute to . advancing the industry for package delivery and other operations that need to occur inside a city.

Walach said testing will use new systems designed by NASA to help airport tower controllers see drones in flight.

Nevada was one of seven FAA-designated unmanned aircraft system test sites in the running.

Partners include Nevada airspace developers such as Praxis Aerospace Concepts International and AviSight.

In a statement released through the Governors Office of Economic Development, Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve called the states selection a sign that Nevada is emerging as a leader in the unmanned aircraft industry.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak called it one more example of what our state and communities have to offer in todays most exciting, emerging technologies.

The Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems was founded in 2013 with support from then-Gov. Brian Sandoval and $5 million in seed money from the state. Walach said the nonprofit also uses money from vendors and government contracts.

He said that additional funding will help Nevada remain competitive with states such as New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo last May announced a $30 million state investment in drone industry development.

Nevada was one of six states chosen in 2013 as a test site for drones while the FAA developed operating regulations.

In 2014, the Nevada program was the first in the nation with FAA approval to issue airworthiness certificates on its own.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Virginia will continue to have one of the weakest seatbelt laws in the country after a Senate committee killed a bill to require rear-seat passengers in a motor vehicle to wear safety belts and to make violating the states seatbelt law a primary offense.

The Senate Transportation Committee voted 6-5 Wednesday to shelve SB 1282, which sought to expand Virginias seat-belt requirements. Currently, only the driver and front-seat passengers must wear a safety belt (or children must be secured in car seats). Violations are a secondary offense, meaning officers cannot pull drivers over and ticket them simply for not wearing a seatbelt.

Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, who introduced the bill, urged the committee to approve it.

After years of decline in traffic fatalities, we are now seeing an increase number of traffic fatalities  to some extent related to distracted driving issues, Barker said. This bill is something that can help address that and something we need to do to help ensure the safety of those riding a vehicle in Virginia.

Since 2014, Virginia has seen a 20 percent increase in traffic-related fatalities and a 20 percent increase in fatalities related to unrestrained passengers and drivers, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. In 2017, the latest year for which data are available, 308 unrestrained drivers and passengers died in crashes.

Traffic safety groups supported Barkers bill calling for primary enforcement to seat-belt usage for both front and rear passengers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found that states with primary seat-belt enforcement laws consistently have higher observed daytime belt use rates and lower fatality rates than secondary law states. Virginia is among 16 states where seatbelt violations are a secondary offense. If someone is ticketed for the offense in Virginia, the fine is $25.

The Senate Transportation Committee split along party lines over the bill. The six Republicans on the panel voted to kill SB 1282; the five Democratic committee members voted to keep the bill alive.

After the vote, Georjeane Blumling, vice president of public affairs for AAA Tidewater Virginia, said she was disappointed but not surprised that the committee killed the bill.

We knew that moving to a primary enforcement law was going to be a challenge, Blumling said. It has been (a challenge finding) balance between personal liberty and public safety for many years, and we appreciate Sen. Barker putting forth a bill to try to increase that safety by making seatbelts both in the front and back required and a primary offense.

(This story was produced by the Virginia Commonwealth Universitys Capital News Service.)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In October, Davos in the desert went ahead under a heavy cloud. A bevy of senior public figures and corporationsincluding media partners such as Bloomberg and The New York Timeswithdrew from the ritzy investment conference in Riyadh amid global outrage over Saudi Arabias apparent murder, just weeks earlier, of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Three months on, at the real Davos, in Switzerland, Khashoggis killing loomed over a panel discussion, hosted by Reuters, on the global retreat of press freedom and why it matters for the worlds elites. There hasnt been full accountability for that murder, said Marty Baron, editor of The Washington Post, where Khashoggi was a contributor. We dont feel that the US government has brought enough pressure on the Saudis. We dont feel other governments have brought enough pressure on the Saudis.

Neither Khashoggis death nor the role of the media is the focus of this years World Economic Forum, a five-day mountainside networking opportunity for capitalisms political and financial guardians which opened yesterday. But the abdication of US moral authority on press freedom handily reflects the central concern of many attendees: the Trumps administrations abandonment of world leadership, retreat from the liberal norms of globalization, and nationalistic, America First agenda. Representatives of the US government are also physically absent this year after Trump ordered full focus on the shutdown mess instead. As economist Cailin Birch told CNBC this week, The absence of a US delegation at Davos is an accurate reflection of global affairs over the last year. (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did speak yesterday via video link.)

ICYMI: No, tech companies shouldnt fund journalism

For once on the world stage, Trump isnt out on a limbbeset by urgent domestic crises of their own, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron have also opted to stay home. Much coverage and commentary, particularly in the US, focused on the theme of absence in the run-up to the WEF. The same has held true now proceedings are underway. MSNBCs Stephanie Ruhle, wrapped up warm against a backdrop of snow-brushed trees, reported back yesterday from her conversations with US business leaders, who expressed concern that America is once again disengaging from the rest of the world.

With key Western leaders not in town, however, space has opened up for emerging powers to make headlines. Yesterday, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazils far-right new president, pitched his country to assembled investors, promising to slash regulations and wage war on the political left (although, as The Guardians Tom Phillips notes, the speech was panned internationally, and overshadowed at home by Brazilian newspaper reports linking his son to a Rio de Janeiro death squad). Today Wang Qishan, Chinas deputy president will appear. As the Financial Timess Gideon Rachman wrote on Monday, In the absence of the Americans, it will be much easier for China to make its case unchallenged.

While right-wing nationalism and populism are not new to 2019, a greater pall than before hangs over this years Davos coverage. When Trump spoke at the summit last year, the worlds economic power-brokers could choose to ignore his hostile politics and focus instead on his recently passed tax cut and the USs positive economic performance. One year on, fears of a downturn and global economic fragmentationdriven, in no small part, by Trumps trade war with Chinaare palpable. While the optimistic theme of the conference, Globalization 4.0, does reflect an age of rapid technological innovation, many of the companies in the driving seat, such as Facebook and Huawei, have themselves fallen under political clouds. The combination of climate change, income inequality, technology, and geopolitics pose an existential threat to humanity, Klaus Schwab, the WEFs founder and chair, said in a pre-Davos statement.

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Reuters tried yesterday to train attention, at least briefly, on the importance of press freedom in maintaining the global order: Baron made the case that it forms the basis of political freedom, which forms the basis of economic freedom, which spurs growth. Davos 2019 is a visible reminder that those forces are in retreat together.

Below, more on Davos:



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: BuzzFeeds TrumpCohen scoop is not dead yet

Correction: A previous version of this post referred to Nathan Phillips as a Native American war veteran. While he is a veteran, he did not serve in the Vietnam War, according to The Washington Post. This post has been updated.

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
Good journalists have always reached out to readers and experts for help with reporting, but the internet and in particular the social web have made this kind of crowd-sourcing much easier. To be effective from a journalistic point of view, however, reporters and the media outlets they work for have to be very clear about what they want to get out of crowdsourcing, as well as how they structure it, which can take a lot of effort before the reporting even begins.

Those are just a few of the lessons journalists say they learned from Join the Beat, an offshoot of the Membership Puzzle, which New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen created last year as a way of researching what makes successful membership and subscription-based models work.

As part of the Join the Beat project, 11 journalists from different outlets experimented with different ways of involving the audience in their reporting. Will Carless and Aaron Sankintwo reporters who work for Reveal, the news arm of the Center for Investigative Reporting, and who specialize in writing about hate crimesassembled a group of volunteers they called the Hate Sleuths. Ars Technica writer Eric Berger created a newsletter aimed at readers interested in space flight. And Maite Vermeulen, who writes for the Dutch crowdfunded news site De Correspondent, reached out for advice on moving to Nigeria.

ICYMI: No, tech companies shouldnt fund journalism

Join the Beat is an extension of Rosens belief that journalists should use digital tools to help readers contribute to their reporting. In the mid-2000s, when blogging was still a popular format, Rosen experimented with something he called beat blogging, which involved trying to get beat reporters to create groups of interested readers and experts who could help them with their journalism. That in turn led to experiments like Off the Bus, a joint effort with the Huffington Post in 2009 that relied on citizen journalists.

I met Jay when I was a Nieman Fellow in 1993-94, and I was very interested even then in the whole public journalism effort he was involved in, Melanie Sill, who helped run the Join the Beat project, says. So when I heard about the Membership Puzzle project I was very interestedthe idea of membership not as just a transaction but more of a relationship. Sill and Rosen asked for applications from newsrooms, and eventually selected 11 in April of last year to be part of this experiment in networked beat reporting. In addition to Berger, Carless, Sankin, and Vermeulen, the project included reporters from The Toronto Star, The Durham Herald-Sun, the Canadian digital-only outlet Discourse Media, and the Baltimore tech site Technical.ly.

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Carless and Sankin, who started reporting on hate in 2017, were looking for a way to get help with certain time-intensive tasks involved in their feature reporting projects. The first step was putting a call out to readers via their newsletter, with a link to a Google Form with questions about the topic and about the background of potential volunteers. They followed up with a similar tool called Screendoor, and then asked prospective members to sign an ethical conduct guide and upload an ID to weed out trolls. Based on a suggestion from Rosen, they also asked one of the volunteers to be a kind of coordinator, to help with assigning and collecting the work submitted by volunteers. That was such a smart idea, says Carless. At the end of the process, the two wound up with about 50 hate sleuths on their team.

One of the assignments the volunteers helped with was a project devoted to an alt-right podcast, Fash the Nation. The two reporters had their volunteers sign up to listen to the 15 most recent episodes of the podcast and note who the guests were, what they talked about, and so on. From the submissions they received, they wound up getting a story about an anti-Semitic app that allowed racists to avoid kosher food. Carless said both he and Sankin make a point of thanking their team publicly for their work, as a way of rewarding them. Every time we use the hate sleuths we say very specifically what they did and thank them, Sankin says. We want to keep them engaged, and one way to do that is to tell them what came out of what they did.

ICYMI: Tim Cook doth protest too much about privacy

De Correspondent, Maite Vermeulen says, already sees its readers as partners and contributors rather than just an audience. The Dutch site relies exclusively on member subscribers for revenue, and Rosens interest in that model helped spark the idea for the Membership Puzzle project (he also helped advise De Correspondent on its global expansion). Because we are member funded, being close to our readers is so important, Vermeulen says. We use people who pay for our journalism not only as funders but as sources, so in that sense we were already a couple of steps ahead of others who work for more traditional newsrooms.

For Join the Beat, Vermeulen reached out to readers for advice about moving to Nigeria to report on immigration, and for suggestions about what to cover and how. Those discussions took place in the comments on the De Correspondent site (which only paying members can access). There was a lot of helpful content, Vermeulen saysmore than 500 responsesbut the exercise also taught her that some groundwork is required to make sense of that much reader interaction. One of the most important lessons Ive learned is the curation of your discussion she says. That makes all the difference.

Berger, the Ars Technica writer, used Join the Beat to launch a newsletter about space flight, something he thought would be the kind of passionate niche interest that would suit a personal approach. He had three goals: to find an additional revenue stream (advertising), to push himself to cover the industry in more detail, and to take advantage of his readers expertise. But while he made good progress on the first two, Berger says he mostly struck out on the third. Ive got 10,000 subscribers and an open rate of 50 percent, and I did no marketing at all, he says. But when it comes to participation, Berger says he only came up with a handful of potential contributors, despite multiple callouts in the newsletter and elsewhere. My theory is that the newsletter is sort of like a throwback to the newspapers of old, he says. You get it in your inbox and you can read it but you cant leave a comment. So maybe a newsletter feels like a one-way conversation to people.

More than anything else, Melanie Sill says the various experiments proved traditional journalism isnt really built for extensive reader participation. The traditions of we-report, you-comment dont put beat networking at the front end, she says, and newsrooms often dont see the work done to prepare and organize such efforts as valuable because it doesnt produce any immediate result in terms of stories or coverage. The most successful Join the Beat efforts came in newsrooms where there was institutional support for figuring out these challenges.

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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.
Its hard to drive more than a few blocks in South Buffalo without running into a stately, century-old Roman Catholic church. The working-class neighborhood, full of large, turn-of-the-century houses split into flats, has produced a long list of Irish Catholic lawmakers  most of them Democrats, many with complex views on social issues that dont always fall along party lines. The polarizing and larger-than-life Jimmy Griffin, who occupied the Buffalo mayors office from 1978 through 1993, came from the neighborhood. Rep. Brian Higgins is from those same streets, as are state Sen. Tim Kennedy and newly seated Assemblyman Patrick Burke.

While the neighborhood has diversified in recent decades, as African-Americans and Latinos have moved in, the white Catholic identity remains predominant. The Catholic Church has served as a central gathering point, a social mechanism and a source of power for the community.

For as long as Catholics have been filling the pews in Western New York, church leadership has exerted great power in the neighborhoods and in the halls of government. Growing up, there was a clear deference to whatever the priests wanted, said Burke, himself a practicing Catholic. They sort of controlled everything that was part of that social life.

As has been the case in so many Catholic communities, the Buffalo Dioceses response to allegations of sexual abuse has shaken the church to its core. New documents, obtained from a whistleblower by investigative reporter Charlie Specht and reported throughout 2018, showed a pattern of accused priests returning to the ministry in Western New York that was previously unknown. That has contributed to a new political dynamic: Democrats from South Buffalo are engaging in public battles with the church rarely seen before the sex abuse scandals became public, and they are planning to vote with their party for the Child Victims Act, potentially clearing the bills path to passage.

This past summer, amid a flood of new reporting on the dioceses secretive and callous handling of sexual abuse accusations, Burke became the first lawmaker to call on Bishop Richard Malone, who has defended his handling of the crisis and refused to resign, to step down. Others, including Kennedy and Higgins, followed.

A decade ago, South Buffalo lawmakers publicly calling for a bishop to resign would have been unthinkable. Given the influence that church leaders had with constituents in heavily Catholic districts, challenging them publicly would be a huge political risk.

Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, said that the publics distrust of the church as a result of these scandals has changed that dynamic. I think that its a sign that the Catholic Church has lost that kind of support from many Catholics, he said.

The disconnect between the church, Catholic politicians and their constituents has been growing for some time. But the growing list of sex abuse scandals has brought a new era in the relationship. Catholic politicians no longer want to be seen as accomplices of the Catholic Church, especially on the issue of the sex abuse crisis, Faggioli said.

The Child Victims Act is a response to the sex abuse crisis and a reflection of how it has altered New York politics. With Democrats taking control of the state Senate, it appears that the bill  which would lengthen the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims in both criminal and civil cases  will become law. It has previously passed the Democratic-controlled Assembly and it is supported by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but it had been blocked by the Republican-controlled state Senate despite overwhelming public support.

Opposition among Republicans has generally been ascribed to the Catholic Churchs concern about being opened up to massive liability in potential lawsuits. Dennis Poust, the director of communications for the New York State Catholic Conference, a group that represents dioceses across the state, said the church is concentrating on helping victims, not on its influence at the state Capitol. The Churchs focus is first and foremost on supporting victim-survivors of abuse and helping them to heal, and secondly, on regaining the trust of our people by being transparent about what has occurred in the past and by continuing to build on the safe-environment policies that have been put into place to protect children today, Poust wrote in an emailed statement.

Before The Boston Globe first published its groundbreaking investigation into sexual abuse and cover-ups in the Boston Archdiocese, politicians in heavily Catholic states like New York and Massachusetts were extremely cautious about any disagreements with the Catholic Church. But, with the sex abuse scandals  and perhaps other societal changes, as well  that is evolving.

Many Catholic Democrats, perhaps most famously former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, have had complicated political stances on abortion. Cuomo argued that it was his obligation not to impose his Catholic faith, and its opposition to abortion rights, on a pluralistic society. By contrast, his son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has hardly discussed his Catholicism at all, although he has been criticized by a conservative Catholic theologian for taking communion while living with a girlfriend.

These kinds of divisive issues have bubbled up in Buffalo before. Higgins, the Buffalo congressman who favors abortion rights, left a mass in 2007 after being publicly admonished by a deacon from the pulpit. The diocese later apologized. Kennedy, who was publicly anti-abortion rights when first elected to the state Senate in 2010, was taken to task in statements by Malone after saying his position on abortion had changed in 2014.

Buffalo-area Republicans have been less vocal weighing in on the churchs sex abuse scandal and what should be done about it. State Sen. Patrick Gallivan, a Catholic Republican who grew up in South Buffalo until he was 10, said he believes that  regardless of a politicians faith  lawmakers should do their best to keep their personal gripes with institutions of faith out of the public eye. Gallivan, who represents a district that stretches from the suburbs of Buffalo to the suburbs of Rochester, has not called on Malone to step down and declined to offer his opinion on the matter. I dont think its appropriate for elected officials to be calling for the head of any religious organization to resign, Gallivan said. Its not our role. Youre presumed to have a separation of church and state on certain matters. Gallivan has tried to cut a middle path on the Child Victims Act, backing some, but not all of its provisions.

Until now, until the abuse crisis, there was a kind of truce or peace in the fact that we do not feel compelled to impose laws that follow the Catholic Churchs teachings, Faggioli said. At the same time, we will not do anything to address (scandals) against the Catholic Church.

The church is not the only powerful organization or industry that could potentially be opened up to far greater liability by passage of the Child Victims Act. The Boy Scouts of America, insurers and Orthodox Jewish organizations have lobbied at the state Capitol to keep the bill from coming to the floor.

Since the election, the church has been taking less of a hard line opposition to the bill, saying they are open to discussing a one-year look-back clause, which could potentially open up the decades-old cases. The retroactive nature of that clause had been the focus of previous lobbying efforts.

At a housing event in November, Kennedy, a precise and careful speaker, was reluctant to directly criticize the actions of church leadership and went to great lengths to make clear that sex abuse is a problem that exists far beyond the bounds of the Catholic Church. But he made no bones about his intention to vote for the Child Victims Act. My expectation, and I believe the expectation of the (Democratic) conference, is that the Child Victims Act will be fast-tracked  so that we can finally give relief to the pain and, quite frankly, the suffering  that survivors have had to go through for, sometimes, decades, Kennedy said.

Even some local Republicans are separating themselves from the Catholic Church, trying to forge a middle path. Gallivan introduced his own bill days after the election that would not include a look-back period, but would expand the statute of limitations for sex abuse claims and would make members of the Catholic Church and other institutions mandatory reporters, meaning those who know of potential sexual abuse but fail to report it to law enforcement can be held responsible. His bill would also include new protections for whistleblowers.

He made it clear that while lawmakers should not inject their own religious beliefs into politics and policy, neither should they shy away from writing laws that might hurt their standing with their own religious institutions. I offered it up as a legitimate solution to a problem, and I think its really rational, he said of his bill.

The Catholic Church, once wielding great power in the political world, will need to rethink its relationship with lawmakers. They dont enjoy anymore that type of protection that was typical of a very old, old world, Faggioli said.
The 2016 race to replace four-term U.S. senator Barbara Boxer of California, one of Congresss most liberal politicians, appears likely to result in the election of an even more liberal successor: state attorney general Kamala Harris. In an increasingly polyglot state that exalts appearance and symbolism over substance, the ever-stylish and multiracial Harrisshe is the daughter of an Indian mother and a Jamaican-American fatherfinds herself in the right place at the right time. Shes enjoyed a meteoric rise in California politicsthe first woman, African-American, or Asian-American elected as the states top law-enforcement officer. Whether the Senate will be a political stepping-stone for Harris or a final destination depends on how credibly she portrays herself as a politician with national stature. Her fans compare her with President Barack Obama; her detractors do the same.

Now 51, Harris cruised to reelection as attorney general in 2014, after eking out a close victory over Los Angeles County district attorney Steve Cooley in 2010. (Before becoming attorney general, she served two terms as district attorney of San Francisco, where she unseated popular incumbent Terence Hallinan.) The outcome of the 2010 contest, which took nearly a month to resolve, was decided by just 74,000 out of 8.8 million votes, or a margin of 0.8 percentone of the closest statewide elections in California history. Cooley, a moderate Republican, had been the front-runner in most preelection polls, and he even declared victory on election night. But the results proved too close to call, and Harris eventually prevailed when all provisional and mail-in ballots were counted. And so a position formerly held by Republican law-and-order stalwarts such as George Deukmejian and Dan Lungren, as well as a relatively tough-on-crime liberal like Jerry Brown, fell into the hands of an outspoken opponent of capital punishment whose campaign drew almost no law-enforcement support.

Belying the aspiring governor nickname for state attorneys general, Harris set her sights on the Senate early in 2015, when the 75-year-old Boxer announced that she would retire rather than seek a fifth term in office. Californias liberal hegemony means that the establishment Democrat who wins the primary election this June is practically assured of victory in the November general election. Democrats routinely win statewide contests by more than 1 million votes. The last Republican governor was uber-celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger, first elected in 2003 by a plurality to replace the reviled Gray Davis in an unusual recall election. So far, Harriss only Democratic competition is Loretta Sanchez, a Latina congresswoman from Orange County with little hope of winning. In her ten terms in Congress, Sanchez has earned a reputation as a backbencher prone to gaffes, including scheduling a fund-raiser at the Playboy Mansion and allegedly mocking Native Americans with a whooping gesture, reminiscent of a crude war cry. A potentially more formidable opponent for Harris, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, declined to run, likely eyeing the governorship in 2018.

The Republican Party is currently so weak in California, and the declared GOP candidates for Boxers seat so unimposing, that Harris will probably face Sanchez again in the November general election. (The states open primary system means that the top two primary vote-getters run against each other, regardless of party affiliation.) Early on, Harris won the endorsement of Massachusettss progressive heroine Elizabeth Warren, prompting MSNBC pundit Lawrence ODonnell to declare: Kamala Harris has this thing won. Harris also received the endorsement of the influential Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion and of the formidable Emilys List, a national fund-raising organization for pro-choice women candidates. Thus, the path is clear for Harris to succeed Boxer in the Senateand from there, who knows? Even before Harris had announced her Senate bid, the commentariat floated her name as a possible cabinet secretary and future Supreme Court justice. Her name even pops up as a someday presidential contender.

But first, what type of senator would Harris be, if elected? Shes not a scrapper or a yeller like Boxer. Nor does she display the independencelet alone the occasional fit of moderationof Californias senior senator, 82-year-old Dianne Feinstein. Impeccably dressed, usually adorned with a string of pearls, Harris cuts an attractive figure. President Obama sheepishly apologized in 2013 for calling her by far the best-looking attorney general in the country. But the Senate is full of inflated egos and preening peacocks, so Harriss fashion sense and glamorous mien wont suffice to distinguish her in the upper chamber.

Lacking prior legislative experience, and with a resume short on federal issues, Harris will have to work hard and display smarts to stand out. So far, she has shown little appetite or aptitude for imaginative initiatives; she prefers to take predictable (and not particularly cerebral) positions on the issues, reflexively advocating the interests of immigrants, unions, and trial lawyers. As The Economist noted, She offers few bold or risky ideas. The Washington press corps will be harder to impress and less forgiving of mistakes than the California reporters she has charmed up to now. While surpassing Boxer in effectiveness isnt an especially high bar, Harris might be hard-pressed to do it.

Yet Harris is nothing if not ambitious and opportunistic. Early in her career, the 29-year-old Harris dated California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who was 60 at the timeand married. (Brown went on to become San Franciscos first black mayor after term limits ended his storied run as Speaker for Life in Sacramento.) As speaker, Brown appointed Harristhen a young deputy district attorney in Alameda Countyto high-profile, lucrative positions on the states Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission. These cushy sinecures paid her more than $400,000 between 1994 and 1999.

After Brown and Harris split, Brown continued to support her politically, using his mayoral perch to help her become San Franciscos first black (and first female) district attorney. To get there, she took out Terence Hallinan, an old lefty firebrand and two-term incumbent seemingly perfectly suited to the City by the Bay. Hallinans political fate was sealed in 2002, however, when he indicted the San Francisco Police Departments police chief and nine senior officers in a scandal that the local media dubbed Fajitagate. Hallinan claimed that the departments leadership covered up a deputy chiefs sons involvement in an alleged fight and theft at a Mexican restaurant. Eventually, most of the charges were dropped, the two officers put on trial were acquitted, and an embarrassed Hallinan lost his reelection bid to Harris by 12 points.

The Washington Post has called Harris the next Barack Obama, and the two have many things in common: theyre about the same age, were both trained as lawyers and activists, and exude a certain movie-star charisma, at least to liberal supporters. Like Obamas parents, Harriss divorced when she was young, and both Obama and Harris grew up in comfortable circumstances. Harriss father, Donald, was one of the first black economics professors at Stanford. Its no surprise that Harris became the first public official in California to endorse Obama for president. Further, Harriss younger sister, Maya, the former head of the Northern California chapter of the ACLU, is married to Tony West, who served as one of Eric Holders chief lieutenants at the Justice Department. Harris lacks Obamas rhetorical skills, however. Her prime-time speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, elicited lukewarm reviews, and she seldom strays from prepared remarks. Nor can Harris boast Obamas Ivy League credentials. She earned her undergraduate degree from the historically black Howard University and graduated from the University of Californias second-tier Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.

Like Obama, though, Harris is a committed progressive. Shes a reliable supporter of liberal policies andas Obama did when he sought the presidencygenerally avoids high-profile controversies, maintaining a centrist public image (by California standards). For example, she has declined to take a position on Governor Jerry Browns much-derided Los AngelestoSan Francisco high-speed rail project, which will cost at least $68 billion, according to recent estimates.

Harriss political caution doesnt always trump her deep-seated progressive instincts. She made a potentially disastrous misstep early in her tenure as San Francisco D.A., when she decided not to seek the death penalty for a cop killer. In 2004, during a routine traffic stop, a black gang member, David Hill, ambushed a popular young SFPD officer, Isaac Espinoza, gunning him down with an AK-47 assault rifle. Espinoza, who left behind a wife and young daughter, had no chance even to draw his weapon; his partner was wounded but recovered. The San Francisco Police Officers Association, which had endorsed Harris in 2003, vigorously opposed her decision. In her campaign for D.A., Harris had run as an opponent of capital punishment, contending that it gets applied disproportionately to members of minority groups. Yet even anti-death-penalty liberals often make an exception for cop killers. Not Harris. Spurning pleas from Espinozas family, she said: I approach the work of being a prosecutor as the responsibility to do justice. Its not about the responsibility to lock people up for the maximum amount of time. It is the responsibility to make sure the criminal justice system has integrity. Harriss stand probably would have derailed the career of a district attorney in any other city in California.

California attorney general Bill Lockyer (a liberal Democrat) reviewed Harriss decision but didnt overturn it, concluding that she hadnt abused her prosecutorial discretionthough he noted that he would have sought a death sentence if he were the D.A. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer publicly disagreed with Harriss decision. Boxer went so far as to urge that Hill be prosecuted under federal death-penalty laws. Even Gavin Newsom, San Franciscos mayor at the time, said that the case rattled his opposition to capital punishment. But Harris, while damaged by the case, didnt lose the support of San Franciscos famously liberal voters.

Harriss dogged refusal to seek the death penalty led to further controversy in 2009, when she announced that she would seek life imprisonment, rather than capital punishment, against Edwin Ramos, an illegal alien from El Salvador and MS-13 gang member who murdered a father and two of his sons in a drive-by shooting the year before (a third son, critically wounded, survived). The victims were returning home from a family picnic when Ramos opened fire, apparently mistaking them for gang rivals.

Harris tried to overcome the soft-on-crime stigma by prosecuting more murderers than had her predecessor, who relied more often on plea bargains. She launched heavily hyped anticrime initiatives such as Back on Track, which reportedly reduced the recidivism rate for certain categories of offenders (including some illegal aliens) by providing job training and education in lieu of incarceration. Even so, under Harris, the San Francisco district attorneys incarceration ratesthe number of prison terms per arrestwere among Californias slightest, fully ten times lower than in San Diego County.

As liberal as Californians may be otherwise, they have often favored tough-on-crime policies, including the death penalty. In 2012, for instance, Golden State voters defeated Proposition 54, which would have abolished capital punishment. Yet despite Harriss apparent laxity toward criminals, voters narrowly elected her to the attorney generals office in 2010.

California has never had an attorney general less interested in punishing criminals. Harris has continued to manifest her hostility to capital punishment. In 2014, when a federal district judge in Orange County, Cormac Carney, quixotically ruled Californias death penalty unconstitutional because of delays and uncertainty (only 13 inmates have been executed since 1978, out of hundreds on death row), Harris didnt publicly condemn the risible decision. She grudgingly decided to appeal, but only on the grounds that she was obligated to do so by professional duty.

In 2014, every professional law-enforcement organization in California and 55 of 58 county district attorneys opposed Proposition 47, a ballot measure that, by reducing several felony offenses to misdemeanors, would result in thousands of prisoners going free. Harris refused to take a position one way or the other. Prop. 47 passed. Predictably, crime in California has increased; but so far, Harris has taken no action to reform the ill-conceived measure. Instead, a group of district attorneys led by San Bernardino Countys Mike Ramos are working to repeal Prop. 47. (Ramos, a Republican, announced in January 2015 that he would run to replace Harris.) Harris similarly infuriated law-enforcement agencies in 2015 when she decided not to enforce a provision of Proposition 83, a measure that voters passed in 2006 to bar the states approximately 6,000 paroled sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks. The California Supreme Court had ruled that the residency restrictions violated the constitutional rights of sex offenders living in San Diego County because of a dearth there of compliant housing. The court declined to rule on the legality of the restrictions in the states 57 other counties. Harris, however, concluded that the residency restrictions were invalid everywhereand then refused to make public her legal reasoning. She unilaterally waived legal restrictions supported by more than 70 percent of California voters, without a word of explanation.

The attorney general has also refused to enforce federal immigration laws, vigorously defending San Franciscos sanctuary-city ordinance and opposing Californias participation in the federal Secure Communities program, which requires local authorities to detain criminal suspects for deportation if theyre illegal aliens. Even in the wake of the highly publicized killing in 2015 of Kate Steinle by Jose Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal alien from Mexico with a string of prior felonies and five previous deportations, Harris wouldnt criticize San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi for his earlier refusal to deliver Lopez-Sanchez to the immigration authorities. In contrast to San Francisco mayor Ed Lee and Senator Feinstein, who lambasted Mirkarimi, Harris insisted that he acted legally and within his discretion. What needs to be looked at, she told the San Francisco Chronicle, is comprehensive immigration reform. Harris added: Immigration policy in our country has to be reformed, and it has to be based on the fact that we have 11 million undocumented in this countryand California has the largest numbers of undocumented, in excess of 2 million people. In California, one in two Californians was born outside the United States, or has a parent born outside the U.S.including myself. In response to Donald Trumps criticism of illegal immigration, Harris declared, an undocumented immigrant is not a criminalignoring the fact that being undocumented in the United States is, in fact, a federal crime.

In a strikingly left-of-center intervention in 2014, Harris agreed to a settlement with Rodney Quine, a litigious transgender prisoner serving a life sentence for murder without possibility of parole, allowing him to have a costly sex-change operation at taxpayer expense. Quines attorneys argued that forcing him to retain the genitals he was born with while in prison violated the Eighth Amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Harris praised the settlement as an important step forward in the ongoing effort to protect transgender rights in California. Nearly 400 male prisoners in California currently taking female hormones may now be eligible for such operations in the future, if recommended by medical experts.

Beyond law-enforcement issues, Harris has been a reliable advocate for the progressive agenda. She favors gun control and has criticized Congress for failing to pass restrictive legislation following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. As district attorney, Harris filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, arguing that the Second Amendment does not protect an individuals right to own firearms.

After she became state attorney general, Harris continued her predecessor Jerry Browns refusal to defend on appeal Proposition 8, a voter-approved state constitutional amendment supporting traditional marriage, because of her personal disagreement with it. The measures proponents had to litigate the appeal on their own. In Hollingsworth v. Perry (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court then ruled that the proponents lacked the standing to defend the law on appeal, which left in place a federal district court ruling that the amendment was unconstitutional. The Los Angeles Times astutely noted that Prop. 8 died only for lack of a defender, not because the court reached the serious constitutional questions at the heart of it.

Harris has shown disdain for Californias initiative process in other ways. One of the attorney generals responsibilities is assigning a short name and description for proposed ballot initiatives, ahead of the signature-gathering process. The name and description are supposed to be accurate and unbiased. When citizen-driven initiatives have run counter to certain Democratic special interests, however, Harris has been willing to cast them in a negative light, to hamper their chancesas she did for a recent pension-reform initiative, sponsored by former San Jose mayor Chuck Reed and former San Diego city councilman Carl DeMaio. The measure would have required voter approval for defined-benefit pension plans for future public employees, which drive up public costs by guaranteeing pension returns, regardless of market conditions. Harris issued a misleading description suggesting that the measure eliminates constitutional protections for current employees, among them those working in K12 schools, higher education, hospitals, and police protection. Reed and DeMaio withdrew the measure rather than promote it under such a misleading description.

Harris has used her authority over the initiative process to put her thumb on the scale in favor of Democratic Party interests, as well. In 2014, she sanitized the trial-lawyer-backed Proposition 46, a transparent attempt to remove the cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases put into place by the landmark Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975. Harriss deceptive ballot description characterized the measure as requiring drug and alcohol testing of doctors, but voters overwhelmingly rejected the ploy. Even liberal newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle criticized Harriss manipulation of Prop. 46. Voters should not be fooled by the title and summary put together by Attorney General Kamala Harriss office that focuses on the testing as if it were the centerpiece of the measure, the paper editorialized. It is not. (Harris has been a less-than-stellar steward of ballot titles and summaries throughout her term, often skewing them with loaded language for political effect. Her descriptions of everything from pension reforms to tax increases have been so egregiously unfair that they raise the question of whether the responsibility should rest with a less-partisan officeholder). The more conservative San Diego Union-Tribune accused Harris of intentionally deceiving voters by highlighting one of the fig leaves that trial lawyers attached to the measure to hide their real intent. Its in keeping with her long history of using misleading ballot titles and summaries to help measures her allies like and hurt measures they dont. Not often is a statewide elected official pilloried by both ends of the political spectrum in the Golden State.

As her intervention with Prop. 46 suggests, Harris enthusiastically curries favor with labor unions. For example, her position grants Harris broad authority to review and approve transactions involving nonprofit hospitals, and she has used that power to protect unionized employees at the expense of fiscal sanity. The nonprofit Daughters of Charity in Los Angeles County run six hospitals in low-income urban areas, including a well-trafficked trauma unit that handles the highest rate of gunshot and stab wounds in the county. With a largely uninsured clientele and high labor costs, the hospitals lose about $10 million a month and are headed for bankruptcy. The Daughters of Charity found a buyer for the hospitals: for-profit operator Prime Healthcare, which specializes in pulling troubled hospitals into the black. But hospital employees, represented by the powerful Service Employees International Unionwhich has endorsed Harris for the Senatewere unwilling to make concessions to Prime Healthcare. At SEIUs behest, Harris imposed more than 300 conditions on the sale, requiring Prime Healthcare to continue all existing services for ten years, in order to protect union jobs. Prime officials complained that the attorney general is telling Prime Healthcare to operate the hospitals exactly as [Daughters of Charity] has and expect different results. Prime Healthcare abandoned its $834 million bid but has filed suit against Harris, alleging that the conditions she imposed were a quid pro quo for SEIUs financial support. The Daughters of Charity reapplied with the state last August, this time in a proposed deal with New Yorkbased BlueMountain Capital Management, a hedge fund. On December 3, Harris put similar conditions on the proposed investment by BlueMountain, which chose to proceed with a three-year option to purchase despite the conditions. The long-term viability of the hospitals remains in doubt.

In 2014, Harris and her union allies supported legislation (SB 1094) that would have made the A.G.s authority over such transactions essentially unlimited, final, and unreviewable. The state legislaturebeholden to organized laborobligingly passed the law. Governor Brown vetoed the bill, explaining that the existing regulatory schemein place for nearly two decades and subject to judicial reviewwas working fine.

Polls for the 2016 Senate race show Harris leading Sanchez, 30 percent to 17 percent, among likely voters (followed by Republican state assemblyman Rocky Chavez, with 9 percent). Harris has raised $6 million for her run so far, compared with Sanchezs roughly $1 million and Chavezs paltry $100,000. With a statewide media presence, Harris has a significant edge over Sanchez, who competes for attention with roughly two dozen other members of Congress in the Los Angeles media market.

In September 2015, Harris exploited that advantage by announcing an investigation into Volkswagens use of fraudulent diesel-emission devices to defeat smog tests. Earlier in the year, she launched a high-profile investigation of Michael Peevey, who had resigned as president of the California Public Utilities Commission after 12 years. Peevey allegedly offered leniency to Pacific Gas & Electric in exchange for donations to political causes of his choosing when he oversaw the commissions inquiry into a 2010 PG&E pipeline explosion that killed eight people. Angry voters respond well to prosecutors pursuing white-collar miscreants. Meantime, Harris touts her progressive policy agenda, including support for expanding access to family leave, sick days, and preschool child care, all popular items among California voters. Harris also favors amnesty for illegal immigrants, a higher federal minimum wage, greater protection of abortion rights, and an end to the federal ban on medical marijuana.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Harriss Senate bid is the extent to which political commentators and once-inquisitive reporters are willing to overlook her performance and repeated betrayals of her oath, while obsessing about her good looks, Chanel handbags, and Manolo Blahnik shoes. The medias obeisance to identity politics puts Harris in an enviable position. California is poised to elect a candidate to the left of Barbara Boxer and more nakedly ambitious than Hillary Clinton (whom Harris has endorsed for president). Yet interviewers focus on the trivial. I desperately want her wardrobe, enthused Dana Perino in Harpers Bazaar. Another adoring interviewer cooed, Im a little embarrassed to admit how much I like Kamala Harris, littering a puff piece with adjectives such as gorgeous, personally dazzling, and inspiring. We have not seen such starstruck credulity since Barack Obama emerged on the national scene in 2008 and Chris Matthews admitted that he felt this thrill going up my leg. In this respect, Harris is indeed the female Obamaone whose poor track record in public office needs much greater scrutiny as she prepares to assume the national stage.

Photo: The glamorous attorney general has been a relentless activist for left-wing causes. (MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP PHOTO)
A. There needs to be a traffic light there instead.

B. A roundabout will work just fine in that location.

C. Roundabouts are confusing and terrible. It shouldn't happen.

D. That intersection is not a priority for change, so just leave it the way it is.

Vote

View Results
Hundreds of advocates for private school vouchers and other forms of school choice rallied on the grounds of the Texas Capitol on Wednesday but with less momentum than they appeared to have in past legislative sessions.

New Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen has already said the House has little interest in delving into the issue of private school vouchers and the issue has not been a big talking point for either Gov. Greg Abbott or Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick this year. It is a considerable shift from two years ago when both Republican leaders had it high on their lists of priorities. Patrick, Bonnen and Abbott all did not attend the school choice rally in front of the Capitol this year. Two years ago, Patrick and Abbott were featured speakers at the event.

Still, that didnt stop supporters of school choice on Wednesday from hitting the Capitol in force to promote charter schools, magnet schools, homeschooling and other non-traditional public school programs. After the rally, which featured speeches from Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the crowd of parents and students filtered through the Capitol talking to lawmakers and their staffs about the benefits of other schooling options.

Randan Steinhauser, who helped organize Wednesdays events and is a founder of the Texas School Choice Coalition, said that while voucher legislation isnt advancing, other parts of the school choice movement are gaining steam.

School choice is more than one policy proposal, she said.

State Sen. Larry Taylor, a Friendswood Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said he fully supports school choice still and was among those at the rally. But, he acknowledges this session has different priorities than 2017.

My priority this session is school finance, Taylor said in an interview after the rally.

Two years ago, it was Taylor who led the efforts in the Senate to pass legislation that would have allowed state dollars to help pay for private school tuition subsidies.

State Sen. Jose Menendez, a San Antonio Democrat, said he cant imagine school voucher legislation getting much support in a year that the Legislature is trying to fix school funding issues in Texas. He said doing something that could take more money out of public schools would be counterproductive to that mission.

Every year since Ive been here in 2001, that issue has been brought up by somebody, Menendez said of school vouchers. Its gone nowhere.

Though Patrick did not attend the rally, his press secretary Alejandro Garcia said the issue is still an important one.

School choice is important to the lieutenant governor, especially for children with disabilities, Garcia said. He believes it is particularly important for parents of a disabled child to be able to send their child to the school they believe is best to educate their child, regardless of whether it is public or private.

The battle over school choice has been divisive for not just Democrats, but created strains within the GOP ranks as well. Just this week, Patrick, as leader of the Senate, stripped longtime State Sen. Kel Seliger, an Amarillo Republican, of his committee chairmanship on Agriculture over tensions that trace back to Seligers opposition to school voucher legislation. Seliger was an open critic of the school voucher legislation Patrick advocated for in 2017, saying people in his West Texas district opposed the idea.

At the rally, Cruz declared school choice as the civil rights issue of the 21st Century. The Houston area Republican said school choice can help families from every background access excellent education through private schools, charters or other options.

Justice is on our side, Cruz said. You know the rich and the middle class have had school choice from the dawn of time. Those with lots of money have the ability to choose the educational option for their kids. School choice is about assuring every child has that option regardless of if mom or dad have a bunch of money in the bank or not.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
Eric Gay, STF / Associated Press

The Texas Legislature is starting to pick up the pace after House Committee assignments were announced on Wednesday.

Whats happening at the Texas Capitol on Thursday:
Fox News will host a town hall event called "Battle at the Border" later this week in San Antonio.

The discussion, which will focus on "immigration, the border and issues important to Texas voters," is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday at the JW Marriott resort in the 23800 block of Resort Parkway.
Laura Rosales is excited for the future.

The 30-year-old Houston architect is originally from Maracaibo, a coastal city in Venezuela. But as the South American country fell into chaos, Rosales said she had to "practically run away."

On Wednesday, Rosales joined her boyfriend and hundreds more in a parking lot near Uptown Houston to celebrate what demonstrators called the beginning of a return of democracy to Venezuela.

"We know it's a slow process," Rosales said. But "we're really excited."

The demonstration  one of at least 160 worldwide, according to organizers  was a response to events in the United States and abroad. Juan Guaido, a Venezuelan politician and president of the National Assembly, earlier in the day had declared himself the legitimate leader of the troubled country.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro dismissed the move, citing a history of "gringo interventions and coup d'etats." But President Donald Trump accepted Guaido's claim, announcing on Twitter that he now views Guaido as the new president of the South American nation.

For the elated crowd standing in the cold and wind along Westheimer, it was clear whose side they were on.

"Houston presents Juan Guaido as president," they chanted at one point, in Spanish.

Waving Venezuelan flags and wearing the red, yellow and blue colors of their country, the crowd had come to show support for Guaido and defiance to Maduro.

They'd come, said Dennis Peterson Mejia, 22, a native of Venezuela, because they were tired of Maduro allegedly "killing with hunger, lack of medicine and lack of security."

"The dictatorship is already down," added Mejia, who was demonstrating with his mother. "We don't want any more murder from the dictatorship of Maduro."

Jorge Marquez, originally from Venezuela's Anzoategui State, had helped organize the Houston demonstration through the group Unidad Houston. On Instagram and other social media platforms, Marquez helped spread the word about the gathering.

Marquez told people to come at 3 p.m.  but, when he arrived at 2 o'clock, hundreds already had turned out, he said. At its peak, roughly 2000 people were demonstrating, according to estimates by police.

"We're more than happy," Marquez said. "We're convening to recover freedom."

The demonstration snarled traffic on Westheimer at rush hour. Car after car let out short, supportive honks as it drove by.

One woman leaned out her car, holding a Venezuelan flag. "Venezuela libre!" she shouted.

The crowd cheered.

Houston Police Sergeant Tim Zaragoza, who was helping to keep order, described the crowd as "well-behaved" and "cooperative."

At around 5 p.m., another officer, Al Olvera, drove his police cruiser to move demonstrators off the lot. Through a loudspeaker, he told them in Spanish that "they're welcome to stay but not on the property," as he later translated.

The crowd started to oblige, moving out to the sidewalk, posing for pictures with officers. But Olvera had one more thing to say.

"Viva Venezuela," he added. The crowd cheered.

The protest in Houston had both historic and geographic significance. January 23 was a special day in Venezuela, several demonstrators said, because it marked the fall of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, in 1958.

Besides, this parking lot was just down the street from the Consulate General of Venezuela  a symbol to many demonstrators of the collapsing Maduro government.

The consulate could not be reached for comment , and its voicemail was full and could not accept new messages.
A district judge Wednesday barred a suspected drunken driver from drinking, driving or even visiting an establishment where alcohol is served, after he was charged in a weekend accident that left a young girl fighting for her life in a local hospital.

Isreal Suarez Lugo, 34, was freed after posting a $40,000 bail, and will also have to wear an ankle monitor capable of detecting alcohol.

The oil company worker was released from the Harris County jail just hours after state District Judge Maria Jackson raised his bail amount from $5,000 to $40,000, after hearing that a five-year-old girl injured in a weekend crash may die from her injuries.

Giselle is fighting for her life and it doesnt look good, prosecutor Sean Teare said after the brief hearing. Its an absolute tragedy.

The girls plight has re-ignited the debate on how to improve Houstons reputation as the nations capital of drunk driving fatalities.

In court, Teare asked the judge to set Lugos bail at $80,000, and informed the judge that the girl may be brain-dead as a result of the crash.

Defense lawyers for Lugo said they do not believe he was intoxicated or that he caused the wreck.

I think hes an innocent man, said Paul Looney, who is defending Lugo along with co-counsel Clay Conrad. I dont think he was intoxicated and I think well be able to prove it. And I dont think hes the one who ran the red light.

He said police have used the tab from a large group of people that he was drinking with at a bar to make it look like he drank a massive amount of alcohol.

Theyve a bar check thats over a $100. There was a big group of people, Looney said. A very small fraction was his.

Looney said Lugo is devastated by the wreck and that a child was injured.

Hes been skewered and I dont think its justified.

Lugo. who is facing two charges of intoxication assault, could be charged with intoxication manslaughter if the young girl were to die of her injuries. The two-car collision wreck in the Greater East End injured four people on Sunday.

In court, Teare told the judge that Lugo was driving a red GMC Sierra truck about 1:50 a.m. when he ran a red light at Harrisburg and 75th without braking, and crashed into a Cadillac sedan. Teare said another passenger in the Cadillac had broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a punctured lung and a lacerated artery leading to her brain.

The prosecutor said in court that Lugo failed his field sobriety tests and admitted to drinking 12 Michelob Ultra beers at Time Out #1 Sports bar on Fuqua.

He was apparently heading to his brothers home to drink more when the wreck took place, Teare told the judge.

When he appeared in court, Lugo was represented by attorney Conrad who told the judge that he is a Houston resident and is not a flight risk or a danger to the community.

Conrad said Lugo works as a project manager for an oilfield service company.

Hes not an alcoholic or someone who is out of control, Conrad told the judge.

While the three older victims were not as seriously injured in the Sunday morning wreck, the child received traumatic brain injuries and was rushed into surgery. Family members, who have said they fear the girl may soon die, were in the courtroom but declined to comment on the hearing.

After the hearing, Teare noted that if the girl dies, she will be the fifth person killed in Harris County that night in driving fatalities that were likely due to intoxication.

We lead the nation, he said. Were the worst offender out there.

A recent Houston Chronicle analysis showed that about 12 people die in traffic fatalities every week in Harris County.
Detectives are investigating a deadly shooting Tuesday in north Houston.

A man was shot in the 800 block of Chas Lane, near Tidwell Road, around 2 p.m., police said.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The shooter fled in a black Nissan Altima, police said.

No other information was available. Check back for updates as they come in.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
A Houston man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Wednesday for setting fire to his two housemates in 2016, leaving one with burns so severe he died.

Curtis Lee Holliman, 35, nodded slightly as state District Judge Kelli Johnson read the jurys verdict. The jury in the murder trial deliberated about seven hours before determining Hollimans punishment for starting a fatal fire in the home of well-known criminal defense attorney Kirby Taylor.

Kirby Taylor watched his only child burn to death just a few feet away from him, prosecutor Jennifer Meriwether said in a statement. That was the last time he saw his son aliveas he watched him fight for his life. We can only hope the jurys sentence gives him some sort of closure.

She was referring to Dexter Taylor, 45, who died eight hours after the attack from third degree burns over 100 percent of his body, according to testimony.

Were not happy,  said defense attorney Skip Cornelius, as he left the courtroom.

Cornelius had argued that his client was insane at the time of the slaying and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The sentence capped a seven-day trial in which Holliman testified he threw gasoline on attorney Kirby Taylor and his adult son, Dexter Taylor on Martin Luther King Day in 2016. He then set them on fire with a barbeque lighter.

In 2008, Holliman, then 25, moved in with noted criminal defense attorney Kirby Taylor, then 60, after a stint behind bars for a using marijuana. The attorney met Holliman at a church function and took him in instead of making him go to a halfway house.

By 2016, their relationship had soured and the lawyer had moved into a motel nearby, letting Holliman and his son live at the two-story red brick home in Houstons museum district.

Holliman testified he was taking at least triple the amount of the amphetamine Adderall that he had been prescribed when he began having paranoid delusions that the two men planned to harm him. Those delusions, he said, caused subliminal messages that he and his family back in were being threatened.

He said those fears caused him to confront the two men and when he thought they laughed at him, he ran upstairs where he had an open container of gasoline he had bought to refuel his motor scooter. He brought it down and soaked both the father and son with gasoline, then set the older mans back on fire. The lawyer tried to run outside, then went back to his son, igniting him.

Holliman testifed he could have run out the front door of Taylors home, but instead ran back upstairs to his room, went out a second floor window and climbed down a tree.

He told the jury he made his way to the University of Houston, where he was enrolled, and tried to go to the counseling center. Finding it closed, he called a friend from church and tried to get a plane ticket to Virginia, where he grew up.

Earlier in the trial, Kirby Taylor broke down as he told the jury about his painful recovery from being burned over 30 percent of his body, and the loss of his son.

Very painful, he said. When youre set on fire, you feel pain like that.

The attorney testified that neither he nor his son laughed at Holliman, and that his son simply smiled after he confronted them with his paranoid delusions.

The attorney did not attend Wednesdays sentencing.
GALVESTON  Attorneys for Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the student accused of killing 10 and wounding 13 during a shooting rampage at Santa Fe High School last May, cited pervasive and factually baseless media coverage as contributing to a local prejudice that would hinder Pagourtzis chances of receiving a fair trial in Galveston County.

In the defenses arguments for a trial venue change filed Tuesday, Nick Poehl, one of three attorneys representing Pagourtzis, argued that the pretrial publicity of the May 18 shooting and its aftermath has contributed to intrusive publicity that has generated feelings within the local community that go beyond the families, friends, and neighbors of the victims.

PROMISE KEPT: Justin Timberlake gives Santa Fe shooting victim VIP tickets to show

Poehl cited comments made by Galveston County Judge Mark Henry in a televised interview on Fox News in which he said he didnt believe Pagourtzis inability to receive the death penalty  he is 18, but was 17 when the shooting occurred  was fair or just. Poehl also noted that every law enforcement agency in Galveston County had officers present at the scene of the crime.

A spreadsheet submitted as evidence by Pagourtzis' defense team cites hundreds of news stories since May 18 to underscore his argument that the media attention has stirred biased attention towards the case. One story published by the New York Post, in which Pagourtzis was alleged to have targeted one of the victims because she rejected his romantic advances Poehl said was false and generated by the victims biological mother in an apparent attempt to profit via a GoFundMe page connected to the tragedy.

Poehl argues that another jurisdiction outside of Galveson County would produce an unbiased jury to determine the facts of the case, and not based upon the jurors own personal recollections, impact from the events in question, and relationship to family members and friends of any potential witness or victim.

EARLIER: Venue change sought for teen in fatal Texas school shooting

Reached by phone Tuesday evening, Poehl was circumspect in his comments on his arguments for a venue change.

The document speaks for itself and were looking forward to having the judge hear it, Poehl said.

The proliferation of social media attention the case has received is also cited as key evidence by Poehl, including comments made in popular local Facebook forums that threaten his client directly.

One notable comment cited as evidence by the defense was posted on the Facebook page for I45 Now, a local news site covering Clear Lake and Galveston County. A commenter posted, Hang his ass already. Ill do it for free, with the help of some strong people to pull the damn rope.

Another comment the defense submitted was posted on the Facebook page for the TV station KHOU11 underneath a story about Pagourtzis request for a venue change: Okay lets approve this please, but let the new trial start off in the electric chair. Let him ride the lightning.

Pagourtzis' defense team filed a motion for a venue change for the upcoming trial on Jan. 8. The prosecutors in the case from the Galveston County District Attorney's office, as well as families of victims from the May 18 shooting, oppose the venue change. The prosecution has not yet filed its argument against a venue change, according to court records.

A status conference in the case will be held Jan. 28 before Judge John Ellisor in the 122nd District Court in Galveston. Poehl said both the defense and prosecution are playing it by ear as to whether Ellisor will make a decision on the venue change before or during the status conference, and that Ellisor has gone back and forth on just how substantive the hearing would be.

Now its getting to the point where I think [Ellisor] wants to return a little more towards the normal course of business, even though he knows theres a long way to go on this, Poehl said.

The upcoming court date will be Pagourtzis first court appearance since a grand jury indicted him last Aug. 9 on charges of capital murder and a first-degree felony of aggravated assault on a peace officer. He is not expected to appear in the courtroom but may appear via video conference from Galveston County Jail, where he is being held in solitary confinement.

Pagourtzis faces a life sentence if convicted, and could be eligible for parole in 40 years. A federal investigation into the Santa Fe shooting also is ongoing.

nick.powell@chron.com
The Texas Education Agency is investigating possible open meetings violations by some Houston ISD trustees last year when they engaged in private discussions that led to the abrupt ouster of Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan.

TEA officials notified the district Tuesday that an investigation would begin following "multiple complaints" made to the agency over the vote to replace Lathan with former district superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, according to a letter sent to Lathan and HISD board President Diana Davila. The Houston Chronicle reviewed a portion of the letter outlining the allegations.

"Houston ISD Board of Trustees may have violated The Open Meetings Act by deliberating district business prior to a regularly scheduled board meeting regarding the potential removal of the current interim superintendent and the installation of a new interim superintendent," the notice read.

TEA officials confirmed they opened a special accreditation investigation into HISD, though they declined to specify the nature of the inquiry.

LONG-STRUGGLING SCHOOLS: Principals see progress, uncertainty remains at 4 HISD campuses

A special accreditation investigation gives TEA officials wide discretion to review potential wrongdoing and issue a range of sanctions. If investigators find repeated or extensive misconduct, the most severe punishment could be a state takeover of the district's locally elected board. However, state leaders could issue nominal punishment aimed at preventing future missteps by trustees.

HISD is already under oversight from a state-appointed conservator, who is monitoring the district's Board of Trustees and efforts to improve academic performance at several long-struggling campuses. The district faces a possible state takeover of its school board if any one of four long-struggling schools fails to meet state academic standards this year.

Several trustees said they would fully cooperate with the investigation.

"We've always had the open-door policy," said Davila, who was elected board president last week. "We have nothing to hide."

A walking quorum?

The investigation stems from an October 2018 vote by five trustees  Davila, Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, Elizabeth Santos, Sergio Lira and Anne Sung  to replace Lathan.

The vote came with no advance warning to the public, and the board's four other members have said they were unaware that colleagues planned to seek Lathan's ouster.

Saavedra backed out of the job three days after the vote, citing "dysfunction" at the school board level. Trustees then voted to reinstate Lathan.

Saavedra told the Chronicle in October that he spoke independently with the five trustees who voted for his appointment prior to the vote. Some of the five trustees have said they communicated one-on-one, but they did not meet as a group.

Under Texas open meetings law, deliberations between school board members about "public business or public policy" subject to a vote must take place at public meetings. State investigators likely will seek any evidence of communications between trustees that could constitute a so-called "walking quorum," which refers to a deliberate effort by elected officials to communicate as a group in private.

A violation of the open meetings laws can also be considered a criminal action that could be investigated by local prosecutors.

Davila said she only communicated with Flynn Vilaseca before the vote. She added she was unaware of the nature of conversations between other trustees.

"I don't know what those discussions entailed and when they happened," Davila said. "I can't say that a walking quorum occurred in the district."

CHANGES ON HISD BOARD: Veteran trustee Davila chosen president of Houston ISD board

Lira said he will "absolutely cooperate with the TEA investigation" when asked Tuesday evening, as board members became apprised of the investigation. Lira said he "did speak with one trustee" about Saavedra prior to the vote, but he was "absolutely not" concerned that he engaged in misconduct.

"It was just a possible suggestion on the motion that was shared at the board meeting," Lira said.

Santos said Tuesday evening she would be "completely transparent" with TEA investigators. Efforts to reach Flynn Vilaseca and Sung were unsuccessful.

The four trustees who are not accused of coordinating  Wanda Adams, Sue Deigaard, Jolanda Jones and Rhonda Skillern-Jones, who was board president at the time  declined to comment or could not be reached.

Facing possible sanctions

HISD has been under state scrutiny since September 2016, when the TEA appointed former Aldine ISD administrator Doris Delaney to monitor Kashmere High School. The campus has now failed to meet state academic standards for nine consecutive years, the longest streak in Texas.

Delaneys oversight role expanded in the summer of 2017 to include monitoring of the school districts governing board and academic outcomes at low-performing campuses. Delaneys presence in HISD for more than 12 months triggered a state law that gives Education Commissioner Mike Morath the authority to replace the HISD board. Morath has not exercised that option.

HISD also faces the potential of a state board takeover under a separate law, known as HB 1842, which has loomed over the district for more than a year. The statute states the TEA commissioner must close campuses or replace the locally elected school board in any district where a single campus receives five consecutive improvement required ratings for poor academic performance.

HISD avoided those sanctions in August 2018 when four chronically low-performing schools met state academic standards. However, four more schools could trigger the punishment later this year in August.

Degrees of seriousness

A state accreditation investigation can be launched for various reasons, ranging from financial mismanagement and inaccurate data reporting to violations of state law.

In Harlandale ISD, for example, the TEA last year recommended the appointment of a board of managers after a preliminary special accreditation investigation found improper financial practices and dysfunctional governance in the San Antonio-area district. Harlandale leaders are contesting the findings, and no sanctions have yet been imposed.

In Hearne ISD, northwest of College Station, a special accreditation investigation into legal compliance failures and financial issues led to a lowered accreditation rating and additional state oversight in 2017. Morath initially chose to replace Hearnes school board, but later reversed course by issuing lighter sanctions.

A special accreditation investigation can involve on-site evidence collection and interviews of anyone with relevant knowledge. Once the investigation is complete, the TEA prepares a preliminary report stating findings of fact and recommended sanctions. School districts are allowed to respond to the preliminary report before the TEA finalizes its findings and decisions about punishment.

Kevin OHanlon, who served as TEAs general counsel from 1991 to 1994 and has represented several school districts facing special accreditation investigations, said any sanctions issued against HISD trustees likely would depend on whether state investigators find wrongdoing beyond a one-time open meetings violation.

Trustees do (talk) all the time. Not to excuse it, but training usually takes care of that, said OHanlon, who is not involved in the HISD case. Thats a different degree of seriousness than if a shadow government is taking place.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

twitter.com/chronjacob
Eric Gay, STF / AP

The action is starting to pick up in the Texas Legislature as lawmakers head into their 16th day of the 140-day legislative session. Heres what to expect on Wednesday.

SCHOOL CHOICE RALLY: A coalition of private school voucher proponents descend on the state Capitol to hold a march and a rally starting at 10:30 a.m. The event is organized by the Texas School Choice Coalition and 6 other groups. School voucher legislation failed to pass in 2017, but advocates are hoping to take another shot at it this year.
The Woodlands Township Board of Directors may have a long night on their hands judging on the lengthy agenda of two meetings scheduled for Wednesday which will include a normal township board meeting as well as the first incorporation planning session of 2019.

The board is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. for a regular meeting, where a long list of 10 different consent agenda items  which are routinely not discussed and voted on as a whole  and 11 regular agenda items will be up for consideration.

One item on the regular agenda is a request by Director John McMullan for a detailed report on the rising rates of suicides and attempted suicides in The Woodlands, something McMullan asked about in December after seeing what he viewed as a troubling rise in the number of attempted suicides and suicides in the township over the last quarter of 2018.

The issue of suicides in the township is not new, as in January 2018, Director Ann Snyder had herself questioned the rising rates in the community, asking law enforcement officials for reasons why the numbers continue to rise and expressing a need to address the dilemma in The Woodlands.

Montgomery County Sheriffs Office Capt. Tim Holifield is scheduled to give the suicide presentation, which will include a new Suicide Prevention Resource article developed by staff members from the townships Neighborhood Watch Department, according to an agenda description.

Walter Lisiewski, chairman of The Woodlands Township Development Standards Committee, is also scheduled to speak at the meeting, presenting a report to board members on the DSCs recent activities. Also tabbed to give a report is Nick Wolda, president of Visit The Woodlands  the townships tourism arm  who will detail activities and actions the entity took in the past few months.

On the crime side of reports, Holifield will present the quarterly law enforcement report, which details the numbers of crimes and other activities local sheriffs deputies and other law enforcement officials have undertaken. The report usually focuses on more serious crimes, but a list of dozens of criminal actions is provided for board members along with the verbal portion.

McMullan had also asked for a report on the traffic accidents at the intersection of Research Forest Drive and Crownridge Drive. According to a report with the agenda item, there were a total of 17 accidents at the intersection in the 2018 calendar year, ending on Dec. 26.

Also on the agenda is possible approval of the purchase of a new fire truck for The Woodlands Fire Department. The truck  a Pierce Heavy Rescue Truck  is slated to cost $987,455, funds for which have already been set aside in the most recent township budget. The department has continued to add new trucks and additional rescue equipment to its fleet in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

At 6 p.m., the directors will host an incorporation planning session, which will be focused mainly on the proposed financial models being drafted by the Novak Consulting Group of Cincinnati, Ohio. The incorporation planning meetings have been ongoing since January, 2018, and will continue for at least the first three months of this year.

The meetings are hosted in the main board room of the township offices, located at 2801 Technology Forest Blvd., The Woodlands.

jeff.forward@chron.com
The Lone Star College System took another step toward starting construction on the new Magnolia Satellite Center as system officials have finalized the land purchase for the project.

With a facility price tag of $28.9 million  which includes the property, bought for close to $3 million  the center is to be located at 505 FM 1486, across the street from the Magnolia West High School campus.

Funding for the project comes from the systems 2014 bond referendum package of $485 million. System Chancellor Stephen Head wrote in an email that officials are beginning to find an architect and hope to put bids out for construction late this year or early next year.

The 65,000 square-foot center with classrooms, workforce labs and shared learning spaces is to be managed by LSC-Montgomery. According to a press release, general education courses are to be offered as well as select workforce programs.

In a previous interview, LSC-Montgomerys President, Rebecca Riley, said that the classes and programming at the center may be geared toward degree completion due to the close proximity to Texas A&M University.

When you think about that together with the high-performing status of the high schools in Magnolia, it makes us think a little more about programming in the STEM areas as a possible area of focus out there, Riley said of the new facility.

In a press release, Riley said system officials could not have asked for a better location.

Being across the street from the high school and off a major thoroughfare will provide easy access for the residents of the community to continue their education, Riley said in the release.

Community residents also include Magnolia Independent School District students, something Head wrote about in an email, citing that more than 15 percent of Magnolia High School students who graduated last spring enrolled in classes at LSC-Montgomery that fall.

Todd Stephens, the Magnolia ISD superintendent, said in a press release that they have also been longtime partners with LSCs dual credit program.

With the addition of the LSC-Magnolia Center, this will provide our students and the community with more opportunities, resources and career pathways for higher education and trades, Stephens said.

The center is being temporarily housed at 18423 FM 1488, Suite C, in Magnolia, but is only open two days a week. The new center is expected to open in 2021.
Growing up, there was a rule in Ryan Culwells house when his dad was out working in the oil fields: dont touch the guitars.

So, I played them, Culwell said.

Culwells disobedience as a child seems to have paid off as today, he finds himself on tour after the release of his latest album in 2018, The Last American, which Rolling Stone ranked as 26th among the 40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2018.Culwell is scheduled to open for headliner The Bottle Rockets at Main Street Crossing in Tomball on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m.

His fathers interest in classic rock and blues helped shape style of music Culwell plays. His latest work is described by some as Americana; however, even Culwell finds it challenging to describe his overall musical style in terms of a defined genre. When asked, he said that lately, he just shrugs his shoulders.

I put out a record in 2015 (Flatlands) and I would say it sounds like how No Country for Old Men looks  the movie, or the book  and people would go, OK, that kind of makes sense, somehow; kind of the bleak, far-west Texas thing, Culwell said. And then, for my new record, its a lot harder to give touch points for it. They call it Americana, but thats a pretty broad spectrum.

His latest album explores a shared sense of ideological polarization in the U.S. and the title track, The Last American, in particular, he said aims to unveil a unity linking all sides of the political spectrum.

I think people hear it and they feel like it belongs to themSome people on the left, some people on the right, some people in the middle, Culwell said. I hope they realize that yes, it does, and it also belongs to somebody you might disagree with.

We could feel a lot less isolated if we just start having hard conversations and being kind about it.

Following Culwells performance at Main Street Crossing, The Bottle Rockets are scheduled to take the stage at 8 p.m.

They released their newest album, Bit Logic, in 2018. The bands website describes the album as a look at challenges facing an individuals quest for happiness in todays society; struggling with internal turmoil while continuing to push for success, which can seem forever just beyond the horizon.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.mainstreetcrossing.com.
The Fort Bend ISD School Board will meet to discuss spending $10 million to purchase an 80-acre parcel in Rosharon for construction of the districts 12th high school campus expected to open in 2022. The vote comes after months of planning and discussion over plans to re-draw boundaries between Hightower, Ridge Point and Willowridge High Schools to help ease overcrowding at Ridge Point High School in Sienna Plantation near Missouri City. Administrators originally proposed plans to move as many as 3,000 students but now recommend postponing high school re-zoning for until the 2020-21 school year, according to agenda documents.

Trustees are also expected to vote whether to approve new technical certification programs for Willowridge and Hightower Schools and a new early college high school at Marshall High School. The proposed programs had drawn complaints from parents from Marshall High School, who lobbied for increased community input in the process.
State Rep. Ron Reynolds has introduced legislation that would more than double the current minimum wage in the state of Texas.

House Bill 194 would raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour to $15. If approved, the legislation would take effect on Sept. 1, 2019.

Raising the minimum wage in Texas to $15 an hour will put more money into the pockets of hard-working Texans and it is a critical step in creating an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few, Reynolds said in a news release. We need to close the economic gap here in Texas, working work-full time and trying to support a family on less than $15,000 a year is impossible.

A 40-hour work week at $7.25 an hour equates to $15,080 per year. At $15 per hour, a full-time job would equate to $31,200 per year.

According to Reynolds, raising the minimum wage in Texas will increase earnings for thousands of workers and support local economies. Reynolds claims businesses would both increase morale and productivity. The higher minimum wage would also reduce employee turnover, which would reduce employment and training costs.

Reynolds said 89 percent of those affected would be older than 20 and 56 percent would be women.

NO MORE BIG PAYOUTS: State Rep. Gina Calanni's first bill takes aim at payments to outgoing superintendents

Texas currently has a state minimum wage equal to the federal minimum wage set by the Federal Labor Standards Act in July 2009. Some 15 states observe the $7.25 minimum wage. Three states  Montana, Wyoming and Georgia  have minimum wages below the federal wage. Five southern states have no minimum wage law. The remaining 27 states have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum, led by Washington and Massachusetts at $12 per hour. California has an $11 minimum wage.

On Sept. 15, 2017, the Department of Labor announced that on Jan. 1, 2018, the minimum wage rate was increased to $10.35 per hour. Tipped workers like restaurant servers are not protected by the Federal Labor Standards Act and can be paid at a lower rate than the minimum wage.

Reynolds represents Texas House District 27 in Fort Bend County.

rkent@hcnonline.com
A felony charge is normally nothing to laugh about, but apparently it was for 29-year-old Jose Becerra.

The man was seen smiling in his mug shot after allegedly roughing-up a deputy constable and spitting on him during his trip to jail, according to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.

It all went down Sunday at Becerra's home in the 14400 block of Windfern Forest Drive where deputies responded to a call of two men fighting.

POLICE INITIATIVE: Is that a ticket? No, but it could save car from a break-in

As one of the deputies was walking Becerra away from the scene to question him, he allegedly began hitting the deputy several times, the office said.

He was immediately placed under arrest.

According to the report, while the deputy was taking Becerra to jail, he managed to allegedly spit on the officer through a small crack in the cruiser's metal divider.

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Becerra was charged with felony assault on a peace officer and given a $10,000 bail amount.

His only other arrest in Harris County was back in 2007, when he allegedly threw a car jack into someone's windshield during an argument. That misdemeanor charge was ultimately dropped.

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
Some Houston-area residents got a rude awakening thanks to 30-degree temperatures, rain and strong overnight winds associated with a cold front.

The bulk of the front appears to have passed, but chances for showers and "light snow" will be possible for the area through mid-morning, the weather service said. The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office reported light sleet at its office in Richmond.

As of 1 a.m., at least 16,000 power outages were reported in the area because of the wind, according to CenterPoint. One major outage, affecting about 150 customers in the Cinco Ranch area, has persisted into the morning, said CenterPoint spokeswoman Olivia Ross.

Crews are working to repair that outage by around 12:30 p.m., she said.

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The cold front brought winds topping 40 mph in some areas, the National Weather Service says. One ABC-13 reporter posted a photo of trash strewn around a Bellaire neighborhood. Another Twitter user said her windows were shaking, and she heard bumping against her house.

So when will it all go away ?

Forecasters say the rain will likely die down by noon, but winds will continue to gust anywhere from 10 to 20 mph. Expect clearer skies and high temperatures about 20 to 30 degrees colder than Monday.

Today's high temperature is expected to reach 46 degrees. Conditions will warm up more on Thursday, when forecasters predict sunny skies with a high of 58.

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com |

NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.
Houston defense attorney Kirby Taylor broke down in tears as he testified Tuesday about missing his son, who was burned to death by a man Taylor let stay in their home.

Birthdays are not good. We used to go to the movies on birthdays and I still go by myself, Taylor said tearfully. Not good. Not good. Not good.

The defense attorney was testifying in the punishment phase of the trial for Curtis Lee Holliman, 35, who was convicted last week of murder for setting fire to Taylor and his 45-year-old son Dexter Taylor in January 2016. Jurors spent four hours Tuesday deliberating his punishment, and are scheduled to continue on Wednesday. If they decide Holliman acted in sudden passion, his sentence would be capped at 20 years. If not, he faces a maximum of life in prison.

Taylor, who was burned over 30 percent of his body, also teared up as he talked about having his bandages changed twice a day for a year.

On a good day, it took four hours and three nurses for me to take a shower, he sobbed. Very painful. When youre set on fire, you feel pain like that.

Attorneys for Holliman had argued that he was insane at the time of the slaying and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

He was clearly delusional and paranoid at the time of the offense, defense attorney Skip Cornelius told jurors several times, quoting a mental health expert who examined Holliman. He also argued it was clearly a crime of passion.

On Friday, the jury rejected that defense deciding instead that Holliman was responsible for his actions, including smoking marijuana and doubling up on prescriptions from different doctors.

Holliman testified he was taking at least triple the amount of the amphetamine Adderall that he had been prescribed when he began having paranoid delusions. Those delusions, he said, caused subliminal messages that spurred him to throw an plastic urn of gasoline on the two men after he thought they were laughing at him.

Kirby Taylor, who had met Holliman at a local church, was burned over 30 percent of his body and survived the incident that took place on Martin Luther King Day in 2016.

The attorney testified that neither he nor his son laughed at Holliman, and that his son simply smiled after Holliman confronted them with his paranoid delusions.

Prosecutor Jennifer Meriwether told jurors in closing arguments that the attack was clearly planned, since Holliman kept a jug of gasoline in his room. He also admitted remembering running up to get it in order to set fire to the two men.

Meriwether noted that Dexter Taylor survived with third-degree burns over 100 percent of his body for eight hours as medical personnel tried to make him comfortable. Testimony showed they knew he would not survive.

Im asking for a life sentence in this case because thats whats appropriate, the prosecutor said. Simply put, this was a horrific murder. Being burned alive is the most horrendous way to die.

Jurors are expected to return to state District Judge Kelli Johnsons court Wednesday to continue deliberating Hollimans punishment.
A group of townhomes burned in a 2-alarm blaze in Montrose Wednesday morning.

The Houston Fire Department was dispatched around 6 a.m. to the 1800 block of Sul Ross, near West Alabama and Dunlavy.

The townhomes are under construction, and there were no reports of injuries, according to HFD.

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One firefighter had a low air pack while responding, but other firefighters got to him before it ran out, spokeswoman Sheldra Brigham said.

NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.
Students in both public and private schools are likely perfecting their poster boards and ensuring they have all necessary materials to demonstrate their projects at the upcoming SCI://TECH 2019 exposition, the 29th annual event hosted by Education for Tomorrow Alliance and Conroe ISD.

While theres a whole slate of events happening at various locations such as Lone Star College-Montgomery, the Lone Star Convention Center and Conroe ISD schools over the next four weekends, perhaps the largest event is the senior and junior high science fair Feb. 1

Education for Tomorrow Alliances President, Monica Bomkamp Enia, said that about 1,800 students will present their work at this fair and the junior high science fair the same day. Over 400 volunteers during three shifts will judge students projects throughout the day.

The volunteers, Bomkamp Enia said, are especially important to help the students grow in the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, areas.

We live in a well-educated community that buys into the importance of these things, she said. Its about raising kids who are critical thinkers, giving them the opportunity to figure out the answers.

And, while all of these activities deal with STEM, she added that the learning doesnt stop at the subject.

When you think about the job of an engineer, they need to know the end objective and all the steps to get there. Exposing that type of problem solving at every age is critical, because it can relate to everything, Bomkamp Enia said.

The fair also serves as Conroe ISDs district-wide science fair.

Want to attend? Heres the schedule of events: Friday, Jan. 25 at Lone Star College-Montgomery: Private School Science Fair at 5:15 p.m.; Anadarko Senior High Science Bowl at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29 at The Woodlands College Park High School: Technical Writing at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1 at Lone Star Convention Center: Chevron Philips Chemical Senior High Science Fair from 7:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.; Entergy Junior High Science Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2 at Lone Star Convention Center: Huntsman Elementary Science Festival, Math Bowl, PBK Sci.Math.e.Lon, Robotics Demonstration and Sci. Story from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8 at Lone Star College-Montgomery: Junior High Science Bowl from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9 at Lone Star College-Montgomery: Biotechnology Competition from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Repsol Senior High Engineering and Design Competition from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16 at York Junior High School: Consolidated Communications Junior High Engineering and Design Competition from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. For a full list of event descriptions, click here. See More Collapse

The districts Administrative Coordinator of Science, Sheryl Hime, said that this is a qualifying competition for other fairs.

This is likely one of the largest science fairs in the country, and definitely the largest in TexasWeve been lucky enough to have kids move on to state and national levels, Hime said.

Through all of the expositions broader events, such as biotechnology competitions, robotics challenges and a special elementary science festival, almost 5,000 students participate.

Those students, she said, are taking what theyre learning in the classroom and applying it to activities outside the classroom to go a little further with the districts science programming.

To have four weekends of STEM activities, theres absolutely nothing better in the world. My heart is happy, Hime said.

This is especially a pertinent time for Conroe ISDs science academies. Ron Laugen used to be the headmaster at Oak Ridge High Schools Academy of Science and Technology. He said that this event

From the academy perspective, it was critically important for us to develop our basic curriculum. The synergy among the school district, academies and Education for Tomorrow Alliance has been important to foster that growth, Laugen said.

And not just for the high school students, either. Laugen said that starting with the elementary school teachers and students, the festival helps bring out the fun of science.

Its a marvelous place for kids to learn and grow, Laugen said.

jane.stueckemann@chron.com
Vineyards are dormant now and will probably start to bud out along the Texas Gulf Coast in the latter part of February to mid-March while other parts of Texas will not bud out until April.

Vines will be pruned along the Gulf Coast during the first part of February. This pruning right before bud break insures that the roots have obtained all of the nutrients from the existing woody parts of the vines. These vine nutrients will be gushing back into vines immediately before bud break. Vines are pruned for several reasons.

Pruning limits grape production by removing many of the areas where grape bunches could grow. Limiting grape production improves the quality of grapes which will go into winemaking. There is an adage that great wines are made in the vineyards. Limiting grape production means that the vine roots can focus their essence on the reduced grape crop which provides more character and style to those harvested grapes going into grape production. If pruning is not done, then grape vines could produce 30 to 40 tons of grapes to the acre. That is a lot of production, but the grape quality is not so good. Most vineyards will limit grape production to three to five tons per acre of vines. In addition, pruning trains vines for the trellis system which allows for proper management and air circulation.

If you want to learn more about pruning, Wild Stallion Vineyard on West Rayford Road will be hosting a pruning seminar on Saturday, Feb. 9 with plenty of opportunity for hands-on experiences with your pruning shears. Internationally acclaimed vineyard consultant, Fritz Westover, will lead the free pruning seminar. Arrive around 8:30 a.m. for introductions, coffee, and a light breakfast.

The workshop will begin promptly at 9 a.m. featuring Fritz Westover who will explain some of the basics on planting and pruning. The program will move outside where you can enjoy a beautiful morning in the vineyard and do some hands-on learning. Bring a large bag and you can select cuttings to take home to start your own vines with, and/or pick out some to use for making grapevine wreaths or other crafts. Please RSVP to Wild Stallion Vineyards by calling 281-803-9463 to reserve your slot and complimentary breakfast. The winery tasting room will open at 11 am for wine tastings which are $15 per adult. Saturday evening concerts start March 23 and last through the end of May. More on this in future wine columns.

Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail

During the first two Saturdays and Sundays in February, the Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail wineries will be hosting the Wine and Chocolate Trail. The Wine and Chocolate Trail is a wonderful way to celebrate Valentines Day. When you arrive at your first winery, you will receive a Commemorative Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail glass to use and keep for all of your tastings. Ticket holders will also receive a specially selected Texas Bluebonnet Wine Trail gift at their sixth stop, while supplies last.

Guests have the option to start at the winery of their choice. Trail tickets are valid for one visit at each of the wineries during the two weekends of the trail, regardless of when tickets are purchased. The official hours for this event are Noon to 5:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday for each trail weekend, regardless of the wineries individual tasting room hours. The following wineries will be participating: Bernhardt Winery, Cork This! Winery, Messina Hof Winery, Peach Creek Winery, Pleasant Hill Winery, Saddlehorn Winery and Texas Star Winery.

RONS WINE PICK Llano Estacado Reserve Merlot Wine Characteristics: This red wine harvested from the Newsom Vineyards on the Texas High Plains displays tones of cherry and blackberry in a full-mouth wine. Pair with: Texas Chili Where to buy: HEB Grocery Stores (most stores) Price: $16.73 per bottle See More Collapse

Tickets must be purchased online at www.localwineevents.com, with tickets selling at $35 per individual adult or $56 for a couple.

Ron Saikowksi may be reached at rsaikowski@comcast.net.
First Man

Rated PG-13 for some thematic content involving peril, and brief strong language

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88 percent

Available on Disc and Streaming

Timing this home release around the Jan. 22 Oscar nominations announcement was probably in their awards strategy, as this was once expected to be a front runner for best picture. But just because the Academy largely forgot about it, dont let that stop you from checking this one out. First Man is Damien Chazelles follow-up to La La Land and it teams him up again with Ryan Gosling, this time playing Neil Armstrong as he makes his journey through the space program and later to the moon and back. It is a really great film that puts you as close to the passenger seat to 1960s NASA as Ive ever seen on screen. Gosling here is perfect as the distant Armstrong but the biggest Oscar snub here belongs to Claire Foy who kills it as Neils wife Janet. So while you are trying to now catch up on all the nominees you missed, make sure to add this one to the list. A-

The Hate U Give

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some violent content, drug material and language

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97 percent

Available on Disc and Streaming

Based on the best-selling book by Angie Thomas, THUG follows a high school girl who comes face-to-face with police violence as her life-long friend is gunned down by a cop for pulling out a hairbrush. Pulling from her inner strength, she must figure out who she really is and how to try to make positive difference from a tragic life experience. This is one powerful little picture that you can learn a lot from. The plot is complicated, as are the scenarios playing in your head while watching it. I love films that make me think, and even change my paradigm, and this one does it for sure. It also packs an emotional punch so grab a box of tissues before sitting down to watch. A-

Once Upon a Deadpool

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, crude sexual content, language, thematic elements and brief drug material

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53 percent

Available on Disc and Streaming

Deadpool 2 was certainly one of the most entertaining films of 2018 but kids were left out of the fun since it was such a hard R. But with a few of the more violent scenes edited out, as well as a plethora of bad language taken down a notch, Fox has managed to milk the movie for all its worth by allowing a PG-13 to be slapped on it. Is it now safe for kids? Probably not. The F-bombs are now F-bleeps, and while Fred Savage makes for a funny new addition, the movie ends up feeling tainted. Personally, Im kinda cool with keeping Deadpool in the adult arena. Just as you would be disappointed by a kid-friendly Game of Thrones (please no), there are some movies and shows that kids just need to catch up to when they reach the right age. C

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Rated PG

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89 percent

Available on Collectors Edition Blu-ray

This is one of my favorite comedies to revisit, and Shout Select is releasing it this week on Blu-ray, all cleaned up with a brand new 2k scan and a couple of new features. Its hard to believe it has been more than 30 years since Steve Martin and Michael Caine had us in stitches as they competed to see who could scam the most money out of unsuspecting rich women. The film still feels fresh and original, and is as entertaining today as it was in 1997. This is truly one of the greatest comedies ever made and this new edition pretties it up nicely. A

Notorious: Criterion Collection

Not Rated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97 percent

Available on Disc

This slow burner from the early days of Alfred Hitchcock follows Ingrid Bergman as a convicted traitors daughter who goes to work as an American spy while subsequently falling in love with the agent who brought her in, played by Cary Grant. As part of her mission, she is required to marry her fathers Nazi friend in Rio de Janeiro when things start to get sticky. The plot sounds absolutely awesome, and was very controversial in 1946, but the movie ultimately falls short due to an uncomfortable slow pace. While Im normally a huge Hitchcock fan, this is not one of my favorites. But still, the Criterion treatment has been good for it as the revitalization makes this classic film look and sound pristine, with the many expected new features in place trying to convince you that this is a better film than it actually is. C+

Danny Minton may be reached at danny@dannyminton.com.
Bidding for artwork created for the Conroe Art Leagues (CALs) 4th annual 12x12 gala event, which takes place Feb. 23 and benefits scholarships for area high school seniors, has begun. One 12x12 painting titled Apple Blossom Time by prize-winning Magnolia artist Vicki Nash, has already sold. To view artwork and submit your bid, visit www.32auctions.com/conroeartleague12x12gala. The online bidding will continue through Feb. 20. With a few exceptions, bidding for the 12x12 artwork starts at $30.

All artwork being auctioned has been donated by prize-winning area artists who created the art especially for this years fundraising event. Rendered in a variety of media and styles, each piece of donated artwork conforms to the dimensions of 12 inches by 12 inches.

All of the 12 x 12 artwork will be on display at the Leagues Gallery at the Madeley Building, 127 Simonton Street in Conroe from Feb. 6 through Feb. 23. The fundraiser will conclude with a silent and live auction at the Gallery Feb. 23 from 5 to 8 p.m. The live auction, conducted by noted area arts supporter and auctioneer Lyn Howard, will feature a few Select 12 pieces that have been deemed to have particularly outstanding artistic qualities.

Over Under by Daniel Garver

Fresh from a residency at the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts, Daniel Garver opened this week his solo exhibit of textiles and tapestry weavings titled Over Under at Lone Star College Montgomerys (LSC-M) Mary Matteson-Parish Gallery. Garver explains that his artistic efforts are aimed at presenting visually stimulating experiences through the use of pattern, complexity, contrast, language, semantics and objective aesthetics. The exhibit will run through Feb. 22, with a closing reception at noon on Tuesday, Feb. 19. The Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Garver studied painting in Cortona, Italy, as an undergraduate and received a BFA in ceramics and art history in 2011 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. To further his training in crafts, he later moved to Penland, North Carolina, where he worked as a studio assistant, teaching assistant, and freelance artist. In 2015, Garver received a Core Fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts. During his two-year fellowship, his work shifted from ceramics to textiles, while he simultaneously explored metal fabrication, printmaking, paper folding, and drawing. His bold, pattern-heavy work in weaving and drawing explores topics of mathematical sequences, visual perception, and structural systems.

Garvers work has been exhibited nationally at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Earlham College, Penland School of Crafts, Peters Valley, Red Lodge Clay Center, Caldwell Arts Council (NC), and at the Meadows Gallery (Denton, TX), in the exhibition, Materials: Hard and Soft. His most recent residency was at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, where Garver continued his research and production of tapestry weaving and natural dyeing, specifically exploring the process of ikat, in which individual threads are bound, dyed, and woven to create intricate nuanced patterns. To learn more about Garver and his art, visit his website at http://www.danielgarver.com/art.

Finalists chosen for CAL National Invitational

Following a recent first round of judging for the Conroe Art Leagues (CALs) fourth annual National Invitational art competition, 71 artists (with 75 pieces of art) have emerged as finalists from a list of nearly 400 initial entries. Amongst the artist finalists, 19 come from the Montgomery County area, seven are from Houston and 24 come from 21 other Texas cities. The remaining 21 finalists come from 16 other US states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Illinois, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. Notably, four Texas artists each had two pieces selected as finalist art: Carol Berger (Montgomery); Karen Eisele (Houston); Melton Guthrie (Rockdale) and Ellen Thedford (Seguin). The finalist artwork ranges from two-dimensional paintings and drawings in various media, photography, including digital, to a range of three-dimensional ceramic works and sculpture in wood, glass, and metal. The finalist artwork will go on display starting Feb. 27 at the Conroe Art Leagues Gallery at the Madeley Building, 127 Simonton Street, Conroe. The final round of judging to select winners of first, second and third place, plus two honorable mention awards, will occur the week of March 25, with awards being announced at a reception on March 30 from 5 to 8 pm at the CAL Gallery. The public is invited to view the art early or to view and meet the artists at the March 30 reception.

A list of those finalists from the Montgomery County area include: (from Conroe) George Bramlett; Jenifer Bryan; Beau Crump and Ed Gorman; (from Montgomery) Carol Berger; Patti Gary; Kyle King; Shannon Mucha; Rodion Turuikhan and Cory Webb; (from Spring) Nora Barber; Jaime Castro; Rebecca DeGroot and Monica Sepulveda; (from The Woodlands) Juan Cantavella; Kinsey Lane and Brenda McDougall. Other area finalists include Wendy Moreland from New Caney and Lynda Jung from Porter.

The artist finalists have some interesting and varied stories to tell through their chosen media and styles. Some, like Carol Berger (Montgomery, Texas) and Shelby Prindeville (Leavenworth, Kansas) hope their art will encourage environmental consciousness and conservation. Others like Kevin Stanford of El Dorado, Texas are inspired by the overlooked and discarded refuse of society and work to show the aesthetic of the found. Houston artist Kathy Drago is fascinated with images of the elderly and finds it satisfying to paint the face of a completely lived life, while contemplating the fear that many humans have about aging. Sachiko Furuya of Honolulu, Hawaii uses her skills with ceramics to express the very mysterious and delicate character of flowers in her island life. Emmett Barnacle of Providence, Rhode Island, draws on his architectural background to create sculpture (in glass and wood) that focuses on mans relationship with his surroundings. Kinsey Lane of The Woodlands wants to envelope the viewer in feelings of warmth and solace. Arizona artist Casey Ball uses his painting skills to honor a grandfathers World War II experience. Joy Taylor of Tennessee uses bold color to create a biosphere of surreal life, embracing the whimsical nature of subjects. Houston artist Karen Eisele explores the relationship between the traditional icon and contemporary fashion influences in art and media. Ellen Thedford of Seguin invites the viewer to ponder the conversations and secrets that chairs hear and keep. Corpus Christi artist Lars Roeders Fish Out of Water Adrift woodcut offers some levity to the notion of anxiety and unease experienced when one is feeling out of place and lost.

The judge for the 2018-19 CAL National Invitational competition is Dr. Jessica Locheed. Locheed currently teaches at Houston Community College and has taught art history at the University of Houston. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa with a specialization in 19th century French art. Her academic expertise and research interests are in Degas and his relationships with the symbolist community. Locheed has taught both large survey classes and small interactive courses as well as online courses in art history and art appreciation. Her publishing includes Beyond the Frame: The Visual World Around Us (Great Rivers Learning) to accompany her art appreciation class.

Maggie Gutierrez may be reached at ggutmarina@aol.com.
There will be a new course for certain Crosby High Schoolers next school year.

Kind of.

At the Crosby ISD Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22, the board approved the implementation of the Innovative Course, General Employability Skills.

Todd Hicks, Crosby ISDs Executive Director of Secondary Education explained that its a course that will be offered to certain special education students to complement their being placed with local businesses.

Crosby ISD already has a course that teaches employability skills to special education students, but it was locally created. This new course is approved by the Texas Education Agency, so it will count toward graduation credit requirements.

The kids probably wont recognize much of a difference, said Hicks. We might have more focus on certain skills before they go into their workplace setting, but the transition is going to be very smooth because theyre already accomplishing what this course is designed to do anyway.

He explained that the Innovative Course designation is a way that the TEA adapts courses that are not part of the standard educational program but which they still see value in for school districts to use.

This course is designed to educate students on the skills that are considered essential in any employment situation, including personal appearance, job-related social skills, working as a member of a team, organization, and work ethic. Students learn and apply basic knowledge of what is expected in the workplace to prepare for future career success, reads the description of the course from the Texas Education Agencys website.

Hicks said that there is the potential in the future to open up this course to any interested Crosby High School student.

elliott.lapin@hearst.com
Bellaire Business Association / Bellaire Business Association

After a town hall meeting focused on a drainage study, Bellaire citizens and officials will get to hear how their city is doing through their mayors eyes.

The citys Master Drainage Concept Plan will headline the town hall at 6 p.m, Monday, Feb. 4, at the city hall located at 7008 S. Rice Ave.
The United States is among the top three investors in Russia's new projects for the past year, Chief Executive Officer of Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The United States has become the third largest investor in Russia's new projects last year after China and Germany," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.

President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Russia Alexis Rodzianko said earlier that American companies have not reduced their presence in Russia last year and have not abandoned the market. He explained that the companies rather support the current level of presence, with some even investing in business expansion.

The advisor on macroeconomics to the CEO of the 'Opening-Broker' brokerage house, economist Sergey Hestanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the third place of the U.S. still doesn't mean close economic contacts. "The U.S. investments are small and do not have a significant impact on the Russian economy. Therefore, on the one hand, its good that American business continues to invest in Russia, but on the other hand, no far-reaching conclusions can be drawn from this," he said.

"As a rule, those American companies cooperating with Russia take care not to get on the sanctions list. Therefore, in the future everything will be determined by what is prohibited. For the time being, it is important to note that U.S. sanctions does not cause serious direct damage to Russian companies, and most importantly - they do not affect the export of raw materials," he predicts.

The professor at the department of the stock market and investments at the Higher School of Economics, Alexander Abramov, in turn, noted that the amount of U.S. investments in Russia has declined last year. "The United States has long been a major investor in Russia. Last year, the U.S. foreign direct investment in Russia declined. At the same time, the United States retains the third position due to the fact that other countries invest even less in Russia," he pointed out.

"I dont think that we can expect positive changes with foreign investments in the near future. Russia's advantage, even for portfolio investors, is macroeconomic stability and relatively high government securities' yield  but it has much more disadvantages. And until investors understand that the foreign policy situation is under control, we cannot expect any breakthrough projects," Alexander Abramov concluded.
In a divided vote, League City City Council has agreed to give federal employees impacted by the government shutdown time to make late payments on utilities, with Mayor Pat Hallisey voicing support to help the workers, who he said were being used as a pawn.

The resolution, co-sponsored by council members Todd Kinsey and Andy Mann, waives any late penalty payment for federal employees and contractors furloughed by the shutdown.

2 council members disagree with measure

The item passed 6-2 Tuesday with council members Nick Long and Hank Dugie voting against the measure, saying that the city should not single out some and not others experiencing financial hardships.

The city has to be consistent, Long said. Bad things happen to good people every day people lose their jobs, they have money problems, things come up and we enforce those fines on them. I feel the city just has to maintain a consistent way of doing business. Although we feel for (federal employees), we cant bend the rules for one set of individuals and then enforce them on another.

RECORD-LONG SHUTDOWN: Where furloughed, unpaid federal workers can find help

I feel we shouldnt change the way we do business just because this is high-profile event in the news, he said.

Dugie encouraged private local entities helping those affected by the shutdown but said it was not the citys role to pick and choose who to help. Dugie also cited that in the aftermath of Harvey, the city did not offer similar allowances.

Mayor Pat Hallisey said the resolution was about more than money.

All the points for not doing it make sense, I get that, he said. Whats going on, irrespective of where you sit on the political arena, whether you see yourself to the right or the left, (Washington) is using paid employees as a pawn to get what anybody wants is not the right way to go. I would hope under circumstances like this, we might show a little compassion to our neighbors that are going through it. As things seem to be crazy coming out of Washington, we can make just an ounce of sense for our neighbors.

The measure, which was amended to end 30 days after the furlough stops, waives late fee penalties for nondiscretionary services to League City residents who are verified federal employees. These employees will be included on a list compiled by the citys utility billing department. The city will include additional federal employees on the list on a case-by-case basis.

yorozco@hcnonline.com
The weekend before the Fourth of July, David and Libbie Mugrabi, an art-world power couple known for their enormous collection of Warhols, hosted a dinner party for about 15 business associates, some of whom were also staying over at their lavish nine-bedroom estate in the Hamptons.

Libbie Mugrabi said she retired at about 11:30 p.m. that Friday, after a long night of $800 bottles of wine served by the familys staff. When she woke at about 6 a.m. and came downstairs, she said, she found her husband lying on top of an attractive brunette in the television room, beneath a painting from Richard Princes After Dark series.

They were asleep and nude, using a towel as a blanket. Discarded clothes by the pool suggested they had been skinny-dipping. She was naked on my couch with a towel on top of her, and he was sitting on the floor with his head lying on her breasts, Libbie Mugrabi said.

Upset and mortified, she left the room quietly, she said. I didnt to want to make a scene. But when the woman was still staying at the house four days later, Libbie Mugrabi confronted her.

In a conversation that was surreptitiously recorded by the nanny, the guest blamed her behavior on taking psychedelic mushrooms and ketamine that night, a revelation that did not exactly have the effect of marriage counseling.

Nothing happened, for sure, the woman said. I have no interest in your husband.

You were naked on my couch, Libbie Mugrabi said. How is that appropriate?

Within two weeks, the incident had metastasized into one of the most salacious New York society divorces in recent memory.

Art billionaires ex caught him naked with another woman, read the headline in the New York Post, which has been following the divorce closely. That article also reported that there was a scuffle involving a Keith Haring sculpture and wrangling over the ownership of the couples Manhattan town house.

But more than a tabloid story, the divorce also threatens to expose the private dealings of one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the art world. David Mugrabi, 47, is the scion of a powerful art-dealing family that is reportedly worth $5 billion and owns some 1,000 works by Warhol, making it the worlds largest private holding.

And now Libbie Mugrabi, 39, who has two children, 9 and 11, with her estranged husband, wants her share. There is no prenuptial agreement.

But before she can ask for a number in the divorce settlement, her lawyers say, they need to evaluate her husbands net worth, which involves exposing the Mugrabi familys sophisticated structure of asset ownership by offshore corporations. Such revelations would offer a rare window into how art-world titans like the Mugrabis shield their finances from public scrutiny.

We were a team, Libbie Mugrabi said of her marriage. We were partners at home and in business, with kids, everything. So whatever is the right thing, if thats a little amount or a big amount, thats what I want.

 Scraping by on $200,000

Five months after that fateful morning in the Hamptons, Libbie Mugrabi came to lunch at the Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side, dressed like a sliver of night sky.

Her long dark hair, which she has styled every day, tumbled over a Saint Laurent jacket, Azzedine Alaia shirt and Wolford leggings, all jet black. Her left wrist sparkled with diamond and silver bracelets, while her Dolce & Gabbana kitten heels and eyeglasses were bedazzled with crystals.

Libbie Mugrabis expensive tastes have emerged as a central issue in the divorce. She scoffed at tabloid reports that she is scraping by on $25,000 a month in support payments. The actual amount, she said, is $200,000 a month, although that is less than the $3 million a year that she was accustomed to spending, on things like flowers ($400 a week) and household staff ($450,000 a year).

And looking good isnt cheap, either. I spend more than six figures a year on fashion, she said. Whatever designer Im into at the moment, I would say Im one of their larger customers. Current favorites include Dior, Tom Ford, the Row and Saint Laurent.

She became accustomed to luxury at an early age, having grown up the daughter of a prosperous plastic surgeon named Charles Scher. We grew up very wealthy, said Libbie Mugrabi, noting that they lived between Oakhurst, New Jersey, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Fate brought the Mugrabi and Scher families together in 2001, when both were staying at the St. Regis hotel in Aspen, Colorado. Libbie Mugrabi said she noticed her husbands more flamboyant brother, Alberto, first, but it was David who got her number. She had just turned 22 and had recently graduated from the New York Restaurant School; he was 30 and working in finance.

Libbie Mugrabi described her courtship as a relatively modest period, when her future husband lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Trump Tower. He wasnt the type of man that wanted to spoil me until after we got married, she said.

In her telling, David Mugrabi casually proposed to her at the apartment in 2004, after his mother was nudging him on the phone about wanting to throw an engagement party. He didnt have a ring, but I said, You dont need a ring to propose,' Libbie Mugrabi said. So he popped the question (she said yes) and called his mother right back. His mother said, Im throwing you a party tomorrow.'

The five-carat diamond ring would come later.

The couple wed in 2005 at an extravagant ceremony at the Pierre hotel that featured orchids dripping from the ceilings and a performance by Ishtar, the Arab-Israeli chanteuse. Libbie Mugrabi wore a custom white-lace gown by Victorio y Lucchino, which required her to visit its atelier in Seville, Spain, for fittings.

It was way over even what I wanted, she said. I knew about 30 people at my wedding. It had about 500 or 600.

Guests included a whos who of art-world machers, including Peter Brant, the paper magnate, and his wife, Stephanie Seymour; Aby Rosen, the real estate developer; Larry Gagosian, the high-powered gallery owner; and Steven Cohen, the financier who last year bought a prized Roy Lichtenstein painting from Agnes Gund for $165 million.

The newly wed Libbie Mugrabi quickly learned her role in the family empire.

I just copied his mother, and she told me what to do, she said. Shes like, Well, you just do the home part with the entertaining. The way we run our business is mostly through the home, because we dont have a gallery.'

For more than a decade, the couple enjoyed the perks of a billionaire lifestyle.

Every summer we went to Sardinia, to Italy, to Portofino, Libbie Mugrabi said. We went on lots of different yachts. Aspen. Miami. We went to St. Barts three times minimum, a year.

The couple sometimes flew commercial, other times on her father-in-laws private jet, a Gulfstream V acquired from casino magnate Steve Wynn. On the global art-fair circuit  a blur of FIACs, Friezes and Art Basels  they favored suites at Claridges in London and the Plaza Athenee in Paris.

Libbie Mugrabi recalled one gathering at the Venice Biennale, early in the relationship.

We went on Paul Allens yacht, and everybody was wearing big ballgowns, she said, referring to Allens 414-foot-long yacht, Octopus. I was a young girl and I remember thinking, This is intense.'

 Cornering the Warhols

David Mugrabi and his lawyers declined several requests for an interview for this article, but the unfolding divorce opens a window into an elite tier of the art market, where multimillion-dollar transactions are done not out of blue-chip galleries or art fairs, but at extravagant dinner parties and stately country houses.

Clients include billionaire industrialists and members of Middle Eastern royal families, who prefer to keep details of their acquisitions private.

The Mugrabis are important to the upper register of the market, and the auction houses, said Linda Yablonsky, an art reviewer and writer. They have these highflying private clients, but most of it takes place behind closed doors. This corner of the art market is the most opaque thing in the world.

The Mugrabis art-world ascent began with Davids father, Jose, who emigrated to Colombia from Jerusalem in 1955 and made a fortune in textiles. After moving to the United States in the 1980s, Jose shifted his attention to the art market.

His first purchase was a Renoir landscape, bought in 1982 for $121,000 on the advice of Jeffrey Deitch, who was then an art consultant for Citibank, before becoming an influential contemporary art dealer.

Jose Mugrabi quickly made a name for himself as a deep-pocketed art buyer. In 1988, he paid almost $4 million for Warhols Marilyn Monroe (Twenty Times)  a record for Warhol at the time  one of the artists original silk-screen treatments of the movie icon. He later justified the expenditure by saying, I felt like I was buying a piece of America.

I go every year to the hat luncheon, she said referring to an annual fundraiser for the Central Park Conservancy, as well as a bunch of things at Lincoln Center and the Guggenheim.

The couple also had been meticulously renovating the East 82nd Street town house they lived in, pouring millions to turn the seven-story home into a private museum to display the Mugrabi collection.

Events came to a head at the fateful dinner party, at the Mugrabis 7,000-square-foot mansion, nestled in the woods between Sag Harbor and Water Mill.

After the skinny-dipping incident, Libbie Mugrabi said, she offered to walk away from her husband in exchange for $10 million. But that was a one-week offer, she said. It wasnt forever.

Later that week, when Libbie Mugrabi left the Hamptons house to consult a divorce lawyer, she said, moving trucks arranged by her husband arrived to remove the most valuable art.

He took a bunch of Basquiats, he took multiple Warhols, he took about a dozen KAWS paintings out of the house. Two huge George Condos, she said. I would say he took at least $200 million in art.

Libbie Mugrabi believes that her husband was trying to hide the assets from a potentially expensive divorce. Needing money to finance a legal battle, she looked no further than the diamond on her finger.

The same thing that got me into this marriage is going to get me out, she said. So I sold my ring  for $100,000, she said  and retained a divorce lawyer.

 Mugrabi vs. Mugrabi

On a drizzly afternoon in November, David and Libbie Mugrabi, each with a platoon of lawyers, faced off inside the New York City Civil Court building in lower Manhattan.

Before the hearing started inside the dingy sixth-floor courtroom, David Mugrabi crossed his arms and glared at his wife. Her lawyer Kevin McDonough asked a court officer to make him stop giving my client the death stare.

David Mugrabi replied: I was just admiring your tie.

The hearing was intended to determine how much money David Mugrabi must give his wife each month as the divorce progresses.

McDonough emphasized the Mugrabi familys wealth, calling them the 1 percent of the 1 percent and saying that David Mugrabis after-tax cash flow was $5 million a year. Another $10 million, he said, was deposited each month into a corporate bank account under David Mugrabis control.

In response, David Mugrabis lawyer Lois Liberman burst out laughing. She countered that his income was only $150,000 a month, after paying $200,000 a month in spousal and child support.

One of the major issues of why the marriage disintegrated was Mrs. Mugrabis profligate spending, Liberman said, adding that Libbie Mugrabi would drop $10,000 in the blink of an eye on daily trips to Valentino, Chanel and other boutiques.

Nobody can talk about this woman starving, Liberman added.

Ken Jewell, a matrimonial lawyer in Manhattan who is not involved with this case, said that under New York state law, a person in Libbie Mugrabis position can expect to claim half the income the couple earned during their marriage.

And while Libbie Mugrabi does not likely have a right to the wealth David Mugrabi brought into the relationship, she could have a significant claim on the familys art business, and potentially the art.

The goal here is to prove the extent of Libbie Mugrabis contributions to the couples business and how the money is held, Jewell said. If you can prove the money exists, then there is a claim. Then the question becomes: Wheres the money?

Citing a lack of progress after an hour, Justice Douglas Hoffman adjourned the hearing until after lunch. Libbie Mugrabi, accompanied by her mother, Jane Scher; her sister, Mia Rowe; and about six lawyers, shuffled into the rain and went to a nearby Italian restaurant.

The afternoon session would prove equally fruitless, and Libbie Mugrabi expects the case could take up to four years.

She seemed resigned to a long fight. I feel great every time Im in court, she said recently. I love court.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Thanks to the Arbor Terrace at Kingwood Town Center about 100 air traffic controllers are receiving a free meal every week until the government shutdown comes to an end.

Penelope Reider, Kingwood Arbor Terraces executive director, started this initiative last week to feed both William P. Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airport air traffic controllers.

Reider wanted to help out a friend, who is an air traffic controller, and her family while the shutdown is taking place.

I saw some of the comments (on Facebook) that she was putting about not getting paid and how this is a real struggle, Reider said.

Instead of stopping at just helping her friend and husband, who are both air traffic controllers, Reider decided to utilize the Arbor Terrace kitchen to make about 100 meals for all air traffic controllers who are not getting paid.

The first meal Arbor Terrace Kingwood gave out was pork with scalloped potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad and peach cobbler.

This week, the air traffic controllers are enjoying grilled chicken with a side of green beans and onions and wild rice. Dessert dishes include brownies, cookies and pumpkin pie.

The meals were made possible by the residences marketing department using their budget to purchase the food.

What we did with my budget was that if we shave off things that marketing would typically do  and thats trying to get people in the door  its worth it to be able to not do that so someone else can have a meal, Stacy Arceneaux, Arbor Terrace Kingwoods marketing director said.

Laura Vensel, an air traffic controller with the Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center, comes by every week to the senior community to distribute the food to her coworkers.

It is a huge help to our community of controllers, Vensel said. Just having to take the stress off of having one less meal to worry about and this stuff that theyre giving us now, all the toiletries and everything is definitely helpful for the people who need it.

Residents can also drop off donations for federal workers at Arbor Terrace-Kingwood located on 2807 Kings Crossing Dr. Canned good, toiletries and other necessities are accepted.

The senior community plans on giving out free meals to government employees until the shutdown ends.

Well continue to do this every week until the shutdown is over because their needs dont change; theyre still not getting a paycheck, Reider said. If we can give them the very basics that they need like toiletries and food, thats the least we can do.

kaila.contreras@chron.com
Several dozen Lone Star College-Kingwood students held a ballon raising on campus on Tuesday for 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes to as a reminder not to stay silent when they see or experience an act of violence.

Barnes was killed near a Walmart parking lot on Dec. 30 in northeast Harris County. The 7-year-old was in the car with her mother and two sisters as a gunman opened fire and shot Barnes in the head.

It was later discovered that the gunman shot at the wrong vehicle.

What are we going to do about this? What is it going to take?, Darrin Rankin, vice president of student services, said to the crowd of students and staff. How many Jazmines have to die before this matters? Im tired of everyone deciding that this is someone elses problem.

Rankin voiced to the crowd to speak up if they see an act of violence and to not be afraid.

This is about whats right; this should be about love, Rankin said. It should be about courage too. This is your community. (Instead of) Jazmine (it) could have been your son, your daughter, your cousin, your mother, your father.

Kameron Whitfield, student life program coordinator said the school decided to have this vigil for Barnes to help encourage students to step up when they see an act of violence.

We want the students to understand that being silent is not OK, Whitfield said. Be that next eye for for someone who cant see their way.

Among the students was Student Government Associations Parliamentarian Cooper Davidson who decided to join the balloon release in between classes.

It just pains me to see that young lives are ended early. It really sicks and I know thats not the best way to put it but it does, Davidson said. If we can just raise awareness and see that violence on the streets are put to an end, it would be the best possible thing.

kaila.contreras@chron.com
Back in December, Nick and Sara Moore of Houston hired a dog walker through the popular dog walking app, Wag. The couple liked and used the service hundreds of other times for their 10-month-old Wheaton puppy, Winnie, but on Dec. 10, they had a much different experience they will never forget.

Instead of receiving a call to confirm that Winnie was back home after the walk, the couple was told Winnie was at a nearby vet and they needed to go pick up her body.

"We were devastated. Winnie was our best friend," Nick said. "We would get grief from our family because our world revolved around that dog. We were just in disbelief."

The Moore's said they experienced several major inconsistencies from the time they heard the news about Winnie up until their last contact with the company. Any history of Winnie's last walk, which was recorded by GPS through the app, was deleted. The couple never found out where the accident took place or who even took their dog to the vet after she was struck.

HOT DOG: Texas bill aims to protect people who break into cars to save overheated animals

"Every time we talked to them and we tried to get information, we got conflicting information, information that didn't make sense," Nick said.

A representative from Wag provided the Chronicle with the following statement regarding Winnie's death:

"We were deeply saddened by Winnie's death, and we extend our sympathy to the Moore's during this difficult time. The walker has been suspended from the Wag! platform. We have offered to reimburse the pet parents for their expenses."

The Moore's said Wag did offer to pay for Winnie's cremation but required that they sign a settlement and non-disclosure agreement preventing them from sharing any details regarding the incident. That included posting about Winnie's death on social media, posting any negative reviews or holding Wag or the walker responsible.

CAN YOU HELP? Houston Police say adorable dogs this one are abandoned in apartments all the time

They decided not to sign the document and after much debate, shared a heartbreaking video of Nick playing with Winnie, commenting on the incident. The Moore's said their intentions were not to cast blame on the company or seek revenge but to hopefully inform other Houston dog owners of their personal experience with the company.

"We thought to ourselves if this happened to our neighbor or one of our friends, we would want them to tell us," Sara said. "We felt like we would be doing a disservice to the people we cared about [if we kept quiet]."

The Moore's post went viral, earning over 138,124 views as of Jan. 21. They said they received support from all over the world and have been overwhelmed by people's responses to their story.

"I've had someone reach out that said she had a similar story and us sharing our story has given her the confidence to share hers as well," Sara said. "It's [the online response] so much more than we anticipated, but we don't regret our decision."

Monday night, Wag's chief executive officer, Hilary Schneider, shared a letter to the Wag community addressing various claims other Wag users have made, including how the company responded and handled recent incidents.

Schneider stated in the letter it will be "revisiting and reviewing" customer service systems and is also updating its payment claim.

"As a result of your feedback, we've already updated our policy regarding such agreements so that we're responding with the highest level of sensitivity to the nature of each individual case," the letter stated.

Rebecca Hennes covers community news. Read her on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | rebecca.hennes@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message


Peli Peli, the South African fusion restaurant that opened in Houston in 2009, took its name from peri peri (or piri piri), a traditional African spice blend based on the bird's eye chile that is also popular in Portugal.

But Peli Peli never served the dish most associated with the chile: peri peri chicken that has been bathed in a marinade of peri peri, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and other spices. Even when the fine dining Peli Peli opened its fast-casual concept, Peli Peli Kitchen in 2016, the world-famous peri peri chicken was nowhere to be found.

"That is probably the number one question I get asked," said Paul Friedman, executive chef and co-founder of Peli Peli. "If you guys are South African where is your peri peri chicken?"

Exclusively for Chronicle subscribers: Review - Kulture in downtown Houston

Today, Peli Peli is now fully invested in peri peri.

On Jan. 21 the company's casual Peli Peli Kitchen, 9090 Katy Fwy., debuted a new menu invested with authentic peri peri flavor. Customers can order chicken (quarter chicken, boneless thigh or whole Cornish hen) that has been marinated in a peri peri sauce for 24 hours then flame grilled.

While the peri peri spice has found its way into dishes at both Peli Peli and Peli Peli Kitchen it was never the focal point of the menu. But as peri peri chicken has become more popular throughout the world and across the United States thanks to chains such as Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken, Peli Peli decided it was time to get into the peri peri game. Already two peri peri chicken concepts have opened in Houston: The Peri Peri Factory, 6375 Westheimer, serving flame-grilled Portuguese chicken, and Porto's Peri Peri, 2625 Town Center Blvd. in Sugar Land.

It was time, chief marketing officer and partner Thomas Nguyen said, for the pepper to shine. And the business' partners are making sure that Peli Peli Kitchen switches things up right: they recently hired South African restaurateur Ryan Stewart to lead the fast-casual restaurant in its peri peri quest. Stewart, whose family owns 15 restaurants in his native country, is known for his peri peri chicken and seafood. According to Nguyen, Stewart will be in charge of operations growth for Peli Peli Kitchen concepts as the company seeks expansion in Houston, Austin and Dallas. (The more formal Peli Peli restaurant, which has two restaurants in Houston and one in Katy, will open in The Woodlands in the spring.

ALL HAIL THE KING CAKE: Popular pastry reigns during Mardi Gras season

"We want to grow the brand. His expertise in fast-casual will allow us to do that," Nguyen said. "I think it's a perfect match."

As for the Peli Peli Kitchen inside the Whole Foods 365 at 101 N. Loop West, Nguyen said he hopes the spicy peri peri chicken eventually will make it on the menu there too.

Greg Morago writes about food for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Send him news tips at greg.morago@chron.com. Hear him on our BBQ State of Mind podcast to learn about Houston and Texas barbecue culture.
In explaining why he thinks all the paperwork recently submitted by the city of Deer Park for an annual state traffic safety grant is well-worth it, police Sgt. Joe Cooper talks about the difference between enforcement of laws and patrolling.

Enforcement typically refers to citations issued to violators for traffic violations, says Cooper, while patrol relates to police presence in an area.

When it comes to traffic safety violations, weve found that the most effective deterrent we can provide is our presence, he said. Of course, there are a number of different strategies we utilize to help keep motorists safe, but at the end of the day, almost nothing compares to a marked police unit being present to deter traffic violations.

Since at least 2001, with the exception of possibly one year in the late 2000s, the citys police department has participated in Texas Department of Transportations Selective Traffic Enforcement grant using state and federal funds plus a match from the city to pay for extra time for officers to be on the beat throughout the year.

STEP allows us to get extra patrol on the streets of Deer Park to be proactive about the enforcement of traffic safety, Cooper said. The overarching goal of the program is the enforcement of traffic laws to reduce crashes, injuries, fatalities and all of the other negative circumstances that go along with motor vehicle crashes, including the cost. Obviously the most concerning issue with a crash is the potential for injury, but there is often a high financial cost associated with them as well.

The STEP amount varies from year to year and requires an in-kind match from the city. Last year, the state provided $50,000 and the city provided $48,646, which went to overtime and regular salaries and costs related to paperwork and benefits including workers compensation and insurance.

Last year, Cooper said, the grant funded an extra 886 hours of enforcement, which resulted in an additional 19 suspected DWI drivers, 2,283 speeding citations, 128 distracted-driving violations (generally related to cell-phone use) 21 occupant protection violations, which typically involving people not wearing seatbelts.

Enforcement carried out by officers participating in the STEP program are recorded separately from enforcement carried out by regularly scheduled officers. The citations issued by officers working under the STEP program are considered additional citations and are recorded as such.

The program runs from Oct. 1 of one year to Sept. 30 of the next. The filing deadline for the following year is in January.

So, the program we are currently working in started this past October and will run until September. We just filed the paperwork for the 2020 grant, Cooper said.

So what are the biggest traffic concerns in the city of Deer Park?

Hands down, the biggest complaints we receive are about speeding violations, Cooper said. The second-biggest issue seems to be distracted driving  so basically being on your phone  though anything which is causing a driver to have their attention taken from the road is distracted driving.

Deer Park has a cell-phone ordinance stricter than state law regarding cell phone use in vehicles. It bans drivers from using any handheld device while theyre driving unless the device is in hands-free mode or affixed to their vehicle. This ordinance is in effect citywide.

If theres something we can do to keep people safe, were going to try to the best of our ability to do it. The STEP program is part of that, Cooper said.
Brett Coomer, Staff photographer / Houston Chronicle

The future of Cy-Fair ISD for years to come is being planned by the Long-Range Planning Committee, which will discuss the financial impacts of a proposed future bond program during a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 24.

The LRPC was formed in Nov. 2018 to identify district needs and formulate a bond program recommendation to present to the CFISD school board on Feb. 4. On Feb. 11, the board of trustees will consider calling a bond election based on the LRPC recommendations. If the school board calls for a referendum, the bond election would be held on May 4, in a joint election with Harris County.
In an effort to stay connected with the community and plan the school districts next steps, Klein ISD has announced the formation of a new coalition.

The Klein Leadership Coalition will consist of influencers in and around Klein ISD, including staff, faculty and community members. According to a presentation given during the January meeting, the Klein Leadership Coalition will exchange information, create awareness of district operations and assist the district with future plans.

Klein ISD Superintendent Bret Champion said the group presents an opportunity to connect with the community while furthering the goals of the district. The group began activity this month, Champion said.

We have about 250 people who have agreed to serve on this committee, he said. This looks to be a very powerful opportunity for us to really expand the communication here in Klein ISD.

Cy-Fair ISD previously formed a similar committee, the Community Leadership Committee, which is also comprised of parents, community members and business owners. In November, CFISD formed another committee for long-term planning and recommendations to the board of trustees.

The Klein Leadership Coalition is intended to include a variety of voices from both inside and outside of the school district. The formation of the group is related to Klein ISDs push to identify district-wide improvements.

The objective is to create a large coalition of internal and external influencers who are able to share information about the district with other shareholders, Champion said. It includes parents and community members and taxpayers and businesses, so theyll share good news as well, have awareness on how Klein operates and what kind of legislation affects the district.

Champion listed the legislative priorities for Klein ISD, including fixing school finance, fixing the state accountability system, and saying no to any kind of vouchers. He said Klein ISD will aim to strengthen relationships with legislators through in-person meetings.

Klein ISD plans to follow legislative happenings closely as the school district considers holding another tax ratification election, during which voters would decide whether to allow the school district to levy a Maintenance and Operations tax rate above $1.04.

In June 2018, voters turned down a tax ratification election that proposed raising the M&O tax rate to $1.13. Failure to pass the TRE resulted in over $20 million in budget cuts, mainly impacting staff.

The district plans to study the need for a possible future TRE. If a TRE is deemed necessary, an election may be recommended for November 2019, Champion said.

This is not stated lightly by any means, he said. To be quite frank, we would love to not have an election  We need to keep monitoring the legislature to see what they do. However, there is no guarantee that the legislature is going to take action that has specific impact, in a positive way, on Klein ISD.

Champion said the school district needs money to continue providing current, and better, services in the future.

We will need to think about holding another election because ultimately we need an infusion of money in the system to continue the work that were doing in Klein ISD, he said.

During the presentation, Champion discussed district efforts to hear parent concerns. The initiative included 89 meetings between Klein ISD officials, staff and parents at every district campus and department. A survey showed the top three priorities among Klein ISD parents include safety, academic achievement and preparing students for college and the workforce.

chevall.pryce@chron.com
The Spring-Klein Chamber of Commerce is starting the new year in a new office north of the Grand Parkway.

The new location at 24624 Interstate 45 is about nine miles north of its original location at 6902 FM 2920.

We were in an office space that was more of a warehouse space that we had put up a bunch of taped up insulation to try to make it work as an office. It probably didnt represent us in the way that it should have. It didnt really fit our needs, said chamber president Brooks Williams.

The new office contains a kitchen, conference and meetings rooms for members to use.

Williams said he hopes to engage chamber members and attract new ones with the new amenities that will be available to them.

It makes us accessible. I think were in a great location, he said.

While the new office is located at the edge of the Spring-Klein area, Williams said the office may move to a more centralized location if it becomes available in the future.

The chamber is also revamping its lunch and breakfast networking events by offering them every other month and offering a monthly development program to its members.

Were really focusing on our small businesses, our entrepreneurs. Were focusing on providing value. There is a great deal of training that is available for them to get different trainings around small business development, personnel, whatever it may be, Williams said.

mayra.cruz@chron.com
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson will attend a meeting of five main nuclear states in Beijing on January 30-31, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, TASS reports.

"Next week on January 30-31, Ryabkov and Thompson are scheduled to be in Beijing to attend a meeting of the so-called nuclear five," she said.

"The agenda of this scheduled event is far wider than issues related to the INF treaty, as a wide range of issues is expected to be considered there, with an emphasis on nonproliferation of nuclear weapons," Zakharova said.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, at the talks on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (the INF treaty) held in Geneva earlier in January, Russia suggested to the United States that a separate meeting on the issue should be convened in Beijing on the sidelines of a meeting of the five main nuclear states.

"Taking into account the particular topicality of the INF Treaty, the Russian side is open to continue bilateral talks with the US on this very issue."

"Moreover, the Russian side proposed twice to [US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea] Thompson in Geneva that a bilateral meeting on this treaty should be scheduled in Beijing but there was no definite answer," she added.

"It is regrettable that the United States shuns dialogue on the INF treaty which vividly demonstrates that the Americans cannot see the point in holding any extra negotiations, since they have obviously set the course to dismantle the treaty," the diplomat said.

"While seeking an uncontrolled arms buildup, Washington is actually trying to knock down one of the major pillars under the current global stability, and this might result in the most painful repercussions for the worlds security," Zakharova said. "It is not late yet for our American partners to work out a responsible attitude to the INF treaty."

Zakharova assured that Moscow is ready for talks with Washington on strategic stability, including the INF Treaty.
Crude prices fell to the lowest level in almost a week as China warned of "serious challenges" to the global economy and the U.S. government shutdown cast a pall over growth.

Futures slid 0.7 percent in New York Wednesday, losing ground for the second day in a row as tensions flared around the world. In Davos, Switzerland, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan bemoaned the risks of trade wars and populism while, in Washington, an adviser to President Donald Trump said an extended shutdown could wipe out growth in 2019's first quarter.

Oil regained some ground after Venezuela's opposition party moved to unseat President Nicolas Maduro and as the Trump administration threatened sanctions on the nation's crude exports. Still, worries about the economy are capping any gains, said Michael Hiley, head of OTC energy trading at LPS Futures in New York. After a fast start to the year, crude has moved sideways for much of the last two weeks.

PREVIOUSLY: Oil slumps most in a month as IMF, trade dispute darken outlook

"You still have the same old things hanging over us, particularly the question of a trade deal between the U.S. and China," Hiley said.

Production cuts by OPEC and its allies should eventually lead to a balanced oil market in 2019, BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said in an interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Still, a sharp slowdown in the world economy led by China could weigh on crude consumption, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

Supplies could be crimped further if Trump follows through with more sanctions against Venezuela, which holds the world's largest crude reserves as well as OPEC's rotating presidency this year. The administration expanded its campaign against Maduro on Wednesday, recognizing Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido as the country's interim leader.

In the U.S., White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett said that if the partial government shutdown lasts through March, there's a chance of zero economic expansion this quarter, though "humongous" growth would follow once federal agencies reopen.

MOOD: Oil gloom turns to boom as the markets worst fears fade away

West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery fell 39 cents to $52.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, reaching the lowest closing price since Jan. 17.

Brent for March settlement fell 36 cents to $61.14 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after shedding 2 percent on Tuesday. The global benchmark crude was at an $8.52 premium to WTI.

Global oil demand remains on course to expand "above or around" 1 million barrels a day, but the economic outlook remains unclear, especially in China, Birol said in a Bloomberg television interview from Davos. Oil executives at the forum took a similar view.

"There's still so much uncertainty about what's going to happen with the world economy," Occidental Petroleum Corp. CEO Vicki Hollub said in a panel discussion. "The volatility I think is going to be worse over the next couple of months" before Brent crude settles in a $60- to $70-a-barrel range, she said.

--With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima and Sharon Cho.

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Texans are leaving a lot of vacation time unused.

A survey commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association found that Texans have 67 million unused days of vacation. It is second only to California when it comes to leaving time off on the table.

Nearly half of Texans reported leaving vacation time unused, a finding the Travel Association tied to decreased happiness. The travel industry advocate reported finding that "workers who use the majority of their vacation days for travel are significantly happier than those who travel less or not at all."

Of course, Texas's size contributes to the sheer number of unused vacation days in Texas. If you look instead at the percentage of vacation days that go unused, Texans are only 10th worst in the nation.

Mississippi, Washington, D.C., North Dakota, New Mexico, Tennessee, California, Oklahoma, Maryland and Nevada blow off roughly a third of their paid vacation, while Texas fails to use 29 percent.
More Information

About Memorial Park Conservancy

Memorial Park Conservancy is a non-profit organization created to restore, preserve, and enhance Memorial Park for the enjoyment of all Houstonians, today and tomorrow. Founded in 2000, the Conservancy's vision is to implement the principles of world-class park management and stewardship in partnership with the Houston community. A volunteer Board of Directors is led by Chairman Steve Jenkins, and a highly qualified staff works under the leadership of President & CEO Shellye Arnold. Memorial Park Conservancy works in partnership and with the guidance of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department. For more information, visit www.memorialparkconservancy.org.

About Trees For Houston

Trees For Houston is a non-profit organization whose mission is to plant, protect and promote trees throughout the Houston area. Since being founded in 1983, over half a million trees have been planted across the Great Houston region. Trees For Houston partners with schools, corporations and organizations to provide free or low-cost trees. Trees For Houston also host several volunteer events such as Arbor Day throughout the year where the community is invited to participate in tree plantings in a park or school that is in need of trees. Each tree planting allows individuals to be a part of Trees For Houston mission and leave a multi generation legacy that will impact thousands of Houstonians. If you are interested in planting trees in your area or would like to learn more about the organization, Trees For Houston office at 713-840-8733 or visit TreesForHouston.org.

About Houston Parks & Recreation Department

The Houston Parks and Recreation Department stewards and manages over 37,851 acres of park land and greenspace for the City of Houston and develops and implements recreational programming for citizens of all abilities. For more information on the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, call 832-395-7022 or visit www.houstonparks.org.

About Williams

Williams is a provider of large-scale infrastructure connecting U.S. natural gas and natural gas products to growing demand for cleaner fuel and feedstocks. Based locally in the Williams Tower with nearly 1,000 Houston-area employees, Williams owns and operates more than 33,000 miles of pipelines system wide - including Transco, the nation's largest volume and fastest growing pipeline - providing natural gas for clean-power generation, heating and industrial use. Williams' operations handle approximately 30 percent of U.S. natural gas. More information can be found at www.williams.com.
The Year of the Pig will be celebrated by billions of people in China and across the U.S. for the Lunar New Year on Feb. 5.

The Lunar New Year festival at the Chinese Community Center on Feb. 9 will hold one of the city's biggest events, with activities like cultural performances including lion and dragon dances, food, cultural exhibits, vendor booths and games and Asian cultural workshops like lantern making and face painting.
VICTOR DE SCHWANBERG/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF

More than 200 Texas students will attend a health and drug awareness fair in Texas City on Wednesday.

During the Youth Interactive Safety Lab students will experience virtual reality driving goggles, an impaired driving simulator, and take an interactive 12-question IQ challenge to test knowledge on drugs and alcohol, according to a news release.
For a week straight, local drink enthusiasts gathered at various events across the city to celebrate craft cocktails as part of the annual San Antonio Cocktail Conference.

Held from Jan. 14-20 this year, the booze-filled events brought together bartenders and drink connoisseurs for educational seminars, guided tastings and cocktail parties in support of children's charities, according to the event's website.
WASHINGTON - Democratic senators are demanding the Trump administration turn over the names of those it has been in contact with from the oil industry over its decision to continue oil and gas leasing during the partial government shutdown.

Both the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management have continued to approve new drilling projects, even as the Department of Interior remains largely shut down, leading to national park closures and the suspension of wildlife research.
Trump transgender troop limits can take effect, top court decides

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday handed President Donald Trump a victory on his policy barring many transgender people from the military, lifting lower court rulings that had blocked it on constitutional grounds from going into effect.

The decision, with the court's five conservative justices prevailing over its four liberals, granted the Trump administration's request to put on hold injunctions issued by federal judges against enforcement of the policy while a challenge to its legality continues in lower courts.

The court did not resolve the underlying question of the legality of the Republican president's plan, which reversed the landmark 2016 policy of his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to let transgender people for the first time serve openly in the armed forces and receive medical care to transition genders.

But in lifting the injunctions, the court signalled it would probably decide in favour on the administration when it is eventually asked to rule on the merits of the challenge brought by transgender people already in the military or hoping to join. The plaintiffs argued that the policy violated the US Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.

The justices declined the administration's request to immediately take up the fight over the policy's legality even before a California-based federal appeals court that often has been criticised by Trump rules on the matter.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs condemned the court's action and said some current troops could face discharge. Various injunctions had allowed new transgender troops to join the military as of January 1, 2018, in addition to the estimated thousands already serving. The US military allowed gay troops to serve openly for the first time starting in 2011 under Obama.

'For more than 30 months, transgender troops have been serving our country openly with valour and distinction, but now the rug has been ripped out from under them, once again,' said Peter Renn, an attorney for Lambda Legal, which represents some of the plaintiffs.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said Trump's 'ban on trans Americans serving in our nation's military was purpose-built to humiliate brave men & women seeking to serve their country'.

The Department of Defense praised the court's action.

'As always, we treat all transgender persons with respect and dignity. DoD's proposed policy is NOT a ban on service by transgender persons,' the Pentagon said in a statement, adding that the policy was based on 'professional military judgment and will ensure that the US Armed Forces remain the most lethal and combat effective fighting force in the world'.

Trump, whose administration also has taken other steps to limit the rights of transgender Americans, in 2017 announced a plan to ban transgender people from the military. Trump cited the 'tremendous medical costs and disruption' of having transgender troops.

In March 2018, Trump backed a revised policy crafted by then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to ban transgender people who seek or have undergone gender transition steps. It also would ban under certain circumstances transgender people who experience gender dysphoria, a condition the American Psychiatric Association defines as clinically significant distress due to 'a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender' and the individual's gender identity.

Trump got a boost on January 4 when a federal appeals court overturned an injunction issued by a judge in the US capital. A fourth injunction issued by a judge in Maryland will have to be lifted before Trump's policy can be implemented, but the administration said the justices' action applies to that one, too.

A 2016 Pentagon-commissioned study found that any impact on cost or military readiness from having transgender troops would be marginal. It estimated there were around 2,450 transgender troops at the time. Not all transgender people experience gender dysphoria, according to the American Psychiatric Association, which opposes a transgender military ban.

The new policy lets people diagnosed with gender dysphoria after entering the military continue to serve only if they are willing to do so in their 'biological sex'. The administration has said 937 active-duty service members have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria since 2016.

Mattis announced his resignation in December over other differences with Trump.

Trump's administration has rescinded federal guidance protecting transgender students in public schools concerning bathroom access, while the Justice Department has argued that a federal law against workplace discrimination on the basis of sex does not cover transgender employees.

The Supreme Court in 2017 sidestepped a major ruling in another transgender rights case when it cancelled arguments in a bathroom access dispute involving a Virginia high school student after the administration reversed the federal guidance.
'I'm not transphobic' says Father Ted writer after fierce backlash over transgender views

TV writer Graham Linehan has defended his views on transgenderism after a fierce backlash against his appearance on RTE's Prime Time programme this week.

The writer, best known for his work on the hit comedy show Father Ted and The IT Crowd, has been an outspoken critic of gender self-identification and early intervention for gender non-conforming children.

The latest wave of protest against Linehan arose in response to his appearance in RTE's Prime Time programme on trans issues in Ireland that aired on Tuesday night.

Despite a petition and protest outside its studios by trans activists objecting to his appearance, RTE refused to axe Linehan's four-minute interview from the show. The network said it hoped viewers would find the programme 'a fair and responsible examination of an issue of considerable public importance'.

Speaking to the Irish Times before the programme aired, Linehan said it was 'obviously wonderful' that trans people were finding greater acceptance and that it was important for people with gender dysphoria 'to be helped and supported'.

But he said some trans activists 'dont realise the damage done' and that he had to 'disagree fundamentally with certain aspects of current activism', which he said 'will stop those genuinely needing help from getting it'.

'I don't think I'm saying anything controversial,' he said.

He claimed to have support from lesbians and even transgender people, and said that other people shared his views but were too 'terrified' to speak out.

'There have been protests at pride parades in London and New Zealand, from lesbians who say this is affecting lesbians on the ground,' he said.

'A lot of transgender people agree with me. I'm not transphobic. Because of this debate, I now have a number of friends who are trans, and they don't agree with this dogma.'

He strongly criticised 'early affirmation' of transgenderism in young people, saying that it was 'dangerous' to offer surgery or drugs to children still going through puberty.

'There are lots of gender non-conforming children who may not be trans and may grow up to be gay adults, but who are being told by an extreme, misogynist ideology, that they were born in the wrong body, and anyone who disagrees with that diagnosis is a bigot,' he said.

'The normal experience of puberty is the first time we all experience gender dysphoria. It's natural. But to tell confused kids who might every second be feeling uncomfortable in their own skin that they are trapped in the wrong body?

'It's an obscenity. It's like telling anorexic kids they need liposuction.'
The West will look high and low for new reasons to impose sanctions on Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin said at the Valdai Discussion Clubs expert discussion.

The diplomat stressed that new excuses can be very "different and dreadful in their foolishness."

"There will certainly be an escalation, because we are an unyielding partner. In their eyes, we are obstinate and show no hope whatsoever that we going to be pliable to their methods," TASS cited Pankin as saying.

He also noted a very clear and very tense standoff in various markets and the desire to elbow out rivals.

"We will continue to confidently do what we have been doing, that is, diversifying the energy sector and searching for partners. If we lose some markets, we will find others. We will be looking for alternative options," the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister concluded.
by Shafique Khokhar

Saima Niaz (20) and Suneha Mushtaq (11) were accused of theft by their employer. In custody, they were sexually harassed, insulted and tortured with boiling water to extract a confession, spending 13 days in jail without formal charges.

Faisalabad (AsiaNews)  A human rights group has appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to intervene on behalf of two young Christian women, one underage, who were victims of abuses by their employer and tortured by police officers who arrested them on false charges of theft.

Saima Niaz, 20 (picture 2), and her 11-year-old cousin Suneha Mushtaq, have been in jail in the Faisalabad District Prison since 9 January, the day of their indictment.

They were moved after spending almost two weeks of illegal detention in the house of the man they worked for and the mens section of Chak Jhumra police station. On the same day, police also filed theft charges against Saimas mother Rehana Kausar, and two unnamed persons.

The women had been working for Rana Saif Ullah Khan for three years. In November 2018, Saima informed him that she was going to quit the following month because she was going to get married in February 2019.

On 27 December, after the Christmas holidays, Saif Ullah forcibly restrained the two women to prevent them from leaving his home. He then called police and filed a complaint accusing them of stealing gold objects worth 1.9 million rupees (US$ 13,800).

The police arrested the women on the spot and held them behind bars without a formal arrest warrant for 13 days, until 9 January.

When their parents, accompanied by Christian community leaders, went to the station to bail them out (picture 1), they were told that they were still investigating the case and that they would not release them until the investigation was over.

During their detention, Saima and Suneha were tortured to extract a confession. Human Rights Focus Pakistan (HRFP) has condemned the womens treatment and is helping them by providing legal aid. The case is now before the Lahore High Court.

"The police brutally tortured Saima, forcing her to swallow boiling water, said HRPF president Naveed Walter. The agents undressed in front of the women. Sexual harassment and use of offensive language showed the true face of the policemen.

"Suspending the station house officer is not enough. Those responsible have some explaining to do vis-a-vis the two innocent womens complaint. Both come from very poor families and must be allowed to go home and obtain justice."
Church of England plans massive investment in mission

The Church of England is to invest 35 million in new outreach and evangelism projects, it was announced today.

The move is part of the Church's Renewal and Reform programme and is intended to help it reach tens of thousands of people including in city centres, outer estates and rural areas.

The grants will pioneer new types of churches along with other projects, ranging from a social media pastor to work with school and community choirs.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: 'Hearing and responding to the good news of Jesus Christ unlocks new joy, new belonging, new purpose and new life.

'These projects show the dynamism and drive of the Church of England's mission to share this good news with people throughout our dioceses and parishes.

'We are committed to this work because we want everyone to know how much they are loved by God through Jesus Christ, and how they can find that love for themselves.'

The areas which will receive the funding boost include Birmingham, Bradford, Gateshead, Ipswich, Leeds, Portsmouth, Preston, Rotherham, Southend and Stockton-on-Tees.

In Bradford, a church with a planned gym and cafe on site is to be created in a nightclub area in the centre of the city as part of the Church of England's mission to students and young adults.

In Leeds, congregations that meet throughout the week rather than Sundays will be set up at Holy Trinity Church in the city centre aimed at attracting professionals working in the area.

In Suffolk, a grant has been made available to help create small worshipping communities meeting mainly in houses in rural areas with the aim of supporting new forms of church gatherings in the region.

Several of the grants will boost the Church of England's presence in areas with high student populations. In Durham, St Nic's Church, in the centre of the city, will seek to engage with the further education sector, building on existing work amongst university students.

Also in Durham, a new group will be established, The Community of St Cuthbert, inspired by the monastic tradition.

The Church will support mission work in the digital sphere with the appointment of a social media pastor  a lay or ordained role  based at Stockton Parish Church, in the Diocese of Durham, and a digital media post in Suffolk.

The spending round includes funding for mission work through the Church of England's Anglo-Catholic tradition. In Lancashire, the City of Preston Parish, of Preston Minster and the Anglo-Catholic St George's Church, is to expand its outreach, including to under-25s and students in the town. Churches in the Anglo Catholic tradition in east London and Essex, areas of rapid population growth, will be supported to create new congregations.

The grants from the Church of England's Strategic Development Fund have been awarded to the dioceses as part of the Renewal and Reform programme aimed at creating a growing church for all people and for all places.

Programme director Debbie Clinton said: 'From a church in a nightclub area to weekday congregations and a social media pastor, the Church of England is not afraid to try something new to ensure it continues to serve every community in the country.

'We believe that everyone should have a chance to experience the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of belonging to a Christian community wherever they live, whether in an urban city centre, an outer housing estate or in remote rural areas.'
Asia Bibi is 'anything but safe', says Christian leader in Pakistan

A Christian leader in Pakistan has warned that radical Islamists are still trying to find Christian mother Asia Bibi 'so they can kill her'.

Months after her death sentence for blasphemy was overturned by the Pakistani Supreme Court, Bibi remains in hiding and is 'anything but safe', according to the director of the Peace Center in Lahore, Fr James Channon.

He told Aid to the Church in Need: 'Even now, after her acquittal, she is anything but safe. Radical Islamists are trying to find her so they can kill her. That is why she is currently under state protection.'

Bibi spent eight years in prison on death row after being found guilty of blasphemy. The Christian mother-of-five had been accused by colleagues on a fruit-picking farm following a dispute over a cup of water.

Pakistan is a majority-Muslim country where Christians account for less than two per cent of the population. They face intense persecution for their faith, often as a result of the blasphemy laws, which carry a death penalty.

Fr Channon said there were currently 187 active blasphemy cases against Christians in Pakistan.

'The blasphemy law destroys the lives of those who have been accused, even if they avoid being executed,' he said.

'Any time Christians are accused of supposed blasphemy, all Christians in the region are indicted with them. This often leads to acts of violence against Christians.'

Fr Channon cited the ongoing case of Christian couple Shafqat Masih and Shagufta Bibi, who are facing the death penalty after being accused of sending blasphemous text messages.

He fears the worst, even if the courts decide to free them.

'Their prospects are very weak. Even should they be acquitted, they and their children will no longer be able to live in Pakistan. Fanatic Muslims will try to kill them,' he said.

Christians have raised the same concerns about Asia Bibi, who is still waiting for an offer of asylum from a Western country.

The UK Government has said it is involved in discussions with Pakistan and other countries about a solution for Bibi but has so far refused to say whether an offer of asylum will be made.

Questioned by Tory MP Rehman Chishti about what action the Government was taking, Prime Minister Theresa May said last week that she would not comment on the details.

'Our primary concern is for the safety and wellbeing of Asia Bibi and her family and obviously the UK High Commissioner in Islamabad is keeping me and the Government up to date with developments,' she said.

'We have been in contact with international partners about our shared desire to see a swift and positive resolution in this case, and a number of countries are in discussion about a possible alternative destination for Asia Bibi once the legal process is complete.

'I'm not going to comment on the details of that because we do not want to compromise Asia Bibi's long-term safety.'

Mr Chishti, who resigned as Conservative Party Vice-Chair over the Government's handling of Bibi's asylum case, said it 'can't be right' to leave her to find asylum in another country and that it was Britain's 'moral responsibility' to take her in.
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Will you get different care by going to a doctor who is a professed Christian? How should a believer practice medicine?

Ive worked in the medical community for 15 years. My colleagues are good doctors, by and large. Medicine has a lot of standard procedureshow you treat blood pressure, diabetes or chronic illnessesand, for the most part, you will likely get technically similar care no matter where you go.

But theres a developing culture within medicine that should concern usone that lacks a Christian worldview on end-of-life issues, prenatal care and sexual identity. Its coming to the point that Christians must walk wisely in deciding whom they trust with their care.

When looking at the history of Christian health care, the best place to start is Christ, the Great Physician. Christs ministry was saturated with miracles and healing the sick and downcast. When Christ healed, he healed holistically, treating both symptoms and souls. Throughout his ministry, Christ placed an emphasis on the poor, orphans, widows and social outcasts.

Its important to notice that, when Jesus healed, the healing was accompanied by repentance and obedience. Many times, He required that his patient get up and walk and leave their sins behind.

In caring for the least of these (Matthew 25:40), Christians over the last two millennia developed hospitals, which originally were monasteries seeking to take care of the sick and dying on the streets. Look around and you will see hospital names that still point to this Christian beginning, whether Providence Hospital or St. Francis (places of excellence where I was fortunate to train) or the many St. Lukes and Good Samaritans. Our modern understanding of science grew out of the Reformation and Renaissance, when faithful men studied a well-designed world as an act of worship to the Creator.

Put all of this together and you find a compassionate heart for the world, to bring the very best care to the bodies and souls of the lost, broken, sick and ill.

But somehow, as weve followed the current of culture and science, weve lost that Christian foundation. By attempting to give medical care without a Christian basis, our doctors have begun to hurt instead of heal.

Medicines traditionally used for pain relief are being used in overdoses for physician-assisted suicide. Instead of healing, death is offered to the elderly and broken.

Ultrasounds are also being used to identify twins or a babys gender and then to urge parents to abort.

Our deep understanding of human physical development is now being turned on its head and used to block puberty with powerful hormones in children who are suffering from sexual identity issues.

The same surgical skills used to treat women who have had breast cancer or people disfigured by traumatic accidents are being used to remove functioning sex organs and to disfigure healthy men and women.

Some of those counseling younger patients with serious illnesses are encouraging them in some cases to give up life-sustaining treatment.

Adolescents are regularly separated from their parents with the express purpose of providing sex education behind closed doors.

This developing broken medical culture is causing many Christian believers to ask, Should I even continue to see medical doctors? Can I trust them?

Clearly, we need reformation in medicine. But it must begin with faithful Christians speaking truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

As Christian doctors, were accountable to God for our every word and deed. This accountability should grow humility in us and cause us to seek God in His glory. Fundamentally, we believe that life is a gift rather than a curse, a presupposition that leads us to approach medicine completely differently. We know that our value as humans comes from being unique creations, made in the Image of God. This drives us to protect the vulnerable, to work to preserve and extend life and to overflow with gratitude.

When Christian doctors recognize that they are accountable to God, caring for patients made after Gods image, and are seeking wisdom in Gods Word on how to walk, they cannot help but have a different worldview, one which causes them to practice medicine in a very distinct way.

A Biblical worldview gives a doctor a correct understanding of illness and death. Gods Word tells us that illness comes from living in a world broken by sin. God, in his Grace, allows us to understand the body and reduce suffering here and now. And yet we also know that this is not our final home, which gives us a truly hopeful perspective on end-of-life issues.

Christian doctors should be very different when it comes to children. The Bible is clear that children are a gift from God. They are a heritage from the Lord, a reward. But we live in a world that believes children are a curse and a burden. In our office, we greet families with joy when they announce they are going to have a new child no matter the circumstance. We treat children as a blessing and encourage parents to see it that way, too.

Furthermore, physicians who are believers also recognize that a large portion of mental illness comes from the consequences of unresolved sin and broken relationships. For a doctor to address symptoms without also addressing a heart issue is like putting Band-Aids on a festering wound. For instance, we should treat depression with a whole-person approach, recognizing that depression is sometimes the result of a broken relationship with God. To have a perfect understanding of how sin can be rottenness to the bones and how only God can bring hope and healing in that circumstance is a remarkable joy to share.

A Christian approach to health care is one that values life, respects the way God created people, and seeks to heal people the way they hurt, both body and soul.

So what we can do?

We can flood medical schools with Christian students. We can start our own practices. We can seek to heal like Christ.

SIDEBAR

A Checkup for your Family Doctor

Questions to ask your doctor to understand their worldview:

If a member of my family (i.e., teenager, older mom of six) had an unexpected pregnancy, what would your first response be? What advice would you give?

If I have a terminal illness and asked for a medication to end my life, how would you handle this request?

A friend of mine comes to you for help with depression. Who would you recommend as a counselor? Would you encourage my friend to counsel with a pastor?

My 12-year-old child is struggling with gender confusion. How would you advise our family?
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Today, while migrants continue to caravan from Central America and arrive at the US border with Mexico, their stories often painted in various shades of gloom, a different kind of picture emerged in Tijuana a couple of years ago.

As someone who lives and works in ministry on the border between San Diego and Tijuana, Ive witnessed a caravan success story while working with the Haitian migrants who arrived to the same spot two years ago.

At that time, some 15,000 Haitian migrants who had moved to Brazil in search of work traveled north, mostly by land, winding up at the American border crossings that lead to Southern California. Some of those migrants were allowed to enter the US, however, another 5,000 decided to stay on the Mexican side in Baja, making Tijuana home.

It now seems like a distant memory that the Haitians moved out of the temporary refugee shelters relatively quickly to live in their own houses. Ask many residents or careful observers in Baja about the Haitians now living in Tijuana and youll find that there is a general consensus that they have achieved full integration into everyday living and enjoy gainful activities, whether working in stores or factories, or managing their own small businesses.

The Haitian success story in Baja includes not only a people group holding the exterior trappings of a place to live and work, but more importantly, the blessing of a spiritual home. With the help of local pastors and ministry leaders, church doors were opened to their own Haitian congregations in Tijuana.

There are more than four prominent Haitian churches or groups in the area with many more smaller groups and fellowships. The largest church has nearly 200 members and is still growing. Last December, this very same congregation along with others had a joint crusade event for three evenings in the First Baptist Church located in downtown Tijuana. Everyone was invited, including believers and non-believers, and Mexican-born neighbors of all socio-economic backgrounds. During the conclusion of the outreach, the Haitians celebrated the harvest by hosting a dinner of abundant Haitian delicacies as well as an amazing gift-exchange.

That celebration again confirmed our observations that Baja had become a second home for the Haitian migrants. Initially, the phenomenon was inconceivable for everyone on both sides of the border: Haitian refugees and local Baja people coexisting.

However, Christians within Mexico helped "build a church" instead of partaking solely in humanitarian efforts.

How did the Haitians transform from refugees who wandered for five long years through various South American countries after a tragic earthquake devastated their country to productive citizens of Baja?

Besides being a resourceful lot, a number of them sought God for help.

Each Sunday morning the Haitians attend a worship service in their own church. On Thursday evenings, theres a prayer service. Their prayers are ones of gratitude and prayers to be used by God.

In March, ten or more pastors and leaders of the First Baptist Church/Haitian Congregation in downtown Tijuana are starting a 3-year, evening classes program at Gloria Seminary, also in Tijuana, where students will be ordained as ministers upon graduating.

Can you see how Gods preparation for this part of Mexico is being played out? Maybe its part of Gods plan for Haitians to be evangelizing Mexicans.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts ( NIV - Isaiah 55:9).

Gods ways are eternally and immensely higher than ours and His plan for the Central American migrants, while concealed to us now, will be revealed in His timing.

Earlier this month, a group of local pastors who were joined by American and Korean pastors and ministry workers, held a roundtable discussion in the tiny town of La Mision in Baja, one hour south of Tijuana. The 15 of us prayed for Gods will and guidance and at the end of two days of meetings, a plan of action was created: lets use whatever resources God has and will provide and help the Central Americans plant their own churches. Our goal is to have churches planted before July (2019).

This Saturday (1/26/19), we will be holding a prayer and strategies meeting at El Chaparral Border Church http://elchaparralchurch.weebly.com/ located only steps from the border. At this first public meeting, we plan to actively search for interested leaders among the migrants. We want people that come from the Central American migrant community in Tijuana to be their own leaders.

Within a 6-month period, our initiative should be one that is owned by the migrants themselves. We will continue to provide mentorship and intercessory prayer.

Very soon, wed like to see our first Christian Central American leader.
Pastors 12-y-o daughter killed in snow collapse outside Illinois church

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A 12-year-old Illinois girl who died after a snow fort collapsed on her as she played with a friend near her parents church on Sunday desperately screamed for help before suffering cardiac arrest.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified the girl this week as Esther Jung of Elk Grove Village, an ABC 7 report said. Her father is the pastor of Rothem Church in Arlington Heights, where investigators said she and a 9-year-old girl dug the fort in a snowbank as their parents worshiped inside the church. The adults found the collapsed fort about an hour later and called authorities.

"She cried out, 'Help me. Help me,' but nobody heard it," Jae Kim, the 9-year-old's great uncle, who said the pastors daughter was not completely buried as she screamed for help.

Authorities who ruled Esthers death an accident said she died of asphyxia and hypothermia due to entrapment in a snowbank. Her friend was treated for hypothermia and released from the hospital on Monday, ABC 7 said.

Its just a tragic accident, Sgt. Charles Buczynski told the Chicago Tribune.

Raymond Lee, whose father serves as an elder at the Korean Christian church, told the Daily Herald that the 12 year old was the one with the biggest heart of anyone."

"If it involved taking in a newcomer or welcoming little kids, she was there, kind of like a big sister," Lee said.

To help Esthers family, Lee launched a GoFundMe campaign Monday seeking to raise $35,000 and has raised more than half the amount requested as of Wednesday morning.

The family is in shock and beyond devastated. Esther's father is the pastor of the church and the family lives on that income alone. The funds raised will go toward funeral costs and to support Esther's family in this time of need, Lee wrote on the campaign's page.

Family members told ABC 7 that Esther was the youngest of three and dreamed of one day becoming a veterinarian.

Neighbors at her home in Elk Grove Village recalled how she loved building snow forts in the front yard.

"It's just so sad. It's something she loved to do, and she did regularly, so she was probably confident in her skills," neighbor Peg Gradl told the network. "Two little girls just having fun in the snow. It's so normal, but it's a danger we don't often think of."

The Rothem Church describes itself as a part of the Reformed Christian tradition. Among their evangelism efforts is the deployment of retirees to spread the Gospel.

In the next 20 to 30 years, the average life expectancy of a person will be 100 years. Those who live long enough will live up to the age of 120. So if you retire at age 60 to 65, you have to live 35 to 40 years after retirement, the church says in a translated version of their ministry page.

Instead of planning to live the rest of their lives with nothing to do, the church says: When you are ready to retire from your youth, you will receive the mission of the church, go to your mission field, preach the Gospel, and help you live a meaningful life.

Despite the loss of his daughter, according to Lee, Esthers father plans to return to the Rothem Church pulpit as early as this weekend.

"I don't know where he gets the strength and the courage, but he wants to be there to preach," Lee told the Daily Herald.
Covington Catholic student who faced off with Native American elder says he is a faithful Christian

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Correction Appended

The Trump-supporting Catholic student, whose encounter with a Native American elder at the March for Life went viral, is telling his side of the story.

Nicholas Sandmann, a junior at Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky who was widely berated online over the weekend for allegedly disrespecting a Native American elder as he played a ceremonial drum in Washington D.C., Friday, defended himself as a faithful Christian who was just trying to keep the peace between protesters.

I was not intentionally making faces at the protestor. I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation. I am a faithful Christian and practicing Catholic, and I always try to live up to the ideals my faith teaches me  to remain respectful of others, and to take no action that would lead to conflict or violence, Sandmann said in a press statement Sunday.

The high school student, who revealed he and other schoolmates were attending the March for Life rally when the encounter took place, said they were victims of a hateful attack and they were simply trying to diffuse it collectively with school cheer when the elder, Nathan Phillips, approached his group.

When we arrived, we noticed four African American protestors who were also on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I am not sure what they were protesting, and I did not interact with them. I did hear them direct derogatory insults at our school group, Sandmann said.

The protestors said hateful things. They called us racists, bigots, white crackers, faggots, and incest kids. They also taunted an African American student from my school by telling him that we would harvest his organs. I have no idea what that insult means, but it was startling to hear, he wrote.

Phillips, who was part of the Indigenous Peoples Rally that was taking place in Washington, D.C., at the time of the March for Life rally, was captured in a video clip posted on Instagram, in what was at first interpreted Sandmann being disrespectful toward Phillips.

The student and others from his school also boldly donned, "Make America Great Again" hats in support of President Donald Trump, which some liberals find offensive. An extended video of the incident with the complete sequence of events, however, showed the encounter was more complicated than first reported.

Some news organizations corrected or updated their initial reporting. Others apologized for misinterpreting the initial video and criticizing the Catholic students.

"Yesterday I had one impression of the maga kids from Kentucky. Now after seeing more videos I have a different more complicated impression. Makes all the hot takes seem silly," New York Times columnist David Brooks tweeted Sunday.

"I apologize to the Covington Catholic boys. What Rod Dreher says of himself goes double for me. I jumped the gun and that was stupid and unjust. It is I, not the boys, who needs to take a lesson from this," conservative Catholic and Princeton Professor Robert P. George wrote on social media with a link to a Rod Dreher column about the incident.

Dreher acknowledged that the boys may have misbehaved and should've handled the situation better, but added that he regretted initially condemning the boys before seeing the full context.

"These boys were already chanting their high school chants. Nathan Phillips confronted them. They dont appear to understand what point he was making with his own chanting and drum-beating. And now they are held up to the contempt of the country for something they appear not to have done at all. And, the news accounts conveniently ignore the provocative, racist, foul-mouthed attacks on the boys by one of Phillipss Native American companions," Dreher wrote.

Phillips told CBS News that he was trying to keep the peace when he inserted himself between the students and the group of African American protesters, known as the black Hebrew Israelites.

Sandmann, the elder insisted, restricted his freedom of movement by standing in front of him.

"When the others were moving aside and letting me go, he decided that he wasn't going to do that. When I was coming up the steps, I seen him start putting himself in front of me, so I slided to the right, and he slided to the right. I slided to the left and he slided to the left  so by the time I got up to him, we were right in front of him. He just positioned himself to make sure that he aligned himself with me, so that sort of stopped my exit," Phillips said.

In his statement on the encounter, Sandmann insisted he too was trying to keep the peace when he decided to block Phillips movement and said he also prayed a silent prayer during the tense standoff.

I never interacted with this protestor. I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves. To be honest, I was startled and confused as to why he had approached me. We had already been yelled at by another group of protestors, and when the second group approached I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers, his statement said.

I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand, he added.

Sandmann argued that Phillips was not wise in the manner in which he approached the group of students from Covington and said his life has been threatened as a result of the encounter.

I harbor no ill will for this person. I respect this person's right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week. I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make, the student wrote.

I have received physical and death threats via social media, as well as hateful insults. One person threatened to harm me at school, and one person claims to live in my neighborhood. My parents are receiving death and professional threats because of the social media mob that has formed over this issue, he revealed.

He asked the public not to pass judgement on his family or his school and insists that Covington does not teach hate.

I cannot speak for everyone, only for myself. But I can tell you my experience with Covington Catholic is that students are respectful of all races and cultures. We also support everyone's right to free speech. I am not going to comment on the words or account of Mr. Phillips, as I don't know him and would not presume to know what is in his heart or mind. Nor am I going to comment further on the other protestors, as I don't know their hearts or minds, either, he said.

I would caution everyone passing judgement based on a few seconds of video to watch the longer video clips that are on the internet, as they show a much different story than is being portrayed by people with agendas, he concluded.

Correction, January, 22, 2019:

This article originally reported that Nathan Phillips was a Vietnam veteran. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976, which did not include service in Vietnam.
Ex-gay counselor files lawsuit against Maryland's gay conversion therapy ban for minors

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An ex-gay psychotherapist had filed a lawsuit against the state of Maryland over its ban on sexual orientation change efforts therapy for minors.

Last year, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed Senate Bill 1028, also known as the Youth Mental Health Protection Act, into law after it was passed overwhelmingly by the state Legislature.

Christopher Doyle, a professional counselor who is licensed to practice in Maryland, filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland last Friday against Hogan and state Attorney General Brian E. Frosh.

In the lawsuit, Doyle argued that the law violates the freedom of speech and freedom of religion rights of both he and his clients.

SB 1028 prohibits counseling to minors seeking to eliminate, reduce, or resolve unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity by licensed professionals, which is causing immediate and irreparable harm to Plaintiff and Plaintiffs clients, read the lawsuits introduction.

By denying minors the opportunity to pursue a particular course of action that can most effectively help them address the conflicts between their sincerely held religious beliefs and goals to eliminate, reduce, or resolve unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity, SB 1028 is causing those minors confusion and anxiety over same-sex sexual attractions, behaviors, and identity and infringing on their free speech and religious liberty rights.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, the law firm representing Doyle, said in a statement released on Monday that he believed the Maryland law is unconstitutional and causes harm to counselors and clients in Maryland.

Every person should have access to the counselor of their choice. No government has the authority to prohibit a form of counseling simply because it does not like the religious or moral beliefs of a particular counselor or client, said Staver.

Last May, Maryland passed SB 1028, making it the 11th state to ban conversion therapy for youths, behind California, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York, via executive action, and Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington State, as well as the District of Columbia.

SB 1028 was introduced in February 2018 and passed in the Senate by a vote of 34-12 and then in the House by a vote of 95-27.

Debate over the proposed legislation struck a personal nerve as Delegate Meagan Simonaire voted for the bill, while her father, Senator Bryan Simonaire, voted against it.

"The definition is so expansive this bill could revoke someone's license and livelihood by a simple conversation," Bryan Simonaire, told The Baltimore Sun. "I wonder if Jesus would have been banned if he had been licensed in Maryland."

Chad Griffin, president of the LGBT activist group the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement last year that he applauded the law's passage.

"Today, Maryland is a better place for countless young people thanks to the many advocates, allies, parents, and survivors who spoke out against this practice and urged their elected officials  Republicans and Democrats alike  to adopt these crucial protections," said Griffin.

Also called sexual orientation change efforts therapy or "reparative therapy," conversion therapy involves a counselor attempting to change a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.

The practice is controversial, with prominent American psychological organizations rejecting it as harmful and ineffective.
Planned Parenthood reports killing 332,757 babies last year, most since 2011

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Abortion procedures performed at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide increased to 332,757 last year, as the company's new president, Dr. Leana Wen, called abortion a human right.

The figure highlighted in the business' latest annual report shows an increase of 11,373 abortions over the previous years report.

Planned Parenthood's report shows that it received $564.8 million in federal grants and reimbursements in 2017-'18 and received $100 million more in private donations in 2018 than it did in 2017; and has net assets of nearly $1.9 billion.

The business' adoption referrals also "decreased by 1,000 last year to around 2,800 "which means that Planned Parenthood clinics performed 118 abortions for every one adoption referral," The National Review noted.

Wen, who's the first physician to lead the company in its 50-year history, described abortion as being part of standard medical care and a fundamental human right in her message accompanying the annual report.

Through all our work, we will continue to assert what we know to be true: Planned Parenthood services  from birth control to cancer screenings [Planned Parenthood does not offer mammograms] to abortion  are standard medical care. Reproductive health care is health care. Womens health care is health care. And health care is a fundamental human right, Wen wrote in part.

The report showed abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood accounted for 3.4 percent of the medical services at the clinics, a 0.4 percent increase over the previous year.

In a previous interview with The Christian Post, Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director, explained how the company bills its services to claim that abortions only account for 3 to 10 percent of what they do.

"All of it boils down to how they bill for services," Johnson said. "For example: an annual exam, Pap smear, gonorrhea and chlamydia tests, and seven packs of birth control account for one visit and are billed as 10 services. They unbundle for abortion, and count all services provided as one. We don't really know what the true numbers are because of the bundling and unbundling."

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. noted in a report published in 2015: "The calculation counts each 'discrete clinical interaction' as a separate 'medical service,' meaning simple tests or routine provision of birth control are given the same weight as surgical or chemical abortions. For example, if a woman in the course of a year receives a free condom, a pregnancy test, a sexually transmitted infection test, and an abortion, Planned Parenthood would say abortion was only 25 percent of the services provided."

Wen, who emigrated from China with her parents as child, said her parents depended of food stamps and Medicaid and Planned Parenthood for health care.

When I was 8, my parents brought me here from China. We came to the U.S. with $40 to our name. We depended on Medicaid and food stamps and also on Planned Parenthood for health care, she said last fall.

Lila Rose, president and founder of national pro-life organization Live Action, dismissed the notion that Planned Parenthood is a health care organization. "Planned Parenthood is not a health care organization  the corporation is Americas largest abortion chain, and its own numbers prove it, Rose said in a statement.

Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen admitted this month that Planned Parenthoods core mission is providing, protecting and expanding access to abortion, and it recently published a plan to expand its abortions in 2019. Poll after poll shows a majority of American taxpayers are opposed to funding abortions. When taxpayers subsidize nearly 40 percent of Planned Parenthoods budget and the abortion chain readily admits its core mission is abortion, taxpayer money is supporting abortions, period, she added.

Last year, the abortion rights group Center for Reproductive Rights argued in a report that if Roe was overturned, then 22 states would likely ban abortion in response.

In a recent interview with Bustle, Wen addressed pro-choice advocates' concerns, saying, "Especially now with the Supreme Court, were dangerously close to a world that looks much like the one before Roe was decided in 1973," Wen said. "We are, though, optimistic because we know what the American people want."

But Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric J. Scheidler, told CP last July that claims like 22 states immediately banning abortion are exaggerated "fear mongering."

"At most, only a couple of states with extremely conservative legislatures might even attempt something like a total ban on abortion," Scheidler told CP. "[It's] far more likely that states would seek to further restrict abortion, in line with the view of most Americans, with measures like banning late-term abortion and holding abortion facilities to the highest health and safety standards," he said.

He added that the Supreme Court could uphold greater restrictions on abortion than we've seen so far, such as the bans on abortion after 20 weeks that have been passed in some states.
NY Catholic bishop questions Gov. Cuomo's faith over death star abortion law

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's faith is being questioned after he signed a bill into law that legalizes abortion up to birth for any reason.

Section 2 of the controversial Reproductive Health Act states that an abortion May be performed by a licensed, certified, or authorized practitioner within 24 weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or there is an absence of fetal viability, or at any time when necessary to protect a patient's life or health.

In an open letter Saturday to the governor in The Evangelist, the official publication for the Diocese of Albany, the Most Rev. Edward B. Scharfenberger called into question Cuomo's Catholic faith, arguing that what the bill permits is contrary to the teachings of the Catholic faith he professes.

Although in your recent state of state address you cited your Catholic faith and said we should stand with Pope Francis. Your advocacy of extreme abortion legislation is completely contrary to the teachings of our pope and our Church. Once truth is separated from fiction and people come to realize the impact of the bill, they will be shocked to their core. By that time, however, it may be too late to save the countless lives that will be lost or spare countless women lifelong regret, wrote Scharfenberger.

Today I signed the #ReproductiveHealthAct  codifying Roe v. Wade into state law and protecting women's reproductive rights no matter what the federal government does.



This is a victory for all New Yorkers. pic.twitter.com/90oMDDnCwV  Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 23, 2019

Cuomo signed the controversial Reproductive Health Act into law at a reception in the Executive Mansion immediately after legislators voted to approve it on the 46th anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling.

Today I signed the #ReproductiveHealthAct  codifying Roe v. Wade into state law and protecting women's reproductive rights no matter what the federal government does. This is a victory for all New Yorkers, Cuomo said in a tweet Tuesday.

The New York State Catholic Conference said in a statement after the vote Tuesday that it was a tragic chapter in the states history.

Many of the state Senators and Assembly Members who voted for this abortion expansion are mothers themselves, who felt their child toss, turn and kick in their womb, and delighted in the progress of their pregnancy. Many others, as well as our governor, are fathers, who held their partners hand as they viewed the ultrasound videos, watched their child squirm and rejoiced at the first sound of a heartbeat. Many of these same officials were themselves born into less-than-perfect conditions  poverty, health problems, disabilities, broken families. All overcame these issues to rise to leadership in our state, because their parents chose life for them, it said.

We thank all of our partners in the 12-year-long fight to stop this horrendous policy, and all pro-life New Yorkers who made their voices heard in an effort to stop it. Let us all pray for the conversion of heart for those who celebrate this tragic moment in the history of our state. And we pray in a special way for the lives that will be lost, and for the women of our state who are made less safe under this law, the statement ended.

The Reproductive Health Act that abortion advocates have been trying to get passed for 12 years and has been vehemently opposed by religious and conservative groups, passed with a 38-28 vote and thunderous applause in the state Senate chamber Tuesday. The bill codifies federal abortion rights guaranteed under the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision and removes abortion from the state's criminal code.

"We have a president who's made it very, very clear that he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade," state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said at a news conference ahead of the vote Tuesday, according to the Albany Times Union. "Today, here in New York, we are saying no. We are saying no, not here in New York. And we're not just saying no. We're saying that here in New York, women's health matters. We're saying here in New York, women's lives matter. We're saying here in New York, women's decisions matter."

Scharfenberger, however, called it a Death Star and insisted that support for the bill cannot be reconciled with the values of the Catholic faith.

The so-called Reproductive Health Act will expand abortion under the pretenses of choice and progress, which, in fact, it will do little to enhance. At the same time, this legislation threatens to rupture the communion between the Catholic faith and those who support the RHA even while professing to follow the Church, something that troubles me greatly as a pastor, he said.

He then argued that the RHA is more destructive than Roe v. Wade because of its aggressive extremism.

Contrary to what its proponents say, the RHA goes far beyond Roe v. Wade in its aggressive extremism. Granting nondoctors permission to perform abortions does nothing to advance the security and health of women. Condoning coerced or involuntary abortions by repealing criminal sanctions even in cases where a perpetrator seeks to make his partner un-pregnant through an act of physical violence does not represent any kind of progress in the choice, safety or health of women, he said.

Removing protection for an infant accidentally born alive during an abortion is abject cruelty, something most people of conscience would deem inhumane for even a dog or cat. Finally, allowing late-term abortions is nothing less than a license to kill a pre-born child at will. It is very difficult to understand how you can align yourself with Pope Francis and so vehemently advocate such profoundly destructive legislation, the bishop argued.

Even though he is divorced, supports same-sex marriage and abortion rights, Cuomo still considers himself a practicing Roman Catholic but wouldnt go as far as to say he is devout, The New York Times previously reported.

A statement from the Catholic Bishops of New York State last Thursday said the church would continue to support pro-life efforts in the state:

With an abortion rate that is already double the national average, New York law is moving in the wrong direction. We renew our pledge to offer the resources and services of our charitable agencies and health services to any woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, to support her in bearing her infant, raising her family or placing her child for adoption. There are life-affirming choices available, and we aim to make them more widely known and accessible, the group said.

Our Governor and legislative leaders hail this new abortion law as progress. This is not progress. Progress will be achieved when our laws and our culture once again value and respect each unrepeatable gift of human life, from the first moment of creation to natural death. Would that not make us truly the most enlightened and progressive state in the nation? the bishops asked.
New York State to Attack Pro-Life Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Ad Campaign

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New York State has launched a pro-choice ad campaign meant to direct pregnant women to abortion clinics, which will include promotion online and on subway ads.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's press office announced the "public awareness" campaign on Tuesday, which describes its mission to be to provide important information on reproductive health services for women.

"These actions are in direct response to widespread reports of organizations known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers or CPCs misrepresenting themselves as health centers to dissuade those seeking abortion from going through with that choice," claimed the office.

"These centers' actions may interfere with New Yorkers' constitutionally protected rights to seek reproductive health care and may endanger them by preventing them from receiving medically accurate information."

In a statement, Gov. Cuomo also referenced actions by the Trump administration to enact pro-life initiatives, which he labeled a "war on women's reproductive rights."

"In New York, we refuse to let President Trump and Washington take us backwards and jeopardize the rights of New Yorkers," stated Cuomo.

"We are launching this public awareness campaign to combat the insidious spread of misleading, medically inaccurate information about reproductive health and to ensure all New York women know the options they are legally entitled to."

The campaign will direct New Yorkers to what the state government describes as medically accurate information on abortion, contraception, and pregnancy.

The Christian Post attempted to reach several to New York-based crisis pregnancy centers, however only one of those contacted returned comment by press time, and only to say they are declining comment for the time being.

In April 2015, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted 9-2 to ban political advertising from their subways and buses as a way of avoiding litigation over rejected ads.

Taking effect immediately, the MTA's policy exempted from their political ban paid government messages and certain public service announcements.

In recent years, some states with pro-choice leadership have sought to curb the influence of crisis pregnancy centers, claiming that they are providing false information on abortion and forcing women to forgo abortion.

Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood staffer who now is a pro-life activist, has taken issue with this portrayal of crisis pregnancy centers.

"I can say unequivocally that the most manipulation I have ever witnessed was inside the abortion center walls," stated Johnson in April.

"It is Planned Parenthood that has opposed every single anti-trafficking bill proposed by pro-life legislators. If you want to see who Planned Parenthood is really out to protect, you don't have to look far. They want to protect abusers, not victims."

In late June, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a California law forcing pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion was unconstitutional.

The high court ruled in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra that the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency (FACT) Act "unduly burdens protected speech."

"The unlicensed notice imposes a government-scripted, speaker-based disclosure requirement that is wholly disconnected from California's informational interest," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas for the majority.

"California has offered no justification that the notice plausibly furthers. It targets speakers, not speech, and imposes an unduly burdensome disclosure requirement that will chill their protected speech."
The United States had made it clear through diplomatic channels that its decision to exit the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty was final, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at a joint news briefing by the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry devoted to the cruise missile 9M729.

He said the U.S. has made it clear during diplomatic contacts that President Donald Trumps decision to abandon the pact is final and not subject to talks.

We were given a clear message that this decision isnt an invitation to dialogue and is final," RIA Novosti cited Ryabkov as saying.

"The treaty must be preserved," the diplomat said, adding that a dialogue between Moscow and Washington must be held "taking into account mutual interests and without any ultimatums."
New York passes bill allowing abortion up to birth, for any reason

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After an intense debate for and against the proposal, the New York state Legislature passed a bill Tuesday that makes it legal for doctors and other health care professionals, such as midwives and physician assistants, to perform abortions up until birth for any reason in the state.

The so-called Reproductive Health Act that abortion advocates have been trying to get passed for 12 years and has been vehemently opposed by religious and conservative groups, passed with a 38-28 vote and thunderous applause in the state Senate chamber. The bill codifies federal abortion rights guaranteed under the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision and removes abortion from the state's criminal code.

"We have a president who's made it very, very clear that he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade," state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said at a news conference ahead of the vote Tuesday, according to the Albany Times Union. "Today, here in New York, we are saying no. We are saying no, not here in New York. And we're not just saying no. We're saying that here in New York, women's health matters. We're saying here in New York, women's lives matter. We're saying here in New York, women's decisions matter."

Abortion was legalized in New York some three years before the Roe v. Wade decision, but remained on the states criminal code, making it a felony to perform late-term abortions according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

The law defined homicide as "conduct which causes the death of a person or an unborn child with which a female has been pregnant for more than 24 weeks."

The Reproductive Health Act removes abortion from the penal code, and further notes in part that: "Every individual has the fundamental right to choose or refuse contraception or sterilization. Every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion, pursuant to this article."

The New York State Catholic Conference said in a statement on Facebook that Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was expected to sign the controversial bill at a reception in the Executive Mansion immediately after legislators voted to approve it. And Cuomo appeared ready as he celebrated Sarah Weddington, the lawyer nationally known for successfully arguing the winning side of the Roe v. Wade case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Weddington was recognized in the chamber during the vote.

Sarah Weddington made history in 1973 when she won the Roe v. Wade case at the age of 27. I am so thrilled that this incredible woman is joining us at the bill signing of the #ReproductiveHealthAct, which will protect Roe v. Wade in the State of New York, Cuomo tweeted before the vote Tuesday.

As the debate over the bill was underway Tuesday, supporters chanted, "Free abortion on demand, can we do it, yes we can." Those who opposed the proposal chanted back while holding posters with images of babies and signs reading messages such as I regret my abortion.

Religious groups such as the Office of Adult Faith Formation of the Archdiocese of New York, called on the faithful Tuesday to pray in anticipation of the bills passage.

New Yorkers, join us tonight, it is important more than ever to pray as we expect that the Reproductive Health Act - Abortion Expansion will become law in the state of NY making late-term abortion legal in NY, the group noted in a tweet.
Iowa judge rules heartbeat abortion law unconstitutional

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A district court judge has ruled that an Iowa law banning abortion once a baby's heartbeat can be detected is unconstitutional.

Polk County District Judge Michael Huppert released a decision on Tuesday, citing the Iowa Supreme Court and its previous striking down of a law mandating a 72-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions.

The Iowa Supreme Court held that a womans right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy is a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution, and that any governmental limits on that right are to be analyzed using strict scrutiny, wrote Huppert in his decision.

ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis said in a statement released Tuesday that the decision was a victory that was essential to the rights and safety of women in Iowa.

It follows in the footsteps of the Iowa Supreme Court decision on abortion in 2018 that recognized the fundamental right to a safe and legal abortion for Iowa women, which cannot be legislated away, said Bettis, according to the Des Moines Register.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who signed the bill into law last year, told The Daily Iowan that she was disappointed by the decision.

I am incredibly disappointed in todays court ruling, because I believe that if death is determined when a heart stops beating, then a beating heart indicates life, said Reynolds.

Last year, Iowa passed Senate File 359, which sought to forbid doctors from performing abortions after a heartbeat is detected, which can come as soon as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Republican state Senator Rick Bertrand of Sioux City explained last year that the bill was meant to challenge the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide.

Pro-Life groups expressed mixed reactions toward the legislation, with some taking issue over it having exemptions for rape and incest.

Last May, Reynolds signed the bill into law, saying in a statement that by signing SF 359, she was verifying her pledge to protect all innocent life.

For me, it is immoral to stop an innocent beating heart. For me, it is sickening to sell fetal body parts. For me, my faith leads me to protect every Iowan, no matter how small, the governor said at the time.

I understand and anticipate that this will likely be challenged in court, and that courts may even put a hold on the law until it reaches the Supreme Court. However, this is bigger than just a law. This is about life.
How can moms fight feelings of failure in a Pinterest perfect era?

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In todays social media-obsessed culture, the old adage comparison is the thief of joy" has never been truer  especially, it seems, for moms.

Scrolling through Instagram photos of Pinterest-worthy projects, HGTV homes, and perfectly dressed children can make even the most confident mother question her abilities.

Studies show that social media use among most new mothers has become ubiquitous  and unsurprisingly, mothers who are more frequent visitors to Facebook report higher levels of parenting stress.

With everyone presenting the heavily-filtered Facebook version of themselves, mothers are bombarded with perfectionism at every turn. It doesnt take long for comparison to creep in, creating a messy environment of dissatisfaction and discontentment.

In a culture that idolizes perfection, how can mothers show themselves grace and fight the pressure to compare themselves to others?

Ruth Schwenk, who's an author, founder of The Better Mom blog, and mother of four children, told The Christian Post that it all begins with a proper understanding of identity.

It comes down to where we find our worth, she said. My identity, first of all, isnt in motherhood, its in that Im a child of Christ. As a mom, I need to remember that my value doesnt come from what I do or dont do, but from the fact that Im a daughter of God and created in His image.

Its important to understand that God made us the mom of our child for a reason, Schwenk stressed, adding: Im the perfect mom for my child, and youre the perfect mom for your child. God doesnt make mistakes when He gives us the children we have.

Viewing other mothers as competition, she said, only isolates us from what could be a life-giving, mutually beneficial friendship.

The things you do are great for you and your family, and I can learn from that, she said. This isnt a competition. There are things I'll do in my life that will look different than you, but that doesn't mean that there aren't some things from your life that would actually be really great to implement into my motherhood.

But social media, Schwenk said, presents only a highlight reel  and most mothers arent going to post photos of their childs tantrum or the messy realities of parenting.

Those pictures I see of you online are not really the whole picture, she said. We know that, but we dont know that. Its a constant battle of saying, OK, this is part of their picture, and its not always perfect, because nobodys perfect. What if, instead of viewing each other as competition, we thought, Wow, this is an incredible community where we can learn from one another.'

Mothers are often presented with two extremes when it comes to parenting, she said: Either strive for perfectionism or glorify the self-deprecating mess of mom-ing. But God calls mothers to far more than that.

Becoming a better mom doesn't begin with us; it begins with God," she said. "It starts with who God is inviting us to become. Motherhood gives us the opportunity to grow and become more like Christ.

Understanding that God is sovereign over the life of every child also relieves pressure for mothers who struggle with feelings of inadequacy, she added.

Its important to be intentional in raising our kids, because we're raising children that we hope and pray will be a light to the world, she said. But the bottom line is, no matter my best intentions, God loves them so much more than I do and, and I can do everything right and things can still go wrong. But at the end of the day, He will take care of them.

Trudy Cathy White, author and daughter of Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy, explained that ironically, in seeking perfection, mothers are less likely to actually parent effectively.

Your kids are always watching you, and you need to be the best role model you can be for them, she said. Your children grow up to be just like you, so if you have things in your life you dont want in their lives, dont do it. We have to be on guard and model well for our children.

White, a mother and grandmother herself, encourages mothers focused on perfectionism to seriously consider the message theyre sending to their children.

We live in a society where kids are under a lot of pressure, and its so easy to point out the things they dont do well, she said. But the role that God has given us is to try to find the good in our children, recognize that, and give them accolades and encouragement. When we do that, we empower them to live in society with confidence and relieve the peer pressure theyll experience in school and the challenges they face.

White emphasized that the ultimate role of a mother isnt to throw blog-worthy birthday parties or create Instagram-able moments, but to raise children grounded in the truth found only in Scripture.

Truth is the key to setting our children up for success and pointing them back to God, she said. Truth is a piece of equipment that will allow them to climb mountains, and were called to model that for our children. And, at the end of the day, the greatest tool I have is my dependency on God to get through difficulty and my own failings as a mother.
DC restaurant fined $7,000 for throwing out man who entered women's bathroom

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A restaurant in the nations capital has agreed to pay $7,000 as part of a legal settlement involving a trans-identified activist who was confronted by restaurant employees for using the womens bathroom.

Cuba Libre, a Cuban restaurant and bar on 9th street in downtown Washington, D.C., has agreed to a settlement with the D.C. attorney general's office after employees kicked Human Rights Campaign trans activist Charlotte Clymer (formerly known as Charles) out of the restaurant last June for using the womens bathroom.

On June 22, Clymer went to use the bathroom and was followed by an employee. While coming out of the bathroom, Clymer was asked by the restaurant's manager to show identification.

Clymer, a former "male feminist" who works for one of the most prominent LGBT advocacy groups in the country, was eventually told to leave the restaurant after arguing with employees about the legality of him using the womens bathroom.

A District law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression in places of public accommodation.

As the D.C. Human Rights Act is one of the oldest laws in the nation protecting individuals on the basis of gender identity, the city investigated the restaurant's handling of the situation with Clymer. The attorney generals office accused the restaurant of discriminating against the transgender resident.

The city argued that the restaurant did not have a company policy that prevented discrimination in bathrooms and also failed to train its employees on civil rights compliance.

Under the legal settlement with the attorney generals office, Cuba Libre has agreed to stop discriminating against transgender residents.

In other words, the restaurant has agreed to let trans-identified individuals use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

Additionally, the restaurant must institute policies and employee training to ensure compliance with the Districts non-discrimination laws.

The restaurant must also pay the city a $7,000 fine and legal costs.

Additionally, Cuba Libre must post signs that clearly state that all individuals are allowed to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity or expression.

In his announcement of the settlement, Attorney General Karl A. Racine also announced that he introduced the Attorney General Civil Rights Enforcement Clarification Amendment Act. The bill is an attempt to clarify that the D.C. attorney generals office has the authority to sue violators of the citys non-discrimination laws.

The Districts laws reflect one of our residents most deeply-held values: that all people should be treated equally, Racine said in a statement. With this settlement, Cuba Libre is required to maintain policies that will ensure this type of discrimination does not happen again.

According to the attorney generals office, Cuba Libre has fired the employees who were involved in the June 2018 incident with Clymer. The restaurant also reached a legal settlement with Clymer last year.

Cuba Libre's co-owner Barry Gutin said in a statement that the restaurant has posted the signs and its employees have completed the training requirements listed in the settlement, according to The Washington Post. Gutin added that Cuba Libre will offer training for all restaurant employees in the D.C. area.

Our focus now is to help ensure safety for D.C.s transgender community at all area restaurants, the statement reads.

While there seems to be more and more civil rights laws protecting on the basis of gender identity being enacted throughout the country, Christians in more conservative cities have pushed back against such laws.

Many believe that laws allowing men to access womens locker rooms, showers and bathrooms on the basis of gender identity or expression could be abused by perverts and endanger women and girls.

In 2015, voters in Houston, Texas, successfully overturned a city civil rights ordinance that allowed transgender individuals to access bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity.
Francis Chan says trip to Holy Land helped him rethink how America does church

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Francis Chan has shared how his recent trip to the Holy Land made the Bible come alive because the religious tension currently present in Israel mirrors that which took place during Jesus ministry.

In a January 18 interview with Relevant podcast, the pastor described the volatile situation he witnessed during a recent trip to Israel: Youve got machine guns everywhere, youve got ... war going on incessantly, he said. Its right in your face.

But the experience made the Bible come alive, Chan said, explaining that its hard to imagine what Jesus experienced when youre sitting in an air-conditioned building.

You realize, Wow the same conflicts are still going on in this very city right here; I can see it, I can feel the tension, and its really not that different, he said. Very religious people there, all dressed up in their religious garb ... and you can just picture Jesus there, like what He would do in that type of setting.

Chan explained that in America, its rare to see a physical idol like the ones described throughout the Bible, while in India, statues of false gods are littered everywhere.

You realize some of those passages are coming alive, he said. I feel like the same thing happened for me in Israel, where theres just something about seeing the conflict right in your face and you say, Okay, I see what Jesus was dealing with, what the believers were dealing with, to a lesser degree, but still a part of it.

Chan, former pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, recently released an 11-part series on the Gospel of Mark, filmed on location in Israel. He told Relevant that tracing the steps of Jesus and the His disciples through Israel and exploring the themes of Mark made him rethink the way America does church.

You start to think, What would Francis Chan have done at that moment? he said. Would I have followed Him to the cross? Or would I have backed off? This is real Christianity; this is as real as it gets.

He asked: What kind of message have we been preaching here in America? Has it been the true Gospel? Is my mind warped just because of the world that I live in? How can I escape from it?

A major theme of Mark is holiness, Chan said, adding that Christians need to have a proper understanding of Gods holiness because it is the crux of Scripture.

We have a God who is like no other, he emphasized. We have to stop putting things even close to where He is. Thats the whole idea of holy, holy holy. He is set apart, He is sacred.

Chan lamented that we live in a very man-centered world where we think our feelings and opinions should matter.

But God alone matters, the Letters to the Church author charged. Hes on another level ... He is not like us. Our Creator is so far beyond us. Yes, we're made in His image, but the whole point of life is, man, I am inferior to Him, and I should gladly come under His leadership.

The whole original sin is man [saying], I want to eat that the tree of good or evil, I want to know whats right or wrong, I don't want God to tell me whats right or wrong, Chan continued. Its all about understanding that our God is to be far, far above us.

That theme is not just the book of Mark, he concluded, its Scripture  its the whole of Scripture.
What are you saying? What are you thinking? What are you doing? The man on stage flashes a toothy smile as he scans the thousands of concertgoers on a chilly November evening at Overlake Christian Church, a nondenominational megachurch pastored by Mike Howerton and located east of Seattle, near the headquarters of Microsoft. Last fall, Brian Houston, cofounder and global senior pastor of Hillsong Church, headlined the US-based There Is More tour, incidentally also the name of his 2018 Christian living title and worship album, recorded live at the Sydney, Australia, location.

The Hillsong music itself, with such singable titles as Mighty to Save or I Surrender, cuts across denominational lines. But in certain cultural or geopolitical contexts beyond Seattle or Sydney, the music has also served to subvert church and state confines. Kinga Povedak, a religion research fellow in Szegad, Hungary, notes how Hillsongs music fueled an alternative, faith-based youth movement that resisted the tenets of socialism in her country in recent decades.

Through extensive interviews with Hungarian worship leaders and ethnographic study of Pentecostal and charismatic churches, Povedak notes the emergence of Hillsong lyrics in believers personal faith stories, as well as within the practices of congregations and religious rituals across various denominations. Young people, from Catholic to Baptist, all sing the same Hillsong tunes that they heard from Hillsong Londons team at a live festival or watched via YouTube, crossing lines that the government and decades of bitter rivalry had reinforced. Povedak labels it a doubly alternative movement, sparking ...

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Appeals Court Paves the Way for Texas to Defund Planned Parenthood Share Tweet

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5thCircuit handed a victory to pro-life advocates who want to see Planned Parenthood defunded. The Court overturned a ruling by U.S. district judge Samuel Sparks which prevented Texas from kicking Planned Parenthood out of the states Medicaid.

The Lone Star States decision to defund Planned Parenthood came after undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress appeared to show officials from the nations largest abortion provider negotiating to sell tissue from aborted babies. Planned Parenthood argued that the videos were deceptively edited.

In his ruling, Sparks said the case read like a best-selling novel and dismissed both the videos and a report written by the Texas Health and Human Services Commissions Office of Inspector General. He said the report was too flimsy to be used to expel a group of health care providers from a social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources.

The Court of Appeals disagreed with Judge Sparks. They vacated his injunction with blocked Texas from booting Planned Parenthood from Medicaid and remanded the case back to the lower court for further review. If Sparks reinstates his injunction, he will have to do so using a different legal standard.

Planned Parenthood blasted the decision. Their spokesperson, Erica Sackin, said, it is completely outrageous that officials are using thoroughly discredited, fraudulent videos to try to cut women off from preventive health care, including cancer screenings, HIV testing, and birth control.

Seth Chandler, a law professor at the University of Houston, believes the 5thCircuits ruling will be the death knell for Planned Parenthoods Medicaid funding. He said, I think its going to be quite difficult for Planned Parenthood to prevail. The standard the 5th Circuit has set down is one that, given the evidence and the history in this case, and a clear signal from the 5th Circuit, in this case, Planned Parenthood is going to be hard-pressed to meet. The $3.4 million Planned Parenthood receives from Texas pursuant to the Medicaid program is very likely going to go away.

Scott Slayton writes at One Degree to Another.

Photo courtesy: Olliss/Unsplash
The Racist Confrontation in DC: 3 Biblical Responses Share Tweet

Nathan Phillips is a Native American who attended the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington last Friday. He told the Washington Post that he was there to beat his drum while urging participants to be strong against colonialism.

According to Phillips, a throng of young, mostly white teenage boys, several wearing Make America Great Again caps, swarmed around him and began to chant, Build that wall, build that wall. One of them blocked my way and wouldnt allow me to retreat, Phillips said.

He told the Detroit Free Press a different story. This time, he said that the students became upset by a group of Black Israelites. They were in the process of attacking these four black individuals, he said. So, I put myself between beast and prey. These young men were beastly and these old black individuals was their prey.

Phillips stated that the students had a mob mentality that was ugly, what these kids were involved in. It was racism. It was hatred. It was scary.

Video of the event went viral. News outlets around the country condemned the students. One image of a student with a Make America Great Again cap smiling at Phillips became an icon for the event. Filmmaker Michael Green tweeted: A face like that never changes. This image will define his life. No one need ever forgive him.

Now we know the rest of the story.

I am being called every name in the book

Longer videos emerged showing that the incident actually started with Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) members. According to Christian apologist Ryan Turner, this group believes that black people are the true Israelites from the tribe of Judah.

In their view, white people are conspirators who attempt to persecute the black people and hide their true identity as Israelites. Many view white people as almost subhuman and are known for shouting profanity and condemning people for their allegedly false beliefs.

When BHI members began shouting racial slurs at the students, they asked their chaperones for permission to begin our school spirit chants to drown out the hecklers.

According to Nick Sandmann, the student in the now-viral photo, Phillips then came toward the group with his drum. He locked eyes with me and approached me, coming within inches of my face and played his drum the entire time he was in my face.

Sandmann states, I did not witness or hear any other students chant build that wall or anything hateful or racist at any time. Assertions to the contrary are simply false. Videos from the event bear out his statement.

Sandmann adds: I am being called every name in the book, including a racist, and I will not stand for this mob-like character assassination of my familys name. . . . One person threatened to harm me at school . . . My parents are receiving death and professional threats because of the social media mob that has formed over this issue.

The Catholic school which Sandmann and the other students attend closed yesterday due to threats of violence.

Is racism still a major problem in America?

We could discuss the media bias reflected by coverage of this story, but thats an issue I hope to address in tomorrows Daily Article. For today, Id like to focus on the racism inherent in the event and its coverage.

BHI members assumed the white students were racist because they were white. Some in the media did the same, apparently because the students were wearing Make America Great Again hats and one seemed to be confronting a non-Anglo man.

According to a recent poll, 64 percent of Americans believe racism is a major problem in America. While only 7 percent of white Americans say they have been treated unfairly in a store or restaurant based on their race, 40 percent of black Americans have experienced such discrimination.

Consider these facts:

People with black-sounding names had to send out 50 percent more job applications than people with white-sounding names to get a callback.

A black man is three times more likely to be searched at a traffic stop and six times more likely to go to jail than a white man.

If a black person kills a white person, he or she is twice as likely to receive the death sentence as a white person who kills a black person.

Blacks serve up to 20 percent more time in prison than white people for the same crimes.

Blacks are 38 percent more likely to be sentenced to death than white people for the same crimes.

In a culture with such a persistent problem with racism, its unsurprising that many would assume racial prejudice in the students at the Washington event.

But thats unfair, both to the students and to the larger narrative we need to address.

Three biblical steps

Gods word clearly calls us to love every person as unconditionally as he loves us (John 13:34; Galatians 3:28). It is obviously wrong to assume racial motives in others while ignoring them in ourselves. Instead, we should take three biblical steps:

One: Search our own heart. Racism is a way to feel superior to others, a temptation we all face. Ask the Spirit to show you any attitudes, assumptions, thoughts, words, or actions that are racist (John 16:8).

Two: Take the cultural initiative. Choose proactive, positive steps to be the salt and light Jesus calls us to be (Matthew 5:14-16). Build relationships across racial and cultural divides to incarnate the holistic love of Jesus.

Three: Be the church. Legendary Dallas pastor Tony Evans: One of the real tragedies today is that the Church as a whole has not furthered Gods light, equity, love and principles in our land in order to be a positive influence and impact for good in the midst of darkness, fear and hate.

Dr. Evans is right. Condemning the racial divisions in our culture is not enough. We must each do what we can to bridge them personally.

What is Gods next step for you?

NOTE: For more on todays topic, please see my paper on our website, Racism in America: Its time for the church to be the church.

For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org.

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Publication Date: January 23, 2019

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Christian Acquitted of Blasphemy Charge after Two Others Sentenced to Death in Pakistan Share Tweet

LAHORE, Pakistan, January 23, 2019 (Morning Star News)  A judge in Pakistan has acquitted a Christian accused of blasphemy one month after two Christians were sentenced to death in an online blasphemy case, sources said.

Kasur District Additional Sessions Judge Ijaz Ahmed Bosal dropped charges against Pervaiz Masih, 38, on Jan. 15 after prosecutors failed to submit any evidence against him.

Masihs attorney, Aneeqa Maria of The Voice Society, told Morning Star News the prosecution failed to present even one witness against him during the three-year trial in Punjab Province. The case against him was registered on Sept. 2, 2015.

Maria said this was also one of the rare cases under Pakistans controversial blasphemy laws in which the accused was granted bail just 20 days after the submission of the charge-sheet against him.

The acquittal is good news for Masih and his family, but they have suffered a lot in the last three years, she said. Even though Masih is free from the charges, I have serious concerns for his security. He has been declared a blasphemer by the local Muslims, and his life will always be at risk.

Masihs family has said area Muslims entrapped him in a false blasphemy case after he obtained a sand contract in Garra village, near Mandi Usmanwala in Kasur District. Pervaiz Masihs brother, Jamshed Masih, told Morning Star News at that time that the family was unaware of any accusations until the village mosques prayer leader began spreading word that Pervaiz Masih had blasphemed Islams prophet, Muhammad, during a discussion a few weeks prior.

Jamshed Masih said that 300 to 400 Muslims of the village and surrounding areas shouted chants against the Christians and vowed to avenge alleged disrespect of their prophet by burning his brother alive.

Pervaiz Masih had obtained a contract for sand from a local dealer at a better price than that of his Muslim competitors, Haji Muhammad Jamshed and Haji Muhammad Bashir, and since then they had nurtured a grudge against him, his brother said. On Sept. 1, 2015, Jamshed and Bashir began spreading word that Masih had disrespected Muhammad, he said.

Masih was arrested on Sept. 2, 2015, under Section 295-C of the blasphemy law, which calls for death or life imprisonment for blaspheming Muhammad. A day before he was arrested, a large police contingent had raided Masihs village and beat his female relatives and other Christians in their search for him, his wife told Morning Star News.

Masihs wife, Zarina Bibi, told Morning Star News at that time that police officers kicked family members and struck them with their fists and batons.

The police just wouldnt listen to our pleas that we did not know Masihs whereabouts, she said. They searched all Christian houses in the village and tortured everyone they came across.

Death Sentences

On Dec. 13, two Christian brothers were sentenced to death under Pakistans blasphemy law.

Jehlum District Additional Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal handed Qaiser and Amoon Ayub the death sentence for allegedly posting blasphemous content on their website, said Joseph Francis of the Center for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS).

But Qaiser insists that he had closed his website in 2009, but that a Muslim friend somehow had been able to take the website back online while keeping it in Qaisers name, Francis told Morning Star News.

Francis said that CLAAS has filed an appeal against the trial courts verdict in the Lahore High Court.

We hope that the high court will judge the case on merit, because we believe that the trial judge has convicted the brothers without considering the circumstances, he said.

Francis said that both brothers are married, and Qaiser has three children.

Arrested in 2014, they were tried in the Jehlum District Jail due to security reasons.

Francis told Morning Star News that the two brothers had fled Pakistan in 2010 after a quarrel with some Muslims friends, and when they returned four years later, police arrested them on charges of blasphemy.

Christian mother Aasiya Noreen, better known as Asia Bibi, was on death row for nine years after a wrongful conviction for blasphemy. She was acquitted and released on Nov. 7 but remains in protective custody until the ruling is reviewed.

Violator of Religious Freedom

On Nov. 28 the United States added Pakistan to its blacklist of countries that violate religious freedom, ramping up pressure over the treatment of minorities in the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Dec. 11 statement that he had designated Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in a congressionally mandated annual report, meaning the U.S. government is obliged to exert pressure to end freedom violations.

Pompeo a year earlier had placed Pakistan on a special watch list  a step short of the designation  in what had been seen as a U.S. tactic to press Islamabad into reforms.

In far too many places across the globe, individuals continue to face harassment, arrests or even death for simply living their lives in accordance with their beliefs, Pompeo said. The United States will not stand by as spectators in the face of such oppression.

Nine countries remained for another year on the list  China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. They are accused of having engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom.

Although the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has long recommended Pakistan be designated as a CPC, the U.S. State Department had never done so.

The USCIRF report this year noted that religious minorities in Pakistan continued to face attacks from extremist groups and society at large. It also noted that abusive enforcement of the countrys strict blasphemy laws result[s] in the suppression of rights for non-Muslims, Shia and Ahmedis.

Pakistan ranked fifth on Christian support organization Open Doors 2019 World Watch list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews. org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.
Two Iranian Christians at their final appeal hearing were ordered by a court to renounce their Christian faith to gain their freedom but they refused to do so.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide said the hearing took place on Tuesday in Tehran, where Christians Saheb Fadaie and Fatemeh Bakhteri were ordered by presiding judges Hassan Babaee and Ahmad Zargar to turn away from their religion.

The believers, who refused to comply, have been convicted of "spreading propaganda against the regime," and are waiting to hear their final verdict. In September, Fadaie was sentenced to 18 months in prison, along with two years of internal exile, while Bakhteri was sentenced to one year in prison.

The Christians were arrested and convicted for discussing Christian doctrine in a house church, which was deemed to be an attack on Islam, the dominant religion in Iran.

Fadaie is already serving a 10-year prison sentence in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, convicted in July 2017 along with three other Christians "for acting against national security" by "promoting Zionist Christianity."

CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas argued that Fadaie's and Bakhteri's convictions were not only go against their right to religious freedom, but also "criminalizes the Christian faith, which the Iranian Constitution purports to recognize."

"It is deeply concerning that Judges Babaee and Zargar are presiding over their appeal, especially in view of the unacceptable demand for them to renounce their faith; the rejection by these judges of a previous appeal involving Mr. Fadaie, and the allegations that both judges are implicated in human rights violations," Thomas added.

The CSW head insisted that the two Christians deserve due process and to have their verdicts overturned.

"We also continue to urge the Iranian government to cease all forms of harassment and intimidation of peaceable religious communities, and to release all those detained in connection with their religion or belief," he said.

In October, a ministry helping Iranian believers told The Christian Post that it was witnessing one of the "fastest growing underground church movements" in the world.

Mike Ansari, president of Heart4Iran Ministries, told CP that "the persecution of minorities has been a constant under the current Islamic regime in Iran. The Iranian converts to Christianity have been systematically arrested and persecuted as heretics."

He attested that the persecution is stemming from a "historic and organic growth of Christianity inside Iran, evidenced by one of the fastest growing underground church movements in the world."

The ministry leader revealed that most Christians who are arrested "are coerced to divulge information about their house-church activities and those of their friends, under the threat of criminal persecution, or arrest of family members."

In a follow-up interview with CP in November, Ansari said it's important to remember that the Church was strong in Iran even before the rise of Islam.

"Much of today's Islamic world, including Iran, was once Christian. The churches across Iran and Iraq were once great and enduring churches, which sent the first missionaries to China. Yet with [the] emergence of Islam, these communities were marginalized and at times completely destroyed," Ansari said ahead of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church that month.

"It seems there is an organic re-emergence of Christianity across Iran. God is on the move and building His Church. With growth comes persecution."

Courtesy of The Christian Post
Anne Hathaway is all about social and environmental awareness. Shes a vegan concerned with animal rights. She adopted a zero waste mentality. Shes fought for children, women, LGBTQ, and even minority rights. She is the voice of reason the world needs, even if she has a strange reputation.

Hathaway is a star who has always used her visibility to shed light on various problems around the world. Even perusing her Instagram is a unique experience compared to her fellow stars. While many utilize their social media to rant and rave, The Colossal star uses her Instagram not just to de-stress but to speak on important issues. She focuses on setting the record straight instead of haphazardly fueling the fire.

Theres a reason she was voted one of the worlds 50 most beautiful people. Lets take a look at some of the movements the doe-eyed star has stood behind.

Anne Hathaways zero waste mentality

Hathaway doesnt want to contribute to the worlds waste problem, and she does what she can to avoid it. The Oceans 8 star and her husband love when they encounter no-waste initiatives in the real world. In a recent interview with Town and Country Magazine, Hathaway admitted that while the two practice it imperfectly, they rejoice when something as simple as biodegradable soft-serve cups cross their paths.

That isnt all though. Hathaway has a reusable water bottle and coffee mug on her at all times. She also carries a bag or basket to hold purchases when she goes shopping. While that may seem like a lot, it isnt. Hathaway encourages others to make a few simple adjustments so they too can be less of a burden on the planet.

Hathaway partners up with the Nike Foundation

Its no secret  Hathaway is passionate about helping children. In 2010, while working with the Nike Foundation, Hathaway converted that passion into field work that gave a voice to girls all over the world. It all started when she met with Michelle Kydd Lee, a woman who connects meaningful causes with celebs. She directed Hathaway to Maria Eitel, the founder of the Nike Foundation. The two met up, found common ground, and the rest was history.

The Nike Foundation, the Adolescent Girls Initiative, World Bank, and numerous governments banded together to create The Girl Effect initiative, a program that empowers young girls in poor countries. The program reaches out to teenagers in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, providing them with not just education, but other skills they would need to join the workforce.

This wasnt Hathaways first time helping children around the globe. In 2006 she helped administer Hepatitis A vaccines to children in Nicaragua. She also works tirelessly with the Lollipop Theater Network which brings the magic of movies to hospitalized children.

Hathaway is the UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador

In June 2016 the award-winning actress was appointed the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, following in her inspiration, Angelina Jolies, footsteps. Hathaways efforts revolve around raising awareness on the unequal burden faced by women raising children at home. Women who have children typically face a penalty. They lose out on opportunities and pay when they drop out of the workforce.

Ultimately the goal is to create a scenario where both parents can share the responsibility of childcare and work equally. Not only does it increase opportunities for women, but it gives fathers the chance to be present during the most integral parts of their childs life.

Hathaway sets up Times up

Last year, Hathaway joined hands with 300 other high-profile Hollywood women to create the Times Up initiative. The movement came in the wake of the #metoo movement and focuses on fighting sexual harassment in the workplace. In a male-dominated industry like Hollywood, harassment runs rampant, so the starlets understand the struggle better than anyone.

The movement serves as a base of operations as well as a reminder to the unsavory types that time is up for them and their inappropriate behavior. It offers a safe space and has a growing legal fund for underprivileged women who need to seek legal counsel.

Hathaway speaks up about Nia Wilsons death

In 2018 after the tragic death of Nia Wilson, Hathaway went to her Instagram to speak her part. She condemned the guilty party and white people everywhere for turning a blind eye to the heinous acts affecting African Americans worldwide. Hathaway implored her fellow white Americans to ask themselves how decent are we really? It wasnt intent she was speaking on, but action. The idea  those who do nothing are also a part of the problem.

What charities and foundations has Hathaway supported?

Hathaway has lent support to an ever-growing list of charities and foundation. According to Look To The Stars, the budding philanthropist has stood behind 1010, the Alzheimers Association, the Clinton Foundation, the Creative Coalition, Feeding America, Friends Without A Border, GLSEN, the Human Rights Campaign, the It Gets Better Project, the Lollipop Theater Network, the Naked Heart Foundation, Oxfam, Step Up, The Hollywood Cookbook, The Trevor Project, St Jude Childrens Hospital, White Knot for Equality, and the World of Children Award.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will hold the second Young Sportsman Squirrel Hunt at Buffalo Ridge Refuge in Humphreys County on Saturday, Feb. 16. There is no cost to participate in the hunt for youth ages 6-16.

Buffalo Ridge Refuge is also the site of youth deer, Becoming An Outdoors-Woman, trapping education, and Wounded Soldier events.

The hunt will be limited to 30 participants. Breakfast and lunch will also be furnished. The day will begin with breakfast and mandatory safety talk at 6 a.m. The hunt starts at 7 a.m. and lunch will be available at noon.

Registration forms are available on the TWRA website. Interested hunters may complete an application and mail it to the following address: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Attn: Donald Hosse, P.O. Box 40747, Nashville, Tn. 37204 or by FAX: (615) 781-6543. For more information or to receive an application, contact Donald Hosse, TWRA Wildlife Education Program Coordinator at 615 781-6541.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has announced the total number of deer testing positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) has climbed to 91 in Fayette and Hardeman counties. Three additional deer, if confirmed by secondary testing, would expand the CWD Zone.

Two of the deer receiving secondary testing are from Hardeman and Fayette counties and if confirmed, would bring Chester and Shelby counties into the CWD Management Zone due to the proximity to those counties. The remaining deer is from Madison County, and if confirmed, the location of that deer would add Madison and Haywood County to the zone. (See map for details).

Although Madison, Chester, Shelby, and Haywood counties are currently outside TWRAs CWD Management Zone, CWD Coordinator Chuck Yoest, does not anticipate any changes to hunting regulations there for the remainder of the current 2018-19 deer hunting season.

Changing the regulations now would be premature as we are getting new information daily, Yoest said. Once all the results have come back from our recent CWD sampling efforts, and all positive deer have been mapped, we will then develop a long term management plan including changes to hunting regulations.

I imagine some people perceive the increased total of positives and the potential of expansion of the zone as an indication the disease is rapidly growing, Yoest continued. It is instead due to TWRAs swift and focused sampling efforts in the affected area and being transparent and timely about the results as they are received.

TWRA, with assistance from hunters, has collected more than 2,000 samples in the CWD Management Zone and surrounding counties since CWD was first detected on Dec. 14 in Fayette and Hardeman counties. The Agency is still awaiting results on approximately 800 samples, and anticipates collecting a couple hundred more samples during the last week of the extended hunting season in the CWD Management Zone.
The League of Women Voters of Chattanooga will meet to plan actions and events for 2019 at a brown-bag lunch on Friday. The meeting will take place at 12:30 p.m. in the Community Space on the fifth floor of the Edney Innovation Center, 1100 Market St. The public is invited to bring a lunch and attend to learn about the League.

The Board of the Chattanooga League of Women Voters met in early January and voted on three focus areas for 2019: Civics Education, Restoration of Voting Rights, and Ending Voter Suppression. At the meeting on Friday, those attending will hear about these three focus areas and join in discussions on implementing the Leagues approach to these issues. Actions already being planned include an upcoming clinic on voting rights restoration, as well as civics talks for adults. The civics talks would be led by League members and other speakers.

In addition, the Chattanooga LWV is planning voter registration drives at area high schools, community colleges and trade schools after the group was awarded a $700 grant for voter registration from the League of Women Voters of the U.S. According to the terms of the grant, the League will hold voter registration drives at 10 areas schools this spring.

The LWV of Chattanooga is a nonpartisan political group and does not endorse candidates or contribute to political campaigns. The group encourages informed and active participation in government. More information is available at the website of the Chattanooga League of Women Voters: https://lwvchattanooga.wordpress.com/






From left, standing: Gregg Gentry, Erlangers Chief Administrative Officer; Michael Spiegel; and Don Mueller, Vice President and CEO of Childrens Hospital at Erlanger. Sitting: Judy Spiegel; Kevin Spiegel, Erlangers President and CEO; Christy Gillenwater, Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce CEO; and Brad Gillenwater.

From left, Lynda Minks Hood, chairwoman Erlanger Health System Foundations Board; Dr. Larry Schlabach, Distinguished Physician Honoree; JoAnne Favors, Gordon Street Distinguished Community Leader Honoree; Forrest Fesmire (son) and Connie Fesmire (wife) of the late Dr. Francis Fesmire, Distinguished Physician Honoree; Dr. Mack Worthington, Distinguished Physician Honoree; and Dr. Phillip Burns, emcee and past Distinguished Physician Honoree

More than $35,000 was raised for Erlanger Health System Foundations during this years annual Dinner of Distinction held on Friday.

Dr. Mack Worthington, Dr. Larry Schlabach, JoAnne Favors and the late Dr. Francis Fesmire were honored during the event.

Drs. Mack Worthington, Larry Schlabach, and Francis Fesmire were selected by previous Dinner of Distinction honorees and were recognized for their enduring commitment to foster quality medical services to this community, as well as for demonstrating unquestionable character and human compassion. Additional criteria used to choose honorees includes: a person who has contributed a lifetime of medical benefit to the community and a person committed to the healing mission and values of Erlanger Health System, said officials.

The Erlanger Foundations also honored recently-retired Tennessee State Rep. JoAnn Favors with the Gordon Street Distinguished Leadership award. This award, added in 2010, is given annually by Erlanger to community leaders who have championed the advancement of healthcare in the Greater Chattanooga region, committed to improving the health of people throughout our community and to the healing mission and values of Erlanger, said officials.

While donations are still coming in from our event, we would like to thank the nearly 300 guests who attended Dinner of Distinction to honor these individuals, said Rebecca Styles, Erlanger Foundations Special Events coordinator. Each one has made a tremendous difference in the healthcare of our community while also supporting Erlangers mission. We thank them and their families for their support and dedication.

For more information about Erlanger Health System Foundations, visit www.erlanger.org/giving.
A 52-year-old man who was shot in the leg by a county officer "while avoiding arrest" last Jan. 19 has filed suit in Federal Court.

Kenneth Charles Rogers is suing the county, Sheriff Jim Hammond, Deputy Nathan Fountain, Deputy Carl Young, Deputy Mike Mullins and the unknown deputy who shot him.

Attorney John Wolfe said Rogers almost died from the gunshot.

He said he has not been able to learn the name of the deputy who shot him, who said the county refuses to turn over a Use of Force report. He said another sheriff document says he "was shot by law enforcement."

The attorney said Rogers "was in no way a threat" to the deputies on the scene.

The suit says the bullet shattered his femur bone and the femoral artery near it, and he nearly bled to death.

It says, "This sandbagging must end. Someone must publicly claim the bullet that caused serious injury to Kenneth Charles Rogers."

The suit asks $9.6 million in compensatory damages and $3.2 million in punitive damages.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday expressed condolences over the death of Turkish sailors in the fire on board two tankers in the Kerch Strait, stressing that Russian rescue services have done all they could to save the sailors in distress.

At least four Turkish nationals died, while eight were rescued and four went missing after the firebroke out on board two Tanzania-flagged tankers in the Kerch Strait on Monday, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

"I would like to express my condolences in regard to the death of Turkish citizens. The incident took place outside our territorial waters - in neutral waters, during the transfer of fuel from one ship to another. And our services, indeed, reacted promptly enough, did everything they could to to save people," Putin said at the start of talks with Erdogan.
Businessman Greg Vital said TVA employees, "accompanied by an armed guard, for the first time today entered the private property it intends to take using governments power of eminent domain in Georgetown."

Mr. Vital filed suit in Federal Court to try to block TVA from coming across his Meigs County farm. TVA said it is along the route for a new high-voltage line leading to a planned $300 million power center. Judge Sandy Mattice ruled in favor of TVA.

Mr. Vital said, "The four-person environmental study team from Knoxville crossed Highway 60 from its substation at 12:50 p.m. after spending two hours walking along the existing TVA right of way. The group walked one of the four proposed routes by TVA and crossed Gunstocker Creek on to the Project Viper site at 2:35 p.m.

"The TVA employees said they were not conducting tests but were seen taking core samples along the route. They said their mission was only to observe the natural features of the land. The armed guard would not specify where he was from, only that he was from 'Hamilton.' "

This was the third team that has been in Georgetown but the first to enter the land TVA is taking, said Mr. Vital, one of four property owners currently in federal court, who talked with an employee who followed the TVA team. The first two were TVA contractors, and they were friendly and engaging, willing to answer questions.

Then today, TVA employees show up and act secretive and arrogantly, just like TVA has been acting since this started last August. Once again, TVA shows that it would rather intimidate than build community relations in Georgetown.

Mr. Vital said, "TVA is building a $300 million secret complex in Georgetown to house the power control center for the TVA power grid. The agency misled citizens and elected officials in August and tried to hide what the development was. The TVA has refused to hold a public meeting in Georgetown to address citizen concerns.

"In November, after failing to negotiate in good faith and before notifying property owners, TVA went to federal court in Chattanooga filed a quick take eminent domain action to give it immediate access to the land. Property owners hired lawyers and sought to set aside the order, but Federal Court Judge Sandy Mattice said the power of the 1933 TVA Act and the evolution of the law over decades prevented him from acting.

"The TVA archeological contractors will enter the condemned property tomorrow, including an inspection of Gunstocker Creek where they anticipate finding Indian artifacts. The TVA employees did not answer when they would return to the property to continue its environmental study, which is a process mandated by the National Environmental Protection Act and other regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency."

Mr. Vital has set up a Facebook page and website. They are facebook.com/4TNfarms or www.4TNfarms.com.
Two major stories exploded across the headlines this past week which confirm my opinion that the mainstream media (MSM) is biased, incompetent, and can seldom be trusted to impart the news fairly and accurately. The first instance was the BuzzFeed story regarding Michael Cohen and how he allegedly lied on President Trump's behalf to Congress. Virtually all of the big media outlets gleefully jumped on this story as it appeared to be the silver bullet they have all been looking for to end Mr. Trump's presidency. Although BuzzFeed's journalistic reputation is rather sketchy and all of the sources were anonymous, the MSM couldn't stop hyping the story continuously. Unfortunately for the MSM, the Special Counsel's office issued a statement last Friday indicating that this "blockbuster" story was "inaccurate". You could almost hear the air going out of the balloon in newsrooms across the nation. Trump's presidency. Although BuzzFeed's journalistic reputation is rather sketchy and all of the sources were anonymous, the MSM couldn't stop hyping the story continuously. Unfortunately for the MSM, the Special Counsel's office issued a statement last Friday indicating that this "blockbuster" story was "inaccurate". You could almost hear the air going out of the balloon in newsrooms across the nation.





The second instance occurred this past weekend involving high school students from Kentucky, a Native American activist, and a hate group on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The initial story, based on a short video, depicted the students, some wearing MAGA hats, as a bunch of racists surrounding and mocking a lone Native American activist. Again, the media weighed in with all sorts of condemnation of the students which led to doxxing their names and threats of violence against the students and their families. But like the BuzzFeed story, this story blew up in the media's face once a much longer video surfaced which showed that, instead of perpetrators, the students were anything but. Both the hate group, Black Hebrew Israelites, and the Native American activist were trying to provoke a scene. Yet somehow, the media managed to get the story totally wrong. Even several days after it occurred with the full video out on the internet, the Times Free Press, via the AP, had a story about the incident that was filled with half-truths and fake news based primarily on comments from the Native American activist who has, by the way, changed his story numerous times. But since the students checked all the boxes for leftist hate, being white, male, and some wearing MAGA hats (not to mention they are Christians who attended the March for Life), they just had be the bad guys in the eyes of the MSM. Pathetic.





Is it any wonder that most Americans have very little trust in the media when they let their biases and incompetence color story after story. At this point, I am not sure if responsible journalism in the MSM is on life support or if it has already died.





James Nelson

* * *

Mr Nelson,



In 1972 I took a journalism class at McCallie School with Henry Henager. Mr Henager pulled two stories from the Chattanooga Times and the Chattanooga Free Press about a mine disaster in South Africa. One story stated over 100 miners died in a fall in the mine. The other story related that the miners were forced at gunpoint to go down a not long enough ladder into an abyss where they died from impact with the floor of that shaft.



If you wrote your letter Saturday when the confrontation story first arrived I could see your point. The letter was published this morning, four days later. I read the first and second and third accounts from four different news sources and they all related the same facts. They do not match your account.



The pizzeria owners in a suburb of our Capital can relate a lie about their address that caused a young man from rural North Carolina to serve 5 years jail time for shooting the place up. There was no child molestation ring there. And that lie did not

Originate from your term for the press.



A very angry neighbor of mine, hand shaking, explained to me one time the physical manifestations of finger pointing. When you point one finger at another in rage or anger you are also by the position of three other fingers pointing them at yourself.



Go figure.

Prentice Hicks
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not scheduled to have talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on January 25, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"To the best of my knowledge, no negotiations are planned. You know, they often hold meetings and often communicate by telephone," the spokesman noted.

"Friday is going to be quite a busy day for the president, so I dont know if there will be any changes in the schedule, but so far no such contacts have been planned," RIA Novosti cited Peskov as saying.

Earlier it was reported that Pashinyan will visit the headquarters of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in Moscow on January 25.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas Wednesday of a "lethal" reaction to any renewed violence along the Gaza border, a day after he block aid to the southern enclave in response to the wounding of an Israeli soldier, i24NEWS reported.

Weeks of relative calm in the Gaza Strip ended Tuesday when Israeli soldiers were fired on along the border with the enclave in two separate incidents.

An officer was lightly wounded when a bullet hit his helmet. In response, Israeli tanks struck two Hamas positions in Gaza, killing one militant. Israeli overnight also warplanes struck an additional site said to be a Hamas military camp in northern Gaza.

Netanyahu also halted the transfer of $15 million in Qatari aid that was expected in Gaza on Wednesday- almost two weeks after the payment was originally scheduled to arrive.

"Maybe there is someone in Gaza who thinks he can stick his head up; I suggest that they understand that the response will be lethal and very painful," Netanyahu said during a visit to the Shizafon army base in southern Israel.

"We are ready for any scenario and escalation," he said at the military exercise event, as quoted by his office.
Fiji receives clinker imports from Japan

23 January 2019

The Tasman Sea, a bulk carrier registered under a Hong Kong flag, docked at Lautoka Port to off-load clinker for the Tengy Cement Factory in Naikabula and is expected to arrive in Suva next week for its factory in Veisari, Lami.



Fiji has been experiencing a shortage of cement and the delivery will help increase production. This is the second delivery that the Tasman Sea has made to Fiji.



Local shipping agency Transam Fiji Ltd operations manager, Madulesh Lakhan, said that the vessel Tasman Sea started offloading the assigned 15,000t of clinker at the Lautoka port yesterday and will do so for the next four days.

The vessel arrived on Sunday and will stay for five days to offload clinker, then it will depart for Suva to discharge 11,880t in Suva.



"We provide transportation to Pacific Cement Ltd and Tengy Cement Ltd," added Mr Lakhan. "It has been only a year when we started shipping clinker to Fiji from Japan."

Published under
Pakistan cement exported 0.625Mt of cement in December 2018

23 January 2019

Pakistan's cement industry received foreign exchange revenue of US$25.89m by exporting 624,714t of cement during the month of December 2018, compared to US$26.77m at 635,192t in the previous month. This shows a fall of 3.3 per cent and 1.7 per cent in terms of value and quantity, respectively, according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics.



However, if compared to December 2017 (293,890t at US$14.54m), it translates to an increase of 78 per cent in foreign currency earnings and 112.6 per cent YoY in terms of volume.



In the first six months of FY18-19, export revenue rose 32.4 per cent to US$157.01m, with Pakistan exporting 3.7Mt of cement, compared to US$118.58m from 2.36Mt in a year-ago period.



The breakdown of exports, according to All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA), shows that export dispatches to Afghanistan and India continued to decline in the 6MFY18-19. Exports to Afghanistan fell by 22.8 per cent to 928,319t and volumes to India were down 6.1 per cent to 530,509t. However, exports by sea, increased by over 230 per cent to reach 2.101Mt during this period.



A spokesman of APCMA said the considerable increase in exports have proved that the Pakistani cement industry is globally competitive and the industry can earn precious foreign exchange for the country with government support.

Published under
Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to pay a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, but it is too early to talk about specific dates yet, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He noted that the visit is being coordinated through diplomatic channels. "The visit is indeed on the agenda," Peskov said, adding that it is too early to talk about specific dates.

"Naturally, the schedule of Russian-Kyrgyz relations has traditionally been pretty tight," TASS cited the spokesman as saying.

Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Kyrgyz President's Office, Daniyar Sydykov, earlier said that Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov had invited Putin to pay a visit to his country. According to Sydykov, the Russian leader could visit Bishkek in late March 2019.
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Two militant groups of the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia) attacked Syrias forces in the Idlib de-escalation zone, head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for the Opposing Sides in Syria Lieutenant General Sergei Solomatin said.

According to him, the attack was launched in the evening of January 22.

"Jabhat al-Nusra militant groups simultaneously attacked positions of the government forces in the areas of the communities of Abu al-Duhur and Abu Sharja," Solomatin said, adding that criminal groups of 150-200 militants in 15-20 pick-up trucks with machine guns carried out attacks in each of the areas.

It was noted that in the Abu al-Duhur area the militants used a suicide attacker in a car who was eliminated by an anti-tank guided missile near the front line of the government forces.

"The terrorists managed to break as far as 1.5 km deep into the position of the Syrian army, after which they were stopped by fire and driven outside the contact line by the reserve forces that had approached," TASS cited the general as saying.

The militants attack was derailed in the Abu Sharja area by the fire unleashed by the Syrian forces. The militants suffered losses and returned to their start line positions.
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The Israel Air Force struck targets in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, the Israeli army said.

According to the statement, Israeli fighter jets bombed several targets at a Hamas training camp.

"The strike was executed following earlier strikes during the day and in response to the shooting incidents against our forces," Haaretz cited the statement as saying.

Two fire exchanges took place along the border after a period of relative calm. In the afternoon, the Israeli military said it shelled a Hamas observation post after an Israeli officer was injured.

The Israeli military retaliated by striking a Hamas post in Gaza, an attack that injured two and claimed the life of a 24-year-old Palestinian.

Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces struck a Hamas post in the northern Strip in response to Palestinian fire.
(Straits Times)  Malaysia is seeking a new contractor to build the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), after terminating the original contract awarded to China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC) yesterday, a source told The Straits Times.

It is understood that the government is seeking to halve the estimated project cost of 81 billion ringgit ($19.5 billion) to 40 billion ringgit.

Work on the 688 kilometer (428 miles) railway line linking the east and west coasts of Peninsular Malaysia has been suspended since last July, as part of the new Pakatan Harapan administration's review of large-scale infrastructure projects after the coalition won the elections in May.

Negotiations to reduce the project cost  initially pegged at 55 billion ringgit when the plans were launched in November 2016  have continued with CCCC since then, with government adviser Daim Zainuddin leading the talks.

The Straits Times understands that the government laid down a maximum cost of 40 billion ringgit and asked for more local products and services to be included in the works. However, CCCC could not meet these requirements, resulting in negotiations coming to an end.

CCCC did not respond to a request for comment.

Daim told reporters yesterday that the railway project is still on, with negotiations still ongoing. He did not elaborate who the ongoing negotiations were with.

CCCC was originally awarded the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract for the ECRL, which was to be funded by Malaysia taking a soft loan from Export-Import Bank of China to cover 85% of the cost. The remaining sum was to be raised from local bond issues.

The ECRL was among a handful of China-funded mega infrastructure projects entered into by the previous Barisan Nasional government that was scrutinized by the new administration in a bid to tackle state debts totaling over 1 trillion ringgit.

Two pipeline projects with China costing 9.4 billion ringgit were cancelled after the government found that only 13% of the works had been completed despite nearly 90% of the project sum being paid out.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had described the ECRL contract as "strange" in an interview last July.

"That contract is strange," Mahathir told business paper The Edge.

"The contractor must be from China and the lending is from China. And the money is not supposed to come here but (kept abroad) to pay the contractor in China," the paper quoted him as saying.

Touted as a game-changer when it was first launched, the ECRL was meant to be a land bridge linking Kuantan Port with Port Klang that would allow shipped cargo to bypass Singapore.

Construction sites along the 12-passenger station route have been left abandoned since the stop-work order was issued in July.

This story was originally published in The Straits Times.
Cork Chamber today launched a six-month community funding drive to raise 200,000, in partnership with Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI).

The Cork Chamber 1819 Fund aims to benefit Cork community initiatives with a social, environmental or economic impact.



Cork Chamber is the first Irish Chamber of Commerce to launch an initiative of this kind and has a fundraising target of 100,000, with the goal of a combined funding total of 200,000. The Department of Rural and Community Development matches all philanthropic donations to Social Innovation Fund Ireland, euro for euro, from the Dormant Accounts Fund.



Fundraising will take place over six months from January to July 2019, after which an open call for applications will be made through Social Innovation Fund Ireland. New and established not-for-profit or social enterprises across Cork may apply for funding of projects that are innovative, address a critical social issue such as health, inclusion, local economy and environment, among others.

The successful projects will be announced at an awards ceremony in November 2019. Previous Social Innovation Fund Ireland awardees include projects ranging from Cork Life Centre to Cork ARC cancer support to Irish Community Rapid Response.



Speaking about the partnership, President of Cork Chamber, Bill OConnell said, "This funding drive with Social Innovation Fund Ireland is one of the cornerstones of our anniversary programme, marking 200 years by raising 200,000. Social innovation projects have a hugely important role to play in local communities and this project gives everyone a chance to become a philanthropist."

He added, "We are encouraging businesses of all sizes, as well as individuals, to take ownership of this partnership and contribute to the fund, thereby making a personal investment in initiatives that will build community resilience and ensure longevity for the future, making Cork a better place to live and work as we start our next 200 year journey."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The European Union's executive said on Wednesday the bloc would do its utmost to avoid extensive border controls between EU member state Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland regardless of how Brexit goes, a spokesman said.

The Irish border issue remains the biggest obstacle to a divorce deal being agreed between Britain and the EU in the countdown to Brexit, which is scheduled for March 29.

"The EU is determined to do all it can - deal or no deal- to avoid a hard border in Ireland," the Commission's chief spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, told a news conference.

On Tuesday Schinas said a no-deal Brexit would automatically errect a border on the island of Ireland, putting Dublin on the spot as to what preparations it was making for a scenario all sides say they want to avoid.

An Irish government spokesman reacted on Tuesday by saying Dublin would not accept a hard border - which is seen as possibly endangering peace on the island - and was not planning for one.

On Wednesday, Schinas reaffirmed EU solidarity with Dublin but also noted that the Irish-Northern Irish border would become an external border of the EU after Brexit.

That meant policing the frontier properly if there is no alternative arrangements with Britain in the case of a no-deal Brexit.

"Ireland and the EU have responsibilities as regards the protection of the single market and the customs union," Schinas said.

Speaking in the Polish city of Krakow on Wednesday, the Commission's First Vice-President Frans Timmermans reiterated that the EU could not renegotiate the so-called 'backstop' agreement in the withdrawal deal negotiated by Brussels and London.

The 'backstop' is an insurance policy designed to ensure there is no return to customs and other extensive border checks between Irelandand Northern Ireland after Brexit.

The British parliament resoundingly rejected the withdrawal deal last week mainly due to concerns over the 'backstop', fearing it would commit the UK to EU customs rules after Brexit.

May is now trying to secure further EU concessions on the backstop to overcome opposition in the UK parliament. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), whose numbers the Centre often cites as evidence of formal job creation across the country, has crashed the government's claim in its latest data released to the public.

Net job creation in India's formal sector has dropped 13 per cent from an average of 5.65 lakh jobs a month to 4.9 lakh jobs a month, according to latest data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). An earlier release of October had claimed jobs were averaging 6.1 lakh per month.

EPFO's Sept-17 to Oct-18 data had claimed 79.16 lakh new jobs averaging 5.65 lakh a month for the past 14 months. New numbers for 15 months between Sept-17 and Nov-18 released in January, 2019, have claimed only 73.5 lakh new jobs. That's an average of only 4.9 lakh jobs per month in the past year and a quarter.

The most dramatic downward revision in the new EPFO numbers have been in the month of March, 2018. EPFO's latest release records net additions of just 55,831 in March, 2018 as against 2.73 lakh claimed in the November release.

Jobs in September, 2017 have been revised downwards from 4.25 lakh to 3.17 lakh now; November, 2017 from 6.07 lakh to just 4.9 lakh. Even numbers for a month as recent as July, 2018 have been revised from 9.76 lakh to just 7.31 lakh, raising a big question mark over the credibility and reliability of job creation claims by the Centre and EPFO.

In the past, EPFO officials have explained the forever changing numbers by claiming consolidation of multiple EPFO numbers into a single Universal Account Number (UAN) by employees over a period of time. Until EPFO's UAN was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 October, 2014, employees would often get a new EPFO identity in every job. Job-hopping employees often had two or more EPFO IDs in their name. It was a discrepancy that was proposed to be rectified with a permanent UAN. However, old EPFO IDs are still being consolidated.

A standard disclaimer in every EPFO release explains the changes in monthly numbers on the following lines: "Data is provisional as updation of employees' records is a continuous process and gets updated in subsequent month/s".

It also says, "The estimates may include temporary employees whose contributions may not be continuous for the entire year".

Interestingly, just last week, several ministers at the Centre had lauded creation of 1 crore jobs since the government's flagship job creation programme Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY) was launched on August 7, 2016. The 1 crore jobs claims were made before EPFO announced the new numbers which have downgraded job creation by 13 per cent.

Under PMRPY, the Centre pays full employers' provident fund contribution of 12 per cent for a period of 3 years for new employee registrations with salary of up to Rs 15,000 per month. It covers every employee registered with EPFO on or after April 1, 2016 in that salary range.

(With inputs from Mudit Kapoor)

Also read: Budget 2019: Why alcohol is likely to get more expensive soon

Also read: Priyanka Gandhi enters politics: 'I am happy my sister will work with me,' says Rahul Gandhi
As parties gear up for Lok Sabha poll campaign, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma Tuesday said the BJP has booked all chartered planes, leaving his party struggling to get some.

The senior Congres leader alleged that there was an "unequal competition" between the BJP and other parties, as all the resources were with the ruling party.

Also Read: 7.32 lakh jobs created in Nov; employment up by 48% in formal sector: EPFO payroll data

"The BJP has booked all the chartered planes for their Lok Sabha poll campaign. We are not getting any and we are struggling to get some planes," he told reporters.

Sharma said the ruling party has spent over Rs 4,000 crore on publicity and advertisements, which he said was more than that spent by multinational companies like Netflix, Amazon and Unilever.

He said that such spending on government's publicity was also being done through public sector undertakings.

"But still we would defeat them (BJP) with the love and support of people of the country," he claimed.

Sharma heads the party's publicity committee for the Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said the grand old party would launch its poll campaign by the second half of February.

It will reach out to voters through both the conventional and new media.

Also Read: Govt plans to raise $11.21 billion from state asset sales in FY 20
An affordable offering from Nokia has always been crowd favourite, right from the days when the company used to rule the Indian market. The Nokia 3.1 Plus is no different. The budget smartphone has been offered with all the bells and whistles required for a decent device in the lower-priced bracket, and then some. The Nokia 3.1 Plus has a few aces up its sleeves which can help it win the crowd's favour. But in a segment chock-full of competitors, does it have a spec sheet strong enough to come on top. Let's have a closer look.

Specifications

The Nokia 3.1 Plus boasts a 6-inch 18:9 display with a resolution of 1440x720 pixels. The primary camera is a dual sensor setup with 13MP and 5MP shooters, whereas at the front is an 8MP selfie camera. On the inside is a Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage.

The Nokia 3.1 Plus comes with Android 8.1 Oreo with Android One affiliation. The smartphone is set to receive an upgrade to Android 9.0 Oreo soon. For connectivity options, it comes with Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, microUSB 2.0. For security options, there is a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and face recognition, but the latter has to be activated afterwards.

Design and build

The Nokia 3.1 Plus has been made out of aluminium, glass and plastic and the overall build quality feels pretty sturdy. The first thing you notice as you pick up the phone is how well balanced it is, making it feel lighter than it actually is. With rounded edges added to the mix, the Nokia 3.1 Plus makes for a good grip. The back cover of the device is made from aluminium with a non-slippery texture which gives even more grip while using it. To our relief, it is not a fingerprint magnet, but prone to nicks and scratches, though.

The top and bottom ends at the back of Nokia 3.1 Plus have plastic caps, the only time you will see it on the phone. The aluminium back and the plastic caps do not match seamlessly though, but does not seem like much trouble. At the top centre is the vertical camera housing with a metallic accent around it. It holds the two rear cameras and the LED light beneath them. Close below is the fingerprint scanner and the Nokia branding. The Android One branding can be found near the bottom edge.

The front is completely dominated by glass. It does not come with any protection, though, and a screen protector would be wise. At the top is the front camera and anther LED light towards the left, the earpiece in the middle and the Nokia branding to the right.

The right edge has the power and volume keys, whereas the left has been left for two trays. One of them holds your SIM 1 and the microSD card. The second smaller tray at the bottom holds the SIM 2, and feels like an afterthought. The bottom edge holds the microUSB slot and the speaker grilles, whereas the 3.5mm audio jack has been placed at the top.

Display and battery

The 6-inch display on Nokia 3.1 Plus and the big battery are two USPs of the device. Despite being only an IPS LCD HD+ panel, the screen is surprisingly sufficient for extended multimedia usage. Youtube is capped at 720p, as expected, but even that feels crisp. Video streaming as well as playback looks clean too.

Performance

On the inside, the Nokia 3.1 Plus houses an octa-core Mediatek MT6762 Helio P22 processor. While it is no powerhouse, it can carry on with your day to day usage with ease. Now we did face some stutter when the device was pushed a little, but that should be a problem only for power users.

The Mediatek chipset comes coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, which can be further expanded to 400GB. The multitasking remained smooth for most part, thanks to the clutter free UI and Android One.

With the 18:9 aspect ratio, the Nokia 3.1 Plus has much smaller footprint. But it is big enough to house a 3,500mAh battery to keep the display powered through long sessions of media consumption. Coupled with the power-efficient processor, it can easily last up to two days of usage on moderate usage.

Camera

The cameras on the Nokia 3.1 Plus are nothing to write home about. The 13MP primary camera at the back has an aperture of f/2.0, and the secondary 5MP sensor with f/2.4 aperture is used for capturing depth information. The front camera is an 8MP shooter with f/2.2 aperture.

There is noticeable shutter lag due to HDR being set on automatic by default. With sufficient lighting, images came out decent, but had a lot of noise under darker conditions. The bokeh effect worked fine, but could use a tweak or two to help with the edge detection. The selfies came out okay, but nothing extraordinary. Images, on the whole, suffered some loss of detail.

Verdict

In Indian market, Nokia 3.1 Plus has to face against much cheaper options from Chinese manufacturers which could do as much as it does, or even more. But the recent price cut sweetens the deal a bit. The power-focussed processor will do no good in the hands of an intensive user, but will serve well in the case of anybody looking for great battery life and a decent screen. The clean, authentic Android experience and the upgrade promise with Android One are other aspects that work in its favour.

So, if you are looking for a device for moderate usage with a sturdy build, good battery life, a nice screen for video consumption, then Nokia 3.1 Plus is a good choice for Rs 9,999.

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Xi tells officials to be ready to deal with risks as China's economy slows down





Employment generation in the formal sector increased by 48 per cent to touch a 15-month high of 7.32 lakh in November 2018 as compared to 4.93 lakh in the year-ago month, according to the latest EPFO payroll data. Around 73.50 lakh new subscribers were added to the social security schemes of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from September 2017 to November 2018, the data showed. This indicates that these many jobs were created in the last 15 monthsAs parties gear up for Lok Sabha poll campaign, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma Tuesday said the BJP has booked all chartered planes, leaving his party struggling to get some. The senior Congress leader alleged that there was an "unequal competition" between the BJP and other parties, as all the resources were with the ruling party. Sharma said the ruling party has spent over Rs 4,000 crore on publicity and advertisements, which he said was more than that spent by multinational companies like Netflix, Amazon and Unilever.The all new Tata Harrier SUV will launch today in India. Harrier is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 16-21 lakh and could rival the likes of Jeep Compass, Hyundai Creta, Mahindra XUV500 and Hyundai Tuscon in India. The Harrier was first showcased as the H5X Concept at the 2018 Auto Expo and is expected to retain most of its design element from the Concept.India will eventually surpass China in economic size and will be in a better position to create the infrastructure being promised by the Chinese side in South Asian countries, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said Tuesday. Addressing a session on Strategic Outlook for South Asia at the World Economic Forum annual meet in Davos, Rajan said Indian economy would continue to grow while growth rate is slowing down in China. The comments assume significance with China working on a lot of infrastructure projects across the region, including in Nepal and in Pakistan.Individuals who have carried out high value transactions but have not filed their income tax returns for the assessment year 2018-19 would get 21 days time to submit their responses, the CBDT said Tuesday. The 21-day time period would be from the date of receiving e-mail or SMS from the I-T Department regarding non-filing of tax returns.The Indian government is likely to seek to raise about 800 billion rupees ($11.21 billion) through the sale of state-owned assets in the next fiscal year, beginning April 1, two government sources told Reuters. The target, which is the same as for the current financial year, includes proceeds from the expected privatisation of loss-making national carrier Air India, and the sale of an insurer to be created by the merger of three state-owned firmsChinese President Xi Jinping has cautioned officials about risks to the country's economic stability and directed them to deal with turbulence and disruptions, as the spectre of long term economic slowdown loomed large over China with GDP last year slumping to 30 year low. Take all the necessary precautionary steps and be vigilant about any risks that could jeopardise China's stability and reforms, Xi told officials summoned to Beijing for a Communist Party study session on Monday.
Tehran has finally formally handed over the Shahid Beheshti port at Chabahar to state-owned India Ports Global Ltd. The US did waiver sanctions for Chahbahar ostensibly for crucial Afghan humanitarian relief.

Trade restrictions on Iran and limited initial opportunities in Afghanistan mean India has really nothing to do after being handed over control. Chabahar, however, is full of possibilities. It is connected with the multimodal International North-South Transport Corridor and will serve as a gateway to Central Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe.

Land route access through this port would greatly reduce Pakistan's influence (with Kabul) and that of Beijing in the general region. India hopes that with land access, trade via Chabahar can jump from $2 billion now to $70 billion in just a few years. But Tehran will claim its pound of flesh. Everything will now depend on what the US does.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has met with president and chairman of VTB Bank Management Board Andrey Kostin in Davos today, according to the Azerbaijani presidential website.

Azerbaijans successful cooperation with VTB Bank, and the banks fruitful activity in the country was hailed during the meeting.

The sides emphasized the importance of the development of the banking sector in Azerbaijan, the measures taken in this area in order to create a more favorable environment for the private sector, and exchanged views on cooperation prospects.
Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday said that former RBI governor Urjit Patel's sudden exit is a matter of concern. On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2019, Rajan, talking to India Today TV on a range of issues, said demonetisation was a "set back" but termed the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which was widely criticised for its poor implementation, a "positive step".

On the issues of non-performing assets, Rajan said NPAs are an "overhang on the banking system", and that lending to bad businesses so as to keep them alive is an issue. He said privatisation of the national banks is possible. Calling for less politicisation of the public sector, he said the "banking reforms were hijacked by bureaucracy", which is now a missed opportunity.

Talking about the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the former RBI governor called it an "important step forward". He also called for re-energising the private investment in India. On his tenure as the head of the RBI, Rajan said he had a "fulfilling experience". He also praised the RBI's monetary policy committee for doing a "good job".

On the surprise exit of Urjit Patel and the recent spat between the government and the RBI, he said it's a concern, and that the "integrity and autonomy" of the institutions like the RBI needs to be protected. He also clarified he holds good rapport with politicians on both sides of the spectrum, including Rahul Gandhi and Arun Jaitley. Dismissing talks about him being projected as the finance minister if the Congress party comes to power, he said it's nothing but "speculation", and that he is not a politician.

During a separate WEF session, Rajan on Tuesday said India will eventually surpass China in economic size and will be in a better position to create the infrastructure being promised by the Chinese side in South Asian countries. He said the Indian economy would continue to grow while the growth rate is slowing down in China.

"Historically, India had a bigger role in the region but China has now grown much bigger than India and has presented itself as a counterbalance to India in the region," Rajan said at the WEF Annual Meeting 2019, reported PTI. "India will become bigger than China eventually as China would slow down and India would continue to grow. So India will be in a better position to create the infrastructure in the region which China is promising today. But this competition is good for the region and it will benefit for sure," he said.

Edited by Manoj Sharma

Also read: Raghuram Rajan says India to become bigger than China eventually

Indian economy grows irrespective of govt in power, says Kamal Nath
In a surprise development, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the daughter of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, was on Wednesday appointed the party's General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. Soon after her appointment, reactions started coming in, with people comparing Priyanka Gandhi to her grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, one of the strongest political figures in the history of independent India.

After the announcement, the Congress workers were seen celebrating in Raebareli. As per the news agency ANI, the Congress supporters were heard shouting slogans like "Priyanka Gandhi aandhi hai, doosri Indira Gandhi hai". "Congratulations to #prinyankagandhi on the achievement of General Secretary of UP EAST. She always reminds me of the "IRONLADY" Indira Gandhi!! All my best wishes @INCIndia @RahulGandhi," tweeted a user. Another user called her the "21st century Indira Gandhi". "Rahul-Priyanka combination will make India vibrant again while BJP will start vibrating," he tweeted.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi said he was personally happy that she would now work with him, adding that the BJP was rattled after the development.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Priyanka Gandhi: Mujhe personally bahut khushi ho rahi hai ki woh ab mere saath kaam karengi, woh bahut karmat hain. Jyotiraditya Scindia bhi bahut dynamic leader hain. BJP wale ghabraaye hue hain. pic.twitter.com/8QpfJjJdO3 - ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

Political leaders also welcomed the move. "One of the most awaited entries in Indian politics is finally here! While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real news is that she finally decided to take the plunge! Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi," tweeted the JD(U) leader and political strategist Prashant Kishore.

One of the most awaited entries in Indian politics is finally here! While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real news is that she finally decided to take the plunge! Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi. - Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) January 23, 2019

Also read:Priyanka Gandhi enters politics: "I am happy my sister will work with me," says Rahul Gandhi

The move to induct Priyanka Gandhi could give a much-needed boost to the Congress party in a state that sends maximum members of Parliamentarians to the Lok Sabha. Two big political parties in the state, SP and BSP, have already ditched the Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, but Priyanka's induction could make it a three-way contest in UP where the party has said it'll contest all 80 seats.

With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections just a few months away, the Congress party's plan to go the whole hog in UP also sends a positive signal to the already upbeat Congress party workers after the grand old party's big wins in three Hindi heartland states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Though Priyanka had stayed away from entering politics until now, she had campaigned for her brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Meanwhile, the Congress party has also appointed KC Venugopal as AICC General Secretary (organisation). Jyotiraditya Scindia has been made AICC General Secretary for UP West, whereas Ghulam Nabi Azad has been made General Secretary, Haryana. Priyanka will take over as AICC General Secretary for UP East in the first week of February.

Edited by Manoj Sharma

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Indian cyber expert claims 2014 Lok Sabha elections were 'rigged'
Union minister Piyush Goyal has been handed the additional charge of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Afffairs, just a week before the Union Budget 2019 has to be tabled before Parliament. Goyal, who already is in-charge of the Railway and Coal ministries, will now stand in for Arun Jaitley till the time he is indisposed.

Jaitley had gone to the United States for a medical check-up after the Winter Session of the Parliament concluded. He underwnent a kidney transplant surgery last year, and Goyal was appointed as the acting Finance Minister back then too.

ALSO READ: FM misses Halwa ceremony, may be back for Budget

"The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, hereby directed that during the period of indisposition of Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister; the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs held by him, be temporarily assigned to Shri Piyush Goyal, in addition to his existing portfolios," the President's Secretariat said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley be designated as Minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time he is able to resume his work as Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs," the statement further added.

During the period of indisposition of Arun Jaitley, the portfolios of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs will be temporarily held by Piyush Goyal in addition to his existing portfolios. pic.twitter.com/VlJNRLibDH - ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

Arun Jaitley will be designated as Minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time he is able to resume his work as Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs. https://t.co/qh80IPqD2E - ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

The Finance Ministry is presently engaged in preparations for the outgoing Budget of the Modi government as the nation prepares to go to General Elections in May. And instead of an Interim Budget, the incumbent government will most likely present a full-fledged one during the upcoming Budget Session of the Parliament.

ALSO READ:Railway passengers take note: Services of these 22 trains have been extended
The Indian government is likely to seek to raise about 800 billion rupees ($11.21 billion) through the sale of state-owned assets in the next fiscal year, beginning April 1, two government sources with direct knowledge of budget discussions told Reuters on Tuesday

The target, which is the same as for the current financial year, includes proceeds from the expected privatisation of loss-making national carrier Air India, and the sale of an insurer to be created by the merger of three state-owned firms, the sources said. It will also involve the sale of units in an exchange-traded fund consisting of minority stakes in about 20 state-owned companies, they said.

Also Read: 7.32 lakh jobs created in Nov; employment up by 48% in formal sector: EPFO payroll data

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is currently in the United States for a medical check-up, is expected to announce the target while presenting an interim budget on Feb. 1, said one of the sources.

The government could also sell shares in a number of state-owned companies through initial public offerings, the sources said. Possible candidates for these include Telecommunications Consultants India, Indian Railways' subsidiaries IRCTC, RailTel Corporation India and National Seeds Corporation (NSC), they added.

The government has proposed merging three state-owned general insurance companies - National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United Insurance - and then listing the single entity.

The government failed to attract bidders for Air India when it tried to sell a majority stake in 2018. But the airline is now being restructured and to make it more attractive just over half of its debt will be placed in another company and will not be part of any future sale, one of the sources said.

The receipts target could change if the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets less of a mandate from voters in the next general election, which must be held by early May. Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost some key state elections at the end of last year, opening up the possibility that it might lose power or only get returned by forming a coalition with some other parties.

"The actual receipts from the privatisation programme will depend on how strong is the mandate of the next government, and its commitment to privatisation," said the first official, who declined to be named as the budget details are not public.

If Modi got a strong mandate, the government could even consider selling majority stakes in some of India's many state-owned banks, the official said.

Any change would be made in a full-year budget, likely to be presented in July.

Behind Target

There are also likely to be concerned about whether the government will be able to reach the goal. With about two months to go before the current year closes on March 31, the government has so far managed to raise only 351 billion rupees, about 43 per cent of the 800 billion targeted. And some of those receipts are the result of state-owned companies buying their own shares back from the government.

The government sources said they expected there would be significant progress towards this year's target in the next few weeks.

Also Read: BJP booked all chartered planes for Lok Sabha poll campaign: Congress

"We have not asked the government to revise down the target this year," said the second official.

The struggle to meet the current year's target has promoted some bankers and credit rating analysts to suggest the government would likely miss this year's budget target by around 200 billion rupees.

In a note last week, Care Ratings said meeting the share sale target will be challenging for the government this year given the volatile conditions in the financial markets.
Potential U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's crude oil exports would cut off the nation from Gulf Coast refiners that are among its biggest customers, likely forcing it to send more crude to China, India or other Asian countries, traders said on Wednesday. U.S. refineries that depend on Venezuela's heavy crude would have even more trouble securing supplies as Canadian and Mexican crudes are often not as discounted and are limited in availability. The United States is considering moves to cripple Venezuela's oil shipments, which account for nearly all of the country's ...
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is investigating Deutsche Bank's role in a money laundering scheme that has embroiled both it and Denmark's Danske Bank, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.The Fed's investigation is at an early stage, Bloomberg said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.The U.S. central bank is investigating whether Deutsche Bank in New York properly monitored the transfer of funds it performed on behalf of Danske from its Estonia branch, the report added.Deutsche shares were down 1.8 percent in early trade lagging Germany's DAX index which was off 0.6 ...
By Jeff MasonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - As much as U.S. President Donald Trump wants to boost markets through a trade pact with China, he will not soften his position that Beijing must make real structural reforms, including how it handles intellectual property, to reach a deal, advisers say. Offering to buy more American goods is unlikely by itself to overcome an issue that has bedeviled talks between the two countries. Those talks are set to continue when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington at the end of January.The United States accuses China of stealing intellectual property and ...
As much as US President Donald Trump wants to boost markets through a trade pact with China, he will not soften his position that Beijing must make real structural reforms, including how it handles intellectual property, to reach a deal, advisers say. Offering to buy more American goods is unlikely by itself to overcome an issue that has bedeviled talks between the two countries. Those talks are set to continue when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington at the end of January. The United States accuses China of stealing intellectual property and forcing American companies ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States was doing well in trade talks with China."I like where we are right now," Trump said in response to a question about trade negotiations with China by reporters at a White House event.Trump has vowed to increase tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports on March 2 unless China takes steps to protect U.S. intellectual property, end policies that force American companies to turn over technology to a Chinese partner, allow more market access for U.S. businesses and ...
(Reuters) - Cash-strapped Jet Airways Ltd has flown straight into a storm, resulting in a major setback for India's largest full-service airline that could shake up the country's aviation industry. Jet, which has debt exceeding 80 billion rupees ($1.12 billion) as of September-end, has been steadily losing market share to its rival and low-cost carrier IndiGo, which is owned by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.An interactive graphic on India's biggest airlines by market share https://reut.rs/2FUqDTO Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, Jet's second-largest shareholder, is now in talks with creditors for ...
(Reuters) - Tesla Inc said on Wednesday it is reducing production hours for higher-priced Model S and Model X cars, just days after saying it would cut jobs as the electric carmaker looks to make more affordable versions of the Model 3 sedan.The shares of the company fell 4.2 percent to $286.09. Tesla also faces the unenviable choice of raising prices at the risk of losing customers or slashing costs by thousands of dollars per vehicle as the electric vehicle tax break started to phase out from earlier this month.Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk had said earlier this month that Tesla will ...
TOKYO (Reuters) - Subaru Corp said its sole car factory in Japan accounting for roughly 60 percent of global production could be out of action for almost two weeks after it discovered a suspected defect in a power-steering component.Shares in Japan's sixth-largest automaker fell nearly 7 percent at one point before recovering some ground after the company announced further details, including plans to restart production on Monday at the earliest. In mid-afternoon trade, the stock was down 2.6 percent, while the benchmark Nikkei average was flat.The production stoppage, which started from the ...
(Reuters) - Debt-laden Indian telecom company Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Wednesday reported a wider loss for the third quarter, hurt by higher expenses.Net loss came in at 2.38 billion rupees ($33.38 million) for the October-December quarter, compared to a loss of 1.30 billion rupees in the year-ago period.Revenue from operations fell about 6.5 percent to 10.70 billion rupees.Earlier this year, RCom said it remained "fully committed" to settle dues with Swedish telecom gearmaker Ericsson from the proceeds of wireless assets sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd($1 = 71.3060 Indian ...
By Scott DiSavinoNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Wednesday as the European Union seeks to circumvent U.S. trade sanctions against Iran, and on weaker U.S. gasoline prices.Brent futures fell 36 cents, or 0.6 percent, to settle at $61.14 a barrel, while the most active U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for March fell 39 cents, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $52.62.France's foreign minister said he expected a European-backed system to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran and bypass fresh U.S. curbs imposed after Washington quit a landmark nuclear deal, would be ...
Oil prices inched up on Wednesday after China said it would raise spending to stem an economic slowdown that has been weighing on financial markets. International Brent crude oil futures were at $61.85 per barrel at 0624 GMT, up 35 cents, or 0.6 per cent, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.26 per barrel, up 25 cents, or 0.5 per cent. The firmer prices followed a 2-per cent fall in crude futures and a slump in international financial markets on Tuesday as concerns over global growth spooked investors into looking for safe-haven ...
By Ron Bousso and Dmitry ZhdannikovLONDON (Reuters) - Qatar is preparing to issue a tender for energy firms seeking a stake in its gas expansion project, drawing interest from long-standing partners as well as newcomers Chevron, Norway's Equinor and Italy's Eni, industry sources said.Plans to expand Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, already the world's largest, by more than a third in the next five years are considered one of the most lucrative investments in the rapidly growing global gas market.Competition is expected to be fierce.The huge interest underscores how successfully ...
By Svea Herbst-BaylissBOSTON (Reuters) - Activist investor Sahm Adrangi, who cemented his reputation with successful bets against Chinese internet companies, said that he has taken a short position against Qualcomm Inc, arguing the chip supplier's stock price could shrink by half.Adrangi's hedge fund Kerrisdale Capital published a research paper that suggests Qualcomm's profits could be at risk as the company faces lawsuits, especially one in the United States.If the company loses to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Kerrisdale said that Qualcomm would be forced to "license core patents to ...
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India is likely to produce 319,500 tonnes of coffee in 2018/19, down nearly 16 percent from the previous estimate, after heavy rainfall hit yields in the top two growing states, the state-run Coffee Board said on Wednesday.India, which is famous as a tea producer, is also the world's No. 6 coffee grower, mainly churning out the robusta beans used to make instant coffee. It also produces some of the more expensive arabica variety.The country had been expected to harvest a record crop of 380,000 tonnes, but heavy rainfall in Karnataka and Kerala - the top two producing states ...
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have held an informal meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Armenian leader said on his Facebook page.

According to him, they discussed the current state of negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The meeting lasted an hour and a half," the PM wrote.

The World Economic Forum is being held on January 22-25, 2019. The theme of this year's World Economic Forum in Davos is 'Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution'.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Indian government has appointed Piyush Goyal as its interim finance minister as the current Finance Minister Arun Jaitley receives medical treatment, the president's office said in a statement.Jaitley would not be presenting the interim budget next week, according to a source familiar with the matter. The government has not commented on Jaitley's medical condition. (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Edited by Martin Howell)(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government has appointed Piyush Goyal as its interim finance minister as the current Finance Minister Arun Jaitley receives medical treatment, the president's office said in a statement.Jaitley would not be presenting the government's interim budget next week, according to a source familiar with the matter. The government has not commented on Jaitley's medical condition.Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who took charge of the finance ministry in Jaitley's absence when he was on medical leave for three months last year following kidney transplant surgery, will be ...
(Reuters) - Gold prices held steady on Wednesday, as mounting concerns over a slowing global economic growth and uncertainty around Sino-U.S. trade tensions dampened appetite for risk.FUNDAMENTALS* Spot gold was little changed at $1,284.19 per ounce by 0112 GMT, while U.S. gold futures were also steady at $1,283.40 per ounce. * Spot gold rose 0.4 percent on Tuesday, its biggest one-day percentage gain in more than a week, as global stock markets fell on concerns over global growth. Asian stocks dipped further on Wednesday [MKTS/GLOB]* Investors shunned risky assets like equities as the ...
By Karina Dsouza and Noor Zainab Hussain(Reuters) - British pub operator JD Wetherspoon Plc said it enjoyed strong sales over the Christmas period, helped by Britons' new-found fondness for gin and solid demand for coffee drinks.The company, which warned in November about weaker sales, said it still expects pretax profit for the first half of its fiscal year to be lower than a year earlier as it struggles with higher costs, but it maintained its full-year outlook.Wetherspoon follows other UK pub operators, including Greene King Plc, Marston's Plc and Stonegate Pub Company, owner of the Slug ...
The US Justice Department said on Tuesday it will pursue the extradition of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, arrested in Canada in December on allegations she participated in a conspiracy to defraud banks. Meng, 46, is due to reappear in a Vancouver court on Feb. 6 to set further court dates. Her Dec. 1 arrest sparked a diplomatic row between Canada and China. China has since arrested and detained two Canadian citizens and sentenced another, a convicted drug smuggler, to death. WHAT IS THE EXTRADITION PROCESS IN CANADA? The process begins ...
BERLIN/ZURICH (Reuters) - Europe's competition commissioner has signalled her scepticism about the merger of Siemens's and Alstom's rail businesses by describing both companies as world champions that can compete globally.Margrethe Vestager is due to give her decision on the proposed mega-merger by Feb. 18."We are talking about two great companies that are able to compete in the market," Vestager told German newspaper Die Zeit in an interview to be published on Thursday.The two companies' plan to create a European rail champion to take on a Chinese rival has failed to win over EU antitrust ...
By Stanley CarvalhoABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways on Wednesday said it has begun legal proceedings in London, disputing a claim by the administrators of Air Berlin for damages of up to 2 billion euros ($2.26 billion).State-owned Etihad filed its case in the High Court in London on Wednesday, a company spokesman told Reuters, and believes that the case initiated in December by the German airline in Berlin should be determined by the English court.The insolvency administrator's lawsuit said that Etihad had not complied with its financial obligations to Air Berlin.Etihad, ...
LONDON (Reuters) - British trade minister Liam Fox will use a two-day trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos to meet ministers from around the world to discuss rolling over existing EU trade agreements after Britain leaves the bloc.With little time left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on March 29, there is no agreement in London on how and even whether it should leave the world's biggest trading bloc, and a growing chance of a "no-deal" exit with no provisions to soften the economic shock.Fox has said he hopes to replicate around 40 EU free trade agreements with ...
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's trade with North Korea fell 51.2 percent to $2.43 billion in 2018, customs data showed on Wednesday.Imports from North Korea fell 87.7 percent to $213.15 million, while exports to North Korea dropped 31.7 percent to $2.22 billion.China's total trade with North Korea was valued at $228.89 million in December, down from $247.75 million the previous month.Exports to North Korea in December were $207.43 million, down from $227.70 million the preceding month. (Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kim Coghill)(This story has not been edited by Business ...
By Paul SandleLONDON (Reuters) - Britain's premier luxury brand Burberry said a no-deal Brexit would cost it tens of millions of pounds in tariffs and severely disrupt the movement of fabrics and finished products between its suppliers, manufacturing centres and stores.Britain is due to leave the European Union in 65 days, and with Prime Minister Theresa May failing to win support for her negotiated deal, companies are increasingly worried about the possibility of a chaotic Brexit."We are taking mitigating actions," Chief Financial Officer Julie Brown said after Burberry reported a 1 percent ...
France's foreign minister said on Wednesday that he expected a European-backed system to facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran and circumvent U.S. sanctions would be established in the coming days, Channel NewsAsia reported.

Diplomats have told Reuters the European Union is set to officially launch the mechanism this month, but the so-called special purpose vehicle (SPV) will not operate for several months because technical details still need to be worked out.

The vehicle, designed to bypass fresh U.S. curbs imposed after Washington quit a landmark nuclear deal, will be registered in France, run by a German and likely to include France, Germany and Britain as shareholders.

The SPV "should be implemented in the coming days", Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French parliament's foreign affairs committee.

"It will work as a sort of clearing house that will allow in euros for Iran to benefit from some of its oil resources and at the same time buy essential products from the main three main (European) partners," Le Drian said.
LONDON (Reuters) - British luxury brand Burberry reported a 1 percent rise in third-quarter same store sales, just shy of market forecasts of 2 percent growth, before next month's launch of the debut collection by its new designer Riccardo Tisci.Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti said he was pleased with progress in shifting the brand further upmarket, and he said the company was maintaining its full-year guidance of stable revenue and adjusted operating margin at constant exchange rates.The company, which is traditionally known for its trench coats, reported retail revenue in the 13 weeks to ...
By Joshua Franklin and Trevor Hunnicutt(Reuters) - A corner of the market for initial public offerings (IPO) is evading the freeze on stock market flotations inflicted by the U.S. government shutdown, putting the spotlight on listings that usually stay under most investors' radar."Blank-check" companies, which launch IPOs to raise money for acquisitions, are taking advantage of their unique structure to proceed without the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has been paralyzed by the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. With other stock market debuts on ...
By Promit MukherjeeMUMBAI (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal's prolonged bid to buy debt-ridden Essar Steel is delaying the world's biggest steelmaker's joint venture with state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), India's steel minister and SAIL's chairman said.India's biggest state-owned steel company SAIL and billionaire Lakshmi Mittal-controlled ArcelorMittal signed a deal in May 2015 to set up a steel plant to produce automotive grade steel. However, no timetable has ever been set out.ArcelorMittal has been engaged in a drawn out attempt to acquire Essar Steel since 2017. Its 420 billion ...
By Mark BendeichDAVOS (Reuters) - As businessmen and bankers sip their morning coffee in a hotel lobby, admiring the Swiss Alps, a disturbing scene is unfolding in the car park below: men with guns are ordering people onto their knees and stealing their watches."A Day in the Life of a Refugee", an hour-long simulation that aims to give people a taste of being an asylum-seeker, has been held for the past 11 years at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos. Its organisers say it has never been needed more than now.With anti-immigration policies gaining major support across Western countries, ...
Over 100 youths from West Sikkim Wednesday reached the state capital after taking out 'Gangtok Chalo' march from Geyzing four days ago demanding better infrastructure at the Gyalshing district hospital.

The protesters under the banner of Sikkim Progressive Youth Forum (SPYF) walked a distance of 110 km from the West Sikkim headquarters, Geyzing, demanding upgrade of various infrastructure and facilities at the district hospital in West Sikkim.

Prakash Prajuley, said to be convenor of the SPYF, told reporters that the state government, particularly the Health Minister AK Ghatani and senior officials were "indifferent" to the demand of the local people to upgrade the Gyalshing district hospital.

"We have been raising our just demands for upgradation and better facilities at the district hospital for years, but neither the minister nor officials have paid heed to it," Prajuley said.

Meanwhile, senior health department officials Pempa Bhutia and Uttam Pradhan, both Principal Directors, reached the protest venue and spoke to the protesters to find out about their charters of demands.

The talks, however, failed as a result the protesting youths continued to lay seize under open sky amid cold weather conditions and drizzle at Titanic Park.

The officials said that they were ready to accept 95 per cent demands, but issues like filling vacancies of Radiologists and Surgeons at the Gyalsing government hospital was not possible immediately due to shortage of manpower in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The in Uttar Pradesh said Priyanka Gandhi's entry into formal will enthuse party workers to regain lost ground in the state in the Lok Sabha polls.

"This is an opportunity for the to strike back in the most crucial state of the country where the organisation had all through been wanting her to plunge into active politics," Uttar Pradesh Committee spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi told PTI.

"We welcome both Priyankaji and Jyotiraditya Scindia to lead all of us, and look forward for a 40 plus tally for the party in the coming Lok Sabha polls," Bakshi said.

His reaction came after the appointment of as Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh East. Jyotiraditya Scindia is the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary for UP East.

The party's state unit was not immediately clear on the division of the 80 parliamentary seats between the two new in-charges. But some leaders believed it could be 40 each.



Amethi and Rae Bareli, the two Gandhi family bastions, fall in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Bakshi said belongs to Uttar Pradesh and the party needed her.

In the months ahead of the elections, she has been tasked to match the charisma of and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, two star campaigners for the BJP who also have strong presence in the region.

While Modi represents Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, Adityanath Nath's turf is Gorakhpur.

"Our organisation has also been active, especially for the past one year, with the front units playing an important role," Bakshi said.



UPCC general secretary Dwijendra Tripathi said making two general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh showed the seriousness Congress president Rahul Gandhi attaches to state.

"Both are young and popular, he said. They have a certain hold over the public and have leadership qualities and a rapport with the common man."



Congress leaders said Priyanka Gandhi's into active party will galvanise the workers, helping them take on the dual challenge posed in the state by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan created a flutter on Wednesday by saying the party would extend support to the Congress if the next prime minister came from the grand old party, in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at a function.

At an event hosted by the Delhi Waqf Board, Khan, who is also the chairman of the board, urged the Imams of the city mosques to support the AAP and said, "People are saying they will vote for the Congress because the next prime minister will be from that party.

"If that is indeed so, we will also extend support to the Congress, but in Delhi, only the AAP can defeat the BJP, not the Congress."



He said, "Do not waste your vote. The votes will be wasted if given to the Congress. Vote for the AAP if you want to defeat the BJP."



Last week, AAP's Delhi convener Gopal Rai had said the party would not go for an alliance with the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, while accusing the grand old party of being "arrogant".

He had also said the Kejriwal-led party would field candidates on all the parliamentary constituencies of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday informed the House that the state government will soon take a decision to implement 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections.

"The government of Rajasthan is going to take a decision very soon. We will implement 10 per cent reservation in the state," Gehlot said in his reply to the debate on the governor's address in the assembly.

He was referring to the Constitution 124th (Amendment) Bill passed in Parliament. It provides 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the economically weaker sections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lanka's Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday slammed the efforts being made to formulate a new Constitution, saying Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government does not have political moral to introduce it and should therefore hold fresh polls.

Rajapaksa was speaking in parliament on the report of the experts panel presented in the Constitutional assembly by Wickremesinghe two weeks ago.

Sri Lanka's former strongman, who attempted to overthrow Wickremesinghe with the help of President Maithripala Sirisena last year, critised the prime minister's statements that the country will remain indivisible and united even after the new Constitution is enacted.

Rajapaksa said the new Constitution would weaken the parliament and "immeasurably strengthen provincial legislatures".

Since the presentation of the report, Rajapaksa has been alleging that the government is drafting a new Constitution to appease the main Tamil political party - Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and that the new Constitution would harm the Sinhala majority community.

Rajapaksa said that the limitations imposed on the legislative power of Parliament is the turning point at which the unitary state becomes a federal state". He is also critical of the devolved police powers for provinces as advocated in the report.

He told Parliament that Wickremesinghe's government lacked political moral to introduce a new Constitution and therefore they should hold a fresh parliamentary poll.

It appears that the current constitutional process had run into the same historical problems which stopped efforts by various government to address the Tamil demand for political recognition.

Wickremesinghe maintains that there is no draft constitution and the process was still open for all concerned to make a joint effort to come up with a final draft.

The LTTE fought a bloody separatist war to create a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east provinces.

With the military defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the main Tamil political party has taken a much conciliatory attitude by shedding the demand for a separate state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The White House said high-level trade talks with Beijing were proceeding uninterrupted, quickly rebutting media reports that progress toward resolving their trade war had faltered.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is to meet his US counterparts in Washington next week as the two sides work to resolve their trade disagreements by March 1, when a 90-day truce is due to expire, allowing US import duties on Chinese goods to increase sharply.

Washington and Beijing imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on more than USD 360 billion worth of goods in two-way trade last year.

Trump initiated the trade war because of complaints over unfair Chinese trade practices -- concerns shared by the European Union, Japan and others.

The Financial Times and CNBC both reported Tuesday afternoon that Washington had canceled a preliminary meeting set for this week ahead of Liu's visit.

American officials had reportedly cited a lack of progress on the most difficult issues in the trade dispute -- including allegedly forced technology transfers and far-reaching structural reforms to China's economy.

The reports sent Wall Street even further into the red. US stocks had already opened lower on downgraded forecasts for global economic growth.

But, shortly before the close of trading in New York, top White House economic aide Larry Kudlow flatly denied the reports during an appearance on CNBC.

"With respect, the story is not true," Kudlow said Tuesday.

"There was never a planned meeting that was canceled." China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying concurred Wednesday at a regular press briefing, adding that she had not heard of any changes and that "both sides remain in contact on China-US trade consultation issues".

Stock prices recovered some of their losses following Kudlow's remarks but still finished substantially lower for the day. Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday.

Kudlow said the United States continued to press the Chinese on the subject of intellectual property and state intervention in markets, among other matters.

He also said American officials were insisting that any agreement have teeth to ensure Beijing's compliance.

"Enforcement is absolutely crucial to the success of these talks," Kudlow said.

"Will it be solved at the end of the month? I don't know. I wouldn't dare predict and want to make sure people understand how important that is to put it on the table."



If both sides fail to reach a resolution to the trade war, US duty rates on USD 200 billion in Chinese goods are due to rise to 25 per cent from their current 10 per cent, a prospect that has shaken markets in recent months.

Last year, the Chinese economy posted its slowest annual growth in nearly three decades, according to official figures published Monday in Beijing, underscoring concerns the trade conflict with the United States could sap the strength of the world's second-largest economy and harm global growth in the process.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Armenias former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan has been summoned to the Investigative Committee and gave explanations, News.am reported citing representative of the Committee.

Ex-PM gave explanations within the criminal case which was filed in connection with corruption scheme revealed during the privatization of the Hrazdan forest fund.
Thirty-three days into partial government shutdown, US President Donald Trump and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared to be headed for a collision on the annual State of the Union Address that was initially scheduled for January 29.

Trump in a letter to Pelosi on Wednesday had asserted that there are no security concerns as claimed by her in a January 3 letter, and as such he looks forward to seeing her at the Congress on January 29 to deliver his annual State of the Union Address.

On Thursday, Pelosi fired back with a letter of her own, telling Trump that "the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorising the President's State of the Union Address in the House Chamber until government has opened".

"Again, I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened," she wrote.

On being told that Pelosi has rejected his State of the Union Address letter, Trump said, "I'm not surprised. It's really a shame what's happening with the Democrats. They've become radicalised."



Throughout the shutdown, now in its 33rd day, Democrats have repeatedly voted to reopen government so that federal workers can pay their bills, government services will be available to the American people, and the nation's economy will not be damaged further.

Earlier, Kellyanne Conway, top presidential advisor, told reporters at the White House that Pelosi should have taken care of things before inviting Trump for the January 29 State of the Union Address.

"Why did she issue an invitation? Why did she lie about security concerns? Why aren't you covering that? Do you think she lied about security concerns?" Conway asked reporters at the White House driveway, which of late as emerged as a place for reporters to ask questions to senior administration officials.

"Honestly, the Secret Service and DHS affirmed to the president even before he asked that there are no security concerns and they have since confirmed that publicly to all of you. But you just let that go that she lied about the security concerns," she said.

Conway said Trump's letter to Pelosi "was incredibly gracious to not mention that and just say to her thanks. I accepted your invitation. I plan on coming".

Trump, she said, wants everybody to have certainty about Tuesday night that he intends to go to the chamber in Congress and deliver his State of the Union to the entire nation. "He hopes that the speaker and the caucus will be there," she said.

First Lady Melania Trump is inviting her guests as every first lady does, Conway said, and hoped that the speaker will not deny seats to her guests.

Responding to questions, she appeared to be against Trump holding a rally somewhere else in the country instead of the State of the Union.

"Why would the President hold a rally when he can go and address the entire country," she said.

"The big question is what are you afraid of him saying? Are you afraid of him quoting Democrats who have talked about how walls and barriers work? Are we afraid of talking about the number of illegal aliens who were stopped or drugs from coming in in places like Tucson and San Diego and tell them that walls have been erected successfully," she said.

Conway alleged that Pelosi is worried that some of the members in the chamber would not show up. "That's not an embarrassment to the President. It's an embarrassment to her that she'd be there if they don't want to applaud," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The West Bengal unit of Congress on Wednesday welcomed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's appointment as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, and said it would boost the morale of the party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Ending years of speculation, Priyanka Gandhi formally entered in a move reflecting the party's intent to go full throttle in the state ahead of the general elections.

"We welcome Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's appointment as Congress general secretary, as it would further boost the morale of the party ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

"This move will also further strengthen the organisation in the country, especially UP," senior Congress leader and MP Pradip Bhattacharya said.

Several other top state Congress leaders, too, welcomed the move and congratulated Priyanka Gandhi.

Carrying posters of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, West Bengal Congress workers in different parts of the state celebrated her appointment by distributing sweets and bursting crackers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff at M S S Waqf Board College here.

Justice P Velmurugan ordered the CBI to file a report within six months on a petition which also alleged that Tamil Nadu Labour Minister Nilofer Kafeel and MP Anwar Raja were involved in the irregularities.

The judge directed the state home secretary and the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) to cooperate with the CBI in the investigation.

The court issued the order on a petition by Sardhar Basha who alleged more than 30 appointments had been made in violation of University Grants Commission guidelines and after taking huge sums of money by the in-charge secretary of the college, Jamal Mohideen, also a local leader of the ruling AIADMK party.

The petitioner alleged that Mohideen was a "benami" of Anwar Raja and had collected Rs 30-35 lakh for each appointment.

He further alleged that Mohideen had shared the amount collected with Kafeel and Raja.

The teaching faculty appointed by him had not cleared the National Eligibility Test or the State Eligibility Test, which was a violation of the UGC norms, the petitioner submitted.

He claimed that though he had submitted a complaint to the DVAC, no action was taken. Hence, he moved the court seeking a CBI investigation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana's Special Task Force (STF) has arrested a wanted sharpshooter, who was carrying a reward of Rs 75,000, from Agra in Uttar Pradesh, officials said Wednesday.

A spokesman of the police department said the arrested was identified as Amit, alias Chottu alias Sultan, a resident of Soop village inBaghpat, Uttar Pradesh.

"The accused, who was carrying a bounty of Rs 75,000, was nabbed on Tuesday from Agra by a nine-member STF team led by Inspector Satish Deswal.Amit was allegedly involved in a number of crimes and had been absconding for the last nine years," the official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro announced on Thursday he was breaking off diplomatic ties with the United States after Donald Trump recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American country's "interim president."



"I've decided to break diplomatic and political relations with the imperialist government of the United States," said Maduro to thousands of supporters in Caracas.

"Get out! Leave Venezuela, here there's dignity, damn it," he said, giving the US delegation 72 hours to quit the country.

Guaido, the head of the opposition-controlled legislature, caused a sensation on Wednesday when he told a crowd of tens of thousands of opposition supporters that he was declaring himself "acting president."



Trump was the first foreign leader to react and threw his backing behind Guaido, describing the National Assembly as "the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people."Speaking from a balcony at the presidential palace in Caracas, Maduro accused the US government of "attempting a coup d'etat." "The extremist policy of Donald Trump's government against Venezuela is a very serious irresponsibility, it's a very serious folly," said Maduro.

"Trying to impose a government by extra-constitutional means, we cannot accept that." He called on Venezuela's state agencies to "close ranks" in favor of "democracy" and repeated his call for loyalty from the armed forces.

"To my command, maximum loyalty, maximum unity, maximum discipline so that we win this battle together!" said Maduro.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Resources Executive Chairman Wednesday committed to invest about $1.6 billion more in South Africa for mining minerals as he looked to deepen engagement in the African nation.

Agarwal, who is part of a business delegation accompanying South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to India, said Resources has already invested $400 million in South Africa and is outlining more investments to produce minerals like zinc.

"South Africa and India share a very strong relationship. When Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi visited South Africa last year, we announced an investment of $1 billion (in South Africa). We are now increasing the committed investment to $1.6 billion," he said.

Agarwal is part of the Ramaphosa's delegation by virtue of being the largest investor in South Africa. He is the largest investor in South Africa-based Anglo American Plc, which controls diamond miner De Beers.

"South Africa has a huge mining culture. India does not have. We are trying to marry the two," he said. "We had promised to give business to South African and we have already given $400 million business to South African for mining of minerals in India. They are doing well."

The partnership can be for mining of gold, copper, bauxite, zinc, and other minerals.

At Gamsberg, Zinc International has already invested $400 million (Rs 3,000 crore) since it bought the zinc mining project from Anglo American in 2011. The company now plans to make an additional investment to build a greenfield smelter and refinery, he said.

Ramaphosa will be the chief guest at India's 70th Republic Day celebrations this weekend.

ALSO READ: Vedanta moves SC, seeks order to TN to take steps for Sterlite re-opening

Agarwal said to commemorate this historic occasion, Vedanta has committed to invest an additional Rs 11,500 crore in the land of Nelson Mandela.

The company's cumulative investment in the African continent stands at nearly Rs 30,000 crore.

CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, Vedanta Zinc International CEO Deshnee Naidoo are also the part of the high-level business delegation to India.

On the home front, Vedanta has so far invested Rs 2.34 lakh crore and has committed to invest another Rs 60,000 crore in the next three years. The company has generated 1,00,000 jobs so far in India and South Africa and is committed to generating significantly more jobs in the coming years.

Stating that he wants to replicate South Africa's mining culture in India, Agarwal said the African nation has global mining experts and India needs their knowledge.

"India has a technology culture, which I want to inculcate in South Africa, where we are developing one the most digitally advanced mines in the world. Just as we are committed to being India's premier natural resources company, Vedanta is committed to South Africa in equal measure. Looking forward, we must accelerate South Africa as a mining investment destination," he added.
leaders have agreed to vote Thursday on competing proposals to end a government shutdown now in its second month, but the chances are slim that either will reopen federal agencies.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and top Democrat Chuck Schumer announced an agreement on the Senate floor Tuesday for a pair of test votes.

The first would be a procedural step on a measure that funds all shuttered branches of government through September, and includes President Donald Trump's demand for border wall funding and his proposal on immigration policy.

A second vote would be on a stop-gap measure that funds government until February 8, to allow for debate over border security and immigration, while also letting Trump's upcoming State of the Union address before Congress proceed.

It also would include disaster relief money already passed in the House. Each proposal would require 60 votes to advance in the 100-member body, a high threshold, given the current level of partisan rancor over who is to blame for the shutdown.

A senior Republican Senate aide told AFP it was unlikely Republicans would sign on to the short-term funding bill, and that even if they did, the president would not sign it.

But the Democratic leader took to the floor to say the votes "could break us out of the morass we are in," and he specifically encouraged Republicans to sign on to the stop-gap bill to briefly open government.

"It will allow us to then debate, without hostage-taking, without temper tantrum... how we can best do border security," he said.
The US is facing an increasingly complex and uncertain world in which threats are becoming ever more diverse and interconnected, America's top spy master said Wednesday.

Daniel Coats, Director of National Intelligence, said said these threats range from geopolitical competition to weapon of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation, violent extremism and intra and interstate conflict to regional instability.

"The strategic environment is changing rapidly, and the US faces an increasingly complex and uncertain world in which threats are becoming ever more diverse and interconnected," said Coats in the latest National Intelligence Strategy released Wednesday.

He said these threats come from America's long-standing adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, among others, and new adversaries, including terrorist groups and other non-state actors.

"We also see threats from cyber-space, and adversaries using emerging, disruptive technologies against us. These threats are aimed at: our presence abroad; our national security infrastructure; our critical public infrastructure; and our private sector; and our American public," Coats said.

The spy master said America needs to become more agile in how it employs its staff internally, and bring new talent onboard.

"We will expand and strengthen our partnerships outside the IC, to leverage the talent, and unique skill sets that exist beyond the federal government," he said.

"We are developing innovative policies to harness talent in ways we never have before. Given the threats we face, we simply cannot ignore the advantage that partnerships outside of the federal government bring to the IC," he added.

As per the National Intelligence strategy, no longer a solely US domain, the democratisation of space poses significant challenges for the and the intelligence community.

Adversaries are increasing their presence in this domain with plans to reach or exceed parity in some areas, it said.

"For example, Russia and China will continue to pursue a full range of anti-satellite weapons as a means to reduce US military effectiveness and overall security," the strategy says.

"Increasing commercialisation of space now provides capabilities that were once limited to global powers to anyone that can afford to buy them. Many aspects of modern society to include our ability to conduct military operations rely on our access to and equipment in space," it added.
US President said Thursday that Washington is doing "very well" in trade talks with China and that is keen to strike a deal ending their trade war.

China "wants to make a deal," he said at the "We're doing very well in the negotiations." Data showing China's economy grew at its weakest pace in three decades have fuelled fears it is heading for a rocky patch, exacerbated by the pressure from US tariffs.

argues that China has skewed the trading rules for decades and must agree to substantial reductions in import barriers, while boosting protection for US intellectual property.

However, the tit-for-tat tariffs between the world's two main economic powers have also hurt US economic confidence and markets are waiting anxiously for a deal.

On Wednesday, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan told an audience at the in that "the Chinese and US economies are mutually indispensable, so their relations must be mutually beneficial and win-win.
The US could post zero economic growth in the first quarter if the federal government does not reopen, the chairman of President Donald Trump's Council of Economic Advisers said Wednesday.

"If [the shutdown] extended for the whole quarter, and given the fact that the first quarter tends to be low because of residual seasonality, then you could end up with a number very close to zero in the first quarter, Kevin Hassett, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said in an interview to CNN.

Asked whether GDP growth could hit zero in the quarter, he said, "Yes, we could."



At the same time, he asserted that the second quarter would be humongous if the government reopened. "It would be like four or five per cent," Hassett said.

He also said the chances of a recession in 2020 is close to zero. "They're very, very close to zero," he said.

"We have so much momentum. There was just a great industrial production number. We just had a great jobs number. There's a lot of momentum carrying into this year. The government shutdown adds a lot of uncertainty. You're starting to see that uncertainty in some pieces of data," Hassett said.

The federal government shutdown over Trump's demand for USD 5.7 billion for a wall along the Mexican border entered 33rd day on Wednesday, with little sign of relief for the roughly 800,000 federal workers going without pay.

Hassett said talks with China are moving forward and exuded confidence that the US can reach a trade deal with China before the March 1 deadline.

Trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing have stretched for months amid their tit-for-tat trade war. The countries reached a 90-day truce following Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina on December 1 last year.

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De-occupation of Azerbaijani territories would promote wider international cooperation and sustainable peace in the region, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev told China's CGTN TV channel (China Global Television Network) in Davos.

When asked whether interconnectivity, infrastructure, a better environment and an alliance of economy with people will help find an opportunity to solve this problem, he expressed confidence that this is one of the most effective ways to liberate Azerbaijani territories, occupied by more than twenty years.

"In the first years of independence, we were subjected to aggression and occupation by Armenia. As a result, more than one million of Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons, 20% of our lands are occupied," Ilham Aliyev said.

The president stressed that Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Azerbaijani territories.

"Therefore, we need to be stronger, more successful and more effective to restore our territorial integrity and return more than 1 million people to their homes. Therefore, a policy of self-reliance, relying on our own resources and reserves leads us to success. Currently, we are raising living standards, we have a good international image. As I have already noted, we have attracted investments in the amount of almost $250 billion. We have invested greatly in military capabilities and created a very successful format of cooperation with our neighbors," the head of state stressed.

He stressed that the country occupying Azerbaijani territories should realize that it could become a party to this cooperation, including energy, oil and gas, transport projects. "All these projects bypass them for one reason: the occupation. If they stop occupation, then, of course, there would be broader international cooperation and sustainable peace in our region," Ilham Aliyev concluded.

Political scientist Orhan Gafarli, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, stressed that now there are positive conditions for Armenia to de-occupy Azerbaijani territories. "The government has changed in Armenia, and the republic's new leader Nikol Pashinyan took a more moderate position on Nagorno-Karabakh than his predecessors Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan. In particular, Pashinyan does not refer to Karabakh as 'Artsakh'. In general, his statements show that the new government has a more moderate policy on Nagorno-Karabakh, directed at further cooperation to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict," he said.

The peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to a political scientist, will have a significant impact on economy and life of the Caucasus. "I think that it will be a historic step into a new life. De-occupation of Azerbaijani territories means, in particular, opening of the Turkish border with Armenia, which will ensure its integration into regional economic and energy cooperation," Orhan Gafarli stressed.

Political scientist Gela Vasadze agreed that after the change of power, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is closer than ever to a transition to a practical settlement. "Ilham Aliyev made a very encouraging statement. By many signs, we are on the verge of a possible major breakthrough in relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which is extremely important for the South Caucasus, because most of the borders in our region are closed. Due to these limitations, the regions potential cannot be fully used, and the presence of hotbeds in the South Caucasus negatively affects the investment attractiveness of all our countries," he noted.

"In this regard, the settlement of the conflict would be a very powerful impetus for the development of the entire macroregion. Achieving peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia could be the first serious political and diplomatic success among the vast number of regional conflicts in the Middle East. And its good that the trend which started from the short conversation between Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Aliyev in Dushanbe remains positive. Recently, it was anchored at a meeting of foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Paris, it was followed by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov's statement on Russian expectations of progress in Karabakh, as well as congratulations to Pashinyan from the EU and the U.S. on his appointment as Prime Minister, which noted that everyone expects that Pashinayn to settle the Karabakh conflict," Gela Vasadze recalled.

Head of the Public Foundation 'World of Eurasia' Eduard Poletayev welcomed the fact of informal meeting between Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan in Davos. "It's great that the leaders meet, even if they do it at the sites of third countries. The fact that new formats of interaction are entering the South Caucasus arena is a positive factor. The initiative should come directly from the parties to the conflict here," he stressed.
The United States confirmed Wednesday that its envoy is meeting in Qatar with the Taliban, seeking to negotiate an end to the Afghanistan war despite a new major attack claimed by the insurgents.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative on Afghan reconciliation, met Tuesday in the Qatari capital Doha with Taliban representatives, the State Department said.

"We can confirm that Special Representative Khalilzad and an interagency team are in Doha today talking with representatives of the Taliban," a State Department spokeswoman said, adding that the talks were taking place over two days.

Khalilzad has sat down several times with the Taliban but it marks the first time that the United States has confirmed his meetings so directly.

The meeting came even though the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack Tuesday against an Afghan intelligence base in central Wardak province.

A local official said that at least 65 people were killed, in the latest high-casualty attack in Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman announced the meeting with Khalilzad on Monday, saying that the United States accepted an agenda of "ending the occupation of Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from being used against other countries in the future."



President Donald Trump has ordered a halving of the 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan as he voices eagerness to end America's longest-ever war, launched in 2001 after the September 11 attacks.

The Afghan-born Khalilzad, a key US policymaker under former president George W Bush, met the Taliban after talks in Afghanistan as well as stops in key regional players China, India and Pakistan.

In Kabul, Khalilzad spoke with President Ashraf Ghani and vowed that the United States would maintain security support to Afghan forces.

"We agreed military pressure is essential while we prepare to engage in negotiations for peace," he tweeted.

He elaborated later: "To achieve peace, we are ready to address legitimate concerns of all Afghan sides in a process that ensures Afghan independence and sovereignty, and accounts for legitimate interests of regional states."



"Urgent that fighting end. But pursuing peace still means we fight as needed," he tweeted.

Khalilzad is last known to have met the Taliban last month in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, which has jockeyed for influence versus Gulf rival Qatar on spearheading diplomacy with the Taliban.

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Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will take part in the state Foundation Day event to be held in suburban Santacruz here Thursday.

At the occasion, Adityanath and his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis will felicitate dignitaries from various walks of life, a BJP functionary whose organisation is hosting the event said here Wednesday.

City unit BJP president Ashish Shelar is another prominent leader of the party to attend the event, which is viewed as a bid to reach out to the north Indian voters in Mumbai in the election year.

Mumbai-based socio-cultural organisation Abhiyan has been organising the Uttar Pradesh Day every year on January 24 since the last 31 years.

Abhiyan convener and Mumbai BJP unit general secretary Amarjeet Mishra Wednesday said the people from Mumbai and suburbs will participate in the celebrations. "This event is akin to Bhojpuri filmfare function," he said.

Interestingly, UP Day is not celebrated in the northern state, Mishra said.

January 24 is regarded as the foundation day of the northern state as a notification was published on this date in 1950, renaming the United Province as Uttar Pradesh.

The Uttar Pradesh government never celebrated the occasion, Mishra said.

"However, the Adityanath government started celebrating the occasion since last year after I took up the issue with UP governor Ram Naik and Yogi Aditynath," he said.

North Indians settled in Mumbai and the suburbs is a significant vote bank divided between the Congress and the BJP.

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Uttarakhand tableau at the Republic Day parade this year will feature Kausani's Anasakti Ashram where Mahatma Gandhi had stayed in 1929 and written the preface of his famous work based on the Bhagvad Gita, an official said Wednesday.

The tableau shows Gandhi writing his book 'Anasakti Yoga' at the ashram in the backdrop of mountains and deodar trees, Deputy Director (information) K S Chauhan, who heads the state's tableau team, said.

During his visit to Kausani in 1929, Gandhi had stayed at the ashram and written the preface of his famous work 'Anasakti Yoga'.

The state's tableau at the Republic Day function, to be attended by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa among other dignitaries, will feature the Anasakti Ashram, Chauhan said.

Regular prayer meetings are held at the ashram which also has a library containing books on Gandhi's life for researchers and tourists.

Gandhi's visit to the ashram was chosen as the theme of Uttarakhand tableau as the country celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation this year, he said.

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Two auto-lifters, who would hide stolen two-wheelers in the parking area of a popular mall here before selling them, have been arrested in Nodia, police said Wednesday.

The accused were operating in the National Capital Region and three stolen vehicles have been recovered from their possession, officials said.

Accused Pankaj Kumar and Rajendra Kumar, both residents of Bulandshahr district, were arrested on Tuesday night near the Ganda Naala in Sector 38A, said Station House Officer, Sector 39 Police Station, Uday Pratap Singh.

"They were arrested with a stolen scooter, whose theft complaint had been lodged at Sector 39 Police Station. Upon further probe, the accused led to the recovery of two motorcycles which had been stolen from Delhi," he said.

The official said during interrogation the two admitted to lifting two-wheelers in the NCR area.

"They revealed they would change the registration number plates of the stolen vehicles to evade arrest. They would keep the vehicles in a parking area outside the GIP Mall before they could find a buyer," the SHO said.

"In some cases, they sold the vehicles in Bulandshahr," he added.

A first information report was registered and the accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), 379 (theft), 414 (assisting in concealment of stolen property) and 482 (using a false property mark), police said.

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The White House is moving forward with plans for President Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union speech next week in front of a joint session of Congress despite a letter from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting he delay it.

The White House sent an email to the House sergeant-at-arms asking to schedule a walk-through in anticipation of a January 29 address, according to a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the planning by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Nancy Pelosi made the invitation to the president on the State of the Union. He accepted," said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

"At this point, we're moving forward."



The move is the latest in a game of political brinkmanship between Trump and the House speaker as they remain locked in an increasingly personal standoff over Trump's demand for border wall funding that has forced a partial government shutdown that is now in its second month.

The maneuvering began last week when Pelosi sent a letter to Trump suggesting that he either deliver the speech in writing or postpone it until after the partial government shutdown is resolved, citing security concerns. But the White House maintains Pelosi never formally rescinded her invitation, and is, in essence, calling her bluff.

"She has not canceled it. She asked us to postpone it," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in an interview Tuesday with Fox Channel.

"We have no announcement at this time," he said, "but Nancy Pelosi does not dictate to the president when he will or will not have a conversation with the American people."



At the same time, the White House is continuing to work on contingency plans to give Trump a backup in case the joint-session plans fall through.

The president cannot speak in front of a joint session of Congress without both chambers' explicit permission. A resolution needs to be agreed to by both chambers specifying the date and time for receiving an address from the president.

Officials have been considering a list of potential alternative venues, including a rally-style event, an Oval office address as Pelosi previously suggested a speech before the Senate chamber, and even a return visit to the U.S.-Mexico border as Trump is expected to continue to hammer the need for a barrier, according to two others familiar with the discussions.

Multiple versions are also being drafted to suit the final venue. The Constitution states only that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union," meaning the president can speak anywhere he chooses or give his update in writing.

But a joint address in the House chamber, in front of lawmakers from both parties, the Supreme Court justices and invited guests, provides the kind of grand backdrop that is hard to mimic and that this president, especially, enjoys.

Still, North Carolina's House Speaker Tim Moore wrote a letter inviting Trump to deliver the speech in the North Carolina House chamber.

And Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield on Friday invited Trump to deliver the address at the state Capitol in Lansing instead.

Trump called Moore Monday evening, according to his office, and spoke by phone with Chatfield Tuesday morning, Chatfield tweeted.

"I understand you have other plans for #SOTU, but as we discussed, I look forward to hosting you in Michigan again soon," Chatfield wrote.

Pelosi in her letter had cited the impact of the ongoing shutdown on the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service, questioning whether they could secure the speech given that they have been operating without funding.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen responded by assuring that DHS and Secret Service were "fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union."



Asked about the letter by reporters Tuesday, Pelosi did not address the White House's decision, saying only: "We just want people to get paid for their work."



Senior White House staff had been in a morning huddle discussing the upcoming speech when of Pelosi's letter first broke on TV.

The power play which Trump countered by revoking Pelosi's use of a military aircraft, thereby cancelling a congressional delegation visit to Afghanistan had put the status of the marquee speech in limbo, leaving staff scrambling to figure out how to proceed.

"We'll keep you posted," Sanders had told reporters when asked for a status update Friday.

In their standoff, Trump has also accused Pelosi of behaving "irrationally," while Pelosi has refused to negotiate with Trump on border funding until he agrees to reopen the government.

In a tweet Sunday, Trump wrote that he was "still thinking about the State of the Union speech" and that there were "so many options - including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance.

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Three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, police said.

The security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Binner area of the district on receiving information about the presence of militants in the area, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into a gunfight after the ultras opened fire at the the security personnel.

Three militants were killed in the operation, the official said, adding weapons and other incriminating material were recovered from the spot.

The slain militants were affiliated with proscribed outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and identified as Suhaib Farooq Akhoon,Mohsin Mushtaq Bhat and Nasir Ahmad Darzi, the official said.

He said they were involved in several militancy-related cases in north Kashmir.

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Thousands of people, including students, hit the streets across different places in Mizoram on Wednesday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Effigies of Prime Minister and Union Home Minister were torched, as protesters took out rallies from here, seven district headquarters and at over 50 other places.

Raising slogans and carrying placards, the agitators demanded the resignation of the PM and the home minister, alleging that the controversial bill will endanger the very existence of the Mizos.

The rally was organised by the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo students federation, which had also organised an 11-hour, state-wide bandh on January 8.

MZP president said if the bill is passed, it would lead to the "total alienation of the Mizo people".

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India even if they do not possess any document.
Thailand will hold a general election on March 24, authorities said Wednesday, the first national poll since a 2014 coup knocked out the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra.

The military has since rewritten the constitution, muzzled all dissent and appointed junta allies across the bureaucracy in a bid to scratch the Shinawatra clan from the Thai political scene and embed its own influence in the country's future.

"March 24 will be the election day," an Election Commission official told reporters, hours after the publication of a decree signed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn empowered the EC to give a date.

Thailand's history is pockmarked by coups, short-lived civilian governments and political crises. The poll date is set to ignite campaign season in a country where colourful and boisterous political rallies have often tipped into deadly violence.

The office of Prayut, who is also prime minister, called for an "environment of orderliness, civility and unity" -- although violence is unlikely among a public tired of political conflict.

An array of new parties -- including some aligned to the military, others to the still powerful Shinawatra clan -- have already begun meetings and recruitment as a blizzard of names are tossed up as likely future prime ministers.

Those include Prayut, who has spent months touring the country as he rebrands himself from a gruff man-in-Khaki to an avuncular civilian leader with a common touch. Yet he is deeply unpopular among many Thais, who have wearied of his hectoring style as well as a junta accused of running down the economy and doing little to address graft, poor education standards and the kingdom's chasmic social inequality.

Even if the junta's rivals do well in elections, any new civilian government is expected to be hamstrung by the military-scripted constitution. It allows for a fully appointed upper house and embeds 20-year strategies governing everything from the economy to education.

"You can call it hybrid democracy," said Somjai Phagaphasvivat, a political analyst at Thammasat University. But he cast doubt on whether the caustic divisions of the past had been healed.

"Under the coup... polarisation remained under the carpet; if you take the carpet up, the polarisation remains," he added.

Thailand last held a successful election in 2011. That catapulted the then-political neophyte Yingluck, the younger sister of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, into office as head of the Pheu Thai party.

Questions remain over Pheu Thai's enduring electoral pull among its vote banks in the poor, rural north and northeast without the star power of the brother-sister duo, both of whom are in self-exile. The party is "ready" for the vote, spokeswoman Ladawan Wongsriwong said.

"Pheu Thai is a big party and we have been trusted across the country for a long time."



But the long years of junta rule have decimated the networks of the Thaksin-affiliated "Red Shirts", while scores of key Pheu Thai politicos have been co-opted into the army-linked Phalang Pracharat party.

The Shinawatra clan sits at the core of Thailand's political rupture. Their supporters say they are the first political dynasty to address the aspirations of Thailand's poor in a sharply hierarchical kingdom where wealth is hoarded by the Bangkok business elite.

To their enemies among the ultra-royalist, conservative elite, they toxified Thai and society with graft, nepotism and populist handouts.

Thaksin, a policeman-turned-telecom billionaire, was toppled by a coup in 2006 and went into self-exile in 2008 over a graft conviction.

Yingluck fled Thailand in August 2017 before she could be sentenced for criminal negligence linked to a rice subsidy scheme.

The siblings have crept back to prominence in step with the approach of elections.

Thaksin has launched a weekly podcast, sharing his views on everything from Bangkok's pollution crisis to the global economy.

"He still figures in Thailand as a popular hope," Chris Baker, a Thai history expert said, despite the "extraordinary myth" of the billionaire businessman as a kindred spirit of the common man.

Many Thais hold little enthusiam for elections, widely seen as stacked in favour of the military. "Under the junta the country is just going from bad to worse," said vendor Lek, declining to give her full name. "Even if there is an election, it will likely be the same prime minister.

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In a show of camaraderie by bickering allies, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday jointly took part in rituals marking the start of construction of a memorial for Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

The move assumes significance as the Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has been at loggerheads with its senior partner and critical of various policies of the governments.

The Maharashtra Cabinet had on Tuesday approved Rs 100 crore for the construction of the Thackeray memorial, a move seen as an attempt to reach out to the ally ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

On Wednesday, on the occasion of the 93rd birth anniversary of Bal Thackeray, Fadnavis and Thackeray jointly conducted the 'Ganesh pujan' (offering prayers to Lord Ganesh) and 'vastu pujan' at the memorial site, located at Shivaji Park at Dadar in central Mumbai.

At the event, the land earmarked for the memorial was officially transferred by the city civic body to the trust set up to oversee the structure's construction.

The prime sea-facing property built in 1928, measuring around 11,500 sq m, currently houses Mumbai mayor's bungalow.

A number of BJP and Shiv Sena leaders, city Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Ajoy Mehta and members of 'Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak Nyas' (trust), including BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, were present at the event.

Both Fadnavis and Thackeray were seen shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries.

A Sena leader, who was present at the event, said both the leaders also had a brief meeting over tea. "However, there were no political discussions," he said.

"The chief minister and other BJP leaders were very comfortable in the presence of Uddhavji and his family. It did not seem to be an event that had leaders of two parties but (appeared) as if between members of one family," he said.

With the modalities for handing over the land earmarked for the project being completed, the construction of the memorial is expected to begin from next month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to be invited for the formal 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony, a source said.

The Sena had last year announced to go solo in future elections and a party leader on Tuesday said the state government's decision to approve funds for the Thackeray memorial would have no bearing on alliance prospects between the two parties for the upcoming polls.

Meanwhile, the Sena, in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', continued its anti-BJP tirade, saying Bal Thackeray was of the view that only 'Hindutva' can save the country and this thought of his led the BJP to come to power.

"The present condition and the path of the country is not right. Today, the nation needs to be ruled by 'men'. Even today, borders are being attacked by Pakistanis, soldiers are dying in Kashmir, however, we are showing our 'josh' by taking credit for surgical strike," it said in sarcastic remarks.

The Sena was established for protecting the rights of "sons of the soil". During its conception, political parties like the Congress had said Bal Thackeray wanted to break the nation, that he was creating a division between castes and regions and that there was no place for a regional political party, the publication noted.

"The Sena, as a regional political party has been shining on the national front. Today, the country's has gone in the hands of regional parties and national parties like the BJP and the Congress are trying to increase their stature in states with the help of regional satraps," it said.

Recently, 22 anti-BJP regional parties came together in West Bengal. When attempts to "swallow" these parties failed, bids were being made to woo them, the Marathi daily said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Civilians in Syrian Baguz village were killed in a coalition airstrike this morning, Syrian state television reported.

Several civilians were killed after a coalition airstrike in Syrian Baguz village, while they were trying to flee from ISIS terrorists, local Ikhbariya TV reported, citing local sources.

The Syrian media have frequently reported about civilian casualties as a result of the strikes.

Previously, the Syrian authorities have called on the United Nations to hold those responsible for the civilian casualties accountable and put an end to the coalition's unauthorized presence on Syrian territory., Sputnik recalls.
Tesco's former UK finance director was cleared Wednesday over a fraud and false accounting scandal at Britain's biggest retailer after the case against him was dropped.

The aquittal of Carl Rogberg means neither the world's third-largest supermarket group nor any of its executives have been successfully prosecuted over one of the 2014 affair, one of the biggest British corporate scandals in recent history.

Rogberg, 52, had been accused of knowing that income was being wrongly included in records to meet targets and make the world's third-largest supermarket group look in a better financial state than it really was.

But the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced it would not offer any evidence against him on one count of fraud and another of false accounting.

"It is a huge relief that this day has finally come," Rogberg said outside Southwark Crown Court in London.

"The trial has had enormous consequences on my health and exemplary career.

"This decision is so much more than simply an acquittal.

"In short, there was never any evidence of my wrongdoing and I should never have been charged."



Former Tesco managing director Chris Bush, 53, and John Scouler, 50, its former UK food commercial director, were cleared of the two same charges last month after a judge dismissed the case against them as being too "weak" to pursue.

The prosecution told Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday that given those acquittals, the SFO "concluded that it would not be fair to try Mr Rogberg on his own".

Tesco announced in September 2014 that it was likely to have overstated profits by about 250 million pounds (USD 325 million).

The firm's shares plunged by nearly 12 per cent, wiping 2 billion pounds off the share price.

Tesco was hit with 235 million pounds (USD 324 million) in fines and costs, including compensation for investors.

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: Teranet, a leading provider of registry and workflow solutions for the Canadian Financial Services and Real Estate markets, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kerala IT, to set up a Centre of Development at Technopark here.

The 10,000-square-foot, 100-person capacity Centre of Development is expected to be operational in April this year, a press release said.

The MoU was signed between Deepak Gupta, Senior Director, Teranet and Hrishikesh Nair, CEO Technopark, in presence of M Sivasankar IAS, IT Secretary.

"We are extremely impressed by the highly qualified talent pool and the employee work-life balance that Kerala provides.

These were key factors in our decision to set up our development center in Technopark," said Senior Director, Deepak Gupta.

"At Teranet, we believe that this agreement is the start of a long-term relationship with Kerala that will grow over time and further strengthen ties between Canada and Kerala."



Hrishikesh Nair said Technopark was focusing on bringing companies in emerging technologies and fintech is one of the upcoming area that is already seeing a lot of traction.

Teranet's CMS division (Collateral Management Solutions) is a leading fintech company in Canada.

We have already witnessed MNCs like Nissan, H&R Block etc setting up operations in the state last year, which clearly gives a positive indication of the interest in this region amongst the global IT companies, he said.

Teranet is Canada's leader in the delivery and transformation of statutory registry services with extensive expertise in land and commercial registries.

In 2018 Teranet acquired D+H Collateral Management Solutions extending its personal property registries business.

Teranet also markets insightful property and data solutions, as well as practice management automation to thousands of customers in the real estate, financial services, government, utilities, and legal markets.

Founded in 1991, Teranet operates the Electronic Registration System for the Province of Ontario, and The Property Registry for the Province of Manitoba.

Teranet Inc. is 100 per cent owned by OMERS Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment manager of OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for Ontario's municipal employees.

OMERS is one of Canada's largest pension funds, with net assets of more than C$95 billion.

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The Congress Wednesday slammed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for not appointing minimum number of ministers in his cabinet, terming it a "violation of the Constitution".

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) Spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said he wrote to Governor ESL Narasimhan seeking his immediate intervention on the absence of a full-fledged cabinet even after five weeks of formation of the new government in the state.

"The Article 164 (1A) says that the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State, provided that the number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister in a State shall not be less than twelve.

However, violating the constitutional mandate, the present government as of now consists of only the Chief Minister and Home Minister," he told PTI.

Further, quoting Article 163 (1) of the Constitution he said in the absence of a full-fledged council of ministers, even the role of Governor has become "deceased and defunct" in Telangana, as there was none to aid and advice the constitutional head of the State.

TRS won the December 7 Assembly polls with a landslide majority.

KCR and Mahmood Ali were sworn in as Chief Minister and Home Minister respectively on December 13.

The cabinet was yet to be expanded.

Noting that there were 33 departments and 289 organisations in the government of Telangana, Sravan said it was not possible for one person to make decisions and monitor their execution.

Without minimum number of ministers, it was not only curtailing the functioning of the government, but also doing disservice to the people who participated in democratic elections and voted, he claimed.

Sravan alleged that Telangana State was now under zero-governance due to lack of cabinet ministers.

Observing that EVM hacking was a reality, the AICC spokesperson demanded that the Election Commission introduce ballot paper in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

On January 21, Syed Shuja, a self-proclaimed Indian cyber expert had claimed in London that the Electronic Voting Machines could be hacked and that the 2014 parliamentary election was "rigged".

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: Social activist Swami Agnivesh has written to Pope Francis against the transfer of four nuns who had taken part in a protest in Kochi, demanding the arrest of rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal.

He said it was with much expectation and confidence in the Pope's 'robust sense of justice' that he was addressing the letter on the harassment which the sisters of Missionaries of Jesus order in Kerala were being subjected to for the stand they took in solidarity with a fellow nun, who went through harrowing experiences at the hands of bishop Franco Mulakkal.

A copy of the letter was released to PTI here.

The four nuns-- Sister Alphy Pallasseril, Sister Anupama Kelamangalathuveliyil, Sister Josephine Villoonnickal and Sister Ancitta Urumbil were issued transfer orders by the Mother Superior and this act, which reeks of vindictiveness, was "prima facie, punitive in nature and uncharitable", he said.

"The people of India respect these nuns for the bold stand they took in serving as a voice in the wilderness, crying for justice for the oppressed victim.

I am sure you will agree that it is basic to their devotion to Jesus Christ, who came to uphold Gods justice on earth".

Agnivesh said it was shocking that the diocese and its religious orders concerned have gone easy on the alleged rapist and was targeting those who stood and struggled for justice for the victim.

The fact that the Roman Catholic Church in India did not respond pro-actively in the matter of the sexual exploitation of a nun has already caused extensive damage to the church's image in India, he said and urged the Pope to intervene in the matter and defend the nuns from being harrassed.

Keralites, irrespective of their religious identities, rallied round these nuns and stood in solidarity with them throughout their struggle for justice.

There is widespread anger at the injustice being done to them, swami Agnivesh said.

The swami said he would be in Kerala later this month and hoped to visit the nuns in person to express solidarity with them.

The four nuns had also written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,seeking his intervention to ensure that their transfer orders were not effected till the trial of the case was over.

Meanwhile, another Nun, Lucy Kalapura, who had also taken part in the protest against Franco, Wednesday was served a second notice by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation seeking her explanation by February 6.

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Wednesday welcomed the Union Cabinet's decision to approve constitutional amendments to increase powers of the autonomous councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of the Northeastern region.

In a statement, Sonowal thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision taken by the Union Cabinet.

The constitutional amendments will significantly improve the financial resources and administrative powers of the autonomous district councils of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.

The decision has once again brought to fore the prime minister's love for the Northeastern region, the chief minister said.

The amendment will also fulfill the commitments made under tripartite Memorandum of Settlements signed by the Centre, state governments of Assam and Meghalaya, and others for speedier socio-economic and educational development in the area, he added.

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Six people, including two students, were arrested from different parts of the city for allegedly peddling ganja and over 100 kg of the narcotic substance was seized from their, officials said Wednesday.

Prohibition and Excise officials Tuesday nabbed two persons hailing from Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh while they were in the process of selling ganja to some people in Abdullapurmet here.

They said 100 kg ganja kept in a car was seized, adding the duo had brought it from Visakhapatnam at Rs 1,500 per kg and to sell at higher prices.

In another case, police nabbed two students, aged 19 and 20, in Ameerpet Tuesday, when they were trying to sell the narcotic substance to customers and 1 kg ganja seized.

Two persons from Karnataka and Maharashtra were arrested the same day while they were trying to sell ganja near Chandanagar Bus stop. Three kg of the narcotic substance was seized, police added.

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Amid the row over a self-styled expert alleging that EVMs could be tampered with, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Wednesday hit out at the Congress for joining hands with elements in a foreign country who claimed that electronic voting machines could be hacked.

She dared the Congress to step down from power in Madhya Pradesh where assembly elections were held recently.

A self-styled cyber expert had days ago claimed that EVMs could be hacked and alleged that the 2014 general elections were rigged.

To a question on Tamil Nadu Congress demanding an inquriy into claims that EVMs could be hacked following a hackathon in London recently, she told reporters here that "if they win, EVM is working properly, if they lose EVMs do not function properly, and that too in a foreign country."



The Defence Minister attacked the Congress for what she termed pursuing the path of weakening democracy. "This is an effort by the Congress to weaken democracy."



"The Congress party won the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan Assembly elections only through the Electronic Voting Machine," she said and blamed the Rahul Gandhi-led party for changing stand on EVMs according to their convenience.

The Congress party should say they will step down from government in Madhya Pradesh since they won the polls through the EVMs.

"They should say that there should be some problem with the EVMs and that was why they won....otherwise they should say that they themselves manipulated the machines for their victory," she said.

She queried if the Congress manipulated EVMs for their victories in the past.

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The country's shrimp export grew 20.63 per cent during April-January of the current fiscal to USD 3.94 billion, on account of healthy demand in the US, Japan, South East Asia and the EU, as per data from the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

India is a leading supplier of frozen shrimp and fish in the international market.

The total seafood exports of the country during the first 10 months of the current financial year rose 13.27 per cent to USD 5.64 billion.

According to the data, frozen shrimp continued as the top export item of the marine products basket, with a share of 42.05 per cent in terms of quantity and 69.95 per cent of the total earnings in dollar.

In terms of volume, shrimp exports increased to 4,56,404 tonne during the period, against 3,78,355 tonne in April-January of 2017-18.

The largest markets for India's frozen shrimp were the US (1,87,873 tonne), South East Asia (1,27,525 tonne), EU (62,164 tonne), Japan (28,064 tonne), Middle East (15,801 tonne) and China (9,533 tonne).

The country's shrimp exports are growing despite a fall in global prices due to oversupply from some major shrimp-producing countries and stringent test regimes imposed by the EU to detect antibiotic residues in frozen shrimp consignments.

The main seafoods being exported by India include frozen fish, frozen squid, Vannamei shrimp, and Black Tiger shrimp.

The US is the major importer of Indian seafoods, with a share of about 34 per cent in dollar terms. It is followed by South East Asia, EU, Japan, Middle East nations, and China.

Further, according to MPEDA, Indian ports handled a total marine cargo of 10,85,378 tonnes worth USD 5.64 billion during the period.

Pipavav port handled the highest marine cargo of 2,47,873 tonne. The major ports from where the country exports include Vizag, Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Krishnapatnam, Tuticorin, Chennai and Mangalore.

The four largest shrimp-producing states are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Kerala.

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Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's condition is "very serious" after heart complications and he should be shifted to hospital without any delay, his doctor said on Wednesday.

Sharif, 69, who is serving a seven-year imprisonment in a Lahore jail, was rushed to a hospital from Kot Lakhpat jail on Tuesday after he complained of heart related complications.

He was later discharged from hospital and taken back to jail following medical tests. Doctors of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology Lahore, where his medical tests were conducted, said Sharif's condition was "not very serious", but suggested "aggressive medication" and regular medical follow-ups to avoid cardiac complications.

However, Sharif's cardiologist Adnan Khan termed his condition as "very serious and said he should be shifted to hospital without any delay.

"Nawaz Sharif's treatment at jail is not possible because of his heart complications. He should be shifted to hospital forthwith so that he is properly taken care of," Khan said.

"Even a special medical board that earlier examined Mr Sharif had suggested shifting him to hospital for treatment but the government did not heed to the suggestion," he said.

Sharif's stress thalium test -- a nuclear imaging test that shows how well blood flows into one's heart -- suggests "post stress LV pump/contraction 56 per cent which is almost normal", according to his medical reports.

The report says that the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart, is damaged on the lower left wall, it said.

Expressing concern about Sharif's health, his daughter Maryam tweeted: "My only source of information on what is happening to my father is the media only."



Sharif's brother Shahbaz Sharif asked the government to provide best healthcare facilities to the three-time prime minister.

A special medical board that examined Sharif in jail last week observed "he is not completely well" as more investigations (tests) are required before suggesting treatment for him.

According to the report of the special medical board, "Patient Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, 69, examined by the special medical board is a known case of diabetes Mellitus and hypertension for the last 10 years. He is also known case of Ischemic heart disease since 2001."



Sharif underwent Coronary Angioplasty (PCI) twice in 2001 and 2017. He also had open heart surgery twice in 2011 and 2016 (no medical record/documents are available for these above said procedures at the time of examination), it says.

The board says after evaluating these test reports and availability of previous cardiac medical record further management plan will be proceeded.

Sharif was shifted to the Kot Lakhpat jail on December 25, a day after he was sentenced by the accountability court in Islamabad to seven years' imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.

A disqualification of 10 years from holding any public office is part of the sentences awarded to the three times prime minister of the country.
Serena Williams was sensationally bundled out of the Australian Open Wednesday after an epic three-set fight with Czech seventh seed Karolina Pliskova for a semi-final spot.

Pliskova won 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to set up a final four clash with Japanese fourth seed Naomi Osaka, ending the American great's dream of claiming a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park this year.

The 26-year-old survived four match points in a rollercoaster third set that Williams led 5-1 before collapsing to defeat in two hours 10 minutes.

"I was almost in the locker room, now I'm standing here as the winner. It's a great feeling," an exhausted Pliskova said.

"My mind was in the locker room. I wasn't playing very well in the third set but I thought let's try, this game at 5-2. She got a little bit shaky in the end so I took my chances and I won." Williams, 37, had blazed through the early stages of the tournament, seeing off world number one Simona Halep in the fourth round.

But against Pliskova she lacked the intensity she had previously displayed and was soon trailing for the first time during her campaign after a slew of uncharacteristic errors.

Pliskova, who entered this year's tournament on a high after winning the Brisbane International warm-up, came out firing and out served Williams to take the first set. Williams rebounded in the second set before imploding in the third when she had the finish line in sight.

Former world number one Pliskova has made the quarter-finals in her last two appearances at Melbourne Park and made the final at the US Open in 2016.

She has been a regular in the second week of Grand Slams in recent years, reaching the quarters or better six times since late 2016, but is still searching for a breakthrough win.

The Czech said the win over Williams was a huge confidence booster before facing US Open champion Osaka.

"She's dangerous but nobody is more dangerous than Serena," she said.

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Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov held a meeting with the head of the Interparliamentary Friendship Group with Azerbaijan in the Shura Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Dr. Fayez bin Abdullah bin Ali Al-Shihri, according to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Mammadyarov expressed his contentment with the development of relations in all spheres between Baku and Riyadh, as well as underlined the importance of increasing efforts for further deepening of economic relations.

Te Saudi minister, in turn, said that the Kingdom's position in the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unchanged and that the conflict should be resolved on the basis of the fundamental principles of international law, in particular, in accordance with the principles of Azerbaijans territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The also highlighted the necessity of upgrading the relations to the level of strategic partnership.
: Karnataka Home Minister M B Patil Wednesday said the 111-year-old Shivakumara Swami of Siddaganga mutt, who passed away on Monday, is eligible fora Nobel Prize apart from the Bharat Ratna.

He also said the state government wouldpress the demand for conferring the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civivilan honour, on the seer posthumously.

"...Mother Theresa was awarded Nobel Prize for her service. Parama poojya Shivakumara swamiji, apart from Bharat Ratna, is also elegible for Nobel Prize, for his service," Patil told reporters here.

The government, along with other experts, has to thinkabout how to take the proposal forward, he said.

Pointing out that the state government in the past had recommend Shivakumar Swamiji's name to the Centre for the Bharat Ratna, he said, it would press for the nation's highest civilian award to the seer posthumously.

Lakhs of people bid a tearful adieu to the seer, known as "Walking God", as his mortal remains were laid to rest Tuesday with full state honours at the math he had headed for over the last seven decades.

"We join the people in this demand. Seriously we will take it up with the centrethere is no politics in this," he said, as he pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too is aware of swamiji's service. "We hope to be successful," Patil said.

The swamiji had left an indelible imprint with hisstellar contributions in education sector and philanthropytargeted at children in whom he saw the almighty.

During the funeral procession, the crowdalso shouted slogans demanding "Bharat Ratna" for the seer.

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Russian authorities on Wednesday resumed search operation for 10 missing sailors after two ships carrying Indian, Turkish and Libyan crew members caught fire in the Kerch Strait, where the blaze was still raging following the accident which killed 14 seafarers.

At least 14 people reported dead after the fire broke out on Monday off Russia's territorial waters. A search for 10 others is ongoing in the Kerch Strait which separates Russia from Crimea.

"The situation has not changed," an official from the Russian Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transportation was quoted as saying by the TASS agency.

"The two ships are still burning, the Spasatel Demidov vessel approaches them from time to time in order to throw water on them, but it cannot stay close to the fire all the time," he noted.

Though there was no information from Russia and Crimea about the identities of those killed and missing, but Turkey said four of its nationals were killed, eight were rescued and four went missing after the fire.

Indian authorities earlier said the Indian embassy in Moscow was in constant touch with the concerned Russian agencies to get more information on Indian nationals affected in the incident and to extend necessary assistance.

Both vessels were flying Tanzanian flags. One of them was a liquefied natural gas carrier and another one was a tanker. The fire broke out as the two ships were transferring fuel from one to the other.

The search effort for sailors missing in the accident was resumed on Wednesday.

A local official of the maritime rescue service said that the Merkury tow boat, which brought the sailors to Crimea's Kerch on Tuesday, was also returning to the accident scene.

"Merkury is heading to the fire scene, it will be involved in searching [for the sailors] and extinguishing the fire," a spokesperson said.

A special vessel, Spasatel Demidov, is continuing the effort to put out the fire, which is still underway. The ships have not sunk because their important parts remain intact.

Citing a source in the Azov-Black Sea branch of the Maritime Rescue Service, the TASS said that attempts to extinguish the fire were failing because of burning LNG.

"Only LNG is burning at the moment. The fire engulfing parts of the ships has been extinguished but gas is coming out and burning, it is like a gas burner," the source said, adding that according to recent information, the Candy was carrying about 2,500 tonnes of LNG.

There is no information about the amount of gas carried by the Maestro but the two ships are similar in size, so it might be the same.

The condition of sailors who were rescued during the ship fire incident in the Kerch Strait causes no concern, head of Crimea's Disaster Medicine and Ambulance Center Sergei Olefirenko was quoted as saying by the TASS.

"The rescued sailors are being treated at Kerch City Hospital. Their condition is fair, there are no signs of deterioration. There is no danger to their lives," he said.

Meanwhile, Crimean Human Rights Ombudsperson Lyudmila Lubina said that border guards and consular workers were preparing documents for the rescued sailors.

"They are Turkish and Indian nationals. Border guards and consular services are working on documents so that they can return to their home countries," the ombudsperson said.

One of the ships, the Candy, had a 17-member crew, including nine Turkish citizens and eight Indian nationals.

The other one, the Maestro, had 15-member crew, including seven Turkish nationals, seven Indian citizens and an intern from Libya, Russian agency Tass quoted maritime authority as saying. Turkey's Milenyum Denizcilik Gemi company is believed to own both ships.

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South Sudan on Wednesday called on the international community to fund efforts to implement a peace deal, which is already four months behind schedule due to lack of money.

In an address to diplomats, deputy foreign minister Deng Dau Deng said the money was needed to move warring forces into cantonment areas, a move seen as vital to addressing security in the country.

"Our specific appeal is for our partners and for the diplomatic community in Juba to give support to plug the gaps... so that we can move," Deng said.

Goc Mokwach, deputy finance minister, told AFP that parliament last year approved estimated spending of USD 20 million to implement the peace deal, however an overall budget has not been announced.

But Deng said the government only had USD 1.6 million for peace efforts.

"If you don't have resources, you cannot move," he said. "It is availability of the resources that will actually enhance the process itself."



From the fight for independence until it was achieved in 2011, foreign partners -- especially the United States -- have poured billions of dollars into the country.

Meanwhile investigations by the Enough Project advocacy group has shown how elites have looted government coffers to enrich themselves and fund the war.

Since the signing of the peace agreement, President Salva Kiir had had series of foreign visits to South Africa, Egypt, and China to lobby for resources, Deng said.

The peace agreement signed in September 2018 is the latest effort to end a nearly five year war that began when Kiir accused his former deputy, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.

During the conflict, nearly 400,000 people were killed and millions forced out of their homes or to the brink of starvation.

But since the agreement was signed, diplomats say there has been a significant reduction in fighting, although pockets of fighting have continued between government forces and rebels who didn't sign the deal, especially in the Equatoria region.

Deng said the National Pre-Transitional Committee, comprising representatives of the different parties to the agreement, have met six times and established five technical committees.

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Skandan Krishnan, a retired IAS officer of 1982 batch was Wednesday appointed as the fourth advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, an official spokesman said.

"Sanction is hereby accorded to the appointment of Skandan Krishanan, IAS (retired) as advisor to the governor of Jammu and Kashmir with effect from the date he assumes charge," the spokesman said, quoting an order issued by the General Administration Department.

Former IAS officers Khurshid Ahmad Ganai and Kewal Krishan Sharma and former IPS officer K Vijay Kumar are the other three advisors to the J-K governor.

The appointment of Krishnan comes over a month after B B Vyas resigned from the post in December last year on the eve of his appointment as the member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The Union Home Ministry had on Tuesday conveyed approval of the Competent Authority for the appointment of Krishnan as an advisor to the J-K governor, the spokesman said.

Krishnan joined the IAS in 1982 and was allotted Tamil Nadu cadre.

He held various senior level positions in Tamil Nadu and served for 25 years before joining the Government of India.

Krishnan was in-charge of Kashmir division from 2007 to 2012.

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Moscow on Wednesday insisted the range of a missile system that has prompted Washington to say it will withdraw from a key Cold War arms treaty is allowed under the agreement.

Russian artillery chief Mikhail Matveevsky told a briefing that the 9M729 missile's maximum range is 480 kilometres. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty bans missiles with a range above 500 kilometres.

Russia has long denied it violates the treaty but Wednesday's briefing was the first time it has offered details of the missiles in question.

"The distance was confirmed during strategic command and staff exercises" in 2017, Matveevsky told an audience of journalists and military attaches.

The United States and Russia agreed to the INF treaty in 1987.

Last month Washington gave Russia a 60-day deadline -- which ends on February 2 -- to dismantle the missiles it claims breach the agreement or the US would begin the six-month process of formally withdrawing from the deal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Moscow is ready to work with Washington to save the agreement, after bilateral talks in Geneva on the INF this month failed to resolve the impasse.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to develop nuclear missiles banned under the INF treaty if it is scrapped.

He said in December he was open to the idea of other countries joining the deal or to starting talks on a new agreement.

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The Russian military on Wednesday rolled out its new missile and spelled out its specifications, seeking to dispel the U.S. claim that the weapon violates a key nuclear arms pact.

The military insisted that the 9M729 land-based cruise missile conforms to the limits of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The U.S. has announced its intention to abandon the INF, charging that the new Russian missile violates provisions of the pact that ban production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.

Washington said it will suspend its treaty obligations if Russian does not come into compliance by February 2.

Lt. Gen. Mikhail Matveevsky, the chief of the military's missile and artillery forces, said at a meeting with foreign military attaches that the new missile has a maximum range of 480 kilometres.

He said that the 9M729 missile differs from the previous 9M728 model by having a modified warhead and guidance system that enhances its capability.

The military then displayed the weapon along with its mobile launcher during a presentation at its exhibition center near Moscow.

Matveevsky insisted that the new missile's booster, cruising engine and fuel tank remain unchanged.

He added that the new missile actually has a range 10 kilometres less than the older type due to heavier warhead and control systems.

Matveevsky emphasised that the new missile can't be modified in field conditions.

The Russian general said that the modified mobile launcher for the new type of missile is bigger because it carries four of them rather than the previous two.

Matveevsky added that the military gave the presentation to underline its "increased transparency and our adherence to the INF Treaty."



Kremlin has staunchly denied the U.S. claim of Russian violations of the pact.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov noted Wednesday that the U.S. hasn't put forward any data to prove its claim that Russia has tested the missile at a range exceeding the treaty's limit.

He said the U.S. ignored Moscow's offer to inspect the missile made during talks in Geneva earlier this month a refusal he alleged reflected the lack of U.S. interest in meaningful negotiations.

He said the U.S. has made it clear during diplomatic contacts that President Donald Trump's decision to abandon the pact is final and not subject to talks.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Andrea Thompson, who led the American side in the talks, has said that Moscow's offer is inadequate.

"To see the missile does not confirm the distance that missile can travel, and at the end of the day that's the violation of the treaty," she told reporters last week.

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A 36-year-old RSS worker was allegedly killed and his body with throat slit was found dumped in his field on Wednesday morning at Kamed village in the district, a police officer said.

The deceased, Himmat Patidar, who was former RSS Shivpur mandal karyawah (president), was found dead with his face burnt in his field located under Bilpank police station area, the officer said.

"Patidar had gone to his field in Kamed on Tuesday night. His family members panicked after he did not return home during the night. They started looking for him and found his body lying in their field in the morning," district additional superintendent of police (ASP) Pradeep Sharma said.

"Unidentified accused allegedly slit his throat, burnt his face before dumping his body there," he added.

Police have recovered a torch from the spot and his motorcycle was found lying around ten metres away, the ASP said.

His body was sent for post-mortem, police said adding that a case has been registered against unidentified accused and a probe has been launched in this connection.

According to Sharma, police have got some leads and are hopeful of cracking the case.

According to police, the deceased's brother, Sanjay Patidar, is also associated with the RSS. He is the district RSS music band chief.

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As the restoration of the iconic Flora Fountain in South Mumbai has been completed, the monument is set to be unveiled on Thursday, civic officials said.

However, the work of giving a face-lift to the area around the heritage structure and landscaping will take another few months to complete, they said.

"The restoration of Flora Fountain, named after Flora, the mythological Roman goddess of flowers, has been completed and it would be formally thrown open for public viewing on Thursday," a senior civic official said.

Noted architect Vikas Dilawari, who is overseeing the project on behalf of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), said the restoration work was divided into two parts.

"The first part of the restoration work of the main monument is now complete. It will be opened for public viewing tomorrow. The second part of the restoration work involves upgradation of the surrounding and landscaping, which will take another few months," he said.

The work to renovate the 153-year-old Gothic Revival architecture was given to the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) by the BMC in September 2016. However, the organisation had stopped the work towards the end of 2017 due to paucity of funds. The restoration work resumed in March 2018.

Flora Fountain is an ornamentally and exquisitely sculpted architectural heritage monument located in the Fort business district in the heart of the southern part of the city. Built in 1864, the decorated structure is a fusion of water, architecture and sculpture depicting the Roman goddess Flora.

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Liquor firm Radico Khaitan Wednesday reported a 48.78 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 52.09 crore for the quarter ended December 2018.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 35.01 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal.

Total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 2,081.12 crore. It was Rs 1,747.98 crore in the year-ago period, Radico Khaitan said in a regulatory filing.

In a separate filing, the company also announced appointment of Sushmita Singha as an independent director to its board with effect from April 1, 2019.

The company's brand portfolio includes After Dark Whisky, Contessa Rum, Magic Moments Vodka, Morpheus Brandy, Old Admiral Brandy and 8PM Whisky.

The company's stock was trading 3.09 per cent higher at Rs 426 apiece on BSE.

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Security at major public transport hubs in the capital like the metro stations and the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport has been stepped up with the deployment of 400 additional CISF personnel and multi-layered frisking of passengers and their luggage in view of the upcoming celebrations, officials said on Wednesday.

They added that while a metro passenger was being scrupulously frisked by two personnel at the time of entering a station, travellers at the airport were being asked to remove shoes, heavy jackets and belts before boarding the aircraft.

"The security drills have been stepped up at the Metro stations and at the airport in view of the upcoming celebrations in on January 26. Body frisking and checking of luggage at these two public transport facilities have been intensified and are being randomly changed on the basis of intelligence inputs," a senior Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer said.

He added that passengers should keep some "extra time" in hand while using these two facilities.

Additional quick reaction teams (QRTs) and counter-terror squads were deployed at those metro stations that witnessed a heavy footfall or were important from the security point of view and similarly, additional teams were deployed at the airport too, the officer said.

At a number of metro stations, passengers were being frisked twice, first manually and then with a hand-held metal detector, he said, adding that the additional manpower of security personnel was being used to conduct patrols and keep an eye on suspicious elements.

"About 400 more CISF personnel have been deployed in the network as part of the stepped-up security measures," the officer said.

At the airport, passengers were randomly being asked to undertake a second frisking -- the Secondary Ladder Point Check (SLPC) -- just before entering the aircraft, a security official at the airport said.

"All civilian passes issued to people for entering the terminal areas of the airport have been disallowed as a routine practice of security drills followed during the Republic Day," the official said.

In specific cases, he said, passengers were being asked take off their shoes and belts before they were frisked.

The Security Guard (NSG), which had trained commandos, had also deployed its strategic counter-terror and counter-hijack task forces at these two facilities, apart from other strategic locations in the capital, the official quoted first said.

Presently, about 5,000 CISF personnel each are deployed at the and the respectively.
Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Serbian President Alexander Vucic held talks in Belgrade, which both sides hope will give new impetus to already close bilateral relations. The key area of Russian-Serbian cooperation remains energy. According to the data cited by Putin, Russian natural gas exports to Serbia grew by 20% and reached 2.3 billion cubic meters. By 2022, Gazprom plans to increase Russian gas deliveries to Serbia to 3.5 billion cubic meters.

This year, a project will be launched to increase the capacity of the Banatski Dvor underground gas storage facility in Serbia from 450 million cubic metres to 750 million. Work will also continue to expand the Serbian gas transportation network. These measures will significantly improve the energy security of Serbia and the entire Balkan region. As the leading Russian investor in the Serbian energy sector, who invested about $3 billion in its subsidiary NIS Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), Gazprom Neft is planning to invest another $1.4 billion by 2025. NIS is currently Serbias largest taxpayer and one of the leading oil and gas corporations in Eastern Europe.. Russia's company Power Machines helped Serbia modernise the Iron Gate I hydroelectric power station, and continues to partake in the reconstruction of other power stations in the country.

The realisation of joint plans in the sphere of peaceful use of nuclear energy reflected in the signed intergovernmental agreement would give an additional impetus to the growth of Serbias economy. It focuses on Serbias use of advanced Russian radiation technology in healthcare, industry, and agriculture. The company Russian Railways is making a significant contribution to the modernisation of Serbias railways. With the help of this Russian company, Serbia is creating an up-to-date single dispatch centre, which will significantly increase the crossing capacity of the country's transportation network.

Summing up the talks, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Slavenko Terzic noted that Moscow and Belgrade have tremendous opportunities for cooperation: "During the visit, 26 agreements were signed. For 11 months of last year, trade turnaround between our countries approached $3 billion. Serbia's imports from Russia includes not only oil and gas, but also cigarettes and some other products. Many agreements were signed during the visit of President Putin. The issues of the Banatski Dvor underground gas storage facility expansion - the agreement between Srbijagas and Gazprom top the agenda.

Terzic said the construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline is an important issue: "There used to be South Stream, in which Serbia was very interested, but unfortunately it did not work out. At the moment, Turkish Stream seems very convenient for importing gas to Serbia. President Putin said during his visit that Russia will invest about $1.4 billion in infrastructure development to lay the stretch of this pipeline through Serbia."

"Many agreements were signed within the framework of digital technology development in Serbia. This is a new area of our cooperation. Peaceful nuclear development is also very important. The use of results achieved by Roscosmos is equally important," the ambassador stressed.

"As for science and culture, several agreements were signed between Serbian universities and Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas or St. Petersburg University, Slavenko Terzic said. The understanding reached on the transfer of the 166th page of the Miroslav Gospel (the oldest Cyrillic monument of Serbian literature) stored in the Russian National Library to Serbia and on return of Nikolai Roerich's works to Russia was also important for the Russian-Serbian friendship. In short, we assess this visit as very successful, very rich, very fruitful. I believe that this visit of President Putin will be another impetus to the further development of our economic and especially technological, military-technical relations."
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, that took place on Baisakhi day in 1919, will be the theme of the official tableau of Punjab for the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi on January 26, a senior official said on Wednesday.

It will be the third time in a row that Punjab's tableau will appear during the Republic Day Parade.

The 'trailer' portion of the tableau will show the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy with depiction of people running helter-skelter for safety while the 'tractor' portion of the tableau will display a replica of the memorial built to commemorate the sacrifice of the martyrs, the official said.

The important part of the section would be the solitary well into which many people jumped to escape the bullets, official added.

Troops of the British Indian Army, under the command of Colonel Reginald Dyer, had fired on civilians who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh for a peaceful protest on April 13, 1919 and scores of people had died.

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Ruling Congress in the union territory Wednesday celebrated the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as party general secretary with chief minister V Narayanasamy hailing it and saying the party would stage a comeback in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Narayanasamy distributed sweets to the public while party workers and leaders of different wings gathered at the Pradesh Congress Committee office here and welcomed the announcement by Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointing his sister as the General Secretary of the party for Uttar Pradesh (East).

"The party workers are extremely grateful to the AICC leader for the appointment... Priyanka has swung into which is a good augury and the party would stage a comeback in the Lok Sabha polls and Rahul Gandhi would be the Prime Minister," Narayanasamy told reporters.

He claimed that Priyanka Gandhi's entry was sending shock waves to the BJP and it would face a big defeat in the coming polls.

PCC President and PWD Minister A Namassivayam, Ministers, legislators and representatives of different wings of the party thanked Rahul Gandhi for giving the post to Priyanka Gandhi particularly when the Parliamentary polls was round the corner.

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The BJP Wednesday termed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's entry into active as an admission by the Congress that its president Rahul Gandhi has "failed" in providing leadership and said he has opted for family "crutches" after facing rejection from other opposition parties.

Priyanka's appointment as the Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh, East, which marked her entry into the party's hierarchy, was used by BJP leaders to take a swipe at the president of the opposition party and also at its "family rule.

BJP leaders chose not to target Priyanka even though they latched on to her appointment to target her brother and her party's "dynastic leadership", claiming that the party is family in their organisation while the family is party in the Congress.

BJP leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal said while Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks about the poor and provided them 10 per cent quota recently, in the Congress there is reservation for the members of only one family.

Goyal's cabinet colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad said wryly that since the Congress is a "family concern", there is nothing unusual except about her appointment and wondered why was given the limited role of eastern UP as her persona merited a wider role for her.

Soon after her appointment, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters, "The Congress has basically publicly announced that Rahul Gandhi has failed and needs crutches from within the family. Because of his rejection by grand alliance parties, he has opted for a family alliance".

The new India is asking the question, the BJP leader said, that who will be the next leader in the Congress as he referred to its succession line from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi followed by Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

"All appointments are from one family. And this is the fundamental difference between the Congress and the BJP. In the Congress, the family is party. In the BJP, the party is family," Patra said.

Indicating that the ruling party will use the development to sharpen its attack on the Congress, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has projected the Lok Sabha elections as a battle between "naamdar" (dynasts) and "kaamdar" (those who have worked).

BJP leader and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman the dynastic has taken two steps forward with Priyanka's appointment.

Party's spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain described the move as a step taken by the Congress in panic but she cannot stop her party's "inevitable defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

"The Congress has accepted the fact that it can not win elections under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi.

She had campaigned for the Congress in 2014 general elections in Uttar Pradesh and we all know what was the outcome," he said.

The BJP had won 71 of 80 seats in the state in 2014.

Taking a jibe, the ruling party's general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said only "jijaji"- a reference to Rahul's brother-in-law Robert Vadra- has ben left out now and that he should be made the treasurer of the Congress.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur, who is its chief whip in the Lok Sabha, said hardworking Congress party workers continue to be overlooked while members of a family continue to get promoted.

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, he wondered if he couldn't trust anyone from UP Congress to lead the party.

BJP ally JD(U) welcomed Priyanka's entry into active but its spokesperson K C Tyagi added that her appointment has come too late and would be of no help to the Congress' fortunes.

He said the Samajwadi Party-BSP alliance in UP had left little space for the Congress in the state and other BJP's rivals, including the TMC, have virtually rejected Rahul Gandhi's leadership.

"Priyanka Gandhi's appointment is the last gambit of the Congress ahead of the polls. We wish her best," he added.

In his reaction, JD(U) vice president Prashant Kishor, who had worked with the Congress as a poll strategist before joining the Bihar-based party, said, "One of the most awaited entries in Indian politics is finally here! While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real is that she finally decided to take the plunge! Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi".

Congress ally and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav welcomed her appointment, saying it will not only energise youth and party's cadre but also motivate 50 per cent woman population in politics.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Newly-appointed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has "charisma" of her late grand mother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, party leader Digambar Kamat said Wednesday.

The former Goa chief minister has dubbed the development as a "historic moment" in the country's political history.

In a significant move, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi appointed his sister Priyanka as the general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East. She will take over her new assignment from the first week of February.

Addressing a press conference in Margao town, Kamat said a new wave of enthusiasm has spread across the party workers after Priyanka's formal entry into

"We welcome Priyanka and assure her all support and wish her all the best in carrying Congress' flag forward in the Parliamentary elections," he told reporters.

"People see charisma and glimpses of Indira Gandhi in Priyanka, he said, adding that Priyanka's entry into ahead of Lok Sabha polls this year is "significant" and a "historic moment" in the political history of India.

He said Priyanka will strengthen hands of Rahul Gandhi.

Kamat said the factors like UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi not looking into day-to-day affairs of the party and Rahul being alone might be on the mind of Priyanka.

"She has taken this decision after Congress won in three states (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in recent polls)," he said.

Kamat evaded a direct reply to a query on whether he wanted Priyanka to become the next prime minister. "I am too small person to answer this question," he said.

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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's formal entry into the the Congress is an admission by the party that Rahul Gandhi has "failed" in providing leadership, the said Wednesday, slamming the "family alliance".

spokesperson Sambit Patra said Congress president has opted for a "family alliance" after facing "rejection" from various parties of the proposed grand alliance.

"The Congress has basically publicly announced that Rahul Gandhi has failed and needs crutches from within the family. Because of his rejection by grand alliance parties, he has opted for a family alliance," he said.

He came out with the BJP's response soon after the Congress announced that Vadra will be its general secretary for Uttar Pradesh, East, marking her formal entry into the party.

Taking a dig at the opposition party, Patra said it was natural that it had to "coronate" somebody from within the family and added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has projected the Lok Sabha elections as a battle between "naamdar" (dynasts) and "kaamdar" (those who have worked).

The new India is asking the question, the leader said, that who will be the next leader in the Congress as he referred to its succession line from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi followed by Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

"All appointments are from one family. And this is the fundamental difference between the Congress and the BJP. In the Congress, the family is party. In the BJP, the party is family," Patra said.
Ending years of fevered speculation, Gandhi family scion Priyanka Gandhi Vadra formally entered on Wednesday with her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointing her as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East, which also comprises Lok Sabha seats of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Signalling the Congress' intent to go full throttle in the state ahead of the high-stakes general elections, Priyanka's appointment immediately became a point of political debate with leaders of Congress and its allies welcoming it saying she will be a "great success" for the party while the BJP dubbed her entry into active "as an admission by the Congress that its president Rahul Gandhi has failed in providing leadership".

Priyanka will take over her new assignment from the first week of February, a statement from the party said. The 47-year-old will assist her brother, Rahul, in the Hindi heartland state, which was party's stronghold till the mid 1980s.

"I am very happy that my sister Priyanka will assist me in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, she is very capable," Rahul said, adding "we won't play on the back foot, we will play on the front foot, be it Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh."



"I feel this decision will help initiate new thought in UP and will bring a positive change in UP politics," he told reporters in Amethi.

"UP is central to building a new hope filled & compassionate India. The new UP AICC team lead by Priyanka and Jyotiraditya, will herald the dawn of a new kind of in the state. We will offer the youth in UP a dynamic new platform to transform the state," Gandhi later said on Twitter.

In an apparent reference to her appointment, Modi said unlike "many cases" where family is the party, for the BJP the party is family.

Interacting with BJP booth workers from Baramati, Gadchiroli, Hingoli, Nanded and Nandurbar in Maharashtra, Modi also said that in the BJP, decisions are not taken on the wishes of a person or family.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Rahul Gandhi has opted for family "crutches" after facing rejection from other opposition parties. Another spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said the defeat of Congress is imminent and Priyanka's entry cannot stop that from happening.

Until now, Priyanka's political forays had been largely limited to appearing at campaign rallies in constituencies held by her family members in the state, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, highest in any state.

Party workers speculated that Priyanka Gandhi, who continues the Gandhi family's legacy of active politics, may contest the polls from her mother Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli.

Many in the Congress said her entry will infuse the much-needed fresh energy in the party workers of the state, where Congress influence has been waning over the years and where the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have announced a tie-up.

Congress leaders also feel that Priyanka will help draw crowds, especially the youth and bring back the upper castes and minority votes to the Congress fold. This, the party leaders feel, may also force the SP-BSP combine to work in tandem with a "rechristened" Congress.

Asserting that he had no animosity against the SP and the BSP, Rahul Gandhi said, "wherever we can work together to defeat the BJP we will...but our work is to create place for the Congress and for which we have taken a big step."



Rahul Gandhi also appointed senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia as AICC general secretary for Uttar Pradesh West.

Party leaders said the responsibility for the state's 80 seats have been roughly divided 40-40 between Scindia and Priyanka Gandhi.

Long known as a natural in politics who inherited her grandmother Indira Gandhi's charisma, Priyanka Gandhi was earlier actively involved in key decision making in the party along with her mother and brother, including the selection of new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently.

She was also instrumental in initiating the entry of Manpreet Badal and Navjot Singh Sidhu in the Punjab Congress.

The mother of two, Priyanka is married to Robert Vadra, who is embroiled in a land row in Haryana and Rajasthan, and is facing probes by the Enforcement Directorate.

"Congratulations P... always by your side in every phase of your life. Give it your best," Vadra said in a Facebook post.

Welcoming Priyanka Gandhi's formal entry into politics, Congress leader and former Union minister R P N Singh, who belongs to eastern Uttar Pradesh, said she will "definitely provide a big impetus to the fight against communal and casteist forces in the state".

Prashant Kishor, vice president of the JD(U), described the appointment as Congress' general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East as "one of the most awaited entries in Indian politics".

Congress ally and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav welcomed the appointment, saying it will not only energise youth and party's cadre but also motivate 50 per cent woman population in politics.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress workers in Gujarat Wednesday welcomed the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as a party general secretary, while the state BJP termed the move as one inspired by dynastic

The 47-year-old Gandhi family scion and the sister of Congress president Rahul Gandhi was earlier in the day appointed as general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East.

Congress workers welcomed the decision by bursting crackers at various places in the state, including Surat.

However, Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani attacked the Congress, saying the opposition party is seeking to run the country like its dynasty.

"Being born in the Gandhi-Nehru family gives one the guarantee to become the leader of the Congress party. But the people of the country are not going to be cheated any more now," he said.

Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda hailed the move, saying a long-pending demand of party workers has been met.

Chavda tweeted: "Congratulations & Best wishes to #PriyankaGandhi ji, @JM_Scindia ji and KC Venugopal ji on their appointments. This will greatly benefit the party and strengthen @INCIndia!"



"Congress workers have been requesting for this since ages. Congress party workers and young members are especially happy that she has decided to join and take party's responsibility," he told reporters.

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A prisoner escaped from the Hilsa jail in Bihar's Nalanda district on Wednesday morning, a police officer said.

The prisoner, who escaped from the jail after scaling the boundary wall, has been identified as Chiku Paswan, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Hilsa Jail, Mustafique Ahmad, said.

Chiku Paswan, a resident of Chanderi village of the district, was arrested and sent to jail on November 1, 2018 after he got into a fight with some people under the jurisdiction of Islampur police station, he said.

Efforts are on to nab the prisoner, the DSP said.

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi was Wednesday greeted with posters hailing him as the next prime minister during the leader's two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency here.

Posters stating "Amethi Ka MP, 2019 Ka PM", "Mission 2019 - Vidhan Sabha Tiloi Welcomes soon-to-be Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi", "Abhi to Jeete Teen Pradesh, 2019 Mein Jeetengey Pura Desh" dotted the skyline of the constituency.

It was Gandhi's fist visit to his constituency after the party's stupendous victory in the assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The posters hailing the Congress chief as the next PM came up in most parts of the constituency like Jais and Gauriganj.

Gandhi was scheduled to visit Amethi on January 4 but it was cancelled in view of the Winter session of Parliament.

On his arrival here, the Congress leader participated in the foundation laying of 18 roads which will come up at a cost of Rs 2 crore.

The Gandhi scion is scheduled to meet people in his home constituency and discuss issues with them.

"I am coming to Amethi. Will be with my people and discuss issues with them. Will keep sharing the details of my story of happiness with you by way of pictures," he said in a Facebook post ahead of his visit.

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A petition was filed in the Supreme Court Wednesday, challenging the appointment of former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana as Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

The petition, filed by advocate M L Sharma and likely to come up for hearing this week, said the appointment was in contradiction to the law and Asthana be suspended in view of the pending investigation against him.

The Delhi High Court had on January 11 refused to quash the FIR lodged against Asthana on bribery allegations and set a 10-week deadline to complete the investigation.

The government on January 18, however, appointed Asthana as director of the BCAS, India's regulatory authority for civil aviation security.

The petition said Asthana was under investigation for taking bribes within his duty and his appointment is contradictory to the Classification, Control and Appeal (CCA) Rules 1965.

It said: "Instead of suspension within the CCA rule-1965, Asthana has been promoted and appointed as chief of BCAS by during the pendency of the investigation under Delhi High court in a FIR for bribe and corruption in his official duty.

"This has created a serious injury to the judicial and public office systems violating Articles 21 and 14 and destruction of faith in the three constitutional office of the country."



The petition sought framing of a suitable guideline in case of termination of service of the CBI director saying that Prime Minister cannot take part in the deliberations due to conflict of interest.

The CBI Director is appointed by a high-powered Selection Committed comprising the Prime Minister, the CJI and the leader of largest opposition party.

"Instead of suspension, Asthana's appointment as BCES Chief on January 18 is a clear case of personal interest of PM Modi in favour of Asthana and against Verma. Therefore, PM Modi have no legal and moral right to sit as member of the committee in which Asthana Vs Verma case has been decided," it said.

Asthana was booked on allegations of criminal conspiracy, corruption and criminal misconduct under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Asthana, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer was at loggerheads with his boss former CBI Director Alok Verma for several months and both of them had levelled charges of corruption against each other.

In a controversial order on October 23, 2018, the government had divested the powers of Verma and Asthana sending them on forced leave as both had accused each other of corruption.

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The multimedia exhibition Saviors dedicated to the Russian Righteous Among the Nations - the people who hid Jews in their homes helping them to survive in the occupied territories during World War II - opened in the Museum of Moscow.

The exhibition is held as part of the Memory Week dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th. On that day in 1945, the prisoners of the Auschwitz death camp were liberated by Soviet troops. The exposition is organized by the Russian Jewish Congress and supported by the Government of Moscow and the Zimin Foundation. The project was initiated by Moscow schoolgirls, who traveled around Russia and Israel to interview Jews rescued during the war.

"The history of the Holocaust is part of Russia and Soviet Unions history. About half of the Holocaust 6 million victims were killed on the territory of the former Soviet Union," the President of the Russian Jewish Congress, Yuri Kanner said. "What is our job? First of all, it is the field work - the hardest part. It is necessary to put in order the burial of the Holocaust victims. What is important, that the most work is done by non-Jews. Yes, this is the Russian Jewish Congresss project, we support and manage it in every way, but on the ground, it is managed by teachers of local schools, journalists, historians and just caring people."

The writer, head of the Russia-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary friendship group, State Duma deputy Lyudmila Ulitskaya told about the timeliness of the exhibition: "This exhibition is held just right in time. Some participants of those events are still alive - few saviors and few saved. In 10 years, all of them will be gone. Enough time has passed to see these events no longer with the eyes of the participants, but with the eyes of people who explore the human nature. This exhibition tells everyone about the heroism of the people, who seemed to be looking into the future, crossed this insanely hard frontier. Sometimes it is hard to help the beloved ones, and it is a thousand times harder to help strangers.

The Israeli Ambassador to Russia, Gary Koren, explained that the term Righteous Among the Nations was adopted in 1953,  when Yad Vashem [the Israeli National Holocaust Memorial] was founded in Jerusalem. This exhibition is one of the best dedicated to this topic. It needs to be organized not only here, but abroad as well."

The center of the exposition is a white cylinder with tablets, on which there are the names of all the Russian Righteous Among the Nations and those who they saved - 206 names of people of different nationalities from more than 20 regions of the country who sheltered Jews in the occupied territories.

Ida Spektor, a former prisoner of the concentration camp, shared her memories of those terrible years: Friends, this is very hard. From 1941 to March 1944, I was held in a death camp in Ukraine. The village of Pechora in the Vinnitsa region. It was horrible there. 70 to 100 people died every day because there was no food and no water, it was cold, shootings were performed. Awful. People were dying, swelling. Someone shouted someone kept silence. In 1943, there was terrible shooting. Almost all prisoners were killed. A few of us were saved by miracle.

Open to the public exhibition 'Saviors' will run in the Museum of Moscow until February 4th.
Children as young as 12 years old could be incarcerated under a bill backed by Philippine lawmakers on Wednesday which has been attacked by the UN and rights monitors.

The proposed law was among measures sought by President Rodrigo Duterte to further extend his deadly crackdown on drugs and crime, which has killed thousands since mid-2016.

Duterte's allies had originally proposed lowering the "age of criminal liability" to nine, but after mounting outrage the lower House of Representatives raised it to 12 and passed the bill on the second reading.

The current age at which children are held criminally liable in the Philippines is 15.

If the Senate -- where the bill has attracted greater opposition -- approves it the Philippines would join countries like Afghanistan which punish 12-year-old children for criminal acts.

"We still think that 12 is a very young age for children to be held criminally responsible," Human Rights Watch campaigner Carlos Conde told AFP Wednesday.

"The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated that the age of criminal responsibility should be at least 14 years, and should under no circumstances be reduced below that," he added.

The bill passed by the House calls for "mandatory" confinement at a special "youth care facility" for children who commit serious crimes like murder, rape and arson -- but also for car theft.

If the court determines they did not reform at the juvenile holding facility, they can be put in adult prison -- which are notoriously overcrowded and dangerous -- when they turn 18 years old.

Duterte claimed on Tuesday that drugs gangs exploit the current law to use children to deliver methamphetamines.

"They are the ones who deliver the drug to customers, and they are the same ones who collect the payment," the president said.

"That's how children are hooked into it, children as young as six, eight, nine, 14." However, the Philippine office of the UN Children's Fund said the proposed law "goes against the letter and spirit of child rights".

"Lowering the age of criminal responsibility will not deter adult offenders from abusing children to commit crimes," it said in a statement Friday, adding it was "an act of violence against children".

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Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde Wednesday rubbished the claim made by a self-proclaimed US-based Indian cyber expert that her father and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde was murdered.

Gopinath Munde died in a road accident in New Delhi, weeks after the BJP won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to reporters, the Maharashtra Minister for Women and Child development said she was not someone who would sensationalise the issue.

She said she was neither a hacker nor an investigation agency.

"I am a daughter. I request you to think of me as a daughter. Media has been forcing me from the last two days to speak on this issue. However, I do not know what to say," she said.

"When Munde ji died, I requested (Union Home Minister) Rajnath Singh ji to conduct a CBI probe, which has already happened," Munde said.

She added that the allegations of EVM hacking have already been trashed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), so there was nothing left for her to speak on the issue.

The 'cyber expert', identified as Syed Shuja, who is seeking political asylum in the US, had Monday claimed that the 2014 elections were "rigged" through EVMs, which, he says, can be hacked. The ECI had denied the charge.

Addressing a press conference in London via Skype, Shuja said he fled India in 2014 because he felt threatened in the country after the killing of some of his team members.

He also claimed that BJP leader Gopinath Munde was "killed" because he was aware of EVM hacking in the elections. However, he did not provide any proof to back up his claim.

Shuja also claimed that NIA officer Tanzil Ahmed, who was investigating Gopinath Munde's death, was planning to file an FIR, noting that the BJP leader had been murdered, but was himself killed.

The CBI in October 2014 ruled out any foul play in the death of Gopinath Munde, claiming that the politician had died due to injuries sustained in the road accident.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, NCP's state unit chief Jayant Patil demanded an "international" inquiry into Munde's death.

"After coming to power, the BJP has taken over the CBI. Therefore, there should be an international level inquiry into the senior BJP leader's death," he demanded.

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Pakistan's Finance Minister Asad Umar on Wednesday announced a new set of measures to promote investment and economic growth while presenting the third finance bill for the current fiscal year in the National Assembly amidst ruckus by opposition parties.

Umar presented Finance Supplementary (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 also dubbed as mini budget in the National Assembly after a special meeting of the Cabinet approved it.

He said that measures taken by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf government would boost manufacturing and exports, encourage low-cost housing and facilitate agricultural financing to promote economic activities.

The minister also said that government was focusing on enhancing ease of doing business, simplifying procedures for setting up businesses and undertaking investment.

One of the key measures announced by the government was to reduce taxes from 39 per cent to 20 per cent on small and medium enterprises, agricultural, and housing loans.

Umar also announced to set up Rs 500 crore revolving fund to provide interest free loans for the construction of small houses.

He also partially lifted the ban on purchase of newly manufactured cars by non-tax payers by allowing them to buy certain categories of vehicles.

He abolished import duty on newsprint to promote print media.

The minister also said that the tax on small marriage halls will be reduced from 20,000 to 5,000 rupees.

He said polices of government were already paying dividend and agri loan increased by 22 per cent in the first six month of the current fiscal year and also market capitalization increased.

Umar said policies of the government will result in high growth in a few years.

Opposition parties, however, continued protest throughout the speech of the finance minister against the measures, saying that government had failed to give relief to the people.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Zubair said that cars and mobile phone will be costly after the new measures.

However, economic expert Abid Hassan said the tax relief announced by the minister will help economy by speeding up growth.

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Over 100 Indian firms will feature in the Singapore export forum during a business conclave here from Thursday that aims to promote India's export-oriented industries in the strategic ASEAN region.

The business forum along with an exhibition is being organised as part of the India Week, showcasing India's favourites for the global markets -- ayurveda, cinema, food, lifestyle, handicrafts, literature, music, tourism and yoga.

"The forum aims to promote this very important export-oriented industries in the ASEAN region from Singapore which is a regional hub and gateway to the South East Asian markets," India's High Commissioner to Singapore Jawed Ashraf told PTI.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military among others vital matters.

The ASEAN countries include Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos and Brunei.

Ashraf said that the Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) account for 45 per cent of total Indian exports and 40 per cent of the country's manufacturing output.

"As such, it is important to promote enterprises from the MSME sector in export markets," Ashraf said.

Singapore Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Chairman T Chandroo will address the Indian industries at the forum, which is held under the banner of "India-Singapore Trade: Sustainability, Strengths and Strategies Making it work for Smaller Businesses".

The President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations, Ganesh Kumar Gupta, will give an insight into the wide range of exports available for the regional markets.

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Union minister Smriti Irani Wednesday took a dig at opposition parties over their Kolkata rally and said those leaders who opposed each other all their lives have now come together to serve their own "personal interests" and "out of fear of Narendra Modi".

"West Bengal witnessed a peculiar situation where people (opposition leaders) came together on a political platform. They have nothing to do with the development of the people," she told BJP's 'Ganatantra Bachao' rally here.

"They (opposition leaders) came together out of fear of Narendra Modi. They came together to serve their personal interests. They have opposed each other all their lives but have come together in order to stop the developmental process initiated by Narendra Modi," she said.

Irani mocked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for sharing the stage at the rally and trying to forge an alliance with the Congress, who, she claimed, had once tortured her during her days in that party.

Several BJP workers have been tortured and killed by TMC in Bengal but still the party is fighting against the misrule of TMC, she said.

"We should take a vow that in 2019 we will bring in a new wave of development in Bengal under the leadership of Narendra Modi. In 2019, Narendra Modi will again form the government at the Centre and we will oust TMC from Bengal," she said.

Irani couldn't attend her second rally of the day scheduled to be held at Suri in Birbhum district as the authorities denied permission to her chopper to land at Jhargram.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha accused the district authorities of hatching a conspiracy so that Irani is unable to attend the rally at Suri in Birbhum.

The district authorities, he said, had given BJP permission for the Jhargram rally but declined to allow landing of the chopper near the venue.

"So we had to land Smriti Irani's chopper at Kalaikunda Air Force Base and then travel by car to Jhargram (40.2 km). She had to take the same route back to Kalaikunda to catch her chopper. This delayed the entire schedule and as a chopper cannot land or fly after sundown, she couldn't attend the Suri rally," Sinha said.

"This is nothing but a conspiracy to stop Smriti Irani from attending the Suri rally," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said.

The TMC leadership termed the allegations as baseless.

"The district administration must have taken the decision of not allowing the chopper to land at Jhargram after looking into the security aspect. The problem with BJP leadership is that they have lost their mind and see conspiracy in everything," said TMC Birbhum district unit president Anubrata Mandal.

The BJP had alleged on Monday that the West Bengal government has denied permission for landing the helicopter carrying party national president Amit Shah at an airstrip in Malda on Tuesday.

Union minister Piyush Goyal had claimed that it showed Banerjee was "scared" of the party's growing influence in the state.

To this, Banerjee had said the police had given permission for landing the helicopter. "The accusation is wrong. They (BJP) are distorting and misinforming the people. It is absolutely untrue," Banerjee said.

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Of the over 19,900 children who went missing from the national capital in the last three years, more than 14,000 were traced and reunited with their families, police have told the Delhi High Court.

The submission was made by the Delhi Police before a bench of justices Hima Kohli and Manoj Kumar Ohri, which had in November last year asked the law enforcement agency to furnish the details of the number of children who went missing from the national capital between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2018, how many of them were traced and reunited with their families and how many cases were pending.

In an affidavit submitted before the court through standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra, the police said between January 2016 and December 2018, 19,916 children went missing from Delhi and of these, 14,756 were traced and reunited with their families as per law.

The bench, on November 28 last year, had also asked the police about the follow-up action taken by it, as stipulated in the standard operating procedure (SOP), after recovering a child as well as the number of cases in which the Face-Recognition Software (FRS) was put to use to track missing children.

In response, the Delhi Police, also represented by advocate Chaitanya Gosain, told the court that as stipulated under the SOP, a rescued kid was medically examined and produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) or the Juvenile Justice Board, as the case might be, for appropriate directions.

Thereafter, a "home verification" was carried out and only after that a child was reunited with his or her parents or legal guardians through the CWC, the police told the court.

Apart from that, "a proper enquiry is conducted as to whether the child has been subjected to any offence and if so, legal action in the matter is initiated".

As regards the use of FRS, the police said it procured the system in March last year and integrated it with its Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET) missing children module.

"As and when a photograph of a missing child is uploaded, it (FRS) automatically searches from the recovered/found children data, including data of Ministry of Women and Child Development, uploaded on all India basis on the website www.trackthemissingchild.gov.in.

"...search is done automatically and system provides probable results for the investigating officers to link missing children with found children and vice-versa," the police said in its affidavit.

The court had asked for the details of the missing children while hearing a man's plea seeking directions to the police to trace his minor daughter, who went missing in July, 2014.

The then 13-year-old girl went missing on July 21, 2014 and after she could not be traced for more than two-and-a-half years, the father moved the high court in May, 2017.

The court had, subsequently, transferred the probe in the matter to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Delhi Police's Crime Branch. The girl is yet to be traced.

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A male nurse has been arrested in Arizona for the sexual assault of a woman who gave birth while in a long-term vegetative state, police in the US state said Wednesday.

The 29-year-old victim gave birth late last month to a baby boy, whose DNA was matched to that of the suspect, leading to the arrest, according to police.

The suspect -- identified as Nathan Sutherland, age 36 -- faces charges of one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse, Phoenix police Sergeant Tommy Thomson told a conference.

"The baby I am told is doing good," Thompson said.

The CEO of the nursing facility resigned following the scandal, according to a statement sent to media.

A lawyer for the woman's family has said the infant "has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for," according to The New York Times.

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: A nun, who published poems, bought a car and took part in a protest against the former bishop of Jalandhar diocese in connection with a rape case, has been issued a second notice by her congregation to give an explanation in writing for allegedly violating its discipline.

The second notice was issued by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation as she did not turn up before her congregation head after being summoned to give the explanation.

Sister Lucy Kalappura, who took part in a protest against the former Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese in connection with a rape case, was earlier issued a notice by the Aluva-based Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC), for leading a life "against principles of religious life".

Sister Kalappura said she would respond in writing to the congregation head to the charges levelled against her.

She alleged that some 14 charges have been levelled against her, many of which were a "deliberate attempt to paint me in a bad light."



"I am deeply hurt by such baseless allegations against me. It is a kind of a threat, aiming to put me under mental stress," sister Kalapura, belonging to the FCC's St Mary's province at Mananthavady, told PTI over phone.

"I feel alienated,"she said when asked about her thoughts after receiving such notices from her congregation head.

Sister Kalappura was asked to meet the superior general sister Ann Joseph in person this month.

The congregation accused her of not turning up on the dates given to her.

"Instead, you appeared in the media to justify your scandalous acts of violation against the Rule and Constitution of Franciscan Clarist Congregation and the way of life of the congregation," the superior general said in her second notice.

It alleged that the nun "violated the dress code of FCC in public without any permission" and "caused grave external scandal and harm to the Church" by participating in the protest held by the 'Save Our Sisters Action Council' on September 20, 2018 at Kochi, seeking the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun in Kerala.

The congregation directed Sister Kalappura to give her explanation in writing before February 6.

It described her actions as "improper behaviour in religious life and violations of religious discipline."



Sister Kalappura said replying to the charges levelled against her was a time-taking process.

"So it may take some more time beyond the final date (February 6) to give an explanation in writing," she said.

In its first letter issued early this month, the congregation had termed as "grave violations",the nun having a driving licence, buying a car, taking a loan for it and publishing a book, spending money without the permission and knowledge of her superiors.

The provincial superior had denied permission to Sister Lucy to publish her collection of poems.

She, however, published her book 'Snehamazhayil' without seeking permission from her superiors.

The congregation had also termed as a "grave scandal",the nun's participation in discussions on TV channels and writing articles for non-Christian newspapers, "making false charges against the Catholic leadership and belittling it."



The sister had invited the wrath of the Church by participating in a street protest in Kochi by five nuns of the Catholic religious order Missionaries of Jesus, who were demanding the arrest of Bishop Mulakkal.

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There was nothing wrong in Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the apex court premises and meeting Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, former Supreme Court Judge Justice Madan B Lokur said Wednesday.

He added however that although judges should stay away from political thicket, they should "not be hermits or be sitting in ivory tower".

"I don't know what do you mean by distance. Are you suggesting that I shouldn't see the face of the Prime Minister? There was nothing wrong in inviting PM to a public function. It was perfectly okay to open the doors of the Supreme Court," the former top court judge said.

"You are reading too much into it and stretching it too far," he said responding to a question at an interaction that CJI Gogoi agreed to the wish of the PM to have a look at the CJI's court room.

Chief Justice Gogoi had invited the prime minister to attend a dinner he was hosting on November 25 for judges from the BIMSTEC countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand.

On the January 12, 2018 unprecedented presser, held by four senior judges, including him and CJI Gogoi, against the functioning of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Lokur said it was worth holding and it achieved something.

The presser brought some openness in the functioning of Supreme Court, he added.

"I think it (presser) was worth it. I am sure we achieved something. Little bit of openness in system. We had discussion with the then CJI but when we did not get positive response, we thought it appropriate to let know people know what we think," Lokur said at the interaction organised by the legal new portal The Leaflet.

He further said evidence of corruption needs to be taken into account before elevation of judges.

Though Justice Lokur accepted that sometimes judiciary had over stepped, he refused to agree that it has over reached.

He said there were large number of issues needed to be discussed for better functioning of judiciary.

Justice Lokur declined to comment on the functioning of Justice Gogoi as the CJI.

He, however, said that if allegations are levelled against any judge or the CJI then it troubles him.

He said he would not take up any government assignment.

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There is no proposal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit India for the second informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next two months as speculated by a Japanese media report, highly placed sources said here Wednesday.

Japanese publication Nikkei Asian Review on Tuesday carried a report titled "Xi plans India visit, as diplomatic chess with US intensifies".

The story said, "Xi intends to visit India as early as February in a move seen at countering Washington's increasingly antagonistic trade policy and aggressive Indo-Pacific diplomacy."



According to the report, Xi is expected to discuss with Modi measures to defuse border tensions as well as propose deals to expand imports of Indian farm products and increase cooperation in advanced technologies.

"Xi hopes to visit ahead of India's general elections due by May. An Indian source said the visit would be in February at the earliest, but a Chinese source said it will be after China's National People's Congress in March," it said.

Reacting to the report, official sources here told PTI that there is no such proposal for President Xi to visit India in the next two months after which India is poised for general elections.

In view of this, the visit by the Chinese President is expected to take place after the polls and after the new government takes charge, the sources said, adding that no preparations were currently underway for such a high-level visit.

Xi's visit to India is due in 2019 after the informal summit between him and Modi at Wuhan in April last year. Both the sides had made it an institutional arrangement for such summits to take place every year to improve relations.

Wuhan summit was the first such high-level meeting ever between Indian and Chinese leaders. It was conceived by both the sides following the 2017 military standoff at Doklam which ratcheted up tensions between the two countries.

The two-day summit at Wuhan during which the two leaders closely interacted for hours on bilateral and international issues has paved the way for the two countries to normalise relations on all fronts putting behind the Doklam standoff.

Since then the two countries steadily normalised relations with intensified dialogue on various fronts, including the military and trade fronts.

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan has concluded his two-day visit to China on Tuesday after talks with Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen and Zhang Jiwen, Chinese Vice Minister of General Administration of Customs of China (GACC), to enhance Indian exports to China to reduce the trade deficit of over USD 57 billion.

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Foreign buyers swooped into Turkeys property market in the wake of the historic lira crisis and purchased more homes in the last six months than in all of 2017. As Mansion Global reports, Last August, Turkeys currency lost one-third of its value in a single week, making goods (and homes) that much cheaper to hordes of tourists and prospective home buyers overseas carrying anything from British pounds to Iraqi dinars. The lira stabilized to an extent in the following months, but as of late last week was still about 30% weaker than a year ago. The exchange rate is about US$1 to 5.3 Turkish lira.

The buying opportunity has not been lost on foreigners, who bought double the number of homes in September than they did in the pre-crisis month of July, according to government statistics published last week.

"We definitely made sales off the back of the currency movement, though for some people, it was just fortuitous that it happened at that moment," said Julian Walker, director of Spot Blue International Property Ltd., a London-based Turkish real estate portal targeting foreigner buyers. "It was an extra bonus."

For example, a grand coastal villa selling for 5.5 million lira would have cost a U.S. buyer roughly $1.146 million in July but only $859,000 in September off the exchange rate alone. Its primarily been home buyers from the Middle East and North Africa driving the spike in foreign activity, with Iraqisthe biggest buyers of Turkish real estatedoubling in 2018 compared to the previous year, according to the new government data.

Sales to Iranian buyers more than quadrupled in that time, making them the second largest cohort of foreign buyers in 2018. Meanwhile, the number of sales to both Algerians and Jordanians tripled. Besides the discount foreigners are getting on the exchange rate, the Turkish government has also eliminated a pricey 18% value-added-tax on real estate purchased with foreign currency.

Turkey also saw an influx of buyers from the West. Germans more than doubled their activity in the Turkish housing market, as did Americans, who landed in Turkeys top 20 for the first time in at least four years, according to the government data.

The financial incentives drove some sales, but the boom in Arab and Middle Eastern buyers is also the result of a so-called "golden visa" scheme that offers Turkish citizenship in exchange for real estate investment, Mr. Walker said. In September, the government lowered the investment threshold from US$1 million to only $250,000which could also account for the surge in buyers that month. "I think theres been a more significant reaction to that than the currency," Mr. Walker added.

Foreign buyers have given Ankara, Turkeys landlocked capital, the biggest boost, with sales to such buyers soaring 160% in 2018. Istanbul saw a 74% uptick in sales to foreigners, according to government data.

Away from the hustle and bustle, sales to foreigners jumped roughly 70% in the Mediterranean resort area of Antalya. Sales to affluent foreigners have also increased in Bodrum, a peninsula on the Aegean Sea dotted with luxury villas, said Heike Tanbay, managing partner of the Bodrum office for agency Engel & Voelkers.

"With foreigner buyers, its not just that property is less expensive, its also been calm and stable in the country for the past two years," Ms. Tanbay said. In 2016, Turkey was hit was a spate of political and national security threats that included a failed coup and a terrorist attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul that killed more than 40 people.

"In 2016, there was really a drop in the market with only about 20% foreign buyers in Bodrum," compared to the typical 50/50 split, Ms. Tanbay said. The ratio is now moving back to normality, she said. The decline in the lira has made luxury home sellers resistant to lowering asking prices, Ms. Tanbay said.

Still, the boom in foreign buying has not alleviated a broad slowdown in the Turkish real estate market or filled the stockpiles of empty homes left from years of overzealous development. Home sales across the country slipped 2% nationwide in 2018 compared to 2017.

Halfway between Ankara and Istanbul, in a remote area, a surreal dreamscape of more than 700 identical castles with turreted roofs and Juliet balconies comes into view. Sarot Group, the developer of these Disney-like chateaus meant for Arab buyers, has filed for bankruptcy amid rising construction costs and its Arab clients pulling out of deals, Agence France-Presse reported this month. In fact, buyers from Saudi Arabia were the only cohort to retreat from the Turkish market in 2018, with sales to them down about 20%.

The story is also cloudier in Istanbul, where the bump foreign buyers did not offset the decline in activity amid the countrys economic downturn. Luxury prices were down about 6% in the third quarter of 2018, according to the most recent data from Knight Frank. "Activity in the citys high-end property market is very shallow, with very little transactions," said Cindy Uriona, of Luxurion Real Estate Group. Municipal elections in March will only add to the slowdown in the city, as buyers hold off from major investments, she added.

For this year, luxury sales in Istanbul may decrease as much as 20%, said Ms. Uriona, who predicted the market would start to recover in 2020. That creates an opportune moment for investors with a long-term interest in Turkey.

"If studied and researched carefully, great investment opportunities can be found for long-term investors," she said.
Presidency University Vice-Chancellor Anuradha Lohia held talks with students, agitating over the suspension of three of their batchmates but the talks remained deadlocked till Wednesday night.

The students were holding a sit-in outside Lohia's office in the main administrative building and six of them were on hunger strike since January 19.

During the talks, the VC insisted that the six withdraw their fast while the students demanded withdrawal of the suspension on three students, one of the agitators said.

Otherwise, the authorities should reveal the grounds on which three students were singled out "from hundred others" for closing the main gate on September 10 and put under suspension, he said.

Terming the decision of the students to go on fast as "nothing short of blackmail", Lohia told reporters, "No discussion on any issue can be possible till the students withdraw their fast."



Lohia held series of talks with the agitating students in her chamber since afternoon, but there was no breakthrough, a university official said.

Another agitating student said, "We are holding the sit-in since yesterday to press for the demands but we are not preventing any official to leave the campus, including the VC madam. We are sitting outside her chamber but she can leave any time she wants."



The indefinite fast by seven students including three suspended students entered the fifth day on Wednesday. Two of the fasting students fell sick during the period and treated at a hospital.

The three students were suspended on December 19 on the charge of locking the gate of the university and preventing the vice-chancellor and other officials from entering the premises on September 10 when agitation over the hand over of Hindu Hostel was going on.

Boarders were allocated rooms in the Hindu Hostel since November 28, the over 130-year-old accommodation, after completion of renovation in two blocks.

Students had gone on fast for immediate shifting to Hindu Hostel in October last year.

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted multiple searches across the country, including in Gujarat and Kerala, and seized over four dozen SIM cards and phones and Rs 21 lakh in cash in connection with a terror-funding case linked to a Pakistan-based outfit, the agency said.

It added that the raids were carried out at locations in Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, Sikar and Jaipur in Rajasthan, Delhi, Valsad and Surat in Gujarat and Kasaragod in Kerala in connection with a case involving the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), a banned Pakistani charity organisation.

A total of 26 SIM cards, 23 phones, five memory cards, CDs, hard drives, computer peripherals, eight passports and foreign cards, nine debit cards, a laptop, two kg of gold and Rs 21 lakh in cash were seized, an NIA spokesperson said.

Various incriminating documents related to operations in Dubai were also seized, he added.

On Monday, the agency had arrested Mohammad Hussain Molani alias Babloo (43) in the case when he returned from Dubai, where he had been hiding.

The NIA had said this was the fourth arrest in the case, which was related to receiving of terror funds sent by FIF operatives to their associates through "hawala" (money launderers) operators for furthering their nefarious activities to trigger an unrest in India.

In September last year, the NIA had busted a module of the FIF in Delhi and Srinagar and arrested three persons.

The Lahore-based organisation is alleged to be linked to the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba which is banned under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

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The National Green Tribunal Wednesday slammed the Delhi government for its failure to install rainwater harvesting system in schools and colleges and summoned senior official of the department with complete records.

A bench of Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore and expert member S S Garbyal expressed surprise over the AAP government's inability to apprise it about the exact number of schools and colleges in the city.

"What action have you (Delhi govt) taken to install rainwater harvesting system? The tribunal has passed the order on November 16, 2017, and asked you to complete the exercise in two months. Show us what action have you taken?" the bench said.

The lawyer appearing for the Delhi government informed it that out of 1,600 private schools, 901 have installed, while 699 are remaining and out of 742 government schools only 528 have have set up the rainwater harvesting system.

When the bench asked about the number of aided and unaided schools in the city, the lawyer was unable to give details.

When it sought to know the reason for the delay, the lawyer told the tribunal that work was underway and tenders have been issued.

The tribunal said, "You are trying to tell us like a child about the process. Parrot-like reply is coming from the officers. What tender are you talking about? This is a mere excuse."



During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the Delhi University told the tribunal that out of total 65, six colleges are in the process to install the rainwater harvesting system.

The NGT, however, directed a senior official of the department to be present before it on January 30, the next date of hearing.

"We direct senior officer of the NCT government concerned with primary, middle and secondary school and higher to be present before us on the next date of hearing. He shall bring complete details about the case and also list of institutions where rainwater harvesting is not functioning," the bench said.

The tribunal's direction came on a plea filed by city resident Mahesh Chandra Saxena seeking implementation of the November 16, 2017 order of the NGT, which had directed the government and also private schools and colleges to install rainwater harvesting systems within two months at their own cost.

Despite the specific direction of the tribunal, they have not submitted the list of buildings, Saxena said.

He claimed that the government departments, educational institutions and residential societies have either not installed rainwater harvesting systems or have systems which are non-functional.

The tribunal had ordered that any institution which fails to install the rainwater harvesting system within the stipulated period would be liable to pay environment compensation of Rs 5 lakh.

It had directed schools and colleges to approach a committee constituted by it. The committee was to inspect the premises and grant permission to institutions for operating the system.

If it was not possible to install the rainwater harvesting system, the institution should have approached the committee, it had said.

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The National Green Tribunal Wednesday rapped the Ghaziabad Development Authority for granting permission to a petrol pump in a green belt area allegedly in violation to the provisions of the Master Plan-2021.

A bench, headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore, took exception over the submission that special permission to run the petrol pump at the same land as per the Ghaziabad Master Plan 2021 has been duly granted.

"How can you give permission to a petrol pump in green belt? You have given no objection certificate under what law, we want to know? Give us a provision in law, let us see how have you granted the permission.

"These activities have repercussions on the environment. Tomorrow every authority will give permission in this manner. You have to take care that environment is protected else there would be no green area in the future," the bench observed.

When the tribunal asked the GDA counsel to argue on the provision of law, the lawyer sought time after which the bench adjourned the matter to February 12.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by city resident Kamal, alleging that the land in question is likely to be put to illegal use of running the petrol pump in contravention of the provisions of the Ghaziabad Master Plan 2021, published under the provision of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973 as the land reserved as green zone is being used for running it.

The petitioner has said that the running of the petrol pump in the green area will have a detrimental impact on the environment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal Wednesday said "Indian National Army (INA) commander Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had jolted the colonial forces so much so that the British had to quit India in 1947."



After paying tributes to Netaji on his 122nd birth anniversary at his birthplace here, Lal said analysts and researchers after making in-depth studies on Indias Freedom Struggle have opined "that bulk of the credit, in fact 75 per cent of the credit for Indias Independence goes to Netaji."



He said Netaji's birthplace in Cuttack should be developed into an important research center to study Indias freedom struggle.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also paid tributes to Netaji here and called upon the people to remember the tremendous sacrifices he made for the Independence of our country.

Both the governor and the chief minister visited the Netaji Birthplace National Museum here garlanded the statue of the legendary freedom fighter and went around the museum.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) comprising representatives of all the state units of the party in the region on Wednesday resolved to talk to Rajya Sabha members to prevent passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Upper House of Parliament.

The NECCC at a meeting held here took the resolution that it would take help of all Rajya Sabha members opposed to the Bill to prevent it from becoming an Act during the next session, according to a release issued by the Committee.

The Congress would also convey the inherent dangers of the Bill to those members of the Upper House who may be undecided on the issue.

The Bill has been already passed in the Lok Sabha.

"A determined stand by a united opposition prevented its passage in the Rajya Sabha during the recently concluded session of Parliament. But the danger is not yet over as the NDA government would try to get it passed in the Rajya Sabha in the next session, which will be the last before the General elections," the release said.

This will be catastrophic for the people of the North East, and Assam in particular, and must be averted at all costs, it said.

It was claimed that the attempt to grant Indian citizenship to certain groups based solely on their religion was blatantly communal and, therefore, unconstitutional.

The Bill which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan has triggered protests in the northeast.

If enacted as Law, the Bill will nullify Clause 5 of the Assam Accord of 1985, which provides the safeguard of detecting and deporting all illegal immigrants of the post-1971 period, be they Muslims or Hindus.

The NECCC also pointed out that if passed in Rajya Sabha, the Bill will also render the ongoing NRC process absolutely meaningless, the release added.

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Nearly 5,000 people, including almost 500 Islamic State fighters, have since Monday left the jihadist group's last bastion in eastern Syria, where IS continues to lose ground, a Britain-based monitor said.

Kurdish-led forces, backed by air strikes of the US-led coalition, have been battling since September to expel the jihadists from their enclave in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

"Around 4,900 people, mostly women and children but including 470 jihadists, have since Monday deserted the last IS pocket in the Deir Ezzor province, including 3,500 that left the area on Tuesday," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP on Tuesday.

The majority of the civilians are family members of jihadists, the Observatory said.

They were evacuated on dozens of trucks chartered by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance fighting IS.

In recent weeks the SDF has seized several eastern villages from IS, including Hajin, Al-Shaafa and Sousa.

Islamic State is now confined to just 10 square kilometres in Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.

On Tuesday, the "SDF progressed, without any resistance from IS, into the Baghouz area, the last still in the hands of jihadists," Abdel Rahman said. The SDF "now controls half" of Baghouz, he added.

The new wave of departures means that nearly 27,000 people have left former IS areas since early December, including almost 1,800 jihadists who have surrendered, the Observatory said.

IS overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" in areas under their control.

But they have since lost most of that to various offensives in both countries.

The Kurdish fighters who do much of the ground fighting against IS have pressed hard since President Donald Trump announced last month that he was ordering a complete US troop pullout from Syria.

Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government demonstrations.

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With insolvency process of Essar Steel appearing to be on a drag, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Wednesday ordered the Ahmedabad-bench of company law court to give by January 31 a final decision on lenders approving ArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000 crore takeover proposal of the indebted steelmaker.

Rivalling ArcelorMittal is a last-minute offer by shareholders of Essar Steel to pay all of the Rs 54,389 crore dues of both financial and operational creditors.

The Committee of Essar Steel Creditors, however, ignored the Rs 54,389 crore offer which was made months after bids by potential takeover candidates had come in and chosen ArcelorMittal as the resolution applicant for recovering their Rs 50,800 crore of dues. This was then submitted to the National Company Law Tribunal in Ahmedabad which was overseeing the insolvency process.

To complicate things, operational creditors filed petitions in NCLT wanting ArcelorMittal to pay all of their dues like what Essar Steel shareholders had promised or its bid be rejected. Essar Steel shareholders too moved NCLT for consideration of their offer which they said was done under recently introduced Section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) that allows for withdrawal of companies from the process if lenders agreed.

Passing an order over the plea of ArcelorMittal and supported by Committee of Creditors (CoC) of the debt-ridden company, NCLAT Wednesday said that if the Ahmedabad bench of NCLT does not pass any order by January 31, then it would call the matter and pass an appropriate order on the next date of hearing.

"We allow designated authority (NCLT) to pass appropriate orders by next date, failing which this appellate tribunal will decide," said a two-member NCLAT bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya.

The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on February 4 for next hearing.

Interestingly, State Bank of India (SBI) - the biggest of lenders to Essar Steel - has put its entire Rs 15,400 crore exposure on the block. It set January 30 as the deadline for accepting bids to buy the loan for more than Rs 9,600 crore. The buyer of such loan could then collect Rs 11,300 crore from ArcelorMittal in the future.

The move was seen as jettison the insolvency process as theoretically speaking Essar Steel shareholders or Russia's VTB Group, which has been backing them for the takeover of the company after paying of dues, could buy that loan and become the strongest voice on the all-important Committee of Creditors (CoC).

Industry sources said this buyer could potentially back Essar Steel shareholder's last-ditch offer to outwit ArcelorMittal. There was a strong possibility of other creditors such as Standard Chartered Plc to sail with that as it would get next to nothing out of ArcelorMittal's proposal.

For the record, Essar Steel said its Rs 54,389-crore offer was much superior to ArcelorMittal's rival offer and lenders should not be pressured into giving control of the company to any entity that undervalues it.

"The proposal made by Essar Steel shareholders provides for payment of a total of Rs 54,389 crore to various creditors, which exceeds the resolution plan currently approved by the creditors by more than Rs 12,000 crore," Essar Steel said in a statement.

The proposal, it said, was submitted under the recently introduced Section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

"Under the proposal made by the shareholders, all classes of creditors would receive full recovery of their claims," the statement said. "The overriding objective of the IBC is maximisation of recovery for creditors and this has been established time and again by courts at all levels. Creditors of Essar Steel, including operational creditors, should not be forced to accept a resolution plan which undervalues the company and its assets."



ArcelorMittal had on Tuesday stated that "there are certain parties in India who would like that the IBC not be implemented according to the law".

"The IBC was introduced for a very serious reason - to address a major problem with bad loans. If the law is not implemented correctly and the rules are flouted, as suggested by some, this sends a negative signal about the certainty of India as an investment destination," it had said. "ArcelorMittal has followed the process from the start. We fully expect the process to continue to be implemented correctly and as per the law and that statements attempting to convince otherwise not be given any credibility."



The Resolution Professional of the Essar Steel had filed an application under section 30 of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code before NCLT Ahmedabad, after the CoC of Essar Steel has approved the bid, ArcelorMittal.

The matter is listed at on January 31 for hearing for orders.

Under section 30 of IBC, RP of a company which is going under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), submits the best bid selected by the CoC with a vote of not less than 67 per cent, of voting share of the financial creditors.

During the proceedings, counsel representing the CoC submitted that banks were suffering a loss of Rs 500 crore every month on account of delay in the proceedings.

One operational creditor of Essar Steel also wanted to mention its claims, however, the appellate tribunal denied it by saying that they can not be a party at this stage.

"After the decision has been made by Supreme Court under section 142, no tribunal can look into any part of the case," the appellate tribunal said.

Earlier on January 3, NCLAT had asked the Ahmedabad bench of NCLT to expeditiously take a final decision in the Essar Steel insolvency case.

Essar Steel owns a 10-million-tonne steel mill in Gujarat.

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Pakistan's jailed former prime minister requires "aggressive medication" to avoid cardiac complications, a media report said on Wednesday citing his medical reports.

Sharif, who is serving a seven-year imprisonment in a Lahore jail, was rushed to a hospital on Tuesday after he complained of heart related complications.

Sharif, 69, was taken to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Lahore from Kot Lakhpat Jail in high security.

He was discharged from hospital and taken back to jail following medical tests.

"According to Mr Sharif's medical tests (conducted on Tuesday), his condition is not serious. But, he needs aggressive medication and regular medical follow-ups to avoid cardiac complications, a senior doctor told Dawn.

He said Sharif's angiography might be conducted.

Sharif's stress thalium test -- a nuclear imaging test that shows how well blood flows into one's heart -- suggests "post stress LV pump/contraction 56 per cent which is almost normal", the report said.

The report says that the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart, is damaged on the lower left wall, it said.

Expressing concern about Sharif's health, his daughter Maryam tweeted: "My only source of information on what is happening to my father is the media only."



Sharif's brother Shahbaz asked the government to provide best healthcare facilities to the three-time prime minister.

A special medical board that examined in jail last week observed "he is not completely well" as more investigations (tests) are required before suggesting treatment for him.

According to the report of the special medical board, "Patient Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, 69, examined by the special medical board is a known case of diabetes Mellitus and hypertension for the last 10 years. He is also known case of Ischemic heart disease since 2001."



Sharif underwent Coronary Angioplasty (PCI) twice in 2001 and 2017. He also had open heart surgery twice in 2011 and 2016 (no medical record/documents are available for these above said procedures at the time of examination), it says.

The board says after evaluating these test reports and availability of previous cardiac medical record further management plan will be proceeded.

Sharif was shifted to the Kot Lakhpat jail on December 25, a day after he was sentenced by the accountability court in Islamabad to seven years' imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.

A disqualification of 10 years from holding any public office is part of the sentences awarded to the three times prime minister of the country.
The Indian Navy and Coast Guard are



continuing its search for a fishing boat believed to have left the Kerala coast on January 12 with some people in a suspected case of human trafficking or illegal migration to Australia, a defence spokesman said Wednesday.

"The search is continuing. Inputs, as and when received, will be shared with state administration," the spokesman told PTI here.

The Indian Navy and the Coast Guard have directed their vessels already deployed in the high seas to search for the fishing boat 'Daya Mata' suspected to have left the Kerala coast with some people, including women and children.

There is no clarity on the exact number of people who have allegedly left the coast in the boat, police sources said.

The number will be known only after the investigation is complete, they said.

The police have constituted a special team to carry out the probe after the shocking incident was reported last week from Munambam and Vadakkekkara police limits in Ernakulam district.

The police, however, remain tight-lipped about the progress made in the case.

Defence sources had earlier said they were not clear how effective searches could be carried out amid thousands of boats which are already in the sea for fishing.

The sources had also said the Navy and the Coast Guard could not treat the issue as a matter of coastal security.

"It is not a coastal security issue. This is a legal issue. Illegal trafficking. It is a state issue, policing issue," a source said.

The police, after their initial assessment, had said some 40 people, including women and newborns, had left resorts and home stays in Cherai and Munambam coastal areas of the district on January 12.

The vessel in which they were allegedly trafficked was purchased recently by two persons-- one from Tamil Nadu and the other from Kerala.

Initial investigation had also found that one of the addresses given was fake.

In 2015, Australia had made it clear that people who attempt to travel illegally to the country by sea would not be allowed to settle there.

The country's Consul-General to South India had stressed that anyone who survived the journey would be intercepted and transferred to Regional Processing Centres in Nauru or Manus Island (in Papua New Guinea).

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During his first official visit to Berlin on January 20-22, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev initiated a new dialogue format of Central Asia + Germany. Together with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Bundestag President Wolfgang Schauble, he discussed cooperation between the countries in the spheres of petrochemistry, engineering, transport, communications, tourism, and culture.

Cooperation between Germany and Uzbekistan became possible when Tashkent had started wide political and economic reforms. It was stated by Angela Merkel at the meeting with Mirziyoyev. She also welcomed a new regional policy of Uzbekistan on creation of a friendly and trust-based atmosphere in Central Asia. According to her, Germnay is ready to be a partner for Uzbekistan in improving human rights, establishing a civil society, and extending economic cooperation. Steinmeier said that he had plans to visit Uzbekistan in spring 2019.

For Uzbekistan, Germanys support primarily means investment. 2019 was declared the Year of Active Investment in the country. Tashkent is intensively searching for loans for modernization of economy while Germany is still one of key funders in the EU. The Uzbek government realizes that without modern technologies, including German ones, it is impossible to provide structural reforms. Tashkent is ready to offer German businesses such spheres as chemistry, petrochemistry, pharmacy, healthcare, production of construction materials, and agriculture. Germany hasnt displayed an active attitude in recent decade. It invested only 750 million euro in Uzbekistan during the period. The bilateral trade is also low. In January-November 2018, its volume was $712.1 million.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev underlined that Uzbekistan and Germany have a free hand for increasing bilateral trade from 700 million euro to 1 billion euro. Uzbek President said that Uzbekistan sees a reliable and time-proved partner in Germany. As a result of the talks, nine intergovernmental and inter-institutional documents were signed in the spheres of economy, trade, finances, education, science, and innovations. Moreover, the sides agreed on implementation of new major projects together with such German companies as Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, Claas, MAN, Knauf, Linde, Papenburg, Humana, Volkswagen, and so on. Ahead of Mirziyoyevs visit, Berlin hosted the German-Uzbek Business Forum where investing contracts for $4 billion were signed.

Financial and industrial businesses of Germany come to new markets expecting staying there for the long haul. So, they act steadily and systematically. They are not after phenomenal indices at early stages but make themselves comfortable thoroughly. Results of the Berlin economic forum are a challenge for the Uzbek government. Each contract needs supervision, constant monitoring, and control by Tashkent. Its about establishment of a legal model of foreign investment presence for a partner who is very demanded for comfortable and transparent business conditions. I think if the model succeeds (unfortunately, none of Uzbekistans neighbors could reach the goal), investments will come to Uzbekistan without any problem, Igor Pankratenko, Deputy CEO of the Center of Strategic Assessment and Forecast, told Vestnik Kavkaza.

According to Bakhtiyer Ergashev, President of the Mano Center of Survey Initiatives, Tashkent set a special goal to develop export orientation of the country and diversify Uzbek outlet markets. New outlet markets are needed for that. We export only agricultural products and textile to Europe. However, the range will extend in the future. The EU has confirmed its readiness to help Uzbekistan with unilateral tariff preferences within the framework of the General System of Preferences Plus. It will encourage duty-free export of more than 6 200 Uzbek products to Europe, Ergashev said.

The expert pointed out that Germany was the first country that suggested development of the Central Asia Strategy in 2007. Last year, the third amended strategy which focused on economy was presented. Previously, the strategy of EU-Central Asia partnership included a big number of political and NGO projects. Now German business will provide its investment policy in a comfortable economic climate. There are reasons to suppose that signed agreements of intent will be implemented. Today the republic has 132 companies with the involvement of German investors, including 33 businesses with 100 per cent of German capital. A Deutsche Bank office works in Tashkent.

On the one hand, Europe is interested in developing relations with Central Asian countries, firstly with modern Uzbekistan. Some political steps made by Uzbekistan sparked big interest and support in the West. So there is a nice opportunity for direct contacts and ties, the expert stated. According to him, the interest is explained by the fact that the EU and Germany need an access to South and Southeast Asia. Transport corridors suggested by India and implemented by China will pass through Central Asia, including Uzbekistan. Berlin sees Uzbekistan as a promising transit direction for land access to South and Southeast Asian markets, primarily China and India.

Security was also discussed at the Berlin summit. Tashkent and Berlin stand for a peaceful settlement of the Afghan conflict through negotiations and encouragement of socio-economic development of Afghanistan. Both countries believe that terrorism, extremism, and radicalization are main threats to international security. Its a new era of cooperation between Uzbekistan and Germany. American President Donald Trumps statement on possible withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Afghanistan may encourage the cooperation, Bakhtiyer Ergashev says. According to him, the German government thinks that Germany should take the niche in Afghanistan after withdrawal of American troops. Probably, the problem of Uzbek-German cooperation in Afghanistan was also discussed at the summit.
Veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar Wednesday said nationalism or patriotism was not about raising "slogans" or hating all those who "disagree", but was a way of life and bringing about a change in the society.

He was speaking at 'Festival of Thinkers' organised by Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies here.

"Today, we have left many things behind like social commitment, real patriotism...Today, we hear these words - nationalism, patriotism...Today, India is divided between nationalists and anti-nationalists and if you disagree with someone on something, you are an anti-national," Akhtar said during an interaction at the event.

Patriotism or nationalism have been misconstrued with raising slogans and hating all those who disagree with you, he said.

"No, nationalism or patriotism is not about raising slogans or hating someone who disagrees, but nationalism and patriotism is about a way of life. It is about looking at the issues in the society, bringing a change and by looking into these tiny issues in the society, we can serve Bharat Mata," he said.

He added that there is so much 'I' that we have forgotten 'we'.

Urging the youth to join politics, he said there are good and bad people in the world.

"You should despise bad people, but disliking the whole community is illogical. You can dislike a person, but saying this community is good and that community is bad, it is illogical," he said.

He said being a citizen of a democratic country, youth should be interested in politics.

"You have no choice, but to be interested in politics. For the matter of fact, we would be thankless to our elders, those who fought for freedom and nation. If you are not interested in politics, it would be a pure ingratitude," he said.

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Questionning credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), city Congress president Sanjay Nirupam Wednesday organised a protest demanding that they be replaced with ballot papers.

Addressing party workers outside Mumbai suburban district collector's office in Bandra, Nirupam alleged the "goons of the BJP rigged the election results in 2014 by hacking the EVMs".

"We are not against using technology or EVMs but unfortunately these machines are being used for the vested interests by the BJP. The Congress has always been voted to power with genuine votes unlike the BJP. The Election Commission has no right to defend the EVMs if they are being used for manipulating the poll results," Nirupam said.

He later called on Mumbai suburban collector Sachin Kurve and urged him to take necessary steps to replace EVMs with ballot papers.

All India women Congress general secretary Nagma Morarji, who also participated in the agitation, said the women in the country and the Constitution are in danger today.

"We need to bring back ballot paper system and overthrow the EVMs. Similarly, we need to get rid of the BJP rule and elect Rahul Gandhi as our Prime Minister," she said.

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A 24-year-old woman and her seven-month-old son were burned to death in Sultanwind area here on Wednesday, police said.

Sonam was boiling milk for her son Krishna, who was in her lap, when their clothes suddenly caught fire from the gas stove, police said.

Both the mother and the son were rushed to a nearby hospital by neighbours where doctors declared them brought dead, they said.

The bodies have been sent to civil hospital for autopsy, police said.

At the time of incident, no other members of the family were there in the house, they said.

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Lashing out at the opposition BJP on the issue of cows, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said 74,016 cows had died in Hingonia gaushala in Jaipur during the previous government's five year rule.

He accused the BJP of calling the Congress a party of Muslims but stated the Congress had won elections in the 'cow belt' of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

" was done in the name of cows. As many as 74,016 cows died in Hingonia gaushala in five years. Congress was called the party of Muslims but the party won elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," Gehlot said, in his reply to the debate on the governor's speech in the assembly.

He said the Hindu community had realised the BJP raises the issue of Ram temple ahead of elections.

The chief minister targeted the former Vasundhara Raje government "for weakening schemes like free medicines which were initiated by the earlier Congress government" and said his government will not discontinue any public welfare scheme.

He said the public gave huge mandate to the BJP in 2013 assembly elections but the Vasundhara Raje government wasted five years and gave misrule to the public.

"It was five years of misrule. Financial mismanagement was there. Corruption was institutionalised and the public was looted. The chief minister remained unavailable for the public for five years. Nearly Rs 50 crore was spent on hiring planes and helicopters in the five years," he alleged.

He appreciated leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria for mentioning the name of former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in his speech.

Prior to the chief minister address, Kataria spoke on the governor's speech and highlighted the achievements of the former government in sectors like road and infrastructure, education, rural development among others.

Kartaria said the state's rank in the country was 26in the education sector which significantly improved to rank 2 after the previous government's rule.

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A rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was proposed to be held on January 28 in North 24 Parganas district's Thakurnagar area is likely to be rescheduled to February 2, a senior party leader said Wednesday.

"As of now, Prime Minister Narendra Modiji's January 28 rally at Bongoan' Thakurnagar area has been rescheduled to February 2. On February 2 he will address another rally at Durgapur and on February 8 he will address a rally at Siliguri. However, nothing is final as of now," BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said.

This is the second time in one month that the West Bengal BJP has rescheduled Modi's rallies.

Earlier it was decided that the prime minister will address a rally at Brigade Parade Ground on February 8. It was recently cancelled and the party said he would attend three rallies in the state starting next week.

It was then decided that Modi would address a rally at Thakurnagar on January 28, another at Siliguri in north Bengal on February 2 and the third one at Asansol -- represented by Union Minister Babul Supriyo -- on February 8.

However, on Wednesday evening the state BJP announced that the dates are likely to be altered.

The BJP kick-started its Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state from Tuesday, with party president Amit Shah addressing a rally in Malda district.

Shah has set a target to win more than 23 out of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

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The body of one of the 15 trapped miners, which was spotted last week, has disintegrated and slipped to bottom of the main shaft in course of the Navy's efforts to pull it out of the flooded mine, officials said Wednesday.

The Navy personnel are trying their best to locate the remains with their unmanned Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), an official said.

Navy divers detected the body using an ROV at a depth of around 160 feet inside the main shaft on Wednesday last.

They resumed efforts to pull out the body on Tuesday on the advice of the district administration.

The remains of the miner slipped away from the jaw of the ROV while attempting to pull it out of the bottom of the main shaft of the coal mine last evening, operations spokesperson R Susngi told PTI.

It happened due to presence of pipes, cables and debris in the main shaft, he said.

The Indian Navy resumed the search on Wednesday and its efforts to locate the remains have not been successful so far, he added.

The operation to rescue the miners entered the 42nd day on Wednesday.

In the past 24 hours, teams of pump operators from Coal India Ltd, Odhisa Fire Service and Kirloskar Brothers Ltd have discharged over 81 lakh litres of water from the nearby abandoned mines.

Family members of the trapped miners have been waiting anxiously for of their loved ones and are visiting the site regularly and they are regularly updated on the progress, Susngi said.

The 15 miners disappeared inside the mine on December 13 last year.

According to five miners who had a narrow escape, one of the workers could have accidentally punctured the walls of possibly another nearby abandoned and flooded mine.

The state government has announced Rs 1 lakh interim relief for families of all the trapped miners and the Supreme Court is monitoring the case on a weekly basis. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.

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Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth Wednesday called on President Ram Nath Kovind here and discussed ways to boost bilateral trade, investment and strategic cooperation.

The meeting on the sidelines of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Jugnauth here on ways to boost bilateral trade and investment, including finalisation of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, and expand cooperation in 'blue economy' sectors.

In his meeting with Jugnauth, Kovind said India-Mauritius bilateral relations are enduring and time-tested, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

The two leaders discussed bilateral trade and investment and strategic cooperation, he said.

Jugnauth, who is on an official visit to India from January 20-28, is accompanied by his wife Kobita Jugnauth and a high-level delegation comprising Cabinet ministers, including Minister of Information Technology Yogida Sawmynaden, Education minister Leela Devi Dookhun, Culture minister Prithvirajsing Roopun and other senior officials.

The Mauritian prime minister will visit Allahabad Thursday for the Kumbh Mela and then proceed to Mumbai.

Jugnauth will also be the guest of honour at the official celebrations to mark the Republic Day in Mumbai.

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A 44-year-old man was apprehended at a metro station here on Wednesday for allegedly carrying multiple packets of a chemical paste concealed in his jacket hood, a senior CISF official said.

The incident led to alarm among security personnel who are on a heightened alert due to forthcoming Republic Day celebrations.

The official said Shihabudeen (44) was detected with eight suspicious packets, wrapped in black polythene, at the Subhash Nagar station around 5 pm when he was being frisked.

The man, who hails from Kerala, concealed the packets in his jacket hood and they contained some pencil batteries mixed with a sticky paste, he said.

These suspicious packets alerted the CISF personnel on duty and the man was taken for further frisking. One packet had ammonium chloride paste that is used in gold trade, the official said.

The man, on interrogation, disclosed that he had made numerous trips to Gulf countries in the past even as an assortment of foreign currency was recovered from him, the official claimed.

It is suspected that the man is involved in gold smuggling racket and he was handed over to the Delhi Police to ascertain further details, he said.

The Delhi Metro and other public transport facilities in the national capital have been put on a high alert in wake of the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

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A POCSO court Wednesday convicted a 35-year-old man to life term till natural death for abducting and repeatedly raping a minor girl.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000, said Public Prosecutor Mahendra Kumar Sharma.

Judge Sushil Kumar Sharma convicted Chand Mohammad, a resident of Rasulpur Nagar, Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, to life term till natural death, he said.

The convict, who worked as daily wage labourer, abducted the 15-year-old girl in November 2012 and took her to several places, including Jaipur, where he repeatedly raped her, Sharma said.

Acting on a complaint lodged by family members of the girl, police rescued the minor after about six days following which a case of abduction, conspiracy and rape under relevant sections of the IPC and the POCSO Act was lodged against the convict, his wife and three other relatives.

The POCSO court acquitted the convict's wife and three relatives for lack of evidence, the public prosecutor said.

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The Wednesday said the special NIA court should not have accepted photocopies of the statements of witnesses and confessions of accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case as secondary evidence.

A bench of Justices A S Oka and A S observed that the photocopies had been produced and submitted by the Investigating Agency (NIA).

But, the NIA had not been asked by the special court to prove that the photocopies were copies of original documents that the probe agency claims have been lost forever, the court said.

"The question is, who took these copies? Have you (NIA) examined the person who took these photocopies? How do you know these copies are that of the original documents? The special court should not have accepted the copies as secondary evidence when their authenticity is not confirmed," it said.

In January 2017, the special NIA court had permitted the use of photocopies after the probe agency submitted that some files containing original statements of witnesses and confessions of accused under Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) Section 164 had gone missing and could not be traced.

The NIA had pleaded that since these statements were not traceable and the proceedings of the case were conducted on a regular basis, the secondary copies of the original statements be taken on record.

The court had then permitted the use of such photocopies as secondary evidence.

One of the accused in the case, Sameer Kulkarni, however, filed an appeal in the saying that the special court should not have permitted the use of photocopies since there was no evidence to prove that these documents were authentic copies of the original statements.

The bench is likely to conduct a detailed final hearing on the appeal from February 5.

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from here in North Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.

In October last year, the special court had framed charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit and some other accused in the case.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has busted an "ISIS-inspired" group, which was planning mass casualty attacks using poisonous chemical mixtures at big gatherings, an official said on Wednesday.

The ATS has also arrested eight men and detained a minor boy -- all suspected members of the group -- following searches in Thane and Aurangabad over the last two days, he added.

The arrests have come just days ahead of the Republic Day on January 26.

The ATS has seized liquids, chemical powders, a chemical bottle with "hydrogen peroxide" written on it, six knives, six pen drives, six laptops, over 24 mobile phones, several gadgets, WiFi routers, DVDs, CDs, hard drives, graphics cards, modems and computer RAMs (random access memory), the ATS official said.

The group, which had engineers in its ranks, had planned to prepare toxic chemical mixtures and blend those with food or water at big events to cause mass casualty, he added.

All the seized materials were sent to the forensic science laboratory for examination, he said.

"These people had created a terrorist gang inspired by the ISIS called the Ummat E Mohammadiya and had planned terror activities at various places," the official said without elaborating.

"The idea was to make some poisonous mixtures and mix those in water or food at places of big events so that people consume it," he said.

The locations where the group had planned the terror activities were being ascertained, he added.

"We will verify all the aspects, including (a possible) attack at the (ongoing) Kumbh Mela (in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh) and at other big events as well," the official said.

The chemicals seized from the group were of experimental quantities, he said, adding, "We are also investigating whether the group had any associates in the state or other parts of the country."



Among those arrested was Mazhar Abdul Rashid Sheikh, the son of Rashid Malbari -- a underworld criminal and dreaded sharp-shooter of the Dawood Ibrahim gang -- the ATS official said.

Sheikh was arrested from Aurangabad in central Maharashtra, he added.

The minor, who was detained, was aged around 17 and was a student of class 11 (Science), the official said.

The other members of the terror group were engineers and professionals, while one was a pharmacist, he said.

They were identified by the police as Mohsin Sirajuddin Khan, Taqui Sirajuddin Khan, Mushahid Ul Islam, Mohammad Sarfaraz, Salman Sirajuddin Khan, Jamman Khuteupad and Fahad Ansari.

The group, the members of which were based in Aurangabad and the adjoining Thane district, was active on the Internet and its members were well connected with each other on social media websites and messaging apps, the ATS official said.

The main accused was in direct touch with their ISIS handler in Syria, he added.

The group had been carrying out experiments at Thane and Aurangabad on how to execute its terror plan, he said.

Some of the accused had procured passports, the official said, adding, "We suspect that after carrying out the terror activities, the accused had planned to leave the country."



"The group was on the radar of the ATS since the last few weeks and when we felt they might take further steps, we decided to intervene and carried out searches," Maharashtra ATS chief Atulchandra Kulkarni said.

Around a dozen ATS teams had carried out the searches through Monday and Tuesday in Mumbra (Thane district) and Aurangabad and nabbed the accused, he added.

All the arrested accused were produced before a court in Aurangabad, which sent them to police custody till February 5, another ATS official said.

The minor was sent to a remand home in Mumbai, he added.

The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and the relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bombay Police Act, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
JD(U) national vice president Prashant Kishor on Wednesday congratulated Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on her appointment as the Congress national general secretary and called the development one of the most awaited entries in Indian

Congratulations to Priyanka Vadra also came from leaders of state Congress, RJD and RLSP.

One of the most awaited entries in Indian is finally here. While people may debate the timing, exact role and position, to me, the real is that she finally decided to take the plunge. Congratulations and best wishes to Priyanka Gandhi, Kishor tweeted.

The poll strategist-turned-politician had joined the JD(U) headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in September last year and was elevated to the post of national vice-president weeks later.

He had played an instrumental role in ensuring proper coordination between JD(U), RJD and Congress when the three parties joined hands to form the short-lived Grand Alliance which won the 2015 assembly polls with a huge majority.

Kishor thereafter worked closely with the Congress in preparations for Punjab and Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. Earlier, he had been closely associated with the campaign of Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls wherein he was the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP the party which now shares power with the JD(U).

JD(U) state president Vashishth Narayan Singh said the development was of no great significance since Priyanka had been active and influential in the affairs of the Congress party even before having assumed a post.

Senior BJP leader and Union minister Giriraj Singh congratulated Vadra but made the snide remark in a private company, anybody can be appointed to a post that the CMD wants.

RJD leader and Lalu Prasads elder son Tej Pratap Yadav said it is a fantastic development. Priyanka Gandhi resembles her grandmother Indira Gandhi and has also imbibed her values. It will boost the prospects of the Congress and all its allies.

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha also said if any constituent of the Grand Alliance gets stronger, it is going to benefit the entire coalition.

Congratulatory messages also poured in from Congress leaders in Bihar, including BPCC president Madan Mohan Jha, working president Kaukab Qadri and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court on Wednesday issued an interim injunction restraining a former magazine editor and six others from making any statement linking Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami to the Kodanad estate break-in case.

Justice K Kalyanasundaram issued the exparte interim injunction on a defamation suit filed by Palaniswami against former Tehelka managing editor Samuel Mathew and others over a video clip linking the AIADMK leader to the robbery at the Kodanad estate in 2017.

Besides Mathew, his four-Delhi based associates and two accused persons in the Kodanad estate case -- K V Sayan and Valayar Manoj -- are the other defendants.

On January 11, Mathew released a 16-minute video in which Sayan and Manoj, allegedly linked Palaniswami to the case.

Issuing notice to the defendants, the judge posted the case to January 30.

Earlier on Wednesday, senior counsel Satish Parasaran, appearing for Palaniswami, made a mention before the judge for urgent hearing of the suit in which the chief minister has sought Rs 1.10 crore as damages from the defendants.

In his interim prayer, Palaniswami sought an order restraining the seven defendants from making statements particularly alleging that he had a role in the incident.

On April 23, 2017, the security guard of the Kodanad estate, the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa's retreat home in the hilly district of the Nilgiris, was murdered in a robbery attempt by a 10-member gang.

It emerged during the probe that Jayalalithaa's former driver C Kanagaraj and Sayan had allegedly plotted the crime. A total of 10 people have been arrested in the case and a charge sheet has also been filed.

Later, Kanagaraj and Sayan's wife and daughter were killed in separate road accidents during the probe, even as another employee of the property was found dead, in a case of suspected suicide.

When the suit came up for hearing, Parasaran narrated the sequence of events and said a criminal case had been registered and investigation by police was underway.

Palaniswami had no connection with the incident and without any material evidence, the defendants were giving media interviews linking the chief minister to the case, he submitted.

Parasaran claimed that Mathew was operating with the two accused and that the allegations had been made without an iota of evidence only with the intention to defame the chief minister and the party he belongs to in view of the coming Lok Sabha election.

The counsel submitted that Kanagaraj died due to drunken driving and the other employee committed suicide and Palaniswami had nothing to do with the robbery or the deaths.

Parasaran alleged that Mathew, as the owner of Narada -- a website, was known for blackmailing officials using honey traps and had produced a CD containing one such purported conversation in support of his claim.

"The fact stated herein above clearly establishes prima facie case in my (client's) favour...the balance of convenience is in my favour for grant of injunction," the counsel said.

"Irreparable prejudice and loss would be caused to the plaintiff if the defendants are not restrained by the court from in any manner whatsoever continuing to make statements particularly alleging that the plaintiff had a role to play in the incident that had taken place on April 23, 2017 at the Kodanad estate and the accidental deaths later," he said.

Palaniswami has rejected the allegations against him but the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has been demanding his resignation.

The party has announced that it will hold a protest in front of the Raj Bhavan here on Thursday to demand action by Governor Banwarilal Purohit against Palaniswami.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Wednesday filed a defamation suit in the Madras High Court against a former magazine editor over a video clip linking the AIADMK leader to the 2017 Kodanad estate break-in case.

Palaniswami sought Rs 1.10 crore as damages from Samuel Mathew, former Tehelka managing editor, and a direction from the court to restrain the media from publishing or telecasting the latter's interviews.

On January 11, Mathew released a 16-minute video in which two accused persons in the case, K V Sayan and Valayar Manoj, allegedly linked Palaniswami to the case.

Senior counsel Satish Parasaran, appearing for Palaniswami, made a mention before Justice K Kalyanasundram for urgent hearing of the suit.

It is expected to be taken up late Wednesday evening.

Palaniswami has rejected the allegations but the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has been demanding his resignation.

The party has announced that it will hold a protest in front of the Raj Bhavan here on Thursday to demand action by Governor Banwarilal Purohit against Palaniswami.

On April 23, 2017, the security guard of the Kodanad estate, the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa's retreat home in the hilly district of the Nilgiris, was murdered in a robbery attempt by a 10-member gang.

It emerged during the probe that Jayalalithaa's former driver C Kanagaraj and Sayan had allegedly plotted the crime. A total of 10 people have been arrested in the case and a charge sheet has also been filed.

Later, Kanagaraj and Sayan's wife and daughter were killed in separate road accidents during the probe, even as another employee of the property was found dead, in a case of suspected suicide.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Key members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including from India and South Korea, will meet on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum summit in Davos on Thursday and Friday to discuss reform measures of the multilateral body, an official said.

Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan will represent India in the mini-ministerial meeting of the WTO, the official said.

The meeting move assumes significance in the backdrop of growing protectionism in the global trade, hurting the confidence of the WTO.

Certain members want to further strengthen the 164-member body to make it more effective.

WTO chief Roberto Azevedo had said the US has some concerns on the way the global trade body functions.

The US has stated that the world has changed since the formation of the WTO in 1995 and wants some upgrade and reforms in the Geneva-based body.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu had earlier stated that India would prepare an agenda for the meeting in consultation with developed as well as developing countries.

According to industry sources, India is expected to present a paper for reforming the WTO.

Duty hike by the US on certain steel and aluminium products has triggered a trade war kind of situation.

The rich nations are forming groupings to prepare ground for pushing new issues such as investment facilitation, preparing rules for e-commerce, promoting gender equality and reducing subsidy on fisheries.

India has been keenly pushing agricultural issues at the WTO.

The talks at the WTO's 11th ministerial conference collapsed after the US went back on its commitment to find a permanent solution to the public food stockholding issue, a key matter for India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kerala on Wednesday opposed the plea of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, seeking to make two Devaswom boards --Travancore and Cochin -- independent of government control.

In an affidavit filed before a bench of Justices U U Lalit and Indira Banerjee, the state government said the petition needs to be dismissed with costs as it is devoid of merit.

"There is no arbitrariness in the process of nominations and election to the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards and the same is done in good faith adhering to the principles and letter and spirit laid out in the Act that has been enacted as per the covenant signed by the Maharaja of Travancore and Cochin with the representative of Indian union and after weighing scrupulously all the options by the legislatures," the affidavit said.

On October 12, last year, the apex court had sought response of the Kerala government and two Devaswom boards on the plea by Swamy.

Swamy said that he was aggrieved by the Kerala High Court judgment refusing to strike down various sections of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950.

He had said that these sections of the Act were in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution and also arbitrary.

In his plea, Swamy said that before the high court it was alleged arbitrariness in the process of nominations and elections of the members to the Travancore Devaswom Board and the Cochin Devaswom Board.

"The two Devaswom Boards administer most of the temples situated in the erstwhile Travancore - Cochin part of the present State of Kerala that includes Kollam, Trivandrum, Ernakulam, Idukki and Thrissur Districts in Kerala and part of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu," he said in his plea.

Swamy said that petitioner T G Mohan Das had submitted before the high court that the method of nomination and appointment of the members to the two Devaswom boards are undemocratic and are in derogation of the fundamental religious and administrative rights of the devotees to be part of such process.

Swamy's plea said that the high court erred in rejecting the contention that when a temple is taken over by the state government on the allegation of mismanagement, is it not incumbent on the government to return the management of the temple to its original owners on the evil being remedied.

He had said that the entire Act including the provisions ought to have been struck down as the statute takes over the temples for an indefinite period.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Attending a gathering of Imams of mosques in the city, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday warned against division of votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Delhi and claimed that the Congress would not win a single seat in the national capital.

At the event hosted by the Delhi Waqf Board, its chairman and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan said the hike in the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins (mosque staff who give the prayer call) of the 200-odd mosques under the board will be implemented from February.

He added that the salaries of the Imams and Muajjins of 1,500 other mosques in the city would also be increased.

Urging the Imams to support the AAP, Khan said, "People are saying they will vote for the Congress because the next prime minister will be from that party. If that is indeed so, we will also extend support to the Congress, but in Delhi, only the AAP can defeat the BJP, not the Congress."



Echoing the same sentiment, Kejriwal said, "If I felt the Congress could win, the AAP would give them all the seven seats (in Delhi) and leave the contest in their favour. The Congress cannot win even a single seat in Delhi."



Asking the gathering to be wary of division of votes, he said it would help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win all the seven seats in Delhi.

"If your votes are divided, the country will suffer immensely," the chief minister said.

Explaining the "vote mathematics" to the Imams, Kejriwal pointed out that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all the seven seats in Delhi by polling 46 per cent votes, whereas the AAP had got 33 per cent and the Congress 15 per cent votes.

"It is being said that the BJP is going to lose 10 per cent votes. If these votes go to the Congress, the BJP will win again. But if the AAP gets these votes, we will bag the seven seats," he said.

The AAP supremo also told the gathering that there was no need to bother about who would become the next prime minister.

"The TV channels are showing the polls as a contest between (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. Do not get confused by it because it is a misconception.

"Neither Modi nor Rahul will become the prime minister. We will support anyone else who becomes the prime minister," he said, hinting at a "mahagathbandhan" or grand alliance of non-Congress parties.

Just as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and K Chandrashekar Rao in Telangana could defeat the BJP in their respective states, the AAP could also defeat the Modi-Shah duo in the national capital, Kejriwal said.

"If Modi and (BJP chief Amit) Shah return in 2019, the country and the Constitution will be endangered. They will break the country like Hitler," he added.

The AAP national convener also accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of meeting the locals at the parks of the city and attempting to shift the "anti-Modi" votes to the Congress.

"They apparently speak against Modi, saying even the Congress was better than him. It is a ploy to shift votes to the Congress and if that happens, the BJP will win the Lok Sabha polls," he said.

Delhi ministers Imran Hussain and Kailash Gahlot also urged the gathering to ensure the AAP's victory in the national capital in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

Khan said, "Do not waste your vote. The votes will be wasted if given to the Congress. Vote for the AAP if you want to defeat the BJP."



The Delhi Waqf Board chairman said the increased salaries of the Imams and Muajjins would be paid in their bank accounts in February.

The board has decided to hike the existing monthly salaries of Imams (Rs 10,000) and Muajjins (Rs 9,000) to Rs 18,000 and Rs 16,000 respectively.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday met the family members of a sanitation worker who died while cleaning a drain in Wazirabad area, and assured them of a job and compensation of Rs 10 lakh.

The visit by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal came a day after Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit said she will meet the family.

The 37-year-old contractual sanitation worker, Kishan, suffocated to death after he got trapped inside an underground drain of Irrigation and Flood Control Department in north Delhi's Wazirabad area on Sunday.

"Its very sad. We will give a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and job to one of the family member of the deceased sanitation worker," Kejriwal said after meeting the family at Gandhi Vihar area.

Delhi government has set a very stringent norm for cleaning of drains and sewers, but many times, some contractors and engineers violate the rule and ask the labourers to enter the drain or sewer without proper safety kit, he said.

"This also prima facie looks like a similar case. We will take strong action against the contractor and the engineer involved in this," he said.

Dikshit is scheduled to meet the family of the deceased sanitation worker at 5pm today, said a Congress leader.

The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) has sent a notice to the Delhi government over the incident.

It said that reportedly workers at the site were "not provided" safety gears such as face masks, breathing apparatus, uniforms and other equipment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Karnataka Deputy ChiefMinister G Parameshwara Wednesday questioned the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the funeral of111-year old Sree Shivakumara Swami of Siddaganga mutt.

"PM Modi attends celebrity weddings, meets movie stars but skips the funeral of our NadedaDuva devaru (walking god), who dedicated his life to help the poor & the marginalised.

Repeated requests to confer Bharat Ratna on him have gone invain.

Truly well-deserved recipient of Kotler Award," Parameshwara tweeted.

The seer, who passed away on Monday, was laid to rest Tuesday with full state honours at the premises of the seminary that he headed for over seven decades.

While inaugurating the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, Modi had said the country would always remember the seer's work for mankind.

Condoling the demise of Shivakumara Swami, Modi had said he was always showered with love and blessings by the seer during their interactions.

Union ministers D V Sadananda Gowda and Nirmala Sitharaman had paid their last respects to the seer.

Meanwhile, commenting on the Deputy Chief Minister's statement, Karnataka Home Minister M B Patil said the Prime Minister shouldhave attended the funeral if he had no other engagements.

"It is not right on my part to react on that, you can ask this question to the Deputy Chief Minister.

Maybe, he (DCM)is right if the Prime Minister did not have any otherengagements, he should have been...because everybody knewabout services of the great Maha swamiji...," he said.

Reacting to Parameshwara's comment, Karnataka BJP said "PM Modiji knows Indian traditions and has always valued religious icons unlike your opportunist president (Rahul Gandhi).

"A party that wanted to divide Lord Basavanna's Lingayat community who's preaching's Shivakumara Swamiji believed in has now resorted to politics over Shris lingaikya.

#Shame," the state BJP said in a tweet.

The Prime Ministers visit may be "difficult" despite hispersonal desire to come, state BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa had saidon Monday, citing non-availability of security permission fromDelhi and trouble that devotees may have had to face during thevisit as the reasons for it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kamala Harris, the first Indian-origin Senator, has raised a whopping more than USD 1 million funds within 24 hours after announcing her presidential bid for 2020, according to a media report.

Harris, 54, officially launched her campaign for the US presidential election in 2020 to take on President Donald Trump on Monday, saying she was "honoured" to announce her bid on a day when Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr who sought inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi.

In the 24 hours after Harris made the announcement on ABC's "Good Morning America", 38,000 donors gave USD 1.5 million to her campaign, the Fox reported.

"Thanks to to you, we surpassed USD 1.5 million in grassroots contributions in under 24 hours," Harris tweeted.

In fact, within the first 12 hours alone, Harris' campaign registered USD 1 million in funding, and the average donation was around USD 37, the report said mentioning the Wall Street Journal.

Harris also raised more than USD 110,000 from merchandise, which includes a tote bag, a T-shirt featuring her "Kamala Harris for the people" slogan and a hat, according to the Journal.

A vocal critic of President Donald Trump, Harris is the fourth Democrat to join the battle for the party's nomination in the 2020 election.

While it's too early to say on the results of the grilling presidential primary that would conclude with the Democratic National Convention in July 2020, the Indian-American community leaders said Harris - who is of mixed parental heritage from India and the Caribbean - has a fair and clear shot at the White House.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
"Yes, Jaipur. Of course, Jaipur Literature Festival where else," a passenger on the Delhi-Jaipur Shatabadi train told a co-traveller.

It is that time of the year again when all roads lead to Jaipur, which is gearing up to host over 350 writers, thinkers, humanitarians, politicians and more at the annual literary extravaganza that is the JLF.

Scheduled to begin on Thursday, the five-day festival, attended by tens of thousands of visitors, will once again be held at the historic Diggi Palace, which with all the decorations seems nothing less than a wedding venue.

"Our world is changing so fast... this year we have sessions on artificial intelligence, genetics and what the future holds for our planet. There is a new term now -- cli-fi. We have a beautiful session on cli-fi (climate fiction) on what would happen if bees disappear.

"I feel at this moment in our country it is very very important to give impetus to empirical thinking," said Namita Gokhale, co-director of the festival.

Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan will speak on the 'Importance of Science', cosmologist Priyamvada Natarajan and professor of AI Toby Walsh will educate the audience on topics like 'Mapping The Heavens' and 'How the Future is Now'. respectively.

Co-director William Dalrymple announced earlier this month that he would not be able to make it to the festival this year due to the passing away of his father.

"Apologies, but I am going to miss Jaipur this year in order to attend to family affairs following the death of my beloved Pop (father). It's just too soon after his death, which has been a huge blow for me and my family, and I need to be with them and deal with the aftermath of his passing," the author and historian tweeted.

Among the speakers to watch out for this year are two Pulitzer prize-winning authors, Andrew Sean Greer and Colson Whitehead, writer Andre Aciman of "Call Me By Your Name" fame, and feminist icons Mary Beard and Germaine Greer.

Ben Okri, writer of Man-Booker-winning "The Famished Road", English historian Bettany Hughes, British-Nigerian historian David Olusoga and bestselling novelist Jeffrey Archer will also be participating in the event.

Speakers from within the country include politician-author Shashi Tharoor, diplomat Navtej Sarna, Kishwar Desai, Ira Mukhoty, Amitabha Bagchi, Amitava Kumar, Anita Nair, Devdutt Pattanaik, Makarand Paranjape, Naina Lal Kidwai and Rana Dasgupta.

The sixth edition of Jaipur BookMark (JBM), which runs parallel to the literary festival, kicked off on Wednesday with a key-note address by Juergen Boos, the CEO of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A keen contest is on the cards for the Jind Assembly bypoll with all major political parties- the ruling BJP, Opposition INLD, and newly floated Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) - slugging it out to ensure victory of their candidates.

The high-stake electionslated for January 28 is being viewed as a referendum on the Manohar Lal Khattar government and also a semi-final ahead of Lok Sabha

The bypoll, which was to be a direct contest between the BJP and the INLD, turned into a multi-cornered fight after the and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) fielded their candidates.

fielded Jat leader and AICC communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, a sitting legislator from Kaithal and JJP, a breakaway party from the Chautala family-led Indian National Lok Dal, nominated political greenhorn Digvijay Singh Chautala.

ALSO READ: Jannayak Janta Party fields Digvijay Singh Chautala for Jind bypoll

JJP came into being after a split in the following a power struggle in Chautala family.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of legislator Hari Chand Midha.

The BJP is banking on Middh'a son Krishan Middha, a Punjabi, while has nominated local Jat leader Umedh Singh Redhu, who is also backed by a faction of prominent Kandela Khap (caste council).

While the Chautala-led INLD claimed Congress and JJP have fielded "imported" candidates, both Randeep and Digvijay are promising unparalleled development for the area, if elected.

The bypoll has brought together the Congress rank as party's top leaders, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state party chief Ashok Tanwar, late CM Bhajan Lal's son Kuldeep Bishnoi, CLP leader Kiran Choudhary and party MP Kumari Selja have taken to the streets to ensure Surjewala's victory.

Surjewala's campaign had got a shot in the arm after a heavy weight from the area and Independent MLA from Kalayat Jai Prakash and former minister Mange Ram Gupta lending support to him.

Prakash, a Jat leader, had been seeking the Congress ticket for his son Vikas Saharan.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, cabinet ministers Rambilas Sharma, Capt Abhimanyu and Manish Grover have been campaigning for Middha.

Political pundits say the dormant Jat community votes are likely to be divided among Surjewala, Redhu and Digvijay as all of them are Jats which can tilt the balance in favour of the BJP candidate.

ThefledglingJJP got a boost with the AAP announcing support for its nominee.

The cancellation of furlough of INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala from Tihar Jail on the directive of the Delhi government led to a verbal duel between warring factions.

Chautala hit back at his grandsons Dushyant and Digvijay, accusing them of "back-stabbing" him and "conspiring" with AAP to keep him out of the campaigning, a charge denied by the Hisar MP.

Playing an emotional card, Chautala in an open letter to the electorate said that he was unwell and in hospital.

"Despite being unwell, I wanted to come to you (seek votes). I gave an application of furlough to jail authorities which was approved from January 17 with riders that I will have to stay at Teja Khera farm house at Sirsa and should not participate in any political activities.

"It is an injustice. However, all limits were crossed when the furlough from January 21 was cancelled. This has happened due to a conspiracy by Dushyant, Digvijay and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. I have been back-stabbed. I appeal to the electorate to vote for INLD candidate Umedh Singh to avenge the conspiracy hatched against me," Chautala has written in the letter.

Sneh Lata, wife of Chautala senior is being heard in a video saying, "If I die tomorrow, these four persons (Ajay, his wife Naina and their sons Dushyant and Digvijay should not touch my body)."



Hitting back, Naina asks, "Have you ever heard someone cursing her sons and grandsons".

The electioneering has brought about sharp differences in the Chautala clan.

While the BJP brokered peace with Kandela Khap (caste council) chief Tek Ram, a ticket aspirant, Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala apologised to villagers for the infamous firing incident in 2002 during the Chautala regime which led to death of farmers.

Middha is relying on "all round development" done during Khattar's over four years regime.

INLD's Umedh and Congress' Surjewala are banking upon anti-incumbency of ruling BJP alleging the saffron party "failed" to honour its poll promises.

The candidate of Lok Suraksha Manch Vinod Kumar Arshi could also play spoilsport in a multi-cornered contest.

Arshi, a Brahmin leader from Jind is a nominee put up by BJP's rebel MP from Kurukshetra, Raj Kumar Saini who is Manch's patron. Saini has an influence among voters from OBC communities.
Jharkhand marked the 122nd birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Wednesday by collecting "soil" from different places of the state that produced martyrs to build statues in their honour.

Saluting Bose for his immense contribution in the freedom struggle, Chief Minister Raghubar Das said, "... our brave ancestors fought against the atrocities of the British and the Mughals. We feel blissful to have the sacred soil (from the places of the martyrs in Jharkhand), which will be give the shape of statue."



Das was speaking at a function at the Morahbadi ground where soil from the places of martyrs in the state brought by the people was collected and statues would be built in their honour.

"I bow before Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose for his Azad Hind Fauj took on the British ...," Das said.

The state government has earmarked Rs 25 crore for constructing statues of Birsa Munda and other martyrs so that the generations next would remember their bravery, Das said.

"... the state government will make their statues and will also place their heroic history on the world screen with golden letters," Das said, adding it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who paid obeisance to Birsa Munda from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

The state government will also construct statue of martyrs of 1857 at the Birsa Munda Jail Museum, Das said.

Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Sudarshan Bhagat said, "I pay tributes to the martyrs. The martyrs of the state sowed valour against the British rule. With the efforts of the Central and the state governments, their statues are being constructed to honour them, for the first time.

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James McAvoy has given a shout-out to Hollywood action heroes such as Dwayne Johnson, Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth for their dedication towards gruelling workout regimes.

The actor, whose last release was "Glass" in which he reprised his role of multiple-personality sufferer Kevin Wendell Crumb, hired Magnus Lygdback as personal trainer to achieve the required physique.

Lygdback has trained Gal Gadot for "Wonder Woman 1984" and Alicia Vikander for "Tomb Raider".

"I was like, 'OK. I'm going to have my shirt off, aren't I?' And (Shyamalan) was like, 'Yep.'



"Guys like The Rock and Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth - the guys who keep themselves in that condition every day. That dedication is incredible," McAvoy told USA Today.

One of Kevin's split personalities is the Beast, the dark, animal-like persona which required him to be in shape.

"I knew I had to get down in the gym and kind of back up his name. I had to give a little bit of aesthetic credibility to that fear that he's supposed to inspire in people. You're in every day working your socks off (acting), and you're also in the gym at five in the morning and then pretty much working out on set whenever you are the Beast to get you all pumped up and get your veins popping and get the relevant muscles swollen for the shot," McAvoy said.

"He's not like a supervillain in most movies who is like, 'I look like I've got a six pack and I'm going to destroy the world!' He is not a megalomaniacal, despotic human. He is alien. He is animal. He is other than human. Just standing still as the Beast was tiring in a way that no other character is," he added.

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Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday called for a united Europe saying a sense of despair is spreading where even middle class is facing poverty and everyone fears tomorrow to be worse than today.

In a special address here at the WEF Annual Meeting, he said Italian people are questioning the validity and credibility of the European project without regarding its historical merits.

"Our experience might be an indication of what Europe will look like tomorrow," he said.

"A sense of despair is spreading. Even the middle class is facing poverty. Everyone feels that tomorrow will be worse than today," he added.

Conte became the Prime Minister of Italy in June 2018, after two populist parties formed a coalition government. Prior to that, the 53-year old law professor was little known in politics.

Italy is the euro zone's third largest economy but there are concerns about stagnant economic growth and stubbornly high youth unemployment.

Conte proposed some urgent interventions to "heal our severe social wounds", including citizen income and a flexible retirement age.

He said a much bigger intervention is needed to get rid of inequality and injustice, and for that, there needs to be a major rewriting of the rules to give the power back to the people.

"We are radical... because we want to bring the power back to the people," he said.

Conte said Italy did not want to walk this path of change alone and Europeans would be much stronger in upholding the original dream of Europe, if they are united.

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The future of higher depends on internationalisation of public and private universities and great institutions worldwide have a direct relationship with the development of economy and society, Vice Chanceller of O P Jindal Global University (JGU) C Raj Kumar has said.

Speaking at the Caspian Week at the 2019 World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland, he said there was a need to take universities seriously which required significant funding, resources and better governance.

"In the era of robotics, mega-data, artificial intelligence and dynamic change, only universities of global standards will prosper, equipped with the ability to innovate and grasp the latest cutting-edge knowledge and research," said a JGU statement quoting Kumar.

Speaking on the theme, 'Philanthropy and Higher Education', Kumar urged the leaders representing government organisations, trade and industry to focus on the growth and development of universities.

"We need to take our universities more seriously. Our universities need significant funding, resources and indeed better governance," he said.

This can only enable them to focus on imparting world-class that will promote innovative pedagogy in teaching and rigorous research, leading to outstanding publications by the faculty and internationalisation that will provide globally engaged opportunities to the faculty and students of the universities, he added.

The statement claimed that Kumar was the only Indian vice chancellor who was invited to speak at this year's WEF in Davos.

Kumar said great universities around the world had a direct relationship with the development of economy and society.

The new innovations that are taking place in the fields of science, technology, engineering and medicine expect individuals and institutions to drive this change through universities, he said.

The knowledge, expertise and skills that will shape the future will arise out of universities and hence, regardless of the state of economic development of a nation, they need to focus on building sound institutional capacities of their universities, he said.

Kumar further said that out of the 26,000 universities in the world, Asia had nearly 13,000 and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping was home to 9,000 universities.

However, he added, the challenge was how to build the universities with a focus on excellence through recruitment of outstanding faculty, international engagement and cutting-edge research.

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A socialist Indian-origin teenager has defended his scholarship to one of Britain's most well-known schools associated largely with the rich and famous as a means to tackle injustice.

Hasan Patel, a staunch supporter of Britain's Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn who became the youngest person to address the party's annual conference last year at the age of 15, bagged a GBP 76,000 scholarship to the prestigious Eton College in London after a series of rigorous entrance requirements.

He was attacked on social media as a "champagne socialist" for accepting the privilege but he fought back.

"I'm being called a 'traitor, hypocrite, selfish champagne socialist' for accepting a scholarship to Eton College. I've worked so hard for this and you're not going to put me down," he wrote on Twitter.

"Instead of attacking me, why aren't we talking about the inequalities in the system," he questioned.

The 16-year-old, who has attracted thousands of supporters online with his anti-establishment posts using his Twitter handle @CorbynistaTeen, said the scholarship does not mean that his politics would change.

"This is an opportunity I cannot refuse and it won't mean my politics will change. I'll still be the same kid fighting for social justice," he said.

Patel clinched his place at the world-famous institution, which has produced many global political leaders and is the alma mater of the likes of Princes William and Harry and former British Prime Minister David Cameron, after a tough three-day assessment, including three exams, seven interviews and a group interview.

"I never thought when I left India that my son would end up going to the same school as English royalty. All of his family are incredibly proud. We want him to go to Oxford or Cambridge. Being at Eton he will have a very good chance," said Hasan's 69-year-old father Abdul Patel.

Hasan, who has been enrolled at a state-funded school in the East End of London as a child, is set to study for his A-Levels in history, geography, politics and drama from September to be able to qualify for university.

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India's economy is expected to grow at 7.4 per cent during 2018-19 and improve to 7.6 per cent in the next fiscal, said a Wednesday.

The United Nations' World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019 report also expects India's gross domestic product (GDP) to expand by 7.4 per cent in 2020-21.

"Growth continues to be underpinned by robust private consumption, a more expansionary fiscal stance and benefits from previous reforms," said the report.

It further said a more robust and sustained recovery of private investment would remain crucial to lift medium-term growth.

Referring to the global economy, the report said it would continue to grow at a steady pace of around 3 per cent in 2019 and 2020 amid signs that growth has peaked.

"However, a worrisome combination of development challenges could further undermine growth," it added.

UN Secretary-General cautioned that while global economic indicators remain largely favourable, "they do not tell the whole story".

He further said the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2019 "raises concern" over the sustainability of global economic growth in the face of rising financial, social and environmental challenges.

(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.)
India has shown to the world that it can grow irrespective of the government in power, but there is an urgent need to ensure all-inclusive economic expansion by addressing the twin problem of unemployment and farmers' distress, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath said Wednesday.

Addressing a session on emerging market outlook here at the WEF Annual Meeting, Nath said India is heading towards becoming the world's second largest economy but that is happening because of lot many factors.

"India grows irrespective of the government policies and is driven by its tremendously aspirational young generation," the Chief Minister of one of the India's largest state Madhya Pradesh said.

He, however, cautioned that there is huge unemployment and that coupled with issues faced by farmers are the biggest problems faced by India.

Any policy decision should focus on these issues to unlock India's huge growth potential, Nath who had held various ministerial positions at the central government said.

On importance of sustainable economic growth and why it is not a political issue in India, Nath said, it was indeed a political issue in the country and India was certainly addressing issues like environment.

On inequality, he said the figures released by Oxfam are indeed distressing and a lot needs to be done for this disparity to be removed.

According to the Oxfam study, in the year 2018, the top one per cent of the country's richest got richer by 39 per cent as against just 3 per cent increase in wealth for the bottom-half of the population.

Oxfam further said, 13.6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10 per cent of the country, continue to remain in debt since 2004.

Nath said there is a need to look at the "distributed justice" in a new way.

"There is a global disorder in all facets, whether it's economy or politics and all of this needs to be looked at in a holistic manner. Unless that is done, this disparity will further increase," he said.

Problems in India and for Indian farmers are different from what is the problem of inequality in the US and therefore the solutions would need to be different, he said.

Nath noted that it's very important that rule based trading systems remain in place for the global trade to happen.

"Nowadays bilateral trade deals are happening a lot, raising questions about multilateral frameworks," said Nath who also served as a union commerce minister in the past.

He added that India has always supported rules based trade systems and it will fully support it. But one must understand that free trade should also mean fair trade.

Hong Kong SAR Government CEO Carrie Lam said the emerging economies also need to ensure that their economic growth is inclusive. She said her country spends almost 60 per cent of GDP on social services.

On sovereign issues raised by India on China's Belt and Road Initiative and how it can impact the economic international cooperation, Lam said such issues need a "constructive dialogue".

Turkey's Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said the humanitarian aspects of economic growth is very important.

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By Daisy K, TwoCircles.net

How does one interpret the life and works of Dr BR Ambedkar? Who speaks for, about him, and where? What is the significance of Jai Bhim in students protests across the Indian universities? What is the importance of Ambedkars views, analyses and opinions for todays generation? These are the questions that filmmaker Jyoti Nisha, currently a student at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai, seeks to answer in her upcoming documentary: B R Ambedkar: Now and Then.

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Slated to be released later this year, Jyotis documentary aims to look at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkars life, politically, and delve into the representation and assertion of Bahujan politics in todays time. Questioning caste in India, the documentary will also include several other commentaries on religion, revolution, politics, and freedom of speech.

In a conversation with TwoCircles.net, Jyoti, who hails from an Ambedkarite family from Lucknow, talks about memories of her father who was a cadre of BAMCEF (The All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation) started by Saheb Kanshiram. These early influences in her life, Jyoti says, along with readings of Ambedkars work at a later stage sparked the curiosity towards Ambedkar and his ideas. Starting off her professional career in journalism, Jyoti later enrolled at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) for a screenwriting course. She is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi.

The beginning of 2016 marked a turning point for Jyoti, with an eruption of mass protests by students across India against the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, a PhD Scholar at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) by the casteist administration. In the past two years, not only has India witnessed waves of student-led protests but also an onslaught of clamping down on artists, filmmakers from marginalised communities in academic institutions, alongside a closing down of grants and scholarships for students.

An important aspect of these protests were the sounds of Jai Bhim and the articulation of Ambedkars ideas by Dalit-Bahujan students.

When questioned about the documentary and what led her to embark on this project, Jyoti says, It felt like some people had been given more power while others had been denied the same. So it became important to understand why a victim in Una or a scholar like Rohit Vemula is saying Jai Bhim.

She says, Like Babasaheb said, if you dont share ideas of the people, the people also die and during this time, there was a spurt of assertive voices in universities, media, popular musiceverything was happening at the same time, and I felt it was really important to document it. She set off on a journey to encapsulate the ideas and influence of Ambedkar on peoples lives, the different dimensions of Bahujan politics and also to break the upper-caste narrativizing and appropriation of Ambedkars ideas.

Jyoti initially financed the work on the documentary through her own savings along with help from her sisters. She started on the documentary around two and a half years ago. Jyoti along with cameraperson Pooja, who is a graduate of the JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, has travelled across India meeting the family of Rohith Vemula, visiting Bhima Koregaon, Saharanpur, the home of Bhim Army in Uttar Pradesh and Una in Gujarat.

B. R. Ambedkar: Now and Then has been shot across eight different states throughout India, capturing the celebrations, protests, marches, conferences, interviews, activism, all of are key parts of Bahujan culture. Speaking about the process of documentary filmmaking, Jyoti says, filmmaking is an audiovisual medium which takes you very far because you connect it with yourself and with your politics. If you want to bring in a revolution you cannot bring it in isolation, you have to have people together, which has the feeling of community and sharing, so I thought film would be the best medium.

Her documentary has some of the people who were associated with Ambedkars life including monk Pragyanand Bhante who was one of the seven monks who witnessed Ambedkars conversion, Bahujan activists and intellectuals from various different universities from India and abroad, activists, student leaders, lawyers, academician, musicians, and filmmakers from Bahujan background form an important part of the documentary. The background music reflects Jyotis own taste in music. She has used a fusion of electronic, Buddhist chants, qawwali, Punjabi folk and others.

Jyoti plans to release the documentary later this year. She has also just started a crowdfunding campaign to raise Rs 20 lakh in 60 days to cover the costs of the post-production of the documentary.
An Indian couple, who fell to their deaths in October reportedly while taking a selfie at a steep cliff in California's Yosemite National Park, were intoxicated at the time of the tragic fall, according to an autopsy report.

Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and his wife, Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, were "intoxicated with ethyl alcohol" prior to falling 800 feet from Taft Point on October 25, but no drugs were present in their bodies, according to the autopsy report. Ethyl alcohol is found in alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and hard liquor.

Due to the condition of the bodies after the extreme fall, investigators were unable to accurately discern a specific level of intoxication, Andrea Stewart, assistant Mariposa County coroner said.

"All we can conclude is that they had been drinking and that they had alcohol in their systems. We don't know how much," Stewart was quoted as saying by Mercury

The couple from Kerala died "of multiple injuries to the head, neck, chest and abdomen, sustained by a fall from a mountain, the report said.

The couple had been married since 2014. Both graduated in 2010 from the College of Engineering, Chengannur, in Kerala. Viswanath was a software engineer with Cisco India at the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Moorthy and Viswanath who showcased their adventure-seeking travels on Instagram had set up a tripod at Taft Point before they fell 800 feet down the side of a steep cliff.

The tripod was later discovered on the edge of the overlook. Viswanath's brother, Jishnu Viswanath said it appeared the couple died trying to take a photo.

Viswanath and his wife Moorthy, travelled the world documenting their trips to locales like the Grand Canyon, Paris, New York City, Niagara Falls, London, Big Sur and other scenic destinations.

Just months before her tragic death, Moorthy had warned in an Instagram post the dangers of taking photographs on the edge of cliffs and atop skyscrapers.

She posted a picture of herself at the Grand Canyon, saying in the caption that A lot of us including yours truly is a fan of daredevilry attempts of standing at the edge of cliffs. But did you know that wind gusts can be fatal? Is our life worth one photo?



In an eerie coincidence, Moorthy appears in the selfie of another tourist couple at Taft Point, just minutes before she plummeted to her death.

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Indian-American Senator Kamala Harris has emerged at the top of a Daily Kos straw poll released Wednesday, two days after she officially plunge in the 2020 US presidential race.

Harris, 54, garnered 27 per cent of the 28,000 votes, followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren with 18 per cent, Daily Kos said Wednesday as it released the results of its second straw poll.

Former US vice president Joe Biden who has not announced his 2020 bid yet was on the third slot with 13 per cent and Senator Bernie Sanders fourth with 12 per cent. Sanders is yet to announce his candidature.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has been at the bottom of the straw poll with just one per cent of the straw poll members voting for the first Hindu presidential candidate.

Harris announced her presidential bid on Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr Day. Within the first 24 hours of her announcement, she raised USD 1.5 million from small donors. She is not accepting donations from political action committees, a strong indication that she will not be influenced by lobbyists and special interest groups.

Fox on Wednesday said she has hired a number of staff from the 2016 Clinton campaign.

Harris has announced to hold her first presidential rally in her hometown of Oakland in California on January 27.

On Wednesday, Harris slammed President Donald Trump for the ongoing partial government shutdown.

"It's completely irresponsible that this president has kept the government closed for over a month. That's 33 days of anxiety and hurt for more than 800,000 federal workers who are trying to figure out how they are going to pay their rent or mortgage," Harris said.

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday brushed aside criticism that the Trump administration is not accessible to the press, saying that such an opinion is "absolutely laughable".

The White House has not held a conference -- its customary daily one -- for over a month now.

"I take questions from reporters every single day. The idea that this White House isn't accessible to the press is absolutely laughable," Sanders told 'Fox & Friends'.

However, she was noncommittal about the future of White House press briefings.

"We'll see what happens. As the president said yesterday, he doesn't like the decorum in the White House. Look, we are in the business of getting information to the American people, not making stars out of people that want to become contributors on CNN," Sanders said.

The White House Press Secretary has clashed with several high-profile White House reporters in the past, including CNN correspondent Jim Acosta and American Urban Radio Networks correspondent April Ryan, who is also a CNN contributor.

"We are more than happy to take questions, but we think there should be a certain level of decorum and a certain level of honesty and responsibility that comes with that," she said.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump had said he has asked Sanders not to do daily briefings. "The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the podium much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press," he tweeted.

"I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!" he said.

The White House Correspondent's Association (WHCA) has criticised the White House for not holding daily press briefings.

"This retreat from transparency and accountability sets a terrible precedent. Being able to question the press secretary or other senior government officials publicly helps the media tell Americans what their most powerful representatives are doing in their name," WHCA president Olivier Knox said in a statement.

"While other avenues exist to obtain information...briefing briefings can also be good for clearing out the underbrush of news: Is that meeting still on? Does he still plan to travel to X summit? When you're face to face with the president, you're generally more inclined to ask about headline items," he said.

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Artificial Intelligence technology firm Arya.ai, has been chosen by ICICI Lombard to implement its Deep Learning and Neural Networks platform to cut down processing time for health insurance customers needing hospitalisation, the company said Wednesday.

Arya.ai provides Artificial Intelligence solutions for the BFSI (Banking, financial services and insurance) industry.

The company said through plug and usable deep learning platform, Arya.ai automates most operational processes involved in banking and insurance, cutting down development as well as processing time leading to significantly better response time.

"For ICICI Lombard, the end-to-end solution by Arya.ai simplifies complex Claims processes with plug-and-play ease. Using Arya.ais robust Deep Learning techniques to handle large claim processes reduces time taken from many hours to a few seconds," Vinay Kumar Sankararapu, CEO and co-founder of Arya.ai, said.

ICICI Lombard is a private sector non-life insurer.

Arya.ai was set up in 2013 by IIT Bombay graduates Vinay Kumar Sankarapu and Deekshith Marla.

ICICI Lombards Chief Service, Operations & Technology Girish Nayak, said ICICI Lombard is the first Indian non-life insurance company to pioneer the use of Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning in health claim processing.

"Understanding medical diagnosis is a significantly complex activity for which we have deployed Aryas AI technology leading to reduced cashless claim request approval time from the earlier average of 60 minutes to under a minute now," he said.

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The International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) has signed an agreement with Korea Intelligent Automotive Parts and Promotion Institute (KIAPI) to increase cooperation in certification issues, an official statement said Wednesday.

The MoU would support Korean automotive Industry for Indian Certification of safety critical components as well as vehicles, the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises said in a statement.

It was signed on January 22 in Daegu City of South Korea.

"Enhancing awareness about future technologies in India and supporting Government of India for the formulation of regulations and creating testing infrastructure within the country will also be two major focus areas of this MoU," it said.

Apart from Indian certification, as per various Indian and Automotive Industry Standards, ICAT will collaborate with KIAPI in the field of future technologies like autonomous driving, electric vehicles, connected transportation, fuel cell vehicles and advanced driver-assistance systems.

MyungHo Sung, President KIAPI said that both the organizations will be able to provide services of certification as well as research and development.

ICAT, Manesar is one of the independent testing agencies under Central Motor Vehicle Rules notified by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for testing and certification of automobiles and their safety critical components.

KIAPI is a vehicle testing institute, located in Daegu, which supports parts suppliers, vehicle manufacturers and research institutes for developing next generation automotive technology.

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With the aim to synergise humanitarian mine action and joint peace operations, the Indian Africa Field Training Exercise (IAFTX) will be held in Pune from March 18 to 27, officials said Wednesday.

The final planning conference to work out the modalities for IAFTX 2019 is being conducted in Pune on Wednesday and Thursday, they said.

"Delegates from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda, Niger and Zambia are attending the conference," the Army said in a statement.

The field training exercise would be conducted at Aundh Military Station and College of Military Engineering in Pune from March.

"The joint training exercise is being conducted with more than a dozen African countries and India," the statement said, adding, it aims to synergise humanitarian mine action and joint peace operations.

The initial planning conference for the exercise was held in December 2018.

The IAFTX-2019 is a positive step towards growing political and military ties with the member nations of African continent and will boost the already strong strategic cooperation between the countries, it added.

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Nawazuddin Siddiqui says he does not advocate any ideology and believes no actor should have a take on any situation.

The actor is gearing up for the release of "Thackeray", a biopic on late Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray, who advocated the "Maharashtra for Maharashtrians" plank in the late 1960s.

Nawazuddin says an iron-clad ideology can hinder an artiste's growth, something he wants to steer clear of.

"I don't have any ideology, philosophy or take on anything. I am not a judgemental person. I am an actor and my job is to take up every role that excites me. If I will have a set ideology, my growth as an actor will be affected. I don't think actors should have their own ideologies," he told PTI in an interview.

The actor adds he feels blessed that he is getting the opportunity to play diverse roles - be it progressive Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto, notorious ganglord Gaitonde or Thackeray.

Known for his provocative statements, Thackeray targeted south Indians, accusing them of snatching jobs from local Marathi youths, in the late 1960s. He also dominated the headlines for his anti-Muslim comments.

Nawazuddin says Thackeray was someone who understood the pain of the people and he only concentrated on showing the leader's journey in the film.

"He was one person who helped thousands of needy people who were left jobless when the mills shut down. He was a renowned cartoonist, so what was the need for him to help these people? But he did. He understood the pain and emotions of these people.

"He encouraged people to take up higher studies, gain technical knowledge, take up jobs in various fields. His contribution is huge. As an actor I focused on getting his journey right."



The actor observes that Thackeray was "not a hypocrite" but was a man who was never afraid to share his point of view.

"People loved him for his honesty," he adds.

When senior Shiv Sena leader and film's writer-producer Sanjay Raut approached him to play the title role in the biopic, Nawazuddin recalls feeling both excitement and nervous.

"I got a call from his (Raut's) assistant from out of the blue. Within minutes of our meeting, he told me 'You are doing 'Thackeray', the film'.

"I had no clue what was happening and they explained all the details to me. I couldn't say much at that time, I kept quiet."



Nawazuddin's casting to play Thackeray came as a surprise and the actor says perhaps the makers thought he was the best man for the job.

Not so long ago, in the years before he became a star, the actor from Budhana village in UP's Muzaffarnagar reportedly could not act in the local Ram Lila because of his minority status following objections from the local Shiv Sena unit.

"Had they approached any actor, they would have said yes. Maybe they felt I was the right choice. I feel proud that they thought of me," he said.

When the film's trailer dropped South actor Siddharth and people from different walks of life, labelled "Thackeray" as a "propaganda film", to be released ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Nawazuddin, however, says he is amazed as how people have already drawn conclusions before even watching the film.

"I feel a hero's film is rather a propaganda film as they are shown as a person accomplished with all the right qualities and leading a successful life, etc.

"The film would show how a girl is in love with the hero without any reason. The hero has all the talent, the right values and everyone loves him. Those who hate him, he beats them all in one go. All of this has been accepted since over 50 years," he said.

Ask him about his "Gangs of Wasseypur" co-star Richa Chadha calling him "bipolar" for doing "Thackeray" apparently after "Manto", and Nawazuddin says, "Thousands of people say lot of things. I don't get bothered. I focus only on my work."



Nawazuddin also says he has taken a "conscious decision" of not doing supporting roles in future.

"I will not do that again. I have done supporting roles in the past and I think my quota is over. Every man does his time and I have done mine.

"I think everything in life has a time. Things change with time and one has to change with it. Today, I feel I should do lead roles. So I am doing it," he says.

"Thackeray", directed by Abhijit Panse, releases Friday.

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The Delhi High Court has initiated a PIL based on a letter opposing 3.8 per cent surcharge added to the power bills of BSES and BYPL consumers towards pension of erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) employees.

The letter was sent to the high court by a Federation of Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) of Yamuna Vihar in north-east Delhi.

The PIL was listed Wednesday before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao which did not sit as one of the judges was not available. The matter has been listed for hearing on February 4.

The Federation of RWAs has challenged the Delhi government's tariff order of March last year under which the surcharge was being levied.

The petitioner group has said the surcharge has been slapped on BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna Pvt Ltd (BYPL) consumers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government school teachers, on an indefinite strike since Tuesday, to return to work considering the interest of the students.

A division bench comprising justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam gave the interim direction on a petition by a class XII student opposing the strike.

It directed the teachers to join duty not later than January 25 and adjourned the matter to February 18.

The members of the Joint Action Council of Teachers Organisations- Government Employees Organisations (JACTO-GEO) have been on the strike since Tuesday, pressing their nine-point charter of demands, including reverting to the old pension scheme and seeking salary arrears.

Earlier on January 21, a single judge bench of the court had refused to entertain the petition.

The petitioner contended that the strike by the teachers associations would result in him being insufficiently equipped to compete on an equal footing during the application process for undergraduate courses as the class XII board exams and results would be delayed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Wednesday directed officials to ensure hundred per cent compliance on Business Reform Action Plan - 2018 by January 31 to further improve the state's Ease of Doing Business (EODB) ranking.

The EODB ranking this year is expected to be out by March.

Khattar was presiding over a meeting to review the progress regarding implementation of Business Reform Action Plan-2018here, an official release said.

As a result of industrial reforms, Haryana has made a considerable progress in terms of EODB ranking by climbing from the 14th spot to the third position in the country in 2018, Khattar said.

He directing the concerned departments to gear up to achieve the top position in EODB ranking this year.

"I will again review the progress of departments in this regard on February 6 and by then the pending reform points should be covered by the departments," he said.

This year, there will be 80 reform questions with weightage of 143 points, he said.

He said besides the compliance of reform questions, hundred per cent feedback of consumers getting various services would also form the basis of the ranking.

At the time of giving service through the portal of Haryana Enterprises Promotion Centre (HEPC), the consumers are asked to give feedback whether they are satisfied with the service delivery or not.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a management agreement with Bougary Holding Co. to develop Crowne Plaza Makkah Beban.



Scheduled to open in December 2019, the new hotel comprising 1,200 rooms will be worlds largest Crowne Plaza and will be a landmark hotel for IHG.



Strategically located in close proximity to the Holy Mosque, the hotel will join the existing InterContinental and Holiday Inn in the city and cater to the influx of pilgrim visits expected as part of Vision 2030.



IHG is the largest international hotel group in Saudi Arabia, both by number of hotels and number of rooms, and the latest signing is aligned with the companys strategy to expand its footprint in the kingdom.



Crowne Plaza Makkah Beban boasts a host of facilities including two restaurants and a coffee shop, a business centre and three meeting rooms (3,323-sq-m in total) to cater for a range of meetings and events.



Pascal Gauvin, managing director, India, Middle East & Africa, IHG said: Saudi Arabia offers great opportunities both in terms of domestic and inbound tourism and is central to our expansion strategy in the Middle East. We have a strong legacy in the kingdom and are proud to collaborate with Bougary Holding Co, represented by CEO Loay Bougary, to bring the worlds largest Crowne Plaza to the country. This is a milestone signing for us in the Middle East and is testament to our commitment to the market."



Bougary added: "We are proud to partner with a strong global player such as IHG on this milestone development. IHG is a trusted brand with in-depth knowledge of the kingdom and Crowne Plaza Makkah Beban will bring a full range of amenities to pilgrims and other travellers looking for a high-quality hospitality experience. We look forward to welcoming guests to the worlds largest Crowne Plaza in 2019.



IHG currently operates 23 Crowne Plaza hotels across the Middle East, with a further six due to open in the next three to five years. - TradeArabia News Service
A Nigerian national has been arrested for allegedly duping a Greater Noida resident of Rs 22 lakh on the pretext of offering him a job with a US-based beer company, police said on Wednesday.

Oja Olaniyi (34), a native of Lagos in Nigeria, was arrested by the Noida Cyber Cell in Bengaluru and brought here on Tuesday on transit remand, they said.

He had somehow learnt that the complainant, Rajkumar, who works in a private firm in Greater Noida, had applied for a job in a US-based beer company, a cyber cell official said.

"The accused then created a fake email id in the name of Jerry and posed to be from the US, representing the company," he said.

He had been communicating with Rajkumar over email and WhatsApp since June 2018 and solicited money from him, he added.

"He solicited about Rs 22 lakh over a period of time citing various purposes like security deposit, visa, travel and accommodation expenses," the official said.

Police said Rajkumar was even offered "job letter" after an "online interview" conducted by Olaniyi.

However, having spent so much money and not seeing anything fructify, Rajkumar sent a mail to the concerned company, following which the fraud was unearthed and he approached the police, the official said.

"Olaniyi, who was currently living in Bengaluru, was arrested yesterday and brought here," he said.

During the probe, it emerged that the accused had received the total amount in bank accounts of at least a dozen people from Karnataka and Mizoram, offering a small commission to them, the police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Wednesday said his government is committed to reservation for the Maratha community and will fight any legal challenge to the move.

Addressing a meeting in Navi Mumbai, he said the BJP- led government's decision to provide quota to the community in jobs and educational institutions was a well thought out move and not taken in haste.

"Be it reservation or education or employment we are going to stand firmly behind the community," Fadnavis said.

"We are fully prepared to fight it in courts," he said.

The CM said banks should give loans to youths from the community to set up their ventures.

He said in politics and social life one has to digest poison and give 'amrit' (divine syrup) to people like Lord Shiva.

"I have been doing the same for the last four years," Fadnavis said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In order to attract big foreign players in the sector, the government is considering measures to relax the mandatory 30 per cent local sourcing norms by allowing them more time to comply with the regulations, sources said.

Big firms may also be permitted to open online stores before setting up brick-and-mortar shops.

Currently, online sale by a player is allowed only after opening of physical outlet.

As per a proposal under active consideration of the government, single-brand foreign retailers may be allowed to adjust the incremental sourcing of goods from India for global operations during the initial 10 years from the current five years (beginning April 1 of the year of the opening of first store) against the mandatory sourcing requirement of 30 per cent of purchases from India, they added.

The relaxation, however, would be subject to a condition that a foreign entity would have to bring (FDI) in excess of USD 200 million within the first 2-3 years.

The move is aimed at attracting big players in the sector. The proposal requires approval of the union cabinet for implementation.

In January 2018, the government allowed 100 per cent in the sector, permitting foreign players in single-brand retail trade to set up own shops in India without government approval.

That time, the government also relaxed mandatory local sourcing requirement of 30 per cent by stating that a foreign retailer would be able to get credit from incremental increase in sourcing for its global operations from India towards the mandatory 30 per cent local sourcing requirement for its business in the country.

During April-June 2018-19, in India grew by 23 per cent to $12.75 billion. The Commerce and Industry Ministry has not released the foreign investment data after June 2018.
A group of robbers broke into an electronics showroom situated on Ring Road in Delhi's South Extension and looted articles worth lakhs of rupees, police said Wednesday.

The incident took place on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, they said.

A group of four to five robbers, who arrived in a car, broke open the glass door of the showroom and looted electronic goods estimated to be worth Rs 50 to 60 lakh before fleeing from the spot, a senior police officer said.

The entire incident was captured by CCTV cameras, he said.

Police teams have been formed to nab the accused persons and a case has been registered, the officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Global businesses led by giants like and have collaborated with the to launch a platform to accelerate workplace inclusion of LGBTI community worldwide.

Announcing the platform here at its annual meeting, the said the initiative is supported by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

It also gave a global call for to operationalise the UN standards of conduct to tackle the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) discrimination at workplace by 2020.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity not only violates universal basic human rights, it also adversely impacts the long-term economic prospects of individuals, businesses and countries, the said.

ALSO READ: The long road to a safe workplace

A 2017 UNAIDS study estimated the global cost of LGBTI discrimination at $100 billion per year.

Businesses have an important role to play in respecting and protecting human rights through fostering workplace inclusion for LGBTI people, the said.

The consortium who have joined the initiative include leading multinational such as Accenture, Deutsche Bank, EY, Mastercard, Microsoft, Omnicom and Salesforce.

To help business leaders realise LGBTI equality and inclusion for their global workforces, the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality, will operationalise the United Nations LGBTI Standards.

...By 2020, the project will enlist 50-100 from members and beyond to join the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality to implement UN LGBTI Standards.

It will also create a due-diligence framework for corporations to use in assessing the alignment of their policies with the Standards and to better understand the practical impact of their policies on LGBTI people.

The project will also develop a repository of LGBTI best practices and case studies from companies across multiple sectors, sharing insights and information on effective strategies, policies and processes for gathering the information needed to ensure LGBTI people are not being discriminated against when it comes to hiring, retaining and promoting employees.

Open, inclusive and diverse societies are also more innovative, which in turn leads to greater economic growth and this project aims to provide a platform for leaders from the private sector to accelerate process towards LGBTI inclusion globally, said Saadia Zahidi, Member of the Managing Board and Head of the WEF's Centre for the New Economy and Society.
A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in her house on the premises of the College of Military Engineering (CME) here in Maharashtra, police said Wednesday.

Police also found the body of a 24-year-old suspect hanging from a tree on the campus, an officer said, adding that he might have committed suicide.

Prima facie, the accused, whose name has been withheld by police, committed the crime after the girl's mother, a widow, spurned his marriage proposal.

The man and the mother of the victim work in the CME's mess as civil staff and live on the premises.

The incident came to light Tuesday evening when the woman found the girl in an unconsciouscondition when she returned home from work.

"She took the girl to a state-run hospital near the campus, where doctors informed her that the seven-year-old was sexually assaulted before being strangulated, and alerted police," the officer said.

During inquiry, the woman told the police the accused had proposed to marry her after her husband died some months ago, however, she rejected the offer.

The officer said the accused and the woman had a heated argument over the issue on Monday night, after which he threatened her of dire consequences.

"Since he was the prime suspect in the case, we started tracing his location. During the search, we found his body hanging from a tree on the CME premises," the officer added.

Police have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including murder and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Further investigation is underway.

CME is a premier technical and tactical training institution of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers which is situated at Dapodi on national highway 4, adjacent to the Khadki cantonment, a large Army base in Pune district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday referred to gross domestic product (GDP) as a "fancy figure" and said that economic growth must translate into well-being of people on ground.

At a session on emerging market outlook at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019 here, Nath also strongly defended his government's farm loan waiver decision, saying the agricultural sector in India and particularly in his state has been in distress.

Referring to the latest IMF forecast for the Indian economy, he said, "GDP is a fancy figure and at times it can be misleading as one needs to see where all a 7.5 per cent growth figure translates into."



Defending the loan waiver, the senior Congress leader, who also had a long stint in the central government in various ministries, said it was necessary as agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and he had to take into account the distress the farmers were in.

He said the waiver amounts to USD 8 billion, but what it also means is taking over the loans of scheduled banks that had gone bad and the lenders had taken a haircut in the process.

Anyway, an NPA would have hit the balance sheet of the banks and the decision was in their interest as well, Nath maintained.

Talking about the global economic scenario, he said the global order is changing.

"The world has changed but some of the people have not," he said, adding that the US leadership may think what they have done may be good but they need to realise that things have changed in terms of the world order.

McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said business leaders are very confident about their own business but they are worried about others' businesses.

In the same panel, Hong Kong SAR Government CEO Carrie Lam said there are some underlying worries about global trade, but she is positive.

Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said Turkey is the only stable economy in its region but it has learnt a lot from the problems in the area. He also said Turkey and the US have a very important relationship.

He said Turkish economy has strengthened its immune system in a big way.

Agility CEO Tarek Sultan Al Essa, the only corporate leader on the panel, said China and the US are still growing at a healthy rate while emerging markets are showing a superior growth rate.

He said there is a need to understand what is holding SMEs back and how to make them contribute more to the global economic growth.

Central Bank of Argentina Governor Guido Sandleris said Latin America is expected to grow much better this year as economies like Brazil and Argentina are likely to expand.

At another session on 'More than GDP', OECD chief Angel Gurria said hundreds of millions of people do not like their state in life, they want something else. However, it has nothing to do with GDP, but with the quality of life, with the integration of refugees, he said.

The OECD report on New Zealand is going to be based on the well-being agenda, he added.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that most politicians want to increase the well-being of their people, not boost GDP.

"What gets measured, gets done," she said, seeking broadening of what gets measured.

Economic growth must be measured but so too should homelessness and mental health, she argued.

"We need to address the societal well-being of our nation, not just the economic well-being," Ardern said.

"GDP is here to stay, but there have to be other comparatives," she said, citing the Better Life Index produced by the OECD that her government is using to inform its work.

University College London Professor Mariana Mazzucato pointed out that most GDP growth in the UK has been driven by consumption, which is often fuelled by debt and could push it back towards a financial crisis.

"There's a lack of attention to the difference between price and value. GDP counts up prices but neglects to take social value into account," she noted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday referred Gross domestic product (GDP), as a "fancy figure" and said that economic growth must translate into well being of people on ground.

At a session on the emerging market outlook at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019, Nath also strongly defended his government's farm loan waiver decision and said the agricultural sector in India and particularly in his state has been in distress.

Referring to the latest IMF forecast for Indian economy, he said, " is a fancy figure and at times it can be misleading as one needs to see where all a 7.5 per cent growth figure translates into".

Defending the loan waiver, the leader, who also had a long stint in central government in various ministries, said it was very necessary as agriculture is a backbone of the and he had to take into account the distress the farmers were in.

He said, the waiver amounts to $8 billion, but what it amounts to is taking over the loans of scheduled banks that had gone bad and the lenders have taken a haircut in the process.

Anyway, an NPA would have hit the balance sheet of the banks and the decision was in their interest also, Nath said.

Talking about the global economic scenario, he said the global order is getting changed.

"The world has changed but some of the people have not," he said while adding that the US leadership may think what they have done may be good but they need to realise that things have changed in terms of the world order.

McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Kevin Sneader said business leaders are very confident about their own business but they are worried about others' businesses.

In the same panel, Hong Kong SAR Government CEO Carrie Lam said there are some underlying worries about global trade, but she is positive.

Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said Turkey is the only stable economy in its region but it has learnt a lot from the problems of the region. He also said Turkey and the US has a very important relationship.

He said Turkish economy has strengthened its immune system in a big way.

Agility CEO Tarek Sultan Al Essa, the only corporate leader on the panel, said China and the US are still growing at a healthy rate while emerging markets are showing a superior growth rate.

He said there is a need to understand what is holding SMEs back and how to make them contribute more to the global economic growth.

Central Bank of Argentina Governor Guido Sandleris said Latin America is expected to grow much better this year as economies like Brazil and Argentina likely to expand.
Three employees of the city-based Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) fainted due to smoke inhalation after a portion of the hospital caught fire on Tuesday, officials said.

Following the blaze, 40 children undergoing treatment in the paediatric ward of the hospital were shifted elsewhere.

According to officials, the fire was caused due to a short circuit.

"The blaze started at the power control unit located under the paediatric ward in the hospital. All the children were moved to safety, but three employees who were involved in the fire-fighting operation, fainted due to suffocation. They were admitted to the same hospital for treatment," officials said.

The employees were identified as Iqbal, Rudra and Upendra, they said.

Meanwhile, the fire brigade was alerted and the flames were doused within 40 minutes.

While some of the children were admitted to the district hospital, around 10 kids were shifted to a private hospital, they said.

Superintendent of SIMS, Dr Bhanupratap, said a newborn baby died on Tuesday during treatment, but the incident of fire has nothing to do with it.

"The baby had been shifted to SIMS from a private hospital in a critical condition on Monday and died during treatment," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bombay High Court Wednesday said it would commence final hearing from February 6 into a bunch of petitions challenging the Maharashtra government's decision of granting 16 per cent quota to Maratha community in state-run jobs and education.

The state government shall till then not make any appointment in any of its departments under the new legislation, the court said.

A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre said it would decide on January 28 whether the petitioners should be given the entire copy of the report on submitted by the or a truncated version.

Government counsel V A Thorat and state Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni had expressed apprehensions over giving the entire report to the petitioners.

"We are ready to submit the entire report, running into 4,000 pages to the court. However, there are some 20 pages in the report pertaining to Maratha community's history which we do not wish to put in public domain. We fear it would create communal tension and law and order problem," Kumbhakoni said.

The bench directed the state to submit the whole report to the court on Wednesday.

"We will peruse it and then decide on January 28 whether the petitioners should get the whole report or a truncated version," Justice More said.

"We will start the final hearing into the petitions from February 6. The state government shall till that date continue its statement that no appointments would be made," the court said.

On the last date of hearing on December 19, 2018, Thorat had made a statement on behalf of the government that no appointments shall be made till January 23.

Thorat Wednesday told the court that the government was not willing to continue with this statement.

"There is a massive backlog of vacancies in government jobs which needs to be filled immediately. We will make appointments, but they shall be subject to final orders of this court," he said.

The bench, however, rebuked Thorat and said if the government was not willing to continue its statement, the court would be compelled to pass orders.

Thorat then agreed to continue the statement till February 6.

The bench was hearing a bunch of petitions on the issue.

While few of the petitions challenged the government's decision to provide 16 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the Maratha community, several others were filed in support of it.

On November 30, 2018, the Maharashtra legislature had passed a Bill proposing 16 per cent reservation in education and government jobs for the Marathas, declared as socially and educationally backward class by the government.

The government had last week filed its affidavit in the petitions and justified its decision by saying that it was meant to alleviate the community from its social and economic backwardness.

Marathas, a politically-influential community constituting around 30 per cent of the state's population, have been demanding reservation in jobs and education.
Air Arabia Egypt has launched a direct flight from Sohag to Saudi Arabias capital city, Riyadh.



Roundtrip flights will operate twice a week between Sohag International Airport and King Khalid International Airport. Flights depart Sohag on Fridays at 02:15 hours and on Sundays at 11:00 hours and lands in Riyadh at 05:20 hours and at 14:05 hours local time, respectively.



Adel Al Ali, group chief executive officer, Air Arabia, said: Egypt and Saudi Arabia remain key markets of growth and we are glad to connect more cities between both countries through the launch of this direct service connecting Sohag and Riyadh. We look forward to welcoming customers who will now benefit from this direct service while offering convenient and affordable services to travellers from both cities."



Air Arabia currently operates flights to more than 155 routes across the globe from four hubs located in the Middle East and North Africa. - TradeArabia News Service
Opposition Wednesday staged a walkout from the House questioning the Rajasthan government's intention of waiving farm loans.

MLA Hameer Singh in a supplementary question demanded from the government to clearly state on what date it would waive off farm loans and deposit the money in farmers' accounts. He also reminded the Congress-led dispensation that it had promised to do the same within 10 days of coming to power.

Replying to the question, Cooperative Minister Udai Lal Anjana said the eligibility of beneficiaries was being decided and thereafter, the loans will be waived.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the reply. He insisted that the government should have waived off the loans within 10 days of coming to power as was promised by the

The opposition then entered the Well of the House and raised anti-government slogans.

"It appears the government has no intention to waive off the loans. We are not satisfied and are walking out to express our protest," Kataria said.

The issue was also raised by MLA Kiran Maheshwari who said the state government had announced the waiver on December 19, 2018, and constituted a ministerial committee on January 1 to decide the eligibility.

"The farmers are feeling cheated. They (Congress) promised the waiver in 10 days, but 35 days have passed, and nothing has been done," she said.

The state cooperative minister said the ministerial committee has held two meetings over the matter.

Hitting out at the BJP-led previous regime, Anjana said the last government waived loans of "non-eligible" people..

In reply to another question, Food and Civil Supply Minister Ramesh Meena informed the House that the government will review the 'Annapurna Bhandar Yojna' started by the previous government.

He said irregularities will be removed from the scheme.

In 2015, the then BJP government had given a facelift to the scheme and rebranded around 5,000 fair price shops as 'Annapurna Bhandar' where multi-brand consumer goods are currently being sold.

Asked whether the government would continue the scheme in its present form, Meena said a three-year contract has been signed with private partners.

He said products at such shops were being sold at higher prices than the market price and that there was less footfall.

"We will review, improve and thereafter, continue," the minister added.
Justice M B Lokur, who retired from the Supreme Court recently, on Wednesday refused to be dragged into the controversy related to the handling of CBI matters and the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.

Lokur, one of the four senior judges of the apex court who staged a virtual revolt against then CJI Dipak Misra by holding an unprecedented press conference on January 12, 2018, was speaking at an interaction here on "State of the Indian Judiciary" organised by legal portal "The Leaflet".

The retired judge evaded questions as to whether Justice Gogoi, who was in the panel to select the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director, should have heard former CBI chief Alok Verma's petition as on Tuesday, he refused to hear a plea challenging the appointment of the agency's interim director, M Nageswar Rao.

Justice Lokur said although the CJI heard and decided Verma's petition against his divesting of powers, that did not mean he should also hear the case against the acting CBI director as he was part of the selection panel to choose the central probe agency's chief.

"Are you suggesting that he (CJI) should have heard the case and taken a meeting tomorrow?," Justice Lokur asked.

When the questions about the CBI case involving Verma and Rao were repeated, Justice Lokur was visibly not happy.

He also skirted questions on the CJI being a part of the bench hearing the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute case, the Rafale matter etc.

Justice Lokur requested all not to make a specific mention of any case, which was being heard either by the CJI or any other judges.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man, the former live-in partner of a woman, has been arrested for allegedly stabbing her to death at a Greater Noida apartment, police said Wednesday.

The accused, Sonu Chauhan, who is married and has two children, was absconding since the killing of the 25-year-old woman Sunday afternoon inside the ninth-floor flat at the Ajnara Homes, they said.

The woman, a native of Tappal in Aligarh, was living with her sister and brother-in-law in the flat, but they had gone out for some work during the time of the incident, police said.

When they returned in the evening, they found her lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab injuries on her body, they said.

An FIR was registered at the Bisrakh police station on a complaint by the woman's sister following which a CCTV footage of the residential society was procured which showed Chauhan, a resident of Raipur village, entering the flat Sunday, raising suspicion.

"Chauhan, in his early 30s, was arrested today from the Tigri roundabout," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishna told reporters.

"They were together in a live-in relationship for three years, but due to some differences separated on a bitter note. After which the accused, a married man, killed her," he said.

The officer said during the probe it has emerged that the deceased was forcing the accused for money and this angle was also being investigated.

"They were working together on contract at a government office in Delhi and had got to know each other there only, as initial probe has suggested," the SSP said.

The knife used for committing the crime has been recovered and other evidences from the crime scene also linked him as the culprit, and based on those, Chauhan has been arrested, Krishna said.

The SSP said despite separating, they both were in touch for some time and the man had gathered information on when she would be alone in the flat.

Officials said that the parents of the woman, who quit her job earlier this month, had objected to her relationship with a "married" man.

Chauhan has been booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) and under the Arms Act, police said, adding that he will be produced before a court which will send him to jail.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The European Union will urge member states Wednesday to crack down on schemes to grant "golden visas" to foreign investors, warning they bring corruption and money laundering in their wake.

Officials told AFP the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will publish its first report urging members to curb the practice of giving wealthy foreigners -- often Chinese, Russians and Americans -- residency or citizenship in return for investment.

"What the reports finds is that these schemes pose a number of risks, in terms of security, money laundering or tax evasion," an EU official told AFP.

If member states fail to tighten their rules and become "more transparent ... the Commission is clear, we will take action if necessary," the official added.

Wealthy candidates for residency or citizenship do not face sufficient security and background checks to prevent them from posing a security risk or laundering money, according to the report.

Non-government organisations have already flagged countries such as Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria for offering wealthy foreigners citizenship that allows them to move freely in most of the 28-nation bloc. Many other countries grant residence permits to foreign investors.

In October last year, Berlin-based Transparency International and London-based Global Witness called EU citizenship and residency as "just like a luxury good" which "can be bought".

"By their very nature, golden visa schemes are an attractive prospect for the criminal and the corrupt," they wrote in the report entitled "European Getaway: Inside the Murky World of Golden Visas".

Several EU members have used such schemes to give passports to around 6,000 people and residency rights to around 100,000 people in the past decade, securing about 25 billion euros ($29 billion) of foreign direct investment in return, the report said.

Four EU members -- Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta -- "sell" passports to wealthy investors while 12 more offer them residency rights.

Spain, Cyprus, Portugal and Britain are the countries that have received the most investment in return for visas, the report alleged.

Spain received 976 million euros annually compared to 498 million euros in Britain.

But, while the sums being waved about by investors should make governments vigilant about corruption, "that doesn't appear to be the case," the activists reported.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
on Wednesday said the Rs 54,389-crore offer by its shareholders to pay all dues of financial and operational creditors of the company was much superior to a rival offer by and lenders should not be pressured into giving control of the company to any entity that undervalues it.

The statement came on a day when the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) asked the Ahmedabad-bench of the company law court to pass an order on the proposal of Essar Steel's financial creditors to give control of the company, which they had auctioned to recover unpaid loans.

had offered to pay creditors Rs 42,000 crore to takeover that faced insolvency proceedings to recover Rs 50,800 crore of unpaid loans. The Committee of Creditors chose this proposal ignoring a last-minute offer by the shareholders of Essar Steel to pay all dues of both financial and operational creditors.

"The proposal made by Essar Steel shareholders provides for payment of a total of Rs 54,389 crore to various creditors, which exceeds the resolution plan currently approved by the creditors by more than Rs 12,000 crore," Essar Steel said in a statement.

The proposal, it said, was submitted under the recently introduced Section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

"Under the proposal made by the shareholders, all classes of creditors would receive full recovery of their claims," the statement said. "The overriding objective of the IBC is maximisation of recovery for creditors and this has been established time and again by courts at all levels. Creditors of Essar Steel, including operational creditors, should not be forced to accept a resolution plan which undervalues the company and its assets."



The new Section 12A of the IBC, which was introduced last year, states that the Adjudicating Authority may allow the withdrawal of insolvency proceedings on an application made by the applicant with the approval of 90 per cent of the voting share of the Committee of Creditors.

"Under the provisions of the IBC, a proposal made under Section 12A is to be decided between the creditors of Essar Steel and the company," Essar Steel statement said. "Creditors have already been provided all relevant information on the proposal. No request has been received from the committee of creditors of Essar Steel regarding any further information that they need in this regard."



Rejecting ArcelorMittal's contention, it said there is no requirement to provide any details to a resolution applicant i.e. bidder.

ArcelorMittal had on Tuesday stated that "there are certain parties in who would like that the IBC not be implemented according to the law".

"The IBC was introduced for a very serious reason - to address a major problem with bad loans. If the law is not implemented correctly and the rules are flouted, as suggested by some, this sends a negative signal about the certainty of as an investment destination," it had said. "ArcelorMittal has followed the process from the start. We fully expect the process to continue to be implemented correctly and as per the law and that statements attempting to convince otherwise not be given any credibility.
A 61-year-old man, who was facing charges of raping a minor girl in Indore and was on the run, and his wife were found dead in a lodge here Wednesday, police said.

It is suspected the couple committed suicide as a poisonous substance was recovered from the room, they said.

Badwani Kotwali Police Station in-charge Rajesh Yadav said the bodies of Gudwant Bhide (61) and his 59-year-old wife, residents of Indore's Bima Nagar, were found in their room in the lodge, where they were staying since January 20.

Yadav said the lodge's manager Wednesday morning informed the police the couple was not responding to repeated knocks on their room's door.

Later, the police broke open the door and found them dead, he said.

Prima facie, it looks like a case of suicide as a poisonous substance was found in the room, the police officer said.

Yadav said the deceased were identified on the basis of Aadhaar cards found on them.

He said a case of rape with a seven-year-old girl was registered against Gunwant Bhide in Indore's Palasia police station.

Since then he was absconding, Yadav said, adding further investigation is underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The sons of former drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman killed Mexican journalist Javier Valdez because he insisted on publishing an interview with a drug trafficker, who told of the murder in court Thursday.

Damaso Lopez Nunez, known as "Licenciado" or "Lic," testified that the slain journalist -- who specialized in narcotraffic reporting -- "disobeyed the threatening orders of my compadre's children and that's why they killed him."



The testimony came as part of Guzman's trial in New York, where he faces trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges.

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A Dubai-based Indian businessman has been arrested by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials for allegedly involving in a major gold smuggling and money laundering racket, according to an official statement issued Wednesday.

The arrest came after the DRI's investigation in a foreign currency and gold smuggling case revealed the role of the businessman, who is believed to be one of the key masterminds and financier of a smuggling syndicate, it said.

The accused, who runs garments business as his front in Dubai, was arrested Tuesday from the Mumbai airport, the probe agency said in the statement.

The DRI had arrested four Indian nationals from the international airport at New Delhi on August 18 last year, while they were attempting to smuggle foreign currency equivalent to Rs 1.47 crore from India to Dubai.

Further investigations were carried out by the DRI by examining available links and evidences.

"These investigations indicated that three arrested individuals were part of a larger syndicate comprising about 70 carriers involved in outward smuggling of foreign currency from India to Dubai and smuggling of gold on return journey into India," the DRI said.

The extent of the operations of the syndicate and the role of various masterminds and financiers of the syndicate was carried out.

Investigations have revealed that the syndicate smuggled approximately 70 kg of gold valued at Rs 21 crore into India from Dubai during the period of May-August last year and smuggled the commensurate amount of foreign currency out of India during the same period, it said.

The past smuggling activities of the syndicate is being investigated.

"Further investigations into the operations of the syndicate and the role of the Indian businessman in generation of black money and money laundering are also being carried out by the DRI," the statement said.

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A drone briefly disrupted air traffic Tuesday at Newark airport, one of New York's three major hubs for air traffic, US officials said.

There were no further drones sighted, and arrivals were allowed to resume after a short suspension, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman told AFP.

The FAA ordered a ground stop for other flights heading to Newark, however, until the "backlog" of arrivals landing at the airport were cleared.

"Around 5:00 pm, we received two reports from incoming flights into Newark that a drone was sighted at about 3,500 feet (1,070 meters) above Teterboro," another nearby airport in New Jersey, the spokesman added.

Drones have caused a growing number of flight disruptions in recent weeks. In December, London's Gatwick airport was paralysed for 36 hours after a drone sighting.

Europe's busiest airport, Heathrow in London, was shut down for an hour on January 8 because of a drone incident.

US law bars drone pilots, unless they have special permits, from flying these aircraft above 400 feet (122 meters) and within 5 miles (8 km) of an airport.

Authorities who oversee the airports in New York said they said support the probe into the Newark drone incident.

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Retired Justice Madan B Lokur Wednesday said he was disappointed that the December 12 decision of Supreme Court Collegium was not uploaded on the apex court's website.

On the non-elevation of high court judges, Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon to the Supreme Court, he said what happens in the Collegium is confidential and trust is an important factor.

Justice Lokur, who retired on December 30, 2018, said he didn't know what additional documents came after his retirement.

He rubbished the claim of nepotism in judiciary and said he didn't think that Collegium system has failed.

Justice Lokur said healthy discussions take place at Collegium meetings and agreements and disagreements are part of it.

Speaking at an interaction here, he said there is a need to bring some changes in the Collegium system.

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The Emirates-flydubai codeshare partnership will be expanded in 2019 with new destinations, the carriers have announced.



The Dubai-based carriers, which joined forces in October 2017 with just 29 codeshare cities, have jointly carried 3.29 million customers on codeshare flights across 84 destinations in 2018, Emirates said in a press release.



"During 2019 the network of codeshare flights will be further expanded, with the launch of new flydubai destinations Naples and Budapest, as well as several others that will be announced in due course," the statement said.



"Flydubai flights to Chittagong will also restart from January 20, while flights to Kozhikode, Kerala, will start from February 1," it said.



Delivering better connections



Since December 2 last year, 11 flydubai flights started to operate from Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport to help improve the connections between the two carriers. This year, more flights will be departing from Terminal 3, further improving the connection experience for customers.



"The partnership between Emirates and flydubai has really taken off and we are very pleased with what has been achieved. It has not only delivered tangible benefits to our collective customers, but also to both airlines in terms of the synergies that come with working closely together, for example reducing route overlaps and the realignment of schedules to common destinations, said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Group and chairman of flydubai.



Currently, the combined networks of Emirates and flydubai is 216, which by 2022, is expected to reach 240 destinations, offering customers across the world far reaching global connectivity via Dubai. - TradeArabia News Service
Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Madan B Lokur Wednesday expressed disappointment over not bringing to public domain the December 12 decision of the apex court's Collegium on the elevation of judges, which has been at the centre of controversy.

Justice (Retd) Lokur, who demitted office on December 30, 2018, was part of the 5-member Collegium deliberations which had reportedly agreed to recommend the names of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon to the Supreme Court.

Later, however, Delhi High Court judge Sanjiv Khanna and Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice Dinesh Maheshwari were elevated as apex court judges, triggering a public debate on the issue.

On the controversy around the purported change in the decision, Justice Lokur said he did not know as to what additional documents came after his retirement.

Speaking at an interaction here on 'State of the Indian Judiciary', organised by a law portal, the former judge however rubbished the claim of nepotism in the judiciary.

Justice Lokur said he didn't think that the Collegium system has failed.

Healthy discussions take place at the Collegium meetings and agreements and disagreements are part of it, he said, adding that the discussions are confidential and trust is the important factor.

He advocated time-bound decisions on the recommendations of the Collegium by the Executive, saying that in the event of no response from the government, the recommendations can be deemed to be accepted.

He said there is a need to bring some changes in the Collegium system and some mechanism has to be there for adhering to time line in judicial appointments,



Justice Lokur then referred to the case of Justice K M Joseph's elevation to the Supreme Court and alleged that the government sat on the files for months.

Neither judiciary nor government can sit on files on appointment of judges, he said.

On the controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the Supreme Court and meeting Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi during a function recently, Justice Lokur said there was nothing wrong in it.

He added however that judges should stay away from the political thicket and they should neither be hermits nor sitting in ivory towers.

On the January 12, 2018, unprecedented presser held by four senior judges, including him and CJI Gogoi, against the functioning of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, he said it was worth holding and it achieved something.

The January 12 presser brought some openness in the functioning of Supreme Court, he added.

He further said evidence of corruption needs to be taken into account before elevation of judges.

Though Justice Lokur accepted that sometimes the judiciary had over stepped, he refused to agree that it has over reached.

He said there were large number of issues needed to be discussed for better functioning of judiciary.

Justice Lokur declined to comment on the functioning of Justice Gogoi as the CJI.

He however said that if allegations are levelled against any judge or the CJI then it troubles him.

He said he would not take up any government assignment.

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An 18-year-old man received a new lease of life after undergoing an over nine-hour-long surgery for removal of a huge tumour in his thigh at a city hospital, doctors said Wednesday.

Praveen Kumar Gupta was admitted to the department of orthopaedics at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on December 26, 2018 with huge swelling in his left thigh, they said.

Examination revealed that there was a huge tumour of 37 cm x 18 cm x 12 cm size, which was affecting the hip and the full length of back of the thigh. The swelling first appeared in 2012 and had increased gradually, a hospital spokesperson said.

Because of the size of the swelling and the excruciating pain it caused Gupta was not able to walk or sit properly. Due to pressure on the nerves and blood vessels, there was weakness and loss of sensation in the limb, doctors said.

The patient approached many hospitals which had advised amputation of the leg, but he was not ready for it, they said.

The challenge was not only to successfully remove this huge tumour but also to save the limb. To overcome this, a medical board was formed consisting of departments of orthopaedics, vascular surgery, plastic surgery and anaesthesiology, the hospital said.

The surgery took nine-and-a-half hours and only one unit of blood was transfused. Patient recovered well after the surgery and started walking with the help of walking aid from third post-operative day, it said in a statement.

"According to the reported literature, this was the largest tumour ever removed from inside a thigh, without compromising the limb. The largest tumour earlier reported was 32 cm x 13.5 cm x 5.5 cm by the University of Miami in 2014," Dr Brajesh Nandan, orthopaedic onco surgeon, who led the surgery, said.

According to Dr Jayashree Sood, chairperson of department of anaesthesiology, pain and perioperative medicine, at the hospital, "This was a challenging case for anaesthesia because it was a long surgery performed in the prone position (lying on abdomen), which has its own problems. Blood loss was anticipated, but managed with meticulous surgical and anaesthetic technique.

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The Delhi government has formed a high-level committee to frame anti-bullying and ragging policy for schools and a mechanism to monitor its implementation, according to an official order.

The schools have also been asked to circulate the message - 'bullying is strictly prohibited inside the premises and no such act will go unnoticed or unpunished' - through school magazines and display the message at prominent places in the campus.

"In order to have an amiable and teaching-learning conducive environment in the school it is indispensable that they must be free from bullying and ragging. There must be respectful relationship among students, school administration and families," an official order by the Directorate of (DoE) said.

"A standing committee will be constituted at the headquarter-level comprising senior officers of the DoE to frame anti-bullying policy and monitor its implementation in the state at district-level and school-level," it added.

The committee will be responsible for ensuring that each case of reported bullying is brought to a logical conclusion.

It will also control and manage all complaints received and will provide regular and periodic reports and work with the existing legal institution and assist concerned authorities to take action.

"An anti-bullying helpline will be made operational on parallels of child helpline. It must operate confidentially, independently and remotely to help students in distress and also for reporting incidents of bullying. It can be a common toll-free phone number which can be operated centrally," the order said.

A complaint or a suggestion box must be installed in the school and the feedback received is to be monitored regularly. The necessary issues may be discussed and appropriately addressed, it said.

All the students are to be sensitised about human rights, democratic values, for diversity, equality and respect for privacy and dignity of others, the order stated.

"There must be proper sensitisation of community also regarding bullying and ragging through school management committee meetings, parent-teacher meeting and parents representing in other committees of the school and their support is to be availed in bullying prevention efforts," it added.

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A Delhi court Wednesday dismissed the bail application of journalist Upendra Rai, arrested in a money laundering case related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions.

Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Syal dismissed the bail pea of the Delhi-based scribe in a case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate.

The journalist was arrested on June 8 last year by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), at the Tihar jail here, moments after he secured bail in a CBI case related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions.

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If the Congress hopes to regain lost ground in Uttar Pradesh by bringing Priyanka Gandhi into active politics, political adversaries claim she will have no impact on the crucial state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Her appointment Wednesday as Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East was dubbed a non-starter by the state BJP head Mahendra Pandey.

"There is not even a one per cent challenge, Pandey said. This only proves that the Congress cannot rise above the family."



Siddharth Nath Singh, spokesperson for the Yogi Adityanath government in the state, said the appointment is an admission that in the Gandhi family the dependence on Rahul is over".

"This also means that Rahul Gandhi's fall is the rise of Priyanka Gandhi in Congress," he said.

Opposition leaders said Priyanka Gandhi has to prove her mettle at the organisational level as she has so far remained confined to the twin constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by her brother and mother.

Samajwadi Party leader Juhie Singh reacted cautiously to the development. "Purvanchal has a lot of importance in and Priyanka's appointment as in-charge of this region goes on to prove that it is being taken seriously by the Congress leadership," she said.

"We congratulate her. Our party has always been striving to bring more women and youth in and this is another step in this regard," she said.

The Samajwadi Party had earlier announced an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party in the state, shunting the Congress out of the pre-elections pact.

But the two parties have also said they will not put up candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Congress workers here speculated that Priyanka Gandhi may contest the coming polls from her mother Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli constituency.

Party spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi said her appointment will give the party a chance to "strike back" in the state.

But Lucknow-based political analyst Surendra Dwivedi said Priyanka Gandhi is yet to to prove herself, adding there were a lot expectations from her in the Congress.

"The Congress wants to bank on Priyanka's similarities with Indira Gandhi but she died in 1984, and the youth today does not have any empathy with the former prime minister," an analyst said.

But he added that Priyanka Gandhi is a good campaigner and strikes a rapport with the people.

Another analyst Parvez Ahmed suggested her appointment will help the Congress deal with the SP-BSP alliance that many believe was struck with caste equations in mind. She provided them an alternative, he said.

In the Congress circles here, the appointment is being seen as a masterstroke that will infuse energy in party workers in a state where its influence has been waning over the years.

"This is an opportunity for the Congress to strike back in the most crucial state of the country where the organisation had all through been wanting her to plunge into active politics," Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi told PTI.

Winning Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, is vital for any party that plans to capture power at the Centre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath enjoys considerable influence in the region. Modi was elected last time from Varanasi and Gorakhpur is considered Adityanath's stronghold.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After its pre-poll alliance with the TDP in neighbouring Telangana came a cropper, the Congress Wednesday asserted it would contest on its own the upcoming elections in Andhra Pradesh, both to the state Assembly and the Lok Sabha.

AICC general secretary and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy made the assertion while making it clear that the Congress will not have any alliance with the ruling Telugu Desam Party(TDP) in Andhra Pradesh.

"We will contest all 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats alone.

"The TDP allied with us only at the national level, so we will have no truck (with it) in the state," he maintained.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the PCC office-bearers here, Chandy said they would meet again on January 31 to discuss about the poll preparations.

The state Congress also decided to undertake a bus yatra in all the 13 districts in February, he said.

APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy said they left the decision of electoral alliances to AICC president Rahul Gandhi.

However, he hastened to add that the Congress would fight the elections in Andhra Pradesh on its own.

The Congress, which formed a pre-poll alliance with the TDP and two others for the recent Assembly polls in Telangana, ended up with 19 seats, down from 21 in 2014, while the TDP won two seats as against 15 last time.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won 88 seats in the 119-member Assembly to retain power.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: The Congress Wednesday asserted that it would contest the upcoming elections in Andhra Pradesh, both to the state Assembly and Lok Sabha, on its own and not have any alliance with the ruling Telugu Desam Party.

"We will contest all 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats alone.

The TDP allied with us only at the national level, so we will have no truck (with it) in the state," AICC general secretary and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy maintained.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the PCC office-bearers here, Chandy said they would meet again on January 31 to discuss about the poll preparations.

The state Congress decided to undertake a bus yatra in all 13 districts in February, he said.

Chandy welcomed the appointment of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as AICC general secretary, in charge of Uttar Pradesh.

"An intelligent and daring leader like Priyanka is essential in national The country also wishes that Rahul Gandhi becomes the Prime Minister," the former Chief Minister remarked.

APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy said they left the decision of electoral alliances to AICC president Rahul Gandhi.

However, he hastened to add that the Congress would fight the elections in Andhra Pradesh on its own.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress in Kerala Wednesday welcomed the party's decision appointing Priyanka Gandhi as AICC general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh East, but said it should have come earlier.

"Priyanka Gandhi is a person with public acceptance. For a long time the Congress workers had been wanting that she should come into the leadership role," Congress' state president Mullapally Ramachandran told reporters here.

"The decision has been delayed. It should have come earlier," he said.

Welcoming the decision, Opposition leader in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala said Priyanka's appointment as AICC general secretary will further stregthen the party.

The joint leadership of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka will give a new energy and enthusiasm to all congress workers, he said in a statement here



With regard to Lok Sabha polls, Ramachandran said an understanding has almost been reached on candidates of the Congress-led UDF who will be trying their luck in the 20 Lok Sabha seats from the state.

In the event of former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the state, the Congress was prepared to set apart any seat he wishes to contest, he said.

" Our wish is Oommen Chandy should contest.Whichever constituency he wants to contest, Congress and UDF will give it to him," he said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Congress (Mani) leader P J Joseph said his party has staked claim for Idukki and Chalakudy seats. This is besides the Kottayam seat it had contested in 2014.

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The Policy Chair of the City of London Corporation is set for her first visit to India next week to strengthen ties between the British capital and India in the field of financial and professional services.

Catherine McGuiness, who is the political chief of London's financial district or "Square Mile", will also seek to reassure Indian financial firms worried about Brexit and the risks of the UK leaving the European Union (EU) in a feared no-deal situation as the March 29 Brexit deadline nears.

"My first visit to India comes at an interesting point in time for both our countries. In the UK our focus remains firmly on Brexit, while in India the conversation is all about the pending budget and elections," McGuiness said on the eve of her visit, planned between January 27 and 30.

"But while these political issues may dominate headlines for good reason right now, it's crucial we don't lose sight of the larger picture and the importance of the strong relationship between our two countries," she said.

The City of London Corporation's policy chief pointed out that while trade between the UK and India stands at an "impressive" 18.8 billion pounds, there is still enormous potential to expand this relationship even further.

She is set to travel to Delhi and Mumbai for meetings with senior government and industry leaders to discuss how to boost relations and knowledge sharing in areas like fintech, green finance, re-insurance and non-performing assets.

Some of the pre-scheduled meetings on her agenda include interactions with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), representatives of the Maharashtra state government, and Alice Vaidyan, Chairman of GIC Re.

In Mumbai, she will also meet Surendra Rosha, CEO of HSBC India, who recently joined the City of London Corporation's influential India Advisory Council.

Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Ruchi Ghanashyam, described the City of London Corporation as an important partner of the Indian mission in London, working to boost economic and commercial activities between India and the UK particularly in the fields of financial services and fintech.

"This visit will foster greater understanding of the City of London in India as well as deepen the already close and strong trade and economic relationship," she said.

A new report on regulatory technology (regtech) is also set to be launched during the upcoming tour of India.

"The publication is the third and final document in a fintech-related series produced by the City Corporation alongside PwC India, and outlines UK regtech expertise, the market opportunity in India and a recommendation on how to improve collaboration in the sector," the City of London Corporation said.

The Corporation says it has run a representative office in Mumbai since 2007 to enable long-term relationship building with financial sector stakeholders across India. Around 10-15 Indian financial firms are based in the Square Mile, which the City Corporation works closely with.

Sanjiv Chadha, Regional Head of State Bank of India (SBI)UK, said, "SBI is delighted that Policy Chair Catherine McGuinness will make her inaugural visit to India."



"The Bank is pleased to work with the City of London Corporation in further developing relationships in the financial and professional services space. It is a relationship that continues to provide unique and important opportunities for growth in both the Asian and UK markets," he added.

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile of London.

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Protesters showed black flags to Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who said on Wednesday some people were spreading rumours that after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, more Bangladeshis will be allowed to come into the state.

The Bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians -- from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after they have stayed in India for seven years, instead of 12 years -- the current criteria. This is applicable to those who came to India before December 31, 2014.

The protesters showed black flags to Sarma while he was on his way to attend an official event.

"There isn't a single clause in the Bill that says more people will be brought in. An attempt is made to create unrest and divide Assam by spreading misinformation. Those who are opposing the Bill know nothing about it," he said.

The state does not need any such agitation which creates only regressive atmosphere, the senior BJP leader said.

"The Assam agitation, from 1979 to 1985, could not provide any solution to the issue. We need development for Assam to become one of the top five states in the country," he added.

The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on January 8 and has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha.

Massive protests had erupted across Assam and other parts of the Northeast after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Silchar on January 4 that the Bill would be passed as soon as possible in Parliament.

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Organizations in the GCC that are best positioned to succeed in an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled world are those that combine human strengths with machine intelligence, said global management consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton, listing top five strategies to harness AI.



Countries in the Mena region are investing in AI to transform their economies over the next few years. In the UAE, the launch of the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence in 2017 aims to promote government performance and create an innovative environment using machine intelligence. The strategy is the first of its kind in the region and was established to enhance government performance and efficiency in a number of fields, such as education, transportation, energy, space and technology.



As governments look to fulfil their AI vision, they must invest in a combination of human strengths, such as creativity, empathy, negotiation, along with those of machines, including collection and processing of data and precision, to improve the lives of citizens.



Fady Kassatly, senior vice-president, Booz Allen Hamilton, Mena, said: AI has tremendous power to shape the future of regional economies and enhance the quality of life for citizens. Regional leaders are leaving no stone unturned in the quest to combine machine intelligence with human ingenuity to achieve maximum potential and help business and governments gain competitive advantage.



Below are the top five strategies from Booz Allen Hamilton for organizations to leverage the potential of AI.



1. Leverage AI to complement the human experience



The human mind absorbs and understands more detail than we consciously know. But biases, politics, and wishful thinking sometimes distort our views. Coupling our instincts with insights produced by machines enables us to see surprising possibilities we may have otherwise ignored. This includes everything, from enabling us to take a closer look at a job candidate whose university or school we had discounted to identifying a revenue driver we were not familiar with.



As the UAE harnesses AI to drive growth in many different sectors, combining machine intelligence with human intelligence will help build a more stable framework for the future. For example the banking sector is increasingly relying on the consumer-facing applications of AI, such as Emirates NBDs virtual assistant EVA, to enhance offerings. But even with AI being used to improve customer service, human interaction would still be needed at various touchpoints. AI solutions can be leveraged to augment human interaction in banking and other sectors, but not fully replace it.



2. Recognize that machine models can powerfully augment mental models



Machine models are outperforming mental models in a growing array of cognitive tasks. This was evident in the defeat of Ke Jie, the world champion in the extremely complex strategy game Go, at the hands of a machine learning program created by Google. Machines increasing precision and capability means we can now confidently use machine models to ingest and interpret data for a variety of business purposes, while taking a trust but verify approach. This is especially valuable in the healthcare sector, where AI is providing scalable and affordable disease screening solutions to help medical experts make accurate diagnoses in the UAE.



3. To break through without experience, start by experimenting with AI



Many organizations are put off by AI technologies because they think the costs, talent, data requirements and risk of failure are too high. The reality is that in this rapidly-evolving space, even the biggest organizations are learning the ropes and making mistakes along the way. One can be cautious, but not experimenting at all could be even more detrimental. Identify one or a few narrow areas in your business where you can tolerate some risk and experiment before making a larger investment in AI. For example, AI is helping doctors accurately diagnose eye disease in 96 per cent of cases at the Dubai Diabetes Centre, thanks to a pilot AI project that was launched earlier this year. The trial AI program helped identify retinal damage caused by diabetes and was so successful that it is now a permanent addition to the centre and is helping doctors diagnose and treat more patients at an earlier stage.



4. To be successful with AI, you need to work and share openly with the ecosystem



The development of artificial intelligence is a global phenomenon, bringing together academics, business leaders, and policymakers from around the world. The value of artificial intelligence goes beyond short-term returns and cost savings. This technology has the power to fundamentally change how our most important institutions make decisions. It also opens the possibility for us to address some of the worlds most pressing problemsfrom income inequality to disease and environmental crises.



The biggest technology companies are working together and sharing openly to advance artificial intelligence through initiatives like Open AI and The Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society. Transparency, sharing, and openness will enable organizations to learn and benefit from artificial intelligence more quickly, and to take on an important role in the next technological revolution. The UAE has signed a Bilateral Artificial Intelligence Bridge agreement with India that seeks to create economic benefits worth $ 20 billion during the next decade.



5. AI will create a new kind of workforce, so be prepared to support your employees

There is no question that as artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in business and society, some jobs as we know them today will eventually go away. But this should not cause a sense of doom and gloom. In fact, studies show that it often takes 7 to 10 years after a technology is created for it to be fully integrated in organizationsparticularly technology as complex as artificial intelligence. Still, leaders must acknowledge this reality with their workforce, and begin to create strategies now on how to help affected employees develop the skills to transition to new roles.



Ultimately, being honest and transparent about the future will help to build trust and buy-in with your employees, customers, and shareholders. In the UAE, the government has signed a number of agreements with global organizations to train its public sector employees on key skills needed in the AI age in addition to signing agreements to build labs where AI prototypes can be developed between the private and public sectors.  TradeArabia News Service
Chinese authorities have detained a dozen labour activists over recent days in the latest clampdown on efforts to organise workplaces in China, rights groups said.

Beijing has taken an uncompromising line against efforts to establish independent labour unions in southern Guangdong province, the epicentre of China's high-tech manufacturing sector.

The campaign is backed by campus Marxist groups at some of China's most prestigious universities -- several leaders of which have been arrested or disappeared in recent months.

Another seven students and recent graduates from two elite Beijing universities were arrested on Monday, according to labour rights organisation Jasic Workers Solidarity.

The students were rounded up hours after publishing a statement accusing police of recording forced video confessions of previously detained student activists who had supported the Guangdong union campaign, the rights group said.

They had accused police of organising recent screenings of the videos, in which their subjects confessed to using worker issues to "subvert the state", on several campuses in an effort to deter further student activism.

The viewings targeted students who were members of Jasic Workers Solidarity -- a group which rose to prominence last year when it attempted to form a workers' union at a welding machinery company in Guangdong.

Dozens of people who had supported the Jasic Technology strike last summer remain in detention.

A day earlier, five labour activists were taken into custody on Sunday as part of a crackdown targeting trade union organising in Shenzhen, the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin (CLB) said Tuesday.

Three were then charged with disturbing public order while the status of the other two was unclear, CLB said, adding that all five were veterans of workers' rights campaigns in Shenzhen.

It was unclear whether the raid was linked with Monday's arrests in Beijing.

The detained activists were not directly involved with the ongoing Jasic dispute, but the incident has made authorities nervous about future labour campaigns, CLB spokesperson Geoffrey Crothall told AFP.

Shenzhen has seen more than a dozen strikes and protests in the city since October last year, Crothall said, adding that authorities in the region were nervous about labour activism in the city.

Chinese police and the Shenzhen public security bureau did not respond to requests for comment on the arrests.

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China's Rocket Force, the strategic and tactical missile operator of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), has conducted a simulated intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike mission from an underground bunker against an imaginary enemy, official media reported.

Central Television (CCTV), which carried the news, however, did not disclose the details about the location and time of the exercise.

The Rocket Force was set up by the PLA three years ago as President stepped up efforts to modernise the 2 million-strong Chinese military, the world's largest force.

The Rocket Force was carved out from the second artillery corps and it functioned in coordination with the Strategic Support Force which focussed on navigation and cyber technology support.

China's land-based ICBM has a flight range of 12,000 km and could potentially hit targets in the US, state-run Global Times reported.

Revealing the ICBM test, the CCTV report said long-term survival training in closed environments has become routine for the troops to ensure counterattack capability in case a war breaks out, the report said.

Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times that China's strategic missiles are usually placed in deep, protective bunkers.

As promises to never use nuclear weapon first and will only use them in a counterattack, its strategic missile storage facilities must be able to survive the first wave of hostile nuclear strike, Song said, noting that the underground bunkers are invaluable in protecting Chinese missiles from being destroyed and prepare for counterattacks.

China's highest science and technology award of 2018 was given to academician Qian Qihu for his achievements in fortifying these nuclear defence facilities under mountains.

PLA troops have experienced three weapon upgrades in the past 60 years, and missiles now have a longer range, and are more accurate and more powerful, CCTV report said.

has a range of missiles which included the Dongfeng-26 ballistic missile, which can be fired at short notice and fitted with a nuclear warhead.

The Dongfeng-21D land-based anti-ship ballistic missile described as a "carrier killer," and the Dongfeng-16G conventional missile designed for precision strikes against key enemy targets.

Song said the three generations of ICBMs could be the DF-5, DF-31 and DF-41, all of which are capable of striking targets more than 10,000 kms away with a deviation of less than a few dozen meters, carrying single or multiple thermonuclear warheads.

Without a first strike against China, China will never use the weapons, the analyst said.

The DF-41, China's mysterious and most advanced ICBM, might make its public debut on October 1, the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China's founding, as a military parade is expected to be held in Beijing on that day, Song said.

China's military has cut the size of its land-based army by about 50 per cent and significantly boosted its navy and air force as part of an "unprecedented" strategic shift designed to transform the PLA into a comprehensive modern force.

The Chinese military has significantly boosted its navy, air force and new strategic units and downsized its land-based army.
Indian Coast Guard Ship 'Shaunak', which sailed from Brunei on January 12, entered the Yokohama Port in Japan on Monday, covering a distance of approximately 4,300 km, the CG said Wednesday.

The Visakhapatnam-based ship is on a goodwill visit to Asia Pacific countries to strengthen International Co-operation for coast guard relevant issues, according to a release from Coast Guard Commander (Eastern Seaboard) here.

On arrival at Yokohama, the ship was extended a traditional reception by the Japanese Coast Guard's musical band.

The Indian and Japanese Coast Guard had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding for establishment of a collaborative relationship to combat crimes at sea and develop regional co-operation among the forces.

Since then, high level meetings and goodwill visit by respective coast guard ships are being undertaken. alternatively.

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Aiming to woo the tribal population in the Northeast ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the NDA government on Wednesday decided to grant more power and funds to 10 autonomous councils in the region.

The Union Cabinet approved "landmark" constitutional amendments to increase the powers of the autonomous councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of the Northeast.

The Finance Commission will be mandated to recommend devolution of financial resources to them, an official statement said.

The amendment also provides for transfer of additional 30 subjects including departments of Public Works, Forests, Public Health Engineering, Health and Family Welfare, Urban Development and Food and Civil Supply to Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council and Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council in Assam.

"The cabinet approves landmark amendment to Article 280 and Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The most important part of these amendments is that these will significantly improve the financial resources and powers of the autonomous districts councils in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, fulfilling longstanding aspirations of the tribal population in these Northeastern states," the statement read.

A bill in this regard is expected to be introduced in the upcoming session of Parliament, a home ministry official said.

"This will be a game changer, as it will substantially enhance the funds available to these local government institutions for undertaking development works in these tribal areas," the official said.

The proposed amendments provide for elected village municipal councils, ensuring democracy at the grassroots level.

The village councils will be empowered to prepare plans for economic development and social justice including those related to agriculture, land improvement, implementation of land reforms, minor irrigation, water management, animal husbandry, rural electrification, small scale industries and social forestry.

At least one-third of the seats will be reserved for women in the village and municipal councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura and at least two of the nominated members in all autonomous councils in the North East Sixth Schedule areas resulting in empowerment of women.

There will be State Election Commissions for holding elections to the autonomous councils, village and municipal councils in the areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.

There will be a provision for anti-defection too.

Meghalaya has for the time being kept out of the purview of the provision for elected village and municipal councils and one-third reservations for women.

The amendments will fulfil the commitments made under tripartite Memorandum of Settlements signed by Government of India, governments of Assam and Meghalaya, United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) and Achik National Volunteers' Council (ANVC).

The amendments propose to rename the existing autonomous councils as Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC), Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC), Garo Hills Autonomous Territorial Council (GHATC), Khasi Hills Autonomous Territorial Council (KHATC), Jaintia Hills Autonomous Territorial Council (JHATC) and Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous Territorial Council (TTAATC) as the present jurisdiction of these councils extend to more than one districts.

There will also be increase in seats in KAATC (from 30 to 50 seats), DHATC (30 to 40 seats), GHATC (30 to 42), KHATC (30 to 40) and JHATC (30 to 34).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet Wednesday approved amendments to the framework on currency swap arrangement for SAARC member countries by incorporating a stand-by facility of USD 400 million.

The facility would enable India to provide a prompt response to the current request from SAARC member countries for availing the swap amount exceeding the present limit prescribed under the SAARC Swap Framework.

The Reserve Bank will negotiate the operational details bilaterally with the central banks of the SAARC countries availing the Standby Swap, an official statement said.

"The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval for amendment to the 'Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries' to incorporate a 'Standby Swap' amounting to USD 400 million operated within the overall size of the Facility of USD 2 billion," the statement added.

Besides India, the other members of SAARC grouping are Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives.

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The Cabinet Wednesday approved signing of an agreement between India and Kuwait for cooperation on recruitment of domestic workers, a move that will benefit over 3 lakh Indians, including 90,000 women working in the Gulf country.

The Memorandum of Understanding provides a structured framework for cooperation on domestic workers related matters and provides strengthened safeguards for Indian domestic workers including female workers in Kuwait, a statement said.

The pact is initially valid for a period of five years and incorporates provision for automatic renewal.

A joint committee will be set up to follow up the implementation of this MoU. This will also promote bilateral cooperation in domestic workers related matters between the two countries.

"Around 3,00,000 Indian domestic workers are deployed in Kuwait. This includes around 90,000 female domestic workers," the statement added.

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State-run telecom firm BSNL has partnered with French company Be-Bound to offer data connectivity through SMS in areas where there is no Internet connectivity or signal breaks.

Both the companies signed business partnership agreement on Tuesday evening to jointly market the service in India.

"We were trying to get SMS based data service technology on our own but learnt that Be-Bound has already developed this technology and has been given patent for it. This technology is very good to support operations of apps when there is no Internet connection," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI after signing the pact.

The technology will be embedded in mobile apps. The app will send command to Be-Bound server in case it does not get data connectivity for SMS-based connectivity.

"Be-Bound server will facilitate SMS connectivity after getting command from the app. The app will also send SMS from user's account because for connectivity we need to send sms to and fro. We know that there is limit of 100 SMS per day per subscriber which is sufficient for this service," Be-Bound Country Manager Harkaran Singh Sachdev said.

The company has commercially launched the service in France and is running a pilot in African countries as well.

"We are in talks with some of the apps and seeing traction from firms in BFSI segment, logistics and others. We have done proof of concept with some of them and now soon convert them into commercial agreement," Sachdev said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The BSF and the state police have increased vigilance along India-Bangladesh border to check infiltration of Rohingya Muslims, Director General of Police (DGP) Akhil Kumar Shukla said Wednesday, two days after 30 refugees were apprehended at Churaibari in Assam.

The immigrants, including 12 children, were on their way to Guwahati from Agartala in a bus Monday, when the Assam Police held them at Churaibari in Assam's Karimganj district, about 200 km from here.

They were sent to jail by a district court Tuesday.

Last week, 31 Rohingyas were holed up behind the barbed wire fencing along the Bangladesh boundary in Tripura, as the border guards of both sides debated over their status.

"The Border Security Force (BSF) and the state police have been put on alert to ensure that no new Rohingya Muslims enter into our territory through the India-Bangla international border," Shukla said.

Tripura shares 856-km-long border with Bangladesh.

C L Belwa, the deputy inspector general of BSF (Tripura Frontier), said Rohingyas make their way to India through different routes in the east and then move to other parts of the country for job and livelihood.

The refugees, who were apprehended at Churaibari on Tuesday, had actually entered India through Assam, he said.

"They had come to Tripura to work in brick kilns, but their livelihood issues were not solved here so they were returning to Assam again," Belwa told PTI.

The 31 Rohingya Muslims, who were holed up in no-man's land since January 18, have been handed over to Tripura Police by the BSF after talks with Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) failed.

They underwent a medical check-up and were later produced before a court in West Tripura district which sent them to 14-day judicial custody Tuesday.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar's Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017 after a military crackdown, triggering a massive refugee crisis.

In October 2017, the Ministry of Home Affairs had urged all states to take immediate steps to identify and monitor Rohingya immigrants.

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Two children were killed and 50 other people wounded when an assailant threw a bomb at a wedding party in the Sudanese capital, police said Wednesday.

In an apparently personal affair, the bomber struck in the southern district of Mayo, police spokesman General Hashim Abdelrahim said in a statement to AFP.

"Someone threw a bomb at a wedding party on Tuesday night, in which two children have been killed and 50 others wounded," Abdelrahim said.

"The police have arrested the culprit and all indications are that the issue is related to the wedding," he said, without giving the suspect's identity.

Many residents of Mayo, an impoverished neighbourhood, are from Darfur and the Nuba mountains, while some are South Sudanese.

Sudan has been swept by a month of protests and clashes with security forces that have left 26 people dead, according to officials.

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Amid constant bickering with ruling partner BJP, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at an event here on Wednesday, though the Opposition dismissed it as a "poll ploy".

Fadnavis also tweeted pictures of him and Uddhav participating in rituals marking the the start of construction of a memorial for Sena founder Bal Thackeray.

On Bal Thackeray's 93rd birth anniversary, the two leaders jointly offered prayers to Lord Ganesha and performed 'vaastu pujan' at the memorial site at Shivaji Park in Dadar area.

Until now, the Sena had been targeting the BJP, its ally at the Centre and in Maharashtra, over issues such as the Rafale aircraft deal, Ram temple, farm crisis, rising fuel prices, etc. The two parties have also spoken of going it alone in the Lok Sabha elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to laud Bal Thackeray's intellect and oratory skills.

"Remembering the courageous Balasaheb Thackeray on his Jayanti. Respected Balasaheb was unwavering in his commitment towards protecting the rights and wellbeing of people," he tweeted.

"He was bold and was blessed with a sharp intellect and wit. His oratory skills mesmerised lakhs of people," Modi wrote on Twitter.

PM Modi is expected to be invited for the formal 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony, a source said.

Fadnavis and Uddhav were seen warmly shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries at the event.

A Sena legislator present there said the two leaders had a brief meeting over tea. "However, there were no political discussions," he said.

"The chief minister and other BJP leaders were very comfortable in the presence of Uddhavji and his family," he said adding it seemed they were "members of one family".

The chief minister later tweeted that Bal Thackeray will continue to remain a source of energy and inspiration for him.

A number of BJP and Sena leaders, city mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation chief Ajoy Mehta and members of 'Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak Nyas, including BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, were present at the event.

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Cabinet approved Rs 100 crore for the construction of the memorial, which is expected to begin next month. The move is being seen as an attempt to reach out to the ally ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The prime sea-facing property built in 1928, measuring around 11,500 sqm, currently houses Mumbai mayor's bungalow.

The Sena had last year announced to go solo in future elections. A party leader on Tuesday said the state government's decision to approve funds for the Thackeray memorial would have no bearing on alliance prospects between the two parties for the upcoming poll.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the memorial should have been built at 'Matoshree' (the Thackeray residence in suburban Bandra), as he (Bal Thackeray) spent all his life there.

"Despite the Sena having a lot of money, it is using the government's and people's money, which was not needed. The BJP is only trying to woo the Sena ahead of elections," he said.

They want an alliance to happen, so people's money is being used. "More than the memorial, the BJP is concerned about polls," Sawant added.

NCP leader Chitra Wagh said the memorial's announcement was made a few years ago, but its construction did not start despite the Sena being in power in the BMC and a partner in the state government.

"The Sena has always belittled the BJP. However, as elections are nearing, both the parties have realised they will be decimated if they do not come together. Hence, this drama in the name of memorial," she said.

The BJP desperately needs Sena's "change of heart" to retain its relevance, she claimed.

Meanwhile, the Sena, in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', continued its anti-BJP tirade. "Pakistanis are carrying out attacks on the border, soldiers are dying in Kashmir. However, we are showing our 'josh' by taking credit for surgical strikes," it said.

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Saudi Aramcos Yanbu NGL Fractionation Department and Abqaiq Plants have been declared winners of King Abdulaziz Quality Award in the Major Production Companies sector.



The announcement of the fourth King Abdulaziz Quality Award was made in a ceremony held yesterday (January 7) in Riyadh in the presence of Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Riyadh.



Winning the golden category of the King Abdulaziz Quality Award is testimony of the relentless efforts undertaken by Yanbu NGL Fractionation Departments employees and management in improving the NGL fractionation systems, safety and in the implementation of the companys Operational Excellence strategy. Yanbu NGL Fractionation Department has previously been recognized for having the highest score in Operational Excellence within Saudi Aramco as well.



Saudi Aramco vice president of Domestic Refining and NGL Fractionation, Suleman A Al Bargan, said: This achievement adds credence to the operational excellence and work efficiency of the plant and its employees.



This according to him, was another feather in the cap for the plant which won Saudi Aramcos Presidents Operational Excellence Award in 2018.



He added: Winning such a prestigious award highlights the companys efforts to successfully instil a culture of excellence and high levels of quality in its systems and among its employees. It also reflects the efforts of the plants employees in refining and natural gas operations through research and innovation and through the implementation of technology and safety systems.



The award accorded to the Abqaiq Plants reflects the distinguished performance of its employees and their commitment to continuing operational excellence, which paved the way for them to be the best among their peers.



Khaled Al Buraik, vice president of Southern Area Oil Operations, said: This award underscores the excellence of operations at Saudi Aramcos facilities and adherence to the highest standards of quality and efficiency.



This is a qualitative addition that will motivate further efforts to develop performance; keep up with the latest developments in innovation in processing hydrocarbons; and adhere to health, safety and environmental regulations so that work can be done in a credible and effective manner, which will enable them to achieve more.



Saudi Aramcos Abqaiq Plants are based in the city of Abqaiq and include three facilities: Crude oil plant, liquefied natural gas plant and supporting facilities plant.



Abqaiq Plants seek to become a world leader in processing hydrocarbons by 2020.  TradeArabia News Service
Union minister Vijay Goel Wednesday met Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbeer Singh and demanded action against the AAP and its leaders for running a "misinformation" campaign on the basis of allegations that names of 30 lakh voters have been deleted in Delhi.

BJP also demanded that AAP convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal apologise to people for the "propaganda".

"The Chief Electoral Officer should conduct inquiry and take appropriate action against false propaganda by the AAP," Goel said in a statement.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been spreading "misinformation" by making "unsubstantiated allegations" of deletion names of 30 lakh voters in Delhi, he said after meeting the CEO.

Surprisingly, names of less than 3.5 lakh votes have been deleted as against AAP's claim of 30 lakh. Deletion of voters' names in case of death, change in address or due to multiple entries is a normal process and every year 1-1.5 lakh names are removed. The total number of votes as per latest electoral rolls have come down by just around 1.19 lakh, he said.

"The AAP workers are making calls to people telling them about deletion of their votes and assuring to get it added to the voters' list," Goel said.

Delhi BJP general secretary Ravinder Gupta has written a letter to Kejriwal and demanded that he should apologise to the people for propaganda that the BJP has deleted names of 30 lakh voters in Delhi.

The AAP has attacked the BJP, alleging it got 30 lakh votes deleted, mostly of Purvanchali, Muslim and Bania communities, in "collusion" with officials of the Election Commission.

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Visiting his home turf Wednesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP government at the Centre of damaging institutions like the Election Commission and the judiciary.

Five years ago, before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the different institutions of India, be they the Judiciary, Election Commission or the education system, were independent, he said at a meeting of lawyers.

The judicial system used to be openly for the truth, he said.

At another gathering, Gandhi attacked the Narendra Modi government over the Rafale deal, alleging that it paid an inflated price for the military aircraft and helped industrialist Anil Ambani bag a huge contract from the French manufacturer.

The charges have been repeatedly denied by the Modi government and the Reliance Group.

Gandhi's visit coincided with the appointment of his sister Priyanka Gandhi as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East, the region in which his Amethi Lok Sabha constituency falls.

Against the backdrop of an alliance between Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party that has excluded the Congress, Gandhi made it clear that his party was all set to give a tough fight in the state in the coming Lok Sabha election.

Now the Congress will work to install its own chief minister here. We will form the next government at the Centre, and will contest with full strength in UP," he said.

After the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP came to power at the Centre, it has started attacking every institution of India. It has started sending people of a particular ideology into these institutions," he said at the lawyers' meeting.

"Earlier your job was to ensure that people get justice. Now your responsibilities have become two-fold. First, you have to ensure that people get justice, and second, you have to look after your own institution and defend it, he said.

He claimed the final target of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the Constitution and democracy.

If there is any institution which can preserve the independence of India, it is the judiciary, he said.

Speaking at an event in Paraiya Naseerabad village, Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped Anil Ambani get a contract of Rs 30,000 crore from the Dassault, the French company that manufactures Rafale aircraft.

"Modiji says don't make me the Prime Minister, make me the chowkidar (watchman). But the chowkidar has taken Rs 30,000 crore from the Indian Air Force, and given it to Anil Ambani."



The Modi government has said it has nothing to do with the deal signed between Rafale manufacturer Dassault and the Ambani Group.

Under India's offset policy, foreign firms entering into a defence contract must give business to Indian entities.

The Ambani Group has also said the business it will get from Dassault is less than the claimed Rs 30,000 crore.

Gandhi urged people to remove Modi and bring in a Congress government that works for the poor and the farmers.

I will stand by you, wherever you need me. Not only in Amethi, but in the entire country. Wherever I am needed, I will be present for you," he said.

Addressing village 'pradhans' at Fursatganj, Gandhi accused the Centre of trying to end the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGS.

He also criticised the government over demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying it has hurt small traders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Banaras Hindu University cardiologist Om Shankar's indefinite hunger strike, demanding a separate AIIMS for Varanasi, entered its fourth day on Wednesday.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and President Ram Nath Kovind visited the city for Pravasi Bharatiya Divas but my demand for health has gone unheard," the senior cardiologist said from the entrance gate of BHU, which is the venue for the protest.

Shankar's protest has received support from Aam Admi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who in a Tweet on Monday, said AAP supports the doctor's demand for a separate AIIMS in Varanasi.

"Patients from neighbouring states and also from Nepal visit BHU for treatment. The varsity's medical college is packed, as a result many patients do not get admission there," Shankar said, explaining the need for a world class medical facility in the city.

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Beijing's telecom operators will invest over 30 billion yuan (approximately USD 4.4 billion) to build 5G network in the city by 2022, according to a 5G development plan.

The 5G network will cover the city's core zone, which is often defined as areas within the Second Ring Road, its sub-centre in Tongzhou district, and areas and venues that serve important functions.

The technology will also be applied in major city infrastructure such as the new airport and during important events such as the Winter Olympics in 2022, according to the 2019-2022 plan published by Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology on Tuesday.

The city, home to many of the country's top tech companies, plans to develop its 5G-related industry to achieve 200 billion yuan of revenue by 2022, according to the plan, state-run Xinhua agency reported on Wednesday.

"Obtaining breakthroughs on developing core components for the 5G network and putting them into industrial use is the primary task for developing the 5G industry in the city," the plan stated.

Beijing will set up product innovation centres, special projects and manufacturing bases in the coming years for developing the key components including radio frequency parts and chips.

The city aims at having the tech companies reaching a 10 per cent share in the global 5G component market, the plan stated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Asserting that India is going through a transformation of "unprecedented scale", President Ram Nath Kovind Wednesday asked NRIs and Indian-origin people to become a part of the country's growth story and change the "brain-drain" of the past to the "brain-gain" of the present.

Kovind, while delivering the valedictory address on the third and the final day of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, said the India of today is a land of billion ideas and billion opportunities.

He said the last few years have seen a sea-change in the way India engages with its people abroad.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has worked hard to connect its 1.3 billion people with its 31-million-strong diaspora," Kovind said.

India is going through a transformation of unprecedented scale and the Indian story today is one of inclusivity and progress, he said in the presence of Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The president also presented the PravasiBharatiya Samman. Indian-American IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath, Norwegian MP Himanshu Gulati and South African diplomat Anil Sooklal were among the 30 NRIs, Indian-origin people and their organisations named for the honour.

In his address, Kovind said that from economic growth to economic reforms, from women emancipation to women empowerment, from health for all to total sanitation, and from space mission to digital revolution, India was leading the way on many fronts.

"Our socio-economic achievements are helping the Sustainable Development Goals, and our growth, powering the global economic engine," he said.

India has put itself at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution, and through the International Solar Alliance, it was also leading the world in combating climate change, Kovind said.

"India, today, is a land of billion ideas. India, today, is a land of billion opportunities. I invite each one of you to become a part of India's growth story which is being etched by its billion minds," he said.

India wants to leverage the NRI and PIOs' technology, know-how and investment to power Make in India, Digital India, Clean India and Skill India programmes, he said.

"We want to change the brain-drain of yesterday to brain-gain of today. I once again call upon you to contribute and partner us in the New India that we are committed to build and to become a part of India's history in making," the president said.

Noting that the Indian diaspora is among the largest in the world, Kovind urged them to preserve and strengthen their unity as a community.

"We count each one of you as our cultural ambassador. You are the face of India and its identity abroad. We are, indeed, proud of you and your achievements," the president said.

He said that the ease of living abroad for the people from India was a priority with Indian embassies and consulates available round the clock to help those in need.

"We remain deeply committed to the safety and security of the Indian community abroad. In the last four years, our government has rescued over 90,000 Indians caught in political strife or natural disasters. We have also facilitated the return of over 94,000 Indians during Amnesty schemes in the Gulf countries," Kovind said.

Adityanath, speaking at the closing session here, said India is emerging as an economic superpower under the leadership of Modi.

In her remarks, Swaraj said the event was a success and its scale was much bigger than the previous editions.

A unique feature this year is that the delegates will also be taken to Kumbh in Prayagraj and from there to Delhi to witness the Republic Day Parade, she said.

The event came to a close this evening after three days of deliberations, brainstorming and felicitations involving NRIs and PIOs.

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Australia is investigating reports a dissident writer and Chinese dual national is missing and may have been detained in his native country, officials said Wednesday.

Yang Hengjun -- a novelist, former Chinese diplomat and democracy activist -- went missing shortly after he returned to the southern city of Guangzhou last week, friends said.

When asked about Yang's case, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was "seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China".

"Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment," a spokesman told AFP.

The Australian authorities are believed to be in contact with Yang's friends and family.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Yang had returned to China with his wife and son on January 18, but never made a planned internal flight to Shanghai.

His disappearance prompted fears that he may be the latest victim of an increasingly broad dragnet by the Chinese authorities.

Australia recently expressed concern about China's detention of two Canadians in retaliation for the arrest in Canada of a senior Huawei executive.

Yang's friend and journalist John Garnaut described him as "brilliant" and "a courageous and committed democrat".

"This will reverberate globally, if authorities do not quickly find an off-ramp," he warned.

Yang had worked in the ministry of foreign affairs, but later left China and wrote a series of spy novels and a popular Chinese-language blog.

Once described as China's "most influential political blogger", Yang went missing once before in 2011, describing his disappearance as a "misunderstanding" when he resurfaced days later.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Andhra Pradesh High Court Wednesday refused to grant a stay on the NIA probe into an attack on opposition YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

The NIA, meanwhile, filed a charge-sheet in the case in a special court in Vijayawada, naming J Srinivasa Rao as the prime accused, police said.

The high court dismissed the interim plea of the Chandrababu Naidu government for a stay on the Union Home Ministry's recent order directing the NIA to probe the case related to the knife attack on Reddy at Visakapatnam airport in October last year.

In its petition, the state government also sought to quash the order for National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe.

The government, which has refused to co-operate with the NIA and had not handed over the case documents, contended that the state police's investigation into the case was almost complete.

Entrusting the case to the NIA at this stage was not proper, it submitted.

The state government also sought a stay on the special court's order directing it to hand over the case documents to the NIA.

Assistant Solicitor General Krishna Mohan, who appeared for the Centre, countered the state's argument, saying the stay petition was only to block the NIA probe.

The state government was refusing to hand over the case documents to the NIA despite court orders, he added.

The ASG also pointed out that handing over the case to the NIA was not the Centre's own decision but was based on a high court order.

The state government was required to co-operate with the NIA investigation as per the law, he added.

Upon hearing the arguments of both sides, the high court asked the Centre to file its counter by January 30.

The high court did not accept the state government's pleas on both counts. The Centre will file its counter by January 30 and there is no stay on NIA investigation, Reddy's lawyer Venkatesh Sarma told reporters.

Reddy, leader of opposition in the state assembly, suffered an injury on his left shoulder when Srinivasa Rao, a chef, attacked him with a knife inside the VIP lounge at Visakhapatnam airport on October 25.

The Visakhapatnam airport police registered a case of attempt to murder against the accused, while the state government constituted a special investigation team to probe the case.

The accused is currently lodged in the Rajamahendravaram prison under judicial remand.

On January 2, Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Laddha had said the attack had been carried out by the accused for becoming 'famous' and there was no conspiracy.

Citing the 'findings' of the SIT, he had also said Rao was suffering from "split personality syndrome" and had no other motive.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Animal lovers protesting against the move to allow two nursing students accused of killing 16 puppies at a state-run hospital were allegedly beaten up by the police in the small hours Wednesday.

The protest was going on for over 11 hours and the policemen suddenly pounced on those assembled before the headquarters of state health department at Salt Lake area and beat them up with batons, actor Debolina Dutta, one of the protesters, alleged.

The police, however, said some of the protesters started arguing with the policemen present and turned violent when they were asked to leave the place.

The alleged police excesses triggered a storm on social media with animal lovers, some of whom are associated with the Bengali film industry, posting live pictures from the site and giving updates.

Two woman nursing students had been arrested after carcasses of 16 puppies were found in plastic bags in front of a hostel at the state-run NRS Hospital on January 13.

The two were later released on bail and animal lovers claimed they were allowed to take classes by the hospital authorities after January 17.

Actor Debolina Dutta said around 100 animal rights activists had been demonstrating outside the gate of 'Swasthya Bhavan', since Tuesday afternoon demanding that the two students be thrown out of the campus with immediate effect.

During the attack by the police, Dutta alleged, she was hit on shoulder by a woman officer and then pushed to the ground, while another protester was hit with baton leading to injury on his forehead.

The protesters claimed at least 15 of them were injured in the police action and treated at nearby hospitals.

Countering the claims, a spokesman of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said, police showed great restraint for over 11 hours even as the protesters continued to occupy one half of road space before Swasthya Bhavan for several hours.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Wednesday protested against Pakistan's reported proposal to allow only Sikh pilgrims inside the historic Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, saying Guru Nanak Dev was a universal guru revered by followers of all religions, especially Hindus.

In a statement issued here, he urged the Centre to take up the issue with the neighbouring nation when the latter sends its draft agreement for regulating entry into its territory through the Kartarpur corridor.

Noting that Islamabad was well within its rights to set terms and conditions relating to its territorial safety and security, Amarinder Singh said it should take into consideration the fact that the first Sikh guru's ideology is not confined to Sikhs but is emulated by people of all faiths.

"The Sikh ethos prescribes non-discrimination, with even the concept of 'langar' (community kitchen) being casteless service for all," the chief minister said.

A large number of Hindus in India were ardent followers of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism, and it was their cherished dream to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, he said.

"There was for years the tradition of Hindu families converting their eldest sons to Sikhism. The influence of Sikhism in India was so strong that to exclude members of other religions was not something that the Pakistan government should even remotely consider," Amarinder Singh said in the statement issued here.

Citing media reports of the draft agreement being prepared by the Pakistan government on entry through the Kartarpur corridor, he also objected to the condition of number of pilgrims proposed by it.

"It was not correct to limit the number of people to 15 a group. Individual 'yatris' (devotees) should be permitted," he said.

Advocating 'khulle darshan' (free access) for devotees, he said the restriction of 500 Sikh pilgrims per day should also not be there, especially in November 2019, when the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will be celebrated.

The chief minister also expressed concern at the reported clause making passport imperative for the pilgrims.

"With Punjab's large rural population having no passports, such a move would deprive them of making to the historic pilgrimage," he said.

He urged the governments of India and Pakistan to sit across the table and thrash out all issues to facilitate smooth and hassle-free travel by pilgrims through the corridor before coming to a formal agreement in this regard.

"Such regressive steps as were reportedly being considered by the Pakistan government to control entry through the corridor would negate the positive initiative taken by their government and it was up to the Centre to resolve all such issues amicably so that the pilgrims get the maximum benefit from the historic decision of the two nations," said Amarinder Singh.

The much-awaited corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur -- the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev-- with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district.

It will enable Sikh devotees to offer prayers at the historic shrine where Guru Nanak had spent his last 18 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls, political parties in West Bengal seem to be engaged in a battle over the legacy of Subhas Chandra Bose, leaving no stone unturned to encash on Netaji's public image.

Starting from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) to opposition BJP, Congress and CPI(M)-led Left Front, all the political outfits organised day-long programs to celebrate Netaji's 122nd birthday anniversary Wednesday.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee presided over the celebration at Darjeeling Chowrasta in the heart of the hill town.

She rued that the Centre had not declared the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as a national holiday befitting his stature.

"It seems they (the Centre) do not consider him (Netaji) a national leader...Netaji had talked of togetherness and unity of all people of the country," Mamata said, adding a person who takes people from all sections along was the only "true leader".

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for the last few years since the Centre's decision to declassify files on Netaji lying with the government in 2016, has claimed that it was the Narendra Modi government which had given due respect to the "unsung hero" of India's freedom struggle.

"The Congress has always tried to highlight the achievements of Gandhi family as if no one else has any contribution towards the country's freedom struggle or development post independence.

"The Congress has always neglected the legacy of icons like Netaji and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. But it is the Modi government which has given due respect to Netaji," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said.

Listing out various steps taken by the Modi government to honour the freedom fighter's invaluable contribution towards the country's freedom struggle, Ghosh said neither Congress nor the CPI(M) or TMC had done anything to honour Netaji.

According to state BJP sources, during the Lok Sabha polls campaign, especially in Bengal, the party will propagate various initiatives taken by the BJP government to honour - Netaji- one of the biggest icons of India and Bengal.

Incidently, BJP national president Amit Shah while kicking off the Lok Sabha polls campaign in Bengal from a rally at Malda on Tuesday also invoked Netaji and referred to Modi naming three islands in Andaman & Nicobar after the leader.

He had also accussed the Congress of trying to ignore Netaji's legacy and ensure that people of this country forgot the contribution of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The Bengal Congress unit, which organised various programs across the state to celebrate the day, hit out at the comments of Shah.

"The Planning Commission of India was a brainchild of Netaji and what the BJP did after coming to power in 2014 was to replace it with Niti Aayog," PCC chief Somen Mitra said.

Prime minister Narendra Modi had last year hoisted the national flag at the historic Red Fort to mark the 75th anniversary of proclamation of the Azad Hind government by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

He had also announced that a national award in the name of Subhash Chandra Bose will be given every year to police personnel who do excellent work in rescue and relief operations during any kind of disaster.

While celebrating the 122nd birth anniversary celebrations of Netaji, BJP organised programs at various parts of the state.

The Trinamool Congress too organised various rallies and colourful processions throughout the state to mark the day.

State Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee and Urban Development Minister and city mayor Firhad Hakim garlanded the statue of Netaji at Esplanade here.

The Left Front, of which the All India Forward Bloc - a party formed by Netaji, is also a ally, organised 'Desh Prem Diwas' across the state. The Left Front has written a letter to the prime minister requesting him to announce January 23 as 'Desh Prem Diwas'.

The Left Front took out rallies in the city and various parts of the state to mark his birth anniversary.

"We had earlier written to PM requesting him to declare January 23 as Desh Prem Diwas, but the Centre is yet to take a call on it," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said.

Meanwhile, Governor K N Tripathi and former governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi attended a programme at Netaji Bhavan here where they participated in an oration held to celebrate the leader's birthday.

Gopal Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, said the trust which marked the "equation between Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Bose, between Jawaharlal Nehru and Bose" and the trust witnessed after the Independence "between personalities like Ambedkar and Congress" leadership was conspicuous by its absence now.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Leading experts will discuss the latest developments related to the plastics and petrochemical industries at the 16th edition of the Saudi Plastic and Petrochemical Exhibition, to be held next week in Saudi Arabia.



The event, organised by Riyadh Exhibition Company, will take place from January 27 to 30, and is being held under the patronage of HRH Prince Mishaal Bin Majid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Governor of Jeddah, the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events.



The exhibition, supported by both government and private sectors, is strategically important as it provides an ideal platform to enable local companies to establish a base for the petrochemical and manufacturing industries in the Kingdom, which aims to enhance the production and export of petrochemicals on a global scale over the next few years in line with Saudi Vision 2030, said a statement from the organisers.



The exhibition is being seen as a bridge that aims to connect senior officials, decision-makers, pioneers, and regional and international experts together to further explore the potential prospects being offered in the field of Saudi petrochemicals and plastics. This year's edition of the event is being sponsored by SABIC as Diamond Sponsor, Saudi Industrial Development Fund (Industrial Empowerment Sponsor), Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (Industry Supporting Partner) and Invest Saudi (Supporting Bodies).



The Saudi government is also looking to harness the strengths of the vital sector in the development of high-value industrial products, in line with plans to promote the growth and diversification of the national economy.



Mohammad Al Al Sheikh, head of marketing, Riyadh Exhibition Company Ltd, said: The expo is one of the pillars of national efforts to increase the petrochemical sector output to $453.3 billion by 2030.



The event represents a direct source of access to opportunities within the Saudi petrochemical and plastics sector, which is experiencing steady growth with continued government support, he said.



We are proud to organise such an event, which also represents an important addition to our track record of qualitative achievements in the development, marketing and organisation of specialised events and conferences according to the highest standards of excellence, professionalism and renewal, in line with the effectively contribution to support the development of vital sectors that influence the economic development process, he added.



Al Sheikh continued: Riyadh Exhibitions Company remains steadfast in its commitment to upgrade the exhibitions and conferences management sector in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and we are confident that the upcoming edition will be an attractive destination for the world's petrochemical and plastics industry to explore ways to collaborate in accelerating the growth of the sector and increasing its contribution to achieving the goals of the National Transformation Program 2020.



The event is scheduled to coincide with the 16th edition of the Saudi Printing & Packaging Exhibition, which enables Saudi companies to access the latest technologies, services and products related to packaging and printing, offering an exceptional opportunity for international leaders to enter the promising Saudi market. A significant increase in presence and participation is expected following the success of the 2018 edition, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
BJP president Amit Shah and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi are set to tour Odisha this month, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's back-to-back visits to the state.

Shah will address a public meeting at Kulia in Cuttack district on January 29 and attend the party's tribal front convention at Puri on February 3, general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said.

The senior BJP leader's scheduled visit to the state on January 18 was cancelled in view of his illness.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi will visit Odisha every month till the general elections, Congress' Odisha In-charge Jitendra Singh told reporters here.

Gandhi's tour to Odisha will kickstart on January 25 from Tamando on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar city, where he will attend public rallies and meet party workers.

"He has a special place in his heart for the people of Odisha, especially the tribal and underprivileged population in the state," Singh said.

Asked about Gandhi's agenda during the ensuing visit, he said the Congress president will target both the ruling BJD and the BJP, as they "betrayed" the people of Odisha and "played" with their emotions.

On the recent resignation of some leaders from the Congress in the state, Singh said there was likely personal interest involved in their decision to quit.

Both the BJD and the BJP are "luring" the Congress leaders to join their parties, he said, adding, that they are "afraid" of the grand old party.

Singh added that the Congress has already finalised the prospective list of the first 50 candidates, who will be allotted tickets for the polls. The names will be announced by February.

Meanwhile, BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to visit Jharsuguda and Bolangir districts on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Odisha thrice between December and this month, the latest being on January 15.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Facing stiff opposition from relatives for offering prayers at the Sabarimala temple, Kanakadurga was forced to take shelter at a One Stop centre here after she found that her house was locked and her family members had shifted to another building, police said.

A police official said the 44-year-old also filed a petition in a court here under the Domestic Violence Act, stating she had the right to stay at her husband's home.

Police sources said Kanakadurga went to her husband's house when she was discharged from the Kozhikode medical college, where she was treated after allegedly being assaulted by her mother-in-law for entering the temple.

When she reached there, she found the house locked, the sources said.

Her husband and other relatives had shifted to a rented building, the police said, adding Kanakadurga then took refugee at the One Stop Centre here.

Kanakdurga, an employee of the Civil Supplies Department, had scripted history along with Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(M) ML activist, on January 2 by offering prayers at the Ayyappa shrine, where traditionally women in the 10-50 age group were barred from entering.

The Supreme Court had in a historic verdict last year lifted the centuries old ban and allowed women of all age groups to offer prayers at the temple.

The two were the first women of menstrual age to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine after the SC verdict.

Perinthalamanna Circle Inspector T S Binu said she was being provided round-the-clock security as directed by the apex court.

At least 10 police personnel have been posted for her security. CCTV surveillance has also been provided at the shelter home.

One Stop Centres (OSC), launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace.

Women facing physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic abuse, irrespective of age, class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture are facilitated with support and redressal at such centres.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Taliban "mastermind" behind an attack which left 65 dead has been killed in an airstrike, Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Wednesday -- a claim the insurgents deny.

Monday's violence was the latest high-casualty assault on Afghan forces, who experts say are continuing to suffer "unsustainable" losses since NATO withdrew combat forces from the country in 2014.

Militants detonated a Humvee filled with explosions before three gunmen opened fire at a National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence agency base in central Wardak province, but further details have been difficult to independently verify.

A local official told AFP at least 65 people had been killed. The NDS has given a lower toll, instead claiming 36 had been killed and 58 wounded. Afghan authorities are known to downplay casualties.

The agency said an aerial bombardment in the provincial capital the following night killed eight Taliban insurgents, including the planner of the Monday attack.

"Commander Noman... was killed along with seven other terrorists in an airstrike in Maidan Shar city", it said in a statement.

"NDS will follow the remaining members of this terrorist network and eliminate them all," it added.

The Taliban dismissed the statement as "propaganda" without providing further details.

Wardak provinical council chief Akhtar Mohammad Tahiri said an aerial bombardment did take place in Maidan Shar on Tuesday, but he said it killed four civilians and happened during the day.

The Wardak attack followed a flurry of diplomatic activity by the United States aimed at bringing the Taliban to the table for talks seeking an end to the 17-year war.

Washington on Tuesday confirmed ongoing talks in Qatar between its envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and representatives of the Taliban.

President Donald Trump has ordered the withdrawal of half of the remaining 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan in a push to extricate Washington from the conflict, launched in 2001 after the September 11 attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Police's special cell has arrested five members of an international drug syndicate, including an NRI, for allegedly smuggling "party drugs" and contraband worth more than Rs 90 crore has been seized, police said Wednesday.

The accused have been identified as Sunil Kumar (33), Lokesh Mehta (25), Satish Sahu (45), Neeraj Arora (43) and Rajesh Dutta, a British citizen (45), they added.

Party drugs worth more than Rs 90 crore in the international market including 13.5 lakh tablets of drugs, 10.2 kg of tramadol powder and 500 gm of ketamine have been recovered, officials said.

According to police, the accused collected drug tablets and other contraband from Mumbai and Delhi and exported them to London in UK, Nepal and Malaysia.

The kingpins of the gang are Mazhar, a Pakistan national, and Amarjeet Bains both based in London, UK and Jaspreet Singh Dhillon based in Nepal, they said.

Technical surveillance revealed that Kumar and Mehta had procured a large consignment of drugs and their counterpart in Mumbai identified as Sahu had come to Delhi to collect the load for exporting them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.

Kumar and Mehta used to pack and store the contraband, he said.

"After we received input that a drug consignment would be handed over to one of the gang members on the intervening night of January 15 and 16 near Bharati College in Janakpuri, a trap was laid at the spot," he added.

Subsequently, Kumar and Mehta were apprehended and 5.275 kg of party drug tramadol powder was recovered from their possession, the officer said.

The arrested helped the police recover huge quantity of the party drug from a godown at Hari Nagar, he said.

On January 17, Sahu was arrested and 5.1 kg of tramadol powder, known as 'meow meow' was recovered from his possession. Upon interrogation, two more accused Arora and Dutta were arrested on January 20 and 480 gm of Ketamine drug was recovered from their possession, the DCP said.

Investigation revealed that Dutta is an associate of international bucksman Sandeep Singh Gill and a Look Out Circular was opened against him by the British government authorities in connection with a two million pound money laundering case, he said.

"Arora and Dutta used to prepare the drugs at the former's house. A drug manufacturing-cum-synthesising setup was seized from Arora's house in old Rajender Nagar area. Raw materials used for the same were also recovered," he added.

Police also conducted a raid at Dutta's godown in Vikar Nagar following which 7.945 lakh tablets of party drugs, concealed in rice drums were recovered, Yadav said.

"The recovered consignment was supposed to be smuggled to Europe via Sri Lanka and other routes. These tablets were procured by Dutta and Arora from Ashwani Rattan, who presently resides in UK," he said.

The accused persons used to supply illegal drugs to each other as per their requirement for supplying abroad and other parts of India, he added.

Kumar and Mehta, both are partners in the dealing of narcotics and psychotropic drugs in tablets and powdered form, officials said, adding they procured contraband from various sources, including Sahu.

During sustained interrogation, it was revealed that Kumar and Mehta used to supply narcotics and psychotropic tablets and powder to one Mazhar, a Pakistan national based in UK, through cargo and courier, as per demand, the DCP said.

Sahu also used to supply the contraband drugs to Jaspreet Singh Dhillon, who owns night clubs in Nepal and Malaysia for which he places huge orders for these drugs, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Coast Guard personnel made a seizure of around 250 endangered shark species in a mid-sea crackdown on illegal fishing in prohibited Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.

Seven crew members, all hailing from Andhra Pradesh, of the intercepted vessel were arrested and handed over to the forest department Tuesday, a Coast Guard official said.

Bull sharks, spot tail sharks, hammer head sharks netted by the crews were seized. These marine animals are accorded endangered status under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, they said.

All the three varieties of shark are also categorised as threatened under the International Union on Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status.

The seized sharks were very young, weighing around 5 kg each, and all of them were dead when found, officials said.

This is for the first time that shark species were seized from fishermen in Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary limits, officials said.

Commercial trade and hunting of these marine species are prohibited under the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna(CITES), officials said.

The Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is located in Kendrapara district along the eastern coast of Odisha. It extends from Dhamra River mouth in the north to Mahanadi River mouth in the south.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 146 rebels were arrested in the North Chhotanagpur division of Jharkhand and huge cache of arms and ammunition seized in more than 2,334 operations last year, a senior police officer has said.

The North Chhotanagpur division comprises of Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Koderma and Giridih districts.

DIG (North Chhotanagpur division) Pankaj Kamboj Tuesday said that 1,221 operations were carried out against the rebels in Giridih district while 675 operations conducted by Chatra police followed by Ramgarh (19), Hazaribagh (380) and Koderma (49).

The DIG said that a total of 116 firearms, 725 kg explosive, 196 detonators, 5,381 live cartridges and 39 magazines and Rs 15.32 lakh cash were seized during operations.

He also said that four rebels had surrendered with arms to join the mainstream in Ramgarh district last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Philip Kotler is to marketing professionals what Peter Drucker was to management gurus. That is why his decision to bestow an award in his name to Narendra Modi can best be described as odd.

So odd, in fact, that it prompted media houses to investigate. The Wire came up with a carefully-researched piece linking the award to a Saudi government-owned petrochemical group with a unit in Gujarat that is hoping to expand its presence in India. And it turned out, two of the jury members, ad industry veteran Walter Vieira and Gautam Mahajan, did not take part in the judging process for the ...
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh is taking the digital India campaign to a wholly new level. To bring farmers on the digital platform, the government is planning to allot them real time wallets. With a fund of ~15,000-45,000, these wallets will help farmers to buy seeds and fertiliser even if they dont have money in their bank accounts.

Farmers will also get a smart card with real time update of their acreage, crop and livestock data. The card will be linked to the Google Map as well. This is expected to help government officials know about the possible bumper production ...
A government-appointed human rights group in Zimbabwe has accused soldiers of using "systematic torture" in a crackdown on protesters after unrest broke out more than a week ago following a sharp rise in fuel prices.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission strongly has criticised authorities for using troops to quell the demonstrations, the BBC reported.

The Commission in its report said at least eight deaths have been reported since last week, "mostly attributed to use of live ammunition". Other reports though said at least 12 people have been killed and scores treated for gunshot injuries.

"Armed and uniformed members of the Zimbabwe National Army and the Zimbabwe Republic Police instigated systematic torture. The torture was organised in that they targeted men who stay near areas where barricades had been placed and near areas that were torched by protesters or looted," it said.

Reports of the assaults allegedly carried out by the military in various parts of the capital here emerged after a man told the media that he and about 30 others were rounded up and beaten by soldiers.

The Commission's report also said of security forces entering houses at night and making men, and even boys as young as 11, lie on the ground where they were then beaten.

"The deployment of the army in quelling civilian disturbances leads to loss of life and serious bodily injuries and other human rights violations, yet the government continues to make such deployments," the statement said.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa broke off his trip to Europe to deal with the continuing unrest. He had been due to attend the Davos economic summit where he was expected to seek investment for Zimbabwe, the BBC reported.

Mnangagwa, 76, who used the troops to bring him to power 14 months ago, took to Twitter to urge all sides to work together to fix a broken economy. After coming to power, he had promised that abuses against civilians will not be tolerated.

In a series of tweets, he said violence or misconduct by security forces was "unacceptable and a betrayal of the new Zimbabwe", adding: "If required, heads will roll."

--IANS

in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit India for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before this year's general elections and as early as February, a media report suggested on Wednesday.

Reporting out of Beijing and New Delhi, the Nikkei Asia Review business journal cited an Indian source as saying that the visit might happen as early as February with the elections due in May though a Chinese source was quoted as saying it will take place after China's National People's Congress in March.

The report comes amid speculation here about when Modi will host Xi for a return informal summit with elections around the corner. The Chinese leader hosted the Prime Minister for a similar summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan in April last year.

According to the report, the impending visit is being seen as a move by Beijing to counter Washington's increasingly antagonistic trade policy and aggressive Indo-Pacific

It stated that Xi is expected to discuss with Modi measures to defuse border tensions as well as propose deals to expand imports of Indian farm products and increase cooperation in advanced technologies.

"The visit, whenever it occurs, offers Modi a golden opportunity to show voters a diplomatic victory ahead of an election in which he likely faces an uphill fight," the report said.

In 2017, Indian and Chinese troops were in a face-to-face situation at the Doklam region in India-Bhutan-China international trijunction after China's People's Liberation Army tried to construct a road there.

After being made President for life, Xi then hosted Modi for the informal summit last year to break the chill in bilateral ties in the wake of the Doklam incident.

In 2018, apart from the Wuhan summit, Modi and Xi met three more times - on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in July and the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December.

Xi's visit will also help Beijing in re-balancing its strategy in the Indo-Pacific after India, the US, Japan and Australia revived a quad in 2017 to work for peace and prosperity in the region.

The revival of the quad was seen as a move by these four important powers to counter China's increasing influence in the Indo-Pacific, a region stretching from the east coast of Japan to the east coast of Africa.

--IANS

ab/vsc/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Konica Minolta Business Solutions Middle East, a leader in office equipment and workflow business solutions, will showcase its integrated offerings for the commercial and packaging industry at the Gulf Print and Pack 2019, to be held in April, in Dubai, UAE.



The event will take place from April 15 to 18, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.



The company will also give live demonstrations of its latest technologies and products which aim to shape the future of the printing and packaging industry in the region, said a statement.



The event is Middle East and North Africa (Mena) regions major print event that provides companies unparalleled opportunities to meet international suppliers, learn the latest market developments, and discover the recent innovations in the printing and packaging industry.



Konica Minolta identifies the event as an opportunity for printing and packaging industry leaders to discuss market trends for the coming year and highlight the latest technologies and solution which represent growth opportunities for the industry.



Pauline Brooks, market development manager, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Middle East, said: The event is an ideal platform for us to not only show the presence of our brand in the region but also to showcase our state-of-the-art products and solutions.



We look forward to once again working with our partner in the region Juma Al Majid at the event, who will support us on the technical installation and demonstration of the products, she said.



Brooks continued: Our aim is to give the visitors a glimpse into the future of the print and packaging industry by highlighting the new technologies that are available to them.



We have always gone to great lengths to engage with our suppliers and customers. Our participation in this event will help us to incorporate their feedback and suggestions into our future products and services, we are delighted to be attending the event for the second time and hope to build on our success from the previous years, she added.



The Middle Easts print and package printing industry is set for a significant increase in several potential markets in the region. Konica Minolta believes there is a bright future for the region's printing and packaging industry as the packaging sub-segment is expected an increase by 2020, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Telecom major Vodafone Idea on Wednesday said its Board has approved raising funds up to Rs 25,000 crore through rights issue.

During the Board meeting on Wednesday, the promoter shareholders -- Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group -- reiterated that they would contribute up to Rs 11,000 crore and Rs 7,250 crore, respectively, as part of such rights issue.

"The Board has considered and approved the offer and issue of fully paid-up or partly-paid up equity shares of the company and other securities convertible into equity shares of the company, including but not limited to, compulsorily convertible debentures, for an amount aggregating up to Rs 25,000 crore, by way of a rights issue to existing eligible equity shareholders of the company as on the record date," Vodafone Idea said in a regulatory filing.

Further, the promoter shareholders also said that in case the rights issue is under-subscribed, each of the promoter shareholders reserves the right to subscribe to part or whole amount of the unsubscribed portion, subject to applicable law.

Share price of Vodafone Idea on the BSE closed at Rs 33.75, higher Rs 0.30 or 0.90 per cent from the previous close.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress on Wednesday slammed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for travelling in a convoy of 28 vehicles including an ambulance.

A former Home Minister himself, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said he wondered why Vijayan needed so many security vehicles.

"This very same Vijayan recently boasted that he fearlessly moved around when people came after him with swords and other weapons. One fails to understand why Vijayan is doing this. No one is going to do anything to Vijayan," said Chennithala at a sit-in protest outside the state Secretariat here.

The Congress-led opposition is holding state-wide protests against what it says is the abject failure of the Vijayan government in rebuilding Kerala following the worst ever floods that hit the state in a century in August last year and against the way it helped women to defy the norms by entering the Sabarimala temple.

The protesters who laid siege on the Secretariat were later arrested. Similar protests were witnessed in all 13 district headquarters.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
State-run Vijaya Bank on Wednesday reported a Rs. 143 crore net profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2018-19, registering a whopping 79 per cent annual growth from Rs. 80 crore in the same period a year ago.

Sequentially, net profit for the quarter (Q3) under review, however, remained flat from Rs. 140 crore a quarter ago.

The city-based bank earned Rs. 3,848 crore as interest for Q3, registering 23 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) growth from Rs. 3,135 crore in the like period a year ago and 5.9 per cent sequentially from Rs. 3,634 crore a quarter ago.

"Total income grew 19 per cent YoY to Rs. 4,106 crore from Rs. 3,451 crore year ago and 4.5 per cent sequentially from Rs. 3,931 crore a quarter ago," the bank said in a statement here.

The operating profit, however, declined 1.6 per cent YoY to Rs. 756 crore from Rs. 768 crore a year ago and remained flat (0.4 per cent) sequentially from Rs. 759 crore a quarter ago.

Provision for non-performing assets (NPA) shot up 79 per cent YoY to Rs. 582 crore from Rs. 333 crore a year ago and 19 per cent sequentially from Rs. 488 crore a quarter ago.

General provision, however, declined 6.3 per cent YoY to Rs. 578 crore from Rs. 677 crore a year ago 1.9 per cent sequentially from Rs. 589 crore a quarter ago.

Gross NPA increased 19.3 per cent YoY to Rs. 8,140 crore from Rs. 6,829 crore a year ago and 7.7 per cent sequentially from Rs. 7,557 crore a quarter ago.

Similarly, net NPA spiked 22.6 per cent YoY to Rs. 5,296 crore from Rs. 4,317 crore and 10 per cent sequentially from Rs. 4,810 crore a quarter ago.

Net NPA ratio declined to 4.05 per cent from 3.99 per cent a year ago and 3.81 a quarter ago, while gross NPA ratio was fractionally up to 6.14 per cent from 6.17 per cent a year ago but marginally less from 5.86 per cent a quarter ago.

The bank's Chief Executive R.A. Sankara Narayanan told the media here that total business for the quarter grew 23.5 per cent YoY to Rs. 3,07,248 crore, with deposits up 26 per cent YoY to Rs. 1,74,615 crore and advances up 20 per cent YoY to Rs. 1,32, 634 crore.

"Our Net Interest Income (NII) grew 2.85 per cent YoY to Rs. 1,187 crore," Narayanan 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 US Senate leadership has struck an agreement to vote on duelling proposals -- one on President Donald Trump's demand to spend $5.7 billion on a border wall and another on a Democratic bill that would fund the government through February 8 without a wall.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, set up two votes for Thursday, both of which will require 60 votes to advance, the New York Times reported.

The first vote will be on Trump's proposal to reopen the government, provide the funding for the border wall and extend legal protections to some immigrants for three years. If that fails, the Senate would then vote on a three-week continuing resolution to fund a quarter of the government through February 8.

Trump's proposal would need to win over seven Democrats, along with every Senate Republican. However, no Democratic Senator was likely will back it.

Meanwhile, Democrats, who have 47 seats in the Senate, will need 13 Republicans to advance the stopgap bill. The Senate previously passed a continuing resolution in late December to fund the quarter of the government impacted by the shutdown through February 8, only for Trump to come out against the measure.

A handful of Republican Senators had floated passing a three-week continuing resolution in exchange for the Senate Appropriations Committee agreeing to take up Trump's border request, according to the Hill newspaper.

There was no guarantee that either bill can get the votes to pass and break the months-long stalemate that has closed roughly a quarter of the government.

McConnell had earlier blocked the House passed package that would have funded the Department of Homeland Security through February 8 and the rest of the impacted departments and agencies through September 30.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer had slammed McConnell for trying to cast the blame for the shutdown fight on Democrats, referring to the GOP leader as a "co-conspirator" to Trump.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US federal courts are expected to run out of money on February 1 after deferring non-critical operating costs and utilizing court filing fees and other available balances, the Administrative Office of the US Courts has said.

"When the money runs out, each court will have to determine how many staffers must stay on without pay to support "mission critical work," Politico reported citing the agency.

"No further extensions beyond February 1 will be possible," the administrative agency said in a statement on Tuesday. "Most of the measures are temporary stopgaps and the judiciary will face many deferred payment obligations after the partial government shutdown ends."

Some of those measures included delaying or deferring new hires, travel and certain contracts, the report said.

The Justice Department also asked courts to temporarily put on hold some cases in which the federal government was a party until the shutdown ended.

It was among the nine Cabinet-level US departments affected by the partial government shutdown, which resulted from an impasse between the White House and Congress over whether to provide billions of dollars for the construction of a US-Mexico border wall.

As the record-long shutdown entered its 32nd day on Tuesday, the White House and Democratic congressional leaders appeared to remain far apart on a deal to break the deadlock.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday said the state has attracted over Rs 200,000 crore of investments during the Global Investors Meet-2019 (GIM-2019).

Speaking at the inaugural function of GIM's second edition here, Palaniswami said: "This edition has targeted an investment of 2 lakh crore rupees, which I am happy to say has already been exceeded."

He said the final tally of investment proposals would be announced on Thursday.

According to him, proposals for new investments have been pouring in the last one year, since preparation for GIM-2019 started.

The first GIM was held in 2015 which attracted 98 investment proposals with an investment commitment of Rs 2.42 lakh crore over three to seven years period, Palaniswami said.

He said about 35 companies from Tamil Nadu have already signed Transfer of Technology agreements with the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).

These include MRF Ltd to manufacture Aero-muscle Tyre indigenously developed for Sukhoi fighter jets of the Indian Air Force.

"LMW is establishing an aerospace and defence components manufacturing unit in Coimbatore. Many more such projects are on the anvil," Palaniswami remarked.

He said the state government has promoted an exclusive aerospace and defence park in 250 acres, which can be expanded to 700 acres in Sriperumbudur near Chennai.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday filed a Rs. 1.10 crore defamation case against journalist Samuel Mathews for linking his name to the robbery in Kodanad Tea Estate.

Palaniswami in his petition also wanted the court to restrain the media from publishing news based on Mathews statements or interviews.

In his petition, Palaniswami said the allegations against him in connection with the robbery in Kodanad Tea Estate owned by late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in April 2017 are baseless.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters here on Wednesday Mathews said he would release more proof in support of his charges against Palaniswami.

On January 11, Mathews, a former Tehelka journalist, released a video featuring the two accused persons in the robbery case, Sayan and Manoj, linking Palaniswami to the crime.

The next day, Palaniswami said the allegations made against him in the video were totally false and suspected it to have been politically backed.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three militants were killed on Wednesday in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district.

Police said the security forces started an operation against the militants in Binner village in the morning, leading to the killings.

Defence Ministry sources confirmed the deaths and said searches were going on in the area.

Authorities have suspended mobile Internet services in Baramulla district.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Celebrated author Ruskin Bond on Wednesday said there are more writers in the country now than ever before and also hailed the reading culture among the youth of today.

"There are more writers in India now than ever before. A lot of them are very successful. Books are selling. So somebody is obviously reading them," Bond said during a session at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here.

Asked if kids read less these days, Bond said: "During my time in school, there were few children who would spend time in the library reading books. We did not have so much distraction those days. But now even with so much to do, I do feel people read books that's why we have so many good writers around," the 84-year old writer said.

Bond's supernatural stories have been adapted for films but for the first time his works are being made into a web series.

Quizzed about his idea of the supernatural, he said he cooks up ghost stories when he runs out of people to write on as well as fictitious ideas.

"My inspiration is the people I meet and I know. When I run out of people to write about, I cook up stories.

"When I am desperate for an idea, I cook up ghost stories and it's very easy to cook up ghost stories.

"A number of my ghost stories were produced as plays on radio."

This isn't the first time his stories are being adapted as in the past, too, his short stories such as 'Blue Umbrella' and 'Susanna's Seven Husbands' have been adapted on the silver screen.

Bond also said that he does not regret spending most of his life writing.

"I have no regrets looking back at my 65 years of writing life. In between I took jobs, but mostly I did freelancing."

Bond was born in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, and grew up in Jamnagar, Dehradun, New Delhi and Shimla. As a young man, he spent four years in the Channel Islands and London. He returned to India in 1955. He now lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his adopted family.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thailand will hold general election on March 24, the first polls since a coup d'etat in May 2014, the Electoral Commission said on Wednesday.

Commissioner Ittiporn Boonpracong told a press conference that parties must register their candidates for the elections between February 4 and February 8.

The announcement came hours after the military junta that governs Thailand issued a decree asking the Electoral Commission to set a date for the polls.

The decree, signed by King Vajiralongkorn and published in the Royal Gazette - the official bulletin - paved the way for a return to democracy after the bloodless coup of May 2014 led by current Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha.

He did not say whether he intended to run, but he was widely expected to.

When he took power, he pledged to impose order and fight corruption and political divisions after months of anti-government protests.

The coup occurred days after then Prime Minister and leader of Pheu Thai, Yingluck Shinawatra, was removed from office by the Constitutional Court for abuse of power.

Prayut's critics have accused him of trying to hold on to power and of persecuting his rivals, mainly members of the Shinawatra family, who have won every election since 2001 under different political parties - Thai Rak Thai, People's Power Party and Pheu Thai.

Thailand has seen 20 successful and attempted coups since absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Digital signages, LED and other related industries can increase their market share by adopting an artificial intelligence framework, according to International Expo Consults (IEC).



This is a work in progress, however, IEC believes that the players with the AI vision will have the first mover advantage and the impact can be witnessed in a span of 2-3 years.



According to the IE, the organisers of SGI Dubai 2019, Middle Easts largest sign and graphic imaging show, some of the exhibitors have already started evaluating their products and solutions and are approaching the market ready phase.



Exhibitors at the SGI Dubai 2019 show could generate leads with over several million US dollars in just three days. The 23rd edition of SGI Dubai 2020 is scheduled from January 12 to 14 in Halls 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.



Sharif Rahman, chief executive officer, IEC, said: SGI Dubai 2019 exceeded our expectations with visitors keeping the show floor busy till the end of the third day.



This edition of SGI saw an impetus on innovative solutions in the printing, signage, LED, retail, textile and other industries. We aim to build on the momentum of this show and take it to the next year with several new categories, he added.



After careful evaluation of the market scenario and listening to the exhibitors and more-importantly the visitors, SGI Dubai 2020 will include new categories such as artificial intelligence; advanced display technologies such as outdoor 3D screens, holographic displays, bendy displays; branding and labelling and lastly metal cutting and engraving.



GX Media, one of the exhibitors at SGI Dubai 2019 had come up with a unique solution that redefined branding and advertising in elevators. Their short-focus projection requires less distance and can project a larger video at shorter distances.



The entire setup is easy to install and compared to conventional projectors that can only be installed in the middle of the elevator, they have the advantage of being compact, with less installation shadows and avoiding direct light to the eyes. It took about a year of development and testing to achieve the technological breakthrough and the product boasts of 19 patented technologies.



The 2020 show which will be the 23rd edition of SGI Dubai, will be a completely different show from its predecessors. Much like the industry that it serves, the show has gone through various stages of evolution.



To keep up with the changing technology and the trends in the industry and to stay relevant to the various visitors that grace the show, SGI Dubai 2020 will extend into allied fields that it hadnt focused on in the past.



According to the organisers, SGI Dubai has been the most anticipated event for the industry in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and the evolution lies in with their aim to not just be the largest show in the Middle East but one of the largest industry trade shows globally.  TradeArabia News Service
Automobile major Tata Motors has launched its new SUV "Harrier" at a starting price of Rs 12.69 lakh, ex-showroom Mumbai.

According to the company, "Harrier" is powered by "Kryotec 2.0" Diesel engine, which is mated to a 6-speed Manual Transmission.

Commenting on the launch, Tata Motors CEO and MD Guenter Butschek said: "We showcased the H5X Concept at the Delhi Auto Expo 2018 with a promise to bring it to the Indian market in early 2019. Honouring the same commitment, I am elated to present to you the 'Harrier' today."

"With this product, Tata Motors has rightfully entered the premium mid-size SUV segment. The 'Harrier' is a strong proof point of our Turnaround 2.0 strategy and it will be a game changer in the market," Butschek said.

"I am confident that with the 'Harrier', Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Business Unit will continue to win sustainably in the times to come," Butschek 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 Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) on Wednesday said it had written to Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera recommending him to make a budgetary allocation to make state buildings and transport accessible to persons with disabilities, keeping in line with the country's laws as well as international obligations.

In its letter, as reported by Xinhua news agency, the HRCSL said that during the past three years the commission had engaged in numerous activities to ensure persons with disabilities had access to public buildings and transport.

It said several training programmes were conducted in collaboration of the Human Rights Commission of Australia along with audits of public buildings to assess disability accessibility.

The HRCSL said Sri Lanka was a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and has undertaken international legal obligations to enable persons with disabilities to access facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Queen of the Hills, as Shimla was called by the British, recorded the highest snowfall on a single day in January in the past 15 years, a Met official said here on Wednesday.

Manmohan Singh, Director of the meteorological office here, told IANS that the town recorded 44.5 cm of snowfall on January 22, the highest in the first month of the year since 2004.

"The maximum snow in 24 hours in January was previously recorded in 2004. It was 57.7 cm on January 23," he said.

He said snow and heavy rain in the region in the past two days was mainly due to induced cyclonic circulation with the western disturbances.

As per records of the Met office, Shimla did not see snow for two consecutive years in January from 2006.

In 2008, there was just one cm snowfall throughout January, while it was 8.7 cm in 2009, 1.8 cm in 2010 and 8.5 cm in 2011.

In 2005, there was 94.3 cm of snowfall in January but it was spread over seven days. In 2004, 96.6 cm of snowfall was recorded in the whole of January.

In 2017, there was 65.6 cm of snowfall in Shimla but it was spread across two days -- January 7 and 8.

As per Met office records, Shimla experienced 62 cm of snowfall on February 12, 2007, the highest on a single day in the past 99 years.

Old-timers recalled that for almost two decades, Shimla has not recorded the kind of heavy snow that used to paralyse life in winter for over a fortnight in the past.

M.R. Kaundal, a retired government employee who settled in Shimla in 1945, said till the 1980s, heavy snow was a normal feature of the town.

"As far as I remember, the last time it occurred was during the winter of 1990-91 when the town was cut off from the rest of the country for more than two weeks due to snow," he said.

Another resident, Neha Sood, said: "Yesterday's (Tuesday) snowfall in Shimla reminds me of my childhood days when a storm dumped more than a foot of snow in a single spell."

As heavy snow has eluded this erstwhile summer capital of British India in recent times, the "snow manual" of the administration, followed since the British Raj, has virtually been lying in cold storage, admit officials.

The Shimla Snow Manual lists the responsibilities and duties of the administration during snow such as the setting up of control rooms, deploying men and machinery to clear roads and pathways as well as maintaining power and drinking water supplies.

This time the electricity was snapped in several localities of Shimla owing to falling of trees on supply lines. Water supply was also hampered.

The district administration, before the onset of winter every year, holds a meeting to review measures and assign duties to handle any emergency in case of heavy snow.

Officials admit that for the past several decades, this meeting -- called the snow manual meeting -- had become a mere ritual.

"Over the years, the intensity of snowfall in Shimla has decreased. So the snow manual has lost its relevance," said an official who did not wish to be named.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian markets traded on a choppy note during Wednesday afternoon's trade session over concerns of slowing global economy and the ongoing US-China trade tension. Sensex lost over 120 points and the Nifty slid below the 10,900 mark.

The Indian rupee, however, gained 17 paise to trade at 71.27 against the US dollar, providing some support to the overall dismal sentiment. It closed at 71.27 per dollar on Tuesday.

At 2.30 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex traded 128.60 points lower or 0.35 per cent at 36,316.04 after it opened marginally higher.

The broader Nifty lost 30.75 points or 0.28 per cent at 10,892.

Metal stocks were back in favour on Wednesday after closing 2 per cent lower on Tuesday, while IT and financials came under selling pressure.

Markets globally had reversed course after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its forecast for global growth.

Analysts said IMF now projects a 3.5 per cent growth rate worldwide for 2019 and 3.6 per cent for 2020 which is 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points below its last forecasts in October 2019, making it the second downturn revision in three months.

Investors were also cautious owing to reports that the US turned down an offer to hold preparatory trade talks with China. This was later denied by the US administration.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Top leaders of both the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress in Uttarakhand are resorting to dinner diplomacy, rallies and social media campaign in an apparent show of strength ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress chief Pritam Singh launched a "parivartan yatra" on Monday from his Assembly constituency Chakrata that falls under Tehri parliamentary seat. But inclement weather coupled with heavy snowfall on Tuesday forced Singh to suspend the yatra for three days.

"The yatra will resume on January 25," a party spokesman said.

Party sources said Singh had set his eyes on Tehri Lok Sabha constituency from where Kishore Upadhayay, former state Congress chief, has also staked his claim.

Both Upadhayay and Singh are political rivals. While Singh gets the backing of the leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh, Upadhayay usually banks on the support of Harish Rawat, the former Chief Minister and national General Secretary of Congress.

Upadhayay has launched a blistering campaign through the social media highlighting his work during his stint as PCC President in the past. His supporters are putting his pictures with Congress President Rahul Gandhi to bolster his claim over Tehri seat.

Harish Rawat has also started building his case by throwing fruit parties and embarking on rallies. Holding an umbrella on Wednesday, he took out a rally at Lohaghat area of Champawat district amid heavy rains.

Recently, he organised a massive farmers' rally at Haridwar from where he has shown interest to contest election. The rally was organized to highlight the plight of the sugarcane farmers, who are not getting their dues from sugar mills.

Sources close to Rawat said he is interested to contest from two seats - Haridwar and Nainital. In 2009, Rawat won from Haridwar by a huge margin and became a Minister in the Manmohan Singh government.

Hridayesh, the leader of the opposition, is opposing Rawat in Nainital especially after the defeat of her son Sumit Hridayesh in the Mayor election in Haldwani town.

In the ruling BJP, the political situation is no different. Former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who joined the BJP after revolting against the Congress in 2016, has thrown a dinner party.

Party sources said Bahuguna was interested in contesting from Tehri seat much to the chagrin of the sitting BJP MP from Tehri Maharani Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah. Shah was conspicuous with her absence at the dinner party of Bahuguna.

BJP stalwart and former Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri has declared that he would not contest from Pauri seat this time apparently due to old age. He is the sitting MP from Pauri.

Shaurya Doval, son of the National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, has shown interest to contest from Pauri. Vijay Bahuguna is also not averse to contesting from Pauri in case the party gives him ticket.

Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, who has contested election from Pauri many times in the past, is also keen to contest from Pauri.

Woman Welfare Minister Rekha Arya has staked her claim from Almora seat, from where union Textile Minister Ajay Tamta is the sitting MP.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russia's Defence Ministry on Wednesday showcased a new missile that the US claims violates a 1987 arms agreement aimed at eliminating intermediate and shorter-range missiles.

Russia denies that its development of the the Novator 9M729 missile violates the INF Treaty that bans missiles with a range of 500-5,500 km. The Novator 9M729 is part of the Iskander-M missile system.

Following an ongoing spat between Russia and the US over the former's development of the missile, Moscow invited foreign military attaches to view the weapon in question, Efe news reported.

"The 9M729 is simply a variation of the 9M728 ballistic missile," Russian chief of artillery and missile troops Lieutenant-General Mikhail Matveevsky said.

Matveevsky said that the new missile, although more powerful and precise than the 9M728, had a reach of 480 km, 10 km less than the 9M728, and that therefore it did not violate the INF Treaty.

He denied that the missile had exceeded the agreed 500 km in test flights carried out at the Kapustin Yar rocket launch and development site and said the public presentation of the arms was a "gesture of transparency".

At a meeting earlier on Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov alleged the US was refurbishing a factory in Tucson, Arizona, capable of producing intermediate and shorter-range ballistic missiles.

Riabkov said that, according to Russian sources, the US had been actively developing new missiles for a long time.

Washington announced it was preparing to suspend INF Treaty obligations on February 2, after which the US would trigger the required six-month process in order to formally pull out of the agreement.

Russia said it would recognize the US' unilateral exit from the agreement.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Road links in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday were hampered a day after widespread snow and rain, blocking highways and link roads, while hundreds of commuters were stranded across the state, officials said here.

Snow hit vehicular movement beyond Shimla town, while traffic on the Pathankot-Chamba highway was also badly hit. The entire Kinnaur district is cut off. However, there was no loss of life.

After two consecutive days of snow, most of the roads in the state interiors remained closed to traffic, stranding travellers and commuters.

Road links to Kinnaur district and towns in Shimla district such as Narkanda, Jubbal, Kharapathar, Rohru and Chopal were cut off, a government official told IANS.

While picturesque tourist town Manali recorded 30 cm of snowfall, it was 39.6 cm in Kalpa and 30 cm in Manali. Dharamsala had 53 mm of rainfall.

"There is no movement of traffic towards Kinnaur district on the national highway five beyond Tapri. Work is on to restore electricity in Kinnaur. The Pangi valley in Chamba district is also cut off from the rest of the state," an official said.

State capital Shimla saw 44.5 cm of snowfall and a low of zero degree.

The higher reaches of Kullu, Mandi, Kinnaur, Shimla, Sirmaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts have been experiencing snow.

Keylong town in Lahaul-Spiti district saw over three feet of snowfall.

Officials said bad weather has affected the road network in the higher reaches of Kinnaur, Shimla, Chamba, Kullu and Sirmaur districts and efforts were being made to reopen the roads.

There are chances of moderate snow in the state till Thursday, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official told IANS.

The government has advised people not to venture to the high hills of Kullu, Shimla and Kinnaur districts owing to avalanche threat.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 65 policemen and forest guards were injured when they were attacked with stones, sticks and chilli powder by hundreds of relocated villagers in the Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) jungles of Amravati in Maharashtra late on Tuesday, officials said on Wednesday.

The Maharashtra Forest Department and police rushed senior officials and additional forces to the area to control the situation that occurred in Gullaraghat village.

An official said that after a large number of villagers from Melghat were rehabilitated in Akot division by the government a few weeks ago, discontent had been simmering.

While the displaced villagers from Amona, Barukheda, Dhargad, Somthanakhun, Gullaraghat, Kelpani and Nagaratas were protesting and wanted to return to their roots, the police and forest guards sought to prevent them from entering the sensitive tiger zones.

On January 14, around 400-500 people from the villages in Akot division, allegedly instigated by local leaders, re-entered the MTR territories and illegally occupied the meadows inside the tiger sanctuary.

On Tuesday afternoon, around 100 policemen and 100 forest guards approached the villagers squatting in the meadows at Kelpani to negotiate and forward their demands to the higher authorities.

However, the villagers were in no mood to listen to them and started pelting stones at the police and forest guards. Some attacked them with axes, slings, sticks and even chilli powder.

In the free-for-all, at least 15 policemen and 50 forest guards were injured, including some like Dhargad Resident Forest Officer Sunil Wakode who sustained serious injuries on his head and limbs when he was attacked by an axe.

As the villagers also targeted 16 government vehicles including one belonging to Deputy Conservator of Forests T. Beula, several police and forest department vehicles, the police fired tear gas at the attackers and also clamped prohibitory orders in the region.

Late in the evening, the villagers set fire to the lush green meadows in the vicinity and taking cover of the flames and smoke escaped into the deep forests.

On Wednesday morning, the officials claimed that a huge area within the core of the sanctuary, which is the natural habitat of the tigers, was practically reduced to ashes.

However, police teams, guided by Amravati Superintendent of Police Dilip Zalke, managed to arrest a couple of attackers and detailed investigations are on.

--IANS

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Russian president Vladimir Putin welcomed his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Kremlin on Wednesday, where the pair were set to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria, a country in which both nations have a military presence, albeit on opposing sides.

Putin and Erdogan met in the Russian capital ahead of bilateral talks in which strategies on how to bring peace to Syria, which has been embroiled in a bitter and complicated civil war since 2011, are set to take prime place at the top of the agenda, Efe reported.

"Turkey isn't just fighting all forms of terrorism in Syria. We are also working for a political solution to the devastating crisis next door," Fahretting Altun, a spokesperson for the Turkish presidency, wrote on Twitter ahead of the meeting.

"Syria's territorial integrity and political stability are key priorities for Turkey. We will continue to work toward those goals," he added.

Russia and Turkey form part of the so-called Astana Talks alongside Iran, which aim to implement a peace plan in Syria, working outside of the discussion being held at the UN.

Putin became involved in the war in Syria in 2015, when he moved to back Bashar al-Assad, the once-embattled president whose change of fortunes in the intervening years is widely put down to Moscow's military might. Assad's forces and their allies now control the vast majority of the country.

Turkey, on the other hand, has offered its support to a patchwork of armed opposition groups in control of areas of northeastern Syria.

Ankara's principal aim in the Syrian conflict is to clear the border areas of armed groups led by the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as intrinsically linked to its more habitual foe the PKK, which has been engaged in a decades-long conflict in eastern Turkey.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a group dominated by YPG units, have benefited from the aerial firepower and on-the-ground technical support of the US in its fight against the Islamic State terror organisation.

After the US President Donald Trump's recent shock announcement he would pull US forces from northern Syria, Turkey has ramped up its threats to seize areas of the country away from the YPG.

Ankara has recently tabled a buffer zone, offering to control a security corridor stretching from its border 32 kilometres into northern Syria.

The UN estimates that around 400,000 people have died in the Syrian war.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his sister Priyanka Gandhi, appointed General Secretary of the party in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, will now ensure that a Congress Chief Minister gets to rule Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing an event in his parliamentary constituency Amethi, the Gandhi scion said that she will work hard to make sure that the sprawling state gets a Congress administration.

"Aaj maine Priyanka ko UP ka General Secretary bana diya hai. Ab wo yahan par Congress ka apna CM baithane ka kaam karengi," he said as crowds of party workers cheered.

The Congress leader also said that his party would now fight the battle of Uttar Pradesh with its full might.

Earlier, Gandhi laid the foundation stone of 18 developmental projects on his arrival at Fursatganj in Amethi on a two-day visit.

He was greeted by overzealous party workers at several places. He also met gram panchayat representatives. Posters and banners carrying his and Priyanka's pictures came up at many places in Amethi.

Celebrations also broke out in many parts of Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Jubilant Congress activists and supporters took to the streets in Lucknow too, dancing and raising slogans in favour of Priyanka Gandhi.

"Indira is back!" read some posters, an obvious reference to the striking resemblance between Priyanka Gandhi and her late grandmother Indira Gandhi.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has completed the installation of solar panels on the roof of the employees multistorey car-park at its headquarters in Umm Ramool, in collaboration with the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (DCCE).



The step is part of RTAs efforts to promote the use of clean and sustainable energy across various facilities and respond to Dubai Governments initiative in this regard.



Abdul Rahman Al Janahi, the director of Buildings & Facilities unit, said: RTA has installed 867 solar panels above the multistorey car-park at our headquarters. Each panel has a capacity of 330 watts, and the overall production amounts to 286.11 KW."



"The system is linked to the main power grid of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa). The production of renewable energy is expected to be in excess of 443 kW/h, which will cut carbon emissions associated with the conventional power generation," he noted.



This vital project is characterised by low carbon emissions amounting to 192 tons per annum, which saves about 5 per cent of the monthly electricity consumption bill.



The project is part of a 20-year agreement with the DCCE to supply the building with clean energy, which is in line with Shams Dubai.



"The project is also part of RTAs strategic plan aligned with the Dubai Governments initiative themed (Green Economy for Sustainable Development). The initiative has six pillars: Green Energy, Government Policies, Green City, Tackling Climate Change, Technology and Green Technology," noted Al Janahi.



The Green Economy concept has become a reality featuring in RTAs agenda for buildings, facilities and services to the public. RTA is the first government entity to endorse a plan for preparing and implementing a plan for the governance of the Green Economy, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Priyanka Gandhi's official entry into has come as a "shocker" for the BJP even as it was preparing to counter the newly formed alliance of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh.

Although party leaders officially dismissed her appointment as a "family matter" which would not impact the BJP's fortune especially in Uttar Pradesh, they admit privately that the road ahead for the party in the most populous state will not be as easy as it was in 2014.

Soon after Priyanka Gandhi's appointment, the BJP leadership tried to dismiss the development as "a family matter" of the grand old party.

The first attack came from its spokesperson Sambit Patra who said this was expected from a party that practices dynasty and said her formal entry into was an admission by the party that Rahul Gandhi had "failed" in providing leadership.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and his cabinet colleague J.P. Nadda, who is the BJP's election in-charge in Uttar Pradesh, also called it a part of "dynasty politics".

Prasad conveyed his good wishes to Priyanka Gandhi while taking a dig at the Congress and calling her appointment a "family concern".

Nadda too spoke about "dynasty politics", saying: "Everyone knows how this household company works."

But a senior party leader who did not wish to be identified told IANS that Priyanka Gandhi would definitely be a crowd puller but it needed to be seen how she converts them into votes.

"She has her own appeal. She is a look-alike of Indira Gandhi and has all the ability of a crowd puller," he said.

Asked about her impact in Uttar Pradesh, he said: "It needs to be seen. But 'asar to padega hi' (It will have an impact)."

A party office bearer added that the decision to ask Priyanka Gandhi to oversee eastern Uttar Pradesh was unexpected.

"The Congress had been uprooted from this area and the Congress President has taken a big risk by giving her charge of East Uttar Pradesh. This is shocking," he said.

Another party office bearer said the BJP was yet to devise a strategy to counter the SP-BSP alliance when the Priyanka factor had come into play.

"We will have to draw a new strategy," he said.

However, some party insiders feel that Priyanka Gandhi's task will not be easy because she will have to start from ground zero.

The area she has been assigned is a bastion of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.

The BJP won 71 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 while an ally, Apana Dal, got two seats. After the SP-BSP alliance was announced, many BJP leaders openly admitted that the road ahead would not be that easy in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

With Priyanka Gandhi joining the battle, BJP leaders are cautious even in attacking her.

(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at brajendra.n@ians.in)

--IANS

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has hinted that a series of discussions held between American and North Korean representatives in Sweden has been fruitful and furthered progress made by the two nations.

The talks were believed to be in preparation for the upcoming February summit between US President Donald Trump and top North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Xinhua news agency reported.

"A set of discussions that took place in Sweden over the weekend have now wrapped up. Again, a little bit more progress," Pompeo said on Tuesday during an interview after delivering remarks to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland through video.

"There remains an awful lot of work to do, but good things have happened already," Pompeo added.

He said the discussions provided the opportunity for Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for the North, and his Pyongyang counterpart to discuss some of the complicated issues towards achieving what the two nations had set out to get during their first meeting in June 2018 in Singapore.

Biegun and North's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, along with South Korean negotiator Lee Do-hoon held talks near Stockholm, over the weekend.

A spokesman of the Swedish Foreign Ministry on Monday said that the constructive talks had covered issues concerning developments on the Korean Peninsula, including confidence building, economic development, and long-term engagement.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the North's ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, met Pompeo and Trump on January 18 in Washington.

The White House announced on the same day that the second summit between Trump and Kim "will take place near the end of February".

--IANS

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Afghan security forces have killed the mastermind of the deadly bombing on a military base in eastern Afghanistan that took place earlier this week, the country's intelligence agency said on Wednesday.

At least 36 security force members, mostly intelligence agency personnel, were killed and 58 others wounded when armed Taliban militants attacked a military base in Maidan Shahr, about 44 km southwest of Kabul, on Monday.

The base was reportedly a training centre for Afghanistan's national intelligence service -- the National Directorate of Security (NDS). Several reports said over 100 people were killed in the strike. The exact toll hasn't been verified yet.

The NDS said in a statement that Taliban commander Numan was killed along with seven terrorists following an airstrike in Maidan Shar district at 11.12 p.m. on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Afghan and insurgent officials said a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden US-made armoured military vehicle, known as a Humvee, into the NDS centre and detonated it before three heavily armed men tried to storm the facility.

Officials, however, blamed the massive Humvee bombing for causing most the casualties because Afghan forces swiftly engaged and shot dead other assailants, reports say.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An 18-year-old patient who was carrying a tumour weighing 12 kg underwent a successfull surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in Delhi, making it the largest in-situ (inside body) so far, said the hospital authorities.

According to the SGRH, the largest tumour earlier reported was by University of Miami, US in 2014.

When Praveen Kumar Gupta came to the hospital in December last year, he was unable to walk or sit properly and had a huge swelling in the left thigh. Due to pressure on nerves and blood vessels, there was weakness and loss of sensations in the limb.

Investigations revealed that there was a huge tumour (size of 37cm x 18cm x 12cm) which involved the hip and the full length of back of the thigh. The swelling appeared in 2012, and gradually increased.

"The patient was diagnosed with rapid growing tumour. Had we delayed the surgery, it would have turned malignant. Morbidity and mortality chances are always high in such cases. The tumour was local, infiltrating into blood vessels and nerves," Dr Brajesh Nandan, Orthopaedic Onco-Surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, told IANS.

Gupta ran the risk of his tumour extending till pelvis, abdomen, knee joint or even back.

"The tumour was perfused by blood supply making it highly vascular in nature. Before the removal, our team performed a procedure called pre-operative embolization in which we blocked the blood supply to the tumour to reduce blood loss during the surgical excision," Dr Ambrish Satwick, Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon, SGRH added.

According to the medical experts, the main challenge was that blood supply of the tumour was adjoining the main blood supply of the lower limb.

"Any untoward incident could have led to a disastrous operation. Using road-map guidance software, we successfully blocked the main blood vessel to the tumour without compromising with blood supply to the limb," Dr Satwick noted.

For the main surgery, a team of seven surgeons was formed who took more than 9 hours to complete the surgery.

--IANS

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A move, backed by the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, to lower the age of criminal liability from 15 to nine years continued to roil the country on Wednesday.

Duterte though claims it would deter criminal groups from exploiting children for serious crimes -- a common practice in the country, although activists have condemned it as a violation of children's rights, Efe news reported.

"The Philippine government is one step closer to prosecuting young children as adults, a key plank in Duterte's abuse-ridden anti-crime campaign," Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia Researcher Carlos Conde said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Despite the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, specifically saying that the age of criminal liability, should be under no circumstances be reduced to below 14 years, a Congressional Committee here on Monday approved the Bill, which the Senate was likely to soon ratify.

"This would no doubt worsen the plight of Filipino children caught up in the justice system," the statement said. "Children in the Philippines have already been subjected to the extreme violence of Duterte's "drug war", with the police and government agents killing dozens during anti-drug operations as suspected drug users or for being pawns of drug dealers.

"The proposed law will not only stigmatise children even more -- it turns them into scapegoats in the government's abusive campaign," it added.

According to lawmakers, who have supported the Bill, it would protect children from criminals who try to exploit them, but critics warn that the new law would confine them to juvenile centres for up to 12 years.

The UN rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Agnes Callamard has warned against the move, calling it highly dangerous and fatal for Filipino children.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo has called Callamard's interference in Philippine domestic affairs shameful and added that the Bill would punish adults, who exploit children for criminal activities.

He said statistics showed an increase in crimes committed by children and the new law is intended to protect them.

Unicef Philippines and Save the Children have also opposed the Bill saying that there was not enough evidence to prove that children were behind the increase in crime rates.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday claimed that the opposition leaders, who have no connection with the country's development or people's welfare, came together at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's mega opposition rally in Kolkata last week out of fear.

Irani said the 'corrupt politicians', who have always been hostile to each other, are now joining hands to save themselves and to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wave of development in the country.

"The people of Bengal recently saw a unique political alliance when those who do not have any connection with development or people's welfare, came on one stage with Didi (Banerjee) to save themselves from Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Irani said at a public rally in West Bengal's Jhargram district.

"The corrupt leaders, who spent their lives by being hostile to one another, are coming together out of the fear that the people of the country will choose to walk the path of development under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Didi is scared that Modiji's wave of development will also reach Bengal," she said.

The BJP leader wondered how Banerjee could think of having an alliance with the Left and the Congress leaders who heckled her once and also allegedly murdered many of her party workers.

"I want to ask Didi, has she forgotten that she was once grabbed by the hair and tortured by the CPI-M and Congress leaders that she is planning to form an alliance with those parties?"

"Didi had alleged that her party activists in the state are being murdered by the Congress. Then how can she form an alliance with Congress whose leaders' hands are stained with the blood of her party workers?" she questioned.

Irani claimed that Banerjee and her party get scared even if the BJP wants to conduct a 'yatra' to celebrate the greatness of the Indian Constitution and democracy by taking permission from the state administration.

The BJP MP from Gujarat claimed that the state's ruling party Trinamool Congress is busy taking "extortion tax from people".

"The ruling party in Bengal is running a new kind of tax regime across the state. It is the extortion tax. Today everyone in Bengal is forced to pay this extortion tax to Trinamool Congress. Be it admission in college, job appointments in schools or even getting widow allowance, everyone is forced to pay the party," she added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Odisha on Wednesday celebrated the birth anniversaries of freedom fighters Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Veer Surendra Sai.

The 122nd birth anniversary of Bose was celebrated at his birthplace in Odia Bazaar in Cuttack. Different programmes were organised at the Netaji Birth Place Museum.

The birth anniversary of Sai was observed in his village Khinda in Sambalpur district.

On the occasion, politicians and noted dignitaries remembered the contributions of the two legendary leaders during the freedom struggle.

Governor Ganeshi Lal paid homage to Netaji at the museum.

On Twitter, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik paid tributes to the two freedom fighters.

Describing Bose as the son of the soil, the Chief Minister said Netaji's strong morale, distinct ideology and spirit of sacrifice for the country will continue to inspire the people.

He said Surendra Sai will always be remembered for his rebellion against the British.

--IANS

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North Korea's former Ambassador to Spain Kim Hyok-chol has been named the new interlocutor to lead negotiations with Washington ahead of the second summit between US President Donald Trump and Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un, the media reported.

Citing an unnamed source, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday that Kim Hyok-chol will be the new counterpart to Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea.

Kim Hyok-chol replaces Choe Son-hui, the Vice Foreign Minister and a seasoned diplomat, who played a key role in preparations for first summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un in June 2018.

The news agency said the new interlocutor was part of the delegation accompanying former North Korean military intelligence chief, Kim Yong-chol, to Washington last week to meet Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and finalize details of the second summit.

The second summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un is expected by the end of February. Vietnam has been reported to be the likely venue.

The reason behind the new appointment was not known immediately but Pompeo had indirectly referred to it in Davos on Tuesday, saying Biegun had an opportunity to meet his "newly designated counterpart" in Washington, Efe news reported.

Vice Foreign Minister Choe has had extensive experience in dealing with the US and had taken part in talks held in the 1990s and in the last decade.

Kim Hyok-chol was the first and only North Korean ambassador to Spain. He headed North Korea's diplomatic mission in Madrid since it opened its doors for the first time in January 2004, and was ambassador until September 2017, when he was expelled in response to repeated nuclear and missile tests by Pyongyang.

North Korean and US officials have expressed hope that the second summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un will restart denuclearization talks.

In the first summit in Singapore in June, the two leaders agreed to work for the denuclearization of the regime in exchange for security guarantees from Washington but there has hardly been any progress due to the lack of a roadmap.

--IANS

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Nominations for the 2018 Chameli Devi Jain Award for outstanding women mediapersons in India have started, The Foundation, which confers the award, said in a statement.

First awarded in 1982 to an outstanding woman mediaperson, the recipients include some of the best known and respected names in Indian journalism.

"The criteria for selection are excellence, analytical skill, social concern, insights, style, innovation, courage and compassion," the statement said.

"Other things being equal, preference will be given to small town/rural, Indian language journalists and those who have not been awarded before in their careers," it said.

Entries can be sent in English, Hindi or any other Indian language and these will be evaluated by an independent panel of jurists whose verdict shall be final.

Journalists in the print, digital, broadcast and current affairs documentary film are eligible for the award, including photographers, cartoonists and newspaper designers.

Names and addresses of sponsors or references should be clearly mentioned with email addresses and contact numbers. Self-nominated entries are also accepted.

Nominations should include samples of work done during the period January 1 to December 31, 2018, in the form of links (preferably) or clippings/tapes/CDs.

Nominations should have the nominee's bio-data with complete postal address, telephone, fax numbers and email address.

These should be accompanied by a brief explanation of why the candidate is especially deserving of recognition.

Mediapersons sending their entries in regional languages should also send a translation of their work in English.

Nominations can be sent to The Foundation, Flat No. 7, 32 Alipore Road, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054 or emailed to chamelidevijainawards2019@gmail.com.

The last date for submission is February 1.

--IANS

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a chargesheet in the case relating to the October 25 knife attack on YSR Congress Party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.

The investigating agency filed the chargesheet against the accused J. Srinivas Rao in the NIA court here. It also submitted to the court a 22-page letter written by the accused to his friends.

The NIA conveyed to the court that its probe into the conspiracy angle would continue. The court directed its staff not to reveal the chargesheet or the letter to anyone till further orders.

The agency filed the chargesheet within a month after taking over the probe from Andhra Pradesh police on the direction of the Union Home Ministry.

NIA officials had last week completed the interrogation of the accused, who had attacked the Leader of Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly at Visakhapatnam Airport on October 25 last year.

Jagan, as the YSRCP leader is popularly known, was injured when Srinivas, a worker at the airport canteen, attacked him with a knife used in cockfights. Jagan was attacked as he was waiting to board a flight to Hyderabad.

Jagan, who sustained a cut on his left upper arm, continued his journey and got admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad.

After the attack, leaders of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) termed it as a ploy of YSRCP to gain public sympathy.

Jagan had refused to record his statement before the Andhra Pradesh Police saying he had no trust in agencies controlled by the state government.

YSRCP leaders had approached the Hyderabad High Court seeking a probe into the attack by a central agency. On the directions of the Union Home Ministry, the NIA booked a case on January 1 and took up the investigation.

--IANS

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Majid Al Futtaim, a leading shopping mall and leisure pioneer, has launched the regions first Retail Business School, designed to build state-of-the-art learning into the companys employee professional development.



The Majid Al Futtaim Retail Business School will focus exclusively on dynamic learning programmes for employees running its Carrefour operations as the company seeks to accelerate its ambitious growth plans. Around 2,500 employees are expected to benefit from professional development opportunities at the School this year.



The campus, which is located at its Carrefour premises in Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, offers a modern and stylish purpose-built environment incorporating a cutting-edge Virtual Reality training room (the first of its kind known in the region), paperless classrooms, a multimedia studio, social spaces, catering facilities and a formal boardroom. Students can also take advantage of a Digital Library while attending classes on-site.



The School has been meticulously planned to have high sustainability credentials, in line with Majid Al Futtaims far-reaching goals to operate as a Net Positive company by 2040. As well as an emphasis on paperless learning, 2,140 living plants line the Schools wall, contributing 857,000 litres of oxygen into the facility per year (Increased oxygenation is proven to have a positive effect on human cognitive function and therefore the ability to learn).



A 104-year old olive tree, a traditional symbol of wisdom and knowledge, greets all incoming students, embodying the hope that many new positive professional relationships as well as personal growth will be stimulated at the School.



All training courses delivered at the School are to be developed and delivered by experienced employees. This ensures that all learning and development for managers is tailor-made and geared specifically around the needs of their own professional evolution and its Carrefour business. Course curricula have been fully developed in-house based on more than 20 years of experience and learnings from operating the Carrefour brand in the region.



The Majid Al Futtaim Retail Business School reinforces the companys increasing prominence as a global talent and innovation magnet for professionals working in the retail sector. It will play a substantial role in contributing to the companys various values-led development programmes, which also include on-the-job and remote learning opportunities. It has been designed to complement the work of Majid Al Futtaims highly-regarded Leadership Institute that supports personnel across all the firms business units in their leadership skill development.



Miguel Povedano, chief operating officer of Carrefour UAE and head of Operational Excellence at Majid Al Futtaim Retail, said: Majid Al Futtaims new Retail Business School is testament to our commitment to talentism and investing in our people at the highest levels. In fact, three out of four managers at Carrefour have reached their position via an internal promotion.



They are our greatest asset and our companys future success is dependent on their professional development and active embodiment of our corporate values. Ultimately, its our people who we rely on to deliver great moments to every customer walking into Carrefour and this substantial investment in them is a direct recognition of this.  TradeArabia News Service
Remembering freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 122nd birth anniversary, former West Bengal Governor and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Wednesday said today's "political leadership wears a crown of money" and people need to change it.

"Today money is like a great cloud of polluted miasma which floats over the heads of political parties. Crowns made of money sit on heads, that is a great failure of political leadership," Gandhi said at Netaji Bhawan -- Bose's ancestral house that houses the Netaji Research Bureau (NRB).

NRB chairperson Krishna Bose, niece-in-law of Netaji, and historian Sugata Bose, Netaji's grandnephew, marked the day with floral tributes and devotional songs.

"Presence of money and absence of trust are two major signs of today's political leadership. But we cannot just hold our leaders responsible and absolve ourselves from the responsibility," Gandhi said.

Gandhi mentioned that people like Bose and Mahatma Gandhi were gifts for the nation. They were both unafraid of two things - defeat and death. They both took the "risk of love" for the people, trusting and making sacrifices for them.

They too had differences but they kept them aside.

"Today's leaders have invested in hate and spite. They just want to hold and seek power. This is the antithesis of what Gandhi and Bose stood for. They were the face of commitment and sacrifice and always stood to rise above self, party and politics," Gandhi said.

He said that leading India, whether in times of Asoka, Akbar or in the present days, required commitment and sacrifice which was difficult to find and more difficult to sustain.

"It was not that there was no pettiness and narrowness during the freedom struggle. There was a higher level of cliquism in those days but there was no involvement of money," he said.

Gandhi spoke about Jai Prakash Narayan's movement in 1974 against corruption and hunger, calling it "the second freedom struggle".

"Indians cannot wait for the light of hope but try to be that light. The country needs social, ecological, technological and environmental philosophers as leaders for the survival of society," Gandhi said.

A photo feature book 'The Oracle' was released on the occasion. A DVD on Netaji was presented to Gandhi.

--IANS

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Former BJP President Murli Manohar Joshi, 85, is readying to again contest the Lok Sabha election from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Sources close to Joshi, elected to the Lok Sabha from Kanpur in 2014 after vacating his Varanasi seat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, told IANS that he had made his desire known to his supporters.

While a final decision will be taken by the party high command, Joshi, who was President of the BJP in 1991-93 and the Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, is not ready to hang his boots.

A 'report card' prepared by his supporters details the works undertaken by him in his parliamentary constituency. This will be distributed to voters in the form of a booklet soon.

"Kanpur is much better under Joshiji... There is a seven-day air connectivity now, Rs 400 crore expansion plan for the airport has been rolled out, nine power sub-stations at a cost of Rs 460 crore have been constructed, Rs 2,600 crore has been sanctioned for the development of leather clusters, the GSVM Medical College will be upgraded," a BJP leader said.

A Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in the state, Satyadev Pachauri has also endorsed the candidature of Joshi as the party candidate for the Lok Sabha polls.

"In politics, age cannot be a bar. Performance is and it is for all to see what Joshi has done for Kanpur," he told IANS, describing Joshi as a "man with a vision".

Former Kanpur Mayor Jagatveer Singh Dron has also thrown his weight behind Joshi.

Joshi, a retired professor, was not available for comment.

The BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014, a feat many here feel is very tough to be repeated.

--IANS

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Multiple people were hurt during a shooting on Wednesday in the US state of Florida, according to local officials.

The suspect is said to have surrendered, reports Xinhua news agency.

Local police were notified of the shooting in a SunTrust bank in the town of Sebring. The police surrounded the bank and were able to convince the suspect to surrender, according to local media.

Local media cited a Highlands County official as saying that "multiple people were injured" in the incident, but details were yet to be made available.

Sebring is in central Florida about 140 km south of Orlando.

--IANS

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Two days after the Madhya Pradesh Police arrested three including a woman for abetting the suicide of spiritual guru Bhayyuji Maharaj, the state Congress unit on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the case.

Madhya Pradesh Congress General Secretary Bharat Porwal has written a letter to state's Chief Secretary S.R. Mohanty demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to find out whether it was actually a suicide or murder.

"A letter was earlier sent to the Central government demanding a CBI probe into the case, on which the government had sought comments of the Chief Secretary. But the Indore police closed the case declaring it a suicide," said Porwal.

Speaking to IANS, Porwal said: "Bhayyuji was continuously being doped which proves that someone else was using his mobile phone. So, an attempt to malign his character is being made, which is wrong. Only a CBI probe will unravel the conspiracy."

Asserting that it was big game and real culprits are still moving scot-free, Porwal said the police are trying to bury the matter by arresting Palak Puranik, Vinayak Dudhale and Sharad Deshmukh, but they are just pawns. "The real culprits can be sent to jail only after a fair CBI investigation."

Spiritual guru Uday Singh Deshmukh, or Bhayyuji Maharaj, committed suicide by shooting himself on June 12 last year. There were rumours that ideological differences between his daughter and the second wife drove Bhayyuji to take the extreme step. But on Monday, the police arrested three, including his lady caretaker, on charges of abetting the crime.

According to the sources close to Bhayyuji, Shree Sadguru Dharmik Ewam Parmarthik Trust, Indore has many branches across the country. These properties, worth crores of rupees, belong to the Trust.

Besides, Bhayyuji had undisclosed partnership in many big businesses and Palak was aware of these all. That's why she came close to the spiritual guru and later forced him to marry her, they say.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Taliban commander, believed to be the mastermind of a deadly attack on a military base in Afghanistan that killed and injured a large number of troops earlier this week, has been brought down by security forces in an airstrike, the country's intelligence agency said on Wednesday.

The retaliatory strike by security forces followed the Monday attack by the Taliban on the military base in Maidan Shahr, about 44 km southwest of Kabul, that reportedly killed nearly 100 Afghan troops.

But the country's intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), played down the toll as 36 killed and 58 wounded.

The base was a training centre for the NDS. The attack took place just hours before a new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US in Qatar.

The intelligence agency said in a statement that Taliban commander Numan was killed along with seven terrorists following the airstrike in Maidan Shar district at 11.12 p.m. on Tuesday, Efe news reported.

"Commander Numan, who was the mastermind of the deadly bombing against the agency's base in Maidan-Wardak was identified, located and was killed along with seven other terrorists," it said.

The Taliban, however, denied that Afghan forces had killed their commander.

The NDS said that it will continue to comb the area for more militants, who might had been involved in the attack. A suicide bomber had rammed a captured military Humvee truck, laden with explosives, into the NDS centre and detonated it before three heavily armed men tried to storm the facility.

Officials, however, blamed the massive Humvee bombing for causing most the casualties because Afghan forces swiftly engaged and shot dead other assailants, reports say.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maharashtra Congress on Wednesday celebrated Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra's political debut with many activists appealing to her to contest from Mumbai.

Party workers were seen dancing, cheering, distributing sweets at various places in Mumbai and other districts, while top leaders welcomed her appointment as an AICC General Secretary.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan congratulated her and described her as "an able administrator" who has been nurturing the Rae Barelly and Amethi constituencies effectively for many years.

"She knows the pulse of the people and understands peoples' issues and concerns very well. Now, she will have a wider canvas in Uttar Pradesh and under her able leadership, the Congress will definitely register an outstanding victory in that state," Chavan said.

Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam terms it as "a great decision by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and will strengthen the party" in a big way in UP and elsewhere.

Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said "Priyanka Gandhi's dynamism and personal charisma will definitely invigorate the Congress."

"Her induction will have an impact far beyond UP, along with a renewed challenge to the Modi-Shah style of dictatorial rule," Chavan added.

Former minister and senior leader Naseem Khan said Priyanka's personality will strenghten the party and ensure the Congress' return to power in the 2019 elections.

--IANS

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LG Electronics Inc. said on Wednesday it will unwrap its latest flagship smartphone with a new user interface on the eve of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Spain.

The Korean electronics maker will host a media event in Barcelona on February 24 that is expected to generate attention from attendees to the MWC, the world's biggest mobile event slated for February 25-28.

In a 10-second video invitation sent to global media, a hand makes sweeping motions above a white piece of paper to reveal the message "Good-bye Touch," signalling a new interface that allows users to operate the phone without physical contact, Yonhap news agency reported.

The video did not specify the model name, but the follow-up to the G7 ThinQ will likely be named the G8 ThinQ, according to LG officials.

According to news reports, LG is expected to showcase a dual connected display screen at the MWC, joining the race to target the premium market with new form factors. Its local rival Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to take the wraps off its first foldable phone in the coming weeks, with China's Huawei taking a similar step.

The company also plans to showcase 5G-enabled phones during the mobile event, with a local launch expected in March, LG officials said.

The industry follower has been striving to reverse its fortune in the smartphone market as its mobile division has been posting losses since the second quarter of 2017. Such developments are due to maturing demand and fierce global competition.

LG has been struggling in the phone market as it has been sandwiched between Samsung and Apple in the high-end market and Chinese manufacturers in the low-end segment.

Samsung will hold a separate event to reveal its next flagship Galaxy S10 in San Francisco on February 20, a week earlier than usual.

--IANS

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President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several politicians on Wednesday paid rich tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 122nd birth anniversary, calling him the most beloved national hero and a "defiant patriot".

"He remains one of our most beloved national heroes and an icon of India's freedom struggle. Netaji is cherished, remembered and missed to this day all over the country," Kovind tweeted.

The Prime Minister bowed to Netaji memories, remembering him as "a stalwart who committed himself towards ensuring India is free and lead a life of dignity".

"We are committed to fulfilling his ideals and creating a strong India," Modi said.

A number of others also took to Twitter to commemorate Netaji's birth on this day in 1897 in Odisha's Cuttack district.

The Congress party remembered him as "a true nationalist, a defiant patriot".

"Bose was one of India's greatest freedom fighters. He will always be remembered for his role in building the Indian National Army and serving the Congress party as one its strongest presidents," the Congress tweeted.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah tweeted in Hindi saying that Bose "raised a sustained campaign against British rule".

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the veteran freedom fighter "ignited patriotism among the people and inspired them to sacrifice everything for the freedom of the motherland.

"He is an icon of India's freedom movement and also a role model for today's youth".

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said Bose's "valour, patriotism and leadership would always be an inspiration for generations to come".

"Netaji Subhas Bose gave us the memorable motto of the Azad Hind Fauj: 'Ittehad, Itmad, Qurbani' (Unity, Trust, Sacrifice). The patriotic call of 'Jai Hind' unites us all till date," said Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.

To fight the British, Bose had formed the Indian National Army (INA) that was also known as the Azad Hind Fauj.

--IANS

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Filmmaker Jon S. Baird says he wanted to make sure that the script of his latest film "Stan & Ollie" was "perfect" before he shot the movie.

In an interview to deadline.com, Baird spoke about his experience working on the film, which has been nominated for BAFTA awards.

He said: "I had the first meeting at the start of 2014. I was working with Danny Boyle on 'Babylon' and 'Stan & Ollie's screenwriter Jeff Pope approached me. It started out as a TV project, but it sort of outgrew that.

"The reason it took so long was that we wanted to get the script absolutely perfect. The final script was a million miles from where the original script started."

He added: "The person who really kick-started the script into what it became was John C. Reilly. Not by writing on it, or anything, but by coming to the table and saying, 'You know what? This needs to be more about these two guys.' John was a force in crystallising that."

"Stan & Ollie" is a comedy drama about later years of legendary Hollywood double act Laurel and Hardy. It features Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel and John C Reilly as as Oliver Hardy.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Wednesday held a 'padyatra' with the soil from the homes of martyrs of freedom struggle on the occasion of Netaji Jayanti in Ranchi.

The Chief Minister announced that a statue in memory of the 1857 freedom fighters will be constructed at the Old Birsa Munda Central Jail museum.

The Chief Minister's 'padyatra' began from Morabadi ground of Ranchi and terminated at old Birsa Munda Central Jail in the city.

The state government had got the soil collected from respective villages of freedom fighters who had died for the freedom of the country. The soil were collected at Morabadi ground in an earthen pot.

The freedom fighters from whose villages the soil was collected are Birsa Munda, Siddo-Kanho, Nilamber and Pitamber, Ajatra Tana Bhagat and others. The soil will be used for constructing a statue of each freedom fighter at old Birsa Munda Central Jail which is now being developed as a museum.

Birsa Munda was hanged by the British at the Old Central Jail.

Hundreds of people, including BJP leaders, joined the 'padytra'.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indians will not tolerate an atmosphere of "coercion, intimidation and bullying" any more and the upcoming general elections may bring some change, says historian and biographer Rajmohan Gandhi.

"In the last three-four months, I am seeing that the mood in the country is changing. This atmosphere of coercion, intimidation and bullying will not be tolerated by Indian people for too long. It is possible that in the coming elections we may see something really good," the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi told IANS on the sidelines of 10th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival here.

Rajmohan Gandhi, the biographer of Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, said anyone could make a difference.

Speaking on the issue of lynching and the fear of 'gau rakshaks' (cow vigilantes), Gandhi said: "Nothing can be more tragic and sad. Relatives of those who are killed are being interrogated and the ones accused of killing them are not being interrogated."

Still, everyone must work patiently and speak up when given a chance, he said.

"Had Gandhiji and Netaji (Subhas Chandra Bose) been alive, would they have allowed this malice and ill-will to go on? A major reason for the unchecked advance of bigotry today is the silence of most important and influential persons in India," pointed out the man who led the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1990.

Asked about patriotism and the chanting of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', Gandhi said: "If patriotism was so easy, that in six seconds one could establish themselves as patriots, then the whole world would have been full of patriots!"

According to him, patriotism is about doing something for the neighbours; it may be someone in the college, in the locality, one's relatives or someone in the family.

Hinting at the Centre's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign), Gandhi said: "Patriotism also means that if one sees some dirt, not just physical dirt (yes remove physical dirt, make India cleaner) but if one sees hatred, anger and injustice, one must remove them. If one makes the country less cruel he is a better patriot."

As Gandhi equated patriotism with loving one's neighbours, he was asked about his views on India-Pakistan relations.

"We should not think of Pakistan as one monolith or homogenous mass of people. One must understand Pakistan is a state with its government and is a nation of many people. Like in India, all Pakistanis are different from one another," he opined.

(Binita Das can be contacted at binita.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian and Pakistani troops on Friday exchanged heavy gunfire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand said the Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked shelling with mortars and firing with small arms from about 2.40 p.m. in the Nowshera sector.

"The Indian Army is retaliating befittingly," the officer said.

--IANS

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(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.)
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) on Wednesday said it would invest Rs. 16,641 crore in Tamil Nadu for expanding its retail outlet network, upgrading its infrastructure and laying of gas distribution pipelines.

The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government.

According to IOC, it would invest Rs. 7,941 crore over the next five years.

The company said Rs. 5,100 crore will be invested in expanding its petrol bunk network; Rs. 1,824 crore in upgrading the storage infrastructure and fuel handling facilities; Rs. 214 crore towards liquified petroleum gas (LPG) infrastructure augmentation; and Rs. 803 crore in modernisation and capacity enhancement of its Ennore Lube Complex here.

The company also signed a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for an investment of Rs. 8,700 crore in two mega gas distribution projects - (a) Ennore-Thiruvallur-Bengaluru-Puducherry-Nagapattinam-Madurai-Trichy involving an outlay of Rs. 4,500 crore and (b) City Gas Distribution project in the Salem and Coimbatore geographical areas at an outlay of Rs. 4,200 crore.

"With a contribution of around Rs. 6,800 crore to the state exchequer per annum, the Indian Oil in Tamil Nadu would like to play a stellar role in the State's growth," R. Sitharthan, Executive Director - Tamil Nadu and Puducherry - said.

--IANS

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Actor Tiger Shroff has praised actor Hrithik Roshan, whom he will be seen sharing screen space with in an upcoming actioner and said that he is looking even better and younger now than he did in his debut film "Kaho Na Pyaar Hai", which released almost two decades ago.

Tiger, 28, a huge admirer of Hrithik, will collaborate with the 45-year-old actor for the first time in a yet-untitled Yash Raj Films' production.

Asked Tiger if the audience would get to see a dance off between the two in the film, Tiger said: "I think that's what the audience is expecting and we are going to give exactly that to them and we are we are going to give lot more so, audience can expect the best."

The "Baaghi" star said that Hrithik is in his top form.

"Hrithik sir is coming in top form. I have seen him train day and night, I have seen him work hard on a set and I have seen his work ethic so, I think, if he is not the same as he was in 'Kaho Na Pyaar Hai', he must be even better and younger looking now," he said while interacting at the launch of Ganesh Acharya Dance Academy (GADA) along with choreographer Ganesh Acharya.

Tiger, who is the son of actor Jackie Shroff, says he would like to see the remake of "Parinda" being made because that is my favourite film of his father.

"It was one of his best roles in his career. I don't think I will be ready to be part of it because I can't match up tp my father but if that film is being remade, I would love to watch it,"he said.

Jackie will be celebrating his 62nd birthday on February 1.

Asked Tiger his family's plans to celebrate birthday of his father, he said: "My father has a farm in Pune so, he likes to go farming and he just like to go and sit in his farms so, I think we will go over there and have lunch or something and come back."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In his haste to silence critics of Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had on Tuesday announced that the BJP government will inaugurate many of the projects signed during the Vibrant Summit by March. However, one such project that he mentioned is an already operational and functional plant of the Suzuki motors Gujarat.

The Gujarat Chief Minister on Tuesday in a press conference for select media persons said the state government will be inaugurating or laying foundation for many of the projects signed during 'Vibrant Summit'.

"The MoUs signed will become a reality. We are either going to perform the inauguration or lay foundation stones for more than 400 such projects," Rupani told selected media persons.

"Our opponents always cry foul saying that the 'Vibrant' summits do not produce any results, but we will prove their claims false," he said.

With this announcement, the state government issued a list of 27 projects on Tuesday evening. The list contains projects which will be inaugurated or started in Gujarat by March-end this year.

One of the projects mentioned is the Suzuki India project's second line of manufacturing cars in Ahmedabad. But according to the Suzuki Gujarat, the plant is already functional and the company has already started its production of Swift cars from January 2019.

According to the press statement by the Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Limited (SMG), a 100% subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation for the production of automobiles in India, "The company has completed construction of the Gujarat Plant No.2, and started production of the Swift from January 2019."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Budget carrier GoAir will start seven more flights to Phuket by the end of 2019, as well as seek more bilateral flying rights to Thailand, a senior official has said.

"The level of interest from Indian travellers after GoAir started direct flights from India to Phuket has been excellent," GoAir Vice-President (International Oerations) Arjun Dasgupta told IANS on the sidelines of the just-concluded "Thailand Yacht Show & Rendezvous 2019" here.

Dasgupta said that Chandigarh and Lucknow would be among the Indian cities to be connected to Thailand in the coming months.

The airline recently started flights to Phuket from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and also announced 50 per cent discounts for Indian enthusiasts heading for the yacht show.

Dasgupta noted that the number of Indian tourists coming to Phuket had "grown a lot" after the direct flights started on December 22, 2018.

Royal Phuket Marina Chairman Gulu Lalvani said that Indians currently rank 11th in terms of footfalls into Phuket and with the increase in direct flights, India would be second only to China in this respect by the end of 2019.

According to Dasgupta, Indians strongly felt the need for direct flight connectivity between Phuket and India.

"The only resentment everyone had was the harrowing experience of deboarding and reboarding the flight at Bangkok airport, especially while returning to India.

"Now with GoAir having started direct flights to Phuket, the travel time will be cut short by 4-5 hours providing tourists great relief," Dasgupta said.

Talking of plans ahead, the official said that 90 per cent of the GoAir fleet is new. GoAir has already placed the order for 144 A-320 Neo aircrafts, he added.

(Rituraj Baruah was in Phuket on the invitation of Royal Phuket Marina and GoAir. He can be contacted at ritiraj.b@ians.in>)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Free speech is facing a threat in India sprouting from "religious motivations, political biases and social judgments" and this reflects "apathy" on the part of the state, Juergen Boos, the President and CEO of the Frankfurt Book Fair, observed on Wednesday.

"Attempts in the recent past to silence journalists, writers, filmmakers and publishers reflect the rise of identity politics and apathy on the part of the state. Two journalists of international repute - Gauri Lankesh and Shujaat Bukhari - were shot dead within a span of nine months. Publisher friends like DC Books, Kalachuvadu Publications and their authors have witnessed attacks by fanatics who may have never even read the books in question," Boos, who trained as a publisher at Herder Verlag in the early 1980s, said in his inaugural address at the Jaipur BookMark.

The Jaipur BookMark is the South Asian publishing conclave that runs parallel to Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), and kicked off on Wednesday.

Addressing a packed house of publishing insiders at the Durbar Hall of the Diggi Palace here, Boos said when he looks at the "hysteria, hatred and hostility that characterise the discussion in social media, the permanent state of turmoil that societies around the world find themselves in", he begins to doubt whether we are actually capable of using the communications technologies whose development we are so proud of.

Boos, a recipient of the prestigious Australian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, contended that free exchange of ideas and opinions has never been easier than in the 21st century.

"And never has it been so threatened."

He reflected that everyone today is in a position to publish whatever they want - using blogs, podcasts and self-publishing platforms, as well as traditional publishing houses.

He prescribed that the present state of affairs demands the publishing industry "take a stance".

"Expressing an opinion of this type was long reserved for politicians or the media. Today, in the 21st century, we all have the possibility of making our voices heard. And we should not do that in keeping with the motto 'overnewsed but uninformed' but in a carefully considered manner.

He also asked how publishing houses and their products can remain relevant in an age in which fake news can be disseminated faster than well-researched books.

Boos, who is also a member of the German Book Prize Academy, further said that publishers in the 21st century are in a privileged position: the industry looks back on a long tradition, on the one hand, and has built a reputation.

"Publishers are gatekeepers - they filter and assess content, they curate before they publish. They consider it part of their job to publish content that is well-researched, documented, checked and carefully assembled as way of contributing to the range of opinions present in society. Publishers and authors in many parts of the world risk their lives by writing or bringing out books that criticise regimes, uncover injustices and shed light on political failures," he contended.

(Saket Suman is in Jaipur at the invitation of the organisers of Jaipur Literature Festival. He can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four state-owned companies under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry will provide Rs 80 crore to Tripura to make the northeastern state Open Defecation Free (ODF) soon, a top ONGC official said here on Wednesday.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Executive Director Gautam Kumar Singha Roy after handing over a cheque of Rs 20 crore to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb told the media that four companies under the Ministry would give Rs 80 crore to Tripura to make the state ODF soon.

Besides ONGC, the other companies who would provide the finance assistance for the scheme are Indian Oil Corp, Oil India Ltd and Gas Authority of India Ltd.

The Chief Minister said for the state to achieve ODF status, a new scheme -- Jibandhara State Water and Sanitation Mission (JSWSM) -- has been launched which would cover at least 3.50 lakh families.

Singha Roy, who is also the head of company's Tripura asset, said that with Rs 80 crore, 67,430 Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) would be constructed in the state.

He said that as part of the ONGC's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the government-owned company has decided to provide a total of Rs 25 crore to the JSWSM.

A cheque of Rs 20 crore was handed over to the Chief Minister on Wednesday and the remaining Rs 5 crore would be given later.

Tripura Chief Secretary Lalit Kumar Gupta is the ex-officio Chairman of the JSWSM.

ONGC's CSR chief S.S.C Parthiban said that under the CSR programme, during the fiscal 2017-18, the company spent Rs 503 crore on various projects across the country, and for the current financial year 2018-19, Rs 480 crore had been earmarked for CSR activities.

Executive Director Roy added that it has already given financial support worth several crores to the state government for making Tripura an ODF state.

"To realise the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the country ODF by October 2, 2019, ONGC has been extending its support," 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.)
Shah Faesal, the 2009 batch IAS topper who resigned to join politics, on Wednesday started a crowd funding campaign to launch a political party for "clean and corruption free administration".

Faesal recently quit the coveted civil service to protest against the killings in Jammu and Kashmir and the failure of the central government to start an initiative to reach out to the people of the state.

It was initially believed that he would join the National Conference that would field him as its candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla in the Kashmir Valley.

He has now decided to launch his own party that would ensure clean and corruption free administration with public funding.

Faesal said on his Twitter page today: "Be a part of this journey for clean and corruption free administration in J&K. Support Shah Faesal with your small donations."

He gave a bank account number for contributions and said payments could also be made through e-wallet.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Navy along with the Coast Guard on Wednesday concluded the two-day coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil' that was conducted in close coordination with all maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities.

The mega exercise undertaken along the entire 7,516 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India with over 30 ships and aircraft of Indian Navy and Coast Guard as well as 85 patrol boats manned by various security agencies participated in the exercise at West Bengal, Odhisa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nandu and Puducherry, a Navy spokesperson said.

While the Marine Police boats were operating up to five miles from the coast, Navy and Coast Guard had deployed their assets on the high seas. Air tasks of assests were also undertaken to maintaining high vigil at sea.

During the exercise, all coastal police stations and control rooms, fishing harbours and landing centres, port control rooms, and other operational centres of Navy and Coast Guard were fully activated.

Security was beefed up at all vital installations/ assets and SPM's off Visakhapatnam, Paradip and KG Basin.

Audit of International Ship and Port Facility Security(ISPS) code was carried out by ports. On similar lines, all agencies concerned with maritime security assessed their own organisations to identify gaps and address them on priority, the Navy said.

To evaluate the coastal security mechanism, simulated infiltration from the sea by joint teams from security agencies, collectively called as Red Force, was attempted. These teams aimed to breach the multi-tier security barriers at sea, close to the land and in the hinterland.

Simulated attacks were carried out on vital installations and assets by infiltrating through the sea, in Kerala and Lakshadweep.

The security agencies were able to thwart attempts by the opposing force to infiltrate onto the coast using commandeered fishing boats, the Navy said.

Hijack/ hostage situation onboard merchant vessels operating off east coast was also simulated to check effectiveness of CMG (Crisis Management Group) and naval commandos.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday supported VVPAT-fitted EVMs for the coming Lok Sabha polls.

"My stand is very clear on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). I don't agree with people who question it. It is perfectly fine. And when there will be VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) machines at every polling booth, there will be no problem at all," he told the media.

"I don't agree with the things that are being said about EVMs. EVMs have strengthened people's right to vote."

The Janata Dal-United leader said that elections earlier would see both bogus voting and physical capture of voting stations.

"This will not be possible now with EVMs and VVPAT machines at polling booths."

--IANS

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday departed for Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over Syria, amid the US troops' withdrawal from the war-torn country.

During Erdogan's one-day visit, the two leaders were expected to exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria, as well as bilateral relations between the two countries, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Prior to his visit, Erdogan on Monday said he would discuss with Putin the establishment of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, which was initiated by US President Donald Trump following the military withdrawal decision, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week said Damascus must take control of the country's north, adding that Moscow will consider the interests of all parties, including Turkey, in setting up a safe zone.

Meanwhile, Erdogan and Putin may also discuss their cooperation on the creation of "de-escalation zone" in Syria's Idlib province, as a fruit of Turkey, Russia, Iran three-way summit held in Astana.

The two leaders had seven one-on-one meetings in 2018 and 18 phone calls to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, especially Syria.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Supreme Court judge Madan Lokur on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the collegium's December 12 resolution elevating Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Rajendra Menon to the top court not being made public and advocated "tweaking" the collegium system.

Overruling the collegium's December 12 decision of which Justice Lokur was a part, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna were on January 10 recommended for elevation to the Supreme Court (SC), superseding as many as 32 other judges, triggering a major controversy.

As former and sitting judges expressed their reservations about the judges being superseded, the Narendra Modi government on January 16 elevated both Justices Maheshwari and Khanna to the SC.

Participating in an interactive session here, Justice Lokur, who retired on December 31, did not hide his disappointment.

"It does disappoint me that the resolution passed on December 12, 2018 wasn't put up in public domain. Usually resolutions are always put on the (SC) website, but why it wasn't put up, I don't know," he said.

Asked what made the collegium change its decision, Justice Lokur said he was not privy to the "additional material" that could have led to the collegial change its mind.

While observing that the Collegium system was the best bet under the current circumstances, he did admit it had certain limitations and said there was a need to tweak it and bring in improvements.

"Like any other system, its needs tweaking. The system needs to improve, there has to be a timeframe that must be strictly adhered to," he said adding that it was public knowledge that government on many instances has sat on the collegium's recommendations for months.

Pointing out that the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) was silent on many aspects including the eligibility criteria of the judges, Justice Lokur said there was an urgent need of discussing the issue of improving the system, with the government and stakeholders.

While denying the existence of nepotism or influence in the collegium system, he admitted that there were instances of decisions reflecting "arbitrariness".

On the issue of judges accepting post retirement assignment, he said there were laws that mandated that retired judges and retired chief Justice of India could only be the chairperson of NHRC and other commissions.

"If all judges start declining such posts, then who will run these commissions?" he asked.

He also dismissed the hype made over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the SC and having met judges.

"Do you want judges not to see the face of the Prime Minister?" said Justice Lokur when asked to comment on the issue.

"A judge shouldn't be expected to be in ivory tower or live like a hermit. I don't think there is anything wrong in Prime Minister either visiting the SC or meeting judges," he said.

On a question on why there has been no appointment of a Dalit judge to the SC in the last 8 years, Justice Lokur said: "There was no one senior enough to be appointed".

He also opined that criminal defamation law and the sedition law should be done away with and lamented the lack of discussions on making the justice delivery system quicker and more accessible.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday told her MPs that moves to prevent the UK from leaving the EU will not "solve the situation" or rule out a no-deal Brexit in the future.

"The decision remains the same -- the deal, no-deal or no Brexit," she said at Prime Minister's Questions. The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29.

Senior backbenchers have drawn up parliamentary legislation that seeks to extend Article 50 and prevent Britain leaving the EU without an agreement if May's revised deal gets rejected by MPs, the BBC reported.

"What we have seen is amendments seeking to engineer a situation where Article 50 is extended - that does not solve the issue, there will always be a point of decision. The decision remains the same: no deal, a deal or no Brexit," said May.

"Extending Article 50, I don't believe, resolves any issues because at some point members of this House have to decide whether they want to have a no-deal situation, agree a deal or have no Brexit," she added.

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn reiterated his calls for May to take no-deal off the table. In response, the Prime Minister attacked him for refusing to take part in cross-party talks with her on the way forward.

"The Right Honourable Gentleman has been willing to sit down with Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA without preconditions, yet he won't meet me to talk about Brexit," she told MPs.

Corbyn replied, saying: "The door to her office may be open but the minds inside are completely closed."

Earlier in the day, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said delaying or cancelling Brexit would be a "calamitous" breach of trust with the electorate and worse than leaving the EU with no deal.

He said MPs pushing for a delay actually wanted to stop Brexit, and they should think about the "political consequences" of that.

According to former UK Chancellor George Osborne, who campaigned for Remain during the referendum, delaying Britain's exit from the EU was now the "most likely" option and that prospect of no deal meant "the gun was held to the British economy's head".

The UK has to choose between no deal, which he compared to Russian roulette, or no Brexit for now, Osborne was cited as saying by the BBC.

"Russian roulette is a game which you should never play because there's a one-in-six chance that the bullet goes into your head," he said at Davos.

--IANS

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Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court's order directing to frame charges against them in a disproportionate assets case.

Virbhadra Singh and his wife have requested the Delhi High Court to set aside the trial court's order.

A trial court on December 10, 2018 ordered the framing of criminal misconduct and other charges against Virbhadra Singh, his wife Pratibha Singh and seven others in a disproportionate assets case. The charges will be formally framed against them on January 29.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had alleged that Virbhadra Singh possessed assets worth around Rs 10 crore, which were in his and his family members' names.

The CBI said Virbhadra Singh failed to give a satisfactory answer regarding the assets which did not tally with his known income.

The trial court has ordered to frame charges under section 13 (2) read with section 13 (1)(e) of Prevention of Corruption Act (public servant who commits criminal misconduct and possesses pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his known sources of income) against the former Chief Minister.

The court also ordered framing of charges under sections 465 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The court has ordered to frame charges dealing with abetment and forgery against Life Insurance Corp agent Anand Chauhan and Virbhadra Singh's associates Chunni Lal, Joginder Singh Ghalta, Prem Raj, Lawan Kumar Roach, Vakamullah Chandrashekhar and Ram Prakash Bhatia.

The CBI alleged that Pratibha Singh intentionally and actively abated Virbhadra Singh in investing his unaccounted money in her and their children's names.

--IANS

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Congress party in Andhra Pradesh has decided to go alone in the ensuing simultaneous elections to the State Assembly and Lok Sabha.

Party's central leader Oommen Chandy, who is incharge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, on Wednesday said Congress had decided to contest all 175 Assembly and all 25 Lok Sabha seats.

The decision would mean that there will be no Grand Alliance of Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh. The two parties had jointly contested recent Assembly elections in Telangana but faced crushing defeat.

TDP, which is the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, was also ambiguous on whether it would contest the coming elections in the State in alliance with the Congress party.

"I am connected with AICC not TDP or its leader Chandrababu Naidu. We will inform the high command and get permission," was Chandy's reply when asked if he conveyed the decision to Naidu. He said the decision for an alliance with TDP in Telangana was taken by the party's central leadership.

The former Kerala Chief Minister said the party also decided to form all committees including election committee as per AICC directions.

"We have to nominate seven committees. We will give list of members to AICC this week itself," he said.

He also announced that a meeting of all party conveners of Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies will meet on January 31 to discuss and finalise everything related to elections.

When asked if the party would find candidates to contest the elections, Chandy claimed that many people were ready to contest.

"I cannot say. People will decide," he said when asked as to how many seats Congress would win.

In 2014, Congress had drawn a blank in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. He, however, believes that the situation had now changed and people of Andhra Pradesh have full faith in Congress President Rahul Gandhi's promise to give special category status to the State.

Chandy said all leaders of the party under leadership of State Congress President Raghuveera Reddy would take out bus yatra in all 13 districts in February.

--IANS

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On the eve of Pinarayi Vijayan's completion of 1,000 days in office, state Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran on Wednesday slammed the Kerala Chief Minister for his abject failure and challenged the CPI-M leader to a dialogue on his governance.

Vijayan was sworn in on May 25, 2016, after the Communist Party of India-Marxist led Left Democratic Front (LDF) trounced the Oommen Chandy-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Assembly elections.

"I am throwing a challenge at Vijayan and I invite him to have a dialogue with me on his 1,000 days in office. He has been an abject failure," said Ramachandran.

The Congress' Lok Sabha member from Badagara in Kozhikode district dared Vijayan while inaugurating the UDF's statewide protest here against the state government's failure in rebuilding Kerala in the aftermath of the worst ever floods in a century that hit the state last August.

The manner in which the Kerala government cheated the Sabarimala believers in trying to break the customs and traditions of the temple is the other topic that the Congress would like some answers on.

Ramachandran's challenge comes at a time when Vijayan and his government are getting ready to organize a series of programmes to celebrate his 1,000 days in office.

At Kasargode, former State Minister and state Congress Working President A.K. Sudhakaran also slammed Vijayan and said like many, he too had believed that Vijayan would be one Chief Minister who would be a doer.

"But looking back, Vijayan has proved to be the biggest disaster.

"Many, including me felt he would be one man who would bring about change, but he has been able to do nothing. Even a woman would have done better," said Sudhakaran while launching the protest.

--IANS

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The Australian government says it is investigating reports about a Chinese-Australian writer who has gone missing in China, prompting concerns that he may have been detained in his native country.

Yang Hengjun, a former employee of China's Foreign Affairs Ministry who later gained Australian citizenship and became a prominent writer and outspoken online political commentator, has not been heard from since travelling from New York to Guangzhou last week, ABC News reported.

His friends, including Sydney academic Feng Chongyi, said that Yang was travelling with his wife, Chinese national Yuan Rui Juan, and child.

Feng said that he feared that Yang had been detained while in Guangzhou and later taken to Beijing. Chinese officials have not yet commented.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was "seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China".

A social media post from Yang's wife appeared to show she was in Beijing, ABC News said.

Yang, an Australian citizen who now lives in the US, has a sizeable following online and has been critical of China's Communist Party. Previously also, he was briefly unreachable on a trip to China in 2011, prompting fears he was missing. He later attributed the episode to a "misunderstanding".

Yang rose to prominence in Australia's Chinese community by penning an open letter in 2008 cautioning against nationalistic displays by Chinese during the Olympic torch relay, saying they could incite racial tensions.

Friends raised the prospect of Yang's case following China's detention of two Canadian citizens -- Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor -- in recent weeks.

Australia has previously expressed concern over the arrests of the Canadians.

China has denied the detention of the two men is tied to Canada's arrest of Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou but many analysts believe it is a tit-for-tat move.

--IANS

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Contrary to the order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the decision of the Krishnagiri District Chess Association (KDCA) to take disciplinary action against some youngsters for playing in an unofficial tournament has infuriated many chess players.

Messages on WhatsApp have been flowing thick and fast between the players within and outside India condemning the KDCA's proposed action.

KDCA secretary S. Yuvachandiran had sent a message listing the names of some players who had participated in an unofficial chess tournament in Hosur in Tamil Nadu on January 20.

In that message, Yuvachandiran had also mentioned that a decision was taken to take disciplinary action against the players as per the guidelines of the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA) at an emergency meeting of the office bearers.

The KDCA's decision, coming after the CCI's order against the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to amend its rules to remove its restrictive practices, made the players and chess lovers furious.

On July 12 last year, the CCI held that the undertaking prescribed by the AICF for players regarding non-participation in events not authorised by it amounts to restraints that are in the nature of exclusive distribution and refusal to deal as defined in Section 3(f) and 3(4)(d) of the Competition Act 2002.

The CCI said the non-compliance of such undertaking will result in the banning of players and removal of their Elo rating, create entry barriers, foreclose competition and restrict opportunities available to chess players.

In December 2018, convinced that the AICF has deliberately not complied with its July 2018 order, the CCI had ordered the issuance of a notice to the chess body as to why punitive action should not be taken under Section 42 of the Competition Act.

Speaking to IANS earlier this month, global chess body FIDE's Vice-President and chess Grand Master Nigel Short had said that if players are banned for playing chess and several state chess federations are de-recognised by the AICF then warning bells toll about something being amiss.

Queried about the KDCA's decision TNSCA's Secretary Stephen Balasamy. P told IANS: "It is the decision of KDCA. I am not aware of that and we are not connected with that decision. KDCA may be affiliated to TNSCA, but Yuvachandiran has to answer."

Faced with flak from the chess players' fraternity, KDCA officials later seemed to be backtracking on the issue.

"We had held the district selection tournament to select players to play in the Tamil Nadu Open tournament. It is an important tournament for a chess player. Many of the players we had expected to play in the district selection tournament had participated in a different tournament," Yuvachandiran told IANS.

"I had sent the message as a warning note. We have no plan to take any disciplinary action against the young players," he added.

He said he was not aware of the CCI order against the AICF.

--IANS

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The Central government has instituted an annual award titled "Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar", which is to be announced every year on January 23, on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a Home Ministry statement said on Wednesday.

The award carries a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh.

"The award has been instituted to acknowledge the contribution and selfless service of organisations and individuals to humanity in the aftermath of any disaster," said the statement.

This year, 8th Battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) located at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh has been selected for the award for its commendable work in disaster management.

The NDRF battalion, which was raised in 2006, is a highly specialised rescue and response force and has a responsibility of a large area covering the National Capital Region (NCR), Uttarakhand, western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. It has participated in 314 major operations and rescued over 50,000 people.

In the recent Kerala floods, the battalion rescued 5,338 victims and evacuated 24,000 persons to safety. Other major disasters in which this NDRF battalion participated are Leh cloud burst (2011), Kedarnath floods (2013), Cyclone Hudhud (2014), Chennai floods (2015) and Tripura floods (2018). The battalion had also worked efficiently to neutralise the threat during radiation incident at Mayapuri, Delhi in 2010.

The battalion has also done commendable disaster management-related work internationally. In the aftermath of Nepal earthquake in 2015, six teams of the battalion were amongst the first responders to land at Kathmandu. Their teams were also sent to Japan during Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011) and recent Tsunami in Indonesia (2108).

--IANS

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Former UK Chancellor George Osborne has said delaying Britain's exit from the EU is now the "most likely" option and that prospect of no deal means "the gun is held to the British economy's head".

The UK has to choose between no deal, which he compared to Russian roulette, or no Brexit for now, Osborne was cited as saying by the BBC on Wednesday.

"Russian roulette is a game which you should never play because there's a one-in-six chance that the bullet goes into your head," he said at Davos.

MPs were proposing alternative plans to Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the EU, including seeking an extension to the UK's exit date -- it is due to leave on March 29.

But May said the "right way" to rule out no-deal Brexit was to approve her withdrawal agreement. According to her, it was "impossible" to rule out leaving without a deal any other way because, under current law, the UK will exit the EU on the decided date, whether or not a deal had been struck.

Osborne, who campaigned for Remain, said his successor Philip Hammond had "sensibly" told businesses that leaving without a deal was not a possibility.

"But we now need to hear it from the British Prime Minister," he said.

Opposition Labour Party's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC that it was "highly likely" the party will back an amendment put forward by Labour MP Yvette Cooper, with support from MPs in other parties.

It will give time for a bill to suspend the Article 50 process for leaving the EU if a new deal had not been agreed with Brussels by the end of February, the report said.

It is one of several alternative plans by MPs that will be put forward when May returns to the Commons on January 29 to set out her own proposed next steps.

Another proposal seeks to win over some opponents of May's deal by insisting on "an expiry date to the backstop" -- the "insurance policy" intended to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The backstop has been opposed by some Conservative MPs and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party because it could mean keeping the UK in a customs union with the EU indefinitely and having different rules for different parts of the UK.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was expected to meeting May for talks on Wednesday, said she supported seeking an extension to the Brexit deadline.

--IANS

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Nobel Laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan said books on science should deal with human aspects of the scientists for better communication rather than the highly sanitised versions that are usually seen in science writings.

"When people write about science, the work is usually a highly sanitised version. They follow one step after another in the noble pursuit of truth. But real science is not like that. Mistakes, dead ends, competition, rivalry, impatience, ego, all of these that you find in a play or a novel, exist in science," the eminent structural biologist said while discussing his latest book "Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome" at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here on Tuesday.

Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath, for his research in the structure and function of the ribosome in 2009.

Describing his motivation behind the book with frank and honest revelations, 'Venki' (as he is popularly called) said: "Nobody thinks of science as very humane and a messy enterprise while writing. I wanted to bring in the science and also the scientist. I wanted to throw open their world. Also, I was influenced by one book 'Double Helix' by James D. Watson as it was the first time someone wrote about the human side of science."

Explaining the importance of fundamental news, he said: "Government needs to set aside money for scientific research as it underpins all scientific knowledge. Scientists are needed to train doctors and engineers. Also, advance science and research is important to exploit development made elsewhere."

Ramakrishnan, the current President of the Royal Society, gave an example of the discovery of laws of electricity and how it took almost hundreds of years to exploit its capacity.

"We still don't know if we have exploited it to its fullest capacity. Also, one needs to know Newton's Laws of Motion to launch satellites," he said.

Sharing about his journey from Vadodara in Gujarat to the US at the age of 19, he said: "I had grown up at home and suddenly landing in America was a bit of a cultural shock for me. Another challenge was that when I started to research I realised that I was not cut-out for physics. I sort of retreated by doing things like playing in the chess team, hitchhiking."

He decided to learn biology after he got his PhD in physics.

He feels an award like a Nobel 'gives satisfaction' but also makes people anxious.

"It becomes a sort of political campaign, everyone wants to be chosen but very few scientists will actually admit it," Ramakrishnan said.

Speaking about the after-effect he said: "People treat a Nobel Laureate as a genius. For instance, I am asked about climate change but what do I know about it as I too just read about it. Outside my field I am just like anybody else."

--IANS

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The Indian Navy on Wednesday located the body of a miner which had slipped from the jaw of the underwater remotely operated vehicle (UROV) on Tuesday while they were pulling it out from a rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya, an official said.

"The body has been located this evening from beneath the main shaft of the coal mine after several hours of searching by the UROV," an official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

"The Navy are now making efforts to gently pull out the fragile body from the flooded mine to the top of the ground. The water is extremely turbid which has made visibility difficult besides the obstruction of pipes, cables and debris inside the shaft," he said.

The official said the naval divers were expected to pull out by Thursday the highly decomposed body with blue jeans and red T-shirt inside the mine which they detected a week earlier.

"It is a grueling exercise to pull out the fragile body with every lump of flesh is coming apart amid those obstructions inside the shaft. They have been working and doing the best they can," he added

A 15-member naval team from Visakhapatnam resumed its operation to retrieve the body.

Fifteen miners have been trapped inside the 370 feet flooded coal mine for 42 days now since December 13 at Ksan village in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district.

The families of the trapped miners had said they want the "dead bodies" of the miners to be taken out as per the Supreme Court order.

The apex court, monitoring the rescue operations, has directed the government that the trapped miners have to be taken out of the coal mine "dead or alive".

Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said there were no immediate plans to call of the rescue operations.

The Meghalaya government has roped in several central agencies including a team from Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute and Chennai-based Planys Technologies for the rescue operation.

Coal India Ltd, Odisha firefighters, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd and Pune-based KSB are dewatering the abandoned coal mine shafts and the main shaft where the miners are trapped.

--IANS

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The Bihar government on Wednesday decided to continue its ban on sale, storage and transportation of fish from Andhra Pradesh in Patna following lab tests that confirmed presence of high content of toxic chemical formalin. A team of officials will visit Andhra Pradesh to examine the fish, an official said.

Sanjay Sinha, Principal Secretary of state Health Department, said a meeting called by the chief secretary on Wednesday decided that the ban will continue on fish from Andhra Pradesh.

"It was also decided that a team of state government officials will visit Andhra Pradesh in a day or two to examine ponds as well as wholesale markets there," Sinha said.

Last week the state government had lifted the ban on sale of live fish, three days after it banned the sale, transportation and storage of all kinds of fish.

After Bihar banned the fish from Andhra Pradesh in Patna, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu urged his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar to take steps to restore the fish trade in the larger interest of farmers and those engaged in the trade.

In a letter to Nitish Kumar, Naidu said the fish farmer associations of his state represented to his government that their fish trade with Bihar was badly affected due to apprehensions about alleged use of formalin in the fish supplies.

Naidu requested the Bihar government to depute a technical team to undertake quality checks to clear these apprehensions.

--IANS

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The owner of an Australian fish and chip shop called 'The Battered Wife' says she has been forced out of business in less than two years following an "abusive witch hunt" by people, who have been unhappy with its name.

"I can't see anyway I can trade my way through it," Carolyn Kerr said in a video posted online. The shop is due to close next week.

She had last year defended the name, saying the shop in Queensland raised awareness about family violence.

But it has drawn months of controversy, with state lawmakers and others arguing the name trivialises abuse, the BBC reported.

Kerr said she could not afford a looming audit by an industry watchdog.

It had been prompted by an "anonymous complaint" about staff wages, she said. The shop is in the town of Innisfail and it was opened in 2017.

She added that unidentified critics of the shop had "threatened to throw bricks through my window", and made complaints to other government agencies. She, however, did not elaborate on the complaint about the wages.

The watchdog, Australia's Fair Work Commission, did not immediately comment, the BBC report added.

In 2018, several female politicians criticised the name of the shop as unacceptable. "That business is completely out of step with what (the) community's expectations are," said Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'ath.

In her response at the time, Kerr said: "I batter fish, I'm married to my business and I want to make a difference."

The UN has said violence against women in Australia is "disturbingly common", but experts say it is not an outlier among developed nations. On an average, one woman per week is murdered in Australia by a current or former male partner, according to anti-violence group Our Watch.

--IANS

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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday protested against Pakistan's proposal to allow only Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in the neighbouring country.

Pointing out that Sikhism founder, Guru Nanak Dev, was a universal guru revered by followers of all religions, especially Hindus, the Chief Minister urged the Indian government to take up the issue with Islamabad when the latter sends its draft agreement for regulating entry into its territory through the Kartarpur Corridor.

Amarinder Singh said while Islamabad was well within its rights to set terms and conditions relating to its territorial safety and security, it should take into consideration the fact that the first Sikh Guru's ideology is not confined to Sikhs but is emulated by people of all faiths.

"The Sikh ethos prescribes non-discrimination, with even the concept of langar being caste-less service for all. Gurdwaras are open to all, without religious bias," the Chief Minister said in a statement here.

"A large number of Hindus in India were ardent followers of Sri Guru Nanak Devji, and it was their cherished dream to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, which was closely associated with the first Sikh Guru," he pointed out.

"There was for years the tradition of Hindu families converting their eldest sons to Sikhism. The influence of Sikhism in India was so strong that to exclude members of other religions was not something that Pakistan government should even remotely consider.

"To keep such followers out of Kartarpur Sahib just because they were not Sikh was not logical," he said, urging the Indian government to take up the matter with the Pakistan government on priority.

Citing media reports of the draft agreement being prepared by the Pakistan government on entry through the Kartarpur Corridor, the Chief Minister also objected to the condition of the number of pilgrims proposed by them.

"It is not correct to limit the number of people to 15 in a group. Individual yatris should be permitted," he said, advocating 'khulle darshan' for devotees.

He said that the restriction of 500 pilgrims per day should also not be there, especially in November 2019, when the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev will be celebrated.

The Chief Minister also expressed concern at the reported clause making a passport imperative for travel by pilgrims. "With Punjab's large rural population having no passports, such a move would deprive them of making the historic pilgrimage."

The Chief Minister urged the governments of India and Pakistan to sit across the table and thrash out all issues to facilitate smooth and hassle-free travel by pilgrims through the corridor before coming to a formal agreement in this regard.

"Such regressive steps, as were reportedly being considered by the Pakistan government, to control entry through the corridor would negate the positive initiative taken by their government and it is up to the Indian government to resolve all such issues amicably so that the pilgrims get the maximum benefit from the historic decision of the two nations," Amarinder Singh added.

The Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, located about three kilometres from the international border near the town of Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and it was his final resting place.

--IANS

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Seven people, including six members of a family, were killed in a road accident on Wednesday in Bangladesh's Lakshmipur district, some 137km from here, a highway patrol official said.

All victims were in an auto-rickshaw headed to see an ailing relative when their ride was hit by a truck at around 5 a.m., Shahjahan Khan said. The auto-rickshaw driver was also killed.

Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rates for road accidents owing to shoddy highways, poorly maintained vehicles, violation of traffic rules and lack of monitoring of the traffic department.

--IANS

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Described as "the greatest literary show on earth", the much-anticipated 2019 edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), starting Thursday, will see participation of over 500 speakers across 15 Indian and 12 international languages, representing over 30 nationalities and awards ranging from the Nobel, the Man Booker, the Pulitzer and the Sahitya Akademi.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made by Rajasthan Police with police personnel being deployed both inside and outside the premises of Diggi Palace venue.

More than 40 CCTV cameras have also been fitted at key locations to keep an eye on mischief-mongers who may make their way inside.

The festival will begin with an inaugural keynote by Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society and author of 'Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome'.

It will feature Man Booker-winner Ben Okri; Pulitzer-awardee Colson Whitehead; Yale Professor and renowned astrophysicist, Priyamvada Natarajan; best-selling and prolific writer Alexander McCall Smith; Man Booker-winning Yann Martel, whose international bestseller 'Life of Pi' scaled unbelievable heights, both as a novel and as a film; and among others, writer and essayist Andre Aciman, whose 'Call Me by Your Name' depicts a tale of enduring love.

Virtually every leading contemporary Indian writer, including Anuradha Roy, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Shashi Tharoor, Perumal Murugan, Devdutt Pattanaik, and Manoranjan Byapari, among others will enthrall thousands of book lovers who will be attending the five-day extravaganza.

The sessions cover a grand span of ideas from environment, conservation, wildlife cinema, politics, to history, poetry, science and Artificial Intelligence, language, mythology and gender.

In an atmosphere charged with the outcry of #MeToo allegations, 'Women and Power' will have Cambridge Professor of Classics and vocal feminist, Mary Beard discuss history's flawed positioning of women with the powerful voices of Germaine Greer, Katty Kay, Reni Eddo Lodge and Urvashi Butalia. They will be in conversation with Bee Rowlatt.

January 25 will mark India's National Voters' Day and 70 years of the Election Commission of India as the nation prepare for the 17th General Election. Attendees will be in for a treat as in the session 'India Decides: The Great March to Democracy', vastly experienced 16th Chief Election Commissioner, Navin B. Chawla, author of the forthcoming 'Every Vote Counts: The Story of the Great Indian Election', will share an in-depth account of the challenges of executing free and fair elections in the world's largest democracy.

Language and its almost primeval relationship with writers are discussed in 'Reclaiming the Mother Tongue', an umbilical tie difficult to shed with bilingual poet Akhil Katyal, and leading Malayalam litterateur N.S. Madhavan.

At the same time, conversations ranging from ancient civilisations to wars that changed the course of history and intriguing narratives by mystics and from mythologies will also be in focus.

Hundreds of such sessions, planned by co-directors William Dalrymple and Namita Gokhale will take place simultaneously over the next five days.

While the hub of the festival continues to be its customary home at the Diggi Palace, it now also has extension events across multiple locations in and around the city including the Amber Fort, the Jawahar Kala Kendra and the Nahargarh Fort.

Jaipur BookMark, which began on Wednesday, features sessions on the challenges of publishers, the fate of bookstores, skilling for the publishing industry, translations and rights, market trends, art and design work in publishing, distribution models and many engaging discussions.

(Saket Suman is in Jaipur at the invitation of the organisers of Jaipur Literature Festival. He can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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Domestic air passenger traffic moves up 18.6% in 2018

The cumulative air passenger traffic of domestic airlines increased 18.6% to 1389.75 lakh in January-December 2018 over 1171.76 lakh in January-December 2017. Indigo posted strong 24.3% growth in the passenger traffic to 576.30 lakh in 2018 over 2017 and gained share to 41.5% in 2018 from 39.6% in 2017. Jet Airways recorded 6.4% growth in the passenger traffic to 191.41 lakh, followed by Air India 13.0% to 176.12 lakh, Spice Jet 10.8% to 171.04 lakh and Go Air 24.5% to 124.64 lakh. Further, the passenger traffic of Air Asia jumped 57.9% to 68.24 lakh, Vistara 29.4% to 52.61 lakh and Trujet 21.8% to 5.86 lakh. However, the passenger traffic of Jet Lite declined 15.9% to 23.24 lakh and Zoom Air 25.0% to 0.18 lakh in 2018 over 2017.

The domestic air passenger traffic improved 12.9% to 126.93 lakh in December 2018 over 112.42 lakh in December 2017. Indigo has posted strong 23.7% growth in the passenger traffic to 54.79 lakh, while gained share to 43.2% in December 2018. Air India also posted healthy 6.5% growth in the passenger traffic to 15.68 lakh, followed by Spice Jet 9.6% to 15.64 lakh and Go Air 3.0% to 11.12 lakh, Further, the passenger traffic of Air Asia jumped 36.5% to 6.73 lakh, Vistara 15.7% to 4.78 lakh and Trujet 96.6% to 0.57 lakh. However, the passenger traffic of Jet Airways declined 5.4% to 15.48 lakh and Jet Lite 16% to 2.15 lakh in December 2018 over December 2017.

The airline wise seat load factor was Spice Jet at 92.7%, Indigo 88.9%, Air Asia 88.8%, Go Air 88.5%, Jet Airways 87.0%, Jet Lite 85.7%, Vistara 83.1%, Air India 81.2% and Trujet 80.3% in December 2018.

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Incorporates 'Standby Swap' amounting to US$ 400 million operated within the overall size of the facility

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval for amendment to the 'Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries' to incorporate a 'Standby Swap' amounting to US$ 400 million operated within the overall size of the Facility of US$ 2 billion and build in flexibility with respect to modalities of its operation, such as period of swap, roll over, etc. after due consideration of conditions of requesting SAARC member countries and domestic requirements of India.

Due to heightened financial risk and volatility in global economy, short term swap requirements of SAARC countries could be higher than the agreed lines. The incorporation of 'Standby Swap' within the approved SAARC Swap Framework would provide necessary flexibility to the Framework and would enable India to provide a prompt response to the current request from SAARC member countries for availing the swap amount exceeding the present limit prescribed under the SAARC Swap Framework.

Cabinet approved the Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries on 1 March 2012 with the intention to provide a line of funding for short term foreign exchange requirements or to meet balance of payments crises till longer term arrangements are made or the issue is resolved in the short-term itself. Under the Facility, RBI offers swaps of varying sizes in US$, Euro or INR to each SAARC member country depending on their two months import requirement and not exceeding US$ 2 billion in total. The swap amount for each country has been defined in the above Facility, subject to a floor of US$ 100 Million and a maximum of US$ 400 Million. Each Drawal will be for three months tenor and upto maximum of two rollovers.

RBI will negotiate the operational details bilaterally with the Central Banks of the SAARC countries availing the Standby Swap.

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The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh addressed a day-long conference on the theme, How Government, Industry and Farmers can work together to Make Farming More Profitable, in Mumbai today. The conference is being organized by Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI).

Following are the highlights of the Minister's address:

Union Budget 2019 will be dedicated to the farmer. It will be another step forward, in contributing to the realization of the goal of doubling farmers' income by the year 2022.

Remarkable progress has been made in agriculture sector, as a result of the schemes and policies of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

In order to ensure remunerative price for farmers' produce, e-NAM has been started.

Cost of production has been reduced due to neem-coated urea, soil health card, mechanization and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

Minister stated that the government is implementing several programmes to develop the agricultural sector and improve the economic condition of farmers.

He said that issues such as reducing cost of production, ensuring remunerative price for farmers' produce, stopping wastage of farmers' produce and ensuring alternative sources of income are being addressed in mission mode.

Singh said that impressive growth has been recorded in production of food grains, pulses, milk and also in horticulture and fisheries. He said that the budgetary outlay of the Ministry of Agriculture has been increased to Rs. 2,11,694 crore during 2014-19. "Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana", a landmark scheme to reduce the risks associated with agriculture, is being implemented across the country.

The Minister informed that in the last 54 months, 585 mandis have been linked with e-NAM; by the year 2020, 415 more mandis will be linked, he added. He said that many soil testing labs have been made operational; efforts are being made to make them portable as well.

The Minister recalled that as per the announcements made in Budget 2018, the Union Cabinet has approved a new Umbrella Scheme Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan' (PM-AASHA) to ensure remunerative price for farmers' produce. It is commendable that the government has increased the Minimum Support Price to 1.5 times that of the production cost.

The Minister concluded by stating that it is a matter of pride that due to the implementation of the government's programmes, India is a large fast-growing economy, and that the Government will continue to work for farmer welfare, and for doubling the income of farmers.

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At meeting held on 23 January 2019

The Board of Vodafone Idea has approved the offer and issue of fully paid-up and/or partly-paid up equity shares of the Company and/or other securities convertible into equity shares of the Company, including but not limited to, compulsorily convertible debentures, for an amount aggregating up to Rs. 25,000 crore, by way of a rights issue to existing eligible equity shareholders of the Company as at the record date, in accordance with applicable laws, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018 (the "Rights Issue").

The Promoter shareholders (Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group), have re-iterated to the Board that they intend to contribute up to Rs.11,000 crore and up to Rs.7,250 crore respectively as part of such Rights Issue. Further, the Promoter shareholders have indicated that in case the Rights Issue is undersubscribed, each of the Promoter shareholders reserves the right to subscribe to part or whole amount of the unsubscribed portion, subject to applicable law.

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Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell struck an agreement with Minority leader Chuck Schumer to vote on the two proposals suggested to reopen the government which has been shut partially for over a month now.

According to The Hill, the two votes will take place on Thursday. With Republicans having a 53-47 majority, the decision still hangs in balance as there is no guarantee that either measure will pass the Senate.

"The opportunity to end all this is staring us right in the face  All that needs to happen is for our Democratic colleagues to agree that it's time to put the country ahead of politics, take yes for an answer and vote to put this standoff behind us," McConnell said.

The funding bills require 60 votes for passage.

The first voting will be on the measure that was suggested by US President Donald Trump in which he proposed legal protections for some immigrants for three years in exchange for 5.7 billion USD for a border wall.

It seems difficult that the bill will manage to get support from Democrats to reach the 60 vote count and even if it does win in the Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will not consider it.

The second proposal states that the Senate will consider the resolution to reopen the government for another three weeks without any additional border wall money. This bill, however, might not get enough votes from Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold.

If the bill manages to make its way through the Senate, it will be redundant as Trump has threatened to veto any spending measure that does not include 5.7 billion USD for a wall.

Nancy Pelosi said, "Senate Republicans need to re-open the government, not continue their complicity in the Trump Shutdown with a vote for the President's unacceptable border and immigration schemes that only increase the chaos and suffering at the border. The Senate GOP and President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, and re-open government immediately.

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Ankara has confirmed that four Turkish nationals have been killed while eight have been rescued from the two Tanzania-flagged vessels which caught fire in the Kerch Strait.

Furthermore, Turkish authorities have stated that four citizens are still missing due to the tragic incident which took place on Monday.

"As a result of the fire on the two Tanzania-flagged ships, Maestro and Kandi, in the Kerch Strait, four out of 16 of our citizens who were crew members died, eight were saved, and the search of four missing is ongoing," Sputnik quoted Turkish authorities as saying.

Meanwhile, the Russian Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transportation (Rosmorrechflot) has announced that around 12 people were rescued, 10 have died and 10 are missing due to the fire.

Rosmorrechflot further told Sputnik that no oil spill had taken place due to the fire on the two LNG tankers.

Both Indian and Turkish crew members were on board at the time of the incident.

The Indian Embassy in Moscow is in constant touch with the concerned Russian agencies to get more information on Indian nationals affected in the incident and to extend necessary assistance, India's Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar stated on Tuesday.

One of the ships, Kandi, had 17 crew members, including nine Turkish citizens and eight Indian nationals. The other vessel, Maestro, had a crew of 15 which included seven Indian nationals, seven Turkish nationals and a Libyan citizen.

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Taiwan Excellence participated in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade show held from January 18 to 22 at The Exhibition Centre in Gandhinagar, and showcased a range of innovative and latest technology at its pavilion.

Taiwan is already known for its technology and Vibrant Gujarat provided it with an excellent chance to leverage its expertise for the development of Gujarat. It gave a lowdown on the host of ICT products it has displayed at its pavilion that define the glory of Taiwan.

James Huang, Chairman of Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Walter Yeh, CEO and President (TAITRA), were the chief guests during the interaction function.

Through its participation in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and Tradeshow, Taiwan Excellence reiterated its eagerness to join hands with Gujarat-based companies and work in close tandem with the Gujarat government to make the most of the conducive environment in the state.

"We are very excited about being a part of the Vibrant Gujarat Trade Show. Our pavilion has received a great response from the visitors who have been very welcoming of our innovative products. Gujarat offers great potential and we are keen to work closely with companies based in Gujarat. The government is also offering very good encouragement and support to conduct trade. We have built good relations and have found networking opportunities through this Summit and now Taiwan Excellence will look forward to capitalizing on viable opportunities in the state," said Huang.

"To tap the fast-growing technology market in Gujarat, several Taiwanese brands have put up a splendid show of some cutting-edge award-winning products from their repertoire, each boasting state-of-the-art technology. Some innovative products are showcased in India for the first time, underscoring Taiwan Excellence's commitment to aligning with India's digital mission. The brands include Advantech, AVISION, Buder, FECA, Moxa, Palmary, Plustek, REPON, SENOR, TSC, Zyxel, etc" added Walter.

The Taiwan government seeks to promote the industry image of technological innovation and cutting-edge design with India and the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit offered an appropriate platform to strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations between both the countries. The cutting edge, award-winning products displayed at the Expo turned out to be star attractions for visitors. Among them was the sneak preview of a new product by Avision - Self-Serve Copy and Printing System which integrates mobile pay and copy/mobile print features into a single unit.

Another product was FECA Samurai Knife Sharpener that is equipped with a suction cup design providing more safety and convenience as well as ease of use. Another sterling product was the Plustek SecureScan X-Mini which is an extremely compact and high functioning MRTDs (Machine Readable Travel Documents) scanner, designed to capture and verify relevant data of all international passports, as well as standard size plastic ID cards, drivers' licenses, health insurance cards and other small size documents., and reduce the chance of human error, resulting in the reduction in check-in time, increasing traffic flow and more accurate customer profile data output. It only takes approximately 2 seconds from scan to show (including photo on screen).

Also on display was the complete range of Zyxel VPN Firewalls which deliver reliable, non-stop VPN services with dual-WAN failover and fallback support. With two WAN connections-one primary and one for redundancy-the Zyxel VPN Firewall automatically switches to the backup connection should the primary link fail, and automatically switches back to the primary connection once it is back online. Another product on display was the Buder Countertop water dispenser that comes with advanced touch wisdom setting, light and eye-catching appearance with boiled water stored up internally. The electronic touch screen type water dispenser has a small dimension and large capacity of water with continuous water supply.

In addition to the tradeshow, TAITRA also organised a seminar on the lateral line of the summit on January 19. During the seminar too, the major focus was on introducing Taiwan's industrial development and technology as well as highlighting Taiwan's future investment plans in India. Taiwan government is very keen on contributing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, and Skill India. The seminar was one of the major events to explore collaboration opportunities between both the countries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least five people have died and over 15 have tested positive for swine flu this month in Ludhiana, Punjab according to officials.

Dr Parvinder Pal Singh Sidhu, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana told ANI, "32 cases of swine flu has been suspected in Ludhiana, out of which 18 are confirmed. Five people lost their lives after falling prey to this disease."

The state government is conducting a door-to-door survey to get the latest count and is providing free treatment for swine flu in hospitals.

"We are providing details to the public about precautions they need to take to prevent swine Flu. I advise people not to hang out in crowded place during winters," Dr Sidhu said.

Swine flu is a viral infection that affects the respiratory tract and caused mainly by transmission of the virus through respiratory droplets when people exhale, cough, sneeze, drip, etc.

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Asserting that Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray had always been at the forefront as a 'masculine commander' while fighting for the sons of soil or for the cause of Hindutva, BJP ally Shiv Sena on Wednesday claimed that all was not well with the country today and there was a need for a 'masculine' rule.

"Shiv Sena is not an organisation of the weak. Whether it be the campaign for the sons of the soil or for the protection of Hindutva, the Shiv Sena chief (Bal Thackeray) had always led as a strong masculine commander," the Sena said in an editorial in mouthpiece Saamna to mark the 93rd birth anniversary of the late party founder.

Attacking the Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, it said: "Desh ki dasha aur disha theek nahi hai. Desh mein aaj mardon ka raaj chahiye. Us mardangi mein hi rashtriyata hai. (The situation in the country and its direction are not right. The country requires strong masculine leadership. Nationalism lies in this masculinity). The leaders are busy taking credit for Uri-the surgical strike but even today Pakistan is attacking our borders and our soldiers are losing their lives in Kashmir. The Shiv Sena chief was the only one who had beaten terrorists who attacked the Amarnath Yatra without conducting any surgical strike."

The party claimed that the current political discourse was dominated by Thackeray's original vision of regional

"Today the of the country is in the hands of regional forces. BJP and Congress are sitting on the shoulders of these regional forces to raise their stature," the write-up said, adding that Shiv Sena was formed by Balasaheb as part of the struggle for a united Maharashtra.

"Shiv Sena came into being after people lost their lives in the struggle for a united Maharashtra but were still being ignored in businesses and jobs. The fire of this pain gave birth to the Shiv Sena."

"When Thackeray had supported the right of landowners, the Congress and Samajwadi parties had alleged that he was attempting to break the country by spreading casteism and regionalism. But now the same issue has captured the attention of other political leaders," the write-up said.

It further credited the Hindutva vision of Bal Thackeray in paving the way for parties like BJP to gain power at the Centre.

"Whatever Balasaheb sowed has sustained and steered the country's It was the Shiv Sena chief's belief that only Hindutva can save the country. This same Hindutva has paved way for parties like BJP to get to the seat of power in Delhi," the editorial said.

Quoting the recent Trinamool Congress-led mega Opposition rally in Kolkata on January 19, it said: "A few days back 22 anti-BJP parties came together for a rally in Mamata's West Bengal. All these parties were regional. After the experiment of swallowing up and finishing these regional parties failed, the attempt started to woo them. It was Balasaheb Thackeray who first gave birth to this regional pride."

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday approved the construction of a memorial for the late Shiv Sena founder, Bal Thackeray, a move that comes amidst growing bitterness between the ruling NDA constituents - the BJP and Shiv Sena.

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The number of women from armed forces participating in this year's Republic Day Parade would be the highest till date showcasing the growing role of the gender in the services.

"This year, we will have the highest ever participation from women from the services as there is an entire team of Assam Rifles which has only women in it apart from contingent commanders like Captain Bhawna Kasturi who is leading the Army Services Corps team and biker Captain Shikha Surabhi, who is a part of the Army Daredevil team," Parade Deputy Commander Major General Rajpal Poonia told ANI.

Captain Shikha Surabhi of the Army's Corps of Signal will be saluting President Ram Nath Kovind while standing on a bike.

Interestingly, Captain Surabhi took up biking only three months ago.

"First I was afraid of even leaving the handle, but they taught me the tricks of the trade and now I can do these things with ease," she said.

Surabhi will soon marry another Corps of Signals officer, who is also into biking.

The biker, who at present is on a six-month stint with the world recorder holder Daredevils motorcycle team of the Indian Army, said she would like to be with the team permanently.

Captain Bhawna Kasturi defeated 30 men and women of the Army Services Corp in the selection process for leading the impressive Army Services Corps (ASC) contingent this year.

"I am not here because of my gender but my drill as there were around 30 others who had come for the selection process for leading the contingent," Captain Kasturi said.

This would be the first time when a woman (Captain Kasturi) would be leading the ASC marching team.

Major Khushbu Kanwar is leading the contingent of Assam Rifles, which includes women whose husbands passed away in different operations.

"The women have been inducted as per a policy under which they were allowed entry on compassionate ground. They are doing counterinsurgency operations including patrolling and other guard duties," Major Kanwar said.

The lady officer, who was inducted into the Army and has been seconded to the Assam Rifles, said in the last five months they have worked very hard to prepare for the parade.

"Some of the ladies in our team are doting mothers and they have left behind their kids with families to perform here," Kanwar said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort in Delhi on the birth anniversary of the revolutionary freedom fighter.

The Prime Minister also visited the Yaad-e-Jallian, a museum on Jallianwala Bagh, at Red Fort in Delhi.

Highlighting the importance of the museums, he said, "These museums being inaugurated today will deepen the connect between our glorious history and our youth as well as add to the patriotic fervour among citizens."

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister took to Twitter to pay homage to the freedom fighter. "I bow to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his Jayanti. He was a stalwart who committed himself towards ensuring India is free and leads a life of dignity. We are committed to fulfilling his ideals and creating a strong India" the tweet read.

President Ram Nath Kovind also paid tributes to the freedom fighter on his birth anniversary and recalled his contribution to India's freedom struggle.

Calling him one of the country's most beloved heroes, President Kovind tweeted, "Tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary. He remains one of our most beloved heroes and an icon of India's freedom struggle. Netaji is cherished, remembered and missed to this day all over the country.

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The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
South Africa: NSFAS approves 300 000 funding applications

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has announced the completion of all assessments of the 2019 applications of first time students.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the scheme said of the 417 000 applications received, more than 300 000 students have been given the stamp of approval, pending registration at public institutions for NSFAS funded qualifications.

In December, NSFAS Administrator Randall Carolissen called for a review of the 109 000 applications that were initially unsuccessful for the 2019 academic year.

Following this process, over 60 000 of these applicants, have subsequently been declared financially eligible. As NSFAS processed applications in the pipeline, the number of unsuccessful applicants escalated to 65 000, said scheme spokesperson Kagisho Mamabolo.

Unfortunately, he said, several students were unsuccessful based on information that received from credit bureaus regarding their household income.

Should a student want to dispute this outcome because of changes to the household income or SASSA status, they may lodge an appeal by providing the necessary documentation to NSFAS, Mamabolo said.

NSFAS said an appeal form can be downloaded from the NSFAS website, www.nsfas.org.za, and must be completed and submitted to the Financial Aid Office at the institution.

Alternatively, students can submit appeals directly to NSFAS, along with the required documentation, to applicationreview@nsfas.org.za. The closing date for appeals is 08 March 2019.

Appeals will only be considered on the following grounds:

Material change in combined household income (proof of loss of income needed with a fully completed NSFAS form for students that were not previously funded);

Loss of a bursary/sponsor in the 2018 academic cycle (documented proof should be provided and should be accompanied by a fully completed NSFAS application form);

Failure to meet academic criteria where prior academic performance has been satisfactory (provide supporting information and documentation that provides details of the reasons that affected performance);

Failure to meet academic criteria due to medical condition (s) or death of an immediate family member (provide supporting information and documentation);

Student had a gap year in NSFAS funding or failed to register previously and could not reapply for funding;

More than one student from the same household concurrently enrolled at a university/TVET college; and

Applying for an approved post graduate qualification (see section F on the appeal form for list).

Students are encouraged to log in on the myNSFAS self-service portal www.nsfas.org.za to check their application status update, for those students that have been approved for funding, their status will now reflect as: Approved for funding subject to registration, and for those who have been rejected for funding, the status will reflect as Application unsuccessful.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not attending the last rites of the highly revered Lingayat seer Shivakumara Swami.

Earlier in the day G Parameshwara took to Twitter to hit out at the Prime Minister.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends celebrity weddings, meets movie stars but skips the funeral of our NaDedaDuva devaru, who dedicated his life to help the poor and the marginalised. Repeated requests to confer Bharat Ratna on him have gone in vain," he tweeted.

The 111-year-old iconic seer of the Lingayat community, who passed away on Monday after protracted illness, was laid to rest with state honours at the Sidhaganga Mutt, which he headed. Thousands of devotees bid their 'walking god' a tearful farewell at the ceremony that was attended by top political leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, did not attend the funeral ceremony but paid tributes on twitter after the news of his demise, expressing his prayers and solidarity with the seer's devotees across the world. In his tweet, the Prime Minister said the seer had lived for the people, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Recalling the seer's immense contribution in the field of education Parameshwara told reporters that the Prime Minister's visit would have "raised the level of his office."

"Swami served the humanity and if the Prime Minister would have attended, it would have raised the level of his office," he said.

"Swami was a respected man who picked up cause of education at the time when India needed it the most. He gave direction to lakh of students. We are not politicising it. All I'm saying is the Prime Minister should have attended the cremation ceremony of Sri Shivakumara Swami, who served humanity.

"I am not saying where else the Prime Minister should have gone. I am not a small-minded person. If the Prime Minister would have attended, it would have raised the level of his office," Parameshwara said.

Karnataka Chief Minister declared a three-day state mourning for the seer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates have signed a USD 3 billion bailout package to support the cash-strapped country even as its Prime Minister Imran Khan sought financial assistance from Qatar, media reports said.

According to the bailout agreement, signed in a ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the UAE will deposit USD 3 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan to support the country's financial and monetary policy, Geo News reported.

The amount will be paid to Pakistan in three installments.

"UAE has formalized $3 billion deposit in the State Bank of Pakistan. DG ADFD & the Governor SBP inked the agreement at #ADFD Headquarters in Abu Dhabi," Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted.

The UAE had announced its intention to inject USD 3 billion cash into Pakistan via the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development in December last year, a month after Khan undertook his second trip to the country since assuming office, Geo reported.

The two countries earlier in January were said to have finalised the terms and conditions of the support package, which involves USD 3.2 billion worth of oil supplies on deferred payment in addition to the USD 3 billion cash deposit.

Imran Khan, during his two-day visit to Qatar that ended on Tuesday, met the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and other leaders to seek financial assistance.

In October last year, Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide Pakistan USD 3 billion in foreign currency support for a year to address its balance-of-payments crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former world number one Karolina Pliskova made a remarkable comeback to oust twenty-three times Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in a dramatic fashion on Wednesday, booking her Australian Open semifinal debut against reigning US Open champion Naomi Osaka.

The Czech saved four match points, rallying from 5-1 down to defeat the American player 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and 10 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.

Serena kept the match close, but Pliskova dominated with her improved movement to seal the opening set and gain the first break of the second. The Czech served to stay in the set, but Serena made a solid comeback to break again and level the match.

The American raced ahead by shrugging off a 0-30 deficit, taking the match to the decider with a double-break lead. Short of the finish line, Serena tweaked her ankle and Pliskova stepped up to engineer four match points at 5-4 and ultimately sealed the match.

Osaka, the rising Japanese player, on the same day, dropped just four games in dispatching sixth seed Elina Svitolina.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Udhav Thackeray on Wednesday arrived at Mayor's Bungalow where the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will hand over the bungalow's documents to Bal Thackeray Public Memorial Trust to construct his memorial.

The Bal Thackeray Public Memorial Trust is headed by Udhav Thackeray.

The construction of the memorial will cost Rs 100 crore at Dadar in Mumbai where the last rites of the iconic Shiv Sena leader were performed. The exact site is in Shivaji Park area where Mumbai Mayor's bungalow was located earlier. The funds for the memorial will be provided by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

A Ganesh Pooja will also be performed after the documents will be handed over to the Trust.

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to construct the memorial for the Shiv Sena founder, a move that comes amidst growing bitterness between the ruling NDA constituents, BJP and Shiv Sena. The decision was taken at a meeting of the cabinet chaired by Fadnavis.

Cabinet minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said, "Relations between BJP and Shiv Sena were always good and will remain so. There is a strong probability of forging an alliance as well".

"Balasaheb Thackeray has always been a respectable and great leader. Hence, the cabinet has decided to construct a grand memorial in his memory, which will inspire the youths," added Mungantiwar.

Shiv Sena, which is a part of the BJP-led governments at the Centre as well as the state, has been bitter with the party and has declared that it will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls separately.

The cabinet decision to fund the memorial comes days after a petition was filed in the Bombay High Court against the proposal for constructing the memorial at the Mayor's bungalow which is said to be a green zone.

The petition, filed by social worker Santosh Daundkar, seeks cancellation of orders for the change of land use (CLU) of the said property. The proposed memorial is also said to be in the violation of coastal regulatory rules.

The petition "impugns the decision of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) to refuse to take cognizance of conspicuous violations of law particularly that of Environment Protection Act, 1986 and the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011, in the matter of change of use of the land earmarked for Mayor's Bungalow and Recreation ground.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India and Maldives will discuss ways of further strengthening Defence ties between the two countries during the visit of Maldivian Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi here on Thursday.

During her visit, the two sides are likely to discuss cooperation for maritime surveillance and extend training facilities.

The Maldivian Defence Minister will meet her Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman along with a senior delegation including the Defence forces chiefs.

This is Maldivian Defence Minister's first visit outside her country, as she had wanted to visit India as her first destination outside Male.

The delegation of the Maldivian Minister includes Chief of Defence Major General Abdulla Shamaal, and Coast Guard director Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Saleem.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Johnny Depp has claimed that he has fresh evidence to disprove his ex-wife Amber Heard's domestic violence allegations against him.

According to a report by E! Online, Depp is all set to use the evidence in his libel case against 'The Sun,' a U.K. tabloid which published an article in which the actor was called a "wife-beater."

The U.K. tabloid also went on to criticise writer J.K. Rowling for allowing the Hollywood actor to continue working in the 'Dangerous Beasts franchise,' despite reports of his alleged abusive behaviour towards Heard.

Asserting that they have found some evidence that will prove Heard's allegations wrong, Adam Waldman, said, "Today we filed a partial list of evidence that we will use to disprove the fraudulent underlying allegations against Depp."

The former Hollywood couple settled their divorce in 2017 and Depp agreed to pay around 7 million USD, however, Heard ended up donating the money to a charity.

They even issued a joint statement during the time of their divorce, saying, "Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
FMCG major ITC Limited today reported gross revenue of Rs 11,340.15 crore during the third quarter ending December 2018, representing a growth of 15.1 per cent in the year-on period.

The growth was driven mainly by FMCG-others, agri and paperboards, paper and packaging.

Profit after tax before considering exceptional items during the period grew by 13.8 per cent, marking a 17-quarter high.

Total comprehensive income stood at Rs 3,637.01 crore compared to Rs 3,177.06 crore in the same period of last year.

ITC said in a statement that its FMCG-others segment posted a steady performance during the quarter with revenue growing by 11.5 per cent. The branded packaged foods businesses sustained its high growth trajectory with most major categories recording improvement in market standing.

The hotel made steady progress during the quarter with construction of ITC Hotels at Kolkata and Ahmedabad besides WelcomHotels in Amritsar, Guntur and Bhubaneswar.

In agri business, market opportunities in wheat and oilseeds along with enhanced focus on value-added portfolio resulted in robust growth in revenue during the quarter.

In paperboards, paper and packaging, the segment revenue growth of 20.5 per cent was driven by strong demand and capacity augmentation in value added paperboard and decor segments. A healthy growth of 23.8 per cent was driven by product mix enrichment, higher realisation, strategic investments in imported pulp substitution and process innovation, leading to improved pulp yield and benefits of a cost-competitive fibre chain.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India will engage with 12 African nations in a joint military exercise in Pune in March this year.

The final planning for the exercise named 'Indian Africa Field Training Exercise (IAFTX)-2019' will be done at a conference in Pune on 23-24 January. The conference will also work out the modalities for the exercise.

Indian Army informed through a press-release that the delegates from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda, Niger, Zambia will attend the conference.

The exercise is happening at a time when the Chinese military has spread its tentacles in Africa through military hardware cooperation. The joint training exercise is being conducted with more than a dozen African countries and India.

"It aims at synergizing humanitarian action and joint peace operations. The initial planning conference for the exercise was held in December 2018," the release said.

The IAFTX-2019 is perceived as a positive step towards growing political and military ties with the member nations of the African continent and is expected to boost the strategic cooperation between the countries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A major fire broke out at an IT firm located in Basheerbagh area of Hyderabad on Wednesday. No casualties have been reported till now.

According to Viswa Prasad, DCP, Central Zone, "The fire broke out at the fifth floor of the Khan Lateef Khan building. All the employees have come out from the place of the incident. Attempts to douse the fire are underway."

10 fire tenders are present at the spot along with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation disaster rescue teams.

More details of the incident are awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gem Selections, India's leading gemstones, and jewellery brand has revolutionised the gemstone industry by providing path-changing, high tech and authentic services to its customers through its multi-level technological advancements in the e-commerce industry.

The Gem Selections have launched three unique online platforms- Gem Selections Astro Dose, Gem Selections Live and Gem Selections Forums- all of which are focused towards providing in-depth knowledge and exclusive online services to its customers.

All the gemstones and jewellery at Gem Selections are certified by a government lab, which makes it stand out with others in terms of quality and purity of its products.

The Gem Selections' range of products are also available through a comprehensive mobile app that allows its users to buy precious and semi-precious gemstones, diamonds, Victorian and gem-studded jewellery at real-time gold, silver and diamond rates with a complete bifurcation of prices. An added fun and completely distinctive feature is the "Create Your Own Jewellery" option through which users can click on a picture of any jewellery design that they like from the app's camera, and Gem Selections will send them a price quotation along with various variants of the design. The user can analyse all options on their app dashboard and order the jewellery they wish to buy.

Gem Selections is the retail brand of the company Khanna Gems Private Limited. The company is owned by Pankaj Khanna and his family.

"Many investors are interested to invest in the but what we want is that the investor should have the same vision as ours, only then the can flourish," said Pankaj Khanna.

While sharing details about the exclusive line of jewellery, Khanna said, "Every piece of jewellery in the extensive inventory is unique and has been especially crafted keeping in mind every intricate details that make it invaluable. Further, to provide ease to its customers the EMI and transit insurance options are available on purchase of Gem Selections gemstones and jewellery. The average ticket value of products is Rs. 30,000."

Another farsighted and innovative venture by Gem Selections is the Gem Selections Live that provides a platform to the customers to find solutions to their queries by directly interacting with Pankaj Khanna live.

"I am very excited to share my experience in Astrology with the vast Gem Selections family. The customers can even conduct live puja of their gemstones through this feature and also see the entire process of packing and dispatching of their orders LIVE to ensure complete transparency," added Pankaj.

Adding to this unique concept Gem Selections also launched the Gem Selections Forum which is an online community, developed for the users to discuss their queries about Gemstones, Astrology, Diamonds and Jewellery.

Sharing his experience about the Gem Selections journey so far, Khanna added, "Gem Selections is the only Gemstones brand that works at such large scale towards the development of transparent and knowledge disseminating platforms which help curb the selling of fake gemstones. Hence it has been awarded as the "Best Gemstones Brand in India." The renowned brand has over 10,000 SKU's Listed on its website and it is estimated that there will be around 50,000 SKU's listed on the website by the end of 2019 and this shall continue to grow."

The brand has a strong social media presence with over two lakh unique website visitors per month, which is expected to increase to over 1 million website by end of 2019. Recently a video on "How Fake Gemstones are being sold" went viral with a viewership of over 5.8 million which helped educate the masses about the illegal trade of selling fake gemstones.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit India, likely in February or March, to bolster ties with New Delhi amid Beijing's heightening tensions with the United States, a media report has said.

The Nikkei Asian Review, quoting sources, said Xi hopes to visit India ahead of the general elections due in May. It quoted an Indian source as saying the visit could be in February, while a Chinese source said it would take place after China holds its National People's Congress in Beijing in March.

Xi is expected to discuss with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi measures to defuse border tensions, as well as propose deals to expand imports of Indian farm products and increase cooperation in advanced technologies, the Nikkei said quoting sources.

The visit, when it occurs, is expected to see the two sides work to take forward the diplomatic initiatives taken during the informal summit in Wuhan, China, in April 2018 between Prime Minister Modi and Xi Jinping.

The Wuhan summit had helped lower bilateral tensions, which flared in 2017 summer when troops of both sides squared off for over 70 days in Doklam, on the trijunction border between India, China and Bhutan.

Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December last year, both Prime Minister Modi and President Xi had concurred that there had been a "perceptible improvement" in bilateral ties after the Wuhan summit and both voiced optimism that 2019 would be an even better year for India-China relations.

The expected Modi-Xi meeting would come ahead of the second Belt and Road Initiative forum in April. India has refused to join the BRI saying it violates India's territorial integrity and sovereignty. The $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

India did not send any senior official to the first international BRI forum hosted by China in 2017.

The Modi-Xi meeting could also see more Chinese imports of Indian agricultural products, including soybeans, Nikkei said.

Boosting ties with India could provide China an alternative supplier to the U.S. for advanced technologies, given India's highly developed information technology sector, the daily said.

Worried that worsening relations with Washington might restrict the supply of critical components, Beijing has sought to expand connections in this field with its South Asian neighbor, it said.

Xi's visit will also help China counter U.S. President Donald Trump's Indo-Pacific strategy of deepening cooperation with Japan, India, Australia and other regional players to curb China's influence. But Chinese military sources told Nikkei the Trump administration has yet to finalize its strategy, giving Xi an opening to dissuade Modi from joining the U.S.-led anti-China coalition.

Xi has also been working to improve relations with Japan, and held meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last September and October.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sacked Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn is likely to step down from his position as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and chairman of Renault, NHK sources said on Wednesday.

Ghosn has been in detention in Tokyo for two months on charges of financial misconduct. Since he was arrested on November 19 last year, the 64-year-old Brazilian-Lebanese businessman has been fired as chairman of both Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.

However, Ghosn is still the chairman and CEO of Renault. He was also in charge of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, the automotive collaboration of France's Groupe Renault, Japan's Nissan Motors and Mitsubishi Motors.

The development comes as Renault is set to hold a board meeting on Thursday to select a new chief to replace Ghosn.

France, who is Renault's largest stakeholder, has insisted that a new chief should come on board to ensure stability.

A Tokyo court on Tuesday rejected another bail request filed by Ghosn, despite assuring prosecutors that he would wear a monitoring device and stay in Japan. This is the second time Ghosn's defence team had applied for bail.

The 64-year-old business magnate had pleaded to wear the electronic tag, give up his passport and pay for security guards approved by the prosecutors to secure his release.

The Brazilian-Lebanese businessman has been charged by Japanese prosecutors for temporarily transferring personal investment losses to Nissan and understating his income between 2010 and 2018.

Last December, Ghosn was re-arrested after new allegations surfaced on aggravated breach of trust in which the Brazilian-French businessman made Nissan shoulder USD 16.6 million in personal investment losses.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved signing of an MoU with Kuwait for cooperation on recruitment of domestic workers incorporating increased safeguards.

The MoU provides a structured framework for cooperation on domestic workers-related matters and strengthened safeguards for Indian domestic workers, including female workers in Kuwait. The MoU would initially be valid for five years and incorporates provision for automatic renewal, an official release said.

A Joint Committee would be set up to follow up on the implementation of the MoU.

The MOU will promote bilateral cooperation in domestic workers related matters between the two countries.

Around 3,00,000 Indian domestic workers are deployed in Kuwait, including around 90,000 female domestic workers, the statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an amendment to the framework on currency swap arrangement for SAARC countries to incorporate a stand-by swap amounting to 400 million dollars operated within the overall size of two billion dollar facility.

Due to increasing financial risk and volatility in the global economy, short-term swap requirements of SAARC countries could be higher than the agreed lines. The incorporation of standby swap within the approved SAARC Swap Framework will provide necessary flexibility to the framework.

It will enable India to respond quickly to the current request from SAARC member countries for availing the swap amount exceeding the present limit prescribed under the SAARC Swap Framework, said Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics and Information Technology while briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

On March 1, 2012 the Union Cabinet had approved the Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries to provide a line of funding for short-term foreign exchange requirements or to meet balance of payments crises till longer-term arrangements are made or the issue is resolved in the short-term itself.

Under the facility, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) offers swaps of varying sizes in US dollars, Euro or Indian rupees to each SAARC member country, depending on their two months' import requirement and not exceeding two billion dollars.

The swap amount for each country has been defined in the facility, subject to a floor of 100 million dollars and a maximum of 400 million dollars. Each drawal will be for three months tenor and upto maximum of two roll-overs.

The RBI will negotiate the operational details bilaterally with the central banks of SAARC countries availing the stand-by swap.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Australian government is seeking information about the whereabouts of a prominent Chinese-Australian writer who has been out of contact after arriving in China over five days ago, media reports said.

Yang Hengjun, a dissident and former Chinese diplomat, was travelling with his wife and child. He flew from New York to the Chinese city of Guangzhou on January 18 and had originally planned to travel to Shanghai on January 19, but did not take the flight.

His friends fear Yang has been detained by Chinese authorities.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs said it is seeking information on the whereabouts of Yang, ABC News reported.

Yang, a former employee of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, later gained Australian citizenship and became a prominent writer and an outspoken online political commentator.

Two friends of Yang, the U.S.-based publisher Shi Wei and Feng Chongyi, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney, told The Washington Post they lost contact with the writer after he landed in China early on Saturday.

Yang's wife told friends that she was questioned in Guangzhou and that her husband had been detained by state security, according to Feng.

Yang's absence on both Chinese social media and Twitter, where he has more than 130,000 followers, has also raised concerns.

China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to queries, ABC reported.

During a 2011 trip to China, Yang had been unreachable for several days. He later said the whole episode was a "misunderstanding".

The detention comes a month after China detained two Canadians in what was seen as retaliation for Canada's arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the United States.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Afghan security forces have killed the Taliban commander who masterminded Monday's deadly suicide attack on a security forces camp that killed scores in Wardak province, a media report said.

"Commander Noman, the mastermind of Wardak attack, was killed in an air strike in Maidan Shahr district of the province along with seven other terrorists," Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement on Wednesday, Tolo News reported.

The militant was reportedly killed along with seven other "terrorists" in an air strike on Tuesday night in the province, NDS said.

The other members of the terrorist network will be tracked down and eliminated, Tolo News quoted the statement as saying.

The Taliban has not yet commented about the NDS' claim.

Monday's attack left 36 NDS personnel dead at a training center in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak province.

A suicide bomber detonated a Humvee laden with explosives close to the centre and then four other militants exchanged gunfire with NDS forces.

According to eyewitnesses, all the attackers were dressed in NDS uniform. The gunfight lasted five hours.

The bodies of many NDS personnel were found in the ruins of a collapsed building.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Afghanistan's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah has hit out at the Taliban for its lackadaisical attitude towards the peace talks initiated by the Afghan government.

Hitting out at the group's hardline approach towards the Afghan government, Abdullah clarified that the people of the country were not in favour of the Taliban's style of governance or to see them back in power.

"Taliban are asking for Islamic Emirate which is a different type of ruling, like the religious scholars, are getting together and appointing an Amir (Emire) so everybody could be obedient to that type of system while we embarked upon a different system," TOLOnews quoted Abdullah as saying while participating in a panel discussion at the Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.

He underlined that despite repeated calls for Taliban to participate in the Afghan-led peace process, they did not pay heed and has been one of the key obstacles affecting the peace talks by the Afghan government in a bid to end the nearly two-decades-long war in the country.

"The fundamental obstacle has been the Taliban have refused at times, in most recently as well to sit together directly with the Afghan government to talk and discuss the issues including the concept of governance, including the issue of withdrawal of American troops or NATO, what they say is that we talk to the Americans about the troops withdrawal and we will try to be more inclusive when we rule again, I think that is the main obstacle. But by sitting around the table, one can find ways because they also have a stake in peace," Abdullah elaborated.

The Afghan CEO clarified further that the Ghani administration did not set any pre-conditions for the peace talks.

In a veiled reference to Pakistan, Abdullah warned certain countries in the region against supporting terrorism, saying that such an approach "will harm those who provide sanctuaries to them".

This comes after the Afghan Taliban recently participated in peace talks in Qatar with the US, led by its special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. During the deliberations, the Taliban reassured Washington that Kabul will never be used against any other country in the future.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Universal School (UBS), Karjat has announced its euphoric association with Light of Life Trust (LOLT) for social project with a prima facie objective of sustainable development.

The association is an outcome of the generous efforts of Vice Chairman of UBS, Tarun Anand, who is leaving no stone unturned for the all-round development of the future leaders.

Universal School has complied to the Mantra of 3Es, which is Ethics, Environment and Experiential learning; that has paved way for working towards the environment and the external stakeholders by way of experiential learning.

LOLT, one of the reputed NGOs, works towards the holistic development of rural community not just within the gamut of Karjat; but has its wings spread across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and other states.

They work in the areas of education, health, environment, and livelihood. UBS has joined hands with LOLT for transforming lives of the rural community across these areas wherein; 100 post-graduate students have done their social project for 12 days.

Aligned with the UBS' philosophy of a green environment, our students have planted multiple saplings in the remote areas in different villages around the vicinity of 50 kms from Karjat.

Students at UBS along with LOLT coordinators spearheaded a number of dental camps, conducting role plays for family planning, and many more under the scope of health activities. The students have conducted close to 25 TB Awareness and Dental Awareness & Dental Activity Campaigns, 15 Eye checkups to name a few.

They demonstrated how to use brush while brushing the teeth, explained the side effects of neglecting your health. The students actively participated in all the activities for adding value to improvise the health of rural community.

"Our students also collaborated with LOLT in the area of wherein; our students helped the village children in terms of career counseling, personality development programs, career guidance, and much more. These were under the various LOLT programs such as Anando and Anando Plus. Our students feel proud to enlighten the knowledge of the budding students who can grow and become future leaders. These programs were also carried in the vicinity of Karjat where students were divided into groups," said Vice Chairman of UBS, Tarun Anand.

"Finally, in the area of livelihood also the students left no stones unturned. Our students have conducted awareness camps in the field of skill development like computer training, bike repair training, selling of jewelry, cloth bags, paper bags, to name a few," added Tarun.

He added that students have also identified markets to ensure that the programs are driven in a smooth and efficient manner to identify and harness the potential opportunities.

In a nutshell, UBS & LOLT through its holistic development approach is looking at supporting and strengthening capacities of its beneficiaries to ensure there is a holistic growth of the rural community and thus giving back to the society.

"This exposure will develop the abilities of the students to do diagnosis and find solutions to the Social problems, thus this will prepare them to face problems in the future which are far less complex. This experiential learning which is one of the pedagogic approached of UBS could be a clear differentiator that UBS'ians will bring to their workplace in the future," said Prof R.Sriram of UBS who is also the program manager for this Social & Sustainability Project.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
More than 70 years after independence, four personnel of the freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian Army (INA) would march on the Republic Day parade this year.

"This would be the first time that INA soldiers will take part in the Republic Day parade," Major General Rajpal Poonia, Parade Deputy Commander, said here.

The age of the four soldiers is between 97 and 100 and they hail from nearby areas of Delhi-NCR.

The senior-most soldier is 100 years old, named Bhagmal resident of Manesar, Haryana who had joined and fought for INA in 1942.

Asked why only four soldiers of INA are taking part, Poonia said it was difficult to find members of the INA who are still alive.

The other three members include Lalti Ram, 98, from Panchkula, Hira Singh, 97, from Narnaul in Haryana and Parmanand Yadav from Chandigarh.

Founded in 1942 by Ras Bihari Bose, INA was led into war by Netaji who had fought fierce battles with the British till Independence.

However, the INA soldiers were not allowed to merge with the Indian Army due to certain policies of the government at that time.

Along with the INS soldiers, M-777 howitzers and the K-9Vajras PD propelled artillery guns would also form part of the new entrants at Rajpath this year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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China's economy will continue to achieve sustainable growth despite global uncertainties, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said on Wednesday, days after the second-largest economy posted its weakest economic expansion in nearly three decades. "There will be a lot of uncertainties in 2019, but China's economy will continue to achieve sustainable growth," Wang told delegates at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "Speed does matter. But what really matters is the quality and efficiency of our economic development," he said. Wang added that China ...
Preparing for the big battle just months away, the Congress will embark on a door-to-door campaign from next week highlighting the development work done by three-time Chief Minister (1998-2013) even as it expects some leaders who had deserted it to come back.

Former Commission of Women Chairperson Barkha Singh Shukla and former Union Minister Krishna Tirath and others are likely to join Congress well ahead of the They had left the party after questioning the working of then party city unit Chief Ajay Maken, a party leader, who did not want to be named, said.

He said that Shukla has had talks with the Congress leadership in the past few days and soon an announcement may be made.

On Shukla, he said that she has worked closely with Dikshit in the past and both share a good bonding. so it won't be surprising.

Tirath, who switched to BJP in May 2015, is also likely to come back to Congress fold in the coming days. A prominent Dalit face, she was an MLA from 1984 to 2004 and had served as Deputy Speaker in the assembly. Tirath was elected as Member of Parliament from North West parliamentary constituency in 2004 and 2009 She also held charge of Women and Child Development in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.

Earlier, former Delhi Minister and Congress Arvinder Singh Lovely, who had also switched to BJP had returned to the party back in 2018.



Last week, in an interview to IANS, Dikshit, who was appointed Delhi Congress chief on January 10, had said that the the first challenge for her is to strengthen the Congress house.

She had also indicated that party will highlight the development work carried out by her government in the national capital during her tenure and compare it with that of the in last four years.

A senior party told IANS that the party plans to compare the works of Dikshit and the government in last four years in the Delhi and also highlight its politics of confrontation with the Centre, which is one of the main reasons for the stalling the development works in the city.



"We are preparing the list of the works done under Congress rule in Delhi and the works done by the government in last four years," he said, adding that the programme to connect with the people will be launched soon at every block level in the city.

The party also said that the Congress is preparing a plan to keep its workers busy in all the seven parliamentary constituencies of the city as it had lost all of them to the BJP in 2014

Keeping in the view of the crucial summer elections, Dikshit held a meeting on January 19 with the district and block Congress Committee presidents as part of the party's preparations for the coming elections.

In the meeting, the 80-year old leader, sought to know the working system of these bodies and the grassroot level working of the party.

Rajesh Lilothia, Haroon Yusuf, who were also appointed as the DPCC working presidents were also present in the meeting.

The COngress leader said that Dikshit described the Congress committee presidents as the backbones of the party, and had said them that only they can take the policies and programmes of the party to the people in an effective manner.

She also said that the district and block Congress committee presidents should work strongly to strengthen the party, and lead Congress to victory in the Lok Sabha elections.

Diskshit also urged the district committees to hold conventions in their respective areas from next week which will be addressed by her.

The leader said that Dikshit has conveyed to partymen that she herself will hold Jan Jagran Abhiyan (people connect prgramme) in each district in which the people of Delhi will be made aware of the false promises and propaganda, corruption and the irresponsible statements of the (AAP) in the city.

He also said that the Congress will highlight how the in Delhi was misleading the people in matters such as mohalla clinics and health services.
The Wednesday held that former chief minister J cannot be termed a convict in a disproportionate assets case and dismissed a petition challenging the construction of a memorial to her on the ground that she was one.

A division bench of justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam made the observation and dismissed the petition by M L Ravi, president of Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi, seeking a direction to restrain the government from spending money from the public exchequer for construction of the memorial.

The petitioner also said that steps should be taken to recover money if it was spent by the government from her property citing that she was convicted in the disproportionate wealth case.

The bench observed that before the orders could be passed by the Supreme Court on the appeals filed against the Karnataka High Court order, breathed her last and therefore, the appeal against her acquittal came to be dismissed as abated.

"It is to be remembered at this juncture that the said person had already had the benefit of acquittal operating in her favour and in the light of the judgement of HC the stigma of conviction against her got erased, which has not been set aside by the apex court on merits for the reason that before the orders could be pronounced, she died.

"Therefore, it cannot be said that was a convicted person and as such, there is stigma of conviction attached to her," the judges said.

Suggesting that the money could be spent on construction of hospitals, educational institutions, for developmental projects and provision of basic facilities to citizens, the court said it was for the state government to take a call and it cannot issue any positive direction to do so.

It declined to accept the main contention of the petitioner that the order of acquittal passed by the Karnataka High Court had been reversed by the Supreme Court in criminal appeals, and Jayalalithaa who was the first respondent in the said appeals became a convict and as such, a memorial in honour of a convicted person cannot be built.

Referring to the money spent from public exchequer for construction of the memorial, the bench said, "The petitioner did not make a challenge to the sanction of funds and the clearances accorded for construction of the said memorial and even otherwise; this Court is of the considered view that the grounds urged by the petitioner lack merit for the above cited reasons."

The apex court had in 2017 abated the charges against Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate wealth case while sentencing her close aide V K Sasikala and two others to imprisonment.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has asked the Ahmedabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to give its decision on the Essar Steel insolvency case by January 31. Or else, it said on Wednesday it would itself give an order on the case on February 4.

The NCLT Bench in Ahmedabad had reserved its order on a maintainability plea moved by the erstwhile promoters of Essar Steel. They had offered to settle all the debt but this came well after a bid from ArcelorMittal, the global giant, had been accepted. The promoters had through their holding company, Essar ...
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Two-wheeler manufacturers are unlikely to get respite from slowing sales anytime soon. Registration of two-wheelers, an indicator of actual demand on the ground, was down 7 per cent in the first 20 days of January when compared with the same period a year ago.

Besides tepid sentiment in urban markets, the sluggishness in sales, according to dealers, was distress in rural India. Dealers and manufacturers are now hoping for a cut in the goods and services tax (GST) rate on two-wheelers from the current 28 per cent to 18 per cent. Meanwhile, inventory in dealerships is at a two-month high ...
Bryan, OH (43506)

Today

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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Theyre keeping his dream alive.

Brooklynites packed a Fort Greene theater to honor the late civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on his eponymous federal holiday.

The trailblazing activist who fought to make the country more equitable for all its residents is often remembered for his peaceful, courageous acts  but those are only part of Kings legacy, according to Mayor DeBlasio, who noted his efforts constantly forced him to confront the worst in society in order to make it better.

I would argue you see a very different vision of what Dr. King was about than the actual one. You see, what I might call, a sanitized vision, Hizzoner said during the Monday ceremony inside Brooklyn Academy of Musics Howard Gilman Opera House. Dr. King was not just about Kumbaya and everyone get along. Sure, he believed that equality was how we learned to get along, and how we had a platform to get along, but it was not just everyone love each other, were okay, leave the status quo the way it is. He was quite clear that the entire status quo was unacceptable.

Other speakers at the 33rd-annual tribute to King included the founder of the Me Too movement against sexual harassment and assault, Tarana Burke, the citys First Lady Chirlane McCray, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (DFort Greene), District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (DFort Greene), who noted that Kings ideology resonates as strongly in todays charged political climate as it did when he started preaching it more than 50 years ago, before he was shot and killed while rallying to support Tennessee sanitation workers in 1968.

His teachings are as relevant today, as they were years ago, said Cumbo. Few have done what he has done to foster equality in our country.
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Police are hunting for the masked malcontent who robbed a man at gunpoint in Sheepshead Bay  and got caught in the act on camera.

The gun-toting goon approached his 24-year-old victim near E. 24th Street and Avenue U around 12:30 am on Jan. 9, before flashing the firearm and demanding money from the guy, who subsequently forked over $30 in cash, according to the security footage police released on Tuesday.

The creep fled on E. 24th Street towards Avenue T after stealing the cash, authorities said.
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62nd Precinct

BensonhurstBath Beach

Road rage

A pair of brutes assaulted and stabbed a man in a fit of road rage on 65th Street on Jan. 17.

The incident occurred near W. First Street at around 5:20 pm, when the perps cut off the victim  who told police he was driving towards W. First Street from Dahill Road  with their red Infiniti. The victim honked his horn, prompting the driver of the Infiniti to exit his car and approach the victims, where he punched him, causing scratching and redness to the mans left lip, according to the report.

The victim then exited his car and the men began to assault him, causing him to fall to the ground, where one of the men pinned him to the ground with his knee before releasing him, police said. The men then fled in their car, according to the report, which added that the victim did not realize that he had been stabbed until he noticed four puncture wounds to his upper left leg until after the ordeal was over.

Got played

A lout swindled a 20th Avenue resident out of $3,000 on Jan. 14 by convincing her to withdraw the money from her account and transfer it to Google play cards.

The woman, who lives at 66th Street, told police the incident occurred at 9 am.

Cant stay away

Police arrested a man who they say broke into a womans 80th Street home on Jan. 14.

The man allegedly broke into the home between Stillwell and 23rd avenues by breaking down the door just before 6:25 pm, according to the report, which added that the woman who lives in the home had an order of protection against the man, and that he may have had a knife.

What a tool

A lout broke into a white 2015 Ford car parked on Bath Avenue and stole construction tools sometime overnight on Jan. 16.

The theft occurred at Bay 37th Street at some point between 6:30 pm on Jan. 16 and the following morning, according to the report.

Better lock the door

A crook stole a womans red 2018 Infiniti from a Shore Parkway garage at some point between Jan. 16 and Jan. 18.

The theft occurred at the garage at 20th Avenue at some point after 1 pm on Jan. 16, according to the report, which added that the woman told police that the garage door is broken and that she had lost her second set of keys at an earlier time.

Had to hitchhike

A thief snatched a mans iPhone 7 on Bath Avenue on Jan. 17.

The incident occurred at 11:15 pm at 18th Avenue, where the man had called a for a ride share. After grabbing the phone, the crook fled on foot on 18th Avenue towards Rutherford Place, according to the report.

Blinged out crook

A burglar broke into a womans Dahill Road home and stole an estimated $5,700 worth of jewelry on Jan. 18.

The incident occurred at the home between Avenue O and 63rd Street around noon, police said.

Big haul

A baddie broke into a 63rd Street home and stole electronics, jewelry, and video games on Jan. 19.

The incident occurred at the home between Bay Parkway and 23rd Avenue around 1:30 pm, police said.

Crazy ex

A mans ex-girlfriend allegedly stole his mini Mac computer from his Cropsey Avenue home on Jan. 19 and sold it for $200.

The man told police he returned to his home between 17th Avenue and Bay 16th Street around 7 pm, and found the computer missing from his bedroom. When he confronted the woman, she told him she had sold it for $200 before fleeing in an unknown direction, according to the report.

Almost too easy

A thief stole assorted tools and a bike from a mans car parked on Bay 17th Street sometime overnight on Jan. 19.

The man told cops he parked his car between Benson and Bath avenues at 6 pm on Jan. 19, and returned at 11 am the following day to find his door open and his tools gone.

Shouldve locked the door

A nogoodnik stole $200 from a 20th Avenue business on Jan. 20.

The theft occurred just after 12:30 am at the business between 63rd and 64th streets, where the punk entered by lifting the gate and opening the unlocked door, police said.

 Julianne McShane
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61st Precinct

Sheepshead BayHomecrest

Manhattan BeachGravesend

Caught off guard

A purloiner robbed a store on Nostrand Avenue on Jan. 14.

The neer-do-well walked in to the store near Avenue Z shortly after noon with his face concealed with a scarf and told the employee behind the counter, Open up the register, the victim told police.

At first, the victim didnt realize what was happening, so the masked malefactor clarified, saying, Open up the register and give me the money, she told cops.

She opened the register and handed him $20, but he wasnt satisfied, demanding she give him all the money, she told officials.

She put the drawer on the counter and the thief snatched $115 and fled the scene heading towards Avenue Y, according to authorities.

Bloody burglar

A nogoodnik broke into a womans home on Canton Court on Jan. 16.

The victim told police the lout broke the bedroom window of the home near Lois Avenue sometime between 6:30 am and 8 pm to get in, but didnt steal anything.

The victim also found blood on the floor, she told the authorities.

Chic shoe snatcher

A thief ransacked an apartment on Avenue U on Jan.

The victim told cops that the looter busted the front door lock and raided his apartment near E. Eighth Street, nabbing designer shoes and cash, while he was at work between 8 am and 2:15 pm.

What a tool!

A bandit looted a mans truck parked on Shore Parkway sometime overnight on Jan. 17.

The victim said that he left his vehicle near E. 21st Street at 8 pm, and returned at 7:30 am the next day to find some baddie had broken his window and bagged an electric screwdriver, a tool bag, a meter, and a cable tracker, according to police.

Surgical robbery

A snake stole cash from a chain store at Nostrand Avenue on Jan. 20.

The lout walked into the store near Avenue Y at 3:20 pm wearing a surgical mask and told the cashier, I dont want to hurt you, just give me all the money, cops said.

He then simulated a gun and said Hurry up, after which the cashier handed over $600 before the scoundrel made a run for it towards Avenue X, according to police.

 Kevin Duggan
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Dozens of federal employees still out of work and pay due to the longest government shutdown in American history swung by the Barclays Center on Tuesday to pick up free food and toiletries doled out by a city do-good group.

Standing in line to collect the complimentary care packages doled out by the Food Bank for New York City humbled one of the furloughed Feds, who said it was her first time accepting charity.

It feels really bad, said Kuwanna Warthen, a Canarsie resident employed as a legal assistant with the U.S. Attorneys Office. It makes you think about the country and the direction its going in. It shouldnt have to come to this.

Volunteers at the three-hour giveaway, which Food Bank leaders hosted in partnership with operators of the Prospect Heights arena, handed out items including dried food, milk, meat, vegetables, and toiletries to more than 200 people  some of whom came with kids in tow.

Many folks who showed up work for the Transportation Security Administration, and some federal workers facing the prospect of missing a second paycheck come Friday said they called in sick so they wouldnt miss out on the gratis grub.

The do-good group organized the event in response to an increase in federal workers walking into its pantries across the city, and in calls to the group about its assistance programs, as the shutdown continued, according to a Food Bank volunteer.

Weve seen a large number of calls, said Zanita Tisdale.

And the Food Bank will continue to stage such giveaways, Tisdale said, as long as President Trump refuses to budge on erecting his beloved wall at the United StatesMexico border and reopen the government  which on Wednesday remained closed for a record 33rd day.
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Call him the voice of reason.

How can you be a good person when it feels like youre in the Bad Place? The philosophy consultant behind the NBC afterlife comedy The Good Place will reveal the answer at an all-night celebration of big ideas at the Brooklyn Public Librarys Central Branch on Feb. 2. His lecture Decency in an Indecent Place can also apply to our most fraught political debates, said the author and academic.

How do we look across at people that we dont necessarily agree with? If we bring decency to the table, that actually helps make things a little less polarizing, said Dr. Todd May, who also teaches philosophy at Clemson University in South Carolina.

May will deliver his 30-minute talk at 11 pm, during the librarys free, third-annual Night of Philosophy and Ideas, a 12-hour philosophy fest, co-organized with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, that will feature dozens of discussions, lectures, and performances between 7 pm on Feb. 2 and 7 am the following morning.

The scribes lecture will cover ideas that he examines in more depth in his upcoming  and 15th  book, A Decent Life: Morality for the Rest of Us, which argues that empathy and awareness can create more compassionate and fulfilling relationships, he said.

The fundamental recognition behind decency is that other people have lives to live  they want their lives to be meaningful, theyre probably afraid of death, they have periods of loneliness  and that that recognition can motivate us towards a sense of treating other people as if they actually are people, he said.

May said the main character in The Good Place  a woman working to become a better person to justify her cushy spot in the afterlife  illustrates the idea that connecting with others can help make us better people.

One of the lessons [of the show] is opening ourselves to the humanity of others can have this cyclical effect, so that as we see that humanity, that allows us to become a little bit better than we were, he said.

In addition to Mays lecture, the night will also feature a keynote address on defeating tribalism by the New York Times Magazines Ethicist columnist, Dr. Kwame Anthony Appiah, at 7 pm; a puppet show featuring the figures of Noam Chomsky and Karl Marx, at 10 pm and 2 am; free coffee from Nespresso, and a French poetry reading delivered directly into the ears of audience members, among many other events.

A Night of Philosophy and Ideas at the Brooklyn Public Librarys Central Branch [10 Grand Army Plaza at Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights, (718) 2302100, www.bklyn libra ry.org ]. Feb. 2 at 7 pm to Feb. 3 at 7 am. Free.

Reach reporter Julianne McShane at (718) 2602523 or by e-mail at jmcsh ane@s chnep smedi a.com . Follow her on Twitter @juliannemcshane.
New York: US President Donald Trump said in a late-night tweet on Wednesday that he will wait until the government shutdown is over to deliver a State of the Union address from the House of Representatives.

The power struggle between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reached new heights, after sustained tit-for-tat after Pelosi announced she will block Trump from delivering his State of the Union address to Congress next week.

The State of the Union, which is televised nationally, is one of the main political events each year in Washington, DC. The occasion offers presidents an unmatched opportunity to detail their achievements to the American people and outline their policy priorities for the coming year.

The President requires a formal invitation from the House Speaker to address the chamber, but this is usually a formality.
Washington: Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, will not testify before Congress next month, one of his attorneys said on Wednesday.

Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen, said in a statement: "Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. [Rudolph] Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date."

Cohen had been scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on February 7.

"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first," Davis said.
Jakarta: The former governor of Indonesia's capital will be released from prison on Thursday, nearly two years after being jailed for blasphemy against Islam.

And Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is commonly known as Ahok, is widely tipped to re-enter Indonesian politics  though that is unlikely to happen until after the April 17 presidential election, according to his long-time friend and human rights campaigner Andreas Harsono.

Ahok, who is an ethnically Chinese Christian, took over as governor of Jakarta when Joko Widodo was elected President in 2014.

Former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama talks to his lawyers after his sentencing in May last year. Credit:AP

In September 2016, Ahok was accused of blasphemy after he suggested a verse of the Koran did not state that Muslims could not be led by a non-Muslim.
Labor leader Michael Daley has been counting down the days to the state election since the day he took on the job. As of today, he would tell you, there are 59 to go.

With no time to spare, the Opposition Leader has been going at break-neck speed since he replaced Luke Foley 133 days out from the March 23 poll. And for the first time, senior Labor strategists say, there is serious hope.

All eyes are on the seats that could change the political landscape in NSW. With the Coalition holding just a six-seat majority, minority government is the most likely outcome. The Nationals will take a hiding in the bush and on the far north coast and in Sydney, Coogee and East Hills are the Liberals biggest worries.

Shaking up NSW politics? Pauline Hanson and her recruit targeting the NSW upper house, Mark Latham, and his almost political ally, David Leyonhjelm. Credit:Fairfax Media, AAP

After that, it gets interesting and harder to predict. Independents are a real threat to the major parties but while much of the focus is on the lower house, the other major battle ground is the upper house, the Legislative Council.
Industry, Labor and analysts have thrown their weight behind key recommendations for the reform of the $2.8 trillion superannuation system, signalling a major shakeup of decades-old system after the next election.

The top 10 "best in show" list as proposed by the Productivity Commission has made way for two other key recommendations - the "right to remain" test and the "default once" reforms - with Labor leader Bill Shorten, Industry Super and market analysts Chant West giving their implicit support for key components.

The recommendations, understood to be two of the 31 most favoured by regulators, are also expected to be backed by the banking royal commission when it hands down its final report next week.

The stalemate leaves workers savings sitting in funds that, if left there, could see them as much as $188,000 worse off by the time they retire. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

But consumers in the sector may also be missing out on thousands of dollars extra in super because of an impasse between the Productivity Commission and the regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, which has the power to crack down on dud funds.
Michelle Simmons: "You can't rewrite history." Credit:Louie Douvis

Current Australian of the Year Michelle Simmons says Australia Day should be kept on January 26, arguing the arrival of the First Fleet was a point of historical significance that fundamentally changed the face of our nation.

Professor Simmons, who earned the 2018 honour for her groundbreaking work in quantum physics, acknowledged the date is polarising for some people but said it was possible to recognise all aspects of history related to the day.

"Look I think [Australia Day] is a fantastic day. I recognise its a point in Australias history where everything changed," Professor Simmons told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald's Please Explain podcast.
The confidential electoral roll data of more than 16 million Australians is being used by buy now, pay later providers, debt collectors, betting agencies and marketing firms to identify individual consumers.

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald can reveal data obtained by debt-collectors and data marketing firm Illion, formerly known as Dun & Bradstreet, is used by $4 billion stock market darling Afterpay and other providers to match identities to addresses as it processes customers at thousands of suburban shops including David Jones, Officeworks and Nike.

The electoral data, designed to be used under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, is accessed by Afterpay and other firms via Perceptive Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Illion.

Afterpay CEO Nicholas Molnar in the Surry Hills office. Credit:Louie Douvis

Electoral data contains the most accurate information on the addresses and identities of Australians and is used by the Australian Federal Police, Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Director of Public Prosecutions to track offenders and suspects.
Attrition among the ranks of Canberra's firefighters has more than doubled to hit its highest point since reporting began, as government promises to recruit new blood to replace the ageing workforce.

While staff turnover has hovered around 3 per cent since the Productivity Commission began measuring firefighter attrition four years ago, it is now at 6.3 per cent according to its latest report on government services released today.

ACT firefighters during a training exercise in 2014. Firefighters responded to more than 12,000 incidents in 2017-18. Credit:Graham Tidy

While the number of full-time firefighters only fell by two positions to 348 between 2014 and 2018, the demographic breakdown points to a shifting workforce.

While 2.8 per cent of the workforce was aged over 60 in 2014, 7.4 per cent are in that age bracket now.
Disgraced former West Australian Labor MP Barry Urban has made his third court appearance facing fraud charges, with the case remanded until March.

Barry Urban leaves court on Wednesday. Credit:Phil Hickey

Mr Urban has already pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges, which include five counts of giving false evidence before a parliamentary committee.

Mr Urban, 49, has also been charged with five counts of uttering a forged record, and one count each of attempted fraud and forging a record related to information allegedly provided in WA Police Force applications.

He entered not guilty pleas in November.
Three bands have pulled out of upcoming gigs at the Amplifier Capitol following public backlash over female staff members at the venue being forced to wear revealing uniforms.

Storm the Sky cancelled what was to be their final-ever Perth appearance at Amplifier Capitol in protest of the nightclub owner's statements on social media over the uniforms.

The Australian band are currently on their last Australian tour before disbanding, and had a show planned at the music venue on January 31.

Storm the Sky. Credit:Facebook

However following comments made on social media by Amplifier management requiring female bar staff to wear low-cut and tight-fitting work shirts, Storm the Sky has shifted their performance to nearby Civic Hotel.
Police have charged two men and a young woman after they walked straight into the arms of police investigating a violent armed robbery the trio had allegedly committed in the city overnight.

Police arrested the trio when they arrived back at the property. Credit:file image/9 News

It is alleged two men robbed a man in his 20s in the early hours of Wednesday as he arrived at his West Perth apartment complex.

Police said the men were wearing masks and threatened the man, claiming to be armed, and demanded he hand over his wallet.

But when told he didn't have his wallet on him they allegedly took off with the man's phone and keys, fleeing in a waiting Ford Falcon.
A total fire ban will be in place across the state on Friday. Mr Crisp said in the past 24 hours there had been 66 fires across the state. All of those fires except three, two of which are in far east remote Gipplsand, were brought under control, contained, or deemed safe by authorities, he said. Justin Dunlop, Victoria's state controller for heat, urged people to check on vulnerable loved ones and neighbours including the elderly and those with health conditions. "Extreme heat does kill, we've seen that in Victoria in the past," he said.

"For the next two days there will be extra ambulances and paramedics on the road, we'll also have additional nurses and paramedics available on the phone to give people advice." He said authorities had been called out to more than 300 incidents of children being locked in cars since December 1. Sixteen of those incidents were last Thursday as the mercury hovered at 33 degrees. "If they were left for a minute or two longer [they could have] potentially perished," he said. "Look before you leave the car and don't live kids, pets, anyone behind."

Loading It will only drop to 27 degrees in between Thursday and Friday. "It will drop no lower than that, so the temperatures will be in the 30s for most of the night. It will be a hot night," said Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Richard Carlyon. "We haven't had a night this hot this summer. The last was about a year ago on January 29 when it was 27.8 degrees [overnight].

Loading Australian Open organisers at Melbourne Park will be keeping a close eye on the temperature, with conditions set to mirror those of last week when it climbed into the mid to high 30s. Both the men and women's singles semi-finals are scheduled for Thursday evening, with Stefanos Tsitsipas due to play, as well as the clash between Czech player Petra Kvitova and American Danielle Collins. The much-discussed new heat policy  a one-to-five heat stress scale  was carefully monitored by Australian Open organisers last week, hitting a 3.7 on the scale on the first day of the Open. A score of one is regarded as temperate playing conditions, whereas when the scale reaches four, players will have access to an extended break. Play will be suspended when the scale reaches five.

The bureau is forecasting severe heatwave conditions for most of the south-east of the country starting on Thursday. Maria Sharapova rests in her chair during her first round match against Britain's Harriet Dart at the Australian Open, wearing a "neck sausage". Credit:AP Photo/Aaron Favila A sea breeze helped to bring temperatures down in some coastal parts of the city last week, however Mr Carlyon said there wouldn't be similar relief on Friday until later in the day. "There will be a northerly wind and that means the heat goes right through the Melbourne area, it will be hot right throughout," he said. The change will sweep through about 3pm on Friday when a "punchy" southwesterly change will see temperatures drop sharply. In some places they are expected to drop by 15 degrees in 20 minutes.

There is also the chance of a thundery shower, however it will be a mostly dry, windy change. Beachgoers enjoy the sunshine at St Kilda beach at the end of December. Credit:AAP/David Crosling The weekend looks to be much more mild, with a top of 26 degrees on Australia Day and 25 degrees on Sunday. Along the Murray, it will remain hot, with temperatures in the mid to high 30s on Saturday before dropping to the low 30s on Sunday. The CFA is urging those holidaying over the long weekend to be careful and remain vigilant, with severe fire danger forecast for most of the state on Friday. Lifesaving Victoria is also reminding those heading to the beach or rivers during the heat to ensure they swim between the flags and monitor conditions.
James Young outside Cherry Bar. Credit:Meredith O'Shea

Melbourne's favourite hard rocking, sticky-floored live music venue is closing its doors, but it's not the end for Cherry Bar.

For about 13 years, Cherry Bar owner James Young has spent most evenings perched at the end of the bar watching live music from all over the world blare from the overheated, dimly lit and tiny stage.

The air was always thick with sweat and beer as strangers danced and sang in unison at the raucous bar in AC/DC Lane.

But Mr Young says he was unable to secure a new medium to long-term lease to for the venue.
Far north Queensland residents are being warned to brace themselves for damaging winds, heavy rainfall, flash flooding and abnormally high tides as a tropical cyclone could form by Thursday.

Extreme weather conditions were set to develop in the far north after a monsoon trough across the northern coast was observed by the weather bureau about 10am on Wednesday.

The Bureau of Meteorology released a severe weather warning on January 23, warning people to expect damaging winds, heavy rainfall in far north Queensland. Credit:Bureau of Meteorology

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the trough was expected to strengthen over the northern Gulf of Carpentaria and far north Queensland.

"A tropical low is situated over north-east Gulf of Carpentaria waters and is forecast to develop over the next few days, though at this stage it is rated a low [5-20 per cent] chance of forming into a tropical cyclone by Thursday," he said.
A 90-year-old man has died a day after he fought with a 70-year-old male relative at an aged care facility in Logan, south of Brisbane.

Detectives were investigating the death after a fight broke out at at the Blue Care Beenleigh Bethania Haven aged care facility about 2.15pm on Sunday.

The older man lost consciousness shortly after they clashed and was taken to the Princess Alexandra Hospital, where he died on Monday.

The 70-year-old was assisting investigators while a report was being prepared for the coroner.

A Blue Care spokeswoman said she was unable to say much while the incident is being investigated by police.
Im writing from Goondiwindi, a town that sits along the Macintyre River, at the top of the Murray-Darling Basin, right on the border of NSW and Queensland. The stomping ground of David Littleproud, the Federal Water Minister. This is cotton country.

Two farming executives are currently facing criminal charges for defrauding the Commonwealth. They are before the courts in Queensland for allegedly submitting fraudulent claims and falsifying invoices related to water efficiency projects that never eventuated, to the tune of $20 million. Meanwhile, infrastructure works paid for by Australian taxpayers are keeping overland flows on their land.

A kangaroo stuck in the drying mud in the drainage canal of Lake Cawndilla, one of the four lakes of the Menindee Lakes. Credit:Nick Moir

The practice of overland harvesting is rife; keeping water that should be flowing into rivers on farm. Corporate irrigators and their advocates often cite their low "take" from the river while they harvest this water free of charge, billing the taxpayer for the infrastructure works (otherwise known as dam walls, below ground channels, raising roads) that capture and store the water for their own private and corporate use.

While some farmers in the basin have zero water allocated from the river, that doesnt stop them harvesting overland water. Meanwhile, corporate cotton crops in southern Queensland are flourishing. One cotton crop I visited this week will use 3.6 gigalitres of water by the time it is harvested, while the environment goes without.
A woman and her son are dead after their car plunged into a river on the state's Mid North Coast on Wednesday morning.

Margaret Rodwell, 79, and her son Cameron Rodwell, 54, were heading to a birthday party in Smithtown, about 15 kilometres north-east of Kempsey, when their car left the road and went into the Macleay River just after 11am.

Margaret Rodwell and son Cameron Rodwell died when their car crashed into a river. Credit:Facebook

It's believed the vehicle was attempting a U-turn when it careened down an embankment into the water.

A rescue operation was launched involving Mid North Coast police, NSW Police Marine Area Command officers, Marine Rescue and Maritime NSW, with divers flown in by helicopter from Sydney to comb the river for the vehicle and its passengers.
Three days after he attended a music festival in May last year, Julian Martusciello was online, reading about the "3500 MDMA pills seized from Midnight Mafia" at Sydney's Olympic Park.

The 25-year-old from Chester Hill had a vested interest in the story, having knowingly contributed to the supply of more than 400 MDMA capsules to the festival himself, more than 10 per cent of the total number seized by police.

Julian Martusciello sprints from Burwood court. Credit:Nick Moir

While Mr Martusciello had attended the festival and handled some of the capsules himself, he did not carry them into the festival on May 5 last year.

Instead, he had commissioned the services of 22-year-old Grace Poo, who would carry more than 1500 capsules into the festival, for Mr Martusciello and others. The price?
A Sydney aged care worker who used a shoe to hit an 82-year-old man who suffered from dementia has been jailed for at least four months.

Prakash Paudyal pleaded guilty in December to two counts of common assault (domestic violence) after two separate attacks were caught on a hidden camera at the Bupa Seaforth facility between August 26 and September 3 in 2018.

In Manly Local Court on Wednesday, the 36-year-old was sentenced to eight months behind bars with a non-parole period of four months.

The victim's daughter said she is overwhelmed that the family "finally got justice", and "wouldn't even think twice" about planting a camera again.
A NSW police officer associated with known drug dealers, took drugs and bragged to another officer about lying to a Canberra magistrate, a report by the police watchdog has found.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission recommended the officer, known as Officer B, be referred to ACT prosecutors and the colleague he bragged to  Officer C  be sacked.

The commission made the recommendations in a report released last week after secret phone taps caught Officer B joking about perjuring himself in court when giving evidence on an alleged drink-driving charge.

"F---in', I lied. I lied hard, too," Officer B said.

"Good on ya mate, I'm proud of ya," Officer C, his superior, said.
Despite an extended holiday  courtesy of legal action from the banking regulator  IOOF managing director and avid golfer Chris Kelaher remains a most interesting business figure.

There really is nothing like the ire of the prudential regulator to pique curiosity.

Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit:

Thats why we were fascinated to see his former wife, Sally Kelaher ranked as the 11th largest holder of IOOF shares, after being handed almost two million shares by her former husband following a court decision in January 2016.

Back then, they were worth $17 million.
The ACT had the fewest police officers per head of population of all states and territories in 2017-18, and despite high levels of perceptions of safety, reported car thefts and armed robberies rose last fiscal year.

Figures from the Productivity Commission's latest report on government services show there were 205 police full-time operational officers in the ACT for every 10,000 residents.

Police Minister Mick Gentleman says Canberra's police are well-trusted. Credit:Fairfax Media

While there were 949 full-time officers in 2017-18, only 85 of whom were non-operational, the proportional figure represents a five-year low in the number of front-line officers in the territory, compared to population.

The commission's latest report, to be released on Thursday, shows the number of local operational police officers working in the territory has steadily fallen from a high of 231 for every 100,000 people in 2012-13 to 205 on the same measure last year.
With the popularity of the TV show Who Do You Think You Are? youd be forgiven for thinking that celebrities have the most dramatic ancestries. Comedian Adam Hills discovered a Maltese pirate in his family tree. Fellow comedian Magda Szubanskis father was a World War II Polish resistance fighter. In the US, actor Cynthia Nixon found out her ancestor was an axe murderer. That would be rather hard to beat, not to mention a terrible shock. But dont rule it out. Ive often thought that SBS should make a non-celebrity Who Do You Think You Are? I believe that many of us wouldnt have to dig very far to strike gold.

Comedian Adam Hills.

About 15 years ago, as if seized by a demon, I went into a genealogy frenzy. I went completely over the top. I visited obscure (sometimes awful) ancestors villages overseas. I scanned newspapers. I scoured graveyards. I discovered that family history is an addiction and its incurable.

In the lead-up to Australia Day, here are some things I discovered about my background:

One branch of the family were shipwrecked at Point Lonsdale in 1853, the day before docking in Melbourne. They lost all their possessions.
Renowned Australian scientist and climate expert Tim Flannery has been appointed to a new climate change role at the Australian Museum in a major coup for the institution.

Professor Flannery, the 2007 Australian of the Year, will have dual roles in climate research and public education as the museum's distinguished visiting fellow.

Tim Flannery returns to Sydney to take up a new climate role at the Australian Museum. Credit:Jessica Hromas

The 12-month position, funded by private donors to the museum, will give Professor Flannery a public platform to speak on climate and energy policy at a crucial time in the lead up to the state and federal elections.

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time, affecting all life on the planet, and Australia is poorly prepared for the massive transition that is about to happen, Professor Flannery said.
Julia What's-her-name has gone too far on I'm a Celebrity ... Making jokes about someone possibly dying on their boring program? How pathetic.

Ange Kenos, Niddrie Moore, not Meshel What have ABC Melbourne listeners done to deserve the trivial Meshel Laurie filling in at breakfast? No intelligent content; just FM-style inconsequential gibberish. Sami and Jacinta are bad enough. Can't we put Ali Moore on a contract to host every summer?

Paul Hamilton, West Preston More Meshel The ABC is to be congratulated for using Meshel Laurie whilst the incumbents are on holiday. She is very funny and always sounds interested in what her listeners have to say. Up there with Libbi Gorr and Rod Quinn as a presenter.

Ian Dale, Rosebud

Meshel forever Meshel Laurie is a natural broadcaster and she can handle the breakfast show on her own. Anyone who has you smiling, wrapping you in her warmth and setting you up to face the day with her raucous commonsense should remain in that spot.

Margaret Skeen, Point Lonsdale Twittering early birds In the age of Twitter, it appears the ABC feels it must employ twits on its morning programs.

Geoff Champion, Mount Dandenong Pronunciation puzzle

Has anyone else noticed the way ABC presenters pronounce "Bahrain"? Between the first and second syllables, they make a sound as though a fly is in their throat. I suspect it's an effort to pronounce Bahrain in a similar fashion to native Bahrainians. I'll be intrigued to hear what they do when next reading news about Paris.

Patrick Edgeworth, Elwood Practice your pronunciation During the last few days, I have heard radio presenters consistently mispronounce the names of the people they are talking about, including Eurydice Dixon and Thomas Wolsey. May I suggest the holiday fill-in presenter on ABC Melbourne's Midnight Quiz spend 30 minutes before the program learning how to pronounce the words she is about to read out? Then, listeners will love her even more.

Liz Middleton, Clematis Too good to miss I have seen all three seasons of The Good Place. It's the funniest, wittiest, best-looking TV series since Pushing Daisies; a work of high art. The performances by Ted Danson and Kristen Bell are first-class and the minor characters are very strong. I'm very happy ABC has picked it up so that others will have the chance to see such a fine show.

Kevin V Russell, Geelong

Drumroll for Adam Please, ABC: can we have Adam Spencer as the permanent host of The Drum?

Lynne Hestdal, Warragul Do tell Following the delivery of a suspicious package to Melbourne's British embassy, an on-the-spot 3AW reporter, interviewed by Nick McCallum, tells us that nothing is happening there. No ambulances, no Hazmat vehicles, no evacuation  nothing. Perhaps the station could report from a variety of other locations where nothing is also happening?

Geoff Phillips, Wonga Park Huge problem
They might not be leading the HSC honour roll, but five schools have topped the state on what many experts consider a more important measure.

A Herald analysis of five years' worth of HSC data identified the schools that have shown significant and sustained improvement to climb from the middle of the pack in 2014 to the tightly-held top 100 in last year's results.

Experts say improvement is a better indicator of school quality than achievement. On that front, St Clare's College Waverley, Northern Beaches Secondary College Balgowlah Boys Campus, Lambton High in Newcastle, Bowral's Oxley College and Al Faisal College all excelled.

Lambton High, a comprehensive public school in Newcastle, was the biggest mover among the schools that cracked the top 100, climbing from 374th in 2015 to 100th in 2018, with its success rate - the ratio of high scores to total HSC exams sat - improving from about three per cent to more than 15 per cent.
People are growing sceptical of companies that present themselves as charitable or socially conscious, and can see straight through "phoney" brands claiming to be a force for good, according to the boss of one of the world's best-known social enterprises.

But Jim Alling, CEO of American shoe brand TOMS, says businesses legitimately pursuing a social purpose can deliver enormous tailwinds to their profitability.

TOMS CEO Jim Alling says having a social purpose can be a powerful tool for brands - but only when they can be backed up. Credit:Simon Schluter

It really matters, especially to younger consumers," Mr Alling said during a visit to Melbourne this week, where TOMS has opened its first stand-alone store amid a broader push into Australia.

Theyll be more likely to purchase things from companies they believe in, than they will if they think a company is kind of a phoney."
Addressing supporters today Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has reportedly revealed he is to break diplomatic relations with the US.

Mr Maduro has also given US personnel 72 hours to leave the country.

BREAKING: Maduro says Venezuela is breaking diplomatic relations with the United States, gives U.S. personnel 72 hours to leave the country. More: https://t.co/XhQPqexCV2 pic.twitter.com/ti1lMNprIC  Reuters (@Reuters) January 23, 2019

The latest move comes after US President Donald Trump recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.

"Today, I am officially recognizing the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela," Trump said in statement.

He went on to call the Maduro government "illegitimate" and "directly responsible for any threats" posed to the Venezuelan people.

In a speech yesterday Mr Maduro also hit out at a video message from US Vice President Mike Pence reaffirming unwavering support for a regime change in Venezuela.

In the video Mr Pence declared the time has come for the Venezuelan people to take the matters into their own hands.

Dubbing the speech as shameless meddling in his countrys affairs, Maduro said he rejected such imperialist interventionism.

#EnVivo  | Nos sumamos a la extraordinaria movilizacion del pueblo aguerrido en conmemoracion del 61 Aniversario de la Rebelion Popular del #23Ene de 1958.https://t.co/mvXo9X1gFs  Nicolas Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) January 23, 2019

Reacting to the crisis Atilio Boron, professor of political science in the University of Buenos Aires, told Russia Today that few in Latin America believe the US government is interested in democracy and freedom.

"They have supported all the dictatorships that we had suffered in Latin America for decades, he told RT.

"They are creating a humanitarian crisis and then they want to appear as the ones who can solve all the problems.

This is a desperate move, because they cannot defeat Maduro at the ballot box and they are promoting a sort of public insurrection which may backfire, Boron added.
The father of a 14-year-old girl who took her own life has said Instagram "helped kill my daughter".

Molly Russell was found dead in her bedroom in November 2017 after showing "no obvious signs" of severe mental health issues.

Molly Russell. Photo: Family handout/PA Wire

Her family later found she had been viewing material on social media linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide.

Molly's father, Ian Russell, said the algorithms used by Instagram enabled Molly to view more harmful content, possibly contributing to her death.

"I have no doubt that Instagram helped kill my daughter. She had so much to offer and that's gone," Mr Russell told the BBC.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said: "We are very keen to raise awareness of the harmful and disturbing content that is freely available to young people online.

"Not only that but the social media companies, through their algorithms, expose young people to more and more harmful content, just from one click on one post.

"In the same way that someone who has shown an interest in a particular sport may be shown more and more posts about that sport, the same can be true of topics such as self-harm or suicide."

An inquest into Molly's death is expected later this year.

An Instagram spokesman said: "Our thoughts go out to Molly's family and anyone dealing with the issues raised in this report.

"We do not allow content that promotes or glorifies eating disorders, self-harm or suicide and work hard to remove it.

"However, for many young people, discussing their mental health journey or connecting with others who have battled similar issues, is an important part of their recovery. This is why we don't remove certain content and instead offer people looking at, or posting it, support when they might need it most."

British Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesman said: "This is a tragic case and our thoughts are with Molly's family and friends.

"Social media platforms have a responsibility to regulate content on their platforms and the Prime Minister has been clear that tech companies must do more to step up and address these concerns."

Jackie Doyle-Price, minister for suicide prevention, announced on Tuesday that the Government aims to reduce suicides by at least 10% by 2020.

Ms Doyle-Price said: "As a society we need to do everything we can to support vulnerable and at-risk people, as well as those in crisis, and give them the help they desperately need.

"I will be working with local councils, the NHS and the justice system to make sure suicide prevention plans are put in place across public services."

She also said she will be working "collaboratively" with social media and tech companies to achieve their goals.

Mr Russell welcomed the announcement and called on social media companies to be "more responsible in relation to harmful content" and to provide users with more prominent information about getting help.
Brian O'Driscoll says most England players would struggle to get into the Ireland rugby team.

Both squads are training in Portugal this week as the countdown continues to their Six Nations opener at the Aviva Stadium.

Dismissing the likes of Owen Farrell, Dylan Hartley and Maro Itoje, O'Driscoll feels Billy Vunipola would be the only English player to make Joe Schmidt's starting 15.

"I was asked what England player, if I could pick one, would I want to bring across," he said on OTB AM.

"I went through the whole team and the journalist said: 'So, that's none.'

"I backtracked because I didn't want him to say 'none' in his article, so I told him a fit Manu Tuliangi [would] but I don't think you're dropping either of our guys [for him].

"Even the second row, James Ryan, for me, he's in, that's it. Dev Toner for your line-out and now what he's doing around the park.

"Our front row... their hooker is certainly no better than Rory Best, whatever their option is there, no way.

"Back row, maybe Billy would have been the choice."

Ireland kick off their Six Nations campaign against England in Dublin on February 2.
A 37- year old mother of two with terminal cancer has launched a High Court action against a GP claiming alleged negligence over a visit to the doctor after she found a small lump under her arm while in the shower.

Christine Rossiter, Mr Justice Anothony Barr was told, has only months to live after a tumour was found in her breast in 2016 and she has developed secondary cancer including in her brain.

The young mother told the High Court today that she feels like a "ticking time bomb" after a new tumour was found in her brain last year.

Ms Rossiter has sued GP Norma Donlon over a consultation she had with the doctor in 2014.

Opening the case, John Gordon, SC for Ms Rossiter, told the court Ms Rossiter contends the doctor did not examine her breasts but the doctor's note said 'declined breast exam.'

Counsel said the visit lasted 12 minutes and Ms Rossiter would say she was made feel she was worrying too much and was like a "little bit of a hypochondriac".

Counsel said Ms Rossiter also felt embarrassed and the doctor told her at her age she had nothing to worry about.

The woman claims the doctor did not examine her breasts but the doctor's note said 'declined breast exam'.

Counsel said Ms Rossiter left feeling a little foolish but very relieved after the 2014 visit.

In August 2016, Ms Rossiter felt a little lump on her left breast and went to another doctor who referred her for further investigation.

It turned out she did have a cancerous tumour in her left breast and was referred to a consultant.

Counsel said the cancer found was Stage 2 and while it was significant it was not life-threatening and would require chemotherapy.

Ms Rossiter went for immediate treatment and had a number of scans which showed she had secondary cancer in various parts of her body.

"What was a dreadful situation unfolded as absolutely calamitous," Mr Gordon said.

The secondaries in her lungs she was told lit up like a Christmas tree on the scan. It was Stage 4 breast cancer and it was terminal.

He said Ms Rossiter was devastated and she began a form of palliative care and treatment.

Counsel said Ms Rossiter was shell shocked and angry and embarrassed to be a dying person.

Counsel said at that stage it was confirmed she was unlikely to live more than five years and the cancer has since proved to be relentless.

Her prognosis at this stage counsel told the court is now a number of months.

"The tragedy here is the missing of the opportunity to detect the problem in September 2014," Counsel added.

He said Ms Rossiter will say she was not asked by Dr Donlon to examine her breasts and his side will contend it is highly unlikely Ms Rossiter would have refused a breast exam.

"If the examination occurred it would have identified a tumour in the left breast. That sadly did not happen," Counsel said.

"That little lump under her arm," he said, "never went away, it was found to be malignant in September 2016," Counsel said.

Christine Rossiter, Ceanchor Road, Baily, Howth, Co Dublin has sued GP Norma Donlon who was a doctor at Hilltop Surgery which is now known at Raheny Medical Centric Health at Hilltop Shopping Centre, Station Road, Raheny, Dublin.

It is claimed there was an alleged failure to perform an adequate examination of Ms Rossiter's armpit and an alleged failure to recommend examination of Ms Rossiters breast.

It is further claimed there was an alleged failure to adhere to the HSE National Breast Cancer GP referral guidelines and that Ms Rossiter was allegedly exposed to a risk of developing serious illness and injury.

The claims are denied and Dr Donlon contends that Ms Rossiter declined a breast examination when she came for a consultation on September 2014.

In evidence, Ms Rossiter said there was no way she declined a breast examination and it would be silly to do that.

She said when she was told her cancer was terminal she burst into tears and her partner Peter did the same.

"I don't even remember most of it. It was very distressing. I felt sick," she said.

The case before Mr justice Anthony Barr continues tomorrow.
Update: Two of the men questioned in relation to the murder of Polish man Mikolaj Wilk have been released.

Two Polish men and a Latvian man were detained Gurranabraher and Bridewell Garda Stations overnight and two of them have been released while a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Roisin Burke of the Evening Echo reports that the third man is still in custody today. He was arrested under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 and can be held for seven days.

File photo of Mikolaj Wilk with his wife Elzbieta.

Yesterday morning, investigating gardai arrested the three men and carried out a number of searches.

The searches were carried out in the Ballincollig area and gardai have said that they cannot comment on what they found as it is an ongoing investigation.

They have liaised with police authorities in Mr Wilks home country as part of the investigation in recent months.

A motive for the killing has not been made known.

Earlier: Gardai hold three men overnight in connection with murder of Polish man in Cork

Gardai in Cork have detained three men overnight in relation to the murder of Polish man Mikolaj Wilk.

They were arrested yesterday in the Ballincollig area during a series of searches.

Mr Wilk was killed last June in a brutal attack at his home in Ballincollig.

A number of armed men were involved in the assault, in which his wife also received injuries.

The three suspects are in their 30s and are being held at Gurranabraher and Bridewell Garda stations.
Update Jan 22: Sara Quinn has been found safe and well.

Earlier: Gardai are appealing for information after a teenager has been reported missing in Dublin.

17-year-old Sara Quinn was last seen in the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre at approximately 7pm on last Tuesday, January 15.

She was wearing blue jeans, a red jumper, black jacket and white runners at the time.

She's described as 5 2 in height, of thin build, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gardai in Ronanstown on 01-6667700 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.
A recent survey of primary school principals has highlighted the dramatic impact smartphones and social media usage can have on their schools.

An ESRI report has found that 40% of children own a mobile phone by the age of nine. This has resulted in primary schools having to define a strategy on the use of mobile phones in their schools, with 84% of primary schools implementing such a policy.

The survey also found that 1% of primary schools do allow pupils to use their mobile phones in school, while 38% of respondents said that they do allow pupils to have their mobile phones while in school but they are not allowed to be used during school hours.

A further 61% specified that mobile phones are not allowed on school premises.

Even though 99% of primary schools do not allow mobile phones to be used during school hours, 34% of respondents revealed that staff have encountered problems as a result of smartphone and social media use in school. Furthermore, 68% said that they have encountered problems as a result of smartphone / social media use outside of school.

IPPN President, David Ruddy said: "Technology and smartphone usage can have huge advantages on society when used in a constructive or creative way. However, it can also be a means to facilitate negative encounters for young people.

More often than not, the onus is put on schools to resolve these issues even though they have occurred outside of school hours on a personal device."

"Parents that choose to purchase a smartphone for their child, also need to take responsibility and contribute to the education of their children on the use of smartphones and social media on a social level as well as a developmental level."

This survey was carried out ahead of the largest gathering of primary school principals in Europe, at the upcoming IPPN Annual Principals Conference tomorrow and Friday in Citywest Convention Centre in Dublin.

The IPPN said it encourages a collaborative approach by schools, parents and pupils to formulate a smartphone policy.
Official statistics have shown that 12 abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018.

More than 900 women travelled to England and Wales during the same period, according to Amnesty International Ireland.

The data was published today by Northern Irelands Department of Health ahead of a meeting of the Women and Equalities Committee as part of its inquiry into the abortion law in Northern Ireland.

Amnesty International Ireland will urge the Committee to "finally bring an end to the archaic law which harms women" by recommending that the UK Government decriminalises abortion, and puts in place a human rights compliant framework for access.

Grainne Teggart, Amnesty Internationals Northern Ireland Campaign Manager, said: Theres a significant gap between the number of women who were allowed an abortion in Northern Ireland last year compared with the number of women who travelled to access the service. This demonstrates just how restrictive and unfit Northern Irelands abortion law is.

Because of the near-total abortion ban in Northern Ireland, up to one thousand women fly to other parts of the UK to have abortions every year. Countless others go online to purchase abortion pills, risking prosecution in doing so.

How can it be the case that its ok for women to fly to England, or now get a train to Republic of Ireland to have an abortion, but its not OK for them to access the health service at home? It makes no sense. Its time the UK Government ended the hypocrisy and inequality.

Northern Ireland has one of the cruellest abortion laws in the world, and our reproductive rights are falling further and further behind.

The UK Government cannot ignore the grave situation for women here. Abortion must be decriminalised - made free, safe and accessible without having to travel.
A farmer's signature on a will made five days before he died of cancer in his hospital bed was "an extraordinary squiggle" made when he was too ill to do so, the High Court has heard.

Bachelor Michael Buckley, 76, from Caim, near Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, was not of sound mind when he left his entire 54-acre farm and stock, estimated to be worth between 500,000 to 1m, to his nephew Richard Cooper junior, it is claimed by four of the deceaseds siblings.

Joseph, William and Elizabeth Buckley and Teresa Doyle want the court to condemn the will.

Mr Cooper junior, who built his family home on a site on the farm sold to him by his uncle, is opposing the action.

He also denies his uncle was acting under undue influence and lacked mental capacity to make the will.

Mr Buckley died on March 20, 2011, from colon cancer. He had been in extremely poor health for a number of months before he was diagnosed, not eating and losing a lot of weight.

He underwent a major operation which did not improve his condition, was suffering from sepsis, and was receiving palliative care, the court heard.

About a week before he died, local solicitor John Mernagh was asked by Sheila Cooper to go to the hospital to take his will. But Mr Mernagh found him unresponsive and not engaging in a way that suggested he was capable of making a will, Michael CounihanSC, for the Buckley siblings said.

Mr Mernagh left and a few days later, on March 15, Mrs Cooper's husband, Dick, asked another local firm to attend him to take a will urgently.

The solicitor, Jason Dunne, who has written guidebooks for people making wills, told the court when he attended on March 15, he found Mr Buckley was "perfectly clear", alert and coherent.

He knew he was making a will and who he wanted his estate to go to, Mr Dunne said.

Mr Dunne recorded the next day in typewritten notes, from his contemporaneous handwritten attendance note taken on the day, that Mr Buckley chatted lucidly during the visit including about the new government and an earthquake in Japan.

Mr Dunne told the court however he was quite weak and he had to hold Mr Buckley's elbow as he signed the will while lying propped up on a pillow in bed.

"He signed it and it is entirely his own signature, not a great one - he could have put an X but he managed his own signature", Mr Dunne said.

The solicitor also said he himself could also have signed it on Mr Buckley's behalf but it was not necessary.

He told Mr Cooper junior's counsel, Philip Sheahan, it was not unusual for a farmer to leave everything to one person because they do not want to see the farm broken up.

Cross examined by Mr Counihan, for the Buckley siblings, Mr Dunne said it was not necessary to ask Mr Buckley's doctors about his capacity once he (Dunne) had no doubt himself about it having spoken to the client.

He had no suspicion or doubt Mr Buckley was capable of giving clear instructions.

Asked about the view of the other solicitor, Mr Mernagh, a few days earlier that he was "utterly unfit", Mr Dunne said Mr Buckley was in an entirely different condition and capable of giving instructions on the day he saw him.

He did not know whether "someone had been in" with Mr Buckley in the days between when Mr Mernagh attended and when he went to the hospital.

He disagreed it was necessary for him to have known more about who else might want to benefit or that it was necessary for him to know who was taking care of him at home.

He disagreed that because Mr Buckley described his holding as 44 acres rather than 54 acres, this showed he was confused.

He agreed the signature on the will, described by Mr Counihan as an "extraordinary squiggle" showed a "shocking disintegration" with signatures Mr Buckley had written in the months and years before his death.

Mr Dunne said he did not enquire as to what drugs he was on either from medical staff or Mr Buckley himself. He was not aware at the time he was on morphine.

However, he had no doubt about his capacity

The case continues before Mr Justice Charles Meenan.
RTE may cross-examine businessman Declan Ganley over deficiencies in his discovery of documents for his defamation action over a Prime Time programme broadcast in 2008 about his life and business interests, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Among various complaints about Mr Ganleys discovery, RTE complained about a lack of documents concerning the Anglo Adriatic Fund. Mr Ganley had said those were lost as a result of looting and civil disorder in Albania and as a result of damp and mildew.

In his action initiated in 2011, Mr Ganley claims the November 2008 programme defamed him in using words or innuendo which, he alleges, meant he had links to organised crime.

He also claims the programme used words or innuendo which meant he had falsely claimed to be a paid advisor to the Latvian government; was somehow involved in the death of a man with whom he had a close business relationship; caused a fund to lose the life savings of thousands of Albanian pensioners and was covertly working for the US Central Intelligence Agency and/or "an ill-defined group known as 'Neocons'".

RTE denies defamation and denies the words complained of mean what Mr Ganley alleges.

It pleads the "sting" of the words, taken as a whole, was that Mr Ganley tended to make false or exaggerated claims in respect of business or other matters and it pleads truth or justification in that context.

The three-judge appeal court today gave judgment on appeals by Mr Ganley and RTE concerning a High Court 2017 judgment on discovery and other pre-trial issues in the litigation.

It refused RTEs appeal over the High Courts refusal to strike out Mr Ganleys action over the discovery deficiencies.

That was a drastic remedy of last resort which the court should shy away from unless satisfied that discovery deficiencies could not be cured via another avenue, Ms Justice Mary Irvine said.

That avenue was to direct Mr Ganley to swear a further affidavit of discovery and to permit RTE to cross-examine him concerning his default.

In making that order, the High Court judge struck a fair and just balance between the sides, she held.

Dismissing Mr Ganleys appeal against the order permitting his cross-examination about his discovery affidavits, she said the High Court had set out its reasons for that order in very significant detail, including its findings of deficiencies in Mr Ganleys discovery affidavits.

The High Court also considered that the clear absence of information that must be available cannot but be deliberate, she said.

She further dismissed RTEs appeal over orders directing it to make discovery forthwith for the action in line with a February 2015 High Court order and refusing to allow it make a form of sealed discovery of documents which could not be opened until Mr Ganley had addressed the alleged deficiencies in his discovery.

She rejected Mr Ganleys appeal over the High Courts refusal to strike out aspects of RTEs defence to his claim, including pleas he had a tendency to make false or exaggerated claims in business and other matters, which he denies.

The High Court had provided a sound basis for that refusal, including its finding that the alternative meaning contended for by RTE was capable of arising from the publication, she said. The High Court was correct as a matter of law in concluding there was nothing to preclude RTE seeking to justify what it maintains is the sting of the entire programme even though faced with seemingly distinct allegations of defamation made by Mr Ganley.

The matter has been adjourned for two weeks when the court will reassemble to make final orders arising from its judgment, including costs orders.
By Tom Tuite

Extensive CCTV evidence is to be shown in the trial of two men charged over an alleged drunken boat chase along the River Liffey.

Emergency services were alerted to an incident at about 6am on June 1, 2017 when a boat left its mooring at a south Dublin bank sailing club.

Following a pursuit on the Liffey, it was brought to a halt and later two Dublin men were arrested.

Brian Stacey, 45, of Derry Drive, Crumlin and Ronan Stephens, 41, from Captains Road also in Crumlin face charges under the Maritime Safety Act and the Public Order Act in connection with the alleged incident.

They have pleaded not guilty and appeared again at Dublin District Court today for their trial.

Judge Mary Cashin noted there were several prosecution witnesses and the evidence included extensive CCTV.

She said the case would not be reached as a result of a number of other hearings before the court today and it would have to be put back to a later date.

She held that the case needed a full day to be set aside for the district court trial and that it would be heard on June 5 next.

They were charged with being under influence of alcohol and failing to stop for gardai at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club while being the operator of a boat, navigating the craft without due care and attention, and endangerment of a RNLI lifeboat crew at the Shipping Lane on the River Liffey and breach of the peace.

Boat theft charges were dropped earlier after Mr Staceys lawyers contacted the DPP and explained he was the owner of the boat and had a receipt.

At their first court appearance, Garda Paul Moody said Mr Stacey made no reply when he was charged. He said the incident began in the early hours of June 1, 2017 and was on-going when he took up duty at 7am. Mr Stacey was arrested at 8.25 am at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club.

Garda Moody said it was alleged the incident happened at the Shipping Lane of the River Liffey at the East Link Bridge coming into Dublin city.

At the same hearing, Garda Patrick Collins had told the court that the co-defendant Ronan Stephens also made no reply after caution when he was charged. He was arrested at Sir John Rogersons Quay.
Women suffering with cervical cancer are to be offered the drug Pembro for their treatment after a high profile campaign.

The drug had only been available to the victims of the CervicalCheck scandal until now.

Doctors will be able to offer it on a case by case basis if they deem it could help the woman.

The cost will be footed by the State and it will only be available to cervical cancer sufferers.

Labour's Health Spokesperson said he was "delighted" with the news, as did Vicky Phelan, who thanked Mr Kelly for his "perseverance and dedication".

So delighted to get this news today. Huge thanks to Deputy @alankellylabour for his perseverance and dedication to this cause. And to @SimonHarrisTD for coming to an arrangement with the @INFO_NCPE It is a good news day for #CervicalCancerPreventionWeek https://t.co/dmICQODWmm  Vicky Phelan (@PhelanVicky) January 23, 2019

The announcement comes after it emerged today that several smear tests carried out last year will have to be repeated.

This is due to some of the tests expiring because of a backlog in the programme, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dail.

Not all the women affected have been informed as yet.

Last year, it was announced that every woman in Ireland would have the opportunity to avail of free smear tests.

Mr Varadkar said today that these had been offered in good faith, but he understood that this had subsequently placed a lot of pressure on the programme.
A farmer has gone on trial accused of murdering his 'love rival' whose remains were found in a slurry pit in April 2013.

Patrick Quirke of Breanshamore in Co. Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 52-year-old DJ Bobby Ryan.

Prosecuting barrister Michael Bowman told the jurors they would not be presented with a smoking gun or blood-soaked clothing. He said the evidence, in this case, was entirely circumstantial.

The jury heard Patrick Quirke took over his best friends farm after he passed away in 2007 and began seeing his widow, a woman called Mary Lowry.

Mr Quirke was married with children and they kept their relationship a secret until Mrs Lowry brought it to an end towards the end of 2010.

Not long afterwards, she started seeing Bobby Ryan, a local DJ who went by the name Mr Moonlight.

Mr Bowman said Mr Ryan went missing on the morning of June 3, 2011, after leaving Mrs Lowrys home.

It is the prosecutions case that Mr Quirke murdered him and dumped his naked body in a slurry pit on Mrs Lowrys land.

Mr Bowman suggested Mr Quirkes discovery of the body almost two years later was staged as his lease on the land was coming to a close.

The jury is due to visit the farm on Friday.
A retired surgeon groped and stroked the privates of a teenager who he had operated on weeks earlier, a jury has heard.

Michael Shine (86) of Ballsbridge, Dublin has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 13 charges of indecent assault allegedly committed during medical examinations at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth and at two private clinics in Drogheda.

On the fifth day of the trial, a man told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting, that Mr Shine performed surgery on his appendix at Lourdes hospital in 1971 when he was aged 13.

The man said that he attended an appointment with Mr Shine around a week after being discharged from hospital at Lawrence Street Clinic, Drogheda. He said his father wanted to go into the examination room with him but he was prevented by Mr Shine.

He said that Mr Shine asked him to pull up his shirt and jumper and to loosen his trousers while he was lying on an examination couch. He said Mr Shine briefly pressed around the wound on his side with his hands.

The man said that Mr Shine then moved further down and felt his privates. He said Mr Shine fondled his genitals.

He said he asked why his privates were being examined and that Mr Shine said he needed to check that nothing was damaged. He said this came to an end when Mr Shine said that the examination was finished and that he could get dressed.

I got out of there are quick as I could, the man said. He said he attended a second appointment at the clinic around two weeks later after his stitches had been removed.

He said that Mr Shine did not pay much attention to his wound during the second appointment and that he again fondled his genitals. He said he felt very embarrassed and could not wait to get out of there.

The man told Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, that when he heard about clerical abuse years later it brought back the alleged offences to his mind. He agreed that he never told anyone about what he says Mr Shine did until he saw publicity in the media.

I was glad that I wasn't the only one...For 38 years I thought I was the only one, the man said.

Another man told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that Mr Shine performed surgery on his testicles at Lourdes hospital in 1975 when he was aged 13 and that he attended a follow-up appointment at Fair Street Clinic, Drogheda, around four weeks later.

The man said his father waited outside the examination room and that Mr Shine asked him to lay down on a couch. He said that Mr Shine pulled his trousers and underwear down to his knees and placed a paper towel on his exposed stomach.

He said that Mr Shine first examined his testicles and then took his penis in his hand and began to masturbate it. He said that this continued for around 10 to 15 minutes.

The man said he was somewhat taken aback afterwards and he was unsure whether what happened had been a normal part of the examination.

The trial continues tomorrow before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury.
A 36-year-old Dublin man has been sent forward for trial accused of a seven-year campaign of online harassment against six women, including journalists and writers.

Charges were preferred following an 18-month investigation by the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureaus Cyber Investigations Unit.

Brendan Doolin, with an address at Leighlin, Road, Crumlin faces six counts of harassment contrary to Section 10 Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

The offences allegedly occurred between 2011 and 2018.

He was charged in November at Kevin Street garda station and faced his second hearing at Dublin District Court today.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed that he was to face trial on indictment.

The six named complainants include journalists and writers. A number of them were present for the hearing today but they were not required to give evidence.

A book of evidence was served on Mr Doolin in court by Garda Colm Gallagher.

Judge Michael Walsh noted the DPP had directed the accused was to be returned for trial on all six charges in the book of evidence.

He told Mr Doolin he was being sent forward to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he will face his next hearing on February 15.

There was no objection to him remaining on bail subject to the same terms set down in November.

Judge Walsh read out the bail conditions and told the accused to have no contact whatsoever with the alleged injured parties.

Furthermore, he could not have any contact with a number of witnesses, he was warned. Judge Walsh told him that if he intended to use an alibi in his defence he had to notify the prosecution within 14 days.

Dressed in a navy anorak and black jeans, the accused spoke briefly saying Yes when asked if he understood.

Judge Walsh also directed that copies of video evidence was to be furnished by the prosecution to Mr Doolins solicitor.

Mr Doolin has not yet indicated how he will plead.

He is accused of harassing the six women on dates from April 4, 2011 until November 6, 2017; June 2015 until 2018; between August 2012 and July 2017; from May 2012 until October 2017; from August 2012 to October 2017 and between February 2011 and February 2018.

Legal aid was granted following an application by defence solicitor Peter Keatings.
Irish Rail has apologised to a customer and refunded her the fine she received when clamped at a Cork train station - despite the car park staff taking a photograph of her valid ticket before applying the clamp.

Fabiola Lobo parked at Kent Station at 6am on the morning of November 28 last, as Storm Diane hit the country with gale force wind.

She bought a ticket, left it on her dashboard, and got the train to Dublin - only to return that night to find her car was clamped.

Ms Lobo discovered that her ticket had blown off her dashboard and landed on her seat as she closed the car door that morning.

However, Ms Lobo said a customer service representative for APCOA - the private firm that enforces parking rules at Kent Station - told her that she would need to pay a clamping removal fine, regardless of the fact that she had a valid ticket.

Ms Lobo subsequently twice appealed the fine to APCOA with no success - and the operator sent her a picture of her parking ticket on the car seat to demonstrate its argument that she had failed to correctly display it.

Ms Lobo contacted the Irish Examiner with her story having read a recent article by the newspaper which revealed that

Read More:

This newspaper sought a response from Irish Rail, who investigated the case and offered Ms Lobo an apology and refund from APCOA.

Ms Fabiola lamented the fact that she needed to bring her case to this newspaper before it was resolved and said being clamped on a dark night during a storm was "extremely unpleasant".

She said: But the reason for that clamping was rubbing salt into the wound  my ticket was not displayed on the dashboard. It had flown off in the wind and landed on the passenger seat - in full view, I may add.

APCOA were not ready to listen even though they took pictures of said ticket on the seat and when I complained to Irish Rail, they tried to pass the buck back to APCOA."

"It was only because I escalated it to someone higher in Irish Rail, with a lot of help from The Irish Examiner, that they have seen the issue for what it was and are now refunding me in full.

"Do we really have to jump through hoops every time we want to be heard?
It has emerged that families who present as homeless, outside office hours, have been told by Dublin City Council to register at a Garda station before they can avail of services.

The charity Inner City Helping Homeless said many families are afraid to go to the Gardai because it could mean Tusla will be notified.

ICHH is calling for the recall of out-of-hours teams who can deal with families face-to-face.

Anthony Flynn, the charity's CEO, said: "What we're doing is, we're not supporting the families in the way that we should, Garda stations are for criminals, they are not for families, not for children they are for people who have committed a crime and so on.

"What we need to do is to put the teams back in place that were in place recently, this is the way to reduce the number of presentation in the evening or late at night, and again I think it's applied to keep the numbers down."

Previously a team from the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive was on call to help such families, face-to-face.

However, that has now been reduced to a phone helpline.

Mr Flynn said: "So we have got families that do present after hours, we have got evictions happening in the evening time where people are asked to leave premises where they may have got evictions notices, so there are situations where families present as homeless late at night or in the evening.

"Now, we haven't got a team that is there to deal with that family, we've got a phone number, we haven't got face-to-face contact and people are being sent to Garda stations instead of actually dealing with somebody on the ground at night-time when they are in distress."
Four people who were arrested yesterday in connection with the suspected funding of IS groups in Syria have been released without charge.

Three of the individuals were released this morning and another this afternoon.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an important appeal by the State over a finding that a law preventing payment of child benefit to an Irish citizen child, living in direct provision because of the immigration status of her mother, is unconstitutional.

The Court of Appeal had suspended until February 1, 2019, formally making a declaration of unconstitutionality concerning Section 246(6) and 246(7) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 insofar as they prevent payment of child benefit for an Irish citizen child resident here solely by reason of the immigration status of the parent claimant.

The judgment was given in a case of a four-year-old girl living in direct provision with her Nigerian mother.

Her father is a naturalised Irish citizen but the couple's relationship broke down sometime after her birth.

The child was born in late 2014 but child benefit was refused until January 2016 when her mother got residency.

The mother said her daughter has a hereditary blood disease and they were living in difficult circumstances in direct provision.

Section 246 requires both child and parent must be habitually resident in the State for child benefit to be paid. A person will not be considered habitually resident unless they have a right of residence.

The mother claimed an entitlement to payment from the date of her daughter's birth and contended Section 246 was unconstitutional, contrary to EU law and incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

In the COA judgment of June 2018, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said the exclusion of a citizen from a universal payment called for a high level of justification having regard to the equality provision in Article 40.1 of the Constitution and such justification had not been demonstrated.

The fact the State was providing for mother and child in direct provision did not provide justification, since child benefit was payable without regard to means and involved the State acknowledging its interest in making an important contribution to the welfare of all children resident here, he said.

In its published determination agreeing to hear the State's appeal, the Supreme Court said the State says the COA decision has characterised child benefit as a benefit to which a child is entitled, notwithstanding it is paid to an adult.

That characterisation affected the question whether like persons were being treated alike and will potentially affect other welfare payments, the State argued.

The State also considered the effect of the declaration would involve striking down the entirety of the two subsections with consequences for other, unrelated welfare payments depending on the concept of habitual residence.

It disputed there was no objective justification for the habitual residence requirement and also said there was insufficient regard to the supports provided through direct provision.

In opposing a further appeal, the respondents argued the COA decision is not of general public importance and disputed much of the State's interpretation of the judgment.

In granting permission for an appeal, the Supreme Court said it accepted the COA characterisation of child benefit as a payment to a child rather than a parent, with the consequence the issue was seen as discrimination between citizen children, has important potential consequences beyond this case.

This issue cannot be treated in isolation and the State was entitled to argue the additional grounds identified, it also said.

The Supreme Court has also agreed to hear a separate but related appeal involving an Afghan couple and their four children also living in direct provision who secured permission to remain here on the basis of their youngest child securing refugee status.

In that case, the COA ruled, because the youngest boy is not a citizen, he was not entitled to child benefit until he was recognised as a refugee in January 2015.
The management of a company established to buy the homes of distressed mortgage holders and rent them back to their former owners insists that it has no intention of flipping properties to make a quick profit.

Arizun says that its new Stay In Your Home service, launched today, will instead offer a 'long-term solution' for those in mortgage arrears who do not qualify for government supports.

Cathal O'Leary, a director with Arizun, said that the company is focused on solving the issues facing many distressed mortgage holders.

The Stay In Your Home service will see Arizun take over the title of properties where the mortgage-holder is in arrears. The company will forgive debts attached to the property and the owner will surrender their property rights in exchange for a long-term lease, which would be for an initial six years and can be extended thereafter.

Rents would be based on the market rate and subject to existing rental market rules. Occupiers will have the option to re-purchase their homes in the future.

Mr O'Leary insisted that Arizun is focused on its clients and that it will not be seeking to sell off their assets to make a quick profit.

"Our fund is a long-term fund," he said. "It is more in the vein of utility management. I think of it more akin to a pension scheme."

Mr O'Leary said that the likelihood of a property being sold off is very slim.

"But, if it was to happen, it could only be done with the protection of the existing agreement," he added. "But, I must stress that is not our intention. This is a long-term plan."

There are approximately 28,000 mortgages in arrears of two years or more. The majority of these do not qualify for the government's mortgage to rent scheme, which is subject to strict rules.

Arizun's service is privately funded, with no State backing. 100 million has been secured from LCM Partners, a London-based investment firm. A further 400 million has been committed if the scheme takes off.

"It is a matter of when, not if," Mr O'Leary said.

He declined to elaborate on where the additional funds were coming from but said that discussions had taken place with a range of financial institutions, including some Irish.

The Arizun fund is regulated by the Central Bank.
In one word: mayhem.

On Tuesday, the European Commission's spokesperson Margaritis Schinas admitted what everyone already privately feared, saying "if you'd like me to push and speculate on what might happen in a no deal scenario in Ireland, I would think it is pretty obvious, you will have a hard border".

The public admission was a complete surprise to the Government, which was not pre-warned of the comments, and has led to fears the EU may throw Ireland under the Brexit bus.

While Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tanaiste Simon Coveney and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed attempted to downplay the comments, their insistence a border is not a runner because the withdrawal agreement and backstop will prevent it has made the situation even more confusing.

This is because the House of Commons last week voted by a landslide against the withdrawal agreement and backstop, with British prime minister Theresa May now targeting backstop changes and refusing to rule out a no deal Brexit if she doesn't get her way.

But I thought this was all settled before Christmas?

You wish.

If a week is a long time in politics, a couple of months are an eternity.

In November, the EU and Britain agreed to the 585-page withdrawal agreement after almost two years of talks, with the backstop a key part of the deal.

However, there was one snag, namely that the House of Commons had to vote in favour of it.

Fast-forward one Conservatives party heave against Ms May, one delay on the vote and a lot of hot air, and the withdrawal agreement is now in tatters after the deal was defeated by the biggest government loss in British history in a House of Commons vote last week.

Ms May has a plan B which looks suspiciously like plan A with added 'please change the backstop' sprinkled on top, which the EU is highly unlikely to accept, which has caused this week's problems.

Okay, so will there be an Irish border?

The honest answer is for now no one knows for sure, but it is looking increasingly likely by the minute.

This is because if Britain crashes out of the EU on March 29 without a deal or the backstop, the EU will insist on a customs border between the Republic and Northern Ireland to protect the single market.

What does the Government say and do they have any choice?

In clear statements in recent months Mr Varadkar and Mr Coveney have been insistent the Government has no plans to introduce a hard border and will not do so.

This is underlined by the fact it is the one scenario not included in the Government's contingency plans or its no deal Brexit law changes due to go through the Dail in the coming weeks.

Britain is also clear it does not want a hard border.

However, the Government press secretary admitted on Tuesday there will be "difficult conversations" with the EU if Brussels ultimately insists it is introduced, and declined to say this insistence would be refused.

If it comes to it, we may have no choice.

What other options are there?

If the withdrawal agreement does not somehow find a new lease of life, and if a no deal hard border is somehow avoided, there is one other potential option that has peaked its head above the parapet.

However, it poses its own significant problems.

As revealed in Wednesday's Irish Examiner, during a private briefing with opposition leaders on Tuesday evening Mr Varadkar and his department's secretary general John Callinan said in an absolute worst case scenario the continental EU may put up its own border.

While a hypothetical situation so far, several sources confirmed the fear is that if a no deal Brexit does not result in a hard border, a hard customs border may be put up in Calais and Rotterdam.

This would treat Irish exports the same as British ones because the lack of a hard border in Ireland means Irish food exports may not be fully trusted - a hypothetical situation which solves the border problem but causes another just as serious one for Irish firms, farmers and businesses.

Britain and the EU are just playing chicken though, right? Don't politicians always cut a deal?

Don't bet on it.

Despite our own interests, the world doesn't begin and end with Ireland. Brexiteers are adamant they will not back the withdrawal agreement as they fear it will tie them into de facto EU rules.

The EU is equally adamant the withdrawal agreement is the only soft Brexit option, officially because it took almost two years of talks and changing it now could mean the entire deal would unravel.

No one wants to go over the cliff edge, but neither side is showing any sign of backing down.

Politicians cut deals. But sometimes they sleep-walk into disaster too.

Can any of this be avoided?

Of course.

There is an argument Ms May's 'plan B is plan A' stance is designed to show Brexiteers and the DUP there is no other coherent option and that it is basically back the backstop or bin Brexit.

There is another argument that article 50 - the EU rule triggering a member state's departure from the bloc - can be extended by six months, which the British Labour party wants, provided the EU can be shown there is a reason to do so.

There is also the genuine possibility of a British general election or a new Brexit referendum, both of which may solve the stand-off.

However, all of these options are at present unlikely although not completely off the table, meaning it is anybody's guess what the actual outcome will be.

Can we trust the EU not to throw us under the bus?

Brussels says of course we can, which given recent history will lead to some worried looks in Ireland right now.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier was adamant the EU stands with Ireland on Monday, as was German foreign minister Heiko Maas.

However, while the European Commission's spokesperson Mr Schinas rowed back slightly on his remarks on Wednesday, his Tuesday comments and Poland's foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz suggest the backstop could be limited to five years on Monday have given rise to fears of a crack in the EU solidarity wall.

There are a lot of complicated phrases being used. What does it all actually mean for me?

The Irish Examiner last week published a comprehensive breakdown of what might happen in deal and no deal Brexit scenarios. It can be read in full here.

What happens now?

The next key step in the long walk to Brexit will be next Monday and Tuesday when the House of Commons discuss amendments to Ms May's plan B - including ruling out a no deal, seeking an extension, trying to remove the backstop and other matters - before a vote on the plan.

Talks are then expected between London and Brussels, while separate talks may also take place between Brussels and Dublin over no deal planning.

Brexit is now just nine weeks away. And still no clear solution is in sight.
An application by Assistant Garda Commissioner John Fintan Fanning for a High Court injunction lifting his suspension from duty pending the outcome of an investigation has been listed for hearing next month.

The Assistant Commissioner Fanning has challenged his suspension, pending an investigation by the by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission, (GSOC) on January 3rd last.

He says his suspension is unfair, and unlawful and seeks. orders lifting his suspension pending the outcome of his challenge, restraining the Commissioner communicating "false" information concerning him and directing the Commissioner to co-operate with the GSOC investigation.

He is also claiming damages.

The court previously granted his lawyers permission to serve short notice of his proceedings against the Commissioner.

The matter was briefly mentioned before Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds at the High Court this morning, The judge agreed the Assitant Commissioner's application for an injunction to be put in place pending the final outcome of his action will go ahead on February 13 next.

The Judge listed the matter for hearing after Shane Murphy SC for the Garda Commissioner and Paul McGarry SC for the Assistant Commissioner said that a timetable for the exchange of sworn statements in the case had been agreed between the parties.

The hearing, which will be subject to the availability of judges, is expected to last for half a day, Mr McGarry added.

In his action, Mr Fanning claims his suspension breaches fair procedures and Garda rules.

He is due to retire in August after almost 39 years in the force, has held several high-profile posts, including chief superintendent of the Dublin South Central Division and regional commander for the Northern and Eastern Regions.

He said in a sworn statement that he became aware last month that GSOC had received a protected disclosure made by a rank-and-file Garda, and he was asked by GSOC to provide certain information within 30 days.

The Assistant Commissioner provided that by December 20, 2018, and that same day GSOC served a notice stating it had received a complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act and had commenced a public interest investigation.

The notice informed him the complainant Garda alleged that on a date in November 2017, he was contacted directly by another Garda officer and told he was no longer on a specialist firearms course following an intervention by Mr Fanning.

The second allegation concerned an incident in December 2017 involving an assault and the Garda claimed he was the victim in the incident.

The complainant claimed he was initially placed on restricted non-confrontational duties and later served with the force's disciplinary documentation.

The complainant claimed he was suspended from duty, following a recommendation by Mr Fanning, and treated as a suspect.

Mr Fanning rejects all allegations of wrongdoing and was taken aback by the claims.

He said he had no role in the selection process for the firearms course but had reported concerns by various officers about a Garda who had not passed the course selection process.

He said the complainant's second allegation referred to an investigation into an allegation the complainant Garda had been involved in an assault on a female at a hotel.

His own involvement was in the usual way of managing the file and forwarding it to his superiors, including his recommendation the Garda be suspended.

He had no concerns whatsoever about the probity of his role.
British pub group JD Wetherspoon is to boost its Irish-based staff numbers by nearly 600 people as it opens three more bars here over the next 12 months or so.

The group already employs around 500 people across its five pubs in the Republic; four of which are located in Dublin, with the other in Cork.

The group continues to look for new sites in Ireland and is due to open three more pubs between now and early 2020.

They will employ a further 570 people, in a mix of full-time and part-time roles.

All of the new jobs will be with Wetherspoon directly and do not relate to the construction of any of the new pubs.

Wetherspoon's first pub in Carlow, where it is investing 3m on redeveloping the old Trader's Bar on Tullow Street in the town centre, will be open by May. That month will also see the opening of Wetherspoon's first city centre pub in Dublin; in the form of The Silver Penny on Abbey Street.

The group's planned flagship venture for Dublin city centre - a 20m super-pub/hotel on Camden Street, set to be its largest single site investment ever - will see work commence in May before expected formal opening in early 2020.

The pub owner also has a site, with planning permission, in Waterford awaiting development.

Wetherspoon said its Irish operations have continued to perform well, but in its latest trading update, said first half group pre-tax profit - for the six months to the end of January - is likely to be lower than the same period last year.

That has been blamed on rising costs - particularly labour costs, which jumped 30m (34m) in the first half.

Like-for-like sales, in the first half, rose 6.3%, with total sales ahead by 7.2%.

Despite his desire to grow the business in Ireland, Wetherspoon's chairman Tim Martin maintained his pro-Brexit stance, in the latest trading update, supporting a no-deal outcome.

"The most frequently asked question, regarding the future, relates to the impact of leaving the EU. I have argued that the UK - and, therefore, Wetherspoon - will benefit from a free-trade approach, by avoiding a 'deal' which involves the payment of 39bn to the EU," he said.
Energy company SSE Airtricity hopes to complete the expansion of Ireland's only operational offshore wind farm, and have it working at full capacity as a meaningful energy provider, by the early 2020s.

The small seven-turbine Arklow Bank wind farm, off the Wicklow coast, has been Ireland's only functioning offshore wind farm since its inception as a "demonstrator" project in 2004.

It was reported, last year, that SSE was looking to invest 2bn to transform Arklow Bank into a major project. Now the company has said that, subject to securing a Government-supported contract and grid connection, it can bring Arklow Bank from phase-2 construction through to first energy "within the early 2020s".

SSE has a foreshore lease providing consent for up to 200 wind turbines at the site, but has said advances in turbine technology over the past 15 years mean an installation of only 80-100 turbines would be needed to provide enough clean energy to power 420,000 homes and offset 640,000 tonnes of harmful carbon emissions per year.

SSE Ireland managing director Stephen Wheeler urged action from government, state agencies and industry representatives to oversee the development of the industry.

"We have a window of opportunity to fundamentally change the way we generate power in this country. Fifteen years ago, Ireland was a world leader in renewable energy, and I think it's about time we took back that title," he said.

Earlier this week, the ESB announced a joint-venture with Belgian wind farm developer Parkwind to develop two offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea.
Several high-profile leaders including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will address the World Economic Forum amid a wider debate on the merits of populist nationalism versus global co-operation.

Mr Abe and Mrs Merkel, who lead the third and fourth largest economies in the world, represent internationally minded governments keen on supporting free trade and co-operation.

Their speeches to the global elite in the Swiss ski resort of Davos will come a day after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo extolled their governments' renewed focus on national self-interest.

Mrs Merkel is also addressing the gathering amid growing uncertainty in Europe over Brexit after British MPs last week voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union.

Since then, there has been growing talk that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a deal or that it will end up extending its date of departure from the current March 29.

The trade conflict between the United States and China will also be in focus when China's vice president Wang Qishan addresses the conference.

Had a chance to address the global leaders gathered at @wef from a frosty DC. Shared my thoughts on Americas, and much of the worlds, return to time-tested truths: strong nationhood, secure borders, sturdy alliances, and pro-growth policies. #WEF19 pic.twitter.com/VPh7b2wgES  Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 22, 2019

On Tuesday, Mr Pompeo said he was "optimistic" that there will be a "good outcome" in upcoming trade discussions with China in Washington.

A high-level Chinese delegation is due to arrive in the US capital on January 30 as the two sides seek to strike an accord to end their trade conflict.

However, Hong Kong's Beijing-backed chief executive said she is "quite worried" that the rules-based system that has governed global trade for decades is under threat.

Carrie Lam said any diminution in the traditional rules could lead to rising political tensions around the world.

Worries over the future of the rules governing global trade have been stoked over the past few years, particularly since the election of US President Donald Trump.

His administration has taken umbrage against China and the two countries have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of traded goods, igniting a trade war that could seriously hinder the global economy.

- Press Association
The Supreme Court will rule on a later date on Facebook's appeal over the referral to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) of key issues concerning the validity of European Commission decisions approving EU-US data transfer channels.

The appeal concluded today after a two-and-a-half-day hearing before the five-judge court.

The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Frank Clarke, said the court would consider what to do next and inform the parties in that regard.

The appeal concerns an October 2017 High Court judgment by Ms Justice Caroline Costello and her subsequent referral in May 2018 of issues for determination by the CJEU.

The judgment was given in proceedings by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) rising from complaints by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems (pictured below) that the transfer of his personal data by Facebook to the US breached his data privacy rights as an EU citizen.

The DPC case was taken against Facebook Ireland - because Facebooks European headquarters are here - and Mr Schrems but no formal orders were sought against them and the core issue concerned the validity of data transfer channels known as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs).

Ms Justice Costello directed a referral to the CJEU of 11 issues concerning the validity of European Commission decisions approving the SCCs.

A core issue in the Supreme Court appeal is whether there is any legal entitlement to appeal a referral to the CJEU.

Facebook maintains it is entitled to appeal and disputes several of the High Courts findings, including that the DPC had well founded concerns, including about mass indiscriminate processing of data by US government agencies under programmes authorised there.

The US government is involved in the appeal as an amicus curiae, assistant to the court on legal issues.

It supported Facebook's argument that no reference to the CJEU is required in light of the Privacy Shield agreement between the EU and US and the European Commission's determination the US ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred under the Privacy Shield.

The US said the DPC's provisional decision that a legal remedy comparable to Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is not available in the US to EU citizens for any breach of their privacy rights was taken without regard to the Privacy Shield agreement.

Lawyers for the DPC said the Commissioner has concerns whether the measures provided for under the Privacy Shield are comparable to the remedy available to EU citizens for breach of data privacy rights under Article 47 of the EU Charter.

In closing arguments on Wednesday for the DPC, Brian Murray SC said the Commissioners concerns include about the lack of legal standing for EU citizens who wish to pursue remedies in the US over data privacy breaches. Without legal standing, there is no remedy, he said.

Sean OSullivan BL, for Mr Schrems, opposed the appeal and said Facebook had failed to identify an error by the High Court and his client's concern is about the adequacy of US data privacy protections in the context of EU data privacy law.

US lawyer Ashley Gorski, of the National Security Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, had told the High Court of bulk searching of data under the Upstream programme and her view was the targeting standard for collection of data is so low that collection involves mass surveillance, he said.

In his closing reply, Paul Gallagher SC, for Facebook, said the High Court findings should be addressed in the normal way of a Supreme Court appeal. The CJEU should not be asked to decide such important matters of EU law on the basis of what Facebook maintains are incorrect findings by the High Court, he argued.
Last year saw Dublin's serviced office market increase by 50% (8,000 additional desks) in 2018, according to research carried out by Click Offices.

The term serviced workspace refers to office space provided under a short-term licence agreement.

The agreement is flexible and all utilities such as electricity and heating are included in one flat monthly payment.

Click Offices broker Shane Duffy said:

The increased appetite for flexible workspace is not surprising when you look ath the way we work today.

"Companies want short term, fluid agreements which allow them to upscale or relocate rapidly.

"That's why we're seeing large multinationals such as Facebook and Microsoft opting for flexible workspace in the city.

"It's no longer just start-ups or SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) that are looking for this option."

The serviced office market includes Irish workspace providers Iconic Offices, Pembroke Hall and Glandore, as well as international companies WeWork and Regus who are the top five leaders in Dublin.

WeWork have the most number of desks with 4,700, followed by Regus with 3,200 and Iconic Offices with 3,000.

The market is expected to grow further this year, with 6,500 new desks, equating to 325,000 square feet, already announced.
Cork Chamber of Commerce has launched a six-month funding drive to raise 200,000 in partnership with Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) in light of their 200 year anniversary.

The funds raised will benefit Cork community initiatives with a social, environmental or economic impact.

Cork chamber is the first Irish chamber of commerce to launch an initiative of this kind and aims to raise 100,000.

Cork Chamber President Bill OConnell said:

"Social innovation projects have a hugely important role to play in local communities and this project gives everyone a chance to become a philanthropist."

The Department of Rural and Community Development will match all philanthropic donations to Social Innovation Fund Ireland, from the Dormant Accounts Fund, which would bring the combined figure to 200,000.

SIFI Chief Executive Deirdre Mortell added: "Given Cork Chambers milestone anniversary, it is the perfect time for members to strengthen their role in Corks great tradition of philanthropy and to start laying strong foundations for future generations by supporting innovative social enterprises and charities in the region."

New and established not-for-profit or social enterprises across Cork can apply for funding of projects that are innovative, address a critical social issue such as health, inclusion, local economy, and environment, among others.

Former recipients include Irish Community Rapid Response and Cork ARC Cancer Support.

2019's awardees will be announced in a ceremony this November.
Cork Airport is targeting further transatlantic opportunities as well as more city and sun destinations in 2019, while a decision on the future of Waterford Airport is said to be imminent.

Newly appointed head of aviation business development at Cork Airport, Brian Gallagher said every regional airport in Europe "would love more opportunities" for transatlantic flights, which first took off from Cork in July 2017 when Norwegian flew to Providence, Rhode Island.

However, low-cost long-haul model Norwegian then ruled out its proposed flights from Cork to New York City, citing the runway at Cork Airport as being too short to allow its aircraft to fly the extra distance from Providence to New York.

Mr Gallagher said that Norwegian's calculations did not mean other airlines and aircraft could not make the trip, and that Cork was ambitious in its targets for attracting more transatlantic flights.

"Norwegian put us on the transatlantic map, and it has been a great addition to Cork Airport.

"However, we are ambitious and there are other aircraft capable of taking off from Cork Airport and landing in somewhere like New York."

He cited the Boeing 757 mid-size narrow-body aircraft as one that had the range, saying the runway was "not necessarily an obstacle" to American destinations.

Boeing rival Airbus is currently enhancing its A320 Neo family of jets that analysts say will be 15% more fuel-efficient -- which would theoretically eliminate the short runway obstacle for airlines.

Mr Gallagher, whose most recent role as airline business development manager for Dublin Airport, will oversee partnerships with airlines, tourism partners and business stakeholders, to deliver continued route expansion and growth, Cork Airport said.

Waterford Airport.

"My focus is not just growth in one area, but in many such as enhancing our city breaks and sun destinations. Cork Airport was very successful last year, and is on a good trajectory upwards, forecasting a 7% increase in passenger numbers for 2019," Mr Gallagher said.

It comes as speculation increases that Waterford Airport could be on the cusp of a new lease of life, after being in the commercial flight doldrums since mid-2016.

Transport Minister Shane Ross said in the Dail last week that he would bring proposals to the Cabinet on the future of the airport following a review conducted on by EY on its viability.

Waterford Airport management has submitted a proposal to extend the runway, which it says would considerably enhance the airports commercial appeal and attract new carriers, having been without any commercial flights since mid-2016.

The airport saw routes to Luton, Birmingham, and Manchester by Aer Southeast fail to materialise in 2017, as the airline did not secure the required licence.

The proposal for the airport is said to include 5m of public funds, 5m in private investment and 2m from Waterford City and County Council.

According to a report in the Munster Express, Council Chief Executive Michael Walsh told councillors that he expects a decision from Government to be made quickly and that if greenlit, the airport could be fully operational by the spring of 2020.
Luxury fashion brand Burberry has warned it could face tens of millions of pounds in extra tariff costs if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

Finance chief Julie Brown admitted a no-deal Brexit would be very costly and "complex" to manage for the FTSE 100 group.

She said it would lead to extra tariffs and disrupt its supply chain, impacting the movement of materials, samples and clothing between the UK and Europe.

But she stressed the group would look to take actions to offset any hit.

Ms Brown said:

"If we had a no-deal scenario we would be subject to WTO(World Trade Organisation) rules and absent any mitigating actions our duty costs would increase materially, in the low tens of millions of pounds,"

Burberry makes its distinctive trenchcoats in Yorkshire, while it imports other items from Europe.

The comments came as Burberry reported back on its Christmas trading, posting a 1% rise in like-for-like global sales over the 13 weeks to December 29.

Shares lifted nearly 2% as it brushed aside fears of a slowdown in China, with sales in the country enjoying a "mid-single" digit increase over the firm's third quarter.

It comes amid slowing growth in China and fears of a sharp correction as the threat of a trade war between China and the US weighs on consumer sentiment.

In its latest update, Burberry said it saw a consistent performance across all its regions, with the division including Europe also seeing a "small" improvement in tourist spending quarter on quarter.

But US sales were hit by falling numbers of shoppers hitting the stores in its third quarter.

Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti said:

"I am pleased with our progress in the quarter as we continued to build brand heat around our new creative vision and shift consumer perception of Burberry."

He added that "excitement is building" ahead of next month's runway collection due from new creative director Riccardo Tisci, after a number of his limited editions were well received.

In the Christmas quarter, Burberry said total retail revenues fell 1% on a reported basis and dropped 2% with currency movements stripped out.

It is in the first phase of an overhaul, that is seeing it close some shops and pull out of department stores as it targets high-end shoppers.

The group is also revamping stores, with another 10 due to be completed by the end of its financial year.

Hargreaves Lansdown Select UK Growth Shares manager Steve Clayton said the third quarter figures were "not the main event, which comes later this year when Burberry launch the first full range produced by new creative chief Riccardo Tisci".

He said 2019 will be a "year of transition" for Burberry.

"Right now, it's all to play for at Burberry, but it will be full-year 2020 before investors can really judge whether CEO Marco Gobbetti and creative chief Riccardo Tisci's bold strategy for the group is winning," said Mr Clayton.

-Press Association
U2 has received the green light for the bands visitor centre planned for Dublins docklands.

This follows Dublin City Council granting planning permission for the centre that is expected to attract 390,000 U2 fans annually to the centre on Grand Canal Quay.

In recommending that planning be granted for the development, the planners report in the case stated that the centre will upgrade one of the most prominent locations in the city and contribute to the animation of the area.

The City Council planners report also reserved special praise for the design of the planned centre by Dublin-based architects, ODAA.

The planner in the case stated that the development will allow for the construction of a striking and innovative contemporary/modern building in an inner city location.

The planners report stated that the planned centre exhibits a distinctive contemporary design "which will make a positive contribution to the site and Dublins urban fabric.

The proposal has faced strong local objections but the planners report states that the proposal would not injure the amenity of property in the vicinity.

As part of the 19 conditions attached to the grant of planning, the applicants, Paddy McKillen Snrs Golden Brook Ltd and U2s MHEC Ltd must pay a total of 225,647 in planning contributions towards public infrastructure and the Luas C1 Line Scheme.

The City Council gave the centre the go-ahead after U2 and Mr McKillen significantly reduced the height of its planned visitor centre in response to serious concerns expressed by the City Council last August.

The planning authority granted planning after U2 made a 16.25% reduction in height of the 14.4m metre (47.2 ft) high centre.

The revised height of the visitor centre is 12.06 metres (39.5 ft) after the 2.34m (7.67ft) reduction.

Town Planning Consultants, Manahan Planners on behalf of the applicants told the Council that the reduction in height is the maximum it can be reduced while still keeping the internal form of the building.

The proposal is to include a reconstruction of the bands original studio and various themed exhibit areas that include a series of abstract scenes such as the Music Room and Larrys Kitchen'.

An objection lodged on behalf of 63 nearby apartment dwellers claimed that the proposal would result in overshadowing of apartments.

However, the most recent submission by ODAA confirmed that an independent light analysis conclusively demonstrated that the reduction in height eliminates any potential impact on the quality of natural daylight reaching the buildings directly behind or any properties within the vicinity.

The architects stated that the revisions have been achieved without undermining the intent of the original concept and we are confident that the revised design maintains the same degree of functionality and user experience as before.

In response to the original plan, planning consultants for Carysfort Capital, McGill Planning stated that, if granted, the U2 visitor centre will leave a profound and long term effect on the character of the Grand Canal Dock area.

The consultants stated that the chosen design and architectural language is simply not appropriate for this location and should be refused.

McGill Planning state that the planned "monolithic" U2 visitor centre presents a significant and unsympathetic urban edge to Hanover Quay.

In total, 12 objections were lodged against the proposal with seven submissions in favour including Failte Ireland and Dublin Chamber.

U2 and Paddy McKillen Snr have been contacted for comment on the planning permission being granted for the proposal.
TORONTO - The association representing Ontario's doctors is apologizing after some members expressed anger that female physicians were not represented in a calendar created by the group.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 22/1/2019 (878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO - The association representing Ontario's doctors is apologizing after some members expressed anger that female physicians were not represented in a calendar created by the group.

Ontario Medical Association chief executive officer Allan O'Dette apologized to the approximately 5,000 people within the associations' membership who received the calendar.

The OMA says it spent $15,000 to design, create and distribute the calendar, which was to be a snapshot of artifacts in its archives from the past 139 years. Several male physicians are represented on the pages of the calendar.

The association says it should have distributed a note to those who received the calendar explaining the context of the document and its purpose in featuring the archived items.

It also says female physicians comprise nine of 23 members on its current board of directors, including its president.

In a statement, the OMA says it is a champion for gender parity in Canadian medicine and "carries out research, advocacy and educational events to promote women in medicine and address issues facing female physicians."

Dr. Kulvinder Gill, president of Concerned Ontario Doctors, a group that has called for culture change at the association, was critical of the calendar.

"This wastes $15,000 on a paper calendar which physicians are not going to utilize and when physician members are struggling to keep their clinics open," she said.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version used Dr. Kulvinder Gill's incorrect title with Concerned Ontario Doctors.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to questions during a news conference following a cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Que. on Friday, January 18, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

LA LOCHE, Sask. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a remote northern Saskatchewan community Wednesday to announce $2.2 million to help people heal from a deadly school shooting.

It has been three years since the tragedy in La Loche, 700 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, but Trudeau said it was important to take time to work with the community and the school to determine what they needed.

"There were immediate flowings of funds after the tragedy, but in terms of the right investments to build a resilient community ... we needed to make sure we were getting it right," he said.

The money is to be spent at Dene High School over five years on cultural and language-based programs, on-the-land activities and mental-health services for students.

Trudeau, Saskatchewan's only Liberal MP Ralph Goodale and Premier Scott Moe first met with students and helped serve them breakfast before a bell signalled the start of classes for the day.

The prime minister later told about 100 people in the school gymnasium that the government needs to empower young people and continue investing in Indigenous communities. "We know that there's always more to do."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes a photo with attendees during an announcement at Dene High School in La Loche, Sask., Wednesday, January 23, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kayle Neis

Moe announced provincial cash to build new housing for teachers and health-care staff. The province is to work with a construction company in La Loche on the $3-million project.

"We know much healing has taken place over the last three years and we know this is just the beginning of our journey," said Moe. "We are hopeful that this additional housing can assist the ongoing recruitment effort in La Loche."

The government visit comes one day after the third anniversary of the shootings that left four people dead.

A student who was weeks away from his 18th birthday first shot teenage brothers Dayne and Drayden Fontaine at a home before gunning down teacher's aide Marie Janvier and teacher Adam Wood at the school.

Seven others were injured in the building as people ran to hide in classrooms and huddled under desks.

The shooter pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, second-degree murder and attempted murder and was sentenced last year as an adult to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. Because he is appealing his sentence, he can't be named.

Renovations were made to the school and a grand reopening was held last week to mark the completion of construction on the front entrance, washrooms and a wellness area.

La Loche Mayor Robert St. Pierre said the new government funding is "a good leap forward."

"It's going to enable us to put some pieces together and formalize a better plan for our community and a healing journey. It's integral in our plan and so I'm very happy."

He added that his mother was at the announcement and briefly held Trudeau's hand as he was leaving. She told the prime minister that she was disappointed he hadn't taken time to take questions from residents, said St. Pierre.

The visit is Trudeau's seventh in Saskatchewan in the last year. Experts suggest it's part of a political strategy to show he has not given up on provinces where he may not be popular.

Joe Garcea, a political studies professor at the University of Saskatchewan, said Trudeau's La Loche stop also signals that he cares about northern and Indigenous issues.

Georgina Jolibois, the NDP MP for Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, said the Trudeau government should be doing more for La Loche.

She noted that two years ago the community requested $15 million from Ottawa and the province for community programs, mental health counselling, and renovations to the school.

"The announcement is far short of what the community is asking for," she said in a release. "It's a bit insulting for the Prime Minister to say his government is listening when the difference between what they're giving and what's been asked for is so large."
OTTAWA - Canada's envoy to China faced criticism Wednesday for opining on how a Huawei executive might avoid extradition to the United States, fuelling speculation his remarks were a political ploy to end the government's diplomatic crisis with China.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian Ambassador to China John McCallum listens to a question following participation at the federal cabinet meeting in Sherbrooke, Que., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019. McCallum says there are strong legal arguments Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou can make to help her avoid extradition to the United States.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

OTTAWA - Canada's envoy to China faced criticism Wednesday for opining on how a Huawei executive might avoid extradition to the United States, fuelling speculation his remarks were a political ploy to end the government's diplomatic crisis with China.

The candid remarks by John McCallum, Canada's ambassador to China, marked a radical departure from the Trudeau government's firm public line that the extradition proceedings of Meng Wanzhou are an independent  and apolitical  legal process that must be respected.

Speaking to Chinese-language reporters Tuesday in the Toronto area, McCallum listed several arguments the legal team representing Huawei's chief financial officer can make in her defence. Meng was arrested Dec. 1 in Vancouver, at the request of United States authorities who alleged she used a Huawei subsidiary to evade sanctions against Iran.

Topping McCallum's list was the possibility of political interference stemming from last month's comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that he might intervene in Meng's case if it would help him strike a trade deal with China.

McCallum also said she can argue against the extra-territorial aspect to her case and the fact the fraud allegations against Meng are related to Iran sanctions, which Canada did not sign onto.

"I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge," McCallum told Chinese-language reporters in Markham, Ont.

Meng was released on bail and is to live with an ankle monitor and a curfew in her family's Vancouver mansion pending the extradition process.

Erin O'Toole, the Conservative foreign affairs critic, said he believes McCallum's comments were approved by the Trudeau cabinet given they were his first public statements after briefing the Trudeau cabinet about the fallout from the Meng case at a cabinet retreat in Quebec last week.

He said the only outcome he can see from McCallum's comments is that doubt has been raised for the case against Meng.

"That's pretty bad form for a Canadian ambassador," he said. "I do think it was a political direction if you look at the timing of it."

O'Toole noted McCallum didn't mention any of it when he briefed an all-party committee of MPs last Friday, the day after the cabinet briefing.

Meng's arrest has left Canada politically wedged between China and the U.S., its two largest trading partners. The Canada-China relationship has plunged to new lows amid warnings from Beijing of serious consequences unless she is released.

If a Canadian court rules against extraditing her to the U.S., it would take the political pressure off the Trudeau government because it would lessen the need for Justice Minister David Lametti, who has the final sign off on the extradition, to take any action that could be seen as contradictory to the will of the courts.

"As criminal lawyers, we often say we've seen just about everything, well I haven't seen this before," said Ottawa lawyer Ian Carter, who represented Ottawa professor Hassan Diab in his controversial terrorism extradition case with France.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sidestepped questions about McCallum's comments, saying Meng will have the opportunity to "mount a strong defence."

"We have always highlighted that Canada is a country of the rule of law, and we will make sure that the rule of law is properly and fully followed," Trudeau told reporters in Saskatchewan.

"The strength of our justice system is people get to mount their own defence. I know she will do that."

David MacNaughton, Canada's ambassador to the United States, expressed no interest in weighing the merits of Meng's case.

"That's a legal process. It's not a political process. It's not up to me to make that kind of a judgement," he told reporters in Washington.

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated Canada's commitment to "conducting a fair, unbiased and transparent legal proceeding," and said there has been no political involvement in the execution of Canada's extradition treaty with the U.S.

Last month, after Trump's musing in a Reuters interview about intervening in the Meng case, Freeland travelled to Washington where she said such comments could prove useful to her defence. Canadian government officials who briefed journalists last month in Ottawa said the same thing.

But Carter said McCallum's remarks went much further.

"What's so different here is that this is a representative of the Canadian government that is essentially siding with the defence. It's just unprecedented," said Carter.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer called on Trudeau to fire McCallum for the remarks.

"As a spokesperson of the Government of Canada, Ambassador McCallum's comments raise grave concerns about the politicization of this case," Scheer said in a statement.

"I call on Justin Trudeau to immediately clarify if Ambassador McCallum's comments reflect his government's position."

In the days that followed Meng's arrest, China detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur, on allegations of endangering China's national security. China also sentenced another Canadian, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, to death in a sudden retrial of his drug-smuggling case.

The Chinese government has insisted Meng has done nothing wrong  and has pointed out that she hasn't broken any Canadian laws.

McCallum was addressing Chinese foreign correspondents in an event that was not promoted to Canadian journalists. He said he was aware the Meng case had personally upset Chinese President Xi Jinping but he didn't know exactly why.

"Maybe it's because Huawei is a national flagship company of China," he said. "It's not just any company, it's a special Chinese company. So, maybe that is why he is so angry."

 with files from James McCarten in Washington
SAINT JOHN, N.B. - The cellphone of murdered multimillionaire Richard Oland was never found, but steamy messages and text exchanges with his mistress were captured on a computer backup program.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dennis Oland heads to the Law Courts in Saint John, N.B., on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. It will be an important day for Oland's defence team. Const. Dave MacDonald, a forensics officer with the Saint John police force, will be cross-examined by defence lawyers today about the seizure and handling of the brown Hugo Boss jacket Oland was wearing when he visited his multimillionaire father, Richard, on July 6, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

SAINT JOHN, N.B. - The cellphone of murdered multimillionaire Richard Oland was never found, but steamy messages and text exchanges with his mistress were captured on a computer backup program.

"I need your body," Diana Sedlacek wrote in a message late on July 5, 2011 - the day before Oland, 69, was bludgeoned to death in his Saint John office.

The texts were heard Wednesday at his son Dennis Oland's second-degree murder trial.

Sedlacek also wrote romantically about the fireflies at night and sent kisses. "Snuggle me up," she texted.

The response from Oland reads: "Snuggle up KKK (kiss, kiss, kiss) in bed."

The lovers, both married to others at the time, were planning a trip to Portland, Me., from July 15 to 19, 2011. But sometime during the evening or night of July 6, Oland was murdered in his office. He was struck over 40 times, mostly on the head, with both an axe-like weapon and a hammer.

The weapon was never found.

Crown prosecutors have told the trial that Dennis Oland, a 50-year-old investment adviser, was unhappy about his father's extramarital affair, describing it as a "family concern."

The text messages were read by Neil Walker, a digital forensics expert with the RCMP in Halifax. His testimony is being replayed on video from Oland's first trial in 2015.

Oland's conviction in 2015 was set aside on appeal and the new trial ordered. Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers have agreed, where possible, to re-use testimony from the first trial.

Walker uncovered the messages while searching a computer retrieved from the crime scene. Walker told the court that Oland's iPhone had been plugged into the office computer for several hours on the afternoon of July 6, 2011. He said it was disconnected at 4:44 p.m. that day.

Defence lawyer Alan Gold said during his cross examination of Walker that Richard Oland often took his time responding to Sedlacek, taking as long as eight hours to answer her messages. Walker agreed that Oland "was not prompt" in responding.

As well, Gold established that Oland made an effort to disguise the affair. Her texts appeared with a contact photo of some of his male friends.

Earlier on Wednesday, Const. Dave MacDonald of Saint John police testified that folding and storing the jacket Dennis Oland wore on July 6, 2011, was not the best way to handle what became a key piece of evidence.

"If I had it to do over again I would do it differently, yes," MacDonald said during cross-examination by Gold.

MacDonald said the brown, Hugo Boss sports jacket Oland wore when he visited his father late in the day on July 6, 2011, was seized by Saint John police about a week later. Because of its dark colour and tweed pattern, it was almost impossible to see stains with the naked eye.

The jacket was subsequently rolled up, placed in a paper bag 30 centimetres by 30 centimetres in size, and put in police storage.

When the jacket was forensically tested more than four months later, several bloodstains were detected. They were later matched to Richard Oland's DNA profile.

"In retrospect, do you accept that raises the chances of stains transferring from one part of the jacket to another part?" asked Gold, referring to the folding of the jacket and its lengthy storage in a small bag.

"It could, yes," replied MacDonald.

However, the police officer said he considered it a "dry" exhibit with little chance of transference. But he agreed with Gold that it should have been handled more carefully.

The court has been told the jacket, which was dry cleaned in the days following the murder, is the only article of Dennis Oland's clothing found to have traces of his father's blood and DNA on it.

During their search of Oland's house, police seized clothing, shoes, bedding and items such as bathroom wastebaskets. But the only bloodstains connected to Richard Oland were those found on the brown jacket.

Oland's defence team has suggested the lack of blood on items belonging to their client, including his car, his cell phone and most of his clothes, points to his innocence.

The defence team attempted, unsuccessfully, to have forensic evidence from the brown jacket ruled inadmissible.
OTTAWA - Canada joined several other countries in the Americas Wednesday in recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Juan Guaido, head of Venezuela's opposition-run congress, speaks to supporters at a rally where he declared himself interim president until new elections can be called in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. The opposition rally was called to demand President Nicolas Maduro's resignation. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

OTTAWA - Canada joined several other countries in the Americas Wednesday in recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president.

A statement from the Lima Group, which includes Canada and 10 Central and South American nations, expressed full support for Guaido.

The move came as Guaido declared himself interim president, just two weeks after Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a contested second term.

Canada has accused Maduro of seizing power through fraudulent, anti-democratic elections in May of last year.

Earlier this month it rejected the legitimacy of Maduro's new presidential term, calling on him to immediately cede power to the democratically elected National Assembly until new elections are held.

Canada said the suffering of Venezuelans would only worsen should Maduro continue to cling to power.

The United States has also endorsed Guaido and called on Maduro to step down.

The Lima Group said Wednesday it supports a process of democratic transition in Venezuela, including new, fair elections involving all political players.

The group also called for the rule of law and maintenance of social peace while the transition takes place.
Vancouver police say they've arrested 47 men who were willing to pay for sexual services from teenage girls.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Vancouver police say they've arrested 47 men who were willing to pay for sexual services from teenage girls.

Seven of those people have now been charged and police say they include a school teacher and a firefighter among others.

Deputy Chief Const. Laurence Rankin said they were arrested as part of a two-month operation that targeted people seeking sex with girls between the ages of 15 and 17.

"I want to make it clear that these projects were not about sexual activity between two consenting adults," he said. "I have huge issues with johns and pimps gaining gratification or financial benefit through the exploitation of young people in our city."

Those charged face an allegation of attempting to obtain the sexual services of a person under the age of 18 years, he said.

"The vast majority of men were looking for adult women," Rankin said. "What's disconcerting is the small group of men who were excited that the girls were underage."

The police operation was divided into two sections, where detectives worked online and then made arrests when the men showed up at a hotel, as arranged, for the sexual encounter, Rankin said.

Given their success, he said police "certainly are anticipating" continuing with the operation.

Rankin said police consulted with sex workers and their support groups before they began the sting operation.

Larissa Maxwell, director of anti-human trafficking programs for the Salvation Army, said their organization was part of early consultations and the Vancouver police were very sensitive about wanting to do this appropriately.

Maxwell said the efforts are important and she wants the police to continue such operations.

"A country that buys and sells its own children is a broken one and its time for us to do something about it."

Susan Davis, director of the B.C. Coalition of Experiential Communities, a sex workers support group, said she was also part of consultations and was pleased with the outcome.

"Those people who seek to engage with youth or exploit youth have no place in our community and deserve the full brunt and punishment of the law," she said.
If seatbelts become mandatory on school buses in Manitoba, some divisions in Westman are unsure of how they would cover the cost.

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This article was published 23/1/2019 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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TIM SMITH/THE BRANDON SUN Step-brothers Rafael Rodriguez Clara and Daniel Fuentes Ruiz board their school bus outside St. Augustine School after classes on Tuesday.

If seatbelts become mandatory on school buses in Manitoba, some divisions in Westman are unsure of how they would cover the cost.

"Is that money going to come provincially, or are we going to have to create reserves, or figure out some (other) way to pay for that?" said Linda Ross, board chair with the Brandon School Division. "Those are all questions that need to be answered."

On Monday, Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced the creation of a task force to look into the possibility of outfitting school buses with seatbelts. The task force comes after a report that aired on CBCs "The Fifth Estate" last fall revealed safety data that showed children are at a greater risk of injury in bus crashes without seatbelt protection. A 2010 study from Transport Canada showed that school bus seats didnt help children in side-impact and rollover crashes.

To do so would cost the Brandon School Division an estimated $10,000 per bus, director of facilities and transportation Caroline Cramer said during a board meeting in October of last year.

The superintendent of the Turtle Mountain School Division said he has also looked into it, and the cost could end up being much higher.

"We did do some exploration with regards to what it could look like from a cost perspective, and I did speak with the provincial transportation department regarding this, and were being told numbers in the range of $8,000 to $13,000 per bus," Tim De Ruyck said.

In the Turtle Mountain School Division, which covers Killarney, Boissevain, Ninette, Minto and Dunrea and areas of Turtle Mountain, Morton, Roblin, Prairie Lakes, Argyle and Grasslands, they have 26 buses  20 which are used on regular routes, and six that are used for extra-curricular trips or as spare buses.

If seatbelts were added to all those buses, it would cost between $208,000-$338,000.

"Like anything, it would be something we would have to budget for," De Ruyck said.

Buses are already quite costly. The purchase of a new bus is approximately $100,000, he said, and this would be an additional expense that would have to be covered if the province decided to move forward and implement it.

There are mixed feelings about putting seatbelts on buses in general, he said, but the bottom line is that they want to keep students safe.

"If the research has found that position needs to change and it promotes student safety, then we certainly want to do all we can to promote that," he said.

Shannon Bayes, secretary-treasurer for the Beautiful Plains School Division, agreed.

"I think its important that we listen to what people have to say and try to do whats right for students safety," Bayes said. "Its of critical importance to us."

Bayes said she wasnt aware of what it would cost to outfit their 30 buses with seatbelts.

If the federal government made seatbelts mandatory on new buses, it would still be up to the province whether they implemented them on current buses.

When asked by The Sun if they would retrofit existing buses in Manitoba, a provincial spokesperson on Tuesday said they were waiting for more information and direction from the federal government before commenting.

Retrofitting current buses would be quite an involved process, De Ruyck said, compared to ordering a new bus with seatbelts directly from the factory.

There are a still a lot of questions that remain, he said, "and well have to just see how things unfold."

 mverge@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @Melverge5
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PR Newswire

LYNCHBURG, Va., Jan. 22, 2019

LYNCHBURG, Va., Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Liberty University has announced that Dr. Scott Hicks, who has been serving as interim provost since July 1, 2018, has officially been named to the role of provost.

Hicks first served at Liberty as an assistant professor in 2007. He was named dean of the School of Business in 2012, where he led the creation of several new degree programs with over 65 cognates and/or concentrations, launched a Center for Entrepreneurship, developed strategic partnerships with global companies such as Adobe, Apple, Aruba, Cisco, and Oracle, and attained ACBSP accreditation for School of Business programs. He was named vice provost of graduate education in 2017.

Prior to coming to Liberty, Hicks spent several years in the oil industry and served as director of retail operations for Mansfield Oil Company, one of America's largest Forbes 400 companies.

Hicks holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration with concentrations in Financial Management and International Business from Northcentral University and an MBA and B.S. in Business Management with specializations in Finance and Management from Liberty.

Hicks said he is honored to be able to continue to serve an institution that meant so much to his own success.

"Liberty University is truly a special place to study, to live, and to work," Hicks said. "I know what it cultivated in my own life, and I am grateful for the opportunity to lead others in advancing the mission of Training Champions for Christ and to serve people where they are, throughout the world. Like so many of us who work and teach here, I don't see it as a job, but as a calling. It's an amazing honor to be a part of this world-class institution and to witness God's blessings on this university every day."

President Jerry Falwell Jr. said Hicks has used his background in the business world to meet the needs of college students today.

"We are proud to name Dr. Scott Hicks our provost. He has a heart for our students and cares about preparing them not only for graduation, but also for successful, long-term careers," Falwell said. "Dr. Hicks knows how to develop academic programs that match the demands of the job market and, most importantly, he understands our mission as a leader in Christian higher education."

As part of Liberty's executive leadership team, the provost is the primary voice on academic matters for all residential and online programs. Hicks works with the administration to develop and implement the academic vision and values of the university, providing leadership to continuously improve undergraduate and graduate instruction and academic support services.

About Liberty University Liberty University, founded in 1971, is the world's premier Christian university, one of the largest private, nonprofit universities in the nation, and the largest university in Virginia. Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty offers more than 600 unique programs of study from the certificate to the doctoral level. Over 300 programs are offered online. Utilizing its world-class infrastructure and Christian faculty, Liberty's mission is to train Champions for Christ with the values, knowledge, and skills essential for impacting tomorrow's world.

SOURCE Liberty University
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South Sudan's state media regulator should immediately lift an order barring a privately-owned newspaper from covering protests in neighbouring Sudan and issue a statement guaranteeing the media's right to press freedom and editorial independence, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

 Tomas Griger via 123RF

S Sudan paper shut down as it headlines govt corruption The South Sudan government has shut down the country's main English-language daily, which headlined news on a war profiteering report commissioned by actor George Clooney...

On January 7, South Sudan's Media Authority summoned the editor-in-chief of the local Arabic-language newspaper Al-Watan, Michael Christopher, to a hearing and issued a letter warning the publication to, "stop with immediate effect writing anything on topics relating to the ongoing protests in Sudan, which is an internal political issues (sic) of a friendly neighbouring country," according to Christopher and two letters seen by CPJ."The absurd order gagging Al-Watan from covering events of public interest in a neighbouring country exposes South Sudan's hostility towards its citizens' right to information," said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ's sub-Saharan Africa representative. "The South Sudanese Media Authority ought to immediately lift the ban on Al-Watan's reporting and guarantee that all of the press can cover the crisis in Sudan independently."While the gag order was directed only at Al-Watan, the summons letter, written by acting Media Authority managing director Sapana Abuyi, said, "The media in South Sudan should not write or broadcast instigative statements and comments about [the protests in Sudan]." Local and regional media groups have interpreted this letter as warning all South Sudanese media not to cover the protests.Christopher told CPJ that the Media Authority gave the newspaper 72 hours to apologise to the Sudanese government and its embassy in Juba. He told CPJ he will not issue an apology.The letter warning Al-Watan to stop covering the Sudanese crisis and apologise did not specify what actions the Media Authority may take over his refusal to comply.Christopher also told CPJ that he had received several threatening phone calls from anonymous numbers, including some that threatened the shutdown of the newspaper.In the gag order, the Media Authority cited three opinion pieces authored by Christopher on the Sudan protests published in Al-Watan on January 3, 4, and 7. Christopher told CPJ that the articles were meant to explain the Sudanese crisis and the impact of the events on South Sudan and the rest of the region. The articles were critical of the Sudanese government, and included support for the ouster of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, according to reports and a South Sudanese journalist who reviewed the articles for CPJ.On January 4, Al-Watan published a response to its Sudan coverage authored by Isam Idriss Ibrahim, the charge d'affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Juba, according to Christopher and Ibrahim, who also spoke to CPJ. Ibrahim told CPJ that Christopher's opinion pieces amounted to hate speech but claimed that the embassy had not complained to the South Sudanese government or asked for Al-Watan to be prohibited from reporting. He also said he did not know about any threatening phone calls made to Christopher.CPJ could not reach South Sudan's minister of information, Michael Makuei Lueth, on his mobile phone, and text messages went unanswered. The acting director general of the Media Authority, Sapana Abuyi, was also unreachable on his mobile phone and did not respond to an email from CPJ.An employee of the Media Authority also declined to speak to CPJ, saying he was a junior officer and was not authorised to speak on behalf of the organisation. He did not respond to a text message requesting that CPJ's questions be referred to the appropriate official.Numerous journalists working in Sudan have told CPJ that they are facing government pressure while covering protests that have so far led to the deaths of more than 40 people.
The Innovator Trust, an enterprise development organisation, and the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), Africa's oldest incubator, are calling on Cape Town-based growth-stage ICT entrepreneurs to join the intensive two-year enterprise development programme.

The Innovator Trust programme aims to support the: increase annual turnover, equip businesses with the necessary accreditation to remove red tape, as well as increase profitability and number of employees. Get ready to move the dial on your business.

The Innovator Trust launches new accelerator programme The Innovator Trust recently introduced a new accelerator programme, exclusively available for beneficiaries of the Enterprise Development (ED) programmes...

Be prepared

Criteria

A company defined in South Africa as an SMME, QSE or EME;



Must be operational and trading for two or more years;



The business should be at least 51% black-owned;

A minimum Level 1  4 BBBEE status according to the DTI or ICT Codes;



The business must be a registered company with key focus in ICT and be based in Cape Town and surrounding areas.

The ICT sector has gone from strength to strength and is one of the fastest-growing industries on the African continent. Yet African entrepreneurs are still finding it a difficult business landscape to navigate.That is why The Innovator Trust and CiTi, through exposure, training and mentorship, now aim to equip entrepreneurs and businesses in the sector with tools that will keep them on track, assist them to achieve their goals and create tech leaders of the future.ICT entrepreneurs in need of mentorship, skills development and business support who have been operating for more than two years and are fiercely committed to growing their business, can now apply to the two-year Innovator Trust programme, co-developed and run by CiTi at the Woodstock Bandwidth Barn and remotely in Cape Town.Celebrating its 20th year of supporting entrepreneurs, CiTi currently runs a number of incubation programmes from idea to growth stage. After a very successful first cohort of the programme, completed in 2018, CiTi confirmed a second collaboration with the Innovator Trust to support further Cape Town businesses over the next two years.Applicants need to be in ICT, but this has included a broad range of focusses in the past, from IT recruitment, network security to cabling service provider and software solutions.The programme, designed by CiTi and Innovator Trust, is not to be taken lightly. Monthly training, mentorship sessions with industry experts, and a strong focus on technical improvements means a substantial time and focus commitment by the entrepreneur. But this intensive design enables significant business progression over the two years.Once the entrepreneurs who take part in our Enterprise Development programmes become more established, they turn their focus to growth. This accelerator is especially for entrepreneurs whove created businesses with high-growth potential and provides them with the skills to scale at speed and responsibly, says Tashline Jooste, CEO of the Innovator Trust.In order to be considered for the programme, prospective applicants must meet the following criteria:In addition, applicants will need to supply copies of their company registration, company profile, and annual financial statements along with their BEE certificate and IDs with their applications.and the selected candidates will be announced on 4 March 2019.We had a fantastic experience on the Innovator Trust programme, perhaps most beneficial was the advice and mentorship on our financial management, up-skilling of our team, and establishing a 3-year budget and growth plan for the business. Our advice to entrepreneurs considering the course is '' The skills and knowledge you gain are invaluable and put us on a serious growth trajectory. states Jennifer Classen, Founder of Ngaphaya Y2K10, and Participant in the 2015  2018 Innovator Trust programme.Ready to grow your business? your https://www.citi.org.za/innovatortrust application now!
#Newsmaker: Terry Mckenna is The Odd Number's new ECD

The Odd Number has appointed Terry Mckenna as executive creative director with co-founder and former ECD Sibusiso "Sbu" Sitole moving into the role of chief creative officer.

Terry Mckenna This is the first move by Sitole and CEO Xola Nouse in integrating the agencys offerings while building the team to accommodate for the agencys increase in growth since launching in 2015.



Having Terry on board will help me focus on evolving The Odd Number into an effective and integrated group, says Sitole. Ill be a lot more available to all our clients and have more time to focus on our growth, as well as maintaining our culture."



However, Im certainly not out of the creative studio. Ill be stepping into a CCO role, and a large part of my role will still involve creative leadership. Terry will invest most of his time leading our creative department, building a formidable and future-fit creative team, creating meaningful and effective work, and decorating our entrance hall with shiny statuettes. Were currently carving out our own niche and DNA in a very competitive industry. Terry brings a fresh perspective and a wealth of experience to help us build our vision for The Odd Number. Ultimately, though, we want to see our work compete at a global level and believe Terry is just the partner to help get us there.



The One Show 2019 selects five top South African creatives as judges The One Club for Creativity announced that five South Africans have been selected to serve as judges for The One Show 2019...

Hell also be a huge support strategically for our business. His unique style, energy and passion for ideas will revitalise our studio. His wealth of experience on big brands and producing integrated campaigns, as well as powerful award-winning ideas, will all be of huge benefit to The Odd Number.



Here, Mckenna says that what means more to him than the work itself and even winning awards, are the people he gets to work alongside and collaborate with



How do you feel about your appointment? How do you feel about your appointment? This is the first move by Sitole and CEO Xola Nouse in integrating the agencys offerings while building the team to accommodate for the agencys increase in growth since launching in 2015.Having Terry on board will help me focus on evolving The Odd Number into an effective and integrated group, says Sitole. Ill be a lot more available to all our clients and have more time to focus on our growth, as well as maintaining our culture."However, Im certainly not out of the creative studio. Ill be stepping into a CCO role, and a large part of my role will still involve creative leadership.Were currently carving out our own niche and DNA in a very competitive industry. Terry brings a fresh perspective and a wealth of experience to help us build our vision for The Odd Number. Ultimately, though, we want to see our work compete at a global level and believe Terry is just the partner to help get us there.Hell also be a huge support strategically for our business. His unique style, energy and passion for ideas will revitalise our studio. His wealth of experience on big brands and producing integrated campaigns, as well as powerful award-winning ideas, will all be of huge benefit to The Odd Number.Here, Mckenna says that what means more to him than the work itself and even winning awards, are the people he gets to work alongside and collaborate with

What do you love most about your career and advertising in particular? What do you love most about your career and advertising in particular?

Tell us a bit about your experience, what you bring to the agency and what you hope to achieve in your new position. Tell us a bit about your experience, what you bring to the agency and what you hope to achieve in your new position.

Any career highlights youre particularly proud of? Any career highlights youre particularly proud of?

What are you most looking forward to working on? What are you most looking forward to working on?

#LoeriesRankings with... The Odd Number I chatted to some of the top ranked creatives post-2016 Loeries Rankings celebrations. Here, 100% black-owned branding and marketing agency The Odd Number's creative director and founding partner Sbu Sitole shares his views on the agency's first-ever award wins

Whats at the top of your to-do list? Whats at the top of your to-do list?

#NewBiz: The Odd Number acquires equity stake in Hoorah The Odd Number has acquired an equity stake in digital media consultancy Hoorah, which will form the digital media arm of The Odd Number...

What are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work? What are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work?

Tell us something about yourself not generally known? Tell us something about yourself not generally known?

Jessica Tennant's articles About Jessica Tennant Jess is Senior Editor: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com. She is also a contributing writer. Jess is Senior Editor: Marketing & Media at Bizcommunity.com. She is also a contributing writer. moc.ytinummoczib@swengnitekram

Extremely excited, yet humbled at the same time. To join The Odd Number, a young agency with so much potential, is an incredible opportunity. So, Im looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.I dont have to wear a tie. No, I would have to say that it would be the incredibly diverse mix of people that you get to work with on a daily basis. Everybody is welcome, just so long as you are passionate about what you do.I started out in advertising as a copywriter roughly 18 years ago. In that time I have been fortunate enough to work with some insanely talented people, at agencies such as Grey, Leo Burnett, Hunt Lescaris and Joe Public. My last position, before joining The Odd Number, was at Ogilvy Johannesburg as creative director on the Castle Lager and Cadbury accounts.My goals for The Odd Number are simple, really. Keep helping them to build on what they have already created. An agency that is passionate about the power of ideas, and nurturing young South African talent.Winning awards is always nice, and I have been fortunate enough to win a few, but the highlights for me have been the amazing people that I have worked with over the years. From clients who are more passionate about their brands than you could ever imagine, to film directors that can turn the smallest idea into a true masterpiece.For me it is not so much about what I will be working on, its more about whom I will be working with. I believe that The Odd Number already has some of the most talented young creative working for them. So, I am looking forward to collaborating with them, for sure.Figuring out how to do my time sheets before I get into trouble, and getting to know everybody.. A mini-series that tells the true story of how the internet we know today, was first brought to consumers fingertips on a truly global scale.I actually have an incredible sense of rhythm.
New HP Jet Fusion 300/500 series enables engineering- grade functional parts in full colour, black or white.

HP Inc. has expanded its 3D printing portfolio in India with the introduction of its new Jet Fusion 300/500 series of 3D printers, the industry's first 3D printing technology to enable manufacturers to produce engineering-grade functional parts in full color, black or white in a fraction of the time of other solutions.

The new Jet Fusion 300/500 series complements HP's existing industrial-grade Jet Fusion 4200/ 4210 3D solutions which deliver the lowest cost per part and are designed for manufacturing environments.

Currently, the new 3D printing facility at AP MedTech Zone, Vizag features HP 4200 MJF printer among many other 3D Printers.. This facility is using the printers for prototyping and batch production of parts for medical devices like MRI, ECG, Ultrasound machines and so on.

"HP is committed to transforming Asia's $6 million manufacturing industry, with its diverse collection of global brands and contract manufacturers", said Rob Mesaros, Head, 3D Printing & Digital Manufacturing, HP Asia-Pacific & Japan.
Dr. Parikh threw light on how community interaction played a key role as an advocate and ambassador of mental health awareness and how every budding mental health expert needs to be ethical, a social activist and a role model even in their personal space.

The Centre of Emotional Intelligence and Department of Psychology at IILM University Gurugram hosted Dr. Samir Parikh, an eminent Psychiatrist and the Director of Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare for a session on Mental Health and Positive Psychology. Dr. Parikh spoke about the how mobile technology has impacted the mental health of youngsters today. He encouraged the budding psychologist students in the audience to focus on strengths of people instead of weaknesses. Dr. Parikh threw light on how community interaction played a key role as an advocate and ambassador of mental health awareness and how every budding mental health expert needs to be ethical, a social activist and a role model even in their personal space.

Being the motivator that he is, Dr Parikh emphasized the importance of reading and being updated by the recent literature. He motivated the audience to gain as much knowledge as possible and study during their tenure as students. He focused on the genuine pursuit of knowledge to build a strong base in the life, which is so very essential for every aspiring psychologist. He shared statistics on the need for competent psychologists and counsellors due to the non-availability of qualified experts. He said that unqualified quacks are in huge numbers in our country. He explained how there is a 300% shortage of psychologists and mental health professionals in India, and this nature of deficit is a huge opportunity as well as a responsibility for psychology students. He also shared how young psychologists today are too focused on pen and paper inventories rather than actually communicating with their patients. According to him, the human component to psychology is very important. There is a need to explore and observe rather than being restricted to the boundaries of the classrooms and otherwise taught theoretical knowledge. Discussions and exchanges between students and professionals are important rather than working in isolation. The students got a lot of insight on what to do and expect as budding psychologists.
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For Immediate Release, January 23, 2019 Contact: Lisa Arkin, Beyond Toxics, (541) 465-8860, larkin@beyondtoxics.org

Drew Toher, Beyond Pesticides, (202) 543 5450, dtoher@beyondpesticides.org

Lori Ann Burd, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6405, laburd@biologicaldiversity.org EPA Records Sought on Pesticide That Caused Mass Tree Die-offs in Oregon State Mulls Expanding Temporary Ban on Ultra-toxic Herbicide PORTLAND, Ore. Three conservation and public health groups filed a Freedom of Information Act request today with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking public records on the notorious, tree-killing pesticide aminocyclopyrachlor (ACP), which is commonly sprayed along state and county roads. The request seeks records about the EPAs approval of the pesticide eight years ago, and any documents raising concerns about its long-term effects on trees and other vegetation. The powerful toxin has been linked to mass tree killings in central Oregon over the past year, including the deaths of about 1,500 ponderosa pines, some of them old growth. The Oregon Department of Agriculture will soon open a comment period on a proposal to make permanent last years temporary ban on the pesticide. Oregons temporary ban prohibited ACP spraysing on roadsides. Since ACP was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2010, it has killed thousands of trees across the nation. Pesticide makers and the EPA have long known that this pesticide is killing trees, but theyve refused to take it off the market," said Lisa Arkin, executive director of Beyond Toxics. We are filing this public records request so that communities can get the information they need to protect themselves, their drinking water and the forest ecosystems they love. A recent Oregon investigation into aminocyclopyrachlors role in tree deaths found high levels of the pesticide in the needles of dying trees outside the spray zone. This herbicide is emblematic of the EPAs failed pesticide registration system, said Drew Toher, community resource and policy director at Beyond Pesticides, a national nonprofit organization. Despite a nearly two million dollar settlement with DuPont in 2013 after ACP caused widespread damage to valuable trees, the EPA has allowed this chemical to remain on the market. The pesticide travels through soils, killing trees years after it was last sprayed. Due to its persistence, wood chips from poisoned trees and grass clippings from treated lawns cannot be used for compost because the toxin can continue to kill vegetables and flowers. Its sickening that Oregon is allowing this impossible-to-control pesticide to kill trees that have been around for centuries, said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The EPA should have never approved this dangerous poison in the first place. Now our state leaders must step up and make sure this terrible toxin is never again sprayed in Oregon.
Media Advisory, January 23, 2019 Contacts: Blake Kopcho, (805) 708-3435, bkopcho@biologicaldiversity.org

Tomas Morales Rebecchi, (619) 252-6899, TRebecchi@fwwatch.org

Bill Hickman, (619) 804-6264, bhickman@surfrider.org

Cassady Craighill, (828) 817-3328, ccraighill@greenpeace.org Protest to Mark Santa Barbara Spill's 50th Anniversary, Trump Drilling Plans CAMARILLO, Calif. Californians will mark the 50th anniversary of the massive Santa Barbara oil spill by protesting outside the federal office working to drastically expand offshore drilling in U.S. waters. The Trump administrations Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has continued to work on this five-year leasing plan and communicate with the oil industry during the current federal government shutdown, despite taking no other public input. The offshore spill that began Jan. 28, 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel gushed more than 3 million gallons of oil and killed thousands of marine animals and birds. Public outrage over the spill helped spark the modern environmental movement and passage of the countrys most significant environmental laws. President Trump last year proposed expanding offshore drilling into most U.S. oceans, including offering the first leases in the Pacific Ocean since 1984. The next draft of the five-year offshore leasing plan could be released at any time. The plan calls for the first new offshore leases to be offered in hazardous Arctic waters later this year. What: Protest against expanded offshore oil drilling on the 50th anniversary of the Santa Barbara oil spill. Where: Bureau of Ocean Energy Managements Pacific regional office, 760 Paseo Camarillo, Camarillo, CA When: Monday, Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. Who: Organizers include the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, Surfrider Foundation, Food and Water Watch, and Citizens for Responsible Oil and Gas. Quotes:

Offshore oil drilling has taken a devastating toll on our country over the past 50 years. We need to learn from that history instead of adopting a reckless plan thats doomed to repeat it, said Blake Kopcho, an organizer with the Center for Biological Diversity. Our coastlines and climate cant take another Santa Barbara spill or Deepwater Horizon disaster. Rather than working to fulfill the oil industrys wishlist during this government shutdown, we need to permanently shut down offshore drilling. Time is up for our political leaders to learn the lesson of devastating oil spills like the 1969 Santa Barbara spill, the Exxon Valdez in Alaska and the Deepwater Horizon nightmare that killed 11 people, said Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard. Oil companies like Shell and Exxon are trying again to drill off our U.S. coasts from California to Virginia despite the fact that we have barely a decade left to avoid climate catastrophe. Helped by Trumps polluter cabinet in the White House, these companies see one last opportunity to line the pockets of corporate executives at the expense of all of us. The good news is that everyday people have derailed these plans before, and we can do it again. If a spill like this happened today our local economies would be devastated. Local businesses and residents should not be burdened with that risk, especially when regulations designed to protect public health and the environment are being rolled back or not enforced, said Kimberly Rivers, executive director of Californians for Regulated Oil & Gas (CFROG). The 50th anniversary of the Santa Barbara oil spill is a grim reminder of how far we have to go in stopping not only offshore drilling, but onshore oil and gas expansion as well, said Tomas Morales Rebecchi, senior Central Coast organizer with Food & Water Watch. If Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to lead opposition to the Trump administrations plans to expand dangerous offshore drilling, he should start by ending drilling in California state waters and onshore throughout the state. The vibrant environmental movement sparked by this disaster so many years ago, which includes local communities fighting drilling in their backyards, would welcome his support. The Santa Barbara oil spill was wake-up call we should have listened to. We passed environmental laws and raised public awareness about the dangers of offshore drilling, but that didnt protect our oceans and coastlines, said Bill Hickman, Southern California regional manager with the Surfrider Foundation. Nothing can make offshore drilling safe, as we saw with the Refugio spill and the Deepwater Horizon disaster. We need to stop the disastrous plan to expand offshore drilling off Southern California and other coasts of the United States.
The media has spent large amounts of airtime on the situation in Washington D.C. involving students from Covington Catholic High School. Now there is a new twist on the story. Father Beck CNN's Religion Commentator has given his thoughts on the students and has stated that kids should not be allowed to wear 'Make America Great Again' hats and Christians should reject President Trump. This is a major violation of Church and State. So where is the outrage?



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Election Commission Chairman Ithiporn Boonpakong speaks to reporters in Bangkok after announcing the general election will be held in March, Jan. 23, 2019.

Following nearly five years of military rule and multiple delays, Thai voters will go to the polls on March 24 to choose a new government after Wednesdays Royal Gazette publication of a king-endorsed decree setting a date for the election.

The official date is a month later than a tentative plan that called for a general election on Feb. 24. In September 2018, the National Assembly passed laws setting an early May deadline for the long-awaited vote.

Since then, the royal palace announced that the coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn would occur from May 4 to May 6. The announcement prompted authorities to set the election date so it would not clash with the royal ceremony, according to a deputy prime minister for legal affairs.

The majority of commissioners agreed that the general election would be held on March 24, Election Commission Chairman Ittiporn Boonprakong told reporters in Bangkok. We were considering which date would be most suitable.

Previously, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha had postponed promises of holding elections at least six times since he led a military coup that seized power from the civilian-led government of Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014.

People who want to vote now get their wish, Prayuth told reporters while refusing to speak of his political future.

The prime ministers office also issued an online statement regarding the election.

In the past, the government only coordinated with the Election Commission on the schedules of the events related to the coronation, before and after, in order to avoid risk overlapping, the statement said. The past conflict that led to national crisis should not come back to haunt us again. We urge all brother and sister citizens to go to the polls.

Reactions

Late last year, the junta lifted its ban against political gatherings of five or more people and allowed political parties to hold activities. Since then, protesters have rallied in Bangkok at least three times to demand that the election be held on Feb. 24.

Following Wednesdays announcement, a leader of People Who Want Elections announced the group was done protesting.

Lets inform you that we wont rally on Jan. 26. Lets us all be ready to vote after waiting for more than five years for a chance to choose the nations future, student activist Siriwith Seritiwit said on his Facebook.

A member of the Future Forward Party (FFP) also expressed hope.

This election is an indicator of the nations future, to regress or progress, to stay with fear or hope, to stay with old politics or a new one. The future is with the tip of your pen, FFP leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit said in a Facebook post.

Despite the announcement, a political analyst said the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)  the real name of the junta  needed to establish an interim government ahead of the vote to ensure fairness.

We can believe that we could have an election only if the NCPO stops governing, otherwise it may postpone the poll again for security reasons, said Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University. There is Section 44 of the Constitution, which Gen. Prayuth can use to postpone the election. The past postponements were without a reason.

The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, meanwhile, called on the junta to withdraw restrictions on freedom of expression to pave the way for a genuinely free and open election campaign. Thailand is one of 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Todays announcement of an election date in Thailand is both welcome and long overdue. But the climate in the country is still not conducive for a free and fair election  the junta must now remove all remaining draconian limits on freedom of expression, said Charles Santiago, chairman of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights and a member of parliament in Malaysia.

Unless political parties are allowed to campaign without fear of retaliation, voters will not be able exercise their democratic right and make an informed choice at the ballot box.
Thai officials stand near a covered body along a bank of the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom province, northeast of Bangkok, Dec. 27, 2018.

Human Rights Watch urged Laotian authorities Wednesday to probe the disappearances of three activists in exile, after police in Thailand confirmed that two bodies found along the Mekong River belonged to associates of a well-known Thai anti-monarchist, Surachai Danwattananusorn.

The bodies of the two anti-government activists were found on Dec. 27 and 29 at different locations along the river which divides the two nations, the police commander in Thailands northeastern Nakhon Phanom province told BenarNews. He said DNA tests had identified them as Chatcharn Buppawan, 56, and Kraidej Luelert, 46, both associates of Surachai, a former Thai communist leader.

The Lao government seems intent on sweeping the abduction and gruesome murder of Thai activists under the rug, Brad Adams, Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement. Lao authorities need to credibly investigate and prosecute this heinous case, which has raised alarms for Thai activists in exile in Laos.

Meanwhile, the wife of Surachai, 78, told BenarNews she believed her husband was also killed but his corpse was destroyed. She cited local media reports that a third corpse resembling her husband was discovered on Dec. 28.

I thought the body found in Tha Champa village cluster (in Tha Uthane district) is my husband because the two bodies were already identified as his followers, the wife, Pranee Danwattananusorn, said in a phone interview.

Reports say three bodies were found and one of them had a crooked leg joint, she said, adding that her husbands legs were uneven because of an accident. The third corpse may have been destroyed.

She said she was desperate to hear news about her husband.

He has been unusually quiet for 41 days, hope is running out, she told Benar. There have been no articles, no news and no voices from him  his friends in the U.S. and France have not heard from him either.

Surachai, a leader of the Communist Party of Thailand during the 1980s, became active against the militarys interference in politics. He fled to Laos in 2014, when army Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha led a coup that toppled the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Surachais wife said.

The former communist leader was accompanied to Laos then by two followers, Chatcharn Buppawan (alias Comrade Phu Chana) and Kraidej Luelert (alias Comrade Kasalong), she said.

Pranee said she had traveled to Laos after Surachai fled but was not able to find her husband.

Former Thai communist leader Surachai Danwattananusorn gestures during an interview at his home in Bangkok, Aug. 25, 2010. (Reuters)

In Nakhon Phanom, the provincial police chief said tests on DNA samples taken from the two bodies had confirmed a familial match between Chatcharn Buppawan, Kraidej Luelert and their fathers.

A DNA test result matched the father and Chatcharn Buppawan, who was found in That Panom district. Another result matched the father and Kraidej Luelert, who was found in Maung district, police Maj. Gen. Thanachart Rodklongton told BenarNews on Wednesday.

Krisada Boonramee, a village headman in the provinces Tha Uthane district, said only two bodies had been recovered. He explained that the body seen on Dec. 28 was Kraidejs, which was recovered a day later after it drifted from the river bank.

Meanwhile, a senior army officer said Thai officials had no knowledge about the men.

They largely maneuvered in Laos as far as we knew from news reports. We never sent officers to follow them there in Laos because it is not our jurisdiction, Lt. Gen. Tharakorn Thummawintorn, the commander of the northeastern region army, told reporters on Wednesday.

Whether Surachai is still alive or not, I cannot tell. If they were in Thailand, I could certainly provide them with safety, Tharakorn said.

Bodies disemboweled, filled with concrete

In its website posting calling for the investigation, Human Rights Watch said Thai police had reported that the bodies hands and feet were bound and their faces smashed beyond recognition. They also both had been disemboweled and stuffed with concrete.

The Lao government has not conducted serious investigations into previous disappearances of Thai anti-monarchists living in Vientiane, including Itthipol Sukpaen, missing since June 2016, and Wuthipong Kachathamakul, missing since July 2017, the global rights watchdog group said.

Rights groups allege that Laos and Thailand have poor records in investigating disappearances.

Laos failed to investigate the disappearance of Sombath Somphone, a progressive rural development activist who was seen on closed-circuit TV being abducted from a street in Laos capital Vientiane in December 2012.

Thailand acquitted alleged abductors of Karen land rights activist Porlajee Rakchongcharoen (alias Billy), who was last seen on April 17, 2014, near Kaeng Krachan National Park in Petch Buri province.

In 2015, a Thai supreme court acquitted police officers who were charged with abducting Somchai Neelapaijit, a lawyer who represented Deep South insurgents, from a Bangkok street in 2004.

According to an article published Wednesday in the Bangkok Post that focused on the disappearances of Surachai and other Thai dissidents, authorities in junta-ruled Thailand deny any involvement in any of the disappearances, and note they have tried legal channels to have the suspects extradited.
Police inspect the scene of a drive-by shooting in Bangar town that killed three people in an SUV, including Alexander Alan Buquing, the mayor of Sudipen town in La Union province, northern Philippines, Oct. 1, 2018.

Gunmen wounded a mayor and killed three of her bodyguards in a drive-by shooting in the central Philippines, police said Wednesday, in the latest outbreak of violence ahead of May elections.

Lakambini Reluya, the mayor of San Fernando town in the central Cebu province, and two companions were hurt but proclaimed out danger after assassins attacked the vehicle they were traveling on Tuesday night, killing three members of her security detail, said Superintendent Marlu Canag, the local police commander.

Three unidentified men aboard a white sedan fired at them from the left side of the vehicle. We are investigating the motive behind the ambush, the police official said.

The attack on Reluya came shortly after two of the mayors political allies, local councilman Reneboy Decalos and village head Johnny Arriesgado, were shot dead in separate attacks under similar circumstances on Jan. 10 and 19, respectively. Reluya is seeking re-election in May.

In Manila, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo denounced the latest attack against a government official as he promised that the administration would apply the full force of the law to catch the killers of the mayors bodyguards.

We deplore the ambush of Reluya and pray for her speedy recovery. This unfortunate and standard norm cannot continue, and the culture of violence that has characterized the electoral process will have to end, Panelo said.

He asked the public to be vigilant, saying people should be on guard and alert law enforcement authorities of any election-related violence brewing between and among the candidates and supporters in their respective localities.

Violence is anathema to democracy, and this administration will not allow nor tolerate any violence unleashed by any person or group that puts the voters and the general public at risk. The President is committed to shepherd peaceful, honest and orderly elections, Panelo said.

Last month, Congressman Rodel Batocabe and a police bodyguard were both killed in an attack while attending a gift giving-ceremony for elderly people in eastern Albay province.

Batocabe, 52, became the highest-ranking public official slain so far in a rash of killings in the lead up to the May vote, when Filipinos are to elect 12 senators, the entire 297-member House of Representatives and thousands of other local officials.

The primary suspect in Batocabes killing, Carlwyn Baldo, who is a rival town mayor, has been captured over illegal possession of firearms. Five other alleged accomplices have also been arrested.

Nonoy Espina contributed to this report from Bacolod City, Philippines.
The healthcare of the population, particularly its most vulnerable members, should be the number one priority of any administration that considers itself civilised (stock photo)

If the current generation of adults can pass on anything positive to our children, it should be improved health. Yet a damning report shows that we are failing future generations in practically every possible way.

The paper from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Ireland blames the deadlock at Stormont, which has now entered its third year. What a shaming verdict on our political class - and on society in general, which has done little to force MLAs to return to office.

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The healthcare of the population, particularly its most vulnerable members, should be the number one priority of any administration that considers itself civilised.

However, in Northern Ireland a panel aimed at preventing child deaths, and a strategy for dealing with childhood obesity, have not been implemented because of the political stasis.

This, it should be stressed, is against a background of the worst child mortality rate in the UK.

What possible political policy trumps the requirement to tackle this disgraceful state of affairs?

The report lists a number of issues which need to be tackled urgently if child health is not to slip further into crisis. The establishment of a Child Death Overview Panel is of most pressing need so that it can gather the required information to determine why children die and what measures can be taken to prevent future tragedies.

A policy on road safety measures and continued monitoring of the effectiveness of breastfeeding are two initiatives which have reached the statute books - which the RCPCH describes as miraculous, given the political deadlock.

This report should shock us all and should make us demand that the politicians redouble their efforts to restore devolution. Brexit has sucked the lifeblood out of the body politic in the UK, reducing the ability of Westminster to concentrate on anything but how to leave the EU.

Here, it has turned the political atmosphere toxic.

But whatever the impact of Brexit - if it happens - it will be less disastrous than the continued absence of a devolved administration on the health of our children.

The problems are multiple and complex, and clear-headed vision is required to tackle them.

Otherwise we will have passed on a dangerous legacy to our children.
Last week was a great one for the DUP. Media-wise it played a blinder in the parliamentary drama at Westminster. It was on every TV channel and reported in every leading newspaper in Britain and beyond. It played a key role in the humbling of Prime Minister Theresa May over her Brexit deal and then patronisingly rescued her from Jeremy Corbyn's motion of no confidence.

The humiliating defeat in the House of Commons of May's EU withdrawal deal is regarded by the DUP and other Brexiteers as a great victory. However, they are deluding themselves, for if this is a victory, then it is a Pyrrhic one, and one that they will live to regret.

For Northern Ireland as a region of the UK, it is particularly damaging, as the defeat of the PM's plan paves the way for a no-deal Brexit, which will be a disaster for our local economy and businesses.

It is the nightmare scenario for farmers, food exporters and industry. The business community is simply bewildered by the tactics of the DUP.

As a result of last week's Commons defeat, the Irish government has now moved to activate its no-deal Brexit plans.

Similar contingencies have been activated by other European Union governments.

The DUP and other Brexiteers say they do not want a hard border, nor a no-deal Brexit.

But in response to them Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that words are not enough to avoid a hard border. He said what was required was an agreement on the customs union and regulatory alignment. That, of course, is the substance of May's deal with the EU.

He declared in Dail Eireann: "It's not good enough to say there won't be a hard border because nobody wants one."

Arlene Foster, with her incredible anti-Midas touch, dismissed all this by ludicrously saying that there never was a hard border during the Troubles.

Truly, what planet is Arlene living on? Does she not realise how idiotic and provocative her remarks are?

The DUP, by its hardline stance on Brexit, has succeeded in alienating all shades of reasonable political opinion in the south and also in the north, save for the hapless UUP, which has once again painted itself into a corner for no discernible political advantage.

This at a time when the DUP, from a position of considerable electoral strength (but with an eye to the future), should be avoiding political instability and start building bridges with other parties, in particular Alliance (de facto a non-sectarian unionist party) and even the SDLP.

However, the DUP myopically spurns such imaginative opportunities and isolates itself in an ill-judged and economically damaging hard Brexit campaign.

The DUP is once again highlighting the issue of the border and placing it centre stage.

As a result it will simply further aggravate ill-feeling among nationalists towards the DUP and create toxic resentment, which will progressively corrode the unionist position in the medium term.

This in turn will create a growing body of nationalist opinion that will become not just vaguely sympathetic to the idea of a border poll, but actively in favour of campaigning and agitating for such a referendum. Secretary of State Karen Bradley was on the ball when she raised this in Cabinet as a potential consequence of the rejection of May's soft Brexit deal.

Similarly in Scotland, the worse the current Brexit crisis gets the greater the case builds within politics there for another independence poll.

But at least in Scotland, the Scottish Conservatives are unionist to the core but, unlike the DUP here, have had the good sense in the main to support May's soft Brexit deal.

They at least realise that a hard Brexit deal would only play into the hands of Nicola Sturgeon, the dynamic leader of the Scottish National Party.

The SNP wants May to fail and to exploit the negative consequences of her failure in order to push for independence.

Here, the DUP has clumsily played into the hands of its political opponents by undermining May's efforts to get a workable deal with Europe.

The lack of foresight is bizarre. The DUP seems to concentrate solely on day to day tactics (which it is good at), but has no thought-out strategy for preserving or strengthening the unionist position in the medium or long term.

All that the DUP has succeeded in doing by its actions over Brexit is to weaken the unionist cause by resurrecting the border as a central issue here and to weaken the political unity of the UK by pushing Scotland much nearer to an independence poll that could easily cause the break-up of that very same UK.
The 9M729 land-based cruise missile is displayed near its launcher, right, in Kubinka outside Moscow (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

The Russian military has rolled out its new missile and spelled out its specifications, seeking to dispel the US claim that the weapon violates a key nuclear arms pact.

The military insists that the 9M729 land-based cruise missile conforms to the limits of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).

The US has announced its intention to abandon the INF, claiming that the new Russian missile violates provisions of the pact that ban production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,400 miles).

Expand Close The 9M729 land-based cruise missile (Pavel Golovkin/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Washington said it will suspend its treaty obligations if Russia does not come into compliance by February 2.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Matveevsky, the chief of the militarys missile and artillery forces, said at a meeting with foreign military attaches that the new missile has a maximum range of 480 kilometres.

He said the 9M729 missile differs from the previous 9M728 model by having a modified warhead and guidance system that enhances its capability.

The military then displayed the weapon along with its mobile launcher during a presentation at its exhibition centre near Moscow.

Lt Gen Matveevsky insisted that the new missiles booster, cruising engine and fuel tank remain unchanged.

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He added that the new missile actually has a range 10 kilometres less than the older type due to heavier warhead and control systems.

Lt Gen Matveevsky emphasised that the new missile cannot be modified in field conditions.

The Russian general said that the modified mobile launcher for the new type of missile is bigger because it carries four of them rather than the previous two.

Lt Gen Matveevsky added that the military gave the presentation to underline its increased transparency and our adherence to the INF Treaty.

The Kremlin has staunchly denied the US claim of Russian violations of the pact.

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Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov noted that the US has not put forward any data to prove its claim that Russia has tested the missile at a range exceeding the treatys limit.

He said the US ignored Moscows offer to inspect the missile made during talks in Geneva earlier this month  a refusal he alleged reflected the lack of US interest in meaningful negotiations.

Mr Ryabkov said the US has made it clear during diplomatic contacts that President Donald Trumps decision to abandon the pact is final and not subject to talks.

US undersecretary of state Andrea Thompson, who led the American side in the talks, has said Moscows offer is inadequate.

To see the missile does not confirm the distance that missile can travel, and at the end of the day thats the violation of the treaty, she told reporters last week.
Husky dogs during a training session at Feshiebridge ahead of the The Siberian Husky Club of Great Britains 36th Aviemore Sled Dog Rally being held this upcoming weekend on forest trails around Loch Morlich, in the shadow of the Cairngorm mountains.

Huskies and sledders have gathered in the Scottish Highlands to prepare for the UKs biggest sled dog rally, organised by the Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain (SHCGB).

The sled dog rally, which will take place on 26 and 27 January, has been running since 1984 and is the biggest race of its kind in the UK.

At this years event, mushers from across the UK will gather in the forests around Aviemore for the races 36th anniversary.

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Huskies have been photographed during a training session at Feshiebridge ahead of the race, along with their mushers.

The sled dog race is run on forest trails around Loch Morlich, close to the Cairngorm mountains.

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There are high hopes that there will be settled snow at ground level for the race, which will allow mushers to use sleds, but the event will go ahead even if no snow appears.

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SHCGB said: From an original of only 12 teams, the race is now the largest event of its kind in the UK, with over 1,000 sled dogs and 250 mushers.

The race features teams of between two and eight dogs pulling their musher on a sled around a four to seven mile trail. If theres no snow at ground level for the event, the races still go on with mushers using a three-wheeled rig that looks like a tricycle without a seat.

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There are eight adult classes in the race, and two childrens classes.

According to SHCGB, mushers range from eight years old to over 60.

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SHCGB said: Along with the Siberian Huskies, race dogs include Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds, Greenland Dogs and Canadian Eskimo Dogs, the pedigree breeds of dogs first bred to pull sleds in Arctic conditions hundreds of years ago.

The trail is a designated cross-country ski course, which runs parallel to the ski road for a short distance before entering the forest.
The Prime Minister has reassured the DUP the UK Government is committed to maintaining funding for peace projects in Northern Ireland until 2027 regardless of Brexit.

It comes after the Secretary of State earlier this month linked 300million for peace and reconciliation projects to the success of Theresa May's deal with the EU and just days ahead of the crucial Parliament vote on the matter. Which saw the government suffer a crushing defeat.

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Another 100m was to come from the EU.

The DUP said casting doubt on the funding should there be a no-deal Brexit was a "distasteful bluff" accusing the government of using peace as a bargaining chip.

MEP Diane Dodds told the BBC the "factual position" had been "twisted" in the heated debate coming up to the meaningful vote. She called on the secretary of state to also issue a reassurance.

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Arlene Foster thanked the Prime Minister for her assurance. It followed after discussions between the two leaders.

This is welcome clarification from the Prime Minister that the commitment to PEACE funding until 2027 is 'unequivocal'. It lays to rest the comments made by the Secretary of State that there may be some doubt about the legal basis on which it could be delivered," the DUP leader said.

"Such comments were not only foolish, but were particularly irresponsible given the nature of the groups who are in receipt of this funding. There is nothing wrong with a robust debate on the facts, but resorting to such scaremongering is not just wrong but is also counterproductive.

In her letter to the DUP, Theresa May said she remained "personally strongly committed" to the funding which would continue until 2020 regardless of the Brexit outcomes.

"The government has emphasised its importance at every stage," she wrote.

"In the event of no deal, both the UK and the EU have categorically committed to protect funding for current programmes through to 2020...

"I can also reassure you that whatever the outcome of Brexit the UK will remain committed to contributing financially to support peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland."

The DUP has a confidence and supply deal with the Tory government in order to allow it to function a minority government.
Theresa May shows no sign of compromise on her Brexit red lines, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said following a meeting at Number 10.

Speaking from Downing Street, Ms Sturgeon said Mrs May seems set on wooing the utterly laughable hard Brexiteers in her own party instead.

She was speaking after the two leaders held face-to-face talks on the way forward for the Brexit process.

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Ms Sturgeon said: It seems to me her priority is trying to win support from the DUP and the hardline Brexiteers in her own party rather than genuinely trying to compromise to bring others on side.

It seems to me shes putting all of her eggs in the basket of trying to win over the DUP and the ERG (European Research Group)  playing to the right-wing hardline Brexiteers which, unless something fundamental changes that I cant see right now, is destined to fail.

Its also taking the entire country and Scotland in particular down the wrong road, one thats going to be devastating for our economy and, particularly around free movement, deeply damaging to Scotlands population and therefore our economy in the long-term.

Jacob Rees-Mogg and co don't seem to care too much for democracy.Nicola Sturgeon

Ms Sturgeon also dismissed calls by ERG leader Jacob Rees-Mogg to suspend or prorogue Parliament to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

If it wasnt so serious it would be utterly laughable, she said.

These are the same people, of course, who campaigned for Brexit on the basis it was taking back control for the UK Parliament and at the first whiff of Parliament actually exerting control, they want Parliament, it sounds to me, pretty much abolished.

Jacob Rees-Mogg and co dont seem to care too much for democracy, and what worries me after the discussion with the Prime Minister is its those people shes putting all of her efforts into trying to persuade, rather than trying to build a compromise with more reasonable voices.

The First Minister said she had specifically asked Mrs May whether she would soften her Brexit red lines or consider another EU referendum, but was rebuffed.

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Ms Sturgeon said: I think the Prime Minister fears that she would lose another Scottish independence referendum so shes running scared of the verdict of the people.

Its probably the reason she doesnt want another EU referendum, because she thinks she might lose that.

People that are confident in their arguments dont run away from the verdict of the people.

But Mrs May earlier told the Commons the SNP is out of touch with the people of Scotland, who she said do not want another divisive Scottish independence referendum.

Speaking at Prime Ministers Questions, Tory MP Stephen Kerr attacked Ms Sturgeons plan for a second Scottish referendum.

The Stirling MP said: May I say, as a proud Scot, that the UK is the most successful political union the world has ever known.

Does the Prime Minister agree with me that when Nicola Sturgeon demands a second independence referendum only four years after we had the last one that the UK Government should side with the majority of people of Scotland and firmly tell her No?

4 years ago #Scotland voted to stay part of the UK in a "once in a lifetime referendum". Since then the SNP have been agitating non-stop for a second divisive referendum.



I asked the Prime Minister today to take a second independence referendum off the table. #PMQs pic.twitter.com/RHOz5sqpiq  Stephen Kerr MSP (@StephenKerrMSP) January 23, 2019

Mrs May replied: He is absolutely right. As he points out, Scotland held a referendum in 2014 -it was legal, it was fair, it was decisive and the people clearly voted for Scotland to remain part of the UK.

But more than that, at the last general election the people of Scotland again sent a very clear message that they do not want a second divisive referendum.

But the SNP sadly are out of touch with the people of Scotland and they havent yet heard that message.

The last thing we want is a second independence referendum  the UK should be pulling together not being driven apart.

Ms Sturgeon claimed Scots have run out of patience with the Prime Minister.

I think people in Scotland are probably getting sick and tired of hearing what the Prime Minister wants, she said.

What the PM wants is not the most important thing here  what Scotland needs is what matters most.

Brexit is demonstrating on a daily basis right now that Scotland needs the ability to take our own decisions so were not dragged down the wrong path by Tory idealogues, and we dont constantly face the prospect of having policies imposed by Westminster governments that we didnt vote for.

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When asked if that means she is firing the starting gun on a second Scottish independence referendum, Ms Sturgeon laughed and said those are your words, not mine.

She reiterated her plan to give more details on the timing of a second vote in the near future.

She said: Im not going to go further than what Ive said. I will set out my views in greater detail on this in a matter of weeks.

Not at the SNP spring conference. It will be at a time and a place that I tell you in due course. I will set out my views in greater detail on that in the near future.

You cant stand in the way of people having the right to choose indefinitely.

The Prime Ministers position has never been a sustainable one and it isnt a sustainable one now.
Scotlands health secretary has said she believes infection control is good enough at a hospital where two patients died after contracting an infection linked to pigeon droppings.

Jeane Freeman has ordered a review of the design, build, handover and maintenance of the flagship 842 million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow as investigations continue.

The Cryptococcus bacteria, a fungal infection linked to pigeon droppings and soil, was found to be a contributory factor in the death of a child, while a second patient was also found to have an infection caused by inhaling the fungus Cryptococcus, although the health secretary has said it did not contribute to their death.

Pigeon droppings found in a plant room on the hospitals roof are believed to be the source of the problem and investigations are continuing to establish how the bacteria entered a closed ventilation system.

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The issue comes after problems with bacteria in the water supply at the adjoining Royal Hospital for Children last year which led to child cancer patients being moved.

In an interview on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Ms Freeman was asked: Do you believe infection control is good enough at this hospital?

She replied: Yes I do. Yes I do and I think the statistics show that. The overall infection rate in the Queen Elizabeth is 4%, the average across Scotland is 4.9%. It is at least on par with all the other hospitals across Scotland and in fact doing a bit better.

But infection happens in hospitals. Thats why we have the Scottish Patient Safety Programme that has significantly reduced infection rates across our hospitals and healthcare settings over the last 10 years or so.

What you need to be able to do though is have those additional infection control measures to put in place as they have done at the Queen Elizabeth, with the HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters, with the anti-fungal protection for particularly vulnerable patients in the area where the Crypotoccocus infection was discovered.

It will look at everything from the design, the construction, the commissioning and the continuing maintenance to try and identify what more might need to be done to ensure that the building is fit for purposeJeane Freeman

Ms Freeman said she hopes to announce the remit of the review by the end of the week.

She could not give a timescale for how long the review will take and said that while she wants it to reach its conclusions and recommendations as quickly as possible, it needs to take long enough to ensure it is robust.

She said: There have been a number of instances where parts of the building, the fabric of the building, have been less than we would want it to be.

Some of those dont directly affect patients but obviously our primary concern is that this building is, in its fabric, in its internal infrastructure, is absolutely fit for purpose, so that is why Ive ordered the review and made sure that we will have independent expert advice to that review.

It will look at everything from the design, the construction, the commissioning and the continuing maintenance to try and identify what more might need to be done to ensure that the building is fit for purpose, but also whether there are any particular lessons for us as we go on to instigate other builds of healthcare facilities across Scotland.

The review of the Queen Elizabeth will have significant importance for all the new build that were undertaking.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: The Health Secretary says infection rates are on a par with other hospitals in Scotland but this is supposed to be a world-leading hospital.

The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was an 842 million investment by the Government  the fact we are now having a review into its infrastructure suggests something has gone very wrong.

The review must answer honest questions about what has gone wrong here.
A fresh covering of snow covers the summit of Beinn Ruadh near Dunoon, Argyll and Bute (Jane Barlow/PA)

The Met Office has warned there is colder weather to come after snow and sleet showers hit the UK on Tuesday.

Wednesday is expected to be the chilliest day of the week, with northern areas waking up to temperatures of minus 2C (28F).

Coastal areas can expect more snow and sleet showers throughout the day.

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The Met Office issued a yellow severe weather warning until 11am for ice across much of the country.

The alert says ice is likely to form on Wednesday morning, warning of the risk of falls on icy surfaces and ice on roads, pavements and cycle paths.

A spokeswoman said Northern Ireland saw some significant accumulations on Tuesday which later pushed across Wales, central parts of England and towards the South East.

Weve seen a few centimetres in particular over the hills, but also a good dusting of snow to lower levels as well.

Good morning, here is Wednesday's weather summary. Don't forget, you can visit our website (https://t.co/cQSfu1VDbo) for all local & national weather forecasts including the 6-30 day UK outlook. Please tweet or drop us an email with any other queries. ^Dan pic.twitter.com/D4Y83DoEkI  Met Office (@metoffice) January 23, 2019

She said Wednesday will be one of the coldest days of the week, but with a lot of sunshine to compensate.

Those concerned about the yellow warnings should allow extra time for journeys and take extra care on untreated roads and pavements.

Its patches of ice left over from snow showers that people should look out for.

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The weather caused some disruption to rush-hour rail services.

Greater Anglia Rail advised customers that trains will be running with speed restrictions between Hackney Downs and Cambridge and services may be cancelled, delayed by up to 15 minutes or revised.

Merseyrail said that due to ice preventing electricity from reaching the trains, services between between Aintree and Ormskirk, Hooton and Ellesmere Port, and Hooton and Chester have been cancelled.

Whilst other Merseyrail lines are running, passengers have been warned to expect severe delays and cancellations.

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Some coastal showers will continue overnight on Wednesday while many central and eastern areas are expected to be clear, cold and frosty.

Although the weather will warm slightly towards the end of the week, more cold weather is set for the weekend.

The spokeswoman said: Gradually some slightly warmer air will push in for the latter part of the week, but we have a band of rain pushing in Saturday which will push much colder air in behind it.
Tescos former finance chief has ripped into his ex-employer and the fraud squad after being cleared of wrongdoing over the supermarkets 250 million fraud and false accounting scandal.

Carl Rogberg, 52, was accused of knowing that income was being wrongly included in records to meet targets and make Tesco look financially healthier than it was.

On Wednesday the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) dropped its case against him, leading Mr Rogberg to speak out on the steps of Southwark Crown Court.

Truth and justice were abandoned for their commercial imperativesCarl Rogberg

I have serious questions for Tesco and the SFO about the way this case has been handled throughout, he said.

The circumstances were never properly investigated by Tesco from the outset. They rushed to the wrong judgment and then entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the SFO on a completely false basis.

Truth and justice were abandoned for their commercial imperatives.

As part of the DPA, the grocery titan agreed to pay a fine of 129 million but avoided a trial.

Mr Rogberg said the sum given to the SFO was needless and the drastic action has been damaging for Tescos employees, shareholders and pension funds.

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He also accused the under-fire SFO of uncritically adopting Tescos approach, failing to carry out a professional investigation and making fundamental errors.

They refused to see the truth, he said, preferring instead to drive on blindly with the prosecution. Indeed, they pressed the case through two long trials and even mounted a hopeless appeal against the judges decision to stop the case. This was all a dreadful waste of taxpayers money.

His trial was abandoned last year after he suffered a heart attack and he was too ill to face a retrial alongside ex-managing director Chris Bush, 53, and John Scouler, 50, the former UK food commercial director.

Mr Bush and Mr Scouler were cleared of fraud and false accounting last month after a judge at Southwark Crown Court dismissed the case because it was too weak.

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Mr Rogberg appeared at the same court on Wednesday, where not guilty verdicts were formally entered on the same two charges after the SFO announced it would offer no evidence against him.

Tescos shares plummeted by nearly 12%, wiping 2 billion off the share value, when the company announced in September 2014 that a statement the previous month had overstated profits by about 250 million.

Mr Rogbergs acquittal means neither Tesco nor any of its executives have been successfully prosecuted over one of the biggest corporate scandals in recent history.

Acting for Mr Rogberg, Neil OMay of Norton Rose Fulbright said: This is more than simply an acquittal by a jury. It is a finding that there was insufficient evidence on which the case could have been brought. This is unprecedented in high-profile serious fraud cases.

There must be real concern that a serious fraud case is brought without the SFO having expert accounting evidence in which to understand the nature of the case.

There was also no real investigation undertaken to show whether or not there was indeed fraudulent activity as alleged at the level of buyers and suppliers.

Lawyers for the acquitted defendants had argued it was unfair to publish the statement of facts contained in the DPA, which ascribes wrongdoing to them, according to a High Court ruling last week by Sir Brian Leveson.

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Speaking after the end of the criminal case, Mr Bushs solicitor Ross Dixon, of Hickman & Rose, said the case sounds an alarm call for the criminal justice system with contradictory outcomes between the criminal trial and the DPA.

Despite being acquitted of all wrongdoing  and as a direct result of the DPA  the SFO now publishes a statement that in effect contradicts these not guilty verdicts.

This is an unfair and extraordinary outcome and one that calls for urgent reform of the DPA process.

Mr OMay adding that the DPA has been shown to be false and is deeply prejudicial and distressing to his client.

Mr Rogberg feels the law has let him down. He believes the DPA was agreed for commercial purposes and throws justice and the truth to the wind, and him with it, he said.

Mr Rogberg said of the DPA: It is a worthless and dishonest piece of paper with no credibility.

And yet it is still vigorously defended by Tesco and the SFO who stand alone in refusing to accept the truth  even to the extent that Tesco threatened me with costs for daring to challenge what was proven in court to be false.

Mr Scouler, of The Park, St Albans; Mr Bush, of Four Acres, Green End Road, Radnage, High Wycombe; and Mr Rogberg, of Chiselhampton, Oxfordshire, all denied one count of fraud and one of false accounting.

SFO director Lisa Osofsky said: Tesco Stores Limited dishonestly created a false account of its financial position by overstating its profits.

The DPA clearly outlines the extent of this criminal conduct for which the company has accepted full responsibility.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has told the Spectator that the Church of Englands annual spending on safeguarding has risen from around 50,000 to 7 million (PA)

The Church of Englands annual safeguarding budget has risen from around 50,000 to 7 million, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

The Most Rev Justin Welby added that the church does not effectively handle complaints they receive in an interview with The Spectator.

He said: Our budget nationally was 50,000, 100,000 a year or something like that.

Its now about 7 million.

I am still very uncomfortable with the system. I think it is slow.

We have not yet found the proper way of dealing properly with complainants and taking them seriously, listening to them, not telling them to shut up and go away, which is what we did for decades.

In 2016 the Church of England was dealing with around 3,300 safeguarding concerns.

The archbishop described child abuse within the church as a deeply evil act.

He added: Probably the greatest failure of the C of E since the since the Second World War has been our failure to deal adequately with disclosures of abuse.

When I came into this role, I didnt have any idea how bad it was.

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The archbishop also revealed that he is happy for Anglicans to convert to Catholicism and he regrets that the church ever split in the first place.

The Catholic church is such a source of inspiration, he said.

When an Anglican priest, who the archbishop described as a very old friend, wrote to tell him that he was converting to Catholicism, the archbishop said he replied saying: How wonderful! As long as you are following your vocation, you are following Christ.

Most Rev Welby added: What we need is for people to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

I dont really care whether its the Church of England or Rome or the Orthodox or Pentecostals or the Lutherans or Baptists.

They are faithful disciples of Christ.
Bono arrives for a panel session during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

U2 frontman Bono, who has been a prominent campaigner on development issues for decades, has said capitalism is not immoral, its amoral.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bono said capitalism has taken more people out of poverty than any other ism but that it is a wild beast and if not tamed it can chew up a lot of people on the way.

Those who have not benefited from capitalism are, he said, driving the politics in our home towards populism.

Bono also said he has had a change of heart with regard to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an institution he once considered to be the Great Satan for its bullying of junior economies.

Bono ends the session with the thought: "Our children are not held hostage to ideology, they look to business or political leaders and they have a question on their hands: Are you a firefighter or an arsonist? And we have to ask ourselves which one we are." #wef19  World Economic Forum (@Davos) January 23, 2019

Heaping praise on IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, Bono said the IMF has changed.

The development community, he said, values Ms Lagardes tough-mindedness but he added he would still be on her case.
The EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier has dealt a significant blow to Theresa Mays hopes of agreement on her Plan B Brexit deal by ruling out a time-limit on the Irish backstop.

In a statement to the Commons on Monday, Mrs May made clear that concessions on the backstop are central to her hopes of overturning last weeks emphatic 230-vote rejection of her Withdrawal Agreement.

An amendment tabled by Tory backbencher Andrew Murrison, setting a hard deadline of December 31 2021 to end the arrangement, is thought to be viewed positively by Downing Street, though a spokesman declined to say whether the Government will back it.

If the amendment succeeds in a House of Commons vote on January 29, it is thought likely that the Prime Minister would offer it to Brussels as proof that changes to the backstop might be enough to secure parliamentary ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement reached in November.

But Mr Barnier made clear, in an interview with three European newspapers, that a time-limited backstop is regarded by the EU as useless.

The question of limiting the backstop in time has already been discussed twice by the European leaders, in November and in December 2018, Mr Barnier told Le Monde, Rzeczpospolita and Luxemburger Wort.

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This backstop is the only one possible because insurance is no longer operational if it is for a limited time.

Imagine if it were to be limited in time and the problem arose after expiry: it is useless.

He suggested that the backstop, intended to keep the Irish border open after Brexit, would become a relative issue if Mrs May enabled an ambitious future trade deal by relaxing her negotiating red lines.

The Brexit negotiator also poured cold water on the prospect of the UK securing an extension to the two-year negotiation period under the EUs Article 50 process.

Noting that any request for an extension would have to be approved by all 27 remaining states, he said: If this question were to be asked, the heads of state and the governments would ask three questions.

For what reason? For how long?

They would also have a third concern: that this possible prolongation might interfere with the democratic working of the European elections (in May).

Speaking later to a Brussels committee, Mr Barnier said that a no-deal Brexit can only be stopped if MPs come together around a positive majority for another solution.

The prospect of Britain seeking to remain in the EU beyond the planned date of March 29 was heightened after shadow chancellor John McDonnell signalled Labour could back plans for an Article 50 extension to stop no-deal.

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But leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested that the Government could prevent an extension by shutting down Parliament before MPs have a chance to vote on the plan, under a procedure known as prorogation.

Mr Rees-Mogg also played down suggestions that members of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers, which he chairs, might be giving up their rebellion against Mrs Mays deal.

Restating his opposition to proposals which would keep the whole of the UK in a temporary customs union, he said: As long as the backstop is there I will not vote for this deal.

Of course any deal would be better than not leaving at all, but this deal  is not good enough. It needs fundamental change.

Mr McDonnell has said it is highly likely that Labour will back a sensible cross-party amendment paving the way for suspension of the withdrawal process if no deal is found by the end of February.

The move, tabled by Labours Yvette Cooper and Conservative Nick Boles, is one of a number of amendments due for debate next Tuesday.

International Development Secretary Liam Fox warned that some of the proposals put forward by backbenchers presented a real danger constitutionally.

Accusing some MPs of plotting to stay in the EU, he said such an act would be politically calamitous and worse for the country than a no-deal Brexit.

The developments came as Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn clashed over Brexit in the House of Commons, with the Labour leader repeating his call for the Prime Minister to rule out a no-deal outcome.

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Mrs May denounced Mr Corbyn for refusing to meet her to discuss the way ahead, when he had previously been willing to sit down with Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA without preconditions.

Questioning whether Mr Corbyn understood the details of the customs union arrangement Labour is seeking, she told MPs that the opposition leader hasnt got a clue.

But Mr Corbyn retorted: The door of her office might be open but the minds are closed and the Prime Minister is clearly not listening.

Speaking to the EUs European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, Mr Barnier said that there appeared to be a majority in the Commons opposed to crashing out without a deal.

But he warned: Opposing no deal will not stop no deal from happening at the end of March.

To stop no deal, a positive majority for another solution will need to emerge.

This is the objective of the political consultations that Theresa May has started and we hope, sincerely, that this process will be successful.

As long as the backstop is there I will not vote for this dealJacob Rees-Mogg

In his newspaper interview, Mr Barnier suggested the EU would take legal action to recoup the UKs 39 billion financial settlement if London sought to withhold it.

He acknowledged it would be more difficult to ensure payment of the money in a no-deal scenario, but added: We will continue to insist: these commitments are of a legal nature in international law and I do not imagine that the British will not respect their international commitments.

Speaking to the Eurosceptic Bruges Group in London, Mr Rees-Mogg suggested that the Government could use prorogation to block any backbench bills designed to thwart a no-deal Brexit.

Denouncing efforts to put Parliament in charge of the Brexit process as a constitutional outrage, the chair of the backbench Tory European Research Group said: Prorogation normally lasts for three days but any law that is in the process before prorogation falls.

And I think that would be the Governments answer, that is the Governments backstop.
An average of 787 per day was spent on informants in 2017/18 (stock photo)

Police in Northern Ireland paid out more than 287,000 for information on crime in the last year.

An average of 787 per day was spent on informants in 2017/18.

Expenditure topped 1.7m between 2013 and 2018, police figures show.

Spending has increased by 80% over the last decade and is one of the highest outlays of all 45 UK police forces, believed to be second only to the Metropolitan Police.

The figures are unlikely to include money spent on intelligence relating to national security, which falls under MI5's remit.

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan branded the expenditure as "unwarranted", especially amid ongoing budgetary pressures.

"No community should be so impenetrable to need money to obtain information about criminality," he said.

"There have been massive cuts to the policing budget, cuts to police numbers and vital community outreach projects.

"The money should be spent there, not on giving people money for information."

Mr McCrossan questioned whether "this cloak and dagger style of policing" was effective.

"In my mind, this is not money spent well and is a waste of taxpayers' money," he added.

However, former PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan defended the practice, saying it is the "most cost effective way to save lives".

"It needs to be tightly controlled, carefully managed and totally accountable, but it's a small price to pay; more should be spent on it," he said.

"Any genuine and well founded concerns should be debated by the Policing Board, but I don't believe there are any and think Daniel McCrossan is utterly wrong.

"Mr McCrossan and his party need to decide if they want an effective law and order service or if they don't.

"If they do, then it seems obvious to me that this method of intelligence gathering is needed."

The PSNI paid out a record 466,000 to informants in 2013/14, but the amount fell significantly in the subsequent three years.

By the 2016/17 financial year it had dropped to 271,387.

But the latest figure is still well above the 160,169 shelled out in 2006/7 and shows a rise of almost 6% compared to the previous year (2016/17), when 271,387 was spent.

The use of informants here remains highly controversial.

In 2007 a report by Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan concluded that RUC officers protected loyalist informers from probes into a series of murders.

Assistant Chief Constable Barbara Gray defended spending on informants.

She said the PSNI's primary purpose is to keep people safe by policing with the community.

"Like all other police services, PSNI uses intelligence to prevent and detect crime and the police officers working in intelligence are as committed to and engaged in keeping people safe as the officers working in neighbourhood policing teams," she said.

"The legal framework within which intelligence is gathered is clear and unequivocal.

"PSNI's policy in relation to the use of covert human intelligence sources is strictly governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and is fully compliant with human rights legislation.

"All covert intelligence matters are progressed in line with the provisions set out in RIPA and strictly regulated by the Office of the Surveillance Commissioner."

In 2017 the BBC reported how police forces across the UK paid out at least 22m to informants over a five-year period.

London's Metropolitan Police, the largest force, topped the list, spending 5.2m between 2011 and 2016.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said the use of informants is "a well-established and highly regulated tactic".
Police in Londonderry have recovered a suspected firearm during follow up searches related to last weekend's car bomb attack.

The suspected firearm was located in the Brandywell area of the city on Wednesday afternoon.

Last Saturday a car bomb exploded outside the Bishop Street Courthouse in an attack the PSNI said was the "most significant" in Northern Ireland in recent years.

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No one was injured in the blast, however CCTV footage showed several people walking past the car containing the bomb minutes before it detonated.

Five men arrested following the incident have since been released unconditionally.

Police have blamed the attack on the dissident republican group the New IRA.

On Monday several vehicles were hijacked in the city causing significant disruption in security alerts that were later declared hoaxes.

A public safety operation to recover the suspected firearm was carried out on Wednesday evening lasting several hours.

The operation was completed shortly before 8pm and the suspected firearm was taken away for examination by police.

"We are pleased to confirm that due to the circumstances we did not need to evacuate any residents," PSNI Foyle said on social media.

"ATO have attended and enabled police forensic officers to recover what is suspected to be a firearm.

"The suspected firearm will, however, need to be examined further before we can confirm its capabilities. We appreciate the cooperation of local residents."
A mock wall will be built across the Irish border by protesters angered at the prospect of a hard Brexit (Niall Carson/PA)

A mock wall will be built across part of the Irish border by protesters angered at the prospect of a hard Brexit.

The theatrical gesture on Saturday will be the centrepiece of a Co Down demonstration against future checks.

It is expected to attract up to 1,000 people, organiser Declan Fearon said.

If the UK leaves Europe without a deal the free-flow of goods could be disrupted by the creation of a hard frontier on the island, the European Commission has said.

Mr Fearon warned that local people would not allow the progress of the peace process to be dented by a political dispute over the backstop.

He said: People wont stand back and allow anyone to take us back to where these communities have been.

Tonight we leafleted the Barcroft area with this leaflet. Brexit will be a disaster, ANY hardening of the border cannot be tolerated! Iall be supporting The Border Communities Against Brexit on Saturday 26th 3pm #Brexit #communityprotest #newry pic.twitter.com/380xw1fLe0  Sarah McAllister (@SarahJMcA) January 22, 2019

Mr Fearon, spokesman for Border Communities Against Brexit, criticised DUP leader Arlene Foster as disingenuous after she said there had never been a hard border.

To even contemplate bringing those communities back to that, we have no intention of sitting idly by and allowing this to take place.

The theatrical protest will involve local people, nurses and bricklayers, passing through a gate in the wall.

Mr Fearon added: It is just a little dramatic scene of what life might look like.

Expand Close Security towers near the city of Newry were decommissioned in 2003 (Paul Faith/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Security towers manned by the British Army in the hilly and remote area near the city of Newry were decommissioned in 2003 as it ended conflict-era operations in Northern Ireland in support of the police.

The Irish and British Governments have said they want to avoid a hard border after Brexit, and multiple sources have said Brexit should not prompt a return to violence.

Some security sources have argued that if customs checks are put in place then police will be required to protect them and that could leave officers at risk from dissident republicans.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has received extra resources for Brexit but have officially envisaged light-touch community-style policing.

Dublins Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney this week said it would be difficult to avoid installing new infrastructure following a no-deal Brexit.
Notorious loyalist killer Michael Stone has secured a legal route to the UK's highest court in his bid to overturn a verdict that he must remain in jail until 2024.

Judges in Belfast today certified a point of law of general public importance after being told the ruling could have potential consequences for nearly 150 others serving life sentences.

It means the Milltown Cemetery bomber can now request a hearing at the Supreme Court in London.

Stone is attempting to appeal a decision that six years he spent out on licence should not count towards his minimum term of imprisonment.

Earlier this month the High Court held the Department of Justice wrongly determined he is now eligible for possible release on parole.

Their finding came in a legal challenge mounted by the sister of one of Stone's victims.

Deborah McGuinness's brother, Thomas McErlean, was among three mourners murdered in the grenade attack on an IRA funeral at Milltown, west Belfast in March 1988.

Stone, 63, was also the gunman in another three separate killings.

Milkman Patrick Brady was murdered in south Belfast in November 1984, 12 months before joiner Kevin McPolin was shot in the head in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

In May 1987 Dermott Hackett, a bread server, was found dead in his van between Drumquin and Omagh. He had been shot up to 16 times with a submachine gun.

Stone was freed early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 2000.

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Six years later, however, he was returned to jail after attempting to enter Parliament Buildings at Stormont, armed with explosives, knives and an axe, in an attempt to murder Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.

He denied it had been a bid to kill the politicians, instead claiming it was an act of performance art.

In 2013 he was told that he must serve the remainder of a 30-year sentence imposed for waging a sectarian murder campaign.

The ex-UDA man's case had been referred to Parole Commissioners on the basis that he has now served that minimum term.

However, Ms McGuinness claimed the Department unlawfully included the six years he spent out on licence before the attack on Stormont.

Her legal team insisted he should not be considered eligible for release until the full 30 years is served in custody.

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Backing Ms McGuinness's challenge, the court said he forfeited the benefits of his exceptional early release when he returned to terrorist crime.

The earliest date Stone might be released on parole licence will be around July 2024, judges held.

His application for leave to appeal the ruling had been adjourned for the Department to disclose how many other cases could be affected.

In court today it was revealed that 149 life sentence prisoners were released early under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998.

Fourteen of those subsequently had their licences revoked, including three who were later released again because their tariffs included time spent out on licence - periods of three, five and nearly seven years respectively.

According to the Department those three individuals, others behind bars awaiting release, and the 135 ex-prisoners who are still out on licence could potentially be affected by the ruling, the court heard.

Stone's barrister, David Scoffield QC, contended that the figures demonstrated how the case raises issues of significant public interest.

Despite refusing to grant leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, Mr Justice McCloskey confirmed: "We shall certify a point of law of general public importance."

A legal question will now be constructed for Supreme Court justices to consider deciding if they want to hear the appeal.

"We shall leave the interested party (Stone) to pursue that application in that same forum," Mr Justice McCloskey added.
A man widely named as the Army's notorious agent Stakeknife is being sued for allegedly sexually assaulting a Belfast woman when she was a child.

Former leading Provisional IRA member Freddie Scappaticci was last month convicted by a London court of possessing extreme animal porn.

The Irish News yesterday reported that it had seen court papers accusing the former member of the IRA's internal security unit of assaulting the woman between 1976 and 1978.

It is understood she was a teenager at the time and the allegations were reported to police.

The woman is claiming for personal injury, loss and damages. It was reported that the woman is also claiming damages from the PSNI Chief Constable and the Home Secretary.

While Stakeknife was handled by the Army, the police and MI5 may also have had knowledge of his role.

The newspaper reported that the claim against the Chief Constable is for personal injury, loss and damages by negligence and misfeasance in public office in causing or permitting the abuse.

The claim is also made on the grounds that the police allegedly failed to investigate the abuse.

When contacted by the Belfast Telegraph last night, a PSNI spokesman said: "We do not comment on named individuals and no inference should be drawn from this."

Scappaticci was sentenced to three months in custody suspended for a year after being on charges relating to least 329 images some of which involved animals.

In 2003 he was widely named as the agent Stakeknife, but he has always strongly denied the allegation.

Bedfordshire Police Chief Constable Jon Boutcher is currently leading an investigation into the agent's activities.

The probe is centred on possible crimes by paramilitaries, agents and Army and police handlers linked to Stakeknife, allegedly the military's highest-ranking spy within the IRA.
Leading 'Remain' campaigner Tom Kelly has criticised the decision not to invite unionist politicians to speak at this weekend's Beyond Brexit conference.

The businessman, who led the NI Stronger In Europe campaign, said Saturday's event in Belfast should be inclusive of all communities.

He is urging organisers to rethink their controversial decision. The Beyond Brexit gathering is the latest initiative by Ireland's Future - a collective of Irish citizens living in the region seeking to highlight the potential impact of Brexit on their rights and livelihoods.

The movement has already sent a number of open letters outlining its concerns to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar signed by a range of prominent figures, including actors, academics, musicians, business leaders, professional athletes, entrepreneurs, lawyers, teachers and doctors.

Among the confirmed speakers at the conference at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast are Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, the Republic's Education Minister Joe McHugh and Fianna Fail's deputy leader Dara Calleary.

However writing in his column in the Irish News this week, Mr Kelly hit out at the exclusion of political unionism.

He said: "The concept of having a conference to examine the far side of Brexit is admirable - the notion of it comprising solely of nationalists talking to nationalists is not. Having a collective gurn over Brexit by nationalists of various hues talking to each other actually plays into current polarisation, partisanship and paralysis in Northern Ireland politics.

"We need more compromise, more conversations across communities - not within them.

"We need a collective response to Brexit across the entire Northern Ireland community and not a partisan one.

"Brexit, especially the prospect of a hard Brexit, will affect everyone - not just nationalists. Unionists, nationalists and the non-aligned will all be affected."

The conference organisers have denied that the event is a front for a pro-united Ireland agenda and insisted that it is open for everyone to attend.

Co-organiser and Belfast-based solicitor Niall Murphy said unionist politicians had not been asked to address the audience but representatives of "civic unionism" would be participating in panel discussions.
A border crossing between Co Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and Co Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland (Naill Carson/PA Wire)

People in Northern Ireland who identify as Irish could become second-class citizens post-Brexit, human rights groups have claimed.

The chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) said the Withdrawal Agreement reached between the UK and the EU left significant gaps in the protection of human rights in areas like citizens rights and puts people on both sides of the border at risk.

Oireachtas Committee told of aSignificant Gapsa in Human Rights and Equality Protections under Withdrawal Agreementhttps://t.co/OihESRAiFQ  Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission (@_IHREC) January 23, 2019

Emily Logan said: I dont think the public understand that the implications people might find themselves in a situation of being forced to assume an identify they wouldnt choose.

Ms Logan said the offer of continued EU citizenship should be extended to all the people of Northern Ireland as defined by the Good Friday Agreement, given recognition of the birthright of people in Northern Ireland to identify as Irish or British, or both.

The last situation we wish to see is one where the people of Northern Ireland feel forced to choose their identity based on what they think their post-Brexit entitlements might be, she said.

Ms Logan appeared before the Justice and Equality Committee on Wednesday alongside representatives from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) and Queens University to discuss the potential implications of Brexit on human rights and equality.

Brian Gormally, director of the NIHRC Committee on the Administration of Justice said that if Brexit goes ahead, it would make the status of Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland insecure and they would become EU citizens living in a non-member state.

He said the first possibility is that the Home Office would regard Irish citizens as really British, the second possibility is that the Common Travel Area would sort the issue out, and thirdly that EU citizens living in the UK could apply for settled status.

None of these options is appealing as they all involve the implication that those who choose Irish identity are in some way second-class citizens, Mr Gormally said.

Their rights as full participants in NI life would depend on either a denial of their Irish nationality, as yet unknown bilateral agreements between the UK and Ireland about the Common Travel Area, or paying to ask the Home Office to graciously allow them leave to live in the land of their birth.

The reality is that Irish citizens, born and living in Northern Ireland, have no legal connection to the jurisdiction in which they were born.

Mr Gormally told the committee the Belfast Agreement had not been effectively implemented in UK law.

He said legislation was needed in the UK and Ireland to recognise the particular status of Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland and their unequivocal right to participate fully in that region and in Irish society.

Committee member Clare Daly, an Independents 4 Change TD, described the comments as shocking and sobering, adding that they had highlighted scarily a legal deficit regarding citizenship rights which needs to be addressed.

Ms Logan and her Northern Ireland counterpart Les Allamby, chief commissioner of the NIHRC, warned the committee that the withdrawal of the UK from the EU threatened to undermine the human rights of the Good Friday Agreement.

Ms Logan said that since 1998, there had been substantial progress towards a lasting resolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland, but it assumed that the UK and Ireland would continue to be members of the EU.

Although the Joint Report of December 2017 committed to protecting the Agreement in all its parts, Brexit negotiations currently depart from that common framework creating risks for both rights and remedies, she said.

Mr Gormally said Brexit had already damaged and destabilised the peace settlement and relations across the island.

Questions of identity and citizenship have been opened up in a way not seen since well before the Agreement  those genies cannot be put back in the bottle, he said.

We therefore need a set of measures, across the island and, where possible, on the basis of formal treaties between the two sovereign states involved.
Fianna Fail TDs and Senators in the Republic have signed off on a "partnership" with the SDLP in Northern Ireland.

Under the plan, Micheal Martin's party won't run candidates north of the border, but will canvass for the SDLP in the upcoming local elections.

The arrangement is set to be announced by Mr Martin and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood in Belfast tomorrow.

A proposed merger between the two parties had been the subject of reports but the political partnership that's to be announced will fall short of that.

Sources said it would involve the two parties working together in a more intense way on policy, with Brexit identified as the most pressing cross-border issue.

The plan for the partnership was formally endorsed at a private meeting of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party last night.

However, it is understood that there won't be Fianna Fail candidates in Northern Ireland in the upcoming local elections.

The SDLP is said to want to run its own candidates and many have already been selected.

Fianna Fail politicians will canvass for them, and according to one source, the goal is to "strengthen the SDLP and make politics work for the citizens of Northern Ireland".

There are to be a set of "shared principles" announced as the two parties unveil plans for a "stronger relationship" between their organisations.

It is understood that a special party conference will be held in mid-February to vote on the new arrangements.

Senior SDLP figures were being briefed about the imminent announcement last night.

Ahead of the plan being endorsed, a senior Fianna Fail source said at the weekend: "It is not a merger and it's not a preliminary to a merger." There has been widespread speculation in recent years over the possibility of the two parties merging since Mr Martin announced his intention to move Fianna Fail into Northern Ireland in 2014.

Last year Mr Martin said: "I think in terms of political ideology and narrative, there are many similarities between us and the SDLP." He was also forced to sack Eamon O Cuiv and Senator Mark Daly from positions within the party when they announced that independent Fermanagh and Omagh councillor Sorcha McAnespy would be a Fianna Fail candidate without permission.

A source said that she would not run in the election in May under the Fianna Fail banner, but suggested Ms McAnespy may run as an independent or with the SDLP and that there would be "discussions" with her.

The plans for a closer relationship between the two parties have been troubled. In December the SDLP Youth branch restated its position reached at its conference in August 2018 that it was against any merger.

In October the party's Claire Hanna MLA said a merger would be a "rogue move" and would not solve the many problems in Northern Ireland, or within her own party.

And high-profile SDLP councillor Mairia Cahill said last month that talks between her party and Fianna Fail "look very much like a takeover to me".

Last night former Sinn Fein Stormont minister John O' Dowd poked fun at his political opponents on social media.

"It appears the much to do about nothing talks between the SDLP and Fianna Fail have resulted in the SDLP Facebook relationship status changing to 'it's complicated' while Fianna Fail status will remain as 'Partionist'," he tweeted.
A man who drove past the car bomb left outside Londonderry's courthouse at the weekend said it was only after he saw CCTV footage later that it dawned on him how close he had come to being killed.

Ciaran Caldwell (47), who was leaving his daughter and her two friends into the city centre on Saturday night, was one of a number of motorists who drove past the car parked on Bishop Street unaware of its deadly cargo.

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Chilling footage released by the PSNI shows vehicles passing the abandoned car and a group of teenagers walking past minutes before the device inside exploded.

Mr Caldwell, a clerical officer with the Western Health Trust who also works as a part-time taxi driver, said: "I've grown up through the Troubles and there has been many a bomb and many a bomb scare.

"But it wasn't until I saw the CCTV footage and I saw the wee guy running through the gate that I realised I had driven past him and the car bomb.

Expand Close Ciaran Caldwell / Facebook

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"I had my daughter, who is 15, in the car with me and her two friends, who are the same age.

"We were just coming up to Bishop's Gate when this wee boy - hood up and pulled as tight as can be so there was just a gap for his eyes - ran past.

"He ran through the gate and I actually remarked to my daughter about him looking like a real wee hoodie thug, but we drove on through the gate and then noticed the car parked at the courthouse.

"I know you are not allowed to park there but it didn't dawn on me for one second that there could have been a bomb in it.

"I dropped the girls off and a short while later I got a message on the taxi man's WhatsApp group about Bishop Street being cordoned off because of a suspected car bomb at the courthouse."

Mr Caldwell quickly realised then how close they had come to being caught up in the blast.

"I had my daughter and two other people's children in the car with me and it doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened," he said.

"When I saw the footage of the bomb going off, I knew it wasn't a big bomb like some of those we experienced in the Seventies and Eighties, but I knew it was big enough.

"It could easily have killed those children that walked past it and it was big enough to cause serious damage or even death to me, my daughter and her friends.

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"All during the Troubles, with all the bombs and the shooting that went on in Derry, this was the closest I have been to anything to the point that I said: 'How lucky was I?'.

"In my head now I have accepted that I was lucky last Saturday night, but it has still affected me.

"I had been watching the coverage of all the hijackings that went on on Monday and when I went to get petrol I was genuinely scared driving last night.

"I kept thinking if I pull up at a set of traffic lights, is someone going to jump out of a hedge and take my car and set it alight? That is the first time ever I sat and worked out a route to the petrol station wondering about places where I would have to sit at traffic lights."

He said it was "scandalous" that such attacks were happening more than 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement.

"It is also absolutely not acceptable that my 15-year-old daughter - born five years after the Good Friday Agreement - all day on Monday she was sending me texts: 'Daddy, there's another bomb scare', 'Daddy they've hijacked another van', 'Daddy I think I heard a bomb'.

"For the first time in her life she has had to face the reality of what we lived through and that's not acceptable. I am sure the families of all those young ones who walked past that car bomb are thinking the exact same as me."

Mr Caldwell shares the anger expressed by the people of Derry about Saturday's bomb attack and the three security alerts which followed on Monday.

He added: "I do not for one second believe in my heart that these young fellas that are doing these things are following a cause or belief that has been indoctrinated in them.

"I believe they are people who have been handed 50 and told to take that car and drive it wherever and they are doing it in fear of the boys who are ordering them.

"I think the whole thing is orchestrated by a group of bigoted men around a kitchen table planning these things.

"They are cowards because it isn't them that is doing it, they are intimidating youngsters who have grown up being told to hate the police, hate the Brits, and then some guy they think has power orders them to do something.

"I am sure that young fella who got out of that car at the courthouse was terrified driving that car. How close was he to death? Closer than anybody.

"And what good did it do? All those businesses on Bishop Street that depend on passing trade are still there but people won't want to go up there because of the courthouse that those thugs think is a 'legitimate target'.

"The only thing that was achieved last Saturday night was a lot of Derry people, including children, had their lives put in danger - but we can only thank God no one was killed."
The inquiry into the recall of patients of suspended neurologist Dr Michael Watt has so far received 23,000 pages of evidence.

Politicians yesterday attended a cross-party briefing by the independent neurology inquiry, which was set up by the Department of Health.

Last May officials revealed they were contacting around 2,500 health service patients and just over 110 private patients after concerns were raised about the consultant's work.

Last October it was announced that an additional 1,044 former patients would also be recalled.

The inquiry, chaired by Brett Lockhart QC, is reviewing the recall of neurology patients by the Belfast Trust.

SDLP deputy leader Nichola Mallon was among those who attended yesterday's briefing.

Those present heard that more than 160 responses to a patient questionnaire had been received, with 48 witnesses having already been seen by the panel.

Around 60 more witnesses are yet to appear, while 23,000 pages of evidence are being scrutinised.

Ms Mallon said: "It was reassuring to hear from the panel that patients' voices will be heard in their final report and recommendations.

"As the only investigation into this scandal that has given a platform to patients, this is critically important.

"It is vitally important that all aspects of this investigation are followed through in a timely and robust manner."

The inquiry is investigating the circumstances leading to the patient recall for the period between November 2016 and May 2018, and to evaluate corporate governance procedures within the Belfast Trust.

The probe will also review the trust's handling of relevant complaints or concerns identified or received prior to November 2016, and participation in processes to maintain standards of professional practice, including appraisals. Earlier this month Dr Watt was suspended from practice following a hearing by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
The political deadlock at Stormont is damaging childrens health, medics have warned

Political deadlock in Northern Ireland is risking the health of children, with no real progress in child health policy, doctors have warned.

A panel aimed at preventing child deaths and a strategy for dealing with child obesity are among the key issues which haven't been actioned because of the two-year stalemate.

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Northern Ireland has the highest child mortality rate in the UK.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) Ireland has called for decisive leadership that puts 'children's health before politics'.

It warns that the mental health of children and young people is progressively slipping into deeper levels of crisis. It also states that a quarter of children are overweight or obese.

The findings are outlined in a new report, 'State of Child Health Northern Ireland: Two years on', which warns of danger ahead if the impasse is not resolved.

The power-sharing Executive collapsed in January 2017 in the wake of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal.

A series of talks to restore the institutions have stalled amid disagreements between the DUP and Sinn Fein around issues such as the Irish language and legacy.

Today's RCPCH bulletin looks at progress made against a series of recommendations from its 2017 State of Child Health report.

It reveals there has been no progress across a range of issues.

These include:

Preventing child deaths. The Child Deaths Overview Panel is yet to be implemented - despite the legislation to establish it being passed - making it harder to learn from child deaths here and prevent cases reoccurring. The Protect Life 2: A Strategy for Suicide Prevention remains in draft form and without a focus on children, meaning they continue to be neglected;

Service improvement. Failure to capture high quality child health data is making it harder to identify and meet the needs of children and young people;

Delivering high quality health education to children. Standardising the Personal Social Health and Education curriculum, and ensuring it tackles issues around mental health, nutrition, sex and relationships, bullying and social inclusion, resilience, drugs and alcohol, across all primary and post primary schools has not been achieved;

Preventing child obesity. There are no plans to extend the measurement of children so data is captured after birth, before school and in adolescence, nor plans to reduce the proximity of fast food outlets to schools, colleges, leisure centres and other places where children gather;

Developing research capacity to drive improvements in children's health - the report states the impending departure from the EU makes this even more concerning.

Dr Ray Nethercott from RCPCH said the "chaotic" political paralysis was risking the health of young people.

"It has been two years since the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed and our optimism that the situation would be resolved and power restored, has now turned to dismay," he said.

"This scorecard reveals child health policy has stalled and where progress had been made before dissolution - a draft Children and Young People's Strategy and a draft Suicide Prevention Strategy - the absence of Ministers and MLAs has meant that very little policy development or implementation have been achieved since.

"What I find most alarming, especially in light of the recent Hyponatraemia-related deaths Inquiry, is that Northern Ireland remains without a Child Death Overview Panel. Without it, we cannot fully learn why children die and prevent future deaths.

"Our political system lacks leadership and as a result, is in a chaotic state. I urge politicians from all political parties to put an end to this damaging deadlock, put children's health before politics and put child health at the top of the agenda before it is too late."

Today's report does note progress in several areas, including road safety. A new graduated driver licensing system is expected to be introduced in Northern Ireland in 2019/20, and some areas are trialling 20mph zones to create safer environments for children to walk, cycle and play.

The Department of Health has continued to monitor progress against the Breastfeeding - a great start: a strategy for Northern Ireland 2013-2023 report, and have published a mid-term review on its implementation.

Dr Nethercott continued: "Given the current political crisis in Northern Ireland, it is miraculous that any policy has been introduced.

"Northern Ireland has the highest child mortality rate in the UK across all age groups.

"After the first year of life, during the teenage years are where they are most likely to occur."

He added: "As many of these deaths are potentially avoidable, policies on improved road and home safety will most certainly help."
Ian Paisley's claim that he flew first class to an event in New York at a charity's expense because he was invited "at the last minute" has been disputed after a guest list mentioning his presence two weeks beforehand emerged.

The DUP man has faced criticism for billing the charity nearly 6,000 for his travel and accommodation. The North Antrim MP flew to New York in February 2018 to participate in a seminar about Northern Ireland's peace process on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

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He spoke on a panel at the 20 Years Of Peace conference alongside former SDLP MP Mark Durkan and ex-Sinn Fein MP Pat Doherty.

The event was organised by Co-operation Ireland, an all-island peace-building charity that encourages dialogue and collaboration between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The charity paid Mr Paisley's bill, according to the House of Commons register of interests.

Mr Paisley said yesterday that he had "put himself out" for Co-operation Ireland to fly first class to attend the occasion "at the last minute".

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However, documents show that he was listed as a guest speaker on February 7 - some 15 days before the event at The Metropolitan Club in Manhattan, which cost up to $1,000 a ticket.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last night, Mr Paisley said his attendance was only confirmed on the conference panel two days before the event.

He said the trip only lasted 24 hours due to his "unbreakable engagements" at Westminster the day before and in Ballymena the day after.

He said: "I am not responsible for what is said or speculated about me.

"I only confirmed my attendance at the NYC event after it was confirmed that I could meet my previous engagements the day before travelling and the day after the event when I had to be in Northern Ireland. And not before it was confirmed that the costs were cleared."

According to the register of interests, Mr Paisley received 6,327.34 to cover a 5,925.11 flight and 402.23 for accommodation from the charity. He is facing calls to repay the money to Co-operation Ireland.

Mr Paisley hit out at the criticism he has received, claiming it was part of a "media witch-hunt" against him.

He added: "There was much discussion about this event in the weeks before it.

"None of that changes the fact that I had unbreakable engagements either side of it and could only be there for less than a day.

"Most sane people would understand that sort of scheduling has an impact on costs."

Others who attended the event, including the Republic's Tanaiste Simon Coveney, flew economy on budget airline Norwegian Air. His expenses were covered by the Irish Government.

Mr Paisley told the Ballymena Guardian earlier: "All the travel costs were pre-approved by Co-operation Ireland.

"I was asked at the last minute by Co-operation Ireland to speak at this event as another speaker had unexpectedly become unavailable. I was asked to attend just a couple of days before travelling.

"Initially I refused as I could not make the time work as I was in Parliament the day before and the day after the event, and I had unbreakable engagements in my constituency.

"The organisers said they would fly me back immediately. I was there for 24 hours. I understand that all the costs were met by the charity sponsor of the event and not from charity funds. I certainly did not bill for my services.

"The organisation paid for the travel directly and agreed everything in advance. I put myself out to be there for less than a day to help complete their conference panel."

Co-operation Ireland has so far declined to respond to Mr Paisley's comments.

Last July MPs voted to suspend Mr Paisley from the House of Commons for 30 sitting days for failing to declare two family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan Government in 2013, estimated to be worth around 50,000.

Then, in December, it emerged that he was given a complimentary family holiday to the Maldives in 2016, which he also did not declare.

BBC Spotlight alleged that the visit was requested by the Maldivan Government and facilitated by the resort owner, who had political links, while Mr Paisley said that he had paid for part of the trip, while a friend paid for the rest.
Theresa May asked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn why he was prepared to meet the IRA without pre-conditions but not talk to her on Brexit on a similar footing.

She made the comments in the House of Commons as the Labour leader pressed her on taking a no-deal Brexit off the table and if she would reverse her policy on no customs union with the EU.

The Prime Minister has asked MPs from across the Commons to meet with her. However, Mr Corbyn has rejected the invitation until she rules out a no deal possibility on the UK's departure.

Mr Corbyn said that while her door may be open, "minds were closed".

He said: "After the overwhelming defeat of her deal, the Prime Minister says she wants solutions to the Brexit crisis that command sufficient support in the House.

"The Chancellor and Business Secretary agree, and I quote, there is a large majority opposed to no deal, so will the Prime Minister listen to her own Cabinet members and take no deal off the table?"

Mrs May said the way to avoid no deal was to work with her to agree a deal and asked why Mr Corbyn refused to meet her without pre-conditions. She said the way to avoid no deal was to work with her.

"He has been willing to sit down with Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA without pre-conditions, yet he won't meet me to talk about Brexit," she told MPs.

Mr Corbyn urged Mrs May to confirm whether she rules out a customs union with the European Union, to which the PM said she wants to sit down with the Labour leader to work out his plans on the issue.

She said: "If he won't talk about it there's only one conclusion - he hasn't got a clue."

In his concluding remarks, Mr Corbyn also told the Commons: "The door of her office might be open but the minds are closed and the Prime Minister is clearly not listening.

"She has shown no flexibility whatsoever.

He went on: "Across the country people are worried about public services, their living standards and rising levels of personal debt.

"While a third of her Government are at the billionaires' jamboree in Davos, she says she's listening but rules out changes on the two issues where there might be a majority - against no-deal and for a customs union, part of Labour's sensible Brexit alternative.

"If the Prime Minister is serious about finding a solution, which of her red lines is she prepared to abandon?"

Mrs May fired back to Mr Corbyn: "He makes claims about minds being closed, he asks about red lines - why doesn't he just come and talk about it?

"He talks about people up and down this country and what they're seeing.

"Well, let me tell him what we've just seen this week: borrowing this year at its lowest level for 16 years; the IMF saying that we'll grow faster than Germany, Italy and Japan this year; UN figures showing foreign direct investment in the UK up last year; employment rate up, number of people in work up, wages up; and the biggest threat to all of that would be a Labour government."
The crowd at the Wolfe Tones concert at Feile an phobail

Concerns have been raised around a plan to award a large chunk of additional council funding to the west Belfast Feile an Phobail.

Belfast City Council recommended members approve an extra 200k funding for the event at a meeting earlier this month.

An Alliance councillor has said her concerns are not over where the money is going, but rather the process of awarding the cash.

"In in the interim none of us feel comfortable saying "just spend that money", without any justification. I wanted to know where did those figures come from, how much had we given previously, etc to see if there was a pattern," said Sian O'Neill.

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Plans for Belfast's City Cultural Programme was discussed at the City Growth and Regeneration Committee on January 9.

Council is working to develop a new cultural strategy from April 2020, and are putting an interim plan in place for 2019/2010.

The funding allocation recommendations were part of a report from Festival and Events International (FEI) commissioned by council to examine the festival and events strategy.

The report identified three festivals, the Maritime Festival, Belfast International Arts Festival and the Feile and recommended they be awarded funding as having the potential to develop into "key Belfast Signature Events"

At the December meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, members agreed to allocate an additional budget of 320,000 to help develop the events during 2019/20.

The funding was allocated from council's specified reserve in order to help in the development of a long term cultural programme.

From the budget an extra 25k will be awarded to the Belfast International Arts Festival and an extra 200,000 to the Feile.

The remaining 95k is allocated to support growth festivals around the city.

The Feile will receive another 39k from the annual budget, with the Belfast International Arts Festival receiving 39k. The 240k cost of the Maritime Festival will be entirely funded by the annual budget.

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At the January meeting of the City Growth and Regeneration Committee councillors decided to defer approving the funding following a motion from Alliance Councillor Sian O'Neill, with only Sinn Fein councillors voting in favour of going ahead with the plan.

Councillors are set to receive more information on the funding at party briefings in the coming weeks, with the funding being raised again at next month's meeting of the City Growth and Regeneration issue.

Councillor O'Neill said she has concerns around the awarding of the funding, and the transparency of the application process.

"We are not saying these organisations or events are not deserving of the funding, but we want to see a justification for ratepayers money being spent," the Alliance councillor explained.

"Was there ever an application put forward (for funding), do we know what all that money is spent on?"

She said that there were concerns smaller events were losing out when applying for arts funding.

"We are trying to grow grassroots festivals and events within our city and I feel if you have a monopoly at the top that money isn't going to trickle down and get our other arts organisations to a point where their festivals can grow," Councillor O'Neill said.

"At the minute there's a top down approach and there's very much a monopoly on certain events.

"I believe that there needs to be a fair, open and transparent way of funding our arts, that's the only way we are going to grow our arts, from the bottom up."

Former Culture Night Belfast manager Adam Turkington said that many worthy arts and culture groups in Belfast had been overlooked by the proposal.

"I operate commercially now, because I'm so disillusioned by the whole nonsense. The Feile is worth the money, but there has got to be parity of esteem in terms of the different offerings that are out there," he said.

"Organisations across the board spend large amounts of time jumping through funding hoops, and this isn't fair."

A Belfast City Council spokesperson said the issue had been "deferred for further consideration".
Martin Howe QC said the backstop would constrain the UKs negotiating powers in trade talks with the EU after Brexit (Parliament/PA).

The Irish border backstop would constrain the UKs negotiating position during post-separation trade talks, a pro-Brexit legal expert said.

Martin Howe QC, who chairs Lawyers for Britain, said there would be no incentive for the EU to make concessions if the backstop was the default.

Another barrister who gave evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the legalities behind the measure said the bloc wanted to strike a deal.

Mrs Mayas search for alegal assurancesa: a charade to change perceptions but not substance.

- By Martin Howe QC, Chairman of Lawyers for Britainhttps://t.co/FVnEBlHSWn  Lawyers For Britain (@lawyers4britain) January 10, 2019

Mr Howe said: You cannot hold out for your essential interests.

If you fail to reach agreement these terms come into effect, that constrains your negotiating power.

Why should the other side give you better terms unless you are able to offer them something else in return that is better for them?

We are going in with our hands tied behind our backKate Hoey

He gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs at Westminster.

Labour MP Kate Hoey summarised his comments: We are going in with our hands tied behind our back.

The backstop, contained in the proposed EU withdrawal treaty, has been characterised as an insurance policy which neither side wants to use.

It would come into effect only if no better deal is struck during trade talks after Brexit.

Mr Howe said: You cannot really argue that even if it does not come into force it does not have a very, very severe constraining effect on the UKs negotiating position.

He added that the draft protocol created more uncertainty.

The danger is that the backstop gets triggered if they are not finished by the end of 2020.

It makes it impossible for the UK to conclude and negotiate trade treaties with third parties because we dont know when you can implement them.

Legal counsel Isabelle Van Damme said the UK and EUs economies had historically been well integrated.

Expand Close Legal counsel Isabelle Van Damme challenged the notion that the EU was not interested in striking a deal with the UK (Parliament/PA). / Facebook

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Whatsapp Legal counsel Isabelle Van Damme challenged the notion that the EU was not interested in striking a deal with the UK (Parliament/PA).

She challenged the assumption that Europe was not interested in striking a deal.

I have a bit of a difficulty with accepting that as a starting point because there are so many matters in which the EU and the 27 member states co-operate to the advantage of the respective economies.

Mr Howe, nephew of former Conservative chancellor in the Thatcher administration, Geoffrey Howe, addressed the impact of a no-deal Brexit on the Republic of Ireland.

Ireland uses Great Britain as a relatively cheap landbridge to transit goods from mainland Europe.

He said: In a no-deal scenario, whatever else happens, it will be important to come to arrangements with the Republic of Ireland which smooth the flow of such transit traffic.

He added that the EU should be encouraged not to unnecessarily obstruct British lorries going through Calais.
The prospect of Britain remaining in the EU after March has increased after shadow chancellor John McDonnell signalled Labour could back plans to seek an Article 50 extension to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Mr McDonnell said it was highly likely the opposition would back a sensible cross-party amendment tabled by Yvette Cooper and Nick Boles which seeks time for a bill to suspend the withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

International Development Secretary Liam Fox on Wednesday warned that some amendments tabled by backbenchers presented a real danger constitutionally.

Accusing some MPs of plotting to stay in the EU, he said such an act would be politically calamitous and worse for the country than a no-deal Brexit.

Mr McDonnell had told BBC Twos Newsnight on Tuesday: Yvette Cooper has put an amendment down, which I think is sensible  so I think its increasingly likely already that well have to take that option because the Government has run the clock down.

Mr McDonnell said Labour had to go through its own party processes to determine whether they would back it, but added: Its highly likely but well go through our normal process of consultation with our members.

aYvette Cooper has put an amendment down, which I think is sensible,a says Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell adding aitas increasingly likelya Labour would back her amendment@johnmcdonnellMP | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/RB1hi3EQHS  BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) January 22, 2019

Labours support would give the amendment a major boost, but extending the Article 50 period would require a separate bill to pass the House of Commons in the face of Government and almost certain DUP opposition, and win backing from the other 27 EU states.

Mr Boles tweeted on Wednesday: Front bench Labour support is very welcome but not sufficient to secure victory.

We will need other opposition parties to follow suit and a good many Conservatives too to join them.

Ms Coopers amendment is one of several tabled by MPs to the Prime Ministers deal, the rejection of which by an overwhelming 230 votes last week has thrown into doubt proposals for a backstop to keep the Irish border open.

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In a break from usual procedures, the amendments will be voted on by MPs on January 29 in another day of high Brexit drama in the Commons which could put Mrs May under intense political pressure to change course.

One, tabled by Tory Dame Caroline Spelman and Labours Jack Dromey, would effectively rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Another, from Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve, would give MPs powers to take control of the parliamentary agenda on a series of days in the run-up to the official date of EU withdrawal on March 29 to pass resolutions on the way ahead.

The chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, Conservative Andrew Murrison, put forward proposals  which he said were designed to appeal to moderate MPs who just want Brexit sorted  for a time limit on the backstop.

Labours frontbench tabled its own amendment calling for a vote on the partys plan for a customs union with the EU and on whether to legislate for a public vote.

The government has a "duty to leave the EU" says International Trade Secretary @LiamFox. "The most dangerous thing for Britain politically is for #Brexit to be denied to the people" #r4today https://t.co/HMiLw4V9e9  BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) January 23, 2019

Dr Fox, speaking from Davos on Wednesday, told BBC Radio 4s Today that there are many who talk about delaying Brexit when what they really mean is not having Brexit at all, saying that would be the worst outcome.

Asked if he believed that a delayed Brexit  via an extended Article 50 period  was worse than a no-deal Brexit, he said: You need to think about the political consequences as well as the short-term economic consequences.

There is no doubt that leaving with a deal and minimising disruption both to the UK and our EU trading partners is in our best interest.

But I think the most calamitous outcome would be for Parliament, having promised to respect the result of the referendum, to turn around and say it wouldnt.

Mr Boles later clashed with a fellow Tory, Mike Fabricant, who echoed Mr Foxs comments on MPs trying to block Brexit.

Mr Boles tweeted: Rubbish. Last week I voted for a Brexit deal that would take us out of the EU on 29 March.

You voted to stop it. I am happy to vote for ANY deal that the PM recommends and that will deliver Brexit on time. I will never support revocation of Brexit.

Rubbish. Last week I voted for a Brexit deal that would take us out of the EU on 29 March. You voted to stop it. I am happy to vote for ANY deal that the PM recommends and that will deliver Brexit on time. I will never support revocation of Brexit.  Nick Boles (@NickBoles) January 23, 2019

Tory arch Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg is due to strike a more conciliatory tone in a speech on Wednesday.

The European Research Group chairman, who spearheaded attempts to replace Mrs May as Tory leader in December, is expected to tell the Eurosceptic Bruges Group there has been an outbreak of realism all around.

He is due to say: All along we have been asking merely for the possible, not the impossible.

And late in the day as the EU has inevitably left it, Im sure common sense and practicality will now prevail.

The backstop doesnt work for unionists in the Tory party, or the DUP. The pretence that we might ever swallow it is now over.

Its long past time to get on and just do the feasible deal that has always been there to do.
A Sinn Fein constituency service due to be held in a Co Tyrone church hall has been condemned as a "pathetic political stunt" by anti-abortion activists.

The Tyrone Pro-Life Network also branded Fermanagh and East Tyrone MLA Colm Gildernew's plans to host a walk-in advice service for constituents in the parochial hall of St John's Church in Moy as a "calculated insult" to the faith, given the party's support for abortion.

Catherine Sewell, a spokesperson for umbrella organisation for a number of pro-life groups, is planning a "significant" protest outside the church, where the Sinn Fein surgery is scheduled to take place on Saturday.

"Sinn Fein is a political party with a radical pro-abortion agenda and for it to use a Catholic hall to peddle its policies is nothing short of disgraceful," she said.

Ms Sewell questioned why "one of the richest political parties in Ireland" cannot find a more suitable venue.

"If it wants to hold a clinic in the Moy it can well afford to hire a commercial venue," she said.

"The selection of a Catholic hall is cynical."

The veteran pro-life campaigner accused Sinn Fein of "running scared" from the consequences of its own pro-abortion policies and claimed politicians are "terrified of a voter backlash" in the next election.

"[They] are trying to align themselves with the Catholic Church in the public eye in order to somehow mitigate their abortion stance, and being seen to care about voter issues from a Catholic parochial hall is all part of the plan," she added.

Ms Sewer warned the "stunt is going to backfire" on the party which she said has "ran for cover" every time it has been publicly confronted by activists.

She also claimed that the party had told the parish priest that abortion issues will not be discussed inside the hall.

"How ridiculous is that?" she said. "It misses the point entirely - as a matter of fact we want Sinn Fein to explain it's abortion policy to the public so that people can be shocked at what they stand for in reality.

"Rest assured that abortion will be the only issue debated at the clinic on Saturday."

A Sinn Fein spokesperson defended its MLA's use of the church hall saying that Mr Gildernew "offers constituency services to people of all denominations and none".

However The Very Rev John Connolly said he has not discussed the event with the party, despite the fact that flyers have been issued around the village advertising it.

The leaflet, which features an image of Mr Gildernew and includes his constituency office contact details, states that health is among the list of issues he is seeking to help people with.

"I have not been in contact with anyone from Sinn Fein but I am trying to make contact now," Fr Connolly said. "If it's going to cause upset it will not be happening in the church hall - if that can be avoided then it will be. I will make a determination once I have spoken to representatives from Sinn Fein."

The clergyman vowed that he will not make a decision that is going to anger parishioners or anyone in the wider community.

But Ms Sewer promised that "a few extra surprises" are in store if the clinic goes ahead at 11am.
ScreenPro the express phone screen-repair business arm of Cashify is already making a strong impact across north Indian market and have now announced the launch of its services to the silicon valley of India, Bengaluru. Recently the brand also acqui-hired Chandigarh based startup Teksolvr, in a move to launch its services in Chandigarh Tri-city and other North Indian territories.

Cashify ScreenPro offers an unbeatable quote for a screen repair of choice, and once the quote is accepted, the technician visits the customers preferred location to provide LIVE repair service. The express screen repair service provider has made its strong presence across the North India market and has already become the most preferred screen repair partner for smartphone users.

The Cashify ScreenPro utilizes its strong network of efficient and trained technicians to reduce the screen repair time from a usual 2 day duration (offline market) to a 30minute express service, and at an upfront transparent cost. The idea behind the inception of the services was to provide an easy to avail, affordable and reliable solution for cracked screen problems for smartphones. Almost all major brands can be serviced at transparent prices and it comes with a 6 month warranty and 7-day money-back promise, which makes ScreenPro the most unique & reliable screen repair option, in an unorganized market of inferior screen-quality suppliers.

India is already the second-largest smartphone market in the world in terms of number of users but it is expected to be the biggest market for global smartphone sales in the next few years. This is a huge opportunity for ScreenPro, to become the preferred service partner for customers.

As the introductory offer for the iPhone and Xiaomi Phone users, ScreenPro is offering INR 999 off on the screen repairs. The phones models which are covered under the offer are iPhone 5, iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and Redmi Note 3 and Redmi 4A.

Commenting on the growth of the company, Kshitij Mohan, Business Head-ScreenPro said, The sole purpose of our company is to ensure that customers dont have to wait for days to get their cracked smartphone screens repaired, and to offer quality repair backed by a solid 6-month-warranty. We understand that daily life faces a stopover without a smartphone and thats why we offer an express screen repair service to ensure an instant screen replacement. We understand the importance of customer experience and transparent pricing, therefore we do all of this at the customers doorstep and ensure that the repair is done in 30 minutes. With the expansion to Bengaluru, we hope that this growth continues and we are able to meet the expectations of all our customers, across regions.

ScreenPro has already serviced more than 1lac happy customers across 4 cities (Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh) in India and are looking to expand the business to new geographical locations, aggressively. The launch in Bengaluru is ScreenPros first move to extend its services to the south Indian market.

In a statement, Mr. Amit Sethi, Co- Founder-Cashify.in said As the screen repair market for smartphones is highly unorganized across India, customers often find screen repair very frustrating and time consuming, with the only options being nearby screen repair shops that are neither efficient nor trustworthy. Also screen repair from these vendors often comes with no warranty for the customers, and data-theft is a possible threat. With ScreenPro, we are looking forward to fill the void and ensure express screen repair solutions with upfront warranty and money back promise. Tech centric city like Bengaluru is a huge market for us and I am sure with our top-level services, we will become the most reliable screen repair partner for the customers.

@Technuter.com News Service
Friends and family carry the coffin of Ian Patterson

Hundreds of mourners walked through snow yesterday to pay their final respects to a Co Londonderry man killed in a tragic accident.

Ian Patterson (44) died last Friday after he was electrocuted while changing a light bulb in a shed at his home.

His parents, David and Lorna, and their surviving son Stephen led mourners to St Paul's Church in Articlave where Rev Adam Quigley added his words of comfort.

Mr Patterson was described as a "devoted and loving father" to his two children, Lewis and Neve.

The TV aerial and satellite dish installer was a well regarded businessman in the close-knit community of Articlave.
Twelve abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland last year, official statistics show.

The 1967 Abortion Act, which established legal abortion, has never applied in Northern Ireland

Terminations are only permitted in cases where the womans life is in danger or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental or physical health.

Amnesty International is seeking liberalisation of the strict rules and said more than 900 women travelled to England and Wales for the procedure during the same period.

12 terminations carried out in NI '17/'18 -DH figs published today. Meanwhile 900+ travelled to England for abortion services & countless others went online to buy abortion pills. NI law is unfit & cruel #ItsTime for change @NIOgov @PennyMordaunt https://t.co/JbgtV56qB7 #NowforNI pic.twitter.com/o2XyHEaqFU  Grainne Teggart (@GTeggart) January 23, 2019

Campaign manager Grainne Teggart said: Theres a significant gap between the number of women who were allowed an abortion in Northern Ireland last year compared with the number of women who travelled to access the service.

This demonstrates just how restrictive and unfit Northern Irelands abortion law is.

Terminations are available on the NHS for women from Northern Ireland elsewhere in the UK.

Amnesty believes the procedure should be provided in Northern Ireland but it faces strong opposition from pro-life lobbyists and the DUP who stress the sanctity of the unborn infants life.

Ms Teggart said: Because of the near-total abortion ban in Northern Ireland, up to 1,000 women fly to other parts of the UK to have abortions every year.

Countless others go online to purchase abortion pills, risking prosecution in doing so.

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Stormonts Department of Health said there were 12 terminations of pregnancy in health service hospitals in Northern Ireland during 2017/18, one less than the previous year.

Eight involved women aged 30 and over and four on those aged 25-29.

They were carried out on women normally resident in Northern Ireland.

Ms Teggart said: How can it be the case that its OK for women to fly to England or now get a train to the Republic of Ireland to have an abortion, but its not OK for them to access the health service at home?

It makes no sense. Its time the UK Government ended the hypocrisy and inequality.

Northern Ireland has one of the cruellest abortion laws in the world, and our reproductive rights are falling further and further behind.

The UK Government cannot ignore the grave situation for women here. Abortion must be decriminalised  made free, safe and accessible without having to travel.
Leo Varadkar has warned opposition leaders border checks in the event of a no-deal Brexit could be operated in France or the Netherlands and that the EU could treat the UK and the Republic "as one block", according to reports.

The Irish Examiner reports the Taoiseach gave the warning during a meeting with party leaders on Tuesday evening.

Mr Varadkar and his department secretary general John Callinan said the European Union could move control of any border away from Ireland and on to mainland Europe if the UK and EU cannot agree a withdrawal agreement.

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The newspaper reports opposition leaders were told of the possibility of a third country operating new border processes.

Produce leaving Ireland for mainland Europe would be vetted at ports such as in Calais in France or Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

A source told the Irish Examiner: "It was said that it would be very catastrophic for us if the border was in Calais. The whole vibe is to sit tight. There was a mention of this in extremis and for it be avoided at all costs.

Another source present at the meeting said: The risk is restrictions could be imposed in Calais or Rotterdam as they [the EU] would not trust us. It would be if the UK was bringing in chlorinated chicken or the likes into Ireland.

Those present at the meeting were told a third country, such as France, could take the lead on border infrastructure that would apply to Ireland and the UK "as one block".

However, on Tuesday EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters it was "obvious" there would be a hard border in Ireland in a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Schinas comments come despite both the Irish and British governments making firm commitments there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland.
The celebrated and unflinchingly forthright Belfast poet Padraic Fiacc has died at the age of 94, just 10 days after the Irish President Michael D Higgins paid a private and emotional visit to see him and thank him for his life's work.

The acclaimed writer, who spent part of his early life in New York and who was at times rebuked by critics for his observations on the Troubles, passed away peacefully in a south Belfast care facility, minutes after the artist Michael McKernon read him one of his poems, A Want in Me, one of his favourite works.

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President Higgins said in a statement last night that he had learnt with great sadness of the death of Fiacc, whom he described as an "acclaimed poet with a unique perspective and courageous realism".

He added: "Having experienced tragedy and loss, Padraic Fiacc was never afraid to reflect dark, deeply emotive and disturbing elements in his verse.

"He courageously raised crucial questions about the relationship between violence, poetry and language. His portrayal of the Troubles was stark and revealed an honesty like no other. It was a unique contribution at critical cost. His empathy for the frightened and maimed individuals on either side of the divide shone through his work."

The President described his visit to Fiacc and his reading of a poem to him last week as a privilege. "He leaves a legacy of particular intensity," he said, adding that he and his wife Sabina wanted to express their deepest sympathy to Fiacc's family, friends and colleagues.

"He will be fondly missed by all of us who had the privilege of knowing him."

For Michael McKernon, Fiacc's death marks the end of an 18-year friendship with the poet whom he hailed as a genius. "He illuminated our lives and many of us were touched by his work," he said.

But he added that Fiacc's life was deeply affected on a personal level by the Troubles, particularly the murder of a young poet whom he had been mentoring, 20-year-old Gerard McLaughlin, who was shot dead by the UVF in a sectarian slaying in Newtownabbey in April 1975.

Michael said the killing devastated Fiacc who saw in McLaughlin a lot of himself from his earlier years.

Fiacc's home at Glengormley had been a hub for a host of aspiring writers like McLaughlin and established poets like Seamus Heaney.

Michael admitted that he'd never heard of Fiacc when he was first approached to paint his portrait.

Fiacc was in "a bad place", according to Michael, who said his alcoholism had been a blight on his life.

Michael said: "Padraic asked me to read some of his poems to him and I became captivated by his work. I continued with the portrait and I would take him out in the car for a run every Saturday to somewhere like the Mournes. He loved getting out and we would discuss poetry and everything else.

"But the alcoholism bugged me. I feared he was drinking himself to death. I decided to chance my arm and asked him if he would work on a book of poetry which I would illustrate. It was the start of a journey for him and me. Right away his eyes lit up and he changed almost immediately and the drinking stopped.

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"The end result 18 months later was a book called Sea which was launched at Belfast's Linenhall Library where officials had to close the doors because there were so many people coming into the building that it was deemed a safety risk."

The recognition was a boost that Fiacc had been craving and several similar high profile tributes were to follow in his home city down the years.

But friends said there were times that the attacks on his poetry caused him heartache.

The acclaimed Belfast poet Gerald Dawe addressed the issue in an article for the Irish Times about his friend almost exactly 14 years ago.

He wrote how Fiacc's reputation took "a critical pummelling" in the Seventies for his Troubles work, Odour of Blood, and a controversial anthology, The Wearing of the Black, published by Blackstaff Press, which he edited around the same time, a collection of poems by 82 writers.

Dawe said Fiacc's "unforgettable" poetry sometimes shocked and offended people with their "often barbarous utterances" which were lit through with black irony and gallows humour. But Dawe called for a reconsideration of his work and welcomed the fact that a number of radio and TV programmes had been made about him, that he had received awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and that he had been elected to Aosdana, the affiliation of Irish artists, in 1981.

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He also recalled how a documentary about Fiacc's life had been produced for German television.

Michael McKernon said that Fiacc didn't deserve the criticism that his Troubles poems brought in their wake.

He added: "There was a lot of critical vulgarity and he was ostracised. What he wrote about the Troubles set him apart and there were enemies. But what they didn't realise was that his empathy extended to everyone caught up in the whole mess of the Troubles.

"He wrote of how people who weren't physically injured suffered too. He laid it bare, but some people misread it. But I think he was a very courageous man who was writing about things that few other people were addressing. He went out on the streets, he listened to people and he was fearless. The bombing campaign was at its height but he still walked around in the midst of it all."

After the contentious anthology, The Wearing of the Black, was published, a critic in a national newspaper lambasted it, saying it should have been more balanced with contributions from writers from both sides.

Fiacc hit back, saying that of the 82 writers the majority were actually from the Protestant community.

President Higgins' meeting with Fiacc last week came the night before he attended the funeral of former Belfast Lord Mayor Ian Adamson, who also knew the poet.

The President spent 20 minutes with Fiacc and Michael McKernon said the visit meant a lot to his friend who'd been confined to bed for several years.

He added: "It re-affirmed in his mind a recognition of his contribution to the Irish literary canon. The President presented a copy of his own poem, The Prophets are Weeping, to Padraic after reading it to him."

The poem, the first published by the President since becoming the head of state in 2011, was inspired by the plight of refugees from Syria and elsewhere and also touched on the rise of religious extremism.

"It resonated with Padraic," said Michael. "It struck a chord because his own work embraced downtrodden people affected by conflict from wherever they came. He was very impressed with the President."

The poet was born Patrick Joseph O'Connor in Belfast's Elizabeth Street in 1924. His mother's family had been burnt out of their home in Lisburn.

He was the eldest son of a Belfast barman and IRA man Bernard O'Connor and he joined his father in exile in New York in 1929.

But after the successful family business collapsed they moved from a plush upmarket apartment to live in the notorious working class Hell's Kitchen area.

From an early age at school, Padraic showed an aptitude for writing poetry and plays that teachers said was mature beyond his years.

In his teens, however, he trained to be a priest - some said to avoid being drafted into the American Army - but he didn't complete his studies in the seminary in upstate New York and dropped out after five years to concentrate on his artistic interests which included playing the piano.

He returned to Belfast in 1946 and quickly began to publish his poetry. He adopted the pseudonym Padraic Fiacc - Irish for raven - at the behest of another poet Padraic Colum.

Fiacc's collection Woe to the Boy won the prestigious George 'AE' Russell memorial award for poetry in 1957.

By then Fiacc's star was very much in the ascendancy in Northern Ireland but his work became influenced by the onset of the Troubles.

The re-awakening of interest in his literary career through the decades brought him a new sense of satisfaction.

Two years ago Fiacc turned over the vast majority of his papers to Michael McKernon who has made a number of films in tribute to the poet including one called Stormbird - the title coming from one of the poet's works - which was premiered at the MAC in Belfast, with London-based actor Jonjo O'Neill portraying Fiacc in intervals during breaks in the production.

Michael said: "It's amazing that I am still finding hidden depths about Padraic and his work and his personality. It's been an incredible life."

The poet has asked Michael to write his life story and he said he planned to honour his wishes. He said he regarded it as an honour to ensure that people here knew more about Fiacc.

"If you ask people in Belfast do they know who he is, most people will say no. A lot of his life has been underplayed. But to me he was nothing less than a genius. I have been blessed to know him. "

The head of literature and drama at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Damian Smyth, paid tribute to Fiacc, saying his legacy was for ever assured.

He added: "Fiacc lived long enough to see that the risks he took in writing poems about the Troubles happening literally on his own doorstep produced work which reached outside the small world of the art form to the general public, as well as challenging and refreshing established writers.

"He did after all find a way to write about horror that was frank, humane, fair, generous, without vindictiveness, and with considerable and enviable artistic skill."

Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said: "Throughout his long career, Padraic Fiacc established himself as one of the most distinctive voices of his generation. In our long and rich tradition of poetry, he ranks amongst the best, and his place in Northern Irish literary history is assured. Because his honesty and drive to bear witness to his times is so direct, unflinching and uncompromising - no matter how hard these things are for us to hear - as a chronicler of the Troubles, he is unsurpassed."

Poet and writer Maria McManus, said: "It is the work of a pure poet such as Fiacc, to speak the truth. He did so tenderly, sometimes brutally, and his truth is as a grain of sand in an oyster shell, uncomfortable, something gritty, and necessary in the transformation of suffering to beauty.

We are the poorer for his passing, and all the more enriched for the legacy of his poetry."

Patrick Ramsey, Fiacc's publisher for many years at Lagan Press, said: "Padraic Fiacc reminded us of the moral duties of the artist to witness, to record faithful to that witness and to endure. That he did so was in itself astonishing but to have also done so with such aesthetic and poetic brilliance is nothing less than a miracle of defiance and hope. His poems will last."

Enemy Encounter

for Lilac

Dumping

(left over from the autumn)

Dead leaves, near a culvert

I come on a British Army Soldier

with a rifle and a radio

Perched hiding.

He has red hair.

He is young enough to be my weenie-bopper daughter's boyfriend.

He is like a lonely little winter robin.

We are that close to each other, I

can nearly hear his heart beating.

I say something bland to make him grin,

But his glass eyes look past my side

- whiskers down the Shore Road Street.

I am an Irishman and he is afraid

That I have come to kill him
As we start to see the frost forming on our cars for the first time this year, it's likely some lucky people will begin to turn their thoughts to a winter holiday.

One of those lucky people is mum who is already away at the moment and enjoying some sunshine. But it was a cold start to head to the renal unit yesterday at Belfast City Hospital where I was having one of my regular post-transplant check-ups.

I've talked before about how well they look after kidney patients and keep an eye on us and I have nothing but praise for their attentive care.

When I was there I was lucky enough to bump into the BBC's Stephen Watson who you will remember followed us with a camera crew while mum and I were going through our transplant operation last March. Scary to think that we are almost heading for our first anniversary - or maybe that should be our 'kidneyversary'!

It was lovely to chat to Stephen and also to hear that the documentary Life on the List is almost complete and is likely to be aired on the BBC in May. This will be a fantastic boost for the organ donation and kidney community in Northern Ireland as Stephen's programme will give it such a superb, high profile.

Meanwhile, Brexit dominates our news as we move from Plan A to Plan B and beyond. I talked earlier about planning those winter holidays, but I want to talk for a while about how a 'no deal' Brexit could impact the future holiday plans of the 29,000 people who are on dialysis right across the country.

Currently, dialysis patients have the right to travel to the EU and receive their life-maintaining dialysis through reciprocal healthcare agreements using the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

If a 'no deal' happens, those patients, without an EHIC, would have to pay about 1,000 per week. No insurance is available for them meaning that effectively patients are unable to travel any more.

That's why it's so important that we ensure these issues are brought to the fore because it's essential to retain the rights of UK citizens to receive healthcare free of charge within EU countries. There are very limited dialysis slots to receive this within the UK.

While this is a matter of receiving treatment there is also the issue of reciprocal organ donation between the UK and other EU countries.

In 2017/18, 22 organs from deceased donors came into the UK from the EU, while 26 organs left the UK with 19 going to the EU and seven to non-EU countries.

The current arrangements are that donated organs which don't match a recipient in the EU may be offered to UK recipients. Likewise, if a donated organ cannot be used in the UK, the organs will be offered within the EU transferred and transplanted there, increasing the number of successful transplants for all.

If the EU directive, agreements and conventions ceased to apply to the UK, continued cross border transplant arrangements might no longer apply which could have the impact of reducing the number of successful kidney transplants and could lead to the wastage of valuable donated organs.

That's why we need to see the continued sharing of human organs for transplantation across EU borders. It saves lives whilst at the same time honouring the wishes of those who choose to donate their organs so that others might live.

I want to pay tribute to those making these points and raising the issues with those at the forefront of negotiations, particularly mum's charity Kidney Care UK which is actively engaging on these issues as negotiations are progressing.

As Robert Frost once put it ironically: "Good fences make good neighbours." In the issue of organ donation and transplantation, and the support provided to dialysis patients, restrictive arrangements, or no arrangements at all, would impact upon lives and indeed put lives at risk.

As we move to Plan B and discuss arrangements for the future we must never forget the needs of patients and the continued need for our health service to receive the reforms it has so long required.
Huge following: Huda Kattan has nearly three million YouTube subscribers

To her legions of fans, Huda Kattan is best known for her impeccable make-up skills.

The 35-year-old trained as a make-up artist before starting a beauty blog that evolved into the wildly successful Huda Beauty brand.

Now the Dubai-based mogul has 31.5 million Instagram followers and nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers who tune in to watch her create a perfectly blended smoky-eye or contoured lipstick look.

But as well as make-up techniques, fans are equally keen to know how the businesswoman looks after her skin.

"I get asked about skincare all the time," Kattan tells me when visiting the UK to promote her new Kayali fragrance range.

"A lot of people struggle with skin, especially when you wear so much make-up, and there's your hormones.

"People travel more now, there's so many things we're exposed to."

While her complexion may appear flawless, Kattan admits she's struggled with acne as an adult.

"I just don't have great skin - I'm really acne prone," she says. "I do still breakout, but I've learned not to overreact, because whenever I used to get a zit, I would overreact.

"Your skin is an organ, it's the biggest organ, so you need to be calm and now I just leave it. I let it take care of itself."

The cosmetics queen is using her skin expertise to formulate her own skincare products, set to launch in 2019, "if everything goes as planned".

"It's going to be very targeted and very specific. It's not going to be a full, huge range," she explains.

In the meantime, we wanted to know what Kattan uses for her own healthy-looking complexion, and as you might imagine, for a multi-millionaire CEO, it involves some seriously posh products.

Here are Huda Kattan's six skincare essentials...

1. Anti-oxidant serum

"There are a few products from SkinCeuticals I can't live without, like their C E Ferulic oil. Oh my God, it's so good, I can't live without it," Kattan says.

The potent serum combines vitamins C and E with ferulic acid (an organic compound found in plant cell walls) to deliver a triple hit of skin-boosting antioxidants.

SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic, 135

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2. Anti-ageing serum

"With Guerlain, I can't use all their products because I do break out from some of them being so rich, but their Orchidee Imperiale serum is divine. My husband uses it, I use it, my sisters use it - it's the best.

"Apparently it's the one that you're supposed to use before your wedding because it makes you glow. I use it every day now. I buy it in the airport."

Guerlain Orchidee Imperiale The Longevity Concentrate, 310.50, Escentual

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3. Face oil

"Ren Rose Oil is something I've sworn by for so long," Kattan says.

Containing rose, carthame (a yellow, thistle-like plant) and sea buckthorn oils, a few drops of this silky formula is designed to hydrate and smooth your skin.

Ren Rose O12 Moisture Defence Oil, 42

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4. Eye cream

"I feel like Anne Semonin is such an underrated brand; a lot of people don't know about it. The quality is just impeccable and very effective.

"Her Eye Contour cream is just the best. It's like a gel-water texture, and it's amazing. I love it."

Anne Semonin Miracle Eye Contour Anti-Wrinkle Cream, 110

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5. Face cream

"I just recently started using Dr Barbara Sturm, too. I love her stuff.

"The Face Cream is really nice, I use it when I travel. And she's really good for acne-prone skin."

Dr Barbara Sturm Face Cream, 132, Space NK

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6. Moisturiser

Alongside all those premium picks, there is one more affordable product Kattan recommends, a cult French pharmacy favourite: "Embryolisse, I can't live without.

"I actually use the concentrate, I love it for when I have dry skin."

Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre Nourishing Moisturiser, 13, Boots

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Jet2.com's newest Boeing plane was flown from America's Pacific Northwest to the airline's Leeds Bradford base yesterday by Northern Ireland-born captain Stephen Gates.

The plane had been assembled in Boeing's Renton factory outside Seattle. At the outset, its fuselage had travelled around 2,000 miles by railroad from contractor Spirit Aero Systems in Wichita to the Boeing factory.

He said he was looking forward to the journey over Canada, Greenland and Iceland.

While it's a jet designed for short-haul, it's able to make the transatlantic journey as it's not yet fitted with interiors and is not weighed down by passengers.

Mr Gates has worked for the airline for around 10 years. He was brought up in Antrim and attended Ballyclare High before moving to Edinburgh for his studies in engineering.

He said the sense of pride and excitement in flying a new plane for the first time had never left him.

Boeing now bought a total of 34 New Generation (NG) 737 planes over the last two and a half years from the US manufacturing giant. The total list price is around $3.9bn though Jet2 will have bought the planes at a discount.

In January last year, a trade complaint by Boeing against Bombardier - in which Boeing argued that its rival received unfair state subsidies enabling it to win a key order for its C Series with Delta Air Lines - was settled by the US International Trade Commission in Bombardier's favour.

Boeing executives who joined Jet2.com management in Seattle at the delivery ceremony marking the handover of the aircraft weren't keen to comment on the dispute and the company's perspective one year on the craft known as the A220 since its purchase by Airbus. The Renton factory is working on NGs for customers all over the world, from Spice Jet to Air Canada, Delta, South West and Alaska.

The company plans to ramp up production from 52 per month to 57 per month before the last NG leaves the factory in May this year.

And it has around 5,000 orders in backlog for the NG's successor, the 737 max.

Overall, it's delivered 10,000 737s since the narrow-bodied commercial plane was launched in the late 1960s.
Santander is to close 140 branches in the UK, putting more than 1,200 jobs at risk, following a slump in the number of transactions it handles.

The bank said it is consulting with unions and will seek to find alternative roles for 1,270 employees affected by the closures. It expects to redeploy about a third across the group.

The branches involved includes those that are not visited frequently and are in close proximity to another branch.

Following the closures by the end of the year, Santander will retain a network of 614 branches with its customers also having the option to bank using the more than 11,000 Post Office sites across the UK.

The move comes as the number of transactions carried out at Santander branches fell by 23% over the past three years, while transactions online and on mobile phones soared by 99%.

The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years, with more and more customers using online and mobile channelsSusan Allen, Santander

According to consumer group Which?, nearly two thirds of the UKs bank branch network has been lost over the past 30 years.

Banks and building societies had 20,583 branches in 1988 according to parliamentary records, but the consumer groups analysis of current account providers suggests the figure has dwindled to 7,586 branches.

The big high street lenders such as Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group are also closing stores to deal with customers changing banking habits and to reduce costs as well as deal with the challenge from new digital only banks such as Starling and Monzo.

However, the branch closures is also seeing people having to travel long distances in order to access financial services and cash.

Santander also announced that it will spend 55 million refurbishing 100 branches over the next two years in order to focus on personal service, convenience and community engagement.

Susan Allen, head of retail and business banking at Santander, said: The way our customers are choosing to bank with us has changed dramatically in recent years, with more and more customers using online and mobile channels.

As a result, we have had to take some very difficult decisions over our less visited branches, and those where we have other branches in close proximity.

She added that the bank expects the size of its branch network to remain stable for the foreseeable future.

The lender, which is owned by Spanish banking giant Banco Santander, has around 15 million customers and as at the end of last June employed around 24,200 people.
Northern Ireland retained one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe over September to November last year according to the latest labour market data

The 3.4% rate in the third quarter came close to the record low of 3.1% posted in the first quarter of 2018, as unemployment dipped from the second quarter rate of 4.1%. There were 2,000 extra people in employment over the latest quarter, bringing the total number in the workplace to 845,000.

Despite the gains, the new figures revealed a rising number of people classed as economically inactive (neither in work or looking). Northern Ireland's economic activity rate stood at 27.9%, with half of those unemployed out of work for one year or more, double the UK average of 24.9%.

Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said despite having a rate below the UK average, Northern Ireland remains at the bottom of the regional league table for employment and economic inactivity.

The third quarter of 2018 saw the UK record a new record employment rate of 75.8%, against an economic inactivity rate of 21%. "Economists would describe the current state of the labour market conditions in both the UK and NI as 'tight'," said Mr Ramsey.

"This term means that both economies are close to full employment with recruitment difficulties and labour shortages fuelling wage growth."

He said that skills and labour shortages remain a growing concern within Northern Ireland, particularly given the declining number of EU nationals in the workplace.

Addressing the issue yesterday, chair of the Federation of Small Businesses in NI, Tina McKenzie, said: "From a business perspective, if future migration policy is going to restrict access to labour, then it is vital that we remove barriers to entry for those currently not engaged with the labour market."
MAJOR business deals in Northern Ireland hit a record 2.2bn in 2018, a new report has shown.

Merger and acquisition data from Experian, which tracks corporate deals over 500,000 and real estate deals over 15m, showed significant transactions here last year.

The report showed 220 Northern Ireland deals completed last year with a disclosed value of 2.2bn, up by 28% on the transactions carried out in 2017 - representing the most valuable year for mergers and acquisitions in the country on Experian MarketIQ record.

Manufacturing was Northern Ireland's busiest sector for mergers and acquisitions in 2018, accounting for 26% of all transactions, with financial services accounting for 23% and wholesale 20% of activity.

The construction market showed huge growth, with deal numbers up by 33% on 2017.

Belfast law firm Tughans has topped the Northern Irish league table for the fourth consecutive year. The firm was credited with 59 deals last year, representing 27% of all Northern Ireland deals identified in the report.

John George Willis, head of corporate at Tughans, said: "It has been another busy year for the firm, especially the corporate team, which is clear from the Experian results.

"The feature of this year has been lots of mid-market activity rather than the big one-off deals, which is a positive sign for the Northern Ireland economy. Alongside the merger and acquisition activity we also continue to see a lot of investment into local companies from various funds from across the UK and Republic of Ireland attracted to our local talent."
NetApp India has been conferred the CIO CHOICE 2019 Honour and Recognition as the most preferred brand in Enterprise Flash Storage. This prestigious recognition was presented at the exclusive red-carpet night, a celebration of innovation and excellence in the ICT ecosystem, produced by CORE Media.

With over 300 ICT leaders in attendance, CIO CHOICE, held at The Lalit, Mumbai, had some of the countrys most high-profile CIOs taking to the stage to confer the recognitions and applaud the brands voted as the most trusted ICT partners. Now in its 7th year, the annual CIO CHOICE recognition focuses on ICT brands who showcase a continuous demand for excellence and form the bedrock of industry success. The recognition is bestowed on the basis of pan-India independent voting by CIOs.

CIO CHOICE is the largest online voting platform, where CIOs determine and choose the products that have earned their vote of confidence. When an ICT brand wins the CIO Choice recognition, it means that their product, service or solution has been endorsed by CIOs. There is a distinguished Advisory Panel, comprising of CIOs from across verticals, that guides the entire process, with KPMG as the Knowledge Partner.

Anoop Mathur, Founder and President, CORE Media, said, Congratulations NetApp for being honoured with the CIO CHOICE 2019 trust seal. CIO CHOICE is the ultimate testimony as it is a poll done with CIOs pan-India and thats what finally matters as far as any brand or product goes, as it is the Voice of the Customer. The CIO CHOICE trust seal gives the assurance to enterprise CIOs to confidently engage with the recognised brand for the first time, helping bothICT brands and CIOs.

We are elated to be voted as the most preferred Enterprise Flash Storage Vendor. Being recognised by a highly qualified panel including imminent CIOs and other ICT decision-makers validates our vision and recognises our ability to offer superior support to customers as they modernise their IT architecture with cloud-connected flash. NetApp will continue to empower customers with the industrys leading flash solutions, designed to scale from edge to core to cloud, said Anil Valluri, President, NetApp India and SAARC.

@Technuter.com News Service
Disney Magic will berth in Belfast for first time this year

The number of tourists arriving in Belfast on cruise ships is expected to increase by 100,000 this year.

Cruise Belfast, the partnership between Belfast Harbour and Visit Belfast, has said 285,000 visitors are due to arrive on 151 cruises during 2019.

It compares with 185,000 during 2018.

In total, 35 separate liners will drop anchor in Belfast, the most frequent being from Cruise & Maritime Voyages (15) and Princess Cruises (13).

July will be the busiest month with 32 ships docking.

These will include SAGA's first new-build vessel, Spirit Of Discovery.

Other first time callers will include Disney Magic.

Michael Robinson, Belfast Harbour's commercial director, said: "Every year Northern Ireland's tourism offer continues to grow, attracting new cruise lines and ensuring that long-established port customers continue to develop their presence in this market. The arrival of almost 300,000 visitors during this season is a significant economic boost for the sector, helping sustain and support further growth.

"Belfast is now the third most popular destination in the UK and Ireland for one-day cruise ship calls after Dublin and Orkney.

"This is a remarkable achievement that reflects the ongoing marketing activities of our partnership with Visit Belfast under the Cruise Belfast brand." The first vessel is due on March 12, while the final visit is scheduled for October.

Gerry Lennon, chief executive of Visit Belfast, added: "Cruise tourism continues to be one of the strongest growth sectors of tourism worldwide, and Belfast is asserting itself as a destination of choice in the eyes of cruise lines and their passengers.

"In the last five years alone, cruise visitor numbers to Belfast have more than doubled to the 285,000 that we expect to welcome this year."
The cafe and cake chain has been hit by a financial scandal over its accounts

Cake chain Patisserie Valerie has collapsed into administration, putting more than 3,000 jobs at risk.

The firm has three cafes in Belfast - at Donegall Square, Castle Lane and Forestside Shopping Centre - which employ around 60 people.

It said discussions with its lenders HSBC and Barclays to extend a standstill agreement on its debts had failed, leaving it with no option but to appoint KPMG as administrator.

KPMG said that it would continue to trade 121 out of 200 stores, but added that 70 cafes and concessions would close over the next few days, resulting in a "significant number" of redundancies.

Blair Nimmo, head of restructuring at KPMG and joint administrator, added: "Our intention is to continue trading across the profitable stores, as collectively the brands have a strong presence on the high street and have proven very popular with consumers.

"At the same time we will be seeking a buyer for the business and are hopeful of a good level of interest.

"Unfortunately, however, we have had to take the difficult decision to close 70 stores resulting in a significant number of redundancies.

"We will be working with those affected employees, providing all support and assistance they need."

The cake firm's parent company Patisserie Holdings has been grappling with the fallout of an accounting fraud since last October.

It said last night that the extent of fraud meant it was unable to renew its bank loans and did not have sufficient funding to continue trading.

Chairman Luke Johnson has extended an unsecured, interest-free loan to help ensure that the January wages are paid to all staff working in the ongoing business, the company added.

The loan will also assist the administrators in trading as many profitable stores as possible while a sale process is undertaken.

Patisserie last week revealed KPMG had been hired to carry out a review of all options following the accounting scandal which pushed it close to collapse last year.

It also unveiled the "devastating" extent of irregularities in its books, which included thousands of false entries into the company's ledgers.

The firm said an initial investigation pointed to cashflow and profitability being worse than previously thought when the problem was first discovered in October.

The discovery of a black hole in the company's accounts in October last year pushed it into a crisis which saw it almost cease trading.

A rescue plan was passed by shareholders in November, resulting in the issue of 15m worth of new shares.
Spine surgeon Andrew Parkinson, MD, is moving his practice in Oklahoma City seven miles north to across from the Oklahoma Spine Hospital in Oklahoma City.

On the Orthopedic Spine Associates' website, Dr. Parkinson posted a letter to his patients announcing the move, effective Jan. 1. The spine practice underwent a change in its EMR system, requiring patients visiting the new practice to obtain copies of their medical records and images.

After earning his medical degree from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, Dr. Parkinson completed his residency at Harbor UC Los Angeles Medical Center. He underwent fellowship training at Plano-based Texas Back Institute.
Irving, Texas-based All-Star Orthopaedics notified patients of a data breach, DataBreaches.net reports.

Five things to know:

1. A hard drive with patient data was stolen Nov. 20, 2018.

2. The hard drive contained X-rays and other diagnostic images. The information on the hard drive was not encrypted, but special software is required to access the information.

3. If opened, the image files contain patients' names and birthdates.

4. There is no evidence the data has been accessed or misused.

5. All-Star Orthopaedics has implemented new security measures in response, including encrypting hard drives prior to transport. The practice notified law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
Broomfield, Colo.-based Centeno-Schultz Clinic's Christopher J. Centeno, MD, is urging Colorado legislators to crackdown on unregulated stem cell treatments, The Denver Channel reports.

Five things to know:

1. The regenerative medicine specialist is advocating for legislation that would crackdown on non-physicians running for-profit stem cell clinics by requiring them to register with the state and follow rules intended to protect patients from misleading medical claims.

2. The proposed legislation was introduced and died in the Florida Senate in 2018.

3. Dr. Centeno pointed to the FDA guidelines that indicate the types of allogeneic stem cell products being sold are legally required to be dead; he claimed the products are incapable and scientifically unproven to regenerate tissue as advertised.

4. "I welcome good competition  physicians who become knowledgeable in this area, trying to do good work," Dr. Centeno told The Denver Channel. "What I don't welcome is the bait-and-switch scams. And it's actually my concern that those bait-and-switch scams are going to destroy the entire industry even for physicians who are trying to do good work."

5. At the national level, the FDA is cracking down on unsubstantiated and poor-quality stem cell therapies.
Seven patients have been identified by lawyers, and four lawsuits have been filed in an investigation involving a former Columbus, Ohio-based Mount Carmel Health System physician accused of ordering potentially fatal painkiller doses, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Mount Carmel said William Husel, MD, was fired and six pharmacists and 14 nurses were put on leave after an investigation found at least 27 near-death patients received the overdoses from 2015 to 2018. All of the patients died.

Dr. Husel had worked as an intensive care physician at the system since 2013.

At least seven patients have been identified by lawyers who have filed or plan to file lawsuits in their deaths.

Identified Jan. 22 by attorney Gerald Leeseberg were 80-year-old James George Allen, who died in May, and 39-year-old James Nickolas Timmons, who died in October.

Also on Jan. 22, attorney David Shroyer said a lawsuit was filed against Mount Carmel, Dr. Husel and others in the death of 65-year-old Jan Thomas, who was identified the week of Jan. 13. It is the fourth lawsuit filed from the investigation.

The Ohio Department of Health is investigating the claims for CMS. The Franklin County (Ohio) prosecutor's office and Columbus police also are investigating.
CMS placed Harrison, Mo.-based Cass Regional Medical Center in "immediate jeopardy" after a patient died following a routine colonoscopy, reports The Kansas City Star.

Martha Wright, 83, underwent the colonoscopy Aug. 2, 2018, upon a physician's recommendation. She died Aug. 3 due to internal bleeding. It was her first time receiving a colonoscopy.

Ms. Wright's daughter, Dena Royal, filed a complaint against Cass Regional after her mother's death, which prompted state officials to investigate the hospital in November 2018. Investigators found that staff members did not respond properly when Ms. Wright showed signs of distress after the colonoscopy. They also said the hospital had performed 348 colonoscopies since Ms. Wright's death without addressing care deficiencies.

Cass Regional said it has "fully addressed" these issues and submitted a corrective plan to CMS. While the agency has reviewed and approved the hospital's plan, health officials must still make an unannounced visit to the hospital to ensure the changes were implemented properly.

"Patient safety is always our first priority, and all of us at Cass Regional  doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and staff  strive to provide the very best care for our patients every day," the hospital said in a statement on its website.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation aimed at postponing the ACA's health insurance tax another two years.

The Health Insurance Tax Relief Act, introduced Jan. 17, would delay placing a fee on health insurers' health policy premiums. The senators argue that the $16 billion tax will increase premiums for their constituents.



Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a news release that "this bipartisan bill will improve our healthcare law and help reduce expensive health insurance premiums." She added, "I'll continue to prioritize bipartisan efforts that will decrease premiums, stabilize health insurance markets and provide quality care to every American."



Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Doug Jones, D-Ala., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., signed the bill. The bill adds to previous legislative efforts kick-started by members of the group to suspend the tax for 2020.



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Infosys has announced that it has adopted HPE GreenLake to accelerate clients digital transformation. The partnership will help enterprises make smart infrastructure investments, paying for what they consume, while benefiting from the security offered by a trusted managed services provider. Clients will also benefit by having a secure private cloud and the advantages of economics and flexibility that exists in public cloud. Together, this will help enterprises accelerate their Hybrid Cloud transformation providing them increased agility and reduced total cost of ownership.

Narsimha Rao Mannepalli, Executive Vice President and Head, Cloud & Infrastructure Solutions Service, Infosys, said, Enterprises today are looking at optimizing their Hybrid IT investments and accelerating their digital initiatives. Our partnership with HPE will provide enterprises a compelling value proposition of a consumption-based IT model and the comfort of managed services. As part of the expanded offerings, Infosys will continue to invest in building deep skills and solutions across the Hybrid Cloud to drive significant business outcomes for our clients.

Phil Davis, Chief Sales Officer and President of Hybrid IT at HPE, said, We are excited to expand our managed services partnership with Infosys. Organizations are seeking new ways to consume the outcomes they want. Our collaboration with Infosys to include consumption-based offerings through HPE GreenLake will contribute to the success of their customers business.

@Technuter.com News Service
A 64-year-old man shot and killed himself at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., on Jan. 22, according to TV station WJLA, which cited a police report.

Police responded to the hospital after receiving a report of a man with a gun in the hospital's heart and vascular center. Before arriving at the hospital, officers received a call reporting a shot fired, according to the report.

Officers found the man in his hospital room with a gunshot wound. The patient was conscious and refused commands to put down his weapon, according to police.

Police detained the man about an hour after they arrived. The patient was taken to the emergency room for treatment, but he later died from his injuries.

It's unclear where the patient obtained the gun and why he was wielding it, according to The Washington Post.

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An Ashburn, Va., woman will serve 15 years in prison for defrauding more than 50 people of millions of dollars in a healthcare software scheme, The Washington Post reports.

Five things to know:

1. Keisha Williams, 43, pleaded guilty last fall to 14 fraud-related charges.

2. For four years, Ms. Williams claimed that she had bought telemedicine software from an Austrian company and needed funds to pay taxes and fees on the software, according to the Post.

3. She raised $4 million with the help of a California businessman and more than $1 million from other victims. But Ms. Williams never completed the purchase of the software. In fact, less than $300,000 of the total $5.4 million she had collected went toward the purchase.

4. Instead, Ms. Williams used the majority of the money she raised on a luxurious lifestyle, including stays at five-star hotels, cars, restaurants and high-end clothing.

5. Four other people  including the California businessman  admitted to acting as co-conspirators by lying to investors about where the money was going and how soon Ms. Williams would be able to repay it. Two of the co-conspirators pretended to be federal agents and intimidated people Ms. Williams claimed owed her money.

To access the complete report, click here.
Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $269.2 million to settle two healthcare fraud lawsuits, alleging the company overbilled government payers, according to the Department of Justice.

Under the first settlement, Walgreens will pay $209.2 million to resolve allegations that it improperly billed Medicare and other federal healthcare programs for hundreds of thousands of insulin pens it dispensed to beneficiaries who did not need them.

The second settlement requires Walgreens to pay $60 million to resolve allegations it overbilled Medicaid by failing to charge Medicaid the lower drug prices it offered the public through a discount program.

In addition to the monetary settlements, Walgreens entered into a corporate integrity agreement with HHS' Office of Inspector General.

Regarding the settlements, Walgreens issued the following statement:

"Walgreens is pleased to have resolved these matters with the Department of Justice. The company fully cooperated with the government and has admitted no wrongdoing. Walgreens is a company of pharmacists living and working in the communities we serve, and we have always taken the safety and reliability of the medicines our patients need very seriously. We are resolving these matters because we believe it is in the best interest of our customers, patients and other stakeholders to move forward."

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Johnson & Johnson will pay $120 million to resolve allegations that it used deceptive marketing techniques to sell its metal-on-metal hip implants, according to Bloomberg.

The claims, brought by 46 attorneys general, alleged J&J and its DePuy unit wrongly advertised that more than 90 percent of the devices lasted at least five years. European health regulators instead found the survival rates to be around 5 percent.

"Companies should never be allowed to freely mislead the public, especially when there are health concerns involved," New York Attorney General Letitia James told Bloomberg. "This settlement serves as an important message that deceptive and false medical practices will never be tolerated."

A spokesperson for the DePuy subsidiary said the company is not admitting liability or misconduct.

The settlement resolves litigation with 46 states.
A nurse at a Phoenix-based Hacienda HealthCare facility was arrested Jan. 22 for allegedly raping and impregnating a patient in a vegetative state, according to the Arizona Republic.

Police charged 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland with sexual assault and abuse to a vulnerable adult. He was taken into custody after a DNA sample matched one taken from the 29-year-old victim's baby.

Mr. Sutherland is a licensed practical nurse who joined Hacienda HealthCare in 2011. He was primarily responsible for caring for the patient involved in the alleged assault.

Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson said investigators are still trying to determine whether other patients were assaulted at the care facility, according to Arizona Republic. Hacienda HealthCare also hired a former attorney to investigate the alleged assault and the facility's security practices.

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Nurses at Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) General Hospital intend to strike Feb. 13 unless an agreement on staffing and patient care issues is reached, The Citizens' Voice reported.

The nurses are represented by the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.

Union officials said in a news release that are prepared to strike for one day, only if necessary. They said they have told hospital management they are willing to negotiate every day until an agreement is reached. The next bargaining date is set for Jan. 24.

"We're hopeful that we can reach agreement at Thursday's session and a strike can be averted," said Elaine Weale, registered nurse and president of WVNA. "Recent [Pennsylvania] Department of Health citations verified the concerns with staffing and patient care that we have been raising for years. Management has not yet agreed to fix these serious problems to our satisfaction, and we continue to urge them to put patients before profits."

Union officials pointed to a Pennsylvania Department of Health inspection report issued in November following an unannounced visit. The report found a "systemic nature of standard-level deficiencies" related to patient rights, nursing services and emergency services.

Hospital spokesperson Renita Fennick told The Citizens' Voice that hospital representatives have been at the bargaining table for more than a year with the "strongest intent to reach a new agreement."

"We've been active participants in more than 20 bargaining sessions, most of which have been under the auspices of the federal mediation and conciliation service," she said.

Negotiations have been contentious at times. On May 31, nurses went on strike, primarily over staffing.

Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, which is owned by Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, expects to implement a contingency operations plan if a strike takes place.

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Hospital and health system leaders must continually adapt to organizational change  from EHR rollouts and new patient care technology to significant cost cuts and challenging reimbursement policies. To maintain a positive culture and ensure buy-in from staff during operational transitions, healthcare executives can employ various strategies for managing disruption in their organizations.

This content is sponsored by North American Partners in Anesthesia.

Peter Doerner, executive vice president and chief development officer for NAPA, the nation's leading single-specialty perioperative and anesthesia management company, joined 23 healthcare leaders during an executive roundtable at Becker's Hospital Review 7th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable in Chicago Nov. 14. (Note: Ten of the 23 participants are quoted in the following article.)

The executives in attendance discussed tactics they employ to address current healthcare market trends affecting their operations, how they encourage their teams to embrace organizational disruption, and using data to drive performance.

Addressing disruptive trends in the healthcare space

Hospitals and health system leaders are challenged to develop strategies and tactics to adapt to disruptive market trends that affect daily operations. When executives discussed organizational disruption, they cited Medicare reimbursement policies, necessary cost cuts and new care delivery methods as some of the most important trends.

"As the healthcare market changes, hospitals and health systems are seeing a need to do a whole lot more with less," Mr. Doerner said. "There's also a lack of clarity around healthcare policymaking, and the way national and local political winds shift, affects hospital policies, especially those involving Medicare and Medicaid."

As CMS regulatory changes cut payments from the government to hospitals, leaders must prioritize solutions that ensure they're proactively collecting as many dollars as possible.

A board member of a five-hospital system in the Midwest said a cost reduction program is helping the organization prepare for cost cuts and new reimbursement policies as the system adjusts to leadership changes.

"Looking at the possibility of lower Medicare reimbursement, we implemented a cost reduction program that is helping us squeeze money out to make up a $40 million gap, which is especially challenging as we transition to a new CEO," the board member said.

Adding to the discussion on recovering revenue, the senior vice president of a Northeastern health system that employs more than 19,000 said it is critical to encourage staff to seek savings in unexpected places.

"My favorite story about encouraging staff to speak up involves one of our food service employees, who asked why there was so much uneaten food in one of our hospitals," said the SVP. Armed with this observation, the employee discovered a food waste problem in the hospital after noticing staff frequently brought uneaten trays of food back to the kitchen. Hospital leaders then realized they could potentially save thousands of dollars by developing a food waste reduction plan, the executive explained.

"What if 19,000 employees each identified places where we could save $10,000?" she asked. "Since we're focusing on reducing expenses, we need to deploy our employees as problem-solvers in every area of our facilities."

Another executive discussed how hospitals must continue innovating to keep revenues up as healthcare shifts toward seeing patients as consumers. "When you think about revenue sources at hospitals, clinical revenue isn't going up," said the CEO of a 14-hospital system in the Northeast. "With that in mind, our issue now is how to best diversify our portfolio. We've done that with innovation technology and philanthropy efforts, but to succeed as hospital leaders in this market, we have to stop thinking of ourselves as hospital companies and start thinking of ourselves as consumer health entities."

The CEO of the children's service line in a Midwestern health system reinforced this idea by discussing several ways her system is adjusting to new care delivery methods. "We're shifting focus away from a purely hospital-centric model and focusing more on how we care for patients after they leave the hospital, which includes home checks, home palliative care and using devices like iPads to consult with patients," she said.

"If we can decentralize the care we provide, it will increase our market share while making treatment more appropriate and more convenient for patients  when they're getting care at home, they'll have a better experience."

Related to care provided outside the walls of a hospital, the CEO of an academic health system in the Southeast thinks CMS will soon fully reimburse hospitals for telemedicine consultations. "Our system, which reaches rural communities, has been investing in a telemedicine portfolio," she said. "Over 15 to 20 years, we've saved about 18 million miles of travel since we placed telemedicine services, most commonly behavioral healthcare, into these communities. Telemedicine allows us to extend our tentacles without needing brick and mortar, and we're bringing our care further into the marketplace," she said.

Encouraging teams to embrace organizational change

Hospital leaders may face pushback from teams who are reluctant to embrace disruption in their workflow. To promote a positive culture during organizational changes, hospital leaders can focus on engaging employees by staying transparent with them about system changes and offering education and training courses.

"The best way our organization prepared staff for organizational changes was requiring everyone to go through training modules," said the senior vice president for human resources at a 14-hospital system in the Midwest. The executive highlighted the system's EHR rollout to illustrate how critical it is to ensure employees are educated during major operational transitions.

It's also worth noting that educational efforts do not always have a clear beginning and end, as his observation illustrates. "Even after our organization's Epic EHR implementation, our operations leaders are requesting additional education," he said. "It's important to make sure leaders are equipped to deal with employees as the realities of transitions come into play and questions arise."

During large system changes like EHR rollouts, it is critical to maintain transparency with all involved stakeholders, said the president and CEO of a $1 billion Midwestern hospital system.

"Our teams have gotten so good at process and change because we engage everyone equally from the ground up in anything we do," she said. "We make sure everyone understands where we're going and how to get there. If everyone is aligned, your employees will be set to succeed."

When implementing a new organizational strategy, frequent meetings are an effective way to accentuate what each employee contributes to a system's larger organizational strategy in their daily work, said the president of a hospital group in the South.

"We use these meetings as a way for staff to see the effect they have on our larger organizational strategy," she said. "We may be able to see our strategies clearly at the executive level, but we need to understand how these strategies are playing out at the unit level. Without these meetings, finding out what's happening in the respiratory unit on a Saturday night shift would be much more difficult."

Using data to drive organizational performance

Although many hospital leaders are eager to make data-driven improvements at their facilities, translating large amounts of data into meaningful and useful information is no easy task, Mr. Doerner said. During the discussion, several executives shared examples of how they are bridging data divides to drive superior performance.

"Our system is so data heavy, we had to ask ourselves, are we really using this data?" said the CEO for the children's service line at the Midwestern health system. "To address this issue, we make an effort to put ourselves in our patients' shoes and ask what's important for them to know."

To do this, the system's executives asked physician leaders what would be important for patients to know and what a patient's perspective on quality outcomes might be.

"A patient might see outcomes very differently than we do, so we're continuing to have data reviews to be more focused on our patients and how we can use data to drive a positive care experience," the CEO said.

The vice president of finance operations at a seven-hospital system in the Midwest said her organization saw success by involving physician leaders in conversations about patient data points and trends right away. "Every week we have a key group of leaders from our hospitals meet to look at a set of data together. It's important to make sure the physician leaders understand and trust the data points before they're put to use," she said.

Another executive pointed out the importance of having physician leaders who have management and finance skills, which inform their observations about where data use can be improved.

"For most healthcare organizations, it is important for leaders to make sure their physicians are finance and management savvy so you can bring them into solving problems around data you may not understand as an executive," said the CMO of a five-hospital system based in the Southeast. "Physician leaders can uncover a lot of inefficiencies in your system that involve physician behavior."

When looking at patient data in a large health system, it is important for executives to recognize that the various markets in which they operate may have different types of consumers with distinct needs, said the senior vice president of the Northeastern health system with over 19,000 employees.

"We interviewed patients who chose our health system and didn't choose our health system, and we found each of our communities have very different needs and reasons for coming to us for care," she said. "Based on this information, we built an urgent care center where it was needed most. Our projects would have been misguided if we didn't understand our consumers and their preferences."

In conclusion

Hospital leaders are working to manage revenue and keep patients and staff satisfied while facing numerous operational and fiscal challenges, including lower Medicare reimbursement, new technology rollouts and an increased emphasis on seeing patients as consumers.

In this environment, hospital and health system executives need to devise strategies that address organizational success at every level. This not only includes efforts to better engage employees and harness their expertise to find inefficiencies in the system, but also involves gathering patient feedback and using the data that's most critical to their care to drive decision-making.
Baptist Health Surgical and Specialty Clinic-Conway (Ark.) added Bertrand Fonji, MD, to its team of general surgeons Jan. 22.

Before joining Baptist Health, Dr. Fonji worked at three hospitals in Orlando, Fla., including Orlando Health.

Dr. Fonji has practiced medicine eight years and has expertise in robotic surgery, minimally invasive surgery and colorectal and thyroid surgery, among other specialties.
St. Louis-based Ascension revealed changes to its operational structure and leadership amid the departure of three longtime executives in a Jan. 22 announcement.

The changes include the dissolution of Ascension's solutions and healthcare divisions. The solutions and healthcare divisions were created in 2012 to improve focus and growth for the system's subsidiaries.

Officials said the decision to eliminate the divisions stems from the health system's goal to become a unified organization, One Ascension.

In addition to the organizational changes, Ascension President and CEO Anthony Tersigni announced the departure of three longtime executives, and the creation of a new position.

Patricia A. Maryland, DrPH, will leave the organization after a 15-year tenure. She will continue in her role as CEO of Ascension Healthcare through June 30. After her departure, the position will be eliminated.

Executives John Doyle and David Pryor, MD, will retire at the end of the health system's fiscal year, June 30.

To support Ascension's integrated health ministry, Joseph R. Impicciche will assume the newly created role of Ascension president and COO. He will oversee Ascension's healthcare operations and services and report to Mr. Tersigni.

Mr. Impicciche has served as executive vice president and general counsel since 2004.

To learn more, click here.
Today's innovation has made technologies from a year or two ago feel outdated. That might seem like an exaggeration, but look at the evolving capabilities from iPhone model to iPhone model and it becomes clear, technological innovation is on a rapid pace. But what does this tech evolution mean for the patient? And what does it mean as we begin thinking about patients as healthcare consumers?

This content is sponsored by Allscripts.

The beginning of what's next

Healthcare organizations have a tremendous opportunity to reach patients and enable them to take a more active role in their care. Patients who are more actively involved in their healthcare tend to have better outcomes, resulting in lower costs. Value-based payment models have increased the importance of these measures  so getting patients engaged has become mission-critical.

As consumers continue gravitating toward mobile devices to participate in health and wellness, I have recommendations on where healthcare organizations can focus to help their patients get the most value  clinically and financially  to be engaged with their care.

Giving the patients what they need to stay healthy

The biggest way providers can use technology is to help close avoidable gaps in care. As a result, today's healthcare providers need solutions that do not require patients to log into a patient portal. They need solutions that deliver SMS messages with weblinks making it easier to execute specific care tasks across the continuum. This can be especially valuable for patients with one or multiple chronic conditions. With text-messaging capability, patients who missed their three-month appointment would receive a reminder via text message, which'll include a link to reschedule that appointment on their phone.

To better illustrate this point, one health system stated in a recent patient engagement KLAS report that shifting to texting patients drove patient engagement.1 "We ended up with a real mobile connection with our patients," the health system's executive said, citing a 50 percent response rate to texts. "We don't send emails because people don't read emails anymore." Real-time texts are sent automatically for very specific reasons, such as preparing for a visit, receiving important educational content, setting up appointments or speaking with a physician. Because patients use their mobile devices for everything from communication to banking, providers need to think about meeting patients where they are.

Telehealth: Reaching beyond the standard patient visit

Regardless of job, location or other life factors, it can be difficult for people to reach doctors, for their own health need, or those of their loved ones. Patients can leave messages, and due to their busy schedules are not available for call backs, or maybe they don't have the flexibility to take their children to the pediatrician during normal business hours. Often their only option is to go to an urgent care center in the evening. There is nothing uncommon about these scenarios, which is why many healthcare organizations are losing business to urgent care centers and minute clinics. Patients are willing to pay a little more for convenience when it comes to urgent, episodic care. Telehealth is a hot topic and most people immediately jump to the idea of a virtual video visit.

There's no question that video visits are a wonderful option for some providers and patients. But sometimes physician offices will start with email visits as a more economical telehealth option. Email visits, or eVisits, are based on asynchronous secure messaging. Patients register their chief complaint, respond to related questions and expect a response within a short period of time. Clinicians can watch this queue and treat patients, or delegate tasks, via technology without the overhead or administrative staff costs associated with regular office visits.

Proof point: Better engagement improves outcomes and experience

Nicklaus Children's Health System in Florida transformed to a patient-centric care delivery model that resulted in improved patient care, better health outcomes and higher Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems quality scores.

The system used FollowMyHealth to drive patient engagement from 5 percent to 75 percent.

"FollowMyHealth is helping us push the envelope by putting vital information in the hands of patients and their families via the consumer technology they use every day  cellphones, mobile apps and text messaging," said Ed Martinez, CIO of Nicklaus Children's Hospital and senior vice president of Nicklaus Children's Health System.

By going paperless and digitizing the registration process, the organization saved $4-8 per patient visit while achieving 94 percent patient satisfaction by establishing an easy way for physicians and patients to communicate digitally.

This transformation also highlights another important facet of patient care: the patient's family. As I mentioned earlier, families of patients are integral to their health, especially when the patient is a child.

FollowMyHealth provides timely, relevant information to a patient's family regarding their loved one's progress, daily schedule, prescriptions, at-home care, discharge and more. The system automatically sends doctors' notes to families that they can print at home or display on a mobile device. In a postcare survey, 94 percent of respondents said these types of digital communications were helpful resources.

Conclusion

There are many ways a well-planned and diligently executed patient engagement strategy can help patients achieve better health outcomes. As an industry, the key to reaching patients more effectively is by enabling them to be in control of the way they want to communicate. When adapting to meet modern patients' needs, we cannot forget that in today's evolving world, patients are consumers. They are expanding their means of meaningful communication beyond face-to-face interactions using the devices they've grown to rely on. So why not enable them to expand this reach with their healthcare providers, too?

Kim Franks, Allscripts Vice President and General Manager of Consumer Health, joined the company in 2013 as Vice President of Product Management. Three years later, she assumed her current role as Vice President and General Manager of Allscripts FollowMyHealth. Prior to her time at Allscripts, Kim was part of the Springfield Clinic, first as an RN and later as a Clinical Informatics expert. While there, Kim implemented more than 350 physicians on a new EHR, and helped the office convert from paper-based to fully electronic. Kim has also been an Oncology Nurse at St. John's hospital and earned her BSN from St. John's College.

References

1 HealthGrid. (n.d.). KLAS 2017 PAtient Engagement Performance Report (Rep.).

doi:https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3376477/KLAS Patient Engagement 2017

Presentation PDF.pdf
Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler revealed Jan. 22 that he is proposing legislation to prevent patients from receiving surprise medical bills for out-of-network healthcare services.

Surprise medical bills occur when patients receive care at a facility that is in their insurance company's network, but they are seen by an out-of-network provider. Since the out-of-network provider does not have to adhere to contractual, in-network rate agreements, they are able to charge the patient for a remaining balance after the insurance company submits its portion of the bill.

Mr. Kreidler said in a news release that his proposal would bar out-of-network providers from sending surprise bills for a covered service at an in-network facility. He said the provider and insurers would have a chance to resolve their payment issue, but if a resolution isn't reached, the parties would move to arbitration and be prohibited from billing the patient.

A hearing on Mr. Kreidler's proposed legislation is slated for Jan. 23 before the House Health Care and Wellness Committee in Olympia, Wash.

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Continual performance improvement is the key to health system survival in today's challenging financial environment.

That was the consensus reached by a panel of CFOs from hospitals and health systems at a private executive roundtable hosted by Prism Healthcare Partners at the Becker's Hospital Review's 7th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable in Chicago.

Sean Angert, managing partner at Prism and moderator of the panel, observed, "Finance leaders from organizations of all sizes and with different strategies are finding that successful performance improvement must be both culturally ingrained and designed to be sustainable and adaptable."

The panelists discussed a variety of challenges and opportunities their organizations have faced in pursuing and driving performance improvement.

Objective perspectives are invaluable for performance improvement at merging organizations. Prisma Health is the $4.2 billion system created in November 2017 through the merger of Greenville (S.C.) Health System and Palmetto Health, based in Columbia, S.C. The merger created the largest health system in South Carolina, with 12 hospitals touching roughly 2.6 million people. Terri Newsom, Prisma Health CFO, discussed the need to build a foundation for long-term success by combining teams, consolidating IT systems where possible and establishing key priorities.

Ms. Newsom noted cost reduction efforts are currently a pressing priority for the system. "Part of coming together is the intent to lower the expense number as the revenue number grows," she said. But because Greenville Health System and Palmetto Health came together as a merger of equals, decision-making is time consuming and complex. "It results in someone asking, 'Who's the winner?'" she said. "But you don't want winners and losers. So we've brought in independent third-party firms like Prism Healthcare Partners to give unbiased opinions."

To reduce costs and improve efficiencies, Prisma Health is moving to a shared services model for finance. Since the revenue cycle team needed a cohesive program, Prisma asked Prism Healthcare Partners to provide revenue cycle oversight and project support to integrate the function so it will be in a better position when a new leader is hired.

Physician alignment is important for the success of performance improvement initiatives. There are many challenges in growing and integrating multiple hospitals and services within a physician clinic-ambulatory organization. It requires new ways of thinking and certainly does not happen overnight. This is true even for organizations like Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System, which was founded in 1916 when six physicians came together to practice medicine by specialty in what was then a rural Wisconsin town. The organization would go on to become one of the largest private, multispecialty group practices in the country. And despite its rich history with physicians, MCHS CFO Gordon Edwards noted that physician leadership and involvement can still prove challenging  but it is always essential, he said.

"We have a system board that's got 24 members, 11 of whom are the clinic board members elected by our physicians," Mr. Edwards said. "We have a variety of dyad leadership structures across the organization. Our physicians were very much involved in our launch of a hospital-to-home program and are active in partnership with our health plan in how we move more inpatients to outpatient settings."

Mr. Edwards noted that developing and maintaining a culture of physician leadership that supports performance improvement requires the same type of effort from hospital executives, regardless of whether the physicians are independent or employed. "But by being part of the organization, they can be a real asset as you look across that spectrum," he said.

Structured process improvement systems can enhance organizational performance. Virginia Mason Memorial in Yakima, Wash., is an acute care hospital that is part of the Seattle-based Virginia Mason Health System. For 18 years, the system has utilized the Virginia Mason Production System, a process improvement method modeled on Toyota's production system. When Virginia Mason Memorial joined the system two years ago, hospital CFO Timothy Reed said the organization needed to learn the production model at an expedited pace.

"They've been on that journey for 18 years. So, we came into it in year 16 and have been really on the fast track to catch up," Mr. Reed said. "It's been good for Virginia Mason Memorial to be a little more deliberate in some of the planning and ensuring we are joining execution with planning. There's a difference between planning and executing process improvement versus just walking down the hall and getting some things done."

All sources of value and early wins are important for all health systems. These include revenue cycle, supply chain, payer denial practices and consolidation of IT vendors. Finance teams must consider all potential sources of performance improvement, even those that are not cash. "We picked up $14 million in operating margin by relifing our assets and reducing our operating expense through depreciation," Ms. Newsom explained. "It put some air under our wings as the teams work hard around things related to labor and pricing."

Conclusion

Although the CFOs on the panel represented organizations of different sizes, scope, history and strategy, they observed some of the same challenges in their work related to system optimization and performance improvement.

Objective opinions can cut through the complex decision-making that emerges when organizations merge, as Ms. Newsom noted after working for more than a year to integrate two South Carolina health systems to create the largest system in the state. Even organizations with 100-plus years of physician leadership must exercise intention and strategic thinking when it comes to physician engagement, as Mr. Edwards shared in his experience at Marshfield Clinic Health System. Finally, Mr. Reed noted the positive difference he has observed in structured process improvement systems versus ad hoc performance improvement efforts as his team worked to learn and execute the Virginia Mason Production System.
Ernst & Young is creating an independent, three-member panel to advise the firm on how to improve audits, according to The Wall Street Journal.

F. William McNabb III, the former CEO and chairman of Vanguard Group, will chair the new committee, with Jeanette Franzel, a former member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and Charles Noski, a former CFO at Bank of America, Northrop Grumman and AT&T as the other members.

The independent committee will not monitor the firm's activities.

"It is helpful to have the perspective of these experts," said Kelly Grier, Ernst & Young's U.S. chairman and managing partner. "They will have unfettered access to all aspects of the firm."
Researchers at Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center are creating voice-assistant software to help clinicians interact with the EHR.

Five notes:

1. Yaa Kumah-Crystal, MD, an assistant professor of biomedical informatics and pediatrics at VUMC, is leading the EHR Voice Assistant  abbreviated as "EVA"  project.

"Right now our main focus is the way providers and people on the medical side interact with the computer, but it can be broadened out eventually to encompass patients and anyone else," she said in a news release.

2. EVA's prototype, which researchers are still building on, allows a clinician to pull up a patient record and ask a question, such as "What was the last sodium?" EVA will then transcribe the query, retrieve the clinical test value and indicate whether the result is normal. Although EVA currently replies to voice queries with text, the researchers are working on adding voice capabilities.

3. The researchers are assessing and integrating various commercial software packages to develop EVA, such as testing different natural language processing services to determine which best converts a clinician's voice query into text.

"Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others offer tool kits and components that can be used for this kind of thing," said Dan Albert, associate director of health IT product development at VUMC. "We've done a bit of work to evaluate those, and the next phase will be to build something to try in real use with a small number of our providers."

4. The EVA team at VUMC is advising Epic, which is building its own EHR voice assistant. Epic is VUMC's EHR vendor.

5. The researchers plan to begin soliciting feedback on EVA from select VUMC clinicians in February. Dr. Kumah-Crystal said the project will be particularly useful for clinicians who are multitasking, such as to help clinicians order labs while rounding in the hospital.

"The goal is to make it as natural as having an actual conversation with a really useful intern," she said.
Higher outpatient service demand has caused Charleston, N.C.-area hospitals to adjust their strategies, The Post and Courier reports.

What you should know:

1. Roper St. Francis  the only private nonprofit health system in the Charleston area  was the only local hospital with declining inpatient numbers from 2012 to 2016.

The lower inpatient numbers echo a Moody's report projecting stagnant or decreasing inpatient admissions for nonprofit medical centers in 2019.

2. Roper's decrease in inpatient numbers is intentional, Roper St. Francis Chief Physician Officer Todd Shuman, MD, told The Post and Courier. The system has transferred maternal care and total joint procedures to locations closer to where patients live.

"There's this incredible shift as technology has improved from what used to be done," he said. "You would hospitalize people for four or five days. Now they're not hospitalized at all."

3. Charleston-based Medical University of South Carolina sees nearly 30,000 inpatients a year, but like other systems, it's targeting the outpatient space by developing an outpatient center in a vacant department store.

4. Despite inpatient growth, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare's East Cooper Medical Center in Mount Pleasant, S.C., is also looking to accommodate shifting demand for services.

"There is certainly a national trend, and it's just going to accelerate, where a lot of work that is being done now in the hospital is going to move into the outpatient setting," said Patrick Downes, East Cooper Medical Center CEO. "It's a trend that we as hospital administrators need to be focused on.

5. On average, South Carolina hospitals charged 50 percent more per patient in 2017 than they did in 2010. Outpatient procedures tend to be less expensive.

More articles on surgery centers:

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Motiva Enterprises donated a combined $900,000 Tuesday to the Port Arthur Independent School District and the local Lamar State College campus.

Ed Haloulos, executive vice president of human resources for Motiva, said the company wanted to help the community as it continues to recover from Tropical Storm Harvey.

Education is one of the core focus areas for us, Haloulos said. Our employees live and work in this community, and we, as an organization, are a part of Port Arthur.

Motiva is an affiliate of Saudi Refining headquartered in Houston. Its Port Arthur Refinery is currently the largest in the United States and was the fifth largest in the world when the company completed an expansion in 2012.

Mark Porterie, superintendent of Port Arthur ISD, called its $650,000 gift a symbol of the bond between the city and the company.

Were very proud and happy that we have the relationship with Motiva that they would decide to donate such a generous gift to us, Porterie said.

He said $400,000 will be spent on improving security measures across the district, $200,000 will be used for two new buses equipped with seatbelts, and the remainder will be used to replace a district vehicle lost to flooding in the 2017 storm.

In todays society, we all know security and safety is top priority in any school district, Porterie said. Were extremely happy weve been giving a blessing to educate our students safely.

The donation from Motiva was granted through the Port Arthur Education Foundation.

Foundation director Joe Tant said the group has received about $1.5 million over the past 18 months in gifts to help with Harvey recovery efforts for local students and their families. The money has replaced damaged computers, lost uniforms, etc.

Our community is growing and, just like any hurricane recovery, the work isnt done, Tant said.

Motiva also gave $250,000 to Lamar State College Port Arthur to help train students in the refining industry.

Including Tuesdays gifts, Motiva has given more than $7 million to the area in disaster relief, the company said in a news release.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

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Houston police are asking for help identifying a woman tied to six robberies between last Friday and Tuesday.

The department released a surveillance video of the woman on Wednesday, describing her as a black female in her 20s or early 30s. She is between 5-foot 2-inches and 5-foot 6-inches tall with a medium to heavy build, police said. She was also seen wearing a blonde or red-orange wig with large black sunglasses and a black fedora style hat.

In the first robbery, at 1:38 p.m last Friday, police said she entered the Chase Bank at 1337 Gessner Road and approached an open teller station. The woman displayed a note taped to her purse threatening that she was armed with a gun and demanding cash, police said.

The teller gave the woman an undisclosed amount of money before the woman left in a white Chevrolet Malibu with a missing back right hubcap.

Hours later, at 3:46 p.m., police said the same woman entered a Chase Bank at 10420 Westheimer Rd. She repeated her method of operation used in the first robbery, police said. No one saw her vehicle or the direction she traveled after fleeing the scene, police said.

A third robbery was reported the following day, around 9:38 a.m. Saturday at the BBVA Compass at 1218 Spencer highway. Police said the woman again approached the teller with the same note taped to her purse. Witnesses saw a white sedan leaving that scene.

Two hours later, the woman entered a Capital One bank at 11408 Gulf Fwy and forced a teller to give her an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

HOUSTON ROBBERY: Arrests made in series of robberies at University of Houston

The final two robberies occurred on Tuesday. At 11:27 a.m., the suspect hit Bank of America at 1127 Edgebrook. At 12:10 p.m., she allegedly robbed a Comerica Bank at 9100 Airport Blvd.

Crime Stoppers are offering up to $5,000 for information leading to the charging and/or arrest of the suspect in this case. Information may be reported by calling 713-222-TIPS (8477) or submitted online at www.crime-stoppers.org.

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.
Nine members of the Lonestar Slab club have been charged with a misdemeanor for the traffic-clogging photoshoot at the iconic "Be Someone" bridge  and if it happens again, authorities promise harsher consequences.

Houston police Chief Art Acevedo berated the accused participants, among them Christopher Lopez, behind the Dec. 2 stunt on Interstate 45 as "a bunch of irresponsible members of our community" and warned that drivers who want to do a repeat under the Houston landmark will face felony charges.

RELATED: Indicted road rage driver arrested for stopping traffic under 'Be Someone' bridge

The stunt was flaunted in a video that was passed to Acevedo soon after it was recorded and then used to help authorities track down the drivers involved.

"Their motivation is to be out there and show they're kings of the roads and make a name of themselves. And they videotape and put it out there for the world to see," Acevedo said Wednesday during a news conference.

A murder charge, he said, is a guarantee should "the chain reaction" from future incidents result in death.

Lopez was among the nine arrests stemming from the Traffic Enforcement Division's month-long investigation into the unauthorized photo shoot that Acevedo celebrated. The 48-year-old co-creator of Lonestar Slab is also accused of chasing and shooting at a car of egg-throwing teens before a deadly New Year's Day wreck. He has been charged with manslaughter.

Lopez and eight others have been charged with obstructing a highway. Walter Williams, 30; Alexies Stephens Jr., 30; Jarvis Randle, 31; Victor Pailiet, 33; Josue Iracheta, 26; Eduardo Espino, 31; Joseph Deboest, 40; and Noah Cantu, 22, have been charged for their alleged participation in the traffic standstill.

Additional arrests are expected, officials said. Pailiet has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2004 with arrests that include aggravated sex assault, interfering with the duties of a police officer and possession of a prohibited weapon, records show. This was the first arrest in Harris County for Williams and Stephens.

Capt. Kenneth Campbell said the brunt of those arrested "didn't seem to grasp the severity of what happened."

"These guys literally didn't care about any laws or anyone else," said Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Office Vehicular Crimes Division. "They stopped their cars, 12 of them at least, and stopped every lane."

The crackdown is not an attack on slab culture, he noted.

"These cars are works of art," Teare said, "but there's a time and place to display your cars and show them off properly, even on the roads. Interstate 45 under the bridge is not that place."

Future arrests for similar stunts will automatically result in a felony deadly conduct charge  even if no one is hurt or killed, Teare said.

The intensified charge, according to Acevedo, is merited.

"I don't want to wait until somebody gets stuck behind these vehicles in a big rig and decides, 'You know what? To hell with these guys. I'm going to plow into them,'" Acevedo said, listing off scenarios ranging from road rage to a domino effect of crashes.

"I don't want to wait until somebody loses their mind out there and decides to shoot at people because of this foolish behavior," the chief said.

Acevedo patted Officer James Kneipp on the back prior to the press conference for his work in identifying several members of Lopez's car club accused of blocking traffic.

Kneipp detailed in charging papers that those accused were identified through a minute-long video shared to the Kandy_Red_Bread Instagram account, which law enforcement sources said is run by Pailiet. The footage showed the license plates on about a dozen customized vehicles, known in Houston as slabs.

Pailiet was arrested Monday night and shared an image from the same social media account while in the back of an HPD cruiser.

"I'll be out by tomorrow," Pailiet wrote, showing the divider between him and the officer typing into his console computer.

A 10th person believed to have participated in last year's highway photoshoot has been arrested on an unrelated warrant for child neglect in Waller County, Teare said.

A similar feat under the iconic train trestle resulted in a viral video in 2015 after a man set up a traffic blockcade to propose to his girlfriend. She said yes, but he was charged with obstructing a highway after an off-duty police sergeant was caught in the traffic jam. The case was dismissed after the groom-to-be wrote apology letters to the sergeant, the officer who investigated the incident and "the members of the public who were affected by this offense," according to court documents.

Stephen Tucker Paulsen contributed to this report.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
WASHINGTON  Houston Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee, under fire from a former aide's lawsuit alleging she was fired in connection with a sexual assault complaint, said Wednesday that she will step down temporarily as chairwoman of a key House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice.

Jackson Lee, in her 13th term, also resigned as chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a post that helped raise her national profile.

STAFFER: Ex-Sheila Jackson Lee staffer says she was fired in retaliation for planned sex assault suit

The lawsuit, filed by a woman who worked in Jackson Lee's office from November 2017 to March 2018, claims that she was dismissed after notifying the congresswoman's chief of staff that she planned to take legal action against the foundation over an alleged sexual assault involving one of the group's supervisors.

She is identified in court records only as "Jane Doe," a special assistant and director of public engagement. Her suit says she sometimes served as Jackson Lee's personal driver.

Jackson Lee issued a statement Wednesday "adamantly" denying the woman's allegation and recounting her record of advancing civil rights and non-discrimination legislation, including a law that applies to Congress.

She also has been a key voice in the push to extend the historic 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

"While we still deny the allegations, we are especially concerned about Ms. Doe and only want the best for her and the many, many young people that the Congressional office has supported, encouraged and provided opportunities for over 20 years," the statement said. "The congresswoman is confident that, once all of the facts come to light, her office will be exonerated of any retaliatory or otherwise improper conduct and this matter will be put to rest."

Nevertheless, the loss of a leading role on the criminal justice subcommittee was a setback for Jackson Lee, who would have been the first black woman in that post overseeing an important issue in the African American community.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, backed Jackson Lee's move, which comes just as the Democrats, who regained the House majority in November, consolidate their grip on all the chamber's committees.

"Representative Sheila Jackson Lee has built a strong legacy of service on the Judiciary Committee and in Congress," he said. "I fully support her decision to voluntarily and temporarily step back from the Crime Subcommittee Chair position to ensure the Subcommittee's important work continues. This decision does not suggest any culpability by Representative Jackson Lee."

Pressure has been building on Jackson Lee since the lawsuit laying out the former aide's claims was filed Jan 11. Jackson Lee becomes the latest member of Congress to be ensnared in #MeToo era allegations of sexual impropriety.

The lawsuit stems from events October 2015, when the woman, then a 19-year-old Howard University intern for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, alleges that a 30-year-old male supervisor she was drinking and socializing with took her to his home and forced her to have sex.

According to her complaint filed in a federal court in Washington, the woman reported the incident to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and was told the supervisor would be placed on leave. She decided not to bring legal action against the foundation at the time.

She also reported the assault to Washington's Metropolitan Police Department, which investigated but did not bring charges.

The woman was hired by Jackson Lee's office two years later after she graduated from Howard. The earlier incident involving the foundation supervisor, identified as Damien Jones, did not come to light until Jones also was being considered for a job in Jackson Lee's office.

The woman then reportedly told Jackson Lee's chief of staff, Glenn Rushing, about the "prior situation." Jones was not hired.

Reached for comment Wednesday, Jones referred a reporter to his attorney, Oliver Brown, who denied the allegations.

"There was no rape and there was no sexual contact," Brown said. "That woman was rightfully terminated."

On the night of the alleged attack, Brown said, Jones was trying to cover up for the woman, whom he alleges was drunk at a work event. He said she stayed at his home because she was intoxicated.

Brown, a Houston-based attorney, described the suit against Jackson Lee as a calculated effort to reach a settlement quickly.

"We're living in this Me Too era now, right?" he said. "So there's tons of victims to actual sexual assaults every day. However, there is other individuals like this individual that now see this as a money-grab opportunity."

The attorney said he and his client were considering intervening in the suit or filing separate legal action. "People have to stop this rush to judgment based off an allegation," he said. "We need to give people a fair chance in court so that all the facts can come out."

He added that Jones is "totally innocent."

Jones has since done outreach work for the Union of Concerned Scientists and former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke's 2018 Senate campaign in Texas.

In the lawsuit, the woman said that soon after going to work for Jackson Lee, she learned about a text message sent to Jackson Lee by A. Shuanise Washington, the foundation's chief executive, offering "background" on the woman.

The woman said she connected the text to her assault and told Rushing that she would take legal action against the foundation. She also said she wanted to speak to Jackson Lee personally. Instead, she said, she was fired. The reason given was "budgetary issues."

Her lawsuit names both Jackson Lee's office and the foundation, which released a statement promising to cooperate with an investigation of the woman's claims.

The woman's attorney, Lynne Bernabei, said she wants to remain confidential and is not doing interviews.

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which includes high-profile corporate executives and members of Congress, has denied having any influence over Jackson Lee's decision to fire the woman. The group reportedly pressed Jackson Lee to step down from her post.

While Jackson Lee battles the woman's allegations, it became clear Wednesday that the case was costing her support among key allies, including the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, which announced that the group could no longer "support her continued lead sponsorship" of the Violence Against Women Act.

Kevin Diaz reported from Washington; Emily Foxhall reported from Houston.

Kevin.diaz@chron.com

twitter: DiazChron

emily.foxhall@chron.com

twitter: emfoxhall


Redondo will face Sultana in the CIF-SS Division 3 final at 12:30 p.m. This is the first final appearance for Sea Hawks since 2016 and their third overall
Most Texas residents believe the states schools should be lawmakers top priority during this years Legislative session, according to a poll released Tuesday by the education advocacy nonprofit Raise Your Hand Texas.

So far, lawmakers are following the will of the people: Republican leaders in the Legislative and executive branches have repeatedly declared that reforming the states school finance system will top their to-do list during the 140-day session, which began two weeks ago. Texas lawmakers have not significantly altered the states school finance methods since 1993, leading to complaints that the model is outdated and unresponsive to school districts needs.

In an early January poll of 1,046 Texans, about 62 percent of respondents said education is the most important issue for Gov. Greg Abbott and legislators to address this session, with immigration the second-most popular choice at 11 percent. Most respondents said they support increasing teacher pay, providing full-day pre-kindergarten for at-risk students and untying standardized test scores from accountability ratings.

BIG REQUEST: Texas House calls for $9 billion education funding increase

It is clear Texans want to see legislators deliver more resources for students and teachers, Michelle Smith, director of government relations for Raise Your Hand Texas, said in a statement. When political interests intersect with strong public opinion about the need to better support public education, legislators must seize the opportunity and act swiftly to make meaningful change for all students and for the future of Texas.

Raise Your Hand Texas advocates and lobbies for increased public education funding, greater support for teachers and more autonomy in school districts. The nonprofit opposes expansion of private school vouchers, a point of contention among legislators during the 2017 session.

Some other highlights from the poll:

Among those who declared education the top priority, the biggest areas of concern were funding (24 percent of respondents), teacher compensation (17 percent) and standardized testing (10 percent).

When asked what they believe is the most important first step for improving the quality of Texas public schools, the most respondents identified increasing teacher pay (25 percent), followed by reducing the emphasis on testing (20 percent) and improving parental involvement (18 percent).

About 71 percent of respondents said Texas doesnt spend enough on education, compared to 21 percent who believe its enough already (8 percent did not respond).

For subscribers: $5,000 raises for Texas teachers proposed as lawmakers take up school funding

Most Texans are not fans of linking standardized tests to accountability ratings (72 percent oppose, 26 percent support) or the amount of funding given to school districts (78 percent oppose, 19 percent support).

Most respondents believe that high-quality pre-kindergarten classes for at-risk students can level the playing field for school readiness (83 percent yes, 15 percent no), and they believe those students should have access to all-day services instead of half-day (79 percent yes, 18 percent no). About 72 percent of those surveyed want the state to pay for all-day pre-kindergarten.

Respondents have a mediocre view of Texas public schools. When asked to give the states public education system a letter grade on preparing students for college and careers, 34 percent issued an A or B grade, 35 percent handed out C grades, and 30 percent gave D or F grades. Two percent did not respond.

The Texas House of Representatives and Senate each have issued preliminary proposals for increasing spending on education.

The House recommended pouring $7.1 billion into public education, a 17.2-percent increase over current spending levels, while allocating $1.9 billion aimed at slowing property tax payment increases and reducing recapture bills. Recapture is the states method of creating equity between districts with large and small property tax bases relative to their student population. Some districts, including Austin and Houston ISDs, are sending hundreds of millions of dollars in local property tax collections to the state for redistribution.

The Senate plan calls for spending $3.7 billion on $5,000 raises for all Texas teachers, as well as $2.3 billion to shrink recapture payments.

Both plans aim to shift more responsibility for school funding back to the state, easing the burden on local property owners. After many years of covering more than half of all Texas public education costs, the states share has dropped to less than 40 percent.

Forty-two percent of poll respondents identified as Republican or lean Republican, 32 percent identified as Democrat or lean Democrat, and 26 percent identified as independent or other party. About three-fourths of those polled reside in the states four largest metro areas  Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The demographics of poll respondents (64 percent white, 23 percent Hispanic, 9 percent black) did not fully reflect the states breakdown (42 percent white, 39 percent Hispanic, 13 percent black).

Click here for full poll results.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

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The Orange Police Department is investigating after a Wells Fargo Bank was robbed Wednesday morning, according to information from the department.

At approximately 9:51 a.m. officials responded to a call in reference to a robbery at the bank in the 3700 block of 16th Street.
James Dyson, the billionaire Brexit supporter who revolutionized vacuum cleaners with his bagless technology, is moving his head office to Singapore from Britain to be closer to his company's fastest-growing markets.

The prominent Leaver revealed that the island city-state will become the company's registered headquarters and tax base.

Justifying the move, chief executive Jim Rowan dismissed the idea of Brexit and lower taxes being a motivation. There are huge revenue opportunities in Singapore, China is the poster child of that. What is really concerning are the hundreds of similar decisions going through board rooms right now to deal with a #NoDeal.

Dyson's CEO Jim Rowan said in a statement that the move was to "future-proof" the business and had "nothing to do with Brexit".

Mr Rowan said the move to Singapore would happen as soon as possible, meaning it could take place before Brexit.

The announcement was made alongside Dyson's full year results for 2018, when profits topped 1 billion for the first time.

Asked about the relocation, the Economic Development Board of Singapore's assistant managing director Kiren Kumar said: "Over the past decade, Singapore's manufacturing sector has been steadily transforming into one that competes based on the deep skills of our workforce, the use of advanced technologies such as robotics and automation, and a strong ecosystem of suppliers locally and in the region".

This is despite founder James Dyson, 71, being a large proponent of Brexit with the firm arguing that a 200 million investment on new testing facilities at Hullavington Airfield, near Chippenham, shows their commitment to domestic jobs.

This came as investments in advanced manufacturing and research reached a new high, while revenue growth continued, in part on the back of new products such as its new hairdryer and air purification technology.

The inventor, who made huge a increase in profits after shifting production of his vacuum cleaners to Malaysia from the United Kingdom in 2003, also wants it to be easier to hire and fire workers, arguing in 2017 that "not being able to flex your workforce is another big reason why you wouldn't start or expand a manufacturing business".

Back in August previous year, Dyson announced it would go ahead with a $2.6 billion (2bn) push to start building electric cars.

Tristan Fewings/BFC via Getty ImagesSir James Dyson presents the Special Recognition award for Innovation on stage during The Fashion Awards 2017. "This is a damning for the government".
John Cox can be reached at 661-395-7404. Follow him on Twitter: @TheThirdGraf. Sign up at Bakersfield.com for free newsletters about local business.
A viral video of a standoff between a Native American elder and Catholic school teens at the Lincoln Memorial has sparked outrage; but as with any viral video, there is more to the story than what you see online. | CNN
World Leprosy Day Outreach and Special Report Spotlight 'Healing Touch' Ministry to Asia's Marginalized

Gospel for Asia-supported workers' hands-on care for sufferers brings practical help and spiritual hope to those still marginalized by long-feared disease



Contact: Gregg Wooding,

972-567-7660



WILLS POINT, Texas, Jan. 23, 2019 /Standard Newswire/ -- GFA (Gospel for Asia, www.gfa.org) is spotlighting its efforts to bridge the historic social gulf caused by the disfiguring disease that leaves sufferers disadvantaged and often despisedone outstretched arm at a time.



Photo: A GFA-supported pastor helps a leprosy patient as part of the Reaching Friends Ministry caring for those afflicted by the stigmatizing disease.



As GFA-supported workers prepare a series of events offering hands-on care to sufferers across Asia, to mark World Leprosy Day, Sunday, Jan. 27, the organization is also publishing a special report (www.gfa.org/special-report/what-is-leprosy) on worldwide efforts to eradicate the disease.



The latest in an in-depth series of GFA reports addressing key global issues, "Leprosy: Misunderstandings and Stigma Keep it Alive" examines how leprosy continues to see those infected shunned despite breakthroughs in treatment, and the fact that most people are naturally immune to the disease.



Though there have been significant medical advances, more than 210,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2016the majority of them in India. Millions more around the world are suspected to be infected but are not yet symptomatic because the disease's incubation period is so long.



While doctors and scientists continue to work on prevention and treatment, GFA-supported workers are providing practical and emotional help to those affected. Often losing fingers and toes because leprosy's nerve damage means they are unaware of infection and injury, many sufferers are left physically unable to work, or as a result of being shunned.



Through associated local churches and members of its Sisters of Compassion ministry, specially trained women missionaries, GFA helps provide practical care, from cooking and cleaning to bathing and dressing wounds. As well as providing physical help, these healing touches also seek to tend to emotional wounds by demonstrating to leprosy sufferers that they have not been rejected.



"When we were completely lost and dejected, Christ came to us and lived among us," said GFA founder Dr. K.P. Yohannan. "By serving these precious people who happen to be afflicted with leprosy, we are not doing anything extraordinary or special. We are simply extending the love that was first given to us."



GFA's ministry also endeavors to release patients from the guilt many carry because, the report notes, over the centuries many have believed the disease is the result of some great sin of theirs.



"Eliminating discrimination and false conceptions of leprosy is key to eliminating the disease itself," the reports adds. All too frequent are "the stories of men and women abandoned by their spouses, in-laws, or even kicked out of their homes by their children."



The World Leprosy Day outreaches are being arranged in addition to GFA's ongoing ministry to care for patients. GFA-supported workers have reached thousands of leprosy patients since the Reaching Friends Ministry, as it is called, began in 2007. They visit some of the isolated colonies in which many patients are forced to live, often cut off from the rest of the world.



"We thought we would name the ministry differently, where they won't have to remember their sickness or feel the stigma of it," said Tarik, the pastor who helped launched the initiative. "We thought, 'Let us call them "friends" because they have been created in the image of God, like us. It is only the sickness that keeps them different, but let us not make that a barrier. Let us accept them as friends.'"



Among the Sisters of Compassion reaching out is Sakshi, a former leprosy sufferer whose story is shared in the report: at one time she considered suicide because of her despair. Receiving treatment and care, and coming to faith through Reaching Friends Ministry, she now offers help and hope to others.



"Nobody wants to love them, hug them or to come near to them to dress them," said Sakshi. "They have so many inner pains in their heart, because they also are human beings. They also need love, care and encouragement from other people."



Observed internationally each year on the last Sunday in January, to raise public awareness of the disease, World Leprosy Day is marked on Jan 30 in India, to commemorate the death of leader Mahatma Gandhi, who championed concern and care for sufferers.



GFA (Gospel for Asia, www.gfa.org) has  for more than 30 years  provided humanitarian assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially among those who have yet to hear the Good News. In 2017, this included more than 70,000 sponsored children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,000 wells drilled, over 11,000 water filters installed, Christmas presents for more than 200,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry.


Staff Sgt. Jake Talbot says he was asked not to wear a shirt supporting President Trump at a gym that he attends in Troy, Mo.
By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Iran discovers new oil deposits near Abadan city in the Khuzestan province, said Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh.

He said that Iran carried out drilling work on the Minu island in the Abadan region.

According to the results of drilling operations, Iran discovered oil at 3,770 meters depth.

Zanganeh also added that Iran found oil in the area for the first time.

The minister expressed high hopes for the oil discovered here.

Zanganeh noted that oil density on the API scale is 40 degrees.

"Drilling will be continued to more fully determine the oil reserves," concluded Zangeneh.

Today, Iran is among the five leading oil states of the world. National Iranian Oil Company (Sharkat Malli Naft Iran) almost entirely controls the oil part of the Iranian economy. Oil production and refining are carried out through subsidiaries.

All Iranian oil is concentrated in the oil and gas basin of the Persian Gulf. Analysts consider, Iran is provided with oil for more than 80 years at the current level of production.

On November 2, Washington announced that it would grant eight countries permission to buy Iranian oil when imposing sanctions on Tehran from November 5 to 180 days without the possibility of extending this period.

On November 4, 2018, the U.S. re-imposed all remaining secondary sanctions on Iran that were previously lifted under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This is the final action required to re-impose Iranian sanctions since President Trump's May 8, 2018 announcement of the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA. The U.S. initially imposed certain sanctions on August 7, 2018.

These sanctions were imposed on Iran's port operators and shipping and shipbuilding sectors, on petroleum-related transactions with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), and the Central Bank of Iran, on transactions by foreign financial institutions (FFIs) with the Central Bank of Iran, on the provision of specialized financial messaging services to the CBI and Iranian financial institutions, on the provision of underwriting services, insurance, or reinsurance and on Iran's energy sector.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Although Troy Beyer grew up around Standardbreds, it was a singular moment in his adolescent years that ultimately pushed him down the path of becoming a horseman.

At just 23 years old, Beyer has already worked among some great horses in the stables of Nancy Johansson and Noel Daley. The Illinois native now plies his trade in the barn of Brett Pelling with the goal of becoming a catch driver.

Beyer made his first pari-mutuel start in 2013 and spent the next three years driving in Illinois with some success. The 2018 campaign proved to be the young reinsmans breakout season however, as he teamed up with Ricky Bucci to compete for lucrative purses at Yonkers Raceway. Beyer drove 16 winners last year and hit the board a total of 66 times. He steered his mounts to $305,308 in purses.

Although he is still searching for his first win of the new year, Beyer has already notched six top-three finishes at Yonkers, and he is intent on having a big year. Beyer has first call on all of Buccis starters, including distaffer Made Of Jewels As and open trotter Mostinterestingman, both of whom regularly compete in the tracks $44,000 features.

Beyer recently took the time to chat with the SOA of NYs Brandon Valvo about his career to this point and his aspirations in the sport.

BV: How did you first get involved in harness racing?

TB: My dad used to train horses several years ago; thats how I got into it. I really didnt get into it until I was probably around 13 or so. I really started to get into it and it just kind of took off from there. It got into my blood and ever since Ive been right into it. I was out jogging, I just never knew what it was for when I was really young. It just wasnt something I wanted to go do or anything. I just didnt realize what it was for.

BV: What was the moment when it clicked that made you realize this was for you?

TB: Probably when I was 13 my dad wanted me to go train one for him at the little farm we were at in Illinois and I think ever since that day, I did it once and I was hooked. It was just that easy. The horse was Casino Comp. At the time, she was just very young. I dont even think she had raced yet. It might have even been her first time training. She turned out to be an all right condition horse at Balmoral and just raced through the conditions, basically. She was an all right horse, made a little money for us.

BV: And when did you first start driving in races?

TB: At 16 I started driving qualifiers. I schooled one first for a friend of ours at Balmoral. I schooled a trotter and I just loved that. As soon as I did it, I wanted to just do it all the time. Just the adrenaline rush was awesome.

BV: You mention youve worked with some big stables already. Who are some of the nicer horses youve gotten to work with so far?

TB: When I came to the east coast, I worked with Nancy Johansson. When I came in, JK Shesalady was there, but it was at the end of her career. But getting to be around a horse like that, she was a cool horse to see and it was exciting to have a horse like that in the barn. I looked after a horse called Wicked Little Minx. She was a nice little mare, she made a little bit of money for Nancy. Another good little horse we had at the time was Cruzado Dela Noche, who won the International last year. Really cool little horse. Really awesome personality.

BV: Were you there at Yonkers when he won the International Trot?

TB: Yes, I was. That was exciting. Im not a gambling kind of person, but a buddy of mine that was down watching the race, I told him, you know what, I bet this horse will win because hes a cool little horse, hes a nice horse, and I know theyve been prepping him for this race for a long time. And sure enough he went out and won.

BV: It looks like this past year, you really started to ramp up the number of starts you were making.

TB: Yeah it picked up really well for me, especially the last three months of the year, it picked up really strong at Yonkers. The last couple years, Ive been working for Noel Daley and just had one or two of my own in the winter time. Noel helped me a ton. He got me a lot of drives for him and for people who saw me drive for him. He gave me a shot in stakes races, too and people saw that and they gave me a shot, too. I would go and drive one or two a week at Yonkers and really just always show up and its worked out well for me. A snowball effect happened where it just picked up stronger and stronger and then I picked up Ricky Bucci as a big account and theres a couple other little guys and its just really worked out well. We had a lot of luck and made a lot of good money at the end of the year there.

BV: How did you team up with Ricky and get first call on all his horses here at Yonkers?

TB: Im driving all of them now and thats awesome. I drove one for him and won straight away. He gave me a shot, put me up on a few and we did really well right away and its just taken off from there. I listen to what he has to say about them and how he wants to race them. He gives me a lot of freedom to let me do what I want with them. Its just worked out really well.

BV: Do you tend to be on the aggressive side? Do you try to be a little more patient? Whats your style like?

TB: It just really depends on the horse and it depends a lot on the draw at Yonkers. If they have the inside, Im more inclined to be aggressive with them and if theyre mid-pack, it just depends on the horse and what class it is.

BV: Yonkers is not an easy place to break into when you consider the driving colony here. Were you surprised to get such a big account relatively quickly?

TB: Honestly, yeah, I was really surprised. It was almost like night and day. Ettore (Annunziata) told him to give me a shot. He came and asked me one night and said, I have a friend of mine who needs a driver, he wants to put you down on a couple. I thought I was going to drive maybe one or two for the guy, I didnt even know who it was. The sheet came out and I was down on three. It was just like a light switch. From that moment, I was driving a bunch really quick after.

BV: And even getting drives in the Open Handicaps. Talk a little about Made Of Jewels As and what shes like to drive and to work with.

TB: I really, really love driving that mare. Shes classy and she likes to race from off the pace, which I like to, too, a lot of times in the upper conditions. They kind of beat themselves up early and then usually you can sit back and come at the end of it. They pop up and win every once in a while for good money. Shes just a lovely horse to drive, she runs in a little bit, but you just help her through the turns and wait on her and shell give you everything. Shell just fly home. She can fly. You can do whatever you want with her.

BV: And what about Mostinterestingman?

TB: He is awesome. I really love driving that horse, too. The pair of those two horses are really nice to drive. Mostinterestingman, hes really nice to drive. He doesnt really get on a line or anything like that. You can do whatever you want with him. If you want to leave out of there with him, you can and he has no problem with it. If you want to duck and race him off a helmet, he does that just as good. He doesnt get grabby in a hole or grabby up front. Just two fingers, a really good horse to drive at any time, no matter where you are.

BV: Youre a young guy, just getting started. What are your goals for your career? Do you aspire to be a catch driver? A trainer? What path do you see yourself pursuing?

TB: I like doing both. I like training and driving. I would like to eventually just catch drive. Thats what I really love to do. But I dont mind training either. I really enjoy training babies down. I might keep doing that, just have a couple of my own in the winter time and just work with babies. But my main goal is catch driving for sure. Thats what I really love to do and want to do. If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

Live harness racing is featured at Yonkers Raceway every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. First post time is at 6:50 p.m.

(SOA of NY)
By Trend

Iran continues the import ban on clothes, shoes and other related items in textile industry due to foreign currency limitations.

The ban on import of clothes, shoes and other textile products that are currently not necessary will strongly remain in its place, said Director General of Textile and Clothing Office of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade Afsaneh Mehrabi, Trend reports citing SNN.

Iran imposed an import ban on 1,339 unnecessary products in order to protect domestic producers and manage the outflow of currency as the US sanctions hit the country. Therefore, the products are to be produced domestically instead. The banned items include clothes, sugar, cars, shoes, makeup and pharmaceuticals.

The officials indicate that during past nine months of current Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), 4.600 tons of clothes worth $48 million were exported and the clothes exports had a 24 percent rise in value and a 59 percent increase in volume.

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By Trend

Oil prices are likely to remain in range of $55-$75 per barrel in 2019, Spencer Welch, director of the oil markets and downstream team in the London-based IHS Markit told Trend.

He noted that if crude prices start to rise, then OPEC will reduce production cuts, if prices drop too low then the US will feel that they are able to increase sanctions on Iran.

"The oil market is no longer a free market, because we have two separate groups (OPEC + allies & US administration) setting policy based on oil price, both are trying to control price in an acceptable range. US administration wants tough sanctions on Iran but doesnt want price going too high because this is not good for votes. OPEC wants to maximize production but is concerned if price drops below $60 per barrel," said Welch.

So, according to the expert, the key to 2019 oil markets is to watch are three things: the policy decisions by these two groups and also US production growth, particularly in 2H19 as new pipelines come on-stream to help get Permian crude to US Geological Survey (USGC) for export.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects that US crude oil production will average 10.9 million b/d in 2018, up from 9.4 million b/d in 2017, and will average 12.1 million b/d in 2019.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached an agreement in December 2016 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1.

Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017.

OPEC and its partners decided to extend its production cuts till the end of 2018 in Vienna on November 30, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry.

The 5th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held in Vienna, Austria, on December 7, 2018.

The meeting participants decided to adjust the overall production by 1.2 million barrels per day, effective as of January 2019 for an initial period of six months. The contributions from OPEC and the voluntary contributions from non-OPEC participating countries of the Declaration of Cooperation will correspond to 0.8 million barrels per day (2.5 percent), and 0.4 million barrels per day (2 percent), respectively.

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By Trend

A group of peacekeepers of the Azerbaijani army was sent to Afghanistan to continue to serve within the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in accordance with the rotation plan, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on Jan. 23.

The peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has been serving in Afghanistan since November 20, 2002.

Presently, 120 Azerbaijani servicemen are taking part in this mission in Afghanistan, including two military doctors and six staff officers.

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By Trend

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board Andrey Kostin in Davos.

Azerbaijans successful cooperation with VTB Bank, and the banks fruitful activity in the country was hailed at the meeting.

The sides emphasized the importance of the development of the banking sector in Azerbaijan, the measures taken in this area in order to create a more favorable environment for the private sector, and exchanged views on cooperation prospects.

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By Trend

On Feb. 13-14, Poland, at the initiative of the US, is scheduled to host an international summit on the Middle East, which in diplomatic circles has already been called anti-Iranian.

International analysts say that the summit will further exacerbate the contradictions between the US and the EU, since a number of European countries wont want to join Washingtons sanctions against Iran.

Moreover, the EU intends to start implementing a number of economic projects that are actually aimed at disrupting the US sanctions policy and will contribute to its violation.

As it should have been expected, Armenia, which is ready for anything in search of means to implement its adventurous plans, may become one of the guinea pigs for disrupting anti-Iran sanctions. The new Yerevan government, striving to use political intrigues between Russia and the West, is eager to put another log on the conflict between Washington and Brussels.

In Yerevan, the news of the joint investment program being considered by the EU and the World Bank was perceived as manna from heaven. During the next 11 years, until 2030, the program is considering the allocation of 13 billion euros to the six countries participating in the EU Eastern Partnership program. Sensing the smell of money, Yerevan requested 700 million euros, which allegedly will be allocated for construction of the North-South transport corridor, thereby directly violating the US sanctions against Iran.

Everything has long been set in the projects of Yerevan dreamers, starting from the construction of roads to Iran and ending with the modernization of the Meghri border crossing point. It would be worth emphasizing that the projects included in the investment program of the EU and the World Bank actually provide for the modernization of the infrastructure from Iran to Europe, and this, of course, is taking quite scandalous nature and completely contradicts the US sanctions policy.

Yerevan, feeling that the walls were closing in, even started talking about the formation of a certain Iran-Armenia-Georgia geopolitical axis.

Street geopolitical analysts of Yerevan called their dreams an important and significant direction for Armenia, which makes it possible to show flexibility and initiative in regional politics. It is interesting that the day after his appointment as a prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan held an informal meeting with Prime Minister of Georgia. Intensification of contacts in the Iranian direction is also expected, and Yerevan started to talk about the organization of Pashinyans visit to Iran more often.

However, sober-minded international policy experts point out that Brussels desires to get a new bargaining chip in its confrontation with Washington rather than implementing the European modernization program of a road from Iran. There are opinions that the project by the EU and the World Bank on financing construction of the road to Iran may ultimately bring Armenia under US sanctions.

Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, Head of Baku Network

http://bakunetwork.com



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By Trend

New personnel appointments have been made in the regional culture departments of Azerbaijans Culture Ministry, Trend reports with reference to the ministry.

Head of the Agdash Regional Culture Department Tahir Aliyev has been relieved of his post at his own request.

By order of Culture Minister Abulfas Garayev, Ramiz Guliyev, head of the Agstafa Regional Culture Department, has been appointed to this post.

By another order of the minister, Deputy Head of Agjabadi Regional Culture Department Vugar Gadirov has been appointed head of the Agstafa Regional Culture Department.

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By Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the delegation of the Interparliamentary Friendship Group with Azerbaijan in the Shura Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia led by Dr. Fayez bin Abdullah bin Ali Al-Shihri, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Expressing his contentment with the development of relations in all spheres between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, Mammadyarov underlined the importance of increasing efforts for further deepening of economic relations.

Expressing their satisfaction over the visit to Azerbaijan, the guests highlighted the necessity of upgrading the relations to the level of strategic partnership. To this end, the sides noted the importance of further strengthening of cooperation ties in the fields of economy and education.

The sides also highly appreciated the activity of interparliamentary friendship groups in the development of bilateral friendly relations.

Dr. Fayez bin Abdullah bin Ali Al-Shihri said that the position of Saudi Arabia in the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unchanged and that the conflict should be resolved on the basis of the fundamental principles of international law, in particular, in accordance with the principles of Azerbaijans territorial integrity and sovereignty.

At the meeting the sides also exchanged their views on other issues of mutual interest.

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By Trend

Turkey feels Azerbaijans sincere and powerful support in all areas, Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral told Trend.

The ambassador stressed that 100 years ago, the Turks, without any doubt, helped their Azerbaijani brothers, and the Islamic Army of the Caucasus helped liberate Baku from occupation.

"Today, Turkey also feels Azerbaijans sincere and powerful support in all areas," he added.

"The establishment of the Turkey-Azerbaijan relations based on historical brotherhood and friendship at the level of strategic partnership is our source of joy and pride," Ozoral said.

The diplomat added that this mutual support is felt in all areas, including the military, political, humanitarian, economic and cultural areas.

"Our countries protect each others interests in international organizations as their own interests, he said. For example, it is impossible to forget Azerbaijans support rendered to Turkey in the Council of Europe, as well as Turkeys support to Azerbaijan in various issues."

Ozoral stressed that the 100th anniversary of the Islamic Army of the Caucasus was solemnly celebrated in 2018 through joint events.

"Since Azerbaijan restored independence up until now, we have brought our ties to a level that will be exemplary in all areas thanks to joint efforts," the ambassador said.

The bilateral relations also have had a positive effect on the stability, welfare and development of the region, he added.

Ozoral said that today it is impossible to imagine Europes energy security, as well as the security of the region without Turkey and Azerbaijan.

"The joint large-scale energy and transportation projects are of great importance not only for the region," he said. TANAP will ensure energy security and diversification of Europes energy sources. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway has opened a new era in the development of cargo transportation, which will allow the countries located along the 'One Belt, One Road' to get benefits."

The diplomat also said intensive meetings are held and visits are made at all levels between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

"We held the 7th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council in April 2018," the ambassador added.

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By Trend

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) has welcomed reports from Azerbaijan that the General Prosecutors Office has terminated a criminal case against blogger Mehman Huseynov, Trend reports citing a statement published on OSCEs website.

I am happy that the new charges against Mr. Huseynov have been dropped and that he can once again look forward to his expected release date in early March, President Tsereteli said. When I visited Mr. Huseynov and observed his prison conditions just under a year ago, I expressed hope that he would be released soon. Therefore, the initiation of new charges against him in December was a cause for deep concern and I am relieved that these criminal proceedings have been terminated.

Tsereteli said he has followed Huseynovs case closely and regularly raised it in his discussions with parliamentary colleagues and Azerbaijani authorities. OSCE PA president said he is pleased that Azerbaijans president has paid personal attention to this case.

Tsereteli added that democratic reforms in Azerbaijan, particularly on freedom of the media and on creating conditions to maximize the contribution of civil society, should continue.

The criminal case against Mehman Huseynov has been terminated upon recommendations of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev.

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By Trend

A session on Advancing the Belt and Road Initiative: China`s Trillion Dollar Vision has been held in Davos as part of the World Economic Forum.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the session.

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By Trend

Montenegro has delivered a note of intent to open a diplomatic mission in Azerbaijan, Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry of Montenegro Veselin Sukovic said.

Sukovic made the remarks at a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

At the meeting, the sides expressed satisfaction with the development of friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Montenegro and stressed that high-level mutual visits provide substantial impetus for the development of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The sides discussed the cooperation perspectives in energy, transport, investment, tourism and other sectors.

Mammadyarov briefed the guest on the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, TANAP and TAP projects and pointed out the potential for cooperation on energy issues with Montenegro.

The Azerbaijani minister stressed that the staunch support of Montenegro to the fair position of Azerbaijan on the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is highly appreciated. He briefed his interlocutors on the current stage of negotiations over the conflict settlement mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on regional issues of mutual interest.

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By Trend

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Chief Executive Officer of SAP SE Bill McDermott.

Bill McDermott presented his book to the head of state.

SAP SE CEO Bill McDermott hailed the cooperation with Azerbaijan, and underlined that the reforms and development programs implemented under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev in recent years have aroused great interest. Saying that SAP SE has already opened its office in Baku, Bill McDermott noted the company's readiness to support the realization of President Ilham Aliyev's economic policy and the formation of the digital economy. He pointed out that the company can contribute to the development of digital economy, generally digitalization both in the public and private sectors, adding that the economic policy pursued by the Azerbaijani President gives them confidence.

Bill McDermott noted that the current stability in the economy of Azerbaijan and the strengthening of the country's financial sustainability create a solid foundation for the development of the digital economy. He underlined that the digital economy also encourages a rapid increase in the number of jobs. SAP SE CEO Bill McDermott said that the development of the digital economy can contribute to ensuring gender equality.

President Ilham Aliyev praised the cooperation with SAP SE. The head of state noted that the company's cooperation with relevant Azerbaijani authorities has contributed to developing economy, increasing transparency and creating new jobs in the country. President Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of continuing cooperation on this front.

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By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan exported about 77,625 tons of potatoes to Russia in January-November 2018.

This is equal to 14.1 percent of Russian imports, Report informs referring to Russian media.

In the reporting period, Russia imported 550,537 tons of potatoes worth $ 204.4 million.

Although potato production in Azerbaijan is two times more than the country's demand, Azerbaijan also imports potato.

During the first 11 months of 2018, Russia exported 4,641,17 tons of potatoes to Azerbaijan in January-November 2018, that makes 3.5 percent of Russia's total potato exports.

However, Russia exported 132,605 tons of potatoes worth $ 13.9 million, which is 28 percent less than in the same period last year.

Potato production is expected to be increased by two percent to 958,000 tons in Azerbaijan in 2019.

It is forecasted that 972,000 tons will be produced in 2020, 1.004 million tons in 2021 and 1.063 tons of potato in 2022.

In terms of the production volume of potato in the regions of Azerbaijan, Gadabay comes first (12 000 ha). It is followed by Tovuz (7,000 hectares), Shamkir (6,50 hectares) and Jalilabad (5,000 hectares).

Every year, Azerbaijan imports more than 50,000 tons of potatoes from Iran and spends more than $ 9 million on it.

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By Laman Ismayilova

A photo exhibition of the Russian photographer Alexander Novikov solemnly opened in Baku.

The event took place at the Russian Information and Cultural Center in Baku on January 22, Trend Life reported.

The photo exhibition is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. The Siege of Leningrad lasted 900 days and resulted in the deaths of some one million of people.

The head of Rossotrudnichestvo office in Azerbaijan Valentin Denisov welcomed the guests of the event.

In his speech, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov stressed the importance of such thematic meetings.

The Ambassador noted that the photographs and photographic documents presented at the exhibition the essence of the historical truth about that most difficult period of the Great Patriotic War. It is very important that the youth know and remember the truth about that war.

The dean of the history department of Baku State University Azad Rzayev cited a lot of facts about the Siege of Leningrad.

Notably, Alexander Novikov is a full member of the Russian Geographical Society, a member of the Russian Creative Union of Artists.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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By Laman Ismayilova

International Arts Festival and Contest will be held in Baku.

The third Testene Art Baku Festival will be held on March 13-17, Trend Life reported.

The event organizers include the Ministry of Culture, Baku Central Cultural Department, Testene Art Association (Italy), music school No. 3 named after Jovdad Hajiyev.

The competition will be held in the following nominations: vocal, instrumental performance, dance, theater, folklore, decorative arts, folk musical instruments, as well as fashion and design.

The festival will feature contests in several nominations and age groups: 4-8 years, 9-12 years, 13-16 years, 17-19 years, 20 years and older.

Master classes for piano and violin, as well as visual arts will be held.

The jury will include cultural and art workers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Israel and Italy.

Winner of the Grand Prix for vocalists will be presented a special song composed by the People's Artist of Russia Viktor Pelenyagre.

Testene Art Baku Festival, held for the first time in 2016, brining together a great number of participants from different countries.

The performance of young performers from Azerbaijan caused the jury's interest.

After winning the Grand Prix, Nijat Pelengov (balaban) successfully represented Azerbaijan at the contest in Italy.

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By Laman Ismayilova

Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Zurab Pataradze has met with the Culture Minister Abulfaz Garayev.

The parties expressed the hope that active cooperation in the field of culture will continue in the future.

They stressed that achievements in the field of culture are based on good neighborly relations between countries. Further plans for cooperation were also discussed.

An agreement was reached on holding the Days of Georgian Culture in Azerbaijan and the Days of Azerbaijani Culture in Azerbaijan this year.

Bilateral diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia are manifested in the various fields since 1992.

Cultural relations between the two countries are on a high level.

Many art projects are implemented as part of the cooperation.

At the same time two countries broadly cooperate in regional energy development, transportation and economic partnership projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway (BTK), the TRACECA, and the BSEC.

Georgian exports to Azerbaijan include cement, locomotives and other railway vehicles, mineral and chemical fertilizers, mineral waters, strong drinks, glass and glass wares, and pharmaceuticals, among other things.

Azerbaijani mainly exports to Georgia oil and petroleum products, natural gas, electricity, plastic, cement, anhydrite and gypsum binders.

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By Laman Ismayilova

All the magic of Christmas comes alive when Santa Claus gets ready for his trip.

On Christmas Eve Santa travels all over the world on a sleigh pulled by reindeer and delivers toys to children.

YARAT Contemporary Art Space invites you to enjoy unique event dedicated to our beloved character.

The project will be presented at ARTIM Project Space on January 25.

During the event Camping Azerbaijan will inform guests about the project.

An exhibition of talented photographers Zaur Mirzayev, Elshan Baba, Eldar Akbarov will open as part of the project.

The team of Camping Azerbaijan already climbes for the fourth year to the remote areas of northern Azerbaijan, including Guba and Gusar mountain villages, in favor of their Santa Claus project.

Beforehand, they collect gifts, toys and games for the children and hand them over dressed up in Santa Claus costumes. The last trip has been documented by Zaur Mirzayev, Elshan Baba and Eldar Akbarov.

They captured the colorful, magical moments of joy, excitement and friendship embedded in front of the picturesque mountain landscapes.

The event consists of a conversation with the operators of Camping Azerbaijan, informing about their social projects and a presentation of the photo documentation of this years "Santa Claus" Project.

Among the speakers are representatives of Camping Azerbaijan Elvin Mammadsoy, Tural Omarov.

Camping Azerbaijan is an eco-tour agency organizing weekend trips and private tours to the remotest villages, nature areas, high mountainous areas and peaks of the Caucasus. The company was established in 2014.

"De/Construction" is a series of events that takes place during the de/installation period at ARTIM. It provides a platform for critical discussion, brainstorming and exchange for young creative people to share and reflect on their body of work with a broader audience.

The event starts at 19:00. Admission is free

Address: Old City, Boyuk Gala Street 30, 001A

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By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan enjoys a great potential for the development of tourism. Nature, climate, historical monuments, cuisine, rich culture of the people and other factors lay the foundation for the development of many areas of tourism. There are wide opportunities for Azerbaijan to be recognized as a tourist destination in the world.

Azerbaijan is among the fastest-growing destinations for tourists.

The number of Indian tourists visiting Azerbaijan has increased by 175 percent amounted to 40,000 people in 2018, Executive Director of Azerbaijan Tourism Bureau, Florian Sengstschmid said in an interview with India's influential news agency Times of India, Trend reports.

Sengstschmid emphasized that Indian tourists are increasingly showing interest in Azerbaijan in recent years.

He noted that India is one of the first six countries where the official representative office of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board opened.

He added that the Indian market and the interests of potential tourists were considered.

There are proposals for holding various events, weddings and other corporate and group events, he said. The work over a document that defines the rules for supporting the shooting of Indian films in Azerbaijan is underway.

He stressed that one of the important factors is that it is easy to visit Azerbaijan. Thus, Indian tourists are able to get online visas within three hours. He added that although flights to Azerbaijan are mainly carried out from Gulf states at present, it is planned to implement Delhi-Baku direct flights in the future.

Sengstschmid said that the people of Azerbaijan and India had common cultural and historical values and organized special tours for Indian tourists including "Ateshgah" Temple.

Perhaps the most popular and exotic sight of Azerbaijan is the Temple of Ateshgah. It is located 30 km from the center of Baku, on the outskirts of the village of Surakhani and is known almost all over the world.

The territory where this temple stands is known for such a unique natural phenomenon, as natural gas comes out of the ground, and when it comes into contact with oxygen, a natural fire occurs. In its present form, the temple was built in the XVII-XVIII centuries. It was built by a Hindu community living in Baku belonging to the Sikh caste.

However, the history of the Ateshgah temple is much more ancient. The sanctuary of fire-worshiping Zoroastrians (approximately the beginning of our era) has been located in this territory since ancient times, who gave mystical significance to the unquenchable fire and came here to worship the shrine.

Atashgah is included in the UNESCOs preliminary World Heritage list and considered as one of the most interesting monuments due to its historical value and modern appearance.

It should be noted that Azerbaijani delegation headed by Azerbaijan Tourism Bureau attended SATTE 2019 international exhibition in New Delhi from 16 to 18 January.

Baku-Delhi direct flight, to be launched in early 2019, will contribute to further development of tourism relations between the two countries.

Recently, Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AZTA) and the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation during the international tourism fair SATTE 2018 in Delhi on February 3, 2018, that is of great importance.

Both India and Azerbaijan have started online visa issuance from 2017 which greatly helped in tourists' travel.

As many as 14,173 Indian tourists traveled to Azerbaijan in 2017, 6012 in 2016, 5584 in 2015, 4853 in 2014.

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Azercell Telecom LLC, the leader of mobile communication market in Azerbaijan, has selected the winners of Student Bursary Program for the academic year 2019, which is held every year with the view to support professional growth of students.

This year, 25 students were honored the title of Azercell Bursars upon multi-staged selection process. Vahid Mursaliyev, CEO of Azercell Telecom and Eldar Gojayev, Chief for Academic Affairs of Sabah Groups under the Ministry of Education joined the event, organized by the company on January 21.

In his speech, Vahid Mursaliyev underlined the high-standing consistency, sustainability and transparency in corporative social responsibility policy of Azercell. He also noted that the Annual Student Bursary and Internship Programs implemented by the company are investments in the professional development of our youth.

Notably, 1398 students applied to Azercells Student Bursary Program and the selection process covered three stages. The first stage was the evaluation of students online application forms and documents. In the second stage, 759 students took online tests to demonstrate their level of logical thinking and English language proficiency.

66 successful students were invited to face-to-face interviews. Applicants were evaluated based on several criteria, such as their academic skills, world outlook and aspirations towards science and education. In addition to a monthly stipend of AZN 200, the winners will have a chance to enrich their knowledge about telecommunications, participate in Azercells corporate events and social activities, receive various trainings, as well as take internship opportunity at Azercell.

It is worth noting that, 9 of the bursars were selected from universities in Baku, while 7 were selected from those in regions and the others from SABAH students within the framework of memorandum between Azercell and Sabah Groups.

The aim of the Azercell Bursary Program is to encourage the successful students and young talents with outstanding academic achievements, support the professional growth of the students with high potential. Remarkably, the program has been held every year since 2008 to date, there are more than 180 students from various universities of Azerbaijan who bear the honorary name of an Azercell bursar.

For more information, please contact [email protected]

The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48 per cent share of Azerbaijans mobile telecom market Azercells network covers 80 per cent of the territory (excluding 20% per cent of the occupied territories) and 99,8 per cent of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services.

Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call centre service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, mobile customer services, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc. Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012.

According to the results of mobile network quality and wireless coverage mapping surveys by international systems, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Azercell is the only company in Azerbaijan and CIS region which has been awarded Gold Certificate of International Investors in People Standard.

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By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 29 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Jan. 23, Trend reports.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Expand chart Data: Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey conducted Nov. 14 to Nov. 19, 2018; margin of error 3.9; Chart: Chris Canipe/Axios

As much as 67% of Americans might support a carbon tax, according to a new poll from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) and the Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Why it matters: 98% of economists believe that the least expensive way to slow climate change is to put a price on carbon emissions through a cap-and-trade system or tax. Although economists also suggest using revenues from carbon pricing to reduce income taxes  taxing a bad (carbon emissions) to reduce taxes on a good (income)  these poll results suggest voters prefer pairing carbon taxes with environmental spending.

Reality check: The politics of carbon pricing are challenging. Progressive Washington State has twice rejected referendums to put a price on carbon, at least partially because of aggressive advertising campaigns by fossil fuel companies and questions about how the money would be spent. Further, the American Clean Energy and Security Act failed to get a vote in the Senate in 2010, and the House of Representatives even passed a resolution last summer denouncing the idea of a carbon tax.

Yes, but: New polling released this week shows that 44% of Americans support a carbon tax. More importantly, that support varies when they are told what policies might accompany it.

Of all the possible uses polled, the largest portion of Americans support a carbon tax whose revenue would be used for environmental restoration (67%) and renewable energy R&D (59%).

A more modest 49% would support a tax whose revenue would be used as a tax rebate  recently advocated by a group of economists as a political sweetener  while 45% support a tax whose revenue would reduce the deficit.

Support for a carbon tax is actually lower (34%) when respondents are told the tax policy would be accompanied by eased climate regulations.

What to watch: Pricing carbon is the most efficient way to recruit the private sector to identify and develop the cheapest emissions reductions. The American public is catching up to the consensus among scientists and economists, but whether the political establishment will remains an open question.

Michael Greenstone is the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, the College and the Harris School of Public Policy and director of its Energy Policy Institute.
1 big thing: Climate polling as Rorschach test

New public surveys offer a messy picture for anyone trying to game out where U.S. climate policy may go in the future.

Why it matters: The reports arrive as Democrats are increasing their political focus on climate and some conservatives are trying to chip away at massive GOP opposition to carbon taxes.

What they found: One of the polls  found here  shows that 44% would support taxing carbon emissions in the abstract, compared with 29% in opposition.

But support was higher when pollsters for the University of Chicago's Energy Policy Institute and the APNORC Center for Public Affairs Research asked about specific uses of tax revenue (see chart above).

The intrigue: Note that providing a tax rebate to all Americans is hardly the most popular option. Yet that's the guts of the proposal floated by some lawmakers, a large group of economists and the Climate Leadership Council, a group backed by some prominent GOP elder statesman and big corporate players like Exxon, BP and Shell.

The poll found even less support for coupling the tax with easing emissions regulations, which is a key part of the proposal from the CLC, its lobbying offshoot Americans for Carbon Dividends, and the economists.

Between the lines: All that said ... it's a single poll. And even that survey has mixed messages.

It also shows that willingness to pay higher monthly power bills (which is kind of a proxy for a tax) plummets as the costs rise, yet presumably a system of rebates could make higher bills more palatable.

A main takeaway from the poll is that it finds 49% of respondents said climate change is very or extremely important to them personally.

That's way lower than the share with the same feelings about the economy (76%), health care (81%) and terrorism (67%).

Partisan divide also remain immense. The poll shows that while 71% of respondents overall agree that climate change is happening, only 52% of Republicans are in agreement.

Among those who agree climate change is happening, just 33% of Republicans say it's caused entirely or mostly by human activities.

The scientific consensus is that human activities have been the absolutely dominant driver of observed warming since the mid-20th century.

But, but, but: A second survey also has results that could show greater public interest in measures to stem rising emissions and adapt to the effects of warming. Read more on this below.
This will be a perilous year for the Iran nuclear deal and for smoldering U.S.-Iran tensions, according to a report tied to the third anniversary of the deal's implementation.

The big picture: The authors of the International Crisis Group (ICG) report argue that Iran  which is still complying with the deal even though President Trump abandoned it  is unlikely to simply walk away from the pact. But it will seek to inflict pain on the U.S. as sanctions continue to bite, likely through military means. The potential sources of escalation are many, and the risks are far more acute this year than last.

Here's where things stand:

Trumps withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May seemed to be a fatal blow, but since then, Irans compliance has actually improved, inspectors say, likely because Tehran doesnt want to give Washington any pretext for action.

from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May seemed to be a fatal blow, but since then, Irans compliance has actually improved, inspectors say, likely because Tehran doesnt want to give Washington any pretext for action. The European signatories, meanwhile, are desperate to keep the deal afloat.

meanwhile, are desperate to keep the deal afloat. Iran wants to put the burden of blame squarely on the U.S., Ali Vaez, director of ICGs Iran Project, tells Axios. The Iranians are pretty confident they can stay afloat to 2021, both economically and in terms of internal security, he says, despite scattered protests and a looming sanctions-driven economic recession.

of blame squarely on the U.S., Ali Vaez, director of ICGs Iran Project, tells Axios. The Iranians are pretty confident they can stay afloat to 2021, both economically and in terms of internal security, he says, despite scattered protests and a looming sanctions-driven economic recession. Trump insists the goal is a wide-ranging deal with Iran, though the sense in Tehran is that those around him (most notably national security adviser John Bolton) are really aiming for regime change. In any event, they want to bring Iran to its knees economically as quickly as possible, the authors say.

is a wide-ranging deal with Iran, though the sense in Tehran is that those around him (most notably national security adviser John Bolton) are really aiming for regime change. In any event, they want to bring Iran to its knees economically as quickly as possible, the authors say. The Iranians believe theres little point in negotiations with the U.S., given the administrations maximalist demands, or even of stringing the administration along in talks and playing for time, because the domestic political costs of engaging are much higher than the benefits.

What to watch: Irans strategy of waiting out Trump is both logical and short-sighted, Vaez says, given they dont seem to have a clear plan should Trump be re-elected. They can live under sanctions for 2 more years, he says, but 6?

Even if a Democrat defeats Trump in 2020, return to the JCPOA is easier said than done.

Two reasons: The Trump administration has added non-nuclear sanctions that will be hard to roll back without justification, and by 2021, the sunsets in the nuclear deal will be fast approaching.

The Trump administration has added non-nuclear sanctions that will be hard to roll back without justification, and by 2021, the sunsets in the nuclear deal will be fast approaching. If Trump wins in 2020, Iran will have little choice but to negotiate, but it will have to build up leverage again. That means leaving the existing deal, then significant escalation on the nuclear front, the authors say.

Iran is unlikely to simply walk away from the nuclear deal, the authors believe. Rigorous inspections and U.S. and Israeli intelligence, meanwhile, make sneaking out a tall order. Therefore, Iran is likely to seek alternative means to impose costs on the U.S.

Yemen and Afghanistan are two theaters in which Iran could seek to hit U.S. interests, but the authors consider Iraq the most likely. Thats particularly risky, given Bolton recently requested options for striking inside Iran after Iran-aligned militants fired mortars into Baghdad's diplomatic quarter.

are two theaters in which Iran could seek to hit U.S. interests, but the authors consider Iraq the most likely. Thats particularly risky, given Bolton recently requested options for striking inside Iran after Iran-aligned militants fired mortars into Baghdad's diplomatic quarter. There are a number of worrying scenarios. One example: If the [Iran-backed] Houthis decide to hit a Saudi population center, says co-author Naysan Rafati, the response could be frightening.

of worrying scenarios. One example: If the [Iran-backed] Houthis decide to hit a Saudi population center, says co-author Naysan Rafati, the response could be frightening. The U.S. and Israel are likely to shoot first and ask questions later in the event of a provocation from Iran or its proxies, he says, and there are few lines of communication through which to prevent escalation.

The bottom line: "It is easy to lose sight of the fact that the JCPOA, entering its fourth year of implementation, is serving its primary objective, the authors write. Its far from certain, though, that it will be in place a year from now.
Spanish-flavored Brooklyn-based designer David Navarro makes things as the Executive Creative Director at Ueno. In his talk Escape the Hot Dog At Awwwards Conference New York, he talks about escaping from convention, the importance of challenging yourself, and creating the Reuters news app.

Challenge what you do and challenge where you want to be. Use your culture as an enabler and embrace the future - escape from the conventions.

Subscribe now - watch the hottest digital design talks and interviews from Awwwards, on our official YouTube Channel.

Next stop: get your ticket for - Awwwards Conference Amsterdam February 13-15th and San Francisco May 8-10 2019, Talks, Workshops, Meetups and Parties for digital creatives to learn key tools, current trends and emerging web technologies from leading agencies whilst making connections within the international design community.
One of the first examples of the platform Russia intends to use to launch its new hypersonic missiles has crashed in a snowstorm in the Russian Arctic, killing three of four of the crew on board. The TU-22M3M supersonic bomber was on a training flight when it crashed while attempting to land at Olenegorsk airbase in the Murmansk region. TASS is reporting that local officials are citing weather and pilot error in the crash. The Russian government has grounded the upgraded aircraft pending an investigation.

The accident will likely be a setback for Russias plan to deploy its new hypersonic missiles, which President Vladimir Putin announced with fanfare last month. The modernized TU-22 is a foundation of Putins bid to strengthen the countrys air force and the first one flew less than a month ago. The aircraft has new avionics, navigation and communications equipment and is designed to carry Russias latest high-speed cruise missiles in addition to the hypersonic missiles. It was not carrying weapons when it crashed.
Copyright  2020 by Mountain Times Publications. Digital or printed dissemination of this content without prior written consent is a violation of federal law and may be subject to legal action.
It happened most recently to one woman who ran out of gas while going up Dooley Mountain in Oregon. She was on an isolated stretch of Oregon Highway 245 where traffic is very sparse. In fact, traffic is so light there that she spent an entire night on her own, locked inside the car before she could ask for help from any human being.To her luck, that human being was actually an Oregon State Police trooper, as a recent post on the official Facebook of the PD reveals.Sr. Trooper McClay, Baker City Office, might literally have just save the day, the PD says. A lone motorist, traveling on Hwy 245 in a very remote area of Baker County, ran out of gas. It was extremely cold and there was no cell service. After spending one night in her car alone on the side of the highway, Sr. Trooper McClay came upon the vehicle and rendered aid.The trooper first checked the driver to see if she needed any medical assistance. She didnt need any, which, again, was lucky for her. He then got gas and followed the driver into town to ensure she arrived safely, the police department further says.She was incredibly lucky this time, so probably this incident will serve as a lesson for her. Never hit the road without sufficient gas in the tank and take all measures to make sure you can communicate with others in case of an emergency. Both should be mandatory when you know youre about to travel someplace more isolated.
Two girls idea of a fun night out on the town turned into something else entirely when the car theyd taken was carjacked by a pair of male teens, KSDK reports. Police are investigating the incident, which began when the girls, both 15, took their aunts 2006 Chevrolet HHR in St. Louis, Missouri.They didnt get too far in it, according to police documents cited by the publication.The teens were sitting in the car when two unknown 14-to-15-year-old boys approached them with guns. The suspects opened the doors and demanded the girls get out. After one of the suspects fired a shot into the air, one of the girls handed over the keys and they ran from the scene, KSDK says.The girls called the police and an investigation is now underway. If their aunt decides not to press charges against them, they might get off without being prosecuted, even though they probably didnt have a valid drivers license.The suspects got in the car and left the scene. No one was injured, and police do not have any suspects in custody, the same media outlet says.That part about no one being injured is the silver lining, because you just know that those 2 girls are in serious trouble with the aunt, first for taking the car and not telling her, and secondly for having it stolen on their watch. Truth be told, there wasnt anything they could have done to prevent the thieves from taking it, but none of this would have happened if they had just stayed put. You know thats what the aunt is thinking right now.
The spoiler to the story is that, despite her honest efforts, she didnt get the loan, with which she was thinking of buying a new car. The silver lining is that shes now a viral star , and in this day and age, few are those who wouldnt find consolation in that.Thats because the incident was captured on the CCTV cameras from the bank. The name of the bank hasnt been disclosed, but the Daily Mail says that its from Kazan, the capital of The Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The dude in the room with the woman, identified as Yulia Kuzmina, is the bank manager.The video starts with Yulia handing over some papers to the bank manager: thats her application for a car loan. At one point, it becomes clear from the mans attitude that she wont be getting the loan, so Yulia stands up and, after a brief hesitation, lifts up her short dress. She removes the bra, too, even though the bank manager is nodding her head, clearly telling her that it wont work.In the end, Yulia was escorted out of the office before she even got the chance to put her clothes back on. She didnt get the loan either, so that means she will have to use public transport and / or walk to whatever she does for a living. Hint: word online has it that shes a stripper, but theres no confirmation of that.Speaking to the media after the video went viral, Yulia said: I am in a difficult situation. Those who judge me do not know what they would do in my shoes.Please be advised that some discretion might be necessary when viewing the video.
"Kate brings an impressive and unique background that makes her ideally suited to lead our global International Arbitration practice," said Loren Brown, co-chair of DLA Piper's global and US Litigation practices. "She is highly regarded throughout the international arbitration community, and has received a number of industry accolades, including being appointed to represent her home country of Australia at the meetings of a United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) working group on arbitration and conciliation."

Rothschild senior advisor among new Ashurst board members

Ashurst has appointed two new independent directors to its board with effect from 1st April 2019.

Robin Lawther is non-executive director of UK Government Investments and Oras Invest. She previously held several senior investment roles during a 20-year tenure at JP Morgan in London and New York. She will chair Ashursts audit committee.

Wu Gang is senior adviser to Rothschild & Co Hong Kong Limited and has held several senior positions in investment institutions in London and Hong Kong.

"It is a fascinating time to join the Board of Ashurst, which has a very strong position in both Europe and Asia Pacific and is at a growth phase. I hope to be able to bring my international experience to bear at a time of significant opportunity and changes for the legal market," he said.
Equality Florida launched a full scale social media attack on a bill that will protect LGBT people from discrimination in the workplace because it does not include public accommodations.

Instead the bill only focuses on employment discrimination.

Deplorable, said Michael Womack, a communications associate at Equality Florida summing it up in one word on Facebook.

The bill, the Florida Inclusion Workforce Act (FIWA), would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Florida's Civil Rights Act. It was filed in the Florida Senate on Tuesday by State Senator Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), who is also the chair of the Republican Party of Florida.

FIWA is a collaboration between Gruters and SAVE Florida, a coalition that includes SAVE, Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Translatina and the Conservatives on the Right of Equality. Former State Representative David Richardson (D-Miami Beach) also provided assistance with the bill.

"Policy change is often incremental," Richardson said in a press release. "I applaud Senator Gruters' for his fresh approach which is fully inclusive of the LGBT community."

By Tuesday evening Equality Florida staffers started attacking the bill on social media and released a statement on their website protesting the new bill.

Accusations of who was the most anti-trans flew back forth on Facebook between Equality Florida staffers and Rand Hoch, president and founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, even went so far as to threaten to expose Hochs alleged anti-trans bias by releasing an email exchange from 2007.

Hoch shot back referring to his organizations long history of including the trans community in many of its initiatives at the city and county level.

Ive been called a lot of things in the past, but this one just doesnt stick. We have enacted 49 trans inclusive laws in Palm Beach County going back to 2004, Hoch said. Id love to see how many trans inclusive laws on the books Nadine [Smith] is responsible for. They have a lot of rhetoric, but PBCHRC has a lot of action.

Advocates of FIWA insisted some protections are better than nothing for the LGB and trans communities.

Currently Florida has no statewide non-discrimination laws protecting any of the LGBT community.

On Tuesday Equality Florida released a statement on their website blasting the new bill.

"The pressure to remove public accommodations protections from the [Florida Competitive Workforce Act] comes from one place and one place alone - anti-transgender bigotry. From transgender students being harassed at school to efforts to eject transgender servicemembers from the military, the transgender community is bearing the brunt of the renewed attack on LGBTQ equality, the statement reads. It has never been more important for LGBTQ people and our true allies to push back against slanders and refuse to give a pass to those who demonize transgender people as unworthy of basic dignity and equal protection.

The Florida Competitive Workforce Act is a separate bill that was also filed on Tuesday in the Florida Senate and House and is backed by Equality Florida. Its been filed every year since 2010.

"For the past decade, passing protections for the LGBTQ community have not been a legislative priority," said Richardson in a press release. "Continuing to rely on a failed strategy and a bill that has floundered no longer makes sense."

While its true the new bill, FIWA, does not cover public accommodations, it does include gender identity and so trans people would be protected in the workplace. Also FIWAs definition of gender identity is identical to FWCAs.

We need to protect the most people as fast as possible in our most important aspect of our lives  earning a living, said Tony Lima, the executive director of SAVE. You cant pay for your housing, unless you have a job, and you cant go eat at a restaurant if you dont have the means to pay. Workplace protections are key.

Arianna Lint, a trans woman and President of the TransLatina coalition on the East Coast, is one of the partners of the new bill and stands firmly behind SAVE and Tony Lima.

This bill is very important for the transgender community. This is a good start, said Lint, who is also the founder of Arianas Center, an organization that empowers and lifts up the trans community of South Florida. We really trust SAVE.

When asked specifically if this bill leaves the trans community behind she said Never. [SAVE] is not going to leave the trans community behind.

Justin Flippen, the gay mayor of the gayest city in Florida, Wilton Manors, is also standing firmly behind the new bill.

Working with Republicans who control our state government in Tallahassee on advancing equal rights wherever possible is the responsibility of us all. Equal rights and nondiscrimination is a matter of right and wrong, not political left and right. It transcends political party, and while Republicans may have a history of being reluctant to support LGBT issues, when they do, it is important to find successful ways to embrace that support and add it to the longstanding support of progressives and democrats to increase the chances of actually getting legislation passed, Flippen said.

When the large step approach towards equality we often find more successful in South Florida doesnt work on a statewide level, smaller steps in that same direction are more practical. And sometimes smaller steps in the right direction are more permanent in the long run in changing hearts and minds, especially of conservative lawmakers.

Flippen plans to bring a resolution up at the next city commission meeting in support of the new non-discrimination bill.

Hoch also went on to praise Equality Floridas favored bill, the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, saying I love their bill. I wish their bill was law. It would be the best thing for everybody. But my wishes dont always come true. Their bill will go nowhere again. Its had one hearing in the past and it didnt even pass at the committee level. Its dead on arrival.

This is a developing story. Check back next week for additional updates.
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People can now donate $ to help with food shortage
Of custody and crypto The normally staid world of custody banking is now having to embrace the wild child of global assets: cryptocurrency. And this is happening just as bitcoin, the poster child of cryptocurrency, seesawed from US$30,000 one week to $40,000 the next, shedding then recovering 30% of its value. Some bitcoin bulls are talking of $100,000 by year-end
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war. The President, however, is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

He has been congressionally empowered with enormous latitude regarding matters of military readiness.

The powers are expansive, with too few constraints. They were vested in our chief executive even before the 9/11 attacks on America.

They have grown since then. They need to be restrained, and the presidents powers need to be harnessed.

Accordingly, the revelations last year that President Trump was going to ban Americas entire transgender population from serving in the military was deeply troubling. Empowered by new conservative Supreme Court justices, he could likely prevail in the High Court. Yesterday, by a 5-4 vote, he did.

Despite professional recommendations, military advice, and a Rand National Defense Research Institute study, the transphobia of Donald Trump has been given a judicial seal of approval. It is a sad day for our country, and a slap in the face for everyone in our community.

SFGN condemns and censures the impeachable president for his wicked shortsightedness. All of the professional studies discussing the participation of transgender populations serving in our armed forces have reached a conclusion that their service does not impede or impair military readiness in any fashion.

The Supreme Court decision is morally wrong and socially unacceptable. It is from another century long since past. A transgender person who is fit should be allowed to serve in Americas armed forces. Ironically, it is President Trump who is unfit, and should not be allowed to serve in the White House.

Any American who wants to serve and can meet the militarys standards should be afforded the opportunity to compete to do so. It is an all-volunteer force built upon having the most qualified Americans.

It is supposed to be based on honor and trust, not arbitrary and capricious classifications molded by presidential neanderthal-ism.

The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates that more than 15,000 transgender people are serving in the military.

The ban destroys dignity and unjustly demeans many lives. It is the president who should be so dishonored, not loyal souls capably serving our country. The permissive and perverted president who brags about grabbing pussy has screwed us once again.

Discrimination based on gender identity is sex discrimination at its worst. It is an unconscionable policy, which rightfully came to an end under the administration of Barack Obama. Abandoning an enlightened policy to move back in time is yet one more reason to bring an end to the era of Donald Trump

Americans who serve in the military are called upon to defend our beliefs, sometimes in war, and sometimes in uniform. If equality is a principle we can fight and die for, it ought to be a principle we should live by.
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One month in, county government feeling federal shutdown

photo by Luke Weir A sign posted on the Farm Service Agency indicates that its employees have been furloughed as a result of the federal government shutdown. Ashe FSA is one of multiple offices in the Ashe County Cooperative Extension building that are not operating under the shutdown.

JEFFERSON  One month after the United States government shutdown began, its effects weighed on the Ashe County Commissioners during their regular board meeting in the county courthouse at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22.

What is now the longest partial government shutdown in United States history began Dec. 22, 2018, and has continued for a full 31-day month as of presstime Tuesday.

At the beginning of the meeting, during the boards opening invocation, Vice Chairman William Sands prayed U.S. lawmakers resolve federal funding issues and get the government back in working order. Sands touched again on the shutdown during commissioner comments at the end of the meeting.

Weve talked previously about the federal shutdown, and I hope that our federal officials will come to a conclusion to this situation, Sands said. A lot of people are hurting, and it will trickle on down as time goes on.

Sands said he heard there are hundreds of thousands of federal employees without pay across the United States, some who are still being asked to work regardless.

It just continues to get worse, and these officials, according to their oath are sworn to help the people in our nation, and a lot of them are hurting now. I hope they get together and come to a conclusion and stop this.

Ashe DSS Director Tracie Downer appeared before the board prior to its scheduled presentations to update the commissioners on the countys food stamp benefits, which are provided through funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

According to Downer, double benefits are now in effect, meaning Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients were credited double the usual amount for January, with the expectation that the extra credit will last through February. SNAP recertification will also continue as normal through February, but Downer said she does not have additional information about food stamp benefits in March.

Thats good in that we know they are going to get their benefits through February, Downer said. Obviously this creates a concern in making sure that folks are budgeting appropriately, since folks are receiving double benefits and may not receive another check for unknown money in February.

Downer said in an email Jan. 10 that there are about 1,800 Ashe County households depending on federal SNAP funding, Ashe Post & Times previously reported.

In cooperation with the Ashe County Chamber of Commerce, Ashe DSS is initiating a clean out your pantry nonperishable food drive, benefitting local food pantries. Collection boxes will be located in the Ashe County Courthouse, according to Downer.

People can deliver them to whatever food bank that they prefer to use, we have five really good, strong food banks in the county, Downer said. Just in preparation, in case folks dont do a good job budgeting their funds up, we want to make sure we have enough so nobody goes hungry.

Food pantries in the county include Ashe Really Cares, the Ashe County Sharing Center, Ashe Outreach and A Safer Home for Everyone, among others.

Later in the boards Jan. 22 meeting, acting county manager Adam Stumb notified the board there may be issues moving forward in construction of the long-delayed Ashe County Fire Training Facility due to the federal shutdown.

According to Stumb, the new fire training facility is being funded through a federal USDA grant, which may be problematic in coordinating with the USDA, which needs to approve contractor invoices as they come in from LifeStore Bank, who is loaning Ashe County the remaining fire training facility money. Stumb said he attempted to clarify the situation with the USDA, but nobody is available.

There may be an issue there in talking with LifeStore  I cant talk with anybody at the USDA, Stumb said. I dont believe LifeStore will be able to pay the contractor, or pay those invoices.

Stumb said he is unsure what the funding discrepancy means in terms of construction, or how much money it might cost the county.

Theres a lot of uncertainty, a lot of questions, Stumb said. A lot of the (Ashe County) airport money, a lot of it is state money, but some of that is FAA money, so well stay mindful of that as several projects move forward.

For context, this record-setting federal shutdown comes as the result of a stalemate between President Donald Trump and Democratic lawmakers opposing his $5 billion budget request to build and improve a wall on the United States southern border.

I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Trump said during a White House meeting with congressional leaders Dec. 11, 2018.

In an email from her press secretary, U.S. House Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk) of the N.C. 5th Congressional District, provided Ashe Post & Times the following information about the shutdown:

In Washington, I am committed to supporting legislation that will end the unnecessary partial shutdown and fulfill the federal governments No. 1 role, which is to provide national security, Foxx said in the email. During the unfortunately prolonged negotiations, I am sympathetic to the North Carolinians going without pay and unable to access public services.

Foxx said in the email that House Republicans have offered a bipartisan motion to fund the government through Jan. 15, allowing federal employees to receive their first paychecks of 2019 and continue SNAP benefits into March, but Democratic leaders in congress chose to use federal workers as political leverage rather than give them their pay.

Once again, under the Democrats leadership, the House of Representatives wasted time politicking instead of offering real solutions to re-open the government, Foxx said in the email. These unfortunate circumstances will improve only if Democrats are willing to work with Republicans, and thus far they have shown thats not something they are willing to do.

Among other statements, Foxx said in the email that she does not think border security, opening the government and paying federal workers are mutually exclusive, and hopes Democrats will set aside politics and agree to real solutions.

Foxx did not reply to questions regarding the closing of farm support agencies located in the Ashe County Cooperative Extension building.
On many days lately, the last places Ive wanted to be are 2020 and 2021. And living outside of the present is clearly optional. Encouraged by pandemic restrictions, I retreated to my... Read more
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To celebrate the launch of Qatar Airways new direct service to Gothenburg, Sweden, Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, has hosted a press conference in Gothenburg.

Al Baker highlighted the award-winning airlines robust expansion plans, as well as its commitment to bringing more visitors to Sweden and to connecting Gothenburg to its extensive global network via the award-winning Hamad International Airport (HIA) in Doha.

Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: We are tremendously pleased to launch our new direct service to Gothenburg, our second gateway into Sweden. Gothenburg is both an important business centre and a growing tourist destination which is becoming increasingly popular with visitors. This new gateway will offer our Swedish passengers even more convenience and enhanced connectivity to an extensive choice of destinations on our global route network. We invite all to experience the unique charm of Gothenburg, and look forward to welcoming passengers on board.

Swedavia President and chief executive officer, Jonas Abrahamsson, said: Sweden is Scandinavias largest economy and one of Europes strongest. New direct routes are an important contributing factor, as improved market connectivity is crucial for Swedens tourism, businesses, ability to attract investments and exchange of knowledge.

"We are very pleased to welcome Qatar Airways to Gothenburg, its second gateway into Sweden. We are also delighted that in five years, Qatar Airways has doubled traffic on the direct route between Doha and Stockholm, significantly increasing connectivity between Sweden and the rest of the world.
Professor of Constitutional Law (University of Seville)Last Sunday [Barcelona daily] La Vanguardia published a very lengthy piece about the defence strategies of the Catalan leaders who are to stand trial following the October 1 referendum on independence. The story underscored the alleged split between those who wish to foreground the political angle and the defence teams that will emphasise the technical aspects. On Monday, Madrid-based El Pais ran a shorter story insisting on this point: Differences in defence strategies to set tone of October 1 trial.
The Democratic field continues to grow with two more Senators entering the U.S. Presidential campaign. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand entered the presidential campaign last week, declaring her intentions to seek the Democratic nomination.

The 55-year-old attorney condemned President Donald J. Trump in a visit toIowaover the weekend. Gillibrand said Trump had brought darkness to America with his racist message.

Gillibrand used words such as heartless, immoral, inhuman, and beyond disgraceful to describe the Trump administrations first two years.

Gillibrand has served in the Senate since 2009, when she was appointed to replace Hillary Clinton. She previously served in the U.S. House, representing upstate New York. She is proposing a Medicare for All health care system and wants to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

On Monday, California Senator Kamala Harris declared her intentions to run, becoming the first black woman in the field. Harris chose Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to make her announcement, imploring supporters in a video to claim our future.

As a prosecutor, Harris, 54, has gone after transnational gangs, gun runners, drug dealers and human trafficking. She gained attention with hard questioning of former U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions during Senate intelligence committee hearings on Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Prior to election to the Senate, Harris served as Californias attorney general from 2011 to 2017 and was district attorney for San Francisco from 2004 to 2010.

Harris and Gillibrand join Senate colleague Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard and former Housing & Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro as declared Democratic presidential candidates.

LGBT Winners of The Week:

1. Florida Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services: New commissioner Nikki Fried added sexual orientation and gender identity to the departments workplace protections.The policy change, affecting an estimated 4,000 employees, was hailed as historic and a first for a Florida governmental agency.

2. Kate Brown, Oregon Governor:Brown was sworn in to her second and final term as Oregon Governor. She identifies as bisexual. Her husband pitched in during the federal government shutdown toclean the bathroomsat Mount Hood National Forest Sno-Park. He sent the $28 bill to President Trump.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of an Arizona lesbian who said she experienced sex discrimination while working for Chilis.

Im out of a job because my boss didnt think I look like a woman, reads the headline of a statement by Meagan Hunter.

Hunter, an ex-host, expeditor and cook at a Phoenix, Arizona Chilis, states the division manager offered a promotion on one condition: Dress more gender appropriate.

Instead of accepting the offer Hunter quit in protest, leaving a job she said she enjoyed and co-workers she considered family.

I couldnt continue to work at a place where my willingness to conform to a stereotype was more important than my job performance, Hunter said.

ACLU senior staff attorney Ria Tabacco Mar cites a 1989 Supreme Court decision that was intended to help Hunter. In Price Waterhouse vs. Hopkins, the high court ruled in favor of a woman who was told her professional problems would be solved if only she would, walk more femininely, talk more femininely, wear make-up, have her hair styled and wear jewelry.

The court recognized that Hopkins, a senior manager, was stuck between a rock and a hard place  out of a job because she was considered too macho and out of a job if she wasnt seen as macho enough, writes Tabacco Mar, of the ACLUs LGBT and HIV project.

In a press release, Chilis parent company, Brinker International contends absolutely no mention was made of any need to conform to gender-specific clothing. The company stated Hunter was offered a promotion to the certified shift leader program and feedback was given about manager dress code guidelines that apply to all regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

We will not and do not tolerate discriminatory behavior at Chilis, the company stated.

Chilis is a corporate restaurant chain with locations around the world. The first Chilis opened in 1975 in Dallas, where an old post office was converted into a funky little joint named Chilis.
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Posted on: January 23, 2019 7:05 PM

A new congregation in a nightclub area and the Church of Englands first weekday-only church are two of several new worshipping communities to receive a share of 35 million GBP in funding. The money  the biggest investment so far by the C of Es Renewal and Reform programme  is intended to help it reach tens of thousands of people including in city centres, outer estates and rural areas, the C of E said in a statement. The Church said that the new Christian communities may be far from the traditional image of churches and will pioneer new types of churches along with new forms of outreach, including a social media pastor and outreach work with school and community choirs.

Hearing and responding to the good news of Jesus Christ unlocks new joy, new belonging, new purpose and new life, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said. These projects show the dynamism and drive of the Church of Englands mission to share this good news with people throughout our dioceses and parishes.

We are committed to this work because we want everyone to know how much they are loved by God through Jesus Christ, and how they can find that love for themselves.

Amongst the projects to receive funding from the scheme is a new church in Bradfords nightclub area, with a gym and cafe on site. The C of E said that this will help its mission to students and young adults in the city.

Elsewhere in Yorkshire, congregations that meet throughout the week rather than Sundays will be set up at Holy Trinity Church in Leeds city centre, targeting professionals working in the area. And new music specialists will be employed at Rotherham Minster to work with school and community choirs in the town.

A social media pastor will be based at Stockton Parish Church, and in Suffolk, a digital media post will be created.

The grants will fund churches across the theological spectrum. St Alban and St Martin churches on the Becontree Estate in Barking and Dagenham will receive funding for a new church in the parish  the largest housing estate in Europe. It is one of 11 new congregations planned for the Diocese of Chelmsford.

The Church of England is not afraid to try something new to ensure it continues to serve every community in the country, the Director of the Church of Englands Renewal and Reform programme, Debbie Clinton, said. We believe that everyone should have a chance to experience the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of belonging to a Christian community wherever they live, whether in an urban city centre, an outer housing estate or in remote rural areas.
The Primate of South East Asia, Archbishop Moon Hing, reflects on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The Church cannot and must not be divided was strongly emphasised and advocated at the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity held at the Crossway Community Lutheran Church in Kuala Lumpur this year. Christian Church leaders from 14 nations and from different denominations gathered for prayers. The Catholic Church were led by the present Archbishop Julian Leow, the retired Archbishop Murphy Packiam and the Cardinal Soter Fernandez.

The existence of slavery, poverty, discrimination, abuse, destruction of environment was amplified by the division of churches. Due to the division, the moral and upright arm of the Church was weakened and often compromised. The service reminded everyone of the theme from Deuteronomy 16: 18-20: Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue.

It is calling the body of Christ to pursue and embody justice which includes the promotion of the dignity of life and creation. At the prayer of repentance, we were reminded and repented of our failures of ignoring strangers, the poor and the least in society, fearing to defend the oppressed, misusing church resources, spreading falsehood, and building wall of hostility.

The speaker, the Revd Dr Hermen Sastri, the General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, exhorted everyone to take Justice to the forefront and pursue it as priority to unite our churches regardless of ethnicity, language, nationality, theological persuasion, locality and status. Is there anything greater than the desire of God for a united church of truth?  they may be ONE so that the world may believe (John 17: 21).

He reminisced about a WCC Conference in 1983 in Vancouver, Canada, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu was asked at a press conference, can the church make a difference in the world so filled with insurmountable injustice? To which he said, Tutu replied: When the church is divided, injustice thrives and the world wins. When the church is united on Gospel imperatives of justice, the power of oppression will be dethroned in the name of Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

Archbishop Julian Leow exhorted the church to take and pursue restorative justice instead of retributive justice.

A Christian group of Indonesia descent, led by Pendeta Dinna Putranti, presented some beautiful songs in Indonesian urging all to love God and seek unity. A group of Myanmar refugee children presented two wonderful songs and testimonies of their struggles due to inhumane treatments and challenges of their lives as refugees. Some East Malaysians natives led in prayers for the people.

A mixed choir of Malaysians and foreigners known as Cantus Musicus presented two excellent meditative songs to magnify the Lord. Leaders from different denominations shared in various prayers of repentance and for the people and nation. The evening ended with a sumptuous fellowship dinner hosted by the host church and her pastor Marcus Leong.
The Sony Xperia XZ4 is expected to arrive next month, during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, and the phones home screen has just appeared in China. One home screen image has surfaced on Weibo (Chinese social network), and it was applied on a render of the leaked Xperia XZ4, so that you may see what it may end up looking like once the phone becomes official.

Now, aside from featuring a really tall display aspect ratio, this image also reveals that Sony will finally adopt navigation gestures, at least to a degree. If you take a look at the provided image, you will see Googles Android 9 Pie navigation bar on the bottom of the display, the infamous pill. Many people think Googles new navigation bar and gestures are half-baked but it seems like the Xperia XZ3 will offer those as an option. Sony will hopefully leave on-screen buttons as a choice, while it would be nice to see the companys very own approach to navigation gestures as well.

On top of that, you will also notice a rather odd white line on the right side of the display so, whats that about? Well, this may have something to do with Sonys Side Sense, a feature which was released with the Xperia XZ3. Side Sense basically allows you to perform a double tap on the side of the phone in order to call upon a list of AI-curated app shortcuts.

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An MWC to remember

Sony had scheduled its MWC 2019 press conference quite recently, the company had confirmed that it will host such a press conference on February 25 in Barcelona. A major phone launch has been confirmed as well, and its pretty obvious that the Xperia XZ4 will make an appearance.

The Sony Xperia XZ4 is rumored to ship with a 21:9 display aspect ratio, which is quite a step away from current 19:9 and 19.5:9 display aspect ratios, that most manufacturers utilize. The phone will probably be made out of metal and glass, and as you can see, it will be quite tall thanks to that display aspect ratio.

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The Xperia XZ4 will include bezels above and below the display, though those bezels will not be thick. The phone will ship without a display notch or a hole-punch in the display, while the devices cameras are expected to be vertically aligned on the back.

The phone will ship with an OLED display, just like the Xperia XZ3, though we still do not know what resolution will Sony opt for. The phone will ship with Android 9 Pie out of the box, with Sonys custom overlay on top of Android. The device is expected to utilize at least 6GB of RAM, while a large battery is expected as well, as that is one category the Xperia XZ3 failed at.

Xperia Compact Is No More

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Sonys exec recently hinted that the Xperia XZ4 Compact will not become official during MWC 2019, while he also hinted that the company may not release another Compact smartphone. He simply said that consumers prefer larger displays these days, while he also said that releasing Xperia Compact phones made sense up to this point which is an indication that the Xperia XZ4 Compact may not become official. Many people will find that quite disappointing, as finding smaller flagship Android devices these days is not an easy task, there are a couple of companies that still make them, but that number is shrinking constantly.
If you own a recent Sony-branded, Android TV-powered TV set then it looks like you have an update thats now en route to your device, and its a big one as this update will upgrade the system to Android Oreo.

Sony has confirmed the update as in the process of rolling out to compatible devices on its support website. Theres too many models to list here, but Sony has confirmed the applicable model list is made up of 24 different XBR-branded TVs. You can see the full list of supported models here.

It should be noted, the update is currently only scheduled to land on devices in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Chile, and Peru. Sony has yet to confirm when the update will be made available in other regions, including Europe.

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Although updates come through fairly routinely for most devices, this is the official Oreo update and that matters as it is more of a macro update compared to the smaller and more routine updates that typical come through on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Android Oreo for the TV is based on Android 8.0 and when it comes to the TV version marks quite the departure from the typical interface thanks to Oreos new focus on Channels.

These Channels are essentially apps but they are now presented with a focus on the content available through the app in a similar way to if it was a TV channel  resulting in a user experience that can be likened to an interactive TV guide where users are able to scroll down and see whats currently on each channel.

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Theres also a few other platform-wide tweaks such as a Play Next section which looks to recommend the latest episode of a show you are already watching, a greater emphasis on Google Assistant support, and general performance improvements and fixes.

When it comes to Sonys rollout specifically, theres quite a few fixes arriving with the update. Some notable ones include resolving picture quality issues viewing Dolby Vision content on Netflix and a DTV 1080i flashing issue.

In addition to a number of new additional features, including support for Dolby Vision content on more TV models, and support for the Amazon Alexa app.

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While this is the latest update to Sony Android TV devices, and one which sees Sony joining the select few brands that have so far upgraded their devices to Oreo, this is an upgrade which was first announced by Google back in 2017.

Since then, Oreo has been superseded by Android Pie although Pie has yet to make it to any devices running on Android TV. At present, theres no word on what devices will be upgraded to Pie, and if they are  when.

With a new year now here, Google and the Android team are already working on the 2019 version of the operating system, Android Q. Although theres currently no indications of what Q will bring to the TV-optimized version, a sneak peek at a prototype version of Q came through recently highlighting some of the benefits mobile users can expect.

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Those with an applicable device looking to install the update can either wait for it to arrive organically, or download and sideload the appropriate files from the Sony website to manually apply the update.
Theres no doubt the most obvious eye-catching part of the phone is the build, but outside of a unique color scheme, this isnt actually the biggest selling point of the phone. Rather, its the triple camera system on the back, but this is different from the triple camera system Huawei uses on either its P20 or Mate 20 lines for a number of reasons. First off are the main sensors, which are more in line with the regular P20 and Mate 20 when comparing sheer specs. The 12-megapixel main sensor utilizes a Sony sensor with 1.4-micron sized pixels on a 1/2.55-inch sensor with OIS, sitting behind a variable lens that can adjust to either f/1.5 or f/2.4. The secondary camera is a 20-megapixel sensor behind an f/2.6 lens, while the third camera isnt a traditional camera at all, rather its a new kind of technology called a Time-of-Flight (TOF) camera. This camera can capture 3D depth information by emitting infrared light and measuring the time it takes for said light to reflect back into its special sensor. OPPO is the first manufacturer to launch a phone with a TOF camera, and definitely wont be the last given Sonys official stance on the tech.

The unfortunate side of things is that OPPO isnt utilizing the TOF camera for much at this point in time. The Chinese variant of the phone launched with a 3D scanner that utilizes the TOF camera to scan real-world objects into virtual 3D ones in real-time, similar to what Sony began on their Xperia line a few years ago. The difference is that this TOF camera is specifically built to detect depth information like this, while Sonys original implementation was all done through software interpretation of two-dimensional camera data. OPPO is readying a firmware update that enables this feature for the International version, which is the model we have for review, however, since its not currently available on this model were not able to review its efficacy or speed. Regardless of the performance, this mode is going to remain a niche function for some time, as theres little that can be done with these 3D objects beyond simple sharing of imagery at this time.

While a lot of the physical design aspects are similar to the OnePlus 6T, the camera configuration is wholly its own thing. In fact, OPPO has specifically focused on the camera experience for the R17 Pro, and it shows in the results. The only other phones on the market with dual-aperture support, at this time, are the Samsung Galaxy S9 family, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Dual aperture serves a rather fantastic purpose that may not be obvious at first. In good lighting conditions, the phone will utilize the f/2.4 lens inside to help guard against the distortion that low f-stop lenses tend to have, especially circular warping elements toward the edges.

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If youve ever taken a picture of an object up close on a smartphone camera that has a very low f-stop rating, youll recall the distortion that becomes apparent anywhere outside of the direct focal point of the shot. f/2.4 seems like a rather high number when compared with the industry standard of f/1.6-2.0 thats used on most smartphones, but this higher rating is still low enough to suck in lots of light without compromising on the distortion. The results are immediately obvious when compared side-by-side with other phones. OPPOs processing, on top of the excellent use of lenses, produces some incredible shots that feature phenomenal colors, excellent dynamic range, and very low distortion around the edges.

OPPO R17 Camera Samples - Flickr.com

What are you not getting? First, theres no telephoto zoom lens on the secondary 20-megapixel camera around back. Second, no option for 4K recording at 60FPS. Lack of 60FPS recording at 4K is particularly a shame because the stabilization at 4K isnt very good, and 60FPS would have at least helped it feel a bit more smooth. The lack of a telephoto lens on that secondary sensor is a bit odd, but its something OPPO and OnePlus started experimenting with last year to provide enhanced low light performance by taking multiple photos and combining them for brighter and more detailed imagery. Lack of telephoto means zooming in is going to have significantly less detail versus phones with a telephoto lens, but the hybrid low light photography is really something special when combined with the main sensor. In fact, that main 12-megapixel sensor is the same kind of dual-aperture configuration as youll find on the far more expensive Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note 9 lines, and works wonders for low light performance and quality when compared to many other phones, even far more expensive ones.

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Unlike Samsungs camera app, you cannot manually change between the f-stop ratings on a whim, rather theyre all done automatically when it detects the light is too low for the f/2.4 lens. To further this automated process, the new night mode will also activate automatically when it detects things are really dark, and its these scenarios where the OPPO R17 Pro really shines. Night mode is quickly becoming an industry standard since Huawei started it with the P20 last year, and these modes have gotten exponentially better over that short timespan too. OPPOs works more like Googles method in that it takes one shot up front, helping to preserve movement detail in shots where movement is happening, and then takes several longer exposure shots after that to bring in the light. The result is a stunning example of how software magic can really enhance good hardware, and despite the price, the R17 Pro ranks among the absolute best low light performers on the market, and thats something really impressive to say. The automatic Night Mode could be a little more aggressive though, as switching to Night Mode manually will still yield better results.

Theres no fancy HDR recording either for a similar reason, and slow motion is capped at a maximum quality of either [email protected] or [email protected] 480FPS is a fantastic alternative to the super slow-mo options found on other more expensive phones like Samsungs 2018 lineup or Sony Xperia flagships, as it will record a full minute of 480FPS video, allowing you to later slow sections down or speed them up. Phones with super slow-motion recording require you to choose the slow-motion segments while recording, which means you could easily miss the moment if youre a split second off when pressing the button to record.

Next Page - R17 Pro Design, Battery and more

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Previous Page - R17 Pro Review
HMD Global has announced that Android 9 Pie is on its way to some of the companys Nokia-branded smartphones. The company says that the Nokia 3.1 and 5 will begin receiving the update in the next few days. The original Nokia 6 (2017), will get the same update in about a week or two, said Juho Sarvikas, HMDs Chief Product Officer.

The companys Chief Product Officer also clarified that HMD is finishing up Dolby Atmos features (when it comes to Android 9 Pie optimization) for those phones, before the update finally lands. Now, these three devices are not the only ones that will get the update in the near future, as the Nokia 1 and 3 are also in the companys plans.

Mr. Sarvikas said that the Nokia 1 and 3 will follow in the Nokia 3.1, 5, and 6 (2017) footsteps, and will receive the update in Q2 2019, at the very beginning of Q2, it seems, so you can expect the update to arrive in April, quite probably. Do note that when an update starts rolling out fo one of these devices, were looking at gradual rollout, so not everyone will get the update the very same day it becomes available, of course.

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HMD Global is one of the top companies when it comes to updating their smartphones to the latest version of Android, as the company adopted Googles Android One project. That being said, HMD planned to update more or less its entire portfolio of handsets to Android 9 Pie by the end of Q2 2019, which seems to be a possibility at this point. As part of the Android One project, the firm is expected to provide Android updates for two years for its devices, and also provide those phones three years worth of security updates.

Other Phones, Existing & Upcoming

The Nokia 8.1 was introduced at the beginning of December, and that phone actually ships with Android 9 Pie out of the box. HMD already updated pretty much all of its smartphones to Android 9 Pie (save for the five weve mentioned in this article), including the Nokia 7.1, 8, 8 Sirocco, and so on. As already mentioned, the company basically plans to push out Android 9 Pie to its entire portfolio of Android devices by the end of Q2 2019.

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The Nokia 9 PureView is quite probably the most interesting, and most talked about Nokia-branded smartphone at the moment. That devices release was postponed a number of times thus far, and it seems like the company will introduce it at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona, but nothing has been confirmed just yet.

The Nokia 9 PureView will sport five cameras on the back, if the rumors and leaks are to be believed, while you can expect to see PureView technology included in the mix, as the phones name says. HMD managed to get permission from Microsoft last year to use PureView technology.

The Nokia 9 PureView will be made out of metal, and it will not sport a notch or a hole-punch, at least if the leaked info is to be believed. The phone is rumored to arrive in both Snapdragon 845 and 855 variants, which would be an odd move on HMDs part, but there you have it.
A terrified family in Orinda, California received a false warning via their Nest Camera that North Korea had launch missiles at the United States. The nerve-wracking hoax drove the family to leave their house and later call Nest to talk about the incident.

According to hoax victim Laura Lyons, people she talked to at Nest, including supervisors, admitted that there had been similar reports recently, and the company had not warned customers. Essentially, there was nothing the company could do, save for advising users to secure their accounts. Nest has long been one of the largest names in home automation, with tons of popular products. This has been especially true since it was bought up by Google, though thats not to say that the company hasnt had its fair share of hard times.

This makes it all the more jarring that reports of Nest systems and others like them being hacked in some way are quite as common as they seem to be. While Nest is far from the only company in the field to give consumers pause, this hack in particular points to a serious vulnerability that carries the potential for disastrous consequences. Unfortunately, it could technically happen to almost any company that uses third-party resources or labor.

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Hackers, in this case, seem to have gotten a hold of a number of users login information used to control their Nest systems via outside means. While Nest itself was not breached, its users personal information wound up being obtained by hackers through third-party sites that suffered data breaches, most likely sites that handle authentication, cloud services, or other critical services for Nest.

What makes this hack even more alarming is the hackers boldness and their rather scary choice of action. Weve seen malicious hackers do things like scare babies with home automation systems before, but this one chose to mimic a national threat in order to make their presence known to their victim.

The kind of total control required for such a feat could afford any enterprising hacker much wider access, and alerting a user means that the account will likely soon be locked and re-secured. This means that the hacker in question, who is assumed to still be at large, is confident enough in their ability to avoid detection, and twisted enough, to possibly cause a mass panic. Its not hard to think that there may be others like them out there.

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Google has yet to issue any large-scale official communication on this particular incident, though the company did come forward to confirm that Nests servers were secure and that the data breaches that led to customers information falling into the wrong hands were indeed on third-party servers. Nest, now folded into Googles hardware outfit, has also not spoken up as of this writing. Exactly what third-party site or service the breach originated from is still not known. More importantly, what Google and Nest plan to do to prevent this sort of incident going forward is also not yet known.
Last year, the three big tech companies  Google, Amazon and Facebook  set new records for the amount of money spent on lobbying in Washington, DC. Google led the way, spending a record amount, $21 million. Amazon spent $14.2 million and Facebook spent $13 million.

Every year, tech companies are spending more and more on lobbying in Washington DC, and this is due to the fact that regulators are starting to really scrutinize big tech companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook. Particularly Google and Facebook after the many privacy issues that the two ran into last year.

Those three werent the only ones spending a ton in Washington in 2018. Microsoft and Apple also contributed to the $64.8 million spent by the biggest tech companies in the world. Microsoft spent $9.5 million and Apple spent $6.6 million lobbying last year. The big five as they are being referred to in Washington, had good reason to spend more, and that was due to the backlash of congress and regulators scrutinizing the companies after the 2016 Presidential Election.

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Some in Washington believe that these companies have gotten too large and too fast. Many believe that some should be broken up. Though, its not certain that it would actually fix anything. Those old enough to recall AT&T being split up in the 1980s, will remember that AT&T ended up reforming less than 30 years later and became an even bigger juggernaut. So splitting these companies up may not be the best route for the tech industry.

Google, in its filing, said that it was lobbying on tons of issues. Which the company says reflects how integral its services are to everyday lives now. Some of the areas that Google lobbied in include privacy, data security, antitrust, taxes, tariffs, trade, the opioid crisis, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and more. Of course, Google was also called in front of Congress, a couple of times though Pichai only made it there once. Congress grilled the CEO on Googles privacy efforts, after the Google+ data breach was made public.

Lobbying in Washington, DC is not illegal, though some may feel that it should be. Basically, bigger companies pay lobbyists to argue their side of things to Congress and other regulators in the nations capital. Lobbyists also make significant donations to politicians when they are running for election or re-election. Which helps the politician run their campaign, but it also influences that politician a bit. This is the main reason why many want to see money being taken out of politics.

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As Google has grown, it has spent more and more on lobbyists in Washington, as it looks to avoid probes and fines from regulators. After all, it is already paying enough fines in Europe. It just got hit with another record fine of $57 million in Europe earlier this week, in fact. The other big tech companies are doing the same thing, especially Facebook and Amazon, who have been facing more scrutiny in Washington in the past year or so. Apple and Microsoft havent faced as much, which is why they arent spending as much.
A bill to protect LGBT people in Florida from workplace discrimination was introduced in the Florida Senate on Tuesday by State Senator Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), who is also the chair of the Republican Party of Florida.

This is not the first time a bill to protect LGBT people in Florida from discrimination has been introduced. The first such piece of legislation was introduced in 2007.

This is different because its focused on just workplace protections for the entire community, said Tony Lima, executive director of SAVE. We have a responsibility to our community and our donors to push a bill that has a chance of movement. We cant continue to push a bill that flounders.

Lima and Rand Hoch from the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council believe this piece of legislation will have a stronger chance of becoming law since it was introduced by the newly elected chair of the Republican Party in Florida.

This will send a strong message to other conservatives, Lima said.

The bill, the Florida Inclusion Workforce Act (FIWA), would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Florida's Civil Rights Act.

[This] bill is sharply focused on the key economic discrimination faced by LGBTQ Floridians -- discrimination in the workplace," said Hoch, President and Founder of the PBCHRC. "Achieving this first step will open the door, enabling us to move forward to protect our community in every part of Florida and in every area of our lives."

The bill was a collaboration between Gruters and SAVE Florida, a coalition that includes SAVE, PBCHRC, Translatina and the Conservatives on the Right of Equality. Former State Representative David Richardson (D-Miami Beach) also provided assistance with the bill.

"For the past decade, passing protections for the LGBTQ community was not made a legislative priority. Continuing to rely on a failed strategy -- and a bill that has floundered for years -- no longer makes sense, Richardson said in a press release. "Policy change is often incremental. I applaud Senator Gruters for his fresh approach which is fully inclusive of the LGBTQ community."

Lima said a similar bill in the Florida House of Representatives would be introduced in a few weeks.

When asked if he believed newly elected Republican Governor Ron DeSantis would sign legislation protecting the LGBT community Lima said, There is a possibility. We have hope.
Andover, MA (01810)

Today

Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Following this week's military mutiny , which was squelched, but not before locals ran out and attempted to defend the troops in pitched street battles , now at least sixty  sixty!  neighborhoods in Caracas have erupted into riots  big riots, with people reported shot dead. Take a look at the series of tweets posted by Caracas Chronicles on its Twitter feed enumerating the names of the neighborhoods now in open revolt.

Here was its last tweet:

#22E 11:45 PM Right now in Caracas, protests continue in Catia, Santa Cruz, El Amparo y el Cuartel. FAES agents are breaking into buildings and making arbitrary detentions in Pinto Salinas.  Caracas Chronicles (@CaracasChron) January 23, 2019

To underscore just what this nightmare was about, late last night, angry Venezuelans burned the big statue of their late, unlamented strongman, Hugo Chavez, whose socialism  so praised at the time by Bernie Sanders and the Hollywood left  turned their formerly rich country into a wasteland. Someone needs to let Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez know about this vaunted socialism  and where it leads. Watch Chavez go up in flames:

Yesterday, I did a pre-recording of a radio show with the highly recommended Conservative Commandos predicting that Catia and 23 de Enero would blow up (it will air today), and boy, I didn't know the half of it  those places, and a lot of others, were at the bottom of the dynamite fuse and ready to go.

It's important also to note that 23 de Enero, or, Jan. 23, is an important anniversary in Venezuela  the anniversary of the overthrow of its military dictatorship in 1958. It's considered an independence day in Venezuela, and a whole neighborhood is named after it  one that is right now in open revolt. That is going to supercharge the activity that goes down today, particularly with big demonstrations scheduled.

All eyes remain on whether the soldiers are going to join the angry repressed people, who have no rights whatsoever, not even the right to food or medical care, in that socialist "sea of happiness," as Chavez once called it.

Many think nothing is going to happen, despite that mutiny the other day. But watch this viral video from yesterday showing how soldiers are being treated under their Cuban-led socialist comrade rule. Note this list of incidents from the Associated Press.

That sounds like an open invitation for soldiers to join the revolt.

Naky Soto of Caracas Chronicles observes that Maduro seems to be scared and hiding, and his generals are nowhere to be found:

It's curious that Nicolas hasn't come up even in a picture, just as we didn't see any member of the military high command that's "willing to die for him." There's been repression but also pot-banging: each tear gas canister multiplies the reasons for this political and social protest. In words of a Cotiza neighbor, who said she'll protest "today, tomorrow, the next day () to kick that bastard out of where he's holed up, entrenched, fat as a pig and we're here starving, no way!".

Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio issued a warning of what was going to happen next, and his report is believable:

Tomorrow in #Venezuela expect Maduro to:

- Cut off internet

- Accuse protestors of violence with fake evidence

- collectivos militias to murder & repress

- Hacking social media accounts & websites to spread misinformation

- Arrest of legitimate leaders of National Assembly  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 23, 2019

He just threw in a rather scary warning to them:

#SEBIN officials in #Venezuela should reconsider the plan they have for tomorrow before its too late.



You are about to cross a line & trigger a response that believe me you are not prepared to face.



You still have time to avoid this.  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 22, 2019

A note of caution: Francisco Toro of Caracas Chronicles writes that maybe this leads to the democracy people want but warns that it also could end badly  either the regime hangs on and the hellishness continues, or part of the military joins the people rioting in the streets, and part doesn't, meaning bloody civil war. He's right on that, too, and his analysis is worth reading.

Rubio also tweeted that President Trump is on the case and asked Rubio to cancel a Florida gig last night to meet with him in his office over Venezuela. Obviously, there is a plan, and as Venezuelans fight in the streets for their own freedom, the gears are turning.

Image credit: Venepress via Twitter, screen grab.
Tomorrow in #Venezuela expect Maduro to:

- Cut off internet

- Accuse protestors of violence with fake evidence

- collectivos militias to murder & repress

- Hacking social media accounts & websites to spread misinformation

- Arrest of legitimate leaders of National Assembly

Hear that? Bad stuff is coming. Do not underestimate Trump, who likes surprises and likes to go big.

What we are seeing here is psychological warfare at its finest, with Rubio warning Maduro he'd be better off getting out of the country than hanging on, given what's coming for him. It's especially satisfying to hear him  a former political opponent of President Trump who knows firsthand how Trump fights  warning the dictator that he's likely to get it good if he doesn't.

It's clearly not a case of Rubio going off the rails. Rubio, in fact, is a top Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and definitely the point man for Latin-communist issues, whether of Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela, the three hellholes of the hemisphere. He warned that he had a meeting last night with Trump, and maybe Maduro ought to let that sink in.

I was scheduled to be in the Florida Panhandle today. But last night @POTUS convened a meeting for today in the Oval Office with himself, @VP & his national security team to discuss #Venezuela.



Its now clear crisis is about to enter a new phase which will require new options. https://t.co/hhMHrQmp3z  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 23, 2019

Obviously, Rubio's acting in a tag team with Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence, who's got a direct video address to the Venezuelans out today on Twitter, encouraging them to keep at it, keep fighting to dislodge the illegitimate regime. As the number of Venezuelan "likes" and praise-tweets suggest, it's getting heard.

As the good people of Venezuela make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf of the American people, we say: estamos con ustedes. We are with you. We stand with you, and we will stay with you until Democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of Libertad. pic.twitter.com/ThzIAqBoRn  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 22, 2019

Pence also has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning, just in case Maduro doesn't know how to operate his Twitter, and, for the benefit of the U.S. citizens watching, describing just how bad it all is, along with why we Americans should care:

Nine out of 10 citizens live in poverty. Millions lack access to drinking water and food, and the average Venezuelan reports losing significant weight in recent years, with the poorest dropping more than 20 pounds. Three out of four hospitals are abandoned, causing infectious diseases that were once eradicated in our hemisphere to re-emerge and spread. In Colombia in 2017, my wife and I met a woman who had fled Venezuela with her four grandchildren. She told us that in their old town, the children had to wake up at 4 a.m. every day to get a ticket, then stand in line to redeem it for a piece of bread in the afternoon. Like that family, more than three million Venezuelans have now abandoned their homeland  the hemisphere's largest cross-border mass exodus ever  with another two million expected to follow in 2019. This is a humanitarian crisis and also a matter of regional security. Vulnerable families often fall prey to human traffickers and criminal organizations. Venezuela's growing black market has attracted criminal syndicates from across the world to launder money and export drugs, weapons and terrorism across the region. In these respects Venezuela is a failed state, and failed states know no borders. For the sake of our vital interests, and for the sake of the Venezuelan people, the U.S. will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles.

You can bet Maduro will read that one, too. Pence is a big fish, and his polite words of warning to the thugs in Caracas will carry weight. But I think the Rubio warnings, couched in language the Caracas thugs can understand, will do even more.

It's all part of a major U.S. international effort to support the Venezuelans as they try to free themselves from their socialist nightmare. It's part of a plan. Operation Boot Maduro is really underway now, and it's worth it to keep watching.

Image credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Unfortunately for her, the "mark" she is making is as one of the most nauseating anti-Semites in the House.

Rep. Ilhan Omar has been in Congress less than a month and is already making her mark.

But it's not her fault, she says. Really. She's "befuddled," she claims.

Washington Free Beacon:

In November 2012, before running for Congress, Omar claimed in a tweet that Israel had "hypnotized the world" to hide its "evil doings." The comment is reminiscent of the anti-Semitic idea of unnatural Jewish influence and control over the world. Various Jewish Americans have criticized Omar for the tweet, such as the New York Post's David Harsanyi, who said she "used a well-worn anti-Semitic trope about the preternatural ability of a nefarious Jewish cabal to deceive the world." Omar previously maintained during her campaign and media appearances since her election that criticism of her tweet was "without merit."

Apparently, at the time, she thought the criticism was without merit because her slander was true. But finally, she has seen the error of her ways and begs everyone's pardon for being a hater.

In a series of tweets Tuesday, however, Omar expressed regret for using the term "hypnotized." She framed her response in the context of an op-ed from Bari Weiss in the New York Times. Weiss explained that Omar was following "the template for the anti-Semitic conspiracy: the ability of this tiny minority to use its wiles and its proximity to power to con others into accomplishing their evil ends." In response, Omar agreed with Weiss that she had been "sincerely befuddled and not simply deflecting."

Okay, but Omar referred to those who criticized her anti-Semitism as "bigots":

When previously pressed about the tweet, Omar accused those offended of themselves being bigots. "These accusations are without merit," she said during an interview with ABC News in July. "They are rooted in bigotry toward a belief about what Muslims are stereotyped to believe."

Ms. Omar has had a busy few days. Perhaps she was "befuddled" when she claimed that Senator Lindsey Graham has been "compromised" because he went from Trump-hater to Trump-supporter.

Pardon me, congresswoman, but would you please present evidence for your smear?

Challenged on CNN this morning to back up her startling claim with evidence, Omar instead employed a sloppy circumstantial standard we've seen all too often in American political discourse these past four years: Well, what else explains behavior and policy positions I don't like?

There is exactly as much evidence that aliens are controlling Graham's mind as there is the Trump team "got to him"  which is to say, absolutely none.

Was Omar "befuddled" when she criticized the Covington kids?

-The boys were protesting a woman's right to choose & yelled its not rape if you enjoy it

-They were taunting 5 Black men before they surrounded Phillips and led racist chants

-Sandmanns family hired a right wing PR firm to write his non-apology https://t.co/fG8AUCuDTr https://t.co/bOA6yFsIjW  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 23, 2019

Huh? Omar isn't only "befuddled." She's nuts.

Hi @IlhanMN heres a fact-check:

 The 1 boy who said that was not with the Covington Catholic group

 The 5 Black men called the boys f*ggots, crackers, racially taunted a Black boy, the boys didnt retaliate

 Show us one racist chant on video from the boys, there isnt one  Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 23, 2019

Facts? We don't need no stinking facts.

Rep. Omar must learn to hide her hate a lot better than she has. Whether she's smart enough to do that is a question to be answered.
Rob Sanders, a Kenton County Prosecutor, confirmed Tuesday that there are multiple investigations into Twitter users who made terroristic threats against Covington Catholic High School.

America can be proud that in a moment of an ugly attack against children, a prosecutor has entered the engagement to bring accountability and justice to some stupid and hateful people.

"We've got multiple ongoing investigations into numerous, numerous threats," Mr. Sanders said Tuesday in a podcast interview with 700 WLW. "There's probably a dozen law enforcement agencies, if not more involved in this  it's growing, it's spreading, there are other jurisdictions now involved in this," Sanders added.

Everyone in America has First Amendment rights to say just about anything. But there is a law enforcement line that is legally crossed when a person is making physical threats. As Rob Sanders points out, it is time for multiple investigations and appropriate justice.

One of the biggest surprises due virtue-signaling stupid cowards who unfairly attacked innocent high school students with direct bodily harm is a provision in U.S. law in the placing their names on a no-fly list.

The criteria for ones name being placed on the no-fly list vary from state to state but are still extremely inclusive for all making direct public threats of physical harm to the students of Covington Catholic H.S.:

Although the exact definition varies from state to state, generally one makes a terrorist threat if one threatens to commit a violent crime for the purpose of terrorizing another or of causing public panic. Some states laws are very narrow, meaning the threat must be very specific and direct, while other states adapt a looser approach, allowing even negligently made threats to be prosecutable.

As far as the ACLU raising a stink, those lawyers can first take it up with Senator Feinstein (D-Calif.). In the New York Times, of all papers, Senator Feinstein said, "The no-fly list itself is one of our best lines of defense."

A soon to be historically horrific threat was just made:

Film producer Jack Morrissey apologized Monday for joking about "MAGA kids" going "screaming, hats first into the woodchipper." The tweet was accompanied by an iconic image from "Fargo" in which a dead person's blood flies from a woodchipper. "It was something that I did not give any thought to," Morrissey told TheWrap. "It was just a fast, profoundly stupid tweet. ... I would throw my phone into the ocean before doing that again."

One would also think closing down a Catholic high school while calling for extra security to protect students is directly reflective of thoughtless individuals initiating a public panic.

As the left loves to say, "this is a teachable moment." Well, the leftists got that right, because it is finally time to teach all to finally put a stop to such horrible Orwellian minutes of hate.

The other great leftist dodge is that "we need a conversation about" [name the issue]. We most definitely need a conversation. Thoughtless, vicious people can soon start a conversation to discuss how they are going to get across the country or across an ocean when they are not allowed to fly.

Let a lesson be learned by whoever crossed the line in attacking the Covington Catholic students that flying is a privilege and not a right.
A group of high school students from Covington, Kentucky visiting D.C. to participate in the annual anti-abortion March for Life were assailed with racist, homophobic taunts from a small group of African-Americans who referred to themselves as Black Hebrew Israelites. Shouts of "crackers, racists, faggots, incest kids"  no problem.

It is stunning how decisively Catholic Church officials can respond when they finally encounter something that offends them.

A group of adults professing to advance Native American heritage decided to get in on the fun by then forcefully pushing into the group of teenagers who were simply waiting for the arrival of buses. Career malcontent Nathan Phillips advanced toward one student wearing a Make America Great Again cap and pounded on a tom-tom within inches of the youngster's nose. The boy stood quietly until the group was directed to buses for their return trip to northern Kentucky. In this case, the teenagers acted much more responsibly that the immature "grownups" who confronted them. Not surprisingly, the press quickly assigned total blame to the pro-life kids without a word of rebuke for those who initiated the standoff.

According to the reliably incorrect CNN report, Phillips, a tribe "elder," was simply offering a "healing prayer when the school teens got into a verbal altercation with a group of African American youths who had been preaching about the bible nearby." View the entire video of the events and judge for yourself how accurate this account is.

But even the Washington press corps could not falsely attack the innocent Catholic teens as quickly as did Bishop Roger Joseph Foys back in their own diocese of Covington.

The diocese immediately issued a statement. "We condemn the actions of the Covington Catholic High School students towards Nathan Phillips specifically, and Native Americans in general, Jan. 18, after the March for Life, in Washington, D.C."

We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips. This behaviour (sic) is opposed to the Church's teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person. The matter is being investigated and we will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.

Under normal circumstances, an investigation should precede the condemnation, but when political correctness is required, fair play usually takes a shiv in the back. Does the good bishop really think he has treated his own students properly when innumerable videos prove their innocence?

Exactly what are these Church's teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person  especially in the bishop's diocese? Foys was assigned to Covington in 2002 with the task of addressing a class-action lawsuit involving the sexual abuse of minors by at least 80 diocese employees, including priests, dating back to at least 1948. The bishop eventually spent $120 million (the sale of $40 million of church property that had been provided by parishioners and $80 million from an insurance company) to resolve the matter.

For more than half a century, the Diocese of Covington did nothing to expose or actively concealed what Foys later described as "shameful, despicable deeds," but he prayed that spending millions of dollars of someone else's money would "bring some measure of comfort and healing to victims and their loved ones."

So how about these boys and their families? Now that the diocese has already condemned them and threatened them with expulsion without any investigation or discussion, what does the pastoral church of Covington have in store for them?

The lunacy of some protesters who incessantly roam the streets of our national capital and the professional malfeasants of the national press are fully predictable. Will Bishop Foys finally stand up for justice by apologizing to these young people he has wronged?
What's Wrong with Radio Free Europe and Voice of America?

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a budget of more than 123 million dollars (2018), and its mission is to "report the news in 20 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established." It should "provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate." Is this taxpayer money well spent in the last decade? Does this organization fulfill its mission? Unfortunately, the answer to both these questions is negative. As an Iran expert who reviews Persian-language media every day, I want to report my take from the organization's Persian section (Radio Farda). VOA Persian (under the same mother institution, BBG) is as disastrous as Radio Farda.

To explain the waste and politicians' delusions regarding the efficiency of these two sections of the Congress-fnanced media system, I will focus on three criteria of free and professional media: 1) independence, 2) fact-based news broadcast and report, and 3) fair and balanced news and analysis. Radio Farda and VOA Persian have failed in all three categories. Manipulated by Obama Admin VOA and Radio Farda were more open to reporting human rights violations and providing criticism of Islamist points of view before the negotiations for the 5+1 nuclear deal. As Ben Rhodes has mentioned, the Obama team manipulated the media during the JCPOA negotiations. They were desperate to have a foreign policy legacy, and the Iran deal was their only chance. Similar to the administration, both VOA Persian and Radio Farda tried hard to appease the Islamist government and its loyalists abroad to make the deal happen. Before and during the negotiations, tens of Iranian experts abroad were put on their blacklists, and several shows were canceled; in that period, Iran's lobbyists were regular guests on their programs. VOA put me on that blacklist; before that, I was a regular guest on their news and analysis programs. My fault was to compare ISIS and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Cut-and-Paste Habit Instead of newsgathering and reporting, the dominant pattern in these two institutions is to cut and paste news from the IRI propaganda machine. Their excuse is "not having a correspondent" in Iran. All news agencies in Iran are controlled by the security and religious establishment. They are very good at misinformation and disinformation campaigns. To cut and paste pieces from IRI news agencies is in apparent conflict with the RFE/RL and VOA missions. Radio Farda cut its only fact-checking program (two minutes per day) in March 2018 after just one year running. Bias against Anti-Islamism Opposition Most of the employees of these outlets are coming from the reformist newspapers inside the country. They are mostly socialists or Islamists who had some differences with the official interpretation of Islamism. This does not mean they were pro-Western civilization or pro-liberal democracy. Their lingo and discourse have nothing to do with open societies. The anti-Israel, anti-American, and anti-capitalist bias is clear in their programs. Almost all of the guests in their programs are reformist Islamists and socialists. Their staff is picked in a way that the overarching discourse is pro-socialism and pro-Islamism (the reformist version that supports a more moderate Islamic Republic that is still anti-Western and anti-Israel). While anti-Islamism opposition is for toppling the Islamist state, these outlets give their minutes to the ones who want the Islamic Republic to survive. I believe that media outlets should not have an agenda in toppling a regime; rather, they should not have an agenda to protect it. There is no balance in analysis segments on any issue regarding the Islamist state's policies and decisions. When I used to write for Radio Farda's website, censorship was the rule and not an exception. Islamist Discourse of Radio Free Europe/VOA What is dominant in these two outlets' discourse and actions can be summarized in these three elements: The West should support the reformist faction if it wants to strengthen moderates. The problem is that the reformist faction's foreign and domestic policies are not significantly different from the fundamentalist faction. What is introduced as moderate is as fundamentalist as the other faction. The reformist faction is wrongfully introduced as liberal by left-leaning media. Pressure from the West makes fundamentalist factions more powerful and oppression rampant. This is not true. The Islamist police state under both reformist and fundamentalist factions has behaved in the same way. The leader has the upper hand, and sharia law is enforced by both factions. The right strategy is to root for reformed Islam. As leftists and Islamists have been in a coalition during the Obama and Trump administrations, high-ranking leftist management and low-ranking leftist and Islamist staff are working together to promote their agenda that is bringing Islamism to their diversity tent. If you do not believe that this coalition exists, look at the Democratic Party nominees and political ads in the 2018 elections. More than anyone else, the oppressed around the world need a window into what a free world looks like. By bowing to the tyrannical regime in Iran, these radio organizations do a grave disservice to those who need them most.
Real Women Don't Need a Women's March

Real women know how to handle toxic masculinity without feminist and radical lawyers organizing silly marches wearing pink pussy hats. Real women were laughing at these so-called well-educated females who marched with disdain against the newly elected president whom many real women voted for. Under the banner of womens rights many young women are marching in ignorance of history. Womens rights were secured by real women in the 20th century. The rights that todays feminists are fighting for are sheer evil; the rights to kill innocent full term unborn babies. Looking over the vulgar signs at the womens marches across the nation and comparing them with the life affirming uplifting signs at the right to life march was not only illuminating but downright depressing. The womens march had a young pre-teen girl holding a sign that read, Pussy grabs back while grinning as if she knew what that sign meant. At the RTL march, a young girl around the same age held a sign that read, My cousin has Downs syndrome. He is perfect in Gods eyes and mine.

I asked my millennial daughter what she thought of the womens marches and she answered, They are so dumb. You cant call them the womens march if they dont allow all women to march. Everything about the womens marches, the signs, the speeches are all fake. They espouse the pro-choice mandate but they only accept the choices that meet their agenda. God forbid a woman chooses to stay at home and raise her children, to oppose abortion or regard marriage as a sacrament between a man and woman. If a woman chooses to be Jewish and support Israel, she will not be welcomed at these left wing events. In an earlier column I noted, For one thing, women have to stop paying attention to feminist leaders who preach about womens rights only when advocating abortion but will not speak out to express outrage when Sharia law murders innocent Muslim women. These militant organizers of pussy-hat women marches have ignored the victims of sexual predators like Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner because they are Democrats and fund abortion. They lauded and elevated Ted Kennedy to statesmen status in spite of his murderous history in Chappaquiddick. There are good feminist organizations that promote womens self worth and heath issues without political demagoguery. At least Im sure there are but cant name one. For the past few decades we have been actually witnessing toxic feminism that seeks to destroy all that is traditional about the genders. Biologically there are only two, male and female and they are created with different qualities that ensure the survival of the species. Real women have always known how to deal with these differences, and as time has progressed our legitimate rights have been secured through their mighty efforts. Todays feminists prefer to blur biology in favor of endorsing the nonsensical restructuring of the reality of our humanity. Why cant we call this inane agenda by what it is: insanity? Transgender parents in England preparing to transgender their 5 year-old son into a female and this is not considered child abuse? Identity politics is dividing the nation as much as fake news and faux racist attacks. One of the most embarrassing photos taken at the womens march show a man wearing a pink pussy hat carrying a sign that reads, feminist dad. Actually, that hat he was wearing describes him perfectly. Ill give the marchers the benefit of the doubt by assuming they are naive rather than evil, but anyone who continues to deny the truth of what Planned Parenthood actually does is deserving of the latter label. Women, you have lost your souls if you have watched the videos of PP staffers excited about selling fetal body parts for cash and arent horrified. From the very beginning of the womens movement I sensed it was not anything Id be interested in as I have always loved a masculine man. In spite of the awful experiences I encountered in my childhood, I was saved from antipathy for the male because my father loved me, and I had a holy mother who shared her faith with us. Forty-nine years ago, I met my handsome masculine former Marine dreamboat who now waits on me hand and foot. He does my laundry, prepares my meals, rubs my feet and will fetch whatever I need. I have only to ask him and he will do so. Why? Because I am suffering a relapse of a condition which leaves me bedridden and unable to stand. In 2015 I was confined to a wheelchair for months but I am quite sure this relapse will be much shorter thanks to my hubbys superb ministrations. This is how a real man treats a real woman who has always loved and cared for him and our six children. This is how he shows solidarity and respect for women not by wearing a pink hat at a stupid parade. Oh and by the way, he wont ever buy Gillette razors again. I feel pity for all those marchers whove chosen to denigrate all men siding instead with toxic feminists whove left their souls on the altar of Planned Parenthood with the bodies of 54 million innocent human beings. May God forgive them.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on January 23, 2019

2019/01/23

Q: In recent interviews with The Paper, French and Italian ambassadors to China both made positive comments about their countries' relations with China. We have noted that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit France and Italy and hold relevant meetings. Could you provide more information?

A: I have noted the positive remarks of the two ambassadors on China-France and China-Italy relations respectively in interviews with The Paper. We welcome and appreciate that.

As you know, we have released the information that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will leave today for France to attend the 18th session of the consultation of the coordinators for the China-France Strategic Dialogue, visit Italy and host the 9th Joint Meeting of China-Italy Government Committee.

China-France and China-Italy relations both enjoy sound momentum of growth. China and France are comprehensive strategic partners. The two sides enjoy frequent high-level exchanges, deepening cooperation in such areas as nuclear energy, space and aviation, agricultural products, environment, finance and third-party markets, as well as increasingly dynamic people-to-people and cultural exchanges. As this year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France and the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement, the two sides have agreed to jointly hold a series of celebratory and commemorative activities. The upcoming session of consultation will be the first since State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi assumed the role of coordinator for the China-France Strategic Dialogue. The two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. This will further cement political mutual trust, enhance cooperation in various sectors, and bring China-France relations in the new era to a new height.

As this year marks the 15th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy, and next year will mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties, the development of China-Italy relations is presented with new opportunities. China attaches great importance to growing its relations with Italy and stands ready to work with the Italian side to implement in real earnest the important consensus reached by our leaders, further enhance high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation in key areas and work together under the Belt and Road Initiative to elevate our comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level.

During State Councilor Wang Yi's visit to Italy, the two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on China-Italy and China-Europe relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest, and will work under the framework of the China-Italy Government Committee to actively coordinate and promote exchanges and practical cooperation in various fields. We have every confidence that this trip by State Councilor Wang Yi will inject fresh impetus into the development of bilateral relations.

Q: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently announced the appointment of Xia Huang, the former Chinese Ambassador to the Republic of Congo, as his Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region. What is your comment?

A: China welcomes the appointment of Ambassador Xia Huang as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Ambassador Xia Huang, as an experienced diplomat, has been long and deeply engaged in African affairs and knows the issue of the Great Lakes Region very well. We believe that Ambassador Xia Huang, as the first Chinese serving as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for hot-spot issues, will contribute to the efforts made by the UN to realize peace, stability and development in the Great Lakes Region. China will also actively support Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ambassador Xia Huang in achieving this end.

Q: Reports say that Australia is investigating the whereabouts of one of its citizens, Yang Hengjun, whose friends said that he may have disappeared or been detained in China. Can you confirm that?

A: I am not aware of the situation you mentioned at this point. I need to check on that with the competent authority.

Q: Will a formal US extradition request to Canada for Meng Wanzhou, which is due on January 30, impact the China-US trade talks?

A: You raised a hypothetical question, so there is no need for me to answer it. However, I want to use this opportunity to reiterate our solemn position on the Meng Wanzhou case.

I have to point out that the extradition the US is seeking in its request to Canada is essentially related to the US sanction bills on Iran. But as you may all have known, Huawei for many times has solemnly stated that it complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates. I want to stress in particular that China holds a consistent position on opposing the US unilateral sanctions on Iran outside the framework of the UN Security Council. What the US has done does not accord with the international law and has been opposed by the whole world, including its allies. The Canadian side is also opposed to that.

Therefore, the US actions, fundamentally speaking, do not comply with the international law and are not legitimate at all. Its actions are highly political and are in nature scientific bullying. The real motive of the US side is clear for all to see, who is leaving no stones unturned in containing China's hi-tech companies and depriving China of its legitimate development rights. I believe that whoever that sees things clearly and has a sense of justice should voice their firm opposition to that.

Q: Could you confirm that Vice Premier Liu He is still scheduled to go to the US for trade talks from January 30 to 31?

A: Regarding Vice Premier Liu He traveling to the US for trade talks, the Spokesperson for the Commerce Ministry has issued relevant information. As far as I know, the two sides maintain communication in this regard. As to the specifics, I would refer you to the Commerce Ministry.

Q: Could you confirm the report that the US canceled preliminary trade meeting between the US and Chinese officials ahead of Vice Premier Liu He's visit to the US?

A: I have seen relevant reports. I have also noted that actually the US officials have made clarifications on that. The Spokesperson for the Commerce Ministry has said before that China and the US maintain communication on trade talks. I have not heard of any changes in this aspect. As for the specifics, I may still refer you to the Commerce Ministry.

Q: The newly released US National Intelligence Strategy report identified Russia and China among some of the major threats to the US, and it said that China's military modernization and continued pursuit of economic and territorial predominance in the region remain a concern. I wonder if you have any comment on that?

A: We have also noted the report. Recently the US has released a series of similar reports, which levied some groundless accusations against China and Russia. We are opposed to that. We have stressed many times that China remains committed to the path of peaceful development and firmly pursues defense policies that are defensive in nature. Just as you have seen, China is always an architect for world peace, a contributor to global development and a guardian of international order. China once again urges the US to abandon the outdated Cold War mentality and zero-sum game mindset and contribute more to the mutual trust and cooperation between China and the US as well as the peace and stability of the world.

Q: I'd like to ask about State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Italy. When he goes to Italy, does he have any plans to meet with the Vatican officials or visit the Vatican?

A: Like I said just now, during State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Italy, the two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on China-Italy relations, China-Europe relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. I have not heard of the arrangement you mentioned.
Lake Charles, Louisiana (70615)

Today

Chance of a shower or two during the evening, followed by partly cloudy skies overnight. Low 72F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Chance of a shower or two during the evening, followed by partly cloudy skies overnight. Low 72F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The Dual Studies at Al-Quds University is a unique degree program that combines the theoretical in-class learning in the fields of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, and Business Administration with extensive practical training throughout the course of study, where students apply their learning at one of the partner companies and firms that have signed cooperation agreements with Al-Quds University for this purpose. Funded by the German Government through GIZ, the Dual Studies program remains unique to the entire MENA region, and aims at providing its students with a competitive professional and practical experience that allows them to bridge the gap between the needs of the society and labor market on the one hand, and the learning outcomes on the other. The Dual Studies program is modeled on the German approach of linking the academic learning with the work environment and labor market.



Throughout the programs duration, students divide their time equally between in-class on- campus learning, and the practical application and training at the partner companies. The course of study which lasts for four years consists of eight semesters, half of which are spent on campus (theoretical phase) and the other half at the partner companies (practical phase).

Responsibilities and tasks of the Field Training Coordinator:

Maintain and manage the professional relations with more than 170+ Dual Studies partner companies.

Attract new companies to join Dual Studies network of partner companies for purposes of providing practical training for the programs students.

Prepare educational plans for the students, in coordination with the partner companies and programs Study Director.

Conduct regular contacts with and visits to all partner companies as well as the Government and intermediary sector (chambers, associations, etc.)

Visit students during the practical phase to evaluate the students performance, to ensure their effective involvement in the work environment as well as the implementation of the educational plan.

Update the Study Directors about the students progress and training outcomes.

Provide feedback for the related Study Director on any issues facing the student or the company supervisor to work on and overcome.

Maintain contact with the partner companies to ensure the proper evaluation of students on time.

Update the students and companies database.

Coordinate activities between the university and the private sector, e.g. involvement of the private sector in the teaching process

Manage the Dual Studies outreach efforts to attract new students to the program and assist in matching new students with partner companies.

Prepare and archive MoUs and contracts.

Other duties as assigned.

Essential Qualifications:

Undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering, Business Administration, Information Technology, or a relevant field. A graduate degree in Business or management is a plus.

Minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience.

Proven substantial work experience with the private sector & knowledge in the Palestinian labor market.

Good working knowledge in ITC technologies.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, and speedy responsiveness to communications.

Valid driving license and ability to move around the West Bank. Owning a car is a plus.

The ability to design lobbying and advocacy campaigns.

The ability to work within a team and under pressure.

Assignment:

Starting ASAP with a 12 months contract with possible extension.

Duty Station: Field & Al Quds University, Abu Dis

Working Language: English, Arabic

Type of Position: Full time on the Dual Studies project

Deadline of the application: Friday, February 1st 2019

Applications:



Interested applicants are kindly requested to send a copy of an up-to-date CV and a Cover Letter to:



This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , no later than February 11th 2019.



Please make sure to mention the position name in the subject. Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.



Al-Quds University is an equal opportunity employer.

For further inquiries please call 02-2794194
Fishermen said they recovered the 25 bodies after the boat they were travelling on capsized.
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The court ruled against Malians who said they were taken from their country as kids and forced to work on cocoa farms.
DAVOS, Jan 23: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is here to attend the 49th meeting of the World Economic Forum, held talks with the Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc this morning.

During the meeting, matters relating to further consolidation of mutual relations and expansion of cooperation were discussed, according to Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, who was also present in the meeting.

Also present were Foreign Minister Pradip Kumar Gyawali and PMs foreign affairs advisor Dr Rajan Bhattarai. RSS
Recent attacks on US troops in Syria demonstrate the YPG is either unable or unwilling to thwart the ISIL threat.

The Syrian civil war has been the main point of contention in Turkeys relations with the United States ever since the Obama administration officially outsourced much of the fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group to the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in 2015.

The way Obama chose to deal with the ISIL threat in Syria was a source of concern for Turkey for three reasons.

First, the YPG is the Syrian affiliate of the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a terror group which has waged a bloody war in Turkey since the 1980s that has left at least 40,000 dead. By training and arming a group that poses a direct threat to Turkey, Washington conveyed the message that it did not care about a NATO allys security concerns.

Second, by backing a terror group like the YPG, the US unwittingly blurred the line between legitimate players, such as the moderate Free Syrian Army, and unlawful combatants in the region.

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Finally, the US plan was strategically misguided. At no point could Washington be certain of the YPGs loyalty, as the group openly subscribes to a far-left, socialist ideology.

This is why President Donald Trumps recent decision to withdraw American troops from Syria and end his countrys partnership with the YPG was a welcome development for Turkey.

However, some critics unjustly accused the Trump administration of making a grave mistake and reversing Americas gains in the Syrian theatre.

Three common misconceptions

Most criticism of Trumps decision to leave Syria rests on three common misconceptions.

First, the false assumption that the YPG has always been the default power-holder in northeastern Syria. In truth, the group seized power by force in the early stages of the Syrian civil war and, thanks to Washingtons extraordinary military support, came to control large chunks of territory.

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Second, the mistaken belief that Turkey intends to slaughter the Kurds after the US withdrawal. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, many Syrian Kurds view Turkey as a safe haven, where they can be protected from hostile groups active in their country. Turkey welcomed tens of thousands of Kurds, Christians and Yazidis as refugees when ISIL came for them in Syria and Iraq. Today, many of these refugees are still reluctant to return to their villages  at least to the ones that have not been razed already  because they are afraid YPG forces could target them.

Third, many critics of Trumps plan to withdraw from Syria and hand over the responsibility of preventing ISILs resurgence in the region to Turkey mistakenly portray Ankara as an aggressor. Quite the contrary, the Turkish plan makes a clear distinction between terrorists, moderate fighters who joined the PKKs Syrian affiliate under wartime conditions, and local residents.Our only objective in Syria is to address the root causes of radicalisation to deny ISIL an opportunity to regroup, to build the physical and social infrastructure to heal the wounds of war, and, by extension, prevent attacks against Turkish citizens.

Defending past mistakes, not US interests

Beyond these three misconceptions, some former US officials  including the former US envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, Brett McGurk  publicly criticised the Trump administrations Syria policy not to defend US interests, but their misguided past actions and decisions.

McGurk, who left his post earlier than expected to protest against Trumps decision to withdraw from Syria, recently made the case that only the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces provide stability in the areas that once made up the Islamic State in northeast Syria. However, the most recent developments in the region proved that the YPG has not been able to thwart the ISIL threat there, despite receiving billions of US taxpayer dollars in assistance.

Last week, four American citizens  two soldiers, one Pentagon civilian and one contractor  perished in a suicide attack claimed by ISIL in Manbij, the northern Syrian town the YPG has refused to vacate despite repeated commitments by US officials, including McGurk.

On Monday, US servicemen narrowly escaped a car bomb in the Hasakah province, a stronghold of the YPG. The sudden increase in the number of attacks on US troops suggests that the YPG is either unable or unwilling to stop ISILs operations in northeastern Syria.

There are some steps that the US can take to alleviate the situation in Syria. It must work with Turkey to implement the Manbij roadmap without further delay, coordinate with the Turkish military leadership the imminent withdrawal of US forces, and support Turkeys efforts to re-stabilise and rebuild terror-stricken areas.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Alabama State Troopers responded Tuesday night to a deadly crash between a car and an 18-wheeler on Interstate 20 in Cleburne County.

The crash happened about 8 p.m. on I-20 westbound at the 211 mile marker, said Trooper Cpl. Jimmy Harrell. Early information from the scene is that a vehicle struck an 18-wheeler and lost control. A passenger in the vehicle was ejected and then struck by another westbound vehicle.

That portion of the interstate is completely blocked, Harrell said. Georgia State Patrol is assisting troopers and have diverted traffic at Exit 5, Harrell said.

More information will be released as it becomes available.
A north Alabama teen is facing a felony charge in connection with a shooting threat directed at Thompson High School.

On Thursday, Jan. 10, Alabaster police officers responded to the high school after authorities were notified of a threat of violence called in to Thompson. The departments Criminal Investigations Division arrived on scene and began an investigation into the identity of the caller.

The school was briefly placed on lockdown, but no credible threat was found.

That probe led them to a Madison County juvenile identified as the caller. That suspect, whose name and age is not being released, is charged with making a terrorist threat. The crime is a Class C felony.

Huntsville police assisted in the investigation, said Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney. Threats to schools will never be taken lightly, the chief said. The Alabaster Police Department will do everything in its power to ensure the safety of our children.
A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to prison for fatally shooting his friend inside his Hoover home nearly four years ago.

Cody Allen Pike pleaded guilty to murder in December and was sentenced Tuesday by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Laura Petro to 20 years in prison, split with three years to serve. Following his release from prison, Pike was ordered to serve two years on probation.

Tommy Spina represented Pike, and Deputy District Attorney Shawn Allen prosecuted the case.

In October 2016 during a Stand Your Ground hearing, Pike testified he was acting in self defense when he shot Ryan Alexander Moore after a night of drinking on March 21, 2015.

Pike said on the night of March 20, he and 30-year-old Moore went to several bars. He said Moore, a co-worker of his, did not have a car or a drivers license. Moore lived in Childersburg, and often stayed with Pike at his Hoover condominium so he could have transportation.

After visiting three bars on the night of the shooting, Pike said the two stopped at McDonald's and then went to his condo. Pike said when the men were walking into Pike's condo, Moore grabbed Pike from behind and began to choke him.

Moore let go, Pike said, so he drove to a nearby gas station to calm down. When Pike returned, Moore was still at the apartment and an argument ensued. Pike said Moore attacked him and there were several weapons in the condo within Moores reach. I pulled out my gun and just started pulling the trigger, Pike said.

Moore was shot multiple times in the chest, eye, and torso. He also had abrasions across his body.

Police said on the 911 call, Pike yelled, "They broke in--they attacked me!" and "Just get the paramedics here," multiple times. Pike didn't answer the operator's question if he knew the person he claimed had broken into the house.

Petro didnt dismiss the case after the Stand Your Ground hearing. Alabama adopted Stand Your Ground provisions to its self-defense laws, eliminating the duty to retreat from situations as long as the person defending themselves is not doing something unlawful. Lawmakers also added a provision that said a person who is justified using force, including deadly physical force, is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the force was determined to be unlawful.

Spina said, The events leading up to the death of Alex Moore didnt need to happen, however when guns and alcohol are involved anything can happen. Unfortunately a life was lost that didnt need to be and Cody is paying the consequences of prison. There are too many guns readily accessible to too many people and there were that night."

He continued, "All the facts were analyzed by the judge, the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Supreme Court of Alabama and the sentence imposed was appropriate in light of those facts. Cody accepted responsibility for his actions from day one and has apologized to the family for their loss he ask for their forgiveness and is reminded everyday that he took the life of his best friend-- something he will live with forever. This was a very tragic event for all parties involved.
An arrest has been made in connection with the death of an Alabama man whose body was found in a North Carolina canal last month.

The body of Jon Eric Morris, 54, of Jacksonville, was discovered by a fisherman in the canal on Kenric Road in Lumberton, according to the Robeson County Sheriffs Office. The road runs parallel to Interstate 95.

Morris was last seen Nov. 20 in Jacksonville. He was driving a pickup truck that was hauling a kayak. His vehicle was found in Robeson County, but the kayak was missing.

Authorities have not said how Morris died. The cause of death is pending the completion of the North Carolina Medical Examiners autopsy. The final autopsy report will determine if any additional charges will be filed.

On Tuesday, the sheriffs office announced the arrest of 47-year-old Brian Keith Locklear. He is charged with larceny of motor vehicle and concealment and/or failure to report a death.

The Eastern District of North Carolina ATF, the FBI, the Deep Branch Fire Department, Chatsworth Police Department (Murray County, Georgia) and Jacksonville Police Department assisted with the investigation.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Lt. Brandon Patterson at 910- 671-3100.
Russian passenger charged with plane hijacking put in detention

 RIA Novosti, Arthur Borisov

17:20 23/01/2019

MOSCOW, January 23 (RAPSI)  A court in Russias Khanty-Mansiysk on Wednesday ordered detention for Pavel Shapovalov, a passenger of an aircraft bound from the Siberian city of Surgut to Moscow charged with hijacking, a statement released on the Investigative Committees website reads.

Shapovalov, 41, was reportedly detained until March 22.

According to investigators, on January 22, Shapovalov threatening he was armed attempted to break into the air crew cabin and demanded to change the aircrafts course. A pilot-in-command adopt a decision to make a forced landing 300km short of its destination, in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

The passenger was charged with hijacking with the threat of violence. He was also ordered to undergo mental examination because medical inspection of the man showed no alcohol, drugs or other psychotropic substances in his blood.




A town hall meeting for Pleasant Grove residents to ask questions about the differences between single-member districts and cumulative voting will be held at Pleasant Grove High School Wednesday evening.

Questions about the citys municipal elections arose after the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the city claiming the citys election method both prevents black voters from electing the candidate of their choice and prevents black candidates from participating in the political process.

The meeting is set to begin at 6 p.m. at Pleasant Grove High School at 100 Spartan Drive.

The meeting is hosted by Alabama State Rep. Merika Coleman, who represents the states 57th District, which includes Pleasant Grove. Pleasant Grove citizens, as well as Mayor Jerry Brasseale and the city council are encouraged to attend.

Tomorrow at 6 p.m. there will be a town hall meeting on the #voting situation in Pleasant Grove. Heres a flyer about the event. pic.twitter.com/lUYnD10dp1  Anna Beahm (@_AnnaBeahm) January 22, 2019

Members of the legislature who represent Jefferson County and other state and county officials are also invited.

Defendants and plaintiffs in the current lawsuit regarding voting in Pleasant Grove as well as leaders of voting rights organizations are invited.

Coleman also urged residents and leaders of neighboring cities that recently transitioned from at-large elections to single-member districts including Hueytown and Birmingham to attend to share insight on the process and how the change has impacted the city.

Coleman organized the meeting after a public hearing on adopting single-member districts for city elections was canceled. City officials cited the recently filed lawsuit as the reason for canceling the hearing.

Many residents who got off work early or otherwise adjusted their plans so they could attend the meeting were frustrated.
Notre Dame is covering up on-campus murals that show explorer Christopher Columbus arriving in America, according to the universitys president.

In a letter to the university, Rev. John Jenkins said the murals by Luigi Gregori found at the ceremonial entrance to Notre Dames Main Building reflected the attitudes of the time when they were painted in 1882-1884, they are now seen as at best blind to the consequences of Columbuss voyage for the indigenous peoples who inhabited this new world and at worst demeaning toward them.

The murals depiction of Columbus as beneficent explorer and friend of the native peoples hides from view the darker side of this story, a side we must acknowledge, Jenkins wrote.

Because the murals were painted directly on the plaster of the walls, moving them would likely destroy the works. Instead, they will be covered with cloth and images of the murals, along with information about them, will be moved to another location for a permanent display. The location of that display has not been determined, Jenkins said.

The murals were the focus of protests by the Native American Student Association of Notre Dame in 2017. The association praised the presidents decision, saying it was thankful for a thoughtful and wise decision.

This is a good step towards acknowledging the full humanity of those Native people who have come before us, the organization said.
The Library of Congress is offering an apology for a Martin Luther King Day tweet that celebrated the birthday of a Confederate general.

The original tweet was posted Monday as part of the librarys Today in History series. The tweet, noting that Confederate General Thomas Stonewall Jackson was born on Jan. 21, 1824, was sent on the federal holiday set aside for the slain civil rights leader.

The library later said the Jackson tweet was pre-programmed and offered its apology.

"We published a post earlier today that was pre-programmed from our Today in History site about Stonewall Jackson because Jan. 21 was his date of birth. We sincerely regret publishing this tweet on the day that we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.," the tweet said.

We published a post earlier today that was pre-programmed from our Today in History site about Stonewall Jackson because Jan. 21 was his date of birth. We sincerely regret publishing this tweet on the day that we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Library of Congress (@librarycongress) January 22, 2019

Born in West Virginia, Jackson was a Confederate commander who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville. For much of his career, he served under another Southern commander  Gen. Robert E. Lee  who is commemorated in Alabama on the same day as King.

The national holiday celebrating King is marked on the third Monday in January every year.
Frontier Airlines will begin direct flights connecting Mobile to Chicago and Denver in May, using the Downtown Mobile Airport.

The flights will begin May 1 from a brand-new passenger terminal. An initial offer puts one-way fares as low as $39, for passengers who make reservations now.

The announcement featured a conspicuously strong turnout of political figures in the audience, including state legislators and Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson. Mobile Airport Authority President Chris Curry, MAA board chairman Eliot Maisel and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson used their presence to highlight the importance of Frontier's commitment.

This wasn't just about bringing in a new carrier and opening up new destinations, they said.

From left: Mobile Airport Authority President Chris Curry, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Frontier Airlines Director of Corporate Communications Johnathan Freed and MAA Board Chairman Elliot Maisel celebrate the announcement that Frontier will connect Mobile to Chicago and Denver.

This is a beginning of a transformational event for the city of Mobile and the region, said Maisel. Baldwin County as well. He went on to say that Its gonna happen, and its happening now. Were going to be flying out of Brookley Field in May.

Stimpson said the start of passenger service out of Brookley was something that had been desired for years. And he told Wilson that "I hope you'll go across the Causeway and tell everybody in Baldwin County we are expecting them to use Frontier  we're counting on our friends in Baldwin County to help make this successful."

For years, some have speculated that Mobile might benefit from an airport swap in which commercial passenger service is moved from West Mobile Regional airport to Brookley. Stimpson, Maisel and Curry have thrown their weight behind the effort, especially since a feasibility study commissioned by the MAA found that the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. They say that the Brookley airfield's advantages -- it's near downtown, has easy interstate access and is closer to potential patrons in Baldwin County -- would make it more competitive with airports in Pensacola and Biloxi.

The full transition will take years and require the construction of a full-service terminal; the MAA is early in the process of developing a master plan. Meanwhile, intermediate steps have been under way. In spring 2018, Via Airlines announced that it was beginning service from Mobile and wanted to operate from Brookley.

Since then, the MAA has been developing a small terminal at Brookley for use by low-cost carriers such as Via. It's due to be open for business by the end of April, Curry said Tuesday, and Frontier flights are to begin May 1.

Jonathan Freed, director of corporate communications for Frontier, said the airline was excited about the prospect of coming to not just a new market but also to a new terminal in an airfield with no track record for commercial passenger service.

"We're excited about it because of where it's located," he said. "We're proud to be here as the launch airline. Location was a big part of it."

Via recently announced that it was adding service to Birmingham, including direct Mobile-Birmingham flights, in April. In that announcement, the company said that it expects to relocate its Mobile service to Brookley in late April or early May. Curry said Tuesday he didn't yet have a schedule for exactly when that would happen.

Freed touted Frontier as "a fun airline" that allows customers to adjust their fare based on what amenities they want. He also said that Frontier will have a special connection to Mobile because of its preference for Airbus A320-family jets.

"We've ordered 200 new Airbus 320-family aircraft," he said at Tuesday's ceremony. "They're rolling off the assembly line about 150 yards from where we're standing. So when these aircraft start flying here, they'll be coming back home where they were born."

According to information provided by Freed, Mobile flights can now be booked at www.flyfrontier.com. Mobile-Denver flights will be offered Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays with arrivals from Denver at 6:20 p.m. and departures from Mobile at 7:10 p.m. Mobile-Chicago flights will be offered Wednesdays and Saturdays, with arrivals from Chicago at 12:55 p.m. and departures from Mobile at 1:45 p.m.

The initial offer of a $39 one-way fare to Chicago and $59 to Denver is valid only for fares purchased before midnight (Eastern) on Wednesday, Jan. 23. The offer applies only to Wednesday and Saturday flights through June 13.

"This is what we've been wishing and hoping for, really for more than a decade," said Stimpson. "For it to come to fruition is just a tremendous deal for everybody involved."

Tuesday's announcement was made in one of the brick warehouse-type buildings that date back to Brookley's roots as a military air base. Curry told those in attendance to brace for change. "Over the next few years this complex and aeroplex will undergo major improvements that should significantly enhance the quality of life for residents of our community," he said.

Maisel praised Airbus for its help in making the arrangement possible: Airbus was leasing the building that the airport authority wanted to use for a terminal, but agreed to give it back so that it could be converted.

"It's on the grounds, the construction is under way, it'll be a nice terminal," Maisel said. "It will accommodate our needs. It will be clean, it will be efficient, there will be plenty of parking, it will be accessible and it'll be at Brookley Field.

"Now it's up to us," Maisel said. He said it's up to the community to support the effort. "I want these planes full," he said. "I need your help."

Full planes will mean more flights and more direct connections, he said. "It's a lifestyle transformation," he said. "It will allow us to benefit from living in the great city of Mobile."

As for the facility where the announcement ceremony was held, Maisel added: "This building is historic. It's also empty. Okay, watch what happens here at this complex. All this stuff, all these buildings, they're going to come down. They're going to be replaced with modern, efficient, leasable, light-industrial space. We now are in a planning phase, authorized by the FAA, for the total renovation of Brookley Field. So, more jobs, more available commercial and industrial space for our corporate citizens, and a better lifestyle for the city."

Frontier is expanding rapidly and added service to Huntsville and Birmingham in the last year, Freed said. "It's gone well," he said, though Mobile had been chosen on its own merits rather than just because Frontier's Alabama experience had been good.

Curry said that another factor for Frontier was anticipated demand for flights to Mobile and the Gulf Coast. "We're a good destination for Denver," he said. There's a strong market for leisure travel because of "the beaches, all the things Denver doesn't have," he said.

This is a vibrant community, Freed said. He added that the allure of warm weather and sandy shores already had been a strong selling point for Frontier. Florida is extremely successful for us, he said.
Drugs, makeshift weapons, homemade liquor and hundreds more contraband items were seized during a shakedown at the Marshall County jail over the past week.

Sheriff Phil Sims, who took office this past week, said lawmen from around the county worked together to secure and clean up the facility.

The jail has been under scrutiny since last year when then-Sheriff Scott Walls announced jailers were arrested for smuggling contraband and inmates physically engaged guards during cell searches. Cellphone video taken from inside the jail appeared to show inmates smoking and more inside the facility. Then-Sheriff Walls said the jail was understaffed and guards were underpaid.

Sims, who defeated Walls in last years election, told AL.com that when he started work Jan. 14, the plan was to clean up and secure the jail. He also suspended inmate privileges, like watching TV, talking on the phone and visiting with family and friends.

Just to be honest, with the jail, the inmates were running it, he said.

During the shakedown, Sims said, repairs were being made to exposed wires and other safety hazards. TV privileges were being reinstated today, while video visitation and phone service will be restored this week once damaged equipment is repaired.

Lawmen seized hundreds of contraband items and threw away two dumpsters worth of trash over the weekend, said Assistant Chief Deputy Steve Guthrie. Authorities seized hundreds of contraband items, including methamphetamine, heroin, cellphones, makeshift weapons, homemade alcoholic drinks, needles, tobacco, lighters, an electric drill and ropes. The shakedown  dubbed Operation Clean Sweep  culminated Saturday, authorities said.

While Sims said its unclear how all of the contraband got into the jail, inmates were using ropes made out of garbage bags to bring in illegal or prohibited items through a damaged window. Inmates tied lassos on the end of the ropes, lowered them through the window and had people on the outside tie contraband to the ropes, which were then raised back into the facility. The window has been repaired, the sheriff said.

Sims said as of today, the nearly 300 inmates are back in compliance with jail rules.

Sims said hes working with the county commission to bring the jail up to full staffing levels. He said right now the jail is two guards short.

The whole goal was to purge the jail of everything we could find and secure the jail, Sims said. No one is being charged in connection with the contraband that was discovered over the past week.

It would be impossible to know where all that stuff came from, Sims said.

Guthrie said the jail is getting off to a fresh start under the new administration.

Were running a jail, not a Holiday Inn, Sims said.

Officers from the following agencies helped with Operation Clean Sweep: Guntersville, Arab, Albertville, Boaz, Grant, Douglas, State Probation, U.S. Marshals, Marshall County District Attoneys Office, and the local drug task force.
A former Green Mercy Hospital administrator has been sentenced to six months in county jail for possessing child pornography, court records show.

Marc Elliot Sussman was arrested in May 2017 on multiple counts of possession of obscene material involving a victim under the age of 17. He pleaded guilty on the charges in December 2018, according to court records.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Laura Petro Tuesday ordered Sussman to serve six months in county jail, followed by three years of supervised probation, including one year of electronic monitoring. He will also be subject to the registration and notification requirements under state law. Sussman will be restricted from using a computer or having internet access for one year after his release, court records show.

Sussmans May 18, 2017, arrest was part of a statewide operation targeting possession, production and dissemination of child pornography called Operation Standing Guard, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

He previously served as the Health Services Project Manager at Cooper Green Mercy Health Services, where worked since 2003, according to his LinkedIn biography.

Tommy Spina represented Sussman and said they are satisfied with the sentence. We believe the sentence to be fair, reasonable and sufficient. The real culprit that, I wish the public and the media would focus on, are the 'googles of the world who allow this sort of material to continue to be accessed via internet." Spina said. "Im certain they have the technology to shut it down but continue to allow it. Thats where investigators should direct their energy. 
The slayings of two Alabama law enforcement officers in a weeks span has prompted an outpouring of support across the state.

Mobile Police Department officer Sean Tuder was killed Jan. 20; Birmingham Police Sgt. Wytasha Carter was killed Jan. 13. Both men were hailed as heroes, both by their co-workers and their communities.

One such show of support has gone viral.

On Saturday, someone snapped a photo of a civilian holding a umbrella over a saluting Sheriffs Deputy standing in the rain during Carters funeral procession. The photo drew emotional reactions from across the country.

This photo was taken Saturday in Birmingham, Alabama, as rain poured during a funeral procession for a fallen officer.



A man silently walked up behind this saluting deputy, and held an umbrella for her as the rain fell.https://t.co/PahOXW5jvC  ABC News 4 (@ABCNews4) January 23, 2019

Gov. Kay Ivey tweeted:

While AL mourns the loss of 2 brave members of our law enforcement, a Birmingham man, through a quiet & admirable act, serves as a great reminder to all. Our law enforcement put themselves at risk protecting us & we must do all we can to show were grateful for that sacrifice. https://t.co/ldBXKv2XZH  Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) January 23, 2019

Other efforts including fundraising for the family.

The spouses of the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department and the Birmingham Police Department are raising funds for Carters family with a t-shirt in his honor. You can see information on that here.

The Fraternal Order of Police has set up a bank account to accept donations for the Carters family.

Donations are accepted at any BancorpSouth under the FOP Fallen Officers Memorial Fund.

In Mobile, Costco showed its support by donating food and dessert to all four police precincts. In Baldwin County, Russell Perkins, owner of P.S.Taco Company and Rock N Roll Sushi, is hosting a fundraiser Jan. 31 at the Cedar Street Social Club in Mobile. Proceeds from the planned raffle will go to Tuders family.

Tuder was honored this week in Montgomery.
While U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez flubbed by naming the wrong disease in making a statement about poor sanitary conditions in parts of Alabama, there are very real concerns about the lack of proper sewage facilities in one of the poorest counties in Alabama.

Ocasio-Cortez said ringworm when she meant hookworm, an intestinal parasite that, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, was common throughout the Southeast until the early 20th century, but became much rarer due to improved sanitary conditions.

(Also, for what its worth - I meant to say hookworm*)  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 23, 2019

Hookworm infection stems from coming into contact with untreated sewage, which has become an all-too common occurrence in some rural parts of Alabama, particularly Lowndes County in Alabamas Black Belt.

Many residents in Lowndes County live in areas too rural for municipal sewer systems and septic tanks often dont work well and can be more difficult to install and maintain thanks to the heavy clay soils found in the area. Lowndes County is also one of the poorest counties in Alabama, with a median household income of less than $30,000 and 25 percent of the population living below the poverty line.

As a result, many residents live with malfunctioning septic systems that do not work. Some have also resorted to straight pipe sewage disposal systems in which sewage from the home is simply flushed into nearby woods via a PVC pipe.

When a peer-reviewed study by researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine was published in 2017, finding genetic material from hookworms in stool samples collected from residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, the Alabama Department of Public Health disputed the interpretations of that study.

The ADPH said the researchers failed to prove a hookworm infection, and that later tests conducted by the CDC, using a more traditional method than the genetic screening performed by the Baylor team, had come back negative for hookworm.

Still, Dr. Scott Harris, Alabamas state health officer and head of the ADPH, told AL.com last year that the sanitary conditions in the Black Belt are a major concern for his department, regardless of the Baylor study.

"Whether this one study was valid or not is almost beside the point," Harris said. "There are clear problems with the wastewater infrastructure and that needs to be addressed.

Whether we found hookworms or didnt, it wouldnt change the fact that that [infrastructure] needs to be addressed.

According to a recent report on HBOs Vice News, the Baylor research team is back in Lowndes County working on a follow-up to their original study, which may provide additional information in assessing the health impacts of poor sanitary conditions.

Incidentally, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Rural Development Office, one of the key agencies working on the sanitation issue with the Alabama Department of Public Health, has been closed due to the government shutdown.
E-cigarettes are now banned in most public places in Decatur.

The Decatur City Council voted 4-1 to prohibit electronic cigarettes, or vaping, within public places like restaurants and bars. The ban, made as an amendment to the citys existing smoking ordinance, extends to areas within 10 feet of the entrances of public places, the Decatur Daily reported.

Vaping will still be allowed inside select stores, as long as the business is predominately involved in e-cigarette sales.

Decatur banned cigarettes and cigars inside public places in 2007.

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices designed to mimic cigarettes by vaporizing a nicotine-laced liquid. Officials have cited health concerns over the use of the devices, particularly their growing popularity with teens.

The city joins a growing list of places banning the use of the popular smoking alternative. Twelve U.S. states and more than 620 localities have included the devices in existing tobacco bans and, in December, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams called on states to include e-cigarettes in smoke-free indoor air policies.
If Alabama wishes to maintain its auto manufacturing edge, the states education system needs to prepare a new generation of workers not just for todays jobs, but tomorrows.

Thats the verdict of a white paper out from Alabama A&M Universitys College of Business and Public Affairs. Driving the Southern Region into the Future suggests the Southern automotive industry embrace new workforce development strategies and interact with higher education, government, K-12 school systems and others.

You can read the paper here.

The non-profit Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) contracted with AAMUs College of Business and Public Affairs and the AAMU R.I.S.E. Foundation on the project. Del Smith, dean of the college and executive director for economic development at AAMU, facilitated the paper.

It comes at a time when all of Alabamas automakers have within a year announced plant expansions, and construction is ongoing on the $1.6 billion Mazda Toyota plant in Huntsville. Together, the projects promise $3.3 billion in investment and about 5,400 jobs.

Yet heavy industry, like other sectors nationwide, is struggling to fill open jobs during low unemployment. At the same moment, the auto industry is poised for transformation as carmakers mull innovations in autonomous driving and electrification.

The paper suggests several strategies:

*The auto industry partnering with higher education to engage students in manufacturing opportunities. This can take the form of offering degree programs in areas such as automotive engineering, electric transportation technology and auto supply chain management.

*Engage students at the middle school level with augmented reality demonstrations of auto technology, and tours of plants and suppliers, to introduce concepts and illustrate the magnitude of the industry.

*Assessments of high school students' career capabilities, and partnering with schools to produce competitions, generating interest in the industry and tasking students with finding solutions to ongoing problems.

By these and other measures, the paper suggests, Alabama will create a workforce not beholden to current content knowledge, but one that has the skills and attitudes to rapidly sense and adapt to change.

Some of these suggestions are already taking place with the states automakers, though in different areas and with different focuses. Mercedes-Benz hosted a startup challenge last year, inviting local and international companies into the plants to offer suggestions on some manufacturing challenges through a competition.

Other automakers regularly host student groups. Honda, within the last week, welcomed Industrial and Systems Engineering students from Auburn University.
Browders arrest in absentia in criminal network case upheld

 RIA Novosti, Alejandro Martinez Velez

12:10 23/01/2019

MOSCOW, January 23 (RAPSI)  The Moscow City Court on Wednesday upheld a lower courts ruling on arrest of Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder in absentia as part of a new case over organizing a criminal network, the courts press service told RAPSI.

In late December, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow issued an arrest warrant for Browder in absentia. He is to be detained for two months from the day of his potential arrest, extradition or deportation. The defendant did not show up for the hearing as he lives in Great Britain.

The case was launched against Hermitage Capital CEO on November 16. Browder is charged with organization of a criminal community and faces up to 20 years in prison. According to Russian law enforcement, the defendant is on the international wanted list and the damage he allegedly caused is estimated at 10.5 billion rubles ($158 million at the current exchange rate).

Investigators believe that Browder created and leaded an organized criminal group to make grave crimes in Russia including tax evasion, fraud, deliberate bankruptcy, money laundering.

He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

This is not the first case opened by Russian authorities against Browder.

In December 2017, a Moscow court sentenced Browder to 9 years in prison in absentia for deliberate bankruptcy and tax evasion. His business partner Ivan Cherkasov received 8 years in prison. The defendants were also fined 200,000 rubles (about $3,000) each. Moreover, Moscows Tverskoy District Court granted a civil lawsuit and recovered 4.3 billion rubles (about $65 million) from the defendants in favor of the Russian Federation. In June, the sentence was upheld.

In 2013, a Russian court sentenced Browder in absentia to 9 years in a penal colony. It was found that between 1997 and 2002, Hermitage Capital auditor Sergey Magnitsky created and applied an illegal tax evasion scheme in the interests of Browder.

Magnitsky worked for Firestone Duncan and represented Hermitage Capital, which the Russian authorities accused of tax evasion. Magnitsky was arrested on fraud charges in November 2008 and found dead in a Moscow detention center in November 2009. The lawyers death provoked an international outcry, including international sanctions against Russia.

In July 2013, Moscows Tverskoy District Court found Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion and closed the case due to his death. According to the case materials, Magnitskys and Hermitage Capital director William Browders actions cost Russia over 500 million rubles (about $7.5 million).








Turkey has launched an effort to help resolve the water problem of neighboring Iraq amid bilateral tensions over decreasing flow rates in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, whose waters the two countries share.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed a special envoy to Iraq. Veysel Eroglu is a former forestry and water affairs minister who has been in Erdogans close entourage since the 1990s, when the president was mayor of Istanbul. Much in the style of a water czar, Eroglu has formed a special team of experts from various ministries and began work on an action plan for better water management in Iraq. Though Baghdads initial reaction has been positive, Turkeys prospective road map might fail to satisfy Iraqi expectations, given the two sides diverging views on the causes of water shortages and how the problem should be resolved.

Last year, amid the worsening impact of drought in Iraq, Turkey began filling its newly built Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River, fueling concern over water shortages in its neighbor. Although the two governments had reached an agreement on the issue beforehand, Turkey had to delay the filling operation twice.

Increased water usage and decreasing rainfall have exacerbated shortages in regions that rely on the Tigris and the Euphrates for water. About 80% to 88% of the waters of the Euphrates have their sources in Turkey, where the river begins and then flows southeast across Syria and through Iraq. The Tigris, which originates in Turkey as well, flows down to form the border between Iraq and Syria for several miles and, after passing through Mosul and Baghdad, joins the Euphrates at al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab. Turkey contributes only 40% to the water flow of the Tigris, while Iraq contributes 51% and Iran 9%. Under a 1987 protocol on the Euphrates with Syria, Turkey is required to allow at least 500 cubic meters (17,500 cubic feet) per second of water into Syria. When it comes to the Tigris, however, Turkey has made no commitment to Iraq.

The proposal to set up an efficient problem-solving mechanism came from Iraqi President Barham Salih, who visited Ankara Jan. 3-4. Eroglu told reporters Jan. 13 that he was appointed special envoy at Salihs request and had already formed a team comprising officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, trade, energy and natural resources and agriculture and forestry. Eroglu plans to visit Baghdad in late January to discuss the action plan. Though water is the focus of the effort, Eroglus agenda includes commercial projects as well.

Turkeys ambassador to Iraq, Fatih Yildiz, shared the framework of Ankaras initiative with Iraqi Water Resources Minister Jamal al-Adili last week. The Iraqi government has informed Ankara that it welcomes the initiative and has high expectations of it.

According to information obtained by Al-Monitor, Turkeys water bureaucracy places high importance on Eroglus new mandate because he is both an expert on water issues and a person close to Erdogan, who could be influential in keeping the issue on the presidential agenda. A continued focus on the problem in Ankara could get Iraqis, too, to focus on long-term solutions.

The core problem between the two sides is the lack of a shared vision. For Iraq, the problem is mainly about the amount of water it gets, while for Turkey, it is mainly a problem of water management. Should the two sides manage to develop a common perspective on the cause and solution of problems, they could pave the way for joint projects to boost water efficiency, prevent losses, replace earth canals with pipes, improve irrigation systems and dams, increase storage capacities, build water treatment facilities, rehabilitate riverbeds and prevent salinization.

According to the Turkish side, close cooperation would make it harder for Iraq to evade its responsibility to invest in water areas by arguing that its water is being curtailed by Turkey. In 2017, the two countries had formed joint working groups on five topics  water quality, joint dams at the border, measurement, education and desertification, sandstorms and dust storms. The groups convened in Ankara in late December that year, but failed to achieve any tangible progress as they lacked a strong political mechanism to maintain the process and keep the two sides focused. With Eroglus appointment, Ankara hopes, things will change.

As part of the new mechanism, Baghdad aims to extract an accord on the amount of water Turkey allows through to Iraq. Yet Turkey  which has not signed the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention  has no intention of stepping back from its equitable and need-based allocation approach in the sharing of water.

Turkey already struggles to keep its pledge of 500 cubic meters per second to Syria during certain months. Still, it strives to deliver that amount on average on a seasonal basis. For instance, if water flow declines to 300 cubic meters per second during a certain month, Turkey makes up for the drop in the ensuing period.

Intransigent attitudes on the amount of water appear to be the first stumbling block for the new Turkish-Iraqi mechanism. A Turkish bureaucrat involved in the issue told Al-Monitor, Developing a common strategy will be impossible as long as expectations persist [for Turkey] to increase the water flowing [to Iraq] from the Tigris and the Euphrates. We need to overcome this first.

The bureaucrat said rainfall in Iraq has been quite good recently and the Iraqi government has said its reserves now exceed 18.5 billion cubic meters and has ruled out the prospect of shortages. They seem to have stored significant amounts of water near al-Qurnah and Fav. This, however, is not the result of measures they have taken or any achievements by the government, the official continued. There can be no progress if this relaxation makes them forget the serious problems in water management. They have high expectations from us, but Iraqs problems cannot be resolved by Mr. Eroglu. Iraqs problems have to be resolved by the Iraqis themselves. This should become a state policy.

Another Turkish bureaucrat said bilateral cooperation on water issues was no longer a matter of preference, but had become imperative. The cooperation is likely to start in the area of water treatment and disinfection to prevent epidemics caused by polluted water such as cholera. Next in line is water management, the bureaucrat said. Water efficiency requires long-term work. In Iraq, 80% of the water is used for agriculture. They use 15,000 to 20,000 cubic meters per hectare annually. This needs to be brought down to 7,000. Hence, know-how and experience transfer are important. It is time to invest in water areas instead of arms  there is no other solution.

A previous Turkish offer for a $5 billion credit line for water projects in Iraq will be put back on the table, along with the action plan. Naturally, Ankara hopes for commercial gains as well, namely the awarding of projects to Turkish companies, should the action plan take off. Earlier, the Turkish company Aydin Enerji had undertaken a project to pump water from the Mosul Dam to the Ninevah Plains, but failed to proceed with the work due to financing problems. Turkish companies now hope to return to Iraqs water sector with similar projects.
Property owners around the Holy Shrine of Askarian Imams in Samarra, Iraq, are being pressured to sell their land below market value, according to Salahuddin Provincial Council Chairman Ahmad al-Krayem.

In a Dec. 29 meeting with property owners, Krayem accused the shrine administration of blocking the areas surrounding the shrine and preventing landowners from investing in their properties in order to pressure them into selling at cheap prices. He said the administration, citing security concerns, is using checkpoints to limit access to the area.

Krayem considers the authorities' actions an effort to systematically displace the people of the surrounding areas. The people, however, are fighting back, he said.

The landowners have agreed to take the necessary legal measures to recuperate their properties," Krayem said at the meeting, adding that "the Salahuddin Governorate Provincial Council will file a complaint to this effect. Krayem said, The owners of these properties were among the richest families of Samarra. Today, they are the poorest in the city." He stressed that the value of the properties surrounding the shrine is estimated at billions of dinars, but because access is restricted, the administration is able to squeeze landowners to sell for cheaper prices.

He criticized the different pricing between Samarra and other Shiite cities that are homes to other holy shrines. Why is a square meter of land of the real estate surrounding the Holy Shrine of Askarian Imams selling for only 1 million dinars ($840), while it ranges between 10 [million] and 15 million dinars ($8,396 to $12,594) per square meter in the lands near the shrines in Karbala and Najaf? (One square meter equals 10.76 square feet.)

The Askarian Authority is seen as the legal supervisor managing the affairs of the shrines and is part of the Shiite Endowment. The authoritys directors are appointed with the support of the highest-level Shiite authority, or marjaa, Ali al-Sistani.

The Askarian Authority had been under the administration of the Sunni Endowment, as the shrines lie in a predominantly Sunni area. But after the shrine's 2006 bombing by Sunni militants, which triggered a sectarian war in Iraq, the Shiite Endowment took over management.

The properties surrounding the shrine were used as hotels, supermarkets and other businesses that were lucrative because of the large number of tourists. But since the 2006 incident, the businesses haven't been allowed to operate because of security concerns.

Since then, the authority has become central in the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites in Samarra and in the Salahuddin governorate in general. This is due to the huge proceeds and income the authority receives from the shrines endowments and religious tourism.

Sheikh Sattar al-Morshedi, known for his moderate positions toward Sunnis, currently heads the Askarian Authority. Morshedi remained silent on Krayems statements to keep from increasing tension, but this didn't prevent other Shiite parties associated with the authority from escalating their tone.

Maitham al-Zaidi, commander of al-Abbas Combat Division, which is mostly stationed in the city of Samarra and charged with protecting the shrine, said Krayems statements are false. The division also has troops in other areas in Salahuddin, such as the cities of Balad and Dujail.

In a phone call with Krayem, Zaidi was stern and rebuked him for his accusations. He also threatened to take legal action against Krayem for what he called great confusion and for slandering the Askarian Authority, according to an anonymous source close to the division cited by Mawazin News.

Al-Abbas Combat Division is known for being close to Sistani and for having previously operated along with Sunni volunteers, Kurdish peshmerga forces and US-led coalition forces during the war on the Islamic State (IS).

The division, however, keeps its distance from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which includes many Shiite factions close to Iran. During its military activities, the division took no aggressive stances against Sunnis in the liberated areas, as some Shiite PMU factions did.

A source in the Askarian Authority who refused to be named told Al-Monitor that the authority hasn't pressured any of the landowners to sell their properties. The source stressed that the authority is gradually acquiring some properties, as finances permit, to expand the shrine premises and provide the necessary services to Iraqi and foreign pilgrims  millions of whom visit on several religious occasions each year.

The source said the authority doesn't oversee land appraisals, which are done by experts based on market prices.

Commenting on Krayems statements about the difference in pricing in Karbala and Najaf, the source said the economic situation in Samarra isn't comparable to that of Najaf and Karbala. He explained that the latter two holy cities receive more pilgrims and major projects in their shrine areas, which affects real estate prices. Also, the population of each city is much bigger than that of Samarra and there has always been a price difference, even before the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, he added.

In a statement to Al-Monitor, Salahuddin Dep. Gov. Sheikh Ammar Hekmat al-Baldawi called for settling the issue in accordance with the law instead of making media statements that only stir tension among citizens.

Krayem maintains good relations with PMU Deputy Chairman Abu Mahdi al-Mohandas, who is close to Iran and on the US list of terrorists.

Mohandas and the combat division's Zaidi have been at odds for a long time over Zaidis independent positions and for distancing himself from the factions close to Iran. The recent escalation between Krayem and Zaidi might come within the context of the conflict within PMU.

Finally, it seems that the developments in Samarra are not merely Shiite claims for the real estate surrounding the shrines as much as they are part of political parties' struggles to control and dominate this city, which is thought to be a strategic location north of Baghdad.
KONYA, Turkey  Come, Mawlana Jalal-ud-din Rumi says in his famous verse. Come, even if you broke your penitence a hundred times/ Ours is the portal of hope/ Come as you are. This invitation from the 13th century continues to lure millions of Turks and foreigners to Rumis shrine in Konya, a city in central Anatolia.

The mausoleum with its famous Green Dome covering the Sufi philosophers sarcophagus remains one of Turkeys most-visited museums, with Chinese and Taiwanese visitors leading the list. In 2018, the number of visitors to the shrine jumped 13.5% from the year before, breaking its record by welcoming more than 2.8 million visitors, according to the Anatolia News Agency.

Of the entire global population, without making a distinction by religion and race, those who have reached [Rumis] level of consciousness in the end come to Konya and Mawlana, Uzeyir Ozyurt, a dervish of the Mevlevi Order, told Al-Monitor. When they come to Konya and see the shared faith, they find that the life they have longed for and sought is this."

Ozyurt said that visitors, including CEOs and renowned healers from China, Iran, Taiwan, the United States, South Korea and other parts of the world as well as from all over Turkey, merely adhere to Rumis call to love. Some visit the city of the whirling dervishes after hearing the poets whispers in their dreams or after reading his monumental literary heritage, Masnavi Manavi ("The Spiritual Couplets").

People have always sought [love, oneness and peace] outside. Now that they have started feeling that within, they have begun to perform the Sama," Ozyurt said, adding that this draw them to the shrine of Mawlana. Konya is the Kaaba for lovers.

The Sama is the Sufi dance ceremony with whirling dervishes of various ages tirelessly spinning to experience holy love, wearing white robes. The Kaaba is the sacred Muslim shrine, a square stone structure in the Great Mosque at Mecca.

A mystical, introspective branch of Islam, Sufism, or Tasawwuf, is a lifelong ascetic path that shuns materialism and cherishes the journey within. By taking on certain ritualized tasks and challenges, the disciples of the Mevlevi Order take both physical and spiritual steps to leave their egos behind and experience heaven before death by falling in godly love. The door to this trying path, Sufis say, is open to every human being, without distinction, as identity is removed outside the dargah, a place of worship for Sufis. There, one enters love.

The love I found through yoga is a similar love I find in Rumis teachings, Dmitri Kuznesov, a yoga instructor from Ukraine, told Al-Monitor, stretching on the floor inside the dargahs main lounge, where guests eat, converse, occassionally make music, recite poems and perform the Sama together. There are many ways, and the Mevlevi is Rumis path. But the Sama is something else.  It is special. It is relaxing, meditative, and good for the mind and the soul, Kuznesov added.

The Sama ceremony depicts that every object in the universe rotates, as electrons around atoms, the Earth around the sun and the solar system around the Milky Way. As the dervish spins, he feels like an instrument of God. During the Sama, heaven is believed to enter the dervish through his right palm that faces upward and is released from the downward-facing left palm.

To become a dervish, disciples have to go through various stages, such as the suffering that lasts for 1,001 days, and the halwat (seclusion) where the individual sits in a small space for 40 consecutive days, without speaking and minimal food intake, not allowed to sleep lying down and instead sitting the entire time.

Besides his spirituality, Rumis intelligence as a Muslim scholar attracted Hossein Soori, an Iranian inventor and poet now residing in Istanbul, to Sufism. Sitting on the floor of the main lounge in the local dargah, where he has been staying for two weeks for Seb-i Arus, Soori said modern science and technology continue to prove Rumis cosmic wisdom was way ahead of his and even our time.

In awe of Rumis vision and expertise as a man of science, literature and spirituality, Soori took out his phone to show pictures of galaxies and close-up shots of the human eye. This is what [Rumis] poem means: I see an eye inside every galaxy. He says that he sees. And inside every eye, I see a galaxy. Just this verse is enough, he said, noting the telescope was not yet invented at the time.

Still, there are many more examples depicting Rumis advanced cosmic awareness in his works, with theories of quantum, cosmos and consciousness lying parallel to the heart of his teachings on subjects such as unity and resonance.

Both Soori and Ozyurt agreed that Rumis teachings have the potential to heal and prevent some of the biggest global conflicts such as war, animosity and inequality, mostly because the sense of oneness would reappear and install tranquility.

Whatever religions there are, it is like this. They speak to come close to Allah. But there are some people who politically change things in their favor, in their own interest, Soori said. Mawlana said to forget about them, that this path is very easy. Through the heart, you can find Allah.

Although he plans on coming back to the dargah and the shrine, Soori said his way to communicate with the divine was just to sit in silence and wait patiently for the meeting. When the beloved responds, he said, he just knows. Proof is not that important of a word inside the dargah; no word really is.

There is a voice that doesnt use words, one famous Rumi verse goes. Listen.
Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi is rising to become an ever more popular figure among the new generation of hard-liners in Iran, following the footsteps of hard-line cleric Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi. Both men are waging a war against the present atmosphere at the Qom seminary  the theological center of Iran  charging that it is not sufficiently revolutionary.

Azghadi is a graduate of the Qom Seminary, where he studied Dars-e Kharij, an academic level perhaps best described as equivalent to a doctorate. Yet many academic figures and clerics have questioned his religious knowledge given that he has not published any academic work. He has responded to this by saying, "I have a postdoc in book reading." Of further note, Azghadi neither wears a turban nor traditional clerical garb such as robes.

Azghadi was not known to the wider public in Iran until a decade ago. Several factors have changed that. The state broadcaster  which is controlled by hard-liners  has notably offered him a platform that has allowed him to become a public figure. Since 2003 he has been a member of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, which is tasked with adopting macro policies on cultural and social matters. The council is chaired by the president but its members are chosen by the supreme leader. In 2007, Azghadi was appointed as a member of the Council of Representatives of the Supreme Leader in Universities, which led him to deliver more public speeches at various universities in order to find an audience among academics and students.

Born into an influential family in Iran in 1965, Azghadi has been striving to be recognized as a theoretician among hard-liners  and he appears to have been successful in that endeavor. He has also sought to portray himself as a new Ali Shariati, the prominent Iranian sociologist who had a unique view of Islam and Shiism, and at the same time as a new version of Morteza Motahari, a theoretician of the Islamic Republic who was killed in 1979, two years after Shariati died. What should not be neglected here is that Shariati and Motahari  who both had vast influence over the opponents of the Shahs regime  were in disagreement over their approaches to Islam.

In one example of the above, Hossein Qadiyani, a young hard-line activist, said of an Azghadi talk in 2017, "I saw Motahari's intelligence, Shariati's passion ... and Jalal's identity in him." Jalal Al-e Ahmad was a popular anti-Western Iranian novelist and writer who popularized the term "West-toxification"; he died in 1969.

In 2012, Azghadi claimed that the "enemies"  a common reference to the United States and its allies among political and religious elites in Iran  had sought to target him three times. "I'm glad that the Wests intelligence agencies have been alarmed about me. A few nights ago, I was informed that a team wants to assassinate me for the third time. They have created an operations room in Iraqi Kurdistan. This operations room for assassinations works in cooperation with America, Britain and Israels intelligence agencies."

During hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency (2005-2013), Azghadi constantly voiced his support for the president and vehemently attacked Ahmadinejad's opponents. "Ahmadinejad's government is the most popular government in Iran's history," Azghadi said, arguing that the president was a guerrilla committed to the front of the poor people of the world."

Azghadi is a staunch enemy of the Reformists, saying they have turned their backs on the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He once said that he had cursed Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) for an entire "night until morning" for referring to US President Abraham Lincoln as "martyred" and complimenting the United States for its "culture and civilization." Azghadi has also repeatedly attacked moderate President Hassan Rouhani for his policies  including the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action  and has called the president a liar.

Waging war against traditionalist clerics

At a contentious rally in Qom in August, Azghadi frontally censured the Qom theological schools and the grand ayatollahs in an unprecedented manner, charging that "the root of secularism is the seminary" and that nothing is taught about social relationships, politics and international relations. He further emphasized that "secular Islamic jurisprudence" does not focus on "theorizing religious civilization." Azghadi also said, "In jurisprudence on governance, the seminary has no answer yet. Forty years [after the 1979 Islamic Revolution], the seminary is still debating over whether the banks [in Iran] are operating [based on] usury or not."

In response, Grand Ayatollahs Naser Makarem Shirazi and Hossein Nouri Hamedi, who are both close to the establishment but at the same time belong to the traditionalist spectrum of the seminary, condemned Azghadi's remarks. Also, a large number of moderate clerics reacted negatively to Azghadi's Qom speech. However, many conservatives and hard-liners fully supported Azghadi for his harsh remarks against the seminary.

While Azghadi is being compared by hard-liners to Shariati and Motahari, he is seemingly rather following the footsteps of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi on various issues. In 2017, Azghadi told Mesbah Yazdi at a meeting, "You have been a good professor for our generation." In response, Mesbah Yazdi praised Azghadi, saying, "You are a unique person."

Indeed, in practice, Azghadi's views are identical to those of Mesbah Yazdi. For instance, in a speech in 2017, while calling on the seminary to be revolutionary, Mesbah Yazdi said, "In the area of jurisprudence, the seminary shouldnt only focus on [matters to do with] praying.

Mesbah Yazdi and Azghadi believe that the seminary is not fully throwing its weight behind the political establishment, limiting its support to certain turning points. This is while traditionalist clerics have repeatedly urged the seminary's independence from the political establishment. In 2013, the hard-line current created a group named Establishment of Teachers of the Supreme and Dars-e Kharij Levels" to try to marginalize traditionalist clerics who want to steer clear of politics or at least believe in drawing a thin line between seminary and state. This same hard-line group held the controversial rally in August.

Despite the backlash, Azghadi has not stopped his harsh speeches against the seminary. As such, it appears that he will maintain his position as an influential and popular figure among the next generation of hard-liners in Iran.
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says his country has taken key steps toward being able to quickly resume uranium enrichment to the 20% level, an activity it agreed to suspend under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) struck with world powers in 2015.

Ali Akbar Salehi made the remarks in a lengthy face-to-face interview on Iranian state broadcaster's Channel 4 on Jan. 22. The nuclear chief unveiled details about the path Iran has already taken toward being able to resume its largely restricted nuclear program. The new plans range from building more power plants to a scheduled transfer of 30 tons of yellowcake to the uranium conversion facility outside the city of Esfahan. The latter would be a key step toward ensuring the availability of raw material should Iran decide to exit the nuclear deal and ramp up its enrichment activities.

He also spoke of what his organization has done to execute a key directive issued by the country's supreme leader issued last June. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had then called on the country's nuclear authorities to establish a readiness to expand enrichment capacity to 190,000 separative work units (SWU), which the supreme leader previously described as Irans absolute need. Iranian officials say the country needs an enrichment capacity of 190,000 SWU to ensure a domestic supply of fuel for the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant. Salehi said a "super modern" hall with necessary facilities has been fully constructed for the purpose of enrichment at the latter scale.

Ever since the United States withdrew from the JCPOA last May, Iran has warned the remaining signatories to the accord that resuming enrichment at the 20% level is an easy task, should it decide to do so. But perhaps what made Salehi's latest interview significant was a revelation about the reactor core at the Arak nuclear facility in central Iran, which was a fundamental issue during the nuclear negotiations.

Under the JCPOA, Iran was obliged to remove the calandria of the Arak reactor and fill its tubes with cement as part of efforts to modify the facility to ensure there was no plutonium path to the bomb. "We agreed to do so," said Salehi. "But we also purchased [and stored] equivalent tubes and we did not declare this [to our negotiation counterparts]." He noted that the decision was shared only with "the highest authority" of the Islamic Republic, the supreme leader.

"When our team was holding the negotiations, we knew that the other side could violate the deal. The supreme leader had told us off about their noncompliance and asked us to act with wisdom," he said, while boasting that Iran "not only did not burn the bridges behind, but also built new ones to smoothen a quick resumption in case [deemed necessary]." The Iranian nuclear chief further revealed that Tehran was already doing the job "silently," as the nuclear talks were ongoing, but that "this was in no breach of [International Atomic Energy Agency] regulations," hinting that the UN nuclear watchdog had been informed  as would, one assumes, the country from which Iran allegedly purchased the metal tubes.

Iranian media outlets interpreted Salehi's remarks on the metal tubes as a "wise tactic" to construct a reactor in accordance with pre-JCPOA blueprints, in case the other side violated the deal. Irans obligation to fill the core of its nascent Arak reactor with cement has long served as a pretext for hard-liners' attacks on the nuclear negotiating team, whom they accused of giving in to the West during the talks. During a heated exchange in parliament in 2015, conservative lawmaker Ruhollah Hosseinian (2008-2016) threatened to bury Salehi in the very reactor if he went ahead with the cement plan.

To many, Iran's plans to restart enrichment at the 20% level  if implemented  would be tantamount to a coup de grace against an already fragile JCPOA. "Resuming enrichment and its nuclear program, Iran will make an international consensus against it a definitive outcome," tweeted one Iranian.

For months, Iran has warned that it is losing patience with Europes apparent failure to live up to its commitments to provide economic dividends under the nuclear deal. As such, Salehi's remarks come at a time when the long-awaited European Special Purpose Vehicle appears to finally be rolled out after monthslong and repeated delays. Iran has been hoping that the SPV will help revive its economy, which is feeling the pinch of reimposed US sanctions.

The seriousness of the apparent steps to ensure readiness for a quick ramping up of the Iranian nuclear program has yet to be made clear. Until then, the argument that Salehi's remarks about the metal tubes is for domestic consumption remains valid. "My sources think this is all for domestic purposes," tweeted the Wall Street Journal's Laurence Norman after approaching sources in the know about the significance of the metal tubes. "I guess if deal was formally dead, #Iran may struggle to get hold of equivalent pipes in future. So useful. But on the margins."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow today to discuss future moves in northern Syria, among other critical dossiers underpinning burgeoning cooperation between the historical rivals.

The talks kicked off with much bonhomie.

Were continuing the practice of regular meetings, Putin told Erdogan at the start of the Kremlin rendezvous. I must say that they have yielded positive results. Erdogan said there has been a clear improvement in our political, military, economic, trade and cultural ties.

The Turkish president added, Our cooperation contributes to the regional peace. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and National Intelligence Organization head Hakan Fidan, as well as Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez.

The leaders had not emerged from their meeting as of time of publication.

The future of Idlib, now under the near full control of al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) extremists, and US plans to create a safe zone in Kurdish-dominated northeastern Syria will have likely topped the agenda. The sensitive topic of Russias escalating tensions with Ukraine, Turkeys top Black Sea ally, will have been broached alongside Turkish plans to acquire Russian S-400 missiles, a deal that is driving Washington mad.

Analysts say Putin will have gauged Erdogan on a potential regime offensive against Idlib that Turkey managed to stave off in September under a cease-fire agreement signed in Sochi. It implicitly called for Turkey to remove radical terrorist groups from a buffer zone between Syrian government and opposition forces and restore regime access to the strategic M4 and M5 highways connecting Aleppo, Latakia, Homs, Damascus and Saraqib. Ankara either failed or didnt want to do so, allowing HTS to drive out its rivals, including the Turkish-backed Noureddine al-Zinki group from Idlib. Paradoxically, this may help achieve the same result as the regime and Russia will now have a free hand to go after what has become a near-homogenous HTS zone.

Cavusoglu said last week that Ankara was ready to cooperate with Russia and Iran as well as the United States to confront jihadists in Idlib and prevent a broader offensive on the enclave. But analysts reckon Russias patience is running thin.

Kerim Has, a Moscow-based Turkish academic specializing in Turkish-Russian relations, asserted, The Russians priority is to find a formula of a kind that will facilitate a decisive regime offensive against Idlib with minimum fallout for Turkey and simultaneously pave the way for cooperation on the ground between Turkey and the regime. Has told Al-Monitor, With HTS now in control of Idlib, Turkey will likely no longer object.

Even if this proves true, the fate of some three million civilians and fighters crammed inside Idlib, many of whom might head to Turkey, remains unsure. With more than 3.5 million displaced Syrians on its hands, Turkey does not want any more and has sealed its border shut. Would the regime guarantee their safe passage to other areas, including to Turkish-controlled Afrin and the Euphrates Shield zone? And would Russia underwrite it? Erdogan must be asking.

As for the US-protected zone in northeastern Syria, Turkeys overriding objective is to roll back the political and military influence of the the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG). Ankara has been juggling relations with Moscow and Washington to this end, playing one against the other as needed.

President Donald Trump's announcement that the United States would be pulling out all of its troops from Syria seemed to upend Turkeys plans to secure US backing to demobilize and disarm the YPG. But Trump walked back his initial claim that around 2,000 or so US forces would leave in 30 days (they will, albeit later, and the Pentagon is acting and planning accordingly), allowing Turkey to recalibrate its strategy.

While Erdogan continues to threaten military action against the YPG, Ankara is waiting to see what precisely the United States has in mind and in the meantime is increasing pressure on it to cede control of the mainly Arab town of Manbij, where four US citizens including servicemen were killed last week in a bomb attack that was claimed by the Islamic State. Erdogan renewed offers to secure the town in a phone call with Trump on Sunday.

Manbij is currently run by the YPGs Arab allies and Turkey wants them to be replaced by its local proxies. Trumps new Syria envoy, James Jeffrey, has backed Turkeys position on the Manbij road map that was agreed on in June to forestall a Turkish attack.

Jeffreys hawkish approach, shared by national security adviser John Bolton, has played to Turkeys benefit. Both view Turkey through a Cold War lens and are horrified by their NATO ally's apparent drift toward Russia.

Ankara has displayed cautious enthusiasm over their talk of a safe zone along Turkeys border that would drive the YPG deeper south and is brandishing it to enhance its bargaining position with the Russians.

In truth, Turkey is no keener than Moscow, Tehran or Damascus on any US scheme that would continue to grant US air dominance over the area because it would by default protect the YPG. And even if the Syrian militants are moved away from the border, Turkey wants them to be disbanded altogether. But the Pentagon makes no secret of its admiration and continued desire to work with the YPG, so it would push back. In any case, with top administration officials dropping like flies, there are no guarantees that either Bolton or Jeffrey can ultimately prevail over Trump if he sticks with orders to withdraw. Ankara knows this and is unlikely to place all its eggs in the United States basket and will continue to work closely with Moscow for the foreseeable future.
Palestinian officials today announced that they will no longer accept US security assistance amid fears that doing so could open them up to terrorism-related lawsuits.

The concerns stem from the consequences of a law Congress passed last year. The White House has asked Congress to amend the law before it goes into effect at the end of the month, but lawmakers appear in no hurry to do so.

Palestinian diplomat Saeb Erekat told Agence France Presse today that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has sent an official letter to the US administration requesting it stop all aid to the Palestinian Authority, including assistance to the Palestinian security services. Erekat singled out the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act, which requires recipients of US assistance to submit to the jurisdiction of US civil courts.

Both the House and the Senate unanimously voted for the law, introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and President Donald Trump signed it into law in October. But the Associated Press reported in November that the White House had asked Congress to amend the law post facto so that the PA could continue receiving security aid.

Despite the White House request, amending the law does not seem to be a priority for the new Congress, which is struggling to agree on spending legislation amid the longest-running government shutdown in US history.

I didnt know that was a problem with the bill, so I better study the bill and see if I agree with them that its even a problem, Grassley told Al-Monitor recently. But let me make it very clear: Im not particularly interested in giving American taxpayer money to terrorists that want to kill Israelis.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders have historically been proponents of the security aid.

The Israelis love it, said Dave Harden, the managing director of the Georgetown Strategy Group and a former US Agency for International Development assistant administrator in the Barack Obama administration. It provides training  and it professionalizes the [Palestinian] security forces. And it serves as an avenue between the Israelis and the Palestinians to work for cooperation and practical issues, so its very important.

While security coordination with Israel remains unpopular with the Palestinian public, many in Washington favor it as it is used to stop groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad from operating in the West Bank.

The security assistance is by far the most vital and successful program that weve had in the West Bank in the last 10-15 years, said Ilan Goldenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Securitys Middle East program. Youve had Palestinian security forces just get much more effective, and also cooperating much more with Israel opposing Hamas and other extremist groups in the West Bank through a joint cooperation and training program.  This would put all of that at risk.

Plaintiffs seeking to sue the PLO in US courts hired the law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer in March 2017. The firm has never reported spending more than $5,000 in any single quarter lobbying Congress on the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act.

The law is designed to bolster the plaintiffs in the case of Sokolow v. PLO, a terrorism-related lawsuit dating back to 2004. A federal appeals court overrode a lower court ruling awarding the plaintiffs $656 million in damages in 2016, on jurisdictional grounds.

The State Department had only requested $35 million in PA security aid for 2019, a $25 million cut from the fiscal year 2017 request. Additionally, the Trump administration ended all economic and humanitarian aid for the Palestinians last year, after the PA began boycotting peace talks following the US decision to relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The new law could ensure that the Palestinians no longer receive any security or economic aid from Washington well after Trump leaves office.

It also remains unclear whether the law could put other US aid recipients, such as Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, on the hook for lawsuits, or if they will remain shielded from litigation under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Notably, the new law was only vetted by the Senate and House Judiciary Committees  with no input from the foreign affairs committee in either chamber.

To me its just insane, said Goldenberg. A lot of people who are really experts on the Hill charged with making sure Congress doesnt do stupid stuff like this didnt see this.

The liberal lobbying group J Street has also joined the chorus of calls to amend the law, faulting the Trump administration for a government shutdown that has distracted Congress from fixing it.

In a statement today, J Street wrote that congressional leaders have expressed a desire to resolve the issue and allow the security assistance to continue but blamed the shutdown for jeopardizing a vital component of Israeli security.

The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, for its part, has not publicly weighed in so far.
CAIRO  The Egyptian actor and tenor Hassan Kami, who died Dec. 14, has left behind a legal muddle involving the Orientalist, one of Cairos best-known bookstores. Among the 40,000 items in the store are a number of rare first editions and valuable manuscripts that Kami never offered for sale but now stand at the crux of a legal dispute over rightful owners and Egypt's cultural heritage.

Kamis lawyer, Amr Ramadan, claims that the actor had sold him the bookstore and its contents a few years before his death, but Kami's family is contesting the validity of such a transaction. In addition, given the value and nature of some of the rarities in the shop, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the country's largest library, have stepped into the fray to protect what they see as Egypt's literary heritage.

Ramadan staked his claim to ownership three days after Kami's death. The lawyer re-opened the bookstore's doors on Dec. 17 and, according to local media reports, sold some of the most valuable books and manuscripts. That same day, the Kami family took legal action against Ramadan, accusing him of having taken advantage of Kami's advanced age to sign a sales contract for the actor's villa as well as the Orientalist. The family claims that the sale is therefore invalid.

Meanwhile, writers, intellectuals and politicians have been expressing their concern that Kami's heirs will sell off rare books, documents and manuscripts, resulting in some of them leaving the country. Several people, including the writer Yusuf al-Qaid, have argued that under Egypts Law on the Protection of Manuscripts, the rare books and manuscripts in the collection cannot simply be sold off, as they are part of the country's cultural heritage. Members of the parliaments Cultural Committee called on the Ministry of Culture to protect the bookstore's contents before items disappear.

Culture Minister Inas Abdel al-Dayem sent a request to the public prosecutor on Dec. 18, asking the judiciary to protect the heritage of Kami and prevent the heirs from disposing or selling anything from the store until a committee from the Egyptian General Organization of Books and National Documents, affiliated with the Culture Ministry, can evaluate the collection to determine whether any of its holdings fall under the Egyptian law on protecting manuscripts and books.

On the day of Dayem's request, the prosecutor general ordered the immediate closure of the bookstore and a halt to all sales until the legal dispute between Ramadan, Kamis family and the state is resolved. The Egyptian General Organization of Books and National Documents announced on Jan. 7 that it would assess the value of the Orientalist inventory throughout the month.

The Alexandria-based BA announced that it would like to house the valuables in the collection to ensure that they remain in Egypt and are accessible to the public. Mustafa al-Feki, the library's director, has said publicly that the BA has entered into a promise of sale agreement with Kami heirs, in which they have authorized the BA to assess the value of the Orientalist's contents, including paintings and photos as well as documents, books and manuscripts. Once the inventory is completed, the heirs will decide whether to donate or sell parts or all of the collection to the BA. The agreement gives priority to the BA over any other entity or any other person seeking the items.

The Orientalist was founded at the end of the 19th century by a Swiss Jew with the last name Feldman who had moved to Egypt. He left the country in 1956, handing the bookstore's management to his assistant, Charles Bahari, until Kami bought it in the 1980s. The collection's thousands of books included an early edition of Jules Vernes Around the World in Eighty Days and one of the first editions of Description de l'Egypte," the great catalogue of Egypt ordered by Napoleon Bonaparte in the late 18th century.

From Qaid's perspective, the best solution would be for the state to buy the inventory of the Orientalist, calling its contents a cultural legacy that belongs to all Egyptians, not to the Kami family or his lawyer alone.

The recent dispute between the family and the lawyer has proved that [the contents] will not be available to all Egyptians unless placed under the supervision of the state, Qaid told Al-Monitor. If the contents remain in the hands of the lawyer, they may end up being sold. Also, Kamis family may decide to close the bookstore, either because they have bigger fish to fry or because of the legal conflict with the lawyer. Either way, Egyptians would not be able to benefit from this cultural heritage.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Osama Haykal, head of the parliament's Media, Culture and Antiquities Committee, pointed out that the state has no legal right to the collection.

The Orientalists collection belongs either to Kamis family or to his lawyer, Haykal said. Whoever turns out to be the legal owner would be entitled to donate the contents to the state, or sell them, but it is their own decision. He emphasized that nothing obliges the bookshop's rightful owner to waive ownership to the state in exchange for compensation let alone donate its contents. He also noted that the Ministry of Culture and the BA must wait until the legal dispute between Kamis family and his lawyer is settled.

The question of ownership is now in the hands of the Qasr el-Nile prosecutor, who opened the case on Dec. 29.

Mahmoud al-Omrani, a lawyer who specializes in inheritance issues, concurred with Haykal. He told Al-Monitor that the two likely scenarios are that the court will determine that Kami had indeed sold the bookstore to Ramadan  thus giving him alone the right to keep, sell or donate its contents in part or in full  or the court will deem Ramadans sales contract invalid, giving the family the shop and allowing them to decide whether to sell or donate parts of the collection to the BA according to the pre-sale agreement or to someone else. The BAs pre-sale agreement with the heirs is not binding on Ramadan, Omrani noted.

A well-informed source at the General Organization of Books and National Documents told Al-Monitor that it would be difficult for the state to protect the Orientalist's collection if it is not bought by or donated to the BA, because no other Egyptian public institution has the financial means to acquire them. The source estimated the items to be worth millions of Egyptian pounds.

Omrani suggested that the best cultural heritage approach would be for the Ministry of Culture to create digital copies and an index of the holdings and then return the originals to the owners, who could sell them under the supervision and knowledge of the General Organization of Books and National Documents. Under the Law on the Protection of Manuscripts, however, the valuable manuscripts should not leave Egyptian soil. This would allow the owners to benefit from the manuscripts, but this heritage should not be lost, Omrani said.

Mamdouh Mahmoud, the husband of Kami's sister, one of the heirs, told Al-Monitor, The heirs are not against the application of the Law on the Protection of Manuscripts, and neither are they against the donation of the Orientalists contents to the state. However, they are against any side unrightfully declaring that they are the bookstore owners. We have to first settle the ownership question.
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In 1981, while on assignment for National Geographic, photographer Nathan Benn returned to his home state of Florida, which at the time was seeing a wave of immigration, construction of sprawling tourist destinations like Disneys Epcot theme Park, and a bloody drug war centered in Miami. Benns images of the era are collected in the new book Peculiar Paradise: Florida Photographs (powerHouse). Hyperallergic calls the monograph a timely return to this decades-old work capturing the dreams and debauchery of the Sunshine State.
Wolfzhowl Strategic Instigations a brand strategy consultancy, soon entering its 6th year of operations working across India and several foreign markets has made a few defining hires to strengthen their strategy talent pool.

Kalyan Challapalli founder and chief of strategy says "Wolfzhowl is rapidly expanding and clients are asking us to partner them on more and more diverse consumer behaviour change, brand strategy and content strategy assignments. At this juncture WolfzHowl does not just need to deepen and consolidate its talent pool but also diversify the talent pool as clients are seeking inputs on multiple aspects of brand and business building consumer engagement.

Shweta Sinha, with more than 10 years of experience in the science of human behavior, across, design strategy, brand strategy, and advertising strategy and design thinking has been brought in as the strategy lead to form a strong second rung of strategic leadership.

She started her professional journey with creating brand strategies for pharma and healthcare.

This is Shweta Sinha's second stint at WolfzHowl and in her last job she was working with DY works Mumbai leading design thinking and brand strategy on several accounts like Nivea, TBZ, Reliance, Sihasan(a furniture start up)

Commenting on the move Shweta says I am only too happy to be part of this consumer centric, strategy-first firm that finds innovative ways to solve a plethora of brand and business problems. Once again, I am looking forward to the integrity, passion and rigour that are hallmarks of Wolfzhowls unique approach to every project.

To further the diversification agenda, WolfzHowl has also brought on board a young digital strategist, Maulik Kalamthekar.

Kalyan adds "WolfzHowl is being tasked with a lot of integrated strategy work which is digital first. On an everyday basis we work on creating digital first brand and business building strategies. We are being asked to drive persona led marketing, mine insights from all the data trails that consumers leave, integration and orchestration of brands across digital channels and make brand experiences and activation into engagement driving content for digital as well. To work in partnership with clients and their digital and traditional agencies we needed a digital strategist who loves behaviour change and has an intense love for strategy yet knows digital intimately. Maulik Kalamthekar comes from a data science background with hands on experience of managing brands in the digital space. He comes from WAT consult and has previously worked with Glitch.

Maulik says, The future of brands is integrated and Wolfzhowl wants to tackle this with behaviour change. Looking forward to work with a team that has such a media-agnostic approach to crafting bespoke strategies. This is going to be game changer and I couldnt be more excited about this!

According to Kalyan, there are a few more key hires that they will soon announce. Looks like 2019 has begun on high for Wolfzhowl!
Ipsos India has announced regional roles for two senior honchos. Vidya Sen, Executive Director, Innovation, Ipsos India, will now, in addition to her responsibilities as the Country Head for the Innovation Service Line, play an expanded role stretching across the entire Asia Pacific (APAC) Region for Ipsos Innovation. And Arun Agarwala, IT Director, Ipsos India will take up duties of some of the key markets in the APEC (Asia Pacific Excluding China) region, of Philippines, Indonesia & Vietnam.

Ipsos India is one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the region and is defining key benchmarks for specializations.



Vidya Sens role will now extend to regionally deploying training and ensuring compliance with the Innovation certification program. In addition, she will support the roll out and adoption of the New Innovation initiatives across the region. Vidya will also work closely with Alison Harvey, Senior Director, Global Service Line, Innovation, to ensure full global alignment with all initiatives.

Ipsos is the worlds number one Product Testing Company. Ipsos Innovation has been engaging with clients in providing counsel and carrying out product tests for innumerable categories and brands across FMCG, Durables, Automotive, Healthcare, Personal Care, Telecom among others, helping clients innovate and reinvent in todays changing world, said Vidya Sen, Executive Director, Ipsos Innovation, Asia Pacific Region.

In the pipeline are new improved tools for Ipsos Innovation, Sen added.

Ipsos Innovation partners with clients in the end to end requirements on Innovation, ranging from opportunity identification, evaluation, optimization, and launch of their Innovation initiatives with proprietary products for idea screening, concept testing, product testing, full mix testing, pack testing, line optimization, pricing and sales forecasting.

On the other hand, Arun Agarwala, IT Director Ipsos India has taken up additional responsibilities for the key markets of Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, with the local IT teams for these markets reporting to him.

Ipsos aims to strengthen IT service support and IT management in APEC. My remit is to help the countries further increase local IT performance and service quality, including IT services (support and training, knowledge sharing, meet KPIs, resource planning). Support and execute Global IT infrastructure, IT services projects and ensuring IT as an enabler and business partner, said Agarwala.

Agarwala in his new role reports to Mu Na, IT Director for APEC and China. He joined Ipsos in 2006 in the UK for Ipsos MORI, then moved to Ipsos India in 2011 and was elevated to IT Director in 2014.
Masterchef Sarah Todd hosted a dessert masterclass at World on a Plate hosted at St. Regis & High Street Phoenix in Mumbai. Sarah taught festival goers a special dessert recipe using Good Day Chunkies as a key ingredient.

Mr. Ali Harris Shere, VP, Marketing, Britannia said, World on a Plate is the perfect platform to showcase our gourmet brand, Good Day Chunkies. Made with extra love and loaded with chocochips and chocolate flavor, its sure to bring smiles to all who consume. While the premium cookie can be enjoyed on its own, it can also be easily integrated into a dessert recipe like the Pineapple Mint Granita Sarah Todd is preparing in her Masterclass session. Were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Sarah on a creative recipe as well as with the festival to bring to life all that Chunkies has to offer.
Leo Burnett India has won the creative mandate for Cholayils flagship brands Medimix, Cuticura and Krishna Thulasi for their entire existing product portfolio and future launches. The new business was won after a multi-agency pitch. Leo Burnett Indias Mumbai office will look after the brands.

Medimix is known to contain 18 specially selected Ayurvedic herbs that come together to solve skin problems. In 2012, Cholayil, Indias leading Ayurvedic personal care company, forayed into a wide range of personal hygiene segments  face wash, body wash, intimate hygiene wash and gel moisturisers  under brand Medimix. Even today, however, Medimix soap is the rightful leader in the Ayurvedic Soap category and the Most Trusted Ayurvedic brand in India.

Speaking about partnering Leo Burnett India, Pradeep Cholayil, CMD, Cholayil Private Limited, said, Medimix is a heritage Ayurvedic brand which is turning 50 next year. The brand stands for its Ayurvedic goodness and efficacy and has a good connect with its users. We are very strong in the Western region with good footprints in a few north markets. The consumer today has realised the significance of Ayurveda and is slowly shifting from cosmetic products to natural products. We believe that it is the right time for us to expand our presence in the Northern and Eastern markets by leveraging this trend. Today, Medimix has become a global brand with a presence in close to 30 countries. We intend to increase our market share in our core markets and expand into new territories. Apart from expansion, we have plans of bringing in new products under the Medimix portfolio in both domestic and international markets.

He further added, Given this objective and our aggressive plans for the future, we had called for a pitch and ultimately chose to go with Leo Burnett India. We liked their creative approach, the quick understanding of the category and of the brands objective. Leo Burnett India not just brings its rich expertise of understanding various markets but also provides a young, fresh perspective to the brand. We believe they can partner us very well in our efforts to take Medimix to a new pedestal at a global level in the most effective and integrated way."

Ashish Ohlyan, Marketing Head, Cholayil Private Limited said, The personal care category in India is gradually moving towards Ayurvedic and natural products. We have a heritage brand with strong equity in Ayurveda and trust of 50 years. The growing penchant for natural and Ayurvedic products gives us an opportunity to expand our presence across markets. To connect well with consumers in new markets, we have a task of making our Ayurvedic offering relevant for all age groups. We also intend to enter new categories. I am confident that our association with Leo Burnett India is a key step towards taking the brand to new pinnacles with the right positioning and communication.

Dheeraj Sinha, MD  India & Chief Strategy Officer, South Asia, Leo Burnett said, Medimix has very strong equity in personal care. India is witnessing a big revival of interest in Ayurveda and its solutions. With the equity of Medimix and the current megatrend in favour of our indigenous solutions, I am sure Medimix will gain further mind and market share. As the partner agency, we will be thinking of the brand narrative in a way that it keeps the brand contemporary and talks to its audience through various media choices available today.

Added Rakesh Hinduja, Chief Operating Officer  West, Leo Burnett India said, We are keenly looking forward to partner the journey of this precious legacy brand. Medimix has strong equity in various pockets of India and our ambition is to create an unparalleled connect across India. With Leo Burnetts innovation-oriented and culture context approach, backed by the Power of One, we aim to achieve leadership with newer category benchmarks and work for brand Medimix across the communications ecosystem.
Hidesign announces it partnership with one of the citys most prestigious events, the Pondicherry Heritage Festival 2019. In its 5th edition, the festival will be held in Pondicherry from 27th January to 11th February 2019.

Hidesign an international brand that grew out of Pondicherry strongly values naturalness, handcrafting and love for nature, just like the Pondicherry envisioned by the festival. Hidesign has partnered from year one of the festival and is proud to be associated with Pondicherry Heritage Festival 2019 with its emphasis on Pondicherrys splendid natural heritage, including the coast, rivers, water bodies, wetlands, and forests.

The schedule will be brimming with events. Many of Pondicherrys heritage buildings will be opened to public for tours and host special events featuring Pondicherry cuisine. The festival promises multiple events for children. There will be numerous opportunities for creative participation, through dance, poetry-writing, and photography competitions. The annual Pondicherry Heritage Quiz for teams of students from schools throughout the city remains a festival highlight. The organizers have planned a special Street Play day, in which young and old alike will be reminded of the important social function our streets played before they were overwhelmed with vehicles. The festival will conclude with one hundred school children coloring the Heritage Coloring Book, launched at the 2018 festival.

Dilip Kapur, President and Founder of Hidesign said, Hidesign has always cherished natural heritage and the culture of Pondicherry, and we are happy to contribute to preserve and promote it. Whether its a civic issue or an issue with heritage sites, every aspect of the city is given close attention and much love. I have lived in the middle of a forest for several years; ecology is a part of our lives. Day in and day out we need to take care of our town in the best way we can.

On 10th February, the festival will witness a unique musical evening with artist Shivans performance on the culture and heritage of Pondicherry at The Storytellers Bar in The Promenade hotel. The walls of The Storytellers Bar are filled with beautiful stories of Pondicherry written by travelers and local, and will be the perfect backdrop for Shivan to keep us entertained with beautiful stories about Pondicherry strung to popular melodies.

Get detailed information on the Pondicherry Heritage Festival and a schedule of events at http://pondicherryheritagefestival.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/PHF2019/
CHICO, Calif. - The Downtown Chico Business Association is hosting its annual member's meeting on Tuesday.

City Manager Mark Orme will report on the state of Downtown Chico and Chico Police Chief Mike O'Brien will speak as well.

The association will also present $15,000 to the North Valley Community Foundation for the Camp Fire Relief Fund.

The meeting will happen at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Broadway Heights.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Consumer activist Erin Brockovich is urging California lawmakers not to let PG&E go bankrupt because it might mean less money for wildfire victims.

Brockovich spoke Tuesday in Sacramento alongside people who have sued the utility after losing their homes in 2017 and 2018 wildfires, including the Camp Fire.

Brockovich is best known for her environmental lawsuit against PG&E in the 1990s that became the subject of a movie.

"The state granted PG&E the right to monopoly," she said. "This is all the more reason that this state and our governor must have a say about how this company moves forward, how this company is managed. It's very unfortunate in the past that the state has lacked in its oversight in many of PG&E's disasters."

The utility has announced it plans to file for bankruptcy this month, saying it can't afford at least $30 billion in damages related to wildfires.

Experts say bankruptcy will likely mean wildfire victims who have sued PG&E won't be fully paid.
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The 'Mary Poppins Returns' star is in talks with Disney to make a follow-up to 'Moana' that will be featuring a young Latina heroine, his father says.

Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Lin-Manuel Miranda is going to set a new history with Disney. The multi-hyphenate star is reportedly teaming up with the studio to make an animated musical film as a follow-up to its 2016 hit movie "Moana", but this time it will feature a young Latina heroine.

Miranda's father, Luis, tells Page Six, "He is talking to Disney about a sequel to 'Moana', but the movie would be about a Latina princess." The studio behind other animated hits like "Frozen (2013)" has previously introduced its first African-American princess with "The Princess and the Frog" and its first Polynesian princess with "Moana", but the reported upcoming movie would be the first to feature Disney's Latina Princess.

Other details are not provided as of now, as Disney has not commented on the news.

Miranda previously worked with Disney to write songs for "Moana". He received Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Oscar and Grammy Award nominations for "How Far I'll Go" which was performed by Auli'i Cravalho, who voices the titular character in the movie.

The 39-year-old actor/playwright recently also stars in Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns", which serves as a sequel to the 1964 movie. Emily Blunt plays the magical nanny, taking over the role from the original depicter Julie Andrews.

Miranda currently reprises his "Hamilton" role as Alexander Hamilton for the stage musical's three-week run in Puerto Rico from January 11 to 27. Proceeds from the shows will benefit the Flamboyan Arts Fund in support of arts in the island nation, which is still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in late 2017.

The star, who is of mostly Puerto Rican descent, said on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" earlier this month about his stage return, "There's a song in this show called 'Hurricane' and I could barely get through it last night. Never in a million years would I imagine it would resonate in this way."
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The 'Fleek' hitmaker has been put under arrest after Pennsylvania police found four pounds of marijuana and a stolen handgun inside the luxury townhouse he rents.

Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Rapper PnB Rock has reportedly been arrested on gun and drug charges.

The "Fleek" hitmaker, real name Rakim Allen, was reportedly taken into custody in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on Sunday, January 20, after police served a search warrant on the luxury townhouse he rents.

According to reports, officers found four pounds of marijuana, $33,000 (25,500) in cash, and a stolen handgun. The 27-year-old was reportedly hit with charges of possession with intent to deliver, possession of narcotics, receiving stolen property, criminal conspiracy, and "related offenses".

Police began investigating Allen in November following complaints of loud parties.

After his arrest, he was taken to Bucks County Correctional Facility and his bail was set at $500,000 (385,900). It is unclear if he is still in custody.

This isn't the first time Allen has faced legal issues - in 2011, he was sentenced to 33 months in prison for drug possession and other crimes.
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The Amazon CEO and the former news anchor are seen going to spa treatments together before returning to their love nest, where they are seen cozying up to each other.

Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - New details regarding Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's alleged affair have made its way out on the internet. It appears that the billionaire and the former news anchor got hot and heavy at least three months before he and wife Mackenzie announced their divorce earlier this month. The two even went on a trip together behind Mackenzie's back.

In several pictures which were obtained by The National Enquirer (via Radar Online) after four months of investigation, the two were spotted taking a personal helicopter to the top of Malibu Canyon for a hike together. Once they landed back in Santa Monica, the pair went to spa treatments before returning to their love nest, where they were spotted flirting and cozying up to each other.

Later in the evening, Bezos and Sanchez went to Italian restaurant Capo for a meal with two of their friends. But instead of having conversation with their friends, the two spent most of the time lovingly looking at each other's eyes, tenderly touching each other and stroking and brushing shoulders.

"She was gazing into his eyes throughout the first part of the evening as they sat next to each other," an insider said. "It did not look like a business dinner, and he barely spoke to the male companion all evening." The source added, "They were seen stroking and brushing each other's shoulders and Lauren even rested her hand on Jeff's knee under the table."

After the dinner, the pair reportedly went back to his mansion. Sanchez was photographed leaving the property at 10 A.M. in the next morning.

The site also obtained pictures of them together in November, when they were seen flaunting PDA around Venice neighborhood. After enjoying dinner together for two hours, the duo headed to The Beverly Hills Hotel where Bezos had reserved a private bungalow residence.
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The 'A Star Is Born' actor and director issues a statement after the musical flick earns several nominations, including a Best Actor nod for him, at the annual event.

Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Bradley Cooper is thankful for the 2019 Oscar nominations for "A Star Is Born" that were announced on Tuesday, January 22. The 44-year-old, who directed, co-wrote and starred in the movie, received two nominations for Best Lead Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

In a statement to E! News, the "American Sniper" star shared his reaction to being recognized by The Academy. "Everyone who worked on this film truly risked putting themselves out there - in the hope that in doing so people will connect and feel something deep and personal - the way films have made me feel since I was a kid," he said.

He continued, "When I got this opportunity I knew I had to risk it all because I may never get another chance - so to be here today in a place where people who have seen the film are talking about how it makes them feel, something deep - that simple human thing - that we need each other - and the Academy to recognize that this morning - I just am so grateful."

The movie is also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress (Lady GaGa), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Elliott), Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing. Film producer Lynette Howell Taylor noted to Deadline.com that "A Star Is Born" was Cooper's "movie, his vision and his passion." She further praised the director for his contribution to the movie. She said, "We are all here because of him. The reality is: he's all over this."

She continued, "It's an incredible achievement for him. The truth is that he himself is nominated three times, and he is represented in all eight nominations. Three actors including him got a nomination. I think it would be a miss not too look at it that way. I hope that he doesn't feel it was a slight. I hope he recognizes how many lives and careers he's changed because of this movie. It's an unbelievable achievement."

The 91st Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, February 24, at Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and air live on ABC. For the first time in three decades, the Oscar ceremony this year will be held without a host following Kevin Hart's departure.
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Michael Gandolfini is added to the cast of 'The Many Saints of Newark', joining the likes of Vera Farmiga and Jon Bernthal.

Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - "The Sopranos" prequel has aptly cast James Gandolfini's son Michael Gandolfini in the role of young Tony Soprano. The late actor played the adult version of the character on the HBO series from 1999 to 2007.

"It's a profound honor to continue my dad's legacy while stepping into the shoes of a young Tony Soprano," Michael says in a statement to Deadline of being cast in the movie which is titled "The Many Saints of Newark". He continues sharing, "I'm thrilled that I'm going to have the opportunity to work with David Chase and the incredible company of talent he has assembled for 'The Many Saints of Newark'."

Michael joins Alessandro Nivola, Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy Magnussen and Corey Stoll who have been earlier cast in the upcoming movie. The young Gandolfini has had several acting credits, having appeared in 2018's star-studded film "Ocean's 8" and on HBO's series "The Deuce".

James Gandolfini died on June 19, 2013 at 51 years old. He was with his son Michael on a father-son trip in Rome to celebrate Michael's graduation from junior high when the elder Gandolfini suffered a heart attack.

The student at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts paid tribute to his father on the fifth anniversary of his death last year. "5 years without your hugs, your laugh, and [your] smile. I miss you, but today is not about me. As much as I hate that you're gone, it in [fact] was your time. And today I celebrate you and your life. I love you dad, miss you," he wrote along with a picture of the late actor.

"The Many Saints of Newark" is written by "The Sopranos" creator David Chase and "Sopranos" writer Lawrence Konner. Set in 1967, during the race riots of Newark, New Jersey, it will chronicle the tensions between members of the city's Italian and African-American crime families.

Alan Taylor has signed on to direct the drama film. No release date is announced yet.
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In addition to starring as Robert Hendy-Freegard, the 'McMafia' star has also taken on the role of the executive producer to the project about the fake MI5 agent.

Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Actor James Norton has been cast to play real-life British con artist Robert Hendy-Freegard in a new film.

"Chasing Agent Freegard" will centre on the conman, who pretended to be a MI5 agent and convinced several people into going underground to avoid assassination by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

The "McMafia" star will also add executive producer to his resume with the new project, which will be developed under his Rabbit Track Pictures company.

A director has yet to be announced and it is unclear when it will go into production, but the film will be introduced to buyers later this year (2019), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Norton, who is a fan favourite to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond, is also working on director Greta Gerwig's new "Little Women (2019)" movie adaptation.

Last year (2018), he bowed out of his beloved role as crime-solving clergyman Sidney Chambers on British TV drama "Grantchester".
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The 'One Mic' hitmaker invites government employees impacted by government shutdown to his eatery, while Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley provide TSA employees with free food at their airport restaurants.

Jan 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Rapper Nas and rockers KISS have invited U.S. federal employees affected by the ongoing government shutdown to eat for free at any of their restaurant locations.

The "One Mic" hitmaker co-owns the Sweet Chick fried chicken eatery, which has four stores in his native New York City and one in Los Angeles, and as he marked Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 21, Nas revealed he and his business partners would happily provide hot meals to government workers who have been forced to go without pay during the shutdown.

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' " the hip-hop star began, quoting the late civil rights icon.

"today at all @sweetchicklife locations we honor the words of Dr King and in support of our Government Employees we are offering FREE Chicken & Waffles Mon-Friday 11am-4pm to all Federal Employees impacted by the shutdown...please have Federal ID and we hope to serve you as you have served us . LOVE #SweetChickLife."

KISS bandmates Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have also offered up free food to employees at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as they have a number of their Rock & Brews restaurants located in airport terminals across the U.S.

In a video message posted on the company's Facebook page, the veteran musicians say, "Hey, you guys, we're proud to operate our Rock & Brews restaurants at airports, and respect the diligent hard work of each and every TSA employee to ensure the safety, of who else, us, to travel around the world."

"While the TSA continues to work on our behalf without pay, we want to make sure that we can at least provide them with a delicious meal to show our support. We want you to eat well because you do so much for us."

They aren't the only rockers doing their part to help out struggling federal workers - Jon Bon Jovi also provided meals for cash-strapped government employees at his JBJ Soul Kitchen, a non-profit community restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey on Monday.

Meanwhile, country star John Prine teamed up with bosses at his label, Oh Boy Records, to provide lunch for TSA workers at the Nashville International Airport in Tennessee last Friday, January 18.

"The Nashville airport is my second home and everyone there always takes care of me," Prine explained of his act of kindness. "It's nice to be able to do something small for them today."

And disco icon Nile Rodgers is also helping to lift the spirits of federal workers by handing out 300 pairs of tickets for free for his weekend (January 26) concert in Washington, D.C. with his band CHIC.
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Stallone calls the 'Rambo' producer, who passed away in Budapest, Hungary, 'a pioneer,' whereas Schwarzenegger describes him as 'a revolutionary force in Hollywood.'

Jan 22, 2019

AceShowbiz - Sylvester Stallone has paid tribute to "Rambo" producer Andrew G. Vajna following his death on Sunday, January 20.

Vajna, 74, passed away at his home in Budapest, Hungary following a long illness.

The movie producer and executive made his production debut on Stallone's 1982 film "Rambo: First Blood" and went on to work with the actor on 1985's "Rambo: First Blood Part II".

In addition to his work on the "Rambo" franchise, Vajna also produced several other blockbusters, including Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Total Recall" and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines", and Madonna's "Evita".

Paying tribute to Vajna, Stallone writes on Instagram, "A very very sad day... Producer ANDY VANYA, the man that Made Rambo happen, died today... LOVED this man's courage - a pioneer. Believed In making FIRST BLOOD when no one else did... This truly breaks my heart. Rip (sic)."

Andy Vajna was a dear friend and a revolutionary force in Hollywood. He proved that you dont need studios to make huge movies like Terminator 2 or Total Recall. He had a huge heart, and he was one of the most generous guys around. Ill miss him. My thoughts are with his family.  Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 20, 2019

"Andy Vajna was a dear friend and a revolutionary force in Hollywood," Schwarzenegger added on Twitter. "He proved that you don't need studios to make huge movies... He had a huge heart, and he was one of the most generous guys around. I'll miss him. My thoughts are with his family."
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  CenturyLink executives on Wednesday blamed a faulty electronic unit called a network management card for its Dec. 27-28 national service outage.

The failed unit, made by California-based Infinera Corp., clogged up CenturyLinks Internet services with a tidal wave of faulty messaging, state Government Affairs Director Johnny Montoya told the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission during a presentation Wednesday morning. That overloaded the system and caused a two-day outage that impacted people from Massachusetts to Washington state, including tens of thousands of Internet customers in New Mexico and people whose phones are based on voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP.

Verizon users lost phone service during the outage, since that company relies on CenturyLink to manage wireless data traffic in New Mexico.

Emergency 911 calls were affected in places like Albuquerque and Las Cruces because many people didnt have phone service to make calls and because the lack of Internet service impeded city systems from automatically routing calls that did come through to emergency answering services, Montoya said.

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CenturyLinks corrective response was slowed because the faulty unit impacted the companys event-management system, which is set up to help technicians rapidly isolate the cause of problems, Montoya said.

Once the faulty card was identified, we pulled it, Montoya said. We then applied filters and reinitialized over 100 network nodes to re-establish customer traffic.

The faulty unit has since been sent back to Infinera for analysis to determine the root causes of the problem. But CenturyLink accepts its responsibility, Montoya said.

On behalf of the company, I apologize for the outage, he said. It was our fault.

CenturyLink is also cooperating with the Federal Communications Commission to investigate what happened.

The company has eliminated the possibility of a cyberattack as the culprit, Montoya said.

In the meantime, CenturyLink is installing network filters and monitoring systems to prevent such incidents from re-occurring.

Were looking at additional steps to create more fault tolerance in the future, Montoya said. Its fair to say this was a wake-up call for us and our customers. Were looking for ways to make our Internet service and all our services more resistant.

Commissioners and others asked the company to establish more efficient emergency communications in case of future incidents. During the December outage, customers, public officials and others could not communicate with CenturyLink, creating confusion.

In Las Cruces, local managers and technicians thought their own systems had failed, said Dona Ana County Commissioner Shannon Reynolds. Had they known immediately about the problems with CenturyLink, they could have rapidly switched to an analog phone system to manage 911 calls.

There needs to be more communication upfront, Reynolds said. When a problem this massive occurs, I would encourage (CenturyLink) to send out an announcement to every news agency and others to alert the public.

PRC Chair Theresa Becenti-Aguilar asked the company to establish direct emergency contacts with the PRC and other entities for swift, 24/7 communications in an emergency.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  An employer that requires outgoing employees to sign extensive non-compete agreements even though such agreements are unlikely to be upheld in a New Mexico court.

A business that plans to tell inquiring organizations only that a former employee resigned voluntarily, though in actuality the employee resigned after his inappropriate behavior was reported.

Yet another employer that agrees to a broad confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement involving an employee accused of sexual misconduct, such as in the cases of Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer.

All of these circumstances are legal under New Mexico law, but are they ethical?

Employment law and commercial litigation attorney Lorna Wiggins posed the question to the Economic Forum of Albuquerque on Wednesday. She was joined on stage by Central New Mexico Community College President Kathie Winograd to promote the 20th annual New Mexico Business in Ethics Awards, which will be held in April. The Journal is one of the sponsors of the event.

Wiggins is a shareholder with Albuquerque-based Wiggins, Williams & Wiggins, P.C.

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As a lawyer, I have a front row seat to some of the ethical dilemmas clients face, said Wiggins. We think the conversation about ethics is a daily, weekly, monthly topic.

When asked how businesses should make ethical decisions in light of the threat of litigation from multiple parties, Wiggins suggested employers think about which claim they would most like to defend against. In the theoretical situation of a school bus driver who is suspected of substance abuse, is the employer more concerned about a wrongful termination suit or one filed after the driver potentially harms children with reckless driving?

She also said New Mexico law generally gives employers qualified immunity in cases where an employer provides a negative job reference, so long as the employers comments are made in good faith.

CNMs Winograd said she encountered her own ethical conversation when she was the budget director at the college. One year, the colleges budget reflected money from the state for a building that hadnt yet been completed. She, former CNM President Michael Glennon, and her other colleagues determined the ethical thing to do would be to write a check back to the state, and they spent four months trying to figure out how to do so.

That was an incredibly important lesson to me, said Winograd.
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One of Susana Martinezs former bodyguards has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Public Safety that at times reads more like a soap opera script when describing the inner workings of the former governors security force.

Tony Fetty, who said he spent six years on Martinezs security detail before being abruptly reassigned to patrol duties and sent to remedial training, filed the lawsuit in state District Court in Santa Fe last week. The suit said that the Department of Public Safety retaliated against him in violation of the whistleblower protection act because he raised questions about actions by other members of the detail.

The lawsuit describes gambling and other debts that another bodyguard allegedly amassed, alleges a personal relationship between the governor and that bodyguard, and claims the officer ended up with a $200,000 settlement with the state  some of which was used to pay off debts to Fetty and others.

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Attempts to reach Martinez for this story were unsuccessful. In connection with a lawsuit filed last summer that included some similar allegations, a spokesman for the governor told the Journal at the time that the suit contained many ridiculous allegations that are completely removed from the truth.

The lawsuit also recounts an incident in which a ranking member of the security detail was having an emotional episode and threatened to drink bleach or slit her wrists while in Washington, D.C., prompting D.C. police to reach out to the state Department of Public Safety.

Family ties

Much of the lawsuit centers around a fellow bodyguard, Ruben Maynes, who borrowed money from Fetty and for years failed to repay most of it.

In 2012, Maynes told Fetty he was concerned about a large amount of financial debt he had accrued thanks in part to gambling, obtaining hunting permits, business ventures, and various other projects he had borrowed money to either pay off or promote, according to the lawsuit.

An attorney who has represented Maynes in the past could not be reached for comment.

People attempting to collect the debt had been calling the security detail offices, the suit said, and Maynes told Fetty they had also threatened to call the Chief of State Police and the governors office.

Maynes was particularly concerned because he had already attracted media attention after joining Martinezs husband, Chuck Franco, on an alligator-hunting trip to Louisiana in 2011 paid for partially by taxpayers and Maynes relatives.

The suit says Maynes family had close ties to the Martinez administration  his wife was an assistant to the governor and his sisters worked in the Governors Mansion, the suit says.

Fetty agreed to loan Maynes $16,500 in 2012, according to the suit. Maynes started to repay Fetty, but then stopped regular payments. Fetty said he communicated the concerns about Maynes debt to his then-supervisor. Maynes resigned from the New Mexico State Police in 2013, but was subsequently rehired.

Although Maynes returned to the governors security detail in March 2014, he was reassigned to a patrol division a few months later  after, the suit says, Maynes had gambled while on duty at an event at Route 66 Casino.

Personal relationship

Fettys suit alleges that Maynes told him he had a deep relationship with Martinez. Fetty also said he was present when Franco made a call to the security details office saying he suspected Gov. Martinez was having a relationship with Maynes and was moving out of the Governors Mansion back to his home in Las Cruces.

Fetty also said that due in part to the frequency of nonprofessional concerns expressed by Gov. Martinez about Maynes, it became clear there was a personal relationship between the two.

Fetty also said Martinez at one point asked him to delay filing a lawsuit against Maynes for unpaid debt until after the 2014 election out of fear it would become an issue in her bid for a second term. State Police Chief Pete Kassetas also spoke to Fetty about a potential lawsuit, directing him not to name State Police in it, Fettys suit alleges. Kassetas could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Ultimately, Fetty filed a debt and money due suit against Maynes in December 2014. The suit says the governor told Fetty she also had loaned Maynes money.

$200K settlement

In February 2015  more than six months after he was removed from the detail  Maynes attorney Sam Bregman sent a letter to Kassetas and Martinez that said he was in the process of investigating claims Maynes made against the governor and NMSP for whistleblowing, harassment and retaliation.

His specific claims are unclear, but the state reached a settlement with Maynes within two months. Under the terms, he received $200,000, and was required to repay existing debt to Fetty and another officer.

Upon information and belief, Maynes also used the funds received from the state to repay Gov. Martinez, who had given Maynes thousands of dollars, the suit states.

Bregman did not respond to a call seeking comment Wednesday.

The Maynes settlement was also mentioned in a June lawsuit filed by officers, including one who had been a member of Martinezs security detail. That lawsuit accused Kassetas of discrimination and inappropriate behavior, and alleged that it was his knowledge of the Maynes situation, in particular that kept the governor from allowing DPS to take action against him.

A Santa Fe New Mexican story published in July about that lawsuit said her office has dismissed the suggestion that she would have paid Maynes a settlement to pay his gambling debts.

Facing retaliation

Fetty says he faced retaliation after reporting improper, if not unlawful, conduct by Maynes which posed safety issues for Fetty, other agents on the detail, and the governor herself. He does not detail that conduct.

He also says the DPS took retaliatory action, including reassignment and denied applications to other units, against him after he reported issues of concern regarding the ranking officer involved in the Washington, D.C., incident.

The suit alleges the ranking officer had an emotional or mental health episode that prompted intervention by the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police in July 2015.

She had been taken into custody and transported for a mental health evaluation out of concern that she would hurt herself after she had reportedly made a statement that maybe I should just drink this bottle of bleach or cut my wrist.  The suit does not offer context about why she was in Washington or the circumstances leading up to her alleged threat of self-harm.

Fetty learned of the incident while in Washington with Martinez for President Donald Trumps 2017 inauguration, and the suit said the Washington police had notified New Mexico State Police of the incident.

When Fetty later confronted another supervisor about the incident, he was told, or upon information and belief, ordered not to discuss the incident  with anybody, the suit says.

Fetty is seeking compensatory and other damages related to loss of wages and earnings, blacklisting, emotional distress and other grievances. He is also asking for attorney fees.

Even though the players and allegations are somewhat lurid and high-profile, this is another whistleblower suit  where an officer is put in a situation where he either has to just sort of button up and suck up to the fact that theres wrongdoing  or they honor their badge and step up and object to it, said Tom Grover, who is representing Fetty. And unfortunately, all too often they become the bad guy.
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MCALLEN, Texas  Maria Orbelina Cortez says she fled El Salvador for the U.S. after her husband attacked her and knocked a pan of scalding oil onto her youngest sons head.

After quietly planning for months, she took the 3-year-old boy and his two brothers and headed north without telling her husband. As she spoke in the yard of a Catholic Charities shelter in South Texas, the boy played nearby. He had a hairless scar on top of his head in the shape of a jagged, capital T.

I will always feel culpable, said Orbelina, 30. Always.

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President Donald Trumps push for a $5.7 billion wall  a demand that triggered the longest government shutdown in history  is unlikely on its own to stop families with stories like Orbelinas, who are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by the thousands each month.

The Trump administration wants to use that money to construct more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) of border wall. Most of those miles would likely go in South Texas, where more people cross illegally than anywhere else.

Congress has already funded 33 miles (53 kilometers) of new barrier construction here. But much of that new barrier will be built north of the Rio Grande, which carves a natural boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. That means migrants will still be able to reach American soil in front of the newly constructed barrier and request asylum.

The latest proposal Trump and Senate Republicans made to fund the wall includes provisions that could possibly be far more consequential than the wall, by making the already difficult task of winning asylum even harder.

Their bill would require all asylum claims to be in the national interest to be granted and allow more claims to be judged as frivolous. It would also require all Central American children arriving on their own to seek asylum in their countries of origin, not in the United States.

Trump did not describe those provisions in his speech Saturday announcing the proposal. But Greg Chen, director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said they amounted to a historic change and criticized the bill. Top Democrats have already said they wont support it.

Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities in the Rio Grande Valley, said the families at the organizations shelter sometimes resort to crossing the Rio Grande illegally out of desperation after being stopped at bridges.

It is important that we secure our borders, that we keep our country safe from criminals, Pimentel said. She added that Trump needs to meet the families that are not criminals. He needs to meet the children and the great number of families that are here asking for protection.

Deysi Yanira Centeno reached the border a month after fleeing El Salvador, where gangs threatened her 15-year-old daughter.

Centeno said a human smuggler told her crossing the Rio Grande would be easier than trying to enter the U.S. through a bridge, where customs agents often tell asylum seekers they have no room to process them. So she paid $20 each for herself, her teenage daughter, and two children ages 11 and 7, to board a raft. She described how scared she was as it slowly moved across the river.

In that moment you think about life and death, she said. You think, Maybe it would have been better for me not to leave my country.'

Others refuse to cross the river illegally, insisting they will only seek asylum at an official border crossing. Many of the border crossings in South Texas and elsewhere on the border turn away asylum seekers or accept very few daily, leading families to camp out at the bridges or wait in shelters in Mexico.

Esperanza Vargas, who fled Nicaragua with her 18-year-old son, waited for weeks next to the Mexican side of the bridge connecting Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas. Vargas and her son feared that they would be targeted in the governments ongoing conflict with paramilitary groups.

You cant say were a danger for the U.S. if were here, Vargas said. If were here, its because we want to do things the right way.

Trump administration officials argue many asylum seekers are making illegitimate claims to enter the U.S. for years while their cases are processed. Immigration courts last year denied asylum in about 65 percent of cases.

The administration has long fought to limit asylum protections. A federal judge in December struck down a policy change restricting asylum for victims of domestic violence. The Department of Homeland Security has also announced a plan to make all asylum seekers at the border wait in Mexico.

Most of the people who arrived at the border had taken several weeks to get there. Some admitted they hired smugglers to get them through Mexico. Others said they took buses on their own.

But the women waiting at Catholic Charities all said they had no choice.

Sitting in the yard of the shelter, wearing an ankle monitor, Orbelina said her husband would often attack her after coming home from a night of drinking. Sometimes he would hit their children too, she said.

She says she reported him to police in their town of Sonsonate, west of the capital of San Salvador. But her husband told police she had attacked him, and he wasnt arrested, she said.

It took six months to plan her escape, saving money and relying on her parents in California, who sent money as she moved through Mexico. She said she entered the U.S. through an official border crossing at Progreso, Texas, and is now seeking asylum.

She plans to join her parents and file for a divorce and a protection order.

My hope is to work and to see my children grow up, Orbelina said. I see them happy, but I know that at times they suffer.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hear concerns about a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico today in Albuquerque.

The commissions three-man Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear contentions from attorneys representing environmental groups from around the country, as well as an oil company and a competing nuclear waste storage company.

Holtec International applied for a license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct and operate the facility near Carlsbad in 2017.

The goal of todays hearing, which will continue until Thursday, if necessary, is for the board to whittle down concerns from groups to those that will be heard later in more substantial hearings that include expert testimony and counter-examination.

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Essentially, you have to show theres a real dispute between Holtec and the other organizations, said Mindy Goldstein of Emory Universitys Turner Environmental Law Clinic and who is representing Beyond Nuclear at the hearing.

Out of the dozens of contentions likely to be raised, Goldsteins is one of the simplest: She argues Holtecs plan is illegal. Namely, the plan violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which addresses how the country will dispose of its nuclear waste.

(The Nuclear Waste Policy Act) says the private companies that generated the waste are responsible for it until it goes underground, Goldstein said Tuesday during a meeting with Journal editors and reporters. The application that Holtec has submitted on its face violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act because what this says is at this interim storage facility were going to have the federal government take ownership and responsibility for this waste.

Goldstein said the board will likely decide in March which contentions can move forward to the next stage of hearings.

After those hearings, the board will make recommendations to the NRC on how to proceed. If the NRC approves the application, opponents may file suit with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Contentions by other groups include public safety, and environmental concerns and environmental justice issues.

Terry Lodge, an attorney representing several groups, said Tuesday that fracking in the area of the proposed site is one concern he will raise.

Lodge also said Holtec does not have a method for dealing with canisters of waste that arrive at the facility damaged. Instead, Holtec will employ a return to sender approach, he said.

Holtec will have its own counsel at todays hearing.

We look forward to answering the judges questions and demonstrating that the opponents have failed to meet the NRCs standards that would justify a hearing, said Joy Russell, Holtec senior vice president of communications, in a written statement. Notwithstanding the opponents claims, our position has always focused on designing, constructing and operating an interim spent fuel storage facility that is safe for the environment, and benefits our clients and this country. Any assertations to the contrary ignore the scientific, technical, and engineering work, which is the basis of the  project.

The hearing is open to the public and will begin at 9 a.m. at the State Bar of New Mexico at 5121 Masthead NE.

There is currently no option for permanent disposal of the nations spent nuclear fuel generated by nuclear power plants.

Holtec is proposing to build a facility that would temporarily store the waste until a permanent underground repository is built.
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The budget proposals from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Legislative Finance Committee for next fiscal year increase state spending by more than half a billion dollars  the governors to $7.1 billion, the LFC to $7 billion. Both give much-needed fiscal attention to public education, employee pay, incentives to attract business and cash reserves.

And both require someone to curb the enthusiasm.

Now that the oil and gas industry has exchanged bust for boom, theres a projected $1.2 billion surplus this fiscal year. It is vital to understand that this surplus is one-time money, like an unexpected birthday check from a relative or a $20 bill in a coat you havent worn for a year. And while $1.2 billion is a lot to get from an aunt or find in a pocket, theres no guarantee it will happen again. New Mexicans should know this all too well.

The Pew Charitable Trusts ranks New Mexico eighth in the nation in tax revenue volatility. Thats in large part due to our dependence on oil and natural gas prices. Three of the past 10 years have seen revenue drops of more than 8 percent from the previous year. What was $6.02 billion in recurring revenue in 2008 dropped to $5.32 billion in 2009 to $4.79 billion in 2010.

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In 2008, the Gov. Bill Richardson administration estimated that the fiscal 09 $6 billion budget would have a $369 million surplus. Five months later, that surplus was a $454 million shortfall, the states permanent and pension funds had lost billions of dollars in investments in a matter of months, and most state employees got five unpaid days of furlough.

New Mexico entered the 2016 budget year with $613 million in reserves. It was gone by August 2016 and lawmakers still had to find $370 million to cover fiscal 2017. New Mexico has been digging out of a self-imposed spending hole ever since, finally seeing daylight last year because oil and gas prices rebounded. FYI, oil prices dropped 2.4 percent Monday.

So it is essential the governor and lawmakers temper their excitement at filling the states many buckets of need with the realization that even if the $1.2 billion comes through for this fiscal year, the $1.1 billion projected for next fiscal year can quickly change. You wouldnt make a long-term commitment with a birthday check or found money, because the bills keep coming when the moneys gone. Yet the governors budget allocates only 70 percent of the new money for recurring expenditures. How is that going to work in a bust economy? Do employees give up their raises? Do schools slash their budgets?

As the session progresses, it is essential to involve people who know where the money has gone and where it will go.

Both budgets would spend additional millions on pre-K, but New Mexico school districts, as well as the state, regularly return millions in pre-K funding every year because not enough parents signed up. Both proposed budgets want New Mexicans to put more into state pensions to get them closer to solvency, but taxpayers already kick in more than the employees themselves and most non-public employees either dont have pensions or have ones that pale in comparison. Both proposals would increase the states closing fund to attract businesses, but theres a $71 million difference in the asks; which is closer to the realistic need here?

And why with a billion-dollar windfall is anyone talking about raiding our grandchildrens future, the permanent funds? Why is anyone floating the idea of an income tax increase, starting at $30K for single filers and $50K for joint returns? Why are only a few Republicans mentioning sending some of the windfall back to the New Mexicans who support the state day in and day out with their tax dollars?

Budget proposals at the start of a legislative session are just that: proposals. With roughly two months to hammer out a responsible spending plan for the state, it is important that all involved keep past years in mind as they finance future ones.

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.
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 some providers, conscientious otherwise, make the decision not to tell their clients about this technology. 

Donald Rumsfeld famously said, You dont know what you dont know. Thats certainly true for many with hearing loss, their families and friends. They dont know about hearing loops and telecoils because they were never told about them by their hearing care provider. They dont know if their hearing aids have telecoils or what telecoils are for.

I know they dont know because I regularly have people ask me, Whats a telecoil? and, when told, then ask, Why wasnt I told about them? My answer: Ask your provider. I also know because 66 percent of respondents to a survey sent out to over 2,000 hearing-aid wearers indicated they were not told about telecoils when purchasing their first pair of hearing aids. A different survey found that 60 percent of the hearing care providers who responded admitted to not telling clients about telecoils.

Telecoils are small wire coils available in over 70 percent of current hearing aid models and all cochlear implant processors. They normally add nothing to the cost of hearing aids and act as receivers for silent, electromagnetic sound waves transmitted by a room hearing loop or by a miniature version called a neckloop. That signal carries sound from the assistive listening systems (ALS) now required by the Americans with Disabilities Act in all public places of assembly like concert halls, theatres, meeting rooms, legislative chambers  places using a public address system. Although not required to, places of worship have led the way in providing such assistive listening systems, enabling worshipers to hear the word.

Telecoils allow users to connect to an ALS signal without the fuss of removing and risking damage to or loss of their hearing aids to don earphones. Their hearing aids stay in place, customizing sound to match the boost in power needed at various frequencies from low to high. The result is clearer speech  something earphones cannot provide  while minimizing background noise for the user, further helping with speech clarity.

Telecoils double hearing aid functionality. Their inclusion and activation in hearing aids should rightfully be a choice made by the hearing aid buyer, not usurped by a hearing care provider and kept a secret from the client.

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Heres something else I know  by privately connecting individuals with their phones and other equipment, Bluetooth does wonderful things, but it cannot serve a room full of people. Loops and telecoils can. Thats why six states  Arizona, Delaware, Florida, New York, Rhode Island and Utah  now have laws on the books requiring that buyers be made aware of telecoil technology prior to purchasing hearing aids. Similar legislation has been proposed in several other states, including New Mexico. Full disclosure  until recently, I sat on the N.M. Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensing Practices Board that could write such a rule, but has repeatedly declined to do so over the objection of the public members on the board.

More than 300,000 New Mexicans have some degree of hearing loss. There are many caring, conscientious audiologists and hearing aid dispensers here who provide them exemplary service. They willingly go the extra mile to ensure clients get all the benefits hearing aids can provide. They counsel them about how hearing aids can, with the mere touch of a telecoil button, wirelessly connect to assistive listening systems in their home TV room, at church, the movies and elsewhere. Unfortunately, some providers, conscientious otherwise, make the decision not to tell their clients about this technology.

Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Albuquerque, has filed HB 48 on behalf of a nonprofit advocacy group, the Committee for Communication Access, that would mandate the counseling of clients purchasing hearing aids on ADA-compliant telecoil technology. This bill will allow buyers to make an informed decision as to whether or not the technology would be useful to them.

Now you know what you didnt know, at least about telecoils and hearing loops, and if you believe people should be told about this technology prior to spending thousands on hearing aids or tens of thousands on cochlear implants, go to www.nmlegis.gov/members/Find_My_Legislator, locate your state senator and representative, and ask both to vote for HB 48. Next, go to www.newmexicansformichelle.com/contact and ask our new governor to sign this bill. This way, our state leaders will also be in the know.
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SANTA FE  Northern New Mexico College still has significant financial issues, but its latest state audit shows improvement.

The college, which was in financial turmoil a few years ago, still received a negative disclaimer of opinion  meaning auditors couldnt find enough evidence to reach an opinion  in the report commissioned from REDW, an Albuquerque accounting firm.

The College could not provide adequate supporting documentation for certain transactions and balances for its business-type activities during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2018, which was a result of both insufficient and circumvented internal controls over financial reporting, says the audit made public by the State Auditors Office last week.

But college officials on Tuesday accentuated the positive. In a news release, NNMC noted that there were a total of 18 negative findings in the new report, down from 48 in the colleges fiscal 2017 audit.

One major issue from the past may still be unresolved. Former NNMC financial official Henrietta Trujillo confessed in 2017 to stealing more than $200,000 in cash and checks, according the State Police. But she has not been criminally charged, Ricky Bejarano, the NNMCs vice president for finance and administration, said Tuesday.

He said forensic accounting in the case was completed about a year ago and documents were turned over to the District Attorneys Office. DA Marco Serna has said in the past that Trujillo would be prosecuted. He did not return messages from the Journal Tuesday evening.

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NNMC President Rick Bailey commended the colleges financial management team, including Bejarano and others brought in since Bailey came to Northern in 2016. NNMC previously had been experiencing years of financial problems, late audits, layoffs and reduced class offerings amid staff turmoil and political infighting.

While we certainly still have much more to do, the remarkable improvement over the last fiscal year shows that our commitment to process improvement is paying off, Bailey said.

The audit says NNMC has no policy governing recruiting student athletes or how related costs are tracked in accordance with the (state) Travel and Per Diem Act. Student receivables that were outstanding when the college converted to a new accounting system in 2006 were not transferred over with enough detail to subsequently pursue the funds. The college said in a response that this problem facilitated the embezzlement of funds in prior years.

Some of the continuing weaknesses reported in the new audit, which again was late, included that multiple account balances did not accurately reconcile to the general ledger at year-end; lack of controls and segregation of duties in accounts receivable and other areas; and renting credit card machines that are no longer in use.
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SANTA FE  Former State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn, a Libertarian, is questioning the practical impact of a legislative proposal that would prohibit New Mexico from providing state land for a border wall.

He said that of the 22 miles of state trust land along the border, 21 miles of the land is actually about 60 feet from the border. The other mile already has a barrier on it, he said.

On the other hand, the federal government might need rights to land exceeding 60 feet from the border in order to build the wall, according to an analysis prepared for legislators two years ago, when a similar proposal came up.

In any case, the legislation is at least partly symbolic.

The state Attorney Generals Office warned lawmakers in 2017 that the federal government may be able to use its eminent domain powers to take land from the state for a wall.

State Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Las Cruces, said this week that a border wall would be expensive, interfere with wildlife and fail to accomplish the public safety goals envisioned by its supporters.

Her proposal is House Bill 287.

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SANTA FE  A group of doctors and other health care professionals gathered inside the Capitol on Tuesday to speak out against legislation that would allow terminally ill patients in New Mexico to seek a doctors help to end their lives.

They said assisted suicide could lead to elderly or incapacitated patients feeling pressure to end their lives for financial reasons. Caretakers might take advantage of them as they seek an inheritance, opponents said.

Its the perfect crime, Rep. Gregg Schmedes, R-Tijeras, said, and its an unnecessary bill that will incentivize people to die early.

Schmedes, a surgeon, was one of several speakers at a rally inside the Roundhouse on Tuesday.

New Mexico lawmakers are considering legislation that would create an End of Life Options Act, named after the late Judge Elizabeth Whitefield, who had urged its passage two years ago. She died last year.

The proposals, House Bill 90 and Senate Bill 153, are co-sponsored by Rep. Deborah Armstrong of Albuquerque and Sen. Liz Stefanics of Cerrillos, both Democrats.

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The legislation would require authorization from two medical providers and a 48-hour waiting period before someone could take drugs to end their life.

Opponents of the bill said the safeguards arent adequate and that it undermines the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm.

Supporters say the proposal would help alleviate suffering and allow terminally ill patients to make their own choice.

A 1963 state law makes it a fourth-degree felony to assist in a suicide.
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MIAMI  A traffic incident in Miami involving a gun-wielding white man and a group of black bicyclists protesting housing inequality on Martin Luther King Day is being investigated as a possible hate crime, prosecutors said Tuesday.

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a news release that she has ordered her hate crimes chief to look into Mondays confrontation in the upscale Brickell section of Miami. The man with the gun, 51-year-old Mark Bartlett, has so far been charged only with illegally carrying a concealed weapon, which is a felony.

Video shot by bystanders and aired by numerous news outlets shows Bartlett swearing and hurling racial insults at the group of black cyclists, while keeping the gun at his side. A Miami police report says the cyclists blocked part of a major street to protest plans for a private development to displace affordable housing in the financially struggling Liberty City neighborhood.

I am outraged at the reported acts depicted in the videos taken during this incident, Fernandez Rundle said. I am committed to filing the appropriate charges and to vigorously prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.

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Court records on Tuesday did not list an attorney for Bartlett.

In Miami, the Martin Luther King holiday is traditionally a time for young African-American men to ride dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles and bicycles throughout the area in an anti-violence effort known as Wheels Up, Guns Down, which takes its name from a Philadelphia protest over the death of a black biker several years ago.

They typically weave in and out of traffic at high speeds, pop wheelies, ride while standing on their seats and execute similar dangerous stunts on major highways. Every year, police make dozens of arrests and seize numerous vehicles, and this year was no exception.

The cyclists protesting housing inequality were an offshoot of that tradition, news outlets reported. An organizer of Mondays protest did not return a phone call Tuesday.

Several videos from different perspectives were shot of the confrontation involving Bartlett. In one, an unidentified white woman is shown yelling at the cyclists to move because she has to go pick up her children, then screaming that one of them ran over her foot.

You just touched me, you bunch of thugs, she screams.

A few minutes later, a man in a pink T-shirt, whom police identified as Bartlett, walks up to the scene with his handgun at his side, yelling obscenities and racial epithets at the black cyclists. Police later arrested Bartlett on the weapons charge as he was driving a few miles from the scene.

According to the police report, Bartlett was incredulous at his detention.

Why am I being arrested when those kids are free to ride around? he asked. I did pull out my gun. But I never pointed it at them.

Later Tuesday, a truck equipped with large video screens on each side was seen driving up and down Brickell Avenue showing the confrontation. It wasnt clear who was behind the display.

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Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt
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RALEIGH, N.C.  A North Carolina judge ruled Tuesday that there werent grounds for him to step in and declare victory for the Republican in the countrys last undecided congressional race amid an investigation into whether his lead was boosted by illegal vote-collection tactics.

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway rejected a lawsuit by Republican Mark Harris insisting he be declared the winner. Harris narrowly leads Democrat Dan McCready in the 9th district contest, but the numbers have been clouded by doubt due to allegations that mail-in ballots could have been altered or discarded by a Harris subcontractor.

Harris attorneys asked the judge to step in because they said the district in south-central North Carolina urgently needs a representative in Washington, D.C. The Republicans attorneys also argued they were forced into court because the now-disbanded elections board was supposed to have declared him the winner in November, delayed acting to sort out ballot-fraud allegations, and missed all the deadlines specified in state law to certify him as the winner.

An unrelated lawsuit led to the old elections board disbanding last month, but the staffs investigation into accusations of ballot fraud by an operative hired by Harris campaign continues. A revamped elections board will officially be in place as of Jan. 31.

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It is that board that will be in the best position to weigh the factual and legal issues to conclude the rightful winner, Ridgeway said after two hours of arguments. The court concludes that the petitioners have not shown a clear right to the extraordinary relief Harris requested.

Democrats who this month took control of the U.S. House said they wouldnt seat Harris without an investigation into the allegations, and suggested they may examine the dispute no matter what the state elections board does.

Lawyers for McCready and the state elections board wanted the lawsuit dismissed and for the incoming elections board to ensure a completed investigation.

McCready attorney Marc Elias, who represents Democrats around the country in election disputes, said some states such as Florida have laws placing a priority on elections being determined quickly, while other states such as Minnesota allow more time for resolutions that conclusively decide the rightful winner.

North Carolina has made a judgment to be a get-it-done-right state. In doing so, it has set forth a very, very clear set of deadlines that are put on pause, or on hiatus, pending a protest, Elias said.

North Carolinas since-disbanded elections board twice made bipartisan decisions in late November to withhold finalizing the Harris-McCready election under a provision in state law that allows it to act if it suspects balloting was tainted by some type of fraud or corruption.

Harris lawyers said he and his wife have submitted to interviews by investigators and his campaign has turned over documents to ensure the investigation is done right and his name can be cleared. But the elections board also cant operate on its own timetable, attorney Alex Dale said.

They cannot do this open-endedly, he said.

The questions surround a political operative in rural Bladen County, Leslie McCrae Dowless, who worked for Harris campaign at the candidates insistence. Dowless has declined interviews. A statement by his attorney said he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

More than a dozen witnesses signed sworn affidavits alleging that Dowless or people working for him collected incomplete and unsealed ballots from voters. Its illegal for anyone other than a close relative or guardian to take a persons ballot.

Harris, the former Baptist pastor of a Charlotte megachurch, said he didnt learn until late last month that the state elections board investigated Dowless and others potentially involved in ballot fraud in 2016.

I would later learn that obviously there had been things that should have been looked into, but everything that had been looked into had come out just perfectly fine, Harris said in one of several television interviews he conducted earlier this month. Neither Harris nor McCready have responded to interview requests from The Associated Press.

The state elections board, which has no power to prosecute election cases, forwarded its evidence from the 2016 election to the federal prosecutors office in Raleigh, which has not said whether it will pursue charges.

McCready, an Iraq War veteran and head of a solar-energy investment firm, said last week that Harris should be prosecuted if he participated in election misconduct.

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Follow Emery P. Dalesio on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/emery%20dalesio
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MOSCOW  The lawyer for an American man being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying said on Tuesday that his client was given a flash drive containing Russian state secrets before he was arrested, but did not know he had them and had not looked at them.

His family insisted that he was entrapped and denied that he is guilty of espionage.

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was detained in Moscow at the end of December. The arrest raised speculation that he could be swapped for one of the Russians held in the U.S., such as gun rights activist Maria Butina, who has pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent in the U.S.

Whelan made his first public appearance in court on Tuesday to hear the appeal of his arrest. The judge upheld the previous ruling that ordered him to be kept behind bars at least until the end of February.

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Whelan was kept in a glass cage and did not speak to reporters.

Spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Russia.

Whelans lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said Tuesday that when his client was detained at a Moscow hotel at the end of December he had something with him that contained state secrets.

The lawyer said that Whelan was a frequent visitor to Russia and that he asked an unnamed person to email him something about travel around the country. Whelan reportedly was not able to download it and then asked that person to put it on a flash-drive.

He was expecting to see on the flash drive some personal information like pictures or videos, something like that, about that persons previous trips around Russia, Zherebenkov told reporters. We dont know how the materials that contain state secrets ended up there.

The lawyer said the American was detained before he could open the files. He added that it was not clear what has happened to the person who reportedly gave the flash drive to Whelan.

Zherebenkov said the investigators have not yet disclosed which country he is accused of spying for.

Paul Whelans twin brother, David, said in a statement that the family was disappointed but hardly surprised by the denial of bail.

While we still lack any details from the Russian government about why Paul is thought to be a spy, and who provided him with the alleged state secrets, we are certain that he was entrapped and is not guilty of espionage, he said in a statement. We have not had any information about a USB drive, what was on it, or how it might have materialized in Pauls possession.

Unfortunately, todays ruling merely confirms that Paul will remain wrongfully detained for many more months, Whelans brother said, adding that Paul was able to let us know that he is worried about some health conditions and his ability to communicate with prison medical staff.

He added that his brother is also concerned about translator support and his ability to present his defense in English.

David Whelan noted that the Russian authorities refusal to allow British diplomats to visit his brother in prison and the cancellation of a U.S. consular visit last week raised additional concerns, but said that Canadian diplomats were scheduled to visit Thursday.

Whelan holds U.S., Canadian, British and Irish citizenships.

Whelan, 48, was discharged from the Marines for bad conduct. He works as the global security director for a U.S. automobile parts manufacturer and lives in Michigan. His family has said he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.

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Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
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PHOENIX  Lawyers squared off Tuesday at the Arizona Supreme Court over whether two Christian artists who make wedding invitations as part of their business can refuse service to same-sex couples for religious reasons.

An attorney for artists Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski argued complying with Phoenixs anti-discrimination ordinance would violate their clients free-speech and exercise-of-religion rights by forcing them to custom-make products for same-sex weddings. They believe a marriage should be between only a man and woman.

The city contends the two artists are free to infuse their faith within their business, but said the courts shouldnt create a blanket exception that allows them to discriminate against a class of people.

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So far, two courts have upheld the constitutionality of the ordinance.

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled this summer that while the ordinance may have an incidental effect on free speech, its main purpose is to prohibit discrimination. The appeals court concluded the ordinance regulates conduct, not speech.

Outside of court Tuesday, Duka and Koski explained how their Christian faith guides them in everything they do, including their work life.

When we reflect Gods creativeness in small ways through our art, it reveals something about him, Koski said. That is why we cannot separate our faith from our artist creativity.

Inside the courthouse, Chief Justice Scott Bales raised a scenario about Duka and Koski selling a wedding stationary package to a couple with the names of Pat and Terry. The chief justice asked whether the artists would sell the package if the couple were heterosexual but would object if they were a same-sex couple.

Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney representing Duka and Koski, said its about the message thats conveyed by the wedding package. They send different messages, Scruggs said, likening the position his clients are in to asking an LGBT artist to design a shirt that says Protect Marriage.

The two artists want to post a statement on their website saying they wont create artwork that violates their religious beliefs, including making products used in same-sex wedding ceremonies. But they havent posted such a statement because they believe it would violate the ordinance.

Bales asked Eric M. Fraser, an attorney representing the city in the dispute, whether artists who oppose same-sex unions could include content on a wedding invitation that says marriage is between only a man and woman.

Fraser said the artists probably could do so, as long as they sell it to any couple that wants to do business with them.

This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, finding the states civil rights commission showed anti-religious bias when it ruled against the baker for refusing to make the cake.

The Supreme Court decision, however, didnt address the larger issue of whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gay and lesbian people.

An Arizona law that bars discrimination by businesses doesnt include sexual orientation as a protected class. Phoenix, Tempe, Flagstaff and Tucson have passed ordinances banning businesses from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Phoenix hasnt yet taken any enforcement actions stemming from its ban on sexual orientation-based discrimination.

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Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud.
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SANTA FE, N.M.  One of the most prominent business groups in the state, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, has released its agenda for the legislative session.

Nearly all of the positions outlined in the agenda  spending money on economic development and public safety, maintaining strong financial reserves  are reflective of measures it has supported in the past.

Terri Cole, the chambers longtime CEO and president, told the Journal that this year she is likely focus much of her energy on the chambers education-related priorities.

Given what I know right now, I think I will be spending a lot of time ensuring that we have a strong accountability system alongside the additional money that gets invested in public education, said Cole. The results of that spending need to be in the form of student achievement.

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According to the agenda, the chamber supports the creation of a new cabinet-level department that would oversee increased spending in public education and early childhood programs. It opposes changes to the states school rating system that would significantly reduce the use of student achievement data to evaluate school performance, do away with a summative rating for each school or alter the presentation of school ratings in ways that would make it harder for the public to understand how a school is performing. It also opposes both a cap or a moratorium on the opening of new charter schools.

Cole said she will also spend a good deal of time on the states strategy to combat homelessness. The chamber is in favor of a City of Albuquerque capital outlay request for $28 million to create an emergency housing center for the homeless, according to the agenda.

Among the other measures the chamber says it will support:

 Increasing Job Training Incentive Program funding to a minimum of $11 million, and maintaining a Local Economic Development Act fund of between $50 million and $75 million

 Altering the tax code to lower the gross receipts tax rate and broaden the taxs base, among other changes

 Amending the states constitution to make the Public Regulation Commission an appointed body, not an elected one

 Decriminalizing first-time offenses of the possession of one ounce or less of cannabis

Among the other measures the chamber says it will oppose:

 Any proposals to legalize recreational marijuana that do not provide detailed answer to serious questions relating to job performance and workplace safety, driving under the influence, drug testing protocols and other work-related issues

 Minimum wage increases that would reduce New Mexicos economic competitiveness in our region or impose annual indexed increases

 Any use of state permanent funds for purposes not intended, including the financing of early childhood programs

 Cole said the chamber is unlikely to support any tax increase this year
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SANTA FE  U.S. Sen. Tom Udall told state lawmakers Tuesday that an ongoing federal government shutdown and other factors have shaken voters already fragile trust in elected leaders.

In all my years of public service, I have never been so worried about our democracy, Udall said in a 25-minute speech to members of the Legislature.

A Democrat who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2009 and is the senior member of New Mexicos delegation, Udall said congressional leaders have not been responsive to polls that show broad support for gun safety measures, more humane immigration laws and legislation related to climate change.

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Its no wonder trust in Congress is so low, he said. Root canals, famously, have a higher approval rating.

On the subject of the partial federal government shutdown that reached its 32nd day on Tuesday, Udall said roughly 10,800 federal employees in New Mexico have been furloughed or are working without pay.

Affected employees include more than 3,600 Department of the Interior employees and more than 3,200 Indian Health Service workers statewide, according to Udalls office.

The veteran senator called on President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans to first reopen the government and then continue a debate over border security funding levels.

I support strong border security  but I want to see smart, cost-effective and locally appropriate measures, said Udall, who added that most Americans do not support the creation of an ineffective and wildly expensive new border wall.

Democratic House leaders rejected Trumps recent offer to end the shutdown, which called for a three-year extension of a program that offers temporary legal protection to immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children in exchange for his requested funding levels for the border wall.

Meanwhile, Udall also urged lawmakers to approve legislation during their ongoing 60-day session that would allow for automatic voter registration and to create a strong framework for a new state ethics commission.

Voters statewide approved a constitutional amendment in November  with about 75 percent of those who cast ballots voting in favor  that called for the creation of such a commission.

He also praised Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who previously served three terms in Congress, specifically citing her call for new state renewable energy standards.

Udall, who met with the governor earlier in the day, said Lujan Grisham will be a great governor who understands the importance of a strong state-federal partnership.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  A new battle is brewing at the Public Regulation Commission on plans to close the San Juan Generating Station near Farmington.

The PRC will discuss whether to immediately open formal proceedings on the issue during Wednesdays public meeting or wait for Public Service Co. of New Mexico to file for the plants abandonment in the spring.

Immediate proceedings could potentially derail a PNM-backed legislative initiative to help finance plant closure and mitigate the economic impact on local communities because the Legislature cant approve things that may directly alter management of a regulatory case thats already underway.

PNM says theres no urgent need to open proceedings now, since the plant would not close until 2022, and the PRC should let the Legislature do its job.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



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Its not the PRCs role to set policy, said PNM Vice President for Public Policy Ron Darnell. To the extent that their actions impede legislation, its not in the best interest of New Mexicans.

Environmental groups are divided on the forthcoming legislation, which would allow PNM to recover 100 percent of its investment in San Juan by selling low-cost bonds that utility customers would pay for through a surcharge on their bills. The money raised would then help finance renewable energy replacement power, while providing resources to mitigate impacts through economic development projects.

But opponents call it a bailout for the utility, which might not receive full recovery for its coal investments if left to the PRC, which must balance the costs of early plant closure between utility customers and PNM shareholders.

Some environmental groups fear some commissioners may deliberately want to interfere with the legislation. Western Resource Advocates and the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, which may support the PNM-backed bill once filed in the session, wrote briefs questioning PRC motivation.

It is absurd to assume that the commission can bootstrap authority to itself, that it would not otherwise have, by opening a docket contrived to preclude legislative action, WRA said.

CCAE called it a pre-emptive action by the PRC that may be intended to prevent the Legislature from taking any action related to the San Juan plant during the 2019 session.

Commissioners, who voted 5-0 on Jan. 10 to consider immediate proceedings, said its their job to review the issue, independent of what the Legislature does.

I was aware it could impact legislation on San Juan, but its up to the lawyers to determine that, said Commissioner Stephen Fischmann. Its careless and unwise for us to make decisions speculating about what happens on legislation when so many dollars are at risk.

PRC Vice Chair Valerie Espinoza said theres nothing unusual about opening a hearing to get all the facts on the table.

Why wait on legislation? Espinoza said. We dont even know if it will be passed.

New Energy Economy, which opposes the legislation, said its the PRCs constitutional duty to move forward.
Source: South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations</p><p> Bart Pfankuch

South Dakota News Watch

In her first budget address today, Gov. Kristi Noem will discuss the underfunding of South Dakota nursing homes that has led to a recent wave of closings.

The governors speech is part of a growing momentum toward reform of nursing home funding during the ongoing legislative session in Pierre.

Three nursing homes closed over the past three years and two more  including one in Mobridge  are slated for closing next month, causing a loss of jobs and putting a hardship on displaced elderly and disabled residents and their families.

Another 17 former Golden Living Centers in South Dakota are facing financial challenges and are being operated by a state-approved receivership created after the New Jersey firm running the homes went bankrupt last year.

Industry officials say more closings are likely unless South Dakota improves its payment rate under Medicaid, which pays for the care of about 55 percent of the patients in the states roughly 110 nursing homes.

South Dakota has the lowest Medicaid reimbursement rate in the country, causing homes to lose $35 a day for each Medicaid patient and resulting in a $42 million overall annual funding shortfall for long-term care facilities across the state.

Kristin Wileman, a spokeswoman for the governor, confirmed in an email to South Dakota News Watch Tuesday that Noem intends to address nursing home funding and larger model of care issues in her budget address.

Wileman did not provide specific details about what Noem will say or ideas she may put forward.

In a recent interview, however, Noem expressed a strong interest in helping nursing homes stay afloat. Noem said she was sad to see the recent closing of the nursing home in Bryant, the hometown of her husband, Bryon, where they have strong family connections.

People want their families to be cared for and cared for in their communities close to them so they can be with them, Noem said in an interview last month on WNAX Radio 570.

In that interview, Noem said the low Medicaid reimbursement rate is putting nursing homes at risk and that low pay is negatively affecting the ability of nursing homes to recruit qualified employees.

If a big population in those nursing homes is on Medicaid, theyre losing money every day their doors are open, she said. They cant recruit nurses and aides and doctors and professionals into those communities and pay them enough to be competitive.

Noem, who will give her first budget address at 1 p.m. today, hinted that she would support legislation to improve the financial stability of nursing homes both in small towns and urban areas.

It is a concern, she told the radio station. Its something Im seriously looking at what we can do to continue to keep those services in our smaller communities. But ... its not unique to a certain size of town or community in our state.

Nursing home costs have risen as home health care options have grown. Those care options have kept elderly residents at home longer. Now those entering nursing homes have more serious medical conditions requiring constant care, industry officials say.

Patient care costs have risen

The recent nursing home closings in Bryant, Rosholt and Tripp and the pending home closings in Madison and Mobridge have shone a light on the financial vulnerability of long-term care facilities in South Dakota.

Randy Bury is president of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, which runs 32 senior care facilities in South Dakota, including several nursing homes. He acknowledged that to some people the $181 per-day cost of care for a nursing home patient might seem high, and that he thought so, too, until he visited long-term care facilities.

Bury said that years ago nursing homes were more like clubhouses with mostly able-bodied residents. Now, he said, with greater patient access to health care and home care prior to arriving at a nursing home, residents come with more frequent and intensive medical needs that raise the cost far beyond providing room and board.

The same facility that my parents went into looked very different, he said. Now, you see a lot of people bed-bound, limited to a wheelchair and with serious medical conditions that take constant care.

The certified nursing assistants who do much of the basic patient care in nursing homes are generally underpaid, leading to extremely high position turnover and difficulty in attracting qualified employees, said Mark Deak, executive director of the South Dakota Health Care Association.

The average wage for CNAs in South Dakota is $12.47 an hour, or about $26,000 a year, the 46th-lowest in the nation.

We think the world of the CNAs; theyre really angels, he said. They do the heavy lifting and theyre there emotionally for the residents.

Meanwhile, the thin margin at many nursing homes has reduced the ability of ownership to improve facilities. Most nursing homes in South Dakota are 40 years old, while the average in the Midwest is only 12 years old.

Deak said that he has been encouraged by recent discussions with lawmakers and state officials that some form of legislation or a funding source to boost Medicaid reimbursements will be found this session.

Theres a lot of rumblings and its on folks minds and Im very encouraged by appropriators Ive spoken to, he said. My hope is that they will muster the will and identify the resources to do that so they can to help the folks who care for our elderly or disabled residents.

Several funding options available

Deak said early projections of a revenue surplus in state coffers in the coming fiscal year could provide an opportunity to raise the Medicaid pay rate. He also mentioned the possibility that the new revenues from sales taxes collected on online retail sales could be a source of funding for nursing homes.

Nursing homes and agencies that provide community services to people on Medicaid did receive a funding bump of about 2 percent over the past couple sessions, said state Rep. Sue Peterson, R-Sioux Falls.

Peterson, who sits on the Joint Committee on Appropriations, said she is hopeful lawmakers can find a more permanent solution, either by increasing funding for Medicaid providers or reducing regulations that remove flexibility from operators.

We need to make sure were doing it in a magnitude so it makes a difference, Peterson said. Its a matter of not only doing something about it, but also doing the right thing with reimbursement rates and regulations or a combination of both.

Peterson said that when former Gov. Dennis Daugaard implemented a 10 percent funding reduction for all state departments shortly after taking office, Medicaid funding never rose back to pre-cut levels.

Peterson said money could be allocated by the Legislature in one of three basic ways:

A standalone bill to increase funding could be filed by a lawmaker prior to the Jan. 30 individual bill filing deadline or through a committee by Jan. 31.

A funding amendment could also be added to an existing bill throughout the session.

Peterson said a funding mechanism could also be inserted to the general spending bill that will be crafted by the Joint Appropriations Committee that then requires the approval of both chambers.

Any increase in state Medicaid funding likely would be matched at some level by the federal government, she said.
Kelda J.L. Pharris

kpharris@aberdeennews.com

Patty Teusink planned to take some time off after Christmas.

She needed surgery on her hand.

What she didnt anticipate is whats been nearly a month of furlough for her job as the local chief steward of the Federation of Indian Service Employees for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education.

Shed normally be answering inquiries from different state courts and agencies about Indian child welfare cases and things like that. Im not a social worker, but I am an assistant, she said.

Teusink has worked in the Aberdeen Federal Building for 25 years. She said shes spent more than 40 years as a government employee, having gotten her start in Fort Yates, N.D. She just turned 65.

Shes feeling the pinch of a missing paycheck, anticipating therell likely be more before the shutdown ends.

I earn less than $50,000 a year, so I live paycheck to paycheck. Also, Im one of the older government employees, so am under the old civil service retirement system, Teusink said.

She never enrolled in newer programs like a thrift savings plan, which siphons away money into a savings account that can be tapped as needed.

Her daughter, Tricia Walberg, is in her 40s and is on disability. She lives with Teusink.

Shes able to buy groceries, Teusink said.

Teusink is upset and said she feels a double whammy as a Native American. Shes enrolled with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes out of Idaho.

Weve got a president who wont compromise, gets up and walks out on people. Hes not willing to meet them in any way, she said. Its not just hurting us, its hurting our people, all our native people. (Native Americans) who have land have not been paid royalties for leases or ag leases. Sometimes thats the main income for them because theres no economic (activity) on the reservations.

Even though there are nine tribes in South Dakota, she doesnt think the states congressional delegation has done much to help, though she credited Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson for deferring his pay during the shutdown.

As things get tighter, Teusink isnt sure what she will do to get by. Medications for her asthma and diabetes are more than $100 a month. She might need to file for unemployment, which is an option.

When furloughed employees get back pay  that legislation was approved last week by President Donald Trump  the amount received for unemployment will need to be paid back, she said.

Another kicker  Teusinks original retirement date was set for the end of December, but she ended up postponing it to March. She said she also knows of another person who was going to retire during the shutdown. But even if they want to now, or if someone wants to resign, the Human Capital Management office that handles those moves is closed during the shut down.
Staff reports

Aberdeen News

Aberdeen received the 10th annual Rooster Rush Cacklin' Community Award at the 2019 Governor's Conference on Tourism in Pierre, according to a news release.

Aberdeen was honored for its efforts to welcome pheasant hunters to the state by serving pheasant sandwiches and issuing gift bags as hunters step off jets at the airport, according to the release. The hospitality continued with events like the Pheasant Sandwich Shootout, hosted by the Aberdeen Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Gov. Kristi Noem and the South Dakota Department of Tourism presented the awards last week.

Aberdeen also won this award in 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2016, according to the release.

 Staff reports
Weather Alert

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. RAVALLI COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE HAS ISSUED A MISSING ENDANGERED PERSON ADVISORY FOR KENDRA ARLENE ROSE ROBERTS. KENDRA IS A 16 -YEAR-OLD WHITE FEMALE, 5 FEET 7 INCHES TALL AND 140 POUNDS. WITH GREEN EYES AND BLACK HAIR. SHE WAS LAST SEEN IN DARBY, MT ON MONDAY, JUNE 14TH AROUND NOON. KENDRA RAN AWAY ON FOOT BUT MIGHT POSSIBLY BE WITH A FRIEND IN A BLACK LIFTED GMC TRUCK AND MAY BE HEADED TO MISSOULA. SHE WAS LAST SEEN WEARING A SWEATSHIRT AND BLACK NIKE SWEATPANTS. THERE IS CONCERN FOR KENDRAS SAFETY AND WELL- BEING. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON KENDRA ROBERTS, CALL THE RAVALLI COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE AT (406) 363-3033 OR CALL 9-1-1.
GREAT FALLS- Our 2019 "You Asked" Campaign is in full swing. The philosophy is simple, you ask a question and we'll get it answered.

Tonight we get you caught up on a topic that has hit Cascade County with many questions is a slaughterhouse actually coming to Central Montana?

The question has become not when or if a slaughterhouse is coming to

Cascade County, but how can the public begin to voice their concerns or opinions about the actuality of one moving into town.

We asked Great Falls County Commissioner, Joe Briggs: Is a slaughterhouse coming to Great Falls?

His answer was simply, I don't know. But, he does know there's a public process between now and when county zoning regulations will be addressed. Meaning you, as a resident can go to the county website and look at the zoning regulations yourself. If you see something you'd like to change, you can either attend the public hearings or send in written testimony. You still have time to do so as the planning board isn't set to make final decisions until late April or May.

"It depends upon how much more input the planning board wants. There is no set date by which this needs to be finished. It will take however much time and however many public hearings are necessary to get good feedback on the proposals," said County Commissioner, Joe Briggs.

Briggs says nothing has changed with the permit that was put in about one year ago.

Since then, it's been put on hold by Friesen Foods, and nothing has else has been received. However, Friesen Foods may come in with a modified permit or a permit for a different facility, or they may not do anything. I do want to note, there are some things the commission can't change.

For example, they can't make anything illegal that is legal under state law.

Meaning if your solution is to outlaw a meat slaughterhouse, the commission says they can't legally do that.

We'll keep you updated on when those details on times and dates to the county meetings will be released.
San Francisco shoe brand Rothy's has always been planet-friendly, but now the stars have aligned for a collection of flats to fit every zodiac sign.

Plus, Cuyana launches its first Body collection with five pieces that satisfy our need for quality bodysuits and leggings, and cult-fave skincare brand Malin + Goetz's has opened shop in Hayes Valley.

Who doesn't want fewer, better underthings, right Cuyana? Long-sleeve bodysuits are among Cuyana's new five-piece collection of pragmatic undergarments. (Courtesy of Cuyana) For the first time, the San Francisco leather goods and apparel brand is turning its attention to what lies beneath: Cuyana Body launches today. The five-piece collection, designed to enhance and complement wardrobes, includes three bodysuitsa tank; a cross-back tank; and a long-sleeveleggings, and a pair of long shorts. Everything is seamless (), comfortable, and black (). Available in sizes XS through XL, prices range from $65 to $95. // Cuyana, 291 Geary St., 2nd floor (Union Square), cuyana.com.

Forget about wearing hearts on sleeveswe're all about zodiac signs on our feet. Get in on the cosmic comfort with a pair of Rothy's new limited-edition navy loafers. Next time someone asks "what's your sign," just point to your feetspecifically to your right heel bearing the ram, the twins, the scales, etc., in twinkling silver embroidery. Adding to the shoes' moody vibe is a shimmery celestial pattern sprinkled on the toe of one loafer and back of the other. Along with gussying up your wardrobe, here's hoping these babies will kick those less-than-stellar horoscopes to the curb. Available in sizes 5 through 12, priced at $165. // Rothys, 2448 Fillmore St. (Pacific Heights), rothys.com

Score another one for Hayes Valley as Malin + Goetz skincare moves into the 'hood. In Hayes Valley, shelf upon shelf of M+G goodies. (Courtesy of Malin + Goetz) Just like its instantly recognizable packaging, Malin +Goetz' brand-new boutique is minimalist yet seductive. A sophisticated gray facade makes way for a small, bright interior where blond wood shelves hold meticulously arranged lotions and potions, serums and scrubs. For the un-indoctrinated, the almost 15-year-old M+ G is known for simple, effective, and customized skin and grooming products for guys and gals. Focusing on face, body and hair, everything is made with trusted natural ingredients along with proven technologies that perform without sacrificing luxuryor giving wallets heart attacks. Fragrance and candles (including the signature cannabis candle) round out the selection. Make sure to ask for samples and help from the knowledgeable team. Along with the aforementioned candle, we'll be making a beeline for the mojito lip balm, to which our puckers are unabashedly addicted. // Malin + Goetz, 508 Hayes St. (Hayes Valley), malinandgoetz.com
We are a supplier of premium quality wood fuel founded in 2003 and consistently selling high quality products for over 16 years. We have an established presence in both Europe and Russia. All our wood is coming from Russia, exported to Europe and then distributed across the European Union. We specialise in design and manufacture of wood briquettes. We supply a number of customers across Europe and at the minute are looking to expand further.We stock the widest range of wood briquettes, concentrating on those fuels that provide the best balance of heat, convenience and value for money.

We are currently on the lookout for a wholesale wood briquettes in Europe and believe that further expansion would be a great move for the company and a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties in terms of costs involved and manufacturing quality we can offer.

All the necessary documentation and certification shall be made available and copies can be sent on request. If you are interested and open to the above proposal, please do feel free to contact me.

I speak both English and Russian so please do reply to me in your preferred language. I sincerely hope to hear from you soon and potentially build a long-term, stable and mutually beneficial partnership by becoming your approved supplier where we shall provide you with our full support and highest quality products.
China says it has written off almost $78m (60m) from Cameroons debt as part of measures to ease economic hardship in the central African nation, but analysts say it is a play for greater access to resources.



The debt relief announcement was made on Friday shortly after a meeting between President Paul Biya and Yang Jiechi, a special representative of China's President Xi Jinping.



Cameroons total debt burden to China stands at almost $5.7bn (4.4bn), according to figures from the Autonomous Sinking Fund, the public entity that manages Cameroons external debt.



The sum of $78m that has been wiped is money that should have been paid in 2018, but which Cameroon failed to pay.



Instead, the countrys president flew to China for the third Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation in September and pleaded with Chinese authorities to ease Cameroons debt burden.



Cameroonian economist Ariel Gnitedem says the amount cancelled looks paltry in comparison with the total debt, and says it could actually be for China's long-term benefit.



"China wants to control the sub-regional market and Cameroon is the gateway," he told the BBC.



"It is possible they also want a greater share in the enormous natural resources in Cameroon which are essential to feed its home industries."



Cameroon has been contracting loans from China to build dams, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure.

Source: BBC









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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This shortfall impacts patients who are paying their own way often in the form of higher daily rates. The remaining loss is borne by the facility, a trend which has turned the skilled nursing facility sector upside down financially in recent years. The Iowa Health Care Association projects that without addressing the shortfall, skilled nursing facilities in Iowa can expect to be reimbursed at 2012 levels for patient care. Its a trend thats not at all sustainable.

An increase in nursing facility Medicaid rates in 2019 is critical to ensuring Iowans continue to have access to the long-term care they need. Forestalling the full funding of nursing facility Medicaid offers an alternative future Iowans dont want. A glance around the neighborhood is instructive. In five neighboring states facing their own Medicaid funding shortfalls, nearly 100 nursing facilities closed or went bankrupt just last year. Seventeen nursing facilities in South Dakota entered state receivership, and three more closed. Twenty-one nursing facilities in Nebraska went bankrupt and three closed. The state of Kansas was forced to take over 21 struggling nursing facilities. In Wisconsin, where sixteen nursing facilities have closed since 2015, 33 more facilities entered receivership last year.

We can do better in Iowa for some of our most vulnerable citizens, and we must do it now. Medicaid funding for skilled nursing facility care must be a priority this legislative session. We look forward to the very necessary discussion with the legislature and the governor on a topic that touches the lives of every Iowan.

Brent Willett is President and CEO of the Iowa Health Care Association.

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When you receive your paycheck and look at the withholding for federal, state and sometimes city taxes, along with Social Security and Medicare, you probably dont think youre underpaying governments and want them to take more.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio believes if you have played by what used to be called the rules and are making a decent living, taking care of yourself and your family and not relying on government, your taxes should be increased.

In his State of the City address this month, de Blasio said,  brothers and sisters, theres plenty of money in the world. Theres plenty of money in this city. Its just in the wrong hands. He continued: You havent been paid what you deserve for all the hard work. You havent been given the time you deserve. Youre not living the life you deserve. And here is the cold, hard truth: Its no accident. Its an agenda. He blamed presidential administrations from Reagan to Trump.

The mayor ignores the tax cuts and in some cases spending reductions that have fueled an economic boom, producing more wealth for individuals and more revenue for governments.
LORAL Trust awards grants

WATERLOO  The LORAL Trust Fund recently awarded $18,408 in grants for projects at nine Waterloo-Cedar Falls area schools.

The trust was established at the Waterloo Community Foundation in 2017 to deepen, inspire and increase the love of reading and learning of children and young adults in public and accredited private schools in Waterloo and the surrounding area. LORAL stands for Love Of Reading And Learning. This first-ever round of grants will serve more than 450 young readers.

Ideas were solicited from classroom teachers in the fall and trust advisers selected projects. Grants, project names and amounts are:

Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta Middle School, Wacky Wednesdays, $1,275; Bunger Middle School, Books for All, $500; Highland Elementary School, Reading Builds Friendships Around the World, $1,500; Kittrell Elementary School, Empowering Readers, $ 1,437; St. Edward School, Spartans Read to Succeed, $3,000; St. Patrick School, Battle of the Books, $500; Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence  Youve Got Mail, $4,196; Cant Stop, Wont Stop Reading, $3,000; Loving Our Old Favorites, $3,000.

Contribute to this fund online at wloocommunityfoundation.org/donate-2-2.
Waterloos policy for fireworks usage has been extremely controversial and pitted those who believe its patriotic and a personal right to use them against others who say the noise and litter is a nuisance, especially to those with post traumatic stress disorder, small children and pets.

But city officials acknowledge the ban hasnt stopped excessive fireworks use.

City Planner Aric Schroeder said allowing the three days could help stop illegal use on other days.

That would open up an opportunity for those that want to shoot off fireworks but would prefer to do so legally, Schroeder said. Theres some thought process that a large portion of the populace would comply with that, thereby significantly decreasing the amount of violations and making it a little more feasible to enforce the violations that would be occurring.

The proposed ordinance would also boost the fine for illegal fireworks use from $250 to $375, although police Maj. Joe Leibold said it may still be tough to catch offenders.

Its a very difficult law to enforce, Leibold said. To know somebodys shooting them off and proving it are two very different standards.

Council members are also expected Feb. 4 to consider a change in the zoning ordinance which would require stand-alone fireworks stores and all temporary stands and tents to be in M-1 manufacturing zones. Businesses in C-2 commercial districts could still sell fireworks as an accessory to their main business, such as Menards and Sams Club.

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He also said the turbines would be an illegal taking of the neighboring property owners rights because of the loss caused by noise and health issues.

Hinders countered that county officials have the right to regulate agricultural property when it isnt being used for farming purposes, namely turbines. He likened the situation to a farmer needing zoning approval to open a motorcycle business in his barn.

Hinders urged the court to disregard the illegal taking argument because it was not raised in the initial court filings and didnt apply because none of the surrounding property owners lost their rights to seek damages if the turbines are a nuisance.

Holmes had requested to hold an expanded hearing where he could bring a witness from Illinois to testify about how he was forced to move from his home when turbines were built and a physician from Wisconsin to talk about illness caused by the turbine vibrations.

Hinders objected to allowing additional evidence when the courts purpose was to review the record and determine whether the Board of Adjustment acted legally, not whether it agreed with the boards decision.

Testimony about noise and health issues drew comments from both sides during the April 24 board hearing.
Iowas unemployment rate for December remained at 2.4 percent, which was the lowest unemployment rate in the country, according to Iowa Workforce Development:

More Iowans than ever are working, which reflects the opportunities that exist in our state, Gov. Kim Reynolds said. Having the lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. reaffirms that what were doing to grow our economy and bolster our workforce through efforts like Future Ready Iowa, Home Base Iowa and Registered Apprenticeship is paying off.

Workforce Development announced an additional 2,300 Iowans entered the workforce in December, with 1,651,300 Iowans employed, the most in history.

Manufacturing ended 2018 as the top sector for creating jobs, ending the year with 7,600 more jobs than in December 2017.

The number of Iowans who have claimed unemployment benefits dropped below 100,000 for the year, the lowest since 1998.

Elections director

Heidi Burhans has been hired as Iowas administrator of elections, Secretary of State Paul Pate announced Tuesday.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo teen has been arrested for allegedly pepper spraying store employees when they confronted her about shoplifting on Tuesday.

Police arrested Jasmine Nicole Donald, 18, for second-degree robbery. Her bond was set at $25,000.

Authorities allege Donald was at the Hy-Vee supermarket on Ansborough Avenue around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday when store employees approached her at the entrance about allegedly taking items from the store. Donald pulled out a pepper spray canister and sprayed two workers before climbing into a Cadillac Deville and driving off.

Customers, including a toddler, were in the vicinity of the entrance during the attack.

Patrol officers stopped the Cadillac a short time later, and Donald allegedly told police she was someone else.

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The majority shareholder of the now-defunct Heritage Bank Limited, Mr Seidu Agongo, has said his 15 businesses which he established since 2001, provide employment to at least 3,500 people, adding that never has he engaged in any underhand dealings as alleged by the Bank of Ghana as far as the establishment of Heritage Bank was concerned.



The Bank of Ghana declared Mr Agongo not fit and proper to own a bank in Ghana due to his involvement in a criminal prosecution as far as the GHS271 million Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) fertiliser case is concerned, for which reason the licence of Heritage Bank was revoked.



Announcing the licence revocation on Friday, 4 January 2019, the governor of the central bank, Dr Ernest Addison told journalists  when asked if he did not deem the action as premature, since the COCOBOD case was still in court  that: The issue of Heritage Bank, I wanted to get into the law with you, I dont know if I should, but we dont need the courts decision to take the decisions that we have taken. We have to be sure of the sources of capital to license a bank; if we have any doubt, if we feel that its suspicious, just on the basis of that we find that that is not acceptable as capital. We dont need the court to decide for us whether anybody is fit and proper, just being involved in a case that involves a criminal procedure makes you not fit and proper.



In a statement, however, Mr Agongo said: I have been in business since 2001 and I have since founded about fifteen (15) entities in areas such as real estate, manufacturing, agriculture, media, commodities, pharmaceuticals and financial services that currently directly employ at least 3,500 Ghanaians.



I wish to state emphatically that in establishing HBL, I engaged in no underhand dealings and, in fact, as the central bank itself had attested on many occasions, that HBL was a very well-governed Ghanaian bank which remained solvent till the very end.





Agongos full statement below:



REVOCATION OF THE BANKING LICENCE OF THE HERITAGE BANK (IN RECEIVERSHIP)  PRESS RELEASE BY MR. SEIDU AGONGO; THE MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER (SIGNIFICANT SHAREHOLDER)



On Friday, January 4, 2019, the Bank of Ghana publicly announced the revocation of the banking licence of Heritage Bank Limited (HBL). In doing so, the Central Bank, through its Governor, gave four reasons for its decision.



They are as follows:



1. That the Central Bank was suspicious of the sources of funds constituting the capital of HBL as it had reason to believe that the capital was derived from contract payments made by the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), which payments are the subject of an ongoing criminal prosecution;



2. That the Central Bank had issues with the shareholding of HBL; more specifically, the alleged non-disclosure of the beneficial ownership of certain shares of HBL;



3. That a number of related-party transactions involving HBL were not above board; and



4. That I, as a significant shareholder of HBL, was not a fit and proper person to hold shares in HBL.



In a press statement released by the members of the erstwhile Board of HBL, the Board of Directors dealt comprehensively with the reasons why, in their opinion, the decision of the Central Bank to revoke the licence of HBL was puzzling, grossly misleading in its content and unjust in its ultimate consequence. Whilst I absolutely agree with the views and sentiments expressed in the press release by the Board of Directors of HBL; I deem it necessary, for the reasons stated below, to make this statement is not only registering my personal disagreement with the decision of the Central Bank; but to respond specifically to the Central Banks purported determination that I was not a fit and proper person to continue to be a significant shareholder of HBL; as I consider it an attempt by the Central Bank or its controllers to ruin me for reasons other than are apparent.



It will be an understatement to say I was taken by surprise by the said announcement. This is because in all my dealings with the Central Bank concerning the affairs of HBL, at no point in time did the Central Bank indicate to me or to the Board of Directors (to my knowledge) that it had concerns regarding my role as a significant shareholder or a shareholder for that matter, of HBL. Indeed, in all our interactions, both official and unofficial, I walked away with the impression that the Central Bank held me in high regard as a shareholder of HBL, as I had dealt openly and transparently with the Central Bank and its principal officers in all matters concerning the affairs of HBL.



The purported determination that I am not a fit and proper person to be a significant shareholder of HBL could only have been made in bad faith as it is now clear that the Central Bank itself failed to comply with the basic standards of propriety and candour in its dealings with me and with HBL in respect of this matter. Up until the press conference where the announcement was made, the Central Bank made promises to me and HBL through its Directors and Officers regarding the future prospects of HBL and its continued existence as a banking concern.



Indeed, besides the rather cursory reference to my being the subject of pending criminal proceedings and the Central Banks suspicion that the sources of funds for the capitalisation of HBL might have been derived from the proceeds of contracts executed with Cocobod, the Central Bank has, to date, not made available to me the factual basis upon which it concluded that I am not fit and proper to be a significant shareholder of HBL. As at the time of this statement, as was at the time of the Governors press conference, there had been no determination either by the High Court nor any other authority for that matter, that the funds derived from contracts with Cocobod are in any manner or form illegal or criminal warranting my characterisation by the Central Bank as not fit and proper. Considering the grave effects such determination portends for my life and business associations, both home and abroad, one would have thought that the Central Bank, as a regulator, would have been more deliberative in its approach to coming to such conclusion and not this capricious and arrogant; if such determination was not actuated by malice and complete bad faith.



In purportedly making the determination, the Central Bank obviously had little regard for the time-honoured principle that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. The fact that I have a case pending before the High Court is a matter of public knowledge but my guilt or innocence is yet to be determined by the Honourable Court. The determination that I am not a fit and proper person to be a significant shareholder of HBL because the Central Bank suspects the funds are derived from illicit or suspicious contracts with the Cocobod is not only calculated to pre-judge the outcome of the criminal proceedings but also violative of the principle of presumption of innocence to which every individual is entitled. Since when has suspicion become a substitute for credible evidence?



The Central Banks determination having supposedly been based on the premise that the sources of capital of HBL are suspicious as the contracts from which they emanated are the subject of pending criminal proceedings, will the Central Bank restore the banking licence of HBL if I were to be acquitted of the current charges? The utter irrationality of the action of the Central Bank in revoking the licence of HBL on the basis of pending criminal proceedings and the fact that the harm done to HBL and its stakeholders may ultimately be irreparable is palpable.



The unanswered question is this; why the indecent haste? Why did the suspension of the voting rights of my shares in HBL pending the determination of the proceedings in court, for instance, not commend itself to the Bank of Ghana if indeed it had been acting otherwise than in bad faith?



For the records, I was never made aware by the Bank of Ghana at any point whatsoever that I was the subject of a fit and proper person test by the Central Bank and I had never been asked any questions or clarifications by the said Central Bank contrary to the impressions now created by the Bank of Ghana. In fact, it is not known to me when the said 'fit and proper person' enquiry or assessment began and when it ended. I had not been given a hearing yet my fate had been sealed in this hostile manner by the Bank of Ghana.



I have been in business since 2001 and I have since founded about fifteen (15) entities in areas such as Real Estate, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Media, Commodities, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services that currently directly employ at least 3,500 GHANAIANS!



I wish to state emphatically that in establishing HBL, I engaged in no underhand dealings and, in fact, as the Central Bank itself had attested on many occasions, HBL was a very well governed Ghanaian bank which remained solvent till the very end.



To the many friends, business associates and well-wishers, who continue to encourage me in these rather trying moments, I wish to express my profound gratitude. I am truly grateful. I have no shred of doubt that I had dealt with the Bank of Ghana above board as I have done in all my business dealings. Be rest assured that whatever mischief is at play will be cured.



Finally, while I believe in the utmost power of Allah to fight my cause, the Central Bank gravely underrates my resolve and tenacity to clear my name, which it has unceremoniously sought to destroy unjustifiably if it thought it had heard the last from me in respect of this matter.



May Allah continue to light our paths as we embrace the many blessings of this New Year.









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 boyfriend told investigators the baby was on a couch when he walked toward a bedroom and then heard the child crying. He told police he saw the baby on the floor, and he picked him up to give him a bottle. The child began choking on the milk, according to the boyfriends account. He said he called 911 and phoned the mother at work.

Doctors at the Iowa City hospital concluded the boyfriends explanation of the child falling from the couch couldnt account for the severity of the injuries. Investigators said in court records that similar injuries are often associated with shaken baby syndrome, according to court records.

An Iowa Department of Human Services assessment found the boyfriend was responsible for abuse that caused the injuries, but no criminal charges have been filed.

The mother didnt believe the boyfriend was responsible for the injuries. She was pregnant with the boyfriends child at the time of the February 2017 incident, and the baby was removed from their custody shortly after birth, court records state.

The mothers parental rights to both children were terminated following a May 2018 hearing.

The boyfriend appealed the termination of rights for the new child, arguing he was never criminally charged in connection with Kingstons injuries and has taken parenting classes. The mother also appealed in an attempt to regain rights for both children.

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Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
The University System of Georgia (USG) and the U.S. Army Cyber Center in Augusta are working together to help fill the more than 11,000 current cyber job openings around the state. The two organizations signed an agreement in mid-January that will give active duty military and reservists the opportunity to earn a degree for a career in cyber fields while serving in the Army.

The agreement enables service members stationed at Fort Gordon to pursue their degrees through select USG cybersecurity programs across the state, said Chancellor Steve Wrigley. It provides support to the Army and enhances the close collaboration with our military and workforce partners. I look forward to building on the success of this program as we continue to work to meet the needs of the cyber industry.

Columbus State University, Middle Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, the University of North Georgia and Augusta University, all designated as National Security Agency Centers of Academic Excellence, are included in the agreement.

To ensure the safety and security of our nations networks it is imperative that strong partnerships exist across the Department of Defense, academia and industry, said Robert Kazimer, deputy to the commanding general, U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence. The new memorandum of understanding between the U. S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and the University System of Georgia helps improve our techniques for instruction and allows our soldiers to accelerate their degree completion programs by recognizing their military work experience, education and training.

The agreement was signed during the second annual Cyber Educational Research and Training Symposium, sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.

This unique system-wide partnership allows the full educational resources of the USG to be brought to bear through these institutions in the development of the Armys cyber warriors. We are excited about this partnership and the possibilities it creates, including adding other institutions in the future, said Tristan Denley, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
LHC summoned Punjab IGP for Shiwal incident

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday summoned Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) to appear on January 24 along all of the documents pertaining to the case.



Lawyer Mian Asif Mahmood had on Monday petitioned the LHC arguing that the JIT formed by the provincial government would not be able to find out the truth and hold the responsible police personnel accountable for their crime. The petitioner contended that the incident was a matter of peoples lives and the high court holds the authority to investigate. It argued that the government should have created a commission to probe the counter, rather it formed a JIT and did away with its responsibility.



The government does not want a transparent inquiry into the Sahiwal incident, the petitioner claimed, calling for the formation of a judicial commission headed by a sitting judge to look into the matter and accord punishment to those responsible for the deaths. He pointed out that the statistics of Punjab police revealed that it conducted 247 encounters in 2017, 91 in 2018 and about seven were reported during the first month of 2019.



The petitioner asked the court to direct the prime minister to constitute a judicial commission to hold an impartial inquiry into the incident. He submitted that the Punjab chief minister should also be directed to furnish a copy of a detailed report regarding the incident and other fake encounters and action taken against the police personnel.
First Instincts vs. Second Thoughts: A Heads-Up Battle

January 23 2019 Martin Harris

A lot can happen in a poker hand those who are not involved cannot see. In particular, players' internal thought processes can often involve not just working out what an opponent is holding or might be up to, but also talking themselves into courses of action.

Dutch player Joris Ruijs discussed an interesting hand with PokerNews in which both he and his opponent experienced just that, with each player talking himself into doing something neither appeared to think was the right thing to do, at least at first.

The hand took place on Day 3 of the European Poker Tour Prague Main Event, occurring during Level 19 (5,000/10,000, with a 10,000 big blind ante). There were a little over 50 players left, meaning they were well into the money but were still a good way away from the big payouts to come at the final table.

Tom-Askel Bedell

Ruijs began the hand with more than 900,000. His opponent in the hand, Tom-Askel Bedell had around 600,000 to begin, and he started things with a raise to 23,000 from the hijack seat.

On the button, Ruijs looked down at and called, and the pair saw a flop come , giving Ruijs an open-ended straight draw. Bedell continued for 26,000, and Ruijs called.

The turn was the . Bedell bet again for 85,000, and Ruijs called once more.

The river paired the board, and Bedell fired once more for 90,000 (about one-third pot). Ruijs looked over at Bedell and then announced he was raising all in, and after a long tank that included Bedell saying "I think it's a bluff," Bedell folded and showed his cards  .

Discussing the hand below, Ruijs confesses that at first he didn't think he had a very good bluffing hand, but the river bet from Bedell looked weak. "There was a little devil inside of me," he says with a mischievous grin when describing his decision to shove all in.

Just as Ruijs didn't think initially that a bluff was a good decision then talked himself into making the move, so, too, did Bedell appear to have thought first of calling before convincing himself not to. Take a look:

Some say first instincts are often best in poker, especially for players with experience, and that we only get ourselves into trouble by letting second thoughts complicate our decision-making.

Then again, it's often recommended as well to think through your options before acting hastily, especially when it comes to important, tournament-turning situations like this one.

What factors tend to influence your thinking at the table? Which tends to govern your decision-making  first instincts or second thoughts?
Rotana (left) and Tala Farea were discovered on on the banks of New York Citys Hudson River waterfront (AP)

Two sisters from Saudi Arabia whose bodies were found taped together on the banks of a New York river committed suicide, it has been concluded.

New Yorks Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said that Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, tied themselves together before descending into the Hudson River.

The sisters were found tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape, dressed all in black in late October.

The sisters were found beside the Hudson River in October 2018 (Getty/stock photo)

There were no visible signs of trauma and water was found in their lungs, indicating they were alive when they entered the river.

Rotana and Tala had run away from their family home in Virginia on several occasions, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).

The sisters, who according to police has applied for asylum in the United States, had been placed in a shelter but left Virginia in August and set out for New York.

MORE: Woman, 21, dies after being hit by police car responding to 999 call in east London

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An NYPD spokesman said that they stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card while there.

Following their deaths, Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabias US embassy in Washington, denied the asylum claims made by police.

The pair stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card while in New York (Getty)

She tweeted: Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in NY), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false.

US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.

For confidential emotional support, contact The Samaritans by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org at any time.

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An American man being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying was given a flash drive containing Russian state secrets before he was arrested, but did not know he had them and had not looked at them, his lawyer has said.

Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, was detained in Moscow at the end of December.

The arrest raised speculation that he could be swapped for one of the Russians held in the US, such as gun rights activist Maria Butina, who has pleaded guilty to acting as a foreign agent in the US.

Whelan made his first public appearance in court on Tuesday to hear the appeal of his arrest.

Paul Whelan (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

The judge upheld the previous ruling that ordered him to be kept behind bars at least until the end of February.

Whelan, who is also a citizen of the UK, Ireland and Canada, was kept in a glass cage and did not speak to reporters.

Spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Russia.

Whelans lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, told Russian news agencies that when his client was detained at a Moscow hotel at the end of December he had something with him that contained state secrets.

The lawyer said that Whelan was a frequent visitor to Russia and that he asked an unnamed person to email him something about travel around the country.

Paul Whelan in a Moscow court (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

Whelan reportedly was not able to download it and then asked that person to put it on a flash-drive.

He was expecting to see on the flash drive some personal information like pictures or videos, something like that, about that persons previous trips around Russia, Mr Zherebenkov told reporters.

We dont know how the materials that contain state secrets ended up there.

The lawyer said the American was detained before he could open the files.

Mr Zherebenkov also said it was not clear what has happened to the person who reportedly gave the flash drive to Whelan.

Mr Zherebenkov said that the investigators have not yet disclosed which country he is accused of spying for.

Story continues

Whelan, 48, was discharged from the Marines for bad conduct.

He works as the global security director for a US automobile parts manufacturer and lives in Michigan.

His family has said he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.
Pope Francis has arrived in Panama where he is to offer encouragement to young people gathered for World Youth Day 2019.

The pontiffs plane touched down on Wednesday afternoon in the Panamanian capital.

He was met by President Juan Carlos Varela and first lady Lorena Castillo, who escorted him along a red carpet laid on the tarmac.

Pope Francis walks between Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and first lady Lorena Castillo de Varela (Alessandra Tarantino/AP)

Spectators waved Panamanian flags in greeting and shouted: This is the youth of the pope!

The pontiff told reporters travelling with him aboard the papal plane that he plans to go to Japan in November.

Francis had previously said he wanted to go, but this is the first confirmation that a trip will happen.

The pope also said he wants to visit Iraq, but that local church leaders have told him that the security situation is not yet right.

After Panama, the pontiff has scheduled trips to the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bulgaria and Macedonia.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced a review into the flaghsip 842 million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

A review will be carried out at Scotlands flagship hospital after it emerged one of the two patients who died there after contracting an infection linked to pigeon droppings was a child.

Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman confirmed a post-mortem examination carried out on the youngster showed the Cryptococcus bacteria was a contributory factor in their death.

An earlier patient at Glasgows Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was also found to have an infection caused by inhaling the fungus Cryptococcus, which is primarily found in soil and pigeon droppings, but Ms Freeman confirmed it did not contribute to their death.

Pigeon droppings appeared in a plant room on the hospitals rooftop via a small break in the wall, which was invisible to the naked eye, Ms Freeman said.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman tells MSPs the Scottish Government has been forced to make up the shortfall from elsewhere in its budget.

Adding it was still unclear how the bacteria had entered the ventilation system, she said a review would be carried out in the design, build, handover and maintenance of the flagship hospital.

It was built for the Scottish Government at a cost of some 842 million and opened at the end of April 2015.

Despite the hospital having only recently been constructed, Ms Freeman said there appeared to be a number of instances where the fabric of building was less than satisfactory.

After visiting the hospital on Tuesday morning, the Health Secretary said: I have agreed a review, with external expert advice, that will look at the design of the building, the commissioning of the work, the construction of the building, the handover of the building and the maintenance of the building, in order to ensure we identify where issues were raised that should have been addressed and where maintenance programmes now should be perhaps more robust or more frequent.

Ms Freeman announced the review after setting out clear factual points on the two patient deaths to MSPs at Holyrood.

She said the Cryptococcus bacteria had initially been identified in one patient in November 2018 but was not linked to that persons death the following month.

Story continues

Ms Freeman added: In December a post-mortem of a child who has passed away conformed that Cryptococcus was both present and a contributory factor in their death.

She explained the second case triggered the introduction of additional infection control measures by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, including prescribing anti-fungal medication to vulnerable patients and the provision of additional air filters.

I am confident the board have taken all the steps they should to ensure and maintain patient safety, she said.

Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the public would be shocked to learn one of those who had died was a child as she claimed there had been a complete lack of clarity from the health board about the infection.

Ms Lennon said: I think the people of Scotland will feel it is absolutely extraordinary that in a modern hospital, Scotlands flagship and apparently super hospital no less, we have a situation where pigeons and infections can kill patients.

If this unthinkable and deadly infection can happen at the flagship Queen Elizabeth, what is to stop it happening at other hospitals?

The Labour MSP pressed Ms Freeman on when the the Scottish Government had been alerted to the issue, after reports an outpatient had contacted previous health secretary Shona Robison in March 2018 regarding problems with pigeons at the hospital.

Ms Freeman said a thorough search of records by both the Government and staff at Ms Robisons constituency office had found no trace of this letter, and that the government first learned of the infection on December 21.

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French accordionist Marcel Azzola, who played with greats including Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Barbara and Sid Vicious, has died at the age of 91. Azzola, who was born to Italian immigrants in Paris and displayed his musical ability at a young age, was credited with using his rare technical mastery of one of Frances most emblematic instruments to adapt it to the world of jazz. His skill for lighting up the accordion drew the admiration of Jacques Brel who famously shouted "Chauffe Marcel" (go for it Marcel!) on the recording of Vesoul. He also had a rock 'n' roll phase, and played on Anarchie pour le UK on the Sex Pistols' The Great rock 'n' roll swindle. He recalls meeting [Johnny] Rotten in Paris (in French). He was also known for his contribution to the soundtracks of dozens of films, including Jacques Tatis Mon Oncle. His partner, Lina Bossati, who accompanied him on piano, said Azzola had died on Monday morning at his home west of Paris. His heart gave out, she told AFP. He was a great musician and no less great a man, I am devastated, jazz guitarist Christian Escoudie, who often played with Azzola, wrote on Facebook.

French accordionist Marcel Azzola, who played with greats including Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Barbara and Sid Vicious, has died at the age of 91.

Azzola, who was born to Italian immigrants in Paris and displayed his musical ability at a young age, was credited with using his rare technical mastery of one of Frances most emblematic instruments to adapt it to the world of jazz.

His skill for lighting up the accordion drew the admiration of Jacques Brel who famously shouted "Chauffe Marcel" (go for it Marcel!) on the recording of Vesoul.

He also had a rock 'n' roll phase, and played on Anarchie pour le UK on the Sex Pistols' The Great rock 'n' roll swindle. He recalls meeting [Johnny] Rotten in Paris (in French).

He was also known for his contribution to the soundtracks of dozens of films, including Jacques Tatis Mon Oncle.

His partner, Lina Bossati, who accompanied him on piano, said Azzola had died on Monday morning at his home west of Paris.

His heart gave out, she told AFP.

He was a great musician and no less great a man, I am devastated, jazz guitarist Christian Escoudie, who often played with Azzola, wrote on Facebook.
India invited Pakistan for talks

ISLAMABAD: India on Tuesday asked Pakistani officials to visit New Delhi for talks on the issue and suggested Feb 26 and March 7 as the two possible dates for the meeting.



India has also proposed two set of dates, 26 February and 7 March 2019, for the visit of Pakistan delegation to New Delhi to discuss and finalise the modalities so that the Indian pilgrims can visit the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor at the earliest, the Indian external affairs ministry said in a statement issued in New Delhi.



The statement was issued in response to the draft agreement on Kartarpur Corridor shared by Pakistan with India on Monday and the accompanying invitation to initiation of negotiations for its finalisation.



By giving a counter-invitation to Pakistan instead of accepting its invitation for negotiations, India seemed to be avoiding the tough choice between rejecting the proposal and accepting Islamabads call for talks.



Pakistan had asked the Indian government to urgently send a delegation to Islamabad for negotiating the agreement.



India has during PM Narendra Modis tenure avoided resumption of dialogue with Pakistan on the pretext that its terrorism concerns are not being addressed. The Modi government has been particularly suspicious of Pakistani move to offer opening of Kartarpur Corridor on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, in November this year even though it accepted it out of its domestic political compulsions.



The Indian government had sent two cabinet members  Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh  to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony of the project in November.



Later, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj claimed that the two ministers went to the Gurudwara to offer prayers and had not been trapped by Pakistani googlies. Her comments were in response to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshis remarks that Prime Minister Imran had bowled a googly at India by opening the Kartarpur border corridor.



Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal, who is also Pakistans focal person for negotiations on the Kartarpur Corridor agreement, talking to Dawn on the Indian invite said that its clear to everyone that Islamabads invitation came before Delhi invited it.



The Indian external affairs ministry further said that it had shared the coordinates of the zero point (crossing point) of the corridor along the International Border with Pakistan. This, it said, was done in line with the decision taken by the Government of India on 22 November 2018 to expeditiously realise the long pending proposal to establish Kartarpur Corridor.



Pakistans FO had while sharing the draft agreement and extending invitation to India said that its actions were in accordance with Islamic principles that advocate respect for all religions and Pakistans policy of promoting inter-faith harmony and religious tolerance and also in line with Quaids vision of a peaceful neighbourhood.



Pakistan is to construct the nearly four-km-long corridor from the border to the Gurudwara in Kartarpur Sahib, whereas India is to develop the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak, in East Punjabs Gurdaspur district, to the international border.
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - A top executive from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] being held in Canada can make "strong arguments" against extradition to the United States, in part due to President Donald Trump's politicization of the case, Canada's ambassador to China said. Canadian envoy John McCallum's comments to Chinese-language media, which were broadcast on Wednesday, are the most explicit sign yet from a Canadian official that Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, may not be sent to the United States. Meng was detained on Dec. 1 in Vancouver at the request of the United States https://reut.rs/2HuT3WE over alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran. She is currently under house arrest and China is demanding that she be freed https://reut.rs/2CDejnG. In a clip shown by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, McCallum said Meng had "quite good arguments on her side," the first of which was "political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case." Trump told Reuters last month he would intervene in Meng's case if it served U.S. national security interests or helped close a trade deal with China. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland quickly warned Washington not to politicize extradition cases. McCallum also said extradition "would not be a happy outcome," a comment that could irritate the Trump administration, which has generally cool relations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government. The envoy's remarks, which were made in English on Tuesday, are potentially awkward for Canada's government, which insists it cannot intervene because of judicial independence. Trudeau sidestepped questions about the matter on Wednesday, telling reporters in Saskatchewan that under Canadian law Meng would have a chance to mount a strong defense. The Liberals may face a tough reelection fight this October against the opposition Conservative Party, which said McCallum's actions raised "questions of political interference." David Mulroney, an ex-Canadian ambassador to China, tweeted that McCallum's comments were "almost impossible to understand." POSSIBLE OPTIONS McCallum noted Canada has not applied the same sanctions against Iran as the United States. "Canada does not sign onto these Iran sanctions. So I think she (Meng) has some strong arguments she can make before a judge," he said. The U.S. Justice Department has until Jan. 30 to file a formal extradition request and Canadian officials will then take up to a month to decide whether an extradition hearing is warranted. Legal experts say they expect a hearing to be held. "Canada respects its international legal commitments, including by honoring its extradition treaty with the United States," Freeland spokesman Adam Austen said in an email. Meng's arrest has hurt Canada's relations with China, which subsequently detained two Canadians https://bit.ly/2Mrp80v last month, citing national security concerns. Additionally, a Chinese court later retried a Canadian who had been jailed for drug smuggling and sentenced him to death https://reut.rs/2RKgaRJ. McCallum said he saw three possible options for resolving the case. One would be Meng's extradition, which he said "would not be a happy outcome and that would take years" given that she could lodge legal appeals. The second would be for the United States to make a deal with China whereby the extradition request would be dropped. The third would be Meng's release by a Canadian court on the grounds the U.S. request was not warranted. McCallum, 68, a former Liberal cabinet minister, has made headlines in the past with offhand or colorful comments. (Additional reporting by Tyler Choi in Toronto; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Paul Simao)
France, Germany try to 'show the way forward' for embattled EU project

By Jean-Baptiste Vey

AACHEN, Germany (Reuters) - The leaders of France and Germany signed a new treaty on Tuesday to update their 1963 post-war reconciliation accord, aiming to reinvigorate the European Union's main axis as growing eurosceptic nationalism tests the bloc's cohesion.

At a ceremony in the German border city of Aachen, an historic symbol of European concord, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron sought to show they can provide fresh leadership for the troubled EU project.

But some analysts doubt that France and Germany can still lead an EU that has grown to 28 members with diverse and often conflicting interests and priorities.

The two leaders want the 16-page Aachen Treaty, negotiated over the past year to update the 1963 Elysee Treaty, to give an impulse to European unity that has been strained by Brexit, immigration and the euro zone crisis.

"We are doing this because we live in special times and because in these times we need resolute, distinct, clear, forward-looking answers," said Merkel, noting Aachen was home to Charlemagne, whom she dubbed "the father of Europe".

Macron added: "At a time when Europe is threatened by nationalism, which is growing from within ... Germany and France must assume their responsibility and show the way forward."

But the treaty is short on detail and does little to push forward euro zone economic reform, though it commits Berlin and Paris to closer foreign policy and defence ties.

The head of Germany's BDI industry association, Joachim Lang, said: "Concrete steps must follow."

LOST OPPORTUNITY?

Sabine von Oppeln, expert on Franco-German ties at Berlin's Free University, said of the slow progress on euro zone reform: "The German side is not responding to Macron's ideas, which are of course also driven by (French) national interests."

"This could be an opportunity for a real renewal of cooperation but I fear the chance has been lost," she added.

Story continues

Franco-German treaties are supposed to be milestones in the process of European integration, paving the way for the bloc as a whole to deepen cooperation.

"Today Europe needs a revival of faith in the meaning of solidarity and unity, and I want to believe that enhanced Franco-German cooperation will serve this objective," Donald Tusk, head of the European Council that groups the EU's national governments and a former Polish premier, said at the ceremony.

However, Merkel and Macron, both of whom have struggled to maintain their authority at home, have failed to provide a wide-ranging vision to really enthuse europhiles.

"Maybe the expectations for France and Germany continuing to shape Europe have become too high," wrote Judy Dempsey at Carnegie Europe, a think-tank.

"Maybe new groupings of countries, big and small, are needed to galvanise support for setting a strategic course for Europe."

The Aachen document says it will be a priority of German-French diplomacy for Germany to be accepted as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. Berlin has long sought to join its closest allies - the United States, Britain and France - on the international body.

The accord also signals that Berlin and Paris will remain committed to the NATO military alliance and seek to combat efforts by some nationalist politicians to weaken the EU.

Facing new challenges from President Donald Trump in the United States and Britain's looming exit from the EU as well as more eurosceptic governments in Italy, Poland and Hungary, Merkel and Macron are keen to limit gains by populist, nationalist parties in European Parliament elections in May.

Eurosceptics were unimpressed by the new treaty.

"The EU is now deeply divided. A German-French special relationship will alienate us even further from the other Europeans," said Alexander Gauland, leader in the German parliament of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Rally, formerly the National Front, accused Macron of planning to cede control of the eastern region of Alsace to Germany -- comments that were ridiculed by mainstream French media and politicians.

The original Elysee Treaty was signed in 1963 by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Charles de Gaulle, who in the same year vetoed the British application to join the European Community, the precursor of today's European Union.

(Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers, Michelle Martin and Paul Carrel and Luke Baker in Paris; Editing by Gareth Jones)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Norway's company Gassco is pictured on a water tank at the new gas import terminal of Norway's company Gassco in Emden, Germany, May 24, 2016. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

By Vera Eckert, Christoph Steitz and Tom Kackenhoff

BERLIN (Reuters) - Norway, Germany's third biggest gas supplier after Russia and the Netherlands, could make further inroads into the German market as the country phases out coal, a top executive at Norwegian oil and gas firm Equinor <EQNR.OL> said on Wednesday.

"I'm sensing that there is going to be an increasing demand for gas (in Germany)," said Irene Rummelhoff, member of Equinor's executive committee.

"I think it could be an increasing market for us going forward," she told Reuters at a German industry event.

A commission comprising politicians, researchers and lobbyists has been tasked with setting out a shut-down schedule for German coal mining and power generation on Friday, or by Feb. 1 at the latest.

This comes amid a push by Germany to cut climate-harming emissions.

In 2018, coal had an 38 percent share in German power generation versus just 7.4 percent for gas. The commission is likely to propose the closure of half the nation's 43 gigawatts (GW) hard coal and lignite fleet by 2030.

"The quicker the phase-out (of coal), the stronger the demand for gas as I see it because there is no other viable alternative," Rummelhoff said.

She said Germany could not run on renewables alone, and it is also phasing out nuclear power by 2022, while gas offered steady supply at half the emissions of coal.

Rummelhoff also saw more room for the use of gas in home heating, where it currently accounts for around 50 percent of all units but is due to take market share from more polluting heating oil, and in transport.

"The heat segment is very dependent on gas and we see interesting movement in the transport sector, such as in public sector buses," she said.

Germany's gas strategy is important for Norway's export success. Out of Norway's pipeline gas exports of 114 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2018, 47 bcm went to Germany, figures from grid company Gassco showed.

Story continues

Rummelhoff also said she was a little puzzled by Germany's plans, under pressure from would-be supplier the United States, for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal.

Existing terminals around Europe's coasts are under-utilised because LNG is more expensive than pipeline gas. But traders and customers at the conference support the new terminal as a way of opening up more shipment options and boosting liquidity.

"I guess the rationale would be to have more diversification rather than more capacity," Rummelhoff said.

(Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Mark Potter)
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday he hopes there is a transitional period for Britain's exit from the European Union as many Japanese companies have made investment inroads into the country.

Abe also reiterated his resolve to raise Japan's consumption tax rate to 10 percent from 8 percent in October as scheduled.

"We are in an environment where we are able to raise consumption tax," Abe said in a seminar at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Officials in a mountainous district in Quang Nam Province, located in central Vietnam, have raised eyebrows after they rewarded a local family with VND15,025 (US$0.65) for handing over their estate to authority in line with a site clearance order.

The Land Fund Development Center of Bac Tra My District in Quang Nam announced on Monday that the family of local resident Le Kim Hap had been awarded VND15,025 in return for good compliance with an order to clear the site of their house, according to a photo of the announcement uploaded online.

The reward was pursuant to a previous decision by the administration of Bac Tra My District on rewarding households that comply with the site clearance request, which is necessary for construction of a public road.

Haps family was asked to be present at the headquarters of the Land Fund Development Center on Wednesday afternoon to collect their reward.

The ridiculously low reward has become a laughing stock for netizens in Vietnam, who criticize local officials for their rigidity when implementing regulations.

This deserves to be the joke of the century, wrote Doan Thanh Van, a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reader, in the comment section of a Vietnamese article reporting on the news.

How are they supposed to pay out VND25 in cash? Nghia, another reader, commented.

The smallest denomination of a Vietnamese banknote that remains in circulation is VND200.

Dang Cong Tu, deputy director of the Land Fund Development Center of Bac Tra My District, has confirmed that the announcement as seen online is authentic and that the money awarded to the family of resident Le Kim Hap is indeed VND15,025.

The reward is equal to five percent of the compensation Haps family received from the land clearance as stipulated in a decision issued by the provincial administration on rewarding cooperative households, Tu explained.

Even though the reward in Haps case is small, officials are still compelled to make the payout in accordance with the regulations, Tu said.

Rewards range from a few thousand to millions of Vietnamese dong [VND1 million = $43.15], depending on the compensation each family is eligible for, he added.

We have asked the provincial government many times to reconsider their rewarding policies, Tu said.

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The Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City has become crowded these days as families and relatives come to pick up overseas Vietnamese, who return home for the Lunar New Year 2019, which will fall early next month.

The pick-up zone at the international terminal of Tan Son Nhat was so jammed at midday on Tuesday that the airport management had to strengthen security forces to prevent jostling, according to the observation of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspapers reporters.

The congestion was caused by dozens of family members, who showed up to greet overseas Vietnamese, or Viet Kieu, coming home to celebrate the Tet holiday.

A security officer oversees a crowd of people waiting for overseas Vietnamese relatives at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22, 2019. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre

According to a representative of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the number of people picking up overseas Vietnamese relatives at the airport has been notably on the increase since January 16.

They are to blame for the busy scene at the airport as each group of around ten people waiting at the airport on Tuesday was apparently to welcome only one overseas Vietnamese, making the venue almost occupied with no vacancy left.

A crowd of people wait for overseas Vietnamese relatives at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22, 2019. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre

Truck cranes were even moved to the airport to handle cases of wrong and overdue car parking as three-minute parking time in front of the arrival terminal had been recommended.

However, disorganization and chaos, which were expected, did not happen.

Meanwhile, airlines also had to transfer personnel from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to support passenger service as the southern-based airport appeared to be more crowded, according to Dang Tuan Tu, director of Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

A crowd of people wait for overseas Vietnamese relatives at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22, 2019. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre

A crowd of people wait for overseas Vietnamese relatives at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22, 2019. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre

A truck crane is moved to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on January 22, 2019. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre

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Authorities in Hanoi have revoked the business license of a local company after one of its truck drivers caused a deadly crash that killed eight people in the northern province of Hai Duong earlier this week.

The municipal Department of Transport on Tuesday decided to take away the transport business license of NewPro Production and Commercial JSC, based in Ha Dong District, Hanoi, for three months following the serious crash.

The permit was previously issued on December 14, 2016.

Founded in 2011, NewPro specializes in the production of paint, varnish, ink, and mastic, but goods transport is also among the firms various lines of business.

The revocation came after 28-year-old Luong Van Tam, one of the companys drivers, crashed his truck into a group of cemetery goers, most of whom were local officials and veterans, along a section of National Highway 5 in Kim Luong Commune, Kim Thanh District, Hai Duong Province on Monday afternoon.

Seven victims died on the spot, another succumbed to serious injuries at the hospital, and eight others were injured following the crash.

Truong Van Tam at the police station in Kim Thanh District, Hai Duong Province. Photo: Nguyen Son / Tuoi Tre

Tam later turned himself in and was asked to undergo a quick examination at a local medical center, whose result showed that he tested positive for drugs.

Officers also discovered that data of the trucks black box was not transmitted to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam (DRVN) in accordance with regulations.

The DRVN has asked the Hanoi transport department to make a comprehensive inspection of the driving school that trained Tam and the agency that tested and granted him his drivers license.

At the police bureau in Kim Thanh District, Hai Duong on Tuesday, Tam admitted he had consumed crystal meth several days prior to the crash, but was unable to provide the exact date.

He and two driver assistants were transporting goods from Hanoi to nearby Hai Phong City that day, Tam continued, adding that he was exhausted and fell asleep before slamming into the group of pedestrians, who were walking along the edge of the road that had no sidewalk toward a footbridge.

Further investigation is ongoing.

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Madrid -- A taxi driver protesting in Madrid against Uber-like services was seriously hurt in a car accident on Tuesday as a strike continued in the Spanish capital and Barcelona with sporadic clashes.

He "is in very serious condition," a spokeswoman for Madrid's La Paz hospital told AFP.

Emergency services in Madrid tweeted that the man, in his thirties, had suffered a brain injury.

The accident happened in Madrid during a protest by taxi drivers who blocked off a highway on Tuesday afternoon amid increasing tensions between these and ride-hailing services such as Uber or Cabify, also known as VTCs (Tourism Vehicles with Chauffeur).

The drivers in the city started an indefinite strike on Monday in protest at competition from VTCs.

Footage broadcast by Spanish media showed the taxi driver, wearing a yellow vest like anti-government protesters in France, jump onto the bonnet of a black vehicle surrounded by demonstrators.

He fell heavily onto the road as the vehicle sped off, pursued by protesters.

The Civil Guard police force told AFP the driver of the vehicle involved in Tuesday's accident had turned himself in and was questioned before being released.

However the Civil Guard refused to say whether the car was a VTC, as claimed by the taxi drivers.

There were also clashes in Barcelona, where taxi drivers have been on strike since Friday.

Unauto VTC, the association representing the sector, said 80 VTCs had been damaged in Barcelona and 50 in Madrid during the strike.

On Monday, taxi drivers in Barcelona tried to force their way into the Catalan regional parliament but were held back by police.

Spanish taxi drivers complain that rival drivers from ride-hailing apps compete unfairly since they do not face the same regulations and costs.

In Barcelona, they are also angry about new regulations unveiled Friday by Catalonia's regional government obliging VTC clients to book their services at least 15 minutes in advance.

That means Uber or Cabify users would have to wait 15 minutes before they get a ride.

But taxi drivers argue that ride-hailing services are not a taxi service by law and should therefore be booked 12 to 24 hours ahead of time.

Catalonia's regional government met with representatives of the taxi drivers on Tuesday and unveiled a new proposal.

A spokesman for the taxi drivers told Spanish public television that under this new proposal, Uber or Cabify customers would have to book them at least one hour in advance.

A VTC representative quickly threatened to withdraw from Barcelona after the Catalan government's proposal.

"Unfortunately, the Generalitat (Catalan executive) has decided to yield to the taxi sector's blackmail and we are forced to convey that the VTC services will have to leave the city of Barcelona," Cabify representative Marta Plana told the media.
Imran Khan called special session of federal cabinet

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday called a special session of the federal cabinet to approve the upcoming supplementary finance bill scheduled to be presented on Wednesday (today).



The federal cabinet will be meeting at 2 pm at the Parliament House and is likely to accord final approval to the mini-budget.



Minister for Finance Asad Umar is going to unveil the supplementary finance bill and macroeconomic framework before the parliament on Wednesday (today).



Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said it would be an important day as Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) government will present its economic agenda before the masses.



In a tweet, the minister said during the first five months the incumbent government overcame balance of payment issues and the economic crisis created by deadly economic policies of the previous government. Now the PTI government will give its own economic agenda, he said, adding that 2019 will be the year of achieving real targets set by the PTI government. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Naeemul Haq said Imran Khan will also attend the National Assembly session on Wednesday.
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Defense attorney David Gregan had asked for a lower bond, citing the lack of a prior criminal record. He described Sutherland as a family man with young children who has lived in Arizona since 1993.

"There's no direct evidence that Mr. Sutherland has committed these acts," Gregan said. "I know at this point there's DNA. But he will have a right to his own DNA expert."

Gregan did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Hacienda officials fired Sutherland after learning of his arrest. The company said it was "troubled beyond words." Sutherland had passed an extensive background check.

"Once again, we offer an apology and send our deepest sympathies to the client and her family, to the community and to our agency partners at every level," Hacienda said in a statement.

The 29-year-old victim has been in long-term care since age 3 and gave birth at the facility on Dec. 29. Employees said they had no idea she was pregnant. As her guardian, the woman's mother was required to submit an annual report to the court that included results of a medical exam.
U.S. Sen. Martha McSally met with customs agents working without pay in Nogales on Tuesday, telling the federal workers impacted by the shutdown that she is working hard to reopen the government.

Standing a few feet away from a 14-foot-high border wall after meeting with about 150 customs agents, the Tucson Republican told reporters that she wanted to visit with Customs and Border Protection agents to gauge their morale during the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history.

I was looking them in the eye and doing a moral check, letting them know that I am standing with them at this time and trying to find a path forward, McSally said. I am really grateful that they are coming here to work.

More than a month into the shutdown, McSally refused to comment on any specific bill that the Senate is expected to vote on later this week. However, she stressed that she supports both reopening the federal government and the $5.7 billion request made by President Trump for border security.

She said she wasnt familiar with two separate pieces of legislation expected to be introduced this week, one that includes border security funding and one that does not.
When this whole shutdown started, the central issue was how much money should be spent on a border wall.

In that infamous meeting Dec. 11 between President Trump, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Trump said, Id like not to see a government closing, a shutdown. We will see what happens over the next short period of time. But the wall is a very important thing to us.

Now, the government has been partially closed for more than a month. Federal employees are poised to miss their second paycheck this week. And instead of zeroing in on a solution, the proposals are getting expansive, encompassing more and more pieces of the immigration puzzle that for decades has eluded a solution.

Bringing in more issues  the wall, asylum restrictions, DACA provisions, immigration courts  while the government is shut down is not the right way to fix the problem. If a fight over spending on a border wall was enough to lead to a closure, then putting more immigration dishes on the negotiating table seems like a wrongheaded way to find a solution.

I put my perspective on this to Sen. Martha McSally on Tuesday, when she held a press conference in the cold shadow of the downtown Nogales border fence. McSally, a Republican, said bringing more issues might be the way to end the shutdown.
He said his drug use continued throughout most of his sentence, until one day he was talking about his upcoming release with a fellow inmate who was serving a life sentence. The inmate asked McKowen what he was going to do when he got out, and McKowen didnt have an answer.

The prisoner serving the life sentence told McKowen that if he had a chance to go out and do something with his life, he wouldnt waste it.

I realized I had a decision to make, McKowen said. Thats the moment it all turned around for me, that was the moment I stopped getting high and that was the moment I had something to fight for.

That moment would have come a lot sooner if hed had the opportunity to reduce his sentence, McKowen said, adding that his re-entry has been difficult but hes determined to make something positive come from his experience.

The stories of people like Kerman, Nolan and McKowen clearly demonstrate the need for change in Arizonas criminal justice system, said AFSC-AZ director Caroline Isaacs.

Theres a grand swell in this state of people who are ready to stand up and say, the laws we have right now arent working and they dont represent our interests, Isaacs said. I know that this is possible ... youre surrounded by the best examples of the truth of the matter, which is that people can and do change for the better and they deserve an opportunity to come home to us.

Contact reporter Caitlin Schmidt at cschmidt@tucson.com or 573-4191. Twitter: @caitlincschmidt

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PHOENIX  The legal question of if and when businesses can refuse to provide services to same-sex couples could come down to how the Arizona Supreme Court defines celebratory language.

Attorney Jonathan Scruggs, who represents the owners of Brush & Nib Studio, said his clients do provide off-the-shelf items for weddings, such as generic invitations, place cards and table numbers. And he told the justices on Tuesday that the businesses two owners, who do calligraphy, also would not turn away gay clients who want them to design something else, even down to invitations to a memorial for a same-sex spouse.

What they will not do, said Scruggs, is create anything that he said celebrates the wedding of a same-sex couple. That, he said, runs contrary to their religious beliefs that marriage is solely between one man and one woman.

That eliminates all same-sex wedding invitations, he said.

All wedding invitations the studio creates contain celebratory text about the wedding, he said. And that is enough for this court to say, You cant compel that message.

But Eric Fraser, an assistant Phoenix city attorney, argued that Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, the owners of the studio, are not being asked to celebrate anyones wedding.
France to provide loan for Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project

ISLAMABAD: The French government has decided to provide a soft loan of 130 million euros (Rs19.5 billion) for the Peshawar Sustainable Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Project.



Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed, Ambassador of France Marc Barety and Country Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) Jacky Amprou signed the credit facility agreement here on Tuesday.



The Executive Committee of National Economic Council had approved the revised PC-1 of the project in November last year, while the federal cabinet accorded approval to the signing of the agreement with the AFD early this month. The AFD and Asian Development Bank have co-financed the project.



The revised cost of the project is Rs66.437bn ($593m), including foreign exchange component of Rs53.32bn shared by the ADB and AFD. The project will contribute to the governments strategy to resolve the issues of urban transportation.



It will provide safe, efficient and comfortable user-friendly mass transit system, which will be well integrated with the existing transport facilities. It will also help in improving energy efficiency and air quality through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.



To date, the AFD has committed 880m euros financial support, while the Peshawar project will open new avenue of collaboration in the urban development sector, according to the French embassy in Islamabad.



France through the AFD is working in Pakistan, providing technical and financial support to develop low-carbon infrastructures.



The AFD is an inclusive public financial institution and the main actor in Frances development policy. It makes commitments to projects that genuinely improve the everyday lives of people, in developing and emerging countries and in the French overseas territories.
The Lt. Dan Band was named for Lieutenant Dan Taylor, the character that Sinise played in the 1994 film "Forrest Gump." Sinise has more than 50 acting credits to his name, including in films and on television shows such as "Apollo 13," "Reindeer Games," "Ransom" and "CSI: NY."

Conger, who served in the United States Marine Corps for a decade, was tapped by D-M to serve 1912's beer at the concert, alongside the owners of Greet Feet Brewing, another veteran-owned brewery in town.

Conger said he was informed ahead of time that the band would be coming to his brewery at 2045 N. Forbes Blvd after the gig. Green Feet owners Scott Petersen and Jen Reynard also came down with some of their own creations for Sinise to sample.

"(Sinise) is a huge supporter of military veterans and wanted to make sure he came to a veteran-owned establishment," Conger said. "Everybody was really cool, very gracious. We were honored to have them."

Sinise is the latest in a long list of celebrities who have tasted what Tucson has to offer in recent years.

Others include:

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From changing jobs to leaving relationships, at one point or another, we've all had to take big risks, make life-altering shifts, or completely start over.

Tucson Storytellers, a live storytelling event hosted by the Arizona Daily Star and This is Tucson in partnership with Startup Tucson, is sharing stories about the times in life when we've had to pivot.

Six community members will take the stage on February 19 at the Rail Yard to share their true, first-person stories about the pivots in their lives.

Among them is local author Adam Rex, who will be telling about the biggest pivot in his life  adopting his son.

Entrepreneur Janelle Briggs will be sharing a story about three monumental conversations in her life, and how those shaped her into the person she is today.

And Andrea Carmichael, who works at a non-profit, will be sharing about how practicing ballet helped her find the confidence to live as her true self.
CHEYENNE  After a meeting wrought with emotional testimony from families and condemnation from educators, Wyomings Senate Judiciary Committee voted to defeat a bill that would repeal gun free zones in public spaces Wednesday morning, 3-2.

Noticeably absent from Wednesdays testimony, however, was the pro-gun lobby, who according to two sources never expected the bill to clear the committee.

Why wasnt the state NRA or the Wyoming Gun Owners here? said Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, the bills main sponsor. Ask me that question.

According to Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, the bill, which was sponsored by more than 30 members of the Legislature, was considered dead on arrival in the Judiciary Committee, and, in the days leading up to Wednesdays vote, attempts were made to get the bill reassigned to the Senate Agriculture Committee, which he chairs.

The debate will now be taken up in the House, where a mirror bill has yet to be assigned to a committee.
Heres what I said: I assure you that if you come you will not notice any change. You will not see gunfights at the visitor viewing place at Old Faithful, and bullets will not be flying in the restaurants. These laws tend to be obeyed by most law-abiding people, but are ignored by anyone who wishes to. Im sure people have been bringing guns into the parks for years. Some just thought the rule was dumb, and a tiny few might have brought a gun for bad purposes. But all that has changed now is that a few people who like to obey the law might now feel free to bring a gun in their car. But those are not people you need to worry about. In fact they might make it a bit safer now  if one of those bad people do something to hurt anyone, the good person might be able to stop it before the Rangers can get there.
In the public comment period of the hearing, Rev. Hannah Roberts Villnave, of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne, said she had grave concerns about the bill, which she said was designed to deter people from seeking abortions by adding a burdensome, bureaucratic layer to a procedure many women across the state often have to travel hundreds of miles to receive. In her experience, Villnave said, she had prayed with numerous women who have grappled with the decision of having an abortion and that women, if they choose to have the procedure, never make a spur of the moment decision.

Theyre seeking to have their own moral judgement trusted on this very personal manner, she said.

Sabrina King, of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, added onto this point, saying later in the hearing that the 48-hour waiting period creates an undue restriction on the right to choose, which could adversely impact a womans mental health during what is an already difficult decision.
Although the energy corporation had initially agreed to pay $200,000 each to the two protesters, the settlement took a haircut as the result of Peabody bankruptcy proceedings, Killmer said.

A Peabody Energy spokeswoman said in an email that the company decided to settle the suit for pragmatic reasons.

"Peabodys conduct in the matters regarding this case was appropriate and we are confident we would have prevailed had we taken the case to its completion," the email stated. "It wasnt practical for us to expend additional resources to defend our position and allowing these claims for the given amounts resulted in no incremental cost to the estate."

Janell Oberlander, vice president of the community college district, said she could not comment on the settlement, citing unfinished details of the deal.

The college police chief did not immediately respond on Tuesday afternoon to a request for comment.

In addition to the monetary obligations, campus police have agreed to provide additional First and Fourth Amendment training, Killmer said.
A judge Tuesday sentenced a Douglas man to 12 to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl.

Judge Kerri Johnson sentenced Christopher T. Coffey for his conviction on a single count of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Coffey had asked for probation and a suspended sentence with a community corrections requirement, which would have allowed him to avoid prison time.

Coffey pleaded guilty in October to the felony. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop two other sex abuse felonies they had charged Coffey with. Prosecutor Kevin Taheri also agreed to cap his sentencing argument to 15 years in prison.

During Tuesdays hearing in Natrona County District Court, the childs mother said the girl has had nightmares and attempted suicide following the abuse. She asked for Johnson to sentence Coffey to the greatest amount of prison time possible.

My childs innocence was taken away, the woman said. No amount of time served will give that back.
Westmoreland Coal Company is seeking permission to sell its Kemmerer mine by the end of February, according to a filing Friday in the Houston Bankruptcy court.

Westmoreland filed for bankruptcy in October with $1.1 billion in debt, citing debt and the increasingly difficult market for thermal coal in the United States. It has come under fire from current and former miners in Wyoming during the bankruptcy proceedings for attempting to cut retiree benefits and end its contract with union miners at the Lincoln County mine. The Wyoming miners are represented by the United Mine Workers of America.

The company justified its requests to erase those liabilities in a recent filing in court, arguing that parties interested in buying the Kemmerer mine made it clear that they would not buy with the union contract in place.
Everybody loves the comic performances of actress Sneha Sreekumar. But most people recognize her as Mandodari, the name of her character in the 'Marimaayam' comedy serial telecast by Mazhavil Manorama.



Sneha, who oozes humour in every look and action, also has an MPhil in performing arts. She often performs Ottan Thullal, along with other traditional art forms. However, she earned name and fame with 'Marimaayam.'

Though she loves visiting places and enjoying the sights, a busy schedule keeps Sneha away from many travels. Incidentally, Sneha's mother, now aged 70, is more keen on travelling than the actress and accompanies her daughter on most journeys.

Design of the proposed cable-stayed bridge in Cheruthoni.

Neelakurinji in bloom

"It was mother's long-time wish to watch the 'neelakurinji' (strobilanthes kunthiana) blooms in Munnar. We had planned the trip on earlier occasions but that had not materialized and I was anxious whether we would miss the sight this time too. But, luckily, everything turned out fine and I could fulfill my mothers wish at least this time," says Sneha.

"One would think that neelakurinji is 'neela'  blue in colour  but that is not the case. It is actually purplish-blue," informs the zesty actress.

Neelakurinji blooms on valleys about 1,400 m above sea-level. "It was an amazing sight. But what gave most satisfaction was the expression on my mother's face while she enjoyed the scenery," adds Sneha.

"Mother was so happy with the view. The trip to Munnar in the cold weather was also thrilling," she avers.

Sneha recalls that her father, too, loved trip. "Whenever we had free time, he would ask us all to come along for a trip. He also liked to enjoy new sights. When I was young, father used take us to several places and I can never forget those journeys," she says.

The travel guide

"The favourite among the spots father took me to during childhood are Mookambika Temple and Kudajadri," informs the actress.

"We travel to Mookambika Temple every year. Kudajadri is a peak in the Western Ghats having a height of 1343 m," she adds.

Sneha is well aware of the facts and figures of the area, having conducted numerous visits. "Mookambika Temple is located in the valley of Kudajadri peak. The Adi-Mookambika Temple in Kudajadri village is considered to be the 'moolasthanam' (original abode) of Mookambika Devi," she explains.

The only means of transportation to Kudajadri is the jeep. "It is an adventurous trip along a rough track covered with rocks. But I enjoy the ride and am familiar with each corner of the hill, having been there innumerable times. When you reach the top of the hill and look around at the scenery, all the fatigue of the journey simply vanishes," says Sneha.

"Walking a little further through the woods, pilgrims can reach the Ganesha cave and 'Sarvajnapeedom,' where Adi Sankara is believed to have meditated and realized the presence of the goddess. Sarvajnapeedom is a granite structure about 2 m in height and length. Beyond it, a narrow path down the hill leads to 'Chitramoola,'" Sneha shares her knowledge of the area.

The sights and experiences offered by Mookambika Temple and Kudajadri never fail to thrill Sneha. "Now my friends make me their guide during their Mookambika pilgrimage," says the actress.

Mexican sojourn

Sneha's first trip by flight was to Mexico. Since childhood, she has been practising Ottan Thullal, Kathakali and Mohiniyattam. "The Mexican trip was as part of a workshop held there. I was eagerly looking forward to my very plane travel. Nirmala Teacher, my father's cousin, accompanied me during the trip and we started from Kochi to Mumbai. From there, it was a 12-hour travel to Paris. The flight to Mexico from Paris was scheduled five hours later and involved another 12-hour trip. My very first journey by air that lasted over 24 hours made me worn out and really took away all the joy of the occasion. With that single trip, all my enthusiasm for flying disappeared," recalls the celebrity.

But there was an incident during the flight that taught her some lessons on life. "I am vegetarian and on my next seat was a foreigner. A number of dishes were served during the flight and I started smelling each of them to decide whether it was veg or non-veg. I could not ask the foreigner about it as language was a problem. However, the man realized my predicament and offered me some fruits he had with him. I gladly accepted the fruits as I was very hungry on that long flight. That incident enlightened me that language was no barrier to recognize the pangs of hunger," philosophizes Sneha.

Bit by travel bug

Sneha does not have a bucket list of her destinations. "I set out on a trip at the spur of the moment. As I have shooting on most days, long trips are out of question. But that does not mean travels will be avoided. I visit places without affecting my work," she reveals.

For foreign trips, her favourite destination is the shopping fest at Global Village in Dubai. "The main reason for this is that once, I came to watch a performance by African artistes and loved it. I could learn about not only their arts but also culture. I went to the Global Village this time too and shopped to my fill," she elaborates.

The desert safari is another favourite of the actress. "I was thinking only about the safari before experiencing it. When the vehicle started moving along the sand, my fears intensified. I was afraid whether the vehicle would overturn. I cracked some jokes to reduce my anxiety, but I really enjoyed the adventure," admits Sneha.

The actress has travelled to a long list of destinations. "But there are several other places to visit, that too with my mother. The Himalayas are a dream destination and I am eagerly awaiting that journey," says Sneha.
By 31 December 2018, the number of residents in Luxembourg City stood at exactly 119,214. That number includes citizens from 168 different countries who have moved to the capital of the Grand Duchy.

The trend suggests both demographic growth within the city and the internationalisation of its demographics. Its population size rising by nearly 3,000, Luxembourg City shows itself as a dynamic city and will certainly breach the symbolic bar of 120,000 within the next year.

Non-citizens have essentially pushed the growth of the city's population, as a net number of 8,752 people have settled from abroad.

In total, 84,159 non-Luxembourgers live in the city, making up 70.59% of its population.

The biggest non-Luxembourgish group in the capital is the French, making up 17.2% of its total population. The French are followed by the Portuguese at 10.3%, then Italians at 7%, and Belgians at 3.8%.

In terms of the population breakdown by neighbourhood, the station neighbourhood is the one with the largest foreign population (84%).

Cents, on the contrary, is the only neighbourhood with a Luxembourgish majority (50.6%).
ATC sent Khadim Rizvi to prison on 14-day judicial remand

An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday sent Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Rizvi and patron-in-chief Pir Afzal Qadri along with four others to prison on a 14-day judicial remand. The court heard a case related to nationwide protests and hate speeches against state institutions following the acquittal of blasphemy accused Aasia Bibi by Supreme Court. A huge number of TLP workers gathered outside the court. Strict security measures were made in and outside the court while extra personnel were deployed to deal with any unavoidable situation.



The accused  Rizvi, Qadri, Allama Aijaz Ashrafi and Allama Farooqul Hassan  have been charged with fuelling countrywide protests during which they delivered hate speeches targeting state institutions. They have been also accused of inciting people to damage public and private property during the protests. Several parts of the country witnessed severe disruption on October 30, 2018, as enraged protesters blocked roads and forced markets to shut down.
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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.
As it marks its 50th anniversary year, the State Election Commission is looking for such a solution.

SEC in December, in conjunction with the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, released an official Request for Proposals for a new statewide voting system. The SEC is seeking a uniform, statewide system that features a paper record of each voters voted ballot to replace the current paperless system. The SEC expects to implement the new system by January 2020.

A new voting system will not only provide the state with a dependable system that will serve voters for years to come but will also improve the security and resilience of our election process. Having a paper record of each voters voted ballot will add an important layer of security as it allows for post-election audits of ballots to verify vote totals.

The SEC said it issued the RFP in December to allow adequate time for evaluation of voting system proposals and subsequent implementation by January 2020. It continues working with the S.C. General Assembly to acquire funding for the replacement effort.
COLUMBIA -- PalmettoPride has awarded Keep South Carolina Beautiful Grants to 20 Keep America Beautiful affiliates to help continue local programs across the state.

The KSCB Grant provides local affiliates with funding to implement programs in the area of litter prevention, waste reduction and beautification, the three tenets of Keep America Beautiful.

Keep South Carolina Beautiful is the state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful. KSCB assists local affiliates with education, training, program development and board development. KAB affiliates in South Carolina are key partners of PalmettoPride, helping to expand its programs, volunteer base and impact across the state.

We all must work together if we want to see real change in our state. These grants provide funds needed to continue to implement programs with measurable results, said Sarah Lyles, Palmetto Pride exectuive director. It is so vital to support these organizations locally and at the state level.

Keep America Beautiful has national turn-key programs that assist local communities reduce and prevent litter, create beautification projects and community greening, recycle and educate citizens.
MOUNT PLEASANT -- Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum will open a new exhibition from the National Archives, "Picturing Nam: U.S. Military Photography of the Vietnam War," on Thursday.

Photographs are a powerful part of our collective memory of the Vietnam War. Military photographers stationed in Vietnam took thousands of photographs that covered every aspect of the conflict  photographs that are now part of our National Archives.

Their assignments sent them everywhere: the jungles and swamps, forward bases, hospital ships, rivers, and air bases. Unsanitized and uncensored, the images give an intimate and ground-up view of the war and those who fought it.

The exhibit runs through Sunday, March 31, and is part of Patriots Points ongoing commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The museum is a commemorative partner of the United States Department of Defense.

Picturing Nam is divided into three themes:
Once the victim, who was accompanied by his girlfriend and another friend, arrived on Strawberry Lane, he said he didnt want to drive down the road because it had too many potholes.

Thats when the victim's friend exited the vehicle and walked down the road, the report states. His friend then called to him and told him he was cold so the victim said he drove down the road toward him. He said he noticed a white Cadillac parked near a house, but didnt see his friend at that point.

According to the report, the victim said when he began to back up, some people jumped out of the nearby bushes. He said he placed his vehicle in drive and tried to get away, but the vehicle got struck.

The victim said one of the people who jumped out of the bushes snatched him out of his car and assaulted him, telling him to "give it up." The female, later identified as Davis, allegedly pistol-whipped him.

Others shot firearms at him while he was on the ground, the victim said. Someone at the scene recorded the assault, he said.

After the gunfire ended, the victim said the gunmen made him lie on the ground until they left in the white Cadillac, the report states.

The victim said he called for someone to come get him because his vehicle was stuck.
Orangeburg County

Sheriffs Office

A womans face was covered with blood when deputies arrived at a Rustic Street residence in Orangeburg at 9:28 a.m. on Monday.

She told deputies that she was emptying the trash when her neighbors dog attacked her from behind.

She said the dog bit her in the head, according to the incident report.

Deputies saw a large brown and black German Shepherd running at large, the report states.

Orangeburg County EMS arrived at the scene and transported the woman to the Regional Medical Center to undergo treatment of several wounds to her head, the report noted.

A deputy then called the woman's neighbor and told him that his dog appeared to have broken away from a chain and bitten his neighbor.

Orangeburg County Animal Control also responded to the scene.

In other reports:

While a deputy attempted to assist the South Carolina Highway Patrol in a possible stolen vehicle case around noon on Saturday, the owner of the vehicle allegedly threatened him verbally several times.
ADFD formalized an amount of US$3 billion to SBP

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has formalized an amount of US$3 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan with an aim to support Pakistans economic growth and to achieve the long-term objectives of its monetary policy.



According to WAM news agency, the decision to formalize the deposit was made under the directives of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces. Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, director general of ADFD, and Tariq Bajwa, governor of State Bank of Pakistan, signed the agreement at ADFD Headquarters in Abu Dhabi.



Moazzam Khan, ambassador of Pakistan to UAE, Khalifa Al Qubaisi, deputy director general ADFD, and other senior representatives of the two parties attended the signing ceremony.



Speaking on the occasion, Saif Al Suwaidi said, The directive to deposit US$3 billion with State Bank of Pakistan aligns with UAE leaderships keenness to bolster Pakistans economy, help its government achieve financial stability and overcome economic challenges, and drive comprehensive development in the country. ADFD and the government of Pakistan have enjoyed strong and long-standing ties dating back to 1981. The Funds efforts have significantly contributed to improving socio-economic conditions in the country, boosting strategic growth and achieving the development priorities of the Pakistani government, he added.
Both Phillips and Sandmann have since said their goal was to make sure things didn't get out of hand.

Sellers said he took the tweet down for a reason.

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"I took it down Sunday because there was more information coming out. And while it appears to some I may have been more of the problem than the solution, I wanted to evaluate for my own conscience to ensure that my opinion was one rooted in fact. And after looking at that, I still believe that those kids symbolize a lot of the bigotry that we have in this country," he said.

"I think that the kids are symptomatic of an environment in which xenophobia, bigotry and racism has become tolerated in public spaces. I think that the more you examine the incident, the more you realize that they're mocking the Native American gentleman, the elder, the veteran. The belief that they could do such and the way by which it was done shows that we have a problem in this country that we need to talk about," Sellers said.

He said his tweet was taken out of context and that he was not inciting violence.

"My tweet was metaphorically responding to the smugness of those students. It's metaphoric to talk about one's smugness, or smirking. In no way am I inciting violence," he said.
This editorial appeared in the Jan. 18, 2019, edition of the (Champaign) News-Gazette:

A change in personalities at the top of the political ladder is always exciting, the public optimism associated with turnover usually representing a triumph of hope over experience.

That's why Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker took the state by storm this week, starting with his inauguration on Monday and followed by a downstate appearance to promote jobs, issuing executive orders and signing legislation.

As his tenure lengthens over what will be a four-year term, Pritzker won't continue to dominate the news and editorial pages. But, for now at least, he's the man. The public is watching with interest, hoping he'll lead our sorry state to the promised land of balanced budgets, prudent financial management and fiscal solvency.

But Illinois will never get there if Pritzker repeats the mistakes of the past  spending money the state doesn't have. That's why it was disturbing that one of Pritzker's first actions this week involved spending more money the state doesn't have.

Former Gov. Bruce Rauner engaged in a four-year battle with unionized state employees, a conflict driven mostly by what he saw as excessive pay and benefits and the lack of resources needed to maintain them.
When funding for nine cabinet-level departments lapsed at midnight on Dec. 22, most employees were furloughed. But some are deemed essential to public safety and other essential government functions and required to work without pay, such as correctional officers and traffic controllers.

I just want my paycheck, yet another employee told Durbin. David Morris, the unions vice president, said that each employee's financial situation is different, and some are in more dire financial straits than others. Some families arent bringing in a paycheck at all because they are headed by single parents, or both spouses work for federal agencies affected by the partial government shutdown.

The Marion federal prison employs about 300 workers, most of whom are reporting to work without pay. Some employees drive nearly two hours one direction to work.

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The gentleman down there is on overtime without pay, mandated, (and) you guys are drawing a paycheck and going home at the end of the day saying this can wait for tomorrow. It shouldnt, one frustrated employee told Durbin during the meeting. You should not leave until a resolution is agreed upon and you shouldnt be receiving a paycheck  same as the people that have elected you.
MARION  A Williamson County man was arrested Tuesday in Cape Girardeau and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of killing a Marion man with what police are calling a "machete-type weapon."

Ernest Alex Pulliam, 33, of rural Williamson County, was arrested after arrest warrants were issued on first-degree murder charges after authorities found the body of Donald R. Schultz, 62, in his Marion home Saturday.

Charges described in a news release from the Marion Police Department indicate Schultz may have been killed on Tuesday, Jan. 15, during an armed robbery.

Pulliam was located in Cape Girardeau and taken into custody by detectives from Marion and Cape Girardeau police departments. Pulliam is being held in Cape Girardeau Detention Center awaiting extradition to Illinois. Pulliam's bond was set at $1 million, the release states.

On Saturday, Jan. 19, Marion Police responded to a report of a possible deceased person in the 200 block of East Marion Street. Officers found Schultz, of Marion, deceased in his residence and observed visible injuries to his body.

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Illinois State Police crime scene technicians were contacted to process the scene, and Williamson County Major Case Squad was activated, according to the release.
The Top 20 Dining Card features "buy one entree, get one free" dining at restaurants throughout Southern Illinois. Your card will be honored once at each restaurant through November and costs only $20. Go to www.thesouthern.com/top20 for restaurants and to purchase.

Abans Kitchen, on Illinois Avenue in Carbondale, is a culinary adventure for diners looking to expand their palates and get a taste of something exotic. The welcoming and peaceful eatery, offering Yemeni cuisine to the residents of Southern Illinois, is not only an exciting, new experience for patrons just discovering the unique flavors and customs of the Arabian Peninsula, but also a comforting option for those familiar with the unique blend of spices and flavors offered at Abans Kitchen.

Popular dishes include chicken and beef shawarma, which is minced meat, grilled and served with a salad, rice, and bread, and lamb haneez, a rich and hearty dish of slow roasted lamb shanks served with a vegetable stew and rice. Kabobs are fun for diners of all ages, with seasoned beef or chicken skewered and grilled, alongside a salad of onions, parsley, and tomatoes. Falafel is another favorite dish at Abans Kitchen. The ground chickpeas, fried and topped with tahini, lettuce, and tomatoes are a nice option for diners on the go. Creamy hummus and baba ghanoush are two of the delicious side dishes offered and are a perfect accompaniment to the fresh, made to order clay oven bread that the eatery proudly serves. As a perfect end to lunch or dinner, restaurant-goers often indulge in a warm and comforting mug of fragrant, spicy Aden chai tea served with warm milk.
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Last week, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar had announced that the new 10% quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS) would mean an increase of 25% seats in higher educational institutions and universities across the country. In other words, this will reportedly add up to three lakh seats in centrally-funded institutions, since the government had clarified that more seats would be introduced to accommodate the new quota instead of fitting it in the existing reservation matrix.

"We are expecting an increase from 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh seats, which is going to be rolled out in two phases. The first phase is the 2019-20 academic session and the second one will be the subsequent academic calendar," higher education secretary R. Subrahmanyam told The Times of India.

Centrally-funded institutions currently encompass the IITs, NITs, IISc, IIMs, central universities, central open universities, deemed universities, government colleges and government-aided colleges, which collectively account for around 9.3 lakh seats. "The new reservation will be implemented in 40,000 colleges across 900 universities in the country from this academic year," Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced last week.

By 2021, the number of seats in IITs will increase by over 5,100, the NITs will add about 4,500 seats and the IIMs will add around 800. Large universities like Delhi University will add over 16,000 seats while the likes of Visva Bharati and JNU will offer an additional 822 and 346 seats, respectively, the daily added.

Eventually, unaided institutions will also implement the poor quota - the government is reportedly already working on the bylaws for private institutions to enable this. As per the All India Survey on Higher Education 2017-18, India boasted 25,383 private affiliated colleges, 343 private universities and 6,700 stand-alone private educational institutes.

According to Subrahmanyam, the increase has to be capped at 25% so as not to jeopardise the existing number and percentage of seats of other categories. The reservation system already sets aside 27% of seats and jobs for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 15% for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 7.5% for the Scheduled Tribes (STs).

Institutions have reportedly started preparing their seat matrix and financial requirements on receiving letters from the MHRD and UGC, and the final seat increase will depend on their submissions.

(Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal)

Also read: 7.32 lakh jobs created in Nov; employment up by 48% in formal sector: EPFO payroll data
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Apollo Global Management, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to endowment and sovereign wealth funds, as well as other institutional and individual investors. It manages client focused portfolios. The firm launches and manages hedge funds for its clients. It also manages real estate funds and private equity funds for its clients. The firm invests in the fixed income and alternative investment markets across the globe. Its alternative investments include investment in private equity and real estate markets. The firm's private equity investments include traditional buyouts, recapitalization, distressed buyouts and debt investments in real estate, corporate partner buyouts, distressed asset, corporate carve-outs, middle market, growth capital, turnaround, bridge, corporate restructuring, special situation, acquisition, and industry consolidation transactions. Its fixed income investments include income-oriented senior loans, bonds, collateralized loan obligations, structured credit, opportunistic credit, non-performing loans, distressed debt, mezzanine debt, and value oriented fixed income securities. The firm seeks to invest in chemicals, commodities, consumer and retail, oil and gas, metals, mining, agriculture, commodities, distribution and transportation, financial and business services, manufacturing and industrial, media distribution, cable, entertainment and leisure, telecom, technology, natural resources, energy, packaging and materials, and satellite and wireless industries. It seeks to invest in companies based in across North America with a focus on United States, and Europe. The firm also makes investments outside North America, primarily in Western Europe and Asia. It employs a combination of contrarian, value, and distressed strategies to make its investments. The firm seeks to make investments in the range of $10 million and $1.5 billion. The firm seeks to invest in companies with Enterprise value between $200 million to $2.5 billion. The firm conducts an in-house research to create its investment portfolio. It seeks to acquire minority and majority positions in its portfolio companies. The firm was formally know as Apollo Global Management, LLC. Apollo Global Management, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in New York, New York with additional offices in North America, Asia and Europe

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Congress President Rahul Gandhi welcomed the entry of her sister Priyanka Gandhi into politics. Rahul said the BJP was worried that Priyanka Gandhi had joined politics ahead of the general elections. "I am happy my sister will work with me," Rahul Gandhi told reporters soon after Congress' announcement that Priyanka Gandhi would be the new AICC General Secretary for Easten Uttar Pradesh. She will take charge during the first week of February 2019.

She is the last one in the fourth generation of Nehru-Gandhi family, after her brother Rahul Gandhi and cousin Varun Gandhi, to step into the political arena. Many in the Congress party had wanted Priyanka to join politics and her entry could boost the morale of the party workers.

INC COMMUNIQUE Appointment of General Secretaries for All India Congress Committee. pic.twitter.com/zHENwt6Ckh - INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) January 23, 2019

With the upcoming 2019 General Elections, Priyanka has her work cut out for her. In Eastern UP, she has been given a tough front to hold as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi falls in this region. Being one of the bigger states, Uttar Pradesh holds 80 Lok Sabha seats, which will be crucial in deciding who takes the cake in the elections scheduled for April 2019

Along with Priyanka, Congress President Rahul Gandhi also made some crucial appointments. KC Venugopal has been made AICC General Secretary (Organisation) with immediate effect while continuing his duties as the General Secretary In-charge of Karnataka. Jyotiraditya Scindia has been made AICC General Secretary for UP West, whereas Ghulam Nabi Azad has been made General Secretary, Haryana with immediate effect.

ALSO READ:More seats in IITs, IIMs, Delhi University under reservation for economically weak

ALSO READ:7.32 lakh jobs created in Nov; employment up by 48% in formal sector: EPFO payroll data
Two Saudi sisters whose bodies were found taped together on the banks of a New York river committed suicide, the city's medical examiner said on Tuesday.



Rotana Farea, 22, and her sister Tala, 16, were found beside the Hudson River in late October with no visible signs of trauma, dressed all in black, and in coats with fur-trimmed collars.



They were tied together at the ankles and waist by duct tape.



"My office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River," Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said.



After their deaths, a police official appeared to confirm that the sisters had applied for asylum, but did not provide further detail.



Fatimah Baeshen, spokeswoman for Saudi Arabia's US embassy in Washington, tweeted that "Reports that we ordered anyone related to the Saudi sisters, Tala and Rotana Farea, God rest their souls, (who recently died tragically in NY), to leave the US for seeking asylum; are absolutely false."



They had run away several times from their family's home in Virginia, where they had not lived since the end of 2017.



The sisters had been placed in a shelter but left Virginia in August and set out for New York. There, they stayed in several different upscale hotels and maxed out a credit card, according to an NYPD spokesman quoted by US media.



A witness reportedly saw the two young women early on October 24 on a playground near the Hudson, where they appeared to be praying.



US media quoted police as saying the sisters had indicated that they would rather harm themselves than return to Saudi Arabia.



The kingdom is one of the world's most restrictive countries for women, a situation highlighted this month by the case of Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun.



The teenager fled what she said was physical and psychological abuse from her family in the kingdom, and received asylum in Canada.

The NY medical examiners in the case of 2 sisters from Saudi Arabia who committed suicide in the Hudson river say they've determined it was a suicide It's very unclear, but first, I will say that, if the examiners are covering up anything, that's wrong. If the sisters did commit suicide, then it sounds like they did so because they didn't want to return to such a hellhole as Saudi Arabia, which still isn't proving they're willing to lift all the restrictions they imposed upon women any more than for Jews, who're still not allowed to enter the "kingdom". It's very sad if the sisters didn't get the asylum they deserved, and now, their lives are lost.

Labels: dhimmitude, House of Saud, islam, misogyny, New York, United States
Asides from announcing their Exynos 7904, Samsung also announced their smallest 5.1mm ISOCELL Slim 3T2 Image Sensor Processor offering 20MP resolutions for more front punch display or hole-in-display smartphones. The ISP utilizes Samsung's Tetracell technology which merges four pixels as one, allowing for brighter and sharper pictures in low-light.

While we think this makes it perfect for slimmer and sleeker front punch display smartphones, when applied for rear cameras, it utilizes an RGB color filter array with 60% higher effective resolution at 10x digital zoom. No actual smartphone has been named to use it yet (although we think the new rumoured Galaxy A8s FE could utilize it) but the new camera sensor is expected to hit mass production in Q1 of 2019.
The latest milestone in the rebirth of the Monticello Hotel arrives this week with Fridays scheduled opening of the Long-Bell Steakhouse.

The restaurant, which seats about 70, had been closed since its former owners shuttered it five years ago this month.

It has periodically been opened in recent months to private parties and catered events during the hotel renovation that began with a 2016 ownership change.

In addition to beef, the Long-Bell Steakhouse will feature a menu that includes salads, seafood and pasta.

Its a lot like Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory. ... We used to just be open for a few (banquets and events), but on Friday were opening the gates, said Spencer Boudreau, the maitre dhotel and public relations coordinator for the Monticello.

It wasnt immediately clear Tuesday how many employees will staff the restaurant, but Boudreau said they were all hired for the project. There is a mix of part- and full-time positions hired locally, but some positions, such as the kitchen manager, were imported.
The event will provide health resources, local provider information, legal information and more with Spanish translation available at every station. Health screenings, including blood pressure and glucose checks will be available, as well as free flu shots.

The largest minority group in Cowlitz County is Hispanic/Latino and Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many individuals in this population wont get the care they need when they dont know how to navigate the healthcare system or if theres a language barrier, so the event is a way to bring care access to them, said Katie Walten of the Emergency Support Shelter.
Question for you: When was the last time you were hanging out by a partys cheese plate, talking with friends and other party goers about how great the pairings were? Do you remember what you were even eating or drinking? Was there a quiz at the end of the party?

I hope the answer to all these questions is Oh my, no. Because what a boring fete!

Just like that old convention of pairing red wines with meat, whites with fish, most rules governing cheese pairings are tiresome and keep you in a box. Stop worrying, start drinking.

But I suppose you came here for actual tips, not a treatise. Ill oblige.

The first and last lesson Ive picked up about wine and food pairings is to throw out the tasting notes. There are so many other factors in a wine that make them suitable for food pairings, and knowing that a Beaujolais Villages wine tastes like cranberries, black pepper and violets is less useful than knowing about its texture (weight, minerality, tannins), acidity level, alcohol level and sweetness.

A great wine balances all of these elements, and as such, often makes a great food partner  that includes cheese. Wines that tend toward weighty, oaky, tannic and boozy are often just too much for food, and certainly overpower the often subtle flavors of cheese.
How often do you have a few bananas on your counter top that are too ripe for snacking, or too many bananas in your freezer for smoothies? Well, heres an option: Make chewy banana bomb cookies.

The inspiration for this recipe comes from a grocery store in San Francisco where I attended a prepared foods conference. A version of this cookie was served for a mid-morning snack; it was the perfect snack to energize us during the seminars and to hold us over until lunch.

This isnt your usual cookie dough batter. Theres no flour, no egg, no dairy and no leavening agent. But like most drop cookie recipes, this one is easy to make and kid-friendly.

Start by mixing the ingredients together; then let the mixture sit for 15 minutes. Doing this will slightly thicken and swell the oats while your oven preheats.

I find the easiest way to form the cookies is to the use two spoon method. Use one spoon to scoop the batter and the other spoon to push the batter off of the spoon (and shape the cookie if needed). These cookies bake up pretty fast; theyre done when the bottoms are golden brown. Though they may not seem done, trust me. As the cookies cool, theyll firm up.

Chewy banana bomb cookies

Makes: 9 to 10 cookies
On Sunday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced that the government will waive off Rs 24,000 crore worth crop loans of farmers in a phased manner. Last month, the newly-formed Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan announced major farm loan waivers, and the BJP government in Assam was quick to follow suit. So far, the promised farm relief reportedly totals Rs 1.75 lakh crore.

With such populist decisions likely to gain significance in the run-up to the forthcoming next general elections, aggregate fiscal deficit of the states is expected to reach 3.2% in financial year 2020, warns a recent report by India Ratings. And, in the bargain, the country's alcohol business is likely to take a hit. According to Bloomberg, in an attempt to plug this fiscal hole, states are expected to hike taxes on liquor, one of the top three revenue sources.

Click here to follow all the exclusive coverage of Budget 2019

"Raising liquor taxes - which bring in nearly 25% of revenue - is the most likely option as state governments are unlikely to borrow and worsen their debt-to-GDP ratios," Abneesh Roy and Alok Shah, analysts at Edelweiss Securities Ltd wrote in a recent investor note.

But any increase in taxes will have an adverse effect on alcohol demand as liquor companies are sure to pass on the buck to customers. "In the past, there have been multiple instances where volumes have taken a beating owing to price hikes emanating from an increase in the tax rate," the note added.

Maharashtra has already taken a step in this direction. The Devendra Fadnavis government earlier this month increased the excise duty on Indian-made foreign liquor by 20%, and the buzz is that it will help fetch additional revenue of Rs 2,000-2,500 crore. Last year, too, several states had hiked up taxes on alcohol. For instance, Gujarat had tripled the excise duty on alcohol while Kerala had announced a hike of up to 210% on liquor. Karnataka, meanwhile, announced an excise duty hike by 8% on liquor, after upping the additional excise duty on it to 21% in the previous budget. According to IndiaFilings, it is estimated that the taxes on beer and liquor fetch state governments around Rs 90,000 crore in taxes each year.

That is the main reason why alcohol is out of the GST net, despite being a "sin good". For the record, a sin tax is levied on items that are harmful or costly to society, like tobacco. The idea behind this tax is to provide a revenue source to governments while deterring consumption of such items by keeping prices high.

Also read: Govt plans to raise $11.21 billion from state asset sales in FY 20

While alcohol has been kept out of the new tax regime, the input raw materials used in manufacturing liquor do incur GST. This used to be taxed at around 12-15% under various VAT regimes previously, but under GST the tax incurred on most of the raw material stands at 18%. Also, the GST applicable on freight and transportation charges is higher than under the previous tax regime. Due to these factors, alcohol prices went up after the introduction of GST, and continue to rise year-on-year.

NITI Aayog's recent proposals could further push up taxes on liquor, if approved. Last month, the government think-tank proposed hiking taxes on alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy beverages in its 'Strategy for New India @75' document, which outlines clear policy objectives till 2023.

Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal with PTI inputs

Also read: Full-on Budget 2019 in the making for Feb 1; Mind you! It's no Vote-On-Account, nor interim Budget
Relations between Syria and Lebanon have been strained in recent years, but the country is also keen to be part of Syria's reconstruction writes Lebanon Debate.

Bahaa al-Hariri, the son of the deceased Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and brother of the current Prime Minister, is making a major move to enter Syria, with regional and international cover, and to invest in the country, in the framework of reconstruction, and perhaps politically.

On Wednesday, Jan 16, 2019, a private plane landed at Beiruts airport, coming from the Charles de Gualle airport in France, with Bahaa al-Hariri on board, who travelled quickly to Beirut before being transported in a private convoy to Syria, where he had an appointment with President Assad in the Presidential Palace on the same day.

The private convoy crossed the border at the al-Masnaa point, with Bahaa accompanied by an old trusted friend of his fathers.

Assad warmly received his guest in a meeting that lasted more than two hours, according to information obtained by Lebanon Debate. In his discussion, Hariri addressed the projects that need investment in Syria and the opportunities available to them, after hearing a detailed explanation from Assad about the general situation in the country and the stages through which Syria has passed since the beginning of the crisis, in addition to the political settlement which is being worked on.

Assad did not spare any of the conspirators, as he described them, inside Lebanon working against Syria, stressing that the coming stage would be a stage of reconstruction for Syria and that the state was primarily concerned with this matter. He said that his friends in Russia and China knew well that the decision to receive companies was in the hands of the Syrian state and that all those who conspired against Syria would not have any chance to work in the country.

Here, Bahaa al-Hariri said that he had kept far from the Syrian matter during this period and had been distant from the events which occurred in the country, and that he came today in the context of the rapprochement that had taken place, especially between the Gulf countries and Syria.

The meeting, which saw a great deal of discussion, especially of Lebanese matters, closed with an emphasis on communication and on beginning coordination in economic matters pertaining to Hariri and related to his companies and their entry into Syria.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
For the second time in a week, and despite claims of their destruction by the US President, ISIS has attacked American forces in Syria reports Alsouria Net.

The Islamic State (ISIS) has vowed to carry out more attacks against American forces operating as part of the International Coalition in Syria, after the group claimed a suicide blast that struck American and local forces, the second blast to hit in less than a week.

On Monday, the Agence France-Presse news agency quoted jihadist accounts on Telegram as vowing to, whiten the hairs on the heads of American forces and their allies, and saying that what happened to them in Hassakeh and Manbij is only the beginning.

In a statement on Twitter, the International Coalition said that, A combined US and Syrian partner force convoy was involved in an apparent VBIED attack today in Syria, adding that there were no US casualties.

The suicide attack struck American forces on Monday, the second in less than a week, which wounded two American soldiers and killed five members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the explosion resulted from a suicide bomb, which hit the American convoy that was accompanied by the SDF to protect them during their tour of the area.

The Observatory said that the explosion wounded two members of the American forces and killed at least five of the SDF, while others were also wounded.

A witness told AFP the blast happened as the convoy drove past a checkpoint held by Kurdish forces 12 kilometres outside Shadadi. The witness said he heard planes fly overhead, before the area was completely cordoned off by Kurdish fighters.

After the explosion, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. The groups Ammaq agency said in a statement carried on jihadist accounts on Telegram that, a martyrdom attack with a car bomb struck a joint convoy of American forces and the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers Party) near a checkpoint south of the city of al-Shadadi.

On Wednesday, a similar attack claimed by the group in Manbij in the north killed 19 people, including four Americans, ten civilians and five SDF fighters.

The attack, which occurred in Manbij in the Aleppo countryside, was the deadliest attack on American forces, since they deployed in 2015. The city is controlled by the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units under the Syrian Democratic Party, or PYD.

Observers believe that the biggest beneficiary of the attacks against the American forces is the SDF, which believes that the end of the American mission and the American presidents intention to withdraw these forces means the end of the Kurdish dream of any expansion, while the presence of the forces in the Manbij areas and its environs east of the Euphrates is also threatened by Turkish forces and the Free Syrian Army, which are waiting for any appropriate moment to fill a vacuum in the area.

This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
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Post Time with Mike and Mike is excited to announce the line-up for Thursday morning (Jan. 24) at 10:30 a.m.

The duo will be joined by Sheila Napier, Robin Burns, Bob Pandolfo and Peter Kleinhans.

Napier, who scored the 2018 USWHA Caretaker of the Year presented by Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park, has shown a strong presence in Ohio throughout her career. Currently working for Chris Beaver, Napier has a passion and excitement that she brings to the sport of harness racing and what a regular day is like for her.

Burns, who was inducted into the California Harness Racing Hall of Fame, will join the program for the first time to discuss his illustrious career. To his estimate he has called about 80,000 races and is currently the announcer at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, PA.

Pandolfo, who writes a weekly handicapping column for the USTA, will also make his Post Time debut to discuss his handicapping habits and how he puts together some of his plays. The pair will also find out how Pandolfo got into the sport of harness racing and where he received his handicapping knowledge.

Kleinhans, the first announcer at Hoosier Park, will discuss his career, which has been full of different aspects of not only this business, but also the music industry. Kleinhans is the backup announcer at Yonkers and is a musical artist on the side.

Post Time with Mike and Mike can be heard live every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. via posttimewithmikeandmike.com or on the archive at betamerica.com/BARN.

(With files from Post Time)
The Rutgers Equine Science Center has released its 2019 State of the New Jersey Horse Racing Industry report, which has determined that New Jersey racehorse owners and breeders continue to remain non-competitive with New York and Pennsylvania, where horse racing is subsidized by revenue from casino gaming.

The report is a follow-up to the 2014 white paper that concluded that any increase in gambling revenue would enhance the state budget significantly (depending on state tax revenues) and provide capital for use by the casino and horse racing industries to keep them competitive.

The director of the Rutgers Equine Science Center, Karyn Malinowski, Ph.D., utilized the same indicators developed in the 2014 report to provide an eight-year timeframe in which to examine these data points. These indicators included purse monies awarded, number of race days, races restricted to state-bred horses only, mares bred and foals registered. They also reflect the willingness trainers, owners and breeders have to invest in horse racing in a given state.

The new report also comes at a time when the State of New Jersey is considering allocating funds to the New Jersey Racing Commission that would be used for horse racing purse subsidies. NJ Senate Bill 2992 and NJ Assembly Bill 4810 were introduced in the legislature in 2018.

"These indicators can be used moving forward to observe trends in the New Jersey horse racing industry as the state looks to invest in the horse racing segment of the equine industry with an annual $20 million appropriation (for a period of five years) to benefit purse structure at New Jersey racetracks and breeder incentive programs such as the New Jersey Sire Stakes Program in support of Standardbred breeding," says Malinowski.

The 2019 report also includes the results of a 2018 survey of equine veterinarians in New Jersey conducted by the New Jersey Association of Equine Practitioners. The survey, which was compiled by the Rutgers Equine Science Center, "demonstrated that equine practitioners involved in the breeding of racehorses and its associated components have been negatively impacted by the reduction in numbers of racehorse foals being produced in New Jersey."

An economic impact study of the New Jersey horse industry, conducted by the center in 2007, found the industry to be valued at $4 billion (including racing and non-racing interests) and generating $1.1 billion annually in positive impact on the New Jersey economy.

For a copy of the full 2019 report, as well as the previous papers, please visit the Rutgers Equine Science Center at esc.rutgers.edu.

(Rutgers Equine Science Center)
Planning is well underway for the 15th annual International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) Conference, being held at the University of Guelph, Canadas largest agricultural university, on August 19-21.

The theme for this years conference is Bringing Science to the Stable, highlighting our past relationship with horses and examining where we are headed.

Both conference registration and abstract submissions opened on January 18. All information regarding the conference, including links to conference registration, abstract submissions and accommodations can be found on the Horse Portal website (here). Researchers in the field of equitation science are invited to submit an abstract of their research findings for consideration to present during the conference. Abstracts are due by April 1.

Join our line-up of thought-provoking speakers as we journey through history and into the present, supporting and challenging the way we interact with horses through scientific research.

Dr. Sandra Olsen (Curator-in-Charge, Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, University of Kansas) will trace how our relationship with horses began.

Dr. Camie Heleski (Senior Lecturer, University of Kentucky) will describe the field of Equitation Science and what we have learned about horse-human relationships.

Dr. Nic de Brauwere (Head of Welfare, Rehabilitation and Education, Redwings Horse Sanctuary, UK) will discuss how human behaviour change into the future can improve equine welfare.

Dr. Andrew McLean (Equine Science International, Australia) will present similarities and differences in the application of learning theory across species.

The ever-popular Clever Hans talk will be hosted on Monday evening with guest speaker Dr. Jonaki Bhattacharyya, Ethnoecologist and Senior Researcher with Firelight Group. Dr. Bhattacharyya has spent time in the interior of British Columbia, observing the wild horses and their impact on the land and interactions with the indigenous peoples. She will highlight how modern research can fit into other ways of knowing and approaches to managing both wild and domestic horses.

The third day of the conference will include a short course on large animal rescue training (additional fee applies). Space in this hands-on workshop is limited, so be sure to register early. Demonstrations and seminars from equine behaviourists, technology entrepreneurs and saddle fitting experts will fill the remainder of the day.

Registered delegates can also attend two free pre-conference workshops on Sunday, August 18. Cristina Wilkins and Kate Fenner (Australia) will workshop on how to communicate scientific information to equestrian communities. Dr. Marc Pierard (Belgium) will lead a discussion in describing equine behaviours for the equine ethogram.

Early bird conference registration pricing is available until June 1. After that date regular conference fees apply. Check the ISES website https://equitationscience.com/conferences/ or the Horse Portal https://thehorseportal.ca/ISES-2019/ to learn more. Check back regularly to the Horse Portal for updates, sneak peaks, and local information.

(International Society for Equitation Science)
Standardbred horseman Donald H. Zich, 76, of Akron, New York, passed away on Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at the Gates Vascular Center in Buffalo, New York.

Born on September 19, 1942, Zich was introduced to harness racing at a very early age, as his uncle Herb Schweitzer raced a stable of horses at Vernon Downs. After working with his uncle and learning the business during the summer while still in school, he entered the military after graduation and served his country during the Vietnam conflict. Upon his honourable discharge, Zich went right back to the track and started his lifelong participation in the sport he loved.

During his active years of training and driving at Batavia Downs and Buffalo Raceway, Zich oversaw his own stable while also catch driving for many years. Horses he steered and conditioned included Tarzan Direct, Gypsy Zipper, Southcote Irish, Gemarillo, Win Jon, Laredo LST, Columbia Stone, Surginski, Hatchet Almahurst, Dovers Dolittle, Quality Wins, Fan Can Do, Flower Time, Two Smart, Cosmic Jolt and his pride and joy, Fannys Filly, who he guided into being the trotter of the year in western New York in 1982.

Zich was also a 30-year employee of General Motors at the Buffalo Engine Plant where he earned an associates degree as a skilled tradesman and worked as a tinsmith.

Zich was an avid hunter and fisherman in his spare time, and loved to spend time with his family. He was a friend to everyone at the track and he will certainly be missed by all those who knew him.

Don Zich was the beloved husband of Elizabeth P. (nee Ralston) Zich for 53 years; devoted father of Tina M. (Timothy L.) Bojarski, Deborah A. (Darrin M.) Monti and Donald Zich; cherished grandfather of Dana, Lauren, Andrew, Donnie and Taylor; loving son of the late Fred and Mildred Zich; dear step-brother of Beverly; and is also survived by several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Relatives and friends may visit the Lombardo Funeral Home (Northtowns Chapel), 855 Niagara Falls Boulevard, near Eggert Road and Sheridan Drive on Thursday (Jan. 24) from 4-8 p.m. A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at Holy Spirit Church, 85 Dakota Avenue, Buffalo, New York on Friday morning (Jan. 25) at 11:15 a.m. Online condolences are at www.lombardofuneralhome.com.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Don Zich.

(Batavia Downs)
After selling a yearling for $320,000, a breeder buys a different yearling for $320,000 and that horse goes on to be an O'Brien Award finalist after providing nearly a 150 percent return on investment. Sounds unbelievable? Believe it.

Back in 2017, the opening session of the Standardbred Horse Sales Company's annual yearling sale had two offspring of Muscle Hill share the leaderboard with Sheer Muscle and The Ice Dutchess each fetching high bids of $320,000 for the day. Sheer Muscle was sold as Hip 112 by Coyote Wynd Farm of Vancouver, B.C., who then purchased The Ice Dutchess some 50 horses later for that exact same amount.

"It has been a dream come true and a lifelong goal to have a trotter of this caliber," owner John Floren said.

In 11 starts, The Ice Dutchess won five races and banked more than $472,000. Of her achievements, including a win in the Bluegrass and a mark of 1:53.4 taken in the $357,450 Jim Doherty Memorial, Floren looks most fondly on her victory in the Peaceful Way Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

"Winning the Peaceful Way at Mohawk, which I consider my home track," Floren said. "Very nerve-racking to go into such a premier race as the favourite."

The rookie season for The Ice Dutchess came at the heels of hall-of-famer Jimmy Takter's training career. The conditioner of numerous O'Brien Award winners retired from racing effective December 2018, ending a career highlighted by his ability to condition young trotters at the highest competition among several more accolades and modes to success.

"I owe the success to my entire team that worked so hard to pay attention to the details to enable 'Dutchie' to succeed," Floren said. "Jimmy is the consummate professional who knows how to train premier trotters. He has lots of experience developing and racing top trotting fillies. He has a great team who care immensely for the horses.

As a result of Takter's retirement, his daughter Nancy Johansson has acquired the training task for The Ice Dutchess heading into her sophomore year.

"I am confident Nancy will do a great job with 'Dutchie' this year," Floren said. "Anette Zackrisson, 'Dutchies' caretaker last year, will continue looking after her which I believe is important as she enters her three-year-old year."

Floren will experience national recognition for the first time as he will attend the O'Brien Awards for his only nomination to date.

"Very humbled and honoured to be nominated," Floren said. "Really it is our entire team that are nominated. My wife, Sherry, and I are just the owners. I have never attended and plan to attend this year with my wife and daughter as well as my friend Morris Feldman and his family. I am looking forward to the experience and it should be a great night."

Standardbred Canada will present the 30th edition of the OBrien Awards on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale Hotel. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by contacting the Member & Stakeholder Relations Department at 905-858-3060. Tickets are $200 each (includes HST) and include a cocktail reception, gourmet dinner, wine, and complimentary portrait.
Trot Insider has learned that longtime horseman Bill Core has passed away at the age of 95.

Bill was a trainer, owner and breeder of many horses over his career. He was known for his love of trotters and his gift for training them. Some of the horses that highlighted his career were his homebreds including Formal Jen, B Cor Tamara and B Cor Jenny. These mares were successful both on the track and as broodmares.

Core was once featured in the Canadian Sportsman Magazine in recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to the sport of harness racing. He continued to train young horses up into his eighties and his love for horses was passed down to his daughter, granddaughters and now to his great-granddaughters.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the friends and family of Bill Core.
The Union Budget 2018 was extremely balanced and announced schemes in support to the domestic manufacturing sector. However the effect of the initiatives was dampened without any supporting policies and initiatives for domestic solar manufacturing in the country. The confusion regarding Goods and Services Tax (GST) caused delays in execution of projects, further affecting the development of the sector. Now, as the call for sustainable and renewable energy as alternate power source becomes urgent, there is a corresponding expedited requirement to propel the sector forward in India.

We hailed the implementation of safeguard duty, but without any robust anti-dumping policies in place, and safeguard duty applicable only on a few countries, it has been extremely easy to navigate around it. Most of the imports are now being routed via Thailand and Vietnam, at rates that are not sustainable for domestic manufacturers to match.

This makes the 2019 Interim Budget extremely crucial for the Solar Manufacturing Sector in India. The decrease in import of solar panels and promotion of domestic manufacturing will only become feasible if the government announces favourable initiatives and schemes that provide a platform to develop local manufacturing infrastructure. While Make in India is a great initiative, subsidies and schemes to make manufacturing of solar panels more lucrative, not only for manufacturers but also developers, will be welcome and will go a long way in re-affirming the government's commitment to domestic solar manufacturers.

Also read: Budget 2019: 5 key expectations that govt must fulfil

We expect the budget to lay down clear expectations from the solar sector as an important contributor to India Inc. and the socio-economic development of the country. The industry needs allocation of separate funds, along with subsidies that will aid in creating and upgrading the solar infrastructure in India. Energy storage, rooftop and floating solar are three important segments within the sector that should be part of the Interim Budget. Given the ambitious targets set for 2022, these segments are expected to be the frontrunner in India's transition to renewable energy. It is also time to realise the potential the sector has for creation of employment. With its multi-layered infrastructure and requirement in both technical and non-technical roles, the solar sector can help become an important player in eradication of unemployment in the country.

A subcontinent in itself, India is known as a country of contrast. Areas like Ladakh, the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, or the Interiors of the Thar Desert have a difficult terrain or extreme climatic conditions that make solar a viable option, being self-sustained, and cost effective.

The request to transfer focus to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification as a selection criteria was welcomed by all stakeholders involved, furthers the sentiment on the compliance to norms related to raw material involved in developing solar modules. It is important for manufacturers to provide a successful ROI for investors, and should be addressed in the budget.

We are expecting the upcoming 2019 Interim Budget to be balanced, which looks at various aspects presenting challenges for domestic manufacturing to develop, and allows manufacturers to focus on extensive R&D and technological innovation, at par with the global best.

The author is Director at Waaree Energies
Constitutional Court hearings: The vote is a political affair, Fico says

MPs grilled the Constitutional Court candidates, former prime minister was the highlight of day one.

"Let me underline the political nature of this act, the formation of Slovakia's Constitutional Court," Robert Fico told MPs and the public at the very beginning of his presentation as a candidate for Constitutional Court judge.

Members of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the parliament commenced the hearings of the 40 candidates who applied for the nine soon-to-be-vacant posts on January 23. The candidates are called for hearings in alphabetical order. On the first day, MPs heard 11 of them.

Read also: Too cool for school? Read more

Former prime minister and Smer chairman Robert Fico, who arrived at the hearing accompanied by his bodyguards, was among them.

Fico, who was grilled in a chair for almost an hour, believes "it is a good thing if there are people experienced in politics".

Fico: Court elections are political

It is untrue to claim that the creation of the Constitutional Court is not political, Fico said, calling it "an important political act in which relevant political players participate".

This political act has become a tradition in Europe, Fico said and named Austria, Germany, and France as examples of places where politicians or nominees of political parties hold the top Constitutional Court posts.

Read also: Candidates for CC judges include Harabin's helpers and extremists Read more

Former justice minister Lucia Zitnanska, who attended the hearing as an MP, agreed with Fico that former politicians may have access to judicial positions but stressed that "not all politicians are the same". She asked Fico what he would do, if appointed as judge, to ensure he does not continue polarising society or decrease the public's trust in justice. Fico declined to answer and only said he was aware Zitnanska was not going to vote for him.

In his presentation, the Smer head talked mostly about his past legal experience before he entered the political arena, pointing out his interest in the death penalty or victims of criminal acts.

Natural decision

Candidates for CC judges heard on January 23: Jan Drgonec Ladislav Dudits Anton Dulak Libor Dula Michal Duris Robert Fico Dagmar Fillova Boris Gerbery Radovan Hradek Monika Jankovska Martin Javorcek

"Joining this competition is possible only once every 12 years," Fico, who considers it natural to apply for this position, replied to the question why he made this decision. "I would blame myself if I did not use this opportunity to submit an application."

One of the committee members, opposition MP Ondrej Dostal (SaS), questioned Fico's legal experience of 15 years, which is one of the conditions to apply for this post. He suggested that Fico's CV only shows 13 years and nine months of the required experience in a legal job, while the rest of his career was in politics.

"I regard it ridiculous and embarrassing if someone doubts my qualification for the Constitutional Court," Fico reacted. He later pledged he would provide the committee with proof of his work as legal representative during the years he already served as an MP.

Public hearings of the remaining 32 candidates are scheduled for January 24 and 25. They may continue next week if the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee fail to hear all of them this week.

23. Jan 2019 at 22:01 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Former Slovak secret agent kidnapped in Mali

The Sme daily communicated with Lubos Kosik on the day he was abducted.

A former agent of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency, Lubos Kosik, was abducted from his home in Bamako, the capital of Mali. The information was confirmed to the Sme daily by a source close to Kosik.

"Lubos Kosik, my client with Slovak citizenship, a former officer in his homeland, was kidnapped last Tuesday by armed men from his home in Bamako," Youssouf Keita, Kosik's lawyer, told AFP agency, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

Kosik has said, according to the Sme daily, that he wants to testify in the case of the 1995 abduction of former President Michal Kovac's son by SIS.

The former SIS agent was reportedly kidnapped on January 15. Sme wrote that it communicated with him on the same day. He did not reply to the last message and his phone is unavailable at the moment, as the daily reported.

Read also: Ex-SIS agent Kosik speaks out from Mali jail Read more

It is not known whether Slovakia, which issued an arrest warrant against Kosik, could have helped coordinate his arrest in Mali.

No information on Kosik's kidnapping

"We do not have any information on the abduction of Kosik, therefore we cannot comment on this situation," said the Police Presidium, as quoted by TASR.

Mali has not confirmed the abduction to Slovakia's Foreign Affairs Ministry. However, the police had tried several times to extradite Kosik from Mali before.

"We're very concerned about Kosik's kidnapping," said Michel Desert, a member of a group supporting the former secret agent, as quoted by TASR.

"Taking into account the elements submitted by Slovakia, the Malian justice system refused the request for extradition," a source close to the Malian justice system told AFP, as reported by TASR, excluding Mali's involvement in the abduction.

Desert opined that Slovakia could have ordered the operation after Mali refused to extradite Kosik, TASR wrote.

However, in December 2018 Justice Minister Gabor Gal (Most-Hid) signed and sent another request to Mali for Kosik's extradition.

23. Jan 2019 at 13:36 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Wake up, Slovakia!

It is time to stop public information from being effectively hidden from public view.

Ever since my arrival in Osturna, I have heard gossip about suspected grift and illegal activities perpetrated by various villagers. I would happily describe them here in detail if afforded both the print space and the legal protection from prosecution for slander. But the salacious details of previous scandals would only distract from the latest scandal in the village.

As happened all around Slovakia, the 2018 municipal election took place on a Saturday in November. On voting day, it was reported that around 30 non-residents holding Osturna permanent residency cards (trvaly pobyt) arrived by van to cast their vote. It is believed that they may have helped swing the election results in favour of the incumbent mayor, who won by less than 30 votes.

A motion was subsequently filed by the Election Commission with the Constitutional Court to review the voting results. I am told the court is now evaluating whether the election results should be confirmed or invalidated. The questions of whether, when, and how the court will communicate their findings to the citizens of Osturna remain looming in my mind. Surely the mayor will not make the announcement.

After the vote, it was embarrassing and shameful to later see the mayor on television hiding from reporters in her house when they came to talk to her about the election results. It was not the first time she had hid from cameras when confronted with scandal. To be clear, I am not accusing the mayor of any impropriety. But she, as our elected representative and spokesperson for the village, has acted irresponsibly towards the media and deserves condemnation. It is her job to communicate with people both inside and outside the village, and to provide clarity to any situations that may arise. Here, she has time and time again failed the citizenry of Osturna. So I ask out loud: Mrs. Mayor, if you have nothing to hide, then why are you hiding?

Lets look at the facts. Slovak law permits individuals to claim residency in a given locale if they own property or if a property owner authorises another to reside on their property. The question is whether these requirements were met. If all these new residents used the same address for their residency permits, this should raise a red flag. Also, if these new residents later reverted to their former addresses after the vote, this too should raise a red flag.

So we, Osturna residents, now await the decision from the Constitutional Court that should be issued by the end of January. In my heart, I am doubtful there will be a new vote. Slovaks, it seems, are fairly passive when it comes to challenging the government, and the government is equally reluctant to take action except when under duress. So I am sceptical of the pressure we can apply for the change. But should the current mayor remain in office for another term, she will be viewed as illegitimate in the eyes of many Osturna residents.

The fact that I had to contact someone from the Election Commission to learn of the status of the elections is also distressing to me. This information should be publicly available. So, I propose something both novel and radical for Osturna and for Slovakia in general: transparency in government.

In 2019, there should be no reason to go to the municipal office to access public information. Everything should be posted online for all to see. Every transaction, meeting minutes, invoices and payments, bid requests, signed contracts, land purchases; everything should be online and searchable. This will eliminate any suspicion of wrongdoing and help everyone in the community to see what is taking place.

It is time to stop public information from being effectively hidden from public view. As we like to say in the United States: Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Without sunlight comes secrecy and the potential for fraud.

So, wake up, Slovakia! Your democracy is falling asleep.

Thom Kolton is an American entrepreneur living in Osturna

23. Jan 2019 at 14:36 | Thom Kolton
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
Preface from Tim: as with the prior post from Binkius, this was not originally submitted as a post. Instead, it was a personal email to me. But, as before, Binkius has kindly granted me permission to reprint it here as a post. I frankly find his insights more insightful than anything else Ive read about the US/China trade dealings, and Im grateful to him for his continued unique perspective.

The infamous Roman emperor Caligula rashly decided that he could invade Britain. When the Roman legions stood on the shores of the English channel the Roman generals realized that the mad emperor could not put together a coherent logistical/economic plan to get the troops across. Eventually, Caligula lost interest in his folly and told his troops to collect seashells to bring back to Rome for a triumphal procession of his great military prowess.

Trumps Trade war at this point has three likely outcomes.

Trump concedes defeat and the status quo continues.

and the status quo continues. China gives Trump a token that he can bring back to his base like sea shells to prove that he won a great victory and the status quo continues.

that he can bring back to his base like sea shells to prove that he won a great victory and the status quo continues. Chinese technological containment at max damage for both sides.

The table below shows the reason. China will not back down. If China wants its place as a world power it must be able to import/acquire advanced integrated circuits and the knowledge to manufacture them.

click for a bigger, easier-to-read image

The Red Dynasty is reverting harder and harder back to its Stalinist (not Marxist) roots. The absolute totalitarian nature of this ideology will prevent: entrepreneurship, creativity, and invention. Because of Stalinist ideology, China is increasingly incapable of nurturing and sustaining the necessary technology to design and manufacture cutting edge integrated circuits. China is dependent on foreign sources for the machinery that powers the Information Age.

Without advanced integrated circuits, China will fall further and further behind as a world power.

China stands at a cross-roads. The economic system that can create advanced integrated circuits requires western constitutional democracy (advanced integrated circuits are mainly the creation of: USA, Japan and Taiwan  all of which are western constitutional democracies) which are based on: human rights, civil society and a free press. The Imperial Red Dynasty would not survive Chinas move towards a constitutional democracy, so it has started the recent hard pivot back to the Communist partys Leninist (not Marxist) roots.

I think the most likely outcome is -Caligulas- Trumps sea shell triumph in -Rome- DC. The Communists will give Trump a meaningless token to bring back home and crow about his victory. In exchange, the Communists will get a unverifiable, unenforceable trade agreement allowing the current status quo in trade.

The Communists will not back down. If Trump doesnt back down and accept what they give him, the easy-to-win trade war goes hot. This is the next likeliest outcome. The Communists know that they can outlast Trump.

The Shanghai market is down over 50% from the peak and it hasnt bothered the Red Dynasty (in fact, the Shanghai market is doing about the same as the NYSE since the start of the trade war). The Stalinist pivot in the Red Dynasty means that the Chinese stock market will become even less important to the Communists. However, a full-on trade war will tank the US markets. Trump will not survive that. The Communists will negotiate with the next American president.

With less than 1-1/2 months left, there simply isnt enough time to iron out a verifiable, enforceable trade treaty that includes intellectual property rights. There is only enough time for Caligula to bring back the sea shells. Or worse.

https://slopeofhope.com/2019/01/the-china-deal-by-binkius-hippo.html

The China Deal (by Binkius Hippo)

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It is part of the human experience to slowly realize we are each an isolated mind in a sea of other isolated minds, and then to spend our lives trying to cross the mighty gulfs between ourselves and others, striving to make a connection. Everybody wants to be found. So its natural, as our science has progressed, that the human race should project its collective hopes onto the cosmos and see if anyone else is reaching out to us. The last century is permeated with science fiction of alien visitors, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (or SETI) is the manifestation of our hopes that someone out there is trying to find us. So great is our desire for contact, we instinctually see aliens in emissions of radiation, in planetary landscapes, and in comets on hyperbolic trajectories. In a sense, we anthropomorphize the universe.

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Ascribing human characteristics or motives to natural objects is nothing new. What science has done is to set a grander stage for our anthropomorphizations. We have seen faces in vegetables and toast and mountainsides for millennia, and a quick search for pareidolia will reward the reader with examples. But it took the Viking mission for us to see a face on Mars. For ages, people have heard voices calling to them in the wind, even from the northern lights. Is it surprising that when astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish heard periodic radio emissions from a pulsar for the first time in 1967, they named the phenomenon LGM-1, for Little Green Men?

We interpret shadows on a curtain, or a tapping branch at the window, as the arrival of a visitor. So it was in 2016, when our minds leapt to the thoughts of alien megastructures when it was discovered that the face of Boyajians star was intermittently veiled. We now know, however, that what shadowed the star was simply clouds of dust. Eventually, thanks to the scientific method, the actual causes for these surprising discoveries get sorted out, but sciences initial impact is to grant our imaginations new vistas to run wild.

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The latest example is that of Oumuamua, the first interstellar object found among our planets. This asteroidal or cometary object, barely bigger than a city block, has been quickly passing through the solar system for the past many years. It made its closest approach to the sun on Sept. 9, 2017, but was discovered by the Pan-STARRS1 telescopic survey only on Oct. 17, 2017, just after it passed a mere 63 Earth-moon distances from us. Even at this closest approach to Earth, Oumuamua was far dimmer than even distant Pluto appears to us. After a few months it was too far to be observed at all. Already its at the orbit of Saturn , moving far faster than any object bound to the suns gravity.

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The way it reflected sunlight over time suggested it was a very elongated, perhaps pancake- or cigar-shaped object, spinning and tumbling every eight hours or so. The interstellar origin and the possible cigarlike shape of Oumuamua instantly recalled Arthur C. Clarkes novel Rendezvous With Rama, in which humans explore a cylindrical alien spacecraft passing through our solar system. This has framed the mystery of Oumuamua ever since, culminating in a November article by Abraham Loeb of Harvard titled 6 Strange Facts About the Interstellar Visitor Oumuamua, which has received recent press.

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Sciences initial impact is to grant our imaginations new vistas to run wild.

The strange facts are as follows. Telescopes like Pan-STARRS on Haleakala in Hawaii, with the ability to detect objects like Oumuamua, have been operational only in the past decade. Some calculations suggest that the natural ejection of asteroids from other solar systems should be too rare for us to happen to spot even one interstellar asteroid in the few years since weve gained the ability to see them. The velocity of Oumuamua when it entered the solar system is also unusual and in some sense too slow to easily reconcile with ejection from another stellar system. Oumuamuas shape is more elongated than any solar system object, a challenge to explain. Oumuamua put off no detectable infrared radiation, implying it is very small; some calculations suggest it would have to be unusually reflective to be seen at all. Strangest of all is the fact that Oumuamua is not simply orbiting the sun on a ballistic trajectoryit is receiving small but definite thrusts. Comets receive thrusts, too, as ice sublimates on their surfaces and shoots off as gas, like a rocket. But no gases or dust were detected around Oumuamua. Loeb and colleagues suggest it is responding to sunlight in the same way as an advanced spacecraft design called a solar sail, using the suns radiation like a sailboat uses the wind.

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And yet. Other calculations suggest ejection of asteroids from other stars asteroid belts should be so common that the real mystery is why we havent found more. Oumuamuas elongated shape has many plausible explanations. One intriguing possibility is that fast passage through an interstellar dust cloudwhich would have sandblasted itcould have slowed it down in a way that makes more sense of its velocity as well as explains why there arent more such objects. More refined calculations have shown that Oumuamua is exactly as reflective as asteroids and comets were familiar with. And even though no gases were seen jetting off Oumuamua, we can only rule out some gases, and that list doesnt include the most likely gas of all, water vapor from sublimating ice, which may yet contribute to its thrust. In fact, if it were a solar sail, the tumbling rotation of Oumuamua would have prevented it from converting sunlight and solar wind into thrust. Almost certainly, Oumuamua is simply the latest object onto which we have pareidoliacally projected our hopes and desires.

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As science continues to provide us more inkblot tests like Oumuamua, the scientific method will continue to help us make sense of what were seeing. As an astronomer, Im grateful for that objective process. But it doesnt mean we should subordinate imagination to science. It wouldnt even make sense to try: The scientific method can only test hypotheses, and someone has to first imagine those possible hypotheses. As long as were testing the more prosaic and likely explanations, such as asteroids and comets, it does no harm while were at it to test the interstellar spacecraft hypothesis through a responsible peer-reviewed scientific process. The greater harm might be to have the evidence of alien contact in front of us someday but fail to see it because we didnt dare to imagine the question. In any case, its obvious that many scientists long for the nonprosaic explanation. The name Oumuamua is Hawaiian for scout, and planetary astronomer Andy Rivkin has written and performed a lovely song full of longing to get to know our interstellar visitor. Its such an integral part of the human experience to long for contact, to see faces in inanimate objects. The world would be less wonderful if human scientists didnt also sometimes help us all anthropomorphize the cosmos.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Greetings, Future Tensers,

In 2017, scientists at the University of Hawaii set their high-powered telescopes on a mysterious, cigar-shaped space rock traveling past the sun. After further study, they discovered that the object was unusual for more than just its outward appearance: They were looking at the first interstellar object to travel through our solar system ever observed by humans. They named it Oumuamua (which translates as scout in Hawaiian), and since then, its become a fixation among the astronomy communityand outside of it. Although some parts of its trajectory and elongated shape can be explained away by science, that hasnt stopped some (including, more recently, the chair of Harvards astronomy department) from speculating that it may be some kind of advanced alien craft or signal. Astrophysics professor Steve Desch examines some of the particulars of Oumuamua, and how the theories about it show how amateurs and experts cant help but anthropomorphize the universe.

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While Oumuamua continues to sail straight through the solar system, elsewhere on Future Tense, weve been covering more terrestrial matters related to power and technology. Justin Sherman argues that recent internet blackouts in three African countries reflect how the internet is becoming more centralizedand thus increasingly vulnerable to manipulation. Josephine Wolff attempts to explain the baffling reasoning behind a federal judges ruling that the police cannot compel you to unlock your phone using your fingerprint or other biometrics. And Aaron Mak looks into whether the #10YearChallenge could actually be used to improve facial recognition technology.

Other things we read between reapplying our sunscreen:

Pay up: The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly weighing what kind of fine to impose on Facebook for privacy violations stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. But April Glaser argues that, to really make an impact, the FTC should levy fines against Facebook execs like Mark Zuckerberg as well.

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Shutdown symptoms: Angela K. Wilson explains how the shutdown is jeopardizing vital government-funded science research in ways that will have reverberating consequences for decades to come.

Breaking big tech: As the new Congress settles in, April Glaser explains how antitrust oversight and legislation related to corporations like Facebook, Google, and Apple seems to be one of the few things lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress can agree onand what it might mean to have a legislature more vocal about reigning in the power of these companies.

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Rest in peace: Good news: China recently grew the first-ever plant on the moon. Bad news: Its already dead. Shannon Palus explains the Chinese moon mission, the mini-biosphere the mission created for the plant, and what the mission was intended to accomplish.

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Fresh tracks: Streaming services like Spotify may reinforce many power imbalances in the music industry. But, as Brandon Tensley writes, some artists have found ways to use the platforms to push the boundaries of artist autonomy.

Events:

Join Future Tense at the Eighteenth Street Lounge in Washington, D.C., tonight for a happy hour conversation with Chris Molanphy of Slate, Cherie Hu of Billboard, Kevin Erickson of the Future of Music Coalition, and Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post to discuss how streaming is changing the music industry. You can RSVP here.

To Spotifys sales-tax snafu,

Anthony Nguyen

For Future Tense

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Facebook may be about to pay up. The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly weighing what kind of fine to impose on Facebook for some of its past actionsspecifically, the privacy practices and lapses that allowed the voter analytics firm Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal data of more than 87 million Facebook users without their consent in 2014. Last March, after the Cambridge Analytica story broke, the FTC began to investigate whether Facebook was in violation of an agreement it had made with the agency in 2011 that required the social network to obtain affirmative consent from users before accessing or sharing data about them beyond what they had explicitly agreed to. Under the consent decree, the FTC can fine Facebook up to $40,000 a day per individual violation, which for this snafu could amount to a bill as high as $2 trillion.

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While its unlikely the fine will tally anywhere close to the trillions, the Washington Post reports that its likely going to be higher than the $22.5 million fine levied against Google last year for violating a privacy agreement with the FTC. It could be significantly higher. The FTC once landed on a $100 million settlement with the identify-theft protection firm LifeLock for deceptive advertising and failing to keep its customers data safe after violating a federal court order. But for Facebook, a fine in either of those neighborhoods would still probably just be a slap on the wrist, considering the company made more than $40 billion in 2017, or more than $109 million a day.

If the idea is to punish badand promote goodbehavior, what size fine should Facebook receive? Its first worth clarifying that Facebook really did mess up. The company had a 2011 agreement with the FTC not to share its users data without consent, but it wasnt until 2014 that Facebook actually changed its data-sharing policy, which allowed developers to access not only the data of users who downloaded or agreed to use their apps, but also their friends data. From the looks of it, Facebook likely did not obey its consent decreeand because of its loose policies, one of those third-party developers was able to slip a massive amount of user data to Cambridge Analytica.

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Certainly, Facebook should face consequences for its actions. But its hard to imagine an amount of money the feds would consider that would even give the company reason to flinchtheres just no history of the FTC leveling such high fines. Theoretically, the U.S. could issue a European Unionsize slap on the wrist, a la the $5 billion regulators levied at Google in 2018 for anticompetitive practices in the Android smartphone market. That would certainly scare any company. But theres really no precedent that suggests a fine that big would be applied in the U.S. anytime soon.

But the fines size isnt the only variable. Rather, according to Jennifer Taub, a professor at Vermont Law School who focuses on corporate governance and regulation, a better question would be where the money that Facebook pays is going to come from. And one problem, Taub says, is that the people who pay the fine are the shareholders. The company pays it, but ultimately the people who feel the hurt there will be the shareholders. FTC actions generally are aimed at the behavior of a company, not individuals, and shareholders own the company.

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Shareholders dont determine Facebooks policies; executives do. According to Security and Exchange Commission filings, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took home nearly $9 million in total compensation in 2017 while Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandbergs bag exceeded $25 million that year. Whatever Facebook pays the FTC, it isnt likely to come from the pockets of people who actually got the company (and its users) into a privacy nightmare. But it could if the FTC got a little creative and required that any settlement payment come from the compensation of Zuckerberg and other senior executives. To me it would be just for the entire fine to come from executives and the board of directors, Taub said. Pass the hat around and then you get the fine. That would be the best way to manage this and deter this behavior in the future.

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Even if the FTC is unlikely to take such a step, the board of directors at Facebook could theoretically still push the fine back to the executivesthough thats particularly unlikely in Facebooks case, since Zuckerberg has 60 percent of the voting power. That might be an argument for further requirements from the feds, according to Nell Minow, vice chair of ValueEdge Advisers, a corporate governance consulting firm. What the government needs to do is insist that there be very significant changes in corporate governance structure, says Minow. Thats the only thing that will make a difference here. They need independent directors. In other words, without the money coming from their pocketbooks or the threat of losing power, Facebook executives might be perfectly content paying $20 million a year or $100 million.

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If the government wants to get serious about regulating Facebook, that kind of approach could be an important tool. Its true that Facebook has made it significantly harder for outside developers to scrape and access the data of users in recent years, though it didnt close some funnels until after the Cambridge Analytica scandal reached full boil last spring. It also didnt disclose the problem until journalists uncovered it, much like a number of embarrassing revelations about the companys practices that emerged throughout 2018. Eventually this public scrutiny will die down, however, and there may not be much preventing Facebook from once again erring toward permissiveness when it comes to user privacy.

The FTC isnt the only federal agency investigating Facebook right now. The SEC is also probing the company, as is the FBI and the Department of Justice, and changes to corporate governance might be one outcome of those inquiries. Whatever punishment is levied, making sure that executives feel it is probably a pretty good way to give users faith that Facebooks old patterns wont repeat themselves again.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Do I look like a guy with a plan? Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer (Photos: Getty Images, Warner Bros.)

Much of the news coverage of the government shutdown has implicitly communicated an argument: Yes, President Trump may bear the blame for starting it, but Democrats have a responsibility to rescue him from his blunder. And since Trumps need to collect a win from the shutdown is taken as a given, Democrats must therefore contemplate what they are willing to give up in order to reopen the government.

Numerous Republicans have been making this argument explicitly, and at least some non-Republicans have joined in. The Washington Post editorial board and one of its columnists, Joe Davidson, both argue that Democrats must think of the greater good and the humanitarian damage from the shutdown and give Trump something so he agrees to end it.

The premise underlying this calculation is that Trump wandered into the shutdown purely by accident, and that only sheer pride prevents him from backing down. There is certainly some truth to this. Almost the entire congressional party, and large chunks of the Trump administration itself, considers Trumps shutdown a mindless, self-inflicted wound.

Jonathan Swan reported last week that Trump unnerves his advisers by repeatedly quoting Mike Tysons axiom, Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Traditionally this line is used to underscore the importance of designing a plan that is robust enough to account for adversity. Trump reportedly takes it as conclusive proof that strategic planning is useless in every situation. Indeed, the entire idea of planning seems to irritate him. He gets frustrated when there is a plan, an adviser tells Swan. Hes not a guy who likes a plan.  Theres an animosity towards planning, and theres a desire to pick fights that have nothing to do with us.

Trumps actual inspiration seems not to be Tyson but the Heath Ledger Joker character from The Dark Knight:

Trump shares another relevant quality with that character: an intention to inflict indiscriminate suffering on the populace for the purposes of extortion. Trumps view, which he has applied to numerous bargaining scenarios throughout his career, is that his sociopathic indifference to human welfare gives him a negotiating advantage.

But crucially, this is not just a Trumpian view. Republicans are inherently more suspicious than Democrats of political compromise, a difference that has endured under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Republicans in Congress have found it difficult to negotiate anything, especially on a bipartisan basis, without angering their compromise-hating base.

And so the party has developed an attraction to hostage-taking as a means of achieving its goals. The distinction between hostage-taking and normal negotiating is that it involves taking steps that the hostage-taker agrees are harmful, in order to leverage concessions. The Republican Party shut down the government during the Clinton administration. This ploy ended in failure, but in 2011 President Obama opened himself to more extortion by responding to Republican threats to force the government to default on the public debt and unleash economic chaos by negotiating a budget deal that Republicans deemed favorable.

What we did learn is this  its a hostage thats worth ransoming, explained Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Drawing on this lesson, Republicans in 2013 staged another debt-ceiling hostage threat and a federal government shutdown in order to compel Obama to hand over various policy concessions. It was only when Obama signaled his refusal to be extorted, correcting his earlier error, that Republicans gave up on the tactic.

And Republicans may be skeptical of Trumps prospects of winning the shutdown fight, but they are almost uniform in their public support for his position. Republicans in Congress, all of whom had lined up to support a bill to continue operating the federal government in December, have lined up behind Trumps refusal to open the government up without finding for a wall. They have treated Democratic refusal to pay Trump a ransom as though it were itself a ransom demand. Instead of making a counteroffer and negotiating in good faith, complains conservative columnist Marc Thiessen, Democrats are demanding unconditional surrender.

To be sure, Trump has tried to climb down slightly from his blunder by mixing his shutdown demand with immigration policy negotiations. This maneuver is extremely fraught. Republicans have been trying to maintain internal party agreement on immigration since 2006, without any success. Every time Republican leaders try to come up with a deal, hard-liners attack it as a sell-out. Its unlikely Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller could negotiate an immigration deal with each other, let alone with Democrats as well.

But even if Trump somehow walks this tightrope, and finds an immigration deal acceptable to both sides he can use as a face-saving gesture, he will almost certainly draw from it the same lesson McConnell took from the 2011 debt-ceiling negotiation. It is a hostage worth ransoming. Trump defied all the worrywarts, braved his way through the hardships, and avoided all the terrors the naysayers warned would come. If Trump extracts a win from his shutdown, he will immediately start plotting out his demands for the next one.
Theres more: This morning, the Supreme Court lifted two injunctions against Trumps transgender troops ban, but as Mark Joseph Stern points out, this doesnt mean that the discriminatory measure is now in effecttheres one more injunction blocking it. Meanwhile, SCOTUS took up a case today regarding the public carry of arms. With Justice Anthony Kennedy gone, Stern predicts the court will be all too happy to appease gun-rights groups.

Sick day: One month into the shutdown, TSA workers could force the governments hand by calling in sick en masseand, Henry Grabar argues, they shouldnt be deterred by the precedent of the disastrous 1981 air traffic controllers strike broken by President Ronald Reagan. Grabar explains why this time is different and how airport screeners could succeed where the air traffic controllers failed.

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Face(book) the consequences: As the FTC prepares to levy a potentially record-breaking fine against Facebook for violating a years-old agreementleaving in place bad practices that led to the Cambridge Analytica scandalApril Glaser looks at the stakes. Its unlikely any fine for Facebook will amount to more than a financial slap on the wrist, but the FTC could get creative if the money comes from  Mark Zuckerbergs own pockets.

This is how we do it: Today, Slate launched its first-ever sex advice column, How to Do It. Its like Dear Prudence, without the prude. In their first column, Stoya and Rich Juzwiak answer questions about sleeping with a woman whos a #MeToo advocate at work but very different in bed, a partner who only wants to do it with the lights out, and why vanilla sex gets such a bad rap. Submit all your burning questions!

For fun: Oscar noms are out. So which movie is the Best Picture front-runner?

Time to fill out those ballots,

Nitish
They cant pay the rent. Theyre going to food pantries. Heading to pawn shops to sell their stuff. Their kids are worried. And the next payday, this coming Friday, seems certain to bring another painful reminder of their depleted bank accounts.

A whopping 800,000 federal employees are suffering deeply from the pointless cruelty of the government shutdown, along with legions of workers for government contractors. Some of them are furloughed, and others are required to show up for work. None of them are being paid. And in a strange twist, the ones called back to work for free generally cant even receive unemployment benefits.

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On a human dignity level, its an affront for people to be treated as pawns in this way, and its a further insult to so devalue the critical work of our nations public servants. On a more concrete level, its a tremendous hardship for people not to be paid any wages at all for more than a month. Its unclear how many of these workers were already forced to live paycheck to paycheck, but based on data, it seems likely that the number is not insignificant. A Federal Reserve report just last year found that 4 in 10 adults, if faced with an unexpected $400 expense, either couldnt cover it or would have to sell something or borrow money.

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For a large number of workers in this country, though, what federal employees are experiencing now is a fairly typical indignity and hardship. Too often, workersespecially low-wage and immigrant workersare paid only a fraction of what theyre owed, or are not paid at all for their work.

When I was in the New York Attorney Generals Office, we handled a number of cases in which wages were not paid to workers. Several such cases involved home health agencies that failed to pay their workers for weeks and even months of labor. These caregivers helped patients who were elderly, sick, or disabled, bathing them, preparing their food, helping them with toileting, and changing bedpans. The details varied: One employer recorded a YouTube video promising to pay the money owed to workers and hired new aides even as he failed to pay existing ones; another employer created false tax documents showing wages that were never actually paid; a third threatened to fire workers after the labor department showed up to investigate.

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There were restaurant workers who worked hard to set up a flashy new Manhattan eatery before its grand opening: stiffed. There were the landscapers on Long Island, underpaid for years and then not paid anything for their last three weeks of work. The unpaid Queens construction workers doing myriad jobs on residential homes. And countless day laborers who regularly struggled to be paid.

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Why did these people keep showing up? For the same reasons federal workers keep going in, even without a paycheck. First off: They needed the job. People are usually reluctant to leave even a bad job, because its still better than no job. And just as many federal workers are deeply committed to the mission of their jobs, many of the low-wage workers in our cases were also mission-driven, like home health aides devoted to the patients in their care.

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The cases we handled all took place in New York, which for years has had among the strongest labor laws, most aggressive enforcement agencies, and highest union density in the country. How many similar and worse situations emerge every day in other states, including those with less worker-protective landscapes?

A 2017 study by the Economic Policy Institute of wage violations in the 10 most populous states found that 2.4 million workers in those states lose $8 billion annually to minimum wage violations, with per worker losses averaging $3,300 annually, amounting to nearly a quarter of their earned wages. According to the study, nearly one-fifth of low-wage workers experienced minimum wage violations. Such violations can include, for example, uncompensated work time off the clock, being paid a weekly rate that doesnt add up to the minimum wage, having illegal deductions made from their pay, or having hours shaved from time cards. Minimum wage violations arent the same as being stiffed altogether, of course, but losing out on a quarter of earned wages surely has an agonizing impact.

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Being paid for your labor is the most elemental workplace right.

Serious workplace infractions by employers usually attract limited attention from public policy experts and especially government budget offices, perhaps in part because of who is affected: immigrants, people of color, low-wage workers. Ive often wondered why policymakers sometimes dont seem to take this problem seriously. Perhaps its because low-income people are struggling in so many wayseducation, housing, just surviving at allthat it may seem like not getting paid for work is just another normal challenge of being a low-wage worker in the United States. The shutdown is offering a new and more viscerally immediate face to the national problem of work without pay, but theres little reason that American empathy toward unpaid national park rangers and TSA agents shouldnt extend to ordinary working stiffs who get stiffed.

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Being paid for your labor is the most elemental workplace right, and its a serious hardship when it doesnt happen. Its demeaning and demoralizing, and it causes ongoing stress and lasting damage for workers and their families. Its outrageous that people would ever have to work for free, whether theyre locked-out federal employees or low-wage construction, home health, or restaurant workers. And its hardly sufficient redress to get paid at some much later date the money you were already owed in the first place.

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Some legislators are working on short-term solutions for the current crisis for federal employees. A council member in D.C. proposed emergency legislation to protect both federal employees and contractors from eviction and foreclosure during the shutdown, and more than two dozen U.S. senators are pushing for legislation to protect government employees from eviction, foreclosure, repossession of their cars, and penalties for late payment for bills or student loans.

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These steps are urgently needed, but the real answer, of course, is for the president to end his shutdown immediately. Our federal government shouldnt be just one more wage cheat, and the American people shouldnt be complicit. Federal workers should get their pay, as well as some interest and damagesand workers for government contractors should be compensated, too, as Rep. Ayanna Pressley has argued.

Whats the solution for everyone else? For the home health aides, construction workers, restaurant servers, and others who dont get paid what theyre owed? We have a lot of work to do to create a culture of labor-law compliance, but the first step is to have a broader societal understanding that degraded labor standards and violations of workers rights have real repercussions in the lives of families and communities.

Once that happens, actually improved legal and legislative accountability should follow. State and federal legislators should pass stronger penalties for stiffing workers. More state attorneys general and criminal prosecutors should take on this issue, since wage theft actually involves more money than other forms of theft. Our overburdened, under-resourced labor enforcement agencies should finally get the funding they need to make sure that hard work actually pays. Most importantly, we should ensure that all workers can exercise their bargaining rights together so that everyone, from park rangers to day laborers, can have a meaningful voice at work.
These are devastating times for survivors of sexual assault. It is devastating to live through the constant barrage of new accusations, and it is devastating to have witnessed a credibly accused man like Brett Kavanaugh elevated to the Supreme Court. It is also devastating to have lived through the 2016 election, when credible accusations of sexual misconduct and assault from numerous women did not prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.

Progressives and feminists like me are enraged, perhaps especially, by the way we see conservatives defending serially accused men, such as Roy Moore, and assailing survivors, such as Christine Blasey Ford. Yet, if my own experiences of sexual abuse have taught me something, it is that liberals need to take a long look in the mirror before laying blame solely on the outdated patriarchal models overtly embraced by the right. Though the fierce opposition to female liberation from the right is well-known, progressives and feminists also need to demonstrate a willingness to address the unique challenges of misogyny and sexual abuse from men who claim, and maybe even fully believe, themselves to be feminists. Understanding the specific problems of addressing sexual abuse perpetrated by progressive men can unearth and explain some of the broader issues our society at large is facing when it comes to alleviating gender-based oppression more broadly. Its also worth acknowledging that many women who are abused by men claiming to be feminists are particularly afraid to speak out. This is unsurprisingwhen we speak out, we are betraying our men.

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We will not win this struggle for gender liberation until we focus more on perpetrators, men, and masculinity rather than on survivors, women, and femininity, and in many cases that means holding our men accountable. We should not be afraid to accurately frame the problemto change our language from she was raped to he raped her. One of the largest hurdles facing us as we struggle to dismantle gendered oppression is that it has thus far largely been considered the realm of women to understand and rectify. Men are often absent from conversations on gender because they are considered the default gender, and so rethinking these ideas is not deemed their work. But as increasing numbers of women have a voice in decision-making structures, and as the #MeToo movement has started to shift the ground, it is becoming impossible to ignore us. Men are now expected to catch up.

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We will not win this struggle for gender liberation until we focus more on perpetrators, men, and masculinity rather than on survivors, women, and femininity

Unfortunately, as has happened with issues of race, the patriarchal forces in our society have largely reacted with defensiveness. The parallels to structural oppression on the basis of race are apparent when analyzing the central arguments Robin DiAngelo makes in her book White Fragility: Why Its So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. The complicity of all white people in racial oppression stems from the systemic nature of white supremacy, in that it is collective and engineered into social machinery; this counters the long-held misconception that racism operates only at the individual level, in a conscious and intentional manner. This is the same framework we must apply to the gendered hierarchyit is not enough for men to simply not abuse women just as it is not enough for white people not to be avowedly racist. All men, even the good men, must also recognize the structures that are in place to maintain male hegemony. These structures are still very much intact among progressives, where good men may be enabling the abuse of women even when they are not aware of it.

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Since the Harvey Weinstein news first broke in October 2017, we have read countless stories about sexual abuse. Many, if not most, of them focusing on the theme of power, yet the gendered aspect of sexual harassmentwhile often implicitly present in the discussionsis one that has been taboo to explicitly state. But neglecting gender-based explanations and analyses leaves us vulnerable to inaccurately identifying the critical male dimension of the problem. Progressives have an aversion to gender distinctions for many reasonsunderstandably because such distinctions have long been deployed to subjugate women and queer people. But this reluctance has led to stripping #MeToo of an explicitly gendered dimension and focusing solely on institutional hierarchies, where sexual harassment is regarded as primarily an issue of power imbalances in institutions. And yet, in an analysis devoid of gender, there is a blatant disregard to the structural power that men wield in society, especially straight white men.

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Its essential for us to realize that even sexual liberation emerged within a social atmosphere of pervasive misogyny. It is often overlooked that men have long been sexually liberated with respect to womenperhaps too liberatedto the extent where a womans agency and refusal is regarded as another obstacle to eradicate. This is a gendered difference that has been baked into our legal system and our cultural understanding for centuries, and undoing this requires applying a critical gender lens to discussions pertaining to sex and power. Laws in the West previously sexually confined women, but now, even as women gain more sexual agency, slut shaming, a key facet of rape culture, enforces control over womens sexual agency.

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It is time for us to place responsibility where it belongsnot on womens sexuality and bodies but on the shoulders of men and masculinity.

Culturally, men who are sexually proactive and successful in seducing large numbers of women are lauded, while women who do so are denounced and shamed. I remember a man once telling me that in his freshman year of high school, a girl performed oral sex on him, and somehow word spread. He said it was his best year of school, and her worst. The overwhelming evidence indicating a primarily one-sided flow of sexual violence and abuse from men toward women (and toward other men and nonbinary individuals) is also ignored if we factor gender out of the equation and focus solely on institutional hierarchy. This is not to say that women never perpetuate abuse, but it is possible for #MeToo to explicitly put an emphasis on female survivors of sexual abuse. #BlackLivesMatter provides a strong model for this approach, as a movement that emphasizes the oppression of one particular groupblack peoplethrough systemic police violence. Advocates for racial justice have provided many cogent rebuttals to All Lives Matter arguments that criticize the movement for focusing on black victims. These rebuttals provide a framework for #MeToo advocates to similarly emphasize the critical need for the movement to focus on the gendered dimension of the problem.

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This doesnt mean there is no space for men to be allies to the movement, but it does mean that such allyship requires more reckoning than what this moment seems to allow. There is an additional layer of complexity to misogyny from feminist men: the dissonance between their conscious values and their subconscious absorption of misogyny. Similar to the internal conflict within conservative men between their values of sexual puritanism and their feelings of lust, some progressive men experience the disconnect between their avowed feminism and their internal sexual urges, often responding to social pressure, to sexually objectify women. As with the puritans, the progressive male rage is unleashed on women, and we are then resented by men for evoking these unethical urges within them. It is time for us to place responsibility where it belongsnot on womens sexuality and bodies but on the shoulders of men and masculinity.

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In order to effect broad change, the key vehicle will be changing the toxic aspects of received masculinity, particularly through early interventions to prevent harm to another generation of children. As revealed by the ensuing controversy after the Gillette commercial, which challenged men to confront toxic masculinity within themselves and other men, these efforts will be met with fierce resistance and defensiveness. Patriarchy is fueled by male fragility in similar ways that white supremacy is maintained by white fragility. Men need to be part of the conversation on gender justice, but they must also be willing to investigate their own role in contributing to the oppression of womeneven if it is unknowing. Process and policy remedies are also direly needed as we wade through the institutional and systemic minefield of hurdles women face when challenging sexual abuse and harassment. Law enforcement itself poses both difficulties and risks for survivors in the way sexual violence is currently handled, leaving many in fear of reporting such crimes. Reforming the judiciary and legislation to provide more equitable treatment to survivors, particularly those who are most marginalized, is critical to improving individual outcomes.

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Such reform also poses a challenge for progressives because the push for sexual accountability is often cast as oppositional to the call for due process, a cornerstone of progressive thought. The history of discomfort with prosecution resides in the traditional use of judicial and penal processes by the powerful to indict the weak, and modern-day liberal discomfort surrounding criminalization includes an additional desire to treat even perpetrators of heinous acts with humanity. These guiding principles are well-intentioned, but they fail to apply a nuanced consideration for sexual crimes against women. Sexual violence usually involves a more powerful perpetrator and a more vulnerable victim, upending the progressive assumption of universally powerless defendants. In cases of sexual harassment, the power advantage of the perpetrator to the victim is often overwhelming. Owing to these currents on the left, progressive feminists working to build a viable victims rights movement have sought alliances with conservatives in order to bring focus on the harm suffered by survivors of sexual violence. In an essay, The Rise of the Victims-Rights Movement, historian Jill Lepore explores the relationship between the unlikely bedfellows, and concludes that some of the changes to the court system from this alliance are leading to tougher sentencing standards. Progressives should certainly evaluate the effects of survivor-centered advocacy on incarceration and punishment, but this must be weighed against the long history of women being denied justice. #MeToo is currently unfairly portrayed to be against due process. It is notit instead attempts to acknowledge the anger and frustration at how long due process and justice have been denied to women both institutionally and culturally.

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The case of Cyntoia Brown highlights the continued complexity of these intersections. Brown, a victim of child sex trafficking and a woman of color, was 16 years old when she was sentenced to life in prison, for shooting a man who had solicited her for sex and taken her to his home. Recently, a court ruled that she must serve 51 years before she was eligible for release, a decision reversed in early January when she was given clemency. Brown will now be released in August, and her case shows a situation where the court believing her as a survivor of sexual abuse and exploitation led to a lighter sentence, running contrary to the framing where believing victims abets questionable prosecutions. Instances where women have killed their abusersor those abusing their childrenprovide an important counterpoint to simplistic links between believing survivors and increased incarceration.

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These challenges are also present for survivors who are women of color in cases where the perpetrators of sexual harassment or violence are men of color. The white lens of the social left has traditionally favored denying woman of color justice rather than doing the messy work of grappling with issues of sexual misconduct and violence by men of color. This task is daunting because the system is already set up to disenfranchise men of color, as Lara Bazelon demonstrated in a recent New York Times op-ed explaining how the stricter standards for prosecuting sexual assault had resulted in a vast increase in men of color being imprisoned. Bazelon penned her support for recent changes to Title IX to adjust backward Obama-era reforms, partially based on consultations with mens rights activists put forth by the Trump administration. These are certainly systemic problems, but its worth noting that they track onto our already established patriarchal hierarchies of power. Progressivesand especially white progressivestend to erase the challenges women of color and trans women face in reporting sexual assault.

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Race also plays a key role in survivors being believed. Lena Dunhams confession that she lied to discredit Aurora Perrineaua black womanto protect her friend and colleague Murray Millera white manfurther exposes the racism women of color who speak out often face. Women of color and trans women will be disproportionately affected by obstacles for women to report sexual harassment and abuse. Marginalized womenlower income women, women of color, trans womenare prime targets for abusers, because we are less likely to be believed by authorities and institutions, less likely to be supported by the largely cis white rape survivor support networks, and less likely to be represented by plaintiff firms that consider their economic bottom lines when accounting for jury bias against marginalized women.

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We will not move forward until we understand that misogyny is something that is so embedded that it imbibes our own thinking and that of those men we love most dearly.

There are also unique complications for survivors of abuse when the perpetrators are influential and visible progressive men. Since much of the labor and support for survivors is done in progressive circles, powerful progressive perpetrators often have deep personal ties to those involved in that realm and command respect and admiration from victims rights advocates. Survivors may thus experience fear, isolation, and rejection by those from whom they seek support, as often the personal loyalties of the traditional sources of support are with the perpetrators. Transgender women face the additional vector of exclusion because many of those activists who most deeply understand the issues of sexual harassment and rape do not even consider us women.

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Just as the broader social hierarchies present obstacles to justice, our interpersonal hierarchies do as well. Men we love and respect, in whom we want to believe, populate our worlds in ways no other oppressor group does. Every aspect of our interrelation with the world is entwined with having faith in the ties that surround us, from the bonds with our fathers to our fierce love for our sons. Not him, we want to think, especially when he is there in the trenches with us against the patriarchy. But it should not be considered a setback to the #MeToo movement when male allies face allegations of violence or misconduct. It is instead a potent reminder of how pervasive such toxic behaviors in fact are. None of this is to suggest that progressives are worse on gender justice than those on the rightclearly this is not the case. However, it goes to show how fraught the struggle for gender justice is and how grueling the fight for womens liberation will be. The chains and shackles of misogyny encircle us all, we all have implicit biases, and we all exhibit himpathy. And we will not move forward until we understand that misogyny is something that is so embedded that it imbibes our own thinking and that those men we love most dearly, our sons, our partners, our fathers, are easily induced to oppress women by the prevailing forces of social conditioning. It is possibly all men, including men that we love.

Women have long been advocating and organizing for our fundamental right to physical safety, largely without any concrete support and effort from men. As we continue on the laborious road to taking back the night and constructing a future without the blight of sexual violence, we should look to the men closest to us and ask more of them. Where necessary, we should hold them accountable, as difficult as it may seem. Men, including those we love, should understand that inaction from them makes them complicit in perpetuating a culture that is hostile and violent toward women. There should no longer be opportunities for men to remove themselves from our efforts, and we must insist that the men in our lives are active and introspective participants in our fight for gender liberation. After all, womens and queer peoples liberation from patriarchal oppression is inextricably linked to freeing men from the bludgeons of toxic masculinity. None of us can be truly free unless all of uswomen, men, and everyone in betweenare.
Last week, the Trump administration put forth its first new slate of names for federal judgeships in 2019. All six were men, and apparently all six were white, although the White House declined to answer any questions about their backgrounds. Should they succeed in seating these six prospective jurists, President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will gain the distinction of having seated only the 3,130th through 3,135th white men to be given lifetime appointments on the federal bench. Historic progress indeed. Late Tuesday, the White House also announced its intention to renominate 51 judges who did not get through the previous Congress. It seems the need to pick up the pace on seating judges is now desperate.

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Tuesday was the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. That ruling is ever more under direct assault in the legislaturesthe U.S. Supreme Court is now poised to narrow or deny a womans right to choose. As Trump packs the federal courts with judges who write openly about the moral tragedy of abortion or refuse in written opinions to call abortion providers doctors because the object of their action is not healing but killing, his defenders continue to claim that there is nothing shocking about the fact that the presidents record-shattering 84 confirmed judges are 76 percent male and 91 percent white, per the Federal Judicial Center. (For comparison, Obamas confirmed nominees were 58 percent male and 64 percent white.) Not renominated this week was Thomas Farr, the mastermind behind North Carolinas racist voter suppression laws who was tapped to fill seats for which two black women nominated by Obama were blocked by Republicans. Farr would have been only the 3,130th white man to sit on the federal courts, but his nomination was killed in December by GOP Sens. Tim Scott and Jeff Flake. Had either of these women been confirmed, they would have been the first black Americans to serve in a district that is 27 percent black.

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Senate Republicans have also apparently been mulling the idea of a rules change that would allow them to move even faster on judicial nominations, with Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, telling Hugh Hewitt on Monday that the GOP conference may soon consider different ideas for ways to cut down debate time on Trumps mountain of judicial nominees. The government shutdown has now dragged into its 33rd day, but the Republican obsession with jamming judges through continues to comically accelerate. It is starting to have the distinct feeling of a post-apocalypse smash-and-grab, by white men, for white men, to ensure that whatever is left of government post-Trump goes to team Handmaids Tale.

Trumps boosters continue to tell us that there is nothing troubling about the fact that his judicial picks are almost 80 percent male and 90 percent white. Its essentializing to assume that ones gender or race makes a difference to ones judicial fitness and philosophy, they say. Indeed, were probably just days out from hearing that, per House Minority Whip Steve Scalises, R-Louisiana, logic, the lack of female candidates is Ruth Bader Ginsburgs fault. (Last week Scalise blamed Nancy Pelosi for the fact that most House Republicans are white men.)

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The shutdown has now dragged into its 33 rd day, but the Republican obsession with jamming judges through continues to comically accelerate.

The interest in ramming judges through has only picked up since the midterm elections. If the Democrats had acquired a majority in the Senate, they could have blocked every person President Trump nominated for federal judgeships, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wrote in an op-ed post-election, noting that judicial appointments were the biggest achievement of Trumps first two years, and now it is likely guaranteed to continue. Carrie Severino, the chief counsel and policy director of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, told Politico at the time that Executive orders dont outlast the president, legislation can change, but these judgeships last a long time, adding that there are a lot of Never-Trumpers and conservatives who have had to admit, sometimes begrudgingly, that Wow, this has been a home run. 

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Its a pretty nihilist vision, even in a maximally nihilist time, and it comes just as a brain-melting new profile of Mitch McConnell by Charles Homans appeared in this weekends New York Times Magazine. Homans points out that McConnell has demonstrated his willingness to essentially break the Senate itself in his quest to ensure that the judicial branch will become the ultimate arbiter of all future policy questions:

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The unprecedented number of conservative-approved judicial nominees McConnell has waved through the Senatea process for which he laid the groundwork before Trump was electedstands to shift much of the burden of conservative policymaking away from an increasingly paralyzed Senate. In the coming years, battles over voting rights, health care, abortion, regulation and campaign finance, among other areas, are less likely to be decided in Congress than in the nations courthouses. In effect, McConnell has become a master of the Senate by figuring out how to route the Republican agenda around it.

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Even as he hides from and deflects the devastation caused by Trump and Trumpism, McConnell seems sanguine about the fact that the one institution he truly cares aboutand lets be clear it is the judiciary, not the Senatewill be the thing that emerges from the rubble: As Homans puts it, The shutdown distilled the essence of McConnells position in Trumps Washington: a man of institutions and establishments whose own legacy was now tied to that of a president who seems hellbent on burning both to the ground.

In some sense, then, McConnell is behaving perfectly rationally. His approachscrew the shutdown, screw the Russia interference, and screw any attempt to protect the franchise, we will eventually win in the courtsis just a mirror image of the approach many Trump opponents, including myself, have taken throughout the past two years (which is to focus on all that other stuff, because for now, the courts appear to be holding). But while progressives still hope that an independent judiciary will act as a check on Donald Trump, McConnell is taking a longer viewdoing something rather more apocalyptic and decidedly more cynical. He continues to pack the judicial branch with extremely young, radically conservative white Christian men who willassuming constitutional democracy survivescontinue to deliver wins on gun rights and anti-abortion rights as well as the deregulation of environmental, consumer, labor, and other safeguards, long after Trump leaves office. These picks will also continue to work to circumscribe the vote itself, through gerrymandering, voter suppression, and limitless money in politics.

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McConnell last week penned an op-ed trashing the House Democrats effort to protect the ballot box, H.R. 1, an effort to implement what should be bipartisan voting rights and election reforms, which include protecting the Voting Rights Act and improving voter registration and anti-corruption measures. But as he sleeps through the shutdown and bats away voting reform, McConnell is working double time to ensure that his remaking of the judiciary outpaces any improvement on the ways in which we vote. Of all the cynical lines in Homans piece, the most gutting may be McConnells own observation about the way out of our current political moment: Well, I mean, the ultimate check against any of this is the ballot box.

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The other line that lingers: The decision not to fill the Scalia vacancyI think thats the most consequential thing Ive ever done. Mitch McConnell wants to be judged for having stolen a seat at the Supreme Court from one president and given it to another. And yet McConnells utter failure to accept any responsibility for Trump or the Trumpism that came with it isnt even his greatest sin. His greatest sin is his continued plan to ram through judges while Rome burns, because he wants to ensure that minority-majority rule in America remains in place in case we accidentally survive the havoc wreaked by Russia and the decimation of both Congress and the presidency. He will do nothing to stop any of these things from corroding democratic norms and institutions, evidently in the hope that courts remade in his image can be the last institutions standing.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg plans to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential race, with goals of being the youngest and first openly gay president, he announced Wednesday.

Buttigieg (pronounced boot-edge-edge), who is just 37 and often referred to as Mayor Pete, announced in December that he would not seek a third term as mayor, stoking speculation that he would run for higher office. Early on Wednesday he announced in a video and email his intention to set up an exploratory committee, the first step toward launching a presidential campaign.

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I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now, he said in the announcement, which sought to set him apart from more experienced Democratic candidates by emphasizing his youth and fresh perspective. Were the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in the wars after 9/11, and were the generation that stands to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different. We cant just polish off a system so broken. It is a season for boldness and a focus on the future.

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Buttigieg, a Rhodes scholar and military veteran who took an unpaid leave of absence from office to serve a tour in Afghanistan in 2014, rose to prominence when, in 2011, the then-29-year-old became the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents. As South Bends mayor, he remained popular, and in 2015, he came out as gay, later marrying middle school teacher Chasten Glezman. In 2016, in surely the highlight of his political career, he also contributed to Slates live blog of the Indiana presidential primary.

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After his unsuccessful bid in 2017 to become the Democratic National Committee chairman, he gained name recognition at the national level and has been called a rising star of the party. If he were nominated, he would become the first ever openly gay candidate for a major party.

Buttigieg is one of several long-shot candidates to have already announced plans to run for office. Businessman Andrew Yang declared his candidacy on a platform centered around a universal basic income; John Delaney, a former congressman from Maryland, is sticking to a pro-business message dependent on the support of independents and moderate Republicans; and former West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda, an army veteran and advocate for the states teachers, has said he believes the partys path forward is to appeal to working class voters.
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More and more reform-minded district attorneys are taking office as self-avowed progressive prosecutors. Why dont some advocates think Kamala Harris deserves the label?

Guest: Lara Bazelon, associate professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law, contributing writer for Slate, and author of the book Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction. Read her op-ed, Kamala Harris Was Not a Progressive Prosecutor,  in the New York Times.

Tell us what you think by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or sending an email to whatnext@slate.com.

Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show.

Podcast production by Mary Wilson and Jayson De Leon, with help from Danielle Hewitt.
Sen. Kamala Harris presidential campaign got off to a very fast start in fundraising, perhaps even historically so. The California Democrat announced Tuesday that she had raised $1.5 million from roughly 38,000 donors in the first 24 hours after she made her 2020 plans official.

Theres no authoritative record book for these numbers. Candidates dont always announce their first-day hauls, and few professional observers paid close attention to such totals in the pre-internet days, when donating to a politician involved much more than a few clicks. But Harris dollar-figure matched the amount Bernie Sanders reported raising during the first 24 hours of his 2016 campaignand Harris reported having 3,000 more initial donors than Sanders did. (Hillary Clinton didnt release her first-day numbers for 2016.) Berniewhose campaign was celebrated for its small-donation gameclaimed an initial average donation of about $43.50; Kamala can boast of an average of just $37. Harris insta-fundraising is more evidence that shell be able to compete in what is expected to be a deep primary field.

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Other big-name Democrats like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand have not released any fundraising numbers to date, though both are still technically in the exploratory phase of their bids. That difference, though, could be a further boon to Harris, who will likely now enjoy a feedback loop of sorts, in which her rapid fundraising start earns her more attention, which in turn boosts her name recognition, which in turn earns her even more cash, and then more attention. This possibility was likely part of the political calculus behind her decision to jump into the race early. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Harris made building her small-donor list a priority in the leadup to her 2020 run. According to FEC records, just 14 percent of the cash she raised for her 2016 Senate campaign came from donors who gave $200 or less, but 74 percent of the money she brought in during the past two years fit that definition of small donations.

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Harris wont be the only candidate with a stockpile of small-donor dollars in 2020, particularly as Democrats swear off corporate PAC money, and as small-dollar donations are increasingly used as a metric to gauge support, including by the Democratic National Committee when it sends out debate invites. Sanders 2016 campaign should serve as a blueprint for the field: The Vermont senator was able to harness the power of the attention-grabbing money bombs that lesser candidates like Ron Paul used in the past and fold it more fully into his message. As his campaign materials never failed to point out, Sanders political operation was paid for by Bernies legions of fans, not the billionaires. Today, Harris team is similarly tying her small donors directly to her For the People pitch. As Harris digital strategist told Politico: These numbers reveal a campaign powered by the peoplean energetic, nationwide movement eager to elect Senator Harris and support her vision of an America that actually works for the people.

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There are also tangible benefits to relying on small donors. Such networks serve as a near-renewable resource that a candidate can continue to tap until her supporters either cant afford to give any more or they reach their maximum contribution limit of $2,700, whichever comes first. A campaign can solicit small donations in good times and bad. Candidates who rely on big-dollar checks, meanwhile, need to do more than send out an email blast when they have bills to pay. They need staff to find new donors, either through online outreach, working the phones, or by holding traditional fundraisers, all of which take time and money.

By launching her campaign early, Harris has had to contend with critics from the left who have found fault with her pre-Senate record as a prosecutor. But her early entrance also means she currently has the stage mostly to herself. That relative solitude, however, wont last forever. Its likely that if Harris first-day haul is indeed a record, it wont stand for long given the fundraising prowess of some could-be rivals. Sanders, for instance, raised more than $200 million in increments of $200 or less in the 2016 cycle, and Beto ORourke brought in a total of $38 million from roughly 800,000 donors in the final full quarter of his 2018 Senate campaign. If and when one or both jump in, it would be a surprise if they arent able to top Harris haul.
Who is the president of Venezuela right now? According to the White House, its not Nicolas Maduro, who assumed power in 2013 and was re-elected in a disputed contest last year. Its Juan Guaido, the president of the national assembly, who declared himself interim president Wednesday:

Today @POTUS announced the U.S. officially recognizes Juan Guaido as the Interim President of Venezuela. To @JGuaido & the people of Venezuela: America stands with you & we will continue to stand with you until #Libertad is restored! pic.twitter.com/4W3hlGplql  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 23, 2019

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Maduro hasnt stepped down, despite a new round of mass street protests against his rule. And despite the Guaidos calls for Venezuelas armed forces to turn against the (other) president, they have not yet done so.

So can Trump do this, and what does it mean?

Its unusual, but not unprecedented. In general practice, the U.S. recognizes states not their governments. It maintains diplomatic relations with whoever the de facto ruler of a state is. If thats unclear, such as during a coup, revolution, or civil war, it waits for the de facto ruler to emerge.

There are exceptions to that rule. The Obama administration recognized Libyas opposition Transitional National Council and the Syrian Opposition Coalition as the legitimate governments of their countries while Muammar al-Qaddafi and Bashar al-Assad were still in power. But both cases were in the context of an armed conflict where the ruler in question had lost control of significant portions of his territory to the opposition. Thats not the case in Venezuela. Not yet, anyway. By contrast, in a situation more similar to this one, the Obama administration controversially refused to recognize the new government that took power in Honduras after a coup ousted the left-wing populist president Manuel Zelaya in 2009. The White House demanded that he be returned to power. Relations were eventually normalized after new elections were held.

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Mike Pence called Maduro a dictator with no legitimate claim to power in a video released on Tuesday, but the word legitimate is dicey here. Its true that Maduros 2018 re-election was widely considered a sham by the international community and that the assembly led by Guaido is widely considered one of Venezuelas last democratic institutions. But as Trump, who will sit down for a second time with North Koreas Kim Jong-un next month, well knows, the U.S. has political dealings with plenty of non-democratic governments. (Recognition is also not the same thing as having diplomatic relations: The U.S. doesnt have an embassy in Pyongyang but has never disputed that Kim is the ruler of North Korea.)

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The U.S. has, at times, used non-recognition as a way to delegitimize governments it doesnt approve of. Woodrow Wilson refused to recognize several Latin American leaders, most notably the Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta. Wilson also later sent U.S. troops into Mexico during an uprising against Huerta, which Trump has reportedly suggested doing in the case of Venezuela. During the Cold War, the U.S. recognized the Republic of China, aka Taiwan, as the legitimate government of all of China, despite the Communist Peoples Republic of China controlling the countrys entire mainland.

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In this case, Trump can claim to be following the regions lead. The government of Brazil and the head of the Organization of American States have both stated that they recognized Guaido as Venezuelas legitimate leader. Reuters reports that Canada plans to as well.

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Its not clear what political impact Trumps announcement will have. Maduro will no doubt use it to denounce Guaido and the opposition as U.S.-backed puppets (the Trump administrations has also reportedly had conversations with potential coup-plotters in the Venezuelan military), but he was doing that anyway. The economic distress and level of violence in Venezuela are already dire, but its possible to imagine it getting worse if the country into two governments competing for legitimacy, one backed the U.S., Brazil, one by Russia, China and Cuba. This sort of proxy battle is a recipe for outright civil war.
Four young men were arrested in upstate New York over the weekend for an alleged plot to attack a small Muslim community, called Islamberg, 150 miles northwest of New York City.* Police announced charges Tuesday against three suspects from suburban Rochester, ranging 18-to-20 years old, along with a 16-year-old minor high school student, who, over the course of about a month, stockpiled 23 firearms and three homemade bombs filled with black powder and nails to carry out the planned attack. The young men communicated on a chat app, Discord, that is popular among the far-right, according to police.

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Police said Tuesday it remains unclear how the four individuals are linked, although three were Boy Scouts and two Eagle Scouts, offering one possible connection. Their motive is also unclear; Islamberg is roughly a three-hour drive away. The 60-acre hamlet is home to Muslim families that settled in the area in the 1980s and today is home to about 200 people. The community was settled in the 1980s by followers of a Pakistani cleric, Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, the New York Times reports. The initial settlers were predominantly African-American Muslims who left New York City looking for a better place to practice their religion and raise their children. It is also home to the headquarters of the Muslims of America organization, according to the Associated Press. Despite being a small, remote residential community, Islamberg has, of late, caught the attention of far-right conspiracy theorists, including from Alex Jones and Infowars and even Fox News, where, NPR reports, it was suggested that Muslims were stockpiling guns on the compound in Islamberg in response to President Trumps election.

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Police were tipped off to the plot when the 16-year-old suspect showed classmates at Greece Odyssey Academy in Greece, N.Y. a picture on his phone that he said looked like a potential school shooter. Another student reported the comment and interaction to school officials, triggering a police investigation to see whether there was a threat to students. Police uncovered the terrorist plot and arrested 20-year-old Brian Colaneri, 18-year-old Andrew Crysel, and 19-year-old Vincent Vetromile, along with the 16-year-old student who is being treated as an adolescent offender.
Theres a crew of new women in Congress whove become fast friends since the election. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have become instant progressive icons and visible markers of a long-overdue shift in legislative demographics. Theyve posted loads of selfies together, called themselves a squad, tweeted support for each others policy ideas, and defended each other from right-wing detractors. Their fans have seen them as harbingers of hope in a dark time descending on a stalled-out Congress to help save America from itself.

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Its important to remember, though, as Pressley told her Twitter followers over the weekend, that there have been vocal women of color pushing for progressive change in Congress for a long time. California Rep. Barbara Lee, who Pressley called a big sister & mentor in her tweet, is one of them. In a phone conversation earlier this month, I spoke to Lee about her role in the new, more progressive Congress, what it was like to be one of the few black women in national office in the 1990s, and what it might mean to have a critical mass in the legislature. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Christina Cauterucci: I was looking through all the pictures you and other Democratic women posed for on the first day of the new Congress, and there was a palpable feeling of celebration. What was that day like for you?

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Barbara Lee: It was exciting. The younger and new members of Congress are very smart, theyre authentic, theyre passionate, theyre committed to their constituencies and to the country, to the world. And its just been wonderful being with them. I hope to be able to help them find their paths.

But also, I have to say, just as a progressive African-American woman, they give me a lot of hope. They strengthen me. They really formed that bond that means a heck of a lot when youre in a Congress wherefor example, in 1998, I was only the 20th African-American woman ever elected to Congress since 1789. So this is really quite a happy moment and a really profound and positive development for the country.

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There seems to be an incredible camaraderie among this new class of congresswomentheyre hugging each other in photos, calling each other sisters in their tweets. Is there always such a strong feeling of solidarity among new progressive members of Congress?

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Theres always solidarity. But I think this year is unique because you have so many women of color, and women from diverse backgrounds, and women who have broken so many glass ceilings. For example, Pennsylvania did not have one single woman in their delegation. Now we haveI believe its four. This is amazing. This is groundbreaking. It really tells me theres no way we can ever go back. I think the excitement and the joy and the hope that this election brought was really a special and unique moment in history.

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Ive been thinking a lot about power in numbers when it comes to race and gender representation in Congress. Some studies of women in business leadership suggest that there needs to be a critical mass of people from underrepresented groups to make a tangible difference, because one person alone can be more easily ignored or tokenized. Does that resonate with your experience in Congress?

Absolutely. You know, its really good to have allies. And coming to Congress then, as a progressive African-American woman, it took a while to build the level of collegiality that others have, especially white men, because there were so few of us.

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They encourage me, and they give me a lot of insight, and I learn a heck of a lot from them.  California Rep. Barbara Lee

In terms of speaking out in a meeting or at a hearing with new ideasfolks would shake their heads and say Great, or whatever. Then 10 minutes later they would reiterate the same thing I just said, as if it were new. [Laughs.] Its just like being invisible. You know what thats like, being invisible? But let me tell you: I wasnt gonna let that happen. I was working for former Congressman Ron Dellums, who passed away in July. And when I started working as a chief of staff on Capitol Hill, there were maybe two African-American women as chiefs of staff, OK? Maybe three, but I think it was two. I had to represent Ron at meetings with Cabinet officials. And Id walk into those meetings, and primarily white men were there, and I would engage in the meeting, and it was almost like I just wasnt there. Or they didnt recognize me as a chief of staff, or they would never call on me to ask my question or make my point. Or they sometimes didnt know that I was a chief of staff, they thought I was another staffer just taking notes to take back to the congressman. You know, it was very ugly and demeaning, disrespectful.

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So I remember those days, and weve made a lot of progress, but let me tell you, we have a long way to go. You still have institutional biases, you have to break through all of that sexism and racism. You have to really confront that all of the time, whether its subconscious or conscious.

[Congress is] still just a microcosm of America. It takes a while. But I think that were moving forward, were making progress. With this new Congress, you know, itll never go back to the days of long ago, when Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American congresswoman, was elected in the late 60s.

You know what its like to stand alone on an issueIm thinking specifically of your vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001. [Ed. note: Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the broad, still-active authorization of war.] What advice are you giving new members of Congress on speaking up, even if theyre alone?

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I think they all are very courageous and all have to know their bottom lines, what they bring to Congress, their values, who they are, and what they stand for. And it may not be the same thing, but you have to know how far to go for compromise, or how far you will allow yourself to go on any given issue. For me, as a daughter of veteran and someone whose dad was in World War II, Korea, and who was raised in a military family, I know that the use of force should only be the last option, recognizing that we have to make sure that our national security is secure. So for me, thats a bottom line.

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For me, another bottom line is you do not cut public assistance and food stamps. I had a very difficult period in my lifeI was a single mother with two young sons. And I was on welfare and food stamps and Medicaid. And I knew what it was like, and it was really hard. But in that moment because I had this bridge over troubled waters, like a lifeline, Im not gonna allow, on my watch, my involvement in cutting any of this basic support for people and families and children who need it. And Im gonna look out for others who may be in similar circumstances. So thats a bottom line for me.

[The new members of Congress] come with a lot of courage. Just to get here took a lot of courageto break through, given the fundraising barriers and everything that you have to deal with. But now theyre here, and theyve demonstrated how courageous they are. They just have to know how far theyre willing to compromise and what they stand for. And I think most of them know that.

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How do you see your role in this wave of new progressive women, especially women of color, taking seats in Congress?

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I hope I am a supportive peer who can really help them navigate the legislative process, and do exactly what they want to do in their congressional careerserving their constituents and how they want to go, what path they want to take. And now as a co-chair of the Steering and Policy Committee, I want to make sure theyre able to get to the committees that they wantto carve out what issues they want to address. In terms of the seniority system and how you navigate thatIve had a lot of experience  [with] ways to think out of the box and be creative in what I want to do when there are systemic and institutional kinds of roadblocks.

So I want to help [new members of Congress] figure those out. But also, I have to tell you: They encourage me, and they give me a lot of insight, and I learn a heck of a lot from them. It goes both ways.
Space oddity. Photo: Molly Riley - Pool/Getty Images

Donald Trump nearly derailed a televised call to the International Space Station after he got distracted, first by a sudden fantasy of going to Mars before the end of his first term in the White House, and then by a trip to the bathroom to check his reflection in the mirror, according to Team of Vipers, a new book by Cliff Sims, who worked as a communications official for Trump on his presidential campaign and in the West Wing.

The April 24, 2017 video call to congratulate the astronaut Peggy Whitson, who that day broke the record to become the American who has spent the longest amount of time in space, was an unusually smooth public event for the president.

Trump sat at his desk in the Oval Office, flanked by his daughter and adviser, Ivanka, and astronaut Kate Rubins, and read prepared remarks off a sheet of paper while other members of his staff  Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, and Betsy DeVos  looked on. Suspended aboard the Space Station, Whitson and Colonel Jack Fischer fielded his questions, including, What are we learning by being in space?

The only major hiccup visible to the public came when Trump asked about Mars. Tell me, Mars  what do you see a timing for actually sending humans? he said. Whitson responded by noting that just a month earlier, Trump had signed a bill outlining such timing. Well, I think as your bill directed, it would be in the 2030s, she said. Unfortunately spaceflight takes a lot of time and money, so getting there will take some international cooperation.

Trump didnt accept her answer. Well, I think we want to do it in my first term or at worst in my second term, he said. So I think well have to speed that up a little bit. By Trump standards, the comment barely registered as news. The New York Times suggested hed said it perhaps jokingly.

But, according to an excerpt from Team of Vipers obtained by Intelligencer, Trump wasnt joking. He was suddenly very serious about getting to Mars as soon as possible.

From the moment Sims broached the subject of the video call to the Space Station with Trump, it seemed to inspire in him a chimerical mood. We dont capture peoples imaginations anymore, Trump said, in what Sims described as a rare moment of wistfulness. Trump continued: We used to do big things  incredible things. No one could do the things we could do. You have to inspire people. They went to the moon. But the call would be great. Honestly, how cool is NASA?

Sims detailed the logistics of setting up the call, something that required NASA engineers and diagrams of the Oval Office and a walk-through beforehand. But the most important aspect of the plan, Sims learned, would be the timing. An engineer explained something called orbital mechanics to him, how the Space Station would only be reachable during a specific period of about 20 minutes when it was in just the right place. The President would have to be right on time, a rarity, Sims wrote.

The day of the event, Sims conducted a final briefing in the Private Dining Room with Trump, DeVos, Rubins, and Robert Lightfoot Jr., the acting NASA administrator. We had about ten minutes before the broadcast, Sims wrote, which I stressed to the President had to start and end exactly on time.

As Sims explained to the president what was about to happen, he scanned over his prepared remarks, crossing out some of the text with a Sharpie. Meanwhile, Sims wrote, the giant flat-screen TV hanging on the wall was turned to Fox News, on mute. Trump asked him where the cameras would be positioned and which side of his head would be most prominently featured. Sims wrote that he made sure the press cameras would be positioned on the right side, which was Trumps preference.

Then, something happened. Trump suddenly appeared distracted, distant, wrote Sims. I could sense the gears inside of his head starting to turn. I was losing him. As the clock ticked down, Trump suddenly turned toward the NASA administrator. He asked: Whats our plan for Mars?

Lightfoot explained to the president  who, again, had recently signed a bill containing a plan for Mars  that NASA planned to send a rover to Mars in 2020 and, by the 2030s, would attempt a manned spaceflight.

Trump bristled, according to Sims. He asked, But is there any way we could do it by the end of my first term?

Sims described the uncomfortable exchange that followed the question, with Lightfoot shifting and placing his hand on his chin, hesitating politely and attempting to let Trump down easily, emphasizing the logistical challenges involving distance, fuel capacity, etc. Also the fact that we hadnt landed an American anywhere remotely close to Mars ever.

Sims himself was getting antsy by this point. With a number of points left to go over with the president, all I could think about was that we had to be on camera in three minutes  And yet were in here casually chatting about shaving a full decade off NASAs timetable for sending a manned flight to Mars. And seemingly out of nowhere.

Trump did not seem worried about the time. Sims wrote that he leaned in toward Lightfoot and made him an offer. But what if I gave you all the money you could ever need to do it? Trump asked. What if we sent NASAs budget through the roof, but focused entirely on that instead of whatever else youre doing now. Could it work then?

Lightfoot told him he was sorry, but he didnt think it was possible. This left Trump visibly disappointed, Sims wrote. But I tried to refocus him on the task at hand. We were now about 90 seconds from going live.

Trump wasnt ready to refocus yet, however. As he walked with Sims from the dining room to the Oval Office, he stopped just outside the door. He decided to stop in his white-marbled bathroom for one final check in the mirror, Sims wrote. He had 30 seconds before he was supposed to be on camera, and Sims was now nearing full on panic.

In the bathroom mirror, Trump smirked and said to himself, Space Station, this is your President. He told Sims to go ahead into the Oval, assuring him, Ill be right in.

He made it with barely a second to spare. If Id ever doubted that his showbiz background actually brought any value to this job, I certainly never would again, Sims wrote.

The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment.
This article is published through a partnership with New York Medias Strategist. The partnership is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected by New York Media. If you buy something through our links, Slate and New York Media may earn an affiliate commission.

I envy people who can set a single alarm on their phone and confidently drift off to sleep. I was never the type. I have slept through standardized tests, work, and even a keynote speech that I was supposed to deliver to a group of incoming college freshmen. I might be the Worlds Heaviest Sleeper.

My inability to wake up used to affect every aspect of my entire life  my class schedule, which work shifts I could reliably take, flight times, you name it. In college, I scraped by with the help of my roommates and boyfriend, who would shake me awake for class and important appointments. After I graduated and began living without my human fail-safes, I tried everything: setting over a dozen alarms on my phone, Alexa, a clock that requires a code to shut up, and one that rolls around on the floor, allegedly forcing you out of bed. They would fail. I would wake up and find that I had silenced the alarms in my sleep, sometimes even by ripping the batteries out of the devices. Nothing worked until, finally, one night during an Amazon binge-shopping episode, I stumbled upon the Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock.

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This clock is manufactured by Sonic Alert, a company that specializes in solutions for the hard of hearing, and hard to wake communities, which seemed convincing. But I was dubious: Aesthetically, the Sonic Bomb looks like a childrens toy meant for changing your voice to sound like Darth Vaders. The thought of bringing it into my modern apartment, to live among my cognac leather chairs and white fur accents, horrified me. But it was available for next-day delivery, and I was out of options.

The Sonic Bomb comes with several adjustable settings, like ones for volume and ringtone, but also light controls, vibration controls, and even a button to test your wake-up experience. I programmed my settings to be as obnoxious as possible. Eight hours later, I woke up. It felt like a miracle.

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I credit a lot of the success to sheer sound of this clock, because whereas an average alarm clock goes up to 80 decibels, the Sonic Bomb rings at 113 decibels  nearly the volume of an ambulance siren. The (optional) bright, pulsating lights on the face of the clock help, too. The feature that takes the cake, however, is the 12-volt bed-shaker. A small accompanying plastic disc that can slip under your mattress or pillow, it will shake you awake right when the alarm starts blaring. And if this alarm can wake me up, it can wake anybody.

And If You Prefer Something Gentler

Writer Liz Krieger bought this glowing Philips alarm clock  which wakes you up with light  to cope with dark winter mornings that made it nearly impossible to get out of bed. I chose this model because of the way it mimics the sunrise: providing a slow, gentle progression from a barely there golden glow to a bright, everythings-gonna-be-all-right white light, steadfastly streaming just a few inches away from my head every morning, she wrote.

When former Strategist senior writer Lauren Levy (nee Schwartzberg) went hunting for the best alarm clock, sleep doctors told her to find something with crescendoing rings. (Although she did note that doctors warned her away from abrasive buzzes and beeps (helpful for heavy sleepers but stressful for everyone else), which supports the Sonic Bombs use case for the hard-to-wake.) She ended up with this voice-activated Braun. I thought if I had to look at my clocks and yell stop the second I was woken up, I would be less likely to fall back asleep. That turned out to be true, she said. I started talking to my alarm clock, and I stopped snoozing. It transformed my sleeping habits.

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Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 539 with Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, and Sam Adams with the audio player below.

Get More Culture Gabfest Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to Slates Culture Gabfest Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page.

Or find the Culture Gabfest via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

On Slate Plus, the hosts discuss their own relationships to music festival culture.

Go to Slate.com/cultureplus to learn more about Slate Plus and join today.

This week, Sam and Dana are joined by Slate staffer Shannon Palus to discuss the Fyre Festival, a would-be Eden for Instagram influencers that ended in disaster. The event has been immortalized by both Netflix and Hulu in a pair of documentaries released days apart. What can the debacle tell us about our culture more broadly, and does either doc really understand whos to blame? Next, The Wife may finally win Glenn Close an Oscar for Best Actress that many consider to be long overdue, but the critics debate whether this is the role that deserves the academys recognition. Finally, they break down the Oscar nominations more broadly, discussing how the influx of new Academy members seems to be changing its tastes, the nominations that pleasantly surprised them, and the snubs that broke their hearts.

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Links to some of the things we discussed this week:

 Netflixs Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

 Hulus Fyre Fraud

 With Hulu and Netflixs Fyre Festival Docs, Instagram Influencers Get Their Gimme Shelter by Sam Adams

 Fyre Fight: The Inside Story of How We Got Two Warring Fyre Festival Documentaries in the Same Week by Scott Tobias in the Ringer

 The Wife

 Meg Wolitzers The Wife

 Should Glenn Close Win Best Actress for The Wife? by Inkoo Kang

 Glenn Close Does Oscar-Worthy Work in The Wife by Richard Lawson in Vanity Fair

 Glenn Close is the most nominated living actor to never win an Oscar by Sonaiya Kelley in the Los Angeles Times

 Roma and The Favourite Lead the 2019 Oscar Nominees by Marissa Martinelli

 The Academy Is a House Divided  and Thats a Good Thing by Mark Harris in Vulture

 RaMell Ross Hale County This Morning, This Evening

 Bing Lius Minding the Gap

 Debra Graniks Leave No Trace

 First Reformed starring Ethan Hawke

 Marielle Hellers Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Endorsements:

Sam: Sharon Van Ettens new album, Remind Me Tomorrow

Julia: The second season of Friends from College

Dana: John C. Reilly on the Comedy of Laurel And Hardy: Its Almost Like A Ballet by Dave Davies on NPR

Outro: Beat Relaxed from Epidemic Sound

This podcast was produced by Benjamin Frisch. Our production assistant is Alex Barasch.

Feel free to email us at culturefest@slate.com or interact with us at @SlateCultFest on Twitter. And you can follow all of Slates culture podcasts by liking our Facebook page.
Harmony Korine is headed back to the beaches of Florida, seven years after the release of Spring Breakers.

Beach Bum looks decidedly lighter than Korines last foray into Florida beach party culture, but one look at the neon-laced trailer and outlandish characters, and its easy to recognize Korines picking up where his last movie left off.

The film follows a lawless stoner novelist, Moondog (Matthew McConaughey), through his misadventures in Miami. The trailer gives us the kind of McConaughey we knew before the so-called McConaissance, amplifying his charm and easy smile and he drifts around Miami sporting loose Hawaiian t-shirts and spouting unsolicited insightsreminiscent of McConaugheys own ability to turn interviews and Oscar speeches into moments of life lessons and soul-searching.

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Korine told IndieWire, I always like playing with the real actor persona, the pop persona, whats authentic to the person, and then push it out to the stratosphere, he said. He plays with the idea of what people imagine him to be, and kind of takes it into another radical direction.

The cast also features Jonah Hill, Zac Efron, Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, Martin Lawrence, and Jimmy Buffett.

While Korine originally wanted Snoop to play himself, the rapper called Korine with an idea of his own. He called me and said, I have one change, Korine said. I want to be called Lingerie. They call me Rie, short for Lingerie, because Im smooth and silky. I was like, Thats a great idea.

Beach Bum will be released in theaters on March 29, 2019.
No one in Washington, D.C., looks good during the partial shutdown of the federal government. Everyone shares blame for what is, in our view, a disgrace.

A portion of the government is shut down (this already is the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history) because President Trump wants $5.7 billion for a wall on the U.S. southern border with Mexico and Democrats won't agree to the funding.

We have questions for each side:

- Why is President Trump in pursuit of money for a border wall with such intransigent vigor today when Democrats control the House? Why wasn't he able to get money for the wall he wants when fellow Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress the last two years?

- Why is Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the leaders of opposition to money for a border wall when he joined more than half of Democrats in the Senate in voting for the Secure Fence Act of 2006 that authorized a fence along some 700 miles of the border between the U.S. and Mexico? Is he for or against border security?

We believe a lack of answers to these questions exposes to everyone what this is really all about.

Political power. Each side wanting to flex political muscle to the other.
DES MOINES -- Felons who complete their sentence would automatically have their voting rights restored under a constitutional amendment proposed Tuesday by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Iowa and Kentucky are the only two states that require felons to petition the governor to have their voting rights restored after completing their sentence.

Reynolds proposed language to amend the Iowa Constitution. The change, the governors staff says, would make felons eligible to vote once they have completed their sentence, bringing Iowas policy in line with 35 other states.

A change to the Iowa Constitution must be approved by two consecutive Iowa General Assemblies and then Iowa voters.

I believe in second chances, Reynolds said Tuesday.

Reynolds said she does not think felons should be permanently banned from voting, and one person should not hold the sole authority over whether those rights are restored. Her amendment would do that automatically once a felon has completed his or her sentence.

Iowa law defines a sentence as including any probation or parole. It does not include court-ordered restitution, nor does Reynolds proposal.
Medical cannabidiol may soon be used to treat additional medical conditions in Iowa.

At a Feb. 8 public meeting, the Iowa Board of Medicine will discuss adding "severe, intractable pediatric autism with self-injurious or aggressive behaviors" to the conditions the oil, commonly referred to as CBD, can be used to treat.

In a public hearing Tuesday, the board reviewed two comments in favor by a physician and physician's assistant.

"The Cannabidiol Board, which is part of the Department of Public Health, approved adding that condition. The Board of Medicine agreed with that and filed notice of these rules to add that condition for the use of medical cannabidiol for the state of Iowa," Board of Medicine Interim Executive Director and Director of Legal Affairs Kent Nebel said Tuesday.

Last month, the Board of Medicine added ulcerative colitis to the list of conditions for which CBD can be used.

Members of the public or advocacy groups may petition the Cannabidiol Board to add conditions to the list, Nebel said. If approved, the Board of Medicine reviews the condition, acting as a backup to the Cannabidiol Board, Nebel said.
VERMILLION, S.D. -- A Vermillion man has been charged with two misdemeanors after he shot a dog he mistook for a coyote.

Clay County Sheriff Andy Howe said the incident took place at a farm between Vermillion and Wakonda, South Dakota around 8 a.m. Sunday. The man, 28-year-old Deitrich Mehlhaf of Vermillion, saw what he thought was a coyote and took a shot.

"He didn't have landowner permission to be there," Howe said. It turned out that the supposed coyote was actually a German Shepherd dog that lived at a nearby house.

Due to Mehlhaf's proximity to the residence, he was charged Monday with reckless discharge of a firearm as well as trespassing while hunting. Both are misdemeanor charges.

"He was cooperative, he'd made a mistake and admitted to it," Howe said.

Copyright 2018 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Sioux City

Carl Edward Zimmerman, 78, of Sioux City, died Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019, at his home.

Memorial services will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Homes, 1801 Morningside Ave., in Sioux City, with Caleb Sander officiating of Sunnybrook Community Church. Burial will be at a later date in Memorial Park Cemetery. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.christysmith.com.

Carl was born on Nov. 11, 1940, in Sioux City, to Phillip and Bonnie (Piper) Zimmerman. He grew up and attended Sioux City Schools, graduating from East High School in 1959.

Carl married Gloria Perrin Oct. 18, 1960 in Pipestone, Minn. The couple had three boys, Michael, Patrick and Jay. Carl worked for Meyer Beef in Sioux City until 1979. The family then moved to Littleton, Colo., where he worked for Intermountain Specialty Equipment Company until returning to Sioux City in 1987. He continued working various jobs until he retired in 1998.
SIOUX CITY -- Woodbury County Sheriff Dave Drew returned to an annual request Tuesday, again asking the County Board of Supervisors to approve adding more money for deputies to patrol roads.

Every time for six years, Drew's request for more workers has been denied. This time, again, no immediate affirmation was given by the supervisors.

"We have asked continually for more bodies...Our staff is stretched thin and at the point of burnout from working additional hours," Drew said in an interview.

While Drew makes decisions on where sheriff's office employees perform their varying tasks, the supervisors set the budgets for each county department and office. In discussing his multi-million budget proposal for the 2019-20 fiscal year, Drew said on Tuesday that he wants to add three deputies and one jailer, which would cost $254,000, for wages and benefits.

"The total number of employees have stayed the same since I have taken office. We have shuffled people around to try to fill gaps. With all the new demands regarding mental and substance abuse work, we are stretched to thin, which ultimately shortens patrol functions in our rural area," Drew said.
STORM LAKE, Iowa -- A dog died in a Tuesday night house fire in Storm Lake.

According to a press release from the Storm Lake Police Department, at around 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, the Storm Lake Fire Department responded to a fire at 519 Superior St. Firefighters on scene encountered heavy flames coming through the windows of the residence.

No one was home at the time of the fire. Firefighters extinguished the fire, which was burning in the living room, and were able to rescue two of the three pet dogs in the home. The third dog perished in the fire.

The living room sustained fire damage and the entire first floor of the residence was damaged by smoke. The source of the fire has not yet been identified.

Total damage from the fire was estimated at $40,000. The residence is owned by Saenpy Somphanthabansouk of Storm Lake.

No injuries were reported in the fire. Fire officials spent roughly three hours at the scene.

Copyright 2018 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Id like to take you back in time to the summer of 2017. The headlines at the time were dire: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin shook hands at the G20 summit. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard a case on whether or not a selfie-taking monkey could own the copyright to said selfie. The World Health Organization announced that gonorrhea was becoming harder, if not impossible, to treat. And yet there was a single bright spot  a promise, amidst the darkness, of a better future: Snapchat released a lens that let you place a dancing hot dog into your photos and videos.

The hot dog wasnt Snapchats first augmented reality lens. It wasnt even, arguably, its best augmented reality lens. (Im partial to the bread-face lens also released in early summer 2017.) Unlike the elaborate fantasias promised by augmented-reality companies like Magic Leap, the hotdog gimmick was simple: Users could drag and drop a 3-D hot dog wearing headphones onto any surface they could see through the camera lens  a table, an outstretched palm, a sidewalk  and the hot dog would dance. And yet, somehow, it was the dancing hot dog that became an internet-wide phenomenon  the thing that turned augmented reality from a much-hyped promise to a meme-able technology  whether the people using the lenses realized it or not.

Intelligencer caught up with several Snap employees to get the full story on how everyones favorite hot dog DJ came into existence.

One of our challenges was to introduce the Snapchatters to this completely new experience, to use AR in the wild, on the other side of the camera. So not just lenses for your face. The first character dancing was actually the dancing cow, Lidiya Bogdanovich, who leads lens design at Snap, told Intelligencer. It was a completely new thing for us, from a technical point of view and from a creative point. We noticed that people loved it, because they had found a new way to interact with AR in the real world. So we started thinking about other characters that people might like, so we thought, what do people like? They like animals, pizza, burgers, french fries, avocados  hot dogs. From there, Bogdanovich said someone drew up a quick napkin sketch of what would become the hot dog lens.

snapchat got a hot dog so I was like what does this boi do pic.twitter.com/ZsyBKWwyzk  cloudie  (@fluffysmolcloud) July 5, 2017

Next came the dance moves. We brainstormed with the team. It actually looks like a talent show, like a dance challenge, she explained. Everybody does moves and we sometimes do recordings and use it as a reference for our animators. They make the finalization of the character in 3-D. The lens launched on June 23, 2017. Bogdanovich noted that Snap rereleased the lens after it started picking up meme steam. The second time it was a tremendous hit. It still remains one of our biggest world lens hits.

The memes were what propelled what might have otherwise been a passing AR ship into a viral moment. There was a Snap posted to Twitter that captured a grocery cart picking up the hot dog character that I believe first kicked off the internet craze, said Eitan Pilipski, the VP of Snaps Camera Platform. From there, we saw memes around how to get the hot dogs look, spin-offs around the real v. fake versions of the characters, Snapchatters dancing alongside of it, pretending to be surprised when they saw it pop up in their kitchen. Said Bogdanovich, It was even a part of the Teen Choice Awards  there was a hot dog presenting onstage. Months later, Snapchat would sell an official Dancing Hot Dog Halloween costume for $80. Which people actually purchased and wore.

The love for the hot dog is the kind of thing companies dream of manufacturing. That Snapchat happened upon it organically was even better for business. The dancing hot dog, for us, was absolutely a game-changer as we thought about how do we push advertisers to augmented reality. A lot of advertisers themselves arent familiar with AR, certainly werent at that point. Jeff Miller, global head of creative strategy, said. I think [what] the dancing hot dog does so beautifully is within a second, you instantly understand the context, and you instantly have this emotional reaction. You want to smile.

Those dancing characters, the hot dog in particular, have been really important for AR in general, Bogdanovich said. Before that, AR was for tech people. Now its available for everybody  to work into our everyday lives. Now its fun. Shes right, sort of. If you asked the average person to tell you about a famous moment involving AR, they likely couldnt come up with something. But chances are good they saw the dancing hot dog in the summer of 2017. Even if they didnt realize they were witnessing ARs biggest moment to date.
Parry said he could not comment on whether Schwarte has agreed to provide information or testimony against others who may be charged.

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Previously filed court documents said other plant operators, including the plant superintendent, raised chlorine levels to wastewater on days that E. coli samples were taken. Once the samples were taken, the chlorine was added at minimal levels unlikely to disinfect discharged water enough to meet federal standards. Former plant superintendent Jay Niday told state investigators that the city saved at least $100,000 in one year by administering the lower levels of chlorine.

Those fraudulent testing procedures violated and concealed violations of the city's federal wastewater permits and the federal Clean Water Act and deceived the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which administers the city's permits, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The city fired Schwarte and Niday in June 2015 after the DNR was tipped off to the sampling manipulations and began an investigation. Niday has not been named in any court documents and it is not known if he or others will be charged.
SPENCER, Iowa -- Staff were cleaning areas of Spencer Hospital Tuesday impacted by smoke damage from a small equipment fire Monday night.

Hospital officials said they hope to reopen the surgical center, the area of the hospital where the fire broke out, later this week. Scheduled procedures were canceled Tuesday and Wednesday. All other hospital services were available Tuesday.

"Caring for our patients is always our number one priority and today we also had team members busy cleaning areas within the hospital which were impacted by smoke damage, sterilizing equipment and replacing linens," Spencer Hospital President Bill Bumgarner said in a statement Tuesday.

Bumgarner said the surgical center will reopen once a deep-cleaning process is completed and approval is received from the state fire marshal's office and the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, which oversees healthcare facilities in the state.

Shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, a hospital staff member in the surgical equipment sterilization area smelled smoke and noticed sparks escaping from one of the washer units. A fire alarm was pulled and the sparks were extinguished by the sprinkler system by the time firefighters arrived. Due to the spread of smoke in other areas of the hospital, 16 patients were transferred to neighboring facilities. No one was injured as a result of the fire.

Copyright 2018 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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What does learning to "hang 10" have to do with leadership?



On a remote beach resort in Playa Santana, Nicaragua3,567 miles from her organization's headquarters in Alexandria, Va.Denise Coursey was finding out. She was among the participants in LeaderSurf, an immersive training program designed for people in senior management positions and above.



To surf, you have to know where the surf breaks, position your board just so to catch the waves early, and shift your body to control your board and maintain balance.



"On the first day, we talked about surveying your environment  and aligning how, as a business leader, you have to constantly be aware of the environment around you so you can make decisions," said Coursey, president of Motley Fool Asset Management.



LeaderSurf is among a spate of unusual training programs for senior leaders.



The Gettysburg Foundation, for example, connects leaders of the past and present through its In the Footsteps of Leaders Executive Program. It is aimed at building and developing senior leadership skills and increasing effectiveness by exploring the battle through the eyes of key Gettysburg commanders.



Other programs with a battlefield theme take place in Normandy, France and Waterloo in present-day Belgium. Training focused on improving business agility, resilience and high performance is available at Olylmpic training centers in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Chula Vista, Calif. The Apollo Experience at Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., specialize in innovation, culture and adaptive leadership.



Cabanas and Crashing Waves



LeaderSurf has the trappings of a vacationthatched-roof cabanas and ocean waves crashing onto the shore near two hotels and a restaurant. But whether they attend LeaderSurf in Nicaragua, Costa Rica or Charleston, S.C., the attendeesabout 60 percent of whom are womenare expected to work on more than just how to ride a wave.



Brian Formato, LeaderSurf CEO and founder, doesn't think a typical classroom setting for leadership development works well because students' attention wanders: Did I pick up the dry cleaning? Did I get that report to my boss?



He holds a master's degree in organizational management, and his HR background includes two years as director of organization management at the Motley Fool.



"The belief system we have is if you put people in an environment where they feel more relaxed and at ease, the more open [they'll be] to experiencing new things," he said, and leadership lessons will be more memorable. "You have to engage the whole person."



That's where surfing comes in. Each class has six to 12 people, most of whom have never surfed before. The small class sizes allow for about three students per instructor.



Days typically start at 5 a.m., with tide tables determining when lessons are held. Business classes include a student-led presentation on a leadership topic every afternoon and team building in the evening. Participants keep a journal, present a business challenge they are facing at work and create a timeline for tackling the issue when they return home.



"They were very full days, and almost all of it was learning and developing  from the other folks in the group," Coursey said. "The things I valued most were the contacts I made and the knowledge there are other people out there struggling with the same [leadership] challenges" and how they handled them.



Discussion topics during her stay included how to take a small, founder-based business to the next level, promoting leaders from within versus hiring externally for different perspectives, and imposter syndromea feeling that success is due to luck, not talent or qualifications.



"We get people really to start thinking about what is an effective leader," Formato said, "and recognize  leaders come in all shapes and sizes."



He thinks surfing teaches people how to fail, be more innovative, be more open to risk and become more-iterative leaders. There's a wrong way to fall off the board and a right way to fallsuch as covering your head when you hit the water so you don't get hurt. Some participants are humbled by the experience after getting pummeled by the waves, according to Formato.



"Even the best surfers in the world wipe out when they go into the water, [but] in business we're told failure is not an option."



Coursey found surfing a little scary at first, but also fun and exciting, and she discovered it involves a good deal of hard paddling to get up enough speed to catch a wave.



By the end, she could ride the wave most of the way in. A lesson learned: "Anything worth doing," she said, "takes hard work and balance."



Courtesy: Donald Stone, LeaderSurf.


For JD, the success of this drone delivery test will open up opportunities for future use in Indonesia and Southeast Asia

Chinese e-commerce giant JD and its joint venture in Indonesia JD.ID had completed a drone delivery test in the country on January 8.

Conducted in rural West Java province, the drone delivered a package of school books and bags donation for students at a local elementary school.

The project was conducted with the support of the Ministry of Transportation, the Indonesian Air Force, AirNav Indonesia, Indonesian Aero Sport Federation (FASI), and the Association for Drone Systems and Technologies (ASTTA).

For the company, the successful completion of the test will open up opportunities for future use in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

In a press statement, JD.ID CEO Zhang Li said that the project was part of the companys commitment for the advancement of Indonesia beyond its business side.

JD itself is a strategic partner of the World Economic Forum and a partner of Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR).



Video and Image Credit: JD

The post Watch: JD tests drone delivery in rural Indonesia appeared first on e27.
Tens of thousands of opposition protesters burst into ecstatic cheering and shouts of joy in the streets of Caracas on Wednesday after parliament leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president. "What's happened today fills us with hope, what these people have today is hope, it is a clear need for us so we can move forward," said Jose Gregorio Flores, a 43-year-old university professor walking in the anti-government march called by Guaido. He was speaking minutes after the 35-year-old National Assembly leader proclaimed himself interim president from a platform above the crowd. "We have to support him in everything he says. He has said he does not want to become the perennial president of Venezuela, he has to call elections," said Flores. "And this city is out on the streets and is supporting him." While other protesters around him honked car horns and waved Venezuelan flags from the back of motorcycles, Flores said it was a moment to think about the 2.3 million Venezuelans who had emigrated since 2015 in the midst of an economic collapse overseen by unpopular President Nicolas Maduro. "Most of my entries for my friends on my telephone contacts list now say 'Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, United States' -- they have to come back, to help us rebuild the country," he said, embracing the hope that the protests will eventually crystallize into an Guaido-led government. The United States and many of Venezuela's neighbors, who refused to recognize Maduro's re-election last year, lost no time in formally recognizing Guaido as president. - 'We'll defend him' - Addressing the demonstration in eastern Caracas, Guaido said: "We know that this will have consequences. We know what is necessary to keep us in the streets of Venezuela until we achieve democracy, we will not let this great movement of hope and national strength be deflated." Euphoric after listening to the words of the young opposition leader, Estelvi Gonzalez said "We are going to defend Juan Guaido as we must, because here we are not going to be scared anymore." "Juan Guaido is already our president, we are here to fight against everything," Gonzalez, a lawyer, said while shouts of "Viva Venezuela" and "Maduro Out" rang out around her. Yosmar Cabrea, a 30-year-old shop owner, was already heading away from the demonstration with familiy when she heard of Guaido's declaration. "This is the beginning of a new hope, a new time, a new stage, I'm going to live through something new," an emotional Cabrea told AFP, recalling that she had been a 10-year-old when Maduro's predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999. - Vigil around Maduro - Elsewhere in the tense Venezuelan capital -- as well as in cities around the country -- tens of thousands of Maduro supporters were also on the march. He had called them out to back his socialist government and to reject what they have branded a blatant coup d'etat-in-progress. Presaging further drama, Maduro's number two Diosdado Cabello called on his supporters to gather outside his Miraflores presidential palace to protect him. "Let's all go in an orderly way to the Miraflores palace and give our support to our brother Nicolas Maduro and let him who wants to be president come to Miraflores and find the people there defending him," said Cabello. Thousands of Maduro supporters clad in red then marched several blocs from the city's O'Leary Square to Maduro's palace.
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido took an oath swearing himself in as the South American country's interim president on Wednesday, as hundreds of thousands marched to demand the end of socialist President Nicolas Maduro's government.

Guaido, the head of the opposition-run Congress, has said he would be willing to assume the presidency on an interim basis with the support of the armed forces to call elections. The United States is mulling recognizing him as the country's legitimate president, sources said.

(Reporting by Caracas newsroom; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
China on Wednesday accused the United States of "bullying behaviour" after US authorities confirmed plans to seek the extradition of a top Chinese telecom executive detained in Canada. The United States faces a January 30 deadline to file an extradition request for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest last month sparked diplomatic tensions. "We will continue to pursue the extradition of defendant Ms Meng Wanzhou, and will meet all deadlines set by the US/Canada Extradition Treaty," said US Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi on Tuesday. Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested at Vancouver airport on December 1 at the request of the United States, which says she violated American sanctions on Iran. She has since been freed on Can$10 million (US$7.5 million) bail and is awaiting a hearing on her extradition. According to the agreement between the two countries, the United States has 60 days after an arrest made at its request in Canada to formalise an extradition request. Once a request has been submitted, the Canadian justice ministry has 30 days to begin official extradition proceedings, though the process can take months or years. China, which has defended both Huawei and Meng since the CFO's arrest, criticised the US extradition request as without "legitimate reason" and "not in conformity with international law". "This is a type of technological bullying behaviour and everyone can clearly see the real purpose," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing. The US "will stop at nothing to suppress Chinese high-tech enterprises and restrain China's legitimate development rights", she added. Meng's arrest has sparked an escalating diplomatic crisis between Ottawa and Beijing. Two Canadians have since been detained in China on national security grounds, in what is thought to be retaliation for the arrest. A Chinese court also this month sentenced a Canadian man to death for drug trafficking following a retrial, a drastic increase of his previous 15-year prison sentence.
Detained former U.S. marine Whelan attends a court hearing in Moscow Former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, who was detained by Russia's FSB security service on suspicion of spying, listens to a lawyer while standing in a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

By Andrew Osborn and Tom Balmforth

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The lawyer for a former U.S. marine accused of spying by Russia said on Tuesday that his client had been misled before his arrest and believed that a thumb drive handed to him in a hotel room had contained holiday snaps rather than secret information.

Russia's Federal Security Service detained Paul Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28.

Whelan appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday, where a judge rejected releasing him on bail. If found guilty of espionage, he could be imprisoned for up to 20 years.

Whelan, who denies the charges, was detained after receiving a thumb drive containing a list of all the employees of a secret Russian state agency, the Russian online news portal Rosbalt.ru reported this month.

Rosbalt cited a Russian intelligence source it did not identify as saying that Whelan had been spying for 10 years, using the internet to identify targets from whom he could obtain information, and that the list he was caught with had long been of interest to U.S. spies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to support that version of events, later telling reporters Whelan had been "caught red-handed" carrying out "specific illegal actions" in his hotel room.

But Vladimir Zherebenkov, Whelan's lawyer, said on Tuesday that his client had accepted the information unknowingly.

"Paul was actually meant to receive information from an individual that was not classified," Zherebenkov told reporters.

"These were cultural things, a trip to a cathedral, Paul's holiday ... photographs. But as it turned out, it (the thumb drive) contained classified information."

The lawyer said Whelan had not been able to see what was on the thumb drive because he had been detained before he had a chance to do so.

His twin brother David Whelan, who lives in Canada, in a statement said his family was disappointed Paul had been denied bail. The family have said he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.

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"We are certain that he was entrapped and is not guilty of espionage," David Whelan's statement said.

Wearing a blue shirt and dark trousers, he looked calm but sombre as he stood inside a glass cage in the courtroom.

The hearing was closed to reporters, but his lawyer said afterwards that Whelan had made a 15-minute speech rejecting the allegations against him in detail.

The lawyer declined to clarify if Whelan had known the person who handed him the information.

He said Whelan had been experiencing some minor health problems in custody and was receiving treatment.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Tom Balmforth; Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova in Moscow and Barbara Goldberg in New York; writing by Andrew Osborn; editing by Kevin Liffey and Grant McCool)
Make Americans stand in breadlines again. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Over the weekend, Donald Trump reached an agreement on a grand bargain to end the government shutdown  with his own vice-president and son-in-law. Alas, while this compromise succeeded in uniting the Republican Party behind a new bad-faith rationalization for holding the federal government hostage to the presidents demand for a border wall, it failed to unite Congress. On Tuesday, the Democratic leadership assailed Trumps offer, and reiterated their call for immediately reopening the federal government at status quo funding levels, while negotiations over immigration policy continue.

In response, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed to allow votes on two funding bills Thursday  the presidents compromise (which wont get the requisite 60 votes, and wouldnt pass Nancy Pelosis chamber even if it could) and a Democratic bill that would simply restore government funding through February 8 (which probably cant get 60 votes, and which Trump probably wont sign even if it does).

The Democrats opposition to Trumps offer isnt hard to understand. All available polling suggests that a large majority of the public understands that it was Donald Trump who forced a government shutdown (a deeply unpopular political tactic) in hopes of securing funds for his border wall (a deeply unpopular policy), and that the shutdown is, thus, making Trump a less popular president.

Meanwhile, the White Houses peace plan proved to be chock-full of poison pills. Initial reports suggested that Trump was offering Democrats $5.7 billion in exchange for a three-year extension of the DACA and TPS programs. This wouldnt have been an easy deal for Democrats to sign off on  after all, Trumps primary concession constituted a promise to refrain from needlessly subjecting 700,000 Dreamers and 300,000 TPS recipients (i.e., longtime U.S. residents who came to this country through an officially temporary program, which both parties have treated as infinitely renewable) to the threat of deportation. Effectively, the president was offering to temporarily release the immigrants and federal workers whom hed taken hostage, in exchange for $5.7 billion in cold, dumb cash.

Nevertheless, if the deal had been as described, some Democrats might have been tempted to accept it. Securing a form of legal status for 1 million vulnerable, longtime American residents  for the likely duration of the Trump presidency  would be a significant humanitarian victory. By contrast, the border wall is a symbolically problematic pork project, which poses relatively few concrete harms to Democratic constituencies.

But Trump decided to make Nancy Pelosis life easy. The White House did not actually offer a clean wall for temporary amnesty trade. Rather, its proposal includes new caps on the number of children who can claim asylum in the United States; new income restrictions on DACA that would bar indigent immigrants from applying for the programs protections; a 20 percent increase in ICEs budget for detention and enforcement; and a new minimum income requirements for TPS status, among other provisions that Democrats have no interest in supporting.

The Supreme Court then made Pelosis job easier still, by declining to take action on lower court rulings that have barred the president from ending DACA. Now, it appears that no matter what Democrats do, DACA recipients will remain immune from deportation until at least early 2020. Which is to say: Trumps hostages just lost much of their ransom value.

A group of House Democrats did engineer the Politico headline, Centrist Democrats urge Pelosi to break shutdown stalemate Tuesday. But the letter that inspired said story merely implores Pelosi to promise a vote on Trumps border wall after the government is reopened  a proposal that is all but identical to Team Blues long-established position (open the government first, talk about the wall later).

All this assures that the presidents bill will go down to defeat in the Senate on Thursday, where it will need Democratic support to pass. The Democrats alternative legislation, meanwhile, appears likely to attract some Republican support  but not enough to overcome a 60-vote filibuster. Although McConnell has agreed to allow a vote on the measure, he is reportedly instructing his caucus to oppose it.

In sum, Democrats and Republicans have reached a compromise that will allow each side to claim that the other voted against reopening the government. But the Democrats remain too politically strong  and the White House, too ideologically obstinate  for the parties to reach agreement on anything more than that.
Too many protests prevent India from becoming like China or Singapore, says minister. Social media erupts

An Indian government minister who said the country would not develop as quickly as China or Singapore because it allowed people to protest has been hit by a public backlash.

Giriraj Singh, the junior minister responsible for small enterprises, told an investor summit in Gujarat that those countries did not have places where people were able to gather to protest against the policies of the government.

He added: Neither [Singapore] nor China has a Jantar Mantar  referring to a popular site for demonstrations in the capital Delhi.

He was responding to an earlier speech by Prasoon Mukherjee, the vice-chairman of the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who contrasted Singapores GDP of US$70,000 per capita with the figure for India, the worlds largest democracy, which stands at around US$2,000 per head.

But the comments triggered an immediate social media backlash both in India and China.

[Jantar Mantar is] not the real reason  the real reason is illiterate and foolish leaders like you, read one comment on The Times of India website.

Who said there are no protests in China? At a local level, there are thousands of protests  Right now, farmers are angry, traders are angry, local small businesses are angry, commented another reader.

But Singhs words also elicited a strong reaction in China after the media picked up on the story a few days later.

One comment on the story on Guancha.cn read: How can the leader of a democratic country make such an undemocratic speech?

Another reader posted: The people have hindered development! How incompetent can a leader be to say this!

Some commentators made fun of Indian political system, saying: They have been democratic and free for so many years. How can they still be poor? It must be fake news!

But some of the reaction was also more understanding.

One user on Weibo said: To tell the truth, China's economic development is indeed related to China's lack of street protests. If we went to the streets every day to protest, who would go to work?

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This is not the first time Singhs comments have resulted in controversy.

In 2016, he was at the receiving end of social media fury when he said families should be restricted to two children irrespective of their religion.

India has faced several major protests in the recent months as national elections loom in April and May.

In early January, protests broke out after two women entered the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, which is traditionally closed to women aged between 10 and 50.

At the same time, protests against a Bill which allows non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to apply for citizenship, have just entered their fourth week in the northeastern state of Assam.

Delhi itself has witnessed massive protests by farmers demanding that ministers write off loans and raise procurement prices to counteract the effect of falling rural incomes.

This article Too many protests prevent India from becoming like China or Singapore, says minister. Social media erupts first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
Credit Culture will kickstart its operations in personal loans space with the funding

Credit Culture, Singapore-based fintech that is among the six entities selected as part of a pilot by MinLaw, announces S$40 million (US$29.5 million) funding from Malaysian-listed investment holding company, RCE Capital Berhad.

The funding is to be directed to build up Credit Cultures operational capability as it gathers pace to be one of the first pilot licensees to operate under the new pilot by the Ministry of Law on new business models for the personal loans industry.

Also Read: Mapan reveals its current focus following new CEO appointment

In December 2018, Credit Culture, which is a subsidiary of Dey Private Limited, was selected as one of six entities that are part of a pilot by the Ministry of Law. The pilot seeks to professionalise the personal loans space.

Credit Culture is said to be the first Singapore fintech startup that provides digital solutions for personal loans.

Founded by a group of former bankers, Credit Cultures use of proprietary technology allows applicants to apply online using a simplified process. Its then supported by instant and personalised loan terms from its credit-scoring engine to assess the creditworthiness of a customer instantly.

It proceeds on to allow loan application process that can auto-populate the necessary fields using government sites like MyInfo. The system reduces the need for often cumbersome processes which in turn makes the application more convenient for consumers.

In terms of saving costs, reduced manpower and competitive rates capped at 1% per month once operation begins are what the company offers.

All rates and fees are presented upfront when presenting loan offers so the consumer is able to make an informed decision before taking up the loan. Credit Culture also ensures the removal of high late interest and extra charges for early settlement.

Edmund Sim, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Culture, said that its approach increases transparency and brings costs down.

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This investment aligns with RCE Capitals core business of providing personal loans and bringing opportunities to the underbanked, said Shahman Azman, Chairman of RCE Capital Berhad.\

Also Read: Indonesian legaltech startup Justika raises pre-Series A funding by top law firm

Credit Culture plans on championing clearing debts towards its consumers and is committed to providing funding options across all income segments.



Image Credit: Credit Culture

The post Singapore-based fintech Credit Culture raises US$29.5M funding from RCE Capital Berhad appeared first on e27.
Russia on Wednesday unveiled a missile system that Washington claims is in violation of a key arms control treaty, in a last-minute bid to counter US criticism and save the Soviet-era agreement. US President Donald Trump has threatened to walk away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF), with Washington claiming that Russia's 9M729 ground-based missile system violates the deal. Moscow has repeatedly denied the system contravenes the treaty and, to prove its point, on Wednesday showed off the missile at Patriot Park, a sprawling theme park near the town of Kubinka just outside Moscow. Standing next to the system, a Russian defence ministry official detailed the missile's features to foreign media and foreign military officials. Just over 20 foreign military officials were in attendance at the presentation, although none from any NATO country, the Russian defence ministry said. Moscow officials insisted the range of the system was allowed under the agreement that bans missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,400 miles). Mikhail Matveevsky, Russia's chief of artillery and missile troops, pointed out that the 9M729's maximum range is 480 kilometres (300 miles), adding it was a modification of the 9M728 missile. Matveevsky said the army could not tamper with the missile's maximum range because it depended on the amount of fuel put into the rocket at the production stage. "Russia was in compliance and continues to be in strict compliance with the stipulations of the treaty and does not allow any violations," he said. Matveevsky said Moscow was presenting the information in the interests of "voluntary transparency." Washington has said it would not be satisfied with Moscow's offer of a "static display" of the missiles, because they would not show whether they breach the treaty. The US says the missile system should be destroyed in a verifiable manner if Russia wants to keep the INF alive. A Russian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the NATO-member countries no-show was telling. "How are they going to have dialogue with us?" he told AFP. - 'Complete failure' in talks - Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, also in attendance, said Russia decided to unveil the missile after US officials refused to listen to Moscow's proposals during talks in Geneva this month, with the negotiations resulting in "complete failure". Last month Washington gave Russia a 60-day deadline -- which ends on February 2 -- to dismantle the 9M729 or the US would begin the six-month process of formally withdrawing from the treaty. Ryabkov said that because Washington's claims were unsubstantiated the agreement would remain in force even if the US tries to withdraw. He added the US continued to work on missiles banned by the treaty and was expanding its production facilities at home. "The treaty must be preserved," Ryabkov said. "It is for the American side to make the choice." - 'Concrete characteristics' - Most foreign diplomats at the briefing refused to say whether Moscow managed to convince them it was in compliance. But Li Xiaofeng, an aide to a Chinese military attache, said it was important that Russia had presented both the 9M728 and 9M729 missiles. Asked to comment on Russia's compliance, he told AFP: "I trust concrete characteristics. So far we don't see any concrete characteristics from the American side." Li said there was "no evidence" Russia violated the agreement. The INF treaty puts no restrictions on major military actors like China, a huge concern for the United States. Washington has said Russia's offers of inspection of the 9M729 merely "paid lip service" to transparency. Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to develop nuclear missiles banned under the INF treaty if it is scrapped. He said in December he was open to the idea of other countries joining the deal or to starting talks on a new agreement. Putin has also said that if Washington moves to place more missiles in Europe, Russia would respond and European countries would be at risk of a Russian attack. The European Union has urged Russia and the US to save the deal. The agreement was signed in 1987 by then US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, resolving a crisis over Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals.
A push to lower the age of criminal responsibility in the Philippines to nine has sparked alarm among childrens rights advocates who say the proposed change violates human rights.

Childrens organisations including Unicef and Save the Children say the proposals, which would reduce the age of criminal liability from 15, risk victimising some of the countrys poorest and most vulnerable children.

Children are in a situation where they have to commit crime for survival, said Eule Rico Bonganay, secretary general of Salinlahi Alliance for Childrens Concerns. Because even government data shows that the profile of children in conflict with the law are mostly  from poor families, they obtained a low level of education and they live in a community where there is a high rate of crime.

President Rodrigo Duterte has led the push for change, arguing that drug syndicates have been able to exploit the current law by using juveniles to ply their trade. Duterte, who has waged a bloody war on drugs that has left thousands dead, has complained of juveniles getting away scot-free with committing crimes.

On Monday, the committee on justice at the House of Representatives voted to advance a bill supported by the president that would impose mandatory confinement on children aged 9-14 who commit serious crimes such as murder and drugs offences.

Committee chairman Salvador Leachon hailed the bill, which is supported by power players including the former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as a step to protect our children from being used by ruthless and unscrupulous criminal syndicates.

A separate bill that would lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12 is making its way through the Senate, where there is greater resistance to Dutertes agenda. A majority of both houses of parliament must agree to a bill before it becomes law.

The Presidential Communications Operations Office did not respond to a request for comment, while a secretary for the House justice committee said its members could not discuss the bill while it was under deliberation.

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Although the House bill stipulates sending juvenile offenders to reformation houses known as Bahay Pag-asa, childrens advocates say that the reality of such facilities is often little different from adult prison.

Tricia Oco, the head of the governments Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, this week told a Senate committee that some Bahay Pag-asa she had inspected had subhuman conditions and were worse than prison.

Youth advocates also fear that a lack of dedicated facilities for juveniles and overcrowding mean children will inevitably end up being imprisoned alongside hardened adult criminals.

Its very alarming that young people will be mixed with adults inside prison, said Ralph Ivan, president of the Youth Peer Education Network, adding that such juveniles were at risk of physical and sexual abuse and likely to be lured into more serious criminality.

Ivan said children recruited by gangs often had no choice and should not be treated as criminals.

They do it because they are being exploited and abused in exchange for money  or even the lives of their families in the communities that are being run by narco-politics and big drug lords, he said.

Some 4.2 million families in the Philippines were living in poverty in 2012, according to Unicef, up from 3.6 million in 1991.

Although the bill has widespread political support, youth organisations are calling on the government to instead properly implement a juvenile justice law passed in 2006 which focuses heavily on diversion and reformation.

There is a need to increase the number of social workers, there is a need to increase the number of staff who will implement the law, said Rico Bonganay.

This is not a problem of the law, he added. There is a failure of the government to implement the law.

This article In Philippines, Dutertes drug war finds a new target: 9-year-olds first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
A woman stabbed 23 times for rebuffing a romantic overture has praised Pakistan's top court for ordering the rearrest of her alleged attacker, three years after her ordeal sparked a national debate on violence against women. Law student Khadija Siddiqui, then 23, survived the frenzied daylight attack outside her sister's school in the teeming eastern city of Lahore. Siddiqui had named the perpetrator as Shah Hussain, a classmate whom she had rejected romantically, who was convicted handed down a seven-year prison term in mid-2017. But Hussain, the son of a prominent Lahore lawyer, appealed the decision and was acquitted on all charges the following year in a provincial court, prompting uproar across the conservative and deeply patriarchal country. The supreme court's reversal comes after a tenacious campaign for justice by Siddiqui, who has emerged as a women's rights crusader since Hussain's acquittal. "Today is a victorious day, it was a landmark decision which shows that nobody is above the law in Pakistan," she told AFP after the verdict. "The verdict will serve as a precedent for the hundreds of Pakistani women who are harassed every day but are scared to go to the police or courts." Siddiqui's lawyer Hassan Niazi took to Twitter to celebrate the court's decision, while other rights campaigners greeted the news with jubilation. "Congratulations Khadija. Your struggle & resilience is a source of inspiration for both women and men fighting against injustices in Pakistan," tweeted prominent rights activist Jibran Nasir. Hundreds of women are attacked and murdered by men in Pakistan each year and justice is often elusive in a sluggish court system advocates say is often slanted against female victims. Many cases of violence against women in rural areas are not reported to authorities and instead mediated by village councils, often in a manner that is punitive for women.
US fast-food company McDonalds has apologised for its latest advertisement after some internet users accused it of advocating independence for Taiwan.

The television commercial, which first aired in the self-ruled island on January 6, included a two-second clip of a student ID card that showed Taiwan as a country.

Social media users picked up on it and voiced their complaints.

The nationality should be China! What is Taiwan? A province. Please know your place, one person said on WeChat.

McDonalds has put this out clearly for 1.3 billion Chinese people to see, what is the meaning of this? Are they supporting Taiwan independence? wrote another.

Other comments were more supportive of Taiwan.

The mainland really is sick, using patriotism to stir things up all day and making life impossible for people, read a comment on Weibo, Chinas Twitter-like platform.

This is over the top, they even want to go abroad to boycott McDonalds. Im tired, read another.

McDonalds China released an apology on Weibo on Saturday, saying the advert was directed by an unnamed Taiwanese agency and had since been pulled.

The ad company did not carry out strict background checks on the film and this caused a misunderstanding that we deeply regret, it said.

We have always supported the one-China policy and continue to uphold Chinese territorial sovereignty.

The one China policy, first articulated in 1972 at the end of US President Richard Nixons trip to China, states that there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China, but leaves room for interpretation as to whether Beijing or Taipei should be the legitimate government.

As a result, foreign nations are only able to establish official diplomatic ties with one or the other.

Taiwan is a self-governing democratic island that Beijing considers to be a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Story continues

In recent years, it has put intense diplomatic pressure on the international community to sever official diplomatic relations with Taiwan as cross-strait tensions have increased under Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

Its calls for Taiwan to reunify with the mainland have also intensified, as Chinese President Xi Jinping recently proposed that Taiwan could be governed under the one country, two systems model used in Hong Kong and Macau.

Beijing has also pressured international corporations such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and the Marriott hotel chain to remove all references to Taiwan as a non-Chinese territory on their websites.

Zhi Zhenfeng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the news outlet Haiwainet.cn that the one-China policy had sufficient basis in Chinese and international law, and that Chinas complete territorial sovereignty was a core national interest.

This article McDonalds apologises after advertisement showing Taiwan as a country draws criticism first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
23 Jan  Maine Mendoza recently took to Twitter and chastised a netizen for insulting the Atayde siblings.

As reported on Inquirer, the actress, who has been romantically linked to actor Arjo Atayde, was apparently irked by a netizen who accused the actor and his sister Ria of using her to get more projects.

"I would appreciate if you'll show some respect not just to our family but to theirs as well. Just stop this nonsense and let us all do better instead," she tweeted.

Mendoza also defended the Atayde siblings, saying that they receive projects based on their talents, and nothing more.

"Once and for all, let's give credit to whom its due," she added.

In another post, she expressed, "I know everyone's trying to prove a point here, but whatever your reasons are, it's never right to hate on people - whoever they may be. Hate is such a strong feeling and I hope we don't let it get the best of us."

(Photo Source: Maine Mendoza Instagram)
Teachers gather at Grand Park in Los Angeles for a rally after their union reached a deal with school district officials on a new proposed contract in Los Angeles Teachers gather at Grand Park in Los Angeles for a rally after their union reached a deal with school district officials on a new proposed contract in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Alex Dobuzinskis

By Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The union representing Los Angeles teachers reached a tentative contract agreement on Tuesday with the second-largest U.S. school district, paving the way for classes to resume for nearly a half million students after a weeklong strike.

About 30,000 striking teachers will vote on Tuesday afternoon on the deal, which would last through the 2021-22 academic year. If they back the agreement, teachers would return to work at the city's more than 1,200 schools on Wednesday morning.

The deal accedes to many of the union's demands, implementing an immediate 6 percent pay raise for teachers, compared with the union's call for a 6.5 percent increase. The agreement also would reduce class sizes and hire more librarians, nurses and counsellors, a pillar of the union's position during five days of negotiations that ended at dawn on Tuesday.

Alex Caputo-Pearl, the president of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, told a celebratory rally of thousands of teachers outside City Hall that they had achieved victory in the city's first strike of its kind in three decades.

"It is very rare that you go to the bargaining table with as many demands as we had and you win almost every single one of them," Caputo-Pearl told the crowd.

The leadership of the district - an independent body that does not answer to the Los Angeles mayor - had said throughout the talks that they largely supported the union's goals but did not have enough money to cover the demands.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who took office earlier this month, took credit for providing funding that helped set the stage for a deal. Before the strike began, Newsom pledged $140 million in new funding to Los Angeles Unified.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who mediated the talks, announced the agreement at a news conference with Caputo-Pearl and Austin Beutner, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

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Beutner became a target of criticism from teachers by resisting their demand that the district use its roughly $1.8 billion reserve to raise their salaries and improve conditions at schools. He said the reserve was needed to avoid insolvency in the face of rising pension and healthcare costs.

MORE NURSES, LIBRARIANS

The tentative contract agreement calls on the school district to hire 300 more nurses by the 2020-21 academic year, and union officials said that would put a nurse at every school, as they had demanded.

Education funding in California is based on daily attendance. By Friday, the strike had cost the district about $125 million and collectively cost students more than 1.5 million days of instruction, according to Beutner.

Beutner noted that New York City spends more than $20,000 per public school student per year compared with $16,000 in California.

"That's an opportunity gap," Beutner said.

Union supporters, and even school district officials, have credited the striking teachers with helping reawaken the public and politicians around the country to widespread difficulties facing schools in California and elsewhere.

Teachers staged walkouts over salaries and school funding in several U.S. states last year, including West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona. In contrast to those states, the Los Angeles teachers faced a predominantly Democratic political establishment more sympathetic to their cause.

Labor tensions are still simmering in other big-city school districts. The teachers' union in Denver held a strike authorization vote on Saturday after rejecting a contract offer. Results will be announced on Tuesday.

Teachers in Oakland, California, were also expected to vote on whether to strike later this week.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinsis in Los Angeles, additional reporting by Jonathan Allen and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Scott Malone, Susan Thomas and Cynthia Osterman)
I am afraid it will be on my gravestone. Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

It was a tough three-day weekend for the presidents pro bono lawyer Rudy Giuliani. After an unexpected comment from the Mueller investigation disputing BuzzFeeds Trump Tower Moscow reporting, Giuliani made a run of gaffe-filled media appearances that distracted from the rare piece of special counsel news that was good for the president. On Sunday, Giuliani quoted Trump as saying that the Moscow negotiations were going on from the day I announced to the day I won. On Monday  after saying he had been through all the tapes about the Trump Moscow deal then claiming he misspoke  Giuliani told The New Yorker that he was afraid his headstone would read: Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump.

According to two reports on Tuesday, the administration is tiring of Giulianis interview strategy. Before Rudy stepped in it, Mueller had basically called BuzzFeed fake news, a Republican close to the White House told Vanity Fair, annoyed that the lawyer had botched the opportunity. Trump was reportedly furious and screaming over Giulianis weekend tear. Politico reports that Giulianis comments to the Times about a tower in Moscow enraged Trump because it undermined his public statement. (In a telling crisis-PR move, Giuliani gave a tone-deaf interview to Politico, claiming, in an article about the perception that he is a one-man blooper reel, that he has a mastery of the facts.) In the Politico report, a White House aide put it succinctly: Handling Rudys fuck-ups takes more than one man.

The Giuliani show is reportedly frustrating Emmet Flood, the lawyer who is tasked with handling the special counsel investigation for Trump, and, ostensibly, cleaning up after the television attorney. Meanwhile, Vanity Fair reports a fracas over Giulianis future in which Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are lobbying to send Giuliani packing, while outside influences like Corey Lewandowski and campaign alum David Bossie are fighting to keep him in place. Prior to this weekend at least, Trump had backed Giuliani because he understood the collusion story to be a messaging battle, and Rudy much of the time has been a very effective messenger, according to a White House aide speaking to Politico. But its gotten so bad, according to an Associated Press report, that Trump allies have recommended that Giuliani be embargoed from nighttime interviews because of concerns that he may appear on TV after drinking. (Giuliani has denied previous reports of alcohol affecting his TV performance.)

In his damage-control Politico interview, Giuliani suggested that reporters are stymied by his debate tactics, and that they are confusing his hypotheticals with literal statements. The problem is people dont understand, or people dont want to understand alternative arguing, which is what you do in court all the time, he said. People who want to understand it, do. In theory thats fine, but in praxis, alt-argument gems like even if he did do it, it wouldnt be a crime dont always play as intended.
Uncertainty over Chinas relationship with Israel is growing as the United States puts pressure on its allies to harden their stance on Beijing while trade and geopolitical tensions between the worlds biggest economies get worse.

As China and Israel prepare to mark the 27th anniversary on Thursday of diplomatic ties, analysts from both countries worry that relations, caught in the US-China crossfire, may face more difficult tests.

Like most other countries, Israel wants to maintain good relations with both the US and China and is concerned about an escalating rivalry, Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington-based think tank, said.

Sadly, the new atmosphere in US-China relations is putting many countries  Israel included  in an extremely uncomfortable situation in which they are forced to pick sides, he said.

Luft, a former lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Defence Force, said Israel could become a sandwich country like Canada, caught in the middle as Washington continued efforts to build an international coalition against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

Israel reviews deal as US ponders port under Chinese control

Since its arrest of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, Huaweis chief financial officer, at Washingtons request, Canada has found itself in a diplomatic crisis when Beijing detained two Canadians and is threatening more retaliation.

In recent weeks, senior US officials have increased pressure on Israel to reconsider Chinas investments in infrastructure and hi-tech sectors there.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago to tread carefully where Chinese telecommunications companies, such as Huawei and ZTE, were concerned because of national security concerns.

Bloomberg reported that US deputy secretary of energy Dan Brouillette issued a warning last week in Tel Aviv that Chinese investment in Israels national infrastructure, such as the port of Haifa, could compromise intelligence sharing with the US.

Story continues

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying hit out at Washington this week, describing its warnings as ridiculous.

The US has been abusing the idea of national security, slandering and striking down the normal commercial activities of Chinese enterprises, she said on Monday.

The Sino-Israeli relationship is very different from Beijings ties with oil-rich Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran and Iraq, one analyst said.

Apart from its hi-tech industries, Israel has a significant military and political role in the Middle East. Beijing is seeking to increase its presence in the region as the US plans to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan, Huang Jing, dean of Institute of International and Regional Studies at Beijing Language and Culture University, said.

Israel may be small in size but is fairly influential in regional geopolitics and its long-standing special ties with Washington in particular make it uniquely important for Beijing, which sought to steady relations with the US, he said.

Saudi Arabia to open US$10 billion refinery at China-funded port

Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general and a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said China for Israel had great potential as a market, a source of investment, a trade and tourism partner, and an infrastructure powerhouse.

Israels China policy mainly seeks to balance the benefits of their bilateral economic ties on the one hand and its own strategic national security concerns on the other, with the all-but-formal strategic alliance with the US being a paramount national interest for Israel, he said.

Ties between China and Israel have improved in recent years, especially where trade, investment, education and tourism were concerned.

During a visit to Beijing in 2017, Netanyahu said that China accounted for one-third of the investment in Israels hi-tech industries.

Citing a report by the Israel Venture Capital Research Centre, Reuters said Israeli tech start-ups raised US$325 million from Chinese investors in the first three quarters of 2018, up 37 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

During a visit to Jerusalem by Chinas Vice President Wang Qishan in October, Netanyahu said that the two countries would complete a free trade agreement this year.

Is Israel getting too close to China for Americas comfort?

According to a report by Israels Institute for National Security Studies in 2017, China is also involved in building infrastructure in Israel, such as digging the Carmel road tunnels in Haifa, laying a light railway in Tel Aviv, and expanding the Ashdod and Haifa seaports.

Haifa is Israels largest port city and a berth for the US Sixth Fleet. In 2013, the Netanyahu government approved Chinas Shanghai International Port Groups plans to operate the container terminal there for 25 years beginning in 2021.

US has stepped up pressure on Israel to scrap the deal and one of the Sixth Fleets warships refused to dock at Haifa in October, citing security concerns that doing so could compromise US and Israeli intelligence assets.

But Luft was critical of Washingtons stance on the Haifa port project as the Chinese company was the only bidder in an open tender.

The US government is punishing the people of Israel twice by demanding its ally cancel the deal, Luft said. First, by denying them competition in the port sector, which would lower their cost of living, and second the government will have to pay a large fine to China if the deal is cancelled. This fine will come at the expense of important public services.

Despite a boost in diplomatic and trade ties and Chinas interest in Israels military and security technologies, arms sales and military cooperation between the two countries were limited because of US pressure.

The US moved to block the export of the Phalcon airborne early warning system in 2000 and the Harpy killer drones in 2005 to China.

Huawei calls for swift resolution of Sabrina Meng case

Orion said that while Chinas diplomats often speak about win-win relationships, Israels challenge was to seek a win-win-win situation within a triangular relation between the two great powers and a start-up nation state.

When much of the media discourse is pitching Israel into an exclusive either/or choice between the two powers, Israels strategic concept should seek precision choice, promoting its relations with China prudently while minimising risk to itself and avoiding any harm to the US and the strategic relations with it, he said.

But Luft also voiced concerns that as tension grew between the US and China, Washington tended to expand the definition of national security to include broader technology fields like microchips, telecommunication and artificial intelligence.

This is where I foresee the next set of challenges. Israel will have to determine how far it can stretch the definition of national security and strike the right balance between its commercial needs and its relations with Washington. Israel is a sovereign country. Being a friend and ally of the US does not mean that Israel must be subservient to every whim of Washington, Luft said.

However, Washingtons pressure campaign seemed to have worked as Israeli officials sought to reassure their American ally over the past week.

Under US pressure, Israel is mulling plans that include legislation to vet foreign investments for the first time, according to Israels Haaretz newspaper.

Israeli analysts also expressed dismay over Chinas close relations with Iran, Israels arch rival in the region, and Beijings long-standing pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian policies, saying China often voted against motions that Israel favoured at the United Nations.

Huawei founder confident the West will eventually buy its 5G products

Chinas relations with the Arab World are less of a concern in the current regional landscape. However, Chinas relations with Iran, which is both obsessed about Israel and committed to its destruction, are more of a worry, said Orion.

China could do more to dissuade Iran from its aggression against Chinas partners in the region: Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, he said.

Keeping the relations good requires constant nurturing, especially at a time the US is trying pull Israel away from China, Luft added.

Huang also said Beijing must be more careful in dealing with Iran. The ultimate goal for Beijing should be to avoid advancing Iranian ties at the expense of Sino-Israeli relations, he said.

He said that despite structural differences between the two countries, Israel had rarely adopted an anti-Chinese stance on issues of importance to Beijing.

While it remains to be seen how Israel deals with mounting pressure from the US over Huawei and other Chinese telecoms companies and a host of geopolitical issues, I think Israel is shrewd enough to avoid taking sides between the US and China, Huang said.

This article Israel has enough sense and self interest to avoid efforts to drag it into US-China trade war, analysts say first appeared on South China Morning Post

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A match billed as a runfest was turned upside-down by India's spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal on Wednesday, as New Zealand were crushed by eight wickets in the first one-day international in Napier. India arrived at the ground with captain Virat Kohli expecting 300-plus to be par but when his bowlers rolled New Zealand for 157 the outcome became a formality. "When I lost the toss I thought it's going to be 300 plus but the way the guys bowled and created pressure turned out to be absolutely opposite," he said. "You know, 150 on that kind of a wicket was quite an easy total to chase down and it all boils down to the effort of the bowlers." Yadav and Chahal delivered a spin bowling masterclass, mesmerising New Zealand with six wickets between them, while Mohammed Shami claimed three as New Zealand folded for a mere 157 with 12 overs to spare. The target was reduced by two runs and one over for India following a 30-minute break when the setting sun blinded the eyes of players and umpires. But the interruption made no difference to Shikhar Dhawan, who was unbeaten on 75 after leading India to mow down the target in 34.5 overs. A disappointed New Zealand captain Kane Williamson blamed his side's effort on an inability to handle the precision Indian attack. "Usually you come here and you're thinking 300-plus, sometimes mid 300s, but it certainly wans't that and required a bit more graft," he said. "Judging by some of the dismissals it showed we didn't adjust as quickly as we would like to." Coming off a series win against Australia, India showed they are building nicely as a well-balanced unit four months out from the World Cup, while for New Zealand there is work to be done. The New Zealand innings folded so quickly that India had time to bat for nine overs before the scheduled break, reaching 41 with Dhawan on 29 and Sharma on 11. Sharma went on the second ball after the interval, with Doug Bracewell making the breakthrough, before the players left the field again when the setting sun reached a dangerously low angle. When India's innings restarted again, Dhawan on 31 was dropped by wicketkeeper Tom Latham. It was a costly error for New Zealand as the left-hander, who passed 5,000 ODI runs in the course of the innings, went on to make his 26th half century. Kohli, a day after becoming the first player to clinch all three top International Cricket Council honours including cricketer of the year, was caught behind for 45. Ambati Rayudu finished not out 13. When New Zealand elected to bat, it took Shami only eight deliveries to clean out openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro before Yadav and Chahal worked their magic. Ross Taylor's run of six successive half-centuries came to an end when he was caught and bowled by Chahal for 24. Tom Latham, reputedly New Zealand's best player of spin, went the same way for 11. Williamson, so often saddled with the task of rescuing his side, reached 64 before he fell to Yadav. New Zealand were then 146 for seven, with the last three wickets adding only 11 more runs. Yadav finished with four for 39, Chahal took two for 43, while Shami had three for 19 off six overs. The second match in the five-match series is on Saturday in Mount Maunganui.
South China Morning Post

Hong Kong police have for the first time determined the publication of certain newspaper articles to be a national security crime as they arrested the editor-in-chief, publisher and three other executives of Apple Daily whom they held accountable for more than 30 reports calling for foreign sanctions. The force on Thursday cited the publication of the articles  understood to be mostly commentaries and opinion pieces, including several written by the tabloids jailed founder and opposition activ
* PREVIOUS TRADING SESSION MOVES:

* SSEC -1.2 pct, CSI300 -1.3 pct, HSI -0.7 pct

* Shanghai->HK daily quota used 1.1 pct

* CNY official close 6.8076 per dollar

* FTSE China A50 -1.3 pct, BNY Mellon ADR China Select Index -2.8 pct

SHANGHAI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Following is a list of recent corporate and policy announcements, as well as other news that might affect Chinese financial markets. Policy, government, sector news:

* Top White House adviser says no trade meetings with China cancelled

* China state planner warns economic pressure will hit job market

* U.S. will seek extradition of Huawei CFO from Canada

* U.S. to formally seek extradition of Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou -Globe and Mail

* Yuan's drop aligns it with China's cooling economy, easier policy

* As China's economy falters, some fund managers look to bonds

* China approves third batch of video games; Tencent still absent

* Chinese stars hit with $1.62 bln in "cold winter" tax crackdown

* Shanghai exchange to scrap position-based margin system Data:

* China's growth slowed by service, farm sectors, despite construction rebound

* China's record 2018 oil, gas imports may be cresting wave as industry slows down

* China spends $256 bln on shantytown redevelopment in 2018

Company moves:

In focus

* DAVOS-Huawei calls for swift end to case of executive arrested in Canada

* EXCLUSIVE-Tesla holds battery supply talks with China's Lishen

* Foxconn says trying to hire 50,000 people in Q1 after job cut reports

* China prosecutors order arrest of four ex-executives at Huarong for bribery

* Rosneft switches dealing to Singapore arm of China's CEFC, no change in oil volumes

Earnings/Performance

* Jiangling Motors sees 2018 net profit down 87 percent y/y

* Hesteel sees 2018 net profit up 89.87-103.63 percent y/y

* Angang Steel sees 2018 net profit at 7.8 bln yuan versus 6.6 bln yuan a year earlier

* China Shenhua Energy's 2018 coal sales up 3.9 pct y/y Equity changes/IPOs

* Singapore's GIC sells shares in China International Capital Corp - HKEx Filing

Story continues

* Rongsheng Petrochemical says lock-up period for 180.0 million shares to end

* TCL's chairman plans to buy 30.0 million yuan worth of company shares Regulation

* Kangde Xin Composite Material probed by regulator due to violation of information disclosure Other moves (spin-offs, divestitures, deals)

* Chalco to invest in investment firm, unit to acquire controlling shareholder's assets (Compiled by Luoyan Liu)
China insists trade war talks with US are continuing after reports Washington turned down meeting

Beijing insisted on Wednesday that it remains in close contact with Washington as the two sides work to resolve their trade disputes following reports that the US had rejected the offer of a meeting.

A report in the Financial Times had said that the US had turned down proposals to hold a vice-ministerial meeting in Washington to pave the way for next weeks talks between Chinas chief negotiator Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The report cited a lack of progress on key US grievances such as intellectual property protection and far-reaching structural reforms of the Chinese economy as the reasons for turning down the request.

But when Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for Chinas Foreign Ministry, was asked about the report on Wednesday, she told reporters: I noticed that an American official has clarified the issue. The two sides have remained in contact over trade talks, I havent heard of any changes.

Earlier, Larry Kudlow, director of the US National Economic Council, denied that a vice-ministerial meeting had been scheduled for this week.

Kudlow told CNBC: There were no other intermediate meetings scheduled. The story is unchanged. We are moving towards negotiations.

The visit by Liu next week will be his first visit to Washington since May.

Liu told Chinese state media after that trip that Beijing and Washington had reached a consensus on not fighting a trade war, but the relationship quickly soured.

The US introduced the first round of punitive tariffs on Chinese products in July, triggering an immediate retaliation from Beijing and a trade war that has hit markets and the economic outlook across the world.

The two sides have a deadline of March 1 to reach agreement before another threatened round of tariff increases kicks in.

This article China insists trade war talks with US are continuing after reports Washington turned down meeting first appeared on South China Morning Post

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(PHOTO: Aloysius /Facebook)

Local actor Aloysius Pang, who was severely injured during a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) training exercise, has died at the age of 28, said the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) in a statement on Wednesday (23 January) night.

Pang passed away at 8.45pm (Singapore time) at Waikato Hospital, New Zealand, where he was warded in its intensive care unit, following a third operation on Tuesday night.

Despite surgical attempts to repair damaged organs and putting him on artificial life support, Corporal First Class (National Service) Pang succumbed to the injuries and passed away, said Mindef.

The actor had sustained injuries to his chest and abdominal areas while carrying out repair works inside a Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer at Waiouru Training Area, New Zealand, on Saturday (19 January) afternoon.

He was with two other SAF personnel and was hurt when the gun barrel was lowered, added Mindef.

Pang, an armament technician from the 268th Battalion Singapore Artillery, was participating in Exercise Thunder Warrior at the time of the incident.

In a statement posted on Pangs official Instagram account on Wednesday night, his family said it had been a difficult time for them.

Every news that were brought upon us since his last (operation) was devastating with little signs of hope on his recovery. We all broke down when the medical team spoke to us that his condition is worsening and we should be prepared for the worst, said the statement.

Were going to lose a brother. And my parents are going to lose their precious son who is only 28.

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Mindef said that an independent Committee of Inquiry will be convened to investigate the circumstances leading to the incident.

A press conference  chaired by the Chief of Defence Force  will be held on Thursday to present the preliminary findings, it added.

The SAF will be making arrangements to bring Pangs body back to Singapore.



The Ministry of Defence and the SAF extend their deepest condolences to the family of CFC (NS) Pang and will continue to render assistance and support in their time of loss, said the ministry.

Story continues

WATCH:



In very serious condition on Wednesday

Minister of Defence Ng Eng Hen had said in a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon that Pang was in a very serious condition and needed artificial life support of his lungs, kidneys, and heart, following his third operation.

Dr Ngs updates came after speaking to Dr Teo Li Tserng, chief of trauma and acute care surgery at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, who was flown to New Zealand to assist with Pangs care.

Prior to Dr Ngs comments, Mindef had in the morning said that Pangs condition had worsened and was critical.

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Pang had undergone abdominal surgery on Saturday evening. A planned follow-up relook surgery was successfully completed at 11am on Monday.

On Monday afternoon, he was described by Dr Teo as being alert, in stable condition and breathing on his own.

Pang, who is one of three children, was a former child star who propelled to fame after he won Best Newcomer at Mediacorps Star Awards in 2015.

Related stories:

Aloysius Pang on artificial life support, condition very serious: Ng Eng Hen

Actor Aloysius Pangs condition worsens after training incident; now critical

Actor Aloysius Pang seriously hurt during SAF training exercise in New Zealand

7 things we know about Aloysius Pang
 Anyone eager to speculate about Oklahoma capital cases with cert finally denied after so many relists? | Main | FAMM writes extended letter to Prez Trump to "strongly discourage" re-nomination of Bill Otis to US Sentencing Commission 

Given that I sometimes feel a bit like a journalist when doing certain types of blogging, I found interesting and effective this new Columbia Journalism Review piece (which carries a headline that I used as the title of this post). Here are excerpts from the piece:

Prisons are often dangerous and inhumane spaces of abuse and degradation, Bryan Stevenson, founder and director of the Equal Justice Initiative and a law professor at NYU, says. Yet a great deal of mainstream media prison reporting, in his view, is misleading and dehumanizing and presented with no context or insight. At a time when the flaws in our criminal justice system are well-known and well-documented, experts and advocates say a shift in how the media covers prison and people impacted by incarceration is long overdue.

Its bad enough when the story in question is about food (which in prison is hardly known for its quality, Stevenson notes). Its worse, though, when it comes to more grave matters, such as murder, suicide, and abuse, which are unfortunately common in prisons. Then, Stevenson says the impact of language is all the more damaging. Instead of reporting in a way that exposes the tragedy of prison violence, we get headlines like, Convicted rapist stabbed to death, he explains. The media presents the victim as if he could only be the crime he was convicted of. It happens all the time, over and over again.

Last spring, for example, a Newsweek article asked, Who were the South Carolina inmates killed in deadliest U.S. prison riot in 25 years? By way of answer, the story offered only the mens names, sentences, and crimes. Cornelius McClary, 33, was serving 25 years for first-degree burglary and battery, firearms provision and criminal conspiracy in Williamsburg County in 2011, read one mini-obituary. When a person is reduced to their crime at the outset, advocates say, its no surprise when challenges to their worth and dignity follow....

Alex Gudich, deputy director of the criminal justice reform group #cut50, gives the media some credit for tracking and exposing the failures of todays criminal justice system, as well for helping champion reform, in the case of some outlets. Even well-meaning stories can fall short, however, he says, by leaning on stereotypes and failing to count the perspectives of those who are incarcerated or who have been impacted by incarceration.

Among fixes for journalists, Gudich and his colleagues at #cut50  which was founded in 2014 with the goal of reducing Americas prison population by half within ten years recommend starting with person-centered language. That is, people in prison or incarcerated persons, as opposed to convicts or inmates. This is an ongoing culture shift that began in the criminal justice reform community several years ago but that hasnt yet caught on in media, Gudich says....

But its not just a matter of semantics. One of the reasons prison and criminal justice reform have been so difficult to achieve is how we talk about people who are incarcerated in this society, says Jelani Cobb, a New Yorker staff writer and director of the Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights at Columbia Journalism School. As long as were talking about people only in terms of what theyve done wrong, its easy to camouflage the fact that were talking about human beings....

Advocates also recommend doing more to incorporate information other than what is provided by prison workers and the police. This presents challenges, they acknowledge, given the famous opacity of prisons and jails, the reticence of defense attorneys to allow clients to speak with the press, and the general business of public defenders. But direct access to people who have been accused or convicted isnt the only way to introduce balance into prison stories: experts on prison conditions abound, as do family members of prisoners. In the wake of the holiday meal stories, Chandra Bozelko, a formerly incarcerated writer and reporter who comments frequently on prison-related issues, received calls from only a handful of small podcasting outfits. If a tiny little podcast with, like, no staff at all can find me, so can a major newspaper, Bozelko says...

Bozelko, by her description, is less of a word hawk than some advocates. Shes not as offended by the word felon, for instance, as she is by factual inaccuracies in stories by reporters who seem to never have stepped foot inside a prison. As for the inaccessibility of American prisons, she proposes an easy solution: hire more reporters with criminal records. Bozelko points to Keri Blakinger of the Houston Chronicle, who spent time in prison between 2010 and 2012  and whose reporting has recently netted changes to dental care for prisoners in Texas, in addition to the firing or resignation of five prison workers involved in a scheme to plant evidence in prisoners cells.

None of this is to say its a reporters job to swing to prisoners defense, Bozelko says. Ultimately, she just wants to see more nuance from mainstream outlets and an acknowledgement of the circumstances, bad luck, and structural factors that often feature heavily into the real stories prisoners have to tell: Regardless of what a person did, prison wasnt in their plan, and its not who they are.
Photo: @NYGovCuomo/Twitter Cuomo signs the Reproductive Health Act into law on January 22, 2019.

Tuesday marked the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and a new milestone for New York women. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the Reproductive Health Act into law after it passed both chambers of the state legislature earlier in the day. The bill updates New Yorks abortion law, which predates Roe and regulates abortion in the states criminal code. Its bittersweet. There is a bitterness because we shouldnt be here in the first place, Cuomo said, according to the Albany Times-Union. We should not have a federal government that is trying to roll back womens rights  This administration (of President Donald Trump) defies American evolution.

The RHA takes abortion out of the criminal code; the state will now regulate it as a matter of public health. It also expands the pool of medical professionals who are authorized to perform abortions and permits abortions after 24 weeks when the fetus is not viable or a womans health is at risk. Previously, women who needed later-term abortions to end nonviable pregnancies were forced to travel far outside the state  a financial and psychological burden. Separate from the RHA, Cuomo has pledged to amend the state constitution to include an affirmative recognition of the right to abortion, though that process will be a lengthy one. As Syracuse.com reported earlier this month, the state legislature has to approve the amendment, which would then go to voters for a referendum.

As Cuomo implied in his remarks, the Trump administration has been waging a multipronged attack on reproductive rights. Conservative justices now dominate the U.S. Supreme Court and abortion opponents occupy high-level positions in the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, where Scott Lloyd, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, routinely intervened to block migrant minors from accessing abortion services. But the RHA could have become law long before Trump took office if Cuomo had pressured members of the state Senates breakaway Independent Democratic Caucus to return to the party fold. Led by then-senator Jeff Klein, the IDC caucused with Republicans in the states upper chamber and successfully blocked progressive bills like the RHA since its formation in 2011. The nature of Cuomos exact relationship to the IDC remains murky, but in public, the governor appeared to tolerate the caucus. Some have suggested a more direct, and nefarious, relationship. Its a well-known secret that Cuomo played a role in the IDC. Its served his purposes perfectly, an Albany source told The New Republics Alex Shephard and Clio Chang in 2017. The IDC only disbanded after Cynthia Nixon primaried the governor from the left last year.

The IDC is no more, and most of its former members have been replaced by successful primary challengers, which paved the way for the RHA to become law. As long as Cuomo remains committed to reproductive rights, New York could regain the progressive status it held before Roe legalized abortion in all 50 states.

Reform couldnt come at a better time. On Tuesday, a Polk County district judge struck down Iowas heartbeat bill, which would have banned abortion after doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat  a developmental stage that occurs after most women learn they are pregnant and before the fetus is viable outside the womb. The bills supporters say they want the bill to go before the U.S. Supreme Court. We created an opportunity to take a run at Roe v. Wade  100 percent, one Iowa legislator told Reuters. With Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, chances are better than zero that American women will once again have to travel to states like New York to access basic health care.
 "Wrong Turn on the Ex Post Facto Clause" | Main | "The State of Justice Reform 2017" 

March 2, 2018

Lots of notable reaction to Prez Trump's nominations to the US Sentencing Commission

As reported in this prior post, Prez Trump yesterday announced these notable new nominations to the US Sentencing Commission. Usually, only hard-core sentencing nerds like me play much attention to USSC nominations, but this slate of nominees, especially the nomination of Bill Otis, has led to some notable media attention. Here are some of the commentary I have already seen:

From The Daily Caller, "Trump's Sentencing Commission Nominees Show He May Not Be That Angry At Jeff Sessions"

From Mother Jones, "'I Live to Put People in Jail': Here Are Trump's Nominees for the US Sentencing Commission"

From Reason, "Trump Nominates Man Who Called for Abolishing US Sentencing Commission to US Sentencing Commission"

From Slate, "Trump picked a mass-incarceration advocate obsessed with 'black-on-black' crime for a job setting federal sentences"

From Splinter, "Trump Nominates the Last Person You'd Ever Want to Help Oversee the Criminal Justice System"

And perhaps best highlighting how this one nomination is not like the others, here is the text of this press release from Families Against Mandatory Minimums released just a few hours after Prez Trump announced his new USSC picks:

FAMM president Kevin Ring issued the following statement on William Otis, one of four nominees put forward today by the Trump administration for the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the administrative body that writes and updates the federal sentencing guidelines used to sentence more than 70,000 people each year in federal courts: FAMM has never taken a position before on U.S. Sentencing Commission nominees, but we feel compelled to change that policy in light of todays announcement. Mr. Otiss outdated views are well-known and well-documented. This is not a person who will be guided by evidence and data. The Senate should reject this nomination.

Prior related post:

March 2, 2018 at 12:19 AM | Permalink

Comments

One notes the attacks have come swiftly, have been personal, and have been misleading, as usual.

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 2, 2018 12:49:36 AM

The Otis nomination feels like a political strategy designed to distract from the similar but maybe less public views of other nominations. I doubt there is any serious expectation he will be accepted by the Senate. The debate on the need for reform has moved too far for a reversal on the scale Otis represents. Yesterday's man, with huge responsibility for the damaging policies that continue to blight American justice systems.

Posted by: peter | Mar 2, 2018 1:01:57 AM

Behar, how did you escape the asylum again? I want to learn your trick.

Posted by: Houdini | Mar 2, 2018 10:01:28 AM

Houdini. You are funny. You believe in mind reading, future forecasting, and that standards of conduct should be set by a fictitious character. Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo. Ding.



Posted by: David Behar | Mar 2, 2018 12:38:16 PM

Peter, the odds of the Senate majority rejecting Otis are slim and none. There is no filibuster, so defeating his nomination requires at least two Republicans to vote no. Additionally, there are several Senate Democrats up for election in conservative states that will likely support his nomination. While 60 votes are probably out of reach in today's partisan environment, his nomination is the type that twenty years ago would have been a voice vote. My hunch says 55-58 votes in favor of confirmation.

Posted by: tmm | Mar 2, 2018 2:37:58 PM

I think tmm is being realistic [can see someone like Rand Paul voting "no"] but Otis is so controversial that merely a voice vote, if only so a minority will get a chance to be on record, seems a bit questionable.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 2, 2018 4:24:53 PM

It's so funny how conservative law and order types like Bill Otis are somehow controversial, but left-wing lunatics like Chai Feldblum aren't.

Go look at the MSM press coverage of Keith Ellison, the current vice-chair of the DNC---did NPR accuse him of making "racially-tinged" remarks? Would people like Joe call him "controversial?" Of course not---but Otis is controversial and gets the smear tactics.

If Otis deserves the "racially-tinged" treatment from NPR, why didn't Sotomayor get that same treatment for her actually racist wise Latina comment?

Posted by: federalist | Mar 2, 2018 7:36:27 PM

Joe. The law school radicalized freaks on this blog are the weirdos. Bill is totally mainstream, and articulates the common sense feelings of most real Americans about sentencing. I can assure you of that, as ambassador to the lawyer profession from Earth.

You freaks are too stupid to recognize the greatest lawyer achievement of the 20th Century, the 40% drop in crime across the board from mandatory sentencing guidelines. That achievement saved your profession. It saved 10's of 1000's of black lives not murdered. It was the real Black Lives Matter movement. It was followed by an unprecedented economic boom, with low crime as a major factor.

It did cut lawyer employment, and that is the sole reason all you lawyers are really stupid about the guidelines. Hang 'Em High Scalia led the intellectual charge across several decisions, with his Sixth Amendment false arguments. That leadership proves the rent will obliterate all ideologies, even extreme ones, when it comes to lawyer profession employment.

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 2, 2018 9:56:18 PM

From Reason, "Trump Nominates Man Who Called for Abolishing US Sentencing Commission to US Sentencing Commission"

So, yes, I think one can say Otis is "controversial." The term is not a dig per se. People who are controversial very well can be worthwhile.

If a liberal leaning sort, who has over the years equally been controversial the other way as Otis, including calling for the establishment of the thing they were nominated for, I would equally say that given such a controversial nomination that there would be a good chance that the dissenting votes would like to do so on the record.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 2, 2018 10:28:51 PM

Establishment. Lol. Meant abolishment. New year, same typos.

But, heck, either might work if a strong faction of the Senate doesn't like the person and thinks they are too liberal. Anyway, I'm setting forth a neutral principle here, though different people will be inclined to be upset about different nominees.



Posted by: Joe | Mar 2, 2018 10:33:07 PM

What could possibly go wrong appointing a man who gets his news from YourNewsWire.com to a position in the federal government? (see Bill's post at http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/2018/02/should-judges-have-sentencing-.html) My comments on that post must have touched a nerve as my account was deactivated and commenter registration was turned off (http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/2018/02/commenter-registration.html)

Now Kent has a post at the site titled "A Popular Legal Blog", where he writes:

"Kristine Phillips has this post at the WaPo on the nomination. She refers to Bill's writing "on a popular legal blog." Can't mention us by name, I guess, but the name is in the URL linking the post, so it's all good."

From the Washington Post article that Kent is referencing:

"Otis, a former federal prosecutor whos now an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University, is perhaps also best known in the legal community for his commentaries on the Crime and Consequences blog, which describes itself as the voice that represents the perspective of victims of crime and law-abiding public.

- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/02/trump-picks-tough-on-crime-crusader-with-history-of-racial-remarks-for-criminal-justice-post/?utm_term=.329ecc520eba

YourNewsWire.com is used as a source for one of the blog's writers, and the other writer explicitly states that an article doesn't mention something that it explicitly mentions. The commentary and rhetoric of Kent and Bill is just kind of sloppy.

Posted by: anonuser879 | Mar 3, 2018 1:02:20 AM

Anonuser879. Do you have any substantive point to make?

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 3, 2018 4:50:09 AM

Kent, like Otis, is a DP fanatic. Over the last several years he has become more like, Otis. So much for his former reputation as an objective, intelligent, criminal justice observer.

Posted by: anon1960 | Mar 3, 2018 11:41:11 AM

Anon1960. Stop the ad hominem attacks. They ate inappropriate.

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 3, 2018 3:28:40 PM

By your logic, Joe, anyone who thought the CFPB has completely overreached and is unconstitutional shouldn't be part of it---but those views are clearly mainstream.

Posted by: federalist | Mar 4, 2018 2:19:38 PM

"By your logic, Joe, anyone who thought the CFPB has completely overreached and is unconstitutional shouldn't be part of it---but those views are clearly mainstream."

Not. By my logic, anyone who thought that would be controversial, especially if there are various other reasons for that label. The idea Bill Otis is not "controversial" is to me pretty silly. You might find his positions copacetic, which is fine, but that isn't the same thing. Still, to the degree you are misreading me in a more non-partisan way, I appreciate it.

Posted by: Joe | Mar 4, 2018 2:32:36 PM

I think the "clearly mainstream" framing is debatable, but getting in the weeds there is not very useful. I'll just repeat myself:

"The term is not a dig per se. People who are controversial very well can be worthwhile."

Posted by: Joe | Mar 4, 2018 2:41:29 PM

Controversial. Wants to abolish the agency he will be serving.

Could still be worthwhile.

The weasel is chewing on my brain. Make up your damn mind, already.

The real Americans who put Trump in office wanted to burn it down. He is a slow, plodding, weak leader. He is a NYC lib, who attended a Clinton wedding.

A real leader would have fired the entire Obama complement and the deep state the first week in office, ready with the list of the enemies to our country.

The purges should include the proposal of impeachment of the entire Supreme Court. These are Harvard and Yale radicalized traitors, in insurrection against the constitution. Even dissenters from their crazy decisions are collaborators in the violation of Article I Article 1, giving "all" law making powers to the Congress. If you morons want judicial review, get an Amendment ratified.



Posted by: David Behar | Mar 4, 2018 5:40:17 PM

Behar, please, please tell me how you do the escape-from-the-asylum trick. No matter how many times they lock you up, you manage to get out. Want to join my act?

Posted by: Houdini | Mar 6, 2018 12:52:34 AM

Houdini. The insanity of dissenters is from the KGB Handbook. Stop digging around in wet garbage for your sources of criticism.

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 7, 2018 2:07:04 PM

Post a comment
" " Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) appear in Nunavut, Canada. This used to be the site of the magnetic north pole in the 1930s, but now the pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, moving toward Russia. cfarish/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. may be gridlocked, but Earth's magnetic north pole is on the move. Recently, it's been traveling at an unprecedented rate. That pushed scientists to update a vital navigation tool used by defense departments and smartphones alike.

Up in the Arctic Ocean lies the geographic north pole. It's where all the world's longitudinal lines converge  and the rotational axis of our planet meets its outer surface. But guess what? Your compass won't take you there. Compasses point to the magnetic north pole, a different destination altogether.

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Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that has poles of its own. One of these is the magnetic north pole. If you own a dip compass  a handy gadget whose needle moves both vertically and horizontally  you'll know when you've reached this spot because the needle will be pointing straight down at a 90-degree angle.

However, the magnetic north pole isn't stationary. In 1831, it was hanging out along the Boothia Peninsula in Canada's Nunavut Territory. It has since drifted northward into the Arctic Ocean, getting closer and closer to Siberia. Last year, the pole finally crossed into the eastern hemisphere.

Prior to the mid-1990s, it was  as the journal Nature reports  traveling at speeds of around 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) per year. Its current clip? About 55 kilometers (34 miles) annually.

"It didn't move much between 1900 and 1980, but it's really accelerated in the past 40 years," geophysicist Ciaran Beggan told Reuters on Friday, Jan. 11. Scientists aren't exactly sure why the magnetic pole has picked up speed although it looks like a jet of liquid iron (one of the materials that influences magnetic fields) is driving it away from Canada.

The World Magnetic Model

Beggan is a member of the British Geological Survey (BGS), which works with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to produce the World Magnetic Model (WMM). Earth's magnetic field is always changing and the WMM makes predictions about what those changes will look like in the near future.

The WMM is the "standard magnetic model used for navigation" by NATO, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.K. Ministry of Defense, and "smartphone operating systems such as Android and iOS," according to the BGS's blog. So its accuracy is very important.

Normally, the WMM is updated every five years. But after its last routine upgrade in 2015, Mother Earth went and complicated things. An unforeseen "geomagnetic pulse" beneath South America startled the scientific community in 2016.

Routine accuracy tests found that the 2015 edition of the WMM was no longer up to snuff. In March 2018, NOAA announced that the model "had become inaccurate in the Arctic region."

The next update wasn't supposed to be made until 2020, but NOAA and the BGS went ahead and put a new one together ahead of schedule late last year. This version takes the 2016 geomagnetic incident into account, which might lead to better predictions going forward.

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING. A 2016 study found that Earth's axis  along with the geographic north pole  is moving slightly eastward to the tune of 10 centimeters (4 inches) per year. Dwindling polar ice sheets may be the driving force behind this: As those mighty glaciers melt, their mass gets redistributed into the oceans, which could be destabilizing Earth's rotational axis.
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Teachers demonstrate in Los Angeles on Friday, January 18, 2019. Photo: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The United Teachers of Los Angeles have reached a tentative deal with the Los Angeles United School District that would end a weeklong strike, representatives announced at a Tuesday press conference. Rank-and-file members of UTLA will likely take the rest of the day to read through and then vote to accept or reject the contract, the Los Angeles Times reported. If teachers approve the proposal, theyll be back in classrooms on Wednesday.

According to the Times, the tentative deal includes a 6 percent pay raise and eliminates Section 1.5 in the unions current contract, which allowed the school district to bypass class-size caps for economic reasons. The New York Times also reports that the district has committed to hiring more school nurses and psychologists.

According to a copy of the proposed agreement, the district has pledged to transform 30 public schools into community schools, which wrap health and social services for parents and community members into traditional school offerings. The district has committed $150,000 per school for to transition them into the community school model. The proposed contract also creates a broader oversight role for UTLA chapter chairs in schools that share facilities with charter schools, and agrees to create and publicize a hotline that connects students and families facing immigration-related concerns to support services. The district has also agreed to create a Green Space Task Force to create new, green spaces in schools that currently lack them.

Elements of the deal, as @UTLAnow's ACP describes them:

CLASS SIZE - "desperately needed to be addressed."

NURSES, LIBRARIANS & COUNSELORS

CHARTER SCHOOLS - "investing in existing schools, accountability and regulation on charters, **part of this broader agreement"**#utlastrike  Kyle Stokes (@kystokes) January 22, 2019

Available details point to a near-total victory for the union, which had framed its demands as an example of bargaining for the common good. The school district and the union were never that far apart on salary demands. Low pay contributed to the strike, but the unions primary demands had more to do with class sizes and a lack of support staff for students. Teachers reported class sizes of 45 students or higher. Battle lines formed, then, over the districts priorities. From the unions perspective, the school board dominated by officials and a superintendent with links to the charter-school movement  had favored the proliferation of charters over the needs of its traditional public schools. Section 1.5 in particular became a real sticking point in negotiations between the union and the district, which had complained that it did not have the funds to hire the staff necessary to reduce class sizes across the district. The union, meanwhile, pointed to the districts nearly $2 billion in cash reserves as evidence that school board officials could fund the desired reforms if they chose.

On Tuesday afternoon, it wasnt clear how the district had decided to fund the unions demands. But Eric Garcetti, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, thanked the states new governor, Gavin Newsom, for making education a priority in his budget, which could foreshadow increased funding for the states public schools. If thats the case, Los Angeles teachers will have secured a better deal for the state, not just for their own students.

This post has been updated with details from the proposed agreement.
CORVALLIS  William L. Bill Taggart, 82, of Corvallis, passed away Jan. 15, 2019, at St. Patrick Hospital. He was born Jan. 3, 1937, in Newark, Ohio, the son of the late Lawrence Taggart and Evelyn (Kirkpatrick) Taggart.

Bill joined the Navy and was an underwater demolition frogman. He worked for Ohio Power as a lineman and then went to work as a mechanic for a SOHIO gas station in Heath, Ohio. He later worked for Snap-on-Tools, as a field rep and then district manager for a 27-year career. During his time with Snap-on, he purchased some land and started farming with his son. Bill wasnt the type to sit around, so shortly after retiring, he joined the fire department in Hebron where he worked his way up to lieutenant and also became an EMT for a number of years. He was the mayor of Hebron, Ohio, in the late 80s.
"These dogs are trained that when (the handlers) whistle a certain sound, they turn left, they turn right," Kaiser said.

During the contest, a dog must navigate three sheep around corners and over obstacles such as bridges and into a pen in less than four-and-a-half minutes, he said. Some dogs achieve the feat in as quick as two-and-a-half minutes.

"Sheep are hard to work with" and can be "quite bullheaded," Kaiser said. He said sheep may try to kick the dogs but the dogs will be disqualified if they bite back.

The trials begin at 11 a.m, Kaiser said. At 7 p.m., the competition takes a break for a mutton busting, an event when children ride sheep. The 16 semi-finalists from the trials return around 7:30 p.m and the contest ends with the top 10 finalists competing for the fastest course time.

The sheep shearing contest is also timed and participants with fast-enough results can qualify for international contests, Kaiser said.

"There's only so many ways you can shear a sheep," but it gets challenging when the animals try to misbehave and kick, he said.
Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, said those who would benefit from a permitless concealed carry law are those who would, under current law, be denied a permit for reasons such as a history of violence or a previous conviction.

Im sticking with my sheriff on this one, Schoenbeck said, referring to the South Dakota Sheriffs' Associations opposition to the bill. The States Attorneys Association also opposes SB 47.

It is unknown how many concealed carry permit applicants are denied every year, but Schoenbeck questioned why the legislature should pass a bill that could make it easier for those who would typically be denied to carry concealed.

According to the Secretary of States Office, as of Nov. 30, 2018, more than 107,000 South Dakotans hold active concealed carry permits.

Senators, as well as the Sheriffs' Association, also voiced concern that SB 47 would allow out-of-state residents to enter South Dakota and carry concealed pistols without vetting.

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem at a news conference last week said she supports the idea of constitutional carry, but needs to review the legislation and consult with law enforcement before making a final decision.

SB 47 now heads to the House for a vote before it can reach Noems desk.

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The former Rapid City priest accused of sexually touching a 13-year-old girl is expected to change his not guilty plea next month.

John Praveen, 38, is scheduled for a change of plea hearing 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 5 at the state court in Rapid City, according to court records.

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It's unclear whether he plans to plead guilty, no contest or make some other kind of plea. Messages to Praveen's lawyer and the Pennington County State's Attorney were not immediately returned.

Praveen previously pleaded not guilty to two charges of having sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl, a class 3 felony that carries a punishment of up to 15 years in prison on each count.

Before his duties were suspended, Praveen had worked at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rapid City since June. Before that, he served at churches in Eagle Butte. Praveen joined the diocese for a 10-year assignment in December 2017 after serving in India, where he was born.

Praveen remains in the Pennington County Jail. A woman had paid a $10,000 cash bond to bail him out, but he was returned to custody because there was no cell service in the area he intended to stay to connect with his ankle monitor.

 Contact Arielle Zionts at arielle.zionts@rapidcityjournal.com.

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The Rapid City Council directed city staff Tuesday night to draft a new law legalizing the use of Segways on downtown city sidewalks.

The vote, 5 to 3, with Alderwoman Becky Drury and Aldermen Jason Salamun and Ritchie Nordstrom in opposition, came in response to a public-initiated request and appears to be the first step in creating a downtown Segway tour. City documents show an example of a downtown tour along Main Street and Saint Joseph Street between Second Street and Ninth Street. Current city law prohibits Segways from being used on sidewalks. Bicycles and skateboards are also prohibited.

Some council members appear to be unconvinced that the downtown area is the best place to first allow Segways.

Lets do it on Mount Rushmore Road, Nordstrom said. Its not suitable for downtown.

Others pointed to successful Segway tours in larger cities as examples that they can be allowed with minimal impact on pedestrians.

If they can do it in downtown Atlanta, I think we can do it here, Alderwoman Darla Drew said.

Alderman Chad Lewis said prohibiting Segways was a solution in search of a problem and failing to accommodate Segway tours would cast Rapid City in a bad light.
Sen. Tara Nethercott, of Cheyenne, and Wendy Schuler, of Evanston, voted for the bill, saying despite their reservations it deserved to be debated in the full Senate. The bill failed 3-2.

Wyoming allows voters to register and change party affiliation up to two weeks before a primary, at the polls or when requesting an absentee ballot. The bill would have prevented voters from changing party affiliation any time after candidates begin to apply for their party's primary nomination and the primaries, which in 2018 would have been between May 17 and Aug. 21.

The committee voted 3-2 in favor of allowing primary voters to rank primary candidates. Under that bill, the top two finishers irrespective of party would advance to the general election.

"Why limit who gets to move on to the general election in terms of their partisanship?" testified bill sponsor Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie. "Forget about the parties. Don't worry about it."

As with the party affiliation bill, Nethercott said the ranked-vote measure deserved discussion in the full Senate. Committee members Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, and Schuler are co-sponsors and voted in favor of the measure.

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Brewer's work on behalf of Sandhills landowners such as the Raths also puts him knee-deep in efforts to protect the whooping cranes. On their behalf, he recently traveled to Denver to the Mountain-Prairie Regional Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to get information about the effect of the R Project on the cranes.

Brewer claimed the office used old data to determine the power line project would probably not kill whooping cranes. A newer study, he said, partially funded by Fish and Wildlife, concluded there was a reasonable expectation migrating whooping cranes could be killed, and that it would negatively affect the population.

NPPD's Becker said his company analyzed a 2008 report on whooping cranes and results of a recent satellite-tracking study by the U.S. Geological Survey, to conclude incidental killing of the cranes would not be "reasonably certain to occur."

The company then decided not to apply for an "incidental take" permit for the endangered cranes, Becker said. It is waiting, however, for a permit for the endangered American burying beetle. That permit has been delayed by the federal government shutdown.

A contractor has been selected and approved for R Project construction, and work could commence on the power lines after the permit is approved, Becker said.
Shut it down. Photo: Martin H. Simon/Getty Images

Donald Trump has never been more unpopular than he is now. Or so the latest round of polling on the presidents handling of the government shutdown suggests.

Fifty-nine percent of voters disapprove of Trumps overall job performance in CBS News latest survey, the highest that figure has been since the president took office. That finding is buttressed by a new PoliticoMorning Consult poll, which puts Trumps disapproval rating at 57 percent, the highest it has ever been in that pollsters research.

Notably, these figures arent drastically worse than the presidents typical poll numbers. A majority of Americans disliked Trump on the day he was elected, and have continued to dislike him ever since. Nonetheless, even marginal declines in Trumps base of support would likely be enough to nullify his hopes of reelection, given how narrowly he eked out an Electoral College majority in 2016.

The source of Trumps eroding favorability isnt hard to discern. Seven in ten Americans told CBS News that the issue of a border wall is not worth a government shutdown; 66 percent said they want Trump to agree to a budget without wall funding; and 60 percent say that the shutdown is causing the country serious problems.

Morning Consults poll, meanwhile, finds that 54 percent of Americans blame Trump and the Republicans for the shutdown, while just 35 percent blame congressional Democrats. Notably, the percentage blaming Trump has climbed by 6 points in that survey since the shutdown began, suggesting that the presidents prime-time advocacy for his position failed to win hearts and minds. The survey also shows that 49 percent of voters oppose the construction of a border wall in any circumstances, compared to 43 percent who support it.

Photo: CBS

Photo: CBS

These results should matter to the president. His decision to inflict financial hardship on hundreds of thousands of Americans, reduce economic growth, undermine public health, and jeopardize border security  for the sake of coercing Congress into voting for a wall that a majority of Americans oppose  has never been popular. But its growing unpopularity should disabuse the White House of the idea that it would eventually win (at least) the entirety of the GOP electorate over to its view of things. Trump could have made Nancy Pelosis life difficult. Like past presidents who suffered midterm rebukes, he could have triangulated and pushed for the passage of a minimum-wage hike and infrastructure package  thereby forcing Democrats to choose between opposing popular policies and giving Trump bipartisan wins. Instead, he has opted to provide the public with a weeks-long affirmation of Democratic attacks on his capacity to govern. Even if he manages to extract his ransom by the end of this, Trump will (almost certainly) emerge from the shutdown with bleaker prospects for reelection than he did late last year.

But the president is not a rational political actor. He is a narcissistic Fox News addict who craves nothing so much as his favorite television hosts affirmation. He is courting Rush Limbaughs approval, not that of swing voters in the Milwaukee suburbs. From the first day of his presidency, he has made clear that he believes his job is to aid those Americans whove demonstrated loyalty to him, not the public as a whole (let alone to the majority who reject him). And he is also ostensibly aware that his indifference to the fate of most Americans gives him a peculiar source of leverage in the present standoff. Democrats care about the plight of unpaid federal workers (not least because they are in the aggregate a Democratic constituency), food-stamp recipients, and various other Americans whose basic needs are threatened by a prolonged shutdown. Trump, by contrast, recently orchestrated the mass psychological torture of migrant children; he is not going to be moved by humanitarian concerns.

The presidents intransigence may further erode his popular support. But it could also plausibly increase pressure on Democrats to pay the terrorists ransom: While a large majority of voters in CBS News poll favored reopening the government without wall funding, 52 percent also suggested that theyd prefer Democrats to fund the wall for the sake of reopening the government, if that is what it takes.

All this said, even if the new poll numbers make no impression on the president, they make one on the mainstream media. It is now clear that the president is sabotaging the functioning of the federal government in defiance of a supermajority of the publics will. His substantive argument for the necessity of the border wall is incoherent; his claims of concern for border security belied by the shutdowns corrosive impact on the security of Americas borders. His demand has no popular, substantive, or procedural legitimacy. There is no reason for objective media outlets to pretend otherwise.
The River Bend Foodbank in Davenport will share in a $25,000 donation from the Iowa Pork Producers Association to Iowa food banks to help store and transport the unprecedented quantities of pork they are scheduled to get from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA is a constant source of food for food banks, but since December it has greatly increased the amount it provides as a way to help farmers hurt by the ongoing trade war. The government is trying to shore up farm markets by buying up food surpluses caused by reduced demand because of the tariffs, explained Mike Miller, president and CEO of River Bend.

The surpluses are then donated to food banks. The first "trade mitigation" product was fresh milk that began arriving in December and will continue through March. The next phase will include pork.

In normal times, the USDA provides funding to help with distribution and storage, but that has not been the case so far with the "trade mitigation" products, Miller said.

That is why the pork producers' donation is so helpful, he said. Of the $25,000, River Bend will get about 13 percent, or $3,242, based on a formula, Miller said.
The call to action comes as municipalities around the state have sought to rid their communities of illicit massage parlors without placing undue burdens on business owners who run legal shops.

For the purposes of state regulation, massage is split into two main categories: massage therapy and reflexology. The first is defined as a health care service by the state and includes myotherapy, massotherapy, bodywork and therapeutic massage.

The latter is defined under state law as manipulation of the soft tissues of the human body which is restricted to the hands, feet, or ears, performed by persons who do not hold themselves out to be massage therapists or to be performing massage therapy. That second option is also one that's exploited by those who run illicit massage parlors, city officials and area therapists say.

In 2017, Iowa lawmakers opened the door for municipalities to enact their own rules for licensing businesses or for local authorities to make other mandates. The proposal Davenport officials are considering would allow local law enforcement to shutter massage businesses that arent run by state-licensed operators.

City leaders are taking up the action amid a larger push for heightened awareness on the subject of sex trafficking around the country.
Iowas student enrollment is growing overall, but 52 percent of districts still saw declines for the 2018-2019 school year, according to a brief from the Iowa Department of Education.

The states enrollment stands at 487,652, a 1,387-student increase from the 2017-2018 school year. This year is the eighth in a row where Iowas public school enrollment has increased, preceded by a 17-year decrease.

Of the more than 170 districts experiencing enrollment declines, six are in the states 10 largest districts, including Davenport, which experienced the highest enrollment decline  1.2 percent  of any school in the top 10. Other large districts Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Council Bluffs also had declines of 1 percent or less.

Bettendorf had the largest percentage increase in the area, up 2.5 percent; Pleasant Valley had a 1.8 percent increase, and North Scott's was less than 1 percent.

Louisa County had the biggest decreases in the area, with a 2.3 percent drop. With only 810 students enrolled for the 2018-2019 school year, theyre also one of the smallest districts in the state. Muscatines enrollment dropped by 1.4 percent, and Clintons by less than 1 percent.

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He said Luten handed him a .357-caliber revolver and then the teen and another of the males  he was unclear with detectives whether it was Luten or Bruno  got out. The teen went to the south side of the house while the other person went to the west, and they began shooting.

When they got back to the car, the boy told detectives that Luten said, "That's how you do it."

Alaniz, who was questioned by defense attorney Dan Dalton, said the female occupant of the vehicle did not say anything about Luten handing anyone a gun in her account, but also she was not asked about it.

Alaniz said 9 mm casings were recovered from the west side of the residence and 9 mm bullets were found inside. Other spent bullets were recovered from the residence, and one was also removed from Fowler's body, but the caliber of those bullets were not yet available, the detective testified on Tuesday. No firearms had been recovered as of the time of his testimony.

Alaniz said that when Luten was interviewed, he said he was a member of the Maniac Latin Disciples but had recently left the group. The conflict authorities contend was occurring between him and other members had led to previous gunfire complaints.
A tentative trial date was set for Venkateswara Rao Karuparthy, a Quad-Cities anesthesiologist, who has been accused of fondling a patient in Rock Island County.

Karuparthy, 58, of Bettendorf, faces two counts of criminal sexual abuse, according to Rock Island County court records. The charges are related to an incident authorities say happened Aug. 23. A warrant was issued on Dec. 19, and he was arrested on that warrant in December in Scott County. He made his first appearance on the charges earlier this month.

Tuesday he appeared before Rock Island County Judge Frank Fuhr for a preliminary hearing, which Karuparthy waived, and his trial date was set for March 11.

In a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present an outline of the case filed against the defendant and the presiding judge must determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to continue. The threshold for doing so is not considered very high. Waiving a preliminary hearing, which means the outline is not challenged by the defense, is not an admission of guilt on the part of the defendant.

According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Karuparthys license to practice medicine and surgery in Illinois was suspended Nov. 7 for engaging in sexual misconduct in his practice.
A Davenport man pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Davenport, to robbing a Davenport credit union in August.

Randall John Williams, 53, faces up to 20 years when he is sentenced May 29.

The robbery happened at 12:33 p.m. Aug. 6 at R.I.A. Federal Credit Union, 3509 N. Harrison St.

According to the federal complaint filed Aug. 13, Williams walked up to the counter and told the teller give me all your hundreds. The teller did not immediately comply and he repeated the phrase several times and became more agitated.

Williams eventually reached over the counter and grabbed cash from the drawer and then fled on foot.

The teller told police the robber took four $1,000 bundles and eight $100 bills totaling $4,800.

A witness inside the credit union told police the robber may be a panhandler they had previously seen at the intersection of Kimberly Road and Brady Street. A still photograph of the robber was circulated around the Davenport Police Department and two officers said they believed the robber could be Williams, a panhandler they interacted with at the intersections of West 35th and Brady Streets and West Kimberly Road and Brady Street.
A Bettendorf counselor has pleaded guilty a second time to kissing and touching an adult client in December 2017.

On Wednesday, Aracely Schutters, 46, filed a written plea through her attorney, Joel Walker, to one count of sexual exploitation in Scott County District Court.

She faces up to two years in prison when she is sentenced March 7. However, prosecutors said in a plea agreement also filed Wednesday that they will recommend two years of supervised probation.

They will resist a request for a deferred judgement based on the circumstances of the case, according to the plea agreement.

Schutters initially pleaded guilty to the charge in February. A judge in June allowed her to take back the plea after he found she was not informed of the ramifications  such as the sex offender registry or special sentence requirements  when she entered the plea.

Bettendorf police say Schutters invited an adult client to her home and got the woman into her hot tub with the intent of discussing her issues, according to police.
The Village of Carbon Cliff has issued a precautionary boil order for properties located on Cliff Drive and Cliff Court.

The village is currently working on repairing a water main break. It is asking that residents on those streets to boil their water before drinking and cooking.

For safety purposes, bring water used for drinking and cooking to a rolling boil ror 5 minutes before use.

This is a precautionary measure put in place by the state of Illinois, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, and the Village of Carbon Cliff.

This boil order will continue to stay in place until all repairs are completed, and the approved EPA tests come back clear.

At that time the Village shall issue a release of boil order notice.

Residents may check with the Village Hall at (309) 792-8235 or visit www.Carbon-Cliff.com for more information. You may also subscribe for text and email alerts by visiting www.carbon-cliff.com/subscribe.html

Quad-City Times

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The letter Mayor Mike Thoms mailed to Rock Island residents prior to the 2018 midterm elections in support of Neil Anderson was disturbing.

Anderson signs were illegally placed all over the city. I guess it's OK if the mayor of Rock Island supports him, his signs can be placed on public property with no consequence.

The public would assume you know someone's record since you endorse him:

Anderson refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2018 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like me.

He voted with Gov. Bruce Rauner twice, allowing our state to go without a budget for nearly three years, at a cost to taxpayers of a billion dollars. This is nothing less than irresponsible, and shouldering taxpayers, once again, with the financial burden due to poor leadership and refusing to do the right thing for the citizens of Illinois.

Anderson also voted against the Equal Rights Amendment ... wonder how many women who voted for him knew this?

Anderson won the election based on lies and slanderous ads that the voters bought into, without fact to back them.
We urged outgoing Gov. Bruce Rauner in early December to grasp one last opportunity to advance the effort to right-size Illinois government.

But rather than signing a hard-fought bill that would give McHenry and Lake counties the power to eliminate some township governments, the maverick governor who claimed to be a champion of getting rid of unnecessary Illinois taxing bodies killed the bill outright.

That's unfortunate since the key component in the bill would have given voters in McHenry County the power to determine how they are governed by creating a process that would have allowed voters to petition for a referendum to abolish a township. If at least 5 percent of that township's residents signed the petition, it would have been placed on the ballot and publicly debated, not only by politicians, but the people they are elected to serve. The township would be dissolved, and its duties assigned elsewhere, provided a majority of voters said yes to axing it.

Rauner not only rejected the bill for all the wrong reasons by issuing the amendatory veto gutting HB4367, he also displayed one last time the all-or-nothing, dictatorial approach to running the state that made him an unpopular and ineffective one-term governor.
Beto on a road trip with Republican incumbent Will Hurd last year. Photo: Beto ORourke via Facebook

George Will has been a reactionary for longer than Beto ORourke has been alive. Will was an adviser to Ronald Reagans 1980 campaign, climate change denier, and fierce opponent of Social Security. His hatred of progressivism is so deep and comprehensive, he may be the only nationally syndicated columnist who has called for the abolition of both the minimum wage and denim pants.

But last summer, Will advised his readers to vote against the GOP this November  no matter where they lived.

The principle: The congressional Republican caucuses must be substantially reduced, Will explained. So substantially that their remnants, reduced to minorities, will be stripped of the Constitutions Article I powers that they have been too invertebrate to use against the current wielder of Article II powers. In other words: Congresss failure to check Donald Trumps abuses of power represented a threat to the republic itself  and thus, Republican voters had a duty to put country over party, and empower the presidents political adversaries.

Will was not the only lifelong conservative to render this verdict. Max Boot, a neoconservative intellectual who once decried Brown v. Board of Education as an attack on the Constitution  and opposition to the Iraq War as mindless isolationism  wrote in October 2018, Vote against all Republicans. Every single one.

Joe Biden and Beto ORourke refused to endorse this advice.

When ORourke visited Texass 23rd Congressional District last August, FiveThirtyEights forecast gave the GOP a one-in-four chance of retaining control of the House. Which is to say: At that time, there was (ostensibly) a 25 percent chance that Republicans would pay no electoral price for abetting two years of Trumpian corruption and misrule; rushing deeply unpopular health-care and tax bills through Congress with minimal democratic oversight (unsuccessfully in one case, successfully in the other); and campaigning for reelection on a mix of xenophobic demagoguery and bald-faced lies about their partys fiscal priorities. Had this occurred, congressional Republicans would have received confirmation that gerrymandering had insulated them so thoroughly from democratic accountability, even a historic wave election couldnt loosen their grip on power. There is no telling what a unified Republican government would have done with such knowledge.

Given this context, one might have assumed that ORourke had come to the 23rd  a GOP-held district that Hillary Clinton had won in 2016  to endorse the Democratic candidate for the districts House seat, Gina Ortiz Jones, an Iraq War veteran with a long and distinguished record of public service.

In reality, ORourke did quite the opposite. As the New York Times reports:

[A Democratic Party] county chairwoman posed an uncomfortable question. Mr. ORourke had not endorsed Ms. Jones. In fact, he had elevated her Republican opponent, Representative Will Hurd, with frequent praise and, most memorably, a live-streamed bipartisan road trip that helped jump-start their midterm campaigns. Would Mr. ORourke support the Democrat? He would not. This is a place where my politics and my job and my commitment to this country come into conflict, Mr. ORourke said. Im going to put country over party. In Texas 23rd Congressional District, his choice was more than symbolic. Mr. Hurd won by fewer than 1,000 votes, and many voters and local activists hold Mr. ORourke  whose success helped lift down-ballot candidates across the state  largely responsible for Ms. Joness defeat.

Will Hurd is a (relatively) moderate Republican. As a representative of a border district, Hurd has been a prominent critic of Trumps immigration policies. But he also votes with his Republican colleagues more than 90 percent of the time, criticized the FBI for declining to prosecute Hillary Clinton in 2016, aided Devin Nuness efforts to discredit the Mueller investigation, and opposes federal funding for abortion services. More critically, Hurd would like the Republican Party to control the House of Representatives. Had the GOP retained control of the chamber, he would have voted to let conservative Republicans decide what legislation Congress can and cannot vote on. Given the stakes of the 2018 election, his personal moderation should have been irrelevant to ORourke  especially since it was not inconceivable that the outcome of the race in that district could determine House control.

By boosting Hurd, and spurning Ortiz Jones, ORourke did not put country before party; he put himself before both.

Weeks later, Biden followed suit:

Joseph R. Biden Jr. swept into Benton Harbor, Mich., three weeks before the November elections, in the midst of his quest to reclaim the Midwest for Democrats. He took the stage at Lake Michigan College as Representative Fred Upton, a long-serving Republican from the area, faced the toughest race of his career.

But Mr. Biden was not there to denounce Mr. Upton. Instead, he was collecting $200,000 from the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan to address a Republican-leaning audience, according to a speaking contract obtained by The New York Times and interviews with organizers  Mr. Biden stunned Democrats and elated Republicans by praising Mr. Upton while the lawmaker looked on from the audience. Alluding to Mr. Uptons support for a landmark medical-research law, Mr. Biden called him a champion in the fight against cancer  and one of the finest guys Ive ever worked with.

 The greatest impact of Mr. Bidens speech, however, was outside the lecture hall. His remarks about Mr. Upton ricocheted through Michigans Sixth Congressional District. Mr. Upton alluded to Mr. Bidens praise in a debate with Mr. Longjohn the next day, and his campaign sent out a mailer stressing Mr. Uptons bipartisan streak, including Mr. Bidens description of him as the reason were going to beat cancer.

A business-backed Republican group, Defending Main Street, ran digital ads on Facebook showing a grinning Mr. Biden and the crucial quote  Fred Upton is one of the finest guys Ive ever worked with  above a mock version of the former vice presidents signature.

Biden declined to endorse the Democratic candidate Matt Longjohn in his race to oust Upton from Congress. Instead, uncle Joe vouched not only for Uptons bipartisan credentials, but painted him as a champion of the sick and infirm  despite the fact that the Michigan Republican played a lead role in trying to pass legislation that would have thrown 20 million Americans off of health insurance.

Upton ultimately won his race by less than 5 percentage points.

***

If George Will and Max Boot recognized the importance of opposing all congressional Republicans in 2018, shouldnt the Democratic Partys 2020 nominee be someone who recognized that, too?

To be sure, every candidate has flaws and liabilities. And defeating Donald Trump must surely be the Democratic Partys No. 1 objective. Further, while ORourke failed to endorse Ortiz Jones, there is little question that his remarkable Senate campaign aided down-ballot Democratic candidates all across the Lone Star State.

But the Democrats have no shortage of qualified, appealing candidates. And all available polling suggests that Trump will struggle to beat just about any of them. Meanwhile, the many virtues of ORourkes 2018 Senate campaign make a stronger case for his candidacy against John Cornyn in 2020 than for his competing with more experienced and progressive Democrats  who did not claim that they had a patriotic duty to aid an incumbent Republican last year  for Team Blues presidential nomination.

Ultimately, what makes Biden and ORourkes conduct disqualifying is not the effect it may (or may not) have had in 2018, but rather, what it says about how they will govern in 2021. If Democrats want to treat climate change as an existential threat  and health care and the franchise as inalienable rights  then they will need to treat the Republican Party as an enemy.

Bipartisan overtures will never persuade congressional Republicans to vote against the interests of fossil fuel companies, or back dramatic expansions in public health insurance, or dismantle election laws that give their coalition wildly disproportionate power. Only a unified, Democratic government  that is willing to ruthlessly prioritize ideological goals over bipartisan comity  will have any chance of overcoming our legislative systems copious veto points, and passing anything resembling a proportionate response to our nations climate, health-care, and democratic crises into law.

Our country paid a big price for the Democrats failure to do this the last time around. Had 51 Senate Democrats been willing to kill the legislative filibuster in 2009, they could have passed cap-and-trade, a version of the ACA that included a public option, a stimulus package proportional to the severity of the Great Recession, more foreclosure relief, card check for unions, and citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants on a party-line vote. In so doing, they quite likely would have prevented Donald Trump from ever becoming president; add a few million more immigrants to the electorate  and a couple percentage points to the rate of private-sector unionization  and you end up with a country that is both more democratic and more Democratic.

Instead, Barack Obama & Co. put country over party, honored procedural norms, sought bipartisan buy-in for major legislation  and delivered our country into the hands of a madman.

There is nothing inherently wrong with bipartisanship, only with venerating it in our nations current context. The anthropocene is not a normal epoch. And the Republicans are not a normal political party. The GOP is an institution that baldly lies to its own voters, while disenfranchising Democratic ones. It is a party that knows its ideological commitments cannot prevail in democratic competition, and has therefore forfeited its commitment to democratic rule. Seeking common ground with this movement will not heal our republic; only defeating it will. At least, this is what George W. Bushs former speechwriter seems to think.

Whoever leads the Democratic Party in 2020 should think the same.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Fred Uptons 2018 challenger.
Joseph Richardson, 40, and Marlana Richardson, 38, a husband and wife from Moline, sexually exploited three children by performing sexual acts where those children could see them, and having one of the children film them having sex, court documents state.
GENESEO  Karen Russell has a suggestion for pet owners this winter.

If your pets are outside, go sit with them awhile," said Russell, president of the Henry County Humane Society-Geneseo Shelter. "And then decide if they should come inside with you."

Forecasts anticipate highs only in the teens and lows as cold as minus 13 through the next few days. Such harsh weather can be life-threatening for cats and dogs, Russell said.

On Jan. 1, Illinois' new Public Act 100-0740 lets law enforcement officers take temporary custody of a cat or dog they believe to be in a life-threatening situation due to "extreme heat or cold conditions." The act defines those conditions as those that may result in injury or death, or other serious conditions like hypothermia, frostbite and hyperthermia.

Pets kept outside need special attention in bitterly cold weather, said Missy DeBacker, animal control officer in Mercer County.

"They definitely need lots of bedding in their dog house, preferably with straw over blankets because blankets retain moisture," she said.
Posted pro bono:

Wild Thoughts by Julia Randall. A three-part series on wilderness ethics and management offers a comprehensive review of wilderness as a legal concept, an ecological condition and as a cultural phenomenon. Click on the following links to access Part I , What is Wilderness; Part II , For Whom Does Wilderness Exist? ; and Part III , Wilderness and a Livable World . Ms. Randall's StoryMap can be found on the Adirondack Councils website at: Ms. Randall'scan be found on the Adirondack Councils website at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/39efc4883ac348a09fbd03a0f2c6c78f





Combating on the job misbehavior: https://www.not-me.com/organizations An app (the #NotMe app) employers can make available to their personnel permitting the easy and timely submission of complaints of alleged supervisor or co-worker misconduct to personnel officers, human resource teams, compliance officers or designated individuals. Click on for information concerning this program. Concerning the viral evolution of COVID-19: Science Magazine e-Letter had posted NYPPL's Science Consultant Robert Michaels' item concerning "Viral evolution may herald new pandemic phase. Click here to read Dr. Michaels' comments.

Sexual Harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination : New York State : https://www.ny.gov/programs/combating-sexual-harassment-workplace 's Internet guidelines addressing employer obligations to combat sexual harassment in the workplace is at





The Steel Bar is the epic story of the rise and fall and rebirth of the Pittsburgh lawyer, from the earliest days of the Pittsburgh bar to the modern era, against the backdrop of American history." More at https://publicpersonnellaw.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-steel-bar-pittsburgh-lawyers-and_28.html

Contaminants of Emergent Concern was discussed by Dr. Robert A. Michaels [bam@ramtrac.com] at the New York State Bar Association, Energy and Environmental Law Section on January 31, 2020. Dr. Michaels' remarks are posted for viewing/downloading at no charge at the following URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339055672_Legacy_Contaminants_of_Emergent_Concern. Other articles addressing environmental issues by Dr. Michaels are posted on on the Internet at:https://publicpersonnellaw.blogspot.com/2020/01/articles-by-dr-robert-michaels-nypers.html

Ransomware continues assault against cities and businesses - take a look at the most recent attacks, how US and international cities have handled them, and advice for dealing with the aftermath. Keep reading.

Social Effects and Outcomes of Identity and ID Programs - Download this impact report that details research, use cases and tips for creating a successful municipal and government ID program to better transact with citizens by clicking here: Government ID Impact Report

New technology assists local governments to better serve its residents by using new technologies to save money, communicate with residents and allow taxpayers to make payment. Click here to download a report released on September 16, 2019 by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

Governing Daily has posted a link to an item, How to Prevent Job Loss in the Public Sector, noting that when budgets get slashed and hiring comes to a halt, municipalities need a way protect their most valuable resources  people and finances. [Content provided by CentralSquare Technologies.] Click here to LEARN MORE
About Me Scott Because prophetic scriptures are found throughout the bible, it is obvious that a comprehensive, systematic approach would be useful, if not necessary, for the understanding of prophecy. Past prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal manner, as confirmed by the dating of these writings and historical records of confirmation. These past prophecies also serve as a model of how to interpret future prophecies. A literal view of prophecy clearly indicates a certain sequence of events will occur within a single generation, concluding with the Tribulation and Second Advent and these events will be obvious. The prophetic signs appear to be present in this generation and we believe these signs are revealed in the news from around the world. View my complete profile
Deputy David Cattanach was on his way to check on a wounded cat when a more pressing call came over the radio: Someone had suffered an injury at St. Michael School. A fall maybe. Or an accident. The dispatcher mentioned blood on the floor.

The kitten would have to wait.

Cattanach turned onto the winding road that led to the rural Wisconsin town of Dane, population 621, give or take a few. It was a sunny March morning in 1998, more spring than winter, and the roads were clear.

A few minutes into his 10-mile drive, another radio call came through: The man on the floor of the school wasnt just injured; he was dead.

An ambulance was already idling in the parking circle when Cattanach arrived at the school, which was connected to the church. Two medical techs walked toward their vehicle, supporting a young man, unsteady on his feet. His hands were covered in blood.

The dead man, he said, was the parish priest.

Dane County Sheriff's Department Blood spatters the lockers of St. Michael School on the morning of March 4, 1998.

Dane County Sheriff's Department Blood spatters the lockers of St. Michael School on the morning of March 4, 1998.

The sound of a phone off its hook echoed shrilly through the empty building as Cattanach stepped carefully through two sets of double doors, both smudged with red, and into the hallway of the school.

The floor was slippery with blood. In the center of the crimson pool lay Father Alfred Kunz, nearly decapitated. His belt was unbuckled, as if hed been getting ready for bed. His arms angled stiffly toward the ceiling. Near one hand, Cattanach spied a ring of keys.

From 15 feet away, the cop could tell the 67-year-old priest was dead.

To Cattanach, the level of violence could mean only one thing: This murder was personal.

Alfred Kunzs call to ministry came in a vision when he was 10 years old.

He was one of eight children and grew up on a farm in the southwestern Wisconsin town of Stitzer, where he sometimes helped out in the familys basement cheese factory.

An appendicitis attack sent him to the hospital. Back then, in the 1940s, doctors used ether to knock out patients for surgery. When Kunz woke up, he immediately told his mother: Im going to be a priest.

The decision was cemented by a visit to a cathedral. When the Mass ended, the bishop didnt leave the church right away. Kunz watched him head toward a side chapel. There, the bishop approached the tabernacle, an ornate vessel that housed the Holy Eucharist  bread and wine transformed through the sacrifice of the Mass into the body and blood of Christ. Kunz looked on as the bishop placed the Eucharist in its place of honor, giving thanks to God as he did so.

More than anything, Kunz wanted to be like that holy man of God.

From the archives Father Alfred Kunz celebrates Mass in this archival photo.

Kunz was ordained in 1956 and celebrated his first Mass at the church he attended as a child, St. Marys in Fennimore.

The Catholic World Report Father Alfred Kunz is shown in this 1956 photo, taken shortly after his ordination.

The Catholic World Report Father Alfred Kunz is shown in this 1956 photo, taken shortly after his ordination.

Less than 10 years into his priesthood, the Catholic Mass was transformed. For centuries, the church had followed age-old traditions. When Kunz was growing up, Masses everywhere, from his home parish in Wisconsin to the grand cathedrals in Europe, were said in Latin.

Priests in elegantly embroidered robes prayed with their backs to the congregation. Choirs sang in the ancient language of the liturgy, at times filling the sanctuary with Gregorian chants.

In the early 1960s, Pope John XXIII led the church into the modern age by calling for a series of conferences that came to be known as Vatican II. It had been nearly 100 years since the first Vatican Council. Back then, the church formally adopted the concept of papal infallibility, meaning the pope alone has the final say on Catholic doctrine.

Vatican II took place from 1962 to 1965. During the meetings, 2,000 church leaders worked together to produce a series of documents that laid out new rules for the Mass, the religious lives of priests and Christian education, among other things.

Priests were instructed to celebrate the Mass in the language of the people, facing the congregation. Use of the old Latin rite was discouraged, although it could still be used on some occasions.

Kunz became pastor of St. Michael in 1967. At first, he embraced the new ways, wearing plaid robes as a ukulele sometimes took the place of the organ.

He gained a position on the marriage tribunal in Madison, where he helped decide which divorcing couples deserved annulments and which ones did not.

When St. Michael was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1974, Kunz led the charge to raise funds and rebuild. The new church featured up-to-date architecture and decor. He chose contemporary stained-glass windows depicting colorful barns and pine trees instead of Biblical scenes.

As the years passed, Kunz had a change of heart. He lost the respect of church leaders as a result.

Forgotten amid the updates of Vatican II, he came to believe, were 2,000 years of history. Contemporary touches such as jazz music, he once said, robbed the Mass of its sacredness. Embracing them was a serious sin that could lead straight to hell.

Kunz didnt make the list of priests authorized to say the Mass in Latin, but he did it anyway.

Whenever he walked toward the front of St. Michael at the beginning of a service, he kept his head down. Approaching the altar of the Lord, Kunz kept his eyes focused on the ground, ashamed to look up at the stained-glass windows, symbols of the time hed lost his way.

Although Kunz also said Masses in English, St. Michael soon became known for his traditional Latin services, offered three mornings a week for the schoolchildren and once on Sundays. Some people would make a pilgrimage faithfully every weekend, driving 100 miles or more from Illinois and Iowa.

To them, Kunz was the holiest of men.

To the rest, the hierarchy in Madison and believers who accepted the changes of Vatican II, Kunz had become a cleric stuck in the past, a malcontent to be avoided and ignored.

Dane County Sheriff's Department St. Michael School became a crime scene on the morning of March 4, 1998.

When Dane County sheriffs investigators began their search for Kunzs killer, they first tried to answer the most basic of questions: Why was he murdered?

Because of the tenets Kunz preached and the way he lived, the answers have remained elusive for more than 20 years.

Kunz was a man of contradiction.

He instilled a fear of damnation in the afterlife, yet he tried to make peoples time on Earth easier by handing out cash to those who needed it  men and women, church members and not. He banished those who questioned his authority, yet he left the church doors unlocked for strangers seeking shelter. He preached strict adherence to the Ten Commandments, yet detectives investigating his death spoke with at least two women who said theyd had sexual contact with him.

In passionately following church teachings about performing both corporal and spiritual works of mercy  bury the dead, instruct the ignorant, feed the hungry  Kunz often came into contact with people on the fringes of society.

Many of them grew to love the priest, but almost any of them, police believed, also could have killed him.

The effort to catch the priests killer began with dozens of Dane County sheriffs department staffers working the case full time. State investigators and the FBI were called in. They formed teams that tried to systematically rule out motives and suspects.

But as the investigation wore on, police instead found themselves with a growing list of possible perpetrators: a teacher who quarreled with Kunz over work, an ex-con who needed money, a man who feared the end of the world.

Mourners, including Gov. Tommy Thompson, attend visitation for Father Alfred Kunz

After about two years, the investigation stalled.

Continuity disappeared as the sheriffs department assigned new detectives to the case every few years. Over the past two decades, five different people have served as lead investigator. The case file consists of thousands of pages  and counting  snapped into 40 three-ring binders.

The sheriff cant name anyone working for the department today who has read them all.

And the knife the killer used to slit Kunzs throat has never been found.

That doesnt mean the detectives work over the past 20 years hasnt produced some solid leads. It has.

It has also resulted in a defense attorneys dream: A list of possible suspects, each with at least one investigator who believes wholeheartedly in his or her guilt. As a result, if anyone is ever charged, the defense would have ready-made reasonable doubt to present to jurors.

Dane County Sheriff's Department Blood covers the floor at the crime scene of the homicide of Father Alfred Kunz in 1998.

A few years ago, using updated technology, analysts at the state crime lab found new trace DNA evidence. Detective Gwen Ruppert, who has led the investigation for the past six years, believes it likely came from the killer  although its possible there is some other explanation.

Where was the new evidence found? On Kunzs hands? Under his fingernails? On his collar or his belt buckle?

Ruppert would say only that it was somewhere significant, somewhere the killer would have had reason to touch.

Even if the police were certain this DNA came from the killer, it wouldnt be enough to solve the case.

New DNA sample examined in 20-year-old slaying of Father Alfred Kunz

For one thing, theres no way to tell when it got there. Whats more, scientists were able to create only a partial profile, with too few points of comparison for an upload to the national FBI database.

Visual comparisons at the state lab showed the new sample doesnt match any of the suspects whose DNA has been collected over the years. That isnt 100 percent proof of their innocence, but it was enough to make Ruppert set them all aside and concentrate on following new leads.

As recently as two years ago, after getting a promising tip, a team of six detectives and a clerical staffer spent months focused solely on the Kunz case.

On the 20th anniversary of the murder in March 2018, the sheriffs department launched a social media campaign designed to elicit new information.

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Ruppert and Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney, who was a detective back in 1998, said mistakes in the investigation may have made it harder to catch the killer.

Police allowed Maureen OLeary, the principal at St. Michael, to remove Kunzs Rolodex from his office. Back then, before cellphone contact lists and friends on social media, the Rolodex would have been the only place for the police to find the names and numbers of everyone close to Kunz.

No one currently employed at the sheriffs department knows why OLeary wanted the Rolodex. The police never got it back. Without it, they were unable to complete one of the most fundamental tasks of a murder investigation: compiling a timeline of how the victim spent his final hours.

The missing Rolodex also might have helped police uncover the details of a heated phone conversation overheard in the school the morning before Kunz was murdered. The person who heard it couldnt tell who the priest was talking to. Technology at the time didnt allow the phone company to identify the number after the fact. Asking everyone in the Rolodex when theyd last spoken with Kunz could have helped them identify the caller, who might also be the killer.

Another set of missteps concerned the treatment of teacher Brian Jackson, the man Cattanach saw outside the school with blood on his hands. Police never impounded Jacksons car or searched it for trace evidence. Within hours of the murder, he was able to drive it out of the school parking lot.

One detective who worked on the case for years, Kevin Hughes, set his sights on Jackson and refused to glance in any other direction. Ten years ago, Hughes lieutenant told reporters they knew who the killer was, but the district attorney wouldnt charge him.

Their attempts to build a case against Jackson rather than remaining open to other theories may have allowed valuable clues to go unnoticed, according to the sheriff.

Jackson shares that view.

Honestly I wish theyd stop barking up this tree, he told the Journal Sentinel last fall. I think thats what waylaid them.

Due to the new DNA evidence and an analysis of the 911 call, Jackson has since been ruled out as a suspect, according to Ruppert.

Mahoney still thinks the priests murder can be solved.

It could very well be somebody who's been carrying this information for 20 years and it's probably weighed heavily on them, he said. If the offender is Catholic and is still alive  and even if they went to confession  I'm not so sure that it's not burning in their soul.

Ashley Luthern of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

How we reported this story

In reporting this story, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Gina Barton conducted dozens of interviews with those involved in the case. She attended the 20th anniversary Requiem Mass for Father Alfred Kunz and visited the Queen of the Holy Rosary Mediatrix of Peace shrine in Necedah, Wis.

The Dane County Sheriffs Department declined to release its case file to the Journal Sentinel, citing an exemption to the states public records law for open cases. Barton reviewed 50 pages of department reports that had been released to the Journal Sentinel in 1998 and remained on file in the newsroom. Those reports document the initial police response to the 911 call and several interrogations of Brian Jackson and people who knew him.

Barton read court records, archival records detailing events at the shrine and portions of Malachi Martins book on exorcism, Hostage to the Devil. She also reviewed dozens of print and television news reports about the Kunz homicide and investigation.

In addition, Barton listened to seven and a half hours of the Our Catholic Family and Our Apostolic Church radio programs. Recordings of the programs were provided to the news organization by Peter Kelly, who produced them. Descriptions of Kunzs feelings, beliefs, experiences and teachings were taken from statements he made on the show in 1997 and early 1998. Father Charles Fiore also spoke on some of the recordings.

Details and quotes in scenes were obtained through interviews with those present or from police reports, court records, transcripts, archived news reports, video recordings or audio recordings.

Brian Jackson spoke briefly in person to Journal Sentinel reporter Ashley Luthern. He said he is innocent and believes the investigation was waylaid by the fact detectives spent so much time on him. He declined a detailed interview, saying his lawyer had advised against it. Jacksons thoughts, feelings and interactions with Kunz, as conveyed in the story, come from police reports in which he described them to detectives.

In all other instances in which peoples thoughts are described, they conveyed those thoughts to a reporter.

Throughout the series, quotation marks indicate a subjects exact words as written in a transcript, as recalled by a party to the conversation or as stated to a reporter, either now or at the time of the incident. Italics indicate statements recalled or summarized by a third party in an interview, a news story or an investigative document, such as a police report.

People who provided information for this chapter include retired deputy David Cattanach, former sheriff Gary Hamblin, Detective Gwen Ruppert, Sheriff David Mahoney and Father Scott Jablonski, the current pastor of St. Michael Church. Retired Detective Linda Pederson Honer said in an interview that she personally interviewed two women who admitted having sexual relationships with Kunz, but she would not give their names. Retired Detective Kevin Hughes lives in Ecuador and could not be reached. A relative provided email addresses for Hughes and his wife, but he did not respond to multiple messages. Maureen OLeary did not respond to phone messages, knocks on her door or a letter.

Anyone with information about the murder of Father Alfred Kunz is asked to call the Dane County Sheriff's Department tip line at 608-284-6900.
Moroccan authorities announced on Wednesday the arrest of 13 jihadists linked to the extremist ISIS group. Aged between 22 and 44, members of this terror cell were operating in various cities including Casablanca, Sale, Mohammedia and El Kelaa Sraghna.

These ISIS operatives were planning terrorist attacks in the North African country. Search carried out by investigators in their homes led to the seizure of electronic devices, knives, books & documents praising extremist ideology and pledging allegiance to ISIS, said a press release issued by the Interior ministry

This anti-terrorist operation shows that jihadist networks continue to target the countrys stability, seeking to undermine its peace and security.

Within the frame of the global fight against transnational crimes and terrorism, the Moroccan police captured on Tuesday an Algerian with a French nationality on an international arrest warrant issued by French authorities.

The 36-year-old fugitive was nabbed upon his arrival at the Mohammed V International Airport of Casablanca coming from Algeria. He is accused of financing terrorism, forming a criminal gang and defending terror acts, dating back to November 2015.

The French authorities were informed of the arrest pending completion of extradition procedure.

Morocco has placed counterterrorism at the top of priorities following the Casablanca terror attacks in 2003 and the two subsequent attacks of 2007 and 2011.

Moroccos counterterrorism efforts, enhanced by regional & international cooperation, have mitigated the risk of terrorism, but the country continues to face threats, largely from numerous small, independent violent extremist cells.
13 hours ago

| June 18th | 2021 5:00 AM

Nio Stock is Revving Up, But Should You Jump on Board?

Its been a wild ride for electric vehicle (EV) stocks, and Nio (NYSE:NIO) has been no exception. At a quick glance, the 13% drop in NIO stock for 2021 doesnt look too bad. However, the stock is down approximately double that since reaching a high of over $60 in February. And without a rally of over 30% over the
QUEENSBURY  A Hudson Falls man has been charged with felony assault for a September stabbing at a house party on Pinello Road that left the victim with 11 knife wounds, police said.

Andrew L. Prunty III, 23, of Weston Avenue, was arrested this week, after he fled the region following the melee that left a Glens Falls man in Albany Medical Center.

The 24-year-old victim, whose name wasnt released, has since been released from the hospital, according to the Warren County Sheriffs Office.

Most of the wounds were superficial. Hes out of the hospital and doing OK, said sheriffs Lt. Steve Stockdale.

Most of the wounds were to his legs and torso.

The Sept. 8 knife attack at 36 Pinello occurred during a party, when Prunty and the victim clashed over a prior beef, Stockdale said.

That disagreement stemmed from comments the man had made to Pruntys father at some point before, he explained.

Sheriffs officers had been seeking Prunty for months, but he was believed to have left the area and fled to Long Island. Police had been in communication with attorneys who represent him, and correspondence with the most recent lawyer led to Prunty surrendering himself Tuesday.
In November, ECO Steve Gonyeau was notified that a deer had been shot at 1:30 a.m., in a field in Fort Ann. Neighbors had heard the shot and witnessed a vehicle enter the field, load a deer, and speed away. The officer found blood near tire tracks in the field and collected it as evidence. An investigation by ECOs Gonyeau and Marcia Goodrich identified a suspect and led to a local venison processor, where a 10-point buck had been delivered with the tag of the subjects mother. Matching trail camera photos of the buck were obtained from the property owners caretaker and compared. The officers seized the deer as evidence and took DNA samples from the meat and hide. When the ECOs met the subject, he admitted to taking the deer but stated that he did not shoot it at night and, since his regular season buck tag was already filled, his mother went to the local Walmart to buy her hunting license to get a tag for the deer. The subject maintained that he did not shoot the deer at night. The DNA results confirmed a match between the blood gathered in the field and the evidence taken from the carcass. The subjects mother confirmed he had shot the deer and she had given him her tag because she cant hunt anymore. The shooter was issued tickets for shooting after hours, hunting with the aid of a light, taking an illegal buck deer, discharging within 500 feet of a dwelling, and illegal tagging. The mother was issued the same tickets as an accessory to the crime. On Jan. 16, both parties appeared in the Fort Ann Town Court where the shooter, Justin Dickinson, 30, of Fort Ann, who had previously stated he would pay his mothers fines, agreed to a civil settlement and $1,332.50 in penalties, which included half of the cost of the DNA testing. His mother, whose name was not released, did not agree with the civil settlement proposed and her case was adjourned to a later date.
With a re-elected governor sworn back in for his second term, a new lieutenant governor snug in his new office and a gaggle of new legislators joining lawmaking hands with their seasoned colleagues, its time for Harrisburg to settle in and begin work one of its most vexing tasks: enacting a fair, adequate and balanced budget for the commonwealth.

For people with disabilities, their families and the people who work to support community-based human services, state budget time is unnerving. Providers like InVision Human Services, supporting people with autism and intellectual disability, thrive or struggle by the decisions made by state budget appropriators. In preparing the Pennsylvania FY 2019-2020 budget, the governor and General Assembly will have an opportunity to confront huge systemic issues that have been causing Pennsylvania families years of anxiety and uncertainty.

Difficult issues include the states seemingly outsized waiting list for people with intellectual disabilities. Current data provided by the PA Waiting List Campaign reports that more than 13,000 people are on a waiting list for services, with an excess of 5,200 individuals in an emergency needs category. In the last two budget cycles the commonwealth has made some critical progress in serving additional individuals. Yet a recently released national report clarifies that nearly 10,000 commonwealth citizens are seeking home and community based services, including 7,800 who need residential supports. For people with disabilities and their family members, these numbers are terrifying as federal and state officials weigh human service needs against other worthy funding requests sent to lawmakers.

However, if the commonwealth were to make a significant increase rescuing people and families in crisis, there will almost undoubtedly be a struggle to hire sufficient workforce members to support more people receiving services and supports. This is particularly frustrating as people with disabilities yearn to work and become taxpayers but find doors closed for a myriad of reasons, including inadequate state support despite having strong community support for funding such programs.

Human services providers face their own crisis in being able to keep their doors open and fully staffed. People are quick to salute the human service workforce that helps people with disabilities live and work in the community, but behind these terrific workers is a frightening reality. Direct support professionals who staff residential and employment programs are themselves living on the edge of poverty, due to inadequate wages funded by state and federal government programs that pay these workers at such low levels that many are forced to work second jobs and or apply for welfare benefits like Section 8 housing supports, food stamps or child care subsidies for the poor.

These community workers find themselves unable to stay in the caring profession due to these low wages, and as a result, human service programs across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the nation are experiencing an increasing and alarming staffing and retention crisis. The states funding formula provides little room for salary increases. These workers, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, on the average earn 40 percent below what is needed to support a one-parent family with one or more children.

Harrisburg leaders, including the governor and the General Assembly, have a chance each year to improve these conditions, but sadly the human service field often only gets significant attention when state leaders takes special note or when tragedies occur or when years go by and the pain felt by people with disabilities, their families or providers becomes just impossible to neglect.

Two years ago, Governor Tom Wolf, his Democrat allies and the Republican controlled legislature joined forces and enacted the first rate increase for intellectual disability and autism programs in more than a decade and made affirmative movement on waiting list reductions. These were historic improvements but not enough to close a wide gap that had been allowed to suffer over a 10-year period.

On February 5, 2019, Governor Wolf will present his 2019-2020 budget recommendations. I and other human service advocates have been appealing to the governor and the General Assembly to remember the cause of people with disabilities, the workforce that supports them and the families who love them. I trust our elected officials to make their best decisions based upon the facts. I hope many will join me and others in letting the governor and General Assembly know that the citizens of Pennsylvania believe in fairness, justice and equality for all its citizens, including people with disabilities and the people who support them.
Half of the 12 people who came back from Tijuana with confirmed cases were hospitalizedonce they returned home to Arkansas, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Texas, Washington and West Virginia, according to CDC officials. Most people had weight-loss surgery. Eight had had surgery at Grand View Hospital. The remainder had surgery at other Tijuana clinics the CDC did not identify. The CDC is investigating two additional cases. Most of the patients were women in their 30s and 40s and had surgeries between August and December, the officials said.
"Joshua was a smart, talented and dedicated member of 3rd SFG (A) and the special operations community," said Col. Nathan Prussian, 3rd SFG (A) commander. "He will be greatly missed by everyone who had the fortunate opportunity to know him. We extend our deepest condolences to his family for this tragic loss."
But the fossils are fragile and in need of conditioning, said Farris. After spending thousands of years underground in acidic water, exposure to the air makes them dry out and crumble. They need to be treated with hardening agents to keep from falling apart.
Police say Samuel Anthony Ashe, 42, of Hertford County, N.C., was in the car and fled from the scene after the crash. He turned himself in Monday in North Carolina, and faces charges in Hampton of second-degree murder, shooting in an occupied vehicle, using a gun in a felony and having a gun as a convicted felon.
The Italian government has donated 1.5 million ($1.7 million) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) to provide health services for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon while Russia has pledged $10 million.

UNRWA has been raising money to support refugees in Palestinian territories after the U.S., known as the largest contributor for the agency, slashed last year its $300-million sponsorship to $60 million, as a condition to force Palestinians to accept the White Houses new policy in the Israel-Palestine crisis including the declaration of Jerusalem as capital of Israel.

Italian Ambassador to Lebanon, Massimo Marotti, and UNRWA Director, Claudio Cordoni inked the transaction. The $1.7 million will be earmarked for medical service supply and financial support to around 1,500 Palestinian refugees moving from Syria to Lebanon, Maan News reports.

Italy provided the relief agency around 3.75 million in 2017-2018.

In a separate report, Russia Tuesday pledged to allocate $10 million to the UN agency as it promised financial and political support for Palestinians, Anadolu Agency reports.

The pledge was made by Konstantin Kosachev, who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Council at a meeting in Moscow with Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the UNRWA.
It will be up to a federal judge, however, to decide if Eric Brian Brown actually is capable of understanding the charges against him. A hearing is set for Feb. 27 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk but the defense wants it moved until late March.
Almost immediately, though, lawmakers raised questions about how much Cohen could say about the topic of most interest to the public - the information Cohen was said to provide to Mueller - because Mueller's investigation was likely remain ongoing, and Cohen was likely to be restricted in what he could say.
"We're still using his original sauce recipe and we make all of our dough in house," Knapik-Christensen said. "Our veggies are all sliced, cut up and chopped by the employees, so everything we use is very fresh."
"It's a program that is mirrored in many other communities across the nation, and at the time, I saw it as a void in the Williamsburg area," he said. "It's been a very successful program, and I'm certainly proud that I had some hand in helping to create it and have been able to continue with it since retiring from the chamber."
Beardsley will use his winnings to renovate the SPARC Shoppe facility at 126 N. Main St. which opened in July 2018. The retail venue has art work from as many as 30 artists available for sale.
"There are a lot of things I think a lot of the country doesn't know about Hampton Roads. My job is to yell it out to all the business leaders around the country  when you're looking to expand this is the place to be," he said.
"It's a sad thing for our community," he said. "That was our high-end department store." But it may not have been high-end enough for shoppers willing to skip it to go to Washington, D.C. for what they wanted, he said. The Norfolk store is smaller and didn't have the range of merchandise others might have, he said.
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Mortgage seekers from minority groups may pay more in fees than similarly qualified white borrowers, according to a team of researchers.

In a study, the researchers found that when minorities seek mortgages they pay about 8 percent moreor $400 morethan white borrowers when they seek loans from white mortgage agents. Mortgage agents can assess fees, such as the broker origination fee, which are negotiable, or can even be waived.

Earlier studies had tended to focus on the race of the borrower, not the broker, according to Brent Ambrose, Smeal Professor of Real Estate, professor of risk management and an associate of Penn State's Institute for CyberScience (ICS). However, because the dataset, which contained information from more than 25,000 different mortgage brokers, included broker last names, the researchers were able to use a statistical method to infer the broker's race based on their last names and give them a better understanding of the role race played on both sides of the mortgage-buying process. By matching the brokers' surnames with a list of last names from the U.S. Census Bureau, the researchers were able to infer race and ethnicity. The method is similar to the ways that regulators and courts infer race and ethnicity.

"All the previous studies that have looked at race and mortgage lending have only been able to observe the race of the borrower, so it's never really clear what's driving the results," said Ambrose, who worked with James K. Conklin, assistant professor of real estate, University of Georgia, and Luis A. Lopez, doctoral student in business administration, Penn State.

The researchers, who presented their findings at Singapore Management University's Conference on Urban and Regional Economics in December, also found that minority borrowers do not receive preferential treatment when they seek loans from minority brokers. Whites working with minority brokers pay about the same fee as their minority counterparts.

To determine whether race was correlated with the fees paid by the borrowers, the researchers controlled for several other factors using data provided in the mortgage data, including financial literacy, fee transparency and the selection process of both borrowers and brokers. None of these factors had a significant impact on pricing the fees.

The researchers also investigated what was causing the discrimination. They tested whether the white brokers demonstrated overt racismor animustoward minority groups, or whether it is the result of statistical discrimination, a form of racial profiling.

In a first test, the researchers examined whether fees paid by minorities varied across credit scores, which would be a sign of statistical discrimination. In the second test, they investigated whether the use of Google search terms with racially charged language in specific areas correlated with preferential loan treatment in those areas. The results from both tests were inconsistent with the hypothesis that the observed differences in fees arose from animus on part of the white brokers.

According to Ambrose, the results suggest that statistical discrimination is behind the higher mortgage fees, rather than actual animosity toward minorities.

Brokers have a high degree of discretion on the fees they assess, which can cause borrowers to pay more, or less for their mortgages, said Ambrose, who also serves as the director of the Institute for Real Estate Studies. For example, they can assess front-end fees, such as application fee, underwriter fee, mortgage brokerage firm fee and points. These fees are usually paid at closing. There are also back-end fees, including yield spread premium and correspondence premium.

The researchers also examined how recent regulations of the mortgage industry may affect the ability of brokers to charge different fees. The results suggest that regulations put in place following the Great Financial Crisis did reduce the ability of brokers to vary fees across borrowers. However, the researchers also found that this outcome comes at a cost in the form of reduced access to credit.

"There's a cost and benefit to regulation, which is the point we're trying to make," said Ambrose. "The good side is you reduce disparities, but the bad side is you generate potential credit rationing."

Explore further Minority homebuyers face widespread statistical lending discrimination
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Joerg Schaefer and Gisela Winckler, geochemists and paleoclimatologists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, were awarded funding from the Center for Climate and Life to examine the vulnerability of Greenland's massive ice sheet.

The research builds on their previous work, in particular, a 2016 Nature study led by Schaefer that indicates the Greenland ice sheet almost completely melted at least once in the last two million years. The finding suggests the ice sheet is much more unstable than scientists previously thought.

Their new project uses analytical tools they've developed to directly evaluate the past variability of the Greenland ice sheet. The results of this research will contribute to improved predictions of global sea level rise and how it will impact society.

Q. What is the general focus of your research?

Joerg. I'm the head of the Cosmogenic Dating Group at Lamont. My research program looks at the correlation between climate change and cryospheric change, from ice sheets and mountain glaciers to the impacts of sea level change. We do this globally, looking into climate variations and how glaciers reacted, from the Arctic through the Alps, the tropical Andes, the Himalayas, South America, and Antarctica. We try to understand how ice responded to temperature changes in the past so we can calibrate the sensitivity of it and then better predict what's coming in the future.

Gisela. I lead the Noble Gas Lab at Lamont. We make cosmogenic isotope and other measurements to reconstruct past changes in the climate system. In addition to looking at questions about dating and ice, I do a lot of work reconstructing paleoclimate and environmental conditions in the past using archives that can tell us about the past, such as exposed rock surfaces, marine sediments, and ice cores.

Q. What's the problem you're trying to address with your Climate and Life funding?

G. What this recent Nature paper shows is that the Greenland ice sheet, which the scientific community kind of thought is a stable system  in comparison to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, for example  is not actually that stable. There is indication from the paleoclimate record on longer timescales of climate change from the last million years or so that there is a real threat of significant melting of Greenland.

J. The Greenland ice sheet has the potential to melt faster than any other ice sheet. But at the moment the Greenland ice sheet doesn't play a significant role in any sea level projections and that has to be corrected. That's the bad news. The good news is that with the new toolkit we've developed, we can answer questions like: Which are the weakest elements of the Greenland ice sheet? Which areas of it will melt first? Where should you monitor first? And you can also say what the rate of change may be. So this work is really urgent and also really promising.

Q. Tell me more about the new toolkit you'll apply to this problem.

J. Gisela and me run two of the key geochemistry labs at Lamont. Together we are the only facility worldwide that can make high-sensitivity measurements of seven relevant cosmogenic nuclides. These are isotopes produced by the interaction of cosmic rays from the sky with the nucleus of certain atoms. We use analytical techniques to measure them as a function of timeit is really just a measure of time that a surface is exposed to the open sky.

Cosmogenic nuclides in the bedrock beneath ice sheets can tell us about periods of ice-free conditions because only cosmic rays directly hitting bedrock produce these nuclides. Our new tool combines several of these nuclides of different half-lives, or ideally a stable noble gas with a radioactive nuclide, to reconstruct the history of ice-free conditions underneath the ice sheet.

From these data sets, we can learn, for example, when in the past some area of bedrock was no longer covered with ice and exposed to the air. So we can now know when in the past there were periods of ice sheet collapse and periods of ice sheet existence, which is one of the key questions scientists want to answer.

We have this rare core sample of bedrock collected from underneath the Greenland ice sheet summit, which we used in our 2016 study. Now, with this new Climate and Life funding, we'll measure two different cosmogenic nuclides in the same core. We'll also make high-sensitivity measurements of all the nuclides of interest on two new core samples collected from southwest Greenland and the northeast Greenland ice stream.

This work can help us track the kind of retreat the Greenland ice sheet had. We'll be able to point to the weaknesses of the ice sheet, so you can even talk about an early warning system. If you know where a weakness is, you can monitor it and see when the area starts collapsing. You can also answer questions like, for example, in Greenland where will the first foot of sea level contribution from the ice sheet come from?

Q. How might this project advance understanding of the challenges posed by climate change?

G. This project looks at what we think is one of the key challenges of climate change, and that is the threat from sea level rise. There's sort of a consensus that this is one of the most important impacts, and not just because it poses so many risks to infrastructure and cities that have buildings along the coast. In fact, it's a challenge to everybody on this planet because of these ripple effects of sea level rise like forced migration and the destroying of ecosystems, habits, and also whole regions where people live. And in a shorter time than we hope, everybody will feel the impacts of sea level rise.

J. What we'll get out of this scientifically is, almost certainly, we'll increase the sea level predictions for Greenland and therefore for the globe, and consequently reduce some of the uncertainty associated with the current predictions. What we can deliver through this project is a better framework for what the sea level problem actually is and what the problem will be in the next 50 to 100 years.

So we'll do this work for Greenland, then eventually we have to do it for all of the world's ice sheets. The good news is that we can put forward these really robust understandings of these ice sheets, how sensitive they were, and how dynamic they were, and are, at the moment. We can really make a quantum leap in our understanding of them. That's the goal for the next 10 years.

Scientists drilled nearly two miles down through the summit of the Greenland ice sheet (white dot, left), to reach bedrock. Isotopes found in the rock indicate that this site and most of Greenland were nearly ice free (right) during the recent geologic past. (Illustration from Schaefer et al., 2016)

Q. What do you find most exciting about this work?

J. As a scientist, the urgency and the novelty are most exciting. We have a completely new archive to look into that basically guarantees that we will find really important information, whatever that information may be. And we have developed these tools  the keys to open the safe. That feels like an archaeologist finding a grave and being the first one to look inside it.

I've done basic research my entire life and this is the first time it's so directly connected to the consequences, to society. It's important that institutions and frameworks like the Center for Climate and Life exist right now. Climate change is so obviously a completely interdisciplinary problem and the more experience you gain as a scientist, the more interested you become in actually connecting to the solutions side and the Center helps us do that.

G. I agree. It's by far the most relevant thing I've ever done. I think it really matters. And it opens up this connectivity to all these problems that are at the heart of the Center for Climate and Life. The more I understand these problems, the more I'm interested in working on such issues and getting the word out. And contributing the little bit I can as a geochemist to figuring out climate change and maybe even to coming up with solutions.

Q. When it comes to finding solutions to climate change, what gives you hope?

G. My hope is in the young generation. People who are in high school or college today have the power to figure this out. When I teach or work with organizations like the Climate Museum, for example, I talk to young people and they give me glimpses of hope. And I think these very bright students will be the ones to figure out this problem and once they do, that will trigger so much more initiative and lead to solutions.

J. Another perspective on that: I would say the ice changes are the most dramatic and academically valuable, and kind of a poster child for climate change education. And while these changes are happening we are educating the next generation of students and young scientists. These people will see change to a degree that is just mind-blowing and that will contribute to the motivation of this next generation to do something about it.

Q. Do you have a favorite book about climate change?

G. I really like a book by David Archer called The Long Thaw. He's a brilliant educator and he writes really well about the science of climate change.

Explore further Greenland ice loss quickening

More information: Joerg M. Schaefer et al. Greenland was nearly ice-free for extended periods during the Pleistocene, Nature (2016). Journal information: Nature Joerg M. Schaefer et al. Greenland was nearly ice-free for extended periods during the Pleistocene,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/nature20146
Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki laid into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that he said had plotted to destabilize the North African country.

Marzouki, speaking to local HTV, said a UAE operations room was behind the alleged conspiracy, Middle East Monitor reports.

We reaffirm that we sense the existence of a conspiracy against Tunisia aiming to destabilize it, he said.

The UAE has informed the United States and many Arab countries about it [the conspiracy], he added.

Marzouki took over the country right after the removal of former autocratic leader Zine Ben Ali in the 2011 revolution. He led Tunisia until 2014 before incumbent leader Caid Essebsi was elected.

For the former President, the Gulf country has flagrantly attacked the Tunisian people. It also attacks the people of Yemen, Syria and Libya, he was quoted by the media as saying.

The leader of the Congress for the Republic also castigated Essebsi for hosting the UAEs Saudi ally, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who was received in November last year amid international concerns connecting him to the assassination of Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor, Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi consulate of Istanbul.

Marzouki described Essebsis decision as a wrong move.
Bajondillo Cave and Malaga Bay (Spain) at the end of the 1950s. Foreground images show Neanderthal (La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France, left) and early Modern Human (from Abri Cro-Magnon, France, right) skulls. Left lithic tool corresponds to Mousterian technology, and right Aurignacian, both recovered at Bajondillo Cave. Credit: University of Seville

A new study of Bajondillo Cave (Malaga) by a team of researchers based in Spain, Japan and the U.K., coordinated from the Universidad de Sevilla, reveals that modern humans replaced Neanderthals at this site approximately 44,000 years ago. The research, to be published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows that the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in southern Iberia began early, rather than late, in comparison to the rest of Western Europe.

Western Europe is a key area for understanding the timing of the replacement of Neanderthals by early modern humans (AMH). In Western Europe, late Neanderthals are typically associated with stone tools belonging to Mousterian industries (named after the Neanderthal site of Le Moustier in France), while the earliest modern humans are associated with succeeding Aurignacian industries (named after the French site of Aurignac).

The final replacement of Neanderthals by AMH in western Europe is usually dated to around 39,000 years ago. However, it's believed that the southern Iberian region documents the late survival of the Mousterian, and therefore Neanderthals, to about 32,000 years ago, with no evidence for the early Aurignacian found elsewhere in Europe.

This new dating study of Bajondillo Cave instead calibrates the replacement of Mousterian industries by Aurignacian ones there to between ~45,000 to 43,000 years ago, raising questions about the late survival of Neanderthals in southern Iberia. Further research is necessary to determine whether the new Bajondillo dating indicates an earlier replacement of Neanderthals across the whole of southern Iberia, or in fact, an altogether more complex scenario of co-existence over several millennia.

Selected archaeological sites in Western Europe with Aurignacian industries actually or potentially older than 42,000 years, including Bajondillo Cave (Spain). Orange arrows indicate potential expansion routes across Europe at low sea level. Images on the left show a Neanderthal skull (La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France) and a Mousterian tool recovered at Bajondillo Cave. On the right the images show a Modern Human skull (Abri-Cro-Magnon, France) and an Aurignacian tool recovered at Bajondillo Cave. Credit: University of Seville

Co-author Jimenez-Espejo explains that the takeover by modern humans at the site at Bajondillo was not associated with a Heinrich (severe cooling) event, "Heinrich events represent the harshest and most variable climate conditions in Western Europe at the millennial scale, but at least in this Mediterranean coastal region, they did not control the Mousterian to Aurignacian transition."

This research also highlights coastal corridors as the favoured routes for early AMH. Professor Chris Stringer, Research Leader at the Natural History Museum and co-author of the study, said, "Finding such an early Aurignacian from a cave so close to the sea adds to speculation that the Mediterranean coast could have been used by modern humans dispersing into Europe. This dating also fits with growing evidence that Homo sapiens had already spread rapidly across much of Eurasia more than 40,000 years ago."

Considering the importance of coastal regions, co-author Arturo Morales-Muniz suggested that the Bajondillo evidence also revives the idea that the Strait of Gibraltar could have been a potential dispersal route for early modern humans out of Africa.

More information: Miguel Cortes-Sanchez et al. An early Aurignacian arrival in southwestern Europe, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2018). Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution Miguel Cortes-Sanchez et al. An early Aurignacian arrival in southwestern Europe,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0753-6
Credit: shun2u, Shutterstock

While livestock farming has been around for thousands of years, it has only been intensified in recent decades to meet the demands of a rising world population and global competition. This intensification has helped to increase yields and make farming practices more efficient, resulting in staples such as eggs, meat and milk being more widely available and cheaper to buy for billions of people worldwide. However, intensive livestock farming also has its drawbacks. Diseases caused by livestock management practices can compromise animal health and welfare, creating inefficiencies that lead to lower profitability and product quality. Other considerations include the environmental footprint of intensive farming and the harmful long-term effects of antibiotic use.

The EU-funded PROHEALTH project sought to gain a better understanding of the many different aspects of intensive pig and poultry production that play a role in animal pathologies. In its 5-year duration, PROHEALTH hasn't only focused on identifying major disease threats. It has also developed novel strategies for sustainable livestock farming that limits the environmental impact and remains profitable for farmers.

Combatting disease in poultry farms

Studies conducted during the project identified Escherichia coli as a major disease threat for European poultry farms. E. coli infections were found to be the most common cause of death in broilers and layers, and resulted in the highest economic losses for farmers. The project team determined that vaccination and biosecurity measures can make farms more profitable and improve animal welfare, while also combatting the adverse effect of diseases on global food security.

The PROHEALTH team's findings showed that pig herd performance could be improved using Big Data as a way of predicting biosecurity risks and disease. They used environmental monitoring sensors to determine to what extent the farm environment contributed to respiratory disease in fattening pig herds. The researchers also identified a genetic signature that can identify pigs with respiratory deficiencies and changes in gene expression associated with lumbar kyphosis, commonly known as humpy back.

Educating an uninformed public

Throughout the pork and poultry industry, work is being done to improve animal health and welfare. However, a survey conducted in five European countries revealed that farmers need to communicate these efforts to consumers, who remain largely unaware of modern farming practices. "The PROHEALTH project has underlined the work the industry has already done, and continues to do, in addressing a number of concerns raised in the study, such as reducing antibiotic usage. The results of this survey also suggest this information is not getting through to the public. It is important to ensure the industry voice is accurately heard," said Dr. Beth Clark of Newcastle University, United Kingdom, in a press release published on the website of project partner Zoetis.

"The results of the PROHEALTH consortium show what can be achieved through academic  public  private research collaborations. The consortium culminates its work with some 45 peer-reviewed publications, two patents, a range of policy briefs, and best practice guidelines for the European Commission," stated Newcastle University Professor Ilias Kyriazakis in the same press release. While PROHEALTH (Sustainable intensive pig and poultry production) has now ended, project partners intend to continue updating its website with important information on sustainable livestock farming.

Explore further Novel strategies to combat production diseases in pigs and poultry

More information: PROHEALTH project website: PROHEALTH project website: www.fp7-prohealth.eu/
The blue-headed bee-eater is native to African rainforests. Credit: Professor Matthias Waltert

Researchers of the Department of Conservation Biology at the University of Gottingen have carried out research in Southwest Cameroon to assess which proportion of forest would be necessary to provide sufficient habitat for rainforest bird species. The results of the study were published in the journal Biological Conservation.

The Gottingen team investigated relationships between forest cover and bird species richness using data from a 4,000 km2 large rainforest landscape. The study area contains protected areas as well as smallholder agroforestry systems and industrial oil palm plantations. The study documents minimum thresholds of forest cover in farmland below which original bird communities begin to change and where they are already dominated by species which don't depend on forest. The data suggest that forest cover ought not to fall below 40 percent if drastic losses in original bird species are to be avoided. Importantly, the study also shows that highly specialised bird species already start to decline significantly when the percentage of forest dips to as much as 70 percent; at these forest cover levels, these birds are beginning to be replaced by "generalists", ie birds that are at home in different habitats.

"The threshold values we are discussing here should play a role in defining strategies for conservation in tropical forest landscapes," says Denis Kupsch, first author of the study. This is particularly important because the pressure to use agricultural land intensively is constantly increasing in tropical regions. "It would therefore make sense for land-use planning and legislation in the future to be geared more to such limits in order to achieve a sustainable coexistence of industrial agricultural production, smallholder agriculture and protected area management." According to the authors, smallholder agricultural forest systems in particular, which represent a near-natural cultivated landscape and at the same time preserve a high proportion of natural forest, could play a significant role in this.

Authors of the study, Francis N Motombi (1st from left), Denis Kupsch (2nd from left) and Elleni Vendras (1st from right) with the fieldwork team at the entrance to the Korup National Park, Southwest Cameroon. Credit: Elleni Vendras

Part of the data collection took place in an industrial oil palm plantation, which was home to only small proportions of the native bird species. Credit: Denis Kupsch

Explore further Tropical birds benefit from more forest by rivers in oil palm areas

More information: Denis Kupsch et al, High critical forest habitat thresholds of native bird communities in Afrotropical agroforestry landscapes, Biological Conservation (2018). Journal information: Biological Conservation Denis Kupsch et al, High critical forest habitat thresholds of native bird communities in Afrotropical agroforestry landscapes,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.12.001

Provided by University of Gottingen
One of the male blue dasher dragonflies with darker wings. Credit: Michael Moore/Case Western Reserve University

New research from Case Western Reserve University in how dragonflies may adapt their wing color to temperature differences might explain color variation in other animals, from lions to birds.

Further, the findings could also provide evolutionary biologists clues about whether rising global temperatures might adversely affect some species.

Michael Moore, a graduate biology student, and Ryan Martin, an assistant professor of biology, recently published their findings in the journal Ecology Letters.

"People have long been aware of variation in dragonfly wing color, but what we are showing in this new work is an overlooked environmental factorhow temperature affects coloration," Martin said. "This could turn out to also determine some of the really cool extravagant traits we like to look at, such as coloration in birds."

Their findings follow a two-year study that began with a hunch about how the wing color on male Blue Dasher dragonflies in the western United States was different from their counterparts in Northeast Ohio.

They reviewed vast amounts of dragonfly photographs compiled by citizen scientists on the website iNaturalist.org and then, with the help of graduate student Iulian Gherghel, cross-referenced that information with weather data.

"I went through 600 pictures from the couch to begin this research," said Moore with a laugh. "After that, it was just mapping it with the corresponding environmental and weather data. It turns out that males in the hottest parts of North America have way less colorful wings, and we wanted to know why. "

An image taken with a thermal camera shows how the male blue dasher dragonfly's body warms due to the heat absorption of its darker wings. Credit: Michael Moore/Case Western Reserve University

Dragonfly weightlifting and other experiments

But the research really took off in the summer of 2017 at the Case Western Reserve farm in Hunting Valley, Ohio, as Moore and Hathaway Brown high-school student Cassandra Lis chased down male dragonflies as they fought to defend their respective territories surrounding a pond.

Across a series of experiments, they then marked each male's body with a series of colors for individual identification at the pond, colored some of their wings with a dark marker, and put the different groups through a weightlifting test to measure their strength.

The conclusion: The dragonflies with darker wings absorbed more heat from the sun, much like we do when wearing a dark shirt on a sunny day. That simple act caused the muscles of those cold-blooded dragonflies to warm more quickly, grow stronger and more successfully defend their territory or win females.

Findings may extend to other species

"Further tests, however, showed that, when temperatures were too hot, darker wings caused the dragonflies to overheat and fly poorly," Moore said.

"These findings suggest that this poor flight would then cause those overheated males to lose the territorial battles and their mates, which in turn could be why males in the warmest parts of North America have adapted to produce less colorful wings."

A male dragonfly whose body was marked by researchers. Credit: Michael Moore/Case Western Reserve University

The study's three main conclusions:

The dragonfly observations could help scientists explain how similar traits have evolved across the animal kingdom globally. "We know, for example, that male lions with dark manes tend to overheat more, which translated into how mane size and darkness have evolved across Africa and Asia," Moore said, citing previous scientific research. "And if it's happening in dragonflies and lions, two species separated by hundreds of millions years of evolution, it's seems possible that it could be a pretty common pattern."

Dragonflies with dark coloringand other animalscould begin to overheat as global temperatures continue to rise if they can't adapt quickly enough, or if they do adapt, might do so by losing their distinctive colors.

Because different dragonfly species, like many animal species, mate based on appearance, adaptation to rising global temperatures could lead to more interbreeding because of the confusion over color.

More information: Michael P. Moore et al, Temperature shapes the costs, benefits and geographic diversification of sexual coloration in a dragonfly, Ecology Letters (2019). Journal information: Ecology Letters Michael P. Moore et al, Temperature shapes the costs, benefits and geographic diversification of sexual coloration in a dragonfly,(2019). DOI: 10.1111/ele.13200
Nowhere for wildlife to Hyde. Credit: I Wei Huang/Shutterstock

I walked my kids to school recently through the pretty North East English village of East Boldon and saw a red cross on a beautiful old rowan tree. I thought it might be the diesel haze of nearby commuter traffic confusing my senses, but no.

One email to my local councillors later and my worst fears were realised. The rowan tree, a species which feeds flocks of birds each autumn with its berries and whose only crime is to be old and gnarly, is for the chop  and the birds' autumn lifeline with it.

In the email to my councillors I pointed out that two of the three trees slated for removal in that particular copse do not need to be cut down, they just need a bit of remedial work. One is a small tree smothered with ivy that simply needs to be stripped away.

The third is dead and I suggested in my email that the grounds team cut it into logs and scatter them around the small woodland  allowing them to rot for the benefit of fungi and insects, instead of their usual annihilation in an industrial grinder.

As a lecturer in ecology with 25 years of experience and over 30 peer reviewed papers published, I expected my suggestions to be taken seriously. While the councillor was prompt to reply and polite, it was made clear that grounds management is none of my business.

Rowan trees are native to the UK and their berries feed birds and insects. Credit: Colin Tosh, Author provided

Clean and tidy is bad for wildlife

From my experience in the UK, grounds management teams employed by local councils seem unresponsive to expert advice. They also appear unsure how to reconcile having wild areas which are safe for human use but which remain useful for wildlife.

The small patches of wild and semi-wild areas in cities have been mostly stripped of their value to wildlife by over-intensive grounds management. Anything that has the vague look of irregularity is removed. No wood is allowed to lie on the ground, it must be tidied away. A 2013 report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reviews the dramatic loss of wildlife habitat in the UK in great detail, emphasising the need to improve the semi-wild urban areas we still have for wildlife.

New Zealand cabbage trees are planted in parks in the UK, despite being non-native. Credit: Sue McDonald/Shutterstock

The wildlife value of a particular tree species in cities is often disregarded when a decision is made to remove it. In parks, plant species which are exotic to the UK such as the New Zealand cabbage tree (Cordyline australis) are intentionally planted because no native wildlife can use them, so they are low maintenance.

Pansies and other colourful flowering plants used in urban park borders are often useless for pollinators. This is due to modifications made during breeding of such plants which restricts access to the nectar producing organs and sometimes leads to lower rates of nectar production.

Petals of many ornamental plants are bred to enclose the central nectaries  nectar producing organs  and sexual parts of the flower that produce pollen and are of use to pollinators. This breeding gives the flower a beautiful ball shape but limits their use to insects. I suspect such plants are only put in urban parks in the first place to please the aesthetics of pensioners  a key voter demographic for local councils.

Though pretty, flowerbeds are often planted with little thought to their ecological value. Credit: LeonP/Shutterstock

Leaves are swept up immediately before their nutrients can return to the ground and the insects that lay their eggs on them are doomed to certain death. Road verges are cut back to the bone several times each year and the clippings are left lying, minimising their use as a habitat for wild flowers.

It doesn't help that grounds management is often subcontracted to private firms in the UK. In these cases, grounds management is more likely to be insensitive to expert advice as the function is out of the hands of the democratically controlled body and with a private company that needn't care what the public thinks.

Only a few UK councils that I am aware of are making progress in wildlife-sensitive grounds management. Councils such as Burnley, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, East Sussex and Bristol have developed comprehensive pollinator action plans and are taking measures like allowing grass to grow longer in public areas, planting native, bee-friendly flowers and mowing verges less frequently.

Wildflower meadows are a riot of colour and species diversity  exactly what pollinators like. Credit: Debra Anderson/Shutterstock

The irony of it all is that measures to improve public areas for wildlife essentially involve less effort overall. All that really needs to be done is to allow public areas to be a little more unkempt, because unkempt areas are what nature likes. If local councils allow this to happen, the public shouldn't berate them. We must be sympathetic to having natural and semi-natural areas that don't look like Tellytubby land.

But I am sceptical. Local councils in the UK seem a long way from taking wildlife seriously. Unfortunately, the focus on human ideas of "neatness" at present dominates any love for nature. I fear that green spaces in urban areas will continue their decline as wildlife habitats.

Explore further Cities could play a key role in pollinator conservation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, and Copenhagen Zoo have discovered that the human mutation rate is significantly slower than for our closest primate relatives. This new knowledge may be important for estimates of when the common ancestor for humans and chimpanzees livedand for conservation of large primates in the wild.

Over the past million years or so, the human mutation rate has been slowing down so that significantly fewer new mutations now occur in humans per year than in our closest primate relatives. This is the conclusion of researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, and Copenhagen Zoo in a new study in which they found new mutations in chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, and compared them with corresponding studies in humans.

Using whole-genome sequencing of families, it is possible to discover new mutations by finding genetic variants that are only present in the child and not in the parents.

"Over the past six years, several large studies have done this for humans, so we have extensive knowledge about the number of new mutations that occur in humans every year. Until now, however, there have not been any good estimates of mutation rates in our closest primate relatives," says Sren Besenbacher from Aarhus University.

The study looked at 10 families' fathers, mothers and offspring: seven chimpanzee families, two gorilla families and one orangutan family. In all the families, researchers found more mutations than would be expected on the basis of the number of mutations that would typically arise in human families with parents of similar age. This means that the annual mutation rate is now about one-third lower in humans than in apes.

Time of speciation fits better with fossil evidence

The higher rates in apes have an impact on the length of time estimated to have passed since the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees lived. This is because a higher mutation rate means that the number of genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees will accumulate over a shorter period.

If the new mutation rates for apes are applied, the researchers estimate that the speciation that separated humans from chimpanzees took place around 6.6 million years ago. If the mutation rate for humans is applied, speciation should have been around 10 million years ago.

"The times of speciation we can now calculate on the basis of the new rate fit in much better with the speciation times we would expect from the dated fossils of human ancestors that we know of," explains Mikkel Heide Schierup from Aarhus University. The reduction in the human mutation rate demonstrated in the study could also mean that we have to change the estimate for the split between Neanderthals and humans to be closer to the present.

Furthermore, the results could have an impact on conservation of the great apes. Christina Hvilsom from Copenhagen Zoo explains: "All species of great apes are endangered in the wild. With more accurate dating of how populations have changed in relation to climate over time, we can get a picture of how species could cope with future climate change."

The study, "Direct estimation of mutations in great apes reconciles phylogenetic dating" has been published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Explore further New genetic data shows humans and great apes diverged earlier than thought

More information: Sren Besenbacher et al, Direct estimation of mutations in great apes reconciles phylogenetic dating, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2019). Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution Sren Besenbacher et al, Direct estimation of mutations in great apes reconciles phylogenetic dating,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0778-x
Utomo evaluates the growth of new generations of high-protein rice lines. Credit: Ida Wenefrida

More than 750 million people don't get enough nutrients from their food. More than two-thirds of those people live in places that consume a lot of rice. Can rice bred for extra protein be the answer?

"There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who depend on rice and eat it three times a day, but their access to protein is very limited by availability and cost," explains Herry Utomo, a professor at Louisiana State University. "High-protein rice can be used to help solve the worldwide problem across social, cultural, and economic issues."

Utomo and his team developed a high-protein line of rice cultivar, 'Frontiere,' which was released in 2017. The rice was developed through a traditional breeding process. It's the first long grain high-protein rice developed for use anywhere in the world, he says. On average, it has a protein content of 10.6%, a 53% increase from its original protein content. It also needs less heat, time, and usually less water to cook. This high-protein cultivar is currently marketed as "Cahokia" rice. It is grown commercially in Illinois.

However, breeding a crop for more nutrients like protein can cause yield to go down. The researchers are trying to combat this. They tested a total of 20 new lines of high-protein rice to see if any would have a higher yield. Their data showed the new high-protein lines improved yield by 11-17% compared to the yield of the first high-protein line. Grain quality characteristics differed.

Researchers nurture plant cell selections for high-protein rice lines. Credit: Ida Wenefrida

Utomo says this new advanced line, with higher yield, is ready for final field testing prior to release.

Utomo adds researchers developed high-protein rice because of the growing market for new products that can offer more nutritional value from major food crops, including rice. In addition to being eaten plain, the high-protein rice can be processed into specialty food for higher nutrition. Many productsfrom rice flour used in baked goods to rice milk, baby foods, cereals, and crackerscontain rice, and could benefit from more protein.

"We are now studying exactly how flours from this rice bakes differently than other rice flour," Utomo says. "The interest in gluten-free baked products continues to grow. This will present another opportunity for rice growers to give people what they are looking for."

Researchers measure the gelatinization temperature (the temperature at which the rice's starch will begin to cook) as part of routine grain quality tests for high-protein rice lines. Credit: Ida Wenefrida

The next steps go in two directions, Utomo says. "Because the original line is new to the market, marketing channels have to be put in place. In parallel, research for the next generation of high-protein rice lines is being carried out." Researchers hope these newer lines can ultimately be bought and grown by more farmers.

"Farmers don't have to change much to grow the high-protein line now on the market," Utomo says. "The higher protein is an incredible added value they can get without any additional cost or changed practices."

Utomo presented this research Nov. 7 at the Annual Meeting of American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America in Baltimore, MD.

Explore further Make nice with rice to boost your diet
The pictures shows several South African Cape bees. The black individuals are fake queens. Credit: Michael Allsopp

A small change in the genetic makeup of the South African Cape bee turns the socially organised animal into a fighting parasite. This change ensures that infertile worker bees begin to lay their own eggs and fight other colonies. In the current issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, an international research team led by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) outlines for the first time the genetic basis for this rare phenomenon.

Bees are social insects that live together in large colonies with a distinct social structure. Usually, roles are clearly distributed within a bee colony: In addition to male drones, there are numerous infertile female worker bees that care for the nest and provide for the queen. The queen is solely responsible for producing the colony's entire offspring, with the male drones developing from her unfertilised eggs and female bees from the fertilised ones. New queens only emerge when the colony divides or when the previous queen has died or is too old to continue to produce new offspring.

The situation is different for the South African Cape bee. Some of its worker bees are able to produce female offspring from unfertilized eggs. After the animals have been raised in their own colony, the false queens begin to reproduce more of their kind and can invade foreign but closely related bee colonies and ultimately take over their hives. The behaviour was first observed in the 1990s by beekeepers trying to establish the Cape bee in a region of South Africa where another honeybee subspecies lived.

"The phenomenon whereby worker bees have fully developed ovaries and the ability to produce their own offspring from unfertilised eggs occasionally happens and is called parthenogenesis," explains biologist Dr. Eckart Stolle, who carried out the study at the Institute of Biology at MLU along with Dr. Denise Aumer and Professor Robin Moritz. Unlike normal honey bees, Cape bees produce femalesnot dronesfrom unfertilised eggs. This phenomenon is known as thelytoky. "The syndrome is uncommon but evolutionary makes sense: When a queen dies suddenly, this process is a way to save the colony," says Aumer.

For several years, scientists have been looking for the genetic basis for thelytoky and for reasons why not all bees have it. The biologists from Halle have finally unlocked the key to understanding this process: They compared the genome of Cape bees that produce parasitic offspring to those that produce normal offspring. The scientists discovered a special gene that is responsible for the development of the parasitic offspring. A tiny variation in the code of this gene ensures that thelytoky is set in motion.

The researchers were also able to show that this is a dominant genetic trait. "Over time, this should result in more and more bee colonies with this trait. However, this is not the case. Obviously, the underlying mechanism is more complex," explains Stolle. The scientists suspect that the thelytoky variant only works in combination with the normal variant or that the thelytoky variant on its own may even be lethal for the animals. To date, thelytoky has only been witnessed in a handful of species, including several globally invasive ant species. The work carried out by the researchers in Halle now provides another basic clue to understanding this phenomenon.

Explore further Finding an elusive mutation that turns altruism into selfish behavior among honeybees

More information: Denise Aumer et al, A Single SNP Turns a Social Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Worker into a Selfish Parasite, Molecular Biology and Evolution (2018). Journal information: Molecular Biology and Evolution Denise Aumer et al, A Single SNP Turns a Social Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Worker into a Selfish Parasite,(2018). DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msy232

Provided by Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Before the feminist revolution in the late 1960s, men largely built their masculinity on traits that opposed those ascribed to women. Since then, society has been moving increasingly toward gender equality, and men can no longer rely on this anti-feminine norm. What are the effects of this shift on masculinity affirmation? Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, report that some men assert their manhood by stressing their heterosexuality in order to compensate for this feminisation of men. This move marks a clear rejection of homosexuality, seen as the personification of the "feminine man." The UNIGE results, published in the journal Sex Roles, reflect the difficulties Western societies have in granting homosexuals the same rights as heterosexuals, with some men leaning on homophobia to help them find their place in an increasingly egalitarian society.

Prior to May 1968, the social norms of male identity were founded primarily on the male-female opposition. A woman, for example, had to be sensitive and attentive, and was obliged to prioritise the family at the expense of her career. A man, on the other hand, had to be self-assured, independent and strongand, above all, he had to be non-feminine. The masculinity constructed on this opposition was a more fragile concept than femininitya man was meant to prove his manliness to society by regularly acting in a way that showed he was not a woman.

Masculine construction: in need of guidance

Western society has been moving in the direction of greater gender equality since the feminist revolution. As well as focusing on their careers, women can now be self-sufficient and strong. Meanwhile, men are allowed to show their emotions and take care of their families. The anti-feminine norm can no longer serve as a model for constructing male identity, and it is said that there is a "crisis of masculinity." What are the implications on what it means to be a man today?

A team led by Juan M. Falomir, Professor in the Psychology Section in UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPSE), has recently investigated the relationship between the decline of the anti-feminine norm and homophobia. "The homosexual stereotype includes the idea of someone who transgresses gender identity by embodying femininity in a man," says the professor. "We wondered whether the feminisation of men had a direct impact on the decrease or rise of homophobia."

Anti-femininity and heterosexuality: an interconnected system

The UNIGE psychologists used a questionnaire to test the effects of the demise of the anti-femininity norm. It included items measuring agreement with the key features of masculinity: avoiding femininity, restricting emotions, self-confidence, aggression, domination, attraction to sexual activity and homophobia. Three groups of heterosexual men then stated whether they agreed or disagreed with 50 or so items related to these norms.

"The first group was a control group, meaning its members had to complete the questionnaire without any prior information. With the second group, we highlighted the masculinity and anti-femininity of men in society today through the presentation of various studies before filling in the questionnaire. Conversely, we told the third group that men today had never been so feminine," explains professor Falomir.

In a second study, the researchers only retained the last two groups, with participants answering another questionnaire that measured their attitudes toward homosexuals (their rights, sense of morality, the emotions they feel and their behaviour) and the affirmation of their own heterosexuality. Contrary to all expectations, the results indicated in overall terms that homophobia and the reaffirmation of heterosexuality were much stronger for the last group, where men were presented as being increasingly feminine, than for the other groups.

"It's an interconnected system," explains professor Falomir. "In decreasing the significance of the anti-femininity norm, men compensate by emphasising the importance of the heterosexuality norm. Homophobia is the alternative way of asserting their masculinity." As the UNIGE psychologists continued their study, they noted that the rise in homophobia is not caused directly by a desire to reassert the male-female opposition (the gender dichotomy). Femininity is no longer considered to be a characteristic that is unique to women, since men are becoming more sensitive and emotional. But this acceptance of the feminisation of men seems to be happening at the expense of homosexuals, because masculinity is now affirmed more by heterosexuality. We should note, however, that this increase in homophobia is found mainly among more "traditional" men. So-called "modern" men, by contrast, react better to the feminisation of men and have a better perception of homosexuals.

The feminisation of society is delaying the acceptance of gay rights

These results reflect the fact that our Western societies, which are establishing gender equality as a fundamental principle, are still reluctant when it comes to the rights of homosexuals. "The more we even up the genders, the more difficult it becomes for 'traditional men' to manage this equality and continue to construct their masculinity. As they can't differentiate themselves from women any more, they see homophobia as a way of restoring their manhood," concludes professor Falomir.

More information: Juan Manuel Falomir-Pichastor et al, Perceived Men's Feminization and Attitudes Toward Homosexuality: Heterosexual Men's Reactions to the Decline of the Anti-Femininity Norm of Masculinity, Sex Roles (2019). Journal information: Sex Roles Juan Manuel Falomir-Pichastor et al, Perceived Men's Feminization and Attitudes Toward Homosexuality: Heterosexual Men's Reactions to the Decline of the Anti-Femininity Norm of Masculinity,(2019). DOI: 10.1007/s11199-018-0985-6
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A team of facial recognition experts from the University of New South Wales, Newcastle University and the University of York has published a Comment piece in the journal Royal Society Open Science challenging claims made by another research team. In their paper, they acknowledge that the findings of a team last year regarding the facial recognition abilities of sheep was compelling, but they take issue with the claim that the research showed that sheep have facial recognition abilities comparable to humans.

Humans have very strong facial recognition skills conferring the ability to pick out the faces of friends in a crowd with no problem, for example. Thus, it came as quite a surprise when a team of researchers in 2017 claimed in a published paper that sheep have facial recognition skills that were comparable to humans. In their rebuttal, the authors suggest that the evidence reported by the researchers was insufficient to make such a claim and outline the reasons.

The authors note that the sheep in the study learned to recognize just four facesall celebrities. The sheep were shown different pictures of the celebrities over the course of three training sessions. Afterward, they were shown a picture of one of the celebrities and chose which of another set was the same person. The sheep were able to pick the right one on average 79 percent of the time when shown identical pictures of the celebrity, and 66 percent of the time when shown a different picture. The authors acknowledge the numbers showed that the sheep were recognizing the people in the images, not just the image. But they also point out that claiming such a finding proves skills comparable to humans is not logical.

They note that similar experiments with humans involve the recall of many more faceshuman subjects also get only one training session, whereas the sheep got three. Additionally, in human studies, volunteers are generally shown pictures sequentially and decide if they have seen a given face rather than pairs of pictures. They also note that in the study, the sheep recognized the faces of their handlers with far less accuracy than has been found in studies of the human ability to recognize familiar faces. They conclude by suggesting that before a claim of comparable abilities can be made, tests must be the same for both species.

Explore further Sheep are able to recognize human faces from photographs

More information: Are face recognition abilities in humans and sheep really 'comparable'? Royal Society Open Science (2019). Journal information: Royal Society Open Science Are face recognition abilities in humans and sheep really 'comparable'?(2019). royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.180772

 2019 Science X Network
Jordan Tuesday announced the re-establishment of ties with Syria with the appointment of a Charge daffaires as relations between the war-torn country and several Arab States are warming up.

The Jordanian foreign ministry has appointed an unnamed Jordanian diplomat with the ranking of counsellor for its mission in Damascus, Arab News reports.

The decision is in line with the Jordanian stance since the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, the ministrys spokesman stressed.

The move comes as several Arab countries have resumed thawing ties with President Bashar al-Assads regime. Several members of the Arab League, including Jordan, cut off ties with Syria in 2011 over President Assads crackdown on protestors.

Some countries also supported rebels opposed to the embattled Syrian regime until last month when several of these countries, including UAE and Bahrain, announced resumption of diplomatic ties with Damascus.

Bashar also came out of isolation in December after he received Sudans President Omar Al-Bashir, who became the first Arab leader to visit Syria since 2011.

Several other countries including Kuwait and Lebanon are waiting for the Arab League to reinstate Syria to reestablish ties.

Qatar has however vowed to maintain the diplomatic detente.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The influence of drug activity on crime rates is independent of a neighborhood's stability and socioeconomic status, according to a recent UCI study.

"Communities with narcotics trafficking bring in serious, high-rate offenders, whose activities spill over into surrounding neighborhoods," said lead author Christopher Contreras, a doctoral student in criminology, law & society. "Residential stability and high socioeconomic status do not necessarily buffer [neighborhood] blocks against an increase in robberies and burglaries."

The findings are based on an analysis of 2010-2014 crime and census data from a heavily suburban area in Miami-Dade County with an average annual household income of $74,000 and 72.5 percent home ownership. During this time, the county was in the grip of a heroin epidemic driven largely by demand, since opioids were no longer easily accessible by prescription due to a crackdown by law enforcement and healthcare task forces on "pill mills."

With the aid of mobile devices, dealers no longer have to operate out of a fixed location. Drug markets are fluid, with business being conducted in public places such as fast-food restaurant parking lots. "When police put pressure on one area, drug activity is displaced to somewhere else, along with higher crime," Contreras said.

"Policymakers should not only address the issue through stronger law enforcement to get the supply of illegal narcotics off the streets, but also address the growing demand for opioids." John Hipp, professor of criminology, law & society at UCI, is co-author of the study, which appears online in the journal Justice Quarterly.

Explore further Impact of opioid epidemic on children varies by state

More information: Christopher Contreras et al. Drugs, Crime, Space, and Time: A Spatiotemporal Examination of Drug Activity and Crime Rates, Justice Quarterly (2019). Journal information: Justice Quarterly Christopher Contreras et al. Drugs, Crime, Space, and Time: A Spatiotemporal Examination of Drug Activity and Crime Rates,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2018.1515318
This image of cloudy skies taken over the South China Sea on November 6th, 2018 was the first captured by the DIWATA-2s Wide Field Camera (WFC). Credit: PHL-Microsat Program

Philippine microsatellite DIWATA-2 has successfully captured initial images. Launched last autumn, it is the second microsatellite designed and developed under a collaborative project between Hokkaido University, Tohoku University, the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), and the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD)

Microsatellites have attracted worldwide attention due to several advantages they have over traditional satellites, including their cost-efficiency, making their development and operation affordable for smaller countries.

The microsatellite DIWATA-2 was launched by H-IIA rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on October 29th, 2018. Featuring improved operation features and technology of its predecessor, the DIWATA-1, the handling of the DIWATA-2 has been extremely smooth, with the satellite being able to send high-quality images back to Earth.

DIWATA-2 carries 5 types of optical payloads, including a spectral camera capable of sensing 590 spectral bands; the highest in the world. In addition to these cameras, the satellite has a target pointing capability which allows a constant observation of a specific location from its attitude control, and also can increase the observation frequency accordingly.

DIWATA-2 was developed as part of the PHL-Microsat Program, a Philippine government program that aims to build, launch, and utilize two Earth observation microsatellites to make effective use of disaster monitoring, and natural resource management. The program is managed and operated by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), but was made possible through close collaboration between Hokkaido University and Tohoku University in Japan, DOST-ASTI, and UPD. As part of the program, both Hokkaido University and Tohoku University admitted Filipino researchers and students as graduate students to help them develop the skills needed to develop, create, operate, and analyze a satellite program from scratch.

This photo was taken on November 14th, 2018 above the Province of Kalinga, Philippines using a high precision telescope (HPT) equipped on the DIWATA-2. The ground resolution for this telescope reaches 5 meters. Credit: PHL-Microsat Program

The control, operation, and acquisition of satellite data of both DIWATA-1 and DIWATA-2 are currently being handled by the Philippine Earth Data Resource Observation Center (PEDRO), which is managed by the DOST-ASTI. Cameras onboard the DIWATA-1 can detect outbreaks of blight in banana grovesa major cause of economic damage in the countryfrom space. This was the first time in the world satellite technology has been successfully used for this purpose, one of many prominent results.

Together with Tohoku University, the Hokkaido University team that worked on the development of DIWATA-1 and DIWATA-2 have successfully created and launched 4 microsatellites in total. In addition, they are making progress toward the establishment of the "Asian Micro-satellite Consortium", proposed to be an international network made up of 9 member countries and 16 institutions. Together, the group aims to create, launch, and operate a network of microsatellites capable of relaying real-time information on natural disasters around the globe.

This photo was taken over the area near Casiguran, Philippines, on November 15th, 2018, utilizing the DIWATA-2s Spaceborne Multispectral Imager (SMI). Credit: PHL-Microsat Program

Explore further Filipino scientists complete 50kg microsatellite with help from researchers in Japan
UC San Diego researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 to control genetic inheritance in mammals for the first time. Credit: Cooper Lab, UC San Diego

Biologists at the University of California San Diego have developed the world's first CRISPR/Cas9-based approach to control genetic inheritance in a mammal.

Scientists around the world have been using CRISPR/Cas9 in a variety of plant and animal species to edit genetic information. One approach to editing the genome can control which of the two copies of a gene is passed to the next generation. While such "active genetics" approaches have been developed in recent years in insects, creating such tools in mammals is more challenging, and testing them takes much longer due to the longer time between generations.

Publishing their work January 23 in the journal Nature, a joint team of UC San Diego researchers developed a new active genetic technology in mice. The achievement of UC San Diego graduate student Hannah Grunwald, Assistant Researcher Valentino Gantz and colleagues led by Assistant Professor Kimberly Cooper, lays the groundwork for further advances based on this technology, including biomedical research on human disease.

"Our motivation was to develop this as a tool for laboratory researchers to control the inheritance of multiple genes in mice," said Cooper. "With further development we think it will be possible to make animal models of complex human genetic diseases, like arthritis and cancer, that are not currently possible."

To demonstrate feasibility in mice, the researchers engineered an active genetic "CopyCat" DNA element into the Tyrosinase gene that controls fur color. When the CopyCat element disrupts both copies of the gene in a mouse, fur that would have been black is instead white, an obvious readout of the success of their approach. The CopyCat element also was designed so that it cannot spread through a population on its own, in contrast with CRISPR/Cas9 "gene drive" systems in insects that were built on a similar underlying molecular mechanism.

UC San Diego graduate student Hannah Grunwald and Assistant Professor Kimberly Cooper. Credit: UC San Diego

Over the two-year project period, the researchers used a variety of strategies to determine that the CopyCat element could be copied from one chromosome to the other to repair a break in the DNA targeted by CRISPR/Cas9. As a result, the element that was initially present on only one of the two chromosomes was copied to the other chromosome. In one of the families, as many as 86 percent of offspring inherited the CopyCat element from the female parent instead of the usual 50 percent.

The new approach worked in female mice during the production of eggs, but not during the production of sperm in males. This is possibly due to a difference in the timing of male and female meiosis, a process that normally pairs chromosomes to shuffle the genome and may assist this engineered copying event.

According to UC San Diego Professor Ethan Bier, a study coauthor, the results "open the way for various applications in synthetic biology including the modular assembly of complex genetic systems for studying diverse biological processes."

Cooper and members of her lab are now springboarding off this first mammalian active genetic successbased on a single geneand attempting to expand the tool to multiple genes and traits.

"We've shown that we can convert one genotype from heterozygous to homozygous. Now we want to see if we can efficiently control the inheritance of three genes in an animal. If this can be implemented for multiple genes at once, it could revolutionize mouse genetics," said Cooper.

While the new technology was developed for laboratory research, some have envisioned future gene drives that would build on this approach in the wild for efforts to restore the balance of natural biodiversity in ecosystems overrun by invasive species, including rodents.

"With additional refinements, it should be possible to develop gene-drive technologies to either modify or possibly reduce mammalian populations that are vectors for disease or cause damage to indigenous species," said Bier.

However, these data also indicate that technical improvements needed for practical use in the wild allow time for careful consideration of which applications of this new technology could and should be implemented. The researchers note, however, that their results demonstrate a substantial advance that might already decrease the time, cost and number of animals needed to advance biomedical research on human diseases and to understand other types of complex genetic traits.

"We are also interested in understanding the mechanisms of evolution," said Cooper. "For certain traits that have evolved over tens of millions of years, the number of genetic changes is greater than we can currently assemble in mice to understand what caused bat fingers to grow into a wing, for example. So we want to make lots of these active genetic tools to understand the origins of mammalian diversity."

Explore further Active genetics technology opens new horizons

More information: Super-Mendelian inheritance mediated by CRISPRCas9 in the female mouse germline, Nature (2019). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-0875-2 Journal information: Nature Super-Mendelian inheritance mediated by CRISPRCas9 in the female mouse germline,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-0875-2
Cultures of bacteria from navels. Pathogens can be contained by inoculation with harmless species with similar traits and demands. Credit: Robdunnlab

Do the same laws of biodiversity which apply in nature also apply to our own bodies and homes? If so, current hygiene measures to combat aggressive germs could be, to some extent, counterproductive. So writes an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. They propose that examination of the role diversity of microorganisms plays in the ecosystems of our bodies and homes should be intensified. The findings could challenge existing strategies for fighting infectious diseases and resistant germs.

Ecosystems like high-biodiversity grasslands and forests are more resistant to disturbances, such as invasive species, climate fluctuations and pathogens, than lower-diversity ecosystems. If this diversity is reduced, basic ecosystem functions are lost. This so-called stability hypothesis has been proven in hundreds of biological studies. This research mainly deals with the world of animals and plants, but when looking at our own body or home through a microscope, an equally diverse community of microorganisms is revealed. Potentially, similar laws could apply to these communities as to the 'big' ecosystems, and this could have far-reaching consequences for our health care.

Researchers at the iDiv research centre propose, in an article published in November, 2018 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, that the theories of ecosystem research should also be tested on our immediate environment and its microorganisms.

"We influence this micro-biodiversity on a daily basis, especially by combatting it with, for example disinfectants and antibioticsactually with the aim of promoting good health," says ecologist Robert Dunn, professor at North Carolina State University and the University of Copenhagen. Dunn wrote the article during a one-year sabbatical stay at iDivin collaboration with iDiv scientist Nico Eisenhauer, professor at Leipzig University. "This interference in microbial species compositions could impede the natural containment of pathogens," says Eisenhauer.

According to the ecological niche theory, plants and animals apportion the available resources in their habitat among themselves, whereby species with similar needs compete with each other. Newly arriving species find it hard to gain a foothold, at least in a stable ecosystem. However, in species-poor ecosystems or those disturbed by humans, non-native species can invade much more easily.

Microorganisms also form their own ecosystems. So far, more than two hundred thousand species are known to live in human dwellings as well as on and in human bodies. Bacteria in human dwellings account for half of these, and thousands of bacteria live on our bodies. In addition, there are around forty thousand species of fungi in our homes, although these are less likely to be found on human bodies.

"Pathogens in our environment are comparable to invasive species in nature," says ecologist Nico Eisenhauer. "If you transfer the findings from large habitats to the world of microbes, you have to expect that our habitual use of disinfectants and antibiotics actually increases the dispersal of dangerous germs because it interferes with the natural species composition." As an example, this has been documented for rod bacteria of the species Clostridium difficile, which causes intestinal inflammation with diarrhoea. The use of antibiotics enabled these to spread faster. So-called non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTMs), which form a biofilm primarily on shower heads and can cause diseases, are predominant in chlorinated water. They are largely free to proliferate on metal shower hoses, while plastic shower hoses, which encourage a rich community of microorganisms, have lower levels of NTMs.

Bacteria communities which prevent disease can also be actively created. For example, in the 1960s, researchers discovered that babies whose noses and navels were inoculated with harmless strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus were rarely colonised by S. aureus 80/81. This bacterium can cause diseases ranging from skin infections to life-threatening blood poisoning and pneumonia. Another example is faecal bacteriotherapy; by transferring a healthy community of microorganisms from person to person, it is possible to treat intestinal infections.

So, is our fear of 'Bacteria & Co.' unfounded and our knee-jerk reaction to fight them actually dangerous? "We are not physician," says Eisenhauer. "I would certainly not recommend a surgeon to work non-sterile on the open body. Having said that, as far as surfaces are concerned, targeted inoculations with a selected microbial community could possibly prevent the spread and establishment of dangerous pathogens."

In any case, only a relatively small proportion of the microorganisms in our environment actually causes disease. This also applies to insects and other arthropods, usually regarded as pests in flats and housesespecially spiders. As hunters, they provide important ecosystem services by exterminating mosquitoes, bedbugs, cockroaches and house flies, which can actually transmit diseases. "We just have to let them be," says Robert Dunn.

How the theories of biodiversity and ecosystem research apply to the health sector should, according to the three authors, be systematically investigated. Eisenhauer suggests, firstly, to test in which microbial communities common pathogens can spread better or worse on surfaces.

Explore further Whether herbivores increase or decrease plant diversity depends on what's on the menu

More information: Robert R. Dunn et al, Biodiversityecosystem function relationships on bodies and in buildings, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2018). Journal information: Nature Ecology & Evolution Robert R. Dunn et al, Biodiversityecosystem function relationships on bodies and in buildings,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0750-9

Provided by German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Is it a bobcat or a lynx? Even experts, when using publicly-submitted images, have trouble telling the two wildcats apart. Credit: James Gagnon

Two UBC Okanagan biologists, who have publicly solicited images of wild cats for their research, have answered that question.

Their recently published study explains how hard it can be when it comes to wildlife classificationeven experts have difficulty agreeing on whether a cat in a picture is a bobcat or a lynx.

Biology Professor Karen Hodges and master's student TJ Gooliaff collected and compared wildlife images for several years as part of their research tracking bobcat and lynx distributions in British Columbia. Camera trapping and solicitation of wildlife pictures through citizen science have become common tools in ecological research, explains Gooliaff.

While it's generally easy to collect many images of animals, some species are difficult to tell apart, making species classification challenging.

"Camera-trapping and citizen-science studies collect many wildlife images for which correct species classification is crucial," says Gooliaff. "Even low misclassification rates can result in erroneous estimation of the geographic range or habitat use of a speciesincluding underestimation of the occupancy, habitat preferences or distribution of a species. This potentially hinders conservation and management efforts."

There are some species, such as mountain goats and porcupines, where it's obvious. But for others, including bears, deer, lemurs, wild cats and antelopes, classification to a species may be unreliable as the animals can be similar in size, shape or colour. It gets even trickier when the pictures are blurry, taken in poor lighting, show only part of the animal or when only one image is available for a given animal.

In a 2018 study published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, Gooliaff and Hodges solicited 4,399 images of bobcats and lynx from the public across British Columbia to examine the provincial distribution of each species. They used pictures, trapping records and other data sources to develop current range maps.

Because lynx and bobcats are similar, Gooliaff and Hodges then measured agreement among experts who were asked to distinguish between bobcats and lynx from those images. The researchers asked 27 individual bobcat and lynx authorities to classify the species in a subsample of 300 images to see how often the experts agreed on whether it was a bobcat or a lynx.

What became clear was that the experts found it difficult to tell bobcats and lynx apartindeed, many images were labelled as "unknown" by the expertsand they did not always agree with each other. Experts were inconsistent even with themselves, changing their classifications of some images when they were asked to reclassify the same pictures months later.

Gooliaff and Hodges also examined if agreement among experts varied with what part of the animal was in each image (paws, head, tail, etc.), the habitat in the background, and whether it was day or night. These factors all affected how many experts agreed on the species in each image.

"These results are particularly troubling given that the images were all of high photographic quality," says Gooliaff.

Hodges says this study helps researchers improve how they work with images, by knowing when misidentifications are most likely. Further, classification of images of similar?looking species should not be relied upon for critical conservation or management decisions. Instead, physical or genetic evidence should be required in these cases.

She also emphasises that pictures provided by the public are becoming a powerful tool in wildlife research and eventual conservation and management efforts. This research benefits citizen science and image-based studies, as they continue to refine how people use submitted images.

"We encourage researchers who use images to be more willing to call the species in a picture "unknown" or to use them as a screen for habitats or regions where more survey work should be done, rather than trusting images alone."

The image study, partially funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grant, was recently published in Ecology and Evolution.

Explore further US says snow-loving lynx no longer need special protection
Binghamton University Associate Professor of Physics Louis Piper. Credit: Binghamton University, State University of New York

Water splitting, the process of harvesting solar energy to generate energy-dense fuels, could be simplified thanks to new research including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

"The key idea is to generate a solar fuel: hydrogen gas, which can be burnt to release energy on demand without releasing carbon dioxide," said Binghamton University Associate Professor of Physics Louis Piper. "For water splitting, we use visible light to generate photo-excited negative electrons and positive holes that are then separated in order to catalyze water into oxygen and hydrogen gases. Storing gases is more straightforward (and cheaper) than employing battery set-ups, so this approach has the benefit of clean energy harvesting and storage."

A research team including Piper figured out how "doping" (or adding metal ions) into vanadium pentoxide (M-V2O5) nanowires raises the highest filled energy levels for more efficient hole transfer from the quantum dots to nanowires i.e. separation of the photo-excited electrons and holes.

"If you don't dope, then there is a buildup of positive holes that corrode the quantum dots (referred to as photo-corrosion)," said Piper. "Using computation and chemical intuition, we predicted doping with Sn2+ ions would result in excellent energy alignment and efficient charge separation. We saw a ten-fold increase in the amount of solar-harvested hydrogen we obtained."

The researchers are now working with their collaborators at University of Buffalo and Texas A&M University to enhance the hydrogen gas evolution by decorating the quantum dots with platinum.

"We expect platinum to improve things by acting as a catalytic site for the electrons, but our ultimate goal is to find less costly alternatives to decorate with," said Piper.

Researchers at Diamond Light Source and Brookhaven National Laboratory also contributed to this paper.

Explore further New catalyst material produces abundant cheap hydrogen

More information: Justin L. Andrews et al, Hole Extraction by Design in Photocatalytic Architectures Interfacing CdSe Quantum Dots with Topochemically Stabilized Tin Vanadium Oxide, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2018). Journal information: Journal of the American Chemical Society Justin L. Andrews et al, Hole Extraction by Design in Photocatalytic Architectures Interfacing CdSe Quantum Dots with Topochemically Stabilized Tin Vanadium Oxide,(2018). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b09924
Credit: Dr Katrina Davis

A new tool which helps land managers assess the costs and benefits of re-introducing valuable saltmarsh, has been developed by economists and environmental scientists from the South West Partnership for Environmental and Economic Prosperity (SWEEP) at the University of Exeter.

Saltmarshes can be found in sheltered coastal areas and are expanses of salt water tolerant grassland, exposed at low tide. The study shows that saltmarsh has a positive effect on the local and wider environment by providing an important habitat for wading birds, nursery grounds for fish, and natural flood defences.

Yet the habitat is in decline with around half being lost around the world because of sea level rise, changes to water nutrient levels from agricultural run-off, and land development  saltmarsh competes with the high-value of coastal land for grazing or property development.

The SWEEP study, which was produced alongside partners from the North Devon Biosphere, promotes a new way for land managers and planners to appraise coastal land to fully capture the benefits saltmarsh brings to the environment and local economy.

The research team collaborated with the North Devon Biosphere Reserve on the study because it is an area that has seen significant decline in saltmarsh (the data reveals an overall decline of 23.7%) but also, through the North Devon Landscape Pioneer Project it is the ideal testbed for managing the reintroduction of these unique habitats.

"Globally, it's estimated we've lost about 50% of our saltmarsh, and in the UK it's declining by around 100 hectares each year," said lead author and SWEEP Impact Fellow, Dr. Katrina Davis.

"These patches of coastline are squeezed by rising sea levels on one side, and repurposed into farm or development land on the other. Land used for farming or development has the perception of being 'higher value', but by looking at the whole picture  the knock-on effects to fish stocks, the cost of man-made flood defences, the benefits to health and wellbeingyou are able to appreciate the full value of saltmarsh."

The article advocates using an economics-based 'Natural Capital' approach to identify sites where restoring or creating saltmarsh will reap the most benefits. Natural capital approaches are being increasingly adopted by governments and land managers, and are a more inclusive way of bringing the natural environment into decision-making.

Andy Bell, UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve Co-ordinator, contributed to the article.

"It has been a really worthwhile investigation to look at how Natural Capital economics can bring a different slant to the value of nature and indeed where we can best restore natural sites for the benefit of all. We welcome continuing to work with SWEEP to identify the best sites for habitat creation that are technically feasible, using the hydrology of the estuary as the driving factor with the Defra Natural Flood Management programme."

It is hoped that the framework developed in this study will be adopted by land managers around the country to help them prioritise sites, and manage or reinstate saltmarsh in their own area.

The study is published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy.

Explore further Citizen scientists to investigate our saltmarshes

More information: Katrina J. Davis et al. A generalisable integrated natural capital methodology for targeting investment in coastal defence, Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy (2018). Katrina J. Davis et al. A generalisable integrated natural capital methodology for targeting investment in coastal defence,(2018). DOI: 10.1080/21606544.2018.1537197
A new type of sensor could lead to artificial skin that someday helps burn victims 'feel' and safeguards the rest of us, University of Connecticut researchers suggest in a forthcoming paper in Advanced Materials.

Our skin's ability to perceive pressure, heat, cold and vibration is a critical safety function that most people take for granted. But burn victims, those with prosthetic limbs, and others who have lost skin sensitivity for one reason or another, can't take it for granted, and often injure themselves unintentionally.

Chemists Islam Mosa from UConn, and James Rusling from UConn and UConn Health, along with University of Toronto engineer Abdelsalam Ahmed, wanted to create a sensor that can mimic the sensing properties of skin. Such a sensor would need to be able to detect pressure, temperature and vibration. But perhaps it could do other things too, the researchers thought.

"It would be very cool if it had abilities human skin does not; for example, the ability to detect magnetic fields, sound waves, and abnormal behaviors," said Mosa.

Mosa and his colleagues created such a sensor with a silicone tube wrapped in a copper wire and filled with a special fluid made of tiny particles of iron oxide just one billionth of a meter long, called nanoparticles. The nanoparticles rub around the inside of the silicone tube and create an electric current. The copper wire surrounding the silicone tube picks up the current as a signal. When this tube is bumped by something experiencing pressure, the nanoparticles move and the electric signal changes. Sound waves also create waves in the nanoparticle fluid, and the electric signal changes in a different way than when the tube is bumped.

The researchers found that magnetic fields alter the signal too, in a way distinct from pressure or sound waves. Even a person moving around while carrying the sensor changes the electrical current, and the team found they could distinguish between the electrical signals caused by walking, running, jumping, and swimming.

Metal skin might sound like a superhero power, but this skin wouldn't make the wearer Colossus from the X-men. Rather, Mosa and his colleagues hope it could help burn victims "feel" again, and perhaps act as an early warning for workers exposed to dangerously high magnetic fields. Because the rubber exterior is completely sealed and waterproof, it could also serve as a wearable monitor to alert parents if their child fell into deep water in a pool, for example.

"The inspiration was to make something durable that would last for a very long time, and could detect multiple hazards," Mosa says. The team has yet to test the sensor for its response to heat and cold, but they suspect it will work for those as well. The next step is to make the sensor in a flat configuration, more like skin, and see if it still works.

More information: Abdelsalam Ahmed et al, An Ultra-Shapeable, Smart Sensing Platform Based on a Multimodal Ferrofluid-Infused Surface, Advanced Materials (2019). Journal information: Advanced Materials Abdelsalam Ahmed et al, An Ultra-Shapeable, Smart Sensing Platform Based on a Multimodal Ferrofluid-Infused Surface,(2019). dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201807201
Image grabbed from Wikimedia Commons

MANILA, Philippines  The Manila City Hall ordered on Tuesday (January 22) the immediate closure of Manila Zoo.

The city government cited the amusement parks lack of sewage treatment facility causing the wastewater and animal discharges to flow directly to Manila Bay.

On Wednesday (January 23), the City Engineering Office and the Public Recreations Bureau made rounds in the park to assess the area and identify possible location to where the treatment plant will be erected.

City engineers plan to construct new septic tanks for public toilets and decomposting sites for animal discharges.

It will take about three to four months to complete all the drainage facility construction works, according to them.

May mga septic tank na siya actually pero hindi pa naka connect sa proper discharge (line) sa Maynilad. May mga structure din na wala pang septic tank, explained Engr. Rogelio Legaspi.

Several stakeholders say they fully understand that the sewage works have to push through, though they admit that it will affect their income.

Nabigla lang po ako kahapon na sabi closed na nga raw. Malungkot po kami wala kami pagkakakitaan, lamented Nedy Conejos, one of the vendors in the vicinity.

Iyong mga vendors na nagbebenta ng laruan o mga souvenir items ang siyang magko-close down, clarified Atty Jas Garcia, the parks OIC for public relations.

Some park personnel, meanwhile, said they are not worried because somehow, they will still receive their monthly salary.

Kasi may budget naman para sa mga empleyado. Steady kami magtatrabaho pa rin kami, explained the zoos section chief, Julie Emperio.

The iconic family destination houses around 600 different species of animals.

The most famous is Mali, an Asian elephant dubbed as the worlds loneliest elephant and the only captive elephant in the Philippines.

Mali is now 45 years old and has been in captivity all her lifetime.

Manila Zoo was ordered closed after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) tagged it as a major pollutant of Manila Bay.

Coinciding with its closure, the DENR directed all establishments near and around Manila Bay to construct their respective sewage treatment facility.  Marje Pelayo (with reports from Mon Jocson)

The post Sewage works prompt 4-month closure of Manila Zoo appeared first on UNTV News.
The Maldives relies on tourism and visitors come for the turquoise waters and white sand beaches of the islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator

Five tourists including a honeymooning couple have drowned in a single week in the Maldives, officials said, prompting a nationwide safety warning to holiday resorts in the pristine islands.

Tourism officials said all resort operators in the paradise archipelago were urged Monday to keep a close eye on their clients after the spate of deaths.

Strong currents caused by a north-east monsoon were blamed for the slew of drownings in the idyllic atoll nation, where such accidents are usually few and far between.

Around 1.4 million tourists visit the Maldives every year but the latest government data shows just 31 people drowned in 2017.

On January 13, two Filipino newlyweds were swept to their deaths by a powerful undertow.

The man got into trouble and his wife went to his aid, but both perished. Their bodies were recovered and repatriated to the Philippines, officials said.

An 84-year-old Czech tourist and a 66-year-old South Korean woman died within two days of each other at a resort near the capital Male while snorkelling.

A Russian woman on a dive trip was the latest casualty on Sunday.

A Pakistani holidaymaker came close to death but was plucked to safety and taken to hospital.

The tourism ministry was in the process of identifying safe zones for ocean swimming and diving after the spike in drownings, officials said.

The Maldives relies on tourism and visitors come for the turquoise waters and white sand beaches of the islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator.
The European Parliaments Committee on Fisheries adopted Wednesday (Jan.23), by a large majority, the fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union (EU).

The decisive vote of this committee, which decides on substantive issues, is the final step in the European Parliaments specialized committees before the ultimate adoption in a plenary session expected to take place in February.

essels from 11 EU countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Poland and United Kingdom) will then resume their activities in Moroccos waters.

A European parliamentary source in Brussels commented that the vote of this text with 17 votes in favor and 7 against, with 2 abstentions, reflects the position of the majority of the political groups represented in the European Parliament and is a logical continuation of the positive developments in the strategic partnership between Morocco and the EU.

One of these developments was the adoption last week in a plenary session in Strasbourg, by an overwhelming majority of the Morocco-EU Farm Agreement extending tariff preferences to products from the southern provinces of the Kingdom, the source recalled.

The fisheries agreement between Morocco and the EU, which sets the conditions for access for the European fleet and provides the requirements for sustainable fishing, was endorsed by the Council of the European Union end of last November.

The adoption of the agreement by the EU Member States is a clear response to the maneuvers and attempts to disrupt the longstanding partnership with Morocco. It also responds to those who were doubting the inclusion of the Moroccan Sahara in the agreement, as the text clearly specifies that the fishing zone extends from Cape Spartel in northern Morocco to Cape Blanc in the south of the Kingdom.

Under the new sustainable fisheries agreement signed in Rabat last July 24, the two sides agreed on the content of the deal, the areas it covers and its implementation protocol.

The text specifies explicitly the fishing zones and access conditions for European trawlers, according to the categories of fleets and target species, the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had said in a statement following the signing of the deal.

The level of compulsory landings and fishing categories remain unchanged compared to the former agreement, while the number of vessels concerned by the new agreement would reach 128, the statement said.

Under the former agreement that expired on July 14, the number of European trawlers authorized to operate in Moroccan water was set at 120.

The new agreement provides for an increase of 30 percent of the financial payment to Morocco, which will thus go up from 40 million a year to 52.2 million, the Ministry said.

The two sides also agreed on the implementation of improvement measures to increase benefits for the local populations in the concerned areas, the release pointed out, adding that these populations will benefit from the socio-economic advantages of the agreement, mainly in terms of infrastructure, basic social services, enterprise creation, vocational training, development projects and modernization of the fishing sector.

The number of boarding contracts for Moroccan sailors and fishermen aboard European fishing vessels will also increase. To bolster the socio-economic impacts on the fishing areas covered by the deal, the text provides for a compulsory landing volume, the same as in the previous agreement, but increases penalties from 5 percent to 15 percent in case of non-compliance with the landing requirements.

Besides, several technical conditions have been included in the new agreement in order to preserve the sustainability of fisheries resources and protect the marine environment, such as a review of catches of small pelagic in the south.

In order to preserve some species, octopus and shrimps are not included in the agreement.

The Mediterranean Sea is excluded from this perimeter in order to preserve its resources, which are overexploited.

Fisheries monitoring and control system was also strengthened by making the presence of observers compulsory for some categories that were not provided for in the former agreement, the Moroccan Ministry had said.
Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC), the sole distributor for Japanese brand Isuzu in the country, has already come to terms that it will stop the assembly of the Isuzu D-Max units from its completely knocked down condition (CKD) later this year.

The actual number of CKDs in PH is going down, said IPC Sales Division head Joseph Bautista. We dont have enough economy of scale.

During the presentation to its local suppliers last Tuesday, January 22, IPC said that the decision was made to prevent further loss in operational/production cost considering other conditions and factors.

Aside from the discontinued assembly, IPC has also withdrawn the Isuzu D-Max from the governments Motor Vehicle Development Program, with the last CKD production sometime in July this year.

IPC will continue to sell the Isuzu D-Max locally, but it will soon be imported from Thailand.

Currently, the D-Max is the only locally-produced pick-up truck in the Philippines.

Bautista said that IPC has already informed the Philippine government of the companys plan to stop assembling CKD units by submitting a letter to the Office of Secretary Ramon Lopez last January 10.

Asked if the move would slow down the delivery of D-Max, he said that on the contrary, it would further bolster it.

Thailand produced 1 million pick ups last year, Bautista noted, adding that the prices and specifications of the models would remain the same.

Despite the cessation of production of the D-Max, the current 600-strong manpower of IPC will remain intact as it will reassign its personnel and not resort to lay-offs.

Isuzu D-Max 4x4 A/T

The post Isuzu PH to Stop Local Isuzu D-Max Production appeared first on Carmudi Philippines.
Passengers on high-speed trains in northwestern China may be served by foreign conductors, as overseas students from Xian Jiaotong University join the railway in time for the Lunar New Year travel season.

The five students  from Mexico, Tajikistan, Nigeria, Antigua and Barbuda, and Guyana  have volunteered in an effort to understand the peak travel season known as chunyun, and the development of Chinas high-speed rail network, Shaanxi-based news portal Hsw.cn reported.

During the 40-day period which began on Monday, about three billion passenger trips are expected to take place across the country.

The volunteers will serve once a week on services between the Shaanxi capital of Xian, and Chengdu in Sichuan, or between Xian and the western Shaanxi city of Baoji. A single journey on these two lines typically takes about three hours.

Two of the volunteers are women, and the average age of the group is 25. They took classroom training and one-on-one mentoring before going to work. The students must be familiar with equipment on trains, work procedures and service skills, the report said.

A senior official from the rail authority said the students could communicate in simple Mandarin. A female student from Antigua and Barbuda was quoted as saying that she was glad to join the rail service.

This job cannot only improve my verbal Chinese but also can enhance my understanding of traditional Chinese culture, she said.

The five, selected by the university, represent a second batch of overseas conductor volunteers. The first joined the railway during the chunyun period last year.

This article Overseas students volunteer at high-speed railways during Lunar New Year rush first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
One of Chinas poorest counties under fire after spending US$9 million on dynastic-style city gates

One of the poorest counties in China is in trouble with the central government after spending more than 62 million yuan (US$9.1 million) on two gates and other image projects.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development described landscaping works near an expressway in Yuzhong county, northwestern Gansu province, as vanity projects that were incompatible with the regions economic circumstances.

The projects include two city gates about 500 metres apart over an expressway. They were built in the style of the Qin and Han dynasties of 2,000 years ago and stand 28 metres high by 145 metres wide. Nearby are a statue and two landscaped squares.

An editorial in The Beijing News on Sunday said: To stop this phenomenon, stronger fiscal discipline and greater scrutiny of big projects [are needed]. Against the current macroeconomic backdrop, authorities across the country should adjust their spending based on their incomes and cut out unnecessary image projects.

Yuzhong is one of more than 600 counties recognised by authorities as suffering extreme poverty. Residents disposable income for 2017 in Yuzhong was 17,000 yuan, compared with the national average of 25,974 yuan, according to the local statistics department.

China has opened thousands of new museums, but who wants them?

The Yuzhong government didnt use its limited fiscal income to improve peoples livelihoods. Instead, it borrowed to create landscapes and build image projects, the ministry said, urging local authorities reconsider their priorities.

The gates were completed two years ago  the ministry found out about them during an inspection last year.

The ministry also criticised Hancheng, in Shaanxi province in Chinas northwest, after 190 million yuan was spent on building hills and waterfalls.

On social media, the ministrys words were echoed by calls for tough action. One Weibo user wrote: The authorities should not only criticise the local government but should find out which government officials are responsible for these projects.

This article One of Chinas poorest counties under fire after spending US$9 million on dynastic-style city gates first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
Venezuelas state-owned oil company, PDVSA, said its debt fell by 5 percent last year to US$34.6 billion, Reuters report, citing a statement in a Venezuelan newspaper. Payables to bond holders fell to US$24.7 billion in 2018 from US$25.1 billion a year earlier.

PDVSA stopped paying the interests on most of its debt excluding a 2020 bond that is secured with its U.S. business, refiner Citgo. The accumulated late interest payments since the end of 2017 when Caracas stopped paying stands at almost US$8 billion, according to Reuters.

According to the information, the debt decline was attributable to two PDVSA subsidiaries: the parent company of Citgo, PDV Holding, and the Venezuelan Petroleum Corporation, the entity that takes care of the management of PDVSAs joint ventures.

PDVSA tried to restructure a lot of its debt, but U.S. sanctions have prevented it from doing so, except for debts owed to Russian creditors. The sanctions include a ban on trade in Venezuelan debt for U.S.-based entities. Since any debt restructuring and refinancing involves the issuance of new debt, the sanctions have effectively closed the door on this option for PDVSA.

At the end of last year, Bloomberg reported that a group of PDVSA bondholders had gotten together and hired lawyers to see if there was any way to get their money back. Another group had demanded immediate payments from the troubled Venezuelan state company, and an individual bondholder filed a lawsuit against PDVSA at a U.S. court. The report suggests a lot of bondholders are beginning to lose patience, although what they could achieve in reality remains unclear.

PDVSA is already struggling to reverse a decline in production resulting from years of mismanagement and the outflow of qualified professionals to maintain the fields, which has caused a slump in its revenues from oil exports. It has agreed with its Chinese and Russian creditors to accept oil shipments as payment, but other creditors are unlikely to accept this option even if Venezuela had the oil production rate to make it possible.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The capacity expansion of the worlds largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, Qatar, has attracted a lot of interest, and oil and gas majors who are Qatars long-standing partners, as well as majors that would be new to Qatars LNG, are expected to bid for a lucrative share of the expansion project, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to the preliminary talks.

Qatar announced last year plans to increase its LNG production capacity by 43 percentfrom 77 million tons annually now to 110 million tons a year. The new export capacity, with projects to be completed in 2024, is expected to bring in billions of dollars more to the state coffers of the tiny gas-rich country, which is isolated by its Arab neighbors in a bitter feud in the Persian Gulf that has gone on for more than a year and a half now.

The four supermajors that hold stakes in Qatars existing LNG facilitiesExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Shell, and Totalare widely expected to bid in the tender that Qatar Petroleum is expected to issue in search of partners for the expansion, according to Reuters sources.

Other majors, including Chevron, Norways Equinor, Italys Eni, and a Chinese state-held company, are also considering bidding in the tender, the sources told Reuters. Chevron officials have visited Doha for talks in recent weeks and are mulling over bidding for a stake. Even Brazils Petrobras was considering bidding, but has recently decided against it, the sources say.

According to Jessica Brewer, Principal Analyst, Middle East Upstream Oil and Gas at Wood Mackenzie, Qatars new megatrains will attract mega interest and will be one of the global standout opportunities in 2019.

The upstream segment alone is a world-class asset and operators will struggle to find other low-cost opportunities of this scale, Brewer said this week.

QP is unlikely to sole risk the development and will seek partners. However, suitors will need to prove they can add value to win a stake. We expect to see all the incumbents, primarily the Majors, jostling for position, according to Wood Mackenzie.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Subsidiaries of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed on Tuesday agreements with Iran-based companies aimed at maintaining and increasing the production capacity of nine ageing oil and gas fields in deals worth a total of US$1 billion, the Iranian oil ministrys news service Shana reported.

The agreements signed today are part of a wider plan to have 33 projects for enhancing the production capacity at Iranian oil and gas fields. The 33 projects will be worth a total of US$6 billion in three years, Shana reports.

According to S&P Global Platts, the nine deals signed on Tuesday are expected to add nearly 90,000 bpd to Irans production capacity within the next three years, while the 33 projects are designed to raise Irans production capacity by 281,000 bpd.

Irans capacity may be increased, but its oil production and exports are currently limited by the U.S. sanctions that returned in early November.

According to OPECs secondary sources, Irans crude oil production plunged by 159,000 bpd from November to 2.769 million bpd in December. In the third quarter of 2018, before the U.S. sanctions were re-imposed, Irans crude oil production averaged 3.603 million bpd.

Before the sanctions, Iran was OPECs third-largest producer after Saudi Arabia and Iraq, while in December, as per OPECs sources, the Islamic Republic was only fifth, after Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait.

At the signing ceremony for the deals to boost Iranian production capacity, Irans Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said that We wanted to create projects only for Iranian contractors.



Related: IEA Chief: EVs Are Not The End Of The Oil Era

We wanted to raise hope among local companies as [the US] wants to cause worry and upset Iranian people by the sanctions, Platts quoted Zanganeh as saying.

Iran will not be complying with the fully illegal U.S. sanctions, Zanganeh said earlier this month, in yet another defiant statement from Tehran after the American sanctions on Irans oil and shipping industry snapped back.

While it stays under U.S. sanctions, Iran will not be discussing the volume or the destination of its oil exports, the Iranian oil minister noted.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Iran has struck oil in a hitherto untapped region, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told local media as quoted by Reuters.

This is the first time weve reached oil in the Abadan region, Zanganeh said, adding that the grade was very light and sweet, but giving no details regarding the amount of reserves contained in the reservoir.

Iran has continued to pursue new oil production opportunities despite U.S. sanctions that have reduced its crude oil exports significantly although probably not as significantly, to date, as planned. As of December, Iran was shipping some 1.3 million bpd abroad, the International Energy Agency said in its latest Oil Market Report.

Whats more, Tehran still has partners willing to help with the exploration and production growth. Earlier this month, Chinas largest crude oil refiner, Sinopec, offered US$3 billion to Irans state oil company, NIOC, to jointly expand the development of a major field in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources in the know.

The sources, who wished to remain unnamed, said the Chinese company considered the offer safe from the sanctions the United States reimposed on Iran last November because the initial deal for the development of the Yadavaran field was inked back in 2007.

Sinopec has already invested US$2 billion in the development of Yadavaran, with production there standing at 115,000 bpd, while North Azadegan, operated by NIOC and CNPC, started production at a rate of 75,000 bpd two years ago.

Last year, a senior Iranian official said Russia, too, is prepared to invest a lot of money in Irans oil and gas industry. One oil company had already, in July, signed a deal to invest US$4 billion on Iranian oil projects, with Rosneft and Gazprom also in talks with the Iranian energy ministry on potential deals that could be valued at up to US$10 billion.



By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The planned closure of all nuclear reactors in Germany by 2022 means that Germany needs to retain half of its coal-fired power generation until 2030 to offset the nuclear phase-out, German Economy and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday.

Germany ordered the immediate shutdown of eight of its 17 reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, and plans to phase out nuclear power plants by 2022.

The phasing out of all nuclear power in Germany means that Europes largest economy needs to keep half of its coal-fired generation for another decade and possibly extend the deadline for completely phasing out coal, according to Altmaier.

No other country getting out of coal is also getting out of nuclear power, S&P Global Platts quoted Altmaier as saying at an energy conference in Berlin on Tuesday.

The ending of nuclear and the phasing-out of coal should not overwhelm each other, the minister noted.

Germanys government has tasked a so-called coal commission to come up with a timeline for phasing out coal. Hard coal and lignite combined currently provide around 35 percent of Germanys power generation. The commission is expected to publish its report between January 25 and February 1, in which it is expected to propose the timetable for when the last coal-fired power plant will close. According to experts quoted by Reuters, the date would be somewhere between 2035 and 2040.



Related: Warning Signs Flash For U.S. Shale

Germanys manufacturing industrya powerful industry that is key to the German economyis warning against an overhasty exit from coal, arguing that energy-intensive companies need to keep their competitiveness and that a swift coal phase-out could result in billions of euros in additional power costs.

The UK and Italyalso large European economieshave already set timelines to phase out coal generation, but their timetables are for phasing out coal much soonerby 2025.

Following the end of a consultation period, the UK government confirmed in October 2017 that it would proceed with action to regulate the closure of unabated coal power generation units in Great Britain by 2025. Italys government unveiled in November 2017 a new national energy strategy aiming to phase out coal in electricity generation by 2025, and significantly boost the share of renewables in total energy and electricity consumption.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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China imported a record-high amount of liquefied natural gas last December, at 6.29 million tons or 25 percent more than in the previous month, Reuters reports, citing customs data.

The full-2018 LNG import figure was even more impressive, representing a 41-percent increase over 2017, at 53.78 million tons of the fuel, according to customs data-based calculations by Reuters.

The fuel is getting increasingly attractive as abundant supply pressures prices to a lot more affordable levels than in the past. China is the dream buyer for every producer as Beijing is making a radical pivot away from coal and into more sparing fossil fuels, namely natural gas and LNG.

Last year, this pivot cost several million households their heating during the worst of the winter months because the authorities had not planned properly for levels of gas demand and distribution network for the fuel had not been fully developed. This year, to avoid a repeat of the gas crisis, the Chinese authorities, central and local, began storing LNG and natural gas early on.

China imported a total 9.23 million tons of gas, both by pipeline and as LNG, up 17 percent on the year in December. Since it began preparing for the winter early in 2018, total natural gas imports for last year soared by almost 32 percent from 2017 to 90.39 million tons, solidifying Chinas position as the worlds biggest importer of the fuel.

The country is also shaping up to unseat Japan as the worlds top LNG importer with plans in place to quadruple its LNG import capacity over the next twenty years. The current capacity, spread across 19 import terminals, stands at 2.86 trillion cu ft per year. In 20 years, if the plans are carried out, this will rise to over 11 trillion cu ft per year.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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CNOOC, Chinas largest offshore oil producer, plans its capital expenditure for 2019 to be the highest since 2014 and to increase drilling and development of resources at home after President Xi Jinping ordered companies to boost domestic production.

CNOOC said on Wednesday that it has budgeted total capital expenditure at US$10.3 billion-US$11.8 billion (70 billion to 80 billion Chinese yuan) for 2019. Exploration, development, and production capex is set at around 20 percent, 59 percent, and 19 percent, respectively, of the total, the company noted.

The capex plan for 2019 is the highest in five years and compares to an expected US$9.3 billion (63 billion yuan) in capital spending for 2018.

CNOOC will focus on exploring large to medium-sized oil fields and to boost exploration of natural gas, Reuters quoted a company presentation as saying.

Spending on exploration and production in China will account for 62 percent of total spending this year, compared with 51 percent capex on domestic resource development and production for 2018.

Last week, CNOOC said that it looks to double the number of its exploration projects and proven oil and gas reserves by 2025.

Some of the other big energy producers in China are tapping more tight oil and gas wells, aiming to increase domestic oil and natural gas production at the worlds largest crude oil importer and what will soon be the worlds top natural gas importer.

As part of a government push to boost domestic energy supply, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Sinopec are raising investments to increase local oil and gas production and are accelerating drilling at tight oil and gas formations in western China.

Oil demand continues to grow in China, while domestic production has been declining in recent years. This has led to additionaland costlyimports, making China the worlds largest crude oil importer. For natural gas, a similar trend is apparent. A government drive to have millions of residents switch to natural gas from coal has resulted in China surpassing South Korea in 2017 to become the worlds second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer behind Japan.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Moroccos outreach to Africa is based on a win-win approach underpinned by solidarity and co-development, Minister in charge of Africa cooperation Mohcine Jazouli reiterated at an EU-AU ministerial meeting in Brussels.

Spearheaded by King Mohammed VI, Morocco broke away with conditionality in favor of co-development actions that address Africas pressing issues: peace and sustainable development, said the Moroccan minister.

Security and development are indivisible, Jazouli stressed, noting that Moroccos African policy is comprehensive and ranges from economic development to peacekeeping in  full respect of the sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity of African countries.

He recalled that Morocco has repeatedly called for multilateralism in countering terrorism in Africa.

Demographic growth and youth action were also highlighted by the Moroccan minister who called for action to offer the youth better opportunities and boost employment and economic growth.
The shale tidal wave may finally be starting to ebb.

The largest oilfield services company in the world says that shale drilling activity is slowing, creating an uncertain outlook for 2019.

The recent volatility in oil prices has created less visibility and more uncertainty on spending by shale companies in 2019, Schlumbergers CEO Paal Kibsgaard said on an earnings call on January 18. Shale drillers are generally taking a more conservative approach to the start of the year, again delaying the broad based recovery in the E&P spend that we expected only three months ago, he said.

Kibsgaard said that spending from the shale industry could be flat or down this year relative to 2018. That could translate into lower drilling activity, while E&Ps focus on drawing down the enormous backlog of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs). Companies working through DUCs could keep production aloft even as drilling slows, but output would likely fall relative to 2018, while decelerating further in 2020.

Schlumbergers chief executive also warned that the shale industry could see other problems going forward that could be even more significant. Shale drilling suffers from a precipitous decline in output soon after a well is completed. After an initial burst in output, wells see a rapid decline in production. This is not news; it has characterized shale drilling for years. Related: Are Energy Hedge Funds Going Extinct?

But this dynamic appears to be a growing problem, one that could soon catch up with the industry. It is also worth noting that with the continued growth in U.S. shale production, an increasing percentage of the new wells drilled are being consumed to offset the steep decline from the existing production base, Kibsgaard told shareholders and analysts on Schlumbergers earnings call. The third party analysis shows that in 2018, this number was 54% of total CapEx and is expected to increase to 75% in 2021, clearly demonstrating the unavoidable treadmill effect of shale oil production. Beyond that, well interference is also a mounting problem. Drilling wells too close to one another can cannibalize production, raising costs and leading to less overall output. That becomes a larger problem over time after companies pick over the best acreage. Additionally, the length of laterals and the use of frac sand and other proppants have reached the limits of what they can achieve. We could be facing a more moderate growth in U.S. shale production in the coming years than what the most optimistic views have been suggesting, Kibsgaard warned.

That echoes the problems of shale gas giant EQT. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that even as EQT was breaking new frontiers in terms of the length of the shale wells the company was drilling, the economics proved highly disappointing. Last April, one shale gas well EQT drilled exceeded 18,000 feet, and EQT thought it could drill horizontal wells approaching 20,000 feet. The decision to drill some of the longest horizontal wells ever in shale rocks turned into a costly misstep costing hundreds of millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported. EQTs CEO said later in the year that its wells were encountering problems when they exceeded 15,000 feet.

Related: Oil Flat As U.S. Drilling Slows Down

In other words, even as shale oil and gas drillers boast of their ability to achieve ever-increasing gains by drilling longer laterals, using more sand, packing wells into tighter distances  there are signs that these efficiency gains are maxing out.

Schlumberger still sees a rebound in drilling over the course of 2019, but in the short run, the fall in oil prices is taking a toll. Baker Hughes reported a massive decline in the active rig count last week, with 21 oil rigs vanishing from American oil fields along with four natural gas rigs. That puts the U.S. oil rig count at its lowest point in eight months. There is typically a lag between major movements in crude prices and a response in the rig count. But a few months on from the collapse of oil prices, we are finally starting to see the effects. Last weeks decline of 21 rigs is the largest one-week drop in nearly three years. Clearly the slump in the WTI price to $42 per barrel at years end made shale oil producers more cautious, Commerzbank said in a note on Monday.

Looking at the latest oil production forecasts, there is also an expected slowdown in output on the way. The EIA said in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook that U.S. oil production growth would slow to 1.1 million barrels per day (mb/d) this year, down from a surge of 1.6 mb/d in 2018. By next year, production growth will slow further to a 0.8 mb/d expansion.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

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Russias involvement in the Syrian civil war dramatically changed the balance of power. Before the intervention, government forces were quickly losing ground to numerous rebel groups. Moscows motives to send troops to Syria were primarily political as the country was at loggerheads with the West over its involvement in Ukraine. After several years of fighting, Assads forces have achieved a military victory with the backing of their Russian and Iranian allies. This provides a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Russian energy sector. Gazprom is one of the companies that has been positioning itself to reinvigorate the Syrian energy industry. The relative instability of the country would require military protection for normal companies. Gazprom, however, could soon become the worlds first militarized resource company.

Syrias strategic value

Syrias energy reserves are negligible to make a serious impact on the global energy market. The Arab country has oil reserves of approximately 2.5 billion barrels, only .2 percent of the global share, while its 8.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas are insufficient to even meet domestic demand. Syria is not a crucial market for Russian energy companies in contrast to neighbor Iraq which possesses some of the worlds most impressive hydrocarbon reserves.

The Kremlin is not motivated by the value the Syria energy sector can generate but by the strategic location of the country. Before the civil war, Damascus was being courted by several countries to host major pipelines on its territory to transport natural gas to Europe. Iran, Iraq, and Syria were looking into the possibility to construct the so-called Friendship pipeline with a capacity of 40 bcm. Another project, the Arab Gas pipeline could have carried 10 bcm to Syria through Egypt and Jordan. The Kremlin, therefore, has recognized Syrias value as an oil and gas transport hub rather than as a supplier. The participation of Russian companies in the reconstruction of Syrias vital energy sector would ensure that anyone seeking to ship energy through the country will be forced to consider Russias interests.

Militarized Resource Companies

Military contractors are not new to energy companies who use them to protect their interests in unstable regions. Private military companies have been hired as recently as the war in Iraq to protect assets and supplement the military. Russian contractors have been the driving force of Moscows intervention in Syria to support Assads forces, guide Russian bombs to their targets, and avoid deploying Russian military ground forces. In 2007, however, the Russian parliament passed a law allowing energy giants Gazprom and Transneft to create their own militaries with weapons and technology provided by the Kremlin.

Related: Private Investment In Natural Resources Hits Record High



Gazproms involvement in Syria has been stimulated by Moscow due to several reasons. First, in order to support ally Syria in reconstructing its economy by reinvigorating the crucial energy sector. The revenue from oil and gas sales can be used for reconstruction purposes while at the same time providing cheap energy for the domestic market. Second, the monopolization of production, transportation, and refinery will give Moscow significant control over Syrias economy. Third, the presence of Russian assets will justify a continued military presence in the Arab country for the foreseeable future.

Gazproms invitation

Gazproms close relations with the Kremlin and relative autonomy have already made it a quasi-state-within-a-state. In case the Russian energy giant does establish a significant presence in Syria, Gazproms corporate military would create another layer of complexity in a fragile country. The risk remains that the relative weakness of the Assad regime will be eroded by usurping the states power meaning that the energy assets will be protected and not the people of Syria.

The end of the civil war and relative stabilization of Syria is slowly opening the way for companies such as Gazprom. The Kremlin is not hesitant in using energy to its strategic benefit by pushing Gazprom in taking a stake in the countrys economic future. The Russian involvement in the Arab country has reached its military peak with the defeat of nearly all major rebel groups. During the next stage, economic factors are the driving force to maintain a semi-permanent presence. Military assets provide Russian energy companies with the tools to operate independently from the security forces. It is yet unclear whether the Syrian government will be able to control the Russian companies operating in the country or whether these firms will become a state-within-a-state.

By Vanand Meliksetian for Oilprice.com

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Russia shouldnt try to bring U.S. shale production down with an oil price war, because Moscow would also be hurt in such an event, according to Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive at the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the first Russian official to publicly hint three years ago that there might be an alliance with OPEC to lift oil prices.

For U.S. shale production to go down, you need oil prices at $40 per barrel and below. That is not healthy for the Russian economy, Reuters quoted Dmitriev as saying at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.

We should not take competitive action to destroy U.S. shale production, the head of the Russian wealth fund said.

Although Russia doesnt need as high an oil price as does Saudi Arabia to balance its budget, a stable price at around $60 is preferable for Moscow.

At the end of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is comfortable with $60 oil, as its budget is balanced at $40 oil price, and for 2019, that budget-balance oil price is calculated at $43 a barrel.

Dmitriev said in Davos on Wednesday that Russia should not try to undermine U.S. shale and should stick instead to the OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts, even if those cuts mean losing market share in the medium term.

Russia leads the non-OPEC group of producers who are part of the production cut deal which is removing a total of 1.2 million bpd from the market until June 2019, to rebalance the oil market and lift oil prices. Related: IEA Chief: EVs Are Not The End Of The Oil Era

Thanks to the output cut deal with OPEC in place since January 2017, Russias revenues have increased by around US$110 billion because of the higher oil prices that resulted from the cuts, Dmitriev said, as carried by Reuters.

The United States has also benefited from those higher oil prices with shale drilling resurging last year and U.S. oil production setting records. The shale boom has made the U.S. the worlds top oil producer ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia. Russias oil production hit a post-Soviet high of

11.421 million bpd in October last year. Under the OPEC+ deal, Russia will be cutting 230,000 bpd from October levels to 11.191 million bpd, and reduction would be gradual, as it was in the previous round of cuts.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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For decades, the North Sea has been delivering much of the oil and gas to the worlds global supply of fossil fuels.

As technologies advanced and climate change concerns increased, the North Sea also became a leader in offshore wind capacity installation and innovation.

For the countries on the North Sea, and for all renewable projects around the world for that matter, the key challenge in boosting the share of renewables in the power mix is a way to find a reliable cost-efficient way to store the energy produced so it can be released when needed.

A new study by a team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh suggests that porous rocks on the North Sea bed could act as energy storage facilities.

Julien Mouli-Castillo of the University of Edinburghs School of GeoSciences and his team suggest in an article in Nature Energy that the so-called compressed-air energy storage (CAES) technology could be applied in those porous rocks to store energy for a few months, for example to have it readily available during peak electricity winter demand in the UK.

CAES could use electricity from renewables to power a motor that generates compressed air. This compressed air would then be stored at high pressure in the porous rock, through a deep well drilled into the rock. When electricity demand is high, the compressed air would be released from the well and power a turbine to generate electricity to send to the power grid. Related: New Tech Converts CO2 Into Electricity And Hydrogen

The scientists suggest that the CAES approach could be used in porous rocks where seismic exploration data for oil and gas is available, if those rocks are close to renewable energy sources. The UK meets those two criteriathe UK North Sea is well explored. The North Sea and the nearby Atlantic Ocean are also home to 90 percent of global installed offshore wind capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Mouli-Castillo and team have designed a modeling approach to predict the potential of North Sea porous rocks to store energy.

The potential storage capacity is equal to some 160 percent of the UKs electricity consumption in January and February 2017between 77 and 96 terawatt hours (TWh).

In the example of the UK North Sea, the energy storage potential of up to 96 TWh is sufficiently large to make seasonal storage (two winter months) worthy of more detailed investigation, the scientists wrote in the article.

They have estimated that the efficiency of such storage in the UK would be 54-59 percent.

The porous rocks are common worldwide and have more total storage potential than mined salt caverns, the researchers say. Onshore salt caverns in the UK, for example, are estimated to store a total of 8 TWh of energy.

Currently, there are two commercial power plants in the world using the CAES technology, where compressed air is stored in salt caverns. One is the McIntosh Power Plant in Alabama, and the other one is in Huntorf, Germany.

Areas in the Southern North Sea, East Irish Sea, and Inner Moray Firth have the porous rocks needed to store energy, and those areas are close to wind farms, potentially creating synergies between generation and storage, the scientists argue. Related: Are Energy Hedge Funds Going Extinct?

However, there is one major obstacle to this approach to energy storagecost. The offshore CAES approach would cost in the range US$0.42-4.71 per kWh. This is much higher than other potential CAES storage solutions and higher than the current cost of batteries, which were included in the estimates for comparison, despite not being suited to bulk grid-connected inter-seasonal storage, the researchers say.

This method could make it possible to store renewable energy produced in the summer for those chilly winter nights. It can provide a viable, though expensive, option to ensure the UKs renewable electricity supply is resilient between seasons. More research could help to refine the process and bring costs down, Mouli-Castillo said in a statement to the University of Edinburgh.

While the potential commercial application of this compressed air energy storage will need a lot more research and methods to bring costs down, renewable energy generation in the UK is growing month after month. According to the latest available data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the share of renewables of electricity generation rose to a record 33.1 percent in Q3 2018, up from 30.0 percent in Q3 2017. Renewable electricity capacity at end-Q3 2018 stood at 43.2 GW, up by 10 percent from Q3 2017. Meanwhile, the shares of both coal and natural gas in electricity generation in Q3 dropped from a year earlier to account for 2.5 percent and 38.6 percent, respectively.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Breakup With Your Girlfriend, Im Bored







Edited at 2019-01-23 12:30 am (UTC)

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Robyn did it first and even though I haven't heard Ariana's song, I KNOW FOR A FACT Robyn did it better!



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Body Talk in general is a pop masterpiece.

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Her music is infinitely better.

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Robyn is wonderful. <3

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this album is fucking perfect

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Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend tho

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i h8 how much i love 7 rings tbh

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Yet you can't help yourself loving it. Living up to the username.

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racism aside, its not even catchy or a bop.

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Its a lazy trap song that wouldve been better if given to tinashe lol

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i was thinking this too, i think it would've complimented no drama well

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Nashe after 6:00pm

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it really does seem like a tinashe track lol

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Breakup with your Girlfriend, I'm bored doesn't exactly roll off the tongue and for sure the mumble chanteuse will pronounce it Bregupwiturgrlfn, hahmborrrrrrrrrr!

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Lmao true

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i feel like youre gonna be terrifyingly accurate.

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Bb, terrifyingly accurate is my middle name.

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lmao you're probably right

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lmao

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lmaoooo, I'm also expecting her to say YUH instead of your

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lmao

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lmao @ "hahmborrrrrrrrrr!" The new "hamberder"

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this accuracy

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Maybe she should release a mermaid album. She can perform it underwater as an excuse to mumble through her songs.

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Lmaooooooo

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LMAO

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i had to say hamburrr 3x before i got it x_x

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Ariana Grande: pop music's answer to the Swedish Chef

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lmfao

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hahahha this truth

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spot on

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lmao this accuracy

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Lmaaaao

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nnnnn

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teeheehee

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Breakup With Your Girlfriend, Im Bored



mess, she know she's doing.



I'm guessing this may or may not be the main promotion of the album.



cunt wait.

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i don't like the cover. It looks like one of those scary demonized gifs.

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She hasn't shown the cover yet



Edited at 2019-01-23 12:48 am (UTC)

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Is this the song about Mac? :o

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The cover looks like zero effort was put into it

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it looks like she didn't even bother with a real photo shoot, she just probably had one of her friends do it, like the focus cover

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Yeah its very boring tbh

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That's not the cover. It's a still from the 7 Rings video

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Its too much to ask that people ignore this and not be complicit in her blatant racism isn't it.

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Mte

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but bops

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Is the ONTD curse going into effect?



ONTD hates it already so it's going to be a top five album of 2019?

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Lol

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The breakup with ur girlfriend Im bored track title is NAGL. I hate that kinda shit 

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I think it's going to end up being another "feminist" anthem as in "leave her alone!". Otherwise it wouldn't fit the theme of the album.

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yup shes gonna be like "im bored and want to hang out with ur gf!! set her free so we can be girl power bffs!!"

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ikr

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same... it's so tacky

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"Call Your Girlfriend" is a CLASSIC though, so I will reserve judgement until I hear the song

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Idc, Im here for it. Ive liked all 3 songs so far

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That last track title?



Somewhere Naya Rivera is taking off her earrings and getting ready to rumble.

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omg that was my first thought too, and i don't have enough faith in her to pull a subversive "break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored (of you treating her like shit)"



nagl

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damn, i guess she cut remember... understandable cause i feel like people would just accuse her of milking mac's passing. it'd be cute if she released it separately and donated the funds to the mac miller fund

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FAKER OWNING PEOPLE!

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Has she ever mentioned his fund?

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nope, not that i know of at least. she was spotted hanging around with his family and took his dog myron in though so maybe she donated quietly.

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Breakup With Your Girlfriend, Im Bored



yikes, she would

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That last track title oh Jesus...

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yikes!



Edited at 2019-01-23 12:36 am (UTC) yikes!

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omg i love this gif of ariana from problem era 

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I want Cardi to feud with her lol. She's one of the few celebs the general public would side with if it came to her vs. Ariana tbh

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I dont know because I feel like the minute Cardi would come for her, shes going to breakout those Neutrogena makeup wipes and play the little white girl getting picked on by Cardi

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Speaking of messes.





She looks cute doe

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Washington, PA (15301)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
The Ethiopian government has pardoned about 13,200 people who were previously charged with or convicted of terrorism and/or treason.

According to state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate, more than 13,200 individuals took advantage in the past six months of a law passed by parliament in July allowing people convicted or facing charges of treason, crime against the constitutional order and armed struggle, to apply for pardon.

The law is in line with a breath-taking series of political and economic reforms in Ethiopia, a country of 100 million people, since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in April last year.

Under the previous government, around 30,000 people including students, opposition leaders, journalists and bloggers were in detention following the widespread protests that broke out in 2015.

Dr Abiy Ahmed came to power following the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, at a time when people were outraged at the killings of protesters by security forces.

Security forces had actually killed hundreds to quell protests against economic mismanagement, inequality and repression.

Shortly after he assumed power, Abiy Ahmed lifted the state of emergency, ordered the release of thousands of prisoners, allowed dissidents to return home and unblocked hundreds of websites and TV channels.

He also ended the state of war with Eritrea by agreeing to give up a disputed border territory.
big bitcoin heist crypto mining

By CCN.com: Suspects in the Big Bitcoin Heist of 2018 have been sentenced to various prison terms based on their level of involvement in the much-publicised theft of more than three-quarters of a million dollars worth of crypto mining equipment.

Crypto Mining Thieves Jailed in Iceland

Ringleader Sindri Stefanson bagged the longest sentence with a jail term of four-and-a-half years. In all, seven people were charged in the case that saw over 600 cryptocurrency mining rigs stolen. The equipment, which was valued at ISK 96 million (roughly $800,000) has still not been found, with speculation that it could be in China.

The thieves stole the items over the course of three trips spanning a few weeks beginning on December 5, 2018. Mastermind Stefansson achieved global notoriety after his initial arrest when he escaped from his prison cell in Iceland and boarded a commercial flight to Stockholm, Sweden. From there, he connected to Germany via train, ferry, and taxi, but his luck ran out in Amsterdam where he was apprehended after having been declared an international fugitive with his mugshot widely circulated.

Interestingly, Stefansson did not face punishment for escaping from prison, as it is not a crime in Iceland. While in Amsterdam, he famously gave an interview to the New York Times where he expressed regret at going on the lam. He claimed, among other things, that he was eager to go back to prison in Iceland as he was underfed and felt threatened in Amsterdam.

This Icelandic Saga Comes to a Close



cryptocurrency bitcoin mining

Stefansson, who had several priors and a long rap sheet, was charged with theft and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. The court also sentenced Matthias Jon Karlsson, who admitted to break-in and entry at the data center, to two-and-a-half years behind bars.

Co-conspirator Hafthor Logi Hlynsson will also serve 20 months in prison after being charged with planning and preparing the burglary, while both Peter Stanislav Karlsson and Viktor Ingi Jonasson will spend one-and-a-half years in prison each.

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The final two suspects got off with lighter punishments. Ivar Gylfason received a 15-month sentence with 12 of it suspended, and Kjartan Sveinarsson  who facilitated communication between two of the other conspirators  must serve a six-month sentence.

In addition to jail time, the criminals must also pay Advania, the company they robbed, the sum of ISK 33 million (roughly $272,000) in compensation.

However, Iceland continues to be a haven for bitcoin miners because of the chilly weather and cheap electricity generated from its massive geothermal energy reserves.

Featured Image from Shutterstock



The post Big Bitcoin Heist Ringleader Jailed for Massive Crypto Mining Rig Theft appeared first on CCN.


ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen's warring parties are expected to agree the terms of a prisoner swap in about 10 days, a representative of the internationally recognized government said on Wednesday, as part of efforts to build confidence in slow-moving peace talks. The United Nations is pushing for the exchange and a peace deal in the main port city of Hodeidah to pave the way for a second round of discussions to end a nearly four-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands of people. The prisoner swap was discussed by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government in technical meetings in Jordan last week. Both parties need to agree on lists of prisoners to be swapped. "We expect that in 10 days time the final signing will have happened," the head of the government delegation to the prisoner-exchange talks, Hadi Haig, told Reuters by telephone. The United Nations has struggled to implement a troop withdrawal from Hodeidah as the warring parties disagree over who should control the city. While a truce in Hodeidah has largely held, fighting has escalated in other parts of the country, including the Houthi-held capital Sanaa. Coalition warplanes targeted a Houthi military training camp south of Sanaa late on Wednesday, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported, the latest air strikes on sites near and in the capital following a Houthi drone attack on a government military parade earlier this month. The prisoner swap was one of the least contentious confidence-building measures at December's U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Sweden, held amid Western pressure to end the conflict. The fighting has killed tens of thousands and brought 10 million people to the brink of famine. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday that it hopes to see "progress in the coming days" and urged the warring parties not to let the opportunity slip away. The ICRC said in a statement that it was preparing for the swap by increasing staff numbers and arranging medical support. It was also preparing two planes to carry detainees between Sanaa and Sayoun, a town under the control of the government. Rights groups have accused both sides of abuses against detainees in their custody. U.S. diplomat Jason Mack on Wednesday told the U.N. Human Rights Council during a review of Yemen's record in Geneva that detention centers should be placed "under unified national government control, prevent abuse of detainees and allow investigation and prosecution of allegations of abuse". The war pits the Houthis against other Yemeni forces backed by a Sunni Muslim coalition trying to restore the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Hadi was ousted from power in late 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa. The conflict began after pro-democracy unrest forced the former president, the late Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down in 2012. Hadi was elected to a two-year term to head a transitional government, but the Houthis drove him into exile, prompting the coalition to intervene in Yemen in 2015. The conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny receiving help from Iran and say their revolution is against corruption. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Aden and Reuters team in Sanaa; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Hesham Hajali in Cairo; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Larry King, William Maclean)
NEW YORK  The secrets of Joaquin "El Chapo Guzman's most daring prison escape were revealed Wednesday by a witness who provided the first evidence implicating the accused Mexican drug lord's wife, sons, and brother-in-law in the breakout.

Damaso Lopez Nunez, a former Guzman lieutenant, said his boss was determined to escape from Mexico's maximum Altiplano prison, where he was locked after a squad of Mexican Marines captured him in February 2014.

Testifying through a Spanish translator as a prosecution witness, Lopez said Guzman's wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, began relaying the boss' instructions during a secret meeting that took place around April 2014 in Culiacan.

Guzman was "taking the risk ... and thinking of escaping from prison," Lopez said Guzman's wife told him, the boss' sons and others during the meeting.

Related Video: Girlfriend of "El Chapo" Testifies About Escape Route

During a follow-up session a month or so later, Lopez said Coronel relayed additional instructions from her husband to the plotters: "A tunnel had to be built and they should start to work."

Watching and listening from a courtroom bench, Coronel showed no evident emotion during the testimony as she at times fidgeted with her nearly waist-length dark hair.

She later declined to comment on Lopez's testimony. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York similarly declined to comment when asked why Guzman's wife had not been indicted with her husband on the criminal charges that have him facing a potential life term in prison.

Lopez testified that the group obeyed their leader's relayed instructions.

Guzman's four adult sons scouted and bought a piece of property near the prison. The site became the starting point for an escape tunnel that was dug beneath the prison, Lopez told jurors.

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To guide the tunneling work, Guzman's team smuggled a global positioning system watch to the boss. Lopez said the watch gave the plotters precise coordinates for Guzman's prison cell.

Lopez said he oversaw the work. At his boss' instructions, he said he also acquired a warehouse near the property purchased by Guzman's sons. The effort was funded by $100,000 that Coronel said Guzman had directed to be sent to the plotters, said Lopez.

The tunneling work stretched into 2015. It was also loud. Guzman later told him he had heard noises "for months" as the digging work got closer to his cell, Lopez testified. Other prison inmates complained about the noise, he told jurors, citing his leader's account.

Agents of the Criminal Investigation Agency and soldiers of the Mexican army escort senior lieutenant of US jailed drug lord, Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, Damaso Lopez (C) after arresting him, in Mexico City on May 2, 2017.

Mexico announced the arrest of a senior lieutenant of the jailed Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman who was allegedly engaged in a bloody struggle to lead the Sinaloa crime syndicate.

The concrete below Guzman's cell "had been very difficult to break through," Lopez testified.

Although prosecutors did not ask Lopez for precise construction details, previous public accounts have said that the tunnel was roughly a mile long and approximately 30 feet below ground. It also had a lighting system.

When the work neared an end, Guzman relayed instructions that the escape should be scheduled for a weekend. That way, there would be no top officials at the prison.

Despite the tunneling noise and video security cameras in his cell, Guzman escaped on July 11, 2015, by slipping through an opening in the floor of his shower.

When he climbed down to the tunnel below, Guzman mounted the back of a small motorcycle driven by an associate, Lopez told jurors.

Emerging at the property bought by his sons, Guzman transferred to an all-terrain vehicle piloted by his wife's brother, Lopez said. From there, the plotters whisked the boss to a waiting airplane that flew him to the Sinaloa mountains that held many of his hideouts, he added.

More: El Chapo's mistress flips, tells jurors about his alleged drug crimes

More: El Chapo, wife, wear color-coordinated outfits as accused drug lord's mistress testifies

More: 'El Chapo' Guzman's spying could be the key to the alleged drug lord's downfall

The escape made headline news around the world, catapulting Guzman to global notoriety. But the alleged drug lord didn't remain free for long.

Mexican authorities recaptured Guzman on January 8, 2016, near Los Mochis, Sinaloa, following a shootout with Mexican Marines. But he was determined to escape yet again, Lopez told jurors.

Guzman initially was sent back to the Altiplano prison. However, Mexican authorities later transferred him to another maximum-security lockup in Ciudad Juarez, Lopez testified.

Guzman relayed a message that he had paid $2 million to a Mexican prison system director in an effort to get a transfer back to the prison where he'd staged the amazing escape. But the transfer never came through, Lopez said.

The alleged drug lord was extradited to the U.S. in January 2017 to stand trial on drug trafficking conspiracy charges.

Challenging Lopez's credibility under cross-examination, defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo focused on the longtime personal relationship between boss and lieutenant.

He referred to earlier testimony in which Lopez said Guzman was the godfather of his son, while he was the godfather of one of Guzman's young daughters.

The defense lawyer asked Lopez why he had twice tapped his fist against his chest as he looked toward Guzman after first entering the courtroom on Tuesday.

"Because I love him," said Lopez.

"And this man you loved so much, this many you spent so much time with, this man whose daughter you baptized, you testified against him, right?" asked Balarezo.

"It's your freedom or his, and you chose yours," the defense attorney added.

I chose to help my family because they have been left adrift," said Lopez. Referring to Guzman's relatives, with whom he's had an angry falling out, Lopez added: "I'm here because his sons have placed me here."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Witness implicates El Chapo's wife in the alleged drug lord's most daring prison escape
Alexandra Aversa clears snow from her driveway in the Ottawa area. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Winter weather can wreak havoc on municipal streets and sidewalks that impact your commute and whether you can leave your neighbourhood.

Complaints of cities being slow to get out the plows and tackle the roads mean you might have to call them yourself. For those with disabilities and other accessibility issues, including the elderly, a late plow can mean being stuck at home, or in the snow.

But whos responsibility is it for your sidewalks to be plowed, or the road near your childs school? Depending what city you live in, there can be some uncertainty on who should be cleaning up.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

The rules might vary, but heres what you need to know about clearing winter weather in your area.

Who is supposed to plow my street and sidewalks? And how fast do I need to get rid of it?

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Usually, the municipality you live in is responsible for clearing streets, but will normally prioritize which ones to clear first based on frequency of use. Ottawa handles major highways and arterials right when a storm begins, but tackles residential roads after snow has fallen. Halifax tackles all roads, but some smaller ones are the responsibility of the provincial government.

Vancouver has a strict policy that all residents and business owners must clear their sidewalks by 10 a.m. the next day following a snowfall.

For sidewalks, it really depends where you live. Business owners and residents in Torontos downtown core are required to clean sidewalks themselves. London and Edmonton have similar policies. In Ottawa, the City clears residents sidewalks for them. Halifax also cleans residents sidewalks, but it prioritizes which sidewalks to address first based on frequency of use. Montreals policy is also to clear all sidewalks. But it can be tough to ensure everything is clear 24/7, so be careful.

Canadian cities can greatly differ on whether you are the one responsible for cleaning sidewalks or not. Its best to contact your municipality if youre unsure about their policies, so you dont end up facing fines for not clearing a sidewalk.

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Who do I call if a public sidewalk or road isnt plowed?

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You can contact your municipalitys 311 service centre if theres an area that you go to often, that hasnt gotten the treatment it needs. This could be your park, near your childs school, or even bike lanes. Most municipalities have set up 311 accounts on social media, so you can contact them there.

Im unable to remove snow on my property- who do I contact?

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If youre a senior or a person living with a disability and need assistant clearing snow, the City of Toronto requires that you fill out an application form. Without signing up for the program, you could be fined.

In 2018, Calgary enacted a policy that requires residents to shovel their sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowfall, or face fines. Their fines are nothing to scoff at, with a $150 for the first offence, $500 for the second and $750 for the third. But Calgary doesnt have the snow clearing program Toronto does for those living with a disability, meaning if you have accessibility issues, there might be additional challenges.

Is my landlord responsible for clearing snow, or am I?

Thats something to check in your lease. But if theres a dangerous area, its best to bring it up to your landlord as soon as possible. For instance, the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Act specifics that if its not specifically outlined in the lease, an informal agreement between yourself and the landlord could work.

How long should it take for the city to plow areas I frequent?

It should take about 13 hours for sidewalks to be cleared after the snow has stopped, but it could take longer if they end up needing to be cleaned again, according to the City of Torontos policy on snow clearing. Low pedestrian volume sidewalks will be cleared after snowfall and if the snow has reached eight centimetres high. This all could take up to three days after a storm depending on the severity, their policy reads.

The City of Ottawa takes on more plowing responsibility than Toronto. Their policy states that public sidewalks should be cleared within three days. They also state that major roads, arterials and collectors will be cleared within four hours of the last snowfall. Minor collector roads will be cleared within six hours, and residential roads and lanes within 16 hours.

Municipalities like Halifax have urged residents to check timelines before they call to ask where plows are, as they might still be within the time promised.

Are you happy with your citys policies on snow removal? Comment below and vote in the poll above.




William Shatner is hoping to stop a man who alleges that his mother had a one-night-stand with the actor from using his last name. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

Space: the final frontier  to boldly go where no man has gone before! To file a name-change petition in court!

A Tampa, Fla., man is claiming that he is the lovechild of 87-year-old actor William Shatner, and is hoping that he can change his last name to match.

Peter Sloan has, for decades, claimed that the actor, famed for his work on Star Trek, is his father. However, Shatner, the father of three daughters, continues to deny it.

Still, Sloan says he believes the Shatner name is his birthright, and filed on Jan. 14 to change his last name legally to Shatner. A week later, he received a cease-and-desist order from Shatners Miami attorney.

They are trying to scare me, Sloan, 62, told the Tampa Bay Times. It wont work. Sloan thinks that Shatner and his attorneys may have been alerted because of his postings on social media. Maybe they are watching me, he said.

According to the outlet, Shatner worked with Sloans mother, the late actress Kathy Burt, in the 1950s, on Canadian television. Allegedly, they had a one-night stand in early 1956 in Toronto. Sloan was born the same year, on Dec. 9, and given up for adoption in New York.

Sloan reconnected with his mother in 1984, and she told her son that he could have been the child of Shatner or another man referred to as Chick, a law student from Montreal.

In a meeting organized by producer E. Arthur Kean, a friend of Sloans adoptive father, George Tilden Orick, Shatner, by Sloans account, admitted to being his biological father. However, he told Sloan he would never go public with that information.

According to the outlet, Sloan has been unsuccessful in persuading Shatner to take a DNA test. Sloan, who goes by the name Peter Shatner, has published a memoir titled The Search under the name, in which he details his hopes to meet his alleged birth father.

Sloan claims that he is not seeking a part of Shatners fortune, and no longer hopes to have a relationship with his purported father.

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I am Peter Shatner, Sloan said. No one can prove otherwise. If they want to, lets get that DNA test.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:




By Simon Robinson DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The two most powerful men in the world are not in Davos this year, but they remain impossible to escape. In a sweeping speech at the World Economic Forum two years ago, President Xi Jinping argued that China was free trade's greatest champion. Any attempt to stop the flow of capital, technology, goods, industries or people between economies "is simply not possible," he said. Then in January last year, President Donald Trump arrived at the Swiss ski village to deliver his own "simple message: There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and to grow in the United States. America is open for business." Washington was committed to free trade, he said. But "we cannot have free and open trade if some countries exploit the system at the expense of others." Neither leader mentioned their superpower rival. But it was clear that in setting out their boundaries for how global trade should work, they were talking to each other. If the last year is anything to go by, neither much listened. And the fallout from their falling out is why there's so much talk about Xi, Trump and trade at this year's Forum. Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, told the audience at one session that some countries  she did not name which  were starting to pull away from the rules-based multilateral system built up over the past few decades. "If that is no longer the mainstream, we could be in trouble," she said. Kevin Sneader, Global Managing Partner at McKinsey & Company, said that trade was just "one aspect of a broader tension between the U.S. and China." Already, the trade war between the two biggest economies in the world has begun to crimp global growth, to reshape supply chains and corporate planning, and to hit countries from Canada to Singapore. The International Monetary Fund trimmed its growth forecasts on the eve of this year's Davos meeting, while a survey showed increasing pessimism among business chiefs. In the real world, the effects have been felt for months. Take Foxconn <2354.TW>, which assembles Apple iPhones in China but now says it is considering building factories in Vietnam and India to help mitigate any impact from the trade war. Or automakers, who are busy changing where they build certain models to account for increased tariffs. Or countries such as Australia, whose currency, winemakers and home owners are all feeling the chill of the economic battle. People want to know "how much has the economy slowed and from a trade perspective what are these tariffs and what impact are the trade discussions really having," said Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat in an interview with Reuters. THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON AND BEIJING The U.S. delegation stayed at home this year thanks to the government shutdown. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke via video link. He began by describing China as belligerent toward its neighbors and "embracing totalitarianism" at home, but went on to say that Washington's issues with Beijing could be resolved if China accepted the principles of fair and open trade and protection of intellectual property. A U.S. official, speaking in Washington a few days before the Davos conference, said that Trump's message at the event last year still applied. A lot of progress had been made, he said, citing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico as one example. The imposition of tariffs on China had got Beijing talking, he argued, a major development since last year's Davos. In China, views are divided. Tu Xinquan, a trade expert at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics, said the trade war may ultimately push China to open up further - even if this would not be easy. When Xi spoke at Davos two years ago, he "was paying more attention to politics." The trade war could force China to focus on economics, he said. However, a senior analyst at a major Chinese state-owned company told Reuters that Xi could never back down when confronted with U.S. demands for reform. Such a move would be more politically dangerous than navigating an economic downturn, the analyst said. "If the Chinese government kneels down to the American president, it will give rise to intense dissatisfaction from the people, and it would be a major political loss within the government." (Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing, Jeff Mason in Washington, Silvia Aloisi in Davos, and Ju-min Park, Soyoung Kim and Choonsik Yoo in Seoul; Writing by Simon Robinson; editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Donald Trump has thrown his support behind a group of Catholic school students after they were seen in a viral video during a confrontation with Native American protesters in Washington.

The White House defended the group of Covington Catholic school students, who were visiting the capitol from Kentucky to attend the annual anti-choice March For Life rally, after it was alleged they had provoked the Native Americans, who were there to attend the Indigenous Peoples March.

The idea anybody could take joy in the destruction of young kids is absolutely outrageous to me, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday morning. Thats exactly what we saw members of the media and other leaders do.

The students  donning Make America Great Again hats and other Trump campaign gear  are seen in the initial viral video standing in front of a Native American elder as he beats a drum, shouting their school chant and jumping while recording indigenous activists.

A later video showed African-American Israelites confronting the students and Native Americans, however, hurling profanities and obscenities at both groups.

The videos  which initially sparked swift backlash against the school students and Nick Sandmann, one of the teenagers seen standing in front of a Native American in the recording as he smirks and refuses to budge  have since started a debate online over the consequences of immediately reacting to viral information.

Mr Sandmann addressed the videos in an interview with Todays Savannah Guthrie, saying, As far as standing there, I had every right to do so ... my position is that I was not disrespectful.

I mean, in hindsight, I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing, but I cant say that Im sorry, he continued.

The White House has linked the backlash to its frequent criticisms of the news media, with the president lambasting outlets coverage of the developments as fake news.

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These are kids, Ms Sanders continued, that were put in a very tough position and actually handled it very well.

The president has shown his support through tweets for these kids and would certainly be open to having them here after the government opens.

Mr Trump praised Mr Sandmann and his fellow students in a tweet on Tuesday, writing, Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be.

They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good  maybe even to bring people together, he continued. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!

The White House did not immediately respond to enquiries.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump's administration "reached out" to offer support for the Covington Catholic High School students involved in a confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial over the weekend, but officials pushed back on a report that the students would visit the White House this week.

Weve reached out and voiced our support," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. "If the president does have them here, it will be sometime after the shutdown, if that happens."

Trump offered his support for the all-boys Catholic school in Kentucky after a video from the weekend of a standoff with a Native American activist went viral.

More: Breaking down the full video

Additional videos of the confrontation emerged a day later showing a group of Black Hebrew Israelites taunting the students before Nathan Phillips, the Native American man in the video, and several supporters got between the two groups, casting more questions about who instigated the episode.

"Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be," Trump tweeted. "They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good  maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!"

A Fox News personality reported the Covington students would visit the White House as early as Wednesday but later walked back that assertion.

It was not immediately clear whether the president had personally spoken with any of the students involved.

"Certainly, no one understands better than this president when the media jumps to conclusions and attacks you for something you may or may not have done," Sanders said.

Contributing: Louisville Courier-Journal





This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: White House 'reached out' to Covington Catholic students to offer support
German car giant Volkswagen said Wednesday it would invest $10 million in an American startup specialising in battery technology, part of its mammoth transition to electric driving in the coming years.

California-based Forge Nano is developing a chemical process to make battery cells more efficient.

"A higher energy density would have positive effects on the range of electric vehicles," Volkswagen said in a statement, adding that it would "provide support for industrial trials of this technology."

With its twelve brands from Porsche to Skoda, the Wolfsburg-based group has budgeted 44 billion euros ($50 billion) for its electric transition between now and 2023.

Small venture capital investments beyond traditional auto industry suppliers show VW is "increasingly investing in international start-ups to bring innovative technologies forward to production maturity," the firm said.

In September 2018, it announced a $100 million investment in California's Quantumscape, which is working on next-generation solid-state batteries that could replace today's lithium ion cells.

Across the German car industry, big firms are splashing out on investment in a bid to catch up the electric head start seized by competitors from abroad, having sat out developments until VW's "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal broke in 2015.
Viacom has acquired free streaming platform Pluto TV for $340 million in cash on Tuesday, as the media giant continues to add to its digital presence under CEO Bob Bakish.

Today marks an important step forward in Viacoms evolution, as we work to move both our company and the industry forward. Pluto TVs unique and market-leading product, combined with Viacoms brands, content, advanced advertising capabilities and global scale, creates a great opportunity for consumers, partners and Viacom, Bakish said in a statement.

The popular service gives Viacom a new platform to drive viewers to its subscription products like Comedy Central Now and Noggin, while also tapping into the millions of viewers that come to Pluto TV because its free.

Also Read: 'The Expanse': Amazon Sets 2019 Launch for Season 4, Will Starting Streaming Season 3 in February

Founded in 2013 by Ilya Pozin and CEO Tom Ryan, Pluto TV was created with the idea that despite the growing rise of on-demand video products like Netflix and Hulu, consumers still wanted to consume video in a lean-back environment via 24-hour, TV-like channels. Originally launched with a collection of content pulled from services like YouTube and Vimeo, Pluto TV has grown to offer more than 100 channels and a library of on-demand content from MGM, Lionsgate, and Warner Bros. Driven by its growing content offering and expansion onto platforms including Roku, Chromecast, and Amazons Fire TV, the streaming TV service says it now attracts 12 million monthly active users  up from six million in 2017.

Since our launch less than five years ago, and particularly over the past year, Pluto TV has enjoyed explosive growth and become the category leader in free streaming television, Pluto TV CEO and Co-Founder Tom Ryan said in a statement. Viacoms portfolio of global, iconic brands and IP, advanced advertising leadership and international reach will enable Pluto TV to grow even faster and become a major force in streaming TV worldwide. Viacom is the perfect partner to help us accomplish our mission of entertaining the planet.

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Also Read: Disney Has Already Lost $1 Billion on Streaming Behind Hulu, BAMTech Investments

Ryan will continue to serve as CEO of Pluto TV, which will operate as an independent subsidiary of Viacom upon closing of the transaction, which is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2019.

Tuesdays acquisition is another step in Bakishs attempt to make Viacom a major digital player and comes less than a year after Viacom purchased youth-focused AwesomenessTV. Viacom also bought VidCon, the online video conference beloved by teens, in 2018.

Read original story Viacom Buys Streaming Service Pluto TV for $340 Million in Cash At TheWrap
(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc is cutting about 7 percent, or about 800 jobs, at its media unit, it said on Wednesday. The cuts are in addition to a voluntary separation program announced by Verizon in December that will see about 10,400 employees leave by the middle of 2019. Verizon Media, formerly called Oath and home to its Yahoo and AOL divisions, had 11,385 employees at end of 2018. The unit has struggled to improve Verizon's digital advertising business, which competes with the likes of Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google for ad dollars. (Reporting by Akanksha Rana and Sheila Dang in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)
Washington (AFP) - Dozens of US industry groups sent a letter to the Trump administration on Wednesday pleading for an end the economic pain caused by steep US tariffs on steel and aluminum.

In addition to increased costs for any company importing metal products or components, many other industries are suffering from the retaliation imposed by countries like China and Mexico.

"The continued application of metal tariffs means ongoing economic hardship for US companies that depend on imported steel and aluminum," said the letter, signed by four dozen industry groups.

And while they applauded the newly-agreed US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, they warned that for "many farmers, ranchers and manufacturers, the damage from the reciprocal trade actions in the steel dispute far outweighs any benefit that may accrue to them from the USMCA."

China fired back at the United States with tariffs on key US exports after President Donald Trump imposed the 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum on March 2018.

Mexico and Canada retaliated after their initial exemption expired and the metals tariffs began to bite in June of last year.

Despite the agreement on a new free trade deal, Trump has not made clear whether the steel and aluminum duties would be removed as part of the USMCA.

"We urge you to take all necessary steps to resolve this matter so that zero-tariff North American trade can resume, and we can turn our attention to working with you to gain prompt Congressional approval of the USMCA," the letter stated.

The letter was signed by groups representing a large swath of the economy, including the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Egg Farmers and the National Restaurant Association.

Rufus Yerxa, head of the 300-company National Foreign Trade Council, told AFP the letter was the first step in a campaign to push for an end to the tariffs as Congress considers approval of the USMCA which is "going to need vigorous support."

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He said Trump was "picking winners and losers to only favor one industry," while the damage done far outweighed the benefits to the steel industry.

And he warned that for smaller companies or those reliant on exports "this might be a matter of life or death."

Jim Monroe at the National Pork Producers Council cited a study showing Mexican retaliation was costing US pork producers $1.5 billion annually, while the impact of China's actions is $1 billion.
By Stanis Bujakera KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's outgoing President Joseph Kabila said he would hand over power on Thursday "without regret" and called on Congolese to support his successor, Felix Tshisekedi. Kabila has governed the vast central African country since succeeding his assassinated father in 2001 at the age of 29, in the midst of a regional war that led to millions of deaths. His refusal to quit power when his final term officially expired in 2016 led to deadly protests, but he finally agreed last year to step down following an election meant to lead to Congo's first democratic transfer of power in 59 years of independence. The Dec. 30 poll produced an unexpected winner in opposition leader Tshisekedi. Its credibility has been heavily questioned with the runner-up saying he actually won a landslide victory and accusing Kabila and Tshisekedi of a stich-up. Kabila's and Tshisekedi's camps deny there was a deal or that results were rigged. "Respectful of the constitution, I am going to hand over power tomorrow, without regret," said Kabila, wearing a black suit and tie and sporting his trademark salt-and-pepper beard, in pre-recorded remarks broadcast on national television. "I invite you to massively support (Tshisekedi) as you have supported me," he said. He credited himself with accomplishments including reunifying the country and curtailing inflation. Still, his successor will assume power in one of the world's least developed countries, despite its copious output of copper, cobalt and other lucrative minerals. Tshisekedi, son of the late opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, is due to take power on Thursday in a ceremony at the presidential palace around mid-day. Many Congolese question whether he will be able to act independently, both because of question marks about a possible deal and the substantial influence Kabila's ruling coalition is set to retain. In legislative elections held alongside the presidential vote, Kabila's coalition won about 70 percent of national assembly seats, meaning the prime minister will come from its ranks. The federal bureaucracy and security services remain stacked with Kabila appointees, and he has refused to rule out running for president again in 2023 when he will no longer be constrained by term limits. In his remarks, Kabila called for "a coalition for a strong and prosperous Congo" and one that would defend the country against "predatory forces" after its mineral riches. GROWING ACCEPTANCE Despite doubts about the election's credibility, Tshisekedi has won growing international acceptance in recent days by Western and African countries who fear that a protracted dispute could further destabilize Congo. On Wednesday, the United States voiced support for Tshisekedi, a sharp reversal from one of the countries most critical of the election, deploring a lack of transparency and even threatening sanctions. "The United States welcomes the Congolese Constitutional Courts certification of Felix Tshisekedi as the next President," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said. "We are committed to working with the new DRC government ... We encourage the government to include a broad representation of Congo's political stakeholders and to address reports of electoral irregularities." Neighbors Angola and Congo Republic also congratulated him. Angolan President Joao Lourenco wished Tshisekedi "success in carrying out the noble and difficult task entrusted to him by the Congolese people". Angola is a longtime Kinshasa ally but relations were strained during a two-year delay in the election. The statements came despite major flaws in the poll noted by domestic monitors, including outright vote tampering. Congo's Catholic Church, which deployed 40,000 election observers, found that runner-up Martin Fayulu actually won in a landslide. Congolese sources in contact with senior officials told Reuters that Fayulu, also an opposition leader, had won decisively, but top officials instructed the electoral commission to award the vote to Tshisekedi, seen as more open to compromise with Kabila and his allies. The African Union, which last week expressed "serious doubts" about the credibility of the results, said on Tuesday it would work with Tshisekedi's government but declined to congratulate him, as did the European Union. Several other African governments have congratulated Tshisekedi, including South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Egypt. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Additional reporting and writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by David Alexander, Jeffrey Benkoe, Andrew Cawthorne and David Gregorio)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday let President Donald Trump enforce his policy barring certain transgender people from joining or staying in the military as the justices put on hold lower court rulings blocking the plan on constitutional grounds.

The conservative-majority granted the Trump administration's request to lift injunctions issued by federal judges against the policy while a legal challenge continues in lower courts.

Liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor said they would have kept the injunctions in place blocking the policy. The justices refused the administration's request for them to decide the merits of the legal fight even before a California-based federal appeals court already considering the matter is given a chance to rule.

The lawsuits challenging the policy were filed in 2017 by civil liberties and gay and transgender rights groups on behalf of current transgender military service members, including some deployed overseas with decades of experience in the armed forces, and transgender people aspiring to join the military.

Trump in 2017 announced a plan to ban transgender people from the military, moving to reverse a policy announced a year earlier under Democratic former President Barack Obama allowing them for the first time to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders.

Trump, whose administration also has taken other steps to limit the rights of transgender Americans, cited the "tremendous medical costs and disruption" of having transgender military personnel.

Trump in March 2018 announced he would endorse a plan by then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that replaced the ban on all transgender people. The revised policy would ban the service of transgender people who seek or have undergone gender transition steps. It also would ban under certain circumstances transgender people who experience gender dysphoria, a condition the American Psychiatric Association defines as clinically significant distress due to "a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender" and the individual's gender identity.

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Federal courts blocked the administration's policy, finding that it likely violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. Various injunctions allowed transgender troops to join the armed forces as of Jan. 1, 2018.

Though another injunction issued by a judge in Maryland was not on appeal, the administration said in court papers the high court's action would apply to that one, too.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Devika Krishna Kumar and Collin Eaton

(Reuters) - Potential U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's crude oil exports would cut off the nation from Gulf Coast refiners that are among its biggest customers, likely forcing it to send more crude to China, India or other Asian countries, traders said on Wednesday.

U.S. refineries that depend on Venezuela's heavy crude would have even more trouble securing supplies as Canadian and Mexican crudes are often not as discounted and are limited in availability.

The United States is considering moves to cripple Venezuela's oil shipments, which account for nearly all of the country's exports, in response to the reelection of President Nicolas Maduro that was widely viewed as a sham.

Washington has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's president as protests against Maduro erupt across the country. It is also considering sanctions on oil deliveries, a move it has until now resisted, energy company sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Venezuela has, on average, exported about 500,000 barrels of crude a day to the United States in 2018, according to U.S. Energy Department data. The U.S. share of its exports has declined in recent years with more shipments going to Russia and China.

GRAPHIC: Venezuelan crude exports to the United States: https://tmsnrt.rs/2S4YIXB

Those deliveries are being made largely through oil-for-debt repayment structures as output from state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., known as PDVSA [PDVSA.UL], has slumped to near 70-year lows in a nationwide economic crisis. Venezuela's output has been cut in half since 2016 to less than 1.2 million bpd, according to figures from OPEC secondary sources.

In the wake of sanctions the country could seek additional deals with Turkey, India or other Asian nations, one trader of Venezuelan crude said.

"It will be costly for Venezuela but eventually they'll be able to sell that oil to Asia at a discount. There will be a period in the middle in which they have difficulty selling those barrels," said Francisco Monaldi, fellow in Latin American Energy Policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.

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GRAPHIC: Top U.S. importers of Venezuelan crude: https://tmsnrt.rs/2RYGk2E

Though the United States produces nearly 12 million barrels of oil a day, complex Gulf Coast refineries need heavier crude grades to produce diesel and other high-margin products, and cannot simply sub in light crude.

Prices of heavier U.S. grades like Mars Sour <WTC-MRS>, an offshore medium U.S. crude, and Heavy Louisiana Sweet crude <WTC-HLS>, have risen as buyers scramble for supply. Mars traded at a $6.25 premium to U.S. crude on Tuesday, a five-year high, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

"It would make a tight market even tighter. If it happens, it would be an unambiguous headwind for refiners already struggling to find supplies," said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, an energy consultancy in Bethesda, Maryland.

GRAPHIC: Venezuelan crude exports to U.S. refiners: https://tmsnrt.rs/2S42EI5.

Traders said the United States may need to sell oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to cover supply shortfalls as additional shipments are secured via Canada or Mexico.

Sanctions could also include U.S. exports of petroleum products to Venezuela, used for blending with Venezuelan heavy crude.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar, Collin Eaton and Stephanie Kelly; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Luc Cohen; graphics by Stephanie Kelly; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Richard Chang)
Multiple deaths in recent weeks have been attributed to an exposure to pigeon poop in Scotland. Heres why, (Photo: Getty Images/Abraham Blanco)

Two people have died at a hospital in Scotland after contracting a fungal infection thats tied to pigeon poop. One of the patients was elderly and died of an unrelated cause, but the infection was a contributing factor in the death of a child who was also infected, Scotlands health secretary Jeane Freeman told the BBC. Its thought that the people contracted the infection after inhaling Cryptococcus, a fungus thats usually found in soil and bird poop, The Guardian says.

Public health officials launched an investigation into the deaths and found that the likely source of the infection was a room that contained machinery and pigeon poop, and was not open to the public. The room has now been cleaned and control measures were added, including air filters and giving medication to patients who may be vulnerable to the disease.

People can get infected with Cryptococcus after breathing in the fungus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). After being infected, people can experience symptoms like a cough, shortness of breath, chest pain and fever, the CDC says. If the infection spreads from the lungs to the brain, someone may have a headache, fever, neck pain, nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light, and confusion or changes in behavior. And yes, people can die from this.

Its pretty scary given how often people accidentally interact with bird poop, whether its sitting on a park bench or actually getting hit by it while youre outside. But overall, this isnt something the average person needs to stress over, William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. The fungus can thrive and be in pigeon droppings but it usually has to be aerosolized in some way, and in a substantial way to cause people to become ill, he says.

Its also uncommon for the fungus to cause problems in people who are otherwise healthy, infectious disease expert Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Its a disease that primarily affects those with underlying medical conditions, he says. Its classically described in patients with HIV and those who have had organ transplants. Its not something that everyone gets sick and dies from.

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If someone has symptoms of a Cryptococcus infection, doctors will usually run blood tests or, if it appears to have spread to a persons brain, theyll test their spinal fluid, Adalja says. If they do, in fact, have the infection, theyll be given prescription antifungal medication for at least six months and possibly longer, he says.

If you happen to come into contact with bird poop in the future, its best to wash your hands and the area that touched the droppings, and not stress over developing Cryptococcus in the future. Cryptococcus is everywhere, but its not something the general population needs to worry about, Adalja says.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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The weather never stops, and neither do forecasts, even during a government shutdown.

But could they be less reliable?

Last week, private forecasting company AccuWeather issued an apology to employees of the National Weather Service for a story that had been posted on the company's website earlier that day. The first posting of the story seemed to suggest weather data could not be trusted during the government shutdown.

An editor's note at the top of the revised story said that despite the shutdown, government weather data continues to flow seamlessly to private weather forecasting companies such as AccuWeather.

"It was never our intent to imply any disrespect for our hardworking meteorological colleagues in the government," said Dr. Joel Myers, founder and CEO of AccuWeather, in an interview with USA TODAY.

AccuWeather said it uses data from the weather service's computer models, along with data from more than 100 foreign weather services, to help produce its weather forecasts. The company also continues to collaborate with the weather service on topics such as improving weather models and emergency management during severe weather, said Myers.

Ben Jennings snowblows his driveway on Sunday, Jan. 20, in Glenville, N.Y., where 16 inches of snow fell from Saturday evening through noon Sunday.

(AccuWeather provides the weather forecasts for USA TODAY, both in print and online.)

Bill Hopkins, executive vice president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, said employees continue to push out reliable weather information while working for free.

"Were still putting out valid forecasts and valid warnings," said Hopkins. "I think the American people should still feel safe."

When asked whether the shutdown was affecting their forecasting, meteorologist James Lee at the weather service's Baltimore/Washington forecast office in Sterling, Virginia, said flatly, "It's not."

Bill Syrett, an assistant professor of meteorology and atmospheric sciences at Penn State University, said there are no signs weather data from government sources has degraded since the shutdown.

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"I havent seen evidence of risk to the public because of the shutdown," said Syrett.

However, the longer the shutdown lingers, the greater the potential impact on weather forecasting could be. John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist and professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, said opportunities for forecasts to improve become more difficult during the shutdown.

"The resources that exist are focused on continuing to produce forecasts of the same quality as before, but were losing the ability to improve," he said.

The impact on the meteorological community takes multiple forms. Syrett said he is unable to access archival weather and climate data because websites aren't accessible. Meanwhile, an upgrade to the National Weather Service's global forecast systems model has been pushed back to February, and may go longer if the shutdown progresses, said Hopkins.

Hopkins notes the weather service can't train spotters  people who provide updates of severe weather to the government  during the height of the tornado season, which starts in March.

Also, the National Hurricane Center is unable to perform any outreach ahead of this year's hurricane season, which begins in June.

"Its important that we have these face-to-face interactions with our emergency management community so theyre aware of what and how to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season and tornado season," said Hopkins.

More: Government shutdown at one month: Where things stand for the average American

More: Businesses offer furlough freebies, shutdown specials and assistance to federal workers

Contributing: Ryan W. Miller

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can you trust weather forecasts during a government shutdown?
Washington (AFP) - Apparent admissions by Donald Trump's lawyer that the president negotiated a Moscow property deal all through the 2016 election, and that aides may have colluded with Russia, have Washington asking: is Rudy Giuliani going to save Trump or get him impeached?

Giuliani, who last year claimed that "truth isn't truth" to explain why Trump shouldn't testify to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia meddling investigation, has confounded political and legal analysts.

And his most recent spate of comments to journalists -- some of which gave rise to suspicions of "drunk texting" -- have reportedly frayed his support in the White House.

Reporters for Politico and Vanity Fair wrote Tuesday that Trump was "apoplectic" and that powerful figures in the White House were gunning for Giuliani's dismissal.

But some see a method in what has been called Giuliani's "insanity": that he aims to undermine the impact of any criminal allegations Mueller makes, to fend off Trump's removal from office by the US Senate.

Giuliani's strategy "is a political one, not a legal one," lawyers Mimi Rocah and Joyce Vance wrote on the NBC News website.

"None of what he does is meant to convince a judge or a jury. It is meant to confuse the issues, to inoculate people against shocking news before it arrives, and to retain the president's good standing with his base."

- 'Hypothetical' statements -

Confuse is what the 74-year old attorney and former New York mayor did over the past two weeks. In interviews, texts and tweets, he appeared to move the Russia investigation further ahead than Mueller himself has.

He seemed to admit that members of Trump's 2016 election campaign did collude with Russia.

"I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign," he told CNN. "I said the president of the United States. There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States" colluded with Russia.

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Days later, he told The New York Times that Trump himself admitted to pursuing a deal for a 100-story Trump Tower in the Russian capital right up to the day of the 2016 presidential vote -- a contradiction of Trump's earlier denials of contacts with Russia during the campaign.

Giuliani then backtracked.

"I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign," he said after the CNN interview.

And on Monday, he said the Moscow project comments "were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the president."

- Pattern of gaffes -

The gaffes and walk-backs have been a feature of Giuliani's lawyering since agreeing to work for the president for free early last year.

Early on, he said Trump had funded a hush payment made in 2016 to an alleged former lover, undermining previous denials.

Trump claimed Giuliani "had just started, and he wasn't totally familiar with every everything."

But the attorney was right, and the admission softened the political blow when, months later, Mueller showed he had evidence that Trump ordered the payment.

Other supposed mistakes have likewise cushioned the steady revelations about Trump and his advisors.

And they allow Giuliani to jump ahead with his oft-repeated line: "Even if it's true, it's not criminal," as he told The New Yorker on Monday.

Yet his comments open more questions than they close. If Mueller, as he says, can't indict a president, is he saying there is something to indict?

"I do have a mastery of the facts, which is why I can spin them honestly, argue them several different ways," he explained to Politico this week.

- One-time presidential prospect -

Even if it is pro bono, Giuliani's success defending Trump could determine his reputation, after decades in the limelight as a prosecutor and politician.

He made his name in the 1980s as the powerful US attorney for Manhattan, pursuing graft-mired politicians, entrenched New York mafia families, and corrupt Wall Street financiers.

He captured the New York mayorship in 1993. New Yorkers loved his cantankerous ways, and he spent his time doing deals in the smoke-filled Grand Havana Room, a Fifth Avenue haunt for cigar lovers.

When the devastating Al-Qaeda 9/11 attacks happened, Giuliani gained national prominence by helping salve the shocked city's soul.

"We've undergone tremendous losses, and we're going to grieve for them horribly, but New York is going to be here tomorrow morning, and it's going to be here forever," he declared.

Time Magazine named him "Person of the Year" and Oprah Winfrey dubbed him "America's mayor" -- immediately endowing him with presidential prospects.

But when his chance came in 2008, he flubbed his campaign for the Republican nomination.

Giuliani acknowledges representing Trump could be his legacy.

"I am afraid it will be on my gravestone. "Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump," he told The New Yorker Monday.

"If it is, so what do I care? I'll be dead. I figure I can explain it to St. Peter."
WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday attempted to move ahead with planning for a State of the Union speech to the U.S. Congress on Jan. 29 despite pressure from Democrats to delay it due to the government shutdown, as his immigration proposal suffered a blow from the U.S. Supreme Court.

No clear way to end the shutdown, which began Dec. 22, was evident, increasing the anxiety level of 800,000 federal workers who are furloughed with some struggling to make ends meet.

Trump's proposal on Saturday to relax his immigration policies for young immigrants known as "Dreamers" in exchange for funding for a southern border wall did not appear to be making much headway among Democrats who control the House of Representatives.

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will vote on Trump's plan this week but there were doubts it would pass there. Leaders of the House of Representatives have already rejected it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top U.S. Democrat, had recommended Trump delay his State of the Union speech, traditionally delivered in the House chamber. She had cited concerns about security for the event with some personnel furloughed during a monthlong shutdown.

But, an administration official said the White House sent a request to move forward with speech planning and requested approval of the House sergeant-at-arms for security officials to do a walkthrough of the venue.

The request seemed likely to set up another clash between Trump and Pelosi, days after Trump abruptly refused to let her use a U.S. military plane to go on an overseas trip hours before she was to depart.

A House Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House had not responded to Pelosis letter requesting a delay in the speech.

On Saturday, Trump proposed ending the government shutdown by fully funding the one-quarter of U.S. agencies that are affected. In return, he would get $5.7 billion toward building a southwestern border wall that Democrats oppose. Trump also is offering to restore temporary protections for the "Dreamer" immigrants who were brought illegally into the United States as minors.

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In 2017, Trump moved to end the Dreamers' protections, triggering a court battle.

Democrats promptly rejected Trump's plan as insufficient, saying they would not trade a temporary restoration of the immigrants' protections in return for a permanent border wall that they view as ineffective.

Related: Furloughed workers protest amid government shutdown:

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DREAMER BARGAINING CHIP

Trump may have lost the Dreamer issue as his main negotiating point on Tuesday when the Supreme Court refused, at least during this term, to consider an administration appeal of lower court rulings allowing continued temporary protections for the immigrant youths.

Instead, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program established by then-President Barack Obama in 2012 lives on with or without approval by Congress.

Before the Supreme Court's announcement, U.S. lawmakers were poised this week to take up competing remedies for ending the partial government shutdown, which has interrupted scores of vital federal services.

House Democrats also had legislation that would end the partial shutdown of agencies including the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor and Interior.

While their legislation would contain new border security money, there would be nothing for a wall.

Once the government reopens, Democrats said, they would negotiate with Trump on further border security ideas.

"We were optimistic that he might be open up government so we could have this discussion, Pelosi told reporters in comments carried by CNN. "But then we heard what the particulars were in it and it was a non-starter, unfortunately.

Representative Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, welcomed any effort by the Republican-led Senate to debate and vote on legislation to reopen the government following that chamber's monthlong abstention.

"This gets us started," Clyburn told MSNBC in an interview.

There were no guarantees that votes by Congress this week actually would break the impasse, as Trump held firm on his $5.7 billion demand and Democrats said they would not talk about that until the government reopens.

Many federal employees and contractors were turning to unemployment assistance, food banks and other support as the shutdown entered its second month. Others began seeking new jobs.

U.S. airport security officer absences rose to a record high over the weekend with some airports experiencing longer wait times and a least one major East Coast airport closing one security checkpoint. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell Writing by Richard Cowan and Steve Holland Editing by Bill Trott)
Donald Trump has revealed he told his press secretary Sarah Sanders "not to bother" with the traditional White House daily press briefing.

The US president said as much via Twitter on Tuesday, suggesting that the press is unfair to his combative press secretary.

"The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the 'podium' much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press," Mr Trump wrote.

"I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway! Most will never cover us fairly & hence, the term, Fake News!"

The president has chosen the press as an adversary perhaps more than any other president in modern American history, and his claims that his claims that the administration receives unfair treatment is not new.

Soon after his election to the presidency, Mr Trump shouted at reporters in Trump Tower, calling them "fake news" for their coverage of him and his campaign. He has continued that combative relationship since, and frequently calls the press the "enemy of the people" in spite of growing concern and criticism that his rhetoric could put journalists' lives in danger.

Mr Trump himself has not had an official press conference in over two years, according to a tally compiled by The Washington Post. Instead, the president regularly interracts with press gaggles as he goes about his business, stopping before boarding flights to leave te White House, for instance.

More follows
New York (AFP) - Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen alleged Wednesday that he had been "threatened" by the president and postponed planned testimony in Congress.

Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis said in an explosive statement that both Trump and Trump's current personal counsel Rudy Giuliani had menaced Cohen and his family, forcing him to put off his February 7 appearance before the House Oversight Committee, where he was expected to talk about his work for the president.

"Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date," Davis said.

"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first," he added.

The threat allegation appeared to relate to repeated attacks by Trump and Giuliani against Cohen that made vague references to Cohen's father-in-law, Fima Shusterman.

Asked by reporters if he had threatened his former top aide, Trump replied: "You know I would say he's been threatened by the truth, he's only been threatened by the truth."

Elijah Cummings, the Democrat who leads the Oversight Committee, and House Intelligence Committee head Adam Schiff, suggested Cohen was the victim of illegal witness intimidation.

"Efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms," they said in a statement.

- Testimony to cover payoffs, lying -

Cohen had planned to testify in the House in the wake of his three-year jail sentence on December 12 on charges of fraud, illegal campaign contributions, and lying to Congress in previous testimony.

Trump's longtime New York "fixer," the 52-year-old attorney told prosecutors that Trump directed him to arrange illegal hush payments to two alleged former lovers ahead of the 2016 election.

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He also admitted lying to Congress over pursuing a Moscow real estate deal in Trump's name during the election, even after Trump secured the Republican nomination.

Those subjects were expected to come up in his testimony, as well as an unproven, bombshell report last week saying that Cohen has told Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible Russia collusion, that Trump had directed him to lie to Congress.

Trump has denied that, and Mueller's office released a rare statement saying the BuzzFeed report was "not accurate."

- Trump hits at father-in-law -

Since Cohen told prosecutors as part of a plea deal that he lied to protect the president, Trump has lashed out at him twice on Twitter, making references to his wife Laura and her father Shusterman, who has taxi cab businesses in New York and Chicago, which also involve Cohen.

"He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY reduced deal for himself, and get his wife and father-in-law (who has the money?) off Scott Free. He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence," Trump tweeted on December 3.

He hit out again on in a January 18 tweet that cited in its first half a Fox News commentator, Kevin Corke.

"'Don't forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars....' Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!" Trump wrote.

On Sunday Giuliani said on CNN that Trump was not trying to intimidate Cohen but added: "Of course... if the father-in-law is a criminal in the Southern District of New York.... He may have ties to something called organized crime."

In their statement, Cummings and Schiff said they still expect Cohen to testify.

"We understand that Mr. Cohen's wife and other family members fear for their safety after these attacks," they said.

"Nevertheless, when our committees began discussions with Mr. Cohen's attorney, not appearing before Congress was never an option."
New York (AFP) - Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen has postponed testimony in Congress citing threats from the president, Cohen's attorney Lanny Davis said Wednesday.

The threats were unspecified, but allegedly came from both the president and his current personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, according to a statement from Davis.

Cohen had been scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on February 7 to testify about his work for Trump, including contacts with Russia during the 2016 election and hush payments he made allegedly at Trump's direction to two former lovers of the president.

"Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date," Davis said.

"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first," he added.

Trump and Giuliani have made repeated comments targeting Cohen's father-in-law Fima Shusterman, a businessman in the taxi cab industries in New York and Chicago.

Days after Cohen pleaded guilty on November 29 to lying to Congress over his work for Trump, the president attacked him in a tweet in which he also invoked Cohen's wife and her father.

On January 18, Trump again mentioned the father-in-law in a tweet, in which he quoted a Fox News commentator Kevin Corke:

"'Don't forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars....' Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!" Trump wrote.

And on Sunday Giuliani said on CNN that Trump was not trying to intimidate Cohen but defending himself, then adding:

"Of course it is if the father-in-law is a criminal in the Southern District of New York.... He may have ties to something called organized crime."
President Donald Trump makes remarks as he hosts a naturalization ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, 2019.

WASHINGTON  A top White House economic adviser said Wednesday that a prolonged shutdown of the federal government could bring the U.S. economy to a standstill.

If it extended for the whole quarter, White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett told CNN, then you could end up with a number very close to zero in the first quarter.

The partial shutdown of the federal government, now in its 33rd day, has left some 800,000 federal employees without pay. It has cost the economy about $1.2 billion a week, according to an estimate earlier this month by S&P Global Ratings.

President Donald Trump frequently touts U.S. economic growth as a central accomplishment of his administration. The United States has a great economic story to tell, the president posted on Twitter on Tuesday. Number one in the World, by far!

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Gross domestic product increased 3.4 percent in the third quarter of 2018, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Hassett said he is not concerned about the potential economic impact because, he predicted, the economy would bounce back once the government reopens. The recovery, he told CNN, would be "humongous."

Trump warned Wednesday the shutdown may drag on, and there were few signs of progress on negotiating an end to the impasse. House Democratic leaders were preparing a new offer that includes $5 billion in border security money if the president agrees to reopen the government  though the money could not be used on a wall.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett warns shutdown could slam U.S. economy
By Matt Spetalnick and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday, signaling potential new sanctions against its vital oil sector as it recognized the country's opposition leader as interim president. With street protests against Maduro under way across Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States recognized Juan Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly congress, as the country's leader and called socialist Maduro's government "illegitimate." In response, Maduro said he was breaking diplomatic relations with the United States and giving U.S. embassy personnel 72 hours to leave Venezuela. Contacts have already been severely limited in recent years. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned Maduro and his loyalists that Washington was ready to ramp up oil, gold and other sanctions and take unspecified actions "if they choose to harm any of the National Assembly members or any of the other duly legitimate officials of the government of Venezuela." Asked whether he was considering U.S. military intervention, Trump told reporters: "We're not considering anything, but all options are on the table." Venezuelan opposition sympathizers had been urging Guaido to assume the presidency since Maduro was inaugurated for a second term on Jan. 10, following a widely boycotted election last year that many foreign governments characterized as fraudulent. Formal U.S recognition of Guaido could be complicated, however, by questions of how to deal with Venezuela's U.S.-based diplomats and who would now control its bank accounts and other U.S. assets, which include Citgo, the U.S. refining arm of Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA [PDVSA.UL]. The senior administration official told reporters that Washington now regards Guaido and the National Assembly as the "legitimate decision-makers" in transactions between the United States and Venezuela and that there would be a "whole bunch of consequences" but declined to elaborate. U.S. recognition of Guaido could also backfire if Maduro, who accused the opposition of attempting a coup, used it as a pretext to detain him or other opposition figures. After Trump's announcement, most major Latin American countries made similar moves and a Canadian official said Ottawa would also follow suit. But leftist-governed Mexico said it continued to recognize Maduro as president. "@NicolasMaduro has undertaken a fight with the U.S. & international community he has no chance of winning," U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said in a message on Twitter. Rubio, who led a delegation of Florida lawmakers to discuss Venezuela with fellow Republican Trump on Tuesday, is considered to have played a major role since Trump took office in convincing him to take a tougher stand against Maduro. NEW OIL SANCTIONS Multiple sources said the Trump administration could impose new U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry as soon as this week. U.S. officials are considering a range of potential measures, including restricting U.S. imports of Venezuelan oil or even a full ban, but no final decisions have been made, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Two other sources briefed on the matter said the Trump administration informed U.S. energy companies of its deliberations. The decision on whether to go ahead could depend on how harshly Maduro cracks down on protesters and how he responds to Guaido's swearing-in, several of the sources said. Even then, the administration would likely hold further discussions that could delay any final move, one source said. The Trump administration has been increasingly frustrated with existing sanctions on Venezuela, which have so far spared oil exports. Targeting oil shipments to the United States could choke off significant revenue to the OPEC member nation. The United States has held off on broad, oil-related measures, mindful of the potential not only for deepening the hardships of the Venezuelan people but also the risk of causing problems for U.S. companies and consumers. U.S. refiners such as Valero Energy Corp, Chevron Corp and PBF Energy Inc have had discussions about the possibility of such sanctions with the Trump administration in recent weeks. Venezuelan crude exports to the United States last year fell 15 percent to the lowest annual average in nearly three decades, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Still, some U.S. refineries have equipment specifically designed for heavy grades of crude like those from Venezuela. They imported about 500,000 barrels per day last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton and Jarrett Renshaw; additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason; editing by James Dalgleish and Rosalba O'Brien)
Blueprints for a luxury Moscow skyscraper and hotel bearing the name of Donald Trump have been published, a day after the presidents lawyer insisted no plans were ever made.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Rudy Giuliani sought to downplay previous comments in which he told the New York Times and other media outlets over the weekend that discussions about a proposed Trump Tower in the Russian capital had continued throughout 2016. The comments were made amid claims Mr Trump had directed his then lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to congress about The Apprentice stars property dealings.

First of all, the Times was absolutely wrong. Probably just as wrong as BuzzFeed was. I never said he had conversations about a skyscraper in Moscow, the New Yorker quoted Mr Giuliani as saying in an interview published on Monday.

The only thing that ever happened was that they submitted a letter of intent about a possible project in Moscow that never went beyond that. No money was ever paid, no plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file. Nothing ever happened to it. Much ado about nothing, because the New York Times wants to crucify the president.

No more than a day later, BuzzFeed News published what it said were indeed the plans for a proposed Moscow Trump Tower. The building would have been the tallest in Europe, the news site reported, beneath a headline that said: Trumps lawyer said there were No Plans for Trump Tower Moscow. Here they are.

It said its story about the towers was based on hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, obtained by BuzzFeed News over a year of reporting.

It said it had obtained a plan by a New York architect for a building with a glass obelisk that would have been 100 stories high. The project never went ahead, though the plan is now part of the investigation by Robert Mueller into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the nation's alleged attempt to influence the 2016 election.

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It quoted Russian real estate developer Andrey Rozov saying to Cohen in September 2015: The building design you sent over is very interesting and will be an architectural and luxury triumph. I believe the tallest building in Europe should be in Moscow, and I am prepared to build it.

Last week, BuzzFeed News reported that special prosecutor Mr Mueller believed Cohen had been directed by Mr Trump to lie to Congress about his plans for the tower.

Mr Trump and the White House denied the report and Mr Mueller issued a rare statement saying: BuzzFeeds description of specific statements to the special counsels office, and characterisation of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohens Congressional testimony are not accurate.

BuzzFeed has said it stands by its report.

There has been no response to the latest report by Mr Trump or his lawyer.
Donald Trump's disapproval ratings have reached record highs as the president refuses to back down from his border wall funding demands, sparking the longest government shutdown in US history.

A new CBS News poll released on Wednesday shows the White House and GOP leadership are losing support for the presidents campaign promise of a wall sprawling the entirety of the US-Mexico border, with 71 per cent of voters saying they do not believe the issue is worth keeping the federal government closed.

Meanwhile, Mr Trumps disapproval rating has reached an all-time high at 59 per cent  a figure thats just one per cent higher than his previous record yet indicative of the presidents declining support amid the border wall battle.

The president offered a compromise over the weekend that was swiftly rejected by Democratic leadership in the US House of Representatives as it only provided temporary extensions to protections for certain undocumented immigrants, while handing him the $5.7bn he has demanded to begin building his wall along the southern border.

The same CBS News poll revealed Americans hold a far more favourable view of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis handling of the government shutdown, with 47 per cent of respondents saying the California Democrat has handled the negotiations better than the president, compared to 35 per cent favouring Mr Trump.

Ten per cent of those surveyed said neither politician was handling the shutdown negotiations well.

Meanwhile, just 28 per cent of respondents said Mr Trumps border wall battle was worth keeping the government shutdown.

The poll was released on the 33rd day of the government shutdown  the 15th of its kind and the longest in American history.

Nearly 800,000 federal employees have remained without pay for four weeks, with many reporting difficulties keeping up with monthly bills, housing costs and other necessities. The FBI also released a 72-page report outlining the various issues agents are facing to keep up with investigations despite a lack of resources.

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Six in 10 Americans said they felt the government shutdown was causing serious problems for the country, compared to 34 per cent who said the shutdown was causing some problems and just five per cent who said it was causing no problems at all.

It remains unclear what could spur the president to approve reopening the government. Mr Trump has walked back suggestions that he would invoke a national security crisis in order to effectively secure his funding for the border wall  a move that would face intense legal scrutiny and likely get blocked in the courts, but could allow lawmakers to separate the issue of immigration reform from ongoing negotiations to reopen the government.

Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have suggested holding off on the border wall negotiations until once the government is reopened.

That idea seems to have support among Americans, with 66 per cent of those surveyed saying Mr Trump should agree to a budget without wall funding compared to 31 per cent who said the president should continue refusing any budget that does not specifically include funding for his wall.
[January 22, 2019] Genpact Appoints Ajay Agrawal, Professor at University of Toronto, and Expert in AI and Machine Learning, to Board of Directors NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Genpact (NYSE: G), a global professional services firm focused on delivering digital transformation, today announced that Ajay Agrawal, the Geoffrey Taber Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, has been appointed to its Board of Directors. The appointment is effective immediately. "It is an honor to have Ajay join the Genpact Board," said Robert Scott, Chairman of the Board, Genpact. "His extensive experience in the economics of machine intelligence will be extremely valuable to Genpact. We look forward to his contributions." A renowned academic for over 20 years, he founded and currently serves as academic director of the university's Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), where he oversees operations across multiple sites in Canada and the United States that help incubate start-ups employing artificial intelligence (AI) nd other technologies to address real-world problems. Professor Agrawal serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass. He is co-author of the best-selling book, "Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence," which seeks to explain the role of AI in business and government. Professor Agrawal is also the co-founder of Kindred, a company that makes AI for robots. Kindred was ranked 29th on MIT Technology Review's 2017 list of the 50 smartest companies in the world. Professor Agrawal holds a PhD in strategy and business economics, an MBA, and a Bachelor of Applied Science degree, all from the University of British Columbia. "We are excited to have Ajay join our board. His impressive track record of leading an incubator that has spawned numerous companies, combined with his research and thought leadership around AI and its business and economic impact, will be a great asset to our Company," said NV 'Tiger' Tyagarajan, president and CEO, Genpact. About Genpact

Genpact (NYSE: G) is a global professional services firm that makes business transformation real. We drive digital-led innovation and digitally-enabled intelligent operations for our clients, guided by our experience running thousands of processes primarily for Global Fortune 500 companies. We think with design, dream in digital, and solve problems with data and analytics. Combining our expertise in end-to-end operations and our AI-based platform, Genpact Cora, we focus on the details  all 87,000+ of us. From New York to New Delhi and more than 25 countries in between, we connect every dot, reimagine every process, and reinvent companies' ways of working. We know that reimagining each step from start to finish creates better business outcomes. Whatever it is, we'll be there with you  accelerating digital transformation to create bold, lasting results  because transformation happens here. Contacts Investors:

Roger Sachs, CFA

+1 (203) 808-6725

roger.sachs@genpact.com Media:

Gail Marold

+1 (919) 345-3899

gail.marold@genpact.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/genpact-appoints-ajay-agrawal-professor-at-university-of-toronto-and-expert-in-ai-and-machine-learning-to-board-of-directors-300782383.html SOURCE Genpact

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Harare (AFP) - Harare acknowledged Wednesday there were "lessons to be learnt" from the security forces' crackdown on anti-government protests after allegations of "systematic torture" by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.

The brutal actions of the security forces following last week's protests shattered President Emmerson Mnangagwa's claims to have turned a fresh page after the violently repressive era of Robert Mugabe.

In a blunt statement on Tuesday, the government-appointed commission accused the security forces of "systematic torture" and lambasted the authorities for using soldiers to curb civilian disturbances.

"It was quite a strong report against the methods that were used by law enforcement agencies, it was a strong report against the demonstrators who took the law into their own hands," presidential spokesman George Charamba told reporters in Harare.

It was the first time the government had reacted to the damning report from the government-funded commission created nine years ago.

"In every situation of conflict, there are lessons to be drawn," he said, responding to a question about what the government had learned from the crackdown.

But he also warned there would be no tolerance for any further unrest. "We will not have the mayhem that we saw last week -- never again," he said.

"If you decide to dabble on the wrong side of the law... the law comes back to hit you."

- Union boss still in custody -

As the aftermath of the protests reverberated through the country, union leader Japhet Moyo, who backed last week's nationwide strike over fuel price hikes, remained in custody after a court rejected his request to be freed.

Arrested on Monday at Harare airport, Moyo -- who is secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions -- is being held on charges of subversion and inciting violence.

He denies the charges against him.

"He is facing charges of attempting to overthrow a constitutionally elected government (and) incitement to public violence," his lawyer Alec Muchadehama told AFP at the courthouse in Harare.

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Last week's protests, which lasted three days, saw people taking to the streets in outrage over a government move to more than double fuel prices, prompting a ruthless crackdown by security forces that claimed up to a dozen lives.

- 'If required, heads will roll' -

The presidential spokesman did admit that the security forces' brutal response had sullied the country's image.

"It's been a damaging week for Zimbabwe," Charamba said.

The Human Rights Commission said at least eight people had been killed in the unrest, mostly by gunfire, but rights groups put the toll at 12.

Hundreds of people were rounded up during a widespread and violent security crackdown, with civilians dragged from their houses at night.

The violence prompted Mnangagwa to cut short a foreign tour which was to have taken him to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

After flying home late on Monday, he pledged to investigate the security forces over any misconduct.

"If required, heads will roll," he said on Tuesday, while also condemning "wanton violence and cynical destruction" during the protests.

Moyo is one of a number of high-profile activists arrested after the strike turned into nationwide protests during which there was also some rioting and looting.

Leading Zimbabwean activist Pastor Evan Mawarire is also in custody on charges of subverting the government and inciting violence, apparently after backing the national strike on social media.

Moyo's lawyer said the police initially charged him with sending messages on social media urging people to go on strike.

But on Wednesday, they amended the charge to accuse him of holding ZCTU meetings with civil society groups and others in which they were "planning to overthrow the government as well as to incite public violence," the lawyer said.

Moyo had appealed to the court to be released on grounds of unlawful detention, but his request was denied. He was ordered to return to court next Monday.
Youll likely get your refund on time even if the Internal Revenue is short-staffed of the government shutdown and no-shows among unpaid workers who are financially strained.

Thats because the tax process is largely automated for tax returns filed electronically and for refunds delivered by direct deposit, according to industry insiders. Only returns that trigger a review during the automated process could face delays.

Almost nine in 10 tax returns were filed electronically last year, according to IRS statistics, while eight in 10 refunds were distributed to taxpayers by direct deposit. Nearly all tax professionals and tax preparation software will file your returns electronically.

Video: President Trump Announces Deal to End Govt. Shutdown

If there are no glitches on a return that requires no intervention, then those returns will go through fine and those refunds will be issued in the normal time frame, said Kathy Pickering, executive director of The Tax Institute at H&R Block. Where people are going to have issues is if they need to interact with the IRS or something on a return needs further review.

What you should do

Skip paper returns this year, Pickering said. Instead, e-file directly with the IRS or through your tax preparation software or tax professional.

Go through your tax checklist carefully, so you dont make any mistakes and spark a hiccup. Do you have W-2s from every employer you worked for in 2018? Do you have all 1099 forms showing contract or freelance income you earned? Use last years completed tax return to jog your memory on documents you may need.

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If you need help, thats where you could run into problems at the IRS. Live telephone service at the IRS and mail correspondence with taxpayers will be limited during the shutdown, according to a notice the agency put out last week. Walk-in taxpayer assistance centers that handle large cash payments, help identity theft victims and manage hardship requests are closed during the shutdown.

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For immediate help, especially navigating the new tax law changes, the major tax prep companies offer a variety of ways to consult with a tax pro on your individual returns.

No-shows at IRS

Fears about delayed refunds surfaced on Tuesday after The Washington Post reported that some IRS employees recently recalled to work had claimed financial hardship and werent reporting for duty. On a Facebook group called The Official Government Shutdown Group," some IRS workers said co-workers werent reporting to work.

The agency didnt comment specifically on employee hardship claims and instead provided a more general statement saying that its preparing for the upcoming filing season and will continue to assess the situation at this time.

The National Treasury Employees Union said it hasnt received any hardship numbers from the IRS, either. But it noted IRS workers can request a hardship exemption when an emergency arises, such as not having enough money for gas or child care.

That is why the exemption exists, said NTEU National President Tony Reardon in a statement to USA TODAY. The longer employees go without pay, more face financial hardships.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Your tax refund won't be delayed by short-staffed IRS if you do these two things
By Chayut Setboonsarng

BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S. fast food chain Taco Bell plans to double its international footprint with Asian markets as the main driver for overseas growth as awareness about Mexican cuisine grows, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

The Mexican-inspired Yum! Brands <YUM.N> subsidiary, which has 7,000 restaurants in the United States, will bring its overseas store count to "over 500 units this year ... (with) a goal of getting to a thousand units internationally in the next few years," Liz Williams, President of Taco Bell International, told Reuters in an interview.

Taco Bell retreated from Singapore in 2009. It returned to Japan in 2015 after withdrawing in the 1980s.

"Consumers weren't ready in terms of awareness and the brand wasn't positioned right at the time," she said.

But thanks to a "heightened awareness" of Mexican food, broader palettes and brand exposure by millennials from more travel and technology, at least half of the new units will come from the Asia-Pacific region, she said.

Taco Bell, which sells tacos and burritos, was also adding new flavors and items for local markets citing that its signature sauce was modified for its new store in Thailand, which will open on Thursday.

"We've amped them up significantly," Williams said, because research showed the sauce was not hot enough for Thai palette.

Vinegar notes were also dialed down, which were said to be unpopular with locals, Williams said.

Taco Bell, with franchise partner Thoresen Thai Agencies Pcl <TTA.BK>, plans 40 stores in Southeast Asia's second largest economy by 2022.

Last year it doubled store count in India to 32 and signed two franchise agreements for 110 new stores across Australia and New Zealand by 2024.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
President Trump's ban on transgenders serving in the military produced protests in 2017.

WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court will allow President Donald Trump's partial ban on transgender people serving in the military to take effect while court challenges continue.

Responding to Justice Department requests, the high court Tuesday cleared away lower court actions that blocked the controversial policy from being implemented for nearly a year.

The court's four liberal justices  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan  said they would have continued to block the policy. They were overruled by the five conservative justices.

However, the court refused to hear the case this term, before the Trump administration fights its way through federal appeals courts. That will leave the legal questions surrounding the Pentagon's policy unresolved for now.

The order represents a victory for the administration, which has railed against nationwide injunctions issued by local judges. Similar injunctions have thwarted efforts to deport undocumented immigrants who arrived as children, as well as asylum-seekers who cross the border illegally.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec hailed the court's action.

"Due to lower courts issuing nationwide injunctions, our military had been forced to maintain a prior policy that poses a risk to military effectiveness and lethality for over a year," Kupec said. " We will continue to defend in the courts the authority and ability of the Pentagon to ensure the safety and security of the American people.

The justices refused to hear the administration's appeal in the transgender troops case, which means lower court challenges can proceed. Four district court judges have blocked the policy, but a federal appeals court last week reversed one of those injunctions.

The high court's action followed that ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It ruled that the policy had been fine-tuned by Pentagon officials over a period of months and no longer constituted a "blanket ban."

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Trump announced the policy in July 2017 with a tweet that said the government "will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military." He was upset by the costs incurred by the Pentagon for troops transitioning from one gender to the other.

Pentagon officials later reassured transgender troops that they would not be kicked out and that their medical care would not be interrupted until the policy was rolled out. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis unveiled it in March, with exceptions for those already serving and recruits who are not transitioning to the opposite sex.

Last week's appeals court ruling took note of those changes and others.

"The government took substantial steps to cure the procedural deficiencies the court identified in the enjoined 2017 presidential memorandum," the panel said. In addition to relying on Pentagon officials' expertise, the judges said, the ban "appears to permit some transgender individuals to serve in the military."

The Pentagon reiterated in a statement Tuesday that the policy is not a complete ban and that transgender troops will continue to be treated with respect and dignity.

"The Department of Defenses proposed policy is based on professional military judgment and will ensure that the U.S. armed forces remain the most lethal and combat-effective fighting force in the world, said Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Jennifer Levi of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders said the court's action "means that courageous transgender service members will face discharges while challenges to the ban go forward.

"The Trump administrations cruel obsession with ridding our military of dedicated and capable service members because they happen to be transgender defies reason and cannot survive legal review," Levi said.

With the policy blocked until now, dozens of transgender recruits have signed up since becoming eligible Jan. 1, 2018. They are among several thousand transgender troops estimated to be serving in the active-duty force of more than 1 million, according to a Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon in 2016.

More: President Trump bets big on Supreme Court to uphold controversial policies after lower court losses

More: More than 100 members of Congress call on Jim Mattis to overturn transgender troop ban

More: President Trump wants to ban most transgender troops but brass has few issues with them

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court allows Trump's partial ban on transgender troops in military to take effect
By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan, rocked by anti-government protests for over a month, has received economic assistance from the United Arab Emirates and accepted offers of support from Russia and Turkey, Oil Minister Azhari Abdel Qader said on Wednesday. "We received assistance from the United Arab Emirates," he said. "And Russia and Turkey offered us assistance including fuel, wheat and others, and we accepted it as a normal matter between friendly countries in light of the current circumstances that Sudan is going through." The minister did not give details on the scale or timing of the support. Sudan has seen near-daily protests since Dec. 19, amid worsening economic conditions and calls for an end to President Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule. Bashir met with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha on Wednesday during his first trip abroad since the protests began. Bashir and Qatar's emir discussed "the current economic crisis experienced by Sudan and Sudan's efforts to get out of the crisis and the role of [our] brothers in general, and Qatar in particular, to help Sudan," said Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed. "Qatar reiterated its firm and continuous support for Sudan," he said, speaking to reporters at Khartoum airport after Bashir's return from Qatar. (Reporting Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Subaru suddenly halted production of a massive operation in Japan that sells vehicles to American customers after discovering a potential steering defect.

The Japanese automaker has temporarily stopped production of the Subaru Forester and Subaru Crosstrek, its second- and third-most popular American models, respectively.

If the production shutdown continues, the automaker could eventually face shortages of vehicles at U.S. dealerships.

Production at the company's single plant in Japan shut down a week ago, according to Reuters.

Subaru won't resume production until Monday at the earliest, Subaru spokesman Dominick Infante told USA TODAY in an email.

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The issue stems from a power steering defect discovered in Crosstrek and Forester vehicles. The defect may affect about 10,000 vehicles in the U.S., "but that number may be smaller" and the vehicles haven't been sold to customers, Infante said.

"The power steering unit issue was discovered very early, and countermeasures are being put in place," Infante said. "Subaru Corporation can confirm that no vehicles with the affected power steering units will be sold to US customers until the vehicles have been repaired."

The issue has not yet affected Subaru's U.S. plant in Indiana.

It's unclear whether the disruption could affect Subaru's sales. The brand has been red hot in the U.S., recording an 11th straight year of growth in 2018 and 85 straight months of year-over-year sales increases.

And the Crosstrek was a key reason why. Its sales rose 31 percent in 2018 to 144,384 vehicles. Sales of the Forester fell 3.4 percent to 171,613, trailing the brand's top seller, the Outback, by about 7,000 units.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Subaru suddenly can't make Forester, Crosstrek until a possible steering defect is fixed
By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea failed to notify a U.N. sanctions committee when it sent about 300 tonnes of petroleum products to North Korea in 2018, the website NK News reported on Wednesday, suggesting South Korea was slipping on sanctions. South Korea has urged the partial easing of U.N. Security Council sanctions at a time of improving ties with the North, as the United States continues to pressure Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs. "Seoul has chosen to implement UNSC sanctions on North Korea on a selective and often inconsistent basis," NK News, a group that follows North Korea, said in a report on its website, citing its analysis. South Korea sent 342.9 tonnes of petroleum products to North Korea in 2018, according to the South's Ministry of Unification, but NK News said the shipments were not reported to the United Nations. South Korea's government said on Wednesday it was "complying with the framework of sanctions on North Korea" while pursuing exchange and cooperative projects with the North. "We only used petroleum products to carry out joint inter-Korean projects, and our view is that this does not harm the purpose of sanctions on North Korea," the foreign ministry said. The U.N. Security Council said the monthly reports of petroleum shipments to North Korea showed that only China and Russia had submitted the required reports in 2018. Under UNSC resolution 2397, adopted in 2017, member states must notify a sanctions committee every 30 days of the amount of refined petroleum products supplied, sold or transferred to North Korea. The U.N. sanction allows up to 500,000 barrels (73,087 tonnes) of refined petroleum products per year from all U.N. member nations to be supplied, sold or transferred to the North. Most of the petroleum products shipped to the North in 2018 were used for North-South family reunions in August, and joint projects such as a railway survey and the remodeling of a liaison office in Kaesong in the North. About 32.3 tonnes were returned to the South, the Unification Ministry said. South Korea said in November it had received sanctions exemptions from the UNSC for a joint railway survey, the first step toward reconnecting rail and road links cut during the 1950-53 Korean War. (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Darren Schuettler)
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., officially launched his campaign for president with a video message promising to bring a "fresh start" to the White House.

"The reality is there's no going back," he said in the video posted Wednesday. "There's no such thing as 'again' in the real world. We can't look for greatness in the past.

"Right now, our country needs a fresh start."

The 37-year-old Democrat has been widely hailed as a rising star in national politics since his unsuccessful 2017 run for Democratic National Committee chairman.

Buttigieg was elected South Bend's mayor in 2012. In the video, he points to national headlines that once called South Bend a dying city. He led the city of 100,000 residents to a comeback, he said, "by taking our eyes off the rear-view mirror."

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South Bend's economic turn-around is a blueprint for what could be done across America, Buttiegieg said.

Buttegieg was just 29 when he was elected. In the video, Buttigieg uses his age as a way to connect with young voters.

"I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now," Buttigieg says in the video. "We're the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in wars after 9/11, and we're the generation that stand to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different."

Despite shutdown: Indiana's Republicans stand behind Trump's border request

What you should know: Facts about Pete Buttigieg

The video shows Buttigieg and his middle school teacher husband in their kitchen, arms around each other, and on the couch with a dog. Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015 and married Chasten Glezman in June.

Should he emerge ahead of other Democratic hopefuls, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party.

Buttigieg has the odds stacked against him, said Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics.

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"He is a long shot, but this could be a shot worth taking," Downs said. "Even if he doesnt earn the nomination, he will continue to raise his national profile."

Losing could be still a win for Buttigieg, Downs said.

"If he is able to beat expectations in terms of polling, acceptance by party leaders ... and raising money, he could find a number of doors opening up for him," Downs said.

Buttigieg is a Rhodes scholar and an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He worked for consulting firm McKinsey & Co. before becoming mayor of the Rust Belt city.

Buttigieg served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014. The video includes photos of him wearing camouflage fatigues apparently taken while on duty.

He is releasing a book in February about his life and his tenure leading South Bend. He's also been featured in profiles in national media, including the Washington Post Magazine on Jan. 14 headlined: "Could Pete Buttigieg Become the First Millennial President?"

He has been gradually raising his national profile before announcing he would not seek a third term as South Bend's mayor in December. He's visited Iowa and other battleground states in recent years in an effort to build national support and name recognition.

In an email to media Wednesday, Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Ahrens said Buttigieg should focus on filling potholes and reducing crime before he "wastes time on a presidential campaign."

"His bid isn't just bad news for residents," Aherns said, "it's more proof that Democrats are about to endure the most crowded, divisive and contentious primary in history."

Buttigieg is expected to meet voters in Iowa next week, followed by stops in New Hampshire.

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg joins 2020 presidential race with exploratory committee
Michael Gandolfini (Credit: Getty)

Michael Gandolfini, the son of the late James Gandolfini, will play the young Tony Soprano in the forthcoming prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark.

Stepping into his fathers shoes, he will take on the role of the New Jersey crime boss that cemented his fathers acting career.

In a statement to Deadline, Michael Gandolfini said: Its a profound honor to continue my dads legacy while stepping into the shoes of a young Tony Soprano.

Im thrilled that Im going to have the opportunity to work with David Chase and the incredible company of talent he has assembled for The Many Saints of Newark.

James Gandolfini in The Sopranos (Credit: HBO)

David Chase, the creator of the iconic mob series, and the movies producers reportedly engaged in an extensive audition process before offering Gandolfini the part.

Insiders noted that his screen presence, mastery of Tonys mannerisms, coupled with his resemblance to the elder Gandolfini made him the standout choice.

Gandolfini has already been proving his acting chops, playing Joey Dwyer on the HBO series The Deuce with James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The movie will be set in 60s New Jersey, at a time when friction between Italian Americans and African Americans resulted in the Newark Riots.

It will follow Dickie Moltisanti, mentor to both the young Tony Soprano and his father, Johnny Boy.

Alessandro Nivola, Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy Magnussen and Corey Stoll will join Gandolfini on the bill.

Michael was just 13 when, while on holiday in Sicily in 2013, he found his father unresponsive on the floor of their hotel bathroom.

The Sopranos actor had suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 51.

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Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

Electronics giant Sony is moving its European headquarters from the UK to the Netherlands.

In a statement to news agency AFP, it said that the move was to avoid disruptions caused by Brexit. However, it said that it wont shift people and operations from the existing UK unit.

The groups rival Panasonic has already moved its HQ to Amsterdam due to Brexit. Sonys decision is also the latest in a long line of other Japanese companies and politicians that have voiced concerns over how Brexit would disrupt business in the UK and have shifted and changed operational structures in light of Britains impending departure from the European Union. For example:

Banks and financial services: The likes of Nomura Holdings, Daiwa Securities, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, have declared that they plan to move main EU bases out of Britains capital. While some, like Japanese bank Norinchukin is setting up a new wholly-owned subsidiary in the Netherlands.

Carmakers: Toyota and Honda have both said that a no-deal Brexit in particular would hurt investment and both have said they plan to halt production that event.

Japanese government: In 2016, Japans Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a 15-page document, detailing how Britains economy will be severely damaged if it leaves the EUs single market  something that would happen in the event of a no-deal Brexit  and said it would have a natural knock-on effect on investors that have close trade ties with the UK.

Meanwhile, vacuum cleaner and hair dryer company Dyson is moving its headquarters from Britain to Singapore. Although, Dysons CEO Jim Rowan said in a statement that the move was to future-proof the business, he said it had nothing to do with Brexit.




BERLIN/ZURICH (Reuters) - Europe's competition commissioner has signaled her scepticism about the merger of Siemens's <SIEGn.DE> and Alstom's <ALSO.PA> rail businesses by describing both companies as world champions that can compete globally.

Margrethe Vestager is due to give her decision on the proposed mega-merger by Feb. 18.

"We are talking about two great companies that are able to compete in the market," Vestager told German newspaper Die Zeit in an interview to be published on Thursday.

The two companies' plan to create a European rail champion to take on a Chinese rival has failed to win over EU antitrust regulators despite German and French backing, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The deal would create the world's second-largest rail company with combined revenues of around 15 billion euros ($17.05 billion), roughly half the size of China's state-owned CRRC Corp Ltd <601766.SS> but twice the size of Canada's Bombardier <BBDb.TO>.

Vestager told the newspaper it was too early to speak about the result of the European Commission's investigation.

She said the Commission had looked in depth at how the market was developing as well as the impact of competition on customers.

"We have closely examined the Chinese presence in the market. Alstom and Siemens are already world champions in their businesses, not only European champions," Vestager said.

Vestager also said that the rail signaling business was a very sensitive topic because of its importance for rail safety.

($1 = 0.8800 euros)

(Reporting by John Revill and Tassilo Hummel; editing by Thomas Seythal and Michael Shields)
After a long month of inaction, the Senate will now vote on two bills that could possibly end the month-long government shutdown. But both are widely expected to fail, raising more questions about how the stalemate will end.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday that the chamber would hold procedural votes Thursday on two proposals to reopen the government.

Along the lines of President Donald Trumps proposal, the Republican plan would fund $5.7 billion for a border wall in exchange for a three-year reprieve from deportations for people covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and temporary protected status. The Democratic plan would reopen the government, but only through Feb. 8 to allow more time for negotiations.

Both measures would need 60 votes in order to advance, which neither are expected to get. And there are other obstacles: The Republican plan would almost certainly fail in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, while Trump would likely veto the Democratic plan.

The 1,301-page bill driven by the President, which the Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby released last night, includes additional items to incentivize the Democrats, like extending the Violence Against Women Act through the rest of the fiscal year and additional disaster relief for states ravaged by hurricanes and wildfires. (The Democrats proposal that lawmakers are voting on Thursday will now also include disaster relief).

But Democratic leadership in both chambers rejected the proposal from the President before it was even officially announced this past Saturday, objecting to the fact that it does not include a permanent solution for DACA recipients and beneficiaries of TPS, and would prevent children from Central America from seeking asylum at the border.

The Presidents proposal is one-sided, harshly partisan, and was made in bad faith, Schumer said Tuesday, noting that the only reason DACA and TPS beneficiaries were in danger of deportation was because Trump himself altered the policies. Its like bargaining for stolen goods.

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Although some moderate lawmakers from states where Trump is popular, like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, remain undecided about how they will vote, no Democrats in the Senate have explicitly committed to backing the legislation. But Senate Republicans have remained similarly opposed to the slew of bills House Democrats have passed to reopen the government, arguing that they are pointless because the President wont sign them.

We all know what is necessary to move past the funding impasse, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his colleagues Jan. 8. A negotiated solution that can pass the House, earn 60 votes in the Senate, and which invests enough in border security to earn the presidents signature. As Ive stated clearly, the Senate will not waste floor time on show votes.

Two weeks later, McConnell appears to have relented, even if its likely these votes go nowhere.
CEDAR FALLS, Ia.  Sen. Joni Ernst says allegations by her ex-husband that she had an affair with a subordinate while serving in the military are not true.

"That is not accurate and I was a company commander overseas and took that job very, very seriously," the Iowa Republican said.

The senator became emotional after answering several deeply personal questions from the media about her recent divorce, which includes allegations of affairs and a physical assault. She said it is difficult for her to talk about her own experience but vowed to continue supporting survivors of abuse.

"What I want people to understand is that I am the same person as I was last week. You just know more about whats inside of me now," she said.

She spoke with members of the media after a public town hall event on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls Wednesday, where the topic did not come up.

In court documents that have since been sealed from the public, Ernst and her ex-husband, Gail Ernst, accused each other of having affairs and Joni Ernst accused Gail Ernst of physically assaulting her. The documents were part of divorce filings. The divorce was finalized this month.

Gail Ernst accused Joni of having an affair with one of her soldiers while she was deployed as a company commander. He caught her secretly emailing him, he wrote.

"She admitted to the affair, said she was sorry and begged me not to say anything," Gail Ernst wrote. But their daughter was 4 at the time, he wrote, so he "swallowed (his) pride and kept quiet."

Joni Ernst, speaking publicly about the allegations for the first time on Wednesday, said that a number of her former soldiers "are extremely supportive" of her.

"They were online with me yesterday and texting me about how supportive they were," she said. "And so I care about all of my soldiers. Many of them refer to me as 'Mom.' So no, the allegation is not true."

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The Ernsts announced last summer that they were divorcing after a 26-year marriage.

Joni Ernst said she believed the court documents would be sealed from the public, so media reporting on the allegations this week "did catch me off guard."

"I am a survivor and I fully believe that our survivors have the right to keep their stories to themselves if they dont want to share those stories or are not ready to share those stories and unfortunately I have been forced to share my story," she said.

A judge on Tuesday sealed most of the records in the divorce case at the request of the Ernsts. Under Iowa law, divorce records are automatically made public when the divorce is finalized. But parties can request to keep some records private.

"I would love to point the finger and say, 'Somebody screwed up. Somebody leaked.' But theyre out there and so now I will deal with that," Ernst said. "But what I want people to understand is that I am the same person as I was last week. You just know more about whats inside of me now."

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa takes questions during a town hall at the University of Norther Iowa Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019.

Ernst, 48, a military veteran from Red Oak, Iowa, was the first woman in the state elected to either chamber of Congress. She defeated Democrat Bruce Braley in 2014 to win a six-year term in the Senate after emerging victorious from a five-way Republican primary for the nomination. She has said she will seek a second term in the Senate in 2020.

At some point while she was Montgomery County Auditor between 2005 and 2011, her husband had a "special friendship" with their daughter's babysitter, whom she said he spent time with even when their daughter was not there, Joni Ernst claimed in an October affidavit. The affidavit wasn't specific about when the argument happened, but she said she confronted her husband about it.

"We went through a very dark and troubling time in our marriage," Ernst wrote. "I very nearly filed for divorce after a night that we argued, and it became physical."

Joni Ernst said she fled to her mother's house with her daughter in the middle of the night. Gail Ernst followed soon after, crying and apologizing, according to her affidavit.

The next day, a victim's advocate at the courthouse performed an examination of Ernst's throat and head, she said. The advocate wanted to take Ernst to the hospital, according to the court filing. Ernst declined, writing that she was "embarrassed and humiliated" and did not want people to know about what she described as an assault.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa takes questions during a town hall at the University of Norther Iowa Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Sen. Joni Ernst denies ex-husband's allegation that she had an affair, says she is 'a survivor'
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Russia should not unleash an oil price war against the United States but rather stick with output cuts even at the cost of losing market share in the medium term, one of the main Russian architects of a production pact with OPEC said.

Since 2017, Russia and OPEC have cut oil production jointly for the first time in an effort to boost the price of crude. Following their supply pact, oil has traded between roughly $60 and $85 per barrel, from below $30 before the deal took effect.

"For U.S. shale production to go down, you need oil prices at $40 per barrel and below. That is not healthy for the Russian economy," Kirill Dmitriev, head of the state-backed Russian Direct Investment Fund, said on Wednesday.

"We should not take competitive action to destroy U.S. shale production," said Dmitriev, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Three years ago in Davos, Dmitriev became the first Russian official to mention publicly the possibility of a supply pact with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. At that time, oil prices had collapsed after OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia raised output to hurt higher-cost U.S. producers.

The rise in prices thanks to output cuts has brought roughly an additional $110 billion in revenues to Russia, Dmitriev said.

However, higher oil prices have also helped the United States, which is not participating in output cuts. The country's production has rocketed, overtaking that of Russia and Saudi Arabia and making it the worlds largest oil liquids producer.

U.S. production is expected to reach new highs this year. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia later in 2019 to strengthen cooperation further, Dmitriev said.

Azerbaijan, one of the largest former Soviet oil producers and a participant in the production deal with OPEC, believes the pact should be extended to the end of this year, President Ilham Aliyev said this week.

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Such a move should keep oil prices in the $60 to $70 range, Aliyev said.

(This story was refiled to change spelling of Dmitriev to conform with his preferred transliteration from Russian)

(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian police detained 11 protesters outside the Japanese embassy in Moscow as they rallied against the idea of ceding control over disputed islands to Japan, OVD-Info, a Russian organization that monitor protest, said on Tuesday. The detentions took place ahead of talks in Moscow between President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss a World War Two peace deal that could resolve a decades-old territorial dispute. The islands are known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. Russia said last week its sovereignty over them was not up for discussion. A duty police officer in Moscow was unable to confirm the report from OVD-Info and said no information had been received about detentions. (Reporting by Tom Balmforth, Katya Golubkova and Tatiana Ustinova; editing by John Stonestreet)
Maryann Rolle (Credit: Netflix)

A restaurant owner in the Bahamas who lost her $50,000 life savings thanks to the ill-feted Fyre Festival event, has so far landed $175,000 in a crowdfunding drive.

Maryann Rolle, who was featured in the recently-released Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, is the owner of the Exuma Point Bar and Grille with her husband Elvis.

The couple lost tens of thousands of dollars when the organisers of the event, which went horribly wrong in the summer of 2017, fled the island and failed to pay her and hundreds of others for their work.

In an appeal on GoFundMe, she said: It has been an unforgettable experience catering to the organizers of Fyre Festival. Back in April 2017 I pushed myself to the limit catering no less than a 1000 meals per day.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all prepared and delivered by Exuma Point to Coco Plum Beach and Rokers Point where the main events were scheduled to take place. Organizers would also visit my Exuma Point location to enjoy the prepared meals.

Fyre Fest organizers were also checked into all the rooms at Exuma Point Resort.

(Credit: Netflix)

As I make this plea its hard to believe and embarrassing to admit that I was not paid I was left in a big hole! My life was changed forever, and my credit was ruined by Fyre Fest. My only resource today is to appeal for help.

There is an old saying that goes bad publicity is better than no publicity and I pray that whoever reads this plea is able to assist.

And help they have, to the tune of $175,000 at the time of writing, after seeing Maryann in tears during the documentary, telling of how she had lost everything.

The events organiser Billy McFarland, who had intended to throw the most lavish  and expensive  festival ever conceived on the island in the Bahamas, was eventually jailed for six years in 2018 for fraud.

This week, the rapper Ja Rule, who was one of the partners in the festival, made an attempt to Maryann in a post on Instagram.

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However, he was quickly slammed by commenters, who reminded him of remarks he made in the Netflix movie, during which he denied events of the festival constituted fraud, but merely false advertising.

Rule has since claimed that he was scammed by McFarland too.

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President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Tuesday dashed Japanese hopes of a settlement any time soon to a territorial dispute that has festered since 1945, declaring after a meeting with the visiting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan that there was still much apainstaking worka ahead.

In his remarks to reporters, Mr. Putin gave no sign that Russia might accede to Tokyoas demand that it relinquish Japanese islands seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. He said that any agreement must have support from the public, which in Russia, according to a November opinion poll, is strongly opposed to returning any islands to Japan.

Mr. Abe, whose father, Shintaro Abe, spent years trying in vain to settle the territorial dispute with Russia while serving as Japanas foreign minister, has made improving relations with Moscow a priority. But he, too, conceded on Tuesday that aresolving a problem left unresolved for over 70 years since the end of the war is not easy.a

Mr. Putin had previously raised Japanese hopes of reclaiming at least a small portion of what it calls its aNorthern Territoriesa and what Russians refer to as the Southern Kuriles, a chain of islands off Japanas northern prefecture of Hokkaido.

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But any settlement involving the surrender of territory would collide with the central pillars of Russiaas state ideology under Mr. Putin: a commitment to rebuilding Russia as a great power, ceaseless celebration of Moscowas victory in the war, and rejection of anything that might challenge the outcome of that conflict.

Mr. Putin, who has met with Mr. Abe four times in the past six months, has spoken frequently of his desire to attract more Japanese investment, particularly to bolster the flagging economic fortunes of deprived areas of the Russian Far East.
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - The United States, Canada and major South American nations recognized the head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature as the country's interim leader on Wednesday, leaving President Nicolas Maduro increasingly isolated.

Major regional players Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina all gave their backing to Juan Guaido's self-proclamation as Venezuela's acting president, which he made in front of crowd of tens of thousands of supporters in Caracas.

Mexico, however, stood apart, saying it recognizes "the authorities elected in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution," seen as a lukewarm nod to Maduro.

The avalanche of support for Guaido dramatically raised the stakes in Venezuela, an oil-rich nation has become deeply impoverished under Maduro.

Maduro has clung to power through the support of the Venezuelan military, and he is an ally of Russia, which last month sent two nuclear-capable bombers to the country to participate in a military drill.

The United States said Wednesday it stood ready to use "all options" if Maduro tries to quash the opposition, in what was an implied threat of military force.

President Donald Trump said Guaido's National Assembly was "the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people."

Maduro responded by saying he was cutting off diplomatic ties with the United States, as his riot police clashed with opposition supporters in Caracas.

"Get Out! Leave Venezuela. Here we have dignity, damn it," Maduro said, giving US diplomats 72 hours to depart.

But Guaido tweeted in response a statement that, under him, Venezuela wants countries "to maintain their diplomatic presence in our country."

- Broadening support -

Tweeting from the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where he and other leaders were attending the World Economic Forum, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said: "Brazil recognizes Mr Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president."

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He added that "Brazil will support politically and economically the process of transition so that democracy and social peace return to Venezuela."

Bolsonaro, a far-right former paratrooper who has set about forging close ties with Trump's administration since taking power at the beginning of January, has repeatedly vowed to challenge Maduro in any way he can.

He initially said he was open to discussing Brazil hosting a US military base, before changing his mind when the idea sparked objections from his military brass.

Colombian President Ivan Duque, another US ally also at Davos, told reporters his country was behind Guaido and will "accompany this process of transition to democracy so that the Venezuelan people free themselves of their dictatorship."

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed her country's "full support" for Guaido, adding: "It's an important day for Venezuela and I'm grateful for the solidarity of the Lima Group in speaking out on this."

Eleven members of the 14-nation Lima Group -- Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru -- later issued a joint statement endorsing Guaido as interim president.

The three holdouts included Mexico, which has maintained a principle of non-intervention under leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, as well as Guyana and Santa Lucia.

Lopez Obrador's spokesman said on Twitter that while Mexico "for the moment" was not changing its relations with Caracas, it was "analyzing the situation in Venezuela."

The United States is not a member but supports the group, which has taken an increasingly strident stance against Maduro, whom it sees as anti-democratic.

The European Union did not join the countries lining up behind Guaido, but EU Council President Donald Tusk tweeted that "I hope that all of Europe will united in support of democratic forces in Venezuela."

Tusk added: "Unlike Maduro, the parliamentary assembly, including Juan Guaido have a democratic mandate from Venezuelan citizens."
Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold Syria talks in Moscow on Wednesday, with Turkey saying they will focus on Ankara's so-called "security zone" in northern Syria.

The two leaders are on opposite sides of the conflict: Russia provides critical support to the Syrian government, while Turkey has backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Despite this, they have worked closely to find a political solution to the seven-year conflict. Russia and Turkey have agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria following US President Donald Trump's shock announcement on pulling 2,000 American troops out of Syria last month.

In a speech on Monday, Erdogan said he would discuss with Putin the creation of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, suggested by Trump.

The US-allied Kurds, who control much of northern Syria, have rejected the idea, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control.

Moscow, a long time supporter of Assad, is likely to oppose the plan, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week saying Damascus must take control of the country's north.

Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the US pullout has led to another key step in Assad's Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.

Kurdish forces who were left exposed by Trump's pledge to withdraw US troops have asked the Syrian regime for help to face a threatened Turkish offensive.

The Kremlin hailed the entry by Syrian forces into the key northern city of Manbij for the first time in six years after Kurds opened the gates.

Moscow plans to organise a three-way summit with Turkey and Iran at the beginning of this year as part of the Astana peace process, launched by the three countries in 2017.

"So far, no date has been set but after negotiations with Erdogan, we will begin preparations for the trilateral summit," Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters last week.

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The last meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani took place in Iran in September last year with the fate of the rebel-held Idlib province dominating the agenda.

Ties between Russia and Turkey plunged to their lowest level in years in November 2015 when Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane over Syria.

But after a reconciliation deal in 2016, relations have recovered with remarkable speed with Putin and Erdogan cooperating closely over Syria, Turkey buying Russian-made air defence systems and Russia building Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
If youre interested in Public Joint Stock Company Aeroflot  Russian Airlines (MCX:AFLT), then you might want to consider its beta (a measure of share price volatility) in order to understand how the stock could impact your portfolio. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. First, we have company specific volatility, which is the price gyrations of an individual stock. Holding at least 8 stocks can reduce this kind of risk across a portfolio. The second type is the broader market volatility, which you cannot diversify away, since it arises from macroeconomic factors which directly affects all the stocks on the market.

Some stocks are more sensitive to general market forces than others. Some investors use beta as a measure of how much a certain stock is impacted by market risk (volatility). While we should keep in mind that Warren Buffett has cautioned that Volatility is far from synonymous with risk, beta is still a useful factor to consider. To make good use of it you must first know that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price.

Check out our latest analysis for Aeroflot  Russian Airlines

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What AFLTs beta value tells investors

As it happens, Aeroflot  Russian Airlines has a five year beta of 0.93. This is fairly close to 1, so the stock has historically shown a somewhat similar level of volatility as the market. If the future looks like the past, we could therefore consider it likely that the stock price will experience share price volatility that is roughly similar to the overall market. Many would argue that beta is useful in position sizing, but fundamental metrics such as revenue and earnings are more important overall. You can see Aeroflot  Russian Airliness revenue and earnings in the image below.

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MISX:AFLT Income Statement Export January 23rd 19

Does AFLTs size influence the expected beta?

With a market capitalisation of RU112b, Aeroflot  Russian Airlines is a small cap stock. However, it is big enough to catch the attention of professional investors. It takes less capital to move the share price of small companies, and they are also more impacted by company specific events, so its a bit of a surprise that the beta is so close to the overall market.

What this means for you:

It is probable that there is a link between the share price of Aeroflot  Russian Airlines and the broader market, since it has a beta value quite close to one. However, long term investors are generally well served by looking past market volatility and focussing on the underlying development of the business. If thats your game, metrics such as revenue, earnings and cash flow will be more useful. This article aims to educate investors about beta values, but its well worth looking at important company-specific fundamentals such as Aeroflot  Russian Airliness financial health and performance track record. I urge you to continue your research by taking a look at the following:

Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for AFLTs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for AFLTs outlook. Past Track Record: Has AFLT been consistently performing well irrespective of the ups and downs in the market? Go into more detail in the past performance analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of AFLTs historicals for more clarity. Other Interesting Stocks: Its worth checking to see how AFLT measures up against other companies on valuation. You could start with this free list of prospective options.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
Prince William at Davos. Photo: REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Prince William has revealed not a single celebrity would join his new mental health campaign until shortly before it launched.

The Duke of Cambridge made the surprising comments in a panel event on mental health at the Davos summit of world leaders in Switzerland.

He said it was very interesting that nobody had shown interest just three years ago when he, his wife Kate and Prince Harry began preparing the Heads Together campaign to tackle stigma.

He has campaigned for greater action to tackle mental illness for several years, and used the Davos appearance partly to highlight his new website with resources for employers.

READ MORE: What is Davos? The 2019 World Economic Forum explained

He told business and political figures at the summit: What was very interesting was that not one celebrity wanted to join us. We went out to a lot of people but before we started nobody was interested.

That was three years ago. That was a big deal.

But he said once he and others began putting our necks on the line by getting the ball rolling, people began to openly pledge their support.

Some very brave people came forward, from celebrities to normal people, and bravely took on the task.

Asked if any celebrities who initially declined had later signed up, he laughed and replied simply: Its now become a lot easier to talk about.

He said he felt huge solidarity with frontline staff in Britains hard-pressed health services from his time working in the air ambulance service.

READ MORE: Where is Davos? Guide to the ski resort hosting the global elite

He also revealed one incident from his time in the service had been so traumatic he still found it hard to talk about.

I get very emotional talking about it because it relates very closely to my children. The whole team was very affected by this one particular job. As a team you draw it out and debrief.

I know if I hadnt taken the action I did, I would have definitely gone down a slippery slope and been dealing with mental illness on a different level.

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Lots of people in the medical community have particular cases where you dont ever get over it. You go through someone elses pain, and you live with it.

READ MORE: Alarming forecast for the global economy as Davos begins

He said a younger generation had finally realised mental health should be spoken about, and praised fellow panelist Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand, for making it a priority in office.

Weve got to tackle this now so our children and grandchildren dont have to go through this process, and they can be a lot more open about it, he said.

The Mental Health at Work website set up by Prince William, the Mind charity and others offer training and resources to organisations to support staff mental health.




Hours after officially declaring that she will run for president, Sen. Kamala Harris opened her campaign depicting herself as a unifier who can appeal to the values Americans share across ideological lines.

Taking questions from the press on Monday, the California Democratic senator implicitly contrasted herself with President Donald Trump, who has cultivated a reputation for his aggressive approach towards his opponents. Harris argued that she will campaign to all Americans  regardless of where they live or their race.

Harris, whose parents are Jamaica and Indian, also appeared to highlight her identity through the timing and location of the event. Monday is Martin Luther King Day, and the press conference was held at her alma mater, historically black Howard University.

Harris said that regardless of where Americans live or their racial background, most can find common ground on different issues. For instance, Harris said, most Americans will agree that it is important to protect the environment, but want to do so without endangering their economic future.

Every parent wants to know that their child can drink clean water and breathe clean air, said Harris. And that same parent wants to know that theyre able to bring home enough money with one job to pay their bills and pay their rent and put food on the table instead of having to work two and three jobs.

Besides asking her about her platform, several of the reporters also probed Harriss background as a candidate from California and a former attorney general. Prior to becoming a senator, Harris was a deputy district attorney and Alameda County, a district attorney of San Francisco city and county, and later the attorney general of California.

While Harris has repeatedly said that she acted as a progressive prosecutor, some proponents of criminal justice reform have questioned her record. Last Thursday, Lara Bazelon of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent in Los Angeles published a scathing editorial in the New York Times, writing that as attorney general, Harris had opposed reform or remained silent and that she fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.

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During Mondays event, Harris carefully positioned herself as a criminal justice reformer, which will could help to secure the support of many black Democrats. Gaining the support of African American voters will likely be an important factor in her ability to secure the nomination.

Every person wants to know that there will be a criminal justice system that is fair to all people regardless of their race. Every person wants that a mother and father should not have to sit down with their teenage son and have the talk  and tell that child about how they may be stopped or arrested or in some way profiled and potentially shot because of their race.

Throughout her speech, however, Harris deemphasized her particular identity and instead said that she is speaking for all Americans. She declined to respond directly to a question about how she described herself saying that she describes herself as a proud American and aims to bring people together.

Some people would say that in a diverse country, you cannot achieve unity. I reject that notion, Harris said.
George Rusu was fined after he was caught using his plane near Heathrow Airport just days after the Gatwick drone chaos (PA)

The man who caused chaos at Heathrow Airport just days after drone sightings grounded more than 1,000 flights at Gatwick has been fined 2,000.

George Rusu, 38, a member of a model flying club was branded reckless by a judge after admitting flying the 160 Tundra model aircraft 500 metres from the perimeter fence of Britains busiest airport.

Police spotted the plane, which has a wingspan of around one metre, soaring close to the airports Leonardo Hotel on the afternoon of December 24.

Uxbridge Magistrates Court heard that security was heightened after Gatwick fully reopened on December 21 following three days of chaos affecting some 140,000 passengers.

Officers followed the purple and white aircraft and spotted plant operator Rusu, who is from Romania, looking at the sky and holding a remote control in a nearby park.

Rusu was branded reckless by a judge (PA)

The married father-of-one admitted the radio-controlled plane was his and told police it only had a range of 150 yards.

He said he flew model aircraft in two different parks as a hobby and admitted he was aware of the drone disruption at Gatwick days earlier.

Rusu, wearing jeans, a blue shirt and blue coat, appeared in the dock on Tuesday to plead guilty to an offence of flying a small unmanned aircraft without permission within the one kilometre wide restriction zone of Heathrow Airport.

MORE: Labour highly likely to support plan to delay Brexit in event of no deal

MORE: Pensioner convicted of murdering wife after she left him for an old flame on Facebook

Deputy District Judge Robert Roscoe fined him 2,000, told him to pay a 200 victim surcharge and 85 costs, and ordered his model plane should be destroyed.

He said: To my mind, the word reckless seems to be appropriate.

It was stupid of you, to say the very least. You didnt engage with your brain to think about the consequences of what you were doing.

Rusu was spotted looking at the sky and holding a remote control in a nearby park (PA)

The judge added: You committed this offence in the vicinity of Heathrow Airport.

At the neighbouring Gatwick Airport, tens of thousands of people, their friends and their families, airlines, support staff at the airlines, and very many people had their holidays ruined by something not connected with you  by a drone somebody else flew.

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There was a huge cost both emotionally and financially to all those people at Gatwick.

The court heard Rusu was a member of the Little Harlington Model Flying Club, in Hayes, Middlesex and flew his aircraft two or three times a month for the past two years.

His lawyer Aneeta Borwick said her client is a family man, who is embarrassed by the incident.

She said Rusu, who lives in Blunts Avenue, Hillingdon  next to the park  had flown his plane so close to the airport by accident during a sensitive situation in the wake of the Gatwick drone alert.

She added: He had no intention to do anything of that nature and cause any type of disruption or harm to anybody.
Professional thief Trica Niculescu travelled to Birmingham to revellers at the citys German Christmas market (Pictures: SWNS)

A Romanian pickpocket who flew to the UK to target festive revellers has been jailed after brazenly telling police: A worker has to work, a thief has to steal.

Trica Niculescu, 58, travelled to Birmingham in December to steal from visitors to the citys German Christmas market.

The professional thief had only been in the UK for six days when he was seen unzipping an 11-year-old girls rucksack on December 17, while a market stallholder had earlier seen him slipping his hand into a womans pocket after she took cash from a cash point.

Niculescu, from Craiova in southern Romania, was caught by two police officers who were patrolling the German market and arrested him on suspicion of attempted theft.

Targeted  Niculescu admitted following dozens of people at the German Christmas Market (Picture: SWNS)

In police interview he admitted following dozens of people on the day, before telling stunned officers: A worker has to work, a thief has to steal.

The 58-year-old was jailed for eight months after he admitted two counts of attempted theft at Birmingham Crown Court.

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MORE: Woman, 21, dies after being hit by police car responding to 999 call in east London

PC Mat Evans, from Birmingham Polices City Centre Prevent Team, said: In sentencing, the judge described Niculescu as a professional, international pickpocket who came to the UK to target the German market and ply his trade.

In interview he almost came across as being proud of being a pickpocket and didnt seem to express any remorse for targeting innocent people and even children.

He added: Id like to thank the vigilant stallholder who spotted Niculescu at work in the crowd and raised the alarm with us; had he not done so Niculescu may well have gone on to spoil many peoples night at the market.

He said Niculescu would be deported from the UK upon completing his sentence.

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These striking portraits of members of an isolated tribe in Ethiopia offer a rare glimpse of ancient traditions of body modification. Dale Morris, 46, a professional photographer, managed to gain access to the Omi tribe, who live in the Omo Valley of Southern Ethiopia. Recent plans by the Ethiopian government to build dams in the area are threatening their way of life. The Omi practice some of the world's most radical body modifications, from war paint to lip piercings the size of dinner plates. Dale, who is originally from the United Kingdom but is now living in South Africa, said: "I feel its a privilege to capture moments in peoples lives. "The Omo's culture has remained untouched for hundreds of years, but the modern world is invading, and soon these costumes and body modifications will be a thing of the past. "I feel I am capturing these images on the cusp of change. Soon these people will have changed, and the ancient customs and fashions will disappear." (Caters News)
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(Reuters) - U.S. power company PG&E Corp said http://bit.ly/2T5NcbG on Wednesday it expected capital expenses of about $6.6 billion in 2019 and $6.9 billion in 2020.

PG&E, which provides electricity and natural gas to 16 million customers in northern and central California, faces widespread litigation, government investigations and liabilities related to wildfires that could potentially exceed $30 billion.

In a filing with the U.S. securities and exchange commission, the company said it expects to spend between $5.7 billion and $7 billion annually from 2020 to 2023.

PG&E expects capex to be about $6.5 billion for fiscal 2018.

The company said on Tuesday it secured $5.5 billion in financing from four banks as it prepares to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

(Reporting by Debroop Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Anil D'Silva)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and numerous other progressive Democrats have been appointed to the influential House Oversight and Reform committee, according to a Tuesday release from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Ocasio-Cortez  who has emerged as the face of a new movement of young, liberal-leaning Democrats  is set to join the investigative committee that will serve as a check on the executive branch," Chairman Elijah E. Cummings said in the days following the 2018 midterm election.

Among the other progressive Democrats appointed to the committee: Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who grabbed headlines in January for using a profanity in her call to impeach President Donald Trump.

The committee was ranked one of the most influential in Congress in 2014 by The Atlantic, which noted that the committee investigates allegations of fraud and abuse within the federal government.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

When asked about the outspoken nature of several new appointees to the committee, Cummings was dismissive, Politico reports: If I based the choices going on the committee based on what people said or their reputations or whatever, I probably wouldnt have a committee."

Calling the committee "a powerful check on the Trump administration," Axios has gathered a list including dozens of potential subpoena targets for the committee.

The Associated Press, citing two Democratic congressional staffers who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported in November that the committee would likely seek Trumps business tax returns and other company-related financial records.

Trumps personal income taxes, which he withheld during the 2016 campaign and during his two years in office, were at that time expected to be sought by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ocasio-Cortez, other progressives land spots on powerful committee poised to investigate Trump
Norwegian Cruise Line is denying a British couple's allegation that they found a crew member having sex in their cabin during a recent voyage.

In a statement sent to USA TODAY, the Miami-based line suggested a thorough investigation of the allegation had proved it untrue.

The thorough investigation undertaken, including full review of security footage of the corridor where the stateroom was located, does not corroborate the allegation," the line said in the statement.

Bobby and Mary Jackson of Northern Ireland, both in their 60s, had told Scotland's Sunday Post over the weekend their first image upon entering their tenth-floor room on the Norwegian Jewel in October was of the back of a naked man on top of a woman in what was to be their bed.

The Jacksons said they had just boarded the 2,376-passenger vessel at the time of the alleged incident. They said they later were told the man in the room was a worker on the ship.

The story has been picked up by news outlets across the globe.

In its statement, Norwegian said it operated its ships at the very highest standards.

"Any incidents that may fall below these standards are thoroughly investigated and actioned appropriately, the line said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Norwegian Cruise Line denies claim crew member used passenger's cabin for sex
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. NOG recently brought in pleasant news for investors, as it provided encouraging updates regarding fourth-quarter results.

The company expects fourth-quarter 2018 output to be at the upper end of its guided range of 35,000-36,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Boe/d). This also indicates a massive jump from the year-ago production level of 16,742 Boe/d. This ramped up production is driven by acquisition benefits and augmented activities, as Northern Oil and Gas has brought around eight net wells online in the quarter, bringing the total net well additions to nearly 30 in 2018.

Northern Oil and Gas  whose activities are primarily focused on the Williston Basin, as well as Bakken and Three Forks plays in North Dakota and Montana  has been consistently making efforts to boost long-term growth prospects in its core operating region via entering into prudent acquisition deals in 2018. These include the $114.8-million buyout of W Energy Partners, along with snapping up Williston acreage from Salt Creek Oil & Gas LLC and Pivotal Petroleum. In addition to boosting the companys acreage and production capacity, these acquisitions are likely to be accretive to earnings per share, cash flow and leverage metrics through 2020.

Moreover, Northern Oil and Gas full-year lease operating expenses per barrel are anticipated below the lower end of the guided range of $7.0-$7.75. On a further positive note, the company generated robust cash flows during the quarter and expects to maintain the momentum this year as well. To protect its cash flows amid the volatility of the commodity prices, the company has increased its 2019 hedged oil volumes at an average of more than $63 a barrel. Notably, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the firms 2018 and 2019 earnings growth is pegged at 285.71% and 21.30%, respectively. While most of the energy stocks took a beating in 2018, shares of Northern Gas and Oil moved up 10.2%, handily outperforming the stocks in the industry that posted a cumulative decline of 36.4%.

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While Northern Oil and gas currently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), investors can opt for better-ranked players like Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. (SHLX), Gran Tierra Energy Inc. (GTE) and Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. (BXE), each holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019

In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?

From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.

This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs.

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London (AFP) - There is "no compromise" on Brexit that commands majority public support in Britain, with opposition to Prime Minister Theresa May's deal the only point of agreement, a leading pollster said Tuesday.

"No procedural or substantive option appears to be both widely popular and capable of bridging the Brexit divide," said the University of Strathclyde's John Curtice.

"Our politicians are constantly being told that you should be seeking the centre ground.

"The problem with Brexit is that the centre ground of politics is rather thinly populated," he said, presenting a report entitled "Brexit and Public Opinion 2019" in London.

The report, drawn from collated polls, highlights the challenge facing prime minister May as she tries to resurrect the deal she struck with the European Union after if was comprehensively rejected by MPs.

A slim majority of the public are in favour of her renegotiating the deal, but none of the possible outcomes of that renegotiation enjoy majority support, according to the polls.

At either end of the spectrum, leaving without a deal and holding a second referendum both command strong partisan support, but largely cancel each other out on the national stage.

A "soft" Brexit that seeks to remain part of some EU institutions appears to please neither side, according to the report's findings.

"A 'soft' Brexit is a Remainer compromise that runs the risk of being little loved," said Curtice.

- 'Pronounced' division -

An ICM poll published on Sunday revealed that leaving with no deal was the most popular option when put up against another referendum, a general election and May's deal, but still only commands 28 percent support.

The campaign for a second referendum has gathered pace in recent months, but Curtice found little rising public appetite.

With public opinion so divided, Curtice suggested that "maybe the message our politicians need to take away is that to govern is to choose".

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Part of the problem revealed by the polls is that Brexit has now become "a new source of political identification" transcending party loyalty, making it a daunting task for political leaders to unite their traditional support base behind any plan.

"Only one in 16 people don't have a Brexit identity whereas more than one in five have no party identity," said a study by Geoff Evans and Florian Schaffner, which was published in the report.

The study cited figures showing that only nine percent of Remainers felt a connection with Leave voters, compared to 21 percent of Leavers who felt a connection with Remainers.

A separate YouGov poll published Monday showed more than a third of Remainers would be upset if a close relative married a strong Leave supporter.

"Social polarization is pronounced and shows no sign of diminishing," concluded the study.
At least five people were "senselessly murdered" Wednesday after a gunman took hostages in a Florida bank, forced them to the floor and began shooting, authorities said.

Sebring police chief Karl Hoglund and Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman briefed reporters but declined to elaborate on the motive for the shooting around noon at the SunTrust bank in Sebring, about 94 miles southeast of Tampa.

The suspect was identified by Hoglund as Zephen Xaver, 21, a Sebring resident. A photo published by the Highlands News-Sun shows police taking a handcuffed white male, wearing a tee-shirt and khaki shorts, from the scene.

"it's been a tragic day in our community," Hoglund said. "We have suffered a significant loss at the hands of a senseless criminal doing a senseless crime."

He said "at least" five people were "senselessly murdered" in the ordeal. It wasn't clear whether the victims were bank employees or customers.

The gunman apparently entered and locked the bank, then forced customers to lie on the floor.

A sheriff's department armored vehicle arrives at a SunTrust Bank branch on Jan. 23, 2019, in Sebring, Fla.

The county SWAT team was sent in after the gunman, who had barricaded himself inside, refused to negotiate with officers.

After the SWAT team burst inside, the gunman finally surrendered, according to Blackman.

Police were alerted to the incident by a man identified as Victor Sparks who found the bank locked when he tried to go in to make a deposit. Peering inside, Sparks told the Highlands News-Sun, he saw people on the floor and someone walking among them. He told the newspaper he heard a big bang as he dashed off to call 911.

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The situation was confined to the bank and there was no danger to the surrounding area, police said.

Aerial footage streamed by WFLA showed the front of the bank badly damaged.

Contributing: Florida Today

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 people 'senselessly murdered' after gunman takes hostages in Sebring, Fla., bank
Detainment (Credit: Vincent Lambe)

The mother of James Bulger, the toddler murdered in 1993, has said that shes disgusted by the Oscar nomination for a film about her sons killers.

Detainment, made by Irish director Vincent Lambe, was nominated in the best live action short category yesterday.

The film is crafted from police interviews with 10-year-olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who on February 12, 1993, led two-year-old James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, to a railway line, where he was tortured and beaten to death.

But Denise Fergus, Jamess mother, has slammed the decision to nominate the documentary.

I cannot express how disgusted and upset I am at this so called film that has been made and now nominated for an Oscar, she said in a statement released on Twitter.

Its one thing making a film like this without contacting or getting permission from James family but another to have a child re-enact the final hours of Jamess life before he was brutally murdered and making myself and my family have to relive this all over again!

Denise Fergus (Credit: PA)

After everything Ive said about this so called film and asking for it to be removed, its still been nominated for an Oscar even though over 90,000 people have signed a petition which has now been ignored just like my feelings by the Academy.

Im so angry and upset at this present time. I personally want to thank everyone that has signed the petition up to now and hopefully will carry on supporting me in this.

I just hope the film doesnt win its category in the Oscars.

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Lambe has previously spoken of his intentions with the film, and apologised for not making the family aware that he was making it at the time.

I have enormous sympathy for the Bulger family and I am extremely sorry for any upset the film may have caused them. With hindsight, I am sorry I didnt make Mrs Fergus aware of the film, he said in a statement, released after Mrs Fergus first spoke out about it.

The film was not made for financial gain and nobody involved in the making of the film intends to profit from it.

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In an interview with BBC News, he added: I wouldnt expect them to be comfortable with a film which humanises the boys but I do hope they understand the reason it was made, and it certainly wasnt to bring any more grief to them.

The reason the film was made was to try and offer more of an understanding as to how these two 10-year-old boys could have committed such a horrific crime because I think if we dont understand the cause of it, its likely that something similar will happen again in the future.

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Yesterday, the Irish president Michael D. Higgins congratulated the makers of the film on their Oscar nomination on Twitter.

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Cabinet minister Liam Fox: Photo: REUTERS/Toby Melville

Government ministers said they wanted to show there was more to the UK than Brexit as they defended their trip to this years Davos summit.

Conservative ministers denied they were at the event in the Swiss alps to sip champagne with the worlds elite, amid reports a record seven cabinet members are attending throughout the week.

International trade secretary Liam Fox said he would meet with his global counterparts in the hope of confirming that Britains existing trade deals worldwide will continue after Brexit, despite being signed via the EU.

But the Guardian reports that culture secretary Jeremy Wright insisted: Actually, what were trying to get across is theres more to the UK than Brexit.

He said he would attend sessions on the future of artificial intelligence at the conference, attended by 2,500 top business, political and NGO leaders.

READ MORE: George Osborne says no-deal risk is like Russian roulette

When you talk about artificial intelligence, the fundamentals of why we can do well in artificial intelligence are going to remain strong regardless of the Brexit outcome, he said.

Asked if he would be drinking champagne at the event, he replied: I very much doubt it.

Fox gave a terser response when the same newspaper pressed on whether he was really in Davos to enjoy some fizz while rubbing shoulders with the wealthy: Does it look like it?

Figures from the European Union at Davos piled pressure on Westminster to come up with a solution to the ongoing deadlock, which could see Britain abandon its biggest trading partner without a deal on 29 March.

READ MORE: Sony to move Europe HQ to Netherlands over Brexit fears

EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici told Reuters the risk of no-deal Brexit had risen in recent weeks.

A German government spokeswoman said the EU would only discuss a possible delay to Brexit if Britain wished to, as momentum grows among British MPs for an extension to Article 50.

The pound hit a 10-week high today on growing hopes of a possible majority in parliament for an amendment that could delay Brexit if a no-deal exit appears the only alternative.




WASHINGTON  Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and longtime fixer, announced through a spokesman Wednesday that he wouldn't testify before Congress on Feb. 7 because of "threats" from the president.

Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for a series of federal crimes, including campaign finance violations and tax evasion. He was scheduled to testify about his dealings with Trump before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Cohen's testimony was highly anticipated because he is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into election interference and Cohen's payoffs to two women just before Trump's election in 2016.

For years, Cohen worked as Trump's most strident defender in legal, business and political matters yet turned on him as federal prosecutors honed in on his business and legal dealings. Cohen referred to threats from Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

"Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohens appearance will be postponed to a later date," said Lanny Davis, a Cohen spokesman. "This is a time when Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first."

Cohen, reached by phone Wednesday, declined comment. He is scheduled to turn himself in to prison March 6.

Asked about Cohen's allegations, Trump said Wednesday at the White House: "He's only been threatened by the truth."

Trump has called Cohen a liar and said he was unaware of his criminal activities.

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Giuliani said on CNN on Sunday that Cohen's father in law "may have ties to something called organized crime."

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who heads the Oversight and Reform Committee, and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who heads the Intelligence Committee, said in a joint statement that they understood Cohens concerns and called efforts to intimidate congressional witnesses textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest possible terms. The lawmakers and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who heads the Judiciary Committee, expect Cohen to appear before all the panels and they would engage with his lawyer.

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Our nations laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate, or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress, Cummings and Schiff said in the joint statement. The president should make no statement or take any action to obstruct Congress independent oversight and investigative efforts, including by seeking to discourage any witness from testifying in response to a duly authorized request from Congress.

Cohen acknowledged arranging hush money payments before the 2016 election to two women, porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed affairs with Trump. Cohen has implicated the president in the payments, saying he made them at the direction of Trump.

Daniels encouraged Cohen in a tweet laced with profanities Wednesday to testify. Daniels had told "60 Minutes" news magazine in 2011 that she was threatened in a parking lot with her infant daughter when she was first considering selling her story about the alleged affair with Trump.

"This is your chance to be a hero!" Daniels said in her tweet.

The payments led in August to Cohen pleading guilty to a series of crimes, including campaign finance violations and tax evasion in the Southern District of New York.

Cohen admitted that he lied to Congress in the Mueller probe. He has cooperated heavily with Mueller's team and sat down with investigators on seven different occasions, offering details that were "core" to the Russian investigation, according to a court filing by Mueller ahead of Cohen's sentencing last month.

"My own weakness was blind loyalty to the man that caused me to choose the path of darkness," Cohen said during his sentencing hearing in New York. "Time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds."

Cohen said during the hearing that he took "full responsibility" for the nine felonies to which he pleaded guilty  "the personal ones to me and those involving the president of the United States of America."

Earlier this month, Cummings announced Cohen planned to appear voluntarily. Before Democrats took over leadership of the House, Cummings had repeatedly expressed his interest in obtaining Cohen's testimony.

"Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time," Davis said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michael Cohen postpones congressional testimony, claims 'threats' from President Trump and Rudy Giuliani
The Russian Defense Ministry will get a smaller option of Tsirkon hypersonic antiship missile to arm Karakurt-class corvettes of project 22800 and Buyan-M-class corvettes of project 21631.

The Russian Defense Ministry will get a smaller option of Tsirkon hypersonic antiship missile to arm Karakurt-class corvettes of project 22800 and Buyan-M-class corvettes of project 21631.

Tsirkon (Zirkon) missile (Picture source : The Center News)

The missile will be launched from a special container. Previously it was planned to arm cruisers, frigates and submarines with Tsirkon (also called Zirkon). The smaller hypersonic missiles will change the Navy tactic. Corvettes and submarines will ambush adversary and deny its attack groups a possibility to approach the Russian coast, the Izvestia daily writes.

The Navy command told the newspaper the tactical and technical requirements for a new Tsirkon option had been formulated. The smaller size will not affect the missile characteristics considerably. They will not actually cede to the basic option of the antiship missile.

Corvettes of projects 22800 and 21631 are to be armed with the hypersonic missiles. They already carry Kalibr cruise missiles and Onix supersonic antiship missiles. Tsirkon will allow the warships to fight any adversary.



Hypersonic Tsirkon is a principally new weapon. It differs from previous generations by a bigger ability to destroy aircraft carriers due to low vulnerability and bigger payload and flight speed. The blast can sink even big displacement ships.

Hypersonic speed makes Tsirkon lowly vulnerable. All R&D is classified, but open sources said the missile can accelerate to Mach 5-10 speed and destroy targets at distances of 300-500 km. The antiship missiles can be engaged in a group as a single self-coordinated swarm. It makes it impossible to repel the strike.

The antiship missiles can also hit ground targets with known coordinates. Such a possibility is specifically important in coastal areas where corvettes and submarines have to both fight the adversary and back the ground forces.

Tsirkon can be fired from existing launchers, but smaller missiles are better for corvettes and submarines, expert Dmitry Kornev said. "A lighter missile is likely to have the same engine, but a smaller warhead, fuel reserve and design elements. The launching booster is likely to be modified. It is very powerful on Tsirkon. The new booster for a corvette will have a smaller payload," he said.

Hypersonic missiles on corvettes and submarines will strengthen the Navy might, expert Dmitry Boltenkov believes. "Light Tsirkon is necessary for the fleet. The construction of big warships is skidding while a corvette is a cheap carrier for Tsirkon and is built in 2-3 years," he said.

New hypersonic antiship missiles will change the Navy tactic. It is difficult to detect corvettes and submarines specifically near the coast where the air defense protects them. Corvettes and submarines can deliver a massive strike from an ambush at the adversary who approaches the Russian coast, he said.

The Navy is constantly upgrading arms and engagement tactic. Last year the first project 22800 corvette received two Orlan-10 drones. They are necessary for covert reconnaissance of the targets, the Izvestia said.

 Copyright 2019 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Burger King wonder-kid is becoming the CEO of the chains owner.

Restaurant Brands International, parent company of fast-food staples Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, said Wednesday that Daniel Schwartz, 38, will assume the role of executive chairman effective immediately. Assuming the CEO spot at Restaurant Brands is Jose Cil, who has been Burger Kings president since 2014. Cil has touched most of Burger Kings operations around the world for some 18 years, making the appointment logical.

Josh Kobza, Restaurant Brands chief technology officer for the past year, was also promoted to chief operating officer. Prior to becoming CTO, Kobza was the companys chief financial officer for four years.

A source close to the matter told Yahoo Finance the succession planning process began last summer. Schwartz will take a larger role at Restaurant Brandss backer and private equity powerhouse 3G Capital. Schwartz knows 3G Capital well  he joined the company in 2005 and managed its private equity arm until 2010.

Schwartz told Yahoo Finance he will remain very, very active with Restaurant Brands.

The position shift for the admitted numbers cruncher  who is known for living on airplanes, traveling around the globe to Burger King locations  will likely spur speculation that 3G Capital is gearing up for a major acquisition.

All hands on deck, so to speak. But Schwartz said nothing is imminent.

The leadership change marks a rather remarkable end to an eight-year journey atop Restaurant Brands for Schwartz. He was appointed CEO in his early 30s and tasked with building out Restaurant Brandss portfolio. The somewhat reserved Schwartz did just that  taking the global restaurant count to 25,000 from 12,000 and spending $1.8 billion to buy Popeyes in 2017.

Yahoo Finance talked with Schwartz and Cil about their new roles. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daniel Schwartz (outgoing Restaurant Brands CEO -- center); Jose Cil (new Restaurant Brands CEO -- left); Josh Kobza (new Restaurant Brands chief operating officer -- right).

Yahoo Finance: Last time we talked you pretty much said you were living out of airplanes traveling the globe visiting Burger King locations. Why did you make this decision?

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Daniel Schwartz: The only people that sleep on more airplanes than I do are in the room with me here. I tell you Josh and Jose I think their schedules might be even crazier than mine. Jose managed to go to four continents four or five times last year. Josh has already been back and forth to Brazil a couple of times in the last few months.

What we love about this business is that its global and has incredible partners everywhere. We enjoy spending time with them in their markets working side by side. For us, thats how we have been able to stay so close to the business and make the right decisions.

Yahoo Finance: And on the timing?

Schwartz: When you take a step back its really just a natural evolution of the roles that we have already been playing over time. Jose was beginning to manage the relationships of our global partners who are developing Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes. This is a natural transition. Also the Burger King brand has had such success under Joses leadership in Europe and now more globally.

In Joshs area, he has been instrumental in developing a lot of these partnerships that have been successful. We have made more progress on technology under Josh than we had in the past many years before that. Josh could bring a lot of value in bringing a lot of this under his oversight.

We are excited for what the future holds. We have a ton of confidence in the long-term outlook for Restaurant Brands.

Yahoo Finance: Is this also you planning for the next stage of your life and career?

Schwartz: I was pretty blunt on our conference call today. I am not planning to be the CEO of another company. Thats not in the cards for me. I will be a very, very hands-on chairman at Restaurant Brands. I will still be traveling to the different markets. I will spend more time in my capacity as a partner at 3G looking at some of the other investments they have and some prospective investments.

Yahoo Finance: Youre a numbers guy. 3G Capital is a deal-maker. Are they nearing a deal and they asked for your help?

Schwartz: No. I have always served as a partner since 2007. I will spend more time being involved in the other areas in which 3G is involved. There is just so much potential in Restaurant Brands. I am still excited to be a part of it.

Yahoo Finance: Jose, tell us a little about yourself.

Jose Cil: I studied law at the University of Pennsylvania. I joined Burger King as a lawyer back in 2000. Right after the acquisition of Burger King by TPG I moved into operations. I spent about six months in restaurants training back then. Then I moved into my first operations role in North America. I had similar roles internationally, traveling all over the world. I moved to Europe for a general manager role and then came back to the U.S. and ran company stores.

I then left the company for a short while and joined Walmart for about 11 months. And then 3G acquired Burger King and I had a chance to connect with Dan and 3G and they invited me to come back and put the company on the path that its on today. I rejoined in 2010.

The rest is history. The last eight years I have had a chance to view the basis for our brand, one of meritocracy. The idea that those that perform and deliver have the chance to do more. I have been an example of that.

Our goal for Restaurant Brands is to build the most loved restaurant brand in the world. I think we have an amazing portfolio of iconic brands that are in the early stages of growth globally. We are fundamentally a growth company.

Yahoo Finance: So like Daniel, you are also living out of a suitcase.

Cil: Yeah. I spend quite a bit of time on airplanes. I am involved in our businesses globally. I plan to continue that moving closer to the other brands as well.

Yahoo Finance: Plan for your first 100 days?

Cil: The focus will be making sure we have the right people in the right roles with the right priorities and objectives. I think we have a great team. I will be working closely with our franchisees at Popeyes and Burger King and Tim Hortons.

Yahoo Finance: Daniel took the restaurant count to 25,000 from 12,000. Can you get it to 45,000 or more?

Cil: I worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Daniel on getting to that number. We dont have any specific targets we want to focus on. We just want to have happy guests and profitable franchisees. We have a lot of work to do. We are early days.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSozzi

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Sebastien Roblin

Security,

F-15s are better-suited to performing long-endurance air defense patrols than the F-35 or F-16, and could free up the pricey F-22 and F-35s for critical frontline roles. Is this enough of a reason to buy the new F-15X?

Meet Boeing's New F-15X Fighter: Is This the F-35s Worst Nightmare?

The F-15X would entail building new F-15s with strengthened wings affording 20,000 hours for airframe life and more fuel-efficient engines, decreasing operating costs to $27,000 per flight hour. Avionic upgrades would include Legion infrared-sensor pods (potentially useful for hunting stealth aircraft), fully digitized displays and fly-by-wire controls, more flexible APG-82 radars, EPAWSS defensive jamming suite and compatibility with air-to-ground munitions.

On December 21, Bloomberg Government reported that the Pentagon was planning to set aside $1.2 billion in the 2020 defense budget to procure twelve new F-15X fighters, a heavily upgraded model of the twin-engine jet first introduced into U.S. service in 1976.

(This first appeared last month.)

If this leads to full-scale procurement, multi-role F-15Xs could replace around 250 aging F-15C and D air-superiority fighters based in the U.S., Japan and England which would either be retired or require expensive upgrades. The new Eagles would be produced by Boeing at its manufacturing line in St. Louis, which in recent years has built upgraded F-15s for export.

Earlier in September 2018, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told Valerie Insinna of Defense News the air force was not interested in the F-15X:

"In any of the fights that we have been asked to plan for, more fifth gen [stealth] aircraft make a huge difference, and we think that getting to 50-50 means not buying new fourth gen aircraft, it means continuing to increase the fifth generation.

The air force believes non-stealthy F-15s and F-16s would have little survivability attempting to penetrate airspace defended by advanced air defense missiles like Russias S-400 system, unlike the fifth-generation F-22 and F-35.

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Instead, according to Bloombergs sources, the F-15X order was pushed by the top brass in the Department of Defense, including both outgoing Secretary of Defense Mattis and his acting replacement, Patrick Shanahan.

Shanahan himself is a former Boeing executive, though his staff claims he has recused himself from decisions regarding Boeing purchases. Boeing scored three major new defense contracts in 2018: the T-X trainer, the MQ-25 aerial refueling drone and the MH-139 utility helicopter. If the F-15X enters full-scale production, that will guarantee Boeing another stream of manufacturing and sustainment income well into the mid-twenty-first century.

The F-15X would be built to cost-efficiently perform missions that dont require stealth capability, and to last a long time in service. The 1980s-vintage F-15Cs (and two-seat F-1Ds) are relatively expensive to operate at roughly $44,000 per flight hour, lack ground attack capabilities, and will likely soon be retired due to the expense it would take to modernize them and extend their airframe lives.

However, Eagles have a longer range and can attain speeds 50 percent faster than new F-35 stealth fighters, making them better-suited to perform routine air-defense patrols. Short-range F-16s with weaker radars and higher accident rates would likely assume their role if the F-15Cs are retired without replacement.

The F-15X would entail building new F-15s with strengthened wings affording 20,000 hours for airframe life and more fuel-efficient engines, decreasing operating costs to $27,000 per flight hour. Avionic upgrades would include Legion infrared-sensor pods (potentially useful for hunting stealth aircraft), fully digitized displays and fly-by-wire controls, more flexible APG-82 radars, EPAWSS defensive jamming suite and compatibility with air-to-ground munitions. Furthermore, the F-15X would be able to carry a massive twenty long-range air-to-air missiles on five AMBER quad-racks, plus two short-range heat-seeking air-to-air missiles.

Part of the F-15Xs appeal is that, unlike a brand-new airframe, it could be inexpensively integrated into the air forces pre-existing training and logistical infrastructure for F-15s. Furthermore, Tyler Rogoway of The Drive has reported Boeing could offer the aircraft at a fairly low, fixed fly-away cost because it involves well-established technologies. Supposedly, the aircrafts lower maintenance and fuel costs would pay back the aircrafts sticker price within a decades time.

It bears noting the $100 million per plane implied by the proposed acquisition seemingly exceeds the current cost of an F-35A stealth fighter. However, it may include additional services or non-recurring expenses, or represent a higher Low-Rate of Initial Production fly-away cost.

The air force brass objects to the F-15X because it may draw away funding from the F-35 and an eventual sixth-generation long-range Precision Counter Air stealth fighter. The air warfare branch sees fourth-generation fighters as excessive assets that could be sent into airspace defended by modern surface-to-air missiles on Day 1 or 2 of a conflict with China or Russia. Nor would they overmatch current 4.5-generation fighters like the Su-35 Flanker-E or J-11D, and F-15Xs could be outclassed should Russia or China field significant numbers of stealth fighters in the 2020s or 2030s.

However, the F-15X could offer a path to sustainably building up mass, ie. generating numbers and the ability to replace lossesif it can live up to the claimed cost-efficiency. F-15s are better-suited to performing long-endurance air defense patrols than the F-35 or F-16, and could free up the pricey F-22 and F-35s for critical frontline roles. While Eagles wouldnt be ideal for penetrating strikes in a high-intensity conflict, they could instead lug large numbers of long-range missiles outside of defended-airspace bubbles and team up with stealth fighters, which are constrained to just six to eight missiles carried internally. The stealth aircraft could creep forward, generate targeting data and pass it back via datalink to F-15 missile trucks to prosecute the strikeallowing them to take on more numerous enemies.

The issue of cost-efficiency is acute as the air force has declared its objective to expand from 312 to 386 squadrons despite suffering from a shortage of trained pilots and an aging aircraft inventory. A defense-spending surge in 2018 is unlikely to be long sustained. Thus, F-15Xs could offer a cost-efficient means to sustain aircraft inventory numbers and free stealth aircraft from routine missions so they can concentrate on those which require their expensive capabilities.

However, that means spending money now buying new fighters to save even more money later by paying less for their sustainmentthe sort of budgetary castor oil that can be politically hard to swallow.

Bloomberg claimed the air force had accepted the limited F-15X fighter order, though the procurement will not be confirmed until a budget is submitted on February 4, 2019. However, the F-15X may continue to face opposition from an air force keen to replace its fourth-generation aircraft for stealth fighters as quickly as possible.

Sebastien Roblin holds a masters degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring.

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Nouakchott (AFP) - Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Wednesday called for the west African country to root out hate speech as he headed a rally aimed at dampening ethnic tensions.

"The people who are behind this speech are a minority, but we have to put an end to their toxic behaviour for the sake of the future," the president said at the march in the capital Nouakchott.

He also warned he would use a law adopted last year to crack down on "hateful, racist or violent speech".

A conservative desert country with a populaton of 4.4 million, Mauritania is wrestling with tensions between communities of Arab-Berber and sub-Saharan African descent.

Marchers carried banners promoting ethnic cohesion and chanted "no to hate, no to extremism and inciting violence" at the rally, which organisers said was attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

Mauritanians were given the day off with pay on Wednesday for the march, the first led by Aziz since he came to power in a coup in 2008.

He called for the gathering in response to ongoing combative disputes on social networks, including Whatsapp, between the country's Arab-Berber community and the Haratines, former slaves and their descendants.

Slavery remains deeply entrenched in Mauritania, the last country in the world to abolish the practice in 1981, after light-skinned Berber-Arab Moors enslaved local black populations when they settled there centuries ago.

Aziz said he recognised the country had "social and economic disparities, like everywhere in the world where there are rich and poor," but the "remedy for this lies in education".

The opposition declined an invitation to the rally, saying "this march cannot not be a solution" to the problems justifying it and calling for a national dialogue to find "sustainable solutions".
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. MMC recently announced that Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC (MMA) has entered into an agreement to buy Bouchard Insurance later this month. Terms of the transaction are not disclosed. MMA is a middle market agency subsidiary of Marsh, a subsidiary of the parent company.



Founded in 1948, Bouchard Insurance has offices across Clearwater, Fort Myers, Kissimmee, Maitland, Sarasota and Tampa with 260 employees. It caters to property/casualty, employee health & benefits and personal lines insurance needs of midsize businesses. It specializes in agribusiness, community associations, construction, education, healthcare, hospitality, staffing and social services industries.



Post closure, Bouchard will continue to operate from current office locations as Bouchard Insurance, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company.



MMA is likely to be highly benefited by this acquisition as the transaction would help it expand its presence in Florida. Notably, Bouchard would be able to enrich customer experience and employee relations by joining the MMA team.



This is yet another strategic initiative of Marsh & McLennan to boost its portfolio and establish its presence in the United States. A number of acquisitions made over the past many years, significant capital expenditures undertaken for growth, launch of products and services, enhancement of digital capabilities and branching out into new businesses will further drive the company's growth.



Of late, the company completed significant buyouts such as Pavilion Financial Corporation, Summit Strategies Group, Otis-Magie Insurance Agency, Klein Agency and Insurance Associates, Houston-based Wortham Insurance plus Eustis Insurance & Benefits.



All these transactions further poise the company well for long-term growth.



Shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have inched up 0.2% in a years time against its industrys decline of 5.6%.

Story continues



Acquisition Spree in Insurance Space



Given the insurance industrys all-time high available capital, there has been a spate of acquisitions in the space of late. Recently, Hull & Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc. BRO bought Izzo Insurance Services. The acquisition will boost the acquirers workers compensation insurance solutions portfolio. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. AJG has acquired Interstate Insurance Underwriters to drive Risk Placement Services in northern Louisiana. Horace Mann Educators Corporation HMN purchased Benefit Consultants Group to ramp up its strategic capabilities in the retirement market.



You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?



From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.



This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs.



See Stocks Today >>







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Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMN) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
A furloughed IRS worker days away from running out of life-sustaining insulin started a GoFundMe to plea for help.

A family is selling their clothes. A single mother borrowed from parents already as other families are racking up credit card debt.

As the government shutdown heads into its fifth week, workers in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky shared how their families are dealing with the loss of income now. More than 800,000 federal workers are going without paychecks.

More than 4,000 government employees work for at the IRS office in Covington, Ky. Here are four of their stories.

Mary Dallas and her husband, Kevin Dallas, both furloughed IRS employees stand outside This and That BBQ on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019 in Florence, Ky.

Urgent need

Mother of three Herlean Younce created a GoFundMe campaign online to help pay for insulin she needs to manage her Type II diabetes She has worked at the IRS office in Covington for nearly 30 years.

Younce's salary as an agent specializing in nonprofits typically covers the difference between what insurance pays and her out of pocket expense.

"I need my insulin," she said. "That whole staying alive thing is really important."

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company gave Younce a certificate she can redeem for a week's supply of insulin, which will get her through next weekend.

"People are not understanding," Younce said. "I cant get my money. Donald Trump is holding it hostage, thats what it is."

Younce and her husband have twin 9-year-olds and a 12-year-old. Her husband is working a second job filling orders for DoorDash Food Delivery to raise money for her insulin.

She's planning to go to hospital emergency rooms to ask for insulin every three days on her insurance soon.

"It will rack up a huge bill, but it's what I have to do," she said.

The cable bill is going unpaid and it may be disconnected. Their mortgage lender is working with them, she said.

Borrowing from parents

Covington single mother Danielle Miller said she has already borrowed money from her parents who live on a fixed income. She's been on the job as a tax examiner at the IRS for 14 years.

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"I have two kids who live with me at home," Miller said. "I have no other income. I don't get child support."

Missing their last paycheck made the shutdown real for furloughed workers, she said. She will miss a second paycheck next week.

She filed for unemployment, which she can't get if she is ordered to work without pay. The president has guaranteed backpay once the shutdown ends.

The IRS will call back 36,000 employees to process tax returns and refunds.

Miller said her landlord has agreed to allow her to pay rent in two installments in February if needed.

"Over the last week I've spent about $35 on groceries," she said. Her normal grocery bill is about $100.

Eating soup

Mary and Kevin Dallas met at the IRS where they have both worked for more than 18 years. They're sending a daughter to the private Holy Cross High School in Covington. The Catholic school has allowed them to delay monthly tuition payments, said Kevin, a human resources specialist.

The couple received deferrals for many of their monthly bills, he said. Duke Energy offered to put them on even billing. The family already was on even billing to spread higher cost monthly utility payments evenly over the course of a year.

They've dipped into savings. They are eating soup and stews that provide leftovers instead of eating out about four times a week, he said. They are not certain they will be able to pay the next Duke bill when it comes Feb. 1.

Feeling trapped

Becky and Justin Culver are both IRS workers. They are dipping into savings, she said.

Groceries are going to credit cards, said the IRS call site manager. She's worked at IRS for 18 years.

Both of them were told they didn't have to report back after saying doing so would create a financial hardship, she said.

Married IRS employees Becky Ayers Culver and Justin Culver, seen at Smale Riverfront Park in Cincinnati, are among the 800,000 federal workers going without a paycheck during the government shutdown.

"For my husband, he feels tied to his job because he is in the student loan forgiveness program so he feels like he should wait it out," she said. "For me, I am going to college for accounting and my tuition rate is based on my government employment so we both feel stuck."

For now, they are going through clothes to sell them for consignment. They are selling DVDs and books. Things found in the basement are being put on Facebook's marketplace instead of having a yard sale, she said.

"I don't think people realize how demoralizing it is to be in this position and I wish they did, or that they cared more," Culver said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Local furloughed federal worker on pay: 'Donald Trump is holding it hostage'
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawyers representing owners of Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles told a U.S. judge they are seeking up to $106.5 million in legal fees and out-of-pocket costs in connection with a settlement over excess vehicle emissions, but they are in talks to finalize the amount, officials said Wednesday.

The attorneys said in a filing late on Tuesday they had reviewed more than 4 million pages of documents and were involved in almost 100 depositions. They seek up to $99.5 million in legal fees and $7 million in costs.

Ken Feinberg, a court-appointed mediator, said at a hearing on Wednesday there has been no agreement over the amount of the legal fees, but talks have been ongoing between Fiat Chrysler, German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG.UL] and lawyers for 104,000 vehicle owners.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said he hoped an agreement could be reached by early February.

The Italian-American automaker on Jan. 10 announced it settled with the U.S. Justice Department, the state of California and diesel owners over civil claims that it used illegal software that produced false results on diesel-emissions tests.

Fiat Chrysler estimated the value of the settlements at about $800 million, a figure that could potentially rise to more than $900 million with the legal fees.

Bosch, which provided emissions control software for the Fiat Chrysler vehicles, also agreed to pay $27.5 million to resolve claims from diesel owners.

Under the settlement, Fiat Chrysler and Bosch will give owners $307.5 million or about $2,800 per vehicle for diesel software updates.

Fiat Chrysler and Bosch agreed to pay the owners' legal bills on top of the $307.5 million to resolve consumer claims.

Fiat Chrysler will pay $311 million in total civil penalties to U.S. and California regulators, up to $280 million to resolve claims from diesel owners and extended warranties worth $105 million.

The settlement covers 104,000 Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee diesels from the model years 2014 to 2016, said the U.S. Justice Department, which is also conducting a criminal probe.

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In addition, Fiat Chrysler will pay $72.5 million for state civil penalties and $33.5 million in payments to California to offset excess emissions and consumer claims.

The hefty penalty was the latest fallout from the U.S. governments stepped-up enforcement of vehicle emissions rules after Volkswagen AG <VOWG_p.DE> admitted in September 2015 to intentionally evading emissions rules. Fiat Chrysler will be required to work with vendors of aftermarket catalytic converters to improve the efficiency of 200,000 converters in the 47 states that do not already require the use of the California-mandated high efficiency gasoline vehicle catalysts. Justice Department officials have estimated that effort will cost $50 million to $70 million.

Regulators said Fiat Chrysler used defeat devices to cheat emissions tests in real-world driving. Fiat Chrysler did not admit liability.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Cynthia Osterman)
The Daily Beast

Comedy CentralUnlike Jimmy Kimmel, The Daily Shows Jordan Klepper couldnt get the MyPillow guy to come to him. So he did what he does best and went to the MyPillow guy.In his latest field piece from MAGA world, the long-serving correspondent traveled to Mike Lindells free speech Woodstock in Wisconsin with the hope of interviewing some of the election truthers who are still holding out hope that Donald Trump will return to the White House this summer. He likely never could have imagined tha
Former radio presenter Karungo wa Thangwa once chose to keep his dreadlocks over a TV anchor job at a top media house in Kenya.

The Kiambu Youth Affairs executive, during an interview with a local tabloid, said he had passed auditions to present news but was told he had to cut his dreadlocks.

According to Karungo, he was only 25 years and enjoying his youth after coming from China, where he worked as a lecturer.

Although I had a job on radio, I wanted to look for greener pastures. That is why I went for a TV interview. After the conditions they gave me, I asked myself if I cut the hair, will I look photogenic? I had to forego the job and keep my hair, he recalled.

He said that he kept the dreadlocks for 10 years before he decided to get rid of them.

I had them for two years from China because there was no good barber to take care of my hair. I went back to China and they employed me with my hair, and I stayed with them for a further 10 years.

Referencing the recent case of a student from Kibera who was kicked out of school because of dreadlocks, Karungo wa Thangwa termed it as discrimination.

Every school has its rules and regulations but nobody should be discriminated against because of their culture or religion. As long as they are tidily made and not affecting other students, then the child has no reason not to be allowed in school, he stated.
RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia's parliament on Wednesday backed a new government under Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins of the centre-right New Unity party, ending months of political deadlock following October's election. Karins' coalition consists of five of the seven parties in parliament, excluding only the pro-Russia Harmony party and the Union of Greens and Farmers. The U.S.-born Karins, 54, said his government aimed to clean up Latvia's financial system, mired in money-laundering scandals, and to tackle corruption. Latvia's central bank governor is awaiting trial on charges of accepting a bribe, which he denies. One of the biggest banks, ABLV, went into liquidation last year after U.S. authorities accused it of laundering vast amounts of money for clients in the former Soviet Union. "This is actually a threat to our whole society. We need to address this threat," Karins, a former economy minister and linguistics professor, said in a speech to parliament before the vote confirming him as prime minister. October's general election delivered a highly fragmented parliament and Karins' New Unity, holding just eight seats out of 100, is the smallest of seven parties. The Harmony party, which is supported by ethnic Russians who make up a quarter of Latvia's population, is the biggest party with 23 seats, but other parties have shut it out of power. GRAPHIC-Latvia's euro cash waves: http://tmsnrt.rs/2FFXn3W (Reporting by Gederts Gelzis; Editing by Simon Johnson and Gareth Jones)
LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles teachers' union ended its week-long strike Tuesday night, union leaders said, overwhelmingly supporting an agreement with the nation's second-largest school district.

Teachers will return to 900 Los Angeles Unified School District public schools on Wednesday, restoring a sense of normalcy for about 500,000 students.

Although the union will finish counting votes tomorrow, union president Alex Caputo-Pearl said the vast supermajority approved the settlement reached Tuesday morning. The strike began on Jan. 14, with teachers calling for smaller class sizes, raises and more school nurses and counselors.

"This is a historic agreement," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said earlier in the day. "It's time for a new day in public education in Los Angeles."

More: More strikes ahead? Teachers say they love their jobs but can't pay their bills, poll shows

Related: We followed 15 of America's teachers on a day of frustrations, pressures and hard-earned victories

As Los Angeles teachers prepared to return to the classroom, teachers in Denver voted to strike by a 93 percent vote, The Denver Post reported. Teachers can walk out as early as Monday, the Post reported, marking the union's first strike in 25 years.

I was hoping and praying it wouldnt come to this, teacher Nik Arnoldi told The Post after voting for the strike. Im worried for my kids, and I hope theyre in good hands, but we need to do this for them.

The Los Angeles agreement includes class size reductions in all grade levels, 300 additional school nurses, 80 new teacher librarians, one counselor for every 500 students and a 3 percent raise for teachers, Caputo-Pearl said during a Tuesday night press conference

More: Los Angeles' striking teachers reach 'historic' settlement with school district

L.A. teachers' strike: Homeless kids lose their island of stability during strike

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Los Angeles teachers end week-long strike after reaching 'historic agreement'
Beirut (AFP) - Kurdish-led fighters overran the last village held by the Islamic State group in Syria on Wednesday, confining its once vast cross-border "caliphate" to two small hamlets, a war monitor said.

It is the culmination of a broad offensive launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces last September with US-led coalition support in which they have reduced the jihadists' last enclave on the north bank of the Euphrates valley near the Iraqi border to a tiny rump.

The capture of the village of Baghouz leaves the few remaining diehard IS fighters holed up in scattered farmhouses among the irrigated fields and orchards on the north bank of the Euphrates River.

"Search operations are continuing in Baghouz to find any IS fighters who are still hiding," the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

Redur Khalil, a senior Kurdish official, said the latest gains only heralded a new phase in the fight against the jihadists.

"Geographically, the noose is tightening around IS," he told AFP. "But we have to repeat it: the geographical end of IS does not mean the organisation is terminated."

"Our battle is still long and will be waged in several phases."

The Observatory said late on Tuesday that around 4,900 people, mostly women and children but including 470 IS fighters, had fled the jihadists' fast dwindling enclave in two days.

Of those 3,500 surrendered to the advancing SDF on Tuesday alone.

They were evacuated on dozens of trucks chartered by the SDF.

- 'Diehard fighters' -

The fall of Baghouz follows the SDF's capture of the enclave's sole town of Hajin and the villages of Al-Shaafa and Sousa in recent weeks.

The last two hamlets still under IS control are Safafna and Sajla, on which Kurdish-led operations are expected to focus in the coming days.

The new wave of departures means that nearly 27,000 people have left former IS areas since early December, including almost 1,800 jihadists who have surrendered, the Observatory said.

Story continues

The whereabouts of the ultra-elusive IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has made just one public appearance -- in Iraq's then IS-held second city Mosul in 2014 -- are unknown.

The US-led coalition declined to be drawn on when it expected its SDF allies to overrun the final sliver of territory still under IS control.

"It is difficult to say how much longer, despite the progress," coalition spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan said.

"We try to stay away from timelines as it is more about degrading the enemy's capabilities.

"We are seeing a lot of enemy fighters fleeing. The Syrian forces are less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Iraqi border but still fighting against a resistance of diehard fighters."

The remaining jihadists are well within artillery range of Iraqi forces stationed along the border, who are determined to prevent fugitive IS fighters from slipping across.

On Saturday, Iraqi shelling and air strikes on IS positions in an around Baghouz killed at least 20 jihadists, according to the Observatory.

- Trump controversy -

The coalition has stepped up its own air strikes against IS since the jihadists killed four Americans and 15 other people in a suicide bombing on a restaurant in the flashpoint northern town of Manbij on January 16.

The US losses were the biggest since Washington deployed troops in Syria in 2014 in support of the SDF.

Previously it had reported just two combat losses in separate incidents.

The Manbij bombing rekindled controversy triggered by President Donald Trump last month with his surprise announcement of a full withdrawal from Syria.

The US president justified the order with the assertion that the jihadists had now been "largely defeated" in Syria, a claim that the attack threw into renewed question.

It is a far cry from the jihadists' peak in 2014, when they overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, and IS proclaimed a "caliphate" in areas under their control.

The gains have come at the cost of heavy losses for the mainly Kurdish fighters of the SDF and despite their sense of betrayal by their US ally after Trump's withdrawal announcement.

Neighbouring Turkey has threatened repeatedly to launch a cross-border operation to crush the Kurdish fighters of the SDF and the autonomous region they have set up in areas of northern and northeastern Syria under their control.

Turkish troops had been held at bay by the intervention of US troops who set up observation posts along the border and mounted joint patrols with Kurdish fighters.

But with those troops gone, the Kurds fear they will be exposed to the full might of the Turkish military.
We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So before you buy or sell CVS Group plc (LON:CVSG), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We dont think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia University study found that insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers.

Check out our latest analysis for CVS Group

Want to help shape the future of investing tools and platforms? Take the survey and be part of one of the most advanced studies of stock market investors to date.

CVS Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when Senior Independent Non-Executive Director Michael McCollum sold UK395k worth of shares at a price of UK10.20 per share. That is hardly a positive sign, even though it took place above the latest price (UK6.65). So it may not shed much light on insider confidence at current levels.

In the last twelve months insiders purchased 11.45k shares for UK71k. But they sold 41.72k for UK424k. In total, CVS Group insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. The average sell price was around UK10.15. It is certainly not great to see that insiders have sold shares in the company. But the selling was at much higher prices than the current share price (UK6.65), so it probably doesnt tell us a lot about the value on offer today. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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AIM:CVSG Insider Trading January 23rd 19

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

CVS Group Insiders Bought Stock Recently

Over the last three months, weve seen significant insider buying at CVS Group. Not only was there no selling that we can see, but they collectively bought UK71k worth of shares. This is a positive in our book as it implies some confidence.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Based on our data, CVS Group insiders have about 0.7% of the stock, worth approximately UK3.2m. I generally like to see higher levels of ownership.

So What Do The CVS Group Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isnt so positive. The transactions over the last year dont give us confidence, and nor does the fairly low insider ownership, but at least the recent buying is a positive. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in CVS Group, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

If you would prefer to check out another company  one with potentially superior financials  then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un at their Singapore meeting in June.

WASHINGTON  North Korea's Kim Jong Un expressed "great satisfaction" with a letter from Donald Trump and is looking forward to a second nuclear summit with the U.S. president, a North Korean state news agency reported Wednesday.

Kim "spoke highly of President Trump for expressing his unusual determination and will for the settlement of the issue with a great interest in the second DPRK-U.S. summit," said the Korean Central News Agency, via a translation from the KCNA Watch website.

Last week, Trump announced he is planning to meet with Kim a second time in late February, with the specific date and location to be announced later.

The two met in Singapore in June.

Trump sought the second summit even though U.S. lawmakers and even some of his own advisers have criticized North Korea for not following up on Kim's pledge at the summit to denuclearize and dismantle his nation's nuclear weapons programs.

North Korea also did not announce the day and location of the summit, which Trump agreed to after meetings in Washington between U.S. diplomats and a North Korean delegation headed by top aide Kim Yong Chol.

Members of that delegation briefed Kim on their talks as they delivered the letter from Trump, KCNA said.

"Upon receiving the good personal letter sent by President Trump, the Supreme Leader expressed great satisfaction," the news agency said.



Kim also ordered aides to make "good technical preparations" for the second summit.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kim Jong Un expresses 'great satisfaction' with letter from Donald Trump
WASHINGTON  The federal government has been partially shut down for more than a month because of an impasse between Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over the president's demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the southern border.

Democrats have remained adamant in their opposition to such a barrier. However, on Wednesday, House Democratic leaders were drafting a letter to Trump that would offer roughly $5 billion in border security if the president agrees to reopen the government. Their proposal would not include money for any new structures along the border.

Meanwhile, the Senate is expected to vote twice Thursday on possible remedies. One bill would provide the money as part of a spending bill with immigration provisions to reopen the government. The other would simply reopen the government temporarily while negotiations continue. Both might fail, meaning the impasse could continue.

How much fence does $5.7 billion buy?

Along the 2,000-mile U.S. border with Mexico, the Trump administration's plan calls for building 215 miles of barriers. About 100 miles would be for new fencing and the rest would replace or bolster existing barriers.

Where will the new fence go?

The administration hasn't detailed publicly where the new 100 miles of fence will go. The largest gaps in barriers are in Texas, but the federal government has faced challenges building parts of the wall there in the past.

A USA TODAY Network analysis shows that out of more than 330 condemnation cases in South Texas filed in the past decade as the government began to erect fencing in the area, some 80 of them remained unresolved. On the border in Texas, more than 5,000 property parcels sit within feet of the border, meaning far more private property would be required to extend the current fencing.

How much of the border is fenced already?

About 654 miles of the border is fenced, leaving about 1,350 miles open. The barriers include 280 miles of vehicle barriers such as X-shaped crossbars nicknamed Normandy barriers or short steel posts to block cars. But people can cross over, under or through those.

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The vehicle barriers are reinforced with 20 miles of pedestrian barriers in spots. And there are 374 miles of pedestrian barriers.

Why replacement vs. new fence?

The legacy fencing along the border is 10- to 12-foot concrete, which Border Patrol agents say are easy to climb and difficult for agents to identify whats happening on the other side. The replacement pedestrian barriers are 18- to 30-feet tall steel bollard fencing reinforced with cement and rebar. The so-called slats fencing allows agents to see through the barrier. The fencing is designed to withstand shallow digging, delay climbing and prevent migrants from perching on top to hurl rocks at agents.

Has Trump added to the wall yet?

New border barriers built under the Trump administration amount to a few miles of fencing.

Customs and Border Protection got $341 million in May 2017 to replace 40 miles of pedestrian and vehicle barriers. About 20 miles of vehicle barriers were deemed no longer operationally effective in the El Paso sector. El Paso and San Diego are getting another 20 miles of new barriers. By Dec. 21, about 35 of those 40 miles were completed.

CBP got $1.375 billion in March 2018 to build and replace about 82 miles of barriers in several locations. By Dec. 31, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees construction for CBP, had nearly $700 million under contract for barriers in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas; Tucson and Yuma sectors in Arizona; and El Centro and San Diego sectors in California, according to CBP spokesman Andrew Meehan.

Another $300 million is ready to be awarded when the government reopens, Meehan said. The remaining $175 million supports CBP management for real estate, legal issues and other support during the duration of the projects, he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Key shutdown question: How much border wall does $5.7 billion buy?
The Kentucky high school student seen in a Make America Great Again hat during a confrontation with an elderly Native American protester on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial says he wishes it never happened, but isnt sorry for standing his ground.

As far as standing there, I had every right to do so, Nick Sandmann told NBCs Savannah Guthrie in an interview that aired on the Today show Wednesday. In hindsight, I wish we couldve walked away and avoided the whole thing. But I cant say that Im sorry for listening to him and standing there.

Sandmann, a junior at Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky., was seen in a viral video facing off silently with Nathan Phillips, a 64-year-old Native American protester. Phillips was beating a drum and praying as several students made a tomahawk chop gesture that Native Americans consider racist. Phillips said he heard students chant Build the wall, although the recordings dont support that.

I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips, Sandmann said. I respect him. Id like to talk to him.

Nick Sandmann (Screengrab courtesy NBCs Today show)

The Covington students, who were in Washington for the anti-abortion March for Life, were waiting for a bus outside the Lincoln Memorial when they were heckled by a different group of protesters identifying themselves as Hebrew Israelites, an African-American religious sect.

The students responded by chanting school fight songs when Phillips and a group of Native American protesters, who were at the end of the Indigenous Peoples March, approached.

It was getting ugly, and I was thinking: Ive got to find myself an exit out of this situation and finish my song at the Lincoln Memorial, Phillips told the Washington Post. I started going that way, and that guy in the hat stood in my way, and we were at an impasse. He just blocked my way.

Sandmann told Guthrie he wanted the situation to die down and now wishes he wouldve walked away. But he also didnt want to be disrespectful to Mr. Phillips and walk away if he was trying to talk to me.

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Sandmann standing in front of Native American protester Nathan Phillips. (Photo: Kaya Taitano/social media via Reuters)

The video of their brief encounter sparked a firestorm online. The frame that went viral showed Sandmann with an expression that was widely described as a smirk.

The teen, speaking in a subdued monotone from what appeared to be his family living room, told Guthrie he was trying to defuse the situation with a smile.

I see it as a smile saying that this is the best youre going to get out of me, Sandmann said. You wont get any further reaction of aggression.

People have judged me based off one expression, which I wasnt smirking, but people have assumed thats what I have and theyve gone from there to labeling me as a racist person.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

As debate over their encounter lit up social media and cable news, President Trump expressed support for the students, who he said were being treated unfairly and smeared by the media.

Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be, Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham said that Trump had invited the students to the White House, and that the visit could come as early as Wednesday. But on Tuesday night, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders that if any meeting were to take place, it would occur after the government shutdown, now in its 33rd day.

The high school, which was closed Tuesday out of what officials described as security concerns, was reopened Wednesday.

Its been terrible, Sandmann said. People have threatened our lives.

___

Read more from Yahoo News:
Four days after Nick Sandmann sparked national controversy for an apparent confrontation with Native American veteran Nathan Phillips in Washington, D.C., the Kentucky high schooler has given his first interview.

On Tuesday, NBC released a clip of Sandmanns talk with the Today shows Savannah Guthrie. In the snippet, Guthrie asked Sandmann whether he owed anyone an apology or saw fault in himself in any way for the encounter.

As far as standing there, I had every right to do so, Sandmann told Guthrie. My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips. I respect him. Id like to talk to him.

The Covington Catholic High School junior went on to say that he would have rather the entire incident not happened.

In hindsight I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing, he said.

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Multiple videos showed Sandmann with a fixed stare, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, as Phillips, an Omaha tribal elder, sang a ceremonial song.

Students from Covington Catholic High School were in Washington, D.C., Jan. 18 for the anti-abortion March for Life rally while Phillips was at the National Mall for the Indigenous Peoples March. The incident took place in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall.

After he and his classmates were widely criticized online for the clip of their confrontation with Phillips, Sandmann has been quick to establish his own side of the story. On Sunday, he released a statement that said Phillips had singled him out for a confrontation.

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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump weighed in on the politically fraught story, saying that the high school student has become a symbol of Fake News and how evil it can be.

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Sandmanns full interview will air on Wednesday during the Today show.
Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

K12 Incorporated (NYSE: LRN)

Q2 2019 Earnings Conference Call

Jan. 22, 2019, 5:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Greetings and welcome to K12 Second Quarter Fiscal 2019 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions) As remainder this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Mike Kraft. Please go ahead.

Mike Kraft -- Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications

Thank you and good afternoon. Wecome to K12's second quarter earnings call for fiscal year 2019. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that in addition to historical information, certain comments made during this conference call may be considered forward-looking statements. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor's provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

They should be considered in conjunction with cautionary statements contained in our earnings release and the company's periodic filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.

In addition, these -- this conference call contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best analysis only as of the day of this live call. K12 does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

For further information concerning risks and uncertainties that could materially affect financial and operational performance and results, please refer to our reports filed with the SEC. These reports include, without limitation, cautionary statements made in K12's 2018 annual report on Form 10-K.

These filings can be found on the Investor Relations website at www.k12.com. In addition to disclosing financial results in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the U.S., or GAAP, we will discuss certain information that is considered non-GAAP financial information.

Story continues

A reconciliation of this non-GAAP financial information to the most closely comparable GAAP information was included in our earnings release and is also posted on our website. This call is open to the public and is being webcast. The call will be available for replay for 30 days.

With me on today's call is Nate Davis, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board; and James Rhyu, Chief Financial Officer and President of Product and Technology. Following our prepared remarks, we will answer any questions you may have.

I'd like to now turn the call over to Nate. Nate?

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Thank you, Mike and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us on the call today. Given we're in the middle of the school year, there's not

a lot of new news, so I'll be more brief than normal. First, let me start by highlighting a few financial results for the quarter.

Revenue was $254.9 million in the second quarter fiscal year '19 and increase of 17.4% year-over-year. Consistent with our first quarter, announcement revenue growth was a result of a strong Fall Enrollment season. Because of the strong revenue growth, adjusted operating income for the quarter was $37.4 million versus $20.9 billion in the prior year. Now James will provide more details on the financials in a few minutes. But importantly, our revenue operating income and capital expenditures met or beat the guidance we provided last quarter.

This underscores the predictability and reliability of our results. For the fiscal year '19, we predict revenue when operating income growth will be consistent with the guidance we provided last quarter. Revenues are anticipated to be between $1 billion and $1.01 billion and adjusted operating income in the range of $56 million to $60 million. And candidly, current trends do suggest that we will be at the higher end of this guidance.

As I noted a minute ago, we're in the middle of the school year, and at this time of the year, we're keenly focused on all of the behind-the-scenes blocking and tackling to support student academics, implement new tools and support systems for teachers, and fine tuning our curriculum. I won't bore you by revealing all of that work, it's in process.

However, the one initiative I want to provide an update on is Career Readiness. We've made significant strides in building this business and I'm optimistic about the impact Career Readiness will have on K12's future as well as what this option can do for students we serve. First, we're working with existing and new partners to expand the number of schools that offer Career Readiness. Given the status of current negotiations with our school board partners, we will likely add between three and seven new programs for the upcoming school year beginning fall 2019.

This will increase the number of Career Readiness programs between 16 and 20. With that number of schools, more than 30% of high school students across this nation will have access to a K12 power Career Readiness program. In future years, this market coverage should grow more than 50%. And all of this leads to opportunity to help more students with career-ready education and increase enrollment to the benefit of shareholders. To drive enrollment to those schools, our marketing team is in the midst of creating a unique marketing campaign for the destination career academies. We'll launch a separate website next month at destinationacademy.com.

Team is currently trialing new tag lines and messaging, developing new go to market strategies and investigating the use of targeted media approaches. They conducted surveys with prospective parents and high school students to segment the market, and identified those likely to be interested in an online Career Readiness school.

The marketing team is also using insights from another new partner, Burning Glass. Burning Glass is a market leader in real-time labor market analytics, and our newly signed agreement with them will allow us to use their data to create profiles for each parent and team segment. These profiles detail the demographic, the motivations and the media consumption of each group.

This in turn allows our spring marketing campaign to be more focused on offering career readiness to students and families for most in need of this program.

Third, we are revamping our entire Career Readiness course catalog. We will build our curriculum using both internally developed and best-in-class externally available content. This includes content curated by corporate partnerships to meet their specific hiring needs. We'll also be incorporating project-based learning into the curriculum.

Most business today is done virtually and collaboratively. Project-based learning mimics this environment. With this approach, students work on projects and in teams, which helps build their capacity to collaborate more effectively. They're essentially learning by doing. So for example, rather than having students take notes and learn how to design a business plan. They will do market research and develop an actual business plan for a local business.

This plan will then be evaluated by employees of corporations in our students field of interest. So to do this, we'll use yet another new partnership we've established with Nepris. Nepris is a new and innovative leader in connecting students virtually with real world industry professionals. Our partnership will also allow our students a way to explore career options to Nepri's library of video assets. With project-based learning, students feel like they're trying a course to solve real world problems rather than just learning rope material. In fact, research by the Buck Institute of Education shows that project-based learning can promote student engagement and may be more effective than traditional instruction in social studies, science, mathematics, and literacy. We're working to provide a roll-out of 20 new courses with project-based learning for this fall with the remaining of the Career Readiness catalog being transitioned over the next few years.

Fourth, the team has started building third party partnerships that allows students to have hands on a virtual business experience in the form of job shadowing, internships and mentorships. And as part of this effort, we'll be launching our first ever National Job Shadowing Week, this July. Job Shadowing Week will provide students with an early career exposure and experience in real-world workplace settings. Each participating company will be able to customize the job shadowing experience for their students. For corporations, this will help create a more robust pipeline of talent while supporting their employment branding and community goodwill.

In parallel, we're working with higher education institutions with very large national footprint, online universities and community colleges to provide students with the possibility of dual enrollment. This will allow students to graduate from high school with a deployment and their chosen career path as well as transferable college credits. In some cases this could include earning an associate's degree at no cost for the student which will be a powerful benefit of this program.

And finally, alongside our new partner, STEM Premier, we're working to integrate their platform into the entire K12 ecosystem. That includes rolling out the service to middle and high school students in existing K12-powered schools across the nation. We're also working on integrating STEM Premier into the onboarding and the graduation planning process, so the students can sign up and receive the benefits as soon as they enroll. By the way the STEM Premier's rebranding their company to be named Tallo in February. Look for a host of new updates in Tallo, including a new partnership with Lockheed Martin. With the addition of Lockheed Martin, the number of corporate partners on the Tallo platform increases to over 200. We're very excited about the potential of Tallo and we expect a number of students who have access to the platform to more than doubled in the next few years.

Now keep in mind, while we're working to add high school students to the platform we can grow. Tallo continues to work with adult learners as well. Taken in total, our team has made significant strides in building our Career Readiness business in just a few months. I'm very excited about the initial results. I believe we're in a unique position with a unique solution that will help students prepare for their life after high school, including better understanding of their choices as they enter college. So whether their path leads them directly into the workforce or to the military or to higher education, our Career Readiness program will provide them the skills they need to excel.

We're still in the early phases of this business, but we are moving fast to become the national leader in career education at the high school level. I continue to believe the Career Readiness will drive a major portion of each year's student enrollment growth at K12-powered partner schools.

So thank you for your time today. And now I'll turn the call over to our CFO and President of Product and technology, James Rhyu. James?

James Rhyu -- Chief Financial Officer and President, Product and Technology

Thank you, Nate. Good afternoon, everybody. First, let me recap our reported results. Revenue for the quarter was $254.9 million, an increase of 17.4% from last year. Adjusted operating income was $37.4 million, an increase of 79%. And capital expenditures were $9.6 million, an increase of $1.4 million.

And as Nate already mentioned, in each case, these results met or beat the expectations we provided in our guidance last quarter. And we continue to feel comfortable with a full year revenue and adjusted operating income guidance. Revenues for the quarter were driven by increases in our managed public school programs.

For the quarter, managed public school programs revenue increased $39.4 million or 21.5% to $222.8 million. The strong performance is the result of year-over-year increases in enrollments of 7.3%, an increase in revenue per enrollment and the impact of the new revenue recognition standards from this year. For the quarter, revenue for enrollment rose 13.3% largely, from the impact of the new revenue recognition as well as school mix and improved funding and we continue to expect full year revenue per enrollment to be up 4% to 6% year-over-year driven by strong mix and an overall positive funding environment.

In our institutional business, revenue declined 9.1%. We still believe this business will be down close to 15% -- plus or minus 15% as we indicated last quarter. Private pay revenues were $9 million, up $0.6 million from the year ago quarter and we still believe that this business will finish the year more or less flat.

Gross margins were 37.1%, up 120 basis points from the second quarter of last year and this is largely the result of the impact of revenue recognition in the quarter. We expect gross margins for the full year to be flat to the prior year, plus or minus 100 basis points.

Selling, administrative and other expenses were $60.2 million, which is consistent with our spend last year. We expect our full-year cost to be flat to up a couple 100 basis points on a full year basis. Product development costs were $1.1 million, compared to $2.4 million last year. EBITDA for the quarter was $51 million and adjusted EBITDA was $55.1 million, operating income was $33.3 million and adjusted operating income was $37.4 million, up $16.5 million, compared to the $20.9 million last year.

Improvements in all of these metrics have largely been driven by the increased enrollments in our managed public schools. Some other items to note is we ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and restrict cash at $205.3 million, an increase of $60.3 million compared to the first quarter, and this increases in line with normal seasonal trends and we would expect this balance to increase throughout the remainder of the year.

CapEx, which includes curriculum and software development infrastructure, was $9.6 million, an increase of $1.4 million compared to last year. This is in line with expectations as we continue to invest with our products. We came in lower than our guidance range due to the timing of some cash payment. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 27.7%, compared to 4.1% in a year ago quarter last year's tax rate as you may remember was impacted by the new tax legislation.

Summarizing our guidance for the upcoming third quarter, revenue in the range of $250 million to $255 million, adjusted operating income in the range of $24 million to $26 million and capital expenditures of $9 million to $11 million.

Thank you. That concludes our prepared remarks. We'll now be happy to take any questions. Operator?

Questions and Answers:

Operator

At this time, we will be conducting question-and-answer session. (Operator Insturction) Our first question comes from a line of Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets. Please shoot the question.

Jeff Silber -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Thank you so much and congratulations on the quarter. Wanted to focus on the Career Readiness business to start. Can you just give us a little bit more color in terms of who the buyers are? Are these different students than you've typically been teaching? And how large do you think this business could be?

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Hi, Jeff. Thank you for being on the call today. Thanks for the congratulations. It's been a good quarter. First of all, the students that we think we can address here are both. We -- this is an option for students who are already in the program and in fact the enrollments we reported on in the first quarter, at the end of the first quarter, were largely students that came to us because they were coming to the normal NPS schools, and then once they got here, we talked to them and they realized the program was great for them. The growth, however, that we plan to see is because we think there are -- we did some market analysis and we believe there is a significant market opportunity of people who would never had considered online schools before, who now will consider it because an online school with a Career Readiness bent is something they consider. So, the big benefit of this is a new market opportunity.

How large can the business become? It's hard to make a quantitative analysis and not be held accountable to it, but I can tell you this is in the hundreds of millions over the next few years, this is not a $30 million or $40 million or $50 million, we're looking at hundreds of millions over the next three to four years. So I think that it's a very significant size if we do this right now. So I have to go right, we have to open up new schools, we have got to get some authority in some states, but we're working on that, and as I said, we've already got three to seven schools that we think will open up next year, and if the same thing happens the year after that, this is going to continue to grow.

Jeff Silber -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Now, you mentioned the openings in the state. I'm assuming, the funding comes mostly at a state level. I know the federal government has been talking about this as well.

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Yes, this -- the funding that we've put in our internal business plan is all funding from the state level. So, think of it as the same funding that would go to a traditional student who goes to our NPS School, they simply are going to a school that gives them still math and science but they take on these career pathways. So it's the same funding sources we've got today. The federal source, the Perkins Funds and things like that, we've not factored in yet

Jeff Silber -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Okay, great. And then you're recording this right now in the MPS line, correct?

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

I'm sorry? Yes. (Multiple Speakers)

It's in the MPS line. That's great. Okay, great. I'll jump back in the queue and let somebody else ask questions. Thanks so much.

Thanks, Jeff.

Operator

Our next question comes from line of Chris Howe with Barrington Research. Please proceed with your question.

Chris Howe -- Barrington Research -- Analyst

Good afternoon, everyone. Great quarter.

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Hi, Chris, thank you.

Chris Howe -- Barrington Research -- Analyst

Yes, just had a follow-up question just focusing in on this Career Readiness. You mentioned the three to seven new programs by fall of '19, 20 new courses. As we look at students as they move through the timeline of their enrollment at a Career Readiness institution, how should we think about retention, reregistration, and Career Readiness' impact on that and retaining students through their journey?

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Well, first of all, we believe in some early data indicated to us that when a student is -- understands the impact of what they're studying and how it's going to impact their lives and help them get a job, it increases their engagement, increases their desire to stay in the program, and therefore increases retention. So, we think this is going to have a positive impact. I don't want to predict that retention is going to double or something because of this, but I do believe that it's going to have -- it's going to help us with our annual goal of continuing to improve retention. Difficult to quantify, but it's one of those many elements, great customer service, putting students in this kind of program are all things that will help retention. So, I believe, it's of great value in terms of that.

Chris Howe -- Barrington Research -- Analyst

Okay. And then coming in perhaps at the higher end of your guidance. Is this a reflection of your level of confidence in Career Readiness or is there something else that's part of that mix that moves you toward that positive outlook?

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

No, actually this is a reflection of our confidence in our core business. Core business is very strong right now and retention is going as well as it did last year. Our new enrollments are going well as well. So we are seeing just a positive year. We're effectively -- we've taken a look. I think at this point in time, more midway through the year, we pretty much know what's going to happen with enrollments and we're confident in where we are. The improvement that's going to come over time with the Career Readiness program should actually impact FY '20 more than the current results. And we'd like to say about that, this is all about the core business confidence.

Chris Howe -- Barrington Research -- Analyst

Yes. Got it. Thank you. I'll hop back in the queue.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Greg Pendy with Sidoti & Company. Please proceed with your question.

Greg Pendy -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Hey guys, thanks for taking my question. Can you just -- I think earlier in the call you gave us the three to seven new programs, but I guess as you're trying to build out all the pathways, can you kind of give us a percentage of where you're at right now and kind of where the goal is to get and what what the CapEx spend might be on that?

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Well, first of all, hi Greg, and welcome to the call. I know this is your first call with us. I appreciate you joining and asking. So, I don't have a percentage for you off the top of my head of the courses, but I can say it's just a start. We have -- we license content from others for the most part for CTE. So of our own content, this is probably around a little less than 50% of our content, the 20 courses. But of our content I don't really have an estimate off the top of our head. In terms of CapEx that we'll spend on this, we don't envision right now seeing CapEx jump because of this. This is money that we traditionally would have spent on NPS courses. And as that cost has come down we're now going to spend that money on CTE courses.

We may, I want to be clear though, we may decide to accelerate some of that spending, and may see a slight increase, but I don't think anything dramatic from our current spend in capital. I would say think of our capital today, the guidance we've given, we're still going to be within that guidance. We're not going to exceed that guidance for these new courses.

Greg Pendy -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

Okay, got it, and is the longer term goal here to be offering, I guess, the entire pathways?

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

First of all, we have 30 pathways today, the five pathways that will be our focus on building these project based learning courses and being enforced in house of the three to five will be a focus for us. And those five will be a kind of a, -- I won't say a test, they're going to be a prototype for what we do and all the other all the other pathway so this five is to the first approach, but again, I want to be very clear the approach here is not to just build them ourselves approaches to partner with as many other parties as we can so I will go out and license courses as well as development we may even licences of someone else the course to put into our own internal development. So we actually might see the cost per course in terms of capital costs come down a little bit as we licensed questions from from others.

Greg Pendy -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

That's helpful. Thanks a lot.

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Good.

Operator

(Operator Instruction) This are no further questions left in the queue. I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Davis for closing remarks.

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Well, once again, thanks everybody for joining the call. I notice this is the middle of the school year so there's not a lot of questions we didn't provide, a long discussion on our core business. The bottom line is the core business is doing well. We feel great about our guidance and great about being at the high end I really do appreciate Greg joining us, and everybody else who follow us. So everybody have a great week, and thank you for being on the call.

Operator

This concludes today's teleconference. You may now disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Duration: 25 minutes

Call participants:

Mike Kraft -- Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications

Nathaniel Davis -- Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

James Rhyu -- Chief Financial Officer and President, Product and Technology

Jeff Silber -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Chris Howe -- Barrington Research -- Analyst

Greg Pendy -- Sidoti & Company -- Analyst

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Former Secretary of State John Kerry had one word of advice for President Trump on Tuesday: Resign.

He doesnt take any of this seriously, Kerry said at first when asked what his message would be if the president were siting in front of him. He doesnt have an ability to have that kind of conversation.

When pressed, however, the former top diplomat said, Resign, to laughter and applause from the audience at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump had planned to attend the forum, but canceled the trip because of the partial government shutdown.

Last time I went to Davos, the Fake News said I should not go there, the president wrote Tuesday on Twitter. This year, because of the Shutdown, I decided not to go, and the Fake News said I should be there. The fact is that the people understand the media better than the media understands them!

Kerry, who lost his presidential bid in 2004, has delivered blistering criticism of the president in the past.

We have a presidency which is off the rails, Kerry said in September, adding that the country is in a genuine Constitutional crisis.

Around the same time, Kerry frustrated Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by holding private meetings with Iranian officials in an attempt to preserve the Obama administrations Iran nuclear deal, which was scrapped by the Trump administration.

What Secretary Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented, Pompeo told reporters. This is a former secretary of state engaged with the worlds largest state sponsor of terror. Its inconsistent with what the foreign policy of the United States is as directed by this president, and it is beyond inappropriate for him to be engaged in this.

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The National Police Service will cater for funeral expenses of the General Service Unit officer killed in the 14 Riverside Drive terror attack last week, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has said.

The IG also said the service is already building a house for the family of the late Japhet Ndunguja Nuru at the officers rural home in Kimala village in Taita Taveta County. The National Youth Service is undertaking the construction of the house.

We are catering for all the funeral expenses of this gallant officer who died in the line of duty as per our Service Standing Orders, Boinnet said Tuesday.

Ive given orders that the body is taken home by helicopter on Friday and Ive planned to personally attend the funeral on Saturday. CS (Fred) Matiangi is also planning to attend.

The IG continued, Weve even gone beyond usual policy and at the moment we are building a house for the family and this is being done by the National Youth Service who are undertaking the work.

Boinnet also noted that the family is free to fundraise for other purposes that local customs or traditions may require that we may not be aware. In sum, all expenses are covered by the NPS.

A fundraiser is being held today(Wednesday 23) at the A.C.K hall, All Saints Cathedral starting from 5 pm. The family also placed an obituary in a local newspaper with details of an M-PESA Pay bill number where they asked for monetary support.

The move by the family to call for a fundraiser elicited uproar on social media with many faulting the government for not catering for the expenses.

It should, however, be noted that the government usually caters for all funeral expenses of officers killed in the line of duty.

Every police officer is covered under a life assurance cover other than their medical cover under NHIF.

There is also a separate burial fund to cater for the funeral, and families of officers who are members of the Police Sacco, benefit from an additional benevolent fund on their demise.

According to unverified sources, the government offers at least Shs 100,000 for a Constable, the lowest ranking officer in the service.

Members of the Kenya Police Sacco reportedly benefit from an additional Sh 70,000.

As part of gratuity, families of police officers reportedly receive a lump sum payment equivalent to 8 years of their kins salary which may amount to Sh2 million.

Japhet Nuru, 28, is among 21 people who died following the attack at Riverside Complex that occurred on Tuesday last week. He was attached to the presidential guard and served for three years in the force.

Nuru was injured on Wednesday morning (January 16), just minutes before all the terrorists were gunned down.

The officer was seen being pulled out of the scene at about 9.26am, moments after a loud blast was heard coming from the Dusit D2 hotel complex.

But he succumbed later to the injuries while undergoing treatment at a Nairobi hospital.
By Tina Bellon (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit have agreed to pay $120 million to resolve deceptive marketing claims by several U.S. states over the company's metal-on-metal hip implants. Attorneys general of 46 U.S. states announced the settlement agreement in statements on Tuesday. They alleged DePuy engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in the promotion of its ASR XL and Pinnacle Ultamet hip implant devices. DePuy in a statement said the settlement involves no admission of liability or misconduct on the part of the companies. "DePuy Synthes remains committed to meeting the current and future needs of orthopedic surgeons and patients," the company said. The states claimed J&J made misleading claims about the longevity of its metal-on-metal hip implants, with patients frequently having to undergo a revision surgery before the company's advertised timeframe of five years. Under Tuesday's settlement agreement, DePuy is required to maintain a post-market surveillance program and update procedures to track complaints over the hip implants, according to a statement by New York Attorney General Letitia James. DePuy in 2010 announced a worldwide voluntary recall of 93,000 of its ASR hip implant systems, saying that 12 percent of them failed within five years. Saying it would pay at least $2.47 billion, the company has since settled thousands of lawsuits by patients who had to have the ASR implant removed. In 2013, DePuy ceased selling the Pinnacle devices after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations. Metal-on-metal hip implants have also come under scrutiny over allegations that the products cause a build-up of metal ions in the blood, causing groin pain, allergic reactions, bone erosion and tissue death. The company faces some 10,400 lawsuits in the United States over its Pinnacle device in connection with those claims. J&J denies consumer claims related to its Pinnacle products, saying the company acted appropriately and responsibly in the development, testing, and marketing of the devices. (Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and James Dalgleish)
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IRS Union Warns Employee Absences Could Delay Tax Refunds

Last week, the Trump administration ordered at least 30,000 furloughed IRS employees to return to work without pay, but hundreds of IRS staffers from Utah to Long Island, New York, are reportedly skipping work, according to a Washington Post report. Some employees have chosen not to work as part of a coordinated protest, others because of financial hardshipthey cant pay for childcare or they cant afford to get to work. Fewer IRS workers on the job means there could be a delay in processing tax refunds.

How you usually get your tax refund

Just as you wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, most taxpayers don't question too hard why they receive a check from Uncle Sam every year after filing their taxes. But with the government shutdown endangering the prompt delivery of that extra bit of income, you may want to understand what a tax refund actually is (at the very least it may distract you from your anger and disappointment over the possible delay).

Throughout the tax year, you pay income tax to both the federal government and a state government. However, the amount most Americans pay typically exceeds their tax liability, or what they actually owe in taxes. The reasons for this can be complex, but for most people the refund is the result of not taking the time to claim all of their tax exemptions on a W-4 formthe important document everyone has to fill out when starting a new job. The W-4 tells the employer how much of your paycheck to withhold for taxes, and if you're too distracted (or simply can't be bothered), it's easy to breeze through this form and not claim exemptions for the childcare you pay for (as an example).

The good news is that the IRS has a legion of workers who correct your error at the end of the tax year after you file your tax returns, and remunerate you the difference. The bad news is that this year, that workforce is understaffed and unpaid, which doesn't bode well for workplace efficiency. Hence, the possible delay in receiving your tax return.

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The best way to estimate when your tax refund will arrive is to keep an eye on the government shutdown news and to use a 2019 Tax Refund chart. While millions of Americans await word on this years IRS refund status, develop a wise strategy for spending your refund.

What to do with your tax refund

A recent study by GoBankingRates revealed that 27% of Americans taxpayers plan to use their tax refunds to pay off debt, with 38% of millennials saying debt repayment is a priority as far as their tax refunds are concerned.

When it comes to developing a strategy for using your tax refund, debt repayment and saving money for the future should be high on your list.

Eliminate high-cost debt. The average tax refund in 2018 was $2,899, according to the IRS, enough to eliminate more than 50% of the average U.S. credit card balance$5,700, according to a ValuePenguin analysis.

If your tax refund wont eliminate all of your high-cost debt and you have a good credit score, consider a balance transfer credit card that offers zero interest for a limited time, usually between 12 and 18 months, to pay off the remaining balance.

Pay down auto and student loans. After youve paid off your high-interest debt and created an emergency fund, free up some money each month by paying down or, better yet, paying off your auto and student loans. The average student loan debt in the U.S. is $32,731. If your tax refund wont cover the balance on your student loans, consider refinancing them, which can be a huge money saver.

In 2018, the average car loan for a new vehicle was $31,099, a $515 monthly payment. The average loan for a used car was $21,375, or $398 a month. After youve applied your tax refund to your auto loan balance, if theres still an outstanding balance, refinancing the loan could help you save some money.

Establish a financial cushion. Its important to have an emergency fund that will cover at least three to six months of expenses. Low-risk options for stashing away your cash include a savings account, which offers liquidity and requires little in the way of maintenance. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures savings accounts for up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. Another option is a money market fund, which is very liquid, easy to use and offers a yield comparable to a savings account.
By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi appointed his charismatic sister to a senior party position on Wednesday that officials say will energize the campaign to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national election expected in a few months. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, 47, has campaigned for the Congress party in previous elections to help her brother, but largely stayed in the wings, letting her brother fully take the mantle of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that ruled India for most of its post-independence era. Bearing a striking resemblance to her grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi - who was known as "India's iron lady" - Vadra will be a Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state and key to the national poll. "We will play politics on the front foot," Rahul Gandhi told reporters. "I am very happy my sister, who is very capable, will work with me." Congress is trying to build an opposition alliance against Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which faces grumbling over a lack of jobs and a weak farm economy. Modi remains the frontrunner, but his re-election is no longer assured after the BJP suffered a string of defeats in state elections last month. If the Congress and regional parties fight the election in U.P. in an alliance, they could take as many as 75 parliament seats of the 80 at stake in the state, a poll published by India Today on Wednesday showed. India's lower house of parliament has 545 members. Vadra will oversee the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh state, including the city of Varanasi, one of Modi's political constituencies, the Congress party said in a statement. COMBATIVE STYLE "This will have an electrifying effect across the country, not just in Uttar Pradesh," said Jitin Prasada, a Congress party leader. Vadra is seen as a more natural campaigner and a bigger draw than her brother, who appeared wooden during the last election. More recently, Rahul Gandhi has adopted a combative style, sniping at Modi with accusations over graft, abuse of power and a divisive brand of politics. Vadra's entry into full-time politics could give more ammunition to Modi who has positioned himself as the son of an ordinary tea-seller against the dynastic politics of Congress. On Wednesday, Modi spoke about the Congress party's obsession with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. "For some family is the party. But for the BJP, party's family," he told party workers. The siblings' great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister following independence from Britain in 1947. Their grandmother, Indira Gandhi, succeeded him after a brief interval. After she was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984, her son, Rajiv Gandhi, took over as premier. Rajiv was killed by an ethic Tamil suicide bomber while campaigning for a general election in 1991. His Italian-born widow, Sonia, initially resisted calls to enter politics before taking the plunge and lifting Congress' flagging fortunes under her family's brand name. Sonia Gandhi stepped back as her son took the reins of the party. "We want to congratulate the Congress party on this move. Basically they are saying Rahul has failed, now they need his sister," said BJP spokesman Sambit Patra. (Reporting by Sanjeev MiglaniEditing by Darren Schuettler)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Pelosi want renewed attention to climate change in the House of Representatives. (Yahoo News photo-illustration; photos: AP, Getty)

The new Democratic majority in the House is launching an aggressive campaign to prioritize the climate crisis and hold the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) more accountable than the previous leadership has.

This renewed attention was evident from the first day of the 116th Congress, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi received a standing ovation after calling anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming the existential threat of our time.

The American people understand the urgency. The people are ahead of the Congress. The Congress must join them, Pelosi said.

But President Trump has called climate change a hoax, and Republicans still control the Senate, so what can the House actually do to bring about change?

Gene Karpinski, the president of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), sees three ways the new House can actually make progress in this situation: using the oversight process to hold the EPA and Interior Department officials accountable for doing the bidding of polluters; making sure relevant committees hold hearings on climate change to elevate the conversation; and advancing legislation that moves the conversation in that direction  even if the bills dont make it into law.

That would include making sure the infrastructure bill has emissions reduction targets that spell out the impacts of any projects on carbon pollution. Karpinski told Yahoo News. That will include a lot of other aggressive measures to get the House members on record  which they clearly want to be  in favor of visionary proposals to move us forward.

Karpinski said those proposals arent necessarily going to become law in the next two years, but they will set the agenda for legislation when pro-environment policies return to the White House and Senate.

Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., speaks after a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)

On its first day, the House voted to create a Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, which will be led by Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. That committee essentially restores the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming that had been established in March 2007  during Pelosis first year as speaker  and lasted until 2011, when the GOP took control of the 112th Congress.

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As the select committee draws renewed attention to the issue, three standing committees will have the ability to organize hearings on climate change: Natural Resources, Energy and Commerce, and Science, Space and Technology.

John Bowman, the director of federal affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), thinks the new Congress should focus on repairing Americas rundown infrastructure in a way that simultaneously accounts for its current shortcomings and future storm projections.

You could rebuild our aging transportation infrastructure, highways, bridges and roads in a resilient way so they are able to weather the storms that have become stronger and more constant, he said.

Bowman hopes the House will serve as a meaningful check on the GOP-controlled Senate and the Trump White House, but he isnt overly optimistic that Congress will pass comprehensive legislation that addresses the danger of climate change. Its doubtful that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would take up such legislation, even if it passes the House.

Divided government is very hard. Mr. McConnell is a committee of one in deciding what the Senate takes up. If he decides not to take a House-passed bill to the floor in the Senate, thats something he can do, Bowman said.

Sara Chieffo, the vice president of government affairs for LCV, said she is hopeful that House committees will lay out to the public just how influential corporate interests and fossil fuel companies have been in shaping the Trump administrations rollbacks.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., speaks as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., listens during a news briefing at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Oversight looks like bringing up the administration officials repeatedly to see what theyve been doing, requests for documents that have been held behind closed doors. It looks like we could see some legislation, but it really is much more the ability to haul folks up and present documents and present that case to the public, Chieffo told Yahoo News.

She added that former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke arent immune to being called up.

On Jan. 8, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, reintroduced the COAST Anti-Drilling Act to prohibit the Interior Department from authorizing anyone to drill for oil or natural gas off the East Coast, including the Atlantic Ocean, Straits of Florida, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

We must continue to fight against the Trump Administrations reckless assault on our coastal waters. New Jersey has so much at stake with miles of beautiful beaches, $700 billion in coastal properties, and a tourism industry that generates $38 billion, Pallone tweeted.

The bipartisan bill was supported by every member of New Jerseys delegation, including freshman representatives Mikie Sherrill, Tom Malinowski, Andy Kim, and Jeff Van Drew.

But the Trump administration is still moving in the other direction.

On Jan. 9, Trump nominated former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to become the permanent EPA administrator. He has been the acting administrator since Pruitt resigned amid ethics scandals in July. He will need to be confirmed by the Senate again to be the agencys official leader.

Andrew Wheeler, acting EPA administrator, with President Trump. (Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Although Republicans control the Senate, the Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee used Wheelers confirmation hearing on Wednesday to highlight the discrepancy between the recommendations of scientists concerning fossil fuel reduction and his policies. For the rest of the Senate, the vote on Wheelers confirmation could signify a commitment  or lack of one  to climate policy.

Wheelers tenure so far has demonstrated that hes continuing Pruitts deregulatory policy  albeit with more tact. He proposed a rule to soften fuel-efficiency and tailpipe pollution standards for automobiles and revoke Californias right to set its own stricter standards. He also proposed replacing the Clean Power Plan so states could decide whether to restrict pollution from power plants at all. (The agencys own analysis concluded that this could result in up to 1,400 premature deaths each year by 2030.) And in December he proposed drastically cutting Clean Water Act protections, which critics say would allow industry to dump toxic waste and other pollutants in Americas waterways.

So far, climate policy has been made according to the norms of politics as usual: checks and balances, impassioned speeches, ill-fated though principled bills. However, as temperatures continue to rise, extreme weather events become more disastrous and pleas from scientists become more frequent, there are signs the public is losing patience with politics as usual.

The Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) advocacy group organized a letter to every member of the new Congress imploring them to take immediate and ambitious action to address the economic threats of climate change. It was signed by more than 500 business leaders and other professionals and was released on Jan. 8.

Congress has not only the power, but the obligation, to act to prevent the worst effects of climate change as soon as possible, the letter reads. Congress has debated this topic for decades, including examining the human influence of climate change in high profile hearings held in 1988. The 116th Congress can wait no longer to act.

Many lawmakers have taken up this challenge  none more conspicuously than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. She adopted the concept of a Green New Deal as central to her campaign and pushed it into the mainstream by joining a protest last November in Pelosis office where demonstrators held signs reading green jobs for all.

The phrase Green New Deal was coined by New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman in 2007. He was inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal, a response to the Great Depression of the 1930s, which combined banking reforms and public works projects. Friedman was advocating tax incentives, research funding and government loan guarantees rather than large-scale federally funded projects.

Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a news conference with members of the Progressive Caucus in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)

But the idea took on a life of its own among democratic socialist circles. Green Party candidates such as Jill Stein started to champion the idea of transitioning the nation to 100 percent clean, renewable energy for electricity by the 2030s. According to its supporters, this would provide jobs for all and cut the nations carbon footprint.

Ocasio-Cortezs bold actions have made her a superstar to the left and a villain to the right. Conservatives pounced on her 60 Minutes appearance, in which she struggled to explain to Anderson Cooper how it would be possible for America to transition to zero carbon emissions within 12 years.

Rather than spell out precisely how America could do that, she said, Its going to require a lot of rapid change that we dont even conceive as possible right now.

And therein lies a major divide among the left between experienced, moderate Democrats willing to work within the normal channels and fresh, radical Democrats who think its better to shoot for the moon than try to compromise with climate deniers.

The Green New Deal has since been embraced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; and Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro. Ocasio-Cortez is planning to introduce Green New Deal legislation.

Scientists say that climate change is already here and that enormous systemic changes are needed to avoid the worst impacts in the years to come. But Americas separation of powers makes change slow and laborious  protecting the nation from overhasty action but also creating the opportunity for gridlock.

With these conversations brewing on Capitol Hill, is it probable that House Democrats can effect change through oversight, public hearings and proposals? Maybe, maybe not. But these are the strategies available to them until Republican politicians recognize the reality of climate change as much as their constituents do or until Democrats win the Senate and White House.

According to Chieffo, This is really a freshman class for the history books but also, from where we sit, an unprecedented number of candidates who ran because they cared about the climate specifically and came with a commitment and background in these issues.

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Read more from Yahoo News:
The Monster Beverage Corporation MNST stock witnessed a comeback on the back of solid momentum in the energy drinks business amid a challenging industry backdrop. Additionally, optimism on the companys alliance with Coca-Colas KO bottlers globally, which broadened its distribution network, is favoring the stock. Notably, the company has gained a robust 15.7% in the past month, outperforming the industrys growth of 5.1%.





The stock, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has a VGM Score of B, indicating further growth potential. Moreover, the companys expected long-term earnings growth rate of 16% suggests a positive earnings momentum in the upcoming quarters.



Key Factors at Play



Despite the overall softness in the beverage industry, Monster Beverage displayed strong momentum in the energy drinks category, with a wide range of brands  including Monster Energy, Java Monster and Worx Energy among others. The addition of Coca-Colas energy drink brands to the companys portfolio strengthened its position in the global energy drinks market. In the third quarter of 2018, the company fully transitioned Monster Energy brand from the Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV BUD distributors to Coca-Cola bottlers in the United States.



Furthermore, the company extended the distribution of Monster Energy to 40 major cities in India. The company expects the momentum in the energy drinks category to continue in the months ahead, courtesy of gains from Monster Energy, Monster Hydro and Mutant drinks brands. Moreover, additions to the Monster brand are expected to generate incremental sales and boost profitability.



Simultaneously, Monster Beverages solid international presence and plans for further expansion are working in its favor. Notably, the company expanded international operations into various markets  including China, India, and countries in Africa and the Middle East. Net sales to customers outside the United States were up 8.8% in the third quarter of 2018.



All these factors, clubbed with the companys product innovation strategy, proved advantageous as in the beverage industry there is a consistent demand for new products that are tasty and healthy. Monster Beverage regularly introduces new flavors of existing products while removing non-performing products. Management remains optimistic about the prospects of its brands and product launches. These are likely to drive top-line growth and increase overall profitability.



Moreover, analysts became increasingly bullish on the Monster Beverage stock in the recent months, owing to the robust surprise trend. The company reported positive earnings surprise in the preceding two quarters, with sales reverting to a positive trend in third-quarter 2018, after three consecutive misses. The top line benefited from solid sales at the Monster Energy Drinks segment and advance purchases made by customers due to a pre-announced price hike.



Another Key Pick



You may consider another top-ranked stock in the Consumer Staples sector, Archer Daniels Midland Company ADM. It delivered positive earnings surprise of 26.9% in the trailing four quarters. The company currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



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Difficulty hearing can have profound effects. It has been associated with depression, concentration, and memory problems, may take a significant toll on relationships with friends, family, and co-workers, and is possibly even linked to dementia.

But in a Consumer Reports survey of more than 120,000 members on hearing and hearing loss, almost 30 percent said they've gone for more than a decade without getting their hearing tested or have never had it tested at all.

And people may not always recognize when they have a hearing issue. Some older adults may be underestimating their level of hearing loss, according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. This may lead to some people not getting the hearing help they'd benefit from, the researchers say.

The study, which included 2,613 people age 60 or older, analyzed the way participants rated their own hearing and compared that to the results from hearing tests. The researchers found that 42 percent of people who reported no hearing trouble actually turned out to have mild hearing loss when tested. (The study also found that in people ages 60 to 69, 35 percent of those who thought they had hearing loss didn't.)

While there are no official evidence-based guidelines on how often to get your hearing checked in adulthood, most medical providersincluding audiologistsrecommend a screening every three years beginning at age 50, says Sarah Sydlowski, Au.D., Ph.D., audiology director of the Hearing Implant Program at the Cleveland Clinic.

And you might consider being screened every 10 years before that, she adds. (See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations on hearing screenings for children.)

Why Getting Tested Is Important

Its wise to consider this screening schedule even if you have no concerns about your hearing, according to the experts we interviewed.

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Not only is hearing loss associated with some mood and cognitive issues, but it also becomes more common with age. That's due to factors like long-term noise exposure, which damages the tiny hair cells in your ear that allow you to hear, says Paul K. Farrell, Au.D., CCC-A, associate director of audiology practices at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

As we age, we're also more likely to have conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, which have been associated with hearing loss.

In addition, it can be easy for people to miss subtle signs of hearing loss. One of the barriers to care is that individuals with gradual, age-related hearing loss dont realize they have it, says Catherine Palmer, Ph.D., director of audiology and hearing aids at the University of Pittsburgh.

Most insuranceincluding Medicarewill cover the cost of a comprehensive hearing exam as long as you have a referral from your healthcare provider.

When and how should you get your hearing checked? Here's what you need to know.

Spotting Possible Signs of Hearing Trouble

In addition to considering the screening schedule above, talk with your doctor about having a hearing test if you notice one or more of the following:

Conversations sound muffled, almost as if youre underwater.

It's difficult deciphering consonant sounds. Vowel sounds are made at lower frequencies, which are easier to hear, says James C. Denneny III, M.D., executive vice president/CEO of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

You find hearing in settings with background noise, such as restaurants, is difficult.

You're constantly asking people to speak more slowly or repeat themselves.

You turn the TV up so loudly that others complain.

You have trouble hearing people on the phone.

People tell you that you're not hearing what they say.

Not Sure Whether There's a Problem?

If youre unsure whether your hearing is faltering, you can take a quick online assessment before seeing a professional, suggests Denneny.

One option is the 8-minute telephone-based National Hearing Test, which was developed by researchers at Indiana University, the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, and Communications Disorders Technology.

The American Academy of Audiology has partnered with the digital health company hearX Group to create a self-screening app, hearScreen USA. (If you fail the exam, the app automatically directs you to a local audiologist.)

You can also consider trying one of the free hearing screenings that are sometimes offered in drugstores or at health fairs. If you fail any of these screenings, it doesnt mean that you have hearing loss, but its a sign that you need to see an audiologist for formal evaluation, says Denneny.

Get Tested Right

When it's time to get tested, start with your primary care physician. He or she will check your ears for physical causes of hearing loss, such as an ear infection or too much earwax.

But if there doesnt seem to be anything blocking your ear canal, youll probably need to get your hearing checked by a licensed audiologist. These healthcare professionals have a doctoral degree in audiology (Au.D) and must be licensed in their state.

The audiologist will ask about your medical history and any hearing problems you might have before looking into your ears with a lighted device called an otoscope to make sure there's nothing there that might make it hard to test you properly.

The most common test is the pure-tone test, says Denneny. Here, you listen for sounds while wearing earphones and raise your hand whenever you hear a beep.

The speech test is also common. For this, the audiologist says words to you through headphones, and you repeat them.

These tests work together to rule out hearing loss, because you may be able to hear a tone or noise but not actually make out the actual sound of words, Sydlowski says.

Note that some primary care physicians may try to gauge whether or not patients have hearing loss by performing either the whisper test (where they stand behind you and whisper) or a finger rub test (where they rub their fingers together near your ear).

These tests were fairly accurate at picking up possible hearing problems in a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.

But they dont completely exclude the possibility of hearing problems. While you may be able to hear fingers rubbing together, you may still have subtle hearing loss, where you have trouble understanding words, says the study's author, William Strawbridge, Ph.D., M.P.H., an adjunct professor at the Institute of Health & Aging at the University of California in San Francisco. Thats why it makes sense to have your doctor refer you to a licensed audiologist to get your hearing checked.

If the audiologist wants to run more complex tests, such as one for auditory brainstem responsewhere electrodes are placed on your head to record brainwave activity in response to soundsand one for otoacoustic emissions, which uses a probe in your ear to measure sounds, ask why and whether the results will alter your treatment.

These generally arent required to diagnose most cases of hearing loss, says Denneny. You usually need these only if the audiologist is concerned about the possibility of hearing loss due to brain damage or a blockage in your middle ear.

If testing reveals that you have a hearing problem, and you're considering hearing aids, see our hearing aid buying guide.





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Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

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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  2019, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli tank shelling killed a Hamas militant along the Gaza border on Tuesday as Israel responded to gunfire that wounded one of its soldiers, officials said.

Those incidents and another exchange of fire earlier in the day signalled a rise in tensions as Israel blocked aid money to Gaza from Qatar over border unrest.

Mohammed al-Nabaheen, 24, was killed by tank fire while two other people were hurt, a Gaza health ministry spokesman said.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza, confirmed he was a member of its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

The Israeli army said it had targeted a Hamas observation post after a soldier was lightly wounded when a bullet struck his helmet.

In a statement, it said an initial investigation found "an assailant fired at troops" during a riot that included rock-hurling.

"A bullet struck the helmet of an IDF officer, lightly injuring him," it added, referring to the Israel Defence Forces.

A picture published by the army on social media showed the soldier's damaged helmet.

Earlier Tuesday, the army said shots were also fired at troops in a separate incident.

In response a tank targeted a Hamas military post without reports of any injuries.

An informal truce between Hamas and Israel had brought relative calm to the border in recent weeks.

But there were warnings of another escalation since Israel has held up the latest cash transfer from Gulf state Qatar to Gaza, set to take place under the truce.

- Protests since March -

The payments are controversial in Israel, where they have sparked opposition from right-wing activists and politicians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is campaigning for re-election in April 9 polls.

Qatar's ambassador to Gaza said Monday that the $15 million (13 million euros) in cash, to pay the salaries of Hamas civil servants in the enclave, was expected to be delivered via Israel this week, possibly on Wednesday.

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But after the latest violence, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu had decided not to allow the transfer on Wednesday.

Israel's permission is required since the cash must be delivered via its territory.

Hamas is labelled a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, and banks are hesitant to make the transfer.

The payment would be the third of six planned tranches, totalling $90 million, in connection with the truce.

Israel has also allowed deliveries of Qatari-financed fuel to the blockaded enclave to help ease a severe electricity shortage.

Mass protests and clashes erupted on the Gaza-Israel border in March last year.

The weekly protests have been calling for Palestinian refugees in Gaza to be able to return to their former homes now inside Israel.

Israel accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to carry out violence.

At least 244 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since March, the majority during protests and clashes. Others have died in airstrikes or shelling.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period, one by a Palestinian sniper and another during a botched special forces operation inside Gaza.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.
As the government shutdown approaches day 34, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has blocked Donald Trump's plans for his State of the Union address.

Ms Pelosi said the president will not be allowed to deliver the address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, in spite of his suggestion he would show regardless of whether he was welcome.

The House will not approve a resolution allowing Mr Trump to come until the government reopens, Ms Pelosi said.

Donald Trump responded by saying well do something in the alternative, while branding Democrats radicalized.

The argument comes shortly after a new poll revealed Donald Trumps disapproval rating has risen to 57 per cent - the highest recorded by the pollster since his presidency began. The Politico / Morning Consult survey found that a majority of Americans blame the president for the government shutdown.

With thousands of furloughed workers still not receiving pay, tensions are running high over the ongoing closure.

Police were called to a protest by a group of federal government workers at a field office for Senator Mitch McConnell in Kentucky.

The Senate Majority Leader blocked legislation on Wednesday that would reopen most of the government.

Some 800,000 federal workers are set to miss a second pay check this Friday.

Follow events as they happened:
Atheists in Kenya Society(AIK) President Harrison Mumia has been fired by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) over gross misconduct.

CBK, through a show cause letter, initially suspended Mr Mumia from his post in the Information Technology department on half pay for three months in February last year. This followed an earlier show cause letter in May 2017 from CBK on grounds of disobedience and insubordination and violating the banks code of conduct that requires its employees to remain neutral on political affairs.

In his response three days later, Mr Mumia pleaded for understanding on matters pertaining to performance. But on the issue of political neutrality, the controversial atheist stated: I have not publicly expressed my support for any political party against CBK rules.

Following a hearing by the banks disciplinary committee, CBK issued the AIK boss with a termination letter in June last year giving him 14 days to appeal.

In his appeal, Mumia insisted that his Twitter account was hacked but lacked evidence to support the claims.

Why should I be harshly penalized for tweets that were not mine, that allegedly demonstrate my lack of political neutrality, at a time when our national leaders are building bridges politically? The decision by the bank to terminate my employment was too drastic, too extreme and too severe, with grave consequences to my life and those of my dependents, Mr Mumia said in his appeal.

But CBK dismissed the appeal and held on to its decision to sack Mr Mumia in a letter dated January 11, 2019.

Some of the political tweets that Mr Mumia allegedly posted include: I thought MP Alfred Keter was in Government. I thought yuko ndaani ndaani. Mbona anashikwa na his Government tena? As a Jubilee MP surely! Unless being in Government is a myth! To those who voted for Jubilee, Mko ndaani ya Government in what sense?

Another tweet read: So Joshua Kuttuny is unhappy that Alfred Keter amewekwa ndani? But when Miguna is illegally deported, Kuttuny feels nothing? When David Ndii is illegally arrested, Kuttuny feels nothing? Orengo once said a bud Government eats its own people. Jubilee will fall soon!

On Tuesday, Harrison Mumia took to Twitter on Tuesday evening reiterating his innocence.

I have SOLID EVIDENCE that my account was hacked. I presented my evidence before the Disciplinary Committee headed by CBK Deputy Governor, Sheila MBIJIWE. Still, I was fired. They never bothered to look at my evidence, he tweeted.

Mr Mumia has also threatened to take legal action against CBK over his dismissal. He will be moving to court this week to demand damages amounting to Sh33 million.

I have engaged a lawyer who will move to Court this week under a certificate of urgency, citing freedom of expression and unlawful dismissal. I will seek damages of Shs 33 Million based on wrongful dismissal. I will also petition Parliament to Censure the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Patrick Njoroge, the HR Director, Ms. Terry Ngaga for going against the spirit of the Building Bridges initiative, he told the Nation.

The sack comes just a week after he shared a post on Facebook mocking God and those who prayed to Him during the Dusit D2 attack in Westlands.

It is for this reason that some believers on social media discussion forums believe the atheists sack is simply God at work.

Below are screengrabs of a show cause letter dated February 20, 2018, from CBK to Harrison Mumia.
A lack of funding due to the partial shutdown of the US government is hindering FBI investigations into drug and terrorism offences, the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) has said.

The bureau has lost several informants who have infiltrated groups under investigation, an anonymous FBI agent was quoted as saying in a report on the impact of the shutdown.

We have lost several sources who have worked for months, and years, to penetrate groups and target subjects. These assets cannot be replaced, the joint terrorism task force coordinator said.

Agents who had been working on an investigation into the MS-13 criminal gang said they were only able to communicate with Spanish-speaking informants through a conference call with a translator.

Since the shutdown, I have not had a Spanish speaker in the division, one agent said. We have several Spanish-speaking informants. We are only able to communicate using a three-way call with a linguist in another division.

One official said the government shutdown had eliminated any ability to operate. They added: Its bad enough to work without pay, but we can only conduct administrative functions while doing it. The fear is our enemies know they can run freely.

The FBI told The Independent it had no comment.

In a statement, the bureau distanced itself from the report, adding: This report is a product of the FBIAA, a nonprofit professional association, and was not issued by the FBI.

Several FBI officers said the government shutdown meant they risked losing vital informants.

Not being able to pay Confidential Human Sources risks losing them and the information they provide FOREVER. It is not a switch that we can turn on and off, one official said in the report.

FBI Agents Associations Thomas OConnor holds up an FBI report Voices From the Field giving examples of how the government shutdown is undermining its work (Getty)

Another agent said they fear losing further informants because they cannot secure safe spaces to meet with our informants and we cannot pay them for their information.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have gone without pay because of the government shutdown, which shows no signs of a swift conclusion.

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Donald Trump has refused to sign any bill that would reopen the government unless it includes more than $5bn (3.84bn) in funding for a wall across parts of the US-Mexico border.

Democrats consider a wall ineffective in combatting illegal immigration, and want the president to reopen federal agencies before they enter negotiations over border security.

The workers who are furloughed or working without pay are struggling to make ends meet as the shutdown, already the longest in US history, dragged on to its 33rd day on Wednesday.
Nutmeg chief executive Martin Stead - Nutmeg

Goldman Sachs has backed British financial technology business Nutmeg through a 45m investment round in the company.

Nutmeg announced on Tuesday that it had raised the money from investors including Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments arm as well as Hong-Kong listed financial advisory firm Convoy.

The new funding is subject to approval from the Financial Conduct Authority, Nutmeg said. The business plans to use the funding to continue its international expansion.

Founded in 2011, Nutmeg manages customer investments and allows them to use a smartphone app and website to tailor their portfolio according to their desired risk level.

Rana Yared, a partner at Goldman Sachs who will be joining Nutmegs board, said: Nutmeg has already established itself as one of the fastest growing wealth managers in the UK.

"We are excited to fuel further growth and innovation through our investment and to support management in their vision of leveraging technology to broaden access to world-class investment solutions."

Nick Hungerford, the founder of Nutmeg, stepped down from the chief executive role at the company in 2016. The current head, Martin Stead, joined the business from EDF, where he was the companys marketing, sales & digital director.

The companys most recent accounts showed that losses at Nutmeg rose to over 12m, which it said was due to a rise in regulatory costs and further investment into the business.

Nutmeg faces growing competition from a new generation of digital wealth manager companies.

New start-ups including London-headquartered Plum are using automated messaging bots to talk to customers about their money. And new digital banks including Monzo and Revolut are also branching out into helping their customers invest their savings.

Monzo chief executive Tom Blomfield told the Telegraph in November that he was keen to allow customers to purchase investment products.

If you are buying stocks and shares and you want a tracker, does it make sense to embed Nutmeg? Or does it make sense to simply allow people to buy the BlackRock ETF that's behind Nutmeg? It's the same ETF you're getting anyway, Blomfield said.
By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government will fund a research facility to offer firms in Germany know-how to develop battery cells for electric vehicles (EVs), the science minister said on Wednesday, seeking to compete with Asian producers which dominate the industry. Anja Karliczek said her ministry would invest 500 million euros ($568 million) to support research into both existing and next-generation EV battery cell technology. "The German car industry shouldn't depend on Asian suppliers," Karliczek told a business conference in Berlin. "This is not only a question of independence, but also a question of keeping the German economy competitive." The new facility aims to transfer known-how from Germany's Fraunhofer science institute to private firms, helping reduce the risk for companies ready to start EV battery production. She did not give a timeline for investing the funds or say if some cash would be offered directly to German firms, support allowed in certain conditions under European Union rules on developing new technology in areas of strategic importance. The science ministry funds come on top of 1 billion euros earmarked by Economy Minister Peter Altmaier to support company alliances that are ready to invest in a large-scale production of electric car battery cells in Germany. Europe's biggest economy wants to protect carmakers as vehicles shift away from using combustion engines. The government would decide by mid-year where the research facility would be built, Karliczek said. German firms BMZ group, Liacon Batteries, Customcells, EAS Batteries and TerraE would be involved in setting up the facility, the minister said. Switzerland-based battery maker Leclanche, which has most of its production in Germany, would also take part. EV battery production is dominated by Japan's Panasonic Corp, South Korean makers Samsung SDI Co and LG Chem, and China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL). CATL aims to start production in 2021 from its German plant at Erfurt, its first in Europe, CATL's regional president Matthias Zentgraf said, adding that the firm targeted annual cell production of 60 gigawatt hours (GWh) from 2026. Zentgraf said CATL, which expects to supply BMW and other manufacturers with lithium-ion batteries, would consider joining efforts to set up a research facility. The European Commission launched its own European Battery Alliance (EBA) in 2017 in an effort to support EU production. So far, Sweden's Northvolt has been the only serious European contender to emerge. Germany wants to lay the groundwork for large-scale battery production in Europe. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier expects investment decisions by two consortiums in the first quarter of 2019. Among companies involved in talks with Altmaier about building German battery cell alliances are Varta, chemical giant BASF and Ford's German subsidiary Ford-Werke GmbH, sources have told Reuters. ($1 = 0.8798 euros) (Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Edmund Blair)
Gemma Collins attending the National Television Awards 2019 held at the O2 Arena, London (Credit: PA)

The row between Gemma Collins and the judges of Dancing On Ice continues, with the reality star accusing the panel of body shaming.

The Only Way Is Essex star made the remarks on the red carpet of the National Television Awards in London last night.

She told the Daily Mirror: This week Ive got to let my feet do the talking. To be honest, I do agree with the judges comments.

Less of the body-shaming though, please!

I might be a big girl but that doesnt mean I cant leave the house.

(Credit: ITV)

It follows her on-screen spat with judge Jason Gardiner, who slated her performance on Sunday night.

Gemma, I know you were channelling Marilyn but we ended up with Anna Nicole Smith and that was because there wasnt any elegance, he said.

Like you were saying in the VT, she had to be elegant, shes a woman whos in control of her femininity, you were all over the place still hun, and as Ashley said, theres not enough skating content still and this is your second skate now.

You need to up the ante because were not going to see big lifts from you.

Collins then publicly accused Gardiner of selling stories about her to the newspapers, likely referring to an arranged interview with The Sun in which he called her lazy.

The spat ushered in more than 250 complaints to Ofcom, some of which concerned Gardiners comments about Collins.

But the remarks from Gardiner have found Collins an unlikely ally.

Piers Morgan has slammed the judges on Good Morning Britain, saying: I think theyve been very mean to her. They put her on the show knowing shes probably not going to be that great, and now theyve been sort of taunting her and ridiculing her.

I think shes giving it a damn good go. I didnt think that Id be the Gemma Collins defender in all this. I admire the attempt to try and be better than she clearly is, right? Unusually, I find myself in Team Collins.

Collins thanked Morgan for his support, and last night at the NTAs, the pair cemented their budding friendship.

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Hopefully the encounter cheered him up after Good Morning Britain lost out to This Morning in the Best Daytime category.

Read more

Ant dedicates NTA to a teary Dec

Piers Morgan calls Ant McPartlin a dog walker

Chris Evans says Peter Kay is getting better








Is there a market for pricey premium coffee just like theres a market for super-expensive fine wine?

Illycaffes chairman Andrea Illy says its possible his coffee company could start charging much more for the best brews.

The idea is that, very much like what happened with wine, theres a very broad quality and price spectrum. I think that we can pursue the same [opportunity,] in differentiating more and more coffees so that the average price per cup can increase, he said.

His comments were made in a special one-to-one interview with Yahoo Finance UK at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Chairman Andrea Illy is a leading figure behind Italys Illycaffe. Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Illys strategy reflects both the current trend of specialisation in the coffee industry, with brands setting themselves apart for their higher quality and higher prices, and the growing consumer appetite for high grade roasts.

But instead of focusing on profit margins, he said this could be an opportunity to transfer more resources to the [coffee] growing countries.

Illycaffe, a family-owned business, operates in more than 140 countries. Illys grandfather originally founded the company.

READ MORE: The latest news from the World Economic Forum
Paris (AFP) - A French public health watchdog issued a warning Wednesday about the risks of several chemicals found in disposable nappies, particularly artificial perfumes, leading the government to demand that manufacturers withdraw them from their products.

The Anses health body stressed there was no medical study which had proved health problems caused by disposable diapers.

But "we cannot exclude a risk... because we have recorded some substances that are above healthy limits," the deputy director of the Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses), Gerard Lasfargues, told AFP.

The chemicals identified in the study -- described as the first of its kind -- include two artificial perfumes as well as other complex aromatic products that are refined from oil, and potentially dangerous dioxins.

The French government called a meeting of nappy manufacturers on Wednesday morning and gave them 15 days to remove the products identified by the watchdog.

"I want to reassure parents: Anses says that there is no immediate risk for the health of our children," Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said after the meeting.

"Obviously we should continue putting nappies on our babies. We've been doing that for at least 50 years," she said, while adding that the report does not exclude "a health risk for children in the long term".

"That's why as a precaution we want to protect our children from possible effects," said Buzyn, who met the manufacturers along with the economy and environmental ministers.

In a statement on Wednesday, market leader Pampers, which belongs to US consumer products group Procter & Gamble, said its diapers "are safe and have always been so."

Scientists working for Anses tested 23 types of nappies in real-life conditions as they were worn by children, which it said was a world first.

"We calculated the amount (of chemicals) absorbed, calculated according to the time a nappy is worn, the number of nappies worn by babies, up to 36 months, and then we compared the results with toxicology standards," Lasfargues said.

An average baby in France wears 3,800 to 4,800 nappies, Lasfargues said, with the potentially hazardous chemicals found even in products marketed as environmentally friendly.
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn, assembler of Apple Inc's iPhones, on Tuesday said it was trying to recruit for more than 50,000 positions across its China campuses for the January-March quarter, amid reports of mass lay-offs.

The world's largest contract manufacturer, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said in a stock exchange filing that changes in employee numbers were part of its usual adjustments based on global strategy and clients' needs.

Last week, the Nikkei reported that Foxconn had let go around 50,000 contract workers in China since October, months earlier than normal.

"Efforts are in progress to recruit for more than 50,000 positions across our China campuses in Q1 2019," the company told Reuters in an email when asked whether it was actively hiring.

The Nikkei report came weeks after Apple cut current-quarter production for new iPhones by 10 percent in the face of slowing demand in China, the world's largest smartphone market.

Chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other tech suppliers have also warned of a tech slowdown going into 2019.

Foxconn, which sources said makes roughly half its revenue from Apple, reported an 8 percent fall in December sales earlier this month.

At Foxconn's campus in Zhengzhou in central China, thousands of temporary contract workers and some regular staffers left of their own accord due to the lack of weekend work, trimmed overtime opportunities, and reduced or cancelled peak-season bonuses, five production line workers there told Reuters last month.

(Reporting by Jess Macy Yu in TAIPEI; Additional reporting by Stella Qiu and Philip Wen in BEIJING and Chyen Yee Lee in SINGAPORE; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Christopher Cushing)
In the dock: Former chief executive of Barclays John Varley leaves Southwark Crown Court on January 14, 2019 in London, England. Photo: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Four former senior Barclays (BARC.L) executives were on Wednesday accused in court of lying to investors about the true nature of an emergency fundraising at the height of the financial crisis.

John Varley, who was CEO of Barclays between 2004 and 2011, Roger Jenkins, who formerly ran Barclays Capitals investment management business in the Middle East and North Africa, Thomas Kalaris, the former CEO of Barclays Wealth Management, and Richard Boath, the former head of European financial institutions group at Barclays Capital, all stand accused of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation. Varley and Jenkins face two counts and Kalaris and Boath face one.

All four defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Qatar has not been accused of wrongdoing.

The UKs Serious Fraud Office (SFO) alleges that the four mislead Barclays shareholders and the wider market by disguising the amount paid to Qatar when it invested in Barclays at the height of the banking crisis in 2008.

In the dock on Wednesday, Jenkins appeared in a black roll neck jumper and blue jacket. Varley wore a white shirt and grey jumper. Kalaris wore a black suit and Boath wore a blue suit.

The case is the first criminal trial of senior banking executives concerning actions taken during the 2008 crash. Such is the level of interest that the courtroom was standing room only and some people were asked to leave due to overcrowding as the first day of the trial got underway in Court 1 of Southwark Crown Court in London.

Smokescreen

The trial centres around what the bank disclosed in its public statements in 2008  the prospectuses for the capital raisings and subscription agreement documents published June and October that year. Those prospectuses outlined fees and commissions paid to investors in return for backing the bank.

Qatars sovereign wealth fund and a company connected to the Middle Eastern countrys ruling family invested 4.4bn ($5.7bn) in Barclays across two capital raises in 2008, as part of a total of 11.8bn raised by the bank. In return, the Qataris were paid 322m in fees, equivalent to 3.25% of their investment.

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This was over double the commission paid to other shareholders who invested, Edward Brown QC, the lawyer for the SFO, told the jury on Wednesday.

READ MORE: The trial of the Barclays four starts this week  heres what you need to know

Brown said that Barclays executives conspired to cover up the higher fees by using advisory contracts. Brown said these Advisory Service Agreements (ASAs) were a smokescreen to cover up the true nature of the payments.

The Prosecutions case, therefore, is that the statements made in the Prospectuses and other documents about the extent of the fees and commissions payable to the Qataris were untrue because they did not reveal the fact that the ASAs were payments being made to the Qataris in return for their investment, Brown told the jury.

The text of the first of two service agreements was read to the jury. It said that Barclays and Qatar has discussed the type and scale of services you will provide to deliver value in exchange for this fee.

The conspirators all knew it to be a lie, he said. Each knew that the agreements were commission payments, fees for investing, say the Crown, and none of them believed that the ASAs were genuine agreements for valuable services.

Plainly a lie

Brown said that Barclays executives at the time were under sometimes extreme pressure to raise further capital. Varley and the board wanted to avoid a government bailout, which would have placed itself under greater Government control and scrutiny.

The Qatari money was essential, Brown said. Those within the bank at that time commented that without it the consequences would be dire  for the bank and personally.

The Qataris drove a hard bargain, and the Barclays executives realised they would have to pay above market fees for the investment, the court was told by the prosecution.

The prosecution alleged that Barclays executives didnt want to publish true figure because other investors would demand the same commission. It could also undermine market confidence in the bank if investors realised they were having to pay such high commission to access capital, Brown argued.

If Barclays was seen to be so weak and vulnerable that it needed to pay substantial fees to investors, then a private capital raising may not succeed at all because other investors may have become concerned about that perceived weakness, Brown said in his opening statement.

Brown said that public disclosures made regarding the Qatari investments were plainly a lie.

The case is expected to last up to six months and continues at Southwark Crown Court.




Firefighters in Los Angeles, California, joined striking teachers in a march on Tuesday, January 22, hours before Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a tentative deal with the local teachers union.

Hundreds of firefighters demonstrated Tuesday morning in support of public school teachers, who began a strike on January 14 to push for smaller class sizes and more resources, according to local media. Over the past week, thousands of teachers have taken to the streets, hobbling the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest in the nation.

Only hours after members of the firefighters union took to the streets, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a tentative deal between the city and its teachers. The details of the deal, hammered out over a 21 hour long negotiation, have not been fully released. However, union representatives indicated it would support increases in staff and smaller class sizes.

Teachers are expected to return to their classroom on Wednesday, after union members vote on the agreement later today, according to the Los Angeles Times. Credit: Hector Saldivar via Storyful
A section of Nairobi MCAs and groups allied to Mike Sonko have told Governor Ferdinand Waititu to keep off the citys affairs and concentrate on his backyard -Kiambu.

Led by Waithaka MCA Anthony Kiragu, the leaders were responding to remarks by the Kiambu governor on 14-seater matatus.

Waititu on Sunday vowed that they will not allow certain people who do not have the interest of Nairobi residents at heart to govern the capital city.

He further faulted the planned implementation of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) project and the suspended ban on matatus from accessing the CBD, saying that the moves would hurt business for those in the transport sector.

The controversial county boss wants the BRT system postponed for a decade to allow for adequate preparations.

Such decisions are detrimental to the sector and hurt masses who use matatus daily. Someone tell Sonko you cannot run such a county by waking up in the morning and issuing arbitrary and insensitive orders, Waititu said, adding: We will not allow, again, Nairobi to go into the hands of somebody who does not care about the livelihood of [our] people.

Waititu was speaking during a meeting of an association of matatu owners from the metropolitan counties which he is the patron.

However, Sonkos supporters have come out strongly in his support while threatening to report Baba Yao to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the Office of the DPP.

We shall present a public petition to NCIC demanding action be taken against Waititu before we proceed to the DPP. It is not the first time he is being accused of hate speech, said Mark Moses Maina, chairman of Nyamakina Young Traders Association.

Waithaka MCA Anthony Kiragu added: We are shocked at the ignorance of the governor from Kiambu. We wish to remind you that the law barring 14-seater matatus was passed in the year 2010 while he was the MP for Embakasi. This has nothing to do with the current governor.

We are aware he[Waititu] thrives in chaos and madness.

Former Mwingi Central MP Joe Mutambu told Waititu to let the Nairobi governor carry out his plans to decongest the city and instead concentrate on the affairs of Kiambu County or resign and seek to be the Nairobi governor.
While some investors are already well versed in financial metrics (hat tip), this article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE) and why it is important. By way of learning-by-doing, well look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Finsbury Food Group Plc (LON:FIF).

Our data shows Finsbury Food Group has a return on equity of 3.0% for the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every 1 worth of equity in the company, it was able to earn 0.030.

View our latest analysis for Finsbury Food Group

Want to help shape the future of investing tools and platforms? Take the survey and be part of one of the most advanced studies of stock market investors to date.

How Do You Calculate ROE?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit  Shareholders Equity

Or for Finsbury Food Group:

3.0% = 2.18  UK105m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2018.)

Most know that net profit is the total earnings after all expenses, but the concept of shareholders equity is a little more complicated. It is all earnings retained by the company, plus any capital paid in by shareholders. Shareholders equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company.

What Does ROE Signify?

ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The return is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else being equal, a high ROE is better than a low one. That means it can be interesting to compare the ROE of different companies.

Does Finsbury Food Group Have A Good Return On Equity?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. If you look at the image below, you can see Finsbury Food Group has a lower ROE than the average (11%) in the Food industry classification.

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AIM:FIF Last Perf January 23rd 19

That certainly isnt ideal. Wed prefer see an ROE above the industry average, but it might not matter if the company is undervalued. Still, shareholders might want to check if insiders have been selling.

How Does Debt Impact Return On Equity?

Companies usually need to invest money to grow their profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, or debt. In the case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.

Finsbury Food Groups Debt And Its 3.0% ROE

Finsbury Food Group has a debt to equity ratio of 0.24, which is far from excessive. Its ROE is rather low, and it does use some debt, albeit not much. Thats not great to see. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the companys ability to take advantage of future opportunities.

But Its Just One Metric

Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better.

Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, youll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth  and how much investment is required going forward. So you might want to take a peek at this data-rich interactive graph of forecasts for the company.

If you would prefer check out another company  one with potentially superior financials  then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
Japan - Equity fund seekers should consider taking a look at Fidelity Japan Fund (FJPNX). FJPNX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Japan - Equity funds is an area filled with choices, and one such option is FJPNX. Japan - Equity mutual funds invest primarily in companies based in Japan, one of the world's richest and most diversified economies. The country remains somewhat exposed to global economic trends with its export focus, while its lack of natural resources also can impact the nation.

History of Fund/Manager

FJPNX finds itself in the Fidelity family, based out of Boston, MA. Fidelity Japan Fund made its debut in September of 1992, and since then, FJPNX has accumulated about $402.50 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Kirk Neureiter is the fund's current manager and has held that role since March of 2014.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. FJPNX has a 5-year annualized total return of 2.51% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 4.4%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. FJPNX's standard deviation over the past three years is 12.08% compared to the category average of 10.6%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 12.33% compared to the category average of 10.47%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In the most recent bear market, FJPNX lost 53.22% and outperformed its peer group by 3.4%. This might suggest that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a bear market.

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Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 0.83, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. FJPNX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -4.07, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, FJPNX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.01% compared to the category average of 1.20%. From a cost perspective, FJPNX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Japan Fund ( FJPNX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about FJPNX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Brendan Nicholson

Security,

That is what some exports said a few years ago.

F-35 Stealth Fighter: A "Broken and Obsolete Design" That Can't Fight?

The JSF is designed for what the pilots call BVRbeyond visual rangecombat but the Australian pilots say it can dogfight as well.

Within days, Australians will get to see the first of the RAAFs new Joint Strike Fightersjust months after the jets noisiest critics told an inquiry it was a jackass of all trades and masterful of none. Two members of the Air Power Australia group went on to tell the Senate committee the aircraft was a broken and obsolete design, unsuitable for modern combat. The reality, say Australian fighter pilots and senior members of the ADF with intimate knowledge of the JSFs capability, is vastly different.

(This first appeared several years ago.)

RAAF chief, Air Marshal Leo Davies, tells The Strategist that while the JSF, now officially the F-35 Lightning ll, has had its problems, it could never have got to the stage its reached if its critics were right. It has flown over 70,000 flight hours, more than 200 jets are flying, the United States Marine Corps has reached Initial Operational Capability (IOC), the US Air Force has gone IOC, the US Navy is about to go IOC, says Air Marshal Davies. Its incongruous to me to hear people suggest it doesnt work. That cant happen. Is it at its peak war fighting design and software load at the moment? No, it has got one more step to come.

The JSF remains a work in progress, but by the time the RAAF buys its aircraft, the next design and software upgrade should be complete and the F-35s will be significantly more capable than Hornets or Super Hornets.

Air Marshal Davies says the results of the intense Red Flag air combat exercise in the US absolutely cement our view that this is the right aeroplane for Australia. US media is talking about a 15:1 kill ratio in favour of the F-35 against older generation fighters in the exercise in which RAAF air crews took part. (Though some commentators have raised questions about the significance of that figure.) The officer responsible for the Australian end of the US-led multinational JSF program says the aircraft will revolutionize the way the nation fights wars far into the future.

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The head of the RAAFs JSF Capability and Sustainment Group, Air Vice Marshal Leigh Gordon, says four factors give the F35 is fifth generation edgestealth, sensors, fusion and data sharing.

Two factors stand out. One is the phenomenally powerful cutting edge radar. The other is the distributer aperture system, or DAS, cameras which give the pilot a 360 degree infrared view of the world. The third element is the way all of that information is fused together to give the pilot unparalleled situational awareness.

A fourth element is the JSFs ability to quickly share the vast amount of information it gathers with air, land and naval forces. It will allow us to operate in the high threat environments we will need to operate in if we end up in a conflict.

Air Vice Marshal Gordon is confident that the first of the 72 JSFs on order for the RAAF will be based in Australia by December 2018 and the first operational squadron and a training squadron will reach IOC by December 2020. Three squadrons will be fully combat ready in 2023.

Group Captain Glen Beck has been a fighter pilot all his adult life and is now director of the RAAFs Air Combat Transition Office. He served in Iraq in 2003 as a flight commander and hes trained many of the RAAFs top pilots. The aim, he says, isnt just to see aircraft delivered and hangers built for them but to get to a mature and self-sustaining system with fully trained pilots ready for operations. "With F-35 we are on a massive learning curve." He says RAAF specialists deeply embedded in the program in the US are well placed to identify any problems with the JSF. Two RAAF pilots are in the US instructing international pilots to fly the JSF and three others are training there to become instructors.

"When you compare JSF to other options, when you look out past the 2030s, looking at the global strategic situation and where technologys going, it is the standout choice as the best solution to Australias air power needs. The guys love how it flies. Its very easy to operate."

The JSF is designed for what the pilots call BVRbeyond visual rangecombat but the Australian pilots say it can dogfight as well.

Group Captain Beck says its all about what the fighter pilots call the kill chain. Do I have more options than the bad guys to stay alive longer and then do I have more options to fight than the bad guys? I dont care if they find me if they cant track me and target me. If they do find me, then to track me is a different problem again. But the F-35 has fantastic sensors. I will know they are targeting me and Im not going to do nothing if I think Im being shot at.

Getting the pair of highly advanced, fifth generation jets to the Avalon Air Show will itself be a comprehensive demonstration of aviation logistics. Theyll be flown to Australia by Aussie pilots and frequently topped up along the way by a RAAF KC-30 air-to-air refuelling tanker.

Another officer with an intense interest in ensuring that the JSF works is Army chief Lieutenant General Angus Campbell. He rejects suggestions the F-35 will not be able to provide troops on the ground with effective air support. The JSF is an extremely advanced fighter which has extraordinary and possibly unparalleled capacities in information networking which weve not seen in the ADF before, says Lieutenant General Campbell.

Every soldier on every battlefield through modern history will want, or pray for, control of the air above him. The F-35 gives our soldiers the greatest confidence that they will have air control above them. Im delighted were getting it. Only those who dont have air control above them know the true horror of that environment and I would not want that for Australian soldiers.

This first appeared in ASPIs The Strategist here .

Read full article
John Kerry has a message for President Donald Trump: resign.

The former secretary of state and U.S. senator was speaking on a CNBC panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he was asked what he wanted to tell the president. While he initially hesitated, telling the panel that Trump "doesn't take any of this seriously," he eventually offered up his suggestion.

"What would your message be?" CNBC's Tania Bryer, the panel's moderator, asked.

"Resign," Kerry replied. His response drew some laughter and applause from the audience.

Kerry served as secretary of state during the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017. Prior to that, he represented Massachusetts in the Senate for 28 years. The Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, he lost to then-President George W. Bush. He hasn't ruled out another bid in 2020.

At Davos, Kerry also blasted Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, which he signed while he was the country's top diplomat, saying that this would "cost lives."

"People will die because of the president's decision, and billions of dollars of damage will be done to property as a result of our not moving fast enough to do what is necessary to avoid the worst consequences," he said.

Additionally, when asked about the ongoing partial government shutdown, Kerry called it a "massive failure" of the U.S. democratic process and described it as "utterly disgraceful."

"It's embarrassing for our government, it's embarrassing for our country," he said.

Davos: Trump cancels US delegation trip to economic conference over government shutdown

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-Secretary of State John Kerry thinks President Trump should resign
Former UK chancellor George Osborne. Photo: BBC TV

The former UK chancellor George Osborne said delaying Brexit is most likely and that the possibility of a no-deal Brexit is playing Russian roulette with the economy.

Osborne, now the editor of Londons Evening Standard newspaper amongst nine jobs taken since leaving parliament, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that crashing out of the bloc without a deal in place meant the gun is held to the British economys head.

Russian roulette is a game which you should never play because theres a one-in-six chance that the bullet goes into your head, he added.

Osborne was a MP for Tatton from June 2001 until he stood down and left parliament on 3 May 2017. He was Britains chancellor under prime minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2016, who both led the country into the referendum. Both he and Cameron were staunch supporters of remaining in the EU but had promised to allow the people to vote on whether Britain should leave the EU due to the rise in anti-EU sentiment stemming from factions of their Conservative party and voters moving to the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Osborne has joined a chorus of politicians and independent experts that believe Brexit is likely to be delayed by extending Article 50 the official notification that Britain would leave the EU and thereby starting a two-year process to discuss a deal  beyond 29 March 2019.

Last week, prime minister Theresa May suffered a devastating defeat to push through her Brexit deal in parliament. However, the following day, her government survived a no-confidence vote, meaning whilst no-one liked her deal, most were keen to keep her and her cabinet in power to get a deal done.

The problem is that this doesnt resolve the political deadlock and that time is running out to amend the deal, get an agreement with the EU over a different plan, and pass it through parliament.

Over the last two days, May has tried to win over support from Tory Brexiteer politicians and Northern Irelands DUP, who lend support to her government to push through her proposals, by changing or amending backstop plans for the Irish border. That backstop plan is an insurance policy in the Brexit deal that is intended to confirm that there will be no return to a visible border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Britain leaves the EU.
By Jamie Freed SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Europe's Arianespace is discounting the price of satellite launches with its Ariane 5 rockets as it competes against U.S. rival SpaceX for customers before the release of the cheaper Ariane 6 rocket next year, a senior executive said on Wednesday. Arianespace is aiming for the cost of launching the Ariane 6 to fall by around 40 percent versus the Ariane 5 through design changes and higher volume production, bringing its prices more in line with Elon Musk's SpaceX, Arianespace Managing Director and Head of Sales for Asia-Pacific Vivian Quenet said. He said in current marketing campaigns, the company is offering customers such as telecoms an Ariane 5 launch for the same price as the Ariane 6. "We have made a lot of effort on the sales price. When we do that, the result is very positive," Quenet told reporters on Wednesday, declining to discuss details of profitability. Arianespace is competing for two major launch contracts in the Asia-Pacific region that should be awarded this year and expects there could be tenders for another three, he said. Arianespace, majority-owned by a joint venture of Airbus and Safran , completed 11 launches with its Ariane 5, Vega and Soyuz rockets in 2018, in line with guidance that had been lowered mid-year from an initial 14. The company, which has a mission of guaranteeing Europe independent access to space and is used by government and commercial clients, this month forecast up to 12 launches in 2019, with four of them targeted in the first quarter. The Satellite Industry Association lobby group estimates the satellite launch services market is worth $5.5 billion a year. SpaceX has upended the industry with reusable rocket technology that has slashed the cost of space transportation. Another U.S. group, the United Launch Alliance joint venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp , said last week it would conduct the final design review for its new flagship Vulcan rocket within months as it also looks to lower costs to better compete against SpaceX. Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin said this month it will fly its still-in-development New Glenn rocket in 2021 - the same year as Vulcan. SpaceX, which media reports say is valued at $30.5 billion, said this month it would fire about 10 percent of its more than 6,000 employees, seeking to create a leaner company to deal with the "extraordinarily difficult" challenges of developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based internet. Arianespace's majority shareholder, ArianeGroup, announced on Tuesday it had signed a contract with the European Space Agency to study a mission to the moon before 2025 with the aim of mining regolith, an ore from which it is possible to extract water and oxygen. Quenet said if the mission proceeded, it would be launched with the Ariane 6 at its facilities in French Guiana. (Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
mastercard eu fine

By CCN.com: The European Commission on Tuesday slammed Mastercard with a 570.6 million euro ($650 million) fine after finding the company guilty of breaching antitrust rules. According to information released by the EU regulatory body, the original fine was reduced by 10 percent because Mastercard cooperated with the Commission during the investigation.

Mastercard Overcharged Customers, Colluded against Merchants

Mastercard, which is the second biggest card brand in the European Economic Area, forced acquiring banks to apply the interchange fees of the country where the retailer was located. These practices restricted merchant options and stopped them from finding other cards with friendlier transaction fees.

Prior to December 2015, interchange fees in the EEA varied widely between countries. In December 2015, the EU capped interchange fees at a maximum of 0.2 percent of total transaction value and 0.3 percent of transaction value for debit and credit cards respectively. This interchange fee regulation reduced retailers' costs by a significant margin that reflected in the cost of items.

EC Investigation and Half-a-Billion Dollar Fine

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european commission mastercard fine

Source: Shutterstock[/caption]

Read the full story on CCN.com

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Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday vowed to coordinate their actions more closely in Syria.

"Cooperation between Russia and Turkey is a touchstone for Syrian peace and stability," Erdogan said in translated comments at a joint press conference after their talks, which lasted around three hours.

"With our Russian friends we intend to strengthen our coordination even more."

"We agreed how we'll coordinate our work in the near future," Putin said, calling the talks which included the countries' defence ministers "effective".

At the start of their meeting in the Kremlin, Putin addressed Erdogan as "dear friend," saying that their countries "work on issues of regional security and actively cooperate on Syria".

Erdogan used the same term for Putin and said "our solidarity makes a weighty contribution to the security of the region".

The two leaders are on opposite sides of the Syria conflict: Russia provides critical support to the Syrian government, while Turkey has backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

Despite this, they have worked closely to find a political solution to the seven-year conflict.

- 'Positive step' -

Russia and Turkey have agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria following US President Donald Trump's shock announcement last month about pulling 2,000 American troops out of Syria.

Putin said that if carried out, the withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria "will be a positive step, it will help stabilise the situation in this restive area".

Turkey has also welcomed Washington's planned withdrawal, but the future of US-backed Kurdish militia forces labelled terrorists by Ankara has upset ties between the NATO allies.

Erdogan had said on Monday he would discuss with Putin the creation of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, suggested by Trump.

Story continues

The US-allied Kurds, who control much of the north, have rejected the idea, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control.

Putin said Wednesday that Russia supports "establishing dialogue between Damascus officials and representatives of the Kurds".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week said that Damascus must take control of the north.

- 'Serious concern' -

The northwestern province of Idlib earlier this month fell under the full control of a jihadist group dominated by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate.

The Russian foreign ministry said earlier Wednesday that the situation in the province remained of "serious concern".

Putin said that the leaders discussed the situation in Idlib "in great detail today."

"We have a shared conviction that we must continue jointly fighting terrorists wherever they are, including in the Idlib zone," the Russian leader said.

Erdogan said that the countries will wage a "lengthy fight" in Syria.

Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the planned US pullout has led to another key step in Assad's Russian-backed drive to reassert control.

Kurdish forces who were left exposed by Trump's pledge to withdraw have asked the Syrian regime for help to face a threatened Turkish offensive.

The Kremlin hailed the entry by Syrian forces into the key northern city of Manbij for the first time in six years after Kurds opened the gates.

Moscow plans to organise a three-way summit with Turkey and Iran early this year as part of the Astana peace process, launched by the three countries in 2017.

Putin said Wednesday the next summit would be held "in the near future" in Russia, saying the leaders still needed to agree the time and location with Iran.

The last meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani took place in Iran in September last year with the fate of rebel-held Idlib province dominating the agenda.

Ties between Russia and Turkey plunged to their lowest level in years in November 2015 when Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane over Syria.

But after a reconciliation deal in 2016, relations have recovered at a remarkable speed with Putin and Erdogan cooperating closely over Syria, Turkey buying Russian-made air defence systems and Russia building Turkey's first nuclear power plant.
New York (AFP) - The sons of former drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman killed Mexican journalist Javier Valdez because he insisted on publishing an interview with a drug trafficker, who told of the murder in court Wednesday.

Damaso Lopez Nunez, known as "The Lawyer," testified that the slain journalist -- who specialized in drug trafficking reporting -- "disobeyed the threatening orders of my compadre's children and that's why they killed him."

The testimony came as part of Guzman's trial in New York, where he faces trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges.

Valdez was an AFP stringer and co-founder of the weekly Riodoce de Sinaloa.

One of the most prominent chroniclers of the drug war, he was gunned down in May 2017. He was 50 years old.

Lopez worked for the ultra-violent Sinaloa cartel, and was convicted last year of trafficking by a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. He had been arrested days before the journalist's murder.

According to the US Department of Justice, Lopez was the deputy head of a Mexican maximum security prison in 2001 when he helped Guzman escape. He then joined the cartel as Guzman's lieutenant.

He told the jury that another Mexican journalist had mentioned his name in connection with an operation against Guzman's children -- an accusation he said was "totally false."

To disprove the information he decided to grant Valdez a telephone interview, which Guzman's children discovered and were against.

They threatened Valdez and commanded him not to published it.

"But he, complying with his ethics, published it anyway," Lopez said in court.

The witnessed denied in cross-examination that he had ordered the murder after the publication of a critical article about his son.

He also suggested Guzman was unaware of his sons' involvement in the killing.

"The truth is that maybe my compadre didn't know," he said. "But now he knows."

Story continues

Nunez, 52, is hoping a judge will reduce his sentence in exchange for his cooperation in the Chapo trial.

Valdez's murder rocked Mexico, which is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist.

More than 100 reporters have been killed since 2000, with most of those crimes going unpunished.
How California totally screwed up a potential windfall of tax revenues on legalized cannabis

They say that in life nothing is certain but death and taxes. Well, in the state of California, taxes might just be the cause of the death of the legitimate marijuana industry. Two years ago, when marijuana sales were legalized under Proposition 64, it was estimated that the state would be home to more than 6,000 properly licensed, legal pot shops within two years. However, the Los Angeles Times (LA Times) reports that to date, just 547 annual and temporary licenses have been issued by the states Bureau of Cannabis Control.

Interestingly, before the need for licenses kicked in at the beginning of 2018, close to 1,800 stores were paying taxes on the sale of medicinal marijuana, though even that number fell far below the projected 6,000 outlets.

So, what went wrong? The problem is that there is a thriving black-market marijuana industry in California, and a combination of an onerous number of complicated regulations and excessively high taxes have left dealers unwilling to make the transition to legalization. (Related: Marijuana growers are decimating Californias ecosystem, killing fish, destroying forests and draining streams.)

Complicated and expensive

Though legislators campaigned on promises that the legal cannabis industry would generate $1 billion in tax revenues annually, the reality has fallen far short of that, with just $471 million being generated in the past fiscal year. Though that might sound like a lot of money, when compared with states that have far smaller populations but are generating healthy tax revenues, it quickly becomes obvious that California is not where it should be.

Zero Hedge reported:

Consider that Washington State received $319 million in legal marijuana taxes and license fees in fiscal year 2017, while Colorado collected $247 million in 2017. They have populations of just 7.5 million and 5.7 million respectively. California is the largest U.S. state with nearly 40 million people.

So, what are these states doing right? They charge far lower taxes on marijuana sales than California, where the combination of state and local levies totals a staggering 45 percent. And high taxes and levies are not the only problem these outlets have had to deal with. (Related: Police test marijuana breathalyzers on California drivers.)

The LA Times reported:

Retailers and growers say theyve been stunted by complex regulations, high taxes and decisions by most cities to ban cannabis shops. At the same time, many residents are going to city halls and courts to fight pot businesses they see as nuisances, and police chiefs are raising concerns about crime triggered by the marijuana trade.

Essentially, the industry faces three massive challenges:

The taxes are too high, which means its easier to stay part of the black market than to transition to the legal cannabis business; Though the state has legalized retail cannabis, most individual cities still ban it, making it extremely difficult to operate legally in any Californian city. The state is trying to get around this by encouraging online marijuana sales; and The regulations and processes involved in getting legally licensed are just too complicated and labor-intensive.

All things considered, it is unlikely that the state of California will be able to tap into the potentially lucrative marijuana market unless it gets individual cities on board, loosens up licensing regulations and dramatically reduces taxes and levies. Until then, the state will continue to lose millions in potential tax revenues.

Learn more about the health benefits of medical marijuana at CannabisCures.news.

Sources for this article include:

LATimes.com

ZeroHedge.com
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager David Einhorn, whose Greenlight Capital suffered its worst year ever in 2018, told investors on Wednesday he had made some changes to the fund's main portfolio, including selling Bayer <BAYGn.DE>, Mylan <MYL.O> and Perrigo <PRGO.N> last year.

Greenlight Capital also sold Apple <AAPL.O>, which had been previously reported, and the fund manager said he covered short positions in Core Laboratories <CLB.N> and oil frackers.

"We are looking forward to a new season," Einhorn said in a letter to investors on Wednesday that was seen by Reuters, after Greenlight's main fund lost 34 percent in 2018, making it the firm's worst year ever.

Einhorn listed Brighthouse Financial <BHF.O>, AerCap <AER.N>, CONSOL CoalResources <CCR.N>, General Motors <GM.N>, Green Brick Partners <GRBK.O>, Germany's Deutsche Pfandbriefbank <PBBG.DE>, as well as gold and Puerto Rico GO bonds as long positions, while he is shorting Assured Guaranty <AGO.N> and Tesla <TSLA.O>.

At Tesla, he expects a "shortage of demand," and that the third quarter was "as good as it gets" for the electric car maker, which "faces challenges in 2019."

CFO TO LEAVE

Einhorn said Harry Brandler, the hedge fund's chief financial officer, will leave the firm this month after 17 years. He did not immediately name a replacement for Brandler, saying only that he promoted people in the firm's operations and finance areas.

He said he was reopening his funds to new investments, after years of turning them away.

"At this point, we no longer believe there is risk of our assets growing too quickly (other than through improved performance), so for those interested in investing, the answer will now be 'yes'."

The firm's assets had shrunk to $2.5 billion, from over $10 billion four years ago.

Many investors were fed up with heavy losses and Einhorn said the firm has had "substantial redemptions."

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Attractive stocks have exceptional fundamentals. In the case of Engineers India Limited (NSE:ENGINERSIN), theres is a highly-regarded dividend-paying company that has been able to sustain great financial health over the past. In the following section, I expand a bit more on these key aspects. For those interested in digger a bit deeper into my commentary, take a look at the report on Engineers India here.

Flawless balance sheet established dividend payer

ENGINERSINs ability to maintain an adequate level of cash to meet upcoming liabilities is a good sign for its financial health. This implies that ENGINERSIN manages its cash and cost levels well, which is a crucial insight into the health of the company. Looking at ENGINERSINs capital structure, the company has no debt on its balance sheet. This implies that the company is running its operations purely on off equity funding. which is typically normal for a small-cap company. Therefore the company has plenty of headroom to grow, and the ability to raise debt should it need to in the future.

NSEI:ENGINERSIN Historical Debt January 23rd 19

For those seeking income streams from their portfolio, ENGINERSIN is a robust dividend payer as well. Over the past decade, the company has consistently increased its dividend payout, reaching a yield of 3.4%, making it one of the best dividend companies in the market.

NSEI:ENGINERSIN Historical Dividend Yield January 23rd 19

Next Steps:

For Engineers India, there are three essential factors you should further examine:

Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for ENGINERSINs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for ENGINERSINs outlook. Historical Performance: What has ENGINERSINs returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity. Other Attractive Alternatives : Are there other well-rounded stocks you could be holding instead of ENGINERSIN? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
The Hollywood actor pictured in December 2018. (PA Images)

John Travolta has opened up about the tragic death of his 16-year-old son, Jett Travolta. Speaking exclusively to USWeekly, the Hollywood actor revealed that he didnt know if he was going to make it following the tragedy.

It was the worst thing thats ever happened in my life. I didnt know if i was going to make it, he told the publication.

The 64-year-old star of Grease and Pulp Fiction fame said that the Church of Scientology had helped him get through the trying times.

The church never left our side for two years. I dont know if I would have made it through without their support. Our church is the number one thing that keeps us grounded, he explained.

Jett, Travoltas first child, passed away in January 2009 in the Bahamas during a family holiday. The teen suffered from Kawasaki disease and died as a result of a seizure.

He added that family is a priority for both himself and his wife-of-28-years Kelly Preston.

Our children keep our interest in life very high. Their future is very important to us, he said.

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In 2010, a year after Jett passed, the Travoltas welcomed a newborn son into their family, Benjamin Travolta.

In the same interview, Travolta said that both Benjamin and his 18-year-old daughter Ella Bleu want to forge acting careers.

Theyre smart kids and they do well because theyre encouraged to apply what they learn. Ella is making a living as an actress. Were very proud of her. Shes old-school elegant and gifted in the arts.

Travolta returned to the big screen in 2018 as the star of Gotti. The movie explored the life of times of infamous mafioso John Gotti. The movie was widely panned by critics, and as of yet has not turned a profit.

Most recently, he has debuted a new, bald look. He shared to his one million followers on Instagram in early January a picture of him completely bald alongside his teen daughter at what appears to be a festive party.

Read more

Anne Hergerty: I wasnt looking to be the face of autism

Martin Lewis throws his papers during Brexit debate

Danny DeVito booed during NTAs appearance
Detroit Metropolitan Airport travelers are preparing to board their planes after the facility reopened at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

For nearly 14 hours  since 8 p.m. Tuesday  operations at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport were at a standstill due to freezing rain and snow.

Planes that arrived at the airport Tuesday night were stranded and flights coming in were delayed.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport is now open. Weather conditions have improved enough to allow the deicing fluid to be effective. At this time, one runway, the surrounding taxiways and deice pads are open," said Erica Donerson, director of Government & External Affairs. "Throughout the morning, maintenance crews will continue working hard to reopen the remaining runways and taxiways. Customers are still encouraged to check with their airline regarding flight status and before heading to the airport.

A tweet from DTW's verified account stated that a second runway is now open.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, DTW was the only major airport closed Wednesday morning. Three other airports  Chicago O'Hare International, La Guardia and Philadelphia International, were experiencing delays of about 15 minutes or more, and other airports experienced general delays less than 15 minutes.

Airport officials said earlier that maintenance crews were working during the closure.

Earlier Wednesday morning, Claudia Veltre waited at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport to fly to San Diego, Calif., for her daughter's baby shower.

Veltre, who moved back to Michigan from California, said she was uncertain if she would stick it out and stay at the airport or find another alternative. But she was "pretty pragmatic. "If I can't get there, I cant get there. I'm not gonna risk life and limb," she said.

In addition to travelers waiting at the airport, Detroit Red Wings reportedly flew to Cleveland because of the closure and then fly to Toledo before taking bus back to Michigan after playing against Edmonton Oilers.

Story continues

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Check status: Airport information provided by FAA

More: Weather advisory issued in southeast Michigan, 'wintry mix' of rain, snow expected

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Metro Airport is back open after 14-hour winter weather closure
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - Afghanistan's de facto prime minister has possibly the most daunting task of all the leaders attending the annual Davos forum -- wooing foreign investors to his shattered country.

Undaunted, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said investors should look beyond the terrible security situation and examine the potential of Afghanistan's rich natural resources.

"For the business community... of course security is an impediment," he told AFP in an interview Wednesday on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

"But you cannot wait until security is perfect and then come in and invest," he said.

"Afghanistans riches, natural resources, commodities which are today more precious than gold, these are all opportunities," he said, highlighting rare earths used in a multitude of electronics.

While the elite Davos forum has plenty of detractors, Abdullah also praised it for being unlike others that are devoted either to business or politics.

"I don't think there is any other get-together more powerful than Davos, and more inclusive than Davos," he said.

"This one is a mix of everything, and I try to push our case, the case of our country."

Abdullah was speaking after Taliban militants on Monday killed 65 people in an attack on an intelligence training facility in Wardak province.

It was the latest high-casualty assault on Afghan forces, who experts say are suffering "unsustainable" losses since NATO withdrew its combat forces in 2014.

- Another challenge: elections -

President Donald Trump meanwhile has ordered the withdrawal of half of the remaining 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan in a push to extricate Washington from the anti-Taliban conflict, launched in 2001 after the September 11 attacks.

At the same time, the United States is conducting a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at bringing the Taliban to the table for talks.

Washington on Tuesday confirmed ongoing talks in Qatar between its envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and representatives of the Islamist militia.

Story continues

At the Taliban's insistence, the dialogue has excluded the Afghan government, and Abdullah said that would ultimately have to change to bring about a lasting settlement.

"(A) peace process cannot take place by proxy," he said, referring to Washington's go-between role.

It was Trump's "prerogative" as US president to decide on troop levels, he added, but stressed: "It is also the reality that we are fighting against common enemies."

Potentially fuelling instability in Afghanistan is a delayed presidential election now due to take place in July, which will pit Abdullah against President Ashraf Ghani among an array of candidates.

The president was first elected in a fraud-tainted poll in 2014 that was only resolved in a US-brokered power-sharing deal with Abdullah.

The chief executive told AFP that there was "an atmosphere of mutual respect" between himself and Ghani, but stressed there cannot be a repeat of the chaos seen in 2014.

"God forbid if the elections are not satisfactory for the people, if it's not seen as transparent and fair, that will be a recipe for political instability," he said.

"It will be tricky. But it is doable, and hopefully we will prove our ability to the people that when it comes to the interests of the people, that's the utmost for us."
As President Donald Trump continues to ponder pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, developments this week may further complicate his decision.

The U.S. military said Tuesday a service member was killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan. The news comes on the heels of a Taliban car bomb attack Monday that killed at least 45 people  including dozens of intelligence forces  in an Afghan military base in eastern Maidan Wardak province.

Pending notification of the family, the Pentagon did not release any more information about the second American casualty this year stemming from the conflict in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have been fighting for 17 years.

Army Ranger Cameron Meddock of Spearman, Texas, died last week after being wounded by small-arms fire while supporting a mission called Operation Freedoms Sentinel. He was 26.

Some 2,400 U.S. military personnel have perished in Afghanistan since American forces launched an offensive following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. About 14,000 troops remain in the South Asian country to train and advise local military forces and to conduct counter-terrorism operations.

More: Trump is achieving his goal of being the un-Obama, except on Middle East wars

Trump has frequently questioned the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and a month ago he was reportedly considering a major withdrawal of troops, along with the pullback from Syria that led Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to resign.

The loss of another service member could help convince Trump to significantly reduce the American presence in Afghanistan, even though the idea has received wide opposition from Republicans and Democrats in Congress concerned that it would boost terrorist groups like ISIS and al Qaeda.

Mondays attack by a suicide bomber at a base that serves as a training center for pro-government militias enhances fears that, without U.S. support, the Afghan security forces remain vulnerable to insurgents.

The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the operation, has gained control of nearly half the country. The group said it resumed peace talks with U.S. officials this week.

Story continues

Contributing: The Associated Press

More: Afghanistan: Americas longest war

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Death of American, Taliban attack may muddle plans for withdrawal from Afghanistan
ARLINGTON, Va.  Three years ago, Congress created a commission to help it answer a pair of questions: Is the Selective Service System, which requires 18-year-old men to register for a potential military draft, working?

If so, should it be expanded to include women?

The panel, more than halfway through its work, is asking even bigger questions.

Should draft registration be mandatory, voluntary or eliminated?

Should it target people with specific technical, medical or language skills, in addition to combat capability?

And should compulsory service be limited to the military, or should it include other forms of community service?

Start the day smarter: Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox

The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service will deliver an interim report Wednesday that hints at the breadth of its charge but gives few clues as to how it's going to resolve the most controversial issues.

"Personally, I dont think we will remain with the status quo," commission Chairman Joe Heck said. "But where we end up on the spectrum is yet to be determined."

Heck, a retired brigadier general and Republican former congressman from Nevada, called the question of whether women should be required to register for the Selective Service on turning 18 "visceral."

In this Aug. 21, 2015, file photo, Army 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, center, and Capt. Kristen Griest, right, pose for photos with other female West Point alumni after an Army Ranger school graduation ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga.

"When we pose this question to people, its not like they say, 'Oh, let me stop and think for a minute.' They have an answer," he said. "Either it's yes, women should have to register just on the basis of equality, or no, women should not have to register because they have a different role in American society."

In 2017, the Pentagon argued in favor of keeping the Selective Service system  and expanding it to include women.

"It would appear imprudent to exclude approximately 50 percent of the population  the female half  from availability for the draft in the case of a national emergency," the Pentagon said in the report, which was released under the Freedom of Information Act.

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The military said it's committed to an all-volunteer force and doesn't have plans to implement a draft. But expanding the draft to include women would help by doubling the number of recruiting leads, officials argued, and foster a sense of gender inclusion in the national defense.

The commission's review is the most expansive examination of the draft system in U.S. history. Its conclusions are only advisory; whether to implement them would be up to the president and Congress.

Congress has been divided. Lawmakers created the commission in 2016 after the House refused to go along with a Senate proposal, supported by both conservative defense hawks and liberal feminists, to expand the draft to women.

President Barack Obama, in his last weeks in office, came out in favor of a gender-neutral draft in response to a question from USA TODAY.

Obama: Expanding the draft to women is a 'logical next step' for the military

Congress, unable to resolve the issue, did what it often does: created a commission to study the question.

With a multiyear budget of $15 million, the 15-member panel is immune to the partial government shutdown.

The commission is taking on a debate that's been brewing for generations.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, citing a shortage of nurses, proposed drafting women in his 1945 State of the Union Address.

The draft was suspended at the end of the Vietnam War in 1973. When President Jimmy Carter reinstated draft registration in 1980, he proposed adding women. Congress disagreed.

In 1981, the Supreme Court decided 6-3 that male-only draft registration was constitutional because women weren't eligible for most combat roles.

Last year, a federal judge in Houston ruled that the high court precedent might no longer apply because "now, women can serve in combat roles."

That decision kept alive a lawsuit brought by the National Coalition for Men, which represents two draft-eligible men challenging the sex-based draft.

"We take no position on whether there should or should not be Selective Service," said the men's lawyer, Marc Angelucci. "We all would have disagreements about that.

"What we are concerned about is the sex discrimination against men. And we oppose that whether or not there's a draft."

Angelucci said he doesn't trust Congress or the commission to resolve the issue.

Neither does Edward Hasbrouck, an antiwar activist who was jailed for four months in the 1980s for refusing to register for the draft.

The prosecutor in that case: Robert Mueller, who became FBI director and is the special counsel investigating Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

"The commission was created as a stalling tactic," Hasbrouck said. "It may come back with recommendations that are completely ignored."

Hasbrouck is one of more than 25,000 people who signed a petition urging the commission to end the draft.

"I think any objective serious examination of the last 40 years of draft registration would conclude that draft registration has failed," he said. "It cannot be enforced. There's no reason to think it can be salvaged by expanding it to women."

In the 16 months since the commission was organized, it has traveled the country to solicit public input and received more than 3,000 comments. It's accepting additional comments through the end of the year.

One theme of many of those comments is a desire for some form of all-inclusive service in which military service would be just one option. Some of those alternatives already exist: the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, City Year and Teach for America.

That idea, too, is fraught with constitutional concerns.

The commission met with legal scholars in October. Heck said they split on whether the government can require compulsory public service.

The 13th Amendment  the one that ended slavery  prohibited "involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

Heck would not rule out some form of all-inclusive service, such as devoting the last semester of high school to public service. The panel is looking at ways to promote a culture of service in which, even if it wasn't compulsory, Americans would be expected to devote at least part of their young adulthood in service.

"Our goal is to create what we call a universal expectation of service," Heck said. "So that over the course of one or two generations ... we inculcate this ethos of service so that the person who doesn't serve is the odd person out."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Should women be required to register for the draft? Commission likely to recommend big changes
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UberEats customers have been demanding Starbucks coffee from Uber - REUTERS

Starbucks is set to deliver in the UK for the first time with millennial customers willing to double the price of their coffee to avoid leaving their home for a caffeine fix.

The coffee chain announced on Tuesday that it will begin piloting the coffee-to-your-door service in London at the end of the month in a deal with UberEats.

The service, which follows successful trials in the US, will allow customers to order a hot drink from Starbucks on an the UberEats app before it is delivered by Ubers network of bicycle and motorbike riders.

But customers will pay more for their order. Current UK deliveries through the UberEats app normally add a 2.50 delivery charge, a price that would in effect double the cost of a 2.60 latte. In the US, app orders for coffee add a $2.49 delivery fee.

Starbucks says that around 95 per cent of its menu items will be available through the app.

UberEats has become a popular food delivery service among the millennial generation, who have a taste for smartphone delivery businesses including Uber and Deliveroo over more established services like Just Eat.

Liz Meyerdirk, Ubers head of business development, told The Daily Telegraph: We have had people asking for Starbucks delivery for five or six years. Even before UberEats existed, they were asking if Ubers could deliver coffee for them.

The company declined to comment on the delivery fee for Starbucks in the UK, or the cut it will take from the coffee chain.

Uber reportedly takes a cut in the region of 30pc from most restaurant deliveries, however a similar global deal with McDonalds is understood to offer more lucrative terms to the restaurant chain due to the size of the deal.

Starbucks has long been testing how to build out a delivery service in its home market. In 2014, then-CEO Howard Schultz said the chain would soon begin offering delivery in select US markets.

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The trials in London trials add the UK to a list of eleven countries where customers can order Starbucks on their phone.

Starbucks already has a significant delivery business in China, using Alibabas Ele.me platform, involving 2,000 stores across 30 cities in China.

The food delivery industry is said to be worth up to 73bn by 2023 and is growing more than 11 per cent per year, mostly driven by delivery apps like UberEats and Deliveroo.

The company's chief operating officer Roz Brewer said: By integrating our ordering technology directly with Uber Eats, weve unlocked the ability to bring Starbucks to customers for those times when theyre not able to come to us.

The deal represents a win for Uber in London, after it saw its taxi service almost banned by Transport for London. It also represents the latest escalation of the delivery wars between US firm Uber and British rivals Deliveroo and Just Eat.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. CHKP recently unveiled hyperscale network security solution Check Point Maestro  at the annual event of CPX360 held in Bangkok.



The new solution will enable businesses to expand the existing security tools to hyperscale capacity, allowing the same to experience cloud level security.



The new architecture facilitates quick expansion of a single gateway to the capacity and performance capability of 52 gateways, enabling a massive Terabit/second firewall throughput. This helps organizations support 5G networks high data rates and ultra-low latency.



Gil Shwed, CEO, Check Point, was quoted saying:Gen VI of security will see nano-scale software agents placed on every type of device or cloud platform, connected in real time with an intelligent control system that can predict, detect and prevent attacks. This will enable us to secure everything from individual IoT devices to hyperscale networks seamlessly, eliminating weak links and protecting our future.



Robust Demand for Cybersecurity Solutions



With the growing use of AI-driven technology to aid industries in digital transformation journey, the incidents of smart attacks are also on the rise. In 2019, there is a possibility of cyber criminals using malicious chatbots to interact with potential victims and extract private information out of them.



Moreover, the ongoing year might also witnessa surge in cyber warfare, given terrorist and cyber espionage groups widespread access to advanced technology. In fact, the first data breach of 2019 was already reported at the beginning of this month where an unauthorised third party downloaded a directory, stealing details of about 30,000 Australian civil servants.



On a positive note, these predictions mean that embracing cyber security solutions will be multiplied in times ahead and this trend is certainly a piece of good news for Check Point.



Check Point is gaining traction from the increasing uptake of its cloud-based solutions. Per Grand View Research, the cloud security market size is expected to see a CAGR of 13.9% during the 2018-2024 period. This projection definitely augurs well for the company.



Efforts in Cybersecurity Market Bode Well



Enterprises persistently confront sophisticated cyber threats, making cyber security a mission-critical, high-profile requirement. Check Points rich experience in the security space and a steady delivery of mission-critical solutions are helping it gain customer accounts. In the last reported quarter, the number of new customers, who signed deals worth $1 million or more, remained consistent sequentially at 58.



The company is focused on enhancing its threat intelligence portfolio with acquisitions, partnerships and innovative technologies. During the last reported quarter, Check Point clinched several deals in various industries. Moreover, the company signed an Independent Software Vendor pactwith Blackberry BB to combat cyber security hazards.



Last November, Check Point announced a technology integration with Amazons AMZN AWS Security Hub toimprovecloud protection forits consolidated security platform.



Also last year, the company launched SandBlast Mobile 3.0 that offers threat prevention technology to enterprises for helping employees safely conduct business using their mobile devices. Further, Check Point unveiled Generation V Security Gateway for enterprises and data centers.



Check Point also announced its acquisition of Dome9 recently with which, the company expects to upgrade its Infinity architecture and CloudGuard security platform. It believes that the combination of Dome9, CloudGuard IaaS and SandBlast products will expand its cloud security capabilities.

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Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Revenue (TTM)

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Revenue (TTM) | Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Quote

Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider



Check Point currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the broader Computer and Technology industry is Synopsys, Inc. SNPS. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Long-term earnings growth rate for Synopsys is projected to be 10%.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



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Hacienda Healthcare in Phoenix. (USA Today)

A nurse has been arrested after a 29-year-old woman who had been in a vegetative state in the US for years gave birth at a long-term health care facility.

Phoenix Police said licensed practical nurse Nathan Sutherland, 36, has been detained on one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse.

He worked at the Hacienda HealthCare facility on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona, where the woman lived after becoming incapacitated at the age of three in an incident in which she nearly drowned.

Emiliano Sala  live updates: Rescuers battle horrendous conditions in hope missing Cardiff striker is on life raft

The search for a plane carrying Cardiff striker Emiliano Sala and a pilot is now a recovery operation, according to the Channel Islands Air Search.

Guernsey Police have found no trace of the missing plane which was carrying Sala after a search and rescue operation that targeted an area of 280 square miles around Alderney using multiple aircraft from the Channel Islands, France and the United Kingdom.

Sala was aboard a light aircraft which disappeared from radar en route from Nantes to Cardiff on Monday evening.

Snow and ice have caused rail delays and school closures and forecasters have warned of even colder weather ahead overnight across the UK.

The Met Office said temperatures will drop further on Wednesday night, to as low as -7C (19.4F), with clear skies causing wet surfaces to freeze quite readily.

The forecaster issued a yellow severe ice warning for the south east, central and north of England as well as for Scotland from 6pm on Wednesday to 11am on Thursday.

A B&B in Torquay is the best in the world, according to TripAdvisors 2019 Travellers Choice awards.

The 25 Boutique in Devon was given the number one spot, while four more of those in the top 10 were also based in the UK.
Buzz Aldrin, the legendary NASA astronaut, is calling on President Donald Trump to rename the Space Force to something less antagonistic.

In June 2018, the White House announced the creation of a new branch in the armed forces that would be responsible for handling military operations in space.

Mr Aldrin, however, is not pleased with the branding.

I have thought for some while that a better name would be Space Guard, because it is more deterrent, Mr Aldrin, who was the second man to step on the moon, told the Daily Mail.

It is not strike, he added. We have a strike force that is aggressive. Space Guard is more defensive and I think that is pretty much what people had in mind with the space force.

The 89-year-old NASA icon said that, despite his distaste for the name, he believes the Space Force plan was one giant leap in the right direction, a reference to his 1969 Apollo 11 co-pilot Neil Armstrongs first words when he set foot on the moon.

Space Force has caught the eye of Hollywood. Earlier this year, Netflix announced a new comedy series called Space Force created by and starring The Offices Steve Carrell.

The need for a new military space branch was prompted when news broke that the Chinese military tested a new anti-spacecraft missile in 2007. In the test, the Chinese launched the missile into space and blew up one of their satellites in orbit.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Strategic Support Force is the only military wing dealing exclusively with war fighting in space, the Daily Mail reported.

Russia had their own version of a space military branch from 1992 to 1997 called the Russian Space Forces. It re-opened the military wing once again from 2001 to 2011, but in 2015, it was brought under the domain of Russias air force.

Prior to the creation of Space Force, the US militarys space-related warfare was shared between the Air Force and other branches. In June 2018, Mr Trump signed the Space Policy Directive-3a new law governing space trafficdecreeing the Department of Defence to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.

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Last week, Mr Trump said his new budget will include a space-based missile defence layer, adding that this plan is ultimately going to be a very, very big part of our defenceand, obviously, for our offence.

The US Air Force Space Command, an agency established in 1982 handling space forces support and control, has a $8.5 billion budget with about 36,000 workers, and the National Reconnaissance Office, an extremely clandestine branch of the intelligence services, with a budget estimated around $15 billion.

We will recognise that space is a new war-fighting domain with the Space Force leading the way, Mr Trump added.

The president said the Space Force would be separate but equal from other military branches. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is leading the project.

"The Air Force is going to focus on the Air Force,Mr Trump said. We need a separate branch, and were working on that. Its called the Space Force, which is very exciting. People love it, they get it.
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell DGO Gold Limited (ASX:DGO), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Selling?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia University study found that insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers.

Check out our latest analysis for DGO Gold

Want to help shape the future of investing tools and platforms? Take the survey and be part of one of the most advanced studies of stock market investors to date.

DGO Gold Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

John Barlow made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for AU$1.0m worth of shares at a price of AU$0.80 each. That means that even when the share price was higher, an insider wanted to purchase shares. Its very possible they regret the purchase, but its more likely they are bullish about the company. Its not at all bad to see insiders buy shares at or above current prices.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders bought 6.11m shares for a total of AU$4.6m. In total, DGO Gold insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. Their average price was about AU$0.76. Id consider this a positive as it suggests insiders see value at around the current price, which is AU$0.72. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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ASX:DGO Insider Trading January 23rd 19

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insiders at DGO Gold Have Bought Stock Recently

Its good to see that DGO Gold insiders have made notable investments in the companys shares. In total, insiders bought AU$1.1m worth of shares in that time, and we didnt record any sales whatsoever. This makes one think the business has some good points.

Insider Ownership

Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. It appears that DGO Gold insiders own 34% of the company, worth about AU$6.2m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, its enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Do The DGO Gold Insider Transactions Indicate?

It is good to see recent purchasing. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. But on the other hand, the company made a loss last year, which makes us a little cautious. Insiders likely see value in DGO Gold shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). To put this in context, take a look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow .

If you would prefer to check out another company  one with potentially superior financials  then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.



The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
LONDON (AP) -- Businesses in Britain and the European Union need to prepare for the possibility the U.K. will leave the bloc in March without an exit deal, senior British and EU officials warned Wednesday, as a growing number of U.K. firms braced for disruption by stockpiling goods or shifting operations overseas.

Last week British lawmakers threw out Prime Minister Theresa May's EU divorce deal, and attempts to find a replacement are gridlocked.

"No deal is a possibility," said U.K. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

"We know that the law in the United Kingdom says that on the 29th of March the European treaties will cease to apply to a U.K., so the only way we can stop that happening is to come to an agreement," Fox told the BBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In Brussels, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said "preparing for a no-deal scenario is more important than ever  even though I still hope that we can avoid this issue and this scenario."

Most U.K. business groups fear a "no-deal" Brexit will cause economic chaos by ripping up the trade rulebook and imposing tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between the U.K. and the EU, its biggest trading partner.

The Bank of England has said that in a worst-case scenario, a cliff-edge Brexit could trigger a deep recession, with Britain's economy shrinking 8 percent within months as unemployment and inflation soar.

Carolyn Fairbairn of the Confederation of British Industry said British politicians must rule out a no-deal Brexit, calling it "the only way to halt irreversible damage and restore business confidence."

Warnings from industry have grown louder as Brexit day approaches. Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said earlier this month that uncertainty around the terms of Britain's exit was "unbearable."

Speaking at a business reception, he urged lawmakers to "stop filibustering around this issue, allow for an orderly, agreed Brexit and find an agreement with Brussels."

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So far, he has not been heeded. Britain's fractured Parliament is due to vote on May's proposal on Tuesday  and on rival plans, including attempts by groups of legislators to delay Britain's exit and to rule out "no-deal."

May's government has rejected both ideas, but a growing number of lawmakers believe Britain will have to ask the EU to delay Brexit past March 29 to solve the Brexit impasse.

German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said any such request "would certainly be considered seriously" by the bloc.

"'No-deal' Brexit must be avoided  this is the priority," he said in Davos.

Also while attending the Davos forum, Pierre Moscovici, the EU's top economy official, said an extension request could only be granted by the other 27 member states if it came with some "clarity."

"You cannot just say, 'Well it's the 28th of March. We're not yet there. Give us some time.' You must clarify some options," Moscovici said in Davos.

May said extending the deadline "does not solve the issue," and the only way to ensure Britain did not leave the EU without an agreement was for Parliament to pass her deal.

"There will always be a point of decision ... no deal, a deal or no Brexit," she said in the House of Commons.

Britain's pro-Brexit lawmakers accuse those seeking a delay of trying to overturn voters' 2016 decision to leave the EU.

"They are going to do everything that they can in that remaining time not to delay Brexit, not to get a deal, but to keep us bound to the European Union," said Conservative legislator Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Brexiteer.

With Brexit just two months away, companies are acting to cushion themselves against disruption.

Ferry operator P&O said it would re-register its U.K. fleet under the flag of Cyprus so it could continue to use EU tax arrangements after Brexit.

Electronics firm Sony announced this week that it will move its European headquarters from London to Amsterdam to avoid potential customs complications after Britain leaves the EU  one of several companies shifting its legal base to an EU member state. Sony said it did not plan to move jobs from Britain.

While many firms worry about the impact of Brexit, some senior business figures support it, including James Dyson, founder and chairman of appliance manufacturer Dyson. The vacuum-maker was accused of hypocrisy by Brexit opponents after announcing Tuesday that it is moving its head office from southwest England to Singapore.

The firm said it was making the move because of the growing importance of the Asian market, rather than because of Britain's impending EU exit.

But Solicitor General Robert Buckland, who represents an area near Dyson's British HQ, said "I'm disappointed to say the least that at this time a company led by a person who advocated Brexit has decided to relocate outside of this country."

___

Associated Press writers Danica Kirka in London, and Jamey Keaten and Theodora Tongas in Davos, contributed to this story.

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
Staples Solutions created a pop-up happy space on Baker Street, London, to raise the spirits of office workers on 21 January 2019. Photo: Staples

Almost half of UK office workers are suffering from vocation frustration  feeling so undervalued and unproductive that they want to quit their job, according to statistics published on Monday.

In its latest report In Pursuit of Office Happiness, office supplier Staples published a survey of over 2,000 UK office workers conducted by research agency Arlington Research in October 2018. It found that 46% of participants felt they would be happier in a different job.

Four out of five (81%) of UK office workers said that their workspace has a direct impact on their mental health  but employers arent investing in those workspaces enough, the survey found.

Over two thirds (68%) of respondents said they would feel a lot more more valued if some extra money was put towards making their offices nicer. A sad one in five even went so far as to describe their workplace as depressing, while only 15% could say that they love their workspace.

READ MORE: Whats more important, loving your job or earning loads of cash?

Cramped workspaces were found to be one of the things making office workers most miserable, with a quarter of survey respondents saying their office is too small and confined. Whats more, a frustrated 15% said they feel like they dont have space to think.

But noise was a much more significant issue, with 35% fed up at having to deal with workspaces that are too loud to concentrate or get work done.

Professor Cary Cooper, expert in workplace happiness and author of Well-being: Productivity and Happiness at Work, said he believes staff wellbeing is the key component to creating a happy workforce.

Work can make you sick  and work can make you happy, Prof Cooper said. Which one happens depends on who you are, what you do, and how you are treated at work. So an improvement in staff wellbeing can be a catalyst to the development of workspaces that encourage happiness, fulfilment and productivity.

READ MORE: The top 20 ways Britons slack off at work

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The report also highlights simple and fun ways for employers to make their workspaces happier. Perks, or happiness triggers, that respondents said they would like to have in their office included an office dog (27%), healthy sacks (49%), hammocks or sleeping pods (20%), punch bags (15%) and better stationery (23%). The report notes that these perks are not long-term solutions but a good place to start.

Jeanette Bresitz, UK head of merchandising at Staples, said: As many psychologists, including Professor Cooper, rightly point out, workplace happiness is about striking a balance between providing employees with the right physical space  such as giving them the tools they need to do their jobs well, and a workspace that promotes mental health  while also providing them with a nurturing culture in which they can grow.

With nearly half of UK office workers telling us that they think theyd be happier in another job, we are urging businesses to make changes so staff feel more valued, productive and loyal to their employers.

Its important to note that boosting the workspace with free snacks and office puppies isnt the long term answer  achieving office happiness is about more than gimmicks  but our research shows that its a good place to start.
Why are Brits always apologising? The latest Yahoo UK podcast looks into the issue (Picture: Getty)

Ever felt like you apologise a bit too much?

Youre not alone. British people have a bit of a reputation for apologising  sometimes unnecessarily.

But why is that we say sorry even when we havent done anything wrong?

According to etiquette expert William Hanson, it could also be down to our history, with colonial roots leading to British people generally being a bit apologetic.

Mr Hanson tackled the subject on the latest episode of Yahoos podcast Britain Is a Nation Of, which this week looks at manners.

Brits appear to be quite acutely aware of how much they apologise too, with a third (31%) of British people feel they say sorry too much, versus 23% of Americans.

The podcast includes data from a 2015 YouGov poll that revealed that British people are more likely than their American counterparts to apologise for things that arent their fault.

The poll asked people from two of the worlds largest English-speaking countries whether they would say sorry in certain situations and found that Brits are much more likely to say sorry over small things where theyre actually probably more the victim.

A third of British people would apologise for a sneeze, compared to just 22% of Americans, while 36% of Brits would say sorry if someone bumped into them, versus 24% in America.

Listen to the full episode of Britain is a Nation of below

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Mr Hanson said: I think we Brits, although were not quite as polite as we perhaps once were, I think we are still pretty much one of the politest nations  Brits and Canadians. Of course we share a monarch so there might be something to do with that.

But we still are very conscious of other people and I think maybe its conditional.

Without wanting to get too heavy I think maybe because of the colonial implications in the past we are still almost literally apologising for being there and being British and being in somebodys way, and actually If someone rams their trolley into the back of your feet it is completely their fault.

But its a nice trait for us to have. I wouldnt necessarily say we need to get rid of it.

To hear more unpacking of statistics about British people, listen to the full episode above, or download it on Apple Podcasts, Acast, or Spotify to listen while on the go.
An appeal to grant Paul Whelan bail was denied bail at a Moscow court Tuesday - Anadolu

Investigators have accused a British citizen held on espionage charges in Russia of receiving a USB stick that contained state secrets, his lawyer has said.

Paul Whelan, 48, believed the USB stick had photographs and other information about a church he had visited, lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov said. FSB security agents swooped in and seized him before he could see what was on the flash drive, he added.

Russian media previously claimed he was grabbed at the Metropole Hotel near the Kremlin while receiving a USB stick with a list of employees of a state agency.

In the first public appearance since he was detained on December 28, Moscow city court refused an appeal to grant bail to Mr Whelan, leaving him pre-trial confinement in Lefortovo jail until at least the end of February. He faces 10 to 20 years in prison.

Mr Whelan, head of security for a Michigan auto parts company who holds American, British, Canadian and Irish passports, appeared calm and well-fed. Dressed in a blue shirt, dark trousers and rimless eyeglasses, the former Marine and police officer declined to answer shouted questions, instead whispering with his lawyers through an opening in the thick glass defendant's cage.

A source told The Telegraph last week that Mr Whelan is accused of gathering information about classified military structures.

During the hearing, which was closed until the judge returned with a decision, Mr Whelan refuted in detail the prosecution's arguments, Mr Zherebenkov said.

He didn't think these were state secrets, as he did indeed say, 'I'm a friend of Russia,' the lawyer said. He has a lot of acquaintances here. For him all these meetings, all these contacts were ordinary and connected with the culture of the country, nothing more.

The defence had offered a bond of up to 30 million roubles (350,000) for his release.

Lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov speaks to Mr Whelan in the defendant's cage Credit: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Russian police have often been accused of faking evidence, and in September, two officers in Izhevsk were given prison sentences for planting a pistol and personal items from a supposed victim on an innocent man.

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Mr Whelan was detained by the powerful FSB, however, in a much more high-profile bust.

Former CIA officers have said the United States wouldn't send an agent to Russia without diplomatic cover.

Although Mr Whelan feels good, he has an illness that requires medical attention, and Mr Zherebenkov said he had agreed with investigators to have a doctor visit him with an interpreter, as he doesn't speak good Russian. He is reportedly suffering from a hernia as well as a shoulder problem.

Prison monitors have said his cell is better than normal, with good heating, a television and a refrigerator.

Vladimir Putin's spokesman denied that Mr Whelan had been detained as a pawn in a diplomatic game, but some including US officials have disputed this. There has been speculation Moscow could seek to swap him for a Russian prisoner in the United States.

Mr Whelan's twin brother previously told The Telegraph that the family had doubts about the appointment of Mr Zherebenkov to represent him. While the lawyer has successfully defended well-known clients like former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, he is known to have close relationships with state investigators after working as one himself for two decades.

Mr Zherebenkov speaks outside Moscow city court on Tuesday Credit: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Mr Whelan came to Russia in December for a friend's wedding and showed other guests around the Kremlin grounds, relatives have said. Friends contacted the embassy when he failed to appear at the wedding.

At least 20 friends on his page on a Russian social network had completed military education or service, while others worked in IT. His twin brother previously told The Telegraph that Mr Whelan had always enjoyed meeting foreign military and law enforcement personnel during his extensive travels.

Mr Whelan first visited Russia while on leave after serving in Iraq in 2007, a trip he described afterward as a chance to travel throughout the world wherever we want to go and experience the diversity of culture.

He came to Russia on several other occasions and, according to his lawyer, had in May visited Sergiyev Posad, a city near Moscow famous for its ancient monastery complex. He has also reportedly been to the imperial capital of St Petersburg as well as Volgograd, which is known for its Second World War history.

Mr Whelan joined the US Marine Corps reserves in 1994 but was court-martialled over larceny allegations and discharged for bad conduct in 2008.

He was employed at the temporary staffing firm Kelly Services, which operates in countries including Russia, as senior manager of global security and investigations. Most recently he was employed at auto parts supplier BorgWarner, which has said he wasn't in Russia for work.

He also did stints in law enforcement and at one point started an online gun-selling business.
By Kylie MacLellan, William James and Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit on Monday by proposing to seek further concessions from the European Union on a plan to prevent customs checks on the Irish border. With little time left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on March 29, there is no agreement in London on how and even whether it should leave the world's biggest trading bloc, and a growing chance of a dramatic 'no-deal' exit with no provisions to soften the economic shock. After her Brexit divorce deal with Brussels was rejected by 432-202 lawmakers last Tuesday, the biggest defeat in modern British history, May has been searching for a way to get a deal through. She told parliament she could not take a "no-deal" Brexit off the table as there was no approved alternative, and the EU would be unlikely to postpone Britain's exit date - determined by the "Article 50" withdrawal notice - without an exit plan. "No-deal will only be taken off the table by either revoking Article 50, which turns back the results of the referendum - the government will not do that - or by having a deal, and that is what we are trying to work out," May said. She said another referendum would strengthen the hand of those seeking to break up the United Kingdom and could damage social cohesion by undermining faith in democracy. May vowed to be "more flexible" with lawmakers in trying to agree changes to the Northern Irish backstop, an insurance policy to ensure there will be no return to border checks between the British province and Ireland. "I will then take the conclusions of those discussions back to the EU," May said. "My focus continues to be on what is needed to secure the support of this House in favor of a Brexit deal with the EU." SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Hardline supporters of Brexit in May's Conservative party object above all to the fact that Britain cannot unilaterally end the backstop, which would keep it in a customs union with the EU until an alternative way of ensuring an open border is found. Brussels says this provision is non-negotiable. May's task is gargantuan: Convince the EU to reopen negotiations and then secure enough changes to gain the support of at least 115 lawmakers who previously voted against the deal. The EU, which has an economy more than six times the size of the United Kingdom, says it wants an orderly exit, but senior officials have expressed frustration at London's crisis. German Europe Minister Michael Roth said on Monday that even William Shakespeare would not have been able to think up a Brexit tragedy of such drama. Amid fears that the world's fifth largest economy could drop out of the EU without a deal, some lawmakers are planning to wrest control of the process from the government. The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said the bloc was ready to work on the political declaration on future EU-UK ties, but that the withdrawal deal already agreed, which it accompanies, was the best one possible. In a sign of how grave the political crisis has become, May was forced to deny a Daily Telegraph report that she was considering amending the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland. An open border with Ireland is widely seen as crucial to maintaining this peace. CLOSED MIND Ireland's European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said Dublin would not engage in bilateral talks on Brexit, and would negotiate only as part of the remaining EU. Ireland also rejected a proposal by Poland's foreign minister that the backstop be time-limited. The 650-seat parliament is deeply divided over Brexit, with different factions supporting a wide range of options including leaving without a deal, holding a second referendum and seeking a customs union with the EU. Lawmakers will debate and vote on the next steps on Jan. 29, and before then they can put forward amendments to May's proposals. The opposition Labour Party put forward an amendment seeking to force the government to give parliament time to consider and vote on options to prevent a 'no deal' exit. Among them should be a permanent customs union with the EU and a second referendum on Brexit, the party said - both proposals that May has ruled out. May had earlier chided Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for not taking part in cross-party talks, but he said May was in denial. "Her current deal is undeliverable," he said. Hilary Benn, a Labour lawmaker who chairs parliament's Brexit committee, said: "While her door may have been open, her mind has remained closed because she has rejected stopping us leaving the EU with no deal, even though she knows it would be disastrous." Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of anti-EU lawmakers in Mays party, said Britain was most likely to leave without a deal. But if the backstop were scrapped, he said most of the opposition from Conservative eurosceptics would be removed. Sterling , which has flip-flopped over the past two-and-a-half years on different signals about the course of Brexit, rose slightly to around $1.29 on hopes of a compromise. On the day of the referendum in 2016, it was trading at $1.50. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
The mayor of Daraga, Albay was rushed to the hospital soon after his arrest for illegal possession of firearms. He had been hyperventilating, reports said.

But Mayor Carlwyn Baldo has bigger problems than the firearms found in his possession when his house was searched. Several witnesses have tagged him as the mastermind behind the Dec. 22 assassination of AKO Bicol Party-List Rep. Rodel Batocabe, who had earlier announced his intention to challenge Baldo for the mayors seat. Batocabes bodyguard, SPO1 Orlando Diaz, was also killed. According to the regional head of the Criminal and Investigation and Detection Group, the mayor was brought to the hospital hours after his arrest for a test to evaluate his heart condition. Photos of Baldo on a hospital stretcher circulated online, boosting his claim that he had to get out of his detention center to seek medical help. Its a sight-and an excuse painfully familiar to Filipinos.We have often seen public officials facing one charge or another wanting to gain temporary relief by claiming to be ill. We have seen them in wheelchairs, hospital beds and other contraptions. Perhaps some of their claims were legitimate; perhaps they were really suffering from medical conditions. And everybody, even officials suspected of wrongdoing, has the right to seek treatment for an ailment. Those who invented or exaggerated their own conditions, perhaps to gain sympathy, obtain relief or deflect negative press, however, have made the situation almost comicalif only the speedy dispensation of justice werent being compromised. Batocabes son appeared to believe the claim on face value and wished the mayor a swift recovery so that the case can move forward. Absent real proof to the contrary, the public has no choice but to do the same and trust that the justice system would make the guilty pay for their crime. If these prominent suspects believe they can massage the outcome of their cases or sway public sentiment to their favor by malingeringthen that is perhaps their greatest affliction. Filipinos are becoming sick and tired of such antics
If you've been stuck searching for Small Cap Value funds, consider Bridgeway Small Cap Value N (BRSVX) as a possibility. BRSVX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

The world of Small Cap Value mutual funds is an area filled with options, such as BRSVX. Small Cap Value funds invest in small companies with stock market valuation less than $2 billion. These funds offer more bang for an owner's buck, providing low P/E ratios, high dividend yields, and better-than-average P/S ratios.

History of Fund/Manager

Bridgeway is responsible for BRSVX, and the company is based out of Houston, TX. Since Bridgeway Small Cap Value N made its debut in January of 2004, BRSVX has garnered more than $50.18 million in assets. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.51%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.69%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, BRSVX's standard deviation comes in at 16.69%, compared to the category average of 15.51%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.13% compared to the category average of 14.86%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In BRSVX's case, the fund lost 60.33% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 9.27%. This makes the fund a possibly worse choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

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Nevertheless, with a 5-year beta of 1.11, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -6.63, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, BRSVX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.94% compared to the category average of 1.25%. From a cost perspective, BRSVX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Overall, Bridgeway Small Cap Value N ( BRSVX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Bridgeway Small Cap Value N ( BRSVX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on BRSVXin the Small Cap Value category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.



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January 23, 2019

Memes and internet listicles may tease parents for being obsessed with coupons, savings apps, and tracking sales, but the fact of the matter is that essentials for a little one can add up quickly. Finding the best deal is crucial for many families to stay on budget. Being able to score must-haves like snacks and toiletries for just $3 each may sound like a fever dream, but it's actually the very real concept of Brandless, an internet-based retailer that offers products across a variety of categories: food, beauty, household and kitchen items, etc. And today, the site launched their new Baby and Pet categories.

With this move, the company aims to provide parents with products for their little ones that are gentle, safe, high-quality, and fairly priced. Case in point: Brandless diapers are made with sustainably sourced plant-based materials in the topsheet and backsheet, and an absorbent core containing wood pulp from sustainable forests. They're also hypoallergenic, free of latex, fragrance, lotions, and chlorine, and offer 12-hour protection. The price point is amazing, too: Brandless shoppers can score 50 diapers for just $9.

The new category also features baby food pouches, which contain organic, non-GMO fruits/veggies and cost $3 for packs of four 3.5 oz. pouches, as well as cruelty-free baby care items like baby wipes, lotion, shampoo, and diaper rash cream.

And if parents needed even more reason to feel good about shopping with the online retailer, they're also committed to giving back. Brandless works with Feeding America, which is committed to providing children with the nourishment and supplies they need to thrive through its large network of food banks and meal programs. In 2016, Feeding America distributed over 3 million pounds of baby productsincluding food, formula, and diapersto families in need. Every time a consumer checks out at Brandless, the company donates a meal to someone facing hunger through their partnership with Feeding America.

Talk about win-win.
ATLANTA -- Having an incarcerated parent is traumatic for children. They are often a forgotten demographic, a forgotten victim. That's why Andrea Shelton is equipping those parents to be the best parents they can be while inside prison walls.

"People can be angry at people in prison, and so often the needs of the caregivers and the children are forgotten," explains Shelton, the president of HeartBound Ministries. "I think it's so important that we bridge the gap between parent and child when they're separated by prison. This is not a place where you can just go any time and visit your parent."

In Georgia, there's an estimated 75,000 children with incarcerated parents. The state is high in incarceration rates and low in literacy. Shelton saw this as an opportunity for change.

In 2014, Shelton created HeartBound Ministries' Little Readers program, a personalized, recorded reading program allowing children of incarcerated parents to see and hear their mothers and fathers reading a book to them on DVD. Parents can choose from a variety of books to read; they can also pick out a different shirt to wear for the recording, so their child doesn't have to see them in their prison uniform.

The DVDs allow kids to see that their parent is okay and still loves them.

A Community Thrives

In June 2018, Shelton received a call that changed the course of the Little Readers program. Her nonprofit won a grant of $50,000 through a USA TODAY NETWORK initiative called "A Community Thrives."

Filled with the excitement of all the possibilities, Shelton started with an idea she conceived in 2003: literacy carts.

"Having sat through visitations at least 16 months when my own brother was incarcerated, I just saw these kids and these signs that loomed in every visitation room, 'You're responsible for your children,' and they had to behave, right? I thought, 'Gosh, that's hard. To sit there that long when you're little with nothing to do,'" recalls Shelton.

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Shelton would sit in those rooms, just thinking of the possibilities.

With new resources and funding at her disposal, her dream became a reality. In the fall of 2018, Little Readers rolled out 68 literacy carts, filled with books, puzzles, flashcards, games and more. Parents can choose from 50 different titles to read with their little ones.

In addition to advancing literacy in visitation rooms, Shelton also used the grant money to expand the Little Readers program to new facilities and equip facilities with their own recording software, raising the amount of kids impacted from about 1,000 a year to more than 1,600 in 2018. Kids also have the opportunity to receive more DVDs and books throughout the year as more and more facilities gain their own equipment and can record more frequently.

"We could be changing outcomes here. We could be changing the direction of a child's future because they sat on their parent's lap when they were little in a visitation room, and they read," says Shelton.

Shelton hopes to continue expanding and to develop interactive workbooks for parents and their kids. She also has a message for other states:

"There should be a literacy cart in every prison in the country. Maybe Georgia will start the trend."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Books and puzzles bring family time to prison visitation




Russian president Vladimir Putin is directly to blame for the political divisions we see around the world today, said Russian-investor-turned-critic Bill Browder.

The CEO of Hermitage Capital, who is considered to be one of Putins most high-profile critics, has been campaigning against Russian fraud and corruption since he left the country over a decade ago.

Russia is not in a good place. The economy is not doing great. They havent diversified  Russia cant rise to the level of the West. And so Vladimir Putins big goal is to try to bring the West down to the level of Russia, he said in a special one-to-one interview with Yahoo Finance UK.

In his interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Browder outlined how Putin has deftly used social media and technology to exacerbate social and political divisions.

He tries to install divisive characters in different countries as leaders. How does he do that? By manipulating elections, by cyberattacks, by hacking emails and putting out embarrassing information on political candidates, he said.

Hes causing a lot of trouble. A lot of the division we see here in Davos, and a lot of the division we see around the world, is directly the result of Vladimir Putin, he said.

William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital, is a high-profile critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Last week, the World Economic Forum released a report warning that the world risks sleepwalking into a crisis as geopolitical tensions make it increasingly difficult for leaders to come together to solve pressing global problems.

Global risks are intensifying but the collective will to tackle them appears to be lacking. Instead, divisions are hardening, the independent international organisation warned as it released its annual Global Risks Report.

The report summarised that some of the most urgent risks facing the world right now include climate change and the potential for devastating, large-scale cyber attacks. Yet world leaders are spending too much time on issues such as trade wars and taking back control of their national interests to spend time on these important shared problems, it warned.

READ MORE: Coverage from the World Economic Forum
Visitors to Bali will be asked to pony up a US $10 levy to help the popular tourist destination preserve the environment and Balinese culture.

Much of the new revenue will go towards cleaning up the mess left behind from the nearly six million foreign visitors who descend on the island every year, reports The Strait Times.

The biggest source markets are China and Australia.

The tourist office aims to reduce the amount of marine plastic, garbage and pollution by 70 percent within a year. Last year, Bali banned single-use plastics like shopping bags, Styrofoam and straws as part of its battle against plastic waste.

According to The Times, 3,800 tons of waste are produced in Bali a day.

The new revenue stream will also go towards preserving local Balinese culture.
By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thousands of teachers in Los Angeles returned to the job on Wednesday, fresh off a six-day strike against the nation's second largest school district that disrupted the education of half a million students.

Rank and file members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly late on Tuesday to approve a 3-1/2 year contract agreement that the union and school district had reached before dawn that day, union officials said.

The agreement gave teachers an immediate pay raise of 6 percent, slightly less than the 6.5 percent they had sought.

It also included provisions for reducing class sizes and hiring more nurses, librarians and counselors, acceding to many of the union's other demands for improving classroom conditions that all sides in the labor dispute agreed have suffered from decades of underfunding.

The Los Angeles Unified School District kept schools open during the strike, staffing them with substitute teachers and support staff to supervise students. Attendance at schools dropped, according to the district.

Students were ready to return to normal, Kelly Maloney, who teaches English at a downtown Los Angeles high school, told local television station KTLA.

"They're bored," Maloney said of his students, according to KTLA. "Going back is going to be a big transition for everyone - students, administrators, teachers."

The strike began on Jan. 14, when Los Angeles Unified's more than 30,000 teachers walked off the job in their first strike in three decades.

Some parents had to scramble to find childcare.

Maria Ramos, 32, told the Los Angeles Times as she dropped off her 5-year-old daughter at an elementary school in South Los Angeles that she was glad the strike was over.

"It makes me feel better to know she's inside," Ramos told the newspaper. "More so now that she'll be with her teacher."

While the strike is over, the Los Angeles school board must still formally approve the deal when it meets on Jan. 29.

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The Los Angeles strike followed a flurry of teacher walkouts over salaries and school funding in several states last year, such as Arizona, Oklahoma and West Virginia.

Labor actions were expected to continue at some U.S. school districts this year.

In Denver, public school teachers overwhelmingly voted late on Tuesday to go on strike to press their demands for more money and incentive pay, after negotiations with Colorado's largest school district hit an impasse last week.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Vienna (AFP) - Austria's far-right Interior Minister Herbert Kickl was accused by the opposition of threatening the rule of law Wednesday after he appeared to call into question Austria's commitment to international rights conventions.

In comments on Austrian public television on Tuesday evening Kickl, from the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), was asked if his proposals for harsher procedures for asylum seekers would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other international commitments.

Kickl replied that in his opinion there were some "strange legal structures -- sometimes many years old and developed in totally different circumstances -- which prevent us from doing what is necessary," adding: "I would like to take those rules on."

"I believe in the principle that law should follow politics and not the other way round," he said.

The opposition Social Democrats (SPOe) said in a statement Wednesday that Kickl had "launched a grave attack on the rule of law in Austria" and had shown by calling into question Austria's commitment to the ECHR that he "was himself the biggest threat to democracy".

Some members of the cabinet hailing from the centre-right People's Party (OeVP) -- which has governed in coalition with the FPOe since December 2017 -- also moved to distance themselves from Kickl's remarks.

Justice Minister Josef Moser emphasised that in a "state of law, the law is always supreme".

President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former head of the Green party who has often voiced disagreement with the government, said in a tweet that "the ECHR has had constitutional status in Austria for 59 years.

"Calling it into question would mean the end of the fundamental consensus underlying the Second Republic," Van der Bellen said, referring to Austria's post-war system of government.

Kickl is the former general secretary of the FPOe and is considered the "brains" of the party.

In recent weeks he has repeatedly expressed his frustration that certain international conventions could thwart his plans to speed up deportations of refugees and asylum seekers convicted of criminal offences, including to Syria.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has also said he wants Austria to be a "pioneer" in encouraging EU rules to be changed to make it easier to deport asylum seekers convicted of criminal offences.
Greenlands massive ice stockpile is melting faster than previously thought, and it may be too late to do anything about it except adapt, scientists have warned in a new study.

The rate of ice loss there is up to four times faster than it was in 2003 and is contributing to rising sea levels, according to the new data.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), used NASA climate data and GPS stations to study Greenlands ice sheets, the Guardian reports.

Greenland lost 280 billion tons of ice annually from 2002-2016, raising global sea levels by 0.03 inches per year. If Greenlands entire ice sheet were to melt, oceans levels would swell up to 20 feet, endangering numerous seaside cities and low-lying Pacific islands.

Increasingly, large amounts of ice mass are going to leave as meltwater, as rivers that flow into the sea, Michael Bevis, the papers lead author and professor at Ohio State University, told the Guardian.

The ice is also melting four times faster in 2013 than it was in 2003, an increase scientists attributed to rising temperatures and the North Atlantic Oscillation, a pressure system that brings warmer air to Greenland.

The only thing we can do is adapt and mitigate further global warming  its too late for there to be no effect, Bevis added. We are watching the ice sheet hit a tipping point.

Read more: Why We Dont Need a Moonshot to Solve Climate Change

These grim conclusions came in the wake of a separate study last week that made similar warnings about Antarctica. Scientists from the University of California, Irving and Utretcht University in the Netherlands found that Antarctic ice loss has also rapidly accelerated over the past four decades, from about 40 billion tons per year in the 1980s, to over 250 billion tons per year from 20092017.

Scientists have warned that Antarctic ice melt could raise global sea levels 3.5 feet by 2100 unless urgent action is taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
"First things first."

Last week, before the plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Basic Law, President Duterte said Filipinos were accustomed to directly voting national and local candidates, which would not make federalism work in the Philippines. He said this in a speech in Cotabato City. Was it an indication that he is realizing federalism is a leap into the unknown? Does it mean that he will no longer be pushing for federalism? Santa Banana, whatever it is, federalism is now dead in the water. It will simply not happen because four in five Filipinos are not aware of what it is about and what it entails. There has not been a massive education and information campaign conducted for the purpose. For one thing, it has come to be divisive. The consultative commission that came up with a draft charter envisioned 19 federated states, the National Capital Region included. Are local governments ready for it? I dont believe so. They will still seek the help of the national government. The cost, too, of shifting to a federalism form of government would be tremendous. We do not have the funds for it. The third argument against federalism is how to make the federated states work. Many parts of the country have limited resources, even as there are parts that are self-sufficient. Federalism is something whose time hasnt yet come. There are many other problems we must face, like poverty and joblessness. First things first. Federalism can wait. * * * The proposed abolition of the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel will not push through, after all. The PCGG, which was created by the Cory Aquino administration, was supposed to go after the alleged hidden wealth of the Marcoses.As for the OGCC, the plan was to place it under the Office of the Solicitor General for better coordination. I would like to ask, though: How many of the 300 firms sequestered still have fiscal agents working? I have been told that in many of them, there are no longer fiscals and agents, but now holding sequestered shares by PCGG board members. Santa Banana, this means that PCGG commissioners are now getting double compensation. Isnt this anomalous? The PGCC is another thing. The lawyers here have been accused of receiving excessive allowances from the government, contrary to law. What of the government drive to end corruption. * * * Reports have it that Sulu voted no in last Mondays plebiscite for the BOL. That stands to reason. The government of Sulu, under its governor, has questioned the law before the Supreme Court saying it is unconstitutional. What is questionable in connection with the plebiscite is the yes votes of Cotabato City which means it would not be included in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. With its inclusion in the BARMM, I wonder: What will now happen to Cotabato City? Will the Christians here have to migrate? The MILF may now be rejoicing with the results of the plebiscite, but they must remember there is still the Moro National Liberation Front of Nur Misuari. Will the plebisicte end the conflict in Mindanao? I dont think so. Peace and development are still a dream. Opposition to the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility to nine years old is mounting. I cannot blame those who are against it. Why are members of the House so stupid? The government does not even have facilities for children who would be detained. It is unthinkable to detain them with hardened adult criminals. Every Filipino should be alarmed by this proposal. Its a good thing the Senate does not seem to agree with their counterparts at the Lower House. www.emiljurado.weebly.com
South Africa: Task team to examine Matlosana housing woes

North West Local and Human Settlements MEC Motlalepula Rosho has established an intervention task team that will look at housing challenges in Matlosana.

The MEC met with housing developers in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District on Tuesday to discuss housing delivery and performance in the district.

She engaged developers on a number of issues ranging from title deeds, blocked projects and fast tracking the implementation of housing developments.

Having listened to the developers, MEC Rosho established an intervention task team comprising of departmental officials who are responsible for housing development in the district to focus on challenges identified in Matlosana, amongst others, look into the approved beneficiaries versus expenditure and do verifications, said the department.

The MEC, who was appointed to the post at the end of last year, also issued a stern warning to housing developers who do not perform satisfactorily.

This district is not performing as expected and this does have a negative impact on the beneficiaries who have been waiting for their houses for quite some time. If you do not improve on your performance, I will not hesitate to name and shame you in public that you are the cause of poor service delivery, said Rosho.

This was the MECs second engagement since her appointment to the portfolio. Her engagements with the industry got underway last week in the Bojanala Platinum district. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Senate Republicans are pushing ahead with a 1,300-page funding bill that would give President Donald Trump the $5.7 billion he wants for an expansion of the southern border wall, grant temporary protections for "Dreamers" and finally end the longest government shutdown in history.

Democrats have called the bill dead on arrival, but only partly because it includes Trump's full request for wall funding. They say the protections for Dreamers are not nearly enough, and complain that the bill was stuffed with unrelated, anti-immigration measures that would dramatically expand immigration enforcement in the U.S. and cut back the ability of foreigners to request asylum.

Republicans call the bill a reasonable compromise to end the partial government shutdown that makes a sound investment toward border security. Democrats call it a "Trojan horse" that provides only short-term help for Dreamers in exchange for long-term threats against them.

A senior Department of Homeland Security official said on Tuesday that the bill, which was crafted by Senate Republicans with help from the Trump administration, was a "starting point" that is open for negotiation.

"We have no illusions that we have drafted the worlds first perfect piece of legislation, and we would be happy to have conversations with Democrats and anybody who would like to come to the table and talk about ways to improve this legislation and find a consensus to pass it," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the details of the bill.

As both sides debate the bill this week ahead of a possible vote in the Senate, here's a look at the key provisions in the Republican immigration bill:

Temporary reprieve for Dreamers

When he delivered a speech from the White House on Saturday, Trump said he was trying to "break the logjam" of the shutdown by giving temporary deportation protections to more than a million immigrants.

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The first group would be roughly 700,000 Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children who have qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA. Trump tried to end the program in 2017, but was blocked by federal courts. The Supreme Court this week did not decide whether it will take the case, leaving DACA recipients in legal limbo.

The second group is more than 300,000 foreigners who have been legally living and working in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status, many for more than two decades, as their countries recover from natural disasters and armed conflicts. Six countries, which represent 98 percent of the TPS population, have been cut from the program, each given a deadline to leave the U.S. That decision has also been blocked by federal courts, leaving TPS recipients in their own legal limbo.

Demonstrators urging the Democratic Party to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program rally outside the office of California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in Los Angeles in January.

Democrats have floated the idea of giving Trump money for his border wall as part of a deal that includes a pathway to citizenship for DACA and TPS recipients, but the Republican bill would only grant them "provisional protected status" for up to three years.

It costs $495 to renew one's DACA status, and the bill would require a similar payment for "provisional protected status." But the bill would add an additional $500 "security fee" that would be paid to the Department of Homeland Security.

The bill also places new requirements on recipients of the temporary protections, such as having an income higher than 125 percent of the federal poverty level and has not engaged in sexual harassment.

The temporary protections for DACA and TPS recipients are non-renewable, and both programs would end by the end of the three years.

New wall funding

At the core of the bill is Trump's long-standing request for $5.7 billion to build new barriers along the southern border and replace portions that are crumbling.

The request is a far cry from the coast-to-coast, 30-foot high, solid, concrete wall Trump promised during his presidential campaign. He has since changed his stance, saying rows of sleet slats are better suited to the rugged, 2,000-mile border so that Border Patrol agents can see between the slats to what's happening on the other side of the border.

The $5.7 billion would pay for 215 miles of barriers, about half of which would be considered "new." Homeland Security officials said much of the money would be spent to replace outdated and dilapidated walls in high-traffic areas, including the Rio Grande Valley in eastern Texas. The officials said about 100 miles of new barriers could be built in areas that currently have nothing.

Asylum overhaul

Trump has repeatedly warned about migrant caravans marching toward the border to "take advantage" of U.S. asylum laws, so the Republican bill offers a dramatic overhaul of that system.

Asylum is granted to foreigners who fear persecution in their home countries based on their race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or membership in a particular social group. Under U.S. law, foreigners can request asylum at ports of entry, or even if they enter the country illegally.

The Trump administration has tried to make several changes unilaterally to the asylum system that were blocked by federal courts. That includes proposals to bar victims of domestic abuse or gang violence from receiving asylum, and barring migrants who enter the country illegally from receiving asylum. But one change has survived: migrants who request asylum at ports of entry along the southern border must now remain in Mexico as their cases are decided.

The Republican bill would create new opportunities for asylum-seekers, but also add new restrictions.

The bill would create a program to allow Central American minors to apply for asylum in centers that would be built in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. That would allow them to learn their fate before making the treacherous journey north.

Such a program already existed, however, and was abolished by the Trump administration. The Central American Minors program, known as CAM, was created under the Obama administration when minors first started flooding the southwest border seeking asylum in 2014, but was terminated shortly after Trump assumed office in 2017.

The Republican bill would offset the new in-country application program by barring all Central American minors from applying for asylum at the U.S. border, with few exceptions.

The new program would take 240 days to start, and the asylum restrictions would go into effect immediately, meaning Central American minors would be forbidden from getting asylum for at least eight months, according to Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The Homeland Security official said the "intention" of the bill would be for the new asylum-processing centers to open at the same time that the new restriction on applying for asylum at the U.S. border goes into effect.

The new asylum rules would also create new guidelines for determining who gets asylum. One notable change would require U.S. officials to decide whether granting asylum to each applicant would be "consistent with the national interest." Chen and other immigration advocates worried that change alone could lead to widespread denials.

The bill would also cap at 15,000 the number of minors who can receive asylum. Under current law, asylum admissions are not capped.

More enforcement, more jails

The $5.7 billion for new border barriers is just part of the $70 billion that the Department of Homeland Security would receive under the new bill.

That includes funding for 375 new Customs and Border Protection officers who man U.S. ports of entry and 750 new Border Patrol agents who patrol the regions in between those ports, according to a Senate Appropriations Committee summary of the bill.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently has about 44,000 beds to detain immigrants in government-owned and privately-operated detention centers, and the new bill would provide enough funding to increase that to 52,000 beds. ICE would also receive funding to hire an additional 2,000 agents around the country.

"Historically unprecedented and dramatic increases ... at a time when detention and enforcement budgets for ICE and CBP are already historically unprecedented," said Heidi Altman, director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What's in the Republican immigration bill, and why Democrats oppose it
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  Adam Crapser lives in limbo, a stranger in South Korea, the country of his birth.

Forcibly separated from his wife, children and friends in America, he is isolated by language and culture, left alone to navigate this sprawling city he's been expelled to four decades after being sent to adoptive parents in Michigan at age 3.

Crapser was abused and abandoned by two different sets of adoptive parents in the United States; then he was deported after run-ins with the law because none of his guardians filed citizenship papers for him. He told The Associated Press in an interview that he has struggled in South Korea with intense anxiety and depression, even as he searches for answers about why his life has become defined by displacement.

That search has led him to file a landmark lawsuit against South Korea's government and a private adoption agency, the Seoul-based Holt Children's Services, over what Crapser calls gross negligence regarding the way he and thousands of other Korean children were sent to the United States and other Western nations without accounting for their future citizenship.

The 200 million won ($177,000) civil suit, which was described exclusively to the AP ahead of its filing Thursday by Crapser's lawyers in a Seoul court, exposes a dark side of South Korean adoptions, which exploded as a business during the 1970s and '80s when many children were carelessly and unnecessarily removed from their families.

The country was then at the height of a so-called "child export" frenzy pushed by military dictatorships that focused on economic growth and reducing the number of mouths to feed. There was no stringent oversight of adoption agencies, which were infamous for aggressive child-gathering activities and fraudulent paperwork as they competed to send more children abroad at faster speeds.

Crapser's case also highlights the shaky legal status of possibly thousands of South Korean adoptees in the United States whose parents may have failed to get them citizenship, potentially leaving them vulnerable to deportation if they acquire a criminal record in a country that's becoming increasingly aggressive about going after undocumented immigrants.

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Crapser, who was named Shin Seong-hyeok by his Korean mother, is one of five adoptees who the Seoul government confirms now live in South Korea after being deported from the United States. Several of the deportees have reportedly dealt with mental health issues and served jail time in South Korea for assault and other crimes.

Activists say the South Korean government has done a poor job tracking deported adoptees and that the real number is almost certainly larger. Officials wouldn't provide details about the other deportees.

In South Korea, human rights lawsuits against the government can drag on for years and are rarely successful because the burden of proof in non-criminal cases is entirely on the plaintiffs, who often lack information and resources. Even if Crapser wins, the payout will likely be significantly smaller than what was demanded, considering past cases, according to Soh Rami, one of his lawyers.

Crapser said the amount of money is less important than forcing officials from Holt and the government into a courtroom to face questions of accountability. He said the government and Holt are responsible for failing to follow through on his adoption and ensuring that his American parents naturalized him. Because he wasn't a citizen, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ordered him deported in November 2016 over criminal convictions, including unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.

His lawsuit also attempts to hold Holt and the government accountable for supposedly fraudulent paperwork over his adoption status. Most South Korean adoptees, including Crapser, were documented as abandoned, even in cases where they had known parents or were simply lost, which made them easily adoptable under U.S. laws. He also seeks to hold the government responsible for allowing foreigners to adopt babies without actually visiting South Korea, which Crapser blames for screening failures that led to his adoption by abusive parents.

The lawsuit cites the government as responsible for allowing adoptions to be controlled by profit-driven agencies that ran on fees collected from foreign parents. It wasn't until 2013 that South Korea required international adoptions of Korean children to go through local family courts.

"It's a daily struggle to survive and to continue to want to push forward and want some justice and want some accountability and want some answers," Crapser, now 43, told AP. "For everything to fall apart and for everything to happen the way it has, most people wouldn't be alive here to talk."

Kim Ho Hyun, Holt's president, said the agency followed the laws and procedures of the time and that it was mainly the responsibility of U.S. parents and institutions to ensure that adoptees obtained citizenship. Seong Chang-hyeon, an official from South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare, said the government is trying to improve welfare services for deported adoptees while also consulting with Washington over possible U.S. legal changes that could prevent adoptee deportations.

The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Currently living in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Seoul, Crapser said the deportation has seriously strained his marriage and he often sinks into dark moods over his inability to be actively involved in the lives of his children.

He described the difficulties of being stuck in a country where he doesn't speak the language, including dismissive treatment at public offices and monthly visits to a psychiatrist who can't really speak English. While he talked fondly about meeting with his Korean mother every few months, he also expressed frustration over what he sees as a social stigma against adoptees here. He has eight more years before he's eligible to return to the United States.

About 200,000 South Koreans were adopted overseas during the past six decades, the majority to American couples. More than 4,000 Korean children were sent abroad in 1979, the year Crapser arrived in the United States.

Agency board members with ties to the military dictators of the day were less worried about child welfare than maintaining a business that brought in as much as $20 million a year by some estimates, critics say.

Reached on the telephone, Crapser's birth mother, Kwon Pil-ju, sobbed and said she felt like she had "horribly sinned" against her son. She said she was single, disabled and desperately poor, and that she finally decided to give her children away because of fears that they'd starve. They also have problems communicating  he can't speak Korean, she can't speak English, and they don't always have someone who could interpret.

Crapser said he "definitely didn't win the lottery" when it came to his American parents. He and a sister were sent to what he says was an abusive couple in Michigan in 1979. Seven years later, the couple abandoned Crapser, then 10, and his sister, and he ended up with Thomas and Dolly Crapser, who he said would sometimes slam their children's heads against walls, strike them with kitchen utensils and burn them with heated objects. Repeated calls to the Crapser home went unanswered.

In 1991, the couple was arrested on charges of physical child abuse, sexual abuse and rape. They were reportedly convicted in 1992 on multiple counts of criminal mistreatment and assault. Kicked out of his parents' house after an argument, Crapser pleaded guilty to burglary after he said he later broke into the home to retrieve a Korean-language Bible and a stuffed dog that came with him from a Korean orphanage. He was later convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.

Crapser thought he had turned a corner, opening a barber shop and an upholstery business and starting a family, when he was served his deportation paperwork in 2015 after a green card application triggered a background check.

"It's heartbreaking. A lot of the depression that I deal with, a lot of the hopelessness that I feel at times is attributed to the separation from my family that I created and not being able to be actually involved in their life every day like I was," he said.

___

Follow Kim Tong-hyung at www.twitter.com/@KimTongHyung
Amid the tumult of Americas domestic politics, the 40th anniversary of the normalization of SinoU.S. relations passed almost unnoticed on January 1, commemorated only in subdued comments from Washington and Beijing. The relationship, once heralded by leaders in both countries as the worlds most important, is currently in flux. The atmosphere of disappointment and distrust that pervades amid a trade war between the worlds two most powerful countries shows few signs of dissipating, and portends an extended period of instability that will require a fundamental rethinking of how to maintain stability in Asia and beyond.

The ties between China and the U.S. have developed dramatically since they were formed in 1979. The two countries, which once conducted almost no bilateral trade, now compose the worlds biggest trading partnership, doing business worth an estimated $710 billion in 2017. Where once there were almost no people-to-people contacts between Americans and Chinese, now over 340,000 Chinese students study at American colleges and universities, and millions of Americans visit China each year. Regular high-level diplomatic meetings take place throughout the year between civilian and military officials on both sides, and hundreds of different agreements between the two countries cover everything from sister-city relations to environmental issues.

Yet as far as the relationship has come in the last 40 years, the anniversary of its birth also marks the end of its first era.

China has become not just an economic giant, but a military power and an increasingly influential diplomatic leader. President Xi Jinping has abandoned former paramount leader Deng Xiaopings so-called hide-and-bide strategy, demanding that Beijings views carry weight, its interests are respected, and its policies are accommodated on the world stage. In matters ranging from the South China Sea to cyberespionage , Beijing is increasingly comfortable playing by its own rules, regardless of regional or global opinion.

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On the American side, years of mounting frustration with everything from Chinas trade practices to its propaganda operations have boiled over. Predating the Trump administration, this discontent stems from a sense that China has taken advantage of decades of U.S. policies designed to help it integrate with the rest of the world. The current trade dispute between the two nations, which is sending shock waves through global markets, has been a long time coming. For years, experts and politicians on both sides of the aisle have warned about Chinas unfair trading practices, its rampant theft of intellectual property, and the hollowing out of U.S. manufacturing accelerated by Chinese competition. Trumps levying of tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods seems to many to be long overdue. At the same time, from Chinas militarization of new man-made islands in the South China Sea to its bellicose rhetoric and influence operations inside the United States, Washington increasingly sees a major antagonist in Beijing.

The effect on SinoU.S. relations of these conflicts is already evident. Decades of rhetoric predicting ever-deeper cooperation have quietly ended. Dreams of Beijing and Washington forming a G-2 that adjudicated major global issues have dissipated. On both sides, disenchantment and suspicion have come to characterize policymaking and diplomacy. The two countries may not yet view each other as imminent military threats, but few foresee another period of goodwill and cooperation anytime soon.

On December 31, one day before the 40th anniversary of bilateral normalization, President Trump signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018, an effort to enhance the U.S. position in the Indo-Pacific and counter Chinas provocations. Two days later, Trumps acting secretary of defense, Thomas Shanahan, took office with a publicly stated intention to focus on China, China, China. All this indicates that volatility in U.S.China relations will continue into the near future and likely beyond. Even if the current trade war cools, the structural imbalance in trade will continue, and there is justified skepticism, given Beijings track record, that it will ever live up to promises of greater market access and cracking down on cyberespionage.

In short, the two sides view national interests now as conflicting, rather than as complementary. The result is unlikely to be an armed confrontation, but rather heightened tension and increasingly hard-nosed great-power politics. Managing SinoU.S. relations over the next decade will require steadiness on both sides. But Washington in particular must avoid looking for quick and superficial wins that will do little to rectify Chinas policies, because caving in at the first promise of better behavior will only result in greater disappointment down the road.

More from National Review
German chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo: Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke

After Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abes rallying cry for hope and internationalism at the summit, the leader of the worlds fourth-largest economy  German chancellor Angela Merkel  began her address by acknowledging that disquiet in international system as a whole  leads to lowering of predictions of growth, adding that on the whole, the picture is rather gloomy.

She said international organisations were set up and decisions were taken 75 years ago, by people who were in power after the second world war, who had insights and knew what they were doing and we shouldnt cast their decisions aside.

However, she called for reforming global institutions. Compromise is a result of responsible action of politicians. A global architecture will only be successful, if were open to compromise.

Merkels Davos address on Wednesday echoed her New Years speech to Germany, where she warned that the world order was in danger of crumbling in the face of rising nationalism, and underlining the importance of upholding multilateral institutions.

We will only master the challenges of our time if we hold together and work with others across boundaries and borders.

At Davos last year, Merkel warned the spirit of multilateralism, which had rebuilt Europe after second world war, was under threat, with populism on the rise  a polarising atmosphere, and a polarising state of affairs.

Unlike US president Donald Trump, British prime minister Theresa May, and French president Emmanuel Macron who all skipped Davos to deal with major problems in their respective countries, Merkel is polling well at home, and has no really urgent crises to deal with.

Merkels speeches reflect the chancellor as a global stateswoman taking on the task of promoting open-borders, international cooperation, and liberal values. While shes been described as the de facto leader of Europe, she remains under pressure at home as she enters the final two years of her term as chancellor. Regional elections, a loveless coalition with the Social Democrats, and the European parliament elections in May are concerns for Merkel this year.

She stepped down as leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in December 2018, after 18 years at the helm, following a string of disappointing state-election results her party  and major gains by the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AFD). It is not certain that she will be able to remain as chancellor until the end of her term in 2021, despite her ally Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer taking over as the new party chairwoman.

A recent Insa poll showed that the right-wing AFD, which lured away voters in the last federal election, who were angry at Merkels open-door refugee policies, have suffered a drop in support in Germany. Voter support for the AFD among the 2,044 poll respondents has dropped to 13%. It was at 15% in October. Merkels conservatives meanwhile are on 31%.
Padang-lawas (Indonesia) (AFP) - A Sumatran tiger with an amputated paw has given birth to a pair of cubs in Indonesia, amid fears for the future of the critically endangered species.

Gadis -- whose name means girl in Indonesian -- delivered her babies at the Padang Lawas conservation area in North Sumatra about a month ago, conservationists say.

The tiger mom has been undergoing rehabilitation since her paw and part of her leg were amputated two years ago after getting caught in a trap for catching wild boars.

"Gadis... has now recovered and is healthy, giving birth to the two cubs," said reserve head Parta Basmeli Siregar.

The sex of the two cubs has not yet been established, he added.

Sumatran tiger births are rare and the species is considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

There are fewer than 400 left in the wild and environmental activists say they are increasingly coming into conflict with people as their natural habitat is rapidly deforested.
Photo credit: 

From Popular Mechanics

Ever since the 1950, the U.S. military has maintained the policy of "assured destruction:" keeping an arsenal that could launch a counterstrike so devastating it would annihilate any aggressor. The strategy makes everyone involved-especially Americas enemies-squarely confront the unthinkable, making a nuclear war too terrible to contemplate, let alone start.

Photo credit: Bettmann - Getty Images

For the strategy to work, America must be able to back it up. For decades, the technological backbone of "assured destruction" has been the so-called nuclear triad. Because the U.S. can launch nukes from the air, the land, or the sea, it would be practically impossible for another country to knock out America's offensive capabilities and prevent the counter-strike.

The U.S. is currently working on replacing all three legs of the triad: bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and submarine-launched missiles. It's an overhaul that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and no doubt overshoot the Pentagon's price estimates when all is said and done. But before we spend all that money, one must look around and ask the question: Is this still the best way? In the 21st century, does America really need three ways to launch nukes?

Three Is the Magic Number

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jarad A. Denton

America dropped its very first nuclear weapons by air. Lumbering B-29 bombers carried the heavy, ungainly bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and bombers remained the primary delivery system into the 1950s. Soon thereafter, the development of long range missiles, along with the miniaturization of nuclear warheads, made the first intercontinental ballistic missiles possible. In the early 1960s, the adaptation of nuclear reactors resulted in submarines armed with nuclear missiles. And thus a trio of nuclear options came together.

During the Cold War, each arm of the triad justified its existence by doing something better than the other two. Strategic heavy bombers such as todays B-2 Spirit and the longstanding B-52H Stratofortress could carry many nuclear bombs and strike multiple, geographically distinct targets. Bombers are accurate, with air crews often visually confirming their targets. Bombers could be repurposed to strike emerging targets, such as a missile being readied for launch that an American satellite suddenly revealed. And a plane can be recalled back to the U.S. in the event of a false alarm or cease-fire-something you can't say about a missile.

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Bombers did have drawbacks. Aircraft spend most of their time on the ground, scrambled in large numbers only in the event of war. This makes them vulnerable to surprise attack. Bombers also need to physically enter enemy territory, where they could be shot down by fighters and surface-to-air missiles.

Photo credit: Senior Airman Kyla Gifford, U.S. Air Force.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) loft nuclear warheads into space on ballistic trajectories. They are buried by the hundreds in underground concrete silos scattered across America, ICBMs were accurate, quick to launch, and could hit targets across the planet in a matter of minutes. More than other delivery option, ICBMs could destroy enemy nuclear weapons before the other side could launch or deploy its own nukes.

The third arm of the triad was nuclear powered submarines carrying their own nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. Nicknamed boomers, these boats could slip out of port and vanish for months at a time. The use of nuclear power means a submarine can stay submerged for its entire cruise, making these vessels extremely difficult to detect and destroy. U.S. nuclear submarines are an invulnerable reserve of nuclear weapons that can devastate an enemys home country even if an enemy attack somehow disable all of America's bombers and ICBMs.

Nuclear missile submarines had their share of drawbacks. The first submarine-launched ballistic missiles had relatively short ranges, requiring them to sit off an enemys coastline to strike. Unlike land-based missiles, which are stationary and have precise ballistic trajectories for targets worked out ahead of time, submarines roam the worlds oceans and, at least before GPS, were less accurate as a result. And because subs must stay submerged and hidden, secure continuous communication with Washington is not possible.



The Bill in the Billions

The pros and cons of each leg of the triangle played off each other during the Cold War. But as the decades rolled on, those capabilities evolved. Bombers, for example, can now use cruise missiles to attack targets at long ranges, eliminating the need for dangerous, white-knuckle penetrations of air defense networks. Thanks to advances in tracking and targeting tech, submarine-launched missiles are now nearly as accurate as ICBMs.

But as the second decade of the 21st century draws to a close, the nuclear triad is showing its age. The B-2 Spirit bomber was introduced in the 1990s, while the B-52H has been flying since the early 1960s and may keep working for decades to come. The Minuteman III ICBM was first deployed in the early 1970s. The U.S. Navys Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines date to the 1980s and 1990s.

After decades of pushing back plans to replace all three arms, the U.S. is now faced with a situation where it needs to replace all three at once. The new B-21 Raider bomber, which will replace the B-2 bomber, will cost an estimated $97 billion dollars . The new ICBM, Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), will cost around $100 billion . Finally, new ballistic missile submarines will cost $128 billion .

That adds up to a serious bill. The cost is about the equivalent of running the entire U.S. Armed Forces for five months. And the price tag could rise substantially if any of the programs run into expensive technical problems. If history is any guide, then at least one of them will.



The China Example: It (Only) Takes Two

Photo credit: AFP - Getty Images

Could the U.S. thrive in 21st century without a nuclear triad? To see a possible way forward, just look at the emerging colossus of China. The world's most populous nation is building more aircraft carriers , more amphibious ships, and more modern combat aircraft than ever before. What China is not doing is significantly expanding its nuclear arsenal.

China has approximately 280 nuclear weapons , a number we can deduce from the amount of fissile material it has produced. That total represents about one-sixth the number of deployed U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons. Chinas nukes are spread between land-based ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles. It has no air-delivered nuclear weapons for its modest bomber force. In other words, China has a diad.

China is a no first use country, meaning it has vowed to never use nuclear weapons first. It also bother with advanced nuclear technologies such as anti-ballistic missile systems or placing multiple warheads on a single missile. Why not? Chinas entire nuclear philosophy boils down to this: The country may very well be destroyed by a surprise nuclear attack, but enough Chinese nuclear weapons will survive to make the attack simply not worth it.

Essentially, Chinas nuclear doctrine is assured destruction, but stripped of unnecessary complexities. China doesnt lose any sleep over Russia or America's overwhelming advantage in nuclear arms. As long as China can hit back and nuke at least a handful of American (or Russian) cities, the balance of terror remains.

Does Chinas nuclear posture work? Even a strike against tiny North Korea runs the risk of a nuclear counterstrike by China, and the loss of just one American city would be a catastrophe.



Getting Lean

Photo credit: Al Seib - Getty Images

Many nuclear strategists maintain that the United States needs a robust and varied nuclear arsenal built the triad to maintain the credibility of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. But it's hard to ignore the stripped-down logic of the Chinese model, which says the only credibility necessary is the ability to strike back after an attack-the rest is just overthinking the issue.

If that's truly the case, then what use is a triad? Could the U.S. get rid of one or two arms of the triad, spending that money elsewhere in the defense budget to enhance conventional capabilities?

For the sake of argument, let's say the United States dropped one leg of the triad. Most nuclear experts would that the Americas ICBM force is the arm we could most easily do without.

The argument for ICBMs used to be that they had the longest range and were the most accurate, but submarine launched missiles have caught up. Today there are few if any tasks a land-based missile can do that a submarine-based missile cannot. Land-based missiles, sitting in fixed positions in the Earth and vulnerable to attack, also invite a use it or lose it mentality-that is, U.S. leaders would be incentivized to launch ICBMs as soon as an enemy attack is detected, just in case the enemy uses its nukes to knock out America's ICBMs. This decision must be made in a matter of minutes and could be based on faulty information, such as a computer glitch indicating enemy missile launches . Today, ICBMs look less relevant than ever.

If the country wanted to go a step further, bombers could also go on the chopping block. Bombers are slow, taking hours to reach their targets, and can be shot down. Still, these planes remain flexible in ways the other nuclear options are not. Bombers can be used in a full range of scenarios, from all-out nuclear war to decimating an enemy tank column with a low-yield nuclear device. Bombers can also be used in a conventional role, carrying more ordnance farther and deeper into enemy territory than other tactical aircraft. One could cut bombers from Americas nuclear arsenal, but removing bombers entirely also takes away a conventional war capability that's not easily made up.

The most survivable arm of the triad is the submarine-launched missile. Paired with a long range missile, missile submarines are largely invulnerable from attack. Submarines are so secure that the United Kingdoms entire nuclear arsenal has shifted to nuclear submarines, and France is heavily dependent on her Triomphant-class nuclear submarines to provide the countrys nuclear deterrent.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication 2nd Class Bryan Tomforde

The 21st Century Monad

Suppose the U.S. follows the British example, shifting to an entirely submarine-based nuclear force. What changes?

For starters, the Pentagon now has approximately $197 billion it can shift to other programs. Reinvesting that into Americas conventional forces, the Navy could afford its goal of a 355-ship fleet , while the Air Force could pursue a long-range conventional strike plane as a replacement for the lost capabilities of the B-21 bomber.

In terms of nuclear strategy, its hard to argue a submarine-only force makes us less secure. Adversaries are still deterred from surprise nuclear attacks. Assured destruction holds. The U.S. could field the same number of warheads it does today by adding a few more vessels to the nuclear submarine force and fitting their missiles with multiple warheads, while a buildup of conventional forces-made possible by canceling the new bomber and ICBM-dissuades potential foes from a conventional war that could spiral into a nuclear one.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy

Could the U.S. cut ICBMs and rely on a force of submarines and bombers, or submarines alone? These are important questions the American people need to ask before spending $300 billion replicating the weapons of the Cold War. Perhaps the U.S. should stick with the nuclear triad-but at the very least, America needs a national conversation about what nuclear security means and how to achieve it.

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Thomas Exhall was often intoxicated and verbally abusive towards call-handlers and ambulance crews who attended him (Wikipedia/stock photo)

Two people have been fined after they made a series of hoax 999 calls  with one man costing the NHS nearly 25,000.

Thomas Exhall, who was often intoxicated and verbally abusive towards call-handlers and ambulance crews who attended him, rang the service 344 times in six months.

Another frequent caller, Victoria Cross, who called the service 200 times in just over two weeks, said she was bored and didnt care about anyone else.

East Midlands Ambulance service (EMAS) said Exhall, from Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, made the 999 and 111 calls between December 2017 and April 2018  with his actions costing the NHS a total of 24,883.

He appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on January 14 where he denied making the calls and abusive behaviour.

Exhall was found guilty by magistrates, given a six-month conditional discharge, and ordered to pay 400 in compensation to EMAS.

Victoria Cross called the service 200 times in just over two weeks because she was bored and didnt care about anyone else (Wikipedia/stock photo)

The ambulance service said he would often discharge himself from hospital and ring 999 or 111 again when he arrived at home.

Cross, from Moira, Leicestershire, made her calls between Christmas and New Year  with one leading to a one-minute delay for a child in cardiac arrest.

At Leicester Magistrates Court, she was ordered to pay 165 in fines and was given a conditional discharge for 18 months, EMAS said.

Once she realised her number had been blocked, Cross bought different SIM cards for her mobile phone in order to continue making the calls.

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Deborah Powell, Frequent Caller Lead for EMAS, said: We are pleased that we have had two successful prosecutions after a lot of hard work.

We would urge people again to make the right 999 call and only phone us in a life-threatening emergency.

Our staff come to work to save lives and help people, not to be abused.

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We will continue to work with police to prosecute those who misuse our service to ensure that the support is there for those who need it in a real medical emergency.

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Mutual funds can be a safe investment option during troubled times.

Schwab mutual funds might hog the limelight in the months ahead as these funds not only diversify your portfolio but also offer a combination of low expenses and low minimum investments.

What is Schwab Mutual Fund?

Founded in 1989, the San Francisco-based Charles Schwab Investment Management is one of the largest individual mutual funds providers worldwide. The primary objective of the company is to offer effective investment solutions.

As of August 2018, the company held $362 billion in assets under management. Over the last three decades, the investment management company has been able to provide sound investment solutions to individual and institutional investors. Jonathan de St. Paer will be replacing the firms current CEO Marie Chandoha on Mar 31.

Advantages of Investing in Schwab Mutual Funds

Investing in Schwab mutual funds give you an array of options for building a diversified portfolio. Schwab mutual funds consist of money market funds, index funds, fixed income and asset allocation funds, etc.

Asset allocation funds, in particular, allow you to invest in various asset classes, such as stocks, cash and bonds.

Investing in index funds gets easier with Schwab because you can find low-cost funds that track the performance of a specific index with the help of Schwab Fundamental Index Funds and Schwab market cap index funds. Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX) is one such fund that tracks the S&P 500 index.

Given the equity market volatility over the past few months owing to geopolitical and macroeconomic issues, one might choose to focus on bonds and cash investment at this point rather than solely focusing on stock funds. Schwab mutual funds allow you as much access to the former as the latter.

4 Schwab Mutual Funds to Buy

We have picked some Schwab mutual funds that could be good investment options. These funds carry a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Moreover, these funds have encouraging three and five-year returns. Additionally, the minimum initial investment is within $5,000.

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We expect these funds to outperform peers in the future. Remember, the goal of the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is to guide investors to identify potential winners and losers. Unlike most of the fund-rating systems, the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is not just focused on past performance but also on the likely future success of the fund.

The question here is: why should investors consider mutual funds? Reduced transaction costs and diversification of portfolio without several commission charges that are associated with stock purchases are primarily why one should be parking money in mutual funds (read more: Mutual Funds: Advantages, Disadvantages, and How They Make Investors Money).

Schwab MarketTrack Balanced SWBGX seeks good capital growth and income by maintaining a defined asset allocation which includes stock, bond and cash investments.

This Zacks sector  Allocation Balanced product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.

SWBGX has an annual expense ratio of 0.40%, which is below the category average of 0.84%. The fund has three and five-year returns of 5.11% and 3.86%, respectively.

Schwab CA Tax-Free Bond SWCAX aims for high current income exemption from federal and California personal income tax, which are necessary for capital preservation. The fund mainly invests in investment grade municipal securities.

This Zacks sector  Muni-Bonds product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.

SWCAX has an annual expense ratio of 0.49%, which is below the category average of 0.75%. The fund has three and five-year returns of 1.69% and 3.00%, respectively.

Schwab Monthly Income Max Payout SWLRX seeks to primarily provide current income and secondarily, capital growth. The fund invests in a combination of Laudus funds and Schwab funds that are at par with its target asset allocation.

This Zacks sector  Allocation Balanced product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.

SWLRX has an annual expense ratio of 0.00%, which is below the category average of 0.64%. The fund has three and five-year returns of 2.05% and 2.32%, respectively.

Schwab Balanced SWOBX aims for income and capital growth by investing in a diversified group of other Schwab and/or Laudus funds.

This Zacks sector  Allocation Balanced product has a history of positive total returns for more than 10 years. To see how this fund performed compared in its category, and other 1 and 2 Ranked Mutual Funds, please click here.

SWOBX has an annual expense ratio of 0.00%, which is below the category average of 0.84%. The fund has three and five-year returns of 5.18% and 5.03%, respectively.

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The Department of Defense has identified the second U.S. service member to die in Afghanistan this year as Staff Sgt. Joshua Beale of Carrollton, Virginia. He was 32.

A DOD news release said Beale was killed Tuesday after getting hit by enemy small-arms fire while supporting Operation Freedoms Sentinel in Tarin Kowt in the Uruzgan Province.

Last week, 26-year-old Army Ranger Cameron Meddock of Spearman, Texas, became the first U.S. casualty this year in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces have been fighting for 17 years.

About 2,400 U.S. military personnel have perished in Afghanistan since American forces launched an offensive following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. About 14,000 troops remain in the South Asian country to train and advise local military forces and to conduct counterterrorism operations.

More: Afghanistan may be a mess if US troops leave; they should leave anyway. Trump is right.

President Donald Trump frequently questioned the U.S. presence in Afghanistan during the campaign, and in December reports emerged that he was pondering a major withdrawal, along with a pullback from Syria. The latter decision prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Trump has not revealed his plans regarding Afghanistan, and the mere idea of a drawback elicited strong opposition from Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

U.S. officials have been holding peace talks in Qatar with representatives of the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 45 people Monday in an Afghan intelligence base in Maidan Wardak province.

On Wednesday, Afghanistans main intelligence agency said it had killed the mastermind behind that attack in a Tuesday air strike.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2nd American killed in Afghanistan this year identified as Staff Sgt. Joshua Beale
TheGrio

An upcoming book from Wall Street Journal reporter Mike Bender alleges former President Donald Trump blamed his son-in-law for the civil unrest that erupted in the country following the death of George Floyd. The book titled Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, includes firsthand accounts from some of Trumps closest advisers, who spoke to me on the condition of deep background, an agreement that meant I could share their stories without direct attribution, Bender wrote for Politico. In the book, Bender describes how Trump privately told advisers that he didnt push back hard enough against protesters in the wake of Floyds killing by Minneapolis police in May 2020.
"This is pushing back human rights and childrenis development in this country."

It's too bad that lawmakers see no other way to address the problem of youth crime than by lowering the minimum age of criminality (MACR), a move that pushes the country back into a darker age. Have these solons not enough knowledge, imagination, or compassion to come up with a better solution that will help children instead of hurting them even more by not giving them a chance? The present law, the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (Republic Act 9344) exempts children 15 years old and younger from criminal liability. RA 10630 amends that law to provide that children aged 12 to 15 involved in serious crimes are to be placed in the Intensive Juvenile Intervention and Support Center. According to youthpolicy.org, RA 9344 placed the nation in the vanguard of Asian progress on juvenile justice issues. The law, the first of its kind in Asia, was explicitly passed to bring the country closer to its obligations as a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and, pursuant to the provisions of the Philippine Constitution and Philippine special laws protecting children. The law was a major step ahead for childrens welfare. To repeal it is to push back human rights and childrens development in this country. The United Nations Childrens Fund has registered its objection to the direction being taken by the Lower House and Senate in this matter, saying the move is an act of violence against children. To lower the MACR is to contend that children as young as 9 years old are criminally mature and are already capable of discernment, said UNICEF representative to the Philippines Lotta Sylwander in a statement. Scientific studies show that a person reaches maturity at about 16. While noting that children in conflict with the law are already victims of circumstance, mostly because of poverty and exploitation by adult crime syndicates, Sylwander said that instead of pursuing efforts to lower the MACR, solons should strengthen laws addressing juvenile delinquency and provide access to social services, a strong support program, and a child-sensitive justice system.There is a lack of evidence and data that children are responsible for the increase in crime rates committed in the Philippines, Sylwander said. She has a point. Show us the data for your decisions, Congress! As Sylwander said, children turn to crime mainly because of poverty and abuse by adults who force them to commit crimes. But why criminalize children for the faults and shortcomings of adults? Lawmakers and law enforcers should go up against the erring adults who lead children astray. Three years ago, amid similar moves back then to lower the MACR, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines suggested a law that could curb the syndicates. Such a law would provide that the use of children in the commission and perpetration of crime, in whatever manner, shall constitute an aggravating circumstance resulting in an increase in penalty for the adult perpetrator and to impose criminal liability on the parents of children who are conscripted by criminal syndicates or individual offenders when it is proved that the parents of such children were remiss in their duties of vigilance and care. Congress should seriously consider these ideas. The government should also step up its anti-poverty efforts and treat the root cause of crime instead of just the symptoms. Reduce the poverty rate and the crime rate will also go down. Many poor children lead desperate lives through no fault nor desire of their own. In view of this, the proposed laws are clearly elitist. It is the children of the poor who will disproportionately fill the jail cells, just as it is the poor who die in the tokhang drug war. The government should also step up its anti-poverty efforts and treat the root cause of crime instead of just the symptoms. Reduce the poverty rate and the crime rate will also go down. Many poor children lead desperate lives through no fault nor desire of their own. In view of this, the proposed laws are clearly elitist. It is the children of the poor who will disproportionately fill the jail cells, just as it is the poor who die in thedrug war. Instead of criminalizing children, put them in school. Make sure they have food, shelter, clothing, books, and toys, and are watched over by responsible adults who can give them good advice and show them a good example. Give them a happy, peaceful home life. The development of children is the first step in forming the citizens of a just and orderly society. To lower the MACR is to admit that the government is impotent against crime syndicates abusing children. It is to admit that government is incompetent to solve the problem save through the use of brute force against children. It is to admit that this government does not care about the poor. * * *
A 19-year-old mom died from leukemia just months after losing her newborn son after she delayed her cancer treatments to deliver him.

Brianna Rawlings, of Sydney, Australia, spent just 12 days with her baby boy, Kyden, before he died after being born at just 26 weeks in September, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the family. Rawlings was diagnosed with leukemia and decided to delay intense chemotherapy treatments in an attempt to carry Kyden safely to term.

Without hesitation, [Rawlings] chose to halve her own chances of survival in order to give her son a fighting chance with as much time as possible  womb side, friends and family wrote on the page.

For 12 whole days this beautiful little miracle graced his mum and dad with his presence. [Twelve] short but magical and treasured days, before tragically; growing his angel wings and leaving such devastated and broken parents behind.

Photos of the deliver showed Rawlings holding the tiny little boy and smiling. She celebrated the birth in a Facebook post, writing, Nothing makes me happier than watching my son grow bigger and stronger!

RELATED STORY: Missouri Mom with Cancer Asks Public for Breast Milk to Feed Baby as She Undergoes Treatment

In the months following Kydens death, Rawlings underwent heavy chemotherapy and radiation therapy as well as a cell transplant. But, ultimately, the treatments failed to keep her alive.

On Dec. 29, Rawlings died surrounded by many broken hearts.

Our Beautiful Brianna reached the end of her journey with us here on earth and was finally reunited with her Baby Bear Kyden, the family wrote in an update.

We are absolutely broken but at the same time at peace knowing she is no longer in pain, no longer in pieces and unsure of what news was to come next.

Rawlings was just 17 weeks pregnant when she was diagnosed with the deadly blood cancer, according to The Epoch Times. She contracted an infection that could have passed to the baby, so she gave birth three months early via C-section. Although her health seemed to be improving at one point, Rawlings died just days after turning 19, the publication reported.

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RELATED VIDEO: Mom with Terminal Cancer Plans to Give Family a Roadmap for Her Death: It Gives Me Comfort

Rawlings sister, Kourt Rawlings, shared updates about her sister on Facebook. Just days before she gave birth, Rawlings vowed to keep fighting for her little one.

I have been fighting NK Leukaemia, whilst growing a little human inside me, Rawlings said in a statement shared on Kourts Facebook page.

I will continue to fight not only for myself, but for my ever growing baby boy who has given me the strength and energy Ive needed to fight this.
New York (AFP) - Ten years after Wall Street recklessness helped lead to the Great Recession, compensation for top bank CEOs is soaring even as pay flattens at junior levels.

Compensation figures released so far by large banks this year suggest a rich season for CEOs, despite myriad worries for markets, including slowing global growth, trade wars and Brexit uncertainty.

Compensation for Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank by assets, hit $31 million in 2018, up 5.1 percent, and his highest pay since the 2008 financial crisis.

At Morgan Stanley, Chief Executive James Gorman will take home $29 million, up seven percent.

Final pay numbers are expected in the coming days from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.

The biggest six US banks last year reported a record $117.6 billion in profits, with JPMorgan notching its highest-ever annual income of $32.5 billion and Morgan Stanley also a new peak at $8.2 billion.

- A wide gap -

Compensation varies for everyday employees of the financial heavyweights but even the more generous boosts do not reach the CEO pay bumps thus far.

Pay among JPMorgan's 256,000 employees rose an average of 4.4 percent, while compensation for Morgan Stanley's 60,300 workers dipped two percent, according to an analysis published over the weekend by the Financial Times.

At Goldman Sachs, which faces government probes over its connections to the scandal-plagued Malaysian fund 1MDB, worker salaries fell three percent.

Worker pay rose 2.2 percent at Bank of America and Citigroup and Wells Fargo worker pay climbed 4.1 percent, according to the Financial Times.

The gap between CEOs and rank-and-file employees remains astronomical.

At JPMorgan, Dimon's salary is more than 364 times the median employee salary, while at Morgan Stanley Gorman's compensation is some 192 times greater than that of a median employee, according to the AFL-CIO.

The bounty is even greater at other financial groups like private equity behemoth Blackstone, which paid Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman $786 million in 2017, the third biggest payout ever on Wall Street behind Daniel Och of Och-Ziff Capital, who took home $1.2 billion in 2008 and $918.9 million in 2007.

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Tharindra Ranasinghe, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland's school of business, said the public's view of the higher pay has been muted somewhat by improvement in the broader economy that has strengthened employment markets.

"It seems that this is not that much of an outrage for Main Street," he told AFP. "It seems like Main Street kind of gets excited on this when the economy is doing badly."

Some of the criticism has also likely been tempered by the practices of large banks adding rules that allow them to recover -- or claw back -- compensation in case of bad executive performance.

Another factor is that bank profits have risen, at least in part, due to traditional activities such as consumer loans or financing for mergers or public offerings.

"These are not speculative ventures that may run against the interests of Americans," said Gregori Volokhine of Meeschaert Financial Services.
Tami Charles reacts as she talks about the suicide of her son, Seven, who died over the weekend. Her husband, Donnie Bridges, is at right. January 22, 2019

LOUISVILLE, Ky.  Tami Charles gave her 10-year-old son three chores to do while she was out running errands Saturday morning.

She returned to her Shively home about an hour later to find his writing assignment finished and his clothes neatly hung in his closet. But the clean socks he was supposed to pair up were still strewn across his new "big boy" bed.

In the middle of cleaning up, her son, Seven, had killed himself.

"Why would you do this?" Charles remembers asking as she rushed to try to revive him.

In her mind, she said, she already had the answer: her son just couldn't take the bullying any longer.

Days after the death of fifth-grader Seven Bridges, Charles and her husband, Donnie Bridges, are calling on Jefferson County Public Schools to do more to stop bullying.

The school district and Seven's school, Kerrick Elementary, are partly to blame for the boy's death, they say.

Seven's parents say he was bullied repeatedly this school year at school and on the bus, including incidents in August when he was allegedly called a racial slur by one child and choked by another on a school bus.

Charles said that when she complained to the school and sought resources for children who are bullied, she was rebuffed. And, she said, some school staff began treating Seven differently after her complaints.

Charles, a local businesswoman, comedian and radio host, is a larger-than-life personality in the city. Known by many as "Louisville's auntie" for her generosity and public events, she often shares her views on community issues or funny memes on social media.

Charles said she told about Seven's bullying on her Facebook page and both she and her son appeared in a local television news story about it.

Superintendent Marty Pollio said Tuesday that the district is devastated by Seven's death.

"Our No.1 thing we have to do right now is to support students and our Kerrick family and the family themselves," Pollio said.

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JCPS provided grief counselors at Kerrick Elementary on Tuesday following the holiday weekend, and is providing them Wednesday, as well.

Pollio said the district is investigating reported bullying at Kerrick, saying the district will look into how school staff responded and will "get to the bottom of how things were addressed at the school level."

He encouraged families who don't think a school is doing enough about bullying to contact the central office.

JCPS spokeswoman Renee Murphy said the school did address the mother's concerns initially but the district is now investigating to see how the concerns were handled.

She said this is the eighth JCPS student to die by suicide so far this school year. Of those, Seven was the youngest.

Murphy said there were three student suicides last school year. She said the district is concerned about the increase and wants to better understand it.

More: Child suicides can be linked to bullying, but it's never the sole cause, mental health professionals say

The Louisville Courier Journal seldom writes about individual suicides and refrains from reporting details in accordance with advice from suicide prevention experts. However, it is writing about Seven because Charles has made her story public.

Tami Charles shows photos of her son, Seven, who committed suicide over the weekend. Her husband, Donnie Bridges, is at right. January 22, 2019

Seven was born with a bowel condition that required numerous surgeries. While he no longer needed a colostomy bag, he still at times had bowel leakage that made him smell and prompted other children to tease him, Charles said.

She remembers Seven coming into her bedroom one night in November, crying inconsolably because a girl had called him names and made up a song about him.

"He was so hurt, he couldn't get the words out," she said.

But Charles said she feels school administrators were more concerned with "protecting themselves and their school" than saying "'How can I help this child?'"

Seven was a sweet boy who never considered being mean or striking back at bullies, Charles said.

He loved to dance and play music and was obsessed with super heroes. He cried when he found out that iconic comic book writer Stan Lee had died.

The first time that Seven rode his bicycle without training wheels, around age 3 or 4, the little boy stopped to pray, his dad said.

"He said, 'Dear Lord, give me the strength to go fast and keep up,'" Donnie Bridges remembers him saying, his tiny hands clasped together over his handlebars.

Over Christmas, Seven had graduated from a bunk bed to a "big boy" bed, complete with black and gray sheets. That's where the socks were scattered when his mother found his body.

More: Suicide rate up 33% in less than 20 years, yet funding lags behind other top killers

Charles has since tidied up that bed, removing the socks, although she still hasn't paired them. She left his Elmo pillow, a beloved possession since he was an infant, perched on the bed.

Charles said she saw few warning signs that her son might have been considering suicide, though on the Wednesday before his death, he'd learned that his chiropractor had advanced-stage cancer. The boy was upset and stayed home from school. The next two days, she said, Seven had felt distant.

Charles said she wants her son's death to help start a dialogue about the problems of bullying and what can be done. She is helping plan several upcoming events in Seven's honor, including a balloon release and a panel discussion about bullying.

She also said she plans to sue JCPS because she thinks people "have their ears in their pockets."

While suicides by children under the age of 15 are rare, incidents for this age group have grown significantly in recent decades, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2017, 522 children from birth to age 14 died by suicide, up from 184 a decade earlier.

Experts say bullying and suicide-related behavior are "closely related."

But the CDC's website says that "we dont know if bullying directly causes suicide-related behavior. We know that most youth who are involved in bullying do not engage in suicide-related behavior. It is correct to say that involvement in bullying, along with other risk factors, increases the chance that a young person will engage in suicide-related behaviors."

More: Suicide prevention experts: What you say (and don't say) could save a person's life

Megan Barnett, board chair of the Kentucky chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said multiple factors contribute to suicide and the act shouldn't be oversimplified.

"There's never one single cause," Barnett said. She said that both bullies and the bullied are at increased risk of suicide.

"We need to be connecting them with mental health services," she said.

Barnett said it's unclear exactly why suicides by younger children are growing, but noted that they are a particularly vulnerable population.

"Children under the age of 16, their brains are not developed enough to understand the permanence of death the way an adult would," she said.

In 2016, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled against a Floyd County family who had sued to hold school staff liable for a son's suicide over alleged bullying at school. The justices found unanimously that there was not enough credible evidence that school employees were negligent.

In 2016, JCPS launched a bullying tip line. Its student handbook says the district "takes all bullying allegations very seriously" and says that all bullying incidents are investigated at the school level.

JCPS' website also offers resources for suicide prevention.

Charles announced her son's death to the public on her Facebook page on Saturday.

Since then, tens of thousands of friends, family and fans have shared prayers and condolences using the hashtag #SevenStrong. The GoFund Me page set up for funeral expenses and her lost wages has raised more than $25,000.

Charles has kept busy by doing a string of interviews while juggling the funeral arrangements and calls from other parents who say their children also are bullied.

One of the hardest things for her has been children who stop by her home. They hold tight to Charles, sharing her pain.

"There are no words to say," Charles said. "Everyone is looking for them and there are none."

Warning signs that may indicate risk of suicide include:

Talking about wanting to die or interest in killing oneself

Looking for a way to kill themselves, like searching online or buying a gun

Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live

Talking about feeling trapped or feeling unbearable pain

Talking about being a burden to others

Increased use of alcohol or drugs

Acting anxious or agitated; behaving recklessly

Sleeping too little or too much

Withdrawing or isolating oneself

Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge

Extreme mood swings

For information on how to prevent suicide, visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org or call 1-800-273-8255.

Reporters Mandy McLaren and Phillip M. Bailey contributed to this report.

Follow Allison Ross on Twitter: @allisonSross.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: A 10-year-old killed himself. His mom blames bullies, and his school
Celebrate Valentines Day with a romantic French concert and a classic film

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Valentines Day is coming with a French flair this year as The Southern Illinois Symphony coordinates several fun and romantic events.

The Symphony begins the second half of its season accompanying The Poor People of Paris, a well-established St. Louis combo specializing in romantic French music. With over one hundred years of history at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the Southern Illinois Symphony has a long tradition of exceptional concerts. This classic performance is perfect as a surprise gift to a loved one, or a fun evening with friends.

Concert and reception

The concert is set for 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 at Shryock Auditorium. In keeping with the French theme, the concert will feature music by Michel Legrand, Marvin Hamlisch and instrumental selections from Les Miserables.

A pre-concert wine and cheese benefit, with special Valentines gifts and music by Mel Goot, will take place before the concert at 6 p.m. on Feb. 12 in the Shryock balcony lobby. The benefit will support the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets available now

Tickets for both the concert and reception are available online at events.siu.edu or by calling 618/453-6000. Concert tickets will also be available at the door an hour before the performance.

Concert tickets are $20 for adults and $8 for students of any age.

Pre-concert benefit tickets are $30 (must be purchased separately).

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Varsity Theater

To warm up for the French Valentine concert, the Varsity Theater will present The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at 7 p.m. on Feb. 7. The 1964 film classic stars Catherine Deneuve and features an iconic score by Michel Legrand.

Walter Metz, professor of film criticism in the cinema and photography program at SIU and host of SIU Reviews on WSIU Radio, will give an introduction before the film showing. Tickets will be available at the door and are $7 for general admission and $5 for students.

For more information visit symphony.siuc.edu.
Jihadist News Articles Analysis Multimedia Social Network Jihad Western Jihadist Digest Free Articles Financial Jihad

Full Translation

Groups Afghan Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement Al-Nusra Front Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Ansar al-Islam Ansar al-Sunnah in Jerusalem Ansar Beit al-Maqdis Ansar Dine Ansar Jerusalem Hezbollah Islamic Jihad Union Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Islamic State Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) Jabha East Africa Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Jaish al-Fath Lashkar-e Toiba Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e Taliban) Shabaab al-Mujahideen (The Young Mujahideen Movement) Taifetul Mansura The Levantine Front Turkestan Islamic Party

Leaders Abu Musab Abd al-Wadud Abu Yahya al-Libi Adam Gadahn Anwar al-Awlaki Ayman al-Zawahiri Hakimullah Mehsud Mullah Omar Mustafa Abu al-Yazid Usama bin Laden Abu Baseer al-Wuhayshi

Countries Afghanistan Algeria Australia Austria Bangladesh Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Burma Burundi Canada Chechnya China Denmark Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Europe Finland France Germany India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Italy Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mali Mauritania Morocco Niger Nigeria Norway Pakistan Palestinian Territories Russia Saudi Arabia Somalia Spain Sweden Syria Tunisia Turkey Uganda United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uzbekistan Yemen Burkina Faso Philippines Ireland
A business which is aiming to bring a new form of renewable energy to tropical islands is undertaking geotechnical, meteorological and oceanographic studies of the Maldives.

Global OTEC Resources has spent the last year developing the companys innovative concept for using ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) especially for off-grid resorts and local islands across the

tropics. The company was awarded a 140,000 Marine Challenge Fund grant in September 2018 to further the concept and will now look at the specific characteristics of the Maldivian archipelago.

A geotechnical study will determine how the relevant physical and chemical properties of the seabed will influence the design of the mooring system  a critical component of the OTEC offshore technology. A number of borehole samples and laboratory test results will be considered to carry out an initial assessment.

The company appointed Ryder Geotechnical Limited to provide expert advice based on their experience in the offshore oil and gas and renewables sectors. Ryder are uniquely placed to draw extensive knowledge based on previous work in the oil and gas sector, but also based on the studies it has previously carried out for a deepwater OTEC unit off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.

Global OTEC Resources is also very pleased to be working in collaboration with the University Of Exeters Ocean Engineering group through Marine-i, who will deliver a preliminary site MetOcean report in the first quarter of 2019 covering several identified key areas in the Maldives. The study will encompass a wideranging review of open source materials, in order to consider the temperature profiles, wind speeds, wave heights and currents at multiple co-ordinate points across the region, and will allow the Global OTEC Resources team to refine the hull and mooring system for the unit.

All of the above will help the company to further refine its cost model for the capital expenditure required to harness the Maldives thermal energy stored in the Indian Ocean.

Earlier this year, the Maldives Ministry of Economic Development issued a letter of support to Global OTEC Resources in a follow up to its meeting with the company held in Male in December. In this letter, Hon

Minister Fayyaz Ismail asserted that Renewable energy is of utmost importance to the Maldivian Government and that the government promised to extend its full support throughout this inquiry to Global OTEC Resources.

Global OTEC Resources Managing Director Dan Grech said: The Maldives is crying out for innovative, alternative renewable energy solutions. Local and tourist islands are collectively spending hundreds of millions of dollars on diesel fuels every year because their unique geography prohibits other renewable energy sources that are currently on the market. The interest weve received from the government and private tourism sector really highlights the potential for developing zero-fuel OTEC plants in the Maldives and were incredibly excited about this venture.


The Prosecutor's Office of Prague has received the inquiry of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia on the extradition of Narek Sargsyan, the third president of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan's nephew, a representative of the Prosecutor's Office of Prague told Ria Novosti.

Now works must be done to check the relevant documents. Only after that it will be announced if the extradition is possible or not, he said.

According to Czech legislation, the justice minister makes a decision on the opportunity of extraditing foreign citizens and his decision can be not in line with the verdicts of the local courts.

Narek Sargsyan was found in Prague thanks to the efforts of Interpol. Danek said the 37-year-old man was detained in the presence of an attacking unit, as they suspected he could be armed.

As reported earlier, the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia had received information that a large number of drugs and weapons were hidden at an apartment belonged to Narek Sargsyan, 31the nephew of third President Serzh Sargsyan. In addition, the NSS received a report that, back in 2013, Narek Sargsyan, abusing the trust of an heir of renowned Armenian painter Martiros Saryan, had taken fourteen drawings of Saryan from this heir, promising to pay $28,000 for them, and to jointly establish a casino with the rest of the money, and to sponsor its activities. After getting these paintings, however, Sargsyan did not fulfill his promise, and he refused to return these drawings.

Within the framework of the respective criminal case, a search was conducted Wednesday at the place where Narek Sargsyan is registered, in capital city Yerevan. The abovementioned paintings, as well as $115,000, 27,000, expensive watches, numerous gold coins, and jewelry were discovered at this place.
Council of Europe Rapporteur on Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan Torhildur Varsdottir (Iceland) submitted to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights PACE submitted a preliminary memorandum on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, contact.az reported.

This multipage document contains an analysis and assessment of the situation, an analysis of the problem of political prisoners and a list of 130 names that are supposedly political prisoners.In the introductory part, the speaker recalls that this problem caused concern even when Azerbaijan joined the Council of Europe in 2001.

PACE, in its resolution 1272 (2002) on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, confirmed that no one can be imprisoned for political reasons.In resolution 1359 (2004), the Assembly called on the government of Azerbaijan to immediately release political prisoners.In 2005, the Assembly adopted resolution 1457 and recommendation 1711 on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Resolution 1750 (2010) on the functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan also dealt with this problem.

Most recently, in 2017, the Assembly addressed the issue in resolution 2184 on the functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan, expressing concern about the prosecutions and detentions of NGO leaders, human rights activists, political activists, journalists, bloggers and lawyers.

In resolution 2185, the PACE called on Azerbaijan to release human rights defenders, journalists, civil and political activists convicted for political reasons.

In 2013, the Strasser report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan was prepared, but the resolution on this matter failed. Later, the report of the Independent Investigation Authority described how the corruption mechanism was used in PACE to block the Strasser report.

"Despite this, the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee, and I personally take this report as the source of information," said Varsdottir.

The speaker also recalls that independent experts on the instructions of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe developed the definition of "political prisoner" back in 2001.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, upon accession by the Council of Europe, supported this definition of independent experts. Since then, the definition of "political prisoner" has been systematically applied by the Assembly and beyond.

Further, the Memorandum provides a brief description of the definition of "political prisoner" and refers to the lists of human rights defenders of persons of this category.

Varsdottir notes that she will prepare her list, having received comments from the Azerbaijani authorities on each case.

The speaker notes that the cases of Mehman Huseynov, Afgan Mukhtarly and several other journalists and bloggers are "significant" and are not in doubt.A large group of political prisoners includes religious activists led by Tal Baghirzade from the Muslim Unity movement.

The report describes the operation in Nardaran in 2015, when dozens of believers werearrested, and several people were killed. All the arrested were subject to cruel torture. Dozens of people were also arrested, gathered in front of the Sabunchu police, where they kept Nardaran residents.

Subsequently, many of them were sentenced to long terms, although independent sources claim that their guilt was not proven.

Among the believers, there are also several social network activists convicted on charges of extremism and inciting hatred.

A large group of alleged political prisoners is activists of opposition parties convicted for participating and organizing mass protests, publishing criticisms. However, they were condemned on charges of hooliganism, drug possession, etc.

Noteworthy are the affairs of youth activists: Giyas Ibrahimov, Bayram Mamedov, Elgiz Gahraman, Salekh Rustamov and others.

The report further speaks of those convicted of the events in Ismayilli, Siyazan, Mingachevir, and Guba.

The prosecutor of Zardob region, Rufat Safarov, convicted for criticizing the authorities, as well as ex-Minister of Health Ali Insanov, is mentioned among former state officials.

In conclusion, the speaker notes that there are a large number of people in Azerbaijan who can be considered political prisoners and whose fate should be considered by PACE.
"Thanks to Speaker Arroyo."

Who would think that in a prime central location along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, one can buy a lot at P700 per square meter? There is one such location, the National Government Center in Barangay. Holy Spirit in Quezon City where thousands of urban poor families were able to purchase the land they have been occupying for only P700/sqm. This all thanks to the former President and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo whose law when she was president in 2003 enabled almost 20,000 urban poor families to acquire the land they have been occupying for a small fraction of the prevailing market rate of P50,000 per square meter. Janet Dungo, a long-time resident of NGC, said it was only during the time of then President Arroyo that they were able to attain housing security because of RA 9207 (National Government Center Housing and Land Utilization Act of 2003). Under law, more than 50,000 urban poor families in the 422-hectare NGC were given the chance to acquire the land they have been occupying. In the West side of the NGC which is composed of 184 hectares, Dungo was one of the more than 10,000 housing beneficiaries that were awarded their titles after they paid P700 per square meter for their lot. More than 8,000 have not received their titles because of court cases due to land-grabbing and failure to re-block. Dungo, who is one of the housing beneficiaries, said they could not contain their happiness when then President Arroyo not only awarded them their lots but enabled them to acquire them at only a fraction of the cost. We did not have security before because we were just squatters. We have sought the help of many officials but it was only GMA who listened to us and did something to enable us to buy the land we were living on  and at very low prices, she said in Tagalog.Today, aside from the individual land titles, the government is also building eight medium-rise buildings in the west side of NGC to accommodate more beneficiaries. The area will create a new township complete with commercial establishments, recreational center and educational and medical facilities. Rannie Ludovico, a QC councilor and who was barangay captain of NGC when RA 9207 was passed in 2003, said the residents of NGC are forever grateful to Speaker Arroyo because of the all the help she has done for the community. Ludovico added, it would appear that Arroyos concern for the urban residents did not stop with the enactment of RA 9207 and lowering the purchase price. She also made sure that the remaining qualified beneficiaries got their titles. Arroyo had for the first time convened an Oversight Committee on NGC to make sure that RA 9207 is properly implemented. During the first Oversight hearing at the House of Representatives, Arroyo vowed to put P100 million into the Department of Public Works and Highways budget to enable the department to purchase more land for the beneficiaries. Under the law, the DPWH is the one in charge of the land acquisition in the NGC. This, after she was told by the DPWH that no funding was allocated for the 2019 budget for the acquisition of titles and reblocking of individual lots for the NGC. Arroyo, for her part, said she would ask the House members of the bicameral panel to put at least P100 million to NGC to enable them to facilitate and receive their titles. The Speaker went around the country to visit the urban poor housing beneficiaries during her administration. She signed more than 100 presidential proclamations, executive orders and laws that enabled thousands of urban poor families to acquire the land they have long occupied. The creation of a new oversight committee is consistent with Speaker Arroyos earlier pronouncement that the Lower House will hold its oversight functions in the remaining months of her speakership because they have already passed all the priority bills of President Rodrigo Duterte. This is very consistent with what I said when we left for the Christmas Holidays that we already passed many good laws including my own law in 2003 thats why they are now owners of their property. But what is important now is to make sure that they are well implemented. So this is part of what I have been saying that thats the task I think the House of Representatives should be doing for the next six months, she earlier said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyah held an informal meeting with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.

The meetings and discussions with Aliyev are not an official start and an official destination of the negotiation process, Pashinyan said in a live video on Facebook on Wednesday.

The basis for the meeting was the arrangement that if at least we are in the same place, at least we dont evade meetings. We dont discuss any concrete details, so to speak; we are just exchanging views, he said.

Pashinyan stressed that the axis of these discussions is everything that he speaks about publicly, too.

The national debt of Armenia amounted 3 trillion 349 billion drams, or $6 billion 922.9 million on December 31, 2018.

Basically, the national debt grew by $148.3 million dollars (2.2%), in a year.

The Ministry of Finance of Armenia has issued its synopsis of the countrys national debt, and according to which 2020 and 2025 will be the toughest years in terms of paying off this debt.

A meeting with Armenian prime minister is not on the schedule of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, presidents spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Pashinyan will visit Moscow 25 for a meeting with the board of the Eurasian Commission.

As far as I know [the talks with Russian president] are not planned. They often talk on phone and meet very often. Friday is a day with a busy schedule, thats why I am not aware of any changes. The contacts have not been agreed yet, Peskov told reporters.

Armenias former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan has been summoned to the Investigative Committee.

Ex-PM gave explanations within the criminal case which was filed in connection with corruption scheme revealed during the privatization of the Hrazdan forest fund.
"Even angels fall from grace."

Although Rep. Rolando Andaya has given up his position as Majority Floor Leader, he took the position as Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee and said that the investigation against so-called budget insertions will continue. He has not given up his desire to go after Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno. This is in spite of the remonstration coming from the Palace that the House stop its media campaign against Diokno. Rep Andaya apparently wants to fight to the finish. If his effort is for the purpose of uncovering anomaly, we can only laud him for it. But could there be another reason? Since I am not in the inner circle, I cannot categorically say. This fight is a bit unusual in some ways. Normally, we would not be seeing any public feud of individuals who have occupied the same position. This is because there is that practice that if people happen to have occupied the same position, these people do not normally talk openly about things that goes on in that officethey are considered trade secrets. But Rep. Andaya has gone ahead and done that, therefore giving the public a rare glimpse of how powerful the position of Budget Secretary is. The public for the first time is seeing how public funds can easily be juggled for whatever reason that the Budget office wants. This was shown when Diokno parked P75 billion for infrastructure in the 2019 national budget which the implementing agency, DPWH did not even know initially. There are other insertions. The immediate casualty of this feud is that government workers will have to wait until the fight is settled if at all or when the 2019 national budget is eventually passed before finally getting the fourth tranche of their salary increases. This includes the increase in pension benefits of uniformed retirees from the police and military. Also, with the government apparently overflowing with so much money that the budget office is having difficulty finding ways to spend the funds, this is unconscionable when retirees like the police are still owed 32 months of pay differentials or teachers salaries could not get salary increases to allow them to live decently. Given that the life expectancy of Filipinos is about 72 years, many of these police retirees would already be dead before the pay differentials are released. Government workers are always being told that there is no money available, but they soon find out that the government is awash with cashand all because of the feud of the two. But even with so much money, our business leaders continue to find ways to increase taxes for the long-suffering small-time taxpayers who have no choice but cough out hard-earned money to the government only for the budget office and the House of Representatives to quarrel over how to allocate the pork. This is the most important outcome of this feud between Rep. Andaya and Sec. Diokno. The public now has a better idea on where and how government money is spent. This is the scandal. No wonder even with a P3.8-trillion national budget, the number of poor people could not be brought down significantly. The money does not trickle down to ordinary citizens like you and me. The money stops somewhere in the middlemost probably in the bank accounts of corrupt public officials and enterprising individuals who are able to partner with unscrupulous public officials to make a lot of money. It is sad, what we are witnessing. As to the continuing fight between the two gentlemen, we will have to wait and see where and how it will end. If the intention of Andaya is to get rid of Diokno or charge him in court, I doubt whether thiscould happen.Sooner or later, everything about this mess will come out. In fact, we know quite a bit already. Senator Lacson who has looked very closely at the P75-billion so-called insertion has vouched for the integrity of Diokno. Unlike Rep. Andaya who has a string of cases in the courts, Diokno up to this time has at least kept his nose clean. Still, with the kind of money circulating, the temptation is always great. Could Ben Diokno be one of the few government officials who can resist the temptation? Let us hope so. We have to bear in mind, however, that even angels fall from grace. Case in point: Isnt a fallen angel? * * * Both Houses of Congress are in the process of studying the possibility of amending Republic Act 10630 of July 23, 2012 otherwise known as the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act for the purpose of bringing down the age wherein individuals could be charged criminally down to the age of nine. This is the initial position of the House while the Senate thinks that 12 years is the more appropriate age. The reason for the amendment is probably the increasing number of minors committing crimes. But this is hardly a good enough reason because the current law already provides the government or law enforcement agencies with the tools to determine whether a minor committed the criminal act with discernment and therefore could be charged as an adult. Every case must be treated separately because every case is unique. Bringing the age down so low will just destroy a lot of young lives. After all, we live in a country that believes everybody deserves a second chance.
Mexico CityMexicans celebrated Tuesday as Roma grabbed 10 Oscar nominationsnone more exuberantly than the films breakout star, Yalitza Aparicio, who melted hearts and went viral with her ecstatic reaction to her best actress nomination. Aparicio, an indigenous schoolteacher with no acting experience who landed the part when she accompanied her sister to the audition, posted a video on Twitter of the moment she got the news. Watching the announcements on a laptop in what appeared to be her hotel room in Tijuanawhere she had traveled for a photo shoot at the US-Mexican border fenceAparicio let out a scream when her name popped up, then pressed her hands to her face, choking back tears, in a gesture of pure joy no actress could feign. The video went viral, garnering tens of thousands of likes and countless replays on Mexican TV. Im so happy. I was not expecting this news when I woke up so early today, Aparicio wrote. Filmed in Spanish and the indigenous Mixtec language, set in Mexico City in the 1970s and filmed in black and white, Roma is not supposed to be the kind of movie that finds huge success in the United Statesespecially not in the Mexico-bashing era of President Donald Trump. But Alfonso Cuarons intimate portrait of his childhood and the two women who raised himhis nanny, played by Aparicio, and his mother, played by best-supporting actress nominee Marina de Taviragarnered the most Oscar nominations of any film this year, together with Greek director Yorgos Lanthimoss The Favorite. Roma scored several firsts in the process: first Spanish-language film nominated for best picture, and the first nominations for streaming giant Netflix in the directing, original screenplay, foreign language film and best picture categories, among others. For Mexico -- where the film triggered a national conversation on race, class and the traumas of the past -- the news was celebrated by figures from the president on down. Cuaron is a first-rate filmmaker, a source of pride for Mexico. I congratulate him and all the actors and production team.... We should all see the film, said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador -- admitting that he himself had not watched it yet. Were all happy! What can I say? Its been a very intense morning, said Eugenio Caballero, the production designer on Roma who famously recreated Cuarons boyhood home and street in minute detail for the film.Im so happy to see the nominations for Yalitza, Marina, Alfonso and the entire team, he told AFP. Mexican filmmakers have racked up an impressive string of successes at the Academy Awards in recent years. The trio of Mexican directors known as the Three Amigos -- Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu -- have won the best director award four of the past five years. Cuaron, who won in 2014 with Gravity, now stands to make that five of the past six. The Mexican film community was jubilant. VIVA ALFONSO!! tweeted del Toro, whose film The Shape of Water won the most statuettes at last years Oscars with four, including best picture and best director. I cant believe it!! I cant take the excitement, tweeted Gael Garcia Bernal, one of Mexicos best-known actors, who became a Hollywood heartthrob after starring in Cuarons last Spanish-language film, Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001). Roma is making history for Mexican film, on an international level, said the president of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, Ernesto Contreras. Mexicans will no doubt be watching in droves when the Oscars ceremony is held on February 24. The great value of Roma, besides its visual beauty, lies in the questions it asks us as Mexicans, about who we are, where we come from and our shared wounds, said Maria Novaro, head of the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE).
Narek Sargsyan, the nephew of third President Serzh Sargsyan, is still under arrest in Prague. The Prosecutor General's Office told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the extradition process is ongoing.

Narek Sargsyan was found in Prague thanks to the efforts of Interpol. Danek said the 37-year-old man was detained in the presence of an attacking unit, as they suspected he could be armed.

As reported earlier, the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia had received information that a large number of drugs and weapons were hidden at an apartment belonged to Narek Sargsyan, 31the nephew of third President Serzh Sargsyan. In addition, the NSS received a report that, back in 2013, Narek Sargsyan, abusing the trust of an heir of renowned Armenian painter Martiros Saryan, had taken fourteen drawings of Saryan from this heir, promising to pay $28,000 for them, and to jointly establish a casino with the rest of the money, and to sponsor its activities. After getting these paintings, however, Sargsyan did not fulfill his promise, and he refused to return these drawings.

Within the framework of the respective criminal case, a search was conducted Wednesday at the place where Narek Sargsyan is registered, in capital city Yerevan. The abovementioned paintings, as well as $115,000, 27,000, expensive watches, numerous gold coins, and jewelry were discovered at this place.
Armenia 3rd President: We will set up committee to lead probe into 44-day Artsakh war after coming to power

10-year-old boy from Armenia's Hrazdan hits fence with quadricycle, transferred to hospital with passenger

5 Karabakh residents, including children injured after major car accident in Armenia's Syunik

Campaign in Armenia is over

Members of "5165" Movement political party visit Armenia's Gyumri and Etchmiadzin

Robert Kocharyan: We'll do everything possible to meet expectations and build Armenia of our dreams

Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin calls for release of head of Izmirlian Medical Center

Opposition party leader: There are 270,000 unemployed people in Armenia

Flights to and from Russia and Armenia to resume on June 28

Mandate of Armenia ruling party's ex-MP transferred to next candidate on list

"Armenia" bloc's march ends in Yerevan

"Armenia" bloc holding march after rally at Republic Square in Yerevan

Bus traveling from Artsakh to Yerevan gets into car accident, passenger in extremely critical condition

Opposition party leader: If Armenia doesn't take a full step now, it will lose Syunik and Gegharkunik Provinces

ARF-D member: On behalf of young soldiers saved by Armen Charchyan, we demand his immediate release

Searches for remains of Armenian servicemen in Hadrut fruitless

Armenia 1st President: If elections are held normally, my political party will have seats in parliament

Armenia 1st President: If my proposal was accepted, Pashinyan would escape in 1-2 weeks

"Armenia" bloc member: Director of Izmirlian Medical Center Armen Charchyan has been detained

Bright Armenia Party holds march of solidarity in Yerevan

Armenia 1st President: There will be clashes after the elections

Construction underway at new residence in Karabakh's Astghashen area (PHOTOS)

Soldiers bodies found in Artsakh, campaign for Armenian snap elections is over, Jun 18 digest

Armenia Armed Forces' General Staff deputy chief visits MOD central recruitment station

Armenia Penitentiary Service: Officers not involved in any political process

Armenia MFA issues statement on inadmissibility of false charges against Armenian POWs and captured civilians

Participants of "Armenia" bloc's rally heading to Republic Square in Yerevan

"Armenia" bloc's rally kicks off in Yerevan (PHOTOS)

Armenia "I Have the Honor" bloc member on their snap election hope: We have stable double-digit 3rd place

Armenia Election Rights Watch: Some citizens attended acting PM's rally with hammers

Armenia State Revenue Committee, IMF agree to continue cooperation to improve tax and customs laws

One dollar drops below AMD 514 in Armenia

Armenia "I Have the Honor" bloc leader: Lets choose peaceful work!

Tashir company says Azerbaijan accusations against their Russian Armenian chairman are absurd

Armenia ex-premier: Russians closed airspace during Artsakh war on regular basis

Policemen summoning "Armenia" bloc's supporters to police stations and threatening them

Nearly 47 Diaspora Armenian organizations call on voting for "Armenia" bloc during elections

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan on snap parliamentary elections: June 20 is crucial day

Chinese Ambassador: China-Armenia economic relations have only intensified and achieved significant results

Armenia human rights activist: 3 penitentiary institutions working to make sure convicts vote for current govt

Member of European Parliament calls on stopping sham trial of 14 Armenian POWs in Baku

Azerbaijan government sentences two ministers of Nakhchivan

Armenia ex-PM: Azerbaijan death toll in Artsakh war is actually 18,000

Bright Armenia Party leader: If government of national accord is not formed, our agenda will be defeated

Armen Gevorgyan: Our democracy must be preserved

Union of Armenians of Russia: Azerbaijan Prosecutor General's Office has in fact accused Russia of illegal actions

Kremlin comments on forthcoming snap elections in Armenia

Head of Union of Armenians of Russia comments on information on Azerbaijan declaring him internationally wanted

Peskov: Russia in close contact with Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan over Karabakh

Kremlin: Russia closely following information about possibility of establishing Turkish military base in Azerbaijan

Lavrov says information about establishment of Turkish military bases in Azerbaijan is "rumors"

Gallup survey: "Armenia" bloc is ahead among respondents

Armenia State Revenue Committee, Iran Customs Service officials meet

Iran doesn't accept interference in its nuclear and missile programs

openDemocracy: UK company makes profit from last Nagorno-Karabakh war

Bright Armenia Party leader: Our country has been in skirmishes of 4 people ever since 2008

Health condition of teenager hurt in car accident in Armenia village improves

Azerbaijan Prosecutor General's Office declares several Russian Armenian businessmen wanted

Armenia court announces decision on acting PM

Two new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

86 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia Prosecutor General to go on business trip to Russia

Newspaper: All Armenia government resources used for ensuring attendance at acting PMs election campaign rally

US Senate confirms Chris Inglis as first White House cyber czar

Chinese apps may face US subpoenas and bans

Iran presidential election voting kicks off

Kuwait to allow entry of fully vaccinated foreigners as of August 1

Newspaper: Turkey shows that it is starting new chapter in its expansionist policy in region

Tiger kills South Africa game park worker

Putin-Biden meeting is analyzed in terms of body language

Armenia acting PM: Death toll is 3,705, number of missing is 268, 60 captives, assumption on another 110 captives

Armenia 1st President delivers message to citizens

Armenia acting PM: Return of 15 Armenian POWs instills hope for major change in regional atmosphere

White House: Biden and Erdogan fail to find solution to S-400s issue

White House to consider possibility of Biden-Jinping talks

Gagik Tsarukyan: Armenia needs a professional army of contractual soldiers

Armenia 2nd President: If a soldier honors an MP sentenced for desertion, defeat in a war is inevitable

Armenia Parliament Speaker thanks people for supporting the authorities during difficult times

China's new embassy building in Armenia (an exclusive report)

Armenia acting PM: After the rally, I will go to a pre-election debate

Armenia's ArmEconomBank employees forced to attend ruling party's rally at Republic Square after work

"Armenia" bloc member: Whole state apparatus is trying to create impression that Pashinyan has supporters

"I Have the Honor" bloc's candidate for Armenia PM: To vote for current govt means to face loss of statehood

Razm.info: Azeri serviceman drowns in Al lakes of Karvachar

Armenia MFA's commentary on the declaration signed by the Presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan

Turkey estimates total military resources of Azerbaijani and Turkish troops

Artsakh ex-PM: I call on worthy citizens of Armenia to vote for the "Armenia" bloc

Robert Kocharyan: Outgoing government speaks of the past

Azerbaijan trades Armenian POWs for mine maps, Putin and Biden meets in Geneva, Jun 17 digest

"Armenia" bloc holding campaign meeting in Sevan (LIVE)

Armenia National Democratic Axis party: We will not cooperate with former and current authorities in any format

Armed man attacks office of pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party in Turkey, 1 killed

Russian MFA: Armenian POWs' issue remains current

Zakharova: Russia sees need to demarcate and delineate Armenia-Azerbaijan borders as soon as possible

Karabakh: Remains of 3 more Armenian servicemen found in territories of Artsakh seized by Azerbaijan

Russia MFA Spokesperson on Erdogan's visit to Shushi

EU to provide support to electoral processes in Armenia

Dollar still losing value in Armenia

Eduard Sharmazanov: "I Have the Honor" bloc is not adversary of ex-PM Karen Karapetyan

Russia FM, OSCE Secretary General to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Herman K. Trabish, July 24, 2018 (Utility Dive)

Editors note: Californias proposal for a regional grid did not get out of committee in the last session. Advocates are working on a new version, but it may not get traction in a legislature focused on wildfires and the PG&E bankruptcy.

California policymakers longstanding dream of a regional transmission system would eliminate barriers between the 38 independent systems across the Western states and create a full regional electricity market. Advocates for Assembly Bill 813 say it could cut the West's electricity costs by eliminating interregional transmission charges and the building of redundant generation. Opponents agree the benefits are appealing. But, they say, regionalization will risk renewable energy jobs and incentivize the building of expensive transmission lines. Although the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is already under federal jurisdiction, regionalization opponents argue that it would make California's nation-leading climate policies more vulnerable to action from Trump appointees on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

California Senate Bill 350, passed and signed in 2015, requires the state's investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to obtain 50% of their power from renewables by 2030. It also ordered CAISO to study the feasibility of expanding its market across the West. Studies completed in 2016 showed regionalization could generate $1 billion to $1.5 billion in annual benefits to California ratepayers. By 2030, it could also provide between 9,900 and 19,400 jobs throughout the West and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. State lawmakers failed to pass a version of AB 813, the regionalization bill, in 2017 and 2018. It would restructure CAISO governance to allow participation by the other Western states that would be part of the market. A coalition of ratepayer, labor, and environmental advocates opposes the bill because they see it as exposing California to compromised renewables and climate policies and to Trump administration initiatives click here for more

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Most of his Napa County clients are locals and people arrested for the first time with a moderate BAC. His cases usually dont involve extremely high blood alcohol levels or collisions.

Most people  have made a simple mistake and just need help getting out of it or through it, he said.

Defending a client accused of DUI can be difficult, Schwartz said. Its the defenses job to examine and determine the veracity of a police report, constitutionality of a stop, whether officers were properly trained and more.

Clients are often surprised to read an officers report weeks later, he said, because the tone of the report may be different than the officers tone at the time of the stop. Its in law enforcements best interest to act polite and helpful if they want a suspected DUI driver to avoid doing anything dangerous and be cooperative, Schwartz said.

Drivers are required to give an officer only their name, drivers license, registration, and proof of insurance, he said.

Schwartzs colleague, Ryan Wilber, said every answer and movement an officer observes during a stop may be used against the driver. Officers can arrest a driver if they so much as smell alcohol in the car.
How much water has been captured? Shasta Lake near Redding, the states largest reservoir, at 35 miles long, has risen 25 feet since Jan. 1, and is now 61 percent full, or 92 percent of its historical average for this time of year. Closer to the Bay Area, San Luis Reservoir between Gilroy and Los Banos has risen 15 feet over the past three weeks, and is now 82 percent full, or 109 percent of its historical average.

To be sure, the rain has stopped. Dry, balmy weather is forecast over the next week from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, with more rain possible the first few days of February. This months wet weather could give way to sunny, warm conditions through the rest of the winter.

But for now, the powerful atmospheric river storm that roared in from the Pacific Ocean last week, following other storms and dumping half a foot of rain in some places, and five feet of snow in the Sierra, has washed away a disappointing November and December. The trend is boosting the spirits of water managers, whose memories are still fresh of Californias brutal five-year drought from 2012 to 2017. Across the Bay Area, water agencies say their supplies are in good shape, and they are not expecting summer shortages.
Napa will help to fund a second attempt at crafting housing from a dormant retirement home  even as some area homeowners are reviving the pushback that derailed the previous effort.

The City Council last week agreed to reserve a $2.2 million loan out of the $6.4 million in its affordable housing fund toward Heritage House. The development would provide single-room-occupancy quarters for 66 people  half of them emerging from homelessness and the rest low-income tenants. The development would occupy the defunct Sunrise Assisted Living at 3700 Valle Verde Drive, where neighborhood residents sued to block a 57-unit apartment complex before its developer pulled out in 2016.

Although the 4-0 council (Mayor Jill Techel was absent) vote dealt only with Heritage Houses financing and not its design or staffing  an approval vote on the project is expected this fall  the debate revived tensions between north Napa residents warning of increased violence and misbehavior from the projects would-be tenants and advocates urging the city to quickly house its most vulnerable populations as a first step toward stabilizing their lives.

While acknowledging my heart breaks for Napans complaining about the projects potential effect on its surroundings, Councilwoman Doris Gentry called such housing an improvement on having the same homeless people encamped by nearby Salvador Creek, with a neglected building going unused in their midst.

What we have today is a building that is decaying, and we possibly have more than 66 of those same people on the creek with absolutely no case management that are a bigger negative impact to your community than people that are receiving services, said Gentry, a former foster child who has, in turn, hosted about 200 foster children of her own.  This would provide an opportunity for them to have case management, to have more assistance and be able to get into a place (of their own). I personally would much rather live beside an apartment with people getting service, versus a building with rats and broken windows, and people living by the creek under blue tarps.

Owned by the Gasser Foundation, the former Sunrise property would be co-developed by Burbank Housing Development Corp. and Abode Services, which contracts with Napa County to run homeless support services. Thirty-three of the units would be for other tenants with very low incomes, but the rest would be marked as permanent supportive housing  with their residents offered social services from Abode to help prevent them from ending up back on streets or encampments, according to city Housing Manager Lark Ferrell.

But without a clear plan for security and access rules  and stronger assurances that homeless people would receive mental-health and other services they require  area residents like Bill McGuire refused to lend their support.

I have seen way too many chronically homeless people on the streets of San Francisco and Oakland; it scares me to think they may be in my backyard, he told the council. I understand the needs of homeless people to find housing. But by definition, the chronically homeless are those who have been out on the streets for over a year. Whether these people can be socialized again and back into an environment where theyre not confrontational with their neighbors is very concerning to me.

Such complaints smacked of alarmism to Jenna Bolyarde, housing specialist for Abode Services  and a formerly homeless woman who credited supportive housing with lifting her up from heroin addiction toward home ownership and a new career of helping the disadvantaged.

Housing made all the difference for me  I got a safe place to go, and from there I got my first job, she recalled.  If somebody hadnt taken a chance on me, I dont know that Id be here standing in front of you.

In my job, I work with the chronically homeless, Bolyarde added, disputing the safety risk of supportive housing. There IS permanent supportive housing in Napa; these units do exist, and you dont hear about them harassing their neighbors. We havent had any violent acts; weve had great success. Its not just sticking someone into a unit and telling them Good luck. Its intense case management; we hook them up with services.

The citys promise of funds buttresses Heritage House builders quest for another $7 million, which Napa County is seeking from the states No Place Like Home program for supportive housing. Applications for the state funds are due by Jan. 31.

Since the closure of the Sunrise senior home, the Valle Verde property has become a battleground over efforts to convert it to affordable housing.

In 2012, the city approved plans by Bridge Housing Corp. of San Francisco to create 57 affordable rental apartments in partnership with Napa Valley Community Housing. However, a neighborhood coalition sued the city in Napa County Superior Court, arguing the project would threaten salmon and steelhead in Salvador Creek while worsening traffic congestion and littering.

A judge struck down Napas approval as well as a revised plan, requiring a full environmental impact report before breaking ground. Bridge Housing canceled its apartment plan and eventually sold the land in November 2016 to the Gasser Foundation for more than $5 million.

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The Mare Island Museum will unveil a new exhibit commemorating Filipinos' contributions to Mare Island Naval Shipyard at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2.

The unveiling is part of the museums initiative to reach out to all communities that constituted the backbone of the shipyards 142 years of service. The unveiling will take place as part of a short ceremony recognizing the outbreak of the Philippine American War on Feb. 4, 1899. The Philippine American War ultimately led to an influx of Filipinos to the Bay Area and Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

The short program will will include short presentations featuring Mel Orpilla, founder and president of the Filipino American National Historical Society  Vallejo Chapter. The public are invited to this commemoration of the contributions to U.S. national defense by Filipino Americans. Admission is $5 and will include finger foods and access to the museum.

The relationship between Mare Island and the Philippines dates back to 1898 and directly led to the employment of thousands of Filipinos till its closing in 1996," Orpilla said. "Filipinos who worked at Mare Island contributed to the operations on Mare Island and subsequently helped shape the Filipino community in Vallejo as we know it today. It is a rich history that we are proud to share.
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Napa Saturday morning to relish in the recent election of a record number of women to Congress and protest President Donald Trumps policies during the Womens March Napa Valley event.

Supporters began to convene around 8:30 a.m. in front of Napa City Hall on School Street. A nearby coffee truck peddled beverages to gathering marchers.

Saturdays march may have been focused on women, but men and children were also welcomed to participate.

Among the male marchers was Pete Shaw, pastor of Napas CrossWalk Community Church. Shaw said he supports the Affordable Care Act, womens access to healthcare and income equality.

More supporters began to arrive over the course of the next hour, many of whom wore pink items of clothing and pussy hats, the pink beanies with catlike ears that have become an icon of the Womens March nationwide.

Marchers held signs mocking President Trump and opposing the so-called pink tax on feminine hygiene products. Other signs were in support of abortion, the #MeToo movement, unionization, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the newly elected, democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
MoscowRussian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold Syria talks in Moscow on Wednesday, with Turkey saying they will focus on Ankaras so-called security zone in northern Syria. The two leaders are on opposite sides of the conflict: Russia provides critical support to the Syrian government, while Turkey has backed rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assads forces. Despite this, they have worked closely to find a political solution to the seven-year conflict. Russia and Turkey have agreed to coordinate ground operations in Syria following US President Donald Trumps shock announcement on pulling 2,000 American troops out of Syria last month. In a speech on Monday, Erdogan said he would discuss with Putin the creation of a Turkish-controlled security zone in northern Syria, suggested by Trump. The US-allied Kurds, who control much of northern Syria, have rejected the idea, fearing a Turkish offensive against territory under their control. Moscow, a long time supporter of Assad, is likely to oppose the plan, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week saying Damascus must take control of the countrys north. Nearly eight years into Syrias deadly conflict, the US pullout has led to another key step in Assads Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.Kurdish forces who were left exposed by Trumps pledge to withdraw US troops have asked the Syrian regime for help to face a threatened Turkish offensive. The Kremlin hailed the entry by Syrian forces into the key northern city of Manbij for the first time in six years after Kurds opened the gates. Moscow plans to organise a three-way summit with Turkey and Iran at the beginning of this year as part of the Astana peace process, launched by the three countries in 2017. So far, no date has been set but after negotiations with Erdogan, we will begin preparations for the trilateral summit, Putins foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters last week. The last meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Irans Hassan Rouhani took place in Iran in September last year with the fate of the rebel-held Idlib province dominating the agenda. Ties between Russia and Turkey plunged to their lowest level in years in November 2015 when Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane over Syria. But after a reconciliation deal in 2016, relations have recovered with remarkable speed with Putin and Erdogan cooperating closely over Syria, Turkey buying Russian-made air defence systems and Russia building Turkeys first nuclear power plant.
A St. Helena restaurant is hoping to catch a break from the city after suffering a $20,000 water leak.

The city sent Pizzeria Tra Vigne notice of a potential leak on Oct. 16, three weeks after it had started. The next day the restaurant called in the plumbers and received a $12,000 water/sewer bill.

Nash Cognetti, the restaurants vice president, said he immediately got to work trying to find the leak, which mystified plumbers until Oct. 26, when they finally traced it to a faulty drain primer hidden inside an exterior concrete wall. The primer, located above a bathroom the restaurant shares with the Southbridge Napa Valley hotel, was causing clean water to flow directly into the sewer. The plumbers were able to stop the leak as soon as they found it.

The restaurant paid $25,000 in water and sewer charges over two billing cycles, which was about $20,000 higher than normal. On Tuesday, Cognetti asked the council to refund the excess charges, since the restaurant had worked diligently to find and stop the leak as soon as it was discovered.

We dont have the cash reserves to weather this sort of thing, especially going into January and February, Cognetti told the council. Not to paint a grim picture here in front of you, but were talking about potentially losing a restaurant in your city here.
Tucked away in the St. Helena firehouse is an easily overlooked museum where the history of the St. Helena Fire Department comes alive in vivid color  mostly red.

The small but densely packed museum is full of helmets, hydrants, bells, badges, photos, and a nearly complete set of posters advertising the annual Firemens Ball fundraisers of the 1950s, where $1 got you an evening of dancing to the big band stylings of Ralph Rawson and his orchestra.

Now the department is looking for apparel, equipment, photos and other mementos to add to its collection. Chances are, forgotten treasures that would help tell the St. Helena Fire Departments story are locked away in attics, basements and trunks throughout St. Helena.

Theyre out there in the community  we just need people to dig them up, said Art Carr, a member of the department from 1961 to 1974. For lack of a better word, Carr is the collections curator, although he shies away from such a lofty title.

The biggest and most recognizable item on display is the 1917 Schnerr pumper truck the department still revs up for its open house and other special events. The triple combination pumper (top speed 50 mph, purchase price $5,400, capable of pumping 381 gallons a minute for 30 minutes) is believed to be the last operational Schnerr in the U.S.

However, even the smaller pieces have a story to tell, like the lapel pin issued to John Jacobsen, who in 1887 joined the Hook and Ladder Company No. 1  one of the precursors to the St. Helena Fire Department, which wasnt established until 1911.

In the late 19th century, when most of downtown St. Helena was still made of wood and thus highly susceptible to fire, three independent fire companies took it upon themselves to protect the town: Hose Company No. 1, the Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, and Americus Hose Company No. 2.

The museum houses the tattered old hat once worn by Philo S. Grant, foreman of Hose Company No. 1 from 1900 to 1911. Grant spent 50 years as a St. Helena firefighter and was selected as the St. Helena Fire Departments first fire chief in 1911. He served until his death in 1947, and I think if he were alive today hed still be chief, Carr said wryly.

Grants chiefs badge is on display at the museum too, as well as those of his successors Joe Cheli (1947-1958), Lucas Haus (1958-1959, 1961-1965), and Gene Graff (1959-1961).

Keep looking, and youll find a 1921 Lungmotor resuscitator that used to be carried on the Schnerr, an 1891 fire bell that can still raise a mighty ruckus, and the fire departments old (and presumably outdated) master key to Louis M. Martini Winery.

A few of the items have little or no connection to the fire department and would ideally be exhibited by the St. Helena Historical Society, if only they had their own space, Carr said. Mariam Hansen, research director for the historical society, has provided valuable help in researching the fire departments collection, Carr added.

Carr hopes members of the community will come forward with historical memorabilia, apparel or photos related to the fire department, or even documentary evidence that so-and-so served with the department from this year to that year.

Based on what he already knows, Carr has painstakingly compiled a year-by-year membership roster going back to the days of the hose companies, but there are still gaps, including in the years during and after World War I and World War II. Many of St. Helenas able-bodied men were off serving in the military during those years, but there had to have been some firefighters, and Carr wants to know their names.

The society pages of the Star used to list the people who attended the Firemens Ball, and its likely that many of them were firefighters, but Carr wants proof before he adds them to his roster. The holy grail would be a record book with membership logs or minutes of old meetings.

A whole stack of these were found in an elderly ladys garage, buried in a cupboard, Carr said, gesturing to some St. Helena Fire Department license plate frames.

This community has changed a lot in the last 20 or 30 years, he said. A lot of homes have changed hands, and theres a possibility that a lot of this stuff has been removed. But I know there are still some older homes in the community where someone who lived there or one of their relatives had a connection to the department.

I know its out there, he said. I just know it.

If you have a piece of the St. Helena Fire Departments history to share, call 967-2880.

(There is some question about the proper spelling of the Schneer or Schnerr pumper. The pumper itself has the name Schneer on its production plate and Schnerr on the floor plate in the cab and on the radiator emblem. The St. Helena Historical Society's "Images of America: St. Helena" book and contemporary articles in the St. Helena Star from 1917 and 1918 use the Schneer spelling. A publication by the San Francisco Firm Manufacturers of Automobile Fire Apparatus uses the Schnerr spelling.)

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Pope Valley may be a little more remote than other AVAs in Napa Valley, but that hasnt stopped one winemaker in the region from gaining an audience.

By focusing on the refinement of red wines, Calla Lily Estate & Winery in Pope Valley is meeting the demands of the Chinese market by focusing on red wines, particularly Bordeaux varietals.

In China and Hong Kong, customers prefer red wines. They see Napa Valley as an important wine-producing region of these wines after Bordeaux and Australia, among others, said Calla Lilys winemaker Cary Gott.

Hong Kong-based entrepreneurs Anthony Fung and Andy Chui bought the property formerly known as Cleavage Creek Winery from the Brown family in 2011.

Calla Lily produced its first vintage that year and since, it has sent two to three containers of wine per year to China. That leaves only a small percentage of the crop to market in the U.S.
We turned delivery on its head for a number of reasons, Ahmed said. You dont have to spend time ordering online and you get to pick out food yourself, which is the fundamental reason groceries have never flourished on e-commerce. We are making it not only convenient, but the fastest possible way to shop. 

Even at its fastest, delivery will take up to an hour, he added.

How does it work?

Unlike a typical grocery delivery service, which requires customers to select groceries online first, Robomart vehicleswhich can reach 25 mphwill be dispatched to a particular neighborhood, where customers can summon one through an app. There is no human on board: The delivery vehicles will be operated by people from another location using cameras and navigation systems, according to the Globe.

Once it has arrived, customers can open the vehicles sliding doors using the app, giving them access to a selection of fruits, vegetables, convenient food items and even hot meals, Ahmed said.
"They would be treated in the bankruptcy court as unsecured creditors," lawyer and former California state Sen. Noreen Evans said. "They would be behind a lot of other folks who have their hands out wanting to be paid by PG&E."

The legal costs of bankruptcy could also lead PG&E to charge higher rates.

The Legislature last year approved what some have called a bailout or partial bailout plan, SB 901, that could force PG&E customers to pay for some of the cost of the wine country fires in 2017.

Evans, who works with Brockovich, said SB 901 is not exactly a bailout.

"It is access to a fund of money that PG&E can use to pay its victims," Evans said.

But SB 901 does not say anything about 2018 wildfires, and Brockovich said Camp Fire victims should get the same access to the funds allowed by SB 901 and be made whole.

"This must be fixed," she said. "Are we really going to hedge a bet that PG&E is going to stop this long-proven pattern of behavior? Or does the time happen when the state of California steps up and takes control of the runaway train?"
China is stepping up its efforts to rein in the countrys internet, singling out Tencent Holdings Ltd.s popular news app for spreading vulgar information while shutting down more than 700 websites and thousands of apps in the span of just three weeks.

The Cyberspace Administration of China has scrubbed the web of more than 7 million items since Jan. 3, deleting more than 9,300 smartphone apps to screen out information deemed inappropriate or harmful, the watchdog said in a notice distributed to media. Tencents Tian Tian Kuai Bao, which means quick daily news, was singled out for spreading vulgar and low-brow content that was harmful and damaging to the internet ecosystem the agency said.

The latest raft of shutdowns, part of a six-month campaign intended to eradicate vulgarity from the domestic internet, stands out for its scale and speed. Baidu Inc. and Sohu.com Ltd. were ordered to suspend a plethora of news services just weeks ago.

Beijing has increasingly taken a hard line as the countrys internet ecosystem flourishes, instigating crackdowns on video games and social media thatve hurt industry leaders such as WeChat-operator Tencent and the words largest startup, Bytedance Ltd. They represent the most severe digital crackdown in the countrys history, shuttering services or temporarily forcing them from app stores for spreading everything from crude jokes to banned information.

Tencent and other websites have been ordered to overhaul their operations, the watchdog said in its notice without elaborating. Its shares fell 0.8 percent in Hong Kong.

Tencent said it couldnt immediately comment.
When you are looking for an affordable 27-inch full-HD PC monitor in South Africa, there is one brand which currently dominates the market  Dell.

If you search for a 27-inch PC monitor to buy in Google, for example, most of the shopping results are for Dell monitors.

These shopping results in Google come from many different stores, including Takealot, Incredible Connection, HiFi Corp, and PC Express.

The screenshot below shows the results from Google in a recent search for a 27-inch PC monitor to buy in South Africa.

Dell monitors  particularly their 27-inch full-HD model  is also often on special at big retailers like Makro, and PC-focused outlets such as Evetech and Wootware.

This makes it an attractive monitor for those who want to upgrade their display while sticking to a budget.

Dell has also implemented AMD FreeSync support on certain entry-level 27-inch monitors, opening them up to the PC gaming market, too.

A change in the guard

Dells dominance in the affordable  around R3,000  South African 27-inch PC monitor market is new.

For around a decade, Samsung dominated this product line with a range of affordable PC monitors  and was the go-to solution for many companies and individuals.

All the major retailers, including Makro, Game, Dion Wired, Incredible Connection, HiFi Corp, and others stocked Samsung monitors, but this has changed and it is difficult to find a standard 27-inch full-HD monitor at major retailers.

This raises the question: Why did Samsung relinquish its dominant position in the market to Dell?

Samsung explains its strategy

Samsung would not comment on why Dell has taken over from it as the dominant 27-inch full-HD monitor brand in South Africa.

However, Samsung said it continues to actively promote its 27-inch IPS monitors, among other variants. The company added that its focus for 2019 and beyond is on higher-resolution products.

In line with Samsungs ongoing technological evolution, there is a firm shift from full-HD to QHD and UHD, said Samsung.
South Africas general elections are approaching, and will allow every registered South African to have a say in the future of the country.

Given the importance of the elections, it is critical that the voting process runs smoothly. If there is even a shadow of doubt about the integrity of the elections, there will be an uproar.

This is why its important that the IECs electoral system is both transparent and optimised.

MyBroadband sat down with the IECs Chief Information Officer Libisi Maphanga to learn more about the electoral process in South Africa and how it remains secure.

The process

Maphanga explained that the primary vote counting process is completely manual.

Once all the votes have been counted, the final results slip is scanned at the IECs local office in order to digitise the results. The results are then immediately sent to the IECs data centre.

Maphanga said that all parties accessing digital information from the IEC are accessing it from this data centre and they have adopted a centralised architecture.

Auditors are then brought in to check the voting data and ensure that everything is the same on the slip as it is in the system.

Before the results can be finalised, they also go through an automated exception management process that checks that the auditor hasnt missed any discrepancies or irregularities.

For example, if a station has 2,000 voters, and the slip has 3,000 votes, it will be flagged as an exception and then we will look into it, said Maphanga.

Once both the auditors and the exception management process are happy with the data, it can be released unofficially by the IEC on its website.

The IECs API service also allows news sites to develop live election results platforms for their readers by giving them access to the voting data.

The official announcement regarding the election results must then happen between 2-7 days from when the voting took place.

Competent staff

To make sure all goes smoothly, all IEC staff undergo training ahead of the national elections to ensure they are prepared.

We have by-elections every month, so most of the staff  particularly those from municipalities with by-elections  never really get away from the system, said Maphanga.

He said that members of each party are also included in the training process so that when they monitor the election process on the day, they know how operations work.

Staff also go through at least two dry runs in the month before the elections take place.

Basically we simulate election day, and we get everyone across the country in our offices to spend two or three hours processing and capturing results, said Maphanga.

Server resources

Maphanga said that while their system operates off a single server, there are rigorous measures in place to ensure there are no hiccups.

There is substantial power redundancy in place, including a generator and two UPS devices, to ensure that power functionality is maintained at all times.

Additionally, the IEC has an agreement with Eskom that no power station maintenance may take place on the day of the elections.

Server maintenance processes happen once every month to ensure that all power sources are working optimally, which complement a digital monitoring system that sends real-time information about any faults in the system.

The server also uses multiple processors which run in parallel  each processor using a small portion of its total capacity so that even if individual processors were to malfunction, the system would continue to run smoothly.

The IEC also backs up data every day, as well as executing more rigorous backups every week and month. These backups are stored on tapes and disks, and are kept off-site.

All data is also replicated in real-time to an off-site secondary server, which is ready to continue operations should something happen to the main server.

Maphanga added that the server has never malfunctioned in almost 9 years of operation.

Security

Maphanga said the server has been equipped with a variety of powerful firewalls and other security measures to thwart any hacking attempts come election day.

However, he added, nothing is foolproof.

When you get to very complex hacking that might include injections in the most sophisticated way, youre never sure.

If someone was to hack the server, Maphanga said the servers powerful monitoring functionality would immediately discover the breach and alert the IEC.

We monitor at many points, and if there is something were unhappy with, well pick it up, Maphanga said.

Additionally, the IEC gets auditors to come in and test the system before election time.

They ensure that there are no gremlins or hidden code in the system.

Despite all of these security measures, Maphanga believes the most important security measure the IEC has put in place is transparency.

Every single stage of the election process is open for all parties to witness, ensuring that nobody can accuse the election body of interfering in the process in any way.

Now read: SAPS wanted to pay R45 million for cellphone spy hardware to fund Zuma
MTN has confirmed through a press statement that three of its senior managers have been deported from Uganda.

On 19 January 2019, MTN Uganda Chief Marketing Officer, Olivier Prentout, was arrested by police at Entebbe airport upon arrival from a business trip abroad.

On 21 January 2019, MTN Uganda Head of Sales and Distribution, Annie Bilenge Tabura, was arrested by unidentified security personnel upon arrival at the MTN Uganda offices in Kampala.

Subsequently, both Prentout and Bilenge have been deported from Uganda to their home countries, France and Rwanda respectively.

On 22 January 2019, Elza Muzzolini, Head of Mobile Financial Services was also deported from Uganda.

MTN Uganda has not been officially notified of the grounds for these arrests and deportations, and is trying to establish the precise reasons for the deportations.

We are understandably concerned about these developments and the well-being of all our employees, the company said.

MTN Uganda is fully committed to respecting and operating within the laws of the country.

Now read: PC users are not updating their apps
Things to do include: check out the museum, enjoy a picnic, capture the historical significance through photography, or visit nearby Stevensville and the St. Marys Mission.

When the Mullan Road was built in 1863, connecting Fort Benton to Walla Walla, Washington, it became the main transportation route and bypassed Fort Owen, going north through Missoula instead.

Fort Owen became less regionally important as Missoula became the focus of trade in Western Montana. When Nancy Owen died in 1868, Johns Owen's mental health began to decline along with his financial success.

Eventually, Johns deteriorating mental health led to the financial collapse of the trading post. In 1872, Washington McCormick purchased the buildings and grist mill at a sheriffs sale. Diagnosed with dementia, John Owen was moved to the East Coast to live out the rest of his life with his relatives where he passed away in 1889. Oddly, while repairing a roof at Fort Owen, McCormick was killed that same year after the roof he was fixing was blown off in a violent summer storm.

After his death the property and buildings of the fort passed through many hands. One acre surrounding the remains of the fort was given to the Fort Owen Historical Association in 1937. In 1956 they conveyed it to the state of Montana for one dollar.
Solve La Union killings, peace advocates urge cops

READ: Witness: Baldo plotted to kill ex-mayor

READ: Pre-BOL vote violence: two killed

Three people, including a candidate for vice mayor, were killed while a Cebu town mayor and her two security escorts were wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their van in Barangay Linao in Talisay City at 6:10 p.m. Tuesday. Killed in the attack were Ricardo Reluya Jr., husband of San Fernando town Mayor Lakambini Reluya; the driver of the vehicle, Allan Bayot, and staff member Ricky Monterona. Mayor Reluya and two of her bodyguards were taken to the Talisay District Hospital where they were in stable condition, said Supt. Ma. Aurora Rayos, spokesperson of the Central Visayas Police. Mayor Reluya is seeking reelection in May while her husband was running for vice mayor. Reports said Reluyas party was traveling to Barangay Banawa when the ambush occurred. Interviewed at her hospital bed, Mayor Reluya said that attack could have been politically motivated. Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde has created a special task group to investigate the killings. He gave Cebu City police officials two weeks to solve the case and warned they would be relieved if they failed to do so.He also ordered Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, regional director of Western Visayas, to provide 24-hour security to Mayor Reluya and her wounded staff. I am confident that in due time, we will achieve a breakthrough in our investigation under the same investigative framework that we applied in similar cases of violence against elective government officials, Albayalde said. The Palace condemned the attack,
Following the courts decision, Sales said in an interview he did not believe legislation such as those proposed by White and Hinebauch would be fruitful given that Bullock would hold veto power. Hinebauch said Monday he believed the bill would be in Bullocks interest to consider as a long-term proposition, when he is no longer governor and the make-up of the Land Board changes.

Bullock has defended the decision as important to land owners by providing a clear process for obtaining an easement, which may take years and thousands of dollars. When asked for comment on the bill, communications director Ronja Abel indicated that the governor remains firm in his position.

"Gov. Bullock sees no need to revisit what is now settled law over the role of the Land Board in reviewing conservation easements and further, can't comprehend why subjecting private landowners to an unnecessary, duplicative and unpredictable review would be in the best interest of our state's private landowners and sportsmen and women.

John Barnes, Montana Department of Justice communications director, noted that while the Supreme Court did rule, it has yet to issue a legal opinion detailing how the law will be impacted. The department has not seen the easement bills yet to comment on them, he said, but does believe easements should be reviewed and approved by the Land Board as was the previous practice.

Reporter Tom Kuglin can be reached at 447-4076 @IR_TomKuglin

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A former YMCA day care worker changed her plea this week, admitting she used methamphetamine at the facility where she cared for children.

Autumn Heinz was charged last April with multiple felonies, including drug possession, criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a child. The Missoula County Attorneys Office said Wednesday she changed her plea without a plea agreement from prosecutors.

Missoula police last year said they had found a glass pipe and a tube containing a crystalline substance that tested positive for meth in what YMCA staff described as a drug den. An employee reported finding Heinz in the area of the laundry room, where the burnt meth smoke would reportedly spread throughout the building.

Full laboratory test results of samples taken from the Learning Center showed the classrooms were clean of drug residue, although the employee bathroom, laundry room and kitchen each tested positive for meth.

Heinzs sentencing has been set for Feb. 26 in Missoula County District Court.

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Anaconda KC plans spring breakfast

ANACONDA  The public is invited to attend the Knights of Columbus annual Spring Pancake Breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday, Feb. 10, at Holy Family Church, 217 W. Pennsylvania, Anaconda.

The menu includes pancakes, eggs, ham, juice and coffee. The cost is $7 for adults and $4 for children. Children 6 and under eat free.

Toastmasters name best speaker

Top O the Mornin Toastmasters weekly winners included Sherry Flamand, best speaker; Joe McBride, best topic respondent; and Lorri DePlazes, best evaluator.

The next meeting will be held at 6:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 4, at Perkins.

Church sponsors skate night

Aldersgate United Methodist Church at 1621 Thornton Ave., will host skate night from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26.

Bring your rollerblades or skates. There will also be food, drinks and music. Details: 406-782-2425.

Onsie Night Friday at High Altitude
While making important strides at the state level, Montanans must also continue to pressure federal authorities to do better  to treat reports of missing Native Americans with the seriousness and urgency they deserve, but have long been denied.

Native American women experience violence at rates far disproportional to their population. At last count, 30 percent of the missing women in Montana were Native Americans, according to the Montana Department of Justice. This despite the fact that they make up just slightly more than 3 percent of the states population.

This month, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester used his seat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to demand that the BIA and FBI explain the lapse in reporting Henny Scott as missing, saying in a letter to the two agencies directors that Law enforcement owes a much higher standard to protecting citizens in Indian Country.

There are still many unanswered questions surrounding the circumstances of Hennys death, but it has become clear that the initial law enforcement response was unacceptable, Tester wrote. I am troubled by the trend of inadequate responses to these types of situations. We cannot hope to solve the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women epidemic if we do not address how law enforcement initially responds in these cases.
Concerned about the way federal agencies investigate missing and murdered Native American women, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is asking the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to come to Montana for a field hearing.

The hearing would be a follow up to the committee's December oversight hearing of the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs' handling of missing women reports in Indian Country.

It's believed that at least two dozen Native American women in Montana were reported murdered or missing in 2018. Meeting in Montana, the committee would hear from the friends and families of missing and murdered Native American women, Daines said in his request.

"While this committee held a robust oversight hearing in December of 2018, there are many questions left unanswered, more indigenous persons have gone missing, especially in the Northern Rockies region," Daines wrote.
Nield alluded to financial issues driven by an economic recession and high fuel costs motivating the company to previously cease flights to Billings. He said the company's new low-cost carrier structure "can weather any kind of storm," including a recession or high fuel costs.

Frontier will be monitoring how the numbers pan out for their business with the new service, Nield said, before saying the company believes Billings has good potential for their business.

"We are very confident with the numbers that we see that this is going to be a growth story," he said. "We want to grow beyond just Denver. We don't know when and if that will happen, but we want to. So as we see the momentum and the revenue coming in on our bookings, we will then decide, 'should we look at other places to fly nonstop from Billings to in the U.S.?' "

Additionally, Frontier may adjust the number of flights seasonally depending on how the service is doing during certain parts of the year, Nield said.

The Billings airport offers flights from six airlines including Allegiant, Alaska Airlines, Delta, Cape Air, United and American. In Montana, Frontier flies out of Missoula and Bozeman.
A Mexican man who was living in the United States on a visa will spend two years in prison for his role in distributing methamphetamine in Montana, a role he and attorneys say was forced on him by drug cartels.

Briyan Entneciv Chayrez, 25, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Tuesday to 24 months in federal prison. After his release, he will be turned over to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Chayrez pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to distribute meth.

Federal agents were investigating another Mexican man in 2018, according to federal court documents, when they met Chayrez. The initial complaint in the case states an undercover agent had arranged a purchase of meth at approximately $9,000 per pound to be delivered to Montana.

In June 2018, federal agents met Chayrez in Boise, where he had planned to deliver 7 pounds of meth and a pound of heroin to the undercover agent. He was taken into custody at a Walmart there. The man who allegedly supplied the drugs is in Mexico, according to court documents.
The leadership of the House of Representatives led by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday recommended for Senate action the Universal Health bill aimed at ensuring all Filipinos are guaranteed equitable access to quality and affordable health care goods and services and protected against financial risk. The bill, signed by Arroyo last Monday, had been sent back to the Senate and to be transmitted to Malacanang for the signing of President Rodrigo Duterte. Senate President Vicente Sotto earlier signed the bill. Arroyo said she was extremely proud of the bill because it would mean universal and more efficient health coverage for every Filipino. This bill will further strengthen the delivery of health care services to every Filipino and I am honored to be a part of it, Arroyo said. During her presidency, she expanded coverage of free medical services to Filipinos as she launched a P3-billion universal health insurance coverage that would provide either free or subsidized hospitalization and other medical assistance to government and private sector employees and indigent families through Executive Order 276. Towards the end of her presidency, Arroyo was able to increase to 50 million the new beneficiaries of PhilHealth from her initial target of only 5 million. And from 400,000 indigent families covered by PhilHealth in 2001, 5 million poor families were covered by PhilHealth at the end of her term in 2010.Under the UHC bill, every Filipino shall be automatically included in the National Health Insurance Program which includes immediate eligibility and access to primary medical, dental, mental and emergency health services, medicines, diagnostics and laboratory as well as preventive, curative and rehabilitative care. The Department of Health through PhilHealth will implement the program. Under the bill, PhilHealth members are identified into two groups: the direct contributors or the paying members and indirect contributors who are non-paying members whose membership is fully subsidized from tax collections. Health Secretary Francisco Duque estimated that around P257 billion in the first year of its implementation will be needed to fund the program. This will be taken from the Sin Tax Reform Law. He is also pushing for two bills that increase the taxes in tobacco and alcohol to fund the program. The House of Representatives had passed the two bills increasing taxes on alcohol and tobacco. The Senate has yet to pass its own version of the two bills.
To say the least, Im frustrated with this administrations and the White Houses use of federal employees as pawns, Strohmaier said. The Forest Service, BLM and other federal workers who are furloughed are our friends, families and neighbors, and if theres ever an opportunity for local government to step up and do what we can to help, this is the time.

Andrew Czorny, the countys chief financial officer, said he had identified small pots of money from which the county could make personal loans. John Hart, the deputy county attorney, said statutes arent clear on how far the county could go with that.

Concerns also were raised about how the loans would be guaranteed, and whether the county would be in direct competition with banks. Beck noted that at least five banks in Missoula already are offering low- or no-interest loans to federal employees.

What I like about supporting existing efforts is these lenders do this on a daily basis, said Melissa Gordon, the countys grants division administrator. Thats different than what we can provide because were not lenders, although we do have a revolving loan program.
MARION  In January 2017, Ben Jackson arrived in Marion, Montana, where he would spend the last six weeks of his life. The blond, freckled 16-year-old had traveled from his hometown in Colorado to attend Montana Academy, a residential treatment program for struggling teens.

Bens father, who wished to remain anonymous to protect his familys privacy, said Ben was struggling with depression and anxiety, as well as his diagnosis when he was 12 of Type 1 diabetes. Bens parents had tried to find their son all the help they could in Colorado, but nothing seemed to be working.

Its really defeating when you do everything you can and its not good enough, said his father. When a kid gets to a place where you feel like you cant keep him safe at home anymore, you have to do something.

They enrolled him in a wilderness treatment program in Colorado, which appeared to help Ben significantly.

He was like a different person when we went up to visit him. We thought, This is great. He's sharing his feelings and emotions with us, and we were learning how to communicate. We were under the impression that that would continue at Montana Academy.

The wilderness program staff recommended Ben attend a longer-term residential program to solidify his progress and suggested Montana Academy. That sequence through programs is common in the industry  nearly all students at Montana Academy outside Marion go through a wilderness program first, according to student interviews and an interview with co-director John McKinnon.

Top-notch program

Bens father said Montana Academy was supposed to be the Harvard of these places, a real top-notch program. It cost about $8,000 a month, plus fees, to send his son there, he said. (The Montana Academy website now lists monthly costs at $8,750, along with a $2,000 acceptance fee and monthly $150 charges for student allowances.) They visited the campus together, and met with the school director, who assured him the program could accommodate Bens health needs.

All of Montana Academy's management is certified and licensed, according to its state licensing application. It was opened by two psychologists, a psychiatrist and a social worker who had grown disillusioned with treating youth in crisis in a hospital setting.

John Santa, a cognitive psychologist with a doctorate from Purdue University, opened the academy in 1997 with co-director McKinnon and their wives. McKinnon was the clinical director of Adolescent Psychiatry & Substance Abuse at the Charter Hospital of Fort Worth, Texas, before moving to Montana. He then became the medical director of Pathways Treatment Center in Kalispell.

The pair started the academy, McKinnon said, to escape the constraints of managed care: the growing influence of insurance companies on their work with patients.

Our mission was to move psychiatric care out from under hospital overheads and to reduce the cost, and to do that for selected kids who were suitable for treatment on an open ranch, he told the Missoulian.

In the first few years, they accepted teens with 50 different diagnoses of mental disorders, everything from trauma to major depression, to suicidality, to anxiety syndromes, to various addictions and so on, McKinnon said.

As children arrived at the ranch, McKinnon said he and his wife Rosemary began to notice a pattern in interviews with parents.

The way parents described their children fit into five categories, which are now written on the Montana Academy website: selfish self-preoccupation and self-importance (narcissism); an obliviousness to others [sic] feelings (lack of empathy); a failure to connect present behavior to future outcomes (lack of goals, plans or reflexive anticipation of consequences); a puppet quality in close relationships; and concrete, selfish ethical thinking (a lack of abstract or social moral ideals, such as honor or the good of the family).

When a parent arrived at the ranch, McKinnon and his wife listed what they called 1,2,3,4,5 to see if those attributes described the child.

By the time I got to 5 they almost invariably said to me Oh, my God, Dr. McKinnon, how did you describe my daughter so accurately? Youve never even met her. And they would say that so often that Rosemary and I would look at each other and wink. It was literally funny. I could make them say that just by rehearsing 1,2,3,4,5.

McKinnon said he realized that those five things were what parents wanted them to fix; that the heart of the problem wasnt depression or anxiety or drug use, it was what McKinnon later dubbed immaturity. He compared the troubled teenagers developmental stage to that of a 3-year-old.

At the heart of it all, they were beginning to feel like their daughter was beginning to be a jerk and somebody who was failing and somebody who wasnt going to get to college, he said. And if she wasnt careful or he wasnt careful, hes going to end up in Sing Sing [prison] because he doesnt seem to have a conscience or any restraint.

Diagnosis: Immaturity

McKinnon said this immaturity theory became the basis for treating every one of the roughly 70 students Montana Academy housed, including students like Ben Jackson, whose father said he had severe depression.

Immaturity, McKinnon said, "turned out to be the common denominator among the students we were sent.''

To treat teens' problems and help them mature, McKinnon later theorized, requires two things: recognition of their trauma or history, and setting limits.

You have to think about Montana Academy as a place where no is built into the structure, he said.

On Feb. 12, 2017, about six weeks after Ben Jackson's father dropped him off in Montana, the youth killed himself.

My feeling is that they look at the money and they dont necessarily look at the kid, Ben's father said. It turns my stomach, quite frankly. I'd really research every aspect of these programs before you send your kid to one. We thought we did. You send your kid to a place where you think theyre the experts and they may or may not be. Who knows?

Bens father is still trying to understand what happened to his son in those six weeks. He wonders if Ben might have said something about his worsening mental health had he been able to talk to his parents without supervision.

All the calls are monitored and all the communication is monitored going in and out, so Im not sure how you can really judge where somebody is when they could get in trouble for something they say, he said.

Students dont get unsupervised calls with parents until they reach the third level in the program, which can take months, and at that point calls are limited to 15 minutes, once a week, according to the programs policies and procedures, obtained by the Missoulian through a records request.

After Bens death, John McKinnon wrote to parents in a March 31, 2017, newsletter about the youths suicide: We would be kidding ourselves if we thought we could make an open ranch completely safe for a suicidal teenager. Moreover, if we ever did succeed, it would only be at the cost of removing all door-knobs and shoe-laces, mounting cameras in every toilet and shower. In so doing, we would give up the dream that animated the creation of Montana Academy: a civilized, nearly-normal adolescent high school culture situated on a ranch that, quite on purpose, was not a psychiatric ward, where carefully-selected immature teenagers could be helped to finish growing up without having to be locked up.

Students' views

The Missoulian spoke with eight students who attended Montana Academy between the years 2001-2016. None is from Montana, and some spent up to two years living there. Several said they attended the program because they were depressed, not because of behavioral problems.

Sean Colin was sent to Montana Academy in 2015 when he was 17. He said was kicked out of prep school after using drugs recreationally and getting caught selling them to his classmates. His 20 months at Montana Academy helped him and he misses it sometimes, but he said it wouldnt be helpful for everybody.

If youve got these issues that are so severe its altering the course of your life, you should seek more specialized treatment than MA, he said.

Rebecca Payne, who attended Montana Academy from 2009 through 2011, was dealing with trauma from sexual abuse and had an eating disorder when she arrived from out of state. She was 14 when her mom decided to send her to a wilderness program, and then to Montana Academy. She was once put on Solo Reflection Time  isolation  for a week for passing notes between two of her classmates, she said.

She ate meals separately from everyone else, and if anyone interacted with her, they would be put on social isolation as well, she said.

It drove me crazy very quickly, because in that place you dont have anything but the people around you. Thats all you have. And when youre denied that in this horrible place, it took a toll. The days go by so slow. Thats about when I started adhering to the program because I didnt want that to happen again, I didnt want to risk being by myself again.

Tamara Cherwin said she attended Montana Academy for 22 months in 2010-2011, after therapy and medication failed to help her serious depression, and professionals recommended Montana Academy. She said she went there willingly because she wanted to get better. Her mom, Cindy Cherwin, said she talked to other parents whose kids were in the program, who said all positive things about it. She visited the campus, and spoke with the directors, who explained the programs theory for treating teens with behavioral and mental health issues.

The word they used most was immaturity  the idea that there was an immaturity happening, Cindy Cherwin said.

The directors explained that it would be a therapeutic program, but within the framework of a structured environment, Cindy Cherwin said.

But Tamara Cherwin said that Montana Academy treated my anxiety and depression as if it was a behavioral problem. You are the reason you're depressed, you're the reason you're anxious. It was all about taking accountability and not being entitled. One of the first things they established with me is if I tell my parents negative things about whats happening, that's called manipulation.

Cherwin took these things to heart, trusting the program and believing her depression and anxiety were symptoms of her flawed character.

Her peers also told her she had to change herself. In these group therapy sessions, people would be encouraged to say what they thought about a single individual, she said. So there was encouragement from team leaders for people to vent and question peoples character.

To advance and earn greater privileges, she said, "you had to characterize other people on your team and read aloud what you thought about them. These were all supported and encouraged. I dont remember being able to say, This hurts me. They would seize on that and say Tamara, you care too much what other people think.' But at the same time, these girls could character-attack me.

Colin said it felt as if there was a pursuit of conflict in these sessions, an approach called "confrontational therapy'' for which experts say there is no scientific evidence of success.

You speak a lot about group dynamics and you discuss people's flaws, and we did it three times a week, Colin said.

Students were also expected to tell on one another for breaking rules, according to the eight students who spoke to the Missoulian. If someone knew a rule had been broken and didnt turn their peer in, they too would be punished.

This is the environment, Cherwin said. Being punished if you dont help them discipline and police the behavior of everyone.

Montana Academy Head of School Matt Keenan stressed in an interview with the Missoulian and in follow-up emails and telephone calls that the program strives for quality.

"We take our own steps to go far beyond state regulatory standards outlined by the PAARP board to ensure that we are in compliance by objective, outside agencies with whom we have no affiliation, and we are visited and evaluated by these agencies on a regular basis," he wrote in an email.

He cited oversight and site visits by national industry groups such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and others, although those groups have no regulatory powers.

The punishment

Montana Academys policies and procedures spell out the punishment for what the program calls felonies, which include running away, self-harm such as cutting, or offensive dress.

For felonies, staff are instructed to give the student a serious comeuppance, which should produce anxiety and a major disruption in the life of the student, the policies say, as well as an isolation from fellow students and from all negative student support.

Physical labor and chores are another consequence, which the program calls drudgery.

Drudgery can include clearing and raking the ground in the forest, cutting off all lower branches in a roped-off patch of forest, and re-seeding and watering them. It can also include major scrub or polish tasks, such as washing all the windows in a dorm, cleaning the ovens or waxing the floors. The tasks could be inside or outside so as to suit the convenience of team supervisors, the policy said.

Students who run away with another student, have sexual intercourse, or attempt suicide  all considered a capital offense  receive the worst punishment.

Consequences include: immediate suspension of all privileges, return to bottom (privilege level), NO phone calls, NO mail in or out, and social isolation (meals, free time, study hall, experientials).

A student might also be hospitalized, or exiled as the policies refer to it, before being returned to Montana Academy at the bottom level.

Holly, who asked that her last name not be used, was 15 when she attended Montana Academy in 2003. She told the Missoulian that when she griped to her parents about the work involved and said she didnt like her therapist, I was taken into a room and told You're on 30-day silence. You cant make eye contact with anyone, talk to anyone, and have to do drudgery, which is doing manual labor with the school. That was extremely difficult. I haven't gotten over that."

Holly was recently granted legal disability in Oregon for the PTSD she has from her time at Montana Academy.

Looking back, Cindy Cherwin said her daughter did appear to improve at Montana Academy. She was socializing, she applied to colleges. But, she said, the price she paid for that improvement was too high. I cant go back in time, but I wish she hadn't gone there.  I would never want to risk her life, but if we could turn back time, I wish we had turned left instead of right.

In the months and years after she left Montana Academy, Tamara Cherwins stability unraveled.

I struggled with anxiety and depression before I went there. I hated living before I went there. I did not hate myself.

"After MA, I still believe that every person in my life thinks of me as incredibly annoying and I have to change myself for people to like me.

Shes seeing a new therapist, who helped her link her worsening trauma to her experience at Montana Academy. Tamara said the new therapist builds her up and teaches her to trust her feelings.

The messaging from MA was Be scared, you will have to fight your whole life to fend off the ever-present depression. My therapist is teaching me, This isnt your life, this isnt inevitable, you have the tools to get better.

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Last month, Congress passed the First Step Act, historic criminal justice legislation that reduced some of the harsh penalties that disproportionately sent black men to prison.

Now, Florida Sen. Jeff Brandes wants to apply it to Florida.

The St. Petersburg Republican said Wednesday that hes filing a bill this week adopting some of the best ideas from the Congressional bill, which passed with widespread bipartisan support and the backing of President Donald Trump.

It was great that the federal First Step Act passed, but it only applied to federal prisons," Brandes said. So how do we take those ideas, ideas that have already seen positive support while they were in Congress, and bring those ideas to Florida?

What exactly is in the bill is unclear, but Brandes said it would include ideas like easing mandatory minimum sentences and allowing judges to hand down lighter sentences.

We know these ideas work, Brandes said. Weve seen them work in other states. These arent new ideas. Theyre just new ideas for Florida.

He said that while there will be one First Step Act" bill, there will be many other bills with similar ideas that could get rolled up into one big package by the end of the legislative session, which begins March 5.

Brandes, who chairs the Senates Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice, has been a champion for criminal justice reforms in the Legislature, but his colleagues have prevented some of his big ideas from passing in recent years.

And whether Gov. Ron DeSantis will support such measures is unknown, however. The new Republican governors rhetoric has been tough on crime.

But Brandes said hes hopeful DeSantis can be convinced, noting that DeSantis cast a vote for an early version of the First Step Act while in Congress, and DeSantis' pick to lead the Department of Corrections has also supported the bill.

Plus, its a matter of money. Brandes said the department is asking for twice as much money for health care and prison pay as last year.

The truth is, theyre on an unsustainable path. We recognize that, he said.
An effort to finally codify anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people is dividing Floridas LGBTQ community, after a leading advocacy organization temporarily dropped a push for protections in public places in order to get Republican support for rights in the workplace.

SAVE, a Miami-based non-profit, has announced its support for a bill filed in the Senate Wednesday morning by Sen. Joe Gruters, who is also chairman of Republican Party of Florida, that would prohibit employers and labor groups from discriminating against employees or applicants based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In announcing the bill, which SAVE asked Gruters to sponsor, executive director Tony Lima celebrated what he called bi-partisan legislation and declared that years of partisan attacks have killed any potential success for a comprehensive non-discrimination bill in Tallahassee.

For now, were very confident that having the chair of the Republican Party being the one whos filed this bill is a very positive thing, Lima said in an interview. It will send a message to other conservatives that this is something they need to get behind.

The bill, which would amend the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 to include mentions of gender identity and sexual orientation for the first time, is supported by Translatina Florida and the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council. But it is not being universally celebrated by gay and transgender rights activists.

Read the rest here.
For women who work in education, the risks of workplace violence are especially high. New research shows rates of assaults have more than doubled between 2002 and 2015. Credit: Shutterstock

Violence-related injuries at work are on the rise across Canada and this is especially the case for women, according to two recent studies we conducted at the not-for-profit Institute for Work and Health.

We found that women are four times more likely than men to experience sexual assault or unwanted touching on the job, no matter what occupation or industry they work in.

Women are also 13 per cent more likely than men to be physically assaulted at work a difference largely explained by the sectors women tend to work in.

Finally, we also found that differences between men and women in the risk of violence at work have changed over time.

Physical violence related to industry

In the first study, our team examined data from two cycles of Statistics Canada's General Social Survey on Victimization (from 2009 and 2014).

A total sample of 27,500 working respondents were asked whether they had experienced assault at work in the previous 12 months. This included physical assault ("anything from being hit, slapped, grabbed or knocked down, to being shot or beaten") and sexual assault ("forced sexual activity and unwanted sexual touching or grabbing").

Out of every 1,000 female workers, 14 reported being assaulted in the past year. For every 1,000 male workers, eight reported being assaulted. The higher risk among women was largely due to sexual assault.

In terms of physical assault, the risk was 13 per cent higher for women than for men; 7.7 women per 1,000 women and 6.8 men per 1,000 men reported being physically assaulted in the previous year.

This difference in risks of physical violence at work faced by men and women can be mostly explained by differences in the types of work they do. That is, if men and women are doing the same shifts in the same job in most industries (not all), neither are more at risk than the other. The female security guard working nights in a building complex faces the same risk of physical assault as her male colleague doing that job the next night.

However, differences in the types of work men and women do are deeply entrenched in the Canadian labour market; many occupations and industries in Canada are still as segregated on the basis of sex and gender today as they were 20 years ago.

As a result, we still need to contend with gender imbalances in the risks of physical violence when thinking about workplace violence prevention.

Men are mostly the perpetrators

It's a different story when it comes to sexual violence at work. Type of work does not explain the large differences between women and men: 6.7 women and 1.6 men per 1,000 workers reported being sexually assaulted at work in the previous year.

Women were four times more likely than men to experience sexual assault or unwanted touching on the job, no matter their occupation or industry.

In the vast majority of cases, men (whether clients, customers, patients, strangers or work colleagues) are the perpetrators of workplace violence.

Among the overall rate of 11 assaults per 1,000 workersboth physical and sexual against both men and women nine are committed by men and only two by women.

Given the propensity for men to be perpetrators, we must think about prevention programs that squarely address the conditions triggering workplace violence among some men.

More hospital emergency visits

In our second study, we again saw divergent trends between men and women. This study looked at workplace violence trends in Ontario using two population-based data sources: lost-time claims due to assault accepted by Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) between 2002 and 2015, and emergency room visits due to assaults at work across all Ontario hospitals from 2004 to 2014.

According to both sources, while overall rates of workplace violence remained stable among men, they increased among women by about 2.7 per cent a year.

In the 10 to 13 years covered by this study, violence-related injury claims accepted by the WSIB ranged from 0.3 to 0.4 per 1,000 full-time workers for men, and rose from 0.4 to 0.6 per 1,000 for women.

Hospital emergency visits due to work-related violence held steady for men at 0.24-0.28 per 1,000, but rose from 0.2 to nearly 0.3 per 1,000 among women. (Keep in mind that these were injuries serious enough to warrant time off work and/or hospital visits. That's why the prevalence rates seen in these two sources were much smaller than what was reported in the StatsCan surveys.)

Sharp rise in violence for women in education

These two data sources also reveal a sharp rise in workplace violence among women who work in education. In this sector, rates of assaults more than doubled among womenfrom about 0.9 per 1,000 full-time workers in 2002 to 2.5 per 1,000 in 2015.

Indeed, women educators were four to six times more likely than their male counterparts to require time off work because of physical assault on the job.

In the health-care sector, the focus of much attention with respect to workplace violence, rates of workplace violence are plateauing for women (at about 1.0 per 1,000) and declining among men (from 2.7 per 1,000 in 2004 to 1.5 per 1,000 in recent years).

Whether this apparent turnaround is due to prevention efforts, we don't have enough data to say. But our findings suggest we should be paying as much attention to workplace violence in the education sector, especially among women.

We need cultures of reporting

Our studies help paint a clearer picture of workplace violence and how it differs for women and men. But they don't capture the full picture.

First, workplace violence is broader than just assaults, emergency department presentations and workers' compensation claims. It includes assaults, attempted assaults and also threats (both in person or not).

Second, according to studies in the health-care sector, only a fraction of workplace violence gets reported.

To truly address workplace violence and know if efforts are effective in reducing it, we need to first understand the scope of the problem.

That means creating cultures of reporting by building awareness of what types of violence should be reported, creating systems that make reporting easy and ensuring that reporting will result in appropriate responses.

Explore further What predicts teen partner rape?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: National Cancer Institute

Early research on a new approach to protecting against malaria is offering promising, potentially long-lasting results against the persistent parasite that sickens hundreds of millions people each year.

The approach uses a cytomegalovirus-based platform that's already being used in vaccines being developed to battle HIV and tuberculosis. This new vaccine reduced the malaria-causing parasite's release from the liver and into the blood of infected rhesus macaques by 75 to 80 percent, reports a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"The problem with most vaccines is that their effectiveness is often short-lived," said the study's lead author, Klaus Fruh, Ph.D., of OHSU's Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute and a professor of molecular and cellular biosciences at the OHSU School of Medicine. "Our cytomegalovirus-based vaccine platform can create and keep immunity for life. With further research and development, it could offer a lifetime of protection against malaria."

Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread to humans through mosquito bites. It can cause high fevers, shaking chills, flu-like illness and, in the worst cases, death. Worldwide, 216 million people were infected with malaria in 2016, leading to 445,000 deaths. The vast majority of infections occur in Africa.

The decades-long search for an effective malaria vaccine has been challenging. The World Health Organization is using one vaccineknown as RTS,S/AS01 or by its brand name, Mosquirixas part of new, routine vaccination programs in three African countries. But RTS,S has been shown to only reduce malaria transmission in kidsin whom malaria is most often fatalby 39 percent four years after it was administered. Its efficacy was further reduced to 4.4 percent seven years afterward. Vaccines against viruses and bacteria typically have protection rates of more than 90 percent.

Vaccine makeover

Most vaccines are designed to encourage the human body to respond to invading, disease-causing pathogens by creating antibodies that disable those pathogens. OHSU's new vaccine takes a different approach by using a weakened form of a common herpes viruscytomegalovirus, or CMVthat infects most people without causing disease.

Fruh and his colleagues weave tiny bits of their target pathogen into CMV. Those who receive the resulting, re-engineered CMV vaccine produce memory T-cells that can search for and destroy pathogen-infected cells. Studies have shown this approach enables vaccinated nonhuman primates to develop and maintain a high state of immunity years later.

The CMV vaccine platform has been licensed by Vir Biotechnology, Inc., of San Francisco, which plans to lead a human clinical trial for a CMV-based HIV vaccine in 2019. The same basic platform is also being used in a new TB vaccine, and is now the basis for this malaria vaccine.

Nuts & bolts

Fruh and his colleagues pursued a malaria vaccine because they noticed the memory T-cells their CMV-based vaccine produce exist in high concentrations in the liver, where the malaria parasite hides out shortly after infecting a human.

They developed two different versions of their CMV-based malaria vaccine while using four different proteins made by the Plasmodium parasite. The resulting vaccines delayed the parasite's appearance in the blood of 16 infected and vaccinated rhesus macaques by eliminating between 75 and 80 percent of parasites from the liver. A year later, the vaccinated nonhuman primates still had immunity against malaria, while eight control animals that weren't vaccinated did not.

In an effort to make their vaccine 100 percent protective against malaria, the research team will evaluate 15 different Plasmodium-made proteins for the vaccine. They will also examine combining their CMV-based vaccine with other experimental vaccines or the existing RTS,S vaccine.

Explore further Researchers identify target for novel malaria vaccine

More information: Scott G. Hansen, Jennie Womack, Isabel Scholz, Andrea Renner, Kimberly A. Edge, Guangwu Xu, Julia C. Ford, Mikayla Grey, Brandyce St. Laurent, John M. Turner, Shannon Planer, Al W. Legasse, Thomas L. Richie, Joao C. Aguiar, Michael K. Axthelm, Eileen D. Villasante, Walter Weiss, Paul T. Edlefsen, Louis J. Picker, Klaus Fruh, "Cytomegalovirus vectors expressing Plasmodium knowlesi antigens induce immune responses that delay parasitemia upon sporozoite challenge," PLOS One, Journal information: PLoS ONE Scott G. Hansen, Jennie Womack, Isabel Scholz, Andrea Renner, Kimberly A. Edge, Guangwu Xu, Julia C. Ford, Mikayla Grey, Brandyce St. Laurent, John M. Turner, Shannon Planer, Al W. Legasse, Thomas L. Richie, Joao C. Aguiar, Michael K. Axthelm, Eileen D. Villasante, Walter Weiss, Paul T. Edlefsen, Louis J. Picker, Klaus Fruh, "Cytomegalovirus vectors expressing Plasmodium knowlesi antigens induce immune responses that delay parasitemia upon sporozoite challenge," doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210252 , Jan. 23, 2019
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Screening all hospitalized patients with HIV for tuberculosis (TB) using urine tests would improve life expectancy and be cost-effective in Malawi and South Africa. These findings from an international team of investigators have been published in The Lancet Global Health and could influence international guidelines on TB testing.

"Urine testing for TB saves lives and is an efficient use of resources," says lead author Krishna Reddy, MD, MS, of the MGH Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Medical Practice Evaluation Center. "This has huge implications for increasing the survival of people with HIV in Africa and in other places where TB is common."

TB is the leading killer of people with HIV worldwide. Many cases are missed by standard testing strategies that rely on sputum, as some patients cannot provide a sputum specimen. A urine specimen, on the other hand, can be obtained from nearly all patients. Urine testing using the lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and Xpert tests had been shown to improve TB detection in selected patients with HIV, but it has not been clear whether urine testing of all hospitalized patients with HIV would be useful and offer good value.

The current study was done in conjunction with the STAMP (Rapid Urine-based Screening for Tuberculosis to Reduce AIDS-related Mortality in Hospitalised Patients in Africa) trial, a large clinical trial of urine-based TB screening among hospitalized patients with HIV in Malawi and South Africa, the results of which were published in The Lancet in July 2018. In the current study, the researchers used a computer simulation model of HIV and TB to match short-term clinical outcomes reported by the STAMP trial and project longer-term clinical and economic outcomes.

The researchers found that screening all hospitalized patients with HIV for TB using the urine LAM and Xpert tests would increase life expectancy by 0.5 to 1.2 years and would be cost-effective compared to sputum testing alone in both countries. As observed in the STAMP trial, in which both tests were used to screen each participant, urine LAM was particularly attractive for increasing TB diagnoses and reducing deaths, with a cost of only $3 per test.

"Compared to other diagnostic strategies, urine testing is relatively easy and inexpensive and can detect cases of TB that would have otherwise been missed," says co-author Ankur Gupta-Wright, MRCP, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, who led the STAMP clinical trial. He added, "Urine LAM gives a result in under 30 minutes and can be done at the patient's bedside."

Since the results showed such good value for the urine tests, the investigators took the next step of examining the financial implications of implementing urine TB screening countrywide among all hospitalized patients with HIV in the two countries. The evaluation included both the costs of urine tests and costs of finding and treating more TB cases. They found that over five years the urine screening strategy would increase health care costs for these patients by $37 million (10.8 percent) in Malawi and $261 million (2.8 percent) in South Africa.

"Because patients live longer, health care costs increase, but the impact is modest. It's a wise investment," says Reddy, who is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The World Health Organization currently recommends the use of urine LAM in selected patients only. The study authors say that the results of the STAMP trial and this cost-effectiveness analysis provide evidence for expanding the use of urine LAM to all hospitalized patients with HIV, regardless of symptoms or suspicion of TB, in areas where HIV and TB are common.

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Research shows that rapid urbanization in Sao Paulo City, Brazil, is influencing wing morphology in the mosquitoes that transmit dengue and malaria . Credit: Pest and Diseases Image Library, Bugwood.org

The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the main transmission vector of dengue, Zika, yellow fever and chikungunya in Brazil. It is highly adapted to urban environments and rarely found in forested areas. The mosquito Anopheles cruzii is the primary vector of Plasmodium, the protozoan parasite that causes malaria in humans. It mostly inhabits the countryside and is infrequent in urban areas.

Mosquito population control is considered the best strategy for combating these diseases. Understanding mosquito population dynamics is vital to the development of more effective vector control programs. Researchers in Brazil and the United States are working on a project to investigate A. aegypti and A. cruzii populations in Sao Paulo City.

Microevolutionary changes occurring within species or populations over time can be perceived as variations in the genomes or phenotypes of the insects concerned.

In two recent studies, researchers affiliated with the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and the University of Miami in the US set out to modulate the population structures of these two mosquitoes based on morphology and genetics and to find out how they are affected by different levels of urbanization.

"In other words, we wanted to understand more about the ecology of these mosquitoes and their relations with the environmental changes produced by human action," said Mauro Toledo Marrelli, a professor in the Epidemiology Department of the University of Sao Paulo's Public Health School (FSP-USP).

Marrelli is one of the researchers responsible for both studies, alongside Andre Barretto Bruno Wilke, affiliated with the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM).

The results of their research on A. aegypti, which was supported by FAPESPSao Paulo Research Foundation, are published in BMC Parasites and Vectors.

"By pinpointing the genetic and morphological differences and similarities between members of the same species inhabiting a specific area, we wanted to identify possible variabilities in these mosquitoes triggered by environmental pressures such as chemical control, which may lead to the selection of insecticide-resistant phenotypes. This is cause for concern, as chemical control with insecticides is the main weapon used by public health workers to combat mosquitoes," Marrelli said.

Between 2012 and 2015, the researchers collected 308 specimens of A. aegypti from 11 sites in three areas of Sao Paulo City with different levels of urbanization, defined as conserved, intermediate, and urbanized.

The conserved area comprised five municipal parks (Anhanguera, Eucaliptos, Independencia, Previdencia and Piqueri). The intermediate area was the University of Sao Paulo's campus in the city's Butanta neighborhood. The urbanized area was Pinheiros, the neighborhood in which FSP-USP and the same university's Medical School (FM-USP) are located.

Biologist Ramon Wilk da Silva removed the right wings from the female specimens, photographed them and digitized the photographs. He analyzed the geometric morphometry of the wings, recorded the comparative data, and fed the data into advanced statistical analysis programs.

The results showed significant correlations between the population structure of A. aegypti and the different degrees of urbanization in the selected areas. Wilk da Silva is currently a Ph.D. researcher at the University of Sao Paulo Institute of Tropical Medicine (IMT-USP) with a scholarship from FAPESP.

"Microevolutionary processes can be triggered in mosquitoes by man-made changes to the environment and give rise to a previously unknown population structuring pattern of major epidemiological importance," Marrelli said.

The environmental pressure undergone by these mosquitoes owing to urbanization, he explained, leads to the selection of certain phenotypes that are better adapted to the prevailing conditions. "Wing shape variability is a sign of this selection. The results agreed with those of a genetic study we had conducted previously, using microsatellite markers," he said.

Malaria vector

Analysis of wing morphometry is a low-cost method for studying mosquito population dynamics. Insects are captured and mounted on slides, and their wings are examined under an optical microscope. Wing size and shape are important, but 18 key points of wing veins are also measured to identify different species and varieties.

The wing morphometric study of A. cruzii was performed by biologist Laura Cristina Multini, focusing on wing veins. The study was supported by a scholarship from FAPESP and was part of a broader research project for which Marrelli is principal investigator.

A. cruzii is the main vector of malaria in the Atlantic Rainforest biome. The analysis of the wings of A. cruzii began with the capture of 500 specimens using traps between 2015 and 2017 in the Capivari-Monos Municipal Environmental Protection Area, which is located in the subdistrict of Parelheiros, on the southernmost edge of Sao Paulo City. The specimens were collected in three different environments: forest (remnants of Atlantic Rainforest on private property), periurban (an area of transition between forest remnants and a cattle farm), and urban (Engenheiro Marsilac, a neighborhood in the Parelheiros subdistrict).

In contrast to the study of A. aegypti, which focused on wing vein morphometry, the study of A. cruzii focused on wing size and shape.

"We found considerable variation in both wing shape and size in A. cruzii populations over the three-year period, suggesting rapid microevolutionary changes that probably resulted from strong selective pressures," Marrelli said. "It's likely that the mosquito's biology has evolved in response to disturbances in its natural habitat, as noted in this study in terms of wing shape variability."

There are no natural barriers between the A. cruzii populations analyzed in the study, possibly indicating different forms of adaptation to the three collection sites. "Local selection may be producing different phenotypes, and mechanisms such as genetic assimilation and genetic accommodation may be causing real differentiation," Marrelli said.

"Knowledge of the morphological differences between the various populations of A. aegypti and A. cruzii can serve as the basis for an efficient and rapid method whereby public health workers, for example, could recognize whether a variety of these insects is more or less resistant to a particular insecticide and take appropriate action."

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More information: Ramon Wilk-da-Silva et al, Wing morphometric variability in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) from different urban built environments, Parasites & Vectors (2018). Ramon Wilk-da-Silva et al, Wing morphometric variability in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) from different urban built environments,(2018). DOI: 10.1186/s13071-018-3154-4
Gut microbiota such as lactobacillus produce lactate and pyruvate. These metabolites stimulate intestinal macrophages through the receptor GPR31, allowing macrophages to protrude trans-epithelial dendrites and take up pathogenic bacteria efficiently in the intestine. Accordingly, lactate and pyruvate cause enhanced immune responses to pathogenic bacteria and increased resistance to the infection. Credit: Osaka University

For at least a decade, researchers have known that normal bacteria in the gut can induce intestinal immune cells to extend tentacle-like structures, known as dendrites, to "capture" antigens, triggering both immediate and long-term immune responses. What was less clear was how the bacteria activate this process. Now, a research team led by Osaka University has found that the molecules responsible have been hiding in plain sight.

Metabolites are small molecules produced during metabolism, the chemical processes that occur inside all living cells to keep them ticking over. Metabolic pathways have been intensively studied in many organisms, with most common metabolites having very few secrets. Yet, in a recent paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes how they made an important discoverytwo well-known metabolites, pyruvate and lactate, are in fact the instigators of dendrite protrusion by CX 3 CR1+ macrophages in the small intestine.

"After studying the available research, we hypothesized that bacterial metabolites present in the small intestine could possibly mediate dendrite protrusion," explains lead author Naoki Morita. "After purifying different fractions from the contents of the small intestines of mice, we discovered that lactic acid and pyruvic acid, produced by lactic acid bacteria in the normal gut flora, act directly on intestinal macrophages."

Next, the researchers identified GPR31, a protein residing on the surface of small intestinal macrophages, as the specific receptor for the two metabolites. Mice lacking GPR31 showed reduced dendrite protrusion by CX 3 CR1+ cells after being administered pyruvate or lactate and, as a result, decreased antibody production following infection with a non-pathogenic strain of Salmonella. However, the most significant revelation was yet to come.

Mice were orally administered with lactate or pyruvate for three weeks. 3D images of small intestinal villi were shown. Macrophages were marked in green, and their trans-epithelial dendrites were indicated by arrows. Administration of lactate or pyruvate dramatically increased the number of dendrites of macrophages in wild-type mice, but not in GPR31-deficient mice. Credit: Osaka University

"We then examined whether pre-treatment of normal mice with pyruvate or lactate as well as non-pathogenic Salmonella could protect against infection with a virulent strain of the bacterium," says co-lead author Eiji Umemoto. "As we predicted, normal pre-treated mice, but not pre-treated GPR31-defective mice, showed increased survival and an enhanced immune response following infection with the virulent Salmonella strain."

Corresponding author Kiyoshi Takeda explains that the research has multiple clinical applications. "Because these metabolites enhance the immune response, they could be used to improve the effectiveness of oral vaccines, while GPR31 is a promising target for therapies aimed at eliminating intestinal pathogens. Because of this, we expect that lactic acid, pyruvic acid, and GPR31 will all be explored in the near future as new targets for activating immunity."

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More information: GPR31-dependent dendrite protrusion of intestinal CX3CR1+ cells by bacterial metabolites, Nature (2019). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-0884-1 Journal information: Nature GPR31-dependent dendrite protrusion of intestinal CX3CR1+ cells by bacterial metabolites,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-0884-1
Amid the threats of President Rodrigo Duterte to fire or kill Department of Agrarian Reform officials over delay in the processing of land conversion cases, Secretary John Castriciones on Wednesday thanked officials and employees for being able to accomplish the agencys targets for 2018. In a statement, Castriciones said DAR had distributed 60,000 hectares of land through emancipation patents (EPs) and certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs). We will be able to achieve more, we will be able to distribute more, he said. According to Castriciones, an assessment and planning conference was being conducted from Jan. 22 to Jan. 25 in Iloilo City to analyze the previous years sectorial performance on land tenure security program, agrarian justice delivery program and agrarian reform beneficiaries development and sustainability program vis-a-vis its approved targets and fund utilization. He challenged the DAR officials and employees to assess the status of the lands that had been awarded to farmer-beneficiaries. In a speech during the annual assembly of the Provincial Union of Leaders Against Illegalities in Lucena City, Duterte said he had fired two DAR officials after it took them two years to process a case of land conversion.I keep on giving warnings but you do it again and again, he said in his speech in Filipino. Thje President recalled it took the DARs office two years to process a request for land conversion after a follow-up from his former Special Assistant. The President said the Agrarian Reform officials should better prepare, or else, they would face either complaint or death if they do not make any progress. He added, still in Filipino: If people from the conversion office of DAR are listening, better prepare because youre fired. If you cant do it, Ill file a case against you. If youre not afraid with the filing of the case, Ill just kill you.
Electron micrograph of a negatively stained human papilloma virus (HPV) which occurs in human warts. Credit: public domain

Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for Maori women aged 2544 and Maori women are more than twice as likely as New Zealand European women to be diagnosed with, and three times more likely to die from, the disease.

Most cervical cancers occur in women who have either not received screening or had infrequent screening, and 34 percent of Maori women, compared with 21 percent of New Zealand European women, do not attend regular screening.

The study looked at whether Maori women who have not been screened regularly would want to do a new self-test looking for the cancer-causing Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).

HPV screening is more effective at preventing cervical cancer and its associated premature death than the current smear test and the new technology enables women to screen themselves.

The study found the most frequently cited barrier to current screening was whakamaembarrassment, shyness, and/or reticence. A lack of time and fear of discomfort or pain were also leading barriers.

But three out of four study participants would be likely or very likely to do a self-test for HPV, with nine out of ten reporting being likely or very likely to attend a follow-up if they tested positive.

The findings are informing the ongoing development of the Ministry of Health's National Cervical Screening Programme, with self-testing being explored as an option for making screening more accessible once HPV primary screening is introduced.

International HPV self-testing acceptability studies of other Indigenous and ethnic minority women had similar findings but this is the first study of Maori women.

The study, conducted through face-to-face hui (meetings) and a survey, involved more than 500 Maori women, as well as healthcare providers such as smear/sample takers, general practitioners, nurses and clinic staff.

"Self-collected vaginal specimens can be used for HPV screening and recent evidence suggests they provide sensitivity and specificity equal to clinician-collected specimens for detecting high-risk HPV types. We need to implement this new cancer prevention screen as soon as possible to save lives," says Anna Adcock, a Research Fellow in Te Tatai Hauora o Hine and co-lead of the study along with Professor Beverley Lawton, the Centre's Director, and Dr. Fiona Cram, Director of Maori research company Katoa Ltd.

"Hui participant responses to the idea were generally very positive, with women using terms such as 'easier', 'more comfortable', 'less intrusive' and 'brilliant'. Our findings suggest that, implemented in a flexible and culturally sensitive way, HPV self-testing could be very acceptable for Maori women who find current screening unacceptable."

Dr. Jane O'Hallahan, Clinical Director of the Ministry of Health's National Screening Unit, says, "This research provides valuable information to help us make our screening programme more responsive to Maori women's needs."

Findings from the study have also informed Te Tatai Hauora o Hine's Health Research Council of New Zealand-funded randomised controlled trial under way in Northland to see whether the offer of the HPV self-test increases cervical screening uptake for never-screened and under-screened women. The trial has been successful so far and the offer has been taken up by about 45 percent of eligible women. "This shows women like doing their own test," says Anna Adcock.

Explore further Gaps in health professionals' knowledge about HPV and cervical screening
The University of Texas at San Antonio students. Credit: UTSA Communications

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, over one-third of U.S. adults are obese. At the same time, obesity is the second leading cause of premature death in the North America and Europe.

A recent study by public policy professors Alexander Testa and Dylan Jackson at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) assesses the link between food-related hardships and obesity. Using the data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI)a national sample that measures food deserts, their study is the first of its kind to assess the relationship between experiencing food insecurity and living in a food desert on obesity.

Food insecurity, by definition, is the inability to acquire adequate food due to a lack of resources. In 2016, an estimated 15.6 million households (12.3 percent) were food insecure. Food deserts are geographic areas where residents do not have access to supermarkets or grocery stores.

Using a national sample of adults across the United States, the UTSA researchers learned that individuals who are food insecure are at an increased risk of obesity. Study results also showed that the individuals who live in food desert are at an elevated risk for obesity. Together, these findings suggest that Americans who either do not have enough to eat or live in areas without access to stores that sell affordable nutritious foods are at greater risk for obesity.

Regarding the study results, Professor Testa stated, "Our study highlights the importance of adequate nutrition for health. Millions of Americans do not have enough food to eat and live in communities where affordable healthy food options are not available. To combat obesity, it is important to ensure that people have consistent access to nutritious food."

When taking gender and race into account, the researchers observed that women are more likely to exhibit obesity as a result of food insecurity, compared to men. This may be because women are more likely to shield their children from food insecurity by reducing their own nutritional intake. Overall, Black and Hispanic households are at a higher risk for food insecurity in the United States.

"The lack of access to food can be a major stressor on individuals, and our study finds that experiencing food hardships is particularly consequential for the health of women" said Professor Jackson.

In the future, the authors plan to continue to research how difficulties obtaining nutritious food are related to health problems and explore which types of programs may be effective in improving nutrition and health in the United States.

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President Trump reinstated and expanded the global gag rule with the goal of reducing abortions, but new research suggests the policy could do the opposite. A study by Rutgers University Professor Yana Rodgers finds that women in Latin America and Africa were up to three times more likely to have an abortion when the rule was in effect under President George W. Bush. The findings appear in Rodgers' new book, The Global Gag Rule and Women's Reproductive Health.

"The global gag rule causes more abortions, not fewer," Professor Rodgers said. "When the U.S. cuts off a critical stream of funding, some healthcare clinics in developing countries are forced to reduce staff or shut down altogether. This makes it harder for women living in those areas to get contraception. The result is more unintended pregnancies and more abortions."

First implemented by President Reagan in 1984, the global gag ruleofficially known as the Mexico City Policycuts funding to foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that perform abortions or discuss the option of abortion with patients. Over the last 35 years, every Democratic president has rescinded the policy and every Republican president has reinstated it.

To measure the rule's impact, Rodgers analyzed Demographic and Health Survey data from 51 developing countries, covering about 6.3 million women per year. Using a rigorous statistical method known as regression analysis, she calculated women's likelihood to have an abortion before and during the most recent reinstatement period for which data are available (2001-08). Her key findings appear in the table below.

In South and Southeast Asia, the relatively high cost of abortion compared to the cost of giving birth may be one reason for the declining abortion rate. Credit: Rutgers University

Announced on January 23, 2017, President Trump's version of the global gag rule goes further than past incarnations. In addition to losing their family planning assistance, foreign NGOs that perform or promote abortions now lose U.S. funding for prenatal and postnatal care; prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, Zika virus, and other diseases; screenings for cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases; immunizations; and nutrition services.

"The Trump Administration's expanded version of the global gag rule is likely to have adverse effects on a dashboard of health indicators for women, men, and children," Rodgers said. "The policy puts $8.8 billion in global health funding at risk, up from about $600 million. We're talking about the whole pie, not just a slice."

Digging deeper into women's reproductive health outcomes, Rodgers finds no conclusive or consistent evidence that a country's own restrictive abortion laws actually reduce the number of abortions. If anything, she finds that restrictive laws are associated with more unsafe abortions and greater maternal mortality in many developing countries.

"The research is clear," Rodgers said. "Women will find a way to have an abortion if they need to, even if it is illegal and in unsafe conditions."
Barbara Veselka studying a skeleton. Credit: Amanda James

A vitamin D deficiency is often associated with smoggy English industrial cities during the Industrial Revolution, but research carried out on skeletons now suggests that the 'English disease' was also prevalent in rural areas of the Netherlands. Doctoral defence on 29 January.

It's become an annual summer tradition to hear warnings about the dangers of getting too much sun, but too little sunlight can also cause health problems. Not so long ago, a lot of people were affected by rickets (what the Dutch refer to as 'the English disease'), a condition that causes bowed legs, spinal deformities and oral problems when the body cannot make enough vitamin D from sunlight.

Not so English

Doctoral candidate Barbara Veselka's research on skeletons has now shown that this condition is not as English as its nickname suggests. Dutch people living from the 16th all the way up to the 20th centuries were at constant risk of rachitis, the traditional medical name for rickets. Veselka found symptoms of the condition in skeletons from a variety of regions, from the Beemster to Rotterdam, and from Hattem to Bloemendaal. When she compared those results with English skeletons, she found hardly any difference between the percentage of cases in the Dutch skeletons and that among the English population.

Credit: Leiden University

This remarkable conclusion contradicts the common idea of it being an English disease, Veselka says. 'Rachitis is seen as typical of large, industrialised cities. As factory work increased, people no longer worked on the land, which in turn made them more susceptible to vitamin D deficiency. Air pollution in cities is cited as a contributing factor, as it blocked the sun's rays. Great Britain was the first place to industrialise, giving rise to the idea of the "English disease".'

Socio-cultural norms

Now it turns out that rickets also has a history in rural Dutch municipalities such as the Beemster. But if the level of industrialisation isn't the deciding factor in the prevalence of the condition, what is? In her dissertation, Veselka blames sociocultural norms in a certain region. 'Until recently, a lot of people wore clothes that covered almost the entire body. Women wore long dresses, men generally wore a hat or cap on their heads, and even the children were often clothed from head to toe like mini adults.'

Human skeleton in the St. John's Church in Gouda. Credit: Barbara Veselka

People often also made a conscious choice not to expose their skin to as much sun. A white skin was long considered sophisticated, since tanned skin was associated with physical labour on the land. And then there were culturally-determined gender roles: women worked mainly indoors, which meant they caught less sun  with disastrous consequences, as it turns out. In the Beemster, for example, many more women than men were affected by a vitamin D deficiency.

632 skeletons

For her Ph.D. dissertation, Veselka studied 632 skeletons from six different Dutch burial sites. She first examined them with the naked eye, as things like bowed legs are clearly visible without the aid of a microscope. She also studied the dentine from some of the skeletons' molars and canine teeth. Under a microscope, a piece of dentine looks a bit like the trunk of a tree after it's been cut down: you can tell from the 'rings' how old someone was when they had a vitamin D deficiency, and how often it recurred. According to Veselka, 'One person had clearly had as many as seven periods of vitamin D deficiency, probably every winter. That man didn't have the best luck.'

Although Veselka's research is archaeological, the results are still relevant today. There have been warnings for some time that vitamin D deficiency is on the rise, and all the good advice out there is not preventing it causing problems for a growing number of people. Children are more likely to play indoors, we slather sun cream all over our skin, and immigration from Muslim countries has brought about an increase in clothes that cover the face. 'You could see my research as a warning about what the condition can do,' says Veselka. 'It also provides medical information that doctors can't easily collect: you can't let someone suffer the symptoms of rickets for seven winters in a row for the sake of research; that would be totally unethical.'

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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new study has revealed first-time mothers who give birth via unplanned caesarean section are 15 percent more likely to experience postnatal depression.

The author of the study is calling for more mental health support for women whose babies are delivered via emergency caesarean section, or C-section  a surgical procedure usually carried out because of complications during labour.

The major new study, from the University of York, provides new evidence that emergency C-sections put new mothers at greater risk of experiencing mental health problems after giving birth.

Dramatic increase

The numbers of C-sections performed world-wide have increased dramatically in many developed countries over the past few decades.

Out of the 165,000 births in England each year, there are currently around 25,000 unplanned caesarean deliveries.

Author of the study, Dr. Valentina Tonei from the Department of Economics at the University of York, said: "The findings of this study are striking because they provide evidence of a causal relationship between emergency C-sections and postnatal depression.

"This has important implications for public health policy, with new mothers who give birth this way in need of increased support.

Negative effect

"The effects of postnatal depression can be far reaching, with previous studies suggesting that it can have a negative effect, not just on the health of the mother and her relationships with her partner and family members, but also on the baby's development. Mothers who experience postnatal depression are also less likely to go on to have more children."

While previous studies have often been based on small sample sizes from single hospitals, the study looked at data from 5,000 first-time mothers from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, a representative sample of the UK population.

The study isolated the effects of emergency C-section on mothers' psychological well-being in the first nine months after delivery by taking other factors, such as differences in the resource and staffing levels in hospitals and the mental health history of the mothers, into account.

By focusing on first-time mothers, the effects of previous birthing experiences were also eliminated.

Hidden cost

Dr. Tonei added: "Unplanned caesareans may have a particularly negative psychological impact on mothers because they are unexpected, usually mentally and physically stressful and associated with a loss of control and unmatched expectations.

"While the financial costs associated with this surgical procedure are well recognised, there has been less focus on the hidden health costs borne by mothers and their families. We hope this new evidence brings the impact on mothers' mental health into the spotlight."

More information: Valentina Tonei. Mother's mental health after childbirth: Does the delivery method matter?, Journal of Health Economics (2018). Journal information: Journal of Health Economics Valentina Tonei. Mother's mental health after childbirth: Does the delivery method matter?,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.11.006
Credit: St. George's University of London

Coinciding with Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, researchers at St George's are working on a field study to fine-tune an exciting new method of human papilloma virus testing that could revolutionise care for women in low and middle income countries.

The research team have partnered with molecular diagnostics firm QuantuMDx for the study, using the company's Q-POC platform and its human papilloma virus (HPV) assay. The Q-POC compresses a molecular diagnostics laboratory into a simple-to-use, portable, affordable and battery-operated device that can be used anywhere, from basic rural settings to clinics and hospitals.

The test can identify the presence of high-risk types of HPV, a sexually-transmitted virus which is the main cause of cervical cancer. HPV testing is increasingly being used in cervical screening programmes and offers many benefits over traditional Pap smear testing; particularly in low-resource settings where access to skilled technicians and expensive tests and equipment is limited. Most deaths from cervical cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries where routing screening is not widely accessible to women. It is thought that around 300,000 deaths could be avoided by 'screen and treat' programmes wherein women are tested and immediately treated if HPV is detected.

Professor Krishna and fellow researcher Dr Henry Staines speak about the testing process and the device. Credit: St. George's University of London

Samples from patients at St George's University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will be tested in the study. The sample is added to diluants and placed in the machine to run the test, with a highly accurate diagnosis resulting in under an hour.

Professor Sanjeev Krishna, Professor of Medicine and Molecular Parasitology at St George's, University of London, said: "Advances in biotechnology are especially exciting when they aim to benefit the health and wellbeing of women who are in the blind spot of society. This technology, developed by QuantuMDx, can impact on the lives and health of millions of women worldwide."

St George's recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Malaya, and there are plans to expand the study to Malaysia where a collaborative programme  Project R.O.S.E  is being undertaken with experts in the field. The work is being led by the University of Malaya and the Malaysian government. The programme is informing the implementation and scale-up of a national cervical cancer screening programme in Malaysia, to complement the country's HPV vaccination programme.

The device could also have implications for the UK, where cervical screening rates are at their lowest for two decades. Standard smear tests in the UK take from 2-6 weeks to process in a lab and if further investigation is required this takes additional GP visits. The difficulties with smear tests mean that from March this year, the UK will change its cervical cancer prevention strategy to detection of HPV infections.
If a patient has private insurance, doctors can get prior approval to prescribe a drug "off-label" to make sure the medication will be covered, but when it comes to Medicare part D, coverage decisions are dictated by two compendialists of medications and what they're indicated for. Physicians have no way of checking for approval in advance, and if the compendia indicate coverage should be denied, there is no appeals process. Researchers from several institutions, including the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, examined these lists and found they are incomplete, outdated, and frequently in conflict with each other. They published their findings, as well as their call for new policy surrounding off-label coverage decisions, today in JAMA Dermatology.

Dermatologists often have good reason to prescribe a drug off-label, since the specialty deals with many rare and unique diseases, meaning evaluating treatments in randomized clinical trials may not always be feasible. Approximately a quarter of prescriptions for the ten most common dermatologic diagnoses are used off-label, and this percentage is likely higher for rare diseases. The compendia are meant to serve as a reference for which uses are medically accepted. If a medication is in the compendia, it's approved. If it's not, it's rejected.

"There's no real appeal process, so that rejection is the end of the story, and the rejection does not come with a suggestion of an alternative of what therapy might be approved instead," said the study's lead author John Barbieri, MD, a Dermatology Research Fellow at Penn. "This makes it incredibly challenging as a clinician, since we can find ourselves playing a guessing game while our patients wait for treatment."

As a result, researcher set out to get a better understanding of what the compendia do include and whether they are sufficient for current clinical realities. They made a list of accepted treatments for 22 chronic, non-infectious diseases for which off-label prescribing is an important part of treatment. They then analyzed both compendia, the American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Drug Information and the DRUGDEX Information System for inclusion of these therapies.

Overall, they found just 73 of the 238 treatments they evaluated (31 percent) were included in either compendium. Among diseases, 10 of 22 (45 percent) had one or fewer treatments included in the DRUGDEX compendium, and 15 of 22 (68 percent) had one or fewer treatments included in the AHFS. For 53 out of 238 treatments (22 percent), the medication was included in one but not the other.

"The compendia don't even agree with each other, and the literature they used as a basis for inclusion did not follow any discernable patter and was often based on decades old sources," Barbieri said.

Just 56 percent (18 out of 32) of treatments with Grade A evidence (a double-blind study) were included in either compendium. The number dropped all the way down to 10 percent (3 of 30) for Grade B evidence (a clinical trial 20 Subjects), but went up to 12 percent (5 of 43) for Grade C evidence and 13 percent (8 of 61) for Grade D evidence. Results from randomized controlled trials were ignored while citations from single patient case-reports and even personal communication with pharmaceutical companies were included.

"It was not uncommon for first line therapies with a Grade A or B evidence to be missing from the compendia, while second or third line therapies with a lower evidence grade were included," Barbieri said.

Researchers point out that the compendia are likely the most convenient way to make coverage decisions, but the inconsistencies that already exist combined with the rapid pace of new research and the more than 3,000 conditions managed by dermatologists means keeping them updated is logistically difficult. They propose two other potential solutions. One approach would require Medicare part D to consider evidence from literature that clinicians present during the authorization process. A second would be to develop an expert panel to review appeals for therapies not included in the compendia.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Divorce has become increasingly common in recent decades, not just in Norway. Married couples currently have 40% chance of divorce. More adults are living in partnerships even when they have children, and these unions are less stable than marriages. Consequently, many children experience parental separation. Despite much research, little is known about their well-being.

A recent study from the Centre for Fertility and Health demonstrates that children's age when their parents divorce has implications for their chance of suffering from depression as adults.

"We could demonstrate that children whose parents divorced when they were 15-19 years-old are 12 per cent less likely to use antidepressants as adults compared to those whose parents divorced when they were four years old or less. Similarly, offspring who were adult (over 20 years) at the time of their parents' divorce were 19 per cent less likely to use antidepressants," explains ystein Kravdal, the lead author of the study.

The researchers used data from the Norwegian Prescription Database, a database that monitors drugs dispensed by prescription in Norway. About 180 000 children who had experienced parental divorce and 640 000 children who had not were included in the analysis.

"We measured antidepressant prescriptions by adults aged 20-44 from 2004 to 2008," explains Kravdal .

Use of sibling models

The parents' resources and attitudes and many other factors may affect the chance that their relationship will deteriorate and eventually dissolve, plus the outcomes in the child under study, in this case antidepressant use in adulthood. Unfortunately, many of these underlying factors are very hard to measure.

"With sibling models, we can compare outcomes among siblings and can take some of these unobserved factors into account," says Kravdal. It is also very difficult to estimate the effect of the partner separation itself. If the relationship is in a poor state, separation may be in the best interest of the child and the parents.

Interpretations

The study suggests that special attention should be given to children who experienced parental divorce at young age.

"However, in order to give more specific advice, we would need new knowledge about why a divorce at an earlier age is detrimental to the mental health of the children. More research is needed to answer to this question," says Kravdal.

"Importantly, one should not conclude from these findings that delaying a divorce until the children are older would be beneficial. A difference in depression between, for example, children who were 10 years-old at the time of their parents' divorce and their siblings who were 15 years-old does not tell us what the outcome would be for the former if the parents had delayed the divorce for five years. A five-year delay may prolong the exposure to parental discord, and the children would then not be in the same situation as the 15-year old siblings with whom they are compared," concludes Kravdal.

Explore further Young people with shared residency have fewer mental problems

More information: ystein Kravdal et al. Children's age at parental divorce and depression in early and mid-adulthood, Population Studies (2019). Journal information: Population Studies ystein Kravdal et al. Children's age at parental divorce and depression in early and mid-adulthood,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2018.1549747
Adolescents and young adults living in states with more liberal policies reported higher average rates of past-year cannabis use than those in states with more conservative policies, according to a new study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. However, the rates of cannabis use disorderabuse or dependence on the drugwere significantly lower in states with more liberal policies compared to states with more conservative policies, for ages 12 to 17, and marginally lower for ages 26 and older. These results remained significant even when controlling for the presence of medical cannabis laws. This study is one of the first to assess the relationship between policy liberalism and health outcomes, and specifically cannabis use-related outcomes. The findings are published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

"The majority of existing work has explored the relationship between medical cannabis laws and cannabis outcomes, whereas our results identified important relationships between the state-level policy context as a whole, and cannabis use outcomes," said Morgan Philbin, Ph.D., assistant professor of Sociomedical Sciences, and first author. "While this research does not suggest that being in a liberal state causes people to use cannabis, or have lower rates of cannabis use disorder, it does highlight how states may differ beyond substance use policies, and how these differences also merit attention."

Using nationally-representative state-level data, the researchers examined the associations between policy liberalism and cannabis use and cannabis use disorder among past year users. Data were obtained for ages 12-17, 18-25, and 26 and older from the 2004-2006 and 2010-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Past year cannabis use was consistently higher in liberal compared to conservative states, and remained significantly higher for ages 12-17 and 18-25 after adjusting for medical cannabis law status. As of December 2018, a total of 33 states had approved medical cannabis laws and eight states plus Washington, D.C. had legalized cannabis use.

Prevalence of cannabis use has increased overall since 2007 which has raised concerns about potential negative consequences associated with problematic use, specifically cannabis use disorder. "These latest findings could directly inform policymakers and public health practitioners about the degree to which other broader contextual factors also influence cannabis use patterns in the U.S.," noted Philbin.

States were categorized as liberal, moderate, or conservative based on the 2005 and 2011 State Rank on Policy Liberalism Index, which is based on policy indicators for which liberals and conservatives commonly differ. The Index ranked each state from 1 (most liberal) to 50 (most conservative) based on its policies regulating gun control, abortion access, Temporary Assistance to Needy families, collective bargaining, and tax structure.

Average state-level prevalence of past-year cannabis use by age was lowest for ages 26 and older and highest for ages 18 to 25 throughout the study period. Average prevalence increased for ages 18-25 in liberal states, from 33 percent to 37 percent, and rose marginally in conservative states, from 25 percent to 26 percent. The same pattern of use was observed for ages 26 and over in liberal (8 percent to 10 percent) and conservative (6 percent to 7 percent) states. For ages 12-17, however, past year use did not significantly change from 2004-2006 to 2010-2012 in liberal or conservative states.

In contrast, cannabis use disorder among past-year cannabis users decreased from 2004-2006 to 2010-2012 among those aged 18-25 in conservative states (22 percent to 18 percent) and liberalstates (20 percent to 17 percent). Among individuals ages 26 and over, cannabis use disorder among past-year users decreased in liberal states (11 percent to 8 percent). For 12-17 year olds, cannabis use disorder decreased in conservative states (28 percent to 25 percent), though still remained marginally higher than in liberal states (24 percent).

"Our study highlights the need for researchers and public health professionals to distinguish between cannabis use and cannabis use disorder when interacting with patients at the individual level and when developing primary prevention strategies and interventions at the population level," said Silvia Martins, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of Epidemiology and senior author. "This line of research not only helps identify how state-level policies as a whole impact cannabis use outcomes, but ultimately supports the development of more health-promoting policies."

Explore further Daily cannabis use is on the rise in American adults
JEROME COUNTY  A man and a missing woman from Washington led law enforcement agencies on a pursuit that ended in a standoff Monday in Jerome County. Both were eventually booked on charges at the Jerome County Jail.

Idaho State Police troopers made a traffic stop at 11:32 a.m. for a U-haul driver that was making unsafe lane changes and speeding, Idaho State Police District 4 Capt. David Neth said. The vehicle was pulled over at a parking lot off of exit 168 of Interstate 84 in Jerome.

In the vehicle were driver Justin Alonzo Watkins, 39, and Patrice Lenay Simon, 38, of Washington. After troopers ran the information for the driver and passenger through dispatch, they learned that Simon had been reported missing in Washington state.

Not knowing if we had a kidnapping situation ... as we started to investigate, the guy started getting extremely nervous and he jumped into the U-Haul, Neth said.  We didnt know exactly what was going on at the time.

As the chase began, other law enforcement agencies were called in to assist, including the Jerome Police Department, Jerome County Sheriffs Office and Shoshone Police Department.
Authorities apprehended 682,340 Metro Manila residents since it began in June 2018 the implementation of the governments campaign against bystanders or loiterers violating local ordinances. Based on the data released by the National Capital Region Police Office on Wednesday, the Quezon City Police District got the highest number of apprehension numbering to 407,468 followed by Eastern Police District (127,590) and Northern Police District (53,507) during the eight-month period of police operations. The Manila Police District, on the other hand, apprehended 53,039 individuals while the Southern Police District posted 40,736 apprehensions. Most of these individuals were caught smoking in public places and conveyances (169,521 total), violating the curfew hours for minors (41,648), loitering the streets half naked (38,493) and drinking on the streets (32,163). The apprehensions were made during series of police operations in the National Capital Region from June 13, 2018 up to 5 a.m. of Jan. 23. NCRPO records showed that of these 682,340 violators, 447,097 have just been warned while 99,402 of them were charged in court and 135,841 were fined. Metro Manila police director Guillermo Eleazar assured the public that street bystanders would not be picked up by the police as long as they follow local ordinances on loitering. He said they will continue their police operations to ensure peace and order in the community. Philippine National Police chief Oscar Albayalde had mentioned that police have yet to receive any complaint of human rights violations since their intensified operations.We insist on violation of rights when in fact not a single person has come to our office and complained that their rights were violated, he said. But in July 2018, then SPD director Tomas Apolinario Jr. ordered the relief of two police officers assigned in Makati City for alleged mishandling of persons arrested for violating local ordinances. The two officers were relieved for alleged abuse of discretion of authority when they rounded up night bystanders in their respective area of responsibility and brought them to their police precinct for verification even without valid violation of city ordinances. President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2018 initiated a campaign ordering the police to go against street loiterers or idlers to ensure a peaceful community, especially at night. But the Chief Executive reminded that the police should arrest only those violating municipal or city ordinances like Urinating and Drinking in Public Places, Half Naked, Making Loud Noise, and Curfew of Minors, among others. Duterte clarified he never ordered law enforcement agents to arrest the so-called tambays, saying as a lawyer, he was fully aware of the rights of every person and clearly stated under the constitution that loitering was not a crime, but explained there were ordinances to be followed. He said as the father of the nation, he could still order the arrest of loiterers especially those unruly who might pose danger to other people especially women and children.
TWIN FALLS  The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is seeking representatives of soil conservation districts, recreation and tourism interests, conservation groups, and the public to serve on the Wood River Watershed Advisory Group.

Four seats are available. Members are asked to serve a two-year term. The group meets quarterly.

The advisory group is composed of citizens dedicated to successfully restoring and protecting the health of the Big Wood River, Little Wood River and Camas Creek watersheds. These watersheds cover Blaine, Camas, Gooding and Lincoln counties and require diverse representation.

The Wood River Watershed Advisory Group will address pollutants such as sediment, phosphorus, bacteria, temperature and dissolved oxygen. Key responsibilities include the following:

Advise DEQ on developing water quality improvement plans  total maximum daily loads  for streams, lakes and rivers with degraded water quality conditions within the watersheds

Help identify contributing pollution sources in the watershed

Recommend specific actions needed to effectively control sources of pollution to the water bodies

Help develop and implement a plan to meet water quality targets identified in the total maximum daily loads.
Nearly three years after he stabbed nine people and killed 3-year-old Ruya Kadir, Timmy Kinner Jr. was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, as a judge handed down two consecutive life sentences for murder and aggravated battery.
TWIN FALLS  The Faulkner Planetarium and Herrett Center for Arts and Science will host a lecture by Robin Sip, writer and producer of the full-dome movie Mars One Thousand One.

He will attend a viewing of the film at 7 p.m. Tuesday and then speak at 8 p.m. in the Herrett Center Rick Allen Room. Sip will travel all the way from the Hague, Netherlands, to give his presentation, which will be free, but planetarium admission fees will apply to the viewing.

Mars One Thousand One is the first-ever immersive movie produced in 8K to feature live-action actors in a planetarium feature.

Sip will detail the story development and his reasons for making the film  a five-year labor of love. He will share what it took to develop a special camera rig for filming 16K by 8K images and the development and use of a Mars gravity simulator during the shoot. In addition, Sip will explain the creation of real studio sets including Mission Control, a news studio, spacecraft interiors and filming with six international actors portraying the astronauts.
Short Final Aviation: Pinch Hitter Course

I had the pleasure of joining Garth Baker on a flight for an article back in August. Flying with him created a curiosity in flying that I didn't even know I had.

Baker, the owner and teacher for Short Final Aviation, is hosting a Pinch Hitter course to give anyone interested in flying a taste of what it's like. The class is designed to give a non-pilot a better chance of survival should the pilot become incapacitated. The course includes three hours of ground instruction, an hour and a half of instruction in a simulator and an hour of instructions while flying.

Explore aviation and safety with this class at 6 p.m. Friday at Short Final Aviation, 644 Airport Loop, Twin Falls. Tickets are $499, $100 upfront RSVP is required.

To RSVP call Short Final Aviation at 702-201-0752 or email shortfinalaviationllc@gmail.com.

Kevin Ahfat in Concert

Award-winning pianist Kevin Ahfat is bringing his incredible talent to Twin Falls.
BURLEY  A Texas man charged with numerous counts of grand theft and burglary pleaded guilty to two of the counts in a plea deal with the Cassia County Prosecutors Office.

Daydreyn J. Pelton, 19, was charged with five counts of grand theft and two counts of burglary in August after Cassia County Sheriffs deputies found him with stolen guns and other items at a Burley residence.

Under the agreement, Pelton pleaded guilty in December to one count of grand theft and one count of burglary.

The remainder of the charges will be dismissed by the prosecutor, according to court records.

The prosecutors office will recommend Pelton get supervised probation with a suspended sentence of two to five years, with each count to run concurrent if he fails probation.

Peltons attorney is free to recommend a different sentence. A sentencing hearing in the case is set at 10 a.m. March 19 at Cassia County District Court.

In August, deputies responded to a residential alarm and found an open garage door at the home and an unlocked exterior door.

The homeowner was away on a camping trip.
Some neighbors worry about impacts on their properties and quality of life. Thats understandable. The Driftless Area in southwestern Wisconsin features rolling hills and natural beauty.

The state Public Service Commission should ensure the panels are set back a reasonable distance from property lines. The PSC also should require the developers to plan ahead for the replacement or removal of solar panels when they wear out in 30 years.

While some of the concerns of neighbors may be valid, those worries must be weighed against the larger needs of our state and society. A report last fall by the United Nations scientific panel on climate change warned that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are altering the planet faster than thought and could cost tens of trillions of dollars in damages if ignored.

The proposed solar farm would help reduce Wisconsins heavy use of coal and other fossil fuels, while encouraging further investment in clean energy.
Its also worth noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to green-light the Trump administrations 2017s decision to scrap DACA, letting stand lower-court rulings that blocked the decision. Going forward, DACA protections must be law, not revocable regulations.

But Pelosis categorical rejection of Trumps proposal and her assertion that a border wall is immoral are counterproductive. As are Democrats bizarre claims that walls dont work. There may be better ways to spend federal money on border security, but the 14-mile fence between Tijuana and San Diego that was built in the 1990s drastically reduced the number of illegal border crossings. More recently, construction of a border wall in the Yuma, Arizona, area had the same effect. Walls put up by Israel, Egypt and Spain have also been effective.

Democrats should concede this point even if Trump complicates it. Perhaps because of his rhetoric, American support for a wall has wavered since 2015. But if he allows protections for DACA members to be written into law, then allowing miles of fencing or barriers to be built in areas in Texas and other states that are heavily crossed is reasonable.

This should not be read as countenancing Trumps shutdown strategy or ignoring the stark, ugly nativism of his border invasion rhetoric. Instead, its a call for Congress to do its job and send Trump a bill hed be foolish to veto, one that ends the shutdown with a compromise or buys time to make an immigration deal. Free the federal workers.
Usually, media isnt all that interested in the March for Life. Media mostly leans to the left and employs social justice warriors to protect abortion rights.

But this year, with the anti-Trumpers deflated after the collapse of the BuzzFeed story, something happened to lift their spirits.

Those Covington High School students were waiting for their bus after the march, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with their MAGA hats.

The boys were wrongfully and publicly accused of confronting Native American activist Nathan Phillips, because that was what was highlighted on a short video of the event that went viral.

But it turned out the aggressors were Phillips himself, pounding his drum and singing loudly within inches of a Covington boys face, and several Black Hebrew Israelite protesters shouting horrible racist insults at the boys.

Phillips credibility is becoming shakier by the day. I dont want to call an old man a liar when hes playing the hero, but hes all over the map on his facts.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in a previous interview with the Wisconsin State Journal he is opposed to lighter sentences for criminal offenders, suggesting that lawmakers should instead look at ways to prevent recidivism.

Recidivism, particularly through technical, or crimeless revocations, is pointed to as a contributor to the states burgeoning prison population, with about 36 percent of all prison admissions in 2017 coming from people who had been revoked without a new conviction.

Justice Lab researchers note the states so-called Truth in Sentencing and parole expansion laws passed in the late 1990s are largely to blame for the rates and length of community corrections supervision.

The laws required criminal offenders to serve the entire length of their prison sentence, plus a term of extended supervision, or parole, that is at least 25 percent of the length of the prison sentence. If an offender violates the terms of extended supervision, he or she will typically be required to serve the entire length of their extended supervision, without getting any credit for time already served.
The Bureau of Immigration has advised Chinese residents in the country who plan to spend Chinese New Year abroad to pay their reentry fees in any of the Bureaus field and satellite offices instead of the airport to avoid inconvenience and delays. BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina issued the directive following the expected annual surge in volume of travelers lining up to pay their reentry fees to the immigration cashiers at the departure areas at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Many of them are Chinese residents in the Philippines who wish to spend the Chinese New Year in their homeland. It usually results in heavy congestion of passengers at the airport which may be avoided if pre-paid their fees before going to the airport, he said. The Philippines is host to tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants and non-immigrants. In 2018 alone, a total of 1,309,289 Chinese citizens were recorded to have left the country. Under immigration rules, foreign nationals who are registered with the BI for being holders of valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas are required to pay exit and reentry permits every time they leave the country. Thus, immigration officers in the ports of exit require these foreign nationals to present official receipts of their reentry permit fees before they are cleared for departure, otherwise, they are directed to first pay their fees to BI cashiers at the airport.Due to the upcoming Chinese New Year, our cashiers counters are always congested and this hampers our ability to effect faster and efficient immigration processing of departing travelers, Medina observed. He said that reentry fees can be paid at the BI main office in Manila and in the immigration field, satellite and extension offices nationwide. We have many offices nationwide that can cater to this need. Coming to the airport with the reentry receipt at hand makes processing much faster, giving passengers more time to relax before their flight, he added. It has been customary practice for many Chinese nationals living abroad to visit their homeland for the Chinese New Year which will be celebrated on Feb. 5.
99 Nights in Logar, by Jamil Jan Kochai

There's a white rooster named George Bush, a fanciful tale about a djinn who haunts outhouses and endless viewings of "Rambo III."

Kochai's writing throughout is lovely and evocative while still hewing to his young narrator's perspective.

Depending on where the family stays, the bombs in the distance are lullabies or thunder.

"From Agha's rooftop, the bombs didn't just rumble, they lit up the mountains, glowing out across the landscape in a red so pale it was almost orange, or pink, sending us first a sharp scream and then a thundering note, which over at Moor's house might've lulled us to sleep," he writes.

As the hunt for Budabash ebbs and then sparks up again, the book veers into the magical - with a maze that seems to swallow those who enter, tunnels filled with bones, a thief who keeps reappearing and a mysterious dry land seasickness that suddenly lays out the entire extended family.

Our hero ends up spending the night lost outside his family's compound more than once, dons a burqa to sneak into a part of his aunt's wedding that's for women only and keeps on eating mulberries even though he knows they will make him sick.
"Macbeth" by Jo Nesb (Penguin Random House, $16). Nesb, the Scandinavian crime novelist acclaimed for his Harry Hole novels ("The Snowman," "The Leopard" and many more), was among the modern novelists approached by the Hogarth Shakespeare project to re-create a classic play as contemporary fiction. Turns out he was, wrote The Guardian, an inspired choice: "the bloody tragedy of political ambition translates well to a corrupt police department in a lawless town, where the cops are just one more armed gang."

"No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters" by Ursula K. Le Guin (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $14.99). Published just after the beloved science-fiction author's death in January 2018, this collection - culled from blog posts - examined what was important to her, late in her life. Though Le Guin called her blogging "trivially personal," a New York Times reviewer commented that "the trivially personal is a chief pleasure of this collection, which uses its firm footing in the concrete world to ponder an eclectic array of topics. The pages sparkle with lines that make a reader glance up, searching for an available ear with which to share them."
Besides his nagging questions about the movie company, Dave is concerned with a prison escapee on the run in New Iberia. Hugo Tillinger was convicted of killing his family and might have ties to Lucinda. Even more frightening is the reappearance of an old nemesis, a chillingly childlike but elusive hitman called Smiley Wimple.

On his first visit to Desmond's house, Dave discovers they share an obsession when he sees a framed still of a scene from director John Ford's 1946 masterpiece, My Darling Clementine. It's a photo of Henry Fonda (as Wyatt Earp) saying goodbye to the title character, played by Cathy Downs, with Arizona's Monument Valley as a backdrop. To Desmond, it's a moment of high romance; to Dave it's a portrait of a man facing death.

Their obsession will come to life - and become a rivalry - when Dave gets a new partner, an ambitious young officer named Bailey Ribbons, who is a dead ringer for Downs as Clementine. Desmond says to Dave, "I see the way you look at Bailey Ribbons. I don't blame you. For me, she's Clementine Carter. She takes us into the past, into our first love, into America before the railroad guys and the industrialists got their hands on it. When you're with her, every day is spring, and death holds no dominion in your life."
Ma said that at Cornell she felt pressured to write a traditional immigration novel, but she pushed back. "I resented that expectation. I had been told, even by a faculty member, to write about 'where you come from' and I was like (expletive). I felt there was this cultural expectation to write about your otherness - to explain yourself. I had grown up mostly in white America and often got asked where I came from. Writing an immigration novel was answering and I wasn't interested. I mean, the apocalypse novel is full of tropes, and so is the immigration novel."

"Severance" then tells the story of Candace Chen, who works for a book-production company in New York, where she is in charge of Bibles. Candace is capable, unsentimental, quiet, but, as Ma writes, "unsavvy in some fundamental, uncomfortable way" that has kept her from seeming vital. Candace is alone, lacks an anchor, a feeling of belonging to a home or friends. She came to the United States as a child, emigrating from China; her mother, an accountant, followed her economist husband to Utah. When the end comes, it arrives from China, in the form of "Shen Fever," a fungal infection that, before it kills, sends its victims into a zombie-like trance of familiar routines, ad infinitum.
Five years ago state Rep. Melissa Sargent rejected the backward thinking of those who seek to maintain a failed drug war and announced: The facts clearly show that legalization is right for Wisconsin and that the most dangerous thing about marijuana is that its illegal.

Since then, the Madison Democrat has led the legislative fight to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use. She has done so for all the right reasons.

Adults choosing to use marijuana in the safety of their own home is a matter of personal liberty and freedom, said Sargent, who argued that legalization would save time and money for law enforcement. She noted that responsible regulation and taxation of marijuana sales would raise needed revenues for the state. And, she said, legalization would address the stark racial disparities when it comes to marijuana-related arrests in Madison and across Wisconsin.

With limited resources, and an overextended prison system, it is not sustainable to continue imprisoning people for these offenses, explained the state representative. It is a travesty that we are putting millions of taxpayer dollars into victimless crimes when we should be doing the exact opposite: creating revenue and letting our police officers focus on keeping peace in our neighborhoods.
So why is Trump  or more likely Trumps neocon henchmen, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo  picking on Press TV and Marzieh Hashemi? Perhaps because Press TV is the only major media outlet in the world that features unfettered free speech and free debate on issues that the Platonic guardians of Americas national security state have declared off-limits.

I know this from personal experience. I have traveled many dozens of times to Channel 3000s Madison studio where I appear via satellite on Press TVs The Debate show. During those debates I have consistently represented the global Muslim-majority point of view on the so-called War on Terror  a point of view absent from mainstream media. My opponents have included State Department flacks, representatives of major Washington, D.C., think tanks, partisans of Saudi Arabia and Israel, and even an al-Qaeda enthusiast named Anjum Chaudry. As is usually the case at Press TV, the range of viewpoints is vastly wider and more interesting than anything allowed by the gatekeepers of Western media.

Anyone curious about what Muslims (and American dissidents) really think about current events should watch Press TV on a regular basis  while you still can. (The U.S. and Israeli governments have forcibly removed it from satellite TV, and the arrest of Marzieh Hashemi suggests they want to completely shut it down.)
Whenever Donald Trump, the Republican Party, Trump's economic advisers and the right-wing media talk about the "successes" of this administration, they always point to the so-called "tax reform" act of November 2017 as one of the greatest pieces of legislation in American history.

When former House Speaker Paul Ryan retired at the beginning of this month, he declared that the tax "reform" that lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent was his biggest accomplishment as speaker, while he expressed remorse for being unable to get Social Security and Medicare "reformed" as well.

But the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan government agency that keeps track of how the federal budget is doing, isn't all that impressed.

Amidst all the back-patting by Trump and his compatriots, the CBO wasn't as cheery. It had predicted when the tax cuts were passed in 2017 that unless some changes were made the federal budget would be running a trillion-dollar per-year deficit by fiscal year 2022.

But the CBO was wrong by what looks like two full years, according to the Bloomberg News Service. They say the U.S. annual deficit will reach a trillion dollars by the end of fiscal year 2020.
"If Mayor Soglin has abandoned his basic responsibility to timely snow removal, how can Madisonians trust him to deliver on affordable housing, transit, and public safety?" Cheeks said. "Im running for mayor because too many residents are feeling abandoned, and its time for fresh leadership that is committed to delivering results.

Soglin's campaign declined to comment when reached Tuesday.

In his capacity as mayor of Madison, Soglin encouraged residents in a statement to watch out for neighbors who may need additional help during the winter storm.

Its times like this, when we all need to take an extra look at our neighbors, Soglin said. If you are able to give someone a hand, clearing their driveway, sidewalk or around a nearby fire hydrant, please do.

Cheeks is one of five candidates, including Raj Shukla, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Toriana Pettaway and Nick Hart, challenging Soglin.

Romines said the decision to call a snow emergency is a practice in making educated guesses.

We do that by driving around, we talk among the Streets Division managers, looking at forecasts, Romines said.

What Madison drivers should know
Environmentalist group Ecowaste Coalition on Wednesday appealed to all candidates in the May 13 elections to refrain from indiscriminately posting their election materials on trees. The group aired the appeal as posters, streamers or tarpaulins of individuals or groups running in the midterm polls already sprouted on major streets, public parks and plazas, electric posts, bridges and trees all over the country ahead of the official campaign period. The campaign period for senatorial candidates and party-list groups is scheduled from Feb. 12 to May 11, 2019, while the campaign period for local betsfor governors down to municipal councilors and for district representativesis set for March 29 to May 11, 2019. Ecowaste members and officials said they found plastic posters nailed or tacked on trees by candidates supporters in the hopes of getting voters attention ahead of the official campaign period. Trees dont vote. For the sake of life-sustaining trees, we appeal to all candidates and their backers to voluntarily remove campaign materials on trees, the group said. Running priest Fr. Robert Reyes also urged candidates to respect the trees as he likened the nailing of posters on trees to the torture and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Roman executioners nailed Jesus to a tree. Dont candidates repeat the deadly act by nailing their posters on trees? Yes, but instead of killing Jesus and us directly, they are slowly killing the trees. Genuine politics does not hurt or kill whether persons or trees. Do not kill trees. Do not kill us, said Reyes.Ecowaste zero waste campaigner Daniel Alejandre said the nailing of posters and banners on trees is blatantly unlawful and has to stop as he asked aspiring political leaders to be the first ones to uphold the laws protecting trees from human abuse and disrespect. Republic Act 3571, as amended by Presidential Decree 953, prohibits the cutting, destroying or injuring of planted or growing trees, flowering plants and shrubs or plants of scenic value along public roads, in plazas, parks, school premises or in any other public ground. Presidential Decree 953 states that violators shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than six months but not more than two years, or with a fine of not less than P500 but not more than P5,000, or with both such imprisonment and fine at the discretion of the court. If the offender is a public officer or employee, he shall, in addition, be dismissed from the public service and disqualified perpetually to hold public office, the law stated. In Laguna, campaign materials of both national and local candidates sprouted all over the cities of Cabuyao and Calamba even before the start of the campaign period. Residents also observed the presence of illegal posters in public places, on trees and electric posts along Mamatid Road in Barangay Mamatid and streets of Barangays Pulo, San Isidro, and Banlic.
"Were going to cut taxes by 10 percent for everyone making up to $100,000 and families making up to $150,000," Evers said in the biggest, most bipartisan policy line of the night.

Republicans and Democrats stood together, clapping and cheering for the item of agreement.

"But," Evers continued, prompting a few laughs as the bipartisanship began to fade.

"Were not going to do it by spending money we dont have or that might not be there in two years. I dont make promises I cant keep, and Im not going to propose things that we cant pay for," Evers said. "So instead, were going to fund tax relief for hard-working families by capping a corporate tax credit, 80 percent of which goes to filers making more than $1 million a year."

Democrats were the only ones who liked the rest of that line.

Republicans, who oppose capping the manufacturing and agriculture credit, have proposed funding the cut with a positive budget balance of about $600 million.

10. and the band played 'On, Wisconsin'

Members of the Badger Band played Evers out with a short rendition of "On, Wisconsin." Once again, lawmakers from both parties were on their feet clapping along to something they could all support.

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Republicans oppose Evers' method because they argue capping an existing tax credit would amount to a tax hike for farmers and businesses.

"Tony Evers has the chance to work together and not just say it," Evers said of Republicans' proposal.

Bipartisanship

Evers mentioned a phrase inscribed on the ceiling in the governor's conference room: "The will of the people is the law of the land."

"That means I expect legislation arriving on my desk will be passed with broad support and in the spirit of bipartisanship," Evers said. "That means instead of taking up an entirely new budget of its own, I expect the Legislature to take up the budget I crafted by and with the people of our state."

But Fitzgerald said after the speech that based on its contents, Republicans will "absolutely" work from a base budget rather than what Evers proposes.

"What he's building right now is a top-down budget," Fitzgerald said.

Vos said he has hoped that Republicans can work with Evers' budget, but they likely won't if his proposal includes the Medicaid expansion and a cap on the manufacturing and agriculture tax credit.
"For them to say, If I dont get everything, Im going to veto a bill that protects people with pre-existing conditions,' I think that would be a disappointment to the state and it certainly would be a bad sign for things to come," Vos told reporters before the Assembly vote. "Were trying to listen, trying to accommodate where we can, but also stick to our principles."

Without the essential health benefit requirement, Evers signaled Tuesday he is unlikely to sign the bill into law.

In a statement, Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff called the legislation "an attempt to provide political cover for Republicans who want to return to the days where insurance companies held all the power."

"The governor offered to meet with Republican leadership in good faith to offer some solutions on how they could improve AB 1 and hoped to see those improvements reflected in the amendment process," Baldauff said. "It would be very disappointing if Republicans don't agree with the governor that coverage like maternity and newborn care is an essential health benefit."

Evers will review the amendment, but "doesn't support Republican efforts to enshrine into state law lesser benefits for fewer Wisconsinites," Baldauff said.
If he can't be a published author, Sinan hopes to follow in his fathers footsteps and become a teacher, but in Turkey there are too few jobs and too many college graduates. In one scene, Sinan talks to a fellow literature graduate who has taken a job as a member of the riot police, since under autocratic president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, beating protesters seems to be a more promising career than teaching. The friend chuckles uncomfortably as he tells Sinan about beating up a protester who looks like a former classmate of theirs.

At home, Sinan has a tense relationship with his father Idris (Murat Cemcir), who is as cheerful and irresponsible as Sinan is dour and worried. Idris has gambled away most of the familys savings, and everywhere Sinan goes he meets someone who has lent money to Idris.

Old friends, family members, city elders  Sinan antagonizes almost everyone he comes across with his dyspeptic point of view. At a bookshop, he meets a famous Turkish writer who might be able to offer him some advice. Instead, Sinan manages to insult and undermine the famous author at every turn in a lengthy conversation that gets uncomfortably funny. I just loathe people, Sinan tells his mother at one point, and the feeling is mutual.
The US president, Richard Nixon, has appeared on national television to announce peace with honour in Vietnam.

Statements issued simultaneously in Washington and Hanoi confirmed the peace deal was signed in Paris at 1230 local time, bringing to an end Americas longest war.

The ceasefire will begin at midnight Hanoi time on Saturday, 27 January, monitored by an international force made up of troops from Canada, Poland, Hungary and Indonesia.

President Nixons speech from the Oval office at the White House was broadcast on national radio and television.

He said: Throughout the years of negotiations, we have insisted on peace with honour, I set forth the goals that we considered essential for peace with honour.

In the settlement that has now been agreed to, all the conditions that I laid down then have been met.

The conditions include the release of prisoners of war within 60 days and all American forces to be withdrawn within the same time period.

An international conference will be held within 30 days, probably in Vienna, to guarantee the peace.

American forces have been involved in the conflict in Vietnam for more than a decade. In 1967, there were 500,000 American troops deployed in Vietnam.

For the people of South Vietnam, the president had this message: By your courage, by your sacrifice, you have won the precious right to determine your own future and you have developed the strength to defend that right.

We look forward to working with you in future, friends in peace as we have been allies in war.

To the leaders of North Vietnam, the president said: As we have ended the war through negotiations, let us now build a peace of reconciliation.

For our part, we are prepared to make a major effort to help achieve that goal, but just as reciprocity was needed to end the war, so, too, will it be needed to build and strengthen the peace.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

The last American troops left Vietnam on 29 March 1973.

The following year there were frequent violations of the peace treaty.

In 1975, fullscale warfare resumed between North and South Vietnam  without American intervention. In 1976 the first elections were held to a National Assembly, finally reuniting North and South.

As for Nixon, he had been re-elected with a landslide majority and sworn in for a second time three days before announcing the 1973 peace deal.

But his honeymoon period did not last. Before Nixons re-election, it was known there had been a break-in at the Democratic offices in the Watergate building. By the end of January, it was being linked to his re-election campaign and an inquiry was ordered.

The scandal grew and on 9 August 1974, facing impeachment, he resigned.
A survey of hundreds of corporate leaders shows a record jump in pessimism about the world economy, with sentiment doused by trade spats, a global downturn and fading benefits from U.S. President Donald Trumps tax cuts.

Consulting firm PwC says the latest edition of its annual survey of CEOs found 30 percent feel growth will decline this year, a six-fold increase from a year earlier  when 57 percent were optimistic.

The survey, released Monday on the eve of the World Economic Forum opening in Davos, Switzerland, tallies responses from more than 1,300 CEOs worldwide and is billed as a good predictor of economic results.

In an interview, PwC Chairman Bob Moritz said: Theres a not-surprising increase in the amount of pessimism from the CEOs and the global economy as they look at the next 12 months. He said confidence is waning amid rising trade tensions and protectionism.

Thirty-five percent of CEOs cited the perennial concern about over-regulation as the top threat to their businesses. But policy uncertainty  a new metric introduced this year  came a close second, the survey found.

The survey of CEOs in 91 territories was conducted online, in person and by phone in September and October.

The souring mood was perhaps most pronounced about the United States: The survey found a 41-percentage point drop in CEOs choosing the U.S. as a top market for growth, and optimism among North American executives dropped the most sharply  from 63 percent to 37 percent.

Moritz suggested that the U.S. dominance in world affairs isnt what it once was, noting how the center of gravity of capital markets had been the U.S. over nearly the last half-century. Now youve got it shifting a little bit more east to China and other parts of Asia, he said.

The Trump administrations salvos over trade with China and other key trading partners have taken a bite: PwC found that 98 percent of U.S. CEOs and nine in ten Chinese counterparts voiced concerns about the U.S.-China trade issues.

Moritz also pointed to uncertaintys about Brexit, saying simply: You never know where these things are going to go. AP
Starbucks Corp. is expanding its venture with Uber Eats, offering delivery in San Francisco followed by expansion into other major U.S. cities and rolling out a new test program in London.

The service started in San Francisco yesterday, to be followed by Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. in the coming weeks. Starbucks is planning to bring delivery service to nearly a quarter of U.S.- owned stores in seven cities this spring.

The announcement builds on a trial run that started in September in Miami. Almost all of Starbucks menu items will be available with delivery times of within 30 minutes  and an initial USD2.49 booking fee. The coffee chain is planning to test delivery programs in other countries this year, with London being the first European city targeted for a pilot later this month.

Starbucks has long been testing how to build out a delivery service in its home market. In 2014, then-CEO Howard Schultz said the chain would soon begin offering delivery in select U.S. markets. Starbucks began testing a service in Seattle, and in the Empire State Building in Manhattan in 2015. But the Empire State location has since been converted into a mobile-order-only store, and a Seattle trial with startup Postmates has since ended.

Starbucks already has a significant delivery business in China, using Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.s Ele.me platform, involving 2,000 stores across 30 cities in China.

The expansion of the deal with Starbucks adds another major U.S. brand to Uber Technologies Inc.s restaurant delivery arm. McDonalds Corp. in May said it will expand delivery service to 1,000 more U.S. restaurants, using UberEats to handle the McDelivery program.

In November Uber said itll triple headcount working on food delivery across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in its fight for market share against local rivals including Deliveroo and Just Eat Plc. Giles Turner, Bloomberg
The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, and 23 lawmakers toured the Chinese Traditional Medicine Park at Hengqin Island on Monday.

During the visit, the Secretary said that progress on the work of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Park has allowed further development in the traditional Chinese medicine industry, noting that both local and mainland Chinese enterprises are integrated and working cooperatively in the park, creating and improving job opportunities for young people graduating in this field.

In that sense, in Leongs opinion, the parks work has been translating into positive effects through the diversification of local industry.

According to a statement issued by the Government Information Bureau, Leong explained that the purpose of the invitation to the lawmakers was to provide them with fresh insights on the progress of the development and planning of the park. In addition, the visit aimed to offer the delegation a better understanding of the allocation of public funds related to the industrial park, the first major project in Guangdong-Macau cooperation.

In comments made to the media during the visit, the Secretary stated that the industrial park had entered a new phase of development, with a growing number of companies involved in traditional Chinese medicine having established a foothold there.

Besides fostering the development of the pharmaceutical industry, the industrial park also boasts a number of associated industries, such as accreditation and quarantine services, the Secretary noted, adding that in addition the industrial park would help businesses explore markets not only in the mainland but also overseas.

Leong gave a few examples of Chinese medicine products from Macau and mainland companies that had been registered and granted approval to be marketed in other countries, such as Mozambique.

Intertek zhuhai pledges to boost tcm industry

INTERTEK GUANGDONG-Macau Testing Services Limited (Intertek Zhuhai) officially opened on Monday, committing to build a third-party testing and service platform for traditional Chinese medicine health products. The opening ceremony at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Park was attended by Lionel Leong. CEO of Intertek China, Bai Xueli, pledged that Intertek Zhuhai will work to serve Macaus economic transition and adjustment by way of supplying total quality assurance services with its products, commodities and systems, and safeguarding export enterprises in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. The park aims to foster a strategic structure based in Hengqin to serve the SAR and provide support to improve the quality standards of the medical industry in the Greater Bay Area and enhance its international competitiveness.
MasterCard Inc. was fined 570.6 million euros (USD648 million) by the European Union for imposing rules that regulators said may have artificially raised the costs of card payments in the region.

The European Commission said MasterCard unfairly prevented retailers from seeking cheaper rates from banks outside the EU country where they are based. MasterCards curbs on cross-border acquiring ended when the EU introduced credit card legislation in 2015. The EUs probe started in 2013 and escalated with a statement of objections two years later.

MasterCard last month set aside $650 million to cover the fine, less than a potential 1 billion euros it flagged as a possibility in 2017. The company got a 10 percent fine reduction for cooperating with the EU, regulators said.

Credit card payments have been a target of EU antitrust enforcement for nearly two decades. MasterCard and Visa Inc. are separately seeking to settle another EU probe into fees charged for tourists shopping in Europe, which would see them avoid fines. MasterCard has also been sued by retailers seeking compensation after an earlier EU investigation found their cross-border payment fees unfairly restricted competition.

MasterCard said the EU decision puts an end to a legacy investigation into historic practices only that were in place for less than two years. It will not require any modification of MasterCards current business practices, the company said in an emailed statement. Bloomberg
The new vice president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Chan Kai Chon, took the oath of office yesterday in a ceremony presided over by the president of the bureau, Mok Ian Ian.

At the inauguration ceremony, Chan thanked the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, and leaders of the IC for their trust and support, and for giving him the opportunity to perform new duties in the cultural sector of Macau.

Chan added that he will fully assist Mok Ian Ian and work together with his colleagues of the Bureau, making every effort for self-improvement and meeting challenges with wisdom and humility.

Chan Kai Chon had served as director of the Macao Museum of Art since 2017. He obtained a Bachelors Degree in Economics at Jinan University, a Masters Degree in Fine Arts at the Nanjing Normal University and a PhD at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 1992, he worked in the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau and served as the head of the Division of Continuing Education of this Bureau from 1994 to 2003.

According to a statement issued by the IC, during his tenure as director of the Macao Museum of Art, Chan devoted himself to promoting the development of visual arts and museums and planning various annual art exhibitions. As the bureaus vice president, he will have the task of supervising the works in the areas of exhibitions and museums, cultural and creative industries and arts education, and carrying out the mission of promoting culture and the arts.

Regarding the leadership of the Macao Museum of Art (MAM), Mok Ian Ian told journalists on the sidelines of the event that an acting director would fill the position temporarily. The MAM is also an organizational subunit under the tutelage of Vice President Chan Kai Chon. For the time being we will look into the people currently performing duties at MAM to replace him. For now, the person that would perform such duties would be Loi Weng I [Dora Loi Weng], Mok confirmed.
Medical marijuana bill gets House approval

posted January 23, 2019 at 11:05 pm by Maricel Cruz January 23, 2019 at 11:05 pm

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on second reading the bill legalizing the use of medical marijuana. The House, in plenary session presided by Palawan Rep. Frederick Abueg, approved House Bill 6517 or the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act authored by Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III. Albano welcomed the bills approval, saying that legislators have began to realize the medicinal and beneficial use of cannabis by patients suffering from pain and other debilitating medical conditions.We advocate the legal use of medical marijuana not to put to risk the lives and well-being of the Filipino people; but to help patients who are terminally ill or afflicted with debilitating medical conditions and suffer from unimaginable pain, Albano said earlier. Maricel V. Cruz President Duterte earlier rallied behind the passage of the legalization of cannabis for medical use even as he vowed to sign the measure as soon as it is transmitted to his office.

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The Gongbei Customs authority has announced that 12,098 smuggling cases were investigated last year, an increase of 1.56 percent year-on-year. The amount involved in the cases increased by nearly 20 percent to RMB3.162 billion.

Gongbei Customs also cracked down on 17 large-scale smuggling rings. 647 people were brought in under compulsory measures, and the bureau arrested 69 suspects.

According to Gongbei Customs, in 2018 Macau and Zhuhai joined hands for cross-border law enforcement actions. Gongbei Customs, the Zhuhai police department, the Macau Judiciary Police and the Macau customs authority jointly carried out cross- border actions. During this cooperative exercise, the four departments seized 54 kilograms of drugs, which were shipped using postal parcels. thirteen smuggled guns were also seized while the weapons were being shipped from Macau to mainland China.
The former Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) Chief Executive Officer, Pedro Cardoso, has been appointed to head the International Branch of Chinese Bison Capital owned Bison Bank, the Portuguese economy specialist Jornal Economico reported.

According to the media outlet, Cardosos name was previously on a shortlist to be the new CEO of the bank, but the company decided to turn down Cardoso in favor of Bian Fang, in the list that was sent for approval of the Portuguese banking regulator Banco de Portugal.

This decision has been reported by the newspaper as occurring due to fears that the Portuguese regulator would not accept the proposal due to an audit that was being carried out on the accounts of Caixa Geral de Depositos (the owner of BNU), that pointed out a series of decisions from Cardoso that led to losses to the bank.

In a statement, Bison Bank acknowledged the change and stated that it was justified in light of the increasing challenges and complexities in the relation between China and Europe in the financial sector, especially in the area of investment banking and asset management. The bank noted in the same statement that it decided to nominate Cardoso to lead the international branch of the bank instead. RM
More than a decade after tainted infant milk powder in China killed six children and exposed institutional neglect of food safety, Chinese parents still dont trust local companies to feed their babies.

That could mean another goldmine for foreign producers as the battle for infant milk shifts to the hundreds of smaller cities beyond the metropolises of Shanghai and Beijing.

The deadly milk scandal of 2008 was a watershed moment for Chinas consumers. Some 300,000 children were poisoned after Chinese suppliers added melamine, a chemical used to make plastic, to powdered milk to artificially boost protein levels. yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the sentencing to death in China of those at the center of the contamination and its concealment.

The scandal fueled a new era of consumer suspicion and Chinas USD27 billion infant-formula industry was reshaped to the near- exclusion of homegrown companies among the market leaders.

While Chinese government regulations on milk powder production are in line with international standards, consumers like Chen Jijie, a Beijing-based mother of two, will neither forgive nor forget.

I wont even consider giving domestic brands a chance, even 10 years later, said Chen, who has a two-year-old child and a newborn baby. The incident brought my confidence in Chinese baby formula brands to the lowest level.

Nestle SAs share of Chinas milk-formula market has quadrupled since the scandal to make it the clear leader, while annual revenue at Australia and New Zealand upstart A2 Milk Co. has soared to close to NZD1 billion ($673 million) from only NZD1.5 million before the crisis.

Foreign milk labels are still viewed by consumers as safer, higher-quality and a mark of affluence, but domestic suppliers are fighting back with savvy branding and lower prices. The prize is clear: With only a quarter of Chinese moms breast-feeding, Chinas infant-formula market will expand 21 percent to about $32 billion in 2023, according to Euromonitor International.

Both Danone and Nestle are focused on parents in so-called lower-tier cities. Danone is bolstering its e-commerce business, since there are fewer retail stores that stock its goods in rural China, while Nestle is assessing which of its products can best capture demand in these areas.

In a statement, Nestle said it carefully chooses its ingredient suppliers. The company also set up a dairy farming institute in northeast China in 2014 that helps teach farmers to produce safe, high-quality milk.

Meanwhile, Chinese dairy companies are finding that some sort of association with foreign cows  real or imagined  can go a long way toward gaining market share. Chinese milk giants Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. and China Mengniu Dairy Co., both of which were found to have batches of tainted milk a decade ago, are racing to build up foreign milk sources in a bid to win over local mothers.

Mengniu sells a high-priced, made-in-New-Zealand line called Milk Deluxe, whose tins are emblazoned with snowy, Alps-like mountains.

Ten years ago, everyone felt depressed and said there was no hope for Chinas domestic dairy industry, Jeffrey Lu, Mengnius chief executive officer said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. Most local brands now have international supply chains that produce baby milk powder on par with the global brands, he said.

While more than 90 percent of Chinese consumers are drinking local milk, Lu admits that its harder  and will take longer  to gain Chinese mothers trust for infant milk. We need to make the supply chain more transparent, he said.

In the short term, seeking overseas milk sources is the most effective way for Chinese milk powder brands to win back consumer confidence, said Luo Yixin, a consumer analyst at Hua Tai Securities.

Among Chinese producers of milk powder, the only company thats managed to eke out any meaningful share since the scandal is Feihe International Inc. It had 8.6 percent of the market in 2017, Euromonitor said.

Even then, Feihes success is likely tied to a branding campaign that implied a foreign provenance: Up until 2013, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and named American Dairy Inc.

After reverting to its Chinese name and going private, the companys top-selling product line, Firmus, emphasizes that its milk is sourced from cows in the milk belt that spans from Wisconsin in the U.S to Hokkaido in Japan. Its cows are actually located in Heilongjiang in the countrys northeast.

Domestic baby formula has the highest quality in history and compares with the leading brands in the global market in technology, equipment and management, said Feihe in a statement to Bloomberg. We spare no efforts to improve the technology and enhance linkages with international dairy peers.

Products made and packaged overseas can command a price thats as much double that of domestically produced milk, said UOB Kay Hian consumer analyst Robin Yuen. Bloomberg
China yesterday demanded the U.S. drop a request that Canada extradite a top executive of the tech giant Huawei, shifting blame to Washington in a case that has severely damaged Beijings relations with Ottawa.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Meng Wanzhous case was out of the ordinary and Canadas extradition treaty with the U.S. infringed on the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens.

Hua said China demands that the U.S. withdraw the arrest warrant against Meng and not make a formal extradition request to the Canadian side.

Huas remarks come after more than 100 academics and former diplomats signed a letter calling on China to release two Canadians detained in apparent retaliation for Mengs arrest.

They also follow a report by the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail that the U.S. plans to formally request Mengs extradition to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huaweis business dealings in Iran.

China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.

Meng is the chief financial officer of the Chinese tech giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder. The U.S. wants her extradited to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huaweis business dealings in Iran.

The letter, released earlier yesterday [Macau time], notes Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank. It notes that Spavor devoted his time to building relationships between North Korea and China, Canada and United States.

It praises Kovrig and Spavor as bridge-builders between China and the world and said their arrests make writers more cautious about travelling to China.

Meetings and exchanges are the foundation of serious research and diplomacy around the world, including for Chinese scholars and diplomats, the letter says. Kovrig and Spavors detentions send a message that this kind of constructive work is unwelcome and even risky in China.

The letter said the arrests will lead to less dialogue and greater distrust, and undermine efforts to manage disagreements and identify common ground. Both China and the rest of the world will be worse off as a result.

More than 20 diplomats from seven countries and more than 100 scholars and academics from 19 countries signed.

Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, signed the letter and noted it comes as Canada is working to rally international support for the case.

It will be noticed in Beijing and I hope that it will make clear for them that the arrests of Kovrig and Spavor are not only a China-Canada problem but its also having an impact on the image of and reputation of China, Saint-Jacques said. Its an impressive list.

The signatories include former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and Chris Patten, former British governor of Hong Kong. Two former U.S. ambassadors to China, Gary Locke and Winston Lord, also signed.

David Mulroney, another former Canadian ambassador to China, said the letter is significant because it shows the international breadth of support for the two men.

This isnt simply a Canada-China dispute, Mulroney said. A lot of serious people, including many who have spent years working in China, are worried about how it is closing itself off, and punishing those who seek to understand and interpret it for others.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he encourages friends and allies around the world to point out that all countries should stand up for the rule of law.

Meng is living under house arrest in her Vancouver mansion while her case is under deliberation. Kovrig and Spavor are being held in Chinese jails and have yet to be granted access to lawyers, according to those who have contact with them. MDT/AP
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario has admitted that falling bricks on the external walls of public houses are a problem, but the Secretary also declared that it is not a major issue. As stressed by Rosario, both public and private houses might experience problems in the future. The Secretary wants the public to accept the problems with some public houses because they were built hastily in the past. Regarding whether the government can ensure the quality of future public houses, Raimundo claimed that no engineer would guarantee that any given project would be without problems.

Over 400 kilos of smuggled vegetables seized

The Macao Customs Service (the Customs), together with the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM), has inspected seven restaurants, three vegetable stalls and five smugglers suspected of smuggling unquarantined vegetables to Macau. In total, the two bureaus seized 390 kilograms of vegetables, 23 kilograms of meat and 20 kilograms of other types of food. IAM will prosecute the restaurants and the smugglers. The two departments will continue to inspect food premises in Macau, enhance the intensity of winter defense operations, and combat the smuggling of food to Macau in order to ensure food safety in the region.

Local man left scene of accident after injuring infant

A local man in his 50s was called to the Public Security Police (PSP) to cooperate in a police investigation regarding an accident that injured a 3-year-old boy. The incident was recorded on Monday. The man, who claimed to be an occupational driver, is suspected of having injured the boy while driving his motorbike. The boys front teeth fell out due to the accident. The man left the scene after the accident but was later found by the PSP. He then admitted to the accident, however he claims that he left the scene because he thought the boy was uninjured.

Lotus checkpoint expected to be relocated by end of 2019

Deputy director of the Macau Liaison Office, Zhang Rongshun, hopes that the relocation of the Lotus checkpoint can be completed within the year. Earlier this week, the government said that Macau and mainland China had reached a consensus regarding the relocation of the Lotus checkpoint to Hengqin. According to Zhang, the new checkpoint in Hengqin is under construction, but he is unaware of its progress. He also stated that the relocation needs to be approved by the National Peoples Congress, and that Macau also needs to establish laws to allow the relocation to be completed smoothly.

Musicians can apply for album subsidy until January 31

The deadline for applications for the 2018 subsidy program for the production of original song albums is January 31. Organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the scheme aims to cultivate more talented musicians, producers and music creators in Macau. Each selected album will be granted a subsidy of up to MOP 150,000 as well be given opinions and professional advice from the members of the jury. The subsidy will be given to a maximum of eight beneficiaries.

UM holds calligraphy and painting exhibition

A calligraphy and painting exhibition titled The Fusion of the Chinese and Portuguese Cultural Horizons in the Painting has opened at the University of Macau (UM). The event was co-organized by UMs Confucius Institute and the Macau Orient Painting and Calligraphy Association, with assistance from UMs Chinese-Portuguese Bilingual Teaching and Training Centre, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, and Department of Portuguese, and support of the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program. The exhibition includes 58 paintings by eight renowned artists from Macau, Portugal, and Japan.
Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns remembers the frustration of negotiating with Chinese officials over intellectual property issues, then walking outside in Beijing and seeing cheaper knockoffs of American products sold on the streets.

Thats part of the reason that hes glad to see the Trump administration address trade issues, Johanns said in an interview this week.

But Johanns, now the agriculture chairman for Alliantgroup, also said the agriculture industry is feeling Trumps tariffs.

Its very real, said the former Nebraska governor and senator. It drives prices down, it affects the general psychology of the marketplace.

But he added: Its easy to be critical, but the reality is that these issues have been around for a very long time.
Letters to the Editor: Shutdown and chaos reign; Scholarship apps accepted; Electoral College needs to go
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.
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A panel in the House of Representatives has approved a substitute bill which proposes to create the office for social welfare attache for overseas Filipino workers. The House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, chaired by Rep. Jesulito Manalo of ANGKLA party-list, approved the unnumbered bill which substituted House Bill 8197 and 8414 authored by Deputy Speaker Linabelle Ruth Villarica of Bulacan and Rep. Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list, respectively. The bill amends Republic Act 8042, otherwise known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, as amended. The bill mandates the Department of Social Welfare and Development to deploy social welfare attache in countries with large concentration of overseas Filipino workers, as determined in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment. As provided in the bill, the social welfare attache shall possess the minimum qualifications set by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the preferred qualifications prescribed by the DSWD. It shall be the duty of the social welfare attache at the overseas post to manage cases of OFWs needing psychological services and overseas Filipinos in distress, such as victims of trafficking or illegal recruitment, sexually-abused, maltreated or mistreated overseas Filipinos, abandoned or neglected children and other vulnerable sectors. The bill also provides that the social service attache shall undertake surveys and prepare official social welfare situationers on the OFWs in the area of assignment. Furthermore, he/she shall establish a network with overseas-based social welfare agencies and/or individuals and groups which may be mobilized to assist in the provision of appropriate social services. Moreover, the social welfare attache shall respond to and monitor the resolution of problems and complaints or queries of OFWs and their families.He/she shall also establish and maintain a system of data banking and documentation of OFWs and their families so that appropriate social welfare services can be more effectively provided. The social welfare attache shall submit regular reports to the DSWD and DFA Home Office on plans and activities undertaken, recommendations, and updates on the situation of OFWs particularly those encountering difficulties in the host country. The said report shall form part of the semi-annual report to Congress as provided under Section 33 of RA 8042, as amended. Additionally, he/she shall provide information about DWSD and its attached agencies and services. Lastly, the social welfare attache shall perform other related functions in the delivery of social services, as may be directed by the head of the diplomatic post in the area of assignment. The measure directs the DSWD Secretary to include in the DSWDs programs the implementation of the Act and the funding of which shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act. The bill mandates the DSWD, in consultation with the DFA, DOLE, Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and other relevant stakeholders to formulate the necessary rules and regulations within 60 days after the effectivity of the Act for its effective implementation. The DSWD shall also provide the criteria for determining the selection of Diplomatic Posts to which Social Welfare Attaches will be deployed and the minimum qualifications and attributes of the Social Welfare Attaches.
It was a big deal for Paul Ryan to claim a medal last week in the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at Hayward Field in track-adoring Eugene, Ore.
LEXINGTON  Lexington Public Schools will be one of three Nebraska school districts to create centers to focus on the low income student achievement gap, funded by a $4.6 million grant. The other two districts were Grand Island Public Schools and Lincoln Public Schools.

According to the National Center for Families Learning, NCFL, there is a large academic achievement gap between students living in poverty, and those who are not. Nearly 80 percent of low income students dont read at grade level by the 3rd grade and are four times more likely to drop out of high school, according to the 2017 National assessment of Education Progress.

The NCFL is participating in three of 11 grants, leading to the creation of statewide family engagement centers in Nebraska and Arizona. The NCFL is partnering with The Prichard Committee to create centers in Kentucky.

Family engagement is key to a students success, said Sharon Darling, NCFL president and founder.

These high-impact programs will lead to incredible changes for all families, as well as their schools, communities, and states. When families are engaged and empowered in their childrens education, we see both parents and children better able to meet their potential. Real parent engagement can be a powerful tool in closing the achievement gap.
The Energy Department on Wednesday asked Tanglawan Philippine LNG Inc. to comply with the conditions of the notice to proceed with its $2-billion liquefied natural gas project within six months. There is a provision [in the NTP] that there are still papers still to be submitted. One of the big milestones there is their seriousness to put up a 1,100-megawatt power plant of gas, Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos said. Tanglawan, a joint venture of Phoenix Petroleum and China National Offshore Oil Corp., secured the NTP to build an LNG terminal in Batangas costing $686 million for the regasification terminal and a power plant worth $1.3 billion. Tanglawan plans to break ground this year for the LNG regasification and receiving terminal with a capacity of 2.2 metric tons per annum. Commercial operations are expected to start by 2023. They have to do all submissions already. They have six months. The ball is in their hands, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said. Requirements for the next six months include permits from other government agencies, environmental compliance certificate, LGU endorsement, financial closing and others. Marcos said Tanglawan would also need to look for an offtaker of its power plant. They have to coordinate [with Manila Electric Co.]. Otherwise, the market or the commercial viability of the project will not push through, he said. Marcos said Tanglawan would have the option to sell LNG to commercial and industrial establishments and later to household and transport sectors.We always issue third party access permitIf some party will need it, you should sell to them also, he said. Meanwhile, Marcos said the applications of Excelerate Energy L.P., a US-based LNG company and FGen LNG Corp. (FGEN LNG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lopez-led First Gen Corp., were still pending with DoE for evaluation. He said the two applicants might be given an NTP if the market that they will declare is not an overlap to the market of the other one. We have not finished the evaluation, but Tanglawan did not say that their captive market is First Gen, Marcos said. Cusi said state-run Philippine National Oil Co. planned to team up with Tanglawan for the LNG project. Theyre working to partner with CNOOC, Tanglawan which at the board, we are saying yes. Lets go there so well still protect the interest of the Republic, of the people, of the consumers, of the country if there is a representation in the board, he said. Cusi earlier said PNOC would have an advantage because it has the franchise to operate the pipelines and the department might elect to give PNOC a stake in the LNG terminal project.
The Lebanon Police Department is seeking the publics help in solving a burglary at the Lebanon State Airport that occurred on Jan. 5.

At about 6 a.m. that day, an adult male used a pry bar to break glass and gain entry into the managers office at LebanAir Aviation, 1600 Airway Road, according to a news release.

LebanAir Aviation is the private FBO, or fixed-base operator, for the airport.

Items stolen from the office included two Bose aviation headsets, valued at $1,900, $381 in cash, an ignition key for a two-seater airplane, a Garmin handheld GPS device valued at $600, and the business owners FAA medical license.

LebanAir Aviation is equipped with video surveillance, and images of the suspect were captured. Outside video surveillance shows what appeared to be a light-colored crew-cab style pickup that is believed to be associated with the suspect.

Those with information regarding the case can contact Detective Chris Miner at 541-258-4314.

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I want to assure people its not about saying single-family homes are bad. We need other options for people. This is about work-force housing, this is about other options within cities to provide different types of housing, Kotek said.

Walt Wendolowski, the community development director for the City of Lebanon, is sympathetic to Koteks goal.

I understand what the speaker is trying to get at. We do have a situation where do have a lot of single-family zoned land, Wendolowski said. This is an opportunity to take a single-family home that has little value, maybe replace it with a duplex or a triplex.

But in reality, such development isnt always so straightforward, he said. Some neighborhoods dont have sewer and water lines in place to handle the increased demand.

Koteks plan, if approved, would have limited impact on Lebanon. Wendolowski said there city has some areas zoned solely for single-family dwellings, but these are almost completely built out. If this zoning was changed, it would create some opportunity for property owners to divide a dwelling into multiple units, as long as other requirements were met.
A slowing Chinese economy and an ongoing government shutdown in the United States have some experts worried about possible damage to the world economy.

Chinas slowdown

Chinas economic slowdown has been a major discussion at this years World Economic Forum, which began Monday in Davos, Switzerland. The Chinese economy grew 6.6 percent in 2018, its slowest rate in 28 years. Fears about Chinas slowing economy have been worsened by its trade war with the United States.

But Chinese officials have said the countrys slowdown will not lead to wide trouble. Fang Xinghai, who is with Chinas Securities Regulatory Commission, said China may be slowing down but its not going to be a disaster.

Fang also told international leaders gathered in Davos that the structure of the Chinese government - where the central, communist party holds so much control - makes fixing the economy easier.

And Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has promised the government would not let the economy "fall off a cliff.

U.S. government shutdown

U.S. President Donald Trump did not travel to Davos this year for the World Economic Forum. He canceled his trip last week out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay during the ongoing shutdown, the White House said in a statement.

The partial government shutdown has entered its fifth week, as the standoff between President Donald Trump and Democrats over funding for a border wall continues.

It is causing more economic damage than expected. Trump administration economists had first estimated the shutdown would cost the economy .1 percentage point in growth every two weeks that employees went without pay.

But White House officials have increased that estimate to .13 percentage point every week.

IMF reduces growth estimates

On Monday, the International Monetary Fund released its World Economic Outlook report. The IMF predicts the world economy will grow at 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020. That is down from its estimates released last October, when IMF economists were already predicting slowing growth both in China and the United States because of trade disputes.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told reporters, After two years of solid expansion, the world economy is growing more slowly than expected and risks are rising.

Lagarde urged policymakers to prepare for a serious slowdown.

Im Susan Shand.

Susan Shand adapted this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

funding - n. an amount of money that is used for a special purpose

cliff  n. a high, steep surface of rock
Kamala Harris Raises $1.5 Million within 24 Hours of her Announcement to Run for President

In the 24 hours after Harris made the announcement on ABCs Good Morning America on Monday morning, 38,000 donors gave $1.5 million to her campaign.

The first 12 hours alone registered $1 million in funding, and the average donation was around $37, according to The Wall Street Journal.

According to her website, she will not be accepting donations from PACs.

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According to the Journal, she also raised more than $110,000 from merchandise, which includes a tote bag, a T-shirt featuring her Kamala Harris for the people slogan and a hat.
House Democrats Release Legislation to Reopen Department of Homeland Security Through February 28

House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman-designate Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (NY-17) today released legislation to end the Trump Shutdown and reopen the Department of Homeland Security through February 28. The legislation is expected to be considered in the House this week.

The legislation, H.J. Res. 31, is a Continuing Resolution that reopens Homeland Security through February 28 and ensures that Homeland Security employees receive back pay. It complements a package of six appropriations bills reflecting bipartisan House-Senate conference agreements that will also be considered this week. Together, the two bills ensure that the entire federal government will reopen while President Trump and Congress negotiate on border security and immigration policy.

Senate Republicans and President Trump must stop holding our nations security and our federal workers hostage to the presidents demand for a costly and ineffective border wall, said Chairwoman-designate Roybal-Allard. By reopening the Department of Homeland Security, we can ensure our nations security needs are met and that our DHS workers get the paychecks they have earned and their families count on.

It is imperative that we reopen the federal government and pay federal employees while important conversations continue on border security and immigration policy, said Chairwoman Lowey. This Continuing Resolution will ensure that the Department of Homeland Security is open and its employees are getting paid while these important negotiations take place. After the House adopts it, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass it without delay.

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The CR for Homeland Security will be the 11th bill House Democrats have voted on to reopen the federal government. Since January 3, the House has passed seven pieces of legislation to reopen the federal government, and a revote is pending on an eighth that was initially adopted by voice vote Thursday. That includes an emergency disaster appropriations bill that included a CR through February 8, four individual bipartisan Senate appropriations bills, a package of six bipartisan Senate appropriations bills, and a CR for Homeland Security through February 8. A revote is pending on a Continuing Resolution that covered the entire government through February 28 and was initially passed Thursday. House Republicans blocked the passage of a ninth bill, a CR through February 1.

The full text of H.J. Res. 31 is available here.
Could the LAUSD Teacher Strike Be Coming to An End?

The second largest school district in the nation, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), wrapped up week one of the teacher strike with over 900 school sites in participation fighting for their rights as educators and the rights of their students.

Now, as the strike moves toward week two, LAUSD and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) reconvene once again to end the first strike in nearly 30 years.

After 21 hours of negotiating at City Hall with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the two parties have reached a tentative deal that would send teachers back to work on Wednesday.

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Im proud to announce the pending approval of the teachers who are represented by UTLA and the education professionals, and the board of education that we have an agreement, said Garcetti during a press conference.

This will allow the teachers to go back to work on their campuses tomorrow [Wednesday].

According to the preliminary agreement summary released by UTLA, the deal addresses the creation of a charter school cap and a Governors committee on charter schools, class sizes, school funding, salary and more.

UTLA, LAUSD, and the Mayors office will jointly advocate for increased county and state funding. This includes but is not limited to funding for nurses, special education and community schools. The Mayor will also endorse the Schools and Communities First ballot initiative and will work together with LAUSD and UTLA on advocating for the passage of this initiative, read the agreement.

The summary also stated that the district will adhere to class size averages, hire 150 full-time nurses for the 2020-2021 school year and make available at least 41 full-time teacher librarians and 17 additional full-time counselors by October 1, 2019.

The complete summary of the agreement can be read here .

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UTLA Board of Directors is encouraging teachers to vote yes on the deal.

Our members voted 98 percent authorize a strike, and when we end the strike it will also be up to our members to ratify any tentative agreement, said UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl and the UTLA Bargaining team.

The vote is set to take place on Tuesday, January 22 between the afternoon and the evening. However, teachers, parents, and community members will remain on strike until the agreement becomes official.

This story is currently under development.
CLBC Members Kick Off MLK Celebration in The Capitol City

Gov. Gavin Newsom has been on the job for nearly two weeks and is already dealing with a teacher strike, a utility company that is threatening bankruptcy and the poors inability to access clean drinking water. He also released a budget proposal that would consist of nearly $145 billion in general fund spending.

Wildfires, housing, cannabis programs, the criminal justice system, immigration, paying down on debts and retiree pensions were emphasized in his first state budget. In the midst of various activities surrounding his work, Newsom was able to give remarks at the California Legislative Black Caucus Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration.

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The event was held at the Sacramento Masonic Temple. The Rev. Al Sharpton gave the keynote address. The California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) serves as a body to ensure that pressing issues facing Black Americans in California are brought to the forefront of policy and budgetary decisions. Newsom praised the group for its continual work. Newsom said, What you guys have accomplished in the last four or five years is extraordinary. What you guys did should be a point of pride. Its not about the legislature versus the executive.

Its about reconciliation that we are all in this together. The issues that concern the Black community and California as a whole were on display and the breakfast celebration in honor of MLKs birthday was a fitting place for the governor and CLBC to solidify their partnership. Newsom said there needs to be a commitment to different levels of engagement to solve social problems.   We are the most diverse state in the worlds most diverse democracy. I dont think its a gross exaggeration to say that the world looks to us and every one of you to see that its possible to live together, advance together, and prosper together, Newsom said.

Sharpton, who made the trip despite airline delays and the rainy weather, spoke to the audience about the struggles and accomplishments King endured in his 39 years of life. Of the many topics that he discussed, including his thoughts of how the White House is currently running the country, Sharpton reminded the people their role in Kings dream. So, celebrating Dr. King should also be the celebrating the King in you, and the King in you is to fulfill the purpose you are here for  whether it makes people comfortable or not, Sharpton said. Dont emulate a King. Be a King. Sharpton went on to describe exactly what it means to pattern oneself after a man who spent his lifetime fighting social injustice. Being a King means dealing with the 19 percent in poverty.

Being a King means youre going to have to deal with the facts in the state of California in 2019 of people getting rashes from taking a bath. Being a King is when youre going to have to question what happened to Stephon Clark a year ago in March, he said. The MLK breakfast was the first event of the year for CLBC. We not only had members from the State Capitol, but we had members from Sacramento and up and down the state, said Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber, 79th District and chair of the CLBC. The fact that we had our governor here, our Secretary of State (Alex Padilla), a Supreme Court justice (Tani Cantil-Sakauye), we also had a cross section of branches focused on King. All of the speakers focused on the issues, social justice, and us working on taking Kings message to our hearts. The program also included a presentation from Padilla.

Padilla presented the CLBC with a high-resolution copy of Assembly Bill 2684, authored by Hon. Willie Brown and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, to observe MLK as a state holiday. Padilla shared the legislative history to get a bill passed to commemorate the Kings birthday as a state holiday. It had been three attempts earlier and each one failed. It meant that the caucus didnt give up. When we put things out there that are not embraced initially, we CLBC Newsom Al Sharpton MLKkeep knocking at that door, said Weber.
European businessmen said Wednesday they are optimistic about the Philippine economy this year. In 2019, the ingredients to a better economy are all there, but we must still observe cautious optimism. This should prevail. The Philippines needs to cultivate good relationship with the EU [European Union] and maintain their strong trading relationship, newly elected European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines president Nabil Francis said in a news briefing Wednesday. Francis said 2018 was a year of challenges for the Philippines with a number of headwinds that affected the trade and investments climate. We remain very optimistic about the Philippines. It still has this huge potential to grow. Demography is a main potential which is a big strength for the Philippines. This is very encouraging news,Francis, who is also the president and chief executive of Republic Cement, said. He said local cement stakeholders were supporting the Trade Departments decision to impose safeguard measures on imported cement. Today, importers are capturing 15 percent of the market. This is putting in jeopardy a lot of job positions in the Philippines. Quite frankly, we have here abundant reserves in limestones. We need to manufacture our own cement here in the Philippines, he said.
The day may soon come when courses offered by Millersville University and its 13 sister schools could be available to any student enrolled at a state-owned university.

Dan Greenstein, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education's new chancellor, proposed the idea of a sharing system  in which the state's public universities cease competition and, instead, share resources  in his first State of the System address last week.

In a transformed system, our universities  organize to leverage their enormous collective operating scale, to utilize their tremendous collective talent in ways that extend and expand opportunities for all, Greenstein said. In a transformed system  a sharing system  every student on every campus has access to the full breadth of academic programming at every other campus across the system.

Finding the right prescription

The proposal was part of a redesign framework the state systems board of directors endorsed directly following Greensteins address. The 36-year-old state system is knee-deep in a redesign as it continually relies on tuition increases to make up for retention issues and a statewide decline in high school graduates.

To get a better understanding of the systems ailments, Greenstein in September began touring the 14-university system, starting with Millersville, to hear from students, faculty, staff, business and community leaders and elected officials.

Greensteins sharing system idea was born in part from those conversations.

Many of the details are yet to be ironed out; however, university presidents, including Daniel Wubah of Millersville, expressed support of Greensteins bold plan to LNP this week.

A compelling vision

I think if were very selective about the disciplines or the courses we want to deploy, this model I think would work very well, Wubah said, adding that Millersville is committed to working with our sister institutions to help with our regional and statewide economy.

Wubah, formerly an administrator at Washington and Lee and Virginia Tech universities, said a similar model was implemented in Virginia and worked well. Students, he said, could take online courses at a handful of different colleges. This gave students more opportunities without the cost of adding faculty, he said.

A sharing system works best with languages, humanities, fine arts and business classes, Wubah said. Disciplines in STEM and others that require hands-on experience and live feedback perhaps wouldnt work as well, he said.

Michael Driscoll, Indiana University of Pennsylvania president, said university leaders unanimously agree that the sharing system presents a compelling vision for state system success.

While it is too early to speak details, he said, we are putting in place processes that will allow us to respond to a changing environment quickly and effectively, while providing flexibility and a greater access to opportunity for our students.

William Behre 'Theres no doubt that we need to make the process of taking classes at and transferring credits between and among sister institutions more seamless.'

Slippery Rock President William Behre said its critically important to consider ways to improve the system.

Theres no doubt that we need to make the process of taking classes at and transferring credits between and among sister institutions more seamless, he said. Being able to take courses at other institutions within the system could help students to graduate in a more timely fashion, which is a good thing.

West Chester President Christopher Fiorentino said the chancellor's plan is just beginning to take shape.

While it is far too early to offer comment on any specifics, know that the 14 institutions that comprise Pennsylvanias State System of Higher Education are working together toward greater collaboration, he said.

A spokesman for Kutztown University said its president, Kenneth Hawkinson, supports having an improved system that would allow students to more easily transfer credits from school to school.

The state system educates nearly 100,000 and includes Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities.
A serious incident was reported in a recent inspection at one local nursing home, and another home was fined for an incident that happened last year, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Lancaster County has 32 nursing homes, which are inspected by the department. The following is a list of nursing home health inspection reports released since late November.

Much additional information on each home is available on the Medicare Nursing Home Compare website.

Standard inspections are performed annually, unannounced. Complaint inspections are performed when a complaint about a nursing home is registered with the department.

Deficiencies are ranked from least to most serious, as follows: potential harm, minimal harm, actual harm and immediate jeopardy.

Actual harm deficiency reports are summarized below, and the number of minimal harm deficiencies listed. No new immediate jeopardy or potential harm deficiencies were reported recently.

The current average number of deficiencies per facility is 6.6 in Pennsylvania and 5.8 in the United States, according to Medicare.

Here are the latest reports:

Conestoga View, 900 E. King St., Lancaster: Complaint inspections Nov. 11 and Nov. 26; no deficiencies. On June 20, 2018, Medicare fined the home $13,627. The report on that date said a resident was taken to the emergency room and died on May 8 after a significant medication error involving blood thinning medication.

Elizabeth Manor Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, 320 S. Market St., Elizabethtown: Complaint inspection Nov. 12; no deficiencies.

Elizabethtown Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, 141 Heisey Ave., Elizabethtown: Complaint inspection Oct. 22; no deficiencies.

Harrison Senior Living of Christiana, 41 Newport Ave., Christiana: Complaint inspection Nov. 27; two minimal harm deficiencies.

Lancashire Hall, 2829 Lititz Pike, Lancaster: Complaint inspections Nov. 1 and Nov. 4; two minimal harm deficiencies.

Manorcare Health Services Lancaster, 100 Abbeyville Road, Lancaster: Standard and complaint inspection Oct. 17 and complaint inspection Dec. 1; one actual harm deficiency and 15 minimal harm deficiencies. The report said a diabetic resident was admitted to the hospital because of a hypoglycemic seizure caused by incorrect administration of insulin.

Moravian Manor, 300 W. Lemon St., Lititz: Standard inspection Nov. 9; one minimal harm deficiency.

Mt. Hope Nazarene Retirement Community, 3026 Mt. Hope Home Road, Manheim: Standard inspection Dec. 7; no deficiencies.

Pleasant View Retirement Community, 544 N. Penryn Road, Manheim: Standard and complaint inspection Nov. 20; one minimal harm deficiency.

Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community, 625 Robert Fulton Highway, Quarryville: Standard inspection Oct. 26; three minimal harm deficiencies.

Rose City Nursing & Rehabilitation at Lancaster, 425 N. Duke St., Lancaster: Complaint inspections Nov. 18 and Nov. 29; four minimal harm deficiencies.

Susquehanna Valley Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, 745 Chiques Hill Road, Columbia: Complaint inspection Nov. 12; one minimal harm deficiency.

Star ratings Medicare gives nursing homes overall star ratings, with 1 being the poorest rating and 5 the best. Here's where Lancaster County homes currently stand. 1 star Rose City Nursing & Rehabilitation at Lancaster

Susquehanna Valley Nursing & Rehabilitation Center 2 stars Elizabeth Manor Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center

Elizabethtown Healthcare & Rehab Center

Harrison Senior Living of Christiana

Lancashire Hall

Manorcare Health Services Lancaster 3 stars Kadima Rehabilitation & Nursing at Lititz

United Zion Retirement Community 4 stars Conestoga View

Ephrata Manor

The Gardens at Stevens

Zerbe Sisters Nursing Center 5 stars Brethren Village

Calvary Fellowship Homes Inc.

Fairmount Homes

Garden Spot Village

Glen at Willow Valley

Hamilton Arms Center

Homestead Village Inc.

Lakeside at Willow Valley

Landis Homes

Luther Acres Manor

Maple Farm

Masonic Village at Elizabethtown

The Mennonite Home

Moravian Manor

Mt. Hope Nazarene Retirement Community

Pleasant View Retirement Community

Quarryville Presbyterian Retirement Community

Rehabilitation Center at Brethren Village LLC

St. Annes Retirement Community

PREVIOUS REPORTS
Popcorn is a simple food, and a relatively healthy snack.

But Mark Wieder of The Popd Shop, a new store in downtown Lancaster that sells a plethora of popcorn products, says theres another plus that might help explain the treats popularity.

Popcorn, he says, is a perfect flavor conduit.

That means you can coat it with buttery caramel, or spices with a smoky Sriracha burn, or even just a sprinkling of salt, and youll find an audience for the crunchy goodness.

Plus, its a snack thats popular enough to support not just one, but a pair of holidays.

Last Saturday was National Popcorn Day; Popcorn Lovers Day will be marked on March 14 this year.

In an area thats home to Reist Popcorn Co., the easternmost popcorn processor in America and the source of millions of pounds of popcorn annually, there are numerous places to find freshly popped kernels, either all natural or doctored up with flavors.

And the pop-ularity of this old-fashioned snack is only growing.

Sweet Legacy Gourmet opens candies and confections shop in Lititz Sweet Legacy Gourmet has opened its new retail shop in Lititz, taking the space previously occupied by Wish Cafe & Herb Shop.

Going gourmet

Matt Tamulis may have one of the sweeter jobs in Lititz  and, considering the towns long history with chocolate, thats saying something.

On one damp January morning, visitors entering Sweet Legacy Gourmet, the shop he runs at 55 E. Main St., Lititz, with wife Amy, were greeted with the scent of warm vanilla and sugar. On a wide marble slab, seven pounds of caramel popcorn were slowly cooling, a sweet exterior hardening around fluffy, freshly popped corn.

In the back, Matt Tamulis was getting ready to add a full pound of butter to a giant copper kettle  a kettle rescued, Amy Tamulis says, from an old Hersheypark attraction. Already in the kettle: white and brown sugar, melted over a flame, to which Matt Tamulis would add vanilla, a little corn syrup, the butter and a tiny pinch of baking soda to fluff it all up.

Stirring constantly until the mix hit exactly the right temperature, Matt Tamulis doused the flame under the kettle and reached for a bucket of corn popped just that morning. With two paddles, he gently folded the popcorn into the caramel, then hefted the new caramel corn batch out to the marble-topped table to spread and cool.

POPCORN BY THE NUMBERS 30 and 35: Number of calories in 1 cup of air-popped (30) or oil-popped (35) popcorn.

Number of calories in 1 cup of air-popped (30) or oil-popped (35) popcorn. 14 billion: Quarts of popcorn consumed annually in America.

Quarts of popcorn consumed annually in America. 43: Quarts of popcorn the average person eats every year.

Quarts of popcorn the average person eats every year. 2: Tablespoons of unpopped corn needed for 1 quart of popped corn.

Tablespoons of unpopped corn needed for 1 quart of popped corn. 4: Main types of corn  sweet, dent, flint and popcorn. Only popcorn has the right hull thickness that will allow it to burst open.

Main types of corn  sweet, dent, flint and popcorn. Only popcorn has the right hull thickness that will allow it to burst open. 347: Approximate temperature in degrees inside the kernels hull when it bursts, releasing steam and inflating the soft starch inside.  Source: popcorn.org.

The Tamulises are the third generation to run Amys family business, formerly Lennons Fudge, and added caramel corn and other sweet treats to the traditional fudge-and-cookies lineup.

Peoples tastes change, Amy Tamulis observes, but what hasnt changed is an appreciation for small-batch, handmade foods.

They knew the caramel corn would sell, Amy Tamulis says  and, indeed, it is one of their top products  just as they knew Lititz, with its mix of residents, visitors and an active events calendar, would be the perfect location for the shop they opened almost two years ago.

Just down the street, after all, is Wilbur Chocolate, where Sweet Legacy gets all the milk, dark and white chocolate it drizzles on top of some caramel corn batches.

Popcorn, Matt Tamulis says, is an old-fashioned treat that everyones familiar with. That allows Sweet Legacy to resurrect kind of a lost art, and keep these family recipes alive ... carry on the traditions.

The bigger picture

That old-fashioned tradition is what lured Wieder, of The Popd Shop, to popcorn, too, though he uses the fluffy snack as the gateway for ideas like entrepreneurship, job training and conversations about health and eating local.

After three years in Harrisburg, Wieder closed that location and opened his new Popd Shop at 348 N. Queen St. in late 2018. Along with soda pop, ice pops and poptoast, Popds main attraction is  you guessed it popcorn.

Corn itself is the worlds most prolific grain, Wieder says, (1.3 billion metric tons worldwide in 2017-18, according to Statista), so theres no better way to have the conversation about food than through that.

Popcorn is simple and delicious, and we can just have so many different conversations, he adds, whether thats about obesity (or) about the local food movement, and we can do that with customers.

Wieder, a former attorney, opened his original Popd in Harrisburg and used that shop as a way to boost young teens employment skills, nurture other entrepreneurs and future business owners and provide some mutual support to other business ventures. Im a former attorney, now a popcorn popper and business owner, he says, so I know what its like to go through a career change.

He hopes Lancasters Popd Shop eventually fills the same community role.

That means sourcing popcorn on the cob from Dauphin County, as well as some loose-kernel popcorn from Lancaster County. It means building ties to the previously mentioned Reist Popcorn Co. in Mount Joy.

And, Wieder says, it means popping corn in the most healthy ways.

The healthiest ways are air-pop or stove-top, he says. At the shop, we use heart-healthy canola oil (because it can) withstand high cooking temperatures, its a neutral flavor and there arent a lot of food allergies associated with it.

Using hot oil to pop the kernel, Wieder says, is referred to as a wet pop, the technique he prefers.

Theres a different taste and mouth-feel (between wet-pop and the air-popped, or dry pop popcorn), he says. Having some oil is going to add a little bit more depth.

He likens the taste of air-popped popcorn to drinking a tannin-heavy wine, and its like, I need something more in my mouth.

Wieder is, he says, a purist when it comes to popcorn  just a little sea salt is all he usually adds, he says  but one of The Popd Shops best-sellers is a bit more involved: a vegan caramel.

POPCORN RECIPES WHISKY-SRIRACHA CARAMEL CORN This spicy, smoky caramel corn is vegan Ingredients: 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in water overnight

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon whisky

1 tablespoon Sriracha

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup Earth Balance or other vegan buttery spread

2/3 cup brown sugar

16 cups fresh-popped unsalted and unflavored popcorn

1/3 cup peanuts Directions: Heat oven to 225 degrees. Drain the soaked cashews, rinse, then blend with the 1/4 cup water until smooth. Set aside. Whisk the whisky, Sriracha, salt and baking soda together. Set aside. Melt the vegan butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Add in the brown sugar and whisk continuously for about 3 minutes, taking care not to let it burn  and watch out for any sugar sputters. Remove from the heat. Add the whisky, Sriracha, salt and baking soda mixture to it. It will bubble and steam vigorously. Once settled, add the cashew cream to the saucepan and stir until combined. Place the popcorn into a large prep bowl. Drizzle about half of the caramel over the top, then gently stir with a wooden spoon to coat. Throw the peanuts over the top, then drizzle the remaining caramel over top and gently stir again. Transfer to a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 1 hour, gently stirring it around after 30 minutes and scraping the bottom to prevent burning. Remove from the oven and let it rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then gently separate it by gently scraping the bottom of the sheet with a metal spatula. Allow it to cool and set a bit more on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes, then transfer it to an airtight container or serve immediately.  Source: olivesfordinner.com CHEESY POPCORN BREAD Yield: Nine servings Ingredients: 4 cups popped popcorn

1 cup yellow corn meal

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup 2 percent milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup shredded Jack or pepper jack cheese

1 (4-ounce) can mild, diced green chilies, drained, optional Directions: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray; set aside. Process the popcorn in a blender or food processor until finely ground. Pour ground popcorn into a large bowl and stir in corn meal, sugar, baking powder and salt until blended. Beat egg, milk and vegetable oil together in a small bowl and stir into popcorn mixture just until blended. Scatter cheese and chilies, if desired, over batter and stir just until evenly distributed. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned at edges and tester comes out clean. Cut into squares to serve.  Source: popcorn.org BARBECUE POPCORN SEASONING MIX Ingredients: 1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper Directions: Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and store in an airtight container.  Source: popcorn.org
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LADYIST IS SEX ED FOR GROWN WOMEN. OUR SEXPERTS ARE ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS THAT HEALTH CLASS NEVER FULLY EXPLAINED. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR SEXUAL OR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH? ASK US HERE.

As you probably know, there is no shortage of boob science about the nutritional benefits of breastmilk and its role in reducing the risk of developing things like diabetes and asthma in kids. For moms, it's linked to a lower risk of breast and ovarian cancers. In short, it's healthy.

There's also no shortage of reasons why some women don't breastfeed. Some women don't want to do it. Some don't because of work. For others, it's not physically possible. It may not be an option at all for adoptive parents, women who've had surgery on their breasts, or radiation, or who have hormonal conditions.

We asked for your breastfeeding stories and more than 100 of you responded. Here are some takeaways. Many of you said:

You had trouble with breastfeeding at some point.

You needed help with breastfeeding after you left the hospital.

You ultimately succeeded in your breastfeeding goals with support from other women (a sister, mother, friend, nurse, lactation specialist, support group or online community).

You felt judged either for not being able to breastfeed, for breastfeeding for a short time, or for breastfeeding for a long time.

Another thing we heard in your stories: access to breastfeeding support isn't universal.

WHO BREASTFEEDS?

In California, 87 percent of women breastfeed at some point. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it exclusively for the first six months, and then in combo with complimentary foods for another six months. The World Health Organization recommends six months exclusively and at least two years total.

Just over half of California women, 53 percent, get to the six-month point breastfeeding exclusively, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 67 percent do it in combination with solid food (the point at which an infant starts solid food can vary).

Breastfeeding numbers have been climbing since the 1970s, but in the 1950s and 60s American women drifted away from the practice. After a couple generations of women stopped, it made it harder for the women who followed, said Cindy Clapp, breastfeeding coordinator for PHFE WIC, a supplemental nutrition program for low-income families.

"We're not watching the people who have come before us breastfeed, and we still really haven't recovered as much as we should have, considering the health benefits of breastfeeding," she said.

WOMEN HELPING WOMEN (SOMETIMES)

For those of you who told us you had a hard time nursing your baby, you used words like "confusing," "isolating," "exhausting" and "an emotional rollercoaster." You expressed guilt for not breastfeeding as long as planned, for supplementing with formula, even for pumping.

"For every mom who we see who has this baby breastfeeding, there were probably many hours of practice, and misunderstanding, and tears that came before that, as the mom and the baby were learning together how to make this happen." said Clapp.

Most of you who wrote to us said breastfeeding only got easier with help from a lactation professional or an experienced wise woman. Clapp recommends women line up help as early as possible, before problems become too difficult.

"Every boob is different, every nipple is different, every [baby's] mouth is different. These all affect breastfeeding," wrote Jessica Cyphers, mom of a two-year-old, living on the East Side.

Still, many women feel extreme pressure to breastfeed exclusively. Some of you say it reached the extent of bullying from strangers.

Ventura County resident Kristen Reid, 32, said she felt like"an absolute failure as a mom" when nothing she tried helped her produce sufficient milk.

"Looking back, I wish anyone could have assured me that 'fed is best'," she wrote.

"Feeding your baby, however they need to be fed, is what should be normalized," wrote Christy Marshall, 36, of Burbank.

"All you can do is try and do your best. And when you need support, reach out," said Nakeisha Robinson, Health Equity Co-Chair with BreastfeedLA. "Any amount of breast milk that you can give your child is amazing, whether it be three days, one day, one year, three years, whatever."

Jessica Cyphers, 32, breastfeeds her son, Ascher. (Courtesy Jessica Cyphers)

ACCESS AND CULTURE

Many factors influence whether and how much you breastfeed: where you live, your race, your income, family support, your health, your baby's health.

White women are most likely to breastfeed exclusively, with rates lower among all other racial groups, according to a survey by the California Health Care Foundation. Women with private insurance are 8 percent more likely to breastfeed exclusively than are women on Medi-Cal, it found.

The Affordable Care Act requires steps to give women more support feeding their babies, but not everyone knows their rights. Even if they do know them, there are limitations and hoops to jump through. For example, not all breastfeeding advisors take insurance, and their fees can be high.

Also, said Robinson, there aren't services in every neighborhood, and some women aren't aware of the resources that are available.

"You may live in an area, let's say, in Lancaster, or South Los Angeles, where there are these gaps of resources," she said. "You may have a lactation professional working, but you might not have local support groups for that."

Then there's the issue of whether the lactation specialist you find is able to serve your needs.

It makes a difference when families have support from a professional who understands them culturally. There are linguistic barriers, too: lactation professionals who speak Chinese are hard to come by in L.A., said Robinson: "We still have to be more inclusive."

In the meantime, if you can only afford online resources, Robinson recommends that you look for groups that included health professionals who actively participate. She suggests Kindred Space LA and Long Beach Breastfeeds, but there are many others.

SOME OF YOUR STORIES

The "magical dream" smacks up against reality

Elena Aragon, 31, lives in Pasadena. Her baby was born in April 2017. She planned to breastfeed for the first year, and made it to 11 months.

"My experience was hard, but also empowering. Before pregnancy, my idea of breastfeeding was this magical dream, full of perfect moments to connect with my baby. Something I was expecting with all my heart.

"When my baby was born, reality hit me. It wasn't that easy. I didn't know how to make him latch correctly, and I ended with my nipples wounded and [sore].

"I received a lot of help from the consultants at the hospital, who made some feedings easier. I still was suffering in others.

"At home, my husband supported me a lot! Always encouraging me, helping me find ways that I could feel more comfortable.

"Still, I used to cry before every breastfeeding, anticipating the pain. After a month or two, it became easier, but the worry of producing enough milk was now in my mind.

"With the encouragement of my husband, I decided to go to breastfeeding classes at the hospital where I had my baby. Those classes where my salvation.

"I learned how to produce more milk and so many tips you don't read in books. I also, with the support of other mothers, learned that it was ok to breastfeed in public, something that I didn't feel comfortable doing, not even covering myself and my baby.

"After that, everything was easier, until the moment I realized that I had no milk stored for my baby once I had to work.

"The next nine months, I was living in worry all the time. Everyday I had to pump for 15 minutes after I breastfed him -- the way I learned in the classes -- so I could increase my production and have enough milk stored.

"Once I went back to work, it was this eternal and tiring cycle of breastfeeding and pumping, and pumping and pumping, and breastfeeding and pumping. It was so demanding. I felt tired all the time. But I made it! Everyday I had enough milk for my baby to drink the next day and I felt so good!"

Frenectomies, milk blebs and thrush

Jamie Maloney, 33, of Los Feliz, had her daughter in Sept. 2017.

"Breastfeeding was a nightmare from the very start. I had almost every problem in the book and problems that weren't in the book.

"My daughter was born with a severe tongue tie. And within the first 12 hours, bit me until I bled.

"She had to have two frenectomies, because the first one didn't loosen her tongue enough. She had difficulties gaining weight at first because of it.

"It gets worse from there. The bras I had purchased weren't big enough and caused indescribable pain. I got mastitis. The pump gave me a blister. I had weird milk blebs (nipple blisters) that took me over a week to figure out.

"One side stopped producing, because the pump made me so depressed. I got thrush. At one point the nursing routine would take 60 full minutes. It was awful.

"So many people around me would tell me that it wasn't important, so I should just use formula.

"It got better after the first few months, then around nine months, I just stopped making milk. It was devastating, especially after I had worked so hard to make it happen."

Juliet Plante holds her 2-month-old son Grayson. (courtesy Juliet Plante)

Where's the joy I was promised?

Juliet Plante, 39, lives in West Hills. Her baby was born in Nov. 2018 and she's currently breastfeeding exclusively. So far, she says it's the hardest thing ever.

"We have introduced a bottle (like when we went to a Rams game) for convenience, but 99 percent of the time he's on the breast. It was always our plan to breastfeed for at least six months, but some days I wonder if we'll make it that long.

"I had a clogged milk duct and the beginnings of mastitis at two weeks in. It added a new challenge and was so painful - maybe even more painful than contractions. Hot compresses, hot showers, constant fluids and nursing through the pain.

"My doctor said I was doing everything right and wanted to avoid giving me antibiotics, so home remedies continued and made every feeding arduous, painful and miserable.

"Where was the joy everyone told you about? It was not in this process.

"An in-law's friend told me that after six weeks it gets easier. This is my sixth week and it does feel easier, but that could be because I've healed from the clogged ducts and mastitis. I felt getting over that was a triumph. Now I've got "cradle wrist" from repetitive motion holding the baby during feedings.

"No one ever talked about how hard breastfeeding would be. And frankly, I'm so shocked by my own lack of knowledge about it - and I thought I was educated!"

Not all help feels like help

Anne Tittle, 43, is the mother of teenage twins from Hawthorne who breastfed and pumped for the first four months. She found breastfeeding difficult.

"I had a lactation consultant come to my house. She was wonderful and encouraging. A few weeks later, I went to a drop-in breastfeeding clinic, and the consultant made me feel terrible, inadequate and stupid. I felt so guilty and ashamed that I wasn't making enough milk for my twins."

"One of my favorite parts of early motherhood"

Shannon Shields, 46, of Redlands breastfed until her kids were toddlers. She got help from lactation consultants at the hospital and local La Leche League meetings. Still, breastfeeding was hard.

"Once we'd both figured out how to do it, it was wonderful. It was much easier with my second child.

"I loved the time with my children. I loved how it recharged both of us. And I felt really proud thinking that I'd provided their only food for their first six months of life.

"My kids are 12 and 8 now. I still have really vivid memories of nursing them.

"It is not a feeling I can easily describe, but it is was one of my favorite parts of early motherhood."

"They look at me like I was less than"

Esther Siordia, 26, of Los Angeles calls breastfeeding the hardest thing she's ever done, even with home visits from lactation professionals. Her daughter was born in Feb. 2018.

"I planned on breastfeeding, but my daughter was born premature with a birth defect that affected her intestines. She wasn't able to eat until the defect was corrected and her intestines 'restarted.'

"For the first 2 weeks after she was born, I pumped milk. When she was able to eat, she was too little to latch on.

"With the defect, breast milk would be easier to digest. So, I kept pumping.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I was on the same demanding schedule as a mother who breastfed, with all the cleaning, sanitizing that came with bottle feeding.

"My boobs hurt so bad. And getting into a rhythm and schedule was so hard. Since I was still caring for a newborn, it was hard to take 30 minutes every couple hours to pump.

"After she got a little bigger, I tried to breastfeed, with the guidance of a lactation consultant but my daughter wasn't interested. So many other mothers would ask why I wasn't breastfeeding, think her bottles had formula. They look at me like I was less than because my child wasn't feeding directly from me. Those people affected me a lot."

Marisol Garcia doesn't care that people are judgmental about breastfeeding her baby. (courtesy Marisol Garcia) (Courtesy Marisol Garcia)

Still breastfeeding

Marisol Garcia of Boyle Heights has had ups and downs with breastfeeding her baby, born in June 2017.

"I planned to breastfeed for a year, but ended up going longer after I noticed my baby hardly ever got sick compared to other kids. My bond with him grew every time I fed and it was beautiful.

"When I went past my first year of breastfeeding, if people asked how long I breastfed and I replied with "still breastfeeding" their reaction was always somewhat negative and surprised. I continued because it does not matter to me what people think, what matters is that my baby is healthy and strong and I want to think that part of it is due to breastfeeding."

Double-pumping while driving a '67 Mustang stick shift

Business owner Bernadette Rivero breastfed 4 children. Rivero, of Marina del Rey, says she had easy and hard times with it, particularly when she felt sad doing it. It turns out she experienced Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex.

"I'm an outlier -- a Latina business owner who sets her own hours (albeit working 24/7 some days), which is entirely the reason I was able to breastfeed four kids. I don't think I could have done that while working anywhere else, as American work culture doesn't make it easy or practical.

"Even so, I've breastfed in some odd places: Double-pumping while driving a stick shift '67 Mustang down the 405 (Difficulty level: VERY HARD); pumping at the Vatican (Relatively easy); pumping in the back of a conference ballroom filled with a few thousand women in Chicago (easy); nursing a baby on a ferry crossing the Great Lakes; nursing on the back of a horse-drawn carriage; pumping under the table of the rehearsal space of a theater in Hollywood where I was working -- you name it."

Pumping in the ICU while caring for her mom

Leila Danesh lives in Riverside. The 33-year-old gave birth to a son in Oct. 2017. She's still breastfeeding.

"We had to start supplementing with formula about two months in. We didn't have much of a choice because my mom was in the hospital and I just couldn't manage pumping and nursing and staying with her all at once.

"I felt pretty guilty about it, but it's what we had to do. I would nurse when I got home from the hospital. Sometimes, I would ask my husband to bring the baby to the hospital parking lot just so I could nurse. It was so painful if I hadn't nursed for a while and things got engorged!

"I remember walking in to see the lactation consultant a couple of days after giving birth, and the first words out of her mouth were 'all right, let's see what he's done to your nipples.'

"And I hated pumping. Hated it. Probably because I was pumping in the ICU while with my mom.

"The lady next to us was dying, and I was scared, and feeling awful, and feeling torn apart. My mom was here, very sick, while my new baby was home, and both needed me so much. It was a traumatic experience that I couldn't shake every time I tried to pump.

"Baby still nurses at night and though I would love to wean him at this point, I also secretly love nursing him and being his comfort."

A version of this story was on the radio. Listen to it on KPCC's Take Two.

We Love To Answer Your Questions
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L.A. Sheriff Alex Villanueva took flak Tuesday from his civilian watchdog panel and the county's inspector general over his plan to bring back to the force deputies he concludes were wrongly terminated, as well as his rehiring of a fired deputy who worked on Villanueva's campaign.

Several hundred deputies who were fired or temporarily relieved of their duties by former Sheriff Jim McDonnell could get back their badge and gun under his plan, Villanueva told the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. He said "division chiefs" are reviewing the cases.

Villanueva claimed McDonnell pressured his staff to find reasons to fire people for minor violations of department policy.

"There were a lot of cases that were internally compromised where investigators were ordered to find the facts to meet the outcome they were looking for, and to ignore facts that were exculpatory," Villanueva said.

Commissioner Robert Bonner was skeptical. "When you say there are a lot of disciplinary cases that have been internally compromised, I'd like to see the evidence of that," he said.

The sheriff also accused McDonnell of trying to improperly influence the Civil Service Commission to uphold terminations.

"We are sifting through all of the cases," Villanueva said.

Bonner warned against bringing back "bad apples."

McDonnell has defended his personnel decisions as an effort to clean house in the wake of the corruption scandal during the regime of former Sheriff Lee Baca.

Oversight Commission Chair Patti Giggans worried aloud whether Villanueva is taking the department's discipline policy "backwards."

Inspector General Max Huntsman said he's "deeply troubled" that the sheriff is not including him in reviews of deputy firings.

Huntsman wrote a letter to Villanueva on Dec. 4, the day after the sheriff's swearing in, asking him to let the inspector general's office monitor any meetings of the "truth and reconciliation" commission Villanueva said he would set up to review prior disciplinary actions. Huntsman told LAist he never got a response.

The inspector general said because "I wasn't allowed in the room," he can't say whether the department should have rehired Caren Mandoyan, a deputy fired in 2016 over allegations of domestic abuse and stalking.

Giggans had previously called Villanueva's rehiring of Mandoyan "very disturbing."

Commissioner J.P. Harris, a former sheriff's lieutenant , said Tuesday he has a lot of questions about Mandoyan's rehiring. "The optics are not great," he said.

Mandoyan, who has been assigned to the South L.A. station, is the only deputy rehired so far. He was accused of physically abusing and stalking another deputy with whom he had been romantically involved.

Villanueva said there was a "long list" of problems with Mandoyan's firing. "Someone decided after the fact, 'Let's make it a termination, artificially,'" he said.

The sheriff has declined to discuss the particulars of the case, citing a law that protects the privacy of officers' personnel records, but he did go into some details Tuesday. He pointed out to the commission that the district attorney's office declined to file criminal charges against Mandoyan, citing a lack of sufficient evidence.

Asked by Commissioner Priscilla Ocen whether "a conviction" would be required to discipline a deputy in a case involving domestic violence and stalking, Villanueva said, "there has to be at a minimum a filing [of criminal charges by the district attorney]."

The sheriff went on to say that the domestic violence "has to be related to employment too, in a way," adding, "in this particular case it did not rise to that level at all."

Added Villanueva, "In fact, the person who was a complainant ended up quitting the department on the day prior to having to actually go to court to testify under oath. Those are warning signs about the credibility of the individual involved."

Ocen pushed back. "I don't know that that's that unusual for a domestic violence complainant to not want to appear in court," she said.

Ocen expressed concern that Villanueva might be setting such a high bar of proof in discipline cases involving domestic violence that it "might not be workable."

In an interview with LAist following Villanueva's testimony, Undersheriff Ray Leyva said the sheriff will consider the totality of the evidence when reviewing discipline cases.

Mandoyan, who served as a deputy for 10 years before his firing, was a trusted volunteer member of Villanueva's campaign team. Besides carrying out various duties, he reportedly helped organize a campaign to lobby the sheriff's deputies' union to endorse Villanueva.

In first reporting on Mandoyan's rehiring, the Los Angeles Times said a county appeals board heard evidence and upheld his dismissal, and that Mandoyan sued the county and the civil service commission over his firing, although he filed to dismiss the latter case last month.

Commission members also grilled Villanueva Tuesday over his plan to create a truth and reconciliation commission to oversee the process of reviewing deputy firings and suspensions.

The sheriff promised to come back to the oversight panel by the end of the month to present the parameters of the truth and reconciliation panel's work.

Leyva, who said he's working with county counsel to set up the new commission, said the department is exploring ways to "limit the scope" of the review to "the most egregious cases," said Leyva.

"We do not want to undertake a massive undertaking and go back 15, 20, 30 years," he said.

Last month Villanueva removed the department's two constitutional policing advisors, who review discipline cases. He said Tuesday that their replacements will play a key role with the truth and reconciliation commission.

Leyva said that the sheriff plans to name three individuals to the constitutional positions, one of whom is Rick Brouwer, an attorney in the county counsel's office.

This story was updated on Jan. 23 to include information about the letter Max Huntsman wrote to Sheriff Villanueva.
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It's time for Los Angeles' annual homeless count.

This week, thousands of volunteers, homeless service workers, formerly homeless people, and even some who are currently homeless will try to figure out just how many people live without a home in one of the world's richest cities.

The annual census is organized by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). It takes place the nights of January 22, 23, and 24.

Last year's count estimated that, on any given night, about 53,000 people sleep rough in L.A. county. That number was generated using data gathered by homeless count volunteers and professional demographers.

If you want to volunteer in Los Angeles County, you can register and find specific time and location details at TheyCountWillYou.org.

Here's how it works:

WHO IS BEING COUNTED?

Homeless counts tabulate how many people are "literally homeless" on the night of the census. It's called a "point-in-time" count, and the number of people counted is a proxy for local governments and homeless services workers to know how many people are homeless on any given night in a year.

"Literally homeless" means people who are sleeping in a homeless shelter, or some other makeshift living quarters (like a car, vacant building, sidewalk encampment) not designed for human habitation.

WHO ISN'T BEING COUNTED?

The definition "literally homeless" is set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The department requires counties to count the number of unsheltered people in their jurisdiction every other year, though Los Angeles does it every year because the issue's local magnitude.

That definition does not cover people who are precariously housed, or could potentially fall into literal homelessness at a point very near in the future. So, people sleeping on a friend's couch or living in a motel aren't counted, even though their living situation is far from stable.

Experts disagree on exactly who is "homeless" in these counts. For example, while HUD uses "literally homeless," the U.S. Department of Education defines homelessness as children and families who "lack a fixed, regular, and nighttime residence."

This difference has meaningful side effects locally. Consider the difference between LAHSA's count of children under 18 who were homeless last year and Los Angeles Unified School District's assessment. Where LAHSA estimates there are about 5,000 under-18s homeless on any given night in the 2018 homeless count, LAUSD figures there are more than 17,000 homeless students in its system.

Then there's also the fact that trying to count everyone who is 'literally homeless' on any given night is a herculean task, particularly in Los Angeles County.

WHAT MAKES LOS ANGELES COUNTY DIFFERENT?

L.A. County has the dubious honor of being home to the greatest number of unsheltered residents of any county in the United States. Though technically there are more homeless people in New York City's five boroughs, the vast majority of those people are sheltered in the city's expansive shelter system, mostly because freezing winter temperatures prompted the city to action.

Los Angeles' shelter system is much less developed, which means most of the people who are homeless here are unsheltered. Where East Coast cities can use the number of people staying in a homeless shelter on any given night as a proxy for how many people are homeless, the same cannot be done in Los Angeles (and other sunbelt and western cities, for that matter).

That's why LAHSA recruits thousands of volunteers to walk or drive almost every street in Los Angeles County, and look people sleeping outside. Volunteers search specific precincts for people and places where someone obviously lives.

HOW ARE PEOPLE COUNTED?

When volunteers participate, they're handed paper forms to tabulate people and living areas they see while making rounds in their assigned precinct. Counters are not supposed to engage with people on the street, and they are given detailed instructions on what to look for and how to 'count' the number of distinct structures in sprawling encampments.

That last part is important because of how the numbers are actually computed. Along with the bigger volunteer count, LAHSA works with professional demographers on a more detailed demographic survey. This is where population characteristics (age, race, gender, veteran status, etc.) are drawn from.

They also track how many people live in encampment structures and use that to generate a sort-of encampment population density metric. In the days and weeks after the volunteer count, demographers mix and match data from both the count and demographic survey to extrapolate bigger takeaways.

Alongside the volunteer counters, LAHSA also uses "special teams" made up of homeless outreach workers, emergency responders, and other homeless service professionals. These teams count in more inaccessible, potentially dangerous locations like the river and storm-drain system, the mountains, the freeways, and other isolated locations where people are known to live.

DOES EVERYBODY REALLY GET COUNTED?

The short answer is no, not everybody really gets counted. Even with thousands of volunteers, professionals, and people who are currently homeless working to count everyone, there are spots that fall through the cracks.

There are also some areas that are off-limits to volunteers for safety reasons, notably darkened alleys and vacant or abandoned buildings. Those areas have never been counted since the first census happened in 2004.

The big challenge comes down to a couple things; Los Angeles County is a gigantic geographic area, and trying to find every person living homeless is a virtually impossible task, even with a small army of counters; many people who are homeless go out of their way to hide and make sure they can't be easily found.

That is, even if volunteers are counting in a neighborhood, it's possible they may miss where someone is living. LAHSA takes special attention to recruit the counters who are or used to be homeless -- because they know where to look better than someone who hasn't been homeless before -- but ultimately there's a margin of error.

HOW CAN I HELP?

In L.A. County, the count happens the evenings of January 22, 23, and 24, from roughly from 8 p.m. until midnight. People who want to volunteer can sign up through the homeless count's official website, TheyCountWillYou.org. That site has specific time and location meetup information.

Counts happen in all parts of L.A. County, as well as Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. In L.A. County, Volunteers are encouraged to register beforehand so organizers have a good idea of how many people they'll have to work with. Registration will be open until the last minute, but volunteers who show up to a meeting location at the right time will not be turned away.

The more people who volunteer, the more accurate the numbers will be, and the better information homeless service workers will have to evaluate how their efforts are working, and where more attention is needed.
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After nearly two years of failed negotiations and a six-day strike, the Los Angeles teachers union's contract dispute with the nation's second-largest school district is finally over.

Negotiators for both United Teachers Los Angeles and the L.A. Unified School District reached a tentative agreement on a new contract early Tuesday morning, following a 21-hour negotiation that lasted until nearly sunrise.

By evening, union leaders announced that enough members had voted to accept the tentative agreement. They said UTLA members will return to their classrooms Wednesday -- and school days will return to normal for LAUSD's more than 484,000 students.

Mayor Eric Garcetti, UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl and LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner announced the deal at a joint press conference at L.A. City Hall.

THE DEAL IN BRIEF

Three-year contract through 2021-22 school year

LAUSD relinquishes power to unilaterally raise class sizes to save money

Class sizes will gradually decrease over three years by at least one student per year

2021-22 provisions will require new funding, LAUSD officials say -- either through a parcel tax or increased state or federal funding

300 more nurses through 2021, 77 more middle- and high school counselors

A 6 percent raise for teachers -- 3 percent retroactive, 3 percent ongoing

Complete details below

"Today marks a new chapter," said Beutner, who added that the deal addresses class sizes and salary issues in a way that allows the district to remain solvent. "The strike nobody wanted is now behind us," he said.

Caputo-Pearl said he's confident that the deal hits all the crucial notes, particularly issues of salary and class size. "It's a very broad compact" around a number of other issues, such as racial and social justice, he added.

He noted that the strike was one of the largest the country has ever seen.

Garcetti said he was "happy to play a small role" in this "historic agreement."

WHAT COMES NEXT

Even after the members weigh in, the deal will need to clear several hurdles. L.A. Unified School Board members will need to approve the proposed contract.

Then, the district's regulators at the L.A. County Office of Education will have a chance to weigh in. State law gives them ten days to review the terms and decide whether the deal "endangers the fiscal well-being" of LAUSD.

Days before the teachers went on strike, the county appointed a "fiscal expert" to oversee LAUSD -- a serious show of concern about the state of the district's finances.

County regulators have expressed concerns that the raises LAUSD had offered UTLA could be unsustainable. (UTLA believes these concerns are unfounded.)

United Teachers Los Angeles members and supporters gather outside L.A. City Hall after the announcement of a tentative contract agreement with the L.A. Unified School District on Tues., Jan. 22, 2019. (Photo by Kyle Stokes/KPCC)

WHAT WE LEARNED

The city's first teachers strike in 30 years proved to be a pivotal moment in history, not only for the nation's second-largest school district but for many of the city's leaders.

The strike tested LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who had warned that LAUSD would need to spend most of a $2 billion reserve in order to keep its books balanced and could only afford to spend so much on UTLA's demands. Declining enrollment and rising benefits costs, he cautioned, would soon begin to squeeze out services for students. Union leadership cast doubt on those warnings, noting that previous forecasts of LAUSD's financial collapse have yet to come true.

Before the strike began, Beutner had also been developing even broader plans. He had been reportedly exploring a shake-up of the school system's central bureaucracy, according to the L.A. Times. But the union alleged Beutner's "re-imagining plan" would open the door to more charter school growth -- and the strike created a huge audience for these union critiques.

The strike altered L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti's relationship with LAUSD. Up until the strike, Garcetti had been hands-off in his dealings with the school system. Now, his office's negotiation of a strike-ending settlement will become a resume point for Garcetti, who's widely rumored to be considering a run for president.

United Teachers Los Angeles union president Alex Caputo-Pearl (left) speaks at L.A. City Hall, flanked by LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner (center) and school district administrators Vivian Ekchian and Pedro Salcido, during a press conference to announce a tentative contract agreement on Tues., Jan. 22, 2019. (Photo by Kyle Stokes/KPCC)

Finally, the strike considerably raised the profile of UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl. Before the strike, the union had been losing ground politically, with its candidates suffering morale-draining defeats in the 2017 school board elections. Through it all, Caputo-Pearl kept up the steady drumbeat toward a possible strike. Under his direction, the teachers union decisively won the battle for public opinion.

Beyond local news, UTLA stirred national conversation about the role of teachers and of teachers unions at a time of uncertainty for organized labor. Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus decision dealt a blow to public sector unions, making union membership essentially voluntary for government employees.

In that context, UTLA's strike was a visible show of unions' enduring power in L.A. and in California.

WHAT IS IN THE DEAL?

Here's a twist: after working for more than one year without a contract, some parts of the deal would cover the next three-and-a-half years -- through the 2021-2022 school year.

The extended contract term gives LAUSD time to phase in some of the most expensive provisions, but also allows for more ambitious plans to meet two key union demands: reduce class sizes and hire more nurses, librarians and counselors.

The lengthier contract also lets the district spread out the cost over time. LAUSD predicts the first two years' worth of class size reductions and staffing increases would cost $175 million. In the third and final year of the contract -- 2021-2022 -- district officials estimate spending another $228 million on these demands.

But three LAUSD officials said Tuesday the class size reductions beyond 2021-2022 were offered based on a "handshake agreement" with UTLA that the school district will figure out some sort of new funding stream.

One option would be to pass a "parcel tax" -- a kind of property tax that would require permission from two-thirds of the school district's voters. If they fail to get the votes, the district may attempt to revisit these class-size reductions before the contract expires.

Mayor Garcetti has also agreed to endorse a Nov. 2020 ballot measure that would increase the amount of property tax revenue available statewide; known as the "Schools and Communities First Act," it would exempt commercial properties from the Proposition 13 "property tax loophole."

CLASS-SIZE "SAFETY VALVE": GONE

Experts say class-size reduction is "one of the most expensive things you can do in education" because lowering class sizes requires hiring more teachers.

But the price tag wasn't the only factor that made class-size reduction the single biggest sticking point in the late stages of talks. The union desperately wanted to remove a "safety valve" provision of the contract that gave the district broad discretion to raise class sizes.

On Tuesday, LAUSD officials made a key concession: they agreed to give up the safety valve provision, called Section 1.5.

Throughout contract talks, district officials had hoped to replace Section 1.5 with a new class-size safety valve of some sort -- a new contract provision that would give the district similar authority to raise class sizes to save money.

There is no such replacement language in Tuesday's tentative agreement. But both LAUSD officials and union leaders acknowledged that if a budget crisis arises in the future, both sides may need to revisit the class size agreement in order to prevent cuts elsewhere.

CLASS SIZES REDUCED

Under Tuesday's agreement, LAUSD's class sizes would reach the highly ambitious targets UTLA leaders had hoped for -- but not until 2022. The class-size reductions would be across-the-board, but gradual.

Next school year, in Grades 4 through 12, class-size limits would decrease from current levels by one student. For example, most fourth grade classes, currently limited to 34 students, would instead be capped at 33. The district would also honor its offer to cap all middle- and high school English and math classes at 39 students next school year.

In the 75 highest-need elementary schools and 15 highest-need middle schools, the reductions will be even greater. Starting this year, they'll be able to reduce class sizes by an extra two students -- on top of the reductions all other schools are receiving.

In 2020-2021 -- the second year of the deal -- class size limits would step down again, by one more student. (Fourth grade classes would then top out at 32 students.)

And in the deal's final year, 2021-2022, the limits would decrease again by two more students. That would mean that, over the life of the deal, class-size caps would have decreased by four students in most grade levels.

Made a chart of the class-size reductions in the @UTLAnow-@LASchools deal. This doesn't cover all school types (magnet class sizes are smaller) or any non-academic classes (which are bigger)  but it gives you an idea of the deal's effect.#utlastrike #lausdstrike #lausd #utla pic.twitter.com/Cihwn9kpRX  Kyle Stokes (@kystokes) January 23, 2019

STAFFING LEVELS

LAUSD agreed to hire 300 more school nurses over the next two school years -- 150 in 2019-2020 and 150 in 2020-2021. UTLA officials say that's enough to fully meet their demand for a "full-time nurse at every school five days a week."

Another 78 librarians would be added to the district's ranks over the next two school years -- enough, union officials claim, to fully meet their demand for a full-time nurse in every middle- and high school.

The district also agreed to hire 17 counselors next school year and another 60 counselors in 2021-2022 -- enough to guarantee a student-to-counselor ratio of 500-to-1 in LAUSD middle- and high schools.

SALARY

UTLA accepted the 6 percent raise the district was offering -- a 3 percent raise retroactive to July 2017, and another 3 percent retroactive to July 2018.

A deal at this salary level doesn't create new, unanticipated costs for LAUSD; district officials had already set aside $303 million to cover the cost of a raise of this size.

The salary agreement only runs through the end of this school year. The two sides agreed to revisit the question of teacher salaries in January 2020.

ALSO OF NOTE

Charter school regulations. Charter schools are publicly funded, but run by outside non-profit organizations that compete with LAUSD for enrollment -- and therefore, state school funding. The tentative agreement calls on L.A. Unified School Board members to vote on a resolution endorsing state legislation blocking new charter schools from opening in the district until a "comprehensive study" can be undertaken. (Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and state schools superintendent Tony Thurmond have called for some form of temporary charter moratorium.) The tentative agreement also gives teachers union members on LAUSD campuses that share space with charter schools -- yes, really they do that; it can be an awkward arrangement -- a say on the charter's facilities agreement with the district.

Sacramento might help. LAUSD can free up more money in its books to pay for the deal if state lawmakers can help out on a highly technical matter: the district normally would have to pay a penalty for failing to maintain a certain ratio of administrators-to-teachers. But LAUSD, UTLA and the Mayor Garcetti's office joined forces to lobby state lawmakers for a waiver from that penalty. According to an LAUSD official, they spoke to Gov. Newsom, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and State Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins. If lawmakers come through, that waiver frees up $105 million over three years that would've otherwise gone to that penalty.

UTLA refuses healthcare concession. LAUSD had hoped to ask new hires into the district to have to put in one additional year of service to the district, and also be one year older, before they can become eligible for the district's generous retiree benefits package. But unlike most of the district's other employee unions that settled contracts this year, UTLA refused to accept the new "Rule of 87." For the time being, the teachers will be the only LAUSD employees who adhere to the "Rule of 85." The district will likely revisit this provision in the near future.

LAUSD had hoped to ask new hires into the district to have to put in one additional year of service to the district, and also be one year older, before they can become eligible for the district's generous retiree benefits package. But unlike most of the district's other employee unions that settled contracts this year, UTLA refused to accept the new "Rule of 87." For the time being, the teachers will be the only LAUSD employees who adhere to the "Rule of 85." The district will likely revisit this provision in the near future. Early childhood teachers get a lunch break. They didn't before!

'Community schools.' UTLA has long endorsed an educational model called "community schools," which make schools into hubs for not only educational programming, but wraparound services like health care and after school activities. Community schools also, by UTLA's definition, offer "culturally relevant" teaching and give educators a greater voice. LAUSD has agreed to fund a pilot program for community schools at 30 campuses district-wide by 2022. As part of that pilot program, UTLA members on those campuses will have a greater say over spending decisions on those campuses.

Random searches. UTLA has supported student activists who oppose LAUSD's longstanding policy of searching middle- and high school students at random for weapons or drugs. As part of their tentative agreement, the district would expand its pilot program -- in which LAUSD administrators adhere to a more relaxed search policy -- to another 28 schools.

To read L.A. Unified's summary of the deal, click here.

To read United Teachers Los Angeles' summary of the deal, click here.

And here is the full tentative agreement in all its legalese glory:

UPDATES:

7:49 p.m.: This article was updated with the results of the teachers union vote.

7:14 p.m.: This article was updated with more complete details of the tentative agreement.

10:29 a.m.: This post was updated to address a technical issue.

This article was originally published at 10:15 a.m.
In 1980, a fifth-grader whose allowance was less than $44 a week would have owed no tax at all on the 10-spot grammy paid for doing chores. And he or she would have had to have a weekly stipend of more than $2,000 a week before the 70 percent rate kicked in on that extra $10.

In between there were more than a dozen income thresholds  call them brackets  above which each additional dollar earned was taxed at a slightly higher rate.

The spunky, defiant Ocasio-Cortez, widely known as AOC, her initials and her Twitter handle, explained it well on 60 Minutes  Your tax rate, lets say from zero to $75,000, may be 10 percent or 15 percent, she said. But once you get to the tippy-top  on your 10 millionth dollar  sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 or 70 percent. That doesnt mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate, but it means that as you climb up this ladder, you should be contributing more.

In other words, if, under her hypothetical scenario, you make $10 million, youre not paying a 70 percent tax on all $10 million, as Walker told the fifth-graders in his anecdote. Youre simply paying 70 percent on every dollar of taxable income above $10 million. All the other money youve earned is taxed at a combination of the lower rates.
The Philippines will need more tower companies to assure faster internet speed and put it at par with neighboring Asian countries. The search for such companies is as critical as the governments decision to select a third telecommunications company. The time is ripe to engage more key foreign tower companies in building a network infrastructure to serve the telecom players and the nation as a whole. The Philippines needs more partners like Nigerias HIS Towers, Malaysias Edotco Towers and China Energy, as well as ISOC Infrasturctures and Singapore-based ISON ECP Tower Pte. Ltd., which recently signed separate agreements with the Department of Information and Technology. The prospects of improving internet services in the country are now promising with the keen interests expressed by over five foreign companies in supporting the necessary build-up of cell towers. As the telecom industry is being expanded to three operators, the much-needed network infrastructure should be set up sooner to accommodate the third player. The more than 60 million users of mobile telecommunication services in the Philippines are expecting a game-changing scenario with the promise of having three telecom players now. The required number of cell towers in the Philippines is staggering. Over 50,000 cell towers must be put up in the fastest time possible, prompting Grameenphone Deputy Directorto say that ... for the industry to grow, the government should not limit the tower companies to two... our suggestion? It should not be limited to two, it can be more. Grameenphone knows where its coming from. It is a tower construction company and a leading provider of mobile telecommunications services in Bangladesh with more than 60 million subscriptions at a mobile penetration rate of 76 percent of the 171 million population. Another interested bidder is American Tower Corp. with a global portfolio of over 170,000 cell sites composed of towers in advanced, evolving and developing wireless markets, in various stages of wireless network deployment. ATC chief business officer for Asiasaid in a recent government hearing here he was confident the final rules will allow more than two tower providers... we need more companies (more than restricting it to two) if you want a reliable industry. The Philippine Competition Commission declared it with authority. Limiting the number of telco tower players, it said, may raise competition concerns and be in direct contravention to the open access regime that the government is advocating for. The DICT agrees and is pushing in Congress for the passage of the Open Access and Spectrum Management Bill and of a common tower policy conducive to fair competition.Motorcycle taxis, popularly known in the Philippines as Angkas, are receiving absurd criticisms. The motorcycle ride-hailing application just recently received a cheap shot from ImagineLaw, a non-government organization.ImagineLaws executive directorand communications officerin aarticle inferred that motorcycles were dangerous given their design and environmental risks, and that no amount of driver training could protect their passengers from road crashes. ImagineLaw invoked a major study that claimed to have covered several smaller studies that were incomplete and flawed in the first place. This led one Angkas supporter to wonder if ImagineLaw has a personal beef with motorcycle taxis or with motorcycle riders in general. What is clear, says the Angkas supporter, is that ImagineLaw is against the regulation of motorcycle taxis in the guise of being concerned about the publics safety. If they are so concerned with the dangers that motorcycles bring to the riding public, then why not move to ban all motorcycles altogether? Their selective targeting of motorcycle taxis make their claimed objective somewhat unbelievable, the supporter adds. ImagineLaws website declares that the law is a valuable tool in achieving meaningful social change. But if social change, for them, is depriving commuters of an important transport option and motorcycle taxi riders of livelihood which can help their families, then they must be seriously re-trained in terms of social priorities and empathy.Fresh from its award from the New York-based Global Finance magazine, Security Bank received another feather in its cap after it received its fourth Bank of the Year Award from The Banker, known as the Oscars of the banking industry. This now puts Security Bank in an elite circle, along with major banks in the Philippines, after bagging the recognition four times, an impressive achievement for a medium-sized universal and commercial bank. The Bankers Bank of the Year awards recognize banks that deliver strong financial performance and demonstrate product innovation and services and employ new technology. Security Banks strategic partner, MUFG Bank, was also recognized by the same institution as Japans Bank of the Year for the fourth consecutive time in 2018.. The awards strengthened the credentials of Security Bank and MUFGs strategic partnership as a conduit to better Philippine-Japanese business relations. The two banks last year arranged 229 business collaboration meetings, providing their clients a venue to expand their networks and customer base in their 2nd Business Matching Fair.
Evers said that while Wisconsin has much to be proud of, "we are also a state among the worst to raise a black family, and we are a state thats spending more on corrections than our entire UW System."

Evers also said "we trail the country in start-ups and small business creation."

Evers extolled the Wisconsin Idea -- the guiding principle for the University of Wisconsin System, that its mission extends beyond the classroom and into all communities of the state -- which former Gov. Scott Walker tried but failed to alter.

"We are a state forged by the Wisconsin Idea  the notion that education informs our public policy and that knowledge should embrace the communities we're called to serve," Evers said.

Evers' comments about working together on the budget appear to be responding to Fitzgerald.

"I expect legislation arriving on my desk will be passed with broad support and in the spirit of bipartisanship," Evers said. "That means instead of taking up an entirely new budget of its own, I expect the Legislature to take up the budget I crafted by and with the people of our state."
After their introduction to ostracods, the students came up with a slew of questions they wanted to answer, which Gerrish whittled to a few focal areas.

How do marine ostracods fare in freshwater? How does artificial light, such as light pollution from cities, affect courtship behaviors? Do females ever get confused by light pollution when choosing a mate? What do the other seven species of ostracods eat? How do you sort different species into an ostracod family tree?

LDI students Abby Smanski, Addie Wieman, Maxwell Petersen and Paige Yang are tackling the question of where ostracods go during the day and at night. Theyve received an underwater photo of the reef, but theyre still waiting for pictures of ostracods taken at different times of the day. Theyll make a diorama of the reef as their final project.

Theyre not too fazed by the delay. Thats just how science works sometimes, said Yang, an eighth-grader. When things dont go according to plan, you have to adjust.

For instance, a weak internet connection is limiting the number of weekly Skype sessions theyll have with their teachers, said Wieman, a sixth-grader. She pulled up a map of Carrie Bow Cay on Google Earth to measure the islands dimensions: 330 by 113 feet.
Maybe a little dark for Hallmark, but as wordplay goes, Ive seen worse, and with the visual context  yeah, I could see Cpl. LeBeau trying the line on Col. Klinks secretary on CBS prime time.

Oh, and before anyone works up a whole new firestorm of PC outrage, asserting that neither the Minnetonka teens nor the cast of the 1960s sitcom understood the depraved gravity of the Nazi regime or acted in sympathy with it ... well, of the series cast John Banner (Sgt. Schultz), Werner Klemperer (Col. Klink) and Leon Askin (Gen. Burhalter) were all German Jews who fled the Nazi regime. And Robert Clary, who played Cpl. LeBeau, had been interned in a real German concentration camp.

Nuff said about them. Safe to say they got it.

As for the kids, all I know is as soon as the scheisse sturm broke, the post came down, and an apology went up in its place. Probably not the reaction of an underage member of the Aryan Nation.

All right, lets be real clear, real Nazis are no laughing matter. The original Brownshirted variety or the contemporary Hitlerite wannabes stinking up the armpits of our body politic. Any fool realizes that.
Helping teachers is my specialty ... which youngsters had low self esteem or needed to ask more questions and which ones were just trying to get your goat, says Grayson, who is disappointed by the disappearance of cursive in most curriculums.

He cites research from child developmental psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Perry and handwriting specialist Iris Hatfield that shows writing in cursive leads an improvement to fine motor skills, stimulation of neural connections in the brain, increased attention span and development of impulse control.

Grayson is a celebrant of National Handwriting Day, which falls today, Jan. 23, in honor of John Hancocks birthday. Signatures are not only used as proof of identification, they tell much about a person, he notes.

The body of your writing, Grayson says, tells how you really are, while the signature shows how you want to appear  it may be totally different from your typical handwriting, done in a flashy, quirky or fancy manner. Mood may also affect a signature, says Grayson, using the example of signing a sizeable check written to someone versus signing a big check for yourself to cash.
She was raised in a rural Wisconsin community composed of hard-working folks of Norwegian heritage. Gina spent her earlier years singing with a church quartet. In her later years she enjoyed garage sales and selling items on E Bay. Gina graduated from Viroqua High School in 1965. She attended Winona Business College in Winona, Minn. Upon graduation, she moved to California, taking a job with the Hartford Insurance Company, in policy issuance area. Gina spent several years in California, before moving back to Wisconsin, staying with The Hartford Insurance Group, in Milwaukee. She spent next 20 years working in several locations for Hartford, ending up as assistance office administration manager in the Des Moines, Iowa, and Cincinnati offices. She then returned to Wisconsin to work for Marsh McLennan Agency as underwriter in Milwaukee, finally ending her career at Travelers in Naperville.
The Wisconsin state tax forms have arrived, and we are anticipating the federal ones will be here soon. This year we are putting all forms and instruction manuals near the main entrance doors to the library. These forms will be available on a first-come first-serve basis. If we run out of forms, we will not be ordering any additional ones. However, we will be happy to help you locate the forms on the IRS website at www.irs.gov. Please feel free to call us to find out what tax forms have been delivered.

In partnership with the Department of Workforce Development we are pleased to offer monthly employment-related services to area residents. Myron Daubert, a licensed professional counselor for the state of Wisconsin is at the library every month on the first Tuesday conducting one-on-one training sessions. The next session will be offered Tuesday, Feb. 5 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Residents are encouraged to register in advance for 30-minute individual sessions. During the sessions, Daubert provides information and guidance on a variety of topics ranging from writing a resume and cover letter, interview tips, to searching the Wisconsin Job Center website for employment opportunities. To see a complete list of sessions available or to register, stop by the library or call 637-7151. The service is provided at no charge.
A state-wide endangered missing person alert has been issued for a cognitively disabled adult from the Tomah area.

According to the the Tomah Police Department, 23-year-old Jonathan Coenen was reported missing Saturday by his guardian around 10 a.m. He is believed to be traveling to Orlando, Florida, via Greyhound bus.

Several police agencies along the Greyhound route have been contacted.

Tomah police said there were two vehicles related to the missing person report and that both vehicles have been located.

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A long-time Tomah financial institution has been sold.

Citizens Community Bancorp, the parent company of Citizens Community Federal, announced an agreement Tuesday to purchase F&M Bank of Tomah.

F&M Bank was founded in 1911 and, according to a Citizens press release, is the second largest financial institution in Tomah with 20 percent market share in Monroe County.

Citizens Community Bancorp is headquartered in Eau Claire and operates nine branches in Wisconsin, nine in Minnesota and one in Michigan.

The release said F&M Bank CEO Pete Reichardt "will continue his role leading CCF Bank's business activities in the Tomah market."

Our team looks forward to working with the Citizens team to serve our clients, Reichardt said. Given the challenges and opportunities of community banking today, the combined bank will be better positioned to meet the needs of our communities. I look forward to joining Citizens senior leadership team and helping integrate the companies and expand in the area. We share a common set of values and a vision that will provide significant benefits to our customers and shareholders.
- The United States Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) imposed a one year ban for issuing H-2A and H-2B work visas to Filipino workers

- They said that it was because of overstaying and human trafficking issues

- The Palace said that they respect the DHS decision

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The United States Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) has announced that they removed the eligibility of Filipino workers to get H-2A and H-2B work visas for one year. KAMI learned that this is due to the severe overstaying and human trafficking issues.

Nearly 40 percent of H-2B visa holders from the Philippines overstayed their period of authorized stay, said the US Federal Register as reported by ABS-CBN News.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the US Embassy Manila has issued the greatest number of T-derivative visas.

"A recent review of certain T-1 status recipients, whose spouses were issued T-2 visas during this same period, shows that approximately 60 percent were determined to have been trafficked to the United States on H-2B visas," they said.

Concerned about the high volume of trafficking victims from the Philippines who were originally issued H-2B visas and the potential that continued H-2B visa issuance may encourage or serve as an avenue for future human trafficking from the Philippines, they added.

Photo from Mega Scene

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As reported by Inquirer, the ban is effective from Jan. 19, 2019 to Jan. 18, 2020.

The H-2A visas are temporary visas for foreign agricultural workers. Meanwhile, H-2B visas are for foreign non-agricultural workers.

The Palace already commented on the issue. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that the respect the decision of the DHS. The Palace will let the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and US Embassy Manila to handle this case.

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How Many 'N' Letters Are There In 'Cinnamon'? Name the country starting with "Y". Who wrote bestseller The Da Vinci Code? Check out a series of new tricky questions!  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

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Toxic could describe different aspects of the year just ended, and in fact, one influential institution in Britain has decided to do just that. The learned, and obviously biased, lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) have selected this word as official Word of the Year 2018.

The organization solemnly intones this laden, perhaps leaden, word as not only of significance but also representative. The word is described as not only heavily in demand, meaning entered by many people in the search portal of the OED, but also important in describing events and attitudes of the current time.

Having opened the door to toxicity for their own purposes, the editors at OED turn advocates and activists.

They veer from lexicography into opinion.

Toxic masculinity is a frequent use of the term, they tell us. In other words, in OED editors hands the shield of dictionary objectivity combines with the sword of editorial aggression  make that assertiveness.
UNION GROVE  Union Grove has hired a new administrator and clerk, Village President Mike Aimone announced Monday.

Michael Hawes, the current administrator/clerk-treasurer of Wind Point, will fill the administrator position starting Feb. 6, and Bradley Calder, the current clerk-treasurer of the Village of Big Bend in Waukesha County, will start as clerk Feb. 4. The hires will fill the positions of former administrator Mark Janiuk, who retired Dec. 31, and Clerk-treasurer Liz Schwertfeger, who retires March 1.

Schwertfeger was the villages longtime deputy clerk but assumed the village clerks position after Jill Firkus recent departure to become deputy clerk in Mount Pleasant.

The village last year split the clerk-treasurer role into two positions. Former Racine County Treasurer Betty Majeski is temporarily serving as treasurer, and the village will begin searching for a permanent treasurer once Hawes and Calder have settled into their positions, said Aimone.

The village will need to have some sort of growth to keep up with rising costs from employee wages, benefits and public works, Aimone said.

Its not that we want to have explosive growth, he said. We want to have the paced growth necessary to keep up with our increasing costs.
Im worried if we dont move forward here and be proactive, I could see the Town of Dover not existing in 20 years, Stratton said.

Under state law, villages and cities have the authority to annex land from towns, so Stratton said it is a very real concern that Union Grove or Yorkville could start annexing Dovers land. By state law, property owners in towns can request a contiguous incorporated municipality to annex their properties.

Border agreement

Last fall, Dover officials tried to enter into a border agreement with their counterparts in Union Grove and Yorkville to prevent both from annexing, but neither village was interested in the agreement. Sherry Gruhn, Yorkvilles village president, said that does not mean Yorkville wants to annex Dovers land.

At this point in time, we have no intentions of annexing any point of Dover, Gruhn said. We have so much going on right now in our Village of Yorkville that the thought of expanding into Dover (to the west) or Raymond (to the north) or any of those areas is not at all even a remote possibility.
RACINE  A Racine man is facing felony charges after he was found bloodied after reportedly beating up a woman acquaintance.

Richard Hernandez, of the 1100 block of College Avenue, is charged with felony counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct, all with the use of a dangerous weapon.

According to the criminal complaint:

At about 7:46 p.m. Monday, Racine Police were dispatched to Hernandezs residence after police received several anonymous calls reporting a disturbance there.

When an officer arrived, he was met at the door by Hernandez, who reportedly had blood on his hands and clothes. Inside the home, a large amount of blood was found on the bedroom mattress.

The officer reported that he met with a female victim, who said Hernandez had punched her and kicked her in the face numerous times and had cut her chin with a knife.

As of Wednesday night, Hernandez remained in custody at the County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond, online records show. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 31 at the County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

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Canned goods can also last almost indefinitely, if "the can isn't doing anything creepy" like swelling, Lightner said (and she's never actually witnessed that). Stuff that relies a lot on texture will eventually degrade, however, so keep up on your sardine-eating. Canned goods you're not getting to are generally welcomed by the food bank (though a can of corn of very advanced age might be best off thanked, dumped in the compost and recycled).

Vinegar never goes bad. But, Lightner said, the taste of aged vinegars, like some balsamic ones, will begin to change with time - she counseled me to donate some of my unopened supply to the food bank, which I was very happy to do.

Oils eventually get rancid. Smell them - you'll know.

Condiments and sauces have varying life spans. Stuff with lots of acidity, like hot sauce, lasts a long time, but won't be the same after the color starts to change. Stuff with lots of salt, like soy sauce, should be OK.
Philippine Airlines said Wednesday it has yet to finalize a definite agreement with a new strategic investor. PAL has always been open to the possibility of a strategic investor. As of date, there is no definite agreement between PAL and any investor, PAL Holdings Inc. told the stock exchange. A report from Nikkei stated that ANA Holdings of Japan was set to acquire a 10-percent stake in PAL for $90 million. PAL has code share agreements with ANA over flights between the Philippines and Japan. PAL plans to establish itself as a world-class airline, but said goal does not necessarily involve the entry of any investor, the Philippine flag carrier said. PAL improved its rating internationally last year, even without the support of an investor.PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said earlier the company was expecting to close a deal with a strategic investor in the first half of the year. PAL tapped Morgan Stanley as financial advisor for the transaction. PAL Holdings earlier reported a net loss of P3.29 billion in January to September of 2018, wider than the P2.31 billion in losses in the same period in 2017. Total revenues in January to September amounted to P112.07 billion, or 16 percent higher than P96.58 billion in the same period in 2017.
Go to Culvers right now and you can still get ButterBurgers, crinkle-cut fries and all the custard you want, but you cant get one popular item: Buffalo chicken tenders. It's blamed on a lot of factors, from COVID-19 to TikTok.
In the 19th century, a portion of the U.S. population believed that slavery was acceptable and defensible. That view has since matured into a universal rejection of slavery, and anyone you encounter will condemn slavery as an evil.

Many in Germany and Poland, when the Nazis were in power, cooperated with work of exterminating Jewish people. Present-day citizens around the world recognize the Holocaust as a ghastly evil that must never be repeated.

As the world turns, as our present years glide into history, the time will arrive when people will be dismayed and shocked to learn that, back in the late 20th century and early 21st, it was legally acceptable for people to kill tiny humans  alive and distinct from the mothers upon whom they depended  and to invade the protected environment of those little ones, force those them out and declare them to be medical waste.
With Religious Freedom Day marked last week, lets remember that there cant be religious freedom without freedom from religion.

If there werent freedom from religion, who would make those who arent religious become religious? Which religion would they be forced into? Would they be forced to become Christians or Muslims? Which one is more free?

Gov. Pete Ricketts and other Christians understandably feel the need to highlight Christian persecution abroad. In his press release, he focused on legitimate issues in Iran and North Korea.

But what about our ally Saudi Arabia? The Saudis impose religiously motivated misogyny in the form of male guardianship and impose the death penalty on anyone who leaves their religion. I dont know why Gov. Ricketts and other American politicians ignore Rahaf al-Qunun, who fled Saudi Arabia in fear for her life, but Id wager her atheism has something to do with it.

When someone says religion was a part of our countrys founding, they arent entirely wrong. Religion is inseparable from our politics because it affects what each of us believe, and politics is entirely about what we believe.
A nominee for a federal judicial vacancy serving Nebraska is enduring criticism not for his work as a lawyer but regarding his membership in the Knights of Columbus.

Two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee  Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii  expressed concerns whether Omaha attorney Brian Buescher can be an impartial judge, given his affiliation with the worlds largest Catholic fraternal organization.

Intolerance of religion, regardless of what faith, is as disappointing as it is unconstitutional. Freedom of religion is instrumental to our nations history, and its why the founders included it in the First Amendment, entrusting Congress with the sacred responsibility to protect the free exercise thereof.

Last week, Sen. Ben Sasse introduced a resolution to reaffirm freedom of religion and reiterate that the Constitution sets forth that no religious test shall ever be required as qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. Notably, it was approved without objection from the body.

Sasse is correct in his reasoning. But such a resolution  brought forth on National Religious Freedom Day  should never have needed to be considered on the Senate floor in the first place.
As the son of a law enforcement officer who was on the job for nearly four decades, I would submit there ought to be an 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not exploit dead cops.

It is grotesque that anyone would ever seize on the killing of a police officer for political purposes. Alas, the practice is bipartisan.

On the left, the exploitation takes the form of those who ask that we try to understand the sense of alienation that drives some people to "self-radicalize" to the point where they could kill a police officer. We heard this insane argument from community activists and the media during a rash of violence against cops about five years ago -- in cities like Dallas, New York and Baton Rouge.

On the right, when the alleged assailant is an illegal immigrant, we often see a cheap and shrill attempt to turn the grief of families and communities over a fallen guardian into outrage over illegal immigration and "open borders." Republicans typically use this cynical pitch as a way to accuse Democrats of coddling cop killers.

That's what the GOP did last January, when it put out a devastating 30-second online ad that helped cause the opposing party to buckle and end President Trump's first shutdown after just three days.
The program was perfect for the Ruiz family. Developed for middle-income families, its aim is to help people who don't qualify for housing assistance but lack $20,000-$40,000 for a down payment. The couple received a no-interest loan for a down payment through the program and secured private financing for the remainder of the $185,000, three-bedroom home.

The blue-and-white home was built on a lot that had been the site of a dilapidated house that the city of Wakefield had bought and demolished. The program will lead to both new and refurbished homes in Wakefield, city administrator Jim Litchfield said.

The Ruiz house is just the start. Utilizing the program funds, three other houses are or will soon be under construction in Wakefield and four other homes are being rehabilitated. In Wayne, the program has led to the construction of a triplex, and two single-family homes are planned.

The revolving-fund program will ensure that both towns will be able to add housing in the future.

Anyone who lives in a small town will tell you how big a deal that is. Jobs draw people to a community, but those workers need a place to live, too. Available quality housing helps employers attract and retain workers, Weaver said.
The Real Jackie Kennedy Her style and grace were legendary, and her image came to define the 1960s. She captured the hearts of world leaders, fashion icons and people all over the planet, who knew her as Jackie Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis, or simply Jackie O. But who was the real Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis? Take our quiz and find out. Take The Quiz 
The story is that Remigio didn't know quite what that was, said Tera Norris, president of JA of Lincoln.

He told his boss, As soon as you tell me what JA is, Ill tell you why we dont have it, Norris said.

And as soon as he understood the value  teaching young people how to start and grow a business  he was all-in.

He called around and probably elbowed a circle of prominent Lincoln men  to get it going, Norris said.

Remigio raised funds and provided a building on the Goodyear campus free of charge for more than 30 years, said Ken Carlson, who was recruited from the Goodyear ranks to lead the chapter.

His expectations were high and he expected you to meet 'em and praised you if you did, Carlson said. And if you didnt, you better try harder next time.

Carlson credits Remigios persistence in expanding the presence of JA to 31,000 students in a 12-county area.

And Remigio remained a force in the organization until the end, most recently serving on the board of trustees.

Hed come to all the events, Norris said. Hed call and email me advice all the time and it was always great advice.
A Lincoln woman who last year signed for what she believed to be a pound of meth from Mexico was sent to federal prison Wednesday for 15 years.

Nicole L. Delgado, 34, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more methamphetamine in a deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office for Nebraska to recommend the sentence.

Chief U.S. District Judge John Gerrard could have given her nearly 20 years given her record and the facts of the crime.

In March 2018, U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents contacted Lincoln police about a suspicious package that had come across the Mexican border and they intercepted in Cincinnati. Inside the cardboard box, addressed to Delgado at a Lincoln address, they found three bags of methamphetamine that together weighed just less than a pound.

Investigators removed two of them before delivering the package to the northeast Lincoln home March 5.

After Delgado signed for it, investigators watched her go inside, then out a back door with the package to her vehicle, where police arrested her.

In court records, police said Delgado told them she had been accused of stealing 15 pounds of meth and $50,000 from Mexican drug dealers and agreed to deliver the package to earn their forgiveness.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP)  A girl who survived the collapse of a snow fort in suburban Chicago while another girl died has been released from a hospital.

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Relatives say the 9-year-old is recovering but has been crying over the death of 12-year-old Esther Jung outside Rothem Church in Arlington Heights. The girls were playing in a snow fort Sunday when it collapsed.

Esther is the daughter of the church pastor. Police are calling her death a tragic accident.

Sophia Shin told relatives that she called for help but apparently wasn't heard. The temperature at the time was about 14 degrees. Sophia was treated for hypothermia.

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TOLEDO  Illinois started 2019 with a few new firearms laws in effect, including one that expanded the 72-hour waiting period for handgun purchases to all firearms.

Dave Clark, owner of the X Ring Custom firearms store in Toledo, said Illinois firearms owners were already accustomed to waiting for 24 hours to purchase rifles and shotguns and for 72 hours to buy handguns. Consequently, he said the new 72-hour waiting period for purchasing all firearms will not be a big change for them.

"Illinois customers are used to waiting for guns anyway," Clark said. The store owner added that he will advise his customers to plan ahead if they need to purchase a new firearm for a hunting season or other scheduled events.

Supporters have said waiting period laws like the one signed last year by outgoing Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner allow for a cooling-off period that could prevent someone from making a rash decision and being able to purchase a gun and have it in-hand within a day.

Clark said he thinks that the expanded 72-hour waiting period will place another burden on law-abiding firearms owners without preventing criminals from continuing to obtain guns illegally.

"We just see it as one more impediment to exerting one's Second Amendment rights," said John Boch, executive director of the Savoy-based Guns Save Life firearm rights advocacy group. "We as gun owners are not going to let an additional 48-hour waiting period stop us from exercising our Second Amendment rights."

Boch said Guns Save Life, which has a Charleston chapter, is asking firearms owners to be mindful that the new waiting period law also applies to private transactions between individuals, not just to commercial sales at gun shows and shows.

The second piece of gun legislation signed last year by Rauner is the so-called red flag law. This law authorizes judges to take weapons from people who show warning signs of being a danger, such as making threats on social media. The law is meant to prevent domestic violence, suicide and mass shooting incidents.

Police and family can petition the courts for an emergency order, and a judge must find probable cause that someone is an immediate threat to themselves or others. Local law enforcement officers are responsible for executing a search warrant and seizing a persons firearms. A person who has an order against them will also have their FOID card suspended.

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Boch said he thinks that there were already states laws in place to get guns out of the hands of those deemed dangerous. Boch said he worries that the Illinois "red flag" law could be abused in the way that divorce attorneys sometimes file for unnecessary orders of protection.

Under the "red flag" law, Bock said law-abiding gun owners could have their Second Amendment rights suspended for at least 10 days until a hearing is held. He said the owner would then have to incur court costs to fight the emergency order.

Clark said such "red flag" laws have been abused in other states. Still, Clark said the new Illinois law also does make it illegal to file false petitions.

"Hopefully that will cut down on any abuse of it," Clark said.

In addition to the new "red flag" and waiting period laws, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed new legislation on Thursday to require state licensing of gun dealers. The law passed the General Assembly last year, but Democrats used procedural rules to prevent it from being vetoed by Rauner.

"We can prevent someone from buying a gun for someone else who is not legally allowed to own a gun," Pritzker said at the bill signing. "Many of the incidents of gun violence that occur in our city and all across our state occur with illegal guns."

Under the new law, firearm stores must have a state license certified by the Illinois State Police. Licensed dealers must provide annual training for employees, have video surveillance in their stores and be open to inspection by state police and local law enforcement.

State police are also required to publish key information related to crime-related firearms and there are penalties for individuals who fail to maintain records of private sales.

Opponents have characterized the law as unnecessary bureaucracy for smaller gun dealers, specifically because the federal government already licenses gun dealers. The Illinois State Rifle Association issued a statement in which it promised a lawsuit challenging the new law.

The action taken (Thursday) is another assault on our Second Amendment rights, executive director Richard Pearson said in a statement. Nothing in this bill is going to enhance public safety in Illinois. The only thing that is being accomplished here is the creation of a bureaucratic nightmare for gun dealers.

Contact Rob Stroud at (217) 238-6861. Follow him on Twitter: @TheRobStroud

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CHARLESTON -- A call regarding an "unknown medical situation" led to the arrest of multiple area residents accused on drug-related charges, city police reported.

The investigation into the call resulted in the arrest of Abby Robertson, 22, and James Phillips, 23, both of Marshall; Brooklyn Gilbert, 21, of Charleston; and Michael McCullough, 35, of Martinsville.

At approximately 12:31 p.m. Friday, Charleston officers responded to a purported medical situation in the 1200 block of 12th Street. Responding officers learned a witness observed occupants of a silver SUV appearing to be helping a semi-conscious person into the vehicle, according to law enforcement.

Officers were able to catch up to, and eventually stop, the vehicle on Westfield Road near Illinois Route 130.

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After approaching the vehicle, officers observed one of the five occupants, McCullough, was slumped over and seemingly unconscious. Paramedics were called to the location, where they evaluated him prior to him signing a refusal to be treated, police reported.

Another occupant of the vehicle allegedly admitted to possessing cannabis and paraphernalia, resulting in a probable cause search of the vehicle, police say. The search allegedly resulted in the seizure of drug paraphernalia, more than 13 grams of cannabis and approximately one gram of suspected methamphetamine.

The 2005 Ford driven by Robertson was seized pending a vehicle seizure hearing.

Robertson, Phillips, Gilbert, and McCullough were all placed in the Coles County jail on pending preliminary charges of possession of methamphetamine. The fifth occupant, Christopher E. Sanders, was arrested on a warrant out of Crawford County, Crawford County police officials say.

In a separate incident, a Charleston man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine after police noticed the man allegedly riding a bicycle in the "middle of the road" without proper lighting or reflectors at 12:54 a.m. Saturday near the intersection of Fourth Street and Pierce Avenue.

Upon stopping the bike, police arrested William C. Wright, 43, of Charleston. When officers made contact with the cyclist who identified himself as William Wright, he admitted to being wanted. Wright had active warrants out of Coles County and Douglas County, police say. Wright was placed under arrest, resulting in the search of his person.

This search resulted in the seizure of paraphernalia containing suspected meth, police said.

Wright was placed in the Coles County jail for the warrants and pending charges of possession.

Contact Jarad Jarmon at (217) 238-6839. Follow him on Twitter: @JJarmonReporter

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CHARLESTON -- A man suspected of making a bomb threat to the Mattoon Walmart was injured when he jumped or fell from the second floor of the Coles County Courthouse after a divorce case hearing Tuesday.

James Brian Brigham, 49, was in jail custody in the bomb threat case and was brought to the courthouse under guard to the divorce hearing, according to an Illinois State Police officer. The incident took place following the divorce case hearing, he said.

Neither state police nor the Coles County Sheriff's Office would say whether Brigham jumped or accidentally fell when he went over the courthouse's second-floor railing and landed on the first floor about 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Brigham, for whom court records show a rural Ashmore address, was taken to Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, after the incident, according to state police Lt. Tom Houser. A Carle representative said no information on his condition could be released Wednesday.

State police are investigating the incident at the request of the sheriff's office, both police agencies indicated. On Tuesday, Chief Deputy Tad Freezeland of the sheriff's office said the request was made because the incident took place on county property.

Attorney Monroe McWard said he was at the courthouse at the time of the incident.

He said he was on the first floor talking to another attorney when he "saw a body crash to the floor." It was apparent that Brigham was injured and courthouse security personnel immediately "swung into action," he said.

McWard said he couldn't tell if Brigham jumped or fell accidentally.

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Houser said police weren't releasing any additional details about the incident because it's still under investigation. He said a report will be sent to the county state's attorney's office for a determination on any charges to be filed.

County court records indicate that the divorce sought by Brigham's estranged wife was granted during Tuesday's hearing.

Also, Mattoon police said they believe Brigham's wife was shopping at the Walmart store on the evening of Dec. 21 when he's suspected of calling the store and making a bomb threat, leading to its evacuation.

In connection with the bomb threat, Brigham is charged with disorderly conduct, a felony offense. He pleaded not guilty to the charge earlier this month and a status hearing in the case is currently scheduled for Monday.

Brigham also faces a separate, pending case in which he's charged with drug possession and domestic battery.

According to police, the bomb threat call led to the store's evacuation. Brigham was hospitalized immediately after his arrest on Dec. 28 because he claimed he drank anti-freeze just before being taken into custody, police indicated.

In 1990, Brigham was sentenced to prison for his role in attempting to disarm a police officer. He was in custody at the time on charges in connection with several rural area burglaries, for which he also was sentenced to prison.

Photos: 2019 mug shots from the JG-TC

Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave

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CHARLESTON -- Eastern Illinois University will host a Friday, Feb. 8, open house, giving community college transfer students an exclusive look at all the opportunities Illinois top-ranked public regional university can provide.

EIUs Feb. 8 open house will feature representatives from every academic area at EIU, as well as representatives from the Departments of Admissions, Financial Aid and Housing and Dining.

Visiting campus during our Open House events is the perfect opportunity to see what EIU is all about, said Kelly Miller, EIU director of admissions. The college search process is all about helping students find the best fit for their academic and career interests. Weve found that students who are interested in small class sizes, personal attention from faculty and staff, the opportunity to have hands-on involvement with relevant research in their field, and a desire to positively serve and impact people and communities often find that EIU is an exceptional fit.

We want every prospective student at this event to learn exactly what EIU can do for them and their futures, added Miller. The Friday visit will give open house participants a great opportunity to explore what a day in the life looks like as current EIU students head to class and campus events as part of their normal routines.

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Miller shared that because EIU is able to personalize the open house experience to individual participants, prospective students are given exclusive opportunities to meet and interact with faculty and staff members from departments and areas most closely aligned with their interests.

That approach helps us create the early relationships students need to become engaged in their college experience, and to help them succeed as EIU students and as future Eastern alumni.

The Feb. 8 visit will include campus tours, a current EIU student question-and-answer panel, and a complimentary lunch. Prospective students who apply for EIU admission during the open house event also will have their application fees waived -- normally a $30 charge -- along with the side-by-side assistance of EIU admissions counselors who can assist them with the college application process.

Last fall, EIU was once again named Illinois top public regional institution by U.S. News & World Report -- a distinction EIU has held for several consecutive years, and one that EIU representatives are always eager to share with prospective students looking for their future college home.

EIU students are successful because our qualified faculty and caring staff create strategic and meaningful student outcomes, Miller said. We absolutely love what we do, because we absolutely love seeing our students succeed. Our open houses are special for us, because for so many, thats where the great relationships with our students start.

For more information about or to register for EIUs Feb. 8 open house, visit www.eiu.edu/openhouse/. To learn more about EIUs various programs and services, visit the EIU website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIUs public information office at (217) 581-7400.

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URBANA -- Soybean prices rallied and then fell last week on developments in trade negotiations with China and the emergence of issues with the crop in South America, according to University of Illinois agricultural economist Todd Hubbs.

Considerable uncertainty surrounds both of these matters and is set to continue as we move into 2019. The development of soybean prices over the next year depends on how both of these issues get resolved, Hubbs says.

Dry conditions in Brazil contributed heavily to the recent rally in soybean prices. After a strong start to the growing season, dry weather in some major growing regions in Brazil led to numerous projections of a drastically lower soybean production total. The release of the January projections by CONAB, the Brazilian agricultural statistics agency, took the air out of much of this speculation. At 118.8 million metric tons (MMT), or 4.36 billion bushels, CONABs projection came in higher than market observers expected.

USDAs current projection sits at 122 MMT (4.48 billion bushels) and, when the next world production report is released, lower production forecasts for Brazil appear likely, Hubbs says. Over the last 10 years, USDA final estimates of the Brazilian soybean crop came in on average 0.73 percent higher than CONAB estimates. If the statistical relationship held to form this year, a production level near 119.6 MMT (4.39 billion bushels) is possible when the world production report from the USDA is released.

The potential for further deterioration in the Brazilian crop is feasible considering some of the major growing areas currently suffer from dry conditions. Numerous market advisors place Brazilian production below 116 MMT (4.26 billion bushels). Mato Grosso, Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, and Mato Grosso do Sul comprise slightly over 66 percent of the planted acreage this year according to CONAB, and all currently suffer from dryness in some regions. Yield forecasts for Mato Grosso do Sul came in down almost six bushels per acre from last year. Areas in the Southern region of Brazil (Parana, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul) show yield increases over last year in the latest CONAB projections and leave plenty of room for downside speculation on the crop.

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Argentina received excess rain over the last month which delayed planting in some areas and may call for replanting on some acreage. The USDA currently projects Argentine soybean production at 55.5 MMT (2.04 billion bushels). Recent reports from the region set Argentine production slightly below the USDA figure. At near 52.2 MMT (1.92 billion bushels), the low projections still sit well above last years drought-plagued 37.8 MMT (1.39 billion bushels) production level, Hubbs explains.

By using the CONAB forecast for Brazil and low-end projections for Argentina, soybean production in both countries looks set to outpace last years level by 474 million bushels. While the potential for continued deterioration of the crop is feasible, a significant reduction in the range of 12-13 MMT (441- 478 million bushels) is necessary to match last years production levels. A production loss of that magnitude looks unlikely under current conditions, but the potential for the loss of another 4-6 MMT (147-220 million bushels) exists, Hubbs says.

Developments in trade negotiations with China over the last week provided some support for a resolution. If a settlement is reached, any agreement appears set to possess guarantees of purchases of soybeans.

The questions remain whether these purchases exceed what would usually be bought by China and when these purchases would be enacted, Hubbs says. Right now, the most likely scenario involves an extension of trade talks past the March 1 deadline and a continuation of the current export scenario. China raised their soybean import projection to 87 MMT, or 3.2 billion bushels. While promising, this figure sits below the current USDA forecast of 90 MMT, or 3.31 billion bushels.

Soybean export calculations thus far in the marketing year use USDA weekly export inspection reports and Census Bureau export estimates. The USDA's weekly export inspections report shows that cumulative marketing year inspections attained 676 million bushels by Jan. 10, trailing last years total by 458 million bushels. Through the first two months of the year, cumulative Census export estimates exceeded inspections by 17.8 million bushels.

If that margin persisted through the current period, cumulative exports reached 694 million bushels this marketing year, Hubbs says. While China purchased some U.S. soybeans after the G-20 summit, the totals thus far place sales in the 5-6 MMT (184-220 million bushels) range. These sales came in below expectations and paled in comparison to regular sales to China. Export inspections this marketing year averaged 35.45 million bushels a week. This pace is slightly below the 36.5 million bushel per week pace necessary to meet the USDA marketing-year projection of 1.9 billion bushels.

Despite the reduced potential of the South American crop, world ending stocks under current scenarios are set to total near 3.9 billion bushels, up from last years 3.7 billion bushels. Ending stocks at this level place world stocks to use near 30 percent. A continuation of deteriorating crop conditions in South America and the resolution to the trade dispute would bring price support. For now, the uncertainty looks to continue, Hubbs says.

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URBANA -- University of Illinois Extension announced in a press release that it will hold its annual Beef Selection and Reproduction Management Seminar on Jan. 29 at the American Legion in Lincoln. The meeting will start at 5:15 p.m. and conclude at 8:30 p.m.

The program will include experts sharing practical knowledge on a range of topics.

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Travis Meteer, Beef Extension Educator: selection and development of replacement heifers and the Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale

Teresa Steckler, Beef Extension Educator: successful synchronization programs

Doug Parrett, Department of Animal Sciences at U of I: incorporating EPDs into bull selection and future use of EPDs in selection

Justin Adcock, Boehringer Ingelheim: extending parasite control in the cattle herd

Shandy Bertilino, VitaFerm: advantages of a breeding-season focused mineral program

Barney Gehl, Zoetis: genetic testing opportunities for advancing selection of desired traits

Kevin Devore, ABS: future trends in the beef industry

The program covers important information that producers can directly implement and turn into dollars in their pocket, Meteer says. Come join fellow cattlemen in Lincoln and equip yourself with the knowledge and management strategies to increase profits.

Pre-registration is suggested; the cost of the meeting is $10, payable at the door. Please RSVP to Travis Meteer by calling 217-430-7030 or email wmeteer@gmail.com by Jan. 25, 2019. Meeting details are available at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/oardc/

A meeting flyer is available at https://web.extension.illinois.edu/oardc/downloads/78012.pdf

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered the release of four convicts on bail in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riots case.

At least 97 Muslims were killed in Ahmedabads Naroda Patiya area on February 28, 2002, when a mob of thousands descended upon the locality, and murdered them. The incident was one of the worst cases of mob violence during the Gujarat riots.

In the Naroda Patiya case, the Gujarat High Court had last year convicted Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, but acquitted former BJP minister Maya Kodnani for want of evidence.

On Tuesday, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar granted bail to four convicts on the chief grounds that the High Court verdict of conviction was debatable and that they should be released on bail since their appeal would take much time for disposal. In three bail orders, the Supreme Court has expressed serious doubts over the conviction.

All these accused were held guilty under Section 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) of the Indian Penal Code, along with other provisions relating to unlawful assembly.

The bench released Umeshbhai Surabhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Padmendrasinh Jaswantsinh Rajput and Harshad alias Mungda Jila Govind Chhara Parmar on bail after imposing ordinary conditions to be laid out by the trial court.

The Supreme Court, while deciding the bail plea, also noted that the Gujarat HC had primarily relied upon identification of these convicts by police officials but in some cases, no identification parade was conducted and the appeals raised doubt over their identification in a group of around 15,000 persons.

Prima facie, we find that the approach of the High court is debatable, said the bench, while granting bail to Bharwad. It also noted that Bharwad was undergoing treatment for HIV and that he had been on bail during the trial of the case.

Taking up the bail plea by Rajkumar, the apex court noted that the HC convicted him while observing that even in absence of any specific role attributed to the applicant his presence being established, the charge of being a member of the unlawful assembly must hold good.

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Prima facie, we find this approach to be doubtful, especially when the witnesses relied upon by the prosecution are police officials and no identification parade of this applicant was conducted during the investigation by the Police, noted the bench, granting bail to Rajkumar.

The court further noted that Harshad alias Mungda Jila was sentenced to 10 years in jail. He has already undergone more than five years of actual imprisonment coupled with the fact that the hearing of the appeal is not likely to take place in the immediate near future. Accordingly, applicant is ordered to be released on bail to the satisfaction of the trial court, directed the bench.

It also released another convict, Prakashbhai Sureshbhai Rathod, on interim bail between January 28 and February 15 to attend his daughters wedding.
By Tom Balmforth and Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia showed foreign military attaches on Wednesday a new cruise missile that the United States says breaches a landmark arms control pact, billing it as an exercise in transparency it hoped would persuade Washington to stay in the treaty.

Washington has threatened to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), alleging that the new Russian missile, the Novator 9M729 (called SSC-8 by NATO), violates the pact, which bans either side from stationing short and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe.

Russia denies that. It says the missile's range puts it outside the treaty and has accused the United States of inventing a false pretext to exit a treaty it wants to leave anyway so as to develop new missiles.

The Russian lobbying effort comes as the clock ticks down towards Feb. 2, the date when Washington has said it will begin the process of pulling out of the pact unless Russia verifiably destroys the new missile system altogether, something it has refused to do.

Russia displayed the new missile system at a military theme park outside Moscow to foreign military attaches and journalists. A senior defence ministry official explained the weapon's characteristics in detail as a soldier highlighted different parts with a laser pointer.

The missile has a maximum range of 480 kilometres (298 miles), which meant it was fully compliant with the INF treaty, Lieutenant-General Mikhail Matveyevsky, head of Russia's Missile Troops and Artillery, said.

The United States had previously rejected a Russian offer to look at the contested missile, in what is known as a 'static display', because it said such an exercise would not allow it to verify the true range of its warheads.

The Russian Defence Ministry said diplomats from the United States, Britain, France and Germany had been invited to attend the static display, but declined to attend.

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Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a news briefing before the display that the United States had made clear through diplomatic channels that its decision to exit the pact was final and that it was not open to dialogue.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova later said that Russia had suggested the two nations hold talks on the issue on the sidelines of a meeting of the P5 nuclear powers in Beijing later this month, but had not received "a concrete reply".

She said Russia remained open to talks anyway. Western diplomats have played down the chances of the two countries resolving their differences at that meeting if it takes place.

(Additional reporting by Robin Emmott in Brussels; editing by Gareth Jones)
Maharashtra govt also permitted the civic body to lease the land to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial Public Trust at a nominal rate.

While uncertainty clouds the future of the Shiv Sena's alliance with the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the warring allies on Tuesday joined hands for the construction of a memorial to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the construction of the memorial will be funded by the government, with the state Cabinet approving Rs 100 crore for the project.

The Cabinet also announced that the CM-led Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will oversee the project's implementation. The memorial is being set up in the former official mayoral bungalow, a sea-facing property owned by the Sena-controlled Mumbai municipality in the Shivaji Park area.

Earlier, clearing the decks for the memorial's construction, the CM-led urban development (UD) department had modified the land use reservation on the plot. It also permitted the civic body to lease the land to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial Public Trust at a nominal rate. Last month, in another special gesture, the state government waived stamp duty and registration charges totalling Rs 14.71 crore on the lease agreement executed between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the trust.

Fadnavis and Uddhav will also share the stage when the land for the memorial will be formally handed over by the municipality to the trust on Wednesday, which is Bal Thackeray's birth anniversary. Senior Sena Minister Subhash Desai, also a member of the trust, said that a "Ganesh puja" has been planned.

Senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told mediapersons, "The MMRDA will fund the project. The government will ensure that the money is made available to the MMRDA."

Extending an olive branch to the Sena, he said: "Relations between the two sides were and will remain sweet."

"There are still high chances of a pre-poll tie up between the parties. The BJP has always been in favour of an alliance," he added. On the decision to fund the memorial work, Mungantiwar said, "Balasaheb Thackeray was not just a Shiv Sena leader, he was a leader of our alliance In today's Cabinet meeting, Rs 100 crore has been approved for his memorial."

Relations between the two parties have remained choppy since the 2014 Assembly polls, when the two sides went their separate ways after a 25-year alliance, following differences over seat sharing. When they formed a post-poll alliance, their roles were reversed with the Sena, the big brother of the two in Maharashtra for 25 years, now being reduced to a junior partner.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel said Tuesday that it has successfully tested the country's advanced missile defense system capable of defending against long-range ballistic missile threats.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured an Israeli aerospace facility following the test and leveled a thinly veiled warning at Iran, just days after Israel struck Iranian military targets in neighboring Syria.

"Our enemies who seek to destroy us should know that Israel's clenched fist will reach all those who wish ill upon us and we will settle accounts with them," Netanyahu said.

The Defense Ministry said the successful test of the Arrow-3 interceptor is "a major milestone" in Israel's ability to defend itself "against current and future threats in the region." It comes a couple of days after Israel thwarted an Iranian missile attack.

The test came amid mounting tensions between Israel and Iran along its northern border with Syria. Israel is concerned about Iran establishing military bases in neighboring Syria as the eight-year civil war winds down.

On Monday, Israel claimed responsibility for a series of air raids against Iranian military targets near the Syrian capital Damascus, hours after Israel intercepted a missile launched by Iranian forces at the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The missile launch followed a rare Israeli daytime attack on Syria on Sunday near the Damascus airport.

Arrow-3, which intercepts missiles outside the atmosphere, is part of the multi-layered system Israel is developing to defend against both short- and mid-range rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran's long-range missiles. It includes Iron Dome, David's Sling, and the Arrow-2 systems.

It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and U.S. aviation giant Boeing and became operational in January 2017.

Israel has already deployed Arrow to counter Syrian missiles.
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Bless our families and our children,

and choose from our homes those who you desire for this holy work.

Heavenly Father,your divine Son taught usto pray to the Lord of the harvestto send laborers into His vineyard.We earnestly beg youto bless our Diocese and our worldwith many priests and religiouswho will love you fervently and gladlyand courageously spend their livesin service to your Son's Church,especially the poor and the needy.Teach them to respond generouslyand keep them ever faithfulin following your Son Jesus Christ,that under the guidance of the HolySpiritand with the inspiration ofSaint Damien and Blessed Mariannethe Good News of redemptionmay be brought to all.We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Sen. Kamala D. Harris made her 2020 bid for president official during an appearance on Good Morning America.

Declaring her candidacy on the most-watched morning show in the nation  and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day  makes sense. It allowed Harris to reach a national audience mostly unfamiliar with her at this point. It allowed her to highlight her background as the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants. And the friendly format meant she could deliver her talking points uninterrupted, flying high over pesky details.

My entire career has been focused on keeping people safe, she declared.

Its a line that undoubtedly does well in polls. The question is whether such one-liners can withstand the intense scrutiny of a presidential contest. Recent news coverage has cast an unfavorable light on Harris career in California.

An investigation by the Sacramento Bee revealed the California attorney generals office had secretly paid $400,000 to settle harassment claims against one of Harris top aides. The longtime aide, Larry Wallace, had been a key Harris lieutenant since her time as San Francisco district attorney.

Despite the scandal, Wallace was promoted to the position of state director once Harris was elected to the Senate. She fired him once the Bee started asking questions, claiming she had no knowledge of his troubles. That may be true  but the idea that Californias top legal officer was clueless about the goings-on in her own inner circle is also disturbing.

Harris new book portrays her as a champion for justice reform, but a story by McClatchy DC reporter Emily Cadei revealed some troubling inconsistencies between Harris autohagiography and reality.

Harris account also leaves out a number of more controversial episodes from her career in California, where advocates for criminal justice reform say her office was part of the problem, not the solution, wrote Cadei. For instance, in 2010 a Superior Court judge in San Francisco ruled Harris DA office violated the constitutional rights of defendants in drug cases where a police drug lab technician, Deborah Madden, systematically mishandled evidence. The scandal eventually led to the dismissal of hundreds of drug cases.

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The judge in the case wrote that prosecutors at the highest levels of the district attorneys office knew that Madden was not a dependable witness at trial and that there were serious concerns regarding the crime lab.

Of course  once again  Harris knew nothing.

The biggest danger to Harris candidacy may come from progressives who increasingly hold sway in the Democratic primary. A blistering New York Times op-ed written by a law professor at the University of San Francisco provides a taste of whats to come.

Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the states attorney general, Ms. Harris opposed them or stayed silent, wrote Lara Bazelon. Most troubling, Ms. Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct that included evidence tampering, false testimony and the suppression of crucial information by prosecutors.

The essay alleges that Harris remained on the sidelines  or on the wrong side  of justice issues under her authority. It says she ducked out of crucial debates over sentencing reform and that her office pressed for harsh punishment in cases that merited leniency.

Of course, no one should underestimate Kamala Harris. She may well be the next president of the United States. To get there, however, shell have to answer tough questions about her past and prove shes really who she says she is.

My entire career has been focused on our system of justice. It is one of the hallmarks of our system of democracy, said Harris. And it becomes weak when people interfere with that system for a political purpose. And no one  in particular right now when there are so many Americans that are so distrustful of their government and its leaders and institutions  no one should give the American public any reason to question their integrity or the integrity of our system of justice.

The question is whether her deeds can live up to her words.

-- The Sacramento Bee

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SPRINGFIELD  Running for the Illinois Senate wasn't on Ann Gillespie's radar.

The Democrat from Arlington Heights said she thought people were thinking of a local office when they talked to her about running.

"I met with our local Democratic township committeemen and they said 'No, we'd really like you to run for the Senate,'" Gillespie said.

She did and won, defeating incumbent Tom Rooney in what had been a solidly Republican area. Rooney was appointed to the seat in 2016 following the departure of former Sen. Matt Murphy.

Gillespie is one of 64 women who will serve in the 101st edition of the Illinois General Assembly getting underway this year. At the start of the 100th General Assembly two years ago, there were 62 women filling the 177 House and Senate seats.

That places Illinois 11th in the nation for the percentage of women in its state legislature, according to numbers compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nevada leads the nation with nearly 51 percent of its 63 legislative seats filled by women. West Virginia sits in 50th place, with 14 percent of its 134-seat legislature being women.

The Illinois House's percentage of women (37.3 percent) is slightly higher than the 33.9 percent in the Senate. Democratic state Rep. Sue Scherer of Decatur has begun her fourth term in the legislature.

The Illinois General Assembly's overall 36 percent is still a far cry from the 50 percent female representation the state's Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access panel said should be a goal in a report it released last year.

Gillespie, an attorney by training, wasn't involved in politics until the election of President Donald Trump. She said she was "stunned and very unhappy with the results," particularly after hearing some of Trump's comments about women and where she thought Congress was headed on women's issues.

"I didn't want to go backward, and it felt like that's what we were doing," she said.

She, her sisters and two children attended the Women's March in 2017, and when she returned, "I was so energized I wanted to stay involved."

Gillespie said she and other women from the area got involved in local school board races. She also helped organize people to attend Arlington Heights council meetings when the village was going to opt out of the Cook County minimum wage increase.

Running as a Democrat in a traditionally Republican area was intimidating, Gillespie acknowledged, but she also knew that demographics in the district were changing. Hillary Clinton carried the district in the presidential election, and opinions were changing on issues like gun control, the minimum wage, earned sick leave and others, she said.

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"I talked to people who had voted Republican and just weren't happy with what was going on," she said. "I really felt there was momentum in the district that made it doable."

And yes, gender did make a difference.

"It generated a lot of grass roots volunteers that I had," Gillespie said. "I'm convinced that's what made the difference."

Gillespie is a newcomer to the legislature, but women who have served in the legislature said gender representation does make a difference.

"I think in general, women work better together," said Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Raymond, who won re-election in November. "Going with a collaborative and open mind is good, and I'm certainly a proponent that we need the legislature to look like the people it represents. So the more women we have and the closer we get to parity, the better we will be as a legislature."

Former Republican Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez opted not to run for re-election. She was replaced by Republican Mike Murphy of Springfield.

Jimenez said she had first-hand experience of the importance of a woman's perspective in the legislature when she served on the House Sexual Harassment Task Force.

"One of the things I found when that topic started to be debated is that some of the men I talked to were unaware that it was an issue for some of the women they knew," Jimenez said. "It's because it had either never happened to them personally or the women in their lives just hadn't talked about it openly. It wasn't that the men were denying it. It was an awareness issue."

Although none of the four legislative leaders is a woman, Jimenez said women in the legislature "were able to very quickly articulate that this was something that needed to be addressed right now."

"I'm not sure how quickly that would have happened if we had two chambers full of men," she said.

Jimenez also cited bills that passed last year to address issues of nursing women. One required courthouses to have a lactation room available. She said she spoke to some men who were concerned about costs in the mistaken notion of what was required for the room.

"You just need a private room with a plug that you can plug in your breast pump. It's not like we're making a spa room," she said.

Gillespie, who retired from a position with CVS Caremark said she's "very passionate" about vocational education, believing a skilled work force is more important to companies deciding where to locate than are tax rates. She also said she wants to see an increase in the minimum wage and supports a graduated state income tax.

She said she also shares a common interest with other newly elected women.

"The women I've met who were elected for the first time, we've all come from other careers and are interested in getting things done," she said. "It's not a group interested in long careers in politics. They're really looking to get things done."

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MOUNT ZION  Brayden Simmons and Jasper Cook made a pretty good pair Tuesday afternoon.

The duo were among 11 children who participated in the Mount Zion Public Library's monthly "Sky's the Limit" event, part of an ongoing program that invites students from 7 to 12 years old to participate in various STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities.

This month's event focused on circuitry, and the children were given opportunities to build their own circuits with Little Bits  a system of electronic building blocks and other pieces that hook together with magnets.

Brayden and Jasper worked together to assemble a motorized vehicle, complete with a battery-operated engine, wheels and other parts. When the boys realized they needed more hands to get the job done, they weren't shy.

"Do you guys want to help us create a car?" Brayden, 8, asked other children who were experimenting at their table.

In addition to the Little Bits, the kids also had chances to practice basic computer coding skills and put them to work by lighting up "Tetris"-like images on a box.

Ashley Batchelder, assistant children's librarian, said the library's previous Sky's the Limit events have drawn in children from Mount Zion and the Decatur area.

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"Ultimately, our goal as a library learning-based program is that we want them to have fun," Batchelder said. "A lot of kids think that 'if I'm learning, it's not going to be fun.' We want them to build the skills that they can hopefully use down the road."

Unless the children need guidance, Batchelder said, she and the library staff usually step back during the programs to allow the children to be creative and to try new things.

STEM education has continued to grow in popularity within many of the nation's schools and other learning programs. Batchelder said children have enjoyed learning more about STEM at the library, which is a good thing because the education can help the kids become more well-rounded.

"I think technology is constantly moving and growing in our daily lives," she said. "Even if they're not going to some day be a computer coder, I still think it would be beneficial to learn some of those skills. ... (Sky's the Limit) is a free program and an opportunity for them to have a chance to test the waters."

Sky's the Limit isn't the only educational program offered by the library. Batchelder said children can also participate in the American Girl Club, which uses the popular line of dolls to discuss various historical issues, and "Bedtime Math" programs that weave math lessons into story time.

Batchelder said interested parents can contact the library to learn more about its educational offerings, which are open to children regardless of whether they are Mount Zion residents. The Sky's the Limit program is held on the fourth Tuesday of each month.

"We don't want kids to be discouraged," she said of the STEM program. "There's no experience required, and that's OK. They don't have to have any prior knowledge."

Tami Simmons, Brayden's mom, and Nicki Auten said Tuesday wasn't the first time that their children have participated in the program.

Not only do the kids take away experiences that could prove beneficial, the parents said, but the events are also a way for them to do something interesting and exciting with their peers.

"It's like they don't know that they're learning," Tami Simmons said. "... They're learning through fun."

Contact Jaylyn Cook at (217) 421-7980. Follow him on Twitter: @jaylyn_HR

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DECATUR  A uniformed Macon County Sheriffs Office deputy working security for the UCP Miller Lite Barstool Open was kicked in the chest by a man who refused to leave the Knights of Columbus Hall in Decatur on Saturday, a sworn affidavit said.

In the affidavit, deputy Patrick Smith said the incident happened about 8 p.m. as he escorted the 28-year-old man from the establishment at 577 E. North St. for being disorderly. Smith said the man at first said he would leave and would get a ride home. A short time later, however, Smith said he saw him heading back inside. This time the man became belligerent, insisted he wasnt going home, balled his hands into fists and started lunging at Smith and fellow officers, Smith said.

Smith said he tried to get the man to put his hands behind his back to be arrested, but he refused, insisting he had done nothing wrong.

I assisted him to the ground at that time, and he continued to fight with me and other officers while on the ground, Smith said, explaining how the man had finally been carried into the back of a squad car where he was too intoxicated to sit down.

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He pulled his leg back from my hand and kicked me in my chest, Smith said. After a short struggle, I was able to safely secure him in the rear of my squad car and close the door.

The man was booked on preliminary charges of aggravated battery of a peace officer and resisting arrest, which are are subject to review by the state attorneys office.

A call for comment to the United Cerebral Palsy Land of Lincoln office, which organizes the local Barstool Open fundraiser, was not immediately returned. Knights of Columbus Hall management did not wish to comment.

2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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DECATUR  All Farm Service Agency offices, including those located in Central Illinois, will reopen Thursday to assist farmers during the partial government shutdown.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue made the announcement on Tuesday.

Offices at the Lincoln Service Center, the Pontiac Service Center, the Shelbyville Service Center and the Champaign Service Center provided limited services for existing loans and tax documents for portions of the last two weeks.

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Perdue also announced that the deadline to apply for the Market Facilitation Program, which aids farmers harmed by retaliatory tariffs, has been extended to Feb. 14. The original deadline was Jan. 15. Other program deadlines may be modified and will be announced as they are addressed.

The FSA provides vital support for farmers and ranchers and they count on those services being available. We want to offer as much assistance as possible until the partial government shutdown is resolved, said Perdue.

The USDA has temporarily recalled all of the more than 9,700 FSA employees to keep offices open from 8 am to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. President Trump has already signed legislation that guarantees employees will receive all back pay missed during the lapse in funding.

For the first two full weeks under the plan, FSA offices will be open Monday through Friday. In subsequent weeks, offices will be open three days a week  on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday if needed to provide additional administrative services.

Agricultural producers who have business with the agency can contact their FSA service center to make an appointment.

Contact Kevin Barlow at (309) 820-3238. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_barlow

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State Sen. Jennifer Fielders column in support of a proposed federal Transfer of Public Lands Act omits an important detail: no such bill has ever been introduced in Congress. This legislation is as imaginary as all of the promises that Fielder makes about a state takeover of Montanas national forests and other public lands.

The wholesale transfer of public lands from federal to state ownership is a radical idea fraught with peril for hunters, anglers, ranchers, hikers, loggers and everyone else who uses public lands. The math is simple: no state government could afford to manage millions of acres of land. Even the proponents of the idea admit that it could only work through unsustainable resource revenues, which means closing off public access and multiple use land management and eventually selling the lands entirely.

Thats one reason why no one in Congress supports transferring federal lands and why the idea has been rejected by every member of Montanas congressional delegation from both parties.

Instead of opining about imaginary bills in Congress, Fielder should focus on her job as a Montana state senator -- unless she thinks her job as CEO of a Utah-based lobbying organization is more important.

David Chadwick of Helena is the executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation.

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The president didn't just shut down large parts of the government in order to fulfill his campaign promise to build a southern border wall that Mexico would pay for. The president and Sen. McConnell invented a dangerous new way to break the checks and balances essential to our Constitution.

When McConnell unilaterally decided the Senate will not vote on any House-passed bills to reopen our government until Trump and House Democrats make a deal, his decision paralyzed constitutional lawmaking by our Congress. Don't forget, McConnell shut down Senate "advice and consent" duty when he blocked any Senate consideration of a 2016 presidential Supreme Court nominee.

Now that a paralyzed Senate can shut down Congressional lawmaking, leading to a paralyzed government, the next step could be a national emergency declared unilaterally by the commander-in-chief. A president creates a crisis, then declares a national emergency. Military forces in the streets, incarceration of the enemies of the people, internment camps, suspension of habeas corpus, torture, death penalty -- all precedents in American history exercised in times of crisis.

Congress can't allow one senator's and a president's shutdown to succeed. If it works once, it will be used again. Then goodbye checks and balances; goodbye democracy.
Health insurance companies enable this racket being perpetuated on their customers by passing the blame onto PBMs even though they are the ones selling plans to consumers. Insurers continue to use PBMs that engage in bad practices instead of contracting with better ones, and weve discovered that sometimes they dont even know whats in their own contracts. Health insurers should be fighting to lower drug costs for their customers, but theyre not.

Hence our legislation. Senate Bill 71 will be heard in the Montana Legislature on Feb. 1. Its a unique, made-in-Montana approach written by the State Auditors Office after extensive investigation. SB 71 will hold insurance companies accountable to their customers by prohibiting price gouging, ensuring all manufacturer rebates are used to lower consumers costs, and requiring other changes to the way the industry operates in Montana. We know our strategy can work because similar changes at Montanas health plan for state employees saved $7.4 million in the first year.

Federal law creates problems for states directly regulating PBMs and for making these reforms apply outside of our limited jurisdiction. For that reason, SB 71 only applies to health insurance plans sold on the individual market, but it will also provide a roadmap to establishing best practices and be a great starting point to enacting reform more broadly.
In Montana, residential treatment programs can house troubled children and teens without any state oversight if the program claims a tie to a religious organization.

That means when children are sexually assaulted or psychologically or physically abused, the state's child protection system can move the child to safety but can do nothing to the program or its employees who caused the harm.

"Because they're not licensed, there's no enforcement authority'' over programs by the Division of Child and Family Services, said Sarah Corbally, its former head. Even when the division was able to verify reports of abuse, it "had no ability to follow up and make sure the programs are safe,'' she told the Missoulian.

Every legislative session since 2007, when the Board of Private Alternative Adolescent Residential and Outdoor Programs (PAARP) was given licensing power and programs affiliated with churches were exempted from oversight, health professionals and lawmakers have fought to close that loophole.

But every time, the bill has failed when church-related groups argued regulation would infringe on their religious freedom, according to videos and audio of legislative hearings and minutes from the Legislature.

In 2017, Rep. Ellie Hill Smith, D-Missoula, tried again. Her bill's only proponents were the Department of Labor and Industry, which oversees secular programs for troubled children, and the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Robert Larsson, the former director of Pinehaven Christian Childrens Ranch, and five others from Pinehaven spoke against the bill, saying "we come up every two years and debate the same points every time."

So did Jeff Laszloffy, president, CEO and lobbyist for the Montana Family Foundation.

Weve opposed the bill for nine years and we still do, Laszloffy of the politically powerful foundation told the House Judiciary Committee, where Smith's bill died.

During the 2013 legislative session, Corbally testified that CFS had "multiple, ongoing'' and proven reports of abuse and theres absolutely nothing further that can be done by our agency in those situations'' against programs or their employees.

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that same year, Darcie Kelly, a public member of the PAARP board, made the comparison with revelations of abuse cover-ups by the Roman Catholic Church. The Montana board has spent thousands of dollars in legal fees litigating against the religious programs, including programs previously licensed by PAARP that switched to church affiliation, she said.

Such chicanery and abuse of current statute intent should not be tolerated by the Legislature, she said. But the bill died in committee.

Corbally was back in 2015, this time to tell lawmakers her agency had received more than 30 reports of abuse and neglect against unlicensed facilities in Montana in the previous five years. Even when they substantiated the reports, CFS didnt have the authority to tell the programs to stop admitting children, she said.

Theres no way to regulate what sort of children these programs will or will not accept and determine if they have standards that make them competent for taking care of children with these behavior issues, she said.

The programs are not required to disclose to parents of prospective students the fact that theyre unregulated. And with most children coming from out of state, parents are unlikely to know.

What were seeing as a trend in many of them is that theyre taking children from out of state, often failed adoptions'' from foreign countries, Corbally said. "And then when these children are not able to be managed by these programs, theyll often end up in acute psychiatric residential placements in our state.''

She said many of the adopted children have been victims of sexual abuse, and have sexual acting out behaviors. Unlicensed programs, which dont have licensed professionals, are not equipped to care for children with these problems, and her agency found there has been a lot of sexual contact between children, traumatizing them more.

I think that as a state, this is not a First Amendment issue, she said. This isnt about religion, this isnt about prohibiting peoples expression of their religion or their ability to teach what they choose. This is really about protecting the safety of children.

Problems at Pinehaven

Only one adjunct ministry program is currently operating without state oversight: Pinehaven Christian Childrens Ranch near St. Ignatius. But there have been at least two others  Ranch for Kids near Eureka and New Horizons Youth Ranch near Rexford, which closed last year  that operated as unlicensed religious programs in the last eight years.

The religious exemption was created at the request of Larsson, the former director of Pinehaven. The nonprofit program opened in the 1980s and has been operating without regulation ever since.

Pinehaven staff come to every legislative session to testify against eliminating the religious exemption. In 2015, Daniel Larsson, the new director and Robert Larssons grandson, said the program doesnt use licensed counselors, but uses a counseling model they created. The program is not accredited, so the teachers are also not required to be certified.

Our children that come and reside in our ranch have been usually through multiple psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and really this is the end of the road for them, Larsson said in 2015. So what we do at Pinehaven is we have a religious-based school with loving parents, and thats what works at Pinehaven.

It doesn't always work.

Law enforcement records show that in 1995, one student was found dead after running away and drinking brake fluid in a nearby RV. In 2005, a former staff member was sentenced to prison for raping two girls in the program. At his sentencing, a co-worker said James Barnes of Dixon was hired without receiving training and was unprepared for the stresses and temptations of the job, according to the Missoulian report at the time.

In a telephone interview with the Missoulian, Bob Larsson said the situation with Barnes "was not an abuse by Pinehaven. That was an aberrant behavior by one person.  That one, we regret but we can't control all staff members."

Pinehaven assisted in law enforcement's investigation of Barnes, he said.

In the last 10 years, law enforcement reports note 11 runaways, seven reports of abuse and one suicidal teen. None of the abuse reports was substantiated by law enforcement investigators.

A former Pinehaven staff member who requested anonymity told the Missoulian he believes the facility should be under state oversight, not because of its treatment of children, but because of what he called unsanitary ranching facilities and practices.

Issues that should be corrected arent being corrected because nobody has any oversight, he said If you saw their operation, saw their meat handling, saw their storage places, their facilities for walk-in coolers, walk-in freezer, things that any other for-profit would have to fall in line with, they dont have to. And there's nobody to make them.

He said the ranch currently is home to about 20 children, mostly from states around the Midwest. He described a behavior modification system similar to that used at other residential schools.

If they really have a bad behavioral issue, then they go out and shovel manure, the former employee said. They do that until their behavior changes. It doesn't last that long, maybe three days. But that alone time gives them plenty of time to think. When they get tired of it, the question for them is behave, or continue doing that? Most of them decide to behave.

The programs official policies urge staff not to find themselves alone with students to avoid being accused of inappropriate behavior.

With the abominable sin of homosexuality so prevalent, it is also important that all contacts with those of the same sex be such as could never be even considered questionable, the policies read.

Pinehaven's Daniel Larsson defended the exemption from religious programs in an interview with the Missoulian this month. "Part of the reason people came here from England was because the government was regulating religion, and the lack of freedom resulting from that."

If a legislator makes another run at removing the exemption, "we'll go and speak against it again," he said.

"Anytime government's in charge of the church, God isn't able to be the center of what we do."

Bob Larsson pointed out that, unlike the programs controlled by the state  some of which charge tens of thousands of dollars  Pinehaven does not charge tuition, nor does it accept government money.

Although he said "we never ask for money," Pinehaven's website says "Please prayerfully consider the possibility of a monetary gift to help Pinehaven continue, as God wills, to meet the needs of troubled and disadvantaged youth."

When reminded of that, Larsson amended his statement. "We absolutely could not do it without donations."

Exemption debate

The religious exemption for licensure has irritated the PAARP board, whose members support closing the loophole every legislative session.

When PAARP board member Kelly spoke to the Legislature in 2013 about her previous experience working at unregulated programs in Montana, she told them the programs didnt allow children unmonitored communication home, and expected them to lodge complaints with the program director if they had any.

When complaints were made to the facility, they were either not taken seriously, or the victim was blamed because he or she suffered from mental illness, or the issues were simply swept under the rug, she said.

Despite her testimony, legislators again rejected regulation of religious programs.

In a recent interview, Kelly said her experience witnessing abuse at unlicensed programs prompted her to join the PAARP board. She said she saw too many kids humiliated or subjected to physical punishments in the name of "treatment.'' And the programs could get away with it because the students had mental or behavioral problems that made it easy to discount their stories.

"This is a problem for kids at all these schools,'' Kelly said. "'He is there for some behavioral issue, so he's not credible.' The stigma feeds the abuse.''

It is up to PAARP to decide whether a program fits the description for a religious exemption.

This process cost the board tens of thousands of dollars when it went to court against Ranch for Kids, which claimed to be exempt from licensure. A judge found it wasnt, but in the meantime the Ranch operated for years without a license.

Another program also managed to avoid regulation by becoming affiliated with a church. New Horizons Youth Ranch in Rexford, which recently closed when the directors retired, was a program for boys ages 12-17 with ADHD, drug problems, self-esteem issues and fetal alcohol syndrome.

It was initially licensed by PAARP in 2010. An inspection that year found that no staff were professionally certified or licensed except one teacher; the program had no building permits and the facilities had not been inspected by the fire marshal.

New Horizons remained licensed until 2012, when it became an adjunct ministry of Youth With a Mission (YWAM) on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Two years later, YWAM stopped affiliating with non-YWAM programs, and informed New Horizons director Tom Harrell in 2014 that he would have to find another ministry, according to Department of Labor and Industry documents.

Harrells program remained unlicensed and unregulated for two more years, until 2016, when he was forced to apply for relicensure from the PAARP board. Another PAARP inspection from that year found the property had still not been inspected by the fire marshal, and a new building on the property appeared to have been built by the minor boys enrolled in the program.

Department of Labor inspectors wrote that the building had glaring substandard carpentry work, bare electrical wiring, and questionable plumbing.

The inspection also found there were no individual treatment plans for the boys in the program, no professional staff certifications, no CPR training for staff, no evidence of personnel background checks and no passive restraint training for staff. The kids were away on a field trip during the inspection, so inspectors couldnt interview them about their experiences.

The Bible was a core tenet of New Horizons, and boys read the Bible together every morning, went to church every Sunday, and spent an hour reading the Bible on their own every week. They were required to memorize scripture, and the programs philosophy is based on Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the plans I have for you,'' declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

When the PAARP board received its inspection findings, it asked New Horizons to correct the issues to receive a license. Several months later, in April 2017, New Horizons withdrew its application and the board received a letter stating New Horizons had become an adjunct ministry of Yellowstone District Pentecostal Church, putting it out of reach of state regulators.

Former state Rep. Paul Clark, a Trout Creek Democrat who until last year ran his own residential program, Galena Ridge, brought the original bill that established state regulation of programs for troubled teens.

"I was not in favor of the religious exemption," Clark said in an interview this month. "The only reason that got in there was they weren't going to pass the bill without it. That comes from the political right, the people that are very, very concerned about their religious (beliefs) and how they express religion.

"I wasn't in favor of that, but I had to live with it."

Cameron Evans, Seaborn Larson and Gwen Florio of the Missoulian contributed to this story.

Tomorrow: Isolation, physical punishments can harm already troubled kids

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Tester told the House that he hears from constituents around the state who have benefited under Medicaid expansion. He relayed a story about a man from Butte suffering from both physical and mental health issues. Under Medicaid expansion the man successfully secured care and has been able to hold down a job for the first time in his adult life, he said.

Make sure if the effort is to reduce the number of people on Medicaid expansion, ask yourself whats going to happen to those 40,000 or 50,000 that will get their health care taken away, he said. If its to eliminate the program, Id ask you to take a look at your small hospitals around the state.

Tester then shifted to education, encouraging lawmakers to fund both K-12 and higher education as a societal foundation. Dollars not funded at the state level must be made up in local property taxes, he said, reminding legislators of the importance of teachers and the need to offer adequate wages.

I can tell you right now there are far too many teachers in our state that are Medicaid eligible or on food stamps. That is unacceptable, Tester said. If we want to get the best people in the classroom we have to be competitive with other sectors in Montana.
Another legislative attempt to make it easier for Montana firefighters to claim workers compensation for diseases presumed to be incurred on the job took its first step Tuesday toward a Senate committee.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester called the proposal critically important in a speech on the Montana House floor Tuesday  the same day that state Sen. Nate McConnell, a Democrat from Missoula, introduced Senate Bill 160. McConnell's proposal would allow firefighters to file workers compensation claims for certain ailments as presumptive occupational diseases.

Such claims shift the burden of proof from the patient to the insurer to prove an illness is unrelated to the patients occupation. The list of 13 presumptive diseases named in McConnells bill includes forms of cancer along with respiratory and cardiovascular disease, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.

The bill includes an opt-in provision for employers of Montanas estimated 8,000 volunteer firefighters, of whom 6,000 are covered by workers compensation.

Its not the heavy hand of Helena coming in and saying, You have to do this, McConnell said. If you can afford it and you think its the right thing to do, then you have that option.
The Montana Office of Public Instructions school nutrition division has asked public schools in Helena to inform the families of furloughed federal employees that they could meet the eligibility requirements for free and reduced cost lunches.

OPI is looking to encourage families enrolled in the district to complete an application on the district website. The application states that children in households receiving benefits from SNAP, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families are eligible for free meals.

Other students eligible for free meals include:

Foster children that are under the legal responsibility of a foster care agency or court.

Children who meet the definition of homeless, runaway or migrant.

Children in a household with an income within the limits of the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines.

Helena schools currently charge $1.40 for breakfast, $2.65 for elementary lunch and $2.75 for middle and high school lunch.

For more information, you can contact Janelle Nickelson at 324-2040 or Angie Ford at 324-2009.

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Will said he and the association "still want to do something in Hamilton," but decided that coming to Helena would make more sense.

Junior Castillo, the association's celebration director, has been working with Helena and Montana pastors over the past six months to put together the celebration.

"We receive an invitation and consider the needs in the community," Castillo said. "Then we put a team together and move forward."

Castillo said there are currently nine different teams working on the celebration, as the logistics of a major event are daunting. "The only way this could happen is listening to the hearts of pastors," Castillo said. "Everything is with and through pastors."

Will said he was glad to be back in Montana.

"My wife and I spent our honeymoon down in Ennis," he said, where a late June snowstorm left 3 inches of snow in the young Graham's rental car, something he now laughs about.

Will's father Franklin Graham visited Great Falls and Helena in 2016, and the Grahams had hoped to visit again, but "it was not the right time," Will said.

"We're grateful to be in Helena," Will said.

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We listen to local police and fire departments scanner traffic, but sometimes miss crimes, wrecks, fires or other incidents, especially if they happen overnight. If you know of something were not covering yet, please let Managing Editor Jeff Pownall know by emailing him at jpownall@lufkindailynews.com, or submit a news tip online by visiting lufkindailynews.com/tips.
Jan 22, 2019 12:00 AM

There is a lot going on inside your wrist. Packed into that little space are numerous bones, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. Nine of those tendons and a large nerve are all together in an even smaller area known as the carpal tunnel. In such close quarters problems can arise. Any time those tendons become inflamed, or the wrist is flexed or extended for a prolonged period, the pressure within that tight little tunnel goes up, said Shaun Mendenhall, MD, a hand surgeon with University of Utah Health. That causes compression on the median nerve and potentially nerve damage if left untreated. This is what we call carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

Carpal tunnel syndrome can happen to anyone and the causes arent always clear. Repetitive movements of the fingers, especially with a bend wrist, can aggravate the condition. In the past many people have blamed CTS on activities like typing. In this changing world though, there are many culprits to blame, including playing video games and even taking selfies. People are trying to take a selfie and they're flexing their wrist for a prolonged period of time trying to get the right shot, said Mendenhall. That can actually cause carpal tunnel symptoms.

The symptoms of carpal tunnel are mild at first. You may notice numbness or tingling in your thumb, index, or middle finger. This sensation may even go up into your arm and shoulder. You also may experience weakness in your hand that causes you to drop things. When symptoms start to impact your daily life or disrupt your sleep, then its time to see a doctor.

Most treatments for CTS are easy and non-invasive. There are a variety of wrist splints available at pharmacies that help keep the wrist in a neutral position. Anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen can help with the pain and inflammation. In chronic cases, steroid shots may be performed. If your case is severe your doctor may recommend a minor surgery to release pressure in the area. Carpal tunnel surgery is very effective, curing the problem in 95% or greater of people with the condition, said Mendenhall. Now, 15 to 20 years down the line, it is possible to get recurrent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but its quite rare.

You can avoid the development of carpal tunnel or lessen its impacts by being aware of your hands and how you treat them. Take breaks when doing repetitive motions. Make sure your posture is good so that your shoulders arent rolled forward. Relax your grip on pens or pencils and dont punch keyboard keys aggressively. Keep your hands warm to avoid stiffness. Oh, and be careful with your selfies. Use a selfie stick to get your phone out there without actually having to flex your wrist, said Mendenhall.
Grand Old Partisan salutes Nelson Van Vorhes, born this day of 1822. Moving with his family from Pennsylvania to Ohio at age ten, he apprenticed to his printer father then edited his own newspaper. The entrepreneurial Whig won eleven terms in the state house and was speaker for two.

Van Vorhes narrowly lost for Congress in 1858 and was delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention. Outbreak of civil war, he enlisted as quartermaster of the 18th Ohio Infantry, which battled through Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. Managerial competence merited promotion to colonel of the 92nd Ohio Infantry, deployed in West Virginia.

Peace restored, Van Vorhes won another two state house terms and again served as speaker. In 1874, he was elected to the first of two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j92kEICoUEA

Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, a history of GOP civil rights achievement.

Each day, his grandoldpartisan YouTube channel and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than sixteen decades of Republican heritage. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states so far.

He also wrote the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

Buy the book at Amazon

See www.youtube.com/q?v=IzxKCiXc5Qc for a brief video of a Texas Republican praising Back to Basics for the Republican Party.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"
Re: The idea that equipping homes with electrical appliances and other mo [ #permalink

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading global hemp CBD company Elixinol, has announced its entry into the New Zealand marketplace, offering its comprehensive range of cannabidiol (CBD) products to the NZ public on a prescription basis via the elixinol.com website.



Colorado-based Elixinol is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian-headquartered Elixinol Global Limited (EXL) (ASX: EXL; OTCQX: ELLXF) and has launched in New Zealand following the December 2018 passage of New Zealands Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Act. The Act classifies CBD with low levels of THC (the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis) as prescription medicine and removes CBD as a Class B1 controlled drug. The Act recognizes CBD as a substance with therapeutic value with little or no psychoactive properties.

Individual customers looking for assistance in getting CBD are now able to import up to a three month supply of Elixinols CBD products, provided those products meet the medicine guidelines set forth in NZ, and enjoy the therapeutic benefits long associated with CBD. Patients in New Zealand can also enter or leave New Zealand with up to three months supply of CBD with evidence of prescription.

Elixinol branded capsules, topicals, and all tinctures including liposomes meet the required standard for import into New Zealand. Elixinol has already begun to receive prescriptions and is happy to announce it has just successfully shipped its first product into the New Zealand market.

As a company which meets and exceeds quality and import standards in 41 different countries, we welcome the opportunity to serve the people of New Zealand with premium quality CBD, said Gabriel Ettenson, Elixinol President.

For years now, we have been receiving inquiries from people in New Zealand who want to utilise CBD for their therapeutic purposes, but until now weve been unable to assist, he continued.

People interested in purchasing Elixinol CBD products should visit their GP and request the supporting material needed. They will then be able to order the products directly from the elixinol.com website.

Paul Benhaim, CEO of parent company EXL, commented, Over the past few weeks, we have seen a groundswell of change in legislation related to cannabidiol. The US Farm Bill was passed in December, and through that process, CBD was de-scheduled from the Controlled Substances Act. Now, this change in New Zealand enables Elixinol to ship CBD to patients who have been requesting it for years. We are delighted to be one of the first companies to supply New Zealand patients with the range our US customers have been benefiting from for years.

About Elixinol:

Colorado-based Elixinol , co-founded by Paul Benhaim, hemp entrepreneur since 1991, is widely regarded as one of the most influential CBD brands in the world. With a proven track record of growing and extracting premium-quality hemp, Elixinol is one of the few CBD hemp extract brands with complete seed-to-sale control over its products. Elixinol also conducts rigorous third-party laboratory testing and quality control. Elixinol distributes hemp-derived CBD products in 41 countries globally including North and South America, throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Region under its own label as well as bulk CBD and wholesale CBD. Elixinols Australia-headquartered parent company EXL ( elixinolglobal.com ) is publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and on the U.S. OTC (ASX:EXL, OTCQX: ELLXF). More information is available at Elixinol.com .

Media Contact:

Chris Husong

Elixinol

+1 844-804-3504 ext 420

chris@elixinol.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d042013a-470f-409e-ae37-ca024a8d71f8
DEEP RIVER, Ontario, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thoth Technology Inc. is pleased to announce that it has purchased of a two acre property on the Trans-Canada Highway in Deep River, Ontario. The property includes a 14,000 square foot commercial building, site of the former Laurentian View Dairy, to be refurbished as Thoths headquarters. The site will also include the Plan B Grill, a space themed restaurant.



Dr. Caroline Roberts, President and CEO says: Thoth is very pleased to relocate our headquarters to Deep River, Ontario. Deep River is a fantastic home for a high technology company, providing access to a uniquely talented pool of highly qualified people and with some of the best civic facilities and schools in the country.

Over the coming year, Thoth will renovate the Deep River property into a state-of-the-art space test facility that tests and manufactures equipment for spaceflight.

About Thoth Technology Inc.

Founded in 2001, Thoth Technology Inc. is a Canadian space and defence company specialising in Space Situational Awareness (SSA). Thoth operates Earthfence, the worlds first commercial deep space radar and manufactures Argus, a miniaturized spectrometer that monitors climate change from space.

About Deep River, Ontario, Canada

Deep River is a town located on the Trans-Canada Highway in Renfrew County about 200 km North West of Ottawa, renowned internationally as the home of high technology business including Atomic Energy of Canada. Deep River is known too for its beautiful natural setting on the banks of the Ottawa River featuring clear water, beautiful beaches and great cross-country winter trails.

For interview requests or further information please contact:

Alison King, Media Director, Thoth Technology Inc., 905 484 3261, alison@thothx.com
Dublin, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Middle East and North Africa Telecoms Market: Trends and Forecasts 2018-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



"Telecoms revenue will increase because growth in spending on data services will offset the effects of increasing competition and market saturation."



We anticipate that there will be moderate growth of telecoms services revenue in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Demand will be tempered by market saturation, challenging socioeconomic conditions and fierce competition. This report provides a full update of our 5-year forecast of more than 180 mobile and fixed KPIs for MENA as a whole and for 12 key countries.



This report and associated data annex provide:

a 5-year forecast of 180 mobile and fixed KPIs for the MENA region as a whole and 12 key countries

an in-depth analysis of the trends, drivers and forecast assumptions for each type of mobile and fixed service, and for key countries

an overview of operator strategies and country-specific topics, in order to highlight similarities and differences by means of a cross-country comparison

a summary of results, key implications and recommendations for mobile and fixed operators.

Coverage



Key performance indicators



Connections

Mobile

Handset, mobile broadband,1 IoT2

Prepaid, contract

2G, 3G, 4G, 5G

Smartphone,

non-smartphone

Fixed

Voice, broadband, IPTV, dial-up

Narrowband voice, VoBB

DSL, FTTP/B, cable, BFWA, 5G, other

Fixed and mobile voice traffic



Outgoing minutes, MoU



Revenue



Mobile

Service,3 retail

Prepaid, contract

Handset, mobile broadband,1 IoT2

Handset voice, messaging, data

Fixed

Service,3 retail

Voice, broadband, IPTV, dial-up, business services

DSL, FTTP/B, cable, BFWA, other

Mobile ARPU

SIMs, handset

Prepaid, contract

Handset voice, data

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter No.



Telecoms revenue in Middle East and North Africa will increase despite increasing competition and market saturation, driven by strong demand for data



Telecoms retail revenue will increase in most countries by 2023, primarily driven by the demand for mobile data and fixed broadband services



Geographical coverage: we model 12 telecoms markets, which will account for 91.2% of telecoms service revenue (excluding pay TV) in MENA in 2023



Key trends, drivers and assumptions for the mobile and fixed markets



Key recommendations for telecoms operators

Regional forecasts and cross-country comparison

Market context: the region is economically diverse and retail spend per capita on telecoms services is correlated with GDP trends

Key mergers, acquisitions and market entries

Key drivers at a glance for each country in the Middle East and North Africa

Market overview: mobile services will account for most of the revenue in the region, but fixed broadband and business services will see the strongest revenue growth



Mobile: accelerating LTE take-up and the launch of 5G mobile services in 2019 will contribute to traffic growth and will reduce the decline in ARPU

Mobile: market saturation and economic slowdown will moderate the penetration growth

Mobile: increasing demand for mobile data services and users' migration to contract plans will help to reduce the rate of ARPU decline

Mobile: data revenue driven by the demand for digital services and an increase in 4G/5G connections will help to offset declines in legacy services revenue

Fixed: NGA's share of broadband connections will grow significantly due to a large number of infrastructure investments

Fixed: broadband penetration growth will continue in all countries because demand for high-speed connections is high and most markets are not yet saturated

Fixed: IPTV/video service upsell and speed upgrades will ensure that ASPU levels continue to be stable

Fixed: broadband connections and revenue will grow in the forecast period driven by network roll-out and service demand

Business services: operator revenue from large enterprises will rise as the demand for data connectivity, IoT and other business services grows

IoT: the IoT market will generate just over USD6 billion in revenue in 2023 supported by strong growth in the number of M2M connections

Pay TV: revenue growth will be strong in the traditional and OTT to the TV' segments

Individual country forecasts



Egypt: the telecoms sector is supported by promising economic conditions, the demand for 4G services and robust levels of infrastructure investment

Egypt: strong demand for data will continue to boost 4G and fixed broadband take-up during the forecast period

Egypt: 4G will continue to boost the mobile market, but competition in the fixed market is yet to operate on any meaningful level

Egypt: forecast changes

Kuwait: recent market recovery and investments in fixed infrastructure should provide a basis for future revenue growth

Kuwait: 4G will account for an increasing share of mobile connections, driven by data demand, and 5G will be launched in 2019

Kuwait: the mobile market is poised for revenue growth thanks to increase in data demand

Kuwait: forecast changes

Oman: revenue growth will be steady despite the challenging market conditions created by a third mobile entrant and regulatory pressure

Oman: a third mobile player is expected to enter the market in 2019, which will support subscriber base growth but will erode market value

Oman: the identity of the third mobile entrant is uncertain, while theoutlook for fixed broadband remains positive

Oman: forecast changes

Qatar: enduring economic sanctions have negatively affected the market revenue, but the total revenue forecast remains positive

Qatar: strong demand for data, 4G/5G speeds and attractive data plans will help to increase the ratio of contract subscriptions and limit ARPU decline

Qatar: demand for fast broadband services will drive telecoms revenue growth in the forecast period

Qatar: forecast changes

Saudi Arabia: telecoms revenue will be buoyed by an economic recovery against the challenging demographic indicators and increased competition

Saudi Arabia: growing demand for data will offset the ongoing decline in revenue from legacy mobile services

Saudi Arabia: mobile revenue will return to positive growth after several years of consistent decline

Saudi Arabia: forecast changes

UAE: contract's share of mobile subscribers will increase, driven by data demand and the launch of 5G services that is expected in 2019

UAE: infrastructural investments will help operators to find new growth areas beyond broadband connectivity

UAE: forecast changes

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2643tg/middle_east_and?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
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Sika AG ("Sika") successfully completed the offering (the "Offering") of CHF 1,300 million subordinated mandatory convertible notes due 2022 (the "Notes"). Sika intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering to fund the recently announced acquisition of Parex and for general corporate purposes.

The Notes will be mandatorily converted into new or existing registered shares of Sika at maturity, subject to the early conversion rights of Sika and noteholders in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Notes.

The Notes will be issued at 100% of their principal amount in denominations of CHF 200,000. The Notes will bear interest of 3.75% per annum payable annually in arrear. The Notes will have an initial minimum conversion price of CHF130.00 and an initial maximum conversion price of CHF146.25 representing a premium of 12.5% above the reference share price of CHF130.00.

The Offering consisted of a public offering in Switzerland and private placements of Notes to professional investors only in other jurisdictions. The Notes were offered to investors outside the United States in compliance with Regulation S under the US Securities Act of 1933, and otherwise in accordance with applicable securities laws, rules and regulations.

Settlement of the Offering is expected to take place on January 30, 2019. An application will be made for the listing and trading of the Notes on SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd. S&P Global Ratings assigned a 'BBB' issue rating to the Notes.

Sika has agreed to a lock-up period expiring 90 days after the date on which the pricing terms of the Notes are finalized.

UBS acted as Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner. Citigroup acted as Joint Bookrunner alongside UBS.

CONTACT

Dominik Slappnig

Corporate Communications &

Investor Relations

+41 58 436 68 21

slappnig.dominik@ch.sika.com

SIKA CORPORATE PROFILE

Sika is a specialty chemicals company with a leading position in the development and production of systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry. Sika has subsidiaries in 101 countries around the world and manufactures in over 200 factories. Its more than 19,500 employees generated annual sales of CHF 7.09 billion in 2018.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Macarthur Minerals Limited (TSX-V: MMS) (the Company or Macarthur) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ian Cooper as Consulting Geologist and Mima Wirakara as Assistant Company Secretary.



Mr Cooper will be joining the team lead by Dr Dean Carter in advancing the drilling out of the Companys iron ore projects in the Yilgarn region of Western Australia. He will also be involved in the advancement of the gold and lithium exploration in the Pilbara and extension drilling on the nickel target at Lake Giles in Western Australia.

Ian Cooper previously held the position of Exploration Manager for Macarthur (2013 to 2015) and has detailed knowledge of the companys operations. Ian has over thirty year's professional experience as an Exploration Manager and Geologist in mineral exploration, project discovery and management. He holds B.Sc., and A.R.S.M degrees from the Royal School of Mines Univ. of London and is a FAusIMM and a Fellow of Geol. Soc. London. Mr Cooper is also involved in the management of Aforo Resources Ltd, a West African focused junior minerals explorer and consults to Panthera Resources plc on their projects in Mali and Burkina Faso.

Mima Wirakara has a long history in administrative support, governance and company secretarial support to junior mining companies listed on the Australian, Canadian and Papua New Guinea stock exchanges. Ms Wirakara will assist the CEO, Joe Phillips who has taken on the role of interim Company Secretary after the role was vacated by Nicola Ingram.

Chairman Cameron McCall would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms Ingram for her hard and diligent work over her tenure with the Company and wish her all the best with her future endeavors.

Now is the time to welcome Ian and Mima to Macarthur Minerals in preparation for what will be a very busy year for the Company.

ABOUT MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED (TSX-V: MMS)

Macarthur Minerals Limited is an exploration company that is focused on identifying high grade gold, nickel, cobalt and lithium. Macarthur Minerals has significant gold, lithium, nickel, cobalt and iron ore exploration interests in Australia. Macarthur Minerals has three iron ore projects in Western Australia; the Ularring hematite project, the Moonshine magnetite project and the Treppo Grande iron ore project. In addition, Macarthur Minerals has significant lithium brine interests in the Railroad Valley, Nevada, USA.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED

 Cameron McCall 

Cameron McCall, Executive Chairman

Company Contact

Joe Phillips, CEO and Director

Email: jphillips@macarthurminerals.com

Telephone: +61 448899247

Website: www.macarthurminerals.com

For further information please contact:

Investor Cubed Inc.:

Telephone: (647) 258-3311, (888) 258-3323

Fax: (416) 363-7977

E-mail: info@investor3.ca

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect the current expectations, assumptions or beliefs of the Company based upon information currently available to the Company. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this press release, assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the timely receipt of required approvals, the reliability of information, including historical mineral resource or mineral reserve estimates, prepared and/or published by third parties that are referenced in this press release or was otherwise relied upon by the Company in preparing this press release. 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 no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct as actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include fluctuations in exchange rates and certain commodity prices, uncertainties related to mineral title in the project, unforeseen technology changes that results in a reduction in iron ore demand or substitution by other metals or materials, the discovery of new large low cost deposits of iron ore, uncertainty in successfully returning the project into full operation, and the general level of global economic activity. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Such statements relate to future events and expectations and, as such, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and except as may otherwise be required pursuant to applicable laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
VANCOUVER, B.C., Jan. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corvus Gold Inc. (Corvus or the Company) - (TSX: KOR, OTCQX: CORVF) announces it has received latest results from the initial three, western resource expansion holes from Phase III drilling at the Mother Lode deposit (Table 1). Results continue to show high potential for expanding the deposit to the west and north along the Fluorspar Canyon Fault Zone (FCF). As with earlier holes in the western part of the deposit, gold mineralization generally extends to the bottom of the holes, which the Company believes suggests additional potential at depth (Figure 1).



Gold mineralization in hole ML18-087 (41.1m @ 1.32 g/t Au & 47.3m @ 2.15 g/t Au) and the up-dip intersection in hole ML18-083 (65.5m @ 1.53 g/t Au, NR18-17, Oct. 17, 2018) and northern hole ML18-093 (115.8m @ 1.83 g/t Au, NR19-01, Jan. 10, 2019) continue to define what appears to be a new center of mineralization to the north. Additionally, results from ML18-087 continues to support the target for the corresponding down dropped West Mother Lode zone at depth to the west of the FCF. This area remains open in all directions.

Additional follow-up holes have been completed to the southwest along the FCF with results pending and further drilling in progress. The Phase III, western deep core drilling program is scheduled to start in the coming months, targeting what could be the other half of the Mother Lode deposit west along the FCF. If this exploration is successful the Company believes that the potential deposit expansion could be extensive.

Jeff Pontius, President and CEO of Corvus, said, These western holes are very encouraging for the continued expansion of the Mother Lode deposit and strongly support our initial deep western exploration. The potential of finding another Mother Lode deposit to the west at depth is exciting and continues to point to the opportunity the exploration program offers to the Corvus shareholders. Given the style of mineralization at Mother Lode and our continued drilling success, the ultimate potential of the system could be much larger than our initial expectations.

Table 1

Phase III - Mother Lode Drilling Results

(Reported intercepts are not true widths as there is currently insufficient data to calculate true orientation in space. Mineralized intervals are calculated using a 0.3 g/t cutoff unless otherwise indicated below)

Drill Hole # from (m) to (m) Interval (m) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) Comment ML18-086 300.23 326.14 25.91 1.45 n/a West of ML18-084

Western Zone inc 300.23 315.47 15.24 1.89 n/a 1 g/t cut AZ 085 dip-75 368.81 370.33 1.52 0.39 n/a





ML18-087 349.00 390.14 41.14 1.32 n/a West of ML18-083

Western Zone inc 349.00 377.95 28.95 1.60 n/a 1 g/t cut AZ 080 dip-80 413.00 460.25 47.25 2.15 n/a grade to EOH inc 416.05 455.68 39.63 2.48 n/a 1 g/t cut





ML18-088 192.02 204.22 12.20 0.48 n/a West of ML17-005

Western Zone 208.79 230.12 21.33 0.76 n/a inc 216.41 220.98 4.57 1.46 n/a 1 g/t cut 236.22 239.27 3.05 0.42 n/a AZ 090 dip-80 291.08 318.52 27.44 2.26 n/a inc 292.61 313.94 21.33 2.81 n/a 1 g/t cut

Figure 1. Location of new northwestern stepout holes at Mother Lode deposit, Nevada: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/de3dda7b-b4f0-48e1-80de-6b38dd8aba60

Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance



Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of Corvus, as he is the CEO & President and holds common shares and incentive stock options.

Carl E. Brechtel, (Nevada PE 008744 and Registered Member 353000 of SME), a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has coordinated execution of the work outlined in this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of Corvus, as he is the COO and holds common shares and incentive stock options.

The work program at Mother Lode was designed and supervised by Mark Reischman, Corvus Golds Nevada Exploration Manager, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples prior to sealing and shipping. Quality control is monitored by the insertion of blind certified standard reference materials and blanks into each sample shipment. All resource sample shipments are sealed and shipped to American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Reno, Nevada, for preparation and assaying. AAL is independent of the Company. AALs quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are forwarded to AAL and an ISO compliant third-party laboratory for additional quality control. Mr. Pontius, a qualified person, has verified the data underlying the information disclosed herein, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information by reviewing the reports of AAL, methodologies, results and all procedures undertaken for quality assurance and quality control in a manner consistent with industry practice, and all matters were consistent and accurate according to his professional judgement. There were no limitations on the verification process.

Mr. Scott E. Wilson, CPG (10965), Registered Member of SME (4025107) and President of Resource Development Associates Inc., is an independent consulting geologist specializing in Mineral Reserve and Resource calculation reporting, mining project analysis and due diligence evaluations. He is acting as the Qualified Person, as defined in NI 43-101, and is the primary author of the Technical Report for the Mineral Resource estimate and has reviewed and approved the Mineral Resource estimate. Mr. Wilson has over 29 years of experience in surface mining, resource estimation and strategic mine planning. Mr. Wilson is President of Resource Development Associates Inc. and is independent of the Company under NI 43-101.

Mr. Wilson, a qualified person, has verified the data underlying the information disclosed herein, including sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information by reviewing the reports of AAL, methodologies, results and all procedures undertaken for quality assurance and quality control in a manner consistent with industry practice, and all matters were consistent and accurate according to his professional judgement. There were no limitations on the verification process.

Metallurgical testing on North Bullfrog and Mother Lode samples has been performed by McClelland Analytical Services Laboratories Inc. of Sparks Nevada (McClelland), McClelland is an ISO 17025 accredited facility that supplies quantitative chemical analysis in support of metallurgical, exploration and environmental testing using classic methods and modern analytical instrumentation. McClelland has met the requirements of the IAS Accreditations Criteria for Testing Laboratories (AC89), has demonstrated compliance with ANS/ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, and has been accredited, since November 12, 2012. Hazen Research Inc. (Hazen), an independent laboratory, has performed flotation, AAO testing and cyanide leach testing on samples of sulphide mineralization from the YellowJacket zone and Swale area of Sierra Blanca, and roasting tests on Mother Lode flotation concentrate. Hazen holds analytical certificates from state regulatory agencies and the US Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA). Hazen participates in performance evaluation studies to demonstrate competence and maintains a large stock of standard reference materials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Canadian Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET), the EPA and other sources. Hazens QA program has been developed for conformance to the applicable requirements and standards referenced in 10 CFR 830.120 subpart A quality assurance requirements, January 1, 2002. Pressure oxidation test work on Mother Lode concentrate samples was performed by Resource Development Inc. of Wheatridge, CO.

For additional details, see technical report entitled Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Integrated Mother Lode and North Bullfrog Projects, Bullfrog Mining District, Nye County, Nevada, dated November 1, 2018 and amended on November 8, 2018, with an effective date of September 18, 2018 on the Companys profile at www.sedar.com.

About the North Bullfrog & Mother Lode Projects, Nevada

Corvus controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers approximately 86.6 km2 in southern Nevada. The property package is made up of a number of private mineral leases of patented federal mining claims and 1,057 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor as well as a large water right. The Company also controls 445 federal unpatented mining claims on the Mother Lode project which totals approximately 36.5 km2 which it owns 100%. The total Corvus Gold 100% land ownership now covers over 123.1 km2, hosting two major new Nevada gold discoveries.

The combined Mother Lode and North Bullfrog Projects contains a Measured Mineral Resource for the mill of 9.3 Mt at an average grade of 1.59 g/t gold, containing 475 k ounces of gold and Indicated Mineral Resources for the mill of 18.2 Mt at an average grade of 1.68 g/t gold containing 988 k ounces of gold and an Inferred Mineral Resource for the mill of 2.3 Mt at an average grade of 1.61 g/t gold containing 118 k ounces of gold. In addition, the project contains a Measured Mineral Resource for oxide, run of mine, heap leach of 34.6 Mt at an average grade of 0.27 g/t gold containing 305 k ounces of gold and an Indicated Mineral Resource for, oxide, run of mine, heap leach of 149.4 Mt at an average grade of 0.24 g/t gold containing 1,150 k ounces of gold and an Inferred, oxide, run of mine, heap leach Mineral Resource of 78.7 Mt at an average grade of 0.26 g/t gold containing 549 k ounces of gold.

About Corvus Gold Inc.

Corvus Gold Inc. is a North American gold exploration and development company, focused on its near-term gold-silver mining project at the North Bullfrog and Mother Lode Districts in Nevada. In addition, the Company controls a number of royalties on other North American exploration properties representing a spectrum of gold, silver and copper projects. Corvus is committed to building shareholder value through new discoveries and the expansion of its projects to maximize share price leverage in an advancing gold and silver market.

On behalf of

Corvus Gold Inc.

(signed) Jeffrey A. Pontius

Jeffrey A. Pontius,

President & Chief Executive Officer

Contact Information: Ryan Ko

Investor Relations

Email: info@corvusgold.com

Phone: 1-844-638-3246 (toll free) or (604) 638-3246

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Melissa J. Mayland

GARNER  Melissa J. Mayland, 45, of Manassas, VA, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, Saturday, January 19, 2019 at Novant Prince William Hospital in Manassas.

Funeral services will be held 10:30 A.M., Monday, January 28, 2019 at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Garner with Rev. Jim Dubert officiating. Burial will be at Concord Township Cemetery in Garner.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 P.M., Sunday, January 27th at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Garner with a Scriptural wake service at 1:30 P.M. followed by a rosary service. Visitation will resume one hour prior to services on Monday at the church. Arrangements are with Cataldo Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, memorials to the family are preferred and will be used toward establishing an educational fund for their children. Cataldo Funeral Home 641-923-2841 www.cataldofuneralhome.com
ST. ANSGAR | The first of two Mitchell County legislative forums for 2019 will be held at 8:30 on Friday, Feb. 1 at St. Ansgar City Hall at 111 S. Mitchell Street, St. Ansgar.

This is an opportunity for the citizens of Mitchell County to meet with Rep. Jane Bloomingdale (R-Northwood) and Sen. Waylon Brown (R-St. Ansgar).

They will provide reports on the opening of the 2019 legislative session.

There will also be an opportunity for community members to ask questions and express issues of concern.

A second forum will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 2, at the Osage Public Library, 406 Main Street in Osage.

These forums are sponsored by the Mitchell County Bi-Partisan Women's Group. For more information, contact Morse at 641-732-4155 or e-mail pjmorse@gmail.com.

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Rep. Mary Wolfe, D-Clinton, who has introduced her own proposal, House Joint Resolution, was encouraged by the governors proposal.

I think that will work just fine, she said after reading an explanation of Reynoldss plan. Good for the governor. I can support that 100 percent.

The debate will be around how the Legislature defines a discharged sentence, Wolfe said. Reynolds proposed language is similar to HJR 1 in that it leaves it up to the Legislature to define that.

While the governors language does not speak to restitution, Wolfe predicted that will be an issue in the debate. Discharge can be defined as no longer being subject to Department of Corrections supervision. Or it can be defined as having discharged all legal responsibilities attached to a sentence, which could include restitution and court costs. That, Wolfe said, could be problematic.

She called the governors approach a clean way to address voting rights restoration. Because it doesnt try to make those definitions part of the constitutional amendment.

It would a, difficult to get the language right and b, I think it might cause real problems moving it forward, Wolfe said.
Iowas fetal heartbeat law is unconstitutional and will not go into effect, a Polk County District Court Judge ruled Tuesday.

The law that would ban abortions once a heartbeat is detected in the fetus was ruled as violative of both the due process and equal protection provisions of the Iowa Constitution, according to the courts filings  released on the 46th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark decision Roe v. Wade.

In December, both sides indicated whoever loses likely would expect to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Judge Michael Huppert of the 5th Judicial District of Iowa granted a motion for summary judgment and ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the Iowa City-based Emma Goldman Clinic.

The organizations filed the suit against Gov. Kim Reynolds and the state of Iowa in May, claiming the law violated womens due-process rights, their rights to liberty, safety and happiness and their rights to equal protection under the state constitution.

Todays ruling is a victory for every Iowan who has ever needed or will need a safe, legal abortion, said Dr. Jill Meadows, medical director of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.
This is a shot of Marty, a googly eyed robot that's going to be dispatched to all 172 Giant grocery stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia to identify spills in the stores and notify human employees to clean them up BECAUSE GOD FORBID IT SHOULD CLEAN THEM UP ITSELF *under breath* you lazy turd.

The in-store robots will move around on their own, identifying hazards like liquid, powder and bulk-food spills and reporting them to human employees.

The robots will free up Giant employees to spend more time helping customers, the Carlisle-based company says. "Bringing robotics and A.I. from a research lab to the sales floor has been a very exciting journey, and we were thrilled by the customer response in our pilot stores," said Nicholas Bertram, president of Giant Food Stores. "Our associates have worked hard to bring this innovation to life with amazing partners. There should be a robot in every store by mid-2019, according to Giant.

No word how long it will be before a Marty tramples a child, but *laying on floor in spilled ketchup* quick, start screaming bloody murder. Oooh -- and pass me a package of Double Stuf OREOs. At the bare minimum they won't make me pay for those.

Thanks to Closet Nerd and Lana, who agree Giant should save their robot money and hired an actual human to have another checkout line open.
The El Paso County Republican Party this week took one step backward and then two steps forward in its search for a new chair.

Longtime Republican activist, retired Air Force master sergeant and former U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Ehler, who announced his bid to head the party this month, withdrew his candidacy this week citing health complications.

Now, Ehler is throwing his support behind Tamra Farah, another longtime GOP operative, who announced her campaign this week.

While Ehler had been the only official candidate on the partys ballot, Farah will have competition in Wendy Miller, another party member who recently announced her candidacy. Party members will vote on a successor to current chair Joshua Hosler next month.

Farah said shes been active in politics and public policy for about seven years and has worked as campaign manager in Robert Blahas unsuccessful attempt to unseat U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in the 2012 Republican primary.

She is married to Barry Farah, who unsuccessfully ran last year for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

The purpose of the Republican Party is to promote freedom and opportunity for all, Farah said. She said shes a big believer in small government, lower taxes and increased choice in education.

In addition, Farah said the best way to provide more affordable health care is to increase competition.

Farah touted her public relations and communications experience, having worked for three years at Americans for Prosperitys Colorado operation. She served as communications and deputy state director for the organization, which is financed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.

Considering her experience and ongoing relationships with donors, Farah said she can deliver on the partys fundraising needs.

Party spokeswoman Cassandra Sebastian has said a party chair is expected to raise an average of $180,000 each year.

Farah said part of that process is being genuine and sincere and persuading donors that the party has a strong vision and also a tactical plan to accomplish that vision.

Its an investment, she said.

Alongside fundraising, Farah said she particularly wants to boost participation with women voters by welcoming them into the party, the principles of which provide them with the most freedom and opportunity to live their lives as they see fit.

Attempts to contact Miller to discuss her bid for the head of the county party were not immediately successful.

Ehler said the party would likely succeed under the leadership of either Farah or Miller, but hes supporting the former because of her fundraising and organizational experience.

Sebastian said shed be surprised if anyone else jumps in (the race) at this point.

The winner will have a challenge ahead, she said.

Colorado is a battle state, we know this, she said.

conrad.swanson@gazette.com @conrad_swanson
One person was injured in a shooting near the University Village shopping center late Tuesday, according to police.

Officers could not immediately locate a victim when they arrived at the University Village Apartments in the 5400 block of North Nevada Avenue about 8:45 p.m. According to police, the victim checked into a local hospital about an hour later.

The victim, who has not been identified, was shot once and the injury is not considered life-threatening.

"We were relaxing watching television for the evening and heard multiple shots, probably five or six," a nearby resident told Gazette news partner, KKTV 11 News over the phone. "Within a matter of minutes, we had probably about eight police cruisers here at the property."

Police received several calls indicating five to six rounds were fired and someone may have been shot.

Several people were interviewed by police and evidence of a fired weapon was found. So far, no arrests have been made and the investigation is on-going.
For the past three years, state Sen. Lois Court has led an effort at the state Capitol to get Colorado motorists to pay more attention to their driving than to their cellphones.

The Denver Democrat struck paydirt in 2017, persuading the General Assembly to pass a bill boosting the fines for texting while driving from $50 to $300 with a four-point penalty on a license. The bill was signed into law later that spring. Since then, the number of texting violations has dropped from a high of 1,473 in 2016 to 481 last year.

But another effort  to require drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel instead of the cellphone  failed to gain traction in that session and the one that followed. Both bills died in the Republican-controlled state Senate; at the time, Sen. Owen Hill told The Denver Post the measure went too far in replacing personal liberty with fines, fees and regulations.

With Democrats now controlling both the legislative and executive branch, Court believes the third times the charm, and shes hoping lawmakers will agree to ban drivers from holding cellphones or other electronic devices while a vehicle is in motion.

Senate Bill 12 doesnt ban the use of cellphones in a vehicle. It would, however, mandate that drivers use either a hands-free accessory or keep both hands on the wheel.

Using a cellphone is not illegal under her bill, Court said. Its holding it while driving thats the issue shes trying to address.

For example, a person could be talking on the phone and start to skid on an icy roadway, and that would likely require full attention and both hands. The same sort of distraction exists when someone is driving with a cellphone in one hand and entering a phone number with the other, she said.

There are a number of ways drivers can be distracted that have nothing to do with cellphones, Court said. But the most egregious, according to the State Patrol, is cellphones.

In Colorado, according to the Department of Public Safety, distracted drivers cause an average of 40 crashes a day; in 2016, 67 people died because of distracted-driving accidents. The biggest offenders are those between the ages of 21 and 30, who cause about 29 percent of the accidents.

But those numbers dont represent the full picture because not every agency tracks distracted driving.

State Patrol, for example, documents crashes caused by inattentive to driving but spokesman Trooper Joshua Lewis said they dont breakdown the data further to show what the distraction was.

Colorado Springs police, on the other hand, dont track distracted driving. Its so hard to prove where a drivers attention actually was when they crashed that being able to identify cellphone use as the proximate cause almost never happens, spokesman Lt. Howard Black said.

The bill has a number of carve-outs: if a person is a first responder, or is reporting road rage, for example, that would be OK. The measure also doesnt apply to truckers, because federal law is much tougher on this issue, Court said.

Under SB 12, talking and driving could earn a motorist a $300 fine and four points on their license. A second violation could earn a fine of $500 and six points, and a third or subsequent violation could cost a driver $750 and eight points.

A drivers license can be suspended in Colorado if they get 12 points in a three-year period.

The bill applies to more than just cellphones; Court told Colorado Politics that some people even use laptops when driving. Thats not OK under her bill, nor is using electronic games, tablets, pagers or similar devices.

Both hands should be free when a vehicle is in motion, Court said. A car is not a moving phone booth.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 16 states have a ban on cellphone use while driving as a primary offense, meaning a person can be pulled over for that offense alone.

Court said the bill is supported by various groups representing cyclists, motorcyclists and the disabled, as well as insurance companies and AAA.

The Colorado State Patrol and Department of Transportation both backed her 2018 measure but have not yet weighed in on the 2019 effort. The only outside opposition to Courts 2018 effort was from the American Civil Liberties Union.

SB 12 will be heard in the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Its House sponsor is Democratic Rep. Jovan Melton of Aurora.

Gazette reporter Kaitlin Durbin contributed to this report.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un go for a walk after lunch at the Capella Hotel on the Singaporean island of Sentosa, last June 12. REUTERS



By Kim Bo-eun



The United States may demand the dismantling of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in exchange for corresponding measures, according to analysts, Wednesday.



This could be discussed as a viable option for their next summit to facilitate North Korea's denuclearization process and build mutual trust, as the U.S. appears to have lowered the threshold of a previous agreement between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.



This speculation is abounding after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week mentioned Washington and Pyongyang are discussing means to "decrease risk for the American people."



President Moon Jae-in in his New Year press conference mentioned North Korea dismantling its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) could be a means to begin the process. Based on this, speculation had grown that the U.S. may agree on beginning with ICBMs, which are claimed to be able to reach the U.S. mainland.






Lawmakers and open-government advocates are commending the Colorado Springs City Council for passing laws to bring high-dollar lawsuit settlements out of closed-door meetings and into the public spotlight.

The council unanimously approved three ordinances on the topic Tuesday, but city attorneys said they have been following the practices outlined in them since August.

The laws come after The Gazette reported that the council in closed-door meetings had paid about $5.4 million in lawsuit settlements  for cases including claims of racial and gender discrimination  since 2013.

State open meetings laws prohibit officials from voting or taking final actions in executive sessions

City attorneys and some council members have maintained that the council broke no laws and crossed no lines in past lawsuit settlements. Others on the council had expressed unease at the practice.

But First Amendment experts and legislators say informal decisions cannot be made in closed meetings under the states open meetings law, said Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

Im just happy theyre going to follow the law moving forward, said State Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs.

Gardner was one of several legislators who sponsored a 2012 revision to the open meetings law, banning elected bodies of government from using secret ballots to make decisions.

Secret ballots obscure who voted and how. Gardner has said any vote to settle a lawsuit should be public, so residents can see how council members voted. He also called the councils past settlement practices baffling.

I applaud (the councils) passage of ordinances to engage in a more transparent process for approval, Gardner said. It has been a puzzle to me why the council could not have been doing that all along.

Roberts also called the new laws encouraging.

Its a big improvement over what was happening in the past, Roberts said. High dollar lawsuit settlements never came before the public and the public wouldnt know about them unless someone dug into the (citys) records.

The first ordinance covers two scenarios: when the citys attorneys seek permission to negotiate settlements of more than $100,000, and when they have reached a settlement for more than $100,000 and need permission to finalize it.

In both cases, city attorneys will still brief the council in an executive session. But after hearing the specifics in private, the council will reconvene in public before voting on settlements.

Specific dollar amounts, case numbers and details of the negotiations wont be discussed in public unless a tentative agreement has been reached. This is meant to deny plaintiffs leverage over the city which might result in larger payouts, costing taxpayers more, city attorneys have said.

Even though specific dollar amounts or other details might be absent from public meetings, Roberts said the public will still have a better indication that the city is settling high-dollar cases and that more information might soon be available once the cases are finalized.

The second ordinance requires the city attorney to report to the council and the mayor within three days of reaching a settlement higher than $100,000. And the third ordinance consolidates the citys code, making it clear that the city attorney can settle lawsuits or other matters up to $50,000.

Councilman Dave Geislinger, one of two on the council who worked with city attorneys to draft the ordinances, defended the past practices, but acknowledged they were somewhat cumbersome.

The new procedures streamline the settlement process by making information more immediately available, more clear and eliminates the appearance of any impropriety.

Lets be as open and above board and transparent as we can be, Geislinger said in describing the goals behind the new ordinances.

The councils practices in executive sessions have been a contentious issue within the group. Members have debated the topic publicly and even in additional closed sessions.

There is no consistent format among other Colorado cities. Councils in Denver, Boulder and Greeley, for example, vote publicly on settlements. Fort Collins, Pueblo and Salida align more with Colorado Springs past practices.

The Salida City Council has also been accused of violating the states open meetings law with its settlement practices.

As the Colorado Springs City Council considered changing its settlement practices, Councilman Don Knight pushed for the new protocol to be embedded in the citys code rather than council rules. Changing the code makes the new protocol more permanent, Knight has said. The council could easily suspend one of its own rules with a majority vote.

conrad.swanson@gazette.com @conrad_swanson
Jacob Pruitt (far right), vice president and general manager of T Rowe Price Colorado Springs operations, has been named the 2019 Chamber & EDC Board of Directors chair. He is pictured at the 2018 Chamber Awards with, from left, Chamber & EDC president and CEO Dirk Draper; The Broadmoor president and CEO Jack Damioli; and Fab 5 operations, Microchip Technology and former Chamber & EDC Board of Directors chair Dan Malinaric.

Courtesy photo
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Windy. Cloudy skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. NW winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Windy. Cloudy skies will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. Low near 60F. NW winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph.
The U.S. military says one of its service members was killed by "enemy small-arms fire" in Afghanistan on January 22.

The incident was under investigation, a statement said, without providing further details.

It did not name the service member or the branch of the military, pending notification of the family.

News of the death came the day after a suicide bombing attack by the Taliban on an Afghan military base in the eastern Afghan province of Maidan Wardak killed dozens of members of the Afghan security forces.

Some 14,000 U.S. soldiers are currently serving in Afghanistan, where the United States and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in 2014.

Most of the remaining Western forces in the country primarily train and advise local security forces, which have been struggling against attacks from a resurgent Taliban and other militant extremist groups.
To look to the future, we look to the pastto see a 21st century agriculture connecting the urban to the rural. The diversification in our farm family has been so swift and profound that we no longer talk in the language of producers and consumers, but rather in terms of connecting the farmer to the family. You now meet your farmer at your local farmers market. Thats a level of intimacy that we have not seen since the early days of farming in America.

Agriculture is becoming a new entrepreneurial space. We have seen an uptick in those entering the ag field. Young people have been drawn back to agriculture through exciting new niches, including artisanal foods and crops, organics, and the farm-to-fork movement. Agricultural studies no longer sit in their own silo. They are inextricably intertwined with environmental science, conservation, and international development. Restaurants that focus on locally-sourced foods are also growing in popularity, and with that trend comes an increased interest in the foods of indigenous peoples.
The farm economy, as we all know too well, is in a bad place. As farmers are confronted with sinking commodity prices, due to circumstances beyond their control, they are looking for new opportunities to generate income using the resource of their land.

One of those new opportunities is wind energy production. Since 2009, Nebraska farmers have collected almost $16.5 million from lease payments for wind turbines. And last year alone, wind energy created over $7,000,000 in property and nameplate tax revenues that helped our public schools have more resources to improve education for our young people. These revenues also fund volunteer fire and EMT services, as well as county government.

As more wind farms are built each year, the revenue keeps rising, offering farmers and rural communities a new way to generate income on the land without using valuable water resources. This preserves our communities for the younger generations.

We are truly blessed to have this resource in such abundance, and as a viable option to help save family farms and our rural communities, during these tough times.

Graham P. Christensen

Lyons

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An 83-year-old Uehling man who died in a house fire on Sunday night has been identified.

Dodge County Sheriff Steve Hespen reported Tuesday that the man is Clarence E. Hammond.

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Hammond, who lived at 114 Fifth St., was found in an upstairs bedroom of the two-story home.

On Monday, Alyssa Sanders, public information officer for the Nebraska State Fire Marshals Office, confirmed that the death was accidental and the cause of the fire was electrical in nature.

The mans name previously was withheld pending notification of relatives.

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I have noticed that more and more teens are disengaging in face-to-face conversation and their overall attention and time has been spent on their smartphones, he said about the project. Most prioritize their phone over other things and people, too.

Ladds infographic focused on cigarette and e-cigarette use in society, particularly the use by young people like herself.

Cigarettes are a poison to society and most of the people that smoke their whole life end up with some kind of cancer because of all the chemicals that are in the cigarette, she said. As kids growing up, they get the idea that smoking/vaping is OK and that it isnt that harmful to the body. There are many teenagers that are vaping and dont realize what it can actually do to them and I hope my project will help them see that it isnt safe to use.

Strickler said she is blessed to be able to work with such talented students year after year.

I am always amazed how I am able to give them general guidelines and they run with it, coming up with some of the most creative and innovative pieces, she said.

She also commended her three students for the time they put in doing research and taking what they learned and putting it into a visually appealing format.
There is no doubt our Dodge County Commissioners have a difficult role. They are our elected policymakers, setting high-level goals and evaluating long-term outcomes. These responsibilities include, but are not limited to, adopting budgets, approving taxation and financial decisions, adopting ordinances, and making land use decisions.

Last Wednesday the Dodge County Board of Supervisors voted against approving a conditional use permit for a 10-barn poultry operation near Nickerson, which would have produced chicken for Lincoln Premium Poultry and the Costco plant going up in Fremont.

Many were left scratching their heads as to why, we were too.

Wednesdays vote came in spite of a unanimous recommendation for approval from the Dodge County Planning Commission.

That body listened to public comment on the proposal on the evening of Jan. 15, and voted to recommend the project with conditions requiring the property owners, Lee and Pamela Camenzind, to do the following: address safety on county road by having the driveway to the facility go to the east or to the south, develop a road maintenance plan with Nickerson Township; and create a shelter belt or buffer on the west and north side of the facility.
An 83-year-old woman in Missouri died after a routine colonoscopy. Now her family wants answers. (Photo: Getty Images/FS Productions)

A Missouri hospital is under investigation after an elderly woman who was scared of having a routine colonoscopy died after having the procedure done at their facility.

Martha Wright, 83, had never had a colonoscopy and her family said she was scared of the test because she was petite. What she repeatedly said was, I dont want to have a colonoscopy; it will kill me, her daughter Dena Royal told The Kansas City Star. We just kind of said, Oh mom, its routine, its no big deal.

Wright had a colonoscopy on Aug. 2 at Cass Regional Medical Center and died the next day of internal bleeding. Royal filed a complaint with the state, which launched an investigation in late November. Investigators found that Wright showed several signs of distress after her colonoscopy, but medical staff didnt properly respond. The hospital has performed 348 colonoscopies after Wrights death and still hasnt addressed the issues with care, The Kansas City Star says.

Those findings were passed on to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which classified the situation as an immediate jeopardy that placed all patients at the facility at risk. A hospital representative did not respond to Yahoo Lifestyles request for comment.

Royal has hired a lawyer and is planning to sue the hospital. Somethings just not right here, she said. You dont go in for a routine colonoscopy and then not come home.

Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that most people get a colonoscopy every 10 years, starting at age 50. However, its recommended that some at-risk groups start earlier than that. During a colonoscopy, a doctor inserts a long, thin, flexible lighted tube into your rectum to check for polyps or cancer inside the rectum and colon, the CDC explains. Doctors can usually remove polyps and some cancers during the procedure. The entire procedure usually takes anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, and its done under sedation, the Mayo Clinic says.

Story continues

In general, it is a very safe procedure, Rudolph Bedford, MD, a gastroenterologist at Providence Saint Johns Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

While colonoscopies are generally considered safe, there are some risks involved, including having a bad reaction to the sedative, bleeding from the site where a tissue sample was taken, or a biopsy or abnormal tissue was removed, and a tear (aka perforation) in the colon or rectum wall, per the Mayo Clinic. Still, Bedford says, the complication rate is very low. About four per 10,000 people who undergo a colonoscopy will have a perforation and about eight per 10,000 will have bleeding, he says.

With perforations, most are detected at the time that the patient is recovering from the procedure, Bedford says. They will usually experience quite a bit of pain and discomfort. The gastroenterologist will usually realize that there may or may not be a perforation and will send them to the emergency room. However, he adds, in some cases a patient may have a perforation but not actually start bleeding until later when theyre at home. At that point, the patient will be in quite a bit of pain, have bloody stools, and will likely end up in the emergency room, he says.

Ultimately, Bedford stresses that colonoscopies are safe and important procedures. Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in this country, he says. A colonoscopy should not be something that people shy away from. The benefits of the procedure certainly outweigh the potential risk of complications.

UPDATE 1/23/18: Cass Regional Hospital sent Yahoo Lifestyle the following statement.

As a hospital serving the health and wellness needs of our community, it is our greatest honor to care for our friends, families and neighbors in and around Cass County. Patient safety is always our first priority, and all of us at Cass Regional  doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and staff  strive to provide the very best care for our patients every day. Cass Regional Medical Center has fully addressed the findings of the recent survey by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and has completed the corrective plan that was approved by CMS. Our hearts and prayers are with the family of Martha Wright. Since this is an ongoing legal matter, and due to HIPAA regulations, we are unable to provide further comment at this time.

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Curt Mills

Security, Latin America

Regime change in Venezuela?

Trump Recognizes Maduro Opponent As Venezuelan President

Today I am officially recognizing the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said in a statement emailed to reporters Wednesday afternoon.

We encourage other Western Hemisphere governments to recognize Guaido as such, Trump continued. Trump blasted the illegitimate regime of sitting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

Gaudio swiftly accepted the mantle thrust upon him by Washington, and addressed supporters in Caracas, taking an oath of office in front of a cheering crowd. The spectacle occurred as the Venezuelan capital was mobbed with protesters opposed to Maduros government.

Many Latin American policy hands in Washington, accustomed to taking a backseat to the Middle East and Eurasia, were surprised at the audaciousness of the Trump move.

Today marks an inflection point in efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela, Eric Farnsworth, an alumnus of the Clinton administration and vice president at the Council of Americas says. It's a bold move by the Trump administration, with bipartisan congressional backing. Such sentiment is consistent with that fact that this is no unilateral action from the president. As of Wednesday afternoon, Canada has joined the call as wellas have regional allies Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Chile. Trump has quietly cultivated allies in the hemisphere since early in his presidency, including dining with the leaders of most of Venezuelas neighbors the night before his first, fiery address to the U.N. General Assembly.

Farnsworth argued that this maneuver will need to be followed up with further actions to ensure that momentum toward a democratic restoration continues and does not flag. A senior official of a major U.S. energy corporation told me he was expecting the United States to sanction Venezuelan crude. The administration has hammered Caracas with sanctions but avoided targeting the petrostates chief export.

Story continues

In Washington, the announcement isnt wholly surprising. The State Department, under both Mike Pompeo and Rex Tillerson, has pursued a quietly hawkish line on the country. The maneuver has just failed to capture most headlines as the administration also got tough with Iran, China and North Korea.

Secretary Pompeo called for the countrys suspension from the key regional group, the Organization for American States, in the summer, although he stopped short of calling for regime change. Pompeo noted that Maduro has demonstrated unmistakable bad faith and exhausted options for dialogue under current conditions. Tillerson, before his ouster, cheered the nineteenth-century Monroe Doctrine that fiats broad U.S. authority in the region. Said Tillerson, the retired oilman, in comments that got him in hot water, the policy was clearly a success and as relevant today as it was the day it was written. Doubtless, another factor in the administrations confidence is the ascension of Brazils Jair Bolsonaro, the Trump of the Tropics. Guglielmo Picchi, a senior Italian politician and a top ally of populist star Matteo Salvini, was in Washington earlier this month arguing that Italy, under their governance, will seek to become Americas top ally in Europe. Bolsonaro, a trenchant Maduro critic, is angling for a similar role in Latin America.

But Vice President Mike Pence took the matter to the next level Tuesday night, teasing Wednesdays announcement. We are with you, Pence wrote on Twitter in both Spanish and English. We stand with you, and we will stay with you until Democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of Libertad.

But Wednesdays development is a coup for one White House influencer, in particular: Senator Marco Rubio. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told me no one was more forceful in advocating for what would become the administrations hard line.

Rubio messaged in unison with the White House Wednesday, with his official Twitter live streaming Guadios remarks. 61 years ago [Venezuela] overthrew a dictatorship. Today, just like January 23, 1958, is a historic day for Venezuelans marching against [Maduros] narco-terrorist tyranny and raising their voice in support of Guadio, Rubio said Wednesday.

Rubio, and his allies in Congress, form the basis of a power center that presses the administration for a fiercer line on not only Venezuela, but Cuba. Their efforts have been decidedly successful, as a sizeable amount of the Obama-era detente has been rolled back. This cohort sees Venezuela as a puppet of Havana.

The importance of the Cuban emigre community in Florida, of course, cannot be overstated in a Republican capture of the White House. Trump, like his now-ally Rand Paul, was originally warmer to the Obama administrations efforts to make nice with Havana. Paul has still publicly stood by his heterodox position, but Trump largely flipped.

A fiercer line on Caracas divides even some realists. Some, such as Tucker Carlson, have called attention to Chinas investment in the country and in Latin America. Unlike the Middle East, this is Americas backyard and involves the United States only true geopolitical pier, the thinking goes. Chinas investiture in the country includes a recent, much-needed $5 billion credit line and the exportation of the technology behind its deeply controversial social credit system. China watchers note, however, that Beijing has cooled on the flailing Maduro and his late-2018 visit to the country garnered almost no attention.

But other realists fret that an all-but-regime-change policy could be a tragic mistake, another misguided adventure. It makes sense for the United States to recognize National Assembly President Juan Guaido as Venezuelas leaderprovided his claim to the title is constitutionally-grounded, Benjamin H. Friedman at Defense Priorities told me. He added, The United States must be wary of getting pulled into regime change efforts in Venezuela. Using military force to overthrow Maduro would be foolish, not just because of the risks it entails, but because the accusation of being a tool of U.S. imperialism could damage the prospects of real democracy there.

Curt Mills is the foreign-affairs reporter at the National Interest, where he covers the State Department, National Security Council and the Trump Presidency.

Image: Reuters.

Read full article
Curt Mills

Security, Latin America

Regime change in Venezuela?

Trump Recognizes Maduro Opponent As Venezuelan President

Today I am officially recognizing the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, as the Interim President of Venezuela, President Trump said in a statement emailed to reporters Wednesday afternoon.

We encourage other Western Hemisphere governments to recognize Guaido as such, Trump continued. Trump blasted the illegitimate regime of sitting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

Gaudio swiftly accepted the mantle thrust upon him by Washington, and addressed supporters in Caracas, taking an oath of office in front of a cheering crowd. The spectacle occurred as the Venezuelan capital was mobbed with protesters opposed to Maduros government.

Many Latin American policy hands in Washington, accustomed to taking a backseat to the Middle East and Eurasia, were surprised at the audaciousness of the Trump move.

Today marks an inflection point in efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela, Eric Farnsworth, an alumnus of the Clinton administration and vice president at the Council of Americas says. It's a bold move by the Trump administration, with bipartisan congressional backing. Such sentiment is consistent with that fact that this is no unilateral action from the president. As of Wednesday afternoon, Canada has joined the call as wellas have regional allies Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Chile. Trump has quietly cultivated allies in the hemisphere since early in his presidency, including dining with the leaders of most of Venezuelas neighbors the night before his first, fiery address to the U.N. General Assembly.

Farnsworth argued that this maneuver will need to be followed up with further actions to ensure that momentum toward a democratic restoration continues and does not flag. A senior official of a major U.S. energy corporation told me he was expecting the United States to sanction Venezuelan crude. The administration has hammered Caracas with sanctions but avoided targeting the petrostates chief export.

Story continues

In Washington, the announcement isnt wholly surprising. The State Department, under both Mike Pompeo and Rex Tillerson, has pursued a quietly hawkish line on the country. The maneuver has just failed to capture most headlines as the administration also got tough with Iran, China and North Korea.

Secretary Pompeo called for the countrys suspension from the key regional group, the Organization for American States, in the summer, although he stopped short of calling for regime change. Pompeo noted that Maduro has demonstrated unmistakable bad faith and exhausted options for dialogue under current conditions. Tillerson, before his ouster, cheered the nineteenth-century Monroe Doctrine that fiats broad U.S. authority in the region. Said Tillerson, the retired oilman, in comments that got him in hot water, the policy was clearly a success and as relevant today as it was the day it was written. Doubtless, another factor in the administrations confidence is the ascension of Brazils Jair Bolsonaro, the Trump of the Tropics. Guglielmo Picchi, a senior Italian politician and a top ally of populist star Matteo Salvini, was in Washington earlier this month arguing that Italy, under their governance, will seek to become Americas top ally in Europe. Bolsonaro, a trenchant Maduro critic, is angling for a similar role in Latin America.

But Vice President Mike Pence took the matter to the next level Tuesday night, teasing Wednesdays announcement. We are with you, Pence wrote on Twitter in both Spanish and English. We stand with you, and we will stay with you until Democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of Libertad.

But Wednesdays development is a coup for one White House influencer, in particular: Senator Marco Rubio. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon told me no one was more forceful in advocating for what would become the administrations hard line.

Rubio messaged in unison with the White House Wednesday, with his official Twitter live streaming Guadios remarks. 61 years ago [Venezuela] overthrew a dictatorship. Today, just like January 23, 1958, is a historic day for Venezuelans marching against [Maduros] narco-terrorist tyranny and raising their voice in support of Guadio, Rubio said Wednesday.

Rubio, and his allies in Congress, form the basis of a power center that presses the administration for a fiercer line on not only Venezuela, but Cuba. Their efforts have been decidedly successful, as a sizeable amount of the Obama-era detente has been rolled back. This cohort sees Venezuela as a puppet of Havana.

The importance of the Cuban emigre community in Florida, of course, cannot be overstated in a Republican capture of the White House. Trump, like his now-ally Rand Paul, was originally warmer to the Obama administrations efforts to make nice with Havana. Paul has still publicly stood by his heterodox position, but Trump largely flipped.

A fiercer line on Caracas divides even some realists. Some, such as Tucker Carlson, have called attention to Chinas investment in the country and in Latin America. Unlike the Middle East, this is Americas backyard and involves the United States only true geopolitical pier, the thinking goes. Chinas investiture in the country includes a recent, much-needed $5 billion credit line and the exportation of the technology behind its deeply controversial social credit system. China watchers note, however, that Beijing has cooled on the flailing Maduro and his late-2018 visit to the country garnered almost no attention.

But other realists fret that an all-but-regime-change policy could be a tragic mistake, another misguided adventure. It makes sense for the United States to recognize National Assembly President Juan Guaido as Venezuelas leaderprovided his claim to the title is constitutionally-grounded, Benjamin H. Friedman at Defense Priorities told me. He added, The United States must be wary of getting pulled into regime change efforts in Venezuela. Using military force to overthrow Maduro would be foolish, not just because of the risks it entails, but because the accusation of being a tool of U.S. imperialism could damage the prospects of real democracy there.

Curt Mills is the foreign-affairs reporter at the National Interest, where he covers the State Department, National Security Council and the Trump Presidency.

Image: Reuters.

Read full article
Telefonica S.A. TEF is reportedly considering divesting its non-core assets in Central America to reduce debt burden and focus on core businesses in other parts of the world. The relatively small business operations in the region include assets in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.



The company is yet to reach a deal with any potential suitor in this regard. Management has also been tightlipped on the issue and has refused to divulge details. Meanwhile, media reports reveal that Telefonica is in negotiations with America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. AMX to divest its El Salvador and Guatemala businesses.



The continued asset sale transactions are aimed to increase liquidity and ease its burgeoning debt pile. Telefonica ended third-quarter 2018 with cash and cash equivalents of 6,138 million ($7,121.2 million) and non-current financial liabilities of 47,482 million ($55,087.9 million). In the first nine months of 2018, the company generated free cash flow of 2,957 million, down 8.3% year over year.



In addition to the debt-laden balance sheet, the company looks relatively more leveraged than the industry. Notably, its debt/capital ratio is currently pegged at 0.65, significantly higher than 0.48 recorded by the industry.



It seems that Telefonica is grappling with various short-term challenges that have hindered its operations. Domestic competition poses a major hurdle as the unbundled local loop (ULL) regulation is compelling the company to make its network available to alternative providers. The ULL regulation, along with increased exposure to direct access competitors are primary factors behind wireline telephony access erosion.



However, Telefonica is successfully capitalizing on the opportunities in the digital world through several growth strategies to script a turnaround in its fortunes. The company has significantly accelerated the deployment of ultrafast networks. Notably, it continues to witness increased traction in the smartphone arena. Continued rollout of fiber and LTE are set to drive considerable growth of the company. Moreover, Telefonica has upgraded 2018 guidance and currently expects revenues to grow around 2% year over year compared with 1% guided earlier. OIBDA margin is anticipated to expand 0.5%.



It remains to be seen how the sale of non-core assets to focus on core operations benefits the company in the long run.



Telefonica currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some top-ranked stocks in the same space are Shenandoah Telecommunications Company SHEN and Swisscom AG SCMWY, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Shenandoah Telecommunications surpassed estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 86.7%.



Swisscom has long-term earnings growth expectation of 1.6%.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?



From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
KABUL, Jan 21 (Reuters) - More than 100 members of Afghan security forces were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked a military compound in the central Maidan Wardak province on Monday, a senior defence ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We have information that 126 people have been killed in the explosion inside the military training center," the official said.

A provincial official also said the death toll was over 100.

A government spokesman declined to comment. Earlier the government said 12 people had been killed.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. (Reporting by Rupam Jain and Abdul Qadir Sediqi Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
bithumb bitcoin crypto exchange south korea

By CCN.com: US investors may soon be able to invest in one of the worlds largest bitcoin exchanges following its listing on the over-the-counter (OTC) US stock market.

No, Silicon Valley darling and cryptocurrency unicorn Coinbase hasnt decided to go public, but Bithumb -- the largest bitcoin exchange in South Korea and one of the worlds highest-volume crypto trading platforms -- could soon find its shares available to retail and institutional investors alike, albeit in a nontraditional way.

Bithumb Will Use Reverse Merger to List Shares in US

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), US holding company Blockchain Industries has signed a binding letter of intent to merge with BTHMB, the Singaporean company that controls Bithumb.

From the announcement:

Read the full story on CCN.com

.
A loyal National Guard soldier looks out to the street from behind his base's wall after an apparent mutiny by some of his fellow guards in the Cotiza neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. The disturbance started after a group of men dressed in military fatigues and carrying assault weapons published a series of videos on social media saying they won't recognize President Nicolas Maduro's government. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

As Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launches his second term challenged by a re-energized opposition movement, experts say his hold on power relies more than ever on military backing.

Maduro has granted bonuses to rank-and-file soldiers and placed generals in key government posts, including at the helm of the state-run oil company, seeking to cement their support.

But with Venezuela sliding into economic collapse, there have been signs in recent years of fraying in military support:

___

On Monday, authorities reported detaining a small group of National Guard soldiers who stormed a police station in the capital of Caracas before dawn. The soldiers captured a captain and used two vehicles to steal a cache of weapons from another outpost, officials said.

The heavily armed national guardsmen posted videos on social media saying they no longer recognized Maduro's legitimacy as president.

Officials said they quickly made 27 arrests and recovered the weapons. They blamed "dark interests of the extreme right" in buying the soldiers' loyalty.

___

On Aug. 4, Maduro was the target of an apparent assassination attempt when two drones armed with explosives detonated near him as he spoke at an outdoor military event in Caracas.

Authorities said the drones were headed to the stage where Maduro stood with his wife and other high-ranking officials. Presidential security electronically deflected one drone, while the second crashed into a nearby building.

Officials jailed dozens of suspects. They include an opposition lawmaker and three high-ranking military personnel, one a general in the National Guard.

___

On May 20-21, at least 11 officers in Venezuela's naval and air forces were detained in the central state of Aragua, home to some of the country's main military units.

They were accused of engaging in a plot against Maduro, but officials have never given any details. Government critics called it a "witch hunt," unleashed after Maduro's controversial re-election.

Story continues

___

On Aug. 6, 2017, a group of armed men attacked the Paramacay military base in Carabobo state, killing two soldiers and wounding three others. Officials said the attackers made off with weapons.

Among the detainees were military deserters and a former member of the political police, authorities said, adding that dozens more remained fugitives.

___

On June 27, 2017, rogue police officer Oscar Perez mounted a dramatic attack in a stolen helicopter, flying over Caracas to launch grenades at the Supreme Court building.

The incident played out as Venezuela was gripped by deadly street demonstrations every day for four months as protesters demanded Maduro step down.

Perez and several comrades died in a gunbattle with police after months on the run. Videos posted on social media showed Perez shouting to officials while under fire that the group wanted to surrender.
SAO PAULO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Brazils state of Sao Paulo plans to privatize its sanitation company this year, state finance secretary Henrique Meirelles said in an interview published by the Valor Economico newspaper on Wednesday.

Meirelles said the state wanted to auction off Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo, known as Sabesp , though congress still had to approve new regulations allowing the sale.

Meirelles said that if the sanitation regulation bill is not approved during the first half of 2019, the state will take the alternative measure of selling up to 4 billion reais ($1 billion) in new shares.

Press representatives at the Sao Paulo state finance office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sabesp shares have risen 31 percent this year on hopes that the company will be privatized. ($1 = 3.7894 reais) (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Jan 23 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- Russell Baker, 93-year-old two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose "Observer" column appeared in The New York Times, died at his home in Leesburg, Virginia. https://nyti.ms/2CBIFa2

- British appliances company Dyson is moving its headquarters from Malmesbury, southwest England, to Singapore in response to demand for its products in Asia. https://nyti.ms/2DsX49Y

- Viacom Inc, the owner of MTV Networks and Nickelodeon, is acquiring the free video streaming TV service Pluto TV for $340 million. https://nyti.ms/2MnN192

- The European Commission fined Mastercard Inc 571 million euros ($649.00 million) for breaching antitrust rules by raising payment-processing fees artificially, leading to higher prices for retailers and consumers. https://nyti.ms/2Ds9AH0 ($1 = 0.8798 euros) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)
PayPal, bitcoin

By CCN.com: PayPal CEO Dan Schulman expressed skepticism about mass merchant adoption of bitcoin, noting that there are very few retailers that currently accept crypto.

Schulman made the remarks Wednesday (Jan. 23) at the 2019 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"We're not seeing many retailers at all accept any of the cryptocurrencies," Schulman told CNBC (video below). "But I think the underlying technology is interesting."

Schulman: Crypto Is Not Really a Currency

Schulman is leery of hopping on the bitcoin bandwagon because he believes crypto's main role is to showcase blockchain technology.

Read the full story on CCN.com

.
Area veterans gave Malachi Fronczak a big surprise on Friday while he was raising funds at Solidarity Community Federal Credit Union for fallen officer Sgt. Benton Bertram of Charlestown.

Jerry Paul, president of Howard County Veterans Memorial Corp., handed him an envelope on behalf of five area veterans organizations, and Fronczaks jaw dropped when he pulled out 10 $100 bills.

We thought wed bring you a couple dollars, said Paul, laughing.

The money was donated by Howard County Veterans Memorial Corp., 40 & 8, VFW Post 1152, American Legion 317, and Carol Wills of Hawg Heaven.

Paul told Fronczak that whenever he sets up to raise money for a fallen officer, he will receive a donation like that one from Howard Countys veterans organizations.

We just like the idea that this little guy here is doing something, and Im real big about police officers. So thats a no-brainer for us, Paul said.

Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution. Contribute

Also presenting the donation were Pat Gerhart and Dick Cloe with the VFW Post 1152. Gerhart said the VFW was happy to give back to help Fronczaks cause.

The VFW is really into childrens programs and such, and with what hes done for our police officers, we cant just stand by and do nothing, Gerhart said.

Cloe echoed Gerhart, saying Malachi's Magnificent Lemonade is an important cause.

I think its great that we support Malachi and what he does. He does a good job. He raises a lot of money to help the families of fallen officers. We support him, he said.

Fronczak was set up at Solidarity Community FCU last week from 12 to 4 p.m. and received donations throughout the day. In total, he raised $1,707.13, which will go to Sgt. Bertrams family. Bertram, who worked for the Charlestown Police Department, died last month during a criminal pursuit.

Fronczak had lemonade, hot cocoa, and baked goods for sale. He has been raising money for fallen officers around the state of Indiana since July 2017.
Many times you might have found the multiple casinos available in the online market but when you are going to...
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. is planning to implement self-designed ethical principles for its facial recognition technology by the end of March, as it urges governments to push ahead with matching regulation in the field.

The company in December called for new legislation to govern artificial intelligence software for recognizing faces, advocating for human review and oversight of the technology in some critical cases, as a way to mitigate the risks of biased outcomes, intrusions into privacy and democratic freedoms.

We do need to lead by example and were working to do that, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said in an interview, adding that some other companies are also putting similar principles into place.

Smith said the company plans by the end of March to operationalize its principles, which involves drafting policies, building governance systems and engineering tools and testing to make sure its in line with its goals. It also involves setting controls for the companys global sales and consulting teams to prevent selling the technology in cases where it risks being used for an unwanted purpose.

The use of facial recognition software by law enforcement, border security, the military and other government agencies has stirred concerns about the risks of bias and mass surveillance. Research has shown that some of the most popular products make mistakes and perform worse on people with darker skin. Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s Google have all faced protests from employees and advocacy groups over the the idea of selling AI software to government agencies or the police.

It would certainly restrict certain scenarios or uses, Smith said of the principles, adding that Microsoft wouldnt necessarily reject providing governments with the technology. The company only wants to prevent law enforcement from using the technology for ongoing surveillance of a specific individual without the preferred safeguards, he said.

Story continues

The company has turned down contracts for that reason, he said. One was a case that Smith said would have amounted to public surveillance in a national capital in a country where we were not comfortable that human rights would be protected. Another was deployment by a law enforcement agency in the U.S. that we thought would create an undue risk of discrimination.

Asked whether Microsoft would rule out working with Chinese law enforcement, especially in light of new rules to judge citizens on their social behavior, Smith said it would definitely raise important questions in China. He said that in any case it appears that Beijing is more interested in procuring facial-recognition technology from local firms instead of American ones.

Despite steaming ahead with the self-imposed rules, the company said industrywide regulation is necessary.

You never want to create a market that forces companies to choose between being successful and being responsible and unless we have a regulatory floor there is a danger of that happening, Smith said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalia Drozdiak in Brussels at ndrozdiak1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Molly Schuetz

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
FILE PHOTO: An Apple company logo is seen behind tree branches outside an Apple store in Beijing, China December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

By Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) - Apple (AAPL.O), L'Oreal (OREP.PA) and Mitsubishi Electric are among more than 120 global firms which scored top marks in a ranking of corporate efforts to slow climate change.

Many companies say they are stepping up action on climate change since almost 200 governments struck the 2015 Paris climate agreement to phase out greenhouse gas emissions this century by shifting from fossil fuels.

But only two percent of 6,800 firms that submitted data made the "A List" of CDP's index, including Johnson & Johnson(JNJ.N), Nestle (NESN.S), China Mobile [CHNMC.UL] and Microsoft (MSFT.O).

London-based CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, said its data showed the shares of its index leaders tend to outperform on stock markets. Companies are coming under increasing pressure from shareholders to address climate change.

CDP said the STOXX Global Climate Leaders index, based on the CDP A List, outperformed the STOXX Global 1800 of major firms by 5.4 percent a year from December 2011 to July 2018.

"We think (climate action) is a lead indicator of quality in other areas, especially sustainability and management," Dexter Galvin, global director of corporates and supply chains at CDP, told Reuters ahead of the index publication on Tuesday.

Galvin said it was hard to compare the 2018 results with previous years due to changes in the questions posed. As a result, a company that dropped off the list was not necessarily performing worse, he added.

CDP asks companies to disclose their performance on climate change and separately surveys their efforts to limit water use and to protect forests in its study, which is backed by more than 650 investors with assets of $87 trillion and is meant to spur efforts to protect the planet.

Galvin said CDP would in future be bolder in naming and shaming in the report, which was issued to coincide with the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Among examples of efforts made by its A List companies, CDP said Danish toy-maker LEGO launched the first LEGO elements made from plant-based plastic sourced from sugar cane.

And Korean electronics company LG Display had developed and invested in more than 150 water-related reduction technologies between 2013 and 2017, it added.

(Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Alexander Smith)
For years, Japan has been Southeast Asia's top source of infrastructure investment.

With China's Belt and Road Initiative now in the picture, the Asian economic powers are competing for regional influence.

While Tokyo may be unable to match Beijing's war chest, it ranks ahead in terms of reputation and local impact, according to experts.

Before China began courting Southeast Asia with infrastructure investments through its Belt and Road Initiative , Japan was the region's top development financier. As the two powerhouses now compete for economic and commercial influence , some are saying that Beijing may be winning the battle but losing the war.

That is, Tokyo may be unable to match the sheer volume of Beijing's investments, but it ranks ahead in terms of reputation and local impact, according to experts.

Japanese ventures within emerging Asia, which first began in the late 1970s through multinational companies before the government spearheaded its infrastructure connectivity blueprint in the 1990s, are seen as the poster child for what the G-7 and OECD call "quality infrastructure." Such projects boast high safety, environmental, reliability and inclusion standards in addition to improving overall logistics in a developing area.

For example, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation claims that its loans to Vietnam for a national highway and port upgrades boosted rural household incomes, reduced poverty levels and boosted efficiency.

While several campaigns under Chinese President Xi Jinping Belt and Road are also considered "quality infrastructure," they are often overshadowed by broader concerns about the venture  which has long been viewed as a platform to project Chinese power across the globe.

"The BRI's aspirational investment levels tell us little, if anything, about the actual impact of new infrastructure projects," Jonathan Hillman, senior fellow and director of the Reconnecting Asia Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a 2018 report. "Will that spending help people who need it most? Will it go into viable projects or white elephants? Will it help or hurt climate change? Will it create or destroy value?"

Story continues

Local engagement; transparency

Railroads, communication networks, and agricultural developments built by Japanese corporates and government-linked institutions are especially valued for the technical training and education they provide to local stakeholders, experts said. That goes a long way in cultivating goodwill between Tokyo and host countries.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe administration said in November that it will help Southeast Asian countries groom 80,000 manufacturing and digital industry specialists over five years as part of its push to build smart cities across the region. In contrast, Belt and Road participants often complain of a lack of local engagement  many Chinese-led construction endeavors are accused of importing the bulk of materials and labor from China rather than involving local companies.

There are also fears of corruption for Belt and Road projects. In one instance, Chinese officials allegedly agreed to inflate the cost of infrastructure projects in Malaysia, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month  a claim that Xi's government has denied. On that front, Beijing can learn from Tokyo, Hillman said in a note this week.

"When the former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos fled office in 1986, his papers exposed a system of corruption implicating dozens of Japanese companies. The resulting embarrassment in Tokyo helped catalyze real reforms, leading to greater transparency, more open competition, and eventually Japan's first official aid charter."

Sustainable financing

Japanese financing is also widely seen as more reliable given Tokyo's longer track record in development finance .

"Compared to China's state-backed projects, Japanese projects are more resilient because they have a large number of financial backers," said a 2018 paper published by The Institute of Developing Economies, an affiliate of the government related Japan External Trade Organization.

Many Japanese projects have private backing by Mitsubishi 8058.T-JP , Toyota 6201.T-JP , Nintendo 7974.T-JP and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T-JP companies that are advancing economic integration in Southeast Asia and know the importance of people-to-people ties in the region, the paper continued.

On the other hand, the fact that China's largest lenders only publicize projects after contractors are picked, rarely release loan terms and are slow on implementation doesn't instill trust in the Belt and Road, Hillman said. Concerns about the terms of Chinese financing have now led to a number of deals being canceled or renegotiated in recent months .

"Beijing may have excelled at making promises, but Tokyo has been far better at delivering and, in doing so, exerting its influence," the Foreign Policy Research Institute said in a 2018 note.





More From CNBC


By Ssebuliba Samuel.

The National resistance movement hinged the need to create more constituencies on their ultimate desire to serve people.

In the just releases NRM political road map, in May this year the NRM caucus is set to meet to expedite implementation of many issue including more constituencies if necessary.

Speaking to media, the NRM secretary general Justine Kasule Lumumba said that many Ugandan all levels are asking to creation of more administrative units more especially constituencies.

She said that regardless of parliaments position and ministry of finance on creation of new administrative units, the NRM will push for more if necessary

Related Stories.

NRM launch its Political road map for 2019/2020 elections
Crowned the most beautiful Italian town of 2016, Sambuca is welcoming anyone willing to leave their bustling cities or familiar spaces for their shores if are willing to cough up at least 1 (or about $1.14) for an initial bid.

CNN is reporting that the southern Italian towns of Mussomeli and Zungoli have joined the fray, also selling their homes for at least 1.

The median home price in the New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania areas falls around $428,200. The median home price in the Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue areas fall around $502,800. So 1 for a southern Italian home, even if you have to drop 5,000 for a security deposit and at least 15,000 for future renovations, can present itself as the steal of the century.

Whats the catch? Sambuca (population: 5,878 as of 2016) faces an issue that neither of those urban cities has understood since their dawn: depopulation.

All these things happen in small cities in general, CaseA1Euro web developer and manager Maurizio Berti told Yahoo Finance. He claims that immigration away from smaller cities in southern Italy has caused for cities like Sambuca and in the past Ollolai and Salemi to resort to selling homes for one euro. Immigration is a phenomenon that has seen the depopulation of the Pennines, the Alps, the mountain zones. And people moved initially near the coast where life is easier.

Sambuca, Italy. (Photo: Riccardo Lombardo/REDA&CO/UIG via Getty Images)

The town, located near the front sole of Sicily is perched on a scenic hillside, overlooking Lake Arancio and sitting underneath the shadow of Mount Genuardo. However, in the last 15 years, according to local reporter Antonella Di Giovanna, the town saw its population drop from about 8,000 to roughly 5,000 due to an exodus of its younger population.

We are trying to promote the territory of Sambuca, said deputy mayor Giuseppe Cacioppo. Ill tell you that you live well in Sambuca.

Cacioppo has already received over tens of thousands of requests, including around 39,000 on January 18, for the available lots in the town he has lived for all 47 years of his life.

Video footage courtesy of: Futuravision.it and Commune di Sicilia

WATCH MORE: All travelers leaving Japan will now pay a 'sayonara tax'
By Christoph Steitz, Tom Kackenhoff and Vera Eckert

BERLIN (Reuters) - German utility EWE [LANDWE.UL] aims to sell a minority stake seen worth up to 1.6 billion euros (1.41 billion pounds) in the second half of 2019, its chief executive said, adding it was open to foreign investors.

"What is important is that any new investor must be long-term and support the group's value and strategy," CEO Stefan Dohler told Reuters at an energy conference in Berlin.

Some European countries, most notably Germany and Denmark, have become more sceptical of critical infrastructure falling into the hands of foreign investors, with some intervening to avert such deals.

EWE, majority-owned by cities and municipalities in northwestern Germany, will begin the sales process in the first quarter, Dohler said, noting bringing in an outside co-owner would serve as a "healthy corrective" to the group's strategy.

The stake could be worth up to 1.6 billion euros ($1.82 billion) with potential bidders including a consortium of infrastructure investor Macquarie (MQG.AX) and Allianz (ALVG.DE), sources familiar with the process told Reuters this month.

Canadian pension fund OMERS, Australian infrastructure fund IFM and Dutch pension fund PGGM, all keen to invest in stable energy infrastructure assets, could also be interested, the sources said.

Dohler also said the group was in intense talks with a number of potential buyers for its operations in Turkey, where EWE is the fourth-largest natural gas supplier by number of customers.

However, EWE would only sell when the price is right, he said.

"There won't be a fire sale."

Turkish gas distributor Palmet (IPO-PELMET.IS) last week said it was in talks to acquire EWE's Turkish business and estimated the deal at 130 million to 150 million euros.

($1 = 0.8808 euros)

(Editing by Thomas Seythal and Jason Neely)




Heres something counterintuitive: a leading Volkswagen executive said she welcomes Europes proposal for new class action legal rules.

These rules were designed in response to Volkswagens Dieselgate scandal, with the aim of helping individuals mobilise against big corporations.

Hiltrud Werner, head of integrity and legal affairs at Volkswagen Group (VOW3.DE), told Yahoo Finance UK that she thought the new EU legal rules could be a good thing for individuals and her firm.

I think this will give the company and consumers a much smoother  process, she said in a special one-to-one video interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Werner, who has been in her role for the past two years, has been working to help the company recover from the damaging Dieselgate scandal in 2015, when it was caught cheating on diesel emissions tests.

Allowing Volkswagen to deal with one large legal action instead of tens of thousands of small claims would be a a good sign for both sides, she said.

Last year, the European Commission proposed rules that would allow EU citizens to band together and seek compensation from companies. The proposal was designed to fix a patchwork system of national rules that makes it difficult, or impossible, for consumer groups to launch legal action when companies break the law.

Hiltrud Werner has served as Volkswagens head of integrity and legal affairs for two years. Photo: Volkswagen Group

The European Commission said last year that Volkswagens diesel scandal demonstrated that consumer laws had to be be strengthened to ensure companies faced consequences.

In a globalised world where the big companies have a huge advantage over individual consumers we need to level the odds, said Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for iustice, when the newly proposed rules were launched in April.

But unlike the US system, EU consumers wouldnt be able to seek compensation for things like emotional distress.

No punitive damages should be awarded, the European Commission said. Consumers will be compensated for the actual harm suffered.

Story continues

Werner said on Wednesday it was time for Europe to act.

The European Union has very often said that they want to be one of the leading legal systems in the world. And quite frankly, they have done a very good job on data protection, she said. Similar movement in other areas of the law, [such as] consumer class actions, would be a good development.

The proposed class action rules are now being considered by the European Parliament and the European Council.

READ MORE: Coverage from the World Economic Forum

READ MORE: Western world dislikes globalisation, but everyone else loves it, says Oxford professor

READ MORE: The big electric car launches to expect in 2019
FILE PHOTO: A scale model of an AGV high speed train with the logo of Alstom is seen before a news conference to present the company's full year 2016/17 annual results in Saint-Ouen, near Paris, France, May 4, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

By Leigh Thomas

PARIS (Reuters) - France and Germany raised pressure on the European Union's competition chief to approve the merger of Alstom and Siemens' rail businesses, warning that thwarting the proposed European champion would be a strategic error.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the French and German governments were fully behind the merger, as were Alstom (ALSO.PA) Chief Executive Henri Poupart-Lafarge and his Siemens (SIEGn.DE) counterpart Joe Kaeser.

"Refusing the merger between Alstom and Siemens would be an economic error and a political mistake," Le Maire told journalists on Monday before a visit by EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to Paris.

"We cannot take an industrial decision for the 21st century with the competition rules from the 20th century," Le Maire added, reiterating a warning to Vestager about rejecting the merger.

People familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that Siemens' and Alstom's plan to create a European rail champion to take on a Chinese rival had failed to win over EU antitrust regulators, despite German and French backing.

Comments from politicians reflect a frustration that the EU's competition laws no longer reflect modern-day geopolitical realities, and in particular the threat from China.

"We need international champions in Europe that are able to compete globally", German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told Reuters on the sidelines of a technology conference in Munich.

"Talks are in an important phase and we will do everything so that this project has a chance," he added.

During her visit to Paris, Vestager refused to comment on the possible outcome of the antitrust decision due by Feb. 18, but stressed the importance of defending consumers' interests rather than building European industrial champions.

"We're dealing with two European champions, we're dealing with businesses that are very big in the European marketplace and the global marketplace," Vestager told journalists.

Story continues

The French and German government have argued in favor of the merger on the grounds that it would create a European market leader capable of competing with Chinese giant CRRC , which currently dwarves other rivals.

Vestager said the European Commission had looked in-depth at CRRC's position in the global market.

She added that the European antitrust enforcer would review any measures offered by the companies to ease its competition concerns, but warned it was extremely late in the process.

"Of course our phone is open, the mailbox as well, (but) when you're this late in the procedure, you have to be very blunt in remedying concerns if you want to do that," she said.

German conglomerate Siemens has already offered to license parts of its high-speed train business and sell parts of its signaling operations after the European Commission voiced concerns.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas, addiotnal reporting by Myriam Rivet and Julie Carriat and Doug Busvine in Munich; Editing by Keith Weir)
By Damali Mukhaye.

Student leaders at Makerere University have given the university management an ultimatum of 48 hours within which to solve the issues of the striking staff or else they also join the strike.

The university staff laid down their tools last week on Friday over the suspension of Makerere university academic staff association chairperson Dr Deus Kamunyu and other two administrative staff leaders.

Addressing journalists after a crisis meeting held at the University, the guild president Paapa Were Salim said if management fails to solve the grievances of staff by Friday, the students will strike because they miss a lot when lecturers do not turn up to teach them.

The resolution to strike was agreed on by all guild representatives at a meeting held at the university today.
(Bloomberg) -- Full coverage at bloomberg.com/davos, on Twitter @business and via our special WhatsApp alerts.

Billionaire Michael Dell, chief executive officer of the eponymous technology giant, rejected a suggestion by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of a 70-percent marginal tax rate on the wealthiest Americans.

No, Im not supportive of that, Dell said at a Davos panel on making digital globalization inclusive. And I dont think it will help the growth of the U.S. economy. Name a country where thats worked.

She may not be in Davos, but the New York representatives influence is being felt on the slopes of the Swiss Alps. Three weeks after Ocasio-Cortez floated the idea in an interview on 60 Minutes to raise the top marginal tax rate on Americans income of more than $10 million to 70 percent, it was a hot topic at the gathering of the global financial and political elite.

Dell has expanded his wealth by $12 billion over the past half decade, Bloomberg reported this month, reshaping his company from a maker of inexpensive PCs into a diversified tech powerhouse that sells everything from servers to security software. Dell, whos now worth $26.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, pulled his namesake technology empire from public markets in 2013, engineered a large acquisition and returned it to the stock market in December. The shares have gained 5.8 percent since then.

My wife and I set up a foundation about 20 years ago and we wouldve contributed quite a bit more than a 70 percent tax rate on my annual income, Dell said. I feel much more comfortable with our ability as a private foundation to allocate those funds than I do giving them to the government.

Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was on the panel with Dell, said such a rate worked in the U.S. after World War II. But other executives were opposed, including Salesforce.com Inc. Co-Chief Executive Officer Keith Block.

Story continues

It would be disastrous for the economy, Ken Moelis, chief executive officer of investment bank Moelis & Co., said in an earlier Bloomberg Television interview from the site. You have to incentivize people. Even in the U.S., whats going to happen to the two-workforce family? You forget where 70 percent starts to kick in.

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio suggested that the idea may have legs in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election. Discussing the outlook for a slowing world economy Tuesday, Dalio said that next year will see the beginning of thinking about politics and how that might affect economic policy beyond. Something like the talk of the 70 percent income tax, for example, will play a bigger role. He didnt mention Ocasio-Cortez by name.

Currently in the U.S., the top marginal tax rate is 37 percent, which takes effect on income of more than $510,300 for individuals and $612,350 for married couples, according to the Tax Foundation.

The fortunes of a dozen attendees at the World Economic Forum in 2009 have soared by a combined $175 billion, a Bloomberg analysis found. The same cannot be said for people on the other end of the social spectrum: A report from Oxfam on Monday revealed that the poorest half of the world saw their wealth fall by 11 percent last year.

--With assistance from Sonali Basak.

To contact the reporters on this story: John Fraher in London at jfraher@bloomberg.net;Nico Grant in San Francisco at ngrant20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Andrew Pollack

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
The latest round of economic data from China showed the country's economy grew at just 6.6 percent last year, which marks the slowest pace seen since 1990.

Is The Economy Contracting?

Xiang Songzuo, a university professor in Beijing, estimated in December China's economy at most grew just 1.67 percent and left the possibility open that the economy even contracted. His analysis may have validity as China's economy showed signs of contracting in December and is likely to continue slowing even further in the coming months, Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," told CNBC Tuesday morning.

It's "brave" for Songzuo to claim the Chinese government added an extra 5 percentage points to its official economic growth numbers although his stance has been apparent for many years, Chang said. The official government numbers could be misleading as far back as 2016 when the World Bank suggested the Chinese economy grew 1.1 percent. This figure is consistent with the "single most reliable indicator of Chinese economic activity: total primary energy consumption."

In 2016, official Chinese data showed total primary energy consumption grew just 1.4 percent.

"What you are looking at is an economy that has been growing in the one-sies, two-sies, over at least the last three years," Chang said.

Slowdown Will Last

Shen Minggao, chief economist at Guangfa Securities, said on Bloomberg the slowdown in China's economy was mostly expected by the market. In fact, the economic slowdown will likely persist for two key reasons: 1) Many sectors in China are showing only a single-digit growth rate while some traditional growth sectors could show a negative rate and 2) the Chinese government may not be able to introduce new growth drivers for at least three to five years.

Despite a bleak outlook, a slowdown in China's economy isn't necessarily a concern as a slowdown is "good for the longer term" as it will bring needed structural changes, Minggao said.

Story continues

China Shifted On Trump

David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-executive chairman of the Carlyle Group, told CNBC the Chinese government may have recently shifted its opinion on President Donald Trump and his stance on China.

At first, Trump's politeness towards the Chinese government gave the impression he didn't really mean what he said about being "tough on trade." But now the Chinese government understands Trump is "very serious" on trade, he said. If for whatever reason Trump "were to depart tomorrow," there is a line of politicians who hold a similar stance. Rubenstein said the president's stance on China is likely viewed favorably by as much as 45 percent of the U.S. population.

Related Links:

Port Report: China May Look To Take A Little Extra Time Off This Lunar New Year

What's Next For US And China Trade Talks?

See more from Benzinga

 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
(Bloomberg) -- Hans Laser Technology Industry Group Co. has lost $5 billion, or half its value, since the summer, swept up in a global rout of companies that make up Apple Inc.s supply chain. Yet foreign investors remain enamored of the Chinese laser tools maker.

As of this week, foreign investors held about 17 percent of Hans Laser through the northbound arm of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect: the highest proportion among more than 700 stocks that foreigners can invest in via the two-year-old market link. Thats despite a brutal drubbing thats pushed the company to its cheapest per-share valuation in over five years. A manufacturer of laser cutting and welding gear for consumer electronics labels from Samsung to Sony, its trading at its lowest in roughly a year.

Admirers of Hans Laser believe its close to a bottom in the wake of Apple boss Tim Cooks surprise outlook cut in January, the culmination of months of concerns about iPhone demand thatve walloped partners such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Mounting evidence that Chinas economy is cooling more rapidly than expected is also punishing industrial firms. The stock was trading at about 14 times 2019 earnings as of Tuesday after touching 13 on Jan. 3 -- its lowest since mid-2013.

Yet revenue growth is expected to rebound to more than 20 percent this year, helped by advances in laser technology that allows it to seek new clients beyond a floundering smartphone arena.

In the long run, if China wants to develop its high-end manufacturing industry, the laser sector will be a major part of Beijings plan with at least 10 percent in annual revenue growth, said Zhu Jixiang, a Capital Securities Corp. analyst whose recommendations yielded the second-highest returns among his peers over the past year. Theres a buying opportunity anytime its valuation dips below 15 times 2019 earnings.

Founded in 1996, Hans Laser has grown into a global supplier of laser cutting, welding and drilling gear to a plethora of global electronics names from Panasonic to Olympus. Its advocates say an increasingly diversified business -- in printed circuit boards, for instance -- and lead in the domestic laser equipment sector helps it hedge risks from weakening iPhone sales, even during an economic slowdown.

Story continues

Although Chinese tech companies have wilted along with the rest of the market as U.S. trade tensions persisted, high-end manufacturing remains attractive to some. Citigroup set a price target of 50.9 yuan on the stock on Jan. 10, implying room to climb about 70 percent because of its deepening penetration. Thats sharply higher than the average projection of about 43 yuan from 13 analysts, which still suggests a comfortable ceiling.

Part of its draw is simple profit potential: earnings-per-share is expected on average to grow 13 percent in 2018, then quicken to 28 percent in 2020. To be sure, Apple still accounts for around 40 percent of Hans Lasers revenue, estimates Hiroki Lu, a fund manager at SinoPac Securities Investment Trust whos cut his holdings since July to avoid the selloff. But that proportions dropping gradually.

Thats why foreign shareholdings in the company increased 13 percentage points over the past year, the second highest jump among all mainland-listed companies participating in the stock connect program, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Its in the worst time now. The price should be stable because other businesses of the company have a chance to grow, said Lu, whos gauging when to jump back in. The company is exploring its own laser transmitter, which will help lower costs in the future.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Amy Li in Shanghai at yli677@bloomberg.net;Cindy Wang in Taipei at hwang61@bloomberg.net;Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Fenner at rfenner@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
By Ivan Ssenabulya

President Museveni has been asked to support the expeditious enactment of the election campaign financing bill 2018 as one of the steps to check the use of dirty money in elections in Uganda.

In their open letter to the President dated 19th January 2019, The Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) argue that the use of such money continue to stifle the true meaning of democracy.

The coalitions coordinator Crispy Kaheru says the shs 3 trillion used in the previous election by both the electoral commission and political parties deters those with ideas but without money from joining politics.

He adds that there is urgent need to address the monetization of elections, corruption, integrity of the national voters register and violence during elections among others if the 2021 general election is to be free and fair.

The call by CCEDU comes at a time the speaker of parliament tasked the justice and constitutional affairs ministry to table the electoral reforms bill as part of the 2016 Supreme Court rulings.
After major global successes in the battle against malaria, the positive trend stalled around 2015 - apart from in Zanzibar in East Africa, where only a fraction of the disease remains. In a new study published in BMC Medicine, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden explain why this was and show that new strategies are needed to eradicate the disease. One of the problems is a change in mosquito behaviour and selection in the parasites.

The years around 2000 Professor Anders Bjorkman described as catastrophic with respect to the global spread of malaria. This triggered a world-wide initiative that was given a boost by new kinds of drug and the widespread distribution of impregnated mosquito nets and domestic anti-mosquito sprays. The outcome was a halving of the global spread of the disease by 2015.

"But after that, the decline tailed off," says Professor Anders Bjorkman at the Department of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, who has been running the malaria project for 18 years. "Except for in Zanzibar, where the action taken for its 1.4 million citizens has led to approximately a 96 per cent decline in the incidence of malaria. We've optimised these measures with the Zanzibar Malaria Control Programme and can now explain why malaria has not yet been fully eliminated."

The study reveals altered behaviour in the malaria mosquitoes, which now bite outdoors instead of indoors. They have also developed a kind of resistance to modern pesticides. Furthermore, there has been a process of selection in the pathogenic parasite, where the remaining form is more difficult to detect but still spreads the disease as before. The researchers have been monitoring 100,000 or so residents of two districts in Zanzibar since 2002.

"Both the mosquitoes and the parasites have found ways to avoid control measures," says Professor Bjorkman. "We now need to develop new strategies to overcome this if we're to attain the goal of eliminating the disease from Zanzibar, an endeavour that can prove a model for the entire continent."

What surprised the researchers was the dramatic decline in child mortality in Zanzibar, where malaria control has caused more than a 70 per cent drop in the total child mortality rate. It was previously estimated that only 20 per cent of child deaths in Africa were malaria-related; the researchers now think the reason for this dramatic reduction is that the disease has a greater and more chronic effect on the general health of babies than suspected, thus lowering their resistance to other diseases throughout early childhood.

"Malaria is still the greatest obstacle to a healthy childhood in Africa," says Professor Bjorkman. "If you ask African women today, their greatest concern is usually that malaria doesn't affect their pregnancy and their babies. The global community must continue the fight for improved strategies and control measures. If this happens, I think we'll be able to reach the goal of ultimate elimination."

Zanzibar was one of the first countries to put the global initiatives against malaria to use and has since been tireless in its work to control the disease. The researchers now hope that these lessons can revive anti-malaria strategies throughout Africa.

###

The study was mainly financed by the Erling-Persson Family Foundation and the Swedish Research Council.

Publication: "From high to low malaria transmission in Zanzibar - challenges and opportunities to achieve elimination". Anders Bjo?rkman, Deler Shakely, Abdullah Ali, Ulrika Morris, Humphrey Mkali, Abdul-Wahid Al-Mafazy, Khamis Haji, Juma Mcha, Rahila Omar, Jackie Cook, Kristina Elfving, Max Petzold, Michael Sachs, Berit Aydin-Schmidt, Chris Drakeley, Mwinyi Msellem and Andreas Ma?rtensson. BMC Medicine, online 22 January 2019, doi: 10.1186/s12916-018-1243-z.
By Ritah Kemigisa.

Pastor Joseph Serwadda of Victory Christian Church has called for the arrest of pastors who manipulate and extort money from Ugandans.

In February 2017, a born again pastor introduced Holy Rice which he would sell to his congregation at Shs50, 000 per kilogram claiming it had abundant blessings.

Serwadda now says this practice is not only ungodly but also amounts to theft and as such those engaged in such acts should be charged.

Ethics and Integrity minister, Fr Simon Lokodo has since announced that government is in advanced stages of implementing a new policy, which will require all preachers to attain theological training before opening a church.
By Ivan Ssenabulya

Police in Kween district have arrested 19 people in a joint operation with the army for performing Female Genital Mutilation on girls.

This follows a general Inquiry file opened up, to investigate the vice in the region.

According to Sipi region police spokesperson, Rogers Taitika the operation in Benyini, Kaprolon town councils and Kosil sub-county netted a 50 year old woman.

50 year Cherop Irene is said to be a known performer of the illegal act in the district.

This comes after a newspaper report that revealed that 100 girls were cut in December, last year in Kwen district.

FGM was made a crime in Uganda in 2010, under the prohibition of FGM act and it attracts a maximum sentence of 10 years for committing the act and 7 years for abetting it.
Khartoum: On Tuesday, Sudanese police fired tear gas at crowds demonstrating in the capital's twin city of Omdurman against the death of a fellow anti-government protester,As per reports, the demonstration, which came ahead of planned nighttime rallies in Omdurman and Khartoum just across the Nile, was the latest in more than a month of rising protests against President Omar al-Bashir's three-decade rule.

The veteran leader, who has made disobedient appearances at loyalist rallies in Khartoum and other cities, left for Qatar on Tuesday to discuss "bilateral relations" with his longstanding Gulf Arab ally. Bashir is also expected to discuss "efforts to achieve peace in Darfur," the official SUNA news agency reported, referring to the western region of Sudan that has been ravaged by a conflict between Sudanese forces and ethnic minority rebels.

the catchword slogans of the protest movement were Chanting "overthrow, overthrow" and "freedom, peace and justice," the demonstrators had gathered near the home of their dead comrade. The doctors' branch of the Sudanese Professionals' Association said he had died on Monday from wounds sustained when demonstrators clashed with security forces in Khartoum on Thursday.

also read: China ballistic missile strike exercise, flight range of 12,000 km.

Human rights groups say that several medics have been among more than 40 people killed in clashes with the security forces since the protests erupted on December 19.

However, The authorities say 26 people have been killed, including at least one doctor, but blame rebel provocateurs they say have infiltrated the protesters' ranks. The mushrooming protests are widely seen as the biggest threat to Bashir's iron-fisted rule since he took power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989. Bashir has survived previous protest movements in September 2013 and January last year. But his efforts to blame the United States for Sudan's economic woes have fallen on increasingly deaf ears as people have struggled to buy even basic foods and medicines.

also read: AgustaWestland had paid Christian Michel 42.27 million euros: CBI
Berlin: On Tuesday, The leaders of France and Germany laid out their commitment to a future joint European Army, an idea that has burst angry reactions from US President Donald Trump. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said closer defence ties agreed in a new friendship treaty aim to build a Franco-German "common military culture" and "contribute to the creation of a European army".

Here, Both Macron and Merkel have pushed the idea of a joint European Army for the bloc that would be part of the wider transatlantic NATO coalition. Macron told a forum after the signing ceremony that as "authoritarian powers are emerging everywhere ... let's build a real European army to protect ourselves and have a real foreign policy".

also read : China ballistic missile strike exercise, flight range of 12,000 km.

Trump has powerfully demanded that European NATO members, especially Germany, pay more for their joint defence but has attacked the idea of a separate European army. whereas, Late last year he mocked both of the European powers by tweeting that "it was Germany in World Wars One & Two -- How did that work out for France?" He added that "they were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along".

As a new turn, they meant as a follow-up to the 1963 Elysee Treaty, both France and Germany pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder in case of a military attack against either of them, reaffirming a commitment already written into EU and NATO treaties. Paris and Berlin will also create a new joint Defence and Security Council and seek to harmonise rules for military equipment procurement.

However, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the treaty, saying that France and Germany had a day earlier briefed the alliance on its defence and security aspects. For decades, Franco-German cooperation has been essential for security and stability in Europe.

also read: AgustaWestland had paid Christian Michel 42.27 million euros: CBI
Medical science termed her birth a miracle. She is Radha, the first baby born in a transplanted uterus in India. Radha was, in fact, born in the same uterus as her mother. This came about as it was Radha's grandmother who donated the uterus to her mother, Meenakshi.

Radhas birth gives hope to a large number of childless mothers in the country. "My daughter is very fortunate to have grown in the same uterus as I," says Meenakshi.

Though she has only recently reached home after her birth in hospital on October 18, 2018, Radha has already become a star.

Earlier, Meenakshi Valand belonging to Vadodara in Gujarat had received the uterus of her mother, Susheela Ben.

Dreams that began to fade

Vadodara is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri river and Meenakshi lives at Bharuch in Jambasore, 50 km from the city. Her father is Jayesh Bhaj and mother Susheela Ben. She has a younger brother. Theirs is an ordinary family and Meenakshi was married at age 20. Her husband Hitesh is a beautician. The couple together runs a beauty parlour near their house and making people attractive is a passion for Meenakshi.

Meenakshi conceived soon after her marriage but an abortion took place as the foetus had developmental problems. Though she became pregnant again, she lost that baby too as it had some heart problem. During scanning when she was carrying for a third time, doctors found remnants of the foetus that had grown in Meenakshis uterus during the previous conception. They suggested emergency surgery to remove the remnants, but by that time another abortion occurred.

When the remains of the foetus were finally removed, Meenakshis uterus suffered serious injuries. Either the injuries had to be sutured or the entire uterus had to be removed. Suturing the uterus did not guarantee any success and Meenakshis life itself could be in peril. But Meenakshi decided to undergo the procedure as she wanted to be a mother at any cost. Though she gave consent to suture her uterus, she had no menstruation again.

We went to Eves Hospital at Vadodara afterwards. Doctors there conducted hysteroscopy and found that the inner lining of my uterus had become as solid as white cement. I was also diagnosed with Asherman Syndrome, which is characterized by adhesion of uterine cavities. Women having both these conditions can never conceive. Doctors opined that I would never be able to carry. Moreover, to save my life, the uterus had to be removed. With no other option, that too was done, says Meenakshi.

Difficult days

Those were trying times for Meenakshi. It was a big shock for me that I would never have children of my own. My husband, who loved children, too became disconsolate. At the young age of 27, I was left without a uterus. Our wails upset the doctors at Eves Hospital and they told us about Galaxy Care Hospital in Pune, she recalls.

When the doctors there promised that they would transplant a healthy uterus on Meenakshi, her mother immediately came forward to donate her organ. My mother was so sad about my condition. Who wouldnt wish for a grandchild? asks Meenakshi.

My mother was aged 48 at that time and still had regular periods. She had no health problems too, she says.

Soon after they reached Pune and consulted the doctors there, Meenakshi and her family regained their confidence and hope. I too would become a mother at last, Meenakshi thought.

Dr Shailesh Putambekar, who led the uterine transplant team in the Pune hospital, briefly describes the procedure: The surgery lasted several hours. After Meenakshi received her mothers uterus, all of us were very tense. When other organs are transplanted we will know whether the surgery is successful within 24 hours. However, a uterine transplant can be termed a success only when menstruation takes place, which may take months.

Meenakshi continues, I had periods 48 days after surgery and that was the happiest moment in my life. I again began dreaming of having a child.

In January 2018, IVF (In vitro fertilization) was performed on Meenakshi. Her mothers uterus had borne a baby several years ago and we had no idea how it would accept a foetus now. Though much care was given, an abortion took place after 48 days. Those were very difficult days and I faced much criticism. But I didnt lose hope, says Dr Shailesh.

Dr Milind Telang, the laparoscopic gynaecologist at Galaxy Hospital, explains what happened subsequently: After three months, in April, another IVF was performed. The next three months were tense. However, everything was fine and during the scan at three months, it was found that the foetus was growing normally. Immunosuppressive drugs are given to women undergoing uterine transplant. These drugs may cause genetic disorders to the foetus. When an organ is transplanted, the receivers body has a tendency to reject it. The immunosuppressive drugs are meant to prevent this. To protect the foetus from genetic damage, the dose of the drugs was regulated. Thankfully, Meenakshis baby suffered from no genetic issues.

Hopes turn true

Meenakshi spent the entire period of pregnancy at the Galaxy Hospital. It was a time of total rest with a bit of walking, hearing music and enjoying the food she loved. Much care was taken to prevent infections. Before every scanning, my heart used to beat wildly. Was the baby growing normally? However, after each scanning I came out of the room with a smile, says Meenakshi.

At 32 weeks, doctors decided to perform the caesarian. They had told me that normal delivery was not possible. It was decided to prolong the pregnancy as long as possible, but my blood pressure was going high and the level of amniotic fluid began to fall. In that situation, a date was decided for the caesarian, remembers Meenakshi.

All doctors, including the paediatrician, were ready before the procedure. On October 18, 2018 at 12.12 noon the baby girl came to this world. Incidentally, it was Dr Shaileshs 55th birthday too.

Immediately after birth, the baby was shifted to the neonatal ICU which had a radiant warmer. Though there was some breathing problem, it was solved with oxygen therapy. During the first week the baby was given IV fluid and from the second week, the mothers milk through a tube. This was to avoid the exertion of sucking. This continued till the fourth week. Afterwards, breast milk was given with a spoon. Gradually the baby girl started feeding on her mothers breast milk like any other normal infant.

I heaved a sigh of relief only after my little girl was handed over to me. Within five weeks, her weight increase by 700 gms. During discharge, she weighed 2.5 kg. Now she has started smiling and recognizes her fathers voice. She throws no tantrums. She is our darling, says Meenakshi gently stroking little Radha. When her father kisses her, a sleeping Radha opens her eyes slightly.

A star is born

Meenakshi is all praise for the doctors, nurses and others who cared for them. Seema, wife of Dr Shailesh, often visited me and brought khichdi and dal, my favourite dishes. She was like my mother. Seeing her love we gave her the right to name the baby and Radha was her choice, says the happy mother.

I now feel extremely happy when others are glad. My life would have been very sad without children. Let Radha offer hope to several others. My daughter grew in the same uterus as me. It is like a fairytale, but there is sadness, desperation, hope and finally elation, says Meenakshi.

She will continue medicines for another month and visit Pune for checkup for three months. Doctors have advised her to plan for another baby only after 5 years.

Meanwhile, Hitesh is preparing to reopen his beauty parlour after a long interval. We had been in hospital over the last several months. Now we have to return to our old life, he says. Meenakshi will not take up her job till Radha goes to pre-school. She will spend time caring for her little princess.

Indias first uterine transplant baby

Radha is Indias first and the worlds twelfth baby born in a transplanted uterus. The uterus of Meenakshis mother Susheela was transplanted on her on May 19, 2017.

The first such baby took birth in Sweden in 2014. The first child born in a uterus transplanted from a cadaver was in Brazil in December 2017. While the first uterine transplant lasted 15 hours, we completed it here in 5 hours and 20 minutes by the keyhole method. Only a small incision is done for laparoscopic surgery and the time too is very less, explains Dr Shailesh, who is the medical director of Galaxy Hospital.

The doctor had been preparing for the uterine transplant for three years. He visited hospitals abroad for the purpose. Before Meenakshi, a uterine transplant was performed on another woman. But she has not conceived so far.

When Meenakshi approached the doctor he explained all aspects of the case to her. For the transplant, a big team of 20 doctors was formed. They included transplant surgeon, gynaecologists and plastic surgeons.

According to statistics, one out of 4000 girl children is born without a uterus or a small uterus. This means there are over 4 lakh women in India facing this condition. Many women also lose their uterus to cancer and other diseases. Radhas birth gives fresh hopes to all such women.

We encourage donation of eyes, liver, kidneys etc. Similarly, if mothers come forward to donate their uterus, the lives of many young women will change for the better, says Dr Telang, who performed the caesarian.

Uterine transplant involves careful suturing of four arteries and four veins. The cost of the surgery is Rs 15 to 18 lakh.
Quito: Venezuela's government is sponsoring flights to transport migrants living in Ecuador back home, a Venezuelan official said on Tuesday, after the murder of an Ecuadorean woman by a Venezuelan man triggered tighter controls and acts of violence.

The Saturday night killing in the northern city of Ibarra and the ensuing attacks on Venezuelans marked an escalation in migration-related tensions in Ecuador, which like other South American countries has received thousands of the nearly 3 million Venezuelans who have fled economic collapse since 2015.

"Many of the Venezuelans in Ibarra want to go back," said Pedro Sassone, the charge d'affaires at Venezuela's embassy in Ecuador, who said five commercial flights were planned this week to take migrants back. "Venezuelans in Ibarra are being fired from their jobs - that is xenophobia, that is discrimination."

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro's government has for months been promoting a 'Return to the Fatherland' program to bring migrants from around the region back to Venezuela. Venezuelan officials have also argued that emigration statistics are exaggerated to justify intervention by foreign powers.

Sassone said he expected 400 Venezuelan migrants to return from Ecuador, including 40 from Ibarra. A total of 250,000 Venezuelans live in Ecuador, of whom 42 percent have valid work visas, government statistics show.

In response to the murder, Ecuador announced it would begin demanding that Venezuelans seeking entry should present their criminal records at the border, while President Lenin Moreno said he would create "units" to check Venezuelans' legal status "in the streets, in the workplace, and at the border."

Representatives of the Andean country's Venezuelan community said migrants had suffered attacks and threats in the wake of the incident and Moreno's comments. Ecuadorean officials have called on their citizens not to make generalisations about migrants and to refrain from acts of violence.

"This past week has been worse than ever - they look at you badly on the street, you are scared to go outside," said Angelys Lopez, 17, who has worked as a street vendor in Quito for three years but is now hoping for a spot on a plane back to Caracas.

"I am scared to stay in Ecuador - that is why I am returning to my country."
New Delhi: Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Madan B Lokur Wednesday expressed disappointment over not bringing to public domain the December 12 decision of the apex court's Collegium on the elevation of judges, which has been at the centre of controversy.

Justice (Retd) Lokur, who demitted office on December 30, 2018, was part of the 5-member Collegium deliberations which had reportedly agreed to recommend the names of Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Rajendra Menon to the Supreme Court.

Later, however, Delhi High Court judge Sanjiv Khanna and Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice Dinesh Maheshwari were elevated as apex court judges, triggering a public debate on the issue.

On the controversy around the purported change in the decision, Justice Lokur said he did not know as to what additional documents came after his retirement.

Speaking at an interaction here on 'State of the Indian Judiciary', organised by a law portal, the former judge however rubbished the claim of nepotism in the judiciary.

Justice Lokur said he didn't think that the Collegium system has failed.

Healthy discussions take place at the Collegium meetings and agreements and disagreements are part of it, he said, adding that the discussions are confidential and trust is the important factor.

He advocated time-bound decisions on the recommendations of the Collegium by the Executive, saying that in the event of no response from the government, the recommendations can be deemed to be accepted.

He said there is a need to bring some changes in the Collegium system and some mechanism has to be there for adhering to time line in judicial appointments,

Justice Lokur then referred to the case of Justice K M Joseph's elevation to the Supreme Court and alleged that the government sat on the files for months.

Neither judiciary nor government can sit on files on appointment of judges, he said.

On the controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the Supreme Court and meeting Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi during a function recently, Justice Lokur said there was nothing wrong in it.

He added however that judges should stay away from the political thicket and they should neither be hermits nor sitting in ivory towers.

On the January 12, 2018, unprecedented presser held by four senior judges, including him and CJI Gogoi, against the functioning of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, he said it was worth holding and it achieved something.

The January 12 presser brought some openness in the functioning of Supreme Court, he added.

He further said evidence of corruption needs to be taken into account before elevation of judges.

Though Justice Lokur accepted that sometimes the judiciary had over stepped, he refused to agree that it has over reached.

He said there were large number of issues needed to be discussed for better functioning of judiciary.

Justice Lokur declined to comment on the functioning of Justice Gogoi as the CJI.

He however said that if allegations are levelled against any judge or the CJI then it troubles him.

He said he would not take up any government assignment.

Read more India News
Kochi: Sister Lucy Kalapura, who took part in a protest against a rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, has been served a second notice by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC).

She has been asked to give in a written explanation to Mother Superior by February 6. She was served a second notice as she failed to respond to the first notice.

Sister Lucy had invited the wrath of the Church leadership by participating in a street protest in Kochi by five nuns belonging to the Missionaries of Jesus demanding the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was accused of raping a nun.

In its notice sent earlier this month, the FCC had accused Sister Lucy belonging to FCC's St Mary's province in Mananthavady, of leading a life, which was against the 'principles of religious life' and the rule of congregation.

The congregation termed as 'grave violations' a nun taking license, buying a car, taking a loan for it and publishing a book spending money without permission and knowledge of her superiors.

The latest notice raises more allegations against the Sister, including being late to convent and not wearing the religious attire.

Bishop Mulakkal was arrested last year following allegations by the nun that he repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted her at the Kuravilangad convent between 2014 and 2016, a charge denied by him.

Sister Neena Rose, who is staying with the survivor nun, has also been asked to report to the Missionaries of Jesus congregation's Jalandhar convent and meet its Superior General Sr Regina Kandamthottu on January 26.

Recently, their congregation had issued transfer orders for four nuns who took part in the protests. The four nuns and the survivor nun had written to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking his intervention to ensure that their transfer orders were not affected till the trial of the case was over.

Read more: Latest Kerala news
Kochi: The interrogation of Ravi Sanoop Raja, who was taken into custody from New Delhi on Monday in connection with the suspected attempt to illegally transport more than 100 people by boat to Australia and New Zealand, has deepened the mystery surrounding the case after his revelations indicated that it could be a case of human trafficking.

During interrogation, he revealed that there were several persons in the boat, which left Munambam harbour on January 12, who were travelling for free.

However, as per his revelations, Sreekanthan, a native of Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu, who is suspected to have coordinated the deal, would have taken money from the group.

The investigators are yet to trace his whereabouts, but they assume that he might have boarded the same boat. The possibilities of the immigrants heading to Australia were dim as the migration laws, that regulate who has a right to enter and remain in Australia, are stricter compared to other foreign nations.

According to official figures, nearly four lakh Indians have migrated and settled in Australia since 2000, making the country the largest single source of migrants to Australia. However, new visa rules have made it difficult for Indians to find work in Australia. So it is presumed that human trafficking syndicates are unlikely to choose Australia as a destination country.

According to a recent report by the Amnesty International, there are several labour camps in countries like Thailand, North Korea and Indonesia where immigrants are forced to work in slave-like conditions. So the revelations of Ravi Sanoop Raja point to the possibility of the group being taken to any of these countries. Prabhu Dandapani, who was also taken into custody from New Delhi, is currently being subjected to detailed interrogation.

Ravi Sanoop Raja was taken into custody from New Delhi on Monday in connection with the suspected attempt to illegally transport more than 100 people by boat to Australia and New Zealand.

Forced labour, organ trade suspected

The probing team now suspects that the group could have been trafficked for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation. Last year, the New Zealand police had arrested and deported a gang including an Indian on charges of selling girls to prostitution rings operating in that country. Generally, the preferred destination countries of trafficking syndicates operating in the sub-continent are southeast Asian nations excluding Australia.

The intelligent agencies also do not rule out the possibility of the trafficking syndicate involved in human smuggling from Munambam being funded by pro-LTTE outfits in Sri Lanka. Following the killing of LTTE leader Velupillai Prakaharan and family, people belonging to the Tamil ethnic minority have been seeking political asylum abroad as they allegedly face torture under Sri Lankas current government. It is suspected that the illegal immigrants who sneaked out into international waters could be Sri Lankan Tamils.

Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal and human organ trade is also suspected.

The probe team suspects that the deliberate attempts to project the case as that of illegal immigration in a bid to dilute the incident despite its gravity also point to human trafficking angle.
New Delhi: The Kerala government does not interfere in the functioning of Devaswom boards, the Supreme Court has been told in an affidavit. Income from temples goes to the boards' bank accounts and not a single paisa is transferred to the government treasury, it said.

The state government was responding to a plea in the SC by BJP leaders Subramanyan Swami and TG Mohandas who questioned the transparency of government procedure in selecting members of Cochin and Travancore devaswom boards. The duo moved the SC after the Kerala High Court found nothing wrong in the conduct of the boards. The SC will consider the case on January 31.

Budget share for boards

A total of Rs 80 lakh is set aside for the Travancore Devaswom Board every year as pilgrims' welfare is of importance to the government, says the affidavit.

Other expenses:

* Sabarimala master plan  Rs 28 crore

* Sabarimala cleaning drive (2018-19)  Rs 3 crore

* Police mess charges this year  Rs 5 crore

* Medical team expenses last year  Rs 80 lakh

* Funds allotted for development in areas leading to Sabarimala  Rs 3 crore

* Funds for board to buy safety equipment last year  Rs 1.56 crore

Governments responsibility

These temples were once controlled by kings. They were brought under the boards after devotees requested maintenance for continuation of daily rituals. Many prominent personalities including NSS founder Mannathu Padmanabhan have been board presidents or members, said the affidavit.

Read more: Latest Kerala news


Perinthalamanna: Kanakadurga, who was one of the first to enter the Sabarimala temple after the Supreme Court allowed women of all age groups to enter the shrine, has moved the court after her in-laws refused to let her in the house.

Though the petition was moved in Perinthalmanna, it has been transferred to Pulamanthol grama court as the case falls under its jurisdiction. She is now at Sakhi One Stop Centre in Perinthalmanna.

Kanakadurga had reached Perinthalmanna under police protection around 7 pm on Monday. Though the police officers spoke to Kanakadurga as well as her husband, he declined to take her to his house at Angadipuram.

Kanakadurga was taken to the womens shelter around 10:30pm. A police team headed by a woman sub-inspector is providing security to Kanakadurga.

Her mother-in-law has also reportedly moved the Kerala High Court to block Kanakadurga from returning home, according to unconfirmed reports.

When Kanakadurga reached home after praying at Sabarimala, a scuffle had broken out between her and Sumathy Amma, mother-in-law. Kanakadurga, who suffered injuries in the incident, was admitted to Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, while Sumathy Amma sought treatment at Perinthalmanna District Hospital.

The police have registered cases against both.

The Supreme Court had ordered the state to provide security to Kanakadurga as well as Bindu, who also had entered the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala.

On September 28, 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple, saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination.

Read more: Latest Kerala news


Thiruvananthapuram: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to rope in high-profile candidates in the state for the Lok Sabha polls.

The party believes that the protests against young women's entry to Sabarimala and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs support to it will yield results.

Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kasaragod are the constituencies where the BJP fancies its chances.

The BJP central leadership wants to win the Thiruvananthapuram seat at any cost and the candidate with the best chance could contest from here.

A section of the party wants Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan to contest from the state capital.

It is up to the central leadership to take a final call on him. If not Kummanam, state president PS Sreedharan Pillai is likely to get the seat. State general secretary K Surendran is also being considered for the Thiruvananthapuram seat.

Another probable candidate is Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi.

Another line of thinking in the party is to rope in a national leader to create a wave in Kerala.

As per this line of thought, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharamans name is being propped up.

However, some leaders say she might not want to give up the Rajya Sabha seat and hence her candidacy was unlikely.

Sreedharan Pillai may contest from Pathanamthitta since the name that did the rounds earlier  Alphons Kannanthanam  is no more in the contention.

The central leadership could also give state general secretary MT Ramesh another shot at the constituency.

The BJP eyes better chances in Thrissur this time after a good show in the assembly constituencies in the 2016 polls.

Thrissur is also the venue for the Yuva Morcha rally to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month.

Party general secretary AN Radhakrishnan and Surendran are the probable candidates from Thrissur.

From Palakkad, where the BJP has always performed well, Shobha Surendran is the probable candidate. State secretary C Krishnakumar also stands a chance. A secret internal survey held here favoured the latter.

Surendran is being considered in Kasaragod, but he is said to be reluctant. A section in the party in the constituency is against his candidature.

Suresh Gopi and state council member Ravisha Tantri Kuntar are also being considered apart from PK Krishnadas and CK Padmanabhan.

Former DGP TP Senkumar, who was active in Sabarimala agitation, could either contest from Attingal or Kollam.

Since BDJS is set to get two seats, a final list will be decided after considering the views of the NDA ally.

Read more: Lates
In a couple of weeks, Vietnam will mark Tet, the Lunar New Year and the Southeast Asian country's most important celebration. A casual observer of the country may believe that the countrys customs and traditions are heavily influenced by neighbouring China, but Vietnam has very strong links to India as well, and the legend behind Tet is in all likelihood a localised version of the Onam myth.

In a book titled 'Learning True Love: Practicing Buddhism in a Time of War,' Sister Chan Khong, one of the bravest and most compassionate women ever born, wrote in detail about the Vietnamese Lunar New Year and the celebrations.

"At one time, the Kingdom of Viet was disturbed regularly by the evil doings of Mara the tempter," she wrote. "There was much struggle and it seemed that nothing could stop this interminable conflict. Then one day, the suffering of the people touched the compassion of Buddha and he decided directly to speak with Mara to find a peaceful solution."

In the Onam legend, the people of Kerala are happy subjects of Mahabali and not oppressed by any means. But, as we know, the gods became jealous of the great king. Lord Vishnu approaches Mahabali after Aditi, the mother of the gods, asks for his help.

Parade of dragons and lions in the lion dance ceremony of Chinese Vietnamese people on a street in the HoChiMinh city on season Tet holiday of lunar year. Photo: Getty Images

The methods used by Vishnu and Buddha seemed to be the same.

Sister Chan Khong continued: "'You can have our land' said Buddha, 'to do as you wish. But can you leave one small spot where we can live in tranquillity? This spot can have very clear boundaries, and as long as we stay within them, you will agree to leave us alone. In turn, we will not violate any of your new territory.' 'How much do you want?' asked Mara. 'Only a piece large enough to stretch my yellow robe over,''' said Buddha.

Mara had no idea she was being tricked. Hearing so easy a proposition, Mara accepted and solemnly promised not to touch the spot of land, covered by Buddha's robe. But when Buddha stretched out his robe, it extended miraculously far and covered all the land that was habitable and arable. The people's houses, farmland and cattle were all under the protection of the yellow robe. Frightened by Buddha's supernatural powers, Mara fled into the forest. Buddha advised the Viet people to plant a tall bamboo in front of each house, and each year, to hang from it, a banner of yellow cloth, to remind Mara that this is Buddha's land and Mara cannot enter.

Parade of dragons and lions in the lion dance ceremony of Chinese Vietnamese people on a street in the HoChiMinh city on season Tet holiday of lunar year. Photo: Getty Images

Vishnu, who came in disguise as a dwarf and poor Brahmin called Vamana, too asked for a small piece of land, telling Mahabali that he just wanted as much land as his three steps could cover.

Mahabali was equally gullible, when he allowed Vamana to take his land with three steps. With his first step the Brahmin covered the entire earth and with the second step he covered the whole of the skies. He then asked the king where the space was for him to keep his third foot.

Mahabali realised that he was no ordinary mortal and his third step would destroy the earth. The king with folded hands bowed before Vamana and asked him to place his last step on his head so that he could keep the promise. Vamana placed his foot on the head of Mahabali, which pushed the king to the nether world.

Acrobats perform lion dance show during dance competitions commemorated to the Chinese New Year celebrations in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Photo: Getty Images

Vishnu allowed Mahabali to visit his people once a year on Onam, while Buddha told the Vietnamese how to keep Mara at bay. The story of Vishnu and Mahabali may have travelled to Vietnam when Hinduism was widely prevalent in the country. There are quite a few ancient Hindu temple complexes in the Southeast Asian country. As is the case in nearby Thailand, Vietnamese believe that Buddha was an avatar of Rama (and hence an avatar of Vishnu). The story of Mahabali probably underwent changes when most of the country adopted Buddhism.

Religious beliefs, customs and stories travelled far and wide from Kerala in the past, proving that globalisation is by no means a new phenomenon. The landscapes, nature and climate of many parts of southern Vietnam are very similar to those of Kerala. Communism was also a common link between these distinct parts of Asia, and a large number of Malayalis admire Vietnam for the way it stood up to France, the United States and China. However, there is so little that Malayalis and Vietnamese know about each other. Hopefully the opening up of the Southeast Asian country will help us discover more hidden cultural links that were buried under the yoke of colonialism, something that set all of Asia back by at least a century.


Mumbai: Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan will be the showstopper for the grand finale of the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Summer/Resort 2019 at Sophia College here.

In the past, venues like the Bandra Fort, The Royal Opera House and Hotel Sahara Star have lent drama to the LFW finales. This time, Sophia College will host its first ever Lakme Absolute Ultimate' Finale, where designer duo Shantanu and Nikhil will showcase 'Recruit SS'19'.

Kareena's look will bring alive beauty brand Lakme's beauty theme of 'Matte Reinvent', read a statement.

"Walking at the LFW finale is always very special for me and this season I'm thrilled that Lakme is going a step further to create the ultimate finale. The beauty theme of Matte Reinvent is also very special and I am sure it will strike a chord with every lipstick lover," said Kareena, Lakme's brand ambassador.

As someone who is considered a fashion icon, Kareena has her preferences set.

"I've always been partial to red," said the actress, who is sure walking the runway for Shantanu and Nikhil will be "a lot of fun as I love their unique style and edgy designs".

Shantanu and Nikhil said there really couldn't be a better showstopper to work with than Kareena, who "has been breathtaking at every finale and is a fantastic showstopper".

"With her, and the glorious backdrop that Sophia's would present, we really couldn't have asked for a better combination for our first finale ever."

Ashwath Swaminathan, Head of Innovations, Lakme, said the venue promises to make the finale extra special.
Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran on Monday revealed that he will soon direct a film in Hindi.

The actor, who has featured in Hindi films such as "Aiyaa", "Aurangzeb" and "Naam Shabana", said the offers from Bollywood are not exciting enough for him to take time out off his career in South.

"I'm not in talks with anyone as of now for a Hindi film. I have occasionally read a script or two. But nothing has excited me to be finding time from in between my southern career and do it. I'm waiting for an interesting script in Hindi.

"Directing a film in Hindi is definitely on the cards. Hopefully it should happen sooner than later," Prithviraj told PTI in a telephonic interview from Kochi.

This year the actor will be making his directorial debut with Malayalam language film "Lucifer", featuring Mohanlal.

Prithviraj said he feels blessed as a debutante director to have the South legend lead the film.

"Directing Mr Mohanlal was a delight. He's completely there and wanting to know what you want him to do. He's very keen on making sure the director's vision is realised. That's what I feel has made him the legend that he is today.

"I have a stellar cast, a producer who stood by every vision of mine and this huge project to start my directorial career. I have given it my best shot. It has quite a big canvas. I hope people have as much as fun as we had making it," he said.

On the acting front, Prithviraj is looking forward to the release of "Nine".

The Malayalam film is a sci-fi horror thriller, with which the actor is making his production debut through his banner Prithviraj Production.

The movie is being co-produced by Sony Pictures India and marks the studio's maiden venture into the South industry.

The actor said the movie is a troubled father-son story set against the backdrop of a global event that takes place over the period of nine days.

"Nine", also starring Prakash Raj, is slated to be released on February 7.
Cheruthoni: A German Shepherd stolen from a house in Idukki has been found at Chittoor in Ernakulam. The Idukki Police arrested Nidhin, 29, of Edakkunnam in Chittoor in connection with the curious incident.

The police tracked down the truck in which the alleged thief smuggled the dog.

The she-dog, costing around Rs 25,000, was reported missing from the house of Saji at Vellakkayam along the IdukkiNeriyamangalam state highway. Visuals of the dog being taken away on a truck were recorded by the CCTV camera of a neighbouring house, giving vital clues to the police.

The investigators soon found that the lorry had brought pipes to Idukki from Ernakulam. On questioning vehicle driver Nidhin, the police learnt that the German shepherd was at his house in Chittoor.

Nidhin was subsequently arrested and his lorry taken into custody along with the dog. All of them were transported to Idukki.

Dog to be kept in locked cage

The police returned the dog to the owner after a court directed that the animal should be presented whenever it is summoned.

Owner Saji, who took possession of his two-and-a-half-year-old dog, said that he would now keep the German Shepherd under lock and key in an iron cage on the premises of his house.

Taming the German Shepherd

Nidhin had tamed the dog before smuggling it out of its kennel. CCTV visuals of the crime show the thief spending much time around the kennel to tame the dog. Saji owns one more German Shepherd, a male one. It is normally shifted to the house verandah at night.

Read more: Latest Idukki news
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the US goes through with its plan to pull out of Syria, it may positively affect the stability in the north-east of the Arab Republic, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

"If such steps will indeed be taken, it will be a positive change. It will help stabilize the situation in this troubled region of the Syrian state, which is currently under control of Kurdish forces", Putin said.

Putin said that Russia supports Damascus' efforts to establish a dialogue with Kurdish representatives amid the American pull-out.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised that Turkey, together with Russia, will continue its fight against terrorists in Idlib province. He also reaffirmed Ankara's readiness to fight against Daesh and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria. Erdogan added that it's crucial to prevent the creation of a power vacuum in the region after US troops pull out.

The Turkish president further said that Moscow and Ankara have so far had "no problems" in discussing a future buffer zone in Syria. He added that negotiations regarding its parameters are currently ongoing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes that the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is now being built in Turkey with Russias assistance, will be launched in 2023, Trend reported citing TASS.

"The implementation of a large-scale project for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Turkey, Akkuyu, is under way and complies with the schedule. They are building its first power unit, which we plan to launch in 2023," the Russian leader said at a press conference following Russian-Turkish talks.

According to Putin, this date was named by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, since in 2023, the republic of Turkey will celebrate its centenary.
Russia is not violating any points of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Head of the Missile Troops and Artillery of Russias Ground Forces Lieutenant-General Mikhail Matveyevsky told a briefing on the 9M729 missile for military attaches, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"Russia has observed and continues strictly observing the points of the Treaty and does not allow any violations," Matveyevsky said.

The military official noted that the ongoing US campaign on accusing Russia of violating the INF Treaty is groundless.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed between the former Soviet Union and the United States on December 8, 1987 and entered into force on June 1, 1988. The INF Treaty covered deployed and non-deployed ground-based short-range missiles (from 500 to 1,000 kilometers) and intermediate-range missiles (from 1,000 to 5,500 kilometers).

On January 15, Russia and the US held inter-agency consultations on the INF Treaty in Geneva. Washington again accused Moscow of breaching the arms control agreement. The US threatens to leave the treaty on February 2 unless Russia destroys its 9M729 missile, which allegedly violates the agreement. Russia told colleagues that during the Zapad-2017 drills on September 18, 2017 this missile was test-launched at the Kapustin Yar proving ground at its maximum range and it covered less than 480 km.
Saudi Arabias investments in Russian projects total $2.5 bln as of now, Chief Executive Officer of Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"(Saudi Arabia) has invested a total of $2.5 bln," he said when asked about the current amount of investments in Russian projects. "Megadeals, investment in LNG industry and petrochemical sector are also under discussion, that being a remarkable example of cooperation," he said.

Dmitriev also noted the importance of attracting foreign investment for implementation of the national projects program. "In many cases, additional investments beyond the funds allocated by the government make the work at national projects more transparent," he stressed.

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had their first meeting at the G20 summit in Argentina. During the meeting, they signed a declaration on strategic partnership covering mutual investments in the agriculture sector, encouraging mutual investments in join agriculture and water projects, as well as mutual support of investment funds in the field of joint production of high-tech products.

Dmitriev said at the G20 summit that Moscow expects the amount of Saudi Arabias investment in the projects to go up.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday failed to reach a major consensus on decades-old territorial disputes that have mired peace treaty talks, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

At a news briefing following their 25th meeting in Moscow, Putin said Russia and Japan have "meticulous work ahead" on creating conditions for reaching a peace treaty.

"We have once again confirmed our interest in signing this document ... The solution will have to be acceptable for the peoples of Russia and Japan," he told reporters.

Abe said at the briefing that he and Putin discussed the peace treaty issue "without hiding anything from each other."

"President Putin and I salute the start of concrete talks between our foreign ministers last week ... The discussions were frank and serious," he said.

Abe said the two leaders agreed to continue joint work to look for a mutually acceptable solution.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono held the first round of negotiations on Jan. 14 in Moscow and they reported barren results to Putin and Abe during Tuesday's meeting.

Lavrov and Kono will hold the next round of talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference next month, according to Abe.

"To settle the issue unsolved for more than 70 years after the end of World War II is difficult, but we have to do it," the Japanese leader said.

Russia and Japan have not signed a post-World War II peace treaty due to their rivaling claims over four Pacific islands, which are known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

The Soviet army took the four islands in the final days of World War II. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were incorporated into Russia.

According to a joint declaration signed in 1956, the then Soviet Union agreed to return two of the islands provided a bilateral peace treaty is signed, while Japan refused to sign such an agreement, insisting on the return of all four islands.

However, Moscow has recently toughened its stance, demanding that the peace treaty talks be based on Japan's full recognition of the aftermath of World War II, including Russian sovereignty over all the disputed islands.

Last week, Lavrov told visiting Kono that "the sovereignty over the four islands is not subject to discussion. They are Russian territory." The two top diplomats avoided a joint press conference.

"The parties in this difficult situation will save faces and maintain a positive attitude. But one should not expect any significant progress in the dialogue," said Kristina Voda, research fellow of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations under the Russian Academy of Sciences.

She believes that if Russia and Japan stick to their fundamental positions, the problem will remain without a solution.

"Positions are too different. They are enshrined in legislation and rooted in the public consciousness of both countries," she said.

The negotiations have reached an impasse and the space for compromise is very small, said Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Far Eastern Studies Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences.

According to Putin, Russia-Japan trade increased 18 percent to nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars in the January-November period of last year.

"It will be possible, in the coming years, to set a goal to increase Russia-Japan trade by at least 50 percent to 30 billion U.S. dollars," Putin said at Tuesday's briefing.

Voda said Russia's desire to do business with Japan is pulling the two countries together despite all the rifts.

"The Russian side is seeking new resources and investment in its Far East. Russia needs investment and technology from Japan, China and South Korea," she said.

Putin and Abe also agreed on Tuesday to continue efforts to organize joint economic activities on the disputed islands in five spheres -- aquaculture, greenhouses, wind energy, tourism and waste processing.

They asked interested parties and organizations to launch joint economic activities there as soon as possible.

But Kistanov has doubts over the future of such partnership as "everything depends on the issue of what legal basis will be used."

The Japanese are not willing to act on the basis of Russian legislation since this would mean Japan's indirect recognition of Russian sovereignty over the islands, he said, adding that the Russians face a similar issue.
Signing a peace treaty between Japan and Russia is not an easy problem that can be solved just after several rounds of talks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"This is not such an easy problem, which can be solved immediately after several rounds of negotiations," Suga stressed, signaling that concluding a peace treaty with Russia will take certain time.

In comments on Tuesdays meeting in Moscow between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he emphasized that the two leaders managed to "hold constructive talks on various spheres" of bilateral relations. "We believe that this was an excellent start of 2019 for Japanese-Russian [relations]," he noted.

Putin and Abe held talks in Moscow on Tuesday, which became their 25th meeting, and confirmed their intention to establish and develop mutually beneficial relations. The talks, which lasted for more than three hours, were held in a very business-like and constructive atmosphere, traditionally focusing on the prospects of extending trade and investment ties, Putin said.

One of priority issues discussed at the talks was the signing of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan. The Russian leader confirmed Moscows intention to build the negotiation process on this issue based on the Soviet-Japanese declaration signed in 1956.

For decades, Moscow and Tokyo have been negotiating a peace treaty after World War II. The main stumbling block is the status of the Southern part of the Kuril Islands. After World War II, the whole archipelago became part of the Soviet Union. However, Tokyo disputes Russian claims over Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan islands as well as a number of smaller uninhabited islands called the Habomai Islands in Japan. Moscow has stated many times that Russias sovereignty over the islands cannot be called into question.
The French government intends to present, in early February, details of a package of emergency measures meant to protect the interests of citizens and companies in case of a hard Brexit, said European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

"Time is pressing. ... If we do not reach an accord, we would go ahead with a Brexit without agreement. This solution is not what we prefer, but we are preparing for it together with the European Commission," Loiseau said in a statement issued after a weekly cabinet meeting.

The minster said that five orders aimed at preparing the country for an eventual failure to agree on negotiated divorce would be discussed by the French ministers until Feb. 6.

Adopted by the government earlier on Wednesday, the first order "makes it possible to carry out urgently and by derogating from the common law procedures the temporary installations made necessary by the reestablishment of controls at the border with the United Kingdom."

The ministers will also discuss four other orders in connection with the rights of British citizens in France, road transport operations, the continuity of certain financial activities and the transfer of defense materials between France and the United Kingdom, according to a press release issued by the Elysee Palace.

Since a no-deal Brexit would have a severe impact on France's fisheries sector, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will evaluate the impact of this scenario on local fishermen and discuss possible support measures with the ministers concerned.

Last week, Philippe triggered a plan to mitigate the difficulties caused by a hard Brexit following the parliamentary defeat of British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal.

It included a 50 million-euro (56.93 million-U.S. dollar) investment package in ports and airports, which according to Philippe were "the places most affected by the changes."

The deadline for Britain to leave the EU is March 29.
The European Union may shut down Operation Sophia, set up in 2015 to combat human trafficking and rescue migrants, due to Italy's reluctance to continue the naval mission, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

"Operation Sophia combated the trafficking of human beings in the Mediterranean up to the point of almost stopping it completely, it trained the Libyan coast guard and it saved human lives Sophia brought the whole EU into the Mediterranean, while Italy was alone there before 2015 If today Italy, which has the command and headquarters of the operation, no longer wants Sophia, we are ready to close it," the source told ANSA.

Matteo Salvini, Italian interior minister and deputy prime minister, said later in the day that the problem with Operation Sophia was that all the rescued migrants arrived exclusively to Italy, as was agreed with Italy's former prime minister, Matteo Renzi. Salvini added that in order for the mission to continue the rules had to be changed.

Salvini said in December that Italy did not think it was possible to continue Operation Sophia unless the mission's rules were modified.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that Germany would pull out of Operation Sophia because of Italy's decision to not allow rescued migrants to disembark at the country's port.

In December, the European Union agreed to prolong Operation Sophia, formally European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR Med), which aims to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean Sea as well as counter human trafficking, until March 2019. The mission was prolonged for three months instead of a year, as has been done before, because of Italy's desire to change the missions regulations in order to avoid accepting migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean route.

As of June 2016, the mission has also been training the Libyan coastguard.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) has participated in an international conference for waqf in Guinea, organized by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) from 16-17 January 2019.

President of the IsDB, Dr. Bandar Hajjar, along with several heads of state, inaugurated the conference, which addressed challenges facing the waqf institution, and discussed potential innovative solutions for the development of the sector.

Speakers from the West African region and beyond participated in the conference.

The first day of the conference had four sessions that discussed unlocking the potential of waqf to achieve sustainable development, success stories of waqf projects in Guinea, awqaf experiences and initiatives from other countries, as well as economic empowerment using waqf.

On the second day, two sessions were held focusing on the role of technology in financing awqaf projects, and innovations in waqf. A closed meeting was also held between project leaders, potential investors and donors to discuss the opportunities for waqf development projects in light of the adaptation of waqf regulations in Guinea.

IRTI participated in two sessions on the second day of the conference. Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem, IRTI Acting Director General, presented a proposal for Smart Waqf, in line with IRTIs initiative for Smart Economy for IsDB Member Countries. The Smart Waqf model uses blockchain technology to issue cash-waqf tokens that are lent on qardh-hassan (benevolent loan) basis to small and micro businesses. Merchants who accept these tokens in exchange for goods or services are effectively contributing to the cash-waqf. They can then trade it with other small business to obtain other supplies. Merchants are thus supporting qardh hassan without paying any money.

Dr. Layachi Feddad, Senior Shariah Specialist at IRTI, presented the Shariah aspects of cash waqf and how it compares with other forms of waqf.

About IRTI:

The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) is a Member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group responsible for enabling the development and sustenance of a dynamic and comprehensive Islamic financial services industry, which supports socio-economic development of member countries and Muslim communities worldwide. More information about IRTI is available on www.irti.org. For enquiries about IRTI, please contact Habeeb Idris Pindiga ([email protected]).
Qatars Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said he supported Sudans unity and stability as he met Sudans President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday, the Qatari royal court said, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Bashir arrived in Qatar on Tuesday amid near-daily protests that have broken out across Sudan calling for the end of his 30-year rule.

The two leaders discussed the latest developments and challenges facing Sudan as well the peace process in Sudans war-torn Darfur region, the statement said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Wednesday that the country is breaking diplomatic and political relations with the United States. Maduro stressed that US attempted to stage a coup in the country and added that all US diplomats will be expelled from Venezuela, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

Maduro also said that he vows to fight for Venezualan people's right for peace and sovereign governing.
Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze and member of the Federal Council of Switzerland, Ignazio Cassis have discussed bilateral relations between the two countries today at Davos, Trend reports referring to Agenda.ge.

PM Bakhtadze has also discussed education reforms in Georgia with Cassis, who is the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs at the Federal Council of Switzerland.

The parties have emphasised the importance of human capital development which is the major goal of the education reforms planned by the Georgian government.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

Two terrorist attacks in Northern Syria (in Manbij and in the province of Hasaka) during the last several days, where American soldiers were killed and wounded, give rise to a strong impression that someone does not want the withdrawal of US troops and is trying to create an atmosphere for President Trump to reconsider his decision.

Who is losing, if the current status quo in Syria changes? Lets take a closer look at the major players in Syria.

Russia is the main beneficiary of the process of early peace in Syria, as the war absorbs much energy and hinders Russian plans in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean. With the withdrawal of the US military, one of the main irritants in the country will disappear; the tension will fall, giving way to accelerate peace initiatives, the creation of the constitutional Committee and presidential election.

Assad is also among the last who want the presence of Americans, especially now, when he feels confident and controls about 70% of Syria. Americans are a threat to the Assad regime. The US is extremely negative about Assad. Trump is very unpredictable. Once he ordered a missile strike on Syrian military targets. What if tomorrow he will decide to target the presidential residence or another place where Assad is? No, let Americans rather leave.

The withdrawal of the US troops, who supported the Kurdish terrorist organizations PYD/YPG, and supplied them with weapons, would be beneficial to Turkey too, as it will allow achieving its main goal  to clean up the Northern Syria from the PYD/YPG militants.

Jihadists from the "Islamic state" (IS) are also unlikely to object to the withdrawal of the US military from Syria. Until the United States became the focal point of the fighting against IS in the East of the country, the fighters of the IS took one town after another. Now, the chief coordinators leave may have IS think there is a chance to revive its power and resources in the area.

Iran has no friends in the Middle East, and almost no allies  only the Syrian regime and, conditionally, Iraq. The loss of Syria will mean for Iran a loss of buffer state and the so-called Iranian land bridge. Such outcome, as Iranian officials have repeatedly stated, would be a major threat to national interests of Islamic Republic.

Since the beginning of the Syrian war, no one remembers the clashes of Americans with Iranian or pro-Iranian forces. Militarily, presence of the American troops in Syria does not bother Tehran, but their withdrawal, as I said, will reduce the degree of tension and intensify the peace process, as a result of which Syria can get a new government with a new president. This is what Tehran is concerned about most of all.

Assad has so much discredited himself as a political figure that even many Arab countries do not want to deal with him and take him back to the Arab League. Russia also stated in the past that it does not hang on to the figure of Assad, and it is the right of the Syrian people to decide whether he will remain in power.

Assad's departure could dramatically affect Iran's 80,000-strong contingent presence in Syria.

Last Saturday, Syria's opposition leader Nasr al-Hariri said peace efforts were "paralyzed" amid a lack of will from key international powers, Alaraby.co.uk reported. "Some parties from Astana [Russia, Turkey and Iran] who support the regime are continuing to obstruct the formation of the (constitutional) committee," he said.

Also, Iran is unlikely to be able to participate actively in the post-war reconstruction of Syria because of its own financial difficulties increasing from month to month.

In December 2018, Iranian oil production fell to its lowest level since 2015 as stated in the latest report of the International energy Agency (IEA). Crude oil exports fell below 1 million  to about 940,000 barrels per day, the report said.

In the coming months, the US Government plans to take a tougher stance against Iran. We're going to continue our path to get to zero, said Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, referring to the exports of Iranian oil.

This is perhaps one of the most serious threats (to Tehran), when someone tries to empty your wallet (budget) and is gradually, but succeeding.

The second reason why the withdrawal of the US troops from Syria does not suit Iran is the fear that they may be relocated to the north of Iraq, and these fears are not unfounded.

Earlier this month, regional media reported on the arrival of a number of American troops with military equipment at the K1 military base in Kirkuk.

A few days ago, US forces notified the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militia "Hashd al-Shaabi" to leave several military fortifications east of Mosul in Northern Iraq, and gave them 24 hours, according to Kurdish media.

As local representatives of the Kurds said, at least five military bases are under the control of "Hashd al-Shaabi", and after their departure the US military intends to take them.

The Hashd al-Shaabi forces are reportedly preparing to clash with the US troops recently deployed in Kirkuk, according to Kurdish media outlets.

The US presence in Iran's backyard and pressure on pro-Iranian forces in Iraq is another serious threat for the Iranian land bridge.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has provided financial support in publication of the second edition of Tajikistans Red Book of flora and fauna, according to FAO Resident Office in Tajikistan, Trend reports referring to news.tj.

The edition contains 267 of plants and 222 types of animals of Tajikistan.

This remarkable initiative was reportedly carried out upon request of the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of Tajikistan. 2000 sets of the book has been printed and distributed among the Committee for Environmental Protection and other key partner organizations.

Biodiversity is a vital part of human existence. It supports healthy ecosystems, which are an important factor for the agricultural productivity.

The book contains various species of rare plants and animals, including those endangered with extinction. It elaborates on their character, habitat areas, and status of environmental conservation, as well as on the level of threat.

The Red Book of flora and fauna has critical importance because it provides information that helps in compiling protection priorities at local and global levels. It enables genuine collaboration among organizations dealing with environment protection, said Oleg Guchgeldiyev, FAO Representative in Tajikistan.

The world is experiencing the loss of diversity of species at alarming rate. Unsustainable practices in crop production, fisheries and livestock negatively influence health of biodiversity and ecosystems. There is a notable fall in plant diversity used for agricultural production: for instance out of 200 plant species suitable for food production, nine produce 66 percent of our food.

In general, education, in particular for rural population, who live close to areas rich in biodiversity, is incredibly crucial in preserving plant and animal life, continued Guchgeldiyev. We are planning to work more with the Government on conservation and promotion of national genetic resources, supporting their access to local farmers for sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation.

The Committee for Environmental Protection closely cooperates with FAO in projects on environmental protection, ecology, climate change adaptation, water management and others, said Muzaffar Salimov, head of Department for International Relations of the Committee for Environmental Protection. The main targets of the Red Book are educational institutions and other relevant organizations.

Tajikistan represents one of the most fascinating and mountainous areas of Central Asia and it retains high diversity and endemism of flora and fauna. Insufficient knowledge and information can impede complex perception of conservation issues. In this regard, the Red Book of flora and fauna of Tajikistan will contribute to planning and successful implementation of activities for conservation of rare and threatened plants and animals.

The Red Book should support the survival of plant and animal species, and enable better livelihoods and wellbeing of communities. FAO has a long history of supporting biodiversity conservation and sustainability. In Tajikistan, FAO promotes soil conservation and resource-saving practices for sustainable agricultural production. It advocates for the diversification of production to protect the soil and enhance agro-biodiversity.
At least 9 investment projects for $ 28.2 million have started working in Kyrgyzstan in 2018. The Director of the Agency for the Promotion and Protection of Investments Adilbekuulu Shumkarbek informed at a press conference, Trend reports referring to 24.kg.

According to him, thanks to the projects, 400 jobs were created and 3 million soms in taxes were paid.

Most of the investment came from China. There are projects with investors from Uzbekistan, Turkey and India.

The agency has been working since 2014, and todays results are only the first. Implementation of investment projects takes a lot of time. For example, we are currently working on 21 projects. We expect to launch seven of them in 2019. They are at the construction stage now, Adilbek uulu Shumkarbek told.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

The direct Delhi-Baku flights are planned to be launched in the future, CEO of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board Florian Sengstschmid said in an interview with the Times of India, Trend reports on Jan. 23.

Presently, flights for Indian tourists are mainly operated through the Persian Gulf countries, he said.

Sengstschmid also stressed that the Indian tourists travelling to Azerbaijan can get visas online within just three hours.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

The effectiveness of state supervision in the field of taxes and food security will be increased in Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Taxes Ministry.

This will be possible thanks to the cooperation between the Ministry of Taxes and the Food Safety Agency.

A corresponding memorandum was signed on Jan. 23 by Azerbaijan's Minister of Taxes Mikayil Jabbarov and Chairman of the Food Safety Agency Goshgar Tahmazli.

The memorandum envisages exchanging information on entities and their facilities operating in the production, processing and turnover of food products, as well as the products subject to phytosanitary and veterinary supervision.

The parties will also expand cooperation for taxation of all entities operating in the food industry.

The parties will also carry out joint activity to enlighten entrepreneurs.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Huseyn Veliyev  Trend:

Azerbaijan intends to export fruits and vegetables to China, a source in the Azerbaijani government told Trend on Jan. 23.

This issue is being discussed and it must be thoroughly considered from the technical point of view, the source added.

"Presently, we do not have corresponding permission for the supply of fruits and vegetables to the Chinese market, the source said. However, work is underway to get permission. Technical details are to be discussed and this will take some time."

According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and China amounted to over $1.31 billion in 2018, which is 0.9 percent more than in 2017.

Exports for the year decreased by almost four times and amounted to $113.5 million, while imports grew by 40 percent exceeding $1.19 billion.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyev
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

In 2019, the surplus of Kazakhstan's gasoline will be 500,000-600,000 tons, Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said in a parliament meeting, Trend reports referring to the Kazakh media.

"If we reduce the load of refineries, we will get less diesel or jet fuel, which should not be allowed. We are working on an agreement that will give us the right to export Kazakh gasoline beyond the EAEU. After the ratification and signing of the protocol, Kazakhstan will open export of the fuel to third countries, " Bozumbayev said.

The minister noted that with the current volume of oil refining, the country can export up to 600,000 tons of gasoline.

"These are the fruits of the modernization of refineries," he said, adding that Central Asia and Afghanistan are among the priority markets for gasoline export.

"The opening of exports will have a positive effect on budget revenues due to the export customs duty. Revenues of oil-producing companies in Kazakhstan will increase, and exports will allow to recoup the investments put in the modernization of plants," Bozumbayev said.

The minister also said that Kazakhstan has received an invitation to the OPEC+ Monitoring Committee.

"We accepted it. This indicates the increased authority of Kazakhstan in the international oil and gas business," Bozumbayev added.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey will resume flights to Iraqs Sulaymaniyah, Trend reports referring to a statement by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey.

The flights from Istanbul to Sulaymaniyah, located in northern Iraq, will be resumed on January 25 this year.

The flights were cancelled on October 29, 2017 as a sign of protest against the independence referendum in Iraqs Kurdish Autonomous Region.

On March 13, 2018, the Iraqi government lifted the ban on international flights to Erbil and Sulaymaniyah.

The Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq held an independence referendum on September 25, 2017, which was not recognized by the international community.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The third airport of Istanbul, the construction of which was completed Oct. 29, 2018, will contribute to increasing tourist flow to Turkey, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey told Trend Jan. 23.

The ministry noted that the increase in the number of domestic flights will also contribute to domestic tourism's growth in Turkey.

The third airport of Istanbul is designed to annually serve 200 million passengers, the ministry said.

The process of dismantling and transferring equipment from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport to the new airport will begin March 1 and end March 3.

Earlier, the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry of Turkey told Trend that the new airport in Istanbul served 95,300 passengers until the end of December 2018.

The figure included 65,100 passengers in domestic flights and 30,200 passengers in international flights.

The ministry reported that 718 flights, including 487 domestic flights and 231 international flights took place in the period.

The new airport was opened on Oct. 29, 2018 near the Lake Terkos in northern Istanbul.

(1 USD = 5.3551 TRY on Jan. 23)

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Taleh Mursagulov - Trend:

Azerbaijani manufacturer of alcoholic beverages Sheki Sherab OJSC plans to export wines to Belgium, China and Kazakhstan, the companys director Vidadi Hasanov told Trend.

We sent copies of the produced wine to Belgium, China and Kazakhstan, our products were highly appreciated, and we plan to sign contracts with companies from these countries, he said.

He noted that the plant also supplies wine materials to Russia.

Hasanov added that in the coming days, the plants products will appear in the Azerbaijani market.

He said that the plant of Sheki Sherab OJSC has all the necessary equipment of the Italian company Della Toffola for the production of high-quality wine, adding that the plant aims to produce competitive wine products in Azerbaijan, which will reduce their import share.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @TalehMursagulov
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Azerbaijans business sector must contribute to the youth employment, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Ghulam Isaczai said.

Isaczai made the remarks at the conference "Youth Employment: Views, Calls and Perspectives of Employers" in Baku, Trend reports on Jan. 23.

The private sector must correctly define its needs and the creation of the corresponding conditions for employees must be the main goal, he said.

He added that the labour market needs certain changes and the social partners must create the necessary platform.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Samir Ali  Trend:

The world political and economic elite focuses on Azerbaijan today, editor-in-chief of the Ses newspaper, political expert Bahruz Guliyev told Trend on Jan. 23.

Like every year, this year Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev again participates in the World Economic Forum in Davos, holds meetings with the most famous representatives of the world political and economic elite, expressing Azerbaijans readiness for cooperation, he said.

"During the visit to Davos, the president has held various meetings and participates in the sessions, he added. The holding of numerous fruitful meetings by President Aliyev in Davos is a consequence of interest in Azerbaijan. The results of the discussions which are being held within the forum once again prove Azerbaijans success and development. Azerbaijan is represented at the forum in Davos at the highest level."

The expert stressed that the current forum in Davos will remain in the history by important discussions and decisions from the point of view of Azerbaijans interests.

Azerbaijan is represented at the forum and is mentioned as a rapidly developing part of the global economy, which testifies to the fact that Azerbaijan is recognized in the world as an important country, he said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende, President of Visa Inc. Ryan M. McInerney, Chief Executive Officer of BP Robert Dudley, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of Cisco Gerri Elliott, Chief Executive Officer of SAP SE Bill McDermott, Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva, President of Russian company LUKOIL Vahid Alakbarov, Chief Executive Officer of French company Total Patrick Pouyanne and heads of other leading companies in Davos during his visit to Switzerland.

The Azerbaijani president also gave interviews to the Russia 1 TV channel and the Chinese CGTN.

The president took part in the session titled Advancing the Belt and Road Initiative: Chinas Trillion-Dollar Vision within the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 22.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

The meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos may be regarded as the continuation of the informal meetings held earlier in Tajikistans Dushanbe and Russias St. Petersburg, Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on Jan. 23.

"The meeting was held at the initiative of President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende," he added. "The meeting can be regarded as the continuation of the informal meetings held within the summits of the CIS countries in Dushanbe and St. Petersburg. As you know, the negotiation process is held at the level of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers."

Hajiyev added that the meetings of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers were held on January 16, 2019 in Paris, as well as on December 3, 2018 in Milan.

"A meeting of foreign ministers is also planned to be held in the future," he said. "The meetings in full format at the level of the heads of state, as a rule, are organized by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group."
Feed tests reveal lower digestibility

New seasonal feed quality test results showing the stark differences between wet and dry seasons have underlined the need for end users to measure and know what they are feeding.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

Two officers of the Azerbaijani Army have been sent to South Sudan as observers to participate in a peacekeeping mission conducted under UN mandate, Trend reports referring to the Ministry of Defense.

On Nov. 30, 2018, the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan agreed on the deployment of four servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the Republic of South Sudan to participate in the mission held under the command of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Since 2013, South Sudan has been in a state of civil war. More than two million people have become IDPs in the country.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Azerbaijan has become one of the most reliable participants in the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Director of the Ziya Bunyadov Institute of Oriental Studies of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Govhar Bakhshaliyeva told Trend on Jan. 23.

"Azerbaijan's traditional participation in this forum is very symbolic," Academician Bakhshaliyeva, who is also an MP, said.

"The president's participation in the World Economic Forum not only strengthens Azerbaijan's image on international arena, but also serves to create new opportunities for cooperation, economic development and attracting new investments," she added.

She stressed that Azerbaijan's president holds important meetings with the presidents of various countries and heads of big companies as part of the annual forum.

"The current forum was not an exception, Bakhshaliyeva added. The meetings with the participation of the president in Davos, where economic cooperation issues are discussed, are successfully held every year.

Of course, the meetings with heads of big companies open up new opportunities for the country, attracting these companies to Azerbaijans important projects and allow discussing other important issues," she added.

"International media outlets, which cover this forum every year, show more interest in Azerbaijan and they try to get more information about the country, Bakhshaliyeva said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with President of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende, President of Visa Inc. Ryan M. McInerney, Chief Executive Officer of BP Robert Dudley, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of Cisco Gerri Elliott, Chief Executive Officer of SAP SE Bill McDermott, Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva, President of Russian company LUKOIL Vahid Alakbarov, Chief Executive Officer of French company Total Patrick Pouyanne and heads of other leading companies in Davos during his visit to Switzerland.

The Azerbaijani president also gave interviews to the Russia 1 TV channel and the Chinese CGTN.

The president took part in the session titled Advancing the Belt and Road Initiative: Chinas Trillion-Dollar Vision within the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 22.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

Saudi Arabia strongly condemns Armenias aggressive policy against Azerbaijan and is always close to Azerbaijan in its legitimate cause, newly appointed Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Hamad bin Abdullah bin Saud bin Khudair said.

Hamad bin Abdullah bin Saud bin Khudair made the remarks at a meeting with Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov in Baku on Jan. 23.

The minister congratulated the diplomat on his new appointment and emphasized the friendly relations between the heads of state, playing an essential role in expanding ties between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.

Hasanov expressed gratitude for Saudi Arabias support for Azerbaijans right and just position in settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Touching upon the current state of military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, Hasanov noted the establishment of the Military Attache Apparatus of Azerbaijan in Saudi Arabia, the preparation of an agreement on military cooperation between the two countries, and the planning of the official visit of a high-ranking delegation of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan to Riyadh.

In turn, the ambassador noted that Saudi Arabia considers Azerbaijan as a friendly and fraternal country and also attaches great importance to military cooperation between the two countries.

The ambassador stressed that over the period of activity in Azerbaijan, he will make every effort to strengthen relations between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board Andrey Kostin in Davos.

Azerbaijans successful cooperation with VTB Bank, and the banks fruitful activity in the country was hailed at the meeting.

The sides emphasized the importance of the development of the banking sector in Azerbaijan, the measures taken in this area in order to create a more favorable environment for the private sector, and exchanged views on cooperation prospects.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Freres company Matthieu Pigasse in Davos.

Matthieu Pigasse noted that the company has been providing consulting services in financing various projects and addressing investment issues in Azerbaijan since 2000. He said that Lazard Freres participated in the diversification of debts of the International Bank of Azerbaijan in 2017, adding that the company was the bank's financial adviser. The CEO of Lazard Freres emphasized that the restructuring of the International Bank of Azerbaijan has been successfully completed, which was recognized by international organizations.

Matthieu Pigasse underlined that the business environment created in Azerbaijan, support for entrepreneurs and the fact that the country's economic successes were featured in the Doing Business 2019 report paved the way for conferences and other investment-related events in Azerbaijan. He noted that global companies and investors are very interested in holding such big events in Azerbaijan.

Matthieu Pigasse offered his services as a financial adviser and emphasized great potential for active cooperation in this area in Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev hailed the activity of Lazard Freres company. The head of state pointed out that the cooperation with the company will be continued.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

A group of peacekeepers of the Azerbaijani army was sent to Afghanistan to continue to serve within the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in accordance with the rotation plan, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on Jan. 23.

The peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has been serving in Afghanistan since November 20, 2002.

Presently, 120 Azerbaijani servicemen are taking part in this mission in Afghanistan, including two military doctors and six staff officers.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Chief Executive Officer of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Rich Lesser in Davos.

Rich Lesser described The Boston Consulting Group as one of the global companies specialized in designing of various solutions towards the development of digital economy, and hailed the cooperation with Azerbaijan. He expressed support for the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan, as well as business environment and rapid development in the country.

Rich Lesser mentioned that they have digital solutions that will provide a higher level of governance, both for public and private companies, as well as in healthcare, compulsory health insurance and other areas. It was noted that the application of these solutions in Azerbaijan will lead to the creation of new jobs and make a significant contribution to improving the management systems implemented by President Ilham Aliyev.

President Ilham Aliyev praised The Boston Consulting Group's activity in Azerbaijan. The head of state noted that Azerbaijan will continue to cooperate with various public and private companies, and support business environment.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with President of Europe Selling & Market Operations at Procter & Gamble Loic Tassel in Davos.

Tassel hailed the positive results of economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan in recent years. He noted that the business environment and conditions created for investors in Azerbaijan encourage Procter & Gamble to expand its activities like other companies in the country.

Pointing to the activities of Procter & Gamble in Azerbaijan, Loic Tassel noted that the company is not only engaged in the sale of consumer goods, but also significantly contributes to the development of the advertising market in the country.

The company, which is the largest advertiser in Azerbaijans TV space, also carries out its social responsibility mission by sponsoring various social projects, sporting competitions and other support measures, he said.

Tassel noted that Procter & Gamble is keen to expand its activity in the region by taking use of emerging business environment.

By expanding its activity in Baku, the company is interested in increasing its sale in Middle Asia and other regional countries. The current business environment in Azerbaijan has led the company to choose Baku as a regional center.

President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the business environment created in Azerbaijan, as well as the reforms carried out in customs, tax and other areas. The head of state described the companys decisions on expanding its activities in Azerbaijan as right ones.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that the government of Azerbaijan will continue supporting investors and entrepreneurs.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.23

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Chief Executive Officer of Signify company (former Philips Lighting) Eric Rondolat in Davos.

Eric Rondolat said that Signify is one of the world`s leading companies specializing in the field of urban lighting, and noted that they are working together with Azerbaijan`s relevant authorities on the project of Baku lighting. He said the pilot version of the project will be completed in the next few months.

Eric Rondolat hailed what has been done together with the Azerbaijani side on this project. He proposed that Signify prepare and submit a project of overall lighting system management of the city of Baku.

President Ilham Aliyev praised the activities of representatives of Signify in Azerbaijan. The head of state stressed the importance of conducting discussions with relevant government agencies in order to improve the lighting system management of the city of Baku and preparing relevant projects.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.22

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Sir Roger Gale (United Kingdom, EC) and Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), have expressed their approval at the decision of the General Prosecutors Office in Azerbaijan to terminate a new criminal case against blogger Mehman Huseynov, Trend reports citing a statement on the Council of Europes website.

The co-rapporteurs have called on the Azerbaijani authorities to review this case as a matter of absolute priority.

Its a small but significant step in the right direction, the co-rapporteurs said.

The criminal case against Mehman Huseynov has been terminated upon recommendations of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

Optimism in the settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has intensified, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said during the PACE winter session in Strasbourg (France), answering a question from the chairman of the Azerbaijani parliamentary committee on culture Rafael Huseynov, Trend reports on Jan. 23.

As for the OSCE Minsk Group, Finland fully supports the process that is ongoing, the Finnish president said, adding that optimism at the current stagehas intensified.

There are hopes that a solution will emerge that meets the best interests of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the president noted.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 29 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Jan. 23, Trend reports.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
AzerTelecom implementing "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program to transform Azerbaijan into Regional Digital Center

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

At present, in the context of the 4th industrial revolution, the processes of digitization and rapid transformation of the economy are going on in the world. Becoming the energy and transport center of the region as a result of the activities over the past 25 years, Azerbaijan is on the brink of the 4th industrial revolution, and the digitalization of the economy, the formation of the knowledge-based economy, and the application of innovations are of significant importance.

A number of important projects have been implemented in recent years to develop the international transport corridors passing through the territory of Azerbaijan and to strengthen the transit potential of the country. At present, AzerTelecom, the subsidiary of the first mobile operator in Azerbaijan - Bakcell, has launched the "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program to transform Azerbaijan into the "Digital Center" of the region.

The main objectives of the "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program

The main objective of the "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program is to raise the telecommunication ecosystem of Azerbaijan to the most advanced world standards, to minimize the dependence of the country on foreign countries in the purchase of Internet, and in the future, to become a central country in the sale of Internet in the region, and to transform Azerbaijan from a digital services importing country into a country that produces and exports these services to the neighboring regions under the brand "Made in Azerbaijan".

Within the framework of the "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program, the transformation of Azerbaijan into a regional center in the Caucasus, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia will create conditions for the better provision of 1.8 billion people (1/4 of the world's population) with different digital services. The transformation of our country into a central country not only in the Internet transit but also in the sale of the Internet means adding Baku to the world`s Internet map, along with Internet hubs such as London, Frankfurt, Sofia, Istanbul, Moscow, Amsterdam, and Dubai. This will help ensure that the world brands (Apple, Google, Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook, Netflix, etc.) are concentrated at the Digital Center.

As a result of the "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program, the transformation of Azerbaijan into the Digital Center of the Region will contribute to Azerbaijan's participation in the "Belt and Road Initiative" project initiated by the Chinese government. The "Belt and Road Initiative" project includes infrastructure development and investments in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and Azerbaijan becomes a part of the global project "Belt and Road Initiative" as a "Digital Center".

As a result of the implementation of the "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program, the major fiber-optic networks in the North-South, East-West directions will be intersected in Azerbaijan. In addition to the intersection of the world`s global transit backbone networks in Azerbaijan, the largest Data Center in the region will also be established in Azerbaijan. Together with "Azerbaijan Railways" CJSC, AzerTelecom has started the construction of new sustainable backbone fiber-optic cable infrastructure along the protection zone of the railway line in the country and relevant investments have been made. This will allow the backbone lines in the East-West and North-South directions to intersect in Azerbaijan.

The program has important advantages

The "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program has important advantages for our country. Along with the above-mentioned, the advantages are: there will be new opportunities for the development of the country's economy without the involvement of public investment, a digital logistics center will be established in the region, and the program will contribute to the digital economy by stimulating investment in the non-oil sector and giving a strong impetus to its development. The implementation of the program will contribute to the development of electronic services and the country's cyber-security as well.

Also, within the framework of the "Azerbaijan Digital Hub" program, new jobs will be created in the digital field, new opportunities will be created for the prevention of outflow of intellectual capital from the country as well as the return of the high level Azerbaijani specialists to Azerbaijan, and a favorable ecosystem will be formed for the development of startups and their stay in Azerbaijan. The program will also contribute to the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and the development of the Digital Economy in Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23

Trend:

Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) hosted a meeting with management of Azerbaijani office of Huawei, a leading global provider of information and communications technology infrastructure. It was attended by BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov, CEO of Huawei Technologies Azerbaijan LLC Canlin Lu, the company Program Managers Eldar Jebrayilov and Ziven Tao, and the Higher School students and key staff members.

Opening the meeting, Rector Elmar Gasimov said that he would be very pleased to see Huawei among many transnational companies, which developed partnership with BHOS. He noted that cooperation between the teachers and students of the Higher Schools Process Automation Engineering Department and Huawei, which strives to support education of the next generation of qualified IT professionals, is aligned with its core values and social responsibility principles.

In the words of CEO of Huawei Technologies Azerbaijan LLC Canlin Lu, the company is interested in establishing partnership relations with BHOS, which trains specialists in line with international standards, and is ready to provide necessary support to this higher educational institution. Program Manager Ziven Tao made a presentation on the company history, main activities, products and services, and corporate policies and procedures. He also answered numerous questions asked by the students.

At the meeting, Memorandum of Understanding between BHOS and Huawei Technologies Azerbaijan LLC was signed. It aims at taking necessary logistical, procedural and organizational measures to train high-qualified engineers at BHOS. The areas of cooperation include organizing lectures for the BHOS students by the company experts, providing its library with textbooks and academic audio-visual aids, supporting establishment of a specialized laboratory at the BHOS campus and software procurement for teaching process. The company shall also organize intensive workshops for BHOS students, facilitate their participation in the company internship programs and create professional development opportunities for the BHOS graduates.

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational conglomerate specializing in telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and technology-based services and products. Its three core business segments include building telecommunications networks and services; providing equipment, software and services to enterprise customers; and manufacturing electronic communications devices. The company has more than 180,000 employees, and it operates in more than 170 countries. As of the beginning of 2010, approximately 80% of the world's top 50 telecoms companies had worked with Huawei.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.22

Trend:

A session on Advancing the Belt and Road Initiative: China`s Trillion Dollar Vision has been held in Davos as part of the World Economic Forum.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the session.
An indictment has been issued for President Rouhani's top aide, Hessamoddin Ashena and a lawsuit against him delivered to the court, Tehrans prosecutor said on Tuesday, January 22.

Ashena, the head of Center for Strategic Studies, and Rouhani's Cultural Advisor, is prosecuted for comments he made about forty days ago on the fate of Iran Green Movement's leaders who have been under house arrest since February 2011.

Ashena had remarked on December 9, 2018 that the house arrests have become much less restrictive and are more of a formality now and had tried to get credit for having played a role in changing the conditions of the house arrests.

Firing back, Tehran's prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said yesterday, "The house arrests are firmly in place."

Ashena on January 11 made other, perhaps more provocative remarks, saying that the underlying reasons for popular protests and unrest have not been deal with.

It is not clear if his indictment stems from the house arrests remarks or the more recent interview about mass protests.

Former Prime Minister, Mir Hossein Mousavi (1981-1989), his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and former speaker of parliament Mehdi Karroubi have been under house arrest since February 2011.

Mousavi and Karroubi were the main challengers of the hardline incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and rejected the highly controversial 2009 elections result.

Their protest led to widespread demonstrations against the Islamic establishment and its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who had ardently supported Ahmadinejad.

There were reports during 2018 that the three opposition figures were allowed to receive more visitors and in one case even leave the house.

Nevertheless, the trio are still kept under house arrest, contrary to optimistic predictions about their imminent release.

Some political figures have said the house arrests can be lifted only if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gives the order.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine represents over 600 Member Companies and affiliated parties - the biggest investors and largest multinationals operating in Ukraine which contribute greatly to the state budget and create new jobs.

In 2018 the Chamber welcomed 82 new members, among which: 36 large strategic and institutional investors, 15 mid cap companies, and 31 small companies and service providers, NGOs, educational institutions and donor funded projects. The majority of new members belong to HealthCare, Innovative, Agricultural and Logistics industries.

The Chambers vision is to be the positive driver of change in the business environment to benefit Ukraine, but if you ask the new members why did they join the Chamber you will hear the following:

Dell EMC: "We are proud to become a part of AmCham Ukraine ecosystem. We gain an opportunity to accelerate our relationship with the local business community and officials. Membership opens additional ways for networking with customers, and partners. In the whole, it enriches the company's local experience and enhances our efficiency in Ukraine." - Iryna Volk, General Manager Dell EMC in Ukraine.

LOreal Ukraine: "Its great honor to be a member of American Chamber of Commerce community because it brings prospects to business development in Ukraine and establishes transparent business opportunities for sustainable growth," - Mark Sawchuk, Country Manager, LOreal Ukraine.

GSK Consumer Healthcare: "We strongly appreciate all the work the Chamber is already doing. Therefore, to make further steps we want to take active part in the projects helping our industry to move forward and achieve new goals." - Nicolo Pome, General Manager Ukraine and CIS, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ukraine.

Vaderstad LLC: "To be a member of AmCham Ukraine is to participate in the improvements of the business environment in agriculture business and cooperate more effectively with market players, government bodies and governmental organizations; to help with the development of more robust and safe business environment within the rapidly growing agriculture industry in Ukraine." - Vitaliy Filatov, CEO.

Operating in Ukraine since 1992, the Chamber cooperates closely with Ukrainian authorities to improve the business environment and attract foreign investments into the economy, advocates for predictable, transparent, equitable and stable rules of doing business.
Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova has issued a statement addressed to the heads of the diplomatic missions of EU countries, in which she tells them about the situation involving the illegitimate detention, capturing and imprisonment of 24 servicemen of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, called on the EU to heighten pressure on Russia for their release, and also demanded that Moscow transfer the wounded sailors to a neutral country for medical treatment.

"According to the Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 24 Ukrainian sailors have the status of prisoners of war. This has been recognized by the majority of civilized countries of the world... In particular, I demand that the Russian Federation send the wounded prisoners of war to a third (neutral) country so that they would be provided with high-quality medical assistance. This would correspond to the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1949," Denisova said in a statement published on her Facebook page on Wednesday, January 22.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko at the Davos World Economic Forum has taken part in a panel, titled "Smart Financing for Smart Cities."

"We began to implement the smart city management system in Kyiv four years ago after successful negotiations in Davos. Then we agreed with the German company SAP, which helped to implement the first smart city project in the Ukrainian capital  an open budget," Klitschko said during the discussion at Davos Town Hall, Kyiv City State Administration said.

Klitschko said in Kyiv there are already quite a few tech projects that are successfully operating.

"This is both a city data center and a Kyiv citizen card, an online appointment to a doctor, an electronic queue at kindergartens, a secure capital video surveillance system, electronic petitions, and more," he said.

St. Gallen (Switzerland) Mayor Thomas Scheitlin presented the project "Smart City  Made in Switzerland," which the Swiss are working on.

Participants in the discussion talked about how cities can cooperate in order to attract financing, investment in the implementation of technologies and innovations in municipal management.

According to Kyiv State City Administration, Vitali Klitschko together with his brother Vololymyr Klitschko will take part in the discussion, titled "Smart City. Smart Sport" at Ukraine House Davos. The Kyiv mayor has also been invited to lunch, which is traditionally hosted by Washington Post newspaper representatives at Davos.

In addition to Davos forum activities, Vitali Klitschko is scheduled to hold meetings with representatives of business circles.
Yuliya Tymoshenko, leader of the All-Ukrainian Union Batkivschyna party, attended a ceremonial liturgy at St. Volodymyr's Church in Kyiv on the occasion of the 90th birthday anniversary of Honorary Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Filaret and congratulated him in person, the party said in a statement on Wednesday, January 22.

"Our Most Holy Patriarch Filaret is 90 years old! This has been an entire epoch. A whole story. And a big decent honest life. The path of dignity and God's humility, the path of struggle and the path of victory," Tymoshenko wrote on her Facebook page.

Batkivschyna's leader said that it is thanks to Filaret that we have a united local church in Ukraine today. "First of all, thanks to him, we have got the Tomos. It was thanks to the work of His Holiness that from its very origins, the Ukrainian church became the spiritual foundation of the Ukrainian state. Patriarch Filaret is the spiritual leader of our nation, and such leaders are born once in a century. Ukraine is lucky," the politician said.

"I sincerely congratulate you, great and wise Father! Thank you very much! Thank you for your struggle, for your courage, for all the good and great things you have done for our nation, for our country, and for our Church. Thanks for fighting and withstanding all the pressures, and for not yielding even a single step or a single principle in the Ukrainian case," Tymoshenko said.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has presented a plan for the implementation of the next stage of decentralization in Ukraine until 2020.

"It is very important that all these changes be enshrined in the Constitution," said Groysman at a government meeting on Wednesday.

The head of government noted the need to start a constitutional process on changes in decentralization for the irreversibility of changes.

According to the prime minister, at the new stage of decentralization, it is necessary to approve a new territorial base, namely, the completion of the formation of merged territorial communities (about 1,700) and the formation of new areas (about 100). It is also necessary to transfer powers from the government to local authorities and their division between levels and bodies on the principle of subsidiarity. Among other things, according to Groysman, it is necessary to create an independent resource base for the exercise of powers by local self-government and the creation of an effective system of local self-government bodies. In addition, one needs to streamline the system of state control over the legality of the activities of local self-government.

Also, according to the prime minister, the development of forms of direct democracy (elections and referendums) and the improvement of the coordination system of central government and local authorities are necessary.

Groysman stressed that these changes need to be implemented before the local elections in 2020.
Obolonsky district court of Kyiv at 9:00 on Thursday, January 24, will start announcing the sentence in the case of high treason of disgraced ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.

"At 09:00 on January 24, 2019 in the courtroom ... the verdict will be announced in the criminal proceedings for the charges of Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych in committing of crimes pursuant to Part 5 of Article 27 of Paragraph 3 of Article 110, Part 1 of Article 111, Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," the Obolonsky district court said on its website on Wednesday.
Poroshenko to take part in World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan 23-24

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on January 23-24 will make a working visit to Switzerland to participate in the annual World Economic Forum, his press service said.

"The head of state will take part in the session on the Strategic Outlook for Central and Eastern Europe and hold a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of international organizations, world leaders, and representatives of leading business circles of the world," the message says.

The president of Ukraine will also chair the second meeting of the National Investment Council, which will be held in Davos.
Batkivschyna leader Tymoshenko promises to 'break old system' in Ukraine in first 100 days of her presidency

Batkivschyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko said that, if she is elected Ukrainian president, she will resign if the first 100 days of her work are inefficient.

"If I am unable to break the old system, to show results to you in the first 100 days as president, I will simply step down from the office," Tymoshenko said at a Batkivschyna congress in Kyiv on Tuesday.

The Batkivschyna leader also showed participants in the congress a document, which she described as "an agreement between presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko and Ukrainain citizens." The politician explained that the document contains the list of things, which are to be done during her presidency.

Tymoshenko devoted a considerable amount of her speech to the contents of the New Line program, which was drafted at her initiative. In particular, she once again emphasized the need to approve the new Ukrainian Constitution.

The politician also said she supports the reduction of the number of Verkhovna Rada members from 450 to 350.

The Batkivschyna leader also expressed support to Ukraine's focus on joining NATO. "Our alternative is either NATO or an endless ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation)," she said.

Tymoshenko said that it is possible that the average wage and pension would increase by 3.5 times if she is elected.

She also said she endorses the imposition of the tax on withdrawn capital in lieu of the profits tax.

During the congress, the Batkivschyna leader thanked all her associates, who did not betray her during hard times. "[You] stayed with me in the most trying times, despite the fact that they nearly reduced me to zero and it was so difficult to stand up," Tymoshenko, who had spent several years in jail during Vyktor Yanukovych's presidency, said.

The presidential election in Ukraine is scheduled for March 31.
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Ararat Mirzoyan receives Piotr Switalski

On January 23, Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held a meeting with Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski. Speaker Mirzoyan thanked the Ambassador for his role in deepening the Armenia-EU cooperation and expressed readiness to contribute to the development and intensification of these relations. Ararat Mirzoyan assured that the new Parliament is committed to implementing the initiatives and outlined programs and recording results. Touching upon the ratification process of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Speaker Mirzoyan said its an important condition to boost the reforms in Armenia and the partnership with the EU based on the common value system. And the Speaker expected the Ambassadors support on this matter. Ararat Mirzoyan said the Armenian side attaches importance to the launch of dialogue with the EU on visa facilitation for the Armenian citizens. I think this will be a great achievement and will reach the relations to a new level, the Parliament Speaker said. He expressed hope that the cooperation with the EU will be more intense in the fields of deepening democracy, human rights protection, cooperation with the civil society, raising the role of the Parliament and etc. In his turn the EU Ambassador congratulated the Speaker on assuming office and highlighted the fact that he became the leader of the Parliament which has been formed based on the results of free, fair and transparent elections. Piotr Switalski said the new Parliament has all opportunities for real parliamentarism in Armenia. He also valued the boosting of the inter-parliamentary ties and the role of the parliamentary diplomacy in developing the Armenia-EU relations. Ambassador Switalski expressed readiness on behalf of the EU delegation to actively cooperate for the Parliaments institutional capacity developments based on the needs assessed by the Parliament.
New investments to be made in Armenia (video)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continues the meetings with the businessmen and investors of different countries on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. On the second day of the Forum Pashinyan met with Arne Sorenson, President and CEO at Marriott International, Inc, during which the opportunities to expand the companys activities in Armenia were discussed. PM Pashinyan highly valued the companys activity in Armenia and stated that the Marriott hotel is very popular in Armenia. The PM said the Armenian government is interested in developing and expanding the famous international hotel network in the country. Arne Sorenson informed that currently they are discussing issues on implementing investment programs by the Marriott International and opening new hotel as a result. The company CEO attached importance to the Armenian governments steps aimed at improving the business environment and expressed confidence that these activities will contribute to the effective implementation of the programs. During the meeting with CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, the Armenian PM noted that there are good opportunities and conditions for investments in Armenia after the recent changes. He said the government is ready to assist the ongoing programs of the Fund and discuss the possibilities for implementing new investment projects. Kirill Dmitriev introduced Pashinyan on the process of ongoing programs in the fields of agriculture, industry and energy, adding that the Fund will continue the policy of implementing new programs in Armenia. He stated that given the new opportunities in Armenia, they are going to take actions to bring their international partners to Armenia. The Armenian PM also met with the CEO of Corporation America Martin Eurnekian during which they discussed the upcoming investment programs in aviation and other sectors of Armenia. In particular, they touched upon the expected works in Yerevans Zvartnots, Gyumris Shirak airports, the future management and development of HayPost CJSC, as well as the plans related with the previous building of the Armenian foreign ministry located in the Republic Square.
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1. Yes. Its important to address the problem before it gets worse. A bond is needed.

2. Yes. Its fine, as long as the bond isnt too large. The city doesnt need more debt.

3. No. A bond issue would just put the problem back on the taxpayers. Not acceptable.

4. No. Certificates of obligation, targeting the worst roads, would be a better choice.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without knowing the details of what a bond would entail.

Vote

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With chaos in the White House, worsening climate disasters, more wars than we can count, and a wobbling economy here at home, the last thing we need is another big challenge. But  look out!  here comes a doozy!

Its AI  artificial intelligence  the fast-evolving science of autonomous machines that can think, learn, and even reproduce themselves.

Consider self-driving vehicles. Once the stuff of science fiction, the future is suddenly upon us, with Google, Daimler, and GM rolling out driverless taxis, commercial trucks, and even cars with no steering wheel or gas and brake pedals.

An army of corporate lobbyists is rushing to legislative halls, literally changing the rules of the road to allow full deployment of these vehicles.

What about the hundreds of thousands of professional drivers wholl lose their jobs? Not our problem, say the financiers and AI barons whod profit from a mass bot-mobile conversion. Besides, as AI champion David Autor coldly asserts, those drivers get sick, take vacations, etc. People are messy, he notes; machines are straightforward.
PLEASANT VALLEY  Snow sprayed in the wind beneath a helicopter in a field near Pleasant Valley the morning of Jan. 22 as the aircraft hooked onto a hopper carrying about 1,000 pounds of native plant seeds to scatter in the Ruby Mountains.

Over the next few days, the pilot will disperse a total of 25,000 pounds of native seed, such as grasses, sagebrush and bitterbrush, over about 2,500 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in and around Lamoille Canyon.

Reseeding is necessary on the approximately 10,000 acres of the areas iconic Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and private land that burned during last years Owl Creek and Range Two fires.

Plant life will help stabilize the soil, resist nonnatives, replace some of the vegetation that burned, and provide food and habitat for wildlife. Winter is a crucial time for reseeding, as snow helps the plants get established in the spring thaw.

The USFS, Bureau of Land Management, Nevada Department of Wildlife and Nevada Division of Forestry  along with private organizations and volunteers  have been working together to rehabilitate the burned areas.

In mid-January, NDOW led the aerial reseeding effort with a flying services contractor while federal employees, including USFS employees, are on furlough.

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I can speculate there were issues, Pehrson said. I dont know any of the details as far as why they came to that act.

If charges were filed now, Ingram said the most serious offense would be battery resulting in substantial bodily harm.

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In the event that the alleged juvenile victim succumbs to his injuries, jurisdiction may fall within the adult court, Ingram stated. Prosecuting the case in juvenile court could jeopardize the district attorneys ability to prosecute the juvenile suspect for homicide if the injured teen dies.

In his release, Ingram quotes the Nevada law behind his decision and explains his reasoning.

For example, if I make the decision to file a petition alleging battery resulting in substantial bodily harm and the juvenile suspect admits to committing that act or the juvenile court begins to take evidence at a hearing regarding the petition, and the alleged juvenile victim later passes away as a result of his injuries, the juvenile suspect could not be charged with the death of the alleged juvenile victim because it would be an offense based on the same conduct as that alleged in the petition, he wrote. That would not be justice for the alleged victim, the alleged victims family, and for the community.
The Salvation Army received $311,000 from Duke Energy Ohio for the 2019 HeatShare program. The Salvation Army administers the donations made to the program, in collaboration with Duke Energy Ohio, to provide people in need with financial assistance with their utility bills.

The HeatShare program is available to eligible Duke Energy customers in southwest Ohio and provides heating bill assistance from January 22 to April 30, 2019, or until all funds have been used. If funds are available after April 30, they may be used for summer bill assistance until depleted. People in need of assistance may call The Salvation Army HeatShare line at 513.762.5636 to schedule an appointment or to receive more information.

"Through the continued generosity of our customers and employees, along with Duke Energy matching funds, HeatShare has been a vital program in Ohio for three decades, helping customers in need," said Cindy Givens, program manager at Duke Energy. "We're proud to partner once again with the Salvation Army to help those who are struggling to stay warm this winter."

HeatShare was established in 1986 to assist Ohio residents in need with winter heating bills and is funded by Duke Energy customers, employees and shareholders. In 2018, The Salvation Army received a total of $310,000 to help keep 504 families across southwest Ohio warm. The Salvation Army received $100,000 from Duke Energy Ohio in addition to $210,000 in customer contributions and matching funds for the HeatShare program. More than 19,000 Duke Energy Ohio customers voluntarily added a HeatShare contribution to their monthly bill. Additional information about the program can be found on the Duke Energy Ohio website.

About The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army, an evangelical part of the universal Christian church, has been supporting those in need in His name without discrimination since 1865. Nearly 33 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through the broadest array of social services that range from providing food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and opportunities for underprivileged children. About 82 cents of every dollar raised is used to support those services in nearly 9,000 communities nationwide. For more information, please visit salvationarmycincinnati.org.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy Ohio/Kentucky's operations provide electric service to about 850,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in a 3,000-square-mile service area, and natural gas service to approximately 533,000 customers.

Duke Energy Ohio/Kentucky is a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK).

Duke Energy Contact: Sally Thelen

Office: 513.287.2432

24-Hour Media Line: 800.559.3853

The Salvation Army Contact: Julie Budden

Office: 513.762.5600
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
The meeting took place in Davos, Switzerland, on January 23, 2019.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it stands ready to continue to support Ukraine but has called on the Ukrainian government to accelerate reforms.

"I reiterated that the IMF stands ready to continue to support Ukraine, along with other international partners, in its reform efforts under President Poroshenko's leadership. I also highlighted the urgency for Ukraine to accelerate reforms and transition to stronger growth, which is needed to improve people's living standards in a sustainable manner," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said after a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Read alsoUkraine may get US$2.6 bln in two disbursements from IMF in 2019

The meeting took place in Davos, Switzerland, on January 23, 2019.

Lagarde said that the meeting was constructive.

They discussed recent economic developments and prospects for Ukraine, as well as the implementation of the measures under the Stand-By Arrangement approved by the IMF Executive Board on December 18, 2018.

As UNIAN reported, the IMF Executive Board approved a new 14-month Stand-By Arrangement for Ukraine in the amount of US$3.9 billion. Ukraine received the first disbursement under the new program in the amount of US$1.4 billion on December 21, 2018.

Decisions on new disbursements will be made in May and November 2019 after the review of compliance with the terms of the memorandum of cooperation with the IMF.
Ukraine plans to complete talks on FTA with Turkey in 2019

The parties have agreed on over 21,000 items of the agreement, with the other 1,200 to be coordinated in negotiations, Kubiv said.

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Ukrainian company to build 9 MW solar station in Chernihiv region

An 18 ha land plot has already been allocated for the construction.

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Another round of Ukraine-EU-Russia gas talks to decide the fate of the future transit contract between Naftogaz and Gazprom saw no concrete outcome, as earlier expected. And although the meeting was held behind closed doors, some new details surfaced.

The latest round of trilateral talks involving Ukraine, EU, and Russia on a new transit contract between the state holding Naftogaz and the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom was intended to replace the existing contract set to expire Dec 31, 2019. Negotiations were preceded by bilateral meetings between Ukraine and European Commission, as well as Russia. Headed by Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, the Ukrainian delegation included other MFA officials, representatives of Naftogaz, and national energy regulator NEURC. The Russian side was represented by Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Gazprom chief Alexei Miller. The European Commission was represented by its Vice-President for the Energy Community, Maros Sefcovic.

Such a high level of negotiators is due to the fact that both billions in transit profits for Ukraine and general energy security of the European Union are at stake. On the issue of preserving Russian gas transit depends the very viability of Ukraine's gas transmission system and Ukraines status of a country transiting gas to EU markets. The risks to Russia are also quite considerable. Gas transit via Ukraine after 2019 is being discussed in the context of the construction of Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine. The project has been widely criticized by the U.S. raising a storm in old Europe, which has been trying to turn a blind eye to the political nature of the project, while constantly pressured by Russia and Germany. Also, in the framework of talks, Moscow is trying to resolve the issue of billions of dollars Gazprom owes to Naftogaz in line with last years Stockholm arbitration award. As predicted, the latest meeting in Brussels yielded no concrete results: the parties once again discussed the proposals on the table. However, some of the nuances of the closed-door negotiations did surface.

Gas transit prospects after 2019

Today, another round of talks took place in the trilateral format in Brussels; it was on the issue of transit after 2019. Russians proposed to extend the validity of contracts in 2009 unchanged. We are ready to consider all proposals, but for Ukraine, it is important that the new transit agreement be based on the norms of European law, and we are seeing support from the European Commission in this regard. The position of the Russian Federation is in fact more like a traditional attempt to drag time, head of Naftogaz Andriy Kobolyev wrote, commenting on the gas meeting on Facebook.

According to him, Maros Sefcovic's team have prepared their proposal for a new contract: We are grateful for this, we will carefully consider it and hope to discuss it in detail at the next meeting to be held in March-April. In general, the negotiations were interesting, I am discreetly optimistic about them."

Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin elaborated on the situation. He said that Gazprom proposed to extend existing contracts with Naftogaz even without expert consultation.

Mr Miller [Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller] emphasized three times that they were ready to extend existing contracts. At the same time, he said that these contracts could be extended without any expert consultations, said Klimkin.

In addition, at the latest meeting, Gazprom once again refused to recognize the defeating awards of the Stockholm Arbitration and Ukraine's new gas legislation, which is in line with the European principles and based on which it is proposed to conclude a new transit contract.

The Russian side does not even consider the fact that we now have completely different legislation, other rules, other laws that reflect European legislation, and that we have to move from agreements to real contracts, which will be based on European rules. Neither the Russian side nor even Gazprom wish to take this into account, at least at this stage. And, of course, the Russian side does not recognize the awards of the Stockholm arbitration, said Klimkin.

The European Commission took Ukraine's side and insisted that the award of the Stockholm arbitration should be implemented in full.

"We are very grateful for the position of the European Commission, which confirmed that the rulings of courts previously handed down should be fully implemented, and Ukraine has every right to file new claims," Klimkin commented on the situation.

At the talks, Naftogaz once again voiced its offer  the company is ready to reduce claims against Gazprom to $2 billion instead of the stated $12 billion if Ukraine succeeds in maintaining gas transit through its territory.

In Naftogaz claims under the current lawsuit, out of $12.5 billion, about $10 billion is related to transit termination. If transit continues, in this case our claim will not be worth $12 billion, it will be only $2 billion. US$2 billion is still part of the costs that are now not covered by the current tariff, even without accelerated depreciation of the GTS, Naftogaz CCO Yuriy Vitrenko said.

This is about a new arbitration case, this does not apply to the previous $2.7 bln debt imposed by the Swedish court ruling.

But Gazprom snapped at this offer, continuing to insist on reaching a settlement on the Stockholm verdicts.

"In the near future, we will see the Swedish court of appeals consider the case. This is a very important point because it is necessary to restore the balance of interests, first of all, in order to proceed further to discuss specific parameters. It is also possible to continue the discussion, for example, on a settlement agreement between the two economic entities, said Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.

Also, he dismissed as "absurd" Naftogaz's proposal to reduce to $2 bln the claims in a new lawsuit against Gazprom in case the new contract is signed.

This is a somewhat absurd position on the part of our Ukrainian partners because this is a new lawsuit, which we do not perceive at all, because this is a lawsuit regarding volumes that allegedly will not be pumped in the future if the contract is not concluded. But we all understand perfectly well that in principle this cannot be considered, Novak said, adding that for the beginning it is necessary to settle previous court proceedings.

New long-term contract on EU conditions

The European Commission this time made a concrete proposal, supporting the Ukrainian position. In their opinion, the parties should discuss the Trans-Eurasian gas transit project, which is valid for more than ten years and with volumes that would justify investments in the modernization of the gas transmission system of Ukraine.

The European Commission also proposed the main parameters of the future gas transit agreement for the period after 2019, including its duration, volumes, and tariffs.

Sefcovic said he put forward a proposal for both parties to study. The draft also covers other aspects, such as investments in servicing the gas transmission network.

Sefcovic stated with optimism that the European Commission did not expect any problems to arise with gas supplies to the EU this winter.

The official also stressed that the contract for the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine must comply with all EU norms and be the same as with Western countries.

We are grateful for the proposal that Mr. Shefchovics team made at the end of the negotiations. This is the starting point of reference, which we will definitely consider. It was the first time we heard and received it. I hope that within the next two months, we will have enough time to discuss it both at Naftogaz and with the shareholder, concluded Kobolyev.

And another important nuance of the negotiations, which cornered the Russian delegation, was Sefcovic saying that the European Commission was concerned about the Nord Stream 2 project, especially in terms of diversifying gas supplies to the European Union.

According to him, the European Commission was not impressed by the results of the Bulgarian and Austrian Presidency of the EU Council in 2018, since the project issue was frozen. Now, during the Romanian presidency, which is the first half of 2019, the issues of compliance of Nord Stream 2 with the European energy principles could be resolved.

This argument had an instant effect on the Russian side. Novak even called the talks "quite constructive." He also said that Russia was interested in maintaining transit via Ukraine after the expiration of the existing contract.

It is yet unclear, at least until the next technical consultations and another round of talks scheduled for May, how the unpredictable Kremlin will behave. Meanwhile, the European Commission remains optimistic: they are confident that the transit agreement will be concluded before the end of this year.

Nana Chornaya

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"Actual blackmail": Naftogaz comments on Russia's position in gas talks

According to the company's CCO, if the existing gas deal is extended as it is, Gazprom will be able to reduce gas transit via Ukraine to zero.

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Vessels can resort to ship-to-ship transfers of fuel  a risky maneuver especially if they are transferring flammable fuel  if they do not have access to a port for loading.

Two ships ablaze in the Black Sea region, leaving at least 10 crew dead, caught fire while transferring fuel mid-sea after one vessel was barred from using its usual port in southern Russia due to U.S. sanctions risk, two sources told Reuters.

The vessels, which caught fire on Monday, have the same names as two gas-transporting tankers, the Maestro and Venice, which were included on a U.S. sanctions advisory note last year for delivering fuel to Syria, Reuters wrote.

The U.S. Treasury note, published in November, advised that any dealings with these or other vessels involved in transporting fuel to Syria could result in sanctions.

The Maestro was subsequently barred from using Temryuk port in southern Russia by the owners of its only gas terminal, Maktren-Nafta, two industry sources said, where it had previously loaded liquefied petroleum gas of Russian and Kazakh origin for export to the Middle East.

Vessels can resort to ship-to-ship transfers of fuel  a risky maneuver especially if they are transferring flammable fuel  if they do not have access to a port for loading.

Two traders, separate to the industry sources, told Reuters that both vessels were ultimately owned by one Turkish company, Milenyum Denizcilik Gemi.

Read alsoUkraine's ministry: Two LPG tankers that sink near Kerch illegally supplied gas to Syria since 2016

Milenyum was placed on the U.S. sanctions list in 2015 for arranging the shipment of liquefied petroleum gas and gasoil to Syrian government controlled areas.

On Nov 20 last year, the U.S. Treasury Department added nine Russian and Iranian individuals and companies on its sanctions list for participating in the shipment of petroleum to Syria.

The Maestro was barred from using the ports gas terminal by its owners, and thereby denied access to the port, the two industry sources said.

But the Venice  now known as Candy  continued to dock at Temryuk, Refinitiv data showed.

Theres every indication that some black scheme was going on, one of the industry sources said.

Why else would (the Venice) load up with gas and then immediately transfer it onto another tanker? the source said, adding that the Venice was likely to have been permitted access to the port as it had changed its name to Candy since the U.S. sanctions note.
Ukroboronprom, Israel's Elbit Systems sign memorandum of cooperation

The parties will exchange technology and practical experience in the use of new weapons.

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All her life, a Frenchwoman missed the father her mother would never discuss. Then she sought answers in Vietnam.

Lysiane meets her grandmother for the first time. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Khoa

On the afternoon of January 15, a bus from Da Lat town brought 26-year-old Frenchwoman Lysiane Daniele Josette to Vung Tau City.

Waiting for her was a group of young people whod helped Lysiane find her father.

Stepping out of the vehicle, she was crying as she embraced people shed never met before.

On the bus that took her home to Village 4 in Long Son Commune, Lysiane told VnExpress: "I am waiting to meet my grandmother, uncle and aunt. I don't know what else to say."

Once she gathered herself, Lysiane said she had been longing for her father she had lost just after she was born. All she knew about him was that he was Vietnamese.

"When I was young, I didn't know why my father was not with me. Growing up, I saw many photos of him but my mother (a French) later burned them and remained tight-lipped whenever I mentioned him.

"The absence of a father in my family always made me feel lonely."

"Missing a piece of my heart," Lysiane had been determined to find her father since she was very young.

"Earlier I couldn't afford to go halfway around the world, so I tried searching information in France, but what I wanted to know remained hidden."

After working hard for a year to save money, with the help of her cousin, Lysiane left France on January 2 for a two-week trip to Vietnam to try and find her father.

She took a photo to the French embassy in Hanoi, posted information on travelers community boards and searched in many places, but did not get anywhere.

Knowing her father's home was in Vung Tau, Lysiane decided late last week to go to the city and post information about the search for her father in local newspapers. Then, she went to Da Lat to wait.

The photo of two month old Lysiane with her father. Photo provided by the family.

The information was shared by the administrator of an online forum. Providentially and completely by chance, her aunt Le Kim Chi came across the post and recognized her brother.

She called Lysiane, who was very skeptical at first, but was then shown a photo of herself as a two-month-old baby with her father.

Lysiane told her aunt: "Today is the day I found out the truth about my life. I can't wait for another minute so I will get on the bus right away to meet everyone. It's amazing."

In Vietnam, Frenchwoman tracks down father in France Video luc co gai Phap gap gia inh noi o Vung Tau

As the bus dropped Lysiane in front of the house, the tears flowed non-stop. Ho Thi Ban, 77, came to hug her granddaughter and said: "Poor Ngoc Nga. I love you and want to make up to you very much."

"Knowing my grandmother had named me Le Ngoc Yen Nga in Vietnamese, I had sat all night and memorized it. When I finally met her and she called me by that name, I was overwhelmed with happiness," Lysiane said.

Soon her family connected her with Le Van Thanh, her father, who was living in France. It was a joyful reunion on the phone, after 25 years.

According to Ban, Thanh was married with two sons in Vung Tau. In 1989 he went to France to work and met Lysiane's mother.

She told her granddaughter: "Thanh sent home your pictures, but then your mother left and took you away. He searched for you everywhere but didn't succeed and almost went crazy. It took decades for the pain to ease."

Lysiane with her grandmother and extended family in Vung Tau. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Khoa.

Thanh then got married for the second time, this time to a woman from Saigon, and had two daughters, one of whom he named Lysiane.

Learning that her stepsister was named after her, Lysiane was surprised and moved.

After some time, her grandfather took Lysiane to pay her respects at the ancestral altar.

When they had their first meal together, Lysiane surprised her relatives with her dexterity in using chopsticks. "It's in my blood," she said.

Lysiane has developed an interest in Buddhism and started to learn about it. She enjoys Vietnamese food, especially the catfish hotpot her aunt cooks.

"The catfish was so delicious I almost thought it was salmon."

Lysiane said she will meet her father as soon as she returns to France.

At 26, she says: "My life is really starting now."
A Vietnamese woman arrested last month at a French airport for drug trafficking claims shes a victim of identity theft.

Pham Thi Tuyet Mai, 34, said she was apprehended by French border police on December 18 last year at the Charles de Gaulle airport when she and her boyfriend were traveling from Vietnam to Malta to visit his family.

Her arrest, as per the European Arrest Warrant, was ordered by a judicial court in Antwerpen, Belgium back in 2013, in which it sought to execute a four-year sentence for drug trafficking between October 1, 2010 and May 10, 2011, according to a press release by the Vietnamese foreign ministry.

Mai was allowed bail by a Parisian court of appeal a day after her arrest, but was ordered to hand over all identification documents and not allowed to leave the country.

A second trial is expected to begin early February. Mai is now residing in a hotel in Paris with her boyfriend, awaiting the next trial.

Identity theft suspected

Mai has denied all charges against her and said she had sufficient evidence to prove her innocence.

Pham Thi Tuyet Mai is seen in a photo she supplied to VnExpress.

"The Belgian case happened between October 2010 and May 2011, so it was impossible for me to be the criminal as I didnt have the visa required to travel from Vietnam to Europe at the time," she said. Her passport shows no arrival to or departure from Europe in the time period, she added.

Mai said she studied and worked in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, before returning to Vietnam in March 2010. She only returned to Europe once in November 2011 for work. She also has documents to prove that she was working for a company in Vietnam from May 2010 to May 2012.

Mai suspects that she is a victim of identity theft. She has hired a lawyer in Belgium and a local law office in Paris has been assigned by the Vietnamese embassy in France to help with her case.

She has also chronicled her experiences through a series of posts on her personal Facebook account, starting last Sunday, which has since gone viral on the social network. She added that her money was running out and she didnt know when her case would be resolved or when she could return to Vietnam.
Two Vietnamese women were jailed six months each in Singapore for getting into sham marriages with Singaporean men. Photo by Shutterstock/Ivan Galashchuk

Two Vietnamese women were jailed for six months in Singapore for entering into sham marriages and making false statements in visit pass applications.

The Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said on Tuesday that Vo Thi Diem Kieu, 23, and Tran Thuy Bich Tran, 24, had been arrested last February by Singaporean immigration authorities, Channel News Asia reported.

Earlier, the two had separately sought advice from Singaporean Tan Chuen Zin, 42, in 2016 on how to remain in Singapore as their work permits were about to expire.

For this, he suggested they should enter into sham marriages with Singaporean men. The act was criminalized in 2012.The women were paired with two men who had sought help from Tan over financial troubles.

Both marriages were solemnized in November 2016.

The men would not have to fulfill any marital obligations, merely sponsor visit pass applications for Kieu and Tran.

One man was paid $2,941 for the marriage while the other agreed for $1,103.

Kieu and Tran paid Tan $6,618 each for arranging the marriages. The two Vietnamese women stayed in his apartment and paid him rent, instead of living with the men they entered the sham marriages with.

The two husbands were also arrested by immigration officers last February and jailed for six months each.

Tan was arrested last March, jailed for 18 months and fined $9,560 for arranging the marriages and harboring the Vietnamese women despite knowing they had contravened Singaporean laws.

Vietnam ranked ninth among countries with the highest number of visitors (530,000) to Singapore in 2017, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.
Snowfall affects life in mountainous districts (In photos)

Snowfall coupled with breezing wind since Tuesday has troubled normal life in several mountainous districts in the country.
Took meth several days earlier, says truck driver who killed eight in accident

Luong Van Tam, 28, is held at a police station for criminal investigation after driving a truck into a group of pedestrians and killing eight of them in Hai Duong Province Monday. Photo acquired by VnExpress

The truck driver who caused a deadly accident in Hai Duong Province Monday has said he took methamphetamine several days earlier.

Luong Van Tam, 28, who surrendered hours after causing the accident in which eight people died and eight others were injured, had tested positive for meth the same night after a quick test at the provincial hospital.

Normally, a urine test can detect heroin metabolites for one to three days after the last drug use.

Tam is likely to face charges of "violating road traffic regulations that cause serious consequences," a crime punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

He had been driving on National Highway 5 from Hanoi at around 2 p.m. when his vehicle plowed into a group of commune officials walking along the edge of the highway. They were returning to work in Kim Thanh District after burning incense at the local martyrs cemetery.

Eight died on the spot while eight others suffered severe injuries and are in hospital, one in critical condition.

Tam confessed to the police that he often dozed off at the wheel and that he had not been alert on the fateful day when he strayed into the motorbike lane and ran over the pedestrians.

Following the accident, considered the worst-ever in Hai Duong, the Hanoi Department of Transport has revoked the license of the truck company that hired him.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has ordered an immediate probe into the accident and said the report should be submitted to the government before the Lunar New Year holiday at the beginning of February.

Drug use is not rare among Vietnamese truck drivers, who have heavy workloads, according to people familiar with the issue.

An inspection campaign by the transport ministry in 2014 found 526 out of 136,000 drivers testing positive for drugs.

Road accidents are a leading cause of deaths in the country, with one person dying almost every hour. There were more than 18,720 accidents last year in which 8,244 people died and nearly 14,800 were injured, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.

Earlier this month four people died and 16 others were injured in the southern Long An Province when a truck slammed into motorbikes waiting at a traffic light. The 32-year-old driver was found to have been high on liquor and heroin.
Vietnam trade deficit more than triples in first 15 days

Shipping containers are seen at a port in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo by Shutterstock/Igor Grochev

With FDI firms exports plunging, Vietnam's trade deficit more than tripled year-on-year in the first 15 days of 2019, approaching $1 billion.

The country recorded exports of $9.2 billion from January 1-15, but imported goods worth $10.19 billion in the same period, according to Vietnam Customs. Over two-thirds of Vietnams exports come from FDI firms.

Economist Ngo Tri Long, former head of the Price and Market Research Institute under the Ministry of Finance, told VnExpress International that Vietnam heavily depends on FDI businesses, therefore whenever exports decrease or imports increase in FDI firms, the countrys trade balance will be affected.

In the first 15 days this year, phone component exports, one of Vietnams strongest export items, dominated by FDI companies, dropped by 39 percent to $1.3 billion compared to the same period last year, official data shows.

Computer components exports, also largely dependent on FDI firms, fell 4.7 percent over the same period last year.

Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu warned that the trade deficit is a sign that Vietnam needs to reduce its dependence on FDI businesses as it will suffer badly if they pull out of the country.

"Other Southeast Asian countries have higher labor productivity than Vietnam, and FDI companies can always pull out of Vietnam to focus on those countries," he said.

Vietnam should pay more attention to domestic companies and help them improve their export capabilities, Hieu added.

Another reason for the deficit was that local businesses placed large import orders to prepare for Tet, Lunar New Year Festival, which falls February 2-10 this year.

"There is a high demand for goods around Tet, thats why firms import a lot," Hieu said.

Meanwhile, it is still too early for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which came into force in Vietnam on January 14, to bring in any notable impacts on Vietnams exports, he noted.

Vietnam could face a trade deficit of $3 billion this year, after achieving the highest trade surplus in a decade in 2018.

Export turnover in 2019 is expected to reach about $265 billion, down 17.4 percent from 2018. However, imports are expected to rise by 13.2 percent, reaching $268 billion, meaning a trade deficit of $3 billion, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has predicted.

Vietnam had an export surplus of $7.2 billion in 2018, three times higher than that of 2017 and the highest in the past decade.
There are about 2,000 bubble tea stores in Vietnam in 2018. Photo by VnExpress

More and more Vietnamese entrepreneurs are banking confidently on the popularity of bubble tea among the nations youth.

It was past 10 in the night, but the bubble tea shop was packed.

"I opened this milk tea shop just a few months ago, but people have been pouring in every day. My six employees struggle to serve all customers, especially in the weekend," 33-year-old Nguyen Quang Dung told VnExpress International.

Located in northern Bac Ninh Province in an industrial area with some 10,000 young workers, Dungs milk tea shop sells 150-200 cups every day, and he himself has to join his waiters in serving a large crowd.

"Its busy, but investing in milk tea shop is one of my best decisions. I have no regrets," said Dung, who works fulltime as a manager at a nearby power plant.

Dung is among many Vietnamese entrepreneurs who have been investing in the bubble tea industry in recent years, lured by good profit and high demand among the young population.

The number of bubble tea stores in Vietnam reached 2,000 last year, with a new store opening every four days, according to the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Even though bubble tea entered Vietnam in 2000, the surge in the number of outlets has only happened in recent years, mostly through franchising.

Vietnamese brand TocoToco opened its first bubble tea outlet in 2013 and now has almost 200 across the country. Taiwanese brand Ding Tea also has around 200 outlets, while local brand Bobapop has over 100.

About 30 major bubble tea brands are operating in Vietnam. They are all seeking to compete for a slice of the $282 million dollar market, according to British research firm Euromonitor International.

Hoang Thi Hien, owner of bubble tea chain Pozaa Tea with outlets in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities, said that the number of outlets increased last year.

"Many investors want to partner with us. In 2017 we had only eight shops, but the number has increased to almost 60 by the end of last year," she said.

She is confident that this figure will rise to 200 this year.

Generation Z demand

Visiting a bubble tea shop is among the most popular leisure activities among generation Z, people born between 1996 and 2015, according to a survey by market research firm Nielsen.

The survey of 210 Gen Z people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City last October found 81 percent of respondents saying bubble tea shops were their favorite hangouts.

Vo Van Quang, a branding strategy consultant and marketing mentor, said: "Most 15-year-old girls dont drink coffee, but theyll gladly pay for a cup of bubble tea. Teenagers are a large customer group for tea-based drinks, hence the high demand for bubble tea."

High demand and high profits are irresistible lures for entrepreneurs.

Nguyen Phi Van, a branding expert and board chairwoman of consulting firm Retail & Franchise Asia, said that an investor can earn up to 40 percent in profit on each cup of bubble tea, which sells for VND25,000-60,000 ($1-2.6).

Therefore, entrepreneurs are willing to make big investments of up to VND1 billion ($43,000) for one store, including furnishing and brand franchising fees.

"It takes less than a year for an investor to recover his capital, thats why this business has been attracting so many," Van said.

Visiting a bubble tea shop is among the most popular leisure activities among generation Z. Photo by VnExpress

Many bubble tea entrepreneurs have other full time jobs and are using their savings to make more money. They can create their own brand or partner with a well-known brand.

Tran Thi Thuy Nga opened a bubble tea shop last September in the central Quang Ngai Province with an investment of almost VND800 million ($34,430).

Even though Ngas store is located in a very small town, students have been coming in every day with their friends and family. Nga often has to ask for help from her family members to join her eight employees in serving customers.

"I havent recovered my capital yet, but so far Im very happy with the revenue and demand," Nga said, without revealing specific figures.

She did reveal plans to open another shop soon.

Dung, the bubble tea investor in Bac Ninh, has revenues of VND180 million a month ($7,760), and his profit is around half the amount. Dung estimates that he will recover his investment of VND700 million ($30,146) in just six months.

He is also planning to open a second bubble tea store four kilometers away from the first one, which has been operating for only four months.

"Im confident that both stores will do very well."
Idahos governor was on hand Wednesday to help break ground for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories 140,000-square-foot printed circuit board factory in Moscow, welcoming one of the few new plants of its kind to be built in the United States in the last decade.
Every voter has the right to complain. However, to be heard, those complaints should be based on facts and reason.

In his January 22 letter, James Farmer objected to legislative positions taken by the members of the Democratic majority. Like so many voters, Mr. Farmer is overlooking the fact that elections have consequences (Lord knows thats the lesson of 2016). The voters decide whom they want to lead, and, thereby, choose whom they want to exercise power.
Of course, it helps to know who your legislators are, and our guess is that many people would fail this relatively simple test. If you want to find out, though, there's an easy way to do so: The Legislature's website includes a nifty feature where all you have to do is enter your address to find out who's representing you in Salem. The feature also includes links to your legislators' web pages and email addresses.

If you want to send an email address to your legislator, feel free to do that: Just be sure you write it in your own words. That's much more valuable to a legislator than if you just copied and pasted some boilerplate language from an advocacy group; legislators discount that sort of message. (Snail mail also is accepted at the Capitol.)

If there's an issue that really engages you, think about joining an organization that feels the same way: There's power in numbers in Salem.
Linn County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a Richland, Missouri, woman on Monday in connection with a theft from her mother's retirement account.

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According to a news release, an investigation began when Adult Protective Services notified the Linn County Sheriff's Office that Mary Gray, 68, had withdrawn thousands of dollars from an account belonging to her mother, Lena Fenn, 86, of Millersburg.

Detectives subpoenaed financial records and determined Gray had taken more than $300,000 over a two-year period.

Gray, who moved to Missouri in 2017, had returned to the area and was at her mother's residence. She was charged with first-degree aggravated theft and first-degree criminal mistreatment, and lodged at the Linn County Jail.

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March 6, 1926  December 18, 2018

Frances Jean Abbott, 92, a longtime Lebanon resident formerly of Corvallis, Philomath and South Beach, died on December 18, 2018.

Jean was born in Sheridan, Oregon, the daughter of John and Ruth Durst.

Jean is preceded in death by her husband, the love of her life, Bill Abbott.

Jean lived an adventurous life. In the 1950s, she and Bill built one of Oregons first restaurant chains, Richies Drive-In in Lebanon, as well as two other restaurants. Together, they owned and operated Kampus Market (currently Kellenbergers Appliances) in Lebanon. Jean was also an antique dealer for many years specializing in glassware.

She was also a travel guide leading groups around the world on tours, traveling to Russia, Africa, South America, Europe, Caribbean, and the Orient.

Perhaps her crowning achievement was being a private airplane pilot winning the prestigious Petticoat Derby race in 1963. Jean loved being with her family fishing, camping, exploring and hunting.
Toni always had a positive attitude. A favorite saying was bloom where youre planted, which she exemplified by making the best of every circumstance. She treasured her time with family and friends, hosting countless gatherings in her home. She was an advocate and encourager, lifting spirits of all around her. She was always singing  even in her later years she will be remembered singing down the hallway at the assisted living facility.

Toni had a strong Christian faith, summed up in some of her last words to her family: I want you to wake up in the morning with a smile on your face, praise God, love God, and love people.

Toni was preceded in death by her husband in 2011.

She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Jim and Stephanie of Millersburg, Oregon, John and Cindy of Eagle Rock, California, and Scott and Sophia of Tappan, New York, five grandchildren; and ten great-grandchildren. She was so very proud of her entire family.

In honor of her years as a teacher, and her heart for children, donations can be made on Tonis behalf to Bridgeway House in Eugene, which serves the needs of children with autism and their families.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on March 9, 2019, at Fisher Funeral Home in Albany.
Saptari faces water shortage

Residents of Saptari district have been hit by a shortage of water lately.Groundwater level has dropped after pumping increased in the district over the past few years. The majority of families in Saptari rely on groundwater for both drinking and irrigation purposes.
Owners of the Lebanon Mega Foods have announced that the stores final day of business will be Saturday, Feb. 2.

Vice President Stephen Ellis said the stores business began to decline when the Albany WinCo location opened in July 2017.

It started there, he said. Thats why we closed the Albany store in September of 2017. We tried to hold on to Lebanon as long as possible, but customers decided to go elsewhere.

The Lebanon Mega Foods is located at the intersection of Main Street and Airport Road, and has been in operation for 20 years.

The chain, which is privately owned, has two remaining locations, one in Salem and one in Woodburn. Ellis said the outlook for both of those locations is good.

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Mega Foods has been involved in the Lebanon community over the years. Schools host car washes and bake sales in its parking lot, and the store has supported a range of events, including helping to provide the strawberry shortcake for the annual Strawberry Festival. Mega Foods also sponsored many food drives in cooperation with the Road Maggot motorcycle club and supported the back-to-school backpack program.
Grace Christensen attended with her husband, Steve, who will turn 89 later this month. They have been married for five years and met through square dancing after both lost their spouses just a short time apart.

They are just one of several couples at the dance who told stories of meeting their spouse through dancing. Square-dancing attracts people who have similar approaches to life.

Its a lot of fun. Its clean. We dont smoke, we dont drink, do anything like that. Theres a lot of camaraderie between people. Its just good company, Cawrse said.

The emphasis on good, clean fun has been an important part of square dancing culture since its earliest days. It was for this reason that Henry Ford supported square dancing in the 1920s. He worried about the negative impact of jazz-influenced dancing on American culture.

We have different worries today. Gale admits to being concerned about the future of square dancing, as she sees fewer young people getting involved in the activity.

If people could get off their electronics it could be fabulous. Its kind of gone downhill because people think you have to have the froufrou outfits, and you dont. Its just dwindling. Its very sad, Gale said.
Iran Human Rights (IHR); January 23, 2018: A prisoner was executed at Sepidar Prison in the Iranian southern city of Ahvaz (Ahwaz).





According to IHR sources, on the morning of Tuesday, January 22, 2019, a man identified as Rahman Jasemi Zargani was executed at Sepidar (also known as Qods) prison in Ahvaz.





Rahman was married with two children. He was arrested for murdering one of his relatives 9 years ago.





Karim Dahimi, an Ahvazi human rights activist, told IHR, Rahman unintentionally killed his cousin who was also his wifes brother. Elder members of their family tried to win the consent of plaintiffs for 9 years, but they failed to do so and the verdict was carried out.





According to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas which means retribution in kind or retaliation.





In this way, the State effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the shoulders of the victims family.





In qisas cases, the plaintiff has the possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money).





In many cases, the victim's family are encouraged to put the rope is around the prisoner's neck and even carry out the actual execution by pulling off the chair the prisoner is standing on.





The Iranian media outlets have not published news related to the execution so far.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Tamil Nadu: Families urge govts to bring back fishers jailed in Gulf

January 23,2019 | Source: The Times of India

The families of seven Indian fishermen detained in Iran and Saudi Arabia and a fisherman who went missing in Kuwait have petitioned the Kanyakumari district collector, Prashant M Wadnere seeking combined efforts of the central and state governments and the embassies to bring them back home.

In their representation submitted with the help of South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (SAFF) and their respective parish priests, they sought immediate intervention of the Indian Prime Minister of India, Tamil Nadu chief minister, external affairs minister and Indias ambassadors in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in solving the issue.



General secretary of SAFF, Churchil said that fishermen Sahaya Peter, 45 of Colachel, Amutham Carmel alias Sudharson, 43 of Pozhikarai, and Christhadimai, 23 of Kollencode, worked for Jaffar Alfhan a Saudi national in his mechanized boat in Tharine, Saudi Arabia. On January 2 the trio went fishing.



On January 5, they were abducted by smugglers who were escaping after a gun battle with the Saudi Arabian coast guard. The smugglers abandoned the fishermen at Phissar in Iran and escaped. The fishermen were detained by Iranian coast guard as they were spotted within their territorial waters.



These three fishermen were not aware of the shooting between the smugglers and Saudi Arabian coast guard. They are innocent and are suffering because of the crime committed by the smugglers. Families of the fishermen are worried about their plight. The families want them to be repatriated to their native, Churchil said.



In the second incident, Sebaskar, 27 of Kodimunai, Sahaya Kabilan, 24 of Kottilpadu, in Kanyakumari district and Satheese Kumar and Thilak Raja of Pudukottai district employed by Hushaine in Saudi Arabia went fishing from Tharine on November 16, 2018.



They were arrested by the Qatar coast guard on November 17 for entering their border. They were imprisoned for 25 days in Muzarpur jail at Qatar. After their release they were brought to Saudi Arabia, where they were jailed for 45 days for the same reason, Churchil said and added that their families want the men to be brought back home.



In yet another incident, Shaya Arun Prinson, 23, of Colachel, working in Kuwait went fishing with a few others on January 15. After returning to the jetty on January 17 the fellow fishermen noticed Prinson missing. He could not be traced till date and his family is worried about his safety and whereabouts, the activist added.
Jammu and Kashmir: In a first in India: JK imports genetically modified Trout fish seed from Denmark after 119 years

January 23,2019 | Source: Dariya News

In a first in India, J&K state imported genetically modified Rainbow Trout Seed from Denmark after 119 years to boost annual production from 500 to 5000 tonnes over next five years.Principal Secretary Animal, Sheep and Fisheries Department Dr Asghar Hassan Samoon shared the information after inaugurating the hatchery meant for rearing of genetically improved Rainbow Trout Fish today here at Beerwah Budgam.On the occasion, Dr Samoon said that the seed will be reared up to brood in the facility and then it will be distributed among fish farmers and other hatcheries of the department.We can now produce table size fishes of this variety within 12 to 14 months in comparison to 24 months earlier. It will boost the production and revenue of farmers. J&K state is blessed with abundant fresh water resources which is favorable for rainbow trout fish. It is our endeavor to tap the local potential for lessening the import bill of state on food products, he said.He added that genetically modified rainbow trout will have more muscle mass and will increase efficiency of aquaculture in the state.A consignment of 2.25 lakh Eyed Ova Rainbow Trout imported from Billud in Denmark Rever Roheamger were successfully put in for production of brood stock in the state, he said.He also said that he is hopeful that with the introduction of Rainbow Trout fish, more and more entrepreneurs will get attracted towards the fish farming due to its high returns.



Dr Samoon also directed the officials to create awareness regarding the high returns of fish farming among the youth.We will provide the marketing support to the aspiring entrepreneurs, besides providing them subsidy on seed and feed so that they can successfully run fish rearing ventures, he said.He also called for proper maintenance of the hatchery which gets constructed at an approximate cost of Rs 42 lakh.Meanwhile on the occasion, Dr Samoon also distributed three auto rickshaws for fishermen of District Srinagar and Ganderbal for efficient marketing of their fish produce. He also gave Rs one lakh cheque each to two beneficiaries as accidental insurance.Dr Samoon also laid foundation stone of District Laboratory, Operation Theater cum indoor facility complex at Budgam which would be constructed at a cost of Rs 95 lakh. The facility will cater to existing cattle population of 1, 42000 of the district.Later in the day, the Principal Secretary also distributed Broiler Day Old Chicks (DOCs) and feed among the beneficiaries of district Bandipora, under Innovative Poultry Productivity Project (IPPP-Broilers), National Livestock Mission 2018-19 here at Directorate of Animal Husbandry Kashmir, Gaw Kadal Srinagar.Director Animal Husbandry Department Kashmir Dr. M. Y. Chaproo was also present on the occasion.Under IPPP-Broilers, 600 Broiler DOCs per beneficiary along with requisite feed was distributed among the beneficiaries.On the occasion, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon also released a manual, written in Urdu language, for prevention of scheduled diseases in livestock.
Bangladesh: Dying Dhalai and Mogra riverbeds become farmland

January 23,2019 | Source: Dhaka Tribune

The once flowing and vibrant Mogra and Dhalai rivers are now on the verge of death; this is due to the reluctance of local administration to solve the issue and a lack of dredging efforts in Netrokona.



There was a time when these two rivers had significant water flow all year long and light and heavy vessels navigated them. Now there is no water in these rivers as chars (riverine islands) are forming and people, without alternatives, have started cultivating crops there. Effective initiatives are yet to be takenby the local authority concerned and the Bangladesh Water Development Boardto save the two rivers that are important for irrigation and transportation. According to sources, the Dhalai River connects with the Mogra River near Doribinni village; starting at the Fatehpur ferry area and passing through Ramgopalpur, Chatrakona, and Binni areas; stretching four kilometres.



The other branch of the Dhalai River connects with the Kayjani River as it stretches for 30 kilometres while passing through the: Almasree, Rodroshree, Makhna, Shibpasha, Baroiura, Tiyoshshree, Basta, Chandratala, Rajtala, and Bashori areas. Due to silt accumulation and a light flow of water in the rivers, illegal occupiers are using the riverbed to grow crops; they are cultivating paddy. According to the locals, due to the unwillingness shown by the authority concerned, the culprits are slowly but surely killing the two rivers.



Addressing this very important transition of the two rivers, Fayez Ahmad Hridoy, a college student of the locality, said: "We have only heard stories about these two rivers. We are very unfortunate that we were not able to see Dhalai and Mogra rivers at their full glory. We urge the authorities concerned to protect these two rivers." There are parts of the riverbed where there are pebbles, and some places have river islands, indicating a slow death. People are planting paddy seeds and nourishing the seed beds right on these recently-formed river islands and low-water areas of the two rivers.



Recently, human chains were formed by different non-governmental organizations to raise awarenessamong the local population as well as the authorities concernedto protect and preserve natural resources and biodiversity via excavating and dredging the rivers.



However, despite the effort, the situation remains the same. To some, the fate of these two rivers are nothing but a sad demise, contrary to their glorious past. Thus, various species of fish and aquatic animals are on the verge of extinction. Plus, the public is deprived of the benefits of this river.



Azim Mia, a farmer from Tiyoshri village, said: "The people living here on the river bank are suffering from a severe shortage of water. We cannot properly irrigate our farm lands due to it. We cannot take a bath nor can we perform household chores, as water is a must for all this; and it is in low supply.



"Besides, as the water flow is in constant decline, fishing in the two rivers has become a near-impossible task. The local fishermen are suffering greatly." Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the locals told the reporter that there might be very intense unrest which could result in bloodshed; especially over issues relating to ownership of the river islands.



Bisu Barman, a fisherman from Hasanpur village, said:"I used to earn a living by fishing in the Mogra and Dhalai rivers. But, now the situation is so bad that I am broke and practically unemployed." When asked about the illegal paddy cultivation on the Dhalai river bed, Inzil Khan, a farmer from Fatepur village said: "I have been cultivating paddy on the riverbed beside my own cultivation land. Until now I am not aware of any government instructions prohibiting me from cultivating paddy here but if there are any, I will definitely comply with them."



Environmentalist and Founder President of Madan upazila Press Club Motahar Alam Chowdhury said: "The expenditures of the people are increasing due to river erosion. People are being deprived of the benefits of the rivers. We urge immediate steps to begin the dredging of these rivers so that they live." Addressing the issue, Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Waliul Hasan said: "We have already started our dredging projects to ensure better water flow of the Mogra River. The Dhalai River also needs extensive dredging. Bangladesh Water Development Board and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority officials are working very hard to resolve this very big issue."
DEAR ABBY: I'm a widowed senior who has been dating a very kind man, "Ben," for three years. He's retired; I am not. He does things for and with me, and we enjoy traveling together.

The problem is, Ben usually starts drinking about 3 p.m. at the neighborhood bar. I'm welcome to join him, but I prefer to work at my job or volunteer in the community. By the grace of God, Ben has made it home safely every night, but I'm afraid he will eventually hurt someone.

My son came home for a month because of a job change, and tonight he found Ben passed out in the front yard. I told my son I was sorry, and he said not to be, but he does not want his family -- my grandchildren -- around when Ben is like this.

I am so embarrassed. I would miss this relationship, but I'm wondering if you think I should end it. -- MISSING THE GOOD IN HIM

DEAR MISSING THE GOOD: It must have been clear to you for some time that Ben has a serious drinking problem that needs to be addressed. Whether you should end the relationship depends upon whether he is willing to admit that he has a problem and is willing to do something about it.
A Foristell woman who had been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of her husband was cleared on Monday and left the jail where she'd been held since her arrest in 2015.

The jury deliberated for about four hours before acquitting Ashley Hunter, who shot her husband Nicholas Hunter, a North County High School graduate, on the evening of Jan. 15, 2015, claiming it was in self-defense after he physically attacked her during an argument.

Police found him dead on their living room floor.

During a six-day trial, defense lawyer Scott Rosenblum argued that Nicholas Hunter, 30, had unpredictable moods partially due to drinking and steroid usage and sometimes took his rage out on Ashley Hunter. On the night Ashley Hunter shot him, Nicholas Hunter had choked her so hard, Rosenblum said, that he lifted her off the ground.

Ashley Hunter, 31, told jurors last week that the relationship was amazing just days before the shooting. But her husbands mood could quickly swing to jealousy and anger. He cheated on her, then accused her of doing the same. He physically and sexually assaulted her, she said. He insisted she turn over the passwords to her phone and all email accounts and needed to know where she was all the time, jurors heard.
Prime Minister Oli says media plays vital role to strengthen democracy

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that media plays an instrumental role to strengthen democracy in the country.
A Ste. Genevieve area man was seriously injured in a crash that occurred on Sunday morning.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Jacob Byington, 25, of Ste. Genevieve County, was driving his 2018 Polaris UTV southbound on Route B, just south of Highway 32.

The report states that Stephanie Finley, 27, of Perryville, failed to yield and pulled out of a private drive in front of Byington in her Dodge Journey.

According to the patrol, Finleys vehicle struck the right side of Byingtons UTV.

Byington received serious injuries in the crash and was taken to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis by Air Evac.

Finley received minor injuries and was taken to Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital by Ste. Genevieve County Ambulance District.

The report states that Byington was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and Finley was not wearing a seat belt.

A Texas man was injured in a single vehicle crash in Madison County on Saturday afternoon.

According to the highway patrol report, Colton Lane, 23, of Burleson, Texas, was traveling northbound on U.S. 67, two miles south of Cherokee Pass.
Several sections of Farmington were left without power Wednesday afternoon after a tractor trailer hit an AmerenUE pole at the intersection of Washington and Maple streets about 1:50 p.m. Wednesday.

Farmington City Administrator Greg Beavers said more than half of the city was left without power after the electric pole was struck, blowing out a transformer that supplies several of Farmington's substations.

The transformer that was on that pole supports a 345 kV line, which is a big transmission line that supplies several of the citys substations, he said.

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He said that Ameren crews were dispatched to make those repairs. He believed the crew would have to set a new pole.

In the meantime, we can supply some of our substations from different Ameren circuits," he said.

Power was restored to parts of the downtown that way about 3 p.m.

According to Beavers, power was expected to be off for several hours, and depending on the extent of the repairs, some areas could have remained without electricity for a longer period of time. He hoped to get much of the town restored by recircuiting or rerouting the energy source.

Kevin R. Jenkins is the managing editor of the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-756-8927 or kjenkins@farmingtonpressonline.com

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North Desloge Drive was closed in the 200 block near the city library Wednesday afternoon.

Crews working on the Desloge Drive project made a discovery of an underground gas tank in the 200 block of North Desloge Drive on Wednesday.

Desloge Fire Chief Larry Gremminger said that he believes the gas tank was a part of an old Ford dealership that was located along the highway in the 1950s and '60s.

The tank does contain gas and is in the right-of-way, said Gremminger.

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There is absolutely no danger associated with the tank at this time as the tank and the area around it has been sealed off, said Gremminger.

Gremminger said that a remediation crew was en route from Arnold to assist with removal of the tank. Gremminger said that the tank would be drained, sealed off, and removed. In addition, he states that some of the soil around the tank would be removed as well.

Gremminger said that the section of Desloge Drive may be closed overnight. A detour is in place.

Individuals from the Missouri Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural Resources were assisting.

The removal of the tank will be a joint effort between the two agencies, said Gremminger.

Matt McFarland is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3616, or at mmcfarland@dailyjournalonline.com.

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An Indian Research team comprising of T V Ramachandra and S Bharath (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore); S Vinay and A. Shashishankar (Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, India) undertook a study to examine the possible impact of unplanned development on Ecology of Central Western Ghats.

The study focussed on River Kali that originates in Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka and joins the Arabian Sea. The river has six major dams, 325 species of flora, and 190 species of fauna and the river is as old as the Western Ghats.

Findings of the Study

The important findings highlighted in the study are:

Unplanned developmental activities and land use patterns are reducing the evergreen forest cover and perennial streams in the central region of the Western Ghats in India.

Researchers by studying the remote sensing data found that between the years 1973 and 2016, the forest cover has reduced from 85% to 55%.

The land use pattern in the region has changed during 19802000 period due to developmental projects such as dams built on the river Kali, Kaiga nuclear plant and Dandeli paper mill which has led to large scale destruction of forests.

As a result, the evergreen forests have shrunk by from 62% to 38.5% during 19802000 period and large water reservoirs have been constructed at the expense of forest cover.

Even though River Kali has sufficient water supply and perennial streams in the Ghats and coastal areas, Regions that lie in plain lands with a higher degree of agriculture and cultivation have an intermittent and seasonal flow that has led to water scarcity for 4 to 9 months in a year.

The study citing Perennial streams were found in regions that have greater than 70% of forest cover links ecology and hydrology with land use.

Researchers propose that Forests with native species of vegetation play a pivotal role in enhancing the water retention capability of the catchment.

The findings of the study show that Villagers in the vicinity of native forests earn Rs 1.54 lakh per acre per year compared to Rs 32,000 in villages with stream catchments experiencing deforestation. This confirms the vital role of native forests in sustaining water and peoples livelihood.

The study concludes that management practices adopted by engineers were contributing to the erosion of water retention capability in the river catchment with severe water scarcity. The study recommends government agencies to establish better management and conservation strategies to maintain forest cover for food and water security.
The major media have gone gaga over the number of women newly elected to Congress and those announcing their run for the White House in 2020, with more female candidates likely to follow suit.

But medias bias  one of many  is revealed in their focus on mostly liberal women with barely a mention, if they are mentioned at all, of women who are conservative. Reporters, commentators and hosts on major networks, and including some cable outlets, speak of womens issues, as if all women think, or should think, alike.

Worse, they never examine whether ideas floated by liberal women are anything new or whether they have worked in the past or are working presently. Many liberal pronouncements seem to be taken at face value, with little pushback to explain how they plan to make their proposals work, especially those that have been tried and failed before (consider programs to wipe out poverty, along with increased spending to improve public education, as just two of many examples).

Another example: the presidential candidacy announcement by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). Harris has been in the Senate for only two years but already she hears Hail to the Chief playing for her? Who does she think she is, Barack Obama?
Officials say anyone who receives a letter  and cant prove the vehicle was insured when the photo was taken  faces a $174 fee.

In Ocean City, Maryland, police are set up with these readers at each of the entrances to the resort city. One of these devices alerted police to a suspect wanted in a DEA drug case. A high speed chase ensued, with the suspect crashing into a cop car and injuring an officer. Marylanders got a bit upset when they learned this tech exists. After all, no one really wants to be spied upon.

And you are.

In Maryland, tens of thousands of license plates are stored for a limited time, and police have a process in place that allows them to search the records. It is an excellent tool, having been used to find a missing person and a hit-and-run homicide driver, according to media reports.

Still, knowing Facebook has sold access to everything they know about you, this rightly creeps out people.Knowing that police departments have taken the property from innocent people using civil asset forfeiture and the NSA has, indeed, collected all sorts of digital communications from millions of innocent citizens, its not too much of a leap to fear misuse of this data.
In many states across the U.S., victims of long-ago child sex-abuse have been lobbying for years, often in vain, to change statute of limitations that thwart their quest for justice. This year seems sure to produce some breakthroughs, due in part to the midterm election results and recent disclosures about abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

New York state is Exhibit A. The Democrats takeover of the formerly Republican-controlled Senate seems almost certain to produce a more victim-friendly policy in place of one of the nations most restrictive laws.

Prospects are considered good for similar changes in Rhode Island and New Jersey, and the issue will be raised in Pennsylvania  which became the epicenter of the current abuse crisis in August when a grand jury accused some 300 Catholic priests of abusing more than 1,000 children over seven decades.

Abuse survivors and their allies are once again proposing a two-year window for now-adult victims to sue perpetrators and institutions over claims that would otherwise be barred by time limits. That provision was approved by the Pennsylvania House last year but rejected by the top Republican in the Senate.
PHILADELPHIA  A homeless veteran accused of engaging in a GoFundMe scheme has been extradited back to New Jersey after being taken into custody across the river in Philadelphia.

The judge ordered Johnny Bobbitt, 35, back to New Jersey to face charges he violated the conditions of his release from jail while awaiting trial. Philly.com reports that Bobbitt was arrested in Philadelphia this month after he failed to appear in a New Jersey court.

Bobbitt's attorney warned his client in court Tuesday that failure to appear at future proceedings "could put us back in the same situation."

Prosecutors allege that Bobbitt conspired with Katelyn McClure and her then-boyfriend Mark D'Amico to concoct a story about Bobbitt giving McClure his last $20 for gas, fooling donors into contributing more than $400,000.

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Strine and Shaver-Durham are scheduling follow-up faculty meetings at each of the districts four school buildings. Their intention is to share more information with teachers on how the collaborative time could be valuable to them.

We would have the time built into the day, but that does not mean that every teacher would be participating in that time every single day, Shaver-Durham said. Instead it would probably be two to three days out of a six-day cycle.

She said the goal is to create a schedule for the collaborative time with input from each building principal. At the secondary level, this approach would not only allow for collaboration within each school building but for subject area teachers to work together between the middle school and high school.

Its not only about collaboration within a department, but collaboration across departments, school board member Stacey Knavel said. She cited as an example a project where students can incorporate lessons in math and science with a research paper required in an English class.

This approach is in keeping with a districtwide initiative to improve the efficiency of course offerings through curriculum mapping, Knavel said. In order to do that, in order to get there, we need to give teachers the time to do it.
Panel formed to probe into jet purchase deal is directionless

The government has yet to decide the terms of reference for the high-level commission formed earlier this month to investigate into the alleged misappropriation of funds during the procurement of two wide-body aircraft by Nepal Airlines Corporation.
The Kindergarten Academy at Filbert Street wont have that name much longer.

On Tuesday night, the Mechanicsburg Area School Board was informed of a proposal by Superintendent Mark Leidy to change the schools name to the Kindergarten Academy because its legal address is no longer on Filbert Street.

Work has been underway since last year at the school to renovate the building and add a classroom wing by the start of the 2019-20 school year.

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Also, the districts offices will be relocated from their current rented location to a new second floor at the Kindergarten Academy by 2019-20.

The district is seeking to drop the phrase, at Filbert Street from the Kindergarten Academys official name because the schools legal address recently was changed from 505 S. Filbert St. to 600 S. Norway St. Mechanicsburg Borough officials recorded an official address change for the school last month at the districts request, according to a verification letter addressed to the district on Dec. 5 from borough manager Roger Ciercierski.

The district requested the address change because the Kindergarten Academys main entrance now faces South Norway Street instead of South Filbert Street due to the ongoing renovations.

The school board is expected to vote on Kindergarten Academys name change in February.

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Mirjana Mircevska-Jovanovic, a reporter for Kanal 5, a privately owned television station, was attacked in the capital, Skopje, on January 19, 2019 while covering an event celebrating the Orthodox Christian holiday of Epiphany, according to local news site Telma.

Mircevska-Jovanovic told CPJ that a guard hired by the church attacked her. In a Kanal 5 video, Mircevska-Jovanovic said that that the security guard insulted, pushed, and dragged her after she tried to ask a participant a question. The journalist was taken to a hospital with injuries to her arm and neck, Telma reported.

Kanal 5 filed an official complaint at the police, the local English-language news site Skopje Diem reported. Mircevska-Jovanovic told CPJ that the police have started an investigation.

The press office of the Macedonian government did not immediately respond to CPJs questions sent via text message to the government spokesperson. Father Boban Mitevski of the Skopje Diocese of the Macedonian Orthodox Church told Telma that the church is against all kinds of violence and that everyone has to do their job professionally, and called for forgiveness from both sides.

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia, an independent professional group, strongly condemned the attack in a statement and added that the government said last year it would have zero tolerance toward violence against media.
The project, which calls for the majority of the fiber optics to be installed underground, is expected to get going sometime this year and wrap up sometime in 2020, Bulkley said, noting an exact time frame isnt set in stone.

He added that the Columbus Public Schools District was notified about the proposed project, however, CPS representatives are currently in the process of installing their own telecommunications network for optimal performance to meet district needs, Bulkley said.

With approval, Bulkley is optimistic that the city will soon start accepting Request for Proposal (RFP) submissions from prospect contractors. Staff Report information shows that the county also has $500,000 budgeted for the proposed project and that the fiber optics project wouldn't be able to move forward without approval through the Platte County Board of Supervisors. During it's Tuesday morning meeting, the board announced it's intention to navigate through the bidding process in February.

It will go out for bid here in the very near future, that is part of what was taken care (Monday evening), the mayor said. (On Monday) We approved to get those bids going, and we would expect three to four companies to bid. But its another thing to think they will bid and then another thing to have it actually happen, so we will have to see how that plays out.

Sam Pimper is the news editor of The columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at sam.pimper@lee.net.

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As the State Senators go back to work in Lincoln, so to the Chamber goes back to work on another season of legislative advocacy.

That legislative involvement generally begins with the annual Legislative Kick-off Breakfast hosted by the Chamber Legislative Committee. State Sen. Mike Moser gave the breakfast crowd a good look inside his first few days as a senator at the annual breakfast on Monday. I think we would all be pleased to hear that he has found the Unicameral to be more collegial and friendly than perhaps we hear. We should all expect that of them, frankly, so that was gratifying to hear and we all hope that continues to be the senators impression throughout the session.

In his early days of his career as a senator, Sen. Moser seems very open to input from constituents. That is no different from his time as mayor so its not a surprise, but it is certainly appreciated.

The senator said he was taking a judicious approach to bill introduction in his inaugural session, putting forward just one bill. As he mentioned, there were already nearly 500 bills introduced by Monday morning, so the Unicameral wont be short of ideas to consider!

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Tampa Bay remains one of the deadliest places to walk in America, joining seven other Florida cities in the top 10 most dangerous places in the country for pedestrians, according to a report released Wednesday.

The advocacy group Smart Growth America compares pedestrian safety among cities of different sizes as part of its Dangerous By Design report. Tampa Bay's rank among the most deadly regions dropped from 7 to 9 since the last study in 2016, but the number of pedestrian deaths increased in that same time period.

Nationwide, 2016 and 2017 were the two most deadly years for pedestrians in the past three decades, said Emiko Atherton, director of the National Complete Streets Coalition with Smart Growth America.

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"The bottom line is we are killing more people," she said.

Florida remains the nation's most deadly state for those who journey on foot, topping the group's study for the last three reports since 2014. The state's numbers are "significantly, significantly higher" than Alabama, which ranked second, Atherton said.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was ranked ninth in this year's report, with 900 deaths over a 10-year period through 2016. In the previous report, Tampa Bay ranked seventh with 821 pedestrians killed over a 10-year period through 2014.

This rise in fatalities comes after Tampa Bay has made investments in bike lanes, intersection improvements and "complete streets," an urban design approach that promotes safety and convenience for all users and modes of transportation.

Tampa quashed a plan to add bike lanes on Bay-to-Bay Boulevard after facing similar criticism. But the city has added bike lanes and markings to 98 miles of its roads in recent years, with plans for 20 more miles of bike projects in the next fiscal year, including projects along Himes Avenue, Ashley Drive and El Prado Boulevard.

Still, the numbers of pedestrian deaths continue to rise.

"These changes take time," Atherton said. "We spent decades building an unsafe system."

She said it is important to evaluate whether resources are being spent on the streets that have the heaviest pedestrian traffic and need the most work, or if those funds are being diverted to other roads that have less of an impact but more political will backing their improvements.

"Sometimes the streets that need retrofitting the most face the most political opposition," Atherton said.
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
Pam Bondi was an early supporter of Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi has joined Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm led by a lawyer with ties to President Trump whose Washington operations have expanded significantly since Trump arrived in the White House.

Just last week, the firm announced it was hiring former deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah to help launch a new media group.

Bondi, an early supporter of Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, had been talked about as a potential replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In November, Trump told reporters that Id consider Pam Bondi for anything in his administration. The president subsequently picked current attorney general nominee William P. Barr.

Bondi left office earlier this month after serving eight years as attorney general in Florida.

A news release from Ballard Partners said she has been hired to lead the firms corporate regulatory compliance practice.

In a statement, the firms president, Brian Ballard, praised Bondi as one of Floridas most accomplished Attorneys General and said she had earned a reputation among her colleagues as one of the toughest law enforcement officials in the country.

Ballard, whose firm is rooted in Florida, has represented Trumps company in Tallahassee.
If you go

The Wisconsin Public Service Commission will hold public hearings on the proposed Badger Hollow solar farm at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday at the Iowa County Human Services Center, 303 W Chapel St., Dodgeville.

Written comments on the project can be submitted to the PSC through Wednesday.
The rise in popularity of cannabidiol (CBD)  a non-intoxicating compound found in cannabis  that can be added to other products, has also raised interest in the crop nationally.

Clark said another factor that may have been discouraging farmers from trying it as a crop was the licensing and annual fees for growing hemp in Wisconsin, which could have prevented already cash-strapped farmers from wanting to experiment with something new.

You can have quite a few costs up front before you can even grow the crop, Clark said.

The crop itself is being seen as an up-and-coming commodity, and prior to the federal outlawing of hemp as a product in 1957 Wisconsin had been one of the worlds leading hemp growers and manufacturers.

Pest management is very little, while the fertility of the plant is similar to alfalfa and corn. The plant is also an aggressive species, making weed control an easily managed problem.

Growers wouldnt need to hassle with added equipment either, as the crop can be planted with a traditional seeder and drill that most crop farmers have, can be harvested with a modern combine and its processing involves a similar drying and baling process like that of hay.
Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade.
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "There is suspicious and dangerous coordination between the statements of the occupation state's leaders and the statements of the Hamas Movement's leaders on all that is connected to an attack on [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 14, 2019]

"[Al-Habbash] emphasized that this coordination of statements [between Israel and Hamas] and the attack on the Palestinian leadership headed by the president is not coincidental, because both Israel and Hamas incite against the president morning and night, challenge his legitimacy, and want to assassinate him."

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh. blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..Palestinian Media Watch..22 January '19..Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on religious affairs has accused Israel and Hamas of planning "an attack against Abbas":Al-Habbash claimed Israel and Hamas share a desire to "assassinate" Abbas. He alleged that Israeli cabinet members have talked about "ways of getting rid of" Abbas, and said this was done in parallel with Hamas urging foreign parliaments to revoke Abbas' legitimacy as president:The "attacks" against Abbas refer to remarks by Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan who suggested barring Abbas from returning to the Palestinian territories the next time he travels abroad, and to a campaign by an Israeli private right-wing organization that on posters with Abbas' face seen through a rifle sight has called on the Israeli government to "eliminate those who fund murder!"Fatah's Revolutionary Council Secretary Majed Al-Fatiani claimed this campaign is coming from the Israeli government:
Although the threat of direct confrontation between Israel and Iran has long simmered in Syria  where the Iranian military built a presence early in the civil war to help Bashar al-Assad  the most recent flare-up has come at a potentially dangerous moment.



On the Israeli side the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long directed bellicose rhetoric towards Iran, is facing the threat of indictment  perhaps as early as February  over corruption allegations, as well as elections in April.

Were ready for the decisive war that will bring about Israels disappearance from the earth. Our young airmen are prepared for the day when Israel will be destroyed.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh. blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..Honest Reporting..22 January '19..Thes coverage of Israeli airstrikes against Iranian military targets in Syria includes some disturbing text:Is correspondent Peter Beaumont suggesting that that Netanyahu deliberately contributed to this potentially dangerous moment? Is Beaumont implying that the prime minister orchestrated an escalation to divert attention from his legal woes?Thats not journalism.Thats a conspiracy theory.For Beaumont, it is Netanyahu who has long directed bellicose rhetoric towards Iran, painting Israel as the aggressor. According to Beaumont, Iranian forces are in Syria simply to help Bashar al-Assad.Only hours after the Israeli airstrikes, Irans air force chief Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh said:Could the threat be any clearer? Readers, however, only get to hear about this in the final paragraph of Beaumonts report.
Adorned with Canadian flags and pro-pipeline posters, a convoy of about 60 trucks travelled Anthony Henday Drive in Edmonton Tuesday, the latest in a series of "yellow vest" demonstrations to hit the capital region in recent weeks.

With messages such as "Build the pipe!" plastered on the side of their rigs, a group of two dozen vehicles assembled in in Lamont, Alta., before gathering more members en route to Edmonton.

The convoy was significantly smaller than the contingent of more than 1,000 trucks that rolled through the streets of Nisku last month.

By the time it wrapped up its tour of the Henday, the convoy was up to about 60 trucks, said a CBC reporter monitoring the protest.

Standing at the gathering spot in Lamont, participant Glen Carritt said he wasn't worried about the smaller turnout. Their message is important, he said.

"We don't want to frustrate the working-class people but what we have to do is get out the message," said Carritt, who runs a fire and medical safety service company operating in Alberta's oilpatch.

"We're doing this because we're tired of the slowdown in the oil and gas industry," he said. "People have to realize we're fighting for Canada. We need to get that message out there."

CBC/Trevor Wilson

The protest was dubbed the "Stand Up Canada Yellow Vest Pipeline Rally." Several participants said they wanted to highlight issues beyond pipeline capacity, including immigration policy and the carbon tax.

"They need to realize we're standing behind the issues we believe in," said Carritt. "One is pipelines, one is the UN [migration pact] and the other is the carbon tax, and Bill C-48 and Bill C-69." Bill C-48 would prohibit tankers carrying crude oil from loading or unloading at ports in northern British Columbia, formalizing a similar, voluntary ban that has been in place in the region for the last 20 years. Bill C-69 is a proposal to overhaul how energy projects are approved in Canada.

Story continues

Carritt said truckers are still planning a convoy to Ottawa, leaving Feb. 14 from Red Deer.

The Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP said they would be monitoring Tuesday's convoy in their respective jurisdictions.
Quebecers worried about the health of Lake Memphremagog are in Vermont today in a last-ditch effort to halt the expansion of a garbage dump on the U.S. side of the lake.

The Coventry landfill expansion project has gotten pushback over environmental concerns that wastewater from the landfill's treatment plant is polluting the lake, which straddles the Quebec-Vermont border.

Those concerns increased in September, when Vermont admitted it hasn't been monitoring the lake to track the effect of the treated wastewater that's discharged into it.

The lake is the source of drinking water for at least 170,000 people in the Eastern Townships, including the City of Sherbrooke.

The Quebec delegation  including the CAQ MNA for Orford, Gilles Belanger, representatives of Sherbrooke and the MRC of Memphremagog  is asking the environmental commission that deals with state land use and development to boost monitoring of the landfill's effect on the lake.

"I know people from Vermont are people who love Lake Memphremagog, and they protect the environment, so I'm very confident there will be additional requirements at the monitoring level," said Michel Cyr, head of water management for the city of Sherbrooke, who is part of the Quebec delegation.

"I have confidence they'll ask for more analysis and more monitoring requirements."

Rebecca Martel/CBC

The company that operates the landfill  which is five years from reaching capacity  got its permit to expand by about 20 hectares last fall, but it needs a final go-ahead from the environmental commission and Vermont's land use regulator.

Cyr said the environmental commission has given no indication of when it will make a decision on the landfill expansion.
Cape Breton might be best known for its fall splendour, but the superintendent of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park is on a mission to reveal its beauty even in the dead of winter.

Sometimes that means waiting 30 minutes lying on his stomach in the wet snow for a pheasant to pass by.

"That's part of the fun," Eric Le Bel told CBC's Mainstreet Cape Breton. "Opportunities just present themselves and you can always do better. That's also the challenge in photography and that's what I love about it."

Eric Le Bel@le_bel_foto

Le Bel started his career with Parks Canada as an interpreter. He soon realized his camera was the perfect tool to connect people with the wonders of Cape Breton.

"I use my pictures to make nature more accessible," he said.

Now, he posts his wildlife photography on Instagram to more than 8,000 followers. Scroll through and you'll see a bright-eyed rabbit staring directly into the lens and a blue jay hanging on a snowy branch.

Eric Le Bel@le_bel_foto

These are the small moments most visitors to the park miss.

"Really anything and everything is the subject of photography for me," said Le Bel. "I think I have a permanent frame in my mind, a camera frame."

Le Bel's gift for photography doesn't appear to be genetic. His father had the bad habit of cutting people's heads out of the frame every time he took a picture.

Eric Le Bel@le_bel_foto

One day in frustration, his mom handed a nine-year-old Le Bel the camera and he became the family's official photographer.

These days, he fits in photo shoots among his full-time duties as park superintendent. He's become the island's go-to guide on the hidden wonders of the park.

He's learned to appreciate what each day photographing the natural world brings  even when the weather isn't co-operating. During an expedition many years ago, it rained his entire trip.

Eric Le Bel@le_bel_foto

He was sulking in his soaking wet tent when he emerged to see mushrooms sprouting out of the damp ground.

Story continues

"And the rest of the week was amazing for me because I was able to, in that bad weather, to still do something pretty nice with macro photography and just taking the opportunity that's there," he said.

Le Bel encourages others to do the same, and delight in the Cape Breton's beauty in every season.

"Sometimes, you know, you just need to get out there," he said.
By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) - Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, stoking a war of words between Rome and Paris, said on Tuesday that France did not want to bring calm to Libya because its energy interests there clashed with those of Italy. Relations between Italy and France, traditionally close allies, have grown frosty since the far-right League and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement formed a coalition last year and took aim at pro-EU French President Emmanuel Macron. A source in Macron's office dismissed the latest attack as "ludicrous", while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte sought to ease the escalating tensions, saying relations between the two countries remained strong despite a string of recent rows. On Monday France summoned Italy's ambassador after Salvini's fellow deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, accused Paris of creating poverty in Africa and generating mass migration to Europe. Salvini backed up Di Maio, saying France was looking to extract wealth from Africa rather than helping countries develop their own economies, and pointed particularly to Libya, which has been in turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that overthrew strongman Muammar Gaddafi. "In Libya, France has no interest in stabilizing the situation, probably because it has oil interests that are opposed to those of Italy," Salvini told Canale 5 TV station. A French diplomatic source said it was not the first time that Salvini had made such comments and that it was probably because he felt he had been upstaged by Di Maio. The source added that the accusation was baseless and reiterated that French efforts in Libya were aimed at stabilizing the country, preventing the spread of terrorism and curbing the migration flows. Italy's Eni and France's Total have separate joint ventures in Libya, but Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi denied in a newspaper interview last year that there was any conflict between the two firms in the north African state. DIPLOMATIC RUPTURE Salvini is head of the League, while Di Maio leads 5-Star. Both are campaigning hard for European parliamentary elections in May and are eager to show they have broken with the consensual politics of center-left and center-right parties. The two men have repeatedly targeted neighboring France and accused Macron of doing nothing to help handle the hundreds of thousands of mainly African migrants who have reached Italy from Libya in recent years. Asked about the latest diplomatic spat, Salvini said on Tuesday: "France has no reason to get upset because it pushed away tens of thousands of migrants (at the French border), abandoning them there as though they were beasts. We won't take any lessons on humanity from Macron." A French presidential source said populist forces in Italy and elsewhere were looking to undermine countries like France and Germany which wanted to strengthen the European Union. "The European elections will be the place where we confront those -- as you can see again today with the ludicrous comments from the Italian government -- who seek to destroy the European project and the Franco-German partnership," the source said. Looking to prevent a diplomatic rupture, the Italian prime minister issued a statement praising relations with Paris, saying that Rome merely wanted a debate within Europe on difficult issues such as immigration. "This (row) does not call into question our historic friendship with France, nor with the French people. This relationship remains strong and steady in spite of any political disputes," Conte said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte in Rome, John Irish in Paris and Jean-Baptiste Vey in Aachen, Germany; Editing by Jon Boyle and Gavin Jones)
Nepal Student Union organises anti-government rally in Kathmandu

Cadres of Nepal Student Union, student wing of the main opposition Nepali Congress, staged a demonstration in Kathmandu on Wednesday demanding the government bring the culprit(s) involved in rape and murder of Nirmala Panta to justice, and address the demands of fasting Dr Govinda KC.
vincent_ruf/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- The State Department has called all employees back to work this week, but the ongoing partial government shutdown has left U.S. diplomats uncertain and restricted in their activities.



While they may be allowed back to the office, employees say the shutdown's damaging effects on diplomacy continue.



"We don't ACTUALLY have money," a senior Foreign Service officer serving overseas said. "The 'found' money for a paycheck doesn't change much. Still no outreach, conferences, meetings, trainings."



"We won't be able to do anything beyond what applies to protecting U.S. personnel and property or is essential to national security," said another diplomat who works overseas.



The diplomat also said the agency has done little to provide guidance to its employees.



A State Department spokesperson confirmed that they "continue to operate in a constrained manner," with limitations on employees' travel, public outreach including meetings, events, hiring and contracts.



The spokesperson said that employees were "recalled to regular duty," but it is clear that most of those duties still cannot be carried out. The department's own guidance lists explicitly what may or may not be done under section B of a memo to staff, released in December before the shutdown began.



Among those canceled events is an annual conference on international export control and border security, a State Department official confirmed to ABC News. The meeting, which is focused on preventing the proliferation of conventional arms across borders, was supposed to take place Feb. 19 to 21 in Edinburgh, Scotland, but the 270 or so participants were notified last week that the conference had been "postponed" because of the shutdown, the official said.



The continued restrictions have left many diplomats angry that they're still not able to do their jobs, even as the department says they've returned to work.



"The general consensus around here is that paying one pay period is a political stunt and nothing more," said another U.S. diplomat overseas, who, like the others, spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to talk publicly.



"Not much 'excitement' about one check out of three ... that isn't coming for a month," said the senior Foreign Service officer.



State Department employees will be paid for this two-week period, starting Jan. 20 or 22, depending on where they work and when the work week begins in that country. That check will come in mid-February, but employees will not yet be paid for the previous month of the shutdown until appropriations for fiscal year 2019 are enacted by Congress.



After this pay period ends, however, the department will have to consult with Congress and the Office of Management and Budget to find additional funds to keep employees at work if the shutdown continues. But it's unclear if they will be able to find any additional money.



That uncertainty has derailed diplomats' plans.



"How can you plan anything when you have no idea if we'll have a budget/staff in a few days, a week, a few weeks, etc.?" said the senior Foreign Service officer. "And things have lead times."



A U.S. diplomat based in Europe last week said, "You don't sort of put diplomacy on hold, and I think that we're going to look back at this period with a lot of regret for sort of missed opportunities."

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 23, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann

German chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a frank assessment of the energy challenges facing her country at the Davos summit today. She said that industrialised countries in the West bore a lot of responsibility when it came to moving to clean energy, since they had emitted a large amount of carbon dioxide.

Renewables are now the leading area in our energy mix, Merkel said about Germany. By 2020, we will have exited nuclear energy and then we have a different problem, in that the only source that can generate energy all the time is brown coal that obviously emits a lot of CO2.

She added that Germany will continue to receive Russian gas, that is clear, but we will also diversify and rely on liquefied petroleum gas, which mainly comes from the United States.

Her words were a clear message to US president Donald Trump, who has harshly criticised Germany for getting much of its natural gas from Russia. He is vehemently opposed to the controversial new Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will increase imports from Siberia directly to Germany.

Trumps ambassador to Berlin, Richard Grenell, this month warned German companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that they could face US sanctions should they carry on with the project.

German politicians expressed their annoyance at what they see as Grenell meddling in Germanys affairs. Foreign minister Heiko Maas noted that it was not for the US to decide on European energy-policy issues.

Merkel underlined that if Germany is to exit coal and nuclear power, we will need more natural gas, and energy needs to be affordable.

A precise strategy, and date, for Germanys total coal phase-out is one of the most contentious issues in the country at the moment, with critics slamming the government for dragging its heels and power companies demanding huge amounts of financial compensation from the government to shut their plants.
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, recovering from an earlier two-week low, as gains for stocks and oil prices offset domestic data showing a bigger-than-expected drop in domestic retail sales. At 9:10 a.m. (1410 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading 0.1 percent higher at 1.3342 to the greenback, or 74.95 U.S. cents. The currency's strongest level of the session was 1.3305, while it touched its weakest since Jan. 7 at 1.3359. Canadian retail sales fell by 0.9 percent in November from October to C$50.39 billion ($37.85 billion), in large part due to lower gasoline prices, as well as lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, Statistics Canada said. Analysts had forecast a 0.6 percent decrease. It followed data on Tuesday showing that factory sales and wholesale trade both slumped more than expected in November. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz on Wednesday said the Canadian economy was in good shape, although low oil prices were delivering "a material shock" that would cut growth this year. The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, plunged as much as 45 percent between October and December before paring some of its decline in recent weeks. On Wednesday, U.S. crude oil futures were up 0.4 percent at $53.24 a barrel as U.S. crude stocks fell and official data indicated slowing growth in U.S. shale oil output in the coming years. U.S. stocks were boosted by strong earnings from some Dow components, after Wall Street on Tuesday suffered its second biggest decline in 2019. Canadian government bond prices were lower across a steeper yield curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries on Wednesday as investors made a cautious return to riskier assets. The 10-year fell 23 Canadian cents to yield 1.998 percent. The gap between Canada's 10-year yield and its U.S. equivalent widened by 2.1 basis points to a spread of 78.3 basis points, its widest since Dec. 19. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Matt Damon: Charity Is a Real Gift to Give Your Kids

Damon Is Teaching His Kids About Giving Back  With Beer

Matt Damons children live a life of comfort. Its no surprise, considering their father is an A-list actor who earns millions per film. However, while his daughters  Alexis, 20, Isabella, 12, Gia, 10, and Stella, 8  whom he shares with wife Luciana, definitely have a good life, Damon is committed to teaching them how other people, thousands of miles from their posh home in Los Angeles, live. And he does it through doing good.

In 2006, Damon visited Zambia with U2 frontman, Bono, studying issues that affect African countries, and he became inspired by a young girl.

I was there for a couple weeks. Each day had a different learning focus and one of the days was focused on water, Damon tells AskMen. As part of that, I went on a water collection with a young girl who had just come home from school, and I was waiting for her and we walked together about a mile to this well and we collected water.

Related: How to Volunteer for a Charity

The Oscar-winning star, who co-founded his charity Water.org in 2009 to address the global water crisis, explains that previous to this interaction, hed heard about the children who die every year due to lack of access to clean water and sanitation. This led him to wonder about the girls future.

I started kind of questioning her through this interpreter about what she was going to do with her life. She was a really good student; she was really excited to get out of this rural village and move to the big city and become a nurse. And it just reminded me: I had this flash of being 14 and Ben Affleck and I saying were going to get out of this city and were going to go to the big city of New York and were going to be actors. And we really hit it off and related, and it was when I was leaving that I realized that had someone not had the foresight to have built this well a mile from this girls home, we wouldnt be having this conversation. She wouldnt have these dreams of moving to the big city and being a nurse.

Since then, Damon has been devoted to working through his charity to help people gain access to clean water. Water.org's latest joint initiative is with Stella Artois, who is contributing to the cause with Pour It Forward. With this campaign, for every six-pack purchased, Stella will provide six months of clean water to someone in the developing world. A 12-pack will provide water for a year, and every pour or bottle sold at a bar means one month of clean water for one person.

Though Damon is spreading the word about Pour It Forward with the beer company, the actor also takes opportunities to teach his girls, believing that children learn by example. I think you can talk to your kids as much as you want about this stuff, he explains to AskMen, but oftentimes, showing them, I think is the best way.

My oldest daughter was able to come to Indonesia with me last year and to see it, and thats such a gift, he says. When I was a teenager, my mother took me to Guatemala and Mexico, and I got to see real poverty up close, and there was no finger wagging or lecturing or anything like that. It was just the experience of walking through it and being in it, and seeing that, its really profound for American kids of all stripes. So as my younger daughters get older, Ill be able to take them as well, and well curate ... kind of trips for them that are appropriate. But that is kind of a real gift to give your kids.

Related: How to Be a Better Father

His family also finds it thrilling to see Damon involving his celebrity friends in his charity work. This time, its Sarah Jessica Parker, whom he recruited for a Stella commercial released January 22 to promote Pour It Forward. In the short, Parker revives her iconic Sex and the City character, Carrie Bradshaw, and realizes how easy it is to give back by ordering a Stella over her preferred cocktail, the cosmo.

Parker tells AskMen that she, like Damon, makes sure her children  James, 16, and twins Marion and Tabitha, 9  understand the importance of charity.

[Husband Matthew Broderick and I] talk about all of it. We talk about why were spending time away from them, and why its meaningful to us, and how we feel it actually affects their lives, she explains. Even as I joined in this effort, I was just thinking how much I hope my 16-year-old son pays attention to this and that this is probably an area that would be enormously interesting to him, to know about more and to maybe even consider being part of this.

Its by example and conversation and how you share what is important and meaningful, the actress adds. We see it in our home and we hope we are those kinds of examples.

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- T. S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."
Opinion / Columnist

The Democratic Alliance, an opposition political outfit in South Africa appears to have run out of steam and is seeking extra fodder to power its waning relevance. This week, the party hit the headlines urging President Cyril Ramaphosa to change his stance on Zimbabwe following what it terms crimes against humanity. The party further threatened to take the Harare administration to the International Criminal Court should the ANC government fail to rein in their northern neighbour. Before going into the political matrix surrounding the Zimbabwe demo, it ought to be pointed that the 20 year old Hague institution has so far shown a record failure in successful prosecution of alleged war crimes especially in Africa.The ICC which has been spurned by the USA shows a great deal of partiality as it sets its compass in Africa yet domiciled in the Netherlands. It paints a picture that falsely portrays Africa as the only turf where war crimes are committed. The record failure in their 20 year journey in international prosecution of crimes shows the court is nothing but a jokers' club designed to embarrass Africa while at the same time milking it of its resources away to legal firms dotted outside of Africa as defendants struggle to finance their defence. Very little of the legal value chain ignited by the goings on at The Hague benefits Africa despite Africa being a top customer of this partial court.As you read this, Laurent Gbagbo, former president of Cote d'Ivoire is on his way out of prison after the court dismally failed to nail him down in a three year crawling trial connected to the Abidjan violence of 2010 following a disputed election. While Gbagbo has lost his freedom for a long period on end, Ivoirians have lost finances to The Hague; his political party has been without his leadership while his family has been without a father in a pipe dream legal case lacking a justiceable basis.And back to Harare, has the DA involved itself in trying to ascertain the trail of destruction, looting and arson committed by criminals with no relationship to Zanu PF at Entumbane? Does that party know that livelihoods have been lost in senseless looting of private property in a pseudo stay away? If the DA had offices and business establishments in Zimbabwe and they had been looted down by the marauding gangs was it going to think of taking the government to court or the gangs? Instead of appreciating the government efforts at protecting public and private property, the DA chooses to attack the protector.In fact, it is not profitable to talk about this DA brouhaha, let me speak last of this party in this very sentence.And back to Bulawayo, very little of Government property was destroyed, looted or vandalised. The biggest losers are private individuals trying to eke a living out of honest enterprise. It is the same businesspersons who are paying taxes to keep the government buoyant and be able to provide service to the nation. If anybody thinks there is need to take anyone to the ICC for crimes related to the mayhem of this past week, certainly it cannot be government to be taken to this discredited outfit.Writing in The Washington Post, Oumar Ba, an assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College in Atlanta said, "it is important to reiterate that the trial judges decided to acquit Gbagbo and Ble Goude in the middle of the trial, without finding it necessary to let the defence present its case. Legal analysts and human rights groups see this as a major setback for the ICC's prosecution team. The decision also spotlights the fact that the ICC thus far has been unable to successfully prosecute any state official - charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta were dropped; Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto's case was dismissed; Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba was acquitted by the Appeals Chamber; and Sudanese President Omar Bashir is still at large."However, countries that oppose the court, such as the United States, will yet again question the need for the ICC, and its efficacy. After more than 17 years of operations, the court has convicted only three individuals - all of them rebels or militia members - for atrocity crimes," noted Ba.With such a pitiable success track, the ICC is proving to have developed a fetish of chasing after African leaders with grainy evidence sources that do not deserve to be invested energies in. Agreed, crimes would have been committed but the question is, are the correct culprits being brought before the law to answer to their crimes so that justice is seen to be at work and indeed working to soothe the wounds of the victims. In Zimbabwe's case, it is not the state that burnt down shops. It is not the state or Zanu PF which looted shops empty. Neither is it president Mnangagwa who caused wholesale mayhem across the country. For the record, the President was out working inside his leave days in pursuit of national benefit.Now that Gbagbo has been acquitted, have the people of Cote d'Ivoire received the justice that has been evading them since the fateful election of 2010? Will the hapless businesspersons who lost their goods find justice from the prosecution of a government that sought to keep the criminals attacking their businesses at bay? Will the family of the slain young policeman benefit anything from the prosecution of the state which employed him?If ever there is a need for an international court to administer African Justice, that court must be in Africa, run by Africans for Africans. Imperialist legal establishments are nothing but tools designed to foment necessary confusion in Africa for the purposes of looting its resource endowment by west capitalist establishments. Who from the West has ever come from Europe to be tried by an African court? Why should Africa subject itself to designs of the west in its domestic affairs? There is nothing international about the International Criminal Court.
Opinion / Columnist

There has been an avalanche of criticism on Government's decision to shut down the internet during the recent MDC orchestrated violent demonstrations. Western sponsored pseudo civic groups approached the High Court challenging the legality of Government's move  and they won, hats off to our independent courts.Allow me to take you back a little. On 7 July 2005, three suicide bombings occurred on United Kingdom (UK)'s London underground train system and a fourth bomb exploded on a double-decker bus at Tavistock Place. Over 50 people died and a lot more were injured. Among the cocktail of measures implemented by the UK Government was to cut all telecommunications networks to stop further attacks.Relatedly, while responding to another UK terror incident at Parsons Green Underground Train Station in September 2017, United States President, Donald Trump, twitted that the internet was a terrorist "recruiting tool" that must be "cut off" to stop further terror attacks.The above scenarios might be different from what transpired in Zimbabwe, on 14 and 15 January 2019, however, the motive behind shutting down the internet in all cases was to prevent a bad situation from getting worse.The coordinators of the violent protests in Zimbabweans were using social media to synchronize acts of violence against the State and civilians alike. A typical example being messages with instructions on how to make petrol bombs and that on 15 January 2019 the violent protestors should attack shopping centers in the low density suburbs of Harare simply because people there did not see any reason to join the senseless orgy of violence led by the opposition MDC and associate organisations.The situation in the country was fast getting out of hand. Civilians were attacked and barred from going about their business including seeking medical attention; private business premises were looted, police stations were attacked resulting in the murder of a police officer and burning of his colleagues' vehicles in other stations around the country.It was only a matter of time, but had the situation been allowed to deteriorate further the violent protesters could have accessed arms in police armories all over around the country as police officers ran for dear life - a civil war could have ensued!With such hindsight, it is clear that the first step in restoring order was to cut the communications channels used by the country's detractors - the internet. The only unfortunate thing is that even ordinary innocent citizens were switched off too in that process - though not for long. This led many to accuse Government of infringing on their right to freedom of expression.However, Government's move also upheld the rights of peace loving Zimbabweans who had nothing to do with the violent protests and civil servants whose right to demonstrate peacefully was usurped by the looters. The property rights of business people whose businesses were under attack, the right to life of police officers who were murdered in the line of duty, the right to privacy of Zanu PF member whose houses were invaded and sometimes destroyed, the freedom of movement of people were barred from going about their business, the list is endless.The long and short of is that, inasmuch as Zimbabweans have the right to demonstrate and petition, this right has to be exercised peacefully - there was nothing peaceful about what MDC supporters and members did on 14 January 2019. The Government had to intervene to quell down the situation for the sake of the other citizens who had nothing to do with the protests. The unavailability of the internet for a few days was a small price to pay for the peace we now enjoy - it is just internet, not life support, no one died directly from the shutting down of the internet.
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

Exiled former ZANU PF Politiburo members has confessed that his agenda of reforming ZANU PF from within backfired and the party was about to change him instead.Professor Moyo is on the record saying, "the best way to reform Zanu-PF is from within.""I tell my father (in the book that he is writing) that I regret I understood better after the damage had been done that by joining ZanuPF to change it; I risked having ZanuPF changing me." Moyo says. "I assure him I'm done with ZanuPF and that my family will disown me if I ever again rejoin it in any disguise, shape or form."Social media users pressed Prof. Moyo to reveal any sign that during his days in ZANU PF he tried to reform it."Oh! Is that why Pres Mugabe labeled me the devil incarnate and accused me of smuggling MDC editors into the state media?" Responded Moyo. "And when Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and Warvets repeatedly accused me of being a CIA and destroying ZANU PF from within, they were lauding me for improving their dictatorship?"In 2016 the then Commander of Zimbabwe Defense Forces General Constantino Dominic Nyikadzino Guvheya Chiwenga warned Jonathan Moyo that they are watching him as he tries to destroy ZANU PF from within."We were reading mapepa paakatanga kuti when you want to destroy Zanu-PF you need to do it from within." Chiwenga said."Vaitiudza kuti kuchazoita vamwe vechidiki vanofanirwa kutonga. Hazvina kunyorwa here? Munoti tanga tisingazvioni? Hazvisizvo here zvirikuitika? Ngatidye sadza zvakanaka."Jonathan Moyo is a victim of a victim of a 2017 bloody coup that ended 37 years of Robert Mugabe's rule.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MDC Alliance Harare East MP Tendai Biti's case of inciting public violence took a new twist after he applied for recusal of the magistrate, who gave him a warrant of arrest on Monday.Biti, through his defence team led by Beatrice Mtetwa, yesterday accused Harare regional magistrate Gloria Takundwa of lacking impartiality and if allowed to hear the trial, will prejudice Biti of a fair trial.Magistrate Takundwa also dismissed the applications placed before her namely application for exception, jurisdiction, splitting of charges and further particulars in which Biti demanded V11 forms from last year's election to form his defence outline."The ruling given by the court was unfair as she ruled that Biti committed the crime without hearing his defence in trial, in fact, the court has rejected his defense outline by not ordering the State to give him the v11 and v23 forms."So it is our humble submission that proceeding to trial with a judicial officer who has concluded that the accused's defense is not a defence at all would prejudice his rights to a fair trial."Biti's conviction is already sealed which is why this application for recusal is necessary because it appears the magistrate has an interest in the matter and will not adjudicate impartially.'Even in the matter of the warrant of arrest, it was dealt with unfairly as an explanation had been offered by Biti and his counsels yet the court treated the matter like he was in willful default," said Beatrice Mtetwa.Mtetwa further laid complaints as the matter was not heard at the set 9am because the magistrate was 'indisposed' and it would be proper for her to recuse herself from the matter handing over power to a magistrate with an unjaundiced view.The State, led by Jonathan Murombedzi, opposed the application due to lack of merit saying that it was the applications that were dismissed not Biti's defense outline."There is never a time that the court said he is guilty of an offense she only elaborated on what the trial is going to expose and the attack on the magistrate about the warrant is uncalled for."No court with decency would allow an accused person to absent himself from court and dictate how the court should deal with the issue, all things being equal, we are all bound by the court," said Murombedzi.Magistrate Takundwa dismissed the application saying that she is impartial and will give Biti a fair trial.The matter will be back in court today for trial continuation.
Nepal Airlines to auction last B757 after engine overhaul

Nepal Airlines Corporation will retire its last Boeing 757 after doing an engine overhaul, technically known as C-check, as this can significantly affect the aircrafts resale value.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Rest In Peace, Oliver Mtukudzi.



You were the soundtrack to an entire generation and a rare gift to Zimbabwe.



We will always love you, a legend and hero. pic.twitter.com/qhPBabPEyS  Fadzayi Mahere  (@advocatemahere) January 23, 2019

Rest in peace Oliver Mtukudzi. If anyone ever made me proud to be #Zimbabwean it was you. Thank you for making us happy for so long, especially during the darkest days. pic.twitter.com/K5gsugnb2f  David Coltart (@DavidColtart) January 23, 2019

Rest In Peace - the legend and music icon - Oliver Mtukudzi, you played your role to the fullest and you will always be remembered Mr Guitarman pic.twitter.com/ebuYdKN74O  Mzilikazi wa Afrika (@IamMzilikazi) January 23, 2019

The fact that Oliver Mtukudzi passed on on the first death anniversary of his friend Hugh Masekela..... #riptuku #Tuku pic.twitter.com/ycprj9EFjU  Wishes Zimunya (@wishietarie) January 23, 2019

Zimbabwean music legend Oliver Mtukudzi has died after battling an unnamed illness for the past month.According to Bulawayo24 , the 66-year-old superstar died at the Avenues Clinic in Harare.Mtukudzi, whose career took him to the international stage has at least 66 albums under his belt, died on Wednesday.He has toured several countries and featured on his many songs with several South African artist which included Ringo Madlingozi and the late Hugh Masekela.Mtukudzi has contributed immensely to the nurturing of Zimbabwean music talents and holds various prestigious positions, among them the Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations Children's Fund and the coveted Cavaliere of the Order of Merit bestowed on him by the Italian government.Social media users have paid their tribute to Mtukudzi.
News / National

by Staff reporter

The government has started servicing the International Air Transport Association (IATA) debt owed to regional and international airlines, with the board of airline representatives confirming the first payment received in January.An agreement reached between the central bank, the board of airline representatives and tourism industry officials in October last year culminated into a payment plan to service the US$150 million owed to regional and international airlines at monthly instalments of US$4 million.The board of airline representatives confirmed to the ZBC News that the first payment of this commitment was received last month, stating this restores confidence among players to continue service delivery on the Zimbabwean route without any hindrances.The IATA debt had created a gridlock which had blighted operations for the airlines forcing major players such as Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Emirates to withdraw their ticketing service from Zimbabwe.The first execution of the commitment by the central bank as well as assurances by treasury boss Professor Mthuli Ncube that the IATA debt clearance is among the top to-do list under the current reform processes, helps settle the operators as some were now being pushed into reviewing their distribution strategy into the country.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Bulawayo mayor Solomon Mguni and the residents' representative body have waded into the chaos, decrying the heavy-handedness of State security agents' response to the recent stay-away."The Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (Bpra) does not in any way support what happened in the city, that's the looting and destruction of property which will take us backwards," Bpra acting coordinator Emmanuel Ndlovu said."We strongly condemn the arbitrary arrests of residents by the police and army. More than 500 residents have so far been arrested with many of them being picked up from their homes at night and some have actually ran away and abandoned their homes," he said.The residents association said the use of invented platforms such as protests and violence - which is terrible - is a result of the failure of formal mechanisms to address the concerns of the masses."Unless the socio-economic concerns of the masses are addressed, the arbitrary arrests and beatings will not solve anything," he said.On the other hand, Mguni, who was last week choked by a volley of teargas as the protests turned ugly, said: "On behalf of the elected MDC councillors in the Bulawayo City Council, we take note of the incidents of violent protests and looting that occurred in Bulawayo between the 14th and 16th of January 2019.""We are disappointed by the level of destruction of council infrastructure and businesses that supported the economy of the city. We urge central government to attend to issues raised by the residents with the urgency required."Mguni, however, took aim at the government for pointing the finger at the MDC for having been behind the protests."We do not accept the government version of attributing the protests by ordinary suffering Zimbabweans to the MDC leadership who as everyone now knows, never organised the stay-away," he said.Mguni said he was disturbed by the arbitrary arrests and militarisation of the streets."We wish to condemn the wanton harassment and dragnet arrests of residents by the security services in the name of clamping down on illegal protests. We are disturbed by the militarisation of the streets of Bulawayo."As elected representatives of the people of Bulawayo, we call upon the "listening" government of Mnangagwa to heed the voice of God as expressed the residents of Bulawayo who want dialogue with their government."We condemn State-sponsored violence, harassment of the elderly and children through indiscriminate firing of teargas volley, arrests and assaults. We urge the government to investigate this unprecedented level of misconduct by the security services."Mguni said no amount of intimidation will deter the spirit of the MDC in council to deliver on their mandate to make Bulawayo a leading smart city of excellence.
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

There has been much controversy surrounding my remarks on TV. Firstly is any murder justifiable?



Secondly, there's nothing wrong with a Constitutional, peaceful demonstration/protest, but when such infringes on other people's right to movement, becomes violent, causes damage to property or is hijacked by hooligans, security forces are mandated to step in to quell riots



I can't speak on behalf of individual cases that I'm not privy to, but do believe that where incidents occurred that investigations should take place. It's unfortunate that at times people take advantage of confusion but investigations should help to establish things



Overall my prayer for Zimbabwe is that we come out as one Nation. I pray for everyone who lost their lives & their families, May Their Dear Souls Rest In Peace.



Death in any circumstance is never easy. God for us all



Norton Member of Parliament is pushing for a cabinet reshuffle that will corrupt Ministers who practice red tape being reshuffled."I continue to insist that a reshuffle is needed. Corruption is so deeply imbedded and we can't expect a different result with the same faces especially the bureaucrats." Mliswa said from his current base in Switzerland where he is attending the World Economic Forum.Mliswa is alleged to be eyeing the Ministry of Mines and want to use his proximity to President Emmerson Mnangagwa to be a replacement for Minister Chitando.He has been the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Mines for the past two parliaments.Mliswa also took the opportunity to defend himself on the controversies surrounding his utterances on South African Televisions where he openly supported the killings of people by the army.Find his full statement below:
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

Exiled former cabinet Minister Professor Jonathan has described President Emmerson Mnangagwa as a discredited person to convene a national dialogue to map the way forward to solving the national crisis.Moyo was responding to Mnangagwa's call for all stakeholders to a dialogue table which he made on Tuesday when he arrived from his EuroAsia trip."It is obtuse, oxymoronic, inhumane and totally unacceptable for a lethally armed and dangerous arsonist to invite victims of his premeditated arson, to dialogue about how they can work together in the aftermath of his nefarious inferno that engulfed everyone and everything." Professor Moyo fumed.Moyo accused Mnangagwa of being the cause of the problem and hence making him lose a legal standing in calling for and convening a dialogue."The call for national dialogue on a fake Twitter account run by ghost writers is fake." He said. "What's worse is that, as the cause of the crisis, you have lost the neutrality, credibility constitutional legitimacy to invite anyone to any dialogue. Only neutral brokers can do that."On Tuesday Mnangagwa had said, "I invite leaders of all political parties as well as religious and civil leaders to set aside our differences and come together. What unites us is stronger than what could ever divide us. Let's begin a national dialogue. Let's put the economy first. Let's put the people first."MDC Leader Nelson Chamisa said before dialogue, Mnangagwa must free all political prisoners arrested in connection to the 14 January protests."No nation can make progress without the rule of law and peace. Zimbabwe can't be open for anything without being open to its citizens' concerns. In order to dialogue, one's tongue must be free to talk. The tongues of the nation are tied in jails &many others by fear. This must end," said Chamisa.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Education minister Paul Mavhima has implored teachers to give the on-going national joint negotiations a chance, cautioning that industrial action will disadvantage the students. This came after Zimta had indicated that they had downed tools.As government battles to contain growing civil unrest in the country, the nation's biggest teachers' union - the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) - said its members will go on strike, due to the worsening local economic rot.Zimta's announcement was made as other unions also warned that they would embark on a nationwide strike at the lapse of their 14-day notice on Friday this week.This comes after the government dangled a $300 million total incentive to its agitated workforce last week, which unions said translated to measly increments for their individual members.On their part, civil servants have demanded to be paid a minimum of $1 700 a month - a figure which they say matches the current economic situation in the country."The situation remains the same and we remain incapacitated. Government has not done anything to address the plight of teachers."So come tomorrow, Monday (today) teachers will not report for work because they are incapacitated  that is the official position," Zimta chief executive officer Sifiso Sibanda told the Daily News yesterday."We have totally rejected the offer that the government has made as it is insignificant and does not address our needs. The employer must understand that we are workers and we need to survive."Some of the teachers have to spend $10 per day on transport and that takes away all their earnings. It is the duty of the government to source for money to pay its employees," Sibanda added.The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) also said its members were preparing to go on strike at the expiry of the two-week ultimatum which they gave to the government a fortnight ago."We had given government a 14-day ultimatum and that will lapse this Friday. Come Monday, we are definitely going to take action."What government is doing is simply fire-fighting. We don't think they have a solution. Some of the issues being raised by teachers can be solved using nonmonetary means."Government is failing the teachers by coming up with micky-mouse improvements ... There are some teachers who are going into retirement and they have nothing, which is worrying," PTUZ secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said."Government has several resources that it can use to gratify teachers. It can consider issues like tax exemption, exemption of school fees payment for teachers' children and availing housing or farms for teachers."The problem is that government is not thinking outside the box. They should engage people with ideas that will proffer solutions to the teachers' problems."Just like they dealt with the issue of land with war veterans, they can do the same to address the problems faced by teachers. There are also many teachers in mining or farming areas and they can benefit from those resources," Majongwe added.The Apex Council, which represents hundreds of thousands of civil servants across the public sector, is adamant that the government should pay its workers a minimum of $1 733 a month, or the equivalent in US dollars.The civil servants are also not happy with the government's decision to pay their bonuses on the basis of their basic salaries, as well as making them pay vehicle import duty in US dollars.This comes as President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government have come under growing pressure to breathe life into the country's sickly economy.The current economic crisis was further underlined by last week's deadly riots which broke out in Harare and other towns, as angry protesters flooded the streets in protest at the recent fuel price hikes.More than 70 people were shot and injured by security forces when they used live ammunition during the riots which left 17 people needing life-saving surgeries, and at least 12 others dead.The riots were sparked by Mnangagwa's surprise decision to treble the prices of petrol and diesel ahead of his trips to Eastern Europe.Meanwhile, and despite the sharp fuel price increases, the government has failed to end the fuel crisis as motorists and transporters are still spending endless hours queuing at dry garages.
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu





The anger, focus and resilience boiling in these goon squad never seen or tasted mayonnaise boys and girls will present a real problem soon. The only wealth they know is the one from their Prophet and their politicians.



I spent the morning in Caledonia with Bocha farm resettlees. I don't think madhara angu understand their actions are sowing seeds of worse anger in a young generation of banyamulenges.The anger, focus and resilience boiling in these goon squad never seen or tasted mayonnaise boys and girls will present a real problem soon. The only wealth they know is the one from their Prophet and their politicians. Varume chenjerai kudyiwa nezvigure. I am not inciting nor condoning jambanja, I am telling you kuti zvandawona hazvina kundipa kusimba.



Craziest part is majority of the people I saw today are very engraved in our lives, they look after our houses, clean and feed our kids, sell us fruits, akomanaka.



As a Zanu PF member I am so glad rekeni yakabatwa nema gunners but mmm....inini hangu ndakumbobuditsa mwana naAmai vake munyika muno.

Varume chenjerai kudyiwa nezvigure. I am not inciting nor condoning jambanja, I am telling you kuti zvandawona hazvina kundipa kusimba.Craziest part is majority of the people I saw today are very engraved in our lives, they look after our houses, clean and feed our kids, sell us fruits, akomanaka.As a Zanu PF member I am so glad rekeni yakabatwa nema gunners but mmm....inini hangu ndakumbobuditsa mwana naAmai vake munyika muno.

Self-styled communications strategist William Mutumanje has warned that Zimbabwe maybe going to experience more darker times worse than the ones that they just passed through now.Mutumanje also revealed that he is taking his wife and chi9ld outside the country for their own safety.Said Mutumanje:Meanwhile Gokwe Nembudziya Member of Parliament Justice Wadyajena has revealed that there is a plot by an anti-Mnangagwa cabal in ZANU PF to impeach the President. He, however, said the plot will fail because they do not have numbers.Responding to Wadyajena Professor Jonathan Moyo said,"When an insider with vested political and nepotistic interests in the incumbent declares that a coup plot has failed when key others are mum, take it with bags of salt. It's not over until it's over. Recall my Zete Moment the night of 13 Nov 2017 when I knew a coup was under way?"
News / National

by Staff reporter

CAPACITY utilisation in Zimbabwe's manufacturing industry rose by 3,1 percentage points to 48,2 % in 2018 but there are fears that the sector could contract to as low as 30% if the country's foreign currency shortages persist.A survey by the country's largest business member organisation, the Confederation of Zimbabwean Industries (CZI) which polled 290 companies, showed that capacity utilisation dropped in the last quarter of the year as foreign currency shortages intensified.The foodstuffs, tobacco and beverages, as well as wood and furniture sub-sectors had average capacity utilisation of above 50% for most of the year.In the report, CZI notes that capacity utilisation rose on account of import substitution and export promotion policies that were implemented from 2016."In 2019 industry is projected to decline to 34,3% from the November 2018 levels. If policy direction does not change, foreign currency shortages will persist and this is what industry expects. At 34% most companies would have closed with attendant effects on unemployment," CZI chief economist Tafadzwa Bandama said."Low levels of capacity utilisation mean that companies are eating into capital. There is need for a forex trading platform so that it is traded at fair value to enable productivity, business viability and price stability."By region, industry in Manicaland is seen contracting from 49% in 2018 to 34,5% this year.Matabeleland is projected to decline the most from 49,7% to 24,6%.Capacity utilisation of manufacturers based in Mashonaland is also seen falling from the current 52,8% to 30% while the Midlands is expected to maintain last year's levels of 45%.According to the survey, the major constraints to capacity were high production costs and a shortage of raw materials.Respondents to the survey also pointed out antiquated machinery as another constraint to utilising installed capacity.Industry has been facing constant breakdowns and downtime because of a lack of foreign currency to import spares.Between 2013 and 2016, the biggest constraint to industry was low demand because of stiff competition from imports.In terms of productivity, overall industry output grew by 12% in 2018.Non-metallic mineral products had the highest increase in output at 50% followed by beverages and tobacco at 18%.The clothing and footwear sub-sector recorded a 16,4% increase in output while foodstuffs grew by 14,5%. Plastic and packaging were up 8%, chemicals and petroleum products 10,5%.The survey also noted that competition for markets is shifting to the domestic front as 46,6 % of the respondents reported that they faced competition from domestic players compared to 26,8% in 2017.The industry has also witnessed a decline in the sourcing of raw materials locally, adding increased pressure on foreign currency resources.Last year only 52% of industry's raw materials demands were sourced from local suppliers compared 64% in 2017 and 84% in the previous year.China dominated as the source for imported raw materials followed by South Africa.Out of all the companies that participated in the survey, 26% reported that they export their product to Zambia with Malawi being the second major export destination with 19% of market share. South Africa came third at 14%.
News / National

by Staff reporter

GOVERNMENT has said there is no need for panic buying as there is enough mealie meal in Bulawayo following last week's looting spree, mainly in the western suburbs.Violent protesters unleashed an orgy of violence looting shops and forcing schools to close during a three-day nationwide stay away called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and other civil society organisations aligned to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.In an interview yesterday, Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister, Judith Ncube, said grain millers had assured them that there is enough mealie meal in Bulawayo and people should desist from panic buying."We are making efforts in order to assist our people and also being assured by the national chairman of the Grain Millers' Association that people should not panic.There is enough food. We need to distribute it to all the affected areas. They assured us that as we speak there is 6 000 tonnes of maize meal at hand which has to be distributed," said Ncube."In the next two weeks they are saying they would want to mill up to 12 000 tonnes of maize meal so that we alleviate the black market. We are trying to avoid the stampede within those few shops around Bulawayo and we would want to decongest the city centre."The Minister said authorities were working on modalities to set up shops in affected areas so that residents in Western suburbs do not resort to going into the city's CBD in search of mealie meal or other basic commodities."We resolved that we need to quickly identify some points or those shops which were vandalised and try to engage the affected people. Those who feel they can actually try to be selling from within their shops we'll see to it that they are given the basic commodities for them to assist the people on the ground," said Ncube."Those without, we will engage them and see how best we can come up with some facilities where we can maybe negotiate with the churches, negotiate with other people with different structures. If they accept that, then we will engage this person who was affected to say can you be operating from this corner. But we would want to give authorities that information so that we manage the situation on the ground".She condemned violent protests that rocked the city last week, which saw people looting, vandalising property and engaging in other criminal activities during the protests."A normal person would not subscribe to what happened in Bulawayo. We have destroyed our city, we have destroyed our province. Why would you want to destroy your own house? So whosoever did this or whosever is behind this should think twice about it," Ncube said."We really feel so bad on behalf of Bulawayo. We are not happy at all. What happened is a shameful situation. It's a very shameful situation. We are looking forward to having our people coming together, putting our heads together as a family so that we are able to map up strategies on how best we can rebuild what was destroyed by those who had their hidden agendas."
Murder accused killed in Saptari police encounter

A murder suspect was shot dead after police said they opened fire in self-defence in Saptari district on Wednesday.
News / National

by Staff reporter

THE government lost millions of dollars through delayed revenue inflows due to the slow processing of imports and exports after the switching off internet services countrywide.Government threw the country into a total internet blackout twice last week during the mass protests against fuel price hikes and general economic hardships.Other security protocols were also breached when shipping agents at Beitbridge resorted to South African networks to bypass Zimbabwe's closed systems.Shipping agents yesterday said turn-around time of documents processing was irritatingly slow.Others lost clients to those with SA network links when the movement of vehicles became slow.Zimbabwe Revenue Authority ( Zimra ) spokesman Francis Chimanda asked for questions in writing, but was yet to respond by the time of going to print."We will lose money to down time of trucks. They will charge clients more, thereby negatively affecting the pricing of goods. Documents going into Customs are slow in coming out and frustration is abound," one shipping agent said.Some are using Vodacom or other SA networks and bypassing several checkpoints in the system," he said.Others were physically presenting papers to Customs instead of the online facility.Zimra was not able to deduct payment on time and would incur losses from delayed revenue for those using the manual system.Government shut down internet reception on Tuesday in a move meant to cut communication among its citizens. They claimed the internet was facilitating the organisation of anti-government protests.Internet was briefly restored on Wednesday afternoon before being shut down again a few hours later. Partial services were only restored on Friday afternoon.Before the second internet blackout, business had reverted to normal at Beitbridge where shops had been closed.Money changers were back on the streets at their trading points on Friday and only schools had not opened.
News / National

by Staff reporter

ZANU-PF officials in Hurungwe are putting pressure on the local rural district council to grab a private clinic owned by former Higher Education deputy minister Godfrey Gandawa. The formal local MP has gone into hiding, saying his life is in danger from state security agents.Addressing a recent meeting in Karoi attended by Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, Magunje MP Cecil Kashiri asked Hurungwe rural district councillors and management what action they were taking to repossess Gandawa's Mudzimu clinic.We have a clinic built by the community, where public resources were used and has been turned into a private property. Can council tell this house when the clinic will be handed over to the community as it is on council ground?" Kashiri asked.Hurungwe council chairperson Bradwell Chasara, however, responded by saying that the platform was not the right one to discuss the issue."I think this matter raised by Hon Kashiri can best have its answer from a boardroom meeting," said Chasara.Mliswa-Chikoka also tried to force the Hurungwe council boss to make a decision, but Chasara refused to budge, saying council had documents proving Gandawa owned the projectHon Minister, council needs to revisit the project and see where we can serve justice to everyone. That is why I said the answer can come after a boardroom meeting with resolutions supporting the statement we are being forced to make here," said Chasara.However, in an exclusive interview, Gandawa said the clinic was privately-owned.Council has the facts and know the truth because I bought the stand in 2011 before I was even MP or deputy minister. Secondly, I started constructing that hospital in 2012/2013 till now. Whoever is doing this is jealous and misinforming the provincial minister into believing that I was given that land for free by council. I bought the land," Gandawa said.He said the $50 000 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation was only released in May 2018 and was used to develop schools in the area."The acquittals were done to parliament. How can you build a hospital starting 2011 with a CDF allocation that was only released in 2018 and only $50 000 of it?"Gandawa said so far he had invested over $1,2 million in the project."I have receipts and letters of acquisition as part of the evidence," he said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A TOUR operator in Bulawayo is planning to introduce new tour packages to excite visitors to Matobo National Park as the industry is fast adopting innovative and diverse ideas that will revive interest in the attraction.Of late, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has made "innovation" and "diversification" buzz words in the tourism sector as these are seen as shaping the future of travel and tourism globally. ZTA has on numerous campaigns, emphasised the importance of innovation as key in attracting visitors to the country.In that light, a tour firm operating in the city noted that tour activities currently on offer at the World Heritage Site and adjacent destinations were redundant, with visitors expressing the need for new packages that will enhance product variety.This has pushed a leading tour operator in the city, Mr Sikhawuliso Sibanda of Silwane Tours and Safaris to put in motion a process of introducing adventure activities that attract tourists who prefer a different kind of experience.Among these are horseback rides, group tours, team building routines and other related adrenalin bush activities.In an interview, Mr Sibanda said his company has realised that visitors to destinations such as Matobo National Park now want more that just watching the rocky outcrops and game drives."We are introducing new activities for tourists to enjoy, especially those at Matobo National Park. We cannot sell Matobo for people to go see Cecil John Rhodes' grave, game and the landscape only. It becomes boring if next time, the same tourists come, they do the same things.They would want to do something different like horseback rides. That is where we saw the gap and would want to bring in new exciting activities to already existing packages," said Mr Sibanda.The call by Mr Sibanda is premised on tourism trends and consumer preferences as tour firms are compelled to develop new products that create value for tourists.He said the concept of developing new tourist activities is a vital concern for tourism firms that want to stand out from stiff competition."If Silwane Tours and Safaris starts the initiative, every tour operator is bound to benefit too."In order to make the most of this, tour operators have engaged the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) in what is set to be an economically beneficial public-private sector partnership.This comes at a time when the tourism and hospitality industry players are in unison, calling for the strengthening of ties between the public and private sector.ZimParks is on record pushing for diversity in tourism products and last year allowed an array of night activities at Victoria Falls and Zambezi National Parks.
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev yesterday initiated the first high-level contacts between the two countries when they met in Baku close to the Caspian Sea shoreline.President Aliyev invited the Head of State and Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to Azerbaijan to lay the groundwork for mutually beneficial ties.In the context of the new administration's thrust of economic diplomacy, seen at a policy level by the incorporation of "international trade" into the Foreign Affairs Ministry, President Mnangagwa accepted the invitation.Already, Harare and Baku have drafted two agreements - on tax administration and investments protection - which insiders are confident will be signed soon following the cordial meeting between Presidents Mnangagwa and Aliyev.In an interview, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ambassador James Manzou said, "As you are aware, Zimbabwe had already flourishing diplomatic relations with Russia and Belarus so our visit had to do with re-engaging and solidifying all the relationships, particularly focusing on the economy."But Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are unique in the sense that for those two countries, we are breaking new frontiers in search of economic co-operation in line with our policy of economic diplomacy."Therefore, (on Saturday) morning His Excellency the President had a very productive meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, President Aliyev."The meeting focused on exploring areas of co-operation between Azerbaijan and Zimbabwe. As you know, Azerbaijan is an oil and gas-producing country. They have a lot of reserves in their sovereign funds, and we were interested in attracting Azerbaijan investment into the Zimbabwean economy, particularly in the areas of mining, the areas of infrastructure and in the area of tourism."I must say that there was very keen interest from President Aliyev in the possibility of investing in Zimbabwe and therefore henceforth what is needed is to build the legal framework for co-operation with Azerbaijan."Ambassador Manzou went on: "We are looking at proposing a draft agreement for the establishment of a Joint Commission between the two countries. Also on their part, in terms of preparing themselves for investing in Zimbabwe, they are looking at a bilateral investment protection agreement."That agreement is already on the table, the two sides are considering it. They are also looking forward to us signing a double taxation agreement. Again, that agreement  the draft agreement  is on the table and the two sides are liaising on that."So we explored all these areas. The area of agriculture, also, was an area of interest for them. As I said, tourism, they asked for the Zimbabwean side to provide more information in terms of areas where they can possibly involve themselves."Ambassador Manzou said Azerbaijan was interested in business-to-business co-operation, and President Aliyev said a delegation from his country would visit Harare to seek opportunities, partnerships and investment deals."The two sides, as I have indicated, have already exchanged agreements in the areas of bilateral investment protection and double taxation, and these agreements are being considered and will be signed at the appropriate time."After meeting President Aliyev at the Presidential Palace in Astana, President Mnangagwa toured the Asana Service Centre, which houses several Azerbaijan government ministries.Ambassador Manzou said, "All government services are concentrated in that space. As they said, 300 government services are concentrated in that space. This includes departments that issue birth certificates, those that issue licenses, including investment licenses, and even those that issue death certificates, insurance and the like. They are all under one roof."This is an attempt to make sure that service delivery to the people is efficient and is on time. You may have heard as we were passing through that registering a company in Azerbaijan takes just 15 minutes. And this is something in Zimbabwe we would have to emulate."As you know in Zimbabwe we are in the process of establishing Zida (Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency). The standards (here) are high but I'm sure we can emulate this system that Azerbaijan has put in place."Azerbaijan ranks very highly on global "ease of doing business" and competitiveness indices.Two-thirds of the country's territory has oil and/or gas, and is strong in agriculture, infrastructure development, tourism and other sectors.Zimbabwe and Azerbaijan established diplomatic relations about 11 years ago, but in that period there have not been any bilateral political or economic exchanges.Since President Mnangagwa's ascension in November 2017, that has started to change.Late last year, Azerbaijan started providing scholarships to Zimbabweans at undergraduate/graduate/doctoral level and for medicine/residency.After meeting President Aliyev, President Mnangagwa headed to Kazakhstan to round off what has been a very successful tour of Eurasia, and he is expected to meeting President Nursultan Nazarbayev.Last week, he also had fruitful talks with President Vladimir Putin (Russia) and Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus), which resulted in the signing of a raft of agreements and partnerships that covered sectors as diverse as mining, agriculture, transport and logistics, infrastructure, education and training, and extradition.President Mnangagwa invited both Presidents Putin and Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus) to visit Zimbabwe, along with businesspeople from those countries.
News / National

by Staff reporter

With Zimbabwe's Internet shutdown still partly in place, the Information minister says that the government has crafted a new law to curb abuse of the Internet .Zimbabweans were left without Internet for nearly 30 hours this week and the authorities have kept a block on social networking sites in an apparent bid to curb support for anti-government strikes.Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa says a new cyber bill has been approved by Cabinet and will soon be tabled in Parliament for adoption.Mutsvangwa said the proposed new law will ensure that the Internet isn't used to violate national security.Her remarks, broadcast on State radio, will be seen as a new threat to Internet freedoms.This week the government cut access to the Internet for two days, access to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and YouTube was still blocked by late Thursday night.Some locals have managed to access the sites using virtual private networks.Tensions are still high in Zimbabwe and there are calls being made for a second strike next week, though it's difficult to verify who's behind them.Meanwhile, Britain has summoned Zimbabwe's ambassador in London to discuss unrest in the country this week.Britain's minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin said she has been following events in Zimbabwe with growing concern.This was a strong statement from Baldwin, who was in Zimbabwe 11 months ago and it won't go down well with President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government.She summoned Zimbabwe's ambassador on Thursday over reports the security forces used live ammunition and excessive force to put down violent protests in Harare and other cities this week.Rights groups say at least five people have been killed, while scores of others were injured.Summoning an ambassador is a serious move and it will be a big blow to Mnangagwa's efforts to re-engage with the former colonial power and get Zimbabwe re-admitted to the Commonwealth. - ewn.co.za
News / National

by Staff reporter

POLICE in Bulawayo recovered property and groceries worth thousands of dollars in Entumbane suburb that were looted by violent demonstrators.The recovered goods include stoves, refrigerators, freezers, a plough, shoes, exercise books, alcohol and groceries.Bulawayo provincial deputy police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the recovery of the property and goods. He said 14 suspected looters aged between 16 and 42 had been arrested."On Thursday at about 4PM at ZRP Entumbane Bulawayo, a crack team comprising details from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Support Unit and the Duty Uniform Branch (DUB) arrested 14 accused persons who were found in possession of goods which were looted during demonstrations on Monday and Tuesday."Some of the goods were recovered and brought to Entumbane Police Station for safe keeping and further management," said Insp Ncube.He expressed concern over the behaviour exhibited by some members of the public. Insp Ncube said police were working to bring all culprits to book."As ZRP Bulawayo province we're saddened by the behaviour of hooligans who went on a looting spree and attacked even police officers without any provocation. We're working flat out to bring the looters to book so that they face the full wrath of the law," he said.Insp Ncube said police were aware that not everyone took part in violent demonstrations and looting sprees. He appealed for information that may lead to the arrest of the looters. "We're therefore appealing to the peace loving citizens to work with the police in identifying and apprehending the culprits."We're also worried to learn that juveniles aged between 13 and16 were actively involved in these activities. We urge parents to whip their children into line or else their lives would be doomed if they graduate into thugs," said Insp Ncube.He said police would appreciate any piece of information that could help them bring closure to the barbaric behaviour. The 14 accused are suspected to be part of a mob that unleashed violence in Bulawayo, burning cars, property and looting shops during demonstrations that were instigated by the opposition.Choppies Supermarkets in New Lobengula and Entumbane were burnt in the protests while the Pumula and Lobengula West branches were looted. Chicken Corner in Tshabalala was also targeted. There were also reports of looting from shops in Nkulumane, Lobengula, Pumula, Emganwini, Luveve, Magwegwe, Sizinda and other areas.Meanwhile, 24 people who were part of a mob that allegedly looted shops in Bulawayo's western suburbs appeared in court yesterday for public violence and unlawful entry. They allegedly broke into several shops at Entumbane Shopping Mall and at a butchery in Donnington West before looting various groceries among other goods.The accused persons appeared separately at Western Commonage and Tredgold magistrates' courts for bail application.Nomore Mutare (24), Alex Shumba (30), Audrey Khumalo (23), Destiny Khumalo(18), Henry Matarutse (20), Zivanai Kamudzati (24), Aaron Machona, Tadiwa Taderera, Prosper Ndlovu (22), Nozipho Ngwenya (19), Nhlanhla Nkiwane (33), Miriam Tshuma (32), Essie Munkuli (33), Mariah Tshamala (19), Alfred Zihove (16), Sheila Moyo (62), Anna Colleta Chihava (18), Themba Ncube (37) and Gift Moyo (38) appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube in connection with the alleged looting of groceries, generators, alcohol, plasma television sets among other items at Entumbane Shopping Mall.Tafara Sithole (19) of Donnington West, Austin Chida (33) of Nketa 9, Mike Masvinu (38) of Donnington West, Mannerd Kufakunesu (32) and Shepherd Muhanyi (20) all of Nkulumane 5 suburb appeared at Tredgold magistrates' court before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Sithembiso Ncube charged with public violence.They were arrested while allegedly fleeing from police after looting Donnington West Meats Butchery. The State opposed bail, arguing that the accused persons were not proper candidates for bail given the gravity of the alleged offences.The State further argued the accused persons were a threat to the safety of the community since they participated in civil unrest. Lawyers from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it was the accused persons' Constitutional right to be granted bail, arguing that they were innocent until proven guilty. The accused persons were remanded in custody to January 21 for bail ruling.The accused persons, who are alleged to be part of a mob of about 300 people, allegedly went on the rampage destroying private property, looting and burning shops.Prosecutors said on January 16 at around 11AM, the accused persons connived with several others who are still at large and proceeded to several shops at Entumbane Shopping Mall and Donnington West Meats Butchery where they looted the premises."They were intercepted by anti-riot police and fled in different directions. Police gave chase and managed to apprehend the accused persons," said prosecutors.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Police have set up security checkpoints across the country to account for all hooligans who looted groceries and destroyed property during three-day violent protests orchestrated by the opposition MDC-Alliance and its civil society partners in pursuit of regime change.There are fears that some of them are trying to move their loot to their rural homes to conceal their crimes.In an interview yesterday, police spokesperson Commissioner Charity Charamba said some of the looters had since been arrested, including one person captured on video while pushing a plough he stole at Chitungwiza Town Centre."We know that some of these people are in the process of taking this property to other places. We want to tell members of the public that as security forces, we have already set up security checkpoints where police officers and other security institutions will be checking for such properties, which were looted during this social unrest," said Comm Charamba."Out of those who were arrested is the notorious person who was seen on video footage running away with an ox-drawn plough," she said.Comm Charamba appealed to members of the public to assist the police by supplying information."We are appealing to members of the public with any other information on people who have in their possession goods or property that they looted to report to the police."Following the MDC-Alliance instigated violent demonstrations that rocked the country mainly on Monday, unruly elements went on a looting spree, particularly in Harare, Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Chinhoyi and Kadoma.Groceries, farming equipment, fridges, television sets, motorbikes were among the looted goods. By yesterday, police said they had arrested over 700 people who were implicated in the looting and those involved in organising or participating in the violent protests, which were promoted as a national "shutdown".MDC-Alliance, in conjunction with civil society organisations, principally Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and #ThisFlag have since been identified as deeply involved in the organising and orchestrating the mayhem through social media.
News / National

by Staff reporter

AT a private hospital in Harare on Wednesday, a mother lay between her two children, all writhing in pain from injuries sustained when masked soldiers attacked their home Boko Haram-style.After firing several gunshots at her doorstep in the wee hours of Wednesday, armed soldiers wielding AK47 rifles and wearing balaclavas, forced their way into her home."I heard gunshots early in the morning and, soon afterwards, soldiers broke into the house," she said as she lay between her 16-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter in a hospital bed. "One of the soldiers, who was holding a baton, immediately shouted, 'I am the son of the devil' and charged at me. His colleagues were carrying logs. They went for my two children," she said, gesturing towards one of the children. She sustained a fractured wrist when the soldiers hit her."My children were badly beaten. My children are not into politics, so I am shocked that they were beaten in such a manner," she said in anger. The son wrote Zimsec O' levels and is waiting for results, while the daughter did her A' levels last year.One of the soldiers, she said, threatened to return and rape her."The devil's son', she said, appeared to take particular delight in assaulting her son with barbed wire, while threatening to burn the house."They threatened to come back and rape all the women in the area if they did not disclose where their husbands were hiding. They never explained why they were beating people. They only said Zanu-PF would not tolerate nonsense," she said.In another ward, a police officer with an AK47 rifle stood by the bed as the doctor attended to one of the patients.The officer's presence prevented the doctor from speaking to the Zimbabwe Independent.Another victim, a 21-year-old college student from Harare's Dzivaresekwa Phase 3 suburb, who was badly beaten up on Monday when the protests broke out, said: "I was beaten up on Monday and I sustained a deep cut on my cheek and another on my back. They also took my money and phone. I could only find help today (Wednesday)," he said.A Warren Park D man, who had accompanied his two sons to the same hospital, said he hid in the bathroom, while his children were being assaulted by plain clothed men. He had to listen to heart-rending screams of his sons, as the several men were striking them with wire sjamboks. The men, he said, disembarked from an unmarked Ford Ranger truck and pounced on his two sons as they sat on the veranda, chatting the evening away. "I came here with my two sons, who were badly beaten up on their backs and one has broken bones.They were just seated on the veranda when they pounced on them. It was a group of men in two Ford Ranger trucks with no number plates. They had no proper identification, but my son saw army belts," he said.They sought help at the nearest police station, but were told to leave without assistance."We went to the police and they chased us away like dogs. They said the army and police were deployed in our area and we could not report the cases now and we would only be able to do so once the chaos was over. I came here today, but I don't have the capacity to pay the hospital bills. At the same time, I cannot sit at home and watch my sons in pain," he said.A 29-year-old security guard, who was assaulted while on duty on Tuesday night, said he suffered an arm fracture when soldiers hit him despite wearing his service uniform."I was beaten up by soldiers on Monday night in Budiriro One. I have one broken bone on my hand so I am here to find out the extent of the injury since I was referred here from Budiriro. I am a guard at a shop so they pounced on me. I couldn't come here on Tuesday because the situation was tense," he said.The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) said 68 people had been shot and 172 injured during the protests. The doctors recorded 10 fatalities and raised the red flag over understated government figures of fatalities."Injuries range from extensive deep wounds from secondary gunshot wounds," a statement issued by the ZADHR reads."Most victims died of blunt trauma from gunshot wounds," the doctors said.The majority of the cases were recorded in Harare, Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Karoi and Kadoma.As the protests continued, government rushed to black out the internet.Government said 600 people were arrested in connection with the violence, a figure which human rights groups say is highly conservative.Civil rights leader and cleric Evan Mawarire was among those arrested.Protests broke out a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that prices of fuel had increased by 150%, triggering a jump in public transport fares and raising fears of further price increases.
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has met his Belarusian counterpart President Aleksandr Lukashenko at the Independence Palace in MinskBelarus is considering Zimbabwe as a strategic partner in southern Africa.This came out when Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the Independence Palace in Minsk this Thursday.President Lukashenko said Zimbabwe and Belarus should establish concrete projects which bring tangible results to prove to the people of Zimbabwe the benefits of bilateral relations.President Lukashenko said Belarus understands the difficulties that Zimbabwe is going through, saying every country that is carrying out reforms goes through such challenges but these will come to pass.He said so far Belarus has been working with countries like Algeria, Egypt in North Africa and Sudan in Central Africa, and will work with Zimbabwe in Southern Africa.He said Zimbabwe has the natural resources and educated people to revive the economy and modernise but does not have the resources and therefore requires such friends as Belarus to give hope to the nation.President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe is ready to learn from Belarus which also went through the same challenges when it carried out reforms.He explained that Zimbabwe's economic challenges arose from the move it took to address land imbalances.Earlier on, the President and his host had taken part in a welcoming ceremony in the palace courtyard.There was the singing of the national anthems of the two countries before official talks and a signing ceremony.Zimbabwe is on a mission to look for cooperation and joint ventures in the areas of agriculture, mining, science and technology and education among others.Belarus produces reputable agricultural and mining trucks that can be used to move ore.
News / National

by AP

A Zimbabwean military helicopter on Tuesday fired tear gas at demonstrators blocking a road and burning tires in the capital on a second day of deadly protests after the government more than doubled the price of fuel in the economically shattered country.Soldiers moved in to disperse crowds at the busy intersection and transport hub in Harare amid Zimbabwe's biggest unrest since deadly post-election violence in August. Witnesses also reported violence in the eastern city of Mutare, where people attacked passenger buses and destroyed some shops.Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were disabled. Businesses and schools were shut down and public transport vehicles were grounded in most of the country despite government assurances that security would be provided.The government over the weekend announced a price of $3.11 per litre for diesel, and $3.33 per litre for gasoline. That means gasoline in Zimbabwe is now the most expensive in the world, based on data from GlobalPetrolPrices.com . The site says Hong Kong had the highest price for a litre of gasoline on January 7: $2.04.Five people were killed in Monday's unrest during which security forces opened fire on crowds, according to the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights.Another human rights group said 26 people suffered gunshot wounds and that some were afraid to go to hospitals for fear of arrest or assault.Lives were lost, police officers were injured, property was damaged and more than 200 people were arrested, said Owen Ncube, the state security minister. He blamed the main opposition MDC party and some civil society groups for stoking violence in an attempt to topple the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took power after longtime leader Robert Mugabe was forced to resign in November 2017.The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions had called for a three-day national shutdown to protest against the fuel price increase announced by Mnangagwa, who then left for Russia on a multi-nation trip to try to attract international investment. He is set to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Police and soldiers barged into homes in some Harare suburbs and assaulted people, according to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. The MDC party said its headquarters was attacked.The opposition and other groups supporting the shutdown urged people to stay indoors rather than engage in street action.
Local units ban haphazard use of heavy equipment in infrastructural development

Sixty-nine houses were destroyed while 207 other were damaged by natural calamities, mostly landslides, in Rukum (West) during July and August of 2018. As per the report assessed by the local administration, water-induced disasters destroyed infrastructures worth around Rs 301.5 million in the district.
Entertainment / National

by Staff reporter

Superstar Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi failed to attend the ZBC Coca-Cola winners' prize-giving ceremony held at a local hotel yesterday in Harare due to an undisclosed illness.Popularly known as Samanyanga, Mtukudzi received the "Veteran Musician Honorary Award" in absentia courtesy of Radio Zimbabwe Coca-Cola Top 50."Samanyanga failed to be with us today because he is not feeling well. His manager also failed to attend this event because he wanted time with him," one of the master-of-ceremonies at the event, Patricia Jacob, told fans and musicians who were present at the event.Sungura giant Alick Macheso expressed sadness in the news and wished Tuku a speedy recovery."This is something disturbing, Samanyanga is an icon to all of us and his absence pains me a lot. He is the one who gives us direction and when he is not well, we all feel the pain. I wish him speedy recovery."Samanyanga ndicho chibaba chedu, he is an icon and his absence at this event pains us. All my prayers to him and his family at this time, I want to encourage Mai Samanyanga inguva yaMwari kana muti unozununguswa," he said.Efforts to obtain a comment from Mtukudzi's manager were fruitless as his mobile phone was not reachable by the time of going to print yesterday.Other musicians who were honoured for their outstanding contributions in the music industry on Tuesday were Killer T (Best Zimmdancehall), Alick Macheso (Best Sungura), Obert Chari (Best Upcoming Artiste) and Jeys Marabini (Best Jazz) and the recognition came along with $500.All in all, the leading beverages company awarded 12 musicians, 10 radio listeners and 10 television viewers with combined $15 000 prize money.South Africa-based gospel musician Reverend Togarepi Chivaviro dominated the Radio Zimbabwe Coca-Cola Top 50 with his song Matishamisa and he received $2 500 while another gospel musicians Admire Nago's Wandigadza and Mai Respina Patai's Anokomborera were on second and third positions.Nago received $2 000 while Mai Patai pocketed $1 500.Mai Patai becomes the first female to be in the top three of the annual radio charts."I am very excited that for the first time on Radio Zimbabwe, we had a female artiste in the top three. Congratulations Amai Patai, for defying the odds and showing that female artists are capable. Makorokoto Makuru Amai."We are excited to see female artist doing well. Coca-Cola is a brand that promotes women empowerment," Coca-Cola senior brand manager Vee Chibanda said.On the other hand, Enzo Ishall's Kanjiva dominated ZBC TV Coke Top 50 and he pocketed $2 500 while Jah Prayzah, who was in South Africa, got $2 000 thanks to his Dzamutsana video which was on second position.Jah Prayzah's former guitarist and backing vocalist, Baba Harare, received $1 500 for his video The Reason Why which was voted third on the annual charts.
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About Censored News Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell. Since 2006, Censored News has received more than 20 million pageviews. As a collective of writers, photographers and broadcasters, we publish news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. Contact publisher Brenda Norrell: brendanorrell@gmail.com

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An alarming story in the Washington Post about US residents going to Mexico for more affordable surgery and then contracting a deadly microbial infection.

Tamika Capone thought she was making a smart call by traveling to Mexico for bariatric surgery. Her doctor had urged her to have the procedure to reduce her out-of-control weight and blood pressure. But her husband's health insurance would not cover the $17,500 bill. After a friend got the surgery in Tijuana for $4,000, Capone decided to do the same. Nearly four months later, the Arkansas woman is one of at least a dozen U.S. residents who returned from surgeries in Tijuana with a rare and potentially deadly strain of bacteria resistant to virtually all antibiotics, say federal health officials. Some in the group recovered, but Capone, 40, remains seriously ill despite being treated with a barrage of drugs.
After six school days on the picket line, more then 30,000 LA public school teachers voted to accept an offer from the nation's second-largest school district that amounted to a near-total capitulation by management in favor of the teachers' broad demands: smaller classes; more aides, librarians and counselors; better school maintenance; support for a statewide moratorium on new charter schools; and releasing the cost-of-living-allowances that the state had paid to the LA Unified School District, but which the district had not passed on to the workers for several years, giving every teacher a real-terms pay-cut every year.



The teachers were joined on the picket line by supporters ranging from parents' and students' groups (the students had their own demands: an end to in-school stop-and-frisk, limits on police officers and military recruiters in schools, and an emphasis on their education over their incarceration), and firefighters. All in all, a strike by 30,000 teachers saw 60,000 people on the picket line, including teachers from LA's largest charter school.





This week's Intercepted podcast features a long and informative conversation with teacher-organizers who have been on the lines; also noteworthy is Jacobin's interview with UTLA chief negotiator Arlene Inouye.

Teachers in other "blue" cities and states, from Denver to Oakland, are looking to the LA teachers' example, defying the Democratic establishment and its longstanding affinity for school privatization through charter schools (see also, Cory Brooker's tone-deaf appearance this week in support of Louisiana's notoriously racist charter schools which were supercharged by the shock-doctrine looting that took place after Katrina).

Nothing will be the same after this. We now have to look as a union at how we can harness all this energy  and incorporate all the new leaders that have emerged  for the struggles ahead. I think the sky's the limit. I hope other unions will really be encouraged and inspired, and I believe they are, because I've been getting sent a ton of messages from across the country. We were inspired by Chicago and we were inspired by the red states. Our actions all encourage each other  and this movement is just going to grow. I'm so proud to be part of this struggle for public education, for social justice, for women, for racial justice, for all working people. And our unions are the place where we really have the power to bring this all together.

After LA's Strike, "Nothing Will Be the Same" [Eric Blanc/Jacobin]

LA teachers return to classrooms after 6-day strike [Holly Yan/CNN]
With the World Economic Forum kicking off in Davos, Switzerland  where the super-rich are already decrying Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's massively popular 70% tax-rate on earning over $10,000,000  it's a great time to revisit Anand Giridharadas's must-read 2018 book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, in which the former McKinsey consultant and Aspen Institute fellow catalogs the way that the super-rich have starved their host-nations of the funds needed to operate a functional civilization, and then laundered their reputations by dribbling back some of that looted booty in the form of "philanthropic donations" that always seem to redound to their personal benefit.

In a long essay adapted from Winners Take All, published in The Guardian, Giridharadas uses Davos as a jumping off point to explain his thesis and update it for 2019's facts-on-the-ground. While this essay is no substitute for reading Giridharadas's book, it's an excellent introduction to his ideas.



There is no denying that today's American elite may be among the more socially concerned elites in history. But it is also, by the cold logic of numbers, among the more predatory. By refusing to risk its way of life, by rejecting the idea that the powerful might have to sacrifice for the common good, it clings to a set of social arrangements that allow it to monopolise progress and then give symbolic scraps to the forsaken  many of whom wouldn't need the scraps if society were working right. It is vital that we try to understand the connection between these elites' social concern and predation, between the extraordinary helping and the extraordinary hoarding, between the milking  and perhaps abetting  of an unjust status quo and the attempts by the milkers to repair a small part of it. It is also important to understand how the elites see the world, so that we might better assess the merits and limitations of their world-changing campaigns.

There are many ways to make sense of all this elite concern and predation. One is that the elites are doing the best they can. The world is what it is, the system is what it is, the forces of the age are bigger than anyone can resist, and the most fortunate are helping. This view may allow that elite helpfulness is just a drop in the bucket, but reassures itself that at least it is something. The slightly more critical view is that this sort of change is well-meaning but inadequate. It treats symptoms, not root causes  it does not change the fundamentals of what ails us. According to this view, elites are shirking the duty of more meaningful reform.

But there is still another, darker way of judging what goes on when elites put themselves in the vanguard of social change: that doing so not only fails to make things better, but also serves to keep things as they are. After all, it takes the edge off of some of the public's anger at being excluded from progress. It improves the image of the winners. By using private and voluntary half-measures, it crowds out public solutions that would solve problems for everyone, and do so with or without the elite's blessing. There is no question that the outpouring of elite-led social change in our era does great good and soothes pain and saves lives. But we should also recall Oscar Wilde's words about such elite helpfulness being "not a solution" but "an aggravation of the difficulty". More than a century ago, in an age of churn like our own, he wrote: "Just as the worst slave-owners were those who were kind to their slaves, and so prevented the horror of the system being realised by those who suffered from it, and understood by those who contemplated it, so, in the present state of things in England, the people who do most harm are the people who try to do most good."
The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday issued an "emergency" security alert urging federal civilian agencies to secure login credentials for their respective internet domain records.

The alert follows up on a recent report of DNS attacks said to have originated in Iran.

In today's statement, DHS says managers need to audit DNS records for unauthorized edits, update their passwords, and turn on multi-factor authentication for all accounts through which DNS records could be altered. Agencies have two weeks to implement the directives.

Cyberscoop today reported that DHS is aware of at least six civilian agency domains that have been impacted by DNS hijacks.

Read it in full at cyber.dhs.gov: Emergency Directive 19-01 [January 22, 2019], 'Mitigate DNS Infrastructure Tampering.' There's also a PDF link.

Excerpt from the 'background' section of the document:

In coordination with government and industry partners, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is tracking a series of incidents1 involving Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure tampering. CISA is aware of multiple executive branch agency domains that were impacted by the tampering campaign and has notified the agencies that maintain them. Using the following techniques, attackers have redirected and intercepted web and mail traffic, and could do so for other networked services. The attacker begins by compromising user credentials, or obtaining them through alternate means, of an account that can make changes to DNS records. Next, the attacker alters DNS records, like Address (A), Mail Exchanger (MX), or Name Server (NS) records, replacing the legitimate address of a service with an address the attacker controls. This enables them to direct user traffic to their own infrastructure for manipulation or inspection before passing it on to the legitimate service, should they choose. This creates a risk that persists beyond the period of traffic redirection. Because the attacker can set DNS record values, they can also obtain valid encryption certificates for an organization's domain names. This allows the redirected traffic to be decrypted, exposing any user-submitted data. Since the certificate is valid for the domain, end users receive no error warnings. To address the significant and imminent risks to agency information and information systems presented by this activity, this emergency directive requires the following near-term actions to mitigate risks from undiscovered tampering, enable agencies to prevent illegitimate DNS activity for their domains, and detect unauthorized certificates.

Excerpt from a related report by Catalin Cimpanu at ZDnet's Zero Day blog:
House panel clears three ambassadorial nominees

The Parliamentary Hearing Committee on Tuesday unanimously endorsed the names of the ambassadorial nominees to Canada, Kuwait and Switzerland.
The Mercer County Sheriff's Department has arrested a Beulah High School teacher who is accused of sending nude photos of herself to a 17-year-old student.

Kelsie Laura Schmidt, 24, was charged Tuesday with felony luring minors by computer or other means.

A detective with the Mercer County Sheriff's Department was called to Beulah High School on Friday to investigate a report of a teacher who had been sending nude photos via Snapchat to male high school students, according to an affidavit.

The detective interviewed a 17-year-old male student who made a comment "that he could get the math teacher in trouble for pictures that she had sent him," the affidavit said.

The student told the detective he received three or four naked photos on Snapchat from Schmidt in August and September. The student described the photos were of Schmidt from the waist up with her hair somewhat covering her breasts. Another was a photo of a person's legs with the message, "Get a group and play naked hide and seek."

Schmidt allegedly admitted to the detective that she had sent the nude photos of herself to the student.
The North Dakota Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to adopt a resolution to study the impact of violent, disruptive and inappropriate student behavior in K-12 schools.

The bill's hearing before the Senate Education Committee last week drew testimony from educators in Fargo who said they were assaulted by one of their students.

Sen. Erin Oban, D-Bismarck, said teachers are facing new challenges as more students are coming to schools with complex behavioral and mental health needs.

The study would provide information on violent, disruptive and inappropriate behavior perpetrated by students against students, teachers and staff. It also would study creating a uniform reporting system.

The bill was given a unanimous 7-0 "do pass" recommendation from the Senate Education Committee.

"Its a chance for us to take a step forward in creating healthier and safer environments in our schools," Sen. Kyle Davison, R-Fargo, said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

The bill now moves to the House.

(Reach Blair Emerson at 701-250-8251 or Blair.Emerson@bismarcktribune.com)

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Sen. Steve Daines was elected to represent the people of Montana. But it has become eminently clear that he doesnt represent all Montanans. Montana has the second-largest number of federal employees per capita of any state in the nation. And this week many of those people will miss their second paycheck while their senator allows them to be held hostage in a game of political chicken.

Just one short month ago, Daines and his colleagues passed a bill that they and Trump agreed to. Their action would keep the government open for six or seven weeks while they worked out some differences on border security. Unfortunately, that didnt sit well with Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Meadows, so Donald Trump changed his mind and very proudly shut down a large part of our government.

The House of Representatives passed a bill during the first week in January that was identical to the one passed by the Senate 100 to 0 and sent it to the Senate for action. We all know how this is playing out. Sen. Mitch McConnell, Daines and the Republicans in the Senate have lost their courage and abdicated their responsibility to be a co-equal branch of government.
On Wednesday, the Senate State Administration Committee will meet to discuss Senate Bill 107, introduced by Sen. Jon Sesso, D-Butte, which will help state and local governments operate in the dark, without so much as its citizens knowing. This bill is being pushed forward on behalf of Gov. Steve Bullock's administration, which wants the freedom to do what it wants without essential transparency.

SB107 would allow government agencies to quit advertising for bids for construction contracts and instead soften rules about giving adequate notice as well as allow the state to bury these notices virtually anywhere it feels like. If this legislation goes through, it will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. What's even worse is that proponents of the bill who may try to sell this notion as a money-saving idea may save a few nickels and wind up spending millions more in taxpayer money.

Here are some of the changes the bill would make. It would take the notice of the bidding process from independent and well-known publications and let the state be in charge of posting for projects, like major construction.
A bill to increase Wyomings wind tax blows through Cheyenne nearly every year, and every year it dies.

Some lawmakers dont support the increase because they are afraid of depressing wind investments in Wyoming. For some the tax is unattractive on principle, or because they believe the current wind product tax  unique in the United States  is sufficient.

But supporters persist. They argue that Wyoming wind producers should be taxed and that right now the tax is insufficient. They point to the contribution made by other industries: coal, oil, gas. Wind has an impact, an irreparable change to the landscape of Wyoming too, and the state should be paid for it, they argue.

The proposal has failed four times, but its back again in 2019, as some lawmakers say they are ready to address revenue shortfalls and expand Wyomings tax base beyond what is levied on minerals.

Sen. Cale Case, a longtime supporter of upping the wind tax, said this very well could be the year for wind revenue, too.
The bill received unanimous vocal praise in public testimony from state employees, including two lobbyists for Montana university students.

Ronda Wiggers of the Helena Chamber of Commerce reminded the committee of the economic role state employees play in Montana cities with large public workforces.

Weve heard from the people whose lives are directly impacted when you make your decisions about how we pay our state employees. Im here to just remind you that theres other people that are also affected and support our state employees, Wiggers said. The businesses in the towns that are majorly affected by state employees  Helena and the university cities  our economies also depend on these people making good wages and fair wages."

House Minority Leader Rep. Casey Schreiner, a Democrat from Great Falls, said House Democrats are very happy with the bipartisan effort behind the bill.

Our caucus has carried a very similar bill session after session after session, and if it takes a member of the majority party to carry it for us to get across the finish line, we are actually applauding that effort, Schreiner said.
A Wolf Point man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with a fatal crash in Roosevelt County in October that killed one passenger.

Andrew Preston Martell, 32, was indicted in U.S. District Court in Great Falls last month after he allegedly caused the death of a woman while driving drunk on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation near Wolf Point.

Martell pleaded not guilty to the single charge during his Dec. 27 arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Johnson.

The indictment does not specify who the victim was, and states only that Martell's drunken driving on Oct. 1 "was the proximate cause of the unlawful killing" of the woman.

The only fatal crash matching that date and location was a single-vehicle rollover on Powder River Road north of Wolf Point that night, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.

A 32-year-old Wolf Point man had been driving a Dodge Caravan northbound on the gravel road, according to a crash report provided by MHP, when the van ran off the right side of the road and down a steep ditch.

The "vehicle rolled multiple times before landing on the driver's side, facing southbound," the report states. "All three occupants were trapped in the vehicle."
Government should honour agreement signed with Dr KC: Minister Yadav

Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Upendra Yadav has said the government should honestly implement the agreement signed with Dr Govinda KC.
College age is also often when mental illnesses present themselves, she said  between 18 and 24 years old.

Although there are many resources available to students on campus, Tyler-McSherry said many students may be confused on their options. She highlighted mental health counseling available through Student Health Services.

"Lots of students dont realize theyre eligible to use the service at no out-of-pocket cost to talk to a counselor, she said.

That applied to students with and without student insurance, she said.

MSUB has seen no completed suicides in the past five years, according to MSUB police department, and Tyler-McSherry said she thinks health services is effective in targeting at-risk students at a peer, faculty and familial level.

Faculty at the school have many resources if they think a student may be in crisis, and the health center hosts a variety of programs for students to help educate them on suicide and mental illness. She hopes these programs will give students, or anyone, the resources they need.

We want to see people getting more help and see the rates go down, she said.
The Billings Chamber of Commerce and KULR8 recently announced American Ninja Warrior's stuntwoman Jessie Graff and host Akbar Gbajabiamila as the keynote speakers for the 2019 Billings Chamber Breakfast.

According to a news release from the chamber, the event will also feature returning emcee James Cunningham.

The breakfast will take place at MetraPark from 7 to 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 4. Doors will open at 6 a.m.

Two ticketing options are available:

$675 for a reserved table of 10 on the arena floor with a breakfast buffet

$40 stadium seating general admission with a hot, bagged breakfast

Tickets may be purchased by emailing Jessica Hart at jessica@billingschamber.com.

Businesses interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact Joe McGinnis by calling 406-245-4111, or emailing joe@billingschamber.com.

For more information, go to billingschamber.com/events/chamber-breakfast.

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The United States Air Force Academy Bands Falconaires jazz ensemble, from Colorado Springs, will perform a free concert at Senior High, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24.

According to a news release from the USAF Academy Band, the evening will feature an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary jazz repertoire that celebrates our national heritage.

One of nine performing ensembles within the USAF Academy Band, the Falconaires features 18 professional active-duty airman musicians. The ensemble plays a major role in cultivating our national heritage through Americas only indigenous musical genre  jazz.

For more than 60 years, the Academy Band has used the power of music to honor our nations heroes, inspire Air Force personnel and the nation they serve, produce innovative musical programs and products, and communicate Air Force excellence to millions around the world.

Under the command of Lt. Col. Daniel L. Price, the USAF Academy Band represents the Air Force Academy and its mission to educate, train and inspire men and women to become officers of character, motivated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation.

The Billings concert is free and open to the public. Tickets are available online at eventbrite.com (search Air Force Falconaires) and at the Rimrock Mall management office while supplies last.

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Milton Friedman once observed that "nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." To be sure, spending bills or regulations initially sold as limited responses to specific conditions often take on a life of their own. They create constituencies that receive funds or protection from the program and thus have a strong interest in converting the temporary into the permanent.But these constituencies need not always win. Citizens who desire to control the size and scope of government have some tools at their disposal to defeat the special interests. Some are constitutional, such as spending limitations and referendum requirements for public debt. Others are statutory.A good example of the latter is North Carolina's regulatory-sunset law. Enacted in 2013, it subjects every rule on the books to a 10-year lifespan. If the administrative agency responsible for the rule fails to review the regulation within the time allotted, or concludes that its costs exceed any continuing benefits, the regulation goes away.On the other hand, if the agency concludes that the rule remains relevant and cost-beneficial, it stays in force. If such a rule has attracted public comments over the preceding two years, then it must be go back through the regulatory process for re-adoption.As of early 2018, some 13,500 rules had been subjected to periodic review by state agencies. Most, 62 percent, were kept in place unchanged. Regulators deemed 26 percent to require a re-adoption process. The remaining 12 percent, about 1,600 outmoded rules, went "poof."While policies enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly on taxes, spending, education, and election laws may have attracted more attention, regulatory reform may well be the most important legacy of the state's conservative governance since 2011. There have been meaningful changes in specific rules or regulatory procedure every single year.Unfortunately, while Friedman's observation turns out not to apply to every government program, the effects of special-interest pleading and bureaucratic torpidity remain powerful. Despite the efforts of some state lawmakers and activists, North Carolina has yet to make much headway on occupational licensing , which artificially constricts labor markets and entrepreneurship, and the certificate-of-need law, which artificially constricts consumer choice and competition in medical services.I hope that state lawmakers return to these two specific regulatory matters, at least, during the 2019 session of the General Assembly. But they should also consider building on the periodic-review-and-sunset system they created in 2013 with more broad-based reforms to North Carolina's regulatory process.My John Locke Foundation colleague Jon Sanders has some suggestions along these lines. For example, he recommends North Carolina add a "regulatory throttle" - a requirement that if the estimated costs of proposed state regulations exceed a certain threshold, executive agencies can't issue them on their own. A vote of the General Assembly would be required.Sanders also points out that North Carolina is one of only six states lacking formal protections of small business in regulatory proceedings. Agencies should be encouraged to "make common-sense adjustments to small businesses' regulatory burdens, such as compliance and reporting requirements," he writes, so small firms aren't disadvantaged in competition with large companies that can afford teams of specialized compliance officers and attorneys.State regulations certainly can be necessary to protect public health and safety. When households or businesses act in ways that damage the lives, liberty, and property of others, lawsuits by the affected parties are not always a feasible or sufficient remedy. Provided the health or safety benefits exceed the cost of the rule, government should respond with properly designed regulations.But as Friedman observed long ago, and everyday experience confirms, those who administer government programs tend to act in ways to ensure the continued existence of those programs. That doesn't make them villains. It makes them human. Inertia, familiarity, and self-interest influence their behavior, just as they affect us all.That's why we need procedural and constitution safeguards against imprudent expenditures, excessive public debts, and perpetual regulations. These policies serve the public interest by maximizing the public's freedom.
The Democratic Party is the Greatest Threat to America

In a nutshell, this is what the Democratic Party wants for American citizens..... This is what it believes government can impose on us -



It wants open borders - to allow the uncontrolled immigration and smuggling of drugs into our country to overwhelm our system and our services and to poison and kill our children. It wants to continue allowing drug traffickers to make drugs readily available on our streets and on our college campuses, and to allow dangerous and brutal MS-13 gang members to terrorize our communities and neighborhoods. These are all simply non-important, non-crisis-level collateral problems caused by the more righteous decision to ignore immigration laws and do what is "moral.



As it allows more and more criminals and drugs into our country, it wants at the same time to confiscate firearms and to outlaw most of the common guns (205 of them) that citizens purchase and acquire to defend themselves, their families, and their homes. [Dianne Feinstein has already introduced the bill, co-sponsored by a slew of Democratic Senators, and Democratic states are already enforcing gun confiscation laws, other gun control laws, and Red Flag laws].



And then for the coup-de-grace.... in return for providing no safety or national security, for increasing the level of crime in our country, in our cities, and towns, and in our communities, and for taking away our most essential of human rights (the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense and to defend against government tyranny), it wants to jack up our federal income tax rate to 70% to pay for all the freebies that will be provided to those who don't work, who don't want to work, who are not "comfortable enough" in their poverty, who are having more and more kids without being married or being able to afford them, and who pour into the country illegally.



Don't be fooled by their rhetoric or their feigned concern for morality or compassion. It's about one thing and one thing only - growing the voter base for the Democratic Party. A party that prides itself on everything unpatriotic, unnatural, and illegal must grow its votes by increasing those bases. They despise our Constitution and our laws; they despise our traditional values and they despise our sense of nationality and "America first."



A government that offers no protection, no security of rights, and nothing of real lasting value is one that is no different from Rome's "bread and circuses." Like the history of the Roman Empire, a government that just treats man's basic urges and distracts him while the country falls into a downward spiral, is one that signal's the country's eventual demise.



Democrats are the biggest threat to our country and to our Constitution. They are bad for you and bad for America.


The students from UNC and others who have been advocates and activists have actually had a very important role in moving this conversation forward ... So I give them full credit for it. I look at them as trying to contribute in extremely productive ways at an issue that is of great impact for all of us.

Carol Folt's tenure as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill came to an abrupt end last week, thanks to her failure to grasp political realities and her defiant support of the school's radical social justice crowd. She challenged the system's governing body, the Board of Governors, by having the pedestal of the Civil War memorial known as "Silent Sam" removed. In response , the Governors gave her a couple of weeks to clean out her desk instead of letting her finish the spring semester as she intended.It should hardly surprise anybody that Folt ran afoul of the university system's ultimate authority to promote the social justice agenda. After all, she has always sided with the radical diversity agenda against more prudent interests; there is ample evidence from her days as provost and interim president at Dartmouth College as well as her time at UNC.Once the Confederate statue known as Silent Sam was pulled down by a howling mob of protesters in August 2018, Folt's end was inevitable. It was obvious that the mob's action had official imprimatur, with police from the campus and the city of Chapel Hill "standing down" while the bolts connecting the statue to its pedestal were removed, the ropes were attached, and the statue was yanked to the ground. Emails showed that Chapel Hill's police indeed had orders to turn away from the protest once the actual vandalism commenced.One question that remains is with whom the decision to stand down originated. Standard procedure is for the city police to follow the lead of the university police during campus incidents. And, in a matter of such national importance as the violent destruction of a highly visible monument by a mob of hundreds, the decision is generally made at a higher level than just the campus police. While we the public may never know the precise details of Folt's involvement, we know she closely followed the event blow-by-blow through text messages . She was in charge of the campus and she knew what was happening in real time, so the buck stops at her desk.With the foolish decision to yield to the mob, Folt was as good as gone. Perhaps she thought that, if the statue were pulled down outside of her visible control, the problem would just go away by itself. Instead, the situation's volatility increased: Folt had placed herself in the middle of a highly charged tug-of-war between the campus and the rest of the state, with no possible solution that could please both sides. There were those who wanted the statue off the campus and those who wanted it restored, with no common ground between them. Her suggestion in December that the school erect a $5.3 million building to house Silent Sam (with annual operations of $800,000) was derided by all factions and officially shot down by the Board of Governors.Having completely fumbled her earlier handling of the statue protests, she doubled down with her more recent order to remove Silent Sam's pedestal and plaque-without the Board's knowledge or approval.That audacious act was both within character and predictable. Back at Dartmouth, Folt deliberately stoked a controversy that began with a small group of gender radicals taking over the stage at an orientation program for admitted high school seniors. The radicals, who called themselves "Real-Talk Dartmouth," shouted, "Dartmouth has a problem" and presented a scenario of the campus as an ominous sexual battleground filled with violence and intimidation to the stunned future freshmen.Which, of course, was silly; Dartmouth is far safer than most places on earth, and the protesters represented just about nobody else on campus. But instead of regarding the incident as a teachable moment about civil discourse and handing the protesters a minor punishment for interrupting a campus event, Folt poured gasoline on the fire, turning it into a raging altercation. She gave an inflammatory speech in support of Real-Talk Dartmouth, in which she condemned campus society as repressive beyond the pale. (Without irony, or perhaps, without a clue, she said her talk was about "opening the door to civil debate.") A week after the orientation session was disrupted, she shut down classes for a "campus wide 'diversity and inclusion' training day" to further the protesters' cause.Folt's complicity with the radical agenda did not stop once she came to Chapel Hill. She supported a task force on sexual assault convened by Holden Thorp, her predecessor. She turned the task force's findings into school policy, even though the new rules eliminated the due process right of the accused to face his or her accuser, and introduced the absurd "affirmative consent" standard (in which each step in the act of seduction requires verbal agreement). Folt also hired additional Title IX investigators to pursue complaints of sexual discrimination, harassment, and assault.Much of the focus on sexual violence at Chapel Hill at that time was driven by a pair of activists, Annie Hall and Andrea Pino, both former UNC students who claimed to be victims of campus rape. Neither woman reported her assault to police, so timely investigations using modern techniques were never conducted to ascertain or disprove their claims. Pino's tale, in particular, seems dubious and started breaking down once it was placed under the national microscope. Brooklyn College history professor K.C. Johnson and National Journal contributing editor Stuart Taylor, who had previously debunked the Duke lacrosse hoax, wrote in a new book on campus rape thatYet Folt consistently supported Hall and Pino. She appeared in campus forums with them and, in 2014, when the new sexual assault policy was announced, praised them effusively:In 2015, at the height of the Black Lives Matters protests, Folt initiated a campus " Town Hall on Race and Inclusion ," with liberal syndicated columnist Clarence Page as the moderator. As the event got underway, a chanting mob of 40 student protesters bursts into the auditorium, holding signs saying such things as "F- Whiteness." They took over the stage and berated the audience, then read a list of 40 demands, most of them ridiculously impractical. The group's spokesman concluded with the threat thatFolt stood meekly on the side of the stage while the protesters raged, even though campus security stood ready at her command to restore order. (One wonders whether the protest was a staged event, with Folt knowing ahead of time that the event would be disrupted?) In her closing remarks, she expressed what appeared to be support for the protesters (and the more aggressive audience participants). "We couldn't have heard more strongly that we need training," she said, most likely referring to "racial equity training," which one participant suggested should be mandatory for university employees.When the Silent Sam controversy arose in 2017, Folt made numerous comments indicating that she was on the side of the protesters and wanted the statue removed. In September of that year, she said that A couple of months later, Folt sent a message around campus saying that the school would move the statue for safety reasonsbut stating that they were prevented by state law from doing so.So, with such a track record, her impetuous removal of the pedestal was to be expected. She gave the Board no choice but to demand that she leave campus by the end of January instead of sticking around until May. Who knows what mischief she could have done to the school in her final semester, with no worries about salary raises or continued employment to temper her sympathies for radical politics.The Carol Folt saga should herald a new era in Chapel Hill. The days when the powers-that-be could appoint a standard left-wing academic like Folt to head a major public university and expect everything to run smoothly are over. On today's campus, friction is to be anticipated; strong leadership is needed to keep the discourse civil. Also necessary is an open mind to listen to all sides and common sense for making fair, rational judgments. Ivy League elitists steeped in the left-wing academic tradition, such as Folt (Dartmouth), Duke's Dick Brodhead (Yale), and Brodhead's successor Vincent Price (Penn), no longer fit the position.For reality is dictating change. Much of the country is catching onto the seriousness of the cultural transformation being conducted on college campuses. Whatever one's feelings about Silent Sam the statue as a symbol of racial division, there is the deeper question of Silent Sam the cultural metaphor . His demolition represented not just the physical act of pulling down a particular artwork, but the symbolic act of tearing down the rule of law and due process, tearing down respect for our own history and culture, and tearing down our spiritual contract with both past and future generations. Silent Sam, like him or not, now represents a free, orderly, stable society; the mob represents, not justice, but chaos or tyranny.It's time to get UNC leadership that shows respect for all the people, not just for the angry, noisy ones who want to tear everything down. The choice of Carol Folt for UNC-Chapel Hill was an all-too-predictable mistake. Campus controversies will be unavoidable in the near future; it's time to select leadership who can handle them on a higher plane than yielding to the mob.
Written in 1903, the University of Texas fight song's opening lyrics are "The Eyes of Texas are upon you/All the livelong day." Unfortunately, for many on campus, the sentiments expressed are more than just a catchy tune-it's a frightening reality.Thanks to four policies that the school maintains-a verbal harassment ban, an Acceptable Use Policy governing internet & digital use, a Residence Hall Manual, and a "Campus Climate Response Team"-the eyes of the University of Texas really are on students, keeping tabs on their speech all the time, everywhere.First: UT's ban on "verbal harassment." Contained in the school's Institutional Rules on Student Services and Activities, the ban prohibits speech that isCertainly, "offensive" is a highly subjective term. What's toxic to one student may be perfectly acceptable to another. Alas, the school fails to sufficiently define the term, putting students in the precarious position of postulating whether their words might wound another, even if they weren't intended to. And although the rules nominally provide an exception for speech that is "necessary" to the expression of an idea, there's zero guidance about what the phrase means or how it might be applied.The school's Acceptable Use Policy is just as bad. Governing information-technology resources (such as email and internet access), it prohibits communications that are "uncivil," "rude," or "harassing." Again, "uncivil," "rude," and "harassing" aren't defined, thus placing a tremendous amount of discretion in the hands of university bureaucrats. Should these rules be violated, potential punishmentsCan a snide comment on someone's social media page using a university Wi-Fi signal truly open up students to suspension? It would appear so.The Residence Hall Manual-which, it should be noted, governs one-fifth of the student body who live in university housing-proscribes yet another version of "harassment." In this setting, the term specifically lists "racism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ageism, ableism, and any other force that seeks to suppress another individual or group of individuals" as a transgression. This word salad of social justice buzzwords comes with no definitions of these salacious terms.Later on, the manual asserts, "Uncivil behaviors and language that interfere with the privacy, health, welfare, individuality, or safety of other persons are not permitted." How, exactly, does a student "interfere" with the "individuality" of another? It's unlikely anyone wants to find that out firsthand.Last, (but certainly not least) of UT's speech-suppressing policies is its Campus Climate Response Team (CCRT). Living up to its Orwellian name, the CCRT asks students and faculty to report "bias incidents" and "campus climate incidents" that they see other students committing-which the CCRT then logs, publishes online, investigates, and punishes.The school fails to provide sufficiently narrow definitions of what "bias incidents" or "campus climate incidents" actually are. But it's clear that protected speech is covered. The CCRT website lists examples include "somebody...creat[ing] a hostile or offensive classroom environment," "[i]nsulting and insensitive posts on social media or group chat apps pertaining to race, gender identity, or sexual orientation," "[d]erogatory comments made on a...course Facebook page," etc.Where do these policies apply? The verbal harassment rule "applies to all speech on the campus," but the school stipulates that "[t]he University may take disciplinary action in response to...incidents that have a substantial connection to the interests of the University regardless of the location in which the incident(s) occur." Quite literally, you can get in trouble anywhere there might be a UT tie-in-online, out of town, or even out of the country, if it's a study abroad program. The Acceptable Use Policy would appear to govern communications sent to and from UTexas.edu email accounts, as well as transmitted via UT networks. The Residence Hall Manual covers everything in the dorms. And the CCRT? Complaints can be lodged on-campus, off-campus, or online-in short, basically everywhere.Readers may wonder how a conservative state's flagship university came to have such an array of policies hostile to free speech. Unfortunately, these policies have been quietly accumulating for years (for example, the Campus Climate Response Team was created in 2011) and have been both written and enforced by university bureaucrats (in particular, the Office for Inclusion and Equity and the school's Title IX Office). These departments disdain the concept of free speech, preferring speech that is controlled in ways that allegedly benefit "marginalized" campus groups.Unfortunately, the school's policies are unconstitutionally overbroad and vague-discouraging the exercise of free speech and expression on campus because students must guess at the meanings of terms the school uses. There are a substantial number of instances in which those policies cannot be applied consistent with the First Amendment. In addition, they may be enforced in an arbitrary and discriminatory manner based solely on the content of students' speech, which violates students' rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The University of Texas is a public school and is bound to uphold the rights enshrined in the Constitution. Sadly, it has failed to do so.This is why Speech First-a membership association created to defend students' speech rights on campus through litigation and other means-filed a federal lawsuit against UT on behalf of its members on December 13.Three members, in particular, are currently incurring concrete harm as a result of the school's policies; they desire to speak about contentious issues of the day, including immigration, Israel, the #MeToo movement, and the Second Amendment, yet fear that by doing so, they would potentially face investigation and discipline, as their views could easily be characterized by their peers as "offensive" or "uncivil." Accordingly, these members are listed in the complaint as Students A, B, and C-because they credibly fear punishment from the very institution where they pay tuition to expand their horizons.Students at the University of Texas, including Speech First members, have been chilled and deterred from speaking openly about issues that are important to them-credibly fearing that their views may be considered "offensive," "biased," "uncivil," or "rude" by other students, which could get them reported. The University is unlikely to voluntarily change these policies-which means the courts must now intervene.
Gov. Pete Ricketts has appointed a woman with at least 20 years' experience in human services leadership to replace Courtney Phillips as chief operating officer of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Dannette R. Smith, 61, has directed the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Human Services Department since July 2013. She was also the City of Seattle director of the Department of Human Services for three years and director of youth and family services for Mecklenburg County in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area from 2001 to 2007.

In Virginia Beach, she oversaw an eight-member executive team, a staff of 1,600 and a $121 million budget.

Nebraska HHS is the largest department in state government, with 4,600 employees and a $3.5 billion budget. Smith will oversee five divisions: behavioral health, children and family services, developmental disabilities, Medicaid and long-term care, and public health, as well as agency operations.

She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and has a bachelor of science degree in psychology. She has a master's of social work degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, according to her resume.

Ricketts said in a news release he was looking for a customer-oriented leader for the agency.
A new option is available when an emergency happens and those involved are unable to call 911.

Southeast Region 911 launched an initiative called Text to 911 for its 16 counties in southeast Nebraska. At this time, Text-to-911 service is available to the public, through most wireless carriers in the southeast region.

Carla Jones, Communications director of Southeast Communications in Beatrice, said the service is a welcome addition to the department.

It is helpful in certain situations where the party is unable to call, she said. There have been cases out west that there was child texting in the backseat to 911 because a parent was driving drunk. Also in domestic violence situations or kidnappings.

Text to 911 is the next step in accessing emergency services as technology advances, according to a press release.

Officials stress that texting 911 is not meant to take the place of calling 911 using standard voice calls.

We always stress that if you can call, call because its faster, Jones said. Theres a little bit of lag time for texts to 911 and we have to text the response. Verbal is always better.
Oh Happy, Sunny Days: Oregon Coast Warmer Than Portland, Valley

Published 01/23/2019 at 3:53 AM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Portland, Oregon)  Great news is in the air  quite literally  if you love sunny, warm weather on the Oregon coast. The beaches, the inland valley and the Portland area will start to get a run of blue skies that could last a week, but it appears the beaches will be even more spring-like than inland.

In fact, the Oregon coast could be looking at record highs, reaching into the 50s or even 60s this week.

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland is pointing to everything starting on Thursday, while Wednesday will remain cloudy and rainy in all of western Oregon. NWS predictions only go as far as next Tuesday at this point, while Portland media weather pundits are extending their looking glass as far as Thursday next week, pointing to a good seven days of sunny conditions.

On the coast, daytime highs linger in the 50s some days but predictions are showing as high as 58 on Saturday, but in the low 60s for the central Oregon coast  such as Lincoln City, Newport or Yachats. The NWS said that at least through Tuesday the operational models are showing a large ridge keeping things warm everywhere, although the valley will have morning fog which will keep temps lower than the beaches. The big warming factor is east winds.

This will produce a multi-day stretch of dry weather, mild temperatures, and areas of late night and morning valley fog, the NWS said. East winds become increasingly likely late in the weekend into early next week.

Saturday sees a turn in direction offshore that will heat things up even further, at select locations along the coast, the Cascade foothills and the Coast Range.

Even mid to upper 60s do not appear out of the question, the NWS said late Tuesday night. Willamette Valley temperatures will be a little more tricky given areas of morning fog could hamper temperatures.

The NWS said record highs are possible for coastal areas that get downslope winds, referring to winds warmed up by the coast range.

Another updated statement from the NWS early Wednesday referred to a modest downslope wind event, which could mean the record-breaking temps possibilities are already fading.

Southern Oregon coast forecasts look similar, although slightly warmer. Places like Bandon, Reedsport and Brookings may be one or two degrees higher than the northern half of the shoreline.

Meanwhile, offshore conditions may remain a little breezier until the weekend, then they too calm down to what the NWS called a thermal trough developing along the coast in a very similar manner to our typical summer systems.

Winds are predicted to be light, which means when youre at the tideline the sun will be reflecting back from the ocean, making it feel much warmer. Dont be surprised for it to feel as much as ten degrees warmer on the beach. The closer you get to the water, the warmer it will be. This dynamic only works if there are little to no winds, however. See more Oregon Coast Weather.

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Digital distribution lifts Nepali film industry

The advent of digital distribution over a decade ago has shaped Nepals film industry into a nearly Rs1 billion behemoth, according to some experts.
Samworth Brothers is planning to close Cornwall-based desserts and cakes manufacturer Kensey Foods.

The company, which owns brands including Ginsters and West Cornwall Pasty Co, has begun formal consultation with the 650 staff at the operation, which it plans to close by the end of July.

Operating from an 11-acre site in Launceston, Kensey Foods makes desserts, including custard tarts, cream cakes, fruit pies, crumbles, tarts and sponge puddings for UK retailers.

Samworth said that, despite significant financial investment and hard work, Kensey had been loss-making for the past six years.

When combined, the investments and annual losses have added up to tens of millions of pounds, and this is not sustainable for any business, it stated.

Samworth added that the age and capability of the plant meant significant additional capital investment would be required, which it did not consider commercially viable.

The company hopes to redeploy a good number of affected staff to The Cornwall Bakery in Callington, where Ginsters pasties are produced, or other Samworth locations.

Last year, Samworth closed the Brooklands Bakery, which had previously been part of the Euphorium bakery business owned by Tesco. Samworth said that, despite significant investment, Brooklands had continued to operate at a loss.

In November, Samworth announced it was to acquire 2 Sisters Food Groups Manton Wood sandwich business, which was formerly part of Solway Foods.

Also last year, Andy Stapley left his role as managing director at Kensey Foods to take up the position of chief executive at bakery ingredients supplier Macphie.
The Flagstaff Police Department reports that Phoenician George Reed, 58, was struck and killed by Sergio Alonso, 45, while standing outside of his vehicle on South Lake Mary Road on Sunday, Jan. 20.

Alonso has been charged with driving while impaired to the slightest degree, extreme DUI, aggravated assault and manslaughter. Extreme DUI is triggered when drivers blow between a .15 and .20 blood alcohol content limit; the legal limit to drive is .08.

Flagstaff officers originally responded to the area of South Lake Mary Road East Frontier Avenue at 12:57 p.m. after a report of a person being struck by a vehicle.

Reed had been standing on the shoulder of South Lake Mary Road as the vehicle approached, also driving on the shoulder. In an attempt to avoid being struck, Reed ran toward the center of the road to avoid the vehicle.

The vehicle corrected onto the roadway and struck Reed. Reed was pronounced dead at the scene.

It is not clear at this time why Reed was outside of his vehicle at the time of the incident, which is still being investigated by the Collision Reconstruction Unit. The roads were closed for the investigation, but have since opened.

Alonso is being held on a $500,000 cash-only bond while the criminal complaint is pending.

Scott Buffon can be reached at sbuffon@azdailysun.com, on Twitter @scottbuffon or by phone at (928) 556-2250.

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But a lack of filed documents from Market Freedom Alliance should not be interpreted as the group not spending any money in the final weeks before the election, said Eva Putzova, who helped lead the group Flagstaff Needs a Raise and is now running for Congressional District 1.

As such, Flagstaff Needs a Raise has filed a complaint with the city, asking them to investigate Market Freedom Alliance for not filing campaign finance documents for the final period before the election, Putzova said.

Putzova added that in the future, she believes the city needs to start investigating campaign finance discrepancies themselves without relying on a citizen or group to file a complaint.

At the moment, the city will only investigate a group that did not file, or may have misfiled, campaign finance documents if they receive a complaint.

In the final weeks of the election, money was also spent by the Flagstaff Lodging, Restaurant and Tourism Association.

Steve Finch, president and CEO of the association, said they had been involved in the fight throughout the year in ways that did not require the spending of money, but decided to put about $2,000 toward influencing voters in the last two weeks of the election.
TUCSON  Four humanitarian aid workers were found guilty Friday on misdemeanor charges involving leaving aid in a restricted area of Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge after a three-day legal battle.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco found No More Deaths volunteer Natalie Hoffman guilty of all three charges brought against her, while Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick were found guilty of the two charges brought against them.

As the defendants await sentencing, they face a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $250 fine each.

The legal battle the four volunteers fought this week surrounds an incident on Aug. 13, 2017 when they entered Cabeza Prieta without permits.

Hoffman, who drove the vehicle into the wildlife refuge, is charged with operating a vehicle in a wilderness area. All four of the volunteers are charged with entering the refuge without a permit and abandonment of property for the gallons of water and pallets of beans they left in the refuge.

No More Deaths has been leaving aid for crossing migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border for more than a decade. The group specifically leaves the supplies in Cabeza Prieta, which shares 56 miles of the border with Mexico.
During the meeting, FUSD superintendent Mike Penca also announced the creation of a mobile app for students throughout the district that would allow them to anonymously report concerns to school administrators. The app is expected to be released next month and will allow students to take action in securing their own safety without the added social pressure often placed on students who report such concerns in person.

Odegaard said he thinks the app will make a significant difference in local school safety and is glad it will be available soon.

Weve got to get these kids engaged. If theyre seeing something, they need to say something. As teachers and administrators, we cant see and hear everything, he said.

A student council committee of six students will work with administration in the planning process to ensure students, parents and community members are informed properly and promptly of the plans taken to address these concerns. The student advisory council, which meets with Penca about once a month, will also discuss the solutions further and report on them at upcoming school governing board meetings.

Although all plans are tentative, students said they received positive community feedback that will allow them to move forward in establishing those plans.
According to an estimate from Cuomo's office at the time of the original bill's proposal, New Yorkers use 23 million plastic bags annually, which generates litter as the bags do not biodegrade.

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The proposed ban would not apply to bags for wrapping fruit or meat from grocery stores, nor would it affect bags from restaurants, carryout food or meal deliveries.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation will work with communities to ensure the ban does not adversely affect low-income New Yorkers, Cuomo said.

"We're going to push for it," Ripley said.

In other news

The Legislature also issued a proclamation naming the winners for the county's artwork competition highlighting the dangers of smoking and vaping.

The work of three winners and two honorable mentions from Cayuga County schools will be featured as part of an exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center from Jan. 27 to March 10.

Cayuga County Director of Community Health Services Nancy Purdy said the artwork would also be featured in educational materials from the county health department promoting public awareness of the dangers of vaping and smoking.

The other focus of the competition was to get students thinking about the issue for themselves, which Purdy said had been successful after all the winners present Tuesday mentioned how much research they did or how many conversations they'd had while creating their pieces.

Staff writer Ryan Franklin can be reached at (315) 282-2252 or ryan.franklin@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @RyanNYFranklin

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The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is in Old Jerusalem, a warren of streets and passageways lined with shops, partly underground and partly open to the air. The shops were a distraction; people kept ducking in and out of them. An old movie flashed through my mind: "Pepe le Moko" with Jean Gabin. Maybe Casbah of Algiers looked something like this.

In Christs day, this area was open country. (Burials were forbidden in the city.) Since then, the city has grown up around it. Today, pilgrims and tourists may follow Christs path  the Stations of the Cross  in the city from prison to Golgotha, the hill where he was crucified. Each station is marked in stone along the way.

The church is said to contain a portion of the original cross, and a tomb that may have been Christs. Possession of the site has been disputed in everything from fist fights to major wars  the last one being the Crimean War of the late 1850s, when the Russian czar coveted the sacred sites, among other things.

According to one story, in 1192, Saladin, the victorious Muslim leader, charged a Muslim family with the safekeeping of the building, and in 1853, an agreement, the Status Quo, attempted to preserve the buildings appearance.
Jan. 23, 2004

SKANEATELES  The roofing worker involved in a fire that destroyed a 19th-century downtown building Wednesday disputed claims that he was careless on the job.

Mike Shimer, an employee of WJ Ellis and Son, said Thursday scrutiny should fall on emergency responders, whom he said failed to promptly arrive at the scene. "It took them about 25 minutes to 30 minutes to get there," he said. "It took them another five minutes to get together."

Officials said Shimer started the fire at 6 Jordan St. with a blowtorch he was using to thaw out a freezing drain pipe. Although fire officials frown upon the practice, Shimer's boss, Scott Burnett, said his worker was following standard practice. "We do this all winter long," Burnett said. "After that situation (Wednesday), he went and did another one."

The fire destroyed the 120-year-old building at 6 Jordan St. It housed a gift shop, computer consulting business and a family of four.

Skaneateles Fire Department officials said crews were on the scene four minutes after their dispatcher received the call at 11:32 a.m. Assistant Fire Chief Scott Carlson said time at a fire scene can become confused in a person's mind, especially when it's the person responsible for starting it.

"Minutes can seem like hours," he said.

 Compiled by David Wilcox

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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.
The Bachelor of Science degree in nursing is a vital step for registered nurses who want to continue their education and advance their professional options. What makes Keukas model so strong is that it provides a format that is conducive to the registered nurse with many life obligations  it interfaces well with work and family, Cayuga Community College Director of Nursing Mary Driscoll said in a news release. This is a wonderful opportunity to continue your education and expand your future career opportunities all at the same time.
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi recalled her time as an aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. While with the governor's office, she was assigned to work on moving the Reproductive Health Act.

On Tuesday, she was one of the Democrats who voted for the bill's passage.

"This is a pivotal moment for the women of New York, and it is long overdue," she said.

For Stewart-Cousins, it was another vote on legislation that didn't advance in past sessions. The Democratic-led state Senate has already passed election reform bills and legislation to prevent discrimination against transgender people. The measures were blocked by Senate Republicans when they held the majority.

Stewart-Cousins recalled sponsoring the Reproductive Health Act and being told in 2007 that it didn't need to be discussed. But with President Donald Trump declaring his support for overturning Roe v. Wade and members of his administration sharing the same view, she believes action needed to be taken to preserve women's reproductive rights.

"Today we are saying no. We're saying not here in New York," she said.
There have been fewer opt-outs in recent years. Last year, 18 percent of students in grades three through eight opted out of the state exams. Two years prior, the opt-out rate was 21 percent.

The bill approved by the state Legislature requires the state education commissioner to develop regulations for assessments a district may use to evaluate teachers in place of state exams. While testing will remain part of the evaluation system, school districts may choose to use other tests in place of the state exams to assess teacher performance.

Andy Pallotta, president of New York State United Teachers, praised lawmakers for addressing the state's "broken" teacher evaluation system.

"We look forward to making sure this bill is signed into law immediately, and we will continue to advocate for a meaningful assessment system for New York students that will measure student progress more accurately and address the concerns raised by teachers and parents alike," Pallotta said.

Some legislators supported the bill, but questioned whether it goes far enough. Another lawmaker, Assemblyman Edward Ra, opposed the legislation because it wouldn't change the requirement that teacher evaluations are tied to some sort of testing.

The opposition to the bill, though, was minimal.
His concerns with the bill included allowing non-doctors to perform abortions and removing certain criminal statutes that he said were in place to protect women and unborn children.

"To repeal these provisions is both inhumane and irresponsible," he added.

Helming called the new law an "extreme expansion" of abortion rights. She disputed supporters' claims that the Reproductive Health Act merely codifies Roe v. Wade into state law.

"It does nothing to safeguard the rights of women who choose to bring their babies to term," she said.

Antonacci, R-Onondaga, didn't speak during the lengthy floor debate. He joined his Republican colleagues in voting against the bill.

When Antonacci campaigned for the 50th Senate District seat last year, the Reproductive Health Act was a top issue. GOP mailers criticized his opponent, Democratic candidate John Mannion, for supporting the proposal.

In July, Antonacci revealed his position on the abortion rights bill.

"I'm Roman Catholic," he told The Citizen. "I'm pro-life and I'm not willing to vote for abortion-on-demand in the ninth month."
RUSADA has "completely changed" and is now "a very efficient and good anti-doping organisation", World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Director General Olivier Niggli told AFP. Niggli was speaking after WADA decided to take no further action against RUSADA at a meeting on Tuesday for missing a deadline to allow access to the Moscow laboratory at the centre of alleged state-sponsored doping. He said things were moving in the right direction after years of the Russians dragging their feet. WADA conditionally lifted a ban on RUSADA in September last year, which was roundly criticised by several athletes and US anti-doping chief Travis Tygart, with one of the conditions being access to thousands of samples at the tainted Moscow lab by the end of 2018. But when a WADA team arrived last month, Russian authorities raised issues with the certification of their equipment under Russian law. The data was eventually extracted this month. Niggli, though, says that obtaining the data shows to him the decision was the right one to take even if it was not "universally popular", as without it Russia might well have stonewalled again. One of the positives to emerge from the affair is the transformation of RUSADA, according to Niggli. "Certainly RUSADA has completely changed. It's a new organisation," said Niggli. "We performed an audit of RUSADA in December which went very well and they came out of it as a very efficient and good anti-doping organisation. "I think this is a very promising thing going forward because having a good anti-doping system in Russia is what everybody needs. "That's the key to the future." Niggli, who has been in his post since replacing the long-serving Davd Howman in January 2016, added a caveat, however. "Is everything ok? I wouldn't say so but certainly going in the right direction at the moment." WADA's decision is the latest chapter in an affair that surfaced with Richard McLaren's July 2016 report detailing doping in Russia from 2011 to 2015 involving more than 1,000 athletes across more than 30 sports. - 'We can get justice' - Niggli said one had to be prudent ahead of the analysis of the data, but he feared there could potentially be several hundred doping cases. "We have a number of cases we think are highly suspicious and they have already been identified because we already had some data," he said. "What we need now is to see if the further data we got, the raw data will back up what we already have and will provide sufficient evidence so that these cases can be prosecuted." Niggli says that for the moment "technically they are not positive cases". "It is important to understand that cases will only be prosecuted on the basis of a number of pieces of evidence that needs to be put together," said Niggli. "We will see whether it turns into 100 or hundreds. We will know better in a few months once we have done this analysis." Niggli, who insists WADA has learned a lot from the scandal and is much better equipped now to deal with a similar affair, hopes the critics such as Tygart, who was quick to berate WADA for Tuesday's decision, will stop their barracking. "I hope it will stop," he said. "I hope that people will realise all we have done so far is to strive to get this data so we can get justice and get to the bottom of it. "People have to understand there is a process to be followed... "We are the regulator. If we deviate from our role just to satisfy the impatience of some, which I can understand, this is not going to take us forward." Many athletes and organisations have emerged battered from the experience but Niggli hopes that Russia will draw its own conclusions. "I hope the Russians have learnt from this too and it will not happen in that country again." WADA director general Olivier Niggli believes the Russian anti-doping agency has turned a corner
President Donald Trump had a message Tuesday for Democrats hoping he'll relent in the political arm wrestling that has seen funds blocked to parts of the government for a record 32 days: "No Cave!" Trump's defiant tweet again blamed congressional Democrats for the chaos, insisting he will not lift his shutdown on federal government funding unless they approve his $5.7 billion plan for more walls along the US-Mexican border. "Without a Wall our Country can never have Border or National Security. With a powerful Wall or Steel Barrier, Crime Rates (and Drugs) will go substantially down all over the U.S.," Trump tweeted. "The Dems know this but want to play political games." Trump triggered a partial government shutdown on December 22 -- refusing to sign off on funding everything from FBI salaries to the National Park Service -- as a way of pressuring the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives to back the wall project. But with Democrats refusing to give in and Trump sticking to his hardball tactics, political paralysis in Washington has morphed into growing day-to-day pain across the country as some 800,000 federal employees adjust to life without salaries. Trump's main opponent, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was adamant that the president is to blame. "#EndTheShutdown now," she tweeted. Pelosi, speaker of the Democrat-led House, argues that border security funding cannot even be discussed before the shutdown ends, accusing Trump of "holding Americans hostage." - Senate to vote - The Senate is set to vote on two bills this week that would in theory break the deadlock, even if both have little chance of passing. The first is on Trump's compromise offer made Saturday, when he told Democrats he would extend temporary protection to about a million immigrants currently risking deportation if he gets his wall funding. Pelosi sent out a rejection before Trump had even officially laid out his proposal. The president also caught backlash from the right wing of his own party, which accused him of wanting to give amnesty to large numbers of people living in the country illegally. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that a vote on Trump's plan would take place this week, saying the chance to end the shutdown is "staring us in the face." However, the bill looks doomed, with the senior Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, describing the Trump offer as "going nowhere fast." "President Trump and leader McConnell need to come to their senses," he said. The Senate was also expected to reject a second, Democrat-backed bill to restart funding for the government. Even if it did get through Congress, "the president won't sign it," a senior Senate Republican aide said. Both votes are expected Thursday. - Political fight, real consequences - Extending the existing border fences has been at the top of Trump's domestic agenda since his 2016 campaign. Democrats accuse his campaign against illegal immigration of ignoring more complex humanitarian issues on the border and stoking xenophobia. But the disagreement over walls has expanded into a much broader test of political strength in divided Washington, with each side desperate to prevent the other from declaring victory. Meanwhile, the hundreds of thousands of unpaid federal employees and many more contract workers are collateral victims, facing the start of a second month of going unpaid. Full-time employees will get their back pay eventually, but in the meantime they still have to meet mortgage payments and other monthly costs. Contractors, however, won't receive the lost payments. "If you're not going to pay our bills, then send us back to work. That's all we're asking," said Yvette Hicks, 40, a contractor at the Smithsonian museum complex. "People are losing their houses, people are losing their cars and everything." "Right now, this shutdown is really destroying me and my family," added the single mother of two. "I'm the mother and the father in my household, and my children depend on me." US President Donald Trump insisted he will not lift the federal government shutdown unless Democrats approve his $5.7 billion plan for walls on the US-Mexican border FBI Agents Association member Thomas O'Connor holds an FBI report "Voices From the Field" giving examples of how the shutdown is undermining their work on drug, gang enforcement, security, and counter-terrorism US government shutdowns since 1976 A sign at the entrance to the National Zoo in Washington tells of its closure because of the government shutdown Hundreds of thousands of unpaid federal employees and many more contract workers are facing a second month of going unpaid with many visiting foodbanks to get by
A former senior South Korean prosecutor was convicted of abuse of power and jailed for two years on Wednesday in connection with a high-profile case that triggered the country's #MeToo movement. Ahn Tae-geun was accused of repeatedly groping a female junior colleague at the funeral of another co-worker's father. After Seo Ji-hyun filed a formal complaint, he had her transferred to a provincial position and her career went nowhere. She suffered in silence for years until she went public with a tearful live television appearance last January, detailing her experiences. The interview was a rarity in a still conservative society where female victims of sexual assault are often reluctant to come forward due to fears of shaming. But it triggered a flood of similar accusations against powerful men in fields ranging from art and literature to politics and religion that grew into a South Korean #MeToo movement. Ahn -- who was separately fired for corruption in 2017 -- could not be charged with sexual abuse because the one-year statute of limitations had expired, but prosecutors indicted him for abuse of power for having Seo transferred. Announcing the verdict at the Seoul Central District Court, judge Lee Sang-ju said there was sufficient evidence that Ahn transferred Seo away from Seoul "because he was afraid of the consequences of her internal complaint". The move "caused significant psychological distress to Seo", the judge added. Ahn has always maintained that he had no recollection of the initial incident as he was drunk at the memorial ceremony, but the judge said he was necessarily aware of an internal investigation at the time his accuser was moved. Wearing a dark suit, Ahn -- who had denied the charges -- mostly looked down with his eyes shut and fists clenched as the judge delivered his verdict, sighing and looking up to the ceiling as his defence arguments were dismissed one by one. "This was such an unexpected result," he said, adding that he would appeal. In the public gallery, a handful of young women quietly pumped clenched fists into the air as he was sentenced. The verdict was welcomed by many activists, who described it as "therapeutic" and "pleasantly surprising" after doubts had been raised over the prosecution's efforts. It also came months after Ahn Hee-jung, a former South Korean presidential contender, was acquitted of raping a female aide, a verdict that infuriated women's rights activists in the country. "I think the verdict is a sign of change," said Lee Mi-kyoung, director of Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, who was present in court Wednesday. "There are still many victims who suffer in silence. I hope today's ruling can give them a reason to be hopeful." Bae Bok-ju, another campaigner, regretted that Ahn could not be charged with sexual abuse. "But today's ruling at least acknowledged that it's the power abuse at workplaces that often leads the victims of sexual abuse to stay silent for many years." Former senior South Korean prosecutor Ahn Tae-geun was found guilty of abuse of power over the transfer of a female colleague who had accused him of harassment Seo's decision to go public prompted other South Korean women to come forward with their own experiences of abuse
Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.
Once a year Parkes, a sleepy mining town in rural Australia, explodes into colour and song -- a veritable Graceland in the outback hosting a five-day extravaganza to celebrate 'the King'. Die-hard fans don their polyester jumpsuits, thick black wigs and gold-coloured necklaces, hopping on the "Elvis Express" and "Blue Suede Express" trains to the event, now billed as the southern hemisphere's biggest tribute to the superstar. The town's transformation extends beyond the superficial -- organisers estimate this year's Parkes Elvis Festival generated Aus$13 million (US$9.3 million) for the local economy as more than 27,000 people visited attending some 200 themed events. "It's just crazy," said North Parkes Motel owner Andrew Porter of the frenzied growth in tourists. "It's just gotten busier and busier over the years. It's helped the whole economy," he added. Elvis, who died in 1977 aged 42, never travelled to Australia and the event, held to coincide with his January birthday, runs at the height of summer when temperatures top 40 degree Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). But neither fact deters the fans: What was a sleepy summer period has turned into full occupancy during the festival. Accommodation is fully booked years in advance, caravan parks fill up quickly and sporting fields are packed with tents. "A lot of people do come here and they spend a hell of a lot of money. I know that for a fact," said Elvis Lennox, who changed his name from Neville Steven and has a huge collection of memorabilia that he exhibits in a private museum. - Return to splendour - Parkes, which is some 300 kilometres (190 miles) west of Sydney, began as a gold-mining town before becoming a flourishing farming community. But by the 1990s, it and similar rural towns began to struggle as agricultural work declined. Keen to draw in more customers during the quiet summer, when even townsfolk flee to the coast to get relief from the heat, restaurant owners Bob and Anne Steel organised a birthday party for their idol. The first Elvis celebration in 1993 drew 200 participants, and the Steels had so much fun they made it an annual event. At first there was little impact on the local economy, town mayor Ken Keith said. But as visitor numbers rose, so did revenues. Parkes is now so full that towns up to two-and-a-half hours drive away have started to cash in by offering accommodation and transport for revellers who missed out on a place to stay near the festival. "They get up at 5am, travel to Parkes to be here at 7am, leave here to go back after shows at midnight. It's a big toll but they do it. It's Elvis himself that's drawing them here," Lennox added. The New South Wales state government is projecting an injection of Aus$43 million into the wider region surrounding Parkes this year due to the festival, a much-needed source of income amid a severe drought. - Elvis lives? - While locals still get work from the farming, mining and transport sectors throughout the year, the event has helped develop Parkes' service economy -- and its numbers. The population has increased by four percent to around 12,000 in the past decade, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in sharp contrast to the declining or static trend in other regional and rural towns. Parkes has become a model for how rural regions can re-invent themselves, said University of Wollongong human geography expert Chris Gibson. Inspired by the success, other small towns have started their own events such as the ABBA Festival in nearby Trundle and the Bob Marley Festival in Kandos, said Gibson, who has compiled a database of some 2,800 festivals across the country. The Elvis festival has a uniquely Australian flavour. "We don't take ourselves too seriously," said Keith, decked out in a sky blue jumpsuit, aviator sunglasses and pompadour wig as he danced with jumpsuit-clad Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack ahead of the event's street parade. This extends to the sporting field with another regular fixture -- a rugby game -- featuring teams of Elvis look-alikes all wearing copies of his trademark white jumpsuit. "The festival's celebrating an artist who has never visited Australia, let alone Parkes, in the depth of the summer heat where it's really quite uncomfortable to wear polyester jumpsuits," explained Gibson. "So that invites a sense of playfulness that's really part of why it works so well." A growing number of young people are attending the event, but more than half of festival-goers are aged 55 or older. "Some women have come out, tears in their eyes. And I said, 'What's the matter?', and they said, 'He's not dead, he's alive, you can see him in there!'," Lennox told AFP of visitors to his museum. "I said 'Yes, I know, we try to keep him alive as much as possible. He'll never die while we're alive.'" Once a year Parkes, a sleepy mining town in rural Australia, explodes into colour and song -- a veritable Graceland in the outback hosting a five-day extravaganza to celebrate 'the King' Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack (L) and Parkes Mayor Ken Keith (R) took part in the street parade during the 2019 Parkes Elvis Festival Map locating Parkes in Australia, where an annual Elvis festival is held. Organisers estimate this year's Parkes Elvis Festival generated Aus$13 million (US$9.3 million) for the local economy as more than 27,000 people visited attending some 200 themed events
Marco Reus has insisted he will return for Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund at strugglers Hanover on Saturday after missing their first game of 2019 with a twisted ankle. The 29-year-old Dortmund captain was forced out of their 1-0 win at RB Leipzig on Saturday after picking up a knock in training the day before following a crunching tackle by team-mate Thomas Delaney. "I'll definitely be back for the next game against Hanover," Reus told German daily Bild. Reus is having one of the best seasons of his career, having scored 11 goals and provided seven assists in 17 games to keep Dortmund on course for a first league title since 2012. The victory at Leipzig maintained Dortmund's six-point lead over defending champions Bayern Munich, who have won the league in each of the last six seasons, in the Bundesliga table. Germany forward Marco Reus says he will be fit to play for Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund at strugglers Hanover on Saturday
Pope Francis announced Wednesday he will visit Japan in November, becoming the first pontiff to do so since John Paul II nearly 40 years ago. "I will go to Japan in November," he said on board the Papal plane bringing him to Panama for a gathering of young Catholics. The Argentine pontiff has repeatedly voiced a desire to visit Japan, home to some 450,000 Roman Catholics, including most recently in September last year. Around 510,000 Protestants live in the largely Shinto Buddhist country, according to Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. Francis had wanted to work as a missionary there in his youth but abandoned the plan after a lung operation. The pope has made two trips to Asia since his election five years ago, visiting the Philippines and Sri Lanka in 2014, followed by Myanmar and Bangladesh last year. In January of last year, Francis issued a harrowing photograph taken in 1945 showing a young Japanese boy carrying his dead brother. The child, carried on the boy's back, was killed when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki. Francis, who has often spoken of the dangers of nuclear weapons, had written on the back of the image just four words: "The fruit of war". Pope John Paul II visited Japan in 1981. Pope Francis has repeatedly voiced a desire to visit Japan, home to some 450,000 Roman Catholics
Most never needed help from a food pantry. But a month since the US government shutdown began, dozens of federal employees have been lining up in Brooklyn for basics. Customs, tax and emergency management officials are all among the crowd, having gone unemployed since December 22. Others deemed "essential" like transportation workers or prison guards are forced to continue working without pay, taking advantage of their lunch breaks to stock up. Volunteers are manning distribution tables in the lobby of the New York borough's Barclays Center, which usually hosts concerts or sporting events rather than charity drives. Those in need first register and then fill plastic bags with canned goods, potatoes, chicken, grapes and basic toiletries. "I came here to grab some goods, to be honest," said Antoinette Peek-Williams, an employee of the Homeland Security Department, who came an hour by subway from Harlem. "Any way I can save money and put towards something else -- that's what I am trying to do." Since the budget impasse began, the 62-year-old lives "day to day -- watching what I eat, watching what I spend, not spending." "Praying that they make a decision sooner than later." She hopes to return to work on February 1 -- an optimism of which she's no longer so certain. "I am a person where the glass is always half-full," said the mother of a college student. "I have to stay hopeful," she said. "If you don't have hope, you don't have anything." It's a sentiment echoed by Chante Johnson, a tax administrator. But "it's getting rough," the 48-year-old said. "It's coming, like, to the end of everything." - 'Unprecedented' - She provides for a daughter along with her mother, and says she hasn't been able to sleep or eat healthy since being out of work. "I just want them to open it up," she said. "Start talking and open up the government." For those federal workers forced to work without pay, the situation is even more tense. They can only testify anonymously, sworn to confidentiality. "It is very stressful," said one 39-year-old single mother, who works as a prison guard at Brooklyn's federal detention facility. She came to the food pantry on her lunch break seeking enough to prepare a few meals. Her daughter is nearing the end of high school, and as students apply for universities, she laments being unable to pay her child's application fees. She managed to postpone the monthly bill for her cell phone -- which she needs for work -- albeit with a late penalty. But she won't be able to make it after mid-February. "After that I won't be able to go to work," she said, saying she won't have money to fill her car's gas tank. The shutdown has exacerbated an already precarious situation in a city where soaring rents are pushing more and more families into poverty, said Francisco Tezen, head of development at the Food Bank for New York City. The non-profit, the city's largest food assistance organization, hosted the distribution along with corporate sponsors. "Something like this is unprecedented, it's almost equivalent to times when we have had to activate response and services in response to a disaster," said Tezen. "Just the length of period of time, and the volatility and the unknowns." Organizations like his "can be of assistance and help," he said -- "but we are not an antidote to gridlock or just bad policy." He refrained from pointing specific blame for the political stalemate, but many in New York, a Democratic stronghold, pin culpability on Donald Trump. In Johnson's view, the border situation is not dire enough to require the $5.7 billion the president has demanded to build a wall. "What happened? Did a Mexican beat him up as a little boy so he is so gung-ho on this wall?" she asked. "Talk about it and get us back to work. "Get us back the work that we love doing." A furloughed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee in line at a food distribution effort for federal workers impacted by the government shutdown Furloughed employee Antoinette Peek-Williams traveled an hour by subway to stock up on basic goods Furloughed federal workers receive milk as the Food Bank for New York City holds a distribution for federal workers impacted by the government shutdown in Brooklyn Volunteers take turns manning distribution tables in the lobby of the Barclays Center
Mexico still backs Nicolas Maduro as Venezuelan president, the government's top spokesman said Wednesday after the head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature declared himself interim president. "We recognize the authorities elected in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution," Jesus Ramirez, spokesman for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told AFP. He later wrote on Twitter that Mexico was "analyzing the situation in Venezuela." "For the moment, there is no change in our diplomatic relations with the country nor its government," he said. The United States and several Latin American countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Peru, all announced their backing for Guaido as interim president. Mexico, the world's largest Spanish-speaking country, has taken a hands-off stance toward Venezuela under Lopez Obrador, a leftist who took office in December and has said his foreign policy is based on the "principle of non-intervention" in other countries' affairs. Mexico was the only member of the 14-country Lima Group -- which includes several top Latin American powers and Canada -- not to sign a statement on January 4 calling on Maduro to transfer power to the democratically elected legislature, instead of starting a new term six days later. That marked a major diplomatic shift for Mexico, which had been one of the most outspoken critics of Maduro's socialist government. Lopez Obrador has fended off criticism over the move, saying: "It's not about (ideological) sympathies. It's about our foreign policy and our foreign-policy principles." Maduro has presided over a spiraling political and economic crisis in Venezuela since taking over from his mentor, the late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, in 2013. He won a new six-year term in May in an election marred by irregularities. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said through his spokesman his government was 'analyzing the situation'


Massive rescue efforts are underway to rescue a toddler trapped down a well for almost two weeks.

There has been no contact with Julen Rosello, 2, who fell into the 110-metre deep shaft on January 13 in the countryside northeast of Malaga, Spain.

The only sign of the toddler that search-and-rescue teams have found so far is hair that matched his DNA inside the hole. This was found on January 17.

Julens parents, who reportedly lost another young son in 2017, have said the family had no doubt that the boy fell into the borehole after walking away from his parents, who were preparing a countryside lunch.

Julen Rosello, 2, has been trapped in a well in Malaga, Spain since January 13. Source: Facebook/ Jose Rosello

Adults cant enter the waterhole, which has a diameter narrower than 25 centimetres.

The boys father Jose said that he and his wife were heartbroken by the long wait to rescue him.

It feels like we have been waiting for months, he told reporters last week.

We are not going to give up We have the hope that an angel is going to show up for my son to come out alive.

A map of the operation to rescue Julen. A shaft is being dug parallel to the borehole. Once its deep enough a tunnel will be dug horizontally to reach the toddler. Source: Getty Images

He told the local newspaper Sur he heard his sons cries as soon as he fell and rushed over to the hole.

I wish it were impossible for him to be down there, but I heard him, he told the paper.

I wish it were me buried down there so that he could be up here with his mother.

Spanish media have reported that the couple, who lives in a coastal suburb near Malaga, lost another son in 2017.

Julens elder brother, Oliver, was 3 when he suffered a heart attack during a family walk on their local beach.

A rescuer shows how narrow the hole is. Its diameter is narrower than 25 centimetres. Source: Malaga Fire Department

Rescue efforts hampered

The rescue effort has been slowed after authorities on Monday said a drill used to create a vertical shaft parallel to the waterhole has hit patches of increasingly hard rock.

We are working through material that is becoming harder and harder, and that is why the drilling operation to make the shaft is being held up, Angel Garcia, the leading engineer coordinating the search-and-rescue operation, said.

Cranes and diggers are pictured at the site where Julen fell. Source: Getty Images

Rescuers hope to find Julen at a depth of 72 metres, where soil has blocked the borehole.

Story continues

A specially-made cage has arrived at the site, ready to lower mining rescue experts down the shaft once drilling is complete. The experts will then start digging a horizontal tunnel to the spot where they believe the boy is trapped in the borehole.

Digging began on Friday and Mr Garcia added the work was extremely difficult.

Julens father Jose weeps at a press conference. Source: Getty Images

On Tuesday, authorities said they need more time to widen the shaft they have dug.

Spains Civil Guard said it is investigating whether the borehole was drilled illegally.

The Civil Guards press office did not elaborate on the investigation. Spanish media, including newspaper El Pais, said that the borehole made to search for water lacked proper authorisation.

With Associated Press

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The husband of jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to six years for security related charges, his lawyer told AFP on Wednesday. "Reza Khandan has been sentenced to five years' jail for conspiring against national security and one year for propaganda against the system," Mohammad Moghimi said. "He has also been banned for two years from leaving the country, any activity in social media or newspapers and membership of political groups," Moghimi added. The sentence was handed down by the Tehran revolutionary court, which also handed down an identical sentence against fellow rights activist Farhad Meisami, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported. Moghimi, who represents both defendants, said they would appeal. Khandan, who was arrested at his home in September, was released on bail last month. Meisami, who was arrested at his workplace in July, is still awaiting a decision. Khandan's wife is an an award-winning rights activist who was arrested in June and told she had already been found guilty in absentia of espionage charges and sentenced to six years by the Tehran revolutionary court. Before her arrest, Sotoudeh, 55, had taken on the cases of several women arrested for appearing in public without headscarves in protest at the mandatory dress code in force in Iran. Sotoudeh won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights award in 2012 for her work on high-profile cases, including those of convicts on death row for offences committed as minors. She spent three years in prison after representing dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009 against the disputed re-election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian human rights activist Reza Khandan -- seen here with his now jailed wife, award-winning rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, at their home in Tehran in September 2013, has been sentenced to six years on security related charges
Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer facing trial on sexual assault charges, has recruited a new team of top lawyers after New York legal eagle Ben Brafman withdrew from the defense. Florida trial lawyer Jose Baez said he and Harvard Law professor Ronald Sullivan have signed up to defend the 66-year-old producer, who has been charged with two sexual assaults in New York City. Baez gained attention for his 2008 acquittal of Casey Anthony, a mother charged with the murder of her daughter, and Sullivan is considered a specialist in criminal cases deemed "impossible" to defend. "Mr. Weinstein steadfastly maintains his innocence in this matter and we are looking forward to assisting Mr. Weinstein in his defense." Since October 2017, Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than 80 women, including prominent actresses such as Ashley Judd and Angelina Jolie. The case brought in New York is the only one that has resulted in criminal proceedings against Weinstein. Brafman succeeded in getting charges dropped against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, an IMF chief accused of sexual assault by a hotel maid, in 2011. He won an important victory for Weinstein in October. The Manhattan prosecutor, who had initially charged him with assaulting three women, had to drop the charges against one of them because of errors in the investigation. But prosecutions continue for the alleged assaults on the other two women. The next hearing is scheduled for March 7, and the Weinstein trial could begin in May. Baez recently defended actress Rose McGowan, one of the women whose sexual assault charges against the famous Hollywood producer sparked the Weinstein scandal in October 2017, then the #MeToo movement. Harvey Weinstein in Hollywood, in 2016
Authorities clamp down on poultry smuggling

Local authorities are clamping down on poultry smuggling from India which has grown in recent years.
As lawmakers in Athens are poised to approve a landmark name deal between Greece and Macedonia, there is relief in many European capitals that a 27-year diplomatic dispute is nearing its end. But in Greece's Macedonia region, home to the ancient Greek-speaking kingdom made famous by Alexander the Great, there is mostly outrage. "How can another country have Macedonia's name? What are we, then?" wonders Eleni, a 39-year-old souvenir shop owner. "It's like taking away our soul, our history and culture," she adds. Eleni's shop is a few metres away from the necropolis of ancient Macedonian kings in Vergina 485 kilometres (300 miles) north of Athens, one of Greece's top archaeological sites. Among the Macedonian royals buried there is Philip II, Alexander's father. The agreement expected to be approved on Thursday will rename Greece's neighbour as the Republic of North Macedonia, a move which the government in Athens says will encourage trade and benefit both countries. But critics here say the deal, brokered by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev in June, will merely create confusion and sow new problems. A key sticking point for them is Greece's recognition of a Macedonian language and identity north of the border. Many homes in this small village are adorned with blue flags bearing the Vergina Sun, an ancient Macedonian symbol believed to be the mark of Philip's royal family. But souvenir seller Eleni said most people outside Greece are more familiar with the red-and-yellow flag adopted by Skopje in 1995, which also bears a sun. "Tourists come from various European countries asking to buy the flag of Macedonia. When I show them the (blue) flag, they tell me that I'm wrong and that it should be red and yellow," she says angrily. "This is what our politicians have achieved: make people believe that Macedonia is not in Greece!" she adds. - 'We cannot accept this' - North of the border there is also opposition, with some loath to change the country's name to placate Greece, and rallies against the agreement have been held in both countries. Tsipras' nationalist allies bolted from the government earlier this month over the deal. His leftist government says the protests have been fanned by far-right hardliners, and several lawmakers say they have received death threats. Another demonstration is scheduled for Thursday in Athens. "Hang the traitors," several protesters shout at a demonstration against the agreement held in the northern Greek city of Veria this week. A local mayor tells the 1,000-strong crowd Greece had been "pressured" into signing the agreement by our "so-called allies", the US and Germany. "There must be a referendum. Most Greeks do not want this agreement. Soon (the Macedonians) will start claiming (ancient Macedonian) cities," argues Nikos Kalaitzidis, a 37-year-old protester. At the archaeological museum of Vergina, local staff view visiting tourist groups from neighbouring Macedonia with suspicion, says a staffer. "If they have a guide with them, we send someone to find out what they are told about the archaeological finds," he told AFP. "Since they claim to speak Macedonian, we ask them to read what is written on the (ancient Greek) grave markers," the employee adds. To most Greeks, Alexander the Great is an integral part of their heritage -- one of history's greatest conquerors who toppled the Persian Empire and took Greek culture as far as Egypt and India in the fourth century BC. The Romans later created an enormous province called Macedonia that included parts of modern-day Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Slavs subsequently migrated to the area of present-day Macedonia from the 6th century AD onwards. Angelos Syrigos, a professor of international law at Athens' Panteion University, notes that the Macedonia issue is visceral to the Greeks, as the country has been invaded three times via its northern border over the last century. "The Greeks are not specifically worried about any possible irredentist ambitions by Skopje, but by that of other foreign powers who could use the neighbouring state to assert their influence in the region," he says. Under Zaev's predecessor Nikola Gruevski, Macedonia had riled Greeks by naming its main airport and highway after Alexander the Great. Zaev's government revised the Macedonian constitution to promote the name change agreement, and has pledged to end all appropriation of ancient Greek symbols. But many here still fear this could be easily reversed by a future administration in Skopje. "We cannot accept this. We will continue our struggle even if this agreement is approved," says Vangelis Mavridis, a Vergina villager. In Greece's Macedonia region, local people fear the name deal will create confusion and sow new problems To most Greeks, Alexander the Great is an integral part of their heritage Clashes have sparked at protests against the name deal A Vergina gift shop selling magnets with the 'Vergina Sun', symbol of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned Wednesday of "risks" in deploying next-generation 5G wireless networks using equipment from the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. "We are well aware of the risks... from Huawei's position in major networks, the risks that could stem from Huawei's extensive work on 5G," Le Drian told a Senate panel in Paris. "The government will take all necessary measures at the proper time," he said. France joins several western nations which have voiced fears that using Huawei base stations and other gear could give Chinese authorities access to critical network infrastructure worldwide, possibly allowing it to spy on foreign governments. Le Drian said he would discuss the concerns with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during his visit to Paris on Thursday. The head of France's national cybersecurity agency had said Tuesday that French authorities were planning to require more oversight and control of 5G equipment because of the security concerns. The new technology promises nearly instantaneous transfers of huge amounts of data, allowing for self-driving cars or remotely accessed sensors in an array of consumer and health products. Huawei has invested billions of dollars in the technology, competing mainly against Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia. But the United States, Britain and other countries have warned of potential Huawei security risks, not least since its founder Ren Zhengfei is a former People's Liberation Army engineer. Huawei officials have bristled at the claims, with its chairman Liang Hua warning this week that it would pull out of partnerships in countries where it is not welcome. "We do not pose a threat to a future digital society," Liang said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Adding to the tensions, Canadian police arrested in December Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou -- a daughter of the company's founder -- on a US warrant over suspected Iran sanctions violations. China on Wednesday accused Washington of "bullying behaviour" after US authorities confirmed plans to seek Meng's extradition. The US "will stop at nothing to suppress Chinese high-tech enterprises and restrain China's legitimate development rights," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing. French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned of the "risks that could stem from Huawei's extensive work on 5G" wireless networks
The fate of the EU naval operation against migrant smuggling in the Mediterranean is in Italy's hands, a senior official said Wednesday, with the mandate to expire in two months. Italy's populist government has threatened to end Operation Sophia's mission unless the European Union changes rules requiring rescue ships to disembark migrants in Italian ports. "Operation Sophia was a success story," the European Union's migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a press conference in Brussels. He credited the mission with having stopped smugglers taking migrants on dangerous sea crossings. The Greek commissioner said member countries are discussing how to extend the mission beyond March 31, when its temporary mandate expires. "If Italy decides -- since it is the country in command of operation Sophia -- to stop it, it is up to Italy to take this decision," Avramopoulos said. The anti-migration government that took power in Rome last year has insisted it should not have to carry the burden of dealing with migrants rescued at sea. In demanding other EU states take in more, Rome has blocked non-government organisations from disembarking migrants rescued at sea in Italian ports. Nor does it want naval ships participating in Operation Sophia to automatically disembark migrants they rescue in Italian ports. "Either the rules change, or it is the end of the mission," Italy's hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini tweeted Wednesday. Efforts to adjust Operation Sophia have beached on the broader question of how to reform the EU's so-called Dublin asylum rules, which stipulate that the country of first arrival must process asylum seekers. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini has warned the consequences of ending the mission would be significant. "This would mean no presence at sea from the European Union, no training of the Libyan coast guard, no dismantling of the networks of smugglers, no arrest from the European Union side of the smugglers, no authorisation of vessels, no arms embargo implementation and so on and so forth." EU cooperation with Libya has been credited with sharply reducing the number of migrants arriving in Europe from a 2015 peak when the continent faced its worst migration crisis since World War II. Avramopoulos and German officials, meanwhile, warned against misinterpreting a Berlin's decision to withdraw next month the German frigate Augsburg. A Germany defence ministry official said Berlin would "continue to participate in and support" Sophia. In demanding other EU states take in more, Rome has blocked non-government organisations from disembarking migrants rescued at sea in Italian ports
China and Germany Wednesday defended global cooperation against the temptation of populism at the Davos forum of the world's business elite, but a Swedish teenager emerged as the unlikely star after her urgent calls for climate action inspired schoolchildren around the world. Reactions against a longer-running style of populism also reared up at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), as Brazil and other regional countries joined the United States in recognising the head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled parliament as interim president, in defiance of firebrand leftist Nicolas Maduro. President Donald Trump's more recent brand of on-the-edge politics dominated last year's WEF when he came to Davos. Since then, he has launched a trade war against China and other allies that has rocked the financial markets and sparked fears of a slowdown in the global economy. Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan hit back in an address to the audience of movers and shakers, which includes some of the world's top chief executives. "The Chinese and US economies are mutually indispensable, so their relations must be mutually beneficial and win-win," said Wang, who is tasked with negotiating a truce in the trade war. "This is the reality: neither side can do without the other side," he said. The annual conference in the Alpine ski resort was originally expected to be an outlet for talks between the US and China, with a 90-day truce set to end March 1. But Trump cancelled a return trip to Davos due to the government shutdown in Washington, and the absence of the usually hefty US delegation has been felt in the WEF hallways. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also defended cooperation among nations, speaking a day after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro made his first international speech after sweeping to power on a firmly populist line. "There is (in the world) a current that says I will first look after my own interests, and in the end everyone will be fine," said Merkel, a Davos regular who is preparing to step down by 2020. "I highly doubt it," she added. Trump has pulled out of the Paris accord on climate change and assailed international institutions such as NATO, the European Union and World Trade Organization. But Merkel, who grew up under communist rule in the former East Germany, said: "I stand before you as someone who cherishes multilateral institutions." For his part, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Europe, Japan and the United States should "join forces" to review the rules of free trade. "I call on everyone to rebuild confidence in the international trading system," he said at the forum. European leaders as a whole came to Davos under the cloud of Brexit, with Britain's plan to divorce from the European Union blocked in parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May pulled out of the conference to handle Brexit as did the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, both eager to avoid a "no deal" exit on March 29. But May's international trade secretary, Liam Fox, made the trip to reassure investors about Britain's post-Brexit future. Shrugging off announcements that Sony and Dyson are relocating premises abroad, Fox told AFP in Davos that "clearly the UK is open for business and is an attractive destination". But it was teenage climate crusader Greta Thunberg who drew the most interest, swamped by camera crews as she arrived in Davos after a 32-hour train trip from her home in Sweden. The 16-year-old grabbed the headlines with a fiery speech before world leaders at last month's UN climate talks in Poland. She has galvanised protests by high-schoolers around the world demanding stronger government action to fight global warming. Thunberg told AFP that she was under no illusion that all of the audience in Davos would voluntarily heed her call to action. "They have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money," she said, insisting it was time for young people "to get angry" and demand that adults clean up the mess they have made. U2 frontman Bono, a Davos regular, meanwhile provided his usual dose of rock-n-roll rebellion to the forum's jet set. "Capitalism is not immoral, it's amoral," the singer told a panel. "It's a wild beast and if not tamed, it can chew up a lot of people along the way," he said. Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, tasked with negotiating a truce in the US-China trade war, gets top billing in Davos, where the US government shutdown means Washington has no delegation Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg has galvanised protests in Europe, Japan and the United States demanding stronger government action to fight global warming
The British government will face a multibillion euro divorce settlement with the European Union even if it leaves the bloc without a deal, Brussels negotiator Michel Barnier warned Wednesday. Some anti-Europeans, opposed to a negotiated settlement with Brussels, balk at the idea of settling a bill that their own government estimates at 39 billion (44 billion euros) to cover outstanding obligations. But Barnier, in interviews with several European newspapers, said the bill would still be settled at some point, even if London rejects the withdrawal agreement Britain signed in November and crashes out on March 29. "For the EU budget, we've always said one simple thing: the totality of the commitments made by the United Kingdom while still an EU member will be respected," the senior EU official said, according to Le Monde. "It will be more difficult to make them respect them in the case of a 'no deal', but we will continue to insist: These commitments are legally binding under international law and I can not imagine that Britain would not respect its commitments." Prime Minister Theresa May's government does not dispute that Britain owes budget contributions to cover EU spending agreed between members while Britain remained in the bloc, and approved November's divorce deal. But the British parliament -- divided between deal supporters, eurosceptics who want a 'no deal' departure and pro-Europeans seeking to halt Brexit -- rejected that accord and threw the process into limbo. And some hardliners in London want to withhold the payment as leverage ahead of post-Brexit talks to agree a new trading relationship between Britain and the remaining 27 EU member states. Separately in the interview, given to French daily Le Monde, the Luxemburger Wort and Poland's Rzeczpospolita, Barnier restated the consensus EU position that the withdrawal deal must stand and that it is up to May's government to find a way to save it. But he suggested that Brussels would be flexible and modify the political declaration on hopes for future ties that was agreed alongside the binding withdrawal deal, if Britain were to compromise on May's positions. "Things could start moving rapidly. This depends on the future relationship, like I already said. We are ready to be more ambitious if the British decide to shift their red lines, for example by remaining in a customs union, or participating in the single market," he said, according to the Luxemburger Wort. "I believe there is a readiness in London for that." EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier believes Britain is ready to shift its 'red lines' but insists London's divorce deal commitments are legally binding under international law
Australia is investigating reports a Chinese-Australian dissident is missing in China, officials said Wednesday, raising concerns he may be the latest Western citizen to be detained in the country. Yang Hengjun -- a novelist, former Chinese diplomat and democracy activist -- went missing shortly after he travelled to the southern city of Guangzhou last week, friends said. When asked about Yang's case, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was "seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China". "Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment," a spokesman told AFP. The Australian government is believed to be in contact with Yang's friends and family, as well as Chinese authorities. At a regular press briefing in Beijing Wednesday, China's ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she "did not know" about Yang's situation and "needs to get more information from the relevant departments". Authorities in Guangzhou did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Yang had travelled to China with his wife and son on January 18, but never made a planned internal flight to Shanghai. His disappearance prompted fears that he may be the latest victim of an increasingly broad dragnet by Chinese security services. Australia recently expressed concern about China's detention of two Canadians in apparent retaliation for the arrest in Canada of a senior executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Tensions have also been strained between China and Australia in recent months. Australia banned Huawei from participating in its 5G network in August over security fears. The United States and New Zealand have taken similar steps. Yang's friend and journalist John Garnaut described him as "brilliant" and "a courageous and committed democrat". "This will reverberate globally if authorities do not quickly find an off-ramp," he warned. Yang had worked in the ministry of foreign affairs in Hainan province, but later left for Hong Kong in 1992 and the US in 1997 where he worked for the Atlantic Council think tank. He later took up Australian citizenship -- although Beijing does not recognise dual nationality -- and wrote a series of spy novels and a popular Chinese-language blog. Once described as China's "most influential political blogger", Yang went missing once before in 2011, describing his disappearance as a "misunderstanding" when he resurfaced days later. Normally workmanlike relations between Australia and China have been tested amid increased competition for influence in the Pacific
Arpan Shrestha is a national reporter for The Kathmandu Post. Before joining the Post in 2018, he was a freelance news and documentary producer and a former editor of Republica's The Week. Shrestha has a background in media production and programming.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Michael Cohen has at least temporarily pulled the plug on his highly-anticipated testimony before Congress that had been scheduled for early next month.



Cohen had accepted an invitation to testify in an open session before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on February 7. He said, at the time he accepted, that he was looking forward to having the privilege of being afforded a platform with which to give a full and credible account of the events which have transpired.



But in a new statement Wednesday, President Donald Trump's former attorney and long-time fixer says that he is delaying the appearance out of concern for his family.



"Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohens appearance will be postponed to a later date," according to a statement from Cohen's attorney, Lanny J. Davis.



Trump, when asked Wednesday to respond to Cohen's accusation that his family has been threatened by the president and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said Cohen was not threatened by him, but is "threatened by the truth."



"No, I would say he's been threatened by the truth. He's only been threatened by the truth," Trump said. "And he doesn't want to do that probably for me but probably for his clients, he has other clients also I assume, and he doesn't want to tell the truth for me or his other clients."



The decision by Cohen, a long-time loyalist who worked alongside Trump for a decade at the Trump Organization, may deprive House Democrats of their first high-profile hearing since taking control of the chamber in the mid-term elections.



While Cohen had no formal role in Trumps presidential campaign, his involvement in a myriad of controversies promised to attract an intense spotlight to his public testimony.



Last month, he entered a guilty plea for lying to Congress about the timing and discussions about a proposed Trump Tower building in Moscow that was under consideration during the campaign. That project, which never came to pass, has become the subject of intense interest from both Congress and the Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing potential coordination among members of the Trump campaign and Russians who interfered in the 2016 election.



Cohen also pleaded guilty in August to financial and tax crimes associated with his personal business dealings and to campaign finance violations for his role in hush money deals with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, two women who alleged previous affairs with Trump, which he has denied. Cohen told a federal judge that he made those deals in coordination with and at the direction of then-candidate Trump.



Trump has said he "never directed Michael Cohen to break the law."



Adding to the anticipation for the February hearing was the announcement by Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels, that he and his client intended to be in attendance.



But the proposed testimony from Cohen was already losing some of its luster as it became clear that Cohen would be unable or unwilling to address topics currently under investigation by Mueller and other federal prosecutors.



And Cohens decision to delay the testimony does not come as a complete surprise.



ABC News reported exclusively last week that Cohen began to have reservations about the appearance following a series of public attacks by President Trump against him and his family, according to sources close to Cohen.



"This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first," Cohen's statement read.



In an interview with FOX News earlier this month, Trump called Cohen "weak," accused him of lying to prosecutors in order to get a reduced sentence, and hinted -- unprompted and without evidence -- that he possessed damaging information about Cohens family.



"[Cohen] should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because thats the one that people want to look at," Trump told FOX News host Jeanine Pirro. "Thats the money in the family."



There has been no public indication during the investigation of Cohen that his father-in-law is, or was, the subject of any criminal inquiry.



As the president continued to engage in what Cohen sees as reckless and unsubstantiated claims he believes are intended to intimidate him, Cohen had expressed to friends his concern that Trumps heated rhetoric on television and Twitter could incite an unstable person to target him or his family.



Some legal experts were also highly critical of Trumps comments.



"Its an absolutely shocking violation of norms for the chief executive to suggest a retaliatory investigation against the relative of a witness against him," said Kenneth White, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney with Brown, White & Osborn LLP. "This is Nixonian 'enemy list' stuff, but instead of the public finding out about it through secret tapes and insiders, the president is saying it openly on TV."



Trumps comments to FOX News had drawn a swift rebuke from Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-MD, the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who had extended the invitation to Cohen.



"The integrity of our process to serve as an independent check on the Executive Branch must be respected by everyone, including the President," Cummings said in a statement released Sunday that was joined by Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairmen of the House Intelligence and House Judiciary Committees.



Cohens scheduled appearance had already become the subject of fierce partisan squabbling on the House Oversight Committee, with Republican lawmakers expressing concern Tuesday that the hearing was shaping up to be a "media stunt" engineered by one of Cohens legal advisers, Lanny Davis, a Democratic political operative who had worked closely with Bill and Hillary Clinton.



In a letter to Cohen attorney Guy Petrillo, Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, a leader of the House Freedom Caucus and a Trump confidant, appeared to be casting aspersions on Cohen and Davis and the circumstances of the hearing -- while raising questions about Davis, his involvement with Cohen and his compensation.



"If Davis is providing free media advisory or legal services, or if someone else is paying Daviss fees, it adds to the perception Cohens appearance is a media stunt initiated, produced and financed by career Democrat political operatives as a way of scoring political points against the President," the letter said.



Its unclear what impact Cohens decision to delay his testimony will have on the efforts of other Congressional committees who want to hear from him.



ABC News reported last week that the Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, is nearing a decision to issue Cohen a subpoena. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who chairs the House Intelligence Committee had indicated that he is seeking Cohens testimony on Russia related matters in a closed session in the near future.



For all of the committees, time is running short. Cohen is due to report to federal prison by March 6. He was sentenced to three years in custody after pleading guilty to financial crimes, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations.

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YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The main challenge for the Government of Armenia is strengthening democracy economically. ARMENPRESS reports Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in Davos during thematic debate Defining the future of democracy.

Answering the question of Martin Wolf, the facilitator of the debate, Pashinyan noted that last month parliamentary elections took place in Armenia which were assessed as free, transparent and democratic.

We have huge success on democracy but we also have big challenges and most important challenge is to make our democracy stronger economically. You know we had big problem for years and decades connected with electoral bribes, when people due to their poverty were actually forces to take electoral bribes. Of course, the revolution freed people from that duty, but now we have to make our citizens stronger and independent in economic sense.

You know there is small business, medium business, but we are going to create a new category like micro business and make this kind of business exempt from taxes with the hope to encourage and inspire our people and explain them that not only the government is responsible for overcoming their poverty, but also they should do something, Pashinyan said.

So our main challenge is to make our democracy stronger economically and we hope to attract new FDIs to our country because we were able to fight corruption, to establish real rule of law and we are going to make periodical simplifications to attract more FDIs to our country, Nikol Pashinyan said.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, who is in Davos on a working visit, participated on January 23 in a thematic debate Defining the future of democracy. ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan referred to the activities of mass media and the freedom of the press in Armenia.

You know I am former a journalist, editor-in-chief of a newspaper and political prisoner. But now I can say that media in Armenia is more free today than ever. Anyway, not all journalists agree with, because they think its exaggeration to say that media is fully free in Armenia. But I can insist on that. And you know, I think its normal when there are some tensions between the Government and the media, because we see that nowadays throughout the world there is low trust towards the governments and it can be linked with the fact that today all the members of the society know more about high ranking officials than in the past, and because any detail can have an impact on the faith of the people towards politicians, ministers and so on, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan expressed confidence that only the full transparency of the governments will raise the level of confidence towards them.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan paid a working visit to Switzerland on January 20 to participate in Davos World Economic Forum. The PM is scheduled to hold a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings with heads of other states, representatives of international organizations, companies.

Pashinyan will also attend the Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders (IGWEL) and World Civil Society Forum in Davos.

Nikol Pashinyan is also scheduled to meet with the members of Switzerland-Armenia Commerce Chamber and Swiss businessmen in Zurich.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received participants of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaksoutyun) Party World Congress on January 23.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Artsakh Presidents Office, the President welcomed holding the World Congress in Artsakh considering it as a significant political event for our republic.

Bako Sahakyan highlighted the contribution of the Dashnaksoutyun Party to the Artsakh National Liberation Struggle, formation and development of our statehood, cementing the Armenia-Artsakh-Diaspora trinity, maintaining Armenian national identity and solution of national tasks.

Issues related to the state building process, domestic and foreign policy and regional processes were also touched upon during the meeting.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, 23 JANUARY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 23 January, USD exchange rate up by 0.01 drams to 485.18 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.23 drams to 550.92 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.04 drams to 7.33 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 3.31 drams to 629.86 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 40.19 drams to 19999.35 drams. Silver price up by 0.01 drams to 238.04 drams. Platinum price down by 77.73 drams to 12369.93 drams.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ambassador to Lebanon Vahagn Atabekyan on January 22 met with General Director of the Lebanese General Security Abbas Ibrahim, the Armenian foreign ministry told Armenpress.

The officials exchanged views on issues relating to the Armenian citizens and community in Lebanon. The Lebanese side reaffirmed that it always stands with the Armenian community by highly appreciating their role in the development of key issues of Lebanon.

During the meeting a number of other issues relating to the bilateral cooperation in the security field were discussed.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The high-level meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaderships, according to the stance of official Stepanakert, are an opportunity to keep the continuation of the negotiation process for the Nagorno Krabakh conflict settlement, Davit Babayan  spokesperson of the President of Artsakh, told Armenpress commenting on the January 22 meeting between Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Artsakh has always welcomed any such meetings in a sense that they enable to maintain the continuation of the negotiation process and contribute to the preservation of stability and peace in the region. We dont imagine that any anti-Artsakh decision can be made [during the meetings], Babayan said.

Although the meeting details are unknown, but the Artsakh leadership is confident that no anti-Armenian decisions are possible during these meetings.

The fact that they would meet was predictable because they both were participating in the same event. But as for what issues have been discussed, its impossible to talk about the comprehensive settlement of the conflict at this moment. First of all, the complete format of the negotiations with the participation of Stepanakert is not restored. And also Azerbaijan has not revised its revanchist, Armenophobic positions yet, Davit Babayan said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan on January 23 held a meeting with Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski, the Parliament told Armenpress.

Speaker Mirzoyan thanked the Ambassador for his role in deepening the Armenia-EU cooperation and expressed readiness to contribute to the development and intensification of these relations.

Ararat Mirzoyan assured that the new Parliament is committed to implementing the initiatives and outlined programs and recording results.

Touching upon the ratification process of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Speaker Mirzoyan said its an important condition to boost the reforms in Armenia and the partnership with the EU based on the common value system. And the Speaker expected the Ambassadors support on this matter.

Ararat Mirzoyan said the Armenian side attaches importance to the launch of dialogue with the EU on visa facilitation for the Armenian citizens. I think this will be a great achievement and will reach the relations to a new level, the Parliament Speaker said.

He expressed hope that the cooperation with the EU will be more intense in the fields of deepening democracy, human rights protection, cooperation with the civil society, raising the role of the Parliament and etc.

In his turn the EU Ambassador congratulated the Speaker on assuming office and highlighted the fact that he became the leader of the Parliament which has been formed based on the results of free, fair and transparent elections. Piotr Switalski said the new Parliament has all opportunities for real parliamentarism in Armenia. He also valued the boosting of the inter-parliamentary ties and the role of the parliamentary diplomacy in developing the Armenia-EU relations. Ambassador Switalski expressed readiness on behalf of the EU delegation to actively cooperate for the Parliaments institutional capacity developments based on the needs assessed by the Parliament.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The criminal investigation into a possible murder of a 14 year old boy who went missing earlier in summer of 2018 has been dropped, general prosecution spokesperson Arevik Khachatryan told ARMENPRESS.

Authorities opened a criminal case on murder on June 18, 2018  ten days after Hayk Harutyunyans disappearance. The criminal case on attempted murder is a standart procedure when search operations dont give results after ten days.

Given that all necessary proceedings have been carried out during the investigation, but the crime has not been revealed, and no possible suspect has been identified, therefore the detective has closed the case as required by law, the prosecution said.

Khachatryan said large-scale investigative works have been carried out to find out what happened to the child, including questioning of eyewitnesses, search of possible sightings, several versions have been considered and probed, and others.

The boy, Hayk Harutyunyan (pictured in the photo above), a local of a village of Ararat province, has gone missing on 2018 June 8. The 14-year-old suffers from autism.

Anyone having any information about the whereabouts of the boy is urged to contact police by dialing 911.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
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YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has disclosed details from his recent unofficial meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Davos where he is on a visit for the World Economic Forum.

Speaking live on Facebook, Pashinyan said that the content of discussion of all three meetings with Aliyev concerns the history of the negotiations process.

We have also discussed the possibilities, as to what conditions exist in terms of settlement. We havent discussed any specific detail, we simply exchanged ideas. To a certain extent this is also a chance for exchange of ideas and mutual familiarization with perceptions of the negotiations process. I would like to emphasize that the main focus of discussions is all what we speak about publicly also, Pashinyan said.

The Armenian PM said the meeting with Azerbaijans president was not planned.

We simply used this events occasion. It so happened, I simply find it to be very important to note  it so happened. The organizers of Davos, knowing that both of us are here, asked us whether we mind meeting and talking, we answered that we arent and we had an unofficial meeting, we talked and discussed. The basis of this meeting was the agreement that in general, if we happen to be in one place, at least we wont avoid any contact, the PM said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continues the meetings with the businessmen and investors of different countries on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, his Office told Armenpress.

On the second day of the Forum Pashinyan met with Arne Sorenson, President and CEO at Marriott International, Inc, during which the opportunities to expand the companys activities in Armenia were discussed. PM Pashinyan highly valued the companys activity in Armenia and stated that the Marriott hotel is very popular in Armenia. The PM said the Armenian government is interested in developing and expanding the famous international hotel network in the country.

Arne Sorenson informed that currently they are discussing issues on implementing investment programs by the Marriott International and opening new hotel as a result. The company CEO attached importance to the Armenian governments steps aimed at improving the business environment and expressed confidence that these activities will contribute to the effective implementation of the programs.

During the meeting with CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, the Armenian PM noted that there are good opportunities and conditions for investments in Armenia after the recent changes. He said the government is ready to assist the ongoing programs of the Fund and discuss the possibilities for implementing new investment projects.

Kirill Dmitriev introduced Pashinyan on the process of ongoing programs in the fields of agriculture, industry and energy, adding that the Fund will continue the policy of implementing new programs in Armenia. He stated that given the new opportunities in Armenia, they are going to take actions to bring their international partners to Armenia.

The Armenian PM also met with the CEO of Corporation America Martin Eurnekian during which they discussed the upcoming investment programs in aviation and other sectors of Armenia. In particular, they touched upon the expected works in Yerevans Zvartnots, Gyumris Shirak airports, the future management and development of HayPost CJSC, as well as the plans related with the previous building of the Armenian foreign ministry located in the Republic Square.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian on January 23 hosted Secretary-General of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Professor Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The Pugwash Conference is an influential international platform uniting scientists, political and public figures for the sake of reduction of threat of the armed conflicts aimed at searching for solutions against the global security challenges.

It was founded in 1957 by Joseph Rotblat and Bertrand Russell in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada. Rotblat and the Pugwash Conference jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for their efforts on nuclear disarmament.

During the meeting President Sarkissian said he is well aware of the ideas, goals of the Conference and highly values the efforts of the scientists, political and public figures aimed at having a more secure, safer world free of weapons of mass destruction.

Nobel Prize winner Paolo Cotta-Ramusino said they plan to hold the regular Pugwash Conference in Yerevan this year in November. The Secretary-General said Armenia can be the best place for dialogue.

The President welcomed the idea of holding the Conference in Armenia and stated that a number of leading international conferences are expected to take place in Armenia this year.

The combination of science and politics is specifically important from the perspective of the future, especially in the context of new technologies and artificial intelligence, the Armenian President said.

Armen Sarkissian expressed readiness to assist to organize and hold the Conference at the highest level.

The two physicists also talked about the drastic changes taking place in the world, the global risks and challenges, as well as the ways to resist and avoid them.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan




YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The number of ceasefire violations committed by Azerbaijan at the Artsakh border has dropped abruptly, President Bako Sahakyans spokesperson Davit Babayan told ARMENPRESS.

The quantity of violations has dropped abruptly from the Azerbaijan side. Overall the border situation is stable. We welcome this, but on the other hand the adversary has not revised its policy that it based on hostility. It [Azerbaijan] continues its anti-Armenian policy in all spheres. They carried out the most massive military exercises in their history in 2018, Babayan said.

Asked whether or not the de-escalating tension at the border is connected with the establishment of an operative communication line between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Babayan said there can be various reasons.

It can be connected with different things, but the essence didnt change. The fact exists, but its goals didnt change. Weve always said that Azerbaijan is the country that is capable of going for the most unpredictable step in the lowest manner at the most inconvenient and unexpected moment, he said.

Back in September of 2018, when Armenias PM Nikol Pashinyan met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Tajikistan at a CIS summit, the sides agreed to establish a direct operative communication to reduce tension.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian healthcare ministry is planning to introduce a universal medical insurance system.

Healthcare minister Arsen Torosyan said at a news conference today that registered employees will join the program in 2021.

Many issues are yet to be decided, he said. For example what percentage of employed citizens salaries must go for insurance. But globally there is a practice of 2-30%. We are inclined to start from lower percentages, in order for it not to be a burden for citizens. We have certain numbers in mind, but since there are political decisions, these percentages will be changed. For example, if its decided that pensioners should also be included then this percentage will rise, he said.

He said that the purpose for launching the program in 2021 is to make accurate calculations to minimize possible failures.

By introducing the first phase for only employed citizens and citizens who are already benefiting from state medical insurance today, we are ensuring nearly 50% coverage, he said, adding that the number will be gradually increased.

Torosyan said they will also discuss the issue of including pensioners in the program.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The independence and practical efficiency of specialized anti-corruption bodies in Armenia have been assessed within the framework of the European Union/Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance Project. The assessment was carried out in Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus).

The Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials said that the assessment was implemented at the Anti-Corruption Council, the Special Investigative Service, the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials and the General Prosecution for the 2017-2018 period.

According to the independence index, the Commission on Ethics of High-Ranking Officials received 0,87 from a maximum of 1, and its practical efficiency was assessed as high.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev sent a congratulatory letter to Nikol Pashinyan on being re-elected Prime Minister of Armenia, Pashinyans Office told Armenpress.

Dear Mr. Pashinyan, accept my sincere congratulations on your re-appointment as Armenias PM.

Your victory once again proves the broad support of the Armenian people to your reforms program which aims at sustainable development of the economy and raising the welfare level of the countrys population.

I am convinced that the Armenian-Uzbek relations, which are based on the principles of mutual respect and taking into account the interests of each other, will continue to expand and strengthen.

I wish you good health and achievements, and peace and prosperity to the Armenian people, reads the congratulatory letter.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. American humorist, writer, Pulitzer Prize winner Russell Baker has passed away at the age of 93, Associated Press reported.

Allen Baker told The Associated Press that his father died on Monday from complications after a fall.

Russell Baker won Pulitzer Prizes in 1979 for the Observer, the New York Times column he wrote for 35 years, and in 1983 for his autobiography Growing Up.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The US House of Representatives has passed a bill according to which President Donald Trump cannot withdraw the United States from the NATO, Reuters reports.

The Democratic-led House approved the measure by a bipartisan 357-22 vote, with the only no votes coming from Republicans. It now goes to the Republican-majority Senate, where its future is unclear, although a similar measure has been introduced there.

The New York Times said last week that several times over the course of 2018, Trump privately told his advisers he wanted to withdraw from NATO.

Publicly, the president has rebuked NATO allies for spending too little on defense.

The legislation that passed the House Tuesday reaffirms lawmakers support for NATO, and says no U.S. funds will be spent to withdraw the United States from it.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of emergency situations informs that on January 23, as of 09:00, some roads are closed and difficult to pass in Armenia.

The Vardenyats Pass is closed for trailer trucks.

Sotk-Karvachar highway, the roads of Ashotsk and Amasia regions and the Syunik province are partly covered with clear ice.

Drivers are urged to use winter tires.

The Georgian authorities inform that the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
Cabaret-at-the-Club Benefits Historic Preservation Project

Ypsilanti Ladies' Literary Club hosts area performers for food, music, and magic

by a2tix

Published in January, 2019

Sunday February 10 from 3-5 p.m.-just in time for Valentine's Day-soprano Alexa Lokensgard, the musical duo Adrienne Pisoni & Quinn Strassel and magician Misha Tuesday will perform at Ladies' Literary Club, 281 N. Washington Street, Ypsilanti. Offering delicious food, wine and beer, this event benefits the renovation of the Ypsilanti Ladies' Literary Club meeting space and venue for area gatherings. General admission tickets ($50) are limited and available on a2tix.



Opera lovers have enjoyed soprano Alexa Lokensgard in recent years at the Michigan Opera Theater (Frida, Rigoletto, The Magic Flute) and Western Reserve Opera Theater's Carmen as well as in a variety of area concert settings. Her selections for this event include classical and operatic favorites.



U-M musical theater graduate, Adrienne Pisoni has toured nationally, appeared off-Broadway, and starred locally in AA in Concert's Ragtime and Performance Network's Little Night Music. Quinn Strassel-her guitar accompanist and husband-is known locally for directing Burns Park Players and teaching and directing theater at Community High School. The duo will perform folk and popular selections with guitar and vocals.



In large venues and private gatherings throughout the Midwest, Misha Tuesday mystifies audiences with his amazing magic, mind reading and hypnosis. He brings his magical charm and talent to the Cabaret this February.



Cabaret-at-the-Club benefits over $100,000 of critical repairs and renovations needed for the Ladies' Literary Club. Located on the corner of Washington and Emmet streets and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the white Greek Revival is regarded as one of the architectural gems of Washtenaw County. The house provides meeting space for the 140-year-old club and offers a popular rental site for area meetings, celebrations, and gatherings. The Ypsilanti Ladies' Literary House Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to the maintenance and historic preservation of the Ladies' Literary Club House.







.



[Originally published in January, 2019.]




14:08 | Davos (Switzerland), Jan. 23.

"The first stage of the project will be carried out in a 141-hectare area and with a US$1.3 billion investment ()," Volcan said.





Likewise, the company indicated this project is composed of a multi-purpose port terminal, which includes a container terminal plus a terminal for bulk, general, and roll-on/roll-off cargo.





Agreement signing





The accord was signed within the framework of the World Economic Forum in Davos.





Peruvian Vice-President Mercedes Araoz was present at the signing ceremony. On the occasion, she was joined by high-ranking Chinese authorities





The agreements will enable carrying out the design, engineering development, construction, and operation of the Mega Port Complex of Chancay, through Chancay Port Terminals (TPCH), the project's managing company.





logistic businesses. It should be noted Volcan firm is one of the world's biggest producers of zinc, lead, and silver. In the last few years, it has diversified its entrepreneurial activities by including sectors such as electric energy generation, as well as port andbusinesses.





On the other hand, CSPL is a subsidiary of Cosco Shipping Group (owned by the Chinese Government). It is considered the globe's biggest transnational company in the integrated port and shipping business.





(END) CNA/DTK/MVB
Presidente @MartinVizcarraC: En el marco del Foro Economico Mundial, se suscribio un contrato para desarrollar el terminal portuario de Chancay con una inversion aproximada de 3 mil millones de dolares. Pronto, el Peru contara con la mejor oferta portuaria de toda Sudamerica. pic.twitter.com/IJKvI5x414
By The Numbers

70% of NB workers live outside the city limits

22% of owner-occupied units are housing cost burdened

$58,814 is the median household income for New Braunfels in 2017

$220,000 is the for-sale home price affordable to 2017 New Braunfels median income

$1,450 is the affordable maximum rent for 2017 New Braunfels median income
Ridofranz/iStock(LOS ANGELES) -- Teachers and students in Los Angeles returned to their classrooms on Wednesday after a deal was reached, ending the city's landmark teacher strike.



Though a deal was reached in Los Angeles, a similar conflict seems set to unfold in Denver as teachers there voted in favor of a strike.



The Denver teachers' strike can legally start as of Monday, Jan. 28, after 93 percent of unionized teachers voted for the strike on Tuesday night.



"Theyre striking for better pay. Theyre striking for our profession. And theyre striking for Denver students," Rob Gould, the union's lead negotiator, said at a press conference Tuesday, according to The Denver Post.



Those demands echo the ones called for in Los Angeles.



Teachers in California's most populous city went on strike over teacher pay, class size and funding for school support staff, among other issues.



A deal was reached Tuesday, Jan. 22, which marked the ninth day of the strike that took 30,000 teachers out of classrooms.



The contract that was reached included a 6 percent pay increase and a plan to lower class sizes over the next four years.



The Los Angeles mayor, the schools superintendent and the head of the teachers union announced at a joint news conference Tuesday that a tentative deal was reached, and the member teachers voted on it Tuesday evening, formalizing the deal.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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Opera novices and aficionados are invited to three free interactive presentations about Astor Piazzolas extraordinary tango-opera.

NHCC Library, History and Literary Arts Building

Opera novices and aficionados are invited to three free interactive presentations about Maria de Buenos Aires, Astor Piazzolas extraordinary tango-opera. Over three Wednesday evenings, poet Valerie Martinez and conductor Oliver Prezant will lead you on a magical journey through the story, the libretto, the music, and the staging of this evocative work, which tells the story of Maria, a prostitute born in a poor suburb of Buenos Aires, who sleepwalks through life, death, the afterlife, and is reborn into innocence. The music, by tango legend Astor Piazzolla, is based on nuevo tango, a genre that Piazzolla revolutionized by infusing Argentine tango with elements of jazz and classical music. Those who attend all three sessions will receive a 50% discount on tickets to a performance of the show, which runs from February 17-24 in the Journal Theater.

Dates and Topics:

January 23: Story, Text, and Context, with Valerie Martinez

Marias Argentina: old tango bars, duende, crafting the libretto, signs and symbols, magical realism.

January 30: The Music, with Oliver Prezant

Astor Piazzola and Tango Nuevo, singing the story-setting the text, the music of character and situation.

February 6: Maria on Stage  Operita or Opera? with Oliver Prezant

Directors choice: blocking, lighting, sets, costumes. Maria in the land of musical theater and opera.

Register for the workshops HERE.

Valerie Martinez is currently the Director of History and Literary Arts at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Santa Fes second Poet Laureate, Valerie taught poetry and literature at the college/university level for 23 years. As a core artist and Executive Director of Littleglobe, Valerie worked in collaboration with the Santa Fe Opera Community Engagement Program to co-create two community-based operas: Memorylines: Voces de Nuestras Jornadas (2008) and the Santa Fe Bus Opera (2010).

Oliver Prezant has presented lectures and education programs for The Santa Fe Opera and Opera Southwest. He is the Music Director and conductor of the Santa Fe Community Orchestra, and the Artistic Advisor to the ArtWorks Program, which provides arts education workshops for Santa Fe Public Schools students and teachers. He was on the faculty of the Contemporary Music Program at the College of Santa Fe and Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
imaginima/iStock(BOSTON) -- A 23-year-old woman allegedly held against her will was crying and had "a horrified look on her face" when police found her at her suspected kidnapper's Boston home, according to court documents.



Victor Pena, the 38-year-old charged in the kidnapping of Olivia Ambrose, was arrested after authorities say he was found at his Charlestown apartment Tuesday with Ambrose, who vanished Saturday night.



When the investigation into Ambrose's disappearance was intensifying, police followed the last known ping from her phone to an apartment complex. Detectives showed surveillance images to neighbors, who said the suspect looked like Pena, according to the documents obtained by ABC Boston affiliate WCVB-TV.



The missing 23-year-old's phone also re-activated and she began sending messages to her mother, the documents said.



Maintenance staff was called in to open the door to Penas apartment on Tuesday, the documents said, and before drilling the lock, detectives waited about 20 minutes and knocked numerous times.



"Once the top lock was dismantled but prior to the lower locks being opened, the detectives heard the locks opening from the inside," the documents said.



Pena, who was at the doorway, "resisted violently when authorities tried to handcuff him, according to the documents.



Ambrose told a detective "she was being held against her will," and that Pena took her phone and "refused to let her leave the apartment for the entire time she was held there," according to the documents.



Pena made his first appearance in court on Wednesday, during which it was determined he would undergo a further mental evaluation.



A doctor who examined Pena said he showed signs of psychosis.



Pena will be taken to a mental institution for a more sophisticated screening before he returns to court on Feb. 11.



Ambrose's disappearance began Saturday night after she left Hennessey's Bar in Boston with a man who has been identified and eliminated as a suspect, police said.



Ambrose was then engaged by two men, one of whom was identified as Pena, police said, citing surveillance video.



Pena and the other man were seen on surveillance video watching her stagger across the street before following her, according to documents.



The other man seen on video has since been cleared by detectives, police said Wednesday.



Surveillance video showed Pena physically guiding Ambrose, according to authorities, who said the young woman wasn't going along willingly.



Ambrose's family reported her missing on Sunday, police said, prompting a massive search, and the investigation led authorities on Tuesday to Penas apartment.



Ambrose was taken to a hospital, police said. The 23-year-old then returned to her family's home Tuesday night, according to WCVB-TV.



Police are investigating whether Ambrose and the suspect met at the bar or had a chance meeting on the street, authorities said.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Celebrate by finding the perfect fountain pen, learn tips for improving handwriting, write a letter, enter oua drawing for a Lamy Safari fountain pen and so much more.

On January 23rd, John Hancocks birthday, we are celebrating NATIONAL HANDWRITING DAY! Handwriting is believed to be as unique to a person as his or her fingerprint. There are proven benefits of writing by hand, including improved creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

Come by Pennysmiths Paper and celebrate!

-Pen expert Sue will help find the perfect fountain pen for you

-Calligrapher Theresa Varela will be here 11am-3pm with tips for improving your handwriting

-Pull up a chair and write a letter with us!

-Enter our drawing for a free Lamy Safari fountain pen

-Get creative ideas for bullet journaling

-Receive a free Varsity fountain pen with your purchase of over $25.
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!)
Copyright & Permissions

Unless otherwise noted all written material on this blog is copyrighted by the blog owner. All rights are reserved except as stated below.



I generally have no problem with someone quoting Ad Orientem unless it's for commercial purposes or something that's copyrighted other than by me (in either which case kindly ask first). In all cases please be polite and include attribution and a link. Remember good netiquette.



A conscientious effort is made to respect the rights of others when quoting or displaying their work on this blog. As a general rule only excerpts are posted with a link to the original source. Common sense exceptions may include instances where it is believed in good faith that the content falls within the public domain or where the quoted content is so brief that excerpting is not practical.
Ukraine's obligations within the EU association agreement do not comply with the CIS agreements

Ukraines Government terminated some more agreements signed within Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as 112.ua reported.

The Cabinet of Ministers decided to terminate the following agreements:

On Inter-Country Exchange of Economic Information (signed on June 26, 1992 in Minsk);

On Exchange of Information in Foreign Economic Activity (signed on September 24, 1993 in Moscow);

On Cooperation in Foreign Economic Sector (signed on May 12, 1992 in Tashkent).

The explanatory note, which RBK-Ukraine published, says that Ukraine has some obligations in the foreign trade sector, including as a member of WTO and within the Association Agreement with the EU, separate norms of which are inconsistent with the mentioned obligations within CIS.

As it was reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine made a decision on the withdrawal of Ukraine from the Agreement on the development of exhibitions and fairies activity within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Besides, Ukraine terminated cooperation with the Russian Central Electoral Commission, as the law On the breach of Ukraine-Russia Friendship Treaty came into force.
The Ukrainian ombudswoman filed an appeal to Foreign and Healthcare Ministries due to this fact

Ukrainian sailor behind bars in Russia Hromadske

Ukrainian prisoners Andry Artemenko, Vasyl Soroka and Andry Eidar were transferred to Lefortovo prison where is no proper conditions for the further treatment as Ukraines ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova reported on Facebook.

She noted that due to this situation she urgently filed an appeal to Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and acting Healthcare Minister Uliana Suprun with a request to assume necessary measures for the provision of the necessary medical care to the sailors.

I am concerned with this situation and think that the transfer of the Ukrainian POWs is the threat for their further recovery and urgent release. So, I appealed to the officials with a request to assume measure on the provision of the urgent medical examination, treatment and rehabilitation, Denisova noted.

She also reported that according to Russian conclusions, the state of health of three sailors is satisfactory but according to the alternative sources, it is not so.

On November 25, the coast guard ships of the Russian Navy attacked the ships of the Ukrainian Navy, which have been carrying out a scheduled transition from Odesa port to Mariupol port in the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian ships were rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them.

All 24 sailors on board were captured and delivered to Moscow  21 of them were delivered to Lefortovo remand center, another - to the hospital of Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

On December 3, the Russian prosecutors officially accused Ukrainian sailors with the 'illegal crossing of the state border' during the attack in the Kerch Strait.

Facing an extension of the sentence term, Ukrainian POWs detained in the Kerch Strait refused to testify in Lefortovo court. Sailors were distributed into six groups, four people in each. On January 15, 2019 Moscow's Lefortovo district court decided to keep 20 Ukrainian sailors in remand until April 24. On January 16, the court extended the detention term for another 4 sailors.

Related video:
Pulse talk show on Jan. 22, 2019 112 Agency

The guests of Pulse talk show discussed what was dividing Ukrainians nowadays on air of 112 Ukraine TV channel.

The presidential candidates make us divided, the TV presenter Andriy Palchevsky noted.

I agree that politicians add fuel to the fire when there was no need to disturb many wounds. The hot phase of the elections has not started yet, not all the dangerous topics showed themselves. They are still in a calm state, but could anytime start itching, Oleksandra Reshmedilova, doctor of philosophy said.

Kyrylo Molchanov, political analyst noted that Ukrainians were divided by the issues of language, religion, history. The politicians are only exploiting this. And this division will only become stronger as the elections approach.

Yevhen Chervonenko, the Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine in 2005 said:

We are divided by the elites and ability and inability to listen to others. Secondly, the politicians have been dividing this once united country, Ukrainian Republic, for 27 years as no one else has ever done.

Volodymyr Tsybulko, political analyst believes that Ukraine was torn the most by the fear of modernization. Ukrainians very reluctantly master new knowledge and in order to be competitive, you have to be modernized and technologized.

Pavlo Zhebrivsky, the head of Donetsk Military Civil Administration in 2015-2018 said that the Unity of Ukraine today was the real Ukrainian elite reuniting with its people. The real Ukrainian elite is only being formed right now. The absence of real Ukrainian elite when the higher-ups only make effort to gain more power is what divides Ukrainian people and it signifies the absence of unity.

As it was reported earlier, Pavlo Zhebrivsky considered the improvement of living standards one of the main things towards achieving peace. He also stressed the importance of anti-Putin coalition, including the Western partners. Zhebrivsky said that it was impossible to reach unity in Eastern Ukraine through a military, non-military operation.
The court listened to the experts, who held the additional expert study on the possible drugs influence of Zaitseva

The experts stated that Olena Zaitseva, the suspect in the commitment of the deadly car accident in Kharkiv was not under the influence of drugs during the tragedy as a journalist of 112 Ukraine reported.

The court listened to the experts, who held the additional expert study on the possible drugs influence of Zaitseva. They confirmed that the narcotic substances were spotted in her blood.

According to them, there was no opiate, but codeine, Phenobarbital and metamizole. The first two substances are narcotic but according to the spotted proportions, the experts decided that it was the remains of the medication.

It was also noted that the representatives of the hearing stated they are ready to proceed to the court debates. However, not all participants of the case were present today, so, if they agree on the court debates the next session, the court will start another stage.

On October 18, 2017, Lexus ran over a group of pedestrians in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine. Alyona Zaitseva who drove the car violated the road traffic, crashing into the Volkswagen Touareg driven by Hennadiy Dronov which threw her car towards the pavement. Both drivers survived, but Lexus ran over eleven passing by people. Five pedestrians received lethal injuries; another six were taken to a hospital with injuries of various degrees of severity.

Zaitseva was detained for two months without a right to bail. The court revoked her driver license and arrested both cars that participated in the accident.

The prosecution stated that Zaitseva used opiates not long before the tragedy occurred. According to the information from the defence, the suspect took the sedatives.

The version of Zaitseva's defence is that the driver of the Touareg is guilty as he moved on the yellow traffic light. The defence of Gennady Dronov denies the accusation and claims that the driver of the Touareg moved on the green traffic light.

Dronov was the witness in this case but the police claimed that his status can change. Later, the court refused to recognize Dronov sustained. Hennadiy Dronov was served with charge papers on November 2. The Court arrested Hennadiy Dronov for 42 days without the right to bail on November 8.

It was established on December 6 that Zaitseva used substances containing codeine.

On February 7, the court prolonged the arrest of two suspects in the car crash that killed six people - Olena Zaitseva and Hennadiy Dronov for two months without a right for bail.
In Davos, the German and Ukrainian leaders discussed the prevention of the Russian interference in the presidential elections

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko agreed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to continue putting pressure on Russia to release all Ukrainian POWs during the negotiations at World Economic Forum in Davos as Sviatoslav Tseholko, the spokesperson of the Ukrainian leader reported on Facebook.

The parties agreed to continue putting pressure on Russia to release all Ukrainian POWs, including sailors, Tseholko wrote.

Besides, Poroshenko and Merkel exchanged the opinions on the prevention of the Russian interference in the presidential elections in Ukraine.

Earlier Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin stated that he intends to discuss Russian aggression in Kerch Strait, Donbas issue and release of the Ukrainian prisoners during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

As we reported the 48th World Economic Forum opened in Davos with the topic Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World took place in 2018. Davos was to accept 2,500 guests from more than 100 countries of the world: representatives from business, political leaders, heads of the international organization, journalists and representatives of the civil society.

Related video:
The father of one of the Ukrainian POWs told how parents and relatives of captured Ukrainians live in this situation

PACE deputies, with whom the relatives of the imprisoned Ukrainian sailors met in Strasbourg, promised to support the resolution of the Ukrainian delegation on Azov, as Viktor Soroka, father of one of the POWs, said, 112 Ukraine reported.

We talked to the deputies from Lithuania, Germany, they promise us support, they promise to come tomorrow and support the resolution of the Ukrainian delegation, he said.

Besides, he told about how he found out about sons capture.

I asked his to come home but he said he had a lot of work, so he couldnt make it. Then at around 3:30 I knew that Yany Kapu tugboat was rammed, and my heart felt something bad. At 5 pm I had a call from his boss, he said that they were coming back, that everything was fine. Then I was online. At around 8-8:30 I received information that Russians shot at Berdyansk vessel, senior sergeant was injured. I felt that this was war. Over 60 days of his capture I slept maybe four night. All the parents and relatives live like this in such situation, he noted.

On November 25, the coast guard ships of the Russian Navy attacked the ships of the Ukrainian Navy, which have been carrying out a scheduled transition from Odesa port to Mariupol port in the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian ships were rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them.

All 24 sailors on board were captured and delivered to Moscow  21 of them were delivered to Lefortovo remand center, another - to the hospital of Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

On December 3, the Russian prosecutors officially accused Ukrainian sailors with the 'illegal crossing of the state border' during the attack in the Kerch Strait.

Facing an extension of the sentence term, Ukrainian POWs detained in the Kerch Strait refused to testify in Lefortovo court. Sailors were distributed into six groups, four people in each. On January 15, 2019 Moscow's Lefortovo district court decided to keep 20 Ukrainian sailors in remand until April 24. On January 16, the court extended the detention term for another 4 sailors.

Related video:
It is the first-ever case of the extradition of a perpetrator from Andorra

The police of Andorra extradited a man wanted for the carjacking from 2016 to Ukraine. It is the first-ever case of the extradition of a perpetrator from Andorra as the National Police of Ukraine reported.

A native citizen of Lviv was put on the wanted list in 2016 at the request of Ternopil region court. He was accused of the theft of the premium car.

It turned out that a wanted man stays in Andorra. He can face 20 years of imprisonment with confiscation of the property in Ukraine.

Earlier we reported that in 2018, the Prosecutor Generals office of Ukraine approved the claims of Russia on the extradition of ten individuals suspected of having committed criminal offenses.

Besides, Ukraine asks the U.S. to extradite MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter Andry Inosov suspected in the murder of journalist Vasyl Serhienko in Cherkasy region. Inosov was suspected in absentia in the participation in the criminal organization created for the commitment of the grave and particularly grave crimes and commitment of the intentional homicide. In December 2018, the court granted the application of the investigation and arrested the suspect in absentia.
The negative decisions were made toward 2,100 people. 1,900 cases were stopped

4,100 foreigners filed the application on the provision of international protection in Poland in 2018. It is for 1,000 applications less than in 2017 as Polske Radio reported citing Yakub Dudziak, the spokesperson of Foreigners Office.

Last year the number of the foreigners, who asked the international protection in Poland continued to decrease, he said.

According to Dudziak, only 406 foreigners had all the necessary conditions to get the refugee status.

The negative decisions were made toward 2,100 people. 1,900 cases were stopped, the official noted.

The majority of the applications on the provision of international protection were filed by the Russians (2,700 people), Ukrainians (466 people) and Tadzhikistan (144 people).

Ukrainians (95 people), Russians (75 people) and Iraqis (27 people) got the majority of the positive decisions.

212 foreigners got the so-called national protection in the form of the agreement for the tolerant stay or on the humanitarian reasons.

The international protection is provided to the foreigners in the case if prosecution threats person in the country of origin or a person can face the obvious risk to life or health.

Earlier Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine Joel Lion said that 10% of the Ukrainian tourists, who come to Israel, are the illegal migrants.

As we reported the Ukrainian labor migrants have sent to Ukraine 600 million euro from the Czech Republic.
Open source

86 cases of the use of the force against the journalists were spotted in Ukraine in 2018 as Ukrinform reported citing National Union of Journalist of Ukraine.

We note the situation with the physical security of the journalists in Ukraine as an emergency because we spot unusually high level of the physical aggression against the journalists, which is accompanied by the systematic impunity for the second year in a row. On the results of our monitoring, 86 incidents of the physical aggression against the journalists spotted in 2018, Head of National Union of Journalist Sergy Tomilenko stated.

He noted that the common citizens usually attack the journalists. At the same time, 12 cases of the attacks at the journalists committed by the officials and lawmakers were spotted in 2018 as well as 10 cases of the attacks committed by the police officers and law enforcers, including with the use of the weapons.

Besides, there is a particularly embarrassing tendency spotted by the index of physical security of the journalists such as the devastating increase in the attacks at the women-workers of the mass media. In fact, the number of the attacks at women-journalists increased by 50% in 2018, Tomilenko noted.

Kyiv and Kyiv region with 29 attacks are the leaders in the number of them.

Totally, there were 175 attacks at the mass media workers in 2017 and 2018.

We think that it is extremely high level and we demand from the law enforcement bodies and politicians to assume the efforts to stop the wave of the physical aggression in Ukraine. We have the information about each of 175 incidents from the suffered colleagues, he emphasized.

Earlier we reported that 94 journalists and media workers were killed while on duty in the world in 2018 and it is more for 12 persons than in 2017. Besides, far-right opponents of the March in support of transgender people in Kyiv attacked Canadian journalist Michael Colborne.
The Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church apostrophe

The Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) Filaret is outraged that the Autocephalous Church is called the new church. He wants the Orthodox Church of Ukraine to be called as it is - Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Filaret said that on the closed meeting of clerics, the report of which the Alliance of Orthodox Journalists has.

Filaret also gained support from other members of the meeting like Dmytro Stepovyk, the leading member of the Institute of Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology of Maxim Rylsky National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Professor of Art History of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy. Both of them plead all the people attending the meeting not use the term Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the press. The peoples reaction was loud applause.

The enemies will do everything in order our church could lose its unity. Their main goal is to separate us. As I have already mentioned this name was imposed on us, it is not ours. Who has something to do with the press should help us to eradicate the name from the mass media. It is not our name. We are Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as others: Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Russian, Serbian and so on. But the Orthodox Church of Ukraine means that it is not a dominant church, but just one of the churches in Ukraine. But we are not in Ukraine, we are the Ukrainian church. We are  the dominant church of Ukraine, - Filaret said.

He also addressed to Father Mykhail asking him to help to eradicate the name from the press. Father Mykhail, you post something on the Internet. Whoever wants to call the church this way, let it be. However, in our Ukrainian sources the Orthodox Church of Ukraine should not be mentioned. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church  yes, but not  the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, - Filaret also said.

Professor of Art History of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy Open source

Dear participants of this meeting, you have just heard the important words of our spiritual abbot. I have been giving these days, from January 1, and perhaps from December 15, about ten, if not more, interviews. Holy Archimandrite and I categorically reject this name, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was even used in Istanbul. We have remained the Ukrainian Orthodox Church since June 5, 1990. And those ambidextrous terms, as if philological ones, distort the truth and mislead the ordinary people. Today during my liturgy an older man approached me and asked: "Why does nobody remind about Patriarch Filaret these days?" I said to him: "You are probably a bit deafer than I am. They recollect him from time to time, and they will continue to do so, - Stepovyk said.

After todays clarifications I ask everybody of us to stop using this term and under no condition should we use the Orthodox Church in Ukraine or of Ukraine in press. Only the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and only with the possessive case. Why do Bulgarians can the church correctly, and I have been there, I know what kind of believers they are, something between the pagans and ... I have also been to Serbia. I have not been to Greece yet, I do not want. But I have been to Macedonia, and all their small Orthodox churches are used with the possessive cases. However, we are being imposed on another form of the name. Lets reject it and sharply criticize. Glory to you, your Holiness. You will be our patriarch as long as you live. No other way is possible, - Stepovyk added and the people applauded loudly.

On April 14, 2018, 268 deputies in the Ukrainian parliament voted to appeal to Constantinople to grant autocephaly, or independence, to the Orthodox church. On December 15, the Unification Assembly in Kyiv elected the head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of the former Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC KP) Epifaniy (Dumenko). On the same day, the archbishops adopted the charter of the new church. On January 5, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew signed the official document known as the tomos that created an Orthodox Church of Ukraine, independent of Russia.
Matthew Whitaker is to testify at the House Judiciary Committee, as the probe into Russia's meddling with 2016 presidential election is underway

Matthew Whitaker, U.S. Acting Attorney General Reuters

Jerrold Nadler, the leading Democrat official at the U.S. House Judiciary Committee warned U.S. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker about the upcoming interview, where the latter would have to testify about Russia's part in the 2016 presidential election.

Reuters looked into the story, mentioning that Nadler could have his own reasons to be concerned that both Whitaker and his predecessor Jeff Sessions avoided these questions.

The committee will not accept your declining to answer any question on the theory that the President may want to invoke his privileges in the future, Nadler wrote. Short of a direct and appropriate invocation of executive privilege, I will expect you to answer these questions fully and to the best of your knowledge, he added, as the news agency quoted him.

'Whitaker has been under fire by Democrats since Trump appointed him in November to replace the ousted Sessions. Many have voiced concern that Whitakers appointment violated the U.S. Constitution and represented an effort to undermine Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible coordination with Trump campaign members. Trump denies colluding with Moscow', Reuters wrote.
Open source

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is making the preparations necessary for the due border control in conditions of the possible visa regime with Russia. Oleg Slobodyan, the speaker of the State Border Guard said that as quoted by UNN news agency.

'We're ready for such kind of border control that involves biometric IDs. We've been working with the biometric documents since 2017 and processing the biometric data since 2018. There's no trouble with that', Slobodyan stated.

According to him, since the beginning of the year, 12,000 foreign citizens had their fingerprints taken; 11,000 of those are Russian citizens. In 2018, the number of Russians who had their fingerprints taken made 500,000.

Previously, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin supported the implementation of biometric visa regime with Russia. According to him, this would be the only way to actually control who and how crosses the Ukrainian border when coming from Russia.
The Commission of Ukraine asks to study all the requirements before sending observers to the elections

new rules concerning observing process during elections Open source

The Central Election Commission of Ukraine asked foreign countries and international organizations not to send observers from Russia to the presidential elections on May, 31. Reports the press service of the Commission.

That is why the Commission refers to all foreign countries and international organizations intending to observe the election process in Ukraine. The Russian Federation is the aggressor state, which commits an aggression crime against Ukraine and temporary occupies the territories of Ukraine, according to the law On peculiarities of state policy concerning protecting sovereignty of Ukraine on the temporary occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, - is stated in the report.

Besides, the Election Commission emphasizes on the fact, that there will be criminal responsibility on those, who cross the state border aiming to inflict harm on the state interests. Also on those, who are not allowed to enter the country or the representatives of armed forces and other armed organizations from the aggressor state in entry points as well as other ways without necessary documents or with documents that have inappropriate data.
These aren't the behaviors of nations that want to be part of the international community, the U.S. Secretary of the State said

Open source

The White House urges the Kremlin to change its position concerning Ukraine and the interference with elections globally. Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of the State claimed that during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

'He pointed to Russia's actions in Ukraine, where it has supported separatist rebels and annexed the Crimean peninsula, as well as Moscow's attempts, as alleged by US intelligence, to interfere in elections in the United States and elsewhere', France 24 wrote.

"These aren't the behaviors of nations that want to be part of the international community,", the news agency quoted Pompeo as saying.

Earlier, President Donald Trump cancelled his visit to Switzerland, where he was supposed to join the World Economic Forum. The reason is his ongoing opposition with the Democratic Party within the discussions about the wall construction on the U.S.-Mexico border.
In past times, the World Economic Forum in Davos pleased visiting journalists with delicious oligarchic breakfasts. But if Ukrainian oligarchs surprised guests with gourmet breakfasts, then Ukrainian officials regaled our distinguished guests with empty promises, flavored with salty tears asking to provide for food some billion loans. This year, you can also expect something enchanting in the Ukrainian section, including flags, anthem and a battery of Dom Perignon bottles at a price like ten average Ukrainian pensions for one. But if earlier oligarchic participation at least minimally supported the interest of Western investors in our country, now Ukraines participation in the Davos forum can be compared with the participation of independent Mongolia at the winter Olympics. Independent in the sense that nothing depends on it.



In order for your presence or absence to have any effect anywhere, it is first necessary to return your subjectivity. Especially when it comes to international politics. Object countries are of no interest to anyone in the global world, because everyone is well aware that negotiating with them is a waste of time. It is better to directly contact the "owner".



In this regard, the presence of Ukraine on the forum will be perceived the same as our absence. No one will pay attention to this fact and, perhaps, it will not even be reflected in the official reports "from the fields". In order to change the situation, our country must first show the world that the daily routine of the whole country is written not in the memorandum with the IMF, but in the internal intellectual environment. Only then the investors will accept the fact that the fate of Ukraine needs to be discussed with Ukrainians, since we still have an intellectual elite capable of developing new economic meanings.

The request for subjectivity exists both within the country and in the external environment. Global capital has still not understood how the 40-millionth country in the east of the richest world economic conglomerate - the EU - could disappear from the investor radar.

But I find more interesting another typification of economies proposed by ONeil - this is the so-called group of 11 countries or N-11 (Next Eleven). The following countries were included: Mexico, Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Philippines.



According to the analyst, these countries are very likely to become the new locomotives of the world economy and change the relief of the distribution of productive forces in the 21st century, even pressing the BRICS group.



The future economic regionalization of the global economy will not develop according to the principle of raw materials or agricultural potential. And not according to the factor of innovation. All that matters is a possibility to pursue a new industrial policy. The fact is that innovations are derived from an effective industrial core of the economy, which allows for a sufficient level to finance science, education, medicine. In addition, the industrial core creates demand for innovations and an environment for their successful transfer to the real sector.
Washington: The US is facing an increasingly complex and uncertain world in which threats are becoming ever more diverse and interconnected, America's top spy master said Wednesday. Daniel Coats, Director of National Intelligence, said these threats range from geopolitical competition to weapon of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation, violent extremism and intra and interstate conflict to regional instability.

"The strategic environment is changing rapidly, and the US faces an increasingly complex and uncertain world in which threats are becoming ever more diverse and interconnected," said Coats in the latest National Intelligence Strategy released Wednesday.

He said these threats come from America's long-standing adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, among others, and new adversaries, including terrorist groups and other non-state actors.

"We also see threats from cyber-space, and adversaries using emerging, disruptive technologies against us.

These threats are aimed at: our presence abroad; our national security infrastructure; our critical public infrastructure; and our private sector; and our American public," Coats said. The spy master said America need's to become more agile in how it employs its staff internally, and bring new talent onboard.

"We will expand and strengthen our partnerships outside the IC, to leverage the talent, and unique skill sets that exist beyond the federal government," he said.

"We are developing innovative policies to harness talent in ways we never have before. Given the threats we face, we simply cannot ignore the advantage that partnerships outside of the federal government bring to the IC," he added. As per the National Intelligence strategy, no longer a solely US domain, the democratisation of space poses significant challenges for the United States and the intelligence community.

Adversaries are increasing their presence in this domain with plans to reach or exceed parity in some areas, it said. "For example, Russia and China will continue to pursue a full range of anti-satellite weapons as a means to reduce US military effectiveness and overall security," the strategy says.

"Increasing commercialisation of space now provides capabilities that were once limited to global powers to anyone that can afford to buy them. Many aspects of modern society ? to include our ability to conduct military operations ? rely on our access to and equipment in space," it added.
WASHINGTON: The top US diplomat for European affairs, Wess Mitchell, has resigned, according to his resignation letter seen by Reuters on Tuesday at a time of strains in the trans-Atlantic relationship over US President Donald Trump`s policies.

In the letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dated Jan. 4, Mitchell said he felt he had completed his goals for the post and wanted to spend more time with his young family. He will leave the post on Feb. 15, according to the State Department.

There were no obvious signs that Mitchell, a former policy analyst on central and eastern Europe, was resigning out of protest against Trump administration policies. Mitchell was brought on board by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2017 as Trump threatened to withdraw the United States from the NATO military alliance and Washington accused Moscow of meddling in the 2016 US presidential campaign.

The trans-Atlantic relationship has been further strained by Trump`s decisions to impose US tariffs on European steel and aluminum, pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and global climate pact, and recently to withdraw troops from Syria.

Ties with Germany have been strained over Trump`s sharp criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel`s migration policies and support for a Baltic Sea gas pipeline with Russia. He has also lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron for his "low approval rating," France`s near defeat to Germany in two world wars and accused Paris of unfair trade practices over wine.

Pompeo said on Twitter that Mitchell had done "an outstanding job as Assistant Secretary." "I have valued his counsel and wisdom as he has led our European team in this administration. I wish him and his wife Elizabeth, who is also a committed public servant, much happiness with their two young children," Pompeo tweeted.

In his resignation letter, Mitchell said he had helped to craft the administration`s European strategy and reorganize the European bureau at the State Department. He said he was proud of diplomatic efforts in sustaining transatlantic unity on sanctions against Russia, securing the release of American pastor Andrew Brunson from Turkey, and US support for resolving a dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the former Yugoslav republic`s name.

"I am proud of what we have accomplished in creating and beginning to implement the Europe Integrated Strategy in support of the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy," he wrote. "The emphasis that these strategies place on the need to prepare our country and the nations of the West for sustained competition with big-power rivals is both urgently necessary and long overdue," he added.
New York: Three men and a teenage boy have been arrested and charged for an alleged plot against a small Islamic community in New York state, police said. The suspects have been accused of possessing homemade bombs and firearms, and planning to attack Islamberg, founded by a Pakistani cleric in the 1980s.

The three men -- Andrew Crysel, 18, Vincent Vetromile, 19, and Brian Colaneri, 20 -- were due to appear in court on Wednesday. All were charged with criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy. A 16-year-old boy is also facing charges, the police said, adding that at least three of them served together as boy scouts.

Investigators say the group, based in the city of Greece in the northwest of the state, made at least three improvised explosive devices using duct tape and large jars and cylinders containing nails and other projectiles.

They were found in the 16-year-old`s home, a police officer added. Some 23 firearms were also found at various locations. The alleged plot was revealed following a tip-off from a school student, the BBC reported.

Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said the investigation was launched after comments made by the 16-year-old at school on Friday were overheard by a fellow student. The Islamberg community, located west of the Catskill mountains near the city of Binghamton, has become a target for conspiracy theorists who say it is a terrorist training camp.

The mainly African American group settled there to escape crime and overcrowding in New York City. The community has been described as peaceful and friendly, but right-wing conspiracy-led media outlets keep suggesting that it was a training camp for Islamist militants, the BBC said.

In 2017 Robert Doggart, from Tennessee, was jailed for plotting to burn down the community`s mosque. In 2015, Arizona man John Ritzheimer threatened the community with an armed confrontation.
The T-Series versus PewDiePie battle on YouTube is giving serious travel goals to some. Popular Italian musician and bass player Davide Biale, whose YouTube channel is called Davie504, travelled all the way to Film City - Noida in India, just to play Bitch Lasagna outside T-Series office gate.

I went to INDIA at T-Series office just to play Bitch Lasagna. It's not over yet. subscribe to @pewdiepie goddamnit tweeted @Davie504. PewDiePie later retweeted the video.

I went to INDIA at T-Series office just to play Bitch Lasagna. It's not over yet. subscribe to @pewdiepie goddamnithttps://t.co/bmML2yFTwI  Davie504 (@Davie504bass) January 20, 2019

Felix PewDiePie Kjellberg had released a diss track roasting T-Series in October last year, at the height of their YouTube war.

In David504's video, the Italian musician is seen playing outside T Series building's white iron gates located inside Film City, Noida  a hub for media and production houses in India. He's also seen playing outside the popular DFL Mall of India, and the narrow bridge connecting the mall and Film City.

Earlier, Davie504 played a bass cover of 'Bitch Lasagna' on his guitar for 10 hours straight and streamed it live on YouTube.

While some might say, it is just a ploy to get more subscribers on his own YouTube channel, but come on man, he did take the plunge and flew all the way down from Hong Kong.

For the uninformed, one-man Swedish content creator PewDiePie was locked in an online battle with music T-Series for the most-subscribed channel on YouTube. PewDiePie, known for his video-game commentary, held the mantle for more than five years only to be threatened by T-Series fast ascent to the top in mere months. Several Pewds (PewDiePie fans) and top YouTube content creators came out in PewDiePie's support, some to the extent of hacking worldwide printers, Google Chromecasts and defacing the Wall Street Journal website.

PewDiePie ultimately zoomed ahead in the war with YouTube purging spam accounts which led to a substantial loss of subscriber count for T-Series. There's been a sudden resurgence in the battle between the two, with PewDiePie asking followers to continue subscribing to it,
Paris: American singer-songwriter Chris Brown was released on his own recognizance on Tuesday, a day after being arrested by French police following rape accusations, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

The prosecutor's office told Efe that Brown's personal bodyguard and a friend, whom the accuser also claimed had abused her, has also been released.

The Parisian prosecutor's office will continue to pursue the investigation.

Gossip magazine Closer reported the arrests and the assault accusations in an exclusive that was later independently confirmed by several news agencies, reports Efe.

The 24-year-old woman said the alleged crimes took place on January 16 in a room at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental hotel in Paris.

She said she met the singer at a nearby nightclub.

She added that there were other young women in the hotel suite, but that she was led to a room where the alleged rape took place.

In 2009, Brown took a deal with the Los Angeles prosecutor in which he pleaded guilty to a felony for assaulting his then-partner, R&B star Rihanna. He was sentenced to six months of community service, five years of probation and mandatory domestic violence counseling.

He was also involved in an array of violent incidents including a fight at a nightclub, a hit-and-run, an altercation over a parking spot and a misdemeanour assault of two men who had asked for a picture with him, although charges were later dropped in all instances except the last one, which -- since it was a violation of his probation -- led to Brown spending a short amount of time in jail.

In August 2016, a woman told police that Brown had threatened her with a gun at his California mansion, after which the rapper entered a standoff with the Los Angeles Police Department when he refused to authorise a search without a warrant. No guns nor drugs were found in the search and Brown was never formally charged.

In July 2018, he was arrested on a felony battery charge after a show in Palm Beach, Florida, and later released on bail.
Bhubaneswar: Ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Odisha Chief Minister Patnaik has planned to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trail and address public meetings where the opposition BJP held congregations during the past few months.

As Modi addressed three public meetings at Khurda, Baripada and Bolangir between December 24 and January 15, Patnaik too has plans to speak to the people in those places, a senior party official said.

"The BJD president has decided to visit all the places where Prime Minister Modi had addressed public meetings in the past two months," he said.

Modi had addressed a public meeting at Jharsuguda in western Odisha on September 22 last year. Patnaik would visit the place on Thursday.

"We are planning a congregation of more than 1 lakh people at BJD president and chief minister's meeting at Jharsuguda," the leader said.

As Modi had visited Bolangir, another western Odisha district on January 15, the BJD supremo will also visit that place on January 24, he said.

Similarly, Patnaik will visit Baripada, the district headquarters of tribal dominated Mayurbhanj district on January 30. Modi had addressed a public meeting there on January 5.

As Khurda is only 20 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, the chief minister will address a meeting there in near future.
Bengaluru: Congress MLA JN Ganesh, who is accused of allegedly thrashing his party colleague Anand Singh at a resort here following a brawl, is likely to be summoned by police on Wednesday. He can also be arrested.

This comes after Singh filed an FIR against Ganesh on Monday. The case has been booked under non bailable section.

In another blow to the accused MLA on the same day, the Congress suspended him from the party.

Ganesh had, however, apologised earlier to the family of MLA Anand Singh after the latter was hospitalised on Sunday. Singh is a legislator from Vijayanagara Assembly segment in Ballari district.

The duo allegedly got involved in a heated argument on Saturday at a resort near Bengaluru where the Congress party sequestered 76 lawmakers 'to protect them from the BJP'. This gave an embarrassing twist to the party's bid to keep its flock together.

Downplaying the issue, the Congress had, however, said that all was well within the party.

Ganesh is among the disgruntled Congress MLAs who was reportedly in touch with other dissidents in the party and was on the BJP's radar in its alleged toppling game. As per to reports, he was furious with Anand for foiling his plans to join the BJP by leaking information to the Congress leadership.

Congress had shifted its legislators to the resort on Friday last, as it feared that the BJP might lure some of them in its alleged bid to destabilise the Congress-JDS coalition government in the state.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court granted bail to four convicts in 2002 Naroda Patiya case on Wednesday. These convicts are Umeshbhai Bharwad, Rajkumar, Harshad and Prakashbhai Rathod.

In 2002 post-Godhra riots, 97 people of the minority community were killed in Naroda Patiya area in Ahmedabad. In August 2012, a trial court convicted 32 persons and acquitted 29 accused. All the convicts, including former MLA Maya Kodnani and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi were awarded life imprisonments.

Last year, pointing at shortfalls in probe, the Gujarat High Court acquitted Kodnani and 17 others, but upheld the conviction of 13 people including ex-Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi.

"It is during the course of investigation by the SIT that the name of ...Mayaben Kodnani was revealed. From the evidence of the witnesses who have named Mayaben Kodnani, it emerges that many of them have referred to her having come in a white Maruti car. However, no efforts have been made to ascertain as to whether the said accused owned any white Maruti car at the relevant time," the court said.
MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: Social Welfare Commissionerate Office, Government of Maharashtra, extended its last date of applications for various scholarships to January 31, 2019.



Government of India Scholarship (Class 9 and 10), Maharashtra 2017-18

Students studying in class 9 and 10 belonging to the SC category are eligible to apply for this scholarship. The main objective is to reduce the dropout rate of SC students at secondary level. The applicant must be studying in a government recognized institute.

For Hosteller student: INR 350 per month (p.m) for 10 months and adhoc of INR 1000 p.a.

For Day scholar student: INR 150 p.m for 10 months and adhoc of INR 750 p.a. For Physically Challenged Student: INRs 160 p.m.

For Mentally Challenged Students: INR 240 p.m will be awarded to the winners of this scholarship.

Tuition Fees and Examination Fees to OBC. Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

This scheme is for the OBC. students studying in Class 11 to post-graduation. The aim of this scheme is to encourage the OBC students towards higher education by reimbursing their tuition, examination and other fees. Under this scheme, the tuition fees, admission fees, library fees, laboratory fees, term fees, examination fee and gymkhana fee will be reimbursed to the eligible students.

Award of Scholarship to Backward Class Students In High Schools 2017, Maharashtra

Backward Class Students belonging to the SC category studying in High Schools are eligible for this scholarship. Under this scheme, preference will be given to students studying in 10 Class. INR 50 per month (INR. 500 for 10 months) will be given to Class 5 to 7 students and INR 100 per month (INR 1000 for 10 months) will be given to Class 8 to 10 students.

Scholarship of Special Education & Vocational Training to Disabled, Maharashtra 2017-18.

Physically disabled students between 6 to 18 years and above are applicable to apply for this scholarship. The scheme is applicable for visually impaired, orthopedically handicapped and hearing-impaired students.

The selected students will receive free education access in a suitable environment until the age of 18 years. After completion of 18 years, the special children will be provided with vocational training that covers free facilities of shelter, food, education, and clothing.

Tuition Fees and Examination Fees to VJNT Students (Means Based), Maharashtra 2017-18

Students belonging to V.J. and N.T. category are applicable to apply for this scholarship. The main objective is to reimburse the payment of fees such as tuition, admission, term, library, laboratory, gymkhana and examination fees at Post Matriculation education in recognized educational institutions.

Government of India Post-Matric Scholarship 2018, Maharashtra

Students who have passed class 10 belonging to SC category including Nav Buddha students, OBC, SBC and VJNT students are invited to apply for this scholarship.

Scheduled Castes including Nav Buddha students will get INR 230 p.m. to INR 550 p.m. for boys and girls (day scholar) and INR 380 p.m. to INR 1200 p.m. for boys and girls (Hostellers). OBC students will get INR 90 to INR 190 Per Month (day scholar) and INR 150 to INR 425 per month (Hostellers). SBC students will get INR 90 to INR 190 Per Month (day scholar) and INR 150 to INR 425 per month (Hostellers). VJNT students will get INR 90 to INR 190 Per Month (day scholar) and INR 150 to INR 425 per month (Hostellers).

Pre-Upper Primary and Pre-Secondary Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18

Meritorious students studying in Classes V to VIII are eligible to apply for this scholarship. Applicants are given scholarships on the basis of their results in a competitive exam conducted by the Maharashtra State Council of Examinations Pune every year.

HSS category applicants are awarded from INR 300- INR 1500 depending upon the set of questions. Similarly, MSS category applicants are awarded from INR 250- INR 1000.

Post Matric Scholarship to OBC Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

OBC Students of Maharashtra State are eligible to apply for this scholarship. It aims to encourage them to undergo Post-Matric Courses.

Both Hostellers and Day Scholars are eligible under this scheme. Hosteller: Eligible OBC students will be paid maintenance allowance of INR 90 to INR 190 p.m. Day scholar: Eligible OBC students will be paid maintenance allowance of INR 150 to INR 425 p.m. In addition, all compulsory fees will also be reimbursed.

Post-matric Scholarship for Disabled, Maharashtra 2017-18

The beneficiary categories of this scholarship are blind, hearing impaired, low vision, mentally retarded, orthopedically handicapped, mentally ill and leprosy cured. The objective of this scholarship is to encourage higher education among the disabled.

Students are categorized in groups ranging from A-E and thereafter varying range of financial support are provided depending on the groups.

Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Merit Scholarship to SC Students, Maharashtra 2018

SC students are eligible for this scholarship. Under this scheme, the Scheduled Caste Students who secured 75% marks or more in the S.S.C. Examination and have taken admission in Class 11. will get a scholarship of INR 300 per month for 10 months for two years i.e. in Class 11 and Class 12.

Book Bank for SC Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

Students belonging to the SC category and enrolling in Medical, Agriculture, Engineering, Veterinary and Law courses are invited for this scholarship. Varying scholarships will be awarded to students belonging to different fields.

Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Shikshan Shulk Shishyavrutti Yojna 2018, Maharashtra

Candidates who are admitted to Diploma/Degree / Postgraduate professional courses and have obtained minimum 60% marks in the previous examination are eligible to apply for this scholarship.



Professional Technical Training to Scheduled Caste Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

Social Justice & Special Assistance Department, Government of Maharashtra announces Professional Technical Training to Scheduled Caste Students through ITI (on demand). The objective of this scheme is to make the less educated students self-employed by providing short-term technical courses training. The selected candidate will get INR 100 per month as scholarship amount and a tool kit. The student will also get the free training in ITI.

Pre-matric Scholarship for Disabled, Maharashtra 2017-18

The objective of this scholarship is to encourage higher education among the disabled which includes Blind, Low Vision, Hearing Impairment, Orthopedically Handicapped, Mentally Retarded, Mentally Illness & Leprosy cured.

There are various financial rewards associated with the students belonging in different classes starting from INR 100- INR 300.



Government of India Scholarship in Secondary School Sanskrit Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18

Students of Classes IX to XII studying Sanskrit as one the subjects are considered for this scholarship. This scholarship aims to attract students towards the Sanskrit subject at the Secondary stage. Students are awarded scholarships ranging from INR 100 p.m. to INR 125 p.m. depending on the classes that the students belong to.



Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Merit Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18

Students of Class 11th and 12th from Vimukta Jatis, Nomadic Tribes or Special Backward Class are eligible for this scholarship. The scholarship aims to create competitive spirit among students belonging to special backward classes. INR 300 per month for 10 months, i.e., INR 3,000 per year will be provided under this scholarship scheme.



Post-Matric Scholarship to VJNT Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

Students belonging to Vimukta Jatis and Nomadic Tribes are eligible for this scholarship. The scholarship aims to encourage the VJNT students to undergo post-matric courses. INR 90 to INR 190 maintenance allowance per month will be given to the eligible VJNT students who live in hostels and INR 150 to INR 425 per month to VJNT day scholar students. In addition to this, all fees which are compulsorily payable by the students to the institutions will also be paid under the scheme.



Open Merit Scholarships in Junior College, Maharashtra 2017-18

The students who have secured 60 percent marks in the SSC examination are invited for this scholarship. The objective of this scholarship is to motivate those students for further higher education.

The students studying in Class 11 and 12 will get INR 50 per month for ten months.

Open Merit Scholarships for EBC Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

Students of Class 11 to postgraduation (for boys - only students of Class 11 and 12) are considered for Open Merit Scholarships for EBC students. The key objective of the scholarship is to enable students of economically backward classes to continue further education.

There are varying scholarship awards given to girls and boys depending on being their hosteler/non hosteler.



State Government Open Merit Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18

Class 12th passed students of Maharashtra are eligible to apply for this scholarship. A total of 1208 students admitted in Commerce, Arts, Law or Science graduate program will be benefitted under this scheme. The fresh applicants, if selected, will receive a scholarship of INR 1000 per annum in the month of March.

Scholarship to Meritorious Students Possessing Mathematics/Physics, Maharashtra 2017-18

The students who are pursuing graduation in science with mathematics or physics as the main subject are eligible for this scholarship. The objective of this scholarship is to encourage the students towards higher and technical education.

The fresh candidate will get INR 1000 in the month of March. In the case of renewal, the candidate will get INR 1200 in the month of March.

Eklavya Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18

Graduate students in arts, law, commerce, and science who have taken admission in a postgraduate degree program are eligible to apply in this scholarship.

Tuition Exam Fee (Freeship), Maharashtra 2017-18

The students belonging to scheduled tribes whose annual parent's income will be more than INR 250000 are eligible to apply for this scholarship. The main objective of this scholarship is to give a boost to the careers of students belonging to the scheduled tribes.



Maintenance Allowance to Sainik School SC Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

Sainik School SC students 2017-18 from the students studying in Government-registered Sainik schools of Maharashtra are eligible to apply for this scholarship. The key objective of the scholarship is to ensure that the students get access to military forces and national protection Prabodhini.



The students studying at Sainik Schools of Pune, Nashik and Satara will receive reimbursement for the entire expenditure of lodging, boarding, uniform, clothing, pocket money, horse riding, examination fees and tuition fees. For students of other remaining Sainik Schools, a reimbursement of INR 15000 per annum as maintenance allowance will be given to each student.



Ahindi Bhashik Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18

Students of non-Hindi speaking states for post matric studies with Hindi subject are eligible to apply for Ahindi Bhashik Scholarship 2017-18. The applicants must have obtained at least 60% marks in class 10 and 12 and 65% marks in Hindi Subject in order to qualify for the application process of the scholarship.

Higher Education Scholarship within India, Maharashtra 2017-18

SC students enrolling in IIT, IIM, Institute of Technology etc. for Higher Education Scholarship within India 2017-18 are applicable for this scholarship. The selected students will receive tuition fee, hostel charges and mess charges as prescribed by the institutions.

In addition to this, the students will also receive INR 10000 per annum for notebooks, books, and other important educational instruments.

Government of India Post-Matric Scholarship 2018 for ST, Maharashtra

Backward class students to undergo Post-Matric Courses are eligible to apply for this scholarship. The winners of the scholarship will receive financial aid based on the groups and will include services like Escort Allowance, Study Tours, Thesis Typing, Book grant etc.

Government Vidyaniketan Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18

Under this scheme, 80 scholarships will be distributed among four Vidyaniketan's: Pusegaon, Amravati, Aurangabad, Dhule where 20 students from each group will get this scholarship. It is a merit-based scholarship.

The applicant must have completed class 10 from Government Vidyaniketan and must secured atleast 60% marks in class 10 Board Examination.



Scholarship and Technical Education to Handicapped Students, Maharashtra 2017-18

Scholarship and Technical Education will be provided to Handicapped Students having 40 percent or more percentage of disabilities under this scheme. The aim of this scholarship is to encourage the persons with disabilities towards higher education.

The scholars will receive the scholarship amounts on the basis of their respective Bands with the amount ranging from INR 230- INR 1200.



Education Concession to Children of Ex-Servicemen, Maharashtra 2017-18

As per the Government guidelines, the wards of Ex-servicemen will receive fee exemption, maintenance allowance, and book expenses under this scheme. This scholarship is being offered by The Department of Higher and Technical Education.



Foreign Education Scholarship for SC, Maharashtra 2017-18

Department of Social Justice & Special Assistance, Government of Maharashtra is offering scholarships for SC category students. This scholarship will enable SC students to study abroad in Postgraduate and PhD courses of prominent universities.

Selected students will receive full tuition fee as fixed by the foreign university and maintenance allowance of 14000 USD or 9000 GBP. Incidental charges of USD 1375 for the US & other countries while for the UK, GBP 1000 will be paid. The scholarship will also cover expenses for books, project report & study tour, etc.



Scholarship Scheme for Students of Minority Communities, Maharashtra 2017-18

Poor and meritorious students who are pursuing professional courses in Maharashtra are applicable for this scholarship. The communities that are included in this scheme are Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, Jain & Jews.

The student will get either INR 25,000 or actual course fees, whichever is less as the scholarship.

Government Research Adhichatra, Maharashtra 2017-18

The Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra are providing scholarships to students willing to pursue a PhD program for Government Research Adhichatra 2017-18. A total of 14 seats are available out of which 11 seats are reserved for non-agricultural university and 3 seats are reserved for University level.

INR 10,000 per annum will be awarded to eligible candidates under this scheme.

AMS Scholarship, Maharashtra 2017-18



The Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra are providing scholarship to meritorious students of Class 11 to Graduation. 15 students from each divisional board will be selected for the scholarship that sums up to 120 students for 8 divisional board.

There will be varying scholarship amounts that will be provided on the basis of the education level of the applicants. The students of Class 11 to 12 receive a scholarship amount of INR 1600 to INR 2300.

The students of Graduation (Arts, Science, Commerce, Law) receive a scholarship amount of INR 3400 to INR 4000. The engineering students will receive a scholarship amount of INR 22,500 and the medical students will receive a scholarship amount of INR 72,000.

Tata Trusts Means Grant for School, Maharashtra 2018-19

Tata Trusts is providing scholarships to students studying in standard VIII to standard X at schools located within Mumbai/Mumbai suburban areas for the Tata Trusts Means Grant for School 2018-19. The organization will financially support the school education of selected scholars, based on their financial need.

Students will receive financial assistance based on their need under this program.

Tata Trusts Means Grant for College 2018-19

Students studying in class 11 onwards (except engineering) at schools located within Mumbai or suburban areas of Mumbai are eligible for this scheme. The grant aims at financially supporting the college education of selected scholars based on their financial need.

Students will receive financial assistance based on their need under this program.

Eligible candidates can apply on any of these scholarships from the given link here:

sjsa.maharashtra.gov.in/en/scheme-category/education-training?&Submit=Submit&page=4

Courtesy: buddy4study.com




NEW DELHI: A stretch of road between Dhaula Kuan and Gurugram caved-in on Wednesday morning, leading to massive traffic snarls in the area.

The road caved-in near Mahipalpur underpass. Several commuters took to Twitter to report about long traffic jams.

Later, Delhi Police took to Twitter advising commuters to take Mehrauli-Gurugram Road: "Traffic is heavy on NH 48 due to Road cave-in near Mahipalpur. Motorists are advised to take Mehrauli-Gurugram Road instead of NH 48."

Traffic Alert Traffic is heavy on NH 48 due to Road cave in near Mahipalpur. Motorists are advised to take Mehrauli-Gurugram Road instead of NH 48. pic.twitter.com/RasBny31ta  Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) January 23, 2019

The city witnessed cold and cloudy conditions on Wednesday morning with minimum temperatures hovering around 8 degrees Celsius, the Met said.

At least 25 Delhi-bound trains were delayed due to dense fog in several parts of northern India. "The sky will remain partly cloudy throughout the day with chances of light rain or thundershowers," an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said. A fog cover delayed 25 trains heading here by two to six hours.

The humidity at 8.30 a.m. was recorded at 100 per cent. Visibility in Safdarjung area at 8.30 a.m. was recorded at 100 metres while in the Palam area the visibility at 7.30 a.m. was recorded at 100 metres.
Mumbai: As the Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" on Wednesday completed a decade since its release in 2009, actor Anil Kapoor said he feels honoured to be its part.

"It feels like only yesterday that we were shooting for 'Slumdog Millionaire', and what a journey it has been since then," Anil said in a statement.

"Many have called Slumdog a masterpiece, and I can honestly say that I'm honoured to have been a part of it," he added.

British filmmaker Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" recounts the travails of an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win a staggering Rs 20 million on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" game show.

Anil was seen as show host Prem Kumar in the film, which traces the rags to riches tale of slum boy, played by actor Dev Patel.

The film sweeped eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Direction and Motion Picture.

Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman brought home two awards for "Jai ho" composition in the same year.

Veteran writer-lyricist-filmmaker Gulzar and sound engineer Resul Pookutty were also winners who made India proud in 2009 for the movie.
Legendarul Sir Alex Ferguson, umilit pe Wembley. Scene incredibile la EURO 2020

Sir Alex Ferguson a mers in tribunele stadionului Wembley, ca spectator, pentru a urmari partida dintre Anglia si Scotia la Euro 2020. Legendei lui Manchester United i s-a refuzat accesul in parcarea VIP, de catre unul dintre stewarzii de pe [citeste mai departe]
Yes you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 48 hours to transfer the domain.

Once you have received access to your account with the domain's current registrar you will be able to move the domain to any registrar of your choosing.

* When a domain is purchased on a payment plan, a registrar-lock is placed on the domain until all payments have been made. This registrar-lock prevents transfers.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 06:37:17|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A senior Qatari diplomat arrived on Wednesday night in the Gaza Strip carrying the third financial installment of the Qatari grant, Palestinian security sources and local media in Gaza reported.

The sources and reports said that Mohammed Amadi, Chief of the Qatari Corporation to reconstruct Gaza, entered the Gaza Strip through Erez Crossing point coming from Israel and was carrying 15 million U.S. dollars in suitcases.

The cash money he was carrying is the third installment of Qatar's grant agreed for paying Gaza civil employees, who were nominated by Islamic Hamas movement after it had violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Paying the third installment of the Qatari cash money was delayed by Israel this week following a wave of tension that mounted on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, where one Hamas militant was killed and one Israeli army officer was moderately injured.

In November last year, Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations brokered a calm understanding between Israel and Hamas movement. The deal was to improve the daily living situation in the coastal enclave for achieving calm on the border with Israel.

Qatar agreed to pay 15 million dollars monthly for six months and also paid for fuels to operate the sole Gaza power station and increase the number of electricity hours to the populations in the enclave, all for calm and defusing tension between Israel and Hamas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during a news conference after their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on January 23, 2019. (KREMLIN PHOTO)

MOSCOW, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian and Turkish military and diplomats will continue joint efforts on Syria's post-crisis reconstruction, Russian President Vladimir Putin said here Wednesday following talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"The cooperation of Russia and Turkey in the post-conflict reconstruction of Syria is important. We agreed with Mr. President that the military and diplomats of the two countries will continue coordinated efforts in this direction..." Putin said at a joint press conference, according to a Kremlin transcript.

He stressed the two countries' principled stance of seeking to achieve a "sustainable solution" to the Syrian crisis on a political and diplomatic basis in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolution and in strict compliance with Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In particular, Putin and Erdogan exchanged views on further steps to stabilize the situation in the Syrian province of Idlib, the last major rebel-held region in Syria, including the fight against terrorism and the creation of a demilitarized zone.

"We need to work together, jointly, in order to finally relieve tensions in the area... We believe that keeping the cessation of hostilities in place should not harm the fight against terrorists," Putin said.

The two presidents underlined the importance of the withdrawal of U.S. military from Syria.

"If such steps and plans are really implemented, it will be a positive step and will help stabilize the situation in this troubled region," Putin said.

The U.S. administration announced in December that it was planning to withdraw its troops from Syria. Moscow has repeatedly called on Washington to elaborate its detailed plans in this regard.

"What is crucial here is to not allow the creation of a power vacuum after the withdrawal of U.S. forces," Erdogan said at the press conference.

According to Kremlin, Putin and Erdogan paid special attention to the issue of the establishment of the Syrian constitutional committee dedicated to promoting a constitutional reform in the country, which was created at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress held in Russia in the beginning of last year.

"Thanks to our efforts, a solid and balanced foundation was laid for launching a sustainable and viable process of political settlement," Putin said.

In December, Putin said the establishment of the committee is reaching the final phase and the actual political settlement in Syria could start this year.

The two heads of state also discussed the Astana format, which remains the "most effective mechanism" for settling the conflict in Syria, Putin said.

The Astana process was launched by Russia, Turkey and Iran in the Kazakh capital of Astana in Junuary 2017 to bring all warring parties in the Syrian conflict to the table to find a political solution as a complementary part of the UN sponsored peace talks in Geneva.

Putin hailed the positive results in previous Russian-Turkish-Iranian summits in the framework of the Astana process and said that another trilateral meeting will be arranged soon.

"We are preparing to organize in the near future another such summit in Russia. We will need to coordinate this with our Iranian partners," Putin said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 06:02:07|Editor: zh

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A musician performs during a performance hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Lebanon, in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 23, 2019. The Chinese Embassy in Lebanon celebrated Wednesday its Lunar New Year and the beginning of spring season with performance by China's Chongqing Symphony Orchestra. (Xinhua/Bilal Jawich)

BEIRUT, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Lebanon celebrated Wednesday its Lunar New Year and the beginning of its spring season with performance by China's Chongqing Symphony Orchestra.

The event saw the participation of Lebanese officials, and ambassadors representing different countries.

The Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian expressed his happiness to celebrate the special occasion in the presence of Chinese expatriates in Lebanon and Lebanese friends.

Wang highlighted that ties between China and Lebanon have strengthened remarkably in recent years.

"The number of Lebanese friends who are learning the Chinese language have increased as well," he said.

The ambassador added that China is looking forward to more cultural exchange with Lebanon in 2019.

Meanwhile, Ali Samad, director-general of Lebanon's Culture Ministry, told Xinhua that Lebanon and China enjoy strong cultural and diplomatic ties.

He said that one of the most important contribution from China to Lebanon on the cultural level is the donation for building a new conservatory.

The conservatory, funded by China, will be worth of 31.9 million U.S. dollars. It will cover 25,000 square meters in the northern Beirut suburb of Dbayeh.

"We are keen on building the strongest relations with China in the coming years," Samad said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 05:57:06|Editor: Yang Yi

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MOSCOW, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian and Turkish military and diplomats will continue joint efforts for Syria's post-crisis reconstruction, Russian President Vladimir Putin said here Wednesday following talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"The cooperation of Russia and Turkey in the post-conflict reconstruction of Syria is important. We agreed with Mr. President that the military and diplomats of the two countries will continue coordinated efforts in this direction..." Putin said at a joint press conference, according to a Kremlin transcript.

He stressed the two countries' principled stance of seeking to achieve a "sustainable solution" to the Syrian crisis on a political and diplomatic basis in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolution and in strict compliance with Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In particular, Putin and Erdogan exchanged views on further steps to stabilize the situation in the Syrian province of Idlib, the last major rebel-held region in Syria, including the fight against terrorism and the creation of a demilitarized zone.

"We need to work together, jointly, in order to finally relieve tensions in the area... We believe that keeping the cessation of hostilities in place should not harm the fight against terrorists," Putin said.

The two presidents underlined the importance of the withdrawal of U.S. military from Syria.

"If such steps and plans are really implemented, it will be a positive step and will help stabilize the situation in this troubled region," Putin said.

The U.S. administration announced in December that it was planning to withdraw its troops from Syria. Moscow has repeatedly called on Washington to elaborate its detailed plans in this regard.

"What is crucial here is to not allow the creation of a power vacuum after the withdrawal of U.S. forces," Erdogan said at the press conference.

According to Kremlin, Putin and Erdogan paid special attention to the issue of the establishment of the Syrian constitutional committee dedicated to promoting a constitutional reform in the country, which was created at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress held in Russia in the beginning of last year.

"Thanks to our efforts, a solid and balanced foundation was laid for launching a sustainable and viable process of political settlement," Putin said.

In December, Putin said the establishment of the committee is reaching the final phase and the actual political settlement in Syria could start this year.

The two heads of state also discussed the Astana format, which remains the "most effective mechanism" for settling the conflict in Syria, Putin said.

The Astana process was launched by Russia, Turkey and Iran in the Kazakh capital of Astana in Junuary 2017 to bring all warring parties in the Syrian conflict to the table to find a political solution as a complementary part of the UN sponsored peace talks in Geneva.

Putin hailed the positive results in previous Russian-Turkish-Iranian summits in the framework of the Astana process and said that another trilateral meeting will be arranged soon.

"We are preparing to organize in the near future another such summit in Russia. We will need to coordinate this with our Iranian partners," Putin said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 05:57:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BRASILIA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Brazil created 529,554 net formal jobs in 2018, following three consecutive years of negative balances in the labor market, the Ministry of Economy said Wednesday.

Last year there were 15,384,283 hires compared to 14,854,729 layoffs, according to the National Registry of Employed and Unemployed.

The creation of net formal jobs means that the South American country closed 2018 with 38.39 million formal jobs compared to 37.86 million at the end of 2017.

However, 334,462 net formal jobs were lost in December, despite the positive result through the whole year of 2018.

According to Rogerio Marinho, special secretary for welfare and labor in the Ministry of Economy, the government will increase the established gains with labor reform.

"We are going to de-bureaucratize to allow a larger number of workers to leave informal jobs," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 05:37:00|Editor: huaxia

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CHICAGO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures closed higher on Wednesday, as traders worried that dryness weather in Brazil would limit the size of harvest in the world's key soybean exporter.

The most active corn contract for March delivery went down 0.25 cent, or 0.07 percent to close at 3.7875 dollars per bushel. March wheat delivery added 4.75 cents, or 0.91 percent to close at 5.26 dollars per bushel. March soybean delivery was up 5.75 cents, or 0.63 percent to close at 9.15 dollars per bushel.

Forecasters have been scaling back estimates for Brazil's soybean harvest due to drought. Hot weather this week was expected to keep some regions dry.

CBOT wheat futures firmed on hopes that rising prices in Russia, the world's biggest exporter, would bolster U.S. exports, while corn futures finished slightly lower.

As for weather forecast for agricultural crop, a blizzard warning is in effect for much of the eastern part of the U.S. state North Dakota and the western edge of Minnesota, and a winter storm warning is in effect for parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 04:41:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The new UN envoy for Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Massieu, on Wednesday asked the government to define the status of the areas where former combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) live before their reintegration.

"A near-term challenge is to define the status of the 24 territorial areas, whose current authorization is due to expire on Aug. 15. This is a matter of concern and uncertainty for the thousands of former FARC-EP (combatants) inhabiting these spaces," he told the Security Council.

A solution will require the concerted effort that involve legal, financial and other implications. Therefore, time is of the essence to arrive at an agreed way forward, said Massieu, who is the secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

The Colombian government and FARC struck a peace deal in August 2016 after four years of negotiations in Havana, Cuba, ending a five-decade-long conflict in the country. The UN Verification Mission in Colombia, mandated by the Security Council, is tasked to verify the reintegration of FARC fighters.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 03:56:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ASTANA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan will continue to work on the return of its citizens from the zones of armed conflict, President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Wednesday.

The president noted that work is ahead on the rehabilitation and adaptation of the returned people to peaceful life.

"Now we need to adapt them. Small children, when they returned to kazakhstan and left the plane, asked their mothers: 'will we be bombed?' They have become accustomed to bombing from birth," the head of state remarked.

On Jan. 9 this year, Nazarbayev made a statement in connection with completed humanitarian mission on evacuating Kazakhstan's people from Syria. According to the statement, on Jan. 6 this year, in a humanitarian operation carried out by law enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, 47 citizens of the country, including 30 children, were evacuated from Syria.

They were cheated into the country in crisis, and found themselves to be terrorist hostages. Upon arrival in Kazakhstan, the women and children were given all possible assistance from the state. These innocent people, who were in such a difficult situation, were immensely glad to be saved. For a month they will be under adaptation and receive necessary medical care, the president said.

"Kazakhstan always supports its citizens, regardless of their location. Our main task is to ensure security, protect the integrity and unity of the country. We will continue to return children who are in the combat zone against their will," Nazarbayev added in the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 03:31:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ASTANA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The faction "Ak Zhol" of the lower chamber of the Kazakhstan's parliament asked the country's prime minister to consider the possibility of calling the country in official circulation the Kazakh Republic.

This inquiry was announced on Wednesday at the plenary session of the chamber by the chairman of the Ak Zhol faction, the deputy Azat Peruashev.

"Along with the use of the name Kazakhstan, we propose to consider returning the official name to our country - the Kazakh Republic,"said Peruashev, adding the return to the original name "Kazakh Republic" will restore historical justice, and give a tremendous impetus to the unity and friendship of compatriots of all nationalities.

All members of the Ak Zhol faction have subscribed to the request.

Commenting on the initiative, Peruashev noted that this is not a renaming, but the use of the name in official circulation, along with the well-established name Kazakhstan.

In the first months of Kazakhstan's independence in December 1991, it was proposed to name the young sovereign "Kazakh Republic", but the proposal was rejected by the majority of the population of the country, where representatives of more than 120 nationalities and ethnic groups live.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 02:16:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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PARIS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The French government intends to present, in early February, details of a package of emergency measures meant to protect the interests of citizens and companies in case of a hard Brexit, said European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau on Wednesday.

"Time is pressing. ... If we do not reach an accord, we would go ahead with a Brexit without agreement. This solution is not what we prefer, but we are preparing for it together with the European Commission," Loiseau said in a statement issued after a weekly cabinet meeting.

The minster said that five orders aimed at preparing the country for an eventual failure to agree on negotiated divorce would be discussed by the French ministers until Feb. 6.

Adopted by the government earlier on Wednesday, the first order "makes it possible to carry out urgently and by derogating from the common law procedures the temporary installations made necessary by the reestablishment of controls at the border with the United Kingdom."

The ministers will also discuss four other orders in connection with the rights of British citizens in France, road transport operations, the continuity of certain financial activities and the transfer of defense materials between France and the United Kingdom, according to a press release issued by the Elysee Palace.

Since a no-deal Brexit would have a severe impact on France's fisheries sector, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will evaluate the impact of this scenario on local fishermen and discuss possible support measures with the ministers concerned.

Last week, Philippe triggered a plan to mitigate the difficulties caused by a hard Brexit following the parliamentary defeat of British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal.

It included a 50 million-euro (56.93 million-U.S. dollar) investment package in ports and airports, which according to Philippe were "the places most affected by the changes."

The deadline for Britain to leave the EU is March 29.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 02:16:07|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BRATISLAVA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Slovak government has approved the use of the country's airspace by unmanned North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aircraft that perform NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) tasks, local media reported on Wednesday.

NATO's RQ-4B Global Hawk Block 40 surveillance aircraft obtain information required for decision-making at political and military levels.

"Slovakia has been participating in NATO's AGS since 2009, when a programme memorandum was concluded at the level of defence ministries of the participating states. Twenty-six NATO countries take part in the operation of this system," said Slovak Defence Minister Peter Gajdos.

According to Gajdos, the role of the AGS system is to carry out surveillance and provide information on the ground situation in a determined territory in real or almost real time. The consent of the cabinet for the flights in cases defined by the organisational framework for the operation and support of AGS is required for cooperation within the AGS system.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 02:11:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that his movement is ready for holding new Palestinian elections under the conditions that they should be comprehensive.

Khalil al-Hayyah, deputy chief of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, told reporters that the Palestinian elections must involve parliament, presidency and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

"Hamas is looking forward to agreeing on holding comprehensive elections based on the democratic process away from exclusiveness and selfishness," said al-Hayyah.

He rejected the idea of holding parliamentary elections only, saying it is "electoral selectivity" as 14 years have passed without holding presidential elections.

Last December, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the decision of a Palestinian Constitutional Court to dissolve the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and called for holding parliamentary elections within six months.

Abbas recently held two separate meetings in Ramallah with representatives of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission and asked them to start consultations with the Palestinian factions and prepare for holding the parliamentary elections.

The PLC had remained inoperative since the summer of 2007, when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after weeks of fighting with Abbas' security forces in the coastal enclave.

The last Palestinian parliamentary elections were held in January 2006, in which Hamas won a majority and ousted Abbas' Fatah Party which had dominated the PLC since 1996.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 02:11:05|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ROME, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Italian fugitives who escaped abroad to avoid sentences in Italy should all be returned to the country, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said on Wednesday.

He made the remarks at a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the killing of trade unionist Guido Rossa, who was murdered by Italian leftist terrorist group Red Brigades in 1979 in northwest Genoa city.

"Along with his family, he paid a supreme price for standing by the values of the Republic," Mattarella told an audience of top officials gathered for the ceremony.

Thanks to its social cohesion, he explained, the Italian state was able to overcome that period of social turmoil and political violence stretching from 1969 to the early 1980s.

Those years, also dubbed the "Years of Lead", were marked by frequent political clashes and terrorist acts from both leftist and far-right groups that claimed over 400 victims including former Prime Minister Aldo Moro.

According to the president, Italy "passed the test" at the time due to the foresight of its government officials, and to the commitment of police, judiciary, unions, and other key social actors to justice.

While hundreds of militants were arrested and held accountable for their acts, dozens from both leftist and far-right groups, however, were able to find refuge abroad, in France, UK, Latin American countries, Japan and elsewhere.

"Some decades later, that commitment (to justice) cannot be considered as fully accomplished," Mattarella stressed in his address.

"A definite closure of that period requires that justice is fully accomplished, and all those who were found guilty of serious crimes and escaped their sentences give their testimony and face their punishment," he added.

The debate over Italian fugitives from the Years of Lead re-emerged recently here, after the capture and extradition to Italy of former left-wing militant Cesare Battisti.

The man, a 64-year former member of far-left group Armed Proletarians for Communism in the 1970s, was captured in Bolivia earlier this month after 38 years on the run.

Battisti had already taken refuge in France (twice), Mexico, and Brazil, since breaking out of an Italian jail in 1981. He had a life sentence to serve for being involved in four killings.

After his extradition, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini repeatedly urged France to extradite other far-left militants who have also found refuge there for decades to avoid judicial sentences.

At least 30 convicted fugitives would in fact remain at large, 14 of them in France, Italian media reported last week citing sources from the Interior Ministry.

"The Italian government is ready to take all the necessary official steps to ask for the cooperation of those countries hosting fugitives, starting with France," La Stampa newspaper wrote.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 02:01:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ROME, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Italy has arrested a citizen for spreading terrorist propaganda on social media, police in the southern region of Sicily announced Wednesday.

"DIGOS (anti-terrorism unit) arrested a 32-year-old for apology of terrorism," police tweeted. "After converting to Islam in 2011, the man instigated others to commit acts of terrorism via social networks."

Apology of terrorism is an offense in some countries for defending or inciting terrorism.

The man had been recruited to the Jihadi cause by another young man who was "strongly radicalized" and wiretaps revealed that soon after he was abandoned by his live-in girlfriend, the suspect displayed "a marked, unequivocal and single-minded fixation on Islamist ideology," police said in a televised statement.

In 2015, police arrested four members of an Italian family -- two sisters and their elderly parents -- who had converted to Islam and sought to join the so-called Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in the Middle East.

They were charged with international terrorism and were "determined to take part in jihad in Syria," police said in a July 2015 statement.

One of the Italian sisters and her Albanian husband were sentenced to nine and 10 years in prison, respectively. The other sister got five years and the father was sentenced to four years, while the mother died during the trial, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 01:51:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BERLIN, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of asylum applications filed in Germany fell by 16.5 percent to a total of 185,853 applications in the year 2018, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) announced on Wednesday.

Most applications came from asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The declining number of asylum applications in 2018 showed that "after the peak of the refugee situation in autumn 2015, a continuous decline in the number of asylum seekers could be observed", stated German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.

Back in 2016, the German office for migration BAMF registered more than 700,000 applications from asylum seekers in Germany. Many of these asylum seekers came to Germany during the so-called refugee crisis in 2015, but did not submit their applications until the following year.

According to interior minister, net immigration would be "well below the corridor for immigration of 180,000 to 220,000 persons per year as agreed in the coalition agreement". This showed "that the many measures we have introduced are taking effect increasingly and sustainably," Seehofer added.

A total of 34.7 percent of asylum applications in Germany were rejected while 30.2 percent were closed for reasons such as withdrawal of the applications or provisions under the Dublin procedure stating that the responsible member state will be the state through which the asylum seeker first entered the EU.

Despite the declining number of asylum applications, Seehofer called for an "ordering, controlling and limiting refugee policy", as many people would continue to come to Germany asserting "a need for protection".
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 01:10:55|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday said the U.S. plan to extradite Meng Wanzhou, Huawei chief financial officer, from Canada did not comply with international law or have legitimacy.

The remarks came as Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reiterated China's position on the Meng Wanzhou case at a press briefing.

Hua said the U.S. request for Meng's extradition was essentially related to U.S. sanctions against Iran.

"Huawei has stated for many times that it has complied with all laws and regulations of the country in which it operates," Hua said.

She stressed that China had consistently opposed the U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran and unilateral sanctions against Iran outside the framework of the UN Security Council, which are not in line with international law and are opposed by the world, including U.S. allies.

"Canada is also opposed to this issue," Hua said. "The U.S. act is highly political which is essentially technology bullying, and its purpose is to do everything in its power to suppress Chinese high-tech enterprises and contain China's legitimate development rights."

She said people of insight and a sense of justice in the international community should resolutely oppose it.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 01:05:54|Editor: huaxia

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CHICAGO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures traded higher on Wednesday morning, as traders were worried that dryness weather in Brazil will limit size of harvest in the world's key soybean exporter.

As of 1530 GMT, the most active March soybeans were up 5.5 cents at 9.1475 U.S. dollars per bushel. March wheat was up 2.5 cents at 5.2375 dollars per bushel. March corn was down 0.25 cent at 3.7875 dollars per bushel.

CBOT wheat futures continued to rise on hopes that U.S. exports of wheat will pick up amid concerns about supply shortfalls in the Black Sea region.

As for weather forecast for agricultural crop, a blizzard warning is in effect for much of eastern part of the U.S. state North Dakota, and the western edge of Minnesota, and a winter storm warning is in effect for parts of Iowa and Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 00:55:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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URUMQI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have introduced a spate of measures to bolster private businesses.

Among 28 measures to promote the development of the private sector, local authorities are seeking to offer better government services to create a better business environment.

Authorities plan to boost private investment, increase the availability of funds and reduce costs for private businesses to raise funds.

The local government will implement preferential policies to reduce operating costs for private businesses and encourage reform and innovation to improve their competitiveness. It will also provide a level playing field and provide sufficient legal protection.

Local authorities will open more sectors to private capital and encourage private companies to conduct direct financing and private capital to take part in the mixed-ownership reform of state-owned enterprises.

The measures came after the central Chinese authorities last year pledged substantial policy support for the private sector, including tax cuts and easier financing.

The private sector plays an important role in the Chinese economy, contributing more than 50 percent of tax revenue, 60 percent of gross domestic product, 70 percent of technological innovation, 80 percent of urban employment and 90 percent of new jobs and firms.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 00:55:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ALGIERS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Two "terrorists" surrendered to the Algerian army in the province of Tamanrasset, about 1,900 km south of the capital Algiers, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The two "terrorists," identified as Shaminmas Mahma and Moussa Husseini, joined terrorist groups in 2009 and 2015 respectively, the ministry said in a statement.

They also turned in an RPG-7 launcher, a heavy machine-gun of 14.5-mm caliber, a Kalashnikov rifle, three loaded magazines and 13,160 bullets, the statement added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-24 00:05:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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SINGAPORE, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Participants from 41 Asia-Pacific members under the regional office of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) took part in the third edition of the forum here on Wednesday.

The forum was held under the auspices of the UNEP and hosted by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore.

The event saw governments, businesses, scientists, academia, non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies coming together to address environmental issues in the world as well as identify key priorities and solutions.

The event was opened by Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli, Minister of Environment of Estonia Siim Kiisler and Acting Executive Director of the UNEP Joyce Msuya.

The theme of the forum is "Innovative solutions for environmental challenges and sustainable consumption and production."

"The Forum will advance the global conversation on combating key environmental issues, including climate change and the sustainable use of resources," the Singaporean minister said.

On the sidelines of the three-day forum there are exhibitions that showcase solutions and progress on environmental issues in the region, as well as dialogues on major challenges with the ministers and heads of delegations.

The outcomes of the forum will be brought to the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly that will be held in Nairobi, Kenya in March.

"Home to four billion people, the Asia and the Pacific is highly vulnerable to climate change. Global warming, pollution and ecosystem degradation are putting lives and livelihoods at risk," Msuya said, adding that "The region is also the source of some of the most innovative approaches to addressing these challenges, particularly in changing the way we consume and produce."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 23:40:35|Editor: zh

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Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, presides over the 15th chairman and vice chairpersons' meeting of the 13th CPPCC National Committee in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Wang Yang has called for well-organized consultation and deliberation in 2019.

Wang, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, made the remarks while presiding over the 15th chairman and vice chairpersons' meeting of the 13th CPPCC National Committee.

Speaking highly of the consultative work in 2018, Wang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, underscored the importance of successfully holding the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee.

During the session, the political advisors should put forward suggestions on key issues and tasks, based on the reality of China, Wang said.

The meeting reviewed and approved the draft agenda and schedule for the session as well as draft reports on work of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee and its handling of proposals, all of which are to be submitted for deliberation at the fifth meeting of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee.

The meeting also approved a decision to disqualify Shu Yuhui as a member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee. The decision will be put before the fifth meeting of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 23:30:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TIRANA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 6 million foreign nationals visited Albania in 2018, an increase of 15.8 percent year on year, Albanian National Statistics Institute (INSTAT) reported on Wednesday.

According to INSTAT official report, more than 5.9 million foreigners entered in Albania in 2018.

In 2018, the country with the highest arrivals of citizens in Albania and the largest increase in inflows came from Poland with 153,718 citizens and an increase of 34.2 percent compared to the previous year.

Year-on-year increases in the number of visitors were also registered from Italy and the United States respectively with 20 percent and 19.6 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 23:15:28|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan addresses the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan here on Wednesday called on countries to work together to shape the global architecture in the age of the fourth industrial revolution with the vision to create a better future for all mankind.

While addressing the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Wang said it is imperative to respect national sovereignty and refrain from seeking technological hegemony and interfering in other countries' domestic affairs.

He called for efforts to uphold multilateralism and jointly build a system of rules for technology and new international cooperation framework featuring peace, security, democracy, transparency, inclusiveness and mutual benefit, so that all people can gain from technological innovation.

Pointing out that new technologies bring opportunities and also create risks and challenges, Wang said that countries need to uphold the security of all mankind and need to improve policy environment and promote social prosperity and stability.

"We need to explore the adoption of relevant rules and standards in a phased way, while leaving broad space for the dissemination and application of scientific discovery and technological innovation," he said.

Wang also called for accommodating in a balanced manner the interests of all countries, especially those of emerging market and developing countries.

"One should not ask the whole world to address only the security concern and comply only with the standards of developed countries or individual countries," he said.

This year's Davos forum gathers global elites to discuss "Globalization 4.0," a buzzword that means a new wave of globalization in a digital world. More than 60 heads of state or government, 40 international organization heads and 1,700 business leaders attended the event.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 22:50:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DOHA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met on Wednesday with visiting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir over the current protests in Sudan, state Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

During the meeting, al-Bashir briefed his Qatari host on the ongoing demonstrations in his country and relevant challenges.

The two leaders also discussed the latest developments in the peace process in Darfur, regional and international issues, and the means to develop the bilateral ties.

The Sudanese president arrived in Doha on Tuesday for a two-day visit, his first foreign trip since the domestic protests against the economic situation and price hikes broke out on Dec. 19, 2018.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 22:50:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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NAIROBI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to use smartphones to conduct the 2019 national population and housing census, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Henry Rotich, cabinet secretary in the National Treasury, told journalists in Nairobi that the government plans to acquire approximately 165,000 mobile devices for use by the census enumerators for the exercise that will take place in August.

"We are going to use mobile technology which will enhance quality of the data as it has in built checks and can correct inconsistent responses as well as cross validate data with other records," Rotich said.

He said that Kenya seeks to follow in the steps of other African countries such as Egypt, Senegal and Ethiopia which have conducted paperless census.

He noted that the last census which was conducted on 2009 indicated that the east African country had a population of slightly less than 39 million people.

He said that the census will provide statistical information on the size, distribution and the characteristics of the Kenya population that will be used to describe and assess the socio-economic and demographic status of the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 22:45:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Wednesday ordered relevant authorities to promptly pay cashew nuts growers who sold their cash crop to the government but could not be paid on time.

In a meeting with religious leaders at State House in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, President Magufuli said he wants to see cashew nuts farmers paid promptly.

"There are sufficient funds. And there should be no red-tape in paying the farmers," said the president in the meeting broadcast live by state-owned Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation.

Responding to queries by one of the religious leaders who had wanted to know reasons behind the delayed payments to farmers, the head of state directed the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Trade should make arrangements for the prompt payments to the farmers.

However, President Magufuli said payments should be made after verifications were done by regional commissioners, district commissioners and grassroots leaders in cashew nuts growing regions of Mtwara, Lindi, Coast, Ruvuma and Tanga.

Last week, the Minister for Agriculture, Japhet Hasunga, said the government will ensure that all cashew nut farmers would have received payment for the produce it bought from them by the end of this month.

The news raised hopes among farmers in cashew-growing regions who have been complaining of delayed payments for over two months now.

On November 12, last year, Magufuli said the government would purchase all cashew nut stocks from farmers at the minimum price of 3,300 Tanzanian shillings (about 1.44 U.S. dollars) per kilogram through the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank.

The decision was reached after the state issued a four-day ultimatum to traders to buy cashew nuts at reasonable price. This was after farmers rejected lower prices which were set by the dealers.

Tanzania harvested more than 200,000 tonnes of cashew nuts in the current farming season of the cash crop.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 22:40:22|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan addresses the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2019. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan here on Wednesday called for further development as a solution to imbalances in the process of economic globalization.

In a special address at the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, he urged countries to press ahead with structural reform, strike a right balance between equity and efficiency, adopt effective policy measures to prevent the worsening of income inequality and fend off the impact on some regions and industries caused by new technologies and market competition so that all people stand to gain from continued development.

"The last thing we should do is to stop making the pie and just engage in a futile debate on how to divide it," he stressed, saying what is needed is making the pie bigger while looking for ways to share it in a more equitable way.

"Shifting blame for one's own problems onto others will not resolve the problems," he added.

World leaders and business elites gathered at the forum in Davos, Switzerland, scheduled for Tuesday to Friday, under the theme "Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution."
Photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un (L) talking with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang, DPRK, Oct. 7, 2018. (Xinhua/KCNA)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the series of discussions in Sweden between representatives of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was further progress made by the two countries.

"A set of discussions that took place in Sweden over the weekend have now wrapped up. Again, a little bit more progress," Pompeo said in an interview after delivering remarks to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland through video.

The U.S. top diplomat said the discussions provided the opportunity for Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for the DPRK, and his DPRK counterpart to discuss some of the complicated issues towards achieving what U.S. and DPRK leaders laid out during their first meeting last June in Singapore.

"There remains an awful lot of work to do, but good things have happened already," Pompeo added.

Biegun, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, and South Korean negotiator Lee Do-hoon held talks near Stockholm, Sweden over the weekend.

A spokesman of the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Monday that the constructive talks had covered issues concerning developments on the Korean Peninsula, including confidence building, economic development, and long-term engagement.

The talks were believed to be a preparation for the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, met with Pompeo and Trump Friday in Washington.

The White House announced on the same day that the second summit between Trump and Kim "will take place near the end of February."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 22:25:20|Editor: mmm

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Mo Jiancheng, a former senior disciplinary inspector, was handed a 14-year jail term after he was found guilty of taking bribes by a local court in a first-instance trial Wednesday.

The illicit money and goods seized as well as any interest were delivered to the national treasury, according to the verdict announced by the First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing Municipality.

He was also given a fine of 4 million yuan (about 589,000 U.S. dollars).

From 2000 to 2017, Mo held several positions in Tongliao, a city in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, later served as a member on the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Party chief for the city of Baotou, also in Inner Mongolia, and moved on to Jiangxi Province to serve several more posts there before he was appointed as the chief of the disciplinary inspection team sent by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to the Ministry of Finance and sat in the ministry's leading Party members' group.

During the period, Mo He took in money and goods worth more than 40 million yuan by himself or through his son from related organizations and individuals, and in return he assisted those organizations and concerned individuals in business operations, securing loans, project contracting and personal promotion, according to the court verdict.

The court said Mo took the advantage of his positions while serving in the public office in the above mentioned areas, accepted large amount of money and goods from others and sought benefits on behalf of them in exchange.

The court ruled that Mo was guilty of taking bribes.

Mo pleaded guilty and said he would not appeal his case.
News

Experts warn India of third COVID-19 wave by October

A third wave of coronavirus infections is likely to hit India by October, and although it will be better controlled than the latest outbreak the pandemic will remain a public health threat for at least another year, according to a poll of medical experts.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 22:15:18|Editor: Lu Hui

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DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said here Wednesday that four to five generations of the Chinese people have, going through twists and turns, probed a way forward over 70 years.

He said in a special address to the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that "we will stay true to the founding mission of the Communist Party of China 70 years ago, uphold its leadership and China's fundamental socialist political and economic systems and be guided by a people-centered development philosophy."

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"Through trials and errors, with many lessons learned and heavy prices paid along the way, we have made great accomplishments and embarked upon a path of building socialism with distinctive Chinese features," Wang said.

This year's Davos forum gathers over 3,000 participants to discuss "Globalization 4.0," a buzzword that means a new wave of globalization in a digital world.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 22:10:17|Editor: Lu Hui

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DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said here on Wednesday that a historical perspective is key to understanding China, addressing the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

He said questions about China's development and progress can be answered from historical, cultural and philosophical perspectives.

"Given the close linkage between the past, the present and the future, one needs to learn about China's past in order to understand its present and forecast its future," he said.

This year's Davos forum gathers over 3,000 participants to discuss "Globalization 4.0," a buzzword that means a new wave of globalization in a digital world.

Related:

China loves peace, rejects self-claimed supremacy: Chinese VP

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- History has shown that the Chinese nation is peace-loving and it rejects the practice of self-claimed supremacy, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said here Wednesday. Full story

Western multinational corporations are main drivers of economic globalization: Chinese VP
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:55:15|Editor: mmm

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BAGHDAD, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least a policeman was killed and three others wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk on Wednesday, a provincial police source said.

The attack took place in the afternoon when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a federal police checkpoint near the town of al-Riyadh in the south of the provincial capital Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the national capital Baghdad, Saad al-Obeidi told Xinhua.

The toll could rise as ambulances and police vehicles evacuated the killed and wounded to the town hospital, while the security forces cordoned off the area, al-Obeidi said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, has been responsible for such suicide attacks targeting security forces and areas where crowds of people gather, including markets, cafes and mosques.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, IS remnants have since regrouped in deserts and rugged areas, carrying out attacks against security forces and civilians despite the military operations from time to time to hunt them down.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:50:14|Editor: mmm

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MOSCOW, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Russian government is planning to allocate more than 515 billion rubles (7.78 billion U.S. dollars) for the development of the country's aerospace industry from 2019 to 2021, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.

"This money should be effectively used to build up our orbital capabilities, create a super-heavy class carrier and carry out a manned flight program," said Medvedev at a meeting on the financial conditions of the Roscosmos state space corporation and its affiliates, according to a transcript by the government.

In addition, Medvedev said the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Far Eastern Amur region will start the second phase of its construction and is expected to reach full readiness to launch spacecraft of various purposes using heavy-class launch vehicles by 2021.

The construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome began in 2012. As the first national facility for civilian space launches, it is intended to reduce Russia's dependence on the Kazakhstan-based Baikonur launch site and ensure its full-scale access to outer space.

In April 2016, a rocket carrying three satellites was launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome, the first launch from the newly built spaceport.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:45:14|Editor: xuxin

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KABUL, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Up to 44 anti-government militants were killed across the conflict-riddled Afghanistan over the past 24 hours as government forces have kept pressure on the militant groups, officials said Wednesday.

Government forces in the latest crackdown against militants stormed a Taliban hideout in the eastern Wardak province late on Tuesday night, killing eight insurgents including the alleged mastermind of the bloody suicide bombing on a base of the Afghan National Directorate for Security (NDS), or the country's spy agency, in provincial capital Maidan Shahr on Monday that killed 36 personnel of the agency and injured 58 others, said a statement of NDS released here Wednesday.

Similarly, the government forces' fighting aircrafts pounded Taliban positions in Miwand district of the southern Kandahar province on Tuesday killing 17 insurgents and wounding six others, said an army statement released Wednesday.

Government forces, according to a newsletter of the army, have killed 14 Taliban militants and injured seven others in Shindand district of the western Herat province since Tuesday.

The security forces, according to security officials, captured six Taliban fighters and seized more than 60 pieces of various assault rifles including Kalashnikovs from their hideouts in Ghani Khil district of the eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday.

At least five militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) outfit were also killed in Achin district of the eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday, an army statement said on Wednesday.

However, a Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Majahid has disputed the claim made by the government officials, saying dozens of security forces had been killed across the country since Tuesday.

Warring sides in Afghanistan usually exaggerate the casualties of their opponents and it is difficult to verify the figures given by them with independent sources.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:45:13|Editor: xuxin

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BEIRUT, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday that any further delay in government formation would be considered "a national crime," the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

"We should form a government urgently after Moody's report," Berri was quoted by the NNA as saying during his weekly meeting with lawmakers.

On Monday, Global credit rating agency Moody's downgraded Lebanon's long-term investment rating from B3 to Caa1, a move that reflects an increased likelihood that the country will undertake a debt rescheduling or other measures Moody's may consider as a default.

Berri said Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri, who started new efforts on Monday to resolve the crisis of cabinet formation, is positive that a government may be formed within a week.

Lebanon has been urged on the national and international levels to quickly form a new government to carry out structural and fiscal reforms to shore up the country's ailing economy burdened by its 84 billion U.S. dollars of public debt.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:49:19|Editor: xuxin

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A suspected weapon smuggler stands handcuffed after being arrested in Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Jan. 22, 2019. Afghan security force members have arrested two suspected weapon smugglers in the eastern Nangarhar province, a local official said on Tuesday . (Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:37:46|Editor: mmm

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A girl visits the immersive digital experience exhibition at the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 23, 2019. Opened on Wednesday as part of the exhibition "Celebrating the Spring Festival in the Forbidden City", the east side-gallery of the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing gong) features an immersive digital experience with virtual reality, motion capture, and other interactive technologies. (Xinhua/Liu Xianguo)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:25:10|Editor: xuxin

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BAGHDAD, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least a policeman was killed and three others wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in Iraq's northern province of Kikruk on Wednesday, a provincial police source said.

The attack took place in the afternoon when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a federal police checkpoint near the town of al-Riyadh in the south of the provincial capital Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the national capital Baghdad, Saad al-Obeidi told Xinhua.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:25:10|Editor: xuxin

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TIRANA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who is also the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, delegated on Wednesday the task of directing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Deputy Minister Gent Cakaj.

At the ceremony of the delegation in the presence of media, Rama said, however, he will represent the ministry within and outside Albania.

In his remarks, the delegated Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Cakaj emphasized the positive results and the wide range of successful missions of the Ministry over the past five years, under the direction of former minister Ditmir Bushati.

Cakaj declared that a special attention would be paid to the fulfillment of the obligations arising from the European Union integration process.

Cakaj, aged 28, was chosen by Prime Minister Rama for this key position after he decided to reshuffle about half of his cabinet last December in response to students' protests against a law on higher education.

On Jan. 14, Rama appointed himself as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs after the President of Albania Ilir Meta refused to decree the discharge of the outgoing Foreign Affairs Minister Ditmir Bushati.

Earlier, President Meta refused to approve the proposal of Gent Cakaj as Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, claiming he was not up to the challenge of running diplomacy.

On Jan. 18, however, President Meta dismissed Bushati and appointed the Prime Minister Edi Rama to replace him in office.
The mysterious death of two Saudi Arabian sisters found bound together with duct tape on the banks of the Hudson River last year has been ruled a suicide, medical officials said on Tuesday. The official cause of death was drowning.

The bodies of Rotana Farea, 23, and her 16-year-old sister Tala were discovered along the shore of Riverside Park on October 24th. Authorities said they were fully clothed, belted together with duct tape at the waist and ankles. It was later determined that the girls had fled a shelter in Fairfax, Virginia, where theyd been placed after reporting physical abuse by family members.

According to the NYPD, the sisters had applied for asylum in the United States on those grounds, but were denied. Police speculated that they "would rather inflict harm on themselves, commit suicide" than return to Saudi Arabia, where they last lived three years ago.

The sisters disappeared from the facility in early August, and eventually arrived in New York City in September. Credit card records reviewed by the NYPD show that they ate well and stayed at high end hotels, until eventually maxing out their credit cards. They were documented on security camera footage, apparently in good health, a week before they were found dead.

It was initially believed that the sisters had jumped from the George Washington Bridge, but police later said their bodies did not show any signs of trauma.

In a statement on Tuesday, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson said, "Today, my office determined that the death of the Farea sisters was the result of suicide, in which the young women bound themselves together before descending into the Hudson River."

If someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide: do not leave the person alone; remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt; and call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.


Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:27:40|Editor: mmm

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Xinxin gestures as volunteer Gu Shengyuan (L) cheers during a rope skipping game in Wucun Village of Linyi City, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 16, 2019. Twin sisters Gu Shengyuan and Gu Shengyan are members of a voluntary service group helping orphaned and impoverished children living in mountainous areas in Linyi. Established on April 19, 2018, the group with over 6,000 volunteers provides support for more than 3,500 orphaned and impoverished children. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:05:07|Editor: mmm

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PARIS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's WeChat Pay, in cooperation with the Galeries Lafayette Group's BHV Marais, launched a smart department store solution aimed at meeting Chinese tourists' needs, the Chinese company said in a statement late Tuesday.

"Following this cooperation, WeChat Pay is enhancing its effort in helping European businesses connect with Chinese tourists to realize WeChat's 'One For Billion' initiative (which) is its latest initiative of cross-border business," the statement said.

"Smart solutions with WeChat Pay at their core have been brought to millions of offline stores across over 30 industries in China, and are common throughout users' daily lives," said Freedom Li, president of WeChat Pay International Business.

"Many Chinese people have now long been accustomed to going out without their wallet. Together with our global partners, we hope to extend the convenient experience of WeChat Pay overseas, so that global businesses can share the dividends of China's growing outbound travel market," Li added.

Amandine de Souza, director of BHV Marais, called the cooperation "a unique event."

"For the past two years, BHV Marais has developed an increasing number of initiatives to better cater to its international clients, with a special attention on China. Following the recent implementation of WeChat Pay within our Parisian flagship, we are delighted to further our engagement," she said.

To mark the Chinese New Year in Paris, BHV Marais will offer visitors from the booming Asian country "more diverse and personalized products and services, while giving them access to its iconic shopping experience," via an innovative pop-up store with smart and sustainable solutions.

Currently, WeChat Pay's cross-border payment service has entered 49 countries and regions outside mainland China in line with local regulations and set up more than 100 WeChat Pay smart flagship stores.

In 2019, it targets to launch a comprehensive plan for the European market in order to help European merchants continuously improve their service capabilities for Chinese customers.

According to China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism data, 147 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad in 2017, spending a total of 220 billion U.S. dollars.

About 2.3 million Chinese holidaymakers visited France in 2018, making it the second main tourism market of China, after the United States.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:05:05|Editor: mmm

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday it had carried out multiple measures to help military veterans find jobs and support them in other fields.

Local governments provided more than 80,000 former military officers with civilian jobs and helped over 400,000 retired soldiers resettle in 2018, said Wang Zhiming, a spokesman for the ministry at a press conference.

The ministry was unveiled in April 2018 to provide better services to veterans.

China's 123 centrally-administered state-owned enterprises have mobilized and offered around 15,000 job positions to veterans last year, Wang said, adding that the ministry also granted preferential policies to ex-servicemen who set up businesses, including financial and tax benefits.

The ministry has strengthened the education and training for veterans to make them more competitive in the job market and provided additional benefits for job-seekers.

The ministry noted that a draft law on veterans' welfare had been sent to departments at the central and provincial governments and the military for consultation.

Wang said the draft law would be open for public comment in due time.

The draft law includes provisions on the job placement, training, employment, favorable treatment and pensions of ex-serviceman, Wang said. Personnel files would be set up for veterans, and special treatment for retired soldiers with war experience clearly defined in the draft law.

Wang said new rules were also added to the draft law to clarify the accountability and responsibilities of officials tasked with arranging veterans.

The ministry added that the government was considering building military cemeteries to honor soldiers who had devoted their lives to the country.

The move is crucial to strengthening the protection of rights and interests of military personnel and enabling their families to have a stronger sense of honor and pride, Wang said, adding such efforts would make military service an occupation enjoying public respect.

The ministry has also relaxed certain restrictions concerning veterans' resettlement and enhanced the support for them before they were employed.

With veterans' affairs department set up at various levels of governments, a unified working system to provide services has been established, Wang said. The ministry would put more efforts on improving the supervision and inspection mechanism to protect veterans' rights and interests.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 21:05:03|Editor: mmm

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MANILA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines needs an additional 8.5 billion pesos (161.2 million U.S. dollars) to rebuild and rehabilitate the southern city of Marawi, a government official said on Wednesday.

Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said the additional fund is needed on top of the 3.5 billion pesos (66.39 million dollars) Marawi funds allocated in the proposed national budgets for 2019 which the Philippine Senate approved on Monday.

The Philippine government is trying to rebuild Marawi after five months of fierce fighting between government forces and terrorists in 2017 ruined the city and displaced thousands of its residents.

Many internally displaced people (IDP) are slowly returning to the Marawi city and surrounding municipalities after the five-month siege in 2017. However, the delivery of basic utilities, social services, and educational resources for children of IDPs have yet to catch up with the needs of residents.

Jalad said the task force assessed the situation and found out that additional funding is needed to rebuild Marawi.

"We are recommending augmentation of the 3.5 billion pesos to ensure supportability, and we are eyeing 8.5 billion pesos additional which hopefully our lawmakers will provide," Jalad said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 20:14:55|Editor: Yurou

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday welcomed the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' appointment of Xia Huang, former Chinese ambassador to the Republic of Congo, as his special envoy for Africa's Great Lakes Region.

"We believe Ambassador Xia, as the first Chinese citizen appointed as the UN secretary-general's special envoy for hotspot issues, will make contributions to advancing UN support for peace, stability and development in the Great Lakes Region," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press briefing.

As a diplomat intensively engaged in African affairs for a long time and well versed in the Great Lakes Region issue, Xia has rich diplomatic experience, Hua said, adding that China will actively support the work of Guterres and Xia.
File photo shows revellers ride in a newly launched world's first 100% recycled plastic sail boat in Lamu County, Kenya, Sept. 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Charles Onyango)

NAIROBI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A senior UN official on Tuesday commended Kenya for developing a homegrown dhow from plastic waste.

Joyce Msuya, acting executive director of the UN Environment, said that the innovation demonstrated that African countries can take the lead in environmental conservation.

"This is a sign that community driven initiatives can as well offer a solution to long term problems that the world is going through," Msuya told the media during the unveiling of the world's first dhow made from plastic waste in Nairobi.

She noted that the initiative showcased progress that Kenya has made since banning the use of plastic carrier bags in 2017.

Msuya said currently, some eight million tonnes of plastic waste flows into the oceans globally every year while only less than nine percent is recycled.

She called on African governments that are yet to take drastic actions to move with speed, adding that Sub-Saharan Africa currently generates about 170 million tonnes of waste and plastic one comprise of 12 percent of the total.

Koleka Anita Mqulwana, South Africa High Commissioner to Kenya and Acting Dean of Africa Diplomatic Corps, urged African governments to develop strategies that could lead to durable solution to plastic waste choking large water bodies.

"We have to help create awareness to help inform communities to take plastic pollution seriously and help remove plastics from the oceans where they have outnumbered fish," said Mqulwana.

She emphasized that African countries must move beyond sustainable programs and begin to deal with the waste right from the source.

"Single use plastics are no longer useful in Africa and have to be eradicated forthwith," said Mqulwana, calling for the inclusion of private sector in the fight against the use of plastic bags in Africa.

The envoy urged governments to develop initiatives to benefit communities by helping reduce poverty.

"We have to empower communities to relate with ocean by coming up with innovative ideas," said Mqulwana.

She requested environmental experts to start simplifying the technical terminology to ensure all citizens understand what they mean to enable them to take necessary actions against plastic bags.

Dipesh Pabari, co-founder of the dhow, that is nicknamed FlipFlopi, said it was created to help solve plastic pollution in the world.

The dhow serves as a call for communities living along the oceans to rise up and help clean up the oceans, said Pabari.

He said that the nine-meter sailing dhow that is made from 10 tonnes of discarded plastics has been built by a team calling for plastic revolution to stem the flow of plastic waste dumped into the world's ocean.

Pabari said that the dhow has unique components like a life jackets and a radio.

Flipflopi, the world's first 100 percent recycled plastic dhow, will be embarking on its 500 kilometer maiden voyage from Lamu, Kenya to Stone Town in Tanzania's Zanzibar this week, visiting schools, communities and government officials.

The expedition that is supported by the UN Environment's CleanSeas program is being used to share solutions and change mindsets along its route before it arrives in time for the upcoming Sauti za Busara music festival in Zanzibar.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 20:09:53|Editor: xuxin

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NAIROBI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Millions of elderly persons in Africa are set to benefit from a project launched in Nairobi on Wednesday to ensure they have access to quality and affordable health care services.

The Better Health for Older Persons in Africa (BHOPA) project that is funded by global charity HelpAge International will be implemented in Kenya and Mozambique in the next three years.

"We aim to make health systems more inclusive, responsive and accountable to the needs of older men and women, with a particular focus on those with chronic diseases and disabilities," said Jude Otogo, regional health program coordinator of HelpAge International.

He said the launch of a pan African initiative to boost health of senior citizens was timely as the continent grapple with pressures on healthcare infrastructure and social safety net linked to ageing.

"We hope the project will generate robust evidence in order to support advocacy, shape policies and inform program approaches. These will inform scale up and replication not just in the countries of implementation but also in Africa and globally," said Otogo.

Statistics from the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs indicate that there were 46 million people aged 60 years and over in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015 and the figure could hit 161 million by 2050.

Policy makers and advocates said that home-grown interventions are key to ensuring elderly people in Africa are not excluded from national health programs.

Susan Mutungi, deputy director in Kenya's ministry of labor and social development, said that robust policies are key to addressing gaps in delivery of health care services to the aged population.

"The launch of Better Health for Older Persons in Africa project provides an impetus for us to realign national health policies and help meet needs of the elderly people who carry a heavy burden of diseases as well as physical and emotional infirmities," said Mutungi.

Muthoni Gichu, officer in Kenya's ministry of health, said that investments in training of health care workers coupled with home based care is key to tackle non-communicable diseases that have taken a toll on the elderly people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 19:44:43|Editor: xuxin

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WARSAW, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- One miner was killed and eight were injured as a result of an underground tremor in Rydultowy mine, southern Poland, the State Mining Authority announced on Wednesday.

The tremor occurred on Tuesday night. Most of the 20 miners, who were then working in the tremor area, 1,200 meters underground, managed to leave on their own.

Six injured miners have been released from hospital, and two still hospitalized. Their life is not in danger.

The rescue team is currently working to bring the body to the surface.

The magnitude of the tremor was about 3.25 degrees on the Richter scale. Polish Press Agency reported that the Rydultowy mine is one of the most vulnerable to shocks in the whole Polish mining industry and has observed fatal accidents caused by tremors in the past.

This has been the fifth fatal victim in the Polish mining industry this year. An investigation has been initiated by the Regional Mining Authority in Rybnik to determine the cause of the incident.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 19:44:42|Editor: Lu Hui

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), presided over the sixth meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform Wednesday.

Xi, also Chinese president, chairman of the Central Military Commission, and head of the central committee for deepening overall reform, called for "decisive results" in reforms in crucial areas and key links by 2020.

The country should continue to fight the tough battles and "crack hard nuts," ensure each undertaking is successful, and lay a decisive foundation for fulfilling the reform tasks mapped out by the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, he said.

Li Keqiang and Wang Huning, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the reform committee, also attended.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 18:54:33|Editor: xuxin

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RABAT, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan authorities arrested 13 people over suspicion of forming a cell linked to the Islamic State (IS) group, the interior ministry announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The suspects, aged between 22 and 44, were active in the northern cities of Sale, Casablanca and Mohammedia as well as the central city of Kelaa des Sraghna, the statement said.

According to initial investigations, the suspects were propagating IS ideology and plotting terrorist attacks in the country, the statement said.

The operation led to the seizure of electronic devices, bladed weapons, masks, manuscripts promoting extremist ideology and a letter in which the suspects pleaded allegiance to IS leader, the statement said.

The arrest of these suspects came more than a month after the murdering of two foreign tourists in a mountainous area near the tourist hub of Marrakech by IS-linked suspects.
The newly emboldened state legislature passed the Reproductive Health Act late on Tuesday afternoon, and Governor Andrew Cuomo immediately signed it. Legislators in Albany had been trying to pass the legislation, which protects and expands abortion rights in New York, since 2007.

Previously New York did not allow women to have abortions after 24 weeks unless their life was in danger; doctors faced up to seven years in prison for performing third-trimester abortions otherwise. (The need for late-term abortions in New York was publicized by a Brooklynite who told her story of having to travel to Colorado to end a nonviable pregnancy in an anonymous interview with Jezebel in 2016; she later went public with her name, and became an outspoken advocate for the new law.) The RHA also moves abortion statutes out of the penal code, codifying the right to an abortion in the state's health laws in case the federal government were to prohibit abortion.

"A woman's power to decide whether she will give birth or not is the single greatest determinant of whether she is healthy or not, educated or not, works outside the home or not, and how long she will live," Gloria Steinem said in a statement released by the governor's office. "This power has been taken away by patriarchy and racism, sometimes disguised as religion, yet it is our most basic democratic right.

"I'm thankful to Governor Cuomo and the New York State legislature for passing the Reproductive Health Act," Steinem's statement continued. "It will codify Roe v. Wade in New York State law, guarantee women's right to make decisions about our own bodies, and help create a future in which every child has the right to be born loved and wanted."

The RHA passed the Assembly 92-47, and the Senate 38-24. All Senate Republicans voted against the bill, as did Brooklyn Senator Simcha Felder and Queens Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr.

Cuomo's inability to push the RHA through the state legislature became a campaign issue last year when his opponent Cynthia Nixon called the governor out for not pressing for the legislation's passage, and cut a highlight reel of the governor making tasteless, stupid remarks about womena habit that has continued into his third term.

On Tuesday, Cuomo was exultant, sporting a pink tie, thanking advocates and legislators.

"I was speaking to one of my daughters and I said, 'Oh, it's great the legislature is gonna pass the Reproductive Health Act. She said, 'The Reproductive Health Act? Weren't you supposed to do that like, eight years ago?'" Cuomo told the audience, to laughter.

"She said, 'Hey dad, don't ever give me problems for a deadline again."

And on Tuesday night, the governor ordered the top of One World Trade Center to be lit up pink.

Some people might say that lighting the World Trade Center pink to celebrate the passage of the Reproductive Health Act is a form of gender stereotyping. pic.twitter.com/e3l9iaj8Xf  Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) January 23, 2019

UPDATE: An earlier version of this story stated that the Empire State Building was lit pink last night; it was in fact One World Trade Center.


ABC News(NEW YORK) -- A large storm that developed in the central U.S. is moving east on Wednesday and bringing snow, a wintry mix, severe weather and flooding rain.



The storm dumped over 17 inches of snow in the mountains of Colorado, and widespread 2 to 4 inches of snow from the Colorado Plains to the upper Midwest. Freezing rain also was reported in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday night.



Locally heavy snow is moving through parts of the Midwest, including Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday morning. In Chicago, a wintry mix, with some snow, is possible as colder air is being wrapped into the storm. However, most of the frozen precipitation will stay north and west of the city. A dangerous morning commute is likely in these areas.



Additionally, a wintry mix is likely across parts New York state Wednesday morning as precipitation is interacting with colder air.



There are numerous alerts being issued for this wide-ranging storm, including winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories from Kansas to Michigan to Maine. Since there is a threat for heavy rain in the Northeast, there are new flood watches being issued for the major cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Additionally, there are alerts being issued for blowing snow in the Northern Plains in the storms wake.



A line of very heavy rain will extend through the Mississippi and Tennessee Valley late in the day Wednesday. Additionally, severe weather is likely across parts of the Gulf -- from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama -- where damaging winds and brief tornadoes are possible. Since this cold front is very strong, it will also cause gusty winds over 35 mph in spots.



Out ahead of the cold front, very mild air will surge up the East Coast. Temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees above average in the New York City area, where temperatures might be in the mid-50s Thursday morning. But the warmth will be brief.



Early Thursday morning, the heavy rain and strong winds will move into the southeast U.S. and toward Atlanta. By Thursday morning, the line of heavy rain, with some locally strong thunderstorms, will stretch along the entire East Coast. Very heavy rain will fall Thursday during morning rush hour in the major northeast cities. Locally, 1 to 2 inches of rain could cause flash flooding and strong gusty winds are possible.



An additional complication in parts of the Northeast is that the heavy rain, combined with mild temperatures, will cause last week's snow to rapidly melt and cause additional flooding concerns.



Chill behind the storm



Behind this storm, another frontal system will pass and deliver a cold blast. Wind chills on Friday in the Midwest will dip locally to minus 30 degrees. Chicago will feel like minus 21 on Friday morning.



Some of this cold air makes its way east, but moderates before reaching the major Northeast cities. It will not be as cold as last weekend.



However, another powerful blast of cold air will come in behind it over the weekend and wind chills approaching minus 50 are possible in parts of the upper Midwest by Sunday. Duluth, Minnesota will feel like minus 47 and Minneapolis like minus 29 on Sunday morning.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 18:49:29|Editor: xuxin

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RABAT, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A total of 12.28 million tourists visited Morocco last year, up 8.3 percent compared to 2017, according to statistics released by the Moroccan Tourism Ministry on Wednesday.

The number of foreign tourists jumped by 14 percent, while the arrivals of Moroccans living abroad rose two percent in 2018, the statistics showed.

Meanwhile, tourism revenues reached 7.65 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, 1.4 percent higher from a year ago.

In December alone, nearly one million tourists visited Morocco, six-percent increase compared to the same month of 2017.

Morocco's tourism sector accounts for five percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and offers over 500,000 jobs.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 18:49:29|Editor: xuxin

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COLOMBO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has reiterated the government's decision to impose the death penalty on drug traffickers, a government statement said Wednesday.

Sirisena said although certain organizations had raised their voices against the government's decision, these organizations had failed to assess the damage and trauma caused to the nation if drug traffickers were left to continue the illegal activities.

He said he would soon release information to the drug dealers and the parties behind them.

Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers had taken a collective decision in July last year, to impose the death sentence considering the recent rise in drug-related murders and a large number of drug imports planned by drug traffickers who have been jailed.

The government said the island country had become a transit point for major drug cartels as a consequence of the prolonged illicit activities of the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were defeated by government troops in May 2009 following a 30-year civil conflict.

On Tuesday, the Police Special Task Force and Anti Narcotics Unit busted an international drug smuggling ring in capital Colombo, arresting five suspects along with 90 kg of heroin.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 18:29:17|Editor: xuxin

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ANKARA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday departed for Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, amid the U.S. troops' withdrawal from Syria.

During Erdogan's one-day working visit, the two leaders will exchange views on regional and international issues, particularly Syria, as well as bilateral relations between the two countries, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Prior to his visit, Erdogan on Monday said he would discuss with Putin the establishment of a Turkish-controlled "security zone" in northern Syria, which was initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump following the military withdrawal decision.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week said Damascus must take control of the country's north, adding that Moscow will consider the interests of all parties, including Turkey, in setting up a safe zone.

Meanwhile, Erdogan and Putin may also discuss their cooperation on the creation of "de-escalation zone" in Syrian northwestern province of Idlib, as a fruit of Turkey, Russia, Iran three-way summit held in Astana.

The two leaders had seven one-on-one meetings in 2018 and 18 phone calls to discuss bilateral relations and regional developments, especially Syria.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 18:24:14|Editor: xuxin

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The remains of more Chinese soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War will be returned to China from the Republic of Korea (ROK) on April 3, 2019, according to China's Ministry of Veterans Affairs (MVA) Wednesday.

It will be the sixth batch of remains of Chinese soldiers returned following a handover agreement signed by the two countries. From 2014 to 2018, the remains of 589 soldiers were returned to China from the ROK, official figures show.

Before the remains are returned, a ceremony will be held on April 1 in the ROK, according to the handover schedule set down during a meeting between the MVA and the ROK Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday. The MVA did not disclose the exact number of remains involved.

The Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) fought with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Army in the Korean War against the ROK army and U.S.-led UN forces.

Almost 200,000 CPV soldiers were confirmed killed in the war, with most buried on the Korean Peninsula.

According to an agreement between China and the ROK, the ROK will continue to hand over remains of Chinese soldiers found in its territory based on a humanitarian spirit. A handover is usually held before Chinese Tomb-Sweeping Day in early April.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 18:24:13|Editor: xuxin

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XI'AN, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A woman who successfully received a womb donated by her mother after a uterus transplant in November 2015 gave birth to a healthy baby boy in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Sunday.

Weighing 2 kg and measuring 48 cm long, the baby is considered to be China's first and the world's 14th baby who was born from a transplanted womb, said doctors with the Xijing Hospital in Xi'an, where the baby was born and the previous uterus transplant was performed.

Twenty-six-year-old Yang Hua, the new mother, was born without a uterus but has her own ovaries which produce eggs.

When the mother-daughter womb transplant, also China's first human womb transplant, was done in 2015, Yang was 22 and her mother was 43.

Uterus transplants are not new. In the 1960s, Britain and the United States began to experiment with uterus transplants on animals.

In 2000, the world's first human womb transplant took place on a 26-year-old woman in Saudi Arabia. The transplanted uterus failed after three months and had to be removed.

In 2011, doctors successfully performed a uterus transplant on a woman in Turkey. Two years later, nine women in Sweden successfully received transplanted wombs donated by relatives.

Chen Biliang, director of the obstetrics and gynecology department of Xijing Hospital, said uterus transplants still remain a medical challenge in the world today.

The uterus, with plenty of tenuous blood vessels, grows in the depths of a woman's pelvic cavity. Therefore, a string of problems including cutting, the structure of the blood vessels during the transplant and strong rejection reactions may occur, said Chen.

There are about one million women in China who are suffering from uterine infertility. Due to the limitation of the current assisted reproductive technology and the prohibition of surrogacy in many countries, uterus transplants have provided an effective way for women plagued by uterine infertility to have their own babies, according to Chen.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 18:19:12|Editor: xuxin

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by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Mediterranean countries have established a natural gas board but preferred to exclude Turkey. Local experts warned that ostracizing the regional player from the equation makes the new forum irrelevant.

Countries around the eastern Mediterranean made an important move with the creation of a forum participated by Israel, Egypt, Cyprus, and other neighbors to develop their new natural gas discoveries.

The Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, announced on Jan. 13 in Cairo, Egypt, formalizes growing energy ties among recent rivals for the development of energy infrastructure to tap the region's energy potential for Europe and beyond.

But the new board has a major absent, Turkey, as well as other nations such as Syria and Lebanon, which would render the new born organization ineffective, according to specialists.

"It seems that political considerations have prevailed over economic considerations and therefore Turkey has been excluded from this forum," Altay Atli, an international political economy analyst from Istanbul's Koc University, said to Xinhua.

"An organization which does not include Turkey in eastern Mediterranean cannot succeed," he said, pointing out that Turkey is in fact the missing link here between natural gas producing countries and potential buyers from Europe as a transit hub with experiences.

Atli is very doubtful on how founding forum members would be able to sell their potential gas to their main market, Europe, without Turkey. "It would double gas prices and would not be feasible."

The newly created forum cements the growing commercial links between Israel and Egypt, Turkey's rivals in the Mediterranean. Israel expects to start shipping natural gas to Egypt in the next few months as part of a 15-billion-U.S. dollar deal between the two countries.

In 2018, Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Ankara would not allow other regional actors to exclude Turkey in eastern Mediterranean affairs, particularly with regards to energy reserves.

"All parties involved have to unite on a common basis if there is a will to cooperate in producing and transferring energy resources of the Mediterranean. Otherwise many issues will come back in an even more divisive manner in the future," said Ismail Kavaz, a researcher of the Ankara-based think-tank SETA.

Atli echoed his comments arguing that the new body is making an already tense situation more complex.

The expert expressed hope that "economic realities" in eastern Mediterranean would push members of the natural gas body to reconsider their decision to exclude Turkey.

Ankara recently warned once again that all initiatives not including Turkey would be doomed to fail.

In an interview with Turkey's NTV news channel, Cavusoglu suggested that all parties shared the same view. "They are discussing other things to muddy the water," he said. "If it doesn't go through Turkey it won't be viable and there won't be any point to extract it."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 17:59:05|Editor: zh

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Tourists visit Mount Fortress in Macao, south China, Jan. 23, 2019. Visitor arrivals in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) made a record of 35.80 million in 2018, up by 9.8 percent year-on-year, the SAR's statistics service said on Wednesday. Visitor arrivals by land surged by 18.9 percent year-on-year to 22.15 million in 2018, with 1.05 million of them entering the Macao SAR via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

MACAO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Visitor arrivals in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) made a record of 35.80 million in 2018, up by 9.8 percent year-on-year, the SAR's statistics service said on Wednesday.

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that in 2018 the overnight visitors (18.49 million) and same-day visitors (17.31 million) grew by 7.2 percent and 12.7 percent respectively.

Visitors from the Chinese mainland (25.26 million) and the Hong Kong SAR (6.3 million) increased by 13.8 percent and 2.6 percent respectively. Visitors from South Korea (812,842) saw a decrease of 7.0 percent. Visitors from the United States (201,810), Australia (90,914) and Britain (58,319) recorded year-on-year growth, while the number of those from Canada (74,268) held steady.

Visitor arrivals by land surged by 18.9 percent year-on-year to 22.15 million in 2018, with 1.05 million of them entering the Macao SAR via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Visitor arrivals by air increased by 20.1 percent year-on-year to 3.30 million. Meanwhile, visitor arrivals by sea decreased by 7.8 percent to 10.36 million.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 17:49:03|Editor: xuxin

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DAMASCUS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the help of the U.S.-led coalition, captured on Wednesday the last Islamic State (IS)-held town in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported.

The SDF managed over the early hours of Wednesday to capture the Baghuz Foqani town, which was the last IS-held town in the eastern Euphrates region, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said the SDF forces are combing the farms and areas around the town in search for remnants of the IS militants.

This comes as thousands of civilians and hundreds of IS militants fled the last IS-held pocket in the eastern Euphrates over the past 24 hours.

After combing the farms, the SDF will have controlled the entire eastern Euphrates region, said the Observatory.

The progress comes after 18 weeks of a continuous military campaign by the U.S.-backed SDF against IS in that part of the country.

The battles claimed the lives of 388 civilians, 1,168 IS militants and 630 SDF fighters, according to the war monitor.

With its defeat in the eastern Euphrates, the IS has lost the last village it controlled in Syria and now the fighters are scattered in desert areas in eastern Syria.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 17:13:54|Editor: xuxin

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HAIKOU, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- More than 76 million domestic and overseas tourists visited southern China's island province of Hainan in 2018, up 11.8 percent year on year, local authorities said Wednesday.

Hainan's tourism revenue went up 14.5 percent over the previous year to more than 95 billion yuan (14 billion U.S. dollars) last year, said Sun Ying, director of the provincial department of culture, radio, television and sports.

In 2018, the island registered more than 140 outbound and inbound trips of cruises and yachts, receiving about 68,000 outbound and inbound tourists.

The cruises to the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea made 106 trips, up 51.4 percent, and received 33,300 domestic tourists, up 90.9 percent.

The two duty-free shops, one in the provincial capital of Haikou and the other in the resort city of Sanya, received 2.88 million customers and sold over 10 billion yuan of goods, according to official data.

The province has just opened two more duty-free shops, bringing the total number of offshore duty-free shops on the popular resort island to four.

China plans to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025 and a globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 17:08:51|Editor: xuxin

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DAMASCUS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- An explosion occurred on Wednesday in the rebel-held northern city of Afrin, causing casualties, Kurdish activists reported.

The explosion took place near a cultural center, which is used as a base for the Turkey-backed rebels in the center part of Afrin, according to the report.

After the explosion, the rebels cordoned off the area and prevented civilians from entering while ambulances were seen taking the wounded to hospitals in the city.

There has been no information yet on the number of casualties or whether they were militants or civilians.

The blast comes three days after an explosive device ripped through a bus in the city, which killed three people and wounded nine others.

The recent explosions coincide with the anniversary of the Turkey-backed rebels' entry to Afrin, which was controlled by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

Afrin enclave had been controlled by the YPG and other allied militia groups.

Last year, Turkey spearheaded an operation to dislodge the YPG and took control of the city with the help of its allied rebels in northern Syria.

Several explosions have rocked the city since it fell to the Turkey-backed rebels.

Around 350,000 people were displaced from Afrin when the Ankara-backed rebels took control.
With a subway and bus fare hike looming, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board was expected to vote on one of two fare increase options at its meeting Thursday, either a $3 base fare or the elimination of bonuses for putting more than one rides money on a Metrocard at one time. But Larry Schwartz, Governor Andrew Cuomos appointee to the board and his former chief of staff, has revealed that he plans to introduce a third option that the public has not yet seen.

Schwartz told The New York Times that under his proposal, fare increases would be tied to improvements in service, though he did not provide specifics. Neither Schwartz nor the MTA immediately responded to Gothamist requests for more information on the new fare proposal.

In order to vote on any new fare hike plan, according to board member Andrew Albert and others, the MTA would first require 14 days notice and another public hearing before holding a board vote.

The capital plan approved by the MTA in December relies on a fare increase to generate $316 million a year in revenue, which the authority says it badly needs to stave off increasing deficits. The current fare proposals would either keep base fares at $2.75 and eliminate any bonus for bulk purchases, or raise base fares to $3 and increase the bonus to 10 percent with a purchase of $6 or more. Under both proposals unlimited monthly cards would increase from $121 to either $126.25 or $127.

The governor controls a plurality of the MTA board. But Cuomo has repeatedly said hes against the fare hike and that he doesnt control the MTA. Speaking on WNYCs Brian Lehrer Show Wednesday, he declined to say whether hes instructed his appointed board members how to vote on the fare increases.

"I'm in favor of more revenue. I'm in favor of congestion pricing, it's a billion dollars a year, Cuomo said. I get the need for the funding, I also getthat the bureaucracy is not working. We all know that.

The fare increase was originally scheduled to go into effect in March. The MTA stands to lose $30 million a month if the fare increase isnt enacted, MTA Chief Financial Officer Bob Foran said at an MTA committee meeting on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Regional Plan Association said the organization hasnt heard of other city transit systems that tied performance to fare ratesalthough NJ Transit did offer 10 percent discounts to riders last fall in anticipation of service declines.

Lisa Daglian, Executive Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, said she hasnt seen Schwartzs plan, but has a lot of questions about it: If theres a performance threshold each agency must meet, who sets the standards? Can the MTA do it or will it require legislation? Who enforces the rules?

To me itd seem, logistically, that itd be difficult to implement quickly, she told Gothamist. Its not something you can rush into, we need to get a better understanding of all the different moving parts to it.

Daglian is certain about two things: Schwartzs new proposal will need to go through a public hearing process. And shell bring snacks to Thursdays board meetingits sure to be a long one.



Update, January 24, 2019: At the MTA's board meeting, the fare hike was officially postponed:

MTA Board members Peter Ward, board member Veronica Vanterpool make motion to delay fare hike vote until February.  Just your friendly neighborhood transit reporter (@s_nessen) January 24, 2019

Board member Larry Schwartz admits he made a vain effort to tie fare hikes to performance. So, he didnt have a plan after all...  Just your friendly neighborhood transit reporter (@s_nessen) January 24, 2019

Motion to delay fare hike vote carriesfare hike vote delayed until Feb.  Just your friendly neighborhood transit reporter (@s_nessen) January 24, 2019
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:53:49|Editor: Xiaoxia

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TAIYUAN, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A fleet of 22 vehicles, equipped with a Baidu Apollo autonomous driving system, completed a series of tests Tuesday in northern China's Shanxi Province.

The tests were conducted on a section of an expressway in the city of Yangquan. The fleet was tested driving through a toll station and a 10-km-long tunnel and on a bridge and straight and curved sections of road.

With an average speed of 80 km per hour, these driverless cars navigated 26 kilometers and completed cruising, merging into the traffic, changing lanes and other diverse scenarios on the expressway.

Yangquan and Chinese artificial intelligence giant Baidu signed an agreement in December 2018 to facilitate advanced technologies including self-driving and smart transportation.

A self-driving database collecting related data in Shanxi, as well as the country as a whole, is scheduled to be established in the city by 2021, which is expected to drive the development of relevant industries.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:53:49|Editor: xuxin

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DAMASCUS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- An explosion occurred on Wednesday in the rebel-held northern city of Afrin, causing casualties, Kurdish activists reported.

The explosion took place near a cultural center, which is used as a base for the Turkey-backed rebels in the center part of Afrin, according to the report.

After the explosion, the rebels cordoned off the area and prevented civilians from entering while ambulances were seen taking the wounded to hospitals in the city.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:48:48|Editor: xuxin

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KABUL, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces have killed the mastermind of the deadly bombing on a military base in eastern Afghanistan earlier this week, Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Wednesday.

"Taliban Commander Numan, planner of a suicide attack against a national intelligence agency base, together with seven terrorists, were killed following an airstrike in Maidan Shar district, Wardak province at 11:12 p.m. Tuesday," the NDS, the country's primary intelligence agency said in a statement.

On Monday, at least 36 security force members, mostly intelligence agency personnel, were killed and 58 others wounded after a Taliban suicide bomber drove a hijacked explosive-laden military vehicle inside the compound and detonated it near the main building of the facility.

Afghan military officials pledged to revenge the deadly attack targeting the base in Maidan Shar, capital of eastern Wardak province, 35 km west of Afghan capital of Kabul.

The Taliban militant group has yet to respond to the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:43:46|Editor: xuxin

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NEW DELHI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Indian police's anti-terror squad (ATS) in western state of Maharashtra arrested nine suspects including a teenager for their alleged terror links, officials said on Wednesday.

"The arrests were made on specific intelligence inputs while investigating the presence of sleeper cells in the state," the police official said.

The arrests have been made ahead of India's Republic Day, celebrated on Jan. 26 every year across the country. The main function is held in Indian capital New Delhi.

"ATS sleuths gathered relevant information about these people and started trailing them for several weeks. They have been arrested for criminal conspiracy and unlawful activities," the police official said.

Reports said police have seized chemicals, explosives, mobile phones, hard drives, SIM cards, acid bottles and sharp knives during the raids conducted on their residences.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:43:44|Editor: xuxin

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HANOI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Police of Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province said on Wednesday that they have recently detained two men for trafficking methamphetamine and heroin from Laos to the Vietnamese locality.

The police arrested Hoang Ngoc Bang, 40, from Muong Lat district, when was selling a packet of heroin and a pill of lab-made drug. After that, they found 2,020 pills when searching Bang's house.

The police also detained Vi Van Dong, 36, from Quan Hoa district, and seized 1 kg of crystal methamphetamine, 4,200 pills of lab-made drug, a cake of heroin, a homemade gun, and dozens of knives and swords at his house.

According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:28:32|Editor: Xiaoxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Beijing inaugurated a large retail market on Tuesday to sell specialty foods and products from impoverished counties in what it calls a consumption-led poverty relief project.

The Beijing Consumption-led Poverty Relief Industry Center, located in the southern part of the Third Ring Road, sells more than 2,000 types of products from 89 counties. The consumption-led poverty relief aims to engage urban residents in buying products made by people from impoverished areas to increase their income.

Visitors find quality dates from Hotan City in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tibetan incense sticks, blue goji berries from Qinghai and organic lamb meat from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The project, which taps the purchasing power in China's sprawling capital, is designed to help the poor earn money and shake off poverty. The target is to help 100,000 people stay above the poverty line, defined as per capita annual income lower than 2,300 yuan (about 334 U.S. dollars) at 2010 prices.

The Beijing Poverty Reduction Cooperation Office said it will help boost sales both online and offline for the center and foster brands.

In 2018, wholesale markets in Beijing sold 9 billion yuan (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) worth of fruits and vegetables from impoverished regions. Products sold through e-commerce channels to Beijing totaled 1.15 billion yuan (161 million U.S. dollars). Another 2.9 billion yuan (420 million dollars) of agricultural products were sold in supermarkets and malls in Beijing.

China has a special cooperative scheme to pair up economically advanced regions with less developed regions. Beijing is designated to help economic development in 89 counties in seven provincial-level regions. It is tasked to assist in poverty relief in Lhasa and Qamdo cities in Tibet, Hotan in Xinjiang, Yushu in Qinghai, Badong County in Hubei Province, 31 counties in Inner Mongolia and another 23 counties in the neighboring Hebei Province.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:28:31|Editor: xuxin

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HANOI, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam plans to sign a cooperation agreement with World Economic Forum (WEF) at its annual conference on building an Industry 4.0 Center in Vietnam and a letter of intent on collaboration in plastic waste treatment, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc left for Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday night to attend the annual conference of WEF held from Tuesday to Friday under the theme of "Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

Phuc's presence at WEF Davos this year will be a chance to propagate Vietnam's socioeconomic development and international integration achievements in 2018, as well as deliver its major policies, orientation and measures on socioeconomic development.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:23:31|Editor: xuxin

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MANILA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines, with the help of Chinese firms, will set up an investment promotion center in Shanghai, China in a bid to lure more Chinese investors, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Wednesday.

The DTI said in a statement that the collaboration will be in a form of a Philippine Investment and Tourism Center in Shanghai, China.

Philippine trade officials, led by Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, discussed on Wednesday possible investment promotions collaboration with several Chinese firms involved in tourism, food processing, freight forwarding, aquaculture, and construction.

According to Lopez, the partnership "will aid DTI in its investment promotion programs and encourage more Chinese investors to visit the Philippines and look for investment opportunities in the areas of tourism, real estate, and food processing."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 16:18:27|Editor: Lu Hui

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China is considering building military cemeteries to honor soldiers who have devoted their lives to the country, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday.

The ministry will release regulations on military cemetery construction and management in due time, said Wang Zhiming, a spokesman for the ministry at a press conference.

The ministry is currently soliciting opinions from both military and civilian professionals and drawing on the experience of other countries in the meantime, said Wang.

The move is crucial to strengthening the protection of rights and interests of military personnel and enabling their families to have a stronger sense of honor and pride, Wang said, adding such efforts will make military service an occupation that enjoys public respect.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 15:23:14|Editor: Xiaoxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has announced a list of 801 recommended online courses of the year 2018, a move to boost the development of massive open online courses (MOOC) in China.

The universities and colleges that opened online courses included the top-notch Peking University and vocational schools like the Nanjing Institute of Industry Technology, according to a document published on the Ministry of Education (MOE) website Tuesday.

The subjects vary greatly from traditional science subjects such as physics and chemistry to those of profound cultural essence such as the analysis of Chinese literature masterpiece "The Dream of the Red Chamber" and ancient medical classic "Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon."

A number of courses also focus on specific vocational skills such as dentistry and veterinary medicine.

The recommended courses should be available to the public for no less than five years after the announcement of the list, according to the ministry.

The ministry will conduct inspections on the courses regarding their operation, effects and updates. Courses that fail to meet the standards will be removed from the list.

The online courses recommendation project was first introduced in January 2018 with the release of a 490-course list. It is among the country's latest efforts to develop an advanced system of MOOC and is expected to supplement school education as well as contribute to education equity, according to a previous MOE statement.

The government plans to form a list of 3,000 recommended courses by 2020, according to Wu Yan, head of higher education departement of the ministry.
A water main break in Chelsea has partially flooded the L train station at 8th Avenue, causing the partial suspension of L train service during the Wednesday morning rush. As of 8:50 a.m., limited L service has resumed, but with extensive delaysthe MTA says "all 8 Av-bound L trains will end at 14 St-Union Square. L Subway trains in both directions will operate at reduced frequencies." Here's video of what we're dealing with here:

Here's a video we took of the broken water main earlier this morning. Water is no longer pouring into the tunnel, but many of our switches, motors and signals are submerged. (2/3) pic.twitter.com/vX5Db0PaFH  NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) January 23, 2019

15th Street is currently closed between 6th and 8th Avenues as workers scramble to fix the water main break. Con Ed, the NYPD and the DEP are on the scene. As of 8:40 a.m., workers could be seen tearing up 7th Avenue with jackhammers.

Service between 8th Avenue and Union Square is suspended until further notice while transit workers inspect the damage and make necessary repairs. (Don't worry; Cuomo will no doubt take a tour of the station today and come up with a quick fix, like turning the L into a flume ride? Anyone ever think of that?)

Update: Manhattan-bound L trains are now running approximately every 6 minutes, and are continuing to end at 14 St-Union Square.



Our crews are clearing debris from the tracks; new stop motors are also being delivered to the affected area and will be installed where needed. pic.twitter.com/izOljHzmoq  NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) January 23, 2019

Update: Manhattan-bound L trains are running approximately every 8 minutes and ending at 14 St-Union Square.



Our crews are on site and pumping water out from the submerged tracks. NYPD is working to keep the M14 bus moving as smoothly as possible along 14th Street. pic.twitter.com/FPu7hcEVFV  NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) January 23, 2019

In other Hump Day subway news, southbound 1 trains have been delayed "because of a switch problem in the 240 St Yard," northbound D trains were delayed "because a train's brakes were automatically activated at 161 St-Yankee Stadium," and a signal malfunction at West 4th Street caused delays on the A, C, and E lines.

Oh and earlier there were "extensive delays in A B C D F and M trains in both directions because of an earlier NYPD investigation of an unauthorized person on the tracks at 42 St-Bryant Park."

Update: NYPD has removed the unauthorized person from the tracks and we are in the process of restoring power. We expect regular service to resume with delays shortly.  NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) January 23, 2019

NYCT Transit President Andy Byford announced that it will take about four to six hours to fix the water main break. In the meantime, M14 buses are providing service between Union Square and 8th Avenue. We'll update this post as more information becomes available.

UPDATE: Sanitation Department workers were seen spreading salt on streets affected by the water main break:

UPDATE: Speaking to reporters at Union Square this morning, Byford stressed that the cause of this morning's problem "had nothing to do with subway infrastructure."

Transit authority chief Andy Byford explains why L train service was suspended this morning. The water main break sent gallons of water into the subway damaging electrical equipment. @wcbs880 pic.twitter.com/QPLEw7SC7q  Marla Diamond (@MDiamond8) January 23, 2019

At 12:11 p.m., the MTA announced that regular L train service had resumed, with residual delays.

L train service has resumed regular service between 8 Av and Canarsie Rockaway Pkwy after our crews repaired damage caused by a street-level water main break.



Expect residual delays as service normalizes. Thank you for your patience.  NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) January 23, 2019



Reporting by Jen Chung.


Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 15:18:13|Editor: Xiaoxia

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BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The year 2018 will be remembered in the history of Chinese cinema because "most of the successful films were based on real-life stories, or explored social issues," said a report by China Daily Wednesday quoting a scholar.

Zuo Heng, deputy director of the cinematic culture research department at the China Film Archive, said this marked a revitalization of cinematic realism.

The report suggests China's movie market has eyed a new approach while real-life stories and social issues attract audiences.

Last year, domestic feature films accounted for 62 percent of the nation's box-office revenue, the highest since the Chinese film industry started to take off in the early 2000s.

While Hollywood is dominated by movies about superheroes, China has seen a shift in tastes. Realistic themes have started to attract vast audiences who were previously more interested in action blockbusters and domestic comedies.

"Operation Red Sea" and "Dying to Survive," top and third, respectively, on last year's box-office charts, were both based on true stories.

"Operation Red Sea" was inspired by the People's Liberation Army Navy's evacuation of nearly 580 Chinese nationals from Yemen in early 2015.

Jiang Yong, a film industry analyst in Beijing, said "Operation Red Sea" reinforced investors' confidence that a realistic contemporary film could also be a commercial success.

Social dramas reflecting changes in China or examining the lives of ordinary people have also won acclaim and success.

"Dying to Survive" was based on the true story of Lu Yong, a leukemia patient who illegally bought unlicensed cancer drugs overseas for himself and many other patients.

It touched Chinese audiences and triggered public recognition for struggling families who cannot afford life-saving medication.

"A Cool Fish," a low-budget local comedy with no A-list actors, beat Hollywood rivals including "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," to dominate the box-office charts in late November. This film tackles hot social issues.

"Such success will encourage more talented people to join the creation of realistic stories. They can use their influence to boost the development of society," said Zhong Dafeng, a professor with the Beijing Film Academy.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 15:13:12|Editor: xuxin

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QALA-E-NAW, Afghanistan, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Afghan fighting aircraft targeted a Taliban hideout in Ab Kamari district of Afghanistan's western Badghis province on Tuesday, killing 10 militants on the spot and injuring four others, the official said Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off, the fighting aircraft pounded a Taliban hideout in Kokchili village of Ab Kamari district Tuesday afternoon, provincial government spokesman Jamshid Shahabi said, adding that a weapon cache of the militants were also destroyed due to the airstrikes.

Government forces launched operations against Taliban positions in parts of Ab Kamari district early last week and so far, according to the official, several villages have been recaptured and the law and order have been restored.

Taliban militants have not commented on the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 15:03:09|Editor: xuxin

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A poll released Tuesday showed that more people are starting to believe climate change is credible, partly due to the frigid weather which has gripped the United States.

The poll released by Associated Press showed that 48 percent of respondents found the science of human-induced climate change more convincing when the poll was taken in November 2018 than they did five years ago, compared to 14 percent who thought it less convincing.

Eighty-three percent of those polled who believe in climate change want the federal government to take actions to mitigate it, and 80 percent want their state governments to act, the survey found.

More people than expected supported a carbon tax to help curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to the survey.

"It is striking that 67 percent of respondents support a carbon tax when the funds would be used to restore the environment," Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), said in a statement.

"These findings appear to run counter to recent efforts by the federal government to step back from environmental protection," he added. EPIC participated in conducting the poll.

The poll was released as large swaths of the United States have been under a cold spell for the past few days, which has caused casualties, heavy snow and traffic nightmares.

On Monday, extreme cold weather, coupled with strong gusts, swept through the Northeast United States.

Atop the Northeast's highest mountain, Mount Washington, the temperature fell to minus 31 Celsius Monday morning to minus 35 Celsius later in the afternoon, according to the Facebook page for Mount Washington Observatory, in New Hampshire. According to historical records, the average low temperature for January is registered at minus 20 degrees.

The cold weather resulted in a number of deaths throughout the United States over the weekend.

In Chicago, a 12-year-old girl was killed Sunday in minus 10 Celsius weather after her snow fort collapsed on her. In the eastern U.S. state of Connecticut, a utility worker was killed Sunday after being struck by a falling tree while working on a power line. In the central U.S. state of Kansas, a snow plough driver was killed when he drove off the road and was crushed by the plough.

At least four people were killed after shoveling snow. In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office said a 59-year-old man and a 91-year-old man collapsed and died Sunday in separate incidents after removing snow. In upstate New York, a 70-year-old man died Monday after experiencing a heart attack while shoveling snow. In southwest Michigan, a man in charge of transportation at a school district also died while shoveling snow.

According to flight tracker FlightAware, nearly 6,000 flights were delayed in the United States, and almost 1,000 were cancelled, most of which were due to extreme weather.

The weather improved slightly Tuesday, delaying 4,300 flights and grounding about 1,500 flights.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 14:53:07|Editor: xuxin

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ULAN BATOR, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has launched a campaign to promote the development of its banking sector, local media reported Wednesday.

The campaign is part of the activities to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the development of the banking sector in the country, the Bank of Mongolia said in a statement.

As part of the six-month campaign starting Tuesday, several related activities will be held across the country by the central bank in cooperation with commercial banks.

"The banking sector is playing a vital role in financing the economic development of any country," Nadmid Bayartsaikhan, president of the Bank of Mongolia, said at the inauguration ceremony of the campaign.

The campaign called "Development of Banking Sector in Mongolia-95" aims to increase public participation and get feedback from customers in order to improve banking operations and overcome challenges in the banking industry, said Bayartsaikhan.

Currently, there are some 1,400 branches of 14 commercial banks operating in Mongolia.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 14:23:03|Editor: WX

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BANGKOK, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A pickup truck overturned in southern Thailand's Chumphon province, killing four Myanmar workers and injuring 12 others, local media reported on Wednesday.

The accident happened on Tuesday night when the pickup carrying Myanmar workers fell into a ditch and flipped over. The pickup was transporting the workers to Surat Thani province in the south.

The passengers were rushed to hospital and four of them were pronounced dead, police said. Among the 12 injured, six were in critical condition.

The driver was slightly injured and he said he lost control when approaching to ditch.

Witnesses said they saw the driver was racing against another truck's driver before the accident occurred.

Thailand has a bad record of fatal road accidents mostly due to the weak enforcement of driving rules.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 14:07:59|Editor: Yamei

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Justin Cox, owner of a craft brewing business, is interviewed in Ivy City in northeastern Washington D.C., the United States, Jan. 17, 2019. Located in the community of Ivy City in northeastern Washington D.C., Justin Cox's 12-feet-tall (around 3.66 meters tall) brewery has 14 production tanks, with a strong hop aroma filling the air. His craft brewing business has been running smoothly for over five years until just recently. Without approved labels from the federal government, kegs of apricot-flavored India Pale Ale (IPA) have piled up in his warehouse, unable to be shipped out of the capital for sales. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

by Xinhua Writers Xiong Maoling, Sun Ding, Gao Pan

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Located in the community of Ivy City in northeastern Washington D.C., Justin Cox's 12-feet-tall (around 3.66 meters tall) brewery has 14 production tanks, with a strong hop aroma filling the air.

His craft brewing business has been running smoothly for over five years until just recently. Without approved labels from the federal government, kegs of apricot-flavored India Pale Ale (IPA) have piled up in his warehouse, unable to be shipped out of the capital for sales.

"The clock is ticking on this beer now ... With the very extreme version of that being, it goes down the drain," Cox, founder and CEO of Atlas Brew Works, told Xinhua.

The newly brewed seasonable beer, scheduled to be released on Feb. 1, still awaits a keg label approval by the U.S. Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which has halted most of its operations as a result of the already month-long government shutdown.

"Every day the shutdown continues, the losses multiply," Cox said.

The IPA, called "The Precious One," has a relatively high hop content and is "very perishable," he said. The fermentation of the beer was done about a week ago, and it will lose its flavor in 120 days.

"We did not expect the shutdown to go on this long ... and so we weren't really expecting it to filter down all the way to a local craft brewery," Cox said.

Federal law allows the brewery to distribute kegs in the Washington D.C. area without the label approval, but not over state lines. That means Cox couldn't sell his new beer to Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee, the three major markets outside the capital, without approved can labels.

Cox expects a long waiting time for label approval even when the government reopens. "Once they open back up, the TTB will be sitting on probably very large backlog of applications," Cox said.

"So it still could continue to have effects on our business and the rest of the craft brewing industry for months to come," he said.

Craft brewing is considered a booming industry in the United States with more than 7,000 breweries operating across the nation in 2018, a 20 percent spike over 2017, according to data from the U.S. Brewers Association. The industry contributes over 70 billion U.S. dollars to the U.S. economy annually and supports 500,000 jobs.

Cox, a homebrewer-turned entrepreneur, said the industry boom came as people are increasingly drawn to fresh, local and flavorful beer. "When we first started in 2013, I think we sold about 1200 barrels of beer, and in 2018, we finished about 4,500 barrels."

The burgeoning growth, however, is overshadowed by the shutdown. Along with disrupted approval for labels or permits, breweries are likely unable to proceed with their loan applications from a bank or credit union without necessary information from the federal government, and will not have access to federally assisted loans due to the closure of the Small Business Administration, the Brewers Association has warned.

In a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week, Colorado's Democratic senator Michael Bennet said the shutdown has been "especially difficult" for his state, which boasts nearly 400 breweries.

"The uncertainty of a government shutdown is affecting these business owners' ability to invest, hire, grow and hit revenue targets," Bennet wrote, adding that the impacts spread to farmers and beyond.

For Cox's brewery, the shutdown is not only delaying the launch of new products, but also dragging down the sales of existing products. "So everyone is not spending as much money on leisure activities like craft beer," Cox said, noting that a lot of his customers are federal employees who have missed their paycheck after the shutdown.

"So our sales in the taproom were down; our sales out in the general market are down as well," he said, adding that the lengthy government shutdown is very "frustrating."

"We are caught in the middle of this shutdown along with a whole lot of other people," he said. "We would just like to sell our beer, get back to work, pay our employees and provide for our families."

Cox, once a federal employee himself, has joined a crowdfunding campaign called "Pay it Furloughed," which allows anyone to donate a beer online for an impacted federal worker. In the first four days of the program, his brewery has given out about 145 free beers.

As of Tuesday midnight, the "Pay it Furloughed" website showed that more than 3,800 beers have been donated, over 1,600 of which have been "enjoyed."

The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, has affected a quarter of the federal government, forcing about 420,000 "essential" employees to work without pay, and 380,000 others to take unpaid leave.

Since the partial closure on Dec. 22, the White House and Democratic congressional leaders have held several rounds of negotiations over border security and wall funding, the sticking point in the shutdown, but appeared to get no closer to solving the budget impasse.

"We hope the shutdown would have ended yesterday if possible," Cox said.

(Xinhua reporters Jin Yuelei and Liu Jie in Washington also contributed to the report.)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 13:52:50|Editor: WX

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KABUL, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani left here on Wednesday for Switzerland to participate the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting there, the Afghan Presidential Palace said.

"President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani left here for Davos, Switzerland to participate in third day of World Economic Forum 2019 meeting to be held on Jan. 24," the palace said in a statement.

The statement said that besides attending the WEF annual meeting, president Ghani will also deliver a speech during a meeting focusing on future of Afghanistan's economy, growth and the country's vital role in regional connectivity.

The Afghan leader will also attend a luncheon to be hosted by WEF chairman for world economic leaders, according to the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 13:17:43|Editor: zh

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NICOSIA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's Guangxi Acrobatic Troupe put on a show here Tuesday evening to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Spring Festival.

The performance, staged at Strovolos municipal theater, was opened with a song and dance, with performers holding red lanterns to herald a prosperous new year.

The artists also thrilled the audience with plate spinning and handstand skills. In a hoop-jumping performance, performers jumped through hoops at head height, drawing gasps from the audience.

The hall, which has a capacity of more than 800 people, was filled with applause when performers danced "ballet on the shoulders," a performance combining ballet and acrobatic skills.

Stella Sourmeli, chair of the cultural committee of the municipal government of Strovolos, made a speech during the intermission, in which she said "good evening" and "happy New Year" in Chinese.

"The event will be the beginning of a long-term prosperity of cultural exchanges between the two countries," she said, expressing thanks to the Chinese side.

Before the show, a delegation of the Chinese Cuisine Association showcased Chinese cuisine as well as a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Students from a Chinese School in Cyprus also performed group dances and choral music.

The troupe will give another performance in Larnaca in southeastern Cyprus on Wednesday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 13:12:42|Editor: WX

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BANGKOK, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A royal decree for Thailand's general election was issued on Wednesday to be followed by the announcement of the election date within the next five days.

Given an approval from His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the royal decree has been promulgated in the Royal Gazette, obliging the Election Commission to officially announce the date for the long-awaited election within five days, according to the constitution's organic law pertaining to the election.

The election date is largely expected on March. 24, marking a one-month delay from an earlier schedule for Feb. 24.

Under the 2017 constitution, the election of MPs is bound to be held within 150 days after the date on which the organic laws pertaining to the election was promulgated.

The last organic law pertaining to the election, one that governs the election of memebers of parliament, was promulgated on Dec 11.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 13:12:42|Editor: WX

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic Senator Mark Warner on Tuesday introduced legislation to prevent future government shutdowns in the case of funding lapse by automatically renewing government funding.

The bill, named Stop STUPIDITY Act, would fund all aspects of the government at the same levels as the previous fiscal year except for the legislative branch and the Executive Office of the President, the senator said in a statement.

It would "effectively force Congress and the White House to come to the negotiating table without putting at risk the economy or hurting the American public," Warner said.

"It is disturbing that the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of workers are at the mercy of dysfunction in Washington," he said.

Senate Republicans, led by Senator Rob Portman, have also introduced similar legislation, called the End Government Shutdowns Act, local media reported.

About a quarter of the U.S. federal government was closed on Dec. 22 due to an impasse between the White House and Congress over whether to provide billions of dollars for the construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, long demanded by President Donald Trump.

The record-long shutdown, now in its 32nd day, has forced about 420,000 "essential" employees to work without pay, and 380,000 others to take unpaid leave. The impact has been growing.

The shuttering has limited the ability of Federal Bureau of Investigation to pay informants and witnesses and to hire support personnel, the agency said Tuesday in a report which described in detail of the shutdown impact on more than 50 anonymous FBI agents.

Federal courts are expected to run out of money on Feb. 1 after stretching fees and other funds during the partial shutdown, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said Tuesday. "Most of the measures are temporary stopgaps, and the Judiciary will face many deferred payment obligations after the partial government shutdown ends."

The Senate will vote on two competing bills Thursday in an attempt to end the month-long partial government shutdown, Republican and Democratic Senate leaders said Tuesday.

The two spending bills include one with 5.7 billion U.S. dollars to fund the border wall, and another that extends funding for closed agencies until Feb. 8.

Despite a seemingly softened tone, the two bills still face uncertainty in the Senate as each bill would need to garner 60 votes to advance.
Across the United States, food banks are feeling the sting from the ongoing government shutdown. Now in its fifth week, the longest government shutdown in history may soon have a significant impact on how food banks, as well as the charities and food pantries they serve, can get food to families in need. This includes thousands of furloughed federal workers who are still working with no paycheck in sightaccording to Mayor Bill de Blasios Office, an estimated 18,000 furloughed workers reside in New York City alone.

Margarette Purvis, the President of the Food Bank of New York City, tells Gothamist that theyve seen a swell of anxiety coming from furloughed New Yorkers, many of whom are navigating resources such as food pantries and SNAP benefits (food stamps) for the first time. We are concerned about the overall supply for soup kitchens and food pantries because, listen, we are helpers by nature and by industry," Purvis said. There is also concern about potential delivery delays.

Representatives of the Food Bank of New York City have said they have been seeing delays in grocery deliveries because of the shutdown. Melanie Pang, a Government Relations Officer at the Houston Food Bank, as well as Paul Ash, the Executive Director of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, both say that food banks could face delivery delays as the government shutdown extends indefinitely.

Additionally, Pang says Houstons food bank, the largest in the U.S., has seen an increase in demand at its on-site pantry, where people can make appointments to eat (typically, food banks distribute to food pantries and other charities, and don't serve individually). She says that federal agencies have also contacted them and requested distribution trucks, so that their furloughed workers are taken care of.

All three food banks are especially concerned about the uncertainty of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as the shutdown extends into uncertain territory. Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture bumped Februarys SNAP benefits two weeks early. But if the shutdown continues into the coming weeks, its unclear how adjustments like this will play out for future benefits. [SNAP is] not intended to be the sole source of food for a household, and so often it is, Pang says. So these little disruptions are actually creating a ripple effect across the entire budget of a family.

Were facing probably one of the worst Februarys that weve ever seen, simply because people are not getting those food stamps, Purvis says. This is not a wait and see moment. This is a jump in as soon as you can moment.

In the coming weeks, the Food Bank of New York City will be hosting mobile food pantry pop-ups at as-yet-announced iconic locations across the five boroughs, where furloughed government workers can receive fresh produce and goods, as well as information about SNAP benefits, local pantries, and other resources.

On Tuesday, the Barclays Center hosted the first of these pop-ups. Federal workers lined up next to long, orange tables, where Food Bank staffers distributed food products such as canned goods, fruit, and milk, as well as feminine products and diapersthe latter two being particularly appreciated due to how expensive these products already are. "We've seen dads in line because they have teenage daughters," Purvis added. "One woman broke down in tears when she saw what was in the bag."

Lorainne Williams, a federal worker for the IRS, left with a bag of vegetables, fruit, and milk. She's missed two paychecks thus far, and will likely miss a third. "I'm okay for now, because the rent was paid for January," Williams said. "The cable bill was paid for January, the phone bill was paid for January. But, I don't know what's going to happen come next month."



Additional reporting by Ben Brandstein
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 11:48:41|Editor: Yamei

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VIENTIANE, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Lao authorities have reduced import tariffs on 8,536 items to zero as part of efforts in establishing the ASEAN Free Trade Area, a government report said.

The report, which the Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment distributed recently at annual meeting of the finance-planning sector held in capital Vientiane recently, shows the Lao government no longer charges import tariffs on 8,536 goods from ASEAN member countries, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Wednesday.

These goods represent 89 percent of total items on a designated list which Laos trades with regional member countries under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), according to the National Socio-Economic Development for 2019 report.

The report also indicated that under the ATIGA, Laos is only able to maintain import tariffs on some goods which it sees as essential for economic stability. In this regard, the government has left the level of import tariffs unchanged on 325 items.

A customs official told local daily Vientiane Times that under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, each member country has the right to list some goods on which the level of import tariffs can be maintained to prevent a dramatic drop in domestic revenue collections.

He also said the Lao government has imposed 10 percent value added tax on goods imported into the country as part of efforts to shore up domestic revenue in recent years. In addition, excise or turnover taxes are also charged on imported goods, local daily mentioned as a customer official saying.

Lao government began implementing the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement in 2015. As one of the least developed nations and a newer ASEAN member, Laos was able to prolong the implementation of the full obligations of the agreement until 2018.

The main purpose of the ASEAN Free Trade Area and the elimination of import tariffs is to boost trade in the region of 600 million consumers. The removal of tariffs aims to help producers and traders in the region to distribute their goods more freely and to reduce their business operating costs, the report said.

At present, Laos is flooded with foreign products, which account for more than 50 percent of the goods sold in the country. Lao government has been trying to boost domestic production and consumption. However, some businesses such as cement and steel producers have complained about the stiff competition they face from foreign firms, according to the local daily.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 11:13:30|Editor: WX

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Brazil will send trade missions to Asia and Europe in a bid to expand its agricultural exports, Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina said on Tuesday.

Speaking to Brazil's G1 news website, Cristina said she would personally lead the delegations to open new markets and negotiate with Asian and European countries.

Cristina spoke following President Jair Bolsonaro's speech at the World Economic Forum being held in Davos, Switzerland, in which the president underscored the importance of agriculture for Brazil's economy and his intention to boost trade.

"President Bolsonaro used the Davos forum to show the importance of our agribusiness and his respect for the environment. Now, we have to make the most of his initiative to head missions in Asia and Europe to expand our trade," said Cristina.

In Asia, "we have the potential to attract new importers for our products," she added.

In Europe, the trade mission aims to negotiate with countries, such as France, that are taking steps to restrict the entry of Brazilian agricultural raw materials, she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 10:58:28|Editor: WX

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By Fone Ying Kyu

YANGON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming Rakhine State Investment Fair-2019, scheduled for Feb. 21-23 at Ngapali Beach in Thandwe, Myanmar's Rakhine state, will offer high hope of realizing full growth potential, observers said here on Wednesday.

Noting that Rakhine state lies near the Bay of Bengal, making it an economic proxy between China, India and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Rakhine state Chief Minister U Nyi Pu told a press conference in Yangon on Tuesday that Rakhine state already has a long-term socio-economic development strategy in readiness, designed with the aid of international diplomats and experts.

Approved by the State Counselor, the strategy comprises of six main sectors, agriculture and livestock, fishery, eco-tourism, capacity building, transport and communication, and small industrial enterprises and industrial development.

The planned Rakhine State Investment Fair will be held with the cooperation of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), involving about 100 ethnic entrepreneurs, led by the Rakhine Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, State Minister U Kyaw Aye Thein also told the press conference.

Asked about the issue of stability in the state for investment, U Nyi Pu pointed out it is not the entire state that is undergoing instability, citing places like Ngapali and southern Rakhine which are very calm and stable and suitable for investment for development.

He pin-pointed that the issue concerning Rakhine state are occurring only in Maungtaw, Buthidaung and Yathedaung areas.

"If you invest in developing the entire Rakhine state, then those small areas will eventually become more stable and follow the trend to development," he said, advising not to see only the small area and miss the entire state.

During the incumbent government tenure, there are 17 foreign companies investing in Rakhine state with 12 in hotels and tourist, one in construction, three in livestock and one in oil and gas. Foreign investment during the past 16 years from 2000 to 2016 amounted to 9 billion U.S. dollars with the most investment being poured into the oil and gas sector.

With local people obtaining increased job opportunities, the local companies will gain capital, technology and market access through the investors, it was outlined at the press conference.

Rakhine state stands as the third least-developed zone in the country and it is the reason to prompt the grant of tax exemption for the initial 7 years if investing in Rakhine.

The Rakhine state government promised to help companies to sign memorandums of understanding (MoU) at the fair to acquire land needed for running their businesses within the legal time limit.

State Minister U Kyaw Aye Thein said the fair will introduce discussion programs on Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and the Kaladan River All-Round Development Project which are calling for signing of MoUs on the projects, disclosing that the state government has acquired preliminary agreements with three companies.

Myanmar is also scheduled to hold regional investment forums in Rakhine state and Chin state, aimed at seeking investment for development in the less-developed region.

Under the new Myanmar Investment Law which was introduced on Aug. 1 last year, tax exemption and relief will be granted to investors depending on the development of the regions and states, allowing the investors in far-flung areas enjoy tax breaks of up to seven years.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 10:58:27|Editor: WX

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the series of discussions in Sweden between representatives of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was further progress made by the two countries.

"A set of discussions that took place in Sweden over the weekend have now wrapped up. Again, a little bit more progress," Pompeo said in an interview after delivering remarks to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland through video.

The U.S. top diplomat said the discussions provided the opportunity for Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for the DPRK, and his DPRK counterpart to discuss some of the complicated issues towards achieving what U.S. and DPRK leaders laid out during their first meeting last June in Singapore.

"There remains an awful lot of work to do, but good things have happened already," Pompeo added.

Biegun, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, and South Korean negotiator Lee Do-hoon held talks near Stockholm, Sweden over the weekend.

A spokesman of the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Monday that the constructive talks had covered issues concerning developments on the Korean Peninsula, including confidence building, economic development, and long-term engagement.

The talks were believed to be a preparation for the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, met with Pompeo and Trump Friday in Washington.

The White House announced on the same day that the second summit between Trump and Kim "will take place near the end of February."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 10:53:25|Editor: WX

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CANBERRA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced a tax crackdown on 10.8 million Australians who make an income from sharing-economy platforms.

The Treasury on Wednesday published a discussion paper with plans to ensure that people working in the gig economy pay their fair share of tax.

Major players in the industry include ridesharing service Uber and accommodation platform Airbnb as well as food delivery services.

Under the plan the government would consult with those companies on a mandatory reporting regime that would see the platforms report data to the tax office so that users' earnings could be accurately assessed for tax purposes.

Treasury said that the regime would ensure tax compliance and relieve millions of Australians who use the digital platforms of onerous self-reporting obligations.

"More and more Australians are making use of the greater choice provided by platforms like Uber and Airbnb, leading to significant growth in the sharing economy," Zed Seselja, Australia's Assistant Treasurer, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"But as it grows, there is a risk that some individuals are not reporting their full income and avoiding the right amount of tax.

"We are committed to making sure people pay their fair share of tax."

Treasury's second option, which the government has ruled out adopting, would use banks and the financial sector to track income and transactions.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has previously been unable to calculate the amount of tax forgone by gig economy workers who did not properly report their income.

Seselja said that the government "is working with the sector on the best way to fix this (tax payment) issue."

"When everyone pays the right amount, it levels the playing field for businesses and people working in the sharing economy, creating competition and bringing benefits to consumers."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 10:48:23|Editor: zh

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CANBERRA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The value of Australia's wine exports grew 10 percent to 2.82 billion Australian dollars (2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018 with China again leading the way, data has revealed.

Wine Australia on Tuesday night announced that 94 million nine-liter cases of Australian wine were sold around the world in 2018, up 5 percent from 2017.

Red wine remained the biggest seller and now accounts for 76 percent of Australia's total wine exports.

China was not only the biggest buyer of Australian wine, but also the fastest growing market with exports to the nation, including Hong Kong and Macau, worth 1.14 billion Australian dollars (812 million U.S. dollars); an 18 percent increase from 2017.

However, despite China spending almost three times as much as any other country on Australian wine, Britain still imported the highest volume.

"We're in a really strong position in China, in terms of the continuing trade's appreciation for what Australian wine has to offer across all our price points, so we have a really solid platform of what we're taking to market there," Andreas Clark, chief executive officer of Wine Australia, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday night.

"It's a really strong premium story that is getting traction in our major markets and it's where we need to play in the longer term.

"An interesting figure, which always brings it into a bit of perspective, is that 22 million glasses of Australian wine is consumed by our global customers every day."

The export volume of wines worth between 100 and 200 Australian dollars (71-142 U.S. dollars) per bottle grew 92 percent, comfortably the strongest growth by any price point.

The United States remained the second most lucrative market for Australian wines despite the value of exports to the country falling 5 percent to 425 million Australian dollars (302 million USD).

The value of exports to other major markets including Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan all rose by at least 12 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 10:43:20|Editor: WX

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CANBERRA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- One quarter of Australia's pilots get less than five hours'sleep before long-haul commercial flights, a survey has found.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Wednesday released the results of a survey of 625 domestic, international, charter and aeromedical pilots.

It found that while the majority of pilots were getting sufficient rest, those that were not were more likely to be operating flights longer than eight hours.

Despite processes existing for pilots to take time off due to fatigue, a majority said they felt uncomfortable doing so.

Half of all domestic and international flights reported getting less rest on the job than at home while 15 percent of international pilots said they got no rest at all during their most recent flight.

The ATSB report noted that "responsibility to manage the risk of fatigue lies with both the individual pilot and organisation."

"The results of this research suggest that operating in circumstances conducive to fatigue is an ongoing challenge for a proportion of Australian air transport pilots," it said.

The results were published ahead of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority finalizing its new fatigue risk management rules.

"When you've got 30 percent of long-haul pilots reporting less than 12 hours of sleep in 48 hours, that's quite a sleep debt you're building up," Shane Loney, a safety and technical director at the Australian and International Pilots Association, told News Corp Australia on Wednesday.

"It demonstrates to CASA this is real. It's not something dreamt up by pilots out of some industrial gambit."

Loney said that if he was involved in the survey he would have asked pilots if they had ever unintentionally fallen asleep during a flight.

"I've seen that asked live to a group of 250 to 300 pilots and it is almost shocking when you see how many people put their hand up," he said.

"What is worse is the odd occasion when you have two pilots who have unintentionally fallen asleep.

"It happens a lot more often than we'd like to imagine."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 09:13:06|Editor: zh

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MANILA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A direct flight between the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and the Philippine city of Cebu was launched on Tuesday afternoon, with the landing of its first aircraft here at the Philippine MactanCebu International Airport, China's Southern Airlines said a statement on Wednesday.

As more and more tourists from China and the Philippines are visiting each others countries, the market demand for this new route is growing. We believe that the prospect of the route is bright, China Southern Airlines said in the statement.

The new route is also expected to boost economic and cultural exchanges between the cities of Guangzhou and Cebu, the airline added.

Guangzhou, the headquarter of China Southern Airlines, is one of the largest cities in southern China. While Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, is one of the shipping and air transportation centers of the Southeast Asian country.

The airline operates the Boeing airplane on the new route, with three round-trip flights per week.

According to the airline, the non-stop flight departs from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 12:25 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving in Cebu at 4:05 p.m. local time. The return flight leaves MactanCebu International Airport at 5:15 p.m., landing in Guangzhou at 8:25 p.m. local time.

Aside from Guangzhou-Cebu air route, China Southern Airlines also operates a route from Guangzhou to Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

With the continuous development of bilateral relations between China and the Philippines, more airlines are adding direct flights between two countries' cities.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 08:58:04|Editor: Yang Yi

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SYDNEY, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- An inept Australian drug dealer has been taken into custody after offering police officers the "good stuff" which led to him being searched and busted with 1000 suspected ecstasy pills.

Officers in the State of Victoria attended a scene early on Wednesday morning where a man had reported that his car had been broken into.

The victim directed police to a nearby vehicle which he said had also been tampered with.

However according to a Victoria police statement, when the uniformed officers approached the other vehicle, the driver "allegedly asked police if they were there to buy drugs and if they wanted the good stuff."

A search of the vehicle uncovered 1000 tablets suspected to be ecstasy, as well as small quantities of the drugs ice and speed and 4,100 U.S dollars in cash.

The 26-year-old suspect is currently in the hands of police and is expected to be charged with trafficking and possessing proceeds of crime.
Israeli troops clash with Palestinian protesters after a protest marking the Nakba Day at Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus, on May 15, 2018. (Xinhua/Nidal Eshtayeh)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday urged the international community to promote the resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel, calling on all parties to exercise restraint.

The issue of Palestine is the root cause of the conflicts in the Middle East, and its resolution is crucial for achieving peace and development in the region, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, at a Security Council meeting.

However, the resumption of dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis showed no progress, while conflict escalation is a risk that cannot be ignored, because currently the violence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is going on, Ma added.

The Security Council and international community should focus on the long term and strive for a political solution, and curbing violence with violence will not solve problems, said the Chinese ambassador, adding that China strongly opposes any act of violence against civilians, and all parties need to exercise restraint.

Ma called on all parties to lift the blockade on Gaza as soon as possible, saying China regrets Israel's decision to close the schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in East Jerusalem. He also said the international community should increase funding for UNRWA and help Palestine improve its economy.

The two-state solution is the fundamental way to resolve the Palestine-Israel conflict, said the Chinese envoy, adding that the final status of Jerusalem is a complex and sensitive issue that concerns the basis for the future of the two-state solution.

Tuesday's meeting is the Security Council's quarterly open debate on the Middle East, which focused as usual on the Israel-Palestine issue. During a briefing to the council, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned that the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state has been systematically eroded.
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Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 07:37:53|Editor: Yang Yi

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CHICAGO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Women who communicate regularly with a female-dominated inner circle are more likely to attain high-ranking leadership positions, according to a study of Northwestern University and the University of Notre Dame published on Tuesday.

For the study, the researchers reviewed social and communication networks of more than 700 former graduate students from a top-ranked business school in the United States. Each student in the study had accepted leadership-level positions, which were normalized for industry and region-specific salaries.

Researchers then compared three variables of each student's social network: network centrality, or the size of the social network; gender homophily, or the proportion of same-sex contacts; and communication equality, or the number of strong versus weak network ties.

Women with a high network centrality and a female-dominated inner circle have an expected job placement level 2.5 times greater than women with low network centrality and a male-dominated inner circle. In addition, women are not likely to benefit from adding the best-connected person to their network.

While those connections might improve access to public information important to job search and negotiations, female-dominated inner circles can help women gain gender-specific information that is more important in a male-dominated job market.

The study also showed that more than 75 percent of high-ranking women maintained a female-dominated inner circle or strong ties to two or three women with whom they communicated frequently.

"In this context, such an inner circle can provide trustworthy, gender-relevant information about job cultures and social support, which are very important to women in male-dominated settings," said Yang Yang, a research assistant professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.

The study is published Jan. 22 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 07:22:51|Editor: Yang Yi

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CHICAGO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Caregivers aged 60 and above who provide "marginal" assistance, that is spending up to an hour helping often with just one activity, report worse well-being than those who help two hours a day handling various activities, a study of the University of Michigan (UM) shows.

The finding is counterintuitive to the well-established thinking that caring for more hours poses a greater psychological burden on family and other unpaid caregivers.

The study considers both what caregivers do and when in the day they do it. Unlike previous research that tracks less granular responses over longer periods, the study uses 24-hour time diary data to explore if there are distinctive care patterns throughout the day affecting caregivers' well-being.

The data came from the national Panel Study of Income Dynamics at UM, which began in 1968 and is the longest running longitudinal household survey in the world. The sample consisted of 511 diary days with at least one reported care activity from adults aged 60 and older.

For each activity on the previous day, respondents reported details about what they did, including how long they did it. They also responded to questions about how they felt: calm, happy, sad, frustrated or worried, during randomly selected activities.

The researchers found that providing less than an hour of help to an elderly person can take a surprising emotional toll on older caregivers.

"It may be that these marginally involved caregivers find it harder to incorporate care into their busy lives," Freedman said. "Or it could be those with worse well-being are less able to take on a more substantial caregiving role."

On average, older caregivers spent just over two hours helping on days they assisted adults with daily activities. The time of day was not as important as the type of care in shaping well-being, the researchers noted.

The study has been published in the current issue of The Gerontologist.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 07:30:56|Editor: WX

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Passengers ride a train of the subway line "Tunel", which is the second oldest in the world after the one built in 1863 in London, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Jan. 22, 2019. One of the world's oldest subway lines in Turkey's most populous city Istanbul, which is still in service, is marking its 144th anniversary this month. (Xinhua/Xu Suhui)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 07:12:49|Editor: Yang Yi

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 22, 2019. (Xinhua/Sputnik)

MOSCOW, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday failed to reach a major consensus on decades-old territorial disputes that have mired peace treaty talks.

At a news briefing following their 25th meeting in Moscow, Putin said Russia and Japan have "meticulous work ahead" on creating conditions for reaching a peace treaty.

"We have once again confirmed our interest in signing this document ... The solution will have to be acceptable for the peoples of Russia and Japan," he told reporters.

Abe said at the briefing that he and Putin discussed the peace treaty issue "without hiding anything from each other."

"President Putin and I salute the start of concrete talks between our foreign ministers last week ... The discussions were frank and serious," he said.

Abe said the two leaders agreed to continue joint work to look for a mutually acceptable solution.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono held the first round of negotiations on Jan. 14 in Moscow and they reported barren results to Putin and Abe during Tuesday's meeting.

Lavrov and Kono will hold the next round of talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference next month, according to Abe.

"To settle the issue unsolved for more than 70 years after the end of World War II is difficult, but we have to do it," the Japanese leader said.

LONG-STANDING SPATS

Russia and Japan have not signed a post-World War II peace treaty due to their rivaling claims over four Pacific islands, which are known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

The Soviet army took the four islands in the final days of World War II. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were incorporated into Russia.

According to a joint declaration signed in 1956, the then Soviet Union agreed to return two of the islands provided a bilateral peace treaty is signed, while Japan refused to sign such an agreement, insisting on the return of all four islands.

However, Moscow has recently toughened its stance, demanding that the peace treaty talks be based on Japan's full recognition of the aftermath of World War II, including Russian sovereignty over all the disputed islands.

Last week, Lavrov told visiting Kono that "the sovereignty over the four islands is not subject to discussion. They are Russian territory." The two top diplomats avoided a joint press conference.

"The parties in this difficult situation will save faces and maintain a positive attitude. But one should not expect any significant progress in the dialogue," said Kristina Voda, research fellow of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations under the Russian Academy of Sciences.

She believes that if Russia and Japan stick to their fundamental positions, the problem will remain without a solution.

"Positions are too different. They are enshrined in legislation and rooted in the public consciousness of both countries," she said.

The negotiations have reached an impasse and the space for compromise is very small, said Valery Kistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Far Eastern Studies Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences.

ECONOMIC ATTRACTIVENESS

According to Putin, Russia-Japan trade increased 18 percent to nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars in the January-November period of last year.

"It will be possible, in the coming years, to set a goal to increase Russia-Japan trade by at least 50 percent to 30 billion U.S. dollars," Putin said at Tuesday's briefing.

Voda said Russia's desire to do business with Japan is pulling the two countries together despite all the rifts.

"The Russian side is seeking new resources and investment in its Far East. Russia needs investment and technology from Japan, China and South Korea," she said.

Putin and Abe also agreed on Tuesday to continue efforts to organize joint economic activities on the disputed islands in five spheres -- aquaculture, greenhouses, wind energy, tourism and waste processing.

They asked interested parties and organizations to launch joint economic activities there as soon as possible.

But Kistanov has doubts over the future of such partnership as "everything depends on the issue of what legal basis will be used."

The Japanese are not willing to act on the basis of Russian legislation since this would mean Japan's indirect recognition of Russian sovereignty over the islands, he said, adding that the Russians face a similar issue.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 07:12:49|Editor: Yamei

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Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu (front) addresses a Security Council meeting on Middle East at the UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 22, 2019. Ma Zhaoxu on Tuesday urged the international community to promote the resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel, calling on all parties to exercise restraint. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday urged the international community to promote the resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel, calling on all parties to exercise restraint.

The issue of Palestine is the root cause of the conflicts in the Middle East, and its resolution is crucial for achieving peace and development in the region, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, at a Security Council meeting.

However, the resumption of dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis showed no progress, while conflict escalation is a risk that cannot be ignored, because currently the violence in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is going on, Ma added.

The Security Council and international community should focus on the long term and strive for a political solution, and curbing violence with violence will not solve problems, said the Chinese ambassador, adding that China strongly opposes any act of violence against civilians, and all parties need to exercise restraint.

Ma called on all parties to lift the blockade on Gaza as soon as possible, saying China regrets Israel's decision to close the schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in East Jerusalem. He also said the international community should increase funding for UNRWA and help Palestine improve its economy.

The two-state solution is the fundamental way to resolve the Palestine-Israel conflict, said the Chinese envoy, adding that the final status of Jerusalem is a complex and sensitive issue that concerns the basis for the future of the two-state solution.

Tuesday's meeting is the Security Council's quarterly open debate on the Middle East, which focused as usual on the Israel-Palestine issue. During a briefing to the council, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned that the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state has been systematically eroded.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 05:47:36|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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by Hummam Sheikh Ali

ALEPPO, Syria, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- For people of Syria's Aleppo city, olive soap is not only a soap bar for washing their hands or adding natural shimmer to hair, but also one of their proud and treasured heritage.

In Syria, people would say "Aleppo" upon the mention of the best natural laurel and olive oil soap that could be bought in Syria or even around the world.

Like any other aspect of life, the olive soap has taken a beating in Aleppo when the war enshrouded the city with destruction and calamities.

As the war in Aleppo city has ended in late 2016, this valuable product is back in the limelight.

Makers and traders of olive soap came together and joined hands in unity to help each other stand on their feet.

Hicham Jebeili, head of the olive soap manufacturing committee in Aleppo, told Xinhua that manufacturing of the olive soap is recovering gradually with the solidarity of the soap traders.

He said that during the war, most of the factories went out of service and most of the manufacturers opted to make small quantities of the handmade soap in their homes and basements to keep their business alive.

After liberation of the former rebel-held part east of Aleppo, and when the city became safe, makers of the soap gathered and started doing their business in the factories that escaped the war with little damage.

In one factory in the industrial zone in Aleppo, seven to eight soap makers share one space to make their products until their factories are fixed.

This approach has so far succeeded in bringing good to all the soap makers whose businesses had been affected during the war.

In this factory, workers are seen feverishly working.

Some are mixing and cooking olive oil, laurel oil and caustic soda in big bowels before releasing them through pipes to the bottom floor.

Afterwards, other workers cut the soap into bars and stamp the companies' logos on them manually.

After the soap bars become dry, workers will store them in another part of the factory.

"Manufacturing of the olive soap is recovering. Last year, only two factories were operating in Aleppo while this year, there are eight big factories trying to gather all the soap manufacturers ... to make their soap until fixing their own factories," Jebeili told Xinhua.

He added that "this is something so positive because we are helping each other to empower the making of the olive soap business."

For those who make the olive soap, it is not only a product because they create it by their own hands and nourish it like a baby for days, weeks and months.

Making the olive soap takes two months in the winter after the harvest of the olive oil and then the soap is kept for the summer until its color turns yellowish to be packed and distributed.

Aleppo's cold and dry weather in the winter and the hot and dry weather in the summer make it the perfect place for the manufacturing of the soap.

As the olive soap is a very important item for exportation, maintaining the pre-war quality will surely help the traders export more of this material to enhance their economic situation.

"Our production nowadays is the same quality as before and even better because the olive soap business helps us to empower the economy and our businesses through exportation," Jebeili said.

"Everyone is trying and wanting to make a better quality soap to export and bring in foreign currency and rebuild the city's factory," he added.

According to Jebeili, European countries, Korea, Japan, and China have demands for the olive soap. The exportation of the soap was affected during the war but "now we are returning it with steady hands."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 05:37:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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RABAT, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A seminar on cooperation between Morocco and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was held in Morocco's capital Rabat on Tuesday.

Speaking at the seminar, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the relations between Morocco and NATO are based on trust, political dialogue and tangible cooperation.

Bourita stressed that the growing threat in the Mediterranean region must be placed at the heart of this cooperation.

The minister underlined the need to involve southern countries of the Mediterranean in reflecting on major security issues and called for a better structure of dialogue to promote development in the Euro-Mediterranean zone.

Morocco is a responsible stakeholder in regional security and stability in sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean, he said, highlighting the role of the country as a credible interlocutor on migration issues, counter-terrorism, preventive diplomacy and peacekeeping.

Alejandro Alvargonzalez, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, commended the "close cooperation" between Morocco and NATO in a context marked by many issues and security challenges.

He also vowed to strengthen the Mediterranean dialogue within the framework of cooperation that can meet the challenges of security and achieve the objectives of peace, security and stability.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 05:07:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HELSINKI, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Finnish border authority and criminal police are investigating alleged fraud in issuing visas at the Finnish Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Finnish media reported on Tuesday.

As Finland is part of the Schengen area, a visa issued by Finland authorizes travel throughout western Europe excluding Britain. Three employees of the embassy are suspected of "aggravated arrangement of entry illegally" and two of them also of "aggravated misuse of a civil servant role".

Senior lieutenant Antti Leskela from the Boarder Guards told Finnish commercial television MTV news on Tuesday that the investigation deals with "hundreds of visas issued over a longer period." He did not specify the nationalities of the recipients.

Investigators declined to say whether the suspects are Finnish nationals or foreigners, but said they were "local recruits" of the embassy and were not dispatched diplomats. One of them was arrested while visiting Finland.

The Eastern Uusimaa district court on Monday confirmed the confiscation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the whole visa archive of the Ankara embassy. 2,800 kilos of documents have been brought to Finland. Investigation will be completed in the spring, MTV news reported.

Pasi Tuominen, head of consular services, told newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday that internal conclusions will be drawn after the completion of the investigation.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 04:27:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ROME, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Tuesday denied entry to a humanitarian vessel with 47 rescued migrants on board and nixed an appeal from the United Nations (UN) over the plight of refugees and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean.

The vessel, run by the German humanitarian group Sea Watch, rescued the migrants on Saturday off the Libyan coast, and has been sailing ever since without being allowed to dock anywhere in Europe.

"The umpteenth vessel run by Sea Watch NGO would like to reach an Italian port. The answer is no," Salvini, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said in a Facebook video. "It is the only way to stop the human traffickers, who also bring arms and drugs into Italy."

Earlier on Tuesday, the Sea Watch crew tweeted that "we are on day four on the high seas since the rescue of 47 people in distress. Still, no state has answered our requests for a port of safety."

Also on Tuesday, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) issued a statement expressing "increasing alarm (at) the situation on the Mediterranean, where over the past few days we have seen two shipwrecks, numerous other rescue incidents, a merchant vessel disembarking rescued individuals to Libya, and reports that the Libyan coast guard itself has been unable to respond to incidents within its designated search and rescue region of the Mediterranean because of shortages of fuel."

Close to 170 lives are believed to have been lost in the two shipwrecks, the UNHCR statement said, warning that "in Libya's current context, where outbreaks of violence and widespread human rights violations prevail, no rescued refugees and migrants should be returned there."

UNHCR also said "it has become urgent for states to take action to reassert effective rescue capacity on the Mediterranean by increasing coordinated multi-state rescue, restoring rapid disembarkation in a place of safety, and lifting impediments to the work of NGO rescue vessels."

Salvini's reply to the UNHCR appeal was simple. "More arrivals, more money for human traffickers? My answer to the UN is NO," the minister, who leads the right-wing League party, wrote on Twitter.

Also on Tuesday, the German news agency dpa reported that Germany is suspending participation in Operation Sophia, the EU naval deployment to counter human trafficking across the Mediterranean, citing Italy's hardline policy against NGO vessels.

Launched in 2015, Operation Sophia is tasked with fighting smugglers, training the Libyan coast guard and enforcing a weapons embargo on the conflict-ridden North African country.

Today's request for help from Sea Watch follows on the latest tug-of-war over migrants, which saw Europe refuse access to 49 rescued men, women and children left stranded aboard two German NGO vessels for three weeks over Christmas and New Year's.

It was resolved earlier this month after a deal was reached for them to be distributed among Germany, France, Portugal, Malta, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, Romania and Ireland.
People hold placards during a rally to protest against the partial government shutdown at Federal Plaza in Chicago, the United States, on Jan. 18, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- David Lampert is taking a vacation he doesn't really desire. As an economist with the U.S. Treasury Department's office in New York City, he is one of the country's some 800,000 federal workers who are put on furlough or, even worse, forced to work without pay due to a partial government shutdown with no end in sight.

"It's been 25 days. No work, no pay," Lampert sighed while standing among dozens of protesters in front of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Lower Manhattan last Tuesday.

In his 30s, Lampert is among the luckier ones because "my wife has a pretty good job" and the family can still dig into their savings to smooth out some rough days, he said. The economist has also filed for unemployment benefits, as tens of thousands federal employees have done nationwide.

But the whole thing seems sarcastic to him. "I do important work. I bring in billions of dollars. It would seem to be that the country would want me to be at work rather than having to back-pay me for sitting at home and playing with my cat."

Braving freezing temperatures, Lampert joined a team to march around the Federal Plaza where a number of federal facilities are located. "Open our government! Open our government!" they chanted repeatedly. Security guards for those buildings were still at work at their booth, looking admiringly at the moving crowd. "Join us!" a protester yelled at a guard while passing him by, the latter shook his head, cracking a wry smile.

Some 420,000 federal employees who have been forced to work and missed their paycheck this month, such as those security guards, are not eligible to seek jobless benefits, according to the Labor Department, though many of them are living check to check.

Lampert said that's the major reason for him to participate in the protest. "I'm not starving, but a lot of people are. This is hitting the lower wage workers the hardest and it just shows how unfair the system is."

EXPANDING IMPACTS

Already the longest in U.S. history, the ongoing partial government shutdown began on Dec. 22 as the White House and Democratic Congressional leaders failed to agree on a budget to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall, a promise made by President Donald Trump during his campaign.

About a quarter of federal agencies have been paralyzed due to lack of funding, causing broad impact on various sectors, some of which closely related to people's daily lives.

Economists from inside and outside the White House have warned that a prolonged shutdown would drag down the growth of the first quarter and ultimately push the economy into a contraction. Consumer spending, a significant contributor to GDP growth in the past year, would also drop as furloughed workers could not get their disposable incomes.

Meanwhile, the shutdown is harming the business community, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as the process of initial public offerings is delayed and the review of mergers and acquisitions is suspended, among others.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also suspended most inspections at food facilities since Dec. 22, causing widespread concerns over food safety. Under great pressure from the public, the agency has restarted inspections of high-risk foods, such as seafood and baby formulas, by recalling some 150 furloughed employees to work without pay while remains shorthanded.

The shutdown has also weighed on tourism. Queues in some major airports across the country are much longer than usual as a record number of Transportation Security Administration agents are calling in sick. Most of the national parks and federal museums are also closed, leaving tens of thousands of international tourists disappointed. For those sites that are still accessible, sanitation condition is worrying due to a shortage of cleaners.

People traveling to New York City may feel comforting when they see the Statue of Liberty still opens thanks to a funding from the state government. But the city is entering a "full-blown crisis" due to the shutdown, mayor Bill de Blasio told the press last Thursday.

If the shutdown continues into March, the city would lose 500 million U.S. dollars in federal support every month, which would directly affect 2 million New Yorkers. "We're literally watching as the federal government starts to starve its people," he said.

A series of city programs, including food stamps, school breakfast and lunch, and affordable housing system, will be threatened. Funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which some 1.6 million low-income citizens rely on, will also be cut.

Resources will quickly be exhausted even for a city as rich as New York, said the mayor. "What I also need to emphasize to everyone is that it gets worse each month. This is not a crisis that just hits and then levels off. In fact it starts to cascade," he added.

WHO'S TO BLAME?

As the standoff in Washington stretches for over a month, the president and the Democrats are still busy pinning responsibility and public criticism onto each other instead of launching any substantive dialogues.

Trump has claimed that any deal to reopen the government must include funding for the wall. On Saturday, he laid out a plan to temporarily provide protections against deportation for certain young immigrants in exchange for the funding, calling it a "common sense compromise both parties should embrace."

Democrats, who have maintained that Trump must reopen the government before they will negotiate on border security, rejected it instantly. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi described this proposal as a "non-starter."

The two political figures then restarted their verbal battle on Twitter, making the re-opening seem even further away.

Though government shutdown has been a familiar partisan ritual in the nation, many political insiders think this one has gone too far.

Both side were "motivated by pettiness and partisanship" and "acted in a way that represents the worst side of politics," said political consultant Douglas Schoen in a commentary published on the website of The Hill on Sunday.

"In this war, neither side is winning, and those losing are the American people, specifically the 800,000 furloughed federal government workers not getting paid due to the inability of our leaders to end the shutdown," he wrote.

The Washington Post said on the same day that the tactics in this partisan power fight shows "the culmination of a no-compromise, winner-take-all approach."

"A deeply polarized political climate demands both sides play to their most ideological and rigid partisans," the article said.

"This is going to have a devastating impact upon families and the economy," New York State Assemblyman William Colton told Xinhua on Saturday. "That's not something acceptable and should not be allowed to continue."

For a country as large as the United States, said Colton, the effect of a prolonged shutdown would eventually spread to the world economy. "It's a perfect example of where government officials need to talk to each other and work out compromises," he added.
The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the city on Tuesday, alleging that Bronx-based NYPD officers profiled and harassed a transgender woman they erroneously took into custody, ultimately charging her with "false personation" on the basis of her gender identity. According to the NYCLU, the case highlights a familiar pattern in local policing of transgender New Yorkers, despite changes to guidelines intended to force the NYPD to do better.

"It's one thing to say something on paper, and it's another thing to actually change the culture of an institution like the NYPD," Bobby Hodgson, an NYCLU staff attorney, told Gothamist. "This type of intimidation and harassment is pervasive ... it has not stopped for many decades, and it continues to be a huge issue faced by the trans community in New York City and elsewhere."

Linda Dominguez, a permanent resident of the U.S. who has lived in the Bronx for seven years, says that shortly before midnight on April 18th, 2018, she was walking home through Claremont Park in the Bronx when four NYPD officers stopped her. Dominguez speaks Spanish and very limited English, a fact she says she communicated to the police. She did understand when they asked her for her name, however, and although Dominguez legally changed her first name to Linda in May 2017, previous experiences with the NYPD led her to believe they wanted her former, "traditionally masculine" name, according to the complaint. She gave them that, along with her address and date of birth. Dominguez says the officers made no mention of consequences for providing the wrong name.

They did, however, arrest her for trespassing in a park after hours, and brought her to the 44th Precinct for booking. There, according to the complaint, she was finally able to explain the situation to a Spanish-speaking officer, who informed her for the first time that offering incorrect information would mean more charges. That officer reportedly translated the exchange for her colleagues, who threw Dominguez in a holding cell, where officer Megan Francis, named in the suit, allegedly proceeded to anchor Dominguez to a bar using pink handcuffs. Dominguez says she saw other people around the precinct (albeit not in cells) with their wrists in cuffs, but hers were the only pink set she counted.

Dominguez stayed handcuffed in that cell overnight, according to the NYCLU, and throughout the experience, officers insisted on using her old first name and male pronouns. They also subjected her to verbal harassment, Dominguez alleges, making her understand that the "gestures, glares, and mocking and disgusted tones of voice ... [were made in reference to] her transgender status." Ultimately, the NYPD added a false personation (i.e., identity theft) charge to her docket the next day, using the wrong name and pronouns on her paperwork.

In August, a criminal court judge dismissed the charges, and now, the NYCLU asks as-yet undetermined damages (and payment of legal costs and attorneys' fees) in recompense for the NYPD's alleged malicious prosecution; violations of New York city and state civil rights and anti-discrimination laws; bias-based profiling; violation of the state constitution; and negligence in training and supervision.

The NYPD Patrol Guide prohibits officers from giving out false personation charges to transgender people who present their chosen names, thanks to a 2012 update. That same change requires officers to use a person's chosen pronouns, bars officers from harassing people in their custody because of their gender identity or sexual orientation, and specifically states that transgender people cannot be cuffed to rails, pipes, chairs, and so forth for extended periods of time. But, as the NYCLU pointed out in a press release announcing the complaint, there remains a wide gulf between what officers are supposed to do, and what they actually do.

In 2015, New York published state-specific findings pulled from the U.S. Transgender Survey, which showed that in the past 12 months, 61 percent of the state's 1,779 survey participants had experienced biased treatmentverbal harassment, physical assault, sexual assault, coercive sex, and willful misgenderingby law enforcement officials who knew about their transgender status. In 2017, the city's inspector general released a report that helped explain why transgender residents continued to feel particularly unsafe around police: Officers had not been uniformly trained in the policy update (only six in 77 precincts received the training), and tracking of LGBTQ-related bias complaints had been spotty at best.

If you don't keep tabs on the nature and frequency of these types of complaints, it becomes all the more difficult to detect violations and reform internal culture. However, as Hodgson pointed out, the practice of handing out false personation charges to transgender people who've changed their names is widespread and well-known enough within the NYPD to have merited its own call-out in the patrol guidelines. That update represented a solid step forward for law enforcement, but "there's so much more legwork that needs to be done to make sure [that policy change reflects] the lived reality of actual trans people in New York City," Hodson said. Particularly trans people of color, because racial profiling certainly seems like a precipitating factor in this case: it is hard to imagine four officers approaching and arresting a white person walking through a public park at night, even if it is illegal to do so.

In a statement, an NYPD spokesperson said: "The NYPD is committed to serving and meeting the needs of the LGBTQ community with sensitivity, equity, and effectiveness. To that end, the NYPD has carefully and thoughtfully designed and implemented effective policies, training protocols, outreach initiatives, and disciplinary processes. The NYPD will continue to communicate and collaborate with the LGBTQ community as we seek to further strengthen our relationship with all of the communities throughout the City that we protect and serve."

Still, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson told Gothamist in a statement that he and his colleagues would "be discussing this incident with the NYPD and continuing to conduct oversight on their policies as the facts come to light."

"While interacting with New Yorkers, NYPD officers have to ensure that they respect everyones human rights, and the rights of transgender individuals are no exception," Johnson added. "In fact, given the hatred faced all too often by the transgender community, the NYPD should take special care to ensure the safety and wellbeing of transgender New Yorkers."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-23 01:01:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CAIRO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi opened on Tuesday the Cairo International Book Fair, the country's major annual book fair which runs for its 50th edition this year.

The two-week event brings together around 1,724 publishers and participants from 35 countries, with Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana taking part for the first time, state news agency MENA said.

Around 10 African countries, 16 Asian countries, seven countries from Europe, and two from the Americas are participating.

A total of 749 publishing houses are participating in the fair, with 579 houses from Egypt alone and 170 foreign houses.

Some 580 volunteers have been assigned to assist the guests of the fair.

The fair commemorates this year former Egyptian culture minister Tharwat Okasha, the brains behind the event, and author Suhair Al-Kalamawy, the first head of the General Egyptian Book Organization.

The event, which runs until Feb. 5, will feature hundreds of side events dedicated to culture, arts and children, as well as eight workshops on writing, theater and fine art. It will host around 170 Arab and foreign guests, as well as over 300 poets and 2,500 writers, critics and artists.

This year's edition is held for the first time in Egypt's International Exhibition Center in New Cairo.

Since its debut in 1969, the event had long been held at the Cairo International Fairgrounds in the northeastern district of Nasr City.
File Photo: A bullet train runs in Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Meng Zhongde)

by Xinhua writers Xiong Maoling, Gao Pan

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's economy has not reached the point where a slowdown is "inevitable," and it could grow fairly fast for another 10 years with continued market-oriented reforms to boost economic efficiency, a U.S. economist and longtime China watcher has said.

Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Washington-D.C. based Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Xinhua in a recent interview that China still has huge potential in economic growth if it continues to implement market-oriented reforms.

The veteran expert on the Chinese economy suggested China enhance its financial reform and further reforms on state-owned enterprises, improve the efficiency of capital allocation, allow more bankruptcies to eliminate money-losing firms, and encourage more market-driven mergers and acquisitions.

Refuting the argument that an economic slowdown in China is inevitable and natural, Lardy said China still has "substantial potential" for growth.

"China today is roughly where South Korea, Japan were when they began the period of rapid economic growth," he said. "There should be a substantial potential for further convergence."

The argument that China could follow Japan's path into economic stagnation is also rejected by Lardy, who believes the comparison is "misleading."

Japan's economic slowdown began "when the potential for convergence was to a considerable extent already exhausted or used up," while China is not at that point, he argued.

With the right kind of policies, China could prevent itself from going down that road, Lardy said. He suggested China take a gradual approach in deleveraging, and try to strike a balance between preventing financial risks and maintaining stable growth.

Looking ahead, Lardy believes China, with a huge domestic market, could grow rapidly based on domestic demand, instead of exports.

"If they are successful in shifting towards more consumption, private consumption, I don't think there's a conceptual reason why they couldn't continue to grow fairly rapidly for another 10 years," Lardy said, suggesting that disposable income would be one of the most reliable indicators to gauge China's economic growth going forward.

"One of the most important pieces of data that doesn't get enough attention to is the growth of disposable income, because ultimately that's the driver of consumption and we're now in an environment where consumption is the dominant source of China's economic growth," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-22 22:50:55|Editor: Yamei

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A container is lifted onto a truck at the warehouse of German packaging and logistics company EPOLOG in Hamburg, Germany, on Jan. 21, 2019. German logistic companies said they have good experience and are ready for more China-related businesses. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

HAMBURG, Germany, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- German logistic companies said they have good experience and are ready for more China-related businesses.

"More than 60 percent of our business is related to China," Ingo Grunwald, senior manager operations of German packaging and logistics company EPOLOG, told Xinhua in an interview.

Grunwald, who has been working in the logistics industry for about 31 years, said that the China-related business is growing very fast and there is still a lot of potential to grow.

Walking around in the warehouse of EPOLOG, containers with destinations to Chinese cities can be seen everywhere.

Grunwald said his medium-sized company is ready to handle more China-related business and he hopes that the good trade relationship between Germany and China would maintain a continuous and sustainable development, which would benefit his business.

"Although there are some worrying external elements, but I do not foresee any signal of the decrease of Chinese orders," he added.

Helmut Oetjen, consultant combined transport of DB Cargo, has never been to China, but he has held many talks with visiting Chinese delegations.

Oetjen said that his DUSS Hamburg-Billwerder intermodal terminal has been dealing with ten thousands of containers brought by the China-Europe freight trains. In 2018, approximate 17,000 loading units were from or to China, making up 6 percent of the terminal's total loading units in the whole year.

Through the terminal, containers labeled with ZIH from Chinese city of Zhengzhou and with "One Belt One Road" are eye-catching.

Since the first China-Europe freight train arrived in 2013, the business continues to grow every year, Oetjen said, adding that it still has huge potential.

"Our terminal is willing to supply good service for Chinese customers and has lots of room and capacity to do it," Oetjen reiterated.

"We welcome the passage brought by the China-Europe freight trains. We are ready for more trade volumes," he concluded by saying "I will absolutely pay a visit to China myself."

Cao Wei, who is working for Changjiu Logistics GmbH in Hamburg, said that German beer, wine, healthcare and daily products are becoming more and more popular in China. There is great demand and she sees chances of more business.

"As a company registered in Germany, we will continue to build the bridge for the peoples of both sides, and to provide them with good things according to their desire," she said.

Talking about the readiness of German companies, Tao Bailiang, commercial counselor of general consulate of China in Hamburg, also commented that the German economic and business community has benefited a lot in the past 40 years from China's reform and opening up.

"The deepening reforms and opening up has brought more development opportunities to German enterprises. The smooth development of China-Germany all-round strategic partnership will pave the way for the success of German companies," the experienced diplomat noted.
File Photo: A senior official (L, front) of UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia gives a medal to a member of Chinese peacekeeping police riot squad in Greenville, Liberia, on Jan. 20, 2015. (Xinhua/Yang Qiankun)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Women only account for 5 percent of uniformed personnel in the United Nations' peace operations in 2018 despite slight increase in their participation, according to the UN peacekeeping chief.

At a regular press briefing Monday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric quoted Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix as saying: "Despite efforts which led to a slight increase of deployed women over the last year, currently, the overall number of uniformed women deployed to peace operations stands at a critically low figure of 5 percent."

Dujarric said Lacroix has presented to member states the gender parity strategy for uniformed personnel, which outlined the targets for the deployment of military, police and justice and corrections female personnel for 2019.

"He appealed to member states to continue to strive to meet the targets outlined in the strategy not only through pledges, but more importantly through the sustained recruitment, training and deployment of qualified women within the national services," Dujarric said.

The UN Department of Peace Operations is leading 14 peacekeeping missions across the globe, half of which are stationed in Africa. The top ten troop and police contributing member states are Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Rwanda, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Ghana and China.
People walk by the logo of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 21, 2019. The WEF Annual Meeting will kick off in Davos on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- World leaders and business elites gathered on Tuesday in Davos to discuss globalization 4.0, a buzzword that means a new wave of globalization in a digital world.

More than 3,000 participants braved the winter chills and icy roads to the snow-covered Swiss resort for the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, a leading platform for global economic affairs.

More than 60 heads of state or government, 40 international organization heads and 1,700 business leaders will attend this year's event that runs through Friday, themed Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Addressing the opening ceremony, WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said participants at the meeting will have to look at all the global challenges and shape the future of the world over the next four days.

In an increasingly interconnected world, globalization 4.0 has to be human-centered, more inclusive, and more sustainable, Schwab said, adding that much emphasis was put on environmental issues at the forum.

In an article published on the U.S. magazine Foreign Affairs, Schwab wrote, like its predecessors, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is best described by its leading technologies: artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and the Internet of Things. "

"In this world, globalization won't disappear; it will deepen. If in the past global integration grew as trade barriers came down, it will now rely on the connectivity of national digital and virtual systems and the related flow of ideas and services. This is the core of Globalization 4.0," he wrote.

This year's event came as risks hang over global growth, with rising nationalism, and protectionism, and political uncertainties in rich countries. U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron are absent from the forum due to their domestic difficulties.

In a report released before the annual meeting, the WEF said that rising geopolitical and geo-economic tensions are the most urgent risk in 2019, with experts predicting further economic confrontation between major powers in 2019 and erosion of multilateral trading rules and agreements.

Reflecting on the troubling status quo of globalization, China's stance on globalization will be worth attention, analysts said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Davos in 2017 that the global economy is "the big ocean that you cannot escape from" and any attempt to retreat back to isolation runs counter to the historical trend.

One major solution offered by China to help tackle global challenges and build an open and more inclusive economy is the Belt and Road Initiative, said Martin Albrow, a renowned sociologist and a pioneer of the theory of globalization.

Proposed by China in 2013, the initiative is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-22 21:15:20|Editor: xuxin

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KIEV, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday has ruled out the federalization of his country, which was proposed by Russia and several Ukrainian political forces.

"Ukraine is a unitary state, with one state language -- it is written in the Ukrainian Constitution. There would be no federations," Poroshenko said in his address to the nation on the Day of Ukraine's Unity.

Poroshenko said that Kiev is working to return under its sovereignty Ukrainian territories that are currently beyond government control.

Officials in Moscow and some Ukrainian opposition politicians have said Kiev should federalize Ukraine, which would grant more autonomy to the regions, to pave the way for resolving a five-year-old crisis in the country's east.

In April 2014, armed groups seized cities and towns in eastern Ukraine, declaring independence. The government has since launched a military operation against them.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Senate will vote Thursday on a bi-partisan deal that could re-open the government, to the relief of hundreds of thousands of government workers who need their paychecks.

The shutdown effects have been far reaching, but officials at Tallahassee International Airport said TSA and FAA employees are hanging in there and everything is still running smoothly.

"We continue to work with our federal partners and due to their hard work and dedication, airport operations continue to flow smoothly at TLH," said David Pollard, Interim Director of Aviation.

Travelers are reminded to arrive at the airport at least 90 minutes prior to their scheduled airline departure time.

This is especially important during the early morning hours, when several flight departures are grouped closely together.

Pollard said he will continue to monitor the situation closely.
DOUGHERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - A toddler who was reported missing during a deadly storm in Dougherty County two years ago still hasn't been found.

Detrez Green vanished when an EF 3 tornado struck his family's mobile home park on January 22, 2017.

Crews searched for five days after the tornado, WALB reports, but the search turned up nothing. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Ashburn Police Department confirmed to WALB that they searched the home Detrezs parents lived in nine days after the storm.

Two years later, a public picture has not been released of Detrez.

A family member tells WALB that there were pictures of Detrez on a cellphone, but says that cellphone got lost during the storm.

Anyone with information about the disappearance of Detrez Green is asked to contact Dougherty County Police at 229-430-6600.
JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Authorities are investigating after a student made a threat on an elementary school in Jackson County.

According to the Jackson County School District, a student made a threat to Riverside Elementary School Tuesday afternoon.

The school district said they are handling the threat seriously and the child will not be at school.

The threat is being investigated and assessed fully. The school district stated because of precautions being taken, parents can be assured their children and school staff will be safe.

They told parents remind to their children that all threats will be taken seriously and addressed with the severest of penalties.
The government could be funded at least through Feb. 8 through a bipartisan deal reached by Senate leaders today, the New York Times is reporting. T he deal will be voted upon Thursday.

If passed, the temporary funding would mean the State of the Union address can proceed.

This is a developing story.
Amazon and city economic development officials are in the midst of a marketing blitz aimed at local residents who may be wary about the behemoth headed their way. The e-commerce giant, which in November struck a controversial behind-closed-door deal with Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, wants to persuade Queens residents that a big new Amazon campus in their borough is worth the estimated $3 billion in tax credits and incentives the company will receive.

"The announcement of our new headquarters in Long Island City was the beginning of what we hope will be a long and mutually beneficial partnership between New Yorkers and Amazon, reads one of the mailers, using language similar to the full-page ads the company bought in the Daily News and NY Post last monththe first salvo in its P.R. blitz.



In January 2019, Amazon began sending mailers to Long Island City and neighboring residents.

The mailer touts a host of local economic benefits, including Amazons promise to create 25,000 new jobs over 10 years and generate over $27 million in state and local tax revenues. Asked how many mailers have been sent out to date, an Amazon spokesman who works at SKDKnickerbocker, a public affairs firm hired in December to represent the company with its public outreach in New York, said only, We want to make sure New Yorkers know the details of our investment and how it benefits them."

The company's full-court press in public relations may be warranted. Since the deal was first announced in November, there has been sustained public outcry over the size of deals tax incentives, and the fact the project will be able to skirt a lengthy land use process that would have required a host of approvals from planning officials, community boards, borough presidents, and the City Council.

Given its unprecedented scale and the complexities of the approval process, some elected officials have begun to question whether Amazons New York headquarters is a foregone conclusion.

"I don't think it's a done deal, said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson on the Brian Lehrer Show Tuesday. I think theres still leverage.

Johnson referred to the argument made by State Senator Michael Gianaris, the new deputy majority leader whose district encompasses Long Island City and other parts of western Queens, that the projects future hinges on the five-member Public Authorities Control Board, on which the state Assembly and Senate majorities each have a vote. For a plan to win approval, the board must be unanimous.

The little-known board, which rules on economic development issues, famously came under the spotlight in 2005 for putting the kibosh on Mayor Michael Bloombergs plan to build a stadium on the West Side.

But Governor Cuomo and Empire State Development, the agency handling the deal, have said that while the projects overall land use plan will need to go to the PACB for approval, its members will not be able to vote on (and subsequently deny) the states $505 million grant to Amazon.

Asked by Lehrer if the issue might go to court, Johnson said, "It's possible."

As a sign that Amazon is taking the opposition seriously, one of the mailers includes a phone number for Gianaris and asks supporters of the Amazon deal to call him. The senator told Gothamist its actually more of a sign that not even Amazon is fully confident that every part of their project will be sailing through the state approval process. If this was such a great dealif it was a done dealthey wouldnt need to engage in a public relations campaign, he said.

Gianaris also noted the irony of subsidizing one of the worlds richest companies. You have to ask the question, How much of the money that theyre getting from our pockets are they using to convince us that theyre entitled to the money that theyre taking out of our pockets?

Gianaris has been distributing a mailer of his own, asking residents to stop the Amazon plan.

At the Hunters Pt Civic Association mtg tonight, where NYCEDC is presenting on HQ2 tonight, reps for @SenGianaris are passing out the following info... this follows Amazon's recent mailers to the community asking them to call their elected reps to support HQ2 pic.twitter.com/doD38wV7yy  Christine Chung (@chrisychung) January 17, 2019

Other New York elected officials who have criticized the deal include newly elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents Long Island City and Queens Assemblymember Ron Kim.

Kim, who is running to become New York City Public Advocate, has made his anti-Amazon stance central to his campaign, using a mailer that contrasts his position to that of his opponents in the race.

Helping Amazon with its sales pitch has been the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which this month made several presentations to neighborhood groups, including the Hunters Point Civic Association, the District 30 community education council, and the Old Astoria Neighborhood Association.

Part of the EDC's campaign appears aimed at assuaging residents that the state will hold Amazon accountable for its promised job growth. During the presentation before the Old Astoria Neighborhood Association this month, the EDC's Nathan Bliss described the state as having incredible control over the deal.

"If the company fails to meet its obligations under these agreements, there are penalties. Theres recapture, potentially even of property," he said.

How this would all play out is complicated. Laura Schultz, director of fiscal analysis and senior economist at the Rockefeller Institute, said that under the state's Excelsior Jobs Program, one of two economic development incentive programs the company is eligible for, Amazon would be entitled to $1.2 billion in tax credits.

Under that program, the state can recapture all of its tax credits if Amazon falls below 75 percent of its job creation target, or 18,750. Should Amazon fall short of its job target but still manage to achieve above 75 percent of its goals, then the state can recapture some of the tax credit. "So if the company only hits 85 percent of the job creation target, it will receive only 85 percent of the tax credit," she explained in an email to Gothamist.

She added that the recapture of tax incentives would be done by adding the amount to Amazon's tax bill. In the event Amazon failed to pay its tax bill, the state could begin the seizure of assets, including property.

Richard Khuzami, president of the Old Astoria Neighborhood Association, praised the company and the city for going before residents' groups. He said the response by his members to the EDC's presentation was positive.

"It's extremely helpful for the public to hear all positions so they can make informed decisions about his momentous project," he said, adding, "I think it's a real positive that they are going out to the public through print and live presentations.

But in the face of gentrification concerns and the prospect of rising rents, not everyone has been persuaded by the mega-e-retailer's pitch. A "Stop Amazon" petition started by Gianaris and Bramer on Change.org has garnered more than 5,300 signatures to date.

And on Twitter, several mailer recipients were skeptical or outright derisive, of both Amazon's marketing effort and its planned Queens headquarters.

Hey @amazon - 25,000 jobs sounds good but what is the quality of said jobs? Can those workers unionize? Do they get breaks? Good pay? I need more than a mailer to convince me. #NoAmazonNYC #BoycottAmazon @PrimedOutNYC pic.twitter.com/ZoEWFVTmrs  Claire Kinnen (@clkinnen) January 18, 2019

Thx @amazon for reminding me to call my reps to tell them I am OPPOSED to HQ2 @jessicaramos @CatalinaCruzNY #Queens neighbors did yall get this mailer too? #amazonnyc @jdavidgoodman pic.twitter.com/cTSIr1ok7t  Jenna Capeci (@jennacapeci) January 18, 2019

Got this mailer today, Amazon. Queens doesn't want you here. Please fuck off. #NoAmazonNYC https://t.co/8yw8TBw0Fj  Gender Kvetch (@MagpieLibrarian) January 17, 2019

New Yorkers will have a bigger forum to weigh in on the Amazon deal through two upcoming hearingsone dedicated to collecting public inputthat will held by the City Council. In December, during the first hearing, where opponents of the deal outnumbered supporters, councilmembers lashed into Amazon executives and the head of the citys Economic Development Corporation James Patchett.

We got played, Johnson said during the hearing.

The next hearing, held by the City Council's Committee on Finance, is scheduled for Wednesday, January 30th at City Hall.

For more, listen to Jim O'Grady's WNYC report on the Amazon charm offensive:

UPDATE: An earlier version of this story misstated Senator Gianariss role on the Public Authorities Control Board. He is not currently a member. As deputy majority leader, however, he has a say in recommending appointees to the board.


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Tallahassee National Organization for Women held a vigil Tuesday night at the Capitol Building to commemorate the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

That is the Supreme Court decision issued in 1973 that affirmed the constitutional right for women to access safe, legal abortions.

For more than four decades, the National Organization for Women and other activist groups around the country have pushed for the fair treatment of the decision since it passed. This year they want lawmakers to hear their message loud and clear.

Local activists, state legislators and feminist leaders also participated in the vigil.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) - A local mom who lost her daughter in the Pulse Nightclub shooting is joining others to demand change in Tallahassee.

"She was my best friend," Mayra Alvear told WFTS.

Alvear's daughter Amanda was killed at the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016.

"Since the beginning, it was just about love and not hate. We didnt want hate to take over," said Alvear.

Alvear has made it her mission to promote love like she says her daughter wouldve wanted, and help stop gun violence.

"I dont want other families to go through what I went through because it's when you wake up and you take it to bed every day," said Alvear.

Alvear is part of a group called Moms Demand Action, which is heading to Tallahassee next month, taking its concerns to lawmakers.

They want domestic abusers disarmed, gun show loopholes closed, and universal background checks: things that second amendment activists say wont help protect people.

"The FBI just released their latest study on where criminals acquire guns. Criminals steal guns and buy them on the streets and no number of background checks is going to prevent that," said Eric Friday from the group Florida Carry.

Moms Demand Action says their proposals have been effective in other states and they're inviting supporters to join them in Tallahassee on February 6.

Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
HAVANA, Fla. (WTXL) - One person has been hospitalized following a shooting at a local pool hall.

On Tuesday, the Havana Police Department was called to The Spot pool hall in the 400 block of North Main Street. Police say they received a tip about a person walking around the parking lot with a gun.

As officers responded to the area, multiple shots were fired by an unknown individual(s). Police say officers immediately secured the scene and began interviewing witnesses.

A few moments later, officers were notified by the Gadsden County Sheriff's office that deputies were responding to a shooting on Washington Avenue. Havana PD officers responded to the scene as well to see if that shooting was connected to the shooting at the pool hall.

When officers interviewed the victim, he said that he was sitting in a car at The Spot when two bullets hit him in his torso. The victim said he then walked away from the area and went to a relative's home on Washington Avenue.

Police say the victim was transported to the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in stable condition.

"He gave a statement saying that he was at The Spot for a birthday party when someone started shooting. Two shots struck the subject in the abdomen area," said Havana Police Chief Tracy Smith. "He then left the area, got out of the car, and ran to a relatives house up on Washington Avenue."

An investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Police are asking anyone with information to call them at 850-539-2800.
WASHINGTON (WTXL) - Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, met at the White House Tuesday to urge President Trump to apply pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The trio are urging the President to recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela's new interim president.

Senator Scott says socialism in Venezuela has left it without food, gas and medicine and adds that millions of people have left the country.

"I think now is the moment where leadership can really make a difference for the people of Venezuela," DeSantis said, "and that's very resonate in Florida. We have the highest number of Venezualans here in Florida."

Venezuelan opposition leaders are calling for nationwide protests Thursday.

The once-wealthy oil nation is sliding into a deepening political and economic crisis.

DeSantis also urged the president to put more pressure on Cuba, saying "Cuba's the cancer leading to a lot of the problems we see in Latin America."
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - After a meeting with President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said he expects a White House announcement this week about Hurricane Michael recovery.

DeSantis, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott met Tuesday afternoon with Trump for a discussion primarily focused on the Maduro regime in Venezuela. But DeSantis said Wednesday during an appearance in Miami that he also talked about Florida transportation issues and storm-relief efforts in the eastern Panhandle.

You guys in Miami, I think the closest analog would be Hurricane Andrew, in terms of destruction, DeSantis said.

Since Hurricane Andrew, and I grew up in Florida, nothing compared to what Ive seen in Michael, DeSantis continued. I think were going to have a pretty big announcement tomorrow (Thursday) about the president helping out there, which is going to be phenomenal. So, stay tuned.

Last week, DeSantis --- following a closed-door meeting in Panama City with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long and local officials --- said that he would push the White House to increase federal reimbursements for debris cleanup.

DeSantis also announced during the Jan. 16 tour of the storm damage that the state Division of Emergency Management would speed money to Panhandle communities that are being swamped financially by massive amounts of debris.

State officials have estimated the Oct. 10 hurricane created about 20 million cubic tons of debris, as the Category 4 storm barreled a path from Mexico Beach into Georgia. By comparison, Hurricane Irma, which in September 2017 cut a path from the Florida Keys to Jacksonville, resulted in about 2 million cubic tons of debris.

Local governments expect to eventually receive 75 percent reimbursement from the federal government for debris removal. DeSantis said his request is to bump that figure to 90 percent on the federal side.
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Deputies are issuing a warning to local business after they seized a slew of counterfeit $100 bills over the weekend.

The Franklin County Sheriff's office says that fake $100 bills have been passing in Apalachicola as well as Eastpoint.

They say some of these bills, which have Chinese writing on the back, were seized over the weekend.

Deputies are asking that local businesses be extra cautious when accepting $100 bills.

If you believe you have been presented with a counterfeit bill, call the Franklin County Sheriffs office at (850) 670-8500.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Leon County and the City of Tallahassee are teaming up to make housing more affordable.

WTXL ABC 27's Jada Williams was live Wednesday morning. She told how the community can get actively involved.

Anyone can join the Housing Leadership Council to find the best fit for affordable housing in Leon County.

The county and city brought in United Partners for Human Services to use their resources on the topic of affordable housing and to help coordinate the conversation and find the best possible way to address it.

An informational meeting about the council is putting stakeholders together to talk about collaboration and what is needed to think about this issue longterm.

Members for the council will include anyone in the community, but is strongly marketed towards non profits, lenders, banks, and contractors.

Amber R. Tynan of United Partners for Human Services Executive Director commented.

"We know, research does show that if you don't have a safe or shelter over your head, you're not going to be productive over other areas of your life," Tynan said. "So how can we as a community with our government parterns as well as the various sectors help combat this issue and makme it more prevalent for everyone living here."

Tynan mentions that those who are in need of affordable housing are also a crucial component to the council because they are the ones who know what is most needed.

If you would like to learn more about the council, they're holding an informational meeting at the American Red Cross in Tallahassee from noon until 2 p.m. Wednesday.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Lying to Florida lawmakers could become punishable by a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail under a bill unanimously approved by a Senate committee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee gave its approval to a measure Tuesday that would make "disorderly or contemptuous conduct" while appearing before a legislative committee a second-degree misdemeanor.

The bill says that includes deliberately making false statements while testifying before a committee.

No House companion bill has been filed.

(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bunker Hill Mining Corp. (CSE-BNKR) (Bunker Hill or the Company) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Wayne Parsons to the Companys board of directors, effective January 22, 2019. The appointment of Mr. Parsons provides the Company with an individual with strong Capital markets experience.



Mr. Parsons brings over 20 years of investment industry experience to Bunker Hill. Mr. Parsons founded in 2010 and currently serves as president of Parsons Financial Consulting, a consulting company focused on the technology and mining sectors. From 2010 to 2014, Mr. Parsons served on the board of directors of American Paramount Gold Corp. From 2013 to 2015, Mr. Parsons served as director and chair of the audit committee for Yappn Corp., a translation services technology company listed on the OTCQB. Mr. Parsons was a senior investment advisor at National Bank Financial from 2003 to 2009.

Mr. Parsons was instrumental in the renegotiation of the reinstatement of the lease for Bunker Hill with Placer Mining the underlying owner of the Bunker Hill Mine in November 2018.

About Bunker Hill Mining Corp.

Bunker Hill Mining Corp. has an option to acquire 100% of the Bunker Hill Mine. Information about the Company is available on its website, www.bunkerhillmining.com, or within the SEDAR and EDGAR databases.

For additional information contact:

John Ryan, Interim Chief Executive Officer

(843) 290-8930

Marketing & Communications

(416) 477-7771 ext. 205

info@bunkerhillmining.com

Cautionary Statements

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as well as within the meaning of the phrase forward-looking information in the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 51-102  Continuous Disclosure Obligations. The forward-looking statements made herein are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations or assumptions with respect to, among other things, the ability of the Company to successfully complete the acquisition of the Bunker Hill Mine Complex on the terms as announced or other satisfactory terms or at all, and fund the initial payments for which the Company does not have funds at this time, the Companys present and future financial condition, the Companys ability to secure financing, and the state of financial markets. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companys 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, and may include statements regarding, among other things, the terms of the Bunker Hill Mine Complex acquisition and funding of the acquisition. 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, and the Companys financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: the inability of the Company to successfully acquire the Bunker Hill Mine Complex on the terms as announced or other

satisfactory terms or at all, and fund the payments for which the Company does not have funds at this time; the inability of the Company to budget and manage its liquidity in light of the failure to obtain additional financing; the inability of the Company to develop or sustain an active public market for its securities; development of changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for precious metals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; 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 Companys forward-looking statements. These and other factors made in public disclosures and filings by the Company should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Companys 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.
Wrexham scrap yard branded one of the worst performing waste sites in Wales shut down

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 23rd, 2019

A Wrexham scrap yard labelled one of the worst performing waste sites in Wales has been shut down.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has closed the site, managed by Clwyd Breakers Ltd at Gardden Industrial Estate in Ruabon, to stop it polluting the local environment.

NRW say that despite repeated attempts by its officers the operators continued to break the terms of their environmental permit.

As a result, NRW has revoked the permit which means the site can no longer store or dismantle cars which have reached the end of their life.





Following NRWs actions, the site has now been cleared and they say no longer poses a threat to the local environment.

Among the issues found by officers include:

 Visible oil pollution on all parts of the site

 Polluting oils and fluids not stored properly

 Cars not being de-polluted properly

 No fire prevention plan for the site

 Waste stored in the wrong places and without the right infrastructure

NRW say some oils and other polluting fluids were being washed into drains which eventually flow via the Afon Goch and Black Brook into the Afon Clywedog and the Dee, threatening fish and the other wildlife which live there.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service had also visited the site to advise the operators and had flagged the site with local fire crews.

Louise Peel, senior environment officer for NRW, said: Weve worked really hard with the company to get them to operate the site responsibly.

But is became clear that they were making very little effort to do so.

The good news is that the site has now been cleared and it no longer poses a threat.

Protecting people and the environment from pollution risks such as this one is a priority for us and this is a good example of how we take action to do that where its needed.

Everyone in the waste industry needs to understand that they must comply with the terms of their environmental permit.

Not doing so is breaking the law and has potentially serious consequences for them and their business.

In the meantime, NRW say they have started an investigation into another suspected illegal waste site in the area and potential links to the cleared site on Gardden Industrial Estate.
Long term eyesore derelict properties in Ruabon finally get knocked down

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 23rd, 2019

Work demolishing a trio of eyesore properties to make way for affordable housing has begun.

The derelict properties on the site of the old Victoria Garage, Ruabon, have stood vacant since 2004, when a developer started work on three homes on the site.

However the works were never completed and the half-finished houses have sat empty ever since.

Over the years works to secure the site and make it safe has been carried out by Wrexham Council, but due to the complications around ownership and development, the buildings could not be knocked down or outright redeveloped.





In 2017 Wrexham.com reported that a long-running campaign to redevelop the site had been successful and that the buildings had bee acquired by the Crown Estate  who in turn sold them to Wales & West Housing for social housing.

This week work began demolishing the properties  with work building the new houses set to take place within the next month.

The demolition has been welcomed by Clwyd South AM Ken Skates, who said: These properties have been a blight on Ruabon for years and I know a lot of people locally will be as pleased as I am to see them being demolished at long last.

Im glad the Welsh Government has been able to help find a resolution and Im delighted that well soon have such a positive outcome.

I would also like to pay tribute to the hard work of local councillor Dana Davies, who is one of a number of people who have made a significant contribution over the years to get us where we are.

Ruabon Councillor Dana Davies said: Im extremely pleased that the demolition is finally taking place and hopeful that families could be moving into the three new properties by the end of this year.

Its been a long fight to get a solution but it demonstrates that partnership working can very much benefit our rural areas. I have to thank Wales & West Housing, Wrexham County Borough Council and the Welsh Government for their commitment and support and also Ruabon Community Council and many of our residents for all their help.

Work demolishing the properties and developing a row of two-bed homes was set to begin last year, but was postponed after bats were found in the buildings.

The housing association had instructed ecologists to conduct surveys to ensure the bats are unharmed and their habitat not damaged by any development on site.

Cllr David Griffiths, Lead Member for Housing, said: Contractors have commenced demolition work to the empty properties near the corner of High Street and Maes y Llan Lane, Ruabon. The work is expected to take a few weeks, with building work due to start within the month following demolition.

This is very exciting development in a long-running partnership between ourselves, Wales and West Housing, Welsh Government and Ruabon Community Council, and Id like to thank all those involved for their co-operation.

Shayne Hembrow, Deputy Chief Executive of Wales & West Housing, said: Were delighted that work is finally underway on site for this small development, which will provide three affordable, high quality and energy efficient homes for families in the Ruabon area.

The homes will be among the first to be built for us by Brenig Construction, one of our new construction partners in North Wales as we increase our house-building programme across the region.
First Minister Questions: Labour accused of tribalism over Autism Bill in angry exchanges

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 23rd, 2019

The below is the first in a new quick weekly summary of this weeks First Minister Questions session from Cardiff Bay. First Minister Questions takes place every Tuesday when the Assembly is sitting and can be watched live via Senedd.tv.

For those who have never ventured onto the Senedd site, you can view the session the below was taken from here, that allows a video player (along with creation of your own clips!) plus by clicking the meeting information and papers link you are able to view all the supporting documentation, along with a link to the full transcript.

Autism Bill: Tribalism for tribalisms sake

Leader of the Opposition, Paul Davies AM (Con, Preseli Pembs.), was on the warpath. His Autism Bill was voted down by government AMs last week which he blamed this on tribalism for tribalisms sake leading to angry exchanges between Conservatives and Labours front bench that can be viewed in the video below:





The First Minister flatly rejected any notion of tribalism noting the Welsh Governments opposition to the Autism Bill was clear; a number of new measures and actions such as a statutory Autism Code mean theres no need for a Bill at present. If these measures dont work then legislation will be considered.

Paul Davies AM said that his colleague, Darren Millar AM (Con, Clwyd West), is bringing forward his own proposal for a law on older peoples rights today  and asked will this have Welsh Government support.

The First Minister said it wasnt the job of the government to make the case for a backbench law, its for the Senedd as a whole.

Plan B for the Welsh economy?

Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price AM (Plaid, Carms. E & Dinefwr), painted a bleak picture of Welsh success in attracting major investments:

The tidal lagoon in Swansea has been rejected by the UK Government. Wylfa Newydd, as we heard earlier, in Ynys Mon has been suspended by the Japanese. The third  the M4 relief road  is, according to most seasoned observers, likely to be cancelled by you. It was clear from last night that Mrs May doesnt have a Plan B. The question as far as the Welsh econ

omic strategy is concerned is, do you? 

 Adam Price AM

The First Minister pointed to a 1.4billion investment in housing over the course of this term to deliver 20,000 affordable houses, the 21st Century school building programme and major investments in new hospitals.

Adam Price asked whether the problem, ultimately, was whether too many decisions in Wales are being made by others and driven by forces outside Wales, Wales needs a captain and needs a game plan.

The First Minister said there was a clear pipeline of projects tabled at the Senedd and updated all the time. He also believed he has a more optimistic view of Wales than Plaid Cymru:

.I dont for a minute think that it helps Wales to repeat the sort of canards that the right-wing press in London put about, about Wales being somewhere where projects go to die. Its nonsensical. Its nonsensical in ev

ery part of Wales, where people will see the investments that we are making in public facilities, in transport infrastructure, in a 5 billion rail franchise, in a new convention centre that will bring activity to Wales from other parts of the UK.

 First Minister, Mark Drakeford (Lab, Cardiff West)

Locked Up

Following a report last week from the Wales Governance Centre  which revealed Wales has one of the highest imprisonment rates in Europe  there was a flurry of questions to the First Minister, though little said which was new.

Leanne Wood AM (Plaid, Rhondda) said the high figures were despite Wales having a lower crime rate than England and the criminal justice system was punishing Wales, leading to her to repeat calls for criminal justice to be devolved.

The First Minister told AMs the figures in the report were unacceptable, but he wanted to take what he described as a practical approach to the devolution of criminal justice. He supports the devolution of aspects of the justice system which relate closely to the Senedds devolved responsibilities (probation, womens prisons, youth justice) then moving on from there.



Keep up to date with what is going on in the Senedd via SeneddHome.com


Curry night fundraiser to support Wrexham scout chosen to attend World Jamboree

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jan 23rd, 2019

A Wrexham scout has been selected to attend the 24th World Scout Jamboree in 2019 as part of the Welsh contingency.

16-year-old Kian Paddock, a pupil at Ysgol Clywedog has been scouting since joining Beavers at a young age and is now a young leader at 6th Wrexham.

The 24th World Scout Jamboree will be held in West Virginia, USA, and will take place on 22nd July  2nd August 2019 at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve. Its to be hosted jointly between Boy Scouts of America, Scouts Canada and the Scout Association of Mexico.

Each scout had to submit a written application, from there some were chosen to take part in a selection camp where they had to demonstrate many skills and also had to be interviewed.





It will feature the hallmarks of past world jamborees, such as the Global Development Village, the World Scout Centre, a special sustainability initiative, and the socialisation elements that allow everyone to make life-long friends from around the world.

Kian said: When I got the news I had been selected it all seemed so far away and I cant believe how quick it has come around as it has been months in the planning.

We have all been meeting up on camps on a regular basis which has helped us all get to know each other ready for the trip away and we are now really looking forward to the experience.

In addition the host site, The Summit Bechtel Reserve offers the most advanced adventure camping base for youth in the world.

Participants might experience wild and wonderful adventures such as The Rocks, one of the largest man-made climbing facilities in the world, to zip lines that cover 5.45 miles/8.77 km, to The Park, one of the largest outdoor skateboard facilities in the world, or The Trax, one of the largest BMX bike facilities, and three man-made lakes and pools that offer a variety aquatics activities

During this experience they will be having an educational visit to both New York and Washington DC. They will also be having Hosted Hospitality in Canada and will be staying with a scout group teaching them about local traditions and show off local sights.

As part of their diverse fundraising initiatives a curry night will be held at the Anise Indian restaurant on Monday 28th January which will see money from food sales generously donated to assist.

Restaurant manager Robb Golam said: This is such a great opportunity for Kian and we are really keen to help make this dream come true for him, itll be a great night for a good cause so do come and get your tickets fast.

Kian added: I am really grateful to Robb and his team at Anise for helping support me with my fundraising.

The restaurant are providing a three course meal for just 13.99  to book a table call 01978 261273.
Shen Yueyue (R), President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), meets with Satsuki Katayama, the Japanese cabinet minister of Women's Empowerment, in Beijing. [Women of China / Fan Wenjun]

Shen Yueyue, President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), met with Satsuki Katayama, the Japanese cabinet minister of State for Regional Revitalization and Women's Empowerment, in Beijing on January 10.

Shen said China and Japan are important neighbors and that with efforts made by both sides in the recent period, their bilateral relationship has been improving.

During the second half of 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met three times and reached an important consensus on China-Japan relations in the new situation.

These meetings have provided a clear direction for the healthy development of bilateral ties, Shen remarked. She said women in China and Japan have been important and strong in contributing toward promoting the stable development of relations between the two countries.

The ACWF is willing to work together with its Japanese counterpart to promote the stable improvement of China-Japan relations in a positive direction and make bigger contributions to the all-round development of women in both countries, she said.

Shen talked about the huge progress China has made in economic and social development, poverty reduction and maternal and child health during the past 40 years since the introduction of reform and opening-up.

Furthermore, she emphasized that closely uniting around the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi as the core, and holding high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, women have been carrying on reform and opening-up and working hard to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Katayama thanked Shen for the meeting and congratulated her on the success of the 12th National Women's Congress of China. She spoke highly of the achievements of China's reform and opening-up and women's causes and said that Japan will strengthen cooperation to promote women's development in the two countries.

Later, Huang Xiaowei, Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, hosted a banquet for Katayama. She introduced the ACWF's work in the new era and both sides shared information about the promotion of gender equality and women's participation in social activities in their countries.

They also exchanged ideas about furthering bilateral exchange and promoting women's all-round development.

Katayama was visiting China at the invitation of the ACWF. Xia Jie, Vice-President and Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, also attended the meetings.

The ACWF's officials and Japanese visitors pose for a photo. [Women of China / Fan Wenjun] Huang Xiaowei (R), Vice-President of the ACWF, meets with Satsuki Katayama. [Women of China / Fan Wenjun]

(Women of China)
As an old Chinese saying goes: "One thrives and survives under hardship and suffering and withers amid ease and pleasure."

Such is the wisdom of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that even at a time of achievements, caution and risk awareness are still required.

With that in mind, one could understand why President Xi Jinping's speech on Monday should be taken as the guiding direction for China in the current and future periods to forestall and defuse major risks.

When addressing the opening ceremony of a study session at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee attended by senior provincial and ministerial officials, Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, analyzed the national security situation and touched on major risks in politics, ideology, economy, science and technology, society, the external environment and Party building.

For a Party that was born and has grown in adversity, the speech has demonstrated the CPC's perseverance and readiness to confront potential dangers.

The CPC has long studied how to forestall and defuse major risks as a perennial theme.

In 1945 at the 7th CPC National Congress, then CPC leader Mao Zedong listed 17 challenges facing the Party. To forestall and defuse major risks was highlighted in a report delivered by Xi to the 19th CPC National Congress and was ranked as the primary among the "three major battles," which also includes targeted poverty alleviation and pollution prevention and control. Xi also expounded on the issue at a study session in 2018.

Practices have proven that thinking about worst-case scenarios and being ready to protect against potential dangers in time of peace is an important method of thinking, working and leading for the CPC to meet challenges and march from victory to victory.

China is still and will long remain in an important period of strategic opportunity for development, and generally, its fundamentals are fine. But it should be admitted that difficulties and risks that lie ahead still abound.

Profound internal and external changes as well as the evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society also require the CPC to improve its ability to govern.

With precaution in mind and proper solutions in hand, the CPC is capable of ensuring both development and security, securing a decisive victory in finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and providing solid support for the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

(Source: Xinhua)
The research group pays a visit to Qingshan District People's Court of Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, on December 13. [hbwomen.gov.cn]

Officials from central China's Hubei Province convened a special research symposium at a local court in Wuhan on December 13 to discuss how to enact relevant regulations on tackling domestic violence.

The research group was led by Wan Xuebin, vice-chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of Hubei Provincial People's Congress.

During the event, the group visited the Qingshan District People's Court and learned about the work undertaken there for solving family disputes and preventing domestic violence.

Later, staff of the court presented a report on their study and implementation of the anti-domestic violence law.

Meanwhile, officials from relevant departments including the municipal intermediate people's Court, the public security bureau, the civil affairs bureau, women's federations and representatives from social organizations, gave suggestions on making regulations to fight domestic violence in the province.

Wan affirmed the efforts made by the city in implementing the anti-domestic violence law and creating a work mechanism to integrate resources from six different departments.

Wan urged relevant workers to adopt good suggestions from those working at the primary level, popularize legal knowledge, and contribute their efforts to enacting a practical provincial regulation on anti-domestic violence so as to build a safer Hubei.

A member of the people's court delivers a report on studying and implementing the anti-domestic violence law. [hbwomen.gov.cn] Attendees at the symposium [hbwomen.gov.cn]

(Source: hbwomen.gov.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China)
NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:



To: All Persons or Entities who purchased Kinderhook Bank Corp. (Kinderhook or the Company) (OTCMKTS: NUBK) stock prior to January 22, 2019 .

You are hereby notified that Levi & Korsinsky, LLP has commenced an investigation into the fairness of the sale of Kinderhook to Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU). Under the terms of the transaction, Kinderhook shareholders will receive $62 per share. To learn more about the action and your rights, go to:

https://www.zlk.com/mna/kinderhook-bank-corp

or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.

The Kinderhook merger investigation concerns whether the Board of Kinderhook breached their fiduciary duties to stockholders by failing to adequately shop the Company before agreeing to enter into this transaction, and whether Omega is underpaying for Kinderhook shares, thus unlawfully harming Kinderhook shareholders.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, Connecticut, California, 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 lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:
TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BWR Exploration Inc. (BWR) (TSX.V: BWR) recently met with Gods Lake First Nation (GLFN) on January 9, 2019 in the community of Gods Lake Narrows, as a follow-up to several earlier meetings over the past few months. This meeting was an information session, at the request of the Elders of the Community, where there was an opportunity for the Elders to voice their concerns about early stage exploration within their area of traditional interest and pursuits. The meeting was part of a series of meetings organized by Manitoba Ministry of Growth Enterprise and Trade (GET). Prior to this meeting, on December 12, 2018, a Letter of Understanding (LOU) between BWR and GLFN had been negotiated and signed by Gods Lake Chief and Council (represented by Chief Gilbert Andrews and two Councilors), at a private meeting held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where both parties had agreed to meet again in early 2019 along with representatives of GET. The LOU established several important subjects that both Parties (BWR and GLFN) have agreed to incorporate into a dynamic early exploration agreement.



Prior to the private meeting on December 12, 2018, BWR received a letter from Chief Andrews (dated December 7, 2018) that clearly identified numerous longstanding community concerns, with specific reference to Gods Lake comfort on how BWR has approached the overall permitting process as recommended by GET, and BWR had accordingly, adjusted its exploration plans and timeline to address these concerns.

Chief Andrews further commented in a separate communique on January 17, 2019, that Gods Lake leadership is willing to work cooperatively and collaboratively with industry on any sustainable and environmentally sound project, but on Consultation meetings with the community and consent for work permits is required, the outcome of the community vote must be respected by the Chief and Council.

Neil Novak, President and CEO of BWR states: BWR is looking forward to working collaboratively with Gods Lake First Nation and its community members, and we hope to establish a similar rapport and partnership with Manto Sipi Cree Nation (MSCN), who also have traditional interests and Treaty Land Entitlement selections in the Little Stull Lake project area. BWR looks at this project as its main exploration focus for the foreseeable future and as such, BWR welcomes co-operative partnership with both local Indigenous Communities to create a mutually rewarding, sustainable and transparent relationship, and will support Gods Lake First Nations desire to complete the Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) conversion process.



Contained in the December 12, 2018 LOU, amongst other items, is reference to the process of the conversion of GLFNs Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) selection to reserve status, whereby BWR may proceed with early stage exploration on the claims that have been impinged upon by GLFNs TLE selected area, with the aim to either include or exclude the claims or portions thereof from any future mine development. BWR has agreed, to work in partnership with GLFN on the project as it applies to the TLE area, employ local workers and engage local businesses as both parties work out the details of an early exploration agreement, an agreement that is conceptually dynamic and meant to change, or be amended as the exploration program progresses over the next several years.



As a show of good faith for the go forward plan with GLFN, BWR in consultation with the Chief and Council of GLFN, agreed to provide limited access to its exploration camp at Little Stull Lake as requested by a land survey crew assembled by Duncan and Barnes of Winnipeg, contracted by GLFN to survey the boundaries of their TLE selection #540 demarcating 8 of 20 BWR mineral claims that impinge upon the selected area. This is a necessary survey for the conversion process from selection to reserve. The survey crew involves six GLFN community members as well as three representatives of Duncan and Barnes, that mobilized to the project area on January 14, 2019, expected to work there for about 1 month.



BWR continues to support the ongoing consultation process between Manitoba GET and Gods Lake First Nation as well as nearby Manto Sipi Cree Nation, and looks forward to meeting at the earliest convenience of MSCN and Manitoba in early 2019, as well as continuing discussions with GLFN.

This press release has been prepared by management of BWR Exploration Inc. represented by Neil D. Novak P.Geo., President and CEO of BWR Exploration.



BWR Exploration Inc. is a public company focused on exploring for base and precious metals, with its flagship Little Stull Lake Gold Project in NE Manitoba along with other exploration projects in Northern Ontario, and Northern Quebec, Canada. Management of BWR includes an accomplished group of exploration/mining specialists with many decades of operational experience in the junior resource sector. There are currently 68,202,461 shares issued and outstanding.



Neither the Toronto Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.



For information about BWR Exploration Inc. please visit our website:



http://www.bwrexploration.com or call/email:

Neil Novak, P.Geo., President, CEO & Director,

BWR Exploration Inc.

82 Richmond St. E

Toronto, ON M5C 1P1

Office (416) 848 6866

nnovak@bwrexploration.com

For additional information regarding BWR please contact:

Carl Desjardins, Paradox Investor Services Inc.

Cell: 514-618-4477

carldesjardins@paradox-pr.ca
In this Jan. 18, 2019 image made from video provided by the Survival Media Agency, a teenager wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, center left, stands in front of an elderly Native American singing and playing a drum in Washington. Videos of the incident initially sparked controversy and condemnation of the teens from Kentucky, but further review of videos show a third group of religious radicals was also in the area, and the Native Americans and students from Covington Catholic High School may have misinterpreted each other's motives. The teen wearing the cap was later identified as Nick Sandmann. (Survival Media Agency via AP) PHOTO:Survival Media Agency via AP

White House Reaches Out to Covington Students

By The Associated Press

COVINGTON - Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the White House has reached out to students at a Kentucky high school who became embroiled in an encounter with a Native American activist and a black religious sect that was captured on video.

Videos posted of the confrontation drew wide criticism on social media, but it's not entirely clear what happened. The various sides say they were misunderstood.

Sanders says, "we've reached out and voiced our support." She says no one understands better than President Donald Trump when the media jumps to conclusions and "attacks you for something you may or may not have done."

She says if the president does invite the students from Covington Catholic High School to the White House, it will be sometime after the government shutdown has concluded.

The school was closed Tuesday as a security precaution.
Superintendent, Students Gaining Strength Together

By Bill Hughes

DRAFFENVILLE - On the day that marks one year since the Marshall County High School shooting, Superintendent Trent Lovett said his main concern is for the students and teachers."Students are at all different levels, and we're just mainly concerned about them and their mental health and where they are in this long process of healing," Lovett said.When asked how he has handled the last twelve months, Lovett said it's been a long year and it's not something that he would ever want anyone else to experience. But, Lovett said he gains strength from seeing how the students handle everything.He said, "I'm over there every Friday with the metal detector lines and talking with the students, and that gives me an opportunity to gain strength from them and to see the resilience that they have, and again, that gives me strength to make it."Lovett said as the day drew nearer, he believed he could see a sense of dread in the eyes of some of the kids, and his goal is to meet their needs. That's why he consulted with students about the kind of activities in which they could participate on January 23. Some of the activities are somber or reflective, and some of them are more uplifting, and students can choose where they go, based on where they find themselves in the healing process.A first responders appreciation breakfast is at 7:30 am Wednesday, followed by remembrance service in the school for students and parents around 8 am. Students will then go to normal classes until lunch, then will participate in the special activities during the afternoon. A community remembrance service is scheduled for 6 pm at Mike Miller Park.When asked whether he and other administrators have shared their experiences, Lovett said he has spoken to several colleagues on the phone, and got to meet Kirk Carpenter of the Aztec, New Mexico School District, where a school shooting took place in December 2017. He's also received encouragement and insight from administrators and survivors at Heath High School, as well as Columbine, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut.Lovett said, "We, in kind, reached out to Parkland, Florida. That was very close to ours and had a great deal of attention, and I felt like we owed back to them what others have shown to us - and the kindness."As for the new school safety bill in the Kentucky General Assembly, Lovett said he's glad legislators are looking at the situation and what can be done. He said a lot of issues that educators would bring up are in the bill, but the biggest issue is how to fund it. Lovett said he's also glad they aren't planning to pass an unfunded mandate that each school system would have to finance, because that would be difficult in many places.
Civil Suit Filed From Marshall County Shooting

By West Kentucky Star Staff





BENTON, KY - Almost a year from the date of the fatal shooting at Marshall County High School, a civil lawsuit has been filed.Documents received from Marshall County Circuit Court show that the complaint was filed Monday by the estate of shooting victim Bailey Holt, along with her parents, Jason and Secret Holt, and three students who were injured, Gage Smock, Mary Bella James and Dalton Keeling. Sixteen defendants were named, including alleged shooter Gabriel Parker, his mother and step-father, Marshall County Schools superintendent and school board members, school administrators and counselors, and the school resource officer. Unknown other school officials and personal counselors were also listed as defendants in the suit.The suit claims the school defendants are liable because they, "knew or should have known of Gabriel Parker's dangerous propensities and failed to take any action," and says there were no security measures to stop him from entering the common area of the school with a loaded weapon and opening fire. The suit also claims the school defendants failed to keep the students safe, and failed to enact or implement an appropriate emergency action plan.The lawsuit says Parker is liable because of his actions, and that Justin and Mary Garrison Minyard were negligent because they knew or should have known that Gabriel could be dangerous, but allowed him to have access to the weapon that was used.The suit also holds liable unnamed private counselors who provided their services to Parker prior to the shooting, since information they received should have prompted them to notify authorities that Parker was dangerous.The plaintiffs in the suit are asking for a jury trial, and for compensatory, exemplary and punitive damages as deemed reasonable by the court. They are also asking for their court costs to be paid by the defendants.Parker is accused of opening fire at the school on Jan. 23, 2018, killing Bailey Holt and Preston Cope, and injuring more than a dozen others. He faces two counts of murder and 14 counts of 1st degree assault in the criminal case.On the Net:
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DesignCon , the nations largest event for chip, board and systems design engineers, featuring over 175+ premier exhibitors, today announced six prominent companies will be featured in the Product Showcase presenting their latest industry advancements, along with five notable exhibitors that will debut new products and services at this years event. Product Showcase serves to provide a curated audience a closeup look at new, improved solutions via 15-minute live product demonstrations. DesignCon will take place Jan. 29  31, 2019, at the Santa Clara Convention Center. To register as press, please visit: designcon.tech.ubm.com/2019/registrations/Media .



The Product Showcase offers the unique opportunity for media, attendees and exhibitors alike to interact with the leading engineering and system design companies innovations in an intimate setting, said Suzanne Deffree, Brand Director, Intelligent Systems and Design, UBM. The unmatched quality of exhibitors announcing their cutting-edge products and services is a massive value-add, creating an environment where industry professionals can learn more efficient solutions and techniques from their peers to bring back to their daily work.

As DesignCon strives to provide the highest quality educational sessions to thousands of attendees each year, the organizers want to give back to its extraordinary communityespecially those who have been affected by the recent devastating California fires. Help DesignCon make a difference to raise money for the California Fire Foundation. It's a cause close to many members of the DesignCon community, with some of our long-time attendees and exhibitors personally impacted by the 2018 wildfires. DesignCon appreciates your help and will match up to $3,000 in donations made by January 31, 2019, through this campaign. The final tally will be announced on the DesignCon website in early February. Any donation will help make an impact. Please consider donating at this GoFundMe link here .

Featured demonstrations across the Product Showcase taking place at DesignCon include:

January 30:

Tektronix (booth 539) from 1:30 p.m.  1:45 p.m. will showcase its BSX Series BERTScope Bit Error Rate Tester which takes the complexity out of receiver testing for Gen5/4/3 standards: PCIe, SAS/SATA, USB, DP and propriety. With powerful data processing and internal Tx equalization, the BERTScope supports protocol-based handshaking and synchronization with your device under test (DUT), including interactive link training at data rates up to 32 Gb/s. The BSX-series shortens the time to debug physical layer and link training issues and provides the quickest path to compliance for a broad range of standards.

Rohde & Schwarz (booth 623) from 2:00 p.m.  2:15 p.m. will showcase its R&SRTP Oscilloscope which combines high-class signal integrity with a fast acquisition rate. As well as customized frontend ASICs and real-time processing hardware enable highly accurate measurements with unprecedented speed in a compact form factor.

Harwin (booth 952) from 2:30 p.m.  2:45 p.m. will showcase their EMC Shielding Solutions that simplify the production process, reduce costs and increase reliability. Featured products include a range of SMT Shield Clips and a wide array of Spring Contacts that provide straight forward, easy-to-use board level shielding.

Siglent Technologies (booth 407) from 3:00 p.m.  3:15 p.m. will showcase its new SDS5000X Series Oscilloscopes which represent the highest level of performance in digital oscilloscopes to date. Available in 2 and 4 channel models, they come in 350 MHz / 500 MHz / and 1 GHz bandwidths and have a sampling rate of 5 MSa/s (X2).



Samtec (booth 737) from 4:00 p.m.  4:15 p.m. will showcase its long-reach chip-to-chip demonstration featuring a 56 Gbps 7-meter ExaMAX Backplane Cable Assembly. Using eSilicon SerDes, true long-reach capability is available for the most demanding system environments in next-generation 25 and 50 Tb/s switches. Designed for high-performance and flexibility, Samtec Eye Speed Ultra Low Skew Twinax Cable enables Ethernet, Fiber Channel, 5G wireless infrastructure, and many other data center applications.

January 31:

Introspect Technology (booth 422) from 1:30 p.m.  1:45 p.m. will showcase its C Series product linepersonalized SerDes Testers for the 28 Gbps to 56 Gbps Data Rate Regimes. In this hands-on session, SerDes designers, characterization-, signal integrity-, and test-engineers will learn about jitter tolerance, voltage sensitivity, stressed eye generation, and transmitter tests.

Samtec (booth 737) from 2:00 p.m.  2:15 p.m. will showcase its 112 Gbps PAM4 Flyover Cable Solution featuring its extreme density NovaRay Cable Assembly. In combination with an ExaMax Backplane Cable Assembly, the traditional backplane architecture is retained, but with higher performance targets and lower PCB complexity. This demo partners with Xilinx to exhibit long reach SERDES generating 31-bit PRBS data at 112 Gbps PAM4.

Rohde & Schwarz (booth 623) from 3:00 p.m.  3:15 p.m. will showcase its New R&SZNA, a new generation of high-end vector network analyzers offering outstanding RF performance and a unique hardware concept that simplifies measurement configuration. Its excellent measurement stability and trace noise enable users to perform demanding measurements on active and passive components and modules. Thanks to its innovative, DUT-centric approach, the world's first purely touch-operated vector network analyzer reduces configuration times to a minimum.

Samtec (booth 737) from 4:00 p.m.  4:15 p.m. will showcase its 56 Gbps PAM4 Active Product Demonstrator. Samtecs Active Product Demonstator proves 56 Gbps PAM4 based systems are fully realizable today. Its a state-of-the-art prototype combining high-performance interconnects from Samtec and bleeding edge Credo silicon. Each line card uses three Credo 16-lane BaldEagle-400 retimer chips capable of generating PRBS31 56 Gbps PAM4 data. All interconnects and silicon shown are available.

Below is a preview of products and services to be announced:

Marki Microwave Inc. (booth 1438) will showcase its extensive offering of broadband RF and millimeter-wave components for high-speed data applications, including single-to-differential baluns. Products cover DC to 90 GHz and support 5G, point-to-point, automotive radar, and more. Packaging options include surface-mount, bare die, and connectorized modules with SMA, 2.92, 2.4, 1.85, 1mm connectors.

Mcurich Inc. (booth 1439) will showcase its current QSFP28 (DAC/AOC), QSFP DD, OCuLink and Lean SAS in mass production and is also keeping its products portfolio in line with PAM-4 signaling formfactor including QSFP DD, OSFP and CFP-8 products. Mcurich Inc. is an Interconnection Product Solution Provider for Cloud Computing, Datacom, Telcom, IOT, IT and various industrial markets.

Murata Software Co., Ltd. (booth 855) will showcase user-friendly simulation software "Femtet". It solves a wide range of engineering challenges with solvers for electromagnetic waves, magnetic field, electric field, mechanical stress, heat, acoustic waves and piezoelectricity. Its capabilities include pre/post-processing and result display.

REMCOM (booth 207) will showcase a new 5G antenna array design features in its XFdtd Electromagnetic Simulation Software, including enhancements for modeling complex devices at millimeter wave frequencies. These include performance metrics for 5G beam steering applications via a new CDF of EIRP plot, plus a simplified matching network design workflow.

Tempo Automation (booth 200) will showcase its new host of product updates to further empower engineers to bring their innovations to market more quickly and announce its new automated smart factory in San Francisco to accommodate expansion into high-growth markets like aerospace, defense, medical technology, and autonomous and electric vehicles.

DesignCon 2019 is also supported by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , offering its accreditation to conference attendees. Each conference hour is equivalent to one professional development hour (PDH), and 10 PDHs result in one continuing education unit (CEU) and an official IEEE certificate. IEEE accreditation can be used to meet training requirements, stand out to future employers, and maintain an engineering license.

Connect with DesignCon (#DesignCon)
Evgen_Prozhyrko/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Four suspects are under arrest in upstate New York and charged with an alleged conspiracy to use improvised explosive devices and guns to attack an Islamic community about 170 miles away -- just outside of Binghamton.



Three of the individuals arrested were identified by police as Vincent Vetromile, 19, Andrew Crysel, 18, and Brian Colaneri, 20. Each was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal possession of a weapon and one count of fourth-degree conspiracy.



A fourth male, 16, was also arrested in the alleged plot but is not being named or identified by photo due to his age. The same charges have been filed against the teenager, according to Greece Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jared Rene.



All four of the suspects were in the Boys Scouts of America together -- two of them were Eagle Scouts, Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said at a Tuesday press conference, according to ABC News Rochester affiliate WHAM.



Phelan said the probe began when a student at a Greece high school called Odyssey Academy showed another student a picture of a third person on his cell phone and asked if the person in the photo looked like the next school shooter.



The student who was shown the picture alerted school security, which led to an investigation. Both the student with the phone and the person pictured on the phone  who is not a student -- were interviewed by police, authorities said.



Phelan said that five search warrants were approved by a judge and executed, one at each of the four suspects homes and one at the home of a fifth individual who has not been charged, according to WHAM. He said that three IEDs and 23 guns were recovered.



"There was a plan to attack this community with weapons," Phelan said at a press conference, WHAM reported.



"They had access to these weapons," Phelan said. "Some of them were their father's, some were their grandfather's, some of them I think they purchased themselves. So I think as far as ownership, I think that every spectrum is hit."



All three of the IED devices were recovered from the home of the 16-year-old, who is a student at Greece Central School District, Phelan said.



Authorities said that the suspects were engaged in a plot to attack Islamberg, New York - a Muslim enclave 50 miles northwest of Binghamton in the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County, New York. The tiny town of about 200 people has long been the subject of unsupported claims of terrorist activity by right-wing media outlets and commentators.



According to court records reviewed by WHAM, each of the suspects is accused of having IEDs in cylinders or mason jars, packed with nails, BBs and black powder.



All three of the named suspects were arraigned and are being held in the Monroe County Jail on $50,000 cash bails or $100,000 bonds. The fourth suspect was arraigned in juvenile court and detained pending a $1 million bail. All four are scheduled to return to court on Jan. 23 at 11 a.m.



Authorities said the plot had been in the works for several weeks, and that further arrests or additional charges could result from the ongoing probe.



Islamberg was founded in the late 1980s by a Pakistani cleric named Mubarak Ali Gilani, largely to house African-American Muslims from Brooklyn. It has been a focus of unproven suspicion for years, according to local media reports.



Alex Jones website InfoWars sent a pair of staffers to Islamberg in 2015 to look into reports that the area is a staging ground for Jihadist training, according to the Infowars website.



In 2017, Robert Doggart of Tennessee was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for plotting to burn Islamberg down, according to Reuters. Doggart's attorneys have reportedly filed an appeal in his case.



At the press conference, Greece Central School District Superintendent Kathleen Graupman made a point to commend the student or students who reported the incident to authorities.



"As a school district and a community, we are deeply saddened and upset by what this investigation has revealed, but we are also incredibly grateful that young people refused to stand idly by, she said, according to WHAM. Students trusted their instincts and what they have learned from us in schoolThese students came forward with information - supporting the idea that if you see something, you should say something. Their actions changed the narrative."

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
South Africa: President Ramaphosa begins WEF engagements

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Wednesday co-chair a session on Shaping Africas Agenda in the Global Context along with world leaders in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, as the World Economic Forum gathers momentum.

The President on Tuesday arrived at the annual meetings of the WEF, scheduled from 22 to 25 January 2019, under the theme of Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The annual gathering brings together heads and members of more than 100 governments, top executives of the 1 000 foremost global companies, leaders of international organisations and relevant non-governmental organisations, and cultural, societal and thought leaders, among others.

On Wednesday, President Ramaphosa will also address a session on Country Strategy Dialogue on South Africa and will also attend the Alibaba Spring Festival Dinner hosted by Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma.

On Thursday, 24 January 2019, President Ramaphosa will address the South Africa Investment Seminar to showcase successes of the first Investment Conference held in October 2018 and use the opportunity to communicate on the reforms government has initiated to improve ease of doing business, and enhance the countrys profile as an investment partner of choice, the Presidency said in a statement.

President Ramaphosa is also expected to make contributions during sessions on Europe and Africa: Towards a New Development Architecture; the Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders (IGWEL) Lunch: The World in the age of Globilization 4.0 and Africas Leadership in the Global Context.

The President will also during the WEF gathering meet with various investors showcasing South Africas investment and trade opportunities.

The WEF gathering, said the Presidency, provides a platform for Team South Africa to engage and update the international community, including investors, on the path of renewal and growth upon which the country has embarked.

The Davos discussions will explore how technological advances are impacting on or giving rise to new systems of health, transportation, communication, production, distribution, and energy, and the changes required in education and other programmes to prepare workers for this economic revolution and accompanying social changes.

The Forum enables Team South Africa to contribute to global dialogue on key issues facing humanity and to engage on key opportunities that are emerging, said the Presidency.

Team South Africa comprises leadership of government, business, labour and civil society at large.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Man Charged in Hacking Death at Marion Home

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MARION, IL - Authorities in Williamson County have charged a man with murder in the hacking death of a man in his Marion home.The Marion Police Department says officers responded on Jan. 19 to a home in the 200 block of E. Marion Street, where they found 62-year-old Donald Schultz dead inside.An autopsy was conducted on Monday, and the cause of death was ruled a homicide from "chopping and slicing to the head and body with a machete type weapon".Police arrested 33-year-old Ernest Alex Pulliam Tuesday in Cape Girardeau, MO. Pulliam is charged with three counts of first degree murder. Counts one and two deal with the intent to kill and knowing the act would cause death. The third count deals with the killing of a victim over the age of 60 during the commission of an armed robbery.Pulliam was being held at the Cape Girardeau County Detention Center awaiting extradition to Illinois.
PTHS Class of '69 Meets Today to Plan 50th Reunion

By WestKyStar Staff

PADUCAH - Paducah Tilghman High School Class of 1969 is planning its 50 year reunion. A group led by Jimmy Patterson and Tana (Brown) Foster will meet this afternoon (Sunday, Jan. 27th) at the McCracken County Public Library at 3:30. The group will gather on the second floor in the small meeting room. Anyone interested in being part of making the reunion happen is invited to attend this first planning meeting.The group is looking at the weekend of September 27-28 (during Paducah's BBQ on the River) to get together and celebrate 50 years! If you have questions, call Jimmy at 270-559-7271. If you can't make the meeting but are interested in being part of the planning, call 605-475-4729 and use access code 326992 to be part of the meeting via phone.
Sheriff: Robbery, Rape, Theft, Drug Arrests Higher

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MCCRACKEN COUNTY - The McCracken County Sheriffs Office has released the statistical data for the calendar year 2018, along with comparisons from the previous year of 2017.The Sheriff's Office notes that these numbers are obtained from the total numbers of initial reports taken, and do not reflect cases that after investigation were unfounded, or were ultimately prosecuted as a lesser degree crime.Part 1 Crime (the most serious) had an overall increase of only 2%, the increase being attributed solely to theft-related offenses. This is a lower increase than we have had in Part 1 offenses in over three years and this is attributed to proactive and aggressive drug enforcement. Illegal drugs are seen as the root cause to many other crimes. Drug arrests in 2018 were a record high which shows vigorous drug enforcement on behalf of the Department.Murder investigations- none in 2018 compared to one murder case in 2017, which was investigated and cleared.Rapes- up by 3%.Robberies- up by 7%.Felony Assaults- dropped by 14%, 28 down to 24.Residential and Commercial Burglary- decreased by 18% from 166 in 2017, to 136 in 2018.Felony Thefts- up from 305 cases in 2017, to 335 in 2018.Auto Thefts- rose from 60 to 61 instances over the prior year.Arson- 5 additional Arson cases in 2018, compared to 2017.Part 2 Crime (less serious and mostly misdemeanor crimes)Simple Assaults- decreased 16%, with 331 reported cases in 2018, compared to 396 in 2017.Forgery Cases reported and investigated- decreased 29% with 38 cases in 2017, compared to 27 in 2018.Fraud cases- increased from 67 in 2017, compared to 93 in 2018.Criminal Mischief- decreased 31% from 193 cases in 2017, compared to 134 cases in 2018.Weapons Violations- increased from 15 cases in 2017 to 26 cases in 2018.Sex Offenses (other than rape)- Increased from 33 cases in 2017, compared to 46 cases in 2018.Drug Violations-up by 48%. In 2017, 726 cases investigated. 2018 there were 1,076. This was a record number in 2018.Offenses Against Families and Children- decreased 4% from 80 cases in 2017, compared to 77 cases in 2018.Arrest Data for 2018 shows the overall number of arrests made by the department went up by 6%. The number of DUI arrests was up 23% from the previous year. 2017 DUI arrest numbers were 190. For 2018 those numbers were 234. This was a higher number of DUI arrest our agency has made in the past five years.In 2018, there were a total of 3,093 arrests, compared to 2,906 arrests in 2017, a 6% increase.Collision Data for the past year shows an overall increase of 4%. The number of total accidents increased by 35. The number of fatalities in McCracken County that were investigated by this agency was 6, compared to 5 in 2017. Non-injury collisions decreased by 4% from 711 in 2018, compared to 743 in 2017. Injury collisions increased from 224 in 2017, compared to 290 in 2018.Failure to yield right of way was the leading cause to all collisions, and inattention being the second highest leading cause.972 traffic collisions were investigated in 2017, compared to 1,007 traffic collisions investigated in 2018.A few interesting facts related to this statistical data compiled:Alcohol was involved in 25 crashes.The biggest cause for these crashes was Failure to Yield Right of Way in 127 crashes.Driver Inattention noted in 93 crashes.
Commission Rejects Motion to Repeal Resolution

By Mike Cooper, West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - The Paducah City Commission rejected a motion by Mayor Pro-Tem Richard Abraham to repeal the Veterans Day Parade resolution of May 16, 2017.The resolution deals with what flags can be flown in the parade. Mayor Pro-Tem Abraham was concerned that the resolution is a violation of the first amendment. However, legal opinions obtained by the commission indicate that the resolution does not violate the first amendment.Before making the motion, more than a dozen people addressed the Board in support of keeping the resolution intact. Upon a call for a vote, the motion to repeal the resolution failed on a 1-3 vote. Mayor Pro-Tem Abraham was the only member of the Board who voted to repeal the resolution.Mayor Pro-Tem Abraham thanked all that spoke to the commission and said he is thankful to God that we live in a country where opinions can be shared like this, about things that one feels passionate about.In other business, the commission approved a change order with A&K Construction that reduces the cost of the City Hall renovation by $156,998.They approved four municipal orders and introduced two ordinances. The ordinances will be voted on at the February 12th meeting, and deal with closing the unnamed right-of-way between Buckner Lane and Exall Lane, and executing the final plat of subdivision and the escrow agreement for Townhomes of LaBarri Farms Subdivision, located at 1720 and 1740 New Holt Road.They also heard an overview of the Citys Comprehensive Annual Financial Report which includes the City audit, given by Finance Director Jonathan Perkins and David Hampton of Kemper CPA Group, LLP.Three new police officers were sworn in, Logan Barrow, Pedro Loredo, and Jeremy Teague. Former Paducah Police Chief Brandon Barnhill was presented with a Duke of Paducah award, and Mayor Pro-Tem Abraham presented a proclamation to students and representatives of the St. Mary School System, proclaiming January 27th through February 2nd as Catholic Schools Week.The next regularly scheduled commission meeting will be on February 12th, at 5:30 pm.
Abraham Explains Vote to Repeal Parade Resolution

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - Paducah City Commissioner Richard Abraham has released a statement regarding his recent vote in favor of repealing a resolution that bars groups from flying the Confederate flag at the city's Veterans Day parade.In the statement released Wednesday afternoon Abraham explains why he voted for the motion, and talks about some of the topics discussed at Tuesday's meeting. Commissioners voted 3-1 against repealing the resolution.Here is Abraham's statement:
Essential Oils 101 at McCracken Co. Library

There is so much more to essential oils than scent. Find out how easy it can be to naturally support your body with pure essential oils. In this fascinating one hour workshop you will get a basic understanding of oils and tips and tricks to use essential oils to promote wellness.





Kendall is a graduate of University of Utah with a BS in Business. She has conducted numerous classes & workshops including a recent series of classes on Essential Oils at WKCTC.





All programs are free & open to the public



For more information, contact Bobbie Wrinkle Tel: 270-442-2510 ext. 119 or email: bwrinkle@mclib.net

PADUCAH - McCracken County Public Library hosts Essential Oils 101 on Tuesday, Jan. 22 from 7-8 pm. The session will be led by Jennifer Kendall, instructor and wellness advocate.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 70F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 70F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.


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AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Founded with a bold vision to reimagine small business insurance, Cerity launches today, empowering owners to quickly and easily protect their team, their assets and their livelihood through an online workers compensation solution. Cerity takes a digital-first approach, offering quotes and coverage policies through a desktop and mobile-friendly platform, making it easier than ever to get the right policy for the right price. Visitors to Cerity.com can generate a quote in seconds and secure their business in under five minutes.



According to the U.S. Small Business Administration , there are over 29.6 million small businesses in the U.S. and that number is climbing. Many traditional insurance models were not built with a focus on small businesses, but its these owners who often need the most guidance and support as they look to properly and affordably protect their team while growing their operation. Cerity was designed specifically for small businesses and freelancers to be able to quickly input information, generate a quote, and purchase a policy, so that they can get back to what matters most - their business.

Cerity is completely reinventing workers compensation for small businesses, said Dennis Dix, SVP and Chief Operating Officer at Cerity. We are transforming the entire process - from purchasing and maintaining coverage, to filing a claim - to be simple, fast, and easy, enabling owners to secure coverage for their team within minutes.

Powered by a complex algorithm, Ceritys proprietary pricing model provides tailored quotes that address the individual needs of business owners. Cerity has more pricing tiers than most insurance companies - up to 100 - making quotes more precise.

Our digital solution was built from scratch exclusively to meet the unique needs of small businesses. Every aspect of what we do is anchored to the small business perspective, said Tracey Berg, President of Cerity. Ceritys predictive pricing model has up to 100 price points, making each quote as unique as the businesses we protect. Customers can rest easy knowing they are getting the right coverage for the right price.

Cerity is backed by Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG), an industry veteran with over 100 years of experience in workers compensation. With its team, technology and vision, Cerity is uniquely positioned to quickly become a major player in the industry, said Douglas D. Dirks, President and Chief Executive Officer of Employers Holdings, Inc.

To learn more about Cerity, visit www.cerity.com .

About Cerity

Founded with a bold vision to reimagine small business insurance, Cerity empowers business owners to quickly and easily protect their team, their assets and their livelihood through an online workers' compensation solution. With its digital-first approach, Cerity is transforming the entire process - from purchasing and maintaining coverage, to filing a claim - to be simple, fast, and easy. The companys proprietary pricing model produces tailored quotes within seconds, and can deliver a new policy in five minutes or less, enabling leaders to get back to what matters most - growing and scaling their operation. Cerity is currently available to small business owners in Illinois. Cerity Services, Inc. is a subsidiary of Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG), an industry veteran, with over 100 years of experience in workers compensation.

Copyright  2019 Cerity. All rights reserved.

Cerity Services, Inc.

Media Contact

cerity@launchsquad.com

(617) 945-1915
Five members of my family were killed by a wrong-way drunk driver on January 6, 2019. That day was the most devastating day of my life. In an instant, I lost my only sibling and best friend, Rima (38); my brother-in-law, Issam (42); my two nieces, Isabella (12) and Giselle (7); and my nephew, Ali (13). My world crumbled to pieces. That feeling is even more palpable this month, with Rimas birthday being June 12.
TORONTO, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (Enthusiast or the Company) (TSXV: EGLX) (OTCQB: EGHIF), a digital media company building the largest community of authentic gamers, is pleased to announce that the Companys common shares will commence trading today on the OTCQB Venture Market (OTCQB), under the symbol "EGHIF. The Law Firm of Burns Figa & Will PC acted as the Companys sponsor. Enthusiasts common shares continue to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "EGLX".



"Listing on the OTCQB Venture will enhance our liquidity by giving us access to the US investor capital pool. Commented Menashe Kestenbaum, CEO of Enthusiast. Currently, over half of our network traffic is generated from the US and many of our key partners and affiliates are US based, therefore, listing on the OTCQB is an exciting next step in our long-term expansion strategy.

The OTCQB is a well-established American financial marketplace for international entrepreneurial and development stage companies. The market offers listed companies the opportunity to diversify their shareholder base with increased liquidity and brand visibility, while maintaining a high level of transparent trading, annual verification and continuous regulation for US investors.

Real-time quotes and market information on the Enthusiast are available at www.otcmarkets.com/stock/EGHIF/overview

About Enthusiast

Founded in 2014, Enthusiast is the fastest-growing online community of video gamers. Through the Companys unique acquisition strategy, it has a platform of over 80 owned and affiliated websites and currently reaches over 75 million monthly visitors with its unique and curated content. Enthusiast also owns and operates Canadas largest gaming expo, Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo, EGLX, (https://eglx.ca/), with over 55,000 people attending in 2018. For more information on the Company, visit www.enthusiastgaming.com.

CONTACT:

Julia Becker

Head, Investor Relations & Marketing

(604) 785-0850

jbecker@enthusiastgaming.com

This news release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Enthusiast anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information. Such information may involve, but is not limited to, comments with respect to strategies, expectations, planned operations and future actions of the Company. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" (or other variations of the forgoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking information is based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and operating plans, strategies or beliefs as of the date of this news release, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Enthusiast to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors may be based on information currently available to Enthusiast, including information obtained from third-party industry analysts and other third-party sources, and are based on management's current expectations or beliefs regarding future growth, results of operations, future capital (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof) and expenditures. Any and all forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.

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.

The securities of the Corporation have not been and will not be 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 the registration requirement. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.




Acquinton Elementary staff is preparing a statement that will be read to the classmates of this child and will also send a letter home to the parents of these children, according to the post.
We had tea and my wife served some home-made, European-style deserts. Bogle tasted them and said, I like them very much, but can have only a little. We have guests, and had to take them out for dinner at the Lake Placid Lodge. It is a very nice place, but very expensive. I hate to pay so much money for a dinner.
As a result, the Oakland Pointe Apartment complex, which is too high (at 40 feet in height, it will require a height waiver from the Board of Supervisors), too dense (the 126 unit complex exceeds the maximum allowable nine units/acre, and so the developer requires bonus points from the county), too big (the complexs proposed multi-use field extends into the property buffer zone and the developer requires an alternate amenities waiver since they dont have room for a pool), inconsistent with adjoining property uses (zoned A-1 Agricultural, just like the proposed site of this complex), located on property that includes wetlands (Marston Pond is a designated Resource Protection Area within the distressed Yarmouth Creek Watershed), and offers low-income housing in a manner that does not comply with the countys own Comprehensive Plan, looks very much like a done deal  at least to the Planning Commission.
OK, Congress and the president are at an impasse. Government employees who need an income sooner than Congress and the president are going without pay. Maybe both Congress and the president should volunteer to go without pay until the issue is resolved. If they cant step up to the plate to do this, then the American public should demand they do so until the issues are resolved.
At least one arrest warrant was obtained on Jan. 3 in the case against Torres, according to the court documents. Torres was arrested on Jan. 18 and booked at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail the same day at 10:19 p.m., according to jail records. Torres has remained incarcerated since his arrest.
Wakefield, MA, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 350 Open Source projects and initiatives, today announced Apache Hadoop v3.2.0, the latest version of the Open Source software framework for reliable, scalable, distributed computing.



Now in its 11th year, Apache Hadoop is the foundation of the US$166B Big Data ecosystem (source: IDC) by enabling data applications to run and be managed on large hardware clusters in a distributed computing environment. "Apache Hadoop has been at the center of this big data transformation, providing an ecosystem with tools for businesses to store and process data on a scale that was unheard of several years ago," according to Accenture Technology Labs.

"This latest release unlocks the powerful feature set the Apache Hadoop community has been working on for more than nine months," said Vinod Kumar Vavilapalli, Vice President of Apache Hadoop. "It further diversifies the platform by building on the cloud connector enhancements from Apache Hadoop 3.0.0 and opening it up for deep learning use-cases and long-running apps."

Apache Hadoop 3.2.0 highlights include:

ABFS Filesystem connector supports the latest Azure Datalake Gen2 Storage;

Enhanced S3A connector including better resilience to throttled AWS S3 and DynamoDB IO;

Node Attributes Support in YARN helps to tag multiple labels on the nodes based on its attributes and supports placing the containers based on expression of these labels;

Storage Policy Satisfier supports HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System) applications to move the blocks between storage types as they set the storage policies on files/directories;

Hadoop Submarine enables data engineers to easily develop, train and deploy deep learning models (in TensorFlow) on very same Hadoop YARN cluster;

C++ HDFS client helps to do async IO to HDFS which helps downstream projects such as Apache ORC;

Upgrades for long running services supports in-place seamless upgrades of long running containers via YARN Native Service API (application program interface) and CLI (command-line interface).



"This is one of the biggest releases in Apache Hadoop 3.x line which brings many new features and over 1,000 changes," said Sunil Govindan, Apache Hadoop 3.2.0 release manager. "We are pleased to announce that Apache Hadoop 3.2.0 is available to take your data management requirements to the next level. Thanks to all our contributors who helped to make this release happen."

Apache Hadoop is widely deployed at numerous enterprises and institutions worldwide, such as Adobe, Alibaba, Amazon Web Services, AOL, Apple, Capital One, Cloudera, Cornell University, eBay, ESA Calvalus satellite mission, Facebook, foursquare, Google, Hortonworks, HP, Huawei, Hulu, IBM, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Netflix, The New York Times, Rackspace, Rakuten, SAP, Tencent, Teradata, Tesla Motors, Twitter, Uber, and Yahoo. The project maintains a list of educational and production users, as well as companies that offer Hadoop-related services at https://wiki.apache.org/hadoop/PoweredBy

Global Knowledge hails, "...the open-source Apache Hadoop platform changes the economics and dynamics of large-scale data analytics due to its scalability, cost effectiveness, flexibility, and built-in fault tolerance. It makes possible the massive parallel computing that today's data analysis requires."

Hadoop is proven at scale: Netflix captures 500+B daily events using Apache Hadoop. Twitter uses Apache Hadoop to handle 5B+ sessions a day in real time. Twitters 10,000+ node cluster processes and analyzes more than a zettabyte of raw data through 200B+ tweets per year. Facebooks cluster of 4,000+ machines that store 300+ petabytes is augmented by 4 new petabytes of data generated each day. Microsoft uses Apache Hadoop YARN to run the internal Cosmos data lake, which operates over hundreds of thousands of nodes and manages billions of containers per day.

Transparency Market Research recently reported that the global Hadoop market is anticipated to rise at a staggering 29% CAGR with a market valuation of US$37.7B by the end of 2023.

Apache Hadoop remains one of the most active projects at the ASF: it ranks #1 for Apache project repositories by code commits, and is the #5 repository by size (3,881,797 lines of code).

"The Apache Hadoop community continues to go from strength to strength in further driving innovation in Big Data," added Vavilapalli. "We hope that developers, operators and users leverage our latest release in fulfilling their data management needs."

Catch Apache Hadoop in action at the Strata conference, 25-28 March 2019 in San Francisco, and dozens of Hadoop MeetUps held around the world, including on 30 January 2019 at LinkedIn in Sunnyvale, California.

Availability and Oversight

Apache Hadoop software is released under the Apache License v2.0 and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Project's day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. For downloads, documentation, and ways to become involved with Apache Hadoop, visit http://hadoop.apache.org/ and https://twitter.com/hadoop

About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)

Established in 1999, the all-volunteer Foundation oversees more than 350 leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server --the world's most popular Web server software. Through the ASF's meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way," more than 730 individual Members and 7,000 Committers across six continents successfully collaborate to develop freely available enterprise-grade software, benefiting millions of users worldwide: thousands of software solutions are distributed under the Apache License; and the community actively participates in ASF mailing lists, mentoring initiatives, and ApacheCon, the Foundation's official global conference series. The ASF is a US 501(c)(3) charitable organization, funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors including Aetna, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Anonymous, ARM, Baidu, Bloomberg, Budget Direct, Capital One, Cerner, Cloudera, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Handshake, Hortonworks, Huawei, IBM, Indeed, Inspur, LeaseWeb, Microsoft, Oath, ODPi, Pineapple Fund, Pivotal, Private Internet Access, Red Hat, Target, Tencent, and Union Investment. For more information, visit http://apache.org/ and https://twitter.com/TheASF

 The Apache Software Foundation. "Apache", "Hadoop", "Apache Hadoop", and "ApacheCon" are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Those are not as healthy as the opportunities in regular grocery stores, Stanley said. We have higher rates of diabetes. We have higher rates of those kind of chronic illnesses, which then puts pressure on our healthcare system, which is already under enough pressure.
The ERA was first introduced by suffragette Alice Paul in 1923 but made little progress until the 1970s when 35 states ratified it, three short of the 38 needed to make an amendment part of the U.S. Constitution. Efforts subsided after the ratification deadline imposed by Congress passed in 1982. However, the Constitution does not specifically give Congress the right to put a deadline on amendment ratification.
Intelligent Lives: The documentary stars three pioneering young American adults with intellectual disabilities who challenge perceptions of intelligence as they navigate high school, college and the workforce. Following the movie, there will be a distinguished panel and an open community discussion. 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Kimball Theatre, 428 Duke of Gloucester St.. Free, but get tickets at the theatre.
Clarinet-Guitar Duo to Perform Jan. 30 at UW

Clarinet-guitar duo Jaca will perform Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Wyomings Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall. (Jaca Photo)

Clarinet-guitar duo Jaca will perform Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Wyomings Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall. The Department of Music sponsors the free public concert.

Composed of clarinetist Wesley Ferreira and guitarist Jaxon Williams, Jaca goes beyond the bounds of the classical repertoire to stimulate emotion, inspire imagination and bridge cultural divides with audiences. Performing the music of the people, Jaca redefines the parameters of nontraditional music in a traditional setting, according to the duos website.

Ferreira leads an active and diverse career, performing worldwide as soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, and serving as an adjudicator/clinician. He has been featured soloist with numerous wind bands and orchestras in North America and Europe, and has been broadcast nationally on both Canadian and Australian broadcasting corporations. Ferreiras discography includes the 2013 East Coast Music Awards Classical Recording of the Year for Beyond the Shore and the Ships with soprano Helen Pridmore.

Following four years as single-reeds instructor at Mount Allison University, Ferreira joined the music faculty at Colorado State University in 2011 and now maintains a thriving clarinet studio as an associate professor.

Williams is a player of rare power and grace, and he performs with a compelling sense of expression, according to Los Angeles Guitar Quartets William Kanengiser. Williams began studying classical guitar at age 7 and has won numerous prizes in classical guitar competitions, including the OSAA Classical Guitar Competition, Sierra Nevada International Guitar Competition, San Francisco Bay International Guitar Competition, Pacific Guitar Festival and Competition and, most recently, the Beverly Hills National Auditions.

He has performed both solo recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe; performs frequently with soprano Laurel Irene; and also plays Flamenco guitar.

Williams teaches undergraduate guitar courses at the University of Southern Californias Thornton School of Music; works in more than 20 different schools in four states; is a specialist in childrens guitar education; works as a master instructor with the nonprofit organization Lead Guitar, where he trains K-12 music teachers to teach classical guitar; teaches in-school and after-school classes; and works with students in private lessons.

He is the director of the introductory guitar program with elemental music in Los Angeles. Among his records are his self-titled debut album, La Catedral, which features works from Spain and Latin America, and Far and Away.

Williams also works as a studio guitarist, writing songs for commercials and adding guitar parts into music for original artists.

For more information, contact Kathy Kirkaldie at (307) 766-2160 or kirisk@uwyo.edu.
(Jan. 23, 2019) -- According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, over one-third of U.S. adults are obese. At the same time, obesity is the second leading cause of premature death in the North America and Europe.

A recent study by UTSA public policy professors Alexander Testa and Dylan Jackson assesses the link between food-related hardships and obesity. Using the data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and Center for Disease Controls (CDC) Modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI)a national sample that measures food deserts, their study is the first of its kind to assess the relationship between experiencing food insecurity and living in a food desert on obesity.

Food insecurity, by definition, is the inability to acquire adequate food due to a lack of resources. In 2016, an estimated 15.6 million households (12.3 percent) were food insecure. Food deserts are geographic areas where residents do not have access to supermarkets or grocery stores.

Using a national sample of adults across the United States, the UTSA researchers learned that individuals who are food insecure are at an increased risk of obesity. Study results also showed that the individuals who live in food desert are at an elevated risk for obesity. Together, these findings suggest that Americans who either do not have enough to eat or live in areas without access to stores that sell affordable nutritious foods are at greater risk for obesity.

Regarding the study results, Professor Testa stated, Our study highlights the importance of adequate nutrition for health. Millions of Americans do not have enough food to eat and live in communities where affordable healthy food options are not available. To combat obesity, it is important to ensure that people have consistent access to nutritious food.

When taking gender and race into account, the researchers observed that women are more likely to exhibit obesity as a result of food insecurity, compared to men. This may be because women are more likely to shield their children from food insecurity by reducing their own nutritional intake. Overall, Black and Hispanic households are at a higher risk for food insecurity in the United States.

The lack of access to food can be a major stressor on individuals, and our study finds that experiencing food hardships is particularly consequential for the health of women said Professor Jackson.

In the future, the authors plan to continue to research how difficulties obtaining nutritious food are related to health problems and explore which types of programs may be effective in improving nutrition and health in the United States.
Published: January 23, 2019

Ashley Furnitures Gene Lunger to Speak at UT Monday, Feb. 4

On Monday, Feb. 4, The University of Tampa will host Gene Lunger, executive vice president of retail operations (Ashley Homestores) for the global manufacturer Ashley Furniture Industries, as part of the Sykes College of Business TECO Energy Center for Leadership Speaker Series. Lungers presentation titled, The Power of a Growth Mindset, will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Crescent Club on the ninth floor of the Vaughn Center.



Ashley is the worlds largest manufacturer of furniture, and the No.1 home furnishings retailer in North America. Lungers responsibilities encompass licensed store operations, business development, and licensee marketing and retail education.



With more than 30 years as a home furnishings retailer, Lungers approach to leadership has been influenced heavily by a lifetime of adventure in the outdoors, stretching and growing his personal comfort zone while climbing mountains across the U.S. The lessons learned at altitude give him a unique perspective on life, business growth, survival and success in a wildly evolving retail environment.



The TECO Energy Center for Leadership Speaker Series is dedicated to bringing outstanding leaders from the private, government and nonprofit sectors to campus to discuss business topics and corporate strategies with students and members of the community.



This event is free to registered students and guests. Reservations are required as there is limited seating.



For more information, contact Whitney Vance, coordinator of College of Business operations, at wvance@ut.edu or (813) 257-3782.
Colombia, Brazil and Peru united in the fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Amazonian tri-border region

Leticia, Colombia - 23 January 2019 - On December 12, 2018, actors of diverse sectors concerned by the issues relating to human trafficking and sexual exploitation gathered in a panel in Leticia, Colombia. The purpose of this well-attended workshop was to update the operational plan addressing the issue of child protection vis-a-vis trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation in the Amazonian tri-border region.

The panel took place under the aegis of the programme, " Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants" ( GLO.ACT ) (2015-2019), organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia with the support of ECPAT Colombia ( Fundacion Renacer) and the United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF) Colombia. UNICEF Colombia is - together with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC) - one of the implementing partners of GLO.ACT in Colombia.

Some 100 different actors including government authorities, the private sector, international and non-governmental organizations and members of civil society from Brazil, Peru and Colombia, broke into working groups to define actions that may efficiently counter human trafficking and sexual exploitation in the region, as well as to identify and review the bottlenecks and obstacles. The workshop was also conceived as a follow-up on findings resulting from previous encounters which have taken place since 2014 in various locations, such as Leticia (Colombia), Caballo Cocha (Peru) and Manaus and Tabatinga (Brazil).

Among other conclusions, the four sub-panels clearly reaffirmed the need for a coordinated, cross-border action regarding all four areas involved: prevention, assistance, investigation and international cooperation. A key challenge frequently highlighted by the panelists relates to the need to continue stressing accountabilities and a clear allocation of responsibilities among the different actors to ensure that cases of child trafficking or sexual exploitation that are brought to the attention of the authorities are efficiently processed. The panel concluded by establishing a tripartite workplan for 2019.

The organization of the workshop coincided with the public audience held by the Colombian Attorney-General's Office on December 13, 2018, whose goal was to make visible and promote the actions of national, departmental and local authorities, private enterprises, the media, academia and civil society, aiming at the eradication of sexual exploitation and human trafficking and other forms of sexual violence against children, adolescents and women in the entire Amazon region.

Participants from all three countries welcomed the panel as a platform for exchange, laying the foundation for a strengthened collaboration in prevention, assistance, investigation and international cooperation.

The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), 11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms.

To read the full story in Spanish please click here

For more information, please contact:

www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/

glo.act@un.org

Twitter: @glo_act
LONDON, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With its beautiful beaches and tropical climate, the Caribbean has long been thought of as a perfect holiday region. But whats less known is that it also has excellent financial institutions.



One of those is CIBC FirstCaribbean, formed in 2002, as a result of a merger between CIBC West Indies Holding and Barclays Bank PLC Caribbean operations. It has gone through a series of transitions to reach its current status; that of an organisation that has supported the Caribbeans economic success.

CIBC FirstCaribbean boasts many strong credentials. Spread across 17 countries around the Caribbean, it has a total of 80 branches and banking offices. It is one of the largest regionally listed financial services institutions in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, with $11bn in assets and a market capitalisation of $1.8bn.

It offers a comprehensive range of banking services, from Wealth Management, to Retail Banking, to Corporate and Investment Banking.

CIBC FirstCaribbean puts customers at the heart of all of its operations, and thus constantly strives to build market-leading banking solutions that provide a modern, digital banking experience for its clients.

Its credit card and online banking services are celebrated around the Caribbean having won a number of awards. Its credit card suite was recently upgraded, with a series of fraud prevention features, including Freeze my Card and mobile location confirmation.

CIBC FirstCaribbean is also known for its impressive corporate social responsibility programme. Through its ComTrust Foundation, it sets aside at least $1m every year for worthy causes in the community in the areas of health and wellness, youth and education, and the environment. For the last 16 years, the bank has donated over $20m.

To find out more about CIBC FirstCaribbean check out its exclusive article in World Finance, available in print, on tablet and online now.

www.worldfinance.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.
Union Springs, AL (36089)

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 72F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Temperature chart 19 Jun 2021 | 2:00 AM Bhopal, June 18 (UNI) The maximum and minimum temperatures recorded on Friday in Madhya Pradeshs principal cities/towns:

Place Max Min (in degrees Celsius)



Bhopal 34.0 22.5



Indore 35.4 22.5



Gwalior 37.8 27.2



Jabalpur 30.6 23.3



Rewa 28.4 23.4



Satna 27.4 24.4



UNI SAN-AC. see more..

MP CMs green thumb 19 Jun 2021 | 1:41 AM Bhopal, June 18 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan planted an almond sapling on Friday at the state capitals Smart City Garden.

The senior politician plants a seedling every day in fulfilment of a resolve, an official release said. see more..

Ropar police cracksmulticrore rs interstate fake remdesivir manufacturing gang: DGP 18 Jun 2021 | 11:31 PM Chandigarh/ Ropar June 18 (UNI) Ropar Police on Friday cracked a multi-crore rupee interstate fake Remdesivir manufacturing racket with the arrest of six persons including the kingpin who used to also black market the fake replicas of the life-saving anti-viral drug used to treat critical COVID-19 patients. see more..

Four injured in an armed attack in Kangra, 2 critical 18 Jun 2021 | 11:16 PM Kangra, Jun 18 (UNI) Four persons were injured out of which two of them seriously, when they were attacked with sharp edged weapons by a group of people at Birta village in the outskirts of Kangra town on Friday

following some land dispute, police said here today. see more..
Varanasi, Jan 22 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting Mauritius counterpart

Pravind Jugnauth on Tuesday discussed wide range of bilateral and global issues and explored ways to expand further cooperation in areas of Blue Economy and collaboration in Africa.

"The discussions (between two leaders on the sidelines of Prabasi Bharatiya Divas) focused on initiatives to further strengthen the bilateral ties, including finalization of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Partnership Agreement (CEPCA)," an MEA statement said.

"The various ongoing bilateral development cooperation projects were discussed and new proposals for critical partnership projects in health, disaster management and energy were agreed upon. The leaders also discussed ways to expand further cooperation in areas of Blue Economy and collaboration in Africa," it said.

"The discussions were very warm and cordial given the extremely close and friendly relations between both countries," the statement said adding the two Prime Ministers reviewed the entire gamut of the long-standing and "time-tested strategic relationship between both countries, based on deep emotional bonds of kinship and culture".

"The leaders noted with satisfaction that India and Mauritius have always stood by each other and will continue to do so in the decades to come".

"Cementing brotherly ties. PM Narendra Modi and PM Pravind Jugnauth of Mauritius held warm and productive discussions on the margins of PBD 2019. Discussed enhancing cooperation in trade & investment, development partnership and cultural linkages," MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on the visiting dignitary in Varanasi. She noted that India-Mauritius bilateral cooperation was comprehensive and multi-faceted and that bonds date back centuries.

"Our close multifaceted relations have steadily developed over the years, based on the secure foundations of kinship and family ties, and of shared values of democracy, tolerance, peace and development".

Prime Minister Jugnauth will call on President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday here.

The Mauritian Prime Minister will visit Prayagraj on 24 January 2019 for the Kumbh Mela and then proceed to Mumbai.

He is scheduled to inaugurate the wholly owned subsidiary of the State Bank of Mauritius in Mumbai.

In December 2018, SBM became the first foreign bank to receive a license from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up universal banking business in India through Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) mode, "rather than as a foreign bank branch".

Mr Jugnauth will attend a bilateral business forum on January 25 in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr Fadnavis will call on him, sources said.

Mauritius PM will attend the Republic Day Parade at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on January 26 and also attend at Home function to be hosted by the Governor of Maharashtra.

UNI DEVN 1807
Cabinet approves signing of TOR to provide tax assistance to Swaziland

New Delhi, Jan 10 (UNI) The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the signing of terms of reference (TOR) governing the engagement of the designated Indian Expert to provide tax assistance to Swaziland -- now known as Eswatini -- under the Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) programme between India and Eswatini.

According to an official statement, an Indian expert has been mutually selected by the Union Government and the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini under the TIWB programme.

The Terms of Reference will formalise the conditions of the engagement of the designated Indian Expert to provide tax assistance to Eswatini under the TIWB programme.
Bhutan extends invitation to Nalanda DM

Patna, Jan 23 (UNI) Royal government of Bhutan has extended an invitation to Nalanda District Magistrate Dr Thiyagrajan S M to visit the country, as a token of appreciation and gratitude for efficient administrative arrangement made by him during visit of Je Khenpo, the spiritual leader of Bhutan, to Rajgir in November last year.

According to a statement from Royal Bhutanese Embassy, Dr Thiyagrajan has been invited by Royal government of Bhutan to visit the country during the period from February to April this year. He has been requested to inform his convenient date for visiting Bhutan during this period.

In the invitation letter, Dr Thiyagrajan has been appreciated for excellent administrative arrangement made during visit of Je Khenpo, the spiritual leader of Bhutan, to Rajgir in November last year. It was a token of appreciation and gratitude to Dr Thiyagrajan, the official pointed out in invitation letter.
Bangladesh to hold 'Bishwa Ijtema' in Feb: Home Minister

Dhaka, Jan 23 (UNI) Bangladeshi Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday said that 'Bishwa Ijtema', the second largest congregation of the Muslims after Hajj will be held in February.

The minister came up with the announcement while briefing reporters after a meeting with two factions of the Tabligh Jamaat at his secretariat office.

In a meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that the Bishwa Ijtema will be held in Tongi in February. The two factions will jointly organise the religious gathering, said the minister.
Oregon, WI (53575)

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BNP Paribas Is Said to Shut $3 Billion Prop Trading Arm

BNP Paribas SA, the biggest French bank, is shuttering its 2.5 billion euro ($2.9 billion) proprietary trading arm, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Opera Trading Capital division of the lender, which makes risky bets with shareholders funds, struggled to make a profit last year amid market volatility, one of the people said, declining to be identified as the details are private. BNP Paribas, based in Paris, told employees and has begun informing prime brokers and counterparties about the plans to close Opera, the people said.

Regulators have clamped down on proprietary trading -- or prop trading, for short -- since the financial crisis. While the practice isnt banned for European banks, it has become less economic under new rules. In France, for example, lenders must place their riskiest trading businesses into separately-capitalized subsidiaries, crimping their profitability.

Opera struggled in 2018, one of the people said. Volatility returned to markets last year, whipsawing investors amid a brewing global trade war and fears over economic growth. Natixis SA, BNP Paribas smaller Paris-based rival, reported losses and provisions of 260 million euros on Asian equity derivatives in December. Hedge funds, meanwhile, slumped that month and ended the year down 4 percent, their biggest decline since 2011.

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Kuwait International Airport has announced that it has adopted Microsoft Azure cloud solutions to streamline the airports operations.



The move enables the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to drive digital transformation in every facet - engage passengers, empower employees, optimise operations and transform airport services.



Located 10 miles south of the city, Kuwait International Airport is home to a traffic of 13.7 million passengers annually, up by 17 per cent since 2016. The growing operations called for DGCA to modernise the airport into a new state-of-the-art facility that can handle 25 million passengers a year and provide a remarkable customer experience. To address these needs, DGCA decided to partner with Microsoft and bring technology at the heart of this effort, keeping up with the continual changes in the aviation industry.



The government of Kuwait wants to better address issues that many international airports face: high traffic, long lines, and inefficient gate assignments, explained Mohammad Al-Mutairi, IT operations manager of the DGCA. Kuwaits Aviation sector has undergone an orbit shift and has played a vital role in the development of the economy. By implementing the latest Microsoft technology, the Kuwait International Airport will further enhance its servicing competences and drive transformation in the industry.



To handle the ever-increasing volume of flights and passengers, DGCA adopted the Microsoft Azure Cloud to gather, manage, and analyse airport data, and transform it into actionable business intelligence and data visualisations. This enables the airports employees to avoid time-consuming manual data analysis tasks, and managers gain real-time information that they can use to streamline airport operations.



For example, leveraging Azure-based advanced data management capabilities, airport operations experts can now stream the information into Power BI dashboards, a business analytics tool that provides real-time information about the number of passengers, the number of airplanes theyre flying on, the wait time at the airport, how many workers are needed to transfer luggage to what types of aircraft, and the number of open ticket counters.



Our employees are now empowered with the insights they need to make the best decisions possible, as quickly as possible," said Al-Mutairi. Our mission is to give the right people everything they need to know right now, to take the right action at Kuwait International Airport. The way Power BI brings together information in Azure Data Warehouse into one insightful, visually engaging experience - is better than anything manual methods could ever do.



Microsoft and DGCA have enjoyed a partnership for over two years to drive digital transformation in the aviation sector of the country. In 2016, the latter migrated 3,000 field workers to Microsoft Office 365, as well as implemented Microsoft Teams to improve collaboration, productivity and communication with and among field workers. In the near future, DGCA also plans to automate much of the decision-making process by using Azure Machine Learning, which will help amplify human ingenuity and reduce the risk of any possible errors.



Every improvement in the airports operation is an important milestone in the directorates modernisation. Were optimising our airports operations, which elevates our position compared to other airports, and that attracts more business. Microsoft cloud technology is helping to lift us to a higher level in the aviation industry, said Al-Mutairi.



DGCA is one of the impressive examples of our customers that are truly leveraging technology to transform their operations and improve the services they provide, said Charles Nahas, general manager, Microsoft Kuwait. It is exciting to see how they are adopting the latest technologies and tools to drive change. In particular, the DGCA recognised the power of data as a strategic asset and leveraging the cloud to make more powerful and intelligent decisions. We are proud to support the digital transformation journey of DGCA and we stand forth to support the government of Kuwait in such crucial efforts," Nahas said. - TradeArabia News Service
Dublin, Jan. 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Firefighting Foam Market by Type (AFFF, AR-AFFF, PF, Synthetic Detergent Foam), End-use Industry (Oil & Gas, Aviation, Marine, Mining), Region (APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East & Africa, South America) - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The firefighting foam market is estimated at USD 726.4 million in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 867.7 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2018 to 2023.



Market Dynamics

Drivers



Increasing Shift Toward Environmentally-Safe Products

Increased Fire-Related Expenditure, Rise in Deaths and Loss of Property

Restraints

Absence of A Standardized Regulatory Body for Approval of Firefighting Foam Globally

Opportunities

Upcoming Technologies to Combat the Issue Related to Firefighting Foams

Development of Fluorine Free Foams

Challenges

Existing Lawsuits and Litigations Against Major Manufacturers in Us

Stringent Regulations for the Production of Firefighting Foam

The key drivers that are expected to have substantial impact on the growth of the market globally include increasing shift towards environmentally-safe products and increasing fire-related accidents leading to casualties and loss of property. Absence of a standardized regulatory body globally for the approval of firefighting foam is the major restraint that is expected to hinder the growth of the firefighting foam market.



"Among types, AFFF firefighting foam is expected to register the fastest growth during the forecast period"



AFFF foam is projected to be the fastest-growing type of the firefighting foam market. The demand for AFFF is driven due to its use in the oil & gas industry for increasing upstream and downstream activities, such as exploration, production, processing, storage, transportation, refining, and distribution.



"Oil & gas industry was the largest end-use industry for firefighting foam in 2017"



The oil & gas industry is the largest consumer of firefighting foam as it is widely used for Class B fires and is the best fire protection solution for fires caused due to flammable liquids. The risk of oil-based fires is high in the oil & gas industry, and hence this is expected to drive the demand for firefighting foam.



"The APAC firefighting foam market is projected to be the largest during the forecast period"



APAC was the fastest-growing market of firefighting foam in 2017. Countries in APAC included in this study are China, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, and others. The demand for firefighting foam in the APAC is expected to rise due to extensive use in the oil & gas industry. Furthermore, the increasing number of downstream activities in the region is expected to drive the demand for firefighting foam for the oil & gas industry in future.



Some key companies profiled in this report are Johnson Controls International Plc. (US), The Solberg Company (US), Dr. Sthamer (Germany), National Foam (US), Angus Fire (UK), Kerr Fire (UK), Eau&Feu (France), DIC Corporation (Japan), and SFFECO Global (UAE).



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Opportunities in the Firefighting Foam Market

4.2 Firefighting Foam Market, By End-Use Industry (2018-2023)

4.3 Firefighting Foam Market in APAC, By Type and Country, 2017

4.4 Firefighting Foam Market, Regional Share



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.3 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.4 Macroeconomic Indicators

5.4.1 Trends of Oil Production & Drilling

5.4.1.1 Oil Production (Thousand Barrels Daily)

5.4.1.2 Oil & Gas Wells Drilled, By Region

5.4.2 Trends and Forecast of GDP



6 Firefighting Foam Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF)

6.3 Alcohol Resistant Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AR-AFFF)

6.4 Protein Foam

6.5 Synthetic Detergent Foam (High & Mid Expansion Foam)

6.6 Others



7 Firefighting Foam Market, By End-Use Industry

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Oil & Gas

7.3 Aviation

7.4 Marine

7.5 Mining

7.6 Others



8 Firefighting Foam Market, By Region

8.1 Introduction



9 Competitive Landscape

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Market Ranking of Key Players

9.3 Competitive Scenario

9.3.1 New Product Launches

9.3.2 Partnerships & Agreements

9.3.3 Mergers & Acquisitions



10 Company Profiles



3F

Angus Fire

Auxquimia

Bavaria Egypt S.A.E.

Buckeye Fire Equipment Company

DIC Corporation

Dafo Fomtec AB

Dr. Sthamer

EAU & FEU

Fireade Inc.

Firechem

IFP

Johnson Controls International PLC.

KV Fire Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.

Kerr Fire

National Foam

Oil Technics (Fire Fighting Products) Ltd

Orchidee

Profoam

Sffeco Global

The Solberg Company

Vintex Fire Protection Pvt Ltd

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/pzkbk7/firefighting_foam?w=12





Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Oman budget carrier SalamAir has announced plans to launch flights between Muscat and Alexandria, Egypt, starting March 2.



The new route will initially operate three times a week and will move to daily operations in May.



The new service is the airlines second destination in Africa after Khartoum, Sudan and the first direct flight offering between Muscat International Airport and Borg El Arab International Airport. Flights will depart from Muscat at 20:35 and arrive in Alexandria at 23:45, and return flights will depart Alexandria at 00:30, arriving in Muscat at 06:55. Return tickets to Alexandria are now available at special promotional fares.



Captain Mohamed Ahmed, CEO of SalamAir, said: Egypt is an important market for SalamAir. Alexandria is the second largest city in the country and is an important industrial and economic centre, which is also a vibrant tourist destination. The city is steeped in history and with its modern infrastructure, we are confident that the launch of our direct service will offer another dimension to business and leisure travellers alike. We aim to continue with our strategy to provide affordable, flexible and rewarding travel options across our expanding network.



Captain Ahmed added: The launch of Alexandria as our latest destination is part of our five-year strategy to continue growing our network, our fleet and diversified customer offerings. We take pride in being the first to connect Muscat to Alexandria with direct flights and we look forward to expanding our Egypt service to Cairo and hopefully other cities soon. Our aim is to continue providing our guests with exciting travel possibilities on our growing fleet of A320neo aircraft.



Today, the SalamAir network consists of 14 destinations including Muscat, Salalah, Suhar, Dubai, Doha, Jeddah, Karachi, Multan, Sialkot, Shiraz, Kathmandu, Khartoum, Dhaka, and Alexandria. - TradeArabia News Service
Boskalis Westminster (Oman) said work is underway to complete the construction of the oil dock project in the port of Duqm, with the the stage of drilling on land already completed and work underway in the drilling and deepening in the sea.



The length of the oil dock - which cost about RO200 million ($518 million) is one kilometer equipped with buoys and navigational aids, two berths for big ships and tankers for the export of petroleum and petrochemical products, where each berth accommodates the anchoring of two ships, said Boskalis Westminster (Oman), the executing company of the oil dock project in the port of Duqm (7th Package),



Confirming the success of the stage of the flow of sea water to the dock dedicated to the export of petroleum products, the company said the inspection of the pier has been conducted since mid of January and is currently in the stage of marine engineering, which qualifies it to the final stages after flooding the basin area dedicated to docking with 18-m seawater.



This came during a ceremony organized by the company today (January 23) in the port of Duqm in the presence of a number of officials from the Special Economic Zone Authority in Duqm (Sezad), Duqm Development Company, Duqm Refinery and Port of Duqm, in addition to representatives of the companies executing the project, consulting companies, subcontractors and a team of engineers, reported ONA.



The amount of required drilling is about 26 million cu m of material extracted from the drilling to deepen the port basin, which leads to the oil dock to reach a depth of more than 18m.



Approximately 5 million cubic meters of this material will be used to reclaim and fill the dock site, it added.
GE Power, a global energy leader, has joined forces with Iraqi Ministry of Electricity for the launch of Baghdad West North Substation that can connect up to 1,000 megawatts (MW) to the national grid and help decrease bottlenecks besides increasing the hours of available power.



Underlining their joint commitment to support the development of Iraqs power infrastructure, the Iraqi ministry and GE Powers Grid Solutions business celebrated the energisation of the Baghdad West North substation.



The event was attended by Prime Minister of Iraq, Adil Abdul Mahdi, senior officials of the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity including Minister Luay Al Khatteeb, various government entities, GE and other organizations.



GEs scope for work in the turnkey 400/132/11 kilovolt (kV) gas insulated substation project included the design, equipment manufacturing, site delivery, erection, testing and commissioning, and training of personnel.



The projects construction, erection, commissioning, and testing was completed by GE Iraqi engineers in collaboration with local Iraqi subcontractors,, said the company in a statement.



The facility can feed 132 kV substations at Kadhmiya, Al Shualla and Al Sabbeaat, as well as another five substations that are planned to be developed in the future and helps connect power from the Basmaya Power Plant, Taji Gas Power Plant and mobile gas power plants to the national grid.



Located about 35km away from the city, the substation can help connect up to 1,000 megawatts (MW) to the national grid, decreasing bottlenecks and increasing the hours of available power.



Minister of Electricity Luay Al Khatteeb said: "The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity is seeking to provide reliable, uninterrupted power across the country. The opening of the Baghdad West North substation reflects our efforts to achieve this goal. The substation will play a critical role in helping to deliver much-needed power, especially in the upcoming summer months."



The energization of the substation reflects our commitment to support Iraq in building a robust electricity infrastructure, said



Mohammed Mohaisen, President & CEO of GE Powers Grid Solutions business in the Mena and Turkey, said: "Our turnkey approach to project development helps bring best-in-class technology and expertise across every touch-point of the project."



"As a partner in the countrys progress, we will continue to deliver on our promise to the Iraqi people of supporting the government to build a stable electricity network that meets their needs," he stated.



Following the agreement for the Baghdad West North substation, GE also signed a $400 million agreement to develop and rehabilitate 14 additional electric substations, and to supply critical equipment such as transformers, circuit breakers and other related equipment.



The substations will connect power plants spread across the governorates of Ninawa, Salah Al Din, Al Anbar, Karbala, Baghdad, Qadisiyyah and Basra to the national grid. Several of the locations, in conflict-affected areas, have an immediate need of reliable power infrastructure.



GE employs up to 300 people in Iraq and has three offices in the country  in Baghdad, Basra and Erbil.-TradeArabia News Service
Luxembourg-based Tenaris, a leading supplier of tubes and related services, has closed its previously-announced acquisition from a private group of 47.79 per cent of the shares of Saudi Steel Pipe Company (SSP).



SSP is a welded steel producer listed on the Saudi stock market, for a total amount of SR529.8 million (approximately $141 million).



SSPs facilities are located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and have a manufacturing capacity of 360,000 tonnes per year. The company, which started its operations in 1980 and serves energy, industrial and commercial segments, is qualified to supply products with major national oil companies in the region, including Saudi Aramco.



Tenaris will begin consolidating SSPs results from January 21, and together will have more than 1,000 employees in Saudi Arabia.



Tenaris has been serving the Saudi market for decades, and the combined portfolios coupled with the strengthened technical capabilities will allow the company to better meet customers requirements.



The result of the transaction is expected to expand Tenariss industrial presence in Saudi Arabia, one of the largest markets for OCTG and line pipe products, and the range of products it supplies to Saudi Aramco.



Since its first industrial investment in Saudi Arabia in 2010, Tenaris has continuously invested in the expansion of its local operations, supporting the industrialization of the country.



The official integration of Saudi Steel Pipe into Tenaris marks an important step to further expand the companys footprint and capabilities in Saudi Arabia, said Mariano Armengol, who has been appointed as managing director and chief executive officer for SSP.



I would like to recognise the efforts of both Tenaris and SSP teams who contributed to the successful closing of this acquisition. We are very positive to what the future holds in terms of business growth and people development, Armengol added.



Ahmed Al Debasi, SSPs former managing director and newly appointed chairman of the board of directors, said: We are pleased to join Tenaris, a global leader who shares our industrial legacy, our commitment to customers and our willingness to contribute to Saudi Arabias oil and gas development.



The integration will strengthen our technical capabilities, allowing us to better meet customer requirements and become an industrial hub for the region, he added.



SSP operates five pipe production lines, covering an outside diameter range from  to 20 outside diameter which complements Tenariss existing offering in Saudi Arabia.



Tenaris premium OCTG threading facility in Dammam covers a range from 4  to 14 for the threading of full length pipes and accessories, with an annual capacity to produce 120,000 tonnes.



The combined portfolio will provide Saudi Aramco and regional customers with a comprehensive range of products, which includes welded pipes, commercial pipes and a full range of line pipes, as well as expanded services offer incorporating coating and bending, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Leading manufacturers and suppliers from Europe will showcase their latest innovations at the Paperworld Middle East 2019, a premier trade and networking event for paper, office products and stationery in the Middle East, to be held in Dubai, UAE.



The event will take place from March 18 to 20, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.



With the event is now evolving into a comprehensive umbrella event that takes in the associated industries of toys and games as well as fine leather products and corporate gifts, it has become an even more attractive platform for European exhibitors keen on widening their footprint in the region's buzzing markets, said a statement from the organisers.



Trade visitors will be able to engage and deal with a wide range of European manufacturers of paper, office products, workplace solutions and stationery, all in one place.



Alexandria Robinson, show director, Paperworld Middle East, said: While the event has traditionally enjoyed a robust presence from European exhibitors keen to tap into the lucrative and growing regional paper and office supplies market, the upcoming edition will witness an even stronger push from continental exhibitors.



Apart from a dedicated German Pavilion, the event will see representation from Austria, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Russia, Romania, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK, he added.



Portuguese distributor of visual communication products Bi-silque, manufactures and exports a broad assortment of products including bulletin and drywipe boards, interactive boards, planners boards, sign stands, easels, easel pads, and conference cabinets under the Bi-Office and MasterVision brands to over 80 countries in five continents.



Andre Vasconcelos, chief executive officer, Bi-silque, said: We will take part in event to acquire new representatives of our brands and to meet new customers.



Our focus will be education, corporate, personal and hospitality visual communication solutions. We will also present our new premium brand: Archyl, he added.



Also from Portugal is stationery, paper, office and school suppliers distributor, Clipouro. They are participating at Paperworld Middle East to further develop their business in the region and to be able to expand to other countries in the region. The company is eyeing a 15 per cent growth rate in the region.



Meanwhile Italian manufacturer of promotional and gift writing pens Stilolinea, is looking at generating new business deals in the region from their participation at Paperworld Middle East 2019.



Laura Chicco, owner and managing director of Stilolinea, said: We are a 100 per cent Made in Italy company that produces promotional and gift writing pens since 1972. Our presence covers all Europe and part of the US, Indian, African, Central America and Middle East markets.



The main reason for taking part in the event is initiating new business relations and strengthening the existing ones. But we are also looking at being able to get a better overall impression of the market situation and the competition we face In this kind of market, she said.



With a range of punching and stapling products and solutions, Rapesco from the UK distribute their products to voer 100 countries worldwide.



Hani Moussalli, international account manager at Rapesco Worldwide, said: As one of Europes leading office product manufacturers, we continue to develop and deliver new, exciting ranges within our core categories of stapling and punching.



The event is truly an International affair, and something that we are extremely excited to be a part of, as well as being able to browse the market place. Its a fantastic opportunity to exhibit our new ranges and show what weve been working hard on, Moussalli said.



Our exhibition will be focused on our quality contract office product ranges, retail products, e-commerce offerings and our environmentally friendly Eco line. The Middle East and African regions are now a part of central focus to Rapesco, which is quickly growing, offering enormous potential. Most relevant is the wide quality Rapesco product range which fits perfectly with the demands and expectations of these markets, Mousalli added.



In 2018, the event welcomed 7,004 visitors from more than 90 countries who trooped in to witness the products and services of 303 exhibitors from 42 countries. The shows co-location with Leatherworld Middle East, the regions only B2B platform for leather goods and accessories, proved popular with regional trade buyers, as did the new Corporate Gifts section and the revamped Playworld Pavilion replete with childrens toys and games, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
'Out & About' more than just a slogan
English Finnish

ELISA CORPORATION INVESTOR NEWS 23 JANUARY 2019 AT 9:00 AM

Elisa will publish its Q4 2018 interim report and Financial Statements Release 2018 on Thursday 31 January 2019 at approximately 8:30 am EET (6:30 UK time).

International conference call for analysts and investors will be held on the same day at 12:00 pm EET at Elisa headquarters, Ratavartijankatu 5, Helsinki.

Dial-in numbers for the conference call:

FI: +358981710310 PIN: 24054048#

SE: +46 856642651 PIN: 24054048#

UK +44 3333000804 PIN: 24054048#

US: +1 6319131422 PIN: 24054048#

Live audiocast: https://elisa.videosync.fi/2019-01-31-financial-statement



The presentations will be available on www.elisa.com/investors at the same day as well as a recording of the audiocast.



ELISA CORPORATION

Vesa Sahivirta

IR Director

tel. +358 50 520 5555

Distribution:

Principal media

www.elisa.com
MBABANE  Are head teachers dicing with the future of pupils? This question emanates from allegations circulating in the higher echelons of the Ministry of Education and Trainings bureaucracy.

This publication gathered that not all schools had forwarded their requests for the free primary education (FPE) programme to the ministry.

This is something which head teachers have vehemently denied.



Sources claimed that the ongoing unrest within the civil service, which also involves teachers, was to blame for the failure by head teachers to submit requests for the payment of FPE grants.



There are strong beliefs that there could be some forces which want to portray government as being inefficient with regard to the FPE grants. These forces are frustrating the process through ensuring that the FPE requests are not submitted on time to the relevant ministry.

However, government seems to be aware of such moves and is doing everything to ensure that schools operate normally and the children are not affected in any way, the source said.



Ignorance



However, head teachers claimed ignorance of such moves as they reiterated that schools had not received a cent from government as part of the FPE grants. Secretary General of the Swaziland Association of School Administrators (SASA), Siphasha Dlamini, said this was outright nonsense.

She said schools lacked basic amenities, teaching aid and needed to pay salaries for support staff. Dlamini said these allegations were far-fetched.

Head teachers need the money to fund the pupils education. So, how can they sabotage what benefits them?



Dlamini said primary school head teachers were always first in line due to the fact that it was the only source of funds to run schools that they had.

The unionist said any head teacher who did not submit the request for FPE grants had challenges with personal identity numbers (PINs). This, she said, was the biggest headache for school administrators as some pupils did not have them (PINs).

One head teacher reported that at his school, he could not claim for 97 pupils as they did not have PINs. He was advised that pupils without PINs should not be on the list submitted to the Ministry of Education and Training.



Challenge



Dlamini proceeded to state that this was a national challenge as their members from all regions had reported the same challenge.

The school administrator rhetorically questioned: What should we do when faced with this as we cant take every pupil to their homestead and force the guardians to register them at the constituency centre? She said their obligation was to advise the families and guide them to where they could be assisted if they saw that there were challenges with the PINs.



Perpetuate



Meanwhile, the sources alleged that the reason some head teachers had not submitted the requests for FPE grants was that they wanted to perpetuate the upcoming mass stay-away by public sector associations (PSAs).



The intended mass stay-away emanates from an impasse between government and the PSAs on the cost-of-living (CoLA) demands. PSAs demanded 6.55 per cent for their CoLA while government offered zero per cent, citing fiscal challenges.



The failure to settle on a figure resulted in the parties signing a deadlock. The stay-away is anticipated to start next week Monday and be on a rolling action or until the PSAs and government reach a compromise.
MBABANE  Despite the challenges faced by the education sector, first time scholars seemed oblivious of the situation.



Following the endless predicaments such as the non-payment of free primary education (FPE) grants to some schools, as well as non-delivery of food, schools proceeded to open for the first term and the excitement among Grade Is was immeasurable.



Smiles were seen on the faces of most Grade I pupils, who seemed to be unbothered by the frustrations outlined by their head teachers.

When this reporter visited SAGM Primary School, the pupils were over the moon and even posed for pictures upon seeing the camera. The pupils were already in class and seemed ready and eager to start their lessons. The teachers were seen getting to know their new learners as they shared classroom rules and routines.



Herman Gmeigner Primary School pupils were also happy and excited to begin their first day. They were found seated in their classrooms and being introduced to their teachers.



It was all cheers as pupils seemed delighted to attend school on the first day at St Marks Primary. Two pupils by the name of Lwandle Fumo and Asandze Mabuza, were seen already munching on their balanced home prepared lunch from their lunchboxes. When asked why they were already feasting on their meals, they answered that they were hungry.



I could not wait until break time for my food, said little Lwandle.

Meanwhile, Asandze mentioned that he would leave some of his packed meal for break time.

The two friends mentioned that they were happy to be in school and were looking forward to having more friends.

They said their mothers had prepared their lunchboxes and expressed their radiance and care freeness from the way they quickly went away to play.

Moreover, when this publication visited Mangwaneni Primary School, pupils were fine-tuned and were seen already adapting to their new environment.

However, some pupils could not contain their sadness at their parents left them behind.

One pupil seemed bothered by the fact that she would stay behind as her mother left her for work. The first grader was seen rather in a gloomy mood.

At Qedusizi Primary School, admissions for Grade I were found in progress as the pupils were going through interviews. They were interviewed before they were allocated seats. The two classes (Grade I A and B) were not even half full when this reporter arrived at the school yesterday.

One class teacher was found marking the interview answer scripts and said pupils would be assessed according to their capabilities and then taken into the different streams.
SITEKI  Total shutdown! Civil servants have vowed to shut down all major towns and cities next Monday and further bring all government operations to a complete halt.



This will be during the nationwide strike whereby public sector associations (PSAs) are demanding 6.55 per cent cost-of-living-adjustment (CoLa).

During a joint meeting of the PSAs in Siteki yesterday, Mbongwa Dlamini, President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), pronounced that demonstrations would not take place in one place, as it had been the case in previous strikes.



Demonstrations



Instead, he said there would be demonstrations in the major cities of Mbabane, Manzini, Nhlangano, Siteki, Piggs Peak, Mankayane, Hlathikhulu and Madlangempisi.



This is a war comrades, and in a battle we have to apply certain strategies. One of them is to monitor the movements of the enemy, he stated while flanked by representatives of the other unions.



He urged all civil servants to participate in the demonstration so as to force government to give in to their demands.

He said civil servants had not received CoLA for two years, while government was prioritising other projects.



He further denounced the decision by government to pay the gratuity of former politicians while offering zero per cent to civil servants.

Lets go out there and show our anger. We have been too soft. Im not implying that we should be violent but we should apply pressure to the employer, said Dlamini.



He mentioned that yesterday, union executives were busy liaising with municipalities with regard to procedures which needed to be followed in order for workers to be granted permission to march on the streets.



Meanwhile, some workers wanted to know if the strike would last for one day or would be indefinite.

In response, Dlamini opted not to reveal their strategies.



Instead, he said they wanted to surprise the employer (government) and hit it hard so that it could be pressured to give in to the workers demands.

On another note, government accountants vowed during the meeting to shut down all Rvenue offices and other government accounting offices.

Dumile Dlamini, Secretary General of the Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel, said no government Revenue offices would be operating next Monday.
MBABANE  The nurses strike at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital entered its second day yesterday, with nurses delivering petitions to the Cabinet Offices as well as the Ministry of Health.



The half-uniformed nurses abandoned work to deliver a petition in which they decried poor working conditions, that have resulted in public dissatisfaction with services rendered by the hospital.

Chiefly among these is shortage of drugs and working tools.



The facility has been faced with these shortages for a long time and seemingly, management is not paying any attention to this even after several engagements, said the nurses.



The nurses also said that uniforms and protective clothing had not been supplied for three years.



They alleged that they had been promised by the chief nursing officer that the issue would be resolved with the introduction of a uniform policy.

This was done but not to completion, since management failed to give regular follow-up meetings on the matter despite numerous reminders, they said. The nurses also said the staff shortage was worsening the poor working conditions.



Health services to be provided by the nurses per patient, have been added, as well as a new division within the hospital. After all these additions, the number of nurses was reduced to less than that which is supposed to be according to the hospital establishment. We therefore demand a correction to staff shortage balancing in 14 days; meanwhile, nurses shall revert to working at a single nurse capacity, reads part of the petition.



Unfit



The nurses also petitioned government to improve the female medical ward because it was declared unfit for human occupation.

The female medical ward was declared unfit for human occupation by two entities, using two different laws. management directed the principal human resources officer to issue out warning letters forcing nurses to go back and work in that extremely hazardous ward.



Eswatini Nazarene Health Institutions (ENHI) adamantly refused to abide by the law, further read the petition. The nurses union also informed Cabinet that expatriate nurses at the hospital had their services terminated unfairly because they were not paid terminal benefits at the end of their contracts.

Expatriates have no exit plan, resulting in unfair termination of contracts, the petition reads.



The nurses also demand to be on the payroll of government, given that the hospital also has a government representative in its Board of Directors.

The nurses want a response from government within 21 days.



Meanwhile, Cabinet Principal Secretary, Victor Nxumalo promised to hand the petition over to the relevant officials.

On the other hand, the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) President Bheki Mamba, said the nurses deserved to be heard by government, failing which they would take drastic action.



Government has been recruiting police officers, soldiers and Correctional officers but nothing is done to ensure the health industry operates efficiently. People are not supposed to die for lack of medicine when there is money to recruit officers. I fail to understand why soldiers are given free food yet they are also employed and salaried like everyone else, he said.
Local trumpeter cherishes the companionship of music June is African American Music Appreciation Month. The celebration was initiated as Black Music Month by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. In 2009, the commemoration was given its current name by President Barack Obama. The earliest form of black musical expression in America emerged in spiritual music. Now, Hip-Hop and...

Cash needed for Mad Anthonys Big Boom What a week! Donors for Mad Anthonys Fireworks Extravaganza pushed the total up more than $2,000 during the last seven days. I am just thrilled at how quickly weve managed to get so close to our goal, and I have no doubt the citizens of our great community will see...

Rezoning allows for two new business ventures Burke County will see a couple of new businesses in the future. The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve two rezoning requests June 8. Dwayne Wood requested a zoning change for a 5-acre tract at the corner of Gresham Road and U.S. 25 from agriculture to crossroads commercial. He...

Homeowner expresses sentiments concerning airport expansion plans Property owner Jeannie Joyner faced the Board of Commissioners June 8 with her sentiments about the county's plans for the airport, including acquisition of her home. To me the condition of the airport is not desirable, she said. If I owned a $3 million jet, I would not fly into...
TORONTO, Jan. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

SLANG Worldwide Inc. (formerly, Fire Cannabis Inc.) (SLANG or the Company) is pleased to announce that on September 26, 2018, the Company completed its previously announced offering of subscription receipts of the Company (the Subscription Receipts) pursuant to which the Company issued 43,998,590 Subscription Receipts at a price of C$1.50 per Subscription Receipt for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $66 million (the Subscription Receipt Offering). SLANG has subsequently delivered an escrow release notice (the Escrow Release Notice) to Odyssey Trust Company (the Subscription Receipt Agent) pursuant to the terms of a subscription receipt agreement dated September 26, 2018 between SLANG, the Subscription Receipt Agent and Canaccord Genuity Corp. (the Subscription Receipt Agreement) confirming that SLANG has satisfied all of the escrow release conditions, including (i) the completion or satisfaction or waiver of all conditions precedent (other than funding) to the completion of the Acquisitions (as defined herein); (ii) SLANG obtaining a receipt for its final (long-form) prospectus dated January 17, 2019 (the Prospectus); and (iii) SLANG obtaining conditional approval from the Canadian Securities Exchange (the CSE) for the listing of the common shares in the capital of SLANG (the Common Shares) on the CSE.

In connection with the delivery of the Escrow Release Notice, the escrowed funds held by the Subscription Receipt Agent, less certain commissions and expenses, have been released from escrow in order to allow SLANG to, among other things, acquire: (i) all of the interests and equity in National Concessions Group, Inc. (Organa Brands) from the existing security holders of Organa Brands (the Organa Brands Acquisition); and (ii) all of the interests and equity in NWT Holdings, LLC (Firefly) from the existing security holders of Firefly (the Firefly Acquisition and together with the Organa Brands Acquisition, the Acquisitions). Additionally, pursuant to the Organa Brands Acquisition, the Company has been granted an option to acquire all of the outstanding securities of Allied Concessions Group Inc. (ACG) and an option to acquire all of the outstanding securities of NS Holdings, Inc. (NCG). NSH and ACG are state licensed entities with cannabis related operations further up the supply chain.

These transactions establish SLANG as a leading consumer packaged goods company in the cannabis industry, said Peter Miller, SLANG Co-Founder and CEO. Were on the frontier of one of the greatest opportunities in the history of consumer packaged goods.

The Acquisitions will complement SLANGs portfolio of brands in the global cannabis industry, which includes a right of first refusal to license the Green House Brands (Green House Seed Co. and Strain Hunters) in the United States. Management believes that SLANGs portfolio of brands is uniquely positioned to thrive in the highly competitive cannabis market, as each brand is built on intellectual property with a proven track record of success. The Company will continue to develop and market best-selling branded products that provide the high quality and consistency valued by loyal and prospective consumers. SLANGs products can now be found in over 2,600 stores across 10 US states and 14 countries.

We believe that the greatest value in the industry will be created by strong brands that are widely distributed, and our strategy reflects that belief, said Billy Levy, Co-Founder and President. SLANG expects to compete at the highest levels in mature cannabis markets while maintaining minimal exposure to commodity cannabis production.

Conversion of the Subscription Receipts

In connection with the delivery of the Escrow Release Notice, 43,998,590 Subscription Receipts were automatically converted, without any further consideration or action by the holders thereof, into 43,998,590 Common Shares and 21,999,281 common share purchase warrants (the Warrants). Each Warrant is exercisable into one Common Share at an exercise price of C$2.25 for a period of 24 months commencing on the date that the Common Shares are listed on the CSE, subject to certain acceleration and adjustment provisions, as described in the Prospectus.

The Common Shares and Warrants (including the Common Shares issuable thereunder) issued upon conversion of the Subscription Receipts have been qualified by the Prospectus and are free trading. A copy of the Prospectus and the receipt therefor is available under the Companys issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Subscription Receipt Offering was completed by a syndicate of agents co-led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Clarus Securities Inc., together with GMP Securities L.P. and Paradigm Capital Inc.

Special Warrant Financing

As previously announced, on February 21, 2018, SLANG completed a brokered private placement of 22,393,366 special warrants (the Special Warrants) at a price of $0.75 per Special Warrant for gross proceeds of approximately $16.8 million. The Special Warrant financing was co-led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Clarus Securities Inc. As a result of penalty provisions attached to the Special Warrants, the Special Warrants automatically converted into 26,872,028 Common Shares and 13,436,005 common share purchase warrants (the February Warrants) on July 21, 2018. Each February Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $1.15 until July 21, 2020, subject to certain acceleration and adjustment provisions, as described in the Prospectus. The Common Shares and February Warrants (including the Common Shares issuable thereunder) are free trading.

Listing of the Common Shares on the CSE and Reporting Issuer Status

The Company has received conditional approval from the CSE for the listing of the Common Shares and expects the Common Shares to commence trading on the CSE under the stock symbol SLNG at market open on or about January 29, 2019. Listing is subject to the Company fulfilling all listing requirements of the CSE.

Upon obtaining the receipt for the Prospectus, the Company is now a reporting issuer in the Provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

About SLANG

SLANG is a leading cannabis-focused consumer packaged goods company. The Company is focused on acquiring and developing market-proven regional brands, as well as creating new brands to meet the needs of cannabis consumers worldwide.

About Organa Brands

Organa Brands revolutionized the cannabis industry with the introduction of the ground-breaking O.penVAPE device in 2012. Today, Organa Brands is home to some of the worlds largest consumer cannabis brands. After developing O.penVAPE, Bakked, Pressies, and Organa Labs into world-class brands with nationwide distribution, the company acquired The Magic Buzz, and an interest in, and exclusive distribution rights for, District Edibles. Organa Brands sells one of its products every 4 seconds around the world, and has delivered over one billion puffs through its flagship O.penVAPE line. A pioneer in the cannabis space, Organa Brands products are available in 10 US states, Canada, and Jamaica.

About Firefly

Launched in 2013, Firefly develops premium portable vaporizers powered by world-class technology. The brands Firefly 2 vaporizer is widely considered to be one of the leading premium dry herb vaporizers on the market and can be found today across 14 countries. Fireflys dynamic convection technology delivers rich, flavorful vapor in seconds and celebrates your flowers and concentrates at their freshest.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included herein, including those that express managements expectations or estimates of the Companys future performance, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as may, will, should, expect, plan, anticipate, believe, intend, estimate, potential or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to anticipated revenue of the Company, synergies associated with the Acquisitions and the anticipated date for the commencement of trading of the Common Shares on the CSE. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions regarding the Companys expected growth, results of operations, performance, industry trends and growth opportunities. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties and contingencies that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Applicable risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to regulatory risks, changes in laws, resolutions and guidelines, market risks, concentration risks, operating history, competition, the possibility that the Company will be unable to successfully integrate Firefly or Organa Brands businesses, the risks associated with international and foreign operations, the timing and ability of the Company to satisfy the final listing requirements of the CSE and the other risks identified under the heading Risk Factors in the Prospectus, as filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained herein reflect the Companys current views with respect to future events, and except as required by law, the Company does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events, or otherwise.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy 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.

Peter Miller, Chief Executive Officer

investors@slangworldwide.co
The Asaph Wilson Sherrill homeplace was located on 376 acres in northwest Jackson County at Shoal Creek in the Qualla Community and near the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Current address of the site is 135 Fort Wilderness Road, Whittier. The log cabin has long been a symbol of humble origins. Professor Robert Lee Madison, founder of Cullowhee Normal School (now Western Carolina University) and personal friend of attorney William Will Robert Sherrill Sr., wrote a fitting tribute from his observations of the photograph. The poem captures the heart of Western North Carolina mountain people. Photographed in 1900 by George Dexter Sherrill, descendant, are Asaphs daughter Josephine Sherrill Cline, her husband James Jim Manley Cline and their granddaughter Mary Cline. Will Sherrill was the grandson of Asaph and Talitha Sherrill and the grandfather of Bill and Frank Crawford, Ann Davis Melton, Mary Katherine Sherrill Lowder and Nancy Sherrill Wilson.
Note: Special one-year subscription at a reduced price for first-time subscribers or for subscriptions that have been expired for at least one year  those living in Jackson County and the Cherokee Indian Reservation (28719) addresses qualify. Offer good through Friday, Aug. 2, 2019.

We accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover; we do not accept AMEX.
For Kirkland resident Serafino Tiberio, snow storms generally mean a fractured sleep as he will likely be awoken in the early morning hours to the sounds of heavy equipment clearing snow in his neighbours property.
Old Montreal comes alive in January with Happening Gourmand and Igloofest
THE SHORTHORN

Is seeking work study student assistants for our reception desk for summer and fall.Prompt, cheerful, students with professional attitudes are encouraged to apply to answer office phones and greet guests from behind a plexiglass COVID barrier.Preference is given to students available to work some mornings. This in-office job offers flexible hours and plenty of time to study.Apply through Handshake for job #4723423 or call 817-272-3188 for more information.
Posted Tuesday, January 22, 2019 7:46 am

The Clark County Sheriff's Office is looking for the public's help in locating an elderly man named Thurmal Mallory, who they describe as "forgetful and confused."

Mallory was last seen at around 10 a.m., Monday, Jan. 21, leaving his residence in a black 1997 Honda CRV with Washington plates. The plate number is AIF3626. According to the sheriff's office he was headed to WINCO in Hazel Dell.

The Sheriff's Office asks that you call 911 if you see him.
Jasilynn Kelly (left) was crowned Miss Southern Union by her twin sister Julianna, who was last years Miss SU.
For the past 13 years, passengers all over the world have become familiar with the North Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, but a new name is on the horizon.
A statement on the defunding of NUS Trans campaign. pic.twitter.com/Cw1Uort48N  NUS LGBT+ Campaign (@NUS_LGBT) January 21, 2019

I normally refrain from commenting on NUS issues these days as a non-student. But having once been the *one* elected trans representative in the NUS I have to say this is a very dangerous move. NUS has relied on unpaid trans volunteers for far too long. https://t.co/FxtQSsgRJj  Ruth Pearce (@NotRightRuth) January 21, 2019

This thread is important. Unpaid volunteers supporting #trans students is NOT good enough @nusuk @NUS_LGBT



As a trans student I object very strongly to your attempt to stop the trans officer from being a paid post. Few groups of students are as threatened as trans students. https://t.co/NOQjonqIFT  Saboteurse (@natachakennedy) January 21, 2019

When the fight to protect the rights of trans people is only getting more heated, NUS leadership decide to defund their Trans Campaign without consultation. Its a disgrace https://t.co/8gZCuMAdT3  Zeid |  (@ZeidHHTruscott) January 21, 2019

The proposal was revealed on 21 Jan inby NUS LGBT+ and confirmed into all NUS members the following day.The letter was signed by NUS President Shakira Martin and Acting CEO Peter Robertson. The proposed cuts are not yet final and must be approved at the NUS National Conference in April. Funding for the campaign, including for the full-time NUS Trans Officer, will be paused for 2019/20 as a result of the proposed cuts. According to the letter, the NUS Trans Officer's remit will be transferred to the remaining NUS LGBT+ Officer. The proposed cuts also mean funding for seven other full-time positions will be paused for 2019/20. This will affect the positions of LGBT+ Officer (Women's Place) and the International Officer, as well as the VP Societies & Citizenship and all full-time officers from NUS Wales and Scotland besides their Presidents. The letter notes the proposed cuts are "an interim measure and specific to our transitional year of 2019/20."In its statement, the NUS LGBT+ Campaign allege that the process was conducted in secret, without consulting with any trans students. They expressed concerns that the decision was "a political rather than a financial choice".Speaking to The National Student, NUS LGBT+ Officer (Women's Place) Eden Ladley said: "Last Thursday, Rob Noon and I (the elected LGBT+ officers in NUS) were informed that the NUS UK Trustee Board voted to defund the NUS Trans Campaign, alongside a range of other cost-saving measures. We are heartbroken and angry at this decision and at the way in which it was taken. "No trans students were consulted in this decision, which shows utter contempt for the trans student community. "This decision has already been heralded by anti-trans activists as a victory for their cause. The work that they want to do on encouraging legal discrimination against trans women, defunding trans healthcare and instituting a new Section 28 will have less opposition from the countrys largest union. "NUS leadership are complicit in this, and we urge trans students and allies to get in touch with NUS and their students unions to say how this decision will negatively impact the trans community." Five NUS Full-time Liberation Officers, including Eden and Rob, signed the statement. Students and activists reacted angrily to the announcement on Twitter, condemning the move to defund the campaign and the lack of consultation.The NUS has been contacted for comment.
As a result of Brexit and the expected end to free movement of people that will accompany it, all EU citizens (other than Irish citizens) living in the UK will soon be required to register for a new type of settled status . On January 21, the day her government began the next stage of its pilot testing of the settled status application scheme, Theresa May announced that EU citizens would no longer be charged a 65 application fee . What does settled status mean, and how would it change if the UK left the EU without a Brexit deal?

Q: Does settled status still act as a guarantee that an EU citizen can live or work in the UK in the case of a no-deal Brexit?

Official government guidance has confirmed that in the case of no-deal Brexit, the settled status scheme will still apply. However, if the UK left the EU without a deal on March 29, 2019, the timeframe would be sped up.

No deal means the planned transition period , scheduled until the end of December 2020, would not happen. Under a no-deal scenario, settled status would only be available for those EU citizens resident in the UK before March

29

2019  and those who qualified by that date would have only until December 31

2020

to put in their application.

If a deal is passed, while still subject to what is ultimately agreed, it is assumed that eligible EU citizens would have until June 30

2021

to submit their application. So it is clear that no-deal Brexit leaves EU citizens with a lot less room for error or delay.

Q: Will settled status give an EU citizen the same rights they are afforded now, while the UK is still in the EU?

The idea is that yes, settled status should guarantee the same rights currently enjoyed by EU citizens taking advantage of EU free movement rules. This includes health care, pensions

and

other benefits and services in the UK.

While EU citizens who already have indefinite leave to remain in the UK can apply for settled status, they do not have to. Settled status means they can live for up to five years in a row outside of the UK and still return, compared to two years in a row with indefinite leave to remain.

According to the governments policy paper on no-deal implications , any settled EU citizens in the UK before March 29

2019

could have close family join them until March

29

2022. After this time, any family wishing to join EU citizens in the UK would be subject to a future new immigration system, under which the government intends to treat EU and non-EU nationals arriving in the UK the same.

Alex Segre/Shutterstock

Q: What will happen to an EU citizen who has not secured pre-settled or settled status by the deadline?

The deadline for a settled status application changes in the case of a no-deal Brexit  and March 29

2019

becomes a much more important date. Any EU citizen not resident in the UK before this date would no longer be eligible for settlement. This has wide-reaching implications for deportation.

Deportation of EU citizens is something the EU has extremely high protection against . But in the case of a no-deal

scenario

the high standard of protection against deportation currently governed by EU law would apply in the UK only until March

29

2019.

After this, UK law will apply to EU nationals as well as non-EU nationals. It allows anyone considered to be a foreign criminal to be deported automatically.

If,

under UK law, EU citizens who fail to secure settled status before the deadline are considered foreign criminals by the government, then there is a chance they could be liable to deportation.

Meanwhile, even if a Brexit deal is reached, there are still questions surrounding how protected an EU citizen will be from deportation after any transition period.

Q: Once somebody has pre-settled status, do they need to do anything in particular to get settled status?

Pre-settled status grants the same rights as settled status. At the moment, an EU citizen who applies and is granted pre-settled status (because they had not yet been in the UK for five years), will have to apply for settled status once they are eligible if they want to remain in the UK.

The details are unclear as to how difficult or long-winded this process will be, though the message has consistently been that the whole process will be  streamlined and user-friendly . But it remains unclear what would happen to someone with pre-settled status who fails to apply for settled status, and this could raise concerns for anybody who fails to grasp that this second step is needed.

Q: Can EU citizens apply to become British citizens once they have acquired settled status?

British citizenship is always available to anybody who meets the criteria . In the original statement of intent about the programme from the Home Office published June 2018, settled status would replace the status of having indefinite leave to remain.

This means that an EU national granted settled status would be able to apply for British citizenship immediately if they were a spouse or civil partner of a British national and had lived in the UK for at least three years (though to get settled status they would need to have been resident for five years anyway). They could also apply immediately if they had held indefinite leave to remain for more than a year. Otherwise, they would have to wait a year after getting settled status to apply for British citizenship.
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Boston Police Department(BOSTON) -- Police arrested a suspect in Boston for allegedly kidnapping a young woman who vanished over the weekend and was found alive in the man's apartment Tuesday.



The arrest marked the end of an intense search for 23-year-old Olivia Ambrose, who disappeared Saturday night after leaving Hennessey's Bar in the North End area of Boston, according to police.



Police arrested 38-year-old Victor Pena on kidnapping charges Tuesday evening at his apartment in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, about 2 miles north of the bar where Ambrose was last seen.



Investigators with the Boston Police Department said they found evidence from Ambrose's cellphone that led them to the suspect's apartment. They did not have to force entry; the suspect opened the door and the officers saw the victim inside. She was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.



She appeared to be in good health, the police department said. Officials did not offer details about her emotional state.



"We are beyond happy to have Livy home," her mother Heather told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV. "It's amazing. The Boston Police Department, as were the MBTA, the transit police, everybody. They couldn't have done more and we just want to say thank you. You can't describe it really, but just a huge relief, obviously."



Earlier this week, authorities released surveillance video from around midnight Sunday showing Pena with his arm around Ambrose as they left the Bunker Hill Community MBTA Station in Charlestown. They were seen walking together about 10 minutes later and the suspect appeared to be guiding her, police said.



"Today is a good day. Miss Ambrose was found alive," Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said at a press conference Tuesday. "Its obvious from the surveillance video that she was not going along willingly."



Ambrose's family said they were overjoyed by news of the woman's safe recovery.



"The Ambrose family is so grateful for the monumental efforts of the Boston Police Department and the MBTA and Transit police who have worked tirelessly over the last three days to bring Olivia home," Gina Addis, a family spokesperson, said in a statement. "The Ambrose family is also so appreciative of all the efforts, prayers and good wishes of their friends, family and complete strangers who have helped in the efforts to find Olivia."



The family issued a special thank you to the Hennessey's Bar staff and Ambrose's co-workers "who sprang into action and were instrumental in getting the word out" about her disappearance.



The suspect is scheduled for arraignment on Wednesday and authorities said they could file additional charges against him, according to the department. It was not clear if he had obtained an attorney as of late Tuesday night.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Salida, CO (81201)

Today

Cloudy. A stray afternoon thunderstorm is possible. High around 85F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 55F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
This is a promotional post from one of our LES Partners, The Lower East Side Partnership.

On behalf of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, the Lower East Side Partnership would like to share free course opportunities for the local merchant community. The programs designed to aide small businesses range from advancing your social media strategy to learning how become certified as a Women-Owned Business Enterprise.

NYC Goods & Services Mentorship Program

Sign up today for our free 16-week program designed to help certified Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) firms grow their businesses and learn how to successfully compete for City contracts.

Program benefits include a business needs assessment, one-on-one mentoring, courses tailored for your needs, bidding help on City Contracts, and more. Classes start in February 2019. Learn More

Commercial Lease Assistance

Small business owners can get free legal help with negotiating a lease, resolving landlord issues, responding to an eviction notice, breach of contract disputes, and lease renewal. Learn More

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January 24, 2019

This course will explore ways that advanced online tools, such as e-commerce platforms, online advertising, and content management products, can help enhance interactions with your customer-base, and better reach new consumers. RSVP

Choosing the Right Legal Structure

January 24, 2019

Brought to you by Latham & Watkins LLP, the workshop focuses on the general corporate matters entrepreneurs should be aware of when they start a business. RSVP

This is a promotional post from one of our LES Partners, The Lower East Side Partnership.
Environmental groups in the Philippines have renewed their demands that Canada takes back shipments of illegal trash that it illegally sent to the Southeast Asian nation five years ago.

The renewed calls come after South Korea, this week agreed to take back around 6,500 tons of garbage illegally shipped to the Philippine island of Mindanao last year.

Unlike South Korea, Canada has refused to take responsibility for the waste it brought to the Philippines, said Antonio La Vina, former dean of the Ateneo School of Government and also an ex-environment undersecretary.

It's really accepting responsibility. There's nothing else except that," he told ABS-CBN News, saying the only move left for the Philippines would be to wait and to continue talking with Canada.

A total of 103 containers of Canadian waste, consisting of household trash, plastic bottles and bags, newspapers, and used adult diapers, arrived in Manila in batches from 2013 to 2014. Trash from at least 26 containers (out of the 103) have already been buried in a Tarlac landfill.

The garbage was wrongly declared as plastic scraps.

The international convention, to which both Canada and the Philippines are signatories, provides that the exporting country must take back the waste materials if the receiving country refuses to accept them. But Canadian officials earlier said there was no violation of the Basel Convention as the shipment did not contain hazardous waste.

In 2016, a Manila court ordered the importers to take the waste back to Canada but the garbage heaps continue to rot in the country's ports nearly 3 years after, leading green group EcoWaste Coalition to question the government's current efforts.

"What happened to the ruling? How long do we need to wait?" said Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition, a group that since 2013 has repeatedly urged Canada to take back its waste.

In a press conference on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in November 2017, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he and President Rodrigo Duterte touched on the topic during informal talks.

"We also discussed the garbage issue which has been a long-standing irritant and I committed to him as I am happy to commit to you all now that Canada is very much engaged in finding a solution on that," he said.

Trudeau said the Canadian government worked around its laws so it can take back the garbage shipment, adding that it had been barred by its rules.

"Canadian legal regulations prevented us from being able to receive the waste back to Canada. We had legal barriers and restrictions that prevented us from taking it back, but that's done now," Trudeau said.

There were still questions being discussed, he said at that time, such as "who will pay for it, where the financial responsibility is."

A Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official told ABS-CBN News it was doing its best to ship the waste from Canada out of the country soon, as Philippine and Canadian officials have been coordinating on the matter.

Benny Antiporda, DENR undersecretary for solid waste management said the Korean case is different from the Canadian private firm's garbage shipment, which was misdeclared as plastic scraps.

"They are two separate issues, this is not the same incident as the Canada waste. The Canada waste, the principal just ran away and the Filipino principal was left and they had no money to pay for the shipment of the said waste going back to Canada. But the Canadian government was cooperating. But the problem there is it's still an existing case so we cannot even touch the evidence," he said last November.

"This Korean waste is another issue, wherein the proponents are cooperating. We just hope that they wont turn their back on us because really the full force of the law will be implemented against them."

As of November 13, 2018, the estimated cost for storing the garbage shipments from Canada at the Subic Container Terminal had already reached around P34 million, according to the Bureau of Customs bureau, while the one in a Manila port reached some P2 million.

As the Canadian trash stays in the country's ports, at least 1,400 tons of garbage have begun the trip back to South Korea while around 5,100 tons more have been packed and readied for their turn, according to the DENR.

The recent toxic discoveries, represents the third time in recent years that the Philippines has been revealed as a dumping ground for hazardous foreign trash. South Korea, one of Manilas strongest allies and top investors, has been the culprit on two occasions.

Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Abigail Aguilar said in a statement; While the Philippines itself is reeling from the amount of plastic waste we are generating, it is distressing that other countries are still looking at us to dispose of their wastes, she added.

The nations garbage woes are particularly evident in Metro Manila, a megacity of over 12 million. The city is inundated in single-use consumer plastic product wrappers for shampoo, soap, tooth paste and cooking oil due to their affordability.

Research shows that the Philippines is the third worst plastic polluter of oceans in the world, trailing only China and Indonesia, according to the Ocean Conservancy, a non-profit environmental advocacy group based in Washington.

Regional neighbors Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia were also included on the worlds worst plastic polluters list.

Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, criticized the Philippine government for accepting foreign hazardous waste when it cannot manage its domestic garbage problem.

Why do we keep on accepting garbage from other countries when we know that our countrys plastic waste, which is literally everywhere, is spilling to the oceans and endangering marine life? Lucero said.
Welcome back pirates! As you make your return to campus The East Carolinian has created a forum that centers around topics within the community where readers can express their experiences and concerns. With the new guidelines set in place by East Carolina University do you feel as these precautions will keep you safe?

Survey
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Immigrants to the United States are, generally, highly resilient. As people who had the motivation and abilities to relocate with great effort and expense across long distances to work and study in the U.S., many immigrants prove to be highly adaptive and entrepreneurial and are able to draw on social and family networks in the U.S. to start small businesses and advance in education and employment.

Many African immigrants fit into this pattern of initiative, entrepreneurship, and education. For example, compared to 31% of U.S.-born Americans who have at least a college education, 39% of African immigrants have bachelor's or higher degrees, with the highest rates of advanced education and training among immigrants from Egypt (64%), Nigeria and South Africa (57%), Kenya (44%), and Ghana (40%).

But migrants fleeing violence and persecution and seeking asylum in the U.S., and particularly LGBTQ migrants seeking asylum, are different in that many come with histories of pre-migration trauma. Furthermore, many LGBTQ asylum seekers have migrated independently from family, experience stigma and discrimination from family and immigrant communities in the U.S., and have specific needs for trauma-informed health care, targeted social services, and community-building.

Research and public media have typically overlooked the ways in which these needs of LGBTQ asylum seekers are different from those of the general asylum-seeker population. Filling this gap, several recent studies have looked at the health needs of African-born LGBTQ migrants in the U.S. and their needs for targeted, trauma-informed services to engage them in mental health care, sexual health care, and other health and social services.

Factors Impacting Mental Health of African LGBTQ Immigrants

Traumatic histories from Africa: Homosexuality is highly stigmatized in many African settings, as evidenced by current national laws in more than 25 African countries that make same-sex sexual activity illegal. LGBTQ migrants from Africa describe high rates of rejection from family and community, harassment, blackmail, violence, and sexual violence, all of which contribute to ongoing mental health issues, such as depression or other post-traumatic stress disorders.

Lack of support from African migrant communities in the U.S.: African LGBTQ migrants who fled their countries because of violence or persecution related to their sexuality or gender frequently migrate independently from family. This means that they lack the family and community support that helps many other immigrants in resettling and accessing work and education. Many African LGBTQ immigrants also experience or fear homophobia from family members and African communities in the U.S. This "sexual minority stress" includes actual or anticipated discrimination and rejection and a dynamic in which people live closeted lives, concealing core aspects of their emotional, social, and sexual lives.

Migration-related stress: Migration is stressful, especially for refugees who have fled their countries with few resources and face initially insecure employment and housing, social isolation in a new place, and anxiety and depression deriving from the effort to navigate a new language, new cultures, and new systems.

The Combined Effect of Trauma on Health

The combination of these multiple traumas pre- and post-migration and lack of support networks in the U.S. has consequences for people's health. Traumatic histories, minority stress, and migration-related stress together cause a greater likelihood of mental health issues, including substance use and addiction disorders.

For example, a recent study interviewing 70 African-born gay and bisexual men living in New York City in 2015 found that immigrant African gay and bisexual men who had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were more likely to experience depression. Men in the study who had histories of homophobia or sexual violence in their home countries, had internalized homophobia, and/or had economic issues such as housing instability in the U.S. were significantly more likely to have substance use and addiction issues.

"The interrelatedness of these factors points to the need for interventions that address both home and host country experiences that contribute to the current disposition of this highly resilient community," says Adedotun Ogunbajo, co-author of the study.

Despite these needs, with limited family, social, or community supports, African-born LGBTQ migrants who have fled their countries may not know of available services, may not be able to navigate access to appropriate services, or may not trust or may fear rejection from service providers. This is especially true of LGBTQ Africans who are undocumented migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

Evidence-Based Components of Effective Services for African LGBTQ Immigrants

Engagement of African LGBTQ asylum seekers: Open social and cultural events and regular support groups are an important strategy to help asylum seekers link to social networks, social services, and health care. Community advisory groups can also be formed to advise about program design, implementation, and evaluation, and to help develop health education messages that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, disseminate information through social media and peer networks, and help asylum seekers to access and navigate services.

Sexual health services for LGBTQ asylum seekers: LGBTQ migrants need high-quality sexual and reproductive health services that are affordable and accessible for undocumented migrants, and attentive to and centered on people's needs. HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a specific health concern for African gay and bisexual men in the U.S. Relatively high HIV and STI prevalence has been documented among gay men across all regions of Africa, including major countries of origin for migrants to the U.S., such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria. Beginning in 2010, HIV was lifted as an exclusion criterion for people seeking to come to the U.S. African gay and bisexual men in the U.S. may also be at elevated risk for HIV and other STIs for the same reasons as U.S.-born African Americans, notably, high background STI prevalence within sexual networks and a lack of high-quality affirming sexual health services targeted to gay and bisexual men.

Clinical and social service programs that are trauma-informed: Trauma-informed services are defined as services with protocols and training to recognize and identify signs and symptoms of trauma, provide access to appropriate services and support, and avoid practices that re-traumatize people. For African LGBTQ immigrants, trauma-informed services emphasize trust, safety, and peer support; specifically recognize and address mental health issues related to migration and/or sexuality and gender identity; and promote people's recovery and resilience.

Like countless waves of immigrants coming before, African-born LGBTQ people in the U.S. bring a rich diversity of talents, cultures, and life experiences to the United States and have abilities and resilience rooted in their willingness to uproot and move long distances to forge new creative and entrepreneurial lives in this country.

The experiences and voices of African LGBTQ people in America, and particularly of those fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the U.S., are centrally important in informing and improving health services and community-based services.

Further reading:
Blackshear, GA (31516)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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In many states, there are few laws and regulations restricting employers from viewing perspective hires social media accounts.
The oral history of 12 Aggies can be listened to at an exhibit in Stark Galleries until Jan. 31, and all recordings can be found at tamu.edu/StoryCorps.
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Letter to the Editor

The efforts been renewed to bond for a new school. . Let me state the problem Everybody, including me, wants a new school, nobody wants to ...
Swinburne University of Technology has launched a new global Blockchain Centre of Excellence in partnership with Capgemini, a world leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation.

The Centre of Excellence was launched in the heart of San Francisco at Capgeminis Applied Innovation Exchange. The event was attended by stakeholders from the local innovation ecosystem, from leading financial institutions to global corporations, local startups and venture capital firms, all interested in applying and leveraging blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology uses the power of a distributed ledger to allow data and transactions to be verified accurately and efficiently.

The centre will focus on advancing blockchain technologies, platforms, assets and systems to develop industry understanding and implementation of blockchain technologies. Swinburnes multi-disciplinary team will collaborate with Capgeminis network of global experts to lead development and implementation of innovative blockchain solutions from proof of concept to production.

Innovative blockchain solutions for industry

Based at Swinburnes Hawthorn campus in Melbourne, the Centre of Excellence operations will be managed by Capgemini Chief Technology Officer for Financial Services, Sudhir Pai, and Swinburne Dean of the Digital Research and Innovation Capability Platform, Professor Yang Xiang.

The centre will provide research-led thought leadership and drive strategic blockchain developments to address complex business problems in financial services, creative industries, manufacturing, food, pharmaceutical and health domains.

Swinburne Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development) Professor Aleksandar Subic says blockchain is at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution and digital economy.

We see this technology as the key digital innovation platform supporting global supply chains, intellectual property and trade across a range of industry sectors in the future, says Professor Subic.

The partnership with Capgemini will consolidate our complementary capabilities and networks within the scope of an interdisciplinary global Centre of Excellence. The centre is focused on translational research and development of innovative solutions to complex systems problems in industry that require active collaboration between many stakeholders and sectors, which is why this unique public - private sector partnership is essential, he says.

What makes Blockchains so powerful is the fact that they are distributed and digital, but this in turn creates significant challenges relating to connectivity, performance, interoperability, validation and security, which the centre aims to address. Successful development of blockchain solutions will depend not only on our technology but also on how well we work with our global industry partners on the development of new business strategies and capabilities.

Capgemini CTO, Sudhir Pai, says the partnership will allow for more exciting blockchain use cases across industries.

Applying blockchain to enterprises is a game changer for many industries. Our collaboration with Swinburne will provide a platform for industry collaboration with academic institutions and start-up communities to support innovation and growth in todays digital economy, he says.

Blockchain at Swinburne

Blockchain technology is at the heart of Swinburnes Industry 4.0 strategy.

The Centre of Excellence will build on the capabilities of Swinburnes current Blockchain Innovation Lab. Swinburne will engage with experts and researchers from a wide range of disciplines (including IT, Business and Law, Engineering, Health and Design) to tackle interdisciplinary problems and challenges related to developing and implementing blockchain technologies.

Last year, Swinburne began work on a blockchain technology platform to revolutionise the global art trade industry through a partnership with ArtChain Global. The platform uses blockchain and Internet of Things to support the registration, trade and tracking of art assets across their entire lifespan.

Images from the launch in San Francisco can be viewed on Flickr.
Home to wild mountains, enchanting redwoods and a magnificent coastline, Big Sur is the essential stop on California State Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway.

STAY:

Tickle Pink Inn

This 35-room property, set among Monterey pines on the craggy coastline of Carmel Highlands, offers uninterrupted vistas to the Pacific. Don't be surprised to see whales out at sea, spouting and blowing.

TicklePinkInn.com

Post Inn

This romantic hideaway was once the Post family's working ranch, among the first homesteads established in the wild beauty of Big Sur. It's now an upscale, environmentally responsible lodge, with rustic-luxe suites overlooking the ocean. The Sierra Mar restaurant is open to visitors for lunch and dinner.

PostRanch Inn.com

Big Sur Lodge

The friendly and relaxed Big Sur Lodge is set among magnificent redwoods, within the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The good-value, 62 cottage-style accommodation includes family rooms that can sleep up to four; self-catering cottages with kitchenettes; and romantic cottages with fireplaces. There is an on-site store, restaurant and coffee-shop. Many walking trails start right at the lodge; and as guests of the Big Sur Lodge one has unlimited car access to the park.

Glamping / Lisa Corson

BigSurLodge.com

Camping and glamping

Big Sur's campsites are well-equipped for travellers with campervans; as well as for those looking to enjoy the simply pleasure of sleeping under canvas.

If you want to experience the allure of a night among the redwoods, but can't pitch a tent like a pro, then try Ventana's Redwood and Canyon Glampsites - where you'll find safari-style tents with double beds.

VentanaBigSur.com

EAT:

Big Sur Bakery

The Big Sur Bakery is part of the region's heritage. Built in the 1930s by the Post family, it has been a regular stop for visitors and residents.

Enjoy an espresso or stay for a signature wood-fired pizza or sample the menu of homemade dishes.

BigSurBakery.com

The Sur House

Big Sur is all about the forest, mountains and the ocean, and at The Sur House restaurant at the Ventana Big Sur resort you feel embraced by them all. Executive Chef Paul Corsentino promises fine coastal cuisine - that means local Pacific-sourced seafood and free-range meats from regional farmers. Dinner is a sophisticated affair, but lunch can be a simple gourmet sandwich and a glass of Californian wine. Either way you'll get to enjoy the remarkable views from the terrace out to the vastness of the Pacific, framed by redwoods and the mountains.

The Sur House

VentanaBigSur.com

Deetjen's Big Sur Inn

This vintage traditional inn was opened by Helmuth and Helen Deetjen to serve the wagons that used to pass through Big Sur in the last century.

The award-winning restaurant, originally created by Englishwoman Barbara Blake in the 1930s, has a charming interior cluttered with antiques and collectables, offering a cosy setting for a menu that includes local meat, vegan and vegetarian dishes as well as the catch of day.

Deetjens.com

Ragged Point Inn & Resort

A popular place to take a rest-stop on the highway, this cliff-hugging hotel has a restaurant; and an espresso bar and sandwich stand for those looking for a quick coffee and bite to eat.

Deetjen's Inn

RaggedPointInn.com

DO:

Bixby Creek bridge

The twisting highway offers compelling sights at almost every turn, like the famous Bixby Creek Bridge, south of Monterey. It's the perfect place for a sunset Instagram.

VisitCalifornia.com

The Henry Miller Memorial LIbrary

The Henry Miller Library is a cultural centre that also celebrates the life and works of the American NYC author that made Big Sur his home in later life.

HenryMiller.org

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

One of the most popular park sights is right by the highway - the McWay Falls, where you can watch the water tumble onto the pristine beach below.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

A wonderful place to experience the redwoods. Many are accessible without the need to walk far, including one of the oldest trees in the park - the Colonial Tree.

Hearst Castle

Parks.ca.gov

Hearst Castle

Be wowed by the storytelling of the guides as you explore this remarkable historic home, built on an 'enchanted hill' high above San Simeon, at the very south of Big Sur. Media mogul William Randolph Hearst's fantastical, extravagant estate of Spanish/Mediterranean architecture (the bell towers were modelled on the Santa Maria la Mayor church in Ronda, Andalucia) was once surrounded by one of the world's largest private zoos. The 'Casa Grande' was the setting for some of the most talked-about parties of the era, hosted by Hearst and his twenty-something show-girl and actress mistress, Marion Davies. Famous guests included politicians, journalists, entertainers and sportspeople - think Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Charlie Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Clark Gable.

HearstCastle.org

TRAVEL:

Visit California

The comprehensive Visit California site covers the entire state, and all of the Pacific Coast Highway, with details on what to see and do, as well as where to eat and sleep.

Monterey coastline

VisitCalifornia.com

See Monterey

Big Sur is within Monterey County, and the region's site is a good source of up-to-date information on events in the area.

SeeMonterey.com

Hertz Car Hire

I joined Hertz UK's free 'Gold Plus Rewards' service that offered reward points, as well as fast pick-up and returns. For inspiration on other US road-trips visit the Hertz Road-Trip planner online, where you will also find downloadable maps and additional insider guides.

hertz.co.uk/p/american-road-trip-planner
Bay of Plenty

Our Client is looking for an Assembler for their finishing department. This role is based in Tauranga and will be an immediate...



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Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view.
We have learned in the past 30 years, "lock 'em up" does very well. Smart on crime does not work, be tough and stand tough will work. We all can help, let's start with the parents of these kids after you have arrested them for doing bad.
"As a general rule, we are reluctant to recognize entities that do not control entire countries because then they are responsible for parts of the country that they don't control," he said. "And we are reluctant to derecognize leaders who still control parts of the country because then you're absolving them of responsibility in the areas that they do control."
DeSantis said the State Board of Administration is expected Tuesday to review a report that adds Airbnb to a list prohibiting state investment in companies that boycott Israel. The company is working to go public later this year. The State Board of Administration, comprised of DeSantis, Moody and Patronis, oversees investments in the states pension program
When East Dundee, a tiny suburb of Chicago, ordered body cameras for its 17 police officers, Terry Mee, the police chief at the time, told local reporters the devices would promote "officer safety" and "positive interaction with the public."

But before a single incident could be recorded in the village of 3,000 people, Mee retired, and the new chief, George Carpenter, persuaded the Village Board in February to cancel the program, arguing that the $20,000 annual fee for the cameras and video storage couldn't be justified amid budget concerns.

Body cameras "are wonderful for winning public trust," Carpenter said. "But it's expensive."

In recent years, after a spate of fatal police shootings sparked nationwide protests, politicians and community activists seized on police body cameras as a way to restore public trust. Although the cameras were widely adopted, many departments - especially in smaller jurisdictions - are dropping or delaying their programs, finding it too expensive to store and manage the thousands of hours of footage.

The police department in Wahoo, Nebraska, ended its program in November after a new state law required video to be stored for at least 90 days, causing the annual price to spike to $15,000 - a big cost for a force of five officers. In Arlington County, Virginia, the Police Department decided not to use body cameras after a pilot project revealed an estimated annual cost of $300,000.

And city officials in Madison, Wisconsin, in November rejected a proposal to spend $104,000 on a body-camera pilot program. While cost was the primary concern, activists and city officials also worried that the videos might be turned over to federal immigration officials and used against undocumented immigrants in the community.

"A call for transparency is not the same thing as accountability," activist M Adams told the Madison Common Council. "If we as a community don't have the power to interpret the footage, if we as a community don't have the power to make a decision about the outcome of the footage, then it makes no difference how much footage that there actually is."

Most departments that have ended body-camera programs are in smaller jurisdictions; Axon, a body-camera manufacturer, said every one of its clients that has canceled contracts cited costs.

"The easy part is buying the body cameras and issuing them to the officers. They are not that expensive," said Jim Pasco, executive director at the National Fraternal Order of Police. "But storing all the data that they collect - that cost is extraordinary. The smaller the department, the tougher it tends to be for them."

Though urban areas with high crime rates are often viewed as having the greatest need for police body cameras, a Washington Post database that tracks fatal shootings by police shows that such occurrences are more statistically prevalent in small communities. Of the 1,800 departments that have reported a fatal police shooting since 2015, nearly 1,300 were departments with 50 or fewer officers.

About half of the nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies have some type of body-camera program, with many still in the pilot stage. Some outfit patrol officers with the cameras, while others require everyone to wear a camera, including police chiefs. No government agency or industry group tracks the number of departments that have ended their body-camera programs.

Costs have spiked in recent years in some regions of the country because of new state laws that require long-term storage of video footage. One of the first police agencies to stop using body cameras was in Jeffersonville, Indiana, where police ended their year-old program in 2016 after state lawmakers voted to require storing the videos for at least 190 days.

At the time, at least seven other states had similar storage laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Now, at least 14 states have passed laws that set storage requirements.

In 2016, the U.S. Justice Department surveyed police departments that had not yet begun using body cameras, seeking to identify possible deterrents to the programs. Seventy-seven percent cited costs, including for data storage. Thirty-nine percent cited privacy concerns, including times when domestic violence victims and the mentally ill are captured on video during police response calls.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance, a division within the Justice Department, offers grants to help agencies finance their programs, and 339 grants worth nearly $70 million have been awarded since 2015.

But the grants cover the initial equipment purchase, not ongoing storage fees. Justice Department officials said the grants are meant to "foster novel and innovative practices" that become "self-sustaining."

In Virginia, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said he held off on buying body cameras as he watched his peers experiment with the programs. He was worried about the cost of storage and the time and expense of processing public information requests for the footage, because the videos must be reviewed - and often edited - to protect the privacy of people captured in the recordings.

Roessler also wanted time to establish clear policies for how officers would be held to account if body-camera footage captured misconduct.

"My peers said, 'Wow. I didn't think of these things,' " Roessler said. "You have to have a policy to hold people accountable. If you don't do that, the program fails. . . . If you aren't going to release footage, you aren't building trust."

Roessler said that his department - the largest in Virginia - recently completed a 180-day pilot program and that American University researchers are now assessing it, including the costs.

Prosecutors, too, are struggling to keep up with the added workload and cost of body-camera footage. In Wayne County, Michigan, a jurisdiction that includes Detroit, prosecutors were hit with $2.5 million in unexpected personnel costs - nearly an 8 percent increase in their annual budget - for work associated with preparing videos to be presented as evidence at trial.

Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney Colin Stolle said video evidence has increased costs for his office by more than $1 million a year, a significant impact on a $10 million annual budget. Stolle is adding 14 employees - lawyers, paralegals and clerks - to a 93-member staff to handle the heavier workload.

"A lot of police departments, from a transparency standpoint and from a liability standpoint, went out and purchased body cameras. I certainly understand that," Stolle said. "What was not part of the conversation is what will be done with all the recorded evidence when it's used in a criminal case."

Stolle said he's also worried about the effect on court-appointed defense attorneys, who are typically paid $250 per case in Virginia, a fee schedule based on the assumption that it takes about three days for an attorney to prepare a case.

But reviewing video evidence has bumped the average case preparation time to a week or more, Stolle said, and he's afraid the shift will cause local lawyers to opt out of the program, which provides legal representation to people who can't afford it.

Virginia legislators created a group to examine the rising costs, estimating in December that prosecutors' offices across the state collectively would need to hire 101 assistant commonwealth's attorneys and 57 paralegal and administrative positions to keep up with the extra work. These conclusions are based on the group's findings that an extra position needs to be added for every 75 body cameras, at a total cost of about $6.4 million a year.

The Washington Post's Julie Tate, Steven Rich and Wesley Lowery contributed to this report.

This story first appeared in The Washington Post
The man who committed the robbery is 5 foot 6 inches to 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighs between 220 and 250 pounds, according to postal service officials. At the time of the robbery he was wearing blue jeans, a black hoodie and a bandana that was covering his mouth.
Remorseful jurors are not common, but they do surface from time to time. The last one to emerge in a high profile Broward case involved Matthew Bent, a teenager convicted of aggravated battery in the 2009 burning of Deerfield Beach Middle School student Michael Brewer. In that case, the juror said she meant to vote not guilty but was confused by the process.
"Is there any reason why tomorrow there's not a hard corner in every classroom in every school in the district? James Harpring, undersheriff for the Indian River Sheriffs Office and a member of the commission, asked Superintendent Robert Runcie in November. A hard corner is immediate, doesn't cost anything, and is an immediate lifesaving action that can take place.
Fort Lauderdales Spring Break is not as rowdy and crowded as it once was, but it still draws tens of thousands to the central beach area, radiating out from Las Olas Boulevard and State Road A1A. Last year, the city got strict. During Spring Break, no coolers, rafts, tents, tables, loud music or mobs of people are allowed. The rules dont apply to all Broward beaches where Spring Breakers congregate  only the Fort Lauderdale beach area north and south of Las Olas and the historic Elbo Room bar.
If at least one child comes home and one homicide is solved, we will have done our job, said John Walsh, the former South Florida resident who is a host and executive producer of the series, which has a partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children or NCMEC where son Callahan Walsh works. Callahan Walsh also appears on the show as a roving reporter who visits the scenes of violent crimes in search of clues to find fugitives.
Investigators are asking anyone who knows him or has any other information to contact Detective Thomas Gentile at 954-722-5800. Anonymous tips can be given to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 or online at browardcrimestoppers.org. Tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.
Shah and Ioffe have data to support screening in a recently published paper for Urology Times. Looking at tissue from nearly 2,900 biopsies, they found that after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force - the federal agency that weighs in on the need for PSA tests - said routine PSA screening was unnecessary in 2012, fewer biopsies were performed. But more of those biopsies revealed cancer, suggesting that some cases are being diagnosed later than they could have been.
Whenever I see a report touting possible new peanut allergy treatments, I devour it. I can't help it. It's an occupational hazard for any health journalist whose reporting specialty and medical history intertwine.



I write about the business of health care, focusing on how consumers interact with the system, what we pay, what we get and why American care costs so much. But in this particular instance, I have another kind of authority: 26 years of life-threatening allergies to nuts and peanuts.



So, when California-based Aimmune Therapeutics sparked optimistic headlines after releasing clinical trial results that its allergy product, AR101, would reduce the risks linked to an accidental exposure to peanuts, I received the usual wave of questions from friends, co-workers and my parents: Would you try it? Could this help?



Aimmune is just one company eyeing the prize. Childhood peanut allergy diagnoses increased more than 20 percent in the United States from 2010 to 2017. The global market for relief is worth as much as $2 billion. The French drugmaker DBV Technologies is also working to commercialize a peanut allergy patch. Other companies, including industry giant Sanofi, are following their lead.



If any one of them succeeds, it could change my life.



My friends call nuts "Shefali poison." My allergies first surfaced when, as a 15-month-old, I picked Thai noodles off an aunt's plate and developed hives on my face, and then a few months later when I tasted my mom's kaju barfi an Indian dessert with cashews and ended up in the hospital. Nobody in my family had ever heard of peanut allergies.



I've carried epinephrine since I was 7 years old. My friends are trained to inject it in my leg, the standard procedure for an emergency allergen exposure. Though I luckily haven't had to take a shot of it since I was 4. (Another child in my Montessori class had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.)



My mom also recalls another incident when she had to pick me up early from day care because the class was making peanut butter bird feeders. And I spent too many years of pre-adolescence eating lunch at the designated "peanut-free table." Now, I can only dream of flying to visit my parents for Christmas without worrying about whether my seatmate's snacks might induce anaphylaxis. And yes, kissing someone who has just eaten peanut butter would put my life in danger.



But are these pills and patches a true breakthrough for people like me?



I approached the question as I would any other assignment. I read the research, called immunologists, and spoke with economists and drug pricing experts about whether these treatments offer meaningful benefit.



One of the first things I heard: "We are still in the infancy of these treatments," said Dr. Corinne Keet, a pediatric allergist at Johns Hopkins University.



Medically, there's a lot we don't know about the risks, how much these drugs could help and how long any effects would last.



"None of these treatments have been shown to prevent fatal reaction," Keet emphasized.



The idea behind them is to desensitize people. Aimmune's "peanut pill" is modeled on the oral therapies some specialists use to wean allergic kids back on to nuts. This approach has gained popularity in recent years, especially for children with multiple allergies, or when it's a substance particularly hard to avoid.



A colleague's young daughter, who was born with multiple allergies, used that very treatment, as did a younger cousin of mine who, for the first several years of her life, was allergic to not joking almost everything but fruits and vegetables. In my case, this therapy came into vogue after I was too old to have a good chance of it weakening my sensitivities.



How it works: Kids ingest tiny, escalating doses of peanut protein. They then stay on peanut protein Aimmune recommends the pill, though other doctors I spoke to suggested a little bit of peanut as a maintenance drug.



But it's unclear how much the new therapies would improve upon that ad hoc oral immunotherapy allergists are already offering. Instead of drugs, they use store-bought peanut protein, usually de-fatted peanut flour available online for as little as $1 a pound. This method isn't approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and often isn't covered by insurance though doctors' visits can be billed as "food challenges" or other visits that are typically covered.



In contrast, Aimmune's product is expected to cost between $5,000 and $10,000 for the first six months of use, and $300 to $400 per month after. Analysts predict DBV's will cost more than $6,000 for a year's supply, though the company says it has not yet determined a price. DBV, Aimmune's chief rival, has come up with a wearable skin patch that would transmit tiny, desensitizing protein doses. It declined to estimate a price, but it does not view oral immunotherapy as a competitor, said Joseph Becker, a company spokesman.



"There's excitement, there's caution and a lot of unanswered questions," warned Dr. Erwin Gelfand, a pediatrics and immunology professor at the University of Colorado.



According to Aimmune's results, published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, two-thirds of allergic children could ingest 600 milligrams of peanut without harm after going through treatment.



To be clear, even with Aimmune's help, someone like me still couldn't safely eat PB&J. But it would desensitize me enough that I could taste a friend's wine even if he recently ate pad thai.



Still, the treatment comes with caveats.



While 496 children started the trial, only 372 completed it. Of the 20 percent who backed out, half did so because of adverse events. About 14 percent of kids getting treatment still had to take epinephrine, and one experienced anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that can involve rashes, vomiting, a tightening throat and difficulty breathing. (For an allergic kid, even the possibility is maybe one of the most terrifying things you can imagine.)



Children who completed the regimen still had to take small doses of peanut protein daily, either the Aimmune drug or a controlled peanut serving. Statistically significant benefits were clear only in patients through age 17, though Dr. Daniel Adelman, the company's chief medical officer, said Aimmune plans to do a follow-up trial for adults.



And the results don't indicate who is likely to benefit, or how long improvements would last. That's impossible to know, Adelman said, though he suggested accidental peanut exposure is scary enough and pure avoidance ineffective enough that the treatment is still worth it.



But all this means that anyone who has gone through Aimmune's regimen would still want to carry epinephrine, and try to avoid peanuts.



"Not everybody responds well," Gelfand said. When you factor in those details, the results are "not all that impressive," he argued.



Dr. Tina Sindher, a pediatric allergist at Stanford University, pointed out that the Aimmune pill is a repackaged, clinically tested version of that homegrown oral therapy many allergists have already been using. DBV's peanut patch, Viaskin, to a lesser extent, is the same more convenient, perhaps, and more regulated, but still a variation on the existing medical approach.



"This concept has been around for a long time," she said.



What's new is the addition of labor, standardization and federal oversight which companies then say demonstrates increased value.



It highlights a pattern I've noticed from my reporting: Drugmakers develop medication that refines a low-tech remedy, run a clinical trial to secure FDA approval, and then sell it at a higher price. For pharma, it's a logical way to profit. But it puts patients in a bind.



"The hard outcome is we have these new products and they're just about as good or slightly better than what we have," said Nicholson Price, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, who studies drug pricing. "And they're a lot more expensive." He noted: "That's when the choices get hard, and we're not good at making hard choices."



Also skeptical? The closest authority I know: my mother, who raised me with peanut allergies when they were more or less unheard of, and is now doing it all over again for my 10-year-old brother. (My other brother, my twin, was allergy-free until about a year ago.)



"It's not worth it," my mom told me. Her concern? Getting any of us to maintain a peanut dose without knowing how long that reduced sensitivity would last could induce what she called "a false sense of security."



This thinking isn't out of line, Sindher suggested. The way these studies are touted, she said, often "gloss over the fact that there's a lot we don't know."



So for now, I'll have to maintain my distance from the newsroom stash of Reese's Pieces. My epinephrine and I aren't parting ways anytime soon.
According to Greendorfer, two of Samidouns leaders (Khaled Barakat and his wife, Charlotte Kates) are also PFLP members, with Barakat being the head of PFLPs foreign operations. Other Samidoun officials, like Mohammed Khatib and Mustafa Awad, are also PFLP members. Samidoun members also have close ties to Hamas, and Hamass chief of security (Tawfeek Abu Naim) in particular. Furthermore, Samidoun members such as Sayel Kayed is also a board member of another BDS group, American Muslims for Palestine, and Lamis Deek, another Samidoun member, is a board member of Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) (an unindicted co-conspirator in the funding of Hamas).
In this case, I suspect there is difference between what Russia must say publicly to assuage Iran and Syria, and what they are probably telling the Iranians privately, he continued. Publicly, its easy to chew out Israel; everyone does. Privately, the Russians are probably telling the Iranians that Moscow cannot protect them if they continue to provoke Israel or enhance Hezbollahs already robust armaments.
Yesterday, the Iranian regime launched a missile from Syria targeting civilians in Israel. We responded to this unacceptable act of aggression by striking Iranian targets in Syria. Israel will continue to block Irans efforts to use Syria, Lebanon and [the] Gaza [Strip] as forward bases for attacking Israel for the express purpose which they openly declare: destroying Israel. No country should stand aside while its destruction is being planned or advanced. And Israel exercises its basic right of self-defense and pre-emptive self-defense, a right that exists for every nation. We will continue to take all the necessary actions to protect our people and defend our borders, and we will continue to respond with force to anyone that tries to harm us.
ABC/Image Group LAToday in Riviera Maya, Mexico, Luke Bryan kicks off his fifth annual Crash My Playa fan getaway vacation.

On Thursday, he gets back to work, as he headlines his first show of the year in the Caribbean. Since Luke's also prepping the second season of American Idol, it raises the question: which is more work -- touring or Idol?

"They're both equally exhausting," Luke tells ABC Radio, "because touring is physically [exhausting]."

"Idol, when we start falling in love with these kids... And with our auditions, we just did three twelve-hour days," he explains. "It's like you're taking the SAT every day."

"So they both have their deal. They're both enjoyable, and the time kinda flies by"

The "What Make You Country" hitmaker says when it comes down to it, both of his gigs wear him down in different ways.

"The road tires you out in this way: when you're running up and down stadiums and doing all that, you wake up the next day and you feel like you ran through a stadium," he points out.

"And when you're out on Idol, we notice you get done and you just want a nice glass of wine just to kind of shut your brain off, because you've been concentrating for twelve hours on making the right decisions with these kids."

The second season of American Idol premieres Sunday, March 3 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Luke kicks off his Sunset Repeat Tour May 31 in Philadelphia.
Asked about reports of some European responses about their reluctance to participate in what critics are calling an anti-Iran event, Landau responded that they are disappointing, especially from France, whose president [Emmanuel Macron] went the furthest last year in recognizing some of the dangerous flaws in the JCPOA and the need to pursue new strategies, regardless of whether Trump leaves the nuclear deal.
The No. 1 U.S. carrier also has introduced new caller ID technology, known as STIR/SHAKEN. Both tools will offer significant help for consumers who are harassed by unwanted and annoying robocalls, the company said in a news release.
At least two of the complaints involved people who reportedly had mental health issues  including a 31-year-old man who had an episode at Disney World and shoved an Orange County sheriff corporal to the ground before he was held for observation under the states Baker Act on New Years Eve.
Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.
Ashtabula, OH (44004)

Today

Widely scattered showers or a thunderstorm this evening. Then partly cloudy. A few storms may be severe. Low around 65F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Widely scattered showers or a thunderstorm this evening. Then partly cloudy. A few storms may be severe. Low around 65F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Milton, PA (17847)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
English22/01/2019

STRBAC: CROATIA CELEBRATING MURDERERS AS NATIONAL HEROES

BELGRADE, January 22 /SRNA/ - Croatia celebrates those who killed and massacred Serbs in the Maslenica operation in Ravni Kotari in 1993 and who have taken them to prison camps, and even though the names of those who are responsible for ethnic cleansing of this area under UN protection are known no one has ever been prosecuted, the director of the Veritas Documentation Center, Savo Strbac, told SRNA.



It is not a secret in Croatia as to who led the operation, who took part in it, and all these people are national heroes. Miljan Brkic led the operation on the Mali Alan mountain pass where 22 soldiers from Gracac were massacred only 50-100 m away from an UNPROFOR watchtower. Brkic is today the second man in the HDZ and the deputy speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Strbac said.



He has said that Ante Gotovina was an envoy of the Croatian president at a central celebration of the Maslenica operation yesterday in Zadar, as well as Mladen Markac, who are among people who planned and conducted the operation, but also Mirko Sundov, who at the time commanded the 4th Guard Brigade, and today is the chief of staff of the Croatian Army.



Seven or eight years ago criminal charges were filed from Belgrade for the massacre on the Mali Alan mountain pass. Everything is known, but when our people ask what is happening with the case, they are told that an investigation is in progress. They will never prosecute their heroes, Strbac said.



He says that Croats call Maslenica the mother of all victories in the 1990s war, since they proved that they can defeat Serbs, after which the Medacki Dzep, Flash and Strom operations followed.



Strbac asks what would have happened had the JNA not withdrawn from the area only eight months before the operation in keeping with the Vance-Owen plan when the heavy weapons were put under control of UNPROFOR.



He explained that at that moment, only several hundred police officers defended the borders of the Krajina, because, in keeping with the Vance-Owen plan, the Republic of the Serbian Krajina should have formed police units.



Strbac has said that Krajina institutions noticed on time that Croatia is deploying troops at its borders and informed UNPROFOR about it, but they claimed that there is no any danger and that these are preparations for a military training exercise of the Croatian Army.



This is why this was a surprise, fierce operation. UNPROFOR soldiers withdrew, like they usually do, and fled together with Serbs. Serbs who could not flee, were killed, Strbac said.



He says that the goal of those who mined the Perucac dam was not really to destroy it but to warn Croats to halt the Maslenica operation.



The dam was held by Serbs until September 1992, and then, in keeping with the Vance-Owen plan, they surrendered it to the UNPROFOR and when the Maslenica operation started, someone mined the dam, and it is fortunate that the dam was not destroyed completely since there were half billion of cubic meters of water in the artificial lake and a flood wave would have caused a catastrophe and deaths of around 30,000 people, Strbac has said.



He has said that Croats accused Serbian Gen. Borislav Djukic of mining the dam and have recently sentenced him to nine years in prison.



Strbac has said that civilians killed in the Maslenica operation were in average 60 years old, that 34 women were killed and they were in average 57 years old, that three children up to 12 years of age were killed and that 11 persons went missing, six of whom are civilians, including three women.



He has said that the question is whether the sufferings of Serbs would have been even greater had it not been for the solidarity and unity of Serbs, and noted that volunteers from all sides were helping the local population, including the Wolves from Vucjak unit, which commander Veljko Milankovic was seriously injured and later died of injuries.



People from Ravni Kotari, from villages of Kasici, Islam Grcki, and ethnically mixed villages, which are large villages, had to move out and flee from criminals and no one has yet been brought to justice for this, Strbac has said. /end/sg
by H.M. G.B.. M. Kotakadeniya and Lt Col Anil Amarasekera (Rtd)





The Government has now placed before the Constitutional assembly a draft constitution consisting of a Preamble and 399 Articles arranged through 40 chapters. The structure of the draft is similar to the present constitution although the content is different. Therefore the Governments denial that there exists no Draft Constitution is dishonest and erroneous. The Government call this Draft Constitution A report prepared by the Panel of experts for the Steering committee which is based on the interim report, six sub-committee reports, and the report of Ad hoc sub-committee. This so called report does not express the views of the Expert Panel except the 399 Articles of the proposed constitution. The said interim report of the steering committee dated 21 September 2017 was printed by the Government printer and was placed before the Constitutional assembly few months ago. The Draft Constitution now before the public (which the Government prefers to call it an expert report) propose the same provisions suggested in the said interim report prepared by the steering committee of which the PM is the head which propose to replace the existing Article 2 (dealing with the unitary state) and Article 9 (dealing with Buddhism).









The interim report includes 8 annexures marked as 1A to 1H submitted by some of the member groups and/or political parties represented in the steering committee expressing their views to the interim report. They are the SLFP, JVP, TNA, JHU, Joint Opposition, ACMC and EPDP. In addition Dr. Jayampathi Wickramarathne P.C has submitted his views agreeing with the contents of the report. It is only the UNP that has not formally submitted their views separately for the obvious reason that it is common knowledge that Dr. Jayampathi Wickramarathne UNP national list MP drafted these proposals for the steering committee with the blessings of the PM who is the head of the steering committee.





We can well understand the PMs and his partys reluctance to acknowledge their involvement with this draft with the mounting opposition to these proposals including that of the Mahanayakas of the three Maha Nikayas. The JVP made a public pronouncement the previous week that there is no draft constitution prepared so far. However this is now proved to be a false assertion. We are not surprised with that position when considering their conduct extending their support to the government and to the TNA in the recent past.





The proposals seek to replace inter alia Article 2 & 9 of the Constitution to which the JO, SLFP & JHU has categorically opposed. The JVP does not in any way oppose the alternative provisions proposed in place of Article 2 & 9. Therefore it is clear that they are in agreement with the formula suggested in the Interim Report and in the Draft Constitution to replace Article 2 & 9.





The Government is now denying that, they had any intention of changing the unitary character of the state or the place given to Buddhism. If that is their position one wonders as to why those alternative proposals to Article 2 & 9 were ever made. Obviously the attempt was to alter the existing provisions.





The present Article 2 of the Constitution states in a simple sentence The Republic of Sri Lanka is a Unitary State. It is now proposed to change this wording to read as Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a free, sovereign, and independent Republic which is an aekiya rajyaya/orumitta nadu, consisting of the institutions of the Centre and of the provinces which shall exercise powers as laid down in the Constitution. The alternative proposal completely omits the word unitary which has been interpreted time and again universally including our own Supreme Court in the 13th Amendment bill determination. Supreme Court decisions are given in the English Language and it is the word unitary that has been interpreted by Courts and other Jurists. Then why remove the very term that has been interpreted by our Supreme Court? The word unitary is now proposed to be removed from the English text of the Constitution. Obviously this is done to deviate from the accepted interpretation given to this term.





The Sinhala term aekiya is given a new interpretation unknown to the law. The alternative proposal states in this article aekiya rajyaya/orumitta nadu means a state which is undivided and indivisible and in which the power to amend the constitution or to repeal and replace the constitution, shall remain with the legislature and the people of Sri Lanka as provided in this constitution. So we have now a new interpretation peculiar to this article. It is needless to say that even a federal state cannot be divided. Can the United States or India be divided? The divisibility has nothing to do with the question whether a country is unitary or federal. The power to repeal the constitution is any way with the legislature that enacted it. It is obvious that the interpretation offered is a deliberate attempt to convert Sri Lanka into a Federal state with an erroneous label attached to it.





Further the introduction of the word orumitta nadu meaning united which is different from the word ottriachchi in the existing Tamil text of the present constitution which means unitary, is mischievous. It is unfortunate that the Government has dived to this depth to satisfy the TNA, the Tamil diaspora and their Western masters and sacrificing the sovereignty of the people of this country. It is shameful for a Government to stoop to this depth and sacrifice the interest of the nation in this manner.





It is not only the change of the wording of Article 2 that we are concerned of, but the substance of these proposals, which seeks to convert Sri Lanka into a federal state. The abolition of the office of Executive President and the proposal to require the governer to act only on the advice of the Chief Minister and his board of ministers will undoubtedly create independent states out of the control of the government of Sri Lanka. The requirement of a referendum to change a law passed by a Provincial Government makes it impossible to intervene against wrongful acts of a Provincial Government. This is another characteristic change made in that direction.





Another false representation made by the Government is that they are not going to change Article 9. The two alternative proposals made in this Draft are different from the existing article 9. The first alternative proposal removes the word Republic from the article so that the commitment of the state to give Buddhism the foremost place is taken away. The effect of this is that whilst Sri Lanka and its people treat Buddhism as foremost, the state itself does not recognize so. In the 2nd alternative proposal the words while treating all religions.. without discrimination are added to reverse the very meaning and effect of Article 9.





Moreover, apart from altering Article 9, the Government Draft proposes numerous clauses which will permit unethical conversion. Under the present Constitution a citizen has only the right to manifest his religion. However, the new draft seeks to permit propagation of religion not only by citizens but even by foreigners. Similarly, cultural rights which was limited to citizens is now sought to be extended to foreigners as well.





This type of surreptitious tinkering and meddling with the provision is dishonest and fraudulent. These manoeuvres have taken away the trust that the people have (if any) in those who drafted these proposals. Therefore we earnestly request to remove these so called experts and the ghost writers who have produced this fraudulent document from the constitution Drafting Process, forthwith.








by Anwar A. Khan





The Mass Upsurge Day falls on 24th January. It came about 5 decades ago in Bangladesh on 24th January 1969. It was a sustained, truly mass struggle, confronting ferocious backlash by our people perpetrated on us by the savage Pakistani rulers and we overcame multiple challenges while developing our considerable strengths to fight those beastly animals back and defeat them. This glorious movement witnessed an explosion of popular-democratic struggles championed by people of all walks of life in our country whose activities became central in the campaign against all oppressions and the quest for the creation of a democratic state.









It was a democratic political movement. The uprising consisted of a series of mass demonstrations and sporadic conflicts between Pakistani governments armed forces and the demonstrators of our people. Although the unrest began in 1966 with the Six-point movement of Awami League, it got momentum at the beginning of 1969 and culminated in the resignation of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, the first military ruler of Pakistan. The uprising also led to the withdrawal of Agartala Conspiracy Case and acquittal of Bangabandu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his co-accused from the case. Bangabandhu came out from Pakistani jail as a majuscule hero and head honcho of Bangladesh; and a house-hold name for all people in his country.





The movement soon engulfed the whole of the-then East Pakistans politicians, students, peasants, artisans, workers - all joined the movement almost en bloc. Due to continuous exaction of demands marked by sound judgment of the labouring class of the industrial belts and low and medium income groups soon turned the movement into a struggle for economic emancipation. The racial repression and the deprivation of the Bengalis within the frame work of Pakistan and to the contrary, starting from the language movement the feeling of separate identity together with struggle for autonomy had direct influence on the mass upsurge of 1969. Indeed, this mass upsurge was the greatest mass awakening ever since the creation of Pakistan. The student agitation of 1968 turned into a mass upsurge when Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani asked his followers to besiege Governors House, formulated and declared his other programmes.





The Maulana declared a total shut-down of work on 6th December 1968 following the clash between the people and the police. On the call of the main opposition parties namely two factions of NAP (Bhasani and Muzaffar), Awami League and other political parties, a Hartal was observed throughout the-then East Pakistan on 8 December 1968. Repression Resistance Day was very successfully observed throughout the former Province on 10 December 1968 at the call of Awami Leagues pro-six point demand. On the 14th December 1968, the gherao programme (a protest in which a building or person is surrounded by people until demands were met) was declared by the NAP (Bhasani). Accordingly the programme was launched with the gherao of the bungalow of the DC of Pabna on the 29th December 1968. Mass Uprising Day is observed in Bangladesh every year on 24 January to mark the climax of the movement of the people of the-then East Pakistan for autonomy in 1969 that eventually led to the Independence War and emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. It is competently said that the Mass Upsurge Day teaches Bengalis about the values of democracy and to protest against oppression.





It was as if a wind was blowing. It was heading end-to-end the country, and could not be suppressed forever. This proves that the mobilisation of the people is a formidable source of democracy. This Revolution of 50 years ago provides important lessons for peoples across the world in their quest to dismantle oppression and build just societies today, tomorrow and the days ahead. It can be termed as pleading for a moral excellence of cause or propounding an idea of determination of one's own fate or course of action without compulsion. It taught us that the political separation of our nation from an alien national body; and the formation of independent nation state, Bangladesh.





In this reflection on the 50th anniversary of the Mass Upsurge Day, we will seek to grasp the responses to the revolution, the surge of anti-Pakistani which led the defeat of their fascism. This is an episodic event in human history. It was a period of tremendous outpouring of revolutionary energies in music, art, theater, journalism, poetry and political organising. The uprising marked a new stage in human history with the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. The tremendous achievements of those insurrections beckon us to understand what was possible and what is possible to create today. We should create records, equally relevant today in wiping out poverty, backwardness, corruption, terrorism and illiteracy, in establishing equality among peoples of all religions and between men and women. It is an inspiration of what was and what can be, and that is why, we say that the era it established of the transition from alien rule to the establishment of a sovereign and independent state which is as relevant today.





The 1969 Mass Upsurge Day may have more to teach us. The increased tempo of struggle then in our country was a commitment to end all forms of exploitation of humans by sub-humans in our part of land. It clearly shows that a new nation was in the making. The winning of the objectives of this national democratic revolution will, in turn, lay the basis for a steady advance in the direction of deepening our national unity on all fronts  economic, political and cultural  and towards a formation of a new country- Bangladesh. For our nation building means among other things unifying ourselves nationally as the leading class whose developing culture, aspirations and economic interests become increasingly those of the overwhelming majority of our people.





Far beyond the horizon we gazed at sunlit skies glowing from gigantic hills, valleys, thick blue clouds hang peacefully over our heads, painting hopes and aspirations as we journeyed relentlessly to capture our dreams. We have been marching for years clinging desperately to our dreams, with nothing in our hands; our faith and determination propel us along. But the days seem longer, nights become shorter and our hopes grew stronger and life gets tougher. We journeyed through thorns and thistles; we stumbled upon closed doors, brick walls, giant rocks and numerous road blocks. Left only with rags on our backs, we were determined to reclaim our dreams. The struggle seemed endless as we journeyed night and day on a path that binds us for years. Hunger paralysed us, fear dehydrated us, we endured sleepless nights but we held on to our conviction, embraced one another and consoled ourselves.





Sun scorched our tired backs, winter snow froze our blistered feet, tornados compassed us too, and the relentless hurricane could not rip us apart. We all stuck together and supported one another. Despite the chilling cold penetrating our skins, we were destined to win. The expectation of a new life inflamed our hearts, and each day we hoped for a better tomorrow, ignoring lifes un-bearing demands we advanced towards the finishing line believing wholeheartedly, and holding steadfast to conquer our dreams. It is true that life can be overbearing, and it is also true that we had wishful promises, and when our promises fail to materialise, driven by a lack of faith from the other side, the journey become harder and murmuring breeds sorrows in our aching heart.





Sometimes we fought among ourselves and tossed hurtful words to and fro but we quickly came to our senses and made amends of unacceptable ways. We know that we were in this together, and we must embrace one anothers dreams, so we wedged together like brothers and sisters mending the broken pieces as we progressed along the way. The power of unity kept us alive, our dreams grew bigger than our stomach, and jingled heavier than money in our pockets, our faith grew stronger, our hopes strapped together, and death itself could not shatter our dreams. We endured winter freezes; one winter faded into another, fog covered fog, but we were determined to surpass discouragements, negative highlights and continued climbing until we reached the top.





We climbed the hills day and night, but everything seemed far out of sight. All we could see was clear blue clouds smiling above us and multitude of stars blinking in the skies. We passed foxes digging shallow holes in foaming ditches; we saw them tearing and chewing rabbits and rodents, and chasing timid squirrels off the edges. Tormenting sound echoed beyond thick bushy forest, intimidating us on our hopeful journey. Suddenly a ferocious fox leaped out of the bushes, and stared at us, grinding its gigantic teeth. But a tiger sneaked from the tree top and cornered the terrifying fox into its vulnerable hole wounding its feet and pulling at its filthy mouth.





The lame fox lay on the ground grasping for breath, and the forest animals drag it slowly into a hole. We clenched tightly to each other and hurried quickly towards the movements to complete the final leg of the journey. Amidst these strange happening, we progressed faster holding our precious dreams carefully in our hands. We could hear the drum beats resonating from a distance, sealing our hopes and filling our hearts with aspirations. We could feel the bubbling rhythm from afar, and as we got closer the sounds got louder, the cheering grew stronger and we felt happier. We climbed and climbed, we slip and we glide, we stood firm and plant our feet securely into the ground. We removed obstacles, overturned road blocks sailed through red lights, and skipped through barricade and persevered until we finally made it to the top. Millions with similar dreams had made it too, and we joined them singing and dancing, the sun shined once again with a daring glow and our long awaited dream finally came true. We could breathe fresh air, thus feeling the rhythm in life again.





The heroic upsurge of the 24th January 1969 of our people against the tyrannous Pakistani regime continued for almost 3 years. We witnessed mass demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, etc. and the whole Pakistan based National Election where Awami led by its charismatic leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman emerged out as the majority party leader of Pakistan, but the ruffian Pakistani military rulers betrayed with us and refused to hand-over power to Bangabandhu and then waged a full-scale war with us. Their nefarious actions were directed to violent repression which led to the brutal murder of our 3 million people. The 1971 war shows the determination of Bangladeshs people to be masters in their own land, an independent Peoples Republic.





The history of any society is based on how its people fashion a living for them, how they contend with the forces of nature and consequently how the relations between people develop. In our 1971 war with the Pakistani military rulers, we had emerged out as a fairly powerful mass organisation. The war reached a new height, but we won the war defeating the inglorious war-mongers of the Pakistani regime disgracefully. Bangladesh came into being on 16th December 1971.





We have won our own destiny, but without the fullest organisational democracy, we will never be able to achieve conscious, active and unified participation of the majority of the people, and in particular the working class, in our struggle for betterment of our country. It clearly sums up the systematisation of popular experiences and demands which some leaders were able to eloquently make during those stringy days in Pakistan. Clearly, this Mass Ups-well had more the character of an ideal to be struggled for rather than a simple description of reality; nevertheless it indicates the centrality of popular democracy within the ideology and practice of the movement. Long live the Mass Upsurge Day and its message that is intended, expressed or signified.





-The End 





The writer is a senior citizen of Bangladesh, writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs
by Vijith Samarasinghe





In a speech to a state banquet at Malacanang Palace in Manilla last week Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena hailed President Rodrigo Dutertes so-called war on drugs as an example to the whole world.









Sirisenas praise for the campaign of arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial violence, including thousands of summary executions, against alleged drug dealers, is an indication of his own dictatorial agenda.





Sirisena and Duterte signed bilateral agreements on defence, agriculture, industries, tourism, education and culture during the state visit. Sri Lanka also agreed to facilitate the opening of a Philippines embassy in the Colombo.





The main purpose of Sirisenas tour, however, appears to have been to strengthen relations with Duterte and his so-called anti-drug war. Significantly, Sirisena visited the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Quezon City and attended a closed-door meeting with key officials, including PNP Chief Director General Oscar Albayalde and Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano.





Toasting Duterte at Malacanang Palace, Sirisena declared, The war against crime and drugs carried out by you is an example to the whole world, and personally to me. The drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel that we should follow your footsteps to control this hazard.





It is not the first time that the Sri Lankan president has endorsed Dutertes neutralisation [i.e., killing] of illegal drug personalities nationwide. The footsteps that Sirisena wants to follow is a criminal escalation of police-state violence and preparation for dictatorship.





The war on drugs became official national policy in June 2016 when Duterte was installed as president. In 2017, the Philippines congress reinstated the death penalty for drug-related crimes and equipped the nominally civilian Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) with a 500-strong military Task Force to conduct operations along with PNP officers, vigilante groups and other informal armed formations nationwide.





According to official statistics, the official death toll in the war on drugs stood at around 5,000 last year. Human rights organisations, however, have pointed out that the real figure could be up to 20,000 and that most of those killed are the urban poor. The International Criminal Court is currently conducting a preliminary investigation into whether the extrajudicial killings constitute crimes against humanity.





The war on drugs policy replicates the methods used by the Davao Death Squad which Duterte established when he was Davao City mayor. It carried out extrajudicial killings of hundreds of street children, petty criminals and drug users.





Upon return to Sri Lanka, Sirisena defended his praise for the Philippines dictator and hit back at criticism by the media and human rights groups.





Addressing a ceremony to launch national drug prevention week at a school in the war-devastated northern town of Mullaithivu, Sirisena declared: NGOs that talk about human rights only take the side of the drug racketeers I ask the human rights organisations to remove their masks and protect our children.





Sirisena said he would adopt a novel approach to eradicate drugs and not step away from his decision to introduce capital punishment for drug racketeers. He also launched a phone hotline, with the number 1984, for the public to provide information on narcotics or organised crime.





Sirisena, with the support of many government MPs, has long been calling for a national anti-drugs campaign. In July 2018, he called for an end to Sri Lankas 43-year moratorium on executions, and for hanging to be introduced as punishment for repeat drug offenders.





Cabinet endorsed this, with Sirisenas official spokesperson, Rajitha Senaratne, declaring that the government would bring the fight against drugs onto the streets: The Philippines has been successful in deploying the army and dealing with this problem [drugs]; we will try to replicate their success. Nineteen drug offenders who were serving life sentences in Sri Lanka now face the death penalty.





The drug problem is not the primary concern of Sirisena and Duterte or the ruling elites in their respective countries. If this was the case, there would be far more effective measures to combat this social problem by improving living standards for millions of the oppressed masses, and providing funds for drugs education, psycho-social support and healthcare, and at a fraction of the cost of waging the murderous war on drugs.





The real concern of the Sri Lankan ruling class, and its political elite, is not drugs, but the most serious political crisis it has faced since the end of British colonial rule.





Last year the government was rocked by intensifying class battles by railway, ports, petroleum, education and health sector workers. This was followed in December by protests and a nine-day national strike action for higher wages by more than 100,000 estate workers. Sri Lankas astronomical and growing debt burden, along with austerity demands by the International Monetary Fund, will deepen the widespread anti-government opposition by workers and the oppressed masses.





Unsettled by this growing resistance, all factions of the Sri Lankan ruling class have been calling for more authoritarian forms of rule, and numerous comments published in the media for a strong leader.





Last October, Sirisena, in a constitutional coup, ousted Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister, replacing him with so-called strong man Mahinda Rajapakse, the former president. Rajapakses presidency, from 2005 to 2014, was characterised by war, ruthless repression and austerity.





Having failed in his attempts to install Rajapakse, Sirisena is now using the war against drugs as a pretext for a rapid turn towards dictatorial methods. During the recent political crisis, Sirisena, who is constitutionally the head of the armed forces and commander-in-chief, took control of the law and order ministry.





Dutertes national war on drugs policy was launched in the face of sharp social tensions. Its escalation coincided with large strikes by workers in 20162017 and thousands of poor Manilla residents taking over more than 15,000 empty government housing units in March 2017.





Sirisenas open praise for Dutertes violent police-state methods is a clear warning to the Sri Lankan working class. This danger cannot be defeated by appeals to the ruling elites to protect human rights but only through the development of a revolutionary movement of the working class based on socialist internationalism to put an end to the profit system.




by Peter Koenig





The Empires European castle of vassals is crumbling. Right in front of our eyes. But Nobody seems to see it. The European Union (EU), the conglomerate of vassalsTrump calls them irrelevant, and he doesnt care what they think about him, they deserve to be collapsing. They, the vassalic EU, a group of 28 countries, some 500 million people, with a combined economy of a projected 19 trillion U.S.-dollar equivalent, about the same as the U.S., have submitted themselves to the dictate of Washington in just about every important aspect of life.









The EU has accepted on orders by Washington to sanction Russia, Venezuela, Iranand a myriad of countries that have never done any harm to any of the 28 EU member states. The EU has accepted the humiliation of military impositions by NATOthreating Russia and China with ever more and ever more advancing military basis towards Moscow and Beijing, to the point that Brussels foreign policy is basically led by NATO.





It was clear from the very get-go that the U.S. sanctions regime imposed on Russia and all the countries refusing to submit to the whims and rules of Washington, directly and via the EU, was hurting the EU economically far more than Russia. This is specifically true for some of the southern European countries, whose economy depended more on trading with Russia and Eurasia than it did for other EU countries.





The sanctions disaster really hit the fan, when Trump unilaterally decided to abrogate the Nuclear Deal with Iran and reimpose heavy sanctions on Iran and on everybody who would do business with Iran. European hydrocarbon giants started losing business. Thats when Brussels, led by Germany started mumbling that they would not follow the U.S. andeventhat they would back European corporations, mainly hydrocarbon giants, sticking to their contractual arrangements they had with Iran.





Too late. European business had lost all confidence in Brussels EU Administrations feeble and generally untrustworthy words. Many breached their longstanding and, after the Nuclear Deal, renewed contracts with Iran, out of fear of punishment by Washington and lack of trust in Brussels protection. Case in point is the French-British petrol giant, Total, which shifted its supply source from Iran to Russiano, not to the US, as was of course, Washingtons intent. The damage is done. The vassals are committing slow suicide.





The people have had it. More than half of the European population wants to get out of the fangs from Brussels. But nobody asks them, nor listens to themand that in the so-called heartland of democracy (sic). Thats why people are now up in arms and protesting everywherein one way or another in Germany, France, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Polandthe list is almost endless. And it can be called generically the Yellow Vests, after the new French revolution.





The latest in a series of the U.S. attacking Germany and German businessand German integrity, for that matterare the U.S. Ambassadors, Richard Grenell, recent threats to German corporations with sanctions if they work on Nord Stream 2, the 1,200 km pipeline bringing Russian gas to Europe, to be completed by the end of 2019. It will virtually double the capacity of Russian gas supply to Europe. Instead, Washington wants Europe to buy U.S. shale gas and oil, and especially keeping Europe economically and financially in the U.S. orbit, avoiding in any way a detachment from Washington and preventing the obvious and logicalan alliance with Russia. This attempt will fail bitterly, as various German Ministers, including Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, have loudly and with determination protested against such U.S. hegemonic advances. Well, friends, you have bent over backwards to please your Washington Masters for too long. Its high time to step out of this lock-step of obedience.





In France, this past weekend of 12 / 13 January, the Yellow Vests went into round 9 of protests against dictator Macron, his austerity program andnot leasthis abject arrogance vis-a- vis the working class. A recent public statement of Macrons is testimony of this below-the-belt arrogance: Trop de francais nont pas le sens de leffort, ce qui explique en partie les troubles que connait le paysTranslated: Too many French dont know the meaning of effort which explains at least partially the trouble this country is in.





The Yellow Vests and a majority of the French population want nothing less than Macrons resignation. Protesters are consistently and largely under-reported by Christophe Castaner, the French Interior Minister. This past weekend the official figure was 50,000 demonstrators, countrywide, when in reality the figure was at least three times higher. The official French version would like the public at large, inside and outside of France, to believe that the Yellow Vests movement is diminishing. It is not. To the contrary, they are demonstrating all over France, and that despite the Macron regimes increasing violent repression.





RT reports, on Macrons orders the police are becoming more violent, using military suppression to control protesting French civilians. Thousands have been arrested, and hundreds injured by police brutality. Nevertheless, the movement is gaining massive public support and the Yellow Vests idea is spreading throughout Europe. This spread is, of course, hardly reported by the mainstream media.





In fact, 80% of the French back the Yellow Vests and their idea of a Citizen Initiated Referendum (RIC for Referendum dinitiative citoyenne), under which citizens could propose their own laws that would then be voted on by the general public. The RIC could effectively bypass the French Parliament, and would be enshrined in the French Constitution. A similar law exists since 1848 in Switzerland and is regularly applied by Swiss citizens. It is a way of Direct Democracy that any country calling itself a democracy should incorporate in its Constitution.





The UK is in shambles. Thousands are taking to the streets of London, organized by the Peoples Assembly Against Austerity, calling for general elections to replace the failing Tory Government. They are joined by the French Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests), out of solidarity. Many of the UK protesters are also wearing high-visibility yellow vests.





This is in direct correlation with the ever-growing louder debacle over BREXITyes, or no and how. At this point nobody knows what Britains future is going to be. Propaganda and counter-propaganda is destined to further confuse the people and confused people usually want to stick to the status quo. There is even a movement of pro remain propaganda, organized by some members of the European Parliament. Imagine!Talking about sovereignty, if Brussels cannot even leave the Brits alone decide whether they want to continue under their dictate or not.





Helas, the Brits are largely divided, but also past the stage of being swayed by foreign propaganda, especially in this delicate question of leaving the EUwhich a majority of Brits clearly decided in June 2016. Prime Minister, Theresa May, has screwed-up the BREXIT process royally, to the point where many Brits feel that what she negotiated is worse than no deal. This has likely happened in close connivance with the unelected EU leadership which does not want the UK to leave and under strict orders from Washington which needs the UK in its crucial role as a U.S. mole in the European Union.





On 15 January 2019, the UK Parliament will vote on whether they accept the negotiated BREXIT conditions, or whether they prefer a no deal BREXIT, or will request an extension for further negotiations under Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon (which was imposed by the heads of state of the 28 members, without any public vote, and is a false stand-in for a EU Constitution). Other options include a general electionand let the new leadership decide; or a second referendum which after two years is legally possible. The latter would likely cause severe public unrest, followed by atrocious police oppressionas already often witnessed in the UKin which case, lets just hope civil war can be avoided.





For weeks, the Yellow Vest movement has spread to Belgium and The Netherlands. For similar reasonspublic discontent over austerity, EU dictatorship over Belgian and Dutch sovereignty. Last Friday, one of the Belgian Yellow Vests was overrun by a truck and killed. Authorities reported it as an accident.





GreeceThe MS-media report all is donkey-dory, Greece is recovering, has since many years a positive growth rate and is able to refinance herself on the open capital market. Greece is no longer dependent on the irate and infamous troika (European Central BankECB, European Commission and IMF). Reality is completely different, as about two thirds of the Greek population are still hovering around or below the survival levelno access to public health care, affordable medication, public schoolsumpteen times reduced pensions, most public assets and services privatized for a pittance. Nothing has fundamentally changed in the last years, at least not for the better. The troika has allowed the Greek to go to the private capital marketsto boost falsely their, the Greeks, image among the international public at large, basically telling the brainwashed populace, It worked, we, the troika, did a good job.





Nothing worked. People are unhappy; more than unhappy, they are indignant. They demonstrated against Angela Merkels recent visit to Athens, and their protests were violently oppressed by police forces. What do you expectthis is what has become of Europe, a highly repressive state of spineless vassals.





On Wednesday, 16 January, the Greek Parliament may hold a Vote of Confidence against or for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The official and make-believe reason is supposedly the controversy over the name of Macedonia, which in fact has long been settled. The real reason is the publics discontent about the continuous and increasing blood-letting by never-ending austerity, sucking the last pennies from the poor. According to Lancet, the renowned British health journal, the Greek suicide rate is soaring. Nobody talks about it.Will Tsipras survive a possible Vote of Confidence? -If notearly elections?Who will follow Tsipras?Dont be fooled by the term democracy.The elite from within and without Greece will not allow any policy changes. Thats when people a la Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) may come in. Civil unrest. Enough is enough.





In Italy the coalition of the 5-Star Movement and the small right-wing brother, Lega Norte, is pulled to the far right by Legas Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister. Mr. Salvini is clearly calling the shotsand they are firing strongly against Brussels and with good reason, as Brussels is attempting to impose rules on Italys budget, while the same rules do not apply equally to all EU member states. For example, Macron, Frances Rothschild implant, has special privileges, as far as budget overrun margins are concerned. Mr. Salvinis anti-Brussels, anti-EU stance is no secret, and he has a lot of Italians behind him. An Italian Yellow Vest movement cannot be excluded.

The empires vassal castle is crumblingand not even silently.





Then there are the former Soviet satellites, Hungary and Poland, turned right wingdont appreciate Brussels meddling with Hungarys anti-immigration policy and in Poland over a controversial overhaul of the Judiciary system. Never mind whether you agree or not with individual country actions, both cases are clear interferences in these nations sovereignty. Though upon the European Court of Justices strong warning, Poland indeed blinked and reinstated the judges fired in the judiciary reform process. Polands love for NATO, and Brussels use of the NATO leverage, may have played a role in Polands reversal of decision. Nevertheless, discontent in Poland as in Hungary among the public at large remains strong. Migration and the Judiciary are just the visible pretexts. The legendary tip of the iceberg. Reality is on a deeper level, much deeper. These countries are both reminded of what they considered the Soviet Unions handcuffs. Freedom is not being dictated by Brussels.





The triad of systematic and willful destabilization and destruction of what we know as the Greater Middle East and western world is what we have to be aware of. The east, mostly Russia and China, is a challenge being tackled simultaneously, impressively for the brainwashed westerner, but rather meekly for those who are informed about Russias and Chinas military might and intelligence capacity.





This drive of destabilization cum destruction comes in three phases. It started with the Middle East which for the most part has become a hopeless hell-hole, a source of indiscriminate killing by the western allies, say, the emperors puppets and mercenaries, resulting in millions killed and in an endless flood of refugees destabilizing Europewhich is the second phase of the triad. Its in full swing. It happens right in front of our eyesbut we dont see it.





Its the Yellow Vests, austerity, increasing inequality, unemployment, social sectors being milked to zilch by the financial system, popular uprisings oppression by police and military forces; its reflected by the dismal powerlessness of the peoplethat leads to enough is enough in the streets. Thats the way its all wanted. The more chaos the better. People in chaos are easily controlled.





Now comes phase three of the triadLatin America. It has already started three or four years back. Countries that have struggled for decades to eventually break loose with some form of democracy from the fangs of empire, are gradually being subdued with fake elections and internal parliamentary coups, back into the emperors backyard. The Southern ConeArgentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguayis gone, except for Bolivia. Peru, Colombia, Ecuador all the way to Guyana are governed by neoliberal, even neonazi-shaded Lords of Washington. But there is still Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and now also Mexico that have not caved in and will not cave in.





In an extraordinary analysis, Thierry Meyssan describes in The Terrible Forthcoming Destruction of the Caribbean Basinhow the Pentagon is still pursuing the implementation of the Rumsfeld-Cebrowski plan. This time, aiming at the destruction of the Caribbean Basin States. There is no consideration for friends or political enemies, Thierry Meyssan observes. He goes on predicting that after the period of economic destabilization and that of military preparation, the actual operation should begin in the years to come by an attack on Venezuela by Brazil (supported by Israel), Colombia (an ally of the United States) and Guyana (in other words, the United Kingdom). It will be followed by others, beginning with Cuba and Nicaragua, the troika of tyranny, as per John Bolton.

Only the future will say to what extent this plan will be implemented. At the outset, its ambitions exceed the crumbling empires actual capacity.





When it comes all down to one single denominator, its the current western financial system that must go. It is private banking gone berserk. We are living in a financial system that has gone wild and running havoc, uncontrolleda train of endless greed that is loosely speeding ahead and doesnt know when it will hit an unyielding steel-enforced brick wallbut hit it will. It is a mere question of time. People are sick and tired of being milked no end by a fraudulent pyramid systemconstructed by the U.S. and her dollar hegemony and maintained by globalized private banking.





We are living in a private banking system that has nothing to do with economic development, but everything with a greed-driven domination of us, consumers, sold on debt and on money that we dont control, despite the fact that we earned it with our hard labor; despite the fact that it is our added value to what we call the economy. Nothis system is totally disrespectful of the individual, it is even ready to steal our money, if it needs to surviveour banking system. It takes the liberty of administering it and basically appropriating it. Once our money is in a private bank, we have lost control over it. And mind you and get it into your brains, private banks do not work for you and me, but for their shareholders. But through hundreds of years of indoctrination, we have become so used to it, that being charged interest for borrowing our own money, through an intermediary who does nothing, absolutely nothing but wait for profit to fall into its laphas become the normality.





It isnt. This system has to be abolished, the faster the better. Private banking needs to be eradicated and replaced by local public banking that works with local currencies, based on local economic output, way removed from globalized concepts that help steal resources, empty local social safety netsall under the guise of austerity for progress. We should know better by now. There is no austerity for progresshas never been. This fraudulent IMF-World Bank concept has never worked, anywhere.





We have to de-dollarize our money, de-digitize our money and pool it through a public banking system for the purpose of peoples growth, hence a societys or nations growth. There is currently one good example, the Bank of North Dakota. The BND has helped the U.S. State of North Dakota through the 2008 and following years crisis, with economic growth instead of economic decline, with almost full employment, versus skyrocketing unemployment in the rest of the U.S. and the western world. We need to build our common wealth with sovereign money, backed by our sovereign economies.





As the empire and its vassals are crumbling badly, they are shaking in their foundations, it is time to rethink what we have been taking for granted and for normala fraudulent and deceptive monetary system, backed by nothing, no economy, not even goldwe are living on sheer fiat money, made by private banking by a mouse-clickand by letting us be enslaved by debt.





Enough is enough. The Yellow Vests have understood. They want to get rid of their Macron who keeps propagating the fraud. It is time to rethink and restart, as the crumbling is getting louder and louder. Empires European vassal state is falling apart and will pull Washington and its hegemonic war and money machine along into the abyss.





Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. After working for over 30 years with the World Bank he penned Implosion, an economic thriller, based on his first-hand experience. This article orgially appeared in New Eastern Outlook.




German Right-Wing Populists Domestic Intelligence Report Highlights AfD Extremism

German domestic intelligence officials have taken a closer look at the far-right fringe of the populist party Alternative for Germany. What they found is that the wing's leaders may pose a threat to democracy in the country.
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Afghan spy agency says it killed Taliban base attack mastermind



Kabul, Jan 23 (AFP) Jan 23, 2019



The Taliban "mastermind" behind an attack which left 65 dead has been killed in an airstrike, Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Wednesday -- a claim the insurgents deny.

Monday's violence was the latest high-casualty assault on Afghan forces, who experts say are continuing to suffer "unsustainable" losses since NATO withdrew combat forces from the country in 2014.

Militants detonated a Humvee filled with explosions before three gunmen opened fire at a National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence agency base in central Wardak province, but further details have been difficult to independently verify.

A local official told AFP at least 65 people had been killed. The NDS has given a lower toll, instead claiming 36 had been killed and 58 wounded.

Afghan authorities are known to downplay casualties.

The agency said an aerial bombardment in the provincial capital the following night killed eight Taliban insurgents, including the planner of the Monday attack.

"Commander Noman... was killed along with seven other terrorists in an airstrike in Maidan Shar city", it said in a statement.

"NDS will follow the remaining members of this terrorist network and eliminate them all," it added.

The Taliban dismissed the statement as "propaganda" without providing further details.

Wardak provinical council chief Akhtar Mohammad Tahiri said an aerial bombardment did take place in Maidan Shar on Tuesday, but he said it killed four civilians and happened during the day.

The Wardak attack followed a flurry of diplomatic activity by the United States aimed at bringing the Taliban to the table for talks seeking an end to the 17-year war.

Washington on Tuesday confirmed ongoing talks in Qatar between its envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and representatives of the Taliban.

President Donald Trump has ordered the withdrawal of half of the remaining 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan in a push to extricate Washington from the conflict, launched in 2001 after the September 11 attacks.
Netanyahu warns of 'lethal' reaction to any Gaza escalation



Jerusalem, Jan 23 (AFP) Jan 23, 2019



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Wednesday of a "lethal" reaction if Palestinian armed groups resume hostilities as tensions rise over Gaza.

Netanyahu made the remarks after weeks of relative calm in the Gaza Strip ended on Tuesday when Israeli soldiers came under fire along the border in two separate incidents.

"Maybe there is someone in Gaza who thinks he can stick his head up; I suggest that they understand that the response will be lethal and very painful," Netanyahu said.

"We are ready for any scenario and escalation," he said, quoted by his office, after attending a military exercise at a base in Shizafon in southern Israel.

On Tuesday, Israeli tanks struck two Hamas positions in Gaza and killed a militant after an Israeli soldier was lightly injured when a bullet hit his helmet.

And overnight Israeli warplanes struck a camp of Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Palestinian enclave.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and fears of a fourth round remain although violence has abated since November as a result of an informal truce.
Russia wheels out key missile in bid to save US arms treaty



Kubinka, Russia, Jan 23 (AFP) Jan 23, 2019



Russia on Wednesday unveiled a missile system that Washington claims is in violation of a key arms control treaty, in a last-minute bid to counter US criticism and save the Soviet-era agreement.

President Donald Trump has threatened to walk away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF), with Washington claiming that Russia's 9M729 ground-based missile system violates the deal.

Moscow has repeatedly denied the system contravenes the treaty and, to prove its point, on Wednesday showed off the missile at Patriot Park, a sprawling theme park near the town of Kubinka just outside Moscow.

Standing next to the system, a Russian defence ministry official detailed the missile's features to assembled foreign media and foreign military officials.

Russian defence and foreign ministry officials insisted the range of the missile system was allowed under the agreement.

Mikhail Matveevsky, Russia's chief of artillery and missile troops, said its maximum range is 480 kilometres (300 miles), while he said the INF treaty only bans missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,400 miles).

"Russia was in compliance and continues to be in strict compliance with the stipulations of the treaty and does not allow any violations," he said.

Matveevsky said Moscow was presenting the information in the interests of "voluntary transparency".

Washington has said it would not be satisfied with Moscow's offer of a "static display" of the missiles, because they would not show whether they breach the treaty.

The US says the missile system should be destroyed in a verifiable manner if Russia wants to keep the INF alive.



- 'Complete failure' in talks -



Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, also in attendance, said Moscow decided to unveil the missile after talks with US officials in Geneva this month resulted in "complete failure".

Last month Washington gave Russia a 60-day deadline -- which ends on February 2 -- to dismantle the 9M729 or the US would begin the six-month process of formally withdrawing from the treaty.

Ryabkov said that because Washington's claims were unsubstantiated the agreement would remain in force even if the US tries to withdraw.

He said the US continued to work on missiles banned by the treaty and was expanding its production facilities at home.

"The treaty must be preserved," Ryabkov said. "It is for the American side to make the choice."



- 'Concrete characteristics' -



Russia said 21 foreign military officials were in attendance at the briefing, though none from any NATO country.

Most foreign diplomats at the briefing refused to say whether Moscow managed to convince them it was in compliance.

But Li Xiaofeng, an aide to a Chinese military attache, said it was important that Russia had presented both the 9M728 and 9M729 missiles.

Asked to comment on Russia's compliance, he told AFP: "I trust concrete characteristics. So far we don't see any concrete characteristics from the American side."

Li said there was "no evidence" Russia violated the agreement.

The INF treaty puts no restrictions on major military actors like China, a huge concern for the United States.

Washington has said Russia's offers of inspection of the 9M729 merely "paid lip service" to transparency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to develop nuclear missiles banned under the INF treaty if it is scrapped.

He said in December he was open to the idea of other countries joining the deal or to starting talks on a new agreement.

Putin has also said if Washington moves to place more missiles in Europe after ditching the deal, Russia would respond "in kind" and that any European countries agreeing to host US missiles would be at risk of a Russian attack.

The European Union has urged Russia and the US to save the deal.

The agreement was signed towards the end of the Cold War by then US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, resolving a crisis over Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals.
China 'compressing' technology gains: US intel official



Washington, Jan 23 (AFP) Jan 23, 2019



China is making technological advances in a far shorter timeframe than it took the United States, rapidly narrowing the gap between the two countries, a senior US intelligence official said Tuesday.

Reaping the benefits of sending tens of thousands of students and researchers to the United States, and a determined policy to buy and steal US technology, Beijing has "compressed the timeframe" for catching up, and now has "remarkable" capabilities, the official told journalists on condition of anonymity.

That is one of the key challenges for the United States, according to the new US National Intelligence Strategy.

In unveiling the strategy, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said it sets a focus for the US intelligence community in a time of rapid technological change.

"Today, we face the most diverse and complex set of threats that we have ever seen," Coats said in a speech to the intelligence community.

"The question then becomes what do we need to do now... We must become more agile."

The strategy, the first drafted in five years, notes major changes in the world led by the weakening of the post-World War II global order, China's emergence as a global economic and military power, and the rise of cyber threats.

Coats named China, Iran, North Korea and Russia as key state threats, but said a broad range of non-state actors -- jihadist groups, organized crime and others -- are empowered by new technologies and could find common interests among themselves.

"Our greatest concern comes from those forces merging together," Coats said.

"You're going to see interests aligned," between non-traditional allies, warned the senior official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

That goes for the United States as well, the official said: "We need partnerships with non-traditional partners, state, local and tribal."



- US space lead eroded -



At the time of the previous strategy in 2014, cyber attacks, along with threats to economic and financial security and to election security, were relative afterthoughts.

Now, they are at the forefront, underscored by persistent attacks from Russia and China in recent years -- with cyber security paramount, according to the new strategy.

"Cyber hygiene is 90 percent of the issue" in confronting these challenges, the official said.

The other area that deeply worries US intelligence is the loss of America's longstanding lead in space.

China and Russia especially are aiming for parity with the United States in space, but technology and commercialization have given many countries and non-state actors space capabilities as well.

"We worry a lot about advantage," the official said.
Hulu cuts price of popular TV streaming plan



San Francisco, Jan 23 (AFP) Jan 23, 2019



Hulu on Wednesday cut the price of its basic streaming television plan as it battled with rivals such as Netflix and Amazon, which are spending big on original content.

Monthly subscriptions to Hulu's streaming television service that serves up ads along with shows and films will be $5.99 after a $2 price cut takes effect in late February, according to the company.

An ad-free Hulu streaming plan will remain $11.99 monthly, while the price of a deluxe plan combining on-demand and live television will be bumped up to $44.99, an increase of $5.

Hulu is a joint venture of Walt Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and Warner Media.

"Hulu is giving TV fans what they want -- choice, flexibility and control -- in what they watch, how they watch and what they pay for the TV plan that best suits their needs," the company said in a release.

Leading streaming television service Netflix last week boosted prices for US subscribers.

The California-based company, which has nearly half of its 130 million paid members in the US, raised the price of its most popular streaming plan with high-definition video by 18 percent to $12.99 per month.

Netflix will also boosted prices of some other subscription plans and will apply those rates to Latin America and Caribbean countries where it bills customers in US dollars.

The three large US streaming television groups -- Netflix, Amazon and Hulu -- have been investing heavily in new content as competition ramps up with new offerings from traditional media giants such as Disney and CBS, and a newly announced plan from Comcast-owned NBCUniversal.
China blasts US 'bullying' with Huawei CFO extradition bid



Beijing, Jan 23 (AFP) Jan 23, 2019



China on Wednesday accused the United States of "bullying behaviour" after US authorities confirmed plans to seek the extradition of a top Chinese telecom executive detained in Canada.

The United States faces a January 30 deadline to file an extradition request for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest last month sparked diplomatic tensions.

"We will continue to pursue the extradition of defendant Ms Meng Wanzhou, and will meet all deadlines set by the US/Canada Extradition Treaty," said US Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi on Tuesday.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested at Vancouver airport on December 1 at the request of the United States, which says she violated American sanctions on Iran.

She has since been freed on Can$10 million (US$7.5 million) bail and is awaiting a hearing on her extradition.

According to the agreement between the two countries, the United States has 60 days after an arrest made at its request in Canada to formalise an extradition request.

Once a request has been submitted, the Canadian justice ministry has 30 days to begin official extradition proceedings, though the process can take months or years.

China, which has defended both Huawei and Meng since the CFO's arrest, criticised the US extradition request as without "legitimate reason" and "not in conformity with international law".

"This is a type of technological bullying behaviour and everyone can clearly see the real purpose," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing.

The US "will stop at nothing to suppress Chinese high-tech enterprises and restrain China's legitimate development rights", she added.

Meng's arrest has sparked an escalating diplomatic crisis between Ottawa and Beijing.

Two Canadians have since been detained in China on national security grounds, in what is thought to be retaliation for the arrest.

A Chinese court also this month sentenced a Canadian man to death for drug trafficking following a retrial, a drastic increase of his previous 15-year prison sentence.
China, Europe follow Brazil's Bolsonaro onto Davos stage



Davos, Switzerland, Jan 23 (AFP) Jan 23, 2019



China and Europe take centre stage in front of the world's business elite at Davos on Wednesday, a day after Brazil's hard-right President Jair Bolsonaro promised reform and tried to win over sceptics about his environmental platform.

The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) is taking place this week in a global context of populism and concern for the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

Arriving by train to Davos on Wednesday is Greta Thunberg, a Swedish 16-year-old who has inspired protests by high-schoolers across Europe demanding stronger government action to fight global warming.

Top billing on the WEF stage will go to Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, who is tasked with negotiating a truce in the US-China trade war.

The annual conference in the Alpine ski resort was originally expected to see the two sides meet, but that was before the White House cancelled the US delegation's trip due to the government shutdown in Washington.

Beyond the trade war, Davos-goers are also concerned about the economic slowdown in China.

Economic experts predict growth of about six percent in China for 2019, which is still relatively strong, but below the country's stellar rates of recent years.

Wang will be watched closely to see if Beijing has plans for stimulus or to liberalise the economy in order to restore ebbing investor confidence.



- No 'happy globalisation' -



The clash between Beijing and Washington, which is again upsetting the markets, has dampened spirits at Davos, as signs grow of a broader slowdown in the world economy.

"This is really the end of happy globalisation," said Pascal Cagni, ex-CEO of Apple Europe and head of the Business France lobby.

"We are finishing digesting the 2008 crisis and we realise that the global governance we need is not there," he said.

Europe also takes its turn at the WEF on Wednesday, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel making her traditional visit to the forum to promote the continent's leading economy.

However, Merkel comes to Davos weakened after being forced out of the leadership of her CDU party last year. She plans to leave office by 2020.

The Europeans as a whole come to Davos under the cloud of Brexit, with Britain's plan to divorce from the European Union blocked in parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa May pulled out of the conference to handle Brexit as did the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, both eager to avoid a "no deal" exit on March 29.

But May's international trade secretary, Liam Fox, is one of a clutch of cabinet members who have made the trip to reassure investors about Britain's post-Brexit future.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after a recent trip to London to press May to secure a deal with Brussels, will also address the Davos audience on Wednesday.

The younger generation of European leadership will be represented by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who was thrust unexpectedly to power in June after a parliamentary vote of no confidence in his predecessor.

Sanchez will meet with top executives from US tech giants, including Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, with Madrid's controversial decision to tax Silicon Valley on sales certain to be on the agenda.

The EU is struggling to agree a bloc-wide tax on tech giants such as Facebook and Google. Several European countries -- including Spain, France and Britain -- are now looking to impose their own taxes.

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...NEAR-CRITICAL TO CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN TODAY... Dry weather with relative humidity dropping to 20 to 30 percent this afternoon will combine with west to northwest winds gusting to 25 mph at times to create near critical fire weather conditions today. A Red Flag Warning is already in effect to the north of this area, and one may be needed for this area this afternoon and evening. These conditions can cause any fires that develop to spread quickly. Check burning restrictions and the fire danger before burning. For more information on burning restrictions for Minnesota, see www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/fire/firerating_restrictions.html For more information on burning restrictions for Wisconsin, see www.dnr.wi.gov/topic/ForestFire/restrictions.asp
A man who served the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court for nearly four decades described himself as overwhelmed after being lauded by friends, co-workers and supporters for two hours during a retirement ceremony held in his honor.
Enterprise, AL (36331)

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Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
By Catherine Sas Q.C.,

Special to The Post

If you are a business owner, odds are that one of the greatest challenges that you face is finding skilled and capable workers.

Canada has experienced an ongoing shortage of workers in many sectors for over a decade and demographic projections indicate that this will continue for the foreseeable future. Engineers, IT professionals, commercial cleaners, and long-haul truck drivers are examples of occupations where there has been a longstanding shortage of workers.

When there are no Canadians to fill job openings, employers often look to bring in workers from abroad through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

Presently Canadas TFWP is facing backlogs of 8 months or more hampering employers ability to maintain or grow operations and stifling Canadas economic growth. Whats the reason for such delay?

Canadas TFWP is delivered through a partnership between two federal government departments - Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

An employer must first apply to Service Canada (a branch of ESDC) for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). Prior to submitting an application for an LMIA, an employer must advertise continuously for a minimum of 28 days in at least 3 sources of advertising to ensure that there are no Canadians available for the position.

When submitting the LMIA application an employer must pay Service Canada an application fee of $1000 per worker. Yes, that is a staggering $1000 per worker.

While the fees for these applications are taken at the time the application is received, applications languish for months before being considered. Current processing times for LMIA applications are taking 8 months or more - and thats just the first step in the process!

In the event that an LMIA is issued, the next step is for the foreign worker to apply for a work permit. The issuance of the LMIA does not guarantee that a workers work permit application will be successful. Employers face the time consuming, paper-intense and expensive LMIA process with the reality that they may not end up with a worker at the end of the process.

And neither government department is held accountable as they manage two separate stages of the process that employers must contend with in order to try and fill labour shortages.

Canadas jobless rate for December 2018 was 5.6 percent. This is the lowest jobless rate ever since comparable employment statistics were established in 1976. Canada is experiencing an unprecedented level of high employment the corollary of which is that employers are experiencing correspondingly high labour shortages.

It is simply unacceptable that employers should be expected to navigate an 8 to 10-month process to be able to fill a job vacancy. Clearly, Canadas TFWP is broken.

Who oversees the Ministries responsible for delivering Canadas TFWP? ESDC is headed by the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development of Canada - Jean-Yves Duclos and the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is Ahmed Hussen.

Ministers Duclos and Hussen, Canadas TFWP is clearly failing Canadian employers and the Canadian economy.

A shortage of workers impedes economic growth. It is incumbent upon you as heads of these Ministries to ensure that employers are provided timely service in the processing of both their LMIA and employees work permit applications with clear, transparent guidelines.

Catherine Sas, Q.C. has over 25 years of legal experience. She provides a full range of immigration services and is a leading immigration practitioner (Lexpert, Whos Who Legal, Best Lawyers in Canada). Go to canadian-visa-lawyer.com or email [email protected].
By Fabian Dawson

After 18 years, the continuing saga of forbidden love, which claimed the life of Maple Ridge beautician, Jaswinder Kaur Jassi Sidhu, moves to India this week.

Canada plans to extradite the accused, Jassis mother, Malkit Kaur Sidhu, and uncle Surjit Singh Badesha, to India, where they have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

If found guilty, they face life in prison in India, for killing Jassi, who defied her family to marry the man she loved.

The 25-year-old, who graduated from the Pitt Meadows Secondary school, was abducted and murdered in India on June 8, 2000. Her body was found in a ditch outside the industrial metropolis of Ludhiana in Punjab, India.

She had been raped and tortured by hired killers before a sword, inscribed with the words Satnam Waheguru, was used to slit her throat.

During the days leading up to the so-called honour killing, investigators tracked 147 phone calls between Maple Ridge to the accused family home in India and to the hired assassins.

Jassis husband, rickshaw driver Sukhwinder Mithu Singh, who survived the attack during the abduction, continues his fight for justice after corrupt cops at the behest of Jassis kin, framed him several times and threw him in jail to thwart the case.

Mithu has also escaped subsequent attempts to kill him.

Last April, a Commission of Inquiry found that Mithu was falsely accused at least six times by several police officers, who had been working with his murdered wifes family in India to silence him.

Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice B.S. Mehndiratta, who led the inquiry, recommended that the cops be charged and Mithu be compensated.

One cop, who rebuffed the familys offer is the principal investigating officer Swaran Singh Khanna, who has stated in court and media interviews that Jassis family offered him a blank cheque to bury the case.

Not every cop in Punjab police is for sale, he told them.

Khanna will be central to the upcoming trial in India. So will Mithu, who was offered 14 acres of land and cash, to keep quiet, as will be the telephone calls prior to the murder, the familys uncontested intention to stop the marriage and the confessions by hired hitmen.

But all of this may not be enough to get justice for Jassi in India.

After Jassis murder, Indian police arrested about a dozen people and later charged seven, including a police inspector, two key members of a local gang and another of Jassis uncles  Darshan Singh. Of the seven, three were acquitted and four were found guilty by the lower courts and sentenced to life.

Last year, the Supreme Court in India upheld the life sentences of the police inspector and the two hired hitmen.

But it tossed out the case against Darshan Singh giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The Supreme Court ruled that the telephone used to allegedly orchestrate the killing via calls to and from Jassis family in Canada was not under Darshan Singhs exclusive control as others also had access to it.

The charges against Darshan Singh, that were tossed by the Indian Supreme Court, are similar to the charges that his bother Surjit Singh Badesha and his sister Malkit Kaur Sidhu, face in India.

The Indian Supreme Court decision to acquit Darshan Singh, is expected to be the primary defence for Badesha and Sidhu.

While there is overwhelming justification for motive, the confessions of the hired killers and testimony about the attempts to cover-up the case, the prosecution in India will be hard-pressed to prove conclusively that it was the accused on the phone calls that were tracked.

Many of the calls originated from or were made to the palatial home of the accused which had 25 rooms, 19 bathrooms, and six kitchens.

The family compound, valued at over $2.6 million, across from Jerry Sulina Park in Maple Ridge, was home to scores of people, including four families of direct relatives and several others who worked on Badeshas blueberry farm.

According to legal sources in India and Canada, the two accused on arrival in India will be taken to the Sangrur police station to be arraigned.

They are likely to be given bail pending the lower court hearings.

Unless there is some new compelling evidence in India, their case could be tossed out at this level because of the Supreme Court decision on Darshan, said a lawyer, who has been following the file for the last 18 years.

If they are convicted by the lower court, the appeals are likely to follow the trajectory of the Darshan case and end in a similar result.

They are Canadian citizens and could if they wish to return to Canada in the event of the acquittal, which I believe is a very real possibilityif this happens to be the case, the accused would have spent more time behind bars in Canada than they ever will in India.

Indian journalist, Jupinderjit Singh, co-author of Justice for Jassi, said Jassis husband Mithu is hoping that the truth will prevent any further hurdles in getting justice for his murdered wife.

He is hoping to get his day in court and face the accused to ask them why they had to kill Jassi, said Jupinderjit Singh.

Harbinder Singh Sewak, the Vancouver based publisher of The South Asian Post, who secured Mithus release from jail after proving he was falsely accused of rape, stressed that the struggle for justice will continue, despite what happens in India.

This case has shocked many people many think this murder is about honour and religion it is about greed, he said.

We kept the story alive and we will continue to do so until there is justice for Jassi, added Sewak.

Fabian Dawson, is the former deputy editor of The Province and Vancouver Sun. After breaking the story of Jassis death, he together with Harbinder Singh Sewak of Vancouver, Jupinderjit Singh of Ludhiana in India and Jagdeesh Mann, the executive editor of the South Asian Post, conducted scores of interviews that led to three documentaries, a made-for-TV movie, a website called justiceforjassi.com and the book, Justice for Jassi. Their award-winning work has been recognized internationally in the U.K, India, the United States, and Canada.
To its residents, Northern Kentucky may seem like a low-key place. But when one attribute in the region is catching the attention of national powerhouse names like Stanford and MIT, clearly more may be going on around them than people realize.

The topic that is drawing all the attention is entrepreneurship, specifically efforts in the health innovation sector. In December, a proposal to launch a Northern Kentucky Health Innovation Initiative became the first project from Kentucky to win funding from the federal i6 Challenge program, a fifth-year competition run by the U.S. Department of Commerces Economic Development Administration to stimulate regional innovation strategies.

Northern Kentucky is not known for health innovation  yet.

But Casey Barach, who helped bring the parties to the table in support of the grant bid, sees a number of factors coming together that could create an entrepreneurial boom in the sector.

After losing out with a bid in 2017 that they concluded was too broad, leadership decided to try again in the 2018 competition with a specific focus, and health innovation made total sense.

We thought it was important to have a university partner and to have an industry partner, says Barach, the senior vice president of the Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corporation (Tri-Ed), the regional body that works to enhance and promote business opportunities in Northern Kentucky. It was a matter of Look around  we have NKU getting $100 million for a (Health Innovation) building and starting a program and we have St. Elizabeth, one of the most progressive healthcare systems in the region, wanting to be involved. It was just this natural thing, like you could see two or three rivers all coming together.

That confluence will now be enhanced by more than $1.4 million in funding. The i6 Challenge grant awarded the region $731,250, a figure that was then matched by local funds. Added in on top of that will be additional funds available from a $750,000 grant awarded earlier in 2018 from the KY Innovations RISE program in support of entrepreneurial efforts in health innovation and two other fields, which was again matched by local funding, and you have a groundwork in support of new health ventures that has never before been more promising.

The next step to success, Barach believes, will be determining what one or two niche areas within health innovation fit most naturally with Northern Kentuckys strengths.

I can assure you we are not going to try to be all things to all people in the healthcare field, says Barach, who will serve the Health Innovation Initiative as its project manager. We want to determine what space we can win in and then we want to develop in that area.

Many voices who support Northern Kentucky entrepreneurship are at the table, and a number of resources will be available to help answer those questions. Besides Tri-Ed and its Entrepreneurship Council, primary partners in the program are NKUs Institute of Health Innovation and St. Elizabeth Healthcare. The Northern Kentucky Area Development District is on board and among its contributions will be to specifically serve as a familiar partner representing the initiative to the five rural counties  Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Owen and Pendleton  that are included among the eight counties that will be served by the Health Innovation Initiative. So is UpTech, the well-established startup accelerator located in Covington.

Another interesting partner in the project is a long way from Kentucky, and that would be MIT  specifically, that universitys Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP). Dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship around the world, Kentucky became the first U.S. participant when it was accepted last year as a member of the sixth cohort to work with the center in reaching goals to measure and determine evidence-based, practical approaches to regional challenges. Barach is among the 12 team members from Kentucky working directly with the MIT program.

Room for growth in health innovation exists in Kentucky, both by measurements within the state and against other bordering states. In 2018, Kentucky ranked 45th nationally in overall health quality in rankings compiled by the United Health Foundation, including a ranking of 47th in health outcomes. The disparities in access to care are wide when looking at the states urban centers, including Northern Kentucky, and its many rural counties, so digital innovation to help bridge that gap is the sort of possibility that could present health innovation opportunities.

When looking at economic impact from health entrepreneurship, Kentucky also lags. In data from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Kentucky enterprises received $169 million in bioscience venture capital investments between 2014-2017. That compares to totals over the same time period of $241 million in Indiana and $806 million in Ohio. The leading 11 states on the list all attracted more than $1 billion in bioscience venture capital in that same four-year period.

Where Northern Kentucky is likely to find traction will be in applied health innovation projects rather than ideas related to basic medical research, according to Dr. Valerie Hardcastle, NKUs St. Elizabeth Healthcare Executive Director for the Institute for Health Innovation and Vice President for Health Innovation.



Healthcare is the third-largest regional industry here, and its one we know is slated to grow exponentially over the next decade, at the least, says Hardcastle. We have a tremendous shortage of workers in healthcare, not just the clinical people but also those in support. So the goal is to try and help address those issues as well as, in addition, that Kentucky is a very unhealthy state, so this is a good place to target the healthcare industry.

NKU is already excelling in a number of health professions, and last year opened its new Health Innovation Center as a center for growth of existing NKU health programs. The NKU campus will also provide classroom space for the University of Kentucky College of Medicine  Northern Kentucky Campus, which is expected to welcome its first class of students this coming fall. That is obviously another major development on the Northern Kentucky healthcare stage, and will be operated in partnership with St. Elizabeth Healthcare and NKU.

Along with education will come ideas, and NKUs Institute for Health Innovation is expected to be a key expert resource for the Health Innovation Initiative. The institute is focusing on aspects related to three identified areas of need in Kentucky  solutions for chronic illness, social determinants of health and development of future health leaders.

Our focus, I believe, is going to be on providing better and more innovative approaches to healthcare, Hardcastle says in explaining NKUs view towards the Health Innovation Initiative. And this can be everything from new ways of delivering medical care, like through tele-health, which on the one hand, sounds like an absolutely fabulous idea, particularly given that most of Kentucky is rural. But on the other hand, maybe it's not a fabulous idea because, for example, in Owen County, which is part of Northern Kentucky, only 55 percent of the people in that county have access to the Internet.

Hardcastles point is that applied healthcare solutions are complicated by local factors that depend on where you are in Kentucky. However, that diversity of conditions in the long run could ultimately end up being a strength of the value that Northern Kentucky develops as a healthcare center of innovation.

Intractable problems exist and they demand innovative solutions. Ultimately, she believes, the mix of NKUs areas of expertise, St. Elizabeths presence as a major healthcare provider across the entire region and the diversity of the Northern Kentucky region will create the sparks necessary for the growth of health innovation.

The demographics of Northern Kentucky are a strong point, because what you want to do when you're developing health innovation is try to create something that's going to work in any environment, whether that be an urban environment, a suburban environment or a rural environment, Hardcastle says. Within the Northern Kentucky region, we have all of that. We really are a microcosm of the United States. And so if you can get something to work in Northern Kentucky, then you can be very sure it's going to work most places in the United States.
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The incident occurred nearly a week after Kanaka Durga's mother-in-law allegedly assaulted her, following which she had to be admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College. Kanaka Durga filed a complaint with the District Violence Protection Officer after her in-laws locked her out of the house. "The complaint has been forwarded to the court, and an order is awaited," a source close to her told mediapersons.

: A 39-year-old woman who dared to visit the Ayyappa shrine at Kerala's Sabarimala in defiance of religious customs earlier this month was not allowed into her in-laws' house on Tuesday.

The source said that when police initially took Kanaka Durga back home, they found that her husband had locked the door and left the place with his mother and two children. She is now living under police protection in a government shelter.

Kanaka Durga and another woman, 40-year-old Bindu Ammini, were the first ones of menstrual age to enter the famous hilltop shrine in decades. After their achievement, both were forced to stay in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of Kochi under state protection for fear of reprisals from right-wing activists.

However, when Kanaka Durga returned home on the morning of January 15, her mother-in-law allegedly came at her with a stick and beat her until she could barely stand. "She began abusing me, saying that I had slept with many people and was a blot on the family's reputation," the government employee had told the police then.
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Fabien MontiqueThe tensions between Pusha T and Drake may have settled, but it seems King Push may still have some unresolved issues with the Toronto rapper.

Wednesday, the DAYTONA lyricist took to social media to -- it seemed -- address rumors that Drake is finally planning to respond to the scathing diss record "Story of Adidon."

"You tried, you failed...Im hearing you wanna try again, this time Im not gonna play with you, any of you," the cryptic tweet read.

While the tweet may be in response to a completely unrelated matter, Push has previously noted that he has more rounds in the chamber for Drizzy.

"I'm here for the sport of it but when it gets personal it gets personal. I'm not censoring myself but there's more content if it's needed later," he remarked during a radio interview last May.

As previously reported, Drake is hitting the road next month for his highly-anticipated Assassination Vacation Tour alongside Tory Lanez.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Speaking to reporters here, Naredco President Niranjan Hiranandani said that the apex body of the real estate sector has submitted its memorandum of recommendations for the upcoming Union Budget 2019-20 to the Finance Ministry and the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.

New Delhi: he National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco) on Tuesday urged the government to rationalise the GST rates on under construction properties and also solve the liquidity crisis at the earliest.

"GST on under construction properties should be brought down to 8 per cent with ITC (Input Tax Credit) and for affordable housing to 5 per cent with ITC," Hiranandani said.

Currently, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on under construction properties is 18 per cent and that on affordable housing projects is 8 per cent.

Talking of the liquidity crisis, he said that for the last couple of years the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) were the major source of liquidity for the sector, and after the recent crisis in NBFCs the real estate business is under severe financial stress.

"After the disaster which has taken place in IL&FS, we are in a quandary, because NBFCs have come into a crisis and the liquidity position of banks is not improving. If the industry wants to grow, both under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) or under the affordable housing scheme or the rest of the real estate, liquidity has to be increased," he said.

Naredco has also asked the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India to address the liquidity issue at the earliest, said Hiranandani.

Chairman of Naredco, Rajeev Talwar said: "To add to the supply of housing, Naredco has also suggested bringing the services of companies engaged in the business of rental housing under the ambit of Section 80IBA and increasing deduction limit from rental income, under Section 24(a), from current 30 per cent to 50 per cent for general category and 100 per cent for handicapped persons, women and senior citizens".
Anil Sardana, Managing Director and CEO of Adani Transmission said that they would develop district cooling system and connect smart city in Amaravati.

Switzerland: Andhra Pradesh lounge set up at the 49th Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has turned as a centre of attraction for global delegates with the display of innovative methods and technology being used for development of the state.

Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Tuesday attended the World Economic Forum in Davos along with team of officials. On the first day of the conference, Nara Lokesh is seen busy interacting with CEOs of various world business groups.

Sardana appreciated the pro active and logical support that was facilitated by Andhra Pradesh government under the dynamic leadership of state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Anil Sardana said they chose Andhra Pradesh despite pressures from Maharastra to set up Adani group. He expressed interest to work with Amaravati.

Later, Nara Lokesh interacted with WEF Agile Governance Team and discussed on interlinking and upgrading of technology to improve services to people.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister stressed the need for upgrading technology to improve government services. He said that various issues of people should be solved using technology.

The minister added that the Andhra Pradesh government has been extending people friendly services through real time governance. He said the state government has been extending services including soil testing, water levels in reservoirs, ground water levels and weather forecasting using real time governance, adding a call centre was set up in real time governance to register and resolve the grievances of people in real time.

The minister said the Andhra Pradesh government has been digitalising the land records and using block chain technology to prevent tampering of land records. With the cooperation of Milinda Gates foundation soil testing programme is being organised using drones. He added the Chief Minister core dash board will provide information of various departments in real time. He said the state government has been making efforts to simplify the distribution of certificates through e-Pragati.

Later the IT minister interacted with Wipro Ltd strategy officer and NASCOM executive council chairman Rishad Premji and discussed on innovation and changing technologies. The minister said skill development programme play a key role in providing employment opportunities to youth.

Nara Lokesh said that Yuva Nestam programme was launched to help unemployed youth by paying Rs 1000 per month besides providing skill development trainings. He said a number of employment opportunities was provided in the state by introducing Andhra Pradesh Fiber grid.

While interacting with the Deloitte group, the minister said that Andhra Pradesh has been marching forward despite state bifurcation issues and planning to emerge number one in the country by 2029.

He said that Andhra Pradesh has achieved 12 per cent growth. He also stated that Andhra Pradesh has been implementing paperless government policy.

The session discussed industrial development, reforms, employment generation for youth.

Speaking on the occasion, the IT minister said that double digit growth would be possible in India through Ease of doing business and providing employment to youth.

He stressed the need for more reforms to increase the growth rate of the country. He opined that the corporate taxes should be reduced and the special tax system should be implemented for MSMEs.

Nara Lokesh added that special subsidies should be provided for research and development, innovation. He opined that judicial reforms are necessary for introducing reforms in lands and industries and changes should be made in labour laws to promote industrial development.

The minister said that Andhra Pradesh stands in number one position in Ease of Doing business, adding that the state achieved record growth rate in Agriculture sector using technology.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has been invited as a guest of honour for over 15 times. He had also participated in the 48th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, which took place between in January 2018.


Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, owner of dairy brand Amul, on Tuesday announced the launch of camel milk in select markets of Gujarat.

Branded as 'Amul Camel Milk', it would be available in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Kutch.

According to an official press release, "Camel milk is easy to digest and healthy milk with numerous benefits, most prominent of which is that the milk is high in an insulin-like protein, making it beneficial for diabetic person."
Shippensburg, PA (17257)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Stock exchange operator NZX and the Financial Markets Authority have formed a formal review - Capital Markets 2029 - to investigate the drivers of listing activity.

New Zealands capital markets have performed well in a number of areas  such as KiwiSaver and debt issuance, NZX and the regulator say in a joint statement.

However, equity listings have remained subdued and (the) listed equity market is under-developed relative to global peers.

Equity listings on NZX fell by 21 to 138 at the end of December from a year earlier as companies large, such as accounting software company Xero, medium sized, such as chicken company Tegel and engineering firm Opus International, and small, such as skincare products company Trilogy, all departed the boards.

Thats down from the 173 equity securities listed on NZX in December 2015, indicating its been a long, slow burn.

Total market value of equities listed on NZX at Dec. 31 was $129.6 billion, down from $135.2 billion a year earlier.

The new year promises more of the same: e-commerce software company SLI Systems delisted earlier this month after a successful $41.4 million takeover offer.

While SLI Systems is a relative minnow, two of NZXs mainstays, Trade Me and Restaurant Brands with market capitalisations of $2.5 billion and $1 billion respectively, are dealing with takeover proposals.

The silver lining for NZX of the Restaurant Brands offer by Mexico-based Finaccess Capital is that it only wants 75 percent so the shares will remain listed.

NZXs debt board has been somewhat more successful, lifting total debt securities to 132 with a market capitalisation of $30.1 billion at Dec. 31 from 113 worth $26.4 billion a year earlier and 89 worth $19.8 billion in December 2015.

Todays statement says companies listed on the S&P/NZX 50 Index generate more than $24.6 billion in GDP and employ close to 10,000 New Zealanders, according to research NZX commissioned from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research published in February last year.

The actual NZIER report says those 50 companies employed more than 96,300 workers.

NZXs latest initiative was to axe its two junior equity boards, ASX and NXT, pushing all those companies onto the main board, and targeting managed funds to list by simplifying their listing rules, including removing many of the requirements imposed on other listed companies.

NZX now counts 38 funds on its board, up 2.9 percent from a year ago.

NZX has delivered some fundamental changes to the market over the past 15 months, such as increasing on-market liquidity and simplifying the markets structure and rule set, NZX chief executive Mark Petersen says in the statement.

But we only play one part in New Zealands capital markets ecosystem. It is now important that we bring the industry together to focus on accelerating the growth of our capital market."

FMA chief executive Rob Everett says the review responds to concerns expressed about the overall depth and breadth of our capital markets.

From early-stage capital raising and investment opportunities all the way up to main board listings and institutional investor appetite, we felt the time is right to plan for the future. We are keen to see the industry take this forward and take a good look at how the system is working, Everett says.

The two organisations have appointed Martin Stearne, supported by accounting firm EY, to head the review. The results are expected to be published in the September quarter.

Stearne is a corporate consultant and a member of NZXs listing sub-committee and was recently appointed to the Takeovers Panel. He was an investment banker with FNZC and its predecessors for 20 years, ending his tenure there as managing director.

(BusinessDesk)

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Accounting industry body CPA Australia is calling for changes to the capital gains tax as proposed by the Tax Working Group. It says the system in the draft report could stymie investment, business and jobs growth.

CPA Australia executive general manager Craig Laughton says members - including approximately 2,000 accountants in New Zealand - have several concerns about the Tax Working Groups initial report. These include:

- the fact it does not include grandfathering, meaning the new regime would also apply to capital assets acquired before the date it comes into effect;

- lack of clarity in terms of valuation of pre-CGT assets;

- no CGT discounts. Australia, for example gives a 50 percent discount for individual taxpayers who hold a taxable asset for at least a year;

- the apparent exclusion of Portfolio Investment Entities (PIEs);

- the way the report appears to favour KiwiSaver over other ways of saving for retirement.

CPA Australia sent a supplementary submission to the TWG last month, with a number of proposals and recommendations. The organisation hopes these will have some input into the final recommendations, due for release in February.

Laughton says of the two capital gains tax methods discussed in the interim report, CPA members prefer a regime based on actual realisation of assets.

The RFRM [risk-free rate of return] model, while simple in many respects, has the fatal flaw of assuming all assets always increase in value, which is obviously not the case. Consider for example the recent economic losses incurred by the taxi industry caused by the introduction of ride-sharing services, Laughton says in his submission.

CPA Australia is not aware of any other OECD country that applies CGT in this manner, and members remain opposed to taking unrealised gains.

Laughton says valuation of assets is critical, with several issues needing clarification. For example, CPA says the government needs to develop a robust valuation methodology to deal with problematic areas like how to value goodwill in services businesses. Its also not clear whether legal rights and options are to be counted as CGT assets.

Meanwhile, Laughton says there are considerable risks if the Tax Working Group decides to exclude Portfolio Investment Entities like managed funds and retirement schemes.

This necessarily would introduce a two-tier investment community, one that invests in PIEs and one that invests directly in shares on the NZX. The latter would be disadvantaged. They would not only be caught by CGT but would potentially have to file annual tax returns, which is a considerable administrative burden."

He says its hard to quantify what the damage to the capital markets might be, but the risk is severe.

New Zealand is a net importer of capital and the proposed distortion would almost certainly impact inflows. It could also encourage businesses to avoid listing on the NZX and seek a foreign listing instead.

It is also worth noting that the PIE regime was explicitly designed because New Zealand does not have a CGT.

Coincidentally, the NZX and the Financial Markets Authority today announced a formal review - Capital Markets 2029 - to investigate the woeful slump in equity listing numbers on the NZX. The number of equities securities on the exchange have fallen from 173 at the end of 2015 to 138 now.

Laughton says any capital gains tax needs to be wary not to make the situation worse. He says the Tax Working Group should make changes to the Fair Dividend Rate (FDR) regime. If not, the playing field would be tipped in favour of foreign stocks to the detriment of New Zealand companies.

Finally, CPA Australia weighs into the retirement savings debate, saying the interim CGT report appears to favour KiwiSaver over other ways of saving for retirement, and also that the proposed regime seems to have given little thought around incentives to encourage retirement savings.

The Tax Working Group is led by former deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Michael Cullen. It released its initial recommendations in September last year. Any final CGT would not be considered until after the next election in 2020.

(BusinessDesk)

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Press Release

January 23, 2019 MERITOCRACY, EXCELLENCE & INNOVATION:

REMOVING BARRIES TO ADVANCEMENT FOR WOMEN AT WORK

Sponsorship Speech on the Prohibited Acts of Discrimination Against Women on Account of Sex Bill by Senator Joel Villanueva Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, it is my honor to sponsor Committee Report No. 555 containing Senate Bill No. 892 that expands the prohibited acts of discrimination against women on account of sex in the workplace. Nagpapasalamat po tayo sa ating seatmate at masipag na kaibigan natin, Senator JV Ejercito, sa kanyang pagpupursige bilang principal author ng panukalang ito at sa kanyang sensitibidad sa pangangailangan ng sektor ng kababaihan. Nagbago na nga raw po ang panahon, Mr. President, at hindi na lamang pambahay ang mga kababaihan ngayon. Hindi naman po ito nakapagtataka. If we come to think of it, considering the demands of the cultural, social, political and economic situations we are in today, it becomes necessary indeed, na hindi na lamang po maging pambahay ang ating mga kababaihan ngayon. Ito po ay napansin at napatunayan na ng Meralco noon pang 2013, when they started hiring and pioneered training female linewomen. In Meralco's 110-year history, the utility pole has been an exclusive space for men. This practice ended in June 2013 when Meralco partnered with us, during the time when I was still in TESDA, for a technical instruction program for linewomen. I remember 12 women joined the first batch of trainees. Isa po sa kanila si Argie Dulos mula sa Cavite at nagtapos ng Electrical Engineering Technology sa RTU. Nang magsimula po ang training, alas-dos pa lang ng umaga, bumibyahe na siya papuntang Maynila para sa training na halos katumbas ng military training program. Mahirap po ang training at trabaho sa itaas ng may limampung talampakang poste na hugpungan ng mga high voltage wire. Pero sa kanilang pagpupursige, naka-graduate at nakapagtrabaho si Argie kasama ang iba pang kababaihan bilang mga kauna-unahang linewomen ng Meralco. Ang sabi po noon ni Ginoong Ramon Segismundo, then Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of Human Resources, and I quote: "It's a paradigm shift. We would like to challenge the gender assumptions of the power utility industry. Because our work culture at Meralco is one of excellence and innovation and that is certainly not gender sensitive. Our female colleagues have a lot to do with our success as much as their male counterparts." End quote. Mr. President, times indeed have changed. Our present-day society is characterized by a culture of excellence and innovation. It is inclusive, gender equitable, and merit-based. This indeed requires a paradigm shift. This set-up renders old-fashioned gender role stereotypes antiquated. It demands an overhaul of the structures of partnership between sexes towards greater collaboration and mutuality. Sa praktikal na buhay kitang-kita po at alam na alam natin kung paanong kadalasa'y kailangan talagang kapwa magtrabaho ang nanay at ang tatay upang maitawid ang mga pangangailangan ng pamilya. Katotohanang dumarami po ngayon ang tinatawag nating "houseband". Alam nating sa iba't-ibang kadahilanan, marami na po ang mga pagkakataong mas madaling makahanap ng trabaho si Misis kesa kay Mister, o kaya, mas malaki ang kikinikita ni Misis kesa kay Mister. Bigla ko pong naisip na siguro pagkatapos ko pong pag-aralin ang anak kong babae na si Gwynnie, halos imposible pong asahan kong piliin niyang maging plain housewife, at hindi rin po ako papayag ng ganun, maliban na lamang po kung ito ay kanyang piliin. The emergence of the career woman revolutionizes gender roles and the structures of society and its institutions. Dahil career woman si nanay kailangang saluhin ni tatay ang ilang traditional domestic duties ni nanay. Dahil hindi sapat ang kita ni tatay kailangan ding kumayod si nanay. It is our task in government to ensure that social structures promote justice and equity. It is our duty to root unjust, abusive, and discriminatory elements out of our social structures. This is easier said than done. There is no magic wand to wave or wish this dilemma away. We are into numerous efforts to untangle issues of justice, equality, and discrimination. It becomes even more colourful when it comes to anything that pertains to the structures of partnership, collaboration, and mutuality between sexes. Today, we make another attempt to meaningfully address this issue, and thus seek to amend the Labor Code of the Philippines by expanding the prohibited acts of discrimination against women on account of sex, assuring our people that their welfare is our utmost concern. It is in this context that Senate Committee on Labor have worked long and hard to arrive at Committee Report No. 555 containing Senate Bill No. 892. This bill seeks - 1. To prohibit favouring male employees over female employees with respect to assignment, dismissal of personnel or the application of any retrenchment policy of the employer solely on the account of their sexes. 2. To prohibit denying any woman the benefits of employment or other statutory benefits under our laws by reason of her sex. Nakakadinig na po tayo ng ilang reklamo gaya ng hindi sila matanggap dahil naturally pupuwede silang mabuntis or hihingi ng maternity leave. 3. To penalize the commission of any prohibited acts with a fine of up to Php50,000, in addition to penalties already provided by law. 4. To clarify that conviction or acquittal by the employer of any act prohibited in this bill shall not bar the female employee from filing a civil suit for the payment of salaries or benefits due her. 5. And lastly, to provide liability in the same manner as the employer, to any employee or person who wilfully aids or abets in the commission of the acts prohibited under this bill, or who causes the commission of any such acts by another. Mr. President, the 2017 Gender Statistics on Labor and Employment shows that the huge Men-Women Labor Force Participation Rate Gap in our country insignificantly improves from 33.1 in 1998 to 28.3 in 2016 in favour of men. It is very timely, and it is with utmost concern for the welfare of our people, that we humbly ask this chamber for the swift passage of this measure. Again, thank you very much and may God bless us all.
Press Release

January 23, 2019 POE: EFFECTIVE FEEDING PROGRAM TO REDUCE CHILD DELINQUENTS "Intensifying the school feeding program is one way of cutting school drop out rates that lead to juvenile delinquency," Sen. Grace Poe said as she welcomed debates on the age of criminal liability as an opportunity for society to comprehensively address the rise in the number of youth offenders. Poe said "what experts have been saying is that keeping kids in school and away from the streets, keeps them out of trouble with the law." "The challenge now is how to retain vulnerable children in school. One way is to incentivize class attendance by offering them free meals. 'Pag pumasok ka, may pagkain. We do not only feed your mind but your body as well. Education is the best antidote to crime," she said. But school feeding, she said, is not just a matter of luring high-risk children to school. "It is more than that. Hindi lang ito calories for class attendance deal. It is the state exercising its responsibility to provide care and comfort to children. And that includes nutrition, because to eat is a basic children's right," Poe said. Poe said the "Masustansyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act," which she co-authored and co-sponsored, has been enacted into law. The Senate has also increased the budget of the Department of Education for school feeding, to P7.58 billion, from the P3.97 billion as originally proposed by Malacanang in their 2019 national budget bill. This increase means an additional 1.67 million students will be served hot, daily meals in public schools. Poe said the total budget for free children's feeding this year, P11.07 billion, of which P7.58 billion is lodged with DepEd, and P3.49 billion for DSWD, "is far from the ideal amount, but is a good start." "Habang lumalaki ang capacity ng ating schools, local governments, parent's associations and civil groups to run school and community kitchens, dagdagan natin ng pondo commensurately. Hindi puwedeng malaki kaagad, otherwise it will lead to fund spoilage," Poe said. Poe said "there is no magic bullet to end child criminality. It is always a combination of measure, the preventive ones being the most effective. It takes a village to teach, feed and prevent a child from going to prison."
Transcript of Senator Leila M. de Lima's statement after she attended this morning the pre-trial hearing before Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 on the trumped-up illegal drug trade charge against her

Senator De Lima: "Children are not criminals. They're victims too. Hindi dapat sila ang pinagdidiskitahan kundi yung mga big-time drug lords and syndicates! Nasaan ang konsensya nila? Heartless monsters!"
Press Release

January 23, 2019 ANGARA ASKS ACCOUNTANTS: BE PATRIOTS, HELP GOV'T COLLECT RIGHT TAXES Senator Sonny Angara yesterday urged accountants and auditors to increase their contribution to economic growth by promoting financial transparency and helping the government collect the right taxes. Speaking at the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) Metro Manila Region Tax Conference 2019 held in Mandaluyong City, Angara said that certified public accountants (CPAs) had an important role to play in sustaining the economic momentum the Philippines had achieved in the last 10 years. "For financial transparency isn't just about being truthful. It's about being smart. It's about making well-informed, data-driven decisions and who are better equipped to help in this effort than the number-crunchers among us?" Angara said. Angara noted that the Philippines was able to sustain close to a decade's worth of continuous economic growth and during the period, he said, the country generated "momentum and fiscal space to finally break free from decades of chronic poverty." For the country to reach higher plane of development, Angara said it had to make smarter decisions and the right investments in the right places, which would definitely require the expertise of CPAs. "We will need to have a proper assessment--an accurate balance sheet showing our assets and liabilities--of where we stand as a nation and accountants can contribute in this regard," Angara said. The lawmaker also exhorted the CPAs to work towards bringing their clients to the path of honesty, rather than helping them avoid paying the right taxes. He urged them "not only to be exemplary professionals, but also exemplary patriots." "Because to defraud the government of taxes is to allow classrooms, hospitals, roads, airports and seaports to go to ruin. It is to let teachers, nurses, policemen and soldiers to go unpaid," Angara told the CPAs. He added: "Likewise, to be superfluous in the management of your organizations is to imperil the jobs and hence the lives of so many Filipinos and their families. To allow greed and corruption to take charge is to maintain the inequities that have caused violence and poverty in our streets." At the same time, Angara called on the CPAs to become instruments of meaningful change. "All of us lead private lives, but what we do in our own time has an effect on other people's lives," he pointed out. "You are not just mere accountants, you can be party to meaningful change in this country. You can be among those so-called few citizens who are thoughtful, committed and can change the world."
Press Release

January 23, 2019 ANGARA SEEKS SWIFT PASSAGE OF MAGNA CARTA FOR THE POOR Senator Sonny Angara is pushing for the immediate passage of the proposed Magna Carta for the Poor that seeks to uplift the lives of indigent Filipinos by strengthening the government's anti-poverty programs and other socioeconomic development strategies. "It is high time we come up with a comprehensive framework designed to improve the lives of the impoverished by providing them with sustained opportunities for growth and development," said Angara, one of the authors of a substitute bill that consolidated all Magna Carta for the Poor proposals in the Senate. The committee report on the substitute bill--Senate Bill No. 2121--has been approved by three Senate panels, including the Committee on Ways and Means chaired by Angara. The bill is now up for approval on second reading. According to Angara, the measure guarantees the rights of the poor to adequate food, decent work, free relevant and quality education, adequate housing, and highest attainable standard of health. "Through the Magna Carta for the Poor, we will be having an area-based, sectoral and focused intervention to poverty alleviation where every poor Filipino must be empowered to meet the minimum basic needs through the partnership of the government and the basic sectors," the senator pointed out. The measure is also vital for the Philippines to "comply with its international obligations to end poverty in all its forms, and ensure and promote the health and well-being of all," he added. In 2015, poverty incidence among Filipinos was estimated at 26.3 percent, which translates to about 26.48 million people based on the country's population of 100.7 million at the time. The subsistence incidence, or the proportion of Filipinos whose income fall below the food threshold, was estimated at 12.1 percent or about 12.18 million then. The subsistence incidence rate indicates the proportion of Filipinos living in extreme poverty. Based on the July 2015 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, despite the fastest economic growth enjoyed during the past few years, the poverty rate in the Philippines will still be high as the gap between the poor and the rich widens. By 2019, it is projected that the country will remain one of Southeast Asia's poorest economies, with a lower level of gross domestic product per head than most of the region's major economies. A large number of Filipinos will continue to live in poverty, the report said. The Magna Carta for the Poor, Angara said, will help address the problem through employment, feeding programs, housing, healthcare and education. "Under the bill, all government agencies are mandated to formulate its own poverty reduction plan with utmost consideration to the fundamental rights of the poor," he explained.
Greek Shipping Cooperation Committee (GSCC) chairman Haralambos Fafalios has declared the need for an adequate supply of good quality fuel was more fundamental than other issues such as whether to fit exhaust scrubbers.

"We strongly urge the IMO to bring together the main stake holders in this area to guarantee the new fuel will be fit for purpose, said Fafalios when speaking at the GSCC's annual gathering at the Baltic Exchange to celebrate the New Year with the cutting of a traditional Greek Vasilopita cake. IMO secretary-general Kitack Lim was present.

He said that while the main area of 2020 debate has been about scrubbers, what is most important in this debate is much more fundamental.

Fafalios said it is if by 2020 will there be enough low sulphur fuel available and whether it is compatible with todays marine propulsion systems, and will changeover take place with the least possible damage to engines, ships and the environment in case of ships being disabled due to incompatible fuels?

Read more: Relatively smooth experience expected using compliant 0.5% low sulphur fuels: VPS

Fafalios also backed Londons aim to remain a leading maritime centre after the UK leaves the European Union. With regard to the UK it is difficult to forecast how the Brexit issue will resolve itself, but most of all we greatly support Londons quest to remain the epicentre of the worlds shipping industry, he said.

He also referred to the US and China trade dispute saying failure to resolve this trade dispute could bring great disruption to both economies.

Noting the importance of the human factor in shipping, the GSCC chairman urged the Greek government to invest more in maritime education.
Trevor Hammond, GSD spokesman for the environment, noted that air quality has been a subject of concern for some time and this issue has been raised with the government on numerous occasions.

Ships bunkers is an area for concern not only because the ships themselves produce very polluting emissions from their engines, but because the activity also produces fumes from volatile organic compounds, in particular benzene, which is a known carcinogen and can cause other health related issues. In certain weather conditions these fumes do reach shore and do affect extensive areas of our community, Hammond said.

Hammond said GSD urged the government to have the relevant authorities conduct a detailed assessment of the industry to ensure that best practices are being applied and to determine improvements to minimise the impact on public health.

An example might be to discontinue the use of certain anchorages close to shore in order to allow any fumes produced more opportunity to dissipate or to not allow bunkering in certain anchorages in certain weather conditions if these are known to bring fumes towards residential areas, he said.
The 111,500gt ship is the sister of Mein Schiff 1 that joined TUI's fleet last year. It carries up to 3,132 passengers and 1,092 crew, has some 7,100 square meters of restaurant space, 15 bars and lounges, and a 2,400 square-meter spa and fitness area. Ninety percent of the 1,447 passenger cabins have ocean views and 80% have balconies. Mein Schiff 2 is replacing a 1997-built predecessor of the same name, which will remain in the fleet until 2022 under the new name of Mein Schiff Herz.

First final outfitting at Kiel

Mein Schiff 2, then still flying the Finnish flag and under Meyer Turku's management, had arrived at Kiel on Jan. 5 for final outfitting work, provisioning, crew embarkation and other preparations. Dirk Claus, MD of Kiel Port, said it was the first time this had ever been done in Kiel. TUI Cruises and Meyer Turku had agreed on this arrangement to protect Mein Schiff 2in particular, its highly sensitive underwater silicone coatingfrom ice in the eastern Baltic. Meyer Turku built the ship in just under 24 months and delivered it slightly ahead of time.

TUI Cruises CEO Wybcke Meier, CFO Frank Kuhlmann and Jan Meyer, MD of Meyer Turku, signed the transfer documents. The ship was transferred to the Malta registry and the command assumed by Capt. Kjell Holm.

A plaque and key ceremony involved the Port of Kiel and Sartori & Berger, TUI Cruises' longstanding port agent. Claus noted Mein Schiff 2's maiden call was also the 175th visit of a TUI Cruises vessel at the port. Though based in Hamburg, the line has been extremely loyal to Kiel over the years. In 2019, 31 calls by TUI ships are scheduled, almost 50% of the total number of calls scheduled in German ports.

MPs get informed

TUI Cruises used the handover ceremony to give members of Germany's parliament insights into sustainability efforts and shipboard working conditions, serving to counter the claims of several recent television reports that alleged poor crew conditions on cruise ships.

As Wybcke Meier and Jan Meyer outlined, Mein Schiff 2 consumes about 40% less energy than a 'conventional' cruise ship of the same size. This is achieved by an integrated energy management system, innovative lighting controls, LED use, an eco-friendly underwater silicone coating and a hydrodynamic hull shape. In addition, air conditioning generators have an innovative control unit and frequency-regulated motors to avoid wasting energy. For that purpose, 19,000 control points are fitted throughout the ship.

Mein Schiff 2 also has scrubbers and catalytic converters. Meier said TUI and Meyer Turku had carefully weighed the use of LNG during the contracting of Mein Schiff 1 and 2 but ultimately opted against it due to concerns about the availability of this alternative fuel.

During two guided tours, TUI Cruises invited all plaque and key ceremony guests to view the ship's environmental technology and the crew quarters. Visitors, including the MPs, were guided to various crew cabin categories, the mess and recreation facilities. Mein Schiff 2 senior officers and executive shoreside staff stood ready to answer questions.

On Wednesday Mein Schiff 2 is scheduled to sail from Kiel on the first of several preview cruises for sales partners and some of TUI's loyal customers before the christening cruise embarks at Bremerhaven on Feb. 3. The christening will take place in Lisbon Feb. 9 with the German vocalist Carolin Niemczyk as godmother.

Four-year break until next newbuild

Mein Schiff 2 temporarily concludes TUI Cruises' ambitious newbuilding program, which saw six ships inaugurated since 2014. Now Germany's No. 2 cruise operator has a four-year break before its next new ship, again to be built by Meyer Turku, arriving in 2023.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/23/2019 -- The latest market intelligence study on the Motor Driver ICs market applies the best of both primary and secondary research techniques to bring to light the growth rate of the Motor Driver ICs market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. The comprehensive study covers hard to find facts about the market landscape as well as its growth prospects in the years to come. Most importantly, the research report includes vital statistics about the major vendors occupying a strong foothold in this industry. Besides this, in order to calculate the market share, the study takes a closer look at the selling price of the product across different regions.



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The researcher assessing the Motor Driver ICs market dive deep to unearth intangible facts related to the key restraints, opportunities, and threats expected to shape the progress of the industry during the forecast period, 2018 - 2026. Significant evaluation of other factors such as demand and supply status, import and export, distribution channel, consumption volume, and production capability play a vital role in offering business owners, stakeholders and field marketing personnel a competitive edge over others operating in the same space. All important data are presented in self-explanatory charts, tables and graphic images that can be incorporated into any business presentation.



Estimating the potential size of the Motor Driver ICs industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Motor Driver ICs industry. Such information is important for firms looking to launch an innovative service or product on the market. Industry experts have measured the total volume of the given market. Researchers have calculated the industry in terms of sales by the competitors and end-user  customers. Data on the entire size of the Motor Driver ICs market for a particular product or a service for the forecast period, 2018 to 2026 covered in the report makes it valuable. This information reveals the upper limit of the Motor Driver ICs industry for a specific product or service.



Market share:

The report discovers market's total sale that is generated by a particular firms over a time period. Industry experts calculate share by taking into account the product sales over a period and then dividing it by the overall sales of the Motor Driver ICs industry over a defined period. Subject matter experts further use this metric to offer a general idea of the share and size of a firm and its immediate rivals. By providing an in-depth knowledge of the position a company as well as an entrepreneur holds in the Motor Driver ICs market



Market Segment on the basis of manufacturers, the report covers:

Allegro Microsystems, Toshiba, Panasonic, STMicroelectronics, ON Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, Infineon, Sanken Electric, New Japan Radio, Magnatec, Maxim, ROHM, Micrel, Microchip, Intersil, Texas Instruments, United Automation, DiodesZetex, Freescale



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Major Regions play vital role in Motor Driver ICs market are:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



The study explores in details about the recent trend fast gaining momentum in the Motor Driver ICs industry due to factors including but not limited to growing customer preference and a sudden rise in their spending capacity. Aspects attributed to the gross margin, profit, supply chain management and product value and their considerable impact on the development of the Motor Driver ICs market during the forecast period, 2018 - 2026 is carefully scrutinized during the research.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the estimated size of the Motor Driver ICs market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026? What will be the growth rate of the industry during the estimated period?

- What are the prominent driving forces likely to impact the progress of the industry across different regions?

- Who are the major market players occupying a strong foothold in the Motor Driver ICs market? What are the winning strategies adopted by them to stay ahead in the competition?

- What are the potential opportunities for the Motor Driver ICs market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026?



There are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Motor Driver ICs market.



Chapter 1 covers the Motor Driver ICs Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;



Chapter 2 talks about the top manufacturers and analyses their sales, revenue and pricing decisions for the duration 2018 and 2026;



Chapter 3 displays the competitive nature of the market by discussing the competition among the top manufacturers. It dissects the market using sales, revenue and market share data for 2018 and 2026;



Chapter 4, shows the global market by regions and the proportionate size of each market region based on sales, revenue and market share of Motor Driver ICs, for the period 2018- 2026;



Continue



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Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/22/2019 -- Halloumi Cheese is a semi-hard, unripened, brined cheese made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled. Halloumi cheese production remains concentrated in northern and southern Cyprus. The producers in Cyprus export halloumi cheese to rest of Europe and other regions where consumption is significant.



In 2018, the global Halloumi Cheese market size was xx million US$ and is forecast to xx million US in 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% from 2018. In this study, 2017 has been considered as the base year and 2018 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Halloumi Cheese.



This study researches the market size of Halloumi Cheese, presents the global Halloumi Cheese sales and revenue by companies, regions, type and application, history breakdown data from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.



This report focuses on the key data information of Halloumi Cheese in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa, presents sales, revenue, market share, growth rate of Halloumi Cheese for each region and countries in each region.



For top companies, this report investigates and analyzes the sales, revenue, market share and growth rate for the top players, key data from 2013 to 2018. This report also studies the global market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.



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This report includes the following manufacturers; we can also add the other companies as you want.



Zita Dairies



Uhrenholt



Hadjipieris



Arla Foods



Dafni Dairy



Nordex Food



Achnagal Dairies



Olympus Cheese



Almarai



High Weald Dairy



Market Segment by Product Type



Slices



Blocks



Market Segment by Application



Retail



Food Service



Market size split by Region



North America



Asia-Pacific



Europe



Central & South America



Middle East & Africa



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Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/23/2019 -- Gellan Gum market Report speaks about the manufacturing process. The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process of whole Enterprise Gellan Gum market.



Short Detail About Gellan Gum Market Report: Gellan gum is a water-soluble anionic polysaccharide produced by the bacterium Sphingomonas elodea (formerly Pseudomonas elodea based on the taxonomic classification at the time of its discovery). Its taxonomic classification has been subsequently changed to Sphingomonas elodea based on the current classification system



By knowing the potential of Gellan Gum Market In Future, we come up with Gellan Gum Maret Research Report to provide Investors to achieve their goals in their respective field all over the world. The Gellan Gum Market Report focuses on providing best returns of investment to investors



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Gellan Gum Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: CP Kelco, Dancheng Caixin, Tech-Way Biochemical, Fufeng Group, DSM Zhongken, Hebei Xinhe, Inner Mongolia Rainbow Biotech, Teejoy. and many others. In this introductory section, the research report incorporates an analysis of definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure



Gellan Gum Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers: Global (Asia-Pacific[China, Southeast Asia, India, Japan, Korea, Western Asia], Europe[Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland], North America[United States, Canada, Mexico], Middle East & Africa[GCC, North Africa, South Africa], South America[Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Peru])



Gellan Gum Market Segment by Type, covers: Low Acyl Gellan Gum, High Acyl Gellan Gum



Gellan Gum Market Segment by Applications can be divided into: Food Additives Industry, Daily-Chemical Industry, Pharmaceutical Industry, Others



The scope of the Gellan Gum Market Report:This report focuses on the Gellan Gum 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.



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The Gellan Gum market analysis report speaks about the growth rate of Gellan Gum market in 2024 manufacturing process, key factors driving the Global Gellan Gum market, sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of Gellan Gum Market, distributors, traders and dealers of Gellan Gum Market.



Next part of Gellan Gum Market Research Report contains additional information like key vendors in Gellan Gum Market space, Gellan Gum Market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Gellan Gum Market , opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Gellan Gum Market . The process is analysed thoroughly with respect three points, viz. raw material and equipment suppliers, various manufacturing associated costs (material cost, labour cost, etc.) and the actual process.



No of pages in Gellan Gum Market Report : 171



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Summary



Key Content of Chapters (Including and can be customized)



Part 1:



Market Overview, Development, and Segment by Type, Application & Region



Part 2:



Global Market by company, Type, Application & Geography



Part 3-4:



Asia-Pacific Market by company, Type, Application & Geography



Part 5-6:



Europe Market by company, Type, Application & Geography



Part 7-8:



North America Market by company, Type, Application & Geography



Part 9-10:



South America Market by company, Type, Application & Geography



Part 11-12:



The Middle East & Africa Market by company, Type, Application & Geography



Part 13:



Company information, Sales, Cost, Margin etc.



Part 14:



Conclusion



The next part also sheds light on the gap between supply and consumption. Apart from the mentioned information, the growth rate of Gellan Gum market in 2024 is also explained. Additionally, type wise and application wise consumption tables and figures of Gellan Gum market are also given.



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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/22/2019 -- The latest report Ethernet Controllers Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Ethernet Controllers market for the forecast period, 2018 to 2026. The document offers an insight into what the target customer's needs and wants. Industry experts have extracted data from various sources on size, share, growth rate, production volume, production capacity, import and export status, distribution channels and more and have analysed it thoroughly. By properly assessing the competitors and their offerings the study aims at empowering business owners to step ahead.



Request for Sample Copy of Ethernet Controllers Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/28670



Scope of the Report:

The research methodologies used for evaluating the Ethernet Controllers market are inventive and also provides enough evidence on the demand and supply status, production capability, import and export, supply chain management and investment feasibility. The investigative approach applied for the extensive analysis of the sale, gross margin and profit generated by the industry are presented through resources including tables, charts, and graphic images. Importantly, these resources can be easily integrated or used for preparing business or corporate presentations.



Estimating the potential size of the Ethernet Controllers industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Ethernet Controllers industry. Such information is important for firms looking to launch an innovative service or product on the market. Industry experts have measured the total volume of the given market. Researchers have calculated the industry in terms of sales by the competitors and end-user  customers. Data on the entire size of the Ethernet Controllers market for a particular product or a service for the forecast period, 2018 to 2026 covered in the report makes it valuable. This information reveals the upper limit of the Ethernet Controllers industry for a specific product or service.



Attracting the target audience:

First, the comprehensive report finds out why customers need a certain product or service. The study focuses on what problems a certain product and service can solve. Apart from target demographics industry experts weigh up on the factors including audience type, as well as others vital attributes about the target customer segment.



Major Players in Ethernet Controllers market are:

Banner Engineering, WIZnet Inc, Eaton / Control Automation, Fox Electronics, Micrel, Advantech, Microchip, Omron Automation, Texas Instruments, ON Semiconductor, Intel, IDEC Corporation, Cirrus Logic, Panasonic, Siemens, Opto, Linear Technology, Schneider Electric, Molex Woodhead/Brad



Buy Ethernet Controllers Market Research Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/28670



Major Regions play vital role in Ethernet Controllers market are:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



The market intelligence study for the Ethernet Controllers market further provides an inside-out overview of necessary aspects associated with the product classification, important definitions, major orders and other industry-centric parameters. An underlying part of the study also maps the important factors associated with the recent events such as mergers and acquisition, collaboration and new product launches.



In addition, the research lays down a robust groundwork for obtaining a vast amount of information that potential customers can use to increase their profits and reduce costs. The inclusion of data on market segmentation by type, application, and geography offers clarity presents an analytical picture of, what manufacturers are aiming for.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the estimated growth rate of the Ethernet Controllers market for the forecast period 2018 - 2026? What will be the market share and size of the industry during the estimated period?

- What are prime factors expected to drive the Ethernet Controllers industry for the estimated period?

- What are the major market leaders and what has been their winning strategy for success so far?

- What are the significant trends shaping the growth prospects of the Ethernet Controllers market?

- What are the key challenges expected to restrict the progress of the industry for the forecast period, 2018 - 2026?

- What the opportunities product owners can bank on to generate high profits?



Read More @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/ethernet-controllers-market



Key Points from TOC

8 Competitive Landscape

8.1 Competitive Profile

8.2 Banner Engineering

8.2.1 Company Profiles

8.2.2 Ethernet Controllers Product Introduction

8.2.3 Banner Engineering Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E

8.2.4 Banner Engineering Market Share of Ethernet Controllers Segmented by Region in 2017

8.3 WIZnet Inc

8.3.1 Company Profiles

8.3.2 Ethernet Controllers Product Introduction

8.3.3 WIZnet Inc Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E

8.3.4 WIZnet Inc Market Share of Ethernet Controllers Segmented by Region in 2017

8.4 Eaton / Control Automation

8.4.1 Company Profiles

8.4.2 Ethernet Controllers Product Introduction

8.4.3 Eaton / Control Automation Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E

8.4.4 Eaton / Control Automation Market Share of Ethernet Controllers Segmented by Region in 2017

Continue



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/22/2019 -- The global dental endodontics market can be termed as a consolidated market with a healthy level of competition among the major players as two leading players holds more than 50% of the global market, states a new market research report by Transparency Market Research. On the other hand, the consumables segment is extremely fragmented in nature with a presence of a large number of regional and international players. Some of the leading players operating in the dental endodontics are Henry Schein, Inc., Coltene Holding AG, Septodont Holding, Peter Brasseler Holdings, FKG Dentaire S.A., Ivoclar Vivadent, Dentsply Sirona, Ultradent Products Inc, Mani, Inc, Danaher Corporation, and L.P. These players are focusing on technological advancements and innovations, which is estimated to encourage the overall growth of the global market throughout the forecast period.



According to the market research report by Transparency Market Research, in 2016, the global market for dental endodontics was worth US$1.1 bn and is predicted to reach a value of US$1.7 bn by the end of 2025. The market is estimated to register a healthy 5.20% CAGR between 2017 and 2025.



Request A Sample Copy @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=38438



global dental endodontics marketDevelopment of Healthcare Infrastructure to Drive Asia Pacific Market



From a regional perspective, Europe is expected to lead the global dental endodontics market and account for a large share throughout the forecast period. This region is estimated to be followed by North America. On the other hand, Asia Pacific is estimated to offer potential growth opportunities for the market players in the next few years. The increasing awareness among consumers regarding the dental health and the improving healthcare infrastructure are the major factors that are predicted to accelerate the growth of the Asia Pacific market throughout the forecast period. Furthermore, the rapid development of the medical tourism industry and technological developments in this field are some of the other factors that are estimated to accelerate the growth of the dental endodontics market in Asia Pacific in the near future.



Furthermore, on the basis of product type, the global market for dental endodontics market has been categorized into instruments and consumables. In 2016, the consumables segment accounted for more than 70% of the global market and is predicted to continue with its dominance throughout the forecast period. The high growth of this segment can be attributed to the increasing use of fresh consumables during the treatment procedures of endodontics.



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Rising Prevalence of Dental Infections to Encourage Market Growth



The global dental endodontics market is projected to grow at a healthy rate in the next few years. The rising geriatric population and the increasing prevalence of dental infections, owing to the changing eating habits are the key factors that are estimated to encourage the growth of the global dental endodontics market in the next few years. In addition to this, a significant rise in the incidence of accidents and a rise in the prevalence of dental ailments are further projected to accelerate the growth of the overall market throughout the forecast period.



Furthermore, the rapid development of the dental tourism, especially in developing economies, such as India, Hungary, Mexico, and China is projected to accelerate the growth of the global endodontics market in the next few years. On the flip side, the high cost of the dental procedures and the strict regulations related to the manufacturing and approval of advanced innovative procedures are some of the key factors that are predicted to restrict the growth of the overall market in the near future.



About Transparency Market Research

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. TMR's 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, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.



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Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/23/2019 -- The Asia Pacific beacon technology market growth is attributed to the growing penetration of smartphones in the region, especially in China and India. In 2016, the mobile user penetration (unique individuals using mobile phones compared to national population) in China was estimated at 78% while the national mobile broadband penetration stood at 73%. Also, increasing popularity of cloud platforms among the SMEs in the region is expected to contribute to the growth of the Asia Pacific beacon technology market over the forecast period.



The Graphical Research report provides a comprehensive analysis of the "Asia Pacific Beacon Technology Market By Platform (iBeacon, Eddystone, AltBeacon), By Deployment Model (On-premise, Cloud), By Application (Retail, Travel, Tourism & Hospitality, Healthcare, Financial Institutions, Real-estate, Education), By Technology (BLE, Wi-Fi, Ultrasound, Combined Technologies), 2018  2024", estimated to exceed USD 9 billion by 2024.



Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.graphicalresearch.com/request/1119/sample



The iBeacon platform is projected to dominate the Asia Pacific beacon technology market throughout the forecast period while securing a market share of over 55% by 2024. The iBeacon can give (turn-by-turn) map guidance to the users to reach a specific product in large stores without anyone's guidance. Such utility is likely to fuel the increasing demand for the technology among the consumers as well as the retailers.



The healthcare sector is projected to register an accelerated growth during the forecast timeline at a CAGR of over 115%. Beacons make tracking beds, wheelchairs, and other expensive equipment easy and affordable in large healthcare institutions. Also, the technology is being increasingly leveraged to facilitate better indoor navigation for patients and visitors in healthcare facilities.



Some of the key vendors in the Asia Pacific beacon technology market include BlueCats, Texas Instruments, Gimbal, Beaconinside, Kontakt.io, Madison Beacons, blueSense Networks, Swirl, Glimworm Beacons, Radius Networks, RECO, Estimote, Sensorberg, Onyx Beacon, Google, and Apple.



Browse more insights from this report @

https://www.graphicalresearch.com/industry-insights/1119/asia-pacific-beacon-technology-market



Segments we Cover:



Asia Pacific Beacon Technology Market Statistics, By Platform

o iBeacon

o Eddystone

o AltBeacon



Asia Pacific Beacon Technology Market Trends, By Deployment Model

o On-premise

o Cloud



Asia Pacific Beacon Technology Market Growth, By End Use

o Retail

o Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality

o Healthcare

o Financial Institutions

o Real-estate

o Education



Asia Pacific Beacon Technology Market Analysis, By Technology

o BLE

o Wi-Fi

o Ultrasound

o Combined Technologies



Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.graphicalresearch.com/request/1119/inquiry-before-buying



The above information has been provided for the following countries:

o China

o Japan

o ANZ

o South Korea

o India

o Singapore



Related Reports:



1. North America Beacon Technology Market Size By Platform, By Deployment Model, By Application, By Technology Industry Report, Growth Analysis & Forecast, 2018  2024



https://www.graphicalresearch.com/industry-insights/1121/north-america-beacon-technology-market



2. Europe Beacon Technology Market Size By Platform (iBeacon, Eddystone, AltBeacon), By Deployment Model (On-premise, Cloud), By Application (Retail, Travel, Tourism & Hospitality, Healthcare, Financial Institutions, Real-estate, Education), By Technology (BLE, Wi-Fi, Ultrasound, Combined Technologies), Regional Outlook (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Poland), Industry Forecast, 2018  2024



https://www.graphicalresearch.com/industry-insights/1120/europe-beacon-technology-market



About Graphical Research

Graphical Research is a business research firm that provides industry insights, market forecast and strategic inputs through granular research reports and advisory services. We publish targeted research reports with an aim to address varied customer needs, from market penetration and entry strategies to portfolio management and strategic outlook. We understand that business requirements are unique: our syndicate reports are designed to ensure relevance for industry participants across the value chain. We also provide custom reports that are tailored to the exact needs of the customer, with dedicated analyst support across the purchase lifecycle.
Regarding the Steve Breen cartoon with Martin Luther King Jr. saying to Donald Trump Can we talk? (Jan. 21): I wonder if he wanted to talk about the lowest black unemployment in history, redoing the criminal justice rules and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the inner cities?

The racist label so easily and so often given to the president is a simple, uneducated way to diminish the successes he and his team have accomplished in just two years with a media 24/7 committed to destroying him.

I look forward to Breens Trump funnies for the next two, I mean six, years.

Ann Hanson

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Cardiff-by-the-Sea

Kudos to Steve Breen for the touching cartoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

If our leader, who utterly lacks a moral compass, ever needed a reminder about compassion, empathy and justice, it is now.

The dignity and courage of Martin Luther King shines as brightly today in contrast to the bigotry of our current political climate as ever.

Regina Hanan

Scripps Ranch

Martin Luther King Jr. might want to talk about the lowest African-American unemployment in decades, prison reform, stemming the flood of illegals that compete for jobs and President Trumps plans to improve conditions in our inner cities, among other things.

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Dick Larsen

San Diego

Well, Breen really nailed it this time. All the words that have been poured out  Breens, of course, and our nations, and the worlds  pale before this simple picture-drama.

Perhaps none other than MLK could stand beside this wretched man, hand resting on his back, and speak with simple dignity precisely what this president needs to hear. I am reminded of these words of Kings: Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

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Maybe hes saying that. Something larger than paper and words and marches and yes, editorial cartoons are visible here. Something larger than our own, often shallow, heroics . . . and the impossible telling of our legitimate grief. The darkness in Breens drawing is full of light. Thanks, Steve.

Judith Dupree

Pine Valley

Perhaps Steve Breen should have put the caricature of Rev. Al Sharpton the Charlatan in his cartoon on the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. instead of President Trump.

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Carol T. Giesting

University City

Steve Breens cartoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day was succinct and expresses the sentiments of many us who hold true to the belief that racism has no place in our great country.

It brought tears to my eyes as I sat looking at it.

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Best cartoon ever.

Juan E. Lopez

Chula Vista

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Re Newsom outlines goals for new administration (Jan 8): Isnt it amazing the focus our new governor has on the sheltering of migrants to our city and state and yet the article right next to it regarding American citizens sleeping in doorways, as no organized shelters seem to have beds for them, apparently has not moved him one bit.

Also, the domestic violence shelters in another article in the same issue dealt with their dire need of funds.

Its time our elected officials tend to the needs of this states citizens first.

If there is so much money available, like the $20 million over three years Newsom is proposing, lets take care of our own people with these tax dollars.

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Bette J. Heyden

El Cajon

So the governor wants to give money to the Central American migrants?

Fine  after there are no more homeless in California. People should not be out in the cold and rain. Use that money to build homeless shelters. And the non-profits you want to give that money to can also create homeless shelters.

Government is supposed to keep people safe. Being homeless is not safe for anyone, especially women and children. And the government is ignoring the problem.

Barbara Connely

Chula Vista

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Its easy for Newsom to offer migrants money

Re Newsom outlines goals for new administration (Jan. 8): Gov. Gavin Newsom apparently crossed his fingers behind his back when he took the oath of office, which included the Article V, Section 1 State Constitutional mandate that The Governor shall see that the laws are faithfully executed.

Instead, he said he would ignore all citizenship laws and grant asylum in his state to such of the worlds teeming masses that should happen to ask.

Being wealthy, he and his family will likely never be impacted by the mass of imported poverty, Rio-type slums, impacted Third World schools and safe territory for the worlds criminals that will result from his policies. But the rest of us should see his impeachable perfidy for what it is.

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Larry Stirling

Mission Hills

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Its no fairy tale to say that the immigration debate could really use more Goldilocks solutions  not too hard or too soft, not open borders or a tightly sealed door. We need answers that are just right.

Negotiations will often turn on being able to take half a loaf. But President Trumps new offer to end the government shutdown  with what he billed as a common-sense compromise both parties can embrace  is more like a crumb.

Trump is asking for $5.7 billion to build a steel barrier along a sliver of the U.S.-Mexico border, along with billions of dollars more for drug-detection technology, border patrol agents, immigration judges, and humanitarian aid for refugees. In exchange, the president offered to re-instate provisional legal status for three years for the hundreds of thousands of undocumented young people who signed up for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Trump ended that program in September 2017, thereby sending recipients spiraling toward an uncertain future that could include forcible removal. Under Trumps latest pitch, these young people couldnt be deported for three years, but theyd have no permanent legal status. They would remain at the whim of a political system that has shown them little regard, and their special dispensation could we taken away with the stroke of a pen.

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Thats weak porridge. You would think someone who has wreaked so much havoc on the lives of so many would have more to give by way of a remedy than simply kicking the can down the road past his re-election campaign in 2020.

Still, none of this lets Democrats off the hook. Theyve been louses where immigrants are concerned, simultaneously acting tough and compassionate. Its maddening, the con they run.

Their quick repudiation of Trumps offer  even before the ink was dry  tells us they dont think the shutdown is costing them politically because Trump is catching the blame. It also confirms that Democrats are as duplicitous as ever when it comes to immigration. In fact, they are often part of the problem.

Its sad. The modern Democratic Party flips John F. Kennedys famous line on its head: It never asks what it can do for Dreamers, only what holding Dreamers hostage can do for it.

Meanwhile, on the cultural right  which is populated by racists who worry that America is overrun by Latino immigrants from south of the border  critics tore into Trump for allegedly offering lawbreakers a full-blown amnesty with all the trimmings.

Ringleader Ann Coulter  who considers it her sacred duty to prevent the eradication of white people in a nation that is still run by them  has written and said too many racially insensitive things to list here.

About the presidents plan, Coulter tweeted, Trumps solution: Lets just amnesty them!

Someone needs to bone up on the English language. Amnesties are permanent and unconditional. What Trump proposes is neither.

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The big flaw in the compromise proposed by the White House is that it is tied to the original sin  DACA. The Obama administration used that program to trick desperate young people who were dying of thirst to guzzle water that wasnt safe to drink. Its hard to imagine anyone characterizing DACA as a government giveaway when the recipients did most of the giving  handing over fingerprints, mugshots and home addresses to law enforcement who can now deport them at will.

Dont be distracted. DACA is better off dead, and it deserves no resurrection.

The just right solution is obvious: full legal status and green cards for the nearly 700,000 DACA recipients, and mere protective status for the estimated 1.8 million Dreamers who didnt sign up but still shouldnt be deported. No one gets citizenship, unless they jump through the necessary hoops to earn it.

Most importantly, we ought to make sure this whole part of the debate stays separate and apart from any horse-trading about Trumps wall, which was always doomed to fail. After all, whether you call it a wall, a fence or a steel barrier, its expensive, poorly defined, likely to disappoint and almost certain not to keep anyone out.

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Trump must realize all this by now. Surely, the former real estate tycoon knows a troubled asset when he sees one. His proposed big beautiful wall is as troubled as they come. Which is why he desperately needs Democrats to take the project off his hands, by accepting a deal that makes them part owners of whatever monstrosity rises from the ground.

Navarrette, a Carlsbad resident, writes a syndicated column for the Washington Post Writers Group. He can be reached via email at ruben@rubennavarrette.com. Twitter, @RubenNavarrette.
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City who is considering a presidential run, appeared before reporters in Annapolis on Tuesday to chide Washington, D.C., over the government shutdown and talk about the importance of compromise.

Bloomberg, once a Republican and then a political independent, registered last year as a Democrat, stoking speculation about whether he will run for president.

Following meetings with Maryland lawmakers and state Attorney General Brian Frosh, D, Bloomberg spoke at a news conference about the importance of balancing different priorities.

You cant be an absolutist . . . life is much more complex than that, he said. You want to address climate change, which can potentially destroy every living thing, but at the same time, you dont want to put anyone out of work.

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Asked about the timing of an announcement about 2020, Bloomberg said: Well, I said Id take a look at it in January, February. Were still in January.

The three-term mayor of New York has emerged as a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and donated millions to Democrats in Novembers midterm elections. He visited Marylands General Assembly ahead of a keynote speech Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Bloomberg called the partial federal government shutdown, now in its fifth week, a disgrace.

Im not going to spend my time pointing fingers, he said. I think everybody should come together. If you have one issue that you really care about, you dont shut everything down if you cant get your way.

Bloomberg, who has spent millions on gun control initiatives, appeared at an event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C., on Monday. He said in his remarks that too many politicians dont seem to give a damn about the victims of gun violence.

On Tuesday, he came to Annapolis with John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that advocates for gun-control legislation. Bloomberg praised Marylands gun laws, including a red flag law approved by legislators last year that allows a relative, spouse, legal guardian or roommate to seek a court order to keep a person who is considered dangerous from possessing a gun.

In the last three months, Maryland courts have seized guns from 148 people as a result of the law.

The state - which last year saw a mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis and a campus shooting at Great Mills High School in southern Maryland - also banned the manufacture, use and sale of bump stocks, the devices used to accelerate the firing of semiautomatic weapons.

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Bloomberg, who as mayor backed controversial stop-and-frisk tactics by police, said he supported the proposed creation of an armed private police force at Baltimores Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater.

Hopkins would be the only private university in the state to have its own police force, and the plan has drawn criticism from some lawmakers and students. But Bloomberg called it kind of ridiculous not to have an armed police force on the campus, given Baltimores high murder rates.

As a candidate, Bloomberg would be more conservative than many in the Democratic field, which so far includes Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

Among those expected to join the race are Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Also pondering a run is Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
House Democrats are prepared to support increased spending on border security, but not a wall, if President Donald Trump agrees to reopen the government first, lawmakers and aides said Wednesday.

The proposal, which Democrats are drafting into a formal letter to Trump, will include border security improvements such as retrofitting ports of entry, new sensors and drones, more immigration judges and border patrol agents, and additional technology, among other measures.

The letter was not final and the exact figure Democrats will suggest was not yet determined, but lawmakers and aides said it would be higher than the levels Democrats have supported in the past, which have ranged from $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion.

We are going to be talking about substantial sums of additional moneys to be invested to secure the borders, said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. And it will be a substantial figure.

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Some Democrats suggested they would even be willing to meet Trumps request for $5.7 billion - as long as it goes for technology and other improvements, not the physical wall the president is seeking.

If you look at all of the things that were proposing - more judges, more border patrol, this new technology - these are the kinds of things that we are gong to be putting forward, and I think that they can be done using the figure that the president has put on the table, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., told reporters Wednesday.

If his $5.7 billion is about border security, then we see ourselves fulfilling that request, only doing it through what I like to call using a smart wall,  Clyburn said.

The development indicated a new desire on the part of House Democrats to discuss the types of border security measures they support, instead of just standing in opposition to Trumps wall. It comes on Day 33 of the partial government shutdown as Trump and congressional Democrats remain at loggerheads over his demand for $5.7 billion to build more than 200 miles of new walls along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The House has been passing bills all month that would reopen the government without funding the wall, and Democrats plan to do so again later this week. Some members reported pleas for help from constituents whove been hurt by the shutdown.

I had a farmer who is eligible for those extra credits that the president was offering for farmers hurt by his trade policy, she cant get those extra credits because [the Agriculture Department] is shut down, said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Penn. And the Democrats are totally for border security but we need to have a real conversation about it so lets get the government open and then talk border security.

Still, the House Democratic caucus has largely remained unified behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., throughout the shutdown, although there have been isolated expressions of anxiety about Pelosis strategy of refusing to negotiate until the government is reopened.

Speaking on KFGO radio in Fargo, North Dakota, on Tuesday, moderate Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said that Democrats should Give Trump the money and bring the shutdown to an end.

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Why are we fighting over this? Were going to build that wall anyway, at some time, Peterson said, adding: When I bring up what I have to say (to Democrats), they look at me cross-eyed.

Petersons view was a distinct minority, with other House Democrats agreeing the government needed to reopen before further negotiations could take place.

In a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday morning, Pelosi renewed calls for unity in her ranks, citing polling showing Democrats winning the public relations fight around the shutdown, according to a Democratic aide present who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussion.

Understand the impact of the unity of our caucus, Pelosi told her members, according to this aide. She then spoke about how Democrats had defeated former president George W. Bushs attempt to partially privatize the Social Security system by sticking together.

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But understand, there is a plan. It is working for us. I appreciate the unease because we all do, Pelosi said, according to the aide. Its not just the lives of these workers, which would be reason enough, its the contractors who are left out in the cold and its the American people who are not receiving the services that they deserve.

Pelosi also told members not to make plans for their families to travel to the Capitol for Trumps Jan. 29 State of the Union, an address she has suggested the president delay until the shutdown is over, citing security concerns.

Why does your family want to come to this thing in the first place? Pelosi remarked, according to the aide.

Trump responded to Pelosis suggestion with a letter Wednesday saying hed been assured there were no security concerns and planned to appear in the House Chamber to deliver the address as planned. It would be so very sad for our country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location! Trump wrote.

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However, the House and Senate both have to pass a resolution to allow Trump to deliver the address from the House chamber, which theyve yet to do.

There was also new action in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set up competing votes for Thursday to end the shutdown.

One is on a proposal from Trump to reopen the government while spending $5.7 billion on the wall that Trump repeatedly said would be paid for by Mexico. The bill would also make additional changes to the immigration system, including new restrictions on the asylum program and temporary deportation relief to certain unauthorized immigrants including the so-called dreamers brought illegally to the country as kids.

The other scheduled vote is on a Democratic measure to reopen the government through Feb. 8 without funding the wall, a stopgap measure to open the government during border security negotiations.

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Neither measure is expected to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Fox News Channel that Democrats should support the Trump proposal.

The plan includes things that Democrats have specifically said they wanted to see, things that we know they want. Its outrageous that they wouldnt support a plan that does all of the things that they claim to want, Sanders said.

Democrats have got to stop playing politics. Nancy Pelosi has got to start putting the American people ahead of partisan politics.

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Shortly before the shutdown began, the full Senate passed a bill like the one Democrats will push Thursday to reopen the government for a short period without funding the wall. But amid conservative backlash Trump turned against it, resulting in the shutdown that began Dec. 22 and has become the longest in U.S. history.

Let me be very clear. These two votes are not equivalent votes, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor, speaking about the votes that will take place Thursday. Its not on the one hand, on the other hand. The presidents proposal demands a wall and radical legal immigration changes in exchange for opening up the government. The second vote demands nothing in exchange for opening up the government.

McConnell disputed Schumers remarks, calling his stance downright silly.

The presidents compromise offer should command serious consideration in both houses of Congress, McConnell said. Its hard to think of a good reason to oppose this but my Democratic friends are trying to come up with something, anything, to prolong the stalemate.

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Concerns about the toll the shutdown is taking on the federal workforce, important services provided by agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, Transportation Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service - as well as on the economy itself -- have compounded daily. Union members were holding protests around the Capitol Wednesday and planned to march to McConnells office and hold a sit-in until they get arrested.

On Wednesday the White Houses top economist said the economy could completely stall in the first three months of 2019 if the government shutdown does not end.

The comments by White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett, in a CNN interview, represented the most dire forecast yet from a Trump administration official on the shutdown economics toll, and marked a sharp contrast with the rosy economic news frequently ballyhooed by the president himself.

Hassett was asked if the economys growth rate for the first quarter of the year could fall to 0 percent if policymakers dont step in soon.

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Yes, we could see that, he said. If it extended for the whole quarter, and given the fact that the first quarter [growth rate] tends to be low because of residual seasonality, then you could end up with a number very close to zero in the first quarter.

The Washington Posts Damian Paletta and Rhonda Colvin contributed to this report.
The partial shutdown of the federal government is starting to affect key projects in San Diegos huge science and biomedical research industries, including the approval of new drugs and a landmark study of Californias marine environment.

We have at least $25 million in delayed research project payments and several large scale studies that are time sensitive with regard to data collection that are on hold and may not be able to be initiated until next year, said Sandra Brown, vice chancellor of research at UC San Diego.

The university also said Tuesday that the shutdown has led some of its postdoctoral researchers to consider, or actively seek, personal loans because they are currently working without salaries.

The shutdown is now in its 33rd day, the longest in history. In addition to the immediate pain felt by those such as the postdoctoral researchers, it may be starting to inflict long-term damage, said Joe Panetta, CEO of Biocom, a La Jolla-based trade group for Californias life sciences industry.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cant accept applications to market new drugs and may delay authorizing new clinical trials. (Existing clinical trials are continuing as normal). This may create a regulatory backup affecting companies that have announced such plans, or have recently filed for approval.

The toll of the shutdown is being felt in many, many ways, said Stanley T. Crooke, chairman and CEO of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, on Twitter. The Carlsbad company has numerous drugs in clinical trials, including a highly anticipated treatment for Huntingtons disease.

Others potentially affected include Synthorx, a San Diego company that wants to test a new cancer drug, and Celgene, a New Jersey company with San Diego operations.

One of our CEOs mentioned to me that it affects filings that companies have to make to the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, Panetta said. That could hinder their ability to raise money.

The shutdown quickly affected the UC San Diegos Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the worlds largest oceanographic institutes. Biologist Brice Semmens was supposed to lead a major expedition off California, starting on Jan. 6th.

But there wasnt enough money to pay for the operation of the Reuben Lasker, the NOAA research ship assigned to the study. The Lasker remains tied up at a dock in San Diego.

The study is a part of a decades-long effort by Scripps, NOAA and the California Department of Fish and Game to study everything from fish populations to the quality of offshore waters to whether there are tangible signs that climate change is, or will, affect the West Coast.

Scripps officials say they currently have enough money to keep their research ship Roger Revelle operating off New Zealand. But its possible the mission could get cut short if the money runs out. And they say its unclear whether another of its ships, the Sally Ride, will be able to do oceanographic research in the western Pacific and off India later this year. The ship, among other things, would study the nature of monsoons.

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We have to go through the U.S. State Department months ahead of time to get permits to operate off other countries, and those offices are currently closed, said Bruce Applegate, a geologist who oversees the Scripps research fleet.

This could leave some scientists in limbo. These projects can take years to develop. They end up wondering when, if ever, they get to do them.

San Diego State University said in a statement it is not receiving payments for any awards that are currently active and funded by agencies that are shut down. Fortunately, we are in a position to advance the funding to ensure research programs can continue.

Panetta said an FDA delay is the number one concern of company CEOs he has talked with.

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San Diego area companies that have announced plans to begin clinical trials this year include Synthorx, which said last year it expected to ask permission by the second quarter to begin testing its cancer drug.

Celgene is readying to ask marketing approval for ozanimod, its drug for multiple sclerosis. Ozanimod was acquired in Celgenes $7.3 billion purchase of San Diegos Receptos in 2015.

A prolonged shutdown could delay that process, said Keith Speights, a writer for the Motley Fool."Ozanimod had been expected to be one of the biggest new drugs launched last year, Speights wrote Tuesday. Now, however, its possible that the drug wont be approved until 2020 if the government shutdown drags on for too much longer.

The shutdown could also delay another San Diego-developed drug, the cancer drug fedratinib. Celgene got the drug a year ago in its $1 billion purchase of San Diegos Impact Biomedicines. Celgene filed for marketing approval in December. The New Jersey company said it expected to get FDA approval by years end. A prolonged shutdown could push back that timetable, Speights said.

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Panetta cited reports that federal contractors are losing an estimated $200 million a day due to the shutdown.

Thats not going to be paid back, Panetta said. Nobody expected it to last this long, but I think were at the point now where weve got to be concerned about the longer-term damage.
Last weekend marked a dozen years since someone fatally shot a National City teen in his driveway.

On Tuesday, authorities reached out with a fresh request to help them figure out who killed 16-year-old Romel Velarde.

San Diego Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in the case.

The teen was in front of his home on East Division Street near Euclid Avenue when he was shot at about 6:30 p.m. Jan. 19, 2007, according Crime Stoppers.

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Two unknown men or teen boys were spotted running from the area, and a brown van or SUV sped off after the shooting.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in 2007 that the wounded boy died the following day.

Anyone with information about Romels killing was asked to call National City Police Departments Homicide Unit at (619) 3364472.

Anonymous tips can be left by calling Crime Stoppers at (888) 5808477.

To learn more about leaving anonymous tips online or via a mobile app, go to sdcrimestoppers.org

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

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Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
Authorities have identified a 28-year-old motorcyclist who was killed in a solo crash in the Clairemont area Monday.

San Diego resident James Robert Haiman was riding a 2015 Suzuki motorcycle westbound on Balboa Avenue at high speed around 10:50 p.m. Monday when he struck a curb and a guardrail east of Clairemont Drive, then slid to astop in the left lane of Balboa Avenue, according to information from San Diego police and the San Diego County Medical Examiners Office.

Paramedics responded and pronounced Haiman dead at the scene, the Medical Examiners Office reported.

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Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
The San Diego County District Attorneys Office unveiled Tuesday the San Diego Trafficking Prevention Collective, an organization that will teach students and instructors across the region how to better recognize and prevent human trafficking.

Human traffickers are known to use violence, fraud and coercion to force victims into labor or sexual exploitation. San Diego County is the 13th worst region for human trafficking, according to FBI statistics, with an underground sex economy that generates about $810 million a year.

The collective unites three programs, Project ROOTS and kNOw MORE!, which are local initiatives, and PROTECT, a state program, to teach students how to spot human trafficking and what to do about it.

The programs also teach foundational behaviors like empathy, equality and empowerment, which could help insulate students from unhealthy relationships

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Human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world in which traffickers profit by preying on unsuspecting children, luring them right out of their schools and homes with deception and lies, said District Attorney Summer Stephan during a news conference about the collective.

This first-of-its-kind human trafficking prevention education collective will arm our kids with the knowledge and tools they need to protect themselves and to engage with trusted adults to help them remain free of abuse and exploitation, Stephan said.

Research has revealed that traffickers actively recruit children on or near school campuses and often use social media to lure and manipulate victims. According to a 2016 study by Point Loma Nazarene University and the University of San Diego, 90 percent of high schools studied in San Diego County had identified cases of human trafficking involving students.

The average age of entry into sex trafficking is 16 years old, but many victims are younger.

We know that young people are especially vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking, which means schools must play an important part in addressing it, said San Diego County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Gothold.

Jaimee Johnson was 15 years old when she first became a victim of sex trafficking. By 20 years old she was trapped in the life  a life she wouldnt escape for seven years, she said at the news conference. She later formed the organization Sisters of the Street to help support women and girls who have experienced sexual exploitation.

She also participates in the kNOw MORE! prevention program. She said she believes strongly that the right kind of education may have saved her from the streets.

I didnt have any knowledge of (sex trafficking) at all, Johnson said. If even a little bit of education would have been put out there, I may have been able to recognize some of the signs or red flags.

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The groups began developing the collective about a year ago, Stephan said. So far, seven school districts with more than 230,000 students have implemented the curriculum, which uses in-school prevention education, after-school intervention and interactive multimedia training to reach children as young as 8 years old.

The program also builds on the Human Trafficking Prevention Education and Training Act, passed in 2017, which required teachers be trained to educate students on the warning signs of sexual harassment and human trafficking.

But the legislative mandate was unfunded, making it difficult for some schools to put the training in place.

The collective was made possible through a $3 million grant from the UBS Optimus Foundation  a foundation dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world  with a goal of making it possible for any district in San Diego County to implement the training, both to increase human trafficking awareness and to comply with state law.

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Schools plan to partner closely with parents to ensure they are being educated on the dangers of human trafficking, as well.

Those involved in the collective are also hopeful that with enough evidence of the programs success, lawmakers will provide funding to support the 2017 law, making it easier for schools across the state to implement similar training programs.

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Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
Authorities on Wednesday released the name of a 52-year-old man who died not long after he was arrested in a City Heights alley over the weekend.

San Diego police homicide Lt. Anthony Dupree identified the man who died in custody as Harold Leonard Daniels, Jr.

He also identified the arresting officer as Brian Frias, a four-year veteran of the departments Mid-City Division.

The departments homicide unit investigates all in-custody deaths. Dupree said there is no indication at this point in the investigation that any officer used force on Daniels.

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Shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a call that a man  who may have been intoxicated  was yelling in an alley off Estrella Avenue, south of El Cajon Boulevard.

The man, now identified as Daniels, told officers that he had been drinking and was arrested for a probation violation.

According to Dupree, Daniels did not make any medical complaints to the officers.

Frias, the arresting officer, took Daniels to downtown San Diego, first to police headquarters for processing, then to Central Jail to be booked.

At the jail on Front Street, Frias noticed that Daniels was not responsive, Dupree said. Frias began life-saving measures, joined by the jail nurse.

Paramedics rushed Daniels to a hospital, where he died.

Dupree asked that anyone with information on the case contact the departments homicide unit at (619) 531-2293 or San Diego Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

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teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
Opponents of a 20-story apartment building proposed for next to Balboa Park are gearing up for next Mondays City Council hearing on the project with a petition drive and an umbrella demonstration of the long shadows it would cast.

In advance, several dozen nearby residents stood in formation in the park carrying black umbrellas last Sunday to show how the 223-foot, 204-unit building would change the character of Bankers Hill and the parks nearby recreation areas.

Opponents of the proposed tower call it a rogue project that could set a precedent for additional buildings of the same height  or even taller  in Bankers Hill, which is just west of the park.

Supporters, including the somewhat unusual combination of environmental groups and the Chamber of Commerce, say it would help solve the citys housing crisis and reduce greenhouse gases because of its ideal location.

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Its the latest battle in what is becoming a citywide war over proposals for taller, higher-density housing projects.

City officials and many civic groups say San Diego must build more high-rises along transit routes and in areas such as Bankers Hill, which is walk-able, bicycle-friendly and near multiple job centers.

Residents living near such proposed projects typically fight against them based on concerns about neighborhood character, traffic congestion, views and other perceived problems.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer said last week in his annual State of the City speech that such opposition is preventing the city from making a dent in its severe shortage of affordable housing.

He proposed streamlining approvals for projects like the Bankers Hill tower to prevent anti-growth residents from derailing proposals. He also urged San Diego to adopt a yes in my back yard approach.

The bureaucracy has been set up to empower anti-housing forces that delay or deny projects at every turn, Faulconer said. Obstructionists must never again be able to halt the housing that San Diego needs.

Residents in Bankers Hill say the mayor and other officials are mischaracterizing their stance.

Were not against building, and we certainly recognize the need for affordable housing, resident Sue Strom said Tuesday. But we dont embrace this rogue project.

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Strom stressed that community leaders have said they would support an apartment tower of 170 feet, but that the current proposal is simply too tall.

Were yes in my backyard but do it right in my back yard, she said. You hate to see your public officials run like lemmings without thinking about what they are doing.

She also said the concerns of the neighborhood, where more than 1,000 residents have signed petitions opposing the project, go beyond just this tower.

If you let one developer put in a building at 225 feet, then how are you going to say no to the next developer? she said.

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The apartment tower is proposed next to iconic St. Pauls Cathedral, at the corner of Olive Street and Sixth Avenue, a few blocks north of the El Prado entrance at Laurel Street.

It would include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. It also would include 18 units reserved for people who earn less than 50 percent of the areas median income.

To illustrate how shadows cast by the proposed tower would darken sunny areas frequented by volleyball players and picnickers, the residents staged the umbrella demonstration Sunday. It was based on a similar demonstration in 1987 led by Jacqueline Onassis in New York City to show how a proposed building would cast shadows on parts of Central Park.

We were initially thinking of doing a demonstration just wearing black, said Roy McMakin, a noted sculptor and Bankers Hill resident. But then we stole the umbrella idea from Jackie O.

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McMakin said the residents want the city to have an independent consultant analyze the shadows the building would cast during different times of the year when sunlight varies. Such studies are common practice in San Francisco, he said.

Its just unbelievably impactful because of the height and how close it gets to Sixth Avenue, he said. People say shadow, shmadow, whatever  we need housing. But the shadow is huge and there arent that many grassy, sunny playfields around here.

The developer of the project, Greystar, says the shadow argument is overblown.

Omar Rawi, a Greystar senior official, said the building is oriented east/west, instead of north/south, to reduce shadows. Greystar opted for the tower primarily to avoid impacting the iconic architecture of the 149-year-old church next door,he said.

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Rawi also disagreed with concerns about a precedent, calling his project unique. Most developers in the area, where available land is scarce, will opt for shorter and wider projects because high-rises cost more to build, he said.

Mondays council hearing on the project is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in City Hall, 202 C St.

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david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A five-minute walk from Covington Catholic High School, Reality Tuesday Cafe has developed a close relationship over the years with students. It has provided brownies for the schools pep rallies and hosted study groups after class. Its menu offers a blended coffee drink called the Colonel, a nod to the high schools mascot.

So when the all-boys school became the center of the growing controversy this week over a viral video of white teenage students in Make America Great Again hats surrounding an elderly Native American drummer by the Lincoln Memorial, it became the talk of customers at the otherwise quiet coffee shop in the Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati.

For the record: Although Nathan Phillips was accurately quoted as saying that students had chanted Build the wall, a report by a private investigation firm retained by the Diocese of Covington, Ky., which the diocese released on Feb. 13, stated, We found no evidence that the students performed a Build the wall chant.

And like the rest of the country  which has debated who was wrong and who was right in the viral moment that struck sharp at tensions over race, religion and politics  they too were not in sync.

RELATED: Trump slams media over portrayal of confrontation between Catholic students and tribal elder 

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Were failing as a community. Were failing as a country, said Toby Myrick, 53, who was looking on his laptop at news articles about the incident. He blamed the schools culture and said entitlement among the boys was at play.

Chris Wilson, 54, sat a few feet away. She saw things differently.

Its a mob mentality, she said, adding that the boys in her community were being crucified on social media and in the news before the facts were sorted out.

The views represented the range of opinions being bandied about nationwide and in the area. Covington, a community of 40,000, and Park Hills, a city of just under 3,000 where the school is located, are both mostly white in a county that leans Republican. And their leaders have said they were not prepared for the national attention that a tweeted video has brought upon them.

Classes after the holiday weekend were supposed to resume Tuesday, but the Catholic diocese that oversees the school cited threats in keeping it closed. Police cars blocked the campus entrance as more officers patrolled nearby streets.

This is a very serious matter that has already permanently altered the lives of many people, the diocese said in a statement on its website as it promised an independent investigation. Calls to the diocese seeking further comment were not answered. It closed its main administrative office, where representatives of the American Indian Movement Chapter of Indiana and Kentucky held a small protest with drums.

Your God doesnt teach hate so why do you, read one sign. Making America great means respecting those we stole it from! said another.

At one point, a car drove by with the words, Fake news enemy of the people, written on its windows. A man walking near the diocesan office was blunt in his assessment. Its all on the leftist media, he said while taking a drag from a cigarette. He shook his head and walked away.

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President Trump also waded into the debate.

Protesters gather outside the Catholic Diocese of Covington on Tuesday. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)

The students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good  maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream! he tweeted late Monday.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House had invited the students to visit but that a meeting would not take place until the partial federal government shutdown was over.

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The incident took place Friday afternoon in Washington, steps away from the Lincoln Memorial. Students from the Catholic school were bused into the city to attend the March for Life, an annual antiabortion demonstration. Native groups had gathered that day by the memorial for the Indigenous Peoples March. Both events were ending.

A short clip shared late Friday on Twitter showed a group of students laughing and making mocking gestures and sounds at a Native American man, later identified as Omaha Tribe elder Nathan Phillips, as he drummed and sang the American Indian Movement song.

The Twitter account on which the clip was posted, @2020fight, was later suspended over misleading account information.

In interviews, Phillips has said the students had chanted Build the wall! toward his group and that he attempted to defuse a verbal clash between the students and members of a mainly African American religious group known as the Hebrew Israelites who protested nearby. He has described the students as angry at the other group. Phillips said he believed they turned to taking their anger out on him.

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Videos from different angles and of longer lengths that were later released, including one that lasts for more than two hours, added more details to the picture. They show the Hebrew Israelites harassing the students, including using a homophobic slur, and making statements insulting Native American spiritual traditions. Phillips appears with his drum partway through.

Nearly all the videos show one student in a Make America Great Again hat who stands close to Phillips, smiling and staring at him. That student identified himself as Nick Sandmann. In a statement he released, he said his classmates did spirit chants to counter the Hebrew Israelites. He said he was confused about why Phillips was invading the personal space of others.

I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to [defuse] the situation Sandmann said, adding that he would not stand for this mob-like character assassination of my familys name.

Sandmann is scheduled to appear on the Today show Wednesday. In a preview of the interview, Sandmann is asked whether he feels the need to apologize or was at fault in the encounter. He does not reply directly to the question. I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips, he says.

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In a statement Tuesday through the Lakota Peoples Law Project, Phillips said he wanted to meet with the students and church officials to turn the experience into a teachable moment.

Lets create space for the teaching of tolerance to happen, he said. I have faith that human beings can use a moment like this to find a way to gain understanding from one another.

Before more videos of the encounter came out, Covington Catholic High School said over the weekend that the encounter showed its students behaving in a way that is opposed to the churchs teachings, and the school suggested that they could be expelled.

Its statement Tuesday was more neutral.

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We pray that we may come to the truth and that this unfortunate situation may be resolved peacefully and amicably and ask others to join us in this prayer, it said. We will have no further statements until the investigation is complete.

Kaleem reported from Los Angeles and Lee from Park Hills, Ky.
Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, will not testify before Congress next month, one of his attorneys said Wednesday - which could quash, at least temporarily, liberals hopes for a public hearing in which Trumps ex-fixer aired the presidents dirty laundry.

Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen said in a statement, Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. [Rudolph] Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohens continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohens appearance will be postponed to a later date. Cohen had been scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7.

This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first, Davis said.

It is not clear to which threats Davis was referring, and Davis declined to provide more detail. A person familiar with Cohens account said the threats have not been reported to law enforcement.

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Trump said of the claim he had threatened Cohen: I would say hes been threatened by the truth. Hes only been threatened by the truth. And he doesnt want to do that, probably for me or other of his clients. The president has been publicly critical of Cohen for his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and has suggested Cohens father-in-law ought to be investigated.

Giuliani, the presidents current lawyer, has highlighted problems with Cohens credibility. Giuliani was particularly skeptical of Cohen after BuzzFeed News reported last week that Cohen told Muellers office Trump had directed him to lie to Congress - an account the special counsel disputed in an unprecedented public statement.

If you believe Cohen, I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge, Giuliani said.

It was not immediately clear that lawmakers would easily allow Cohen back out of his commitment to appear before them.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a joint statement that they certainly understand the completely legitimate concerns for the safety and security of Mr. Cohen and his family members in light of the attacks last week by President Trump and again this past weekend by his attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

But the lawmakers added that they had repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family, and in their discussions with Cohens attorney, not appearing before Congress was never an option.

We will not let the Presidents tactics prevent Congress from fulfilling our constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities, Cummings and Schiff said. This will not stop us from getting to the truth. We expect Mr. Cohen to appear before both Committees, and we remain engaged with his counsel about his upcoming appearances.

Cohen had announced to some fanfare earlier this month he had accepted an invitation to testify from Cummings in furtherance of my commitment to cooperate and provide the American people with answers. The hearing seemed as if it could be eventful.

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Cohen pleaded guilty last year to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress about a possible Trump Tower project in Moscow and arranging hush money payments to women who had alleged having had affairs with Trump. He was sentenced to three years in prison and is expected to report to prison on March 6, about a month after the scheduled testimony date.

Trumps critics had hoped Cohen might, at the very least, offer unflattering revelations about the president. He had claimed in court to have helped cover up Trumps dirty deeds.

Almost immediately, though, lawmakers raised questions about how much Cohen could say about the topic of most interest to the public - the information Cohen was said to provide to Mueller - because Muellers investigation is ongoing, and Cohen would probably be restricted in what he could say.

When Cohen announced he was testifying, Cummings said, I want to make clear that we have no interest in inappropriately interfering with any ongoing criminal investigations, and to that end, we are in the process of consulting with special counsel Muellers office.

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Schiff said at the time that he hoped to schedule a private hearing so Cohen could talk with lawmakers about Russia-related topics.

It was not clear if Cohen would still be able to testify before he reports to prison, or whether he could in some way offer testimony after that.

The Washington Posts Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.
Its front page identifies San Diego as home of Americas Finest City Slums, its quirky contents reference UFOs and conspiracy theories, and some articles read like stream-of-consciousness observations.

But for nine years, John Kitchins San Diego Homeless News also has skewered local politicians, nonprofits and the medias coverage of homelessness, and his editorials show he is one of the citys ferocious watchdogs on the subject.

Were going to have a homeless navigation center, and we have zero pieces of housing available, he said about a city plan to open a center to connect people with housing.

I call it the housing hallucination center, Kitchin continued. Theyre trying to come up with housing that doesnt even exist and put people into it.

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Hes just as critical of many of the citys other approaches to addressing homelessness, but also gives credit when he feels its due. The December edition of the newsletter praised state Assemblyman Todd Gloria for calling for an investigation into how the county handled the hepatitis A outbreak in 2017 that hit the homeless population hard.

In an interview, however, Kitchin also blasted Gloria, citing the politicians time on the San Diego City Council, for allowing many low-income units to be razed to make way for Petco Park.

Kitchin, 66, has spoken in front of the City Council, attended many of the councils Select Committee on Homelessness meetings and almost all meetings of the Basic Dignity Coalition, which is focused on helping the homelessness.

He combs local media for stories on homelessness, often writing brief synopses and reviews of the coverage.

But who is Kitchin, who calls himself a professor of homelessness, and why does he does focus so much energy on the issue?

A conversation with him can be a wild ride.

I was appointed to be the atheist pagan bishop of San Diego, he said when asked why he moved to the city from Milwaukee in 1989. Its the most secret of all religions. You cant even look anything up on the web.

Kitchin said he works out of a van-sized office he rents in Tijuana and lives part time in an $11-a-night hotel there. To abide by requirements for Social Security and SSI payments, he also lives in San Diego, sometimes sleeping in city parks.

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Local politicians who talk about homelessness will never really understand the issue, he said, because they have never been homeless themselves.

Admirers of Kitchins work include attorney Scott Dreher, whose lawsuits against the city of San Diego have resulted in some changes to how laws relating to homelessness are enforced.

On issues where hes advocating for the homeless, I love him and hes a cool guy, Dreher said. He gets it.

But Dreher also said parts of the publication that veer from homeless news should be taken with a grain of salt, and he disregards some of the Kitchins more unconventional articles.

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To me, its very easily separated, he said, adding that hes been impressed about how well Kitchin follows his court actions.

Whenever we file something, hes written about it, Dreher said. He sometimes has said, I think you should go further. Its nice to have someone supportive.

Rob Bird, an officer with the homeless advocacy nonprofit Amikas, has read San Diego Homeless News and knows Kitchin from meetings at the Basic Dignity Coalition.

I can say is hes held everyones attention at the meeting enough to keep me coming around, Bird said.

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He called Kitchin eccentric, but also said he pays attention and invests himself in issues.

In some ways, hed make an admirable reporter for a legitimate outlet, he said..

A Wisconsin native, Kitchin said he studied at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and earned a Ph.D. in applied psychology in 1979.

He acknowledges that fact-checking his academic career can be a challenge, since his doctorate was from what he described as a nonstandard school, Milwaukee Free University, which doesnt exist anymore. It also doesnt help that his doctorate on how talent is passed on from generation to generation is above top secret.

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Kitchin also said he started a private security firm that still exists in Milwaukee. The companys website, however, names someone else as its founder.

If you look at some of the stuff Ive done in the past and add it all up, it looks totally unbelievable, he said. My resume is 18 pages if I got it all in there. Some of what I did was top secret.

Kitchins explanation of why he left Wisconsin also is somewhat head-spinning. It involves what he described as an unjust conviction for felony fraud, the mafia, a corrupt media and countless false arrests, ultimately ending with all criminal charges cleared by the Canadian CIA.

Thats what brought him to San Diego, where he said he operated a heating and air conditioning company in Alpine until it went out of business in 2008, leading to him being homeless the following year.

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Kitchin said he began San Diego Homeless News as an online venture in 2010 at the urging of the San Diego Underground Press Association.

Which isnt its real name, he said. Its real name is secret.

Kitchin designs the newsletter on a computer and stores it on a memory card he takes to a downtown San Diego FedEx Office Print & Ship Center.

He has printed as few as one copy and up to 8,000 at a time, he said, but most readers get their copies by email. Kitchin said he has about 148,000 addresses on his email list, and he prints the newsletter in three editions, including Spanish and Mandarin.

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The Chinese tell me they read it to document the fall of the United States, he said, adding that hes never seen the Mandarin edition, which he said is printed by a company in Beijing, and he couldnt read it anyway because he doesnt understand the language.

His paper is a mixed bag of social commentary, political analysis and humor, interspersed with some conspiracy theories about secret societies. When it comes to keeping track of local actions and plans regarding homeless, however, little seems to get past him.

Its a valid newspaper, he boasted in a recent interview. I shouldnt tell you this, but way, way, way more people in Sacramento who are politicians read my newspaper than read yours.

Kitchin sounds cynical of politicians and nonprofits, wondering out loud if they are motivated by nepotism and cronyism rather than altruism. He does praise at least one nonprofit, Third Avenue Charity Organizations, for their work in helping the homeless.

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The online version of his paper, found at nz9f.com/sdhn, also has a long list of sources for shelter, food and health services as well as archived editions of his paper.

Despite the seriousness of his subject matter, Kitchin peppers his paper with humor. One headline in a recent edition was Snide comments. A photo caption in another edition read, Starving? Rich people taste just like chicken!

I used to write for Johnny Carson, Kitchen said, adding one final claim to his resume.

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Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
In assessing climate change, the practical and political arent always in agreement. When they clash within the same presidential administration, it can be awkward.

Global warming is happening and with it seas are rising. It is projected to continue and cause life-changing effects on the Earth. Thats not just the view of the vast majority of the scientific community.

The U.S. military released a report last week outlining the current and future challenges climate change presents for all service branches  whether its flooding of coastal installations like those in San Diego, drought contributing to wildfires near bases and reduced water supplies, or thawing of permafrost that threatens the integrity of facilities built on it.

Even putting aside for a moment the discussion over what is causing it, climate change is a widely accepted reality, except in some quarters, most notably the Oval Office of the White House.

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President Donald Trump dismissed his own administrations sweeping report on climate change late last year, stating, I dont believe it.

He has consistently mocked the notion that climate change exists and did so again last weekend during the major winter storm that hit the eastern United States.

Wouldnt be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now! he said on Twitter, just days after the military released its report.

Regardless, Trumps admirals and generals arent waiting around for the president to become enlightened. Dire as it was, the Department of Defense report hardly made a splash, largely because for years military leaders have not only acknowledged the logistical and strategic challenges of climate change, but have started to plan for them.

For example, last year the Navy entered into an agreement with the Port of San Diego to jointly study impacts of the projected rise in the ocean. The port and the Navy will share scientific information, conduct modeling on sea-level rise and identify policies and measures to adapt.

That was the Navys first such agreement on the West Coast.

There are a lot of politics associated with sea level rise [and] climate change, but the reality is when you have someone like the Navy that understands the significance of this and is planning for this, [regardless] of the politics, thats something we all need to pay attention to, Port Commission Chairman Rafael Castellanos said at the time, according to The Log, which reports on Californias boating and fishing news.

Rear Admiral Yancy Lindsey, commander Navy Region Southwest, said: The potential impacts of sea-level rise do not recognize jurisdictional boundaries and demand collaboration among all stakeholders.

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The Navy also has been working with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and other agencies on sea-level rise.

Trumps policies on climate change have generated much controversy, especially when he withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, the international accord to combat climate change. The administration also removed climate change as a security threat from the National Security Threat report in December 2017. More than 100 members of Congress  mostly Democrats but about a dozen Republicans  issued a letter of protest.

The recent Pentagon report looks at climate-related problems at 79 military installations now and over the next two decades.

The document highlights several. Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia has experienced 14 inches of sea-level rise since 1930 due to localized land subsidence and sea level rise. Naval Base Coronado is subject to isolated and flash flooding during tropical storm events, particularly in El Nino years.

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The report also lists flooding at Naval Base San Diego, locally known as the 32nd Street Naval Station.

Despite the presidents position, the military is moving forward.

The effects of a changing climate are a national security issue with potential impacts to DOD missions, operational plans and installations, Defense Department spokeswoman Heather Babb said in an email to news organizations Friday.

Various studies, including one by the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2016, have warned that coastal military installations valued at more than $100 billion dollars will lose considerable land to sea-level rise by the end of the century.

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Further, flooding and drought around the world may cause political instability that could become a strategic concern for the United States. Melting arctic ice will open up more sea lanes to monitor and protect.

The Pentagons interest in climate change is pretty simple. The military continually assesses threats to its forces and the nation  whether from a foreign enemy or nature.

Recent king tides and high surf flooded areas in San Diego County, perhaps most dramatically in Imperial Beach. That combination also caused extensive damage to the Ocean Beach Pier. All that has happened in the past, but experts expect such weather events to become more frequent and threatening because of climate change.

Laura Engeman, coastal program manager for Scripps Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, said the recent high water may be relatively moderate compared with what lies ahead.

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Those king tides represent some of the medium scenarios of sea-level rise, she told the Union-Tribunes Joshua Emerson Smith.

Thats something the U.S. military will have to deal with long after Trump is gone.
A general court martial began with the arraignment of a Navy SEAL platoon commander Tuesday for allegedly failing to report war crimes that prosecutors say were committed by another SEAL under his command.

Lt. Jacob X. Portier was in a San Diego military courtroom where he was formally charged with multiple violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including destroying evidence, obstruction of justice, conduct unbecoming, willful dereliction of duty, failure to obey orders, and making false official statements.

Portier did not enter a plea, however. His attorney asked for an extension and a military judge set a hearing for next week.

Jeremiah Sullivan, Portiers San Diego-based civilian attorney, said after the hearing that his client is innocent and intends to plead not guilty.

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I can be very clear on that, Sullivan said at an impromptu news conference outside the Naval Base San Diego courthouse. I think itll be clear from the evidence he is absolutely innocent.

Jeremiah Sullivan, who is representing Lt. Jacob Portier at his general court martial, talks to the press after an arraignment at Naval Base San Diego Tuesday, Jan. 22. (Andrew Dyer / Union-Tribune)

That evidence is the subject of a protective order in effect for both Portiers case and that of Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward R. Gallagher, the SEAL who, under Portiers supervision, is charged with multiple war crimes including premeditated murder and shooting civilians in Mosul, Iraq, in 2017.

Prosecutors said that some evidence, including video and photos taken of a dead teenage ISIS fighter, were being kept from the public in order to protect American service members currently deployed overseas.

The defense, however, said those protections were interfering with their ability to interview witnesses and review case material with them.

I cant even ask a witness who is in this photo? Who is in this video? Sullivan said. Were going to be litigating that next week.

Sullivan also called for a State Department review of the evidence in the case, and said its possible that parts of the trial might need to be conducted in secret, something he said would protect war fighters overseas.

We need to do everything to protect them, and I think the state department should intervene and ensure that our national security is preserved, he said. The court martial should be public, however Parts of the investigation should have a classification review. At times they could close the court for portions of testimony  they could close it altogether.

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The prosecution also said it was possible part of the trial could be conducted behind closed doors, but that it was not ideal.

The Navy has an interest in keeping the court martial public, said Brian ORourke, a spokesman for Navy Region Southwest.

Sullivan said that Portier would testify for the defense in Gallaghers trial as well, if asked.

If hes called hell testify truthfully, Sullivan said. No crimes were committed. He will happily take the stand and reply truthfully.

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Portiers conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman charges stem from a reenlistment ceremony he conducted for Gallagher. Prosecutors say this was conducted next to the corpse of the dead fighter, and that Portier then ordered his men to pose in a photo with Gallagher and the corpse.

Sullivan said there was nothing dishonorable about it.

He never ordered anybody to appear in any photos with a dead ISIS fighter, Sullivan said. A reenlistment ceremony was done on the battlefield, and for a Navy SEAL nothing can be more proud and honorable than reenlisting to serve your country on the battlefield.

Sullivan also said Portier did not attempt to cover-up Gallaghers alleged crimes.

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He went through the chain of command and made the appropriate report, Sullivan said. Whether war crimes actually occurred, thats a whole other issue that will be litigated in a court of law.

Portier is expected back in court Jan. 31, when Navy Judge Capt. Jonathan Stephens is expected to rule on the defense motion and set a date for trial.

Gallagher will be in court again Friday for a motion hearing. His trial is scheduled for Feb. 19.

Contact Andrew Dyer via email or Twitter.
The Los Angeles Unified School District and the teachers union came to a tentative agreement Tuesday morning. Here are some of the elements included in the three-year contract, which union members were to vote on Tuesday afternoon:

Teachers asked for a 6.5% raise.



For the record: A previous version of this article said that the district would establish 30 community schools and allocate $350,000 to each of them. It will provide $400,000 per school.

They got 6%  3% retroactive to the 2017-18 school and an additional 3% retroactive to July 2018.

But their concerns didnt center on money. They wanted smaller class sizes.



The contract calls for schools to see a class size reduction of about four students in three years  though 90 high-needs schools will see classes drop by six students in that time.

The contract eliminates a clause that currently allows the district to exceed the agreed-upon maximum class sizes.

The district would have until the 2022-23 school year to reach the agreed-upon class size averages and maximums.

Teachers also wanted more hiring to build up support staff on campuses. The contract calls for the district to hire:

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Enough nurses over the next three years to staff every school with a full-time nurse, five days a week. The district says it will hire 300 more nurses over the next two years.

Enough librarians to staff libraries on secondary-school campuses. The district says it will hire 82 teacher librarians over the next two years.

Enough counselors to bring the ratio closer to one counselor per 500 students at middle and high schools. Right now, there is one counselor for every 690 to 890 students, depending on the school. The district says it will hire 17 full-time counselors in the 2019-20 school year, and an additional 60 in 2021-22.

The union has been calling for a cap on charter schools, which cannot be negotiated as part of a labor contract. Members did gain some control over sharing campuses with charter schools:

At each school that shares a campus, the union will be able to appoint a colocation coordinator who will be invited to meetings and provide input in the process.

The contract also would improve working conditions for special education, early education and adult education teachers.

The union also made gains in areas that were not as much of a public focus during the strike. The district will:

Eliminate random searches in 28 schools by 2020-21.

Assign a lawyer to help students and families with immigration-related concerns.

Establish 30 campuses known as community schools, investing $400,000 in each one over two years. Such schools are supposed to provide social services to students and family, rich academic programs that include the arts and leadership roles for parents and teachers.

Some issues yielded task forces rather than promises.

The union initially asked for teacher control over testing. Instead, a joint union-district task force will recommend ways to reduce the amount of district assessments by 50%.

A task force will come up with a plan to increase green space on campuses, especially those farther from parks.

An ethnic studies task force will review school offerings and suggest curriculum and professional development.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.
California State University, anticipating the largest state funding increase in its history, wont raise tuition in the fall, Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Tuesday.

You heard me correctly. Tuition is off the table, he said, drawing applause at the start of the Board of Trustees two-day meeting in Long Beach.

In his annual State of the CSU address, White declared that 2018 was, in many ways, the best year ever for the nations largest and most diverse public university system  with 487,000 students on 23 campuses.

Last year, he noted, Cal State had the largest number of graduates in its history. Four-year graduation rates also increased by six percentage points to 25.4%, and the achievement gap narrowed between low-income and underrepresented minorities and their peers.

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Gov. Gavin Newsoms visionary proposal for a $300 million increase in ongoing permanent funding for Cal State will help campuses keep the momentum going, White said.

In his budget message this month, Newsom touted Cal States critical importance in preparing the workforce of California. He noted that the university system trains about half of the states teachers, more than half of its nurses, and many others who work in business, engineering, technology, agriculture, communications, health, and public administration.

The proposed increase would help fund the university systems initiative to raise four-year graduation rates to 40%, six-year rates to 70% and two-year transfer graduation rates to 45%  all by 2025.

The funding would also help Cal State boost enrollment by more than 8,100 Californians in 2019-20  a 2% increase. Although university officials had asked for enough money to enroll 21,000 more students, they said Tuesday that they were grateful for any increase to add seats. Cal State had to turn away 32,000 fully qualified students in 2017-18 because there was no room for them.

The governor also is proposing one-time allocations of $247 million to help repair aging campus facilities, and $15 million to support students struggling with hunger and housing.

For Student Trustee Emily Hinton, the proposed funding to help students with food, housing, and other basic needs was a huge win  one with deep personal meaning. She said she slept in her car during her first few months as Sonoma State University student body president in 2016. The experience inspired her to create a campus food pantry and later, as a student trustee, to lobby for increased funding.

My whole life was in my car, Hinton said. Thats why basic needs is a focus for me.

The rosy budget picture sparked mostly optimism at the Board of Trustees first meeting of the year.

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San Diego State University student Rose Rastbaf, a liaison on a systemwide subcommittee, said Whites message resonated with her because she has seen progress on her own campus. Last year, students approved a multi-million dollar gym expansion and plans for a second campus in Mission Valley are underway.

Juan Fernando Garcia, a student trustee who attends Cal Poly Pomona, hailed the freeze on tuition, saying were in a good spot right now.

But Mia Kagianas, president of the Cal State Student Assn., cautioned that tuition  currently $5,742 annually  is just a small part of the overall cost of college. The average this year ranged from $17,422 for students who live at home to $26,139 for those who live off campus. Food and housing were, by far, the largest non-tuition costs, amounting to about $14,000 annually for the nearly two-thirds of students who dont live at home, according to Cal State data.

Although tuition may be frozen, financial aid funding has been in the ice age for far too long, and needs to be thawed and reworked to better support students, Kagianas said in an email.

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On Tuesday, Cal State administrators gave trustees an overview of the systems financial aid program. Nearly 60% of students pay no tuition. Overall, about 80% receive financial aid.

Board Chairman Adam Day asked officials to explore what legal changes would be necessary to overturn bans on federal and state financial aid for students with drug convictions. He said he did not want a one-time mistake by a young student to be a stumbling block to future success.

White said he embraced that sentiment but, referring to the notorious Mexican drug lord, added that El Chapo isnt somebody we want to admit.

Faculty leaders, for their part, responded to Whites address with both optimism and caution. Catherine Nelson, who heads the Cal State Academic Senate, said she agreed 1,000% with Whites vision of making education more accessible to all Californians.

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But, she said, faculty also were concerned that they have not been adequately consulted on matters  such as general education requirements  which White revised in a 2017 executive order.

The innovation and the contributions we make to California I am just amazed at how great the impact of the institution is, Nelson said. But you want to make sure that the expertise that we are hired to provide is respected and used.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

Twitter: @TeresaWatanabe
The world premiere of a La Jolla Playhouse-commissioned work plus a new musical directed by the lead producer of Hamilton are the final two shows to join the Playhouses 2019-20 season.

The just-announced productions are playwright Keith Bunins The Coast Starlight, a story of secrets and intrigue aboard a California passenger train; and Fly, a musical adapted by Rajiv Joseph (a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) from the Peter Pan saga, and directed by Broadway mega-producer Jeffrey Seller.

Those works join the previously announced productions of Put Your House in Order, The Luckiest, Kiss My Aztec! and Cambodian Rock Band on the Playhouse slate. The theater also has announced official run dates for all six shows.

Tickets for the 2019-20 productions are currently available via subscription purchase at (858) 550-1010 or lajollaplayhouse.org.

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Heres a look at whats coming:

The Coast Starlight by Keith Bunin, Aug. 20 to Sept. 15, Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

Bunin was last at the Playhouse in 2012 with Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir, one of the first shows in the theaters site-specific/immersive Without Walls series.

This new, Playhouse-commissioned piece, directed by Tyne Rafaeli of off-Broadways Usual Girls, was developed in last years DNA New Work Series.

I really just enjoy his voice, Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley says of Bunin, who has had numerous plays produced in New York and was a writer on HBOs Treatment.

The Coast Starlight, Ashley says, was partly inspired by Bunins own travels up and down Californias coast on the plays namesake train, as he shuttled among writing projects. Bunin became fascinated by the unspoken intimacy among passengers, and in the play theres an element of those passengers interior lives speaking to each other.

Theres also an element of suspense, as the young man at the storys center harbors a secret whose implications require that his fellow passengers help work through them.

Its funny, its compassionate, and its very much about the capacity for invention and reinvention when your life goes off the rails, Ashley says of the piece.

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Fly by Rajiv Joseph, composed by Bill Sherman, lyrics by Kirsten Childs and Rajiv Joseph; based on J.M. Barries Peter Pan. Feb. 18 to March 29, 2020, Mandell Weiss Theatre.

This will actually be the second production of the musical riff on the Peter Pan saga; the first was back in 2013 at the Dallas Theater Center.

That production marked the directing debut of Jeffrey Seller, the producing whiz whose hit projects include not just Hamilton but Avenue Q and Rent.

Fly recasts the story of Peter Pan through the lens of Wendys experience, says Ashley, who notes that the show has a contemporary feel and a propulsive and percussive score.

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The music is by Bill Sherman, who won a Tony Award in 2008 for orchestrating In the Heights, the first big hit by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Writer Joseph, best-known for Bengal Tiger, had his subsequent piece Guards at the Taj staged at the Playhouse in 2016. Kirsten Childs, his co-lyricist on Fly, won multiple awards for her 2000 off-Broadway musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, and also has performed in two Broadway shows.

Ashley says the Playhouse production will include extensive aerial effects  in fact, probably the most flying seen at the Playhouse since his own staging of A Midsummer Nights Dream back in 2010.

Ashley is particularly pleased with the shows prospects for broad audience appeal.

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I love seasons where we have something for a multigenerational audience, and Fly fits the bill, he says.

The full dates for the Playhouses four previously announced 2019-20 shows:

Put Your House in Order by Ike Holter, directed by Lili-Anne Brown; June 2-30, Mandell Weiss Forum.

The Luckiest by Melissa Ross, directed by Jaime Castaneda; June 30  July 28, Potiker Theatre.

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The Berkeley Repertory Theatre Production of Kiss My Aztec!, book by John Leguizamo and Tony Taccone, music by Benjamin Velez, lyrics by David Kamp, Benjamin Velez and John Leguizamo, based on a screenplay by John Leguizamo and Stephen Chbosky; directed by Tony Taccone. Sept. 3 to Oct. 13, Mandell Weiss Theatre.

Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee, featuring songs by Dengue Fever; directed by Chay Yew. Nov. 12 to Dec. 15, Potiker Theatre.

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jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @jimhebert
When the San Ysidro school board decided in September to settle a lawsuit against a former superintendent once involved in a pay-to-play scandal, the district allowed Manuel Paul to keep more than $200,000 in severance pay and agreed to pay its own legal fees.

The details of the settlement were not immediately reported because the district withheld the agreement, saying the document was not finalized.

The district brought the lawsuit against Paul in 2015 in an attempt to recover the payout he received when he resigned two years earlier amid pay-to-play allegations. The lawsuit was filed a month after Paul was sentenced to two months in federal prison in connection with the pay-to-play scheme.

Paul had admitted in a plea deal that he asked for campaign contributions from contractors who wanted to be considered for work on district projects.

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Paul, a graduate of San Ysidro schools, worked for the district for more than 30 years, rising through the ranks until he was hired as superintendent in 2007.

As part of the settlement agreement, which was released to the San Diego Union-Tribune last week, the district and Paul agreed to release each other from any and all pending or existing claims, waiving their right to sue each other in the future unless it is to enforce the terms of the agreement.

Also included in the settlement is an agreement that neither the district nor Paul are deemed the prevailing party in the case. A prevailing party generally is entitled to recover attorney fees or costs under state or federal law.

The districts legal fees related to the case against Paul as of October 2017 had reached $480,000  roughly twice the amount in severance pay the district tried to recoup.

The district and its lawyer, William Trejo of Leal-Trejo law firm, declined last week to provide the final cost of legal services related to the case. Trejo added only that any subsequent and additional legal services related to the case in the past 6 to 8 months were provided pro bono.

The districts lawsuit sought to recover about $211,000 in severance pay, the salary Paul was paid while on administrative leave for six months, attorney fees and other damages. The lawsuit cited a state law that requires public officials convicted of a crime related to their job to reimburse pay related to the termination of their employment contract.

Pauls attorney, Dennis Grady, challenged the interpretation of the statute, arguing the severance pay was part of a retirement agreement, not an employment contract.

More than three years after the district sued Paul, the school board unanimously agreed to settle the case during a closed-door meeting on Sept. 13.

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Former trustee Marcos Diaz, who lost a re-election bid in November, said in a recent interview the board was ready to close the chapter and felt that settlement was the best option.

It was still going to take more money and effort, he said.

Although the school board approved the settlement, the district withheld the agreement, saying the document was missing the signature of a community member who had joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff: Esther Gutierrez.

Gutierrez, who in 2015 joined efforts to unseat two trustees, was added as a plaintiff in the case against Paul in May 2016 after Pauls lawyer argued in court that the district did not have the grounds to bring a claim under a state code that allows certain taxpayers to sue government officials to recover wasted funds.

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While the court sided with Paul, the district was allowed to amend its complaint. The district added Gutierrez, who was identified as a taxpayer and local resident.

It is unclear why Gutierrez did not sign the agreement once the board approved the settlement. Attempts to reach her were unsuccessful.

The copy of the agreement the district provided to the Union-Tribune did not include Gutierrezs signature. The district did not respond to a question about the missing signature.

According to records, the case was dismissed in court on Dec. 21. District officials declined to say why it took three months to finalize the settlement agreement, saying the discussions are confidential under state law.

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Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
Kathmandu, January 23

Officials at the Meteorological Forecasting Division under the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology say the rain is likely in most parts of the country till Wednesday night.

They further claim that the cloudy weather will embrace the country for next few days.

Kathmandu and other parts of the country are receiving rainfall since last night. Officials say this is an impact of the westerly wind.

Meteorologist Ganga Nagarkoti informs that the westerly wind triggered the rainfall in the western part of the country since Monday. It spread across the central region by Tuesday evening, according to her.

The rainfall will spread across the eastern part also by the afternoon.

The rainfall may stop for few hours in some parts this afternoon, but it will resume from the tonight, she adds.

The western part of the country is likely to receive more precipitations on Thursday, but the rest of the country is likely to get cloudy, according to them.

Meanwhile, the afternoon temperature is estimated to come down due to the rainfall. However, the minimum temperature is unlikely to go below the freezing point, the lowest of this year, according to meteorologists.
ABC/Randy HolmesShinedown's new single "GET UP," which frontman Brent Smith wrote about bassist's Eric Bass' battle with depression, has given the band another hit: It reached number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart. But as Smith tells ABC Radio, Shinedown never intended to release it as a single.

Originally, the band had planned to release "KILL YOUR CONSCIENCE" as the second single from their new album ATTENTION ATTENTION, following the lead track "DEVIL." However, about two months after the release of the album, Smith decided to look on YouTube to see what tracks the fans were listening to.

"There's 500,000 listens here, there's 78,000 listens here, there's 300,000 listens here," Smith explains. "And then all of the sudden I see 2.8 million, and it's 'GET UP.'"

Then, Smith did something that's almost always a bad idea: He read the comments.

"The first 40 comments were all teenagers," Smith remembers. "And a lot of it was, 'I don't even know who this band is but this song literally may have just saved my life.'"

The response was so overwhelming that Shinedown knew "GET UP" was the right choice. And in addition to introducing new fans to the band, Smith feels that the song represents Shinedown's artistic mission.

"I think it may have reinforced the fact that this band will never phone anything in," Smith says.

"We're never going to just do what we think we should do because we think our core audience is not gonna buy it or they're not gonna like it if we don't, you know, make the Sound of Madness record over and over again."

Shinedown will give "GET UP" its national TV debut this morning during Live with Kelly and Ryan. Check KellyandRyan.com for local listings.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The family-owned company that operates the Crossroads of the West gun show filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Del Mar Fairgrounds, challenging its suspension of the weekend event that has been held there for more than 30 years.

The 22nd District Agricultural Association board of directors, which oversees activities at the state-owned fairgrounds, voted to stop the shows after December until staff members develop a policy that could ban the sale and possession of firearms on the property.

Any decision in the case is likely to take years and have far-reaching effects.

Gun-show owners Russell and Ann Sallie Nordyke filed suit against Alameda County after it banned weapons from the public fairgrounds there in 1999. That case went on for more than 12 years and cost millions of dollars in legal fees before a settlement reached through mediation allowed guns if they were secured to exhibit tables with wire cables.

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Crossroads holds its shows at more than a dozen large locations in four western states, all on public or city-owned property. It stages the two-day gun show at the Del Mar fairgrounds five times annually.

The Crossroads lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego alleges that the moratorium violates the plaintiffs First and Second Amendment rights, their civil rights, the right to commercial speech, and the right to assembly.

Regardless of how you feel about guns, we operate within compliance of the law, said Tracy Olcott, president and general manager of B&L Productions, the owner of Crossroads of the West.

We are heavily regulated, and gun shows in particular are more heavily regulated than brick-and-mortar stores, Olcott said Tuesday.

Fairgrounds General Manager Tim Fennell and board President Steve Shewmaker were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

One of the leading opponents of the show is Del Mar resident Rose Ann Sharp.

Sharp founded the local nonprofit NeverAgainCA as part of the national Never Again movement to stop gun violence after the Parkland, Fla., shootings that killed 17 high school students and staff members last year on Valentines Day.

Sharp said Tuesday the lawsuit is premature because the fair board is still working on a study that will determine whether, and in what form, the gun shows might continue.

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The board did not, as Crossroads alleges, ban gun shows, Sharp said. It directed fairgrounds management not to consider any contracts with producers of gun shows beyond Dec. 31 until .. the district has put into place a more thorough policy regarding the conduct of gun shows.

Sharp and others say events such as gun shows promote a culture of unnecessary weapons, resulting in a country with more firearms than residents and where violence is common. Supporters of the shows say they offer a place for like-minded people to gather safely, exchange ideas and learn more about their shared hobbies.

Members of NeverAgainCA demonstrated repeatedly outside the Del Mar gun shows last year and attended fair board meetings to call for an end to the shows.

Crossroads sent a cease-and-desist letter in October to NeverAgainCA ordering the nonprofit to stop making defamatory statements about the firearms festival and its owners.

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In response, ACLU Legal Director David Loy sent a reply calling the Crossroads letter a baseless attempt to intimidate Never Again from exercising rights protected by the First Amendment and threatening to file a response under the states anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute.

The lawsuit Ignores  that there is no harm to individual rights to buy guns because of the ready availability of gun stores, including at the numerous gun shows throughout the state on private property, Sharp said in an email.

NeverAgainCA members are helping local efforts to stop Crossroads shows in Orange County, Ventura, and San Francisco, but so far no other city or fair board has cancelled the shows.

Among the issues raised by NeverAgainCa were the past felony firearms convictions of gun show owner Bob Templeton and his son, Jeff Templeton, that would prevent them from operating the shows. However, Bob Templeton passed control of the show to his daughter, Olcott, and his son has not been involved with it for years.

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The fair board sent a letter to the state Justice Department last year requesting an investigation of Crossroads. State officials have declined to confirm any investigation, and Olcott said recently they never contacted her about it.

Thousands of firearms enthusiasts attend each Del Mar gun show. Members of the San Diego County Gun Owners, a political action committee, have lobbied hard for the fairgrounds to continue the show.

The shows are a significant source of income for gun and ammunition dealers, and some of them are included as plaintiffs in the Crossroads lawsuit.

Plaintiffs include Barry Bardack, an El Cajon resident who says he buys bulk ammunition at the show for target shooting; Ronald J. Diaz, Sr., an Alpine resident who says he buys reloading supplies at the shows; Alpine resident and competitive shooter John Dupree; Carlsbad resident Christopher Paul Irick, who says he shops for bargains on firearms and accessories at the show; and Lawrence Michael Walsh, owner of Wholesale Ammunition, who has no physical store but who says he sells ammo to law enforcement officers and their agencies at gun shows across the state.

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Other plaintiffs include the California Rifle & Pistol Association, South Bay Rod and Gun Club, and the Second Amendment Foundation.

Olcott said she hopes to find another venue in the San Diego area to continue the shows, but so far shes been unable to find anything that has the space thats available at the fairgrounds.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

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Twitter: @phildiehl
By this summer, a welcoming arch will be built across Grand Avenue in downtown Escondido at Centre City Parkway.

Members of the Escondido Charitable Foundation unveiled their plans to construct the arch at a recent meeting of the City Council. The arch, which will be 40 feet high and 180 feet wide, has already been designed. Its $1 million cost is a gift to the city.

The design has not undergone public review, something both Councilwomen Olga Diaz and Consuelo Martinez found a bit disturbing. However, they and the rest of the council said the design is beautiful and the gift is generous. They said they didnt want to do anything to delay it.

Ken Lounsbery, one of the charitable organizations directors, said the foundations board members wanted to contribute something everlasting, something that would enhance Grand Avenue and, not incidentally, the community.

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A single anonymous donor gave the foundation $1 million and it was the consensus of the board to use it for an arch, an idea that came about in 2017 as the city was preparing its Grand Avenue Enhancement Program and applying for a grant.

An arch, officials said, has been part of the vision for enhancing the downtown business area for many years.

The concept of an arch, a community giving arch, an arch to charity, was conceived to express confidence in the community and to encourage the continued history of local charitable giving, Lounsbery told the City Council.

The arch design incorporates the dome above City Hall and has the word Escondido written across its banner. It will be lit at night and will look the same from both directions.

The $15 million grant the city applied for from the regional planning agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, to begin the enhancement program was denied last year. But City Engineer Julie Procopio told the council that SANDAG recently reconsidered and will partially fund the program, which calls for major parking and sidewalk changes and the construction of roundabouts at three Grand Avenue intersections, including Broadway.

Nick Tsoulos, who was chairman of the foundation last year, told the council he believed the arch would be the only one in the county to be fully paid for with donations.

It is being designed by a firm that also created a similar arch in Carlsbad.

Lets consider the arch as representing our pride in our city, the enhancement to our community, and our beacon for philanthropy, Tsoulos said.

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Following the meeting, Lousebery said the cost of the arch is about $850,000 with the rest of the $1 million donation going for design and engineering work.

He said he expects it will take about four months for the citys engineering department to approve the plan.

Once that happens, he said, the arch will likely be built in just a few days since it is being constructed in three pieces off site.

Members of the council all expressed thanks to the foundation and said they thought the design was great.

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But Diaz and Martinez said they were concerned about a lack of community input on the design and suggested running the concept past the citys art commission.

Lounsbery said they would welcome input, but said the arch is a gift and the design is already finalized. Were there, he said. That train has already left the station.

Well accept as much public input as this council considers desirable and necessary, he said. But it will be a presentation of a project being gifted to the city in its as is condition.

On Tuesday, Diaz said she doubts the arch will come before the council again and said she is not going to press the matter. But she said in the future she hopes that gifted projects can go through a design review involving community input.

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She said it is likely, as with all art projects, that there will be people who dont like the way the arch looks and will be upset they did not have a chance to tell the city what they thought before it was a done deal.

I dont dislike it. I think its pretty, Diaz said. I would have liked a more robust public cycle for this. But at the end of the day, am I going to turn down what I consider a nice gift to the City of Escondido?

The right way would have been to go through all the layers of public process and review, she said.

While praising the foundation, Diaz said it does sit under my skin a little bit that we arent holding that particular group to the same standards we would hold everybody else.

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jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis said Wednesday that fear of migration is "making us crazy" as he began a trip to Central America amid a standoff over President Donald Trump's promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and a new caravan of migrants heading north.

Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall Wednesday on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind. Francis responded: "It is the fear that makes us crazy."

The Roman Catholic Church's first Latin American pope and the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis has made the plight of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his papacy. He is also expected to offer words of encouragement to young people gathered in Panama for World Youth Day, the church's once-every-three-year pep rally that aims to invigorate the next generation of Catholics in their faith.

Panama Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa said Francis' message is likely to resonate with young Central Americans who see their only future free of violence and poverty in migrating to the U.S.  "young people who often fall into the hands of drug traffickers and so many other realities that our young people face."

The pope is expected to urge young people to create their own opportunities, while calling on governments do their share as well.

The visit is taking place as the U.S. government remains partly shut down in a standoff between the Trump administration and Democrats over funding for Trump's promised border wall.

Francis famously has called for "bridges, not walls." After celebrating Mass in 2016 on the Mexican side of the U.S. border, he denounced anyone who wants to build a wall to keep out migrants as "not Christian."

Crowds are expected to be smaller than usual for this World Youth Day  only about 150,000 people had registered as of last week  but thousands more will certainly throng Francis' main events, which include a vigil and a final Mass on Sunday. The Vatican conceded that the January date doesn't suit school vacations in Europe or North America, both of which typically send huge numbers of pilgrims to World Youth Day gatherings.

Francis' trip, the first in a year packed with foreign travel, comes at a critical moment in the papacy as the Catholic hierarchy globally is facing a crisis in credibility for covering up decades of cases of priests molesting young people.

The pope is expected to soon rule on the fate of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the high-powered U.S. archbishop accused of molesting minors and adults. And he is hosting church leaders at the Vatican next month on trying to chart a way forward for the global church.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said there were no plans for Francis to meet with abuse survivors in Panama. Central America hasn't yet seen the explosion of sex abuse cases that have shattered trust in the Catholic hierarchy in Chile, the U.S. and other parts of the world.

This is the first papal visit to Panama since St. John Paul II was there during a 1983 regional tour that famously included an unscheduled stop at the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador. Romero had been gunned down by right-wing death squads three years earlier, at the start of El Salvador's civil war, for having spoken out on behalf of the poor.

Salvadoran bishops had hoped Francis would follow suit and make a stop in El Salvador this time to pay his respects at Romero's tomb since Francis canonized him in October. But the Vatican said a Salvador leg was never really in the cards.

Nevertheless, Gisotti said Romero would likely loom large at the Panama gathering, given he is such a point of reference for young Central American Catholics who grew up learning about his defense of the poor.

The Panama visit is also the first by a pope since the Vatican embassy played a crucial role during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, when dictator Manuel Noriega took refuge there and requested asylum on Christmas Eve after four days on the run trying to escape U.S. troops.

Noriega eventually surrendered, bringing to an end one of the more unusual U.S. military operations: It involved U.S. troops blasting heavy metal and rock music  including Van Halen's "Panama"  at the embassy to try to force Noriega out.

Noriega, a onetime U.S. ally, eventually served a 17-year drug sentence in the United States. He died in 2017 after his final years were spent in a Panamanian prison for the murder of political opponents during his 1983-89 regime.

Pope Francis confirmed to reporters aboard the papal plane that he plans to go to Japan in November. The pope also said he wants to visit Iraq, but that local church leaders have told him that the security situation is not yet right.

This year, the pontiff has already scheduled trips to United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bulgaria and Macedonia, and a trip to Madagascar is rumored.
A consulting and leadership skills workshop was officially launched yesterday at Elisa conference center at Sogi.

The two-day conference is facilitated by the Business Link Pacific (BLP) which is a programme funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Participants included representatives from Events Marketing and Distribution, Small Business Enterprise Center (S.B.E.C.), South Pacific Business Development (S.P.B.D.), and the Samoa Chamber of Commerce.

New Zealands acting High Commissioner to Samoa, Michael Walsh, said in his keynote address that the workshop will assist service providers as their personnel will be upskilled to assist small businesses.

The significance is that Samoa and all other countries need strong probable medium enterprises, we know that for most countries they account for more than 80 per cent of businesses, and every economy needs a vibrant business, he said.

The ultimate goal of an enterprise is to expand in size, the diplomat added, and Samoa needs more businesses expanding.

This workshop is all about assisting service providers, the workshop will upskill how they will assist the small businesses in terms of financial planning etc., he added.

BLP deputy director, Paul Wendland, said it would be good to see local businesses access more services as they grow.

We want them to realise their potential, have access to the same sort of finance, same good business advice, and for the market dynamic to work."

We want businesses to not need BLP  that the advisors here see the SME market as a real opportunity  that advisory services for SMEs are vibrant, growing of high quality and affordable, he added.

Affordability is key for a lot of businesses, according to Mr. Wendland, as people can be intimidated getting advice on taxes and compliance issues from bigger firms.

We did a survey of SMEs throughout the Pacific  and in each country we work in  some of the key findings were that SMEs dont know what services are available. They dont know where to access them, and they perceive them to be too expensive. Whether thats true or not  we need to overcome those perceptions  we need to overcomes those market failures and really open that up for small business, he added.

The two-day workshop is the first to be held in the region and they target five to 50 employees.

Samoa Chamber of Commerce CEO, Lemauga Hobart Vaai, said they are happy to facilitate as the workshop offers more opportunities and tools to support SME growth in Samoa.

BLP first established in Samoa last year and operates in 4 countries and has over 30 partners.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi has threatened to use an atomic bomb to blow up petitions against the Governments Electoral Constituencies Bill 2018.

He made the point in Parliament yesterday, when the second petition against the Bill, was lodged by the Alii ma Faipule of Tafua, Savaii.

Signed by 93 chiefs of the village, the petition tabled by former Cabinet Minister, Faumuina Tiatia Liuga, calls for Tafua to remain in the Palauli le Falefa electoral constituency.

The first petition lodged by Saleaula was read and tabled on Tuesday. Palauli le Falefa and Gagaemauga No. 2 are among constituencies affected by the Bill, which seeks the removal of urban seats and the re-defining of electoral boundaries, based on geographical location.

The time will come when I will address the three steps the government took to make major amendments to resolve this matter for all eternity, Tuilaepa said.

Weve been independent for nearly sixty years now, and yet this matter of some constituencies having two, three, four reps in Parliament is always brought up.

Tuilaepa said the Electoral Constituencies Bill 2018 is a move by his administration to address this once and for all. He said the first step was for Members of Parliament to be made up only of matai. The second step, he said, was the one constituency, one person, one vote.

Now the third and final step is dealing with the issue of constituencies which have two, three or four representatives in Parliament.

The Prime Minister accused the M.P.s behind the petitions of being negligent.

It wouldve been better if these Members werent Cabinet Ministers before but people who were Cabinet Ministers should know that we dont look at such issues lightly, he said.

These steps (identified above) were not easy. The Governments of the past avoided it. Why? They were afraid to touch fire but with the H.R.P.P. government, it is our belief that it is only smoke, no one will get burned.

Thats when he said: I will blow this up with an atomic bomb; I will not shoot it with a tuitui.

The reference to the word tuitui (Samoan word for something small) was made by the Speaker of Parliament, Toleafoa Leaupepe Faafisi in response to a question raised by Deputy Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa in relation to Parliament procedures.

Noticing that yesterday was the second day when Parliaments work started with the reading of a petition, Fiame questioned why the petitions were not included in Parliaments Order of work for the day. She said priority should be given to the discussion of supplementary budget, as the Standing Orders dictate.

In response, Speaker Toleafoa said the guidelines are clear that priority is given to budget debates.

As for petitions, it is no secret that the Parliamentary Committee report about this matter has been tabled but as the Speaker, I believes we shouldnt deny members of the public the opportunity to file their petitions. (Aua le fana i le tuitui le finagalo o le atunuu.)

He pointed out that Parliaments work is governed by mutual respect (ava fatafata).

The nature of my question is not to object to the petitions, Fiame responded, but it is about the way things are done in accordance with Parliamentary procedures.

Im talking about the Order of Work for the day, this is what we should insist on. It appears to me that these petitions are being brought before our meeting unofficially, because they are not included in Order of work the day.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa concurred with his deputy.

I was a little surprised yesterday, he said. I looked at our Clerk and it looked like hed changed gears so I thought well with these things, there are lapses.

I had thought of raising the issue, like the Deputy PM has done, but out of respect

As for the petitions, Tuilaepa said he would not treat them lightly. When the time comes for him to address them, he said he would use a bomb, especially given that these matters have already been discussed and endorsed by Parliament.

Parliament continued last night.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi yesterday rejected allegations of corruption within the Government and the public service.

Where is the proof? What corruption are you talking about? Tuilaepa demanded.

The Prime Minister was speaking in Parliament during the discussion of the Supplementary Budget at the T.A.T.T.E. Building. He was responding to the claim made by Salega M.P., Olo Fiti Vaai, who said one of the biggest problems in the Government today is corruption.

We have so much government funds going to waste and this is because the government is being reckless, greedy and abusive, Olo said.

During the past year, there have been a number of problems faced by the Government, from one Ministry to another and it all comes down to a weakness."

When I consider all these actions, it is corrupt, that is whats happening in the Government.

Olo said millions of Government revenue collected are not turned in. He also claimed monies have already been allocated in the budget for positions within the public service, and yet they are not filled.

But the Prime Minister immediately objected.

You are being rude and disrespectful, Tuilaepa said. You just blurt out such words. This M.P. has been against this Government from the beginning.

Tuilaepa added that the Member of Parliament has been placed in Parliamentary Committees so he can get an understanding of what is happening so he can advice them accordingly.

He said that if Olo has issues, he should raise it within the Committees.

Tuilaepa also cautioned the M.P. against making false allegations.

We have auditors and lawyers in place to prosecute such cases, he said.

He continued to accuse the Salega M.P. of being negative about Government developments, pointing to a story in the Samoa Observer where Olo questioned the raising of the Chinese flag in Samoa.

There are six flags at the project site, yet he targeted the flag of the Government of China, the Prime Minister said.

Whats so harmful about Chinas flag? Its a sign they are providing assistance to Samoa. What about you, what are you doing?

We are receiving financial support to assist with our developments and as for you, what have you done.

Tuilaepa then returned to the claim of corruption.

Corruption is when there are laws and yet nothing is being done about it. That is not the case; there are laws in place for any illegal practices.

So dont you dare level such allegations but you look within yourself and what you are doing.

The Prime Minister accused Olo of running a business at Tuanaimato that broke the laws and angered residents in the area.

Olo though, would not back down.

I have calculated all the positions and there are 530 unfilled positions in the public service and yet monies have been allocated in the budget for these vacancies.

But the Prime Minister again intervened.

The budgeted unfilled vacancies have not been filled despite advertisements being publicized but that does not mean the Government is corrupt. What corruption are you going on about?

You have been placed in the Parliamentary committee for a purpose but not for you to use the information to your advantage and for you to report such lies.

You are bound by Committee rules and policies that the issues discussed are confidential so that the real information is provided to the committee; but what youre doing is not in accordance with Parliamentary rules.

Parliament continued last night.
China has imposed anti-dumping duty on Indian and Japanese ortho-dichlorobenzene (ODCB) which will be effective from Wednesday.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Tuesday said the Chinese market had suffered damage due to the dumping of these products.



The announcement comes on the same day when India's visiting Commerce Secretary met the Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen and discussed trade deficit in favour of Beijing.





From Wednesday, duties will be collected at rates ranging from 31.9 per cent to 70.4 per cent for a five-year period, Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted the Commerce Ministry as saying.



After receiving complaints from the domestic industry, the ministry launched the anti-dumping investigations in January 2018, and a preliminary ruling was unveiled in October 2018.



ODCB is used for making pesticides, medicine and dyes.


Ceasefire violation by pakistan (Symbolic picture) Indian and Pakistani troops traded heavy fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Wednesday. Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand accused the Pakistan Army of continuing "its nefarious activities along the LoC.



"Around 4 p.m., Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by using small arms fire and mortars in Mendhar sector.



"The Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively. Intermittent firing exchanges are continuing," he added.




The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that although the marriage between a Muslim man and Hindu woman is an irregular marriage, described as "fasid" in Mohamadan law, the children born out this wedlock are legitimate and have claim over the property of the father.

"The marriage of a Muslim man with an idolater or fireworshipper is neither a valid (sahih) nor a void (batil) marriage, but is merely an irregular (fasid) marriage. Any child born out of such wedlock (fasid marriage) is entitled to claim a share in his father's property," observed the bench of Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar in their judgment.



Upholding an order of the trial court and that of the Kerala High Court, Justice Shantanagoudar speaking for the bench said: "It would not be out of place to emphasise at this juncture that since Hindus are idol worshippers, which includes worship of physical images/ statues through offering of flowers, adornment, etc., it is clear that the marriage of a Hindu female with a Muslim male is not a regular or valid (sahih) marriage, but merely an irregular (fasid) marriage."





The top court said this upholding the plea by one Mohammed Salim. He was born to Mohammed Ilias and Valliamma, and court described him as their legitimate child.



Having held that a child born out of Hindu mother and Muslim father is legitimate and has claim over the property of father, the court said: "The position that a marriage between a Hindu woman and Muslim man is merely irregular and the issue from such wedlock is legitimate has also been affirmed by various high courts."
Kathmandu, January 23

After scrapping the contract with Italian builder, CMC, the government is preparing to assign Nepal Army to complete pending tunnel works of the ambitious Melamchi Water Supply Project.

The Ministry of Water Supply has begun preliminary discussions on hiring a new contractor and the national security force has been considered one of the dependable options, according to an official of the Ministry.

We have to pay attention to security sensitivity of the tunnel. But, we also have to complete the project at the earliest, the official says, The political leadership has begun discussing assigning the army, considering all these aspects.

Though all Nepali stakeholders may agree on the new proposal, convincing the donor, Asian Development Bank, may be a Herculean task, according to some officials. The donor is in favour of calling for bids again as per the Public Procurement Act in stead of assigning the national security force.

If the government is desperate about assigning the army, it has to be ready to invest its own money, they suggest. However, they fear that it would affect the second phase of the project as the ADB has already expressed its readiness to invest in that as well.

The government is yet to send any concrete proposal to the ADB.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday lashed out at the opposition, with Modi berating the Congress for never having the will or intention to end corruption, and Shah dismissing the January 19 rally of opposition leaders in Kolkata as a "gathbandhan" (alliance) of power-seekers keen on serving their own interests.

Addressing a gathering in Varanasi on the occasion of the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Modi said his government has in the last four-and-a-half years succeeded in ending pilferage of public welfare schemes which successive Congress governments since Independence never intended.



Without naming Rajiv Gandhi, Modi said a former Prime Minister had famously said that of the 100 rupees that the Central government doles out for public welfare, only 15 rupees reach the beneficiaries with the rest 85 per cent leaked through corruption.





"It was an admission of a fact, of a system that the party which ruled for so long had given to the country. But even during its later rule of 10-15 years, the party never tried to stop this pilferage. The middle class taxpayer sincerely kept paying taxes and the loot of 85 per cent continued," Modi said.



"Now I will tell you the present situation. Using technology, we have completely ended this 85 per cent pilferage. If we had not changed the system, the loot would have continued. This could have been done earlier, but there was no intent, no will," he said.



Modi averred that in the last 4.5 years, his government has disbursed 5.78 lakh crore rupees or 80 billion dollars under various schemes through direct benefit transfer to the beneficiaries' bank accounts.



He said if the old system had been allowed to continue, 4.91 lakh crore rupees would have leaked through corruption.



Modi said his government identified and cleaned 7 crore fake beneficiaries who existed only on paper.



Speaking at a party rally in northern West Bengal's Malda, Shah said the opposition leaders who gathered at the Brigade Parade Ground rally only wanted a "majboor" (helpless) government so that they could "indulge in corruption", which was not possible under the "majboot" (strong) government of Modi.



"All these leaders of the 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) want a loose and helpless government in the country, so that they can indulge in corruption. In contrast, we want a strong government, which can teach a lesson to Pakistan," Shah said, launching the party's Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state.



Shah asked the crowd whether they wanted a "majboor" government or a "mazboot" government. As the crowd rooted for a strong government, Shah said: "Who can give a strong government? Only (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi can give a strong government, and none else."



Rubbishing talks of "gathbandhan", Shah said: "It is only an alliance of power-seekers and those only interested in serving their own interests."



"What will they do for the country? The sole agenda of the alliance is to remove Modi.



"We say remove poverty, corruption, unemployment, illiteracy, they say remove Modi. To eradicate these ills, you (the people) have to ensure Modi returns to power, because this weak alliance of leaders won't be able to deliver," he said.



Targeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had organised the mega rally of anti-BJP opposition parties at the Brigade Parade Ground on Saturday, Shah said: "Mamata Di, even if you gather 25 leaders, and they hold each others' hands on the stage, Narendra Modi can't be removed. Hundred crore Indians are standing rock solid behind Modi."



Shah also mocked at the prime ministerial ambitions of the various opposition leaders present at the Brigade Parade Ground rally.



"There were 23 leaders on the dais, nine of them are prime ministerial aspirants. Nine PM candidates on one stage! There is a big queue," he said, tongue in cheek.



He said in contrast the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has only one leader.



"We have only one leader. The entire NDA stands rock solid under the leadership of Narendra Modi," he said.
President, FM discuss latest development towards UN-brokered Swede's agreement [23/January/2019] SANAA, Jan. 23 (Saba)  President Mahdi al-Mashat met on Wednesday with foreign minister Hisham Sharaf to discuss the latest developments in the national and international arena towards the United Nations-brokered peace process in Hodeidah province.

At the meeting, al-Mashat was briefed by the minister on the ministry's activity and its contacts with the international community and human rights organizations to break the diplomatic siege imposed by Saudi-led coalition on Yemen.

The meeting reviewed the efforts of the ministry in providing facilities for the United Nations and its humanitarian organizations and officials interested in visiting Yemen during the coming period to brief on the humanitarian situation.

The president stressed on the importance of redoubling efforts to overcome difficulties challenges caused by the coalition and its siege.

saba
Following the rebound seen in the previous session, treasuries moved back to the downside during the trading day on Wednesday.

Bond prices regained ground after an initial drop but still ended the day in negative territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.5 basis points to 2.755 percent.

The initial weakness among treasuries came as upbeat corporate results offset concerns about the outlook for global economic growth.

Traders shrugged off reports the U.S. rejected China's offer to hold a preparatory meeting in Washington ahead of next week's high-level trade talks.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC the two sides were on track to have "very, very important" high-level talks at the end of the month that will be "determinative."

Selling pressure waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders expressed uncertainty about the economic impact of the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

In an interview with CNN, a top economic adviser to President Donald Trump acknowledged the shutdown could lead to a lack of economic growth in the first quarter.

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett conceded the U.S. could see zero growth if the shutdown continues for the whole quarter.

"It is true that if we get a typically weak first quarter and extended shutdown that we could end up with a number that is very low," or "very close to zero," Hassett said.

However, Hassett predicted second quarter growth would subsequently be "humongous" assuming the government reopened.

Following a quiet day on the U.S. economic front, trading on Thursday may be impacted by reaction to reports on weekly jobless claims and leading economic indicators.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Reflecting the bitter divide that has led to a month-long government shutdown, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have engaged in a contentious back-and-forth over the president's State of the Union address.

Trump and Pelosi exchanged letters regarding the speech that were written in an outwardly friendly tone but hinted at the deep divide between the two leaders.

The president sent a letter to Pelosi on Wednesday rejecting her request that he delay the planned address to Congress next week, but the Speaker responded by telling Trump the House will not consider a resolution authorizing the speech.

"I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the President's State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened," Pelosi said.

She added, "I look forward to welcoming you to the House on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened."

The letter from Pelosi came after Trump said he still planned to deliver the speech in the House chamber on January 29th, dismissing security concerns raised by the Speaker.

"It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!" Trump wrote.

Pelosi said in a letter sent to Trump last Wednesday that the speech should be postponed until after the government has re-opened or be delivered to Congress in writing.

The Speaker attributed the request to security concerns, noting both the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security are not being funded due to the shutdown.

However, Trump told Pelosi the Secret Service and Homeland Security have explained there "would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event."

"Accordingly, there are no security concerns regarding the State of the Union Address," Trump wrote. "Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union."

In a move that was seen by many as payback for requesting the speech be delayed, Trump postponed an overseas trip by Pelosi last Thursday.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Alphabet Inc's Waymo self-driving vehicle unit said that it will bring a factory to Michigan, creating up to 400 jobs at what it describes as the world's first plant "100%" dedicated to the mass production of autonomous vehicles.

The company plans to spend about $13.6 million to retrofit a to-be-determined manufacturing facility in the Detroit area. In exchange, it will get a state incentive grant worth up to $8 million that was approved Tuesday by the Michigan Strategic Fund Board.

Separately, The Michigan Economic Development Corp said that Support for two private projects that offer further evidence that Michigan continues to lead the next revolution in transportation, as well as significant community revitalization actions, were approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund board today.

That business developments will generate total private investment of more than $26.1 million and create up to 506 jobs, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced today.

Waymo plans to locate into a ready-to-go, light manufacturing facility space at a yet-to-be-determined location in Southeast Michigan that will support its capacity expansion plans. The project is expected to generate total private investment of $13.6 million and create 100 jobs with the potential for up to 400 jobs, resulting in a Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant of up to $8 million. Michigan was chosen over competing sites in a number of other states.



Magneti Marelli, founded in Italy in 1919, develops and manufactures high-tech components for the automotive industry and has 85 manufacturing plants, 15 R&D centers and 31 application centers in 20 countries in the world. The company is looking to grow and invest in its North American headquarters to further strengthen its R&D, , and professional labor capabilities. The company plans to expand at its facility in Auburn Hills, hiring new employees, constructing new labs and adding machinery. The project is expected to generate private investment of more than $12.5 million and create 106 jobs, resulting in a $1.59 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Japan had a merchandise trade deficit of 55.286 billion yen in December, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday.

That missed expectations for a deficit of 35.3 billion yen following the 737.7 billion yen shortfall in November.

Exports were down 3.8 percent on year to 7.023 trillion yen - shy of forecasts for a decline of 1.9 percent following the 0.1 percent gain in the previous month.

Exports to all of Asia fell 6.9 percent on year to 3.828 trillion yen, while exports to China alone skidded 7.0 percent to 1.402 trillion yen.

Exports to the United States added 1.6 percent on year to 1.434 trillion and exports to the European Union gained 3.9 percent to 822.923 billion yen.

Imports advanced an annual 1.9 percent to 7.079 trillion yen versus expectations for a gain of 4.0 percent following the 12.5 percent spike a month earlier.

Imports from all of Asia fell 2.9 percent on year to 3.285 trillion yen, while imports from China alone sank an annual 6.4 percent to 1.597 trillion yen.

Imports from the United States skyrocketed 23.9 percent to 866.846 billion yen and imports from the European Union added 2.0 percent to 802.225 billion yen.

The adjusted trade deficit was 183.6 billion yen - exceeding expectations for a shortfall of 290.7 billion yen following the 492.2 billion yen deficit in November.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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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.
A New Zealand-based crypto-currency trading company went offline after it was hacked at the weekend.

Cryptopia, based in Christchurch, announced on Twitter that on January 14, it suffered a security breach that resulted in significant losses. "Once identified, the exchange was put into maintenance while we assessed damages," it added.

The exchange has not disclosed the value of the losses, the tokens and currencies affected or any measures to refund users.

But Whale Alert, which tracks large crypto transactions, reported that 19,391 ether (ETH) tokens worth nearly $2.44 million, and around 48 million centrality (CENNZ) tokens worth about $1.18 million were transferred from Cryptopia to unknown wallets on Saturday.

A notice on the now defunct exchange's website says, "Cryptopia is currently in unscheduled maintenance mode. We will be back soon."

The New Zealand police and the High-Tech Crimes Unit are "jointly and actively investigating the matter as a major crime and they are assisting us with advice," Cryptopia tweeted.

The Cryptopia crypto currency exchange will remain in maintenance mode, with trading suspended, while the investigation is carried out.

A special investigation team, including subject experts, is being formed in Christchurch.



Police are also liaising with relevant partner agencies in New Zealand and overseas.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Private enterprises drive economy

From:Shine | 2019-01-23 16:29

The situation for investors in the private sector has been well maintained in Songjiang District and, in turn, private enterprises, accounting for over 90 percent of the districts economy, have become major engines driving regional economic development, according to officials.

Songjiang has created a nurturing environment for the private sector, said Chen Rong, chief of Songjiang Economic Committee.

Autowise.ai, a private sci-tech startup which settled at Tus-Caohejing Science Park in August 2017, developed the worlds first fleet of driverless sweeper trucks in April last year.

The company obtained its angel investment by the end of 2017 and achieved in less than two months its A round of funding of over 100 million yuan (US$14.5 million).

It is now starting business with many sanitation enterprises nationwide.

The achievements Autowise.ai made is inseparable from the G60 High-Tech Corridor cross-regional development vision that attracts talent and gathers technologies and information to the district. G60 is a cross-regional development program agreed between Songjiang and another eight cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

Shanghai Chuanglan Culture Communication Co, another private company based at the science park, developed into a well-known SMS verification code company within a few years of its establishment.

The company is providing services that cover 221 countries and regions. It has channel resources of more than 1,400 operators.

After our company settled at the park, we couldnt solve the accommodation problem of more than 300 employees. Then district officials learned of our situation and helped us solve the problem. Now our employees are ready to live in new apartments, said Tang Xiaobo, chairman of the company.

Compared to the innovative incubator system Tus-Caohejing Science Park adopts to support startup companies, 27 private sector clusters in various communities or towns in the district offer services to private companies.

Based in Zhongshan Community, Shanghai Hebo Hydraulics Co is a leading design and manufacturing plant producing low-speed, high-torque hydraulic motors and matching products.

Financing a sore topic

The company kept on expanding in recent years and was in urgent need of a bigger production base. Officials of the community, once they became aware of the problem, provided them with short-term, mid-term and long-term solutions.

Financing has been a sore topic for the private sector and restraining its development. The district government joined with financial institutes to make it easier for the private sector to get finance.

The Songjiang government has prepared a guidance fund of 200 million yuan to invest in medium and small enterprises. The district guarantee fund center is also cooperating with banks to provide policy-based financing assurance for such enterprises.

China Construction Bank joined with tax authorities and provides loans to enterprises without the need to offer mortgages. By the end of October 2018 the bank had provided credits worth 243 million yuan to 340 companies.

The Post Office Savings Bank launched a green approval channel for qualified private companies with loans under 5 million yuan able to be granted in 7 working days.

Fu Tiegang, section chief of the Songjiang Economic Committees service department, said: About 17,200 private companies registered from January to September 2018. The private sector in the district generated tax revenue of 23.487 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2018, up 14.2 percent year on year and accounting for 51.73 percent of the total tax revenue of the district.
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Chinese embassy celebrates Spring Festival with senior immigrants in Mongolia

From:Xinhua | 2019-01-22 10:29

ULAN BATOR, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese New Year celebration for senior Chinese immigrants in Mongolia was held here on Monday.

During the event, the Chinese Embassy in Mongolia and the Union of Chinese Immigrants in Mongolia gave flour, rice, fruits, sunflower oil, blankets and other necessities worth 20 million Mongolian tughriks (about 7,547 U.S. dollars) to 50 Chinese immigrants in the country.

Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Xing Haiming noted that as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Mongolia diplomatic ties, the two sides will organize many activities this year to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation and deepen the friendship between the two peoples.

"There are many Chinese immigrants living and working in Mongolia. We will support you all the way," Xing said, wishing immigrants good health and happiness in the upcoming year of the Pig.

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in China, which comes on Feb. 5 this year.
The Osawatomie Public Librarys back wall is devoted to a wide selection of large print books. The library also has a new video conversion station and computers available for public use.
Atlanta, GA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/23/2019 --First Choice Accident & Injury Care is a premier organization that provides its services to the people belonging to the diverse parts of Georgia, Tennessee, as well as Alabama. This company aims to provide accident victims with all the support and assistance that they need after being in a traumatic event.



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To be assured to get the insurance compensation that they need, the accident victim might often need to involve a specialized attorney. The legal professionals of First Choice Accident & Injury Care ideally make sure that the medical bills of the accident victim are paid in full by the insurance company of the person at fault. These attorneys might also be able to recover all the wages lost by the victim due to the accident, apart from the compensation for the pain and suffering endured by them. From First Choice Accident & Injury Care people can easily avail the services of a well qualified and experienced truck accident lawyer in Decatur and Lawrenceville Georgia.



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Popular Chinese food chains eye big growth overseas

From:ChinaDaily | 2019-01-23 16:16

FUZHOU - Noodles boiled in bone soup served with peanut butter, and wontons filled with juicy meat in a sizzling soup -- these are the delicacies that have swept across the streets of China and are making their way overseas.

Shaxian delicacies, originating in Shaxian county in eastern China's Fujian province, have spread as locals traveling afar set up family-run outlets across the country, becoming well-known in China over the past few decades.

Since mid-2018, the eatery, trademarked Shaxian Snacks, is pushing for rapid expansion overseas, as a spate of Chinese fast-food chains that have enjoyed domestic successes begin to test the waters abroad in recent years.

Brands such as Yang's Braised Chicken Rice entered the US market in 2017 and Mazilu, a brand selling Lanzhou-style beef noodles, opened its first store in Japan in early 2018.

In June, Shaxian Snacks also set up its first overseas franchise in Tokyo and, in November, its first eatery in New York.

As of the end of September, the 80-square-meter Tokyo store was raking in around five million yen ($44,563) monthly. About one-third of their customers are Japanese residents.

"We have around 10 overseas franchises right now, and we plan to open 10 more in Japan and 15 more in the US in 2019," said Luo Guanghua, head of the product promotion project in Shaxian county.

Taste of home

Fujian province, lying on China's eastern coast, is the ancestral home for many overseas Chinese, and the taste of Shaxian delicacies often serves as a common memory.

"In my childhood, food stalls could be seen everywhere in my hometown," said the owner of the New York franchise Shao Binfang, a Chinese American born in the provincial capital.

Shaxian delicacies are among the many dishes from home that Shao still reminisces on after settling down in the US. And like Shao's store, all the current franchises are owned by overseas Chinese.

In 2014, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office rolled out a plan to promote Chinese food overseas, and Shaxian Snacks Group, which is backed by the local government, registered its brand the same year. It then filed trademark applications with 18 countries, regions and organizations.

"We hope to set up Shaxian Snacks wherever there are overseas Chinese and build it into an international brand," said Luo.

To ensure the authenticity of the flavors, the local government established a training center in Shaxian, offering courses since 2018 for overseas Chinese who want to start their businesses abroad.

Lin Wen, a Chinese American, is among over a dozen trainees at the center. Having worked many years in the restaurant industry, Lin plans to open Shaxian Snacks franchises in Boston and Philadelphia.

"It is a good thing that the eateries can reach the overseas communities," said Lin. "We can enjoy the taste of home while creating job opportunities."

At the center, teachers and students also experiment with different cooking methods such as frying and roasting, which are preferred by many overseas customers, to create tastes tailored to different local needs.

"Instead of using spinach seeds in the flour wrappers, the owner of a franchise in France uses green tea powder, which is very popular there," said Lin Baodeng, head of the training center.
Greenville, NC (27833)

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Rantoul, IL (61866)

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Thunderstorms...possibly severe, especially early. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..

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Di Maio said France was manipulating the economies of 14 African countries that use the CFA franc, a currency underwritten by the French Treasury and pegged to the Euro.

"The European Union should sanction all those countries, like France, that are impoverishing African countries and obliging those people to leave. The place for African people is Africa and not at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea," he added. "If we want to stem the departures [of migrants], let's start addressing this issue, let's start coping with it also within the United Nations, not only at the European Union level. Italy has to make itself heard."

"If today we still have people leaving Africa, it is due to several European countries, first of all France, that didn't finish colonizing Africa," Di Maio told reporters Sunday.

A diplomatic spat between Italy and France over migration to Europe is a likely forerunner of coming political battles in the run-up to European Parliament elections, according to analysts.

Analyst Luigi Scazzieri of the Center For European Reform says while there is opposition to the CFA franc in some African countries, Di Maio's accusations are misleading.

"Now there's two reasons for that. One of them being that at the moment the latest data suggests they (migrants) are not from countries using the CFA franc. And the second point is that in any case, if countries remain poor, migration is actually lower," Scazzieri told VOA.

The latest EU figures show that many African migrants to Europe come from former Italian colonies, such as Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Franco-Italian dispute follows the drowning of hundreds of migrants off Libya in recent days. The deaths have renewed the focus on Italy's decision to end search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean -- and on the European Union's failure to agree a system to share quotas of refugees, analyst Scazzieri said.

"Italy [is] wanting France to take migrants who arrive on its shores, or at least part of them. And also disagreements over how to handle Libya, with Italy and France backing different sides in the Libyan civil war," he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has not responded directly to the Italian accusations. He has sought to renew EU political momentum with a new Franco-German treaty, signed Tuesday in the border town of Aachen.

"The eurosceptics, nationalists, benefit from the fear in Europe's people, and they say: 'The answer on your fears is nationalism,' and we don't believe this," Macron said in a speech to mark the signing of the treaty.

The dispute is a taste of what's to come as populist forces like Italy's 5-Star Movement and the League join battle with pro-Europeans.

"This contraposition has been created whereby Italy is the populists and Macron is the Europeanists. And it suits both sides in a sense to have each other as the bogeyman. Of course this is especially important in light of the upcoming European Parliament elections," Scazzieri said.

The battle lines are being drawn for what is set to be a bitter election campaign -- with migration at the heart of the debate over Europe's future.


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The US parent company of Australian signage operation Signwave has been ranked the number one franchise opportunity in its category in Entreprenuer magazines Franchise 500 for the third consecutive year.

Overall Fastsigns was ranked 95 in the list and was the only sign, graphics and visual communications franchise to make it into the top 100.

Were honoured to once again be recognised as the leader in our category for the third year in a row. This accomplishment is a testament to the strength of the brand, our franchisees, support team, and the Fastsigns franchise opportunity, says Catherine Monson, chief executive officer of Fastsigns International

Fastsigns achieved exceptional results in 2018, another record year for the company, including the signing of 52 franchise agreements as well as a Master Franchise Agreements to expand the brand to Spain, the Balearic Islands, and Gibraltar and a master franchise agreement for Chile. Were positioned to continue our aggressive worldwide growth this year.

In Australia Signwave has gone from strength to strength reporting an 18 per cent jump in year to date sales across its 700 outlets last month.

At the time Signwave Australia general manager Linda Sultmann said it was very satisfying to see the group continue to own the mid-tier market space.

Every year, we run an award for the centres to showcase their projects, and every year the projects get bigger and more amazing. It is satisfying to see the group continuing to really own the mid-tier to corporate market space and excel in servicing this markets needs.

Signwave has two new centres opening in Perth and Adelaide and has plans for another opening in Brisbane.

We want people to succeed in our network, Sultmann says.

We are less about franchising and all about small business ownership success.

Signwave has two new centres opening in Perth and Adelaide and has plans for another opening in Brisbane.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at [email protected]

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Sterling Heights, MI (48312)

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Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. W winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

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The U.S. wants Korea to shoulder a whopping US$1 billion a year to maintain 28,500 American troops here.

The Korean government already picked up a W960 billion tab in upkeep for the U.S. Forces Korea last year and refuses to spend more than W1 trillion (US$1=W1,132).

A government source here said Tuesday, "U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris told Cheong Wa Dae of a proposal to boost the Korean share to $1 billion a year, while shortening the term of the cost-sharing agreement from the current five years to one."

Harris met with national security adviser Chung Eui-yong at Cheong Wa Dae late last month and told him that was the U.S.' "final draft." His visit came after U.S. and Korean officials broke off a 10th round of cost-sharing talks in Seoul on Dec. 13 without narrowing their differences.

The proposal is lower than the $1.6 billion U.S. President Donald Trump initially demanded, but Seoul finds even that hard to accept. The one-year validity suggests that the U.S. will ask for even more money next year.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers that the differences between the two sides remain "huge" and asked for their understanding and support in the matter.


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Philadelphia developer Carl Dranoff is demanding at least $35 million from Camden in a new legal filing that accuses the city of scuttling his deal to sell his Victor Lofts apartment building based on a willful misinterpretation of their 17-year-old agreement for the apartments property tax breaks.

Lawyers for Dranoff said in the filing Tuesday in state Superior Court in Camden County that city officials were pursuing a vendetta against him by not transferring those tax breaks in time for the propertys planned sale and then by falsely accusing him of defrauding Camden out of $9 million.

Camdens accusation was based upon phony and inconsistent accounting gymnastics, Dranoffs lawyers wrote. The reasons given for this are shallow and contrived and reflect ... local politics and an agenda with nefarious motives.

Camden spokesman Vincent Basara did not immediately respond to a message seeking reaction to Dranoffs allegations.

The filing marks the latest volley in a legal battle that started in mid-2018, when Dranoff asked the city to transfer the tax-break deal to Apartment Investment & Management Co., or Aimco, which had been under contract to pay $71.2 million for the Victor Building in a package deal comprising six properties in and around Philadelphia.

After Dranoff alleged in a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed in June that Camden officials were in breach of a contractual obligation to process that transfer, Camden filed its suit in Superior Court claiming that Dranoff schemed to withhold funds owed to the city as part of his 2002 deal for tax breaks to renovate the vacant Victor Building into an apartment tower.

Lawyers for Camden claimed in the suit that Dranoffs Victor Urban Development LLC had agreed to pay the city a share of its gains from the 349-apartment Victor Building if the gains surpassed a certain threshold, but that the LLC failed to document its profits to avoid doing so.

In his filing Tuesday, which contains both answers and counterclaims to Camdens complaint, Dranoffs lawyers dispute the characterization, saying the citys claim that the developer enjoyed excess profits were derived from a set of numbers that do not exist."

Dranoffs lawyers also assert that a tax agreement" between Camden and the developer stipulated that his payments to the city were not to exceed $200,000 a year. That steady rate of taxation and other assurances were necessary to give banks confidence to lend for the project in the blighted city with a reputation for poor governance, the lawyers wrote.

The Victor has consistently been among the top taxpayers in Camden despite its tax exemption, paying far more than similar and newer projects that have been granted much more generous exemptions, lawyers wrote. It appears that Victor Urban Renewal has been singled out among other waterfront developers on the fabricated pretext of net profits.

Dranoffs claim for damages is based on his losses related to the thwarted sale to Aimco and other alleged harms.

The filing Tuesday came less than two weeks after Superior Court Judge Steven J. Polansky ruled against an effort by Dranoff to have the suit against him dismissed, rejecting arguments that it would improperly interfere with the separate federal lawsuit that Dranoff filed in June.

Judge Noel L. Hillman of U.S. District Court in Camden is reviewing a motion by Camden calling for the federal suits dismissal on jurisdictional grounds.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sat down for talks Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin focusing on a decades-long territorial dispute between the two nations.

The Soviet Union took the four southernmost Kuril Islands during the final days of World War II. Japan asserts territorial rights to the islands, which it calls the Northern Territories, and the dispute has kept the countries from signing a peace treaty.

Greeting Abe at the start of the talks, Putin noted that their conversation will follow up on recent meetings between the two nations' top officials. "I'm very glad to see you here," Putin said with a smile. "It's very pleasant that our meetings have become quite regular."

Abe noted that he would like to talk about the peace treaty issue based on last week's talks between top diplomats of the two countries. "I would like to have a thorough discussion on the peace treaty," Abe said through an interpreter.

The Japanese leader has held dozens of meetings with Putin in recent years in a bid to solve the dispute, and they agreed in November to accelerate negotiations based on a 1956 Soviet proposal to return two of the islands to Japan.


When Denise Hernandez and her coworkers heard that management would be transferring staff to the hospital with which they had merged, they were nervous.

It was just half a mile away. But Hernandez, 45, had been a laundry worker at Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street in Pottsville for more than 10 years. She and her coworkers  housekeepers, techs, nurses  were anxious about working in a whole new environment. And there was the union.

The workers at South had been part of SEIU Healthcare PA for as long as they could remember, dating back to the 1970s. The workers at Schuylkill Medical Center-East Norwegian Street were not.

Now they'd all be working side by side.

Hospitals across the nation  most of them struggling  are being bought up left and right, and in Philadelphia, it's no different. But in a region where "eds and meds" are among the largest employers, and where unions have represented hospital workers for decades and some are even growing at a dramatic clip, what happens when a union is part of the deal? What does it mean for workers?

Most recently, in its bid to dominate the region, Jefferson, which has just one union hospital among its 14, announced a preliminary deal to acquire Einstein Health Network. That deal would include the nearly 1,000 organized nurses at Einstein Medical Center in Olney. If the sale goes through, how will Jefferson handle the union?

Jefferson spokeswoman Gail Benner said it would be "premature" to address any questions regarding the merger because the two health systems have only just entered the due-diligence phase.

Here are some scenarios of what could happen based on how other recent mergers  between union and nonunion entities  have played out.

New owners could trigger workers to organize.

There were multiple failed attempts to organize nurses at Delaware County Memorial Hospital, but things changed in the fall of 2015 when workers discovered the hospital would be bought by Prospect Medical Holdings, a for-profit Los Angeles firm that owns hospitals across the country. Within months of the announcement, workers voted in favor of the union and more than 330 nurses joined the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.

Being part of a union can help combat the uncertainty that a merger will bring, said Gary Canada, a nursing assistant and vice president of the SEIU union at Chestnut Hill Hospital, which was bought last fall. "It means we're all together in this," he said.

That workers are voting to unionize at hospitals being acquired isn't surprising, as both trends  unionization and consolidation  can often stem from the fact that the hospitals are struggling.

"Nobody sells when they're doing well," said Joshua Nemzoff, a New Hope-based consultant on hospital mergers and acquisitions. And as hospital consultant Alan Zuckerman put it: "Any time you are dealing with a distressed organization, there is probably a track record of attempting to become more viable on the backs of the staff, or at least that's how the union might look at it."

A new owner can accept the union and its contract  or fight it.

The nurses' union at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center had been negotiating its first contract for four months when the nurses found out Reading Health System was going to acquire the hospital, along with four others, and create a new health system called Tower Health in September 2017. That meant the nurses would have to start bargaining again from scratch.

Since its new owner took over last fall, nurse Lori Domin, 51, says it has turned into a whole new fight  to defend the union they fought so hard to get. There have been anti-union fliers, emails from management, and meetings where nurses from Reading Hospital praised their employer in an effort to persuade Pottstown nurses they didn't need a union. There are even two new union workers who are trying to persuade others to join an effort to decertify the union.

Meanwhile, a year and a half after they voted for the union, the Pottstown nurses are still working without a contract. Domin, a 30-year veteran at the hospital, says it has been hard on the nurses: The delays make everyone angry, she said.

"We're a little more vulnerable because we don't have a contract," Domin said.

And sometimes unions have to go on strike if negotiations with their new owners break down, as they did with the nurses at Delaware County Memorial Hospital after the acquisition deal was finalized.

There's also a chance if one hospital in a health system has a union, its other hospitals might want to organize, Rutgers labor studies professor Rebecca Givan said. (Pottstown is the only hospital with a nurses' union among the six Tower hospitals.)

"We continue to make progress with all negotiations and have dates for future sessions scheduled," Tower Health spokeswoman Ann Valuch said.

If union workers and nonunion workers have to work alongside each other, expect awkwardness.

Over at Schuylkill Medical Center-East, where union workers are on the floor with nonunion workers, some are in limbo. SEIU and the hospital's owner, Lehigh Valley Health Network, have been engaged in a monthslong battle, one that continues to drag on in front of the National Labor Relations Board, over whether East employees could be absorbed into the union.

"Staff members are always saying, 'Are we union or aren't we union?' " said Hernandez, a union officer who works at East.

Lehigh Valley Health Network declined to comment, citing the open NLRB case.

Meanwhile, Hernandez says there hasnt been much tension with the nonunion workers. Theyve been welcoming. But it can be difficult to work alongside someone you know is making nearly $5 an hour less than you are, which, Hernandez says, is the difference between a union and nonunion housekeeper with five years of experience.
Only one key can unlock the future to a quality economy in Pennsylvania: education. While our Commonwealth stood as the proud home of the worlds first modern oil well and industrial giants such as Bethlehem Steel, our future in a 21st century economy based on global commerce will rise or fall on the technical skills of our workforce. This National School Choice Week, we should reflect on the ways in which school choice can train the next generation of Pennsylvania workers.

Make no mistake: At present, the United States lags behind many of its foreign competitors when it comes to educational outcomes. The most recent international rankings , compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), placed the United States 19th among 35 developed nations in science, 20th in reading, and a dismal 31st  fourth from the bottom  in math. While Pennsylvanias statewide test scores rank slightly above national averages , the OECD study demonstrates the achievement gap between students in the Commonwealth and students in countries such as Canada, our neighbor to the north.

School choice can help narrow that gap, by providing access to higher quality and a greater number of, educational options. Because each child has unique interests, skills, and talents, school choice empowers parents to select the one best suited to their childs needs, placing them in an environment that gives them the greatest chance to excel academically.

My organization represents another school option  charter schools, publicly funded institutions with a charter that grants more autonomy, but imposes more accountability compared to traditional schools. If charters dont meet their obligations to their constituencies, they face closure  their charters themselves can always be revoked. And if charters are not doing their job, parents can take the kids out, whereas they often cannot remove their kids from a failing neighborhood school.

Our brick-and-mortar schools educate more than 100,000 students across the state, while our cyber charter schools teach another 35,000 students through virtual education.

Pennsylvania parents have shown a great hunger for these options. Our charter schools have thousands of families on their waiting lists. And the states Opportunity Scholarship Program , launched in 2012, has grown to provide thousands of families in certain low-achieving school districts with scholarships to fund tuition at the school of their choice.

National School Choice Week will see more than 40,000 events around the country the week of Jan. 20-26, all celebrating the hope and achievement school choice brings. Thanks to school choice, millions of families nationwide no longer have to face the heartbreak that sees their children consigned to failing schools. Even those schools are learning from charters that in order to stay competitive, they must innovate.

Across the Commonwealth, from Altoona to Allentown, and everywhere in between, families have benefited from school choice. Their successes will improve educational outcomes for our children, in ways that will benefit Pennsylvanias society, and economy for decades to come. This National School Choice Week, lets work to bring school choice to every Pennsylvania parent and family. The future of the Commonwealth deserves no less.

Ana Meyers is executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools.
Its a new year, theres a new Congress, and we have a new opportunity to prevent terms like senior poverty from becoming the norm. Simply put, our nation and Congress must address the looming retirement security crisis that threatens to cripple the future for millions of people.

Around one in three Americans have less than $5,000 saved for retirement, with even those closest to retirement age unprepared. An estimated 40 percent of Baby Boomers lack sufficient resources to maintain their living standard in retirement. Thats alarming, and experts say most people will have little more than Social Security to live on and will be worse off than their parents and grandparents. In fact, within the next six years, senior poverty could become the new normal.

Part of that is thanks to employers failing to offer responsible saving options and shifting those responsibilities to workers. Meanwhile, wages have barely grown as costs continue to rise. This leaves Americans who deserve predictability in their future with few choices in the present. You shouldnt have to choose between food for the kids or saving for retirement, but far too many make this choice every day.

To make matters worse, our existing pension system is at risk, which means workers could be left without their hard-earned checks. During the 2008 financial crisis, public-sector pension plans lost around $35 billion in assets, and some private-sector pensions could become insolvent over the next 20 years. There are solutions on the table, and one of the first bills Ive supported in this Congress is a bipartisan measure to stabilize at-risk pension plans. After the financial collapse, Congress acted to take care of Wall Street. Now, we must act to ensure that everyday Americans arent left out in the cold.

Last year, I was one of four House Democrats appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Multiemployer Pensions to work on solving this problem. I joined the Joint Committee to bring a unique perspective from my 37-year involvement in the multiemployer pension system, as both a rank-and-file worker and negotiator. I was an electrician for decades and a business agent for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 351, as well as President of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO. Ive worked with and on behalf of thousands of workers and helped implement local and state initiatives, like raising the minimum wage, that help workers to secure their futures.

Living wages are the fuel for our retirement system, providing workers with the opportunity to save for their golden years. Thats why one of my top priorities in Congress is to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour responsibly over the next seven years, so millions of full-time working Americans have enough money to take care of their families, pay rent, buy life-saving prescriptions, and save for retirement.

We must also create retirement tools that encourage people to save early and often. For example, right now its tougher for gig economy workers and those at small businesses to save where theres no pension system in place. We can enact simple reforms to make it easier for these individuals and small employers to band together to create and maintain a pension plan. By offering tax credits to help them get plans off the ground, well be making it easier for everyone to save properly. Additionally, we can incentivize the use of automatic enrollment and encourage employers to include lifetime income disclosures in employees retirement income packages, ensuring theyre more informed and prepared for the future.

So as new and returning members of Congress adjust to their roles, we must not let retirement insecurity become the new normal. In this Congress, I will urge all my colleagues to reflect on this impending crisis and work with me on solutions. The future security of countless hardworking men and women depends on it.

Donald Norcross is the U.S. Representative for New Jerseys 1st Congressional District.
Watching the parallel paralyses of the British and U.S. governments, its easy to see why Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin might think democracies were cooked.

The two great Anglo-Saxon democracies have sharp structural differences  a parliamentary party system versus a constitutional republic  yet both have ground to a screeching halt.

On the one hand, the British parliament is tied in knots, unable to agree how to implement a 2016 referendum calling for London to Brexit the European Union by a March 29 deadline. Even more astonishing, the U.S. government has been shut down for weeks, longer than ever before, over President Trumps unmet demand that Congress approve funds for his border wall.

There is a chance  although most experts claim it is small  that London will crash out of the EU with no deal, causing potential economic catastrophe. Yet the divisions in parliament, and the weak leadership of Prime Minister Theresa May, create total uncertainty on how to prevent that disaster. Meantime, back here, a stubborn president and an angry Congress cant find a realistic compromise.

So would a Xi or a Putin be correct in surmising that these dual paralyses are symptomatic of a common disease that has crippled the worlds two oldest democracies? I put that question to Sebastian Mallaby, a noted British journalist and economics fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. In brief, the answer is a yes, but the disease isnt fatal  yet.

The situations are parallel, because the two countries face a set of challenges that have common roots, says Mallaby. The first challenge, of course, is the forces of economic stagnation and growing inequality, especially geographic, with once prosperous industrial and coal mining regions in Britain sharing the same fate as much of Americas rust belt.

There is a lot of bitterness, says Mallaby, that finds expression in antipathy to immigration and nostalgic nationalism. Older Britons voted heavily to leave the EU, because they dream of getting back to Churchillian greatness.

This Make Britain Great Again wave is well captured in HBOs recent movie Brexit, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the top Leave strategist Dominic Cummings, who has an aha moment when he devises the 2016 campaign slogan Take Back Control.

One can imagine how he British and U.S. systems could meet this first challenge if government was properly working. We do understand a set of policies that could address those inequalities, with health, education, and regional development, says Mallaby. If ideological extremists or a base-obsessed president wouldnt block the bipartisan compromises that once were possible in Washington, on immigration or healthcare for example,U.S. inequalities could be lessened. At least, in principle.

But it is the second common challenge that makes it much harder to get these two democratic governments back on track.

There is a common weakening of governments ability to deal [with the economic bitterness] because of a change in the method of communications, Mallaby contends. Historical changes in those methods have had a major impact in the past, as when radio enabled Franklin Delano Roosevelt to reach the masses, or TV enabled John F. Kennedy to charm America.

But since the 1980s when partisan cable shows replaced the bully pulpit with the bullying pulpit, media has been more and more outside governmental control. That reality has been exponentially expanded by the powerful impact social media  and by a U.S. president who mobilizes that bullying pulpit on his side.

In 2016, says Mallaby, the Leave campaign could speak to the embittered part of the population and could get away with inflammatory propaganda because the channels of communication were so different. They deliberately bypassed professional media and involved a lot of lying.

As we now know, Leave strategists used data-mining tech firms to design campaign tactics that targeted disaffected segments of the population that had never voted. They not only used clever targeting, says Mallaby, but spread stuff that is untrue.

One example in the HBO film: prominent Leave activist and cabinet minister Boris Johnson admitting that a campaign claim that about 70 million Turks were poised to invade Britain under EU rules was rubbish. That number equals the entire population of Turkey; moreover, Britain did not admit any of the Muslim refugees from the 2015-2016 flood arriving in Europe.

How do you create a consensus around facts, when everyone denies those facts, Mallaby asks.

That point, to me, is what makes the dual British-American breakdowns so scary. In Britain, some consensus builders are trying to press May, and hardline leftist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, to compromise on a Brexit plan (a second referendum still seems unlikely). But they, too, must contend with a media environment that spews lies and undermines pragmatism.

And in America, the partisan divide is fuelled by a president who disdains facts, and ideologues who reject consensus. By spreading confusion  mainly via the web and Fox News  they prime the public to blame enemies when nothing gets done.

That puts the burden on mainstream media and new members of Congress who seek real solutions to get an accurate message out there. There are consensus answers for border security, and the amelioration of inequality, if we deal with real facts.
Federal workers gathered quietly in the semi-darkness beneath I-95 in South Philadelphia on Wednesday morning, solemnly collecting charity carrots, apples, and other items during an emergency food distribution hastened by the month-long partial government shutdown.

Accustomed to seeing one another dressed up and in warm, well-lighted offices, many of the 253 people bundled in winter gear nodded unsmilingly at colleagues in a kind of bewildered embarrassment during the two-hour disbursal sponsored by Philabundance, Share Food Program, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and Campbell Soup Co.

Im downright humiliated, said Gregory McGeorge, 53, an IRS worker from Logan, exhaling cauliflower-size clouds of breath vapor in the sunless cold. We want to work, but were pawns in a fight in Washington. Im physically able to do my job. But they wont let me."

Philabundance normally distributes food every Friday at the site, at Front and Tasker Streets. This so-called Emergency Market marked the first time in the hunger-relief agencys 35-year history that it has enacted a disaster plan to feed people in Philadelphia. The site will be open to all 45,000 federal workers in the region between 10 and 11 a.m. every Wednesday until just after the shutdown is ended.

As cars rumbled on the highway overhead, a Philabundance sound system blasted music by Stevie Wonder and other artists, to try to make it festive and help people forget what theyre there for, said Stef Arck-Baynes, director of communications for Philabundance.

Despite that kindness, joviality seemed to be in short supply among the group, many of whom believed that the government had broken a sacred American bargain: Work hard and youll be insulated from hard times like this.

The distribution was a stark reminder for the federal workers about how even in a huge country, national politics can play out on local kitchen tables.

It was a difficult decision to come here, but I had to put pride aside to help my kids, said Vladymir Valentin, 42, an IT worker in the U.S. Attorneys Office. He traveled from Upper Darby with his 3-month-old daughter, Ava Brooklyn, to get food for his wife and five other children.

Valentin, a Navy veteran, said his wife, Stephanie, had to cut her maternity leave short and return to her accounting job after the partial shutdown that began on Dec. 22 began to drag on: Shes just been crying all the time.

Valentins co-worker Diane Caimi, 49, of Rhawnhurst, said she was grateful for this outreach, but felt like a hostage and a bargaining chip, unable to wrangle interim work because potential employers worry that shed soon return to her job.

That, said Caimi, who is married and has two teenage children, is something shed very much like to see, adding, Ive worked for 30 years and never thought Id be in this predicament."

The fact is that more than 700,000 people in the Philadelphia area face the agony of hunger every day, Arck-Baynes said.

Samantha Mogil, manager of government and community affairs for Share, which supplies food to 500 pantries in the city, added, Its important to remember that there are people who are hungry all the time.

"I feel sad for these federal workers. Theyve never been to a distribution like this before. But many other people, lots of them with jobs, deal with hunger 365 days a year.

When the market shut down around noon Wednesday, people went away with about 10 to 15 pounds of food each, Arck-Baynes said.
A North Philadelphia man accused of firing more than a dozen shots at a man on a bicycle last year  killing the cyclist and injuring a 20-year-old woman with a stray bullet  had been taken into custody a week earlier during a drug bust but was not charged, according to court records.

Philadelphia police had done surveillance on a home on the 2500 block of West Somerset Street for several days last June, the records say, and officers who searched the house June 13 found several guns as well as crack, cocaine, marijuana, and PCP.

Four people at the house, including 22-year-old Von Jones, were taken into custody, the records say, but only two were charged. Tyrie Bouges, 25, and Kenneth Maurice Henderson, 26, are awaiting trial on conspiracy and drug and weapons counts, records show.

Ben Waxman, a spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, said there was no evidence provided to the prosecutors office to support charges against Jones in that case.

A week after the bust, on June 20, Jones allegedly killed 18-year-old Tyree Reid at 26th and Somerset Streets, about a half-block from the house where Jones had been arrested a week earlier. Prosecutors say Jones, while on foot, fired at the bicycle-bound Reid, striking him nine times, then ran back to that house after the shooting and stashed the .40-caliber handgun inside a space heater.

Prosecutors have not disclosed a motive in the case, and did not say whether Reid had any suspected connection to the drug bust. A warrant in that case said confidential informants helped police develop evidence.

Jones was arrested in August for several weapons counts and charged in November with murder, according to court records. He was in court for the murder case Wednesday and was held for trial on all charges after a preliminary hearing.

Assistant District Attorney Danielle Burkavage presented forensic evidence linking Jones to the crime, including fingerprints from the space heater and DNA from a sweatshirt. A video of the shooting also was played, although Jones could not be identified in the footage.

Jones' public defenders, Jonathan Strange and Geoffrey Kilroy, argued that the forensic evidence was not conclusive. The sweatshirt  which had gunshot residue on the sleeves  had traces of DNA that could have been linked to at least three other people, according to testimony presented during the hearing. Fingerprints from at least one other unidentified person also were found on the space heater, testimony showed.

They have not proven to you ... who did it, Strange said of the prosecutors' case.

But Municipal Court Judge Charles Hayden ordered Jones held without bail while awaiting trial. Jones said little during the hearing before he was taken back into custody.

Two women in the courtroom supporting the victims declined to comment after the proceedings.

Waxman said that although Jones was not charged in the drug bust despite the presence of several guns at the house, the District Attorneys Office does not decline any gun-related charges without very good reason. In 2018, he said, prosecutors approved a greater percentage of violations of the Uniform Firearms Act than in any year since 2014.
Pushing for a safe-drinking-water standard and hoping to hold polluters and the Environmental Protection Agency accountable, a group of members of Congress created a task force Wednesday to address nationwide contamination of water by chemicals used on military bases.

The bipartisan House members forming the task force have dealt with the problem in their individual districts, from Pennsylvania to Michigan. Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Bucks County is a cochair, and Democratic Reps. Madeleine Dean of Montgomery County and Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia are members; the three have represented towns in Bucks and Montgomery Counties where tens of thousands have been affected by tainted drinking water from nearby former military bases.

The group wants the EPA to designate per- and polyfuoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, as hazardous substances and regulate how much of the chemicals can be present in drinking water. Citing contamination that has affected residents, lakes and rivers, and dairies and fishermen in their districts, the lawmakers stressed at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that they want the EPA to move swiftly.

Were all going to collectively put the pressure on the EPA to make a decision, Fitzpatrick said in an interview.

Firefighting foams used by military bases, airports, and private companies nationwide contain PFAS, but the chemicals are also present in many modern-day products and have been linked to cancer, fertility problems, liver damage, high cholesterol, and other health problems.

The EPA set a health advisory level in 2016, recommending how much of the chemical is safe to drink, but it is only a guideline, and many states and towns have questioned the level or have set their own, stricter rules. If the EPA designated PFAS as a hazardous substance, it would create a maximum contaminant level (MCL), a standard that would apply nationwide. The lawmakers push for EPA action echoes years of demands from residents and officials for the agency to create a true regulatory standard for PFAS in drinking water.

On the 33rd day of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Dean noted, most EPA employees were furloughed and the agency cannot take any action. Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday that the shutdown had delayed a federal report on the water contamination.

The congressional task force also wants more studies on PFAS health effects from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to examine funding for cleanup, from drinking water filters to groundwater remediation.

This group up here is looking at what are individual cases in their own districts and realizing that we have a systemic problem. And we are not set up for it, said Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.). We need to start thinking of environmental security the way we think about homeland security. If you cant give your child a glass of water without risk of them getting sick, if you cant fish the rivers that your grandfathers fished in or eat the venison that forage around that river, that is a threat to your way of life.

In Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster, where levels of the chemicals found in drinking water exceeded the Environmental Protection Agencys health advisory, the military has helped address contamination, but more extensive cleanup is still in early stages. Residents have clamored for a faster and more thorough federal response.

Blood tests of residents in those three communities released last year found that people who drank the tainted water have levels of PFAS in their blood above the national average.

Residents in at least 22 other towns in Bucks and Montgomery Counties also have PFAS in their drinking water. In New Jersey, the military has tested private wells near Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and provided bottled water to residents with wells that tested over the EPA advisory level.

The military is testing more than 400 bases nationwide for similar contamination. The process will take years and cost millions.

EPA regulation would alleviate problems caused by the current lack of federal regulation, Fitzpatrick said; it would give residents recourse for civil lawsuits, allow criminal charges to be brought against polluters or chemical manufacturers, and help determine property values for contaminated sites in need of redevelopment.

Task force members are introducing an array of related bills; in addition to asking the EPA to create a nationwide standard for drinking water, the representatives will attempt to do it with legislation. Boyle, who led an effort last year that secured $100 million in funding for health studies and testing, is pushing legislation that would add an enforceable standard for the chemical to the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The lawmakers also said that some attorneys general were preparing legal action against the chemical manufacturers and that a committee hearing on PFAS would be held in Congress at some point.
Montgomery County has approved a parental-leave policy for its full-time nonunion employees, making it the first suburban county in Southeastern Pennsylvania to do so, officials said.

Starting Feb. 1, the policy offers up to six weeks of paid parental leave to new mothers and fathers immediately after they have a biological child or a child through adoption, guardianship, or foster care placement, the county announced. The six weeks may be used at once or in bursts during the first year that a parent has a new child.

Paid-parental leave would run at the same time as the Family and Medical Leave Act, the county said. It would provide new parents with six weeks of paid leave and another six weeks of unpaid leave.

Valerie Arkoosh, chair of the countys Board of Commissioners, said officials believe the new policy will increase morale and decrease turnover.

The policy is open only to employees who are not part of a union or bargaining unit, the county said in announcing the plan. Currently, the county has 673 union employees and 1,817 nonunion workers, said spokesperson John Corcoran. At some point, he said, the county could consider negotiating to incorporate the paid parental-leave policy in union contracts.

The policy was estimated to cost Montgomery County around $325,000 a year, much less than 1 percent of the countys total payroll of $131.3 million, Corcoran said.

We think its good value," he said.
Paul Vallas, the hard-charging former CEO of the Philadelphia School District, is a front-runner for Chicago mayor, a poll released this week found.

Vallas got the top spot for his "grasp of a mayors essential duties and his performance at debates, according to the Chicago Magazine report.

Vallas was excited about the poll  and glad to know that the people back in Philly are still watching.

At 65, Im still a problem-solver, Vallas said from Chicago. Im still taking on those jobs that people have been reluctant to take on. Im still taking on those challenges that the faint of heart have been unwilling to take on.

Vallas ran Philadelphias public schools from 2002 to 2007, after the district was taken over by the state and several private companies were brought in to help improve academics. During his tenure, the district saw substantial increases in elementary test scores, a proliferation of smaller theme-based high schools, a standardized curriculum, more certified teachers, and more programs for the youngest students and those most disruptive.

But he left Philadelphia in June 2007 at odds with the School Reform Commission, the districts then-governing body, and with more than a year still remaining on a contract extension he had received the previous year. Tensions between Vallas and commission members grew over his management style and after a surprise $73 million budget deficit had surfaced the previous fall. Through cuts, the deficit was reduced, but Vallas, who had already accepted a job to run the storm-ravaged New Orleans School District, even refused to show up at a board meeting where he was to be feted before his departure.

After his work in New Orleans, Vallas went on to run the Bridgeport, Conn., schools and worked on education reform in Haiti following a devastating earthquake.

But he maintained ties to Chicago, where he was born and where he served as both city budget director and school district CEO before coming to Philadelphia. In 2002, just before taking the Philadelphia job, he ran for governor of Illinois and lost in the Democratic primary to Rod Blagojevich, who was later impeached, removed from office, and jailed.

Now, Vallas is back in politics, aiming for mayor of Chicago, but one thing that could hurt him, Chicago Magazine said, is a lack of money.

Hes number one this time because hes been so impressive in debates, the magazine said, but he wont stay on top unless he raises money.

Vallas said hes proud hes not a part of the pay-to-play culture in Chicago and thinks he has a good chance of being the citys next leader, despite perhaps not having the financial backing of some of the other candidates.

With the same energy and intensity he exhibited when he first came to Philadelphia, he rattled off a long list of challenges that Chicago faces, from crime to a loss of property values to lead in the water.

The citys in big trouble, Vallas said. The city needs somebody who understands how the city works and knows how to run the city. Thats why Im running.
One hundred and ten years ago this month, the Philadelphia region was gripped by fear of a monster that roamed around killing chickens and pets and terrorizing residents, with armed men sent into the woods to hunt for it. That is, if the newspapers of the period are to be believed.

The creature had many different names in the papers  Wozzle Bug and Jobberwock among them  but Jersey Devil was the moniker that stuck. That handle came in large part from a former Philadelphia newspaperman turned vaudeville publicist named Norman Jeffries, the prime suspect in a case of fake news that went viral long before the internet existed and social media became a favorite tool of hoaxers.

It seemingly started on Jan. 16, 1909, with reports of strange hoofprints in the snow and, it was claimed, on rooftops in South Jersey.

Soon, newspapers were reporting pets and chickens being killed, and sightings of a strange creature. So-called witnesses provided varied descriptions.

It had four legs and could walk on two. It was winged and had the body of a kangaroo or a large opossum. Its head was like that of a horse or a collie. Its eyes blazed. It breathed fire.

The Philadelphia Zoo reportedly offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the creature  if it indeed existed.

Two things should be kept in mind when reading the old stories about the Devil.

First is that journalistic standards in those days were, to say the least, loose, and newspapermen often did favors that were reciprocated with free meals or theater tickets or bottles of booze at Christmas.

Second is that in the face of fierce competition, newspapers would seek to match stories in rival publications at any cost  even if the price was the truth.

With newspapers carrying stories of witnesses seeing the creature on both sides of the Delaware River from Trenton to the Delaware Bay, the fight was on. Somewhere in the mix was Norman Jeffries filing reports to willing recipients.

The first article in the Inquirer about the mysterious events appeared on the front page on Jan. 21 with the headline WHAT-IS-IT VISITS ALL SOUTH JERSEY and a photograph of actual proof-prints of the strange creature.

"Hooflike tracks" could be seen in the snow "in practically every block in Burlington city" creating a state bordering on panic," the story said.

Even dogs were scared.

Hounds put on the trail refused to follow the tracks, and, with bristling hair and the picture of terror, ran home, the article said.

Armed with shotguns, a party of farmers in Springfield Township followed the tracks for almost four miles until they mysteriously disappeared.

Stories from different newspapers, including the Inquirer, all similarly noted that older South Jersey residents were invoking the legend of the Leeds Devil to explain the strange events.

The Leeds Devil was reportedly the 13th child of a Mother Leeds who lived in the Pine Barrens in the 18th century. According to the legend, when Mother Leeds cursed the childs birth, he flew up the chimney to haunt the Pinelands for years to come. In one version, the Leeds Devil killed the midwife before flying away.

On Jan. 22, 1909, thanks most likely to Jeffries, the Inquirer ran a story that offered a possible explanation to the mystery.

VAMPIRE MISSING; LOOK OUT, JERSEY, a headline on Page Two shouted. Australian Wonder, Cross Between a Kangaroo and Bat, Strangely Disappears, the subhead noted.

From where it disappeared and when, the story did not say, but it did recount a series of supposed encounters with the creature around South Jersey.

That very day, a hunting party captured the creature in Fairmount Park, the Inquirer reported Jan. 23.

It was, the story said, a cross between a kangaroo and an Australian water bird and called a kangowing, a made-up name for a nonexistent creature.

On Jan. 24, an ad for the struggling Dime Museum at Ninth and Arch Streets, which Jeffries had represented for years, appeared in the paper announcing that the captured Leeds Devil would be on display.

A follow-up story that could have been written by Jeffries himself reported that thousands had turned out to see the fuming and fretting creature chained in a cage.

Some newspapers, however, were not buying it, and instead reported that the Leeds Devil was killed when its tail hit the electrified third rail of a train line in Gloucester County, disappearing in an explosion that left behind only a large patch of melted snow.

Years later, Jeffries, whose name also appears as Jefferies in newspaper clips, confessed to staging the stunt.

When he died at the age of 67 (or 57, according to the New York Times), the Inquirer said, Reports that the Jersey Devil had reappeared aroused his showman instinct and he used all the arts of a press agent to build up the belief in the legend.

As for the devil that appeared at the museum, Jeffries' obituary said it was a cleverly disguised kangaroo  one that, despite its intent, did not save the showplace. It remained open for only a few more weeks, according to phillyhistory.org

There have reported sightings of the Jersey Devil since then, but nothing on the scale of that week in the winter of 1909. That is, if the newspapers of the day are to be believed.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuela's crisis quickly escalated on Wednesday, as an opposition leader backed by the Trump administration declared himself interim president in a direct challenge to embattled socialist Nicolas Maduro, who retaliated by breaking off relations with the United States, his biggest trade partner.

For the past two weeks, ever since Maduro took the oath for a second six-year term in the face of widespread international condemnation, the newly-invigorated opposition had been preparing for nationwide demonstrations Wednesday coinciding with the anniversary marking the end of Venezuela's last military dictatorship in 1958.

While Maduro has shown no signs of leaving, his main rival, National Assembly President Juan Guaido, upped the ante by declaring himself interim president before masses of antigovernment demonstrators  the only way, he said, to rescue Venezuela from "dictatorship."

The United States led a chorus of Western hemisphere nations, including Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, that immediately backed the bold challenge, with President Donald Trump calling on Maduro to resign and promising to use the full weight of the U.S. economic and diplomatic power to push for the restoration of Venezuelas democracy.

"The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law," Trump said in a statement.

The stunning move, which to some recalled dark episodes of heavy-handed U.S. intervention in Latin America during the Cold War, drew a strong rebuke from Maduro. He responded by swiftly cutting off diplomatic relations with the United States, the biggest importer of the OPEC nation's oil, giving American diplomats 72 hours to leave the country.

Before the people and nations of the world, and as constitutional president.  Ive decided to break diplomatic and political relations with the imperialist U.S. government, Maduro told a crowd of red-shirted supporters gathered at the presidential palace. Dont trust the gringos. They dont have friends or loyalties. They only have interests, guts, and the ambition to take Venezuelas oil, gas, and gold.

The 35-year-old Guaido, a virtually unknown lawmaker at the start of the year, has reignited the hopes of Venezuela's often beleaguered opposition by striking a rebellious pose amid a crushing economic crisis that has forced millions to flee or go hungry.

Raising his right hand in unison with tens of thousands of supporters, the leader of the opposition-controlled congress took a symbolic oath to assume executive powers he says are his right under Venezuela's constitution and to take over as interim president until he calls new elections.

"Today, January 23, 2019, I swear to formally assume the powers of the national executive as president in charge of Venezuela," he told the cheering crowd as he stood behind a lectern emblazoned with Venezuela's national coat of arms,

"We know that this will have consequences," he shouted, moments before quickly slipping away to an unknown location amid speculation he would soon be arrested.

Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo all issued statements proclaiming U.S. recognition of Guaido and saying the U.S. would take all diplomatic and economic measures necessary to support a transition to a new government.

The price of oil slipped for the third time in four days Wednesday, an indication that international energy markets are not overly concerned yet that the situation in Venezuela will disrupt global crude supplies.

The bold challenge to Maduro's rule came after large crowds gathered in Caracas waving flags and chanting "Get out Maduro!" in what was the largest demonstration since a wave of unrest that left more than 120 dead in 2017.

While the protests were mostly peaceful there were no signs that security forces heeded Guaido's call to join the anti-Maduro movement and go light on demonstrators.

Hours after most demonstrators went home violence broke out in Altamira, an upscale zone of Caracas and an opposition stronghold, when National Guardsmen descended on hundreds of youths lingering in the street around a popular plaza. Popping tear gas canisters sent hundreds running and hordes of protesters riding two and three on motorcycles fleeing in panic.

Blocks away, demonstrators knocked a pair of guardsman riding tandem off their motorcycle, pelting them with coconuts as they sped down a wide avenue. Some in the group struck the two guardsmen with their hands while others ran off with their gear and set their motorcycle on fire.

The opposition has argued that Guaido is empowered by two articles of the constitution to take over as president on a temporary basis and hold elections as a result of Maduro's holding onto power illegitimately.

Amid the showdown, all eyes were on the military, the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela  and to whom Guaido has been targeting his message.

Maduro, who lacks the military pedigree of his mentor and predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, has sought to shore up support from the armed forces by doling out key posts to top generals, including heading the PDVSA oil monopoly that is the source of virtually all of Venezuela's export earnings. He has also been playing commander in chief, appearing last week at a military command meeting wearing camouflage fatigues and receiving the blessing of the defense minister, Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez.

But beyond the public displays of loyalty from the top brass, a number of cracks have started to appear.

On Monday, Venezuelans awoke to news that a few dozen national guardsmen had taken captive a loyalist officer and seized a stockpile of assault rifles in a predawn raid. The government quickly quelled the uprising, but residents in a nearby slum took to the streets to show their support for the mutineers by burning cars and throwing stones at security forces, who fired back with tear gas.

Disturbances continued into Tuesday, with small pockets of unrest in a few working-class neighborhoods where the government has traditionally enjoyed strong support.

Retired Maj. Gen. Cliver Alcala, a one-time aide to Chavez and now in exile, said the opposition's newfound momentum has reverberated with the military's lower ranks, many of whom are suffering the same hardships as regular Venezuelan families.

"I am absolutely certain that right now, especially younger troops are asking themselves whether Maduro is their commander in chief or a usurper," Alcala said.

Though intimidation has worked for the government in the past, it may not this time, said Dimitris Pantoulas, a Caracas-based political analyst. Discontent now appears to be more widespread and the ranks of security forces and government-allied groups have been thinned by the mass exodus of mostly young Venezuelans, he said.

"The government is resorting to its old tricks, but the people no longer believe them," Pantoulas said.

Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez and Christine Armario contributed to this article.
MOSCOW (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Wednesday to coordinate their moves in Syria as their governments bargain over zones of influence in the war-torn country.

The leaders share strong opposition to the U.S. military presence in Syria, seeing it as an obstacle to their clout in the country. The Kremlin meeting marked their first encounter since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the pullout of American troops in a Dec. 19 tweet.

"If such plans are implemented, it will mark a positive move that would help stabilize the situation," Putin said about the planned U.S. withdrawal.

Putin emphasized Moscow's readiness to respect Turkey's interests, but encouraged it to talk to the Syrian government to help stabilize the border areas.

Turkey has pushed for the creation of a 32-kilometer (20-mile) "safe zone" in northeastern Syria to ensure that the Syrian Kurdish militia  The People's Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers to be a "terrorist group" for its ties to outlawed Kurdish rebels inside Turkey  is kept away from the Turkish border.

The YPG is the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces that rolled back the Islamic State group from wide parts of Syria with the help of the U.S.-led coalition.

"It is of critical importance that a power vacuum that can be abused by terror groups does not emerge during the process of the U.S. withdrawal," Erdogan said.

The Turkish leader noted that the U.S. has given positive signals regarding the "safe zone" and added that "there is no problem between us and Russia" in creating it.

"I have stated that our only aim is our duty to clear (the region) of terror organizations such as the PYD and the YPG, and especially of Daesh," Erdogan said, referring to the Kurdish militia group's political arm and IS.

Putin, however, used the meeting to reaffirm Moscow's support of contacts between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the Kurds.

"Such dialogue will help consolidation of the Syrian society and the national reconciliation," Putin said. "It will be beneficial not only to Syria but its neighbors."

Russia says it expects Assad's government to take over Kurdish-held border regions east of the Euphrates River following the planned U.S. troop withdrawal from the area, which Turkey objects to.

Turkey fears any deal between the Syrian government and the YPG in the border area as well as in the strategic town of Manbij, under which the Kurdish militia would remain a threat to Turkey's security.

Putin signaled Russia's willingness to accommodate Turkish security concerns, seeing strong ties with Turkey as an essential counterbalance to U.S. influence in the region.

"We respect the interests of our Turkish friends in ensuring security," Putin said.

But at the same time, he encouraged Turkey to use a 1998 treaty with Syria to help ensure border security.

Russia appears eager to sponsor Damascus' talks with the Kurds in the hope that it would extend the Syrian government's gains and further cement its hold on the country. The U.S. plan to withdraw has further bolstered Russia's role as the top power broker in Syria.

Syrian pro-government paper Al-Watan reported Tuesday that a Kurdish delegation arrived in Moscow a day before Erdogan. There was no independent confirmation yet from Kurdish officials.

Putin and Erdogan called each other "dear friend," hailing the close ties between their countries and their importance for regional security. They were accompanied by a retinue of security and military officials for detailed discussions on Syria.

Russia and Iran have helped Assad to win back control of most of the country, while Turkey has backed Assad's foes during the nearly eight-year conflict. Despite that, the three countries have teamed up to broker a peace deal for Syria, united by their shared desire to undercut the U.S. clout in the region.

The agreement is now tested by Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw from Syria, leaving Moscow, Ankara and Tehran jockeying for influence in the country.

Russian and Turkish interests also collide in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is packed with 3 million people, including many who were displaced from other parts of the country.

Last September, Putin and Erdogan struck a de-escalation deal on Idlib that averted the Syrian army offensive that sparked fears of a humanitarian catastrophe. The agreement created a security zone free of heavy weapons and monitored by Turkish troops to halt fighting.

Turkey is pushing for that deal to stay in place, fearing the Syrian government forces are trying to undermine the agreement.

Russia, in its turn, has urged Turkey to act more resolutely in reining in militants in Idlib who have launched attacks on Syrian government forces and the Russian military.

Putin praised Turkey for helping stabilize Idlib, but emphasized that more joint efforts are needed to combat militants.

"The cessation of hostilities mustn't hurt the fight against terrorism that should continue," the Russian leader said.

"Our fight against terror organizations in Idlib will continue jointly in the same way," Erdogan said.

Both leaders boasted of their effort to produce a list of candidates for a committee that would work out Syria's new constitution. Putin noted that its approval by the United Nations has been blocked by France, Germany and Britain, voicing hope that a compromise will be found.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  A man suspected of being in the United States illegally shot and killed four people in Nevada over the last few weeks, including an elderly Reno couple, authorities said, and the slayings added fuel to the immigration debate.

Wilbur Martinez-Guzman, 19, from El Salvador, has been jailed in Carson City since Saturday on possession of stolen property, burglary and immigration charges. Authorities said they expect to file murder charges against him in the shooting deaths of the couple and two women in the nearby town of Gardnerville.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said federal immigration authorities told his office that Martinez-Guzman was in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have details on his entry into the United States.

The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, and it was too early to comment on a possible motive.

Investigators watched Martinez-Guzman go to a car wash and trash bins Saturday, and detectives became concerned that he might try to dispose of evidence connected to the slayings. Authorities decided to arrest him after he approached a mall that has a large gun store. He did not have a weapon when he was handcuffed, the sheriff said.

The suspect did not yet have an attorney who could speak on his behalf, according to the sheriff.

President Donald Trump seized on the killings as evidence of the need for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall.

"Four people in Nevada viciously robbed and killed by an illegal immigrant who should not have been in our Country," Trump said Monday in a tweet. "We need a powerful Wall!"

The killings are the latest crimes Trump has cited to bring attention to the wall, which is at the center of his battle with Democrats that has shut down much of the federal government.

Since the start of his presidency, he has highlighted crimes committed by immigrants who were here illegally, including the killing of a 32-year-old woman at a San Francisco pier in 2015. Last month, he tweeted about allegations that a man from Mexico fatally shot a California police officer.

Many academics and Trump's critics have pushed back on that narrative, citing studies that have found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States.

The Nevada investigation began Jan. 10, when 56-year-old Connie Koontz was found dead in her home. Three days later, the body of 74-year-old Sophia Renken was found in her home about a mile from where Koontz lived, authorities said.

On Jan. 16, the bodies of 81-year-old Gerald David and his 80-year-old wife, Sharon, were found in their home on the southern edge of Reno.

The two were remembered as "jovial" by Tom Cates, a longtime friend who knew the Davids through Reno's rodeo and equestrian scene.

Cates said that Gerald David used his time as the rodeo association president in 2006 to promote a breast cancer awareness campaign by getting the group's cowboys to show they were "tough enough to wear pink shirts."

"Jerry was probably one of the finest leaders that I've ever met," Cates said. "You walk into a room and his presence will just command attention. He was a true leader."

Sharon David, he said, was "exuberant, bubbly, loved animals to the hills" and was a former director of the rodeo, Cates said.

Koontz, who worked at a Wal-Mart and as a manicurist at a local salon, was remembered by store coworkers on Tuesday as a positive woman who loved wearing bright colors. Her Wal-Mart colleagues wore memorial buttons with her picture.

She was the only person I know that could come to work wearing lime green glasses and lime green Crocs and rock it, said Teri Bower, who works at the store.

Koontz and her daughter were best friends, Bower said, and the mother had saved up money and surprised her daughter with a trip to Las Vegas for her 21st birthday in December.

Bower said the killings had shaken the quiet community where everyone knows everyone and big news is a pending storm "or a bear running down Main Street."

"This does not happen around here," Bower said. "It's crazy."

Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano and Elliot Spagat and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this article.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP)  Three men and a high school student were charged with plotting to attack a rural Upstate New York Muslim community named Islamberg with explosives, authorities said Tuesday.

The Rochester-area residents are accused of plotting to attack the small Muslim enclave west of the Catskills, according to court papers.

The timing of the attack was unknown. At the time of their weekend arrests, the men, three of whom were in Boy Scouts together, had access to 23 rifles and shotguns and three homemade explosives, Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said at a news conference.

"I don't know that there was a specific date. They had a plan in place," Phelan said.

He did not rule out the possibility of additional arrests.

Charged with weapons possession and conspiracy were 20-year-old Brian Colaneri, 18-year-old Andrew Crysel, and 19-year-old Vincent Vetromile. A 16-year-old student at Odyssey Academy in Greece was charged as an adolescent offender.

It was a lunchroom comment by the student during school Friday that launched the investigation.

"He looks like the next school shooter, doesn't he?" the student allegedly said while showing students a picture of another boy on his phone, according to Phelan.

A student who heard the comment "did what we teach kids to do and told somebody," the chief said.

School security and Greece police interviewed both students and others and eventually "uncovered  a plot to attack an Islamic community in Delaware County, known as Islamberg," Phelan said.

The pictured student was not charged, he said.

Police also searched five locations and seized 23 weapons and numerous electronic devices, including phones and computers. Most of the weapons were rifles and shotguns, some of which were legally owned by relatives of the suspects, authorities said.

Three improvised explosive devices wrapped in duct tape were found at the 16-year-old's house.

They were homemade bombs with various items  black powder, BBs, nails  inside a container, Phelan said.

It was unclear whether the suspects had lawyers yet. Attempts to reach relatives to comment weren't immediately successful.

Greece Central School District Superintendent Kathleen Graupman said the students who reported the comment "changed the narrative."

"They trusted their instincts and used what they learned in school," she said.

The rural community in Delaware County is operated by the Muslims of America, an indigenous American Muslim organized based in the United States, which runs 21 others in North America. It was settled by followers of Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarik Gilani. The mostly African American settlers first came to the area in the 1980s to escape crime and crowding in New York City.

Police and analysts have dismissed accusations that the 60-acre community is a terrorist training ground, but the claims have persisted for decades.

In 2017, a Tennessee man was convicted on federal charges for what authorities called plans to burn down Islamberg's mosque in 2015. Robert Doggart, now 67, is serving time in federal prison.

A message seeking comment about the new arrests was sent to the Muslims of America.

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for federal charges in addition to the state charges.

Anyone accused of plotting an act of violence targeting a religious minority should face state and federal hate crime and civil rights charges commensurate with the seriousness of their alleged actions, CAIR-NY executive director Afaf Nasher said in a statement.

Phelan credited the students who reported the lunchroom comment with saving lives.

If they had carried out this plot, which every indication is that they were going to, people would have died, the chief said. I dont know how many and who, but people would have died.
The partial government shutdown could be affecting the safety of Pennsylvanians, forcing cancellation of some training sessions for first responders that involve federal agencies, and delaying a report on managing drinking water contaminated by chemicals on military bases in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday.

Overall, Wolf said, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history  which has entered its second month  has had a wide range of impacts on the state, and the state is trying to lessen them where it can.

To assist affected federal workers, who face another missed paycheck Friday, Pennsylvania is joining other states in waiving work-search and registration requirements for those seeking unemployment benefits as the shutdown continues. Some 12,600 federal employees in Pennsylvania are either furloughed or working without pay, according to the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

The state is assisting businesses that are waiting to hear from the Small Business Administration about loans.

I hope that the president will agree to accept the bipartisan funding bills and continue his fight over the wall for another day without the pain of this shutdown for workers, their families, and their communities," Wolf said in a statement. "It is time for this to end before the consequences are even more dire.

Among the agencies affected by the shutdown is the Department of Homeland Security, which provides funding for state emergency-management operations, and that has been a factor in the cancellation of first-responder training sessions, Wolf said.

The shutdown also could affect social-service programs. The state will use prior-year federal funds to continue Temporary Assistance for Needy Families payments through at least mid-April, Wolf said. The Women, Infants and Children Program is federally funded through February.

Pennsylvania has spent about $11 million in state funds to fill gaps in federal funding as the shutdown continues. The state has given about $4 million for a program that funds 100,500 child-care spots for low-income families. An additional $7 million has gone to urban and rural public transportation agencies for operating and capital costs.

The state also is paying the salaries of employees at state agencies that the federal government normally funds.

The federal government will reimburse the state, said Wolf spokesperson J.J. Abbott.

Unlike Pennsylvania, New Jersey has not had to shell out money to fill gaps in federal funding for major programs, said Jennifer Sciortino, spokesperson at New Jerseys Office of the Treasurer.

We are monitoring actions at the federal level closely and [the Office of Management and Budget] is in continual contact with each state department to stay informed on any new issues that may arise as the shutdown continues, Sciortino said in a statement.
Another day, another empty paycheck.

The partial shutdown of the federal government, now the longest in the nations history, means no pay for hundreds of thousands of federal workers across the nation as the stalemate between Congress and President Donald Trump over a U.S.-Mexico border wall continues.

While officials look for an end to the impasse, organizations and businesses are offering ways they can help the about 45,000 federal workers in the Philadelphia region. Whether its food or finances, here are details on how those forced into furlough can take advantage of the resources:

Financial help

There are ways for federal workers to get assistance making bill payments and repaying loans.

Banks and utility bills

Banks and utility and telecommunications companies are waiving select fees and offering other options for workers affected by the shutdown. Customers can contact the following companies if their bills become too burdensome:

Wells Fargo

TD Banks

Chase Bank

WSFS Bank

Peco

Atlantic City Electric

PGW

AT&T

T-mobile

Verizon

Comcast

Inquirer and Daily News consumer reporter Christian Hetrick outlined further details and contact information for the companies earlier this month.

The City of Philadelphia is also encouraging those struggling to pay their water bills or real estate and city taxes at wrbhelpdesk@phila.gov and revenue@phila.gov to discuss flexibility options.

If you reach out to us, we can delay enforcement actions, including water shut off and foreclosure, Revenue Commissioner Frank Breslin said in a statement. We can also waive interest, penalties, and any other charges that accrue once we receive payment when the shutdown ends. These workers need every break as the shutdown drags on, and were committed to doing what we can.

Tuition payments and loans

Collection of unpaid tuition and other university fees from furloughed employees or their dependents has been temporarily postponed at Rutgers University, said President Robert L. Barchi.

The Student Loan Servicing Alliance encourages any impacted worker with student loans to contact the servicer to discuss possible repayment plans amid the shutdown.

 READ MORE: Heres how federal workers in the Philly area can get financial help during the government shutdown

Food

Philabundance has opened an emergency market available to government employees with ID at Front and Tasker Streets Wednesdays from 10 to 11 a.m.

 READ MORE: First day of emergency food for federal workers: grateful' but humiliated

 READ MORE: Food agencies creating 'emergency market for federal workers squeezed by shutdown

Restaurants across the city, including Federal Donuts and Mikes BBQ, are dishing out free, discounted, or pay back later meals to federal workers. Food writer Michael Klein has a full roundup with further details.

Health

Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania are extending free dental care to furloughed federal employees with proper identification. Patients in need of emergency dental care can head to Temples Kornberg School of Dentistry on Broad Street near Allegheny Avenue in North Philly on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Walk-ins are accepted until 3 p.m.

Federal workers can also visit Penn Dental Medicine weekdays from 8 a.m to 5 p.m., located on 40th Street near Locust Street in University City.

 READ MORE: After her tooth pain became unbearable, furloughed federal worker received free care at Temple

Cultural institutions

A number of cultural institutions in the Philadelphia area, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Museum, and the Academy of Natural Sciences, are offering free or discounted admission to federal workers. Staff writers Bethany Ao and Grace Dickinson have rounded up museums providing relief to federal employees here.

 READ MORE: Here are the government shutdown deals in Philly

 READ MORE: Government shutdown: What if it goes on, and on, and on ...

How to help

Some federal workers are taking up side jobs as they continue to go without pay, while others are setting up crowdfunding campaigns. Local and national organizations are also accepting donations that will later be distributed to federal workers. Heres what you can do:

>>READ MORE: At Mikes BBQ in South Philly launches pay-it-forward plan for unpaid government workers

 READ MORE: Muslim youth clean up Independence Mall amid government shutdown
The disposable cameras were handed out at the McPherson Square library with one request: use them to answer a simple question:

What does Kensington look like to you?

The 26 people who took them were a cross-section of the neighborhood: Some grade schoolers who play in the park. The teens who come for the librarys computers. A volunteer security guard. A public-school teacher. A neighborhood man who lost two brothers to addiction and volunteers at recovery centers.

The Kensington they brought back was one that doesnt often make the news.

The question was posed in November by members of Kensington Voice, a community-driven news project started by Jillian Bauer-Reese, an assistant journalism professor at Temple University. They call the Voice a pop-up newsroom, because in its infancy, it doesnt have a physical office. The neighborhood  its libraries, parks, storefronts, and corners  are host to their writing sessions, workshops, and editorial meetings. Their mission is simple: At a time when the country is watching Kensington, and often reducing it to nothing more than a staging ground for a crisis, they want to help Kensington tell its story. The whole story.

Its not that community members dont want drug stories told, Bauer-Reese said. But they are interested in other stories being told, too.

The photos were one way do that, an act of art and agency. An $8.95 camera became a step toward reclaiming the narrative.

And it was a reminder to reporters like me, who come to this neighborhood to tell stories, to shed some light, who try to get it right but who can do better. (I still cringe at having called McPherson Square Needle Park in an early column.) And the ones who come for an hour and do nothing but hold up misery.

Rakee Starwind, a library volunteer, took images of pigeons and chickens feeding in a trash strewn lot, wanting to capture a peaceful scene.

Theresa Farrell, a neighborhood preacher, photographed a rusted, antique Ford pickup perched in front of the home of a neighborhood mechanic.

Its beauty, she said of the jalopy, and it can be restored.

Jim Bear Katona Jr., who volunteers shifts at a recovery center on Kensington Avenue, took a long, early morning shot of the avenue. In the quiet, the avenue seems to be pulling the viewer in, like a portal. Thats the point, Katona said.

How the neighborhood draws you in, he said. Whether youre coming to get high, or get well at a recovery center, or now coming to buy a $750,000 condo.

The photos, said Bauer-Reese, tell a stronger story about the neighborhood.

I think they achieved these smaller glimpses into the everyday life of the neighborhood during times when the media isnt there, she said. (For its part, Kensington Voice plans to launch a bilingual website next week to serve as a community news platform, along with its first online issue, a collaboration with residents that will focus on vacant housing and homelessness.)

Then there were the photos taken by children. Most of the kids returned their cameras in the first hour. Theyd gone through all their film before they even left the library park, said Maggie Loesch, a former Inquirer intern and one of Bauer-Reeses students. She organized the neighborhood workshop and the art exhibit, which is called Through Our Eyes, along with McPherson librarian Tuesday Chalmers. It opened Tuesday and runs through February.

The children took some of Loeschs favorite photos: a photo of a large stuffed duck slumped sadly on a bench in McPherson Square. Some levity.

Inexplicable, Loesch said, laughing.

And a powerfully intimate, if crooked, shot of a stretch of rowhouses that appeared as if it had been taken accidentally.

Its just what you see walking down the street  just a casual glance around, Loesch said.

Dozens showed up at the library for Tuesdays opening, to see those other Kensingtons, the one that their neighbors, the security guards, their pastors, their kids viewed through their cheap camera lenses. Even though its become such a rote phrase, its still accurate to say McPherson sits in a heart of a crisis. Library staff had to save two people overdosing in the bathroom in recent months. The weight of all that hung in the library. But so did the photos, and in them, a wider view of a neighborhood.
It was a striking visual: a group of white teens wearing Make America Great Again hats appearing to taunt an American Indian elder banging on a drum near the Lincoln Memorial. The video of the standoff during the annual March for Life on Friday in Washington quickly went viral, and was seen by many as a sign of the political and racial divides of Trumpism.

But an extended cut of the video has brought another group into the fold: Hebrew Israelites, a religious organization that appears to have been involved in a confrontation with the teens that the elder was reportedly trying to defuse.

Anyone whos walked the sidewalks on a Friday in Center City over the last 25 years is probably familiar with Hebrew Israelites. An Upper Darby-based outpost called the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK) teaches that African Americans are descended from the Israelites in the Bible. Its members preach by shouting obscenities at pedestrians.

Ornately dressed men representing the Israelite School have been known to park on the sidewalk and set up a platform with grainy-sounding microphones  theyre typically found these days outside Temple Universitys Center City campus, near 15th Street and JFK Boulevard  and spew hateful language at anyone who walks by. Among their favorite terms: white devils, whores," faggots, and the N-word, which members routinely shout at black passersby.

A New York-based leader of the sect, who wanted to be called General Mahayaman, said what happened Friday is a perfect metaphor for why street speaking is so important.

There was the American Indian demonstrator who attempted to sing in the face of great hatred, he said, referring to the teenagers wearing MAGA hats (which he said are no different than Klan hoods). What we learned in the Israelite School is that you cant sing in the face of hatred. Youre going to have to speak up and talk back, and our street speaking is how you talk back.

The below video includes obscene language.

The Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK), a sect of the Hebrew Israelites, is classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group of black nationalists. It and other sects have complicated histories. And in Philadelphia, where it has had a presence for three decades, its members are no stranger to controversy and have had their free-speech rights challenged.

A complicated history

Lewis Gordon, a professor of Africana philosophy at the University of Connecticut who has studied black Jews and Hebrew Israelites, said many groups call themselves Hebrew Israelites, including groups that identify as Jews, as Christians, and as neither. Ideology varies greatly among these groups.

Gordon said that in general, people who are called Hebrew Israelites are descendants of African American enslaved people who are Jews. Some Africans who were already Jews were enslaved, while other Africans who were enslaved on Jewish-owned plantations maintained a kosher household.

Racism and internal racist issues in Jewish communities, Gordon said, led to a number of different Jewish and black groups that identify as Hebrew Israelites, some of whom follow the Bible and believe Jesus was the Messiah.

Among those groups are sects that believe African Americans are descendants of the Israelites and take the position that white Jews arent really Jews. But this belief, he said, is not the majority of the people who would honor the designate Hebrew Israelite.

Some sects have been deemed extremist groups, including the ISUPK. Tom Metzger, a prominent white supremacist leader, once said extremist Hebrew Israelites are the black counterparts of us.

The men in the video have been identified by others as Hebrew Israelites, but havent themselves been identified, so its unclear what ideology they believe in.

Molefi Kete Asante, chairman of Temple Universitys department of Africology and African American studies, said some of these sects are much more radical and can represent the equivalent of a personality cult. He said he believes these groups started because of an identity crisis among African Americans.

The principal crisis in the African American community is that too many African Americans dislike being Africans, Asante said. So they will do anything not to be identified with the continent of Africa. Yet, Africa, especially West Africa, overwhelmingly and predominantly is where our origins are.

A controversial presence in Philadelphia

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ISUPK has more than 25 locations throughout the country and is based in Baltimore. The group is led by a man called General Yahanna  his real name is John Lightbourne  who has described the protests in Philadelphia as shock treatment."

General Mahayaman said the abrasive language directed at people of color is the only remedy for someone that suffers from Stockholm syndrome, [which] is to make them face the cruelty of their oppressor.

The below video includes obscene language.

Asked if the group is anti-white, anti-woman and anti-gay, General Mayahaman deflected, saying, The Christian church hates black people, gays, and women based on how they treat them.... The difference is, we dont have a history of hurting kids, molesting women the way Christians do." He said the school and its followers dont consider themselves Christians or Jews, but rather the race of the people.

The local group started its street preaching near the former Gallery on Market Street, and later moved to the sidewalks outside One Liberty Place, the site of a showdown with the buildings owners, who sued the school in 2013 and pleaded with the court to rule the men were preaching on private property.

A Common Pleas Court judge issued a temporary injunction, halting the protests from that portion of the sidewalk. During a hearing in the case, General Kory Travis a leader of the group, said the corner was essential to their ability to reach their target audience of blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians.

There are certain locations that are necessary to make our message more real, he said, adding that the inflammatory language is necessary because, given how minorities are treated in society, sweet talk just wont do.

Two months after the temporary injunction was put in place, the judge ordered in favor of ISUPK, a ruling a higher court upheld. While the case was snaking through the courts system, Liberty Place owners went so far as to hire a DJ to drown out the demonstrations.

Staff writer Valerie Russ contributed to this article.
With its centennial year approaching in 2022, the Barnes Foundation is on a path to raise $100 million by that celebratory anniversary, its leaders said Tuesday. The campaign has quietly bubbled along for more than a year, bringing in its first donation in December 2017, and has raised $35.3 million so far in pledges and gifts.

The Barnes, which moved its galleries to central Philadelphia from Lower Merion in 2012, hopes that donors will agree to put the vast majority of the $100 million into the endowment, where it can produce income each year, and support operations and initiatives to a greater extent than the endowment now can.

We figured this is a moment when the institution has built up a head of steam, said executive director and president Thomas Collins. Theres no capital project on the horizon, no debt, and no deferred maintenance.

Currently, investment income from the endowment (which had a market value of $68 million at the end of September) accounts for about 15 percent of the institutions annual income.

We think it would be much healthier if it were about a third of our revenue, said Collins.

Barnes executive vice president and chief financial officer Margaret Zminda said that curatorial programs and service to the community have increased  new programs include a partnership with Puentes de Salud in South Phillys Latino immigrant community  and that requires a long-term source of funding. So as weve become the institution we are now, we really recognize that our ambitions are different than they were in 2006, 2007, and 2008, when we were raising money for this building.

The enhanced income would go toward supporting base operating costs, growing existing programs, and investing in the creation of new programs, Collins said.

The endowment campaign will proceed parallel to the Barnes' annual fund-raising campaign, which in 2018 raised $10 million.

Endowment campaigns typically begin with gifts from within the family  board members and other close supporters. So it has been with this effort. The biggest gifts so far:

$10 million from the Neubauer Family Foundation, half of which endows the president/executive director position.

$5 million from Aileen K. and Brian L. Roberts to endow the special exhibition program.

$5 million from the Maguire Foundation to name the garden pavilion the Frances M. Maguire Garden Pavilion.

$2.5 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support digital audience engagement projects.

Collins said some potential gifts on the horizon toward the $100 million goal could happen quickly, while others might take longer, but we are very confident we can make this.
When developer Alan Casnoff looked into his property records last year, he found that the city was not applying the 10-year tax abatement to the University City property on which he had built four small restaurants.

His lawyer reached out to the Office of Property Assessment and got a surprising response: A sudden and drastic change in his property assessment that increased the value more than 230 percent.

OPA recognized the abatement, which exempts new construction from property taxes, but dramatically increased the land value, on which he still owed taxes.

Casnoff is now in a legal battle with the city, alleging that assessors broke state law by changing his property value arbitrarily, without proper notice, and not as part of a citywide reassessment. If the abatement had been applied correctly before the change, the sudden reassessment would have represented a more than $36,000 tax hike over three years.

Im happy to pay whatever the legitimate taxes are  thats never an issue, Casnoff said. But lets have fairness for everybody, and lets follow the rules.

Assessment officials insist they did follow the rules, and say changes are permitted at any time to correct errors. An error was made in assessing Casnoffs property that was not discovered until he pointed out the problem with the tax abatement, officials said.

The battle over the property at 40th and Sansom Streets comes as the Office of Property Assessment faces scrutiny over its practices. An audit released this month said the citys assessment practices are flawed and do not meet industry standards. A report by City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart had similar findings.

City Council President Darrell L. Clarke has called for the firing of Chief Assessment Officer Michael Piper. While Mayor Jim Kenneys administration has defended the Office of Property Assessment and disputed findings in the audit, the administration announced that it would make improvements to the assessing process based on recommendations from an independent consultant.

Two problems flagged in the recent audit are related to Casnoffs situation in University City. The city has deficient data for many properties, the auditor found, and otherwise similar properties sometimes have very different land values. The land value discrepancies result in problems for property owners who have the 10-year tax abatement on new or rehabilitated properties and pay taxes on the value of their land but not the new building, the auditor said.

Casnoff purchased his University City property for $2 million in 2007. He demolished a church on the site and constructed a building that opened in 2015 and holds four small restaurants, including Dunkin' Donuts, Zesto Pizza, a Greek restaurant named Yiro Yiro, and, until recently, Hai Street Kitchen.

Casnoff said he was preparing to sell the property last year, so he looked into the tax records to make sure everything was in order and discovered that the 10-year abatement was not reflected in his property record. After he asked the city to correct it, assessors issued new property values for tax years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The propertys land value  the amount used to calculate real estate tax bills for properties that have 10-year tax abatements  increased more than 400 percent for each of those years.

Changing the value of a property outside of a countywide reassessment, known as a spot assessment, is prohibited under state law. If a property sells at a higher price than its assessment, for example, the city could not change its value based on the sale alone and instead would have to wait until the next reassessment of all properties.

Some changes are excluded from the ban on spot assessments: Assessors can change values to correct errors, when properties are subdivided, or when construction occurs.

Piper said the city was simply correcting an error because the demolition of the church and the construction of the new building were not reflected in the previous values.

We corrected every error as we caught it, Piper said last week. We corrected the error that the abatement wasnt on. But we also corrected the error that the new construction wasnt on.

A snapshot of the property record from September, however, shows that while the prior assessment was still in place, the city did have data showing that a one-story store, not a church, was on the property. Casnoffs settlements of tax assessment appeals from 2015 and 2016 also reflect that he had demolished the church and constructed a new building on the site. Jacqueline Dunn, chief of staff to finance director Rob Dubow, said that even if the updated building information was in the property record, it was not reflected in the assessment and the city was permitted to make a correction.

Claiming such an error as a means of changing an assessment is an administrative tactic, said Robert P. Strauss, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

Its very peculiar and not surprising," Strauss said. And its smug.

Chief Deputy City Solicitor Drew Aldinger said there was no net increase in Casnoffs taxes as a result of the changes. Thats because, under the tax abatement, he pays taxes only on the land value of his property. Before the city made its changes, Casnoffs property records did not reflect his abatement and he was taxed on the full market value. After the adjustment in question, his prior market values for 2017 and 2018 became the land value for those years.

Piper insisted that the city did not simply switch the market value to the land value, but instead calculated land value based on a price per square foot. He could not explain why the two figures were identical.

For 2019, the new land value was less than the previous 2019 market value  but still 418 percent higher than the previous land value, increasing from $232,380 to $840,000.

Casnoff is not the first property owner to face a significant land value increase on a parcel with an abatement. The city changed its method for assessing land values 2017, resulting in large tax increases for many abated properties. Some taxpayers fought the changes, and successfully challenged the citys stance that land values alone are not subject to appeal.

Casnoff sold his property to new owners in December for $6.2 million, but said he will continue fighting the new assessment.

People should not be able to do these kinds of things, he said. Someones got to stand up and say something.

The Board of Revision of Taxes held a hearing on his appeal this month, but did not allow his lawyer to make an argument and classified the case as abandoned because no appraisal was submitted with the appeal, said Carla Pagan, the boards executive director. Casnoff insists no appraisal was necessary because he was appealing the action of issuing a new assessment rather than the assessment itself.

Legally, the case could hinge on how to define an error under the law prohibiting spot assessments.

Is there any liability to government for making errors to the disadvantage of its voting and taxpaying citizens? asked Strauss, the Carnegie Mellon professor. Is there culpability?
By now, we understand that Gillettes controversial ad We Believe is a talker.

The online-only ad told men in no uncertain terms to step up their manners game in this ongoing #MeToo era. That means no mansplaining, no groping, and no bullying. The spot racked up 24 million YouTube hits, one million YouTube dislikes, and a boatload of pro toxic-masculinity ire. (Whats wrong with boys being boys? Girls, you need to get over that unwanted attention.)

There were also some valid complaints. I mean, not all men enjoy grilling, right? But the most interesting gibes revolved around Gillettes having the gall to be a woke ad. How can an ad be authentic if its about making money? A friend of mine doubled down: Ethics has no real standing or even a place in marketing, he wrote to me.

Here is where I will respectfully disagree.

It goes without saying that the goal of advertising is to make money. Lots of it. And if there is any altruism involved, its a secondary byproduct, at best. But that doesnt mean that advertisements dont affect our culture  in good and bad ways.

Since the 1940s, advertising appealed to its target audience by creating images that by and large maintained the status quo. In 1948, De Beers launched the grandfather of all lifestyle campaigns with the help of the Philadelphia ad agency N.W. Ayer: A Diamond Is Forever. They took diamonds, trinkets reserved for the rich, and turned them into the centerpiece of the engagement ring, which today is widely considered the first major step on a young familys road to the American dream: a marriage, a house, and 2.5 children. (Just forget how those diamonds are mined.)

The campaign helped set the tone for a 20th century replete with advertising that erred on the side of aspiration, as opposed to revolution. Advertising firms were status quo upholders, thus cementing the culture. Whether they were selling dishwashing detergent or cars, ads spoke to who we thought we wanted to be. They exploited cultural norms and maximized profits.

This would explain Gillettes earlier ads that upheld the worlds notion of what a man should be (The best a man can get). Im talking about those ads with scantily clad women that haters on social media were all too eager to point out.

And so advertising went, until around the middle of the last decade, when we slowly began to see more and more progressive images.

The advent of blogs and social media caused two things to happen: First, people who were not traditionally represented in mainstream ads started creating content that featured themselves and people who looked like them. Second, and more important, consumers began to question the integrity and veracity of the brands they were loyal to.

Fashion brands  first niche designers and then, later, bigger, mainstream labels  were among the early adapters. There were many and include Stella McCartney, who in 2001 launched an eco-friendly clothing line that continues to drive her successful womens and accessories collection. In 2006, Blake Mycoskie launched TOMS to fight poverty. The company gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. Locally, brands like United By Blue opened brick-and-mortar stores with a clear mission to keep our waterways safe and clean by promising to remove a pound of garbage from the worlds oceans and rivers for every product bought.

The nature of fashion is that it is not static, said Elissa Bloom, executive director of the Philadelphia Fashion Incubator at Macys. Fashion is a vehicle for creative expression. It is one of the quickest reflections of what is happening in culture.

Mainstream brands followed. Because of their wide audience, their way of being revolutionary was less about their core ethical mission, like being eco-friendly, and more about changing the visual narrative. And if their efforts happened to land the cover of Ad Age  or columns like this one  then so be it.

Take Doves Real Beauty campaign, which featured women of all body sizes, not just thin white women, using their beauty products. Fifteen years later, Dove  despite some glaring missteps  is still remembered as one of the brands that pioneered woke advertising.

Dove was preachy in an inclusive way. Yet other brands, like Cheerios, were more stealth in their attempt to make once-taboo images the norm. In 2013, Cheerios debuted a TV commercial with a mixed-race couple and their mixed-race child enjoying morning chit-chat with the box in the background. The racist backlash was swift.

The Cheerios ad was really interesting because when they ran that, they ran it as just another ad, said Steve Red, founder of the Philadelphia-based ad agency Red Tettemer. It wasnt made to get people talking, rather it was a reflection of what we were seeing in the world, and it was a super-confident stance. And, Red added, it was worth it to the brand even if it alienated customers.

Fast-forward to today. Gillette finds itself as one brand in an emerging sea of advertising that has an altruistic undercurrent and/or is a visual reflection of our changing world. More and more companies are going to be taking these kinds of stands, Red said. They are going to have purpose behind what they are doing because there are countless studies that show thats what younger consumers  millennials and Gen Yers  want. People wont choose them if they dont."

Some of these new-normal scenes in modern advertising are fanfare-free, like the one that shows a black man (not a woman) tidying up his apartment using a Swiffer. My fave right now is AT&Ts Just OK Is Not OK, with two dads who arent impressed at all when the mediocre babysitter shows up at the door. Mediocre internet service is just as bad, reasons AT&T. #Loveit.

Others  like the Gillette spot  are the most woke and are the proud recipients of backlash. They challenge long- held beliefs they say arent working anymore. And they are taking it a step further by pointing out what needs to be done. For the record, Gillette is planning to donate $1 million for the next three years to organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

They include Nikes pro Colin Kaepernick plug and Patagonias The President Stole Your Land campaign, a direct response to President Donald Trumps order to reduce the size of two of Utahs national monuments. Just this month, TOMS began urging visitors to its website to write to their representatives to pass universal background checks for guns.

But even more so than brands that sell sportswear, sneakers, or in the case of TOMS, canvas shoes, every man shaves. And that is why Gillette took so much heat. A brand that gives so many men a pro-woman message cant be ignored, even if when you look in the mirror, you feel threatened by the message.

Thats how you change culture.
As the clock struck noon on a snowy Friday afternoon, Alex Bois, the James Beard Award-nominated baker behind Lost Bread Co., gathered with six staff members at a table inside the bakerys Fishtown headquarters. They divided a big pot of hot chocolate, almost as thick and rich as pudding, between mugs before diving into a discussion of the malty beverages secret ingredient: buckwheat.

The nutty whole grain is the star of next months Lost Bread Co. Grain Share, a new program that focuses on a different regionally grown grain each month. As with a CSA, the grain share allows customers to sign up and receive special products  such as extra-creamy cocoa mix  on a monthly basis.

The monotony of bread-baking for wholesale can get tiring, but this presents a bright spot where were encouraged to try new things, to fail, to push our boundaries  its a really special environment, said production manager Sam Degennaro, one of the bakers contributing to the new program.

Three different packages  fresh, pantry, and hands-on  give grain-share customers options.

The fresh package features loaves of bread, fresh pastas, pastries, and other ready-to-eat or ready-to-use creations. (January items included smoked-malt gnocchi, pizza dough, and baguettes made with barley, the first featured grain-share grain.)

The pantry package focuses on ingredients that can be stored for future use, such as whole, cracked, or flaked grains as well as fresh-milled flours, premade mixes, shelf-stable items like granola, and other surprises (think specialty mustard or miso).

Those enrolled in the hands-on package partake in a monthly workshop to discover ways to cook with each months featured grain. Januarys session, set for the evening of Thursday, Jan. 24, will bring together just over a dozen food enthusiasts and culinary experts from Lost Bread and elsewhere. As a group, theyll talk about barley and its role in fermented products, like miso and beer, before getting their hands dirty making pizza dough.

Customers can sign up for one or any combination of the packages, each priced at $50 per month. Those who opt for all three will receive a $120 deal, along with a plus-one ticket for a guest to attend the workshop. Subscriptions can be purchased on a month-to-month basis or for the whole year; they can be stopped, paused, or passed along to a friend at any time.

The grain share is a learning experience not just for our customers but for us, too, Bois said. For example, we started doing research on barley-based foods, and discovered dumplings to be a crucial part of Tibetan culture. We ended up stumbling upon this local Tibetan lama who eventually came in and taught us how to make barley dumplings, and it was great. We dont want to just keep that experience to ourselves.

For Bois staff, the grain share offers a creative outlet. Every baker is invited to whip up recipes and present them at monthly taste-test meetings. They give each other honest critiques to fine-tune what eventually will constitute the lineup for the next months grain share.

During Friday afternoons tasting session, Degennaro presented an Old Fashioned she made using bourbon steeped with toasted buckwheat. After the first sip, and without hesitation, several of her coworkers splashed some into their malted-buckwheat hot chocolate.

In addition to drinks, Lost Bread staff sampled a Swiss chard-cheddar-mushroom tart, a buttery coffee cake, a fudge-like brownie, Linzer cookies filled with Concord grape jam, salted-pretzel cookies, kabocha-stuffed pierogi, flaky kouign-amanns, and toasted-grain salad with mushrooms and caramelized onions  all featuring buckwheat. After a few tweaks, many of the items from the feast will show up in Februarys grain-share packages.

Emmer, an ancient form of wheat, will be Marchs featured grain, followed by crops like einkorn, spelt, corn, sorghum, and oats. All of the grains are sourced from Mid-Atlantic growers, with a vast majority coming from Pennsylvania farms.

Regional agriculture is an incredibly important part of this picture, Bois said. Grain has been stigmatized recently with all of these low-carb, gluten-free trends, and its a rightful backlash against processed and industrialized foods. But when sourced and processed thoughtfully, grains are a staple, nutrient-rich component, seen across cultures, that often go hand-in-hand with survival.

Each grain-share package includes a monthly 'zine with historical background on the months grain, recipes, and hand-drawn illustrations.

A lot of CSAs lack in sharing what the heck to do with the stuff that comes in the share  you get a rutabaga and most people dont even know where to begin to start with that, Bois said. We want to provide the literature that makes people feel comfortable with the new ingredients theyre discovering.

Once enrolled, grain share customers can pick up packages at Lost Bread Co.s Kensington warehouse (1313 N. Howard St.) or at Primal Supply Meats in South Philadelphia (1538 E. Passyunk Ave.). Current pickup dates fall around mid-month, but Lost Bread Co. plans to shift the schedule to the first Sunday or Monday of the month beginning in March. Pickup locations will expand as demand increases. Packages can be reserved online at lostbreadco.com.
Illegal Tacos is no more.

Florian Furxhiu, who drew protests over the name of his Center City taqueria, has changed the sign.

Its the same food and service, but under the more prosaic Tacodelphia name, on the northeast corner of Broad and Lombard Streets. Before the eatery opened in December 2017, Furxhiu said he was aware of the potential risk.

Furxhiu, a 33-year-old Albanian immigrant and first-time restaurateur, said the protests -- which included a September rally complete with inflatable rat -- were only a small factor in his decision.

The main reason: Furxhiu said a safer name would help him cinch more business from catering and would allow him to expand. Corporations are not going to order from Illegal Tacos, he said. Tacodelphia may be not as catchy. Its a more serious-sounding name.

After the September rally, Furxhiu further explained to columnist Stu Bykofsky that the illegal sobriquet was not a slur against a group of people, but a reference to the tacos being so good they should be illegal.

The name, he said, did not turn away potential employees and customers. My clientele is 30 percent Spanish, he said. My workers are from Mexico, Guatemala, and all over Asia."

Furxhiu said the outcry actually helped business. I actually made all my money back on my investment in the first year, he said. How many restaurants can say that?
As the Philadelphia Museum of Art prepares to host an extravagant ball on Friday, organizers are not stocking up on champagne or fancy hors doeuvres. This ball, a community project thats been a year in the works, was designed to celebrate Philadelphias ballroom scene  an LGBTQ subculture anchored by performance, built by people of color.

Instead of a parade of satin evening gowns, there will be a runway show, Fabulous Fashions of Ballroom, featuring original designs carefully crafted from sequins, leather, lace, and faux fur, inspired by the museums current fashion exhibit. The 25 creators of the designs will float down the Great Stairs in stilettos and velvet loafers, synced to a soundtrack curated by MikeQ, a New Jersey DJ who has spent a decade championing ballroom.

And instead of waltzing, there will be voguing, a style of dance that flamboyantly imitates the poses struck by models on the catwalk. Dont know how? No worries. Ball-goers can sign up for a 20-minute session on the five elements of voguing  hands, catwalk, duckwalk, spin and dip, and floor  taught by the experts themselves in the Arms and Armor gallery.

To bring Final Fridays: Werk It! to fruition, the Art Museum spent a year working closely with POSSE Project, a team of researchers studying behavioral-intervention methods in Phillys house and ballroom community.

Funded by the National Institute for Mental Health and organized by the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, POSSE stands for Promoting Ovah-ness through Safer Sex Education. (Ovah-ness means amazing or fantastic in the ballroom community.)

The team of researchers works with young African American men who have sex with men to devise a customized strategy for increasing sexual-health awareness, discouraging risky behavior, and developing mentors within the community. To reach the target audience, CHOP has organized several dance-driven gatherings (better known as Kiki lounges) and ballroom competitions.

The Art Museum ball will be POSSEs most visible event to date, with roughly 1,000 people expected to attend.

The citys ballroom community first floated the idea of collaborating two years ago, according to POSSE Project coordinator Bevin Gwiazdowski. They finally connected with the museum a year ago, when staff members recognized that the 2018-19 exhibit Fabulous Fashion: From Diors New Look to Now (through March 3) provided the perfect backdrop for a ball.

The museum is a really outstanding place to have a ball, said Corey Ike Lanvin Jackson, a POSSE Project committee member who helped organize Fridays event. For the ballroom gay scene, its a really big accomplishment. Were really proud just to be able to display the fashion that we have alongside the [Fabulous Fashion] exhibit.

Lanvin said the entire ballroom scene in Philadelphia rallied behind this event. Come Friday evening, he expects to see a wide range of the citys ballroom community  from young teens to people in their 40s  showing off their fiercest moves on the runway.

We involved lots of people who have been with ballroom since the beginning and people who have just started, Lanvin said. Seeing them bridge that age gap has been really incredible.

Ballroom culture first took root in the drag balls of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, but it really flourished during the 1970s, when houses were created. Houses provided surrogate families for young queer people of color, who were typically estranged from their families and struggling to get by. The groups organized competitions, known as balls, where house members would walk or vogue for trophies and prizes.

Ball culture found a foothold in Philadelphia during the late 70s and early 80s. Today, there are 12 active houses in the city, such as House of Prodigy and House of Blahnik; 10 of them will be represented at Fridays event, according to Lanvin. The groups meet up to compete for cash prizes at balls throughout the year. Last November, the popular Gayborhood bar Woodys started hosting a monthly series of vogue nights.

Im hoping that [attendees] will get a little glimpse into the community and see how talented the people who are involved with this community are, Gwiazdowski said.

Over the last year, POSSE Project members have joined forces with Art Museum staffers to figure out details for the runway show  the centerpiece of the event  such as lighting, staging, and sound. Besides the show and voguing workshops, event attendees can also tour the Fabulous Fashion exhibit with members of the ballroom community.

But the ball is not just a fun, fashion-filled evening. Art Museum educators and members of POSSE Project also wanted to use this opportunity to educate attendees about the ballroom community.

It was very, very important to us that this not simply be a spectacle, stressed Emily Schreiner, the curator of education and public programs at the Art Museum. As a large institution, we are not asking people to perform this identity.

The extensive collaboration between POSSE Project and the museum led to an exhibit on Philadelphias ballroom history, which visitors can explore on Friday. It includes personal accounts from the ballroom community, videos of previous balls, and outfits and accessories worn while walking. There will also be a detailed handout on POSSE Project.

Were giving the world a taste of our community at the museum, Lanvin said. Weve been underground for so long, so its cool that we get to show people a different community they might have not known about in the LGBTQ scene.

5 to 8:45 p.m. Friday. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. $18 for adults and seniors, $14 for students with valid ID and youth ages 13-18, free for children under 12. 215-763-8100. philamuseum.org
The title of the Lebanese film Capernaum, Oscar-nominated just this week for best foreign language film, means chaos," an apt description of the daily tumult surrounding the movies main character.

Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is a 12-year-old as tough and resourceful as the children in The Florida Project, but stuck in a less magical urban world, without the outlet of play and escapism.

He has to work for a living as a delivery boy, with side hustles selling knockoff merchandise to motorists. Hes a tough kid, and enormously appealing. He has big, sensitive doe eyes that contrast hilariously with his foul mouth, and he possesses a fierce nobility in stark contrast to the deeply compromised adult world around him.

His parents, for instance, are about to sell his 11-year-old sister to a grown man, who intends to marry her and consummate the union forthwith. Zains desperate efforts to prevent this leave him at odds with his family, and on his own. He finds a temporary home as a caregiver (!) to a toddler whose Ethiopian single mother (Yordanos Shiferaw) is trying to hold down a job as a cleaning woman in a restaurant.

Zain gets on-the-job training as a nanny, changing diapers, feeding, lugging the baby through the streets, pulling the little guy along in a washtub with wheels, like something out of Our Gang (Capernaum is a feat of baby wrangling on a par with Raising Arizona). These scenes are often improbably funny and endearing, even in the context of the movies horrific social reality (a human trafficker, for instance, offers money for the baby).

The movie is set in and around Beirut (directed by Lebanese actress turned director Nadine Labaki), yet it will be structurally and thematically familiar to anyone whos read Twain or Steinbeck and responded to their stories of families, children, poverty, and neglect.

At the same time, Capernaum is distinctly modern  like other contemporary movies, it examines the perils of globalization by examining exploited, expendable migrant labor, and it takes the moral measure of one generation by showing how it provides for (or preys upon) the next.

Zain ends up in a youth detention facility, pending a court proceeding that has him squaring off against his parents, who loom in early scenes as villains but who grow more nuanced as the story plays out. Capernaum does not excuse the choices they make, it does change our understanding of the context in which those choices are made.

The acting is fine throughout, and director Labaki (she plays Zains lawyer) has a genius for handling untutored performers like Al Rafeea. And while some have accused her of indulging in so-called poverty porn, theyre missing the artistry here. Labakis use of color is effective and subtle, with blues and reds carefully deployed, along with a welcome and valuable sense of humor.

MOVIES

Capernaum

Directed by Nadine Labaki. With Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, and Labaki. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

Running time: 123 minutes.

Parents' guide: R (violence)

Playing at: Ritz Five, AMC Voorhees.
DNB Financial shares opened lower Thursday, but recovered to rise by eight cents and close at $34 a share, after the Downingtown-based bank reported higher quarterly and full-year profits in its year-end 2018 earnings report, including a robust 13 percent growth in commercial loans, to $779 million.

DNB, the biggest bank in Pennsylvanias richest county, is under attack by out-of-state private investors, who allege corporate governance failures, and want the board to consider selling the bank to new owners.

In calling for change, the dissidents cited the lackluster stock performance of DNB and its insulting treatment of public shareholders when the bank paid out $432,000 last year to a former executive who the dissidents say wasnt entitled to it.

On Wednesday, shares of DNB, based in Downingtown, were up $1.59 The stock rose after J. Abbott R. Cooper, of the resort town of Jupiter, Fla., and John B. Thompson II, of New Yorks Upper East Side, filed a public notice with the SEC on Jan. 17, attacking the banks management. Even with that jump, the share price remained below the stocks all-time highs of more than $35 a share last September and October, before the markets late-year plunge.

NEW 1/24: Cooper and Thompson, former investment bankers, direct a fund called CT Opportunity Partners I LP. They have acquired 6.5 percent of DNB stock, ranking them among the banks largest owners. If DNB management, headed by chief executive William J. Hieb and board chairman James H. Thornton, a Connecticut hospital consultant, were to resist their demands, the dissident investors could try to rally other shareholders to elect new directors and pressure management to give in.

Bill Hiebs a good guy. Im surprised [DNB] is a target, and that [the activists] seem to have gone off aggressively with this, instead of meeting with management first, said Frederick Ted Peters, manager of the Bluestone Financial Institutions Fund, which invests in banks, and former CEO of Bryn Mawr Trust Co. Peters counseled against reading too much into day-to-day share movements.

We have a simple formula, said Thompson in an interview Thursday. Put in their growth rate and see where they are going over the next few years. How does that look compared to selling? We want to speak direct to the board."

Management should be acting "in the best interest of stockholders, Thompson added. He and Cooper said Hieb had a reputation for rejecting suggestions from larger banks that they meet to talk about selling DNB. Cooper agreed that those reports were second hand, but added that DNBs recent track record fell short of the A grade that would guarantee the companys independence and demonstrate the leadership that has helped a few local banks, such as WSFS Corp., of Wilmington, to diversify and boosted profits, keeping shareholders happy with their continued independence.

Cooper added that DNBs board includes veteran bank investors who he said should be open to sale offers. (George) Dan ODonnell, for example, was head of Dechert, the big Philadelphia law firm, he said. Some of those guys are not afraid to sell banks. These are sophisticated investors. Would the bank be better off with one of those guys stepping in?

He also downplayed the banks recent commercial loan growth, noting that DNB has yet to clarify whether these included local business loans that require hometown-bank lender initiative, or merely the empty calories of commercial real estate projects that any lender could back.

1/23: Peters said the banks future will depend on whether its institutional investors can be persuaded by the activists that its time to force a sale. He said Bryn Mawr Trust, Univest, Fulton and other eastern Pennsylvania banks would love to buy DNB if it goes on the market.

Given the lackluster performance of [DNB Financials] common stock since buying Philadelphia-based East River Bank in 2016, plus DNBs lack of strategic direction and governance failures, Thompson and Cooper demanded that DNB immediately [hire] independent, nationally recognized investment bankers in order to review all strategic alternatives, including a sale, and evaluate whether this would be more profitable for shareholders than trying to stay independent, given risks to the national and Philadelphia-area economy.

DNB avoided responding to the dissidents' specific allegations, but added that the bank was sympathetic to their goal: We welcome open communications with our shareholders and we consider ideas that may support the creation of shareholder value, according to an email statement Wednesday from Jonathan T. McGrain, senior vice president and director of sales and marketing.

With 10 branches in Chester County, two in Philadelphia and three in other suburbs, DNB manages Chester County deposits totaling nearly $700 million, up from $400 million 10 years ago. Thats about 6.7 percent of all Chester County bank branch deposits, up from 6.3 percent a decade earlier.

But DNB has lost ground in Philadelphia since paying $49 million for East River Bank, one of the smallest of the citys dwindling list of community banks, 2 years ago. Deposits at the former East River branches have slipped from $229 million at four offices in mid-2016, to $183 million at three branches in mid-2018.

The bank has told branch staff and depositors it plans to close its smallest city branch, at 36 N. 3rd St.  near the center of N3rd Street, a hub of the citys tech community  effective April 19. I will not be staying with the bank, said customer Robert Baer Cohen, an attorney who was dismayed to note the bank did not initially offer to refund prepayments for branch services such as safe-deposit boxes. A manager later promised repayments.

Last year, senior executives Christopher P. McGill, who had sold Philadelphias East River Bank to DNB in 2016, and chief banking officer Vince Liuzzi, a Wells Fargo veteran, left DNB. McGill is now an executive at rival Bryn Mawr Trust.

Liuzzi collected $433,500 in DNB severance pay, which Cooper and Thompson in their filing say Liuzzi was not contractually entitled to. They refer to the payment as a governance failure, which DNB tried to justify with a false claim the company had gone through a change in control that would have triggered severance payments.

DNB remained independent, while larger Chester County banks were absorbed by out-of-town lenders such as Wells Fargo and BB&T, under its longtime chief executive and board chairman, William S. Latoff, before his death in 2016.

Univest shares opened up more than 7 percent on Thursday after the company reported higher than expected profits Wednesday night.

Editors note: Story updated at 9:50 a.m. on Jan. 24 with DNBs latest quarterly earnings.
FILE - In this March 27, 2018 file photo, the Jaguar I-Pace vehicle outfitted with Waymo's suite of sensors and radar is introduced in New York. Google's self-driving car spinoff Waymo said Tuesday it will bring a factory to Michigan, creating up to 400 jobs at what it describes as the world's first plant "100 percent" dedicated to the mass production of autonomous vehicles. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Jeff Kravitz/AMA2018/FilmMagic For dcp

Insecure actress and comedian Amanda Seales, often known for her unfiltered social commentary, is weighing in on the controversy surrounding this year's Super Bowl performances by Gladys Knight and Chloe X Halle.

Seales says she's disappointed that both Knight and the sister duo have agreed to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "America The Beautiful" respectively, and adds that she's even more confused by Knight's contention that she can somehow "give the Anthem back its voice" and help to unite people.

"Gladys Knight definitely said she feels like she can give back the power, the patriotism to 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'" Seales tells ABC Radio.

"Sis, 'The Star-Spangled Banner' was written by a racist and it has racist lyrics in it," she adds. "So, even if you're not singing those [specific lyrics], you're singing a song that contains them. You cannot give it back a power it never should have had in the first place."

But even though Seales is against the idea of both artists contributing to the NFL's biggest game, she says that there may be a solution. Specifically, she thinks the two acts can redeem themselves...IF they manage to turn both songs on their heads.

"Listen, I say all that to say [that] if they each go out there and do their own rendition of 'Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing'....Hey, listen, I stand corrected!" she laughs.

"If you Spook By the Door the situation, I'm all here for it," she adds, referring to the Sam Greenlee's 1969 novel, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, which focuses on the importance of black nationalism.

"Oh, I see what you was doing! O-K, O-K."

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Former Central Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Allotey Jacobs has called on government to equip the Ghana Police Service with helicopters.



According to him, the Police should be given helicopters to assist them in their hunt for criminals in the country.



Allotey Jacobs, speaking to sit-in host Nana Yaw Kesseh on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, bemoaned the spate of criminal activities in the country making emphasis on the recent murder of the investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale and the kidnapping in Takoradi in the Western Region.



He noted that the helicopters will help the Police to be swift in identifying the criminals and also swoop down on them.



Citing Ahmed's death as a example, Allotey Jacobs believed if the Police had helicopters; the gunmen who are said to have attacked the journalist and fled on motorbike would have been identified and given a wild chase.



The NDC guru also appealed to government to build helipads across the country to serve as a landing area for the helicopters.



Time is ripe for the Ghana Police to be given helicopters. Let us build helipads and let us purchase helicopters for them. And it will help in our forward match to make sure the security of this state is sufficient enough for us to say that were in paradise, he suggested.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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NDCs Bernard Allotey Jacobs has urged government to unravel the truth behind the murder of investigative journalist, Ahmed Hussein-Suale.



According to the former Central Regional Chairman of the Umbrella family, the counter accusation as to who killed Ahmed is rather unfortunate.



The investigative journalist with Anas Aremeyaw Anas Tiger Eye PI was assassinated on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, at Madina in the Greater Accra region.



He was shot three times  twice in the chest and once in the neck.



Speaking on the issue, Allotey Jacobs urged not only the NPP but all politicians to help in investigating the death of the young journalist.



This country should move forward; those who are in charge of investigating should be given that space. Enough of the blame games and the gossips, there is more for us to do as politicians. Lets help the police to get the needed resources to fight criminal activities, he said in an interview with Adom FM.







Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007









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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Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has accused government of causing financial loss to the state by funding the recent trips by some EOCO and Ghana Police officials to Dubai.



Last week, a government delegation headed by Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Kpemka were in UAE for deliberations on the possible extradition of NAM 1.



The Ghana Police Service and the Economic and Organised Crime Office, in a statement revealed that the CEO of the troubled gold trading firm, Menzgold, Nana Appiah Mensah, is currently facing misdemeanour charges in Dubai, after which he will be brought to Ghana if hes cleared of all the charges leveled against him.



Speaking to the issue Mr Ablakwa who is also the Member of Parliament for North Tongu said: full disclosure is very important when you have told the whole country that you have composed a delegation and that you are going to meet your counterpart in Dubai and you are going to use diplomacy to try to get NAM 1 back to Ghana. As we speak, so many days since they return, no briefing to the Ghanaian public, we do not know which officials we met thereRemember that this is a country where we have a full mission, we have an Ambassador, Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan, and if it was just going to take a statement from NAM 1; the mission could have done that.



What you have engaged in now, leading a high level government delegation and returning and not telling us if you met your counterpart in UAE can only amount to causing financial loss and wastage of the tax payers monies. Especially for a government that has said that they do not want to use the tax payers monies in compensating the victims of this Menzgold debacle, the governments conduct leaves much to be desired. And we insist the people of Ghana need to know what really transpired in Dubai.











Source: Peacefmonline.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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Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey (MP) on behalf of the Republic of Ghana has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hungary on Cooperation in the Field of Water Management with a commitment to work toward establishing a framework for a swift and seamless co-operation between the parties on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefits.



The signing ceremony took place on Tuesday January 22, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium on the sidelines of the just ended first annual European Union (EU)  African Union (AU) Ministerial Meeting.



Hungarys Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Szijjarto signing on behalf of his country pledged his support to the agreement, in accordance with the national laws and regulations in force in the two countries.



Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey also met with her counterparts from Malta and Portugal to explore possibilities of further deepening of bilateral relations between Ghana and the two countries.



The EU-AU ministerial meeting, the first annual inter  summit forum, was an opportunity to take stock of the implementation of the outcome of the 5th AU  EU Summit in Abidjan in November 2017, marking a milestone in reshaping the partnership into an even stronger, mutually beneficial one, better adapted to a rapidly evolving global context.



The meeting brought together Foreign Ministers of the European Union and their counterparts from over fifty States across the African Region including Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Senegal and Niger.



Participants deliberated on peace, security and governance, trade, investment and economic integration as well as multilateralism which they believe is the best recipe for deepened cooperation.



To solidify this agreement, the meeting among others adopted a communique where members confirmed their common determination to build on partnerships and move towards an even stronger, deeper and more political partnership and friendship between both continents.



It was co-chaired by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Rwanda, Richard Sezibera.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) has learnt with shock the gruesome murder of the undercover investigative journalist Ahmaed Hussein- Suale, who was a member of the Tiger Eye PI.



The PCG condemns this shameful attack. We are therefore calling on the security agencies of the state to take urgent steps to bring to book the culprits and ensure safety and security for the media in the country.



The PCG is of the firm believe that, arresting those faceless murderers for them to face the full rigors of the law will serve as deterrent to other people engaging in such barbaric acts in our society.



The PCG also urges the security agencies to spread their investigative tentacles and ensure that anybody who is suspected to have played a role leading to the murder of the journalist is brought to book.



The PCG believes that attack on a journalist challenges the very foundations of a free press and vibrant democracy and more so in a state like Ghana that has enjoyed 25 uninterrupted democracy.



The PCG is calling on the judiciary to facilitate early disposal of long-pending murder cases so as to serve the cause of justice and bring relief to those affected by the delay in disposal of such cases.



The PCG is also appealing to the affected family of the late journalist to remain calm while the security agencies carry out their investigations.



In times like these we wish to encourage the affected family to keep their faith and trust in God intact.May God helps Ghana in these challenging times.





Source: Rev George Larbi, Public Relations Officer, PCG









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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Five Ghanaians who were arrested by the Togolese security in a swoop at Gbadaag, a town along the Ghana/Togo border, over the alleged disruption of a voter registration exercise have been languishing in a Togolese prison for the past three months without trial.



Reliable sources told the Daily Graphic that the suspects, who are in a prison at Dapango in the northern part of Togo, were critically ill, with no medical care.



The five were picked up, together with some Togolese, at a market at Gbadaag in Togo on October 20, 2018 after some unknown persons had disrupted a Togolese electoral registration exercise near the market.



Reports indicate that the security personnel who were in search of the perpetrators stormed the market and rounded up many people, including the five Ghanaians from the Bunkpurugu District in the Northern Region who had gone there to trade.



The Gbadaag Market is a popular Togolese market near Bunkpurugu where nationals of both countries trade.



Relatives account/appeal



Mr Godwin Duak, a relative of one of the suspects, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, confirmed the detention of the suspects.



He gave their names as Duak Bitian, Kombat Nini Bjobin, Duut Dajeb, Kombian Jaben and Laar Mobong.



According to him, the five, who lived near the border, had gone to the market to trade and were resting at a pito joint when the armed security personnel stormed the market with three vehicles and rounded them up.



Innocent



He claimed that the five Ghanaians were not involved in the alleged disruption of the registration exercise because they were not taking part in the exercise for the Togolese presidential and parliamentary elections.



Mr Duak added that the suspects had not been charged before any court in Togo.



All efforts made for the security authorities to grant them bail have proved futile, he said.



According to him, family members in Ghana had travelled to Togo on several occasions in a bid to secure bail for the five but anytime we went there they took money from us before allowing us to see them.



He stated that one of the suspects who is old had wounds sustained through a motorbike accident he was involved in three days before his arrest and his condition had deteriorated, as he had not been sent for medical treatment.



Another relative of another suspect, Mr Nanoang Silas Jadan, said: We reported the incident to the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bunkpurugu but nothing much has been done about it. We dont have a problem when they are tried and found guilty, but our worry is that they have not been given a hearing.



The family members appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Ghana Mission in Togo to intervene to secure the release of the five from unlawful custody.

Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Iran: Release Labor Activists Re-Arrested For Revealing They'd Been Tortured

01/23/19

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Qoliyan Both At Risk of Serious Harm

January 22, 2019-The arrests of labor activist Esmail Bakhshi and freelance reporter Sepideh Qoliyan (also spelled Sepideh Gholian) on January 20, in Shush, Khuzestan Province, by agents of Iran's Intelligence Ministry after they spoke out about being tortured during their recent detentions, is an outrageous and unlawful abuse of power, and both activists should be released immediately, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.

"Bakhshi and Qoliyan were re-arrested for one reason: to punish them for speaking publicly about being tortured in order to silence them and all others who dare speak out," said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI's executive director.

In light of these re-arrests and the grave danger that both Bakhshi and Qoliyan will face more torture, CHRI urges the following actions:

The Iranian authorities should immediately release Bakhshi and Qoliyan, ensure their protection, and re-open an independent and impartial investigation into their alleged torture, which should exclude officials who are in any way associated with the alleged acts.

The UN, including the Office of the Secretary General, the special rapporteur on Iran, the special rapporteur on torture, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and all relevant UN human rights bodies should take coordinated action to call for the activists' immediate release and demand a full and impartial investigation into their alleged torture.

Iran's international partners, including the European Union, should urgently address this situation with their Iranian counterparts and use all means available to pressure the Iranian authorities to release the activists, ensure their safety and address the urgent need to safeguard persons who reveal abuse in Iranian state custody.

"The authorities must be held accountable for this unlawful behavior or the message will be that it is not safe for anyone to speak out against unlawful behavior in Iran," said Ghaemi.

The two labor activists were previously arrested on November 18, 2018, and held in detention for roughly a month in an Intelligence Ministry-run detention center in Ahvaz. After their release on bail, they both stated they had been tortured and issued allegations that were confirmed by eyewitnesses.

An ostensible "investigation" that lasted two days, relied on statements by officials implicated in the events, and ignored eyewitness accounts found their allegations were false.

On January 19, President Rouhani's Intelligence Ministry gave the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) a video of the two labor activists' so-called "confessions," which was made behind closed doors when the two were in detention, denied access to legal counsel and allegedly being tortured.

Bakhshi's lawyer, Farzaneh Zilabi, described IRIB's airing of these statements by his client as a violation of the law. "Airing this documentary is unjustifiable and unacceptable. Now that the confidential investigations in this fake case have been made public through a deceptive, selective and unfair documentary, Mr. Bakhshi wants an open and transparent trial," Zilabi wrote in a commentary on Emtedad news site on January 20.

Bakhshi's lawyer added that the airing of the program was a violation of Article 96 of Iran's Criminal Procedures Regulations, which makes it a crime to publish the identity and image of the accused before they've been convicted of a crime.

The UN and international organizations have repeatedly condemned the Iranian authorities for broadcasting on state TV "confessions" extracted through coercion and torture and without access to a lawyer, and using them as evidence in court.

The day after state-run TV aired the video, Bakhshi and Qoliyan were arrested again. The independent news channel of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers in Shush said via its Telegram channel that the arrest of the two activists took place with violence and Intelligence Ministry agents also took Sepideh's brother, Mehdi Qoliyan, into custody for objecting to the raid and resisting arrest.

The Qoliyans were arrested on the morning of January 20 and hours later Bakhshi was detained and taken to an unknown location. The news channel reported that Sepideh and Mehdi Qoliyan were beaten during their arrest and Bakhshi was taken away by "a large unidentified armed force."

"Instead of punishing those who commit torture, the Iranian authorities punish the victims of torture," Ghaemi said. "These two labor activists are now at grave risk of being tortured again, and it's imperative for the international community to register its total condemnation of this thuggish and unlawful behavior."
Iran Sentences Men Who Supported Women's Protests Against Compulsory Hijab to Six Years Prison

01/23/19

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Reza Khandan and Farhad Meysami Denied Right to a Public Trial

January 22, 2019 - Reza Khandan and Farhad Meysami have both been sentenced to six years imprisonment in Iran and banned from leaving the country or engaging in online activities for two years for peacefully protesting the country's compulsory hijab law.

"Iran wants to silence these men by jailing them for standing by women who want the hijab to be a choice, not a requirement," said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

"The only crime they committed is peacefully exercising their rights of freedom of speech and expression," said Ghaemi. "Iran's judiciary should heed their calls for a fair and public trial and release them."

In an interview with CHRI, Khandan, the husband of imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, said he was unlawfully denied a public trial.

On January 22, 2019, he and Meysami were both convicted of "assembly and collusion against national security" and "propaganda against the state" at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran presided by Judge Abolqasem Salavati-notorious in Iran for bending to the wishes of security agencies.

"The law says that political cases should be tried publicly in a criminal court in the presence of a jury," said Khandan. "But for years the judiciary has turned political cases into national security ones in order to try them through the revolutionary court system."

According to Article 168 of Iran's Constitution, "Political and press offenses will be tried openly and in the presence of a jury, in courts of justice."

But countless activists, dissidents and other detainees held on politically motivated charges have been sentenced to prison without due process in sessions as brief as 10 minutes in Iran's revolutionary court system.

After posting several updates about his wife's June 2018 arrest online, Khandan was also arrested on September 4, 2018, and transported to Evin Prison and Tehran. He was released on bail on December 24.

Sotoudeh, one of the country's top defense attorneys and human rights advocates, was arrested after defending women who were being being prosecuted for peacefully protesting Iran's compulsory hijab law by removing it in public. She is facing multiple charges.

Meysami remains in Evin Prison where he has been held since his arrest on July 31, 2018. The agents who raided his home confiscated badges that said, "I am against compulsory hijab," which were then used to convict him in court.

"In addition to the six-year prison sentence, I have been banned from carrying out any online activity for two years," Khandan told CHRI. "That means I won't be able to inform the public about my wife's situation or even exchange greeting messages with a friend or purchase things online."

Khandan and Meysami had protested against being denied a public trial by refusing to show up to three of their four court sessions.



Farhad Meysami and Reza Khandan

"They told me if I appeared at the last court session, I would be granted bail," Khandan said. "So I attended because of my circumstances and my kids' situation, even though I didn't believe in the court's legitimacy. Mr. Meysami attended, too."

Khandan and Sotoudeh have two children, one of whom is in grade school. Prison officials have repeatedly denied Sotoudeh opportunities to see her children.

It remains to be seen what will happen to the children if both their parents are imprisoned at the same time.

Meysami, who is also a physician, was forcibly kept in the prison clinic and put on an IV drip in August 2018 after he went on a prolonged hunger strike to demand justice for himself as well as Sotoudeh and Khandan.

Highlighting the cases of the three activists, UN human rights experts have called on Iran to guarantee the rights of human rights defenders and lawyers who have been jailed for publicly supporting protests against the mandatory hijab.

"The judiciary is trying to paint their cases as a national security issue when it's clearly about the Iranian people's right to freedom of expression," said Ghaemi. "No amount of spin is going to be able to conceal that fact."
courtesy Ima BC Graver Pat Goulden

Fernie grave marker for Aagot (Anges) Anderson- age 35

I have spent many years researching on and off the story of the great pandemic of 1918 and other influenza outbreaks in later years. It is a complex piece of history and continues to evolve as researchers, both historic and medical, dig deeper and deeper, especially into the Spanish flu epidemic evidence.



1997 was my first sojourn into this 1918 story, specifically in the Fernie area. There, like everywhere else across Canada, this nasty type A virus swept into town and seemed to pick and chose who would survive and who would not. On checking ages of fatalities back then I noticed that the newspaper stats in Fernie showed the majority of the 59 lost were healthy young men. This has been duly noted and graphed in multiple studies years later and was not typical of the ordinary flu graph. That graph generally shows in a curve who is most likely to die (very young, compromised and aged) in these type of virulent outbreaks.



In my Fernie research I turned up an interesting story that was paralleled somewhat by a recent CBC article by columnist Sarah Reiger. In her piece this last December, a century after the Spanish flu hit Calgary, Sarah profiled a nurse in training by the name of Edna Traunweiser. Edna was 29 when she volunteered that terrible November to help flu stricken soldiers at the Sarcee Camp Hospital on Signal Hill. Her 27 year old brother Flight Lieutenant George Nobel Traunweiser had been killed in action with the RAF six months earlier. The Flanders grippe, as the British called it, took Edna two weeks later and she passed the day after the war ended. She lies in Calgarys Union Cemetery and is one of 384 Calgarians that died from the flu as it ran its deadly course through that city.

continued below ...

The Fernie parallel I had researched was the story of one of the first and most dedicated volunteers who had worked tirelessly nursing flu victims. Her name was Aagot (Agnes) Anderson of West Fernie. She was a Norwegian who had emigrated to Fernie via Spring Valley, Wisconsin eleven years earlier. Agnes Anderson endeared herself to every man, woman and child she treated and when the flu induced double pneumonia finally took her that town lost a very special person. At age 35 she left behind a husband and three grown sons, one of which was serving in the war effort in France at the time. Imagine surviving the trench warfare of World War 1 only to return home and find your mother had died as heroically as Agnes had; for she surely knew all along the risk she was taking! I find it painfully ironic that at almost the end of this sickening war, which had taken so many young men and women, the H1N1 was doing the same at home.



I thought it would be profoundly interesting to explore the Blairmore Enterprise newspaper editions for 1918/19 so as to share some of the stories that came out of what the Germans referred to back then as the Blitz Katarrah (lightning cold). The flu reports, updates and losses I found in the Enterprise show a surge in early November, 1918 and later in January, 1919 just like it seems to do these days.



By late October of 1918 the realization had set in that a dangerous virus was starting to take its toll here and by November 1st a headline announced that the town of Blairmore had been quarantined. It was resolved by citizen request that starting November 3rd: that the Municipal Health and Relief Committee order the closing of all places of business, except public eating places by 1 p.m., indefinitely. There were strict quarantines put on CPR and a demand for special constables to enforce it and health regulations. It seems that no passengers were to leave or board trains in Blairmore and that there was great concern about parties entering the town from other highly infected districts.

continued below ...

Another article entitled Pass in the Throes of the Flu Epidemic talked about the grim realities of this outbreak and that the first to succumb were two children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Sciarreppa of Hillcrest and another child of Mrs. John Dragon also of Hillcrest. Then the first of many young men were lost, that being Fred Patton, yardmaster at Frank, who was covering for others workers that were off because of the virus. He left behind a wife and three kids. It was also announced in the November 1st issue that the Alberta Hotel has been quarantined for Spanish influenza. Perhaps to try and lighten the mood, as editors back then were prone to do, they further stated that: Part of the building should be in an ideal state of disinfection.



By next issue, November 8th, it was reported that an appeal had gone out to the Red Cross in Calgary for emergency supplies. A shipment arrived including all manner of essentials like towels, sheets, nurses aprons and also four dozen large and two dozen small pneumonia jackets. Pneumonia jackets were variously constructed of oiled silk, muslin, and sometimes even included a system of rubber tubing that circulated hot water around the chest as a means of keeping the patient warm. Pre-antibiotic options!



In the November 15th issue a small piece said that young Harry Ferby, proprietor of the Union Meat Market in Coleman had died of the flu. There came a surge then of sad losses then including Frank Jalek aged 20, Frank Nicholson aged 30 and Isabella Bella Buchanan Prentice age 40. Bella and husband had left Frank when the mine had closed there earlier in 1918 as he had found work in Drumheller. She was called to Blairmore to the bedside of her very ill daughter Mary Devlin who was then married to Daniel Rees. Shortly after arriving she herself caught the flu which developed into pneumonia and despite all efforts including a pulmoter she died on the 14th. Bella left behind her husband John and five children.

continued below ...

Another loss in that issue was listed as Mrs. Watts Goodwin. Her name was in fact Lily and she was only 38. Once again a husband and five children were bereaved. Watts Goodwin was serving overseas in the war at the time and was not discharged until April 1919. I cant imagine how he must have felt getting that news. Once again the soldier made it home but the wife was lost.



By November 22nd the paper indicated that perhaps the worst was over. Quarantines and raised awareness seemed to have blunted its attack. There were still losses like little two year old Nicola Bombardier and the newspaper mentions a young man thusly: John Raffal said to be the ablest miner in the CNP fell victim to the flu this week after but one days illness. Testimony to just how quick that virus could move. And under the papers Local and General column came this note: Mrs. Ricardo and Mrs. Savaria died of influenza in Coleman this week. Their husbands had just purchased a ranch in partnership near Leduc and intended to move there in the spring. So many lives turned upside down by an invisible hand of death.



By the November 29th issue it was announced that the flu ban had been lifted by which I assume they meant quarantines and extraordinary measures. But as we all know there is usually a resurgence in January and such was the case in 1918.

continued below ...

The January 23rd, 1919 issue has an item that indicates that Mrs. Michael Giacomuzzi who was but a young woman went from the flu quickly into pneumonia and then passed, exactly one hundred years ago. This was further exacerbated for her husband days later by the passing of their fifteen month old son. Good Grief! This was indeed a terrible time here in the Pass.



Perhaps to lighten this columns tone a glance at the editors tongue-in-cheek comments throughout this ordeal is in order. I found the following comment in a November issue: An exchange says: We notice that few women over the age of thirty-five have died from the flu. One bright spot in the lives of old maids. Really? Or this little ditty: As a precaution against the Spanish flu a friend of ours suggests frequent doses of prohibition rum, whisky, brandy, lager, gin or champagne taken in the order named, but not too far between. In this way $10 a day will keep the flu away.



Well we all know what keeps the flu away, or at the very least can be really important in mitigating its effects. We have a lot more medicine and know-how these days to handle the latest H1N1 variant including specially tailored vaccines. If you are interested in reading about a scary present day version of the above join me next week when I will share with you a story about our local Orpheum Theater operators Shaun and Alison Wagner and their eight year old son James life threatening pre-Christmas H1N1 nightmare.

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PARLAMENTUL REPUBLICII MOLDOVA

 2010

The Moldovan Parliaments website design was supported by the Democracy Support Programme in Moldova"  an initiative financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe
Timothee Chalamet, one of the best young Hollywood heartthrobs to emerge since the golden 1990s Leo era, has an understandably devoted following. Teens stan for his curly hair, oddball Instagram presence, French heritage, and rumored romance with Lily Rose Depp. Also his acting abilities, which they say should have been honored with an Oscar nomination yesterday.

Chalamet, who received a Best Actor nomination at last year's Academy Awards for his role in Call Me By Your Name and gave another acclaimed performance this year in Beautiful Boy, failed to secure a Best Supporting Actor nod yesterday. (It's a tough one this year  the actors who did make the cut are Mahershala Ali, Adam Driver, Sam Elliott, Richard E. Grant, and Sam Rockwell.)

Chalamet plays a young drug addict in Beautiful Boy, opposite Steve Carell as his father. So far this awards season his performance in the film has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, an SAG Award, and a Critics' Choice Award, all in the Best Supporting Actor category.

So why not the Oscars, too? This is the question fans are asking. Many Chalamet lovers are calling for a mass boycott of the currently host-less Academy Awards ceremony. Or at least publicly venting their frustrations on Twitter. One even made a fake Oscar trophy out of paper and awarded it to her Chalamet cardboard cut out.

We'll still be watching, mainly to see if Gaga gets a statue. We can only pray Chalamet still attends the show, preferably wearing another custom-made Louis Vuitton masterpiece.

Photo via Getty
Well, here we are. Episode three of Lohan's Beach Club, a show about making it big in the Greek island tourism business, sometimes starring Lindsay Lohan but mostly starring her conniving business partner Panos and his many jaunty hats. Plus their thirty or so (it feels like) blandly interchangeable young American employees, who I truly hope get to keep their tips.

As usual there is a lot of explanation and recapping leading into this episode, I guess because the concept is so indecipherable and confusing. We open with a montage of Brent Drama from last week. If you will recall, Brent was scripted to be particularly obnoxious in the previous episode, particularly to his crush, Sara. Sadly this montage likely means tonight's episode will focus on similar themes.

Or will it? Two of the most generic American hosts, May and Aristotle, appear on camera talking about how happy they are to work for Lindsay. Then we flick to Panos, upset that too much drama is going on between the hosts. He says he wants to hire a new person to mix things up. We get an odd sepia-toned flashback to him and Linds looking through resumes. Hmm. Related | 'Lohan's Beach Club' Episode One Recap: Someone Call HR

Now everybody is sitting around the table for their usual morning pre-work meeting. Oh to have but one gentle and constructive conversation with the MTV person who edits this show! Lindsay breaks the news that someone new will be joining the team. Everyone's confused about whether this means a current member will have to leave. I am too. Once again: is Lohan's Beach Club a competition, or not? What's the prize? What are the stakes? Why are any of us here?

Big Boy Brent isn't intimidated. He says nothing can threaten his superior bottle service.

Panos and Lindsay don't give any info about when the new host will arrive. In the meantime we are introduced to yet another uh-mazing client who Panos wants the current hosts to look after. Same watching-paint-dry formula as previous episodes, I guess. His name is Alesso and he's a slightly famous DJ.

Cut to Brent bragging about how he once served the Chainsmokers. Something tells me they got on well. Related | 'Lohan's Beach Club' Episode Two Recap: Martha Stewart Girl Gang

Also, this is a morning meeting, but several of the girls are drinking cocktails. No shade, just observation.

Jules volunteers to look after Alesso  it would be her honor  but Panos says nuh uh. He wants Brent and Jonitta, two enemies, to do it. Of course.

Sara, Jonitta, and Brent "It's just frustrating, I haven't got a chance to show I'm serious about this job," Jules says sadly. Girl! Go for a swim. Have another cocktail. Who cares?

Now Panos is talking about how he expects Jonitta, who according to all evidence we've seen so far is a perfectly fine host, to prove herself today. If she doesn't, "she's done." Ugh, this show's editing! Show me one example of Jonitta screwing up, ever!

Jonitta, it turns out, is also confused. "What the hell do Panos and Lindsay want from me?" she says. "I've literally done everything they asked. I guess I'm going to have to work ten times harder to prove myself to Panos." Or you could just go home and work at a normal, non-MTV nightclub and have a nice, reasonable time. The faces of Panos and Lindsay could fade to distant, vodka-scented memories.

Back to the Brent Drama. He's reflecting on the previous episode, where Sara overheard him calling her a six. He's unsure whether he has a chance with her now: "If someone had called me a six, I'd be done with them." Brent, honey. If someone calls you a six, they're being generous.

We see footage of him apologizing to Sara and promising to make it up to her. "We'll see if I can't rope her back in with my magic and my charm," he says, without even bothering to emote.

Sadly it seems that this episode, like the last, will completely focus on Brent. Even though there are literally so many other cast members, and will soon be one more. Natasha, the VIP client from episode one who Brent literally had sex with, is back. We get sepia footage of them hooking up. Now Brent is nervous that Natasha will further jeopardize his chances with Sara.

Completely without segue, Mike is on camera, talking candidly about his bisexuality. He says it's hard because girls are turned off when he tells them he also likes guys. We learn that he and Jules are flirting right now, and he likes where things are going. I guess they switched the camera off for those scenes accidentally?

Panos appears via voiceover. Lindsay really isn't in the episode at all so far. We're almost halfway through. Panos says he hates to see Jules and Mike flirting. His employees, we are reminded, are strictly not allowed to have fun. Great business strategy, terrible television viewing. That's Lohan's Beach Club!

Natasha, the VIP client, is here. Panos wants Brent to attend to her, uh, needs, right away. Natasha is wearing big sunglasses. Brent says he doesn't want to be with Natasha because it will upset Sara. Panos is so pissed, suddenly. "BRENT USED TO BE MY STAR," he says, with anger.

Lindsay finally makes a brief appearance, wearing a fun Moschino belt. "Everything is getting personal and it's starting to bother me," she says, coldly. She decides to show her stupid dumb employees how it's done.

Cut to Lindsay wrapping Alesso's feet in bandages, without a whole lot of explanation.

Back to Jules. She's still upset that she didn't get to hang with Alesso. She promises to work harder!

I hate this stupid show about work. I get enough work... at work, you know? I don't get how they manage to make a sexy Grecian beach vacation spot so completely boring. Related | Lindsay Lohan's Break the Internet Cover Story

Lindsay appears again. She has a microphone and is cheering on a customer who has started dancing up on the bar. "This is the Lindsay that I love," says Panos, in monotone. "She knows how to have fun." Panos joins in and sprays the dancing man with a champagne gun. It is early afternoon at best, by the way. Watching this show really does feel like being day drunk: queasy, uncomfortable, somehow a bit sweaty.

Now Lindsay is shooting champagne at people. Panos is LIVING FOR IT! This really is the Lindsay he knows and loves.

Not the hosts, though. They're disposable workers and exist only to make money for Lindsay. That's the premise of this show, and don't you forget it. The hosts are all asked to form a line up, as though for a firing squad, so Lindsay can spray them with the champagne gun.

The hosts line up Jonitta is not having it. She says she feels like a "peasant." Could it be that the workers are rising up? Aristotle, an idiot, expresses concern for the girls getting their pretty hair wet.

Lindsay can't pull the trigger, so Panos does it. He's so excited to do this. He loves shooting peasants. Jules, wincing, says getting hit by the high pressure champagne is physically painful. This show is so dark.

Sara is considering forgiving Brent. Jules thinks she shouldn't. Ugh.

Panos is talking about the new host again. Where is this guy? Will he lead the uprising? I'm tired.

It turns out Mike, the bi bartender, knows the new host, whose name is Alex. They worked together at a gay club in LA. And perhaps... something more. "I've done things with Alex before," Mike tells the camera. "When you're drunk, things happen. But I don't want to get in the way of flirting with Jules."

He brings up the subject of his sexuality again. "I see bisexuality as a gift," he says.

Mike and Jules Now the hosts are having a day off. That's nice. We see them all eating calamari (Greece!) at a restaurant. Mike is talking about Alex and how they worked together. Everyone is frustrated that yet another person is being added to the mix. Same. The group goes out dancing, and we see Mike and Jules kiss on the floor. Cute.

Now everyone's going out to another club, to see Alesso perform. Confusing timeline, as usual. And Panos is there, suddenly. He says he is only letting them have this night off in order to promote his club to other patrons. So I guess we're not going to get any fun drunk party scenes after all. Classic this show!

Panos overhears Jonitta telling a random person about LBC. He loves this, obviously. Suddenly she's back in his good books. But his mood turns as he watches Brent and Sara get flirty. Guys, Panos is so scary. He is sitting on the sidelines of a sleazy Mykonos nightclub, watching his employees, on their one night off, making sure they don't enjoy themselves. He makes me miss Lindsay, which, wow.

It's finally the big day. Alex, the new host, is coming. Gabi, the fun pink-haired host from episode one who has sadly received zero screen time since then, says she's nervous to compete with a new person. The others agree.

Mike is picking his old flame up from the airport. He's already distancing himself from Jules. "I don't want to get wifed up," he says. We meet Alex, who somehow looks like an exact composite of all the other male hosts. Beefy, beard-y, drunk-looking.

It is clear that Alex and Mike are immediately going to start sleeping together. All the girls miss the memo and say he's "smoking hot."

"If I could build a man, he'd look just like Alex," Jonitta says. She's devastated when he starts talking about a boyfriend, but then immediately perks up (she's holding a cocktail, as usual) at the thought of having a fun gay man around and starts telling him all the gossip from the house.

Alex tells the camera he is here to WORK and not engage in DRAMA. Lindsay and Panos will love this guy! He also says he doesn't understand Mike's bisexuality, which is gross, actually.

Morning meeting time again. Panos praises Jonitta. He is angry at Brent and Sara for flirting. Remember the rule: no fun!

Alex, the new host It is revealed that Alex speaks Italian, which is useful because many of the clients are Italian. Everyone is scared that Alex is a better little worker bee than them. He is definitely not going to lead the uprising, which makes me sad.
#ExposeChristianSchools  a viral hashtag encouraging former Christian school attendees to share their firsthand experiences with these institutions  has become the latest online battleground for a conversation about the toxicity religious schools can breed.

It all began last week, when Karen Pence  the wife of Vice President Mike Pence  was reported to be taking a job at Virginia's Immanuel Christian School, which many pointed out has a policy that refuses admission to those "who participate in or condone homosexual activity." Naturally, the news led to some pushback from the left, who took issue with the Second Lady of the United States taking a job at a blatantly discriminatory educational institution. However, in response to said criticism, Mike Pence and The National Review's David French defended her appointment  a move that led writer Christopher Stroop to come up with the hashtag #ExposeChristianSchools.

An "Exvangelical" who grew up primarily attending Christian schools, Stroop asked others to share experiences that illustrated "how traumatizing those bastions of bigotry are." And it didn't take long for the hashtag to be filled with stories of the misogynist, homophobic, and racist harassment and intolerance experienced by former students of these institutions. From stories about getting their heads dunked in the toilet for not being "manly" enough to stories about blatant gaslighting and victim-blaming, #ExposeChristianSchools soon was filled with testimonials about the emotionally-scarring incidents that occurred under the watch of school officials.

The hashtag then picked up more steam after a video of Nicholas Sandmann  a Covington Catholic High School student who harassed a Native-American Vietnam War veteran named Nathan Phillips  went viral over the weekend. Suddenly, the posts under the #ExposeChristianSchools tag began to garner even more attention and serve as an even bigger forum for what can only be described as a maelstrom of bad memories.

And while many used the hashtag as it was originally intended, the tag has also seen quite a bit of pushback from the right. As Stroop also points out, several right-wing media publications have continued to push the idea that #ExposeChristianSchools is some sort of leftist "conspiracy"  and, as a result, many conservative users rushing to the tag to defend Christian-based education.

"Privileged people in what is our American, cis-hetero, patriarchal society don't like having their privilege questioned," Stroop observes, also noting that the right picked up on the hashtag much faster than most mainstream media outlets. "[Conservatives] are now trying to paint [#ExposeChristianSchools] as a smear campaign from the left  that we somehow knew the Covington boys in their MAGA hats would be confronting Nathan Phillips  rather than real people sharing real experiences."

Granted, Stroop says he initially didn't expect the hashtag to include Catholic schools, as they're less hardline than many fundamentalist Christian schools that proliferate the "same right-wing, Christo-fascist policies of white Evangelicalism." However, as patriarchal institutions that are still blatantly anti-queer, Stroop says they're glad #ExposeChristianSchools has expanded the conversation to allow even more people  especially women, queer, and people of color  to "speak truth to power about what happens in this space."

Needless to say, this kind of hashtag is what we need in a world where educational "safe spaces" continue to hire bigots and legacy media continues to normalize the baseline unacceptable, racially-charged transgressions of a MAGA hat-wearing teenager.

"It's irresponsible for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic to continue... painting Evangelicals as people who aren't a threat to democracy," Stroop says. "Any sort of fundamentalist thinking is a threat to democracy. And thanks to social media, hashtag campaigns, and public shock, [a community of former Evangelicals are] finally starting to break through."

So what's the next step? According to Stroop, they've also been pushing the launch of another hashtag called #ExposeChristianHomeschooling to further the conversation. "[Trump's election] scared and shocked most of us who came out of hardline, authoritarian environments," Stroop laments, before adding, "Now it's like the whole country is turning into a Christian school."

Welcome to "Internet Explorer," a column by Sandra Song about everything Internet. From meme histories to joke format explainers to collections of some of Twitter's finest roasts, "Internet Explorer" is here to keep you up-to-date with the web's current obsessions  no matter how nonsensical or nihilistic.
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Before boarding their flight Tuesday morning to Washington D.C., representatives John Katko, R-Camillus, and Anthony Brindisi, D-Utica, announced bipartisan legislation and their major takeaways from meeting with President Donald Trump last week.
Attis Innovations announced Tuesday it would purchase the Sunoco ethanol plant, which is located on the former Miller Brewing site, for $20 million. Company officials said ethanol production and the attached 1886 Malt House would continue operations, with Attis planning a series of expansions that would make the site a sprawling renewable energy and green technology campus.
Disney Cruise Line's Cruise Terminal 8 at Port Canaveral was revamped with nearly $37 million in changes from 2020-2021 with more plans to come for it and adjacent Cruise Terminal 10.
Port officials have previously stated that after the first new ship, at least one of two sister ships will also call Port Canaveral home, and that Disney plans to keep three ships at the port year-round, meaning on some days, two Disney ships would be in port at the same time.
All first choices are counted. If a movie receives more than half of the first choices, it wins, just like any other election. But thats unlikely in such a crowded field. So the film with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who picked that movie as number 1 will have their votes count for their next choice. This process continues until a movie wins with more than half of the votes.
I could not agree more with Ceretas critique of men as superior to women. I have been very happily married, for 23 years now, to my beautiful wife. She is the apple of my eye! As her husband-for-life, I have also completed my share of daily chores. I wash, dry, and return dishes, pots and pans, coffee cups, glasses, and silverware to their designated place. I also vacuum and wet mop our floors, make our bed each day, and wash, dry, fold, and return our laundry to wherever it belongs. What I do each day are not requirements of my wifes honey do list. It is my own unique way of working together with her in order to complete those daily tasks, which face all couples, married or not. This also applies to many other men as well, who voluntarily complete similar tasks at home on a daily basis.
I cant help but notice the glaring inconsistency in the way government is being help accountable for payment of capital facilities. At UCF, lower-level heads have rolled over using excess operating budget funds to construct a classroom building (UCF probe leads to firings, Jan. 19). Even I, an ex-private sector executive, know that public-sector budgets from one source cant be used for other projects. On the federal scene, we have President Trumps promised border wall to be paid for by Mexico. Now he is extorting the American public by holding 800,000 federal workers jobs hostage until we, the taxpayers, pay for his useless wall. The Sentinels front page is still erroneously calling this his campaign promise. Just ask those terminated employees from UCF why Trumps flip-flop of totally changing the source of funds is not a fireable offense -- it was for them. Please relay their answer to our senators, so they too understand the consequences of fiduciary responsibility for fiscal funds.
Since when does a public school principal, administrative officer, or college president get to claim financial ignorance of the state rules and regulations of the school budgets they are responsible for? (UCF probe leads to firings, Jan. 19, 2019) Any educator who has taken one course in school finance or had basic training in the budgetary process knows there is a major difference between operating and capital expenditures and that you are not allowed to use one to pay for expenses in the other. So how is UCF President Whittaker claiming ignorance of the implications for UCFs inappropriate use of operating funds? Of course Whittaker doesnt have the financial knowledge and know-how of some of his administrative staff, but he becomes as responsible as they are, even more so, when he encourages and approves their decisions. You would likely not be reading a story like this in the Sentinel if a public K-12 school principal, district administrator or superintendent did the same thing. They would simply lose their job.
But while theyre analyzing that speck in UCFs eye, whats the state going to do about the log in its own eye? For years (with one or two exceptions) the state has been starving colleges and universities of money. Florida is, as usual, mediocre in spending on higher education when compared with other states.
Citing a police report, KYW said McCutcheon  who told authorities she works for the Bucks County Humane Society  said she owns owns the land for the petting zoo and also owns the kangaroo. She said there was a court order saying she couldnt keep the kangaroo in Pennsylvania  which is why she was taking it to Florida.
You guys in Miami, I think the closest analog would be Hurricane Andrew, in terms of destruction, DeSantis said. Since Hurricane Andrew, and I grew up in Florida, nothing compared to what Ive seen in Michael, DeSantis said. I think were going to have a pretty big announcement tomorrow [Thursday] about the president helping out there, which is going to be phenomenal. So, stay tuned.
"I'm not going to spend my time pointing fingers," he said. "I think everybody should come together. If you have one issue that you really care about, you don't shut everything down if you can't get your way."
After taking office in his hometown at the age of 29  making him the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents  he confronted an industrial Midwest town that, like many others, had been left floundering by economic changes in recent decades that ruined much of the city's financial base. He pushed to revitalize South Bend, draw in new residents and businesses, diversify the economy and clean up blighted homes.
Floridas grant program received 35 applications in the previous funding cycle and pledged $3.3 million to 19 projects, including half a dozen in Central Florida. The program awarded $200,000 each to the Sandspur Road Trail in Maitland, the Legacy Loop in Clermont, the Central Winds Trailhead in Winter Springs and the Shingle Creek trail in Kissimmee. The program also gave $214,000 to help renovate the Minneola Trail in Lake County and $92,000 for a bridge on the West Orange Trail.
A lot of people do, when you talk to them, think that only individuals that dont have the grades to get into college are going to join the Navy or the militaryor the ones who get in too much trouble, Hidalgo said. Its really not the case  you get all walks of life.
Two physicians who were responsible for caring for the patient were no longer at the facility, Hacienda HealthCare said. One was suspended and the other resigned.
Rebecca T. Miller, 47, of Orlando was arrested Tuesday at the business at 755 N. U.S. Highway 27-441 after a woman reported her expensive watch missing, the report said. The customer told police she had taken it off while testing a chair and forgot it was in her lap when she got up to try another one, the report said, and didnt realize it was missing until she left the area.
ORMOND BEACH  Authorities have arrested a man who they say claimed to have a bomb on a transit bus in Central Florida.



The two-hour standoff Wednesday morning caused the evacuation of a high school and nearby businesses in Ormond Beach.



Ormond Beach police spokesman Keith Walker tells news outlets the man stepped off the bus at 10:33 a.m., lit a cigarette and lifted his shirt to show that he didn't have a bomb strapped to his body.



Walker says the driver and five passengers got off the bus when the man threatened to blow it up.



A Volusia County Sheriff's Office bomb squad robot removed two bags from the bus. Walker says the contents are being examined.



The man's name hasn't been released.



Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Karels told the Senate Agriculture Committee that about 1.4 million acres had severe or catastrophic tree loss, meaning 75 to 95 percent of the pine trees were damaged or destroyed. He said a 20-mile swath from the Gulf of Mexico to the Georgia border was the worst hit area. More than 16,000 private landowners were affected overall, including moderate damage far beyond the storm's eye, he said.
DETROIT  Authorities say two people have died in separate incidents after being exposed to extreme cold in western Michigan.



The Mason County Sheriff's Office a 77-year-old Ludington woman was found in the snow about 9 a.m. Monday after she apparently fell while walking to her car. Investigators believe the woman fell around 7 p.m. Sunday. She died after being taken to a hospital.



The Van Buren County Sheriff's Office says a 22-year-old man from Wimauma, Florida, was found dead in a car that became stuck in a field. It says another 22-year-old man from Wimauma was found unresponsive with the other man Monday morning and was hospitalized in critical condition.



The victims' names were not immediately released.



Temperatures Monday morning were below 0 in western Michigan.



Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The comment she made was on her own Facebook page, Adams said during Wednesdays meeting. It never should have escalated the way that it did and been put out there by the newspaper. We all have a right to say what we have to say.
"Orlando Sentinel Now" is a midday news show features the top news and quirky stories of the day. The show airs weekdays at noon on Facebook and OrlandoSentinel.com. You can join the conversation by commenting and taking polls.
The people of Florida stand with the community here in light of this tragic circumstance, said Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appeared alongside Hoglund and Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Ive asked FDLE to provide whatever resources we can at the state level to assist with the investigation and, obviously, this is an individual that needs to face very swift and exacting justice.
A bocata is a true taste of Spain, believe me. One bite and you are transported by the perfectly crunchy bread with all the flavors coming together in perfect harmony, Andres said in the news release. Pepe has my favorite bocatas from all across Spain and I look forward to sharing them with guests at Disney Springs.
Nationally, spurred by a 2014 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, school districts have been debating starting middle and high schools later to give teenagers more time to sleep. The academy argued that a too-early start to the school day contributed to sleep-deprived teenagers who were then more likely to get into car accidents and to run into academic trouble. It noted that teenagers are biologically programmed to stay up and wake up later, making an 8:30 a.m. start more reasonable than the earlier start some schools employ.
When youve spent your career in daytime television, you know the real thing when you see it, Geddie said in a statement. Tamron is smart, funny and relatable with a compelling life story  she has a voice that ought to be heard and is exactly what daytime needs right now. This is the most exciting thing Ive done since launching The View, and I cant wait to partner with Tamron and shake up daytime again.
Fortes fortuna adiuvat, or fortune favours the brave, is a Latin proverb that well describes the career of former Egyptian president Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat (1918-1981).

It describes the late presidents deeds from his early years as a young political activist fighting the British occupation through his years in the presidential office and until his cowardly assassination by Islamic Jihad, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, in October 1981.

Hardly any other world leader in modern history was as courageous in dealing with his countrys issues as was Sadat during his 11 years as president of Egypt between 1970 and 1981.

Sadats great future vision and steady moves towards a peace treaty with Israel saved Egypt from an ongoing war that had lasted for over three decades, a plummeting economic situation, and an isolation imposed as a result of political confrontation with the West during the previous Nasser era.

Sadats work for peace in the Middle East laid the groundwork for the region to aspire to a more stable future, even if this did not happen as Sadat had planned.

Today, as the country celebrates the fourth decade of the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, it is also paying homage to the man who dared to do what others could not and apparently still cannot do.

The Camp David Accords signed in September 1978 followed by the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty signed in March 1979 were the work of a political mastermind who was in advance of his time by decades.

Emerging victorious after the 1973 War with Israel and already reopening the Suez Canal for international trade by 1975, Sadat embarked on the most daring political move of the 20th century, which was seeking what was deemed as an impossible peace with Israel and thus ending a series of wars that had lasted since 1948.

For a leader to visit his enemies and deliver a historic speech in their parliament in 1977 urging them from the strong and confident standpoint of a victor to accept his extended hand for peace was unheard of at the time.

That day history changed in the Middle East forever, and the long and hard negotiations sponsored by then US president Jimmy Carter resulted in the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Sinai followed by the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Israel.

Equally importantly, the 1978 Camp David Accords stipulated the recognition of the Palestinian right of self-determination to be manifested in a Palestinian state within the pre-June 1967 borders after five years and followed by the full declaration of that state.

Unfortunately, Sadats vision was too much for the Arab leaders to grasp at the time, since they were not known to possess either political aptitude or vision.

They boycotted Egypt and called the treaty an act of treason to the Arab cause.

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) led by late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat rejected the treaty and committed the historic mistake of boycotting the talks.

Tyrannical Arab leaders such as former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, former Syrian president Hafez Al-Assad and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi formed a coalition against Egypt and Sadats initiative.

At the same time, they blackmailed other Arab League countries into joining their rejection of the treaty. History has seen what these three leaders did to their own countries through dictatorship, failed military campaigns and corruption.

However, Arafat had to succumb to the realities of the changing political scene, especially after the fall of the Soviet Union, and this resulted in the signing of the Gaza-Jericho Agreement with Israel in 1994.

In the same year, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel. The former Soviet Union was instrumental in rallying the afore-mentioned Arab leaders and others against the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, and this helped to nullify its once strong political influence in the region.

Much to the Soviets dismay, the treaty went through, and eventually the Soviet Union itself was dissolved and disintegrated into 15 independent states in 1991, as Sadat had predicted more than decade earlier in his autobiography In Search of Identity.

Once again, Sadats clairvoyant vision was manifested in predicting the fall of the USSR, which no one else envisioned at that time.

Unfortunately, even 40 years after the treaty was signed, there are still some today who doubt the bravery and the wisdom of choosing the path of peace over war.

As a political rule, wars are fought when diplomacy and politics fail, but if the latter are successful in attaining the desired goals then there is no reason to fight a war.

Even if the peace with Israel has been labelled by some as a cold peace, or if others remain oblivious to the changing world of politics and the balance of power, the Egyptian nations future and its people should not be the price for them to change their narrow minds.

Anti-peace camp politicians, journalists and others will likely remain to bash the treaty and howl about the Arab cause from their lofty perches. They will keep running the anti-peace business as long as they can, because the Palestinian cause remains their most lucrative commodity to peddle.

What will these critics do if that cause is resolved? How will they pay for their stays in luxury hotels and for their luxurious way of living, garnered for decades through propagating anti-peace rhetoric while their own countries are suffering from tyranny, corruption and wars?

Sadat has earned his place in the annals of history, and his vision of peace has transcended the 20th century, entering the 21st century with Sadat as a centennial leader and a political mastermind of the finest sort.

Sadats efforts for peace earned him the Nobel Peace Prize with then Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in 1978. He was once described by former Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky (1911-1990), along with former British prime minister Winston Churchill, as one of the greatest politicians of the 20th century.

Most recently, in December 2018 as part of his centennial tribute, the US Congress awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honour for his great deeds for peace in the Middle East.

Sadat was a master politician in a region that is nearly devoid of this calibre of statesmen. A mastery of the art of politics combined with a clear vision for the future were Sadats compass and lay behind most of his decisions. He knew when to go to war and when to negotiate peace.

He predicted the fall of the Soviet Union over a decade before its fall in 1991, and he also predicted that the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 would bring extremism in a turbulent region.

He did this even as many other world leaders were foolishly celebrating the fall of shah Reza Pahlavi and even foolishly predicting that a democracy would follow in what became one of the most barbaric and autocratic regimes of modern times.

Because of the great deeds of late president Anwar Sadat, it is fitting that we pay our proper respects to one of Egypts most dedicated sons in his centennial year. We should remember how his long-term vision still lives to this day, making him a leader whose vision was far ahead of that of his contemporaries.

Sadat can rest in peace, knowing that his vision for peace remains the only viable one in a turbulent region and that the guns of war will one day be silenced no matter how loud the war-mongers voices may remain.

* The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring and the Winding Road to Democracy.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 24 January, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The centennial of a leader

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Drunk History retraces history and developers attempts to conquer the Everglades. But landscape architect Ernest Coe stepped in and drew on support of the opinionated Douglas. According to the show, she was dazzled by animated creatures in the Disney mold.
Asked about the bill, Paul Handerhan, senior vice president of the Fort Lauderdale-based Florida Association for Insurance Reform, said he doesnt foresee any scenario in which Broxsons bill does not advance out of the committee. From there, it would go to the Judiciary and Rules committees before proceeding to the full Senate, and then merged with legislation from the House of Representatives, which approved its own bill in 2017 restricting attorneys fees.
Dr B Surendra Reddy to be Honoured with Vivekananda Sewa Samman





Dr B Surendra Reddy

Kolkata: The 33th Vivekananda Sewa Samman-2019 will be presented to noted social activist of Telangana Dr B. Surendra Reddy on February 16. Presented by Shree Burrabazaar Kumarsabha Pustakalaya, the Puraskar will be presented by Odisha Governor Prof Ganeshilal. The Puraskar consists of a citation, memento and a cheque of Rs one lakh.

Born on July 3, 1938 in Warangal district of Telangana, Dr B Surendra Reddy did MBBS from Hyderabad in 1963. He became a Sangh swayamsevak in 1950 and was a Pracharak from 1964 to 1973. In 1973, he returned to his ancestral village to start a clinic for his villagers. After his marriage in 1976, he also started work for eradication of untouchability. To begin with he first appointed his assistance at the clinic from a SC family. Then he renovated a 100 year old temple and ensured entry of all people in the temple. In 1982, he started Saraswati Shishu Mandir in the village and also built a hospital. He also started Prabhat Pheris, Vijayadashami celebration and also Bathukamma festival on grand scale. All these activities strengthened harmony in the village to the extent that the village is today untouchabiltiy-free.

However, this journey has not been easy. The Naxalites bombed his Sewa Kendra in 1999. Later, his clinic at the ancestral village was also targeted in 2000. Meanwhile, he had to shift to Hyderabad where he joined the Sewa Bharati work. He is also a member of the national committee of the Arogya Bharati.
If you need to get some serious thinking done, go to the mountains. That notion holds across a wide range of cultures, but it has a particular force in Japan, where solo hiking, sometimes greatly extended solo hiking, has long been a popular treatment for a wide variety of troubles both personal and professional. But no group has taken it to quite the extreme as have the Yamabushi, ascetic mountain hermits who have practiced Shugendo, a hybridization of versions of esoteric Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto that goes back to the eighth century. What sort of lifestyle, one wonders, would such serious religious dedication in such a harsh, remote location produce?

Visual journalist Fritz Schumann, previously featured here on Open Culture for his documentaries on a 1300-year-old Japanese hotel and a nearly extinct Japanese printing technique, gives us a sense of that in his new short Mountain Monks. Walking barefoot through rivers, meditating under waterfalls and spending the nights on mountaintops  that is the way of the Yamabushi, he writes.









They walk into the forest to die and be born again. Their Shugendo teachings peaked in popularity during the 17th century, when Yamabushi visited around 90 percent of all villages in northern Japan, and when its monks were said to have magical powers and served as advisors to samurai and warlords. But then, in the late 19th century, when Japan opened itself to the west and moved from a feudal state towards industrialization, their religion was forbidden.

Though the proscription on Yamabushi has long since been lifted, as a religion it no longer possesses quite the following it once did. A group of monks has kept its flame alive in secret in isolation, up in northern Japans Yamagata prefecture, and now anyone can sign up for private courses through the official Yamabushido web site, even foreigners. The simple rigors of their daily life may sound appealing indeed to those fed up with whichever modern, technology-saturated society theyve come from, and Schumanns film may well convince a fair few to look into the experience themselves. Not to say that he sugar-coats it: The idea, declares one Yamabushi member right at the beginning, is to experience the tortures of hell.

Related Content:

Hoshi: A Short Documentary on the 1300-Year-Old Hotel Run by the Same Japanese Family for 46 Generations

The Art of Collotype: See a Near Extinct Printing Technique, as Lovingly Practiced by a Japanese Master Craftsman

Japanese Priest Tries to Revive Buddhism by Bringing Techno Music into the Temple: Attend a Psychedelic 23-Minute Service

A Hypnotic Look at How Japanese Samurai Swords Are Made

Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles and the video series The City in Cinema. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
One year ago, the Korean Peninsula had a rendezvous with history. After almost 12 months of threats of an impending doomsday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un surprised the world with a conciliatory message to South Korea on the occasion of the new year, 2018.

One month and a half later, the sister of the supreme leader of North Korea travelled to South Korea as head of the North Korean national team taking part in the Winter Olympics.

It was a repeat of what is known as ping-pong diplomacy that paved the way, four decades earlier, to the normalisation of relations between the United States and China. Many had thought that the same dynamics would apply to relations between Washington, Pyongyang and Seoul.

This turn of events in the Korean Peninsula was made possible by the election of Moon Jae-In as president of South Korea in 2017. From the outset, he left no doubt that he would work for peace and security in the Korean Peninsula by engaging the young and assertive leader of North Korea.

In the first half of last year, he brought about something that never happened before since the end of the Korean War in 1953, that is, an American-North Korean summit on 12 June in Sentosa, Singapore. It was the first summit ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

The summit raised hopes that a peace process for the Peninsula would begin in earnest and that the world was about to see the end of the last vestige of the Cold War.

However, many, especially the hawks in the United States and South Korea, were very sceptical of the true intentions of the leader of North Korea. Most of them have believed that he was just manoeuvring in order to alleviate the effects of the sanctions regime imposed on his country.

Still, the North and South Korean leaders met in three summits in the course of last year and agreed on a roadmap for the future normalisation of inter-Korean relations.

From following developments in these relations, there is no doubt that the two sides are looking forward to the day when sanctions would be alleviated on the North and wont be an obstacle towards the fulfillment of the hopes of the peoples of the two Koreas for peace and security on the Peninsula, and ultimately the reunification of Korea.

The major stumbling block in this respect has been the US definition of denuclearisation. While North Korea thinks in terms of the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula as a whole, and that the process should not be limited to the North, American leaders have insisted on a narrow definition; namely, denuclearisation applies only to North Korea.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to travel to Pyongyang in October to hold talks with the leaders of North Korea and prepare the grounds for a second American-North Korean summit.

For various reasons, mainly public American insistence that denuclearisation means the nuclear disarmament of the North without specifying what the United States would give in return, in terms of security guarantees to Pyongyang and bringing to an end the state of war on the Korean Peninsula, the trip was postponed.

It goes without saying that the North Korean leader needs to achieve a breakthrough in American positions concerning the future security architecture in the Peninsula.

It is highly doubtful that he would agree to the complete denuclearisation of his country and willingly lose the formidable deterrence capabilities that Pyongyang already has in return for sanctions relief and economic assistance.

Short of such a breakthrough, North Korea sees no advantages in pursuing a limited peace process in which it becomes the party that makes major concessions without anything concrete in return.

The strategic cost is too high to be contemplated from the perspective of the North. In this, no sensible mind could fault them.

On 31 December, Kim Jong-Un addressed his nation, and the world, in a New Years Eve speech. He was quoted as saying: We have announced that we will not produce, test nor proliferate any more nuclear weapons, and have taken practical measures accordingly.

He stressed that, if the United States responds to our pre-emptive and autonomous efforts with credible measures and corresponding actions, the relationship between the two countries will accelerate for the better.

The message could not be clearer to American negotiators. It says no nuclear disarmament in North Korea without ending the deployment of American nuclear assets in South Korea, as well as the necessary delivery systems. And an official end to the state of war on the Korean Peninsula.

The North Korean interpretation of such a political and legal declaration would entail the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea, or at least a drawdown of American forces, including nuclear arms, so that it ceases to pose an existential threat to a nuclear-free North Korea.

Lest he be misunderstood, he warned that if the United States does not keep the promises it made in front of the world, misjudges the patience of our people, forces a unilateral demand on us and firmly continues with sanctions and pressures on our republic, we might be compelled to explore new ways to protect our autonomy and interests, and establish peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

During the outgoing year, the North Korean leader met Chinese President Xi Jinping three times in China. It is expected that a return visit by President Xi to Pyongyang would take place in 2019.

In the meantime, there are press reports that Kim Jong-Un would pay an official visit to Moscow, which would be his first trip to Russia since he came to power in 2011.

These visits prove that Kim Jong-Un has played his diplomatic cards quite intelligently with both China and Russia, something that would help him in an upcoming summit with President Donald Trump.

2019 could prove to be a decisive year for the two Koreas, and expectedly the South Korean president would spare no efforts in trying to bridge the gaps in American and North Korean positions with respect to the question of denuclearisation and its linkage to ending the state of war between North and South Korea.

* The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 24 January, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The year of decision

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It came as a cruel surprise to EU Ambassador to Washington David OSullivan to find his name at the end of the list when foreign diplomats were called up to pay respects at former president George Bush Srs funeral in December.

As the longest serving ambassador in Washington, he had expected his name to be among the first called. This was not a slip-up. The State Department had degraded the EU delegations diplomatic status from member state to international organisation.

The difference between the two in the world of diplomacy is not small and the heads of EU diplomatic delegations throughout the world are unaccustomed to such treatment.

As a twist of the knife, the US State Department had not notified its European allies and their representatives of the downgrade beforehand.

But the world is changing. The EU is no longer that actor on the world stage sitting side-by-side with the heads of superpowers as though it were, itself, a superpower in the making, as was the case during the multilateral Middle East peace talks a quarter of a century ago and, more recently, during the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme.

Although, the delegation facing Iran across the table consisted of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany (known as the P5+1), an EU representative was always present.

But now the EU has become an international organisation like dozens of others represented in Washington and there is no doubt that the decision to demote it originated in the White House  from President Donald Trump, personally.

A main reason for this is that the US does not want the EU to become a superpower. Another reason relates to the UK vote, on 2 June 2016, on the process known as Brexit.

The first reason is a reflection of a democracy crisis among Western powers.

The second is a manifestation of the crisis of democracy in the West, in particular.

Robert Kagan sums up the situation in his recent book, The Jungle Grows Back. [A] profound and extended crisis of confidence besets the democratic world, even in the birthplace of modern democracy.

Liberal international institutions like the European Union, once considered the vanguard of a postmodern future, are now under assault from without and within.

In America, racial and tribal forces that have always been part of the subterranean stream of American history have re-emerged to reshape politics and society Today, a Counter-Enlightenment of surprising potency stirs in Moscow, Budapest, Beijing, Tehran and Cairo, in parts of Western Europe, and even in the nation that saved liberalism seventy-five years ago.

The very makeup of democracy and liberalism, as it has evolved since the end of the Cold War and the declaration of the end of History, is coming under waves of attack, according to this viewpoint.

And nothing like Brexit illustrates it better. British democracy is the oldest democracy in the world. Dating back to the Magna Carta, it laid the foundations for constitutional monarchy and power vested in representatives of the people.

It was the British philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704), who laid the theoretical foundations for the democratic ideal and its institutions based on rational thought, order and deliberation among representatives of diverse segments of the citizenry.

Locke, like other Enlightenment philosophers such as Montesquieu, also cautioned against the people and populism, a warning that dates from the times of ancient Greek philosophers who recognised the essential danger the masses could pose to democracy itself.

Nevertheless, former prime minister David Cameron fell into the trap. In order to escape the pressures of populist politics, he called for a popular referendum at a time when the people were vulnerable to demagogic appeals.

Prime Minister Theresa May was not among the many conservatives of her party who supported Brexit. She was pro-remain. Yet, she was ready to take the responsibility to reach a deal with the EU that would sustain good will and make the separation as smooth as possible.

Making a deal was never going to be easy because of the many overlapping and intertwining interest between the two sides. Not only did she have to take into account EU positions but also the views and interests of the British people who had voted to remain, especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But the vote on the deal that she had brought to parliament, which was prevented from the outset of having a say in whether to stay or leave, epitomised the dilemma that democracy now faces in Britain. The deal that May had put to a vote suffered an overwhelming defeat (438 against versus only 202 for).

That could not have occurred without an amazing convergence between those who had voted to remain in the EU and those who had voted to leave. Among the latter were the Brexiters who wanted to defeat the bill because that meant defeating an agreement that would retain quite a few ties with the EU.

Their positions are like Trumps. They oppose any arrangement that transcends the nation state and hands a portion of national sovereignty to a supranational multilateral organisation.

Those in the opposition who opposed Mays deal felt that the vote would overturn the results of the Brexit referendum and open the doors to a new referendum in which the British people could express their realisation of what is truly in their interests.

When two opposites come together in this manner to reject a proposal put to vote in parliament for totally different reasons, democracy is in a big predicament.

What makes that vote all the more critical is that it was surrounded by a high degree of hypocrisy. Many of those who voted against Theresa Mays proposed deal with the EU returned the following day to collude to keep her in power.

Normally, in British parliamentary conventions, when parliament rejects a prime ministers major policy proposal, especially with such an overwhelming defeat that Mays proposed EU deal sustained, the prime minister resigns.

May did not resign and the MPs who had charged her with every conceivable shortcoming and sin in the way she handled negotiations with Brussels were not willing to oust her because they were not prepared to embark on a new, costly and unpredictable general election.

At the time this article went to press, the British prime minister had not yet decided what step to take next apart from saying that she would invite all parties  the Conservatives who had voted against her deal, the Labour opposition and the other smaller parties  to talk.

So, it appears that a range of options remain on the table, including a hard exit from the EU without a deal, meaning a vicious and painful divorce and failure to apply the rules that British democracy had agreed to regarding commitment to the exit process in accordance with the provisions of Article 50 of the Lisbon Agreement. So, too, is the possibility of a second referendum which, in turn, would present another democratic predicament.

To take the question of Brexit back to the people, the majority of whom now oppose leaving the EU according to recent opinion polls, might resolve the impasse temporarily but it would not prevent a situation in which recourse to plebiscite becomes the rule rather than the exception when it comes to solving complex problems that the elected officials of parliament would be expected to handle.

After all, not too long from now the people could change its mind again.

The two predicaments above raise a third dilemma, which is that democratic systems are not very democratic in times of sharp polarisation. In all events, it appears that representational democracy was not cut out for this.

* The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 24 January, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: The Brexit dilemma

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Now, Sandmann and his classmates from Covington Catholic have been invited to the White House to meet the man who wears the original MAGA hat. Theyve gone from villains to heroes, when in fact they were just a bunch of teenagers caught in a crossfire of accusations.
Test scores were linked with evaluations in 2015, when Cuomo and the Legislature agreed to enact a statewide teacher evaluation system. The teachers unions and many parents quickly objected, with scores of kids opting out of taking the statewide assessment tests given to kids in third through eighth grade. The state Education Department had implemented a moratorium that had delayed the mandatory use of the student test scores in evaluating teachers until after the 2020 school year as lawmakers pushed to permanently scrap the provision.
I launched a presidential exploratory committee because it is a season for boldness and it is time to focus on the future, he announced on Twitter. Are you ready to walk away from the politics of the past?
The 29-year-old congresswoman, who has been vehemently critical of Trump and recently ripped him as a blatant racist, was added to the powerful panel along with fellow left-leaning House newcomers Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), the aide told the Daily News.
With the partial shutdown on its 33rd day and polls showing the public siding with the Democratic position, Jeffries and other Democrats saw little reason to give in to Trump's demand for his wall funding, regardless of the damage they believe is being done to workers, farmers, and the economy.
Augusts Rooms, an exhibition by two artists, Mona Essam ElDin and Nesreen Mamdouh, will open at Soma Gallery 30 January.

The exhibition is an exploration of the mind  both the conscious and unconscious aspects of it.

Both artists were inspired by the work of the schizophrenic German artist August Natterer and his infamous April Fool's Day hallucination; a strong vision that inspired an intense production of 10,000 images in efforts to recapture it.

Natterers Art of schizophrenia was one of the first attempts to present the unorthodox world of the human psyche.

Both artists follow in his wake, examining the mind beyond the limitations of reason.

Essam ElDin graduated from the Faculty of Art Education, Helwan University, in 2010, where she also obtained her Masters degree from the Department of Drawing and Painting in 2016.

In most of her artworks she experiments with numerous mediums, between drawing, painting, printing and illustration.

ElDin earned the first place award in the human rights exhibition at the Faculty of Art Education in 2008, and the Roznama 5 Award by Medrar Gallery in 2016, which gave her an exhibition at Soma Gallery.

Mamdouh is a 2010 graduate of the Helwan Faculty of Fine Arts. She went on to obtain a postgraduate diploma in animation from the Higher Institute of Cinema in 2013, and is currently pursuing a Masters degree.

She won the Youth Salons commissioner award for her installation titled Uncontainable in the 29th Youth Salon. The same project was also featured in the First International Video Art Forum.

Mamdouhs short experimental animation On White II won first place at the Global Forum for Animation, as well as at the Forsan Festival, in addition to the jury award of the Mohamed Abla Prize for Animated Films.

Programme:

Opening on Wednesday, 30 January at 7pm and runs till 27 February

SOMA Art School and Gallery Exhibition, 3 Al-Adel Abou Baker Square, 3rd floor, Apartment 9, Zamalek, 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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While Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sailed to reelection in November, New Yorkers arent showing as much enthusiasm about her presidential bid in 2020, Quinnipiac polling analyst Mary Snow said. Even though she has served in the Senate for a decade, roughly a quarter of New Yorkers say they dont know enough about her to form an opinion.
I want to caution, I don't know this family, I don't know the history of this family, he said at an unrelated press conference, adding that 1986 was quite a while ago. We're talking about today. I don't know who the cast of characters is, if it's the same in the details or not. What I care about is getting these buildings under public control.
I just want to make sure I understand. You can file a bogus arbitration...then come before Your Honor and this court and lie about the validity of this agreement.You can threaten a U.S. citizen. Then on the eve of deposition, you can reverse course and say we agree? Avenatti asked.
Lawyers for both sides spoke during the Wednesday hearing and agreed they wanted a delay because the criminal investigation was still pending and Bachner needed more time to get his full clearance to practice in California.
Yes. She is the favorite and we should do her the favor, Chapo texted back, saying that the murder should take place when the cop is leaving his house and made to look as a revenge from some gangbanger. Dont be seen. Not with a rifle, but with a pistol, so it doesnt look violent.
Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become the symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be, he wrote. They have captivated the attention of the world and I know they will use it for the good  maybe even bring people together. It started off as unpleasant, but can end in a dream!
The grandmother searched the area for about 45 minutes before she decided to call the police. Officers from the Craven County Sheriffs Office, the North Carolina Highway Patrol and additional volunteers have spent the last several days looking for the missing toddler, but none of leads have so far brought them to Casey.
Cleaning staff at the warehouse were informed that there was blood and vomit in the bathroom at 3:30 p.m. and cleaned it up, according to The Arizona Republic. Later on, at around 8 p.m., a janitor noticed the bathroom trash bag he was removing was heavier than usual, according to the newspaper.
The balls that were dropped, it wasnt that (the school board) didnt have these tools, they just werent at our school, said Charles. It wasnt that they didnt have these tools to help the victims of bullying, they just werent there. They werent used.
Langerud claimed the deafening sound of the tumbling tree resembled an airplane crashing into the house. He was alone in the basement as items tumbled on top of him. He said he was confused as to what was occurring and when he called out to his sister and brother-in-law, there was no response.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday he hoped the French people would not choose President Emmanuel Macron's party in European parliament elections later this year, heightening recent tensions between Rome and Paris.

Relations between Italy and France, generally close allies, have worsened since the far-right League and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement formed a coalition government in Italy last year and took aim at pro-European Union Macron's En Marche (On the Move) party.

"Macron may no longer be our interlocutor (in the future)," Salvini said in an interview with state-owned radio RAI. "His support is less than 20 percent. I hope the French people can shortly make different choices," he said, referring to the May European elections.

On Monday, France summoned Italy's ambassador after Salvini's fellow deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, accused Paris of creating poverty in Africa and generating mass migration to Europe.

On Tuesday, Salvini said France was not interested in stabilising war-torn Libya, a staging point for smugglers who send migrants toward Europe on unsafe boats, because French energy interests there clash with Italy's.

Salvini, who is the leader of the League party, also said he is not concerned about the effect the dispute will have on the government's effort to save troubled airline Alitalia.

Italian newspapers have reported that the French-Dutch airline Air France-KLM is in talks with Rome to take a stake in the carrier.

"There are other (players) in a position to take a share of Alitalia's capital," Salvini said.

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In his testimony, Lopez gave new details of Chapos daring dash from custody, saying the kingpins sons oversaw the purchase of a property outside the prison and hired tunnel architects who were able to use a GPS watch on Guzmans wrist to locate his cell and dig the underground passageway to freedom.
Zephen Xaver, 21, called police just after noon to report that hed fired shots inside the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, in central Florida. Negotiations failed to persuade the barricaded man to leave the building. The SWAT team then entered the bank, and the gunman eventually gave up, police said.
The plaintiffs accuse Jones of orchestrating a campaign of abusive and outrageous false statements in which Jones and the other defendants have developed, amplified and perpetuated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged and that the 26 families who lost loved ones that day are paid actors who faked their relative's deaths.
Pettits nephew, who was not named, reportedly heard Jessica yelping on Saturday and, when he went see what was going on, he saw his uncle holding the dog down.
Cogburn spoke to CBS two months to the day after Berreths disappearance. She was last seen on surveillance video on Nov. 22 at a grocery store holding her baby Kaylee, who is now one and a half and in the custody of her parents temporarily.
Holmes said he considered himself a loner, grading himself an eight on a one-to-10 level on the loner scale. Reid also asks questions about the killers romantic life, probing if he had many girlfriends. Holmes claims to have had no romantic relationships in college, although there was one woman he was interested in while working as a California camp counselor but she didnt return his affection.
They were sitting with their hands on their heads, which were lowered as if they were praying, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said in November. We also have sources the detectives have developed from this investigation thus far, statements made that they would rather inflict harm on themselves, commit suicide, than return to Saudi Arabia.
He had said that we would not stop searching until we find the remains for justice and for the familys closure, Roxanne said. This is our family member, our loved one, our nephew in the garbage. We need closure, and were afraid of them getting away with it without the body.
When he died he had been with the NYPD for about 15 years but in so many ways he was still very excited to be a policeman, George Bolden added. He never wanted to hide the fact that he was a policeman. (His superiors) tried to put him in a detective squad but he hated it because he was not in uniform.
China and Europe take centre stage in front of the world's business elite at Davos on Wednesday, a day after Brazil's hard-right President Jair Bolsonaro promised reform and tried to win over sceptics about his environmental platform.

The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) is taking place this week in a global context of populism and concern for the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

Arriving by train to Davos on Wednesday is Greta Thunberg, a Swedish 16-year-old who has inspired protests by high-schoolers across Europe demanding stronger government action to fight global warming.

Top billing on the WEF stage will go to Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, who is tasked with negotiating a truce in the US-China trade war.

The annual conference in the Alpine ski resort was originally expected to see the two sides meet, but that was before the White House cancelled the US delegation's trip due to the government shutdown in Washington.

Beyond the trade war, Davos-goers are also concerned about the economic slowdown in China.

Economic experts predict growth of about six percent in China for 2019, which is still relatively strong, but below the country's stellar rates of recent years.

Wang will be watched closely to see if Beijing has plans for stimulus or to liberalise the economy in order to restore ebbing investor confidence.

No 'happy globalisation'

The clash between Beijing and Washington, which is again upsetting the markets, has dampened spirits at Davos, as signs grow of a broader slowdown in the world economy.

"This is really the end of happy globalisation," said Pascal Cagni, ex-CEO of Apple Europe and head of the Business France lobby.

"We are finishing digesting the 2008 crisis and we realise that the global governance we need is not there," he said.

Europe also takes its turn at the WEF on Wednesday, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel making her traditional visit to the forum to promote the continent's leading economy.

However, Merkel comes to Davos weakened after being forced out of the leadership of her CDU party last year. She plans to leave office by 2020.

The Europeans as a whole come to Davos under the cloud of Brexit, with Britain's plan to divorce from the European Union blocked in parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa May pulled out of the conference to handle Brexit as did the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, both eager to avoid a "no deal" exit on March 29.

But May's international trade secretary, Liam Fox, is one of a clutch of cabinet members who have made the trip to reassure investors about Britain's post-Brexit future.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after a recent trip to London to press May to secure a deal with Brussels, will also address the Davos audience on Wednesday.

The younger generation of European leadership will be represented by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who was thrust unexpectedly to power in June after a parliamentary vote of no confidence in his predecessor.

Sanchez will meet with top executives from US tech giants, including Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, with Madrid's controversial decision to tax Silicon Valley on sales certain to be on the agenda.

The EU is struggling to agree a bloc-wide tax on tech giants such as Facebook and Google. Several European countries -- including Spain, France and Britain -- are now looking to impose their own taxes.

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Credit: Danny ClinchMuse has announced a special show in Los Angeles leading up to the 2019 Grammys.

The British rock trio will headline the Hollywood Palladium on Saturday, February 9, one night before the Grammys are handed out at Staples Center on February 10.

The show is part of the Citi Sound Vault concert series, and tickets are only available to Citi cardmembers. Visit CitiPrivatePass.com/CitiSoundVault for more info.

Muse isn't nominated for any Grammys this year, but they've previously won Best Rock Album prizes for Drones and The Resistance.

Muse will launch a U.S. tour in support of their new album Simulation Theory February 22 in Houston.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
She was loving and kind. My mother had a heart of gold, Oliver said. Her dream was to go to the Dominican Republic and open an orphanage. She always wanted to help kids. Thats what she was going to do when she retired.
Ive never been so angry in my entire life, fumed Patrolmens Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch in a courthouse hallway. Ive never sat in a courtroom where a judge looked at a police officer confined to a wheelchair, heard the (wife) speak of how their lives changedand then say this mutt should be treated as a child.
The fallen Hollywood heavyweight will go into battle at trial with Harvard Law School professor Ron Sullivan and Jose Baez, who won an acquittal for accused child murderer Casey Anthony in 2011, as his lawyers.
Brownsville can and should be as safe as Brooklyn Heights, ONeill said at the annual State of the NYPD speech at the Pierre Hotel on the East Side. Crime can and should be as low in the South Bronx as it is in Tribeca. There will be no sacred cows or side agendas  just the urgent mission for everyone in these communities, and all of our city, to come together as one to ensure that every square block of New York City is free from both the threat  and the fear  of crime.
"I pled guilty to a charge of harassment, a violation," he said in a four-part rant, adding that in the courthouse where he appeared, there were "3 murder trials scheduled, one involving a white supremacist who killed someone in Times Square. All the press was outside the courtroom I was in." He then went on to lash out at a description of the argument as a punch, declaring that is untrue and that it didn't happen," and griped: "nothing that resembles justice ever enters or leaves any courtroom in this country."
We collectively chose a traditional American lager  inspired by the most popular style of beer when The Stone Pony opened their doors and added a modern twist, Jeff Plate, founder of Asbury Park Brewery and a former musician, said in a statement. The result is an American lager, dry hopped with a few different hop varieties, one being a Saphir hop to commemorate the sapphire symbolism of the 45th anniversary.
Its a profound honor to continue my dads legacy while stepping into the shoes of a young Tony Soprano, Gandolfini told Deadline in a statement. Im thrilled that Im going to have the opportunity to work with David Chase and the incredible company of talent he has assembled for The Many Saints of Newark.
Russia said on Wednesday that Israel should stop carrying out what it called arbitrary air strikes on Syria days after the Israeli air force targeted Iranian forces there.

Israel, which regards Iran as its biggest threat, has repeatedly attacked Iranian targets in Syria and those of allied militia, including Lebanon's Hezbollah.

"The practice of arbitrary strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, in this case, we are talking about Syria, should be ruled out," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, in answer to a question from Russian news agency TASS about recent Israeli air strikes on Syria.

She said such strikes added to tensions in the region, something she said was not in the long-term interests of any country there, including Israel.

"We should never allow Syria, which has suffered years of armed conflict, to be turned into an arena where geopolitical scores are settled," TASS cited her as saying.

Her comments follow Israeli strikes in Syria on Monday.

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Rome, GA (30161)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Cedartown, GA (30125)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Adam Cook is a general assignment reporter and covers the Walker-Catoosa County area. He has been a reporter since 2009. He can be reached at The Catoosa County News office at 706-935-2621 and by email at acook@npco.com.
Rep. Spencer Roach will host an open house on Wednesday, Jan. 30, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at his new district office in North Fort Myers.

Constituents are welcome to meet the representative and his staff as well as share their concerns for District 79. House District 79 is the only district in the state of Florida which is wholly unincorporated, and includes the communities of North Fort Myers, Fort Myers Shores, Olga, Alva, Lehigh Acres, and Buckingham.

The office is at 3436 Marinatown Lane, Suite 6.

Light refreshments will be served.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has berated the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, accusing him of transpar...

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has berated the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, accusing him of transparent opposition to President Muhammadu Buhari.





The party is angered by Nwodos decision to fix Imeobi meeting of Ohanaeze on Thursday.





It is the same day President Buhari would arrive South-East states of Anambra and Enugu for presidential campaign.





Ohanaeze had fixed same Thursday for apex meeting of the group, Imeobi, where highest decisions of Ndigbo are made.





The Deputy Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegbu said Ndigbo would at the meeting take a position on which direction they will cast their votes.





However, the APC National Vice President for South East, Chief Emma Enukwu told reporters that the apex Igbo group will not stop the coming of Buhari to the region.





He said, Ohanaeze has always been known to assume different disposition to the detriment of Ndigbo when it comes to politics.





Ohanaeze is the only socio-cultural group that has taken a position on 2019 election with adoption of a candidate, but power belongs to God.





Ohanaeze doesnt give power and Mr. President is coming to campaign and nothing will stop him.
A total of 1,079 "rioters" were arrested across Egypt on the third anniversary of the January 25 revolution, the interior ministry announced in a statement late on Saturday.

Security forces said it had prevented "the Muslim Brotherhood's terrorist plot to disrupt celebrations" by "attempting to block roads, chant hostile slogans and provoke riots."

Some of those arrested were accused of possessing Molotov cocktails and fireworks, live ammunition and birdshot rifles.

The fiercest clashes, according to the statement, took place in Alf Maskan and Al-Matarya districts of Ain Shams in east Cairo, where Brotherhood supporters allegedly fired birdshot.

Several police officers were injured in the clashes.

According to the health ministry at least 29 civilians were killed on Saturday as violence erupted in Cairo, Giza, Upper Egypt's Minya governorate, Alexandria and other cities.

In addition to Brotherhood loyalists, police also clashed with anti-Brotherhood and anti-military protesters.

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As reactions continue to trail the recent statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the state of the nation, the Council of ...

As reactions continue to trail the recent statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the state of the nation, the Council of Progressive Yoruba Youths has apologized to Nigerians.





The youth group said the latest missive in circulation entitled Points For Concern And Action by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was off-point and should be discarded in its entirety.





Speaking at a news conference in Lagos on Tuesday, the National President of the group, Kola Salawu, said Nigerians needed to forgive Obasanjo for the eight years he wasted as a civilian president and for the wrong path he set the nation on.





Salawu said the Yoruba race was deeply ashamed that a so-called elder from its ethnic stock decided to remain in a muddy gutter by penning such nauseating content.





He claimed that Obasanjo sowed the seed for extremism that birthed terrorism.





The youth leader said, In Yoruba land, we take pride in answering our names. Only a bastard will deny his name. In practical terms this translates into us standing by our decisions and actions, irrespective of what outcomes they produced. Where the outcomes are good our head swell with the accompanying accolades; where the results of our actions are undesirable, we accept responsibility with honour and explore how to make amends so that we remain an integral part of the society. Of course, in the ancient past, where the failing is too grievous and involves a king that remained recalcitrant the relevant powers will have to present him, with an empty calabash.





This is a level of honour Obasanjo has never possessed and is incapable of learning. Had he such honour he would have accepted that the current insecurity he ranted is the outcome of his misrule that is only now yielding fruits. The poverty that makes it possible for terrorists, militants and separatists to gain new recruits was first instituted under his watch as president. The extremism that the nation today grapple with first surfaced under him with some states declaring Sharia rule, which was the incentive that made terrorists started demanding nationwide strict implementation Sharia.





In the entire eight years he held office, Obasanjo was in mortal fear of being overthrown because of the unpopularity of his government. His solution to this was to destroy the military in the belief that there would be no way to plot a coup against him if there is no virile military. In addition to embarking on massive sacks and purge that deprived the military establishment of crucial institutional memory, he also ensured that the military inventory was depleted without replenishment or procurement to make sure that the military was incapacitated.





The destruction of the military armory at Ikeja Cantonment about this time of the year in 2002 has now been confirmed to be part of Obasanjos desperation to de-tooth the military. A military plane crash that killed a dozen generals under Obasanjos watch in 2006 is equally put down to part of his obsession to gelatinize the military. He seemed to have succeeded with it.





The taint on the military from Obasanjos directives for troops to disregard rules of engagement in Odi and Zak-Ibiam remains an obstacle to the military. Even when their recent and ongoing operations meet the global standards for the rules of engagement, the stain from the Obasanjo years remains a perspective from which the military is perceived. This affects the ability of the military to procure arms when they need it and the same tyrant under whose watch this happened is today playing the saint.





In essence, Obasanjo sowed the seed for extremism that birthed terrorism. He backed this up by ensuring that the military was emasculated and unable to respond to the threat he has created. What has saved Nigeria from Obasanjos evil intent was the timely turnaround being witnessed under President Buhari, who has high regards for institutional memory in the military.





The whole of Nigeria became his enemy and he has never lost on any perceived opportunity to exact vengeance on all citizens. May we refresh our memory that Obasanjo reportedly trained 1000 killer snipers abroad with the intention of using them to assassinate those who stand in the way of his ambition. These snipers formed part of the pioneer team of killers that have remained loose in the country till date.





The outcome of that election produced Mallam Umaru YarAdua as president and it was a matter of months before Obasanjo started wishing him dead because he turned out not to be the stooge that Obasanjo expected. YarAduas demise paved way for Goodluck Jonathan, whom Obasanjo did much to mislead and abandoned after he incurred the anger of Nigerians pleasing the former President. If Obasanjo thought he would have a pliant President Buhari following his opposition of Jonathan he was in for a rude shock.





If Obasanjo supported YarAdua and later disowned him over ill health, supported Jonathan and later disowned him for consulting others and supported Buhari and now disowning him for not bending to his wishes, then maybe it is not these president that something is wrong with. The problem is Obasanjo. He feigns support for successive presidents in the hope of being able to use them as puppets and continue as a life president while they act as the symbolic leaders. Such deviousness is not the Yoruba way because it is without honour.





We do not want to go into the past of an Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whom Obasanjo convinced Nigerians to be a very corrupt person. The same person God will not forgive him for forgiving. He has turned around to tell Nigerians that this is the same person to vote in the hope of acquiring a new puppet. A Yoruba elder will not be caught doing such, it amounts to being incitement, which is unbecoming of anyone that has become a grandfather.





We apologize for the eight wasted years of Obasanjo as a civilian president and for the wrong path he set the country on, which we are now all trying to correct. We apologize for his callous thinking that had projected that Buhari would die in office. We apologize for the unbecoming tantrum he has been throwing for not having his way as a puppet master of successive presidents. We apologize to you all Nigerians because what Obasanjo is does not reflect who the Yoruba are.
The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, on Wednesday disclosed why Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad, F-SARS, was decentralised. NPF spokesp...

The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, on Wednesday disclosed why Federal Special Anti-robbery Squad, F-SARS, was decentralised.





NPF spokesperson, Frank Mba explained that FSARS was decentralised in a bid to correct the abnormality, restore order and bring the police closer to the people.





Featuring on Channels Televisions Sunrise Daily, Mba disclosed that the reforms of F-SARS wont be cosmetics





Mba said the move was just a tip of the iceberg among very many reforms IGP Mohammed Adamu is bringing in the Force.





He said:It will correct every anomaly, bureaucratic bottleneck &bring the Police close to the people. The IGP is committed to this willpower & has directed the command CPs on his policy direction in this regard.





Decentralisation of SARS is to ensure unity of command and control and in line with democratic and community policing. This is just a tip of the iceberg among very many reforms IGP MA ADAMU mni is bringing in the Force








The lawmaker representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani has provided reasons former President Olusegun Ob...

The lawmaker representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani has provided reasons former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari still exchange pleasantries whenever they meet.





Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari met and shook hands before the commencement of the National Council of State meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.





This happened barely 24 hours after the former President released a statement condemning the Buhari administration.





In a space of 48 hours, Obasanjo had attacked President Buhari on different occasions.





But it seems all was well with both men when they met at the Council of State meeting yesterday.





Shehu Sani explained that what is binding the two politicians is thicker than the paste of their politics.





In tweet on Tuesday night, Senator Sani added, PMB and OBJ: Dont be shocked when you see them shake hands and smile.





The glue of their history is thicker than the paste of their politics.





The pillar of their class interest is stronger than the emotions of their fanatics.

The lawmaker representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani has provided reasons former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari still exchange pleasantries whenever they meet.





Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari met and shook hands before the commencement of the National Council of State meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.





This happened barely 24 hours after the former President released a statement condemning the Buhari administration.





In a space of 48 hours, Obasanjo had attacked President Buhari on different occasions.

But it seems all was well with both men when they met at the Council of State meeting yesterday.





Shehu Sani explained that what is binding the two politicians is thicker than the paste of their politics.





In tweet on Tuesday night, Senator Sani added, PMB and OBJ: Dont be shocked when you see them shake hands and smile.





The glue of their history is thicker than the paste of their politics.





The pillar of their class interest is stronger than the emotions of their fanatics.
Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara, says the 36 state governors will work towards the successful reelection of President Muhammadu...





Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara, says the 36 state governors will work towards the successful reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari.





The Zamfara governor is the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).





He made the comment on Tuesday in Abuja at the inauguration of a group known as Forward With Buhari Grassroots Mobilisers Goodwill Ambassadors.





Yari said governors across the federation will rather vote for President Buhari even if they belong to opposition parties.





He said the president has done a lot for the governors irrespective of party affiliation.





Yari said one of such things was the bailout fund which was paid to all state governors to offset workers salaries and outstanding arrears.





The NGF chairman said the bailout was paid across board, adding that the fund went a long way in improving the lot of people in the states.





He further said Buharis administration had also embarked on infrastructural development across states, saying it is another reason the governors were working to ensure his re-election.





He urged the governors, especially those in states controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC), to coordinate door-to-door campaigns.





As governors, the responsibility is on us to work for the actualisation of President Buhari`s re-election come February 16, Yari said.
A mammoth crowd of thronged the Sokoto stadium on Wednesday as President Muhammadu Buhari held his reelection campaign rally in the stat...

A mammoth crowd of thronged the Sokoto stadium on Wednesday as President Muhammadu Buhari held his reelection campaign rally in the state.





Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), pledged to protect the integrity of Nigerians and safeguard their trust at all times.





He said his administration had successfully succeeded in its three cardinal objectives of fighting corruption, revamping agriculture and improving security.





We have succeeded in fighting Boko Haram, our farming system has tremendously improved and corruption has generously been addressed, he said while addressing the crowd.

I want to assure you that our party will continue in this direction in order to ensure that we successfully protect the integrity of Nigerians and our country.





The president thanked the people of Sokoto state for their massive turnout to welcome him to the state.




Concerned Fulani leaders have expressed disagreement with the recent endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by the Miyetti Allah C...

Concerned Fulani leaders have expressed disagreement with the recent endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, MACBAN.





The leaders said the laws guiding the affairs of the association do not allow it to dabble into partisan politics.





Chairman of the concerned Fulani leaders, Alhaji Walid Jibrin, at a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday, said neither the executives nor the national chairman of the MACBAN can take a major decision without consulting and seeking the consent of members of the Board of Trustees and patrons of the association.





He said, Such decision taken recently by the association without the knowledge of the BOT and patrons and majority of registered members is anarchy and disrespect and amounts to dragging our paramount ruler into politics.

Jibrin who doubles as the Sarkin Fulan in Dangi Nasarawa, pointed out that the Miyetti Allah owes the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Kano, Emir of Katsina, Emir of Zazzau and Lamido of Adamawa apologies for being ignorant of the rules guiding the association and for not running the MACBAN for the full benefit of members.





The Sarkin Yakin Dangawa Yaan Tumaki of Katsina, also disclosed that concerned Fulani groups and Ardos and members of MACBAN who are not in support of the Miyeti Allahs decision would soon meet to counter the stand.





I want Nigerians to know that we have over 25 Fulani associations in Nigeria that are fully registered and over 500 categories of Fulani race living in Nigeria with even some who are unable to speak Fulfulde due to the general global changes like the current global climate change affecting the world, he said.





Jibrin said representatives of these groups will attend the forthcoming Fulani conference and will tell the world their stand in the forthcoming election by choosing their presidential choice who is ready to satisfy the demand of the Fulani and who will settle the feud of farmer-communities with herdsmen.





He said: I, therefore, call on the Fulani never to be deceived again by anybody no matter how highly placed. Fulani must talk with one voice among our over 6,000 voters in Nigeria. I call on Miyetti Allah not to further add fuel to the fire.





He said associations should rather be fighting for Fulani who have no land for rearing, no water ponds, no functional nomadic schools, no cattle path which are now blocked and should pave way for Fulani to live peacefully with all tribes in Nigeria.
A Lagos State High Court, sitting at Igbosere, has sentenced a 31-year-old man, Ibrahim Tijani, to death by hanging for hacking his neig...

A Lagos State High Court, sitting at Igbosere, has sentenced a 31-year-old man, Ibrahim Tijani, to death by hanging for hacking his neighbour to death over a complaint of fumes from his generating set.









Knife stab Father from hell kills two own children with poison! Justice Akintoye sentenced him to death after finding him guilty of murder.









Tijani was first arraigned on January 21, 2016, on a one-count charge of murder preferred against him by Lagos State.









The convict, who resided in an uncompleted building with the deceased, at Okun in Ajah area of Lagos, had pleaded not guilty to the charge.









Prosecutor, Adeniji Kazeem(SAN), Attorney General of Lagos State, had told the court that Mr Tijani, 31, killed Bashorun Okan-lawon, 57, with a machete at 2:30a.m. on February 8, 2015.









He said the offence contravened Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. During trial, the deceaseds 16-year-old son, Adeola Okanlawon, had told the court that his father was killed with a machete after complaining of smoke coming from Tijanis electric power generator.









He added that his late father had called the defendant to complain about the smoke that was coming out of his generator set.









According to Adeola, his father had asked the convict to change the position of the generator set to stop the smoke from entering his room, but he refused to do so, leading to a fight, noting when the defendant was cutting my father with cutlass, I pleaded with him, but he refused to listen.




Festus Keyamo (SAN), spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign, says President Muhammadu Buhari cannot c...

Festus Keyamo (SAN), spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign, says President Muhammadu Buhari cannot consider rigging the elections given the support hes receiving from Nigerians.





Keyamo made the remark in reaction to the crowd that received the president in Sokoto on Wednesday.





Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had questioned the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a free, fair and credible election.





Theophilus Danjuma, former minister of defence, had alleged that the Buhari-led administration has plans to use police and soldiers to rig the polls.

The US had also raised concerns over the neutrality of security agencies in the elections. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also raised similar concerns.





In response to the concerns, Keyamo said those who are making such allegations should prepare to hide their faces in shame.





When they see these sea of heads, they prepare to hide their faces in shame by alleging rigging plans, Keyamo tweeted on Wednesday.





Pray, with this kind of support nationwide, why would PMB ever contemplate rigging?

When they see these sea of heads, they prepare to hide their faces in shame by alleging rigging plans. Pray, with this kind of support nationwide, why would PMB ever contemplate rigging? https://t.co/iE7L8aaJCc 23 January 2019

The president has been received by mammoth crowds since he kicked off his reelection campaign in Akwa-Ibom.




President Muhammadu Buhari says he is impressed with the preparations made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) t...





President Muhammadu Buhari says he is impressed with the preparations made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) towards the general election.





According to a statement by Garba Shehu, spokesman of the president, Buhari made the remark while speaking on Tuesday during a meeting with the European Union Observer Mission (EOM) to Nigeria, at the state house, Abuja.





The president said he was optimistic that the electoral body would deliver a credible poll, noting that Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, had briefed the national council of state about the commissions plans.





The president told the EU delegation that Nigeria had grown its electoral system and it is getting better year after year.





I am happy and impressed with the briefing he gave. I hope that the confidence he exuded and the intellect he brought to bear on the report will be justified at the end of the day, he said.





Having participated in elections four times in the past, I would say that since 2015, technology has helped the credibility of our elections.





Buhari said despite the different ethnic groups and religions, patriotism demands that we identify the nations best interest and go with it.





He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has the good sense of identifying the national interest to include security, peace and stability, improved economy, jobs creation and the campaign against corruption.





He noted that the party is not wrong by going into the forthcoming elections with the same issues it enumerated in its campaigns in 2015.





The president thanked the delegation for taking interest in Nigerias elections and in the affairs of the nation.
President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged not to compromise in providing good leadership that would guarantee a better life for all Nigeria...

President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged not to compromise in providing good leadership that would guarantee a better life for all Nigerians.









Buhari made the pledge when he led All Progressives Congress presidential campaign team on a courtesy visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, at his palace on Wednesday in Sokoto.









Buhari also pledged not to compromise the trust of the people, stressing that his administration has fulfilled the campaign promises it made in 2015 on tackling insecurity, fighting corruption and generating employment.









He said his administration achievements were glaring as previously no fewer than 17 local government areas were being controlled by Boko Haram group but at present none was being occupied by the group.









He added that the armed groups deployed other tactics of using girls as bomb carriers and other pockets of crimes which had been reduced drastically and contained.









The President explained that between 1999 to 2014, Nigeria produced about 2.4 million barrels of crude oil daily, sold at more than 100 US Dollars per barrel, yet nothing was done to improve national infrastructure including roads, rail and electricity.









He challenged those in doubt to verify from financial institutions and countries buying the nations oil, adding that maladministration had been tackled by his administration.









Leadership is a trust, with our knowledge we will not allow anybody to cheat people or collaborate on any dishonest dealings.









We made fertiliser abundant and affordable which facilitated bumper harvest and peoples attention now shifted to agriculture. Many people at present practice farming because of the gains, Buhari added.





He assured the Sultan that such good development would be sustained if elected, noting that they were in his palace to seek for blessings.









Responding, the Sultan, welcomed the president and his team and urged them to consider their visit as a homecoming.









He explained that traditional rulers were fathers of all and would continue to render fatherly advice to those in authority for the good of the people.









The Sultan called on Buhari to sustain the war against corruption and pledge that the Sultanate Council would partner with all organs of government in promoting transparency and accountability.









According to him, Islam discourages evil and called on people to cooperate with various organisations on promoting good governance.









He commended Buhari for tackling security challenges across the country but urged the federal government to re-equip security agencies and provide them with incentives to enhance their work.









It was reported that among the delegation were APC National Chairman Adams Oshoimole and Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State.









Others are Senator Sani Yarima, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, Minister of Defence Mansur DanAli and Minister of Commerce and Industry Hajia Aisha Abubakar among others.












Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Soukry said on Wednesday that an agreement has been reached with his Lithuanian counterpart Linas Antanas to establish an Egyptian-Lithuanian business council to give a push to economic relations between the two countries.

Speaking at a joint press conference following his meeting with Antanas, Shoukry stressed that the exchange of visits between the Egyptian and Lithuanian officials reflects the two countries' keenness on boosting bilateral relations.

Shoukry added that his talks with the Lithuanian foreign minister tackled promoting relations between the two countries in the field of cyber-security and e-governance.

Shoukry also said that he apprised Antanas on the economic reforms in Egypt and the efforts exerted by the government to improve the living conditions of Egyptians in education, health and infrastructure.

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Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has said President Muhammadu Buhari was tired, clueless and should go and rest. F...

Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has said President Muhammadu Buhari was tired, clueless and should go and rest.





Fayose said this while reacting to report of people of Katsina State fleeing to Niger Republic due to kidnapping.





The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain wondered how Buhari intends to protect other states when he cannot protect his own kinsmen.





In a tweet, Fayose wrote: Residents of Katsina, the home State of our President are now running to Niger Republic because of insecurity.

Can a president who cannot protect his own kinsmen protect people from other States?





President Buhari is tired, he doesnt have clue to anything, he should go and rest.
The remains of the ex-Chief of Defence Staff, retired Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, were on Wednesday buried at the National Military Ce...

The remains of the ex-Chief of Defence Staff, retired Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, were on Wednesday buried at the National Military Cemetery in Abuja.









According to a statement earlier released by Brig.-Gen John Agim, the Acting Director Defence Information said the late CDS was buried after a church service.








Senate President Bukola Saraki says the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, did not travel to the U...

Senate President Bukola Saraki says the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, did not travel to the United States as an aide to the Senate President.





The All Progressives Congress had said Atiku was finally allowed to travel to the US because he posed as an aide to Saraki.





Speaking on AITs Kakaaki programme on Wednesday, Saraki, who is the Director-General, Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, described the allegation as nonsensical.



He said, These are desperate claims. When you are campaigning and you see that you have suffered a setback, just move on and dont make a fool of yourself. To say the candidate travelled on my merit is not true.

He applied for his visa, was given the visa and he was invited to attend functions. How do you do that? How do you travel as an aide? That is ridiculous! They know it. It is very difficult for them to respond because they have sold a lot of propaganda and lies to Nigerians.





I remember when we sat a lot of young people down when we started and introduced him (Atiku) as our candidate and they said they would support him because he has a good agenda for the youth and knows how to create jobs but the concern was that the government said Atiku could not travel to America and how can we have a President that cannot travel to America?





And he (Atiku) always said it was not a problem but it was important for us to address the problem and put it behind us and because the other party was using it as propaganda, we decided to go to America and instead of them to keep quiet and move on, they say he went as my aide.





Saraki also lambasted the Buhari-led government for operating an opaque fuel subsidy regime.





The Senate President, who exposed subsidy fraud at the National Assembly in 2011, said the corruption was still taking place.




To be held under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain, RegFact Conference 2019, is all set to bring together local and global key regulators, and policy advocates to find solutions, and promote best innovative RegTech practices in a collaborative, open and transparent manner.

The event will bring together leaders in the regulatory technology industry to discuss the Bahrain Regulatory Landscape, regulation transformation, adoption and implementation within the region on February 25. The one-day event will provide financial service players insightful perspectives, and highlight the significance of the processes relating to regulatory compliance in a collaborative, open and transparent manner.

Khalid Al Saad, CEO of Bahrain FinTech Bay told Tribune, Bahrain FinTech Bay is set to organise its second biggest conference RegFact, an event dedicated exclusively to the regulation and compliance ecosystem targeted at regulators, senior executives responsible for risk, compliance, financial institutions, technology vendors, and industry thought leaders and consultants.
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Egypt's army, backed by the police, is beefing up security nationwide ahead of the eighth anniversary of the 25 January uprising that overthrew longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Field armies and military forces will be deployed to secure vital sites and major roads and thoroughfares, the army said in a statement on Wednesday.

There are no official celebrations to mark the 18-day revolt of 2011, which ended Mubarak's 30-year reign. Instead, the focus has so far been on celebrating Police Day, which  before the uprising  had long been celebrated on 25 January to commemorate the police's role in protecting Egyptians under the British occupation.

Troops and police will be sent out on patrols "to deal with any attempt to break the law," the army said. Security will be tightened along the Suez Canal, a major global shipping route, and near the country's borders to forestall infiltration or smuggling attempts.

"Combat groups" will be on the streets along with rapid response units to counter any possible "various hostilities," the statement added.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attended earlier on Wednesday a ceremony at a Cairo police academy marking Police Day, and television channels have been airing reports and on police heroism.

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(Newser)  Authorities say five people have been killed in a shooting at a Florida bank, the AP reports. Sebring police Chief Karl Hoglund said during a news conference that Zephen Xaver was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a SunTrust Bank branch. Hoglund says a man contacted dispatch and reported that he had fired shots inside the bank. Police say initial negotiations to get the barricaded man to leave the bank were unsuccessful. The Highlands County Sheriff's Office SWAT team entered the bank to continue the negotiations, and the man eventually surrendered. Police didn't say what charges Xaver would face or indicate a motive. The victims were not immediately identified. (A man suspected of being in the US illegally allegedly shot and killed four people in their Nevada homes.)
(Newser)  The Trump administration is callingin triplicatefor Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down. President Trump, Mike Pence, and Mike Pompeo all issued statements proclaiming that the US is recognizing Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim leader. Each of them said the US would take all diplomatic and economic measures necessary to support a transition to a new government. In his statement, Pompeo said Maduro should "step aside in favor of a legitimate leader reflecting the will of the Venezuelan people." Guaido, the chief of the country's opposition-led National Assembly, declared himself interim president on Wednesday amid widespread street protests against Maduro, who was sworn in for a contested second term two weeks ago.

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The 35-year-old lawmaker raised his right hand and said he was "formally assuming the responsibility of the national executive." Trump said in Wednesday's statement that Venezuelans have "courageously spoken" against Maduro and for freedom and the rule of law. CNN adds that Trump called the National Assembly the country's sole "legitimate branch of government" and wrote that it "invoked the countrys constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant." The AP reports the Trump administration has been inching toward such a declaration ever since Maduro was inaugurated; he was re-elected last year in an election widely panned as fraudulent. Sources tell CNN Trump is willing to impose oil sanctions if Maduro does not respond appropriately.

(Read more Venezuela stories.)
(Newser)  Michael Cohen says President Trump and his team are threatening himand because of that, he has decided against testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7 as originally planned, the New York Times reports. "Due to ongoing threats against his family from President Trump and Mr. [Rudy] Giuliani, as recently as this weekend, as well as Mr. Cohen's continued cooperation with ongoing investigations, by advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen's appearance will be postponed to a later date," reads a statement from his attorney. "This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first." Committee chair Elijah Cummings could subpoena Cohen to appear, and CNN reports Democrats are considering that option.

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The statement gave no further details, and the Washington Post reports it's not clear what threats it is referring to. The Times says Cohen is citing Trump's "verbal attacks on Mr. Cohens family" and notes Trump has publicly called for members of Cohen's family to be investigated. A source tells the Post no threats have been reported to law enforcement. Both Trump and Giuliani have publicly criticized Cohen's cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. Cohen pleaded guilty to crimes including arranging hush money payments to women alleging they had affairs with Trump and lying to Congress about a potential Trump Tower project in Moscow; he is expected to begin a three-year prison sentence March 6, and it's not clear when his appearance before Congress might be rescheduled. (Read more Michael Cohen stories.)
(Newser)  A powerful House committee now led by Democrats is opening an investigation into how security clearances have been handled in President Donald Trump's White House and 2016 presidential transition, the AP reports. The inquiry by the House Oversight and Reform Committee takes direct aim at some of those closest to the president over the past two years, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and former White House aide Rob Porter. The review also sets up one of the first potential fights between a Democrat-led House committee and a White House bracing for a number of investigations in the wake of last year's midterm elections that eroded GOP control in Washington.

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Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee chairman, said in a letter released Wednesday that he was undertaking the investigation in response to "grave breaches of national security" involving Flynn and others. Flynn maintained his security clearance even after the White House learned he lied to the FBI about his conversations with Russia's ambassador. He later pleaded guilty to a felony and is awaiting sentencing. The committee also is seeking information about Kushner, who failed to initially disclose some of his foreign meetings, and Porter, who had high level access with an interim security clearance even though the FBI told the White House of past allegations of domestic violence involving Porter. (Hillary Clinton asked for her security clearance to be revoked.)
(Newser)  Phoenix police on Wednesday announced an arrest in the case of an incapacitated woman who gave birth in December at Hacienda HealthCare facility. The Arizona Republic reports the Phoenix police crime lab on Tuesday determined the baby boy's DNA matched that of 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland, who was compelled to give up his DNA by a court order. He was a licensed practical nurse at the facility who cared for the 29-year-old victim. Sutherland has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse. The latest:

ABC News reports Sutherland's DNA sample was obtained on Tuesday. The New York Times reports he was employed by Hacienda HealthCare through Tuesday and fired shortly after his arrest.

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Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson said authorities are investigating whether any of the facility's other residents were sexually assaulted; ABC15 reports Sutherland, whom a former neighbor described as married with four children, had been employed by the facility since 2011.

Thompson added that Sutherland invoked his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination upon his request and only submitted to providing the DNA sample after the court order was produced.

"From the minute we first became aware of the crime, we have virtually worked nonstop seven days a week to resolve this case," Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said when announcing Sutherland's arrest. Williams cited "good-old police work, combing through evidence, talking to people, and following up on information" as leading them to Sutherland.

The Times reports law enforcement began to zero in on Sutherland because he was assigned to care for the woman around when the assault was thought to occur.

The AP reports Hacienda described itself as "troubled beyond words" at the thought of an employee harming a patient, and noted Sutherland passed an extensive background check.

The AP reports Thompson said the baby boy born Dec. 29 is "doing quite well" and that he believed the infant had been released from a hospital. As for Sutherland, he was ordered held on a cash-only $500,000 bond.

(This victim's parents disputed characterizations that their daughter was in a coma .)
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has said that the upcoming economic reform measures will not be as harsh as those that have already been implemented in the country.

The president made the comments in a speech during a celebration of National Police Day on Wednesday, where he praised and saluted the Egyptian people for enduring the hardships brought about by the country's austerity measures.

During the ceremony held at the Police Academy on the occasion of the 67th National Police Day, which also coincides with the 8th anniversary of 25 January revolution, President El-Sisi honoured the families of Egypt's martyrs, including police officers.

The president also announced the launch of a website and mobile application for the Egyptian police, which will provide electronic services to citizens.

"The economic reform programme was undoubtedly harsh, but it was a decisive response to the challenges and circumstances that had led our economy to the situation it was in," El-Sisi said.

"In November 2016, we had to make one of two choices, either face the hard economic situation or to leave it as is. The decision was to face this situation with an economic reform programme studied by experts and specialists."

"Changing the exchange rate from EGP 9 to the US dollar to double its price put stress on Egyptians. These harsh measures were the sole treatment to overcoming this challenge in a scientific and realistic way," El-Sisi said.

"There was no other way, because the second way was losing the state," he added.

President El-Sisi also said that the challenges faced by Egypt in recent years have been some of the most difficult in its modern history.

"For the past few years, we have faced great difficulties and challenges, perhaps the most serious in our times, represented in attempts by forces of darkness and evil groups to hinder our path and terrorise our safe society," El-Sisi said.

"To these evil forces I say that the Egyptian people, through wisdom developed over thousands of years and with their trust in the efficiency of their police and Armed Forces, are able to distinguish between right and wrong," the president added.

El-Sisi affirmed that the state will continue to carry out its duties on all levels, which involve combating terrorism, reinforcing the rule of law, empowering state institutions, achieving comprehensive development and promoting the principles of tolerance, coexistence and citizenship.

"On this day, I would like to extend my salutations on the occasion of the 25 January revolution, through which the Egyptian people expressed their aspiration to build a new future for this country, where all of its people enjoy a decent life," El-Sisi concluded.

Before the president's speech, the Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik gave a short speech where he said that the police will not tolerate anyone raising arms against the Egyptian people.

National Police Day marks a battle fought by police forces in 1952 against British occupation forces in Ismailia City on the west bank of the Suez Canal.

The British occupation, which ruled over Egypt from 1882 until 1956, had issued a warning to Egyptian forces to evacuate the area so they can take full control of the Canal, but police forces stood their ground.

Dozens of police personnel were killed and over 80 were injured in the Ismailia battle.

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(Newser)  A Florida couple is accused of stealing $5 million allegedly used to prepare "for the fall of the US government." An arrest warrant states Gretchen Camp of Jacksonville admitted to stealing from Swisher International, where she worked as a tax manager, partly because her unemployed husband "wanted more than she could afford to buy" on her $80,000 salary, reports News4Jax. The 36-year-oldarrested in December, per ABC Newsallegedly penned and paid bogus invoices totaling $4 million to a Georgia-based company owned by a friend beginning in late 2017. Per First Coast News, investigators say the funds were then transferred to 35-year-old Richard Camp, allowing him to purchase a 460-acre Georgia farm surrounded by a 6-foot-high chain-link fence, on which a cabin was built.

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The couple is also alleged to have bought a $500,000 condo in Fernandina Beach; nine vehicles, including classic cars; "a significant number of firearms and ammunition"; and "significant sums" of gold and silver. Richard Camp declined to explain his so-called preparations Tuesday in Duval County Court, per News4Jax. He and his wife pleaded not guilty to fraud, grand theft and money laundering charges, which could bring up to 30 years in prison. They're free on $250,000 bond, though a judge said it could be revoked if bond money was found to come as a result of the alleged theft. It allegedly continued even after Gretchen Camp's initial arrest. Per First Coast News, she's accused of altering banking details so that a $1.1 million refund issued to Swisher arrived in her husband's account. (A font helped expose another alleged fraud.)
(Newser)  Three men and a high school student were charged with plotting to attack a rural upstate New York Muslim community named Islamberg with explosives, authorities tell the AP. The Rochester-area residents are accused of plotting to attack the small Muslim enclave west of the Catskills, according to court papers. The men, three of whom were in Boy Scouts together, had access to 23 rifles and shotguns and three homemade explosives, Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan says. "I don't know that there was a specific date. They had a plan in place," Phelan notes. He didn't rule out the possibility of additional arrests. Charged with weapons possession and conspiracy were 20-year-old Brian Colaneri, 18-year-old Andrew Crysel, and 19-year-old Vincent Vetromile. A 16-year-old student at Odyssey Academy in Greece was charged as an adolescent offender.

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It was a lunchroom comment by the student at school Friday that launched the investigation. "He looks like the next school shooter, doesn't he?" he allegedly said while showing students a picture of another boy on his phone. A student "did what we teach kids to do and told somebody," the chief says. School security and Greece police eventually "uncovered ... a plot to attack an Islamic community in Delaware County, known as Islamberg," Phelan says. Three improvised explosive devices wrapped in duct tape were found at the 16-year-old's house. Greece Central School District Superintendent Kathleen Graupman says the students "changed the narrative." Adds Phelan, "If they had carried out this plot, which every indication is that they were going to, people would have died." Islamberg is operated by the Muslims of America; police have dismissed accusations that the 60-acre community is a terrorist training ground, but claims have persisted for decades.

(Read more terror plots stories.)
(Newser)  One of two women who prayed inside a Hindu temple traditionally barred to women of "menstruating age" has suffered greatly for it. Kanakadurga, 39, and Bindu Ammini, 40, gained entry to the Sabarimala shrine in India's Kerala state on Jan. 2, but were forced into hiding as violent protests erupted. Demonstrators, backed by temple officials, had been trying to keep women out even months after India's supreme court struck down the ban on women aged 10 to 50, per the Guardian. Ammini later returned to her teaching post at a law college with support from students, colleagues, and family members. When Kanakadurga returned home on Jan. 15, however, her mother-in-law allegedly beat her with a wood plank, reports the BBC. After almost a week in the hospital, she returned home again on Monday to find she was locked out.

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At a police station, husband Krishnan Unni said "he was not willing to take her home, while she kept insisting that she would go wherever he went," an official says. As the Times of India reports, Kanakadurga's brother has also barred her from her ancestral home. A social worker tells the BBC that Kanakadurga will now "petition the court for permission to enter her house." Per the Hindustan Times, her husband's family will only accept a public apology "atoning for her sin." The Sabarimala shrine is dedicated to a deity who was traditionally celibate, and devotees believe he wanted women kept out. They argue the court shouldn't intervene in religious matters. Even so, Kanakadurga, staying at a government home for women, is in "high spirits," Ammini tells the Hindustan Times. "Some forces are pressuring her family but they won't succeed," she says. (Read more India stories.)
(Newser)  A new presidential exploratory committee has been formed, with the candidate telling supporters it's a "season of boldness." That's per an email sent by Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend., Ind., who, although a long shot for the Oval Office, would be the first openly gay US president if elected, the Wall Street Journal notes. "I am aware of the odds we would face if we proceed to mount a national campaign," Buttigieg says in the email, which was supplemented Tuesday night by a video announcing his candidacy. "But I am exploring this run because I can offer a different experience and perspective than anyone else." Buttigieg, an Afghanistan war veteran and Rhodes Scholar, came out as gay nearly four years after becoming South Bend's mayor in 2011; he won reelection with more than four-fifths of the vote.

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He and his husband, Chasten Glezman, married in June. Per the Atlantic, Buttigieg also addressed in his email the fact that he's a candidate on the young sidehe's barely above the minimum age requirement of 35 to be presidentand noted someone his age would be more likely to take things like climate change and the country's debt issues seriously, because he'll be around longer to face the consequences of such things. "What will America look like in 2054, when I reach the age of the current president?" Buttigieg wrote in his email. "How will we look back on 2020?" (Buttigieg was once floated as a possibility to head the DNC.)
(Newser)  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined her second House committeeand it's the primary investigative body that will soon hear testimony from President Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen. The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday announced the 29-year-old congresswoman from New York as one of four new Democratic members, but she's not the only rookie, or even the fiercest Trump critic, per CNN. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michiganthe first Palestinian female member of Congress who previously labeled Trump a "motherf---er," while calling for his impeachment. They join the ranks alongside Massachusetts' first black female member of Congress, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who is in his second term. All four are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, or as Politico puts it, "progressive flamethrowers."

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They were chosen by the Democrats' Steering and Policy Committee, of which Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan is a member. "I want people to be aggressive  Its good to have people who arent afraid," he tells Politico. "Theyre going to be dealing with some pretty important stuff." Indeed, "we will investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in the Trump Administration," the Oversight Committee's new chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland says, per the New York Daily News. Cummings dismisses concerns about the new members' outspokenness, telling Politico he's "excited." "If I based the choices going on the committee based on what people said or their reputations or whatever, I probably wouldn't have a committee, he says. Cohen is to face the committee on Feb. 7. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be questioned on March 14. (Ocasio-Cortez says Trump is racist.)
(Newser)  A "terribly sad" discovery in Arizona has led to the arrest of a woman for child abandonment. Samantha Vivier, 22, faces one count of unlawful disposal of human remains after she told police she gave birth in the bathroom of an Amazon warehouse she worked at in Phoenix, the Arizona Republic reports. Per court records, a janitor at the facility came across the body of a newborn girl in a trash can on the evening of Jan. 16, with the infant "cold to the touch" and "unresponsive." One of Vivier's co-workers told investigators called to the scene that Vivier had earlier said she'd been ill in the restroom and needed to go home to get new pants, per the recordsand when contacted by investigators, they say she admitted to giving birth in the restroom.

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Vivier told cops in an interview Tuesday that she hadn't known she was pregnant and that she "panicked" when the baby was born while she was at work, the records note; she added she was "confident" the baby was born dead and that she didn't want the baby's father to find out, so she placed the newborn in the trash. Prosecutors think the baby, which first responders told cops appeared to be full term, was stillborn, per CBS 5. The records note Vivier didn't try to seek help or render aid to the baby herself. "This is a terribly sad and tragic incident and we're providing on-site counseling support as needed as the safety and wellness of our team continues to be our top priority," Amazon says in a statement. (A similar, sad story, but with a happier ending for the baby here.)
(Newser)  A Chicago suburb has tentatively agreed to pay a former doctoral student $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging police officers tackled him to the ground and arrested him for stealing a car that turned out to be his own, his attorney said. Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz confirmed a settlement was reached with Lawrence Crosby, who was 25 and an engineering doctoral student at Northwestern University in 2015 when the incident occurred, the AP reports. Bobkiewicz declined to provide the amount of the settlement pending final approval by the City Council next week but Crosby's attorney, Timothy Touhy, told the Chicago Tribune that the amount was $1.25 million.

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Touhy said Crosby was trying to repair loose molding on his car when a woman called police to report a black man trying to steal a car. When he drove off, the woman followed Crosby in her car as he drove from his apartment to Northwestern's science building, giving police his location. Dashcam video shows Crosby got out of the car with his hands raised after being stopped by police but was tackled when he failed to immediately obey orders to get on the ground. Police later determined the car belonged to Crosby but still charged him with disobeying officers and resisting arrest. A judge later threw out the charges. (Last week, a Chicago ex-cop was sentenced to seven years for shooting a black teenager.)
(Newser)  A tragedy, but no longer a mystery: Two Saudi Arabian sisters found dead on the banks of the Hudson River bound themselves together before descending to their deaths, New York City's chief medical examiner says. Barbara Sampson announced late Tuesday that her office had determined the deaths of Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 22, to be suicide by drowning, People reports. After the bodies were found near Riverside Park on Oct. 24, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said it was "entirely credible that the girls entered the water alive." He said the tape was "not binding them tight togethermore like keeping them together."

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The sisters had been seeking asylum in the US, the Guardian reports. Police said the sisters were placed in a Virginia facility for domestic abuse victims after running away from home in November 2017. Shea said last year that sources had said the sisters told them they would rather kill themselves than return to Saudi Arabia, as their family had reportedly been ordered to do, reports the New York Daily News. Police say the sisters left the Virginia shelter in August last year and headed to New York City, where they stayed in high-end hotels until apparently running out of money. They were seen praying together in Riverside Park hours before their bodies were found. (A relative claimed the sisters were part of a happy family.)
(Newser)  A man suspected of being in the US illegally shot and killed four people in Nevada over the past two weeks, including an elderly Reno couple, authorities said, and the slayings added fuel to the immigration debate. Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, 19, from El Salvador, has been jailed in Carson City since Saturday on possession of stolen property, burglary, and immigration charges. Authorities said they expect to file murder charges against him in the shooting deaths of the couple and two women in the nearby town of Gardnerville, the AP reports. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said federal immigration authorities told his office that Martinez-Guzman was in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have details on his entry into the US. The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, and it was too early to comment on a possible motive.

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Investigators who had been tracking Martinez-Guzman considered him "an imminent threat" when they arrested him Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a shopping mall. Detectives had watched Martinez-Guzman go to a car wash and trash bins, raising concern among detectives that he might try to dispose of evidence connected to the slayings. The suspect, who was due in court Thursday, had lived in the Carson City area for about a year. His only known infraction was a traffic ticket for speeding in February, the sheriff said. President Donald Trump seized on the killings as evidence of the need for his proposed US-Mexico border wall. "Four people in Nevada viciously robbed and killed by an illegal immigrant who should not have been in our Country," Trump said Monday in a tweet. "We need a powerful Wall!" (Read more about the victims, who were all found dead in their homes, here.)
(Newser)  Ernest Hemingway made it out of World War I only because a soldier was "blown to bits," as the Telegraph puts it. Now you have Fedele Temperini to thank in part for classics like For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea. Researchers have identified the 26-year-old private from Tuscany as the Italian soldier who unwittingly saved 18-year-old Hemingway's life near the Austria-Hungary border on July 8, 1918. A Red Cross volunteer, Hemingway was delivering cigarettes and chocolate to soldiers in the trenches along the Piave River when a mortar exploded. Badly injured, Hemingway was spared the brunt of the blast by conscripted Temperini, according to American author James McGrath Morris and Italian amateur historian Marino Perissinotto, who analyzed military records to give credit where credit is due.

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They initially discovered that 18 Italian soldiers had died in battle on the front on the night in question, including three in the vicinity of the mortar. Of those three, two were deployed in support trenches roughly two miles behind the front. That left Temperini of the 69th infantry regiment, described in military records as having died on July 8 "from wounds sustained in combat." Per the Telegraph, a report describing Hemingway's treatment at a Red Cross station behind the front also mentions that a soldier from the 69th infantry regiment died, making the researchers "very confident" in their assertion. A monument to Hemingway at the site of the blastlater a setting of A Farewell to Armson the other hand, makes no mention of Temperini. It's "a cold reminder of history's cruelty," Morris writes at the Washington Post, calling for "the distinction he deserves." (Read more World War I stories.)
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has arrived at the Police Academy in New Cairo to attend a ceremony held by the Interior Ministry to celebrate National Police Day, which falls on 25 January.

A number of senior officials and public figures, including Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfik, attended the ceremony.

National Police Day marks a battle fought by police forces in 1952 against British occupation forces in Ismailia City on the west bank of the Suez Canal.

The British occupation, which ruled over Egypt from 1882 until 1956, had issued a warning to Egyptian forces to evacuate the area so they can take full control of the Canal, but police forces stood their ground.

Dozens of police personnel were killed and over 80 were injured in the Ismailia battle.

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THE recent demonstrations in the country were not a local affair but a way by Western countries to camouflage their goals on Zimbabwe and the African continent in general, Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba said yesterday.



It emerged yesterday that three African states namely Zimbabwe, Sudan and DRC were supposed to fall within a week as part of United States aggressive plan against the continent.



The US announced last year that it is instituting a new policy for Africa with an aim of checkmating Russia and China.



Russia and China are using their investment and trade to forge strong ties with African governments.





Mr Charamba, who is Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications), said the recent demonstrations which were instigated, organised and managed by MDC Alliance and its affiliate non-governmental organisations should never be mistaken for local politics.





Yes, the face was local but the politics were external, he said.

Locally, it does not make sense let alone a coherent narrative to at one level suggest that Zimbabwe is over 80 percent unemployed while in the same vein creating a dummy called Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).





Surely 80 percent unemployment and you still have a labour movement, it just doesnt add up!

This level of cheap propaganda is an insult to the intellect of Zimbabweans who know better. The thing belongs to the MDC and the MDC leadership, to the man and woman must pay the price for the dead, injured and all the looting that took place.





Another contradiction is that you cant at one level suggest that this is a ZCTU-organised violent demonstration while at the same time you are investing in that same violent protest, a key grievance of the MDC namely that the President must resign or that he must create a Government of National Unity. What has that to do with an employee in Lobels? You have a mismatch between agency and message and where you have such a discordance the rule of the thumb is clear namely that you should follow the message then you know who the agency is, he said.





Mr Charamba said the agenda for the demonstrations far exceeded bread and butter issues.

The Motlanthe report say that the August 1 violence by MDC was premeditated, he said. This (recent demonstrations) was the MDCs second bite of the cherry, the cherry of violence. It is clear that there was premeditation, an elaborate plan and concerted action to execute it.





He said going beyond MDC Alliance and its double Trojan horses (ZCTU and NGOs), at the heart of the disturbances is a sinister conspiracy combining Western interests.





That plan is continental and is predicated on reshaping the politics of the African continent to make them useful to western imperial interests.





Three States should have fallen within a week namely the Sudan which was been suffering rolling demonstrations, Zimbabwe whose own act drew inspirations from developments in Sudan and DRC where the electoral process was meant to be aborted in favour of a preferred candidate. The comparison with Zimbabwe is direct.





We have elections in Zimbabwe, which are won by Zanu-PF and confirmed by the Constitutional Court on one hand and then we have elections in the DRC which are won by (Felix) Tshisekedi and are about to be confirmed by the highest court of that land yet there is a spirited attempt to abort the rule of law in favour of an extra democratic and extra legal settlement that favours Western interests, Mr Charamba said.





He said the developments have to be understood in the context of the new American policy towards Africa.

The new policy was announced in mid-December last year by US President Donald Trumps security advisor John Bolton.





The core focus of the policy is checkmating Russia and China in the African continent, itself the last frontier of natural resources, he said.





Secondly, using coercive diplomacy and coercive politics, to compel independent African states to identify with Trumps America first policy and thirdly where the two fail, to use a combination of instability and war to achieve the same.





He said the Americans expected the November 2017 political changes to see Zimbabwe moving away from nationalism and giving pride of place to Western interests as opposed to Sino-Russian interests.





The Americans, he said, also expected the new administration to placate white farmers by adopting a new policy of total compensation including for the land as well as abandon the policy of indigenisation and empowerment.





There was an attempt to appropriate Operation Restore Legacy and make it an instrument of the realisation of Western geo-strategic interests, he said.





The West is furious because the new dispensation is proving brittle.

In respect of land, President Mnangagwa has insisted that he will compensate them in terms of the Constitution and instead of dropping the Look East Policy he has in fact broadened embracing Eastern Europe and Euro Asia.





More specifically against a happy story of new diamond finds, the President has put the Zimbabwean interest at the heart of exploitation of those diamonds only accepting foreign participation by way of select companies from Russia (Alrosa) and China (Anjin). This is a smack in the Wests face, Mr Charamba.





Equally, the Darwendale platinum project is set to take off and all this in the eyes of the West is an abomination more so to the Americans with their so called new African policy. So the calculation in the West was to instigate unrest in the country in the hope that Zimbabwe security forces would overreact.





The West was looking at a death toll of not less than 200 which toll would have then been used to bring Zimbabwe to the United Nations Security Council.





He said the gods were with Zimbabwe as MDC hooligans went on a rampage, killed, maimed, looted and harassed people thus robbing the West of the much sought for high moral ground. Herald
About 42 hectares of maize has started wilting at two major irrigation schemes in Beitbridge West Constituency following a two-month power blackout that affected the pumping of water.



District agriculture extension officer Mr Masauso Mawocha said poles supplying electricity to Shashe, Jalukange and Bili irrigation schemes fell during recent storms.

He said power supplies to Shashe we restored last week and the unavailability of water was affecting citrus production at the initiative.



The situation at Jalukange and Bili is disheartening, said Mr Mawocha. According to our recent assessment, a total of 21,5 hectares at Jalukange is a complete write off. At Bili, 20ha was affected and has started wilting.







The projects management committees in these areas are now working with the Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company to restore services.





Mr Mawocha said the crop situation was also bad at other irrigation schemes where water sources were drying up and in some instances farmers were failing to access fuel to power irrigation pumps.





The farmers cannot access fuel from services stations where they are not allowed to load in containers, he said. However, we have been writing cover notes for them to be assisted.

Mr Mawocha said most crops, especially those under dry land production were distressed.

He said they were hopeful that if the district received rains in the next few days, the situation would improve.





Beitbridge District is a drought prone area where animal husbandry and irrigation farming are the main source of livelihoods for communal farmers.





It is estimated that there are 200 000 cattle, 145 000 goats, 60 000 sheep, 37 000 donkeys, 2 000 pigs, 6 000 dogs and 28 000 domestic birds in the district.





A non-governmental organisation, Cesvi, is rehabilitating nine irrigation schemes in Beitbridge as part of three year Zimbabwe Resilience Programme which is funded by the United Nations Development Programme.





These include; Bili, Shashe, Jalukanga, Dombolidenje, River Ranch, Tongwe, Kwalu, Tshikwalakwala and Ndambe 2. Herald
Chief Executive Carrie Lam continued her visit to Switzerland by attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

She attended the meetings session on the emerging markets outlook and said given Hong Kong's open and externally oriented economy, the city is inevitably affected by external factors.

Yet as a founding member of the World Trade Organization, Hong Kong has been supporting and benefitted from free trade over the years.

She noted Hong Kong is proactively participating in the Belt & Road Initiative and is willing to strengthen ties with emerging economies to help them develop.

This morning, Mrs Lam attended a breakfast panel held by Standard Chartered to discuss topics including the global economic situation, China-US trade relations, innovation and technology, and women empowerment.

Accompanied by Financial Secretary Paul Chan and Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau, Mrs Lam met Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

Noting that Hong Kong and Luxembourg have been maintaining exchanges in investment, technology and talents, Mrs Lam expressed the hope that both places would enhance co-operation in other areas.

The Chief Executive also met with leaders of different organisations and enterprises.

She also attended a dinner for heads of states and leaders of regional governments and organisations hosted by the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Prof Klaus Schwab.
Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong visits training centres for Indonesian domestic helpers during his visit to Jakarta.

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong visited two training centres for Indonesian domestic helpers this morning before concluding his visit to Jakarta, Indonesia.

Dr Law toured the centre's facilities, including simulated households and simulated home care facilities.

He also observed the practical skills training provided for Indonesians to work overseas as domestic helpers and carers.

Dr Law also viewed language classes for trainees and met the centre's trainers and staff to discuss tailor-made training across professions and collaboration with employment agencies.

Speaking to the centre's management, he said Hong Kong launched a Pilot Scheme on Training for Foreign Domestic Helpers on Elderly Care in March 2018 to strengthen their skills in taking care of frail senior citizens, with a view to enhance the elderlys quality of life in the community and support ageing in place.

A total of 300 free training places are provided, and two-thirds of trainees recruited are Indonesians.

In view of positive responses from foreign domestic helpers and their employers, the Government is planning to extend the pilot scheme to other districts, with around 800 training places in total starting from the third quarter.

Dr Law had a dinner gathering with Hong Kong people doing business in Indonesia last night.

He encouraged them to look at the opportunities brought about by the country's Belt & Road Initiative as well as the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area when considering their business strategies.

He added that with the unique strengths of "one country, two systems" and an excellent environment for doing business, Hong Kong is well positioned to help them tap such business opportunities.
Acting Chief Executive Matthew Cheung has invited pan-democratic legislators for a meeting to discuss the new scheme for able-bodied Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients aged 60 to 64.

Mr Cheung told reporters ahead of todays Executive Council meeting that the invitation letter was sent out yesterday, calling for a meeting on Thursday afternoon, adding that he hopes for a positive response.

My invitation is really very sincere. We want a face-to-face dialogue, iron out all misunderstanding so that we can take the matter forward.

He made it clear that the new scheme intends to unleash the potential of the labour force.

In the job-seeking process, we will provide full support, we will provide them with an Employment Support Supplement, a supplement amount, the total payment in fact aligns that of the Old Age Allowance Standard Rate. So we are talking about a level playing field here.

On top of it, they are also entitled to rental allowance plus free medical services. Apart from these, they also enjoy extra income by working. They can actually accumulate income up to $2,500 per month without any deduction.

All these are really positive incentives to promote employment in Hong Kong.
Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau will attend the World Trade Organization (WTO) Informal Ministerial Gathering and meetings and events held during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from January 22 to 26.

Mr Yau will speak at a panel discussion entitled "Building the Belt & Road and sharing the benefits of the economic globalisation" at the Belt & Road Forum hosted by Tsinghua University, International Cooperation Center of the National Development & Reform Commission, United Nations Industrial Development Organization and United Nations Institute for Training & Research, and co-organised by the Commerce & Economic Development Bureau.

He will meet other trade ministers and business leaders attending the events to discuss issues relating to forging closer economic and trade ties. He will also join part of Chief Executive Carrie Lams visit programme.

Held on the margins of the WEF on January 25, the WTO Informal Ministerial Gathering provides an opportunity for participating ministers to discuss the latest global trade developments and brainstorm ways to advance the trade agenda and preserve the relevance and credibility of the multilateral trading system.

Before the Informal Ministerial Gathering, Mr Yau will attend the Informal Ministerial Meeting on Electronic Commerce to explore with other ministers on how WTO negotiations can capture opportunities offered by electronic commerce for all WTO Members.

In his absence, Under Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Bernard Chan will be Acting Secretary.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam will attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland from January 22 to 24.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan and Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau will join part of the visit.

Mrs Lam will stop over in Zurich on January 21 to update local government officials and the business community on Hong Kongs latest developments, before heading to Davos.

At the forum's annual meeting, she will address a session on the emerging markets outlook.

She will also meet business and world leaders, and give a speech at the Belt & Road Seminar and the Hong Kong Night in Davos.

The two events are organised by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government with Tsinghua University and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing.

Mrs Lam will return to Hong Kong on January 26.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung will be Acting Chief Executive in her absence.
Fresh talent poised to stage camp production Wow! Just wow! was camp director Jason LeBlancs first words after the students finished the audition phase of camp last week at the Washington Little Theaters (WLT) Summer Drama Camp....

ETHICS COMMITTEE ACTS Free Access Following the hearing of evidence and statements made by the involved parties, and after deliberation in executive session, the Washington City Council Ethics Committee officially asked Councilman Nathaniel Cullars to...

Regular meeting ends for lack of approved agenda A second meeting ended abruptly without resolution in as many days when the Washington City Councils bickering, name-calling, and threats escalated again, this time even before an agenda could be...
An Egyptian man was stabbed to death as he attempted to fend off another man harassing a woman in a district of southern Cairo, a security source said.

The 36-year old, identified as Sayed Taha, went to defend a female passerby as another man attempted to harass her. The two men had a brawl, resulting in the harasser stabbing Taha to death, the source said.

The attacker has been arrested.

Sexual harrassment has been commonplace in Egypt in recent years. Arrests have been made under a new law Egypt issued in 2014 which punishes sexual harassment with at least six months in jail or fines of at least 3,000 Egyptian pounds.

Egypts top Sunni Muslim authority Al-Azhar had called for strong penalties against perpetrators of sexual harassment and said that women should not be blamed for it, adding last year that sexual harrasment "violates womens privacy, freedom and human dignity.

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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).
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Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk).
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Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey).
Champaign, IL (61820)

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Thunderstorms...possibly severe, especially early. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Reporter

Noelle McGee is a Danville-based reporter at The News-Gazette. Her email is nmcgee@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@n_mcgee).
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Lyndsay Jones is a reporter covering education at The News-Gazette. Her email is ljones@news-gazette, and you can follow her on Twitter (@__lyndsayjones).
Two years since the January 25 Revolution saw the end of Egypt's Mubarak regime, food security - a basic right - remains a dream for many Egyptians

Karim Hafez

Read full story

Egypt's revolution: Calls for freedom have yet to be realised

When Mubarak was ousted almost two years ago, revolutionaries believed they had won their freedom. Critics of Egypt's new constitution, however, say this isn't necessarily the case

Yasmine Fathy

Read full story

Egypt's revolution: Social justice has yet to be achieved

Until post-Mubarak Egypt resolves fundamental economic dilemmas, the realisation of 'social justice' - a chief demand of the Tahrir Square uprising - will remain a pipe dream

Ahmed Feteha

Read full story

Egypt's revolution: Quest for human dignity remains ongoing

Longstanding revolutionary demands for 'human dignity' remain unfulfilled amid continued reports of police abuse and a sorely deficient public healthcare system

Sherif Tarek

Read full story

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By PTI

WASHINGTON: The US could post zero economic growth in the first quarter if the federal government does not reopen, the chairman of President Donald Trump's Council of Economic Advisers said Wednesday.

"If [the shutdown] extended for the whole quarter, and given the fact that the first quarter tends to be low because of residual seasonality, then you could end up with a number very close to zero in the first quarter, Kevin Hassett, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said in an interview to CNN.

ALSO READ: Donald Trump vows no surrender on 32nd day of government shutdown

Asked whether GDP growth could hit zero in the quarter, he said, "Yes, we could."

At the same time, he asserted that the second quarter would be humongous if the government reopened.

"It would be like four or five per cent," Hassett said.

He also said the chances of a recession in 2020 is close to zero.

"They're very, very close to zero," he said.

"We have so much momentum. There was just a great industrial production number. We just had a great jobs number. There's a lot of momentum carrying into this year. The government shutdown adds a lot of uncertainty. You're starting to see that uncertainty in some pieces of data," Hassett said.

ALSO READ: US Shutdown, day 24: President Donald Trump urged to reopen government; federal employees work without pay

The federal government shutdown over Trump's demand for USD 5.7 billion for a wall along the Mexican border entered 33rd day on Wednesday, with little sign of relief for the roughly 800,000 federal workers going without pay.

Hassett said talks with China are moving forward and exuded confidence that the US can reach a trade deal with China before the March 1 deadline.

Trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing have stretched for months amid their tit-for-tat trade war.

The countries reached a 90-day truce following Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina on December 1 last year.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: In the wake of increased instances of poaching of wild animals, including tigers and leopards, the forest department has decided to set up an armed State Tiger Protection Force (STPF) to protect the wildlife.

The STPF would be constituted with 112 personnel and would be deployed in Kawal and Amrabad tiger reserve forest areas. Three forest range officers, 81 guards and 26 forest watchers would work under Assistant Conservator of Forest at Kawal and Amrabad.

The State Forest Protection Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary SK Joshi on Tuesday took the decision to form the STPF. The recurring expenditure of the STPF would be borne by the Central and States governments in the ratio of 60:40.

The meeting also sanctioned Rs 2.25 crore funds to take measures to prevent forest fire accidents. The meeting has also decided to prepare a comprehensive plan to take up measures for forest conservation, as instructed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The meeting gave nod to book cases under PD Act against those who indulge in the smuggling or any other forest offences. If anyone used power supply to kill the wild animals, the officials would register power pilferage and illegal use of power cases. The meeting wanted the power staff working in forest areas to keep a tab on the misuse of power to kill animals.

The State Forest Protection Committee meeting has decided to expedite the inquiry into forest offence cases. Legal aid would be provided to the forest department for speedy judgments in forest offences.

A proposal to appoint a legal advisor to forest department was also under consideration. The police too would cooperate with the forest officials and also in removing encroachments in forest areas.

Police outposts would also be set up wherever required. Forest protection teams with public would be formed in villages adjoining the forests.
Siva Sekaran By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Holding that former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa is not a convict in the disproportionate assets case following her death, a division bench of the Madras High Court has rejected a PIL petition opposing construction of her memorial on the Marina.

The bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam dismissed the petition from M L Ravi of Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi, on Wednesday.

The bench, however, suggested to the government that it may formulate a policy decision in future, to go for construction of hospitals, schools, colleges and provision of basic amenities and facilities to benefit the people in honour and memory of great leaders.

The PIL prayed for a directive to the authorities concerned not to spend 50.80 crore from public exchequer for construction of the memorial and to take steps to recover the money, if any, spent by the government, from her property or any other source. The petitioner contended that a memorial should not be constructed for a person, who had been convicted by the trial court in a disproportionate assets case, which was later confirmed by Supreme Court.

ALSO READ | Phoenix: J Jayalalithaa memorial foundation stone laid

Accepting the arguments of Advocate-General Vijay Narayan, who pointed out various judgments of the Supreme Court and various High Courts, the bench said that the position of law in respect of an appeal against acquittal is that, on the demise of the accused in the said appeal, the appeal abates and there could be no decision on the merits of the appeal.

In the case on hand, Jayalalithaa was originally convicted by the trial court for the commission of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other related offences under the Indian Penal Code. On appeal filed by her and other accused before the High Court of Karnataka, the conviction and sentence passed against them were set aside and all of them were acquitted.

Challenging this, the Karnataka government and others preferred criminal appeals before the Supreme Court and before the orders could be pronounced, the main accused, i.e. Jayalalithaa breathed her last. Hence, the appeal against her acquittal came to be dismissed as abated. It is to be remembered at this juncture that the said person already had the benefit of acquittal operating in her favour and in the light of a similar judgment by the Supreme Court in 2001 in some other case, the stigma of conviction against her, has got erased or wiped out. This had not been set aside by the Supreme Court on merits for the reason that before the orders could be pronounced, she died. Therefore, it cannot be said that Jayalalithaa is a convicted person and as such, there is stigma of conviction attached to her, the bench said.

As regards the question as to whether a memorial can be erected in memory of Jayalalithaa by spending public money or at the cost of public exchequer, the judges pointed out the dismissal orders of the Supreme Court of the review and curative petitions of the Karnataka State and others to recover the fine amount of `100 crore from the accused while they were convicted.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: One-fourth of government employees did not turn up for work on Tuesday, the first day of the indefinite strike announced by the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisations (JACTTO-GEO).

Though the functioning of government offices was not severely hit, elementary schools across the State remained shut as a majority of the participants were teachers, particularly those teaching kindergarten, class 1 and 2.

Schools with higher grades remained functional as the strike saw less participation from high school teachers.

The association claims 12 lakh employees participated in the stir on Tuesday, while officials peg the number at 7 lakh. While the participation of Secretariat staff was low, almost half the employees of Ezhilagam and Chennai collectorate took part in the protest. The numbers will further increase on Wednesday, the association has warned.

ALSO READ | Seven lakh government employees from JACTTO-GEO plunge into strike on first day

While the participation of Secretariat staff was low, almost half the employees of Ezhilagam and Chennai collectorate took part in the protest. State coordinator of the association A Mayavan claimed the number of protestors would increase on Wednesday. The government warned that action would be taken on government staff participating in the strike.

A statement issued by Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan on Monday, said that no pay will be issued to the employees participating in the strike. The employees have planned to hold a protest at Ezhilagam, Chennai Corporation, and the collectorate until Friday. The strike is said to continue until the government meets their demand, according to a statement issued by the association.

ALSO READ | JACTTO-GEO protestors wont receive pay: Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary

The association has a seven-point demand list in which it has urged the government to repeal the new pension scheme and revert to the old one, settle 21-month pay arrears according to the new pay commissions guidelines, settle pay anomalies for secondary teachers and regularise the jobs of part-time staff and teachers working at Anganwadis.

In addition to these, the association has included new demands put forth by Secondary Grade teachers, who teach at government elementary schools. This strike will see 100 per cent participation from elementary teachers as we will be most affected, said R Das, the State coordinator of Tamil Nadu Elementary School Teachers Association. They have raised objection to the governments decision to use surplus elementary school teachers at the new LKG, UKG classes that were inaugurated on January 21.
B Anbuselvan By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has identified a whopping 96 accident black spots across national highways in the State, thanks to poor quality of design and engineering.

Documents accessed by Express have revealed that the Union Ministry has finally agreed to take measures to eliminate these black spots after being pulled up, repeatedly, by the State Road Safety Council for failing to control accidents along highways.

Poorly designed national highways have been blamed for more than 30 per cent accidents in Tamil Nadu, the safety council has pointed out.

Recently, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways of State  which maintain 5,491 km roads in Tamil Nadu  informed the State Road Safety Council that 96 black spots had been identified and corrective measures were being taken.

Wherever accidents took place due to poor road design we have proposed to build bridges or vehicular underpasses, NHAI officials said.

However, in a few places such as the Ambur junction on the Chennai-Bengaluru bypass, bridges could not be built because of resistance from local residents. The State government must help us resolve the issue.

Out of 96 black spots, safety measures are currently being taken up across 24 locations. A proposal has been sent to build bridges/vehicular underpasses at 52 locations on the Chennai-Tiruchy NH45, Madurai-Tirunelveli NH 7, Chennai-Bengaluru bypass and state national highway roads, added official sources.

As a temporary measure cautionary sign boards have been erected and thick rumble strips provisioned at U-turns on all national highways.

Quoting the road ministrys directive, sources from NHAI said construction of foot overbridges (FOBs), underpasses/cattle underpasses, road signages and other road safety measures were being included in the detailed project report for all new projects.

Depending on land availability, in future all NHAI roads will be designed with bridges/VHPs wherever possible, added NHAI sources.

According to the State transport department data, 61,213 persons were killed in road accidents across Tamil Nadu between January 2015 and December 2018, out of which more than 30 per cent happened on various stretches of the national highways running along the State.
By Express News Service

JHARSUGUDA/BHAWANIPATNA: All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Mastan Vali on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of taking people of Odisha for a ride.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said the number of poor people in Odisha has increased in the last 18 years of BJD rule. While unemployment is increasing, farmers are suffering due to negligence of both BJD and BJP governments at the State and centre respectively.

Vali stated that Congress would organise Parivartan Sankalpa Samabesha on January 25 in presence of AICC president Rahul Gandhi. He said the Samabesh will bring about a massive shift in the States politics. In the last four and half years of the NDA Government in Centre or 18 years of BJD regime in State, no one has taken any exemplary action for development of Odisha, he said and alleged that Naveen has extended unconditional support to Modi.

On the departure of MLA Naba Kishore Das from the party, Vali claimed that it would not affect Congress prospects in the upcoming elections. The OPCC vice-president Santosh Saluja said Odisha government could have fixed the paddy MSP at `2,500 per quintal but it did not do so due to its vested interest.

At Bhawanipatna, Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das alleged that BJD workers are trying to sabotage Rahul Gandhis meet at Bhubaneswar. Biju Yuva Bahini members are purposefully organising meetings at Balangir and Puri on the same day. They have blocked all vehicles so that people cannot travel to the Capital to attend the Parivartan Sankalpa Samabesha, he said while speaking to mediapersons here. On resignation of some important office bearers, he said Congress is like an ocean and individuals quitting will have no impact on the party.
Renjith Leen By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Kochis tryst with the West is centuries old with three European countries  Portugal, The Netherlands and Britain  leaving their mark on the Queen of the Arabian Sea in more ways than one. But not many are aware of Kochis link with Lithuania, a small European nation on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Varapuzha, one of the historic suburbs of the city, is the resting place of a Lithuanian Catholic prelate, Bishop Florentius (Nicolaus Szostak), who was the Vicar Apostolic of the Malabar Vicariate, which later became the Archdiocese of Verapoly, from 1751 to 1773.

To strengthen this historic link and to pay homage to the missionary from his home country, Lithuanian ambassador Julius Pranevicius arrived in Kochi on Wednesday evening on a one-day visit. He is accompanied by Fr Ricardas Doveika, a Catholic priest and one of the most popular public figures in Lithuania.

The ambassador told Express that he came to know of this fascinating connection with Kochi during the unveiling of the commemorative plaque of Bishop Florentius in St Joseph and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Varapuzha, in 2016, by the then envoy. It was thought-provoking. How strong must have been the motivation for someone from Lithuania to travel over 6,000 km in those times and to have made a difference to the lives of local people here, he said, referring to Florentius.

On Thursday morning, the ambassador and Fr Doveika will visit St Joseph and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and offer tributes at the memorial plaque. He will then attend the commemorative Holy Mass in Latin. On his maiden visit to the state, the envoy said this new-found interest in the connection between Lithuania and Kerala also helped spread awareness in his country about the devastating deluge in the state last year. There were fund-raising initiatives, especially on the part of Lithuanian Caritas, a Catholic NGO, for rebuilding flood-hit lives, he said.

Pranevicius said they are looking forward to explore the possibilities of nurturing this vital link by fostering cooperation and exchange in spheres such as ecclesiastical, cultural, historical, and academic.

In the backdrop of Vilnius being paired with Kochi as part of the EU International Urban Cooperation Programme, the ambassador would meet the Mayor and councillors for further cooperation.

Veteran journalist and church history expert Ignatius Gonsalves said Bishop Florentius, who belonged to the Carmelite order, took great efforts to bring the believers of the Latin as well as Syrian rites closer. It is interesting to note this bishop mentored Fr Clement Pianius and encouraged him to compose Samkshepa Vedartham (a compendium of Christian doctrine)  the first book to be printed in Malayalam  in 1772, he said.
Anil S By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state governments decision to grant reservation in all three streams of Kerala Administrative Service, a complete U-turn from its earlier stance, could well be termed as a calculated political move ahead of the general elections.

Post the Sabarimala fiasco, the Left front has been trying to garner support from the minorities and backward communities to make up the possible loss of vote share from the forward communities. Under pressure, the CPM has plunged into caste politics, may be for the first time, as a counter campaign.

There have been demands from various corners, including former bureaucrats, to bring in reservation for the second and third streams of KAS. Also, the State SC-ST Commission and Minority Commission had urged the government to make reservations applicable for the two streams.

The Chief Minister, however, had taken a clear stance against the same. The AG had given a legal opinion that reservation need not be made applicable here.

CPM must have realised that KAS could backfire

Last month, replying to T A Ahmed Kabir in the Assembly, CM Pinarayi stated a decision had been made not to give reservation for the second and third streams. Sources say the government was misled by certain sections, who by interpreting it as by-transfer appointment, ruled out reservation. Now with the Opposition UDF taking up the issue, the government began feeling the heat. At a time when the Left has been trying to make inroads into the backward communities, it cannot afford to keep a rigid stance, pointed out sources.

On Tuesday, state Law Minister A K Balan announced the decision after talks with the Chief Minister. Necessary amendments would be made in the legislation. Since they are being brought in the rules, the subject committee should clear the same. We hope to bring it by the next Assembly session, Balan told Express.

It was KPCC working president Kodikunnil Suresh who led an agitation demanding reservation across the streams in the KAS.

With the Governor seeking explanation from the government and my agitation getting major support from various bodies representing backward communities, the government realised that it could prove costly. Backward communities and minorities turned against the government. The CPM must have realised that KAS could backfire, and thats why the change in stance ahead of the Parliament election, said Suresh.

Senior Left leaders feel that in the Sabarimala issue, the Front could end up losers on the electoral front. But it is also a fact the Left could not have taken any other stance.

We could have a possible substantial loss of vote share from the forward communities. But the Left has been successful in making inroads into the minorities and certain backward communities, said a senior Left leader.

The Left in Kerala had welcomed the economic reservation by the BJP government at the Centre. In this backdrop, the new move has more significance.
Sovi Vidyadharan By

Express News Service

KOZHIKODE: With Parliament enacting the economic reservation law, all eyes are now on the states plans to implement it in the higher education sector. At present, the state has set aside 10 per cent seats for the Economically Backward among Forward Communities (EBFC) in some higher educational institutions such as government arts and science colleges and also in university departments.

Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel told Express the government plans to extend it to professional colleges as well. It was the previous LDF Government which set apart seats for economically weaker sections in arts and science colleges way back in 2008. Many economically weak students from among forward communities benefited from it. We are planning to extend the benefit to professional courses as well, Jaleel said.

The Centre has already indicated it plans to increase 25 per cent seats in higher educational institutions to ensure the existing quota is not upset. Recently, the Union HRD Ministry has written to 40 Central universities and 77 higher education institutions under it to facilitate the quota roll out from the next academic year.

We will consider increasing seats in professional colleges if the situation warrants, Jaleel said when asked about the governments plans to offset for the loss of seats for other communities once the new quota is created. However, legal experts have pointed seat increase will not offer a solution.

For instance, if 100 seats are increased to 125, the same reservation principle will apply, which means each community will still be entitled to the quota prescribed for it, said Adv George Poonthottam, former standing counsel of the University of Kerala. He added treating the new 10 per cent quota as a separate supernumerary unit too will not stand legal scrutiny.

According to Dr R Jayaprakash, former member of Kerala State Higher Education Council, the move by the Central and the state governments to implement the quota was nothing but an election gimmick. What is needed is an improvement of the standards of higher education which are now in a mess. Addressing the deteriorating standards of professional courses, mainly engineering, may be an area the government can perhaps begin with, he suggested.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) shakes hands with Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo during their meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Jan. 21, 2019. Trong has said further consolidation and development of Vietnam-China friendship will not only benefit the construction of the two countries, but also make contribution to peace, stability, development and prosperity of the region and the world. (Xinhua/Chinese Embassy in Vietnam)

HANOI, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President Nguyen Phu Trong has said further consolidation and development of Vietnam-China friendship will not only benefit the construction of the two countries, but also make contribution to peace, stability, development and prosperity of the region and the world.

The Vietnamese top leader made the remarks here on Monday when meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo.

Highlighting the current development of Vietnam-China relations, Trong said Vietnam and China are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, and the friendship between the two peoples goes back to ancient times.

Both countries are under the leadership of communist parties and have made important achievements in building socialism with their own characteristics, Trong noted.

Trong expressed his hope that the two sides will implement the high-level consensus between the two parties and the two countries, inherit and bolster the traditional friendship.

Xiong said that in recent years, top leaders of the two parties and the two countries have exchanged visits and conducted in-depth strategic communication, which has played an irreplaceable and important role in the healthy and stable development of China-Vietnam relations.

The complementary advantages and great potential of cooperation between the two countries have been further manifested, Xiong noted.

China is willing to work together with Vietnam to strengthen the traditional friendship, maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, expand people-to-people exchanges, and promote the steady, healthy and sustainable development of China-Vietnam relations, said the ambassador.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: In a bid to tighten the austerity belt, the department of higher education has decided to do away with bouquets and plastic water bottles at university events in Karnataka. Henceforth, universities will not be allowed to fete guests with flower bouquets at campus events, and this order will be passed down to affiliated colleges too.

At a recent review meeting conducted by higher education minister GT Devegowda, the department decided to cut down on expenditure and directed vice-chancellors of all state universities to ensure this. As a first step towards trimming expenditure, it asked varsities not to buy bouquets, except for some special occasions. Instead, bouquets are to be replaced with books.

BH Anil Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Higher Education, said, It will be the model code for universities to cut down on expenditure. Use of plastic bottles will be completely banned at all events. Instead, water will be served in glasses.

It is the norm for universities to gift shawls and bouquets to guests. The department wants to put an end to this lavish practice as at least two or three events are held at universities every day. Though the department has not set a ceiling on expenditure, it wanted universities to keep expenditure in control.

Reacting to it, Prof YS Siddegowda, vice-chancellor, Tumkur University, said, Following the directions, we have issued a circular to all affiliated colleges and departments that bouquets should not be given to guests unless it is a very special occasion.

It is a very good decision by the department as we conduct at least one event a day, which includes seminars, and it is common to buy bouquets for delegates and speakers. These bouquets cost not less than Rs150 each and also have a very short life. So we have decided to welcome guests with books.
By Express News Service

TUMAKURU: While the funeral of the 111-year-old Sri Shivakumara Swamiji went off smoothly and peacefully, the tourism minister in the Congress-JD(S) led alliance government Sa Ra Mahesh sparked a controversy after he allegedly 'abused' a woman IPS officer for not letting him inside the building where the 'kriya samadhi' was underway on Tuesday evening.

While Central Range IGP B Dayananda had made a list of select peoples' representatives to be allowed inside the building, the visit of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy led to his cabinet colleague minister Venkatarao Nadagouda trying to follow him inside which was not successful. The tourism minister, however, forced his way inside which was objected by the IPS officer Dr Divya V Gopinath. Getting annoyed over this the K R Nagara JD(S) MLA took offense and allegedly badmouthed the officer.

Private TV channels telecast a video in which the minister can be seen arguing with the officer but the audio feed is not sufficient to determine the language used. At the end of the video, the officer can be seen breaking into tears and is being consoled by minister SR Srinivas who asked her not to make an issue out of the matter with folded hands.

Sources said the police had let some of the persons into the venue who were not on the list and the chief minister H D Kumaraswamy too knew about it. The CM, while reacting to the issue has defended the minister and said that the police should have let him inside. " When some small (unimportant) persons were allowed inside objecting to my cabinet colleague is an insult to me", he told reporters in Bengaluru.

"Some of the members of BJP who were not in the list were also allowed inside which the CM might have observed," a source told TNIE.

The officer has served as the superintendent of police of Tumakuru till recently when she was sent on requested leave but had returned from her native Kochi to help with security arrangements as she knew about the city having served for some time there. Speaking to reporters Divya said that she would not take the incident seriously as such flare-ups were inevitable during events held on such a massive scale.

The central range IGP while speaking to reporters clarified that he was not aware of the incident and would react only after getting information in detail.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has justified his decision to give half of the 10 per cent quota to Kapus, stating it was a promise made earlier to the community and a decision in that regard was also not new.

Addressing party cadre through teleconference - Election Mission 2019, Naidu termed the latest Cabinet decisions historic and wanted the party cadre to publicise them with vigour among the masses.

The decision of 5 per cent reservation to Kapus is not new. We have already sent the same to Centre, but the BJP government there has not agreed. Now, we have allocated 5 per cent out of 10 per cent reservation to Kapus and balance to economically weaker sections (EWS), he told partymen.

READ | Andhra to divide 10 per cent upper caste quota between Kapus, other forward castes

Elaborating on the decisions of the State Cabinet like doubling social security pensions, succour to AgriGold victims, life tax waiver to auto rickshaws and tractors, payment of `60,000 per house (houses for poor) constructed sans permission since 2014, health insurance, amendments to dotted land Act and clearance of DA dues to government employees, the TDP supremo wanted the party cadre to give wide publicity to the same.

At the same time, he wanted the partys rank and file to give equal publicity to betrayal of BJP in implementing promises made to the State and the NDA governments non-cooperation and how the State government has been striving for the development of the State and welfare of people.

Naidu minced no words when he lashed out at Narendra Modi and said the latters comments that anti-BJP alliance has four Prime Minister aspirants after Opposition unity rally in Kolkata, reflects the insecurity in BJP. On report card of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari about the funds released to the State by his minister, the TDP chief said there is no truth in those claims.

ALSO READ | Andhra Pradesh Kapu Quota: Tactically sound, legally questionable

Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh got more funds than any other State. For just one bullet train, `1 lakh crore was allocated. The roads sanctioned to AP are those from which revenue is collected in the form of toll tax, he pointed out.

Naidu maintained that when compared to BJP ruled states, what was given to Andhra Pradesh was far less. He emphasised that Narendra Modi is the personification of discrimination. The CM attributed the total credit for development in the State in the last four-and-a-half years to TDP regime.The Chief Minister said Pasupu-Kumkuma meetings will be held with women on January 25 in Amaravati, Kadapa and Visakhapatnam to explain what the TDP government did for their welfare.
Nayakara Veeresha By

In the recent Assembly elections, the women voter turnout was high. In 52 constituencies of Madhya Pradesh and 24 constituencies of Chhattisgarh, more women turned up at the polling booths compared to men. Further, the ratio of winners against the number of fielded candidates was higher for women compared to their male counterparts. This is interesting when we note that the representation of women in the Assemblies of these states is abysmal.

Calculations that I made using the available data revealed that the higher female voter turnout in the 52 constituencies of Madhya Pradesh determined the pattern of electoral outcomes significantly. In MP, the Congress won a total of 114 seats as against the 109 constituencies won by the BJP. Surprisingly, in fact the BJP got a larger share of votes (41.09 per cent) than the Congress (40.89 per cent). But the difference between the female and male voter turnout, which was greater than 5 per cent in constituencies like Sihawal and Chitrakoot, likely resulted in a change of guard.

Similar is the case of Chhattisgarh, especially in the constituencies of Bastar region where the CPI (Maoist) has a considerable hold and called for a boycott of the elections. In all these seats, women voter turnout was higher than that of men. This has huge implications not just for the Bastar region, but for the Maoists and the entire country. By turning out to vote in larger numbers, the women of Bastar sent a signal to political parties about the importance of peace in the region and the need for rights-based development.

Despite the rise in participation of women in the electoral process during the recent Assembly elections, the total number of women who got elected has actually declined compared to 2013. There are just 62 women among the 678 elected members of the Assemblies in the elections, as per data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms and the Centre for Policy Research. It was 77 in the previous election. The total number of women MLAs has come down to 9 per cent in 2018 from 11 per cent in 2013.

Let us look at the facts about womens representation in Parliament. As per the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) women hold only 23.4 per cent of Parliament seats across the world. In India, historically women were denied their legitimate share in governance due to the patriarchal social system. Structural inequalities like class and caste further complicate gender-based discrimination.

India is one of the few democratic countries in the world that provided early voting rights to women. Women hold 46 per cent of the posts in our three-tier panchayat system. However the same is not reflected in the number of women in Parliament and Assemblies. The percentage of women in Parliament in India is less than that of even most South Asian nations.

The data does show that there is a gradual increasing trend in the participation of women in Parliament since the tenth general election onwards. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, 11.8 per cent of those elected were women. In Rajya Sabha, the percentage of women is around 11. In terms of the percentage of women in ministerial positions, India is at the 88th position among 181 countries and there are six women in the Union Cabinet. Though the number of women contesting in elections to the Lok Sabha is increasing, the same is not reflected in the percentage of winning candidates. Even Sudan (30.5 per cent) and Pakistan (20.6 per cent) have better representation of women in parliament than India.

The representation of women is even less in Assemblies compared to Parliament. There are only around 9 per cent women MLAs in the Assemblies of our states. This is much more less in the case of Legislative Councils, where around 5 per cent are women. The Womens Reservation Bill or The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008, which aimed to provide one-third reservation of seats in Lok Sabha and all Legislative Assemblies, has lapsed.

We need to address various factors such as the unwillingness of political parties to bring in reservation for women, the patriarchy in our society, criminalisation and corruption in politics, and political dynasties to ensure a better representation of women in politics. The reluctance of the parties and their lack of commitment towards giving an equal share to women when it comes to power and authority is an indicator of male hegemony. It also reflects the gender rigidity of politics in India.

Globally and in India too, it has been observed wherever women have a better representation in the decision-making process, there are better chances of overall socioeconomic development. Its high time we ensure higher inclusion of women in governance and achieve gender equality, especially in state-level politics.

Nayakara Veeresha

Doctoral Fellow, Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change

Email: nayakaraveeresha@gmail.com
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: A 35-year-old farmer Himmat Patidar whose kin is said to be associated with BJPs parent outfit RSS was found brutally murdered near his agricultural plot in Kamed village of Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.

With this during the last one week, two BJP leaders and two others whose kin are related to RSS or BJP have been murdered in various parts of the state, where the Congress has recently returned to power after 15 years.

According to Ratlam district police superintendent Gaurav Tiwari the farmer Himmat Patidar was found dead near his agricultural plot in the wee hours. Circumstantial evidence at the spot revealed that the farmer was hacked to death. The accused subsequently tried to burn Patidars face, but couldnt succeed totally.

The suspect has been identified and efforts are being made to arrest him, said Tiwari.

Sources privy to police investigations revealed that Patidar, as usual, went to the agricultural plot at around 1.30 am to switch on the water pump installed to irrigate the fields, but didnt return throughout the night.

In the morning his kin found him dead near the agricultural plot. Sources added that probe has revealed that the man who earlier worked for Patidar as a labourer was seen in the night near the agricultural plot, where the body was found in the morning.

Cops are also probing possibility of the farmer having illicit relations with the wife of the suspect, owing to which the suspect had left working for him and could have took revenge by killing him.

It could be a case of revenge killing, a police source said.

While the Ratlam district police officers claimed that the deceased wasnt an RSS worker, but his cousin was an RSS worker, the ex-CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted that Himmat Patidar was an RSS worker. He demanded the immediate arrest of the accused.

This is the fourth killing of a BJP leader or someone (whose kin is associated with BJP or RSS) within a week in the Congress-ruled state.

On January 17, the Nagar Palika chairman and BJP leader Prahlad Bandhwar was shot dead by a close aide and alleged BJP worker in Mandsaur district, while another BJP leader Manoj Thakre was brutally murdered in home minister Bala Bachchans native district Barwani on Sunday morning. On Monday, another man Chhatar Singh Rawat, whose brother is a BJP leader was found murdered in Gwalior district.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The late plunge of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into politics is being seen by many as a desperate attempt by the Congress to retrieve what best it can in electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP, which is seemingly in a spot with SP (Samajwadi Party) and BSP (Bahujan Samajwadi Party) joining hands, is still deciphering the potential impact of the Congress' 'trump card' entering the arena even as it is drawing comfort from the fact that UP will no more be a direct contest.

The announcement may also force political pundits to revisit their early assessment that the SP-BSP arithmetic will stall the saffron juggernaut in UP in a 'one-on-one' electoral contest. The Congress, which seemingly lacked a charismatic leader till now in the state, will have a popular face to connect with the masses in the run-up to the elections, noted political observers.

Before ceding political space to SP and BSP, the Congress' core support base was made up of Brahmins, Dalits, and Muslims. With the additional help of a clutch of OBC leaders, including Shyamlal Yadav, Chandrajeet Yadav, Jainul Bashar in eastern UP, the Congress dominated the political landscape of the Hindi heartland state till the 1980s.

"The Congress revival will worry the BJP, SP, and BSP in equal measure. Yet, it's to be seen whose turf is challenged more in the elections," said a senior BJP functionary.

The BJP's topmost worry in UP has apparently been the possibility of the 18 per cent minority vote base supporting the SP-BSP combine. Holding on to the eight per cent Brahmin vote base could also prove a worry for the BJP amid the perception that the party favoured Thakurs with the advent of Yogi Adityanath as CM.

"The 10 per cent quota plank may help the BJP in the fast-changing upper caste equations in the state. Yet, if a stronger Congress is able to cut into the traditional vote base of SP-BSP, then UP electoral politics isn't an open and shut case as is being presented," said another BJP functionary.

The BJP remained guarded on Wednesday. They focused on the theme of Gandhi dynasty, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying during an interaction with booth-level workers that while democracy runs in the veins of the BJP, some parties always turn to dynasties.

"The Congress has made clear the succession line that after Rahul Gandhi there will be Priyanka Gandhi Vadra," said the BJP vice president Prabhat Jha.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: Former IAS officer Shah Faesal Wednesday launched a crowdfunding campaign for "clean politics and corruption-free administration" in Jammu and Kashmir.

The 2010-batch topper of the UPSC civil services exam said it was a people's movement for change.

"Be a part of this journey for clean politics and corruption-free administration in J&K. Support Shah Faesal with your small donations," he tweeted.

Faesal, who resigned from government service earlier this month, gave a bank account number for contributions and said payments could also be made through e-wallet.

ALSO READ: Solutions on Kashmir problem will come only from Centre: Shah Faesal

He had said the resignation was to protest "unabated killings in Kashmir, and lack of any sincere reach-out from the Union government; the marginalisation and invisibilization of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces reducing them to second-class citizens; insidious attacks on the special identity of J&K and growing culture of intolerance and hate in mainland India in the name of hypernationalism".

While he has made it clear that he would like to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Faesal has not joined any political party so far.

Speculation is rife that he might float a new political outfit.
By Express News Service

PATNA: Despite internal rifts over the 10 per cent quota for the poor among general category, Bihars main Opposition party RJD is likely to oppose the move when the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government brings a legislation to implement the Constitutional amendment in the state.

After taking legal opinion, the state government has decided to roll out the new quota by introducing a separate Bill in the state legislatures budget session next month. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked two top bureaucrats to thrash out the modalities of implementing the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions in the state.

The state governments decision to take the legislature route instead of an executive order is widely seen as a ploy to put RJD to a corner on the emotive issue. But RJD sources said the party plans to oppose the state governments Bill in the legislature on the ground that the move is not backed by sufficient supporting data.

RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said the new reservation would backfire on BJP because the bahujans (majority communities) are feeling cheated by it. This move by the Narendra Modi government is as thoughtless as demonetisation. BJP will have to bear its consequences, he said.

RJD does not have so much protest against the new reservation provision as against the system and the process that has brought it in without any panel like the Mandal Commission deliberating on population data, said senior RJD leader Bhai Birendra.

Asserting that the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led party is keen to see the general category prosper through appropriate quota provisions, Birendra added: The BJP-led NDA does not really want reservations for the upper castes. It only wants to befool the upper castes once again. RJD would decide its stand in a meeting of MLAs in the first week of February.

They (NDA) are calling the amendment a reservation for upper castes while it is actually for the economically backward sections in the general category. They must stop using the misleading words upper caste, said Congress leader Premchand Mishra. We will support it in Bihar legislature like we did in parliament, but this provision should not be called reservation for upper castes, he added.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Maharashtra state Cabinet sanctioned Rs 100 crore for the construction of a memorial for late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will attend the foundation ceremony of the memorial on Wednesday (January 23), Balasahebs birthday, and is also likely to be seen with Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at a special screening of biopic Thackeray.

Cabinet Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, who has reportedly been trying to broker peace between the two parties from the past few years, said that relations are normal and would remain so, as he emerged from the Cabinet meeting.

Late Balasaheb Thackeray was not just a Shiv Sena leader. He was a leader of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. All of us, in fact all the political parties in Maharashtra, see him with a high regard. Thats why the state government has decided to grant Rs 100 crore for his memorial. The memorial will keep inspiring the youth of Maharashtra, Mungantiwar added.

The memorial will come up in a sea-facing British-era bungalow, spanning around 11,500 sqm, in Dadar.

The bungalow was being used as the official residence of Mumbai's Mayor till Monday and has been handed over to the 'Balasaheb Thackeray Rashtriya Smarak Nyas' (trust) last year, clearing the decks for the memorial.

Indicating that chances of a BJP-Sena alliance before the LS polls have increased, Mungantiwar said the BJP has always been in favour of it.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: India Tuesday shared with Pakistan the coordinates of the crossing point of the proposed Kartarpur corridor which will link Baba Nanak village in Punjab to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Narowal in Pakistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs said India has also proposed to Islamabad two set of dates, February 26 and March 7, for the visit of a Pakistani delegation to Delhi to discuss and finalise the modalities of the corridor.

Pakistan Monday said it shared a draft agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor with India and invited New Delhi to urgently send a delegation to Islamabad to negotiate and finalise the proposal.

Both sides are yet to finalise the modalities of travel of the Indian pilgrims to the Gurudwara.

The MEA said it has proposed two sets of dates for the visit by the Pakistani delegation here so that the Indian pilgrims can visit the holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor at the "earliest".

"Pursuant to the decision taken by the government of India on November 22, 2018 to expeditiously realise the long-pending proposal to establish Kartarpur corridor, India has today shared the coordinates of the zero point (crossing point) of the corridor along the International Border with Pakistan," the MEA said.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on November 26 last year laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district.

Two days later on November 28, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor at Narowal, 125 km from Lahore.

The decision to build the corridor - from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the international border - was taken by the Union Cabinet on November 22.

The corridor was a long-pending demand of the Sikh community.

Pakistan has committed to open the corridor in November on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Five of the "most beautiful veterans" honored for their achievements last year, on Tuesday urged fellow ex-service personnel to contribute more to China's development.

They made the remarks while sharing their work experience and advice on how newly retired soldiers can better adjust to a civilian life, get employed or start business.

Among the five was Chen Kunyuan, 34, a veteran-turned entrepreneur in fresh vegetable delivery sector. Built from scratch, his company now boasts an annual revenue of more than 500 million yuan (about 73.45 million U.S. dollars).

"Veterans can be an important force in boosting economic development, a key role similar to the one they played in safeguarding the country," Chen said. "As veterans, we can continue serving the country by playing an exemplary role in adhering to the law and realizing our personal values in new undertakings."

Wang Guiwu, 60, a serviceman from 1978 to 1980, and now chairman of a Tianjin-based company, touched many in China, as he had been looking after and supporting 16 mothers whose children lost their lives when combating floods in 1998, as well as participating in earthquake relief operations in 2008.

"Whatever business you want to go in, morals come first," Wang said. "For those veterans who want to start their business, I would advise them to set a realistic target, and achieve it step by step."

A platform created by Wang to provide career planning, vocational training, employment and business-starting services to military veterans, has so far brought jobs to more than 200 ex-servicemen or their family members, and helped 30 veterans to start a business.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs was unveiled in April 2018 with the country vowing to provide better services to and protect the legal rights and interests of veterans.

Chinese authorities issued a guideline in August to help military veterans find jobs or set up businesses.
urfinguss/iStock(DALLAS) -- Jacob Rodriguez came into this world with the odds seemingly stacked against him.



The 22-month-old was born prematurely with an abdominal wall defect called omphalocele, in which an infant's intestines and other organs protrude outside the body. He has spent his entire life inside a hospital in Dallas -- until Tuesday.



Jacob left the Medical City Dallas Hospital and went home with his parents for the very first time Tuesday afternoon -- exactly 686 days after he was born.



Doctors, nurses and staff who have been providing round-the-clock care for Jacob and his family lined the hallway in the pediatric wing to celebrate. They blew bubbles, waved and cheered as paramedics wheeled Jacob, who will still need a ventilator for some time, into the ambulance that would transport him home.



"He always has the cutest little giggle and he laughs all the time," pediatric intensive care nurse Taylor Gille told ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA in a recent interview. "He just has a really good outlook on life, and I hope he keeps that and does something great in his life -- which he will, I have no doubt."



Jacob's mother, Ogla Rodgriguez, said she feared this day would never come.



"I really thought I would never be able to take him out of here alive," she told WFAA this week.



Rodriguez recalled the "gut-wrenching feeling" when doctors informed her and her husband that something was wrong with their unborn child after the first ultrasound. It had taken her years to get pregnant.



"They did tell me the risks, you know, that he would die in-utero," she said. "And of course that broke us to pieces, thinking, 'We've wanted this for so long, and there's a possibility we might lose him.'"



Jacob was born at 32 weeks gestation on March 8, 2017, at the Medical City Dallas Hospital, weighing just 2 pounds and 14 ounces. His intestines, liver and parts of his stomach were outside of his body, and his lungs were severely underdeveloped.



Rodriguez spent every day in the hospital with Jacob, leaving only at night when he fell asleep.



"I'm just ready for him to see the world, I want him to experience that," his mother tearfully told WFAA. "I just want him to see and experience things like a normal child."



She said she wants her son to grow up knowing how strong he already is.



"If he can overcome this, he can overcome anything," she said. "He's so strong."



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
By PTI

JAIPUR: Opposition BJP Wednesday staged a walkout from the House questioning the Rajasthan government's intention of waiving farm loans.

BJP MLA Hameer Singh in a supplementary question demanded from the government to clearly state on what date it would waive off farm loans and deposit the money in farmers' accounts.

He also reminded the Congress-led dispensation that it had promised to do the same within 10 days of coming to power.

Replying to the question, Cooperative Minister Udai Lal Anjana said the eligibility of beneficiaries was being decided and thereafter, the loans will be waived.

Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the reply.

He insisted that the government should have waived off the loans within 10 days of coming to power as was promised by the Congress. The opposition then entered the Well of the House and raised anti-government slogans.

"It appears the government has no intention to waive off the loans. We are not satisfied and are walking out to express our protest," Kataria said.

The issue was also raised by BJP MLA Kiran Maheshwari who said the state government had announced the waiver on December 19, 2018, and constituted a ministerial committee on January 1 to decide the eligibility.

"The farmers are feeling cheated. They (Congress) promised the waiver in 10 days, but 35 days have passed, and nothing has been done," she said.

The state cooperative minister said the ministerial committee has held two meetings over the matter.

Hitting out at the BJP-led previous regime, Anjana said the last government waived loans of "non-eligible" people. In reply to another question, Food and Civil Supply Minister Ramesh Meena informed the House that the government will review the 'Annapurna Bhandar Yojna' started by the previous government.

He said irregularities will be removed from the scheme. In 2015, the then BJP government had given a facelift to the scheme and rebranded around 5,000 fair price shops as 'Annapurna Bhandar' where multi-brand consumer goods are currently being sold.

Asked whether the Congress government would continue the scheme in its present form, Meena said a three-year contract has been signed with private partners.

He said products at such shops were being sold at higher prices than the market price and that there was less footfall.

"We will review, improve and thereafter, continue," the minister added.
By Express News Service

Its not often the Executive pushes a scheme at the speed of a bullet train without adequate preparation, but these are not normal times, as Lok Sabha elections are barely a few months away.

So, when the Union Human Resource Development Ministry issued a fiat to all Central educational institutions last week to enforce the freshly-minted 10 per cent quota in higher education for the upper caste poor  a euphemism for the economically weaker sections (EWS)  across the board within two years and announce their respective rollout plans by March 31, it took the administrators by surprise.

According to the ministrys own calculations, seats in all institutions need to be increased by 25 per cent to facilitate the EWS quota so as not to disturb the existing SC/ST/OBC reservations. The ministry assured it got its math right, but how they got to the 25 per cent figure is still not fully understood beyond its four walls.

Adding that many seats is easier said than done, as creating more infrastructure  from classrooms to faculty to labs  and mobilising resources cannot be done in a flash. Administrators across India scrambling to meet the stiff March 31 deadline called it a mammoth exercise that ought to be done with due deliberation.

From last year, we introduced 14 per cent supernumerary seats for girls, which in itself put a lot of burden on our infrastructure. The new policy will strain our resources further, a senior IIT-Delhi official griped. In all, IITs have about 12,000 seats. The new quota will necessitate adding 3,000 more seats by 2020.

Delhi University, with about 55,000 undergraduate seats, will have to add about 14,000 to fulfil the quota stipulation. Where are the classrooms and teachers to manage the additional load? a senior university executive wondered.

However, for students trying to get admission into well-funded Central government institutions, the competition will ease up a bit as around 700 seats are likely to be added to accommodate economically weaker section students from 2019-2020 academic year to the total seats in IIT Hyderabad, NIT Warangal and Central Universities.

Money matters

Infrastructure apart, money is a big concern. Both government-run and private institutions want to know who will pay the fee for EWS students. As Dr M K Panduranga Setty, secretary of Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association, put it bluntly: We have no issues in implementing the quota. But we want clarity on the fee part. We need to know whether the candidates themselves will pay the fee or if we will get the money reimbursed by the government.

Reimbursement appears ambitious, as the ministry does not seem to have any intention to bankroll private institutions. It expects them to make adjustments from their own resources, but there is nothing official about it as of now.

ALSO READ: 5 per cent quota for Kapus in 10 per cent economically weaker sections reservation

Stakeholder Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan, president of the Association of Self Financing Arts, Science and Management Colleges of Tamil Nadu, said it was not fair. The government cannot pass on the burden to private institutions. We have to invest in infrastructure, laboratory, chemicals etc. So, the government has to give EWS candidates some kind of scholarship like it does in the case of SC/ST quota, he suggested.

Gauri Satish, advisor to the Telangana Private Degree and PG College Managements Association said, There is no clarity yet. Also, there are some organisations that are approaching the Supreme Court against the reservation.

To clear the cobwebs and create a legislative framework for the EWS quota in private institutes, the ministry is in the process of drafting a separate bill. The bill is expected to be piloted in budget session of Parliament that is slated to begin on January 31. Its work in progress.

However, for Central government-run institutions that need to ramp up their game, funding will not be a constraint, assured higher education secretary R Subrahmanyam.

For Sachidananda Mohanty, Vice-Chancellor of the 11-year-old Central University of Odisha, that was welcome assurance.

The university had not received any funds from the ministry for infrastructure development in the last three years.

Just last week, the MHRD opened the tap, approving Rs 319 crore for implementing 14 new infrastructure projects on the campus.

READ HERE: Economic reservation on the cards in Kerala's professional colleges

Medical over engineering

The general consensus among stakeholders is the upper caste quota will benefit premier and popular institutes alone.

According to the dean of a deemed to be university in Tamil Nadu, who spoke on condition of anonymity, colleges that dont enjoy a good reputation would find it difficult to fill up seats. The challenge to recruit and retain quality faculty will multiply.

Another opinion shared across the spectrum is the EWS quota would find more traction in the medical stream rather that the engineering one because of the demand and supply skew. As Cyriac Thomas, former vice-chancellor of MG University and member of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, put it: The impact would be seen most in courses like medicine, which is in high demand. For engineering, a seat increase wont be required as over 50 per cent of seats are already vacant.

T D Eswaramoorthy, secretary of the All India Federation of Self Financing Technical Institutions, echoed Thomas, adding, Increasing the seats will only benefit 5-10 per cent of colleges. The rest are struggling to get admissions for the existing intake itself. In the case of Tamil Nadu, barely 20-25 colleges will benefit. For the remaining 475 colleges, increasing the intake will not be necessary.

Then there are states like Kerala, where a similar quota experiment was tried out way back in 2008 by the then LDF government. It had provided 10 per cent reservation for the economically weak within the general classes for admission to arts and science colleges. The reservation continues to exist, but only in government colleges, as private institutions aided by the government, too, chose to opt out. In universities, the EWS quota was fixed at 7.5 per cent.

Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel said the government will consider extending the facility to professional colleges after further discussions.

Wait and watch

Another area where the policy is cooking is the documents that would be considered valid proof to claim the EWS quota.

Within the existing system itself, we are receiving fake income certificates during admissions to professional courses under the Common Entrance Test. This time we need to have some robust mechanism to tackle it as there are chances of more people trying to benefit out of the scheme illegally, said a senior official of the Karnataka Examination Authority.

The modalities are in the works. Barring Gujarat, UP, Assam and Andhra Pradesh, no other state government has so far decided to replicate the EWS quota. Not just that, they havent even discussed it formally within their respective cabinets. Perhaps they are waiting and watching the Central rollout and the outcome of the legal challenges in the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court before dipping their toes and customising the quota.

As S Varadarajan, Secretary, Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education, explained: The Central governments income cap to qualify for the scheme is too high - Rs 2 lakh per annum for SCs/STs, Rs 1 lakh per annum for OBCs and EBCs and Rs 8 lakh per annum for EWS. We have to make a few modifications, else there will be a huge impact on the state financially.

Former Delhi University vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh sought to look at it differently. Managing a massive institution like the Delhi University that has tens of thousands of students and around 10,000 teachers could be a nightmare. The government should start new, good-quality universities instead of adding burden on the existing ones, he suggested.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Pushed to the wall by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in UP, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday, reiterated its resolve to go at full throttle in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in UP by saying that the party would now play only on the front foot.

We will fight the upcoming elections with our full might. We are doing politics for the people, their welfare and their development, so we will now play only on the front foot and not on back foot, said the Congress chief while paying a two-day visit to his parliamentary constituency Amethi on Wednesday.

But having said that, the Congress chief took a conciliatory tone while referring to the SP-BSP alliance in the state keeping the window for any prospective talks with them under the changed scenario open.

I respect Mayawatiji and Akhilesh a lot. They have the right to decide their course. Our aim is a common aim and that is to defeat the BJP, he said adding that there was still room for talks. We will cooperate with each other wherever needed...They can come and talk to us. All three of us, the Congress, SP and BSP, want to defeat the BJP, he said.

The Congress could win only two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 elections and just seven seats in the assembly when it had tied up with the SP in 2017.

Calling it a matter of personal contentment, the Congress chief said whether it's Priyanka or Jyotiraditya, through these youth leaders, he wanted to change the politics of UP. We are confident that Priyanka will bring out Congress' ideology and take it forward further, he hoped.

Our ideology is to stand and fight for the poor, the youth, the farmers. Both Priyanka and Jyotiraditya are very capable and dynamic, and will surely take the Congress forward in UP," she said.

Rahul's comments came hours after Priyanka became AICC general secretary and was put in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Scindia was given charge of western Uttar Pradesh.

Speaking at a rally in Amethi, Gandhi said Priyankas appointment will come as a game changer in UP politics.

"Today I made Priyanka Gandhi the general secretary in UP. This means we will now make a Congress CM sit in UP and also a coalition government in Delhi [Centre]," he asserted.

To a question if Priyanka will contest the Lok Sabha election, he said it would be entirely her decision, adding, "I feel her appointment will usher in a new kind of thinking and bring a positive change in Uttar Pradesh politics."

Training his guns at the Yogi government, the Congress chief said, "The youth of the state, irrespective of caste, creed, have seen how the state has been harmed. They have seen corruption...we want to fulfil a new dream...BJP people are also worried."

However, he did not mince words in attacking PM Narendra Modi and accused him of depriving Amethi of its due by blocking its development. Chowkidaar has taken away all the development projects out of Amethi, he claimed.

The Congress chief had to face a strong protest by the farmers who were raising anti-Congress slogans accusing Rahul Gandhi of not doing anything for the farmers of his constituency. The Congress chief faced those protests while on his way to Gauriganj assembly segment.

The Congress president arrived in Amethi in the morning on a two-day tour of his parliamentary constituency. He laid the foundation stone of 18 development projects in Fursatganj.
Mahesh Natarajan By

BENGALURU: Infections spread easily. Being in a relationship means so much greater vulnerability for infections to spread especially if there is proximity to each other like where a couple is living together, travelling together or just physically being with each other for extended periods of time. Sometimes, couples take turns falling ill  first one gets the flu or the eye infection, and in a few days the other gets it, or both get it together. One could try and take all the hygienic precautions and escape being infected, and be in a position to care for the one who first falls ill, but it is not easy if you are in close physical proximity.

On the other hand, there are other types of infectious possibilities even when a couple is not physically close with each other. I am not talking of conjunctivitis, viral fevers or other myriad illnesses  I am talking of emotional contagion. Emotions are infectious. We are quite susceptible to our partners emotional state, and they to ours. It doesnt need physical proximity. Sometimes, longer the distance, greater the emotional contagion.

A couple living thousands of kilometers from each other can pick up on each others sadness and start feeling the same, exhibit the same signs, get teary, distressed and disinterested in their immediate environment. When you are deeply connected, one persons sadness can trigger an almost equal and similar emotion in the other, or even something deeper and more intense. Knowing a loved one is struggling with grief for instance, can make you even sadder than they may be, just because it is compounded with your own helpless feelings of not being able to be there with them. You might get a serious case of the blues through that.

Emotions are infectious, but may not always be the same  it often mutates. It is like someone near you has chicken pox, and that triggers jaundice in you. The triggered emotion may resonate in the same emotional space, like with the sad, concerned feelings, but quite often could be something very different.

If your loved one is really angry and shares that with you, you might get angry with them, but sometimes, you might actually get angry at them for getting into such situations. You might end up fighting with each other about it. Happy emotions might trigger sorrow, actually. Imagine a loved one calling you from the US, sharing with you how they had an amazing success, and that their project won some big prize  you may get happy for them, but you might also get really sad that you are not with each other, that you are missing out on celebrating it together. Your fear might trigger your beloveds anxiety. Your jealousy trigger righteousness.

The cure for emotional infectiousness is to balance with a more logical, thoughtful engagement, but then, the cure could actually be worse than the illness if overused, leading to emotional distance and a falling apart. Just notice your own emotions. See if you can hold a bit of distance, and that should be safe enough.

(The author is a counsellor at InnerSight)
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A day after actor Silambarasan called on his fans to celebrate the release of his next film by pouring 'pots' of milk over his cut-outs as abhishekam, the Tamil Nadu Milk Dealers Association on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Chennai Police Commissioner's office seeking protection on February 1 when the film is being released.

The association also sought action against the actor for his 'provocative' speech.

Simbu's video to his fans was circulated on Tuesday, days after the actor had released a video telling fans not to celebrate the release of Vantha Rajavathan Varuven. In the first video, Simbu urged his fans not to spend huge sums of money to buy tickets for the movie. He told them to buy clothes for their parents instead. He also urged the fans not to put up cut-outs and banners for the film's release.

In the second video, released days later, Simbu said, "Some had claimed that I had released that video for publicity as I have only one or two fans. So, now I am telling you: celebrated my movie release like never before by erecting huge banners and cut-outs and pouring pots of milk. After all I have only one or two fans, so who is going to raise questions if one or two fans celebrate?

Speaking to Express, S A Ponnusamy, president, Tamil Nadu Milk Dealers Association said, "We urged the police commissioner to give protection to milk dealers during the movie's release. Simbu's speech sounds like he is instigating his fans against fans of other actors. So we urged the Commissioner to take action against Simbu on grounds of law and order. There is also usually milk theft before the release of movies as there are some fans who cannot even afford to buy milk. So, during this movie's release, we urged the police to give us protection.

"We have been opposing such paal abhishekam since 2015. Over 25 per cent of people in Tamil Nadu cannot afford to buy milk. But, so much milk is wasted during movie releases. This is not a sensible thing and should be stopped," Ponnusamy added.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Nawazuddin Siddiqui says he does not advocate any ideology and believes no actor should have a take on any situation.

The actor is gearing up for the release of 'Thackeray', a biopic on late Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray, who advocated the "Maharashtra for Maharashtrians" plank in the late 1960s.

ALSO READ | Thackeray memorial: Amid tie-up uncertainty, Maharashtra CM and Sena chief come together

Nawazuddin says an iron-clad ideology can hinder an artist's growth, something he wants to steer clear of.

"I don't have any ideology, philosophy or take on anything. I am not a judgemental person. I am an actor and my job is to take up every role that excites me. If I will have a set ideology, my growth as an actor will be affected. I don't think actors should have their own ideologies," he told PTI in an interview.

The actor adds he feels blessed that he is getting the opportunity to play diverse roles - be it progressive Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto, notorious ganglord Gaitonde or Thackeray.

Known for his provocative statements, Thackeray targeted south Indians, accusing them of snatching jobs from local Marathi youths, in the late 1960s.

He also dominated the headlines for his anti-Muslim comments.

Nawazuddin says Thackeray was someone who understood the pain of the people and he only concentrated on showing the leader's journey in the film.

"He was one person who helped thousands of needy people who were left jobless when the mills shut down. He was a renowned cartoonist, so what was the need for him to help these people? But he did. He understood the pain and emotions of these people.

"He encouraged people to take up higher studies, gain technical knowledge, take up jobs in various fields. His contribution is huge. As an actor, I focused on getting his journey right."

The actor observes that Thackeray was "not a hypocrite" but was a man who was never afraid to share his point of view.

"People loved him for his honesty," he adds.

When senior Shiv Sena leader and film's writer-producer Sanjay Raut approached him to play the title role in the biopic, Nawazuddin recalls feeling both excited and nervous.

"I got a call from his (Raut's) assistant from out of the blue. Within minutes of our meeting, he told me 'You are doing 'Thackeray', the film'. I had no clue what was happening and they explained all the details to me. I couldn't say much at that time, I kept quiet."

Nawazuddin's casting to play Thackeray came as a surprise and the actor says perhaps the makers thought he was the best man for the job.

Not so long ago, in the years before he became a star, the actor from Budhana village in UP's Muzaffarnagar reportedly could not act in the local Ram Lila because of his minority status following objections from the local Shiv Sena unit.

"Had they approached any actor, they would have said yes. Maybe they felt I was the right choice. I feel proud that they thought of me," he said.

When the film's trailer dropped South actor Siddharth and people from different walks of life, labelled 'Thackeray' as a "propaganda film", to be released ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Nawazuddin, however, says he is amazed at how people have already drawn conclusions before even watching the film.

"I feel a hero's film is rather a propaganda film as they are shown as a person accomplished with all the right qualities and leading a successful life, etc. The film would show how a girl is in love with the hero without any reason. The hero has all the talent, the right values and everyone loves him. Those who hate him, he beats them all in one go. All of this has been accepted since over 50 years," he said.

Ask him about his 'Gangs of Wasseypur' co-star Richa Chadha calling him "bipolar" for doing 'Thackeray' apparently after 'Manto', and Nawazuddin says, "Thousands of people say lot of things. I don't get bothered. I focus only on my work."

Nawazuddin also says he has taken a "conscious decision" of not doing supporting roles in future.

"I will not do that again. I have done supporting roles in the past and I think my quota is over. Every man does his time and I have done mine.

"I think everything in life has a time. Things change with time and one has to change with it. Today, I feel I should do lead roles. So I am doing it," he says.

'Thackeray', directed by Abhijit Panse, releases Friday.
By PTI

NEW YORK: Anupam Kher on Wednesday met Jimmy Fallon and the veteran actor said it was a pleasure getting together with the TV host.

Kher, who is currently in the city shooting for medical drama 'New Amsterdam', posted a selfie with the late-night talk show presenter on Twitter.

When you meet someone whose work you admire says he is a fan of your work, it is a wonderful and a humbling feeling. Thank you dear @jimmyfallon for your warmth, appreciation and generosity. It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with you. pic.twitter.com/0W5rDF8axQ  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) January 23, 2019

The veteran actor also said the duo shared mutual admiration for each other's work.

"When you meet someone whose work you admire says he is a fan of your work, it is a wonderful and a humbling feeling.

"Thank you dear @jimmyfallon for your warmth, appreciation and generosity. It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with you," he wrote.

Kher was last seen in Bollywood film 'The Accidental Prime Minister'.
By PTI

LONDON: Sophie Turner says she is "terrible" at keeping secrets and has already outed "Game of Thrones" much-awaited climax.

The actor, who plays Sansa Stark in the hit HBO drama series, said the more unfortunate part was that she was "sober" when she gave away the ending.

ALSO READ | Sophie Turner reads up on mental illnesses to prepare for X-Men: Dark Phoenix

"I'm so bad at keeping secrets. I don't think people tell me things anymore because they know that I can't keep them. I've already told the ending of 'Game of Thrones' to a few people.

"(I was) sober. I was like, 'Hey, if you want to know, I'll tell you.' But it's people that I know, not random people. It's people that I know will keep the secret," Turner told W magazine.

The 22-year-old actor, who used to dye her hair red for the show, later in the series opted for a wig.

"It gets very greasy. It never used to be like that. I think it's because I wear a wig on 'Game of Thrones', so the glue gets stuck in my hair, so I had to wash it every day and my hair is now used to that. If it's any longer than two days, it gets greasy," she said.

Kit Harington, Turner's on-screen 'half brother', recently revealed he asked the makers to let him keep the crypt statue of his character Jon Snow.

Turner said she ditched the wig and kept one of her most revealing costumes from the sets as a souvenir.

"I didn't want to keep (the wig). I was like, 'Goodbye!' The only thing I kept was a corset from the show. I wouldn't have wanted that wig.

"I was thinking about framing it, but people might think it's a bit weird. Wearing it would be weird. And it's not the one that covers your b**bs," she said.

The eighth and final season of 'GOT' premieres April 14.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: After the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the country has been bragging about a three-tier coastal security system involving Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Coastal Police.

Ironically, in Kerala, the three agencies are clueless on how a fishing boat with 100 people onboard managed to sneak out into international waters from a fishing hamlet Munambam in Ernakulam without anyone noticing.

According to experts, the incident has exposed major chinks in the coastal security despite the governments efforts to make it breach-proof.

The incident points out the failure of the coastal security mechanism. But with large number of fishing boats operating from Kerala coast, it will be quite impossible for the agencies to track the activities of each boat. Moreover, the agencies are very much concerned about the incoming boats and not the outgoing boats. However, the agencies have the responsibility to check all the illegal activities taking place in territorial waters, said former naval officer Abhijit Singh, who now heads Maritime Policy Initiative at Observer Research Foundation.

The Kerala police, which is probing the incident, have sought the support of Indian Navy and Coast Guard to track the boat. Asked about the Munambam incident, an Indian Navy spokesperson said they have nothing to say as it was a case of illegal migration and does not come under its purview.

Coastal Police DIG K P Philip said though the state government has been repeatedly insisting on installing Automatic Identification System (AIS) in fishing boats and trawlers, many still refuse to abide it.

They also switch off the AIS to prevent agencies from tracking their position. Many boats violate jurisdiction limit and to stay off the radar, they switch off the AIS.

We are doing the best to strengthen our surveillance. But we have our limitation considering the vast coastal line and large number of fishing boats operating from the various harbours in the state, he said.

Ravi Sanoop has close links with kingpins

KOCHI: The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged human trafficking from Munambam said Ravi Sanoop, who was taken into custody from New Delhi on Monday, is a close associate of the kingpin of the racket.

Ravi was subjected to a detailed interrogation at the office of Ernakulam Rural SP, Aluva on Tuesday.

Officers said there were indications that he was a close associate of Selvam or Sreekanthan, the two main suspects in the case. Ravi, a resident of the Ambedkar Nagar Colony in New Delhi, arrived in Kochi along with his wife on January 5.

He told the police that he was compelled by his wife to take the journey. He could not convince her about the risks involved in such an illegal boat journey. However, when she reached here, she sensed the danger and dropped the plan. Later, they returned on January 7, said an officer.

Ravi will be interrogated by central agencies in the coming days. Meanwhile, another team has left for the Delhi to collect more evidence.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: With all 42 artwork getting sold out, the Art Rises for Kerala auction, the first-ever international live contemporary art auction in the state, raised 3.2 crore to be donated to the state governments post-flood rebuilding activities.The auction, conducted by Mumbai-based, Saffronart, and the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), comprised artworks donated by leading Indian and international artists, gallerists and curators.

Anish Kapoors untitled work

The sale was led by artist Anish Kapoors work, Untitled, 2018, a vivid blue canvas-and-resin work that was sold for 1.3 crore. The 2010-founded KBF said the Kerala government has been the principal supporter of the Biennale which has its fourth edition on for 108 days till March 29.

Were proud to have been able to bring together the artist community to rebuild Kerala. Im also happy that along with the important collectors in India, a new generation of art collectors have come forward in Kerala. I hope that this will strengthen the ecosystem for art here, said KBF president Bose Krishnamachari.

Saffronart said it had partnered with the KBF once again in solidarity with the people of Kerala. We thank the art community for their generous support in both donating and bidding on artwork for this important cause, said Saffronart CEO Dinesh Vazirani.

We hope that the funds raised through this auction, with artworks by some of Indias leading artists, will support the commendable rebuilding efforts initiated by the state government that is already underway, he said. KBF secretary Sunil V said the foundation is grateful to the artists who have generously contributed to the cause. We want to thank Saffronart and Dinesh Vazirani for their partnership, he said.
GUANGZHOU, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- China Southern Airlines (China Southern), the country's largest air carrier, transported 300,000 passengers during the first day of 2019 Spring Festival travel rush on Monday, said the airline Tuesday.

Around 1,800 flights have been dispatched to meet the surging passenger flow during the day, according to the company.

Guangzhou-based China Southern operates a large fleet of about 840 airplanes, ranking the first in Asia and third worldwide.

The airline has implemented a series of new digital means to upgrade the passenger flight experience as well as the airline's efficiency alongside China's booming civil aviation demands.

From Jan. 21 to March 1, air travelers in China are expected to make 73 million trips, up 12 percent year on year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: In the light of UGC granting autonomous status to the University of Hyderabad, the University of Hyderabad Teachers Association (UHTA) has alleged that the document Leveraging Graded Autonomy to Achieve Global Excellence that has been circulated and discussed at the recent heads and deans meeting will have far-reaching consequences on all faculty, especially assistant and associate professors in the University.

It would also alter the nature of public institutions, its constitutional requirements, its commitment to society, dilute academic standards and push public institutions towards gradual privatisation.UHTA has also raised objections to the hurried manner in which the document was being introduced in the Academic Council Meeting held on Tuesday and specifically at administrations reluctance to share the documents pertaining to school/department/centre level decisions made on leveraging graded autonomy.

Stating that quality enhancement needs widespread, participatory discussions and intensive deliberations at department, school, and the University level involving all faculty, a statement released by the UHTA highlighted that an Institutions autonomy cannot also be separated from the autonomy of its faculty, various departments and Schools. It should protect and nurture the interests (academic, professional and general well-being) of all its constituents. Autonomy and excellence cannot be driven by anxiety about disincentives but instead should emerge through continuous, constructive and collaborative engagement between teaching and research.

The teaching community is apprehensive that the qualitative evaluation of teaching would backfire and lead to malpractices regarding citations. Instead of focusing on how to improve overall ecosystem in the university that leads to a gradual improvement in the quality, rushing to put in quantitative parameters of performance to achieve rankings is probably the best way to kill quality, said one professor. Incentivising performance would mean disparity in pay scale of faculty and that would be against UGC norms.Most departments are also sceptical of the proposal to start off campuses for different schools on grounds that the pedagogy of certain department requires close one-on-one collaboration and dialogue with the students and also that the schools do not have access to revenue sources that will allow them to run these off campus centres.

UoH clarifies

Prof Vinod Pavarala, UoH spokesperson, said that the VC has clarified while there will be incentives like fast track promotions for achievers, there wont be any disincentives for others. Their salary and promotion would be as per the UGC norms. Different schools and departments can have their own norms for evaluating quality. Also, there is a proposal to set up student welfare and research grant for students to help them get scholarships. For extra revenue special short term courses will be offered, he said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Three men were arrested after a 34-year-old woman complained that they were stalking her for the past few days in Khan Market area, police said Tuesday.

The accused, identified as Hemant Aggarwal, Babar Ali and Amit Kumar, told police that they were hired by the woman's husband to keep an eye on her as he suspected she was having an extra-marital affair.

The woman lodged a complaint at Tughlak Road police station on Monday, following which a team went to the spot and nabbed the accused.

During interrogation, Hemant told police that the three had been hired by the woman's husband to keep an eye on her, a senior police officer said.

The couple was married for 11 years and fought frequently as the woman's husband suspected her of having an extra-marital affair, he said.

Her husband has been asked to join the investigation, the police said, adding that a case has been registered.
C Shivakumar By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has been preparing Aerospace and Defence Industrial Policy since 2015 and it is likely that the policy will be unveiled during the second edition of the Global Investors Meet set to kick-off here on Wednesday.

It is learnt that the state has been targeting an investment of more than $10 billion in aerospace and defence manufacturing in five to 10 years besides generating jobs for one lakh people in the state.

Sources said that the idea is to create an end-to-end ecosystem for aerospace sector development covering design, engineering and manufacturing of aircraft for the civil and defence sector. The plan is also to attract original equipment manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers and India majors as anchor units in State by providing required facilities and support at competitive rates.

Sources said that the government will adopt cluster development approach to building aerospace and defence manufacturing eco-system by creating required physical infrastructure. The aerospace and defence industries clusters will be developed through public and private participation with the state providing a special incentive package of assistance and equity participation.

It is learnt that aerospace and defence parks in multiple locations with adequate infrastructure will be used for housing larger and smaller aerospace companies in the areas of forging, casting and fabrication; metal or composite manufacturing facilities; design or engineering services, assembly and maintenance facilities.

In a bid to develop aerospace related talent and skills, the government will encourage engineering colleges and universities to include aerospace and astrospace technologies as part of curriculum. Not only that, the state will partner with global or Indian OEMs or institutions on a public private participation mode to provide aerospace specific training curriculum. There are also plans to set up special aerospace university or Centre for Excellence by providing appropriate grants and incentives, sources added.

Since the aerospace industry requires large upfront investments, the state government could also provide necessary assistance through creation of a Viability Gap or Venture Capital Funding mechanism exclusively for aerospace industries with a corpus of more than `100 crore. The areas eligible would be research and development, technology centres, cluster development and aircraft manufacturing units.

It is learnt that the government is also looking to set up aerospace research parks by offering incentives and subsidies. Sources said that the government is planning structured package of incentives for companies based on investments, which are categorised under various heads.

Window of opportunity

The second edition of the investors meet is likely to see the State unveil its Aerospace and Defence Industrial Policy. The government is also planning a slew of other measures to give the sectors a massive boost and generate jobs
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The government may have to spend a staggering Rs 1.2 lakh crore every year, if it chooses to proceed with direct cash support for farmers. But such a move may not alleviate rural distress instantly and hence should be kept outside the purview of income support scheme, according to SBIs research and economic department.

ALSO READ | Eye on LS polls? Centre mulling cash handouts to farmers instead of subsidies

As per Agriculture Census 2016, there are approximately 14.60 crore farmers based on operational holdings, but not all avail interest subsidy and crop insurance. According to RBI, there are 6.92 crore operative Kisan Credit Card accounts and considering duplication, its safe to assume that almost 45 per cent may have received interest subvention. Likewise, as per Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, over 5.13 crore farmers are insured in both rabi and kharif season in FY17 and excluding duplication, at least 35 per cent would have received crop insurance.

Going by the above data, if a farmer avails one or all the three modes of subsidy/support from the government, then he/she will receive minimum Rs 5,335 to a maximum of Rs 10,162 per annum as cash support.

Assuming cash support in the range of Rs 10,000-12,000 per annum per farmer, the annual cost of such a scheme is pegged at Rs 1.2 lakh crore every year. In the previous budget, the government estimated agriculture subsidy at Rs 98,100 crore including crop insurance worth Rs 13,000 crore, interest subsidy of Rs 15,000 crore and fertiliser subsidy of Rs 70,100 crore.
By PTI

BEIJING: China has imposed anti-dumping duties on ortho-dichlorobenzene (ODCB) imported from India and Japan which will come into effect from Wednesday.

The domestic industry has been subject to substantial damages due to the dumping of these products, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday in a final ruling after anti-dumping investigations into the imports.

Significantly, the anti-dumping duties announcement coincided with the trade talks between visiting Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan and Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen here on Tuesday.

The two sides also held a detailed discussion on the widening trade deficit which last year climbed to USD 57.86 billion in the total USD 95.54 total bilateral trade.

From Wednesday, duties will be collected at rates ranging from 31.9 per cent to 70.4 per cent for a five-year period, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

After receiving complaints from the domestic industry, the ministry launched the anti-dumping investigations in January 2018, and a preliminary ruling was unveiled in October 2018.

ODCB can be used for producing chemical products that are widely used in making pesticides, medicine and dyes.
Anuradha Shukla By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: It is a no-brainer that the vote-on-account, to be presented on February 1 just months before a crucial general election, would be populist one. While North Block has already hinted at something more than a customary vote-on-account, the latest statement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has added to expectations of some big ticket announcements.

There is a convention for interim Budgets, on what you can and cannot present. Ordinarily, there should be no reason to move away from that convention, but then the larger interests of the economy always dictate what should be in the interim Budget, Jaitley said on Thursday. The minister who is in New York for treatment, addressed a business meet in Mumbai via video conferencing.

Propriety demands that not too many changes should be made in a vote-on-account or Interim Budget. This is all the more true when the vote-on-account (on Feb 1) will precede the unveiling of the Direct Tax code report on February 28. Tinkering with the tax rates or tax provisions before the release of the report will lead to avoidable controversies, said Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities.

Experts say it is a convention to avoid any policy announcement during vote-on-account, but there is no constitutional provision that prevents a government from doing it. Jaitley said there are challenges that need immediate redressal, without much elaborating them.

We intend to work within the parameters of the conventions that exist, Jaitley said.

Farm sector distress redressal is the most talked about. Situations like natural calamities, droughts or stress in a particular sector are those that cannot be considered populist expenditure, Jaitley said.

It is now broadly accepted by the markets too that a little bit of overstepping fiscal target is fine if it is for growth. Markets will never understand if you act just for the sake of populism. If it is in the larger interest due to a compelling situation that develops, then thats a rational and logical thing that markets tend to understand, he said. Financial ministry officials have indeed concurred that a marginal breach in fiscal deficit is accounted for, especially in the backdrop of lesser-than-expected GST and non-tax revenue.

Two focuses seem clear. Expect some package on agricultural distress and another will be relief on tax slabs. DTC will be technically implemented by only 2020, so some tinkering can be done in individual income tax. However, corporate tax is likely to remain untouched, said a senior official from Niti Aayog.

While no political party can dare to roll back some reliefs (like raising exemption limit for individuals under Income Tax Act), some relief measures, such as those for rural population, can be expected, Relli said, adding that while the speech may include vision statement, he hardly expects any measures having substantial impact on businesses.
By Megan McClure

A piece of state legislative history has been moved into the Virginia Capitol in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Virginia General Assembly.

The original Speakers Chair, created in 1730, temporarily returned to the capitol (in the Old House Chamber) from Colonial Williamsburg. It will be on display through until mid-March.

The chair will be officially unveiled during a Jan. 25 reception hosted by the Virginia Capitol Foundation, which provided this description of the chair's history and symbolism:

"In the Virginia House of Delegates, the Speaker is the bodys chief presiding officer, seated before the members as he directs legislative proceedings. This armchair effuses architectural drama as its large and ornate form symbolically mirrors the height and reach of the office. Unlike many decorative arts objects of the period, it is significant that this speakers chair had been both designed and assembled in Williamsburg during the 1730s.

"It survived the destruction of the colonial Capitol by fire in 1747, served as backdrop to the momentous House debates of the 1760s and 1770s, survived the Revolutionary War and its removal from Williamsburg to the new capitol in Richmond in 1780 and emerged unscathed from the devastation of the American Civil War. This chair is a rare historical testament, a distinguished object with an extraordinary history that reminds us of the great continuity and remarkable durability of this 400-year old institution."

The House of Burgesses, the precursor to the Virginia House of Delegates, met for the first time late in the summer of 1619 and unknowingly became the first democratically elected representative body on what would be American soil.

Virginia is pulling out all the stops to celebrate this momentous (and often overlooked) moment in American history and the history of representative democracy.

American Evolution, the Virginia organization charged with commemorating this milestone and other historical events in 1619, is planning events that recognize and reflect on this important year in American history. This includes a commemorative ceremony of the first House of Burgess and an International Forum on the Future of Representative Democracy.

Additional resources on the significance of 1619 and 2019 commemoration:

Megan McClure is a senior staff assistant in NCSL's Legislative Staff Services Program.

Email Megan
COPENHAGEN, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese art troupe put on a gala performance here on Monday evening to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Spring Festival of the Year of the Pig.

The gala, staged at the concert hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, was presented by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) that excels at acrobatics and group dancing.

Featuring rich Chinese culture with its different regional characteristics, the performance featured acrobatics and music ensembles, group dances and magic.

The performance opened with an acrobatics performance with artists jumping through a series of hoops of different sizes and heights using various body skills, just like soaring dragons and leaping tigers.

The shows combined traditional Chinese dancing styles with fascinating acrobatic skills, presenting a visual and cultural feast to the audience.

They also thrilled the audience by performing a ballet. A ballerina performed classic ballet movements with her toes on the back, shoulder and head on top of her partner, combining the beauty of ballet and that of acrobatics in a perfect manner.

The last acrobatics performance combined a fan dance, Tai Chi and Chinese martial arts. This work won golden prizes in a number of international acrobatics competitions.

More than 1,000 guests, including Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Deng Ying and Danish Cultural Minister Mette Bock attended the gala. Among the attendees were diplomatic envoys from Denmark, leaders of local Chinese communities, Chinese students studying in Denmark and Chinese business representatives.

The performance has been held in Denmark for 18 consecutive years, with a professional art troupe from China visiting Denmark every year, which has been well received by Danish audiences.

This year's events will also be held in the Danish cities of Horsens, Soenderborg, Ballerup and Aarhus until Jan. 27.
New Castle, PA (16103)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low near 65F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low near 65F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Commissioners adopt resolutions affecting court system Resolution Day.

Lawrence County Commissioner Dan Vogler is taking the good with the bad.

But he also wants to do something about it.

During yesterdays county commissioners meeting, the chairman shared his thoughts on situations surrounding employees of Ellwood City Medical Center not receiving paychecks and the announcement that Eatn Park in downtown New Castle will close.

I will note that weve had some very significant good economic news in the past six or eight months with well over $1 billion in construction going on in the county right now, Vogler said. Despite that, we have a couple areas of concern, and one is right here in the city of New Castle. One of our local eating establishments, Eatn Park, has announced they are closing.

I wanted to bring it up (to the commissioners) to perhaps us communicating in writing with management of that company just to express our concern and ask for reconsideration of the decision.

Vogler focused the employees of the Ellwood City Medical Center, which was purchased by Americore Health early in 2017 but has been under financial stress in recent months.

Beginning around Thanksgiving, employees were not receiving paychecks on time, and some bounced when employees took them to their bank.

It is troubling, Vogler said. One thing those of us living in Western Pennsylvania are proud of is we are used to an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. That is not happening down there.

The medical facilitys ownership is now focus of an investigation launched by District Attorney Joshua Lamancusa. The investigation digs deep into the banking practices of the facility and its owner Grant White.

The challenge for us it is is a privately held company, Vogler said. We as a board dont have any control over what they do.

Vogler asked fellow commissioners Steve Craig and Bob Del Signore what their thoughts were on the struggling hospital.

I urge him to respect his employees and pay them the pay they deserve, Vogler said.

Del Signore said the future of the medical center is dim.

I think that location will probably not survive, Del Signore said. There are too many things that are not right. They are not paying the help. They are not paying the vendors. Companies are pulling equipment out of the facility they need to run tests. It is not a good situation there.

Story continues below video

Craig said the commissioners should try to communicate with Ellwood City borough and the school district and local economic development leaders to put together a plan of action.

Working with the current owners is really, pretty much a non-start, Craig said. We should see if any other health care providers might be interested in a facility.

Whether it is Butler, Beaver, the folks that own Sharon General. We have some other providers, UPMC and Allegheny Health Network, just to see what might be out there to interest folks and maybe put together a packet with the three taxing bodies.

Craig described the medical facility as one that has fallen on hard times and has a physical plant that has not been neglected.

I think it may draw some interest. But I think we should try and put something together with the taxing bodies and the economic development folks. I know it doesnt fall under their usual industrial tract of business, but I think we should throw an oar in the water and see what we can do.

As for Eatn Park leaving, Vogler suggested the commissioners pen a letter to the companys ownership asking them to rethink their decision.

I just offer if there is anything the county can do to help maintain that location," Del Signore said. "I dont know who owns the real estate. I dont think it is Eatn Park. It is probably owned by an individual and leased to them.

Del Signore said he would get in touch with Dennys restaurant to look at taking over that location but said he thinks we need to find out who owns the real estate.

Craig said he hopes as Eatn Park goes, maybe a letter of communication to find out what their plans are. I hope they dont do what Giant Eagle does when they close a facility; they dont make it available to market.

Vogler said he would put in a call to New Castle mayor Anthony Mastrangelo.

Craig said the restaurant is in a good location and that it has a big floor plan but the commissioners may want to reach out to local businesses.

I wouldnt bypass places like Palate or Grill on the Hill, guys who are in the food business, Craig said. Maybe the gentleman who owns the breweries and things out in Wilmington Township. Maybe they are looking for a downtown location.

baddleman@ncnewsonline.com

ONLINE ...

The Lawrence County commissioners adopt five resolutions to bolster the countys court system. www.ncnewsonline.com
HANGZHOU, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- At a time when rising costs are forcing many farmers to exit sericulture, a silkworm-raising factory in east China's Zhejiang Province is breathing new life into an industry that is thousands of years old.

Babei Group, a private silk necktie-producing enterprise, announced on Sunday that its first batch of mass-produced silkworm cocoons had rolled off production line, marking the success of a seven-year-long research on factory-raised silkworms.

With a total investment of 350 million yuan (51.5 million U. S. dollars), the company's silkworm workshop is able to churn out 10,000 tonnes of high-quality cocoons annually, about the total yield of 100,000 households of farmers, using less than 200 workers.

The germ-free workshop, covering an area of 5,000 square meters, creates a favorable environment with moderate temperature, airflow and humidity for the silkworms.

Instead of mulberry leaf, the worms are fed artificial fodder made of ingredients such as soybean, corn powder, sweet potato starch and vitamin complex.

The fodder is cheap to produce, and it helps improve the efficiency of silkworm raising for it is free from the limits of seasons and climate, according to Meng Zhiqi, a researcher with Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences and leading researcher of the project.

In order to boost silkworms' appetites, researchers have added mulberry leaf powder into the fodder to make it more "delicious."

Sericulture, the breeding of silkworms to produce raw silk, has long been a featured industry of Zhejiang Province, but it has been on a downward trend in recent years.

"Zhejiang could produce 80,000 tonnes of cocoons annually at its peak, but currently it has dropped to 20,000 tonnes," said Jin Yao, chairman of the company.

Facing rising silk prices brought about by the shrinking industry, Babei decided to produce its own necktie material and joined with scientists to develop silkworm raising techniques seven years ago.

It has been a bumpy road toward success. Silkworms are extremely fragile. One dead worm could cause mass deaths and lead to the breakdown of a whole production line, Jin said.

The company encountered large-scale silkworms deaths several times. Researchers carried out some 100 experiments on disease prevention and came up with effective disease prevention methods, according to Jin.

The company owns 18 patents, and it plans to further expand the silkworm raising facilities in the near future.

Qian Youqing, deputy head of China Silk Association, calls the industrialized silkworm-raising a "breakthrough" of sericulture, which can inject vitality into traditional silk culture.
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CHANGSHA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and another injured when a tower crane collapsed in central China's Hunan Province Wednesday, local authorities said.

The accident happened at around 9:15 a.m. when workers were dismantling a crane at a construction site in Huarong County, the city of Yueyang. Two people were killed at the scene and another two died while receiving treatment in hospital.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.
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[January 22, 2019] LoRa Alliance Passes 100 LoRaWAN Network Operator Milestone with Coverage in 100 Countries FREMONT, Calif., Jan. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The LoRa Alliance , the global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), today announced that it has experienced explosive growth in 2018, exceeding the 100 LoRaWAN network operators milestone globally at the end of December. Wider availability of LoRaWAN networks makes it easier than ever to deploy IoT solutions leveraging existing infrastructure, allowing products and solutions to be offered and connected now.

More than 100 LoRaWAN network operators provide coverage in 100 countries.



More than 100 network operators have deployed and operate LoRaWAN networks, which are both public and private, significantly broadening the technologys reach. This flexibility is a unique differentiator of LoRaWAN compared with other LPWAN technologies. In addition, the number of end-devices connected to LoRaWAN networks is reported to have tripled since the beginning of the year, which demonstrates significant acceleration of adoption compared with other technologies yet to achieve such an expansive footprint. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8453e437-d56b-4133-8a44-7666d85ca659 Reaching this operator milestone is a major achievement for the LoRa Alliance, said Donna Moore, CEO and Chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance. Only LoRaWAN has strong, established networks with broad coverage areas, while also offering the private network option. For companies looking to launch IoT products and solutions today, the LoRaWAN standard is the only viable solution. Features like firmware updates over the air and the fact that LoRaWAN is an open specification with a robust certification program ensure network and device interoperability. These benefits give confidence to the market that companies are future-proofed and can deploy solutions today with assurance they will work in the future. LoRaWAN networks are being actively deployed globally, with the Asia-Pacific and European regions showing the most growth, at 30% and 50%, respectively, throughout 2018. Regional specifications are established in all key regions with additional regions being added continuously. The total operator investment in LoRaWAN is significant on a global basis, offering compelling proof that network operators are making a long-term commitment to the LoRaWAN standard and supporting the market demand for IoT applications. Orange is pleased to see the growth of the LoRaWAN ecosystem and the adoption of this open and interoperable standard in all parts of the world. Orange selected LoRaWAN for its first network dedicated to the IoT in 2016 to address sensors and other affordable objects consuming little energy. The Orange LoRaWAN network covers over 30,000 municipalities and 95% of the population of Metropolitan France. In 2018, Orange Slovakia launched a service using LoRaWAN for Smart Cities use cases. And to support its international customers and French companies with needs outside f France, Orange Business Services launched on-premise LoRaWAN connectivity suitable for a range of applications especially in smart cities and industry, including energy and fluid management, on-site tracking, geo-fencing, waste control, environmental metering, lighting and parking monitoring.  Ronan Le Bras, Head of Technical Strategy - Wireless Networks; Orange American Towers (ATCs) LoRaWAN-based network in Brazil already covers the metro areas of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. These large markets are responsible for around 24% of the Brazilian GDP, and ATC plans to continue rolling out this network to cover 50% of the Brazilian GDP, or approximately 80 cities, by mid-2019. Brazil is a key component of ATC's global innovation strategy and a crucial market in Latin America. We believe we can continue to play a key role in the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure to support advanced use cases for a number of years to come.  Abel Camargo, Senior Director of Strategy & New Business Development; American Tower Brazil As a founding and contributing member of the LoRa Alliance, Senet is excited about this milestone. This is yet another proof point of how the open ecosystem and technical superiority of LoRaWAN have driven it to become a leading IoT communications technology. Leveraging these technical and ecosystem benefits, Senet offers cloud-based network operating platforms and network delivery services for the on-demand build-out of global LoRaWAN connectivity, coupled with the the tools needed to on-board and manage connected devices with the scale and security required by enterprise IoT applications. These platforms are being used today to operate the largest public carrier-grade LoRaWAN network in North America and deliver network coverage and connectivity readiness in over 80 countries. We look forward to supporting the LoRa Alliance and contributing to its expanding ecosystem in our collective efforts to achieve another record-setting year for LoRaWAN.  Bruce Chatterley, CEO; Senet LoRaWAN has seen tremendous interest and growth in India in the past year. In that market alone we already provide network coverage in 30 cities to support IoT applications such as smart metering, smart parking, and smart waste management solutions and see no signs of this slowing as we enter 2019.  Ali Hosseini, Founder & CEO, SenRa. We view LoRaWAN as the IoT technology of choice for Minol ZENNER Group because of its ability to bridge different IoT requirements and to enable real value-add benefits for all our customer segments in the group.  Alexander Lehmann, GM; Minol ZENNER Group. Reaching the 101 LoRaWAN network milestone globally confirms the IoT acceleration and confirms Proximus ambition to guide all companies in their digital transformation.  Frederic Lhostte, Head of IoT & Analytics; Proximus Group This new milestone demonstrates the maturity of the market and the palatability of customers for LoRaWAN around the world to grow their business.  Stephane Allaire, President; Objenious by Bouygues Telecom "This is a huge milestone as it proves LoRaWAN Internet of Things, just as the real internet, doesn't care about country borders. With The Things Network and The Things Industries we are happy to be present in more than 89 countries and can provide LoRaWAN connectivity in all corners of the world."  Wienke Giezeman, CEO & Co-founder, The Things Network "Building a powerful IoT ecosystem that aided in the acceleration of IoT enabled innovation is paramount for Swisscom. As a result we were among the first operators to roll out LoRaWAN nationwide in 2016. Today, the Swisscom LoRaWAN network covers 96.6 percent of the Swiss population."  Julian Domer, Head of IoT, Swisscom DNX / Digital Nordix is an independent IoT/LoRaWAN operator that provides LoRaWAN network operation services in EMEA. DNX has its DevOps base in Lulea, Sweden and operates LoRaWAN networks in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Our focus is to ensure a robust and customizable wireless IoT network. Unlike other IoT providers, DNX works closely with independent partners to provide customization and system integration for best possible IoT solution.  Mats Pettersson, CEO, Digital Nordix AB (DNX), Stockholm, Sweden IoT can make processes more efficient, change our lives and our society for the better plus have a positive impact on the environment. LoRaWAN has dramatically accelerated the diffusion and adoption of IoT applications all around the globe. LORIOT was one of the first movers in the market, and our Network Server is designed for interoperability and flexibility in order to meet the requirements of every kind of user, from IoT enthusiasts to global companies. Our distributed public network infrastructure provides excellent performance regardless of the users location because our mission is to enable IoT everywhere in the world and allow everyone to access its disruptive potential.  Julian Studer, Founder & COO/CFO; LORIOT Public operators and private companies or individuals interested in deploying a LoRaWAN network can apply for a NetID from the LoRa Alliance, which can be assigned up to six months prior to joining the LoRa Alliance. Companies interested in learning more or requesting a NetID allocation should contact admin@mail.lora-alliance.org . About LoRa Alliance

The LoRa Alliance is an open, nonprofit association that has become one of the largest and fastest-growing alliances in the technology sector since its inception in 2015. Its members closely collaborate and share expertise to develop and promote the LoRaWAN protocol as the leading open global standard for secure, carrier-grade IoT LPWAN connectivity. With the technical flexibility to address a broad range of IoT applications, both static and mobile, and the LoRaWAN CertifiedCM program to guarantee interoperability, the LoRaWAN protocol has been deployed by major mobile network operators globally, and connectivity is available in over 100 countries, with continual expansion. www.loraalliance.org Supplemental Quotes

By running one of the largest LoRaWAN indoor gateway-based networks for Minol, which uses LoRaWAN for submetering, heat-cost allocation and smoke detector services for their housing industry customers, we are proud to take the next step with Minol ZENNER Connect GmbH in expanding the overall LoRaWAN coverage in Germany.  Hartmut Ritter, MD; Minol ZENNER Connect GmbH www.mz-connect.com Minol ZENNER Group is enabling cities, utilities and industry customers to run their own IoT networks. As a LoRaWAN network operator, Minol ZENNER Connect GmbH, we are open to running, combining and integrating these networks into one system. We are excited about expanding the LoRaWAN coverage through collaboration with other LoRa Alliance members and ecosystem partners in the German market, thereby soon ensuring a comprehensive coverage with LoRaWAN.  Markus Kirchdorfer, MD Minol ZENNER Connect GmbH www.mz-connect.com Media Contacts Emma Pearce, LoRa Alliance emma.pearce@lora-alliance.org Eric Lawson, Kiterocket elawson@kiterocket.com

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Experts weighed in on Russia's strategic and business opportunities at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The official residence, Russia House, welcomed more than 300 guests.

The panel dubbed The Russia Economic Outlook was hosted by Russia House, which is organized by the Roscongress Foundation. Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman of global information provider IHS Markit, Vice Chairman of SUN Group Shiv Vikram Khemka, Chief Executive Officer of Russian chemical holding company PhosAgro Andrey Guryev and deputy editor of Chinese media company Caixin, Huang Shan, joined the discussion at the residence moderated by CNBC anchor Geof Cutmore.

Also on rt.com Russia House in Davos opens doors to guests & international business

The analysts agreed that Russias economy is turning East because of the opportunities it sees in Asia. Sanctions and Western pressure are also playing their part, but are not key factors, according to results of the panel published on the Roscongress website.

A lot of people describe bilateral relations between Russia and China [as an] opportunistic partnership or a marriage of convenience. If you really look down at bilateral competition of bilateral tradeyou will see that actually trade has extended in areas like finance, IT, automotive, machinery, Huang Shan told the participants of the meeting.

Also on rt.com Russias trade with China surges to more than $107 billion

China is one of Russia key trade partners. Trade turnover between the two countries set a new record in 2018, showing the growth of nearly 30 percent and reaching $107.06 billion.

Sino-Russian relations have got a lot of fair winds, noted Huang Shan.

He added that the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing and Western economic penalties against both Russia and China have given another boost to the bilateral cooperation. At the same time Russian businesses are not waiting for the sanctions to be eased, but adapt to the reality and manage to benefit from it, other members of the discussion stressed.

Also on rt.com Davos U-turn: World Economic Forum welcomes all Russian businessmen after boycott threat

Vice Chairman of SUN Group noted that Russia can benefit from its geographical position to further play a key part in terms of logistics, becoming a transport corridor between Asia and Europe among other opportunities.

The analysts also touched upon the problems of the Russian economy, including slow GDP and production growth, slowing domestic market as well as lack of diversification of the economy.

Hundreds of visitors came to Russia House on Tuesday, including the President of the Skolkovo Foundation Viktor Vekselberg, Chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, CEO and Co-Founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Dirk Ahlborn, and the President of Orion Heritage David Yakobashvili.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
A special financial mechanism aimed at maintaining trade ties between Switzerland and Iran is ready for implementation, according to Sharif Nezam-Mafi, the head of the countries joint chamber of commerce.

He told IRNA news agency that the clearing house will be used to facilitate Irans oil transactions with its major Asian crude customers  namely India, China and South Korea.

Currently, there is no money belonging to Iran in Europe. Most of Irans money is in India, China and South Korea which import Iranian crude, said the head of the Iran-Switzerland Chamber of Commerce.

Also on rt.com Switzerland would join new interbank payment system independent of US

According to Nezam-Mafi, once Iranian oil money flows from Asia to Europe, the Swiss financial channel will start to work immediately. He said the Swiss government has already designated an operating bank, but has not yet formally announced its name.

READ MORE: Iran considers SWIFT payment system alternative to bypass US sanctions

Swiss ambassador to Tehran, Marcos Lightner, also told the news agency that the two sides are preparing an independent payment channel in addition to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). He said that, although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, it is steadfastly following the issue of the implementation of the SPV. European countries are trying to maintain the Iran nuclear deal, the diplomat emphasized.

Also on rt.com Iran considers SWIFT payment system alternative to bypass US sanctions

The Iran-Switzerland payment channel is designed to bypass US sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic after Washington ditched the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran last year.

The European Union is also working on a financial mechanism to ease non-dollar trade with Iran and circumvent US sanctions. It hopes the SPV announced in September will keep the nuclear deal alive. Tehran will be able to stay on board while foreign companies will be given a way of trading with the country without violating Washingtons sanctions.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
The Russian military presented evidence contrary to the US claim that Moscow possesses a missile which violates the terms of the INF Treaty. The Americans had been invited to the event but apparently were not interested.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was signed by the US and the USSR to denuclearize the European continent. The treaty bans ground-based missiles with a range between 500km and 5,500km  plenty of which had been deployed by both sides of the Cold War by the time it was signed. The US is about to scrap it, citing alleged violations by Russia. Despite claims from Washington, the American move is motivated by Americas self-interest, not anything done by Russia, told journalists on Wednesday Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov. He took part in a joint conference with top generals from the Russian Defense Ministry, meant to provide extra details about the missile, which the US claims are in breach of the INF. The diplomat stressed that complaints from Washington are simply a pretext to walk away from the deal, which the current US leadership no longer wants. The recent events make it obvious that some forces in the US are not interested in allowing us to overturn through technical expert dialogue the erroneous  or even fabricated  information, which could resolve this issue once and for all. Hyping up this problem was not done to simply resolve it, obviously. Speaking alongside Ryabkov was General Lieutenant Mikhail Matveevsky, the commander of the Russian Missile and Artillery Troops, who went into details about the 9M729 missile, the one that the Americans claim to be violating the agreement. Washington says it has intelligence data, which prove that the projectile was tested several years ago for a range banned by the INF. But apparently, it was not interested in evidence from Russia, since no American experts were sent to the event, according to Ryabkov.

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The missile, Gen. Matveevsky said, is an upgraded variant of the 9M729, a cruise missile launched by the Iskander-M launcher. Compared to the older version, the 9M729 has a heavier, more powerful warhead, and a more accurate but bulkier targeting system. This required increasing the missiles length and the size of its transport and launch container.

The size increase made it incompatible with the launcher used for the 9M728 version, so the defense ministry had a new launcher developed for it. It is bigger and carries four 9M729 missiles, compared to two for the 9M728 variant. He showed diagrams of both weapons for comparison.

The increased size had an impact on the range of the 9M729, which is not only below the threshold of the INF, but also about 10km lower than that of the 9M728. The bigger missile can fly up to 480 km, and was tested to that range during a major military exercise in 2017, the official said.

Gen. Matveevsky stressed that the 9M729 is a solid-propellant missile that is sealed in its container at the plant and can not be modified in the field.

As for the US claim that one test of the missile breached the terms of the INF, Matveevsky assured the intelligence was wrong. The launch pad, from which the supposedly violating launch was made, is used by other branches of the Russian armed forces to test their weapons. Those include long-range strategic missiles, the tests of which are conducted with prior notifications of the US, as is required by the transparency rules between the two countries. The general provided statistics for test launches conducted from the site between 2008 and 2014 for reference.

Also on rt.com US & Russia trade blame on INF as last-ditch talks to save nuclear treaty fail in Geneva

The journalists were also given a chance to compare the 9M728 and the 9M729, which were displayed in their containers, and inspect the 9M729 launcher. According to Ryabkov, US military inspectors were offered a chance to take part in the Wednesday event, but Washington chose to ignore it. US officials reportedly said there was no sense inspecting the Russian missile since the Russian side refused to allow opening it up and seeing its classified internal structure.

The diplomat reiterated Russias own complaints about US actions, which Moscow sees a violation of the INF, including the use of intermediate-range target missiles during tests of ABM weapons. Russia believes that the INF has to be preserved, Ryabkov added, but stressed that it will not destroy its stockpile of 9M729 missiles, as demanded by the US.

The US indents to withdraw from the INF on February 2, after last-ditch talks in Geneva failed to resolve the stand-off.

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Russia unveils evidence on missile that US claims violates INF Treaty, Washington snubs briefing

Russia unveils evidence on missile that US claims violates INF Treaty, Washington snubs briefing

Source : RT - Daily news
Panelists sit down to discuss the future of the space industry at Emtech China 2019 on Jan.21, 2019. (People's Daily Online/Morag Hobbs)

Since Chinas Change 4 completed the first ever soft-landing on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3 2019, many have been wondering what the next big feat in space exploration will be. While many companies look at ways to produce more fuel, bring communication tools to more people and make life easier here on earth, speakers at this years Emtech China said that we should, in fact, be looking to space for our answers.

During Emtech China 2019, which took place from Jan. 19-21 in Beijing, scientists and hi-tech company leaders from around the world came together to discuss the current status of space ex-ploration and the future opportunities and challenges they may face.

Chris Lewicki, CEO of space start-up Planetary Resources, was first to speak during the morning session on Monday. He explained that we are entering into a new era where global infrastructure is expanding into space. He expects that within the next decade or two, space will become a com-mercial venture.

Today, the world is in an economic space race, with the first space tourists potentially shooting out of our atmosphere this year. On Sept. 17, 2018, SpaceX announced that fashion innovator and globally recognized art curator Yusaku Maezawa would be the companys first private passenger to fly around the Moon in 2023. Founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, also stated last year that a passenger rocket to Mars could be in our not-too-distant future.

However, plans aside, the cost of space travel is still extremely high, partly due to high fueling costs. However, Lewicki said, we could use asteroids as resources in the future. Asteroids are abundant with hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used to create rocket fuel. He explains that as-teroids can be turned into gas stations in space, making them launch pads for long distance travel.

Resources drive growth, and for space travel, sourcing these resources from space would be 20 times less expensive than launching fuel from Earth, Lewicki said. He predicts that there will be a $6 billion market for fuel in space by 2032.

China started in the space business race much later than the U.S. However, in the last three to four years, China has come on leaps and bounds.

Xie Tao, CEO of Beijing-based private company Commsat Technology Development Co Ltd, ex-plained that China had entered its own commercial space era, with his company sending seven mini satellites into orbit last December alone, to help fulfill tasks such as tracing cargo ships and monitoring endangered wildlife.

Xie explained that China is currently focused on commercial rockets and low orbit constellations. For example, Commsats main satellite, Ladybeetle I, is equipped with five high-definition cameras and a LED screen, helping create commercial products such as a better spacewalk experience for virtual reality glass users, or a space scene for selfies, China Daily reported in December 2018.

While private companies are pushing forward with research and development, there are still chal-lenges in the industry. When asked, all panelists agreed that the next big problem is financing, and how to predict a market which doesnt yet exist. If companies can mass produce space products, then the cost will come down, in turn making space travel a possibility for all.
Antivirus magnate and cryptocurrency evangelist John McAfee says he will run for president in 2020 in exile, using masked doppelgangers to campaign in the US. McAfee has been filmed sailing to Venezuela, fleeing indictment.

In a series of Twitter videos posted on Tuesday and Wednesday, McAfee claimed to fleeing felony charges brought by the IRS. McAfee, his wife Janice, and four campaign workers have been indicted for unspecified IRS crimes of a felonious nature, he explained, adding that he had not paid taxes in eight years.

The videos were shot on a yacht that McAfee called the "freedom boat," which will now double as his 2020 campaign headquarters. The eccentric cybersecurity guru announced his intention to run for the nations highest office last June, on a platform to serve the crypto community.

I will not allow them to imprison me and shut my voice down, McAfee explained. Today, crypto community, we are at war, and I am on the front lines.

McAfee plans on having thousands of volunteers print masks of his face, which will be worn by road warriors in parks, street corners, (and) restaurants all around America. McAfee will address these supporters over loudspeakers.

Another group of volunteers will wear McAfees masks to conferences and campaign events; speaking, shaking hands, and standing in for the man himself.

Where McAfee himself will be during this campaign is unclear. According to his Twitter feed, the crypto candidate is currently en route to Venezuela, which due to the current political climate is most likely beyond the reach of US law enforcement. According to the latest posts, the craft is currently somewhere near the Bahamas.

It is unclear if McAfee is being completely honest about the yachts location, given the fact that US authorities could simply intercept the freedom boat before it docks in Venezuela. A lot of people are saying they have never seen anyone live-cast their evasion of US authorities before, but why not? McAfee said. I have nothing to hide I dont have time or energy for lies and deceptions.

This campaign-in-exile is McAfees second attempt to run for the White House. In 2016, the crypto enthusiast lost out to former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson in his bid to be the candidate for the Libertarian Party.

The 73-year-old tech entrepreneur has recently emerged as a distinguished advocate for digital currencies, including bitcoin, which have experienced swift growth and extreme volatility in recent years. McAfees forays into politics have been aimed at promoting cryptocurrency, which he sees as a serious challenger to government-backed fiat currency.

Remember: I do not want to be president! I just want the stage. I just need to run. I did it once before in the Libertarian Party. Who cares whether I can?? I'm f**king doing it now!! he tweeted on Tuesday.

Apart from his career as a tech entrepreneur, McAfee hit the headlines in 2012 after he was declared a person of interest in a murder case in Belize, Central America. However, the businessman, who was neither arrested nor charged with the crime, left the country and moved to the US.

Although it is unlikely to be among his campaign issues, McAfee has also emerged as a champion of man-whale love:

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Heiko Maas is en route to Washington, where he will discuss the US withdrawal from the INF missile treaty. The pullout is the latest Trump administration decision to upset European allies.

On Wednesday, the US officially informed Russia that it will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty  originally signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987  at the beginning of February.

Earlier, Washington claimed that Moscow is in breach of the treaty, and that the Russian 9M729 missile system violates the terms of the agreement. Russia remains open to dialog, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

Under the treaty, land-launched nuclear missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500km (311 and 3418 miles) are banned. Both sides have accused each other of breaching the agreement multiple times since it was drawn up over 30 years ago, but Moscow insists the 9M729 missile complies with the treaty.

The Russian military presented the missile to a conference on Wednesday to prove its compliance, but Washington declined to send any officials.

Maas has sided with the US assessment of the situation, and said on Wednesday that he is banking on Russia correcting its violations of the treaty and disarming its cruise missiles so that the INF treaty still has a chance.

Whatever short-range projectiles and long-range Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles the US and Russia choose to develop is outside Germanys purview. However, once out of the INF treaty, the US could station intermediate range missiles in Europe, a flashback to the Cold War that Maas is keen to avoid.

The deployment of new medium-range missiles would meet with widespread resistance in Germany, he told German news agency DPA in December. By no means should Europe become the scene of a debate on weapons build-up, he added.

Rumblings of the Cold War were intensified by Trumps announcement last week that the US will build 20 new ground-based interceptors to counter missile launches from hostile powers, and will press ahead with the development of a space-based missile defense layer.

Trumps statement came after the Pentagon published a major report on missile defense, and after Russia successfully tested a hypersonic missile that can travel at 27 times the speed of sound and evade most current defense systems.

The militarization of space is inevitable, and the United States will quit any relevant non-proliferation treaty that stands in the way, Mikhail Khodarenok, a military expert and retired colonel who served in the Russian missile defense forces, told RT.



Trumps unilateralism

Nuclear weapons are just one area in which the US European allies have been left scrambling to save international agreements from the Trump administrations America First worldview.

Also on rt.com House passes bill preventing Trump from leaving NATO, tells allies to start pulling weight

Trumps withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or the Iran deal) last May triggered panic in Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron tried to leverage his reputation as a Trump whisperer to convince the US president to stay in the agreement, as did German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Both failed to change Trumps mind. The US withdrew from the deal, and fully reapplied multiple rounds of crippling economic sanctions on Tehran.

The Europeans, who remained party to the deal, were left in a bind: continue to trade with Iran and risk falling foul of US sanctions, or toe Washingtons line.

Likewise, US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2017 triggered international condemnation from 28 EU member states and over 100 countries worldwide. Again, French President Emmanuel Macron tried to sweet-talk Trump into reconsidering, and again he failed to win him over.

With the Trump administration willing to disregard any treaties or agreements that stand in the way of Americas geopolitical goals, Maas may leave Washington disappointed.

As well as meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to talk about the INF withdrawal, Maas said that he hopes to find common ground with his US counterpart on the fight against Islamic State, the Syria dossier, Afghanistan, (and) Ukraine.

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A war of words between the French and Italian governments is heating up as Emmanuel Macrons minister for European affairs says they are refusing to join a so-called stupidity contest with Rome.

There are several things we need to do with our important neighbor Italy, and we want to continue to be able to work together, Nathalie Loiseau said on Wednesday.

Does that mean the current environment permits ministerial visits as if nothing has happened? I will go to Italy once things have settled down, she added, pouring cold water on the prospect of detente any time soon.

Also on rt.com French people can do better than terrible Macron  Italys Salvini

In fact, there was one diplomatic meeting this week, but there was presumably little in the way of reducing tensions as France summoned Italys ambassador in protest over Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maios comments that Frances supposed ongoing colonization of Africa had directly contributed to the migrant crisis in Europe.

The EU should sanction France and all countries like France that impoverish Africa and make these people leave, Di Maio said Monday, as cited by AFP.

Tensions have flared between the two countries ever since the populist coalition government led by the Five Star Movement and the far-right League party came to power in Italy last June.

Also on rt.com France summons Italian ambassador to explain deputy PMs colonization remarks

Macron has criticised the Italian coalition government for not backing his proposed pro-Europe alliance of parties ahead of EU parliamentary elections in May, while Italys Deputy PM Matteo Salvini has used the ongoing Yellow Vest protests as a stick with which to verbally beat the French president repeatedly in the media.

It seems to me that Macron has his issues with millions of French to whom he made promises and did not deliver, Salvini said in a radio interview.

The contagion has spread to relations with Germany following Salvinis remarks Monday in which he described Angela Merkel as weak.

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(A delivery worker holds a package in Beijing, says he will not travel back home for the Spring Festival. Photo courtesy of Suning)

Chinas Spring Festival travel rush kicked off on Monday, and nearly 3 billion trips are expected to be made as seas of people start their journeys back home. Meanwhile, another sizable population has chosen to stay put in the cities away from home for their jobs, to whom Chinese netizens are calling for more attention and care.

On Twitter-like Sina Weibo, the hashtag reason why you cannot travel home for Spring Festival has received over 1.2 million views, as many netizens express their concerns and show support to a special group of people made up of train drivers, airline stewardess, police officers, sanitation workers, delivery workers, and others, who see no holiday when the rest of the nation takes off for a seven-day-long holiday.

(A taxi driver stands in front of his car in Beijing, says he will not rest for the Spring Festival. Photo courtesy of Suning)

Wang Yu, a mechanic for Chinas Fuxing bullet train, said he has not celebrated the Spring Festival for 10 years. Wang, who works at the construction site for the Ganzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railways, also said that most of the construction workers at the site choose to stay on the project so as to guarantee its completion on schedule.

Inner-city transportation and maintenance also require many others to work during the holiday as bus and taxi drivers and to keep things like heat and water supplies running smoothly. Among those who will stay behind for the holiday are countless delivery workers who will continue their services to guarantee the convenience of e-commerce businesses, from online shopping to take-out food.

Who wouldnt want to go home for Spring Festival? Salute to all the workers on the frontline, a netizen wrote.

Some also raised additional examples of those who cannot enjoy the annual family get-together, from medical workers to soldiers stationed at border areas.

Joining the public voices of support and care, Suning convenience stores under Chinas retailer giant Suning have launched a nationwide campaign to find 100 city watchers who sacrifice their holiday for city operation. Those selected will be receive free breakfast from the nearly 4,000 Suning convenience stores across the nation.

(A flower shop owner says he plans not to travel back home for the Spring Festival. Photo courtesy of Suning)
Could we be interviewing a band as they hit number 1 in the charts? British rock force Thunder are currently sitting strong at Number 2 in the Official UK Mid-Week Album Chart with their brand new studio album Please Remain Seated. This kind of news is good for the rock scene as a whole. Join GuyB for this Fridays rockshow 5-8pm on 107 MeridianFM for a marvellous interview hour special with Danny and Luke from the band for the story behind the album. Join the showtime rocker chat on Twitter @GuyB_rockshow
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The VA provides a security detail for the secretary, who is considered to be a potential target for terrorists because he is a member of the presidential cabinet and is in line to succeed the president if the office were to become vacant  though the post is a distant 17th in the succession order.
On Dec. 22, 2018, President Trump broke protocol by declaring, in a tweet, without notification to or advice from his military chiefs of staff, that ISIS was totally defeated in Syria and is no longer a threat, and he will withdraw all our troops ASAP. Less than a month later, an ISIS suicide bomber killed four Americans in a Syrian restaurant in a terrorist attack.
Ice flew off a moving tractor-trailer in Smithfield Township Tuesday, seriously injuring a New York man and sending state legislators in Harrisburg scrambling for stronger legislation.

State police said an ice chunk flew off the westbound tractor-trailer on Interstate 80 in eastern Monroe County and crashed into the windshield of an eastbound passenger vehicle.

A post on the Marshalls Creek Fire Company Facebook page showed a crushed windshield on the passenger side.

Troopers reported Thomas Kent, 65, of Liverpool, N.Y. was injured in the crash. The Marshalls Creek Fire Company described his injuries as severe on Facebook. The driver, Rose Kent, 62, was not hurt and managed to drive to a nearby gas station.

State police are attempting to identify the trucker, who did not stop.

All motorists, whether in trucks or passenger vehicles, are required to clear snow and ice from windshields, windows and the top of their vehicles, but theres no specific punishment for failing to act.

The only specific punishment is if ice falls off a vehicle and causes a serious injury or death. In that case, drivers can face a fine of between $200 and $1,000.

Ryan Tarkowski, a state police spokesman, said enforcement is difficult. Truckers arent always aware when ice falling off their rig causes an accident. It also can be dangerous for truckers to climb on top of icy trailers and clear snow.

Some truck stops, he said, have large scraper structures that trucks drive through to clear off their tops.

We do encourage drivers to clear the snow and ice off their vehicles, Tarkowski said. Nobody wants to be responsible for causing serious injury or death for another driver. I imagine that would be terrible to live with.

Scraper Systems patented trailer top snow plows will reduce liability and operational costs by automating the process of removing snow from your truck fleet quickly and effectively ...

State Sen. Lisa Boscola , (D-Northampton County) has tried for years to pass harsher legislation that would allow police to ticket drivers who fail to clear off their entire vehicles within 24 hours of a snowfall. The tickets would create fines of up to $75. The bill would also increase the fine to $1,500 for falling snow causing serious injury or death.

Boscola has been pushing the bill since Christine Lambert, a 51-year-old Palmer Township woman, was killed in 2005 when a slab of ice fell off a moving truck and smashed through her windshield. Her family has testified before the state Senate about the accident and has pushed for stronger legislation.

Boscolas last version of the bill passed the Senate by a 49-0 vote but never got out of committee in the House.

This is completely preventable. We need to act on this NOW to ensure the safety of all that travel on our roads, Boscola said on social media Wednesday.

Seth Rolko, the senate Democrats executive director of the policy committee, said Boscola intends to re-introduce her legislation next week. The bill is finding more bipartisan report, he said, and past efforts have eased concerns about costs with the trucking industry and how well it can be enforced.

roadwarrior@mcall.com

Twitter @TShortell

610-820-6161
He said there would be more discussions with officers about how to use the ordinance, and he would drill down in the statistics, trying to determine under which situations the new ordinance is or is not being used.
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The judge ordered 35-year-old Johnny Bobbitt back to New Jersey to face charges he violated the conditions of his release from jail while awaiting trial. Philly.com reports that Bobbitt was arrested in Philadelphia earlier this month after he failed to appear in a New Jersey court.
Tantou woodblock New Year printings, one of Chinas intangible culture heritages, is gradually being revived in Changsha, the provincial capital of central Chinas Hunan province, amid the nations reminiscence of traditions for the upcoming Spring Festival.

Chinese New Year paintings are a part of Chinese folk culture and the celebratory practice is believed to have originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). The characters on the paintings often feature immortals or heroes from folklores to pray for guardianship and prosperity in the New Year.

The Tantou woodblock New Year printings from Hunan were included on the list of Chinas intangible cultural heritage in 2006. The printings, which originated in Tantou Township of Shaoyang City in Hunan, can be traced back to the late Ming Dynasty. In the early 1900s, the New Year woodblock printings entered a golden age, not only selling well in the northern and southern parts of the country, but also being exported to more than 10 countries and regions in Southeast Asia, with annual sales exceeding 30 million pieces.

However, the traditional skill has gradually faded away as fewer people carry on the tradition of hanging the New Year paintings and because the printing process is complicated. In total, 22 procedures, which start with scratching bamboo, is required, and this long process has lost appeal among some of the younger apprentices.

In 2017, Zhong Xinglin, daughter of Zhong Haixian and Gao Lamei, two inheritors of the tradition, set out to rescue the skill by setting up the first Tantou woodblock New Year printings workshop in Changsha.

As the nation continues to steps up efforts to preserve the intangible cultural heritages of China, more and more people are turning their attention toward traditional skills. Zhong and her workshop not only provide lessons on woodblock New Year printings, but she also hopes to design more products that combine the traditional woodwork with modern products, so as to better preserve the tradition.
Morganelli said he will collaborate with Wilson police Chief Christian Meehan to compile police reports and testimonies from neighbors, which they will then take to the PLCB and seek to invoke the nuisance bar law.
He was reported missing from his home in mid-December after failing to appear for work. He was last seen Dec. 15.
In addition to the Grazie beers, which will occupy four of the bars eight taps, diners also will enjoy a wider selection of Pennsylvania craft beverages, including beers from Weyerbacher Brewing Co. in Easton, spirits from Eight Oaks Craft Distillers in New Tripoli and wines from Setter Ridge Winery in Greenwich Township, Berks County. More than 25 bottle beer varieties are available.
The division shows how McDonald's big push to revamp thousands of U.S. locations in the has encountered hiccups lately. In an effort to stay ahead of fast-food competitors and keep same-store sales growing, Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook is championing remodels that include self-order kiosks, new systems for delivery orders and extra drive-thru lanes at some restaurants. But the company recently said it's delaying those renovations by several years to appease franchisees who have complained about the expensive changes.
The Power of Gold Diversification

As a member of the British parliament in 1999, Sir Peter Tapsell, who passed away this past August, argued vigorously to keep the government from selling off over half of the countrys gold reserves. Previously, in the 1980s, Tapsell had managed a gold bullion fund, valued at many hundreds of millions of dollars for the Sultan of Brunei, Sir Omar Saifuddin  at the time one of the single largest private gold hoards on Earth. Though his argument before the House of Commons failed to stop the sales, it goes down as one of the most eloquent appeals ever made on the merits of gold ownership for nation states and individuals alike.

. . .[A] countrys reserves, he explained, should be diversified to minimize risk. Research shows that gold is an ideal portfolio diversifier. When I was given the Brunei fund to manage, I had to go on a crash course because I knew nothing about gold management. I took much expert advice and even commissioned, at great expense, advisers to give me an idea of how much gold should be in a portfolio. The boffins who deal with those matters believe that, over a long term, the ideal gold holding in a major portfolio is about 20 percent. That is because gold is an ideal diversifier as its returns are what is technically known as negatively correlated, which means that they operate in a counter-cyclical manner. When bonds and equities fall in price, gold tends to go up.

The study below, constructed utilizing some unique software at the World Gold Councils website, compares two hypothetical portfolios making a $100,000 investment  one consisting of stocks, bonds and commodities diversified 20% with gold; the other consisting of stocks, bonds and commodities without the benefit of a gold diversification. We chose the year 2000 as a starting point in order to capture both bull and bear markets for the assets included. Today, Portfolio 1 diversified with gold would be worth $258,996. Portfolio 2 without the gold diversification would be worth $221,568. Please keep in mind that the current valuations are fixed at what many believe to be cyclical lows for gold and cyclical highs for stocks.

Study courtesy of the World Gold Council/GoldHub

Remarkably, Tapsell alluded to a time when the United Kingdom might need its gold and it would be sorry it had ever parted with it. Gold is also the asset of last resort, he said. Although it is needed in good times, it can be vital when times are difficult. The last sale of gold in France was in 1969 to deal with the financial consequences of the May 1968 uprising. In Portugal gold was last sold following the 1975 revolution. More recently, in 1991 India used its gold reserves to borrow $1 billion to avoid default. With Brexit and all its uncertainties looming, what would Britain give today to have its gold back at four times the price at which it was sold?

The whole point about gold, Tapsell concludes, and the quality that makes it so special and almost mystical in its appeal, is that it is universal, eternal and almost indestructible. The Minister will agree that it is also beautiful. The most enduring brand slogan of all time is, As good as gold. The scientists can clone sheep, and may soon be able to clone humans, but they are still a long way from being able to clone gold, although they have been trying to do so for 10,000 years. The Chancellor may think that he has discovered a new Labour version of the alchemists stone, but his dollars, yen and euros will not always glitter in a storm and they will never be mistaken for gold.

Michael J. Kosares

We would like to thank the United Kingdom Parliamentary Archives for permission to quote Sir Peter Tapsell speech before the House of Commons which contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Image by UK Parliament [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons/Sir Peter Tapsell rises to speak in the House of Commons

World Gold Council results are hypothetical, use total return and assume that all dividends and distributions are reinvested. Taxes and transaction fees are not included. Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Data and other errors may exist.

By Michael J. Kosares

Michael J. Kosares , founder and president

USAGOLD - Centennial Precious Metals, Denver

Michael J. Kosares is the founder of USAGOLD and the author of "The ABCs of Gold Investing - How To Protect and Build Your Wealth With Gold." He has over forty years experience in the physical gold business. He is also the editor of Review & Outlook, the firm's newsletter which is offered free of charge and specializes in issues and opinion of importance to owners of gold coins and bullion. If you would like to register for an e-mail alert when the next issue is published, please visit this link.

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in commentary e do not constitute an offer to buy or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any precious metals product, nor should they be viewed in any way as investment advice or advice to buy, sell or hold. Centennial Precious Metals, Inc. recommends the purchase of physical precious metals for asset preservation purposes, not speculation. Utilization of these opinions for speculative purposes is neither suggested nor advised. Commentary is strictly for educational purposes, and as such USAGOLD - Centennial Precious Metals does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of the information found here.

Michael J. Kosares Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




The third batch of the Chinese Red Cross foreign aid medical team, comprising of eight members, has now arrived in Pakistans Gwadar to provide humanitarian medical assistance.

The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) and the Chinese Red Cross Foundation established the Belt & Road Fraternity Fund in February 2017 to carry out Belt and Road international humanitarian assistance.

The fund launched its first public welfare project, the China-Pakistan Fraternity Emergency Care Center, in Gwadar in 2017. Enterprises in China donated the center's steel structure boardroom and medical equipment, and the RCSC selected medical personnel from its cooperative hospitals.

In September 2017, 12 medical staff members from the first batch of the medical team began their service, which lasted half a year. During their six months of service, they helped Pakistani residents and staff of Chinese companies in Gwadar.

The second batch also provided free medical examinations and health consultations for students, and medical training for over 100 members of staff in the port.

The center had received 2,302 Chinese and Pakistani patients by the end of December last year. It had also conducted 260 medical examinations for elementary students from a school built in Gwadar by China and the Gwadar Port Authority.

The most recent batch of medics consists of medical personnel from Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, Beijing Red Cross Emergency Rescue Center, Obstetrics & Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University and project staff of the Chinese Red Cross Foundation. (People's Daily Online/Shi Jiamin)
Mankato, MN (56001)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 59F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 59F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.
Exton, PA (19341)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Magnolia, AR (71754)

Today

Clear skies. Low around 70F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low around 70F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
Weather Alert

This product covers Southeast Louisiana and South Mississippi **HEAVY RAINFALL AND GUSTY WINDS BEGINNING TO REACH PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN GULF COAST** NEW INFORMATION --------------- * CHANGES TO WATCHES AND WARNINGS: - None * CURRENT WATCHES AND WARNINGS: - A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Ascension, Assumption, Eastern Orleans, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Livingston, Lower Jefferson, Lower Lafourche, Lower Plaquemines, Lower St. Bernard, Lower Terrebonne, Northwest St. Tammany, Southeast St. Tammany, Southern Tangipahoa, St. Charles, St. James, St. John The Baptist, Upper Jefferson, Upper Lafourche, Upper Plaquemines, Upper St. Bernard, Upper Terrebonne, and Western Orleans * STORM INFORMATION: - About 250 miles south-southwest of New Orleans LA or about 300 miles south-southwest of Gulfport MS - 26.5N 91.1W - Storm Intensity 35 mph - Movement North-northeast or 15 degrees at 14 mph SITUATION OVERVIEW ------------------ Potential Tropical Cyclone 3 is expected to become a tropical depression or tropical storm later today. If it becomes a tropical storm it will be named Claudette. Rainbands are already moving on shore and winds are increasing over the coastal waters with numerous oil platforms seeing winds gusting to 40 mph already. POTENTIAL IMPACTS ----------------- * FLOODING RAIN: Protect against dangerous rainfall flooding having possible significant impacts mainly along and east of I-55. Potential impacts include: - Moderate rainfall flooding may prompt several evacuations and rescues. - Rivers and tributaries may quickly become swollen with swifter currents and overspill their banks in a few places, especially in usually vulnerable spots. Small streams, creeks, canals, and ditches overflow. - Flood waters can enter some structures or weaken foundations. Several places may experience expanded areas of rapid inundation at underpasses, low-lying spots, and poor drainage areas. Some streets and parking lots take on moving water as storm drains and retention ponds overflow. Driving conditions become hazardous. Some road and bridge closures. Protect against locally hazardous rainfall flooding having possible limited impacts mainly west of I-55. * TORNADOES: Protect against a tornado event having possible limited impacts across Southeast Louisiana and South Mississippi. Potential impacts include: - The occurrence of isolated tornadoes can hinder the execution of emergency plans during tropical events. - A few places may experience tornado damage, along with power and communications disruptions. - Locations could realize roofs peeled off buildings, chimneys toppled, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, large tree tops and branches snapped off, shallow-rooted trees knocked over, moving vehicles blown off roads, and small boats pulled from moorings. * SURGE: Protect against locally hazardous surge having possible limited impacts across the immediate coast of both Louisiana and Mississippi. Potential impacts in this area include: - Localized inundation with storm surge flooding mainly along immediate shorelines and in low-lying spots, or in areas farther inland near where higher surge waters move ashore. - Sections of near-shore roads and parking lots become overspread with surge water. Driving conditions dangerous in places where surge water covers the road. - Moderate beach erosion. Heavy surf also breaching dunes, mainly in usually vulnerable locations. Strong rip currents. - Minor to locally moderate damage to marinas, docks, boardwalks, and piers. A few small craft broken away from moorings. Elsewhere across Southeast Louisiana and South Mississippi, little to no impact is anticipated. * WIND: Protect against hazardous wind having possible limited impacts across Southeast Louisiana and South Mississippi. Potential impacts include: - Damage to porches, awnings, carports, sheds, and unanchored mobile homes. Unsecured lightweight objects blown about. - Many large tree limbs broken off. A few trees snapped or uprooted, but with greater numbers in places where trees are shallow rooted. Some fences and roadway signs blown over. - A few roads impassable from debris, particularly within urban or heavily wooded places. Hazardous driving conditions on bridges and other elevated roadways. - Scattered power and communications outages. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS ---------------------------------- * OTHER PREPAREDNESS INFORMATION: Now is the time to stay inside and away from windows. Listen for updates and be ready in case you lose electrical power. Keep a battery-powered radio, charged cell phone and flashlight handy. During the peak of the storm be ready to move quickly. Keep your shoes on and rain gear handy. Boots and athletic shoes offer the best foot protection if you become unexpectedly exposed to the weather. Keep your cell phone charged and in power-saving mode. If you lose power, use it sparingly and mainly for personal emergencies and check-ins. Do not be a thrill seeker or risk your life for senseless photos or videos. Trees kill people. Quickly move to the safest place within your shelter if it begins to fail, preferably an interior room on the lowest floor as long as flooding is not a concern. If a tornado warning is issued for your area, quickly move to the safest place within your shelter. Protect your head and body. * ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION: - For information on appropriate preparations see ready.gov - For information on creating an emergency plan see getagameplan.org - For additional disaster preparedness information see redcross.org NEXT UPDATE ----------- The next local statement will be issued by the National Weather Service in New Orleans LA around 5 pm, or sooner if conditions warrant.
I have served as Chilean Ambassador to China from 2010 to 2014, and I was reappointed last year. I still visited China for multiple times in the last four years though I was not the ambassador during that time. Actually, every visit to China makes me feel like home.

Arriving in China for the first time in 1992, I was mesmerized by the ancient and mysterious Chinese culture. I barely saw cars in the city when my wife and I cycled on the streets and alleys of Beijing. It made me wonder how hard it would be to fill these empty streets in the future with a few cars.

Two decades on, Beijing is now witnessing never-ceasing lines of different vehicles on its streets, and its 7th Ring Road has opened to traffic.

The changes of this city are the miniature of Chinas booming economy. This country would never have made such remarkable achievements without the past 40 years of reform and opening up.

Free trade is the best way to improve peoples livelihood, and Chinas reform and opening up in the past four decades sets the best example. China has not only taken on a new look, but also stimulated the worlds economic growth thanks to its reform and opening up.

Given the resurgence of protectionism in the current world, it is commendable for China to make the promise to open wider. It is a correct path to promote the common prosperity of China and the world.

It is a rare case, even in the global context, that China has maintained a steady and rapid GDP growth for years. Now, as China focuses more on the quality of economic growth and improvement of peoples livelihood, the skies are getting bluer, water clearer, and air fresher. Aiming for a more balanced development, China attaches more importance to pollution control and environmental protection.

From 2013 to 2017, China has reduced the incidence of poverty to 3.1 percent and lifted over 68 million people out of poverty, setting an example for other developing countries.

The Chinese government has also rolled out a series of comprehensive measures targeting at poverty reduction, sharply raising the human development index.

In the past four decades, the livelihood of both urban and rural residents in China has been greatly improved, and their income kept increasing. The per capita disposable income of Chinese residents in 2017 was 22.8 times of that in 1978, with an average annual growth rate of 8.5 percent, making China the largest source of middle income earners.

Chinas economic development also drives global trade growth, and the Chinese food market is showing huge potential. Chilean agricultural products, red wines and sea food have already entered Chinese market and made their presence on Chinese peoples dining tables.

Chile is the first Latin American country to support China to join the World Trade Organization, to recognize Chinas market economy status, and to sign the free trade agreement with China. Though far apart, Chile and China both enjoy dividends brought by prospering economic and trade relations.

Globalization and free trade are the foundation of Chiles economic development, and what China has promised on liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment is good news for the country.

The Belt and Road Initiative will surely promote the growth of international trade. The first China International Import Expo also indicates Chinas unswerving support for trade liberalization and economic globalization, serving as an important window to open the Chinese market. Chile hopes to take an active participation to promote its products in the Chinese market.

Chile and China enjoy all-round friendship at multiple levels. Freezing ice cant hinder Chiles passion to offer assistance for Chinese scientific expeditions in Antarctica, and the common aspiration to explore the universe of both Chile and the Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy remains unchanged.

China is my second hometown. Though Chile and China are separated by thousands of miles, the two peoples will always enjoy close bond and friendship.

(Luis Schmidt Montes is Chilean Ambassador to China)
Advertising & Marketing Start Your Day With Refreshing Information, Humor, and a Bit of Adventure From the Best Authors



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or a marketer wanting to update your strategy, a parent wishing to know secrets to child rearing or an average individual wanting a fresh start to your morning, The Saviour Stuffs is here to make your day.People from around the globe are welcome to share their thoughts in the form of a blog post and give the rest of the reading community their insight on their part of the world. The Saviour Stuffs joins the readers with the writers, giving the society a chance to grow, and information to spread from one corner of the world to the other. With the freedom to contribute and share the blog post on social media, this platform is for the like-minded people to express their thoughts while also creating a space for the clients to discuss their products. While the primary audience is based in the US and the UK, it does not restrict the rest of the world from participating and joining the circle. Visit www.pennysaviour.com/blog , to get a chance to write or read about your favorite subjects and share it with the global community.The design and layout of the blog was a team effort to give the viewer/reader the best visual outlook and reading pleasure. Our writers, developers, and team head endeavor to provide its readers with the most comprehensive literary treasure chest that stimulates their thirst for knowledge, showing them the brighter side of life, with a bit of humor on the side. Visitors can search for different titles/genres, look up their preferred authors, signup for the newsletters and be updated with the latest posts or be a part of the community with their own author section and contribution.About:PennySaviour, primarily, is a coupons provider website where customers can find the best deals and discounts on their favorite stores under one roof. It claims to be the best source for customers to find discount deals on the biggest brands in products or online services. The highly talented and devoted team comprises of webs designers, developers, writers, and the head to give the consumer the best customer service possible with a site that is user-friendly and easy to navigate.We launched a blog section to keep our visitors updated on the latest technology or business trends, give you DIY ideas for their next project or seasonal articles talking about their favorite holidays. The blog will help us reach our audience on a more personal level while stimulating their curiosity for understanding and awareness. The customers and visitors can find discounts on their favorite brands and enjoy the latest in parenting, lifestyle, tech, festivities, etc. Visit the website: www.pennysaviour.com for more information and money-savvy online shopping experience. Press Information:

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Colombias president is urging Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to give up his post.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Colombian leader Ivan Duque said Wednesday that Maduro should step aside and let the Venezuelan people be free.

Duque spoke after a tumultuous day that saw Juan Guaido Marquez, the head of Venezuelas opposition-controlled congress, declare himself interim president and call elections.

Colombia joined several other Latin American governments as well as the United States and Canada in quickly recognizing Guaido as Venezuelas leader.

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Duque was asked whether military intervention in Venezuela was a possibility. He responded: Were not talking about military intervention. Were talking about a diplomatic consensus and also the support of the Venezuelan people.

Maduro is giving American diplomats 72 hours to leave the country after breaking diplomatic relations with the U.S. over its decision to recognize an opposition leader as interim president.

Before the people and nations of the world, and as constitutional president  Ive decided to break diplomatic and political relations with the imperialist U.S. government, Maduro told a crowd of red-shirted supporters gathered at the presidential palace.

He made the announcement after Guaidos declaration.

Guaidos move was immediately backed by the Trump administration, which said it was willing to use all its economic and diplomatic power to restore Venezuelas democracy.

Maduro said in his speech the U.S. was making a grave mistake by trying to impose a president on Venezuela and rattled off a list of countries  Guatemala, Brazil, Chile and Argentina  that saw leftist governments toppled or come under military rule during the Cold War with U.S. support.
Thailands Election Commission on Wednesday announced that the nations first general election since the military seized power in a 2014 coup will be held on March 24.

The long-awaited announcement came just hours after Thailands royal palace issued a decree authorizing the polls.

The decree published Wednesday in the Royal Gazette put into effect election laws that were drafted by the military government, which has kept tight control over political activities and made efforts to quash dissent.

The ruling junta has repeatedly pushed back several promised election deadlines  at least once every year since the May 2014 overthrow of the democratically elected government. This is the first time a poll date has been made official.

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The most recent promised election date of Feb. 24 had to be abandoned because the decree giving the go-ahead was not issued as expected earlier this month, leaving not enough time to prepare for the polls.

Anti-junta protesters have staged sporadic demonstrations on Bangkoks streets in recent months, demanding there be no further delays.

The government had announced earlier this month that coronation ceremonies for King Maha Vajiralongkorn would take place in early May, which had also fueled speculation that the poll date could be delayed.
With less than 24 hours left in his rule, Congos President Joseph Kabila on Wednesday urged the nation to massively support incoming leader Felix Tshisekedi after a disputed election that surprised the world by bringing an opposition leader to power.

Kabila, 47, is stepping aside after more than two turbulent years of delayed elections when many Congolese feared he was seeking a way to stay in office. He praised Congos 80 million people: Thanks to your maturity, the elections unrolled amid calm. This is the vast central African nations first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960.

In a brief late-night address, Kabila urged the Congolese people to unite in a grand coalition against what he called the predatory forces that will band together to monopolize our natural resources. The country has trillions of dollars worth of mineral wealth, some of it key to the advanced technology used in smartphones and electric cars worldwide, yet suffers from underdevelopment and conflict.

Kabila congratulated Tshisekedi, 55, son of the late opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who had posed such a charismatic challenge that after he died in Belgium in 2017, Congos government did not allow his body to be brought home. His sons spokesman has said that will be corrected once Felix Tshisekedi takes office on Thursday.

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Kabila said he will pass on power without regret and will do his part to support the incoming president.

He also defended his presidency, which began in 2001 when he was 29, shortly after his father Laurent was assassinated. I never betrayed my oath, Kabila said. He said he didnt claim to have achieved everything but said he was leaving behind a more stable economy and unprecedented advances in democracy.

The Dec. 30 election was disputed by the declared runner-up, Martin Fayulu, who went to court to seek a recount while pointing to leaked data attributed to Congos electoral commission that showed he had clearly won. Outside court, his supporters accused Kabila of making a deal with Tshisekedi when it became clear the ruling partys candidate did poorly at the polls.

But the Constitutional Court on Sunday rejected Fayulus petition, and the Congolese people largely have not heeded his call to peacefully protest. Many have signaled that Kabilas departure is enough.

Since then, African and Western powers that had expressed concerns over the disputed vote have changed course and noted Tshisekedis win, if not congratulated him.

The United States joined them earlier Wednesday, saying it welcomed the courts certification of Tshisekedi as Congos next president and was committed to working with the new government.

The U.S. also encouraged Congo to address reports of electoral irregularities and be inclusive.
The Australian government said Wednesday that it is seeking information about a citizen missing in China after friends and supporters of the writer Yang Hengjun said he has been detained, possibly on state security charges.

The case of Yang, a prominent novelist and former Chinese official who gave up his nationality and immigrated to Australia, could represent a fresh instance of China detaining a citizen of countries allied with the United States amid a globe-spanning standoff.

The detention comes more than a month after China took into custody two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, in what was seen as retaliation for Canadas arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the United States. The Justice Department said Tuesday that it would proceed with a formal request to extradite Meng.

Australian officials inquired about Yang with their Chinese counterparts on Tuesday night, a person familiar with the matter said.

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The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it could not comment on the matter, citing privacy laws. Yang was previously detained by state security officials in 2011 and was released after two days.

Two friends of Yang, the U.S.-based publisher Shi Wei and Feng Chongyi, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney, told the Washington Post the writer took off from New York on a China Southern Airlines flight for Guangzhou but fell out of touch after he landed early Saturday.

Yangs wife, Yuan Ruijun, who was traveling with him and their two children, told friends that she was questioned in Guangzhou and that her husband had been detained by state security, according to Feng.

Yuan later also fell out of contact, but not before she sent friends a picture of the Beijing airport without explanation on Sunday. The picture signaled that she felt compelled to travel to the Chinese capital but was not at liberty to say why, Feng said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Wednesday that she did not have information about Yangs whereabouts and would look into the matter with relevant agencies.

Supporters say Yang has been an outspoken writer who has been a thorn in the governments side for more than a decade. He was occasionally invited to have tea with state security but otherwise traveled unhindered to China as recently as several months ago, they say.

Something changed in the last few months to prompt his alleged detention.

My judgment is this is linked directly to the Huawei case, said Feng, referring to the possibility that China is taking a harder line against citizens of countries aligned with the United States.

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This is not the first time that Yang has been held in China, which he left in the 1990s after a stint at Chinas Foreign Ministry.

For years, Yang publicly joked that he was frequently recruited to be an asset for foreign intelligence. He wrote spy novels about China and the United States as well as criticism of Chinese politics that was seen in intellectual circles as unvarnished yet relatively moderate.

After he was detained in 2011, also during a trip to Guangzhou, Yang declined to publicly discuss the experience. But he wrote in a blog post that he would continue to work as a calm intermediary who pushed China  our nation  to become a strong, prosperous, free and democratic country.

In the last six months, relations between Beijing and U.S. allies have soured dramatically over dueling allegations of politically motivated arrests. China has viewed the international backlash against telecommunications giant Huawei, including Canadas seizure of Meng, as a campaign orchestrated by the United States to undermine a symbol of corporate Chinas international success. It has warned Western capitals against siding with Washington  or face severe consequences.

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We need to select counter-targets and make those countries be beaten very painfully. We argue that in this complex game, China should focus on the Five Eye alliance countries, especially Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the Communist Party-run newspaper Global Times said in a December commentary. They follow the United States to harm Chinas interests.

Australia, which has maintains important trade ties with China, defied Chinese warnings this month and sided with Western allies in a statement that expressed concern about Chinas detention of the two Canadians.

Australian national security officials have mostly echoed their U.S. counterparts, issuing warnings about the security risks of Huawei participating in the countrys telecom infrastructure.

After Australia and New Zealand banned Huawei from building their domestic 5G networks in the fall, Huawei Chairman Guo Ping criticized unspecified countries for their incredibly unfair and malicious treatment of his company.

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Shih writes for the Washington Post.
At the end of the 1970s, I learned from many Chinese friends that Chinese people were not affluent then, and that bicycle was the main means of transportaion. But when I visited China in 2015, I saw skyscrapers, busy cars, and people in fashionable clothes.

What China has achieved in the past 40 years can be called a miracle. During this period, China has lifted more than 700 million of people out of poverty, a remarkable accomplishment that has drawn worldwide attention and provided profound experience in fighting poverty for especially the populous developing countries around the world.

Reform and opening-up is the development path independently chosen by the Chinese people. It has demonstrated a brand new development mode for developing countries and has shown the world a bright prospect of development.

Ive been to 24 Chinese provinces, during which I found that reform and opening-up has not only changed Chinas international metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai, but also enabled great development in the countrys rural areas.

Sri Lanka is one of the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with China since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. Chinas rich experience in reform and opening-up was learnt by Sri Lanka for reference. In recent years, we have seen increasingly intensified exchanges between the two countries in such areas as culture and education.

At present, China is endeavoring to carry out a new round of opening-up. Not long ago at the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), Sri Lankan tea was well received by Chinese importers.

The CIIE had perfectly demonstrated the concept of win-win cooperation that China has always advocated, and demonstrated that China has always been generating opportunities for the development of more countries and benefits to the whole world while making great efforts to promote balanced development of foreign trade.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has opened a new chapter in Chinas journey of reform and opening-up. The BRI accords with the national development strategy of Sri Lanka, and has offered important opportunities to Sri Lanka in its pursuing of social and economic development goals.

Today, China is Sri Lankas largest source of foreign direct investment and the top trading partner. The bilateral cooperation between Sri Lanka and China under the framework of the BRI has greatly benefited Sri Lanka, bringing higher-level cooperation in investment, trade, and production capacity as well as financial services to Sri Lanka.

We have seen Chinese enterprises invest in Sri Lankas Colombo Port City project, and we hope that more Chinese investors will come here so as to gradually form an industrial chain.

Currently, when the worlds trade environment is troubled by uncertainties, its necessary to reiterate the importance of economic globalization as well as trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

China is an indispensable participant in the worlds multilateral trading system, and is now taking measures to open its door wider to the rest of the world, which is a vivid demonstration of the countrys willingness to invite other countries to board its train of development.

In the future, China will play a more important role on the world stage, and Sri Lanka will remain a good partner of China.

(Karunasena Kodituwakku is the Sri Lankan ambassador to China.)
Amazon(NEW YORK) -- Amazon launched a sidewalk robot delivery service on Wednesday, but it comes with a human chaperone.



"Amazon Scout," a blue-colored, six-wheeled, self-driving cart "the size of a small cooler," started delivering packages "at a walking pace" in Snohomish County, Washington, according to an Amazon blog post.



The pilot program is starting with a handful of autonomous robots in a Snohomish neighborhood, just north of Seattle. But that's not to say they'll be alone.



"Were starting with six Amazon Scout devices, delivering packages Monday through Friday, during daylight hours. The devices will autonomously follow their delivery route but will initially be accompanied by an Amazon employee," the blog post said. Each robot will initially be followed by a human during the field test, but they are programmed to autonomously follow their routes.



A fleet of similarly sized robots also took to the streets of Washington D.C. in 2017, dispatched by Starship Technologies, a startup created in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis. This week, the company announced it would start using the autonomous robots to deliver Blaze Pizza, Starbucks, and Dunkin orders for a flat rate of $1.99 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Mark Twain has been referred to by some as the father of American literature and an inimitable icon of American culture. His works arent just fictional written texts, but tangible artifacts of both American literary and cultural history.

But guess what? He struggled with spelling.

When Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884, Twain didnt have the luxury of spell-check software, since computers hadnt been invented. But what he did have was what he called a Newfangled typing machine, full of defects, devilish ones.

Twain wrote in his autobiography, I have had an aversion to good spelling for 60 years and more ... As he attempted to describe his love-hate relationship with this miraculous typewriter, he wrote, It dont muss things or scatter ink blots around.

He blamed his inability to spell because Spelling is a talent and not an acquirement. He believed in the dignity of being able to spell since it is a product of ones labor. Spelling is earned, whereas to be able to do a thing merely by the grace of God and not by your own effort, leaves you naked and bankrupt.

Last week my wife Kaitzer, a member of the school board, roped me into attending the La Canada Unified School District Spelling Bee. Joe, I think youll enjoy it, she enthusiastically said. While sitting there binge-watching the last season of House of Cards, I thought to myself she mustnt have realized that as an elementary school student I barely survived the first round of the weekly spelling bees at Saint Frances of Rome. Frankly, I think she just wanted me to drive her in the torrential rains we were experiencing.

Last weeks spelling bee, organized by La Canada Elementary Principal Emily Blaney, was held at the district office at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Cornishon Avenue. It was refreshing to see dozens of parents and other adults present to cheer on the 16 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade contestants.

I was impressed by Blaney. She began the competition with a quote from Richelle E. Goodrich, a noted childrens book author: Many times, what we perceive as an error or failure is actually a gift. And eventually, we find that lessons learned from that discouraging experience prove to be of great worth.

The validity of a remark is determined when the spoken words define ones personal experience. I felt as though Blaney was speaking to me. Her comments were gifts to the little spellers.

She introduced the evenings officials: the spelling master and LCHS principal Jim Cartnal, and judges Kip Glazer, LCHS assistant principal, and my wife.

Cartnal gave the spellers a practice round. Such words as cat, dog, ant and lion, he quizzed. If I were up there, I thought, Id win my first spelling bee.

However, after a few rounds, it was evident I would again be disqualified and find comfort in the words of Andrew Jackson, It is a darn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.

Throughout the evening Kaitzer would ask for clarification and Cartnal would consult Websters International Dictionary. Funny, I always thought Kaitzer could spell. After 20 some years or marriage, youd think youd know someone. Anyway, Cartnal would remove his glasses, place his nose an inch from the dictionary and attempt to read the word.

One of the kids chuckled when he was asked to spell rutabaga. I couldnt even look rutabaga up in the dictionary. I was one of those students who always believed that to look something up you had first to be able to spell it.

As was inevitable, by the end of the evening we had a winner, Nicholas Sue. I asked him, What was on your mind when you were asked that final word?

I was very scared; my knees were shaking, he answered.

Cartnals summation of the evening was the icing on the cake. A spelling bee honors the importance of words, which are foundational to the human story.

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.
A home on La Canadas El Vago Street, along with a La Crescenta property and another in Burbank, were targets of federal search warrants served Wednesday morning by personnel from the FBI, U.S. Secret Service and Los Angeles Police Department.

The warrants were issued simultaneously at 6 a.m.  one at 1435 El Vago Street, another at 3122 Pontiac Street in La Crescenta and a third in Burbank  and while local law enforcement reported the cases were related, it could not be determined which agency was overseeing which warrant.

Lt. Mark Slater, acting captain for the Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station, said deputies were called on to assist agents from the FBI and U.S. Secret Service in the execution of the federal warrants in La Canada and La Crescenta following a 5:15 a.m. briefing.

They did request CV Station to be a uniformed presence, so we provided one black and white [vehicle] and one deputy, just to be seen, Slater said of the two locations, adding the officers did not participate in serving the warrants.

Although we do have some limited information about what the search warrant is about, since its not our investigation, I dont feel comfortable releasing it, he continued.

At around 11 a.m. on El Vago Street, five hours after agents arrived on scene, the house was still busy with activity as personnel came and went from the property. Two vehicles  a red Nissan SUV with out-of-state license plates and a silver Ford Taurus with California plates  were parked in the semicircular driveway out front.

In the backyard, another car sat inside a detached garage underneath an interior light. An empty trashcan and unread newspaper were still out by the driveway, and occasional onlookers drove by slowly to catch a peek at the property that had been mentioned on Facebook posts for the FBI activity spotted there.

Laura Eimiller, a public affairs officer for the FBIs Los Angeles field office, confirmed a federal search warrant had been served at the El Vago address but said the warrant was under a judge-issued sealing order, which restricts disclosure of the documents and their contents.

Online listing information from blockshopper.com indicated the 5,451-square-foot Colonial style house at 1435 El Vago was sold on Dec. 27 for the purchase price of $2.8 million. Real estate transaction records list the current owners as Alen and Dina Gharehbagloo. The latter works in real estate and owns the Arcave Room, a video-game-event space in La Crescenta.

Public records show the home on Pontiac Street in La Crescenta is owned by Robert and Dana Khudaverdyan.

No further details were available as of early Wednesday afternoon.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
Authorities say theyve nabbed two Los Angeles men earlier this month suspected of stealing diamond rings worth several thousands of dollars from jewelry stores in Sherman Oaks and Glendale.

Aram Minasyan, 32, and Ashot Khachatryan, 46, were arrested on suspicion of grand theft by the Glendale Police Department reportedly in connection with three thefts that took place last year.

The first theft occurred on Aug. 29, 2018, when the pair allegedly entered a jewelry store in Glendale and looked at several rings on display, according to police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot.

She said when both men left the store an employee noticed that a $13,000 ring had been switched out with a similar looking, fake, cubic-zirconia ring.

Lightfoot said the men went to a Sherman Oaks jewelry store the next day, where they allegedly stole a ring there by switching it out for the one taken in Glendale. The value of the other ring is unknown.

The third theft occurred on Dec. 22 at a department store in Glendale, where a $40,000 ring was stolen. Lightfoot said the men were attempting to distract a store employee while examining the ring.

When the employee demanded it back, the pair allegedly handed over a different ring and ran out of the store with the real one.

Minasyan and Khachatryan were eventually identified through surveillance footage from the third robbery and taken into custody on Jan. 10, according to Lightfoot.

The two were released the same day after each posted $50,000 bail.

The thefts remain under investigation.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
Speaking at the 20th annual prom for teens battling kidney disease, organizer Lori Hartwell noticed that all the attendees had their phones out. Of course.

Then she realized the screens were all trained on her.

They were listening to every word I said, said Hartwell, who founded the nonprofit Renal Support Network that puts on the event. It makes me realize how much they need these types of activities, to connect over their common issues.

About 200 young adults descended on the Glendale Hilton on Sunday night to dance and socialize with peers who understand their struggles with chronic illness. Many of the attendees, who come from all across Southern California, are on dialysis or are learning to live with a kidney transplant, Hartwell said.

Frequent Renal Teen Prom entertainer Jack Black stopped by to perform and take pictures with the young attendees  all festive lighting and sparkly curtains in the background that underscored this years theme, All That Glitters.

Most important is just seeing all the kids and young adults with  I cant even express it  just this happiness, glee face, Hartwell said.

When Hartwell created the first Renal Teen Prom, when she was about 30 years old, she said she wanted to connect with her younger peers in a fun setting, outside of lectures about lifestyle and medication. She wanted to see them doing well.

The first prom of its kind was held at Notre Dame High School in 1999 with the help of four seniors. To this day, its still a tradition for Notre Dame students to volunteer at the event.

Unfortunately, some teens who want to go to Renal Teen Prom end up staying home because they dont feel well. Hartwell, now 52, missed her own senior prom at Herbert Hoover High School because she was on dialysis between 12 and 24 years old  the same age range of event attendees.

We do often have a lot of disappointment because of our illness, said Hartwell, who wasnt sure she would be able to attend the 20th anniversary event because shes recovering from a recent surgery on her ankle.

Diagnosed with kidney disease at the age of 2, Hartwell has had four kidney transplants and more than 50 surgeries.

In Hartwells speech at the event, she acknowledged her husband, Dean, in a shout-out to caregivers.

We all have those people that help us, she said.

What surprised Hartwell was how many attendees came up to her after the talk to let her know that she is their inspiration. Some told her they had been meaning to let her know that for years.

I was overwhelmed, Hartwell said. I felt really loved and cherished.

Also on hand at the event were state Assemblywoman Laura Friedman and state Sen. Anthony Portantino, who offered proclamations of support.

Its been a tradition to hold the event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend because teens do not undergo dialysis on Sundays and Monday is a holiday, improving their chances of attending the festivities, Hartwell said.

lila.seidman@latimes.com

Twitter: @lila_seidman
Solidarity took the form of whimsical giraffes this past Friday as College View School celebrated International Day of Acceptance, and the campus welcomed teachers, parents and administrators from throughout the district.

International Day of Acceptance was established in Chicago in 2010, according to the social entrepreneurial group 3E Love, as a day dedicated to social acceptance of disability and as a memorial to 3E Love founder, Annie Hopkins.

College View has been providing special-education services to children in the Glendale Unified School District since 1977 and first adopted the day of social acceptance last year.

We want to do more, we want more support and we want more people recognizing and celebrating all people with disabilities and appreciating the challenges that they face, College View principal Jay Schwartz said. The message here, today, is that were all the same.

Schwartz held a get-together Friday in the schools multipurpose room at 1:18 p.m. sharp, which signified the date, Jan. 18. About 200 people gathered to commemorate the event and take part in a little history.

Schwartz encouraged unity by inviting all attendees to help break the school record for the most people wearing giraffe socks in one room.

Last year, 122 event-goers wore festive giraffe socks, and that total was easily surpassed this year, with 166 sock-wearers.

The giraffe is our school mascot, and I thought about doing something fun and silly last year, Schwartz said. So, I just told everyone to bring socks to set a record. It was nice to see everyone, together, doing this.

Schwartz said she hopes to one day have the accomplishment acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records.

The event was spearheaded, in part, by Jillian Lhymn, College Views PTA president, whose 5-year-old son, Benjamin, is a student in Paula Nakayas pre-kindergarten class.

Inside this room, all these people already understand what were trying to do, Lhymn said. This is about spreading that awareness and spreading that acceptance within the community. We all get it, but what we want is the rest of the community to understand where were coming from.

The awareness campaign extended outside of College View as Dunsmore and Fremont elementary schools and Wilson Middle School also held ceremonies.

I think its awesome to see this expanding in the district, said Deb Rinder, the districts executive director of special education. People that know about this will support this. Since its a relatively new initiative, its going to take events like this to expand it.

Though the Glendale Unified school board proclaimed Friday as International Day of Acceptance within the district during its meeting last week, Supt. Winfred B. Roberson Jr. said acceptance is a year-round goal.

As public educators, we should be judged on how we take care of our most vulnerable students and this, right here, this day, shouldnt just be one day, Roberson said. This should be our attitudes every day. We should be looking out for these students every day.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresports
Comedian/emcee and Glendale resident Richy Leis thinks comedy can cure through the unifying power of laughter.

So much so that he founded Comic Cure, a company that allows him to work closely with local, nonprofit organizations.

He specializes in private parties and fundraisers such as the Glendale Soroptimists Bras for a Cause.

As master of ceremonies, Leis lends a light touch to serious subjects such as breast cancer awareness.

On Jan. 13, Leis began a five-session, stand-up comedy class in Glendale for would-be comics as well as those on the way up.

The class is designed to be a crash course in stand-up that explores its many styles. Leis teaches quick thinking, stage presence and how to write jokes with a punchline for every sentence.

A portion of the money from the $200 per-person class fee goes to Glendale Arts, which manages the Alex Theatre and works in partnership sponsoring the class.

Glendale Arts offers its community room on California Avenue as a classroom for the program. Staff members help out by taking photos of class participants.

Ten students were quick to sign up for the first, free class. There, they learned from Leis that writing jokes is serious business. Students had brought in their first attempts at humor based on Who are you? Where are you from? What is your family dynamic? What is your job?

Each student answered the questions in front of class members and Leis. They were also given about one minute of mike time.

Homework was more joke writing to be critiqued by Leis before the next class. More mike time was promised.

The budding comics are slated to perform their stand-up comedy routines at the Ice House in Pasadena on Feb. 10.



If you buy three things, just to get the fourth one free, three of those things are going to rot, so said Laura Duncan, the new executive director of Ascencia, the Glendale-based organization that provides services to the homeless. She was referring to information from the organizations financial literacy class for its homeless residents.

A welcome reception for Duncan was held last Thursday in the auditorium at the Holy Family Grade School in Glendale. Its auditorium was filled to capacity with at least 200 supporters who sipped and supped on beverages, hors doeuvres and desserts.

Surrounding new Ascencia Executive Director Dr. Laura Duncan are proud sister Marilyn Gianetti and brother Kyle G. Duncan. (Ruth Sowby Rands / Glendale News-Press)

According to Duncan, there are 150 million homeless people worldwide. Bringing the statistics closer to home, there are 286 homeless in Glendale. Thats a 55% increase over last year attributed in part to the shrunken availability of affordable housing.

Duncan plans to nurture, protect and grow Ascencia. Thirty-three staff members help 1,200 homeless people annually. Beds have increased from 40 to 45, with more in the works.

Ascencias services have extended into West Hollywood and Burbank. The agencys goal is permanent housing for its homeless residents.

In their new neighborhoods, we connect them to resources for low-income people, such as primary medical care, Duncan said. We make sure they pay their bills on time.

Attending the reception were Duncans sister and brother, Marilyn Gianetti from Fullerton and Kyle G. Duncan, who lives in San Marino.

VIPs in attendance included deacon Ron Baker, Ascencias board president; Debbie Hinckley, immediate past president with her husband, Bruce, by her side, and Natalie Profant Komura, former Ascencia executive director, having been with Ascencia for 11 years.

As guests were leaving the auditorium, they had the opportunity to fill plastic bags with hygiene essentials to pass out to homeless people. A card with Ascencias information was tucked inside.

Ruth Sowby Rands may be reached at ruthasowby@gmail.com.
How do you turn the response to an inexplicable act of violence into a cause based on decency, compassion and caring?

How do you channel crushing grief into affirmative acts of kindness?

How do you move forward without forgetting?

Jeanne and Gideon Bernstein have offered us answers to these difficult questions. They have harnessed their pain and used it to create what has now become a nationwide movement dedicated to choosing love and kindness over hate and resentment.

Their tragic story is well known. The Orange County couples son, Blaze Bernstein, a 19-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania, was reported missing on Jan. 3, 2018. His body was discovered six days later at Borrego Park in Lake Forest. He had been stabbed multiple times and buried in a shallow grave.

Samuel Woodward, a 21-year-old former classmate of Bernsteins at the Orange County School of the Arts, has been charged in the slaying, which prosecutors allege was a hate crime. Bernstein was gay, and Woodward, a Newport Beach resident, is believed to be both anti-gay and affiliated with a neo-Nazi organization.

But Jeanne and Gideon Bernstein have made the deliberate choice not to dwell on the sordid details of the case and not to succumb to bitterness or vengeance. The justice system will do its work, they believe. Their energies have instead been directed toward honoring their son and inspiring others to use his memory as an impetus to do good deeds.

The Blaze It Forward campaign, as they call it, continues to grow, and now has participants from around the country and even in other parts of the world. The groups Facebook page has more than 22,000 followers.

On Monday  Martin Luther King Jr. Day and exactly one year after the memorial service for Blaze  I met the Bernsteins at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine, where they had organized a volunteer event to package produce for distribution to shelters, churches, food pantries and other groups that combat hunger throughout the county.

My sons funeral was on the MLK holiday, Jeanne said. After that, we decided to commemorate the day with acts of service.

Jeanne and Gideon Bernstein created the Blaze It Forward campaign in memory of their son Blaze, pictured above. (AP)

Blaze was a really special human being. His story resonates with people. (The volunteers) are also making an announcement that theyre saying no to intolerance, and theyre making a positive change.

Indeed. About 150 people  the maximum number that the Second Harvest facility could accommodate for the Monday event  turned out to help bag, box and load for distribution donated farm apples.

The warehouse buzzed with energy and camaraderie. Some volunteers measured and cut the netting, then knotted the ends to form them into bags. Others stuffed the bags with apples, while some boxed up the bags, keeping careful counts as they worked.

They were young and old, parents and children, friends and neighbors. Many wore BlazeItForward T-shirts.

Theres something about Blazes death that connects people, said David Thalberg, a close friend of the Bernsteins and a career publicist who donates his time to act as their media liaison.

People kept asking, What can we do? The answer is, Do something good. 

Among those heeding the call were a trio of 12-year-olds who attend Blazes former high school.

Nearby, Michael Stoll, another longtime friend of the Bernstein family, helped ready the bags.

The small things were doing today have a huge impact on the community, he said.

Posts to the BlazeItForward Facebook page show a similar charitable spirit, inspired by the Bernsteins call to service, in many other locales: Volunteers at the Long Beach AIDS Food Store; kids making sandwiches to feed the homeless in Philadelphia; individuals reporting random acts of kindness, such as buying coffee for a stranger; people donating blood; and distributing gift cards to public workers to thank them for clearing the roads after a storm in upstate New York.

Id venture a guess that most of the people sharing their stories of giving never met Blaze, a young man described by his loved ones as a warm and thoughtful soul, avid cook, accomplished writer and adventurous travel companion.

But they have been touched by him. He is gone but his legacy endures.

In heartfelt remarks thanking the big group of volunteers at Second Harvest on Monday, the Bernsteins acknowledged how difficult the past year has been for their family. But they kept the focus positive.

Now our journey with you is to do good, Gideon Bernstein said. Hate and help are both four-letter words. You can sit in your house and you can hate. Or you can go out and help somebody else, and youll learn to not hate and maybe to love.

This is what humanity should always look like.

Patrice Apodaca is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.
A 28-year-old man pleaded not guilty to murder Tuesday in the death of Nancy Bergeson, the daughter of late Newport Beach legislator Marian Bergeson, according to media reports.

The court-appointed attorney for defendant Christopher Alexander Williamson entered the plea on behalf of his client in a Portland, Ore. courtroom, a local TV station reported on its website.

Nancy Bergeson was discovered strangled in her Portland home on Nov. 24, 2009, according to the Oregonian newspaper.

Bergeson, 57 at the time of her death, served as an assistant federal public defender, but it was unclear whether Williamson had any connection to her work as an attorney. He was 19 at the time of the crime and lived near the victim, according to the Oregonian.

Police have not specified what led detectives to Williamson, who told court officials he had no relationship with Bergeson, according to records referenced by the Oregonian. However, sources told the newspaper that an associate of Williamsons tipped off police and prosecutors, helping to crack the case.

Portland Police Bureau homicide detectives worked tirelessly over the past nine years, investigating every lead, according to a news release. This remains an ongoing investigation.

The Bergeson family asked for privacy following the arrest, releasing a statement.

RELATED STORY: Lawyer fought for the underdog 

Even though it has been nine years, Nancy continues to have a tremendous presence and positive influence in the lives of many people, the statement said. Her friends and family appreciate the tenacious work of law enforcement; for the first time in many years, we carry a hope that there will be answers and justice.

Nancy Bergeson grew up in Newport Beach. She attended Mariners Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Newport Harbor High schools.

She loved her job  she was not judgmental at all, a brother-in-law, Matt McCormick, told the Daily Pilot in 2009. She was just a very hard worker. Always fought for the underdog. She knew and very much understood and took her job very seriously, but she didnt take herself very seriously. She had great compassion for her clients.

She worked as an assistant federal public defender in the Oregon district for 18 years and practiced law in Salt Lake City before that. She was an avid skier, hiker and dragon boat racer.

She had planned to visit Newport Beach for Christmas the year of her death.

Its such a terrible shock, Marian Bergeson said at the time. Nancy is bigger than life. She had a great sense of humor. Everybody loved her. She had absolutely no enemies that anybody was aware of.

Marian Bergeson, the first woman to serve in both the state Senate and Assembly, died in 2016. A Republican, she also served as state secretary of education, Orange County supervisor and Newport-Mesa Unified school board member.

Williamson is being held without bail. The case has been referred to a grand jury.

john.canalis@latimes.com

Twitter: @johncanalis
The Laguna Beach City Council pulled a developers proposal to provide $250,000 to the city off its meeting agenda Tuesday night, disappointing residents who had come to have their say.

Local hotel and real estate investor Mo Honarkar has proposed funding a new city employee or an outside contractor for up to $180,000 per year to help the Community Development Department expedite work on major projects.

For the record: This article originally misidentified David Rubel as David Raber.

The proposed agreement would forbid the developer from having a say over hiring and in no way guarantees, assures or otherwise represents that the city will provide special or preferential treatment of any application [Honarkar] might submit.

The agreement also states the funds could be used for project negotiations and analysis of potential benefits  of applications for major development projects.

City Manager John Pietig suggested the council pull the item after an overwhelmingly negative response in the community. I dont think its the right time to move forward with it given the concern in town, he said.

Its clear this item is misunderstood, Pietig said, because we dont have the capacity in the Community Development Department to handle a number of applications from large projects at one time. As we look to staff up, those costs have to be paid by somebody, and so if its not paid by the developer, then its going to be paid by the general public or other people through fee increases.

His comments provoked a rumbling from the audience in the packed council chamber.

Raise the fee! one person called out.

At least 20 people raised their hands to say they had attended the council meeting to talk about Honarkars proposal. Most of them walked out after Mayor Bob Whalen confirmed the item had been pulled.

I think this is not going to go forward in its current form or anywhere near its current form, Whalen said. This ones not ready for prime time; it needs more work.

Pietig said city staff will take another look at the proposal and likely bring it back in the spring along with other suggestions for the Community Development Department.

To clarify, its our understanding that the city of Laguna Beach is understaffed in the Community Development Department, which impacts planning projects, Mark Orgill, spokesman for Honarkars Laguna Beach Co., said in a statement Wednesday morning. Given this, we offered to advance a portion of our expected developer fees while the city refines its development fee program. The word donation was used on the City Council agenda incorrectly, and its understandably created some concern among community members.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman said the number of people who showed up for the meeting, combined with the more than 40 who attended the last meeting to discuss the city Design Review Board, is evidence of a problem with the citys development process.

We have a systemic problem, Iseman said. Its a priority for us to look globally at this problem.

Anita Dobbs, a retired teacher at Laguna Beach High School, had prepared to speak against the proposal, using a printed statement dotted with handwritten notes.

It just smacks of things being too cozy, and I dont see how the city could not possibly taint its reputation if it were to accept this gift, Dobbs said. I mean, its just ridiculous.

Ginger Osborne, a member and former president of the organization Village Laguna, said she had hoped to say the idea was inherently biased. She plans to return when the item goes back to the council.

I think it would be a great challenge for someone that was hired with money by the developer to be totally independent, or even if they were, its going to have the appearance of being influenced by [the developer], Osborne said. Even if they try to take precautions to avoid that ... its not going to look that way. We shouldnt go down that track.

Michael Ray, founder of the local political action committee Liberate Laguna, said he would have spoken in support of the agreement, with the condition that the funds go toward expediting all projects, not just Honarkars.

I dont think [Honarkar] should have special access because of prepaying a fee at all, but if it applied to anyone or everyone, then so what? Ray said.

City hiring consultant for downtown retail study

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to hire an urban economist to do a retail market evaluation of Laguna Beachs downtown to aid the Downtown Specific Plan update.

The purpose of this was to have people who have some expertise in the evolving and changing nature of retail come in and analyze our downtown and advise us on the kinds of things that we should be doing going forward in order to revitalize and have an active downtown, said Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow.

The Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce selected Stanley R. Hoffman and Associates to be the consultant. The Los Angeles-based firm has advised several other cities and counties in California. The chamber is putting up $25,000 to fund the study, and the city is contributing $13,800.

The evaluation, which the Planning Commission suggested at an earlier meeting, is expected to suggest ways the city can ease its approval processes, said Community Development Director Greg Pfost.

Were moving toward an effort where were going to provide more flexibility by allowing perhaps some uses to be able to be approved administerially instead of going through the conditional use process, Pfost said.

Several members of the public said the study should update the rules for downtown businesses that were created before the internet.

The hope  is they will help us to understand and create more of an experience in our downtown area, said store owner and Chamber of Commerce member Carmelit Green.

Chamber member David Rubel said the study is needed to refresh a downtown that is pretty tired and stale.

Everyone can tell you what they dont want, but we do need to talk about what we do want, Rubel said.

Councilman Peter Blake voted for the study but said the city doesnt need a consultant but a new conditional use permitting process. Conditional use permits are required for applications for many kinds of downtown businesses.

Why dont we just open up the process? Blake said.

Meeting with school board

Before the councils regular meeting, it met with the Laguna Beach Unified School District board for a presentation by Laguna police Cpl. Cornelius Ashton, who was hired in the fall as the citys school resource officer.

Ashton said he has given 54 presentations to high school and middle school students on topics such as mental health, digital safety and manners. He has helped with lockdown drills and created a school resource officer Instagram page to help reach students.

I use this uniform as a vessel to connect with the kids, Ashton said.

The council and school board also agreed to pursue expanding adult education programming. They discussed possibly adding new classes such as computer skills and how to start a business, offering childcare and keeping the Community & Susi Q Center open for the additional programming. Laguna Beach Unified already offers English as a Second Language classes for adults.
Huntington Beach lifted its prohibition on street vendors Tuesday night as the City Council adopted a temporary permitting process, albeit with heavy restrictions, to comply with a new state law.

Senate Bill 946 legalized street vending statewide Jan. 1. The law strips criminal penalties associated with vending and gives the state overriding control of the typically independent enterprises. The law also requires local governments to adopt regulations that conform to the state framework.

On a unanimous vote, the City Council adopted an emergency ordinance that immediately creates a permit program for 120 days while city staff brainstorms recommendations for a permanent ordinance.

Under the emergency ordinance, street vendors are required to apply annually for a permit and a business license, which must be displayed at all times. Permits will be non-transferable.

Some vendors also need a state food-vending license.

The ordinance restricts vendors from doing business in residential zones, at the beach and in areas such as Pier Plaza, downtown, parks, City Hall and along Pacific Coast Highway inside city limits. Its unclear specifically where vendors would be able to do business in compliance with the restrictions.

Offenders face $100 fines for a first violation of the ordinance and $200 for the second within the same year. Fines increase to $500 for each additional violation within a year of the first.

The temporary permit program is modeled after Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates told the council Tuesday night. Minimal amendments for the permanent ordinance are expected to be presented to the council, he said.

Local TV programming

In other business, the council will give six months written notice of its intent to pull the plug with a cable company so the city can begin creating its own local television programming.

The move comes after city officials in December outlined a $425,000 business plan for the first year of Surf City 3.

The council voted 4-3 Tuesday to give notice to the Public Cable Television Authority, which provides local programming for Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Stanton and Westminster.

Councilwoman Lyn Semeta and members Mike Posey and Jill Hardy dissented. Semeta requested that the council postpone the matter until its next meeting.

She said she wanted to honor a commitment to Fountain Valley Councilwoman Cheryl Brothers, who like Semeta is on the PCTA board, by holding off on the six-month notice because the PCTA was leaning toward buying a television truck and software with a price tag of about $325,000.

I cautioned the board, asking we continue that item or not make that purchase  because Huntington Beach would be withdrawing, Semeta said.

Surf City funds 67%  $755,615  of the PCTAs 2018-19 budget. The three other cities collectively contribute 33%, or $356,257.

Huntington Councilman Patrick Brenden said the notice is a formality required to give an intent to withdraw.

Its six months time to further consider the matter, Brenden said.

Commission to review charter

The council will begin preparing a 15-member commission to examine the city charter, which typically is done every 10 years.

Semeta, Hardy and Mayor Erik Peterson dissented in the councils 4-3 vote.

Posey, who proposed the review, contended it is a matter of tightening up and preserving Huntingtons authority as a charter city because it is under assault by Sacramento through actions such as the street vending law.

Opponents argued the charter doesnt appear to have any glaring issues. Gates added that the charter is as broad as it can be to maintain its power.

Too much detail can be harmful to our experts, Hardy said. Im just worried about trying to fix something that isnt broken.

Brenden, who served on the charter review commission in 2009, said issues may arise during the discussions that the council couldnt anticipate.

The 2009 review, the most recent, cost about $25,000, according to City Manager Fred Wilson.
Cubas relationship with China has been a focus of my work when I worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba for many years.

When I first came to China in 1999, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai was one of the few skyscrapers in the country. But as I revisited Shanghai in 2017, I saw a prosperous city, especially row upon row of marvelous skyscrapers in the Pudong New Area. I really admire Chinese peoples unremitting efforts to build a more prosperous and beautiful society.

I have visited many Chinese cities including Xian, Shenzhen and Chengdu, witnessing different natural and cultural landscapes in the country with a vast territory: the spicy Sichuan food, the magnificent terracotta warriors in Xian, people rowing across river ways in small towns in regions south of the Yangtze River, just to name a few.

I am delighted to see that traditional Chinese architecture and historical features are properly preserved, which fully reflects Chinese peoples respect for and protection of traditional culture.

China has made tremendous achievements during its reform and opening-up, lifting over 700 million people out of poverty. Cuba, as well as other developing countries, can learn from Chinas experience in this regard.

China has also made great efforts to protect the ecological environment in recent years. The conviction that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets should be affirmed. Thanks to those efforts, Chinas air quality continues to improve and pollution has been effectively controlled.

In 1960, Cuba took the lead among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to establish diplomatic relations with the Peoples Republic of China. In fact, exchanges between Cuba and China could date back even earlier when the first group of Chinese arrived in Cuba in June, 1847. More and more Chinese people came to Cuba in the 100-plus years since then.

With painstaking efforts, they have contributed significantly to social development and national independence of Cuba, becoming an indispensable part of the Cuban society. Each June, we organize activities to mark the arrival of the first group of Chinese people in Cuba.

Chinese culture also exerts imperceptible influence on Cuban culture. Today, Chinese food is loved by Cubans, and songs played by Chinese suona horn (a woodwind instrument) are often heard at carnivals in Santiago de Cuba.

Highly appreciating the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Cuba stands ready to constantly expand cooperation with China and carry out in-depth cooperation in infrastructure including network, communication and logistics under the framework of the BRI. In history, Cuba was once a part of the Maritime Silk Road.

The BRI advocates an approach of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, as well as the principle of mutual benefits and win-win results. Conducive to benefiting all participating countries, the initiative serves as a rare development opportunity for developing countries. We should firmly seize opportunities presented by Chinas development.

The author Miguel Angel Ramirez Ramos is the Cuban ambassador to China
With its holiday numbers starting to trickle in, the Hollywood Burbank Airport reported a 7.9% increase in passengers for November over the same month in 2017.

There were 479,719 passengers who traveled through Burbanks terminals that month, which was 34,919 more than the year before, said Nerissa Sugars, the airports manager of air service development, during a meeting of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Tuesday.

The passenger numbers in November topped the figures posted in October, when 464,607 passengers were reported at the local airfield.

Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier at Hollywood Burbank, had 356,672 passengers for the month, a hike of 23,031 passengers compared to the same month in 2017.

JetBlue Airways continues to see its numbers climb as 19,183 passengers flew with the carrier in November. Sugars said the rise was due to its new service to John F. Kennedy International Airport and Boston Logan International Airport.

Alaska Airlines reported 54,496 passengers, which was 5,940 more than the previous year.

Delta Airlines also had some growth, reporting 15,694 passengers, an increase of 4,083 because of an increase in available seats on its flights to Salt Lake City International Airport.

American Airlines had a flat outing in November as 10,770 passengers flew with the carrier, just 82 more than in 2017.

United Airlines saw a dip in its numbers, reporting 22,904 passengers, which was 9,295 fewer than the year before.

Looking at other airports in the region, November was a good month for Ontario International Airport, which reported 456,022 passengers, a jump of 45,915 over the year before.

Los Angeles International Airport reported 6,943,318 passengers for the month  157,345 more compared to the previous year.

Parking revenue is still on a steady incline, though not at the same pace as passengers, which authority commissioners had hoped would occur.

All parking lots and the valet service generated roughly $1.77 million, an increase of about $60,500 over the previous year.

However, the airport received an additional $305,568 from ride-sharing companies for pick-ups and drop-offs that month. It was a $68,793 hike compared to the same month in 2017.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
In a ceremony held at the Burbank Masonic Center last week local Masons gathered for the 110th time to support their 2019 leadership and honor those who served throughout 2018.

More than 250 friends and family members joined the Burbank Lodge 406 of Free and Accepted Masons as newly elected and appointed officers were installed.

Under the direction of the lodges installing team, the assemblage witnessed the elevation of Jesus Valdiviezo to serve as the organizations 2019 worshipful master, the highest honor to which a lodge may appoint one of its members and is filled annually by a secret-ballot election.

This years installation ceremony began with a welcome address by outgoing Worshipful Master Jhairo Echevarria, followed by the installation of the lodges 2019 officers including Valdiviezo, who proclaimed the theme of his term will be service through leadership.

Arriving at the Burbank Masonic Center to see their son elevated to the lodges highest title are Manuel and Grace Valdiviezo. (David Laurell / Burbank Leader)

In our lodge, as within every Masonic lodge, no matter what title we hold, we serve and we care, said Valdiviezo, who emotionally credited his father for inspiring him to become a Mason.

As his parents, Manuel and Grace, and his wife, Elizabeth, looked on, Valdiviezo recalled that, as a young boy, his father would tell him stories about the experiences he had with his brothers from the lodge.

He told me if I ever wanted to become a Mason, it would be up to me, and that if I did, the Masons would take care of me, Valdiviezo said.

Many things have changed in this world since I became a Mason, but one thing that has not changed is that Masons still take care of one another, our families and our communities. This year, our work  our service and caring  will continue to be resilient in a changing world, he added.

Elizabeth and Jesus Valdiviezo greeted the assemblage of Masons, family members, and friends following last weeks installation ceremony. (David Laurell / Burbank Leader)

Along with Valdiviezo, who also plans to focus on the lodges youth orders of DeMolay and Jobs Daughters during his term, other officers installed during last weeks ceremony were Senior Warden Gary Glass, Junior Warden Armen Khalafyan, treasurer Peter Babaian, secretary Ricardo Cervantes, chaplain Leon Adkins, marshal Luis G. Echevarria, senior deacon Nishan Matossian, junior deacon Martin Mihal, senior steward Andy Grim, junior steward James Castro and tiler Lee Broussard.

The installation ceremony also saw Michael Arnold, president and chief executive of the Midnight Mission, pay tribute to outgoing Master Echevarria for his dedicated support.

He was also lauded for his work in the Burbank community by Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy and Councilman Bob Frutos.

In 1909, a dispensation was granted by the California Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for a group of men who formed Masonic Lodge 406.

The lodge actually predates the city of Burbank, which was incorporated in 1911, and members held their inaugural meeting on July 1 of that year in their first home on South San Fernando Road.

The community service of outgoing Worshipful Master Jhairo Echevarria, center, was honored at last weeks ceremony by Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy and Councilman Bob Frutos. (David Laurell / Burbank Leader)

With initial membership applications received from five ranchers, five farmers, a doctor, a carpenter, a teamster, a butcher, a teacher, an oil driller and a railroad worker, the lodge continued to grow.

The organization moved to its second location on Olive Avenue in 1931 and its current location on Glenoaks Boulevard in 2000.

Today, with more than 200 members and more than a century of service to the community and charitable organizations, local Masons are currently supporting the causes of the national Masonic organization as well as local groups and organizations.

David Laurell may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.

DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.
President Trump is planning to deliver his annual State of the Union address next Tuesday as scheduled, aides say, despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosis request that he delay because of security concerns until a partial government shutdown is resolved.

Trump still wants to address a joint session of Congress, as presidents have done since the 1930s, yet Congress must vote to extend an official invitation  a symbolic nod to the Constitutions separation of powers.

Nonetheless, the White House sent a letter Tuesday to the House sergeant-at-arms to schedule a time for White House, Secret Service and military aides to do a walk-through in advance of the event, according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the presidents plans.

The White House is also considering a backup option for Trump to deliver the speech at another location, possibly outside of Washington, if Pelosi holds firm.

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She did not respond to reporters questions whether she might allow Trump to deliver the State of the Union address next week, nor did her office provide clarification.

This continuing battle of wills over the traditional speech to the nation reflects the increasingly acrimonious stalemate between the president and the newly-minted speaker over the $5.7 billion he wants for a southern border wall. The impasse has blocked funding a quarter of the government, forcing a partial shutdown that is now the longest ever, stretching into a second month with scant hope of a legislative solution this week.

The Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on a proposed compromise that Trump outlined Saturday, under which Democrats would agree to fund the wall installment in exchange for his support of a three-year extension of protections for roughly a million immigrants, including refugees and people who came to the country illegally as children.

Democrats have rejected that trade-off. A House-passed bill to fund the shuttered government agencies through Feb. 8 is also set for a Senate vote, but Republicans are expected to oppose it.

The Thursday votes would mark the first Senate action to end the shutdown since it began Dec. 22; the Republican majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has refused to bring up House-passed bills that would fund the government but not the wall.

Although neither measure is expected to pass, some view the agreement between McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to hold the votes as a sign of progress.

After Pelosis letter to Trump last week requesting that he either postpone the speech until after the shutdown or submit his remarks in written form, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen countered with a tweet declaring that her agency and the Secret Service were fully prepared to secure the Capitol during the speech.

The scheduled address posed a particular security concern because it would bring together in one place, the House chamber, not only the president, vice president and the House and Senate, but also the Supreme Court, military leaders and the diplomatic corps  at a time, if the shutdown continued, when much of the workforce is unpaid and furloughed.

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Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that there are so many options he is considering to deliver the address.

He compared Pelosis request that he postpone it to her breaking a contract, because she had tentatively invited him on Jan. 3  when the government was partly closed  to address Congress at the end of the month. At the time, however, few expected the impasse to last as long as it has.

Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech, there are so many options  including doing it as per your written offer (made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance, Trump tweeted on Sunday. While a contract is a contract, Ill get back to you soon!

A senior Pelosi aide, Drew Hammill, responded that her office never received a written acceptance.

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The Houses Republican minority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, chided Pelosi over the speech decision in remarks to reporters: You are speaker of the entire House. You are no longer the chair of the Democratic Party.

On Monday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said during an interview on Fox News that, while plans were still fluid, Nancy Pelosi does not dictate to the president when he will or will not have a conversation with the American people.

She can, however, if he seeks to speak in the House.

Times staff writer Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.

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The latest from Washington 
A national intelligence strategy released Tuesday warns that growing isolationism and efforts to weaken Western alliances pose long-term threats to U.S. security and are exacerbating challenges for American intelligence agencies.

The 36-page analysis marks the latest sign of discord between the nations spy services and President Trump. The intelligence community has repeatedly clashed with Trump in the past over the presidents pronouncements when theyve conflicted with the agencies conclusions.

The National Intelligence Strategy, which is intended to guide officials for the next four years, does not name Trump or directly criticize his America first policies or priorities.

But it warns that U.S. adversaries are seeking to take advantage of the weakening of the post-WWII international order and dominance of Western democratic ideals, increasingly isolationist tendencies in the West, and shifts in the global economy.

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Trump isnt solely responsible for those geopolitical and security shifts, but he has championed at least some of those disruptive trends.

He has clashed with traditional U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, showered praise on autocratic leaders in Russia and North Korea, downgraded human rights as a U.S. concern, and questioned the value of the NATO military alliance and other international institutions and accords.

The new strategy cautioned that Russia is one of several foreign powers poised to take advantage of the international instability.

Russian efforts to increase its influence and authority are likely to continue and may conflict with U.S. goals and priorities in multiple regions, the strategy said.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, in a speech to employees at a sprawling national security office complex in McLean, Va., said U.S. intelligence agencies must remain focused on seeking the truth.

And then when we find that truth, speaking the truth, he said.

Trump has publicly doubted or dismissed intelligence officials findings, most notably their conclusion that Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential campaign in an effort to boost his candidacy.

He has also persistently sought a closer relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite warnings that many of Putins goals dont align with U.S. interests.

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Senior officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, emphasized that their agencies are tasked with collecting information, not setting policy.

One official said that isolationism and populism were not unique to the Trump administration. Similar movements have taken root in parts of Europe and Latin America in recent years.

Its just the operating environment, the official said.

The officials said intelligence agencies would strive to be more transparent in coming years. They said pulling back the curtain  if only a little, since much of their work is classified  will increase the publics faith in agencies that have been buffeted by controversy and political drama.

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It feels like we need to add our voice to a dialogue thats going to happen anyway, one of the officials said.

Some of the dialogue is led by the president and his allies, who have been sharply critical of the intelligence community.

Shortly before taking office, Trump compared U.S. intelligence officials to Nazis and blamed them for the public release of a still-unproven dossier of allegations involving his alleged ties to Russia. The file of raw intelligence was prepared by a former British intelligence officer working on behalf of Hillary Clintons campaign.

Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to leak into the public. Are we living in Nazi Germany? Trump tweeted at the time.

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The relationship did not improve when Trump visited CIA headquarters the day after his inauguration.

Standing in front of the agencys memorial wall, where stars commemorate dozens of officers and operatives who died in the line of duty, Trump bragged about his appearances on the cover of Time magazine and insisted that the media had deliberately undercounted the crowd at his swearing-in.

Although Trump chose Coats, a former Republican senator from Indiana, as his director of national intelligence, the two have occasionally appeared out of step.

In July, Trump publicly sided with Putin at a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, when he was asked about U.S. intelligence agencies conclusion that Kremlin-backed operatives had stolen and leaked Democratic emails and spread disinformation during the 2016 campaign.

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He just said its not Russia, Trump said. I will say this, I dont see any reason why it would be.

In an unusual pushback, Coats publicly disputed the president.

We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security, he said at the time.

Days later, Coats was on stage at a national security gathering in Aspen, Colo., when he learned that the White House had invited Putin to Washington  a visit that still has not occurred.

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Say that again. Did I hear you? he said, clearly caught by surprise. OK. Thats going to be special.

Doubts about Coats relationship with Trump reached the point at which he felt compelled to deny that he or his number two, Sue Gordon, wrote an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times in September that was harshly critical of Trump.

Coats called the speculation patently false. He added, From the beginning of our tenure, we have insisted that the entire [intelligence community] remain focused on our mission to provide the president and policymakers with the best intelligence possible.

Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington 
When President Trump abruptly announced on Dec. 19 that he was pulling all U.S. troops out of Syria, he suggested they were already on the way home.

We have won against ISIS, the president said, referring to Islamic State. Our boys, our young women, our men  theyre all coming back, and theyre coming back now.

His now was premature. More than a month later, the 2,000 or so U.S. military personnel remain in eastern Syria and administration policy remains as much a muddle as ever.

American diplomats are still haggling with Turkey over the conditions under which U.S. troops will come out, and the Pentagon has announced no timeline for their removal.

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The holdup isnt merely logistical. Like it or not  and the president often sounds as if he doesnt  the United States still has significant interests in Syria.

Despite Trumps claim, Islamic State appears stubbornly alive, if not well. Its militants have launched two suicide attacks against U.S. troops in the last week, one of which killed four Americans.

Iran, which Trump considers a malevolent enemy, has moved thousands of forces into Syria and could try to grab territory abandoned by U.S. troops as it seeks to further its influence.

The latest war within a war, between Iran and Israel, has now escalated sharply. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his air force had struck Iranian-linked targets in Syria hundreds of times.

Trumps initial order to remove U.S. troops was impulsive at best, taking senior aides by surprise and without any evident support from the Pentagon or his national security team.

Indeed, his decision prompted Defense Secretary James N. Mattis to resign in protest due, in part, to concerns that Turkey would use the U.S. pullout to slaughter Kurdish fighters who have been stalwart American allies but oppose the regime in Ankara.

Theres no plan for whats coming next, Brett McGurk, the former U.S. diplomat who ran the coalition against Islamic State but also resigned early over the Syria decision, complained Sunday on CBS Face the Nation.

Aides have scrambled to persuade the president that an orderly withdrawal of 2,000 troops and their equipment will require more than 30 days, and they appear to have succeeded. By all reports, only a few vehicles have decamped.

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I never said we are doing it that quickly, Trump said on Jan. 6, or 18 days after he said they were coming back now.

But the president and his advisors still havent solved a more complex problem: finding a post-withdrawal strategy that protects U.S. interests. So far, administration officials merely say they will pursue the same goals by working through allies.

Its hard to see that as a blueprint for success.

In a recent speech in Cairo, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said U.S. forces would continue to fight Islamic State with U.S. and coalition airstrikes, but on the ground were looking for our partners to do more.

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U.S. officials long have pleaded with Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies to deploy a multinational force in Syria, to no avail. There is no capable ground force available.

Organizing a new military coalition takes American leadership and takes American presence  and weve just told the world that were not going to be present, McGurk said.

In his Cairo speech, Pompeo reaffirmed another ambitious goal, saying the administration intended to expel every last Iranian boot from Syria.

In Pompeos formulation, the Trump administration will push the Iranians out through diplomatic pressure and work with the United Nations  a body Trump has regularly scorned  to bring peace and stability to the long-suffering Syrian people.

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If President Obama had said that three years ago, then-Rep. Pompeo would have dismissed it as meaningless rhetoric.

Still, when it comes to Irans presence, the Trump administration has the next best thing to a strategy: the Israeli air force.

Netanyahu and Israeli military leaders decided more than a year ago that Irans forces posed a threat on their northern border, and they escalated airstrikes against Iranian military units there. Until then, Israeli warplanes had targeted Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia, but mostly avoided Iranian forces.

Now Israeli officials are publicizing their military offensive in a clear message to Tehran. Dont get the idea you can move in just because the Americans are moving out, a foreign policy expert in Jerusalem explained.

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Thats not quite expelling every Iranian boot, but its more concrete than what the White House has offered.

Lets be clear. Theres nothing inherently wrong with pulling U.S. troops out of Syria as long as its part of a well-crafted strategy. Obama reluctantly deployed troops in 2015 and planned to keep them in Syria only long enough to defeat Islamic State. On that count, Trump agreed.

The question bedeviling the Trump administration is how to continue pursuing American interests in Syria  the suppression of terrorism and the containment of Iran  after complying with the presidents order to leave.

Better to settle on more plausible goals and recognize that the United States will still be engaged in a long twilight war in Syria  even after our troops are gone.
President Trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohen, postponed his scheduled appearance on Capitol Hill, citing ongoing threats from Trump and spurring Democrats to suggest they might issue a subpoena to force his hotly anticipated testimony.

A subpoena would aggressively signal Democrats intention to investigate the president and his inner circle. It could also, however, put them at cross purposes with federal prosecutors, who have relied on Cohen as a witness and may want to restrict his public testimony.

Cohens announcement Wednesday came in a statement by his spokesman, Lanny Davis. It said Cohen, who has been at the center of criminal investigations involving the president, was withdrawing from a Feb. 7 hearing of the House Oversight Committee over threats from Trump and the presidents lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor.

This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first, Davis said.

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Davis also said Cohens lawyers urged a delay because of his continued cooperation with ongoing investigations. Cohen looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time, Davis added.

Trump brushed off the suggestion that he had threatened Cohen.

Hes only been threatened by the truth, he told reporters at the White House.

Since Cohens congressional appearance was announced this month, Trump and his allies have repeatedly insulted him as a liar and claimed he was covering up criminal activity by his father-in-law, Fima Shusterman, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine.

Giuliani said in a recent CNN appearance that Shusterman may have ties to organized crime and Cohen was afraid to testify against him. He did not offer evidence to back that accusation, and Shusterman has not been charged with any crime.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) said any kind of intimidation is unacceptable. Any kind of threats are unacceptable. We simply will not have it. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

Democrats accused the president of interfering with a congressional investigation.

Any kind of intimidation is unacceptable, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill. Any kind of threats are unacceptable. We simply will not have it.

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Cohen is scheduled to start his three-year prison sentence for various crimes, some involving Trump, on March 6. However, Cummings said his committee could have U.S. marshals bring Cohen to Congress for his testimony.

Cummings would not say whether Cohen would face a subpoena, but several Democrats said they would support one if necessary.

I do believe the president has created a climate of intimidation, said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), a member of the Oversight Committee. I dont think the president has directly threatened him, but I think he has enabled a very toxic climate that can affect people like Michael Cohen.

In addition to Democrats push for Cohen to testify publicly, the House Intelligence Committee also wants to interview him behind closed doors.

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Weve given Michael Cohen a date that wed like him to come in either voluntarily or, if necessary, by subpoena, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), the panels chairman, told CBS on Sunday.

Wednesdays controversy added another layer of drama to Cohens saga, which has seen him transform from one of Trumps most passionate defenders to one of his greatest threats. Hes said that blind loyalty to Trump led him down a dark path, and he appeared eager to share his story.

Time and time again I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds, Cohen said in court at his sentencing hearing in December, referring to Trump.

He has pleaded guilty to nine crimes, including campaign finance violations for arranging election-year hush-money payments to women who said they had affairs with Trump years ago. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who have been handling the case, said Trump ordered the illegal scheme.

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President Trump speaks to reporters at the White House on Wednesday. (Michael Reynolds / EPA-Shutterstock)

Cohen also admitted to lying to Congress about his pursuit of a Trump Tower Moscow project during the presidential campaign. He has been cooperating with the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

BuzzFeed News recently reported that Trump ordered Cohen to lie to Congress, an allegation denied by the presidents legal team. Muellers spokesman, Peter Carr, also released a rare statement saying the BuzzFeed report did not accurately reflect evidence collected by the special counsels office.

Its unlikely that lawmakers would have the chance to question Cohen about that allegation. Davis said Cohen did not want to answer questions about issues involving the Russia investigation, and Democrats have said they do not want to interfere with Muellers inquiry.

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Trump has repeatedly said that Cohen lied about him in hopes of getting a reduced sentence. More recently, in the aftermath of the announcement that his former aide would testify publicly, hes suggested that Cohens father-in-law should be investigated.

Watch father-in-law! he tweeted last week.

Trump told Fox News on Jan. 12 that Cohen was lying about him to get a reduced sentence.

But he should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because thats the one that people want to look at, he said.

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At the time, top Democrats issued a joint statement warning about the presidents comments.

Our nations laws prohibit efforts to discourage, intimidate or otherwise pressure a witness not to provide testimony to Congress, said Cummings, Schiff and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Giuliani said Trumps comments did not represent an attempt to obstruct a congressional investigation.

Its defending yourself, he said on CNN.

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Times staff writers Sarah D. Wire and Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.
To the editor: For decades, how the Department of Veterans Affairs uses its property in West L.A. has been politically charged. Influential interests  including UCLA, the Brentwood School and local politicians  all have had designs on the magnificent piece of property. Each of these powerful parties covers its self-serving motives with the proverbial fig leaf of some proposed benefit for veterans.

Local management at VA Greater Los Angeles (GLA) has neither the tools nor the support from the federal VA to manage the property and all of these competing interests. Yet, the VA expects the facility to generate revenue from the property to support its budget for healthcare services. The result has been mismanagement and lawsuits.

Housing thousands of homeless veterans on the property would meet a vital need, but it is unrealistic, expensive and unfunded. The emphasis on the property is a constant distraction from the provision of healthcare that is GLAs primary mission.

The VA and GLA need to get out of the land management business and should terminate or buy out all contracts with non-VA groups. The VA must also fund both healthcare and housing infrastructure to maintain GLA as the gem of the system.

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Michael E Mahler, MD, Los Angeles

The writer is a physician at the West L.A. VA. The views expressed here are the writers own.

..

To the editor: For nearly 75 years, UCLA has partnered with the VA to provide current and former members of our armed forces with state-of-the-art medical, psychological, family, legal, educational and recreational services.

In its first year, the UCLA/VA Veteran Family Wellness Center served more than 7,000 veterans and their families, offering expert counseling, resilience programming and referrals as appropriate. In the first 10 months since our UCLA Veterans Legal Clinic opened, UCLA law students, aided by faculty, helped more than 230 veterans with more than 300 legal matters.

We are also making substantial progress with VA leaders in the development of a third center that will address homelessness, substance abuse and mental health issues. Our annual commitment exceeds $1.65 million, including $300,000 annual fair-market rent for Jackie Robinson Stadium.

We remain committed to this partnership and, together with our VA partners, UCLA is changing lives by equipping our veterans and active military personnel with the resources and support they need to meet the variety of challenges they may face.

Gene D. Block, Los Angeles

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The writer is chancellor of UCLA.

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To the editor: There are more than just two tenants under fire at the West L.A. VA site. The dog park is operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

Regarding the public use of the dog park by nonveterans, I want to be clear that my dog, Fido (who did not serve), did get prior permission from his friend Rex, a military K-9.

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Charlie Andrews, North Hills

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: The shutdown is not about winning, losing or scoring points. When government shuts down, even partially, all of America is harmed. Government needs to be open, and negotiating complex issues during the shutdown is irresponsible.

First, end the shutdown.

Second, resolve the current budget impasse over a border wall with bipartisanship. Call it Smart Wall legislation.

Republicans and Democrats agree that border security is important. We need a set of bills to reunite children with their families; increase the number of judges and other administrative personnel to relieve the backlog of immigration cases; deploy technology to monitor the border; address the citizenship concerns of the Dreamers; fund programs for Central American nations to fix the problems causing people to flee  and repair and build a physical barrier where it makes sense.

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This is a complex issue that deserves effort and compromise by all lawmakers.

Leslie Ball, Santa Monica

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To the editor: A border wall is a symbol of failure. Its a desperate measure to be considered only when all other options have failed.

Are we there yet? Have we attempted to address the problems that cause people to want to leave their homes? What about our compassion (or lack thereof) for those whose circumstances are so dire that they would surrender everything to escape?

Have we considered possible places for immigrants to settle where their contributions are most needed? Have we thought over whether immigrants truly threaten our own well-being significantly enough to warrant taking billions of dollars from our budget to spend on a wall to keep them out?

Joan Riback, Altadena

..

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To the editor: The length of this government shutdown has become ridiculous.

I hope that Transportation Security Administration employees will announce soon that they plan on walking off the job if the shutdown does not end soon. That would halt commercial air travel in this country and seriously affect it around the world.

I strongly believe that the shutdown would end in less than an hour if this strike were announced.

Mike Reardon, Fallbrook

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To the editor: Columnist Virginia Heffernans attack on President Trumps moral turpitude didnt seem to pay much attention to the response by Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III to the BuzzFeed claims of Trumps attempt to coerce his formal personal attorney Michael Cohen into lying to Congress.

Muellers office, which never comments on anything, took the extraordinary step to shut down the speculation by stating the claims about evidence it has gathered were not accurate.

Even though Mueller is the darling of liberals, Heffernan proved tone deaf to the importance of the special counsels comments and continued in her usual attacks on Trump as if nothing had been said by Muellers office.

Robert Newman, West Hills

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..

To the editor: I agree with just about everything in Heffernans column. I would also offer an important reminder about the hypocritical behavior of many Christian Trump supporters who seem not the least disturbed by his moral turpitude.

Granted, moral turpitude is typically used as a legal concept that connotes conduct that shocks the public conscience. Where has Christian conscience been during the blatant moral abomination of his election campaign and presidency?

Many Christians presumably consider moral law as transcendent to secular law. Natural law, in particular, is often invoked to express the sovereignty of eternal moral principles. Based on the common sense of natural law as applied to all humanity, Trump would certainly be judged as unworthy of any role in public life.

Why do so many of Trumps Christian supporters give the president a free pass?

Joseph L. DeVitis, Rancho Mirage

..

To the editor: Heffernan has it exactly right: Trumps moral turpitude is going to bring him down. America can only hope that he does not bring our lovely country down with him.

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Fred Barker, Burbank

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As the brand-new governor of California, Jerry Brown in 1975 crafted the California Arts Council; he said the arts were central to life. In that first year, he turned over space in his office to about half a dozen arts shows. The Arts Council budget from the state general fund that year  $1 million. And for nearly 40 years, it stayed at a million dollars. As of this year, its $15 million from the general fund, and another onetime haul of $9 million.

This is also the year that Jodie Evans joins the council. Brown appointed her four days before he left office  and more than 40 years after she was right there when it all began. Shes an artist herself and an old friend and onetime campaign manager of Browns. She is also the co-founder of the womens activist group CodePink. Pink is a strong color in any artists palette, and an eye-popping one on the political rainbow.

Click here for the full archive of Patt Morrison Asks podcasts 

The California Arts Council  what does it do and what do you want to do with it?

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Well, the interesting thing about getting appointed to the California Arts Council was that I was one of the advocates for its founding in 1975, and [arts patron and a MOCA co-founder] Marcia Weisman was really pushing for it to happen; [she] totally believed in art for the public.

And I was at her home at the funeral for her son when I got the [governors] call that I was appointed.

So 44 years later its really kind of magical that I find myself in this position. A lot has happened and many amazing people have been on the California Arts Council up until now, and what it was about is the arts are essential to a healthy person, to a healthy community, and to a healthy world.

And Im an antiwar activist and my work is about peace. We look at the war economy that really is driving things, and you need a peace economy, and culture and art are core to that.

So Im very excited to be a part of it for that reason. Theyve done so much over the 44 years. Now I think theres a huge piece of the budget thats invested in prisons because its such a good way for people to heal, for finding empathy, for even finding their voice. Thats why its so important in schools. Its just a crime that it was ever defunded in schools.

So a lot of the funding is for programs for schools and programs for community. Another awesome thing about the arts is they bring people together. Theyre kind of a class bridge, and really helping us see ourselves in each other and humanizing us.

Where does the money come from?

In the California budget, a certain, very small percentage goes to arts. Gavin [Newsom] in his new budget has $10 million more to add to it. He sees the value of art.

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Now California is pretty low as far as what the state invests in the arts. I think at one point it was almost 50th per capita. I would really love in my tenure to help raise the budget much more. Theres so much to be done ... in how we make our communities healthier and how we can invest in more community art.

Some cities I think have bigger [arts] budgets than the state of California, like San Francisco and San Jose.  Youre talking billions of dollars created for the state from the creatives and youre not funding it enough. Matter of fact, I think the No. 1 thing that corporations look for now in employees is creativity.

How does the Arts Council define art? What qualifies as art and how does it decide how to spend its money?

The arts are very broadly defined, and the decision is around a vision. The council comes together and says, oh, heres an area thats underfunded, or heres some healing that could happen in the community if we fund this.

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One of the things is that the funding be in diverse communities that dont get funding. Its not like you want the money to go to LACMA, because its going to get money from people of wealth. You want it to go into places where money isnt flowing, especially arts around poverty. In neighborhoods where you have more art programs, it affects poverty, it affects health, it affects kids graduating from high school. So its finding where that infusion and that investment could help the health of the whole state of California.

In 1975 when this arts council was begun, there was still arts funding in the schools, there were still arts programs in the schools. Now, with the disappearance of money, theres the disappearance of art programs as well. What are the consequences of that?

People did say what was going to happen when you took the funding away from arts and schools. But I dont think enough people experienced how bad it would be without the arts in schools. If you havent been nourishing a whole spectrum of arts, then youve got a ways to go. It takes a while to rebuild. It just needs to be nurtured.

The comeback to that is, well, look, there are museums; kids can create art and see art on their phones, on their iPads. So why do you need programs?

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Theyre how we learn that were human, and what human is, and how we express ourselves. And thats what the programs are in these communities; with the arts, you can find your way to your own voice. You can discover even who you are

I was just with Frank Gehry at breakfast and he was talking about a program that actually came out of the Arts Council. He now has 40 schools that theyre funding art projects in. And David Hockney had gone up about a year ago to help a school where 60% of the students are homeless.

And David Hockney comes in with them, and what that experience is, to be a kid be taught by David Hockney, and then what they produce is so amazing.

He told me that David Hockney has since gone up and taken those students to his opera that was in San Francisco. He drove them to the opera and then afterward had them stand on the stage.

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I see what happens at [the nonprofit student writing project] 826LA, when these young students come in. The only students we serve are those that qualify for school lunch. You have students that dont have a parent at home because theyre working three jobs. A parent doesnt speak English, doesnt know how to help them with their homework, and we help with homework and then writing.

I know that we serve the student, the school, the teacher, the parent, the community. Youre not just serving a student, youre serving their future.

You were appointed by Jerry Brown to this council. You and Jerry go way back. I dont think of him as an artsy guy; I think of him as cerebral but not aesthetic. Where am I wrong?

Oh, I would disagree. Hes very aesthetic. He was just showing me a picture of the table that hes had ever since 1972 that is going to be at the [Brown family] ranch. I know a beautiful furniture designer that designed the table that was in the governors office where he had meetings. It was elegant and beautiful and [Brown] picked the woods. He definitely has an aesthetic.

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What is your artistic background? I know your late husband was a great collector.

Well Im actually an artist. I came to California to get a degree in design. I come from eight generations of potters. I also play the harp, and I make documentary films  The Most Dangerous Man in America, about Daniel Ellsberg, and The Square. That happened because I was watching everything that was happening in Iraq and I was like, we need a whistle-blower. Somebody has got to tell the truth about whats happening here. We need to tell this through the whistle-blowers, so therell be more whistle-blowers.

And then Dan went to Russia and he met Ed Snowden. And Ed grabbed Dan by the shoulders and he said, When I saw The Most Dangerous Man in America, I had the courage to do what I did.

Talk about the relationship between artistic institutions, like LACMA or the Broad, versus the kind of demotic art youre talking about  art that doesnt have walls, thats something you do at home or something you do at school or in the street.

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I have to be careful here because institutions are created to benefit the elite and thats a problem. And its about capitalism and greed and investment and assets. Yes, theres amazing art on those walls, and yes, its awesome that some of them are open to the public and you can see that.

But theyre also problematic in the sense that it creates a market, it creates greed, it lets few people determine what art is and leaves others out.

Whats great about the California Arts Council was the intention was that art would be broad and it would be diverse, and it would be available to many audiences.

That was really why Marcia was fighting so hard for it. Marcia Weisman was Norton Simons sister, and she wanted to break down the walls of the museums and wanted art to be something that was available to everyone both in the creation and in the end experience.

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I came here to go to art school and the first thing you did was go to LACMA; it looked very different then. I would say museums have been forced to change over that 44 years and become more available to the public, and free, and to have programs.

Youre wearing your CodePink for Peace button. Youre wearing your no human being is illegal earrings. You co-founded Code Pink with Medea Benjamin. Where does its work stand?

We started because [president George W. Bush] was frightening the American people into war with code red and code orange and code yellow. So we called it CodePink for Peace.

At CodePink we have both the work of growing a local peace economy, for people to really start to understand how much we all live inside of this war machine and how much it affects our lives, and then to divest from war.

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Cities, states, counties, your pension plan, churches, universities  people are all invested in war, which I say means youre making a killing on killing.

The pope has come out very strong against the investment in weapons, but were not going to stop these wars unless we get to the root causes of whats happening.

CodePink has also been very visible and canny about putting over its message in places like the White House and an NRA event. Do you think those events work? How do they play in the public mind?

[As an example, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice was going to Congress. and shes going to sell you war again. And there we are, with red hands, and one of the librarians, part of CodePink, put her hands around Condis face and said, You have the blood of Iraqi children on your face. And that picture went around the world.

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I would say another one was when Cindy Sheehan, whose son had been killed in Iraq, was at the Vets for Peace conference in Dallas. I said, Why dont you go on down and knock on George Bushs door and say, What noble cause did my son die for? 

And she did, and for a month we were outside George Bushs ranch saying, What noble cause? Many mothers came -- mothers and fathers -- who had lost their children in Iraq. And nobody would open the door.

For some people, what we do is uncomfortable because we are telling the truth in a sea of lies. And for some people thats really hard. We try to be creative and disarming when we do it because were peace activists. We dont want to create any kind of pressure. If youre just screaming, you create more resistance, but we try to be clever with our messages so that people laugh at them but also get the message at the same time.

Can you eventually can you hang up the pink? Whats your idea of winning?

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My idea of winning is lowering the budget that we spend on war by about 80% and by investing in peace, which includes the arts, investing in those things that connect us, that remind us that were human, and were not going to get through things unless were connected.

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MORE PATT MORRISON ASKS

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Guess what? The rich really are different from everyone else  and it aint pretty

Have tech companies like Facebook tricked us into abandoning our humanity?

Ken Burns on making his Vietnam War documentary: I was humiliated by what I didnt know
The Songcheng Park in Hangzhou (Photo/Xinhua)

Domestic Chinese tourism brands are on the rise thanks to improvements in service quality and innovative marketing ideas, said a recent big data report on Chinas tourism, jointly issued by online tourism service provider Mafengwo and China Tourism Academy.

These brands have built a batch of popular tourism products especially favored by the younger generations, the report noted.

Theme parks were a primary battlefield of the Chinese tourism market in 2018. Statistics showed that Chimelong Safari Park in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou was the most popular theme park in China last year, welcoming even more visitors than the Shanghai Disney Resort.

In recent years, the Chimelong Safari Park attracted many young tourists by participating in TV reality shows and holding music festivals, gradually building a brand of its own.

Additionally, cultural theme parks, such as the Tang Paradise in Xian and the Songcheng Park in Hangzhou, also saw a rising number of visitors. They were respectively ranked the third and fourth most popular theme parks in China last year.

Apart from theme parks, other sub-sectors of the tourism industry have also created competitive brands, the hospitality industry being one of them.

According to a report issued last April, local Chinese hotel brands accelerated their development. They are now adept in internet marketing and understand the demand of Chinese consumers.

The rise of domestic tourism brands reflects the industrys transition from a traditional to modern development mode, said Feng Rao, head of Mafengwo's research department.

2018 marked the first year for Chinas combination of culture and tourism, and the tourism market will continue to release potential and witness the emergence of more innovative tourism brands offering quality and personalized products this year, Feng added.
Its a confusing time to be a charter school teacher in Los Angeles.

Usually, I consider myself to have everything in common with my husband and friends who teach in the Los Angeles Unified School District. We put in the same long hours, confront the same piles of ungraded papers and share similar worries and hopes for our students.

But the teachers strike that ended Tuesday exposed a long-simmering rift between charter and district schools, and it made me confront my own role in the problems we face in Los Angeles education.

The teachers and their union made clear during the negotiations that they believe schools like mine pose an existential crisis to schools like theirs. More than 100,000 children living within district boundaries now attend charters, and the money the state provides for their education has followed them out of LAUSD schools. Moreover, the teachers pointed out, charters tend to pick off the students with more involved parents, leaving public schools with a higher percentage of tougher cases and less funding and space.

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I think the striking teachers raised valid concerns  including about charters. But we need to figure out how to address the issues as allies, not enemies.

We need to figure out how to address the issues as allies, not enemies.

I love my school, my colleagues and my students fiercely, and Im proud of what weve built. We have been able to reimagine our curriculum to support our many immigrant students. We have instituted co-teaching partnerships that we think better serve our students with special needs. We have implemented restorative justice and focused on teacher and student wellness.

Its hard to think of any of that as a problem or that my school should be dismantled. The community we have is worth protecting.

Early charter schools in Los Angeles were approved at a time when the district was bursting at the seams, and the new schools served as a pressure valve for a struggling, overcrowded district. Thats no longer the case, however. The number of K-12 students in the area LAUSD serves is declining as families are priced out of the city, yet new charters are still being approved, as mandated by state law.

I believe in my charter school, but I dont believe that the charter industrys mission to increase its share of the educational marketplace in Los Angeles can solve the problems we all face educating children. In fact, the strike has made me consider how charter school expansion is harming the city. As more money is invested in new ideas and new campuses, fewer resources and students are left for the many great programs still trying to gain their footing in our current district and charter schools.

One thing to come out of the strike negotiations was that the school board will vote on a resolution asking the state to establish a charter school cap and the governor to appoint a committee on charter schools. Those things would be a start, and every school board member should strongly support them.

Everyone loses when district and charter schools wage an ugly competition for students and dollars. Already, schools have found that losing a few students or missing enrollment targets can mean no volleyball team, or the loss of a teacher. Those losses in turn encourage flight from a school.

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At the root of charter expansion is the belief that the right group of people working together, without being shackled by the district, can fix education. But that so misidentifies the problem.

The real problem is ever-shrinking resources being thrown at kids with ever-growing needs, and thats a problem facing every teacher in Los Angeles. Many students, whether they attend charters or district schools, are living with poverty, instability and trauma. We cant hope to offer such students what they need and deserve when we are stuck in a fight over too-scarce resources.

Our schools, charter or district, wont thrive until we collaborate on changing that.

We are a long way from a system in which we are deeply invested in the success of every school and every student in L.A., but we must make that the mission. We must find a way to stabilize school enrollment, fairly distribute resources and high-need students, and ensure that the charter and district schools currently serving our students get the funding and support needed to offer every single student a safe, caring and inspiring learning environment. These goals should be Los Angeles and Sacramentos top priorities.

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Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

Charters face many of the same challenges the district does, and collaboration can better us all. The district and the charters within its boundaries alike need to be more democratic, giving power to parents, teachers and other stakeholders. They need to be far more transparent. And more charter teachers should seriously consider unionizing.

No one would argue that L.A. schools are perfect, and affluent parents across the city have voted with their feet, fleeing the district for private schools or helping to form new charters. Everyone understands the desire to do right by our children. But I would urge Angelenos considering their education options to hold this thought: The schools you judge not good enough for your children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews arent good enough for any child.

Riley McDonald Vaca is a teacher at Camino Nuevo High School and an LAUSD parent. Her views do not represent those of her schools management.
This year will mark the centennial of Grand Canyon National Park.

Although its hard to believe now, the Grand Canyons status as a national park wasnt a given. Indiana Sen. Benjamin Harrison introduced legislation to turn it into a public park in 1882, 1883 and 1886, but the bills failed to pass.

Momentum picked up in 1916 with the creation of the National Park Service, whose express purpose, according to the Organic Act, was to create and protect national parks and monuments  to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein, that they would remain unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

Grand Canyon National Park has delivered on that promise. Hundreds of millions of people have visited the park since its opening, including more than 6 million visitors in 2017 alone.

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To survive, many of the Grand Canyons native species will need to move north.

But keeping that promise over the next century may prove a more difficult fight. The wild species of the Grand Canyon region  and those that inhabit all our national parks  are struggling to adapt to climate change.

To survive, many of the Grand Canyons native species will need to move north. Bighorn sheep, for instance, are especially sensitive to climate. The spruce and fir that blanket the canyons higher, chillier North Rim are also vulnerable to heat and drought.

In order to successfully relocate, both animal and plant species will need to cross national forests, wildlife refuges, monuments and wilderness areas. These spaces will need to serve as physical bridges, according to the ecologist Carlos Carroll, whose research forecasts the future effects of climate change.

We can no longer hope to manage national parks in isolation from each other, Carroll told me recently. Rather, our millions of acres of public land will need to serve as holdout habitat.

But our vast public lands can do this only if they are maintained as natural spaces, and the mining and fossil-fuel industries are waging a relentless campaign to ensure that they are not. Corporations in league with the American Legislative Exchange Council, for example, are seeking to break up our natural public landscapes and convert them for industrial uses.

These firms invest handsomely in political campaigns. They have eager allies in Washington. And sadly, they are winning.

Under the Trump administration, a number of previously protected monuments have been opened to mining, logging and fossil-fuel development. In a single day in 2017, President Trump executed the largest rollback of federal land protection in the countrys history when he reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by about 50%.

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Many of these projects were overseen by the ethically challenged former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. When Zinke assumed office in early 2017, he had been the recipient of more than $350,000 from gas and oil interests for his one congressional campaign. By the time he resigned in December 2018, Zinke had overseen the rollback of federal land protection and tripled oil and gas leases on federal lands.

The disposal of federal lands is baked into the Republican Partys official platform. In 2016, the GOP called on Congress to immediately pass universal legislation providing for a timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to states.

According to one recent report, the forests, wetlands, deserts and grasslands of the Western United States are currently giving way to development at the rate of one Los Angeles-size footprint every year.

For animal and plant species adapting to climate change, the protection and linking of federal land will make all the difference. Research conducted by the biologist William Newmark and his colleagues suggests that even modest connectivity among public lands could have a significant effect.

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Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

We can dramatically reduce current rates of extinction, Newmark told me recently. If we really want to conserve species in the future, we have to think seriously about linking the parks.

An advocacy group called the Wildlands Network is calling for the protection of a corridor that links the Grand Canyon, the Kaibab National Forest, Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the Bryce Canyon National Park region. There are similar opportunities in the Eastern United States.

Its the good fortune of the United States that a third of our landscape belongs to the public. We can choose to plan for climate change by guarding our irreplaceable natural landscapes and their wild inhabitants.

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It is our ill fortune that private interests are, for now, extending their reach. If we dont reverse this trend, the legacy of our national parks will be at risk, at the Grand Canyon and everywhere else.

Stephen Nash is a visiting senior research scholar at the University of Richmond. He is the author of Grand Canyon for Sale: Public Lands Versus Private Interests in the Era of Climate Change.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook.
In case you havent noticed, stem cell clinics are popping up everywhere. There are hundreds across the country, especially in California. The clinics peddle vegan stem cell facials or stem cell vaginal rejuvenations and claim the miracle cells can treat autism, baldness, dementia, diabetes, arthritis and paralysis all with a quick injection.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is.



For the record: Californians passed Proposition 71 in 2004, not 2014.

There is no good scientific evidence the pricey treatments work, and there is growing evidence that some are dangerous, causing blindness, tumors and paralysis. Medical associations, the federal government and even Consumer Reports have all issued stern warnings to patients about the clinics.

So why do patients keep streaming in for treatments that cost thousands of dollars? Part of the reason, I suspect, is that stem cell research  the serious, scientific kind  has gotten so much hype in recent years. Weve all heard about how some stem cells have the power to become any type of cell in the body and might one day offer cures for all manner of crippling and degenerative diseases. If you can jump the line, and get those treatments now, why not do it?

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California is the state with the most stem cell clinics in the country offering these unproven cures.

Heres why: Because the days of miraculous cures, if they come, are far in the future. Today, there is only one federally approved stem cell product: the limited use of blood-forming stem cells to treat certain blood disorders. Scientists are just beginning to learn how to harness the power of stem cells, and the harsh reality is that clinical trials that could turn that knowledge into effective therapies will take years, if not decades.

Entrepreneurial physicians surely know this, but it hasnt stopped them from piggybacking on the hype and excitement, injecting stem cells they pull from patients own abdominal fat or blood, into joints, bloodstreams, spinal cords and brains with abandon and often charging thousands of dollars per treatment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has so far moved cautiously, in part because the cells fall into a regulatory gray zone. Biologic materials like organs, tissue and blood are regulated to ensure that material that is processed or moves from one person to another wont cause infection or other problems.

But clinic operators say normal rules dont apply to them since most of their treatments are barely processed and use a patients own cells. They argue that patients have the right to use their cells and cite anecdotal evidence that the treatments work. Some clinic operators say they believe in the treatments so strongly, they routinely inject themselves.

The regulatory void leaves patients vulnerable to outright fraud. Patients often have no way of knowing whether a syringe even holds live stem cells. In some cases where stem cell products have been inspected, they have been found to contain only dead stem cells, or things you wouldnt want to be injected with, like the traces of fecal bacteria that recently left a dozen patients hospitalized.

And even if live stem cells are injected into the body or bloodstream, there is absolutely no evidence theyll migrate where they need to go and start repairing damaged organs and tissues. They are cells, not magic. And they can be hard to keep alive in ideal laboratory conditions. Injected into a patient and out of biological context, they probably just die.

California is in an odd position. It is the state with the most stem cell clinics in the country offering these unproven cures. It also happens to be a world center of serious scientific stem cell research, thanks to a $3-billion ballot initiative, Proposition 71, passed by voters in 2014 to fund research.

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In the absence of clear federal regulation, the state has tried to step in to combat rogue clinics  but not with the kind of muscle it so famously used with car emissions. While California was the first state to pass a law requiring stem cell clinics to post a notice that their therapies are not FDA approved, the law is weak. And its not clear whether it is being enforced or whether the notices sway patients.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

The California Medical Board, which has the power to revoke the licenses of physicians, is currently eyeing the issue of stem cell clinics with a task force and may take action. But the situation also demands broad action from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has moved inexplicably slowly and dodged the issue for years.

There may finally be a glimmer of hope, however. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has earned kudos for taking a stronger public stance on stem cell clinics than any of his predecessors. Hes taken action against a few of the most unsafe clinics and has issued a sternly written public warning to consumers. The FDA is also now in court seeking a permanent injunction against two clinic groups. The agency has promised to regulate the clinics more strictly by the end of 2020. But thats far too much time to let unproven stem cell clinics stay in business.

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Heres an idea in the meantime. The many scientists who have benefited from taxpayer support of stem cell research in the state should start speaking out. After all, the hype from proponents of Prop. 71 is part of what created such high expectations for quick cures  and eagerness on the part of patients to get them. Scientists should now take every opportunity both to explain to the public the long-term goals of their research and the absurdity of the so-called cures now flooding the market.

Usha Lee McFarling was a science writer at the Los Angeles Times from 2000 to 2006. She won a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journalism in 2007.
For anyone familiar with driving in Miami, gridlock on the Brickell Avenue Bridge is not unusual. Stretching across the Miami River, the drawbridge is a primary roadway connecting the citys congested downtown and its bustling financial center. But on Monday, traffic on the bridge and other nearby roadways came to a standstill rather unexpectedly.

A large group of young black protesters on bicycles, many carrying colorful homemade signs, swarmed the street, blocking cars as they demonstrated for fair housing. Frustrated motorists could be seen on video honking as they tried, unsuccessfully, to inch past the strong-willed protesters and their bikes.

It didnt take long for the peaceful demonstration to turn into an ugly confrontation involving a gun and repeated use of a racial slur that has since sparked widespread backlash and resulted in the arrest of a man who could now face hate-crime charges, Miami officials announced Tuesday.

Mark Allen Bartlett, 51, was arrested Monday and charged with carrying a concealed firearm, a felony, according to court records. But in a statement Tuesday, Miami-Dade State Atty. Katherine Fernandez Rundle said she was outraged at the reported acts depicted in the videos taken during this incident, adding that she had assigned the hate crimes unit chief to immediately investigate and handle this case.

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I am committed to filing the appropriate charges and to vigorously prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law, Rundle said.

Bartlett could not be reached for comment early Wednesday morning and court records did not list an attorney.

In an interview with WPLG, Bartlett said he had been trying to protect his girlfriend, Dana Scalione, and defended his use of the racial slur.

The reason why we use that word, the reason why Chinese people use the word, why Japanese people, European people, the reason why everybody uses that word is because black people use that word, he said.

He went on to describe racial slurs for Puerto Ricans, Jews and Asians before saying: Nobody uses those words anymore. Why? Because Puerto Ricans dont say that to each other. Because Asian people dont say that to each other. Because the Jewish people dont say that to each other. The only ones that continue to say it are black people. So whats the first thing in my head or most peoples heads? Unfortunately, its the n-word.

Now-viral footage of the heated exchanges shared online Monday by Dream Defenders, a Florida civil rights group that organized the protest, showed a white man, identified as Bartlett, hurling obscenities at several black teens and using the slur as he approached them brandishing a black handgun.

These kids were protesting and a gun was pulled out on a kid, Dwight Wells, a member of Dream Defenders, said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

The intense clash appeared to begin when an irate Scalione engaged the protesters, many of whom were young black men, and started yelling at them. The demonstration in Miamis Brickell neighborhood coincided with a larger annual movement that has occurred across South Florida over the last several years. The Wheels Up, Guns Down events, which take place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, are meant to promote peace, but have generated controversy and usually ended in a number of arrests over illegal ATV and dirt bike riding.

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Who do you think you are, blocking the streets? Scalione said in the video as car horns blared in the background. The teens could be seen circling Scalione on their bikes and arguing with her.

Youll end up in jail, she said, sarcastically clapping her hands. Good job.

After one protester asked Scalione to leave them alone, she began pleading with them to move their bikes.

I have kids I need to pick up, please sir, she said to a protester who had parked himself in front of a line of cars. I have kids I need to pick up and we need to get them.

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She added: This isnt funny.

The situation escalated when Scalione got out of her car for a second time, according to Dream Defenders.

In a video shared Monday on Twitter, Scalione is surrounded by at least four teens and is visibly enraged.

I said dont touch me, she yelled. A person can be heard responding, I didnt touch you.

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Pushing one of the young men away from her, she screamed: You just ran over me. You just ran over my foot with your tire.

More cyclists joined the melee as Scalione engaged in a shouting match with a protester in a red tank top, their faces just inches apart.

You just touched me, you bunch of thugs, she said, turning to walk away from the group, which shouted expletives at her, calling her an offensive word for females and a white ....

In the background of the video, a man, identified by police as Bartlett, wearing blue jeans and a pink T-shirt, could be seen jogging toward Scalione.

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Whoah, one of the teens yelled. Others hurriedly jumped on their bikes and began pedaling away.

Gripped in the mans right hand was what appeared to be a black handgun.

Who did it? he asked.

Scalione pointed at the teen in the red tank top.

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Marching up to him, Bartlett unleashed a load of expletives in the video, telling the teen to Get ... out of here before directing more curse words and a racial epithet at the group.

Yall going to make the news, the person recording the video taunted. Thats fine, Scalione shot back.

Bartlett told WPLG that all he saw was 15 people running across the street toward my girlfriend, later adding that his only regret was not having a concealed carry permit.

My first reaction is I have a gun on me, he said. Whether I have a gun on me or not, Im running to see and to protect my family. I had a gun though. It wasnt loaded. I ran out there. You can see I never pointed it. I never threatened anybody. I just needed it in case something were to happen.

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According to an arrest affidavit, when police stopped Bartlett after the confrontation and conducted a search of his Range Rover, they found a loaded black Springfield Armory pistol without a holster in the back pouch of the front passenger seat.

Bartlett told police that he did not have a concealed carry permit, but once in custody seemed shocked by the arrest, the affidavit said.

Why am I being arrested, when those kids are free to ride around? he asked. I did pull out my gun but I never pointed it at them.

Mondays incident had many slamming Bartlett and Scalione as racists. People also reported seeing several different trucks driving around Miami on Tuesday with LED screens bearing Bartletts photo and the words, Mark Allen Bartlett points guns at kids and referencing his use of the slur.

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Others, however, argued that that the young protesters were also at fault. Beyond slinging insults at Scalione, video published by CBS Miami showed the teens blocking major intersections and captured one young man appearing to urinate off the side of the bridge.

During Tuesdays news conference, Wells, of Dream Defenders, defended the protesters, saying they were provoked and called on Bartlett to face harsher charges, accusing him of racial profiling and assault with a firearm. On Twitter, the group criticized the concealed carry charge as a slap on the wrist.

Deante Joseph, one of the teens involved in the conflict, told reporters that the protesters just held up signs, adding that it was Bartlett who instigated contact.

He told me, Come, come, come to the car, the 18-year-old said. I was about to come, but as I seen him pulling out the gun, I turned around, started walking back toward the crowd.

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In a statement Tuesday, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt announced that the protesters had hired him to represent them in a federal lawsuit against Bartlett and Scalione. Merritt shared a number of scathing posts about the pair on his social media accounts, describing Bartlett as a menace.

Several of these children have not slept since this incident, Angel Settle, a client liaison for Merritt, said at the news conference. Theyre very disturbed with this incident and ultimately its very clear that this was racially charged, racially motivated.

Allyson Chiu writes for the Washington Post.
Shannon Smith knew this would be unlike any home hed ever sold.

Prospective buyers peppered him with questions: Did anyone get murdered here? Are there diamonds and cash hidden in the walls? Are there bodies buried in the yard?

I dont know. Buy the house and see, hed tell them. Get some metal detectors. Knock down the walls.

Smith, a 39-year-old real estate agent and broker, said theyd nod and shake their heads. Theyd walk through the homes floor plan and look up at the mirrored ceiling in the front room. Theyd note the smoked mirrors in the master bedroom and along a wall by the front door. A small panel in a closet bore closer inspection.

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The house mightve been a terrestrial 2,392 square feet, but the space for imagination was limitless. Cocktails in ice-filled glasses. Hushed conversations about hits and heists. Money and power cloaked in pressed suits.

The sunken living room in the former home of Las Vegas mobster Tony The Ant Spilotro. (K.M. Cannon / Associated Press)

It once belonged to the late Tony The Ant Spilotro  an infamous mobster who reputedly oversaw the Chicago Mafias considerable interests in Las Vegas and was portrayed as Nicky Santoro in Martin Scorseses film, Casino. The house has changed hands a few times since Spilotro first owned it in the 1970s, but like most mob-related things, memories run long and nobody really ever forgets.

The last owner, Ethel Guntharp, said she knew of Spilotros past but didnt really care much about it. For her, it was just a home  even if sometimes she noticed the occasional car driving by to check it out. She didnt want to say much more.

I knew who he was, she said. And I knew that would draw interest.

Smith said the house was on the market for a week and sold on Saturday  with escrow likely to close next month. There were about 30 showings for the property, he estimated.

Yes, he said, most were serious buyers who didnt blink at the $419,000 asking price. No, buyers were not required to pay for it with suitcases full of cash. Yes, the new owners wished to not be identified. No, the buyers werent in the witness protection program.

But they did check out the house one last time Saturday afternoon before signing some paperwork.

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The interior had been decked out with a pool table between the kitchen and the dining room. An orange couch and a large flat-screen television dominated the living room. In the corner, a bar with smoked glass tops fed the image of a bygone era of mobster rule in Sin City.

From the archive: With a tour of gangster sights and a proposed wiseguy museum, Las Vegas starts to embrace its roots. You got a problem with that? 

Michael Green, associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said he used to live near Spilotro when the house was first built in 1974. He said the running joke was that it was the safest neighborhood in Vegas because Spilotro was under constant surveillance by the FBI and local police.

When he moved in, it was a newer and more elite neighborhood, Green said. Its in the heart of Paradise township and they were the nice homes. Today, the cachet of nice homes would be in Summerlin and Green Valley, and I suspect he would live in one of those neighborhoods.

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During Spilotros heyday in Las Vegas, Green said, he was the first real high-profile street mobster, as opposed to those operating casinos.

And according to the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, he achieved a lot of notoriety between the mid-1970s and early 1980s as a gangster who protected the skim on casino cash profits for mob bosses in the Midwest. But he also was embarking on side gigs that involved numerous robberies at the hands of his Hole in the Wall Gang. In 1976, he opened a pawn shop to keep the acquired stolen property.

Green said local media covered his multiple arrests regularly  though he didnt think Spilotro cared if he was famous or not for them.

Spilotro regularly beat charges leveled against him and was represented by Oscar Goodman, the lawyer who later became mayor of Las Vegas. At the time of his death, he was set to face charges that hed run a burglary, extortion and arson ring and had been awaiting trial on charges that he violated the civil rights of a government informant by having him killed.

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Two Indiana state troopers kneel at the edge of a grave where the bodies of mobsters Tony and Michael Spilotro were found in 1986. (Fred Jewell / Associated Press)

Spilotro had been implicated in numerous killings, and was charged with murder three times. But his sole conviction came from using false information on a loan application  a crime that resulted in a fine of $1.

A lot has changed since then. Spilotro was eventually killed and was found buried along with his brother in an Indiana cornfield in 1986. Today, the ghosts of organized crime are mostly contained within the Mob Museum downtown. Goodman sometimes tells stories at his steakhouse of the old days of gangsters running the town. And the Plaza Hotel and Casino launched a musical revue called A Mob Story that features dancing and some comedic touches.

Spilotros neighborhood is a little more worn now, having weathered decades of booms and busts. Since he lived there, the neighborhood has been absorbed by development that has helped Clark County grow to 2.2 million people. It wasnt even 500,000 in 1980, according to the census.

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Homes on the street still vary in flamboyant colors and styles, including powder blue and mint green. The Spilotro home featured a salmon-tinged stucco exterior  with white trim. The red-tile roof was faded to a near-white as well.

Smith said very few things are original in the home now. A couple of doors. The smoked mirrors, of course. The pool  though it had been upgraded with a new bottom  was original. The backyard was spacious, with a lot of open area covered by rock and dotted with cactus and palm trees. Decking and a patio set were placed near a barbecue. A park bench rested on some green turf  a backyard set up for entertaining.

The former home of Las Vegas mobster Tony The Ant Spilotro features a backyard swimming pool. The house is modest, but its reputation is expansive. (K.M. Cannon / Associated Press)

Did Spilotro entertain in the backyard? Possibly, Smith said. The new buyers, who had checked out most of the house, discovered an outdoor closet that looked like it would house pool supplies or toys. Smith stood with them as they opened it up slowly.

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Inside, it yielded the mundane trappings of a normal, middle-class life: a few yard supplies, some trash bags and a couple of tools. No guns. No bullets. No claw hammers.

And no  not even a vise grip.
As masses of Venezuelans turned out to protest their government, the Trump administration took the unusual and provocative step Wednesday of recognizing the leader of Venezuelas political opposition as the countrys legitimate president.

In Caracas, the leader, a young and charismatic engineer named Juan Guaido, declared he was assuming the mantle of acting president  and braced for reaction from President Nicolas Maduro and his security forces.

And react he did: Maduro announced he was breaking diplomatic ties, already strained, with Washington and giving U.S. personnel 72 hours to abandon the country. But Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said late Wednesday that the U.S had no plans to withdraw personnel.

Anyone can declare himself president, but its the Venezuelan people who elect him, not the gringo government, Maduro declared to his supporters rallying outside the presidential palace. He swiftly branded Guaido a puppet of U.S. imperialism.

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The dramatic escalation came as the Trump administration seeks ways to ramp up pressure on Maduros socialist government, which it accuses of widespread human rights abuse, drug trafficking and a host of other crimes. Already, Washington has blacklisted 70 senior Venezuelan officials and entities and put sanctions on some of its export industries.

1 / 29 Venezuelan opposition protesters participate in a demonstration to demand the end of the crisis and in support of the interim presidency of Juan Guaido, in Caracas. (Cristian Hernandez / EPA / REX / Shutterstock) 2 / 29 Opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido, center, chants slogans as he marches with students during a protest he convened against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, outside Venezuelas Central University in Caracas. (LUIS ROBAYO / AFP/Getty Images) 3 / 29 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during an event with the members of the Bolivarian National Armed Force in Caracas. (Miraflores Press) 4 / 29 Students of Venezuelas Central University in Caracas, take part in a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, called by opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido. (LUIS ROBAYO / AFP/Getty Images) 5 / 29 A man shouts against riot police during a demonstration against the government of President Nicols Maduro called by the opposition leader self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido in Caracas. (Edilzon Gamez / Getty Images) 6 / 29 Members of the Bolivarian National Police stand guard near Dr. JM de los Rios Childrens Hospital in Caracas, during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro. (FEDERICO PARRA / AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 29 An opposition demostrator waves a Venezuelan national flag, during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, called by opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido, outside Dr. JM de los Rios Childrens Hospital in Caracas. (FEDERICO PARRA / AFP/Getty Images) 8 / 29 The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly Juan Guaido, center, speaks to the press as he arrives at the Parliament headquarters, in the Federal Legislative Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela. (LEONARDO MUNOZ / EPA / REX / Shutterstock) 9 / 29 Venezuelan Prosecutor Tarek William Saab, delivers a statement at the Supreme Court of Justice in Caracas to announce he has barred Venezuelas National Assembly head and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido, from leaving Venezuela and has freezed his assets. (FEDERICO PARRA / AFP/Getty Images) 10 / 29 People listen to Venezuelas National Assembly head Juan Guaido during a mass opposition rally against leader Nicolas Maduro in which he declared himself the countrys acting president, in Caracas. (FEDERICO PARRA / AFP/Getty Images) 11 / 29 Venezuelan opposition demonstrators chant slogans during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. (YURI CORTEZ / AFP/Getty Images) 12 / 29 Paramedics rescue a wounded member of the Bolivarian National Guard during clashes with opposition demonstrators in Caracas. (YURI CORTEZ / AFP/Getty Images) 13 / 29 Juan Guaido, president of the Venezuelan parliament, poses with a copy of the constitution as he announces that he assumes executive powers, in Caracas. (Miguel Gutierrez / EPA/Shutterstock) 14 / 29 Riot police clash with opposition demonstrators during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro on the anniversary of the 1958 uprising that overthrew the military dictatorship, in Caracas, Venezuela. (YURI CORTEZ / AFP/Getty Images) 15 / 29 Bolivarian National Police officers take position as thousands take to the streets during a protest against President Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. (Miguel Gutierrez/EPA-EFE/REX ) 16 / 29 Demonstrators gather in the streets against the government of Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. (Edilzon Gamez / Getty Images) 17 / 29 Riot police clash with opposition demonstrators during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. (YURI CORTEZ / AFP/Getty Images) 18 / 29 A vehicle is overturned as demonstrators block a freeway during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela. (YURI CORTEZ / AFP/Getty Images) 19 / 29 Anti-government protesters hold their hands up during the symbolic swearing-in of Juan Guaido, head of the opposition-run congress, who declared himself interim president of Venezuela, during a rally demanding President Nicolas Maduros resignation in Caracas. (Fernando Llano / Associated Press) 20 / 29 Venezuelas National Assembly head Juan Guaido speaks to the crowd during a mass opposition rally against leader Nicolas Maduro in which he declared himself the countrys acting president, on the anniversary of a 1958 uprising that overthrew military dictatorship, in Caracas. (Federico Parra / AFP/Getty Images) 21 / 29 Riot police clash with anti-government demonstrators in the neighborhood of Los Mecedores, in Caracas. (Federico Parra / AFP/Getty Images) 22 / 29 Anti-government demonstrators clash with police and troops near a National Guard command post in northern Caracas. (Federico Parra / AFP/Getty Images) 23 / 29 Carmen Marcano, a Cotiza neighborhood resident, shows her wounds caused by rubber bullets fired by Venezuelan Bolivarian National Guardsmen during the protest. (Fernando Llano / Associated Press) 24 / 29 A riot policeman on a motorcycle points his gun during clashes with anti-government demonstrators in the neighborhood of Los Mecedores, in Caracas. (Federico Parra / AFP/Getty Images) 25 / 29 People protest around the Cotiza Bolivarian National Guard headquarters in Caracas. (Yuri Cortez / AFP/Getty Images) 26 / 29 Riot police clash with anti-government demonstrators in the neighborhood of Los Mecedores, in Caracas. (Federico Parra / AFP/Getty Images) 27 / 29 A woman passes by graffiti with part of a phrase attributed to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reading Time to Fight in Caracas. (Yuri Cortez / AFP/Getty Images) 28 / 29 Empty canisters of tear gas grenades fired by the Bolivarian National Guard during protests in the neighborhood of Los Mecedores in Caracas. (Yuri Cortez / AFP/Getty Images) 29 / 29 Residents of the Cotiza neighborhood in Caracas clean up Jan. 22, a day after isolated protests in response to the arrest of National Guardsmen who mounted an uprising against President Nicolas Maduro. (Fernando Llano / Associated Press)

Venezuela has teetered on the verge of collapse for some time, mired in social and economic chaos that has depleted supplies of food and medicine and sent millions of Venezuelans fleeing as refugees. Roughly 80% of the people here now live in poverty.

In a statement, President Trump said he was recognizing Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela because he is the head of the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, a reference to the countrys National Assembly, Venezuelas legislative body that Maduro has sidelined and replaced with his own legislature stacked with his supporters.

The sequence of events represented a rare and potentially dangerous dive into international diplomacy unusual for this administration. It delivered a diplomatic blow to Maduro, but a much-needed boost to the long-suffering, largely ineffective opposition movement.

The movement was in need of new energy after Maduros violent suppression in 2017 of nationwide marches that left protesters dispirited and leaderless. An estimated 165 people died, 15,000 were injured and at least 4,800 arrested.

Wednesdays march, which occurred on the anniversary of the 1958 overthrow of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, was seen as a test of Guaidos strength of leadership and ability to summon the masses to the street, a test he seems to have passed.

Today, on Jan. 23, in my status as National Assembly president before all powerful God, and my colleagues, I swear to formally assume the duties of national executive to achieve the end of usurpation, [form] a transitional government and [hold] free elections, Guaido told tens of thousands of Venezuelans who crowded Caracas downtown streets.

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I am not afraid, [rather] I fear for the people who are [living in] bad times, Guaido proclaimed.

Maduro was reelected last spring in a disputed election and began a second six-year term on Jan. 10. The U.S. is among dozens of countries that have refused to recognize him as a legitimate president.

Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro waves the national flag as he gives a speech to supporters on Wednesday. (Marcelo Garcia / Miraflores Press)

The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law, Trump said in a statement. I will continue to use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.

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Diplomatic ties between Caracas and Washington were already hanging by a thread, and Maduros order Wednesday could complete that break.

But Pompeo said late Wednesday that Guaido informed the U.S. government that he intended to maintain diplomatic relations. Consequently, Pompeo said, the U.S. did not plan to withdraw personnel from Venezuela as Maduro demanded.

Washingtons push against Caracas has benefited from unusual unity in Latin America and the Caribbean for efforts to punish Maduro and end his autocratic rule, knitted together in a 12-nation coalition called the Lima Group. In recent months, especially, Venezuelas two neighbors, Brazil and Colombia, have elected right-wing presidents, further stepping up pressure. They quickly supported the U.S. recognition of Guaido.

However, a significant crack in that unity came later Wednesday when Mexico broke ranks and refused to recognize Guaido. Mexico elected a leftist president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, last year, and he has vowed to follow what he considers a less interventionist foreign policy.

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So far there is no change in diplomatic relations with that country or with their government, Jesus Ramirez Cuevas, a spokesman for Lopez Obrador, said in Mexico City.

Left unclear is what Washington will do next.

Riot police clash with opposition demonstrators during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro on the anniversary of the 1958 uprising that overthrew a military dictatorship. (Yuri Cortez / AFP/Getty Images)

Pompeo called on Guaido to set up a transitional government and move to hold elections, essentially establishing a parallel administration that could easily slip into civil warfare.

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A senior administration official said additional sanctions were being prepared but declined to give specific details. So far, the U.S. and a number of other countries have imposed sanctions aimed at cutting Venezuelas revenues, such as its export of gold and sell-off of debt. They have resisted imposing an embargo on oil, whose once-thriving production made Venezuela a rich country. Nor has the administration added Venezuela to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, another measure under consideration.

We have barely scratched the surface of punitive measures that can be taken, the official said, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity in keeping with White House rules.

Trump acted following a meeting on Tuesday in the Oval Office with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and other congressional hawks on Latin America. Rubio has long pushed for tougher action against Maduro, including opening the possibility of a U.S.-led military coup, as well as recognition of a Guaido government.

Rubio urged Trump to hold the illegitimate Maduro regime directly responsible for any actions taken against President Guaido, members of the National Assembly, and peaceful protesters.

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Venezuelans have grown increasingly desperate with a collapsed economy, scarcities of food and medicine and rising crime. Grim prospects for any near term improvement have prompted an estimated 3 million people to leave the country since Maduros socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez took power in 1999.

One of the marchers Wednesday, psychologist Tachy Osorio, 29, said he was attending the march because of the personal connection he felt with Guaido.

I like Mr. Guaido, I feel empathy for what he says and for his discourse which reflects what we Venezuelans need at this moment, Osorio said. This march is different from the past. It was a spontaneous decision of unity and belief by the people to go out and protest.

Like Osorio, attorney Dolores Dobarro agreed that Wednesdays march was different from past protests and said she was very hopeful about the new leadership. Maduro jailed a previous popular opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, and banned him from politics.

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Guaido projects calm and we hope that this peaceful protest inspires agreement among those who can help the country emerge from its misery, Dobarro said.

Whats different this time is that many poor people are participating and they have been the most impacted by the economic crisis, she added.

Adrian Cordero, a 32-year-old mechanic, said Guaido is young, has new ideas and a new face who inspires confidence.

All of us want a change, a political change that helps us get over this terrifying crisis, Cordero said. Were hoping for a change that enables us to reunite with our family members who have left the country so as not to die of hunger. The country cant tolerate this situation.

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The march came two days after a group of dissident National Guard soldiers attacked a military installation in Caracas, stole weapons and issued a plea with others in the armed forces to join their uprising. Government forces quickly put down the rebellion, arrested 27, and dismissed the mutiny as an isolated incident.

Times staff writer Wilkinson reported from Washington and special correspondents Mogollon and Kraul reported from Caracas and Bogota, respectively. Times staff writer Kate Linthicum contributed from Mexico City.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter
Guitarist Reggie Young, a Memphis- and Nashville-based session player whose signature licks defined hit records by Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and many other artists, has died. He was 82.

Friend and fellow Nashville Cats session musician David Briggs said Young died Thursday at his home in Nashville, Tenn.

Young started his illustrious career in Memphis, Tenn., where he was an in-demand session player working with acclaimed producer Chips Moman and opened for the Beatles with the Bill Black Combo in 1964.

At Momans American Studio in Memphis, he played the signature sitar intro on Hooked on a Feeling, by B.J. Thomas, and played guitar on Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield, Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and Suspicious Minds by Presley.

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Very sad to hear that legendary guitar player Reggie Young has died. Reggie played on most of my 90s albums and was the most recorded studio guitarist in history. Famous for the guitar lick on Dobie Grays Drift Away, Reggie was also a great human being. #RIPReggieYoung  pic.twitter.com/o4l86kmqIX  Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) January 18, 2019

Reggie Young, played on virtually all of my music. My brother and friend. RIP pal. BJ  BJ Thomas (@TheBJThomas) January 18, 2019

After moving to Nashville in the 1970s, he became part of the Nashville Cats session players recording hundreds of songs for top country stars. Young added guitar to No. 1 records including Luckenbach, Texas by Jennings, Pancho and Lefty by Nelson and Merle Haggard and Always on My Mind by Nelson.

When the Highwaymen supergroup formed between Nelson, Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, Young played on their No. 1 records and even toured with them.

His first-ever album, containing a collection of hits he played on from Memphis to Nashville, was due out later this month through London-based record label Ace.
Alex Villanueva is less than two months into his role as Los Angeles County sheriff, but county watchdogs are already expressing concern over some of his moves.

At his first appearance before the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission on Tuesday, several commissioners told Villanueva they were troubled by a Times report about his decision to reinstate a deputy who had been fired from the department in connection with allegations of domestic abuse and stalking. The countys inspector general described Villanuevas position on discipline standards relating to domestic violence as radical.

The deputy, Caren Carl Mandoyan, was relieved of duty in July 2015 and terminated in September 2016 based on allegations made by a woman who also worked as a deputy, according to a lawsuit he filed against the county contesting his dismissal. Mandoyan did not respond to requests for comment.

Mandoyan was an active volunteer on Villanuevas campaign to unseat incumbent Jim McDonnell, often serving as his driver and helping to win support in Villanuevas long-shot bid from rank and file deputies.

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Mandoyans accuser claimed in an application for a temporary restraining order in July 2015 that Mandoyan grabbed her neck, tried to break into her home twice and admitted to surveilling her and listening to her conversations. She alleged the physical assault by Mandoyan, who she said was her ex-boyfriend, happened in September 2014.

In a September 2015 memo from the district attorneys office, prosecutors declined to charge Mandoyan with intimate partner violence, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. The Times generally does not identify people who report being victims of domestic abuse. The woman did not respond to requests for comment.

Villanueva declined to mention Mandoyan by name on Tuesday, but he defended reinstating the fired deputy, saying that the accuser waited nearly a year to report her claims of abuse and that she quit the department just before she was about to testify about her allegations.

Those are big warning signs about the credibility of the [complainant], Villanueva said. He said any discipline of deputies over claims of domestic violence should require that related criminal charges are also filed, and that the allegations are connected to employment. He said those criteria didnt apply in this instance.

We dont operate based on allegations. We operate based on fact, what can be established in a court of law, Villanueva said.

Priscilla Ocen, a Loyola Law School professor and vice chair of the commission, told Villanueva she was concerned about his approach to disciplining deputies, noting that its not uncommon for survivors of domestic violence to decline to testify.

If the bar is so high that you want a criminal complaint, and the [complainant] to cooperate with law enforcement, to testify, and to secure a conviction, that bar might not be workable, Ocen said.

The department has traditionally evaluated disciplinary cases using a lower standard of evidence than that required in criminal court.

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Commission chairwoman Patti Giggans said the percentage of people who lie about being abused by a partner is low and that many survivors take a long time to come forward. Giggans is also executive director of Peace Over Violence, an organization that works to end abuse against women.

Villanueva has long railed against what he says was a culture of corruption and cronyism that damaged the department and stood in the way of his own advancement.

He said the reinstatement was just one of many disciplinary cases he and his team are reviewing.

Villanueva has proposed creating a truth and reconciliation commission to redress what he asserts are past injustices regarding deputy discipline and the departments dealings with the public. Villanueva said his reinstatement of the fired deputy was vetted by an outside lawyer and a panel made up of commanders and a chief, similar to the way the reconciliation body would work.

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Several commissioners said they wanted to be consulted on the protocols governing the reconciliation panel before it is put in place.

Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman said he made a formal request to monitor the reconciliation groups formation and work early on but didnt receive a reply from the Sheriffs Department. He said he was deeply troubled that the reconciliation process appeared to have moved forward without allowing him access.

Huntsman has devoted much of his monitoring work to evaluating the departments disciplinary system.

Your position on only looking at domestic violence incidents if there is a [district attorney] filing I think is a radical one, Huntsman told Villanueva.

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Villanueva agreed to brief the commissioners on the development of the reconciliation panel, insisting that he wants to make fair disciplinary decisions.

Also on Tuesday, the commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution opposing a project to turn the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster into a womens jail. Villanueva also opposes the womens jail project, which has been in development for years. Earlier this month, all five Los Angeles County supervisors said they wanted to reevaluate the jail plan, setting the stage for the project to be abandoned.
Months of tension and turmoil on USCs Board of Trustees prompted an emergency meeting Wednesday at the campus, with the universitys leadership a top item for discussion.

The meeting was called by board Chairman Rick Caruso, the billionaire mall developer who has been the target of growing criticism by a small but influential contingent of longtime trustees.

Those critics, who include fellow billionaires Ed Roski and Ming Hsieh, have suggested Caruso is not fit to lead the board because of his handling of a board dispute over the ouster of a popular dean.

A university administrator who spoke on condition of anonymity described the gathering as a way to quickly bring the clashing trustees together and find a path forward.

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After four hours of meetings  which a spokeswoman described as productive discussions  the trustees emerged without making public statements or announcing changes to university leadership. The spokeswoman said trustees were focused on the future of the university.

The meeting comes as USC is attempting to move past a series of scandals and hire a new president. Longtime President C.L. Max Nikias was forced from his post last year in the wake of revelations about nearly three decades of alleged sexual abuse by a campus gynecologist, Dr. George Tyndall.

Some of the trustees now opposing Caruso were strong supporters of Nikias and thought that out of respect for his accomplishments, he should have been permitted to remain president while trustees searched for a new leader.

The divisions between them and Caruso, who had pushed Nikias to resign, were reignited this fall during a board disagreement about the treatment of Marshall School of Business Dean James Ellis.

Interim President Wanda Austin cut short Ellis term in office, citing his response to harassment and discrimination complaints in the business school. USC has not made public the specific allegations. Sources have told The Times there were dozens of misconduct complaints against business school leadership, faculty and staff for racial and gender-based discrimination.

Ellis termination as dean created an uproar among wealthy donors, faculty and alumni, who wrote letters and staged protests demanding that trustees overturn Austins decision.

At a trustees meeting in December, board members overwhelmingly reaffirmed the deans removal.

Caruso said at the time that Ellis departure from the business school was part of where the university is today in terms of acknowledging a proper culture that needs to be embraced and practiced on campus.

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Change is difficult, Caruso told The Times.

But the meeting left some trustees angry at Caruso. Real estate mogul Roski chastised him in a letter the following week for what he saw as his disrespectful treatment during the board discussion of fellow trustee Hsieh, a supporter of Ellis who has given more than $85 million to USC.

Rick, your behavior shocked the conscience, wrote Roski, who urged Caruso to apologize to the board and Hsieh.

The Pasadena entrepreneur added his own objections in a letter to Caruso about Ellis removal.

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I believe you did all this to curry favor with and make yourself look good in the press  as the champion of diversity, Hsieh wrote, adding, In effect, youve turned USC into your own arbitrary and capricious fiefdom, where you do what suits you without regard for the consequences.

A flurry of letters from supporters and detractors of Caruso and the interim president continued this week. On Monday, a panel of USC business school alumni and donors jumped into the fray, demanding that trustees oust Caruso and put Austin, the provost and the universitys general counsel on leave.

USC is on life support, requiring emergency surgery, the letter from the business schools Board of Leaders stated.

A group of professors who have pushed for wholesale changes in the universitys culture, Concerned Faculty of USC, also weighed in with a letter saying it was irresponsible and counterproductive to mount a public attempt to overrule Austins decision on the dean.

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In the letter, the faculty group endorsed trustees efforts to reform the university and opined that a minority of benefactors had used the business school deans employment controversy as a vehicle to obstruct the reform process underway.

That prompted a trustee, Stanley Gold, who managed the late Roy Disneys investment holdings, to issue his own letter Tuesday afternoon, deriding the professors as know-nothing vigilantes.
A man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a destructive tear through Union Station in downtown Los Angeles early Wednesday that damaged two police cars and wrecked a Metropolitan Transportation Authority vehicle, police said.

Authorities allege the man smashed windows on two Los Angeles Police Department patrol cars that were parked in a lot at Union Station about 4:30 a.m. and removed property from inside. The man burglarized another car nearby where he found a bladed weapon, said LAPD Officer Sal Ramirez.

Shortly after the incidents in the parking lot, the man was confronted by Metropolitan Transportation Authority security guards who used pepper spray in an effort to detain him. The man escaped capture, jumped into an MTA security vehicle and fled Union Station before crashing nearby on Vignes Street, Ramirez said.

The man returned to Union Station and used the weapon to strike a security guard in the head, cutting him, Ramirez said. The security guard was taken to a hospital, where he is being treated for a non-life threatening wound.

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The man, whose name has not been released, fled to the train tracks and was taken into custody by officers.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
Oxford China's Tango with the World Summit 2019 (Photo by Tianxing Bai)

The Oxford Chinas Tango with the World Summit 2019 took place last weekend at the Examination Schools of the University of Oxford. Over 300 delegates took part in four thematic breakout sessions on global governance, economics, cutting-edge technology and Chinese talents abroad.

In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid his first official visit to the U.K., during which the two nations announced their comprehensive strategic partnership and their commitment to building a Golden Era in bilateral relations.

Oxford China's Tango with the World Summit 2019 (Photo by Tianxing Bai)

The U.K. is now the top recipient of Chinese FDI in Europe and has become Chinas second largest trading partner in Europe. Through various social and political initiatives, China is taking a more prominent role in driving innovation, and is adhering to social responsibilities and sustainability through initiatives such as the Belt & Road. These aim to provide a better future for the people of China and indeed the world.

Guest panel speakers including elite scholars from the University of Oxford, senior business leaders, entrepreneurial visionaries, forward-thinking tech-innovators, and field experts came together for a multidisciplinary and multidimensional debate on Chinas development.

The Summit was live-streamed by the Phoenix New Media broadcasting team and reached audiences all over the world.

(Tianxing Bai)
A Los Angeles Unified teacher filed a federal class-action lawsuit this week against United Teachers Los Angeles alleging the group continued to take dues out of her paycheck despite a change in law that bars public-sector unions from forcing members to pay.

Irene Seager, who teaches at Porter Ranch Community School, signed a card that authorized the deduction of union dues from her paycheck in April, which was a requirement of her employment at the time. Two months later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that teachers, police officers and other public employees in several states, including California, could not be forced to pay dues or fees to support their unions.

The decision in Janus vs. AFSCME was a sharp defeat for public employee unions, as it overturned a 41-year-old precedent that allowed unions to negotiate contracts requiring all employees to pay a so-called fair share fee to cover the cost of collective bargaining.

After the ruling, Seager notified UTLA that she was resigning as a member and no longer consented to any deductions from her wages. The union denied her request, saying she was past the 30-day period to revoke her consent.

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The Los Angeles Unified School District is also named in the lawsuit. The district and UTLA did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. News of the lawsuit comes as Los Angeles teachers returned to classrooms Wednesday following a strike that lasted six school days over contract issues.

Seager is asking the court as part of the lawsuit to strike down the unions time-period provision, order officials to stop deducting dues from her wages and require them to refund money that was already taken.

Ms. Seagers case shows that union bosses are willing to trample on the First Amendment rights of the teachers they claim to represent to keep their forced-dues power, Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation  which is representing Seager  said in a prepared statement. Despite what union bosses say, workers constitutional rights cannot be limited to just 30 days out of the year.

Attorneys with the anti-union National Right to Work Foundation also funded the challenge against the law in the Janus vs. AFSCME case before the Supreme Court. The group is representing a math professor in Ventura County who is challenging the American Federation of Teachers over a similar time-period provision.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
An Orange County drama teacher was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of molesting a 13-year-old boy over the course of several years beginning in 2011, and authorities are looking for other possible victims.

Brandon Jacob Nease, 25, of Orange has worked at Costa Mesa High School for roughly a year and a half. Investigators did not say where Nease met the boy but confirmed it was not at the high school.

Nease has taught dance across the county since at least 2008 and worked closely with children in each of his jobs, according to the Orange County Sheriffs Department.

From 2008 to 2016, Nease was the choreographer and director for the Musical Theater Village in Irvine. From 2012 to 2015, he was a dance specialist at Camp James in Newport Beach. From 2015 to 2017, he worked as the education and outreach coordinator for the Musical Theatre West in Long Beach. He also taught dance at the Boys and Girls Clubs in Tustin and Fountain Valley beginning in 2013, authorities said.

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The Newport-Mesa Unified School District placed Nease on administrative leave after his arrest. Nease earned a single-subject teaching credential in February 2017 that authorized him to teach English, according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Based on information provided to us by the Orange County Sheriffs Department, we do not believe this matter involves any current or former Newport-Mesa Unified School District students, the district wrote in a statement.

Nease was released Wednesday after posting $100,000 bond.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriffs Departments Special Victims Detail at (714) 647-7419. Anonymous tips can be provided to Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6887.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
On a night when temperatures dipped into the 40s in Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti joined thousands of volunteers documenting the areas homeless population.

At a news conference Tuesday evening to open the yearly count, which helps the city and county gauge the areas unsheltered population, Garcetti noted that people should be frustrated by homelessness because if not, you dont have a heart.

The mayor was joined by other government officials at a permanent supportive housing facility in North Hollywood run by L.A. Family Housing. More than 7,000 volunteers are expected to participate in the annual documentation, which continues through Thursday.

Before he spoke, Councilwoman Nury Martinez gave the mayor a big hug and said, Good job  an apparent reference to the new union contract agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

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Garcetti applauded the courage of the school district and teachers for coming together and hashing out an agreement as volunteers and elected officials, including Martinez and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, stood behind him.

Homelessness is like public education  something that for far too long we havent put the resources or love or attention to, Garcetti said. But thats also changing in this city.

He expressed some frustration that the night would not include outreach, only data collection. Last years count documented 52,765 homeless people in Los Angeles County. The numbers help determine how money is disbursed throughout the region, including $350 million in sales tax revenue generated annually from the Measure H homelessness tax, which was passed in 2017.

Homelessness declined 4% in the county and 6% in the city in the city of Los Angeles in 2018 over the previous year, but the number of tents, vehicles and makeshift shelters increased.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti tallies the number of homeless people encountered during the first day of the 2019 greater L.A. homeless count in North Hollywood. (Nick Agro / For The Times)

For Tuesdays launch of the count, volunteers began inspecting 2,160 census tracts in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys. They will continue in other parts of the county over the next two days.

Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president and chief executive of L.A. Family Housing, said 410 families are supported by the organization, but many could lose their housing next month if the government shutdown doesnt end soon.

More than 1,600 children, moms and dads could become homeless, and that number only represents who we are serving, she said. Imagine the impact of the federal shutdown on all of Los Angeles.

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Garcetti, who is considering a run for president, heads to Washington on Wednesday for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He said the homeless crisis is not only a localized problem.

Its time for the federal government to step up too, he said, noting that there are more homeless people per capita in the nations capital than in Los Angeles.

Theyre right next to the White House, right next to city hall, Garcetti said. This is something where every government leader needs to put down partisanship and produce results.

A homeless encampment is documented along Webb Avenue during the first day of the 2019 annual Los Angeles homeless count. (Nick Agro / For The Times)

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After addressing the crowd, the mayor and other dignitaries were taken to a nearby encampment on Webb Avenue in North Hollywood. Garcetti walked the block, trying to count tents and people where he saw them. He noted 17 homeless people in the half-block there.

He spoke with several men who were standing around a fire and fixing bikes. They told him it would be great if their trash was picked up regularly and a street light was installed nearby.

Counting is the beginning of caring, and caring is the beginning of acting, and acting is the beginning of solving, and solving is the beginning of ending this crisis, Garcetti said.

benjamin.oreskes@latimes.com

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@boreskes

UPDATES:

9:22 p.m.: This article was updated with the correct numbers from the 2018 homeless count, which had previously been revised.
Harvey Weinstein has hired the attorney who won Casey Anthonys acquittal to lead his defense against sexual assault charges in New York City, his new legal team announced Wednesday.

In a statement issued Wednesday morning, Jose Baez said he and Harvard University Law professor Ronald Sullivan would take over Weinsteins defense after the disgraced mogul had a falling-out with his prior attorneys.

Mr. Weinstein steadfastly maintains his innocence in this matter and we are looking forward to assisting Mr. Weinstein in his defense, Baez said in the statement.

Earlier this month, sources told The Times that Weinsteins current defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman, was expected to ask a New York City judge permission to be relieved as the ex-Hollywood titans counsel after the two began to wrestle over how to handle both the legal and public relations crises faced by Weinstein.

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In New York, Weinstein is charged with five counts of sexual assault involving two separate incidents in 2004 and 2013. Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and London are all weighing cases against him as well, and dozens of other women have made allegations of sexual abuse and harassment that have not resulted in criminal prosecutions.

Since December, Weinstein has pushed for a more aggressive approach that seeks to undermine not only the accusers involved in the Manhattan criminal case, but also the dozens of women accusing him of sexually inappropriate conduct over four decades in Hollywood.

After months of letting Brafman set the tone of the defense, Weinstein recently began taking a more direct role in his defense, including contacting several media power players, the sources said.

Baez famously won an acquittal for Orlandos Casey Anthony in the 2008 death of her young daughter, Caylee. The 2011 trial became international news, and Baez managed to protect Anthony from convictions on the most serious charges she faced, including murder and child abuse.

Sullivan, a member of the Baez firm, is director of the criminal justice institute at Harvards law school, according to the universitys website.

A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorneys office could not immediately comment on the change. A judge has not yet formally approved Weinsteins change of counsel.

Weinstein was expected to return to court in March for a pretrial hearing. Last month, Manhattan Superior Court Judge James Burke rejected a motion to dismiss the charges against Weinstein.

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james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
A Santa Ana man is facing federal charges after authorities say he used Instagram to send threatening messages to family members and friends of people killed in a mass shooting last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Brandon Fleury was arrested and charged Friday with cyber-stalking and making threats in interstate communications after federal investigators determined he had created multiple Instagram accounts that were used to taunt those who knew the Parkland victims, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Florida.

Seventeen people were killed when a shooter opened fire at the Florida high school on Feb. 14, 2018. Since then, many survivors and family members of those who were killed have become advocates for stronger gun control policies in the United States.

The criminal complaint alleges Fleury spent several weeks, beginning in late December and continuing through early January, harassing victims relatives by tagging them in Instagram posts and writing comments that celebrated their family members deaths. Authorities say he frequently used profile names that referenced Parkland shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz and serial killer Ted Bundy in his messages.

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Investigators say Fleury used the Instagram username nikolas.killed.your.sister to send messages in quick succession over the course of about an hour to Jaime Guttenbergs brother, father and best friend. Guttenberg, 14, was killed during the school shooting.

I killed your loved ones hahaha, one message read. Another read: Your grief is my joy.

With the power of my AR-15, I erased their existence, a third message read, followed by smiling, applause and handgun emojis.

Fleury told FBI agents after his arrest that he posted the messages in an effort to troll the victims and gain popularity. He targeted family members who were activists and had a large social media presence, according to the affidavit.

On Christmas Day, at least two people received a threat from an Instagram account with the username of teddykillspeople that read: Im your abductor. Im kidnapping you fool. The message was followed by two emojis showing a lock, as well as applauding and blowing a kiss emojis, according to the affidavit.

Another message that day took credit for the murders of Janice Ott and Denise Naslund, who were killed by Bundy in 1974. Investigators said Fleury admitted he had a strong interest in the serial killer and had researched him.

Authorities identified Fleury as a suspect after pinpointing the IP addresses associated with the Instagram accounts to his familys home in Santa Ana.

Fleury described his fascination with Nikolas Cruz, other mass shooters, Ted Bundy, and other serial killers, FBI Special Agent Cameron McDowell wrote in the affidavit. He further admitted to posting the messages in an attempt to troll the victims, trying to get reactions from people and be controversial.

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He is expected to appear in federal court in Florida on Monday.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
Los Angeles teachers and union staff returned to school Wednesday morning, hours after voting on a contract agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District that put an end to a strike that spanned six school days.

The tentative agreement, announced early Tuesday, followed an all-night negotiating session between union and district officials in which the groups sought to hammer out several issues that prompted educators to walk out of classrooms in their first strike in 30 years.

A line of cars stretched outside McKinley Avenue Elementary School in South L.A. as teachers and students arrived for what some expect to be a return to normal after days of uncertainty. One by one, students popped out of cars, vans and SUVs as parents walked along 78th Street holding their childrens hands and giving them kisses before watching the children run inside.

Maria Ramos, 32, watched her 5-year-old daughter from behind a metal fence.

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It makes me feel better to know shes inside, she said. More so now that shell be with her teacher.

Ramos said she supported the strike and agreed with most of the teachers demands.

Im glad that the strike is over. I know my daughter missed her teacher  even the homework, she said with a laugh.

1 / 13 Arasele Gines, center, celebrates, after picking up her daughter, Arlene, 8, a 2nd grader at Union Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles on the first day back after the teachers strike was settled. At right is her daughter, Stephanie, 4. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 13 Maria Ruiz, left, with her daughter Stefani Ramirez, (CQ), 9, stand outside the door of Lorena Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA. There was a press conference with parents, students, and union members speaking following the end of the strike. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 13 Sophomore Lizbeth Zesati, 15, said Wednesday that she still attended school last week at Hollywood High during the teachers strike. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 13 Students leave Encino Charter Elementary School after their first day with teachers back on campus. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 13 Gloria Martinez, United Teachers Los Angeles elementary vice president, speaks at a news conference Wednesday outside Lorena Street Elementary. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 13 Parent Martha Gonzalez, left, stands with students and educators outside Lorena Street Elementary on Wednesday. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 13 Luis Solis, a fourth-grader at Union Avenue Elementary, runs past a thank you sign to parents placed in front of the school. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 13 Jaylene Gonzalez, 5, a kindergartner at Union Avenue Elementary, gives a high-five to teacher Taryn Oshiro after leaving school Wednesday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 13 Justin Orrallando, 10, greets his mother, Claudia Hernandez, while being picked up from Union Avenue Elementary on the first day back after the teachers strike was settled. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 13 Parents, students and union members gather outside Lorena Street Elementary for a news conference Wednesday. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 13 Students cross Highland Avenue to Hollywood High on Wednesday, the first day with teachers back on campus after the strike was settled. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 13 Students return to school at Hollywood High on Wednesday after the L.A. teachers strike was settled. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 13 Angelo Angulo, left, and Johnny Villicana, both seniors, return to school at Hollywood High on Wednesday after the L.A. teachers strike was settled. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

United Teachers Los Angeles will give members until Friday to vote on the tentative agreement with Los Angeles Unified School District that ended the strike.

We are now opening up the voting; were extending it up until Friday, UTLA vice president Gloria Martinez said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon outside Lorena Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights.

The union will have official results on Friday, Martinez said, because ballots are actually still being counted and because we heard so much from our members who wanted to get to vote but maybe because they were on leave or because they werent there yesterday they were not able to, Martinez said.

The agreement will cost the district $403 million over the next three years for class-size reduction and for additional nurses, counselors and librarians, an LAUSD spokeswoman said in an email. The money will come from the districts reserves, an anticipated increase in state funding and additional county dollars.

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Teachers had just hours Tuesday to review the 47-page tentative agreement before voting at their school sites. Chapter chairs collected ballots at eight area meetings at 2 p.m. Tuesday, then returned to their campuses to discuss the agreement with members and run the voting, UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl said in an interview Tuesday night. The chapter chairs then eyeballed results and used an app to report them, he said.

Those numbers reported Tuesday night showed about 83% approval, Martinez said Wednesday.

The strike wasnt easy for parents, especially in working-class neighborhoods where many had to choose between crossing picket lines to send their kids to school or finding childcare to keep them home. For Martin Flores, 30, and Maria Gonzalez, 27, whose three daughters attend McKinley Avenue Elementary in Florence, the strike meant adjusting their routines to keep their girls home for the majority of the week. Thankfully, they said, they already had a system in place.

I work in the morning, and he works at night, said Gonzalez, who works as a waitress in Downey.

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At home, Flores said, he did his best to keep the children occupied and away from the television. They spent some time playing outside, but every afternoon, the girls  Maribel, 10, Marisol, 7, and Marilyn, 5  would practice their ABCs and count to 100.

It was just something to make sure they didnt forget things, Flores said.

Despite the loss of school days, Flores and Gonzalez said they supported the teachers and their strike. Now that its over, theyre not sure whether the teachers are satisfied with their victory. Gonzalez said teachers complained to her at work about the agreement, saying it wasnt good enough.

Teachers who formed picket lines outside schools starting Jan. 14 braved several days of rain in a fight for smaller class sizes, more support staff at schools and better pay. The resulting deal, which still needs to be reviewed by the Los Angeles County Office of Education and approved by the L.A. school board, includes a 6% raise for teachers. The agreement also calls for a reduction of one student per class next year in grades 4 through 12, one more the year after and two more the year after that.

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We have started down a real path to address class size, United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl said Tuesday.

The agreement also includes a commitment to provide a full-time nurse in every school and a librarian in every middle and high school.

Having teachers out of the classrooms also meant a week of departing from routines for students and parents. More than two-thirds of students did not show up for class during the first week of the strike, and attendance remained low Tuesday. A skeletal staff that stayed on campuses struggled to keep students who showed up for school engaged outside of the real-time civics lesson on the sidewalks.

Johnny Villicana and Angelo Angulo, both seniors at Hollywood High School, ambled down Highland Avenue on Wednesday morning in no particular hurry to return to class after spending the last week at home. For the pair, the teachers strike felt like less of a learning experience and more of a much-needed vacation.

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Still, Johnny, 17, said, It felt good knowing, by not going to school, you were supporting something.

Stephanie Santos, a 16-year-old junior at Hollywood High, said teachers gave up too soon. She would have preferred them to keep striking in their fight to win steeper reductions in class sizes. Lowering them by just a few students per class, per year, is not enough, she said.

But Lisbeth Zesati, 15, said shes glad the strike ended and teachers are back in their classrooms. The sophomore had gone to class only once last week  the first day of the strike  and didnt return until Wednesday.

Youd literally just sit in an auditorium with, like, 170 people, she said. You cant teach anything like that.

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The strike also affected local vendors who depend on the traffic around schools to make a living. Maria Genche, 60, a tamale vendor at the corner of McKinley Avenue and 78th Street, said last week was one of the hardest shes faced.

Between the rain and the strike, she said, I didnt sell anything. Not even a fly was interested in me.

Genche said she can make about $20 in an hour on any given school day, selling tamales across from the campus. Despite the economic loss, she supported the teachers. She didnt know much of what the strike was about but trusted that teachers were doing it for the right reasons  for the students and their education.

At a news conference early Tuesday, Supt. Austin Beutner said the job action had put an important focus on public education and started a larger community conversation.

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Public education is now the topic in every household in our community.Lets capitalize on that. Lets fix it, he said.

We cant solve 40 years of underinvestment in public education in just one week or just one contract.

Times staff writers Howard Blume and Sonali Kohli contributed to this report.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

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Twitter: @Hannahnfry
Cecilia Hamilton sat by a speaker blaring funk and soul music outside of 93rd Street Elementary School in South Los Angeles. Behind her, the digital marquee on the school read: We Love Our Teachers.

Since the strike started a week ago, teachers such as Hamilton have been showing up every morning before 7 a.m., picketing outside of school, fighting for smaller classrooms and for more resources that they say will help them not only meet the needs of their students, but effectively teach them.

Hamilton, who teaches 4th grade at the school, said the teachers broadcast through the speaker Tuesday mornings news conference that announced the tentative contract agreement between the teachers union and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Now, outside of the school, she waited to hear more details about the deal and the eventual vote on it. She looks forward to returning to school.

We were nervous, we were hopeful, but we were determined, she said. Im proud that our union was able to have gotten across the real message and that it wasnt about pay, but it was about what we need to help our children.

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We cant help our children with nothing, she added.

Hamilton, a second-generation teacher, said problems at the elementary school began to worsen about six years ago as district funds dwindled.

She said gradually the school found itself staffed with one psychologist and no counselors, forcing teachers to sometimes take on those roles. The school also didnt have a full-time librarian. Part of the schools budget was used to help pay for things such as a nurse who would be at the school at least twice a week rather than once. But such changes had a ripple effect. Hamilton said last year the school found itself without supplies such as pens and paper.

And then there were the classroom sizes. When Hamilton began teaching in 2001 at another school in South L.A., the average classroom size was about 20 students. By 2009, when she started teaching at 93rd Street Elementary, she had 26 to 30 students in her class.

Hamilton said larger classrooms meant less time to focus on students who were barely keeping up with the rest of the class and needed more time to understand the material. She said recess and after-school hours were sometimes necessary to squeeze in one-on-one time with those students who needed extra help.

Some days you were very successful and other days youd go home frustrated and cry, Hamilton said. We want to help them, but theres not enough resources for us and not enough time.

At the school, police officers drove up, giving the thumbs-up and asking the teachers if they won.

Ingrid Villeda, a 6th-grade teacher at the school, responded.

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We got almost everything, she said.

More than 1,000 students are enrolled at 93rd Street Elementary. About 35% of the students are English learners. About 96% of the students receive free lunches or reduced-price meals, according to the state Department of Education. Teachers aid some students who are homeless, and having another nurse, psychologists and counselors on staff will help.

Were serving students that are already underserved, that need psych services, that need another nurse and additional resources, Villeda said.

Were hoping that as they hire more psychologists and more personnel, were really able to work on students on a better basis to service them.

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As classes ended, teachers stood outside chanting: The strike is over! Well be back to work tomorrow.

Students gave some of the teachers high fives.

Parents said they were thankful to hear that teachers were planning to return to the classroom.

Aurora Alonso, 38, who has four children, said it was hard trying to keep her kids from watching television and playing video games. She said last week during the strike that she didnt bring her three sons to school. Tuesday was their first day back.

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It was a sacrifice and quite sad that it had to come to this, but it needed to be done if we want things to get better, she said. Theres gonna be some sense of normalcy now.

Enrique Vega, 46, while walking to pick up his granddaughter, said he had been supporting the teachers on their strike. He too believes that smaller classrooms would benefit his granddaughter and other students. He said he was happy to hear an agreement had been reached.

Im glad they got what they wanted, he said. They fought hard for it and for the kids.
Another experienced local politician, former Los Angeles City Council member Jan Perry, is making an early leap into the race to succeed term-limited county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas next year.

Perry announced Tuesday that shes joining a field that already includes her one-time City Hall rival, Herb Wesson, and first-time candidate Sharis Rhodes to represent the 2nd Supervisorial District in South Los Angeles, which encompasses roughly 2 million residents.

A former appointee of Mayor Eric Garcetti, Perry said that, if elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, she would focus on homelessness and on building new infrastructure to create jobs and spur community development.

The countys most important function is to ensure that services it provides are available in a manner thats as accessible and effective as possible, she said. I have a well-documented, well-developed portfolio of doing that.

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Ridley-Thomas, in turn, is running for Wessons council seat next year. A former councilman himself, he has sent invitations to a Super Bowl-themed campaign fundraiser planned next month, according to city records.

Jan Perry (Handout)

Given their experience and base of support in South L.A., both Perry and Wesson  who, as City Council president, represents a district stretching from Koreatown to Leimert Park  are likely to be formidable candidates to succeed Ridley-Thomas in the primary election next year.

The two political veterans, along with Rhodes, are black  and about half the countys black population lives in the supervisorial district, which stretches from Culver City to Carson.

(@latimesgraphics, Nextzen, OpenStreetMap)

Wesson, who has been council president since 2012, entered the race last month. A highly influential figure, he rivals Garcetti in his ability to shape policy and legislation at City Hall.

Wesson also could face questions during the campaign about an ongoing corruption investigation at City Hall. A federal search warrant filed in the probe said agents were seeking evidence related to an investigation of an array of potential crimes, including bribery and extortion, and named several political figures, including Deron Williams, Wessons chief of staff.

Perry moved into Ladera Heights after the holiday season and had previously lived outside the district in downtown. She is the executive director of the Infrastructure Funding Alliance and said that, during her time at City Hall, she secured funds for affordable housing and worked to improve conditions in skid row.

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Perry served on the City Council from 2001 to 2013. During her final years on the council, she waged an unsuccessful run for mayor and endorsed Garcetti for mayor in a 2013 runoff. He appointed her to lead the citys Economic and Workforce Development Department a few months later.

Wesson and Perry have a shared political history from their time serving together on the City Council, raising the prospect of a contentious race.

Council President Herb J. Wesson (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

During her last few years on the council, Perry was at odds with Wesson over his handling of the citys redistricting process, which led to a major redesign of the boundaries of Perrys council district.

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And as the redistricting process was getting started, Perry and a close ally, Councilman Bernard C. Parks, did not show up for a vote, in which Wesson became the City Councils first black president. Weeks later, Wesson removed Parks and Perry from two key committees.

The third, lesser-known candidate, Rhodes, is a Los Angeles High School graduate who spent time in foster care during her childhood. The mother of a 3-year-old son, Rhodes, 32, said she is running to be a voice for younger constituents and, if elected, hopes to draw on her experience as a music teacher for at-risk youths to help constituents.

Sharis Rhodes (Handout)

Im going up against some big, heavy names. But at the same time, their political histories have not done our community justice, said Rhodes, who is studying community planning and economic development at Los Angeles Trade Technical College.

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The election is set for March 2020, with a potential runoff election in November 2020.
Angelenos bearing gifts have elicited skepticism in Owens Valley since the early 1900s, when city agents posed as ranchers and farmers to buy land and water rights and then built dams and diversions that turned much of the region into an acrid dust bowl.

The scandal dramatized in the classic 1974 film Chinatown also transformed local business owners into lessees paying rent to an overbearing landlord 180 miles to the south.

Now, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is extending an olive branch. The department has proposed selling some of the commercial property it leases  but not the water rights  to dozens of lessees in the financially struggling towns along a rustic, 112-mile stretch of Highway 395 between the eastern Sierra Nevada range and the White-Inyo Mountains.

Its not clear whether the proposal unveiled earlier this month will ultimately yield fruitful negotiations, but initial skepticism in Olancha, Lone Pine, Big Pine, Independence and Bishop is giving way to genuine excitement.

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The advantages of owning commercial property in Owens Valley are cultural as well as economic. In addition to creating an incentive for investing in improvements, it would fulfill a longing to reclaim land many believe had been taken away.

Are we excited about this proposal? Oh yeah! Jeff Griffiths, an Inyo County Supervisor whose district includes Bishop, said. The opportunity to own your property is something folks around here have only dreamed about for a very long time.

David Blacker, president of the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce, stands in the courtyard area of the chamber which is headquartered in a former hotel. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The DWPs leasing process has decimated our regional economy and overall community spirit, he added, because there is not much incentive to invest in a business property that cant be resold.

Anselmo Collins, water operations manager for the DWP, which today controls 25% of the Owens Valley floor, said the agencys motivation is simply this: Weve made a determination that we no longer have a need to own these properties. Thats a shift from the time when they were purchased many years ago and our goal was to protect Los Angeles water rights and the watershed.

Our focus now is on individuals in Owens Valley who want more control over their own destinies  and less oversight by the DWP, he added. Were not looking to make a whole bunch of money, just to divest some of the property that currently belongs to the city of L.A.

DWP officials expect to present a final draft of the proposal to the Los Angeles City Council for approval within a few months and then begin conducting appraisals to determine the fair market values of 57 properties targeted for divestiture.

If all goes according to plan, officials said, the DWP will begin selling off those lots by years end.

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When we first heard about this proposal, we thought, Wait. This isnt the DWP were familiar with, recalled Travis Powell, a board member of the Lone Pine Film History Museum, which leases about 3 acres of commercial property including an aging rodeo facility. Now, were very interested, depending on the asking price, of course.

About 60 miles to the north, in Bishop, Mike Allen said hes ready to make a deal on the land beneath his business, Sierra Saddlery: Western Wear, Feed and Supplies.

Fifteen years ago, I drew up plans for more office space and a warehouse, said Allen, nodding toward shelves loaded with products ranging from propane tanks to RV parts. Theres so little room left in this place, I do my bills and product orders on the sales counter between customers.

Mike Allen, 63, owner of Allen Outdoor Products, bought his store 19 years ago, but leases the land from the DWP. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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The DWPs current charter requires that its commercial properties be put up for competitive bid in auction before they change ownership. The new proposal, however, would operate under terms of the state Charles Brown Act, which grants lessees right of first refusal before the lease goes out to bid, but applies only if an entity owns more than 50% of private land in another county.

Los Angeles owns about 251,958 acres, or about 89%, of the private land in Inyo County. The undeveloped acreage includes blue-ribbon trout streams, sharp-edged lava cliffs, rugged canyon lands scoured by wind and rain, marshlands and desert plains.

The proposal would exclude sales of DWP properties that include an existing waterway such as a canal, and forbid sales to DWP employees and government agencies, officials said. In addition, a lessee must have operated their business on city land for at least two of the past three years.

It remains to be seen how many DWP parcels change hands in Inyo County, where the department contributes about $20 million annually in property taxes, or about 20% of the county budget.

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The agency has a long history of failed promises  and violent confrontations  in the region.

In 1997, the DWP agreed to relinquish 75 acres in the Owens Valley for residential and commercial uses. But only a handful of lots from those 75 acres have changed hands because the agency tends to set minimum bids far above market value.

In 2004, then-Mayor James K. Hahn proposed an unsuccessful plan to create a land conservancy that would retain the citys water rights but ban any future development on 500 square miles of the Owens River Valley. The move was intended to preserve the regions natural beauty, archaeological sites and general uses: fishing, hunting, hiking and grazing by local ranchers.

John Miller, 68, owner of Millers Towing and Tires, bought the business 38 years ago and leases the property from the DWP. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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In 2010, a DWP proposal to put solar panels on 80 square miles of dry lake bed and flatlands east of the Sierra Nevada range ran into a fatal engineering problem: extremely caustic mud.

Now, the county has launched eminent domain proceedings to take control of a landfill in Bishop it has leased from the agency for decades. That effort was triggered after the DWP in 2017 proposed a new lease that included a fourfold rent increase of more than $20,000 annually and a clause allowing the DWP to terminate the agreement for any reason with 180 days notice.

Then theres John Miller, 68, owner of Millers Towing & Tires, which operates out of a vintage red Quonset hut made of corrugated steel on the southern outskirts of Lone Pine.

Several times over the past 38 years Ive pleaded with the DWP to sell me the land so that I could make a few costly and sorely needed improvements, he said, shaking his head. But their response was just a big fat, No. 

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Watching weekenders speeding past toward ski resorts including Mammoth Mountain, Miller pointed with his thumb over his shoulder and added, If this proposal goes through, first thing Ill do is throw away this building.

Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com

@LouisSahagun
On Tuesday morning, the day after Democratic U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris made her presidential bid official, a fledgling birther conspiracy about her began to take wing on Twitter.

Harris, who happens to be the child of immigrants, was born in Oakland.

Which, you know, is in America.

To some voters, I guess she seems exotic* because she is biracial, the child of an Indian mother and Jamaican father. (*Exotic: Not like us.)

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We live in a country where racism refuses to die, but Harris big challenge is not going to be the color of her skin.

Weve already proven we can elect a black president. Heck, weve already proven we can elect a black, first-term United States senator as president.

But Barack Obama was a man.

Harris challenge will be the same one facing some of the others who have announced their candidacies: U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. It is the same insurmountable obstacle that faced Hillary Clinton in 2008 when she lost the Democratic nomination to Obama.

Harris is a woman.

Like other candidates, Harris will be judged on her record. She will be challenged from the left to explain some of her perceived failures: Why, as California attorney general, did she not prosecute OneWest Bank, whose CEO was future Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, for what her own office described as thousands of foreclosure law violations? Why, as the states top prosecutor, did she refuse to allow DNA testing of a California death row inmate who may be innocent?

But mostly, she will be judged on how she walks the fine line between sounding tough and acting nice. Shell be judged  often unconsciously  on how she speaks, how she interacts with people, and of course, how she looks. (Even Obama, who really should have known better, could not resist calling her by far, the best looking attorney general in the country at a 2013 fundraiser.)

Will Harris be deemed likable enough, the casual insult Obama flung at Hillary in 2008?

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Or will she be undercut with the all-purpose slur that is used against women who are assertive enough to want to be president and narcissistic enough to believe they can win?

You know the one.

It rhymes with witch.

::

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I spent a lot of time during the 2016 campaign and its aftermath thinking about why so many people hated Hillary Clinton.

By any measure  honesty, trustworthiness, integrity, experience, maturity  she towers over the man who beat her.

I know what you are thinking: But her emails! Her lost and found Rose Law Firm files! Her Chicago cattle futures windfall! Her Monica Lewinsky smears!

And to that, I would answer: Yes! She was a flawed candidate with a ton of baggage and a tendency, like all presidential candidates, to shade the truth. (She also got some very bad breaks  an army of Russian trolls spreading lies about her, and a self-serving FBI director whose pointless disclosures hurt her campaign at the end.)

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But I am comparing her to Donald Trump, who lies almost as easily as he breathes, who cheated on his wife with a porn star and a Playmate, then tried to buy their silence using his attorney, who has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the scandal.

Im comparing her to Donald Trump, who is vicious and petty, who has been accused of defrauding innocent students at his faux university, who makes a habit of not paying his bills, whose businesses have been driven into bankruptcy numerous times.

Im comparing her to a man whose close relationship with Russia so alarmed the FBI that it considered investigating whether he is a Russian agent.

And yet throughout the 2016 campaign, one of the loudest refrains about Clinton was as simplistic as it was sexist: I just dont like her.

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The likability trap ensnares high-achieving women in all professions. As descriptions like Ice Queen and Ballbuster can attest, we are deeply uncomfortable with powerful women, wrote the sociologist Marianne Cooper in the Harvard Business Review in 2013. In fact, we often dont really like them.

::

Democrats will be fielding a record number of women, all of whom, it appears, are already serving in Congress. None is a political novice. They understand the forces they are up against, but I am willing to bet they are all in for a shock or two.

Still, I propose an ongoing thought experiment for all of us who are watching the buildup to the 2020 presidential campaign with a mixture of excitement and dread.

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If you hear negative things about a female candidate, ask yourself if the same critique would apply to a man.

Or consider whether the woman in question has been trashed so often by conservative media outlets/Facebook/Twitter/comedians that you have simply internalized the antipathy without questioning it. This, I firmly believe, is what happened to Hillary Clinton, who has been the object of conservative scorn for so long that it is an article of Republican faith that shes a liar.

Bear in mind that women are usually penalized for thinking they are the best choice for a top job  or for asking for more money or better assignments.

Im not saying the world will be a better place when a woman can stand in the spotlight at a nominating convention as Trump did, and declare, I alone can fix it.

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Or when she can feel free to demean a war hero.

Or boast about grabbing mens private parts.

Im just saying the next time you think you dont like a particular woman candidate but cant put your finger on why, the reason might be your own unexamined bias.

robin.abcarian@latimes.com

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Twitter: @AbcarianLAT
Abdu shows a nang in the workshop. (Photo/Xinhua)

A cultural industrial park for Nang (Uyghur baked flatbread) opened in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region last year, lifting over 400 people from southern Xinjiang out of poverty.

22-year-old Abdu Salam is from Yengisar, a southwestern county in Xinjiang. He now works for a factory in the park, earning a salary of 3,000 yuan per month. In addition to earning money at the factory, he is also given the option to learn Chinese for free.

I used to get up at 7 oclock every morning to light the fire. I couldn't leave the stove in case the temperature dropped. My face and clothes all turned black because of the smoke," said Abdu.

Abdu explained that he never imagined he would work in a clean factory that produces nang. He plans to save money to buy a house in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, and get married there.

Adbu and his colleagues make between 6,000 and 7,000 nang each day. The local government helps to sell their products to supermarkets and grocery stores in Urumqi, as well as further afield via the internet.
Glenn Close doesnt need to win an Oscar.

This really needs to be said, out loud and with conviction, possibly several times, as a protection spell against the alarming awards season narrative that followed her outstanding performance in The Wife, for which she did indeed receive an Oscar nomination.

Ever since the films fall debut, and especially after her Golden Globe win (over, gasp, Lady Gaga), a narrative has formed in which Close could win this year even though her film slid beneath the awards radar because, well, she has never won before. And for Close to have been nominated for an Oscar seven times and not win once would be, according to that always just and sympathetic entity conventional wisdom, just plain wrong.

Well, it would be wrong for the academy if she doesnt win this year, but not for Glenn Close.

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The woman has won three Tonys, three Emmys and three Golden Globes. In 1984, she was nominated for a Tony, an Emmy and an Oscar for three separate projects (The Real Thing, Something About Amelia and The Natural.)

She doesnt need an Oscar to prove that she is a master of her profession, virtually unlimited in her range, remarkably courageous in her choices. She has played a cross-dressing Irishman, Cruella de Vil, the only woman to give Michael Douglas what he deserved and Sarah, Plain and Tall with equal power and panache. She made crying in the shower, and handing your husband over for a nights adultery, believable in The Big Chill. She granted women anti-hero status with Damages.

FULL COVERAGE: 2019 Oscar nominations 

Indeed, decades before it was acceptable in Hollywood, she moved between film, stage and television in roles that were often startling but rarely showy (though you cant do Cruella or Sunset Boulevard without a little showy).

Should she have won for The World According to Garp over Jessica Lange in Tootsie? Probably. For Fatal Attraction instead of Cher for Moonstruck or for Albert Nobbs over Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady? Maybe.

Should she win this year for The Wife over Lady Gaga in A Star is Born or Olivia Colman in The Favorite?

Yup, but not because she is owed or needs an Oscar.

She should win because her performance was riveting, subtle and painfully naked in a film that explores the difficulties women face when pursuing a creative career, and not just the obvious ones.

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In The Wife, adapted by Jane Anderson from Meg Wolitzers novel, Close plays Joan Castleman, whom we meet as the quiet power behind Great American Writer Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce). Joe is precisely that figure of yarn-spinning, dinner-party charm threaded with arrogant self-deprecation and carefully curated self-doubt that we have come to expect from men of genius, especially in movies.

Joan meanwhile quietly keeps everything moving and, spoiler alert, writes the books.

Glenn Close earned her seventh Oscar nomination Tuesday for The Wife. (Michael Nagle / For The Times)

RELATED: Glenn Close reflects on her 7th Oscar nomination and that spontaneous Globes speech 

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The movie, with the exception of Closes performance, was received kindly if a little coolly. It is not the way Hollywood likes to tell these sorts of stories. It is not Norma Rae or Out of Africa. Joan is not an activist or a pioneer; she is a writer. Early on, she accepts that she will not be taken seriously, as Joe is, in large part because she is a woman but also because she does not have the talent for self-promotion that he has.

One can argue that the first bit (shes a woman) ensures the second bit, and another story, and most certainly another movie, would pit Joan against those social forces (see please Colette). Another story would have made her a more typical heroine who not only reveals herself as the writer of the award-winning novels but also stands up on tables or wears amazing hats and inevitably changes the world.

Instead we have the story of a woman who has made many compromises to ensure that she never had to make the biggest one: She has been able to write exactly as she chose and see those books published, honored and praised. She does not appear to need the adulation her husband craves, so she has managed to convince herself it all worked out OK.

Only now she is older, and with Joe is being given the Nobel, she realizes the injustice of it all, feels the excruciating pain of realizing not just that she has denied herself credit but that even her husband values the myth of the Great American Writer over the reality.

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She has sold short not only herself but her marriage and, perhaps most important, her art.

It is telling that the best actress category is filled with characters trapped by social expectations: Melissa McCarthys misanthropic and marketing-averse Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Olivia Colmans tragic-comic Queen Anne in The Favorite; Yalitza Aparicios sex- and class-confined domestic worker in Roma. Even the triumph of Lady Gagas Ally comes at an emotional cost.

But Close tells Joans epic internal journey, and the meaningful social one, with few of the typical narrative conventions and relatively minimal dialogue. Throughout the film, her face and body perform a symphony of emotion with the smallest movement. Answering a phone, taking her husbands coat, staring out a car window, reacting to applause  in fleet seconds, Close reveals, with heart-wrenching clarity, more of the reverberating damage done by a society in which only a certain type of person is encouraged to achieve than most performers manage in an entire movie.

To undercut such a feat by suggesting that her nomination or win is based on anything but her performance in The Wife is just more painful proof of the films central truth: that we only recognize excellence when it comes wrapped in a certain kind of package.

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Glenn Close doesnt need an Oscar to prove anything; shes already proved it. But an institution that purports to reward excellence most certainly needs to give her one. For The Wife.

calendar@latimes.com
After an extensive audition process to cast a young Tony Soprano, James Gandolfinis son, Michael Gandolfini, has landed the role of the iconic mobster-to-be in The Sopranos prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark.

James Gandolfini, of course, originated the role of the crime-family boss for the groundbreaking HBO series, which collected dozens of awards during its run from 1999 to 2007 and celebrated its 20-year anniversary this month. He died unexpectedly in 2013 at age 51.

Its a profound honor to continue my dads legacy while stepping into the shoes of a young Tony Soprano, Michael Gandolfini said in a statement to The Times on Wednesday. Im thrilled that I am going to have the opportunity to work with David Chase and the incredible company of talent he has assembled for The Many Saints of Newark.

The Sopranos at 20: Melfi, Carmela, Livia  the women of HBOs mobster epic made it magic 

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The young Gandolfini is best known for his starring role in HBOs The Deuce, in which he plays Joe, the son of Bobby Dwyer (Chris Bauer).

Though details about New Line Cinemas The Many Saints of Newark have been scant, the prequel will be set amid the deadly Newark riots that erupted between rival Italian and African American mobsters in the 1960s. Some beloved characters from the television series are also expected to reappear.

The prequel will also star Alessandro Nivola, Vera Farmiga, Jon Bernthal, Billy Magnussen and Corey Stoll.

Sopranos creator David Chase will again co-write and co-produce the ensemble drama with Lawrence Konner. The film will be directed by Emmy winner Alan Taylor, who has helmed several episodes of The Sopranos, HBOs fantasy-epic Game of Thrones and Thor: The Dark World.

Follow me: @NardineSaad
Alyssa Milano was swiftly criticized on Twitter after comparing President Trumps red Make America Great Again hats to the white hoods of the Ku Klux Klan. And now shes planning to write an op-ed to address the brewing backlash.

Her initial tweet, which was shared on Sunday, appeared to reference the confrontations that erupted around a Kentucky teenager and a Native American elder at overlapping marches at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington over the weekend, a flashpoint that had been mischaracterized in the media and on social media.

The red MAGA hat is the new white hood. Without white boys being able to empathize with other people, humanity will continue to destroy itself #FirstThoughtsWhenIWakeUp, the actress-activist wrote.

The red MAGA hat is the new white hood.



Without white boys being able to empathize with other people, humanity will continue to destroy itself. #FirstThoughtsWhenIWakeUp  Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 20, 2019

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The Charmed alum, who often heartily voices her distaste for the Trump administration, appeared to be referencing high schooler Nick Sandmanns pro-Trump headgear and initial criticism the teenager received for apparently mocking 64-year-old Nathan Phillips.

The events were widely debated by Twitter users, who also accused Milano of jumping to conclusions and being color blind, and led to many people of color sharing their affinities to the Trump-supporting headgear.

And as the unrest from the antiabortion March for Life and Indigenous Peoples March came into focus when new videos contextualizing the events surfaced, Milano drew further scrutiny for her words.

Please get the whole story, one user told Milano. These kids did not start this.

In fact, additional footage showed that there were other groups potentially inciting tension and that Sandmann was trying to de-escalate it. By Monday, Milano addressed the larger debate, particularly the aspects that relate to abortion, but that didnt appear to defuse the situation.

Lets not forget  this entire event happened because a group of boys went on a school-sanctioned trip to protest against a womans right to her own body and reproductive healthcare. It is not debatable that bigotry was at play from the start, she wrote, further elaborating with her own views on abortion.

There isnt a side in this debate that isnt pro-life. I am pro-life. I am also pro-choice. Those calling me an infant killer are anti-choice. Once again, your religious beliefs do not carry more weight than scientific facts and my physical autonomy, she added.

Lets not forgetthis entire event happened because a group of boys went on a school-sanctioned trip to protest against a womans right to her own body and reproductive healthcare. It is not debatable that bigotry was at play from the start.  Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 21, 2019

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She was then accused of moving the goalpost.

The savvy social-media star appeared to take the backlash in stride though, even posting reports about how it played out when she addressed the controversy again on Tuesday.

Apparently, Im in hot water and facing backlash. So...Im going to do what any thoughtful human with a platform would do...write an op-ed. Stay tuned, she tweeted.

As of Wednesday morning, no such op-ed had been published.

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Actor Alec Baldwin pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment on Wednesday following a November dust-up over a parking spot, and later talked about it on Twitter.

The 30 Rock star appeared in a New York City courtroom where he agreed to complete a one-day anger management class to resolve the violation, the lowest level of offense, according to the Associated Press. If he completes the class, the case record will be sealed, AP reported.

Baldwin, 60, was arrested in New York City on Nov. 2 and charged with assault and harassment after allegedly punching a man over a parking dispute in front of his Manhattan apartment building, police said at the time. However, Baldwin said he did not punch the man during the argument. It didnt happen, he tweeted Wednesday.

On Twitter, the Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live star blasted the media spotlight on the incident and sought to clarify a few points, particularly those initial reports that accused him of throwing a punch.

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At the Criminal Court bldg on Centre Street, I pled guilty to a charge of harassment, a violation. In that bldg today there are 3 murder trials scheduled, one involving a white supremacist who killed someone in Times Square, the outspoken star tweeted. All the press was outside the courtroom I was in.

[T]the press reported that I punched someone. That is untrue, and that is a serious charge. A man was punched in NY recently and died, he wrote, adding [N]othing that resembles justice ever enters or leaves any courtroom in this country.

1- At the Criminal Court bldg on Centre Street, I pled guilty to a charge of harassment, a violation.

In that bldg today there are 3 murder trials scheduled, one involving a white supremacist who killed someone in Times Square.

All the press was outside the courtroom I was in.  HABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) January 23, 2019

2- the press reported that I punched someone. That is untrue, and that is a serious charge. A man was punched in NY recently and died.

(https://t.co/uz6mpohmlH)  HABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) January 23, 2019

3- nothing that resembles justice ever enters or leaves any courtroom in this country.  HABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) January 23, 2019

4- The vermin at Fox News continues to tell a story about an alleged punch.



There are three cameras in front of my bldg.



It didnt happen.  HABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) January 23, 2019

Follow me: @NardineSaad
The first thing I learned about John Mason, who died Sunday at 91, was that he made big things out of clay. Very big things. Rough, abstract sculptures and walls that had to be fired inside a walk-in kiln. Artworks that required the strength of more than one man to move.

That was the basic art-world truth about Mason in the early 1960s, and I got the message long before I met the man. Although I saw his early, breakthrough work, we lived in different parts of the country for about 20 years, including his decade in New York from 1974 to 1984. But my interest in his art never waned, and I eventually made up for lost time conducting interviews, making studio visits, reviewing his exhibitions and writing an essay on him for a book.



For the record: An earlier version of this article misstated John Masons age at the time of his death. He was 91, not 92.

The wait was worth it. This, after all, was the guy who joined forces with Peter Voulkos and other adventurous artists at the Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design) in the mid-1950s and helped to lead a revolution in clay.

Suddenly, it seemed in those days, clay was hot  and cool. No longer restricted to utilitarian objects and fussy decoration, clay could be pushed to its physical and expressive limits. Best of all, it didnt have to be craft; it could be art. And that made clay irresistible to a variety of artists, most notably men who had resisted craft-rooted media as the stuff of hobbyists but were drawn to the idea of breaking boundaries and ripping up rules.

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John Masons Geometric Form, Dark, 1966, 59 inches by 43 inches by 25 inches. (Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery / American Museum of Ceramic Art)

Mason credited Voulkos, who has a god-like presence in the history of ceramics, and Susan Peterson, who taught ceramics at Chouinard Art Institute, just a few blocks from Otis, with pushing him to make art his own way.

I had a studio, and I had access to the materials and the equipment, he told me in a series of interviews at his downtown L.A. studio in 2002. It was like, heres the challenge: Mix up a ton of clay and go to work. To make it happen, for me, was to make sculptural pieces and to make big walls. There were no prescriptions for any of this that I knew about. It was, do it and see if it works. And if it doesnt work, change it and make it work.

Among the results were walls that stand 7 or 8 feet tall and stretch out 14 or 15 feet. Composed of rugged tiles or overlapping strips of clay, they can feel like stately barriers, masses of natural forms or the imprint of an artist with energy to burn.

Although Voulkos would always be revered as the catalyst of the revolution, Mason became known for transforming clay into expressive art on a grand scale. In Los Angeles, he came into public view in 1966, when his work filled the plaza of the year-old Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard. The critically acclaimed, star attraction was Red X, a red-glazed sculpture measuring nearly 5 feet square and 17 inches thick, which landed in the museums permanent collection.

John Masons Red X, 1966, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. (Museum Associates)

A few years later, Mason revealed remarkable versatility by building modular installations of firebrick. Hudson River Series, an exhibition of firebrick works individually designed for museums nationwide, introduced him to a broader audience in the 1970s. Then, in the mid-1980s, he returned to clay and developed ideas for hard-edge, twisted forms made of smooth slabs.

The breadth and volume of Masons art and the huge industrial space where he worked and lived with his wife, Vernita, and their children, created an image of an independent tough guy, which he was. But as those who knew him well understood, Mason was much more than that.

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When I met him, I was shocked that he was not a giant hulk of a man. He was compact  just as tall and stocky and muscular as he needed to be. He was also unusually contained, like the chunky cross shapes and Spears from the 1960s. Somehow he seemed to embody the quiet, purely natural force that resonates from his work.

Mason, photographed at age 69 in his studio surrounded by his work. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

If it doesnt work, change it and make it work. Artist John Mason

His interior being was far more complex. Soft-spoken, thoughtful and well-read, he could seem incomprehensibly taciturn to his students at Pomona College in Claremont, at UC Irvine and at Hunter College in New York.

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Often language gets in the way of understanding form and space or pattern, but the challenge for me as a teacher was to use both, he told me. I always liked teaching, just for that simple reason.

Stories about Masons long pauses, followed by thought-provoking remarks, abound among his former students. But many  including James Turrell and the late Chris Burden, internationally renowned artists who studied with Mason at Pomona  admired him as a man of few words who taught by simply being a real artist and letting them learn from their own mistakes.

As I plied Mason with questions over the years, I got to know a man who was born in Madrid, Neb., spent his late childhood and teenage years on a farm in western Nevada and headed for Los Angeles in 1949. I had a great desire to learn about art but not much opportunity to discover or explore, he said. There were no artists or galleries or art museums. Still, I had great curiosity about what potential that field might have for me. I knew there was another world out there.

The last time I saw him, on Sept. 15, 2018, he was in his element, seated in a wheelchair at the opening of Meditation on Material: John Masons Firebrick Installations, his final exhibition, at Scripps College in Claremont. His assessment: Its good.

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Red hanging lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government.

Colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that also could improve ties with China and, importantly, attract an influx of international students paying full tuition.



For the record: This story says there are five Confucius Institutes in California. There are seven. The list left out UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Long Beach.

But U.S. officials are taking aim at Confucius and other Chinese government-supported programs, warning that universities have unwittingly exposed themselves to undue influence or even espionage efforts from Americas major political and economic rival. (At a dinner with business leaders in August, Trump reportedly stated that most Chinese students in the United States are spies.)

Last fall, four congressional investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, seeking detailed information about the program  including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements  that university administrators have kept confidential since the institute opened in 2004.

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Amid a rise in Chinese cybertheft, officials have stepped up pressure on administrators to take greater precautions to guard against efforts to steal American technologies and research data.

The push, including the Senate investigation and a separate examination by Congress Government Accountability Office, reflects the broad shift in U.S. relations with China to one that has become more confrontational in recent years.

Robert Daly, former director for the University of Marylands initiatives on China, dismissed as nonsensical the suggestion that Confucius Institutes are hotbeds of espionage. But he and other experts agree that they clearly are instruments of the Chinese government.

Many university presidents, Daly said, went into the ventures believing that hosting a Confucius Institute would enable them to raise development dollars from China. Instead, he said, what they find is that it doesnt create leverage for them, but leverage for the Chinese Communist Party.  If the university does something that the Chinese Communist Party disapproves of, they may withdraw Confucius Institute funding.

Opponents of the institutes  five are in California: at UCLA, Stanford, UC Davis, San Diego State and San Francisco State  also argue that the programs give Beijing a toehold in prominent American academic communities to influence attitudes and censor discussions of subjects sensitive to China, such as the Dalai Lama, Taiwan and human rights.

But some see the dark purpose as coming from the U.S. government.

Its such Red Scare tactics, said Margaret Pearson, a political science professor at Maryland who specializes in Chinas political economy.

The university refused to make Confucius officials available for comment. They also declined to allow The Times to view financial information about the program or its memorandum of understanding with Hanban, an agency under Beijings Education Ministry that funds the institute.

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According to experts, there is no credible evidence that China uses Confucius Institutes as a front for espionage or other illegal activities. Members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and its staff and special counsel would not comment about the inquiry.

However, scrutiny of Chinas efforts on college campuses has increased on many fronts.

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray warned universities last February not to be naive about Chinese spies in their midst and said the Confucius Institutes were on his radar. Vice President Mike Pence, in an October speech, accused Beijing of using organizations on campuses to monitor students for anti-China speech or activities.

Congress added a provision in the Defense Departments 2019 funding bill that includes a restriction on foreign-language grants to universities that host a Confucius Institute. And a number of lawmakers, notably Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), have pushed for U.S. universities to cut ties with Confucius centers. Several schools in Florida and Texas, and most recently the University of Michigan, have moved to do so.

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Named after the ancient philosopher-sage, the Confucius Institute was conceived by Beijing as a Chinese version of Alliance Francaise and Germanys Goethe-Institut. The Confucius Institute launched in Seoul in 2004, and later that year China signed its first U.S. agreement with the University of Marylands flagship campus in College Park.

Today there are more than 500 Confucius Institutes around the world. The average program in the U.S. receives about $150,000 to $200,000 a year from Chinas Hanban agency, said Gao Qing, director of the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, a kind of public relations and national support office for the institutes in Washington.

U.S. colleges also contribute offices and funds for operating the centers on their campuses.

Some public information is available through reports filed with the Department of Education, which requires colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts and contracts of $250,000 or more in any given year. But the data can be sketchy, with some schools simply identifying the donor by country and others avoiding the disclosure threshold by having part of the funds transferred to a separate entity like a university foundation.

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Gao said that Confucius programs have no agenda other than to promote the study of Chinese language and culture.

The Confucius Institute program is benefiting the American people, no matter youre pro-China or anti-China, he said. If you want to fight with China, you need people who can speak Chinese. And American education system is so lacking in funding.

Gauging how much influence the institutes have on campuses is difficult.

At Maryland, professors remember that not long after the institute opened, a Confucius staff member questioned whether Taiwan-China relations should be part of a conference, given that it could upset the Chinese Embassy. That discussion went on anyway.

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And when the Dalai Lama came to the school in 2013, the Confucius Institute pushed for a speaker from the Chinese Embassy to be scheduled about the same time to offer what turned out to be a counterpoint critical of the Tibetan leader, whom Beijing sees as a threat to its rule in that region.

I saw it as a good opportunity for students to hear from both sides, said Scott Kastner, a professor in the department of government and politics, adding that Marylands Confucius program is low-key and doesnt have much influence on campus.

At George Mason, a public university based in Fairfax, Va., financial records and program details obtained through the Virginia Public Records Act show how the Confucius Institute has expanded on that campus and been used as a marketing tool and platform for outreach to the community. (The University of Maryland cited significant costs and possible delays in responding to a similar records request.)

In its first year of operation in 2009, George Masons Confucius program received $341,350 from Hanban, which was also responsible for providing teachers and a Confucius Institute co-director from George Masons partner university, Beijing Language and Culture University. Since then, annual funds from Hanban have ranged from $139,501 to $635,101.

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In addition to language courses, George Masons Confucius Institute has supported or hosted adult education programs, as well as activities at local schools, museums and galleries. In October, George Mason extended its partnership with China for five more years.

Amid increasing scrutiny and political pressure, however, a number of universities, including Tufts in Massachusetts, are considering whether to continue their Confucius centers. Others say they have taken steps to safeguard academic integrity.

For major universities, its less about the funds Hanban provides than about the threat of soured relations with China and how that could influence the schools ability to recruit top-notch talent  as well as international students who pay full tuition.

There are more than 400,000 Chinese students and scholars at U.S. colleges and universities, nearly a fifth of those in California. One out of 10 freshmen accepted for the fall 2017 class at UC Berkeley was an international student. And as is the case for colleges overall, about one-third of Berkeleys foreign students are from China.

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In 2010, Hanban made a one-time gift to Stanford University of $4 million for a Confucius Institute, an amount matched by the university to fund an endowed professorship in Chinese culture and to support graduate fellowships, conferences and other programs.

Hanban doesnt have a say in the choice of scholars or the graduate fellowships, said Richard Saller, Stanfords dean of humanities and sciences who oversees the universitys Confucius Institute.

Because the Hanban contribution is an irrevocable gift, they have no leverage to infringe academic freedom at Stanford, Saller said in an email. Nor have they tried.

U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation 

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As protesters fill streets of Venezuela, Trump recognizes opposition leader as rightful president 

don.lee@latimes.com

Follow me at @dleelatimes
As if going without pay during the month-long partial government shutdown isnt enough, thousands of federal workers are dealing with another financial indignity: servicing debt on government-issued credit cards.

They are receiving credit card bills  for which they are personally responsible  for work-related expenses they incurred before the shutdown, but they cant get reimbursed because their agencies are mostly closed and funds are frozen.

Its just crazy what were having to put up with, said Michael Gonzales, a regional vice president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, which represents Federal Aviation Administration inspectors. Something has to be done here. Its just bizarre.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of several companies issuing government credit cards, will shield employees from downgrades to their credit scores for late payments, spokesman Thomas Kelly said.

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We dont charge late fees or interest on those cards, and have been telling that to the employees, Kelly said. We also have told them to pay us once they get reimbursed.

Thats consistent with the agreement issuers have with the government, but it hasnt eliminated the concerns of Gonzales members. Some of his members, who are often required to travel for work, dont have the savings to pay the bills, he said.

The number of federal employees who have received such bills at closed agencies is probably in the tens of thousands, said an official with the American Federation of Government Employees union who asked not to be named because he wasnt authorized to speak about the issue. Almost all agencies now insist that employees put work credit cards in their own names and pay the bills themselves.

One FAA air-traffic controller said he had recently paid a $2,000 bill for government travel because he feared he could run afoul of agency and bank rules. The controller, who asked not to be named because agency rules prohibit him from speaking to the media, said he doesnt know when hell be reimbursed.

More than a dozen major departments and agencies are without funds and have mostly sent employees home on furlough since Dec. 22 as a result of a dispute over whether to fund a wall on the border with Mexico. In some cases, such as Transportation Security Administration airport screeners, employees have been declared essential and are being told to report for work without pay. The number of U.S. airport screeners who took unscheduled absences rose to 10% on Sunday, more than triple the rate of a year ago.

Attempts to reach officials with the General Services Administration, which helped set up the federal worker credit card system, were unsuccessful. The GSA is one of the agencies that is shut down.

Although no data is available on the total government-employee credit card balances since the shutdown began, government data suggests it could total many millions of dollars. Across all of government, employees spent an average of $673 million a month on travel-related purposes in 2016, according to GSA.

Citigroup Inc.s Citibank and U.S. Bancorps U.S. Bank also issue cards under the program, according to GSAs website.

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The banks are required to have a plan for a government shutdown under their contracts. It requires that employees shall not be assessed finance charges, aged delinquent, suspended, or canceled by the contractor during the government-wide shutdown, GSA said on its website.

Despite those assurances, employees at multiple agencies interviewed by Bloomberg reported theyd been given a variety of sometimes contradictory guidance, or no guidance at all, on how to handle the expense bills.

At the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the TSA that monitors airport security at scores of airports across the country, employees believe they are responsible for paying the bills even though they cant be reimbursed until after the shutdown, one official said.

At a division of the FAA that oversees aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing Co., whose employees must frequently travel to U.S. and overseas locations, the agency was able to find money to reimburse several people who had been on trips shortly before the shutdown, said Scott Odle, head of the local union representing the workforce.

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However, as some of those employees have begun to be recalled without pay, new questions are arising about how the agency will reimburse them for travel incurred during the shutdown, Odle said. He represents about 700 people under the umbrella of the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. union.

FAA managers have arranged for the agency to pay directly for large expenses, such as airfare and hotel bills, so employees arent liable on their personal cards, he said. However, its not clear how smaller incidental charges will be handled.

That doesnt eliminate every charge that goes on the employees card, he said.
Verizon Communications Inc. is cutting 7% of its media staff, part of a bid to overhaul a struggling operation that includes the former online icons AOL and Yahoo.

The cuts would represent about 800 jobs at the division, which previously went by Oath. Verizon dropped that short-lived name, which was ridiculed on social media, this month. Some of the staff cuts will come from consolidating various business units, including Yahoo Mail, which will be folded into Yahoo Home.

Our goal is to create the best experiences for our consumers and the best platforms for our customers, Bob Varettoni, a Verizon spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday. Today marks a strategic step toward better execution of our plans for growth and innovation into the future.

Verizon had set out to turn a patchwork of dot-com brands into a thriving online-advertising business, but it has been scaling back its ambitions. Last month it wrote down the business by $4.6 billion. That erased almost half the value of the entity, which also houses the Huffington Post and other websites.

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The carrier also extended buyouts last year to 10,400 employees as part of a $10-billion cost-cutting program.

The task of reinvigorating Verizon Media Group falls to Guru Gowrappan, who inherited the role from AOL veteran Tim Armstrong. The business has been working on making its ads business engaging and pursuing other concepts such as more personalized publishing.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the job cuts, saying the business would focus more on mobile and video-focused products.
The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday after a drone sighting. Some operations had resumed as of early evening.

One or more drones were spotted north of the New Jersey hub at an altitude of 3,500 feet around 5 p.m. Eastern time, FAA spokesman Greg Martin said. The aircraft were seen over nearby Teterboro airport, a business-aviation facility north of Newark.

The ground stop at Newark stoked fears of growing drone disruptions at major airports as U.S. regulators seek to expand civilian flights of unmanned aircraft while tightening security. In Britain, Londons Gatwick airport was closed for more than a day last month after drone sightings. The citys Heathrow airport briefly shut down earlier this month when drone sightings near its runways raised safety concerns.

We are monitoring reports of drone activity, which the FAA is investigating, United Airlines, the largest carrier at Newark, said in an email. The impact to our operations has been minimal so far. We are working closely with the airport and the FAA to return our operations to normal as quickly as possible.

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Takeoffs later restarted at Newark, while arrivals are still being slowed to ease the congestion caused by the initial halt.

The incidents in London and Newark highlight a growing problem with drones: the potential for massive disruptions of commercial air travel by their mere presence.

The U.S. government is drafting proposals that would track drones and identify their users in real time, but the rules are years away from becoming finalized. Regulators last week unveiled a long-awaited set of proposals that would regulate drone flights  critical steps for an industry seeking to expand into robot aerial deliveries and scores of other commercial uses in populated areas.

The FAA has recorded hundreds of sightings of drones by pilots, including at Newark and other major commercial airports. There has been one confirmed collision between a drone and a traditional aircraft, an Army helicopter that suffered minor damage in 2016.
The titanic battle over media mogul Sumner Redstones mental state ended with a whimper in a nearly empty Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday.

More than three years after the mental acuity of the billionaire from Boston was challenged by his former live-in companion  who filed a lawsuit that exposed Redstones declining health and the tawdry inner workings of his empire  a judge entered a decision that the Redstone family has long sought.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan rebuffed Redstones legal antagonist, Manuela Herzer. Cowan signed off on a hard-fought settlement reached this month with the Redstone family. Herzer promised to repay Redstone $3.25 million for some of the gifts she had received over the years and also end a barrage of lawsuits.

Cowan approved changes that were made to Redstones personal estate plan in October 2015 and May 2016, memorializing how the 95-year-old media mogul would like his personal assets divvied up after he is gone. And Cowan also appointed a guardian ad litem (the same person who once looked after pop star Britney Spears) to monitor Redstones affairs and care.

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This proceeding is now concluded, Cowan said during the 15-minute hearing.

With the ruling, which was expected, Cowan affirmed the Redstone familys position that the media mogul continues to understand whats going on around him. Cowan noted that in the fall of 2015, when the wrangling began, Redstone was on top of how much money he had, even when a doctor examining him seemed confused.

The bulk of Redstones wealth is tied up in the familys controlling stakes in CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc., but his personal property could be worth as much as $150 million, according to court records.

His 15,355-square-foot Mediterranean mansion in Beverly Park remains one of his primary assets. The home, with sweeping views of Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles Basin, is next door to Sylvester Stallones.

Redstone has been in declining health for several years. Since losing the ability to speak, he has used an iPad with buttons for yes and no to communicate. Because of that disability, Cowan in December ruled that Redstone was incapacitated.

However, Cowan stopped short of deeply delving into questions of Redstones current mental soundness.

The famously combative executive has changed his original 2003 estate plan dozens of times, drafting new amendments as family members, girlfriends and others fell in and out of his favor.

The version approved Wednesday included the 40th and 41st amendments to the Sumner Murray Redstone Trust.

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Mr. Redstone had sufficient capacity to execute the two amendments, Cowan wrote in his order.

With so much wealth at stake, Redstones attorneys sought to have a judge verify the most recent changes in the hopes of warding off potential legal challenges in the years to come.

Herzer, a former girlfriend who remained in Redstones orbit years after their romance ended, was kicked out of the billionaires mansion in October 2015 and written out of his will. In the 40th amendment, Herzer was expunged from his estate plan. The 41st amendment made housekeeping changes.

Herzers attempt to restore her standing began with a lawsuit in November 2015  a case that ultimately exposed Redstones failing health, questions about his mental capacity and other tawdry secrets: female escorts called to his mansion to entertain him, stock sales to generate millions of dollars that he lavished on girlfriends, and how the once-fearsome mogul was prone to crying spells.

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Neither Herzer nor her attorneys were in court Wednesday. Only two of Redstones attorneys, and his new guardian, Samuel Ingham, were present.

After three years of litigation, Mr. Redstone is grateful for todays court confirmation of his capacity to execute his estate plan, and of his free will in doing so, one of his attorneys, Gabrielle Vidal of Loeb & Loeb, said in a statement. Now all he needs is a Patriots win.

meg.james@latimes.com

Twitter: @MegJamesLAT
(Photo/Xinhua)

Chinas GDP hit the 90-trillion-yuan mark for the first time in 2018, growing by nearly 8 trillion yuan in a year.

Here are seven keywords that can define both the achievements and changes of Chinas economic performance over the last year.

New momentum

Chinas GDP growth hit a new low of 6.6 percent in 2018, its lowest since 1990. However, both the quality and efficiency of the countrys economy were improved.

The service sector accounted for 52.2 percent of the countrys total GDP, and the growth of the sector was 1.8 percent higher than that of the secondary industry. Additionally, value added by the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 11.7 percent last year, accounting for 13.9 percent of industrial enterprises above the designated size. The figure was even higher in some coastal areas.

To be more specific, Chinas high-tech manufacturing industry, emerging strategic industries, and equipment manufacturing industry saw growth of 11.7, 8.9 and 8.1 percent, respectively.

The absolute GDP growth is not the only thing that matters, and the internal structure of the economy is also crucial in the current economic environment, said chief macroeconomic researcher Zhang Wei from Kunlun Health Insurance Companys asset management department.

Real estate market

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Chinas real estate sector saw a total investment of over 12 trillion yuan in 2018, up 9.5 percent from the previous year. Nearly 1.7 billion square meters of housing was sold, 1.3 percent more than in 2017.

Ni Pengfei, director of the Center for City and Competitiveness at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Chinas real estate market reached the regulation target, and was stabilizing.

Ni predicted that the regulatory policies would remain almost the same in 2019, though minor adjustments might be made based on market variations. Stability would still be the general trend in 2019, he added.

Investment

China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) grew 5.9 percent year-on-year to nearly 63.6 trillion yuan in 2018. 39.4 trillion yuan of the total FAI came from private investment, up 8.7 percent, 2.7 percentage points higher than 2017.

Director of the Institute of Research at the Ministry of Finance Jia Kang recognized this 8.7-percent growth in private investment. However, he pointed out that given the downward trend of investment growth, investment from the government and state-owned sectors must have also experienced a downturn. This growth was expected to be lower than 5.9 percent, he added.

Non-private investment can unleash potential, and China has already done an excellent job in the positioning and necessary adjustment of its macro policies, such as proactive fiscal policies, as well as its adequately managed monetary policies.

It is necessary for China to further expand its domestic market through investment, Jia added.

Consumption

Chinas total retail sales of consumer goods stood at nearly 38.1 trillion yuan last year, up 9 percent from 2017.

Final consumption contributed 76.2 percent to Chinas GDP growth, 18.6 percentage points more than in 2017.

The slight decrease of resident income and the transition from consumption of goods to services were the primary reasons for the slowing growth of total retail sales of consumer goods, explained Wang Qing, the chief macro analyzer of a Chinese credit rating agency.

In 2018, consumer spending in urban areas rose 6.8 percent. This opposing trend suggests a rapid increase in residents service consumption.

Taxation

After a large-scale tax reduction, Chinas tax revenue expanded by 9.5 percent in 2018. Growth would have been more substantial were it not for the tax cut, said Liu Jianwen, a professor at Peking University Law School.

The growth decreased throughout 2018, from 16.8 percent in the first four months of 2018 to 5.2 percent during the rest of the year. Moreover, over 1.5 trillion yuan of tax was refunded by China last year, 9.7 percent more than in 2017. These have all reflected the effects of Chinas tax reduction.

Liu noted that China would adopt a more substantial tax cut in 2019 to promote economic development.

Unemployment rate

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 13.61 million urban jobs were created last year, 100,000 more than in 2017. That figure has now remained above 13 million for six straight years.

By December 2018, the urban unemployment rate in 31 big cities stood at 4.7 percent, down 0.2 percentage points compared with 2017. 4.4 percent of the main working group, those between the age of 25 and 29, were unemployed.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Commerces International Market Research Institute, explained that China had maintained a relatively low unemployment rate of around 5 percent. The figure is generally 6.6 percent in developed countries and 5.5 percent in developing countries, he noted.

He attributed the performance to Chinas mass entrepreneurship and innovation, its advantages as the worlds factory, as well as the rising of emerging industries, including the service sector and information industry.

Birth rate

Chinas total population stood at 1.395 billion at the end of 2018, increasing 5.3 million from a year ago. 15.23 million people were born last year, with a birth rate of 10.94 per thousand, down from 12.43 per thousand in 2017.

With 9.93 million deaths, the natural population growth rate stood at 3.81 per thousand, a dip from 5.32 per thousand the year before.

China's demographic dividend still exists, and there is no need to over-interpret a dip in the population growth rate or birth rate, said Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics.

Ning said China has a workforce pool of about 900 million people, with over 700 million of them currently in employment.
Over the next few weeks, more than 120 million people will converge at the confluence of three rivers, the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Sarasvati, in the northern Indian city of Prayagraj for a Hindu pilgrimage. This years Kumbh Mela is expected to be one of the largest-ever gatherings of people in history. Devout Hindus travel from all over the world for the pilgrimage, packing into a 15-square-mile temporary town built within the ancient city previously known as Allahabad until a name change in 2018, waiting for a turn to take a ritual dip in what many consider one of the holiest places along the holiest of rivers.

Accounts of India by British colonials and foreign contemporary writers alike have highlighted the contrasts  or contradictions, as some would have it  embodied by the Ganges and its place in the firmament of the Hindu gods and religious belief. The river, considered the earthly embodiment of Vishnu, is where devout Hindus go to be blessed and where they go to die. If being cremated on its banks is not an option, then taking a pilgrimage to dip in its waters can suffice for a lifetime. But outsiders often balk at the notion that such polluted water can offer anything approaching salvation.

Hindu devotees taking a holy dip at Sangam  the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers  during the auspicious bathing day of Makar Sankranti at the Kumbh Mela in the town formerly known as Allahabad. (AFP/Getty Images)

The Hindus counted their beads and prayed, made ritual gestures, ducked under the sacred slime, drank, and were moved on by the police to make room for another installment of the patient million, Aldous Huxley wrote in his 1926 travel journal, The Jesting Pilate of the scene at the ghats  the stairs leading to the waterway  alongside the river in the ancient city of Varanasi. But if Indias British colonizers were often dismissive of the mass pilgrimages to the river, they were in their own way in awe of its water.

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A Hindu holy man dances holding a mace as he arrives for a ritualistic dip on auspicious Makar Sankranti day Jan. 15 during the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj. (Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press)

Ganges water was a beverage of choice in the 16th and 17th centuries for sailors making their way from India to the Netherlands or England. Water from the river simply didnt go bad, even when it was packed away in the hold of a ship for months on end. Emperor Akbar, who ruled Mughal India in the 16th and early 17th centuries, felt similarly, and he supposedly drank water only from the Ganges. Not only would water from the Ganges keep on a long sea voyage but it also has the profound chemical ability to cleanse. As UC Davis history professor Sudipta Sen details in Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River, cholera microbes have a 48-hour lifespan in distilled water, but persist for just three in the rivers waters, thanks to high levels of a bacteria-killing virus called bacteriophage.

The ruins of the Mulagandhakuti Vihara near the Dhameka Stupa, Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, featured in Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River. (Sudipta Sen)

The Ganga as a deity is very much alive to this day. Sudipta Sen

If theres a contradiction, its that theres some scientific basis to the belief in the Ganges curative powers. Its one of many examples of faith and myth overlapping with reality that Sen examines in Ganges, an all-encompassing history of the river, its ecologies and the people who have lived alongside it for millenniums. In examining the traditions of animism that are at the foundation of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism alike  not to mention the raw power of the rushing river to both give life and violently take it away  Sen shows how it has played an integral role in shaping the geography, economy and spiritual life of civilization across the 300,000 square miles of the Ganges plain and throughout thousands and thousands of years. The river might not be a god, but it can certainly appear like one at times.

The tomb of Zafar Khan Ghazi, Tribeni, West Bengal, early 13th century, featured in Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River. (Sudipta Sen)

Sen begins by differentiating Vedic myths from the archaeological record, detailing what life likely looked like in the upper Ganges going back into the second millennium BC. Much of the concrete detail is extrapolated from the various layers of pottery shards and metal fragments found in mounds along the rivers edge. The relatively younger age of iron tools found at archaeological sites pushes and pulls on many facets of the the long-accepted narratives of epics like the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita, ultimately telling a more complicated, more true story of the prehistory on the Ganges plain. But as there are more historical accounts to rely on as various kingdoms were built up and battled over control of the river, the details of dynasty, war and succession bog down Sens writing. Snipped narratives of the various kingdoms that fought through the first 1,000 or so years of the common era dominate this middle section, and time (rather necessarily) passes too quickly as Sen details the rise and fall of dynastic rulers in the space of a few pages.

Maybe its the stasis of the centuries-long rule of the Mughal emperors, or the outsize influence of both Akbar and the East India Co., but the book picks back up in age of empires, a time during which the Ganges, as always, was a lifeblood. Over centuries, Sen writes, this watercourse has generated a surplus that not only supported the great agrarian empires of the distant past but also underwrote the mighty industrial empire of Victorian Britain. Today, as the river has increasingly been harnessed both for hydroelectric power and complex irrigation systems, along with supplying water to half a billion people, it continues to shape India in a significant material way.

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A book jacket for Sudipta Sens Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River. (Yale University Press)

But for all the dams and channels and bridges that both leverage and potentially destroy the highly polluted river, Sens contention from early in the book seems to remain true: The Ganga as a deity is very much alive to this day.

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Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River

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Sudipta Sen

Yale University Press; 464 pp., $30

Blackmore is a freelance journalist who covers food, culture and the environment. He lives in Maine.
Every once in a while, a popular history text comes along with the power to transform social narratives by exposing readers to information previously unknown to them. Dee Browns blockbuster book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a perfect example. In 1970, as the country was exploding in civil rights movements and American Indians were occupying a defunct prison on Alcatraz Island, the book stunned American audiences with a brutal history that had been often sanitized in their public school educations.

Chronicling the 1890 massacre of hundreds of Lakota people at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota  as well as numerous other heinous actions against American Indians  helped put things into perspective.

I was 12 when the book came out, and watching my Indian mom weep while reading the book was enough to make me never want to read it. I still have not read it, but I know what an effect it had on the American social landscape. I also know that despite that, it did what so many history texts have done previously: It confined American Indians to a tragic, disappeared past, unwittingly perpetuating a pattern of indigenous erasure from the modern American present. They tell stories of Indian death, not Indian life.

A new book, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present, explicitly counters that pattern, as the title suggests. Author David Treuer, professor of creative writing and literature at USC, an Ojibwe born and raised on the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota, writes that this book is a counternarrative to the story that has been told about us, but it is something more as well: it is an attempt to confront the ways we Indians ourselves understand our place in the world.

This book is a counternarrative to the story that has been told about us David Treuer

David Treuer stands for a portrait at Ishihara Park on January 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Treuer is a Native American author whose new book, "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee" looks at the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Native Americans in the 20th century and beyond. Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times

This sense of collective cultural introspection generates intimate glimpses into the lives of Native people through personal stories as a way to describe the historical periods it chronicles. Journeying through the 20th and 21st century chronologically, the broad sections are organized thematically.

Part 1 provides a broad overview of pre- and post-contact Native life by region, until 1890. Subsequent sections focus less on federal policy (though thats covered in vivid detail) than on the ways federal policy affected Native communities and individual lives.

For example, Part 2, titled Purgatory: 1890-1934 takes up the period immediately following the massacre at Wounded Knee, in what historians often describe as the nadir or low point of Native life. It was a time of utter misery when community life was plagued by intractable poverty, declining health, and massive land and culture loss.

Treuer says the book is part history, part memoir and part reportage, and this combination of writing styles gives the book the feeling of creative nonfiction, which is important given the books hefty size at more than 500 pages.

Treuer recently spoke with me via video chat about his in-depth reportage and personal inspirations behind the book. The text is edited for clarity.

Just by our continued presence, Native people have been the way in which the country figures out what it is and what it wants to be David Treuer

A meeting during the American Indian Movement takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C., 1972 Getty Images

I wanted to begin by talking about your process for interviewing people. You mention that you began writing the book after your dad passed away in 2016, which means you must have written this hefty text really quickly. You describe traveling cross-country, where you talk to all these people, but did you do also do all that traveling in that short period of time?

2014 and 2015 is when I started doing a lot of interviews and legwork, and it wasnt just one road trip. Whenever I went anywhere, Id find people to talk to. I went to Montana, Washington state, North Dakota and Minnesota a lot. And whenever I met with someone  and this is not standard journalistic protocol  Id tell them, Im writing a book and I want to talk you about your life, and would later go back and revisit their stories with them. But as Im sure you know, because we [Native people] have so often been co-opted, misconstrued, talked-over and imagined to within an inch of our lives by outsiders  and had so little control over our own stories  I gave people the opportunity to revise what they had told me before, or opt-out completely if they wanted to. If Im going to write a book about us and for us, it has to serve us.

A march in 1974 at the official start began of the trial of the American Indian Movement leaders Russell Means and Dennis Banks on charges arising out of the 1973 takeover of Wounded Knee, S.D. AP

Thats really generous, and its really an indigenous methodology.

Maybe, but it just felt right. Weve been screwed over so many times, and I didnt want to screw anyone over. But it was really encouraging. Like one guy, a Blackfeet nicknamed Red Boy: I say some things that are an assessment of what hes like in his character, and describe him as being very sad, and I was really nervous; whats he gonna think? Its really uncomfortable to be written about and see someone elses assessment of you.

Especially if its not how you think of yourself.

Exactly, and we almost never think about ourselves the way others think of us. I was talking with a friend who said, Wait, if he [Red Boy] says he doesnt like it and wants to pull out, it could jeopardize the whole chapter. But he read it and thought I did a great job, and basically said, Go with God.

Youve used these stories as a vehicle to bring this history to life, to give it focus, how these histories have played out in peoples lives. What were the challenges of writing history this way?

I dont know what the challenges were because I dont know any other way to do it. But what I discovered, like when writing Rez Life [Treuers previous book, released in 2012], is that policy is not just a presidential declaration, or an act of Congress, or dry catalogable acts.

A member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), left, offers a peace pipe to Kent Frizzell, right, assistant U.S. attorney general, in a tepee at Wounded Knee, S.D., during a ceremony April 5, 1973, ending the bloody standoff between AIM and federal authorities. Jim Mone / Associated Press

History is something that lives inside of us. Federal Indian policy of the 1950s was experienced in very personal ways. I dont know any other way to tell Indian history than through Indian voices. This is a history of Indian lives, not Indian deaths. Its about how we continue to live and move forward. How were both Native and American, and how we square the tribal circle with the American republic.

One of the things that struck me was the title of the third chapter, Fighting Life: 1918-1945, where violence is centered as a force that mediates Native lives  violence done to us, to each other and to ourselves  and not necessarily physical violence, but fighting as a force that drives us to continue to adapt and survive in the modern world. And also trauma. How do you think trauma shapes our lives?

My views are mixed. We hear a lot about historical trauma and blood memory, but I dont subscribe completely to that view. If you think about the bubonic plague in 14th century Europe where everyone was dying, where everyone lost parents and children; we dont hear about historic trauma associated with it.

That was pretty far in the past 

So was Columbus, but people still talk of that as historical trauma. Why do we talk about trauma associated with one but not the other? I also think about my father, as a Holocaust survivor. He experienced so much more trauma than I can even imagine, losing his entire family, losing his homeland, his language and culture, fleeing for his life. I havent experienced anything quite that severe. But he was an excellent role model and father, even though he had many flaws. He was marked by trauma, but it did not determine the shape of his life. Obviously, we live out the effects of the past. The problem is not that Native people were enslaved after Columbus  although thats a problem  or that various colonial powers tried to destroy us, or that we were written out of the Constitution. Its that the ways historical injustices have been perpetuated into the present moment activates a kind of trauma in a way that keeps it alive.

David Treuer with his brother and parents. David Treuer

You write about the more recent history of the Red Power Movement and question the popular presumption of [Native American activist] Leonard Peltiers innocence and wrongful imprisonment. Are you concerned about pushback from Indian country about that?

I imagine there will be some pushback. But in my reporting on Peltier I just rely on the verified record. It feels very important not to ignore the ways in which Peltier and the some of the American Indian Movements leadership has been found wanting and has failed. There have been a couple of generations now of hero worship of people like Russell Means and Dennis Banks and not a recognition of the kind of violence that dogged the movement, and sometimes perpetrated by leaders of the movement.

Although Native women are writing about it.

Exactly, and as always Native women are taking the lead in all the important things. And at great risk have gone on the record to talk about what they experienced at Wounded Knee and in [the American Indian Movement] more generally. The people I write about, at least in relation to AIM, may not feel what I feel to be true, which is that I hold us, our tribes, our leaders, with too much respect to not ask of them their best. I hold the elected officials of the United States government to a very high standard, but I hold our [tribal] elected officials to a higher standard. Thats why I think the protest at Standing Rock is a great example of a movement that was also troubled by some of the actions of elected Standing Rock officials  thats a matter of record. But it was a movement that was powerful because water protectors also held each other to a very high standard of behavior, and dignity and accountability. Unlike AIM, the water protectors empowered women as opposed to the ways AIM disempowered women. And empowered the collective, rather than figureheads, and built coalitions, rather than to lead a following. Russell Means and Dennis Banks legacy may be dinged by my book, but Im less concerned with their legacies than I am about the continued health, power and effectiveness of Indian movements and Indian communities.

The book jacket for David Treuer's "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee." Riverhead Books

I get the sense that you believe the U.S. is capable of transcending its history and doing right by us.

I wouldnt say that as it exists now the American system is capable of protecting and defending even most Americans as much as it is capable and designed to protect commercial interests and multinational corporations. That said, our founding documents and stated ideals are worth defending and can be revived, particularly for the most vulnerable. I feel there is a war for the character of the country that is underway. We see it in electoral politics and the two-party schism weve inherited and that weve made. That war is between two competing versions of America, a country that creates equal opportunities and protections, and one that simply promotes, in the words of Ronald Reagan, a place where someone can still get rich. We have always been at the center of that fight. Just by our continued presence, Native people have been the way in which the country figures out what it is and what it wants to be.

::

David Treuer

Riverhead; 528 pp., $28
Jan. 10

7:55 a.m.: An officer receiving a report from a bus company near North Wells Street and Cass Street cited Christian J. Sontag, 23, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of illegal passing of a school bus.

Jan. 8

8:12 p.m.: Officers in the 300 block of North Edwards Boulevard arrested Nicole Lee Carlson, 27, Genoa City, on suspicion of bail jumping, operating while under the influence, possession of THC and possession of drug paraphernalia, and cited Frank Joseph Mehleis, 21, Pleasant Prairie, on suspicion of obstructing an officer and theft.

Jan. 7

3:10 a.m.: An officer dispatched to the 500 block of Southwind Drive cited Michael Patrick Dubey, 27, Lake Geneva, on suspicion of possession of THC and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Jan. 5

1:50 a.m.: An officer in the 100 block of Wells Street arrested Ross Chad Good, 51, Lindenhurst, Illinois, on suspicion of operating while under the influence-fourth offense.

Jan. 4
We celebrate 10 federal holidays in the United States. Federal holidays are the big ones  Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, and so on.

These are the holidays when we take a day off work, or throw a parade, or fly a flag on the front porch. Hopefully, we also pause to reflect and remember.

There is no April Fools Day on this list. These are real occasions that are marked for real reasons.

So, creating a new federal holiday takes something pretty special. Or someone.

In 1983, the country created a new federal holiday to honor someone pretty special  Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the driving force behind the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

He courageously led the fight to break down racial barriers all across the country. His efforts culminated with passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, both of which outlawed discrimination and assured black people an equal voice in the future of this country. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize.

His speech entitled, I Have A Dream, became an iconic moment in U.S. history, and it remains a masterpiece of public oratory.
Indias industrial upgrade is moving fast, but can it replace China as factory of the world?

As Chinese manufacturers struggle to "walk out" as their domestic business environment becomes more competitive, India is becoming increasingly attractive for many of them.

Hu Tu, a native of East China's Anhui Province, has been living in Bangalore, one of India's most progressive and developed cities, for about four years. Starting from the second half of last year, he set out to establish a small-scale factory in Bangalore to produce and process silkworm cocoon.

But in the process of opening the factory, he has encountered many difficulties. "It has been about half a year since I started to set up the plant. It's a much longer process than I had anticipated for such a small-scale factory," he told the Global Times on Sunday.

Despite the frustrations, for various reasons, he was quite sure that the factory, once getting into routine production and exporting the goods, would be able to make money.

"The current hardships are just a period of tribulation that I, or anyone who wants to make money out of investment in India, has to walk through," he said.

In Hu's observation, more and more Chinese manufacturers are experiencing the same issues. Pressed by increasing labor costs, tougher environment protection standards and an increasingly saturated domestic market, they are turning to nearby markets to set up manufacturing plants. More of them are doing this in the Indian market.

"Chinese manufacturing plants in India are mostly in sectors like energy, mobile phones, electric appliances, voltage equipment and so forth," Hu said.

The position of India as a rising manufacturing power is also attracting other overseas manufacturing companies. According to a Reuters report, Samsung Electronics opened a new factory in India in July, which it claimed to be the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturing plant, in order to grab opportunities in a country where mobile phone usage has been growing at a stunning rate.

The report also stressed that President Modi's flagship "Make in India" campaign has had some success with the phased manufacturing of mobile devices and components, as there are more than 120 local factories currently assembling mobile phones and accessories like chargers, batteries, powerbanks and earphones in India.

A Straits Times report also pointed out on January 1 that Apple will start assembling its top-end iPhones in India through the local unit of Taiwan-based Foxconn, which is located in Sriperumbudur town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Sumeet Chander, country head of global professional services provider Evalueserve who is also an Indian native, said that he knew "quite a few" overseas companies that set up plants in India in recent years or are in the process of setting up those plants.

The rising appeal of India to overseas manufacturing companies has also stirred some discussions as to whether India is about to overtake China as the world's factory, as China's manufacturing industry is currently shrouded by uncertainties as a result of China's economic slowdown as well as an unfriendly global business environment.

Painful experience?

According to Hu, investing in India can be a painful experience, particularly in the initial stages.

A big problem is the country's inadequate supply chain, which means that an overseas investor often finds it difficult to source components in the local market.

Hu, for example, "imports" a lot of manufacturing products from China ranging from electric welders to water pumps etc. in order to complete the assembly line in his Indian plant.

"In China, you can easily buy equipment from a website and there's usually sufficient stock. In India, similar products are not only very expensive but it is also hard to find sufficient supply," he disclosed.

For example, when Hu tried to buy a boiler for his company in India, he found that a 0.6 cubic-meter boiler costs about 60,000 yuan ($8,832) in India, and he had to wait about one month for the boiler to be manufactured and then another one week for the boiler to be delivered to his address.

In comparison, a similar 0.8 cubic-meter boiler in China cost only about 30,000 yuan, and the boiler could be delivered immediately, Hu said.

Similar problems have perplexed Chinese investors. A boiler material manufacturer in Jingjiang, East China's Jiangsu Province had told the Global Times that in India, often 7-8 out of 10 components can't be obtained from the Indian market, which makes it rather inconvenient for investors.

Incomplete infrastructure network like inadequate electricity, water and transportation is also causing headaches for manufacturers in India. "It takes a very long time, sometimes even one year, for a plant to apply for commercial power. Further, because commercial power is not a stable supply, sometimes companies have to pay extra money for voltage stabilizers," Hu said.

He also complained about the deceleration strips (speed humps) on many Indian roads, which makes driving very difficult.

Apart from those problems, minor cultural differences are also troubling investors like Hu. For example, Indians prefer cash transactions to bank transfers, which makes doing business very inconvenient. He is also concerned by the fact that many Indians would square up later, which significantly increases the business risks.

Hu said he only exports cocoons to Chinese customers to avoid those risks.

A promising market?

But despite difficult business conditions, Hu said the Indian market will pay off eventually.

"Once you get familiar with India's business environment, it's not very difficult to make money in this country," he said.

According to Hu, the price of raw materialss are quite cheap in India compared with other countries. The price of cocoons in India, for example, is approximately half the price of cocoons in China. This price gap has led to opportunities for profit, Hu said.

Cheaper labor cost is the biggest advantage that India offers. Zhou Rong, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday that on average, a Chinese manufacturing worker earns at least 2,000 yuan each month, while an Indian worker earns less than 200 yuan each month.

"Other things like India's gigantic market potential as a result of its huge population, particularly its large English-speaking population, are of great appeal to manufacturers, especially international manufacturers," Zhou said.

According to experts, the Indian government is making policies to support manufacturing and thus boost the local economy. In 2014, the Modi government launched the "Make in India" initiative covering 25 sectors of the economy to encourage companies to manufacture their products in India as well as increase their investment.

"As far as I know, the environment of doing business in India has improved over the last few years, both for Indian companies as well as foreign companies," Chander said.

Zhou said that there have been improvements in the Indian government's policies toward manufacturing and overseas investments in the past few years. "But I think those policies have not been implemented very well. It would be better if India's local governments could stay in step with the central government in terms of policy stimulation," Zhou commented.

In early January, some 150 million employees in India across a number of sectors went on strike. The strike was called by 10 trade unions in the country, protesting against the Modi government's policies, which they believed to be anti-labor, according to a report of the Quartz India on January 7.

Overtake China?

But many experts have all stressed that generally speaking, the standard of India's manufacturing industry is still underdeveloped compared to China.

"China now has the ability to produce different types of products - from high-quality to low-quality. The Indian market is now filled with low-quality made-in-China products or high-quality western goods, while made-in-India products don't have much presence in the markets," Hu disclosed.

Data released by the World Bank showed that in 2017, the manufacturing sector accounted for about 15 percent of India's GDP in terms of added value. In contrast, China's manufacturing sector accounted for nearly 30 percent in the country's GDP.

Sun Shihai, an expert at the South Asia Research Center under Sichuan University, told the Global Times on Monday that overseas manufacturing businesses moving into India is a good sign, in that it would not only introduce high-standard overseas manufacturing into India, but would push local Indian companies to get a sense of competition and upgrade their business.

"But India overtaking China in manufacturing is still too much of an exaggeration," Sun commented. "It might take many more years for that to happen even though China's manufacturing industry is currently undergoing a difficult time."

Chander said that China's industrial upgrading would provide some opportunities for countries like India.

"I am not sure if China is interested in being the factory of the world anymore. I see China evolving to become one of the technology leaders of the world along with the US. As China evolves, there will be a vacuum in the world's factory slot which may be filled by not just India but other countries as well, such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, possibly Myanmar and certain African countries," he noted.

But he said that although India would have a large role to play as a manufacturing location, the Indian government will also be wary of inheriting low value-added manufacturing in India.
Kindness.

That one thing when used in our interactions with other people can change a day, change a life and change the feel of a community.

A kind act breaks down barriers; it lifts up those who otherwise may be left feeling down and degraded; and it transcends the complications of the walls separating whole groups of people.

And this is the thought behind the annual Kindness Week in Kenosha, which is in its 23rd year.

The week  inspired by the late Kenosha community leader and activist Rev. Olen Arrington Jr.  has become a Kenosha-area tradition that also honors the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The theme of this years eight-day event, The Healing Power of Kindness, was thought up by new Kindness Week Committee member Cameron Swallow, with this years week focusing on the idea of kindness as healing.

There is healing, the cure for all this hatred, animosity and adversity in the world, said Kindness Committee member Adelene Greene to reporter Terry Flores for a previously published story. And, one of the remedies is kindness.
Connie S. Campbell, 75, of Lake Geneva, died on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at her resident. Services will be held on a later date. Steinke-Lazarczyk Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Lake Geneva assisted the family.
The La Jolla Traffic & Transportation (T&T) board passed six motions during its Wednesday, Jan. 16 meeting at the Rec Center, and one was clearly a crowd favorite.

Resident Diane Walls request to add yellow blinking lights to all four pedestrian crossings at Fay Avenue and Genter Street  an intersection heavily traversed by children walking to and from school -- filled more than half of the 40 occupied seats.

You see people texting in their cars all the time, Wall told T&T. And we dont have enforcement. Its every person for themselves. Echoed another resident: Theres not one day were there that we dont see people rolling through that stop sign.

T&T passed the motion 7-0-1, and threw in requests for the City to restripe the crossings, to add back previously removed left-turn lanes on north- and southbound Fay Avenue, and to review the potential for adding school-zone status.

Walls supporters  who included nine children ages two to about 12  erupted in applause after the vote and then left en masse before the next agenda item was heard. However, the battle to fulfill this request will be steeply uphill, as T&T chair Dave Abrams attempted to explain.

Heres the problem, Abrams said. We had approved a recommendation on Girard before. (The City) came back and said that because it was a four-way stop, they felt that was sufficient protection for pedestrians, and its their general policy not to do that.

Remove four parking spaces

Resident Frances Zimmermans request  for the City to remove two curbside parking spaces each from in front of the BevMo and Ortho Mattress stores  passed 7-1 but was strongly opposed by board member Tom Brady.

The spaces are on north- and southbound Fay Avenue where it intersects Pearl Street.

At busy times of the day, no one can turn right either north or south on Pearl, Zimmerman explained, because cars are backed up waiting to proceed straight and the parked cars on the right obstruct the path of cars wanting to turn right.

At issue was consent from BevMo and Ortho Mattress. Zimmerman claimed she approached the manager of each store and didnt encounter opposition. (No one from either business attended the meeting.)

Abrams accepted this effort, Brady did not.

What you would do by giving up those parking space is make a string of spaces equivalent to five cars, Brady said. I dont think that should be done without written approval.

I dont agree with you, Abrams replied, noting that both stores have their own dedicated parking lots, and that curbside spaces are City right-of-way.

I just think were setting a bad precedent for future applicants in recommending changes to the City by not following the process we have in the past, Brady said.

Resident Mike McCormack, seated next to his parents, asks T&T to place two speed humps on Paseo Del Ocaso between Calle Clara and Vallecitos. (COREY LEVITAN)

Trolley talk

T&T green-lit a proposal by Dan Allen, chairman of its transit subcommittee, to formerly request that the Metropolitan Transit System, Mayor Kevin Faulconer and District 1 Council member Barbara Bry prepare plans and find resources to provide either a shuttle or feeder transit service to link central La Jolla with the Mid-Coast Trolley.

The plans  according to the proposal  should connect both the northern and southern parts of the La Jolla Community Plan area with the optimal stops, and can include re-purposing the No. 30 bus.

Parking hours increased

T&T recommended adopting the Aveline HOAs request to increase the parking limit on portions of Silver Street and Draper Avenue from two to three hours.

Resident Dr. Allan Churukian said two-hour parking did not suffice because guests get ticketed and pretty regularly. Churukian said he received signatures from 16 of 18 residences.

While I can appreciate why you want this, this is a slippery slope because once this is approved, the floodgates are opened and everyone will request it, said board member Natalie Aguirre. I think theres just too many different times in La Jolla and I think its a bad idea to ask for this.

Nevertheless, Aguirre voted along with her fellow board members 8-0 in favor of the motion.

Lets see what happens, Aguirre said.

Also at T&T

Hump day: T&T green-lit resident Mike McCormacks motion to place two speed humps on Paseo Del Ocaso between Calle Clara and Vallecitos, a move supported by 214 petition signatories. McCormack explained that traffic has become very aggressive on Paseo Del Ocaso, which is being used as a cut-through by cars traveling in excess of 35 mph.

T&T green-lit resident Mike McCormacks motion to place two speed humps on Paseo Del Ocaso between Calle Clara and Vallecitos, a move supported by 214 petition signatories. McCormack explained that traffic has become very aggressive on Paseo Del Ocaso, which is being used as a cut-through by cars traveling in excess of 35 mph. Just to be clear: T&T also unanimously recommended that the City establish clear zones (painting keep clear on the pavement) where Nautilus Street intersects both Avenida Manana and Avenida de la Reina. Frequent community-meeting participant Sally Miller introduced the issue, explaining the intersections proximity to Muirlands Middle School. Its common sense that you need to keep intersections clear but nobody does, Miller said.

T&T also unanimously recommended that the City establish clear zones (painting keep clear on the pavement) where Nautilus Street intersects both Avenida Manana and Avenida de la Reina. Frequent community-meeting participant Sally Miller introduced the issue, explaining the intersections proximity to Muirlands Middle School. Its common sense that you need to keep intersections clear but nobody does, Miller said. Crosstalk: Community activist Melinda Merriweather approached the committee during public comment to propose adding a crosswalk to the foot of Playa del Norte for pedestrians to safely navigate Neptune Place.

 La Jolla Traffic and Transportation next meets 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20 at the La Jolla Rec Center, 615 Prospect St.
Nothing less than the worth of the community-input process itself was reviewed at the Jan. 15 La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee (DPR) meeting at the Rec Center.

During the meeting, DPR voted unanimously against a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) and Site Development Permit (SDP) for a proposal called the Bonair Townhomes at 744 Bonair St., which it previously reviewed on Feb. 13, 2018. DPR found the project inconsistent with the (La Jolla) Community Plan with respect to neighborhood scale and character, and inconsistent with four sections of the San Diego Municipal Code.

According to the motion, DPR also found the project not in compliance with land-development code and, as a result, a California Environmental Quality Act exception it had already acquired does not apply and should be appealed by the La Jolla Community Planning Association.

A bigger story than this finding, however, was how it was issued  in the absence of the permit applicant or a representative. Longtime DPR trustee Jim Ragsdale said he couldnt recall a review ever proceeding that way.

In lieu of attending, the applicants architect, Joshua Kordasiewicz of Axon Architecture, sent DPR an e-mail stating a litany of changes made to correct setbacks, elevations and other issues following the Feb. 13 DPR meeting and a separate meeting with neighbors.

Acting DPR chair Mike Costello  filling in for Brian Will  noted that this served primarily to demonstrate that the applicant clearly understood that we would be hearing this project, and he could have requested a continuance.

Costello urged the DPR vote, stating that if we dont do something now, we may never get anything on record as approving or denying the project. He noted that the deadline to appeal the categorical exemption was only days away.

Costello stated that he was concerned because La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) trustee Phil Merten  who presented an hour-long explanation of problems with the Bonair Townhomes Project as a representative of its neighbors, the Davidsons  claimed that the applicant told the Planning Association president that theyre going forward without a Planning Association recommendation.

Kane seized upon this awkward moment to announce a new investigation shes conducting  with assistance from several UC San Diego interns  to help us track how many times the City pays no attention to what we do, so we can then have evidence of the failure of the community-input process, because clearly, its making no dent whatsoever.

The Light reached out to Kordasiewicz for comment, and received an e-mail response from Axon Architecture principal Alana Barber, which stated that despite our desire to appease the concerns raised in this matter, we have been met with systematic opposition by a trustee of the LJCPA concerning this alleged dispute. The e-mail criticized Merten for having a conflict of interest since Mr. Merten personally gains from the projects delay. It stated that Merten makes incorrect code interpretations and inaccurately represents that violations exists.

Not only have we met all City requiements, the e-mail stated, but we have also attempted in good faith to attend other discretionary meetings in the hope of resolving any perceived disputes.

Gillisipie School rep Joe LaCava presents a rendering of how the school would like to remodel commercial property it owns next door on Girard Avenue. (COREY LEVITAN)

Gillispie expounds on expansion

The Gillispie School, represented by Joe LaCava, presented its case for a change in use and CDP amendment to convert two commercial buildings it owns at 7420-7426 Girard Ave. to school use, and to merge their parking lots with Gillispies.

The project was presented to the La Jolla Planned District Ordinance (PDO) committee a day earlier, and received a finding of inconsistent from DPR. LaCava explained that changing the allowed use from retail to education introduced landscaping requirements that this project just couldnt meet.

Weve attempted to introduce as much new landscaping as possible, but we cant meet their requirements, LaCava said. We expected that. We knew that going in.

LaCava showed renderings of what he called the Gillispie School Annex, noting that its remodel will remove four retail doors and install three trees on the sidewalk out front.

Kane objected that the schools expansion was being done incrementally and cobbled together, adding that what I want to see is the bigger picture.

Trustee Matthew Welsh objected to the elimination of a longtime passageway through the property from Girard to Fay avenues, which LaCava said would be fenced off.

Its a challenge to balance between that and security concerns, LaCava explained.

LaCava was asked to return with an eye toward keeping the passage open.

 DPR next meets 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12 at the Rec Center, 615 Prospect St
Wildfire danger continues to threaten La Jollas canyons, as it does many other areas across Southern California. But preventing devastating wildfires such as last years Camp Fire  the worst in California history, which killed 86 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 Butte County residences  requires, first and foremost, proper brush management. And a small, non-scientific La Jolla Light survey suggested that about half of La Jollas canyon homeowners may be in violation of brush-management code.

The City of San Diegos Landscape Regulations (SDMC 142.0412) require brush management for a perimeter of 100 feet extending from the rear of every home abutting a wildland-urban interface or WUI (defined as canyons and other areas where homes are built next to land prone to wildfires). In this definition, brush is defined as shrubby native and non-native plants that have adapted to dry summers and moist winters. dead or alive, and management is defined as regular thinning and pruning, but not complete removal.

According to San Diego Fire-Rescue assistant fire marshal Eddie Villavicencio, brush management allows fire crews time to get to a fire, allows space to fight the fire and increases a homes survivability during a wildfire.

Homes or developments built after Nov. 15, 1989 have sole brush-management responsibility, according to Villavicencio, and homes built before that date  where 100 feet of defensible space cannot be achieved  may have shared brush-management responsibility with abutting property owners.

During a random hour-long check on Jan. 18, La Jolla Light identified dozens of houses on Mt. Soledad without apparent brush management. In fact, nearly half of all houses located in or atop of canyons seemed to have some overgrown brush directly behind them. However, when e-mailed the photo accompanying this article, Villavicencio said that the answer was not as simple as a visual inspection by a novice.

An actual on-site inspection is required to determine if a property is in violation, Villavicencio said. Should the slope behind these homes be greater than 50 percent gradient, the area behind the homes could be exempt from brush-management requirement because of potential erosion or slope instability.

Villavicencio said that the Fire-Rescue Departments Wildland Management & Enforcement Section (WM&E) only has one code-compliance supervisor and six code-compliance officers assigned to inspect the entire City  which means that the inspection cycle is only completed once every five years. Every year, about 45,000 brush inspections are conducted by this team, Villavicencio said, with another 1,500 inspections generated by neighbor complaints.

In 2017, Villavicencio said, WM&E inspected more than 2,000 canyon-rim homes in the Mt. Soledad community. While Villavicencio did not state how many properties were found not to be in compliance, he stated that any violations were brought into full compliance.

When voluntary compliance is not achieved within six weeks of an initial violation notice, Villavicencio explained, a 10-day abatement notice is issued. If non-compliance continues, a special-assessment lien-tax is placed on the property and a private contractor assigned  at the property owners expense  to bring it into compliance. (Determining whether vacant dwellings violate any codes or regulations is the jurisidction of the enforcement authority of the Citys Code Enforcement Department, Villavicencio said, so the fire department is required to refer all such complaints.)

Unfortunately, Villavicencio said, 99.99 percent of people know what needs to be done, but they wait until they get a violation notice to do it.

To report brush concern dangers in your neighborhood call (619) 533-4444.
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1. Comedian Amanda Seales (of HBOs Insecure) is about to take you to school. Sick of the stereotypes about African Americans in media and the overall lack of knowledge of black history, Seales mixes humor and her doctorate in African American studies with her love of games and music to cr


By Nam Hyun-woo



The number of CEOs who have graduated from the country's top three universities has been dropping, as those with diverse academic backgrounds head more listed companies, a recent survey showed Wednesday.



Analysts dubbed this the "collapse of SKY," with SKY being an acronym for Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University, all in Seoul. Instead, the number of corporate leaders graduating from universities in provincial areas has increased over the years.



According to CEO Score, a domestic corporate management tracker, 227 out of 562 incumbent CEOs at 500 companies it surveyed were from the three universities, accounting for 40.4 percent of the total.



The figure was down from 47.6 percent, or 294 out of 617, in its 2015 survey.



Of those SKY schools, Seoul National University accounted for 20.8 percent, down 4.5 percentage points from the previous survey. Korea University came with 10.7 percent, down 2.6 percentage points, and Yonsei University also saw a 0.2-percentage-point drop to 8.9 percent.



Though the top three universities saw a drop in their shares, the rankings were static, with Seoul National University turning out the most number of CEOs, followed by Korea, Yonsei, Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang, Sogang and Pusan universities.



In the survey, the share of CEOs from non-Seoul universities grew to 17.4 percent from 15.5 percent in 2015, with Pusan National University and Chonnam National University showing noticeable growth.



The share of Pusan National University surged to 3 percent from 1.9 percent during the cited period.



Last year, the school's economics alumnus Choi Jeong-woo became the chairman of steel giant POSCO, and LG Group's holding firm, LG Corp., is currently headed by Ha Hyun-hwoi, who earned a degree in history. Lotte Corp.'s President Lee Bong-chul is also a Pusan National University graduate.



Chonnam National University also saw its share rising to 1.8 percent from 0.8 percent in 2015, thanks to new faces including POSCO Chemtech CEO Min Kyung-jun.



Among high schools, the share of the three best-known high schools  Kyunggi High School, Seoul High School and Kyungbock High School  also declined.



This is interpreted as a generational change in CEOs, because those who entered high school after the country's 1974 abolition of the high school ranking system are emerging in companies' leadership.



"Most CEOs were from the top three universities in the past, but the dependence seems to be declining in recent years, as companies highly evaluate their job performance rather than their educational backgrounds," a conglomerate official said.


HMP Law Chairman Hwang Ju-myung, center, answers during a Q&A session in Fleishman Hillard's Asia Pacific Leadership session in Seoul, Wednesday.



By Oh Young-jin



Today's Korea presents a unique set of challenges to foreign firms, thanks to a changing business environment, so they should understand the market better if they want to prosper in one of the world's most-vibrant economies, says a noted lawyer who has long advised foreign firms.



In a speech Wednesday, Hwang Ju-myung, chairman of HMP Law, first talked about Korea's history of compressed development and its side effects.



"Korea has a "can-do spirit" that lives in most Koreans," Hwang told representatives of Fleishman Hillard, a global public relations firm, at its Asia Pacific Leadership session in Seoul. "This first came to the foreground in the 1970s and '80s, when the Korean economy developed enormously.



"Now Korea is infused with the spirit of the 'Candlelight Revolution' that forced President Park Geun-hye out of office. Korean young people look at people like me and those of a similar dignified age and see us as old fuddy-duddies. There is a word that has recently entered the Korean vocabulary. That word is kkondae () or stubborn old people.



"This 'can-do spirit,' combined with generational conflict and a desire to change things and to right every wrong quickly, can at times be a dangerous mixture."



Hwang said young Koreans are no longer content to let democratic institutions and courts of law handle wrongs and injustices  they want them fixed now. And so we see Korean society filled with conflicts, both in public spaces and in the courts. Public sentiment wants to fix and change things quickly.



He said he agreed with FH Korea's brief to help understand the Korean zeitgeist.



Hwang summarized it as:

1) Korean consumers now want a direct communications channel to producers and service providers, and voters expect to see instant reactions to their grievances.



2) Generation Z, born between 1995 and the mid-2000s, are saying no to kkondae. They aren't interested in being told what to do by mobile-untrained older generations.



3) Monitoring and analyzing are important to checking if a client company, or relevant issue, is being mentioned in the media, whether positively or negatively.



He cited cases in which the Korean public was quick to blame foreign companies, sometimes rightly, for inaction or bad actions in the Korean marketplace.



"A foreign corporation can more easily become the target of anger in the form of demonstrations, boycotts, demands for prosecution and class action lawsuits," he said.


Trucks carry intercontinental ballistic missiles. Photo: 81.cn

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force conducted a simulated intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike mission from an underground bunker against an imaginary enemy, the country's national television reported Monday.

China Central Television (CCTV) did not disclose details on the location and time of the exercise.

Long-term survival training in closed environments has become routine for the troops to ensure counterattack capability in case a war breaks out, the report said.

Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Tuesday that China's strategic missiles are usually placed in deep, protective bunkers.

As China promises never to use nuclear weapon first and will only use them in a counterattack, China's strategic missile storage facilities must be able to survive the first wave of hostile nuclear strike, Song said, noting that the underground bunkers are invaluable in protecting Chinese missiles from being destroyed and prepare for counterattacks.

China's highest science and technology award of 2018 was given to academician Qian Qihu for his achievements in fortifying these nuclear defense facilities.

PLA troops have experienced three weapon upgrades in the past 60 years, and missiles now have a longer range, and are more accurate and more powerful, CCTV reported.

Song said the three generations of ICBMs could be the DF-5, DF-31 and DF-41, all of which are capable of striking targets more than 10,000 kilometers away with a deviation of less than a few dozen meters, carrying single or multiple thermonuclear warheads.

Without a first strike against China, China will never use the weapons, analysts stressed.

The DF-41, China's mysterious and most advanced ICBM, might make its public debut on October 1, the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China's founding, as a military parade is expected to be held in Beijing on that day, Song said.

An ICBM loaded with nuclear warheads will likely never be used as it would precipitate an all-out nuclear war, say analysts. The weapon's primary purpose is deterrence, and to facilitate political and diplomatic discussions.
Models promote Pernod Ricard Korea's Imperial whiskies during an event in southern Seoul, in this Dec. 20, 2016, file photo. / Korea Times photo by Koh Young-kwon



Union vows to fight French whisky maker's downsizing in Korea



By Nam Hyun-woo





Pernod Ricard Korea CEO Jean Touboul




By Jung Min-ho







German luxury automaker BMW is recalling more than 20,000 vehicles in Korea amid safety fears.





A BMW representative said Wednesday that it issued a recall for about 20,300 vehicles found to have a faulty intake manifold; 79,000 more are still under inspection for a possible recall.





The plan was revealed two months after experts discovered that faulty exhaust gas recirculation valves were the chief cause of a series of engine fires last year and demanded the company carry out additional inspections in December.





The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it approved the company's follow-up measure.





"We will ensure that the company will implement its measure, including thoroughly inspecting the remaining vehicles," a ministry official said.





Affected car owners will be notified by mail and mobile phone.





The defects came into the spotlight after dozens of BMWs caught fire, which significantly damaged the company's reputation.


Trump needs to value alliance more than cost-sharing



It is irrational for the United States to ask South Korea to pay an annual $1.2 billion (1.35 trillion won) for the upkeep of American troops stationed here this year. This sum is about 40 percent more than the 960.2 billion won ($851 million) paid last year. According to government sources, Washington has set the bottom line at $1 billion after the two sides failed to agree on how much more Korea should shoulder during their 10th round of talks held in Seoul last month.



More worrisome is that the Trump administration has continued to apply stronger pressure on the government to pay more for the presence of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). Amid the stalled cost-sharing talks, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris visited Cheong Wa Dae in December to discuss the issue with Chung Eui-yong, chief of the National Security Office (NSO).



Harris notified Chung of the U.S. demand for the steep increase, urging Seoul to pay $1.2 billion for the stationing of the American troops. He also reportedly told him the minimum amount would be $1 billion. But Chung turned down the request, making clear that the government cannot pay more than 1 trillion won ($886 million). Local media reported that the U.S. envoy described the offer as a final one, meaning he gave an ultimatum to the Korean side.



The demand came suddenly. During the previous rounds of the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) talks, the U.S. side had not put forth such a steep increase. Sources said the sudden move reflected the orders of the top U.S. leadership. In other words, President Donald Trump has virtually instructed his negotiators to get Seoul to shoulder a far greater share of the defense costs. It is not strange for Trump to make such a demand, given that he has often described South Korea unfairly as a "free rider" in the bilateral defense alliance.



The fact is that South Korea currently pays 42 percent of the total costs for the maintenance of the USFK. If the free use of land for U.S. bases here is included, Korea's share increases to as high as 80 percent. Besides, the Seoul government spent $13 billion on the expansion of Pyeongtaek's Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas U.S. military base, for the relocation of American troops stationed in Seoul and border areas.



Taken overall, the U.S. demand is too excessive. More serious is that the Trump administration is trying to use the South Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty as leverage to force its ally to shoulder well over half the total costs. This arrogant U.S. attitude was evident in Harris' reported remarks to Chung. The ambassador, who once served as the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said Washington may consider implementing the treaty in a different way.



We have to question what Harris really meant. His words might sound like blackmail or a threat to scrap the mutual defense pact unless Seoul accepts the U.S. demand. They also seem to go way far beyond Trump's "America first" policy. We urge Washington to drop its undue demand and see the value in the traditional alliance, instead of putting a heavier burden on Seoul.






The motto of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is "To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan." The nation has long accepted a responsibility to provide for the medical needs of men and women who have served in uniform in war and peace. But in recent years, it has struggled to fulfill that mission in a way that does justice to the sacrifices of those it serves.



For years, those in need of medical care have faced long waits to see doctors or had to travel long distances to get care. This problem arose under President George W. Bush and persisted under Barack Obama as two lengthy wars and the aging of the Vietnam War cohort boosted the number of people needing care.



The department has been dogged by patient backlogs, ethical scandals and unsatisfactory performance. Secretary David Shulkin was fired last March, and on Thursday the department's inspector general released a report that said he "violated federal statutes and regulations prohibiting the misuse of government property and the acceptance of certain gifts."



But the scandal at the top is less consequential in the long run than the failures in meeting the health needs of veterans. The department's shortcomings are not because it lacks adequate funds. From 2006 to 2016, the budget of the Veterans Hospital Administration, the VA's medical wing, grew from $38 billion to $91 billion. But it has failed to put that money to use in an efficient way.



One reason is that the VHA, like many an entrenched bureaucracy, is less than nimble at responding to new demands. A new plan from the Trump administration will apply both resources and pressure, by making it easier for veterans to get treatment from private doctors and hospitals, with the government paying. It would replace the popular Veterans Choice program, which has attracted 1 million veterans happy to obtain care in the private sector.



The new approach, building on a law enacted last year called the Mission Act, should also help focus the VHA on its most important function: treating the often serious and unusual ailments that stem directly from military service. As it is, reports Concerned Veterans for America, "59 percent of the current unique VHA patients do not have a service-connected disability."



Private providers are perfectly capable of taking care of veterans with high blood pressure or seasonal allergies. Those patients who don't need specialized care ought to have the option of going to private facilities. CVA Executive Director Dan Caldwell contends that veterans "should have the choice to access care in the community with their VA benefits  especially if the VA can't serve them in a timely manner."



The Mission Act won the endorsement of a host of veterans groups. "It strikes that balance between improving internal care and relying on the community when necessary," said Carlos Fuentes, legislative director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "We truly believe the VA delivers great care, but the VA can't be everything to everyone."



Expanding options will relieve the VHA of some of the caseload, let it focus on its unique strengths, and force it to compete on a more level playing field. More important, the change should work to improve the lives of veterans.





The above editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.




By Abdelkader Zerougui





The Arab world is caught between centrifugal forces that are undermining any possibility of renewal. The Islamists with their different brands seek to reinstate religion as a source of proper ethical conduct, which will create some form of domino effect, and root out the corrupt establishments in the region.



The autocrats and dictators advocate the existence of a strong state, and say the masses cannot be trusted with democracy. Despots often accuse foreign powers and local "traitors" who seek to destabilize the region, and by that creating a conspiracy theory to legitimize their aggressive behavior toward any form of dissent. No Arab government was able to grant its people the freedom they deserve, and empower them with some form of dignity.



The Arab world with all its forms of despots succeeded in adapting to the internal and external challenges. When nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s failed to deliver to the masses, new policies of privatization and controlled self-governing were introduced in the 1980s.



The state redistributed parts of the wealth to the well-connected and loyal members, who established businesses and took control over large parts of the economy. Moreover, fake-parliaments, assemblies, and opposition were engineered to counter the external criticism, and propagate the myth that changes were taking place albeit slowly.



The Arab world engaged in turf wars, each nation-tribe was willing to sacrifice its neighbor to deflect attention from its problems. By supporting different groups, and divergent factions, some states totally collapsed under the weight of armed groups and the fragility of their own institutions, others avoided such a collapse, but in exchange remain at the mercy of their foreign protectors.



How does the exchange system operate in the Arab world? Certain individuals have access to the state's wealth. Bank loans, concessions to land, licenses for businesses, etc. are limited to a few, whom at the same redistribute jobs, and exert control over who gets what. A web of mafia-like networks that makes a large portion of the population not only alienated, but also strangers in their own countries.



At the center of this tragedy is that people are dying, incarcerated in dungeons with the complicity of the Western world, which often prioritizes its own self-centered interests more than universal human rights. How can we free the Arab world from this continuous nightmare? Why do ordinary people have to endure the continuous animal-like treatment?



Government and states' institutions are plagued with corruption and favoritism. Few have access to the states' favors, others are marginalized and constantly humiliated to the point of losing hope. Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian vegetable vendor who set himself on fire in 2010 and died from his injuries, is a typical example of despair in these parts of the world.



For an Egyptian, a Sudanese, a Yemeni or a Moroccan, it is a daily struggle for a job, for a permit to travel, for an identity card, for respect and for a basic right of every citizen. In the Western world, people commit suicide because of depression, and sometimes because of the excessive material world.



In the Arab world, by committing suicide, a person defies even his/her own religion which prohibits such an act, because they see themselves becoming irrelevant, with no future, no hope and no sense in their existence. A culture of pessimism becomes the norm, as tyrants not only limit the marginalized intake of daily-calories, but colonize their dreams, and break their will to exist.



People are driven to the edge, by that extraction of any form righteousness from their being. Communities disintegrate, and decent people are turned into wild wolves. A hidden battle for self-preservation allows the tyrannical regimes to continue their existence. The more inner-fighting between the impoverished masses, the more likely that the system perpetuates itself.



After200 years of the French Revolution and its slogan "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" and the Declarations of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which asserts the political rights of citizens, due process, the right of freedom of thought and belief, the accountability of public servants. The Arab world remained caught in the trivialities of life, and mundane debates that make Europe's Dark Ages look like a Golden Age for Middle East.



Authors argue that the Arab world lacks a middle class, and the ethic of mercantilism, which are essential for establishing democracy. My argument is that there is a total absence of a "political will" that is essential in any transformation. History tells us that Europe, Asia, and America had at sometime, leaders that transcended their narrow self-interests, and had pioneer-dreams to change their world, and leave a legacy as a testament to their existence.



The Arab world does not have Thomas Jefferson or Napoleon Bonaparte. Leaders come and go, and yet these countries remain in the tail of history. There is a total absence of any industrial base, combined with a dismal state of education and research, an absence of transparency, and a gloomy political culture.



The Arab world has been a stage of wars and destruction. The Lebanese civil war, the destruction of Iraq, Libya and Syria; the war in Yemen; and the revolts in Tunisia and Sudan are indicators of what's to come in the region.



With the dwindling of natural resources, the rentier-states will eventually collapse, and as a result, the Arab world will turn into a barren land, and "war of all against all" will take place, as despots will no longer be able to maintain the system of clientelism that is the core of their authoritarianism.





Abdelkader Zerougui (zerouguiabdelkader@yahoo.com) is an adjunct professor at American University.


By Graeme Salt





In January 2018, my school launched a "Year of Wellbeing" for students and staff.



It was of course fanciful to consider this anything other than an ongoing project, with this picture from the penultimate week of the term in December illustrating the point: At lunchtime, one of our 17-year-old students was observed exultant, punching the air and high-fiving down the corridor. Had she just received a dream college offer or received wonderful feedback from a teacher? No, it turns out she had just found out that her parents would permit her to play for a school team that Friday evening, rather than study.



Seeing just how much this activity meant to her, and the known resultant positive effect that sport has on feelings of wellbeing, socialization, health and, ultimately, academic performance, there was something sad in the image. I certainly had feelings of failure in our attempts to balance this particular student's life, as I do for others where we have not managed to provide them with more meaningful personal control over their studies and activities.



So while we are proud of our many initiatives during the year of wellbeing 2018, including our 12 values focus months; parent workshops; senior students leading primary student wellbeing classes; and alternative fitness provisions like "couch to 5km," the challenge of shaping a fully supported and balanced education to all of our students goes on into 2019!



We are focusing on two particular aspects of Wellbeing this year  both, I believe, applicable to the work environments in which The Korea Times readers are employed, as well as to schools. A warning, though: They both require deeper empathy for students' (or workers') lives, and the letting go of control in the classroom (or workplace).



The first approach is to look through a lens of wellbeing whenever making any decisions affecting students and staff. One example might be our tracking of students through an entire 24-hour period to assess just how their wellbeing is affected by our influence.



Let us start with evening homework: do students have opportunities to express themselves and take some individual control over tasks, or are these routine, dull, unchallenging and pointlessly time-consuming? Have we set an appropriate amount of work so they get to bed at a sensible hour providing them with at least eight hours of sleep? Do students feel good putting on the school uniform?



If not, because it does not fit well, we have started their day with a negative. Do all school staff greet students with a smile and provide a personalized welcome? Our current morning security guard certainly does to his great credit, but do all bus drivers, bus monitors, receptionists, caterers and teachers? Do students feel they are known as individuals and do they have at least one adult in school to whom they feel comfortable revealing personal fears?



The second focus for our "Year of Wellbeing 2019" is to provide students with greater control over how and what they learn. The term being adopted across the Dulwich group of schools for this approach is "agency": ensuring learning is more relevant to learners' interests, and more often shaped by them, under the expert guidance of teachers.



This approach has been demonstrated to raise self-motivation, deepen understanding and, ultimately, achievement. Through the loosening of control, feelings associated with wellbeing and commitment increase, including qualities such as positivity and loyalty. Are you willing, like us, to take the time to really know those who work for you, and trust them enough to allow more personalized (and productive) ways of working?





Graeme Salt (Headmaster@dulwich-seoul.kr)is the headmaster of Dulwich College Seoul, a part of the Dulwich College International (DCI) network of schools.


By Lee Min-hyung





U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Tak Seung-ho, 68, stands outside his restaurant, Yangmiok, which specializes in cow intestines barbeque, at the Euljiro area's Sewoon District 3, Monday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Lee Suh-yoon



"Former President Kim Dae-jung visited my restaurant 150 times," Tak Seung-ho, 68, owner of Yangmiok, said proudly in an interview inside his bustling cow intestine barbeque joint next to Euljiro 3-ga Station in central Seoul, Monday. "In fact, most of the previous Korean presidents passed through this hall."



Tak, a former manufacturer of industrial vacuum cleaners, opened Yangmiok in 1992. The restaurant, younger than most other eateries in this historic neighborhood, has gathered a loyal following over the years.



"The craftsmen and technicians working in this area are all gastronomes," Tak said with a smile. "We had to prepare our dishes with the same professionalism these people put into their work to succeed here."



Yangmiok is now famous in Seoul. Tak's son runs another branch near Namdaemun Market. Though many visitors and Japanese tourists now seek out the place, around 80 percent of its business relies on returning customers, Pak says.



"Just like how Eulji Myeonok has to be in Euljiro to be Eulji Myeonok, we need to stay here to be the Yangmiok our customers are familiar with," Tak said, bowing his head briefly to greet a familiar patron at the entrance. "I can't believe they are trying to build apartments here, out of all the places in Seoul. It's not easy to build up a solid 60-year-old commercial district like this somewhere else you know, located at the junction of three subway lines."



Real estate developers who have already



For one thing, these restaurants have the public's backing. The recent media frenzy over the possible closure of Eulji Myeonok, a 33-year-old authentic Pyongyang naengmyeon (cold noodle) restaurant in District 3, proved the public  largely uninterested or unaware of the area's industrial supply stores and metal craft workshops  is very concerned about the wellbeing of its historic restaurants.



News that decades-old family-run eateries like Eulji Myeonok, Yangmiok, Anseong House and Chosunoak could disappear because of the demolition of the district induced a strong backlash from Seoul citizens, prompting Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon to announce a "thorough re-examination" of the redevelopment plan for the Euljiro area.



By Lee Suh-yoon"Former President Kim Dae-jung visited my restaurant 150 times," Tak Seung-ho, 68, owner of Yangmiok, said proudly in an interview inside his bustling cow intestine barbeque joint next to Euljiro 3-ga Station in central Seoul, Monday. "In fact, most of the previous Korean presidents passed through this hall."Tak, a former manufacturer of industrial vacuum cleaners, opened Yangmiok in 1992. The restaurant, younger than most other eateries in this historic neighborhood, has gathered a loyal following over the years."The craftsmen and technicians working in this area are all gastronomes," Tak said with a smile. "We had to prepare our dishes with the same professionalism these people put into their work to succeed here."Yangmiok is now famous in Seoul. Tak's son runs another branch near Namdaemun Market. Though many visitors and Japanese tourists now seek out the place, around 80 percent of its business relies on returning customers, Pak says."Just like how Eulji Myeonok has to be in Euljiro to be Eulji Myeonok, we need to stay here to be the Yangmiok our customers are familiar with," Tak said, bowing his head briefly to greet a familiar patron at the entrance. "I can't believe they are trying to build apartments here, out of all the places in Seoul. It's not easy to build up a solid 60-year-old commercial district like this somewhere else you know, located at the junction of three subway lines."Real estate developers who have already razed most of the decades-old supply stores and factories in Sewoon District 3 next to Euljiro 3-ga Station now face a slightly more formidable opponent  the area's historic eateries.For one thing, these restaurants have the public's backing. The recent media frenzy over the possible closure of Eulji Myeonok, a 33-year-old authentic Pyongyang naengmyeon (cold noodle) restaurant in District 3, proved the public  largely uninterested or unaware of the area's industrial supply stores and metal craft workshops  is very concerned about the wellbeing of its historic restaurants.News that decades-old family-run eateries like Eulji Myeonok, Yangmiok, Anseong House and Chosunoak could disappear because of the demolition of the district induced a strong backlash from Seoul citizens, prompting Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon to announce a "thorough re-examination" of the redevelopment plan for the Euljiro area.

Lee Yoon-sang, 92, whose eldest son runs the Eulji Myeonok, enters the famed Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurant, Jan. 8. Lee owns the restaurant building, located near Euljiro 3-ga Station, Seoul. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



On Wednesday, the city government announced it would prevent "forced demolition" in other sections of the Euljiro area and the "forced eviction" of historic restaurants like Eulji Myeonok and Yangmiok, with Jung-gu Office playing the mediating role between the restaurants and Hanho Construction, the developer.



But few believe the city government will preserve the restaurants in their original setting, as it has already permitted developers to tear down most of the district. Restoration measures at this stage will likely mirror the fate of Pimatgol, the narrow alleyway of affordable grub and makgeolli that used to run through Jongno. Pimatgol lost most of its charm and vitality even though some of its original restaurants were "restored" along the ground floor of the new high-rise buildings after redevelopment.



"Park Won-soon said he would re-examine the redevelopment plan in this area but I'm not sure how he can meaningfully change things around this late," Tak said. "The demolitions have not reached this part of District 3 yet but at this pace, my restaurant can probably stay here three more years at most."






Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae was arrested early Thursday on charges that he abused his authority to influence trials as a political tool to lobby the previous government. Yonhap



Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae was arrested early Thursday on charges that he abused his authority to influence trials as a political tool to lobby the previous government.



The Seoul Central District Court issued the writ, citing that his charges are proven and that he presents a risk of destroying evidence given his position and the seriousness of the case. Yang was immediately taken into custody at the Seoul Detention Center.



The court denied the arrest warrant for retired Justice Park Byong-dae, former head of the National Court Administration (NCA), the top court's governing body, for his involvement in the alleged crime.



The latest court decision on Yang, 71, marks the fall from grace of the retired veteran justice, with a career of more than 40 years, to now a suspect facing at least 40 counts of criminal charges in a trial.






Suh Wook, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reads a statement from the Ministry of National Defense over the "provocative" low-altitude flight of a Japanese patrol aircraft close to a South Korean warship, Wednesday. / Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



A Japanese maritime patrol aircraft carried out a low-altitude flight close to a South Korean warship Wednesday afternoon, in an apparent threatening and provocative action, according to the Ministry of National Defense.



"The P3 maritime patrol airplane flew at an altitude of 60 to 70 meters and about 540 meters away from the South Korean Navy's destroyer in waters near Ieodo, [a rock southwest of the southern island of Jeju] at around 2:03 p.m., Wednesday," the ministry said.



In response, the South Korean Navy lodged a strong complaint about the incident through a hot line, urging Japan to stop the recurrence of such acts. The Navy also said it will take steps for self-defense if Japan repeats such an "obvious provocation."



The Navy said that the destroyer perceived the move as a security threat, adding that Japan should make it clear the exact reason for the low-level flight.



According to the ministry, Japan replied that it was "very inappropriate" for South Korea to threaten to take self-defense measures, as Japan is an ally and the Navy must have been able to discern that the aircraft belonged to the allied country.



"South Korea considers such a threatening low altitude flight as an apparent provocation," Suh Wook, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a media briefing.



At around 5 p.m. the same day, the defense ministry summoned the Japanese defense attache here to lodge a strong protest.



This is not the first time that Japan has conducted an intimidating low-level flight near South Korean Navy vessels, according to the ministry.



This year alone, patrol aircraft from Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force flew "threateningly" close to South Korean warships twice on Jan. 18 and 22, it said.



The latest provocation came about a month after a Japanese P-1 patrol airplane conducted such a flight above the Navy's Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer, which Tokyo claimed locked its fire-control radar on the plane.



Following the dispute over this, diplomatic relations between Seoul and Tokyo reached their lowest ebb, with both sides giving contradictory statements and failing to narrow their differences over the dispute.



The South Korean position is that the destroyer never directed the radar onto the Japanese aircraft, as it was on a humanitarian mission to rescue a North Korean fishing boat.



However, Japan has repeatedly claimed that the radar "painted" (locked onto) the aircraft, which it said posed a serious military threat to the aircraft.



To resolve the conflict, the military authorities from both sides recently held a meeting in Singapore, which ended in failure after they failed to reach a compromise over the issue.



Against this backdrop, ties between Seoul and Tokyo will continue to fray in the wake of the most recent incident.



The defense ministry said it questions the intention of such a series of militarily provocative acts from Japan.



Suh said the Navy will take appropriate but tough countermeasures if there is a recurrence of such activities.



In a press conference, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo shared his view on the provocative acts.



"It is certain that Japan is carrying out the acts apparently with political intent," Jeong said.



Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the country's foreign and defense ministers are taking issue with the dispute in an apparent move to politicize the matter, according to Jeong.


Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying (File photo: mfa.gov.cn)

Beijing pledges response if Washington asks Ottawa to turn over Huawei CFO

China said on Tuesday that Canada and the United States have abused their bilateral extradition treaty with regard to the arrest of Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, urging the US not to issue a formal extradition request to Canada.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China will take further responses if Washington proceeds with the formal request to extradite Meng.

David MacNaughton, Canada's ambassador to the US, said in an interview with Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper that Washington has informed Ottawa it will request Meng's extradition, but he did not say when the request will be made. The deadline for filing is Jan 30.

Meng was arrested in Vancouver at the request of the US on Dec 1 over alleged violations of US sanctions on Iran. A week later, Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng summoned the Canadian and US ambassadors in Beijing, expressing strong protests over Meng's arrest.

At the daily news conference on Tuesday, Hua said that Canada and the US "arbitrarily abused" their bilateral extradition agreement in the case of Meng, and seriously infringed on the safety and legal rights of Chinese citizens.

China urged Canada to immediately release Meng and protect her legitimate rights, she said, adding that China also demands the US to correct its mistake, cancel its arrest warrant for Meng and not to make the formal extradition request.

In response to the media report, telecommunication giant Huawei said in a statement that it hopes the Canadian and US governments will release Meng soon, and the company believes the legal systems of the two countries will ultimately reach a just conclusion.

Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export controls and sanction laws and regulations of the United Nations, the US and the European Union, it said.

Li Haidong, a professor of US studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said Meng's case is a political stunt operating under the guise of the law.

The US and Canada are treating an innocent person in a politicized way, which violates the spirit of the rule of law and will harm relations with China, he said.

Also, Hua, the spokeswoman, responded to a group of former foreign diplomats and academics who signed an open letter calling for the release of two Canadians.

Hua said those who signed the letter were "extremely disrespectful" to people engaged in normal and friendly exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries, and also interfered with China's sovereignty and judicial affairs.

The two, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, were detained in China in December for allegedly endangering national security.

Hua stressed that China welcomes foreign nationals, whether they are former diplomats, scholars or ordinary people, to come to China and engage in normal and friendly exchanges. There is nothing to worry about as long as they abide by Chinese laws and regulations, she added.
By Lee Min-hyung





U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris
South Korea's military on Wednesday strongly condemned a Japanese warplane's low-altitude flight close to a South Korean warship, calling it a "provocative act."

At 2:03 p.m., the Maritime Self-Defense Force's patrol plane flew close to the Navy ship at an altitude of 60 to 70 meters just 540 meters away near Ieodo, a submerged rock south of Korea's southern island of Jeju, it said.

"This low-altitude, close-range flight toward the ship of a partner country again today is a clearly provocative act, and we cannot help but doubt Japan's intent, and (we) strongly condemn this," Suh Wook, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press conference.

"Should this be repeated again, we will strongly respond in line with our military's code of conduct," he added.

The incident further escalated tensions between Seoul and Tokyo, which have been in a monthlong spat over a South Korean warship's radar operation for a humanitarian mission to rescue a North Korean warship in distress on Dec. 20.

Earlier in the day, Seoul's Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo openly raised allegations of Tokyo's "political intent" in the row that appeared to be winding down following Tokyo's abrupt exit from bilateral consultations on Monday.

The minister cast Tokyo's departure from working-level dialogue with Seoul as an "exit strategy" based on its realization that it cannot overturn Seoul's argument "logically and by international law."

The tussle erupted last month when Tokyo claimed that a South Korean destroyer locked fire-control radar on its maritime patrol aircraft in the overlapping exclusive economic zones of the two countries.

Seoul rejected the charge, saying the warship was on a humanitarian mission. It later accused the Japanese plane of conducting a threateningly low-altitude flight toward its destroyer. (Yonhap)
Sergeant First Class Seong Yu-jin of the Republic of Korea Army poses at a shooting course at the Liberty Bell Range?in the Joint Security Area (JSA) inside the Demilitarized Zone, Friday. / Courtesy of Kookbangilbo



By Park Ji-won



Sergeant First Class Seong Yu-jin has become the country's first female soldier to serve in the Security Battalion at the Joint Security Area (JSA), according to the Ministry of Defense.



Seong has been serving as a non-commissioned officer in charge of training at the unit under the Military Armistice Commission of the United Nations Command since Dec. 26.



The battalion has various duties such as evacuating noncombatant troops in emergency situations; dealing with complaints from local residents in Daeseong-dong, the only village inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ); and escorting prominent figures during joint events hosted by civic groups, the government and the military; as well as devising all training programs.



The Security Battalion has never had a South Korean female soldier deployed to it since its foundation in May 1952, although the U.S. army deployed several female soldiers in support department there in the past.



"The first title as a female soldier to become a member of the JSA Security Battalion is a weight on my shoulders, but I will do my best to be a suitable soldier with the best title rather than first," Seong said in a press release.



To pass the Republic of Korea Army test to join the unit, she engaged in physical training every day after her daily duties and earned a third-degree black belt in taekwondo, the release added.



She joined the army in July 2013 and started her service as a squad commander at the 50th Infantry Division, working on weapon management and training support.



In February, Master Sergeant Choi Jeong-eun will also join Seong at the Security Battalion, the second female NCO. Choi joined the Army in 1999 and has served in various units including, coincidentally, the 50th Infantry Division, Army Headquarters, and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command to build expertise in human resources.




By Kim Jae-heun



Sejong University said Wednesday that it had achieved fifth place among local universities in the business administration and economics sectors in the 2018 rankings by Times Higher Education (THE), a U.K. publication. It ranked 26th in Asia and 151st in the world.



The rankings are based on evaluations on the learning environment, volume and reputation of research, research influence, international outlook and industry-university cooperation.



"The placement is a result of the business school's efforts to strengthen its research capabilities by inviting excellent scholars from prominent universities around the world," said Kim Kyeong-won, the dean of the College of Business Administration. "We will make consistent efforts to advance into the world's top 100. Moreover, we will strive to become a hub for education research in Asia."



The college became the fourth institution in the country to acquire a certificate from the global business education network, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in 2007. Since then, the school has seen the certificate renewed in 2012 and 2017.



It provides scholarships to 20 to 30 foreign students every year, while offering an International Bachelor of Business Administration (IBBA) program to help students better understand international society.



The Korean Economics and Trade Department is also seeking to globalize and improve its education environment.



The department has recently come up with new courses to meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as studies on big data. It also helps students acquire various licenses including customs broker, tax accountant and certified public accountant.



"We'll accomplish many breakthroughs in the education field. It is our goal to foster students who can actively cope with an economic environment that is always changing," said Bae Ki-hyung, head of the department.


The island of Kalimantan / gettyimagesbank



A South Korean man working in Indonesia was found dead at his home earlier this week, apparently murdered, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The man in his 50s had participated in the construction of a plant in the southern region of Kalimantan.

When discovered on Monday, his body was dotted with wounds.

Given the condition of the site, local police believe he may have been murdered, according to the ministry.

The South Korean Embassy in Jakarta has requested that Indonesia look into the case speedily and is preparing to provide bereaved families with all necessary consular support, it added. (Yonhap)
A man puts trout in his T-shirt after catching it barehanded at Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, Sunday. / Yonhap



By Kim Rahn



Public awareness on animal rights has been growing in the country, with more people campaigning against animal abuse.



Starting with pets like dogs and cats then moving to wild animals, now it has extended to fish.



Several petitions have been posted on Cheong Wa Dae's website calling for the abolishment of fishing festivals or at least an improvement of the programs, which they labeled as mere "slaughter."



The main target is the Hwacheon Sancheoneo (trout) Ice Festival, which has become one of the most popular winter festivals drawing more than 1.5 million visitors every year. This year's edition, which started on Jan. 5, is nearing its end on Jan. 27.



"The Sancheoneo festival finishes only when 760,000 fish die only for human beings' fun," one petitioner wrote. "For humans, it is a festival, but for the trout, it is massacre and abuse."



Catching fish at the festivals is not in violation of the Animal Protection Law, but it does not mean the fish mobilized for the festivals are not abused, the petitioner claimed. "Many festivals run barehanded fishing programs, and some participants take photos of them holding the fish by their teeth, or of bleeding fish. Many bring children, and the children are likely to become insensitive to others' pain and lack a sense of respecting life."



The petitioner called on the government to set up guidelines on animal welfare at festivals. "I'm not insisting people not eat or catch fish at all. I'm urging people not to abuse fish only to entertain themselves, and to maintain minimum respect of other animal species," the person said.



On Jan. 5 when the Hwacheon festival opened, five animal rights groups also held a press conference at the festival venue to call on the festival organizer to review the programs and change them into ecological ones that respect life.



After seeing the small Gangwon provincial county of Hwacheon with 27,000 residents draws such a large number of tourists, many other towns are following suit, coming up with different fishing events. According to a report from a research team led by Seoul National University veterinary medicine professor Chun Myung-sun, there were 86 festivals themed with animals nationwide between 2013 and 2015. In most of them, the animals  mostly fish  are caught barehanded or in angling and eaten.


A photograph provided by the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs show Chang Won-sam, South Korean envoy to the ROK-U.S. cost-sharing talks, right, shakes hands with his U.S. counterpart Timothy Betts before the seventh meeting held at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., last Sept. 19. Korea Times file



By Jung Da-min



North Korea is using a tug-of-war between the U.S. and South Korea over sharing costs for the presence of the 28,500 personnel of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) as leverage to strengthen its argument that the South should unite with the North to fight against foreign powers.



North Korea's party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun on Wednesday published an editorial titled "the intention behind the demand to increase defense costs," where it said the U.S. is not treating the South as its ally. It said the U.S. is only pursuing its own interests while hampering the progress of peace talks between the two Koreas.



"That the U.S. is demanding the increase of South Korea's share of defense costs runs counter to the current tension-easing atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula," the editorial said. "The South and North are committed to alleviating military tension on the Korean Peninsula and taking steps to effectively deal with the danger of war by implementing the measures agreed by the two sides through the Panmunjeom Declaration and September Pyongyang joint declaration."






Moon Chung-in, right, a special adviser on foreign affairs and national security to President Moon Jae-in, speaks during a meeting with Korean reporters at the South Korean embassy in Cairo on Jan. 17 (KST). Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



South Korea's participation in talks with North Korea and the United States, recently held in Stockholm, was "big progress" for the South's diplomacy, according to presidential security adviser Moon Chung-in.



"North Korea allowed South Korea to join talks concerning developments on the Korean Peninsula," Moon said at a forum in Paris, Tuesday. "This has never happened in the past as South Korea had been excluded from nuclear disarmament discussions. This is big progress.



"I have no idea about the outcome of the latest talks in Stockholm. But one thing is certain, both U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have a firm commitment to resolve the North Korean nuclear problem through open dialogue."



Mentioning the old Winston Churchill phrase, "to jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war," the adviser said Trump and Kim both acknowledged the importance of not just speaking out against conditions but seeing substantial progress.



North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon took part in the discussions, which were held over three days at a heavily guarded resort north of the Swedish capital.



Representatives of the U.S. and North Korea left Stockholm early Tuesday (KST), though details on the outcome of the meetings are yet to emerge.



Diplomatic sources in Seoul said the talks covered issues on how to build "mutual trust" between the U.S. and North Korea, with the South Korean representative playing a "coordinating role."



"North Korea remains very adaptive to respond to the ongoing economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council," Moon said. "Many analysts think that the North's leader Kim sees the sanctions as a hurdle to the economic prosperity he wants for his regime," adding the reason the North negotiated was based on Kim Jong-un's "political decision" to give more weight to talks.



The adviser claimed Kim will tell Trump of his detailed measures for the elimination of its nuclear program and Trump is set to grant some sanctions relief and offer security guarantees.



"How to permanently and verifiably dismantle North Korea's nuclear program will be the main agenda at the upcoming summit," Moon said in a separate meeting with South Korean reporters last week in Cairo, Egypt.



Assuming the meeting happens, the most likely outcome would be a "smaller deal."



"What Trump has in mind is to offer concessions relating to economic benefits if certain conditions are met," Moon said, adding a full withdrawal of the U.S. military from South Korea is unlikely.



A smaller deal means North Korea abandons its key nuclear test sites, including one on Yongbyon, but holds on to some of its nuclear capabilities, either present or potential. In exchange, Pyongyang has sanctions removed and receives a massive infusion of foreign aid. The Koreas, the U.S. and China could also sign a peace treaty.



The adviser said Kim's promised visit to Seoul could happen only after the second Kim-Trump meeting achieves results on the nuclear standoff.



North Korea's Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea for South Korean affairs, Kim Yong-chol, center, leaves a Washington, D.C., hotel after participating in a meeting there with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Jan. 19 (KST). AP-Yonhap
The South Korean government has dismissed a media report that the United States put the brakes on its planned provision of Tamiflu antiviral medication to North Korea. Korea Times file



South Korea's unification ministry dismissed a media report Wednesday that the United States has put the brakes on its planned provision of Tamiflu antiviral medication to North Korea.

A local daily newspaper reported that the U.S. expressed reservations about Seoul's move to send 200,000 doses of Tamiflu to North Korea during their recent working group session on the North.

"That is not true," Baik Tae-hyun, the ministry's spokesperson, told a regular press briefing. "(Sending) the influenza treatment drugs is a humanitarian issue and the U.S. has voiced its positive stance on that."

In December, the government announced the plan to send the antiviral drugs and medical detection kits to North Korea via a land route over their western border, but delivery, which had initially been scheduled for Jan. 11, has been repeatedly put off for unclear reasons.

Seoul says that logistical issues involving preparations for the cross-border delivery are holding the shipment back, but speculation is rising that sanctions might be a major factor behind the protracted delay.

The ministry handling inter-Korean affairs earlier said that it discussed the matter with the U.S. through a working-group session held last month to make sure it does not violate sanctions.

A ministry official said that Washington does not take issue with the medication itself but conveyed its opinion that the cargo trucks needing to transport it could violate sanctions against North Korea.

Asked about the concerns over sanctions violations, the spokesperson did not elaborate.

Concerns are rising that a further delay could render the drugs ineffective in treating influenza patients as the peak season for the disease is nearing an end.

"We share a view that the drugs should be delivered as soon as possible. Still, I have to say that we should closely consult with the international community and relevant countries not to cause any sanctions-related problems in the process," the spokesperson said.

"I can say that the government's stance on providing humanitarian assistance to North Korea remains unchanged," he added.

The Tamiflu provision plan was based on information that about 150,000 North Korean people were confirmed to have been infected with influenza from late 2017 to early 2018. The leaders of the Koreas earlier agreed to work together to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

The medicine, if delivered, would be the first consignment since Seoul delivered around 400,000 doses of Tamiflu and 100,000 doses of Relenza antiviral drugs loaded on eight trucks to North Korea in 2009.

In 2017, South Korea unveiled a plan to provide US$8 million worth of assistance to North Korea through global humanitarian organizations, but it has yet to be executed amid apparent concerns that such a move could hurt a global alliance to resolve the North's nuclear problem. (Yonhap)
In this file photo taken on Jan. 18, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomes North Korean Vice-Chairman Kim Yong-chol prior to a meeting in Washington, DC. Pompeo held talks on North Korea with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts ahead of a summit between Pyongyang's leader and the U.S. president. AFP



U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that he expects to see a "good marker" on the path to achieving North Korea's denuclearization at the end of next month.

The two sides are planning to hold a second summit late next month to discuss the next steps in implementing the accord reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last year.

At the first summit in Singapore in June, Kim committed to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees for his regime.

"I believe that at the end of February we'll have another good marker along the way," Pompeo said in video remarks to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Last week's visit to Washington by Kim's close aide, Kim Yong-chol, yielded "further progress" in discussions, including through a meeting between U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and his "newly designated counterpart," Pompeo said.

Biegun and his North Korean counterpart discussed "some of the complicated issues towards achieving what the two leaders laid out back last June in Singapore," he added.

Biegun flew to Sweden over the weekend to hold talks with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui on planning for the next summit.

"Again, a little bit more progress," Pompeo said of those discussions, adding that "there remains an awful lot of work to do."

But "good things" have already happened, he said, pointing to North Korea's suspension of nuclear and missile tests since late 2017.

"There are many steps yet along the way towards achieving the denuclearization that was laid out in Singapore and in achieving the security and stability and peace on the (Korean) peninsula that the two leaders agreed to as well," Pompeo said. "We're determined to work towards achieving that."

The secretary held out the prospect of private sector investment in the North, which is currently under tough economic sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs.

"There's not much role for the private sector today, but if we're successful, if we can make a substantial step towards achieving the denuclearization and create the right conditions, it'll be the private sector that sits there, looming in the background," he said.

North Korea needs everything from power to infrastructure, and while there will be a "government component," the private sector's contributions will be critical to achieve the North's economic growth and ultimately stability.

"The specter of private sector companies who are prepared to invest in North Korea and to assist North Korea if we're able to achieve that full denuclearization that I know the entire world wants, the private sector will be an important player in achieving the final elements of the agreement as well," Pompeo said. (Yonhap)
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), speaks at the first plenary session of the 49th Annual Meeting of WEF in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 22, 2019. The 49th WEF Annual Meeting will be held on Jan 22-25 this year in Davos. [Photo/Xinhua]

DAVOS, Switzerland - World leaders and business elites gathered on Tuesday in Davos to discuss globalization 4.0, a buzzword that means a new wave of globalization in a digital world.

More than 3,000 participants braved the winter chills and icy roads to the snow-covered Swiss resort for the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, a leading platform for global economic affairs.

More than 60 heads of state or government, 40 international organization heads and 1,700 business leaders will attend this year's event that runs through Friday, themed Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Addressing the opening ceremony, WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said participants at the meeting will have to look at all the global challenges and shape the future of the world over the next four days.

Ueli Maurer, president of the Swiss Confederation, speaks at the first plenary session of the 49th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 22, 2019. The 49th WEF Annual Meeting will be held on Jan 22-25 this year in Davos. [Photo/Xinhua]

In an increasingly interconnected world, globalization 4.0 has to be human-centered, more inclusive, and more sustainable, Schwab said, adding that much emphasis was put on environmental issues at the forum.

In an article published on the US magazine Foreign Affairs, Schwab wrote, like its predecessors, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is best described by its leading technologies: artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and the Internet of Things. "

"In this world, globalization won't disappear; it will deepen. If in the past global integration grew as trade barriers came down, it will now rely on the connectivity of national digital and virtual systems and the related flow of ideas and services. This is the core of Globalization 4.0," he wrote.

Ueli Maurer (1st L), president of the Swiss Confederation, speaks at the first plenary session of the 49th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 22, 2019. The 49th WEF Annual Meeting will be held on Jan 22-25 this year in Davos. [Photo/Xinhua]

This year's event came as risks hang over global growth, with rising nationalism, and protectionism, and political uncertainties in rich countries. US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron are absent from the forum due to their domestic difficulties.

In a report released before the annual meeting, the WEF said that rising geopolitical and geo-economic tensions are the most urgent risk in 2019, with experts predicting further economic confrontation between major powers in 2019 and erosion of multilateral trading rules and agreements.

Reflecting on the troubling status quo of globalization, China's stance on globalization will be worth attention, analysts said.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), and other guests attend the openning ceremony of the 49th Annual Meeting of WEF in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 22, 2019. The 49th WEF Annual Meeting will be held on Jan 22-25 this year in Davos. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Davos in 2017 that the global economy is "the big ocean that you cannot escape from" and any attempt to retreat back to isolation runs counter to the historical trend.

One major solution offered by China to help tackle global challenges and build an open and more inclusive economy is the Belt and Road Initiative, said Martin Albrow, a renowned sociologist and a pioneer of the theory of globalization.

Proposed by China in 2013, the initiative is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

Alphorn players perform on stage before the first plenary session of the 49th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 22, 2019. The 49th WEF Annual Meeting will be held on Jan 22-25 this year in Davos. [Photo/Xinhua]
Rev. Shin Hyeon-uk of Guri Chodae Church, right, and two former members of SCJ speak during a press conference held in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Courtesy of Guri Cult Counseling Center



By Kang Aa-young





Rev. Shin Hyeon-uk
By Lee Kyung-min







The Korea Securities Depository (KSD) will help 10 budding firms to secure investors at the 2019 Our Crowd Global Investor Summit in March 2019.







Over 10,000 global venture capital and angel investors will attend the annual event scheduled to be held from March 3 to 7 in Jerusalem, Israel.







Eligible to apply are 423 firms that secured crowdfunding between January 2016 and January 2019 as well as 12 firms registered as partners with the KSD fintech consultative body. Application letters must be filed with the KSD by Jan. 27.







Crowdfunding is the process of raising small amounts of money from a large number of people online for a certain project or venture.







Candidates, to be finalized following reviews of application forms and investor relations in English, will be able to receive consultations from KSD-designated experts at the event to help them develop effective presentation strategies including delivery and visual aids preparations to attract global investors at the event.







Launched in February 2013, the Jerusalem-based OurCrowd is an equity crowdfunding platform built for capital funding for early-stage startups. About 25,000 KSD-related companies from 112 countries have secured $750 million in funding thus far.


Exterior of Seoul Museum's new wing in Buam-dong, central Seoul / Courtesy of Seoul Museum



Modern Korean masterpieces are on view at 'Walking Man' exhibition



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Seoul Museum in Buam-dong, north of downtown Seoul, opened a new wing celebrating its seventh anniversary and revealed masterpieces of Korean modern art from Kim Whan-ki and Lee U-fan at the inaugural exhibition.



Ahn Byung-gwang, CEO of Union Pharmacy and owner of the museum, took on the challenge of a new career by curating the "Walking Man" exhibit with artworks from the museum's collection. Seoul Museum's collection is based on the CEO's private collection, which began some 36 years ago when Ahn was a 26-year-old salesman inspired by Lee Jung-seob's "Bull."



The exhibition features works by Kim Whan-ki and Lee U-fan as well as paintings of Park Seo-bo, Chung Sang-hwa and Kim Tschang-yeul and white porcelain jars by master potter Kwon Young-bae, straight from the museum's treasure trove.





Kim Whan-ki's "Hundred Thousand Dots 04-VI-73 #316" is on view at the "Walking Man" exhibition at the Seoul Museum. / Courtesy of Seoul Museum
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

Thunderstorms...some strong, especially early. Damaging winds with some storms. Low 68F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms...some strong, especially early. Damaging winds with some storms. Low 68F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said on Monday that China stands ready to work with Switzerland to further promote bilateral ties and cooperation, particularly in the field of innovation.

Wang, who is paying a visit to the European country on Monday and Tuesday, made the remarks in his talks with President Ueli Maurer of the Swiss Confederation and at a business dialogue on innovation attended by both leaders.

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan meets with President Ueli Maurer of the Swiss Confederation in Zurich on Monday, January 21, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua]

The China-Switzerland relationship has been developing rapidly over recent years and has now reached its best level in history under the guidance of both countries' leaders, Wang said during the talks.

He noted that economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has kept deepening, political mutual trust has increased markedly, and bilateral friendship is gaining ever more public support.

Switzerland, he added, is one of the first Western countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, has taken the lead in multiple areas of cooperation between China and European countries, and has played an exemplary role in promoting China-Europe cooperation.

Despite their differences in size, stage of development and genes of civilization, the two countries respect each other's development path and have always treated each other equally and pursued friendly cooperation, Wang said, adding that the 2016 establishment of the China-Switzerland innovative strategic partnership has charted the course for the future development of bilateral ties.

The two sides, said Wang, are highly complementary in such areas as economy, trade, finance, manufacturing, medicine and health care, where they can carry out win-win cooperation.

Calling the China-Switzerland free trade agreement an example of success in bilateral cooperation, Wang said China is ready to work with Switzerland to speed up the joint study on upgrading the deal, so as to infuse stronger impetus into their economic and trade cooperation.

Meanwhile, the continuous opening-up of China's financial sector has created new opportunities for bilateral financial cooperation, he said, adding that Beijing encourages Chinese financial organizations to operate in Switzerland and invites Swiss ones to expand their business in China.

He suggested that the two countries explore cooperation in such areas as smart manufacturing, digitization and new energy, so as to enrich the China-Switzerland high-level innovation cooperation platform devised by their leaders.

China and Switzerland, he added, should also step up people-to-people exchanges and tourism cooperation, so that they can further consolidate the public support for bilateral relations.

The vice president also expressed the hope that the two countries will carry out active consultations on an inter-governmental cooperation agreement within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and achieve positive results at an early date.

Addressing the business dialogue on innovation, Wang noted that Switzerland is one of the most innovative countries in the world, and that China also attaches great importance to innovation.

To build China into an innovative country, Wang said, Beijing is committed to pursuing innovation-driven development, promoting the rule of law, improving market order and strengthening protection of intellectual property rights.

Noting that the pioneering spirit is the most prominent feature of China-Switzerland relations, Wang said the business dialogue on innovation is a concrete measure to implement the consensus reached in 2017 by the two countries' leaders on establishing the China-Switzerland high-level innovation cooperation platform.

China and Switzerland, Wang said, should stick to openness and inclusiveness and join hands to promote the building of a high-level open world economy.

The two sides should cement mutual understanding and trust, he said, adding that they should understand both the present and the history of each other, so as to jointly plan for the future.

The two sides should boost confidence and maintain patience, he said, stressing that China will open wider to the outside world and, with its market of 1.4 billion people promising enormous possibilities, stands ready to share development opportunities with other countries.

The two sides should seize opportunities and bravely promote reform, he said, urging Chinese and Swiss enterprises to share innovation outcomes and make concerted efforts to forge global industrial, innovation and value chains.

The two sides should also improve business environment and guide bilateral cooperation, Wang said, calling on the two countries' governments to establish reasonable and efficient institutions and provide strong policy support for corporate operations.

For his part, Maurer said his country and China have maintained a long-running friendly relationship, with frequent high-level mutual visits and ever deepening political mutual trust.

China has made admirable achievements in national development, said the president, adding that Switzerland respects China's history, culture, development path and institutions, and adheres to the one-China policy.

Noting that the Belt and Road Initiative is conducive to promoting cross-border trade and investment, the Swiss leader said he looks forward to leading a delegation to China later this year for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Switzerland, Maurer added, is willing to work with China to accelerate the joint study on upgrading the two countries' free trade deal, and boost bilateral cooperation in such areas as trade, finance, technology, medicine, digital economy, people-to-people exchanges, education and tourism, so as to create more mutual benefits.

The visit is the first leg of Wang's trip to Switzerland, which will also take the Chinese vice president to the snow-capped Alpine town of Davos for the 2019 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
BigNazik/iStock(NEW YORK) -- The Fyre Festival, sensationalized and sold as a luxe Bahamian music getaway backed by extreme social media hype, quickly went south and is remembered as a scandal that cost not only attendees but investors and local workers thousands of dollars.



The April to May 2017 event was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime concert spectacular and boasted performances from bands like Blink-182, Kaytranada and Major Lazer, on a remote and private island in the Exumas.



Two new dueling documentaries from Netflix ("Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened") and Hulu ("Fyre Fraud") retell the story of the doomed music festival and pull back the curtain with behind the scenes footage and new interviews with various parties involved.



MaryAnne Rolle, a restaurant owner at Exuma Point Resort who was featured in the Netflix documentary, spoke to ABC News about the course of events -- including her claim that she paid her staff, who made thousands of meals, out of her personal savings.



"It was 1,000 for lunch. 1,200 sometimes for supper. So we were basically running 2,000 meals per day," she said. "I think I spent more than $100,000 on just food and staff," Rolle explained.



A GoFundMe campaign was set up to raise funds for Rolle who claims she "was not paid."



"As I make this plea its hard to believe and embarrassing to admit that I was not paid...I was left in a big hole! My life was changed forever, and my credit was ruined by Fyre Fest," the campaign said on its fundraising site.



In just eight days the initial goal of $123,000 has already been surpassed and has now reached just over $163K at the time of publication.



Rapper Ja Rule (Jeffrey Bruce Atkins), who co-founded the failed event with entrepreneur Billy McFarland, offered his condolences for Rolle on Instagram amid fierce criticism on social media following the debut of the documentaries.



"My heart goes out to this lovely lady...MaryAnne Rolle weve never met but Im devastated that something that was meant to be amazing, turn out to be such a disaster and hurt so many ppl... SORRY to anyone who has been negatively effected by the festival."



The rapper has not been charged with any criminal or civil crimes attached to the Fyre Festival.



McFarland, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges last year and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence, was allegedly paid by Hulu for their production.



Hulu did not issue a statement to ABC News but a spokesperson shared the background that the filmmakers paid McFarland to access footage and interviews in order to give an accurate account of what transpired leading up to the festival.



The competing documentary from Netflix has also come under criticism for it's involvement with Jerry Media, the marketing company behind the Fyre Festival video and social media marketing campaigns.



"We were happy to work with Jerry Media and a number of others on the film," Netflix said in a statement to ABC News. "At no time did they, or any others we worked with, request favorable coverage in our film, which would be against our ethics. We stand behind our film, believe it is an unbiased and illuminating look at what happened, and look forward to sharing it with audiences around the world."



ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams said all of the legal action that has been taken surrounding the Fyre Festival is "all civil [lawsuits] right now."



"A few people in North Carolina have already won a lawsuit, but when you talk about the money that Mcfarland made if he loses a lawsuit, that money could go back to those people anyway," Abrams added.



Models, celebrities and influencers, as well as the Jerry Media team who was behind the glamorous promo video, all endorsed the event well in advance of the failed fiasco that lacked suitable lodging, water or food.



Concertgoers paid anywhere from $500 to $12,000 for the experience, but no refunds were issued after the event unraveled.



Ja Rule initially took to social media in April 2017 after the event spiraled downward in an attempt to distance himself from the scandal.



In light of the documentaries, he was met with a fresh batch of criticism -- including being called a "manipulator" and "liar" by Twitter users.



The music mogul defended himself on Twitter writing, "I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray!!!"

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Fire, frozen custard, steakburgers, thickburgers spreading through Knoxville





Pictured from left to right: Paul Jarrett, Nancy McCarty (GM) and Linden Swain (DM)



Firehouse Subs has opened its new Firehouse Subs restaurant at 7614 Chapman Highway. This is franchise owner Paul Jarretts ninth location, and the 11th Firehouse Subs in Knox County.



A native Tennessean, Jarrett opened the first Firehouse Subs in the state more than 15 years ago. After years of serving many areas in the East Tennessee Valley, Jarrett is looking forward to bring hot, specialty subs to southeast Knoxville.



Its been a great pleasure of mine to bring Firehouse Subs to many guests over the years and support our local fire and police departments, Jarrett said. Ive been looking forward to serving this area of Chapman Highway for a long time, and am also excited to continue supporting our first responders through our Round Up Program, pickle bucket sales and more. Firehouse Subs serves premium meats and cheeses steamed and piled high on a toasted sub roll, served Fully Involved with fresh produce and condiments. In addition to its signature subs, the restaurant offers a variety of catering options from sandwich and dessert platters to salads and snacks to fuel any occasion.



The Chapman Highway Firehouse Subs restaurant is open seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and offers third-party delivery and in-house catering services.



Enjoy more subs. Save more lives. To learn more, visit www.firehousesubs.com.



Freddy's Steakburger





Freddys Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, freddysusa.com, a fast-casual restaurant concept, opens tomorrow at 7614 Chapman Hwy. Freddys is known for its cooked-to-order steakburgers made with lean 100 percent ground beef, Vienna Beef hot dogs, crispy shoestring fries and frozen custard treats made with freshly churned chocolate or vanilla frozen custard.



The Chapman Highway retail corridor has a steady flow of traffic through the area and is home to a wide variety of retail businesses and restaurants that makes it a great fit for Freddys, said Bob Rasberry, franchise owner. Were looking forward to continuing the growth of our fast-casual burger concept throughout the Knoxville area and supporting the communities in which we serve.



The 3,360 square-foot restaurant seats 98 guests and has additional seating on the patio. Drive-thru service is also available. Hours of operation are 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
A view of the newly named Sansha Yongle Blue Hole in Xisha Islands in Sansha City, South China's Hainan Province, July 24, 2016. The almost vertical blue hole, located at 1631'30?north latitude and 11146'05?east longitude, measures 130 meters in diameter at the top entrance and 36 meters at the bottom, and is not connected with the ocean. It's said to be the deepest blue hole in the world. (Photo/China News Service)

Sansha Yongle Dragon Hole, which is 300.89 meters deep, is now officially the deepest ocean blue hole in the world, China's National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (NMEFC) announced on its Wechat account on Sunday.

The hole is located in the Xisha Islands in Sansha, South China's Hainan Province, in the South China Sea. It had exceeded the Bahamas' Dean's Blue Hole of 202 meters in depth, according to the NMEFC.

The almost vertical blue hole measures 130 meters in diameter at its top entrance and 36 meters at the bottom. The NMEFC has detected obvious water flows in the hole. Pictures reveal that the blue hole seems eerily like a time capsule, with the water creating a striking contrast to the turquoise that surrounds it.

At least 20 kinds of ocean species live at the upper section of the hole, according to the NMEFC. A blue hole is a type of rare natural geographical phenomenon and is considered to be "the last mystery that protects the universe's secret of the earth."

Most blue holes are formed from sinkholes or caves that develop slowly over time, as rock begins to erode and collapse. The term blue hole simply comes from the dark, navy waters that characterize these formations, according to National Geographic in 2017.

The hole is of great scientific research value, and historical and cultural value. It demonstrates China's achievement in its history of sea protection, the NMEFC said.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Partly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms possible. High 94F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
We Energies is looking for large business, governmental and non-profit customers to participate in its new $7 million Solar Now program.

The utility company will pay those who put solar panels on their roofs and property and will set up, maintain and operate the equipment.

The energy that is produced will be pooled for use by all of the utilitys customers.

Brendan Conway, a company spokesman, said the company is seeking to diversity its portfolio of energy sources including natural gas, coal and wind.

The goal, Conway said is to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

We are looking for companies, school districts and non-profit organizations that will allow us to set up equipment on large roof spaces, Conway said.

We Energies was granted permission by the state Public Service Commission in December to create 35 megawatts of clean energy, equivalent to taking nearly 30,000 cars off the road, according to the company.

Conway said solar panels are expected to go up on rooftops this spring. He said school districts and municipalities, including Racine, have expressed an interest. For now, the program is restricted to large organizations.

. it may be expanded to added more capacity. Its unknown whether it will eventually be expanded to residential sites.

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Pleasant Prairie Police called to the hospital to investigate a stabbing uncovered what investigators believe is a substantial drug dealing operation.

Joey Del Real, 26, of Pleasant Prairie, is being held on $100,000 bond after being charged Tuesday with six felonies.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators searching Del Reals home, 8631 Old Green Bay Road, found what Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger characterized as a massive amount of drugs, including 350 grams of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of about $28,000 along with nearly 35 pounds of marijuana, 20 grams of cocaine and a backpack containing $78,000 in cash.

Binger said in court Tuesday that the amount of drugs and cash found in Del Reals home suggested he was running a large-scale drug-dealing operation.

According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, officers sought a warrant to search Del Reals home after they were called to St. Catherines Medical Center on Jan. 13 for a report of a stabbing.

Police were told by hospital staff that Del Real had been stabbed in the back and that Del Reals girlfriend was being loud and belligerent in the hospital.
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Given an approval from His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the royal decree has been promulgated in the Royal Gazette, obliging the Election Commission to officially announce the date for the long-awaited election within five days, according to the constitution's organic law pertaining to the election.

The election date is largely expected on March 24, marking a one-month delay from an earlier schedule for February 24.

Under the 2017 constitution, the election of MPs is bound to be held within 150 days after the date on which the organic laws pertaining to the election was promulgated.

The last organic law pertaining to the election, one that governs the election of memebers of parliament, was promulgated on December 11.
A second line brass band, University students and faculty march from Strong Hall to the Kansas Union in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Senate is now launching a new readership program, which gives University students unlimited digital access to the New York Times. On April 12, students voted to end the Collegiate Readership Program through USA Today, which provides newspapers to students at various locations across campus, as pictured.
Multiple individuals in Lawrence reported seeing a man dressed in what looked to be like robes worn by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
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* Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 21 told senior officials to strengthen their ability in preventing and defusing major risks to ensure sustained and healthy economic development and social stability.

* Russia's foreign debt amounted to US$453.7 billion as of January 1, 2019, down 12.4 percent or US$64.4 billion from the beginning of last year, the Russian central bank said on January 21.

* US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on January 21 held a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart over the situation in Syria, the State Department said in a statement.

* At least 11 people were killed after two ships caught fire in the Kerch Strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, Russia's Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transport (Rosmorrechflot) said on January 21.

* The death toll from a perforated gasoline pipeline that exploded in the central Mexican town of Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo has climbed to 89, a senior official said on January 21.

* Egypt and China signed on January 21 an agreement on a US$72-million Chinese grant for Egypt's satellite Sat II project, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

* US State Department said on January 21 that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with his the Republic of Korean counterpart over phone on January 20, discussing their engagements with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

* US State Department said on January 21 that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a phone conversation with his Japanese counterpart on January 20, agreeing on the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

* At least 100 Palestinian prisoners were injured on January 21 during clashes with the guards in the Israeli Ofer Prison in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club Association.

* The death toll from the oil tanker-bus collision in Pakistan's southwestern sub-district of Hub on January 21 evening rose to 26, local police said.

* Germany has deported a record number of 8,658 asylum seekers to other European Union (EU)members from January to the end of November in 2018, according to a response by the Interior Ministry to an inquiry by Germany's left party (Die Linke) on January 21, local media reported.

* Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked the elections commission to head to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip soon to start consultations on holding parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories, officials said on January 21.

* The US navy ship Donald Cook (DDG 75) arrived in Georgia's Black Sea port Batumi for a visit on January 21 as part of a regularly scheduled deployment.

* Russia and Ukraine will meet in May for further gas talks after an EU-mediated discussion proposed a new contract for Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine from 2020, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said here on January 21.

* Ukraine and Israel on January 21 signed the long-discussed free trade agreement (FTA), the Ukrainian presidential press service said in a statement.

* Macedonia has the unreserved support of Slovenia for its efforts for accession into the European Union (EU) and NATO membership, visiting Slovenian Defense Minister Karl Erjavec on January 21 told Macedonian Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska.

* Jordan on January 21 voiced its rejection of the establishment of a new Israeli airport near Aqaba.

* Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio on January 21 accused France of causing the ongoing migrant crisis at European Union borders by "continuing to practice colonialism" in Africa.

* Greek MPs will vote on the Macedonia name deal on January 24, Parliament Speaker Nikos Voutsis announced on January 21, as the government voiced optimism over the result.

* Turkey will never allow that the implementation of a safe zone in Syria be turned into "swamp" like in northern Iraq, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on January 21.

* Naval units from Egypt and Bahrain arrived on January 21 to conduct three-day joint naval drills in the Gulf, the armed forces said in a statement on its website.

* Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group said on January 21 it was behind the car bombing that killed at least 21 people at a police academy in the capital Bogota last week.
University of The Punjab Department of Economics Jobs 2019

Latest University Of The Punjab PU Management Posts Lahore 2021 Experienced and responsible persons for the posts of Lab Attendant, Dispatch Rider, Chowkidar, Mali & Sweeper required for University of The Punjab Department of Economics in Lahore Punjab 2019.

How to Apply on University Of The Punjab PU Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.



Company Address: Chairman Department of Economics

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted.
Construction Labors Jobs 2019 In Saudi Arabia

Latest Almaa Enterprises Construction Posts Saudi Arabia 2021 A well known and reputed construction company requires the services of experienced and strong persons for the posts of Steel Fixer, Mason, Labor & Labor Helper in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

How to Apply on Almaa Enterprises Job Advertisement

Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.



Telephone: 051-4852326-7

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If the employer asks you to pay money for any purpose including processing to shortlisting, do not pay at all and report us using our contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs cannot be applied online here. Error & omissions excepted.
Focus on Abigail Dahan: Owner of the Bake School

Tell me a bit about your life in South Jersey. I grew up in Cherry Hill. We moved here from Paris when I was six...

Focus on Michael Bierig of Bierig Brothers, Inc

What do you do? I am involved in a family meat business. My family was refugees who arrived in America in 1939. They settled in...
The visa exemption agreement for diplomatic passport holders between Vietnam and Lithuania is the 85th visa exemption agreement that Vietnam has signed with other countries to facilitate the bilateral exchange of delegations.

Vietnam also grants visa exemptions for flight crew members of 18 countries and territories on the principle of reciprocity.

In addition, Vietnam has unilaterally exempted visas for citizens of 13 countries, including Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Belarus, as well as to ASEAN Secretariat officials, in a bid to attract more international tourists.

At the ceremony, Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh and Minister Eimutis Misiunas also signed an agreement to resume the reception of citizens between the two countries.

Earlier in the meeting with the Lithuanian Interior Minister, Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh welcomed the Minister's first visit to Vietnam, while valuing the results of the talks between Minister Eimutis Misiunas and Vietnamese Minister of Public Security To Lam, particularly in the field of crime prevention.

Minister Eimutis Misiunas expressed his pleasure at the positive development of the bilateral relationship based on mutual understanding and wished for more fruitful relations in the future.

The guest affirmed that Lithuania supports Vietnam to further strengthen its cooperation with the EU, especially in the fields of economics and trade.




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After a few weeks of teasing and launching in China last month, Huaweis sub-brand Honor has gone ahead and launched the Honor View 20 in Europe. It is among the first few handsets to hit the market with a 48MP rear camera and a hole-punch selfie camera at the front.

The front of the Honor View 20 is dominated by its 6.4-inch FHD+ LCD display. The lack of a notch and use of a 4.5mm hole-punch design to accommodate the selfie camera means the full-screen experience offered by the device is as good as it can get without using a slider design.

Made from glass and sandwiching an aluminum chassis, the View 20s rear glass panel has a striking V pattern which makes it stand out from a sea of other phones in the market featuring a similar glass design.

Internally, the Honor View 20 features Huaweis own 7nm Kirin 980 chipset, 6/8GB RAM, and up to 256GB of storage. This means the handset has largely the same internals as Huaweis flagship Mate 20 Pro. Other notable specs of the View 20 include a 4,000mAh battery with 22.5W Super Charging, 25MP f/1.8 selfie camera, 48MP rear camera, headphone jack (yes!), IR blaster, USB-C, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and a fingerprint scanner at the rear.

The 48MP rear camera is definitely a highlight with Huawei touting many unique camera modes. The phone also takes 12MP photos using pixel binning in low-light scenarios for better imaging performance.

To keep its price in check, the Honor View 20 does skimp on wireless charging and IP certification (water-resistance).

The Honor View 20 goes on sale in France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland, Finland, and other markets from January 23 for 569 Euros.

The Honor View 20 is just the first of many phones to launch this year featuring a hole-punch display and a 48MP rear camera. The hole-punch display design is definitely unique and a smart way to avoid the notch. Samsung is also expected to use a similar design trend on its upcoming Galaxy S10 series.
He made the statement at the Security Councils quarterly open debate on the Middle East and the Israel/Palestine conflict, which took place on January 22.

Speaking at the discussion, the diplomat said despite efforts made by the UN Security Council and other UN bodies last year, the situation seems to have gotten worse.

He pointed to rampant and excessive use of violence and the highest rate in five years of related injuries and deaths among civilians as examples. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is facing a budget crisis, he added.

Quy attributed these problems to a lack of respect for, even violation of, the UN Security Councils relevant resolutions, particularly Resolution 2334, which condemned the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories as illegal.

He affirmed that Vietnam backs the two-state solution, which endorses an independent state of Palestine co-existing peacefully alongside Israel following the border that was internationally recognised prior to 1967.

The ambassador urged sides involved to respect international law, the Security Councils related resolutions and to settle the issue by peaceful measures in line with the UN Charter.

He urged the council to demonstrate its strong leadership for specific actions and the sides involved to ensure their compliance to the councils related resolutions in a bid to end violence and damage to civilians, and help reach a comprehensive, fair and sustainable solution that cares for the legitimate interests of all parties.
Carol Faber, Associate Professor of graphic design, gives a speech on why she should be Faculty Senate President-Elect. Faber said, Leadership takes listening, good communication, open-mindedness and a willingness to do the hard work, while working with others. During the Faculty Senate meeting the members cast their votes and Faber won against Andrea Wheeler, Assistant Professor of architecture. Electing a new President-Elect was on the agenda for the Faculty Senate meeting on Jan. 22 in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.
The new USMexicoCanada Agreement

After multiple rounds of negotiations, on November 30 2018, the US, Mexico and Canada signed the USMCA at the G20 summit in Argentina.

The USMCA, which still needs to be ratified by their corresponding governments, will replace the 24-year old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and will come into force three months after the last member party completes its internal approval process.

The new agreement is comprised of 34 chapters (relative to the 22 chapters included in NAFTA), which overall aim to regulate intellectual property, anti-corruption, digital trade, financial services, labour rights, agricultural technology and biotechnology standards, textile production, environmental obligations, and non-discriminatory treatment, among others.

Key highlights of the USMCA include:





The new agreement establishes a transparent legal and commercial framework for business planning that supports further expansion of trade and investment. At the same time, it incorporates provisions to prevent technical barriers that are unnecessary or unjustified for international trade, address malpractices and acts of corruption, and enhances the involvement of small and medium sized enterprises in international trade.



Cross-border services - The USMCA establishes commitments between member parties for the liberalisation of cross-border financial services and market access.





Furthermore, it includes an effective competition framework for cross-border service suppliers and preserves non-discriminatory treatment.



De minimis To facilitate greater cross-border trade, the USMCA will raise the de minimis shipment value levels from 7% to 10% of the transaction value for small package/express shipments.

Labour

A new labour chapter was included in the USMCA to enforce member parties to comply with their labour legislation, and specifically, a new annex on worker representation in collective bargaining in Mexico is included to provide for the effective recognition of the right of collective bargaining.

Rules of origin

The USMCAs rules of origin have been updated, and specifically for the automotive sector. The new rules establish a 75% regional value content (RVC) and labour value content (LVC) between 40-45%, which will depend on the type of vehicle, but should be manufactured by employees with wages of at least $16 dollars per hour.

Certification and verification of origin

The USMCA encourages the removal or reduction of the formalities required for the certification or verification of products, and enforces cooperation between customs authorities to detect and prevent customs offences and tax evasion.





The formalities for the verification and certification of origin are simplified. The verification of origin may now be carried out through information requests or visits to the premises of the exporter or producer, whereas the certification of origin will not need to follow a prescribed format and may be carried out through any commercial document, to the extent it includes the information of the exporter, producer and product, and complies with the corresponding rules of origin. Furthermore, importers may claim for preferential tariff treatment, based on a certification of origin completed by the exporter, producer or importer. Energy While the USMCA was expected to include a renewed energy chapter for potential change in the energy sector due to the incoming government of Mexico's Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, such a chapter was discarded. Similar provisions to the ones established for this sector under NAFTA, which ensured Mexican sovereignty in the framework of Mexicos Energy Reform, were preserved. Currency A chapter on macroeconomic policies and exchange rate matters is included in the USMCA to address unfair currency practices. Dispute settlement mechanism The dispute settlement mechanism established under NAFTA, which allowed member parties to present allegations against other members unfair trading practices, is preserved. However, the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, which allows investors to present allegations against member-country governments for discriminatory actions, will be limited to certain sectors for Mexico (e.g. oil and gas, power generation and telecommunication services). The USMCA will be in force for 16 years, subject to review by the member parties in the sixth year of the new agreement. Every six years, the parties shall notify their intention to automatically extend the agreement for another 16 years.

This article was written by Oscar A Lopez Velarde and Daniela A Inigo Arroyo of Ritch, Mueller, Heather & Nicolau, S.C. Oscar A. Lopez Velarde (olopezvelarde@ritch.com.mx) Daniela A. Inigo Arroyo (dinigo@ritch.com.mx) Ritch, Mueller, Heather y Nicolau, S.C. www.ritch.com.mx





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Lawmaker representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani has said that Nigerians shouldnt be shocked to see President Muhammadu Buhari and former president Olusegun Obasanjo shake hands and smile.

This admonition comes after much ado was made about a handshake the two former military heads shared, during the National Council of state, which held on Tuesday at the state house.

According to the lawmaker, the handshake shouldnt come as a surprise because the two leaders come a long way, noting that the glue of their history is thicker than the paste of their politics.

The senator speaking via his Twitter handlenon Tuesday further said the emotions of their fanatics, can not undo, or shake the pillar of their class interest.

He wrote:

PMB & OBJ; Dont be shocked when you see them shake hands and smile;the glue of their history is thicker than the paste of their politics.The pillar of their class interest is stronger than the emotions of their fanatics.
A former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani Kayode has accused a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of being a chief slave of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former Aviation minister quoted a 2013 statement of the former Lagos state governor, wherein he(Tinubu) accused Buhari of being an agent of destabilisation, an ethnic bigot and a religious fanatic, yet has become a number supporter of the president.

Fani-Kayode, speaking via his Twitter handle on Wednesday evening, said described Tinubu as Buharis principal night soil collector and chief slave.

Buhari is an agent of destabilisation, an ethnic bigot and a religious fanatic. He is unfit to rule Nigeria- Bola Tinubu, March, 2003.

It is sad that today the same Bola Tinubu who saw things so clearly in 2003 is now Buharis principal night soil collector and chief slave.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has taken a huge swipe at a national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC and former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu over his statement against former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The former ruling party in a statement on Tuesday, described Mr Tinubhs comment about the former president as disrespectful, reckless, unguarded and indecorous.

The party noted that Tinubu was only shocked that the former president exposed their plans to rig the coming elections, being the only way Tinubu wins elections for himself and his cronies.

See full statement below

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), PDP, reprimands Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over his comments against the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Balogun of Owu and described it as disrespectful, reckless, unguarded and indecorous.

Tinubu in his tirade against the former President sounded like a disrobed ruler facing a pang of defeat as he watches his empire being legitimately taken.

It is shocking that Asiwaju of Lagos can be in cahoots with President Buhari, a known anti-democrat, who has always been in league with all known dictators, while at the same time claiming to be on the side of democrats.

It is however not a surprise that Tinubu is in severe pain because President Obasanjo exposed their rigging plans. Asiwaju had always won elections for himself and his cronies through rigging and this accounts for his bitterness.

His reliance on rigging was typified in the Osun election where results were manipulated in order not to disgrace the fading politics of the Asiwaju of Lagos.

Let it be placed on record that the story of that election has not been fully told by Tinubu in his snide remarks against President Obasanjo. He chose to be silent on that phone call to Abuja, consequent upon which INEC declared an election already won by the PDP, as inconclusive.

However, President Obasanjo, contrary to Tinubus claims, did not at any time, assure our party that he holds sway in the southwest and as such will deliver Osun state to the PDP.

It is also important to state that the peoples candidate, Atiku, did not also claim to have rigged election in the South West. However, if Tinubu today denies his affinity with Atiku Abubakar, which is well known in the entire nation, then he can deny even his own existence.

Moreover, it is an established fact that Obasanjo remains a statesman and a global figure who always speak the truth to power and put the interest of our nation above all.

We challenge Asiwaju of Lagos to go round the markets of Idumota, Alaba, Ikeja Yaba and ask the traders if the N10,000 has yielded them the profit to purchase hotels, oil companies, airlines, and tax collecting agencies.

Since Asiwaju of Lagos understands the reason for collation of PVC numbers in exchange for the N10,000 trader money, he will do the nation good, especially at this time, if he provides explanation for this joint venture outside rigging of elections.
New Police public relations officer, ACP Frank Mba, was live on Channels Television during a programme titled  Sunrise to discuss the new decentralisation of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) by the police.

The new force spokesman revealed that the ongoing reform would restore order and bring the police closer to the people.

In his own word:

Reforms on SARS is not going to be cosmetic, what we are doing now is to correct the abnormality, restore order and bring the Police closer to the people.

Nigerians have been on social media expressing optimism as a result of how articulate and eloquent , the new force man laid down his points.

What Nigerians are saying:

The difference between the current Police Spokesman Frank MBA and his predecessor  Jimoh Moshood is like light and darkness. The likes of uncouth Jimoh and his inept boss  Idris are the reason our Police is rated as the worst police outfit in the world.  Barr. Obioma Ezenwobodo (@Obiomae) January 23, 2019

I'm delighted to see our new Police Spokesman Frank Mba speaks very responsibly and citizen friendly on @channelstv It reminds me of this guy on the right. Nothing is forever, live your time well pic.twitter.com/gVNsNaLOt8  Oluwatosin (@certainty449) January 23, 2019

Who is listening to Frank Mba on @sunrisedailynow? This is how a Police Spokesman should speak. @PoliceNG now has a solid spokesperson.  Chidi H. Lemchi (@HLemchi) January 23, 2019

https://twitter.com/vicyll/status/1087979903423778817
The Government leader was received at the airport by Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Pham Hai Bang and officials of the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese mission in Geneva.

Shortly after his arrival, PM Phuc left Zurich for Davos to commence the first activities within the framework of his trip to Switzerland for the WEF Annual Meeting 2019.

As scheduled, the Vietnamese PM will join other leaders to attend the opening session themed Meeting of leaders on ocean action agenda on January 23. In addition, he is going to hold meetings with a number of leaders of countries attending the WEF Davos 2019.

In particular, PM Phuc and WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab will co-chair a dialogue with leaders of global groups on the Vietnamese economy under the theme Promoting dynamism and innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

On the same day, the Vietnamese leader will meet with leaders of various multinational corporations who are in Switzerland for the WEF Davos 2019 activities.

PM Phucs participation in the WEF Davos Annual Meeting is the first multilateral diplomatic activity of the Vietnamese Party and State leaders in 2019, holding great significance in terms of politics, foreign affairs and socio-economics.
Vanguard

NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday, took a swipe at the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo accusing him of being responsible for the flaws in Nigerias political economy since 1999.

Thisday

The lead counsel to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has vowed to appeal yesterdays ruling by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), dismissing the orders of three high courts and the National Industrial Court that restrained it from proceeding with the arraignment of Onnoghen by the Code of Conduct Bureau.

The Sun

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Commandant General, Abdullahi Gana Muhammdu has cautioned Nigerian youths on the danger of engaging in election violence. He told Daily Sun: A violence-free election in 2019 is achievable if all stakeholders join hand to make it achievable.

Daily Times

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to boycott the forthcoming 2019 general elections slated to hold on February 16 and March 2 respectively.

Daily Trust

PDP didnt punish me for chanting A-P-C  Benue council chair The Chairman of Gwer West Local Government Council in Benue State, Francis Ayagah, yesterday, denied report that he was punished by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for chanting All Progressives Congress (APC) at a PDP rally in his domain.

The Nation

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has warned that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidates suggestion that the exchange rate should be free float is a recipe for disaster.

Tribune

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Oyo State, Seyi Makinde has assured the people of the state that his administration in the state will create wealth to solve major security and economic problems in the state and give due honour to the traditional rulers in the state.
A former aide to ex president Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri has faulted the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to peg the minimum wage at N27,000 for states and private sector while N30,000 for federal agencies.

Omokri in his criticism of the decision, which was reached at the Tuesdays National Council of state, which held at the State House in Abuja, said Nigerian workers deserve better.

According to Omokri, N30,000 per month was allocated to feeding of police dogs while N75,000 for police horses in the 2019 budget. Therefore, it shouldnt be such a burden to give workers in Nigeria just N30,000.

He wrote via Twitter thus:

The 2019 budget allocates over 30k a month on the monthly feeding of police dogs and 75k for police horses guarding @AsoRock? So why cant President @MBuhari give Nigerias workers 30,000 a month? Do dogs and horses deserve to earn more than Nigerias workers?
A United Kingdom based model, Tapiwa Sithole According to reports is dating former Zimbabwean First Lady, Grace Mugabes sons, Russell Goreraza and Robert Junior after claiming to have cohabited with the both of them on different occasions.

Tapiwa, 24, revealed her affair with the two brothers after she was labelled a gold-digger for sharing pictures and videos on social media in the company of the two brothers.

When H-Metro contacted her for comment, Tapiwa said,

How can people say that Im throwing myself to these boys when they are the ones who are after me? A week ago, I was at Russells apartment, I spent days with him after he called me saying that he was neglected on his birthday.

How could I be forcing myself on him when he was actually taking me to places, spending money on me and taking me to Pretoria? I dont think if youre really bothering someone, the person would pick you at the airport and take you to his apartment like what Russell did.

When I wanted to go back, I missed my flight and Russell was kind enough to take me from the airport, back to his apartment until I got my next flight, she said.

Tapiwa added that this was not the first time that she had spent quality time with Russell.

I dont know why people are making noise about me and Russell now when we have stayed together before. In 2017, I flew back to Zimbabwe and stayed with Russell at his apartment for a week.

We went to a club called 1+1 and different other places. Those that want to paint me as someone throwing herself to him are wrong, she said.

Speaking on Robert Junior, Tapiwa also revealed that she lived with him when she travelled to United Arab Emirates for an event.

I attended the Luxury Lifestyle awards in Dubai and Robert contacted me.

He drove his car and came to pick me up and went with me to his apartment, so how am I throwing myself at them? People who are saying that are haters, none of your slay queens or your b**c**s in Zimbabwe have ever walked on the red carpet of those awards like I did, they are not on the same level with me, she fumed.

When asked whether she was double crossing the two brothers, Tapiwa said she prefers keeping her relationships a secret.
Immediate past governor of Ekiti state, AyonFayose has reacted to recent Daily Trust reeport, that some Nigerians residing in Katsina State have fled to neighbouring Niger Republic to escape persistent attacks by kidnappers and bandits.

According to the publication, following heightened activities of kidnappers and armed bandits in the state, some residents have evacuated their family members, to Niger Republics towns of Maradi and Dan Issa.

The fleeing residents, mostly from Jibia Local Government Area, a community sitting on the border between Nigeria and Niger Republic, were said to be fed up of falling victims or being forced to pay large sums of money to secure the release of kidnapped family members.

It will be recalled that Governor of the state, Aminu Masari, had raised an alarm, late 2018 that the state was under the siege of kidnappers.

According to Fayose, a President who cannot protect his own people, can also not protect people from other states.

Sharing a photo of the headline via his Twitter handle, Fayose said Buhari should go and rest, because he has no clue to anything.

In his words:

Can a president who cannot protect his own kinsmen protect people from other States?

President Buhari is tired, he doesnt have clue to anything, he should go and rest.
Omoyele Sowore, African Action Congress Presidential Candidate, has said that he would win the forthcoming presidential election, if the conduct is free, fair and credible.

The presidential candidate said this on Wednesday evening during a town hall meeting tagged: The Candidates organised by the MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with NTA and DARIA media in Abuja.

During the interview, which was hosted by Kadaria Ahmed, he also declared that, he would pay workers N100,000 as minimum wage, if elected. Sowore, also made it clear, that he would combat the menace of ghost workers by installing technologies that would daily capture fingerprints of workers and the hours spent at work.

On electricity, the presidential candidate noted that in less than one year, he would make available solar panels that would generate up to 4500 megawatts of electricity across the country.

The presidential election will hold on Feb. 16, with various candidates wooing voters, with juicy campaign promises.
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Inslee met high school students in Quincy who are part of the 4H Tech Changemakers, sponsored by Microsoft. The program works to increase access to technology, including broadband. (Office of the Governor photo)
As we told you in Tuesdays Daily Dispatch, Irans annual budget to support terrorism in the Middle East is $7 billion, with much of that going to Hamas, the ruling terrorist organization in Gaza. Arutz Shevas Ben Ariel tells us where some of that money is going  to build homes for terrorists who had previously been jailed in Israel for their crimes:

The Hamas terrorist organization said on Thursday it had allocated new homes funded by Iran in Gaza to terrorists who had been held in Israeli jails, AFP reported.

The prisoners ministry said 26 apartments in a new building in southern Gaza had been given out in a lottery between 125 former prisoners.

Officials from Hamas said the program was the first of its kind funded by Iran.

A second building will be constructed in northern Gaza, the ministry said, adding the project aimed to reduce the suffering of our freed prisoners.

Hamas and Iran enjoy a close relationship, but the sides were at odds for several years, beginning when Hamas refused to support Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, a close ally of Irans, in the uprising against him. An angry Iran then reportedly stopped supplying the terror group with weapons.

The tide seemed to turn in the summer of 2017, when Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh thanked Iran for its unlimited support for the Al-Qassam Brigades and its contribution to the development of Hamass military capabilities
As Israel faces threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon, from Iran in Syria, from Hamas in Gaza, and from terrorists within the Holy Land, her militarys more important than ever. And in a visit paid to a group of the IDFs newest cadets, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told the young soldiers that the state of Israel relies on you and I rely on you:

The main enemy that we face is Iran. Iran declares its intention to destroy us with nuclear weapons, which we are committed to thwarting. But Iran is also building forces around us. It wants to squeeze us. They established a forward base in Lebanon, via Hezbollah. They established a southern base in Gaza, supported by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and now they want to establish a third base, right on our border, opposite the Golan Heights, as the Iranian military entrenches itself in Syria.

We are committed to fighting all of these. We are striking at the Iranian military in Syria. The IDF is the only military that is fighting the Iranian military in Syria. We are neutralizing the tunnels weapon, now with Operation Northern Shield in Lebanon, and in Gaza. We are facing Iran and its proxies on these three fronts.

The ground forces are a vital part of the decisive force of the IDF. The ground forces are quickly changing. Great things have been done and still greater things will yet be done. I have spoken with IDF Chief-of-Staff Aviv Kochavi on how to make our lethal ground forces even more lethal, and this means using all these technologies, some of which we have seen here and some of which are on the way.

Beyond this, there is one thing that does not change and that is those who, in the end, do the work  and that is you. In the end it is people. In the end it is commanders. In the end, after everything, it is the willingness to go into battle with courage and intelligence. This is what is required of you  much courage and much intelligence. I am certain that you are equipped with both.

I am certain of our ability to defeat the enemy. We are challenged from north and south, and from the east and from distant arenas  we are up to the task in these arenas.

I am impressed by what I have seen here. I see fighting spirit. Maybe there is someone in Gaza who thinks he can stick his head up; I suggest that they understand that the response will be lethal and very painful. We are ready for any scenario and escalation. We rely on you. The State of Israel relies on you and I rely on you.
>>> PM leaves Hanoi for WEF Davos 2019

With the theme Globalisation 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, WEF Davos 2019 is expected to attract around 3,000 delegates, aiming to exchange views on how to intensify cooperation and dialogue to address geopolitical issues, boost the reform of global institutional frameworks to adapt to new political and socio-economic situations, and form new institutional frameworks and regulations to foster global collaboration in different aspects.

The WEF is a prestigious and effective global forum that attracts numerous countries around the world to join with the common goal of addressing global urgent issues.

This overarching goal has helped the WEF to open a channel for relations along with a bilateral and multilateral forum, attracting the participation of leaders of major countries, international organisations and leading corporations around the world to share the vision and propose actions for the common prosperity of the globe. The most important WEF event is the annual meeting held at the end of January every year in Davos, Switzerland. In addition to that are regional forums: typically, the WEF Tianjin (or Dalian) in China, the WEF on ASEAN (before 2016, WEF on East Asia), on India, on Latin America and on the Middle East and North Africa, aiming to exchange and evaluate regional development issues.

Since joining the WEF in 1989, the relationship between Vietnam and the organisation has developed rapidly in various aspects. The relationship has been marked by high-level visits and exchanges between the two parties. WEF Managing Director Philipp Rosler visited Vietnam continuously over three years in 2014, 2015 and 2016. High-ranking Vietnamese leaders have regularly attended the WEF Davos and WEF on ASEAN. Bilateral contact between Vietnamese leaders and those from other countries around the world, as well as leaders of global corporations, offers an opportunity to discuss the development direction of the Vietnamese economy, contributing to policy and guideline development for Vietnam.

In addition to attending WEF events, Vietnam and the WEF have extended their cooperation to various fields, such as improving national competitiveness and cooperation in industry and agriculture. Vietnam has always actively and effectively participated in WEF initiatives, such as "New Vision for Agriculture", " Grow Asia", " Green Growth Action Alliance" and " Shaping the Future of Production".

Vietnam and the WEF have coordinated to successfully organise multiple WEF events in the region. In 2010, Vietnam hosted the WEF on East Asia in Ho Chi Minh City, attracting about 450 participants. Vietnam also launched the initiative and successfully organised the WEF - Mekong meeting, in Hanoi on October 2016, to promote the Greater Mekong sub-region to the world's leading corporations.

In September 2018, the country hosted the WEF on ASEAN in Hanoi. The WEF founding chairman evaluated that the 2018 WEF on ASEAN was the most successful held in 27 years of organising the regional WEF meeting. Accordingly, the content of the conference was suitable for ASEAN countries and Vietnam in the context that all countries must rise in the fourth Industrial Revolution.

Notably, in recent years, Vietnamese enterprises have gradually begun participating in the WEF activities. Vietnam currently has 10 large corporations and companies that are members of the WEF. They have taken advantage of joining the WEF to build cooperative networks, exchange business development experiences, and contribute to the global economic system.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs attendance at the 2019 WEF Annual Meeting will contribute to promoting Vietnam's achievements in socio-economic development and international integration in 2018, while helping convey the message of major Vietnamese Government orientations, policies and measures on its socio-economic development in 2019.

Accordingly, Vietnam is determined to build a government of action that nurtures development, improves the investment and business environment and promotes innovation, creativity and productivity, thereby promoting partners and leading corporations to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam, contributing to strengthening an international environment favourable for facilitating the implementation of Vietnams socio-economic development targets in 2019.

May the visit and attendance of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the WEF Davos 2019 be a success, contributing to strengthening the close relationship between Vietnam and the WEF.
Israel welcomes a newly recognized distinct mineral  carmeltazite  named after the biblical site, Mount Carmel where it was discovered.

There are currently over 5,500 known minerals on Earth, with around 100 new minerals being added to the list each year. Most are quite unspectacular in appearance, with crystals too small to be used in jewelry or too rare to be of any economic interest.

Last week, the International Mineralogical Association recognized carmeltazite as a new, distinct mineral. The mineral was named after Mount Carmel where it was found and the elements it contains  Titanium, Aluminum and Zirconium.
Carol Francesconi has decided not to run for re-election in May.

Francesconi Stepping Away After 30 Years as Cheshire Official

CHESHIRE, Mass.  Longtime Selectwoman Carol Francesconi will not run for re-election this May.

Francesconi said announced on Tuesday that she's done after 30 years serving on the Board of Selectmen.

"I really loved the job but there comes a time when it is time to let someone else take over," she said.

First elected in 1989, the veteran public servant was returned for a 10th term in 2016 against one of the few challengers she's faced over the past three decades. She's served as chairman of the board numerous times and currently also serves on the Conservation Commission.

Other seats up for election include the moderator, one selectman for a one-year term (to complete the three-year term of Edmund St. John IV who resigned), one seat on the Board of Assessors, one seat on the Board of Health, one water commissioner, two cemetery commissioners, a Planning Board member, both an Adams and a Cheshire representative on Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee, a Northern Berkshire Vocational School District Committee (McCann) Cheshire representative, and three constables.

Nomination papers will be available Jan. 29 and the election is Monday, May 6.

In other business, the Selectmen approved a host community agreement with marijuana cultivators Stafford Green Inc. that plans to operate an outdoor grow facility on Stafford Hill.

The board made some minor tweaks to the language of the agreement and made clear the contract would be renegotiated after five years.

"There you are," Francesconi said. "Welcome aboard."

The agreement reads that Stafford Green shall pay the town a community impact fee of 3 percent of its annual gross income. This annual fee will never be less than $5,000.

 Highway Superintendent Blair Crane said he believes the roads are in good condition after a week of cold and snowy weather.

"We have had a mixed bag of everything over the past week and considering the rate the snow was coming down and the manpower we had we got it done," he said.

He said the salt shed is still 75 percent full because typically with more snow there is more plowing and less salting.

 The selectmen approved a new wire inspector fee for solar panels. There will now be a flat $50 per kilowatt fee.
Lia Spiliotes is the chief executive officer of Community Health Programs, a federally qualified health center network serving more than 32,000 in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. She also serves on the board of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.

Redefining Good Health - And Good Health Care

A federal court ruling in December declaring that ACA unconstitutional raised yet another alarm-raiser for Obamacare customers around the country. Again, in the delicate realm of subsidized insurance, ACA customers were asking: Should I reapply? Is the ACA dead? Will my coverage be canceled?



For now, the foreseeable future, the ACA remains the law of the land as this latest upheaval makes its way through the courts. Obamacare has withstood numerous challenges and two Supreme Court appeals, so advocates recommend people stay the course and get covered. During the recent enrollment period, which ended Jan. 23 in Massachusetts, our insurance counselors at Community Health Programs assisted nearly 1,000 ACA customers with applications.



A year ago, during the 2017-18 Open Enrollment period, as the ACA was under assault from a president and Congress bent on its undoing, more than 11 million people signed up for coverage  far outpacing projections. In November and December 2018, nearly 8.5 million signed up. Although enrollment has slipped somewhat as some states abandoned coverage mandates, and as federal funds for outreach and enrollment help were slashed, it's evident that most Americans still want to get and keep, their health coverage.



For now, let's assume that ACA is here to stay. Millions of Americans who were once locked out of insurance options now have access to health coverage.



But the ACA is no guarantee of better health. It's a payment system that enables a patient to get into the exam room of a primary care provider, specialist or a dentist. Practice  and that's where better health begins. Now, as our patients have more support to achieve better health, community health centers like ours are remodeling healthcare for both our new ACA patients and for others who choose our care.



Today, we are redefining what constitutes "good health" and "good health care." As the "social determinants of health" move into focus, we must reach beyond vital signs, the histories, the medication lists: We now ask patients about housing stability, transportation access, family relationships, caregiving challenges, friendships, food security. We know, and research shows, that these stressors impact health. But are we prepared for the patients' answers?



Our FQHC, Community Health Programs, is unique in serving more than 32,000 patients in nine separate practice sites, in a far-flung rural corner of Western Massachusetts. We provide a range of medical, dental, women's health, nutrition and other care. We have an extensive program of services for families, and we administer a WIC program. As comprehensive as our services are, we see a growing need for new support and resources to keep our promise of providing health care to all comers.



On the list:



* Resources to support patients "beyond the exam room" with referrals, information and follow-through on social and environmental issues impacting health security. We are working to strengthen community collaborations with social service and advocacy organizations, to meet this need.



* Fast-track licensure and credentialing for health care providers interested in working in rural or underserved areas such as ours and/or in FQHCs in any area. We are talking with our elected representatives and boards of registration in medicine and nursing in hopes of opening this pipeline.



* Creative transportation solutions for patients, especially in rural areas, who need not just a medical appointment, but an x-ray, a pharmacy trip or a physical therapy appointment, a grocery stop. We are exploring ways to improve rural transit resources with ridesharing options or enhanced volunteer networks to assist patients, especially our elders.



* More flexible student loan forgiveness and assistance for primary care providers who chose to work in underserved communities, to help with recruitment and retention. We need state and federal help to boost incentives for those who commit to rural areas and CHCs.



* Reform of Medicaid's limits on dental care coverage, to ensure that poor people do not lose their teeth, thereby reducing their overall health and nutritional status. We must continue to lobby for better oral health through our professional and legislative alliances.



Most critically, we must help to expand our community's concept of what it means to provide health care to all, and what it means to be healthy. We must embrace the notion that when the patient leaves the office, our work is not yet done.



With the ACA, in which we have confidence, we are inching toward health insurance and health care access for nearly all Americans. Pockets of leadership are beginning to understand that health insurance are not tax burdens  they are up-front investments in overall health for families and communities. And as health care providers, we are now understanding that follow-up care is not just about the next visit to the doctor's office.



Lia Spiliotes is the chief executive officer of Community Health Programs, a federally qualified health center network serving more than 32,000 in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. She also serves on the board of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal speaks with students at Drury High Schoo. The congressman shares a laugh with Mayor Thomas Bernard and Superintendent Barbara Malkas. Meeting with teacher Stephanie Kopola, also the director of curriculum & instruction, and Principal Timothy Callahan. The congressman toured the arts and music area, speaking here with Aldonna Girouard. Robert Monsees gets his picture taken with Neal. Taking questions from the college world history class. PreviousNext

Congressman Neal Teaches Civics Class at Drury High School



Holly Boudreau speaks to U.S. Rep. Neal about her application to the U.S. Air Force Academy. NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  It's not often teens have a chance to quiz their congressman.

So the students in Stephanie Kopola's college-level world history class spent some time developing the questions they wanted to pose to U.S. Rep. Richard Neal on Tuesday.

"They generated questions based on what interested them," Kopola said. "Then they voted on the ones that really encompassed what they were interested in."

Many of the questions, not surprisingly, dealt with current events and topics that could affect their futures: border security, college debt, educational support for low-income areas, LGBT protections and equity, gun violence and the shutdown.

Neal said the federal government supplies about 7 percent of the revenue for public education and noted the economic changes that have hit particularly central and Western Massachusetts. Where years before someone without a high school diploma could get a good job in manufacturing, the industry has changed dramatically.

The arts have become an important economic driver but "the arts community does not replace the old manufacturing jobs in terms of income," he said. "The arts are subject to the vagaries of economics."

Neal said it has to be a mix of arts and manufacturing and other fields. He posed the idea of creating opportunity zones in low-income areas to encourage business development and to make compromises to encourage energy development. He noted that the employment rate has dipped again and that some 18,000 precision manufacturing jobs are still unfilled.

"The skill set you come out of here with is going to ensure you have a place in the new economy," he told the students, adding that they didn't have to go to college but the unemployment rate for college graduates is 3 percent. "Have a dream but have a plan."

As for the shutdown and immigration, the congressman says he's been clear where he stands.

"I don't think it's in our interest to build a wall. The idea should be to reopen government and negotiate," Neal said. "We're only disputing one appropriations bill, despite what you read. We've already voted for the other appropriations bills those were done. An agreement was reached in December on how to forward."

The wall's become a metaphor for the two sides, he said. The Democrats are offering more money for technology, more money for border security and more money for judges to try the cases. "Our argument, I think, is sound: Let's open government and negotiate."

Rather than a wall, the government should be working on immigration reform and construct a path for people to come to the United States  a mainstream position that Neal said both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama could have agreed to.

The major problem is the number of people who are arriving legally and then overstaying their visas, he said. They make their way into the underground economy but at the same time contribute some $8 billion a year into the Social Security trust fund that they can never collect.

Neal, a former history teacher, first gave the students a rundown on the 1st Massachusetts congressional district that he represents and the basics of how the U.S. government operates.

He currently chairs Ways & Means, the oldest standing committee in the Congress from which all spending bills must originate. It also oversees taxes, Medicare, Social Security, welfare, trade tariffs, management of public debt and the tax portion of Medicaid.

His sprawling district had expanded after the last U.S. Census in response to a decline in population but the Springfield Democrat was confident that Massachusetts will keep its nine-member congressional delegation after the 2020 Census.

"The idea that the framers had in mind ... the idea of the House of Representatives was to construct an institution that would be reflective of popular will, of opinion, hence the construction of the two-year term in the House of Representatives," he said. "We do more in line with constituent services but we also are more reflective of opinion at any given time."

Opinions are pretty fluid, though, Neal continued, pointing out how he had spoken out and voted against the war in Iraq 17 years ago and got critical calls and letters. Now, opinion has shifted greatly.

"They decided wisely to construct a second chamber of Congress: The United States Senate," Neal said of the framers. "They would give senators a little more room for deliberation because of the six-year term.

"The House would absorb that opinion, and react to it on any given day, the Senate, only a third stand for election every two years and that would be the check on popular will."

He also pointed out that you don't have to be elected to become president, vice president or senator; but you do have to be elected to be a member of the House. Since 1792, only 12,000 men and women have served in the House out of a country that now numbers 330 million.

Having just won a war against a monarchy, the framers were very concerned about creating a too-powerful executive branch, instead instituting checks and balances between the legislative, executive and judicial.

That doesn't mean everyone gets along, he said. "We have a long history of nasty elections, all the way back to the first ones."

"They had this argument at the beginning of our founding that we have today: the size, reach and role of the federal government," Neal said, adding it's an argument that's swung back and forth and continues to this day.

"There are some of us who are interested in what we call 'activist government' because we think there are things the government can do to ameliorate some of the challenges that capitalism isn't able to address," he said. "There are others who simply say, get the government out of the way and we will have more profound far-reaching economic growth."

The congressman had earlier had lunch with Mayor Thomas Bernard to discuss issues pertinent to the city and spoke with state Rep. John Barrett III, and their predecessors Richard Alcombright and Daniel Bosley.

He also visited the music and performing arts departments, and stopped to speak with students in an art classroom, where one teen, Robert Monsees, got the congressman to pose with him and then asked who he was.

Neal said he enjoyed speaking with the students. "They were great," he said.


The facilities subcommittee and administrators discuss the conditions at Brayton and Greylock schools. NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The roof leaks, the windows weep, parts of the school are cool and others are hot  and a water line to the outdated boiler's kept open with a clothespin.

That's only scratching the surface.

The School Committee's finance and facilities subcommittee toured Greylock School on Saturday to get a close up look at the 60-year-old structure's challenges. The consensus at the end was to push forward with an updated application to the Massachusetts School Building Authority to address the building's many deficiencies.

But the recommendation for Brayton Elementary, which is facing roofing issues, was to hold off until the full extent of the problems could be determined.

Greylock has been on the city's school priority list for years and has not had any significant upgrades since the mid-1960s. The MSBA had rejected the city's bid to renovate it along with the former Conte School back in 2011. Instead, the former middle school underwent a $30 million renovation and reopened as Colegrove Park Elementary School, replacing the now-closed Sullivan School.

"Greylock was already a problem when Sullivan went in, it was a No. 2 priority," noted subcommittee member Tara Jacobs. "That is already, what, eight years ago."

The problems with Greylock start right at the front door, as the administration office is out of sight around a corner, causing security concerns. The office is cramped and the dean of students had to be moved to the second floor; the nurse's office is off the main office and offers little privacy and only two beds.

A major obstacle is the number of stairs linking the three levels with only a single ramp connecting part of the newer section to the original building.

Electrical outlets are at a premium, as is space, with some classrooms converted into multiple use areas for special education  up to three teachers might be using it at a time. A short hallway to the outside is being used as one-on-one space and windowless, cramped room converted from a kitchen area is utilized for meetings with staff and parents.

"This is terrifying," said committee member Nicholas Fahey as the group poked their heads into the claustrophobic meeting room.

The roof was addressed to some extent in 2001 but water is making its way into the building in several areas. In the 1953 section, the water issues are evident along the metal trusses where the old glass block style windows meet. New Facilities Director Robert Flaherty said he's had to put out buckets when there's heavy rain or backups from melting on the roof.

"I've been in here when it's dripping and it's distracting," Superintendent Barbara Malkas said.

Water issues also can be seen where the concrete is spalling, particularly in the 1953 building.

The teachers' lounge is several steps down in the bottom level. It had to be closed for several months because of a sewer break (one of two in recent years) but once cleaned, the teachers went to work painting and decorating the space. Next door is a storage area that doubles as the server space and also where the water line comes in, which can cause condensation.

There's only one oil-fired steam boiler operating that dates to 1992; a second boiler is offline but can be put to work as a last resort. There's still a massive coal-burning furnace off to the side with access for coal deliveries. The single-zone heating system has pipes running through a cramped tunnel and pipe breaks in the aged system are not uncommon.

"They've done a really good job maintaining it to the best of their abilities," said Malkas as the tour ended. "But there are concerns."

Over at Brayton, which was built in 1994, the concerns are also about water  water seeping through the roof, water sweating through the below-ground classrooms. Two rooms had to be taken out of service because of respiratory concerns from mold.

Room 122 wasn't being used during a period in June when cool rainy days suddenly switched to hot and steamy. When the room was reopened for the summer school program, educators got an unpleasant surprise.

"This room, the walls began to sweat and it was locked up for eight days and when they came back, there was mold everywhere," Malkas said of Room 122.

Everything was removed and the classroom cleaned and repainted with mildew-resistant paint but because of the continued use of dehumidifiers and allergy issues in that room and Room 123 across the hall, both were closed as classrooms.

Malkas suspected it could be related to the roofing issues and Flaherty said they'd have to determine where the water was coming from.

In an upper classroom, it's definitely coming through the roof. Water spots are evident in the panels and there's been dripping from the ceiling. Principal Carolyn Wallace said bees have also been getting into the building, possibly from under the sheathing. Flaherty said there's also concerns about leaking into the gym that the school shares with the Northern Berkshire Family YMCA.

Flaherty said he couldn't get on the roof to check for leaks or drainage problems until the weather improved greatly.

"With these temperatures, you don't want to walk on a rubber roof. You don't want to walk on any roof when it's this cold because you can compromise it," he said.

Malkas felt that Greylock was the priority but the city could also apply for the MSBA's accelerated repair program for the roof issues at Brayton. The core building program and the repair programs are separate and she didn't think applying for one would affect the other.

Statements of interest for Greylock have been submitted to the MSBA for the last couple of years. The state agency did a tour  a senior site visit  two years ago, but Malkas thought the SOI should be significantly updated and another site visit planned.

"That's something I feel absolutely, we need to update our core SOI for Greylock no matter what," she said.

Jacobs asked how the decline in enrollment would affect a school building project. Malkas said an enrollment study should be submitted with the application and suggested the New England School Development Council do the study. It would look at the census numbers, surrounding towns, real estate sales, etc., to come up with an enrollment forecast, she said.

"We actually saw greater percentages of decline back in the early 2000s but we are still seeing that trickle effect and it's across grade levels," the superintendent said, adding the decline does not appear to be from students shifting to McCann Technical School or Berkshire Arts & Technology Public Charter School. "We do see a decline in those grade levels, but not any different than we've seen the last few years."

However, that decline is not enough to consider closing one of three elementary schools.

"I don't see us being able to close a school and absorb the students into one school unless we were going to build a much bigger school," Malkas said. "That's the only way it would work."

The deadline for the core school building program is in April, so the SOI, enrollment study and votes by both the School Committee and City Council to submit the application would have to be completed by then. The accelerated repair program has a deadline in February.

The subcommittee determined to endorse the core program application but recommend holding off on the accelerated repair until the roof at Brayton could be appraised and either patched or cost estimates procured. Then the School Committee can decide if it should address the roof as a capital repair project or apply to the MSBA.

The subcommittee will present its report at the School Committee meeting in February.
Weather Alert

...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Heat index values of 100 to 109 degrees. * WHERE...Portions of southeast Kansas and south central and southwest Missouri. * WHEN...From noon today to 7 PM CDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. &&
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PM Phuc expressed his delight at the positive development of traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in diverse areas over the recent past.

PM Sisoulith, for his part, believed that the meeting will create a new driving force for the practical and effective development of bilateral ties.

Both sides were satisfied with the outcomes of cooperation between the two governments in 2018, especially in politics, external affairs, national defence-security, social safety and order.

Over 400 projects worth about US$ 4.1 billion by Vietnamese firms contributed to Laos socio-economic development. Two-way trade between the two nations exceeded the US$1 billion benchmark in 2018, up 14% year-on-year.

Several strategic transportation connectivity projects are underway while the number of Vietnamese scholarships to Lao students keeps increasing, helping to raise the total number of Lao students in Vietnam to more than 14,200 so far.

Both sides reached consensus on cooperation orientations for 2019, which lay the focus on collaboration across the fields of politics, foreign affairs, defence, and security.

Regarding economic ties, the two countries will exchange experiences in building policies to stabilise the macro-economy and promote sustainable development. Also, they will work together to create business conditions for companies in each nation to reach 10% growth in two-way trade this year.

Meanwhile, improving the quality of education-training cooperation will be prioritised, of which historical works highlighting the special relations between the two countries will be put into curriculums at both Vietnamese and Cambodian schools.

In addition, competent ministries, sectors and localities will foster the practical and effective cooperation in culture, science, society, communications, sport, healthcare, and legislation, among others.

In the spirit of special trust, the two sides agreed to continue close coordination and mutual support at regional and international forums. The two countries will accompany each other to deepen the cooperative progress of the ASEAN Community, and enhance the ASEANs role in strategic issues of the region, including the East Sea matter.

Furthermore, they were unanimous on cooperation in effectively and sustainably using water resources in the Mekong river.

Laos affirmed to back Vietnams candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure.

PM Phuc stressed that right after the session, the Vietnamese Government will direct relevant ministries, sectors, localities, enterprises and units to closely collaborate with their Lao counterparts to immediately and effectively implement the just-made decisions.

Following the session, the two PMs witnessed the signing and exchange of six documents, including an agreement on the cooperation plan between the two governments in 2019, the minutes of the session, an agreement on the Vietnamese Governments provision of 300 tonnes of rice seeds to the Lao Government, an agreement on the educational cooperation plan for 2019, the minutes on the transfer of the radio-TV station in Laos province of Savanakhet, and the minutes on the transfer of the Vietnamese-language faculty project at the Suphanouvong University and the Champasak University.
Islamabad: Pakistan has arrested a senior member of the Afghan Taliban in a bid to put pressure on the militant group amid talks with the US, the media reported on Tuesday. Hafez Mohibullah, who served as Religious Affairs Minister when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan until 2001, was held in Peshawar, the BBC reported citing sources in the group.

Kabul and Washington have long been calling on Islamabad to deny the Taliban shelter on its soil. Pakistan denies backing the militants.

The reported detention came ahead of a visit to Pakistan by the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, who had earlier held a series of meetings with the Taliban`s political office in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Washington wants Islamabad to encourage the militants to reach a settlement in Afghanistan and bring the 17-year war to a close. There was no immediate response from authorities in Pakistan.

The report cited Taliban sources as saying that Mohibullah had been living in Peshawar for a number of years. Two Taliban figures told the BBC said that Mohibullah was detained by Pakistan to put pressure on the group into meeting Khalilzad this week and to agree to meet representatives of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

"They arrested him (Mohibullah) to send a message," a senior Taliban figure said.

Another source from the militant group`s Quetta Shura, or leadership council, added: "There was a meeting with Pakistani officials on the upcoming peace talks which ended in arguments. Right afterwards, the authorities raided a number of houses and arrested Mohibullah.

"After that, (Taliban leader) Sheikh Hibatullah sent a message warning everyone to be alert." The Taliban figures earlier said they will only begin talks with the Afghan government once a firm date for the withdrawal of American troops from the country is agreed.

The last set of negotiations between Khalilzad and Taliban representatives took place in Abu Dhabi in December, with Pakistani and Saudi officials present. A team from the Afghan government also went to the Gulf state but the Taliban refused to meet them, according to the report.

The probe has started its scientific exploration, focusing on studying the terrain and landforms, lunar environment and substances composition, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Ministry of external affairs has confirmed that six Indians died while six others are still missing in the fire incident in the Black Sea involving two ships  Maestro and Candy. Of the six Indians who died, five were from Candy while one was from Maestro.

The names of the deceased are Pinal Kumar Bharatbhai Tandel, Vikram Singh, Sarvanan Nagarajan, Vishal Dod, Raja Debnarayan Panigrahi and Karankumar Haribhai Tandel. Those who are still missing are Siddharth Meher, Neeraj Singh, Sebastian Britto Breezlin Sahayaraj, Rushikesh Raju Sakpal, Akshay Baban Jadhav and Anandasekar Avinash.

The Ministry of External Affairs in a release said, "We regret to inform that there have been causalities among Indian seamen working on these ships. We convey our deepest condolences to families of those deceased."

Russian Maritime Agency and Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre Novorossiysk are still continuing the efforts to locate the missing persons.

As many as four Indians  Harish Jogi, Sachin Singh, Ashish Ashok Nair and Kamleshbhai Gopalbhai Tandel  have been rescued.

The incident took place on January 21 when fuel was being transferred from one ship to another. It took place 16 miles from the coast of Russia's Krasnodar Krai at the entrance to the Kerch Strait.

The Director-General Communication Center, Indian Registry of Shipping, Mumbai is in touch with families of affected Indian seamen. Indian Registry of Shipping is making all arrangements for the repatriation of rescued seamen while Indian embassy in Moscow is making arrangements to bring back the bodies of the deceased.

The MEA has issued emergency contact number of the Embassy of India in Moscow  007-9652773414. The number of Director General Communication Center, Indian Registry of Shipping is also given out  0091-22-22614646, 022 22610606.

Meanwhile, the Investigation Committee of Russia has initiated a criminal case under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence). Russian authorities are providing assistance by rescue ships Mercury and Demidov.
Kolkata: West Bengal Police on Wednesday granted permission to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the helipad in Jhargram, following the party's uproar over the change in the landing location of party president Amit Shah's helicopter.

The state government had earlier denied permission for landing the helicopter of Shah, who addressed a rally in Malda district on Tuesday.

As per BJP's plan, Shah will reach Kolkata and then take a helicopter from there to reach Malda where he will participate in a public rally with BJP workers from North Bengal.

Shah has, meanwhile, cut short his visit to the state as he decided to return to the national capital. As per the original programme, Shah was slated to address rallies in Birbhum, Jhargram, Nadia and South 24 Parganas as well, but owing to poor health, he had to cut short his visit to the state for 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign.

The same was confirmed by BJP's West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh, who said that the rallies would be held as scheduled even in the absence of Amit Shah. Ghosh also said that Smriti Irani would replace Amit Shah in some of the rallies.

The BJP had earlier alleged that despite the West Bengal government using Malda airport for landing their helicopters, they have turned down Amit Shah's request for permission.

The Malda district administration had told the saffron party that it was not possible to grant permission to land helicopters at Malda airport this week due to the ongoing construction work.
New Delhi: Romeo, the world's loneliest frog has finally found love! Yes, he has. After spending a decade in isolation at an aquarium in Bolivia, Romeo is about to meet his Juliet. No matter how dramatic it sounds, the fact remainshe is meeting Juliet, the female frog which scientists have rescued.

According to a report in The Guardian, Juliet was among the five frogs rescued by a team of scientists in a Bolivian expedition to a cloud forest. Museo de Historia Alcide dOrbigny and Global Wildlife Conservation found Sehuencas water frogs and rescued five out of which three are male and two females respectively.

Romeo's caretakers shared a 'lonely hearts profile' on the dating website last year, after which scientists went on a search funded by the donations gathered to find the loneliest frog a mate.

The Global Wildlife Conservation and Romeo the World's Loneliest Frog (no longer!) shared the happy news for followers on Twitter. Check out their tweets:

Here they are! The dream team that found @romeothefrogs beloved Juliet in the heart of the Dromne Forest! #Match4Romeo @MuseodOrbigny pic.twitter.com/7fzvEnkq50  Global Wildlife Conservation (@Global_Wildlife) January 16, 2019

You all know our beloved lonely, @RomeoTheFrog, well we have fantastic news- hes lonely no more! We have found Juliet. Shes not ready for her blind date yet, but she will be soon. Stay tuned for more as the story of our two love-frogs unfolds! https://t.co/3L1AQGW1Ni pic.twitter.com/Y2hAUFhMj7  Global Wildlife Conservation (@Global_Wildlife) January 15, 2019

Teresa Camacho Badani, of the Museo de Historia Natural Alcide dOrbigny in Cochabamba, who led the expedition told The Guardian, Now the real work begins  we know how to care for this species in captivity, but now we will learn about its reproduction.

The five rescued frogs are currently in quarantine to make them familiar with the new surroundings. Also, they will be treated for the deadly infectious disease chytridiomycosis, which is partly responsible for the steep decline in amphibians around the world.

And now, Romeo will meet his Juliet on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2019.
Washington: The rings of Saturn may may have formed much later than the planet itself, according to a new analysis of gravity science data from NASA`s Cassini spacecraft. The findings, led by scientists from Rome`s Sapienza University, indicate that Saturn`s rings formed between 10 million and 100 million years ago. From our planet`s perspective, that means Saturn`s rings may have formed during the age of dinosaurs.

Saturn formed 4.5 billion years ago, in the early years of our solar system. There have been clues that its ring system is a young upstart that attached to Saturn years afterward. But how long afterward? To figure out the age of the rings, scientists needed to measure the mass of the rings, or how much material they hold.

Researchers had the remote-sensing measurements from Cassini and both of NASA`s Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s. Then came Cassini`s unprecedented, up-close data from its final orbits in 2017. As the spacecraft was running out of fuel, it performed 22 dives between the planet and the rings.

The dives allowed the spacecraft to act as a probe, falling into Saturn`s gravity field, where it could feel the tug of the planet and the rings. Radio signals sent to Cassini from the antennas of NASA`s Deep Space Network and the European Space Agency relayed the spacecraft`s velocity and acceleration.

Once scientists knew how much gravity was pulling on Cassini, causing it to accelerate -- down to a fraction of a millimeter per second -- they could determine how massive the planet is and how massive the rings are.

"Only by getting so close to Saturn in Cassini`s final orbits were we able to gather the measurements to make the new discoveries," said Cassini radio science team member and lead author Luciano Iess, of Sapienza University of Rome.

"And with this work, Cassini fulfills a fundamental goal of its mission: not only to determine the mass of the rings, but to use the information to refine models and determine the age of the rings." The findings were published in the journal Science.

The new evidence of young rings lends credence to theories that they formed from a comet that wandered too close and was torn apart by Saturn`s gravity -- or by an event that broke up an earlier generation of icy moons.
There were reports that fringe outfit Karni Sena issued threats to Kangana over the film as they believe the period-drama "alludes to Rani Laxmibai`s relationship with a British officer". They asked the makers of the film to show them the movie before its release.

But sooner that, the outfit claimed that it wasn't involved in any sort of protest against the film and stated that some people are using Shri Rajput Karni Sena's name for vested interests. However, they demanded an apology from Kangana for making a derogatory statement against their organization.

When Kangana was asked about the same, the actress refused to issue an apology saying that since she didn't make any mistake, she is not going to apologise for the same.

"I will not apologize to anybody. I have never apologized whenever I haven't made a mistake. We have promised that we haven't shown anything wrong about Rani Laxmibai in the film so, they should support us. Rani Laxmibai is not my relative and I feel she is the daughter of the entire country so, we all should support the film. Shri Rajput Karni Sena should not play their ego card with me because I am not here to say sorry to anyone," Pinkvilla quoted her saying.

Kangana also shared a video where she is seen paying tribute to Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray on his birth anniversary on Wednesday. She paid tribute ahead of the release of 'Manikarnika..' which will be clashing with the release of the biopic 'Thackeray'. Both the films will release on January 25, 2019.

Kangana will be seen playing the titular role of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. The actress has worked hard for acing her part with rigorous horse riding and sword fighting training keeping her busy.

The film is based on the life of warrior princess Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi.

The period drama will showcase the tough life of Rani Laxmibai and her war against the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

It has been directed by Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi and Kangana Ranaut. It is produced by Zee Studios in association with Kamal Jain & Nishant Pitti. Kangana plays the titular role of freedom fighter Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi.

It is scheduled to hit the screens on January 25, 2019.


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New York: Anupam Kher on Wednesday met Jimmy Fallon and the veteran actor said it was a pleasure getting together with the TV host.

Kher, who is currently in the city shooting for medical drama "New Amsterdam", posted a selfie with the late-night talk show presenter on Twitter.

The veteran actor also said the duo shared a mutual admiration for each other's work. "When you meet someone whose work you admire says he is a fan of your work, it is a wonderful and a humbling feeling.

"Thank you dear @jimmyfallon for your warmth, appreciation and generosity. It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with you," he wrote.

When you meet someone whose work you admire says he is a fan of your work, it is a wonderful and a humbling feeling. Thank you dear @jimmyfallon for your warmth, appreciation and generosity. It was a pleasure meeting and chatting with you. pic.twitter.com/0W5rDF8axQ  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) January 23, 2019

Kher was last seen in Bollywood film "The Accidental Prime Minister".
New Delhi: While Samsung Electronics is all set to roll out its next flagship smartphone range  the Galaxy S10  in February, an accidental price leak shows that it is going to be the most expensive Galaxy phone ever.

A TuttoAndroid report claims that the Galaxy S10 Lite (base variant) may cost 799 Euros or Rs 64,000, Samsung Galaxy S10+ (top model) will cost 1,599 Euros or Rs 1,30,000, making it the most expensive Galaxy S series smartphone to date.

Samsung said it will host an Unpacked event at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on February 20 to showcase the new Galaxy model, with a separate event scheduled for London, Yonhap news reported.

The gathering will bring together 3,000 journalists and officials from Samsung's global partners, it said.

Samsung's planned rollout of the new Galaxy model is about a week earlier than usual. The tech giant has usually released its new Galaxy smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in late February.

It will also be Samsung's first Unpacked gathering in San Francisco, close to the headquarters of arch-rival Apple Inc.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S3 in London and hosted Unpacked events for the Galaxy S4 and S8 in New York.

This photo provided by Samsung Electronics Co. on January 11 shows a teaser poster for Samsung's "Unpacked" event for its upcoming flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S10.

With IANS Inputs
Mumbai: As many as nine people have been arrested on Wednesday from Maharashtra's Thane and Aurangabad over their alleged link with banned terror outfit IS. The nine arrested also include a teenager.

According to police, the nine terror suspects, all part of a group, were nabbed by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) teams over the last two days.

The ATS, acting on specific inputs, kept a watch on the nine men for several weeks and gathered relevant information about them, he said. They were arrested when it came to light that they were likely to "swing into action", an ATS official said.

During the searches, certain chemicals, powder, mobile phones, hard drives SIM cards, acid bottle, sharp knives etc have also been seized.

The arrests followed searches in Amrut Nagar, Kausa, Moti Baug and Almas Colony areas in Thane's Mumbra township and in Aurangabad's Kaisar Colony, Rahat Colony and Damdi Mahal areas on Monday late night and Tuesday early morning.

A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code's Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bombay Police Act.

(With inputs from agencies)
Bengaluru: The search and rescue of the persons, who have gone missing after a boat capsized in Kali River near Karwar Bridge in Karnataka, is on Wednesday in progress. The mishap took place on Monday claimed lives of at least 20 people.

Two Chetak helicopters and one Dornier aircraft have been pressed to conduct the rescue operation while earlier as many as 10 Naval divers and two Gemini crafts were deputed to augment diving operations.

#UPDATE Ferry boat capsized in Karwar, Karnataka on 21 Jan:10 Naval Divers&2 Gemini crafts were promptly deputed to augment diving operations.Further, 2 Chetak helicopters&1 Dornier Aircraft deployed for 10 hours over last 24 hours. Search & rescue of missing persons in progress. pic.twitter.com/WSdbIP395o  ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

At least 17 people were safely rescued by the Navy and Coast Guard officials on Tuesday after the ferry boat carrying about 26 persons capsized near Karwar Bridge.

A massive joint search operation by Navy and the Coast Guard was immediately launched in Kali River after the boat tragedy.

Navy's Chetak helicopter was airborne from Goa and a team of professionally trained divers from the naval force was called in to carry out rescue work.

Officials believe that the boat was carrying more people than its capacity. The boat was returning from Kurumagada Island in the Arabian Sea to the Karwar Beach.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday lashed out at the Centre for not declaring January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, as a national holiday.

It is sad that the central government has still not announced Netajis birth anniversary as a national holiday. The Bengal government has declared it as a state holiday, Banerjee said. She was speaking at the Subhas Utsav being celebrated in Darjeeling.

Every year since 2014, on January 23, the state government is celebrating the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Darjeeling. Netaji had stayed for some time in Darjeeling. In 1936, Netaji had led the freedom struggle from Kurseong. That is why we decided to celebrate his birth anniversary here in the form of a festival named Subhas Utsav, she said. The state government has allocated Rs 10 lakh for the renovation of the house in Darjeeling where Netaji had stayed. The government has also declassified the secret files that it had," she added.

Banerjee further took a dig at the Centre alleging that they have failed to find out facts relating to his disappearance.

"We are aware of the birth date of Netaji but still do not know whether he is alive or not. We do not know details behind his disappearance. It is a shame that we do not have these details and his disappearance continues to remain a mystery. Even so many years after independence, these facts are not known. Where is he, how is he doing and whether he is still alive or not should have been found out by the central government, Banerjee said.

Without directly naming the BJP, she said that the ruling party at the Centre was trying to create a divide among the people of the country. The one who can take everybody along, who can give his life for the country is the one who is fit to lead the country. The one who is intent on breaking the nation up into pieces, creating divisions among its people can never lead it, she said.
A high-powered selection committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg in the national capital for the appointment of a new Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director.

The meeting comes after the panel ousted Alok Verma from the post earlier this month.

Prime Minister Modi heads the three-member panel. The other two members are Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and the Leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress.

Kharge had given a dissent note against Verma's removal.

The panel's previous meet held Wednesday night remained inconclusive, said the members, without giving further details.

Earlier on January 10, the committee had met in the national capital. Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi had nominated second senior-most judge AK Sikri as his representation in the panel a day before.

The CJI reportedly recused himself from the meeting since he was part of the bench which authored the Supreme Court judgment to reinstate Verma as CBI chief.

CBI chief Verma and his second-in-command Special Director Rakesh Asthana were sent on the forced leave over two months ago in October after reports of differences emerged between the two. The two seniormost CBI officials had accused each other of corruption.

The court, while reinstating Verma, however, made it clear that he will desist from taking any major policy decision till a high-powered committee considers the issue of "divestment of power and authority".

Verma later had challenged his ouster from the CBI in the Supreme Court. Asthana too approached the Delhi High Court for quashing of an FIR registered by the CBI, reportedly at the instance of Verma, in an alleged corruption case. A decision in this regard is pending in the high court.

Verma's two-year fixed tenure as CBI director ends on January 31.

Justice Sikri will have a huge role to play in the final decision as Kharge had vehemently opposed the government when Verma was sent on leave in October 2018.

Kharge had demanded answers from the Prime Minister stating that the decision was made without consulting other members of the panel that selected him. Kharge was part of the three-member panel headed by PM Modi that had selected Verma as CBI chief. The then Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar was the other member of the selection committee.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday inaugurate the Subhash Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort, on the occasion of the leader's 122nd birth anniversary. Dedicating the museum to Bose and the Indian National Army, PM Modi will unveil it at 9.30 am.

Following the inaugural event, the Prime Minister will also visit the Yaad-e-Jallian Museum, (museum on the Jallianwala Bagh and World War I) and the Museum on 1857- India's first war of Independence and Drishyakala-Museum on Indian Art at the same venue, according to an official statement.

The museum on Bose and the Indian National Army showcases various artefacts related to Subhash Chandra Bose and INA. The artefacts include a wooden chair and sword used by the leader, medals, badges, uniforms and other artefacts related to the INA.

The Yaad-e-Jallian Museum provides an authentic account of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that happened on April 13, 1919. The museum will also showcase the heroism, valour and sacrifices made by Indian soldiers during the World War-I.

The Museum on 1857-India's first war of Independence portrays the historical narrative of the 1857 war of independence, showcasing the valour and sacrifices made by Indians during the period.

The Drishyakala- Exhibition on Indian Art showcases art works from 16th century till India's independence.

(With inputs from PTI)
India's newly-acquired M777 American Ultra Light Howitzer and self-propelled K9 Vajra artrillery guns are set to make their debut at the Republic Day parade at Rajpath in the national capital on January 26. According to news agency PTI, the same was confirmed on Wednesday by Major General Rajpal Punia, Chief of Staff, HQ Delhi area.

It is after a gap of almost 30 years, that the Indian Army is set to get two new artillery guns to add to its military might. They were inducted into the Indian Army in October 2018 by Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

A contract was inked with the United States of America for as many as 145 ultralight Howitzer M-777, of which 25 were slated to be brought to India in combat-ready condition. The remaining 125 guns were to be made in India with the help of Mahindra Defence. The supply of the guns was initially expected to begin March 2019.

The guns will help the forces target the enemy even in hilly regions and can be transported using helicopters as well. They will mostly be used by Indias first mountain strike corp in combat-like situations with neighbouring China.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) howitzer gun-manufacturing unit at Hazira in Surat. The L&T had in 2017 won a contract worth Rs 4,500 crore to supply 100 units of the K9 Vajra-T 155 mm/52 calibre tracked self-propelled gun systems to the Indian Army. The contract was handed over to the company under the Centre's Make in India initiative.

"Had the privilege of inaugurating the Larsen and Toubro Armoured Systems Complex in Hazira, Gujarat. Boosting Make in India in the defence sector is our endeavour. I am glad that the private sector too is supporting this pursuit and making a valuable contribution," Prime Minister Modi had posted on microblogging site Twitter.

This is the largest contract that has been awarded by the Ministry of Defence to a private company. The L&T had signed a transfer of technology contract for guns with South Korean company Hanwha Corporation.
In a landmark move, the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Constitutional amendment to increase powers of Autonomous District Councils in Northeast's Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura areas under the Sixth Schedule.

The Finance Commission will recommend devolution of financial resources to ten Autonomous District Councils, village and municipal councils in areas under the Sixth Schedule. The funds for local government institutions will be given for development works in these tribal areas.

The state Finance Commissions will be set up in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC) and Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council (DHATC) will get 30 more subjects like Public Works, Forests, Health, Urban Development, Food, etc.

The proposed amendments to have elected village and municipal councils will ensure grass root democracy.

The reservation of one-third of seats for women will be done in village and municipal councils and at least two nominated members in all autonomous councils will be women.

The state Election Commissions will hold elections to the Autonomous Councils, village and municipal councils in the scheduled areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.

This fulfills commitments of Memorandum of Settlements signed by Centre, Assam and Meghalaya states, United Peoples Democratic Solidarity(UPDS), Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) and Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC).

According to the Constitution, special provisions are made for the administration of the tribal dominated areas in four states -- Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. As per Article 244 and Sixth Schedule, the areas are called 'Tribal Areas', which are different from the Scheduled Areas under Fifth Schedule.
Union minister for Railways Piyush Goyal was on Wednesday given temporary charge of the Finance Ministry, just days ahead of the interim budget, reported news agency ANI. Goyal has been given additional charge of the Finance Ministry as Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is suffering from illness and undergoing treatment currently.

Arun Jaitley will be designated as Minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition, or till the time he remains unable to resume his work as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs.

News agency PTI reported that Jaitley underwent a surgery in US, following which he was advised rest for two weeks. Since he left for US on January 13, Jaitley has been active on social media, writing Facebook posts and tweeting about current issues.

Jaitley, 66, is currently in the US for a medical check up. Earlier reports had said that he would return to India to present the Interim Budget, scheduled for February 1.

"The Finance Minister is set to return on the evening of January 25. The interim budget will be presented by him for sure," News agency IANS had quoted a senior government official as saying.

Jaitley unexpectedly left for the US for the medical check last week. He had undergone a renal transplant surgery on May 14, 2018, and had undergone a bariatric surgery in September 2014 to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition.

If Jaitley returns for the interim budget, it will be the sixth consecutive Budget presented by the senior BJP leader.

In October, the ministry began the budgetary exercise for 2019-20. During the process, meetings were held with the ministries of steel, power, and housing and urban development, among others, to finalise revised expenditure for the current fiscal and projections for the next financial year.
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Politburo member Binh made the statement during his reception for Lucien Wong, Attorney-General of Singapore, and members of the Attorney-Generals Chambers delegation, on January 22, who are on a working visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Le Minh Tri, Prosecutor General of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy of Vietnam.

Deputy PM Binh emphasised that Vietnam and Singapore have been engaged in judicial assistance within the ASEAN bloc, highly appreciating the effective coordination between the two countries in implementing criminal justice authorisation.

An overview of the reception. (Photo: VGP)



He voiced his belief that the Vietnam-Singapore strategic partnership will enter a new development stage as the economy in each nation and the region is growing strongly, asking the Attorney-General to contribute to comprehensively facilitating cooperation facets between the two countries, including justice cooperation.

Vietnam is facing many justice-related issues in its process of implementing intra-ASEAN cooperation and joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the deputy PM said, expressing his wish to learn from Singapores experience, especially in the work of procuracy, adjudication, building of electronic justice, and prosecution.

For his part, Lucien Wong said that, during his talks with the Prosecutor General of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy of Vietnam, the two sides discussed cooperation opportunities and signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation, thus creating an important legal base to further promote collaboration activities in the future.

Over the past few years, the Attorney-Generals Chambers of Singapore has supported the Supreme Peoples Procuracy of Vietnam in training young cadres, which reflects both sides commitment to accelerating the bilateral relations in a stronger and more effective fashion, he said.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested nine people for suspected links with banned terror outfit ISIS. According to the ATS, the nine suspects had formed a group called Ummat-e-Mohammadiya and had allegedly been plotting to mix some poisonous substance with food or water at some bug event to cause mass casualty.

The authorities are investigating if the suspects aimed to target the huge gathering at ongoing Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj. The ATS has shared its findings in this regard with authorities and agencies associated with the Kumbh Mela 2019.

A chemical bottle labelled as Hydrogen Peroxide was seized from their possession and later sent for chemical analysis to find out the content of the mixture. The ATS has seized some white liquid chemical, white powder, six knives, six pen drives, more than 24 mobile phones, more than six laptops, more than six WiFi routers, hard drives, modems, dongles and RAMs.

One of the arrested suspects has been identified as Mazhar Malbari, son of underworld fugitive Rashid Malbari, who is a sharp shooter of Dawood Ibrahims D-Company. Another suspect was reportedly in touch with ISIS handlers outside the country.

An ATS official had earlier on Wednesday said that the squad had kept a watch on the suspects for several weeks and nabbed them just when they were likely to swing into action. The ATS action began on the basis of specific inputs.

The arrests followed searches in Amrut Nagar, Kausa, Moti Baug and Almas Colony areas in Thane's Mumbra township and in Aurangabad's Kaisar Colony, Rahat Colony and Damdi Mahal areas on Monday late night and Tuesday early morning.

A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code's Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bombay Police Act.
Indian Navy will open a third air base in the far-off Andaman and Nicobar islands on Thursday to beef up surveillance of Chinese ships and submarines entering the Indian Ocean through the nearby Malacca Straits, military officials and experts said.

New Delhi has grown concerned over the presence of China`s bigger navy in its neighbourhood and the network of commercial ports it is building in an arc stretching from Sri Lanka to Pakistan that India fears could become naval outposts.

The Indian military has seized upon the Andamans that lie near the entrance to the Malacca Straits to counter the Chinese challenge, deploying ships and aircraft since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014 promising a more muscular policy.

Indian navy chief admiral Sunil Lanba will commission the new base, called INS Kohassa, about 300 km (180 miles) north of the archipelagos capital, Port Blair, the navy said in a statement.

The facility, the third in the islands, will have a 1,000-metre runway for helicopters and Dornier surveillance aircraft. But eventually the plan is for the runway to be extended to 3,000 metres to support fighter aircraft and longer-range reconnaissance aircraft, navy spokesman Captain D.K. Sharma said.

About 1,20,000 ships pass through the Indian Ocean each year and nearly 70,000 of them pass through the Malacca Strait. "The underlying thing is the expanding Chinese presence. If we have to really monitor Chinese presence, we need to be adequately equipped in the Andaman islands," said former navy commodore Anil Jai Singh.

"If you have air bases you can cover a larger area," he said, adding he expected the navy to permanently deploy more ships to the islands in the next phase of the buildup.

A Chinese submarine docked in Sri Lanka`s Colombo port in 2014 that drew such alarm in New Delhi that Modi`s government raised the issue with the Sri Lankan authorities.

Both India and China have been locked in a contest for influence, with New Delhi trying to push back against Beijing`s expansive diplomacy in the region.

This week, Indian defence officials are due to hold talks with the defence minister of the Maldives, Mariya Ahmed Didi, where New Delhi is seeking to repair ties after the ouster of its pro-China leader in a presidential election last year.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the Subhash Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort, marking the 122nd birth anniversary of the leader. The museum, dedicated to Bose and the Indian National Army, was unveiled at 9.30 am.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/vjGteJFWRe  ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

The Prime Minister also visited the Yaad-e-Jallian Museum, (museum on the Jallianwala Bagh and World War I) and the Museum on 1857- India's first war of Independence and Drishyakala-Museum on Indian Art at the same venue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Yaad-e-Jallian, a museum on Jallianwala Bagh, at Red Fort in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/aAkNpzRFjC  ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2019

The museum on Bose and the Indian National Army showcases various artefacts related to Subhash Chandra Bose and INA. The artefacts include a wooden chair and sword used by the leader, medals, badges, uniforms and other artefacts related to the INA.

The Yaad-e-Jallian Museum provides an authentic account of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that happened on April 13, 1919. The museum will also showcase the heroism, valour and sacrifices made by Indian soldiers during the World War-I.

The Museum on 1857-India's first war of Independence portrays the historical narrative of the 1857 war of independence, showcasing the valour and sacrifices made by Indians during the period.

The Drishyakala- Exhibition on Indian Art showcases art works from 16th century till India's independence.

(With inputs from agencies)
Mumbai: Prabhat Dairy has said it will be selling its flagship dairy business for Rs 1,700 crore to French multinational Groupe Lactalis.

In an official statement released here, Prabhat said it will be sharing a "substantial proportion" of the sale proceeds with its shareholders and will focus on the cattle feed business after the close of the transaction.

The company has entered into definitive agreements with Tirumala Milk Products, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lactalis, for the Rs 1,700-crore sale, said the statement.

The transaction involves sale of the dairy business undertaking of Prabhat Dairy by way of slump sale on a going concern basis, as well as the sale of 100 per cent shareholding in Sunfresh Agro Industries, a subsidiary of Prabhat Dairy, via a share purchase agreement, it said.

"The association with Lactalis one of worlds largest dairy players - will offer this business a strong platform for accelerated growth momentum in becoming one of the largest private dairy businesses in India," Vivek Nirmal, Joint Managing Director, Prabhat Dairy, was quoted as saying in the statement.

He said in the last 20 years, Prabhat built a world- class integrated milk and dairy products company, with strong supply partnership with over 1,00,000 farmers and two state- of-the-art manufacturing facilities.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals, including nod from the Competition Commission of India, the statement said.

Promoters Sarangdhar Ramchandra Nirmal, Vivek Nirmal and Nidhi Nirmal will continue to be associated with the business for the next two years, the statement said.
Parents of two children, who had died after consuming food at high-end restaurant in Karachi in Pakistan in November 2018, have sought closure of the case. Appearing before the Sindh High Court on Monday, the parents said that they had forgiven the owners of the Arizona Grill restaurant, said a report in Pakistan-based Geo News.

They told the Sindh High Court that they did not want any further action against the restaurant owners. The Geo News report added that their lawyer informed the court that the parties had agreed for an out-of-court settlement. The court directed the lawyer to submit before it a copy of the agreement between the parents and the restaurant owners.

In November, the family had gone for dinner at the popular Karachi eatery, following which they allegedly suffered from food poisoning. Though they were rushed to a hospital, the children died while receiving treatment while their mother remained hospitalised for long.

The kids reportedly had a candy outside the restaurant and later consumed milk after reaching home. Authorities had initiated a thorough probe to ascertain if the food poisoning was caused by restaurant food, candy or the milk they consumed at their home. Samples of their vomit and blood stains on their clothes were sent for forensic tests.

The Arizona Grill restaurant also issued a statement with regard to the incident, wherein they claimed that Karachi police officials moved on after conducting their investigation at the eatery.

Healthy and nutritious food are the fundamental pillars of any restaurant. Arizona Grill proudly upholds these values and provides every customer with safe and healthy food. Last night, the esteemed police officers of Karachi conducted their investigation, and moved on after clearing the restaurant. We wish them well on the finding of the root cause and upon hearing the dreadful news, Arizona Grill would like to offer their heartfelt condolences, read the statement.

Following the incident, authorities had conducted raids at the restaurant and its godown. Report in Dawn News had claimed that meats that expired in 2015 were recovered during the raids. Almost 80 kg of rotten meat was recovered during the raids.
WASHINGTON: An influential US lawmaker has introduced a legislation in Congress to terminate the designation of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally.

Introduced by Republican Congressman Andy Briggs, the resolution 73, introduced in the House of Representatives, seeks termination of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally and also sets conditions for its re-designation if any.

The resolution has been sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for necessary action.

It states, for future redesignation, the US President need to certify to the Congress that Pakistan continues to conduct military operations that are contributing to significantly disrupting the safe haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani Network in that country.

It also seeks certification from the Congress that Pakistan has taken steps to demonstrate its commitment to prevent the Haqqani Network from using any Pakistani territory as a safe haven and that the Government of Pakistan actively coordinates with the Government of Afghanistan to restrict the movement of militants, such as the Haqqani Network, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The resolution asks the President to certify that Pakistan has shown progress in arresting and prosecuting Haqqani Network senior leaders and mid-level operatives.
DUBAI: A Boeing 707 military cargo plane crashed in bad weather on Monday west of the Iranian capital, killing 15 out of the 16 people on board, the Iranian Army said.

A flight engineer survived and was taken to the hospital, the army said in a statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency.

The plane went down near Fath airport, near Karaj in the central Iranian province of Alborz.

"A Boeing cargo 707 plane carrying meat from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan had an emergency landing at Fath airport today ... the flight engineer has been dispatched to the hospital," the army said.

"It exited the runway during the landing and caught fire after hitting the wall at the end of the runway," the army.

The army`s statement came after some confusion over who owned the plane. Earlier on Monday, a spokesman for Iran`s civil aviation told had told state TV that the plane belonged to Kyrgyzstan, while a spokeswoman for Kyrgyzstan`s Manas airport said the plane belonged to Iran`s Payam Air.

State TV said rescue teams had been sent to the area, between the airports of Fath and Payam. It showed footage of burning wreckage of the plane and a plume of smoke rising from the crash site.
- The MP for Manhyia North, Collins Owusu Amankwah, has dismissed reports that Ghana is in a state of insecurity

- This was after the minority had expressed fears about a series of unexplained deaths in Ghana

- Amankwah added that the deaths are not a yardstick to determine the porosity of Ghana's borders

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia North, Collins Owusu Amankwah, has stated that Ghana is not in a state of insecurity.

His comments come after the minority side in parliament raised concerns about how insecure Ghana has become after the current administration took office.

In an interview with Rainbow Radio Ghana, Amankwah, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Defence and Interior, argued that the claims and reasons assigned by the minority in Parliament are weightless and lack logical reasoning.

Rainbowradioonline reports that he further noted the deaths of five people cannot be a yardstick to determine how porous Ghanas borders are.

Collins Owusu Amankwah, MP for Manhyia North Source: Ghananewsonline.com

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: NAM1 'speaks' from Dubai; allegedly orders the gov't to supervise the sale of his properties

Addressing a press conference on Monday, January 21, 2019, a ranking member of the defence and interior committee, James Agalga, called on the president to implement measures to stem the alarming incidents of contract killings and robberies in Ghana.

For instance, according to statistics from the Ghana Police Service, incidents of robbery cases recorded at the end of year 2017 were 1,772 as compared to 1,397 in 2016.

This figure represents a 27% increase. The situation did not improve in 2018 as robbery cases alone hit 968 in the first quarter, the minority revealed.

Amankwah reacted by claiming that Ghana went through similar incidents during the NDC era, but no one described Ghanas security as unstable.

He added that the minority was selective and economical with the truth, and the statistics used did not represent the truth.

He therefore asked the minority to allow the relevant agencies to conduct a professional investigation over the matter.

READ ALSO: NAM1 is in Ghana - Angry Menzgold client reveals in a video; warns gov't

Yenkasa: What Do You Think About Prophecies? | #Yencomgh

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The highly-competitive scholarship , which has produced dozens of Nobel Prize winners, is a state-funded initiative which aims to encourage innovation in order to improve society. Dr. Honea will be relocating from Montana to the University of Tampere in July 2020, where she will spend several months researching how Finland was able to bring down its once world-leading suicide rates.

DR. JOY HONEA, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF BILLINGS UNIVERSITY IN MONTANA, has received a Fulbright Scholarship to move to Finland in order to learn from the countrys acclaimed suicide prevention strategies.

The United States has among the highest suicide rates in the developed world, with Montana being one of the leading states with 29.2 suicides per 100,000 people. While suicide rates in Europe and Asia have fallen dramatically in recent years, the number of people taking their own lives in the US has been steadily climbing.

This has led to heated discussions among politicians, activists, and journalists over how to handle what has been described as a suicide epidemic in the American press. Finland once had similar rates to Montana, with around 30 suicides per 100,000 people in the 1980s. However, that number has steadily fallen since then, with only around 14 per 100,000 people in 2018 (although this is still higher than the OECD average).

Finlands prevention strategies, which include allocating greater funding to mental health resources and targeting high-risk demographics such as middle-aged men for outreach, have been described as a model for prevention by the World Health Organization.

Montana and Finland have some basic things in common, said Honea in a recent interview with the Billings Gazette. Both are in the Northern Hemisphere and endure long, cold, dark winters. Both have sparse populations, high alcohol use, and high rates of firearm ownership.

I started thinking, based on these similarities, the things Finland has done might be adaptable to Montana.

Adam Oliver Smith  HT

Image credit: Lehtikuva
New home sales continued to decline throughout most of 2018, and the numbers eventually dropped to their lowest level since late 2012 in December, according to Housing Industry Association (HIA).

HIAs New Home Sales Report revealed that detached house sales slid by 6.7% in December, and sales during the final quarter of 2018 were down by 14.9% year over year.

While declining home prices in Sydney and Melbourne have made home buyers in these markets far more cautious, the ongoing challenges accessing finance that face many would-be home buyers across the rest of the country continue to weigh on new home sales, said Geordan Murray, HIA senior economist.

Victoria (-11.8%), Queensland (-9.2%), South Australia (-4%), Western Australia (9.2%) all posted declines in sales during the period. Only New South Wales bucked the trend, up by 10% in December.

HIA found that there is still a large amount of ongoing residential building work because of residential developments that proceeded with large numbers of off-the-plan sales during 2016, 2017 and early 2018. These off-the-plan sales were flowing through the build process and many are now being constructed. This high level of building activity is concealing a forthcoming downturn, said HIA.

Murray said that that the pipeline of new work entering in 2019 will be weaker than what was recorded in recent years, considering the decline in sales during 2018. In addition, home-building activity is set to dip as the year progresses.

It will be important to watch the trajectory of new home sales during the first half of 2019. This will give us a clear indication of how the contractionary phase of the home-building cycle will play out in the second half of 2019 and into 2020, said Murray.
BESSEMER, Mich. - CAPT. Mary T. Kovacevich, U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, 100, a veteran of World War II, Korean and Vietnam conflicts, died Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, at home surrounded by her loving family.

She was born on Oct. 27, 1918, in Bessemer, daughter of Magdaline (Perak) and Steve Kovacevich, immigrant parents of Slung, Croatia. She attended St. Sebastian Catholic School, Washington Public School, and A.D. Johnston High School, graduating in 1937. Subsequently, she enrolled in a five-year nursing program at the College of St. Scholastica and St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth, Minn., graduating in 1943 with a Bachelor of Science in nursing and Registered Nurse degrees from St. Mary's Hospital.

Immediately following college graduation, Mary enlisted in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps and was commissioned as an ensign in the Nurse Corps in 1944. Shortly thereafter she received initial orders to the Naval Hospital in Norman, Okla., functioning as charge nurse in the medical/surgical units, and one year later was transferred to the Naval Hospital in Oakland, Calif., where she completed her obligated service. In June of 1946, Mary was discharged from active duty with the rank of lieutenant (junior grade), and maintained her status in the Naval Reserves via medical correspondence courses and training duty at the Naval Gun Factory Medical Clinic at Washington, D.C. Following discharge, she held part-time nursing positions at various hospitals and in the interim attended Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., graduating with a bachelor's degree in nursing education. She accepted the position of head nurse in the Medical Unit at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Iron Mountain, where she was employed until 1951.

Mary was recalled to active military with the Navy in 1951 during the Korean conflict. Subsequently, she was assigned as follows: USN Hospital Charleston, S.C., three separate tours of duty as charge nurse in a variety of nursing services and the third tour as assistant director of Nursing Services and educational director; USN Hospital Great Lakes, Ill., as charge nurse in the OB/GYN unit; U.S. Naval Corps School, Bainbridge, Md., as hospital corps instructor in nursing procedures and practices. She assisted in the de-activation of this school and was transferred to U.S. Hospital Corps School, Great Lakes, Ill., continuing her assignment as Hospital Corps instructor.

In 1957, Mary was selected for, and augmented to the regular U.S. Navy, and was assigned duty at the Navy Recruit Station in the Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minn., as program director for recruitment of nurses covering a six state area. After three years of recruitment duty she was transferred to the Naval Hospital, Guam, Marianas Islands, serving in the capacity of assistant director of nursing services and educational director. Upon completion of her assignment at Guam, Mary received transfer orders to the hospital ship, USS Repose, AH-16, which at the time was on station off the northernmost sector of South Vietnam near Chu Lai and Da Nang, in support of military operations in the I Corps area. She functioned in the capacity of director (chief) of nursing services. Upon completion of her year's obligated service aboard the Repose, she returned to the Naval Corps School, Great Lakes, Ill., as director of nurse programs for hospital corps training. In 1968, she was one of only 25 elite women who were promoted to the prestigious rank of CAPTAIN in the Nurse Corps, and later she was assigned to the U.S. National Naval Medical Center, Great Lakes, as director of nursing services, her final assignment.

After a stellar military career, "CAPTAIN K," as she was affectionately known, retired in 1970 after 27 years in the Navy. Her entire life has been one devoted to service, God, her family and her country.

Besides her parents, CAPT. Kovacevich was preceded in death by her stepfather, Thomas N. Kovacevich; six brothers, George, Joseph, Nicholas, Thomas, Frank and James; and three sisters, Magdaline Mauro, Ann Dowling and Helen Dran. She is survived by one sister, Agnes Katalenic, of Lansing; and by numerous nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and great-great-nieces and nephews.

She was a charter member of the Navy Nurse Corps Association, The Retired Officer's Association, life member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, member of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Croatian Fraternal Union of America, and longstanding member of St. Sebastian Catholic Church.

Friends may call at the Lakeside Memorial Chapel, 806 Putnam St., in Wakefield, on Thursday, Jan. 24, from 5 to 7 p.m., where the Rosary will be prayed at 6 p.m.

Visitation will continue on Friday, Jan. 25, from 10 to 10:45 a.m., at St. Sebastian Catholic Church, 210 E. Iron St., in Bessemer, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m., with the Rev. Dominic Agyapong, celebrant.

Following the Mass, military rites will take place at the church under the auspices of Bessemer American Legion Post 27 and Bessemer Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3673 Honor Guard, assisted by the U.S. Navy Funeral Honors Team.

A luncheon will be served at the church hall following the military rites.

Rite of Committal and interment will take place at Hillcrest Cemetery, Bessemer, in the spring.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Jerald Rocco, owner and manager of Lakeside Memorial Chapel Inc., in Wakefield. Condolences may be expressed online at lakesidememorialchapel.com.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that all options are on the table for Venezuela after he recognized the country's opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president and called President Nicolas Maduro's government "illegitimate."

"We're not considering anything, but all options are on the table," he told reporters at the White House when asked if he was considering sending the US military into Venezuela.

Guaido swore himself in as interim president amid mass protests against the administration of Nicolas Maduro.
Ville Skinnari, the third deputy chairperson of the Social Democrats, told Uusi Suomi on Tuesday that the party leadership will not make a new decision on who should stand in for Rinne, who has announced he is likely to remain on sick leave until the end of February.

SANNA Marin, the first deputy chairperson of the Social Democrats, will continue to deputise for the indisposed chairperson of the opposition party, Antti Rinne.

Rinne was hospitalised with pneumonia while on a holiday in Spain around New Years. He underwent a percutaneous coronary intervention after returning to Finland on Friday, 11 January  an operation, he says, he should have had already in Spain.

My recovery will take longer than initially estimated. The reason for my prolonged illness was only discovered in Finland, he wrote on Facebook on Monday, 21 January.

Marin, Skinnari and Maarit Feldt-Ranta, the second deputy chairperson of the opposition party, will share leadership duties in the absence of Rinne, according to Skinnari. The party leadership is a collective, he said.

The Social Democrats, he added, is hoping Rinne will be able to resume his duties as soon as possible. But you cant work more than your health allows, underlined Skinnari.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi Suomi
The defense establishment supported the transfer of the third installment of Qatari funds to the Gaza Strip Wednesday, but, according to a political source,"no decision has been made regarding the transfer of the funds."

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Following Tuesday's escalation, in which an IDF officer was lightly wounded by gunfire (whose helmet saved his life), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed the transfer of Qatari money to Gaza.

Palestinian civil servants receive salaries

But all security officials present at the Security-Cabinet meeting Wednesday including members of the Mossad, the Shin Bet, the IDF and the National Security Councilbacked the move, saying the Islamic Jihad was responsible for the recent confrontation.

According to the officials, Israel responded to the attack by killing a member of Hamas. Since then, the terror organization had held back so there was nothing to prevent the government from approving the transfer.

The Qatari grant consists of $15 million in cash for the payment of officials' salaries and distribution of stipends for Gaza's poor. It also includes an additional purchase of diesel fuel for Gaza's power plant in the amount of $10 million.

In addition, the Security-Cabinet also discussed the situation on the northern front. According to security sources, an Iranian escalation is unlikely since Iran doesn't have the capability to launch an attack from this front. Israel is, nevertheless, prepared for all possible scenarios.

Meanwhile, massive efforts are underway to stabilize the situation on the Israel-Gaza border. After Tuesday's escalation, Netanyahu issued an explicit warning Wednesday to Hamas.

"Perhaps there are those in Gaza who thought they could cause trouble. I suggest that those people appreciate that our response would be deadly and very painful. We are prepared for every scenario and every escalation," the prime minister said during a visit to the Shizafon army base in southern Israel.

Qatari Ambassador Mohammed al-Emadi, who is tasked with handing over the next installment of a $15 million grant to Hamas, arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning. Conducting parallel talks with the Gazans is Jamie McGoldrick, deputy to UN special envoy Nikolai Mladenov, who also arrived in Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

In the past week there has been a relative calm in Gaza, as Friday's demonstration was relatively quiet and the launch of incendiary balloons was put on halt. In addition, Hamas effectively stopped the demonstrations on the northern Gaza Strip Monday.

The terror organization recently threatened renewed violence over stalled payment, warning the Qatari cash freeze would escalate Friday's 'March of Return' protests. Hamas also claimed some hospitals in the Strip would cease their activities due to delays in payment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday after which the Russian leader said the two men had discussed how they planned to stabilise the situation in Syria's Idlib province.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Wednesday that the situation in the region, where Moscow and Ankara have tried to create a de-escalation zone, was rapidly deteriorating and that it was almost under the full control of Nusra militants.

Putin said the Russian and Turkish defence ministers had already held talks on specific action that the two countries would take in Idlib and that the measures, which he didn't describe, would now be implemented.

"Unfortunately there are many problems there and we see them," said Putin, standing alongside Erdogan.

He said Turkey was doing a lot to try to remedy the situation, but that more action by both Ankara and Moscow was required to "liquidate the actions of terrorist groups."

Putin said he had agreed to host a summit soon where Russia, Turkey and Iran would discuss the situation in Syria. He did not name a date for the summit, but said he and Erdogan had agreed on its provisional timing.

The Russian leader also complained about the difficulty of forming a UN-sponsored constitutional committee for Syria, saying that France, Germany and Britain had blocked the proposed make-up of the committee in December, a move he said had come as a surprise for Moscow.
The Political-Security Cabinet approved Wednesday the transfer of Qatari money into the Gaza Strip Thursday. This is the third payment out of the total $ 15 million grant.
President Reuven Rivlin met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris Wednesday.

The two discussed the Iranian presence in Syria and Lebanon, among others.

Rivlin said that pushing Iran out of Syria is an international interest. For us, the Iranian regime is an enemy that does not mask its intentions regarding the destruction of Israel. We must take this seriously.

The Iranian threat is not restricted to its nuclear program. It continues with its missile program which represents no less serious a threat," the president said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a "serious complaint" with the country's attorney general over leaks to Israeli media by investigators involved in corruption cases against him.

Netanyahu's attorneys published a letter Wednesday that they sent to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit saying the leaks caused "grave harm to the most basic rights of a prime minister."
Several Palestinians sabotaged the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

According to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, two suspects infiltrated into Israel and returned immediately to the Gaza Strip.
Massive efforts are underway to stabilize the situation on the Israel-Gaza border. After Tuesday's escalation, in which an IDF officer was lightly wounded by gunfire (whose helmet saved his life) and the Israeli Air Force responded with an attack on Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an explicit warning Wednesday to Hamas.

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"Perhaps there are those in Gaza who thought they could cause trouble. I suggest that those people appreciate that our response would be deadly and very painful. We are prepared for every scenario and every escalation," the prime minister said during a visit to the Shizafon army base in southern Israel.

An IDF strike on Gaza (Photo: Reuters)

At the same time, Qatari Ambassador Mohammed al-Emadi, who is tasked with handing over the next installment of a $15 million grant to Hamas, arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning. He could very well be staying for a while. Sources in Israel firmly decline to comment, but it is fair to assume that from the moment of his arrival, al-Emadi has been holding talks with the senior Israeli security officials responsible for this matter, in particular the head of the National Security Council and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

The money is supposed to pay Gaza's civil servants, but some is also going to families of Palestinians killed or wounded during the regular clashes with the IDF on the Gaza border since March.

Gaza civil servants receive salaries (Photo: AFP)

Conducting parallel talks with the Gazans is Jamie McGoldrick, deputy to UN special envoy Nikolai Mladenov, who entered the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning and did not rule out the possibility that al-Emadi would also visit later the same day or the one after.

On Tuesday night, Netanyahu said after the flare-up that he would not allow the money from Qatar to enter Gaza "tomorrow." But there was no guarantee that the money would not enter Gaza on Thursday, Friday or even Sunday.

Iran's Gazan agitators

The Israeli defense establishment believes that Islamic Jihad was behind Tuesday's shooting that damaged the helmet of a platoon commander. Islamic Jihad is the "disturbed child" of Gaza, who does not take anyone else into account. It is utterly illogical that Hamas would carry out such an attack mere hours before arrival of suitcases full of money.

The helmet that stopped a bullet from a Gaza sniper

Islamic Jihad, on the other hand, would have no problem at all carrying out the shooting. Its men have not seen a single dollar of the Qatari money, and the group is also ever eager to prove itself to its masters in Tehran. On Tuesday it expressed outrage at Israel, even before shooting at the IDF officer, over a series of sanctions by the Israel Prison Service against Islamic Jihad prisoners in Ofer Prison. It is quite possible that the shooting Tuesday was in response to these sanctions.

Meanwhile, Hamas is keeping its head down, and has not even responded to the killing Tuesday night of one of its military activists when the IDF shelled a Gaza observation post. This silence is no guarantee, however, and some have even expressed concern that it could indicate that any future response would be far more dangerous than rocket fire alone.

There are now several likely scenarios that could play out in Gaza: Firstly, the Qatari and UN efforts will pay off and the third tranche of Qatar's money will reach Gaza on Thursday, Friday or at the beginning of next week. This depends on the degree of restraint that Hamas imposes during the demonstrations at the fence.

Palestinian protests on the Gaza-Israel border (Photo: Reuters)

The second option is that Israel will insist that the money does not enter Gaza at this stage, and therefore the fence demonstrations are very violent and trigger another round of fighting. The final option is that Hamas will try to lull Israel into a false sense of calm, and then carry out a deadly revenge attack, such as firing a Kornet missile or sending snipers to target Israeli troops.

Israel is undoubtedly hoping for the former, but bracing for the latter two.
Russia is demanding that Israel end its "arbitrary" airstrikes on targets in Syria, two days after the Israeli Air Force struck a series of Iranian military and intelligence targets in response to a rocket strike on the Golan Heights.

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"The practice of arbitrary strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, in this case, we are talking about Syria, should be ruled out," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, in answer to a question from Russian news agency TASS about recent Israeli air strikes on Syria.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin meeting in Moscow (Photo: GPO)

She said such strikes added to tensions in the region, which she said was not in the long-term interests of any country there, including Israel.

"We should never allow Syria, which has suffered years of armed conflict, to be turned into an arena where geopolitical scores are settled," TASS cited her as saying.

The Russian message was also passed to Israeli Ambassador to Russia Gary Koren during a series of meetings with senior officials in Moscow.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in response: "This week the ambassador had a number of routine meetings that he initiated with senior Russian officials, covering a range of issues concerning the relations between our two countries."

Israel struck Iranian targets in the early hours of Monday morning, less than 24 hours after Iranian fighters fired a surface-to-surface rocket at the northern Golan Heights. The Israeli bombardment killed at least 21 people, including 12 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring organization.

An IDF strike in Syria on Monday

In an official statement, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit confirmed the strikes, and said the targets included munition storage sites, an area of Damascus International Airport, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian military training camp.

Israeli officials have spoken in the past of an agreement with Moscow under which they have made clear their strikes on Syria would not threaten Assad, while Russia has promised to help limit Iranian influence near the Israeli frontier. A hotline set up since 2015 is aimed at ensuring Russian forces in Syria are not surprised by Israeli attacks.

Moscow holds Israel responsible for the downing of one of its planes in September 2018, when it was hit by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile during an Israeli airstrike. Russia maintains that Israel did not notify it of the attack sufficiently in advance for the plane to distance itself from the scene of the strike. In wake of the incident, Russia delivered S-300 air defense systems to the Syrian government.

Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad in Sochi in 2017 (Photo: Reuters)

Russia has previously signaled its displeasure with Israeli activity in Syria. Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said that "provocative" Israeli missile strikes against Syria had directly threatened two civilian flights, the Interfax news agency reported.

Provocative acts by the Israeli Air Force endangered two passenger jets when six of their F-16s carried out airstrikes on Syria from Lebanese airspace, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

Russia, which is seen as the biggest sponsor of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has a significant military presence of its own in Syria, ostensibly to help battle Islamic State.
A female Israeli student who was killed in Australia last week, sparking a nationwide uproar, was laid to rest Wednesday in her hometown in northern Israel.

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Thousands of mourners gathered outside the family home of Aiia Maasarwe for a traditional Muslim burial in the predominantly Arab town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye.

Aiia Maasarwe (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

Friends and neighbors carried flowers and Arabic signs, reading "Your beautiful soul will not be forgotten." They huddled and prayed as her family lowered Maasarwe's coffin into the ground.

Aiia Maasarwe's funeral in the Arab town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, January 23, 2019 (:  )

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"She was a special girl from all aspects, it's very hard to describe her in words," said her uncle, Jamil Maasarwe.

Maasarwe, a 21-year-old exchange student at La Trobe University in Melbourne, was coming home from a night out in a nearby suburb when she was raped and killed in what appears to have been a random attack.

She was speaking to her younger sister in Israel via FaceTime when the assault occurred, police said.

Family and relatives at Aiia Maasarwe's funeral, January 23, 2019

Her death quickly captured international attention, sparking demonstrations in Australia demanding an end to violence against women and shocking her tight-knit hometown.

Vigils and memorials honoring Maasarwe's life and raising awareness about gender-related killings have drawn thousands of supporters in Australia and Israel over the past week.

Her family said Maasarwe had decided to study in Australia because of its reputation for safety.

Maasarwe's father flew to Australia to identify his daughter's body and bring it home after a passer-by stumbled upon it near the tram station where she was killed.

Cody Herrmann, 20, the suspect arrested for Maasarwe's murder, has appeared in an Australian court on Saturday charged with murder and rape.

Herrmann hung his head as he sat in the dock and stood only to hear the charges against him read. He was not required to enter pleas.

A murder conviction carries a potential maximum penalty of life imprisonment and rape carries a potential maximum of 25 years.
Niv Asraf, an Israeli who staged his own kidnapping in the West Bank in 2015, was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in prison, while his accomplice Eran Nagauker was sentenced to six months of community service, after Jerusalem District Court accepted an appeal by the prosecution.

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The court did accept Asraf and Nagauker's request to postpone the beginning of their sentence until February 24, to allow them time to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

In April 2015, the two were driving toward Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement on the outskirts of Hebron, when Asraf decided to stage his own kidnapping.

Niv Asraf and Eran Nagauker

Nagauker later claimed that he and his friend had staged the abduction to elicit a positive reaction from Asraf's ex-girlfriend. Asraf, however, said that he had decided to "disappear" after he accumulated millions of shekels in gambling debts . Asraf told investigators that he had felt threatened by criminals in Be'er Sheva and had therefore wanted to escape.

In Kiryat Arba, the two found a hiding place for Asraf, who left his cellphone in the car, so he could not be found via GPS.

Nagauker then left Kiryat Arba, pulled over to the side of the road, replaced one of his tires with a spare tire, and drove back to the settlement.

When he arrived at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, he approached a police vehicle standing on the side of the road and gave the police officer in the car a false report, telling him his friend got out of his car, walked toward an Arab village, and failed to return after half an hour. The police officer told him to call the police emergency hotline, which Nagauker did to report his friend's "disappearance."

The staged kidnapping took place less than a year after the kidnap and murder of three Israeli yeshiva studentsGil-Ad Shaer, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Frenkelby Hamas terrorists.

From left: Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel

The security forces came out in full force to search for Asraf, with thousands of soldiers, special units and aircraft dispatched to the area. After eight hours, Asraf was found in a wadi near Kiryat Arba.

The two Be'er Sheva residents were sentenced by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court last June to community service after admitting to their crimes as part of a plea deal. Asraf was sentenced to six months in prison, which were commuted to community service, and Nagauker received three months of community service.

The Jerusalem District Prosecution successfully appealed the lenient punishment to the district court.

"The circumstances of the case... are very unusual and very grave," the Jerusalem District Court judges wrote in their ruling. "The respondents' actions, which endangered the security forces that had to search through a dangerous area, were done several months after the kidnapping and murder of the three teens."

Efrat Pilzer from the Jerusalem District Prosector's Office said the court "expressed disgust by the actions of the defendants, who were willing to endanger police officers and soldiers, in a sensitive area, just a few months after the kidnapping of the three teenagers."

"The decision made today sends a message that those who would make cynical use of security forces will not be taken lightly. (The false kidnapping report) could have caused a flare-up in the entire area," Pilzer said.

Asraf's lawyer, Motti Yosef, said the punishment was "unusual, abnormal and disproportional to the event itself."

"My client's world has collapsed. I don't understand what the public interest is in sending a guy, who took responsibility from the first moment, to prison. This is an incident that happened four years ago. Enough. It's time to let go and give him a chance," Yosef said.

In addition to the criminal proceedings against them, the Defense Ministry is suing the two in a civil court for NIS 625,000 in damages, to cover the costs of the search.
If youre accumulating wealth by saving, then youll have money for old age even without a social democrat looking over your shoulder, Orpo stated to Kauppalehti on Sunday.

PETTERI Orpo (NCP), the Minister of Finance, has indicated he is well aware of the criticism levelled against a government proposal to introduce a new kind of equity savings account for small investors by the Social Democrats.

Antti Rinne, the chairperson of the Social Democratic Party, has proposed that instead of introducing the account, the government adjust the age limits for the existing restricted long-term savings accounts, the so-called PS accounts.

The PS accounts have been designed to provide pensioners with greater financial security by allowing them to agree with financial service providers on how their funds should be invested in shares or fund subscriptions, for example. The account holders are entitled to an annual tax break of up to 1,700 euros as long as they do not withdraw any funds until reaching retirement age.

The PS account comes with a tax benefit and, consequently, with a lot of regulations and limitations. It has been designed for retirement saving, and were talking about a completely different product than the equity savings account. Not all investments are about saving for retirement, said Orpo.

An equity savings account could be opened for children, and they could use the savings when moving into a home of their own.

The Finnish government has marketed the equity savings accounts as a means to make investment a more proposition for ordinary citizens. The account could be used to invest up to 50,000 euros in the shares of listed companies, while the funds would only be subject to a moderate capital income tax upon withdrawal.

The account is a result of government negotiations, said Orpo.

If we did compromise on something, it was on the number and size of investment products. But when the structure is right, we can revisit the possibility of adding other investment products to the account and raising the euro-denominated limit later.

What is key, he highlighted, is that no tax is levied on dividends paid to the account and that the rate of tax levied upon withdrawal is determined based on the proportion of the returns to the funds in the account.

Left-wing opposition parties have criticised the proposal for allowing investors to circumvent taxes by withdrawing the investments abroad.

Orpo pointed out that investors can already circumvent taxes by selling their shareholdings after moving overseas. The objective is to rectify the issue through international co-operation, according to him.

When youre trying to offer the possibility to retain dividends in accounts to small investors, the Social Democrats are looking for possible problems even though they should be on wage earners side, he said. I dont understand that kind of thinking. They didnt want to address the problems of insurance wrappers or capital redemption policies.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi Suomi
Russia showed foreign military attaches and journalists a cruise missile system on Wednesday that the United States says breaches a Cold War-era arms control pact, its latest attempt to disprove an allegation it denies and stop Washington quitting the treaty.

Washington has threatened to pull out of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), alleging that the new Russian missile, the Novator 9M729 (called SSC-8 by NATO), violates the pact, which bans either side from stationing short and intermediate-range, land-based missiles in Europe.
Yusuf al-Assam, an 18-year-old Israeli citizen, has been imprisoned in Egypt for almost a year after being convicted of offending a woman's honor during a trip to a water park.

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Al-Assam's family, who live in the Bedouin town of Tel Sheva in southern Israel, strongly criticized Israel's handling of their son's case.

Al-Assam was arrested last April while on a family vacation at a resort in Sharm El Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula. He was in his last year of high school and taking his final exams.

Yusuf al-Assam (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

"He was playing with his little nine-year-old brother on the water slides and hit some girl," said his father Khaled. "When he got off the slide, she slapped him."

The father said the rest of the family was at a different part of the resort at the time, and he learned of the incident from his younger son. "There was commotion, and my son was detained until the police came and took him away," he said.

The young Egyptian woman filed a complaint with the police, claiming Yusuf groped her chest.

Since then, according to his family, he was unjustly charged, convicted and sentenced to a year in Egyptian prison, despite the fact the two sides had reached a resolution. Yusuf's family financially compensated the young woman, who in turn sought to withdraw her complaint.

"In Egypt, even if you murder someone, as soon as the family withdraws their complaint, it is ended. That's the procedure there," the father said, adding he didn't understand why his son was still imprisoned in Cairo.

Khaled criticized Israel's Foreign Ministry, saying it has not done enough for his son. "They're not doing anything. He was visited twice by (representatives from) the embassy since he was transferred to Cairo, and that is it. When he was in Sinai, we were told they're not allowed to go there because it was too dangerous," he said.

The father noted that he "expects the upper echelons of the Foreign Ministry to intervene."

The Foreign Ministry said in response: "We're familiar with the case. The citizen is receiving the full consular service from the embassy in Cairo and our headquarters in Jerusalem."
President Reuven Rivlin arrived in Paris Wednesday, after French President Emmanuel Macron invited him for an official visit.

Rivlin was received ceremoniously in the Invalides Palace in Paris, and is expected to meet with the French president later on Wednesday, and participate in an official dinner in the Elysee Palace.

During the visit Rivlin is also to take part in an interfaith meeting, accompanied by heads of the Jewish and Muslim communities in the city.
A series of break-ins by Palestinian vandals has left Israeli residents in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank feeling exposed and insecure, and fearing that the next incident could be a terror attack. The local police force says its resources are stretched, and admits it only has one patrol car to cover a vast area.

On Monday, Palestinians broke into Moshav Tomer and chopped down 200 grape vines, causing damage estimated at tens of thousands of shekels.

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Simillar incidents in the area have raised concerns that Palestinian break-ins to vandalize agricultural produce will become routine.

The Jordan Rift Valley

Several days ago, infiltrators dug a hole under the fence surrounding Moshav Mehola to steal agricultural equipment, while in Moshav Netiv HaGdud they disconnected the electricity to neutralize the smart fence surrounding the community, stole a tractor and escaped through the same fence.

A month ago, Palestinians broke into Kibbutz Niran and the settlement of Yitav during early evening hours, wandering through the communities until one of the residents identified them, however, the infiltrators managed to escape before the security forces arrived at the scene.

David Elhiani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council

"No community is protected," said David Elhiani, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council. "The residents are feeling insecure, and rightly so. We have one police patrol car covering an area of 860,000 dunams (approx. 212,500 acres). It's absurd."

"These incidents are grave and seriously harm the residents' sense of security," said Hadas Gozlan, the security officer for Jordan Valley Regional Council. "Every infiltration is dealt with as an act of terror. Stealing can easily devolve into murder if a thief decides to break into a home in one of the communities."

She added: "The authorities' abilities to protect the communities are limited. The police are doing a good job enforcing the law, however, there is a huge shortage of manpower. How fast can a police car be if it covers an area of 80 kilometers?"

Chief of the Jordan Valley police station, Superintendent Shlomi Vaknin, also conceded that the had limited resources to deal with the issue.

"The station has 14 police officers, 10 of whom are patrol officers," Vaknin said. "We have only one patrol car, which makes it impossible to reach every call in a timely manner. Four patrol cars would be a big help."
With the Knesset elections just two and a half months away, New Right Party leader Naftali Bennett on Wednesday criticized his political rival, the former IDF chief and head of the Israel Resilience Party, Benny Gantz, taking aim at the military credentials that form the backbone of his campaign.

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According to Bennett, then-IDF chief Gantz was not sufficiently motivated to take on Hamas during 2014's Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day war in Gaza against the terror group. Gantz, Bennett claimed, preferred a tie over victory in that conflict.

"I have nothing against Gantz on a personal level, but I was (in the Security Cabinet) during Protective Edge, and he encapsulates a worldview that favors a tie. Not seeking victory, just to come out in one piece from every campaign," Bennett said in an interview with Ynet.

Naftali Bennett in the Ynet studio

"This is a worldview that has failed over the last 30 years," Bennett said. "What happened in Protective Edge? I came and said: 'Gentlemen, there are 30 terror tunnels infiltrating from Gaza, they are ripe to yield disaster, a large-scale terror attack.' And Benny Gantz came with his tie worldview and said: 'No, we don't need to go into (Gaza).'"

Bennett said he had to face off against "an entire Cabinet that was only dragging its feet," a fact he attributed to what he said was a directionless military.

"When the IDF and the commander of the IDF don't come up with a plan, you can't expect the Cabinet to push harder than the commander of the army," Bennett said.

Benny Gantz as IDF chief in 2014 (Photo: Reuters)

Gantz's Israel Resilience Party said in response that the approach by the former IDF chief had led to years of quiet along the Gaza border. "After Gantz's stint (at the helm of the IDF), there followed three and a half years of deterrence and quiet," the party said.

Giving his first interview after leaving the Jewish Home party, which he headed, Bennett said the decision to form New Right last month was one that he firmly stands behind.

"This move simply saves the right-wing bloc. Before we carried out this right-wing 'Big Bang,' the bloc had 57 seats in the Knesset. Right now we're (polling) at 62-63," he said.

"There was a Zionist-religious public and people on the far right who wouldn't vote for me, and (their votes) went to Eli Yishai (former Shas head who formed his own party) and Otzma Yehudit (party led by former National Union members). On the other hand, the secular didn't vote for Jewish Home either. Now, as a party of both religious and secular, a true right-wing party, we're bringing it large sections of the public," he said.

The education minister argued that his new party is different to his old political home. "The entire starting point is different. Jewish Home-Tkumawhich was my home for six years, and I still love the people there very muchis at the end of the day a religious party. It's a party with responsibility to a certain sector. We're a party for the entire people of Israel," he said.

Bennett committed to forming a special public committee to "create a broad agreement on all matters of religion and state."

"We're not under a secular banner or a religious banner  we're Jews. We believe in tradition, in the roots of the people of Israel. Judaism doesn't belong to the religious," he said. "We really are half-secular and half-religious, like our people," he said.

"The message is that we need to strike a balance between the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and individual liberties," Bennett said. "We're against religious coercion. I say this clearly: The New Right Party will oppose coercive religious legislation and coercive secular legislation. We have to get along in this country, everyone. There's no other choice."

Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked announcing the formation of their new party, December 2018 (Photo: EPA)

Detailing the views of his party, Bennett said that "We're against giving land to Arabs, we're against releasing terrorists... we're in favor of judicial restraint... we're a true right: we don't have disengagements or a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish one. But we're also a stately right wing. We don't define ourselves by slamming our rivals. We're one people. I have no hatred to the left, I have no hatred to anyone. Even if there are disagreements, we need to get along in this country."

Despite recent reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried to undermine Bennett in the past by targeting his wife and father, the education minister said that after the April 9 vote, he would recommend to President Reuven Rivlin that he task Netanyahu with forming the next government.

"At the end of the day, we have a country to run. We're not a group of friends, and when going into the Cabinet, we take off our politician hats and do what's best for Israel. And yes, professionally we will definitely work together," Bennett said.

Bennett also revealed his ambitious targets for the elections, which includes a significant number of seats and two key ministerial posts.

"Our goal for these elections is 15 Knesset seats, and we will want the defense and the justice portfolios," he said, stressing, however, that his party would not make this a condition of joining the coalition.

Naftali Bennett and Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset (Photo: Rafi Kotz)

Bennett also doubled down on his support for Netanyahu, who is publically trying to strong-arm Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit into delaying hearings on one or more of his three corruption investigations until after the elections. Bennett said that he would possibly back Netanyahu as leader even if Mandelblit does decides to indict the prime minister, pending the hearings.

"We won't join the populist chorus. We in the New Right party will wait until after the attorney general's decision and after the hearing, and only then will we convene and make a decision," he said. "The law today says that a prime minister doesn't have to resign until a peremptory ruling has been made. The legislator's rationale is not to allow one person, as talented as he may bein this case the attorney generalto replace the ruler. I just want to remind you that there were similar situations in the past with (former justice minister) Yaakov Neeman, who was later completely acquitted, with Raful (Rafael Eitan) and with Rubi (Reuven) Rivlin."
The Lebanese army said Tuesday that it apprehended an agent for the Israel's Mossad intelligence agency who is suspected in the attempted assassination of a Hamas member in 2018.

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Mohammed Hamdan  a Hamas militant and the brother of Osama Hamdan, the terror organization's top representative in Lebanon  survived an attempt on his life after a bomb went off in his car in southern Lebanon. He was badly wounded in the attack, which Hamas attributed to Israel without providing any evidence. Hamdan's leg reportedly had to be amputated.

Scene of the attack on Hussein Ahmed (Photo: AP)

The Lebanese army said that the suspect, Hussein Ahmed, was at the scene of the attack before Hamdan's car exploded. According to the army, Ahmed was arrested in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, and admitted during questioning that he was recruited by Mossad in 2014, had met with his operatives and was provided with espionage equipment.

Mohamed Hamdan in the hospital following the assassination attempt

He also reportedly admitted that he began tracking Hamdan in 2017, and provided his Israeli handlers intelligence he collected as part of the preparations to assassinate Hamdan.

Footage of the explosion's aftermath (: )

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According to military, Ahmed told investigators he had left Lebanon after the bombing and only returned on the instructions of his Mossad handlers.

The army also said that it found numerous electronic devices provided by Mossad agents in Ahmed's possession. Lebanon said the matter is still being investigated.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said following the bombing there was "every indication" the attack was Israel's work.

Israel denied any involvement in the bombing, Haaretz reported, with Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz saying at the time that, "if Israel had been involved, it would not have ended with a lightly wounded (man)."
The European Union has given over 5 million in grants in 2017-2018 to ten Palestinian and European organizations that promote boycotts against Israel, despite assurances by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini such groups do not receive EU funding, according to a new report by the Strategic Affairs Ministry released Wednesday.

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Among the ten organizations are two leading Palestinian organizations in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement: Al-Haq, which received 297,000, and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which received 450,000.

Al-Haq, which is based in Ramallah, works with a series of European organizations to promote boycotts against Israel. It also acts against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague and at the United Nations' Human Rights Council.

Last year, Al-Haq published a document calling on foreign companies and banks to withdraw funding and cancel any activities in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In June 2018, the NGO called for sanctions to be imposed on Israel. The Strategic Affairs Ministry also says the organization has ties to terror elements.

The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which is based in Gaza, also acts on the international legal arena alongside promoting boycotts against Israel.

Six months ago, the Strategic Affairs Ministry released an in-depth study that detailed and analyzed EU funding for anti-Israel boycott organizations in 2016.

At the time, Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan urged Mogherini to immediately halt the funding for these organizations.

But Mogherini rejected "any suggestion of EU involvement in supporting terror or terrorism," adding that "allegations of the EU supporting incitement or terror are unfounded and unacceptable," and warning that "vague and unsubstantiated accusations serve only to contribute to disinformation campaigns."

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini (Photo: EPA)

She stressed that there were strict monitoring and verification procedures in place, adding that "We are confident that EU funding has not been used to support boycott of Israel or BDS activities and certainly not to finance terrorism."

The Strategic Affairs Ministry then looked into EU funding in 2017-2018, finding that the EU continued transferring money to boycott organizations.

"These findings align with the findings of a recent report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the European Union's financial-audit body, which identified significant shortcomings in the EUs ability to monitor funds transferred to the numerous organizations receiving EU aid. The ECA warned that the European Union lacks sufficient information and transparency as to how these funds were distributed or spent," the ministry said.

In light of the finding of the latest report, Erdan urged Mogherini to end the duality of EU policy, which officially opposes boycotts against Israel on the one hand, and supports boycott organizations on the other.

"The time has come for the EU to begin a deep reexamination of its policies," Erdan said. "Instead of hiding behind empty statements, the European Union needs to implement its own declared policy and immediately cease funding organizations that promote boycotts against the State of Israel."

The EU's mission in Israel said in response: "The Court of Auditors' (ECA) report found the EU's selection of NGO-led projects in external action to be generally transparent and in accordance with international transparency standards. We stress that the Audit reviewed EU cooperation across the world, and did not make any specific findings regarding funding of Israeli or Palestinian NGOs.

"The European Commission is one of the most transparent organizations in the worldno matter if the question is about our own practices or the way we work with others. The EU has very strict rules to screen and vet the beneficiaries of EU funds. We take any allegation of misuse of EU funds very seriously and are committed to investigate all those presented with substantive evidence.

"We previously analyzed the Ministry's so-called 'Money Trail' report and came to the conclusion that allegations presented in the report are unfounded and factually incorrect. Following the publication of the so-called 'Money Trail' report in 2018 we invited the Israeli authorities to engage in a productive dialogue on civil society as foreseen by the EU-Israel Action Plan. This offer was not responded to, but still stands. We consider it unfortunate that again unsubstantiated material is being publicized without prior dialogue and engagement.

"On the separate issue of boycott, the European Union has not changed its position regarding the so-called 'Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions' ('BDS') movement. While it upholds its policy of clearly distinguishing between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied by it since 1967, the EU rejects any attempts to isolate Israel and does not support calls for a boycott. The EU does not fund actions that are related to boycott activities. At the same time, the EU stands firm in protecting freedom of expression and freedom of association in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union."
Syria's Ambassador the United Nations Bashar Ja'afari threatened Tuesday that Damascus would target Ben Gurion Airport if the UN Security Council does not put an end to the repeated Israeli strikes in the country.

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Speaking before the UN Security Council, Ja'afari addressed the attack the Israeli Air Force carried out early Monday on Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force targets near Damascus, hitting a munition storage sites, a site located in the Damascus International Airport, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian military training camp.

Ben Gurion Airport

"Isnt time now for the UN Security council to stop the Israeli repeated aggressions on the Syrian Arab republic territories?" Ja'afari said according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

He further wondered if Syria should draw the council's attention by "practicing its legitimate right of self-defense and responding to the Israeli aggression on Damascus International Airport in the same way on Tel Aviv Airport."

At least 21 people were killed in the raid in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday. The UK-based monitor said the death toll included 15 foreign nationals, of which at least 12 were members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Syrian state-run news outlets said that at least four Syrian soldiers were killed in the bombardment.

In an official statement, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit confirmed that "During the strikes, dozens of Syrian surface-to-air missiles were launched, despite clear warnings to avoid such fire. In response, several of the Syrian Armed Forces' aerial defense batteries were targeted."

IAF attack overnight Monday near Damascus (Photo: EPA)

"Iran firing at Israel is another proof to its intentions while attempting to entrench is Syria, and the danger it poses to Israel and to regional stability. The IDF will continue to act with determination against Iranian entrenchment in Syria," the army said.

"Israel sees Syria as the one responsible for Iran's actions on its soil, warning it to avoid any action against Israel," the IDF added.

All Israeli attacks were carried out near Damascus, where the military has recently destroyed the last of the intelligence bases that the Iranians tried to establish near the border with Israel.

The Russian Interfax news agency quoted Moscow's defense control center as saying that Syrian military air defenses destroyed more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs during the Israeli air strikes.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's health had declined over the past year and his doctors feared for his life, but thanks to secret treatment by a specialist from Israel, his condition improved significantly.

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On May 20, 2018, Abbas was hospitalized for the second time over a 24 hour period at the Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah with pneumonia, a complication of a severe ear infection he had suffered from. Doctors feared the 83-year-old Palestinian leader would suffer a complete systems failure.

While the Palestinian Authority did all it could to mislead the public and the media about Abbas's real condition, Israel learned of his rapidly deteriorating condition and decided to offer the Palestinians to treat Abbas at an Israeli hospital, where he could receive the most advanced medical care.

Abbas with sons Yasser and Tareq at the hospital in Ramallah in May (Photo: Reuters)

Israel, in turn, decided to send a specialist to Ramallah, who joined the team of foreign doctors already treating the PA leader in an effort to stabilize his condition. After two days of intensive care, the Palestinian leader got better, and a week later he was discharged from the hospital.

Abbas at the hospital in Ramallah in May (Photo: Reuters)

The elderly Palestinian leader's medical condition had seen several ups and downs in 2018. In February, after a speech at the United Nations, he was secretly admitted to a Baltimore hospital specializing in diagnosing and treating cancer. Following rumors of his deteriorating health, his spokesperson insisted Abbas went to the hospital to undergo routine checkups, without offering any additional details. But it is believed the medical testing was meant to rule out stomach cancer.

Since being released from the hospital in late May, Abbas has been gradually returning to work. While he seldom arrives to his office at the Mukata'a in Ramallah and holds many work meetings at home, he remains lucid and stable. As part of the changes Abbas made to his lifestyle, he quit smoking after years of heavy smoking.
A Cyprus court rejected a request by Russian authorities to extradite Israeli national Moshe Harel, 69, who was arrested upon his arrival to the island for vacation due to an outstanding warrant against him.

Harel was convicted of involvement in an international organ trade network, which operated in Kosovo 10 years ago. He was arrested in 2008, released on bail and returned to Israel. Two years later, he was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison in Kosovo.

In 2012 he was arrested in Israel for the same case and indicted three years later. He was convicted as part of a plea deal, did community service and ordered to pay a fine.
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The body of Aiia Maasarwe, a 23-year-old Israeli woman who was murdered in Australia, was returned to Israel on Wednesday morning.

Her funeral will take place later Wednesday in Baqa al-Gharbiyye.
The Hamas terror group blamed the flare-up in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday on Israel.

"The resistance will not allow our people's blood to be used as fuel in the election campaign in Israel, and it has the tools to defend the people," the Gaza rulers said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can take credit for the restoration of relations with the central African nation of Chad, and chalk it up as another diplomatic achievement in a series of considerable political successes. These include warming relations with India and other African countries that will seek Israel's help, as well as gaining the support of certain Eastern European countries.

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On Sunday, Netanyahu visited the central African nation of Chad to renew diplomatic relations after nearly 50 years, a move that the Israeli leader called "historic."

But against the backdrop of these achievements, Netanyahu's biggest failure his relations with the US Democratic Partyresonates even more. It is true Israel's relations with President Donald Trump are blooming after he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state and moved the American Embassy there, but Trump is probably a short-term phenomenon.

Benjamin Netanyahu and Chad President Idriss Deby (Photo: GPO)

In practice, support for Israel is weakening in the United States. The backing of the intellectual elite vanished a long time ago, and shortly thereafter that of US Jewry, and now the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement against Israel has infiltrated the US Democratic Party's leadership.

The Israeli right-wing belittles the liberal camp in the US, while expressing enthusiasm over polls indicating growing support for Israel. But this is an illusion. In the past, the Jewish state enjoyed bipartisan support in the US. Those times have passed, and now Israel is losing support among the Democratic Party's base and among young voters. The support among American Jews, most of whom are affiliated with the Democratic Party, is even lower.

Cold peace: Netanyahu and Obama (Photo: Reuters)

We might not feel it immediately, but the damage in the long run will be severe. Bipartisan support and support from American Jews were strategic leverage for Israel, leverage that is now being eroded.

Things will be worse five years from now; a decade from now they will be terrible.

The New York Times recently published yet another opinion piece calling on Israel to implement the "right of return" for millions of Palestinians who fled in 1948 and their descendants, all of whom are classed as refugees. The implementation of the right of return means the destruction of Israel. The piece also calls on the US to reexamine its commitment to provide Israel with $38 billion in aid.

What appears in the first act as a demand in the most prominent and important newspaper in the US, will undoubtedly appear in the second act as a Congressional initiative.

This is happening because Netanyahu decided to surrender to the ultra-Orthodox parties over matters such Jewish conversion and the plan for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, rather than to bolster Israel's relations with American Jewry. It is also happening because Netanyahu preferred to make redundant statements about building thousands of houses in the Palestinian territories to please the radical right-wing, rather than strengthen bipartisan support for Israel.

In short, when Netanyahu had to choose between the long-term national interest and his own short-term political interest, he chose the latter.

Bosom buddies: Netanyahu and Trump (Photo: Gov. Press Office)

But all is not lost. The relations between the Jewish state and most of the Democratic Party's prominent members can still be mended, as can its relations with US Jewry.

This is not a matter of right or left. We may have completely lost some parts of American public opinion, but a smart policy can prevent severe damage. Many American Jews and/or Democrats could renew their support for Israel, since the hostility is currently more a state of mind than a matter of fact.

So with all due respect, Mr. Prime Minister, the US is far more important than Chad.
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Harare (AFP) - A Zimbabwean union leader who backed a nationwide strike last week over fuel-price hikes was kept in custody on Wednesday, charged with trying to subvert the government and inciting violence.

Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Secretary General Japhet Moyo was arrested on Monday as he flew into the country at Robert Mugabe International. He denies the charges against him.

"He is facing charges of attempting to overthrow a constitutionally elected government... (and) incitement to public violence," his lawyer Alec Muchadehama told AFP at the courthouse in Harare.

"He totally denies these scandalous charges," the lawyer told the magistrates court during an early evening hearing.

Moyo is one of a number of high-profile activists arrested after the strike turned into nationwide protests with some rioting and looting.

At least 12 people died after a brutal crackdown by the military and the police, while hundreds more were arrested.

Leading Zimbabwean activist Pastor Evan Mawarire is also in custody on charges of subverting the government and inciting violence, apparently after backing the national strike on social media.

Moyo's lawyer said initially the police charged him for sending messages through social media to go on a strike.

"But today they have since changed to say that he was actually holding meetings on behalf of ZCTU and other civil society and other members of the public where they were actually doing some planning to overthrown the government as well as to incite public violence," said the lawyer.

Moyo's attempts to be freed on grounds of unlawful detention, failed on Wednesday. Magistrate Elisha Singano told him to apply for bail at the High Court because of the severity of the charges he faces.

He was ordered to return to court on Monday, January 28.

Hundreds of people were rounded up during a widespread and violent security crackdown, during which civilians are dragged from their houses at night.

The government has acknowledged accusations by the country's human rights commission that its security forces engaged in "systematic torture" during the crackdown. It has said there are lessons to be learnt from the operation.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A white Baltimore man who traveled to New York City in 2017 and killed a black man with a sword in hopes of sparking a race war in the United States pleaded guilty to murder as an act of terrorism, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

James Jackson, a 30-year-old U.S. Army specialist, stabbed Timothy Caughman, 66, to death on March 20, 2017, and turned himself in at a police station the next day after police circulated surveillance video of the killing.

He told detectives that he had chosen to commit the crime in New York because it is the U.S. media capital and he believed that the killing would start a race war, the Manhattan district attorney's office said in a statement.

His guilty plea marks the first conviction of murder as a crime of terrorism in New York state, the district attorney's office said, under terrorism laws that increase sentences for the underlying crimes.

Jackson faces life in prison without parole at his sentencing hearing on Feb. 13, the district attorney's office said.

"If you come here to kill New Yorkers in the name of white nationalism, you will be investigated, prosecuted, and incapacitated like the terrorist that you are," Cyrus Vance, the district attorney, said in a statement.

Jackson told detectives in 2017 that he saw Caughman's killing as "a call to arms" and that he hoped the U.S. government would pursue a "global policy aimed at the complete extermination of the Negro race," according to the district attorney's office.

Jackson also pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism, murder in the second degree as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon.

A lawyer for Jackson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jackson served as a specialist in the U.S. Army until 2012, and was deployed in Afghanistan for nearly a year beginning in December 2010. He was awarded several medals for his conduct.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Scott Malone and James Dalgleish)
Caracas (AFP) - Tens of thousands of opposition protesters burst into ecstatic cheering and shouts of joy in the streets of Caracas on Wednesday after parliament leader Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president.

"What's happened today fills us with hope, what these people have today is hope, it is a clear need for us so we can move forward," said Jose Gregorio Flores, a 43-year-old university professor walking in the anti-government march called by Guaido.

He was speaking minutes after the 35-year-old National Assembly leader proclaimed himself interim president from a platform above the crowd.

"We have to support him in everything he says. He has said he does not want to become the perennial president of Venezuela, he has to call elections," said Flores. "And this city is out on the streets and is supporting him."

While other protesters around him honked car horns and waved Venezuelan flags from the back of motorcycles, Flores said it was a moment to think about the 2.3 million Venezuelans who had emigrated since 2015 in the midst of an economic collapse overseen by unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.

"Most of my entries for my friends on my telephone contacts list now say 'Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, United States' -- they have to come back, to help us rebuild the country," he said, embracing the hope that the protests will eventually crystallize into an Guaido-led government.

The United States and many of Venezuela's neighbors, who refused to recognize Maduro's re-election last year, lost no time in formally recognizing Guaido as president.

- 'We'll defend him' -

Addressing the demonstration in eastern Caracas, Guaido said: "We know that this will have consequences. We know what is necessary to keep us in the streets of Venezuela until we achieve democracy, we will not let this great movement of hope and national strength be deflated."

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Euphoric after listening to the words of the young opposition leader, Estelvi Gonzalez said "We are going to defend Juan Guaido as we must, because here we are not going to be scared anymore."

"Juan Guaido is already our president, we are here to fight against everything," Gonzalez, a lawyer, said while shouts of "Viva Venezuela" and "Maduro Out" rang out around her.

Yosmar Cabrea, a 30-year-old shop owner, was already heading away from the demonstration with familiy when she heard of Guaido's declaration.

"This is the beginning of a new hope, a new time, a new stage, I'm going to live through something new," an emotional Cabrea told AFP, recalling that she had been a 10-year-old when Maduro's predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999.

- Vigil around Maduro -

Elsewhere in the tense Venezuelan capital -- as well as in cities around the country -- tens of thousands of Maduro supporters were also on the march. He had called them out to back his socialist government and to reject what they have branded a blatant coup d'etat-in-progress.

Presaging further drama, Maduro's number two Diosdado Cabello called on his supporters to gather outside his Miraflores presidential palace to protect him.

"Let's all go in an orderly way to the Miraflores palace and give our support to our brother Nicolas Maduro and let him who wants to be president come to Miraflores and find the people there defending him," said Cabello.

Thousands of Maduro supporters clad in red then marched several blocs from the city's O'Leary Square to Maduro's palace.
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday urged Sudan to release activists detained in a wave of protests and to allow peaceful expression, warning that better ties with Washington were on the line.

The statement was the first by Washington after a month of mushrooming protests in what is widely seen as the biggest threat to President Omar al-Bashir's 30 years of iron-fisted rule.

The United States said it was "concerned about the increasing number of arrests and detentions" and urged the government to free "all journalists, activists and peaceful protesters who have been arbitrarily detained."

"We also call on the government to allow for a credible and independent investigation into the deaths and injuries of protesters," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in the statement.

"Moreover, to address the legitimate grievances of the population, the government must create a safe and secure environment for public expression and dialogue with the opposition and civil society in a more inclusive political process," he said.

He said that excessive use of force and intimidation of the press and rights activists would jeopardize ties with the United States.

"A new, more positive relationship between the United States and Sudan requires meaningful political reform and clear, sustained progress on respect for human rights," Palladino said.

The United States has been slowly mending relations with Sudan after decades of tension, including over Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's refuge in the country in the 1990s and an anti-rebel campaign in the western region of Darfur that Washington described as genocide.

President Donald Trump's administration lifted sanctions on Sudan in 2017 and has said that, in return for further progress, it would remove the country from its list of state sponsors of terrorism -- a designation that has held back foreign investment.

Human rights groups say that more than 40 people including several medics have been killed in clashes with security forces since the protests erupted on December 19.

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The authorities say 26 people have been killed, including at least one doctor, but blame rebel provocateurs they say have infiltrated the ranks of the protesters.

Sudan offers a test case for the Trump administration which has criticized former president Barack Obama's response to Arab Spring protests against authoritarian leaders.

Trump has been comfortable allying closely with leaders with blemished human rights records, including in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
London (AFP) - The British government on Wednesday played down concerns that Brexit is scaring away businesses after Sony said it was moving its European headquarters to the Netherlands amid a bitter political stalemate in London.

With just over two months to go until the scheduled date of Brexit on March 29, and with no divorce deal in place, Britain faces the prospect of an imminent and chaotic departure from the European Union after 46 years of membership.

Interviewed by AFP at the World Economic Forum in Davos, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Britain remained "open for business".

Britain "is an attractive destination for foreign direct investment -- and that during the time where there's been uncertainty over Brexit," Fox said.

Japanese electronics giant Sony said it was moving its headquarters' registration by the end of March to avoid Brexit-related customs issues.

Its rival Panasonic last year also moved its European headquarters from Britain to the Netherlands over concerns about potential Brexit-related tax issues.

Several other Japanese firms, including megabank MUFG, Nomura Holdings, Daiwa Securities and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, have said they are planning to move their main EU bases out of London since the 2016 Brexit vote.

France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have all benefited from companies moving out of London, although the large impact predicted by some on Britain's financial sector has so far failed to materialise.

Dutch officials are in contact with more than 250 companies about a possible post-Brexit move, the government there said Wednesday.

The Dutch government will announce a final figure in February but "every new arrival of a business, big or small, is a success," Michiel Bakhuizen, a spokesman for the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, told AFP.

- EU 'ready to be more ambitious' -

Britain has been in a state of political upheaval since last week when parliament rejected the withdrawal deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May with the EU, leaving the UK on course for a no-deal Brexit on March 29.

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Brussels negotiator Michel Barnier on Wednesday warned the British government would still face a multi-billion euro divorce settlement with the EU under such a scenario.

Some anti-EU campaigners, opposed to a negotiated settlement with Brussels, balk at the idea of settling a bill that their own government estimates at A39 billion (44 billion euros) to cover outstanding obligations.

But Barnier, in interviews with several European newspapers, said the bill would still be due.

"For the EU budget, we've always said one simple thing: the totality of the commitments made by the United Kingdom while still an EU member will be respected," the senior EU official said, according to Le Monde.

Separately in the interview, given also to Luxemburger Wort and Poland's Rzeczpospolita, Barnier restated the consensus EU position that the withdrawal deal must stand and that it is up to May's government to find a way to save it.

But he suggested that Brussels would be flexible and modify the political declaration on hopes for future ties, agreed alongside the binding withdrawal deal, if Britain were to compromise on May's positions.

"We are ready to be more ambitious if the British decide to shift their red lines, for example by remaining in a customs union, or participating in the single market," he said, according to the Luxemburger Wort.

"I believe there is a readiness in London for that."

- Manufacturing sentiment drops -

The political crisis in London comes against a backdrop of growing economic gloom, with business leaders warning politicians of the effects of Brexit uncertainty.

A Confederation of British Industry survey of 326 manufacturing firms on Wednesday found that new orders flattened in the quarter to January and sentiment about both the business situation and export prospects tumbled.

Business concerns are particularly high over the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, which could immediately impose high tariffs on key exports such as food and cars.

A disruptive Brexit could also have a major impact for transport hubs such as ports and airports.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP)  Romania's national railway company says a group of Turkish companies have won a 600 million-euro ($681 million) contract to modernize a key line in the northwest Transylvania region.

The CFR company said Wednesday the 28-kilometer (17.5-mile) stretch would be built in the next four years. It's the most complex section of a 130-kilometer (80-mile) line that runs from the city of Brasov to the medieval fortress town of Sighisoara in the heart of Romania.

Built in 1873, the total journey currently takes between two and four hours, slower than 15 years ago. With the new line, it will take just under 50 minutes. Trains will travel up to 160 kph (100 mph).

The European Union will fund about 80 percent of the project, and the Romanian government the rest.
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president, urging the overthrow of hard-left strongman Nicolas Maduro following tainted elections and a spiraling economic crisis.

In a coordinated bid to oust Maduro, Guaido declared himself acting president during a mass demonstration and within minutes was recognized by President Donald Trump as well as the Organization of American States.

Trump said in a statement that the National Assembly, headed by Guaido, is "the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people."

Trump noted that the National Assembly had declared Maduro "illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant."

"The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law," he said.

Trump urged other countries to follow his lead and promised to "use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy."

Apparently referring to tensions around the demonstrations against the Maduro government, Trump warned: "We continue to hold the illegitimate Maduro regime directly responsible for any threats it may pose to the safety of the Venezuelan people."

Maduro has repeatedly blamed the nation's woes on the United States, which he accuses of plotting a coup in a continuation of the US history of meddling in Latin America.

- Demanding Maduro to step aside -

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explicitly called for Maduro to exit and said that Guaido would be considered interim president until a new election takes place.

"The Venezuelan people have suffered long enough under Nicolas Maduro's disastrous dictatorship. We call on Maduro to step aside in favor of a legitimate leader reflecting the will of the Venezuelan people," Pompeo said in a statement.

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"The United States supports President Guaido as he establishes a transitional government, and leads Venezuela, as the country prepares for free and fair elections," Pompeo said.

Pompeo also renewed the Trump administration's call for the security forces to intervene. A group of 27 soldiers rose up against Maduro on Monday but were quickly arrested.

"We repeat our call to the Venezuelan military and security forces to support democracy and protect all Venezuelan citizens," he said.

Guaido insists he has the constitution on his side but acknowledges he needs the backing of the 365,000-strong military, and has offered an amnesty to any personnel who disavow Maduro.

NGO Citizen Control says around 180 soldiers were arrested last year for conspiring against the government, while 4,000 deserted the National Guard.

Maduro, the heir to leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, won a new term last year in an election widely criticized as tainted.

Venezuela has faced skyrocketing inflation and shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. Some 2.3 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015, according to the United Nations.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Sudan's embattled president on Wednesday met the ruler of the tiny, energy-rich nation of Qatar, likely looking for financial support amid weekslong protests challenging his 29-year rule in the African nation.

Both Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, smiled as they shook hands and embraced at the Emiri Diwan in Doha.

Footage aired by Qatar state television showed the two later meeting at the palace, al-Bashir accompanied by an entourage of government officials on his first trip abroad since the protests began.

The state-run Qatar News Agency afterward said Sheikh Tamim discussed "various developments and challenges facing the republic," without elaborating. They also discussed cementing peace in Darfur, the western Sudanese region where security forces brutally crushed a rebellion.

The two leaders later attended a luncheon.

Sudanese officials had said in December that Sheikh Tamim promised in a telephone call that Qatar will "provide all that is needed" to help Sudan get through its crisis. Qatar at the time only acknowledged the phone call took place.

That request is likely to involve cash. Sudan lost three quarters of its oil wealth when the south of the country seceded in 2011, plunging the country into its worst economic crisis in decades.

A devaluation of the currency in October pushed up prices, but lifting state subsidies on bread last month proved to be the final stroke, sparking the latest bout of unrest. A cash crunch also led to long lines at ATMs and limits on cash withdrawals. Similarly, a fuel shortage meant hours-long waits at gas stations.

This led to street protests which erupted on Dec. 19 and later shifted to calling on al-Bashir's ouster. At least 40 have been killed in clashes.

On Wednesday, the U.S. condemned "the use of violence, including the use of live fire, and the excessive use of tear gas by the Sudanese security forces" during the protests.

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The State Department said in a statement it urged authorities to end "arbitrary detention and excessive force against protesters" and "release all journalists, activists, and peaceful protesters."

Al-Bashir's trip cuts across the politics now roiling the Gulf Arab states.

Sudan has sent troops to support the Saudi-led war in Yemen, but now seeks aids from Qatar, which the kingdom and three other Arab states have been boycotting since June 2017 in a political dispute.

Al-Bashir was indicted in 2010 by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur, where an insurgency erupted in 2003. To avoid arrest and repatriation to The Hague, the court's seat, he has restricted his travel to African and Arab nations.
Juba (AFP) - South Sudan on Wednesday called on the international community to fund efforts to implement a peace deal, which is already four months behind schedule due to lack of money.

In an address to diplomats, deputy foreign minister Deng Dau Deng said the money was needed to move warring forces into cantonment areas, a move seen as vital to addressing security in the country.

"Our specific appeal is for our partners and for the diplomatic community in Juba to give support to plug the gaps... so that we can move," Deng said.

Goc Mokwach, deputy finance minister, told AFP that parliament last year approved estimated spending of $20 million (17 million euros) to implement the peace deal, however an overall budget has not been announced.

But Deng said the government only had $1.6 million for peace efforts.

"If you don't have resources, you cannot move," he said. "It is availability of the resources that will actually enhance the process itself."

From the fight for independence until it was achieved in 2011, foreign partners -- especially the United States -- have poured billions of dollars into the country.

Meanwhile investigations by the Enough Project advocacy group has shown how elites have looted government coffers to enrich themselves and fund the war.

Since the signing of the peace agreement, President Salva Kiir had had series of foreign visits to South Africa, Egypt, and China to lobby for resources, Deng said.

The peace agreement signed in September 2018 is the latest effort to end a nearly five year war that began when Kiir accused his former deputy, Riek Machar, of plotting a coup.

During the conflict, nearly 400,000 people died and millions were forced to flee their homes or to the brink of starvation.

But since the agreement was signed, diplomats say there has been a significant reduction in fighting, although pockets of fighting have continued between government forces and rebels who didn't sign the deal, especially in the Equatoria region.

Deng said the National Pre-Transitional Committee, comprising representatives of the different parties to the agreement, have met six times and established five technical committees.
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexicans celebrated Tuesday as "Roma" grabbed 10 Oscar nominations -- none more exuberantly than the film's breakout star, Yalitza Aparicio, who melted hearts and went viral with her ecstatic reaction to her best actress nomination.

Aparicio, an indigenous schoolteacher with no acting experience who landed the part when she accompanied her sister to the audition, posted a video on Twitter of the moment she got the news.

Watching the announcements on a laptop in what appeared to be her hotel room in Tijuana -- where she had traveled for a photo shoot at the US-Mexican border fence -- Aparicio let out a scream when her name popped up, then pressed her hands to her face, choking back tears, in a gesture of pure joy no actress could feign.

The video went viral, garnering tens of thousands of likes and countless replays on Mexican TV.

"I'm so happy. I was not expecting this news when I woke up so early today," Aparicio wrote.

Filmed in Spanish and the indigenous Mixtec language, set in Mexico City in the 1970s and filmed in black and white, "Roma" is not supposed to be the kind of movie that finds huge success in the United States -- especially not in the Mexico-bashing era of President Donald Trump.

But Alfonso Cuaron's intimate portrait of his childhood and the two women who raised him -- his nanny, played by Aparicio, and his mother, played by best supporting actress nominee Marina de Tavira -- garnered the most Oscar nominations of any film this year, together with Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos's "The Favourite."

"Roma" scored several firsts in the process: first Spanish-language film nominated for best picture, and the first nominations for streaming giant Netflix in the directing, original screenplay, foreign language film and best picture categories, among others.

For Mexico -- where the film triggered a national conversation on race, class and the traumas of the past -- the news was celebrated by figures from the president on down.

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Cuaron "is a first-rate filmmaker, a source of pride for Mexico. I congratulate him and all the actors and production team.... We should all see the film," said President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador -- admitting that he himself had not watched it yet.

- 'Viva Alfonso!' -

"We're all happy! What can I say? It's been a very intense morning," said Eugenio Caballero, the production designer on "Roma" who famously recreated Cuaron's boyhood home and street in minute detail for the film.

"I'm so happy to see the nominations for Yalitza, Marina, Alfonso and the entire team," he told AFP.

Mexican filmmakers have racked up an impressive string of successes at the Academy Awards in recent years.

The trio of Mexican directors known as the "Three Amigos" -- Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu -- have won the best director award four of the past five years. Cuaron, who won in 2014 with "Gravity," now stands to make that five of the past six.

The Mexican film community was jubilant.

"VIVA ALFONSO!!" tweeted del Toro, whose film "The Shape of Water" won the most statuettes at last year's Oscars with four, including best picture and best director.

"I can't believe it!! I can't take the excitement," tweeted Gael Garcia Bernal, one of Mexico's best-known actors, who became a Hollywood heartthrob after starring in Cuaron's last Spanish-language film, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (2001).

"'Roma' is making history for Mexican film, on an international level," said the president of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, Ernesto Contreras.

Mexicans will no doubt be watching in droves when the Oscars ceremony is held on February 24.

"The great value of 'Roma,' besides its visual beauty, lies in the questions it asks us as Mexicans, about who we are, where we come from and our shared wounds," said Maria Novaro, head of the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE).
Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico still backs Nicolas Maduro as Venezuelan president, the government's top spokesman said Wednesday after the head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature declared himself interim president.

"We recognize the authorities elected in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution," Jesus Ramirez, spokesman for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told AFP.

He later wrote on Twitter that Mexico was "analyzing the situation in Venezuela."

"For the moment, there is no change in our diplomatic relations with the country nor its government," he said.

The United States and several Latin American countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Peru, all announced their backing for Guaido as interim president.

Mexico, the world's largest Spanish-speaking country, has taken a hands-off stance toward Venezuela under Lopez Obrador, a leftist who took office in December and has said his foreign policy is based on the "principle of non-intervention" in other countries' affairs.

Mexico was the only member of the 14-country Lima Group -- which includes several top Latin American powers and Canada -- not to sign a statement on January 4 calling on Maduro to transfer power to the democratically elected legislature, instead of starting a new term six days later.

That marked a major diplomatic shift for Mexico, which had been one of the most outspoken critics of Maduro's socialist government.

Lopez Obrador has fended off criticism over the move, saying: "It's not about (ideological) sympathies. It's about our foreign policy and our foreign-policy principles."

Maduro has presided over a spiraling political and economic crisis in Venezuela since taking over from his mentor, the late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, in 2013. He won a new six-year term in May in an election marred by irregularities.
Caracas (AFP) - Juan Guaido proudly calls himself a "survivor."

He will need to be: the bold young politician, head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature, became public enemy number one when he declared himself interim president Wednesday, defying embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido did not set out to supplant Maduro, the socialist president who has presided over a spiraling political and economic crisis in Venezuela.

But the sometimes reserved 35-year-old was thrust to the front of the Venezuelan opposition when more senior leaders were forced from the scene -- some detained, some banned from politics and some pushed into exile.

Guaido brazenly called out Maduro as he took a revised oath of office before a crowd of thousands in Caracas, saying, "I swear to formally assume the national executive powers as acting president of Venezuela to end the usurpation, (install) a transitional government and hold free elections."

US President Donald Trump immediately recognized him as Venezuela's interim president, followed by a string of countries across the region.

Maduro, the hand-picked successor to late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, calls Guaido "a kid playing at politics."

But the self-declared interim president, an industrial engineer by training, has shown no fear in challenging the socialist leader's election to a second term, in a May vote that was boycotted by the opposition and rejected by the United States, European Union and a dozen Latin American countries.

Guaido, who became the youngest person ever to preside over the legislature on January 5, has never been a great public speaker.

But he is known as a talented coalition-builder -- something Venezuela's divided and disorganized opposition badly needs.

"One of his main virtues is arming teams. He understands the differing positions and does everything in his power to bring them together," 32-year-old lawmaker Juan Andres Mejia told AFP.

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- 'Fresh face' -

In his short tenure as legislative leader, Guaido got the opposition majority to officially declare Maduro a "usurper" and his re-election a fraud, while promising an amnesty for all military and government officials who disavow the president.

He has gained confidence along the way, grinning at rallies and speaking with greater ease.

What he hasn't found a solution to, though, is his powerlessness in the face of a government that retains the support of the military high command and the Supreme Court.

Guaido has not been shy in reaching out to the armed forces seeking the backing he would need to take power definitively.

"I'm a survivor, not a victim," he has said, recalling how he survived one of Venezuela's worst natural disasters as a teenager: the Vargas tragedy of December 1999, when mudslides caused by torrential rain killed thousands of people.

Back then, Guaido lived with his mother and five siblings in the coastal state of Vargas.

"I know what it means to be hungry," he said.

His introduction to politics came alongside the generation of students that held mass protests against Chavez in 2007.

That movement inflicted Chavez's only electoral defeat, in a referendum on reforming the constitution.

"Guaido is a fresh face, considered a man of consensus by the moderates and also respected by the radicals for having taken part in those protests," Diego Moya-Ocampos, an analyst at London-based IHS Markit consultants, told AFP.

Guaido was a founding member of the Popular Will (VP) party in 2009 and has now become its most recognizable face. Previous leader Leopoldo Lopez is under house arrest for leading anti-Maduro protests in 2014, and his heir apparent, Freddy Guevara, fled to the Chilean embassy after he was accused of inciting violent protests in 2017.

- Living dangerously -

Guaido, who took part in those protests, was elected deputy for his native Vargas in 2015.

He caused ripples by accusing state oil company PDVSA of corruption, but remained a relative unknown until recently.

"To be honest, I didn't know who he was. Hopefully he won't prove a fraud," said Jose Hernandez, a 24-year-old administrator, at a recent rally in support of Guaido.

Mejia, his legislative colleague, says Guaido is playing "a difficult game": Venezuela is "used to personality cults and authoritarian leadership, and that's placing a big burden on Juan. Change doesn't depend only on him, it's down to everyone."

Guaido was briefly detained by intelligence agents on January 13. But he was released after less than an hour.

The government later blamed the incident on rogue agents acting unilaterally, arresting 12 people.

But Guaido has ample reason to be on the lookout. Prison service minister Iris Varela has said of him: "I've already got his jail cell prepared."


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Amman (AFP) - Civil aviation officials from Jordan visited Damascus on Wednesday to discuss plans to reopen Syrian airspace to its commercial flights, Jordanian state media reported, in another sign that the country's war is winding down.

Their mission was "to examine technical issues around the possibility of Jordanian commercial flights resuming their use of Syrian airspace," said Haitham Mistu, the head of Jordan's civil aviation authority.

Before the conflict broke out in 2011, national carrier Royal Jordanian operated two flights a day to Syria -- one to Damascus and one to the northern city of Aleppo.

In July 2012, it suspended the services as an anti-government uprising escalated into full-blown war, placing air traffic at risk.

But Mistu told Jordan's official Petra news agency that Wednesday's meetings were part of a risk assessment programme, to be followed by a technical evaluation.

"Based on that evaluation, the appropriate technical decision will be taken," he said, without giving any timeframe.

The meeting was the latest in a series of moves by Arab states to rebuild ties with the Syrian regime as the country's devastating civil war draws to a close.

Jordan reopened its key Jaber/Nassib border crossing with Syria in October.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministry announced it had decided to appoint a charge d'affaires at the Jordanian embassy in Damascus.

Last month, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab leader to visit Damascus since the start of the war and the UAE became the first Gulf state to reopen its embassy in Damascus.

Syria remains suspended from the Arab League.

The war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government demonstrations.

But since 2015, a series of Russian-backed assaults has put the regime back in control of much of the country.
The Telegraph

The last 15 months havent been kind to our bodies. A more sedentary lifestyle and the pursuit of something to salve the fear of the deadly pandemic raging around the globe has pushed us to the biscuit tin and takeaway delivery apps. In the first three months of the pandemic, Brits reportedly saw body weight increase by between 1.6 and 6.5lbs. Recognising the potential damage that could cause, and preparing for society reopening, weve started to take action. Six in 10 of us have made at least o
Brussels (AFP) - Ireland will see a new "hard border" spring up with the North if Britain fails to approve a Brexit withdrawal deal with the European Union, Brussels warned Tuesday

EU commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said he had heard nothing new since British Prime Minister Theresa May's laid out a tweaked divorce plan on Monday.

"If you'd like me to push me and speculate on what might happen in a no-deal scenario in Ireland, I think it is pretty obvious: you will have a hard border," he said.

A new physical frontier between the British province and the Irish Republic would increase the threat that Brexit poses to the peace deal that ended decades of unrest.

Schinas also expressed frustration as journalists questioned him over the next steps in the negotiation.

"In all honesty, I have a terrible sense of deja vu in all these exchanges," he said. "There is nothing else that I can meaningfully say."

On Monday, May appeared before a British parliament anxious to hear a "Plan B" after lawmakers rejected the withdrawal agreement she signed with Europe last year.

Instead, she promised to seek changes to the accord to push back the prospect of Europe invoking a "back stop" clause that would keep Britain in the EU customs union.

"I will not now speculate on this Plan B because, as I said seconds ago, we are for Plan A, which is set by the withdrawal agreement," Schinas said.

The back stop insurance policy in the agreement that May welcomed in November is intended to prevent the return of a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

European leaders have repeatedly warned they will not re-open the withdrawal agreement, raising fears Britain will leave the bloc without a deal on March 29.
Paris (AFP) - Paris will not be drawn into a "stupidity contest" with the populist government of Italy, where officials have launched several verbal attacks on President Emmanuel Macron, France's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau said Wednesday.

"Our intention is not to have a stupidity contest," Loiseau said, indicating that the government would not wage a war of words or otherwise seek to retaliate against Rome.

But working meetings and visits between the two countries are largely out of the question for now, she added.

"There are several things we need to do with our important neighbour Italy, and we want to continue to be able to work together," Loiseau said.

"Does that mean the current environment permits ministerial visits as if nothing has happened? I will go to Italy once things have settled down," she said.

Tensions have flared between the two countries since the Five Star Movement and far-right League party came to power in a coalition in Italy last June.

Macron targeted the populist government specifically last year as he sought to form a pro-Europe alliance of parties ahead of European Parliament elections in May, raising the hackles of politicians in Rome.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio accused Paris of fuelling the migrant influx to Europe by continuing to "colonise" Africa.

That prompted France to summon Italy's ambassador in protest over Di Maio's comments that "the EU should sanction France and all countries like France that impoverish Africa and make these people leave".

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini poured fuel on the fire Tuesday by referring to Macron and saying he hoped French voters would soon free themselves from a "terrible president".

Salvini, who is also deputy prime minister, said in a Facebook video that he felt "close, with all my heart... to the French people, the millions of men and women who live in France under a terrible government and terrible president".

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Di Maio and Salvini have also voiced support for the "yellow vest" protesters who have been demonstrating against Macron's government since November.

Macron himself said last year that European populist leaders including Salvini were right to see him as their "main opponent," denouncing in particular Italy's hardline stance on refusing migrants.

But in recent months French officials have largely refused to respond to the provocative statements.

"Do (such comments) help the Italian people, or contribute to their well-being? I don't think so," Loiseau said Wednesday.

"Have they had any influence on the political situation in France? I don't think that's the case either."
Caracas (AFP) - At least four people have died following overnight clashes ahead of Wednesday's rival protests in Venezuela by supporters and opponents of President Nicolas Maduro, police and a non-governmental organization said.

A 16-year-old was among the dead, having suffered "a firearm injury during a demonstration" in the capital Caracas, the Social Conflict Observatory said.

Police said the other three deaths occurred during looting in Bolivar City in the southeastern Bolivar State that borders Brazil.

A statue of iconic socialist revolutionary leader Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor, was torched by dozens of protesters in the town of San Felix, Bolivar State.

Photos and videos shared on social media showed the statue, which was vandalized last year, engulfed in flames.

Tensions have been running high in the country since Monday when a group of soldiers took over a command post in the north of the capital and rose up against Maduro, publishing a video calling on people to come out into the streets in support.

The mutineers were quickly overpowered by police and the armed forces, with 27 people arrested.

But the brazen move sparked at least 30 small protests around Caracas, according to the Social Conflict Observatory, with the police firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators.

The opposition-controlled parliament had announced Wednesday's protest earlier this month as the legislature's president Juan Guaido aims to rally support behind his attempt to chase Maduro from power and set up a transitional government ahead of new elections.

The government responded by announcing its own pro-Maduro demonstration on what is a hugely significant date in Venezuela since it was on January 23, 1958 that the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez fell.

Opposition to Maduro's rule has been stepped up since the former bus driver was sworn in for a second term of office two weeks ago.

The election he won in May was boycotted by the opposition and branded a fraud by the European Union, United States and numerous Latin American countries.
Zachary Keck

Security,

We take a look.

Forget China's J-20 or J-31 Stealth Fighters: What If Beijing Could Make Older Fighters Stealth?

Could this really happen?

This week, the Hong Kongbased South China Morning Post reported that China is working on experimental technologies to make even its older aircraft appear stealthy to most radar systems. Citing scientists working on the project, the SCMP said, The technology involves the use of a metamaterial, a fabricated layer comprising microscopic structures similar to integrated circuits. The metamaterial can alter the way radio waves bounce off its surface to create a ghost image or minimize echo on a radar, helping hide the aircraft in flight with greater efficiency.

(This first appeared in May.)

Apparently, the metamaterial was developed at the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves in Southeast University, and is currently being tested in Shenyang, in Liaoning Province. The SCMP wasnt able to get confirmation on which aircraft the metamaterial is being tested on, but noted that the local Shenyang Aircraft Corporation makes the J-11 and the J-15. Both of these fighter jets lack stealth capabilities.

The metamaterial is not the only kind of radar tricking technique that the team at State Key Laboratory is engaged in. The SCMP went on to report that the team earlier discussed a ghost illusion device. The ghost illusion device, according to the team working on it, could make parts of the plane appear on radar as plastic, instead of metal, or show three planes instead of one.

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In theory, being able to convert nonstealthy aircraft into stealthy jets would be an incredible boon for Chinese air power. As the article notes, China currently only has about twenty J-20 stealth fighters, compared to 1,500 other kinds of combat aircraft. But as the SCMP itself has already reported, even the J-20 might not be stealthy as China has claimed. According to a February report, China rushed its first advanced stealth fighter jet into service ahead of schedule last year, using stopgap engines, in the face of rising security challenges in the region. Specifically, the W-15 engine that was supposed to power the J-20 exploded during trial flights. Beijing has been unable to fix this issue, and therefore its initial J-20s are using WS-10B engines. These are a modified version of the engines that Chinas J-10 and J-11 fighters use. The WS-10Bs thrust-to-weight ratio is not able to power the J-20 to supersonic speeds without the use of afterburners, which makes the jet unstealthy at those speeds.

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This all points to another issue with the metamaterial fix for Chinas nonstealthy planes. Namely, that stealth comes from a number of different features on planes. As one of the earliest developers of stealth technology put it, the four most important features of stealth are shape, shape, shape and materials. And, as Wired magazine has noted, other stealth components include chemicals to eliminate telltale contrails; sophisticated, untraceable sensors and radios; specially designed, hard-to-detect engine inlets; radar-canceling paint; and cooling systems for reducing a plane's heat signature. Of those materials, metamaterial would seem to be mimicking, to some extent, the effect of Radar-Absorbing Material (RAM). But, its unclear if metamaterial could cover up some of the other nonstealth features. For instance, if the older planes are still using inferior engines, could metamaterial still conceal their heat signature? Han Yiping, the director of applied physics at Xidian University, doubts it, telling the SCMP that you would have to sacrifice performance to achieve sufficient reliability.

Han also noted other shortcomings of metamaterial. First, according to Han, presently metamaterial is only effective against certain radio bandwidths, although she doesnt specify which ones. She also said that metamaterials are extremely hard to produce on a mass level, although the SCMP claimed that recent Chinese reports suggested that they were starting to develop the mass use of metamaterials on the mainland. Hans far from the only Chinese scientist who is skeptical of the State Key Laboratory teams claims. An unnamed researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences was also quoted as saying that, in the scientific community, The consensus is that their product still has a lot of room for improvement.

China is not the only country working on metamaterial. As the Financial Times has noted, Metamaterials first captured the public imagination in 2006, when John Pendry of Imperial College published two papers showing how to create a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak using the specially engineered materials. Since then, many companies have been developing the technology for commercial purposes. These include making satellite antennas and sensors lighter and more portable. For instance, one company, Kymeta, produces antennas that enable transportation vehicles like cars, trains and yachts to connect to the internet. Other companies are exploring ways to improve solar panels and radars to integrate drones, according to the FT article.

Of course, other militaries are also working with the technology, including the U.S. Army, which wants to create wearable camouflage with a chameleon-like ability to change according to the background. This may use metamaterials, but its unclear how realistic any of this really is.

Zachary Keck (@ZacharyKeck) is a former managing editor of the National Interest.

Image: Creative Commons.

Read full article
Brussels (AFP) - The fate of the EU naval operation against migrant smuggling in the Mediterranean is in Italy's hands, a senior official said Wednesday, with the mandate to expire in two months.

Italy's populist government has threatened to end Operation Sophia's mission unless the European Union changes rules requiring rescue ships to disembark migrants in Italian ports.

"Operation Sophia was a success story," the European Union's migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a press conference in Brussels.

He credited the mission with having stopped smugglers taking migrants on dangerous sea crossings.

The Greek commissioner said member countries are discussing how to extend the mission beyond March 31, when its temporary mandate expires.

"If Italy decides -- since it is the country in command of operation Sophia -- to stop it, it is up to Italy to take this decision," Avramopoulos said.

The anti-migration government that took power in Rome last year has insisted it should not have to carry the burden of dealing with migrants rescued at sea.

In demanding other EU states take in more, Rome has blocked non-government organisations from disembarking migrants rescued at sea in Italian ports.

Nor does it want naval ships participating in Operation Sophia to automatically disembark migrants they rescue in Italian ports.

"Either the rules change, or it is the end of the mission," Italy's hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini tweeted Wednesday.

Efforts to adjust Operation Sophia have beached on the broader question of how to reform the EU's so-called Dublin asylum rules, which stipulate that the country of first arrival must process asylum seekers.

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini has warned the consequences of ending the mission would be significant.

"This would mean no presence at sea from the European Union, no training of the Libyan coast guard, no dismantling of the networks of smugglers, no arrest from the European Union side of the smugglers, no authorisation of vessels, no arms embargo implementation and so on and so forth."

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EU cooperation with Libya has been credited with sharply reducing the number of migrants arriving in Europe from a 2015 peak when the continent faced its worst migration crisis since World War II.

Avramopoulos and German officials, meanwhile, warned against misinterpreting a Berlin's decision to withdraw next month the German frigate Augsburg.

A Germany defence ministry official said Berlin would "continue to participate in and support" Sophia.
BRUSSELS (AP)  The European Union on Wednesday warned countries running lucrative schemes granting passports and visas to rich foreigners to toughen checks on applicants amid concern they could be flouting security, money laundering and tax laws.

EU countries have welcomed in more than 6,000 new citizens and close to 100,000 new residents through golden passport and visa schemes over the past decade, attracting around 25 billion euros ($28 billion) in foreign direct investment, according to anti-corruption watchdogs Transparency International and Global Witness.

In a first-ever report on the schemes, the EU Commission said that such documents issued in one country can open a back door to citizenship or residency in all 28 states.

Justice Commissioner Vera Jurova said golden visas are the equivalent of "opening the golden gate to Europe for some privileged people."

"We want more guarantees related to security and anti-money laundering. We expect more transparency," she told reporters in Brussels.

Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta offer passports to investors without any real connections to the countries or even the obligation to live there by paying between 800,000 and 2 million euros ($909,000 to $2.3 million).

Twenty EU states offer visas in exchange for investment: Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

Investment can range from 13,500 euros to over 5 million euros ($15,350 to $5.7 million) in the form of capital and property investments, buying government bonds, one-time payments to the national budget or certain donations to charity.

Cyprus toughened up vetting procedures last year after it was accused of running a "passports-for-cash" scheme. It said passport numbers would be capped at 700 a year.

The Mediterranean island introduced the scheme in the wake of a 2013 financial crisis that brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy and forced it to accept a multibillion-euro rescue program from creditors. One Cyprus lawmaker has estimated that the scheme generated around 4.8 billion euros ($5.4 billion) between 2013 and 2016.

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In compiling the report, Commission researchers struggled to obtain clear information about how the schemes are run, the number of applicants and where they come from, as well as how many are granted or refused visas. They noted that EU countries exchange little or no information about the applicants.

But the report did find that the security checks run on applicants are insufficient, and it recommends that EU computer databases like the one controlling Europe's passport-free travel area be used routinely. Tougher "due diligence" controls are also needed to ensure that money laundering rules are not circumvented, while more monitoring and reporting could help tackle tax evasion.

Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the Commission "will monitor full compliance with EU law."

"The work we have done together over the past years in terms of increasing security, strengthening our borders and closing information gaps should not be jeopardized," he warned.

The Commission proposed setting up a working group with EU member countries to study the schemes by year's end.

The report angered Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, who underlined that, over the past five years, the number of citizenships granted by Cyprus under its scheme amounts to 0.3 percent of the EU's total.

He said that Cyprus has the toughest citizenship criteria among all 20 countries, "and despite this, Cyprus is being targeted."

"These double standards must finally come to an end and I want to be strict about this," Anastasiades said.

Malta welcomed the Commission report, but said it has "reservations on a few issues," notably that people it accepts under the schemes undergo far more rigorous checks than others granted residency or citizenship. It also underlined that physical presence in Malta is mandatory.

___

Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The number of people who died in a gasoline pipeline explosion in central Mexico late last week has risen to 96, government officials said on Tuesday, from 91 reported a day earlier. The explosion last Friday occurred after hundreds of people crowded in to collect gasoline gushing from a pipeline that had been ruptured by suspected fuel thieves near to the town of Tlahuelilpan in the state of Hidalgo. Hidalgo's government said in a statement that 96 people had been confirmed dead from the explosion, the worst to affect Mexico's troubled oil infrastructure in several years. Another 48 people were receiving treatment for their injuries, it added. Central Mexico had been hard-hit by gasoline shortages since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched a crackdown on fuel theft nearly a month ago, ordering pipelines closed in an effort to stamp out criminal activity. (Reporting by Dave Graham and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Sandra Maler)
By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) - The countries overseeing the long-stalled peace talks between Colombia's government and longtime ELN insurgency were divided on Wednesday over Havana's refusal to extradite 10 rebel leaders following a bomb attack in Bogota last week that killed 21 people. Colombia President Ivan Duque reactivated Interpol red notices against the leaders from the National Liberation Army (ELN) after the car bomb blast at a police academy in the capital city, whose victims were mostly young police cadets. Guarantors Cuba and Norway do not support extradition, while Chile said on Tuesday it does. Venezuela and Brazil have not yet commented. Growing fears that Colombia may now face a fresh wave of bombings have scuppered hopes that talks might resume in the near future. Cuba has condemned the bombing but said it would follow protocols agreed at the start of negotiations in 2017. These provide security guarantees for guerrilla commanders to return to Colombia or Venezuela within 15 days of an end to talks and bar military offensives for 72 hours. The rebel leadership has remained in Havana, where the talks were taking place. Norway said on Tuesday it also backed use of the protocols. Duque has said the protocols do not apply since his government never participated in talks. Some analysts say the country will be obliged to accept the protocols despite the change in presidential administrations. "What I ask of (Norway) and all the governments is that they understand that what happened last week was not a divergence of opinions, what happened was an international crime that ended the lives of many undefended, unarmed youths," Duque told journalists at the World Economic Forum. Duque had refused to restart the negotiations, begun by his predecessor, until the ELN freed all hostages and stopped criminal activities. Though the notoriously decentralized ELN claimed responsibility and called the attack a legitimate attack of war, its leaders in Cuba have said they were not involved. Last week ELN explosives expert Jose Aldemar Rojas drove an SUV packed with 80 kilograms (176 lbs) of explosive pentolite onto the grounds of the police academy. The subsequent explosion killed 20 cadets between the ages of 18 and 23 and Rojas himself. Though bombings were common during the height of the Andean country's 50-year internal conflict, recent rebel attacks have largely focused on oil infrastructure. Police stations were targeted in a series of ELN bombings in early 2018 and one of Bogota's most upscale malls was bombed in 2017. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by David Gregorio)
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Tbilisi (AFP) - A British man who killed his date in a speedboat crash and went on the run ahead of his trial has given himself up in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia, police said Wednesday.

"I confirm that Jack Shepherd handed himself to Georgian police today, 30 minutes ago," interior ministry spokeswoman Sopho Mdinaradze told AFP.

She added that Shepherd "will be detained and afterwards legal procedures will be launched into his extradition to the UK."

Shepherd, 31, was convicted of manslaughter last year for the death of Charlotte Brown, a 24-year-old woman he took on a champagne-fuelled first date on his speedboat in the River Thames.

The boat flipped over after Shepherd handed Brown the controls and she was recovered unconscious.

Shepherd was rescued after being found clinging to the upturned hull.

Shepherd, a web designer, vanished before his trial last summer and was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence and sentenced to six years in prison in his absence.

An international warrant was issued for his arrest.

The case has attracted intense interest in British media, with theories about where he could be ranging from Thailand to Turkey.

Brown's family met British Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday to ask him to track down Shepherd.

"Charlotte's family are understandably heartbroken and distraught following this awful tragedy. I have taken a personal interest in this case and am determined to ensure Jack Shepherd faces justice," Javid said earlier.

"I told the family we will strain every sinew and explore every option to bring them the justice they deserve as soon as possible," he said.
Tbilisi (AFP) - A British man who killed his date in a speedboat crash and went on the run ahead of his trial has given himself up in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia, police said Wednesday.

Jack Shepherd, 31, was convicted of manslaughter last year for the death of Charlotte Brown, a 24-year-old woman he took on a champagne-fuelled first date on his speedboat in the River Thames in 2015.

The boat flipped over after Shepherd handed Brown the controls and she was recovered unconscious.

Shepherd was rescued after being found clinging to the upturned hull.

"I confirm that Jack Shepherd handed himself to Georgian police today," interior ministry spokeswoman Sopho Mdinaradze told AFP.

Shepherd "will be detained and afterwards legal procedures will be launched into his extradition to the UK," she said.

He is being held in a police station in Georgia's capital Tbilisi and is accompanied by his lawyers, she added.

British police said in a statement that they had received information from the National Crime Agency (NCA) that Shepherd is in police custody in Georgia.

"His identity has yet to be officially confirmed," London's Metropolitan Police said. "However, if the man is confirmed as Shepherd, extradition proceedings will begin immediately."

Shepherd, a web designer, vanished before his trial last summer and was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence and sentenced to six years in prison in his absence.

An international warrant was issued for his arrest.

Georgia's Rustavi-2 television showed footage of a man it identified as Shepherd entering a police station and aired an exclusive interview with him on Wednesday evening.

The station said he had arrived from Istanbul last March and since lived in Tbilisi.

- 'Confident of innocence' -

In the interview, in which his voice was dubbed over in Georgian, Shepherd said he been involved in a "tragic" accident and had gone into hiding to avoid going to prison.

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"I hope that the truth will be established, that my appeal will be granted and that everyone can move forward with their lives," he said

His Georgian lawyer Tariel Kupatadze told Rustavi-2 that his client was "confident that he will be able to prove his innocence and will be acquitted".

"His goal is to cooperate with the investigation and the judiciary and to provide the court with all the information into the case," the lawyer said.

The victim's father, Graham Brown, wrote on Facebook: "Just been informed that Jack Shepherd has been arrested in Georgia. Justice for Charlotte is close!"

The case has attracted intense interest in British media, with theories about where he could be, ranging from Thailand to Turkey.

Brown's family met British Home Secretary Sajid Javid on Tuesday to ask him to track down Shepherd.

"Charlotte's family are understandably heartbroken and distraught following this awful tragedy. I have taken a personal interest in this case and am determined to ensure Jack Shepherd faces justice," Javid said earlier.

"I told the family we will strain every sinew and explore every option to bring them the justice they deserve as soon as possible," he said.
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, elected on promises to stamp out graft, said in an interview Wednesday that a politician son of his under scrutiny for suspicious financial transactions will "pay the price" if wrongdoing is found.

Bolsonaro made the remark about his son Flavio Bolsonaro, a senator-elect in Brazil's new Congress, to the financial news agency Bloomberg as he attended the annual Davos gathering of the globe's political and corporate chiefs.

"If by chance he erred and it were proven, I regret it as a father, but hell have to pay the price for those actions we cant accept," Bolsonaro said.

It was his clearest statement yet that he was leaving Flavio to face the mounting suspicions alone.

The burgeoning scandal at home has badly embarrassed the president, who has taken a strong stand against graft.

Brazil's COAF agency that fights financial crimes reportedly discovered 48 deposits made to Flavio's bank account over a few days in June-July 2017, some of them just minutes apart, for a total 96,000 reais ($25,000 at the current exchange rate).

The agency is also looking at over $300,000 in transactions made in the name of Flavio's former driver and bodyguard, Fabricio Queiroz, that far exceeded the aide's salary as a police officer.

Two of those transactions, amounting to around $6,000, were deposits to an account held by President Bolsonaro's wife. The leader said they were repayments of an undeclared loan.

Brazil's supreme court, at Flavio's request, last week ordered a suspension of the probe against Queiroz, who for medical reasons has not testified.

- Denials -

Brazilian media have reported that property investments by Flavio -- previously a lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro's state legislature -- have soared exponentially in recent years.

They have also highlighted that Flavio's office hired relatives of a fugitive former policeman wanted for allegedly leading an armed gang controlling territory in some of Rio's lawless slums.

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Flavio, in television interviews over the weekend, said none of the deposits to his account were illicit. He also said the transactions related to Queiroz were his former aide's responsibility.

The affair has become the first major scandal faced by Jair Bolsonaro, who on Tuesday addressed Davos by saying that when he took office on January 1, "I took over a Brazil in a profound ethical, moral and economic crisis."

The 63-year-old far-right leader, a former army captain and veteran lawmaker, said he was honoring his campaign pledges to combat corruption.
Australia is investigating reports a Chinese-Australian dissident is missing in China, officials said Wednesday, raising concerns he may be the latest Western citizen to be detained in the country.

Yang Hengjun -- a novelist, former Chinese diplomat and democracy activist -- went missing shortly after he travelled to the southern city of Guangzhou last week, friends said.

When asked about Yang's case, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was "seeking information about an Australian citizen who has been reported missing in China".

"Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment," a spokesman told AFP.

The Australian government is believed to be in contact with Yang's friends and family, as well as Chinese authorities.

At a regular press briefing in Beijing Wednesday, China's ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she "did not know" about Yang's situation and "needs to get more information from the relevant departments".

Authorities in Guangzhou did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Yang had travelled to China with his wife and son on January 18, but never made a planned internal flight to Shanghai.

His disappearance prompted fears that he may be the latest victim of an increasingly broad dragnet by Chinese security services.

Australia recently expressed concern about China's detention of two Canadians in apparent retaliation for the arrest in Canada of a senior executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

Tensions have also been strained between China and Australia in recent months.

Australia banned Huawei from participating in its 5G network in August over security fears. The United States and New Zealand have taken similar steps.

Yang's friend and journalist John Garnaut described him as "brilliant" and "a courageous and committed democrat".

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"This will reverberate globally if authorities do not quickly find an off-ramp," he warned.

Yang had worked in the ministry of foreign affairs in Hainan province, but later left for Hong Kong in 1992 and the US in 1997 where he worked for the Atlantic Council think tank.

He later took up Australian citizenship -- although Beijing does not recognise dual nationality -- and wrote a series of spy novels and a popular Chinese-language blog.

Once described as China's "most influential political blogger", Yang went missing once before in 2011, describing his disappearance as a "misunderstanding" when he resurfaced days later.
London (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange petitioned an international human rights commission Wednesday to order Donald Trump's administration to unseal charges against him as he fights possible extradition to the United States.

The controversial freedom of information campaigner has been holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London since obtaining political asylum from the Latin American country in August 2012.

The Australian no longer risks being sent back to Sweden after its authorities dropped a rape investigation against him in 2017.

But his case regained the international spotlight after The Guardian reported in November that he was secretly visited by Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort in the run-up to the US presidential vote.

Both sides have denied the story and The Guardian has amended some elements of its report.

But it prompted the US Justice Department to begin questioning diplomatic staff who were at the embassy at the time as part of its investigation into the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia.

Assange's application was filed by his lawyers with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).

The commission is part of the Organization of American States (OAS) of which the US is a founding member.

"The urgent request is in the form of a comprehensive 1,172-page application for 'precautionary measures' directed to the international body which monitors compliance of the US and Ecuador with their binding legal obligations," WIkiLeaks said in a statement.

- 'Spying on Assange' -

The IACHR told AFP that it follows up on petitions such as the one being made by Assange by requesting information from the US State Department.

"When the commission has enough information to make a decision, it can decide to grant or not grant a precautionary measure," the IACHR said in a written statement.

"If it decides to grant it, it usually requests the state of the country involved to take certain actions."

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IACHR decisions are binding under international law.

It was not immediately apparent what would happen if the US failed to comply.

The US charges against Assange came to light when he was inadvertantly mentioned in an unrelated court filing in November.

The fact that the charges were filed -- but not what they actually were -- was later confirmed by The New York Times.

Assange originally fell foul of US authorities after WikiLeaks began publishing troves of classified Pentagon and State Department documents in 2010.

The whistleblowing website shot to prominence again when it released thousand of Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 US presidential election campaign.

US authorities believe the DNC was hacked by Russian military intelligence officers and then handed to WikiLeaks.

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller is trying to determine if Manafort or any other member of Trump's campaign team had advance knowledge or played any other role in their release.

Assange has said that WikiLeaks received the DNC documents through an anonymous file upload.

His lawyers' petition also asks the IACHR "to compel Ecuador to cease its espionage activities against Mr. Assange".

Relations between Assange and his embassy hosts have been deteriorating for months.

Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno announced in December that "the way has been cleared for Mr Assange to take the decision to leave in near-liberty".
Russell Baker, a two-time Pulitzer-winning writer and longtime host of PBS Masterpiece Theatre, died Monday in his Lessburg, Virginia, home at age 93, his son Allen Baker told the New York Times. Baker rose to prominence as a humorist, penning the wry Observer column for the New York Times for 36 years beginning in 1962. He won his first Pulitzer for commentary in 1979, and followed that with another for his best-selling 1982 memoir, Growing Up, about his boyhood in Depression-era Virginia. In 1993, he took over for Alistair Cooke as host of PBS weekly Masterpiece Theatre  introducing adaptations of classic novels and stories until giving up the gig in 2004. Also Read: Kevin Barnett, Comedian and 'Rel' Co-Creator, Dies at 32 Baker began his career as a news reporter in the 1940s, first for the Baltimore Sun and then as a Washington, D.C.-based writer for the New York Times, where he covered the White House, Congress and the presidential campaigns of 1956 and 1960. In 1962, he began writing his Observer column, which evolved into a wry and often satirical send-up of news of the day as well as cultural phenomena such as Christmas fruitcake. He published more than 15 books, including collections of his widely syndicated column. Thanks to newspapers, he wrote in his final column, published on Christmas Day in 1998, I have made a four-hour visit to Afghanistan, have seen the Taj Mahal by moonlight, breakfasted at dawn on lamb and couscous while sitting by the marble pool of a Moorish palace in Morocco and once picked up a persistent family of fleas in the Balkans. Read original story Russell Baker, Pulitzer-Winning Author and Masterpiece Theatre Host, Dies at 93 At TheWrap

Russell Baker, a two-time Pulitzer-winning writer and longtime host of PBS Masterpiece Theatre, died Monday in his Lessburg, Virginia, home at age 93, his son Allen Baker told the New York Times.

Baker rose to prominence as a humorist, penning the wry Observer column for the New York Times for 36 years beginning in 1962. He won his first Pulitzer for commentary in 1979, and followed that with another for his best-selling 1982 memoir, Growing Up, about his boyhood in Depression-era Virginia.

In 1993, he took over for Alistair Cooke as host of PBS weekly Masterpiece Theatre  introducing adaptations of classic novels and stories until giving up the gig in 2004.

Also Read: Kevin Barnett, Comedian and 'Rel' Co-Creator, Dies at 32

Baker began his career as a news reporter in the 1940s, first for the Baltimore Sun and then as a Washington, D.C.-based writer for the New York Times, where he covered the White House, Congress and the presidential campaigns of 1956 and 1960.

In 1962, he began writing his Observer column, which evolved into a wry and often satirical send-up of news of the day as well as cultural phenomena such as Christmas fruitcake.

He published more than 15 books, including collections of his widely syndicated column.

Thanks to newspapers, he wrote in his final column, published on Christmas Day in 1998, I have made a four-hour visit to Afghanistan, have seen the Taj Mahal by moonlight, breakfasted at dawn on lamb and couscous while sitting by the marble pool of a Moorish palace in Morocco and once picked up a persistent family of fleas in the Balkans.

Read original story Russell Baker, Pulitzer-Winning Author and Masterpiece Theatre Host, Dies at 93 At TheWrap
An Illinois man is accused of letting an 11-year-old relative drive herself and another child to elementary school as he sat in the passenger seat earlier this month, PEOPLE confirms.

Khafilu Oshodi, 31, is wanted by Round Lake Park police for two counts of child endangerment and driving with a suspended license, Chief George Filenko tells PEOPLE. Police issued a warrant for Oshodis arrest after trying to make attempts to reach him following the alleged incident.

On the morning of Jan. 9, school employees called police after staff members allegedly saw the 11-year-old driving a car up to the schools drop off point and getting out from behind the wheel. A 9-year-old boy exited the car from the rear seat.

The child didnt appear to be alone. Oshodi was allegedly sitting in the passenger seat and when the girl exited he allegedly slid over to the drivers seat, put the car into gear and drove off, Filenko said.

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

When police were notified of the alleged incident, they tried to contact Oshodi. After multiple attempts, a warrant for misdemeanor charges was issued.

We gave him every opportunity in the world, Filenko says. We had no choice but to get the warrant.

During their investigation, police found that Oshodi had a suspended license. One week after the incident, the vehicle the girl was driving, a rental car, was reported stolen, Filenko said. It is unclear if the car was stolen at the time the girl allegedly drove it.

Oshodis irresponsible behavior could have led to many bad scenarios, Filenko says, noting that the schools drop off and pickup times are its busiest.

The children are safe and with their parents.

Anyone with information on Oshodis whereabouts is urged to call Round Lake Park police at (847) 270-9111.
Budapests Museum of Fine Arts unveiled a 15-metre-wide, interactive LCD display purchased with 150 million forints (EUR 471,500) in funding from the National Bank of Hungary (NBH).

Visitors to the museum can see pieces from the collection on the screen that are otherwise difficult to view, said NBH deputy-governor Ferenc Gerhardt.





Some 300 paintings, sculptures and other works of art are being showcased on the LCD display, said museum director Laszlo Baan.



Baan said more than 100,000 people had visited the museum since it reopened on October 31, following a 15 billion forint threeyear renovation.



MTI Photo: Balogh Zoltan
Hungarians have a high opinion of Germany and they strongly support boosting Hungarian-German relations, analysts said at a conference focusing on perceptions of Germany in Hungary.

Citing an October 2018 survey, Daniel Nagy, chief researcher at the Nezopont Research Institute, said that 54% of respondents tended to view Germany favourably while 32% tended to hold a negative view.



The proportion of Hungarians who viewed bilateral ties as good went up to 62% last year from 56% in 2017, Nagy noted, citing a phone survey by Nezopont.



The opinion of Hungarians particularly improved concerning economic relations, with the proportion of respondents expressing a favourable view going up to 69% from 62%, he said.



Commenting on the issue of migration, Zoltan Balog, the head of the Foundation for Civic Hungary who is the former minister of human resources, said the issue was greeted with much greater sensitivity in central European countries, which had been unable to exercise their sovereignty for a long time, than in countries that had no experience of communism.



MTI Photo: Balogh Zoltan
Gabor Liszkays Central European Press and Media Foundation will probably take over TV2 following the death of the stations owner, Andy Vajna, Nepszava reports. The change of ownership was on the agenda and Vajnas death may speed up this process, the source added.

It was a surprise that Vajna did not have to donate TV2 and Radio 1 to the new right-wing media holding in November, when the foundation swallowed 476 government-friendly media outlets, Nepszava writes.



According to a source in the government, the ownership of Radio 1 will also change.



CEO Dirk Gerkens told TV2 staff in an e-mail that work at the TV2 group continues as normal, despite the death of its owner.



Meanwhile, HirTV CEO Balint Repassy has told his staff that co-ordination of the activities and operations of HirTV and Echo TV has begun, as decided by Liszkays foundation.



Initially technical and production aspects of the news departments will be co-ordinated.



The two TV channels were donated by their owners Lorincz Meszaros and Gabor Szeles to Liszkays media conglomerate in November, along with hundreds of other pro-Fidesz publications, websites and radio stations.
State counting all homeless residents as of Tuesday evening

WORLAND  Every year, usually in the month of January, the State of Wyoming conducts the statewide point in time homelessness count to help anyone homeless get out of their situation and receive federal grant funds to be distributed across the state to organizations providing homelessness services.

The official point in time count is from sundown yesterday evening to sun up this morning. According to a press release from the Wyoming Department of Family Services, This means being out on the street or at a Homeless camp, living out of a vehicle, staying on a friends or family members couch due to having no home to go to, or going to a local shelter or service agency seeking assistance due to being homeless.

While the actual count was last night, anyone who knows of someone who was homeless on Tuesday evening has seven days to report to Department of Family Services Washakie County Point In time lead Brenda Ilg. Ilg can be reached at 307-347-6181, ext. 34 or at the Department of Family Services office at 1700 Robertson Ave., in Worland.

Ilg stated that not only will the homeless be counted but they will be given assistance. We would attempt to make referrals to any kind of social service programs, counseling services, anything that we feel would be of benefit to them to try and help them get out of their homeless situation and back into a better place.

Community members are asked to assist in this endeavor. Not everyone facing a homeless situation comes through my office in Worland. I need your help in identifying those who may be facing homelessness in our county so we can include them in our statewide count and bring resources to Washakie County. If you observe someone who you think may be homeless, or you learn of someone being in a homeless situation, please contact me and share your observations, Ilg said.
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The two sides also discussed directions and measures to bring the two economies closer together, thereby helping to expand the export markets of both countries and tap into each countrys strengths to meet the others needs.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Cao Quoc Hung, asked India to consider not imposing anti-subsidy duties on stainless steel and copper coils imported from Vietnam.

He also suggested that India issue an official document allowing the import of Vietnamese dragon fruit and accelerate the import approval of other fresh fruit such as longan, pomelo, rambutan and durian.

The Vietnamese trade official also expressed concern over Indias imposition of the minimum import price on Vietnamese pepper and requested that India promptly revoke the measure.

At the meeting, Hung also asked India to continue supporting Vietnamese trade promotion delegations, encourage Indian businesses to seek investment opportunities in Vietnam, and assist the Vietnamese carrier Vietjet to open direct routes between the two countries.

For his part, Indias Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan mentioned a number of issues that India is interested in such as the licensing of buffalo meat export to Vietnam.

In 2018 the trade value between Vietnam and India reached US$10.7 billion, up 39% from a year earlier, of which Vietnam exported US$6.5 billion, a year-on-year rise of 75%.
Planetary collision that formed the moon made life possible on Earth

HOUSTON -- (Jan. 23, 2019) -- Most of Earth's essential elements for life -- including most of the carbon and nitrogen in you -- probably came from another planet.

Earth most likely received the bulk of its carbon, nitrogen and other life-essential volatile elements from the planetary collision that created the moon more than 4.4 billion years ago, according to a new study by Rice University petrologists in the journal Science Advances.

"From the study of primitive meteorites, scientists have long known that Earth and other rocky planets in the inner solar system are volatile-depleted," said study co-author Rajdeep Dasgupta. "But the timing and mechanism of volatile delivery has been hotly debated. Ours is the first scenario that can explain the timing and delivery in a way that is consistent with all of the geochemical evidence."

The evidence was compiled from a combination of high-temperature, high-pressure experiments in Dasgupta's lab, which specializes in studying geochemical reactions that take place deep within a planet under intense heat and pressure.

In a series of experiments, study lead author and graduate student Damanveer Grewal gathered evidence to test a long-standing theory that Earth's volatiles arrived from a collision with an embryonic planet that had a sulfur-rich core.

The sulfur content of the donor planet's core matters because of the puzzling array of experimental evidence about the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur that exist in all parts of the Earth other than the core.

"The core doesn't interact with the rest of Earth, but everything above it, the mantle, the crust, the hydrosphere and the atmosphere, are all connected," Grewal said. "Material cycles between them."

One long-standing idea about how Earth received its volatiles was the "late veneer" theory that volatile-rich meteorites, leftover chunks of primordial matter from the outer solar system, arrived after Earth's core formed. And while the isotopic signatures of Earth's volatiles match these primordial objects, known as carbonaceous chondrites, the elemental ratio of carbon to nitrogen is off. Earth's non-core material, which geologists call the bulk silicate Earth, has about 40 parts carbon to each part nitrogen, approximately twice the 20-1 ratio seen in carbonaceous chondrites.

Grewal's experiments, which simulated the high pressures and temperatures during core formation, tested the idea that a sulfur-rich planetary core might exclude carbon or nitrogen, or both, leaving much larger fractions of those elements in the bulk silicate as compared to Earth. In a series of tests at a range of temperatures and pressure, Grewal examined how much carbon and nitrogen made it into the core in three scenarios: no sulfur, 10 percent sulfur and 25 percent sulfur.

"Nitrogen was largely unaffected," he said. "It remained soluble in the alloys relative to silicates, and only began to be excluded from the core under the highest sulfur concentration."

Carbon, by contrast, was considerably less soluble in alloys with intermediate sulfur concentrations, and sulfur-rich alloys took up about 10 times less carbon by weight than sulfur-free alloys.

Using this information, along with the known ratios and concentrations of elements both on Earth and in non-terrestrial bodies, Dasgupta, Grewal and Rice postdoctoral researcher Chenguang Sun designed a computer simulation to find the most likely scenario that produced Earth's volatiles. Finding the answer involved varying the starting conditions, running approximately 1 billion scenarios and comparing them against the known conditions in the solar system today.

"What we found is that all the evidence -- isotopic signatures, the carbon-nitrogen ratio and the overall amounts of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur in the bulk silicate Earth -- are consistent with a moon-forming impact involving a volatile-bearing, Mars-sized planet with a sulfur-rich core," Grewal said.

Dasgupta, the principal investigator on a NASA-funded effort called CLEVER Planets that is exploring how life-essential elements might come together on distant rocky planets, said better understanding the origin of Earth's life-essential elements has implications beyond our solar system.

"This study suggests that a rocky, Earth-like planet gets more chances to acquire life-essential elements if it forms and grows from giant impacts with planets that have sampled different building blocks, perhaps from different parts of a protoplanetary disk," Dasgupta said.

"This removes some boundary conditions," he said. "It shows that life-essential volatiles can arrive at the surface layers of a planet, even if they were produced on planetary bodies that underwent core formation under very different conditions."

Dasgupta said it does not appear that Earth's bulk silicate, on its own, could have attained the life-essential volatile budgets that produced our biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere.

"That means we can broaden our search for pathways that lead to volatile elements coming together on a planet to support life as we know it."

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Additional co-authors on the Science Advances study are Kyusei Tsuno and Gelu Costin, both of Rice. The research was supported by NASA, the Deep Carbon Observatory and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

CLEVER Planets is part of the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, or NExSS, a NASA astrobiology research coordination network that is dedicated to the study of planetary habitability. CLEVER Planets involves more than a dozen research groups from Rice, NASA's Johnson Space Center, UCLA, the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, Davis. More information is available at cleverplanets.org.

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

https:/ / news. rice. edu/ files/ 2019/ 01/ 0123_IMPACT-grp6-lg-29bu2kh. jpg

CAPTION: A study by Rice University scientists (from left) Gelu Costin, Chenguang Sun, Damanveer Grewal, Rajdeep Dasgupta and Kyusei Tsuno found Earth most likely received the bulk of its carbon, nitrogen and other life-essential elements from the planetary collision that created the moon more than 4.4 billion years ago. The findings appear in the journal Science Advances. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https:/ / news. rice. edu/ files/ 2019/ 01/ 0123_IMPACT-illus-lg-r0v36s. jpg

CAPTION: A schematic depicting the formation of a Mars-sized planet (left) and its differentiation into a body with a metallic core and an overlying silicate reservoir. The sulfur-rich core expels carbon, producing silicate with a high carbon to nitrogen ratio. The moon-forming collision of such a planet with the growing Earth (right) can explain Earth's abundance of both water and major life-essential elements like carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, as well as the geochemical similarity between Earth and the moon. (Image courtesy of Rajdeep Dasgupta)

The DOI of the Science Advances paper is: 10.1126/sciadv.aau3669

Related research from Rice:

What recipes produce a habitable planet? -- Sept. 17, 2018

Life beyond Earth: No plate tectonics, no problem -- March 28, 2018

Study: Earth's carbon points to planetary smashup -- Sept. 5, 2016

Oxygen atmosphere recipe = tectonics + continents + life -- May 16, 2016

Going deep to study long-term climate evolution -- Oct. 31, 2013

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl. com/ RiceUniversityoverview .

This story has been published on: 2019-01-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Women, your inner circle may be key to gaining leadership roles

Women who communicate regularly with a female-dominated inner circle are more likely to attain high-ranking leadership positions, according to a new study by the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study showed that more than 75 percent of high-ranking women maintained a female-dominated inner circle, or strong ties to two or three women whom they communicated with frequently within their network. For men, the larger their network -- regardless of gender makeup -- the more likely they are to earn a high-ranking position. Unfortunately, when women have social networks that resemble their male counterparts', they are more likely to hold low-ranking positions.

"Although both genders benefit from developing large social networks after graduate school, women's communication patterns, as well as the gender composition of their network, significantly predict their job placement level," said Nitesh V. Chawla, Frank M. Freimann Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Notre Dame, director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications and co-author of the study. "The same factors -- communication patterns and gender composition of a social network -- have no significant effect for men landing high-ranking positions."

For the study, researchers reviewed social and communication networks of more than 700 former graduate students from a top-ranked business school in the United States. Each student in the study had accepted leadership-level positions, which were normalized for industry and region-specific salaries. Researchers then compared three variables of each student's social network: network centrality, or the size of the social network; gender homophily, or the proportion of same-sex contacts; and communication equality, or the amount of strong versus weak network ties.

Women with a high network centrality and a female-dominated inner circle have an expected job placement level that is 2.5 times greater than women with low network centrality and a male-dominated inner circle. When it comes to attaining leadership positions, women are not likely to benefit from adding the best-connected person to their network. While those connections may improve access to public information important to job search and negotiations, female-dominated inner circles can help women gain gender-specific information that would be more important in a male-dominated job market.

"We also saw that inner circles benefit from each other, suggesting that women gain gender-specific private information and support from their inner circle, while non-overlapping connections provide other job market details," said Chawla.

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Yang Yang, formerly a doctoral student of Chawla at Notre Dame and a current research assistant professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University who is also a member of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO), led the study. Additional co-authors include Brian Uzzi, Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at Northwestern and co-director of NICO.

The study was funded by the Army Research Lab and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives program.

This story has been published on: 2019-01-22. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.